Sensex climbs 150 points

MUMBAI: After Monday’s steep fall, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rebounded by almost 150 points in early trade on fresh buying by funds and retail investors, triggered by rally in other Asian equity markets.

The Sensex, which plunged by 480.35 points in Monday's session, recovered by 150.43 points, or 1.57 per cent to 9,718.57 points in early trade with realty, IT and capital goods shares leading the rally in the first five minutes of trading.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange's Nifty also rose by 29.40 points, or 0.95 per cent to 3,007.5.

Stock brokers said emergence of buying by funds as well as retail investors, fueled by firming trends in other Asian bourses, helped stocks to recover on the domestic bourses.

The BSE IT sector index moved up by 1.99 per cent to 2,278.80 points as stocks like Infosys Technologies gained 2.25 per cent to Rs 1,327, Tata Consultancy Services by 2.29 per cent to Rs 534.70 and Wipro by 1.47 per cent to Rs 244.65.

Other gainers were Reliance Industries by 2.33 per cent to Rs 1,551, Reliance Infra by 2.98 per cent to Rs 517.40, RCom by 1.88 per cent to Rs 171, DLF Ltd by 2.05 per cent to Rs 168.05, Tata Steel by 4.26 per cent to Rs 204.50 and ACC by 1.25 per cent to Rs 572.

Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei was up by 1.80 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.5 per cent in early trade.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Sensex-climbs-150-points/articleshow/4337944.cms

BrahMos ready for induction: Army

NEW DELHI: The Army on Monday gave the green signal for the induction of the new version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, which has been developed to act as a precision-strike weapon in a "clustered urban environment''.

Army vice-chief Lt-Gen Noble Thamburaj said the third test of the 290-km-range BrahMos Block-II missile, the first test of which had failed on January 20, at Pokhran on Sunday had been analyzed to be "extremely successful''.

"Accuracy was the watchword. We had wanted them (BrahMos Aerospace) to include a new sensor in the missile. That is what these last three trials were all about. Because more than the naval version, in Army, we wanted the missile to distinguish between similar kind of targets in urban areas,'' he said.

"The process of induction will now start. After carrying out the three field trials, the Army is absolutely satisfied,'' he added, on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS).

Both Army and Navy are already inducting the BrahMos Block-I missiles. While Army has ordered two BrahMos regiments in the first phase at a cost of Rs 8,352 crore, with 134 missiles, 10 road-mobile autonomous launchers on 12x12 Tatra vehicles and four mobile command posts, the Navy has ordered 49 BrahMos firing units at a cost of Rs 711 crore.

Pointing out the importance of "firepower'' during combat, Lt-Gen Thamburaj said the missile's "accuracy, lethality and range'' made it "a deadly combination''.

The Army vice-chief said it was important to possess both short and long-range artillery weapon systems because the battlefield was "no longer linear''. "We got to apply our firepower on targets in depth with our special forces operating there during battle. So, longer range weapons give the commander greater flexibility,'' he added.

As reported earlier, the eventual plan of armed forces is to have nuclear-tipped land-attack cruise missiles with strike ranges in excess of 1,500 km.

Soruce:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Mittal threat to stop work on refinery

NEW DELHI, March 29 (PTI) : Steel czar Lakshmi N Mittal has threatened to stop work on the Rs 18,919-crore oil refinery project at Bhatinda in Punjab unless the state government restored fiscal incentives it took away a few years ago.Mittal is believed to have written to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his ‘personal’ intervention in the issue that has threatened the viability of the 9 million tons a year refinery project.Sources in the know of the development said Mittal earlier this month wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding fiscal concessions at par with what the Madhya Pradesh government has given to the Bharat Petroleum-promoted Bina refinery project.

Lt. Governor's and Governor's of States & Union Territories (India)

Shri Tejendra khanna
Lt. Governor of Delhi
Raj Niwas, Delhi-110054
Phone: 011-23975022, 011-23960809
Fax: 011-23937099

Dr. Shivinder Singh Sidhu
Governor of Goa
RaJ Niwas, Dona Paula, Goa 404 004
E-mail: gv.goa@nic.in
Phone: 0832-2453506, 2453507, 2453508
Fax: 0832-2453510


Shri Nawal Kishore Sharma
Governor of Gujarat
Raj Bhawan Sector-20, Gandhinagar-382020
Phone: 079-3243171/ 2/ 3

Dr. A. R. Kidwai
Governor of Haryana
Haryana Raj Bhawan, Chandigarh
Phone: 0172-2740654

Smt. Prabha Rau
Governor of Himachal Pradesh
Raj Bhawan, Himachal Pradesh, Shimla
Phone: 0177-2624840, 0177-2624451

Shri Narinder Nath Vohra
Governor of Jammu & Kashmir
Raj Bhawan Srinagar, Kashmir-180001
Phone: (Srinagar) 0194-2455320, 2452208

Shri Syed Sibtey Razi
Governor of Jharkhand
Raj Bhawan, Kanke Road, Ranchi
Phone: 0651-2283469, 0651-2283466
Fax: 0651-2201101


Shri Rameshwar Thakur
Governor of Karnataka
Raj Bhavan, Banglore - 560001
Phone: 080-2254101
Fax: 080-2258150

Source: www.sarkaritel.com

Lt. Governor's and Governor's of States & Union Territories (India)

Lt. Gen (Retd.) Bhopinder Singh, PVSM, AVSM
Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Andaman & Nicobar Island, Raj Niwas, Port Blair
E-mail; lg@and.nic.in
Phone: 03192-233333
Fax: 03192-230372


Sri Narayan Dutt Tiwari,
Governor of Andhra Pradesh
Raj Bhawan, Raj Bhawan Road, Hyderabad - 500 041
E-mail: governor@ap.nic.in
Phone: 040-23310521
Fax: 040-23312650


Chief Gen. (Retd.) Joginder Jaswant Singh
Governor of Arunachal Pradesh
Phone: 0360-2212394
Fax: 0360-2212442

Sri Shiv Charan Mathur
Governor of Assam
Raj Bhawan, Kharguli, Guwahati-7810041
Phone: 0361-2540500
Fax: 0361-2540310

Shri R. L. Bhatia
Governor of Bihar
Raj Bhawan, Patna - 800022, Bihar
Phone: 0612-2226207
Fax: 0612-2232868

Shri E.S.L. Narasimhan
Governor of Chhattisgarh
Raj Bhawan, Raipur
Phone: 0771-2331105
Fax: 0771-2331108

Source:sarkaritel.com

Kashmir on alert amid fears of militant incursion: Police chief

JAMMU, March 25: Areas in Jammu and Kashmir bordering Pakistan have been put on “highest alert” after reports that militants are getting together to penetrate into India ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, says the state’s police chief. Director General of Police Kuldeep Khuda said after a brief “deceptive lull”, Pakistan has restarted pushing infiltrators into the state. Security forces “have been asked to be on highest alert on the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border” after reports that militants are grouping to infiltrate to this side, Khuda told IANS in an interview.

He said Pakistan continued to support militancy and push terrorists into Kashmir though there had been a drop in infiltration and “terrorist activities after the Nov 26 Mumbai attacks”. “I don’t find a change in the attitude of Pakistan as far as terrorism is concerned. Also there are indications that it (Pakistan) might gradually raise the pitch as per (its) convenience,” Khuda said. “Pakistan resorted to cosmetic actions (after Mumbai attacks). But things reversed in no time,” the police chief added, referring to increased movement of militants in the Kashmir Valley, particularly in the border district of Kupwara.

RBI extends interest subsidy to exporters till Sep

New Delhi, Mar 25 (PTI) In order to give relief to exporters hit by the global financial crisis, the Reserve Bank today extended interest subsidy for them for six months up to September 30.
"It has been decided to extend the interest subvention of 2 per cent on export credit for a further period of six months i.E. From April 1, 2009 till September 30, 2009 (to labour- intensive sectors like gems and jewellery)...," RBI said in a notification.

The decision follows the announcement made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the interim budget that the scheme for providing concessional credit to exporters be extended till September 30.

The interest subsidy scheme was to end on March 31.

After posting a handsome growth of over 30 per cent in the first six months of the current fiscal, India's exports growth entered into negative zone and dipped by 12.1 per cent in October. Since then, exports are on down-slide and it dipped by an estimated 21 per cent in February.

The government has revised the exports target for 2008- 09 from USD 200 billion to USD 175 billion in view of slowdown in the global economy. PTI

India received USD 45-bn remittances in 2008: World Bank

Washington, Mar 25 (PTI) India received remittances to the tune of USD 45 billion in 2008, making it the top recipient ahead of neighbouring China, according to a World Bank report.

However, remittances would decline by five to eight per cent this year to USD 290 billion, World Bank's 'Migration and Development Brief' said.

India received USD 45 billion in remittances last year followed by China, which got USD 34 billion, the bank said in a statement.

The other nations to receive high remittances include Mexico (USD 26 billion), Philippines (USD 18 billion) and Poland (USD 11 billion).

"Remittances will fall to USD 290 billion in 2009, from the last year's high of USD 305 billion.

"Even with a drop of 5-8 per cent, remittances will still outstrip private capital flows, expected to fall by half in 2009, and official development aid, typically around USD 100 billion," the multilateral lending agency said.

According to the World Bank, remittances flowing to developing countries from Russia, South Africa, Malaysia and India are "especially vulnerable to the rolling economic crisis". PTI

Sensex climbs 166 pts in early trade on firm global cues

Mumbai, Mar 26 (PTI) Continuing its winning-streak for the fourth straight session, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today gathered another over 165 points in early trade on increased purchases by foreign funds, driven by firming global markets.

Covering-up of pending short positions in some blue-chip stocks, as today being the last session of current month's expiry in the derivatives segment, also supported the rise in stock prices.

The 30-share barometer, which had gained nearly 700 points in the past three sessions, moved up further by 165.64 to 9,833.54 points.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty climbed by 42.65 points, to 3,027.00 points in early trade.

Stock brokers said trading sentiment on the domestic markets got a boost after overnight rally on the US markets and firming trends on the other Asian bourses in early trade today.

They said, short-covering by speculators and expectations of further fall in inflation data, which is to be released later today, too, had a positive impact. PTI

India proposes five Jantar Mantars for world heritage status to UNESCO

NEW DELHI: Measuring time for the past three centuries, five Jantar Mantars in the country could add more feathers to their cap if UNESCO accepts India's proposal to accord World Heritage status to them.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has identified five astronomical observatories in Delhi, Jaipur, Varanasi, Ujjain and Mathura as significant heritage structures and has recommended to the UNESCO to declare them as World Heritage Sites in this year's serial nominations.

"The ASI has sent a proposal for a serial nomination of five Jantar Mantars in the country. The nominations form part of the tentative list sent to the UNESCO, which is the approving authority," ASI Deputy Director General B R Mani said.

He said the ASI has also mentioned about the five sites in the dossier which has been sent to the UNESCO.

Constructed between 1727 and 1734 by Maharajah Jai Singh II of Jaipur, the five astronomical observatories incorporate multiple buildings of unique form, each with a specialised function for astronomical measurement.

These structures with their striking combinations of geometric forms at large scale, have captivated the attention of architects, artists, and art historians worldwide.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Congress releases manifesto, projects Manmohan Singh as PM

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday released the party’s election manifesto here saying security, respect and prosperity of all citizens will be the party’s endeavour.


The party is projecting Manmohan Singh as the next prime minister of the country saying that there could be many candidates for the post but no one matched up to him.

Sonia ruled out the possibility of her becoming the party's prime ministerial candidate and said there was no change in her position taken in 2004 when she refused the top job.

"I had made my position (on the issue of PM's post) very clear in 2004 and there is no change in that position even now," Gandhi said when asked whether she will consider herself for prime ministership after the Lok Sabha polls.

"There can be many candidates for the post of prime minister but nobody stands in front of Manmohan Singh. He has both experience and competence," she added while releasing the party's manifesto here.

She said that the people would vote for the Congress keeping in mind the achievements of the UPA government in the last five years.

The Congress party said it would introduce measures to ensure that economic growth is maintained and protect farmers from the impact of a global slowdown.

It would extend interest relief to farmers and build on the national job guarantee scheme, both seen as potential vote winners in the general election to be held next month.

"When I look at the opportunities, I am convinced that this country can move forward on a road to faster, more equitable growth," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at the launch of the manifesto.

At the release of the party’s manifesto, the Prime Minister slammed BJP candidate Varun Gandhi for his communal remarks and said his comments represented the BJP’s mindset. He said the BJP was responsible for dividing the country on communal lines.

Manmohan Singh also accused the Left of being regressive. He said Left parties and BJP have "negative mindset" which cannot take the nation forward.

NDA and Third Front don't have the capacity to meet the challenges facing the nation, the PM said.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, however, remained mum on the issue, and refused to comment on the possibility of a post-poll alliance with the Left.

Referring to the Nov 26 Mumbai attacks, Manmohan Singh said, “I can't say we are fully satisfied with actions taken by Pakistan in connection with Mumbai attacks but no purpose will be served by creating war hysteria.”

“Pakistan must take next consequential steps to ensure perpetrators of Mumbai attacks are brought to justice,” he said.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Congress-projects-Manmohan-Singh-as-PM/articleshow/4309055.cms

Sensex ends 47 points up, surrenders sharp initial gains

Mumbai, Mar 24 (PTI) The Sensex, which was up by nearly 275 points in intra-day trade to more than a one-month high on firm global cues, cooled off after mid-session, still showing a rise of 47 points.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer opened firm and improved further to more than a one-month high of 9,699.00 on firm global cues as Wall Street yesterday surged nearly 7 per cent after the Obama administration detailed a plan to rid bank balance sheets of toxic assets.

Brokers said the markets across the globe seem to have welcomed a US public-private sector programme to help the ailing banking system recover from massive losses suffered in the US real estate meltdown.

However, profit-booking ahead of the expiry of March contracts on Thursday pulled it down to settle the day at 9,471.04, still exhibiting a rise of 47.02 points or 0.50 per cent over the previous close.

Yesterday, the Sensex registered its biggest single-day gain of 457.34 points in the current calendar year.

The broad-based 50-issue Nifty of the National Stock Exchange, however, ended flat at 2,938.70 from the last close of 2,939.90.

PTI

Home minister P Chidambaram slams BCCI

NEW DELHI: A day after Indian Premier League organisers decided to take the tournament out of India; home minister P Chidambaram on Monday said BCCI remarks regarding security issue for IPL are unwarranted.

IPL is a shrewd combination of cricket and business. There is no need to add politics into it, Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram assured cricket in India is totally safe.

In his statement he said, "As of today only three states and one union territory -- Andhar Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab and Chandigarh, have given their comment in writing.

Coming down heavily on Gujarat chief minister Narender Modi, the home minister said his (Modi's) statement was most provocative. He said that the Gujarat riots are a national shame, not IPL being moved out.

The Gujarat chief minister on Sunday blamed central govt for IPL's decision of moving out of the country. "Reputation of India as a safe country in the world has been shattered today by the attitude adopted by the central government on the security issues of IPL," Modi had said in a statement.

"It has sent a direct signal that Indian government is bogged down by the terrorists' threats. It will also send the message that India is an unsafe country," he had said.

P Chidambaram also criticised BJP leader and Delhi District Cricket Association president Arun Jaitley and said he has gone overboard with his comments.

Jaitley on Sunday had said that "the decision will send a negative message to the world that India is unable even to hold a domestic sporting event. What message will it send to the participants of the Commonwealth Games scheduled next year."

The BCCI had accused the government for pushing them to take decision of shifting the IPL out of the country. President of the BCCI, Shashank Manohar, blamed the governments of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh for the IPL being moved out of India.

"Because of the attitude of the government that they are not ready to spare security forces for the cricket tournament, we are forced to take the decision to move the event out of India," BCCI president Shashank Manohar had told a press conference. "I apologise to the people of India for moving the tournament out," Manohar added.

Faced with the prospect of having to hold a truncated tournament in May, the BCCI announced - after an emergency meeting in Mumbai on Sunday - that the league will now be held in England or South Africa.

The tournament will begin on April 10 and conclude on May 24, as scheduled earlier. Sources told TOI England was the first choice. With England Cricket Board CEO Giles Clarke saying ECB was willing to host IPL, "it's 99.99% England," a top BCCI official said.

Apart from ensuring that Indian fans would still be able to watch the event on primetime TV, England would also offer the advantage of the sizeable Indian diaspora providing a readymade audience at the stadiums. Besides, it would provide perfect practice for the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in England in June.

Sources blamed the anti-Pawar lobby within Congress for forcing the IPL impasse. They said Pawar tried to meet PM Manmohan Singh but in vain. Observers saw it as a move to cut Pawar to size due to the souring of Congress-NCP relations prior to elections.

Soruce:http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4304542.cms

Congress, NCP to contest LS polls together in Maharashtra

NEW DELHI: The Congress and NCP will contest Lok Sabha polls together in Maharashtra,Congress leader A K Antony said on Monday.


Congress gets 26 seats, NCP 22 as per the seat sharing agreement.

Sensex up 3.92 per cent on optimism over US stimulus packages

Mumbai, Mar 23 (PTI) The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex surged 3.92 per cent at midsession today touching a one-month high on optimism that the US stimulus measures would help stabilise markets and restore investor confidence.

The Sensex surged by 351.67 points to 9,318.35 at 1330 hrs with heavy-weight Reliance Industries rising 5.08 per cent to Rs 1,406.50, and financial stocks ICICI Bank and Housing Development Finance Corp too going up on improving sentiment in the sector.

The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty shot up by 109.95 points, or 3.92 per cent, to 2,817 at the same time, with stocks in sectors like metals, oil and gas, and banking recording handsome gains.

Futures on the US Standard & Poors 500 Index climbed 1.4 per cent. The US will outline regulatory changes this week aimed at avoiding a repeat of the financial crisis.

Crude oil advanced to its highest level in almost four months and copper jumped to its peak since November as the dollar dropped against the euro, bolstering demand for commodities as a hedge against inflation. PTI

Sensex ends below 9,000 in volatile trade

Mumbai, March 20: The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share Sensex closed below the 9,000 level even as the market bounced back from its intra-day lows on expectations of further relaxation in monetary policy by the Reserve Bank.The BSE barometer ended the day at 8,966.68, a net fall of 35.07 points or 0.39 per cent from its previous close.The market tested a low of 8,867.13 at the mid-session due to mixed trends in global markets.The National Stock Exchange’s 50-share Nifty, however, was flat at 2,807.05 from its last close of 2,807.15.

Sensex gains moderate ground to end above 9k level

MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Thursday ended above 9,000 points in almost a month by adding over 25 points amid economic worries and uncertainties related to the upcoming general elections.

The Sensex, which surged 1.2% in the early stage, pared gains to end with a small increase of 25.07 points at 9,001.75. It closed above the 9,000 point level for the first time after February 19.

In a similar fashion, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty regained the 2,800 point level by gaining 12.45 points to end at 2,807.15.

Marketmen said worries about the economy and uncertainties on the upcoming general elections kept investors cautious, with the lowest inflation in over three decades having little impact.

Trading sentiment was mixed as some gains were backed by a rally across Asia and Wall Street after the US Federal Reserve decided to inject one trillion dollars to revive the economy.

Marketmen said every rise in the market was encashed by profit sellers and reversed the rally.

Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 19 shares ended with gains while 10 lost, and one remained unaltered.

Soruce:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Sensex-gains-25pts-to-end-above-9000/articleshow/4287514.cms

World Bank to clear $2.6 bn loan for India soon

Date : Mar-16-2009 10:16

World Bank will soon clear a special loan package of $2.6 billion. Under the package, India Infrastructure Finance Company is expected to get $1.2 bn while SIDBI $400 mn and Power Grid Corporation $1 bn.

World Bank''s Economic Adviser (India) Giovanna Prennushi told that the Bank is in advanced stages of approving this package. Besides this, the World Bank is also working on a loan of $3 bn for the recapitalization of public sector banks. The World bank in December last year had decided to step up its exposure to India to $14 bn beginning 2009 from about $8.1 bn during the previous three years. In line with this, the bank till February this year has approved five projects in India with a total commitment of $1.34 bn. World Bank had sanctioned a loan of $400 mn earlier this year to Power Grid Corporation.

The intentions of the World Bank over increasing its exposure to the Indian infrastructure sector is in line with its thinking that such investments would help developing nations to tide over the global recession.

Sensex registers its highest gain in 2009, up by 413 pts

Mumbai, March 13: The benchmark Sensex registered its highest gain in the current calendar year, up by a whopping 412.86 points, on the back of all-round buying triggered by stronger global cues despite sustained capital outflows.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share Sensex opened firm and remained in positive terrain throughout the session to settle the day at 8,756.61, a rise of 4.95 per cent over the previous close.
Prior to this, the Sensex had gained by 492.28 points or 5.37 per cent on December 10, 2008.

The broad-based 50-issue Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also improved further by 101.80 points or 3.89 per cent to 2,719.25 from its last close.

Besides China and South Korea, other Asian indices ended in the green with a rise between 3.00 per cent and 5.62 per cent.

PM Manmohan Singh likely to meet Obama in London next month

WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to have his first meeting with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in London next month as the two countries move rapidly to take their relationship to a "new level".

New Delhi and Washington are also discussing the likelihood of a visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to India "in the near future," foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon said here.

"I hope that both (Obama and Singh) would be meeting. We are looking forward to that. It's an important conversation," he told reporters, wrapping up his four-day visit to the US.

Singh, who underwent a coronary by-pass surgery on January 24 and has since been recovering fast, will travel to London for the G-20 Summit on the global economic crisis on April 2 and discuss ways to meet the challenge.

"I think, we both (India and the US) are satisfied that we have achieved so much in this relationship. But we both want to do much more. That's why are taking it to a new level," Menon, who held talks with Clinton and senior state department officials on various issues during his visit, said.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

EC issues notice to Mulayam over 'cash distribution'

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Thursday slapped a notice on Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav for alleged distribution of cash by his party workers at a Holi function.

Taking cognisance of video footage telecast by television channels, the EC served a notice on the SP leader and sought a reply by March 14, an EC spokesman said.

Earlier, a report from Lucknow said that the EC has also sought a report from the district magistrate on the incident.

The news regarding distribution of money at a "Holi Milan" programme in Yadav's native Saifai in Etawah district was aired by some news channels.

According to the footage, Mulayam Singh's supporters distributed Rs 100 currency notes among a large number of people at the gathering, in his presence.

"It is apparent that the distribution of money in your presence has been made with a view to soliciting votes and support for yourself and your party," the statement said.

The model code of conduct provides that all parties and candidates shall avoid scrupulously all activities which are 'corrupt practices'.

Soruce:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/EC-issues-notice-to-Mulayam-over-cash-distribution-/articleshow/4256338.cms

Sensex climbs 215 points in opening trade

MUMBAI: The benchmark Sensex surged by a little over 215 points in early trade on heavy buying by funds following a strong rally in the global markets.

The Bombay Stock Exchange barometer, which had lost over 165.42 points to close at 40-month low in the previous session on Monday, spurted by 215.15 points, or 2.63 per cent, to 8,375.55 points.

All the sectoral indices, led by banking and metal stocks, were trading in the positive zone with gains up to 3.64 per cent.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange's Nifty rose by 59.70 points, or 2.32 per cent, to 2,632.85 points in opening trade.

Marketmen said fund-based buying in shares, specially in banking stocks, following a smart rally in US markets supported the positive trend on domestic markets.

Expectations of further dip in inflation, to be released by noon, also supported the rise in the stock prices.

US stocks on Wednesday ended marginally higher following a rally a day earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 3.91 points at 6,929.36 points after the index touched the 7,000-point psychological level.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Inflation falls to 2.43%

NEW DELHI: Inflation fell to more than a six-year low of 2.43% for the week ended February 28 against 3.03% in the previous week mainly on account of a fall in prices of manufactured products and some food items, justifying the RBI's rate cuts.

The wholesale price index stood at 6.21% during the corresponding week a year ago.

During the week, prices of steel ingots, batteries and nylon yarn declined.

Prices of maize, arhar and moong declined by one% each. However, prices of fuel remained unchanged at the previous week's level.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India-Business/Industrial-growth-turns-negative-in-Jan-contracts-by-05/articleshow/4254901.cms

World economy to shrink below zero: IMF chief

DAR ES SALAAM: The International Monetary Fund expects the global economy to shrink "below zero" in 2009, the head of the IMF said on Tuesday.

"Continued deleveraging by world financial institutions, combined with a collapse in consumer and business confidence is depressing domestic demand across the world," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told African leaders in the Tanzanian capital.

G20 finance ministers will meet in London this weekend to lay the groundwork for a summit of G20 leaders in early April. European Union finance ministers meet in Brussels on Tuesday, with the plight of Eastern European countries and the need to beef up the IMF's lending power high on the agenda.

A draft paper shows that EU finance ministers would back a call from the IMF to double its funds to $500 billion.

Soruce:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/World-economy-to-shrink-below-zero-IMF/articleshow/4249176.cms

Stocks open lower; Sterlite, Wipro drag

MUMBAI: Indian equities started the week on a negative note in line with its Asian peers. All sectoral indices opened in the red with consumer durables and technology stocks leading declines.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensex lost 87.90 points to 8237.92. National Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nifty fell 26 points to 2593.95 from Friday’s close.

Shares of Sterlite Industries edged lower after the company announced that it will pay $1.7 billion in cash and notes to buy bankrupt US copper miner Asarco LLC, lower than the $2.6 billion it offered last year. It has agreed with Asarco to pay $1.1 billion in cash, and $600 million in senior secured non-interest bearing promissory notes, to be paid over a period of nine years, for substantially all the operating assets of the US firm

Meanwhile, US stocks ended on a flat note on Friday, with the Dow and S&P rebounding late in the day to end higher as surging oil prices lifted energy stocks and offset a sell-off in technology shares on bets that the slowing economy will sap consumer spending on gadgets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.50 points, or 0.49%, to 6,626.94. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index inched up 0.12 percent, to 683.38. But the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 5.74 points, or 0.44%, to 1,293.85.

Asian markets declined led by banks on capital concerns. Nikkei fell 0.8%, Topix shed 1.42%, Hang Seng lost 1.28% and Straits Times lost 1.67%.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Gandhi memorabilia

Seller sets terms for Gandhi memorabilia NEW YORK, March 5 – Suspense today mounted over what strategy the US-based owner of Mahatma Gandhi’s personal belongings, set to go under hammer shortly, would adopt as he indicated that he may call off the auction if an agreement is reached with the Indian government on conditions set by him, reports PTI.

Sanjay Dutt moves SC seeking nod to contest elections

LUCKNOW: Actor Sanjay Dutt, who is all set to make his political debut from Lucknow as the Samajwadi Party candidate for Lok Sabha elections, has moved Supreme Court seeking a stay on his conviction under the Arms Act.

The SC stay is required to clear his path for contesting the elections.

Dutt’s petition will be mentioned on Friday in the apex court for early hearing. The petition was filed on Thursday morning.

Ace defence counsel V R Manohar, who represented the actor in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case, said few weeks ago: "His nomination will be rejected and he cannot contest unless the Supreme Court stays the conviction and suspends the sentence."

Dutt is out on merely on bail following his conviction in the blasts case. So his conviction stands.

There is another hitch. The apex court may be less likely to suspend Dutt's conviction and sentence pending his appeal because — despite his name being cleared of terror charges — it is the blasts case that he is connected with, say legal experts.

"Dutt's acquittal under the more stringent Tada may not be his ticket to contest if that and his release on bail are what he is banking on," Mumbai-based advocate Hitesh Jain, now representing an accused in the Malegaon blasts case, said.

While granting bail to the actor on November 27, 2007, the court had directed him to surrender his passport and asked him not to leave the country without its permission.

The Bollywood star, who was sentenced in July 2007, had spent 18 months in jail during the pendency of the trial.

The actor had in the first week of February got Supreme Court's permission to extend his foreign visit by two weeks to fulfil his commitments as United Nations' Goodwill Ambassador on malnutrition.

One near-parallel that comes to mind is cricketer-turned-politician Navjyot Singh Siddhu's case. He had to give up his Lok Sabha membership after the Punjab and Haryana High Court set aside his acquittal on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

He then appealed in the Supreme Court against his conviction and made a specific plea for staying his conviction to enable him to contest in the bypolls. The SC, just a day before the deadline for filing his nomination in 2006, stayed Siddhu's conviction in the road rage case and ensured that he could contest the Amritsar Lok Sabha bypoll.

What the law says

Under the Representation of the People Act, anyone sentenced to more than two years' imprisonment is barred from contesting elections till a court of law stays the conviction and sentence.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Sanjay-Dutt-seeks-SC-nod-to-fight-polls/articleshow/4226894.cms

All efforts on to get Gandhi items back: Govt

NEW DELHI: With the scheduled auction of Mahatma Gandhi’s items in New York just hours away, the government on Thursday said it is making all efforts to get the items back, TV reports say.

“PM called me up personally to say that we must ensure that Bapu’s items are brought back in the country,” Times Now quoted culture minister Ambika Soni as saying.

“Government is looking at all options on this issue,” Soni said.

However, it rejected the conditions set by the American auctioneer of Mahatma Gandhi's personal items for stopping the memorabilia from going under the hammer and said is was in touch with United States and international legal agencies to get the articles back, PTI reported.

"Gandhiji himself would not have agreed to conditions. The Government of India representing the sovereign people of this republic cannot enter into such agreements where it involves specific areas of allocation of resources," minister of state for external affairs Anand Sharma said.

The ministers' responses came after James Otis, the auctioneer, set conditions for withdrawing the items from the auction which included a "substantial" increase in India's budget spending on health care of the poor. The memorabilia is up for auction at Antiquorum Auctioneers in New York.

Sharma said he was sure that Otis is aware that New Delhi has policy initiatives with "historic" allocations of resources particularly for rural health programmes and the education of the poor besides other pro-poor schemes.

On Otis' demand that New Delhi help its embassies in promoting Gandhian ideals in 78 countries, Sharma told a television channel that New Delhi is already incorporating Gandhiji's vision.

James Otis, who gave Antiquorum auctioneers Gandhi's iconic watch, glasses, a plate, a bowl and a pair sandals for auction, has said he has also added a blood report of Gandhi from Irwin hospital in Delhi and a signed telegram he had sent to students congratulating them on their peaceful struggle.

The auctioneers had fixed the reserve price of the articles between USD 20,000 and 30,000 but unconfirmed reports say it might be raised when the items are auctioned.

Analysts say the ongoing media hype could sent the auction price sky rocketing. Should no deal be reached, the Indian government's repeated statements on its determination to acquire the items could give a major boost to the price.

It is uncertain as yet whether government would direct bid or try to acquire items through some Indian Americans or their organizations if the auction does take place. However, some of the Indian Americans suggest that the second course would be better to keep the bids in check.

The auctioneers have not yet made clear whether they would allow the media to watch the auction at which bids can be made in the room, online or telephone. But those intending to bid have to register before hand. The online bidding access is given only to those who are registered as such.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/All-efforts-on-to-get-Gandhi-items-back-Govt/articleshow/4228285.cms

Inflation fell 7 year low to 3.03%

Date : Mar-05-2009 15:00

Inflation slipped seven year low to 3.03 percent for the week ended February 21 as against 3.36 percent reported in the previous week. This fall was mainly due to lower prices of food items such as fruits, vegetables, tea and some manufactured items.

The annual inflation was at 3.36% in the week before and at 5.69% in the corresponding week last year.

Inflation data was released a day after RBI reduced key policy rates by 50 basis points signalling banks to cut down interest rates. The Central bank yesterday has cut the interest rates for the fifth time since October in order to revive the economy. The Repo rate is at an all time low of 5%, reverse repo is at 3.5% as of now.

Birla Sun Life MF introduces Discipline Advantage Plan for Income and Income Plus funds

Date : Mar-05-2009

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has introduces the Discipline Advantage Plan under Birla Sun Life Income Plus and Birla Sun Life Income Funds with effect from March 4, 2009. The investor under the Discipline Advantage Plan may systematically transfer his investments from the schemes to any of the eligible equity schemes like Birla Sun Life Frontline Equity Fund as well as Birla Sun Life Midcap Fund, Birla Sun Life Top 100 Fund, Birla Sun Life Equity Fund, Birla Sun Life Infrastructure Fund and Birla Sun Life Tax Relief'96.
The sum of transfer amounts as per the frequency opted or Rs 10,000 whichever is higher. In the weekly Transfer - 5 transfers for Rs 1000 each while in Fortnightly Transfer - 6 transfers for Rs 1000 each, Monthly Transfer - 6 transfer for Rs 1000 each and Quarterly Transfer- 4 transfers for Rs 2000 each. However, in the Weekly Transfer - transfers shall be on 1st as well as 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th of each month. For Fortnightly Transfer - 1st and 14th of each month and for the Monthly and Quarterly Transfer - transfer can be on 1st or 7th or 10th or 14th or 21st or 28th of every month/ quarters as applicable.

However, no entry load will be charged for the Discipline Advantage Plan while an exit load 2.50% will be charged for units redeemed/switched out to any scheme other than the eligible equity schemes within 2 years from the date of allotment.

Navin Chawla to take over as next CEC

NEW DELHI: Election Commissioner Navin Chawla will take over as the next Chief Election Commissioner on April 20, succeeding N Gopalaswami who will retire on that day.

Chawla, an IAS officer of the 1969 batch, will hold charge till July 29, 2010 when he will attain the age of 65 years.

"The President has approved the appointment of Navin Chawla as the Chief Election Commissioner with effect from April 20 on completion of the tenure of N Gopalaswami," a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said here today.

Chawla, who will be taking over in the midst of the five-phased Lok Sabha elections, will oversee four phases of the polls.

The elevation of Chawla, who was appointed as Election Commissioner on May 13,2005, comes after a controversy triggered by Gopalaswami's recommendation to the President for his removal from office for alleged "partisan" functioning.

Chawla has been elevated to CEC's post on the advice of the government which had rejected Gopalaswami's plea for his removal, saying there was no merit in the allegations against the election commissioner.

The Chief Election Commissioner, a Constitutional post, enjoys a term of six years or till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

Chawla has earlier served in various capacities in the government during his career, the last being secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. He has also served as secretary to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Chawla is a recipient of the Italian government's Mazzini Award, instituted in honour of writer Giuseppe Mazzini, for his contribution to promote ties between India and Italy.

After Gopalaswami's retirement, the government will have to appoint a third election commissioner.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Navin-Chawla-to-take-over-as-next-CEC/articleshow/4223521.cms

Chatwal, Indian Americans to bid for Gandhi memorabilia

NEW YORK: Leading Indian American hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal has said that he along with some of his friends of Indian-origin, will bid for the personal items of Mahatma Gandhi that go on auction here on Thursday.

Personal belongings of Gandhi -- his metal-rimmed glasses, pocket watch, a pair of sandals and a plate and bowl -- will come under the hammer at the auction house Antiquorum Auctioneers in New York.

Chatwal said he and other well wishers were ready to cough up upto a quarter of million dollars to acquire the items and then transfer them back to India.

"I would like to go even to a quarter of a million dollars, USD 300-400 thousand. This is not big money, especially when you want to buy it with among 8-10 friends and give it back to your country -- India," he said.

"Any Indian should buy it and the purpose is to buy and send it back home. The auction is online, on telephone and we of course will be physically present," he told a new channel.

Meanwhile Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Tushar Gandhi said in Mumbai that India should ensure that the items are brought back to where they belong, even as the Indian government asked its diplomats in the US to do everything that is required to bring the articles back.

"Stopping the auction is one thing but ensuring that what belongs to India comes back to India is a totally different ball game," he said.

I hope the government of India understands this difference and behaves in a manner where it will be guaranteed that those things would come back to India," Tushar said. He said what belongs to the father of the nation, necessarily belongs to India.

The US-based owner of Mahatma Gandhi's memorabilia has said that he will meet with Indian government officials on Wednesday to try to settle the issue.

James Otis said that he hopes the Indian government is "willing to offer something very generous to India's poorest in exchange for the donation of the items to the government."

Armed with the interim injunction order passed by Delhi High Court, India is approaching the US to prevent Mahatma Gandhi's personal belongings from going under the hammer.

"The Ministry of External Affairs is going to take up with the US State Department the issue with an aim of stalling the auction at Antiquorum Auctioneeer in New York," tourism and culture minister Ambika Soni said.

The Delhi High Court, moving on the appeal of Navjivan Trust, founded by the Mahatma, had yesterday stayed auctioning of Gandhiji's belongings.

Pleading that the US-based auction house, be restrained from putting the items under the hammer, the trust contended that these articles could not be sold as they belonged to India and were illegally taken away from this country.

Soruce:www.timesofindia.com

Sensex lacklustre; metals, realty up

MUMBAI: Indices were choppy on Wednesday due to lack of conviction in the traders after a steep fall in previous session. Metals, realty and FMCG stocks were in the green while banks and power underperformed.

“For today’s trade, bias continues to remain negative specifically for morning trade, however mild recovery later is highly probable as Nifty trades very close to its mentioned support range,” said Reliance money report.

At 12 pm, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 8436.22, up 8.93 points or 0.11 per cent. The 30-share index hit a low of 8376.28 and high of 8485.29.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 2630.05, up 8 points or 0.29 per cent. The index touched an intra-day low of 2611.95 and high of 2642 in trade so far.

“Volatility can be the order of the day; an intra-day downside could come in below the 2622 level while significant support at lower levels (2520) – would limit the downside. The outlook has turned negative again while resistance comes in at the 3040+ level and support comes in at the 2497 level,” said Asit C Mehta report.

Hindalco Industries (3.89%), Sterlite Industries (3.03%), Reliance Infrastructure (2.82%), ACC (2.34%) and Grasim Industries (2.13%) were the top Sensex gainers.

HDFC (-2.79%), ICICI Bank (-2.01%), BHEL (-1.52%), Sun Pharmaceuticals (-1.19%) and Reliance (-0.86 %) were the top losers.

Market breadth was negative on the BSE with 1147 declines and 848 advances.

US stocks fell in volatile trading Tuesday, with the S&P ending below 700 for the first time since October 1996 as concerns of recession weighed sentiments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.55 per cent, Standard & Poor's 500 Index 0.64 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index ended 0.14 per cent lower.

Asian stocks recovered from lows after declining for a straight third day. The Nikkei was up 0.85 per cent, Kospi moved up 3.29 per cent and Shanghai Composite gained 5.63 per cent.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Owner ready to donate Gandhi's belongings to India

NEW YORK: Describing himself as a great admirer of Mahatma Gandhi, the owner of his personal items that are going under the hammer said he is ready to give them to the Indian government for "free" if it decides to spend 5% of its GDP on poor.

James Otis, the owner of the Mahatma's items, said he plans to donate most of the money collected from the auction to "worthy causes" and institutions and groups working to promote Mahatma's ideals especially non violence.

Otis said he will "donate the items to the Indian government free if it decides to spend five per cent of GDP on the poor, who were very near to the heart of Gandhi, or announces some other scheme which would benefit them".

The statement of Otis came as several Indian-American leaders, including leading hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal, announced their intention to bid for the items and, if successful, hand them over to the Indian government.

It was not clear whether Otis would be able to get out the contract with auctioneers who get commission on the sale but he said an arrangement could be worked out between them.

Antiquorum Auctioneers' spokesperson was immediately not available for comment and an email sent did not elicit any response.

The auctioneers had valued Gandhi's belonging being auctioned at around $20,000 to 30,000 but the controversy could raise the price much higher.

Soruce:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Owner-ready-to-donate-Gandhis-items/articleshow/4216279.cms

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Indian economy to take a year to recover: Moody''s

Date : Mar-03-2009 10:56

The Indian economy is going to face tough times in 2009 despite the stimulus packages by the government and it would take at least a year''s time before it starts recovering, said the economists at Moody''s. Moody''s economy.com economist Sherman Chan told, I don''t think the stimulus is sufficient to start a recovery. The most it can do is to minimize the magnitude of a further slowdown... India will most likely start to recover in the March quarter (2010).

She also added that this year will be more difficult as compared to the previous year. She added, we probably won''t see a solid rebound until early 2010. The US needs to recover first. Then global economic activity will begin to pick up.

Markets fail to find direction.

Date : Mar-03-2009 14:36

The markets are witnessing some volatility today. There is lack of any direction in the markets. The significant selling pressure witnessed among the Consumer Durables, FMCG, IT and Pharma stocks. Also the mid-cap and the small-cap stocks are trading lower. The BSE Sensex is now trading below the 8,600 mark and the NSE Nifty is trading around the 2,670 mark.

The overall market breadth is negative as 965 stocks are advancing while 1316 stocks are declining in BSE.

Grasim Industries reported the top gainer from the BSE Sensex pack, as it is trading up by (4.36%) at Rs. 1,381.65. However, Tata Power reported the top loser down by (3.38%) at Rs. 687.65.

At 2.30PM BSE Sensex is at 8,581.46 down by 25.62 points and Nifty is at 2,670.20 down by 4.40 points.

The BSE Mid Cap is lower by 18.93 points at 2,682.05 and the BSE Small Cap decreased by 13.56 points to 3,035.72.

The Realty index is trading with gains of 13.24 points at 1,393.08. Gainers from this pack are Akruti City trading up by 3.50% at Rs888 along with DLF by 1.31% at Rs150.95, Unitech by 1.12% at Rs27.20,, Indiabull Real by 1.06% at Rs90.50, HDIL by 0.98% at Rs72.45, Mahindralife by 0.32% at Rs92.90.

The Oil and Gas index is trading up by 53.42 points at 5,939.39. Leading from this pack are BPCL trading higher by 3.01% at Rs388.40 followed by IOCL by 2.46% at Rs447.80, HPCL by 2.45% at Rs286.95, RNRL by 1.65% at Rs40.05, Reliance Inds by 1.51% at Rs1243.70, Aban Offshore by 1.29% at Rs297.50 and RPL by 1.13% at Rs76.

The most active shares on NSE are Unitech trading at Rs.27.35 with a total traded quantity of 21587918 shares followed by ICICI Bank trading at Rs.305.65 with a total traded quantity of 17797165 shares.

HCL Technologies is trading up by 2.28% at Rs96.40. The company announced signing a multi crore end to end IT services engagement covering the entire IT lifecycle from transformation to integration and operations management with National Insurance Company Ltd (NIC), one of the leading general insurance companies in India for a period of 7 years. The value of the contract is Rs 393 crore. During the seven-year engagement, HCL will be responsible for setting up and managing a new enterprise wide IT Landscape for NIC. This will cover business process re-engineering, application blueprinting and roll out of 19 applications, systems integration and management services across Data Centre, networks, security and helpdesk services spanning over 1,034 branches and 10,000 end-users across the country. This engagement also involves the physical hosting of the data centre and provisioning of Business Continuity services.

Sadbhav Engineering is trading lower by 2.91% at Rs285.40. The company led consortium- Sadbhav-Srei-Srei Sahaj has bagged build-operate-transfer road project worth Rs15.71bn. The consortium was awarded the project for the modernization and the computerization of the integrated border check posts at 22 locations in Maharashtra. This project will be on a Build Operate and Transfer basis in the name of joint venture known as ''Sadbhav - SREI- SREI Sahaj Consortium'' in the ratio of 51:39:10 respectively by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.

IVRCL is trading with gains of 0.19% at Rs105.35. The company has bagged orders worth Rs670.03 crores.

On the global markets front, the European markets are trading higher as FTSE 100 and DAX index are trading up by (1.07%) and (0.58%) respectively.

Fortis MF winds up Fortis Flexible Short Term Plan-Series B

Date : Mar-03-2009
Fortis Mutual Fund has ceased Fortis Flexible Short Term Plan-Series B with effect from February 27, 2009. The scheme has been ceased because it fell to fulfill the provision of the minimum investors of 20 in the schemes, as stated in Regulation 39 (2)(c) of Securities and Exchange Board of India Regulations, 1996. The fund house wound up carrying any business activities in respect of the scheme. In line with this, it has also ceased to issue units in the plan as well as to create or cancel units in the plan.

Fortis Flexible Short Term Plan-Series B was launched in May 2007 with an objective to seek to generate steady returns through investments made in a portfolio of fixed income securities.

Lok Sabha polls from April 16 to May 13

NEW DELHI: The much-awaited schedule for the Lok Sabha elections was announced on Monday afternoon, by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami.


The country will go to polls from April 16 to May 13. Counting of votes will be done on May 16 and the 15th Lok Sabha will be constituted by June two.

Polls will be conducted in 124 constituencies on April 16, 141 constituencies on April 23, 107 constituencies on April 30, 85 constituencies on May 7 and 86 constrituencies on May 13.

Five-phased polls will be held in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, Bihar will have four-phased elections, Maharashtra and West Bengal will witness three-phased polls, while Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Punjab will have elections in two phases, N Gopalaswami announced at a press conference.

Remaining 15 states and seven union territories will have one-day polling.

Treating Manipur as an exception, polls will be conducted in the state on April 22, considering April 23 is a local holiday there.

Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Orissa will simultaneously hold assembly polls.

On Sunday, the President rejected the controversial recommendation by the Chief Election Commissioner for the removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla. The President’s decision will now pave the way for Chawla’s elevation as CEC after Gopalaswami demits office on April 20.

The Election Commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami decided the dates of the general elections after completing consultation process with political leaders, home secretary and secretaries of key ministries.

Earlier in the day, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) led by Ajit Singh announced its entry into the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The RLD will have a poll pact with the main NDA constituent the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In a late development on Sunday, the Trinamool Congress formed an alliance with Congress in West Bengal to fight the Lok Sabha elections against the Left Front.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/LS-polls-in-5-phases-between-Apr-16-May-13/articleshow/4211369.cms

India to get first indigenous aircraft carrier by 2014

The first Indian-made aircraft carrier will be commissioned by 2014. The ship is being built at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) for the Indian Navy.

With this, India joins the elite club capable of designing and building aircraft carriers of 40,000 tonne. Designed by the Directorate of Naval Design, the carrier will be completed in two phases and can accommodate 30 aircraft. The ship will be 260 metre long and 60 metre wide.

Laying the keel for the first indigenous aircraft carrier last Saturday, defence Minister AK Antony said the second order might also be given to CSL when the first one is handed over to the Navy.

Construction work on the blocks of the ship commenced in November 2006. There will be take off and landing facilities for fighter aircraft like MIG-29 K and Indian-made light combat aircraft.

Stating that he was opposed to the privatisation move of the shipyard, Antony said the defence ministry had allotted Rs 200 crore for developing basic infrastructural facilities of the yard like cranes and workshop. During 2007-08, CSL registered a turnover of Rs 967 crore and earned a net profit of Rs 93 crore.

Naval Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta on the occasion said India had already built 90 warships indigenously and was building another 32 warships and six submarines at various shipyards.

Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T R Baalu inaugurated the small ship division complex (SSDC) and the paint coating shop at Cochin Shipyard. SSDC will enable CSL to take up concurrent construction of commercial ships along with war ships. The paint coating shop will enable blasting and painting in controlled atmospheric conditions.

Soruce:http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india-to-get-first-indigenous-aircraft-carrier-by-2014/00/03/350481/

लोकसभा चुनावों के लिए पांच फेज में डाले जाएंगे वोट, गिनती 16 मई को

नई दिल्ली।। निर्वाचन आयोग लोकसभा चुनावों के लिए तारीखों का ऐलान कर दिया है। चुनाव पांच चरणों में होंगे । पहले दौर का चुनाव 16 अप्रैल, दूसरा 23 अप्रैल, 30 अप्रैल, सात मई और आखिरी यानी पांचवें चरण में 13 मई को वोट पड़ेंगे। वोटों की गिनती 16 मई को होगी। जम्मू और कश्मीर और उत्तर प्रदेश। महाराष्ट्र बंगाल में तीन चरणों में और बिहार में चार फेज में वोट डाले जाएंगे।

आंध्र प्रदेश,असम, मध्य प्रदेश, झारखंड, पंजाब, मणिपुर, उड़ीसा में दो चरणों में वोट डाले जाएंगे। बाकी केंद्रशासित प्रदेशों में चुनाव एक दिन का होगा। मुख्य चुनाव आयुक्त एन. गोपालस्वामी के नेतृत्व में आयोग नेताओं, गृह सचिव और प्रमुख मंत्रालयों के सचिवों के साथ विचार-विमर्श के बाद प्रेस कॉन्फ्रेंस आम चुनाव की तारीखों की घोषणा की है। 16 अप्रैल को 124, 23 अप्रैल को 141, 30 अप्रैल को 107 सीटों, 7 मई को 85 और 13 मई को 86 सीटों पर वोट डाले जाएंगे। 543 संसदीय सीटों में 522 पर फोटो पहचान पत्र अनिवार्य है। एन.गोपालस्वामी के मुताबिक 543 सीटों में 499 पर चुनाव नए परिसीमन के आधार पर होगा।

इस साल 2 जून तक लोकसभा का गठन होना था। चुनाव में करीब चालीस लाख सिविल कर्मी और 21 लाख पुलिस बल और अर्धसैनिक बलों के जवान तैनात होंगे। इस बार करीब 71.4 करोड़ लोग इस बार लोकसभा चुनाव में वोट डालेंगे। चुनाव कार्यक्रम की घोषणा के साथ ही आचार संहिता लागू हो गई है। राजनैतिक पार्टियों में बीजेपी ने चुनाव कार्यक्रम पर खुशी जाहिर की है। पार्टी प्रवक्ता रविशंकर प्रसाद ने कहा है कि उनकी पार्टी चुनाव कार्यक्रम का स्वागत करती है।

Soruce:http://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4211189.cms

LTTE warns India over displaced Tamils

The LTTE is not pleased with India's demands for a safe passage of civilians from the trouble-torn region of Sri Lanka. LTTE is clear that the civilians caught in the turmoil must not be uprooted from their land.

In an e-mail interview to TV channel Times Now, the political head of LTTE - B Nadesan - has warned New Delhi to back-off. Nadesan has called the eviction of people from their homeland 'a monumental blunder'.

The LTTE calls this a calculated ploy by the Lankan government to uproot Tamils from their traditional habitat.

Nadesan writes: "I ask if the UN, or India, or any other country would ever promote uprooting and relocating the people of Gaza as a solution? And the Tamil people are expected to willingly rush to these barbed wired internment camps in these surrounding situations? Is this what UN, India and other nations are envisioning for Tamils? The human shield term is a propaganda used towards uprooting the Tamil people from their traditional habitat. The Tamil people have lived here for generations and want to continue living here and make a livelihood in these lands. The Sri Lankan Government, UN and other international community's statements that claim to seek the well being of Tamil people - in uprooting them to forcibly and put them in barbed wired military run camps is unprecedented."

Nadesan's outburst interestingly comes a day after external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee asked the Lankan government to accept the LTTE's ceasefire offer and arrange for safe passage of civilians. In his reaction to Mukherjee's call for Sri Lanka to make use of the LTTE offer for ceasefire and evacuate civilians, Nadesan has warned India not to fall for Sri Lanka’s promise of resettling Tamils.

"As India also continues express calls for safe passage of civilians and lukewarm calls for truce, these are seen as temporary measures and a blessing to continue the military onslaught on the Tamil Homelands by Colombo...

"India and UN will be in no position to ask Sri Lanka to adhere to these empty promises of resettlement in the future. Remember that the new uprooting is being proposed while thousands of Tamil people in Jaffna have been waiting for over a decade to be re-settled. Sri Lankan government has refused to adhere to the dignity, security and safety of even of Tamils who have been living in cities like Colombo for generations.

The Sri Lankan government promises to the international community of resettling Tamils will be broken at the same speed soon before the promised assistance funds are made available to the Sri Lankan government coffers that are already facing a crunch of foreign reserves due to vast military expenditures."

The LTTE has also, for the first time, condemned the UN for its latest report accusing the Tigers of forcibly holding people back. Nadesan said that the United Nations has given a recent report without any first hand information. The reality, he said, was that Tamil people do not want to move to UN and Sri Lankan refugee camps.

"The UN was already forced to abandon the Tamil people last year when the Sri Lankan government asked all the UN and NGO staff to leave Vanni last year, in order to carry on its war without witnesses. It is regrettable that the UN Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes was not provided a safe passage to come to Vanni and see the plight of the civilians first hand and see if they are being forcibly held. The people are staying here at their own will. They want peace and security right where they live and do not want to move into any UN and Sri Lanka government planned camps - internment camps, as described by the Human Rights Watch on Feb 20th."

While trying fiercely to safeguard their last territory of less than 100 square kilometres, LTTE’s staunch stand against moving out the almost two lakh civilians caught in the cross-fire between the Lankan army and the LTTE, could be seen as an excuse to hold back civilians. It could also be taken as a the direct message to India to stop believing that Sri Lanka could storm further passions in Tamil Nadu.

Soruce:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/LTTE-warns-India-on-displaced-Tamils/articleshow/4211286.cms

Growth in the fourth quarter to be much better: Kamal Nath

Date : Mar-02-2009 10:35
Though the economy is struggling with the global economic slowdown but the Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath is still confident that the growth of the country would pick up momentum in the last two months of this fiscal. Nath said "I believe the worst is over," by adding that the last two months of this fiscal would be much better in terms of growth.

Nath also said that the government was aware of the sluggish growth in the economy during the quarter ended December and that''s why the stimulus packages was announced. "We were seized... We did not know the figures but certainly we were seized that there is a sharp decline, that is why we did announce a stimulus package," said Nath adding that the measures have started yielding results.

The economy of India grew 5.3% for the quarter ended December from a year earlier, slowing from 7.6% in the previous quarter. The annual growth of India''s fiscal third quarter was lower than upwardly revised 8.9% annual expansion in the same quarter a year ago. The farm output in the December quarter fell an annual 2.2% as compared to a rise of 2.7% in September quarter. The manufacturing slipped an annual 0.2% in December quarter as against a growth of 5% in the September quarter. The construction grew 6.7% in December quarter as compared to 9.7% September quarter. The trade, hotels, transport and communication advanced 6.8% in December quarter vs 10.7% in September. The financing, insurance, real estate and business services gained 9.5% in Oct-Dec vs 9.2% in July-September.

Market deteriorated further on confidence crisis due to worsening US Slump.

Date : Mar-02-2009 13:33
The key benchmark indices traded weak due to confidence crisis in the market. The worsening US slump and continuous fall in Asian market provoked the worries for equity market. The expectation from RBI to pump in money into the market by reducing the key rates is still awaited. Moreover, according to biggies of equity market – the market will see some recovery from first quarter of 2010. Due to this, the investors are losing confidence in the market and are away from the market. Meanwhile, continuous selling from FIIs is also pulling the key indices lower.

On the sectoral front, traders off-loaded position across the sectors. Auto stocks advanced jumped after some auto firms announced jump in February 2009 vehicle sales. Baking stocks fell on fears of rising defaults in a weakening economy and on fall in ADRs. IT stocks fell on fears a weak global economy would cut the IT spending.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE, out of 2,233 stocks traded so far, 731 shares advanced while 1,405 shares declined. Nearly 97 shares are unchanged.

At 1.30PM, the BSE Sensex is trading lower by 223.66 points at 8,667.95 and NSE Nifty is down by 71.45 points at 2,692.20.

The BSE Mid Cap is trading lower by 32.59 points at 2,725.69 and Small cap is trading down by 29.17 points at 3,076.83.

Major losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Tata Steel plunged 6.21% to Rs. 161.65 along with ICICI Bank tumbled 4.37% to Rs. 313.75, HDFC Bank fell by 3.94% to Rs. 850.00, ONGC by 3.85% to Rs. 664.55, Reliance Infra by 3.29% to Rs. 474.45, TCS Ltd by 3.17% to Rs. 465.35, Reliance Communication by 3.02% to Rs. 150.75, ACC Ltd by 2.90% to Rs. 524.15, Hindustan Uniliver by 2.76% to Rs. 246.80, and Bharti Airtel by 2.61% to Rs. 620.05 among others.

Major gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Mhindra & Mahindra Ltd fell by 4.16% to Rs. 322.80 along with Tata Motors by 2.17% to Rs. 152.70, Maruti Suzuki by 1.44% to Rs. 687.35 and Ranbaxy Labs by 0.37% to Rs. 162.40.

The BSE Bankex index is lower by 138.19 points or 3.26% at 4,101.91. Stocks trading in red are Axis Bank by 4.50% to Rs. 332.30, ICICI Bank by 4.37% to Rs. 313.75, HDFC Bank by 3.94% to Rs. 850.00, Oriental Bank by 3.74% to Rs. 110.80, Punjab National Bank by 3.41% to Rs. 326.00 and Yes Bank by 3.31% to Rs. 49.60 among others.

Tata Steel fell 6.21% to Rs. 161.65 on profit selling after the stock rose over 7% in the past three trading sessions.

Edserv Softsystems trading at Rs. 139.55, a 132.58% premium to its issue price of Rs. 60 a share on its listing.

Fortis Healthcare jumped 5.16% to Rs. 68.30 after multiple block deals on BSE and NSE.

Reliance Industries fell 2.07% to Rs. 1,238.90 after the company set the swap ratio for merger of Reliance Petroluem slightly in favour of Reliance Petroleum.

TVS Motor Company rose 5.17% to Rs. 20.35 on reports the company has posted a 13% rise in its two-wheeler sales to 1,07,301 units in February 2009 over February 2008.

Hindustan Dorr Oliver rose 3.46% to Rs. 32.90 after the company won an engineering order worth Rs. 24 crore from HPCL-Mittal Energy.

Seamec Ltd fell 6.70% to Rs. 55.70 snapping a solid surge in the previous three trading sessions, on profit booking.

HMT jumped 10% to Rs. 31.90 on reports the company is one among 10 sick public sector units whom the government has allowed the unit to sell surplus land for raising resources to turnaround its balance sheet.

Aurobindo Pharma fell by 1.20% to Rs. 147.90 despite the company through its wholly owned subsidiary Aurobindo Pharma Australia Pty Ltd received it''s first approval from Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Government of Australia for the registration of Auro-Lisinopril 5, Auro-Lisinopril 10 and Auro-Lisinopril 20 tablets containing Lisinopril (as dihydrate) 5mg, 10mg and 20mg.

India, Nepal set to construct dam

NEW DELHI: Thirteen years after signing a treaty, India and Nepal are all set to establish Pancheshwar Development Authority for construction of the ambitious 6000 MW Pancheswar multi-purpose project on the Indo-Nepal border.

The project seeks to build a storage dam on the Mahakali river at the boundary of Uttarakhand and Nepal. Nearly 80 per cent of the catchment area for the project would be in India and the rest in Nepal.

"The Pancheshwar Development Authority will be set up jointly with the Government of Nepal for construction, operation and maintenance of the Pancheshwar project within a year," Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz said.

According to Soz, the authority will help decide the "operational details" for construction of the project.

The treaty on development of the Mahakali river, called Sarda in India, was signed between the two countries in February 1996, but came into force in June 1997.

The Pancheshwar project would also facilitate regulated release of water contributing to development of irrigation potential and control flood downstream.

There is also a proposal to construct a regulatory dam. While India wants to construct the regulatory dam at Purnagiri in Uttarakhand, Nepal is interested in building it at Rupaligarh so that relief and rehabilitation problems in that country is minimised

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/India-Nepal-set-to-construct-dam-/articleshow/4207898.cms

Suspected IM terrorist reveals Delhi, Mumbai blast plots: Report

: New Delhi, Feb 27: Sadiq Sheikh, an alleged operative of the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, has unravelled on camera the plotting of the October 2005 Delhi blasts as well as the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, a television news channel claimed on Friday.According to the channel, Sheikh, who is in the custody of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), revealed on camera the modus operandi of the pre-Diwali Delhi blasts on October 25, 2005, and the July 11, 2006 explosions in Mumbai that together claimed nearly 250 lives.“All five of us arranged local train passes for the first class compartments beforehand. We also had local train timetables with us so that we could find out the train as per our convenience,” the channel showed Sadiq as saying about the Mumbai explosions in a statement broadcast on Friday.“We purchased bags and pressure cookers in Mumbai. On the day of the blast, that is on July 11, 2006, all five of us assembled and we filled seven cookers with explosives. We kept the bombs ready. We had planned the bombs to blast at 6.30 pm,” he told the channel.Giving details of how the serial blasts were executed on Mumbai trains, Sadiq’s chilling confession continues.