Amarnath land transfer order revoked

The government order transferring 100 acres of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board was revoked by the Jammu and Kashmir [Images] government in Srinagar [Images] on Tuesday to defuse the snowballing situation in the Valley over the past week, which claimed four lives besides injuring 300 others.
The decision to annul the order was taken by the state cabinet which met at the residence of Chief Minister Ghulam [Images] Nabi Azad immediately after his return from Mumbai.
An official spokesperson said, "The land allotment order has been cancelled by the state cabinet. The government has decided it will not interfere in the conduct of religious ceremonies by the board. The state tourism department will identify as per requirement, places from Jammu to the cave shrine to raise facilities for the annual yatra."
The land cancellation, however, caused a backlash in winter capital Jammu where, since Monday, violent mobs clashed with the police and brought life to a grinding halt.
The forest land allotment controversy erupted soon after the state cabinet took a decision in May last to transfer 100 acres of land to SASB for raising temporary structures to facilitate the yatra.
The decision led to opposition from various separatist groups who demanded the immediate revocation of the order. This demand was also endorsed by the Congress's coalition partner, the Peoples Democratic Party, as well at a later stage.
The simmering discontent and the allegations that the land transfer would lead to an ecological disaster in north Kashmir's Baltel area led to massive protests that continued to shut down the valley.
The situation also led to the exit of the alliance partner PDP from the government, reducing it to a minority.

Worst will be over soon: Brokers, analysts

The markets are nearing the bottom and the worst will be over soon. That's the overwhelming mood among a range of brokers, research analysts and fund managers, according to a poll conducted by Business Standard on a day the Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex shed 499 points to close below 13,000.
Over 90 per cent of the 25 market participants in this dip-stick survey said the immediate bottom could come between 12,500 and 12,700 for the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index and 3,600 and 3,800 for the National Stock Exchange's Nifty.
Most respondents believed crude oil prices, which have risen 38 per cent between April and June, the biggest quarterly increase in nine years, and India's political stability will determine the course of the markets.
Most brokers felt that the valuations of many stocks have dropped to levels seen after the dotcom crash in 2001. This could attract some buying from foreign institutional investors (FIIs). They also expect crude oil prices to cool soon.
"There has been a crisis of confidence," said Motilal Oswal, chairman, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Oswal, however, felt that the market is close to the bottom and investors should look for buying opportunities.
Jignesh Desai, who heads institutional broking at SBI [Get Quote] Capital Market, said, "The market looks in oversold territory as most negative news flows have been discounted -- a view shared by Lalit Thakkar, Director-Research, at Angel Broking.
India's markets, in line with global markets, have been falling since January, when the crisis in the sub-prime or high-risk home loan market in the US saw significant write-downs by major US investment banks, causing foreign investors to pull back commitments to emerging markets in particular.
More negative news, such as steadily rising domestic and global inflation on the back of sharp rises in crude, commodities and food prices, has taken its toll since. On Tuesday, the benchmark indices closed at their lowest levels since April 2007.
For investors, 2008 is proving a nightmare so far. In sharp contrast to calendar 2007, when the Sensex rose a dizzying 6,500.08 points or 47.15 per cent, from 13,786.91 to 20,286.99, the benchmark index has dropped 7,325.31 points, or 36.11 per cent, since January, wiping out Rs 30,06,350 crore in market capitalisation.
Nilesh Shah, deputy MD, ICICI [Get Quote] Prudential Asset Management Company, said record high crude oil prices are the biggest factor for the market fall in recent months.
"FIIs are selling because higher crude oil prices pose a threat to inflation stability and the fiscal deficit. The market will bottom out when there is evidence that crude oil prices have reached their peak and are expected to come down," he added.
Manish Sonthalia of Motilal Oswal said the market is waiting for one positive trigger and this could push the Sensex up by 10 per cent.
Some respondents, however, still feel that the market has not bottomed out. A large foreign research house said the fall in the last 10 sessions is unprecedented on the back of heavy FII selling. "It's difficult to pinpoint a bottom level," he said.
Kamlesh Kotak, VP (Research) at Asian Market Securities, said the major reason the market is falling is the uncertainty surrounding the stability of the government. The United Progressive Alliance is facing pressure from the four left parties that support it in Parliament to jettison the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, raising fears of an early general election.
Kotak feels market may go below 11,000 before bottoming out. Nirmal Jain, CMD, India Infoline [Get Quote] adds: "Sentiment is very bad in India and this may lead the Sensex to touch 12,000. In the worst-case scenario, it may go even below that."

Why Sikhs in New York are angry

Angry over the attack on a 12-year-old girl, who had her long hair cut off by a fellow student, the third such incident within two months, the Sikh community in New York took out a protest march on Monday, demanding action to stop such cases.
Gurprit Kaur's hair was chopped off by a fellow student on June 9 in a school in Flushing in Queens suburb of New York City, five days after one Jagmohan Singh Premi was punched on the face in another school by a fellow student, who was trying to remove his turban.
The Sikh Coalition, which spearheaded the protest and organised the march, says that its survey has found that more than 60 per cent Sikh students in 400 New York City Public Schools face harassment or are subjected to violence because of their faith.
A fellow student told Gurprit that a portion of her braided hair had been cut off. Gurprit did not notice while her hair was being cut from behind.
Given the deep spiritual significance of her hair, Gurprit was extremely upset, the Coalition said.
Gurprit's school, it added, conducted an investigation and within hours told her that one of her classmates had admitted to cutting her hair. School officials say the accused student was immediately suspended.

The coalition alleged that Gurprit's brother had also been harassed with the perpetrator making fun of his turban.
In May, a student at another Queens school had his turban removed and his hair cut off.
The community leaders have met the education officials, seeking action to ensure that such incidents do not happen. Officials have assured the Sikh community that they are taking appropriate steps, including sensitisation of the other students, to their faith.

N-deal: Realignment of forces on the cards

Political realignment over Indo-US nuclear deal appears on the cards as Congress makes hectic efforts to reach out to new parties, including Samajwadi Party, to bail out the United Progressive Alliance government in the event of withdrawal of support by Left parties.
'The people of India are for nuclear deal'
Samajwadi Party, which has 39 members in Lok Sabha, is gradually becoming a foe-turned-friend for Congress, which seeks to extend the lifeline of the coalition government headed by it if the Left pulls the plug.
Rashtriya Lok Dal Chief Ajit Singh, whose party has three members in the Lok Sabha, has already had a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi [Images] and H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal-Secular is also being seen as an ally by the ruling party.
View: Dr Singh, lead or leave
UPA sources say Samajwadi Party has been driving a hard bargain but SP leaders are coy about any 'deal' with Congress on the nuclear deal.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, government's pointsman on the deal, had a meeting with Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar [Images] on Tuesday, after which the two leaders left for foreign tours -- Mukherjee to Egypt and Pawar to Dubai.
'N-deal will affect Muslim votes'
While Left leaders are chalking out the strategy on July four, a section of UPA leaders are advising against angering the key outside supporters in view of the feeling that their help would also be needed after next Lok Sabha elections.
This section feels that the next meeting of UPA-Left committee could be held anytime between July 12 to 15.