President Patil to get on board INS Viraat Dec 23

New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) After making history by becoming the first woman in India to fly in a fighter jet, President Pratibha Patil will now get on board India’s lone aircraft carrier INS Viraat in Mumbai Dec 23.

‘The president is our supreme commander and she can any time get on board any of our warships,’ an Indian Navy officer told IANS.

Confirming that Patil would observe her first ‘Day at Sea’ on board INS Viraat, the officer said she will be on the aircraft carrier on Dec 23 in Mumbai.

Every president conducts Fleet Review once during his/her tenure.

The 74-year-old president became the first woman to fly in a Sukhoi Su-30 jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) from Lohegaon Air Base in Pune Nov 25.

The 28,000-tonne INS Viraat, the Centaur class aircraft carrier, was originally commissioned in the British Royal Navy as HMS Hermes Nov 18, 1959. The Indian Navy acquired the platform in 1987 after it had served the Royal Navy for nearly 28 years.

INS Viraat is pivotal to the navy’s aim to project its naval and air power beyond its borders. It provides operation ground for Sea Harrier combat jets. It can embark up to 18 combat aircraft and is suited for supporting amphibious operations and conducting anti-submarine warfare.

Sensex closes off day’s high

Mumbai, Dec 10 (IANS) A key index of the Indian equities markets closed at its day’s high Thursday, 47 points above the previous close.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that opened at 17,107 points closed at 17,166.73 points, up 47.5 points from Wednesday’s close at 17,125.22 points.

The benchmark index, which opened lower, had hit an intra-day of 17,231.05 in afternoon but shed some gains towards the close.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty closed at 5,129.45 points, against the previous close at 5,112 points, a gain of 0.34 percent.

Broader market indices were also in the green owing to buying activity in smaller scrips, with the BSE smallcap index closing 0.83 percent higher and the BSE midcap index up 0.27 percent.

Govt to auction only 3 slots of 3G spectrume

STAFF WRITER 14:57 HRS IST

New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) In a surprise move that could deprive it of over Rs 5,000 crore in revenue, the government has said the 3G telephony spectrum available with it for sale currently could accommodate only three operators.

A fourth slot has already been awarded to state-owned MTNL (that operates in Delhi and Mumbai) and BSNL (rest of India).

It had earlier planned to auction spectrum to four private bidders, in addition to the state-run firms.

The decision comes in the wake of the Ministry of Defence's reluctance to vacate the designated spectrum (air waves) for commercial use, official sources said, adding that the required notification would be issued soon.

The government has fixed the reserve price of spectrum at Rs 3,500 crore for pan-India 3G spectrum and Rs 1,750 crore for Wimax (wireless ineternet/broadband) and the auction is scheduled to begin from January 14 next year.

Telangana to become the 29th state

STAFF WRITER 11:24 HRS IST

Hyderabad, Dec 10 (PTI) The decision to carve out a separate state of Telangana, which will take the total number of states in the Union to 29, comes at the end of a 40-year- old struggle for a distinct identity.

This comes after a gap of nine years when three new states were carved out. Jharkhand split from Bihar on November 15, 2000 to become the 28th state while Uttarakhand split from UP on November 9 and Chattisgarh was created on November one the same year.

Andhra Pradesh has 23 districts, including the state capital Hyderabad, in three regions ? coastal Andhra (nine), Rayalaseema (four) and Telangana (ten).

Since its inception in 2001, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) has been fighting for creation of a separate Telangana state. Telangana region now accounts for 119 of the 294 seats in the Assembly and 17 of the 42 Lok Sabha members.