So, it's goodby and farewell to Nicolas Sarkozy. The Independent says that Sarkozy will now seek a new life outside politics. He told journalists privately as long ago as January: "If I lose, you won't be seeing me again... I will go off and make some money."

Read

Just in: Bangalore serial Umesh Reddy's mercy petition over the death penalty awarded to him has been rejected. The Supreme Court observed that Reddy was an ex-policeman, who had become a habitual pervert and violent offender, who not only commits robbery but also to satisfy his lust, attacks helpless women and commits rape and, in murdered Jayashree brutally after having violent sexual intercourse with her.

Umesh Reddy was convicted by a High Court division bench on October 4, 2007, for the rape and murder of one Jayashree Maradi Subbaiah, a widow, on February 28, 1998.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said today that if the United States has any solid intelligence information on the presence of al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri in Pakistan, it should be shared so that the country can look into the matter accordingly. Khar was speaking in response to  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement in India.

Read the report on the Tribune.

Ambesh Tiwari @ambesh_tiwari First Amol Gupte for TZP, then Chetan Bhagat for 3Idiots and now Palash Sen for Satyamev Jayte! Aamir and credit issues!  

Karthik Srinivasan ' Did not expect Palash Sen to stoop so low and claim copyright baselessly over Satyamev Jayate song

Tejkaran Singh Bajaj ' @tejkaranAamir's Satyamev Jayate song was aired on television atleast 2 weeks back. So why is Palash Sen waking up now?

Euphoria''s lead singer Palash Sen, who is known well for his album Dhoom, has sent a legal notice to the Satyamev Jayate team accusing it of having picked up the show's anthem tune from one of his songs.

"I was shocked when I heard it. In 2000, Euphoria released its second album Phir Dhoom, and one of its songs was named Satyameva Jayate. And the chorus of composer Ram Sampath''s version of Satyamev Jayate is exactly the same as the chants in our song,' said the singer. "They could have asked me and I'd have agreed at one go. I wouldn't have asked for money. I would have just asked for a small credit to the band for the song," he adds. Ram Sampath, composer of the anthem for Aamir's TV show refused to comment over the topic.

Go begging: Government tells private schools to seek help from private sector to fund education of underprivileged children

Read the report on the Daily Mail.  

Ramesh Srivats  @rameshsrivats We need to replace UPA with UPS. RT @starnewslive No electricity in Parliament for the past 25 minutes.

Ramesh Srivats @rameshsrivats MPs to Manmohan Singh: Sir. We have no power. | MMS: What? Tou too

Refusing to be drawn into the debate over presidential candidature, Infosys mentor N R Narayana Murthy today said the decision of choosing the best
candidate should be left to leaders of political parities.

"There are leaders of various political parties who are very competent, who know the situation very well and they will take the best decision and select the best candidate.

"Therefore, I do not think any of us, amateurs, should be spending time on who will be the candidate, who should not be the candidate. Therefore, let us leave it to the people who have the prerogative to take the decision.

"I am positive that they will take the right decision. It is not for me to comment on that," Murthy told reporters at the sidelines of the convocation of Jawaharlal Nehru Technology University, Hyderabad. 

The exceptional story of Hariprobha Basu Mallik, the first woman from the Indian subcontinent to write a book in Bengali on Japan in 1915, whose life has been recreated on the celluloid by veteran Bangladeshi director Tanvir Mokammel in his latest documentary Japani Bodhu (The Japanese Wife) that is scheduled to premiere in India in June.

Read the story on the Daily Mail.

My best friend stared at me as if I had announced that an asteroid was about to obliterate life on Earth. I had just told her that I was moving to Africa to marry a man I had met only six months previously, and her reaction was typical of the scepticism which greeted me whenever I told anyone about my exciting plan.

Read the Daily Mail story

A rush of tabloid stories: No royal author has better insight into Prince William than Penny Junor, who has used her unique contacts to write the most definitive ever account of his life in a major new biography. She reveals how hard William found it to warm to the woman his mother always called the Rottweiler.

Read more on the Daily Mail

And this is Mamata's grand plan on Bollywood, Hollywood and Tollywood.

The WB Chief Minister told Clinton that Hindi films have a lot of followers in America and sought a joint endeavour from the US to work together for the development of Bengal's entertainment industry along with Bollywood and Hollywood. 

"I told her that if we create a synergy between Bollywood, Tollywood and Hollywood then our people (artistes) can go there and their people can come here. She liked my suggestion", the CM said.Clinton told her that they would discuss the topic and tell her. 

Mamata added, "I told her that we also watch a lot of Hollywood films here."

During her stay in New Delhi, Clinton will call on Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at his official 7, Race Course Road (RCR) residence at 6 pm today, which would be followed by a meeting with United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence at around 7 pm.

The Bombay High Court today upheld the 15-day imprisonment handed to Bollywood actor John Abraham for rash and negligent driving and injuring two persons in 2006, but released him on probation after it took a lenient view.

John will not spend time in jail as the court has released him on probation under the Probation of Offenders Act. 

"It is the responsibility of the driver to see to it that the vehicle is under his control at all times so as to avoid such sudden accidents. Hence, it cannot be said that the lower court's order of conviction was incorrect. There is no ground made out to set aside the conviction," Justice R C Chavan observed.

11 am Sunday morning may  now mean almost empty streets across India. As Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate aired yesterday, here's what the reviews said.

On Rediff.com: The women who unburdened themselves of their anguish on television won't win a gift hamper sponsored by a corporate; but if it could make us pause and think, Aamir Khan's effort will not have been wasted. Read Saisuresh Sivaswamy's piece.

And on Firstpost.com: Aamirs truth is a little too one-sided, stereotypical

On IBN Live: Satyamev Jayate: Why the cynics are wrong
   

RJD leaders Lalu Prasad and Raghuvans Prasad Singh took a dig at Sadanand Tiwari JD(U) leader for using the iPad and iPhone. Lalu wanted to know when Tiwari learnt to use the iPad.

Even with the Rajya Sabha in session, Tiwari would browse websites in the House. Tiwari, a close friend of Lalu, had opposed the imposition of English. But now, pointed out Prasad, Tiwari had fallen into the trap of the 'tablet computer era'. Incidentally, Sharad Yadav JD(U) leader in the Lok Sabha never uses mobile phones and in fact, does not have one.

More than the usual din in the Lok Sabha today after BJP MP Maneka Gandhi had heated exchanges with Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad alleging massive corruption in granting licences to medical colleges

An angry Azad said, "You can't level wild allegations without any evidence."

Gandhi said crores of rupees were being demanded as bribes by members of the board of governors of the Medical Council of India (MCI).

The BJP has now decided to move a privilege notice against Azad for allegedly giving wrong facts about the health ministry on 15 occasions in the last three years.

Red Lifebuoy was the soap you washed your hands with afterwards. Cinthol (green) was the bar to bathe with except for people with aspirations who bought Moti, a fat round of soap too large for small hands, or Pears. But Pears was posh; any household that routinely used Pears wasn't middle class; it was the sort of place that bought crates of Coca Cola instead of bottles of Kissan orange squash, where the children went to boarding school and owned complete sets of Tintin.

Mukul Kesavan's piece on the Telegraph on remembrance of things past.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut today moved the Rajya Sabha for the Bharat Ratna to be posthumously awarded to Dadasaheb Phalke, on the occasion of 100 years of Indian cinema.

Raising the matter during zero hour, he also demanded that a postal stamp be issued to commemorate the centenarary of Indian cinema. 

"Phalke is credited with making 95 movies and 26 short films in his 19-year career and it is now time to honour this great doyen of the film industry, who has been conveniently forgotten," Raut said.

Always interesting -- what Nitish Kumar said about Lalu Prasad Yadav.

The Bihar CM today called Lalu a 'frustrated man' in response to his comments about his shaking hands with his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi in
New Delhi. 

"It was a chief ministers' meeting on the proposed NCTC.  If anybody shakes your hand how can one avoid such a situation," Kumar said last night when on arrival from New Delhi reporters sought his response about Prasad's comment on the issue. 

"Lalu Prasad is frustrated and such comments are (borne) out of sheer mental bankruptcy", Kumar said with a smile.

Lalu, had yesterday questioned the 'secular credentials' of Nitish Kumar in the wake of the latter's exchange of pleasantries with his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi at the NCTC conference.

Also read on Open magazine: Editor-in-Chief of Bihar

I was really tempted to do a meme of Hillary Clinton and Mamata, a friend told me. He was referring to the famous Texts from Hillary meme that has become quite the social media rage. But he decided not to do it. Who knows? Mamata might track me down and come after me, he said. 

Read more on Firstpost.com

Here is the report filed by amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran on the Gulberg Society massacre. Read

The Ahmedabad court hands over the SIT report on the Gulberg Society massacre during the post-Godhra riots to Zakia Jafri. The metropolitan court in Ahmedabad handed over the final copy of the SIT report today, a month after the Supreme Court-appointed SIT gave Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi a clean chit.

The report had sought a closure in the probe as it found no evidence against Narendra Modi. Apart from the SIT report, which runs into 25,000 pages, Jafri also got a copy of the Amicus Curiae report.  

Government today assured the Lok Sabha that complete transparency would be maintained in the on-going procurement process for 197 helicopters for defence forces after the earlier Eurocopter deal was scrapped. 

Defence Minister A K Antony informed the Lok Sabha during Question Hour that the Eurocopter deal was cancelled after some anomalies were discovered.    

"There was a proposal by the Indian army and the Air Force to procure 197 helicopters from Eurocopter. It was in final stages and the contract was about to be signed. We received some complaints of malpractices in trials," he said.

Antony maintained that he immediately ordered an inquiry and found there was truth in the complaints. "Eurocopter contract was cancelled immediately," he said. Subsequently, a new Request for Proposals (RFP) for 197 helicopters was issued. 

"When the process was in final stages, again we got a series of complaints from MPs.... We decided to appoint a Special Technical Oversight Committee," Antony said. The procurement process for these choppers is on. "After going through everything, if anything goes wrong we will again cancel it," Antony said. 

A public hearing into encounter killings will be held in Gujarat on May 14-15 by the National Human Rights Commission. NHRC chairman Justice K G Balakrishnan, a retired Chief Justice of India, will preside over the hearing in Ahmedabad to enable families of the victims of encounter killings to tell their story instead of being called to Delhi for an appearance.

Sources said the chairman felt a visit to Gujarat was warranted in view of complaints pouring in about a number of allegedly stage-managed encounters in which former minister Amit Shah and several police officials had been arrested. The CBI is already probing some of these cases.

The Budget had brought both non-branded and branded gold jewellery under the ambit of excise duty. Similarly, the Customs duty on standard gold and platinum bars was increased from 2 per cent to 4 per cent, and on non-standard gold from 5 per cent to 10 per cent. Besides this, PAN number is needed for buying gold jewellery worth Rs 2 lakh or more in cash.

The government today succumbed to pressure from gold traders and withdrew the levy on branded and non-branded gold ornaments.

Here's what the US will invest in, according to Mamata Banerjee: The areas identified for US investment were IT, software sector, manufacturing, deep sea port, tourism, health care and education.

"They will give full support for economic and business  development," Banerjee said, adding that Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh and US Ambassador Nancy Powell would coordinate and monitor the progress. Describing her meeting with Clinton as "positive, constructive, creative and concrete", the chief minister said
that Teesta water-sharing agreement and FDI in retail issues did not figure in the discussion.

"There were no talks about Teesta (water-sharing with Bangladesh). There were no talks on FDI in retail. No nuclear or strategic issues were discussed," Banerjee said in reply to a volley of questions.

Opinion piece on the Hindu: Two students from the North-East have died unnatural deaths in the last few days. Dana Sangma, a student from Meghalaya studying for an MBA at an institute in Gurgaon, committed suicide after she was accused by her college of cheating; Richard Loitam, a student of architecture from Manipur, was found dead in his hostel room in Bangalore from head injuries. 

Read

In world news, Vladimir Putin has been inaugurated as president of Russia in a ceremony in the capital, Moscow. Putin is returning to the presidency after an absence of four years in which he served as prime minister. The outgoing President, Dmitry Medvedev, was widely seen as an ally of Putin.

Read more on the bbc.

In other news, the Supreme Court today indicated that it may allow 82-year-old Pakistani microbiologist Mohammed Khalil Chishti, awarded life term in a 20-year-old murder case, to visit his country temporarily. 

Necessary instructions from the Union ministries of the home affairs and the external affairs about the conditions that could be imposed on Dr Chishti, pending disposal of his appeal against his conviction are being sought. 

The bench gave the directions amid the Centre's objection that if allowed to go to Pakistan temporarily, Chishti may not return to India at all. He is presently out on bail, but has been asked to confine himself to Ajmer only. 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her entourage were treated to traditional Bengali sweets katcha golla and sandesh during the meeting with
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Writers' Building.
Hillary drank black coffee without sugar at the nearly hour-long meeting which took place at the conference room. 

The chief minister, who was clad in her trademark blue bordered sari and chappals, gifted Clinton a kantha-stitch scarf, one of her own paintings and copies of Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali and Gitabitan.

In other news, the first thing on president-elect Francois Hollande's agenda seems to be the withdrawal of  French troops in Afghanistan if the country is ready to take responsibility for security, by 2014.

Hollande made a campaign promise to pull French soldiers out of Afghanistan this year, ending his country's combat role two years earlier than NATO's carefully crafted plan to hand security control to Afghans by 2014.

Reacting to the pledge, Afghan ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said, "For us a NATO stance is more important than individual
decisions by individual nations and Afghanistan is well prepared to take over all security responsibilities in 2013."

And another surprise: Hillary Clinton at the interactive session at La Mart's schoold said that FDI in retail was on the agenda of talks with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been opposed to attempts to open up the retail sector to foreign direct investment. "This is certainly in the list of things I want to talk about," Clinton said.

The US, which has high stakes in gaining entry into the huge Indian retail market, is actively pursuing opening up of the sector to FDI. "But I primarily want to meet the chief minister. I don't want to say we want this and this in our first meeting," Clinton said. 

Mamata Banerjee in her media briefing after the Hillary one-on-one said FDI on retail and the Teesta water sharing issue did NOT come up for discussion.

Strangely enough, ahead of her meeting with Mamata, Hillary Clinton had said that the water-sharing issue between India and Bangladesh should be solved amicably. "These are certainly on the list of things I would want to talk about,"

Clinton said this at an interactive session in Kolkata when asked whether sharing of the Teesta waters with Bangladesh would be on her agenda of talks with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. 

Stating that the United States had no interest in how the water-sharing pact was arrived at, she said that it wanted the issue to be amicably resolved as "these will become hot issues, literally hot issues in the future." 

Clinton said, "Water is an issue that will increasingly become contentious. "The alternative will be perhaps a conflict which will lead to dislocation, refugee problems and destabilisation that we are seeing in places in North Africa. We have to work
together," she said.

Mamata says she quoted from Tagore's Gitanjali -- Where the mind is without fear... " for Clinton.

Mamata, with a now, permanent smile on her face says she "really wanted to meet Clinton."

Mamata says Clinton gifted a painting on cloth to Mamata which has Tagore's poem Aguner poroshmoni on it.

Mamata says she told Clinton that Bengal intends to host a world religion meet on the lines of the Chicago Parliament of Religions where Swami Vivekananda had wowed the world. 

Mamata says she told Hillary that Kolkata could be the new IT hub. She says the US appreciates the work her government has done and has promised to invest in Bengal.

Due to political reasons, there was no investment from the US, says Mamata, but all that is going to change. Hillary has promised US investment in the state. Mamata also told Hillary about the scope of US investment in the Bengal film industry. Mamata says post-modernisation investment has also been discussed.

Told Hillary that SRK is a huge star in India (a reference to the star's detention in a US airport recently.)

Not a word on FDI on retail yet.

Mamata says Clinton appreciated my passion for work and promised investment in Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee addressing a press conference after the meeting with Hillary Clinton.

She says in Bengali that she met Clinton for an hour and the meeting was fruitful. She said Clinton congratulated her on the new government coming to power in West Bengal.

Clinton also complimented Bengal on its passion for work (oark). She said the meeting was constructive.

Here is former Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's reaction to Hillary Clinton's visit.

Buddhadeb could not resist a veiled reference to Clinton's visit on the day the US secretary of state landed in Calcutta. "Writers' had been painted earlier (after the new government came to power). But now it has once again got a fresh coat of paint. Why? Because a guest is coming,' Bhattacharjee told a CPM rally this evening at Khardah, North 24-Parganas. "And the new government in the state is to their liking. That is why there is a sajo sajo rob (cry for dressing up) at Writers'."

Read the Telegraph report.

Our Kolkata correspondent tells us that a nine-page report was submitted to Hillary Clinton, which spoke about Trinamool Congress' ascent in Bengal and Mamata Banerjee's political journey starting in the college campus and ending with her becoming the chief minister.

During Hillary Clinton's visit to Kolkata school La Martiniere for Girls' this morning, fashion designer Agnimitra Pal talked to the US Secretary of State on the need to popularise jute textiles in the US.

Clinton welcomed the idea and asked Pal to broach the issue through the Fashion Council of India and promised all assistance to Pal.

Mamata Banerjee has gifted Hillary Clinton, Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali  and Gitabitan, and the collected works of Swami Vivekananda. She also presented Clinton a scarf from Shantiniketan. Clinton has now left Writers' Building. Mamata will address the press in a bit.

Gitanjali -- a collection of poems -- won Tagore the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913, while Gitabitan is a collection of nearly 3000 songs and poems written and composed by Tagore.  

Back to Kolkata:

Our correspondent tells us that around 11.03 am, Banerjee, clad in her signature white Tangail sari, received Clinton, looking resplendent in an electric blue jacket and black trousers. 

Clinton also wore a dazzling diamond bracelet and a diamond ring. After exchanging the customary namaste, the duo stood for a while in front of a huge photograph of Rabindranath Tagore decorated with flowers. Incidentally, May 8 is Tagore's 151st birth anniversary, which Mamata wants the Centre to declare as a national holiday.

During the 20-minute one-on-one discussion with Banerjee, Clinton showed enthusiasm in investing in education after getting positive vibes from Banerjee on the issue.

The Chief Minister said her government was keen to make some definitive changes as far as culture, industry and education are concerned. It is heard that Clinton tried to convince the West Bengal Chief Minister about the necessity of foreign direct investment in retail.

Just in: The Ahmedabad court hands over the SIT report on the Gulberg Society massacre during the post-Godhra riots to Zakia Jafri. The metropolitan court in Ahmedabad handed over the final copy of the SIT report today, a month after the Supreme Court-appointed SIT gave Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi a clean chit. The report had sought a closure in the probe as it found no evidence against Narendra Modi. Apart from the SIT report, which runs into 25,000 pages, Jafri also got a copy of the Amicus Curiae report.  

Jafri, the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was among 69 persons killed in the Gulberg society carnage.

Right now in Parliament, defence minister AK Antony is being hauled over the coals on the Tatra truck deal. In his defence, Antony says the government makes procurements according to the needs of the Army.  

He says no purchases were made after 2008 and the 6,500 trucks it bought were always purchased on the requirement of the army. The government has not imposed it on the defence forces.

Antony also said the armed forces are ready to meet any challenge  and in effect, is battle ready.

And on the Iran oil imports, Clinton said: There was adequate oil supplies available from countries like Saudi Arabia. The US has been urging India and other countries to slash oil imports from Iran aimed at stepping up pressure on
Tehran to comply with international demands over its nuclear programme.

Clinton said it could be "devastating" for the world if Iran developed a nuclear bomb. She said that Iran has been regularly flouting international obligations  especially its insistance on nuclear proliferation.

The Telegraph, Calcutta attempts to answer the question that everyone has been asking: Why is Clinton visiting Kolkata? Here's what the newspaper says:

US officials said it would be a disservice to Clinton's landmark visit to downgrade it as a lobbying effort with chief minister Mamata Banerjee to tone down her political positions against foreign direct investment in retail or against the Teesta water accord, although they hazarded a guess that these issues may figure in Monday's talks in Calcutta. But these are not central to Clinton's visit and she is not visiting Bengal on a mission to change the chief minister's mind.

"It is only logical that since the secretary has come here from Dhaka, tensions over water could be a subject of mutual concern,' said one Obama administration official.

"Similarly, worries among American businessmen over the general investment climate in India have been on the secretary's mind for some time now.' The talks with Mamata will have no structured agenda and neither side will be constrained by rigid talking points. The pivot around which Clinton's rationale for travelling to Calcutta has been  built is the economic reality that as much as 56 per cent of Indias trade is now with Asia.

At the meeting with Clinton, the Indo-Bangla Teesta Water Treaty, apart from the FDI in multi-brand retail, will be discussed -- both staunchly opposed by Mamata.

At the La Mart's session earlier, the US Secretary of State had earlier said she has no desire to make another run for the highest office in the land but hopes to see a female president in her lifetime.

Politely turning aside questions about her political intentions at a town hall event in Kolkata, Clinton today said she really wanted to see "that final glass ceiling" broken.

She noted, though, that the American political process is difficult and heavily dependent on fund raising, which makes it hard for any candidate to succeed. Still, she said she thinks there will be an election that will elect a woman president. As for herself, she says she is done with the political highwire. She says she just wants to "get back to taking some deep breaths".

Ramesh Srivats @rameshsrivats Mamata Banerjee meets Hillary Clinton today. They have much in common. Both have had trouble with Bills. 

Overrated Outcast Barkha Dutt seems to have upgraded her accent for the HillaryClinton town hall

Kanchan Gupta Clinton is mediating with Mamata Banerjee on behalf of Manmohan Singh? Agenda would suggest so.

At the La Mart's session Clinton said she was looking forward to meeting Mamata Banerjee, as she was keen to meet women who had broken through the glass ceiling of politics.

"When I meet such a woman, I know that irrespective of her background, or her political beliefs, we share the common bond of going through the fire of electoral politics," she said.  

And on Twitter, Hillary Clinton trends: Madhu 'MadMan' Menon  @madmanweb WTF is she smoking? Hillary Clinton says Kolkata is the economic hub of Asia

Mamata Banerjee is expected to seek US investment in the state during her one-on-one with Hillary Clinton now. Industrialisation will be the focus of the discussion, while Clinton wants Mamata's help to improve US ties with Bangladesh to counter global terrorism. Mamata is also expected to explain in detail how her party defeated the 35-year-old Left Front government in the state. Remember, this is Clinton's first-ever meeting with any Indian chief minister. 

Present at the meeting will be West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra and Industries minister Partha Chatterjee.

Writer's Building has been dressed up and given a fresh coat of paint ahead of Clinton's visit. Remains to be seen whether Hillary can convince Mamata on FDI retail.

Hillary enters the hall at the Writer's Building and greets Mamata. On the agenda is FDI, multibrand retail...

A huge smile on Mamata's face as she leads Hillary to her office for a one-on-one.

Back to the Hillary session: The US Secretary of State is now talking about dealing with criticism on social media and on media in general. Quoting Eleanor Roosevelt she says, "You need to grow skin as thick as a rhinoceros and you can't afford to take criticism personally."

Is Mamata Banerjee listening?

Earlier, during the session, a student asks her why the US wants India to reduce oil imports from Iran when India is not an oil producing nation.

Clinton says that Iran has been regularly flouting international obligations  especially its insistance on nuclear proliferation. "The international community feels that Iran has to be pressurized into changing its behavior, and it is this pressure that has convinced Iran to come back to the negotiating table."

She says that India has used and therefore understands the importance of using diplomacy to overcome obstacles.

The session is being held at the Townhall at Kolkata's La Martiniere school. Clinton says she authorised the $10 million bounty for information on Hafiz Saeed.

She says, "It was our way of showing India that the US stands by it in its fight against terrorism. Both India and US are pluralistic societies and the threat from terrorism is a common factor because of our culture of tolerance."

Clinton pointed out that extremists hate tolerance. "They want everyone to think the way they do." 

And therefore she says she has told Pakistan that it is in their interests to have a strong counter terrorism operation.

At La Martineres girls school, Hillary is talking about outsourcing to India, a bearbug for the Obama government. The session is being held live on NDTV, anchored by Barkha Dutt.

A student asks if Indians should worry about their jobs. Dutt says that outsourcing has caused a lot of heartburn in India. Clinton says, "It's an election campaign, so there is an obligation to talk about what is on peoples mind. She says that Obama's campaign ad is directed at addressing the fears of people in manufacturing and don't have other job possibilities.

Yet again, she reiterates the importance of the relationship between India and the US, but steers clear of a directly answering the outsourcing question.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is at session at the La Martiniere School for Girls meeting.  The highlights of what the US Secretary of State said at the session:

This is very exciting for me to have this chance to back in this wonderful city after so many years. I was last here in 1995 honouring the work of Mother Teresa. The relationship between our two democracies is going to define the kind of future we have. Increasingly also, our strategic interests are aligned. India is taking on more responsibilities which is good news.

India's 'look-east' policy will be central to the growth of the whole Asia-pacific region. India stands in a strong position to help the people of Burma as they navigate their way through economic and political reforms.

Heart of India-Us relations is the people-to-people relationships. I discovered Tagore in college and have been a fan ever since. I have probably been asked everything in my long and public life. So please feel free to ask me anything...