NEW DELHI: India is looking at various options including scaling down operations of its missions in Afghanistan in the wake of terror attacks on Indians there.
Government is also planning to put all the Indians working in projects like power and road together to ensure their safety, reliable government sources said today.
This follows an assessment made by National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon's visit to Kabul last week in the wake of terror attack on Feb 26 on guest houses frequented by Indians in which seven Indians were killed.
Apart from the embassy in Kabul, Indian has consulates in Herat, Kandahar, Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad.
The sources said that an advisory may also be issued asking all Indians in Afghanistan to return home.
They recalled that the operations of the Indian medical mission has already been put on hold after the Feb 26 attack in which the hand of Pakistan based LeT operatives is suspected.
Taliban terrorists, with backing from Pakistan's ISI, had targeted the Indian embassy twice in the past. On July 7, 2008, 60 people, including four Indians--one IFS official and a brigadier-ranked official were killed in the attack, while on Oct 8 last year, four ITBP jawans were among those injured.
Regret and return, govt to suspended MPs
NEW DELHI: Parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Wednesday indicated that the government could bring a motion to revoke suspension of seven Rajya Sabha members if they expressed regret over their behaviour to Chairman Hamid Ansari.
"It (the suspension) was a well-considered action as they (the members) had insulted dignity of the house. The minimum thing is to go the chairman," Bansal told reporters here.
He said the members should at least realize their mistake.
The minister said the house had not taken action against the members with any sense of elation and it was "a bitter medicine".
He indicated that the government would be willing to consider the demand of opposition for revoking the suspension of the members if they apologized to the chairman.
"All of us have to work in a spirit of cooperation," he said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left on Wednesday supported demand of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for withdrawing suspension of the seven members.
The MPs suspended for unruly behaviour were Kamal Akhtar, Veerpal Singh Yadav, Amir Alam Khan and Nand Kishore Yadav (all SP), Ejaz Ali (Janata Dal-United), Sabir Ali (Lok Janshakti Party) and Subhash Prasad Yadav (RJD).
The MPs had to be forcibly removed from the house Tuesday before the debate on the women's reservation bill.
On Monday, these MPs created pandemonium near chairman's podium after he instructed the law minister to move the bill for consideration.
Two ministers, US Congressman recommended Chatwal for Padma
NEW DELHI: Two Union Ministers and a prominent US Congressman recommended the name of controversial NRI hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal for the prestigious Padma awards, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
The four recommendations came from Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, member of US Congress Joseph Crowley and Dalis Adler, Staff Associate, Sub-Committee on the Middle East and South Asia under the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran told the House in reply to a query that as per guidelines regulating Padma award, nominations for it are open to all.
Besides inviting nominations from institutional sources like state and UT governments, central ministries, departments, institutes of excellence and Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan awardees, a large number of recommendations are also received from various other sources like Governors, Chief Ministers, Cabinet Ministers, MPs, private institutions, bodies and individuals, he said.
All nominations and recommendations received are placed before the Padma Awards committee for its consideration. The committee scrutinises them and makes its recommendations to the competent authority for approval, Ramachandran said.
The selection of Chatwal for the Padma award had sparked a controversy following allegations that he was involved in financial irregularities, a charge denied by him.
Mulayam, Lalu not for no-trust motion 'as of now'
New Delhi: Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad, the two strong opponents of the Women's Reservation Bill, on Wednesday said they were "as of now" not considering the issue of bringing a no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, saying they did not have the numbers for it.
On whether he was planning to carry out his threat to withdraw outside support to the UPA, the SP supremo said, "There is no question of meeting the President now." He did not elaborate.
On the issue of no-trust motion, Lalu Prasad, whose RJD has four members in the Lower House, said, "There is no such decision. It is wrong information."
"We have only four MPs and, therefore, where is the question of no-confidence motion," he said.
He, however, said that his party has sought a meeting with President Pratibha Patil but has not been allotted a time as yet.
Business News
Outsourcing deal pipeline improving: Infosys
Mumbai: Infosys Technologies, India's No. 2 software services exporter, is seeing a rise in outsourcing deal flows due to a recovery in the global economy, a top official said on Wednesday.
Pricing for its services was likely to remain stable, Kris Gopalakrishnan, chief executive officer, told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar.
Infosys and its rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro had seen a sharp drop in demand for outsourcing services and pressure on prices a year ago, as recession crimped investments on IT services by their clients.
India sees PE exits worth $757 mn
Private equity (PE) players in India have offloaded stakes worth USD 757 million in the first two months of this year driven by a significant recovery in the stock markets and hopes of continuation of this trend, believe experts.
According to VCCEdge, the financial research platform of VCCircle, January 2010 saw 13 exits worth USD 282 million, while February witnessed as many as 10 worth USD 475 million.
"PE funds are under pressure to make some exits before they set out to raise new funds. They will continue to use every opportunity available to exit as long as they see a good return," VCCEdge Research Director Rohit Madan said.
On a similar note, Reliance Venture Asset Management CEO Harshal J Shah said, "I think this year will see the opening of the floodgates for exits, though only for the highly qualified ones, and those which have been waiting patiently in the wings for a long time now."
Shah further said the companies which were waiting in the pipeline might hit the markets this year.
"As the foundation for a strong global recovery builds up, perhaps led by India and China, the performance of the markets this year for such IPOs will also portend or forecast how successful that trend will be into the next year and beyond," Shah added.
According to SMC Capitals Equity Head Jagannadham Thunuguntla, "The strange part of 2009 recovery was that it was very strong in the secondary markets. However, the same enthusiasm couldn't be seen in the primary markets, that is IPOs. Hence, exits can definitely happen. Unless the enthusiasm returns in the primary markets, the PE/VC funds may find it difficult even to exit."
Not the right time for FPOs: Govt
New Delhi: The government is not considering selling equity in Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Petroleum Secretary S Sundareshan said on Wednesday.
"There is no serious consideration (on follow-on public offerings in IOC and ONGC) at this juncture," he said.
Both IOC and ONGC are not in favour of raising money through equity route as valuations are being impacted due to uncertain fuel pricing policy.
Also, market conditions were not right for FPOs. "(These are) not the correct market time for FPOs," he said.
Sports News
Younis, Yousuf banned for life
Karachi:Pakistan cricket was thrown into turmoil on Wednesday with the country's Board putting an end to the international careers of former captains Mohd Yousuf and Younus Khan besides imposing a one-year ban on Shoaib Malik in the wake of the team's disastrous tour of Australia.
As recommended by the committee, former captain Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were handed one-year bans.
The inquiry committee had recommended that Yousuf and
Younis should no longer be part of the national team in any format because of their bad influence on the team and that Malik and Rana be banned for 12 months and fined 2 million rupees each.
The Akmal brothers - Kamran and Umar - and Afridi have been put on probation for six months besides being fined between Rs 2-3 million for indiscipine on the tour, the PCB statement said.
The punishments are set to impact the composition of Pakistan's World Twenty20 Championship. The team is the defending champion in this format and the 15-man squad for the event is due to be out by the end of this month. According to sources, the report was discussed by the PCB chairman Ejaz Butt with the national selection committee on Monday as part of the selection process for the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.
"Apparently at the meeting, there were mixed reactions to the strong recommendations keeping in mind that upcoming Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies where Pakistan defends its title," the source stated.
The inquiry committee apparently had serious reservations over the attitude and commitment shown by Malik and Rana in Australia where they are accused of not cooperating with the management. He said the captain, coach and manager on the Australian tour had reported Malik and Rana for misbehaviour and not cooperating with the management a fact confirmed by some other players who appeared before the probe committee.
This is the first time in Pakistan cricket history that the Board has taken such strong disciplinary action against so many players at one time.
'Time to end Pak cricket's power culture'
Pakistan cricket fraternity on Wednesday reacted with surprise, anger and content to severe punishment handed out by the Board to half-a-dozen current players on disciplinary counts.
While former players like Inzamam-ul-Haq and Rashid Latif felt the Board's move would further hit the image of Pakistan cricket, the older generation players like Zaheer Abbas and Abdul Kadir were all support for the punishment.
The Board banned seniors Mohammed Yousuf and Younus Khan for life and handed one-year bans to Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan in the wake of their flop show Down Under. Brothers Kamran and Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi were put under observation and imposed heavy fines.
"How can you treat senior players Yousuf and Younus like this? How can you ban them for life? If they were doing something wrong the board should have spoken and warned them first. You don't take such harsh decision at once," a fuming Inzamam asked.
Inzamam was baffled why the team management kept silence during the tour and came out with sever punishments now., "Why were Kamran and Umar not sent back from Australia? Why was Afridi not penalised in Australia by the team management? Why come out with such harsh decisions in one go which could badly damage the image of Pakistan cricket?."
Inzamam was also critical of the composition of the inquiry committee saying it was not an independent and unbiased body.
He also suggested players to knock the judicial doors, challenging the punishment, and was confident that aggrieved players would come out victorious.
"Younus I think has been treated unfairly for long now, what was his fault and yet he is banned for life. This is not the way to improve things in Pakistan cricket.
"If things were so wrong in Australia then what was the team management doing. I am getting a feeling that the board has taken these decisions to save themselves after the recent poor performances and controversies," he said.
However, former captain Zaheer Abbas, Abdul Qadir and Sarfaraz Nawaz, had a different view on the whole issue. "Obviously it is very disappointing and sad that senior players like Yousuf and Younus have been banned for life but the fact is this action of the board will help in improving the Pakistan cricket team's culture and performances," Abbas said.
"The players must realise whatever they are today are because of their country and the team. For too long these players' power culture have been allowed to fester and it is right time to remove them," he added.
"How can you have Yawar Saeed or Zakir Khan on the committee. Yawar was recently manager of the team?," he asked. Rashid Latif questioned the timing of the action and felt the Board may have done it to save its own skin.
India top revenue contributor, WC hugely successful: FIH
New Delhi: India contributed a major chunk of revenue earned by the International Hockey Federation and the ongoing World Cup here is commercially a huge success, the FIH said on Wednesday.
At the FIH media summit here, Marketing Manager of the world body Steven Morris revealed that India has been the top revenue contributor, mainly from television, while top hockey countries like Germany, Australia and Pakistan fared very poorly in this aspect.
"Most of FIH revenue comes from very few countries. India's contribution in revenue is more than 50 per cent than second-placed the Netherlands. Malaysia, Argentina and USA also contribute," Morris said.
"In countries like Pakistan, Spain, China, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, South Africa, Singapore and Middle East, it is difficult to sale hockey on television," he said. He said looking at the commercial success of the tournament; India would be an integral part of FIH's effort to lift the profile of hockey in the world.
"It is a challenge to administrators how to market hockey in India. Commercially, India is a huge market for hockey and the World Cup a huge success. India will have to be an integral part of any future FIH plans to lift the profile of the game," he said.
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