NEW DELHI: Are Indian manufacturers being overlooked and Chinese made equipments being preferred for power projects in India?
If construction major Larsen & Toubro's chairman and managing director's concerns are anything to go by, then Indian companies are being shortchanged by government’s policies that inadvertently tilt the scales in favour of Chinese companies.
At a time when India-China rivalry has left relations at the lowest ebb, come complaints from industry heads of 'buy China' bias, that gives Chinese companies inordinate advantage over their Indian counterparts.
A letter written to the Finance Minister last month ahead of the Union Budget, L&T CMD A M Naik expressed concerns over import of Chinese power equipment to India that totalled nearly 8.3 billion dollars, while Chinese taxation model struck down any hopes of Indian exports to China.
The letter is in the possession of Times Now.
The letter points out that India is following the 'buy Chinese' policy in which international tenders are not floated to give China Advantage. It also says that Indian power companies changed specifications to suit Chinese manufacturers and that the Indian manufacturers are being overlooked and Chinese exporters incentivised.
The letter also points that exports from China is to the tune of $8.3 bn while Indian exports to China is negligible.
All 3 accused in 2003 Mumbai twin blasts case held guilty
MUMBAI: Six years after twin blasts at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar in south Mumbai killed 52 people and left 184 others injured, a special Pota court on Monday held all 3 accused guilty. ( Watch )
According to PTI, Special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) judge M R Puranik will hear arguments on the quantum of sentence on August 4. The prosecution said it will seek stringent punishment.
The accused Ashrat Ansari (32), his aide Hanif Sayed Anees (46) and his wife Fehmida Sayed (43) were held guilty on charges of planting powerful bombs in two taxis which exploded at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar on August 25, 2003. The conspiracy for the attack was hatched in Dubai, according to the police.
The trio belonging to the banned Pakistan terror outfit LeT had on July 28, 2003 planted a bomb in a municipal bus in suburban Ghatkopar which killed two persons, police said.
They were convicted under various Sections of IPC, POTA, Explosives Substances Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. In a novel modus operandi, LeT had used a family for the first time to carry out bomb blasts with the motive being to seek vengeance for the attacks against the minority community during the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002.
Stating that the accused face life or death sentence as they were found guilty under sections of IPC, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam asserted that the prosecution would seek a stringent punishment, possibly death penalty.
This is for the first time a couple was found guilty of terrorist acts under POTA, Nikam said outside the court.
The convicts listened carefully to the judge while the verdict was being pronounced in the six-year-long trial and remained silent.
After the verdict, accused Hanif said, "the verdict does not mean anything to us as we have already been held guilty by the media and public."
Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the conspiracy to carry out the blasts was hatched in Dubai after the Godhra carnage.
"Hanif, Ashrat and Nasir, who was killed in a police encounter, and some Pakistani nationals owing allegiance to LeT hatched the conspiracy to attack India," Nikam said.
The accused had confessed earlier that the motive behind the blasts was to safeguard Muslims and seek revenge for the atrocities meted against them.
Ashrat confessed, "We learnt that some Hindu political leaders had meted several atrocities against Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 and we wanted to take revenge. Our aim was to target areas which has a majority population of Gujaratis".
Nasir, also a member of LeT, had provided Ashrat and Hanif with explosives. Ashrat and Hanif had also undergone training in firearms and assembling of explosives in Dubai.
On August 25, 2003, Ashrat, Hanif, his wife Fehmida and their two daughters, hired a taxi from their residence in Andheri to Gateway of India with a bag containing RDX which exploded after they left saying they would return after lunch.
They then took another taxi to Zaveri Bazaar and planted a bomb outside a jewellery shop.
Two other accused, Mohammed Ansari Ladoowala and Mohammed Hasan Batterywala, were discharged by POTA court in December 2008 after Supreme Court upheld a POTA review committee report that there was no case against the duo.
The 16-year-old daughter of Hanif and Fehmida was also arrested for her alleged involvement in aiding her parents but was subsequently discharged. The other daughter was just six months old at the time of incident.
Another accused had turned approver and the court granted him pardon after he exposed LeT link in the blasts and helped the prosecution.
Mehbooba Mufti wrenches J&K Speaker's mike
SRINAGAR: Pandemonium broke out in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Monday over the Shopian case with opposition PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti wrenching a mike out of the Speaker's podium and throwing it away after which she and her party MLAs were removed from the House.
Trouble started shortly after the House assembled on Monday morning on the opening day of the budget session with National Conference (NC) member Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan trying to draw the attention of the Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone to an "important issue" which was objected to by the PDP members.
Mufti led her party members into the well of the House where she snatched the mike and was about to wrench another even as other PDP members shouted slogans and said that the Shopian rape and murder case involving two women was more important than anything else.
The PDP members raised slogans like "Shopian kay katiloon ko pesh karo" (bring to book the culprits in the Shopian case).
In the midst of the unruly situation, Lone directed the watch and ward staff to remove Mufti and her MLAs from the House. The watch and ward staff assisted by security personnel had to jostle with the members while taking them out.
Mufti later accused the Speaker of using "unparliamentary" language and acting more like a "ruling NC worker" in the House.
Mufti also claimed that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was sitting there watching the Speaker using "derogatory language" against the leader of the largest opposition without registering any protest.
"He (the Speaker) should have had more patience. I had no other way. I never threw the mike at him, I just trashed the mike. I wanted to tell him that if you are ready to use force, we can also use force. This is not the way to behave with a lady," she said.
Before directing the eviction of the PDP members, the Speaker, while pointing towards Mufti, said, "I name you, please take your seat."
While the rest of the PDP members were escorted out, Mufti resisted for few minutes to which Lone said, "Take this lady out."
Indian journalist attacked in Australia
MELBOURNE: A young Indian journalist was threatened and attacked after she went underground to reveal migration and education scams in Australia that try to defraud international students, including those from India.
The woman, working as a reporter with ABC TV, was threatened during the making of the programme 'Four Corners' and was attacked over the weekend.
In an article on its website, ABC said the reporter went to two different migration agents posing as a customer wanting to pass an English Language Test without having the skills and told them that she was willing to buy a fake work certificate.
She was able to do both if she paid between $3,000 and $5,000.
The attack assumes significance in the wake of a series of racially-motivated attacks on Indian students in Australian cities.
The report said it was not clear whether the migration agents or the colleges identified in the 'Four Corners' programme were behind either the threats or the attack.
"The programme, to be aired tonight (local time), will reveal several cases where international students, especially those from India, have lost thousands of dollars," the article said.
ABC quoted Pushpinder Kaur, mother of Prabmeet Singh who spent over $40,000 on a flying course, as saying that that the family was now broke and her son still has no pilot's licence.
"It is a fraud. We were shown so many rosy pictures about the school and it is not what it is really, it was just a scam. I think the government should be more alert in these type of matters because it is the career of the children which is at stake," she said.
Many other Indian students have told the TV channel that the aviation college Aerospace Aviation has failed to deliver its promised 200 hours of flying time over 52 weeks.
However, Aerospace Aviation's spokeswoman Sue Davis defended the training and questioned the level of commitment and dedication among the particular students.
Karl Konrad, an education and migration agent based in Sydney, said he has been aware of a black market in dodgy documents for years.
"I had many students come to my offices and say, 'oh I can buy letters for USD 3,000 at particular restaurants'," he said.
"They didn't name the restaurants, but I was getting many of these type of stories. [So] we sent that information to the Immigration department and they in turn thanked us for the information and said they would pass it on to Trades Recognition Australia. Nothing ever became of that," he said.
Indian Business News
Signs of inflation firming up: RBI
Mumbai:The Reserve Bank of India said on Monday there were indications of inflation firming up by the end of the year due to increases in commodity prices, easy monetary policy and expansionary fiscal policy.
In its quarterly review of the economy, the central bank said food inflation remained high while patchy rains could potentially aggravate it further, and consumer price indices continued to be at aggravated levels.
"The inflationary pressures may remain moderate if the protracted global recession leads to dampened commodity prices, agricultural growth remains unaffected despite delayed progress of monsoon and the accommodative monetary policy stance returns to normal levels," the central bank said in its report.
In the June quarter review, published a day ahead of the monetary policy review, the central bank said fiscal consolidation was needed to return the economy to a high growth path.
RBI sees growth at 6.5%; hints at keeping rates unchanged
Mumbai: With ample liquidity in the system, India is set to grow at a rate of 6.5%, the RBI said on Monday. It also indicated that the key rates may remain unchanged in its monetary policy review.
The RBI on Monday said it has ensured ample liquidity in the system through a series of rate cuts in the last 10 months, hinting that it may keep policy rates unchanged in its quarterly credit policy review on Tuesday.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the revision was on account of positive outlook emanating from several sources, including the performance of core infrastructure industries, overall manufacturing output and roboust showing by the services sector.
"Since mid-September 2008, the policy repo (overnight lending) rate has been reduced by 425 basis points, the reverse repo (borrowing) has been brought down by 275 basis points" resulting in liquidity injection of over Rs 5,61,700 crore, RBI said in its macro-economic report released a day ahead of its first quarterly credit policy review.
"These measures taken by the Reserve Bank have ensured availability of ample liquidity in the banking system... evident in the large and regular absorption of the surplus from the system through liquidity absorption facility."
It said its focus has been on providing ample rupee liquidity, ensuring comfortable US dollar liquidity and keeping the market environment conducive for credit flow to productive sectors.
RBI noted that core infrastructure sector growth accelerated to 4.8 percent in the first quarter against 3.5 percent a year ago, led by growth in electricity, cement and coal, while industrial output rebounded sharply.
Services sector too showed positive signs, with a surge in lead indicators such as railway freight and new mobile connections, besides improvement in tourist arrivals.
However, commercial vehicle production and port cargo movement decelerated in the first two months of this fiscal.
Overall, the corporate performance subdued and there was a substantial deceleration in sales growth in the second half of 2008-09. "Corporate profitability also exhibited negative growth in the last three successive quarters of the year."
However, the RBI also said a complete economic turnaround may still be distant and the positive signs seen were just early indicators given the delayed monsoons and persistence of the global economic recession.
"Lagged impact of the negative growth in manufacturing in the last quarter of 2008-09 on services demand, negative growth in capital goods, decline in the production of commercial vehicles, and an accelerated fall in import growth suggesting dampened demand conditions," the RBI report added.
On government pegging fiscal deficit at 6.8 percent in FY'10 to boost demand and support a faster recovery, RBI said: "Notwithstanding the necessity of an expansionary fiscal response to the growth slowdown, there is a need to address the challenges for fiscal consolidation with a view to returning to the high growth path at the earliest."
Indian Cricket News| Indian Sports News
Barring miracles, Akhtar's career is over: Akram
Barring a miracle, enigmatic speedster Shoaib Akhtar's international career is virtually over, reckons former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram. Reacting to Akhtar's omission from Pakistan's list of probables for this year's Champions Trophy, Akram said unless something dramatic happened, Shoaib stood no chance of a comeback to the national team. "I don't think he has got a chance, unless and until some miracles happen," Akram told reporters today after the left-arm pacer was named coach of the Gatorade Centre for Pace Excellence.
"Even though it depends on the captain and selectors, I think Shoaib has fallen out with the selectors and the cricket board itself. This cricket board still supported him and he went to Abu Dhabi and played two of the five games (against Australia) before getting injured again. We all saw that," he said.
Akram said the emergence of youngsters like Mohammad Aamer has made things difficult for Akhtar and he could not see the speedster, notorious for his temperament and fragility, in the current scheme of things in Pakistan cricket. "I think Pakistan's bowling unit is doing well and they have to look ahead and think about the future. They have to back the youngsters who will do the job for them, even if you look at the 2011 World Cup. Also in this year's Champions Trophy and the next Twenty20 World Cup, the team would have to rely on the youngsters. "I don't know where you can place Shoaib Akhtar in the current picture of Pakistan cricket," Akram said.
Hero Honda bags title sponsorship for 2010 Hockey World Cup
New Delhi: World's largest two-wheeler manufacturer Hero Honda Motors Ltd was on Monday named the title sponsor for the 2010 FIH Men's Hockey World Cup to be held here in March. The announcement was made at a glittering ceremony here in the presence of International Hockey Federation President Leandro Negre, Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi, Hockey India President AK Mattoo and the 1975 World Cup winning members of the Indian team. Negre said the mega-event would provide eight-time Olympic champions India the perfect platform to revive their past glory. "The World Cup is the most important event in the game of hockey and we want to showcase before the entire world that the FIH can hold a truly mesmerising and beautiful event," Negre said. "For global development of hockey, it is important that India should come up and play to it's potential. The FIH hopes that hosting the 2010 World Cup will give a tremendous boost to Indian hockey," he said. "I have been constantly travelling throughout the world and I must say many teams are eagerly waiting to be a part of the World Cup. Some of the teams have already qualified but qualifying tournaments are going on," he added.
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