Judicial reforms

— Arup Kumar Dutta

It is a sad but true commentary on the socio-cultural scenario ofcontemporary India that, to the common man, the Judiciary is the only wing of the Indian democratic mechanism to have retained a semblance of integrity and social concern. With the veryfoundations of the Legislative and Bureaucratic wings being eroded by self-serving corruption, nepotism and lack of idealism, the Judiciary time and again has had to intervene in spheres not strictly within the ambit of its concern and pass judgements on issues such as environmental degradation, consumer protection, bandh-culture et al, simply because our legislators and bureaucrats have been lax in performing their assigned duties.

Tax payers told to avoid fraud mails

NEW DELHI, Jan 15 (PTI): The I-T department has asked tax payers not to give out personal details like PAN card number and information about their credit cards on the internet in the wake of mushrooming fake e-mails hitting users’ inboxes.

Viewing with concern the spurt in fictitious and unauthorised e-mails landing in personal internet addresses of many people, the department is adding a word of ‘caution’ at the end of each mail sent by them.

“A number of tax payers have received e-mails with subjects like “tax refund” and “seeking refunds” prompting us to take such measures. Such messages continue to land in big numbers in individual e-mails,” a senior I-T department official said.

Sensex gains for second day on better ADB outlook

MUMBAI: Tracking firm global trends, the BSE benchmark index Sensex on Thursday rose for the second day today by adding 75 points on funds buying in heavy-weights led by Reliance Industries amid an ADB forecast that said Asia will witness more accelerated growth this year.

After a 113-points gap-up opening, the 30-share Sensex added another 75.07 points to settle the day at 17,584.87. The buying sentiment was so strong that even an almost double December inflation data failed to deter the market sentiment.

The Sensex, which had gained 87 points on Wednesday, touched a high of 17,628.04 points intra-day.

The broader 50-share Nifty of the NSE too rose by 25.95 points to 5,259.50, after touching a high of 5,272.85. The Nifty had a 31.10 points higher opening tracking strong overseas trends.

Energy giant Reliance after languishing since last week and has the highest weight in the Sensex, rose by Rs 32.50 to Rs 1,120.85, after Asian Development Bank has forecast that the growth in the Asian region will accelerate this year, prompting speculation that corporate earnings will increase.

Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 15 closed with gains while the rest ended in the negative zone.

Expectations of a fast global recovery boosted commodity stocks such as oil producers, consumer durables, capital goods and metals. The BSE oil and gas sector index gained the most by rising 2.35 per cent to 10,828.72 followed by consumer durable index by 1.65 per cent to 3,865.70.

Sterlite rose by Rs 12.50 to Rs 875.20, as prices of the metals used in pipes and wires advanced. Tata Steel also Rs 7.15 to Rs 646.95.

TOI

add add * Google China market share climbs in last six months

STAFF WRITER 18:14 HRS IST

New York, Jan 14 (PTI) The search engine giant Google, which has threatened to wind up operations in China, saw its share in the search engine market in that country rise significantly in the last six months.

Google had on Tuesday said it might be forced to shut shop in China, following hacking, targeting human rights activists, and web censorship.

According to web analytics firm StatCounter, the Internet major had a search engine market share of 43 per cent at the end of 2009, while its rival Baidu held 56 per cent.

"Google has made impressive gains in China since July last when it was at 30 per cent against Baidu's 68 per cent.

"Our analysis suggests that given Google's recent strong performance, market share is certainly not the reason behind its threat to leave China at this time," StatCounter chief executive Aodhan Cullen said in a statement yesterday.