Thursday, May 29, 2008

Uma Bharti comes out in support of Gujjars

Bhopal: Bharatiya Janshakti Party chief Uma Bharti on Thursday began an indefinite sit-in in support of the agitating Gujjar community demanding ST status.
She tried to enter Bayana town in Rajasthan to meet the Gujjar leader Kirorimal Bainsla to extend support to the stir and also to condole the death of those killed during the agitation, but was stopped at the border by Rajasthan Police.
Later, the former Chief Minister staged a "dharna" in a temple near the Rajghat bridge in Morena district which connects Madhya Pradesh with Rajasthan in support of the Gujjars.
The former Union Minister said her stir would continue till the Gujjars got justice.
Morena Superintendent of Police Santosh Kumar Singh confirmed that Bharti is on "dharna" near the border and added that additional force has been deployed at the spot to prevent any untoward incident.
Meanwhile, Gujjar community members in Ratlam, Neemuch, Guna (Bharsala) and Maxi also extended support to the cause. In Guna, Gujjar women formed a human chain, while Maxi town remained shut today following a call by Nagar Panchayat President Ramchandra Patel on the ST issue.
Patel later handed over a memorandum on the issue to the local administration officials.
In Ratlam, the Gujjars demanded dismissal of Rajasthan's Vasundhara Raje government and compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of those killed during the agitation.

Pranab gifts Aishwarya's films to Pakistani premier

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee carried an unusual gift for Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani when he visited Pakistan last week - a box full of Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai's movies.

The 55-year-old Pakistani premier lists Aishwarya and Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan as his favourite film stars. He said it was a "pleasant surprise" when he unwrapped the gift and found it contained a number of DVDs of his favourite actress' films.

During an appearance on ARY Oneworld TV channel's morning show, Gillani said that Mukherjee's aides must have found out about his fondness for Indian films and specially Aishwarya Rai's movies since he had written in his book "Chah-e-Yousaf Say Sada" that watching her films on the laptop was one of his favourite pastimes when he was imprisoned by Pervez Musharraf regime 2001-06.

India to acquire 22 attack helicopters

Berlin: In a bid to strengthen the offensive prowess of its armed forces, Indian government has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to acquire 22 attack helicopters.
The RFP document, which includes offset clauses, was issued last week to major global helicopter manufacturers who were given three months time to respond, sources said here.
Confirming this, a senior Eurocopter official said "we have received the RFP and are looking into it.
We have to reply by August." "We will be participating in the bid process and will offer our Tiger helicopter. We are studying the RFP document and preparing our plan of action," Bruno Boulnois, General Manager of Eurocopter (India) told PTI.
Besides Eurocopter which is part of the defence and aviation consortium EADS, the other major contenders for this competition are Boeing's AH-54D, Augusta Westland's AW-129 Mangustu and Russia's MI-28N NightHunters.

Karnataka mishap kills 40, injures 60

Hassan: As many as 40 people were killed and 60 injured when a lorry in which they were travelling skidded off a tank bed and rolled into a ditch near Arakalgud, about 35 km from here, police said.More than 100 people, including women and children, had boarded the lorry and they were heading towards Agrahara village from Basavanakoppal to attend a post-marriage feast, police said.When the lorry was nearing the village at Arakalgud, some of them raised an alarm over an live electric wire hanging across the road. The driver, after applying brakes, then tried to reverse the vehicle after some passengers asked him to. In the process, the vehicle skidded off the tank bed and rolled into the ditch, police, quoting eye-witnesses, said.People of the nearby villages rushed the injured to hospitals at Arakalgud, Konanakere and Hassan.Most of the injured were admitted to Hassan General hospital. Some of them, who have lost at least two to three members of their family, were inconsolable.Additional medical teams have been rushed to the hospital to treat the injured, police said.

2 killed as violence mars Gujjar agitation

At least two persons were on Thursday killed , one of them in police firing, and 14 policemen injured as stray violence marred the Gujjars agitation in Delhi and Haryana where normal life was badly disrupted by a rail and road blockade enforced by the community members.
One person was killed when police opened fire on agitators who blocked traffic on national highway at Patti Kalyana in Panipat district of Haryana for hours while an elderly man died in the stampede triggered by the police action.
"An elderly fellow died in the stampede during the agitation while another who sustained bullet injury also died", Haryana's Additional Director General of Police (law and order) V B Singh, who visited the spot, said.
He said some agitators were carrying arms and they too opened fire.
Singh said about 14 policemen were injured, three of them seriously, in the skirmishes with the agitators.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda ordered a magisterial inquiry into the circumstances leading to the death of the two persons.
Police earlier fired tear gas shells and charged with batons at the agitators.
Hitting the streets in large numbers in support of the ongoing agitation by their community members in Rajasthan demanding Scheduled Tribe status, the Gujjar protestors set afire a Haryana Roadways bus in Panipat and blocked movement of rail and vehicles in the national capital.
In Delhi, police lobbed teargas to dispers stone-pelting Gujjars in Mehrauli area and incidents of violence also occurred at Aya Nagar, bordering Gurgaon.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

India fares badly in new Amnesty report

Amnesty International on Wednesday came out with its annual report on human rights abuses across the world.
India fared badly with Amnesty saying that despite many types of human rights abuses occurring in the country, the government failed to protect the rights of its people effectively.
And for the first time, a delegation from Amnesty will be meeting the Vice President along with the National Human Rights Commission this week to present their findings.
The report documents human rights issues in 150 countries in 2007.
Here's how India scored on the human rights scale:

Amnesty International Report denounces:

Killings, forced eviction, excessive police force in Nandigram.
Criticises unlawful detention of activist Dr Binayak Sen in Chhattisgarh. (Source: Amnesty International Report, 2008)
PTI adds:
In its report released in New Delhi, the leading rights body made observations on the state of human rights in the country with special focus on Nandigram violence, ''disappearance'' of people in Jammu and Kashmir and displacement of tribals in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh.
Accusing the Left-Front government in West Bengal of not acting in an impartial manner throughout last year as the Nandigram violence flared up, its India director Mukul Sharma demanded that ''those responsible for the violence must be prosecuted and the grievances of victims redressed.''
''Our team found that CPI-M supporters frequently subjected women to violent attacks, including rape and beatings, as well as to threats and harassment ...'' The report noted the ''disappearances'' in Jammu and Kashmir following reports of 940 mass graves found in Uri district.
The report also highlighted the plight of adivasis in Dantewada, many of whom have been displaced from their homes and are being forced to live in special camps, allegedly due to the Salwa Judum anti-naxal campaign.
Amnesty sought abolition of death penalty and pointed out that ''atleast 100 people have been sentenced to death although no executions took place.''

Nepal declared federal democratic republic

KATHMANDU: In a historic meeting of the Constituent Assembly on Wednesday, Nepal was proclaimed as a federal democratic republic, abolishing the 240-year-old monarchy. ( Watch )
Political leaders in Nepal had gathered in the first meeting of the constitutional assembly where voting was held to abolish the Himalayan nation's monarchy. Nepal's Maoists, who fought for 10 years to remove the king and create a republic, had emerged as surprise winners in Constituent Assembly elections last month, taking a third of the body's 601 seats.
The session is the culmination of a 2006 peace deal between the country's mainstream political parties and the rebels.
Earlier, Nepal's ruling alliance decided to create a post of President in the Assembly meeting which was held up for several hours due to last-minute political wrangling.
The meeting was postponed twice from 11 am to 3 pm and then again till 6 pm (local time) as the leaders of the seven-party alliance required more time to arrive at consensus on creating a post of President by amending the Constitution to fill the vacuum to be created by the abolition of monarchy. However, there were still differences between the Maoists and other major parties over who should be the first President of the Himalayan nation, party sources said.
The ruling alliance members met at Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's residence at Baluwatar and agreed to create the post of President and defined his rights and duties in a new set-up, Nepali Congress General Secretary Bimalendra Nidhi had said.
The ruling alliance had earlier agreed to give 15 days time to the King to leave the Narayanhiti palace, which will be converted into a museum.
Rallies were held across the capital Kathmandu and other major cities in Nepal ahead of the country's declaration as republic. People thronged the streets, singing and dancing and eagerly awaiting the assembly's decision.
Security has been tightened in Kathmandu with riot police deployed around the Royal palace, Singhdurbar secretariat, the venue of the CA meeting, as well as other important areas.

Sachin buys Rs39 cr Bandra bungalow

Mumbai: Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar has bought an old bungalow in Bandra from the city-based Satra Properties for Rs 39 crore.
"Sachin has bought the property from us for Rs 39 crore and the deal was signed six months ago," Praful Satra, Managing Director, Satra Properties told PTI.
The bungalow, ‘Dorab Villa,’ is located bang opposite to Joggers' Park on Perry Cross Road. Satra Properties, a realty developer, had bought the property from Kishore Bajaj, a real estate developer, and sold it to Tendulkar soon afterwards in 2007.
Built in 1920, ‘Dorab Villa’ was originally owned by a Parsi family. It is a one-storey building measuring between 9,000 to 10,000 square feet. It is not yet clear what Sachin proposes to do with the property.
"The building is in average condition. If Sachin wants to retain the heritage building, he can do so or otherwise, he can build a new structure," Satra said.
The property falls under Coastal Regulation Zone-II.

Vikas, Vishal Yadav guilty, rules Court

New Delhi: Six years after the brutal murder of Delhi boy Nitish Katara, a court Wednesday held influential Uttar Pradesh politician D.P. Yadav's son Vikas Yadav and his nephew Vishal Yadav guilty.
The courtroom was packed as Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur announced her verdict in the high profile case and held the Yadav brothers guilty of murder, kidnapping and destruction of evidence.
The quantum of sentence, which could range from life imprisonment to death penalty, will be pronounced Friday. "I thank god and the media for helping me out in this long battle. This is a landmark judgement and my belief in the judicial system has increased," Neelam Katara, Nitish Katara's mother who waged a relentless battle for justice against the powerful Yadav family, told IANS soon after the guilty ruling came in.
Special Public Prosecutor B.S. Joon said he would demand death penalty for the accused. Defence counsel G.K. Bharti added they would appeal in the higher court as the case was based on circumstantial evidence.
Nitish Katara, son of a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was kidnapped and murdered after he attended a wedding in Ghaziabad Feb 16, 2002. His body was found in a village in Bulandhshahr in Uttar Pradesh. The Yadavs resented Nitish's alleged relationship with D.P. Yadav's daughter Bharati. The defence had made several attempts to delay the judgment.
On Tuesday, the accused approached the Delhi High Court, appealing against the trial court order dismissing the application seeking a stay on the judgement and re-examination of key witness Ajay Katara - no relative of the Katara family - who saw the body in Bulandshahr.
A high court bench of Justices Manmohan Sarin and Manmohan passed the plea to a single-judge bench, to be heard early Wednesday morning. But the verdict came before that.
Judge Kaur gave her ruling after after questioning Vishal's counsel on whether he was able to obtain a stay from the Delhi High Court. He was told that the hearing was scheduled to take place anytime, but the judge refused to stay the judgment and held them guilty.
The trial court had Tuesday rejected the application from the Yadavs raising objections on the affidavit Ajay Katara filed Saturday. Ajay had affirmed the authenticity of a sting operation carried out by a newspaper. In the sting, Ajay was shown as saying he never saw Vikas and his cousin Vishal Yadav taking away Nitish from a marriage party.

Petrol may cost Rs 17 more!

The government is believed to be considering decontrolling petrol prices, a move that may see rates being hiked by Rs 16-17 a litre, but diesel will continue to be sold at a subsidised price.
The relentless rise in international oil prices that last week touched an all time high of $135 a barrel has forced the government to mull options to save state-run firms, which expect a revenue loss of Rs 200,000 crore (Rs 2000 billion) this fiscal on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene.
"One of the options being considered is deregulating petrol prices," an official said. "The country's preferred auto fuel diesel will, however, continue to be subsidised even though a marginal Rs 2-3 a litre hike in prices may be announced." Petrol is currently being sold at a loss of Rs 16.34 a litre and diesel at Rs 23.49 per litre. Deregulating petrol price would mean that its prices would move in tandem with international prices.He said the move is being considered after Finance Ministry declined Petroleum Ministry's request for lowering customs duty on crude oil to zero from 5 per cent and that on petrol and diesel to 2.5 per cent from current 7.5 per cent.
The oil ministry had also asked for lowering of excise duty on the two fuels but Finance Ministry is not obliging.
Petrol has negligible impact on inflation and so even if it is deregulated it would not contribute the 3-and-half year high inflation rate of over 8 per cent, he said.Diesel on the other hand is used by transport industry and replicating the same for the fuel would have cascading effect on inflation.
However, deregulating petrol would lower the revenue losses by just Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion). Half of the current estimates are on account of diesel rates.

Petrol sale cut as we have no money to import: IOC

The Indian Oil Corporation [Get Quote] on Wednesday said it is restricting petrol and diesel sales to what is domestically available, as it has no money to import fuel.
IOC chairman Sarthak Behuria said the company is losing Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) per day on sale of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene and would run out of cash to even import crude oil by September-end if fuel prices are not raised or duties cut.
He said IOC was willing to meet a demand growth of 12-15 per cent against actual rise of 22 per cent.
Crude oil price is ruling over $130 a barrel in the international market and the company is losing Rs 16.34 per litre on sale of petrol, Rs 23.49 on diesel, Rs 28.72 on kerosene, Rs 305.9 on LPG (cooking gas).

Yeddyurappa: '24-hour' politician in the hot seat





His favourite outfit without a doubt is the white safari suit which now in Karnataka is being called as Yedi's Suit. There is a joke doing the rounds in the Bangalore press club that in 1999, he had stitched 10 white safari suits thinking that he would become chief minister, but he lost the elections. They say that those suits have not gone waste today.
His lucky charm is considered to be the gold bracelet which he wears on his arm. Both his family members and friends say that he is very sentimental and possessive about it.
Yeddyurappa will create history on May 30. Although it would be a proud moment for him, he will surely miss his wife, Maithra Devi, who died three and half years ago. Vijendra and Uma Devi, his son and daughter, feel that he would have been happier if their mother were to be around. His three daughters and two sons however want to ensure that their father cherishes this great moment and are making preparations to celebrate this big day for their father.

US freezes assets of four Lashkar terrorists

The United States has clamped down on Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Laskar-e-Toiba, which has repeatedly targeted India, by freezing the assets of its top four leaders and barring its nationals from dealing with the terrorist outfit.
The four are Muhammad Saeed, the group's overall leader, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, its chief of operations; Haji Muhammad Ashraf, the chief of finance--- all hailing from Pakistan-- and India-born Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq, a LeT financier, the US Treasury Department said. It said Lashkar had links to terror mastermind Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network.
"LeT is a dangerous al Qaeda affiliate... its transnational nature makes it crucial for governments worldwide to do all they can to stifle LET's fundraising and operation," said Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
The LeT has masterminded and carried out numerous attacks against Indian military and civilian targets since 1993, including the December 2001 attack on Parliament and the July 2006 attack on Mumbai's local trains.
The LET is also suspected of involvement in attacks in New Delhi in October 2005, and in Bangalore in December 2005. LeT arose in the early 1990s as the armed wing of the Sunni missionary movement Markaz-ud Dawa-wal-Irshad. Despite being banned by the government of Pakistan in January 2002, LeT continues to operate in Kashmir and engage in or support terrorist activities worldwide, the US statement said.
The US had named LET a Foreign Terrorist Organisation on December 26, 2001. "Any assets these designees have under US jurisdiction will be frozen and US citizens are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the designees," it said.

AP set for bypolls, counting on June 1

Hyderabad: The stage is set, amid tight security arrangements, for the crucial bypolls to 18 assembly and four Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.
More than 9,000 polling stations have been set up and over 63,000 policemen, including armed reserve police personnel, have been deployed on election duty.
Of the 4,965 villages in the constituencies going to polls, 965 have been identified as hyper-sensitive, 1,683 as sensitive and 1,025 as extremist-affected and inaccessible villages, Director General of Police SSP Yadav said on Wednesday.
Special attention would be given to prevent any law and order problems in troublesome villages, he said.
The byelections are widely seen as a semi-final for the next year's general elections.
The en-masse resignation of the TRS MPs and MLAs in protest against UPA government's failure to carve out separate state necessitated the bypolls.
At stake is the Telangana statehood demand which is the main plank of TRS.
Top leaders including Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao undertook extensive campaigning in the constituencies going to the polls.
While the Chief Minister harped on the development activities initiated by his government, the TRS relied on the strong demand for separate statehood prevailing in the region.
The opposition TDP which is keen to win back the confidence of the electorate went in a populist mode promising several sops.
The counting of votes would be held on June 1.

CBSE Class 10 results out on Thursday

New Delhi: Ending the wait for over 765,000 students, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will declare the Class 10 results Thursday."The results will be announced at 8 a.m. Thursday," a CBSE official said. This year, 765,095 appeared for the Class 10 exams in India and abroad. These students from 8,199 schools had written papers at 2,624 centres in March. Authorities said students can register on www.cbse.nic.in to get their result through e-mail or check the result on the same website.
Results can also be obtained by logging in to www.cbseresults.nic.in, www.results.nic.in, http//mtnldelhi.in, http//bol.net.in, http//delhi.mtnl.in. Students and their parents are anxiously awaiting the result.
"I am eagerly waiting for the result, but very scared. My son is busy playing computer games," said Ranjana, mother of a student in the capital.
Srikant Venkatchalam, a student of Delhi's Sardar Patel school said: "I have done my job during the examinations. If a good teacher is checking your copy, then you have the chance of scoring decent marks. It's a matter of luck.
"He explained, a good teacher devotes time to checking a copy but there are many others who just flip through the answer sheet without reading it carefully.

Two detained in connection with Jaipur blasts

Bharatpur, May 28 (PTI) A madarsa teacher and a telephone booth owner have been detained (rpt detained) in connection with the May 13 Jaipur serial bombings that killed 66 people, police today said. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) detained (rpt detained) Hakimuddin, the teacher, and Kamil last night.
Hakimuddin, a resident of Nagla Imam Khan village of Mathura district, was living here for the past two years and 15-year-old Kamli was running a PCO booth at Khumer Gate in Idgah Colony here. Both were detained (rpt detained) following disclosure of their names by Mohammed Ilyas, the imam of the Jama Masjid here, who was detained last Friday and taken to Jaipur for interrogation.
Hakimuddin and Kamli have been taken to Jaipur for questioning, police said.

Delhi braces for Gujjars' raasta, rail roko

Securitymen were deployed on Wednesday in strength in and around the National Capital Region, which braced for spill-over effect of Gujjars' agitation in Rajasthan as members of the community enforce rail and road blockade in Delhi and its adjacent states on Thursday.
There was no sign of an early end to the six-day agitation as the issue of Gujjars' demand became a political football between the BJP government in Rajasthan and the UPA government at the Centre with one side putting the onus on the other to give the community ST status.
Gujjar protestors held up traffic on some key stretches in and around Delhi and forced shutdowns of markets in several areas in Rajasthan.
A group of protesters set tyres afire in Gurgaon's M G Road area where major shopping malls are located, causing a major traffic jam, police said.
They dispersed after police intervened.
Movement of vehicles was disrupted in sections of Mehrauli-Gurgaon and GT-Karnal roads by protesters who put up blockades.
Taking no chances, the Union Home Ministry asked Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and the National Capital Region to take all measures to maintain peace in the wake of rail and raasta roko call by the agitators.
Large contingents of police are keeping a vigil across the capital, especially in Gujjar-strongholds of Mehrauli, Ghazipur, Patparganj, Badarpur, Khanpur, Ayanagar, Chilia village and Rampur.

Talwar's whereabouts not known; contempt petition in court

Noida, May 28 (PTI) The accused in the Noida twin murder case Rajesh Talwar, remanded to police custody, is believed to be moved to an undisclosed location prompting his lawyers to file a contempt petition against police claiming they were not kept in the loop despite a court direction. Police sources said Talwar, the dentist who allegedly murdered his daughter Arushi and family help Hemraj, was taken to a rural locality adjoining Noida by investigators after a court granted them his custody for three days.
The investigators took Talwar from Dasna Jail, where he was remanded to judicial custody following his arrest Friday, to an "undisclosed" location to "intensely" interrogate him, they said. Police is trying to piece together the sequence of events that led to the murder and other evidences, they said.
Talwar's lawyers claimed that attempts to reach Senior Superintendent of Police (Noida) A Satish Ganesh and other senior officials provided futile and they were unaware of their client's whereabouts. The lawyers had filed a contempt petition at the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate A K Singh at around noon, alleging that they were not informed about his whereabouts and was taken to an undisclosed location.
In the petition, the lawyers claimed that Noida Police has not adhered to a court direction that a lawyer can be present during the interrogation of Talwar. The judge has fixed the date of hearing on May 30.
SSP Ganesh could not be reached for comments.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Rajasthan invokes NSA to control Gujjar violence

JAIPUR: With agitating Gujjars refusing to bow down, Rajasthan government on Tuesday clamped the National Security Act (NSA) in 15 districts affected by violence over the issue of ST status for the community.
The district collectors of Ajmer, Alwar, Baran, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bundi, Dausa, Dholpur, Jaipur, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunu, Karauli, Kota, Sawaimadhopur and Tonk have been empowered to arrest "anyone disturbing law and order and public peace by any act of nuisance," Principal Secretary (Home) V S Singh said. District magistrates, who are also collectors, have been asked to take action under NSA against any suspect or if they apprehend any law and order problem.
To maintain law and order in the worst affected districts of Dausa, Bharatpur and Alwar, about 22 army columns and 76 columns of different security personnel have been deployed, Singh said.
So far, 150 people have been arrested in connection with the agitation and 40 vehicles seized. Fifty criminal cases have been registered in Dausa, Bharatpur, Tonk and Kota. Meanwhile, the state government has opened the route connecting Bandikui and Alwar cities as Sikandara town was being blocked by agitators.
Following protests in Tonk, an alternative route has been opened near Ghas village from Sawaimadhopur to Banera, he said. Restoration of rail work was underway on a war footing between Deeg and Goverdhan sectors, Singh said.

Sarin to step down, eyes PE biz

Indian-origin telecom titan Arun Sarin, who is retiring as Vodafone CEO in July, is likely to venture into private equity business and may also join boards of large international companies as a non-executive director.After five years as CEO of one of the largest mobile operators in the world, Sarin would retire at the end of Vodafone's AGM on July 29, 2008, and would be succeeded by deputy chief executive Vittorio Colao.
Sarin became CEO in July 2003 and has led Vodafone's evolution into a full-fledged communications company.
"Under his leadership, Vodafone has developed and implemented a new strategy," the company said, adding as part of this strategy, it has expanded into emerging markets including Romania, Czech Republic, Turkey and most recently, India, where Sarin led the acquisition of Hutchison Essar. Vodafone's acquisition of Hutch Essar is the largest foreign investment made in India. Besides, under Sarin's leadership, Vodafone also disposed of businesses in Japan and Sweden, together with interests in Switzerland and Belgium.
Vodafone's customer base more than doubled from 120 million to over 260 million globally under Sarin's leadership, while returns to shareholders also grew with dividends rising more than 400 per cent.
"I feel I have accomplished what I set out to achieve, particularly in developing and implementing a new strategy," Sarin said in a statement.
Vodafone chairman John Bond said that Sarin significantly expanded Vodafone's footprint in emerging markets and the acquisition in India was very well timed and executed.
Sarin, 53, is an IIT graduate and also holds a MS in Engineering and an MBA from the University of California.He started his career as a management consultant before moving, in 1984, to Pacific Telesis Group in San Francisco, where he was instrumental in the company acquiring the first cellular licences in the US as well as winning the first cellular licence in Germany and a PCN licence in the UK.
Following the demerger from Pacific Telesis of the mobile and paging businesses to form AirTouch Communications, Sarin was appointed senior vice-president corporate strategy and development, and later, president with responsibility to manage cellular and paging operations in 14 countries.
He was a key negotiator in the merger of AirTouch with Vodafone Group Plc and was appointed CEO of US/Asia-Pac region of the combined business.
In 2000, with the merger of Vodafone AirTouch's US businesses with those of Bell Atlantic and GTE to form Verizon Wireless, Sarin, whilst remaining a non-executive director of Vodafone AirTouch Plc, became CEO of Infospace, a provider of mobile internet content and directory services.
In 2001 Sarin joined Accel-KKR Telecom, a telecom investment and management business. In April 2003, he became CEO designate of Vodafone Group Plc and assumed the post of chief executive on July 30, 2003.
The next CEO Vittorio Colao, 46, is reserve officer of the Italian Carabinieri Army. Vodafone also announced that its non-executive directors Michael Boskin and Jurgen Schrempp would not be seeking re-election at the AGM.

Reliance Communications and MTN may swap shares

MUMBAI: South Africa's MTN Group and Reliance Communications may swap shares or take big stakes in a new company as regulatory hurdles and both firms' global ambitions seem to rule out a $66 billion emerging markets telecoms merger.
The companies said on Monday they were discussing a possible combination, just days after India's top mobile firm Bharti Airtel ended talks with MTN after failing to agree how to structure a deal.
Bharti has said MTN proposed a structure that would have made it an MTN subsidiary, an outcome that was unacceptable to the Indian firm, which has ambitions of becoming a global player.
Analysts said Reliance Communications' chairman, Anil Ambani, who owns two-thirds of India's No.2 mobile operator, would also not want to cede control, casting doubt on media reports that MTN, valued at around $38 billion, planned a reverse takeover of Reliance, which has a market value of about $28 billion.
"If the structure proposed by MTN was not agreeable to Bharti, it's very hard to see them getting Anil Ambani agreeing to it," said one telecom analyst, who asked not to be identified.
MTN has more than 68 million subscribers, while Reliance Communications has around 48 million.
Rishi Sahay, director of Indusview Advisors, said the two firms might transfer shares to a separate entity in which they would both hold significant stakes, or swap shares in a way to get around potential regulatory hurdles.
MTN could take a stake of below 15 percent in Reliance Communications, avoiding having to make an open offer for a further 20 percent, and Reliance could take a minority stake in MTN that avoids regulatory triggers.
"It will most likely be a simple share swap that doesn't run into regulatory hurdles or require big cash," Sahay said. "No sudden-death M&A type of deal." The Economic Times, citing unidentified sources, said Ambani may swap his 66 percent stake in Reliance Communications for a one-third holding in MTN. Ambani would retain an indirect holding of nearly a fifth in Reliance Communications.
The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter, said such a deal would leave Ambani as the biggest single shareholder in an enlarged MTN.
A banking source said Reliance held informal talks with MTN last year, leading to it conducting due diligence on MTN, sub-Saharan Africa's leading mobile operator.
"The best outcome would be the formation of an offshore holding entity in a tax-neutral zone with (both) as units," said the banker, who advised Reliance last year and asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the current talks. The banker said last year's talks broke down after the two sides could not agree on a valuation.
"If talks don't progress as expected, the two could trade minority stakes in each other. Such a move sets the contours for further discussion and kisses a long-drawn bidding war goodbye," the banker said.
NO BIDDING WAR
Indusview's Sahay said Reliance Communications, which has a track record of buying up smaller, often distressed assets, would not want to risk a bidding war over MTN.
"It's in their DNA. They might do due diligence and negotiate but if they feel it's too expensive, they will just walk away," Sahay said, noting Reliance lost out to Vodafone last year in an $11 billion race for control of smaller local rival Hutchison Essar.
"Their strategy has been to go after distressed assets because they can buy them cheap, then sell stakes at a premium," said Nishna Biyani, telecoms analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher.
Biyani said Reliance would want to avoid any deal structure that would issue fresh equity or load on debt, noting the firm had aggressive capex plans -- including more than $1 billion to roll out GSM services across India -- and an IPO lined up for its Reliance Infratel tower unit.
"RComm is the smaller player in this case, so it can't ask for a majority shareholding in MTN," Sahay said. "But neither will it be willing to be just a subsidiary." Reliance Communications shares rose 1.5 percent on Tuesday, while MTN was quoted off 4.5 percent at a 4-week low.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Sensex falls 301 points

MUMBAI: Stocks took a severe beating on Monday amid weak global markets and concerns on surging inflation and record high oil prices.
Investors dumped smallcaps and midcaps, which had seen a recent run-up. All sectoral indices, barring IT stocks, were badly hit. Banking stocks led declines followed by capital goods and metals.
Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex ended at 16348.50, down 301.14 points or 1.81 per cent. It touched a high of 16498.24 and low of 16300.88 during the day. National Stock Exchange's Nifty closed at 4875.05, down 71.50 points or 1.45 per cent. The index fell to a low of 4858 from a high of 4953.60.
There are reports that the government is unlikely to raise fuel prices this week since there is no political consensus on price increase, despite pressure from oil companies which are losing over Rs 580 crore a day due to surging crude prices.

"While a hike in fuel prices could take a toll on inflation, inaction could have an even greater cost, as it would contribute to the growing current account and fiscal deficits in countries such as India, putting further downward pressure on their currencies," said an analyst with a local brokerage.
India's wholesale price index rose 7.82 per cent in the 12 months to May 10, matching the previous week's rise of 7.83 per cent, data showed on Friday, slightly above the forecast of 7.77 per cent.
Crude oil rose above $133 on Monday as supply concerns heightened from key oil producer Nigeria and a partial shut-in at the North Sea oilfields. US crude rose $1.10 cents to $133.29. Last week, it struck a record high of $135.09. Second rung stocks underperformed the benchmarks. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 2.54 per cent and 2.34 per cent respectively.

Infosys Technologies (up 3.29%), Bharti Airtel (3.15%), Tata Consultancy Services (2.69%) and Satyam Computer (0.25%) were the only gainers in the 30-share index.
Jaiprakash Associates (down 5.58%), Ambuja Cements (5.38%), BHEL (5.21%), Reliance Communications (5.08%), ICICI Bank (4.29%), HDFC (3.92%) and Maruti Suzuki (3.83%) were the worst hit in the Sensex pack. Market breadth was sharply negative with 2043 declines against 667 declines.
Meanwhile, stocks in Europe and Asia fell on concerns that more writedowns and rising raw-material costs will curb economic and profit growth.

SBI hikes term deposit rates by 25-50 bps

Long-term depositors may just get some relief in these times of high inflation. After a lull, banks could be on the verge of hiking deposit rates. The first indications of that came on Monday, when the country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI) announced a deposit rate hike of 25-50 basis points in specific categories.
This may, after a point, lead to a hike in lending rates, as banks begin to feel the pinch of dearer funds. SBI's move comes after a 75-bps hike in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a bid to rein in surging inflation.
SBI's hike is effective for deposits of between two and ten years, and will come into effect from June 1. The two- to three-year term deposit rate will be raised to 8.75% from 8.5%, and five- to ten-year deposits would fetch 9% from 8.5%.
Other banks, however, have preferred not to follow SBI just yet. KC Chakrabarty, CMD of state-owned Punjab National Bank, said his bank would take a view on the matter at its asset liability committee meeting shortly. "I have to look into the issue. Our Alco will meet and decide. However, interest rates appear stable," he said.
TS Narayanasami, CMD of public sector Bank of India said his bank would keep a watch on the movement of rates in the government securities market before taking any decision. Added MBN Rao, CMD of Bangalore-based Canara Bank: "Although we are not in a hurry to alter our rates, we might have to take a call if inflation does not come down in the near future."
However, SBI has left untouched deposits in the short- and medium-term category. "With inflation at over 7%, the bank has to pay more to depositors to attract resources,'' said a senior SBI official.
On whether a similar hike is on the cards for lending rates, the official said the bank has no immediate plans. "We will not face an asset-liability mismatch as we have not increased our short-term and medium-term rates. At best, it would affect us by one or two basis points," he said.
Analysts point out that the bank has taken a long-term view of the rate scenario whereby, contrary to current expectations, inflation may continue to be on the higher side. But despite the banks' apparent comfort on the liquidity scenario for now, analysts warn the current position could change for the worse in a matter of days.
This is because the government is now talking about allowing a steep hike in oil prices and banks would have to raise deposit and lending rates.
State-owned banks refrained from hiking rates after the 75-bps hike in CRR announced in phases by RBI. "But beyond a point, the market would determine rates," said an analyst.
The State Bank Group, which controls 23% of the country's banking business, has projected a 25% growth in loans in the year to March 2009, compared with 20% outlined by RBI in its latest annual credit & monetary policy. SBI shares ended 2.3% lower at Rs 1,537.70 on a BSE that lost 1.8% on Monday.

Reliance Communications, MTN open negotiations

MUMBAI: Reliance Communications Ltd said on Monday that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with MTN Group, after bigger rival Bharti Airtel said at the weekend it had ended takeover talks with the South African firm. ( Watch )
"Reliance Communications and MTN Group have agreed to enter into exclusive negotiations with respect to a potential combination of their businesses," Reliance Communications said in a statement.
The two firms, which are in negotiations, have agreed to an exclusivity period of 45 days, the statement said.
"We are ... in exclusive negotiations to achieve a partnership, which would provide investors, customers and the people of both companies a global platform for exponential growth," Chairman Anil Ambani said in the statement. Bharti Airtel on Saturday said it had called off talks after MTN proposed a new structure which it said would have seen the Indian firm becoming a unit of MTN. The two groups had hoped to create the world's sixth-largest mobile operator with more than 130 million subscribers in about two dozen countries. Analysts said the news was likely to weigh on shares of Reliance Communications.
"The reason investors didn't like talk of the Bharti-MTN deal was the price, and now Reliance Communications will have to pay a price that is at least equal to, or higher than what was being talked about for Bharti," said Arun Kejriwal at investment advisory KRIS.
Media and analysts had speculated that Bharti was eyeing a 51 per cent stake in MTN or engineer their merger in a deal that would value MTN at up to $50 billion.

N-deal not dead, India tells NSG

NEW DELHI: Within the country, the UPA government has not managed the promised consensus on the India-US nuclear deal with the Left parties, even postponing the next UPA-Left committee meeting scheduled for May 28. But internationally, the government is signalling to its interlocutors that it is not giving up just yet.
At last week's plenary meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in Berlin, Indian officials briefed the grouping on the state of play on the nuclear deal and the IAEA safeguards agreement. The briefing was done by senior officials of the DAE and Venkatesh Varma, MEA's pointperson on the IAEA safeguards negotiations.
The message from India was that the deal was not dead and would be completed. The briefing was done on the sidelines of the meeting, and concentrated on the safeguards agreement. India is not a member of the NSG and can only brief the members informally.
The real work of getting an exemption from the NSG will be done by the US and other countries like France, UK and Russia, who want to start nuclear commerce with India. The chairmanship of the nuclear body has just passed to Germany from South Africa.
In 2007, Indian officials had briefed the NSG at Cape Town on the 123 agreement which was close to completion at that stage.
On Monday, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the postponement of the N-deal talks with the Left. No further dates have been announced. Over the weekend, the Left parties had issued a statement opposing the rationale of depleting uranium supplies for going ahead with the nuclear deal.
The government is hobbled, facing the opposition of the Left and an institutional reluctance to bring the government down on this issue and go to polls ahead of schedule. On the other hand, senior government leaders have said that India should not have to bear the responsibility of killing the deal. But none of this stands the test of political calculations, specially in the aftermath of the Karnataka poll results.
Interestingly, the NSG meeting saw a thawing of the Australian position vis-a-vis the nuclear deal and uranium sales to India. The Labour Party under Kevin Rudd had summarily reversed the earlier government's decision to sell uranium to India.
However, in a clear sign that the winds could change in Canberra, Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith told a group of Indian journalists in Canberra recently, "The Labour Party has a strong policy of not exporting uranium to any country that has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). We have made this clear to Indian officials that we are bound by the party policy. But if the 123 agreement is passed by the Indian Parliament, we could consider joining a consensus of the NSG and IAEA." He added, "We will wait for the 123 agreement between India and the US to emerge and then make a judgment."

Petrol may cost Rs 17 more!

The government is believed to be considering decontrolling petrol prices, a move that may see rates being hiked by Rs 16-17 a litre, but diesel will continue to be sold at a subsidised price.
The relentless rise in international oil prices that last week touched an all time high of $135 a barrel has forced the government to mull options to save state-run firms, which expect a revenue loss of Rs 200,000 crore (Rs 2000 billion) this fiscal on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene.
"One of the options being considered is deregulating petrol prices," an official said. "The country's preferred auto fuel diesel will, however, continue to be subsidised even though a marginal Rs 2-3 a litre hike in prices may be announced." Petrol is currently being sold at a loss of Rs 16.34 a litre and diesel at Rs 23.49 per litre. Deregulating petrol price would mean that its prices would move in tandem with international prices.He said the move is being considered after Finance Ministry declined Petroleum Ministry's request for lowering customs duty on crude oil to zero from 5 per cent and that on petrol and diesel to 2.5 per cent from current 7.5 per cent.
The oil ministry had also asked for lowering of excise duty on the two fuels but Finance Ministry is not obliging.
Petrol has negligible impact on inflation and so even if it is deregulated it would not contribute the 3-and-half year high inflation rate of over 8 per cent, he said.Diesel on the other hand is used by transport industry and replicating the same for the fuel would have cascading effect on inflation.
However, deregulating petrol would lower the revenue losses by just Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion). Half of the current estimates are on account of diesel rates.

Raje warns Gujjars of commando action

Jaipur: The Rajasthan government today warned of commando action against protesting Gujjars if they did not give up arms immediately and released the bodies of those killed during violent agitation since May 23.
"Gujjars posing themselves with notorious dacoit Jagan at the sit-in site in Pilupura and Dumariya villages in Bayana teshil should mind that if they do not give up their arms and ammunition, the army and BSF would take up action against them without any further notice," Rajasthan Home Minister G C Kataria told a press conference here.
Police can counter dacoit Jagan alone but not with thousands of protestors claiming his support and sitting beside him simply because in a commando operation, many innocent people might be killed, he said."Hathiyar se samjhota nahin ho sakta...Voh sarkar ko chunauti nahin de sakte...Muje agar commando action lena para to dhukhi man se loonga (arms cannot bring agreement...They cannot challenge the government...If I had to order commando action, I will be sad), Kataria said.
“They should not test our patience and limits... It (commando) could come any moment, he warned.”Kataria said in first two days of violence only 37 people including a policeman were killed in Bayana tehsil's villages and Sikandara. Of these the Gujjars were sitting with 6 bodies at Sikandara and 12 bodies at Pilupura (Pilukhera)-Dumariya, he said adding only 45 others were injured.The state government has possession of just 14 bodies awaiting verification by the relatives at the Sawai Man Singh hospital in Jaipur, Kataria said

Reliance Comms in talks with MTN

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Communications Ltd, India's No.2 mobile operator, has entered into exclusive negotiations for a tie-up with South Africa's MTN Group, knocking its shares down 4 percent.
Reliance was quick to fill a void left after its bigger domestic rival, Bharti Airtel, pulled out of talks at the weekend aimed at taking control of MTN, sub-Saharan Africa's biggest mobile operator.
A source with knowledge of the negotiations said Reliance would not be looking for the same kind of structure in a deal with MTN. Analysts said MTN was likely to have a majority stake in a "special purpose vehicle" set up by the two firms.
"Reliance Communications and MTN Group have agreed to enter into exclusive negotiations with respect to a potential combination of their businesses," Reliance said in a statement on Monday, adding there would a 45-day exclusivity period.
Reliance Chairman Anil Ambani said a deal with MTN could "provide investors, customers and the people of both companies a global platform for exponential growth".
MTN had 68.2 million subscribers as of March, compared with Reliance Communications' 48 million.
"Reliance Communications is smaller than MTN, and lacks the financial muscle for a takeover, but it is not going to want to be a subsidiary, either," said Ravi Dodhia, a telecoms analyst at KR Choksey Securities.
He said the two firms were instead likely to create a special purpose vehicle, with MTN taking a 51 percent stake.
Shares in Reliance Communications, valued at about $28 billion, fell as much as 4.1 percent to their lowest since May 14. By 0537 GMT, the stock was quoted down 3 percent at 555.15 rupees.
"The reason investors didn't like talk of the Bharti-MTN deal was the price, and now Reliance Communications will have to pay a price that is at least equal to, or higher than what was being talked about for Bharti," said Arun Kejriwal at investment advisory KRIS.
Media and analysts had speculated that Bharti Airtel was eyeing a 51 percent stake in MTN or engineering a merger in a deal that would value MTN at up to $50 billion.
Bharti said on Saturday it called off talks after MTN proposed a new structure which it said would have seen the Indian firm becoming a unit of MTN.
Shares in Bharti rose as much as 4.2 percent to 872 rupees, their highest since May 6, when they slumped more than 5 percent on news that Bharti was in talks with MTN.

N-deal: UPA-Left meeting postponed

The meeting of UPA-Left Committee on nuclear issue, scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed, putting back further a decision on whether India should sign the safeguards agreement with IAEA.
The meeting is now expected in the first half of next month.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is the convenor of the committee, said the meeting has been deferred due to "unavailability of some members" of the panel.
The meeting, eighth since November last, was to discuss whether India should sign the safeguards agreement with IAEA, negotiations for which have already been concluded.
Due to the postponement, India will miss a possible chance of discussing the safeguards agreement with IAEA Board of Directors at its scheduled meeting early next month.
The board has to approve the agreement that has been reached between IAEA and India.
The government is racing against time to ink the agreement, which is a key step in implementation of the nuclear deal with the US, as it wants to conclude the process during the tenure of Bush Administration.
After signing the agreement with IAEA, India has to seek a waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group before the final vote on the deal in the American Congress.
The four Left parties, which provide crucial outside support to the government, have, however, warned against signing the agreement without their nod

Sensex plunges over 300 pts to 6-week low; IT stocks gain

Mumbai, May 26 (PTI) The stock market fell for third day in a row as benchmark Sensex today lost over 300 points on heavy selling in financial, metal and realty stocks, even as IT stocks bucked the trend with robust buying interest. The BSE's 30-share barometer index dropped 301.
14 points to close at 16,348.50 points, its lowest level in about six weeks.
It touched an intra-day low of 16,300.88 points, marking a fall of about 350 points from its previous close of 16,649.
64 points. While gains in IT blue-chips such as Infosys, Satyam and TCS as well as telecom major Bharti, which rose after pulling out from multi-billion dollar merger deal with South Africa's MTN, limited the day's fall in the Sensex to 1.
81 per cent, the selling pressure was more acute in mid-cap and small-cap stocks. Both the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices lost more than two per cent each.
BSE IT index was the only one among sectoral indices to close in the positive territory, while indices for real estate, power, FMCG, consumer durables, PSU, metal, capital goods and banking sectors all fell between 2-3.6 per cent.
The losses were relatively smaller in auto and oil and gas indices, which fell by 1.9 per cent and 1.
4 per cent each. Jaiprakash Associate was the biggest loser among Sensex stocks, followed by Ambuja Cement, BHEL and Reliance Communications.
All these stocks lost over five per cent each. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Com lost as investors feared that its intended deal with MTN would weigh down on the company's balance sheet, more so as Bharti has already pulled out of any such deal with the South African firm after holding the exploratory talks.
Besides, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Maruti, ITC, Grasim and Hindalco also lost between 3-5 per cent. PTI.

Gujjar stir: Bainsla ready to call off strike if demands met

Bayana (Rajasthan), May 26 (ANI): Gujjar leader Colonel (retired) Kirori Singh Bainsla has welcomed Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's recommendation of four to six per cent reservation for the community.
Bainsla, who has been camping with his supporters on the railway track near Dumariya village in Bharatpur district, appreciated the letter written by the Chief Minister to the Prime Minister and said "we must have a copy of the letter and we will call off the agitation."
After a meeting of her cabinet in Jaipur, Raje wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommending 4 to 6 per cent reservation for Gujjars in the category of denotified class of tribals/nomadic tribe, Rajasthan Parliamentary Affairs Minister R S Rathore said.
Gujjars could also be considered as economically poorer than OBC, the letter said.
On the Gujjars' key demand for giving ST status, the state government sought to throw the ball into the Centre's court saying "this is a sensitive issue and the UPA Government should decide it whether to accord and shift Gujjars from OBC category to Scheduled Tribe (ST) and a policy be drawn on this matter," Rathore said quoting the state cabinet's decision.

Jaipur blast suspect held in Bharatpur

Bharatpur (Rajasthan), May 26 (IANS) A muezzin, suspected to belong to the Bangladesh terrorist outfit Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HuJI), has been arrested here for his alleged involvement in the Jaipur serial blasts that killed at least 60 people, a police official said Monday.
A special team of the Jaipur police picked up Mohammed Illyas from a mosque in Chanpole Colony area Sunday evening. He was kept in the circuit house for interrogation before being moved to Jaipur.
'A laptop and some diaries were recovered from him,' an investigating officer told IANS, on condition of anonymity.
On May 13, nine serial blasts in seven different locations of Jaipur, ripped through the city within a span of 15 minutes. Initial probe pointed towards the role of HuJI militants.

Gujjars protest in Delhi

New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) Around 500 Gujjars Monday assembled in the capital to express their solidarity with the agitating Gujjars in Rajasthan demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the community and demanded dismissal of the BJP government in the state.
Led by Nationalist Congress Party MLA Rambir Singh Bidhuri, the protestors gathered at the Jantar Mantar and demanded imposition of president's rule in Rajasthan.
'The Vasundhara Raje government has failed to deliver on its earlier promises to give ST status to Gujjars. Now they are killing the Gujjars,' Bidhuri told IANS.
They also sought registering of a criminal case against the police officials whose 'indiscriminate firing' resulted in the death of 37 people.
'The doors to negotiation have been slammed shut by the Raje government due to the killing of Gujjars by the police. Compensation should be announced for those killed and injured,' Bidhuri demanded.

Raj under Maharashtra govt scanner after Pune rally

A day after Mahrashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray held a rally in Pune without obtaining the necessary permission, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil on Monday warned of strict action. "Nobody must think that they are above the law and if anyone feels so, the state administration will take strict action against them as per law," Patil told media persons on the sidelines of a function in Mumbai. Asked if the government is inept at taking action against Raj, whose rallies were getting a big response, Patil replied: "We had arrested him last time and charged him with promoting enmity between people when we gathered proper evidence against him." Patil, who also holds the home portfolio, said the administration will take action against Raj after they receive a report from the Pune police. "I cannot comment if his speech was derogatory or not or if he had taken permission or not. Our action will depend on a report from the Pune police," Patil said. Twenty eight MNS activists were arrested for organising the rally in Pune defying the ban imposed to ensure smooth flow of traffic. Raj, who had led a violent anti-north Indian campaign in February, continued his tirade against them at the rally on Sunday, targetting students from the northern states, who come for higher education to Pune.

Will BJP repay the Bangalore voter?

Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in the Karnataka assembly elections can be attributed to the voters in Bangalore, who helped the BJP bag 17 out of the 28 seats in the city -- thus pushing their tally up by 15 seats when compared to the 2004 elections.BJP's chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa had told rediff.com prior to the elections that he had chalked out a separate plan for Bangalore and the rest of the state. The BJP was well aware that the Bangalore voter will make a difference and keeping this in mind, the party came out with a separate manifesto for Bangalore and the rest of the state.What Bangaloreans can expect?The BJP promises to make Bangalore into a model city. During the election campaign, the most popular slogan was, "vote BJP and save Bangalore."
Just look at this city and how the parties have ruined it in the past, Yeddyurappa says. It is time for us to focus on the betterment of the city and ensure that the residents live a peaceful life, he adds.
In the first phase, the BJP plans to draw up a plan to solve the traffic woes in the city, which is considered to be the worst-managed in Asia. Second on the list would be to provide better drainage systems and water supply -- a problem that has been haunting the city since time immemorial.Bangalore and the IT industry have become synonymous with each other. The BJP is aware that under no circumstance can this sector be ignored. A major woe of this sector was that despite paying such heavy taxes, infrastructure in Bangalore was just not up to the mark. Several firms had even threatened to leave Bangalore and invest elsewhere as the government was not fulfilling its promise of improving the infrastructure in the city. The Electronic City, where a major chunk of the IT companies are housed, is the worst affected thanks to the mismanagement of traffic. Travel time consumes at least four hours of their day before their reach their homes and offices.The BJP on its part has promised to complete the elevated highway project connecting Electronic City at a record speed so that the traffic problems are sorted out to a large extent. Another factor worrying the IT sector is the closure of the HAL airport. They lament that travelling to the Devanahalli airport is just not feasible as it consumes almost three hours of their time. The BJP has promised to sort out this problem and points out that Bangalore definitely needs two airports. Yeddyurappa says that steps will be taken to keep both airports open. However, it is to be seen how they work out a solution considering that the Karnataka High Court has left this to the discretion of the state government and the Bangalore International Airport Ltd -- the implementers of the new airport project.
The power problem in Bangalore is another issue to be addressed. Bangalore does not have power cuts at the moment as it accounts for nearly 45 per cent of the revenue generated by the state. As a result of this, load shedding is excessive in other parts of the state. One of the major problems is that Bangalore depends on power from the rest of the state and does not have its own power generation plant. The BJP says it would set up a power generation plant exclusively for Bangalore city
Another promise that the BJP has made is decentralization of the administration. By doing so the party feels it could ensure the participation of citizens. The citizens would be involved in developmental programmes for the betterment of the city.Review of the Capital Value System and introduction of a people friendly tax system, e-governance, direct elections to the post of Mayor, improvement of living standards in urban areas which is expected to go up from 35 to 45 per cent by 2020 and encouraging NRIs to invest in Bangalore are all part of the Bangalore promise by the BJP.
From an IT city to a world class city is the promise that the BJP has made for Bangalore. The urban voter has given the BJP the chance which it so badly wanted. Will they be able to deliver what they had promised is something that time will tell.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Waiting for the D-Day


























An outside view of the terminal building of the Bengaluru International airport. Built on a public-private partnership (PPP) model, the airport will be operated by the consortium of Unique Zurich Airport, Siemens Projects Ventures and Larson and Toubro.The state government and Airport Authority of India (AAI) are the two other partners.






Indian women laborers walk past a giant suitcase put up on display outside the terminal building of the Bengaluru International Airport, ahead of its opening in Devanahalli, on the outskirts of Bangalore, India, on Wednesday, May 21, 2008. The new airport, a 25.3 billion rupees (US$633,648,000) project is scheduled to be operational from May 24, 2008, for all domestic and international flights.




Indian security personnel walk inside the terminal building of the Bengaluru International Airport on Wednesday, May 21, 2008. Located on the east of Bangalore-Hyderabad national highway (NH7), the new airport will have parking place for about 2,000 cars, various auxiliary buildings, a fuel farm, rescue and fire fighting facilities, ground support equipment, airline support facilities, two major cargo warehouses and flight kitchens.


Air Traffic Control tower is seen behind as workers rest on a railing outside the terminal building of the Bengaluru International Airport on Wednesday, May 21, 2008.

Bangalore International Airport Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Albert Brunner, the moving spirit behind the airport project, speaks to the media persons inside the terminal building of the airport on Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Dhaka moots counter-terrorism treaty with India, Myanmar

Dhaka, May 25 (IANS) Bangladesh has proposed counter-terrorism measures in cooperation with India and Myanmar, The Daily Star reported Sunday.
The home ministry has suggested a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as well as extradition treaties with the two countries for 'cross-border cooperation'.
Measures to improve vigil on borders should also include modernisation of immigration procedures and visa information system, the newspaper said.
It also seeks modernisation of education provided by madrassas.
'Cross-border cooperation on an inter-state level with India and Myanmar should be promoted without further delay. This can be done by signing MoUs and extradition treaties with these countries,' the ministry said.

Aarushi's mom backs 'killer' dad

Aarushi Talwar would have turned 15 on Saturday and celebrated the day with her parents. But she is dead, her father is in jail and her mother was at a news channel's studio defending him.
The father - high-profile dentist Rajesh Talwar - stands accused by Noida police of murdering his daughter and domestic help Hemraj on the night of May 15. The police say Talwar was having an extramarital affair with fellow dentist Anita Durani.
Aarushi was upset when she found out, and came close to Hemraj while discussing it with him. The police theory continues: Talwar returned home May 15 night to find his daughter and Hemraj in an "objectionable, but not compromising position" and killed both.
Aarushi's mother, Nupur Talwar, also a dentist, told a news channel that Talwar loved his daughter too much to kill her. "Do you think a mother would protect a husband who killed her daughter? She would be an animal, not a human being," she said.
Nupur added that Talwar was sleeping next to her when the murders took place. She alleged the killer was "still out there somewhere".
The Duranis, she said, were like "extended family." Durani, too, said at a press conference on Saturday, with her husband by her side, that the two families were "like an extended family".
She said there was nothing between her and Talwar. A bail application filed on Talwar's behalf by his lawyer Mahender Pratap Singh in a Noida court said: "Talwar was implicated in a false case on the basis of false and concocted statements.
" The Noida police maintained a studied silence on these allegations. They didn't even show up in the court to seek custody of the man they are accusing of murdering his daughter.
Additional DG of police Brijlal of the UP Special Task Force, refused to comment when contacted. The Noida police unit has gone completely underground.

Gujjar women join agitation

Karwadi (Rjasthan), May 26 (PTI) Gujjar women today joined the ongoing agitation of the community for ST status as they came in large number and sat on the railway tracks here. Dressed in colourful 'orhnis' and 'ghagras', the women came from nearby villages and took up sticks and iron rods in support of the movement that entered its third day today.
Shouting slogans like "We will not go away" and "Gujjar Ekta Zindabad", the women who numbered around 50 to 60 came to the site at around 3 pm. "The hands that wear bangles have taken up sticks now.
The government will have to listen to it," a woman protester said. Meanwhile, Gujjar leader Col Kirori Singh Bainsla was seen squating on the railway tracks.
Bainsla earlier refused to travel to Jaipur to hold talks with Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. Personnel of the Rajasthan Police, Rapid Action Force, Special Task Force and Rajasthan Armed Constabulory were stationed at various places in Bayana.
Some of the personnel were also present near the Samogar railway bridge where they inspected the railway bridge, sources said. The four injured in police firing died today taking the toll in the spate of violence to 35.

Tata-led Neotel launches consumer range in South Africa

Johannesburg, May 23 (IANS) The Tata-led consortium Neotel Friday made available a range of telecommunication products and services that gives consumers here a choice for the first time after decades of dependence on former state-owned fixed line provider Telkom.
Neotel was granted a licence as the Second National Operator (SNO) by the South African authorities several years ago and their services have eagerly been awaited, especially with the expectation of decreased costs.
The range of consumer products that have become available under the brand NeoConnect includes high-speed Internet access. The high cost of broadband in South Africa has been cited by both business and government here as an obstacle to development and growth.
But Neotel maintains that they are not offering 'broadband' yet, but rather 'high-speed Internet access'. The company said it would launch what it calls 'true broadband' through a fibre optic cable rollout in the months ahead.
'For years South African consumers have been calling for services that meet their requirements and we believe that we are now making that a reality,' said Ajay Pandey, managing director and CEO of Neotel.
'The NeoConnect service has been custom-designed for Neotel in order to address consumers' latent and expressed needs. Regular testing and focus group discussions have allowed Neotel to continuously refine the service to what it is today - giving consumers in South Africa everything they need and more,' he added.
The availability of 2.5GB data capacity at an entry level is a significant shift in the telecom market in South Africa, since consumers thus far have been used to smaller data capacities.
According to Pandey, there were two critical areas that Neotel wanted to address when entering the market - the low data caps that were currently prevalent and convenience in obtaining and using the services.
'Obtaining the product is simple and easy and data caps that were formerly perceived as high-end bundles are similar to those which Neotel is introducing as its mid-range offering,' said Pandey.
Although Neotel services are initially being rolled out only to the business hub of Pretoria and Greater Johannesburg, Pandey said their network was being expanded rapidly and would be available in Cape Town and Durban as well soon.
'The NeoConnect offering we are introducing to the market brings the best of mobile and fixed communications together in a product that allows for high-speed internet, carrier-grade voice calls and SMS through one product,' said Mukul Sharma, executive head of Neotel's consumer business unit.
'We have incorporated global best practices into the design of this product, ensuring that while it remains relevant to the market, it is based on a first-in-world device - a unique solution that addresses the key pain points South African users have been highlighting for years,' he said.
The NeoConnect product is built on CDMA technology - a telecommunications technology which is growing rapidly in popularity across the African continent.
'We believe that this is going to change the way in which consumers communicate significantly - we have listened to what the consumers wanted and provided them that and more,' Sharma said.
'This is only the beginning though ... we know that the South African consumer wants true broadband and that is precisely where we are heading,' he added.
Neotel is South Africa's first converged communications network, connecting the major centres in South Africa to each other and to the world, directly linking the country into Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd's (VSNL) global Tier 1 network.

BSNL top earner in Q4, Bharti No 2

BSNL may be behind the Bharti and Vodafone in subscriber numbers but the state-run company remains the top revenue earning telecom firm for the quarter ending March 2008 with its topline touching Rs 10,747.79 crore followed by Sunil Mittal's Bharti at Rs 8,381 crore.
Vodafone Essar during the quarter had a revenue of Rs 4,681.44 crore followed by Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications at Rs 4,318.74 crore, according to TRAI's analysis of financials by the operators.
Idea Cellular revenues touched Rs 2,150.84 crore while Tata Teleservices earned a revenue of Rs 2,057.30 crore in the quarter.
India is the second in the world when it comes to the number of mobile phone subscribers in a country. India has beaten the US, and has taken the number two position in terms of wireless user base.
China is on top with an estimated 550 million wireless subscribers, while India is at 261.09 million and the US at 257.89 million as of April-end.
On the GSM mobile front, Bharti Airtel's total tally of subscriber is at 64.3 million. Vodafone Essar now has 45.7 million subscribers and BSNL is at the third spot with 36.6 million mobile users.
State run MTNL's revenue is Rs 1,484.86 crore.
The Aircel group, which has mobile operations on UASL license and NLD, ILD and ISP operations under Dishnet Wireless Ltd, had a gross revenue of Rs 724.55 crore.

BJP logs into India's IT hub in a big way

Bangalore, May 25 (IANS) An upbeat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is set to form its first government in south India, Sunday bagged the majority of seats in the state capital and India's IT hub, beating an IT-savvy Congress and decimating Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in the Karnataka assembly election.
According to the state election commission results declared for the 28 constituencies in Bangalore urban district, including 21 seats in the city civic limits, BJP has bagged 16 seats, while Congress won 11 and JD-S one.
As a result of the delimitation exercise, the number of constituencies in and around the district has increased to 28 from 16 earlier. Four seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates.
Prominent among those winning on the BJP ticket were former state ministers Katta Subramanya Naidu from Hebbal and R. Ashok from Padmanabha Nagar, state legislative council member Shobha Karandlaje from Yeshvanathapura, Ashok Limbavli from Mahadevapura, and Suresh Kumar from Rajajinagar.
Though Karandlaje hails from Dakshina Kannada district on the coast and Limbavali from Bijapur in north Karnataka, they contested for the first time from city constituencies to demonstrate the reach of the saffron party into what was once a Congress citadel.
Congress candidates who won from Bangalore include former state ministers Ramalinga Reddy from BTM Layout and Roshan Baig from the thickly-populated Shivajinagar, M. Krishnappa from Vijaynagar and the party's state unit president Krishna Byre Gowda from Byatarayanpura, Dinesh Gunde Rao from Gandhinagar and V. Somanna from Govindraj Nagar.
Former minister in the Kumaraswamy-led coalition government Zameer Ahmed Khan was the lone winner on the JD-S ticket from Chikpet. He defeated Congress candidate R.V. Devaraj, who was the choice of IT-savvy former state chief minister and ex-Maharashtra governor S.M. Krishna.
Though Ahmed had to shift to Chikpet from the adjacent Chamarajpet segment post-delimitation, he retained the seat by defeating Devaraj for the second time. Krishna had won from Chamarajpet in the 2004 polls, but resigned after he was made governor of Maharashtra.
In the 2004 state assembly poll, when the area had 16 seats, Congress had bagged 10, BJP five and JD-S one.
Election for the 28 seats was held May 10 in the first phase of polling to 89 constituencies in the old Mysore region.

Rain cools down much of India

New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) The widespread rain in northern, eastern ad northeastern India in the last week kept temperatures relatively low Sunday, though the humidity factor kicked in as the sun came out strong.
The weatherman has forecast more thundershowers in Punjab, northern Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir Monday and Tuesday.
Thanks to rain in many parts of the Kashmir valley, President Pratibha Patel's helicopter could not take off from Gulmarg Sunday and she had to cancel her visit to Bhaderwah in Jammu and Kashmir, where she was to inaugurate the extension campus of Jammu University.
People in the capital had a relatively pleasant Sunday, as the maximum temperature was just 35.8 degrees Celsius and the minimum 24.5.
Rain and thundershowers continued in the north-east, south and also in parts of central India.
West Bengal, Sikkim, Bihar, coastal Karnataka, Kerala, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Lakshadweep Islands will receive rain and thundershowers until Tuesday, the weatherman said.
Thundershowers are also expected in northern Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, northern Rajasthan, Goa and Maharashtra.
The day's highest maximum temperature of 42.3 degrees Celsius was recorded at Nagpur in Maharashtra.
The following were the maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall figure in major cities for the 24 hours till Sunday evening, with figures in brackets denoting deviations from the average:

BJP win 110 seats, Congress 80 in Karnataka

Bangalore, May 25 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday stormed to power for the first time in south India, winning the Karnataka assembly elections but fell short of a majority by three seats.
The BJP secured 110 seats, three short of a majority in the 224-strong assembly in an election in which Congress improved on its previous performance bagging 80 seats.
Sixty-six-year old B S Yeddyurappa, who suffered the ignominy of the shortest serving Chief Minister for seven days last year, is expected to take oath as the new Chief Minister on May 28.
The BJP legislature party meeting has been called in Bangalore on Monday to elect Yeddyurappa as its leader after which he will meet Governor Rameshwar Thakur to stake a claim to form the next government in the state. Karnataka is presently under President's Rule.
Buoyed by the victory, BJP leadership said it has made the party the frontrunner in the race for power in the next coming Lok Sabha elections.
The JD(S), which enjoyed power in the company of both the Congress and the BJP and pulled the rug from under the saffron party's feet last November, suffered heavily securing only 28 seats, 30 less than in 2004.
The BJP, whose 18 MLAs were responsible for ushering in the first non-Congress government in Karnataka in 1983 under late Ramakrishna Hegde, was the single largest party in the 2004 elections too. It had then secured 79 seats while Congress got 65.
The saffron surge consumed several Congress heavyweights, including former Chief Minister N Dharam Singh, R V Deshpande and actor Ambarish, and also swept aside fringe players like BSP, SP, JD(U) and local Kannada Chalavali Party, which all drew a blank. Others, including a lone CPI(M) winner, accounted for the remaining seats.
Yeddyurappa tasted personal victory worsting former Chief Minister S Bangarappa, who had never lost an assembly election, in Shikaripura where Congress and JD(S) did not field a candidate in a bid to defeat the BJP leader. Both his sons Madhu and Kumar were defeated.
BJP's performance was significant as it put up a good show in virtually all the regions except some pockets in southern Karnataka, considered a stronghold of JD(S).
The victory was a revenge of sorts for BJP which had the ignominy of heading a seven-day government after flip-flops in its ties with JD(S) which pulled the rug from its under feet late last year.
Among the prominent winners were KPCC President M Mallikarjun Kharge, former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S), his brother Revanna.
Congress's Mamata Nichhani, daughter of Ramakrishna Hegde was in the third position in the contest against Kumaraswamy. Former minister and Congress heavyweight R V Deshpande lost the Haliyal seat to JDS's Sunil Hegde by a margin of 5,425 votes

Karnataka goes saffron






2009 will be the year of change: Advani

Jubilant by his party's victory in the Karnataka assembly elections, senior leader of the Bhartiya Janata Party L K Advani declared that 2009 would be the year of change in national politics.
"My affirmation has been vindicated by the triumphant performance of the BJP in the Vidhan Sabha elections in Karnataka. I sincerely thank the people of Karnataka for giving a mandate to my party. I also heartily congratulate the state unit of the BJP and B S Yedyurappa, under whose leadership the party contested the elections," Advani said in a written statement to the media.
He said that the people of Karnataka had give a befitting reply to 'the politics of opportunism of the Congress and the betrayal of the Janata Dal � Secular'
"I have no doubt that my party's triumph in Karnataka will prove to a turning point, comparable to the quantum increase in parliamentary strength that the BJP achieved in 1989. It may be recalled that the BJP won 86 seats in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, compared to only two seats in 1984. Thereafter, the BJP's victory march became unstoppable and led to the formation of the BJP-led National Democratic Allaince government in 1998. It also ended the Congress' domination at the Centre and transformed India's polity into a bi-polar system," he said.
Party president Rajnath Singh, while congratulating the people of the state, thanked Arun Jaitley for leading the party to victory.
Jaitley said that it is a matter of pride that after Gujarat, the BJP has now won in Karnataka. He refused to be termed as the 'lucky mascot' of the party, and added that the whole party had strived hard for the victory.
"Both local as well as national issues played a major role in Karnataka elections," he said.

BJP govt to be sworn in on May 28

The first ever Bharatiya Janata Party government in the south will be sworn-in on May 28 with the party almostgetting a majority, party sources said in Bangalore.
B S Yeddyurappa will take oath as chief minister, the sources said but refused to share further details.
The party, which has won 111 seats, just two short of the magic figure 113 required for a simple majority, said it has the support of four independents out of the seven.
The sources declined to name the independents who would back the BJP government remarking "they are our rebels".
The election process ends by May 28 on the day the Election Commision was expected to notifiy the constitution of the 13th Legislative Assembly in Karnataka.