2 min readJul 8, 2026 06:40 AM IST First published on: Jul 8, 2026 at 06:40 AM ISTWatched by thousands of misty-eyed people, the mortal remains of Jagjivan Ram were consigned to flames here in his native village as per his wish after a state funeral attended by President Zail Singh and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Among other mourners at the funeral were Bihar Governor P Venkatasubbaiah and CM Bindeshwari Dubey. Sixteen-year-old Anshul Avijit, son of Meira Kumar, MP, daughter of Jagjivan Ram, lit the funeral pyre at 5 pm amidst rendering of “Ram dhun” and chanting of Vedic hymns.Punjab boycotts Desai panelThe Punjab Chief Minister, S S Barnala, had a 90-minute meeting with Justice D A Desai and informed him formally that his cabinet had decided to boycott the Desai Commission. Therefore, he said, he was unable to present Punjab’s case before him.TULF leaders meet GPAdvertisementThe secretary-general of the Tamil United Liberation Front, A Amirthalingam, met the policy advisory committee chairman, G Parthasarathy, and the Minister of State for Administrative Reforms, P Chidambaram, to discuss the discrepancies in the latest Sri Lankan proposals sent to the TULF through the Government of India and Sri Lankan President J R Jayewardene’s statement at the June 25 conference of political parties in Colombo. Amirthalingam said after his meetings with Parthasarathy and Chidambaram, “We made our points clear to the Government of India.”Jagjivan Ram crematedFourteen people were killed and 23 injured when a tourist bus from Andhra Pradesh fell into a 60-metre-deep khud in Bherughat, near Manpur on the Bombay-Agra national highway. According to police, the injured were admitted to Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital in Indore. Hospital sources said the condition of three of the injured was serious. The bus belonged to Vijaykrishna Travel, Masulipatnam district in Andhra Pradesh.