Centre concedes demand for Telangana state, KCR ends fast

STAFF WRITER 1:4 HRS IST

New Delhi/Hyderabad, Dec 9 (PTI) Buckling to pressure, the Centre tonight conceded to the demand for a separate Telangana state for which the process will be initiated and an appropriate resolution will be moved in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

Shortly after the announcement of the decision by Union Home P Chidambaram in New Delhi to create the new state, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao ended his 11-day fast undertaken to press for Telangana state.

The decision on Telangana was taken at a late night meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah after two rounds of consultations in the Congress Core Committee with Sonia Gandhi and senior cabinet colleagues.

"After these consultations, I am making this statement. The process of forming the state of Telangana will be initiated.

Sensex ends 100 points lower; metals, banks down

MUMBAI: Equities ended rangebound session in the negative terrain Wednesday in line with other global markets. Metals, banks and power stocksled the decline while IT and auto showed some resistance.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 17123.08, down 104.60 points or 0.61 per cent. The index touched an intra-day low of 17057.37 and high of 17227.96.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 5112.85, down 35.10 points or 0.68 per cent. The 50-share index hit a high of 5147.65 and low of 5090.60.

BSE Midcap Index was down 0.60 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved up 0.41 per cent.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index was down 2 per cent, SE Bankex slipped 1.43 per cent and BSE Power Index declined 0.59 per cent. BSE IT Index was up 0.82 per cent, BSE Auto Index moved up 0.69 per cent.

Biggest Sensex gainers were Maruti Suzuki (2.99%), Hero Honda (1.69%), Wipro (1.54%), Sun Pharmaceuticals (1.29%) and Tata Consultancy Services (0.99%)

Tata Steel (-3.97%), Hindalco Industries (-3.01%), Sterlite Industries (-2.93%), HDFC (-2.33%) and ICICI Bank (-1.96%) were the losers.

Market breadth on BSE, however, remained positive with 1511 advances outnumbering 1307 declines.

ET

Mallya ties up with Dutch brewer Heineken in India

Bangalore, Dec 7: Liquor baron and chairman of UB Group Vijay Mallya on Monday entered into a strategic alliance with leading Dutch brewer Heineken NV to distribute its beer in India.

As per the agreement, the UB Group, including United Breweries Ltd (UBL) and United Breweries Holdings Ltd (UBHL), and the $14.32-billion Heineken group have resolved their differences and decided to withdraw litigations between them. “The new alliance will offer consumers a portfolio of national and international brands in India, including UBL’s Kingfisher and Heineken, the largest global beer brand,” the company said in a statement here. Around 25 million glasses of Heineken are consumed the world over every day.

End discord at Ayodhya in the name of religion: Youth

New Delhi, Dec 8: A hospital at Ayodhya rather than a temple or a mosque, as politicians play the blame game over the Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition, that is the radical solution for peace offered by a section of the youth who were either not born or too young to know what was happening that December of 1992.

No more discord in the name of religion, is the echo as many youngsters look to a new India with better hospitals and better infrastructure for its people. Shalini Pandey (23), a journalist, said: “I am not concerned at all about what had happened. People should forget and move forward without constructing anything there. But a 20-bed hospital will do fine.” Dishank Sadana, a theatre artist, who is the same age echoed the sentiment.