Quicktakes — Appointments likely to be decentralised

VETERANS CLUB: Presendential aspirant T N Seshan called on West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to "seek his blessings" at Writer’s Building at Calcutta.

NEW DELHI, April 30: The government today approved a proposal to decentralise appointments and promotions in ministries and public sector undertakings by relieving the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet of decisions pertaining to those upto the rank of Deputy Secretary/Director. These appointments will now be made by the concerned adminsitrative ministries themselves, as will appointments of CMDs/MDs/Functional Directors in PSUs.

Terrorism blacklist

WASHINGTON: The US State Department today branded Iran and six other nations as state sponsors of terrorism, a decision that bars those countries from receiving aid and international financial assistance. Cuba, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria were also listed in the state department’s 1996 report on Global Trends in Terrorism.