HRD ministry mulling second shifts in varsities and colleges
NEW DELHI: The idea of starting second shifts in existing universities and colleges is doing the rounds in government circles.
A roundtable on higher education, set up by HRD ministry, today discussed about such a measure which is aimed at utilising fully the facilities that remain unused after the class hours.
The committee, chaired by HRD minister Kapil Sibal, explored the possibilities whether facilities could be used for second shifts in the existing institutions.
There are about 480 universities and nearly 20,000 colleges in the country. Facilities at majority of these institutions remain unutilised in the evening hour.
The roundtable also discussed about uniform accounting standards to be followed by educational institutions. The educational institutions are following different accounting standards at present.
It discussed about freedom for faculty to go outside the system for development and enhancement.
The members of the roundtable include UGC Chairman Sukhadeo Thorat and CSIR Director General Samir Brahmachari.
'Sibal has agreed to make changes in new rules'
KOCHI: A national body of unaided professional educational institutions today said Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had agreed to make certain changes to the rules and regulations recently introduced by the ministry in the private self-fianancing educational sector in the country.
The Minister gave the assurance to a 15-member delegation of the Federation of Associations of Managements of Unaided Professional Educational Institutions in India when it met him in New Delhi recently, federation President President Dr G P C Nair claimed in a statement here.
The new rules had stipulated that only M.Tech holders can be appointed as lecturers in colleges instead of B.Tech and only PhD holders can be appointed as Associate Professors and Professors. The Minister had assured that this clause will not be implemented for three years when it was pointed out that M.Tech and PhD holders were in shortage, the release stated.
On a requset from the delgation, the Minister has extended the last date for submission of student data by colleges up to March 7. The delegation also brought to the Minister's attention the incident of imprisonment of certain college authorities in cases connected with pledging of college property in banks for loan.
PM's special envoy on climate change Shyam Saran to quit
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister's special envoy on climate change, Shyam Saran, is quitting the job.
Official sources said Saran, who was first appointed as special envoy on the Indo-US nuclear deal and later on climate change, would leave the Prime Minister's office on Mar 14.
"Saran will be leaving the office on Mar 14," a PMO source said.
However, no reasons were given for his decision which comes more than a fortnight after another foreign service official, Shiv Shankar Menon, was appointed the National Security Adviser.
Both were Foreign Secretaries and had retired. While Menon retired late last year, Saran had retired three years before that.
While Menon was given the rank of Minister of State following his appointment as NSA, there were reports last week that Saran would also get a similar status.
Ghandy met Prachanda, knew of Induwar's killing: Police chargesheet
NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Friday filed a chargesheet against arrested Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy, saying he had met Nepal Maoist chief Prachanda abroad and knew about the abduction and killing of Jharkhand cop Francis Induwar.
The chargesheet running into over 35 pages was filed before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja. In it, the special cell of Delhi Police stated that Ghandy was involved in anti-national activities and was in Delhi to set up a base for Maoist activities before his arrest in September last year.
Police informed the court about several of his foreign trips to countries like Germany, Belgium and Nepal, where he met Prachanda, to discuss the activities of his organisation, the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist).
According to the chargesheet, Ghandy said in his disclosure statement that he is an active central committee member and politburo member of his group and was underground in Delhi for the past three years. He also had knowledge about the abduction and killing of Jharkhand police officer Induwar last year.
Police told the court that during interrogation, Ghandy proved he was one of the main pillars of the CPI-Maoist and a think thank for the outfit.
Police also mentioned that Ghandy did not cooperate with the investigating officer, kept complaining about his ill-health and did not disclose any material facts about his associates and the illegal activities of his banned outfit.
After this, police had to demand a narco test, which was later stayed by the high court.
Ghandy disclosed that the organisation had assigned codes to various front groups to maintain secrecy, police said.
The court will take cognizance of this chargesheet March 4.
In December last year, Baweja granted police 90 more days to file a chargesheet against Ghandy after dismissing his statutory bail application.
Under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, the investigating agency has to complete the probe within 90 days in the case of severe offences. But the court, using its discretion, empowered police to extend the period of Ghandy's detention.
Ghandy has been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act after his arrest Sep 20 last year.
Business News
Surat gang rape case: All 3 accused get life term
Surat: A local court here on Friday awarded life sentence to the three accused in the infamous July 2009 Surat gang rape case that had rocked the city.
A Principal and Sessions Judge held the three accused in the infamous gang rape case and sentenced life imprisonment to the accused Sahid Syeed, Tariq Syeed and Abu Bakr Ismail.
The trio raped 17-year old class 12th schoolgirl around 5 a.m. on July 12, 2009 while she was on her way to the tuition. She was picked up by the accused in their car posing as police officials, who then raped her in the vehicle shocking the conscience of the people of the city.
The accused had also recorded the rape on their mobile phones. The three were however, arrested within hours of the incident.
The chargesheet in the case was filed on July 24, 2009. The hearing was scheduled on day-to-day basis.
The accused Shahid and Tariq are sons of police officials.
The city was on boil after the incident and circulation of MMS. There were protests in the city after the gang rape of a 17-year-old minor girl.
The court has completed the hearing time in record time and announced the verdict within a year of incident setting an example for others.
Budget 2010: PMEAC for hike in duties
New Delhi: Ahead of the Budget, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) made a case for a partial roll back of stimulus by way of raising excise duties and reducing expenditure - which would automatically help reduce the fiscal deficit.
"There is a case for adjustment of duties...adjustments are possible both on the revenue side and the expenditure side in order to bring down fiscal deficit," PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan said after releasing the Review of the Economy 2009-10.
The Review said the economy would grow by over 7.2 per cent during the current fiscal and exceed 8 per cent in the next.
PMEAC member Govinda Rao said, "Partially, we need to roll back and if you partially roll back, you need to unify (excise duty and service tax rates)."
A uniform excise and service tax rates would imply raising of excise duty to 10 per cent. It is also possible that both rates may be raised to 12 per cent.
"There is one possibility that you unify both the rates at 10 per cent. There is another possibility... that both be raised to 12 per cent," Rao said.
As part of the stimulus package given to the industry to combat the impact of the global financial crisis, the government, in two tranches, reduced the excise duty from 14 per cent to 8 per cent and service tax from 12 per cent to 10 per cent.
Rao, however, clarified that he is not making any suggestion to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and it was up to him to take a call in the Budget.
India will compete with US and China: Intertek
New Delhi: Dr. Jochen P. Zoller is the President of the Global Food Service division, Intertek. Intertek provides testing, inspection and certification of products, and a range of other services, operating a global network of laboratories and offices with over 22,000 people in more than 100 countries. In a short talk, Zoller tells Ashok Kumar more about plans of Intertek for India.
How big is the Indian market in terms of food quality certification?
It is relatively small at present, but, in the next five years India will take a global place competing with US, Chinese and European markets.
How do the food brands gain mileage with the certification?
Certification has two distinct advantages. Firstly, it facilitates the trade beyond the local markets to sell products. Secondly, it helps the company to develop the right understanding. To sum it up, it is the end to the process of ascertaining quality.
Ads by Google ISO Certification ISO certification in 10 Days We share Our expertisewww.tcmservices.netIntertek Testing Lab Analytical Testing Laboratories Materials and Products Analysiswww.intertek.comSensory Evaluation The Custom Market Research & Sensory Analysis Companywww.Tragon.com
Does the certification scheme for food quality, vary from country to country?
Standards are all the same. From the point of implementation, variations may occur from the basic levels to the upgraded levels.
Tell us the fundamentals adhered by you while certifying a food brand?
Classical food safety is the fundamental idea, followed by quality of the food, company quality (in terms of environmental responsibility) and last but not the least, the health and safety standards.
Tell us about your some being clients, in India?
Nestle, Coke and Walmart are illustrious among the major clients we handle in India.
Worldwide, our customers include leading brands such as Shell, Canon, McDonalds, BP, IKEA, Nike, ExxonMobil, LG, GAP Inc, Valero, Ericsson, Wal-Mart, ChevronTexaco, The Home Depot Inc, Marks & Spencer and Levi Strauss.
Sports News
India strikes gold at Commonwealth Shooting C'ship
New Delhi: Shooters Gagan Narang and P T Raghunath brought glory to the country on the first day of the Commonwealth Shooting Championship by winning the gold medal in the men's 10-meter air rifle pairs event at the Dr Karni Singh shooting range in New Delhi on Friday.
Narang and Raghunath scored 599 points and 594 points respectively to win the gold on the first day of the event.
Women shooters also joined the party as they won the gold in the 25-meter sports pistol woman pairs.
The Indian duo of Virat Singh and Bapu Vanjare won a silver in the men''s 50 meter free pistol pairs.
Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra has been ruled out of the 11-day Commonwealth Shooting Championship, as he did not attend the trials.
Jaipur curators predict high-scoring opening ODI
Jaipur: With a batting-friendly wicket on offer, a high scoring encounter is on the card when India takes on South Africa in the first cricket one-dayer at the Sawai Man Singh stadium here on Sunday.
If the curators of the ground -- Ashok Joshi and Taposh Chattejee -- are to be believed, they have made a batting beauty for the opener which will set the tone for the three-match series.
"There is no doubt that it would be a fine batting wicket. People come to watch runs in ODIs and we won't disappoint them," Joshi said.
Fellow curator Chatterjee said the surface looks in great shape and would be ideal for strokeplay.
"We have kept grass on the wicket and underneath too 0which will help in binding the soil. We had watered it adequately and we are rolling it to help it dry.
"A little bit of evaporation and rolling pulls out the moisture from underneath. It makes the surface which means the ball will come on to the bat," he said.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Indian Latest News
Diplomatic talks not composite dialogue: India to Pak
NEW DELHI: A week ahead of the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretaries' meeting, India on Wednesday said these parleys should not be "mistaken" for resumption of the composite dialogue as these were "exploratory" talks.
Asserting that the composite dialogue was "suspended", foreign minister S M Krishna said, "Let the nation not be under mistaken inference that composite dialogue is being renewed... The issue that we raised remained to be addressed by Pakistan with a degree of seriousness."
The Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet on February 25 in New Delhi with the government here maintaining that the focus of the talks will be terrorism.
"These are exploratory talks. All that I am saying is that we are going to concentrate on terror which is emanating from Pakistan and the terror activities and terror infrastructure which is there which is yet to be dismantled.
"So our concern, our core concern is going to be terror," Krishna told TV channels.
On Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and other jehadi leaders freely addressing rallies against India, Krishna said, "It is the way the Pakistan functions. The government perhaps is not capable of restraining these jehadis from continuing with their vituperative statements against India, showing their hostility openly against India."
The minister also emphasised the need to have talks, saying, "... in order to carry forward the core issue as far as India is concerned about terror and terror driven activities emanating from Pakistan, we thought that it is necessary to engage Pakistan in this very critical area of terror."
Fawning over Pak military, US undermines New Delhi talks
WASHINGTON: India may be wasting its time and energy engaging Pakistan’s civilian set-up in the upcoming talks on February 25, going by the way Washington is primarily dealing with the country’s military and intelligence leadership in Rawalpindi and leaving Islamabad’s democratically-elected government in the lurch over sensitive parleys on terrorism.
US recognition of Pakistan’s military as the real power behind the civilian façade has been evident for some time, with American interlocutors, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, spending more time with the army brass in Rawalpindi than with the civilian leadership in Islamabad. But it has become glaringly evident this past week when Islamabad was left largely clueless about a CIA-ISI move to engage the Taliban in a move dressed up as the ''capture'' of Taliban No.2, Mullah Birather, in a joint operation.
While Washington was agog with the story of Birather’s ''capture'' and its consequences for Taliban and the US war in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s civilian leadership was caught flatfooted by the developments. The country’s interior minister Rehman Malik revealed the government’s ignorance when he insisted there had been no such operation, even as analysts in Washington were taking stock of the development.
''If the New York Times gives information, it is not a divine truth, it can be wrong. We have joint intelligence sharing and no joint investigation, nor joint raids,'' Malik told reporters about the story first reported by the US paper. ''We are a sovereign state and hence will not allow anybody to come and do any operation. And we will not allow that. So this (report) is propaganda,'' he added.
But US officials, while declining to go into details of the alleged ''capture'' citing ''sensitive intelligence matters,'' appeared pleased with the breakthrough they hope will lead to a convenient exit from Afghanistan. Birather’s ''capture'' was credited by some to Pakistan’s army chief Pervez Ashraf Kiyani’s desire to ensure a key role of his country in the any attempt to mediate with the Taliban.
While details of how and why Birather was ''captured'' in Karachi are still murky, regional experts are already suggesting that the story is just a cover for Pakistan facilitating US contacts with the Taliban or interposing itself in US-Taliban engagement. Pakistani intelligence agencies have known his whereabouts for a long time, according to Taliban expert Ahmed Rashid.
Others are suggesting that the military-ISI combine has ''sacrificed'' Birather to the Americans to win Washington’s trust and secure for itself a role in Afghanistan. ''I think their realization of what was happening within their own country and the threat that it posed also played a big part in changing their actions,'' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said cryptically, indicating the Pakistanis had brought in Birather to reflect a change in policy.
Still others believe US agencies had cornered Birather in Karachi and the joint operation story is just a cover-up to save Pakistan from embarrassment, while some are of the view that the US and/or Pakistan have engaged Birather for a long time and the capture story was drummed up after news of the secret parlays leaked.
No matter which explanation is correct, it shows Pakistan's civilian dispensation in poor light. In fact, locked in a confrontation with the country’s judiciary, the civilian quartet of President Zardari, Prime Minister Gilani, foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and interior minister Malik have ceded foreign policy to the country’s pugnacious military. This raises the question as to how seriously India should take the upcoming foreign secretary level talks on February 25, an engagement that is credited to Washington’s persuasive hand.
While the Islamabad quartet has largely acted as stooges for Rawalpindi brass, which cracks the whip whenever the four step out of line, US recognition of the military’s primacy appears to have undermined not just Pakistan’s civilian government, but also this engagement with New Delhi. During her last visit to the country, Hillary Clinton spent three hours with General Kayani, for more than any of her engagements with the civilian leadership. The attention did not go unnoticed. Other US interlocutors have also invariably called on Kiyani.
Meanwhile, Birather’s presence in Karachi has also focused attention on the gradual dispersal of extremist elements from the region’s badlands, now under the scrutiny of drones and other US ''eyes in the sky,'' to Pakistan’s urban centers, home to the India-centric jihadi crowd. Last week, the much-wanted extremist Hakimullah Mehsud was reported to have died in Multan in Southern Punjab, where he was reportedly brought for treatment for injuries suffered in a drone attack. ISI elements, possibly renegades, are thought to facilitate such movements into urban centers as US pressure on the border regions make it unsafe for terrorists. Pakistan’s civilian government appears to have little control over all this and Washington keeping Islamabad in the dark over its dealing with the Army-ISI isn’t helping.
West Bengal govt admits it was warned of Naxal attack
KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Wednesday admitted it had some intelligence warnings that Maoists were "assembling" in the area around Shilda police camp which was attacked in the biggest offensive by Naxals in the state.
The admission by the government came a day after an outraged Centre slammed the Left Front government expressing dismay at the "unprofessional, incompetent, untrained and inadequate" response of the state police force to the Maoist attack on Monday evening.
24 jawans of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) were killed in the deadliest-ever strike by Naxals on their camp at Shilda in West Midnapore district.
The state government also ordered an inquiry into the incident and said "action" would be taken against senior officers if they were found wanting.
"It is not a clear case of intelligence failure. There was intelligence report that the Maoists were assembling in the area, though there was no specific information that they may attack the EFR camp," West Bengal Home secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters after a high level meeting which reviewed the situation in the wake of the attack.
Asked why no step was taken when the government had in its possession the intelligence report, Sen said the report had come to its hand at 2 PM only, a bare three hours before the attack and it had taken time for the information to percolate down to the lower level.
Refuting the charges by the Centre that the EFR did not have proper training to combat the Maoists, he said, "It is not correct. They are a highly motivated, disciplined and well-trained force."
Heart-rending scenes were witnessed when bodies of all the 24 EFR jawans were handed over to their relatives this morning at Salua camp of the para-military forces near Jhargram for last rites.
'84 riots case: Sajjan facing imminent arrest
New Delhi: Giving no relief, a Delhi Court on Wednesday issued non-bailable warrant against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases opening the possibility of his arrest by CBI ahead of anticipatory bail plea to be heard on Thursday in the High Court.
Taking exception to his non-appearance before the court after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him relief, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma said that he was ‘duty-bound’ to appear before him.
“The accused was called to appear before the court but he choses to challenge before superior court and rightly do but he could not get any relief. He was duty bound to honour the court's order," the ACMM said.
“Position as it is that there is neither any state nor the accused has been able to keep any interim protection from the superior court. Mere pendency of the bail application in the absence of any specific order from the superior court could not ipso-facto constitute a valid ground for granting exemption," the court said.
CBI's special prosecutor and senior advocate R S Cheema opposed the application of Kumar's counsel for his client's exemption from personal appearance in the court.
He submitted that allowing such a plea would be tantamount to granting relief to the accused, which, for the time being, has not been allowed by the High Court. Scores of Sikhs staged a demonstration outside the Karkardooma court in the afternoon and demanded capital punishment against Kumar.
Earlier in the day, the High Court deferred till Thursday hearing on the anticipatory bail plea of Kumar, 64, in the case. Kumar, a former MP from outer Delhi, has approached the High Court against trial court's order, which had on February 15 refused to grant him anticipatory bail.
NEW DELHI: A week ahead of the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretaries' meeting, India on Wednesday said these parleys should not be "mistaken" for resumption of the composite dialogue as these were "exploratory" talks.
Asserting that the composite dialogue was "suspended", foreign minister S M Krishna said, "Let the nation not be under mistaken inference that composite dialogue is being renewed... The issue that we raised remained to be addressed by Pakistan with a degree of seriousness."
The Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet on February 25 in New Delhi with the government here maintaining that the focus of the talks will be terrorism.
"These are exploratory talks. All that I am saying is that we are going to concentrate on terror which is emanating from Pakistan and the terror activities and terror infrastructure which is there which is yet to be dismantled.
"So our concern, our core concern is going to be terror," Krishna told TV channels.
On Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and other jehadi leaders freely addressing rallies against India, Krishna said, "It is the way the Pakistan functions. The government perhaps is not capable of restraining these jehadis from continuing with their vituperative statements against India, showing their hostility openly against India."
The minister also emphasised the need to have talks, saying, "... in order to carry forward the core issue as far as India is concerned about terror and terror driven activities emanating from Pakistan, we thought that it is necessary to engage Pakistan in this very critical area of terror."
Fawning over Pak military, US undermines New Delhi talks
WASHINGTON: India may be wasting its time and energy engaging Pakistan’s civilian set-up in the upcoming talks on February 25, going by the way Washington is primarily dealing with the country’s military and intelligence leadership in Rawalpindi and leaving Islamabad’s democratically-elected government in the lurch over sensitive parleys on terrorism.
US recognition of Pakistan’s military as the real power behind the civilian façade has been evident for some time, with American interlocutors, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, spending more time with the army brass in Rawalpindi than with the civilian leadership in Islamabad. But it has become glaringly evident this past week when Islamabad was left largely clueless about a CIA-ISI move to engage the Taliban in a move dressed up as the ''capture'' of Taliban No.2, Mullah Birather, in a joint operation.
While Washington was agog with the story of Birather’s ''capture'' and its consequences for Taliban and the US war in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s civilian leadership was caught flatfooted by the developments. The country’s interior minister Rehman Malik revealed the government’s ignorance when he insisted there had been no such operation, even as analysts in Washington were taking stock of the development.
''If the New York Times gives information, it is not a divine truth, it can be wrong. We have joint intelligence sharing and no joint investigation, nor joint raids,'' Malik told reporters about the story first reported by the US paper. ''We are a sovereign state and hence will not allow anybody to come and do any operation. And we will not allow that. So this (report) is propaganda,'' he added.
But US officials, while declining to go into details of the alleged ''capture'' citing ''sensitive intelligence matters,'' appeared pleased with the breakthrough they hope will lead to a convenient exit from Afghanistan. Birather’s ''capture'' was credited by some to Pakistan’s army chief Pervez Ashraf Kiyani’s desire to ensure a key role of his country in the any attempt to mediate with the Taliban.
While details of how and why Birather was ''captured'' in Karachi are still murky, regional experts are already suggesting that the story is just a cover for Pakistan facilitating US contacts with the Taliban or interposing itself in US-Taliban engagement. Pakistani intelligence agencies have known his whereabouts for a long time, according to Taliban expert Ahmed Rashid.
Others are suggesting that the military-ISI combine has ''sacrificed'' Birather to the Americans to win Washington’s trust and secure for itself a role in Afghanistan. ''I think their realization of what was happening within their own country and the threat that it posed also played a big part in changing their actions,'' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said cryptically, indicating the Pakistanis had brought in Birather to reflect a change in policy.
Still others believe US agencies had cornered Birather in Karachi and the joint operation story is just a cover-up to save Pakistan from embarrassment, while some are of the view that the US and/or Pakistan have engaged Birather for a long time and the capture story was drummed up after news of the secret parlays leaked.
No matter which explanation is correct, it shows Pakistan's civilian dispensation in poor light. In fact, locked in a confrontation with the country’s judiciary, the civilian quartet of President Zardari, Prime Minister Gilani, foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and interior minister Malik have ceded foreign policy to the country’s pugnacious military. This raises the question as to how seriously India should take the upcoming foreign secretary level talks on February 25, an engagement that is credited to Washington’s persuasive hand.
While the Islamabad quartet has largely acted as stooges for Rawalpindi brass, which cracks the whip whenever the four step out of line, US recognition of the military’s primacy appears to have undermined not just Pakistan’s civilian government, but also this engagement with New Delhi. During her last visit to the country, Hillary Clinton spent three hours with General Kayani, for more than any of her engagements with the civilian leadership. The attention did not go unnoticed. Other US interlocutors have also invariably called on Kiyani.
Meanwhile, Birather’s presence in Karachi has also focused attention on the gradual dispersal of extremist elements from the region’s badlands, now under the scrutiny of drones and other US ''eyes in the sky,'' to Pakistan’s urban centers, home to the India-centric jihadi crowd. Last week, the much-wanted extremist Hakimullah Mehsud was reported to have died in Multan in Southern Punjab, where he was reportedly brought for treatment for injuries suffered in a drone attack. ISI elements, possibly renegades, are thought to facilitate such movements into urban centers as US pressure on the border regions make it unsafe for terrorists. Pakistan’s civilian government appears to have little control over all this and Washington keeping Islamabad in the dark over its dealing with the Army-ISI isn’t helping.
West Bengal govt admits it was warned of Naxal attack
KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Wednesday admitted it had some intelligence warnings that Maoists were "assembling" in the area around Shilda police camp which was attacked in the biggest offensive by Naxals in the state.
The admission by the government came a day after an outraged Centre slammed the Left Front government expressing dismay at the "unprofessional, incompetent, untrained and inadequate" response of the state police force to the Maoist attack on Monday evening.
24 jawans of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) were killed in the deadliest-ever strike by Naxals on their camp at Shilda in West Midnapore district.
The state government also ordered an inquiry into the incident and said "action" would be taken against senior officers if they were found wanting.
"It is not a clear case of intelligence failure. There was intelligence report that the Maoists were assembling in the area, though there was no specific information that they may attack the EFR camp," West Bengal Home secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters after a high level meeting which reviewed the situation in the wake of the attack.
Asked why no step was taken when the government had in its possession the intelligence report, Sen said the report had come to its hand at 2 PM only, a bare three hours before the attack and it had taken time for the information to percolate down to the lower level.
Refuting the charges by the Centre that the EFR did not have proper training to combat the Maoists, he said, "It is not correct. They are a highly motivated, disciplined and well-trained force."
Heart-rending scenes were witnessed when bodies of all the 24 EFR jawans were handed over to their relatives this morning at Salua camp of the para-military forces near Jhargram for last rites.
'84 riots case: Sajjan facing imminent arrest
New Delhi: Giving no relief, a Delhi Court on Wednesday issued non-bailable warrant against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases opening the possibility of his arrest by CBI ahead of anticipatory bail plea to be heard on Thursday in the High Court.
Taking exception to his non-appearance before the court after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him relief, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma said that he was ‘duty-bound’ to appear before him.
“The accused was called to appear before the court but he choses to challenge before superior court and rightly do but he could not get any relief. He was duty bound to honour the court's order," the ACMM said.
“Position as it is that there is neither any state nor the accused has been able to keep any interim protection from the superior court. Mere pendency of the bail application in the absence of any specific order from the superior court could not ipso-facto constitute a valid ground for granting exemption," the court said.
CBI's special prosecutor and senior advocate R S Cheema opposed the application of Kumar's counsel for his client's exemption from personal appearance in the court.
He submitted that allowing such a plea would be tantamount to granting relief to the accused, which, for the time being, has not been allowed by the High Court. Scores of Sikhs staged a demonstration outside the Karkardooma court in the afternoon and demanded capital punishment against Kumar.
Earlier in the day, the High Court deferred till Thursday hearing on the anticipatory bail plea of Kumar, 64, in the case. Kumar, a former MP from outer Delhi, has approached the High Court against trial court's order, which had on February 15 refused to grant him anticipatory bail.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Today's latest news
SRK regrets MNIK controversy, clarifies it is not to Shiv Sena
MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan apologised for the controversy over the release of his film "My Name Is Khan" but made it clear the regret is not directed to Shiv Sena which threatened to halt the screening of his picture in this Bollywood heartland.
"i thank u all for this..apologise for giving stress over the last few days...& now truly know the meaning of being humbled.lov u all so much (sic)," tweeted the 44-year-old star shortly after several multiplexes who were initially reluctant went ahead with the screening of the keenly awaited film here.
Shah Rukh also said he was "humbled and overwhelmed" after the response from the public for his film.
In a bid to clarify that his regret in a tweet is not construed as directed at the Shiv Sena who have demanded that the superstar apologise for his remarks favouring inclusion of Pakistani players in IPL, Shah Rukh posted another message on the micro blogging website Twitter to say his apology is for his fans and no one else.
"whoa.. just hearing some media reports. just so that all know...wot i say here is for my fans across the world. thats all (sic)", wrote Kahn who has 1,31,435 followers on the website.
"i am humbled by this show of love & kindness. so dont know wot else to say. overwhelmed & promise will make india proud with my hard work. yipppeee !!!! ...in my work or words, i wholeheartedly regret...and i love u very very very very much. thank u thank u thank u," Khan tweeted after MNIK ran to full houses in Mumbai and elsewhere in the country.
"i realise today...i am just a film hero...u all in the theatres r the real deal. god feel so loved & humbled. hats off to all heroes," the actor added.
MNIK tickets go for 1,000 euros each at Berlin fest
BERLIN: The online tickets for Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘My Name is Khan’ were sold out in five seconds here.
People who phoned the Berlinale authorities five minutes after ticketing opened were told they were way too late.
The film’s tickets were auctioned on e-Bay for 1,000 euros (about Rs 60,000) each.
Fans had not slept all night to keep their places in the queue despite the minus temperature in Berlin. Those who arrived at 6 am were in tears.
Jenny Watkinson, assigned the ‘Shah Rukh Khan department’ in the International Relations office of Dieter Kosslick, Berlin film festival director, says, “I’ve never seen anything like it. This year it’s expected to be even bigger than in 2008 (during ‘Om Shanti Om’). The online tickets for ‘My Name is Khan’ were sold out in five seconds.”
The film premieres in Berlin on Friday with a red carpet at the prestigious Berlinale Palast theatre on Potsdamer Platz. Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Karan Johar are in Berlin for the premiere.
Obama targets outsourcers again, labels them tax evaders
WASHINGTON: American president Barack Obama has once again targeted American companies having their operations in India to save taxes back home and called such businesses tax evaders.
"If you are a business here, entirely located in the US, and investing in the US, and hiring workers in the US, you are paying a 35 per cent rate," Obama said in an interview to the business magazine Bloomberg Business Week.
"However,if you are a multinational and you are investing in India, and your workforce is in India, and your plants and equipment are in India, but your headquarters are here, you are taking deductions on all the expenses in India, but you are keeping your profits outside the US; and that just doesn't seem entirely fair," he argued.
"The same is true where you have companies that have 90 per cent of their sales in the US, but are posting 90 per cent of their profits overseas. You get a sense there that the accountants have been busy," Obama said.
Home loans to be dearer; public sector banks to end teaser rate regime
MUMBAI: Home and auto loan customers will have to shell out more with several public sector banks including the State Bank, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India (BoI) deciding to end the concessional or limited period loan regime, popularly called teaser rates.
The public sector banks, which are offering low interest rates for the initial period of the loan to attract new customers, have decided not to extend the validity of their schemes beyond March. In certain cases, the schemes would be discontinued during the course of this month itself.
The country's largest lender State Bank chairman OP Bhatt had said recently that special home and auto loan schemes would continue only till the end of March. The SBI has been trying to attract more customers by offering home and auto loans as low as 8 per cent with a limited period offer.
As part of the special scheme under 'My home campaign,' the SBI has been offering home loans (up to Rs 5 lakh) at 8 per cent interest rate during the first five years of a 10-year loan.
For loans above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 50 lakh, the interest rate has been fixed at 8 per cent during the first year and 8.5 per cent during second and third years.
Bank of India executive director M Narendra said, "our scheme is valid till February. We may not continue the scheme post-February."
The scheme, he added, was launched for a limited period and the product has served the purpose.
Govt announces ToR on Telangana, TRS calls it betrayal
New Delhi: The high-level committee appointed by the Centre to go into the emotive issue of Telangana has also been asked to examine the option of a united Andhra Pradesh and given time till the end of the year to submit its report, prompting the proponents of the separate statehood to denounce it.
The seven-point terms of reference has mandated the committee headed by Justice (retd) B N Srikrishna to review the developments in Andhra Pradesh since its formation and their impact on the progress and development of the different regions of the state.
It will "examine the situation in the state of Andhra Pradesh with reference to the demand for a separate state of Telangana as well as the demand for maintaining the present status of a united Andhra Pradesh," the ToR said. The committee has been asked to submit its report by December 31 this year.
In Hyderabad, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has been spearheading the Telangana agitation, said, "The Centre has betrayed us once again". He directed all his party MPs, MLAs and MLCs to resign from their posts immediately in protest against the "betrayal".
The committee, constituted on February 3, will examine the impact of the recent developments in the state on the different sections of the people such as women, children, students, minorities, other backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
The committee includes Ranbir Singh, Abusaleh Shariff, Ravinder Kaur and former Home Secretary Vinod K Duggal as member-secretary.
Justice B N Srikrishna is a retired Judge of the Supreme Court. While Ranbir Singh is the Vice Chancellor of National Law University, Delhi, Abusaleh Shariff is the Senior Research Fellow at International Food Policy Research Institute, Delhi.
Ravinder Kaur is professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT, Delhi.
The terms of reference said the committee will "identify the key issues that must be addressed while considering the matter".
It said the panel "will consult all sections of the people, especially the political parties, on the aforesaid matters and elicit their views; to seek from the political parties and other organisations a range of solutions that would resolve the present difficult situation and promote the welfare of all sections of the people; to identify the optimal solutions for this purpose; and to recommend a plan of action and a road map".
The committee will consult other organisations of civil society such as industry, trade, trade unions, farmers' organisations, women's organisations and students' bodies on the specified matters and elicit their views with specific reference to the all round development of the different regions of the state and make any other suggestion or recommendation that the Committee may deem appropriate, the ToR said.
Both Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, who were at a function together, said they would react after studying the ToR.
Business News
Maruti 800 sales to be discontinued in 13 cities
New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker, has no plans to upgrade its lowest- priced Maruti 800 model to meet EURO IV emissions standards, Chairman R C Bhargava said on Friday.
Bhargava said sales of the model would be discontinued in 13 Indian cities from April.
Maruti is 54.2 per cent owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp.
GSM subscriber base at 394.2 mn
New Delhi: The GSM operators together added 3.7 million new subscribers in January, taking the overall GSM subscriber base to 394.2 million with Bharti Airtel leading the front with 2.85 million.
Last month's GSM addition is marginally up from the December numbers when the operators had added 13.1 million.
Airtel is closely followed by Vodafone which added 2.7 new users, say the data released by GSM operators body COAI.
Total user base of Bharti Airtel soared to 121.7 million while that of Vodafone jumped to 94.14 million at the end of January.
Idea Cellular along with Spice Communications have added 2.27 million users taking it to a total 59.88 million, thus retaining its position as the third largest GSP operator.
However, BSNL is closing the gap with Idea. The state-run teleco has added 2.2 million new users last month taking its total subscriber base to 59.45 million.
Aircel has added 2 million new users, taking it user base to 33 million and MTNL added a mere 45,067 users taking its users base to 4.6 million.
The data do not contain the subscriber addition of TataDocomo, the GSM services of Tata Teleservices and Reliance Telecom.
New players like Uninor which launched services in seven circles across the country in December, has added 1.3 million new users last month.
Sports News
Vancouver: Cricket was cleared to pursue its bid to be included in future Games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rubberstamped the sport's recognition on Thursday.
Cricket, powerboating and sports climbing became the latest sports to be officially recognised by the IOC, a status necessary before launching a bid to become part of the Olympic programme.
"The session gave definite recognition to the three federations," IOC spokesman Mark Adams told reporters.
The three sports can now bid to join the 2020 Olympics as the programme is always determined seven years in advance.
Golf and rugby were latest inclusions in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games when an IOC session voted them in last year.
The decision about new sports for the 2020 Games will be taken at the IOC session in Buenos Aires in 2013 where the host country will also be picked.
Series win more important than No 1 position: de Villiers
Kolkata: South Africa are just a draw shy of reclaiming the world number one spot in Test cricket, but middle-order batsman A B de Villiers on Friday said the visiting team would cherish a series win more than the ICC rankings. He said the Proteas have the momentum with them and were focused on winning the series.
"We are not too worried about ICC rankings. Obviously, it would be nice to be number one Test side in the world, but our focus is to win series in India. We are here to play good brand of cricket," de Villiers told reporters after team practice at the Eden Gardens here ahead of the second and final Test against India.
"We are obviously playing good cricket at the moment. We are evolving and trying to dominate world cricket, we are still working towards it. Cricket is all about momentum and confidence. We have come from Johannesburg Test win as well as in Nagpur and we have won two Tests in a row," he added.
De Villiers sought to ignore the controversy surrounding the Eden pitch which the BCCI, apparently, had wanted to be tailor-made to suit their spinners.
"There is a little bit of grass on the wicket at this moment. I am pretty sure they will take off the grass in the next 48 hours. But it is up to the groundsman to decide, we have got no control at all," said the right-hander.
Asked about the return of a fit-again VVS Laxman in his happy-hunting ground at the Eden Gardens, de Villiers said, "He is a class player. He has performed really well in the last few years. We have got our plans and we are going to stick to that.
"But, we are focusing on our game and on our strengths. We are not too worried about them (India). Obviously, they are a good side but we are not too worried about our opponents."
He, however, reckoned that India would come out with all guns blazing after the humiliating innings defeat in the first Test at Nagpur.
"It's going to be great challenge here at Eden Gardens and I am sure India will fight back. But our team spirit is great (following the win in Nagpur). We are really enjoying the mood in the camp. Our focus is to win a Test match in Eden Gardens," de Villiers said.
"We are sticking to our gameplan. There is no need to change when you are winning Test matches. The guys are playing pretty well and set at the momentum. We are focusing on our basics and our skills. We are pretty much ready to give the best shot."
Speaking highly of Eden Gardens, de Villiers said he was etching to play his first Test at the venue.
"It's an amazing experience to play cricket at Eden Gardens. It's one of the grounds that bring the best in you. MCG, Lord's, Eden Gardens come in one bracket. It is a special place to play Test cricket. My first Test here. The crowd here is too good and we are expecting a noisy match," he said.
On South Africa's interim coach Corrie van Zyl, who took over from Mickey Arhtur just before the series, de Villiers said, "It does not change much in the side. We still got the same gameplan and strategies. He has been very good in the first Test, we will see it here as well.
Modi gives ECB weeks time to alter county schedule
London:Refusing to change his stand, Champions League commissioner Lalit Modi has given England and Wales Cricket Board one weeks time to tweak its domestic schedule, failing which counties teams would miss out on a chance to play in this year's global Twenty20 event. Modi said it was the best he could offer ECB as the CLT20 is in no position to alter its dates.
"We need to know (ECB's decision) in the next week or so. If they don't come we will invite somebody else," Modi was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.
"The idea is they come and I hope it doesn't get to that eventuality. I understand counties can't go around the ECB's back and we will not invite anybody without their board's permission.
"We have given them the opportunity to change it (the county season) and there is nothing more we can do. We hope the counties change their minds and advance it by a week but the international calendar is very hard to alter," he said.
On Wednesday Modi revealed that the second edition of Champions League would be held from September 10-26 this year. But the ECB was quick to express its reservations over the scheduling of the tournament as it coincide with the final two rounds of the English County Championship, the semi-finals and final of the Pro40 League and the ODI Series between England and Pakistan.
The ECB subsequently took up the matter with Modi, but their request to rework the tournament schedule fell on deaf ears.
MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan apologised for the controversy over the release of his film "My Name Is Khan" but made it clear the regret is not directed to Shiv Sena which threatened to halt the screening of his picture in this Bollywood heartland.
"i thank u all for this..apologise for giving stress over the last few days...& now truly know the meaning of being humbled.lov u all so much (sic)," tweeted the 44-year-old star shortly after several multiplexes who were initially reluctant went ahead with the screening of the keenly awaited film here.
Shah Rukh also said he was "humbled and overwhelmed" after the response from the public for his film.
In a bid to clarify that his regret in a tweet is not construed as directed at the Shiv Sena who have demanded that the superstar apologise for his remarks favouring inclusion of Pakistani players in IPL, Shah Rukh posted another message on the micro blogging website Twitter to say his apology is for his fans and no one else.
"whoa.. just hearing some media reports. just so that all know...wot i say here is for my fans across the world. thats all (sic)", wrote Kahn who has 1,31,435 followers on the website.
"i am humbled by this show of love & kindness. so dont know wot else to say. overwhelmed & promise will make india proud with my hard work. yipppeee !!!! ...in my work or words, i wholeheartedly regret...and i love u very very very very much. thank u thank u thank u," Khan tweeted after MNIK ran to full houses in Mumbai and elsewhere in the country.
"i realise today...i am just a film hero...u all in the theatres r the real deal. god feel so loved & humbled. hats off to all heroes," the actor added.
MNIK tickets go for 1,000 euros each at Berlin fest
BERLIN: The online tickets for Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘My Name is Khan’ were sold out in five seconds here.
People who phoned the Berlinale authorities five minutes after ticketing opened were told they were way too late.
The film’s tickets were auctioned on e-Bay for 1,000 euros (about Rs 60,000) each.
Fans had not slept all night to keep their places in the queue despite the minus temperature in Berlin. Those who arrived at 6 am were in tears.
Jenny Watkinson, assigned the ‘Shah Rukh Khan department’ in the International Relations office of Dieter Kosslick, Berlin film festival director, says, “I’ve never seen anything like it. This year it’s expected to be even bigger than in 2008 (during ‘Om Shanti Om’). The online tickets for ‘My Name is Khan’ were sold out in five seconds.”
The film premieres in Berlin on Friday with a red carpet at the prestigious Berlinale Palast theatre on Potsdamer Platz. Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Karan Johar are in Berlin for the premiere.
Obama targets outsourcers again, labels them tax evaders
WASHINGTON: American president Barack Obama has once again targeted American companies having their operations in India to save taxes back home and called such businesses tax evaders.
"If you are a business here, entirely located in the US, and investing in the US, and hiring workers in the US, you are paying a 35 per cent rate," Obama said in an interview to the business magazine Bloomberg Business Week.
"However,if you are a multinational and you are investing in India, and your workforce is in India, and your plants and equipment are in India, but your headquarters are here, you are taking deductions on all the expenses in India, but you are keeping your profits outside the US; and that just doesn't seem entirely fair," he argued.
"The same is true where you have companies that have 90 per cent of their sales in the US, but are posting 90 per cent of their profits overseas. You get a sense there that the accountants have been busy," Obama said.
Home loans to be dearer; public sector banks to end teaser rate regime
MUMBAI: Home and auto loan customers will have to shell out more with several public sector banks including the State Bank, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India (BoI) deciding to end the concessional or limited period loan regime, popularly called teaser rates.
The public sector banks, which are offering low interest rates for the initial period of the loan to attract new customers, have decided not to extend the validity of their schemes beyond March. In certain cases, the schemes would be discontinued during the course of this month itself.
The country's largest lender State Bank chairman OP Bhatt had said recently that special home and auto loan schemes would continue only till the end of March. The SBI has been trying to attract more customers by offering home and auto loans as low as 8 per cent with a limited period offer.
As part of the special scheme under 'My home campaign,' the SBI has been offering home loans (up to Rs 5 lakh) at 8 per cent interest rate during the first five years of a 10-year loan.
For loans above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 50 lakh, the interest rate has been fixed at 8 per cent during the first year and 8.5 per cent during second and third years.
Bank of India executive director M Narendra said, "our scheme is valid till February. We may not continue the scheme post-February."
The scheme, he added, was launched for a limited period and the product has served the purpose.
Govt announces ToR on Telangana, TRS calls it betrayal
New Delhi: The high-level committee appointed by the Centre to go into the emotive issue of Telangana has also been asked to examine the option of a united Andhra Pradesh and given time till the end of the year to submit its report, prompting the proponents of the separate statehood to denounce it.
It will "examine the situation in the state of Andhra Pradesh with reference to the demand for a separate state of Telangana as well as the demand for maintaining the present status of a united Andhra Pradesh," the ToR said. The committee has been asked to submit its report by December 31 this year.
In Hyderabad, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has been spearheading the Telangana agitation, said, "The Centre has betrayed us once again". He directed all his party MPs, MLAs and MLCs to resign from their posts immediately in protest against the "betrayal".
The committee, constituted on February 3, will examine the impact of the recent developments in the state on the different sections of the people such as women, children, students, minorities, other backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
The committee includes Ranbir Singh, Abusaleh Shariff, Ravinder Kaur and former Home Secretary Vinod K Duggal as member-secretary.
Justice B N Srikrishna is a retired Judge of the Supreme Court. While Ranbir Singh is the Vice Chancellor of National Law University, Delhi, Abusaleh Shariff is the Senior Research Fellow at International Food Policy Research Institute, Delhi.
Ravinder Kaur is professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT, Delhi.
The terms of reference said the committee will "identify the key issues that must be addressed while considering the matter".
It said the panel "will consult all sections of the people, especially the political parties, on the aforesaid matters and elicit their views; to seek from the political parties and other organisations a range of solutions that would resolve the present difficult situation and promote the welfare of all sections of the people; to identify the optimal solutions for this purpose; and to recommend a plan of action and a road map".
The committee will consult other organisations of civil society such as industry, trade, trade unions, farmers' organisations, women's organisations and students' bodies on the specified matters and elicit their views with specific reference to the all round development of the different regions of the state and make any other suggestion or recommendation that the Committee may deem appropriate, the ToR said.
Both Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, who were at a function together, said they would react after studying the ToR.
Business News
Maruti 800 sales to be discontinued in 13 cities
New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker, has no plans to upgrade its lowest- priced Maruti 800 model to meet EURO IV emissions standards, Chairman R C Bhargava said on Friday.
Bhargava said sales of the model would be discontinued in 13 Indian cities from April.
Maruti is 54.2 per cent owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp.
GSM subscriber base at 394.2 mn
New Delhi: The GSM operators together added 3.7 million new subscribers in January, taking the overall GSM subscriber base to 394.2 million with Bharti Airtel leading the front with 2.85 million.
Last month's GSM addition is marginally up from the December numbers when the operators had added 13.1 million.
Airtel is closely followed by Vodafone which added 2.7 new users, say the data released by GSM operators body COAI.
Total user base of Bharti Airtel soared to 121.7 million while that of Vodafone jumped to 94.14 million at the end of January.
Idea Cellular along with Spice Communications have added 2.27 million users taking it to a total 59.88 million, thus retaining its position as the third largest GSP operator.
However, BSNL is closing the gap with Idea. The state-run teleco has added 2.2 million new users last month taking its total subscriber base to 59.45 million.
Aircel has added 2 million new users, taking it user base to 33 million and MTNL added a mere 45,067 users taking its users base to 4.6 million.
The data do not contain the subscriber addition of TataDocomo, the GSM services of Tata Teleservices and Reliance Telecom.
New players like Uninor which launched services in seven circles across the country in December, has added 1.3 million new users last month.
Sports News
Vancouver: Cricket was cleared to pursue its bid to be included in future Games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rubberstamped the sport's recognition on Thursday.
"The session gave definite recognition to the three federations," IOC spokesman Mark Adams told reporters.
The three sports can now bid to join the 2020 Olympics as the programme is always determined seven years in advance.
Golf and rugby were latest inclusions in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games when an IOC session voted them in last year.
The decision about new sports for the 2020 Games will be taken at the IOC session in Buenos Aires in 2013 where the host country will also be picked.
Series win more important than No 1 position: de Villiers
Kolkata: South Africa are just a draw shy of reclaiming the world number one spot in Test cricket, but middle-order batsman A B de Villiers on Friday said the visiting team would cherish a series win more than the ICC rankings. He said the Proteas have the momentum with them and were focused on winning the series.
"We are obviously playing good cricket at the moment. We are evolving and trying to dominate world cricket, we are still working towards it. Cricket is all about momentum and confidence. We have come from Johannesburg Test win as well as in Nagpur and we have won two Tests in a row," he added.
De Villiers sought to ignore the controversy surrounding the Eden pitch which the BCCI, apparently, had wanted to be tailor-made to suit their spinners.
"There is a little bit of grass on the wicket at this moment. I am pretty sure they will take off the grass in the next 48 hours. But it is up to the groundsman to decide, we have got no control at all," said the right-hander.
Asked about the return of a fit-again VVS Laxman in his happy-hunting ground at the Eden Gardens, de Villiers said, "He is a class player. He has performed really well in the last few years. We have got our plans and we are going to stick to that.
"But, we are focusing on our game and on our strengths. We are not too worried about them (India). Obviously, they are a good side but we are not too worried about our opponents."
He, however, reckoned that India would come out with all guns blazing after the humiliating innings defeat in the first Test at Nagpur.
"It's going to be great challenge here at Eden Gardens and I am sure India will fight back. But our team spirit is great (following the win in Nagpur). We are really enjoying the mood in the camp. Our focus is to win a Test match in Eden Gardens," de Villiers said.
"We are sticking to our gameplan. There is no need to change when you are winning Test matches. The guys are playing pretty well and set at the momentum. We are focusing on our basics and our skills. We are pretty much ready to give the best shot."
Speaking highly of Eden Gardens, de Villiers said he was etching to play his first Test at the venue.
"It's an amazing experience to play cricket at Eden Gardens. It's one of the grounds that bring the best in you. MCG, Lord's, Eden Gardens come in one bracket. It is a special place to play Test cricket. My first Test here. The crowd here is too good and we are expecting a noisy match," he said.
On South Africa's interim coach Corrie van Zyl, who took over from Mickey Arhtur just before the series, de Villiers said, "It does not change much in the side. We still got the same gameplan and strategies. He has been very good in the first Test, we will see it here as well.
Modi gives ECB weeks time to alter county schedule
London:Refusing to change his stand, Champions League commissioner Lalit Modi has given England and Wales Cricket Board one weeks time to tweak its domestic schedule, failing which counties teams would miss out on a chance to play in this year's global Twenty20 event. Modi said it was the best he could offer ECB as the CLT20 is in no position to alter its dates.
"We need to know (ECB's decision) in the next week or so. If they don't come we will invite somebody else," Modi was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.
"The idea is they come and I hope it doesn't get to that eventuality. I understand counties can't go around the ECB's back and we will not invite anybody without their board's permission.
"We have given them the opportunity to change it (the county season) and there is nothing more we can do. We hope the counties change their minds and advance it by a week but the international calendar is very hard to alter," he said.
On Wednesday Modi revealed that the second edition of Champions League would be held from September 10-26 this year. But the ECB was quick to express its reservations over the scheduling of the tournament as it coincide with the final two rounds of the English County Championship, the semi-finals and final of the Pro40 League and the ODI Series between England and Pakistan.
The ECB subsequently took up the matter with Modi, but their request to rework the tournament schedule fell on deaf ears.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Latest News of India
Multiplexes resume bookings for MNIK after govt's assurance
MUMBAI: Multiplexes today reopened advance booking for Shah Rukh Khan's new film 'My Name Is Khan', a day after suspending it, following Maharashtra government's assurance to provide adequate security to cinema theatres here.
"Advance booking of 'My Name..' has started again after police intervened in the matter and ensured tight security to all theatres," Minister of State for Home Ramesh Bagwe told reporters.
Despite the government assurance of providing security to cinema halls screening the movie which releases on February 12, some multiplexes had closed advance bookings yesterday, fearing violent protest from Shiv Sena.
"As per law, compensation for damaging the properties (of theatres) would be sought from Sena, if required," Bagwe said.
Police have arrested over 1,200 Shiv Sainiks, some of them office-bearers, since yesterday after they stepped up protest against the film over the actor's 'Pakistan -players-for IPL-3' remarks last month.
Pawar can't escape specific responsibility on price rise: Cong
NEW DELHI: Maintaining that food inflation is "most provocative and harmful" for the common man, Congress on Wednesday said Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar could not absolve himself of the primary responsibility for it.
"All inflation is anathema to the Congress-led UPA. Food inflation is most provocative and harmful. It needs priority attention", party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters.
While the responsibility is common, he said there was a "specific responsibility of a ministry in a collective context".
Seeking to point out that Pawar holds Agriculture and the concerned other Ministries regarding essential commodities, He said there is a "differential responsibility in the anonymous collective responsibility".
Singhvi steered clear of a question whether Pawar was giving strength to Shiv Sena by his meeting its chief Bal Thackeray. "I do not want to speculate on it".
The Congress statement came a day after NCP hit back at it for virtually holding Pawar responsible for spiralling food prices, saying it will be a "mockery" of the principle of collective responsibility of the Cabinet.
China's anti-ship missile not a threat: Navy chief
New Delhi: Dismissing China's anti-ship missile programme as a threat to Indian warships, Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma on Wednesday said it would be a difficult task to even spot the vessels in the vast expanse of high seas.
"Targeting ships at high seas is not an easy task or as simple as land warfare," Admiral Verma told reporters here on the sidelines of a seminar on aircraft carriers organised by the National Maritime Foundation here.
"There are hundreds and thousands of ships in the sea at any given time. It is extremely important to spot the ship before targeting it. There are limitations in terms of maritime reconnaissance and long-range searches," Verma said when asked about the threat posed by Chinese Anti-ship Ballistic Missile Programme.
He said it was "a complex problem" to use a conventional missile against a moving target at high seas.
Earlier, addressing the seminar, the Navy chief said aircraft carriers were expensive and there were questions on their affordability and survivability due to their large size while at sea.
"Some event talk about carrying out land-based missile attacks against an aircraft carrier. We must weigh this against the difficulties of targeting a mobile target out at sea," he said, noting that carriers can move 600 nautical miles a day, which translates into one million square nautical miles of ocean area which an adversary has to search.
Verma said this was a Herculean task for even the best of navies, satellite and aerial surveillance.
"Should an adversary manage to evade a plethora of air, surface and sub-surface escorts and be capable of hitting a carrier, sinking it or putting a carrier out of action is by no means easy," he said.
Drunk driver Nooriya tested positive for drugs: Police
MUMBAI: Nooriya Haveliwala, accused of drunk-driving and knocking a policeman and a man dead Jan 30, has tested positive for drugs and faces fresh charges under anti-narcotics laws, police said here Wednesday.
The medical reports of the 27-year-old woman's blood and urine samples tested positive for morphine and cannabis, Additional Police Commissioner (South) R.K. Padmanabhan told mediapersons.
He said the reports state that she tested positive but do not indicate the quantity of the drugs consumed.
Mumbai Police now plans to seek her custody at the next hearing Feb 16 and also slap her with Sec. 27 of the Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (Prevention) Act, Padmanabhan added.
The section pertains to consumption of drugs and could attract a punishment of one-year imprisonment on that count.
Nooriya has already been charged with the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder which attracts a maximum of life imprisonment and the new developments will further strengthen the police case against her.
Incidentally, her breathalyzer test conducted by the police, which showed that she had consumed 457 mg of alcohol - nine times the permissible limits for driving - had been proved erroneous in a forensic test, which put her alcohol consumption content at only 144 mg.
The lower alcohol content in her body could have helped her secure bail, but the new report showing consumption of drugs would make it an uphill task.
Nooriya's medico father, Yusuf Haveliwala, had challenged the police claim and said that any person with that much quantity of alcohol would not be able to walk properly.
However, Nooriya was walking straight despite wearing high heels and he said that the breathalyzer readings could be wrong.
On the night of Jan 29, Nooriya had partied with friends at a flat in Malabar Hill area, then at a pub in Mumbai Central and then went to a wine shop to pick up more beer cans.
While driving her SUV Toyota CRV, she was sipping beer when it bumped into a taxi, a motorcycle and a police jeep at Marine Lines.
The motorcycle rider, Afzal M. (35) died on the spot, while sub-inspector Dinanath Shinde (40) died later at a hospital. Four other policemen suffered injuries in the accident.
Business News
Sensex sheds 120 pts on profit-booking
Mumbai: Snapping a three-day rally, the BSE benchmark index Sensex pared the early gains and shed 120 points at close on profit-selling by mostly funds.
The Sensex, which gained nearly 251 points in last three sessions, opened 99 points higher before ending 120.01 points down, or 0.75 per cent at 15,922.17, as funds sold heavily in blue-chips in the heavy machinery, PSUs, power, and banking counters on fears that government may withdraw a part of its stimulus package in the forthcoming budget.
However, the realty and consumer durables counters rose following reports that sale of building materials jumped 15 per cent in January, signaling continued economic growth.
The wide-based NSE index Nifty 50, too, lost 35.45points, or 0.74 per cent to 4,757.20, after touching a high of4,826.85.
The index had a 34 points gap-up opening on short-covering by speculators following a 1.52 per cent rally on the Wall Street after G-7 agreed to support the Eurozone nations facing sovereign debt crises.
Marketmen said the stocks are on a southward spiral on waning risk appetite among foreign investors and general investors seen booking profits at existing higher levels.
They also said the markets could not hold on to the early rally as soon after a strong opening the Asian indices stocks began to wear down. Also, the European indices were also only marginally up in their early morning trade.
Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 21 counters closed lower while nine ended with moderate gains. Brokers are of the view that the markets would move in a narrow range till the budget on Feb 26.
Economy to grow by 7.75 pct in FY10: FM
New Delhi: Referring to last year's economic survey projections that Indian economy could grow by 7.75 per cent this fiscal, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the economic expansion is expected to be in the upper range of most predictions.
"The Economic Survey 2008-09 had indicated that the upper bound of growth in real GDP for the year 2009-10 could be around 7.75 per cent. With the latest GDP data on 2009-10 indicating 7.9 per cent growth in the second quarter, the growth outlook for the next two quarters and for the whole year is expected to be in the upper bound range of most predictions for the Indian economy," Mukherjee said at Consultative Committee meeting of the Colombo Plan.
The Finance Minister said that the Central Statistical Organisation in its advance estimate has projected the economy to grow by 7.2 per cent this fiscal.
Recently the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy had forecast that the economy would grow at 7.75 per cent for this fiscal, while the Reserve Bank had pegged the GDP at 7.5 per cent.
The International Monetary fund has also said that the Indian economy is likely to grow at 7.75 per cent for the year 2009-10.
Govt talks fuel price hike with allies
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet is likely to discuss on Thursday a Petroleum Ministry proposal for freeing petrol prices from government control and a moderate increase in diesel, cooking gas and kerosene rates, ahead of which Oil Minister Murli Deora held consultations with key allies DMK and Trinamool Congress on the subject.
Deora met A Raja, Telecom Minister and senior leader of UPA's key ally, DMK, this morning and spoke over phone to Trinamool Congress leader and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee explaining the "precarious" situation that PSU oil firms would find themselves in, if fuel prices were not hiked.
Sources said that both Raja as well as Banerjee were non-committal on the stand that their parties may take if the proposal of freeing petrol prices – that would lead to a price increase of Rs 4.72 a litre - comes before Cabinet tomorrow.
Already, opposition from key allies has seen Deora drop the proposal on freeing diesel prices that would have resulted in rates going up by Rs 2.33 a litre. However, there is now a move to hike diesel rates by at least Re one a litre. Deora may, however, bargain for an increase in LPG and kerosene rates although it would not be in the range of the steep Rs 100 per cylinder and Rs 6 a litre hike, respectively, suggested by the Kirit Parikh panel on fuel pricing reforms.
Sources said he may bargain for half of the increases suggested by the panel, but may settle at Rs 25 per cylinder hike in LPG rates and Re one a litre raise in kerosene prices. The Congress party core group, which includes UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, will meet to vet the proposal before it goes to the Cabinet.
Deora refused to say what his ministry may propose to the Cabinet. "At the time of presentation of the Kirit Parikh Committee report (last week), I had said that we will process and present our view on it to the Cabinet in one week. We are ready (with comments on the report) and will submit it to the Cabinet..."
He refused to elaborate but gave enough hints that the ministry's view would incorporate the Congress party's stand that may evolve at the core group meeting.
The experts group, headed by former Planning Commission member Kirit Parikh, recommended deregulating of petrol and diesel prices, while raising kerosene and domestic LPG rates by Rs 6 per litre and Rs 100 per cylinder, respectively.
State-owned Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum sell fuel below cost on the orders of the government and expect a revenue loss of Rs 46,030 crore on that account this year. Of this, the government was meeting only Rs 12,000 crore, Deora explained to Raja and Banerjee.
Sources said Raja is believed to have told Deora that a position on the proposal will be taken by his party's leader M Karunanidhi.
Petrol is currently sold at a loss of Rs 4.72 a litre, diesel at Rs 2.33 per litre, kerosene at Rs 18.06 per litre and domestic LPG at a discount of Rs 287.59 per cylinder.
In case the government went for only marginal price hikes, the Cabinet will also have to decide on how the remainder of the revenue loss would be met. At present, the government does not allow state-running fuel retailers to fix petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG prices in line with international cost, resulting in huge revenue losses for the companies and subsidy burden on government.
Sports News
You can fire me but selection was not an issue: Srikkanth
New Delhi: Rejecting suggestions that selection goof-ups led to India's humiliating defeat in the first Test against South Africa, chairman of selectors Kris Srikkanth on Wednesday said he is still ready to face the sack if held responsible for the debacle.
India lost the match by an innings and six runs yesterday and former players and critics felt the team desperately missed a specialist batsman in the absence of the injured duo of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.
Laxman's cover Rohit Sharma injured himself just minutes before the toss, forcing the selection of rookie Wriddhiman Saha, who was initially picked in the squad as a reserve wicketkeeper.
But Srikkanth refuted the criticism, saying that the selectors could not be held responsible if a reserve batsman also ends up on the injured list on the morning of the match.
"The whole thing would not have blown up had Rohit played. The questions that are being raised are about Saha's selection. He is actually a wicketkeeper who can bat a bit. But he proved himself well in the match," Srikkanth said.
"As the chairman of the selection panel, I am willing to own up responsibility. It's a lesson learnt and from now on, we will not select players who are not 100 per cent fit," he said, referring to Laxman's selection in the squad despite the uncertainty over his availability ahead of the match.
"It's a team game and individuals cannot be blamed. You can blame the selectors. You can fire me, I would accept it gracefully. But let's admit that South Africa played really well. We should accept defeat gracefully and move on," said Srikkanth. Srikkanth insisted that the team selected was the best available given the injury list.
"I don't think selection was an issue. It's like if the team wins, all is fine but if it loses then everybody blames the selectors. I am not shying away from the responsibility. Whatever happened on the first morning of the match was freakish. If a player gets injured just 15 minutes before the toss, I don't think you can blame anyone," he said.
"In hindsight, we didn't have Rahul (Dravid), who is a fantastic player of fast bowling. Laxman was injured... we were hopeful of his recovery but unfortunately that didn't happen and then Rohit got injured. So, I would say it was fate," he added.
Srikkanth said despite the Nagpur debacle, which has left India trailing 0-1 in the two-match series, the home side was quite capable of bouncing back in the Kolkata Test starting on Sunday.
"The team is good. Laxman will definitely be back for Kolkata and that will bolster the batting. I am sure our team will fight back. Winning and losing are part and parcel of cricket," he said.
Gambhir still No. 1 batsman, Harbhajan drops out of top 10
Dubai:Indian opener Gautam Gambhir continued to top Test batsmen rankings despite a poor show in first Test against South Africa while off-spinner Harbhajan Singh dropped out of top 10 among bowlers in the ICC chart released on Wednesday
Gambhir, who scored just 13 in the first Test in Nagpur, remained world's top batsman with 840 points, ahead of Sri Lankan duo of Mahela Jayawardene (836) and Kumar Sangakkara (835). Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, who both scored centuries in Nagpur, are the other Indians to feature in the top 10 at sixth and ninth places respectively. By virtue of their exploits in Nagpur, South African pair of Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla have made big upward movements in the latest batting chart.
Kallis, who scored his 34th Test century during the match, has returned to the top five by gaining four places to sit in fourth position ahead of his captain Graeme Smith, who slipped three places to fifth. Amla, meanwhile, broke into the top 10 for the first time in his career with the help of his magnificent unbeaten 253 in the first innings, which set up South Africa's victory against India yesterday by an innings and six runs.
In the ICC Players' Rankings for Test bowlers, India's pace spearhead Zaheer Khan is static at the sixth spot while Harbhajan, who took two wickets for 166 in Nagpur, dropped four places to find himself at 12th.
Boycott IPL if Hyderabad games shifted out: AP govt to Deccan
Hyderabad: Furious at the Indian Premier League for shifting its opening match out of the city, the state government on Wednesday asked local team Deccan Chargers to boycott the Twenty20 event if the organisers don't stick to the orginal schedule.
Andhra Pradesh Sports Minister K Venkat Reddy said he and Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Wednesday sent letters to Union Agriculture Minister and former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar urging him to ensure that the opening match is held here as per the original schedule. The IPL starts on March 12 with Deccan Chargers taking on Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai. "We have asked Deccan Chargers to stay away from the event as an expression of solidarity and send the message that the whole state is united in demanding relocation of the (inaugural) match," said Reddy.
"I spoke to Deccan Chargers and they said they will get back to us, may be by tomorrow," he said. "They have insulted Andhra Pradesh by shifting out the match to Mumbai. In fact, Hyderabad is more suited to host the match than Mumbai," Reddy said. The government has demanded that the Indian Premier League's opening match should be held in the city as originally scheduled.
MUMBAI: Multiplexes today reopened advance booking for Shah Rukh Khan's new film 'My Name Is Khan', a day after suspending it, following Maharashtra government's assurance to provide adequate security to cinema theatres here.
"Advance booking of 'My Name..' has started again after police intervened in the matter and ensured tight security to all theatres," Minister of State for Home Ramesh Bagwe told reporters.
Despite the government assurance of providing security to cinema halls screening the movie which releases on February 12, some multiplexes had closed advance bookings yesterday, fearing violent protest from Shiv Sena.
"As per law, compensation for damaging the properties (of theatres) would be sought from Sena, if required," Bagwe said.
Police have arrested over 1,200 Shiv Sainiks, some of them office-bearers, since yesterday after they stepped up protest against the film over the actor's 'Pakistan -players-for IPL-3' remarks last month.
Pawar can't escape specific responsibility on price rise: Cong
NEW DELHI: Maintaining that food inflation is "most provocative and harmful" for the common man, Congress on Wednesday said Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar could not absolve himself of the primary responsibility for it.
"All inflation is anathema to the Congress-led UPA. Food inflation is most provocative and harmful. It needs priority attention", party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters.
While the responsibility is common, he said there was a "specific responsibility of a ministry in a collective context".
Seeking to point out that Pawar holds Agriculture and the concerned other Ministries regarding essential commodities, He said there is a "differential responsibility in the anonymous collective responsibility".
Singhvi steered clear of a question whether Pawar was giving strength to Shiv Sena by his meeting its chief Bal Thackeray. "I do not want to speculate on it".
The Congress statement came a day after NCP hit back at it for virtually holding Pawar responsible for spiralling food prices, saying it will be a "mockery" of the principle of collective responsibility of the Cabinet.
China's anti-ship missile not a threat: Navy chief
New Delhi: Dismissing China's anti-ship missile programme as a threat to Indian warships, Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma on Wednesday said it would be a difficult task to even spot the vessels in the vast expanse of high seas.
"There are hundreds and thousands of ships in the sea at any given time. It is extremely important to spot the ship before targeting it. There are limitations in terms of maritime reconnaissance and long-range searches," Verma said when asked about the threat posed by Chinese Anti-ship Ballistic Missile Programme.
He said it was "a complex problem" to use a conventional missile against a moving target at high seas.
Earlier, addressing the seminar, the Navy chief said aircraft carriers were expensive and there were questions on their affordability and survivability due to their large size while at sea.
"Some event talk about carrying out land-based missile attacks against an aircraft carrier. We must weigh this against the difficulties of targeting a mobile target out at sea," he said, noting that carriers can move 600 nautical miles a day, which translates into one million square nautical miles of ocean area which an adversary has to search.
Verma said this was a Herculean task for even the best of navies, satellite and aerial surveillance.
"Should an adversary manage to evade a plethora of air, surface and sub-surface escorts and be capable of hitting a carrier, sinking it or putting a carrier out of action is by no means easy," he said.
Drunk driver Nooriya tested positive for drugs: Police
MUMBAI: Nooriya Haveliwala, accused of drunk-driving and knocking a policeman and a man dead Jan 30, has tested positive for drugs and faces fresh charges under anti-narcotics laws, police said here Wednesday.
The medical reports of the 27-year-old woman's blood and urine samples tested positive for morphine and cannabis, Additional Police Commissioner (South) R.K. Padmanabhan told mediapersons.
He said the reports state that she tested positive but do not indicate the quantity of the drugs consumed.
Mumbai Police now plans to seek her custody at the next hearing Feb 16 and also slap her with Sec. 27 of the Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (Prevention) Act, Padmanabhan added.
The section pertains to consumption of drugs and could attract a punishment of one-year imprisonment on that count.
Nooriya has already been charged with the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder which attracts a maximum of life imprisonment and the new developments will further strengthen the police case against her.
Incidentally, her breathalyzer test conducted by the police, which showed that she had consumed 457 mg of alcohol - nine times the permissible limits for driving - had been proved erroneous in a forensic test, which put her alcohol consumption content at only 144 mg.
The lower alcohol content in her body could have helped her secure bail, but the new report showing consumption of drugs would make it an uphill task.
Nooriya's medico father, Yusuf Haveliwala, had challenged the police claim and said that any person with that much quantity of alcohol would not be able to walk properly.
However, Nooriya was walking straight despite wearing high heels and he said that the breathalyzer readings could be wrong.
On the night of Jan 29, Nooriya had partied with friends at a flat in Malabar Hill area, then at a pub in Mumbai Central and then went to a wine shop to pick up more beer cans.
While driving her SUV Toyota CRV, she was sipping beer when it bumped into a taxi, a motorcycle and a police jeep at Marine Lines.
The motorcycle rider, Afzal M. (35) died on the spot, while sub-inspector Dinanath Shinde (40) died later at a hospital. Four other policemen suffered injuries in the accident.
Business News
Sensex sheds 120 pts on profit-booking
Mumbai: Snapping a three-day rally, the BSE benchmark index Sensex pared the early gains and shed 120 points at close on profit-selling by mostly funds.
However, the realty and consumer durables counters rose following reports that sale of building materials jumped 15 per cent in January, signaling continued economic growth.
The wide-based NSE index Nifty 50, too, lost 35.45points, or 0.74 per cent to 4,757.20, after touching a high of4,826.85.
The index had a 34 points gap-up opening on short-covering by speculators following a 1.52 per cent rally on the Wall Street after G-7 agreed to support the Eurozone nations facing sovereign debt crises.
Marketmen said the stocks are on a southward spiral on waning risk appetite among foreign investors and general investors seen booking profits at existing higher levels.
They also said the markets could not hold on to the early rally as soon after a strong opening the Asian indices stocks began to wear down. Also, the European indices were also only marginally up in their early morning trade.
Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 21 counters closed lower while nine ended with moderate gains. Brokers are of the view that the markets would move in a narrow range till the budget on Feb 26.
Economy to grow by 7.75 pct in FY10: FM
New Delhi: Referring to last year's economic survey projections that Indian economy could grow by 7.75 per cent this fiscal, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the economic expansion is expected to be in the upper range of most predictions.
The Finance Minister said that the Central Statistical Organisation in its advance estimate has projected the economy to grow by 7.2 per cent this fiscal.
Recently the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy had forecast that the economy would grow at 7.75 per cent for this fiscal, while the Reserve Bank had pegged the GDP at 7.5 per cent.
The International Monetary fund has also said that the Indian economy is likely to grow at 7.75 per cent for the year 2009-10.
Govt talks fuel price hike with allies
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet is likely to discuss on Thursday a Petroleum Ministry proposal for freeing petrol prices from government control and a moderate increase in diesel, cooking gas and kerosene rates, ahead of which Oil Minister Murli Deora held consultations with key allies DMK and Trinamool Congress on the subject.
Deora met A Raja, Telecom Minister and senior leader of UPA's key ally, DMK, this morning and spoke over phone to Trinamool Congress leader and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee explaining the "precarious" situation that PSU oil firms would find themselves in, if fuel prices were not hiked.
Sources said that both Raja as well as Banerjee were non-committal on the stand that their parties may take if the proposal of freeing petrol prices – that would lead to a price increase of Rs 4.72 a litre - comes before Cabinet tomorrow.
Already, opposition from key allies has seen Deora drop the proposal on freeing diesel prices that would have resulted in rates going up by Rs 2.33 a litre. However, there is now a move to hike diesel rates by at least Re one a litre. Deora may, however, bargain for an increase in LPG and kerosene rates although it would not be in the range of the steep Rs 100 per cylinder and Rs 6 a litre hike, respectively, suggested by the Kirit Parikh panel on fuel pricing reforms.
Sources said he may bargain for half of the increases suggested by the panel, but may settle at Rs 25 per cylinder hike in LPG rates and Re one a litre raise in kerosene prices. The Congress party core group, which includes UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, will meet to vet the proposal before it goes to the Cabinet.
Deora refused to say what his ministry may propose to the Cabinet. "At the time of presentation of the Kirit Parikh Committee report (last week), I had said that we will process and present our view on it to the Cabinet in one week. We are ready (with comments on the report) and will submit it to the Cabinet..."
He refused to elaborate but gave enough hints that the ministry's view would incorporate the Congress party's stand that may evolve at the core group meeting.
The experts group, headed by former Planning Commission member Kirit Parikh, recommended deregulating of petrol and diesel prices, while raising kerosene and domestic LPG rates by Rs 6 per litre and Rs 100 per cylinder, respectively.
State-owned Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum sell fuel below cost on the orders of the government and expect a revenue loss of Rs 46,030 crore on that account this year. Of this, the government was meeting only Rs 12,000 crore, Deora explained to Raja and Banerjee.
Sources said Raja is believed to have told Deora that a position on the proposal will be taken by his party's leader M Karunanidhi.
Petrol is currently sold at a loss of Rs 4.72 a litre, diesel at Rs 2.33 per litre, kerosene at Rs 18.06 per litre and domestic LPG at a discount of Rs 287.59 per cylinder.
In case the government went for only marginal price hikes, the Cabinet will also have to decide on how the remainder of the revenue loss would be met. At present, the government does not allow state-running fuel retailers to fix petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG prices in line with international cost, resulting in huge revenue losses for the companies and subsidy burden on government.
Sports News
You can fire me but selection was not an issue: Srikkanth
New Delhi: Rejecting suggestions that selection goof-ups led to India's humiliating defeat in the first Test against South Africa, chairman of selectors Kris Srikkanth on Wednesday said he is still ready to face the sack if held responsible for the debacle.
Laxman's cover Rohit Sharma injured himself just minutes before the toss, forcing the selection of rookie Wriddhiman Saha, who was initially picked in the squad as a reserve wicketkeeper.
But Srikkanth refuted the criticism, saying that the selectors could not be held responsible if a reserve batsman also ends up on the injured list on the morning of the match.
"The whole thing would not have blown up had Rohit played. The questions that are being raised are about Saha's selection. He is actually a wicketkeeper who can bat a bit. But he proved himself well in the match," Srikkanth said.
"As the chairman of the selection panel, I am willing to own up responsibility. It's a lesson learnt and from now on, we will not select players who are not 100 per cent fit," he said, referring to Laxman's selection in the squad despite the uncertainty over his availability ahead of the match.
"It's a team game and individuals cannot be blamed. You can blame the selectors. You can fire me, I would accept it gracefully. But let's admit that South Africa played really well. We should accept defeat gracefully and move on," said Srikkanth. Srikkanth insisted that the team selected was the best available given the injury list.
"I don't think selection was an issue. It's like if the team wins, all is fine but if it loses then everybody blames the selectors. I am not shying away from the responsibility. Whatever happened on the first morning of the match was freakish. If a player gets injured just 15 minutes before the toss, I don't think you can blame anyone," he said.
"In hindsight, we didn't have Rahul (Dravid), who is a fantastic player of fast bowling. Laxman was injured... we were hopeful of his recovery but unfortunately that didn't happen and then Rohit got injured. So, I would say it was fate," he added.
Srikkanth said despite the Nagpur debacle, which has left India trailing 0-1 in the two-match series, the home side was quite capable of bouncing back in the Kolkata Test starting on Sunday.
"The team is good. Laxman will definitely be back for Kolkata and that will bolster the batting. I am sure our team will fight back. Winning and losing are part and parcel of cricket," he said.
Gambhir still No. 1 batsman, Harbhajan drops out of top 10
Dubai:Indian opener Gautam Gambhir continued to top Test batsmen rankings despite a poor show in first Test against South Africa while off-spinner Harbhajan Singh dropped out of top 10 among bowlers in the ICC chart released on Wednesday
Gambhir, who scored just 13 in the first Test in Nagpur, remained world's top batsman with 840 points, ahead of Sri Lankan duo of Mahela Jayawardene (836) and Kumar Sangakkara (835). Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, who both scored centuries in Nagpur, are the other Indians to feature in the top 10 at sixth and ninth places respectively. By virtue of their exploits in Nagpur, South African pair of Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla have made big upward movements in the latest batting chart.
Kallis, who scored his 34th Test century during the match, has returned to the top five by gaining four places to sit in fourth position ahead of his captain Graeme Smith, who slipped three places to fifth. Amla, meanwhile, broke into the top 10 for the first time in his career with the help of his magnificent unbeaten 253 in the first innings, which set up South Africa's victory against India yesterday by an innings and six runs.
In the ICC Players' Rankings for Test bowlers, India's pace spearhead Zaheer Khan is static at the sixth spot while Harbhajan, who took two wickets for 166 in Nagpur, dropped four places to find himself at 12th.
Boycott IPL if Hyderabad games shifted out: AP govt to Deccan
Hyderabad: Furious at the Indian Premier League for shifting its opening match out of the city, the state government on Wednesday asked local team Deccan Chargers to boycott the Twenty20 event if the organisers don't stick to the orginal schedule.
Andhra Pradesh Sports Minister K Venkat Reddy said he and Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Wednesday sent letters to Union Agriculture Minister and former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar urging him to ensure that the opening match is held here as per the original schedule. The IPL starts on March 12 with Deccan Chargers taking on Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai. "We have asked Deccan Chargers to stay away from the event as an expression of solidarity and send the message that the whole state is united in demanding relocation of the (inaugural) match," said Reddy.
"I spoke to Deccan Chargers and they said they will get back to us, may be by tomorrow," he said. "They have insulted Andhra Pradesh by shifting out the match to Mumbai. In fact, Hyderabad is more suited to host the match than Mumbai," Reddy said. The government has demanded that the Indian Premier League's opening match should be held in the city as originally scheduled.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Indian Latest News
Sena activists vandalise Mumbai theatres; 46 sainiks held
Mumbai: Shiv Sena activists held for demonstrations outside theatres in eastern suburbs against Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming film 'My Name is Khan', prompting the police to arrest 46 troublemakers.
At Mulund area, the glasses of Mehul cinema were broken after one of the protesters pelted stones, police said adding that several gathered outside Huma Cinema at Kanjurmarg and R-City Mall at Ghatkopar area, shouting slogans against Khan and the movie, scheduled to be released on February 12.
"We have arrested 46 Shiv Sena activists protesting outside the theatres. More arrests are likely," Additional Police Commissioner (East) Ritesh Kumar said.
The protesters threatened the theatre owners to stop the advance bookings or face the severe consequences. The Sena activists were booked for unlawful assembly, rioting and further probe was on, police said.
The Sena had threatened to stall the screening of the film, protesting Khan's support for inclusion of Pakistani players in the upcoming IPL but party supremo Bal Thackeray later said that the film's release will not be disrupted.
Earlier today, Karan Johar, director and co-producer of film, met City Police Commissioner D Sivanandhan to discuss the security issues ahead of the movie's release.
Govt says no to Bt Brinjal for now
NEW DELHI: Facing intense opposition from within and outside, the government refused to give a go-ahead to commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal,a genetically-modified version of the vegetable that is said to be more resistant to pests.
Announcing a cautious approach of the government, Environment and Forests minister Jairam Ramesh said there was "no clear consensus" among the scientists and stake-holders on giving permission to Bt Brinjal and more studies needed to be conducted.
"There is no over-riding urgency to introduce it... When the public sentiments have been negative, it is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary and principle-based approach," he told a hurriedly-called press conference which was originally scheduled for tomorrow.
"I will not impose a decision till such time independent scientific studies establish safety of the product from long-term view of human health," Ramesh said.
He said it was a difficult decision to take but he had to balance many issues of science and society and producer and consumer.
However, he made it clear that today's decision applied only to Bt Brinjal and does not cover future of genetically-modified crops, be it ladyfinger, cabbage or rice.
Ramesh's decision came after a series of public consultations in seven cities across the country that often turned acrimonious. A number of state governments, including Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh, have publicly opposed the introduction of Bt Brinjal.
Agni III doesn't pose threat, we share friendly relations with India: China
BEIJING: Describing its ties with India as "friendly and cooperative," China today said both countries did not pose mutual threat.
Dismissing reports that India's nuclear-capable Agni-III missile, which has a range of 3,500 km posed a threat to China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said China and India shared friendly and cooperative relations.
"I don't want to interpret or comment on the reports," Ma said when asked to comment on the February seven launch of Agni-III which put China's major cities within its strike range.
"The China-India relation is friendly and cooperative. China will not be a threat to India, and nor will India pose a threat to China," Ma was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu refused to comment on the reports at a regular news briefing, only saying that China-India relations maintain their good momentum.
"Bilateral ties will move forward with the joint effort of both countries," he said.
Chidambaram renews offer of talks with Naxals
Kolkata: After a meeting of four naxal-affected states, the Centre on Tuesday said it was ready to hold talks with the Maoists if they "halt" violence.
"My appeal to all the naxals on behalf of all the chief ministers who participated in the conference two days ago, on behalf of naxal affected states, if you abjure violence that is if you say a halt to violence, we are not asking you to do anything more, if you halt the violence we are prepared to talk to you on any matter," Home Minister P Chidambaram said.
He was talking to reporters after a meeting of chief minister of Naxal-affected states which was not attended by chief ministers of Bihar and Jharkhand Nitish Kumar and Shibu Soren respectively.
Kumar told reporters in Patna that he could not be away from Patna for long and today is the scheduled day for the state cabinet to meet. Soren, who had cited illness for not attending the meeting, had deputed his two deputy chief ministers.
Against the backdrop of reports that Kumar kept away at the instance of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Chidambaram sought to play down his absence.
He said Kumar had told him in Delhi on Sunday that he had some prior commitment and that he may not be able to attend the Kolkata meeting. "His senior officials are here.
Either I can go to Patna or he can go to Delhi (to discuss Maoist issues). That is not an issue," Chidambaram said.
On the naxal issue, the Home Minister said the "condition" is Maoist should "halt" violence. “Unfortunately, past appeals have been spurned. Therefore, we are obliged to continue the operations as long as naxals indulge in violence. These operations will continue and I am confident that further progress will be made in next six months”, Chidambaram said. “We made it very clear that the purpose of these operations is not to kill anyone. They are our own people. We care for them, we care for their lives”, he said.
The meeting, convened by the Union Home Minister, to help states to coordinate their campaign against Naxals, began an hour behind schedule as Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik arrived late. The meeting was attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
“Use of force alone will not solve the problem. We all agree on that. But in order to put an end to violence and re-establish civil administration, it is necessary to use force”, he said when asked about the Bihar Chief Minister's contention that the Maoist problem could not be solved by use of force. “The government must continue operations against Maoists in a careful, calibrated and controlled way if Maoists do not halt violence”, he said.
Race motive clear in some attacks, admits Oz FM
Under mounting pressure over attacks on Indians, Australia on Tuesday acknowledged that some of the recent violence against them had clearly been "racially motivated" and vowed to "punish the culprits with the full force of law".
Stating that the attacks had "considerably damaged" the nation's reputation, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told the Parliament that "if any of these attacks have been racist in nature - and it seems clear that some of them have - they will be punished with the full force of law".
Smith said the attacks which have included robberies and beatings are "inexcusable" and were being taken very seriously by the government.
The foreign minister intervened on the matter after the government came in for a sharp attack from the opposition which accused the Victorian government of failing to tackle the racist attacks on Indians.
Even Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that he was worried over the narration by his Asian-origin son-in-law of racisms in Australia. Rudd said that his government's efforts were aimed at improving safety of foreign students who worked late at night.
Leaders and officials in Australian had earlier down played racism as a motive for attacks on Indians which have triggered outrage in India. Smith's remarks came just ahead of Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh's visit to New Delhi to brief the government on the steps taken by Australia to prevent attacks on Indians. Singh is excepted to be in New Delhi this week.
Describing the attacks as "contemptible", Smith said these had cast a long shadow over relationship and ties with India and said these were an "affront to our values and are anathema to a view of modern Australia."
Giving an update on the issue, the minister said, "we need to accept that it has considerably damaged Australia's reputation in India and among the Indian people. Indeed, it has widely been noticed beyond India and South Asia."
Offering condolences to the families of Indians attacked in Australia, Smith told the lawmakers that repairing the damage to the country's image was an "essential priority."
The foreign minister assured that India "was in the front rank" of nations in Australia's international partnership and was fast emerging as nation's third biggest export market behind China and Japan.
The two way trade between the two countries was nearly 22 billion Australian dollars last year, registering a quantum jump of 55 per cent. And a number of Indian companies were showing great interest in investing in Australia not only in mineral resources but agriculture and IT.
Addressing the Indian nationals in his country, Smith said, "we will continue to do our utmost to ensure that the children, Indian parents have entrusted to our care, remain safe and go back home with first class education." According to local estimates, there are 450,000 Indians living in Australia out of which 120,000 are students.
Referring to these figures, Smith said the government had "zero-tolerance" for racism and pointed out that 45 people had so far been arrested for crime against Indians.
He said it was regrettable that many Indian students in Australia, in particular Melbourne, found themselves in a higher risk profile for crime because they work in late night shifts in occupations like taxi driving and live near high crime neighbourhoods.
Business News
IT rally helps Sensex close above 16K
A rally in the IT and PSU counters aided the benchmark index Sensex record gains for the third consecutive day and close above the psychological 16,000-mark by adding 107 points on Tuesday, amid positive global cues following easing of the sovereign debt worries in the Eurozone region.
The 30-share BSE barometer touched a low of 15,862.90 at opening shedding 71 points, but gradually moved up and remained in the green for the rest of the day and hit a high of 16,087.83 before closing at 16,042.18, a rise of 105.57 points or 0.67 per cent over its previous close.
IT stocks were at the forefront on bargain hunting after the recent crash while PSU stocks too saw good buying support.
Marketmen said the IT rally was driven by the easing of sovereign debt crisis in Greece, Spain and Portugal, which had sent the global markets into a tizzy last week.
The BSE IT index surged 2.52 per cent to 4,972.64 points and the rally was led by Infosys with a gain of 2.92 per cent or Rs 70.15 to Rs 2,470.90, Wipro by 2.49 per cent or Rs 15.85 to Rs 652.45 and TCS by Rs 10.40 to Rs 734.20. The domestic IT exporters get a third of their sales from Europe.
SMC Capital vice-president Rajesh Jain said, "the markets witnessed a counter-rally and short-covering to end in the green. Positive cues from Asia and Europe also helped."
However, realty counters suffered a sharp setback on profit-selling on fears of a hike in interest rate following rising inflation and a better-than-expected GDP growth, which would pressurise RBI to further tighten money supply.
Brokers attributed early weakness to a severe setback on the Wall Street overnight with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sliding by 104 points and closing below 10,000-mark.
However, firm Asian markets helped the recovery in the domestic bourses. All the key indices, barring the Nikkei, which ended flat, like Shanghai, Hang Seng, Strait, Kospi and Taiwan closed with gains.
European markets too resumed better today. The CAC was up by 0.28 per cent, the DAX by 0.48 per cent and FTST by 0.60 per cent.
Brokers said fresh selling by funds in heavy-weight stocks mainly led to fall in the stock prices in the first half. Also though Asia and Europe were in the green, the sentiment was not so strong, hence our markets too could not hold on to higher levels, they added.
The 50-issue Nifty of the NSE also rose by another 32.25 points or 0.68 per cent to close at 4,792.65 after touching the psychological 5800 market many times intraday. This is the third successive gain for both the indices.
With the buying activity picking up, barring realty which dipped by dipped by 40.34 points or 1.21 per cent and oil & gas sector which fell 0.23 per cent, all BSE sectoral indices ended in the green. And among the Sensex stocks, 19 ended higher, while 11 declined with moderate to deep losses.
From the BSE sectoral indices, the IT spurted by 122.01 points or 2.52 per cent, Tech rallied by 2.09 per cent, and the PSU by 153.59 points or 1.67 per cent.
China is now world's largest exporter
Berlin:China has zipped past Germany as the world's largest exporter after German exports slumped 18.4 per cent in 2009, the sharpest fall since 1950.
Germany's exports last year fell 18.4 per cent from the previous year to 803.2 billion euros, or USD 1,121.3 billion, allowing China with exports of USD 1,201.6 billion to replace the biggest European economy as the world's largest exporter for the first time.
Germany, which had remained the largest exporter since 2003, logged the heavy export drop due to the financial crisis in 2009, Kyodo news agency reported, quoting official trade figures released on Monday.
China has become the world's production base as major Japanese, U.S. and European companies have built manufacturing plants in the communist nation.
China also replaced the United States in domestic new vehicle sales in 2009 and is expected to become the world's second-largest economic power in terms of gross domestic product in place of Japan this year, the report said.
Sports News
India crash to innings defeat against Proteas
Nagpur:Sachin Tendulkar's defiant ton merely delayed the inevitable as India crashed to a humiliating innings and six runs defeat against South Africa in the first cricket Test in Nagpur on Tuesday.
The miracle that India needed to save the match did not happen and even though Tendulkar (100) starred in two brief partnerships and the tail wagged for a while too, it was not enough to avert what was Mahendra Singh Dhoni's first Test defeat as captain that came with full one day to spare.
Following on, the home side that resumed on 66 for two this morning, folded for 319 in their second essay to allow South Africa to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Down the order, Wriddhiman Saha (36), Harbhajan Singh (39) and Zaheer Khan (33) showed the kind of grit that was missing in most of their frontline batting colleagues.
India will now have to win the next match in Kolkata, starting on Sunday, failing which they would surrender the number one Test team's tag to the South Africans.
The defeat also exposed the batting frailties of the home side which sorely missed veterans Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, both recovering from injuries, in the middle order.
Tendulkar's 46th Test century, his fourth against the South Africans and first at home against the Proteas, was the lone significant knock in the entire Indian innings.
Tendulkar added 72 runs with Vijay for the third wicket and another 70 with Dhoni for the fifth.
Tendulkar's 179-ball knock included 13 fours before he went for a sweep and missed the Paul Harris delivery which bounced on his thigh pad and hit the elbow guard before dislodging the bails.
But the joy was short-lived as Tendulkar could not add any more runs and fell to a Harris delivery.
Seventeen runs later, Harris was at it again as he scalped Dhoni, dealing a brutal blow to the Indian hopes. Dhoni got an inside edge that hit the pad before finding the silly point fielder.
With no real hopes of saving the match, Harbhajan batted with the recklessness and freedom. He hit Harris for back-to-back-fours and then cleared the long on ropes to score at a brisk rate before Parnell trapped him in front of the wicket to cut short his batting daredevilry.
Harbhajan's breezy, entertaining knock included six hits to the fence besides that six.
Wriddhiman Saha also tried to compensate for his first innings duck on debut with a gritty 101-ball knock but the writing was clear on the wall by then.
Zaheer took 57 balls for his 33, which included four boundaries and a couple of sixes.
Whatever ambitious hopes India had of saving the match died with this freaky dismissal and the rest was mere formalities for their opponents.
Down the order, Harbhajan Singh struck a run-a-ball 39 to frustrate the South Africans before Parnell sent him back. Saha and Zaheer also tried their best but it was too late and too little.
For South Africa, Dale Steyn returned a match-haul of 10 for 108.
Earlier, Tendulkar featured in a 72-run stand with Murali Vijay (32) and another 70 with Dhoni (25) to rekindle the Indian hopes.
Tendulkar and Vijay started the morning well with both looking determined to dig their heels.
Thirty runs were added to the score when Vijay, looking quite compact and sound in defence against Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, fell to poor shot selection.
He could not resist the urge to sweep left-arm spinner Paul Harris and Morne Morkel took the resulting top edge at deep backward square leg.
S Badrinath (6) had raised hopes with his debut half-century in the first innings but he could not continue the good work and perished edging a Parnell delivery that nestled into Mark Boucher's safe hands.
Tendulkar, meanwhile, was lucky to see his glide off Parnell grassed by Jacques Kallis in the lone slip while the batsman was on 45.
Tendulkar subsequently was watchful but did not spare bad balls either. He and Dhoni rekindled India's hopes with a steady partnership and the sparse crowd at the VCA Stadium roared in appreciation after Tendulkar reached his 46th Test century.
Saha dropped, Sreesanth named in team for 2nd Test
Nagpur: Wriddhiman Saha got the axe while the trio of S Sreesanth, Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina were named in the 15-member Indian squad for the second cricket Test against South Africa starting on Sunday in Kolkata.
Veteran batsman VVS Laxman, who missed the first Test as he had not fully recovered from a finger injury, is certain to play, which is apparent from the fact that the selectors have withdrawn his cover Rohit Sharma from the squad. Pace duo of Sudeep Tyagi and Abhimanyu Mithun, who were part of the 15-member squad for the first Test but could not make it to the playing XI, were also axed, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.
Saha’s selection for the first Test raised quite a few eyebrows and the Bengal stumper-batsman hardly helped his cause by scoring a three-ball duck in his Test debut here. In the second innings, Saha, however, showed grit and gumption and defied the formidable South African pacers to score a 101-ball 36 but the selectors were clearly unimpressed.
Instead, they called up Karthik, who has been in sizzling form in domestic cricket, hitting back-to-back centuries in the Duleep Trophy final. Sreesanth also made an expected comeback to the side and would be pushing for a place in the playing XI, especially with Ishant Sharma not looking at his best in the first Test.
Mumbai: Shiv Sena activists held for demonstrations outside theatres in eastern suburbs against Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming film 'My Name is Khan', prompting the police to arrest 46 troublemakers.
"We have arrested 46 Shiv Sena activists protesting outside the theatres. More arrests are likely," Additional Police Commissioner (East) Ritesh Kumar said.
The protesters threatened the theatre owners to stop the advance bookings or face the severe consequences. The Sena activists were booked for unlawful assembly, rioting and further probe was on, police said.
The Sena had threatened to stall the screening of the film, protesting Khan's support for inclusion of Pakistani players in the upcoming IPL but party supremo Bal Thackeray later said that the film's release will not be disrupted.
Earlier today, Karan Johar, director and co-producer of film, met City Police Commissioner D Sivanandhan to discuss the security issues ahead of the movie's release.
Govt says no to Bt Brinjal for now
NEW DELHI: Facing intense opposition from within and outside, the government refused to give a go-ahead to commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal,a genetically-modified version of the vegetable that is said to be more resistant to pests.
Announcing a cautious approach of the government, Environment and Forests minister Jairam Ramesh said there was "no clear consensus" among the scientists and stake-holders on giving permission to Bt Brinjal and more studies needed to be conducted.
"There is no over-riding urgency to introduce it... When the public sentiments have been negative, it is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary and principle-based approach," he told a hurriedly-called press conference which was originally scheduled for tomorrow.
"I will not impose a decision till such time independent scientific studies establish safety of the product from long-term view of human health," Ramesh said.
He said it was a difficult decision to take but he had to balance many issues of science and society and producer and consumer.
However, he made it clear that today's decision applied only to Bt Brinjal and does not cover future of genetically-modified crops, be it ladyfinger, cabbage or rice.
Ramesh's decision came after a series of public consultations in seven cities across the country that often turned acrimonious. A number of state governments, including Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh, have publicly opposed the introduction of Bt Brinjal.
Agni III doesn't pose threat, we share friendly relations with India: China
BEIJING: Describing its ties with India as "friendly and cooperative," China today said both countries did not pose mutual threat.
Dismissing reports that India's nuclear-capable Agni-III missile, which has a range of 3,500 km posed a threat to China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said China and India shared friendly and cooperative relations.
"I don't want to interpret or comment on the reports," Ma said when asked to comment on the February seven launch of Agni-III which put China's major cities within its strike range.
"The China-India relation is friendly and cooperative. China will not be a threat to India, and nor will India pose a threat to China," Ma was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu refused to comment on the reports at a regular news briefing, only saying that China-India relations maintain their good momentum.
"Bilateral ties will move forward with the joint effort of both countries," he said.
Chidambaram renews offer of talks with Naxals
Kolkata: After a meeting of four naxal-affected states, the Centre on Tuesday said it was ready to hold talks with the Maoists if they "halt" violence.
He was talking to reporters after a meeting of chief minister of Naxal-affected states which was not attended by chief ministers of Bihar and Jharkhand Nitish Kumar and Shibu Soren respectively.
Kumar told reporters in Patna that he could not be away from Patna for long and today is the scheduled day for the state cabinet to meet. Soren, who had cited illness for not attending the meeting, had deputed his two deputy chief ministers.
Against the backdrop of reports that Kumar kept away at the instance of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Chidambaram sought to play down his absence.
He said Kumar had told him in Delhi on Sunday that he had some prior commitment and that he may not be able to attend the Kolkata meeting. "His senior officials are here.
Either I can go to Patna or he can go to Delhi (to discuss Maoist issues). That is not an issue," Chidambaram said.
On the naxal issue, the Home Minister said the "condition" is Maoist should "halt" violence. “Unfortunately, past appeals have been spurned. Therefore, we are obliged to continue the operations as long as naxals indulge in violence. These operations will continue and I am confident that further progress will be made in next six months”, Chidambaram said. “We made it very clear that the purpose of these operations is not to kill anyone. They are our own people. We care for them, we care for their lives”, he said.
The meeting, convened by the Union Home Minister, to help states to coordinate their campaign against Naxals, began an hour behind schedule as Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik arrived late. The meeting was attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
“Use of force alone will not solve the problem. We all agree on that. But in order to put an end to violence and re-establish civil administration, it is necessary to use force”, he said when asked about the Bihar Chief Minister's contention that the Maoist problem could not be solved by use of force. “The government must continue operations against Maoists in a careful, calibrated and controlled way if Maoists do not halt violence”, he said.
Race motive clear in some attacks, admits Oz FM
Under mounting pressure over attacks on Indians, Australia on Tuesday acknowledged that some of the recent violence against them had clearly been "racially motivated" and vowed to "punish the culprits with the full force of law".
Stating that the attacks had "considerably damaged" the nation's reputation, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told the Parliament that "if any of these attacks have been racist in nature - and it seems clear that some of them have - they will be punished with the full force of law".
Smith said the attacks which have included robberies and beatings are "inexcusable" and were being taken very seriously by the government.
The foreign minister intervened on the matter after the government came in for a sharp attack from the opposition which accused the Victorian government of failing to tackle the racist attacks on Indians.
Even Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that he was worried over the narration by his Asian-origin son-in-law of racisms in Australia. Rudd said that his government's efforts were aimed at improving safety of foreign students who worked late at night.
Leaders and officials in Australian had earlier down played racism as a motive for attacks on Indians which have triggered outrage in India. Smith's remarks came just ahead of Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh's visit to New Delhi to brief the government on the steps taken by Australia to prevent attacks on Indians. Singh is excepted to be in New Delhi this week.
Describing the attacks as "contemptible", Smith said these had cast a long shadow over relationship and ties with India and said these were an "affront to our values and are anathema to a view of modern Australia."
Giving an update on the issue, the minister said, "we need to accept that it has considerably damaged Australia's reputation in India and among the Indian people. Indeed, it has widely been noticed beyond India and South Asia."
Offering condolences to the families of Indians attacked in Australia, Smith told the lawmakers that repairing the damage to the country's image was an "essential priority."
The foreign minister assured that India "was in the front rank" of nations in Australia's international partnership and was fast emerging as nation's third biggest export market behind China and Japan.
The two way trade between the two countries was nearly 22 billion Australian dollars last year, registering a quantum jump of 55 per cent. And a number of Indian companies were showing great interest in investing in Australia not only in mineral resources but agriculture and IT.
Addressing the Indian nationals in his country, Smith said, "we will continue to do our utmost to ensure that the children, Indian parents have entrusted to our care, remain safe and go back home with first class education." According to local estimates, there are 450,000 Indians living in Australia out of which 120,000 are students.
Referring to these figures, Smith said the government had "zero-tolerance" for racism and pointed out that 45 people had so far been arrested for crime against Indians.
He said it was regrettable that many Indian students in Australia, in particular Melbourne, found themselves in a higher risk profile for crime because they work in late night shifts in occupations like taxi driving and live near high crime neighbourhoods.
Business News
IT rally helps Sensex close above 16K
A rally in the IT and PSU counters aided the benchmark index Sensex record gains for the third consecutive day and close above the psychological 16,000-mark by adding 107 points on Tuesday, amid positive global cues following easing of the sovereign debt worries in the Eurozone region.
The 30-share BSE barometer touched a low of 15,862.90 at opening shedding 71 points, but gradually moved up and remained in the green for the rest of the day and hit a high of 16,087.83 before closing at 16,042.18, a rise of 105.57 points or 0.67 per cent over its previous close.
IT stocks were at the forefront on bargain hunting after the recent crash while PSU stocks too saw good buying support.
Marketmen said the IT rally was driven by the easing of sovereign debt crisis in Greece, Spain and Portugal, which had sent the global markets into a tizzy last week.
The BSE IT index surged 2.52 per cent to 4,972.64 points and the rally was led by Infosys with a gain of 2.92 per cent or Rs 70.15 to Rs 2,470.90, Wipro by 2.49 per cent or Rs 15.85 to Rs 652.45 and TCS by Rs 10.40 to Rs 734.20. The domestic IT exporters get a third of their sales from Europe.
SMC Capital vice-president Rajesh Jain said, "the markets witnessed a counter-rally and short-covering to end in the green. Positive cues from Asia and Europe also helped."
However, realty counters suffered a sharp setback on profit-selling on fears of a hike in interest rate following rising inflation and a better-than-expected GDP growth, which would pressurise RBI to further tighten money supply.
Brokers attributed early weakness to a severe setback on the Wall Street overnight with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sliding by 104 points and closing below 10,000-mark.
However, firm Asian markets helped the recovery in the domestic bourses. All the key indices, barring the Nikkei, which ended flat, like Shanghai, Hang Seng, Strait, Kospi and Taiwan closed with gains.
European markets too resumed better today. The CAC was up by 0.28 per cent, the DAX by 0.48 per cent and FTST by 0.60 per cent.
Brokers said fresh selling by funds in heavy-weight stocks mainly led to fall in the stock prices in the first half. Also though Asia and Europe were in the green, the sentiment was not so strong, hence our markets too could not hold on to higher levels, they added.
The 50-issue Nifty of the NSE also rose by another 32.25 points or 0.68 per cent to close at 4,792.65 after touching the psychological 5800 market many times intraday. This is the third successive gain for both the indices.
With the buying activity picking up, barring realty which dipped by dipped by 40.34 points or 1.21 per cent and oil & gas sector which fell 0.23 per cent, all BSE sectoral indices ended in the green. And among the Sensex stocks, 19 ended higher, while 11 declined with moderate to deep losses.
From the BSE sectoral indices, the IT spurted by 122.01 points or 2.52 per cent, Tech rallied by 2.09 per cent, and the PSU by 153.59 points or 1.67 per cent.
China is now world's largest exporter
Berlin:China has zipped past Germany as the world's largest exporter after German exports slumped 18.4 per cent in 2009, the sharpest fall since 1950.
Germany's exports last year fell 18.4 per cent from the previous year to 803.2 billion euros, or USD 1,121.3 billion, allowing China with exports of USD 1,201.6 billion to replace the biggest European economy as the world's largest exporter for the first time.
Germany, which had remained the largest exporter since 2003, logged the heavy export drop due to the financial crisis in 2009, Kyodo news agency reported, quoting official trade figures released on Monday.
China has become the world's production base as major Japanese, U.S. and European companies have built manufacturing plants in the communist nation.
China also replaced the United States in domestic new vehicle sales in 2009 and is expected to become the world's second-largest economic power in terms of gross domestic product in place of Japan this year, the report said.
Sports News
India crash to innings defeat against Proteas
Nagpur:Sachin Tendulkar's defiant ton merely delayed the inevitable as India crashed to a humiliating innings and six runs defeat against South Africa in the first cricket Test in Nagpur on Tuesday.
The miracle that India needed to save the match did not happen and even though Tendulkar (100) starred in two brief partnerships and the tail wagged for a while too, it was not enough to avert what was Mahendra Singh Dhoni's first Test defeat as captain that came with full one day to spare.
Following on, the home side that resumed on 66 for two this morning, folded for 319 in their second essay to allow South Africa to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Down the order, Wriddhiman Saha (36), Harbhajan Singh (39) and Zaheer Khan (33) showed the kind of grit that was missing in most of their frontline batting colleagues.
India will now have to win the next match in Kolkata, starting on Sunday, failing which they would surrender the number one Test team's tag to the South Africans.
The defeat also exposed the batting frailties of the home side which sorely missed veterans Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, both recovering from injuries, in the middle order.
Tendulkar's 46th Test century, his fourth against the South Africans and first at home against the Proteas, was the lone significant knock in the entire Indian innings.
Tendulkar added 72 runs with Vijay for the third wicket and another 70 with Dhoni for the fifth.
Tendulkar's 179-ball knock included 13 fours before he went for a sweep and missed the Paul Harris delivery which bounced on his thigh pad and hit the elbow guard before dislodging the bails.
But the joy was short-lived as Tendulkar could not add any more runs and fell to a Harris delivery.
Seventeen runs later, Harris was at it again as he scalped Dhoni, dealing a brutal blow to the Indian hopes. Dhoni got an inside edge that hit the pad before finding the silly point fielder.
With no real hopes of saving the match, Harbhajan batted with the recklessness and freedom. He hit Harris for back-to-back-fours and then cleared the long on ropes to score at a brisk rate before Parnell trapped him in front of the wicket to cut short his batting daredevilry.
Harbhajan's breezy, entertaining knock included six hits to the fence besides that six.
Wriddhiman Saha also tried to compensate for his first innings duck on debut with a gritty 101-ball knock but the writing was clear on the wall by then.
Zaheer took 57 balls for his 33, which included four boundaries and a couple of sixes.
Whatever ambitious hopes India had of saving the match died with this freaky dismissal and the rest was mere formalities for their opponents.
Down the order, Harbhajan Singh struck a run-a-ball 39 to frustrate the South Africans before Parnell sent him back. Saha and Zaheer also tried their best but it was too late and too little.
For South Africa, Dale Steyn returned a match-haul of 10 for 108.
Earlier, Tendulkar featured in a 72-run stand with Murali Vijay (32) and another 70 with Dhoni (25) to rekindle the Indian hopes.
Tendulkar and Vijay started the morning well with both looking determined to dig their heels.
Thirty runs were added to the score when Vijay, looking quite compact and sound in defence against Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, fell to poor shot selection.
He could not resist the urge to sweep left-arm spinner Paul Harris and Morne Morkel took the resulting top edge at deep backward square leg.
S Badrinath (6) had raised hopes with his debut half-century in the first innings but he could not continue the good work and perished edging a Parnell delivery that nestled into Mark Boucher's safe hands.
Tendulkar, meanwhile, was lucky to see his glide off Parnell grassed by Jacques Kallis in the lone slip while the batsman was on 45.
Tendulkar subsequently was watchful but did not spare bad balls either. He and Dhoni rekindled India's hopes with a steady partnership and the sparse crowd at the VCA Stadium roared in appreciation after Tendulkar reached his 46th Test century.
Saha dropped, Sreesanth named in team for 2nd Test
Nagpur: Wriddhiman Saha got the axe while the trio of S Sreesanth, Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina were named in the 15-member Indian squad for the second cricket Test against South Africa starting on Sunday in Kolkata.
Veteran batsman VVS Laxman, who missed the first Test as he had not fully recovered from a finger injury, is certain to play, which is apparent from the fact that the selectors have withdrawn his cover Rohit Sharma from the squad. Pace duo of Sudeep Tyagi and Abhimanyu Mithun, who were part of the 15-member squad for the first Test but could not make it to the playing XI, were also axed, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.
Saha’s selection for the first Test raised quite a few eyebrows and the Bengal stumper-batsman hardly helped his cause by scoring a three-ball duck in his Test debut here. In the second innings, Saha, however, showed grit and gumption and defied the formidable South African pacers to score a 101-ball 36 but the selectors were clearly unimpressed.
Instead, they called up Karthik, who has been in sizzling form in domestic cricket, hitting back-to-back centuries in the Duleep Trophy final. Sreesanth also made an expected comeback to the side and would be pushing for a place in the playing XI, especially with Ishant Sharma not looking at his best in the first Test.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Indian Latest News
Mumbai attackers could have been guided by an Indian: PC
New Delhi: The ten Pakistani terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008 could have been guided by an Indian handler whose true identity was yet to be ascertained, Home Minister P Chidambaram said.
“When we say he could be an Indian, he could be somebody who acquired Indian characteristics. He could have been infiltrated into India and lived here long enough to acquire an Indian accent, familiarity with Indian Hindi words or he could be somebody who exfiltrated from India to Pakistan and was adopted by the militants there”, Chidambaram said.
While refusing to speculate on the name of the handler, the Home Minister said investigators had known for long time that there was a handler in 26/11 attack who could be an Indian.
“We know him by Abu Jindal that something we have known for many many months now... but he is not Abu Jindal. That is not his real name. We cannot put a finger who he is, unless we get a voice sample. And they won't give us voice sample. “There is a speculation that Abu Jindal could be....but how as a Home Minister I can speculate? I can’t speculate”, he told news channel.
India proposes talks, Pakistan seeks clarity
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign ministry has confirmed that India had proposed foreign secretary-level talks with Islamabad but said it was seeking clarification of the content of the talks.
Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit told media that that the agenda of the proposed talks Pakistan is not so far clear. "We have sought clarification from the Indian government about the agenda and substance of the proposed talks. We will respond to the proposal after we receive the reply from New Delhi," he said.
India adopted a very strict position with Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead. Since then, India has been blaming Pakistan for not doing enough to prosecute the perpetrators of the attack, while Pakistan was saying that the evidence provided by India was not sufficient.
The proposal comes ahead of a visit to Pakistan by India's minister of internal security for a regional meeting this month. Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram is slated to travel to Pakistan on Feb 26 for a meeting of countries in the region, the first high-level diplomatic visit by a top Indian official in nearly two years.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry officials said Chidambaram would meet his Pakistani counterpart, Rehman Malik.
Since the Mumbai attacks, there have been some meetings of high-ranking officials, such as when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani last summer on the sidelines of a summit in Sharm-El-Shiekh, Egypt. But India has continued to express its reservations regarding Pakistan's lack of vigor to act against the culprits of Mumbai carnage on its soil.
Earlier, Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also welcomed dialogue proposal from India, saying it was a positive development. Responding to Delhi’s call to Pakistan’s high commissioner for resumption of dialogue, he said Pakistan shares a viewpoint that bilateral talks is the only way for the resolution of all the issues and "we always focused on resumption of dialogue."
He further said that signals were already emanating from Indian side and their home minster P Chidambaram had already said, "if he went to Pakistan for the SAARC meeting later this month, there was a possibility of bilateral talks."
Replying to a question he said "Our agenda is very comprehensive, before Mumbai mayhem we had started fifth round of dialogue and I wish to resume dialogue from that stage."
The foreign minister said during meeting in Sharm-El-Sheikh, the prime ministers of Pakistan and India had reached the conclusion that dialogue is the only way forward and we raised the Baluchistan issue for the very first time which was also mentioned in the joint statement.
Show black flags to Rahul: Bal Thackeray
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Thursday asked partymen to show black flags to Rahul Gandhi during his visit to Mumbai tomorrow in protest the Congress leader's 'Mumbai for all' comment.
Thackeray has asked Sena workers to show black flags to Rahul during his visit to the city, senior party leader Sanjay Raut told PTI.
The directive from Thackeray has come at a time when there has been a war of words between Sena and Congress over the migrant issue.
Rahul has ticked off Sena by asserting that Mumbai is for all Indians and people have a right to go anywhere.
He has faced the ire of Sena chief who said the Congress leader was "totally frustrated".
Thackeray said the Sena will not tolerate anything spoken against "Marathi pride."
He also raked up Rahul's mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, saying "Mumbai may belong to all Indians but how can it belong to an Italian mummy?"
Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray has questioned the timing of the visit. "What was the need for this visit now? There may be elections in Bihar, but we will not tolerate anything spoken against Mumbai and Marathi pride," he had said.
During his short visit, Rahul will interact with college students at the Bhaidas Hall in suburban Vile Parle and then proceed to Ramabai Nagar slum colony in Ghatkopar to meet slum youth.
The visit is a part of the ongoing Mumbai Youth Congress membership drive for organisational elections.
India to have own panel on climate change: Jairam Ramesh
NEW DELHI: India would soon have its very own panel on climate change, union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh announced on Thursday and added that the country could not depend only on reports from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
"There is a fine line between climate science and climate evangelism. I am all for climate science but not for climate evangelism. I think people misused the IPCC report," Ramesh told a news channel here.
Stressing that the IPCC's weakness was that it didn't do original research and derives assessments from published literature, the minister announced a climate change panel for India.
He said that IPCC has "had goof-ups on the glaciers, on the Amazon, on the snow peaks." However, he added that the IPCC with a network of 200 scientists worldwide was "a responsible body".
"I respect the IPCC. At the same time India is a large country... we can't depend only IPCC. So we have launched the Indian Network on Comprehensive Climate Change Assessment ... It's got 125 research institutions from across the country. We will have international collaborations. It's a kind of an Indian IPCC and not a rival to the IPCC. We will do our own assessment," Ramesh explained.
The first climate change assessment from this body would be brought out in November this year, he said.
The "four by four assessment" would look at four sectors -- agriculture, health, water and forests -- and four regions. These would be Himalayan ecosystems, coastal areas, western ghats and the northeast.
"Through this we will demonstrate our commitment to climate science," Ramesh concluded.
Ramesh also commented on the IPCC erring report's claim that the Himalayan glaciers would retreat by 2035.
"The health of glaciers is a cause for serious concern. Most glaciers are melting.... they are retreating. Overall, one can say incontrovertibly that the debris on our glaciers is very high, the mass balance is very low, the snow balance is very low. We have to be very cautious about the future of the glaciers particularly because of water security," the minister said.
Ramesh announced the setting up of the National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology at Dehradun (Uttarakhand).
"This is going to start a series of programmes on measuring, monitoring, modelling on what is happening to our glaciers and also look at what is happening to them in the regional context with Pakistan, Nepal and others," he informed.
Business News
Decision on Parikh Panel report likely before Budget
New Delhi: The government said on Thursday that it may decide before the beginning of the Budget session on the Parikh Panel recommendations of freeing the oil prices and increasing the rates of kerosene and cooking fuel. “By next week, the ministry will be able to offer its comments on the recommendations and it will then go to the Cabinet”, Oil Minister Murli Deora told reporters here.
Asked by when the Cabinet is expected to take a decision, he said, “it will be very soon, may be before the Budget itself” A Prime Minister-appointed expert group, headed by Kirit Parikh, yesterday suggested freeing petrol and diesel prices and suggested raising LPG rates by a steep Rs 100 per cylinder and kerosene by Rs 6 a litre. Deregulation of auto fuel prices would result in a hike of Rs 4.72 a litre in petrol prices and diesel rates by Rs 2.33 per litre.
Earlier in the day, Deora's deputy Jitin Prasada hinted that the government may not accept the report in totality and would protect the common man's interest. “The Government will ensure that least burden is passed on to the poor and common man... while also ensuring that the financial health of (PSU fuel retailers) is protected”, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada said here
State-owned Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum currently lose Rs 180 crore per day on selling petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene below the imported cost. In full-fiscal, they are estimated to lose Rs 46,030 crore
Food inflation goes north, up 17.56 pct
New Delhi:The food price index rose 17.56 per cent in the 12 months to Jan. 23, strengthening the case for more government steps to tame rising prices in the budget, while the fuel price index was up 5.88 per cent, the government said on Thursday.
The rise in the food price index was higher than an annual rise of 17.40 per cent in the previous week.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will present India's annual budget for 2010/11 on Feb. 26.
India's annual wholesale inflation picked up to 7.31 per cent in December 2009, compared with 4.78 per cent in November.
Air India likely to get Rs 1,200 cr in Buget
Aamby Valley, Maharashtra: Air India expects to get an allocation of Rs 1,200 crore in the forthcoming Budget, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday.
"We expect a Rs 1,200-crore provision for Air India in the budget," Patel told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Maharashtra.
Patel said he expected the process of equity infusion of Rs 800 crore into the airline by the government to be completed over the next eight to ten days.
Yesterday, Patel had said in Delhi that while the infusion was likely to occur over the next few days, the government wanted Air India to take "extraordinary" measures for its turnaround.
"We are moving the Cabinet (for equity infusion of Rs 800 crore), a note has already been circulated. I think by next week the Cabinet approval should come," Patel had said after a meeting of the Group of Ministers formed to look after the revival of Air India.
Further assistance would only be given on achievement of specific revenue enhancement and cost reduction targets by the airline, the Minister had said.
Sports News
Came here with plans to silence Sehwag and others: Steyn
The 2008 battering in Chennai still fresh in mind, South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn on Thursday said he and his his bowling colleagues have arrived here with plans to tame Virender Sehwag in the forthcoming Test series against India.
Sehwag had blasted a 304-ball 319 in that drawn Test with the help of 42 fours and five sixes but Steyn said the Proteas have already sorted out the Delhi dasher.
"It is a challenge. He showed us in Chennai that on flat wickets, he could score runs. But once we exploited what his biggest weaknesses were, he wasn't able to get away again after that," Steyn said at an interactive media meet ahead of the Test series opening here on Sunday.
"We definitely have our game plans against somebody like him. What's happened in the past has happened in the past," Steyn. Putting behind the two-year-old plastering, Steyn said,
"It was definitely not the pitches, it was the mind-frame that we definitely got into. I am not giving everything away here, we still have got to play two Test matches against him. But whenever we go out to bowl in the Test match, you will obviously see what's going to be coming his way."
In fact, the 26-year-old right-arm pacer said, the South Africans have separate plans to silence all the Indian top guns.
"I am not going to single out Sehwag because (Sachin) Tendulkar is also a marvellous player and he has shown what a record he has got. (Gautam) Gambhir too has shown what a record he has got.
"It's not specifically Sehwag that we are afraid of not to say that we are afraid of anybody. I am just saying that he is not the only key player in their side. There are massive other players that we are prepared well for and we will go out there and try to exploit their weaknesses," Steyn said.
The lanky pacer was also of the view that India would struggle to fill the void created by injuries to Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and V V S Laxman even though they have drafted in Rohit Sharma as a cover for the stylish Hyderabadi.
"I guess you could say yes with the absence of guys like Yuvraj, Rahul, and Laxman with their massive experience. If they fill them in with a couple of debutants, obviously that will play in our favour," he said.
Steyn, however, warned his teammates not to underestimate the Indian youngsters, saying they were capable of springing a surprise or two.
"At Test level, you never replace experienced player with someone who is average or borderline average. You always replace him with somebody that has got equal quality. Certainly that's what we try and do in South Africa.
"Whoever steps in their places must have shown his worth at the domestic level and he will obviously step into those shoes knowing he is capable of playing at the highest level," Steyn pointed out.
Steyn said the key for fast bowlers to do well here was to bowl aggressively though they may not get the sort of bounce or seam movement they experience back home.
India start training ahead of big test
Nagpur: While Abhimanyu Mithun was looking to certify his surprise-elevation with a strong show against the South African batsmen at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) ground in Civil Lines, the rest of the 15-member Indian Test squad arrived for their first practice session — since returning from Bangladesh — at the VCA Stadium in Jaamtha, some 20 kms away. The Indians had landed at Nagpur in batches earlier on Wednesday morning.
Though it has been less than a week since they retained their No. 1 Test ranking by overcoming Bangladesh 2-0 in the away series, Mahendra Singh Dhoni & Co were involved in a thorough and strenuous practice session, which began with their customary football encounter. This was followed by a long work-out session under the watchful eyes of the coaching staff, which included Gary Kirsten, Paddy Upton and bowling coach Eric Simons. With the first Test of the series — billed as the battle for the Test crown pitting the two top ranked teams in the world — just three days away, the Indian batsmen, including Subramanian Badrinath, who is all set to make his debut, then spent the rest of the session getting stuck in at the nets.
The Indians have happy memories of the new VCA Stadium having won the only previous Test at the venue, when they beat Australia in 2008 to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Afridi is a cheat, serial offender: Hair
Melbourne: Former Australian umpire Darrell Hair has labelled Shahid Afridi as a "cheat" after his ball-tampering act and is sure that the Pakistan all-rounder will be up to it again in future.
"Cheat is the only word for him," Hair said of Afridi, who was banned for two Twenty20 games for biting the ball during fifth ODI against Australia in Perth on Sunday.
"He has cheated before, he has cheated in this instance - he pleaded guilty - and I'm sure he will again. He is no angel. I remember that incident when he deliberately scratched the pitch when he thought everyone was looking the other way," Hair was quoted as saying by 'Daily Telegraph'.
Hair also said the after his sensational debut century Afridi has not achieved much success and was just an overrated player.
"He thought he would get away with it. Unfortunately he's become a highly over-rated player as well. His first innings at international level was a great century but he has lived off that and never really lived up to it," he said.
Former greats like Allan Border of Australia and Imran Khan of Pakistani along with current Pakistan skipper Mohammed Yousuf have also criticised Afridi for his ball biting act.
New Delhi: The ten Pakistani terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008 could have been guided by an Indian handler whose true identity was yet to be ascertained, Home Minister P Chidambaram said.
While refusing to speculate on the name of the handler, the Home Minister said investigators had known for long time that there was a handler in 26/11 attack who could be an Indian.
“We know him by Abu Jindal that something we have known for many many months now... but he is not Abu Jindal. That is not his real name. We cannot put a finger who he is, unless we get a voice sample. And they won't give us voice sample. “There is a speculation that Abu Jindal could be....but how as a Home Minister I can speculate? I can’t speculate”, he told news channel.
India proposes talks, Pakistan seeks clarity
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign ministry has confirmed that India had proposed foreign secretary-level talks with Islamabad but said it was seeking clarification of the content of the talks.
Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit told media that that the agenda of the proposed talks Pakistan is not so far clear. "We have sought clarification from the Indian government about the agenda and substance of the proposed talks. We will respond to the proposal after we receive the reply from New Delhi," he said.
India adopted a very strict position with Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead. Since then, India has been blaming Pakistan for not doing enough to prosecute the perpetrators of the attack, while Pakistan was saying that the evidence provided by India was not sufficient.
The proposal comes ahead of a visit to Pakistan by India's minister of internal security for a regional meeting this month. Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram is slated to travel to Pakistan on Feb 26 for a meeting of countries in the region, the first high-level diplomatic visit by a top Indian official in nearly two years.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry officials said Chidambaram would meet his Pakistani counterpart, Rehman Malik.
Since the Mumbai attacks, there have been some meetings of high-ranking officials, such as when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani last summer on the sidelines of a summit in Sharm-El-Shiekh, Egypt. But India has continued to express its reservations regarding Pakistan's lack of vigor to act against the culprits of Mumbai carnage on its soil.
Earlier, Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also welcomed dialogue proposal from India, saying it was a positive development. Responding to Delhi’s call to Pakistan’s high commissioner for resumption of dialogue, he said Pakistan shares a viewpoint that bilateral talks is the only way for the resolution of all the issues and "we always focused on resumption of dialogue."
He further said that signals were already emanating from Indian side and their home minster P Chidambaram had already said, "if he went to Pakistan for the SAARC meeting later this month, there was a possibility of bilateral talks."
Replying to a question he said "Our agenda is very comprehensive, before Mumbai mayhem we had started fifth round of dialogue and I wish to resume dialogue from that stage."
The foreign minister said during meeting in Sharm-El-Sheikh, the prime ministers of Pakistan and India had reached the conclusion that dialogue is the only way forward and we raised the Baluchistan issue for the very first time which was also mentioned in the joint statement.
Show black flags to Rahul: Bal Thackeray
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Thursday asked partymen to show black flags to Rahul Gandhi during his visit to Mumbai tomorrow in protest the Congress leader's 'Mumbai for all' comment.
Thackeray has asked Sena workers to show black flags to Rahul during his visit to the city, senior party leader Sanjay Raut told PTI.
The directive from Thackeray has come at a time when there has been a war of words between Sena and Congress over the migrant issue.
Rahul has ticked off Sena by asserting that Mumbai is for all Indians and people have a right to go anywhere.
He has faced the ire of Sena chief who said the Congress leader was "totally frustrated".
Thackeray said the Sena will not tolerate anything spoken against "Marathi pride."
He also raked up Rahul's mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, saying "Mumbai may belong to all Indians but how can it belong to an Italian mummy?"
Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray has questioned the timing of the visit. "What was the need for this visit now? There may be elections in Bihar, but we will not tolerate anything spoken against Mumbai and Marathi pride," he had said.
During his short visit, Rahul will interact with college students at the Bhaidas Hall in suburban Vile Parle and then proceed to Ramabai Nagar slum colony in Ghatkopar to meet slum youth.
The visit is a part of the ongoing Mumbai Youth Congress membership drive for organisational elections.
India to have own panel on climate change: Jairam Ramesh
NEW DELHI: India would soon have its very own panel on climate change, union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh announced on Thursday and added that the country could not depend only on reports from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
"There is a fine line between climate science and climate evangelism. I am all for climate science but not for climate evangelism. I think people misused the IPCC report," Ramesh told a news channel here.
Stressing that the IPCC's weakness was that it didn't do original research and derives assessments from published literature, the minister announced a climate change panel for India.
He said that IPCC has "had goof-ups on the glaciers, on the Amazon, on the snow peaks." However, he added that the IPCC with a network of 200 scientists worldwide was "a responsible body".
"I respect the IPCC. At the same time India is a large country... we can't depend only IPCC. So we have launched the Indian Network on Comprehensive Climate Change Assessment ... It's got 125 research institutions from across the country. We will have international collaborations. It's a kind of an Indian IPCC and not a rival to the IPCC. We will do our own assessment," Ramesh explained.
The first climate change assessment from this body would be brought out in November this year, he said.
The "four by four assessment" would look at four sectors -- agriculture, health, water and forests -- and four regions. These would be Himalayan ecosystems, coastal areas, western ghats and the northeast.
"Through this we will demonstrate our commitment to climate science," Ramesh concluded.
Ramesh also commented on the IPCC erring report's claim that the Himalayan glaciers would retreat by 2035.
"The health of glaciers is a cause for serious concern. Most glaciers are melting.... they are retreating. Overall, one can say incontrovertibly that the debris on our glaciers is very high, the mass balance is very low, the snow balance is very low. We have to be very cautious about the future of the glaciers particularly because of water security," the minister said.
Ramesh announced the setting up of the National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology at Dehradun (Uttarakhand).
"This is going to start a series of programmes on measuring, monitoring, modelling on what is happening to our glaciers and also look at what is happening to them in the regional context with Pakistan, Nepal and others," he informed.
Business News
Decision on Parikh Panel report likely before Budget
New Delhi: The government said on Thursday that it may decide before the beginning of the Budget session on the Parikh Panel recommendations of freeing the oil prices and increasing the rates of kerosene and cooking fuel. “By next week, the ministry will be able to offer its comments on the recommendations and it will then go to the Cabinet”, Oil Minister Murli Deora told reporters here.
Asked by when the Cabinet is expected to take a decision, he said, “it will be very soon, may be before the Budget itself” A Prime Minister-appointed expert group, headed by Kirit Parikh, yesterday suggested freeing petrol and diesel prices and suggested raising LPG rates by a steep Rs 100 per cylinder and kerosene by Rs 6 a litre. Deregulation of auto fuel prices would result in a hike of Rs 4.72 a litre in petrol prices and diesel rates by Rs 2.33 per litre.
Earlier in the day, Deora's deputy Jitin Prasada hinted that the government may not accept the report in totality and would protect the common man's interest. “The Government will ensure that least burden is passed on to the poor and common man... while also ensuring that the financial health of (PSU fuel retailers) is protected”, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada said here
State-owned Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum currently lose Rs 180 crore per day on selling petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene below the imported cost. In full-fiscal, they are estimated to lose Rs 46,030 crore
Food inflation goes north, up 17.56 pct
New Delhi:The food price index rose 17.56 per cent in the 12 months to Jan. 23, strengthening the case for more government steps to tame rising prices in the budget, while the fuel price index was up 5.88 per cent, the government said on Thursday.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will present India's annual budget for 2010/11 on Feb. 26.
India's annual wholesale inflation picked up to 7.31 per cent in December 2009, compared with 4.78 per cent in November.
Air India likely to get Rs 1,200 cr in Buget
Aamby Valley, Maharashtra: Air India expects to get an allocation of Rs 1,200 crore in the forthcoming Budget, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday.
"We expect a Rs 1,200-crore provision for Air India in the budget," Patel told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Maharashtra.
Patel said he expected the process of equity infusion of Rs 800 crore into the airline by the government to be completed over the next eight to ten days.
Yesterday, Patel had said in Delhi that while the infusion was likely to occur over the next few days, the government wanted Air India to take "extraordinary" measures for its turnaround.
"We are moving the Cabinet (for equity infusion of Rs 800 crore), a note has already been circulated. I think by next week the Cabinet approval should come," Patel had said after a meeting of the Group of Ministers formed to look after the revival of Air India.
Further assistance would only be given on achievement of specific revenue enhancement and cost reduction targets by the airline, the Minister had said.
Sports News
Came here with plans to silence Sehwag and others: Steyn
The 2008 battering in Chennai still fresh in mind, South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn on Thursday said he and his his bowling colleagues have arrived here with plans to tame Virender Sehwag in the forthcoming Test series against India.
Sehwag had blasted a 304-ball 319 in that drawn Test with the help of 42 fours and five sixes but Steyn said the Proteas have already sorted out the Delhi dasher.
"It is a challenge. He showed us in Chennai that on flat wickets, he could score runs. But once we exploited what his biggest weaknesses were, he wasn't able to get away again after that," Steyn said at an interactive media meet ahead of the Test series opening here on Sunday.
"We definitely have our game plans against somebody like him. What's happened in the past has happened in the past," Steyn. Putting behind the two-year-old plastering, Steyn said,
"It was definitely not the pitches, it was the mind-frame that we definitely got into. I am not giving everything away here, we still have got to play two Test matches against him. But whenever we go out to bowl in the Test match, you will obviously see what's going to be coming his way."
In fact, the 26-year-old right-arm pacer said, the South Africans have separate plans to silence all the Indian top guns.
"I am not going to single out Sehwag because (Sachin) Tendulkar is also a marvellous player and he has shown what a record he has got. (Gautam) Gambhir too has shown what a record he has got.
"It's not specifically Sehwag that we are afraid of not to say that we are afraid of anybody. I am just saying that he is not the only key player in their side. There are massive other players that we are prepared well for and we will go out there and try to exploit their weaknesses," Steyn said.
The lanky pacer was also of the view that India would struggle to fill the void created by injuries to Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and V V S Laxman even though they have drafted in Rohit Sharma as a cover for the stylish Hyderabadi.
"I guess you could say yes with the absence of guys like Yuvraj, Rahul, and Laxman with their massive experience. If they fill them in with a couple of debutants, obviously that will play in our favour," he said.
Steyn, however, warned his teammates not to underestimate the Indian youngsters, saying they were capable of springing a surprise or two.
"At Test level, you never replace experienced player with someone who is average or borderline average. You always replace him with somebody that has got equal quality. Certainly that's what we try and do in South Africa.
"Whoever steps in their places must have shown his worth at the domestic level and he will obviously step into those shoes knowing he is capable of playing at the highest level," Steyn pointed out.
Steyn said the key for fast bowlers to do well here was to bowl aggressively though they may not get the sort of bounce or seam movement they experience back home.
India start training ahead of big test
Nagpur: While Abhimanyu Mithun was looking to certify his surprise-elevation with a strong show against the South African batsmen at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) ground in Civil Lines, the rest of the 15-member Indian Test squad arrived for their first practice session — since returning from Bangladesh — at the VCA Stadium in Jaamtha, some 20 kms away. The Indians had landed at Nagpur in batches earlier on Wednesday morning.
The Indians have happy memories of the new VCA Stadium having won the only previous Test at the venue, when they beat Australia in 2008 to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Afridi is a cheat, serial offender: Hair
Melbourne: Former Australian umpire Darrell Hair has labelled Shahid Afridi as a "cheat" after his ball-tampering act and is sure that the Pakistan all-rounder will be up to it again in future.
"He has cheated before, he has cheated in this instance - he pleaded guilty - and I'm sure he will again. He is no angel. I remember that incident when he deliberately scratched the pitch when he thought everyone was looking the other way," Hair was quoted as saying by 'Daily Telegraph'.
Hair also said the after his sensational debut century Afridi has not achieved much success and was just an overrated player.
"He thought he would get away with it. Unfortunately he's become a highly over-rated player as well. His first innings at international level was a great century but he has lived off that and never really lived up to it," he said.
Former greats like Allan Border of Australia and Imran Khan of Pakistani along with current Pakistan skipper Mohammed Yousuf have also criticised Afridi for his ball biting act.
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