Wednesday, September 30, 2009

5 Tibetans held outside Chinese Embassy for protest

STAFF WRITER 10:23 HRS IST

New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) Five Tibetans were today detained during a protest against 60 years of Chinese rule in Tibet in front of that country's embassy here.

Police picked up the five persons as soon as they assembled in front of the Chinese Embassy in the high-security Chanakyapuri area to lodge their protest, Additional Commissioner of Police Shankar Dass said.

Tibetan Youth Congress had organised the protest.

Earth quake kills at least 200 in West Indonesia

STAFF WRITER 8:48 HRS IST

Jakarta, Oct 1 (AP) A disaster management official says at least 200 people have been killed by the powerful earthquake that struck western Indonesia.

Priyadi Kardono, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, says the deaths were counted in the coastal Sumatran city of Padang, following yesterday's 7.6 magnitude quake.

A higher death toll is expected once officials tally casualties in other areas of West Sumatra province where communications and roads have been severed.

Kardono said today that about 500 buildings collapsed in Padang, a sprawling regional capital of 900,000 people.

A huge aid operation was under way.

9 from Delhi killed in Kerala boat capsize; one missing

Thu, Oct 1 09:23 AM

New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) Nine Delhiites including seven women were among 35 people killed in a boat capsize in Kerala, officials said today. Shruti whose parents --Pradeep Kumar Jain and Sandhya Jain-- died in the incident, is missing.

Shruti''s husband Bala Dut survived the mishap, they said. Officials had yesterday said that Shruti and Bala Dut had died in the incident.

The other deceased from the national capital include Partha Sharma, Harinder Singh Rawat, Arun Kaur and her daughter, Saliha, Sangeeta Sharma and Alka. Saliha''s husband Amit, who was also onboard the ill-fated boat, did not figure either in the list of dead or that of the survivours.

Out of the 32 deceased identified, nine each are from Tamil Nadu and Delhi, six from Bengal, four from Andhra Pradesh, three from Karnataka and one from Punjab. Thirty five bodies have so far been recovered after the boat capsized in Thekkady Lake in Kerala''s Idukki district officials said, adding, 40 others were rescued.

The boat, with about 80 passengers on board, mostly tourists from outside Kerala, sank after cruising five km from the boarding point from where it had set out around 4 pm yesterday. Helpline numbers set for further enquiry are -- 09446052361 and 04869222620 -- and Kerala House (Delhi) 011 23342320/30411500.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Bookings of AI domestic flights suspended till further notice

NEW DELHI:
NEW DELHI: Air India has suspended booking of tickets till further notice and decided to cancel a majority of its morning flights to cut down inconvenience caused to passengers by last minute cancellations in view of the ongoing agitation by the executive pilots.

"We have suspended the booking of tickets till further notice in order to save the passengers from inconvenience caused by the cancellations of flights due to the agitation," Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav told reporters here on Tuesday.

The airline has also decided to cancel a majority of its morning flights, he said.

The national carrier is trying to normalise its operations after a section pilots started reporting "sick" in protest against the 50 per cent cut in their productivity-linked incentives and payment of flying allowance.

On the number of pilots who have reported sick in the last three days, Jadhav said "a total of 180 executive pilots -- 109 of erstwhile Indian Airlines and 71 of erstwhile international carrier Air India -- have reported sick."

The cash-strapped national carrier is incurring losses of around Rs 12 crore daily due to cancellation of flights and fall in the number of bookings.

"The number of bookings have gone down from 32,000 to 14,000 per day and we are incurring losses of 30 per cent of out total revenue of Rs 40 crore everyday," Jadhav said.

Talks between the management and the striking executive pilots on Monday failed to break the deadlock over the issue of cut in perks.

The agitation by the pilots, who are protesting against the cut in the Productivity Linked Incentives (PIL), is likely to intensify as the executive pilots working with the airline before its merger also joined them.

The senior pilots of the cash-strapped national carrier have been reporting "sick " for their duties, since Saturday, in protest against the management's decision to cut their perks and also full payment of the due allowances.

Private airlines have been asked not to increase fare and tariff in view of the agitation by Air India executive pilots, said Civil Aviation Secretary Madhavan Nambiar

TOI

Friday, September 25, 2009

Sujatha Rao to be next Union Health Secretary

STAFF WRITER 12:30 HRS IST
New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) K Sujatha Rao, a 1974-batch IAS officer from Andhra Pradesh, will be the next Secretary in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Rao will replace Naresh Dayal, who will retire on September 30, an official release said today.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the name of Rao, who is at present Secretary and Director General of National AIDS Control Society

Chandrayaan-I mission was a complete success, says ISRO chairman

BANGALORE:
BANGALORE: Terming the finding of water on the Lunar surface a 'historic' one, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair on Friday said that the Chandrayaan-I mission was a complete success.

Addressing mediapersons here, Nair said: "The Chandrayaan mission performed wonderfully. Earlier, I said it had completed 95 per cent of its mission objectives. Today, I say it has done 110 per cent."

Confirming the presence of water on the Lunar surface, he said: "All over the world people are applauding the Chandrayaan's achievement. The discovery of water on the moon has been acknowledged as a significant discovery. The main aim of the Chandrayaan1 mission has been achieved."

On the collection of the data, he said that as the data is huge so it would take six months to three years before all of it is analysed and digested.

Speaking on the finding of water on the Lunar surface, Nair said that quantity of water on moon is more than what was expected. He added that the moon impact probe picked up strong signals of water.

"The water is not in form of sea, lake, not even as a drop. It is embedded in the surface in the minerals found there. However, the quantity of such molecules is much more than what we were expecting. It can extracted, but the quantity would be very less," he added.

Commenting on the presence of water on the moon, he said: "We are still wondering how water is present on the moon. But as per initial assessment, it seems that it is due to the solar winds and possibly meteors and asteroids that crash onto the moon surface."

However, he added that although there was a presence of water molecules doesn't mean the presence of life on the moon.

On the possibility of the establishment of a permanent lunar base, he further said that after the discovery of water, hopes for such a future endeavour have become more realistic.

Acknowledging NASA for collaboration in the discovery, he said: "We truly believe it is a pathbreaking finding. But this is just the beginning."

ET

Delhi-Noida metro trains to start running by end of 2009

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
New Delhi: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Friday said its Delhi-Noida section will be operational by the end of 2009.

"The metro on Yamuna Bank to Noida section is likely to start by the first week of December this year. The opening of the section depends on delivery of trains, which are likely to come by November," said E Sreedharan, managing director, DMRC

The 13.1 km elevated Yamuna Bank-Noida stretch, with 10 stations, will be an extension of the existing Dwarka Sector 9 to Yamuna Bank section. The stretch was scheduled to be opened June 2009.

DMRC Friday commissioned its new broad gauge train on the Central Secretariat-Jahangirpuri line.

Sreedharan said that DMRC's next priority will be to open the Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar section by December or January 2010.

The DMRC has procured metro coaches from Bombardier, a German company.

"We want no anxiety to be there with regard to safety of the Delhi metro and 11 cantilever pillars in the line are undergoing strengthening and are being double checked," said Sreedharan.

"Bombardier has gathered a team of foreign experts to assess the performance of the metro coaches before delivery. Of the 83 metro coaches procured from the company, nine have already arrived and the rest will come from the company's Baroda plant in Gujarat," he said.

The much awaited Noida corridor will be the first metro rail project connecting the NCR.

Once operational, it will be the longest line (58 km) of the Delhi metro, directly connecting Dwarka Sector 9 to Noida City Centre in Sector 32.

TOI

India's own probe also found water on moon: ISRO

Moon Impact Probe
BANGALORE: India's own Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on board the country's maiden lunar craft had discovered water on the moon, a finding confirmed by US space agency NASA's probe that was also aboard Chandrayaan-1, India's top space scientist G Madhavan Nair said here on Friday.

India's first lunar mission had made a "path-breaking and real discovery" by establishing the presence of water on the moon, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Nair said.

While expressing pride in the achievement, Nair added: "But the water is not in the form of sea or lake or puddle or drops. It is embedded on the surface in minerals and rocks."

Apart from India's MIP, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) of NASA on board Chandrayaan-1 confirmed the presence of water. The lunar mission had to be aborted Aug 30 after it lost radio contact with Earth.

According to Nair, the "quantity found is much larger than expected".

On whether water can be extracted, Nair said: "Yes, we can. But one tonne of soil may yield half a litre."

Nair said MIP picked up signals about the presence of water as it journeyed down to land on the moon surface.

"One of the main objectives of Chandrayaan-1 was to look for the presence of water. Our MIP confirmed it."

He said they had indications of the finding "way back in June", but waited all these days to make it public as they wanted the findings to come out in a scientific journal first.

"The volume of data collected from Chandrayaan-1 is phenomenal. It may take six months to three years to analyse it."

TOI

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Chandrayaan finds water on Moon's surface,

Moon mission Chandrayaan-1
NEW DELHI: India’s maiden Moon mission Chandrayaan-1 has found water on the lunar surfacebefore the project was aborted.

Credit for this much-awaited discovery goes to NASAs Moon Minerology Mapper (M3), one of the payloads on board Chandrayaan. The Rs 386-crore craft was launched on October 22 last year and terminated on August 30 following a communication failure. One of the mission’s main goals was to sniff for water.

NASA will hold a press conference to brief about the new scientific findings later in the day.

Earlier, neither ISRO nor NASA spoke about the discovery. A spokesman for Brown University had also declined comment, saying there was an embargo. "It will be a major announcement of a major discovery and is something great for Chandrayaan. It will mark a major leap for India’s space programme," he had said.

An Isro official at Sriharikota has also confirmed that a major announcement was expected on Thursday. "I too have heard something to that effect. Nothing more," he said.

The announcement could now trigger another round of Moon missions, and start serious hunt for life in outer space. India has not ruled out the possibility of a manned lunar flight
TOI

Mobile No Portability in metros, A circle by Dec 31

STAFF WRITER 15:36 HRS IST

New Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI) Mobile Number Portability will be implemented from December 31 in metros and category A service areas, and by 20th March, 2010, in rest of the country, telecom regulator TRAI said today.

The MNP facility will enable subscribers to retain their cell phone numbers even after changing service providers.

The government earlier this month had said implementation of MNP would be delayed by three months as regulations were still being made.

Issuing Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulations, 2009, TRAI said the MNP facility shall be available only within a given licensed service area.

A subscriber holding a mobile number is eligible to make a porting request only after 90 days of the date of activation of his mobile connection.

If a number is already ported once, the number can again be ported only after 90 days from the date of the previous porting.

World Bank approves USD 4.3-billion loan to India

STAFF WRITER 15:49 HRS IST
Washington, Sep 23 (PTI) The World Bank will provide USD 4.3-billion loan for 4 Indian projects, including USD 2 billion for recapitalisation of state-owned banks.

The assistance would "bolster infrastructure investments, enable public sector banks to expand credit and strengthen power transmission networks to meet the growing demand," said a World Bank release.

The four loans, approved by the World Bank's executive board yesterday, include USD 2 billion loan to enhance banks' capital, USD 1.2 billion loan to infrastructure financing company IIFCL, USD 1 billion to help address power deficiency, and USD 150 million to improve water supply in Andhra Pradesh.

Officials of the multilateral lending agency said the development policy loans have no conditions attached and would be disbursed in a single tranche after January 1, 2010, unless the Indian government prefers in installments.

Oceansat-2, 6 nanosats successfully placed in orbit

Vijay Karthik

Sriharikota (AP), Sept 23 (PTI) ISRO today placed in orbit seven satellites including Oceansat-2 within a span of 20 minutes, its first successful mission after the abrupt end of the ambitious Chandrayaan-I project.

At the end of the 51-hour countdown, the 44.4 meter tall four-stage PSLV-C14 blasted off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here with ignition of the core first stage and put the satellites in orbit one after another.

Scientists cheered as ISRO's workhorse, PSLV soared majestically into clear skies at 11.51 AM from the spaceport in the East Coast in Andhra Pradesh, about 100 km north of Chennai,with the launch watched by Vice President Hamid Ansari

Oceansat-2, the country's 16th remote sensing satellite, will identify potential fishing zones, sea state forecasting and coastal zone studies, besides providing inputs on weather forecasting and climate studies.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Should You Get A Swine Flu Shot? Definitely Maybe.

H1N1 virus

It's time to stock up on hand sanitizers and tissues; flu season is upon us. Every year in the U.S. more than 200,000 people are hospitalized and 36,000 die from flu-related complications. While it's too soon to tell how extensive this year's flu outbreak might be, there's a complicating factor this season: the H1N1 virus.

H1NI, known colloquially as "swine flu," started showing up in patients last spring. In June, the World Health Organization declared swine flu a pandemic. By late August, the agency said there were more than 210,000 cases of swine flu and at least 2,185 deaths worldwide. The WHO cautions, however, that these numbers may be grossly under-reported because hard-hit countries have quit counting individual cases.

Over the summer, a handful of large pharmaceutical companies including Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis began working on a vaccine. On Tuesday, Sept. 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Norvatis and Sanofi the green light to start producing their vaccine strains. Although vaccines won't be available to the public until mid-October, many people are currently contemplating whether or not they should get the H1N1 shot.

According to guidelines drafted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are five key populations that should be vaccinated against the H1N1 virus:

*Pregnant women

*People who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age

*Children and young people between the ages of 6 months and 24 years

*Health care workers and emergency medical service providers

*People between 25 and 64 years of age who have chronic medical disorders or compromised immune systems.

The above groups account for approximately 159 million Americans. The CDC urges these at-risk populations to get both the swine flu shot and the seasonal flu shot. (The regular flu shot doesn't protect against the H1N1 virus.) So what should the remaining half of the U.S. population do this flu season? The answer isn't clear, especially in light of the 1976 swine flu debacle.

In 1976, a 19-year-old Army private stationed in Fort Dix, N.J., died from the swine flu, while another 115 soldiers stationed there tested positive for swine flu antibodies. The CDC was called in to investigate, and its scientists concluded that the soldiers had a strain similar to the Spanish Influenza of 1918, which was responsible for the deadliest human pandemic of the 20th century. Although the virus hadn't spread beyond the fort, the CDC convinced then-president Gerald Ford's advisors that a mass inoculation was required. Pharmaceutical companies rushed to develop a vaccine.

By mid-October of 1976, approximately 40 million people had been vaccinated against swine flu and not long after, reports of serious side effects began to pour in. Within a couple of months, 25 people died from Guillain-Barré, a neuromuscular disorder that can result in paralysis or death, and an additional 500 were diagnosed with the condition. (Doctor's don't know what causes Guillain-Barré, but it can develop after a post-surgery infection or vaccination.)

Inoculations were halted, but the damage had already been done. The U.S. government was forced to pay out millions of dollars in liability claims, and the CDC's once sterling reputation was tarnished.

Today, while CDC spokesman Tom Skinner acknowledges the problems that plagued 1976 inoculation program, he says that this time around his agency and the FDA have taken extra steps to protect the public. "We have good surveillance monitors in place," he says, referring to the Vaccine Adverse Effect Reporting System (VAERS), a mechanism that allows the public to report and monitor adverse reactions to inoculations.

But Skinner's not expecting any major health risks associated with the current H1N1 vaccine. "We aren't expecting any side effects beyond what we normally see," he says. Typical side effects include soreness at the injection site and mild body aches.

But it's too early to tell if the vaccine is safe and effective, cautions Yanzhong Andrew Huang, an infectious disease specialist and director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University's Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations. "According to clinical trial results, Big Pharma has told us it is safe and effective, but we won't know the side effects until large groups of people have been vaccinated," says Huang.

He also contends that the current swine flu virus, while contagious, is relatively mild. "The virulence is basically the same as seasonal influenza," he says. And even if that's too much for some to risk catching, Huang says that getting an H1N1 shot might not provide full protection if the virus mutates. "We've been told that the second viral wave might be more lethal, and that would make the vaccine less effective," he says.

Huang, who is careful to note that he's not a medical doctor, says it's too early in the season to determine whether the risk of getting a swine flu shot outweighs the benefit. He does, however, think it's a good idea to get a seasonal flu shot. "I get one every year and plan to get one this year," he adds.

For the rest of us, the decision about whether or not to get the H1N1 vaccine should be made by consulting a physician. In the meantime, keep washing your hands.

Soruce:http://in.news.yahoo.com/240/20090922/1301/twl-6904103.html

IAF copters,ISRO images to be used against Naxals

STAFF WRITER 17:6 HRS IST

New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) The government will launch an offensive against the Naxals in various states later this year using IAF helicopters for movement of troops and satellite images to carry out surgical strikes.

As per plans, the operations would be led by the anti-Naxal force CoBRA in coordinations with state police and paramilitary forces CRPF, BSF and ITBP, a senior Home Ministry official said today.

The highlight of the operations will be participation of the Indian Air Force (IAF) which will provide helicopters for the movement of troops.

Another unique feature will be the role of ISRO for providing satellite images and National Technical Research Organisation to finetune the strategies.

The personnel of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), who have already being stationed in various areas, are now focusing on spreading their intelligence network.


ADB upgrades India's growth forecast to 6 per cent

STAFF WRITER 13:38 HRS IST

New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) Multilateral lending agency Asian Development Bank has revised upwards India's growth projection to 6 per cent for the current fiscal on account of rising business confidence but warned that inflationary pressure would continue.

"Emerging signs of a recovery in private business confidence and a continued large fiscal stimulus announced in the July 2009 budget helped bolster India's projected economic expansion to 6 per cent this year, upgraded from 5 per cent in March," ADB said in its on Asian Development Outlook 2009.

India, it added, would be able to clock 7 per cent growth rate during 2010-11. Country's growth rate slipped from 9 per cent to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09 on account of the impact of the global financial crisis.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

India, ASEAN to start talks on opening services trade soon

New Delhi, Sep 20: After signing a Free Trade Agreement that will eventually lead to duty-free commerce for bulk of the trade, India and the 10-nation ASEAN bloc are set to start talks for opening the crucial services sector.

“Negotiations for the free trade pact (between India and ASEAN) on services sector will begin soon,” Ambassador of Thailand Krit Kraichitti told. He, however, said given the complex nature of issues involved among India and 10 countries of Southeast Asia, it would take about two years for the negotiations to conclude. Services sector is of key interest to Indian economy as it contributes over 55 per cent to the GDP. It is also emerging as an important area for export earnings for the country. But the sector faces hurdles such as harsh domestic regulations, including those relating to visa, and the complex tax regime.

India seeks out Britain, France, Russia over NPT, CTBT

NEW DELHI, Sept 20: India is concerned about a proposed UN Security Council resolution urging countries to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and has contacted Britain, Russia and France to ensure that its nuclear deals are not be affected, National Security Advisor MK Narayanan said.

The UN draft resolution is spearheaded by the US and is likely to be passed this week when President Barack Obama chairs a special session of the Security Council. “We have talked to countries with whom we have entered into agreements, like France. We have also talked to the UK with whom we are negotiating an agreement. And I will be talking to Russia in a day or two,” Narayanan told the CNBC channel in an interview to be telecast on Monday.

Friday, September 18, 2009

US envoy meets PM

NEW DELHI, Sept 18: Ahead of the meeting between foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in New York this month, the US on Friday intensified pressure on Islamabad to ensure “swift and lengthy” punishment for six Mumbai terror attack suspects, including 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed the agenda for his state visit to Washington in November, the first by a foreign leader during the Obama administration. Roemer conveyed US President Barack Obama’s warm greetings and anticipation at seeing the prime minister in Pittsburgh for the G20 meeting and for the prime minister’s official state visit in November, said the US embassy in a statement. “The upcoming official state visit, the first by a foreign leader during the Obama administration, is a testament to the vital importance of the US-India strategic partnership in addressing our greatest global challenges,” Roemer stressed.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

India to avail $3.7 bn Japanese loan for rail project

Japanese loans for a rail freight corridor project

NEW DELHI: The Indian cabinet on Thursday approved availing of 177 billion rupees ($3.7 billion) of Japanese loans for a rail freight corridor project to connect northern and western industrial hubs, a minister said.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the long-term loan from Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) however comes with a precondition that prime contractor for the project would be Japanese firms.

The $5.4 billion freight corridor project is part of an infrastructure development plan involving an investment of $500 billion during the five-year period ending March 2012.

The cabinet decision comes a day after the railway ministry said it would not forcibly acquire land and review existing cases of such land seizures, especially from farmers.

ET

Govt takes no stand on gay sex, leaves it to SC

Govt takes no stand on gay sex, leaves it to SC

New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Shying away from taking any stand on gay sex, the government today virtually left it for the Supreme Court to decide on the "correctness" of the Delhi High Court order decriminalising homosexuality.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, considered the report of the three-member Group of Ministers formed on the issue and decided that Attorney General G Vahanvati will "assist" the Supreme Court on it.

"The Cabinet decided to ask the Attorney General to assist the Supreme Court in every way desired by it in arriving at an opinion on the correctness of the judgement of the High Court," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters.

To a volley of questions, she repeated the same formulation of her statement and said the Supreme Court can decide if the High Court was "right or not" in decriminalising gay sex.

Navy to launch 6500-tonne stealth destroyer tomorrow

6500-tonne stealth destroyer
Mumbai, Sept 17 (PTI) The Navy is all set to launch a stealth destroyer capable of carrying nuclear warheads here tomorrow.

The 6,500-tonne warship INS Kochi was indigenously built by Mumbai-based Mazagon Dock Ltd and designed by the Directorate of Naval Design. It will add to the existing Delhi class fleet comprising INS Delhi, INS Mysore and INS Mumbai, according to a press release.

In keeping with the tradition, the warship will be launched by Madhulika Verma, the wife of Naval chief Admiral Nirmal Verma.

INS Kochi has advanced stealth features that make it less vulnerable to detection by enemy radar. Its weapons system include the nuclear capable supersonic BrahMos surface-to-surface missile and Long Range Surface-to-Air missiles, the release said.

It also has Multi-Function Radar System for acquiring data on surface and air targets.

History of Naxalism

HT

Telangana Struggle: By July 1948, 2,500 villages in the south were organised into 'communes' as part of a peasant movement which came to be known as Telangana Struggle. Simultaneously the famous Andhra Thesis for the first time demanded that 'Indian revolution' follow the Chinese path of protracted people's war. In June 1948, a leftist ideological document 'Andhra Letter' laid down a revolutionary strategy based on Mao Tsetung's New Democracy.

1964
CPM splits from united CPI and decides to participate in elections, postponing armed struggle over revolutionary policies to a day when revolutionary situation prevailed in the country.

1965-66
Communist leader Charu Majumdar wrote various articles based on Marx-Lenin-Mao thought during the period, which later came to be known as 'Historic Eight Documents' and formed the basis of naxalite movement.
· First civil liberties organisation was formed with Telugu poet Sri Sri as president following mass arrests of communists during Indo-China war.

1967
CPM participates in polls and forms a coalition United Front government in West Bengal with Bangla Congress. This leads to schism in the party with younger cadres, including the "visionary" Charu Majumdar, accusing CPM of betraying the revolution.

Naxalbari Uprising (25th May): The rebel cadres led by Charu Majumdar launch a peasants' uprising at Naxalbari in Darjeeling district of West Bengal after a tribal youth, who had a judicial order to plough his land, was attacked by "goons" of local landlords on March 2. Tribals retaliated and started forcefully capturing back their lands. The CPI (M)-led United Front government cracked down on the uprising and in 72 days of the "rebellion" a police sub-inspector and nine tribals were killed. The Congress govt at the Centre supported the crackdown. The incident echoed throughout India and naxalism was born.

• The ideology of naxalism soon assumed larger dimension and entire state units of CPI (M) in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and some sections in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh joined the struggle.

July-Nov: Revolutionary communist organs 'Liberation'and 'Deshbrati' (Bengali) besides 'Lokyudh' (Hindi) were started.
Nov 12-13: Comrades from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Orissa and West Bengal met and set up All India Coordination Committee of Revolutionaries (AICCR) in the CPI (M).

1968

May 14: AICCR renamed All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) with Comrade S Roy Chowdhury as its convenor. The renamed body decides to boycott elections. Within AICCCR certain fundamental differences lead to the exclusion of a section of Andhra comrades led by Comrade T Nagi Reddy.

1969

April 22: As per the AICCCR's February decision, a new party CPI (ML) was launched on the birth anniversary of Lenin. Charu Majumdar was elected as the Secretary of Central Organising Committee. AICCR dissolved itself.
May 1: Declaration of the party formation by Comrade Kanu Sanyal at a massive meeting on Shahid Minar ground, Calcutta. CPI (M) tries to disrupt the meeting resulting in armed clash between CPI (M) and CPI (ML) cadres for the first time.

• By this time primary guerrilla zone appear at Debra-gopiballavpur (WB), Musal in Bihar, Lakhimpur Kheri in UP and most importantly Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh.
May 26-27: Andhra police kill Comrade Panchadri Krishnamurty and six other revolutionaries during a crackdown on Srikakulam struggle in Andhra Pradesh sparking wide protests.
Oct 20: Maoist Communist Centre was formed under Kanhai Chatterjee's leadership. It had supported Naxalbari struggle but did not join CPI (ML) because of some tactical difference and on the question of the method of party formation.

1970

April 27: Premises of Deshabrati Prakashan, which published Liberation and its sister journals, were raided. CPI (ML) goes underground.
May 11: The first CPI (ML) congress is held in Calcutta under strict underground conditions. Comrade Charu Majumdar is elected the party general secretary.
July 10: Comrades Vempatapu Satyanarayana and Adibatla Kailasam, leaders of Srikakulam uprising are killed in police encounter during the crackdown. Comrade Appu, founder of the Party in Tamil Nadu was also killed around September-October. The Srikakulam movement in continued in Andhra Pradesh till 1975.

• Leading lights of literary world of Telugu like Sri Sri, R V Shastri, Khtuba Rao K V Ramana Reddy, Cherabanda Raju Varavara Rao, C Vijaylakshmi with others joined hands to form VIRASAM (Viplava Rachayithala Sangam) or Revolutionary Writers Association (RWA).

• Artistes from Hyderabad inspired by Srikakulam struggle and the songs of Subharao Panigrahi form a group -- Art Lovers - comprising the famous film producer Narasinga Rao and the now legendary Gaddar.

1971

In the background of Bangladesh war, the Army tries to crush the ultra-left movement in West Bengal. Uprising in Birbhum marks the high point of this year.

• Art Lovers change its name to Jana Natya Mandali (JNM) late this year. It joins Communists and start propagating revolutionary ideas through its songs, dances and plays. It functioned legally till 1984.

1972

July: Charu Majumdar is arrested in Calcutta on July 16. He dies in Lal Bazar police lock-up on July 28. Revolutionary struggle suffers serious debacle. CPI (ML)'s central authority collapses.

August: 'Pilupu' (The Call), a political magazine was launched in Andhra Pradesh.
• Kondapalli Seetharamaiah reorganises the AP State Committee of Communist Revolutionaries following killing or arrest of the 12-member AP State Committee.

1973
Fresh guerrilla struggles backed by mass activism emerge in parts of central Bihar and Telangana, now a part of Andhra Pradesh.

1974

July 28: The Central Organising Committee of CPI (ML) was reconstituted at Durgapur meeting in West Bengal. Comrade Jauhar (Subrata Dutt) was elected general secretary. Jauhar reorganises CPI (ML) and renames it as CPI (ML) Liberation.

March: Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLP) was formed again with Sri Sri as president.

August: Andhra Pradesh state committee was reconstituted with Kondapalli Seetharamaiah representing Telangana region, Appalasuri (coastal AP) and Mahadevan (Rayalseema).

October 12: Radical students union was formed in Andhra Pradesh. It faced brutal suppression but surged again after emergency was lifted.

1975

Following declaration of emergency on June 25 and the following repression on ultra-leftists and others, the Central Organising Committee in its September meeting decided to withdraw a "common self-critical review" and instead produce a tactical line 'Road to Revolution'. But it did not unity among the cadres. Armed struggles were reported from Bhojpur and Naxalbari.

1976

CPI (ML) holds its second Congress on February 26-27 in the countryside of Gaya, in Bihar. It resolves to continue with armed guerilla struggles and work for an anti-Congress United Front.

1977

Amidst an upsurge of ultra-leftists' armed actions and mass activism, CPI (ML) decides to launch a rectification campaign. The party organisation spreads to AP and Kerala.

February: Revolutionaries organise Telangana Regional Conference in Andhra Pradesh and seeds of a peasant movement are sown in Karimnagar and Adilabad districts of the state. The conference decided to hold political classes to train new cadres and to send "squads" into forest for launching armed struggle. Eight districts of Telangana, excluding Hyderabad, were divided into two regions and two regional committees were elected.

May: Bihar and West Bengal representatives of Central Organising Committee resign at a meeting. Andhra Pradesh representative fails to attend the meet due to the arrest of Kondapalli Seetharamaiah. The Central Organising Committee is dissolved.

1978

Rectification movements (CPI ML and fragments) limits pure military viewpoint and stresses mass peasant struggles to Indianise the Marxism-Leninism and Mao thought.
• CPI (ML) (Unity Organisation) is formed in Bihar under N Prasad's leadership (focusing on Jehanabad-Palamu of Bihar). A peasant organisation - the Mazdoor Kisan Sangram Samiti (MKSS) is formed.

• 'Go To Village Campaigns' are launched by Andhra Pradesh Party of revolutionaries to propagate politics of agrarian revolution and building of Radical Youth League units in Andhra Pradesh villages. It later helped in triggering historic peasant struggles of Karimnagar and Adilabad.

Sept 7: The famous Jagityal march is organised in Andhra Pradesh, in which thousands of people take part.

Oct 20: Andhra Government declares Sarcilla and Jagityal 'disturbed areas' giving police "draconian" powers.

1979

From April to June, Village Campaign was for the first time organised jointly by RSU and RYL in Andhra Pradesh. The two organisations also expressed solidarity with National Movement of Assam.

Between 1979 to 1988, MCC focused on Bihar. A Bihar-Bengal Special Area Committee was established. The Preparatory Committee for Revolutionary Peasant Struggles was formed and soon Revolutionary Peasant Councils emerged. Two founding members of MCC passed away-Amulya Sen in March 1981 and Kanhai Chatterjee in July 1982.

1980

April 22: Kondapalli Seetharamaiah forms the Peoples War Group in Andhra Pradesh. He discards total annihilation of "class enemies" as the only form of struggle and stresses on floating mass organisations.

• Mass peasant movement spreads in Central Bihar.

• CPI (ML) puts forward the idea of broad Democratic Front as the national alternative. It was part of a process to reorganise a centre for All-India revolution after it ceased to exist in 1972.

• The central committee was formed by merging AP and Tamil Nadu State Committees and Maharashtra group of the CPI (ML). Unity Organisation did not join. The tactical adopted by the committee upheld the legacy of Naxalbari while agreeing for rectifying the "left" errors.

• CPI (ML) Red Flag is formed led by K N Ramachandran.

1981

CPI (ML) organises a unity meet of 13 Marxist-Leninist factions in a bid to form a single formation to act as the leading core of the proposed Democratic Front. However, the unity moved failed. The M-L movement begins to polarise between the Marxist-Leninist line of CPI (ML) (Liberation) and the line of CPI (ML) (People's War).
• First state level rally is held in Patna under the banner of Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha beginning a new phase of mass political activism in the state.

1982
Indian People's Front (IPF) is launched in Delhi at a national conference of CPI (ML) (Liberation). At the end of the year the third Congress of CPI (ML) is organised at Giridih (Bihar), which decides to take part in elections.

1983
Peasant movement in Assam shows signs of revival after allegedly "forced" Assembly elections. IPF plays a crucial role in this regard.
• An all-India dalit conference is held in Amravati (Maharashtra) to facilitate interaction with Ambedkarite groups.

1984
CPI (ML) and other revolutionaries try to woo Sikhs towards joining peasant movement following Operation Bluestar in June and country-wide anti-Sikh riots after Indira Gandhi's assassination in Oct 31 the same year.

1985
People's Democratic Front is launched in Karbi Anglong district of Assam to provide a "revolutionary democratic orientation to the tribal people's aspirations for autonomy".
• PDF wins a seat in Assam Assembly elections bring about the first entry of CPI (ML) cadre in the legislative arena.
• Jan Sanskriti Manch is formed at a conference of cultural activists from Hindi belt at New Delhi.

1986

• Bihar govt bans PWG and MCC
April 5-7: CPI (ML) organises a national women's convention in Calcutta to promote cooperation and critical interaction between communist women's organisations and upcoming feminist and autonomous women's groups.
April 19: More than a dozen "landless labourers" are killed in police firing at Arwal in Jehanabad district of Bihar.

1987
PDF gets transformed into the Autonomous State Demand Committee.

1988
CPI (ML) holds its fourth Congress at Hazaribagh in Bihar from January 1 to 5. The Congress "rectifies" old errors of judgement in the party's assessment of Soviet Union. It reiterates the basic principles of revolutionary communism - defence of Marxism, absolute political independence of the Communist Party and primacy of revolutionary peasant struggles in democratic revolution.
• CPI (ML) ND is formed in Bihar by Comrade Yatendra Kumar.

1989

May: The founding conference of All India Central Council of Trade Union (AICCTU) is held in Madras. Key resolutions are passed at this meet.
November: More than a dozen "left supporters" are shot dead by landlords in Ara Lok Sabha constituency of Bhojpur district in Bihar on the eve of polls.
• CPI (ML) (Liberation) records its first electoral victory under Indian People's Front banner. Ara sends the first "Naxalite" member to Parliament.

1990

In February Assembly election, IPF wins seven seats and finishes second in another fourteen. In Assam too, a four-member ASDC legislators' group enters the Assembly. Special all-India Conference is held in Delhi on July 22-24 to restructure the party.
August 9-11: All India Students Association (AISA) is launched at Allahabad. It opposes VP Singh's implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations.
Oct 8: First all-India IPF rally is held in Delhi. CPI (ML) (Liberation) claims it to be the first-ever massive mobilisation of rural poor in the capital.
• CPI (ML) S R Bhaijee group and CPI (ML) Unity Initiative are formed in Bihar. The former is still active in east and west Champaran.
• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chenna Reddy lifts all curbs on naxal groups. Naxalites operate freely for about a year but observers say it corrupted them and adversely affected the movement.

1991
In the May Lok Sabha elections, Indian People's Front loses Ara seat but CPI (ML) retains its presence in Parliament through ASDC MP.

1992

• Andhra Pradesh bans People's War Group
• CPI(ML) reorganises the erstwhile Janwadi Mazdoor Kisan Samiti in South Bihar as Jharkhand Mazdoor Kisan Samiti (Jhamkis).

May 21: Chief Minister N Janardhan Reddy bans PWG and its seven front organisations again in Andhra Pradesh.
Dec 20-26: CPI (ML) organises its fifth Congress at Calcutta from Dec 20 to 26. CPI (ML) comes out in the open and calls for a Left confederation.

1993

• AISA registers impressive victories in Allahabad, Varanasi and Nainital university elections in Uttar Pradesh besides in the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
• CPI (ML) launches a new forum for Muslims called 'Inquilabi Muslim Conference' in Bihar.

1994

February: All India Progressive Women's Association is launched at national women's conference at New Delhi.
• Indian People's Front is dissolved and fresh attempts are initiated to forge a united front of various sections of Leftists and Socialists with an anti-imperialist agenda.
• Interactions among various Communists and Left parties intensify in India and abroad to revive the movement drawing lessons from Soviet collapse.

1995

• A six-member CPI (ML) group is formed in Bihar Assembly. Two CPI (ML) nominees win from Siwan indicating the expansion of party's influence in north Bihar.
May: N T Ramarao relaxes ban on Peoples War Group in Andhra Pradesh for three months. PWG goes in for massive recruitment drive in the state.
July: CPI (ML) organises All India Organisation Plenum at Diphu to streamline party's organisational network.

• Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) is launched as an all-India organisation of the radical youth.

1996

• Five members of ASDC make it to Assam assembly. An ASDC member is re-elected to Lok Sabha. Another ASDC member is elected to Rajya Sabha. ASDC retains its majority in Karbi Anglong District Council and also unseats the Congress in the neighbouring North Cachhar Hills district in Assam.
• CPI(ML) takes initiative to form a Tribal People's Front and then Assam People's Front
• CPI (ML) joins hands with CPI and Marxist Coordination Committee led by Comrade A Roy to strengthen Left movement.
• CPI (ML) initiates the Indian Institute of Marxist Studies. Armed clashes between ultra-leftists and upper caste private armies (like Ranvir Sena) escalate in Bihar.
• The Progressive Organisation of People, affiliated to revolutionary left movement, launches a temple entry movement for lower castes in Gudipadu near Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. It emerges successful.

1997

CPI (ML) organises a massive 'Halla Bol' rally in Patna. A left supported Bihar bandh is organised as part of "Oust Laloo Campaign" in view of the Rs 950-crore fodder scam.

1999

• CPI (ML) Party Unity merges with Peoples War.
• Naxalites launch major strikes. CPI (ML) PW kills six in Jehanabad on February 14. MCC kills 34 upper caste in Senai village of Jehanabad.
Dec 2: Three top PWG leaders killed in Andhra Pradesh leading to a large scale brutal naxalite attacks on state forces.
Dec 16: PWG hacks to death Madhya Pradesh Transport Minister Likhiram Kavre in his village in Blalaghat district to avenge the killing of three top PWG leaders in police encounter on Dec 2.

2000

• PWG continues with its revenge attacks. Blasts house of ruling Telugu Desam Party MP G Sukhender Reddy in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh in January. In February it blows up a Madhya Pradesh police vehicle killing 23 cops, including an ASP. It destroys property worth Rs 5 crore besides killing 10 persons in AP in the same month.
Dec 2: PWG launches People's Guerrilla Army (PGA) to counter security forces offensive.

2001

April: CPI (ML) celebrates 32nd anniversary of its foundation in Patna on April 22 and gives a call to rekindle 'revolutionary spirit of naxalism'.

July: Naxalite groups all over South Asia form a Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA) which is said to be first such an international coalition. PWG and MCC are part of it.

• As per the Intelligence reports, MCC and PWG establish links with LTTE, Nepali Maoists and Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence to receive arms and training. Naxalites bid to carve out a corridor through some areas of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh up to Nepal.

Nov: MCC organises a violent Jharkhand Bandh on Nov 26.

Dec: Naxalites, mainly in AP, Orissa and Bihar celebrate People's Guerilla Week hailing the formation of PGA on Dec 2. The week unfolds major violence in the three states during which a plant of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and the house of an Orissa minister is blown up.


HT

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Markets opened higher, NSE Nifty closer to 5000 mark

Markets opened higher, NSE Nifty closer to 5000 mark
Date : Sep-17-2009 10:39

The markets opened higher today amid positive cues from the global markets with the NSE Nifty inching closer to the 5000 mark. The broader market indices also gained momentum in the early trade as both the BSE Mid Cap and the BSE Small Cap indices are now trading with a gain of around 0.5% each. Almost all the sectorial indices are now trading in green in the opening trade mainly led by the Consumer Durables, Banking, IT and Capital Goods stocks. While the oil & gas index is now trading with a cut of around 1.5%.

At 10.32 IST, the BSE Sensex is trading higher by 78.70 points or (0.47%) at 16,755.74 and the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 27.25 points or (0.55%) at 4,985.65.

The BSE Mid Cap is trading higher by 25.15 points or (0.41%) at 6,152.07 and the BSE Small Cap grew by 38.31 points or (0.52%) to 7,346.42.

ACC reported the top gainer from the BSE Sensex pack, as it is trading up by (2.65%) at Rs.820 while Reliance Industries reported the top loser trading down by (2.65%) at Rs.2,125.55.

The Overall market breadth is positive as 1191 stocks are advancing while 889 stocks are declining and the 81 stocks remained unchanged on BSE.

The Asian markets are trading higher today as Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite, Nikkei 225, Straits Times and Seoul Composite index are trading up by (1.82%), (1.48%), (0.97%), (0.15%) and (0.36%) respectively.

US markets closed with handsome gains on Wednesday, on the back of strong economic data and firm cues from markets all over the world. Stocks rallied after industrial production increased for second straight month. Industrial production increased 0.8% in August, which is better than expected. In addition weakness in dollar boosted industrial and commodity stocks. The CRB Commodity Index advance 1.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) advanced by 108.3 points at 9,791.71. Going ahead, NASDAQ index ended higher by 30.51 points to 2,133.15 and the S&P 500 (SPX) closed up by 16.13 points at 1,068.76.

BSE REALTY index was at 4,465.37 up by 8.30 points or by (0.19%). The main gainers were Ansal Infras up by (2.99%) at Rs.77.4, Sobha Dev up by (2.39%) at Rs.251.1, Anant Raj Ind. up by (1.75%) at Rs.145.7, Housing Dev up by (1.73%) at Rs.332.75, Orbitco up by (0.95%) at Rs.180.

BSE METAL index was at 14,537.00 up by 9.33 points or by (0.06%). The main gainers were Jindal Saw up by (2.2%) at Rs.704.3, Welspun Gujarat up by (1.6%) at Rs.263.9, Sterlite Ind. up by (1.15%) at Rs.779.95, Hindalco Ind. up by (0.91%) at Rs.132.5, Nalco up by (0.5%) at Rs.349.5.

Unitech Wireless is all set to enter into the much crowded India’s telecom sector by this year end. The company is readying the nationwide rollout of its services under ‘UniNor’ brand. It is targeting a Pan-India market share of 8%. In Unitech Wireless, Telenor holds a 49% stake.

Bharti Shipyard has raised its stake in Great Offshore to 22.5% by picking up 3% shares from the market. The company has reportedly acquired these shares at an average price of Rs558.80 per share, the highest price being Rs560. With this, the company’s offer price for Great Offshore has gone up to Rs560. Bharati Shipyard shares are now trading higher by around 7%.


India to launch Oceansat-2 on Sep 23: ISRO

Bangalore

Bangalore, Sept 16 (PTI) Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would launch Oceansat-2 satellite, which would help identify potential fishing zones and in coastal zone studies, on September 23 in a mission that would have European flavour.

The 970-KG spacecraft would set-off by the home-grown Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from Sriharikota spaceport on the east coast, where preparations for the launch are in full swing.

"Oceansat-2 is tentatively scheduled to be launched at around noon on September 23," S Satish, spokesperson of Bangalore-headquartered ISRO, told PTI.

ISRO officials said the launch is expected at 11.56 AM on that day.

The satellite is intended for identification of potential fishing zones, sea state forecasting, coastal zone studies and providing inputs for weather forecasting and climate studies.

It is an in-orbit replacement to Oceansat-1, launched by ISRO in May 1999 and was used to study physical and biological aspects of oceanography.

PTI

12 non-stop Duronto trains


List of 12 non-stop Duronto trains

The 12 non-stop Duronto trains proposed in this year's Railway Budget are:

1. New Delhi-Jammu Tawi (tri-weekly)
2. Howrah-Mumbai AC (bi-weekly)
3. Mumbai-Ahmedabad AC (tri-weekly)
4. Chennai-Delhi (bi-weekly)
5. New Delhi-Lucknow (tri-weekly)
6. Delhi-Pune AC (bi-weekly)
7. Howrah-Delhi (bi-weekly)
8. New Delhi-Allahabad (tri-weekly)
9. Sealdah-New Delhi (bi-weekly)
10. Kolkata-Amritsar (bi-weekly)
11. Bhubaneshwar-Delhi (weekly)
12. Ernakulam-Delhi (weekly).

Monday, September 14, 2009

Crackdown on tax havens tops India agenda at G20

Crackdown on tax havens tops India agenda at G20
Date : Sep-15-2009 09:29

The growing popular attitude against tax havens, which is used by the high net worth individuals in order to avoid taxes, will form a big part of the program for the G-20 meeting at St Petersburg, Russia. However, India is all set to press for a serious clamp down on tax havens yet again. Moreover, it is said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to press for more strict rules for preventing rerouting of black money from tax havens like Mauritius where non-residents part their money with zero to sub-zero tax rates.

Additionally, India''s agenda for G-20 will include a cut-off date for compulsory tax related information sharing between investee countries and tax havens. On the other hand, it is also anticipated that India will be looking for stricter rules for a clamp down on thinly capitalized shell companies whereas this is the second time when the world leaders like US president Barack Obama, British PM Gordon Brown and Dr Singh will discuss the issue of tax havens at the same forum.

United Bank to float IPO in January

United Bank to float IPO in January
Date : Sep-15-2009

United Bank of India plans to hit the market with an Initial Public Offer in January 2010 to raise Rs 350 - 400 crore. The bank plans to issue 50 million shares at a face value of Rs 10 each and with a premium of Rs 70 - 80 per share. The Union Government has already restructured and reduced the bank's equity capital to Rs 266 crore (Rs 1,532 crore). The bank, according to Mr Bhasin, has also requested the government to infuse Tier I capital of Rs 800 crore in addition to the Rs 550 crore by way of Innovative Perpetual Debt Instrument expected to be infused this fiscal.

Yamuna starts receding in Delhi


New Delhi, Sep 14: The water level in the Yamuna river on Monday started receding along its length in the national capital, though it continued to flow above the danger mark, an official said. “By 9 a.m. today (Monday) the water level was 205.22 metres. It is six centimetres lower than the water level recorded at 8.30 a.m.,” an official of Delhi’s flood control department said. “The water is expected to recede further,” the official added. After breaching its danger mark on Sunday, the Yamuna submerged hundreds of shanties and areas in what is generally termed as the “vegetable belt” of the capital. Low-lying areas like Usmanpur, Sonia Vihar, parts of Okhla, Sultanpuri, and Garhi were submerged. Nearly 1,200 people were moved to safer places. At least 17 rescue boats have been put on the job of shifting people to relief camps. A flood warning was sounded in the capital Friday after continuous rainfall pushed up the water level in the Yamuna. Haryana also released over 400,000 cusecs of water into the river upstream. Last year, the water level reached 206 metres, leading to the evacuation of people from slum clusters along the river banks. The Delhi government has said it is fully prepared to tackle any situation. There are several slum clusters along the Yamuna banks and thousands of people live in these low-lying areas. (IANS)

Now, Sonia Gandhi travels economy class

( Watch Video )

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday flew economy class to Mumbai in a commercial airliner, joining a battery of ministers in an effort by the government to enforce austerity measures. Two rows of seats were booked for Gandhi and her security personnel in the aircraft as she left here for Mumbai to launch the Congress campaign for the Oct 13 assembly elections in Maharashtra, official sources said.

The Congress president usually takes a special aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in view of security concerns.

Gandhi has also suspended her Iftaar party as a symbolic gesture in view of the drought situation in the country and economic recession.

Her austerity drive coincides with the home ministry reviewing security to VIPs. The security of 51 ministers and VIPs has already been scaled down.

On Sunday, external affairs minister SM Krishna decided to forgo private jets and travel abroad economy class in a commercial flight.

Krishna will go to Turkmenistan and Belarus on Tuesday on a commercial flight and will only take along three officials with him, official sources said. Earlier, his contingent used to have 20 people and would travel in an Air Force Embraer jet.

The government virtually enforced the austerity drive in the aftermath of the criticism that Krishna and his deputy Shashi Tharoor drew following disclosures that they were staying in five-star hotels for over three months in the capital.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who announced the austerity measures, led by example by flying economy class aboard a low-cost carrier to Kolkata on Saturday.

Railway minister Mamata Banerjee has already issued an order to stop holding Railway Board meetings in star hotels. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel and minister of state for environment Jairam Ramesh have announced their support for austerity measures.

Union minister for women and child development Krishna Tirath is learnt to have cancelled her tour to New York. Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad joined in the austerity drive by asking officials to cut down on foreign and domestic travel.

Last week, parliamentary affairs minister PK Bansal cancelled a goodwill visit by a parliamentary delegation to Egypt and Greece to save the government exchequer some money.

In a cabinet meeting on Thursday, some ministers voiced reservations about the practicality of their travelling in economy class, especially on trips abroad. The prime minister reportedly agreed to make exceptions in some cases for taking business class, provided advance permission is sought.

TOI

Sunday, September 13, 2009

BSF fires into Pakistan after rocket attack

AMRITSAR, Sept 12: Three rockets fired in quick succession from Pakistan exploded near a village in the country’s Amritsar district, triggering retaliatory gunfire by Indian border guards, officials said on Saturday.

The 107 MM rockets landed in the fields of Pul Kanjari area in Punjab with a deafening roar, police officials and residents said. No one was injured in the attack near the only India-Pakistan land border at Attari.

Pakistani authorities on Saturday denied any rockets were fired from their territory. But the Border Security Force (BSF) insisted that the firing did take place and displayed to journalists fragments of the rockets that fell in a civilian area around midnight on Friday, creating a scare.
The BSF also said it would retaliate “against any provocation”. “The 107 MM rockets are used by armies across the world. Some terrorists also use them. In July too the same rockets were fired in the area. We are investigating the matter,” BSF’s Punjab Frontier Deputy Inspector

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Yamuna flood threat in Delhi

NEW DELHI:

NEW DELHI: September the month when monsoon is supposed to withdraw from the region has brought not only rain for Delhi but also the possibility of
floods.

Due to heavy rain in the catchment areas of the Yamuna recently, 4,21,454 cusecs of water was released at Hathnikund on September 11. This is expected to reach Delhi by Saturday afternoon by when the Yamuna water level would breach the danger mark of 204.83m. The state government has issued instructions for evacuation of those living in low-lying areas and arrangements are in place for rescue operations.

"On September 12 at noon, the level will cross the danger level of 204.83m with the likelihood of rising further,'' said an official.

Irrigation and flood control minister R K Chauhan told TOI: "We will release the excess water downstream. However, we have given directions to evacuate everyone staying in low-lying areas.''


TOI

Friday, September 11, 2009

Pakistani forces fire rockets at India, BSF retaliates

Amritsar
Amritsar, Sept 11 (PTI) Pakistani forces tonight fired two rockets towards Indian territory which fell in agriculture fields in two adjacent villages, drawing retaliation from BSF using machine guns.

There was, however, no casualty on the Indian side in the Pakistani action, BSF Inspector General Himmat Singh said.

Industrial growth at 6.8 pc in July signals recovery

New Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 11 (PTI) Factory productions expanded at a greater pace for the second month in a row growing by 6.8 per cent in July against 6.4 per cent a year ago, signalling an industrial recovery.

And the trend, if sustained, could well offset the likely decline in farm output because of an erratic monsoon and help overall growth in the economy this fiscal.

Industrial growth for the first four months stood at 4.6 per cent against 5.6 per cent a year ago, after expansion in factory production is revised to 8.2 per cent in June against 7.8 per cent estimated provisionally.

It was for the first time in June that the industry grew at such a high rate, after hit hard by the global financial crisis in the middle of September last year.

While mining grew by a whopping 9.

Rupee ends 12 paise lower at 48.63

Rupee ends 12 paise lower at 48.63
Date : Sep-11-2009 11:03

The rupee on Thursday lost 12 paise against the US currency after recording considerable gains in early trade in sync with stock markets, in the midst of dollar firming up in the overseas markets. While it is said that increased portfolio inflows improved the rupee sentiment in early stages whereas foreign institutional investors had pumped in $456.80 million on September 7 and 8.

However, the local currency closed lower by 12 paise at 48.63 a dollar in fairly active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market while the rupee had resumed strong at 48.41 per dollar from Wednesday''s close of 48.51 a dollar. Moreover, later, due to firm local equity markets in morning trade as the standard Sensex was up by over 251 points, it improved to a high of 48.29. On the other hand, a late sell-off in equities pushed the Sensex to close up by a meager 33.31 points, putting pressure on the rupee to touch a low of 48.66 a dollar.

Nevertheless, in cross-currency trade, the local unit responded downwards against the pound and the Japanese yen while moved down further against the Euro. While the rupee fell back against the pound to end at Rs 80.78 per pound from Wednesday''s close of Rs 80.08 and also dropped against the euro to Rs 70.80 per euro from Rs 70.36 previously. Moreover, it dipped further against the Japanese yen to Rs 52.82 per 100 yen from its last close of Rs 52.47.

Government notifies 2% interest subvention on farm loans

Government notifies 2% interest subvention on farm loans
Date : Sep-11-2009 15:38

The government cut the interest rate subsidy to 2% for this financial year on farm loans given by the public sector banks (PSU) from 3% last year and the decision to this effect was taken by the Union Cabinet. However, the financial implication due to the interest subsidy on farm loans by PSU banks, regional rural banks and co-operative credit institutions were at Rs4, 311 crore in 2008-09 while it was estimated to be at about Rs4, 000 crore in the current fiscal. Moreover, the government will pay 2% interest subsidy to banks for granting short- term crop loan to farmers for loans up to Rs3 lakh per farmer at a concessional rate of 7% under the interest subvention scheme.


Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Kapil Sibal launches new portal of Copyright Office Delhi

New Delhi: Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD), Mr. Kapil Sibal, launched a new Portal of the Copyright Office which includes a facility of online filing of copyright applications, here today.

Also present on the occasion were Mr. R.P. Agrawal, Secretary (Higher Education) and Amit Khare, Joint Secretary, Department of Higher Education.

Besides the facility of filing the applications on-line, this Portal will provide detailed information about registration process, Act and Rules, Enforcement of Copyright, Copyright Societies and financial assistance to organizations for copyright awareness.

The portal also contains information about cases filed in the Copyright Board and their meeting dates for hearing of cases in their respective zones. Information about IPR Chairs and their activities is also provided in the new Portal.

This is the first phase of modernization of Copyright. In the second phase, the entire records of the Copyright Registration, since 1958, will be digitalized and uploaded on the Portal for enabling users to easily search the entire register of copyrights.

Lal Bahadur Shastri watch stolen from his memorial in Delhi

NEW DELHI: A gold wrist watch gifted to late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri by his Russian counterpart Alexei Kosygin has been stolen from his memorial in the national capital, police sources said today.

The theft came to light on September three but the authorities of Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial, located adjacent to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's residence, reported the matter to police only four days later, they said.

Memorial Director Prof A K Das approached police on Monday about the theft of the watch, gifted to Shastri during the 1966 Tashkent conference to broker peace with Pakistan, the sources said.

Das told police that an internal inquiry was conducted by his staff but they could not locate the watch and hence decided to lodge an FIR, they said. Das could not be reached for

TOI

'Sick' pilots ground Jet Airways for second straight day

NEW DELHI:
NEW DELHI: The stand-off between the pilots and the management of Jet Airways persisted for the second day on Wednesday, resulting in cancellations of 169 flights that forced an estimated 14,000 passengers to cancel their trips or shift to other airlines.

The airline said 432 pilots had reported sick on Wednesday in violation of the Bombay High Court order a day earlier, restraining them from resorting to any form of strike in the country's largest private carrier.

Amid this drama and chaos at airports across the country, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal met civil aviation minister Praful Patel here and also held parleys with a section of the pilots to resolve the impasse -- but with little success till evening.

Both Patel and Goyal declined to respond to queries from waiting reporters on the outcome of their meeting, even as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation sought to bring the two sides to the table for discussions to end the stand-off.

The pilots are demanding the reinstatement of two of their colleagues, who were sacked last month, which they say was done mainly because of their role in the formation of a separate union.

They also want their newly formed union, the National Aviators Guild, to be recognised by the Jet Airways management.

"We just want our voice back in the company. We want back our colleagues who were sacked," said guild president Girish Kaushik. "The problems faced by the passengers is certainly not due to us," he added.

Kaushik also claimed that the cabin crew of the airline had agreed to join the stir even as some national-level trade unions, including those affiliated with Left parties, extended their support to the guild.

But it was evident as the day progressed that Jet Airways management was not willing to buckle under the pressure being exerted by the pilots, particularly in light of the order passed by the Bombay High Court late Tuesday.

"They are behaving like terrorists. They cannot hold the country, the passengers and the airline hostage," Goyal told reporters here before his meeting with the officials of the aviation ministry and Patel.

"We won't tolerate such blackmail. The livelihood of more than 30,000 employees of Jet Airways is at stake. I am open to meeting and talking to the pilots. I will be more than happy. But they cannot harass the passengers," Goyal said.

Unlike the day before when the bulk of the passengers booked on Jet Airways were left virtually stranded at the airports, Wednesday saw many of them accommodated on its low-cost arm JetLite and the state-run Air India.

"We have accommodated 80 percent of the passengers on other carriers. For the balance, the entire fare has been refunded," chief operating officer of Jet Airways Hamid Ali told reporters in Mumbai.

Goyal said apart from causing hardship to passengers, the agitation was resulting in major losses for the airline, which is already facing hardship because of the downturn, as the carrier was also losing out because of the inconvenience caused to passengers.

"We had bookings from over 14,000 domestic passengers and 9,500 international passengers," Goyal said, seeking to project the carrier's losses in terms of how many guests the airline was unable to fly.

The government also tried to do its bit when it asked all states to review the situation with regard to what it called a "wildcat strike" and invoke provisions of their respective Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA).

TOI

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Anti-terror cooperation tops Chidambaram’s US agenda

NEW DELHI, Sept 6: Indo-US collaboration against the use of Pakistani soil for cross-border terrorism will be topmost on the agenda of Home Minister P Chidambaram during his four-day visit to Washington and New York beginning on Monday.

Home Ministry officials said Chidambaram will meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and National Security Advisor James Jones besides key officials of US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. This will be Chidambaram’s second foreign trip after taking over as home minister last December. Last month, he went to Bhutan.

He had to cancel his proposed January visit to the US after the 26/11 terror strikes and then to handle the situation arising out of the agitation by truck operators and officers of oil companies. Officials here said that with the gunning down of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative Abu Jindal by the Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday, the Home Ministry was armed with fresh evidence against the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit.
“The talks will centre around the sharing of more information with the US authorities about the LeT’s involvement as well as the progress in the investigations,” said a ministry official. Chidambaram, who will be accompanied by officers from the Intelligence Bureau, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) - India’s external intelligence agency, and from the Home Ministry, will also see the working of the New York police department. On the eve of his visit, Chidambaram gave an exhaustive interview to Al-Jazeera news channel where he accused Pakistan of deliberately holding back investigations into the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks despite concrete evidence against the conspirators being presented linking LeT chief Hafiz Saeed to the carnage. (IANS)

Friday, September 4, 2009

Power IPOs' poor show to hit other issues


Power IPOs' poor show to hit other issues

MUMBAI: Call it a day of coincidence , but the fact is two high-profile IPOs in recent months, and both from the power sector—Adani Power and NHPC— closed below their respective IPO prices for the first time. And if market analysts are to be believed, this will surely put pressure on the forthcoming IPOs, even if some of those were from outside the power sector.

On Friday, Adani Power, which had offered its shares in the IPO at Rs 100, closed on the NSE at Rs 98.65—a marginal discount from its IPO price of Rs 100. The company’s IPO closed on July 31 and the stock was listed on August 20.

In the case of NHPC, the slide below the IPO price was faster than in case of Adani Power. In less than a week of its listing on September 1, the stock fell below its offer price on Friday to close at Rs 35.25. The IPO closed on August 12.

In the IPO, NHPC shares were offered at Rs 36, at the higher end of the Rs 30-36 price band after the issue was subscribed nearly 24 times. There was exceptional interest from the high net-worth individuals (HNIs)—who mostly apply on borrowed money for short-term listing gainsand the HNI portion was subscribed over 56 times.

Since HNIs apply in IPOs with borrowed money, they make profit on listing only if they can recover their interest costs over and above the IPO price. In the NHPC issue, per share borrowing cost for HNIs was Rs 6.75. So they could have made money only if the stock went above the Rs 43 mark. Since listing the highest it had gone was Rs 42. Market players pointed out that HNIs who had applied with borrowed money actually lost in the issue .

About 16.4 crore NHPC shares were allotted to this investor group and there was substantial selling pressure from Day 1, dealers said. The below-IPO price closing for the two stocks came just days before the launch of Oil India IPO on Sept 7. Market players feel the investor disappointment with Adani Power and NHPC issues could also work as a warning sign for companies planning IPO and their merchant bankers to price their issues reasonably and leave some room for appreciation post-listing .

Incidentally, the close-below-IPO-price for the two issues came within days of Enam Securities, one of the lead brokerages in the market that is known for its syndication prowess in the public offering space, circulated a confidential presentation about its edge in marketing power sector IPOs.

The presentation claimed that since February 2004, through 13 power-sector IPOs it has mobilised about 35%, or Rs 4.5 lakh crore worth of demand out a total demand of nearly Rs 13 lakh crore. Enam Sec was among the lead managers to Adani Power and NHPC IPOs.
A bounceback in global markets, followed by short covering by speculators, pushed the BSE sensex up by 291 points to 15,689. The day’s gain—after
four consecutive sessions of losses—came despite selling by foreign and domestic institutions, and in the absence of any major change in the rainfall scenario, market players said.

Provisional trading data showed that FIIs were net sellers at Rs 400 crore while net outflow by domestic institutions was at Rs 5 crore.

The sensex opened flat and remained in a narrow range till mid-session but then started gaining momentum. In late session, as speculators rushed in too cover their short positions to minimise their losses, the index rose to a n intraday high of 15,741. Only two of 30 sensex stocks—Tata Motors and TCS—ended in the red. Investors were richer by Rs 65,000 crore.
ET

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

India invokes anti-terror pledge, Pakistan says restart dialogue

NEW DELHI, Sept 2: Indicating its willingness to engage with Pakistan, India on Wednesday said any meaningful dialogue will depend on Islamabad honouring its anti-terror pledge in letter and spirit and stressed that steps to address terrorism would also be in the interest of the neighbouring country. “The composite dialogue had been paused after the terrorist attack on Mumbai. We do sincerely believe it is in our vital interest to engage and normalize our relations with Pakistan,” External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said in response to a question from a journalist on the ministry’s performance in the government’s first 100 days in office.

“At the same time we are very clear that any meaningful dialogue with Pakistan can only be based on fulfillment of its commitment, in letter and spirit, not to allow its territory to be used in any manner for terrorist activities against India,” he added. Therefore, steps to address the issue of terrorism will be in the interest of the bilateral relationship and also in the interest of Pakistan, the minister stressed.

IGNOU to tie up with Indian army

New Delhi,

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) IGNOU will soon tie up with Indian army to set up community colleges in its cantonments and other defence establishments to impart education in market-driven courses and soft skill programmes.

"The courses will be for army personnel and their family members to help the unemployed members secure employment," varsity officials said, adding the programmes will also be useful for those personnel who are looking to start a new career after retirement.

The faculty will comprise teachers from IGNOU as well as from the defence forces.

Other details of the project and the funds are being worked out, they said.

IGNOU had recently started 100 community colleges in various parts of the country with an aim to help the underprivileged avail quality education, besides targeting drop outs.

PTI

No contact with Andhra CM's chopper: Home Ministry


New Delhi,



New Delhi, Sept 2 (PTI) There has been no contact with the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, whose helicopter has been missing for over five hours now now after he took off from Hyderabad this morning, Home Ministry sources here said.

"There has been no no contact established with the helicopter," sources in the ministry said.

They said the situation was being monitored byHome Minister P Chidambaram and top officials who are in touch with

Andhra Pradesh government officials.

The Home Ministry spokesperson said two Air Force helicopters have been dispatched for search operations.

Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar told PTI that there was no no information about the whereabouts of the helicopter. The Home Ministry was coordinating search operations, he said

PTI

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Economy not as bad as it looks; drought can be managed: PM

New Delhi,

New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said too much pessimism about the economy was unwarranted, as effects of the global financial downturn have begun wearing out and that the drought too can be easily managed.

"We are in a very strong position to manage the consequence of drought. Our food stocks in particular are very high...we should not be over-pessimistic", he said in his concluding remarks at the meeting of the full Planning Commission.

The country has a buffer food grain stock of 50 million tonnes, enough to meet the requirement of the public distribution system for 13 months.

Chairing the first meeting of the full plan panel in his second term, Singh said the economy has to deal with the lingering effects of global slowdown and impact of drought, but it also has underlying strengths built over the years.

PTI

Economy not as bad as it looks; drought can be managed: PM

New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said too much pessimism about the economy was unwarranted, as effects of the global financial downturn have begun wearing out and that the drought too can be easily managed.

"We are in a very strong position to manage the consequence of drought. Our food stocks in particular are very high...we should not be over-pessimistic", he said in his concluding remarks at the meeting of the full Planning Commission.

The country has a buffer food grain stock of 50 million tonnes, enough to meet the requirement of the public distribution system for 13 months.

Chairing the first meeting of the full plan panel in his second term, Singh said the economy has to deal with the lingering effects of global slowdown and impact of drought, but it also has underlying strengths built over the years.

PTI