KOLKATA: The government on Tuesday stated that the driver of the New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express and his assistant, kidnapped by Maoists between Jhargram and Sarna stations of the South Eastern Railway this afternoon, have been released.
Home minister P Chidambaram today said the train and passengers on board were safe and that the Centre has rushed a relief train to bring back the passengers.
"The train is safe. All passengers are safe... good news is the train is safe," he told reporters.
"CRPF and state police have reached the spot and the area has been secured. There is no sign of any other adversary there," Chidambaram said.
He also refuted reports that there was an exchange of fire between security forces and suspected Maoists.
"There was firing and a civilian driver was injured but there was no injury to CRPF personnel and there was no exchange of fire," Chidambaram said.
He said the Centre has rushed a relief train to Orissa with doctors and relief supplies. The home minister said the train will bring back the passengers on the Rajdhani Express.
Chidambaram said railway minister Mamta Banerjee was monitoring the situation form her office.
Pro-Maoists group PCPA had claimed responsibility for the attack stating that the train drivers had defied the bandh call.
TV reports had also suggested that PCPA had set the conditions for releasing the Rajdhani drivers. The pro-Maoist group sought the release of their leader Chhatradhar Mahato from the police custody, in a swap deal.
The ministry has sought a report on the incident from the state government as well as the railway ministry, sources said.
Stop police firing if you want drivers' safe release: Maoists
KOLKATA: With firing having erupted in West Midnapore district today, Maoist leader Kishenji demanded security forces stop it as a condition for
the release of two abducted drivers of Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani.
"The joint forces are firing on the People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA). As per reports, at least two persons have died. We demand immediate cessation of the firing or we cannot guarantee the security of the drivers and the security of the passengers," Kishenji told PTI over phone.
The firing broke out at a place between Manikpara and Jhargram after the joint forces, comprising central security forces and the police, rushed to the spot.
The two drivers K Anantha Rao and K J Rao were abducted from the train at Banstala for which PCPA claimed responsibility.
Kishenji claimed PCPA supporters were angry at the firing and it would be difficult to control them.
"Bandh is a democratic right. Why have the security forces opened fire when PCPA has called a bandh? The government will have to stop the firing or else I cannot guarantee the security either of the passengers or drivers," Kishenji said.
"We are supporting the people who are agitating. They want Mamata Banerjee to come and listen to their problems," Kishenji said.
Patra also made the same demand. "If state government officials or the Railway Minister come, we will release the drivers. If they come today we will release them today.
"We have a 22-point demand. The joint forces are committing atrocities on us branding us as Maoists. Our leader Chhadradhar Mahato has been framed," he said.
The kidnap took place, days after the abduction of Sankrail police station officer-in-charge Atindranath Dutta on October 20 who was later released.
PCPA activists disrupted traffic movement in several parts of the district. They burnt down a lorry at Pitrapuli near Salboni, SDO Ulganathan said, adding PCPA men also torched a CPM local office at Hatipota village.
He said that the police also recovered a body, believed to be that of a Maoist activist, from Patasjangal area under Goaltore police station. He was suspected to have been killed in an armed clash with the CPM in the area recently.
The top brass of the state administration, including Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakraborty, Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen and police chief Bhupinder Singh are in the district headquarters to review Maoist activities.
BJP may need 'surgery' or even 'chemotherapy': RSS chief
JAIPUR: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who had asked the top BJP leadership to sort out problems in the wake of Lok Sabha debacle, today seemed to suggest that the party may need a "surgery" or even "chemotherapy" treatment, a view rejected by BJP chief Rajnath Singh.
"As far as BJP is concerned, whatever surgery, medicine, chemotherapy is essential for them, it has to be diagnosed by them (BJP)," he told a press conference here.
Bhagwat, who was in Delhi in August and had advised BJP leaders to resolve their internal squabbles, said, "If they (BJP) need any organisational help, if they ask for it, we will provide them help".
Asked if the party needed surgery, BJP chief Rajnath Singh said, "Not at all, who says that?"
On whether the morale of party workers is low, he shot back, "Our morale is high. Who is saying like this?"
However, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said, "The doctor can only talk about treatment, we are patients."
Replying to questions, Bhagwat said RSS was not responsible for the sorry state of affairs in BJP.
On the defiance shown by former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who resigned from the post of Leader of the Opposition nine weeks after being asked to step down, Bhagwat said it was for BJP and its leadership to find a solution.
On the issue of 'Marathi manoos', which was a key issue during the Maharashtra polls, the RSS chief said,
"Every Indian belongs to India. There are various languages and religions which have their own identity. Hindutva for us is considering them as part of one (entity) and we do not believe in things like Marathi pride."
Russia, China join hands with India to fight terror
Bangalore: In an apparent reference to Pakistan-based terror outfit Jamaat-ud Dawa, blamed for Mumbai attacks, India, Russia and China pressed for "strict observance" of sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council against persons and entities by the countries concerned.
Foreign Ministers of the three countries, who met in Bangalore under the format of Russia-India-China (RIC), viewed with concern the situation in Afghanistan-Pakistan region and vowed to forge a closer cooperation in the fight against the global menace of terrorism.
At the two-hour-long meeting, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov joined External Affairs S M Krishna in condemning the attack on Indian Embassy in Kabul on October 8 and pressed for bringing to justice perpetrators of all such assaults.
During the meeting, the three Foreign Ministers also discussed collaborative ways of meeting other global challenges like economic recession and climate change besides stepping up cooperation trilaterally in the areas like trade, healthcare, agriculture and disaster mitigation.
A joint communique issued after the meeting said the ministers stressed the "need for strict observance of the sanctions regime against persons and entities listed by the UNSC Committee (under resolution) 1267."
This may be seen in the context of JuD, which was proscribed by the UNSC in December last year for its involvement in the Mumbai attacks but its chief Hafiz Saeed continues to be a free man.
India has been emphasising that Pakistan should implement the UNSC resolution against JuD and Saeed in letter and spirit.
Pakistan, however, insists that Saeed has no involvement in any case of terrorism.
DoT-MoD 3G spectrum row: Raja seeks Pranab's help
NEW DELHI: After announcing that 3G spectrum would be auctioned on January 14 next year, telecom minister A Raja has sought finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's help to resolve persisting differences with the Defence Ministry.
"I would like to point out that the differences between Department of Telecom (DoT) and Ministry of Defence on the 3G spectrum available for auction still persist, and hence, we have not mentioned actual frequencies of the spectrum to be auctioned in the revised information memorandum," he informed Mukherjee in a letter, the second in the last 10 days.
The DoT issued the information memorandum last week, saying auction would start on January 14 and for this to happen, the blocks of spectrum to be auctioned must be identified latest by the first week of December.
According to Raja's letter, the government would get the revenue, pegged at Rs 25,000 crore, during February next year, provided the auction is held as per schedule.
"I understand that a fast track mechanism is being put in place to sort out the differences between DoT and MoD so that 3G auction can take place in this financial year," the minister said in the letter.
The DoT, which is currently in the eye of a storm over alleged irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation, has allowed foreign entities to participate in the auction process subject to existing FDI rules and guidelines.
Indian Business News
Sensex tumble over 387 points
Mumbai: Markets plunged by more than 380 points, its biggest single day loss in over two months, on frantic selling sparked by the Reserve Bank's quarterly monetary policy review.
The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex opened lower by more than 150 points. It came under hectic selling pressure after unveiling of the monetary policy, which asked banks to park more money in government securities and raised projections for inflation.
The barometer finally closed the day down by 387.10 points to 16,353.40, the biggest one-day fall since August 17.
Banking stocks were battered after RBI increased the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) by 100 basis points to 25 per cent. SBI lost 4.45 per cent to Rs 2,202.95, ICICI Bank by 6.11 per cent to Rs 836.25, HDFC Bank by 1.01 per cent to Rs 1,670.85 and Housing Development Finance by 0.38 per cent to Rs 2,756.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also fell sharply by 124.20 points to 4,846.70.
While 23 Sensex stocks closed with losses, seven closed higher. However, all sectoral indices ended in the negative territory.
Bluce-chops RIL, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Infosys, DLF, ICICI Bank, Sterlite Industries, RCOM and Bharti Airtel also took a severe beating.
RBI starts exit from easy policy
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday began the first phase of its exit from expansionary policy by ending some liquidity support measures taken when the global crisis hit Asia's third-largest economy harder than expected, but left key policy rates unchanged.
Effective immediately, it ended a special repurchase facility for banks and another for the funding needs of non-bank financial companies, mutual funds and housing finance companies.
It also ended a forex swap facility for banks, and cut an export credit refinance facility to a pre-crisis level of 15 percent from 50 percent with immediate effect.
It raised the statutory liquidity ratio of commercial banks to 25 percent from 24 percent effective Nov. 7, and said the collateralised borrowing and lending obligation liabilities of banks would be subject to cash reserve ratio requirements from Nov. 21.
"The balance of judgement at the current juncture is that it may be appropriate to sequence the exit in a calibrated way so that while the recovery process is not hampered, inflation expectations remain anchored," the RBI said in its quarterly review.
"The 'exit' process can begin with closure of some special liquidity support measures," it said.
As expected, the RBI left the repo rate at 4.75 percent and the reverse repo rate at 3.25 percent. The cash reserve ratio was held steady at 5.0 percent.
Analysts polled by Reuters expected the RBI to keep key rates unchanged in its quarterly review to push growth in Asia's third-largest economy.
The RBI cut its short-term lending rate by 4.25 percentage points in six steps between October and April. The reverse repo rate, at which the RBI absorbs surplus cash, has been cut by 2.75 percentage points in four steps since December.
Indian Sports News|Sports News
Lee, Johnson, Hopes ruled out of Nagpur ODI
Nagpur: Australia suffered a huge blow ahead of Wednesday's second one-dayer against India in Nagpur as fast bowlers Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson as well as all-rounder James Hopes were ruled out of the match due to injuries.
New South Wales all-rounder Moises Henriques will join the Australian squad as a standby player and cover for Hopes who is unlikely to be fit till the third one-dayer in Delhi.
"Our medical staff have now decided that while both Brett Lee (right elbow) and Mitchell Johnson's (left ankle) injuries have responded well to treatment, they will be severe enough to rule them out of contention for tomorrow's match," National Selection Panel Chairman Andrew Hilditch said in a Cricket Australia statement.
"With James Hopes' right hamstring injury being more serious and likely keep him out for at least the next two matches it is thought adding a standby player to the squad is a necessity.
"Given the most significant injury appears to be Hopes' hamstring we have taken this opportunity to add Moises Henriques to the squad until the completion of game four in Mohali where we will again assess the situation before it is decided if he remains with the squad," he added.
Henriques will reach Delhi tomorrow and join the Australian squad when it arrives in Delhi on Thursday.
Hilditch said the injury to the players was disappointing but for Henriques it will give an opportunity to become familiar with the Australian team environment.
"While the injury situation is disappointing it does provide an opportunity for Moises to join the Australian squad and become familiar in this environment," Hilditch said.
No space for me to bat in top 4, says Dhoni
Nagpur: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni ruled out the possibility of batting up the order, saying there is no vacant slot for him in top four positions.
"It's a difficult choice to make. We have Viru (Virender Sehwag) and Sachin (Tendulkar) opening the innings, Gauti (Gautam Gambhir) at no. 3 and Yuvraj at no 4. The next slot available is no. 5," Dhoni said ahead of the second one-dayer against Australia in Nagpur on Wednesday.
"I float at times and bat at different slots. More often than not we have a fixed batting line when it comes to these four guys playing the game. If there are more off spinners in the attack we may shift Yuvraj to no. 5 and we have done that. But to say I have to bat every time at no. 3 or 4 is difficult for me (to do)," he said.
Earlier in the day, former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist said that he would like to see Dhoni bat up the order, which would enable him to play as many overs as possible.
Dhoni also said that death bowling continues to remain a major concern for him and would like to see his bowlers conceding lesser runs in the final overs.
"It's been a worrying thing for us for the past few months. We had not been great with out death bowling. If you see the last game, the first few overs, 42nd over onwards - it was good and in the 50th we gave away one run", he said.
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