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