Jaipur - Rajasthan will soon have training centres equipped with all modern facilities to provide self-employment to single women, the state government said Tuesday.

Setting up of new training centres is part of a special training programme to make women self reliant. The programme includes training in stitching, weaving and printing techniques. Besides, the women would also be given basic training in computers, said a senior official of the social welfare department.

He said the department would initially give training to 150 women in Jaipur and 50 women at various regional headquarters across the state.

He added that a 50-acre land had been purchased at Jamdoli near Agra Road for a training centre with residential facility to accommodate 150 women.

CHENNAI: Miniature terracotta vegetables and Chennapatnam toys welcome the visitors at Rajasthani Mela showcasing the variety and vibrancy of traditional handicrafts and handlooms from several States.

Inaugurated by actress Sandhya at Sri Sankara Hall, Alwarpet, the exhibition has Rajasthani gemstone paintings, silk and velvet paintings. The Daco paintings, featuring Ravi Varmas works, will be a crowd puller.

The exhibition has an array of Rajasthani handicrafts, including 70 varieties of bags, from Jaipur, in different sizes and hues, and mobile pouches.

An inlaid carving of elephant in white wood stands out among the white wood products, besides handmade dolls and white metal oxidised products.

Jaipur : The Rajasthan unit of the BJP has held the Central government responsible for an increase in terrorist attacks and demanded that it should either quit or take effective measures to prevent terrorism.

In a memorandom submitted to Governor Pratibha Patil today, the BJP condemned the increase in terrorism.

Party workers also organised a dharna at Shahid Samarak here.

Criticising the serial bomb blasts in Mumbais trains on Tuesday, the BJP said in its memorandom that it was unfortunate that the Central government had not taken effective measures to curb terrorism and was instead indulging in vote bank politics.

Jaipur : Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje returned from her 18-day foreign trip here Saturday amid lavish welcome by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and criticism by the opposition Congress.

State ministers and party workers thronged Jaipurs Sanganer airport to receive the chief minister, who reached at 12.30 p.m., leading to traffic jam near the airport.

Over 51 welcome gates had been installed on the road from the airport to the chief ministers official residence. Rajes supporters stood at the gates and beat drums as her cavalcade approached.

The chief minister termed her visit to Britain and the US as historic and successful.

Jaipur - Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, back from an 18-day foreign trip, is gearing up for changes - in administration, in her cabinet as well as in the agenda for the state.

Late Saturday evening, the state saw yet another round of large-scale transfers of senior officials. Police, revenue, social welfare, agriculture marketing, roadways and several other departments started releasing their transfer list from the evening, which continued till late in the night.

Besides the transfers, Vasundhara Raje has also started to work on her political agenda. She met Rajnath Singh, national president of her Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi Friday and discussed formation of a coordination committee to bridge the differences between the government and the party.

Era Group today launched the first Group Housing Project called Era Aster Court in Shyam Nagar, one of the best locations in the city of Jaipur. The project is over an area of 5 acres of land (approx). This is the first project under ERA Infrastructure (India) Limited, the real estate venture of the Era Group.

The Era Aster Court, a residential complex, will be in close proximity to Multiplexes, shopping complexes, schools and medical facilities and has apartments designed by the renowned architects, Arcop and Associates. The landscaping in the complex will be done by world class landscape architect, Paul Freedberg.

Speaking on the launch of the Era Aster Court, Mr. Vikrant Singh, Vice President- Sales and Marketing, Era Infrastructure (India) Limited said, Era Aster Court is appropriate for someone who wants to upgrade and modernize his standard of living from the current tight living conditions in the main Jaipur City to a completely new experience of life and living with modern amenities like Club, Recreational facilities, swimming pool, Multi purpose sports facility and jogging tracks that are all provided to facilitate the residents of the Complex. The Project is a revolution in itself and the most premium complexes in the city of Jaipur.

Jaipur : Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who returned from a 15-day visit to the US and London, today said she signed a path breaking agreement with Bill Gates Foundation during her tour to help tap the human resource in the state.

Terming her visit as highly successful, Raje said the highlight of her tour was her meeting with gates, who had recently retired from mainstream it business and plunged into fulltime social work along with wife Melinda.

Raje said she as per the agreement with Gates, a task force would be set up to bring about developments in health, education, women development and to generate more employment opportunities.

The agreement would help to make Rajasthan a frontline state, she said in an official statement. Senior representatives of Bill Gates Foundation and from Rajasthan government would be included in the task force.

JAIPUR: Hundreds of Shiv Sainiks on Wednesday held a demonstration protesting the Mumbai serial blasts and demanded the Centre to take stern measures to contain terrorism in metro cities.

The protestors, who gathered at the Collectorate here submitted a memorandum to the Collector, police said.

Seven synchronised blasts in suburban trains in Mumbai on Tuesday evening have killed at least 190 people and left another 625 injured.

Radio City launched its second station in Chennai in the second phase of FM licensing. Recently, it had launched a station in Hyderabad.

Radio City, which already had a station in Bangalore, is trying strengthen its network in South India with these two cities. The company has also won the bid for Coimbatore, where its station will be launched by March 2007.

Meanwhile, the company is readying to launch its station in Jaipur by the end of this month.

For the record, the licence bid for Chennai and Jaipur were won for Rs 8 crore and Rs 3 crore, respectively. For Coimbatore, Radio City was the highest bidder at Rs 6.73 crore.

The frequency for the Chennai station will be 105.8FM. It will beam Tamil programmes mostly, with two hours dedicated to English programming every day. The English programmes will be aired from 4pm to 5pm and from 10pm to 11pm.

Jaipur : Compressed biogas (CBG), an economical substitute for petrol and diesel based on cow dung, will soon be made available in here.

The Rajasthan Goseva Sangh (Rajasthan cow care centre) has installed the states first CBG bottling plant in its premises in Jaipur. Developed on the lines of compressed natural gas (CNG), CBG is made with the help of cow dung and could be used as a cheap fuel substitute for vehicles.

The Rs.1.2 million ($26,000) bottling plant is expected to be inaugurated within the next few weeks.

The plant is an experiment by the union government to provide a cheap substitute for petrol and diesel, said Dhirendra Bhandari, director of the Rajasthan Goseva Sangh, adding that it was the first biogas bottling plant in the state and the fourth in the country after Rajkot, Gorakhpur and Kanpur.