Fifty killed in Naxal attack in Dantewada as
N-capable Agni-II test-fired successfully
Concentrated play:Govt for 74 pc FDI in defence to overcome obsolescence!Centre to delink price of gas from crude in new formula!
India becoming major medical tourism destination in Asia!
Army places fresh order for 124 more Arjun tanks!
Monsoon reaches Andaman region early- Met office
Indian Holocaust My Fatehr`s life and Time, Three Hundred NINETY
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
Monsoon reaches Andaman region early- Met office
N-capable Agni-II test-fired successfully as 50 killed in Naxal attack in Dantewada!The nuclear-capable Agni-II intermediate range ballistic missile, with a range of 2000 kms, has been test fired successfully on Monday from from the Wheelers Island off Orissa coast.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress on Monday demanded stern action against Maoists in the wake of another attack in Chhattisgarh on Monday evening.Meanwhile,A CNN-IBN and Hindustan Times opinion poll conducted on the eve of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government completing its first year in office on Monday has thrown up some interesting facts.
According to experts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who the Opposition alleged to be a 'weak leader', is seen as effective, firmly in control and purposeful in the second UPAGovernment despite failing to impress critics on the issue of price rise and corruption among his ministerial colleagues.
The findings are ironic in the sense that during the 2009 elections, the Opposition's main poll plank was that Singh was a 'weak leader'. Neither the voters bought the Opposition line then and nor do the experts now.
Chidambaram confers with PM as government condemns Maoist attack!
Home Minister P Chidambaram met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday evening as the government condemned the Maoist attack on "hapless civilians" in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh that left at least 50 dead, the second such murderous assault in 40 days in the state.
"We strongly condemned the attack by Maoists on hapless civilians," the home minsitry said.
Ministry spokesperson Omkar Kedia said a passenger bus carrying 25 civilians and as many 25 special police officers (SPO) was going from Gadiras to Bhusaras in Dantewada district of the state when it was blown up by an improvised explosive device (IED).
The Maoists are acting in desperation, he said.
He said the SPOs were basically civilians assisting police in fighting the Maoists and were attached to Dantewada police.
The IED was planted on a metalled road and detonated by the left-wing extremists using a remote-controlled device.
A total of 75 paramilitary troopers and one local policeman had been killed in a Maoists ambush in the Dantewada forests on April 6.
Chidambaram had then offered to resign, taking responsiblity for the deaths, but the prime minister had asked him to continue as had the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that said the need of the hour was to stand united in the country's battle against the extremists.
Withdraw Operation Green Hunt, demands Kishenji | |||
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In a brazen attack, Naxals on Monday blew up a bus killing at least 50 people, including 20 Special Police Officers (SPOs), in worst-hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, the second in six weeks.The passenger bus, which was on its way from Sukma to Dantewada, was blown up by Maoists between Gadiras to Bhusaras near Chingavaram village, about 450 KMs from here using Improvised Explosive Device with gelatin sticks.
The bus was thrown up several feet with the impact of the explosion and body parts were strewn along the roadside.
The attack, which took place at around 16:45 hrs, was seen as yet another violation of Standard Operating Procedures which prohibit policemen and SPOs to travel in civilian vehicles.
Strongly condemning the Maoist attack on civilians in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury said it shows the "callous manner in which Maoists are taking innocent lives."
"We strongly condemn this attack. It shows the callous manner in which Maoists are taking innocent lives," said a member of the party's politburo Yechury.
He said the attack happened despite the Union Home Ministry giving assurances that the government is moving in the right direction on dealing with the Maoist insurgency.
"The government should take firm action against the Maoists," Yechury said.
At least 14 policemen and 13 civilians died when Maoists blew up a bus in a forested stretch in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada, the same region where they slaughtered 76 security personnel over a month ago.
Tragedy is that the Suicidal Chidambaram`s War Corporate bahaves as Double Edged Sword in Result Predestined. Those KILLED and the Killers, both belong to the Excluded Masses from the Free Market Hegemony Ruled Economy. Political Economics of Exclusion is now defined as social Engineering and Inclusive GROWTH have turned Central India into the KURUKSHETRA where Lord KRISHNA reincarnated as Chettiyar Chidambaram succeeds to engage a All Out Family War, CIVIL War which would expediate EXODUS and Exploitation of Natural Resources as the Conflict Zone is Richest in Natural and Mineral Resources!
Kolkata: Ahead of the crucial Kolkata Municipal elections, politics in West Bengal has hit a new low. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has accused Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya of fuelling communal tensions in the state with the help of police.
Mamata Banerjee, who has vowed to end the Left rule in Bengal, has made serious allegations against her arch rival.
"I have secret reports that he [Buddhadeb Bhattacharya] has involved the police to spread communal violence. He has instructed them to choose the Muslim pockets of Kolkata - like Rajabazar, Beniapukur, Park Circus, Garden Reach, Khidirpur - and spread riots,"Banerjee said.
The allegation levelled by Mamata during her campaign for the Kolkata Municipal polls has sent shockwaves.
Meanwhile, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has refused to take the allegations lying down.
While replying to Mamata's allegations, the West Bengal CM warned that such allegations could set a 'dangerous trend' in state's politics.
"Never before in West Bengal communal riots were made an issue in election campaign. It's a dangerous trend. Language and mannerisms of the criminal world is being imported inpolitics," Bhattacharya said.
Trying to cash-in on the failure of the seat sharing talks between the Trinamool Congress and the Congress party, Bhattacharya even tried to widen the rift between the two parties saying that MamataBanerjee's party was prone to political violence.
"Even the Congress is forced to oppose the Trinamool because that party, violence-prone and devoid of program as it is, has now resorted to dangerous campaigns," Bhattacharya added.
The Bengal Congress, despite smarting from Mamata's snub, has refused to buy Budha's platitudes and alleged that the ruling Left Front government was trying to divide the Opposition.
"If political leaders of the Marxist Communist Party think that they will divide the opposition forces by criticizing this type of blind attitude, it will never be accepted," says Pradip Bhattacharya, Leader, West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee.
The war of words has reached fever pitch ahead of the Municipal polls and political courtesy seems the first victim in this dance of democracy.
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Dantewada a war zone
NDTV Correspondent, Monday May 17, 2010, Dantewada
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- Digvijay regrets 'embarrassment' caused over Naxals
- Hang Kasab to kill our hatred, say survivors
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With its weaponry facing rapid obsoletion, the government today proposed to raise FDI in defence production to 74 per cent, saying it would help ensure technology transfer and funds to effectively replace imports, estimated at over $8 bn.
Mooting a discussion for raising FDI from 26 per cent in defence production to the same level as telecom sector, the Industry Ministry also sought to allay security concerns and impact on domestic players, saying effective checks could be put to tackle any "suspect" company.
Leading industry chamber CII, which had earlier asked the government to limit FDI to 49 per cent only, declined comments while no reaction could be obtained from FICCI.
Another industry chamber Assocham said it is a strategic and sensitive sector and opening up FDI from 26 per cent to 74 per cent straightaway "will not be a prudent step".
Increasing FDI cap from 26 per cent to 49 per cent as advocated by some industry associations "will not really help us in getting the best technology partners to invest in India... (by this) we may be accused by posterity of doing too little and too late," the discussion paper said.
"The established players in the defence industry should be encouraged to set up manufacturing facilities... in India with FDI up to 74 per cent," it added.
India is surging ahead in the race for medical tourism leaving behind countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore which were earlier considered preferred destinations of foreign patients.
India holds a strong appeal for Americans as the exploding costs of medical treatment in the US are forcing them to venture to exotic places to get heart surgery, cancer therapy, and dentistry.
Many Indian hospitals have been quietly negotiating with US companies to send their employees to India for medical treatment at "rock-bottom rates", as one brochure of a Bangalore-based hospital in circulation in the New York/New Jersey region professes.
The Army on Monday placed a fresh order for an additional 124 'Arjun' main battle tanks, giving a much-needed fillip to the over three-decade-long DRDO programme.
The new order comes in the wake of reports that Arjun had outdone the Russian-made T-90 tanks during comparative trials in the deserts of Rajasthan earlier this year.
"The Army has decided to place fresh order for an additional home-built 124 Main Battle Tank Arjun. This is over and above the existing order of 124 tanks. The development follows the success of the indigenous MBT Arjun in the recent gruelling desert trials," a defence ministry spokesperson said here.
The additional 124 MBTs would help the Army to raise two more regiments of the indigenous tanks.
The Army already has a 45-tank-strong regiment comprising Arjuns, which were delivered to the Army by the Avadi-based Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) in the middle of last year.
The Army had in 2004 placed its first order for 124 Arjun MBTs, of which nearly 50 have been delivered by the HVF. The defence ministry had last week decided to go in for the development of second-generation of Arjun tanks to give a boost to Defence Research and Development Organisation's efforts in this regard.
During the desert trials, the Arjuns were pitted against the T-90s.
The DRDO and the HVF for some time now have been complaining that the Arjun production line at Avadi would dry up if fresh orders were not placed and that it could spell the death knell to the 36-year-old project.
The fears of the DRDO and the HVF stemmed from the fact that the Army was not too keen on placing fresh order over and above the existing order, arguing that the technology of Arjun would become outdated in the next 10 years.
Also, the Army's mechanised forces has started looking out for a futuristic main battle tank (FMBT) be it indigenous or imported.
The Arjun tank project to design and develop an MBT for the Army was approved by the government in 1974 with an aim of giving the required indigenous cutting edge to the mechanised forces.
"After many years of trials and tribulations, the tank has now proved its worth by its superb performance under various circumstances, such as driving cross-country over rugged sand dunes, detecting, observing and quickly engaging targets and accurately hitting targets, both stationary and moving with pinpointed accuracy," the spokesperson said.
"Its superior fire-power is based on accurate and quick target acquisition capability during day and night in all types of weather and shortest possible reaction time during combat engagements," the official said.
The Arjun project had in its initial days been besieged with troubles due to defects in its design such as those related to weight, size, night-vision capability and fire control system. These defects were corrected one by one over the years.
The fresh orders for production of Arjun would actually mean a new lease of life for the project that has suffered due to time and cost overruns.
India companies are acquiring firms in Singapore and Thailand which enables them to take advantage of a large trans-Asia presence that results in boosting business, besides strengthening infrastructure and treatment possibilities for foreign patients.
Many foreign patients who arrive in India have already acquired some exposure to and confidence in Indian medical experts and nurses who maintain a ubiquitous presence in hospitals in the USA, Canada, UK or even Australia.
Studies have forecasted that India's medical tourism market will be worth some USD 2 billion a year by 2012 compelling the Indian Government to introduce a new category of medical visas for foreigners to facilitate their stay in India.
The visa issued to the patient and an accompanying caretaker, could be extended up to three years.
Indian hospitals in Mumbai and Bangalore - and also in other cities - report of a steady rise in the number of patients from the United States.
"Even with airfare, the cost of going to India for surgery can be markedly cheaper, and the quality of services is often better than that found in the United States and UK.
Indeed, many patients are pleased at the prospect of combining their tummy tucks with a trip to the Taj Mahal," YaleGlobal, a flagship publication of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalisation contended.
Obama pushes Wall Street reform with populism
President Barack Obama on Saturday called for swift Senate action on a sweeping overhaul of Wall Street rules to "secure America's economic future" as a reform bill moves into the decisive stage next week.BARACK OBAMA
With months to go before November's pivotal congressional elections, Obama pressed a populist theme of helping the "folks on Main Street" as he urged approval of tighter regulations to prevent a repeat of the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
Obama's Democrats and opposition Republicans are continuing to haggle over a slew of amendments, but the bill could come up for a vote in the U.S. Senate by the end of next week and is widely expected to pass.
"The reform bill being debated in the Senate will not solve every problem in our financial system -- no bill could," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.
"But what this strong bill will do is important, and I urge the Senate to pass it as soon as possible, so we can secure America's economic future in the 21st century."
The political climate in Washington has turned in favor of the proposed legislation -- which would mark the broadest revamp of the U.S. financial system since the 1930s -- and against industry lobbyists trying to weaken any changes.
Republicans acknowledge a need for reform but are seeking to trim back some Democratic proposals they see as government overreach into the private sector.
LTTE regrouping to hit back at India, says ban order
India extended the ban on Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers because its cadres are regrouping in Tamil Nadu to take revenge against Indian leaders for not preventing its military rout last year, according to a home ministry notification.Although the Sri Lankan military has decimated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), its surviving members are "regrouping in Tamil Nadu in pursuance of their avowed objective of establishing separate Tamil Eelam", said the notification.
India, which first outlawed the LTTE in 1992 after the Tigers assassinated former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, extended the ban last week for another two years.
It said that through internet portals, the Tamil diaspora in the West was spreading "anti-India feeling among Sri Lankan Tamils by holding the top Indian political leders and bureaucrats responsible for the defeat of the LTTE", it said.
"Such propaganda through internet ... (is) likely to impact VVIP security adversely in India," it added.
Sri Lankan armed forces crushed the LTTE in May last year, killing its top leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and all his top lieutenants, destroying a once feared insurgent group at one stroke.
The defeat ended a quarter century long conflict that claimed about 90,000 lives on all sides of the ethnic divide.
Noting that the LTTE has sympathisers, supporters and agents in India, the notification said that the LTTE's objective of a separate homeland for all Tamils "threatens the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India".
It said the activities of the LTTE cadres, dropouts and sympathisers who have been traced out in Tamil Nadu "suggest that the cadres sent to Tamil Nadu would ultimately be utilized by the LTTE for unlawful activities".
It said the Indian government felt that LTTE activities "continue to pose a threat to India, and are detrimental to, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India".
Therefore, it said, the LTTE needed to remain a banned organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967.
Nuclear-capable Agni-II missile, with a range of 2000 kms, was today successfully test-fired by the Army as part of user trial from the Wheelers Island off Orissa coast. The trial was conducted from a rail mobile system in Launch Complex-4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR) at around 9.15 am, defence sources said soon after the versatile surface-to-surface missile blasted off.
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Maoists today blew up a bus killing at least 40 persons, including several Special Police Officers (SPOs), in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, in the second brazen attack in little over a month. The Naxals attacked the bus carrying passengers from Gadiras to Bhusaras in Dantewada district, nearly 400 kms from here, using Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at around 16:45 hrs, officials said.
The indigenously-built Agni-II missile is a two-stage solid propelled ballistic missile. Its length is 21 metres, width one metre and launch weight is 17 tonnes.
It can carry a payload of one tonne over a distance of 2,000 km. However, the range can be extended if the payload is reduced. The missile has already been inducted into the services and the SSC is in charge of the missile's operation.
Agni-II was developed by Advanced Systems Laboratory along with other laboratories of DRDO and integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad.
Private industry has participated in a big way in its production, the sources said.
The missile is part of the Agni series which includes Agni-I of 700 km range and Agni-III of 3,500 km range.
Agni-I has been inducted into the forces and Agni-III is in the process of induction.
The SPOs, who are civilians assisting police in fighting the Naxals, were attached to Dantewada police, they said. The IED was planted on a metalled road and detonated by the Left-Wing Extremists using remote control device.
The attack came a day before the Maoists'' call for a 48-hour bandh in five states, including Chhattisgarh, from tomorrow in protest against the security operations launched against them by the Centre. .
Just read the Dalit Voice Edit before going through the details and updates, perhaps it would help you to put the content in the Right Prespective!
"Khatri Sick" PM — Brahminist darling — is cause of current all-round crisis & confusion
The country is under a terrible confusion and chaos created by its micro-minority ruling class (15%). This crisis is deliberately created by the Brahminists so that we, the victims of their slow, painless blood-sucking operation, will not make out who actually is doing it. This centuries-old operation is being carried out by the enemy keeping us dirt poor. Hence illiterate and unthinking.
Only the poverty-stricken Eastern part of India with predominant Tribal and Dalit population — reduced to bones and skin — has started getting angry and protesting. The Brahminist blood-suckers quickly made use of the opportunity and took over the leadership calling them Naxalites and Maoists. Leading them are Brahmins, Reddis and Khammas. It is these oppressors who named our people fighting for human rights as Naxalites and Maoists.
Dantewada massacre: The Dantewada massacre of 76 CRPF (reserve police) men in the dense Chhattisgarh forest on April 6, 2010 — a four-decade-old conflict between the Brahminical state and the starving people of India — brought the whole contradiction once again to the centre stage with parliament opposition members demanding the head of the Home Minister, the Tamil Chidambaram Chettiar.
But in the dust and din raised on the Dantewada disaster the most important point was missed. If the so-called Maoists are the dust poor wretched of the earth, whom the ruling Brahminists have deliberately abandoned and forgotten, the CRPF men who died unsung, unwept also belonged to the same category.
The Brahminist strategy is so fine and flawless that it is making brothers fight brothers as they sip whiskey watching in cool comfort the stupid IPL cricket in metropolitan cities.
Chettiar had the licence to kill: Their enjoyment has no limit. But remember all those who laugh today will have to pay through their nose tomorrow.
The parliament debate on Dantewada massacre was furious. Even the Congress upper caste leaders like Digvijay Singh and Manishankar Iyer rightly demanded the Chettiar's head. But the confident Chettiar defended himself because he had the licence to kill — authorised by his boss.
Gujarati Bania hailed as Mahatma: Did not the same Chettiar play havoc as the Finance Minister? Did he not give free hand to the Marwadi monsters and Dalal Street dagalbajis to loot and murder? Did he not then also have the licence to kill? Except DV, did anybody else in India demand his skull? DV proved right then. And it will prove right again today. The micro-minority Tamil Chettiars belong to a blood-sucker money-lender class. What else we can expect from such a class — except looting, shooting and blood-sucking?
Did not India's blood-sucker ruling class hail the Gujarati Bania as "Father of the Nation" and Mahatma who deceived all of us?
The logic of this land ruled by our blessed Brahminists is truth-seekers like Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, who fought and died for the liberation of the oppressed, are called traitors but money-mongering monsters are called mahatmas.
Look at another fellow. Human Resources Minister Kapil Sibal, the darling of the dragons, who came out with two "wonder projects" — a red carpet welcome to foreign universities (DV April 16, 2010 p.7: "Foreign universities will expand India's vast intellectual desert) and free, compulsory and universal education up to 8th standard (DV May 1, 2010 p.10: "Khatri Sick's another false promise"). If the first is to please the Brahminist rulers, the second one is to deceive the over 60% of the innocent masses of India kept illiterate even after 63 years of "independence". Why Sibal is trying to deceive our innocent producers of wealth when no funds are provided to implement the project?
The answer is Kapil Sibal has the permission from his boss.
Israeli hold on Defence Ministry: India's entire Defence setup is controlled by the Zionist-Jew Israel. The Syrian Christian A.K. Antony is the Defence Minister. Muslims who form 20% of India and those outside have been protesting the invasion of Mossad and the Zionist-Jews into India.
The Abhinav Bharat, the Chitpavan super- Hindu terrorist gang, has already announced the setting up its shadow govt. in Israel, the homeland of their cousins, and launched the "Bombay terrorist attack" killing the police officer Karkare. (See also p.23).
S.M. Mushrif in his book has said the Intelligence Bureau was fully aware of the Bombay terrorist attack of 2008.
Why the IB, which is directly under the Khatri Sick PM, found fault with the upright police officer Karkare for arresting the Abhinav Bharat leaders who killed hundreds of Muslims in Malegaon and other places? How did top Army officers permit the Abhinav Bharat to steal RDX explosives which is available only with the Army? Why the Bombay "terrorist attack" was not prevented though the IB was in possession of the information of the attack five days in advance?
Who blocked the IB from informing the Bombay police and plunged Bombay in blood bath?
Show boy made Foreign Minister: Shashi Tharoor, a silly Nair buffoon from Kerala, since dismissed, is too small a person to be mentioned in DV. He was a nuisance to the United Nations as its under secretary in New York. Who brought him to India, gave him a Congress ticket and made him a Minister?
But what is worrying is the selection of a show boy S.M. Krishna as the Foreign Minister who proved to be a total misfit.
Sachar Commission gave the report long, long back recommending reservation to Muslims which they fully deserve as India's most persecuted religious community.
But who came in the way of its implementation?
Women's Reservation Bill: Look at the Women's Reservation Bill to which over 85% of Indians are opposed. The BJP Govt. headed by Vajpayee tried to push it but failed. Who did it this time and suffered humiliation in the Rajya Sabha?
The pure Brahmana Jati Party (BJP) itself has now backed out of the Bill fearing revolt within. Who is behind the Congress Party pushing this notorious Bill cheered by the 15% anti-women upper castes? (DV Edit April 1, 2009: "Democracy subverted: Women's Bill further strengthens Brahminical rule").
This is the problem of having a PM who cannot get elected even to the lowest panchayat post. Is it possible to rule a 1,300-million-strong country getting orders from World Bank Zionist-Jews?
The ruling class is against SC/ST reservations, it is against reservations to Muslims and Dalit Christians. It is against OBC reservation as recommended by the Mandal Commission. When it is opposed to reservation itself as a principle why it is seeking reservation to their women? Look at the mischief. Who is the mischief-maker behind this Bill?
India's total isolation: Who caused the total isolation of India in the world? Why all the countries surrounding India —including the Budhist Lanka and the Hindu Nepal — are hating India while all of them love China and offered it all the facilities? Even the USA, where the Brahminists keep their heart, has started going away after Obama took over as President.
When China has already become a super power, which is feared even by USA and others, why India is treated like a worm? Why every UN agency and govt. of the world is finding fault with India for neglecting the welfare and well-being of its 85% the have-nots? Why India has not fulfilled even a single goal fixed by the UN under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)?
Who caused the deliberate neglect of this over 85% massive majority producers of wealth? And converted India into a heaven for fascists, frauds and fiends?
The unanimous opinion is the "Khatri Sick".
Vajpayee was much better: The Brahmana Jati Party (BJP) had a two-term rule, also under a multi-party coalition headed by the Vaidik Vajpayee. DV was very critical of his prime ministership.
But compared to the Khatri Sick, we feel the Brahmin Vajpayee was much better.
The entire Brahminical ruling class abandoned their favourite BJP and plumped for the Congress only because it was assured of their blue-eyed boy, Khatri Sick, becoming the next PM. They did it and the PM is serving the cause of these blood-suckers going out of the way — even at the peril of ruining the health and happiness of the people.
Cricket loving crooks: This less than 15% upper castes, who today are busy with their sex-drink-entertainment-cum-multi-million dollar fraud through their stupid cricket, are the greatest admirers of the Khatri Sick.
They love him even more than their darling, pure Brahmin Vajpayee. They manipulated and managed the Congress Party victory only because they were assured that the Khatri Sick would ensure free and uninterrupted opportunity to suck of our blood.(See also p. 25)
Why the poor not getting angry: Yes. The poor, oppressed Moolnivasi Bahujans (85%) cannot and do not know how their blood is being sucked. The entire countryside is devastated. Yet they are sleeping. Slaves enjoying their slavery.
The Muslims (15%) are threatened and silenced by calling them terrorists and thousands thrown into jails.
The SC/ST/BCs (65%) are mesmerised by using two powerful weapons: (1) the Hindu opium called religion which tells the poor, oppressed, starving SC/ST/BCs — who are not Hindu and never Hindu but sworn enemies of Hindu — that their suffering is due to past karma which they can overcome by going to the Brahmin temples, put their little money there and get the blessings of the god (meaning the Brahmins). By this tricky process, the Moolnivasi will become further poor and his money enriching the Bhoodevatas.
(2) TV in every language of India giving day and night entertainment, a poison that will further damage and destroy the brain. Rulers are supplying cheap if not free colour TV to every house so that they stop thinking.
This is what is happening to the "Father of India", Dr. Ambedkar's Moolnivasi Bahujan Bharat.
The Khatri Sick is the cause of all the problems — the fall and slow death of India.
He is fully supported by the Zionist-Jews controlling America because he is their nominee as a former World Bank man. He is faithfully following their dictates causing the slow death of India. As the "Jews of India" do not belong to India, they don't care what happens to this country. Since the Jews and the "Jews of India" are cousins, they are backing him to the hilt — but killing the Bahujan Bharat.
But who will reach our voice to Delhi? We have no media of our own.
Who encouraged the gamblers: The ruling class (15%) is encouraged to become man-eaters, ruthless gamblers and fraudsters by our corrupt Brahminical "national" toilet papers. The latest instance of their highway robbery is the IPL cricket which turned into gambling and looting. How could these rascals get the courage to flout every law of the land — unless they were confident of the blessings from the highest authority of the land?
We have nothing personal against the PM. It is purely ideological. The ruling class may ask: "How can you criticise a person who leads such a simple life?" Yes. We agree. Money corruption is the last among the four varieties of corruption (India's Intellectual Desert, DSA-1999, Rs. 50). The worst form of corruption is intellectual dishonesty which generates all other three types of corruption. That is our charge.
source: Dalit Voice
Need to revisit tactical operations against Naxals: Chidambaram to NDTV
NDTV Correspondent, Monday May 17, 2010, New Delhi
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- Naxals blow up bus near Dantewada, 33 killed
- Naxals blow up bus near Dantewada, 50 feared killed
- Naxals burn Youth Congress leader alive in Jharkhand
- Maoist bandh in west Midnapore; 4 killed
- Digvijay: I didn't mean to hurt Chidambaram
- Jairam Ramesh meets Chidambaram after China controversy
- Luring her with a film role, man forced Kolkata girl into sex trade
- Australia shuts the doors on hairdressers, cooks
- Man pays Rs 10 lakh for VIP car number
- Naxals burn Youth Congress leader alive in Jharkhand
- Oz: Teen shot dead father, then watched TV
- Huge cache of arms recovered from J&K forest
- No platform tickets at New Delhi Railway station from Monday
- After stampede, no platform tickets at Delhi railway station
- Naxals blow up bus near Dantewada, 50 feared killed
- Power cut protests greet Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli
- Delhi CM raps minister for harassment
Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/need-to-revisit-tactical-operations-against-naxals-chidambaram-to-ndtv-26119.php?cp
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Initiative India <initiativeindia@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, May 17, 2010 at 7:56 PM
Subject: [initiative-india] Wide-spread support for slum-dwellers' Satyagraha even on 4th day
To:
[]
NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE'S MOVEMENTS
A Wing First Floor, Haji Habib Building, Naigaon Cross Road
Dadar (E), Mumbai-400 014 Ph. No-2415 0529 E-mail: napmindia@gmail.com
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May 17, 2010
SAYAGRAHA AT ANNA BHAU SATHE NAGAR CONTINUES ON 4TH DAY
with support pouring in from all quarters
Slum dwellers collectively construct a house for Fatima Chand Khan, a 40 years old deserted woman
Veteran Mrinal Tai Gore and freedom fighter GG Parikh visit Sathe Nagar: Express solidarity & support: Give call for second freedom struggle
The Satyagraha at Anna Bhau Sathe Nagar entered the 4th day with slum residents from different bastis joining the protest of slum dwellers of Rafi Nagar, Shivaji Nagar that was facing an eviction today. However, with timely support and intervention, the Mumbai Municipal Corporation & Shivaji Nagar Police had to declare that they would not evict the slum forcibly. Just the day before this, more than 1500 slum dwellers had visited the slum as part of the Visthapan Virodhi Yatra that ended with a vow to challenge the illegal and un-just demolition drive of the state government.
While the forcible evictions have been stalled for the last 3 days, the absence of any sort of basic amenities starting with something as essential as a roof over the head, to water or sanitation, the condition is very deplorable. None of the government officials have dared to visit the area till date to see the condition of the people, while the basti residents are ready for a constructive dialogue, despite being betrayed and violated by the State.
Today afternoon, the residents of Anna Bhau Sathe Nagar collectively constructed a house for Fatima Chand Khan, a 40 years old deserted woman with 4 dependent children and a mother. With all her meagre belongings destroyed under the bull dozers, she has been forced to stay in the open, under the blazing sun. All the slum residents came together and helped her in constructing a roof over her head as the sun has been unbearable and many are falling ill because of the sub-human conditions that they have been forced to survive in.
The Andolan has also received support from veteran social activist Mrinal Tai Gore, who lamented the fact that slum dwellers are being sidelined due to the un-holy nexus between the government-builders-bureaucracy. Well-known freedom fighter G.G. Parikh gave a call to fight the second freedom struggle against the government, which is more brutal than the colonial state. Shri Kailash from Madhya Pardesh and Shri Prasad from Karla, Anti SEZ movement also joined the Dharna, expressing their solidarity to the struggle of the slum dwellers. It is also important to note that while the census operation (linked with the UID) is in progress, the timing of the forcible eviction raises a doubt in the minds of the residents as to whether the demolition drive was a purposeful act to deny them citizenship rights associated with enumeration and UID.
Santosh Thorat Jameela Begum Simpreet Singh Sumit Wajale Geeta Thatra
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Contact us at: 09423965153 / 09969363065 / 09820619174
Dantewada pays for backwardness
Lack of good governance and economic backwardness have given rise to the Maoist influence in the state in general and Dantewada in particular, according to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.
The state, carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, was always treated as a backward region, he said.
With no development worth the name in the mineral-rich land of Dantewada, 550 km south of Raipur, and the virtual absence of the government machinery, the left-wing extremists have established their hold in the interior areas of the district, which has turned into an epicentre of Maoist activities.
Chhattisgarh has seen a spurt in Maoist violence in recent months. Raman Singh said, "Soon the state will discuss the menace with the Centre."
On April 6, Maoists killed 75 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and a Chhattisgarh policeman at Chintalnar in Dantewada in the worst rebel attack so far. On May 9, eight CRPF men died in a landmine explosion triggered by Maoists.
Maoists claim to have established a Janata Sarkar (People's Rule) in the "liberated" areas of south Bastar.
"For the past couple of years we have embarked upon plans to reclaim areas (from Maoist influence in Bastar). It is a long-drawn war," Chhattisgarh Director General of Police Vishwaranjan told Hindustan Times on Monday.
"But we are not stationing our forces there because of strategic reasons," he added.
Dantewada is witnessing armed action by the State to reclaim the "liberated zone" through a joint offensive of the central and state security forces.
The Maoists keep registering their strong presence in south Bastar, adjoining Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, through forest paths.
"The rebels will certainly resist any offensive operation by the security forces for fear of losing their hold in the area where they have established their strong presence," a senior intelligence officer in Chhattisgarh said.
Dantewada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dantewada | |
| Coordinates | 18°54′00″N 81°21′00″E / 18.9000°N 81.3500°E / 18.9000; 81.3500 |
| Country |  India |
| State | Chhattisgarh |
| District(s) | Dantewada |
| Population | 6632 (2001[update]) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area • Elevation | • 351 m (1,152 ft) |
Dantewada (also known as Dantewara) (Hindi: दंतेवाडा) is a town and a nagar panchayat in the Dantewada district in the state of Chhattisgarh, India.[1] It is the administrative headquarters of Dantewada District.
The town is named after the goddess Danteshwari, the presiding deity of the Danteshwari Temple located in the town, 80 km from the Jagdalpur tehsil. The goddess is worshipped as an incarnation of Shakti and the temple is held to be one of the fifty-two sacred Shakti Peethas.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Geography
Dantewada is located at 18°54′00″N 81°21′00″E / 18.9000°N 81.3500°E / 18.9000; 81.3500.[2] It has an average elevation of 351 meters (1154 feet).
[edit] Demographics
As of 2001[update] India census,[3] Dantewada had a population of 6632. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Dantewada has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 78% and, female literacy is 61%. In Dantewada, 14% of the population is under 6 years of age.
[edit] Policy
Over the last year, more than 350 people have been killed and 50,000 moved into camps in the Dantewada district, as a result of a battle between Maoist rebels and an Indian government-funded militia called Salwa Judum.
Formed in 2005, Salwa Judum translates as "peace mission", but hundreds of thousands of tribal villagers are caught in the crossfire between Salwa Judum and the Maoists.
Moaists claim the state-backed Salwa Judum is trying to take the land from tribal villagers and hand it over to big corporations to develop.
[edit] References
- ^ Dantewada district profile
- ^ Falling Rain Genomics.Dantewara
- ^ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20040616075334/http://www.censusindia.net/results/town.php?stad=A&state5=999. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
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Dantewada pays for backwardnessHindustan Times - 27 minutes ago Lack of good governance and economic backwardness have given rise to the Maoist influence in the state in general and Dantewada in particular, according to ... Dantewada attack shows Naxals' desperation: Raman SinghOneindia - 14 minutes ago Raipur, May 17 (ANI): Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday said the Naxal attack that killed over 30 people in Dantewada District showed their ... Dantewada a war zoneNDTV.com - 3 hours ago Deep inside the Maoist country in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada, everyone is on the edge. Barbed wire and check posts have increasingly become a part of the ... Maoists blow up bus in Dantewada, 40 killedIndian Express - 3 hours ago Raipur: In a brazen attack, Naxals on Monday blew up a bus killing at least 50 people, including 20 Special Police Officers (SPOs), in worst-hit Dantewada ... First Pics: Naxals blow up bus near Dantewada, 50 feared killedNDTV.com - 3 hours ago In another daring attack, Naxals blew up a bus on Dantewada-Sukma road in Chhattisgarh on Monday. Around 50 people, including security personnel who were on ... 40 killed in Naxal attack in DantewadaNewsX - 5 hours ago At least 40 persons were killed in a major Naxal attack in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on Monday afternoon. The Naxals blew up a bus carrying ... Naxals blow up bus near Dantewada, 50 feared killedNDTV.com - 5 hours ago Naxalites have blown up a civilian bus at Chingawaram on the Dantewada-Sukma road in Chhattisgarh. Fifty people are feared killed. There were 50 people, ... 'Dantewada ambush was military-style attack'Daily News & Analysis - - 21 hours ago New Delhi: A scrutiny of events and circumstances leading to the Dantewada massacre has stunned security agencies. Officials privy to the investigations ... Chidambaram confers with PM as government condemns Maoist attackHindustan Times - 1 hour ago Maoists today blew up a bus killing at least 40 persons, including several cops, in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, in the second brazen attack in ... Naxals hit bus, 27 cops & civilians killedIBNLive.com - 2 hours ago New Delhi/ Ranchi: At least 14 policemen and 13 civilians died when Maoists blew up a bus in a forested stretch in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada, ... Maoists kill 50 in attack on Indian busArab News - - 21 minutes ago A man walks past the bodies and wreckage of a bus after a landmine explosion near Dantewada in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh. ... Maoists blow up bus in Chhattisgarh, over 40 deadEconomic Times - 4 hours ago RAIPUR: Maoists on Monday triggered a landmine blast in Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh killing 20 police officers and 20 civilians who were in a bus. ... Maoists blow up bus in Chhattisgarh, 35 deadSify - 1 hour ago At least 35 special police officers (SPOs) and civilians were killed when Maoist guerrillas blew up a bus in a forested stretch in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada ... Two Naxals killed in Dantewada encounterThe Hindu - May 16, 2010 PTI Two Naxals were on Sunday killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, police said. After receiving a tip-off about some Naxal activity ... Naxals blow up bus in Chhattisgarh, 30 feared deadOneindia - 4 hours ago Dantewada, May 17 (ANI): At least 30 people were feared dead when Maoists blew up a passenger bus using IEDs in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada District on Monday. ... Chronology: Major Maoist attacks in last 2 yearsTimes of India - 3 hours ago The Maoist attack near Dantewada in Chhattisgarh is the fifth major strike by Maoists in the country this year. June 29, 2008: Maoists attack a boat on ... Left condems Naxal attack, calls it 'callous'IBNLive.com - 1 hour ago New Delhi: Strongly condemning the Maoist attack on civilians in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram ... UPA on the defensive as Maoists strike againLivemint - - 51 minutes ago PTI The landmine explosion took place in Chingawaram block of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh at around 5pm when a civilian bus carrying state policemen, ...  Civilians among 50 dead in Dantewada Naxal attack:ekmulakatnews - 38 minutes ago Raipur: At least 50 people, including several police officers, were killed on Monday when Maoists blew up a bus in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. ...  Again Dantewada Massacre, Maoist Killed 50dailynews365 - - 34 minutes ago Dantewada, May 17 – The unexpected attack of the Maoists killed around 50 people in a bus blast took place Monday 4:45 pm. ... Maoists kill 7 'informers'Hindustan Times - 5 hours ago Naxals today blew up a civilian bus carrying CRPF jawans on Sukma Road in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. At least 40 persons were killed in the attack, ... Chhattisgarh bus blast toll likely to riseOneindia - 2 hours ago New Delhi, May 17 (ANI): Sources in the Union Home Ministry on Monday feared that the casualties of the IED blast in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada is likely to ... Dantewada again: At least 30 killed in Naxal attackFinancial Express - 1 hour ago Raipur: Striking in a big way for the second time in a little over a month in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, Naxalites on Monday killed at least 30 ... Indian Civilians Die in Maoist AttackNew York Times - - 1 hour ago The attack occurred around 4 pm, about 30 miles south of Dantewada, an isolated and forested district in the state of Chhattisgarh that lies at the edge of ... Sonia condemns Maoist attack in DantewadaPress Trust of India - 1 hour ago New Delhi, May 17 (PTI) Congress President Sonia Gandhi today condemned the dastardly attack by Maoists in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh in which many ... India Maoist rebels kill many in bus attackBBC News - 4 hours ago The rebels apparently detonated a mine under the bus in Chhattisgarh state's Dantewada district. Some reports put the death toll at much higher than 20. ... Dantewada Naxal attack, 50 feared killed 25 were Special Police OfficersBuzz 7 - 3 hours ago DANTEWADA is the AF-PAK region of India and India has more Home-Grown Terrorists than any country in the World. Naxals-Maoists operating from JUNGLE ... India:Maoists Kill 40 In Dantewada Land Mine BlastWorld of 22 News (blog) - 3 hours ago At least 40 people have been killed in a landmine blast perpetrated by Maoist rebels on a civilian bus in the the Dantewada district of the troubled state ... Several SPOs, civilians killed as Maoists blow up bus in DantewadaNetIndian - 3 hours ago Several special police officers (SPOs) and civilians travelling by a bus were killed in a landmine blast triggered by Maoists at Chengamara near Dantewada ... Maoists attack cops,civilians in Dantewada and 50 killedPress Trust of India - 3 hours ago Raipur, May 17 (PTI) Maoists today blew up a bus killing at least 40 persons, including several Special Police Officers (SPOs), in Dantewada district of ... |
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India's industrial output is expected to be in double-digits in the current fiscal year that started in April, Industry Secretary R.P. Singh said on Monday.Industrial output grew an annual 10.4 percent in 2009/10.
Meanwhile, Monsoon rains, vital for farm output in India's trillion-dollar economy, are running ahead of schedule and have reached the first landmark of its four-month journey across the subcontinent, a senior weather official said.Farm Minister Sharad Pawar last week said his government would closely watch monsoon rains before easing a three-year-old ban on export of wheat.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that the June-September monsoon will hit the mainland on May 30, two days before normal, by entering the southern state of Kerala.
Monsoon rains normally reach their first landmark -- the coast of the Andaman and Nicobar islands -- on May 20, and Kerala on the southern tip of India by June 1.
"Today, we have declared the onset of southwest monsoon," G.C. Debnath, director of the weather section at the Regional Meteorological Centre in the eastern city of Kolkata, told Reuters on Monday.
Good rainfall, after last year's drought, would encourage the government to ease curbs on export of wheat and rice, boost output of grain and oilseeds, and help calm inflation that has triggered widespread protests.
India's wholesale price index rose 9.59 percent in April, while the food price index rose an annual 16.44 percent in the year to May 1.
"Southwest monsoon has set in over parts of south Bay of Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and most parts of Andaman Sea," IMD said in a statement on its website.
"Conditions are favourable for further advance of monsoon over more parts of Bay of Bengal and remaining parts of Andaman Sea during next 48 hours," it said.
After last year's driest season in nearly four decades, rains this year are expected to be 98 percent of the long-term average.
"The indications are very good and it will definitely help sentiments improve. But we have to watch its progress from Kerala and we also have to watch how well distributed rains are," said Amol Tilak, a senior analyst at Kotak (KOTAKBANK.NS : 784.5 +26.4
) Commodities.
The weather office will update its forecast next month.
Last year's drought prompted the government to drop import tax on a number of commodities, including sugar.
Due to large imports by India, the world's top sugar consumer, New York raw sugar futures soared to a 29-year-high in February.
Finmin temporarily suspends e-filing of I-T returns
The Finance Ministry has temporarily suspended the facility for e-filing of income tax returns as it could not procure a security certification for the Income Tax Department's website in time."Pending completion of the certification procedure, the e-filing facility for assessment year 2010-11 has been temporarily suspended... The facility is expected to be renewed very shortly," an official release said today.
The department has initiated the process for renewal of the security certificate of its e-filing portal, which expired on May 8, 2010, it added.
The security certification, which is provided by specialised agencies, indicates that adequate safeguards have been taken to protect data from unauthorised access.
The government had introduced the system for mandatory filing of income tax returns by corporates in electronic format from assessment year 2006-07.
The temporary suspension of e-filing of returns, the release added, will not affect taxpayers, as the due date for submitting income tax return for assessment year 2010-11 is July 31, 2010.
The e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department remains fully secure and the lapse of the security certificate does not mean that its security features are slackened or compromised, it said.
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Taxes, 3G may lead to cash crunch in June: Bond dealers
17 May 2010, 1639 hrs IST,REUTERSTreasury officials are already preparing to deal with the temporary shortage with options such as using their surplus government debt holdings to borrow cash from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
"Banks have enough securities... and they can take money from the RBI at the repo rate but shorter dated securities might have some bearishness for sometime," said Mohan Shenoi head of treasury at Kotak Mahindra Bank.
The worst case deficit estimate is about 250 billion rupees, said R.V.S. Sridhar, president and head of markets at Axis Bank.
Short-term rates like one-year overnight indexed swaps (OIS) and commercial papers and certificate of deposits may rise 20-50 basis points during the crunch period, while overnight rates could jump 200 basis points to the repo rate of 5.75 percent.
Government spending, which could lead to an inflow for banks, is one silver lining that dealers are looking at. The government had outstanding loans with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for three straight weeks until May 7, which could be spent to ease the system liquidity tightness at the time, they added.
"Even if there is a shortfall in liquidity, it will be for a very short time, as I expect RBI and the government to do something to manage that. The government may have surplus balance with the RBI which it can spend," said Ananth Narayan G, head of rates and credit of South Asia at Standard Chartered Bank.
Banks parked 438.10 billion rupees in the RBI's reverse repo window on Monday indicating the extent of surplus cash in the banking system.
Some traders are drawing comfort from the possibility that the 3G payments may be made in phases.
"At the moment I don't see any specific reason to be unduly worried. There will be some tightness if the 3G money goes and banks may have to borrow for a few days but we don't know if the money will go out in one shot," said Mahhendra Jajoo head of fixed income at Pramerica Asset Management.
Bids for one set of nationwide 3G mobile spectrum licences in India reached 158.14 billion rupees on the 31st day of an auction, an indication the government could earn revenue of about 639 billion rupees from the auction.
Besides outflows on account of 3G, market is also concerned about the impact of June quarter advance tax payment in middle of next month, estimated at about 300 billion rupees, dealers say.
However, RBI should be aware of the possible impact on liquidity if both the outflows happen at the same time and may take suitable measures to avoid any disruptions, dealers said.
"The intention of RBI is not to squeeze liquidity. We had similar fears in March, but nothing happened then," said Ananth Narayan of Standard Chartered.
My reply is about defending Brand IPL, says Modi
Modi tweeted from Monaco, where he is supporting Force India in the Formula One race.
"My reply is not about defending Lalit Modi it's about defending Brand IPL," Modi wrote on social networking site Twitter.
Modi's reply to the showcause notice of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has run into 15,000 pages and he is believed to have put IPL's entire Governing Council (GC) in the dock on Saturday.
| Also Read |
| → My reply to BCCI over 15,000 pages, tweets Lalit Modi |
| → Corporate affairs ministry may probe IPL franchisees |
| → Modi files a voluminous reply to first showcause notice |
| → Cricket war: Modi now readies own chargesheet against IPL bigwigs? |
Modi's reply was collated by three highly reputed companies of solicitors and a battery of lawyers headed by legal luminaries like Ram Jethmalani and Harish Salve. It was submitted to the board by Modi's lawyer Mehmood Abdi.
Corporate
Duration: 01:49
Posted: 17 May, 2010, 1421 hrs IST
- Economy and Politics
-
UPA on the defensive as Maoists strike again
Liz Mathew & Sahil Makkar
New Delhi: In a grim reminder of the internal security challenge, four days before the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government marks the first anniversary of its second term in power, Maoists killed at least 33 people in a landmine blast in Dantewada, the district where the rebels carried out their deadliest attack last month.
Security threat: A video grab of security personnel carrying out rescue work after Maoists blew up a passenger bus in an explosion. PTI
The landmine explosion took place in Chingawaram block of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh at around 5pm when a civilian bus carrying state policemen, special police officers (SPOs) and civilians was blown up.
According to a home ministry spokesperson, 23 civilians and 10 SPOs were confirmed dead. SPOs are civilians of a particular area hired to assist state police and Central paramilitary forces during operations and in collecting intelligence.
"We fear that around 50 people have died in the attack. We have rushed our men to the incident site," Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) special director general V. Raman, who heads operations against Maoists across the country, said in a telephone interview from Chhattisgarh.
State home minister Nankiram Kanwal said Maoists had been escalating the attacks on civilians over the past few days. "It shows their (Maoists) desperation. They targeted unarmed men. They are increasingly becoming (a) threat to civilians."
On 8 May, seven CRPF personnel were killed when Maoists blew up a bullet-proof vehicle in nearby Bijapur district. The Maoists also killed six villagers in Rajnandgaon district on Sunday.
Seventy-six security personnel were killed in an attack by Maoist rebels in Dantewada on 6 April, prompting home minister P. Chidambaram to offer to resign. Analysts say the latest attack may put the UPA on the defensive and deepen unease in the ruling Congress party and the government over Chidambaram's handling of internal security.
"The Naxal issue is a major threat to the ruling coalition, but there are different voices in the party and the government over it. While Chidambaram adopts a hardline, (Congress chief) Sonia Gandhi and some others want to address the socioeconomic causes of the challenges," said Subrata Mukherjee, a professor in the department of political science at Delhi University.
The attack has the potential to deepen differences in the government over the handling of the issue, said Mukherjee.
The home minister could not be immediately reached for a response.
Following criticism of Chidambaram's handling of the Maoist threat by Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, Gandhi, in the latest issue of the party journal, also emphasized the need to address the root causes of the rebellion that has spread to 11 states and 91 districts of the country. "The rise of Naxalism is a reflection of the need for our development initiatives to reach the grass roots, especially in our backward tribal districts," Gandhi said.
Valerian Rodrigues, a professor of political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University, saidthe latest incident could force everyone to rally behind the government. "There is already a broader backing for Chidambaram's policy in the government... This would rally everyone behind the government and it's not going to affect the overall policy."
Both the ruling party and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party called for strong action against the Maoists. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said economic issues related to the insurgency also need to be addressed.
PTI contributed to this story.
- Government seems stalled, it is time to act
- India's ministerial hurdles
- Bridging the trust deficit
- UPA-II: Desperate for fresh momentum
- Maoists kill 40 in Dantewada bus attack
- Phones, not TV and radio, bring news to Maoist heartland
- Phone media brings news to Maoist heartland
- Resettlement and the heartburn it causes
- E-filing of I-T returns turns risky
- Turtle nests endanger L&T project in Orissa
- Affordable housing loses sheen as buyers move up
- Rajiv Dube, head of Tata Motors' passenger car business, resigns
- The start-up schedule
- $1 trillion rescue package won't end Europe's woes
- DLF eyes premium, mid-income segments
http://www.livemint.com/2010/05/17221220/UPA-on-the-defensive-as-Maoist.html
Osama tops Forbes' most wanted list; Dawood No 3
Underworld don and India's most wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim, mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai bombings, figures third on the Forbes' Most Wanted list which has been topped by Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden.
The list, carried in the latest edition of the Forbes magazine, also has Mexico's most powerful drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman in no.2.
The magazine, which has been releasing a list of most wanted fugitives for the past three years, pointed out that Dawood, who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan, possibly had a hand in aiding LeT execute the 2008 Mumbai attacks and also shares smuggling routes with Al-Qaeda.
"Though the Pakistani government denies it, Ibrahim is probably in Pakistan, where he has important ties to the powerful intelligence service," it said.
The article described Dawood as "the most wanted man in India" has for years led a 5,000-member criminal syndicate known as D-Company.
"The organised crime group has engaged in everything from narcotics to contract killing, working mostly in Pakistan, India and the United Arab Emirates," the magazine said.
Bin Laden and Guzman hold their top ranks from Forbes' Most Wanted Fugitives list that first came out in 2008 but Dawood, the most wanted man in India for his suspected role in the 1993 Mumbai bombings that killed 257 people, has moved up from the fourth spot to the third.
Hector Gonzalez, an FBI supervisory special agent, told Forbes: "Many of these criminals are hiding behind governments for protection."
The article pointed out that since the 2008 list was published not a single one of the world's most notorious criminals has been brought to justice
"The world has gotten smaller, and there has been globalisation of everything, including crime," said Bradley Bryant, the FBI's violent crimes unit chief.
"But the entire process of an international investigation takes longer. It can be a frustrating process and, sometimes, it is a lot slower than we would like it to be."
Other criminals from the number four position onwards include: the Russian face of organized crime - Semion Mogilevich, Matteo Messina Denaro of the Italian mafia, Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, a Russian mobster originally from Uzbeikistan and Felicien Kabuga, who is believed to have financed the Rwandan genocide and head of the Lords Resistance Army in the Democratic Republic Congo - Joseph Kony.
At number nine is, James Bulger, leader of Boston-based Winter Hill Gang, an Irish American family that controlled the illicit drug trade and extortion rackets.
At number ten is Omid Tahvili, kingpin of a Persian organized crime family in Canada.
After eight years, Bin Laden, who has a 25 million dollars bounty on his head, successfully continues to escape the manhunt.
"He is assumed to be hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas, but US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said in recent months that the U.S. does not have good intelligence on Bin Laden's whereabouts and it might be years before he is caught," Forbes said.
BCCI cracks down on unfit players
Players who are not fully fit at the time of team selection will not be considered for future tournaments, according to BCCI sources.
"Earlier, half-fit players were picked in the hope that they would recover fully by the time the tournament starts but the Board has learnt from its experience in the last two Twenty20 World Cups and from now onwards, only fully fit players would be considered for selection," a top board source said.
Lack of fitness is being cited as one of the major reasons behind India's dismal show in the recent Twenty20 World Cup where they could not win a single Super Eight stage match.
Coach Gary Kirsten was aghast with the poor fitness level of the team and he is learnt to have identified Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Rohit Sharma unfit for cricket at any level.
Others players who may face the axe are Ashish Nehra and Ravindra Jadeja.
Kirsten said at 42, he himself was fitter than some of the players and felt eight cricketers were grossly overweight.
Kirsten held a one-on-one meeting with seven senior players before they left the West Indies, asking them to do some soul-searching and utilise the break before next month's Asia Cup.
The BCCI is now under pressure to crack down on unfit players in the wake of the team's disastrous performance in the just-concluded Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.
The matter is being viewed seriously as the team had also fared very poorly in the previous World Cup in England where it also failed to reach the semifinals.
A second string team will feature in India's next cricket engagement in Zimbabwe where they will play a tri-series and two Twenty20 matches against the hosts.
But the mood of the selectors will be known when they sit down to select the squad for the Asia Cup to be held in Sri Lanka from June 15-24 and it remains to be seen whether some senior players who have not performed up to expectations are axed.
Team manager Ranjib Biswal's report to BCCI is also learnt to have focused on players' lack of fitness and the need for the batsmen to get acclimatise to the conditions and the bouncy pitches when they tour overseas.
Sonia blames Mayawati Govt for UP ills
Fear of double-dip recession remains high
17 May 2010, 0027 hrs IST,NYT News Service| The risk of a double-dip recession hasn't abated, even after news of the huge European bailout in response to the Greek debt crisis. World markets soared initially on the announcement of the nearly $1-trillion rescue plan, and then declined. But as the economist John Maynard Keynes cautioned long ago, such market reactions are basically a "beauty contest", with investors trying to predict the short-term reaction that other investors think still other investors will have. In other words, don't view these beauty contests as a heart-felt response to a fundamental change in the economy. In fact, there is still a real risk of a double-dip recession, though it can't be quantified by the statistical models that economists use for forecasts. Instead, the danger stems from the weakness and vulnerability of confidence, whose decline could bring markets down, further stress balance sheets and cause cuts in consumption, investment and local government expenditure. Ultimately, the risk resides largely in social psychology. It is the fear of fear itself, of which Franklin D Roosevelt famously spoke.
From 2007 to 2009, there was widespread concern about the risk of an economic depression, but that scare has been abating. Since mid-2009, it has been replaced by the milder worry of a double-dip recession, as a count of Web searches for those terms on Google Insights suggests. And with that depression scare still fresh in our minds, sensitivity to the possibility of another downturn remains high. To be sure, many economists doubt that a double-dip recession is in store. One reason may be that we have just had three solid quarters of real growth in the gross domestic product. In the past, when inflation-adjusted GDP has come out of a decline and posted three or four quarters of gains, it has never immediately begun to fall again, at least not since quarterly numbers began to be issued in 1947. So, once GDP gains momentum this way, it generally doesn't stop in its tracks. And there have been encouraging factors, like continuing low interest rates, as well as lower inventory-to-sales ratios and lower growth of stocks of new homes and consumer durables, which suggest that pent-up demand will lead to more sales. But forecasters who focus on the next four quarters may be missing the real worry that many people harbour about the economy. I use a definition of a double-dip recession that doesn't emphasise the short term. Instead, I see it as beginning with a recession in which unemployment rises to a high level and then falls at a disappointingly slow rate. Before employment returns to normal, there is a second recession. As long as economic recovery isn't complete, that's a double-dip recession, even if there are years between the declines. Under that definition, there has been only one serious double-dip recession in the last century – and it was serious indeed. It started with the 1929-33 recession, which was followed by a recession in 1937-38. Between those declines, the unemployment rate never moved below 12.2%. Those two recessions, four years apart, are now typically lumped together as one event, the Great Depression. | ||||||
How EMs can deal with surging capital inflows
17 May 2010, 0536 hrs IST,Gerard Lyons,A problem is brewing across much of the emerging world. Many countries, large and small, are on the receiving end of a surge in capital inflows and global liquidity. These flows are broad-based , including bank lending, direct and portfolio investment, plus hot money that moves in response to interest rates. Most of the money flowing into these markets often ends up in equity or real estate, adding to inflationary pressures in both. Moreover, the hot money flows can persist till the incentive to speculate is eliminated.
The longer it is before this is addressed, the bigger the problem will be. Just as excess liquidity contributed to problems in the Western developed economies ahead of the financial crisis, excess liquidity has the potential to trigger a fresh financial crisis in the emerging markets (EM).
There is a difference with the West, in that for many emerging economies, this problem is a consequence of success, reflecting optimism about growth prospects.
Nonetheless it needs to be addressed with an appropriate and timely policy response. The exact policy may vary for each country.
The best response is greater currency flexibility and a move to deepen and broaden capital markets, although this will take time.
Thus there will be more immediate responses, including a further build-up of foreign currency reserves, tightening fiscal policy, macro-prudential measures to curb rising house prices, and even short-term capital controls may be needed in some countries if inflows persist.
All of this creates big policy dilemmas. The question is whether countries and policymakers will implement necessary corrective action.
The first way to deal with the surge in capital flows is through currency flexibility. The challenge for policymakers is what has become known as the impossible trinity: it is not possible to have capital mobility, exchange rate stability and an independent monetary policy. Something has to give.
Thus, the best option is letting the currency be the shock absorber. Allowing a currency to appreciate may be like waving a red rag to a bull: further speculative inflows may be attracted . Despite that, a number of currencies have appreciated since the bottom of this crisis in March 2009. For instance, the South African rand is up 45%, the South Korean won 41%, Brazilian real 40%, Polish zloty 34% or the Indonesian rupiah 32%.
Some countries, keen to suppress appreciation , have intervened, building up foreign currency reserves. This is ominous, as it was one of many problems that fed the crisis, but it is understandable . In the decade following the 1997 economic crisis, Asian countries saw their holdings as a proportion of global reserves rise from onethird to two-thirds . Such intervention was justified partly by the aim to remain competitive but was aimed at building safety nets in the event of another crisis. This proved to be a positive tool in this crisis, and that lesson has not been lost on other emerging economies. Thus, intervention may be seen as desirable for some.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/view-point/How-EMs-can-deal-with-surging-capital-inflows/articleshow/5938792.cms
Maoist attack bus in Dantewada; 50 killed
Yet another attack by Naxals in Chingawaram near Dantewada has left 50 people killed including security personnels. The Maoists used landmines to blow up a bus carrying over 70 civilians.
There were a number of CRPF jawans travelling in the bus. The bus was ferrying people from Sukma to Dantewada.
Early reports said at least 30 people had been killed in the landmine blast. But Special DG V Raman said "I fear at least 50 dead, we are checking."
Policemen traveling on the bus are believed to have been the main targets, as the Maoists may have had information about a police party being on it.
However, unconfirmed reports say that the Maoists had actually targeted nearly 20 special police officers who were travelling in the bus. These SPOs are basically localities who have been recruited by the CRPF in order to know details of Naxal activities and their hideout. These SPOs had off late emerged as a big threat to movements of Maoists on the deep jungles of Dantewada region.
Rescue operations have commenced.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari has condemned the attacks saying the killing innocent people does not prove any point and such attacks confirm that the Maoists are not fighting any 'ideological war'.
Dantewada had witnessed the worst-ever massacre of CRPF jawans only last month, when 76 jawans were killed in a Naxal ambush.
Source: India SyndicateIndia successfully tests n-capable Agni-II missile
Balasore: Nuclear-capable Agni-II missile, with a range of 2000 kms, was today successfully test-fired by the Army as part of user trial from the Wheelers Island off Orissa coast.
The trial was conducted from a rail mobile system in Launch Complex-4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR) at around 9.15 am, defence sources said soon after the versatile surface-to-surface missile blasted off.
Data relating to various parameters of the mission's objectives was being analysed, the sources said.
Agni-II Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) has already been inducted into the services and today's test was carried out by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Army with logistic support from various laboratories and personnel of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
A DRDO scientist said it was a training exercise to familiarise the end-users with different operational conditions. The entire trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and a naval ship located near the impact point in the down range of Bay of Bengal.
The 20-metre long Agni-II is a two stage, solid-propelled ballistic missile. It has a launch weight of 17 tonnes and can carry a payload of 1000 kg over a distance of 2000 km.
Agni-II was developed by Advanced Systems Laboratory along with other DRDO laboratories and integrated by the Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad, the sources said.
The missile is part of the Agni series which includes Agni-I with a 700 km range and Agni-III with a 3,500 km range, they said, adding that Agni-I has already been inducted and Agni-III is in the process of induction.
The first trial of Agni-II was carried out on April 11, 1999. Though some of the subsequent trials were successful, the user trial conducted on May 19, 2009 and the first night trial on November 23, 2009 from Wheelers Island could not meet all the parameters, they added.
Source: PTI
| Monday May 17, 10:00 AM | Source: Indian Express Finance |
Concentrated play
By NitiKiranEquity markets have risen significantly over the last one year. Sensex (^BSESN : 16835.56 -159.04
) has scaled nearly 76 per cent in calendar year 2009. Other indices such as BSE100 and BSE 200, too, have outperformed the benchmark index and gained almost 80 per cent and 83 per cent respectively during the same period. In order to cash in on the opportunities in the current markets, DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund has launched a new fund offer (NFO) called DSP BlackRock Focus 25 Fund. It is an open-ended equity scheme that will invest, largely, in top 200 companies by market capitalisation.
The fund
As the name suggests, the fund will invest in equities and equity-related securities including equity derivatives of up to 25 companies that are among the top 200 by market capitalisation. The fund will be benchmarked against BSE Sensex and offers growth and dividend options. It will be managed by Apoorva Shah. The new fund offer is open for subscription till May 21.
Asset allocation. The scheme will allocate 65 to100 per cent of its assets in equity and equity-related securities. It will invest up to 0-20 per cent of assets in equity and equity related securities in companies that have lower market capitalisation compared with the top 200. It will further allocate up to 35 per cent of assets in debt securities, money market securities and cash and cash equivalents.
Investment strategy. The scheme will have a concentrated portfolio that aims to identify and select high conviction stocks. The strategy involves a combination of top-down and bottom-up analysis to identify sector and stock weightages in the portfolio. Top-down analysis dissects the macro-economic environment in order to understand the business cycle that various sectors are exposed to. It also involves understanding sector trends, such as scale of opportunity, pricing power, volume changes, government policy and international trends. Bottom-up involves an analysis of company-specific factors such as size, competitive position, salability, management quality, operational efficiency, financial parameters and valuations. On investment strategy, Anup Maheshwari, executive vice-president and head (equities and corporate strategy) says: "Investments will be broad-based in terms of sectors. So, in a way the fund will have a diversified approach in sectors and a selective approach in terms of stocks."
Fund rationale
Last year markets registered a significant rise and all the indices registered positive returns. However, performance varied across market segments in the range of 76 per cent to 119 per cent (segments include Sensex, BSE 100, BSE200, BSE500, mid-cap and small-cap). Holding a positive outlook on equities over the long-term, Maheshwari believes that one major factor that drives markets is profit. Further, he expects the current year and the year ahead to witness growth in profits, which will be factored in by the markets.
There has been significant performance divergence not only among sectors but also among stocks within sectors. This highlights the fact that besides sector selection, stock selection is extremely important. Quality stock selection will be this fund's forte.
Peer comparison
Focus 25 would invest in up to 25 stocks as opposed to 50-80 stocks that other diversified schemes typically hold. Hence, the fund is actually a concentrated diversified scheme and offers nothing new to investors. The new fund bears a close resemblance to funds such as Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Focus, Kotak (KOTAKBANK.NS : 784.5 +26.4) 30 and ICICI (ICICIBANK.NS : 901.1 -9.95) Prudential Focused Equity. The first two funds are relatively older funds and have outperformed the diversified equity fund category average over the three- and five-year horizon. On the other hand, ICICI Prudential Focused Equity is just a two-year old fund but has managed to deliver a robust performance over the one-year horizon.
Upside and downside
The scheme intends to maximise gains from its large-cap holdings and at the same time ensure a reasonable level of diversification by keeping sector selection flexible. However, with such a concentrated portfolio, the fund has both upsides and downsides. According to a report released by Sharekhan, large-cap stocks are most frequently traded on the bourses and, generally, do not suffer illiquidity. Historically, large-cap oriented funds have proved to be better investment options both in terms of returns as well as volatility. According to Prasunjit Mukherjee, a Kolkata-based mutual fund analyst, "Such a concentrated fund will have both advantages and disadvantages. The fund will be free from the hassles of tracking more stocks (nearly 50-80 stocks in a typically equity diversified fund) in a portfolio and will have a concentrated focus. Additionally, due to its limited exposure, it will fare well in terms of costs incurred in managing the stocks as compared to other diversified funds. The fund is expected to deliver better yield than a typical diversified fund, provided the fund manager makes the correct calls and spots the right opportunities. If not, it could also witness bad falls."
What should you do?
DSP BlackRock fund house has a proven track record. The fund, which will focus on only a few stocks, is likely to deliver high returns if the stock bets pay off. The fund will appeal to investors who have already created a corpus and now looking for a concentrated bet, says Mukherjee. Once invested, the investor needs to keep close track of the fund's performance.
On the contrary, Dhirendra Kumar, chief executive of Valueresearch says: "Let the new fund prove its mettle and then go for it."
If you wish to make a concentrated portfolio bet, go for it. However, if you prefer to err on the side of caution, wait for a couple of years for the new fund to prove itself and then invest in it. u
Email to friend | IM to friend |GLOBAL MARKETS - Euro at 18-month low on debt woes; stocks sink
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By Walter Brandimarte
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The euro slid to an 18-month low versus the dollar and global shares fell sharply on Friday over fears that Europe's fiscal austerity plans may derail economic recovery.
Gold prices hit an all-time high as the European financial situation spurred the appetite for safer investments. The precious metal erased gains later but still ended the week about 2 percent higher.
Safe-haven buying also boosted prices of U.S. Treasury debt and the value of the U.S. dollar, which climbed to its highest level in a year against a basket of currencies.
Stocks and oil prices plunged despite data showing U.S. retail sales and industrial production rose in April. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell nearly 2 percent while U.S. crude oil prices slumped nearly 4 percent.
European authorities announced a rescue plan of nearly $1 trillion for Greece and other indebted euro zone countries this week involving tough spending cuts, but investors were skeptical about weak public finances.
"If you look long-term, everyone is worried about what these austerity measures will mean in terms of growth," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at GFT in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 162.79 points, or 1.51 percent, at 10,620.16, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 21.76 points, or 1.88 percent, to 1,135.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index slumped 47.51 points, or 1.98 percent, to 2,346.85.
Shares of credit card companies tumbled a day after the U.S. Senate voted to limit fees charged on credit and debit card transactions. Visa Inc lost 9.9 percent to $77.26 and MasterCard Inc shed 8.5 percent to $212.45.
The MSCI world equity index plunged 2.4 percent, while the FTSEurofirst 300 index dropped 3.4 percent.
Banks took a beating in Europe, with the STOXX Europe 600 banking index falling 5.2 percent. Spanish banks Santander and BBVA fell 9.0 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil fell 3.75 percent to $71.61 a barrel, the lowest close since Feb. 5.
EURO BATTERED
The EU's emergency assistance plan has done little to bolster confidence in the euro, a concern highlighted by U.S. While House Economic Adviser Paul Volcker. On Thursday Volcker said European debt troubles could undermine the single currency.
The euro slid as low $1.2358 on electronic trading platform EBS, the lowest since October 2008. It last traded at $1.2370, 1.3 percent weaker.
"The euro hasn't derived any benefits from any budget cuts from Spain and Portugal," said Chris Turner, head of FX strategy at ING, which forecasts the single European currency will be at $1.15 in six months.
"People are either concluding that these cuts will be unsuccessful and debt sustainability remains a key issue, or they will be successful in aggressive fiscal tightening and that these economies would slow aggressively and the European Central Bank has to keep interest rates low," he added.
Gold prices , which often climb in times of turmoil in financial markets, soared to a record high of $1,248.95.
But investors started selling the metal when it failed to break above the psychological level of $1,250. Part of the sales also came from investors who needed to sell gold to cover for losses in stock markets, traders said.
The precious metal later traded practically flat at $1,230.05 an ounce.
The safe-haven appeal of U.S. Treasuries also rose dramatically, with the price of the benchmark 10-year note up 21/32, with the yield at 3.4571 percent.
Investors' anxiety towards riskier assets also has been reflected in the movement of cash between markets this week.
Money market funds, perceived to be among the least risky investments, attracted new money this week for the first time since January as investors moved back into cash, data from EPFR Global showed.
At the same time, the amount of money pulled from risky, high-yield bond funds hit a five-year high, while equity funds in emerging markets also suffered.
(Additional reporting by Natsuko Waki in London and Wanfeng Zhou in New York; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
| Monday May 17, 02:10 AM | Source: Indian Express Finance |
Centre to delink price of gas from crude in new formula
By Gireesh Chandra PrasadHigh international crude prices will not affect the domestic price of natural gas in the future, as per a government plan to revise the price structure for the sector. The petroleum ministry is planning a new pricing formula that will delink prices of crude from the production-sharing contracts that gas producers sign with the government. In other words, they cannot arrive at the price of the gas from their wells based on how global crude price behaves.
The new formula will produce a more realistic pricing of natural gas in the light of its own unique demand-supply mechanics, which contrasts sharply with the highly volatile global crude oil price, said a government official, who asked not to be named. The move will impact both public and private sector companies, including ONGC (ONGC.NS : 1027 -17.55), Reliance Industries (RELIANCE.NS : 1016.55 -27.1) and BG. The formula will produce a more realistic pricing of natural gas in the light of its own unique demand-supply mechanics, which contrasts sharply with the highly volatile global crude oil price, said a government official, who asked not to be named.
"Although natural gas and crude oil are produced from the same field, both have different costs of production and different demand-supply maths. The profitability of a gas producer depends on cost dynamics and not crude oil price. This warrants decoupling of gas price from crude oil price," said the official.
This could have implications on the profit margins of the largest gas producer RIL as well as future producers. In the new plan, the government could be conservative in its assessment of costs which, therefore, could impact the margins to be allowed once gas price is delinked from oil price.
The new pricing regime has got a fillip after the Supreme Court, in its verdict on the RIL-RNRL (RNRL.NS : 46.3 -1.15) case, introduced a clear govenment role in the pricing of natural gas as a national resource.
Now, gas from RIL's KG D6 lease accounting for 43% of the country's total output is priced for five years from the start of production at $4.2 per unit for crude oil price greater or equal to $60 a barrel. Because the value of crude price has been capped at $60 a barrel, RIL cannot charge a higher price even if oil becomes dearer.
Gas produced by others such as Cairn India and BG too are priced based on their production sharing deals with the government, taking oil price as a factor. (See table) But public sector producers get a price fixed by the government based on the Tariff Commission's advice. Since production sharing deals are signed at different times, there is a wide variation in the sale price of gas. While the administered prices of gas produced by ONGC and OIL are the cheapest in India , gas from the Panna-Mukta-Tapti field is the costliest.
The government plan means an ultimate integration of natural gas pricing for both public and private sector units, to create a strong investment climate for the sector. This will mean, as FE reported earlier, removing the administered price mechanism of natural gas, because of which there are different prices for public sector and private sector companies at present.
Oil and gas expert and KPMG executive director Arvind Mahajan said the move to delink gas price from the crude price makes sense as gas price is less volatile compared to that of crude. "That is because, on a day-today basis, gas is not as tradable as crude because of transportation issues. Besides, gas from a new source shale gas is also available," Mahajan said.
Globally, the natural gas market is increasingly being seen distinct from that of crude oil because gas is more widely available from diverse and more widespread reserves. Also, North America's success story of commercially producing shale gas and similar plans by China herald an era of abundance in the case of gas, unlike that of oil, experts said.
Mahajan said that the government should clarify how it would interpret the apex court order with respect to the state's final say on gas pricing for the benefit of investors.
Army places fresh order for 124 more Arjun tanks
New Delhi: The Army today placed a fresh order for an additional 124 'Arjun' main battle tanks, giving a much-needed fillip to the over three-decade-long DRDO programme.
The new order comes in the wake of reports that Arjun had outdone the Russian-made T-90 tanks during comparative trials in the deserts of Rajasthan earlier this year.
"The Army has decided to place fresh order for an additional home-built 124 Main Battle Tank Arjun. This is over and above the existing order of 124 tanks. The development follows the success of the indigenous MBT Arjun in the recent gruelling desert trials," a Defence Ministry spokesperson said here.
The additional 124 MBTs would help the Army to raise two more regiments of the indigenous tanks.
The Army already has a 45-tank-strong regiment comprising Arjuns, which were delivered to the Army by the Avadi-based Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) in the middle of last year.
The Army had in 2004 placed its first order for 124 Arjun MBTs, of which nearly 50 have been delivered by the HVF. The Defence Ministry had last week decided to go in for the development of second-generation of Arjun tanks to give a boost to Defence Research and Development Organisation's efforts in this regard.
During the desert trials, the Arjuns were pitted against the T-90s.
The DRDO and the HVF for some time now have been complaining that the Arjun production line at Avadi would dry up if fresh orders were not placed and that it could spell the death knell to the 36-year-old project.
The fears of the DRDO and the HVF stemmed from the fact that the Army was not too keen on placing fresh order over and above the existing order, arguing that the technology of Arjun would become outdated in the next 10 years.
Also, the Army's mechanised forces has started looking out for a futuristic main battle tank (FMBT) be it indigenous or imported.
The Arjun tank project to design and develop an MBT for the Army was approved by the government in 1974 with an aim of giving the required indigenous cutting edge to the mechanised forces.
"After many years of trials and tribulations, the tank has now proved its worth by its superb performance under various circumstances, such as driving cross-country over rugged sand dunes, detecting, observing and quickly engaging targets and accurately hitting targets, both stationary and moving with pinpointed accuracy," the spokesperson said.
"Its superior fire-power is based on accurate and quick target acquisition capability during day and night in all types of weather and shortest possible reaction time during combat engagements," the official said.
The Arjun project had in its initial days been besieged with troubles due to defects in its design such as those related to weight, size, night-vision capability and fire control system. These defects were corrected one by one over the years.
The fresh orders for production of Arjun would actually mean a new lease of life for the project that has suffered due to time and cost overruns.
Source: PTI
| Monday May 17, 01:20 PM |  |
Volcanic ash grounds hundreds of European flights
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By Caroline Copley
LONDON (Reuters) - Volcanic ash from Iceland caused widespread disruption at airports in Britain and other parts of northern Europe on Monday, delaying or grounding hundreds of flights.
Britain's two biggest airports reopened after overnight closures, but passengers were warned to expect long delays and cancellations through the day.
Airports in Ireland and the Netherlands were also closed over fears that drifting ash could damage jet engines and bring down aircraft.
The same Icelandic volcano's ash last month prompted a number of European countries to close their airspaces for nearly a week and travel chaos ensued in Europe and beyond.
A spokesman for Europe's busiest airport Heathrow, in west London, said it had reopened at 0600 GMT.
"However, delays and cancellations are likely due to restrictions being applied," the spokesman said.
Gatwick, London's second biggest airport, will remain closed to flight arrivals until 1200 GMT. Nearly 150 arrivals and departures will be cancelled on Monday morning, about half the scheduled total.
Britain's air traffic control body said a no-fly zone was imposed over much of Britain because the ash cloud was changing shape and drifting.
"Heathrow and Gatwick airports will be clear of the no-fly zone," it said in a statement. However, "restrictions will have to be applied due to their close proximity to the no-fly zone."
It is due to issue an update at 0800 GMT, a Gatwick spokesman said.
Airports in Amsterdam and Rotterdam would be closed for at least eight hours from 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) on Monday, Dutch state television reported, effectively halting most air traffic in and out of the Netherlands. Other, minor Dutch airports were not be affected.
Amsterdam Schiphol is Europe's third-largest cargo airport and fifth-largest passenger hub.
In a statement on its website, Dutch airline KLM said: "We are currently working on a diversion plan for all affected flights to Amsterdam."
APRIL CHAOS
More than 100,000 flights were cancelled across Europe last month because of the volcanic ash forming a cloud over the continent.
Millions of people were stranded and airlines, already battered by the global economic downturn, lost $1.7 billion, the International Air Transport Association has said.
At the weekend, North Atlantic flights through Irish-controlled airspace were unaffected by the latest cloud of ash, with Shannon -- an important stopover for flights to and from the United States -- remaining open.
But information notices at Schipol airport on Monday showed some flights from the United States had been cancelled.
The volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland has been erupting for weeks and the ash plume has reached heights of 25,000 feet (7,620 metres), according to Britain's Meteorological Office.
"The ash cloud is expected to clear the UK during Tuesday as southwesterly winds become established during Monday," it said.
Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of glass and pulverised rock that can damage engines and airframes.
In 1982 a British Airways jumbo jet lost power in all its engines when it flew into an ash cloud over Indonesia, gliding towards the ground before it was able to restart its engines.
The incident prompted the aviation industry to rethink the way it prepared for ash clouds.
Railway companies laid on extra trains to cope with increased passenger levels resulting from the closure of airports.
Channel tunnel rail operator Eurostar said an extra 3,500 seats would be available for passengers.
British rail firm Virgin Trains said it would provide an extra 7,000 seats on Monday, mainly on the Birmingham to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and London to Glasgow routes.
(Additional reporting by Peter Griffiths; Editing by Matthew Jones)
| Monday May 17, 03:10 PM | |
L&T Q4 net beats forecast, shares rally
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By Prashant Mehra
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (LT.NS : 1606.9 +77.55) beat forecast with a 44 percent jump in quarterly profit and said its large order book would boost growth in the medium term, sending its shares up in a weak market.
At the end of March quarter the company's order book stood at more than 1 trillion rupees ($21.9 billion), the leading construction company said in a statement.
L&T, which operates in industries as diverse as engineering, shipbuilding and software, has gained in the past few years from a building boom as India revamps airports, roads and expands industrial capacity.
Net profit rose to 14.38 billion rupees ($315 million) in its fiscal fourth quarter ended March from 9.99 billion rupees a year ago.
L&T's shares, valued at $20.4 billion, rose as much as 2.9 percent after the results to 1,573.75 rupees, while the main index was down 1.4 percent.
Net sales rose to 133.75 billion rupees from 104.7 billion.
A Reuters poll of 11 brokerages had estimated net profit of 11.9 billion rupees on net sales of 129.9 billion.
Sizeable orders in its engineering and construction segment bolstered sales, the company said. Operating profit margins for the division, which contributes about 80 percent of revenue, rose 60 basis points to 13.6 percent in the year to March.
Its order inflow for this segment rose 41 percent during the year to 639 billion rupees, it said.
(Writing by Janaki Krishnan; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)
(For Quotes and Interactive Charts of L&T click http://in.reuters.com/money/quotes/chart?symbol=LART.BO)
(For more business news on Reuters Money visit http://www.reutersmoney.in)
| Monday May 17, 06:20 PM | |
Reliance Comm: India mobile market remains tough
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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Reliance Communications (RCOM.NS : 141.7 -2.7) expects the "hyper competition" phase in the sector to continue for now, after hefty fall in call charges led to the third-straight quarterly profit decline at India's No. 2 mobile phone carrier.
India, the world's fastest-growing mobile market, is signing up new mobile subscribers at a monthly average of 16 million, but call prices have fallen to as low as 0.4 U.S. cents a minute amid stiff competition in the crowded 15-operator market.
"The industry continues to remain challenging with hyper competition," Satish Seth, group managing director at the mobile operator's parent Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, said in an analyst call on Monday.
"As we move into the next fiscal year, we continue to see some select tariff changes from the competition in the industry," he said of the year that began in April.
Reliance Communications reported on Saturday March quarter profit fell an annual 16 percent to 12.20 billion rupees ($267 million). The earnings exceeded a Reuters poll forecast of 8.52 billion, helped by a rise in interest income.
The company has been more aggressive in cutting call charges than larger rival Bharti Airtel (BHARTIARTL.BO : 266.55 +2.1), and earlier this month said it would offer unlimited call time to its CDMA users at a monthly price of just $13.
CAPITAL EXPENDITURE
Seth said Reliance Communications was well positioned to cash in on its falling capital expenditure and two separate nationwide networks on both GSM and CDMA mobile platforms.
The company reiterated its capital expenditure guidance of 30 billion rupees for the year to March 2011, which should be a third lower than what it spent in the previous fiscal.
The guidance does not include expenditure on 3G spectrum licences. Reliance is participating in the ongoing auction, in which bids for one set of nationwide licences have hit $3.5 billion.
Reliance Communications is yet to set a date for a planned IPO of its tower unit, which banking sources have said could raise as much as $1 billion. The company received the capital market regulator's nod for the IPO in January.
Reliance Communications shares ended 2 percent down at 141.60 rupees in the main market that fell 0.9 percent.
The stock was the worst performer among the components of the main index in 2009 and has fallen 18 percent this year, underperforming the main market, as falling call charges and heavy expenditure on 3G cloud the sector's growth potential.
($1=45.7 rupees)
(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Surojit Gupta)
(For more business news on Reuters Money visit http://www.reutersmoney.in)
| Monday May 17, 09:50 AM | |
ANALYSIS - Mutual funds seek to shed 'rubber stamp' tag
By Ross Kerber
BOSTON (Reuters) - Investor activists say they are finally getting some support from the $12 trillion mutual fund industry, huge shareholders long scorned as rubber stamps for the management of companies whose shares they own.
Sensitive to the issue, mutual fund executives say they have begun to demand more details and to vote more aggressively in corporate elections.
Staying and fighting is a change from the past, when fund managers simply pulled out of companies they perceived to be badly run.
Activists hope to see the new approach reflected when the results of this season's shareholder proxy votes are released, especially in the aftermath of the financial crisis that plunged the world economy into recession.
"There's no question the mutual fund industry is making measurable progress," said Michael Garland, director of CtW Investment Group, which advises union pension funds on corporate shareholder votes.
In particular, funds seem more likely to favor changes such as allowing shareholders to vote on executive pay, or making it easier to call special elections, said Tim Smith, senior vice president at Walden Asset Management, which promotes social causes.
For instance, on April 29 shareholders of data-storage giant EMC Corp passed those measures over management wishes.
"Both measures are getting huge votes, which I expect means some mutual fund support," Smith said.
Large holders of EMC include American Funds affiliate Capital World Investors, Vanguard Group Inc and AllianceBernstein Holding LP. None would discuss their votes and will not file details until August.
In theory, mutual fund firms and their millions of retail share owners wield decisive power over the companies in which they invest. Mutual funds dominate the lists of the largest shareholders of companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp and Microsoft Corp. All told, mutual funds control about a quarter of U.S. corporate equity.
In the recent past, fund firms typically voted against management wishes just 10 percent of the time or less, according to nonprofit site proxydemocracy.org.
Some analysts say mutual fund companies also face inherent conflicts because they often provide services such as retirement plans to the companies in which they own stock and would not want to alienate their customers.
The industry denies this has been a problem, but fund companies have been more in the spotlight recently as large shareholders in some of the companies at the center of the financial industry's turmoil.
This past year, some companies, including banking power Goldman Sachs Group Inc, made a point of meeting certain fund companies and other big shareholders in an effort to drum up support over issues such as pay.
Goldman's annual meeting was on May 7, where a controversial measure was whether to split the role of chief executive and chairman, both now held by Lloyd Blankfein. The idea was supported by several big labor and retirement funds, but lost decisively: 74 million to 313 million.
None of the fund firms would comment on their votes. But as Goldman Sachs' meeting was under way in New York, Vanguard Chief Executive Bill McNabb said: "It's not clear to me that Goldman Sachs is not doing everything just right."
McNabb spoke at the annual meeting in Washington of the fund industry's trade group, The Investment Company Institute.
Reflecting a more involved role, McNabb said that, since taking the helm at Vanguard in 2008, he had sent letters to 900 big companies in which it owns stock seeking more details about their operations.
But simply voting against management proposals and director nominees is not always the best course, McNabb said.
"There is a belief out there that, if shareholders just throw out a board, everything will get better and I'm not sure that's right. It's possible to do all that and still not execute properly," he added.
VOTING A HOT TOPIC
Voting and governance issues were hot topics at the ICI's meeting. Fearing their industry could be swept up in tougher financial regulations now under debate, mutual fund executives argued they have kept shareholders' interests above those of the companies they own.
"As an industry we actually have been getting more proactive," Legg Mason Inc Chief Executive Mark Fetting said in an interview.
Fund companies have long argued it is better for mutual fund portfolio managers to simply sell the shares of companies whose policies they disagree with, rather than stick around and push for change.
This view still has backers such as Mercer Bullard, a University of Mississippi law professor who often represents shareholders.
"The (company) managements they are most likely to vote against, they are least likely to own," Bullard said.
Yet a new mood had already surfaced last year. For example, Fidelity voted against management at least once at half the company meetings at which it voted in 2009, compared with 41 percent in 2008 and 38 percent the year before.
Activists also point to votes Fidelity and Legg Mason cast last year against a Massey Energy Co director who was criticized for being spread too thinly among many other boards.
The director, Barbara Thomas Judge, who chaired the mine owner's board governance committee, lost the election, but did not step down until last month, two weeks after an accident at a Massey mine in West Virginia killed 29 workers.
Massey's 2010 shareholder meeting is May 18. Garland, the labor activist, said he is lobbying funds to vote against three other Massey directors who sit on a safety committee. Garland said that the hearings he is getting from funds mark progress, as did their votes against Judge last year.
"This wouldn't have happened five years ago," he added.
(Reporting by Ross Kerber; editing by Ros Krasny and Andre Grenon)
(For more business news on Reuters Money visit http://www.reutersmoney.in)
| Monday May 17, 02:04 AM | Source: Indian Express Finance |
A high-risk taking fund for the savvy investor
By Muthukumar KDSP BlackRock (DSPBR) mutual fund has recently come out with a new fund offering (NFO) - the DSPBR Focus 25 fund. The NFO period for this open-ended equity fund is April 23 to May 21 and thereafter, the fund will be available for sale and repurchase at NAV values. DSPBR Focus 25 is an equity scheme - with focus on giving higher returns than diversified funds by maintaining a concentrated (smaller) portfolio of stocks. DSPBR equity schemes usually maintain a portfolio of 70-80 stocks. For instance, there are 80 stocks currently in the portfolio of DSPMR Tiger, 81 for DSPBR Equity, 75 for DSPBR Opportunities and 41 for DSPBR Top100. But for DSPBR Focus 25, it would 25 stocks.
In terms of the investment horizon, it plans to invest around 80-100% of its portfolio to top 200 companies by market capitalisation. This, in effect, makes it a largecap fund. It makes sense to keep a largecap focus for this fund since the fund manager is taking a higher bet on a single stock than otherwise. Higher liquidity ensures the fund manager can easily get in and out of any stock at short notice.
The fund house advances the argument of historical divergence of equity scheme returns as well as that of returns of sectoral indices and individual stocks to prove the point about opportunities in the market and how Focus 25 could benefit from it. While the argument is not flawed, the divergence of returns has been a given in Indian markets. And after all, aren't all the 'active' fund managers supposed to pick the 'right' stocks within its benchmark indices to outperform the latter?
From the investment mandate, it is quite clear the fund is a high-risk taking one that could also reward the investor if it gets its portfolio strategy right. The fund has a mandate to cash calls of up to 35% of the portfolio. This again increases the risk profile of the fund.
Should an investor have this fund in the fund portfolio? It depends. First of all, DSPBR has a good track record of performance particularly on the equity side. For instance, its three funds DSPBR Equity, DSPBR Top 100 and DSPBR small & midcap (Reg) are all five star funds as per value research risk-adjusted return ratings. DSPBR Opportunities and DSPBR Tiger, though, have a lower rating of three stars.
But Apoorva Shah, who will be the fund manager for this fund, has a long track record of good performance. He also manages five-star funds DSPBR Equity and DSPBR Top 100.
Investors into this fund have to do a lot of soul-searching. For first-time investors, it would make sense to first buy a plain-vanilla diversified equity fund first and then venture into such specialised schemes. But if you are an existing equity fund investor, DSPBR Focus 25, at best, could be a way to diversify across investing styles. But then, do you have midcap & smallcap funds? Value and growth funds? Or opportunities and sector/ theme funds? The variety of equity schemes is only going to increase.
To that extent, you could keep on diversifying across asset classes. Of course, diversifying equity fund investments across fund houses makes sense, as it would then by managed by different fund managers. But, beyond that, where do you want to venture is a million-dollar question of personal preference. Also, there is no clear record to prove if concentrated portfolio stra-tegies could lead to higher returns for investors. The two other funds, Sundaram Select Focus and Kotak (KOTAKBANK.NS : 784.5 +26.4) 30 with similar fund mandate, have an average ratio of three stars. As Warren Buffett said, investment sometimes are best kept simple.
Operating Sukhois: A Malaysia-India-Russia love story
Gong Kedak: Operating, maintaining and flying Sukhoi fighter aircraft is a Malaysia-India-Russia "love story", says a senior Malaysian air force official.
Though a three-year trilateral arrangement nears its end, Russian and Indian officials are committed to reinforcing Malaysia's air defence and combat capability as far as the Sukhoi Su 30 MKM Flanker squadron is concerned.
The assurance came from Russia's warranty team leader Vladimir Konnov, from aircraft manufacturer Irkut Corporation, and Indian Air Force's (IAF) chief flight instructor Group Captain K.V.R. Raju.
Konnov stressed the need for the arrangement to continue in some form.
Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) 11th Squadron commanding officer Lt. Col. Mohamad Asghar Khan said Malaysia's "love story" with Russia and India began in 1994 with the purchase of 18 MiG-29N Fulcrum aircraft under a RM1.3 billion deal, New Straits Times reported.
Asghar said Malaysia's involvement with the two countries had since blossomed to a "love affair" with the Su-30MKM purchase.
"We have come a long way and hope to reinforce our relationship with Russia and India over the long term to chart our air defence and combat capability.
"I believe strongly in this partnership, especially with the support of the proven Irkut Corporation and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in terms of obtaining reliable spares and equipment," he said, referring to the pioneer batch of six pilots, four engineers and 53 technical crew sent to Russia and over 100 technical crew sent to India for training.
Malaysia's newest air base in Gong Kedak, a town in Kelantan state, is the home of the Flanker.
"This is a strong demonstration of a high level of friendship and diplomacy which is very commendable," said Raju, who leads a team of four instructor pilots, one weapons systems officer, two engineers, 22 technicians and two administrative servicemen.
While the rest complete their two-year tour of duty in July, the IAF pilots will be retained until August.
Raju said the trilateral Russian-Indian-Malaysian collaboration was something unique as it provided a stepping stone for the country to groom its next generation of airmen.
"Thus far, our assessment of the RMAF crew shows they are of an exceptional high standard and I am confident the current crew will pass on their expertise and experience to others to take Malaysia to the next level of competency."
Konnov said that while his team was responsible for the aircraft's serviceability, performance, snag rectification and technical support, they also ensured the Malaysians mastered the required skills.
"The Sukhoi is a very complex and complicated aircraft to operate. As Malaysia is still in its infancy, it will be wise to retain the Russian and Indian specialists to fully acquire the proficiency and realise its potential."
Source: IANS| Monday May 17, 02:01 AM | Source: Indian Express Finance |
The slowdown still haunts
By Shreya RoyAfter a phase of slowdown, the public sector banks are hopeful of a stable year ahead. The banks, which posted their fourth-quarter results recently, showed a trend of recovery, though their rising non-performing assets (NPAs) was a concern.
As the economy recovers from the downturn, banks have seen a rise in their NPA levels because of the restructuring done last year. There have been slippages across sectors depending on the banks' lending portfolio.
"Last fiscal did have an impact on the banking industry's asset management, which the government and Reserve Bank of India had realised, as a result of which special dispensation for a limited period of time had been provided in the form of restructuring of accounts, giving breathing time to borrowers," says HS Upendra Kamath, executive director, Canara Bank.
"Going forward, the challenge will be monitoring those restructured accounts and making sure that those do not slip," he said.
During the fourth quarter, Union Bank of India (UNIONBANK.NS : 293.65 -5.75) registered a slippage of Rs 250 crore from restructured assets, taking the total slippages from restructured book to Rs 481crore
in FY10. As a result, gross NPAs increased 27.6% sequentially to Rs 2,671 crore.
For Indian Overseas Bank (IOB.NS : 93.8 -0.05) the gross NPA ratio increased 12.2% sequentially and 87.7% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 3,611 crore during the fourth quarter.
For Indian Bank, the gross NPA remained stable sequentially at Rs 510 crore, while the net NPA increased 61.6% sequentially to Rs 145 crore. For Corporation Bank net NPA has gone up to Rs 197.2 crore from Rs 138.3 crore.
According to analysts, though the PSU banks' core income has improved their asset quality is still under pressure compared to the private sector banks.
"The PSU banks' asset quality will be under pressure for another one to two quarters. From the restructured accounts we are seeing around 10% turning into NPAs," says Vaibhav Agrawal, banking analyst, Angel broking.
Among the South-based banks, Canara Bank incurred NPAs of Rs 1,799 crore for the fourth quarter against Rs 1,507 crore last year, while annually it increased to Rs 2,590 crore versus Rs 2,167 crore. For Vijaya Bank, its net non-performing assets as in March 2010 almost doubled to Rs 581 crore from Rs 292 in the same quarter last year. While State Bank of Mysore's gross NPA increased to Rs 575 crore from Rs 368 crore during the year.
Looking into the current scenario, public sector banks have started employing different mechanisms to contain NPAs. Canara Bank has recently dedicated a monitoring cell to ensure NPA management. The Corporation Bank has focused on restructured accounts and formed a separate cell for monitoring retail and corporate accounts to keep NPAs under control. "In addition there has also been increased interaction with customers where they have been counselled to conserve cash. Going forward, this year NPA management might be an issue but we can expect to ease up from next year," says a top official of the bank.
Vijaya Bank has also strengthened its loan review mechanisms and is monitoring its stressed accounts, especially those that were restructured recently. The bank has also reinvigorated its recovery mechanism through legal provisions.
"Our peak level of NPAs is behind us. The NPA levels have been progressively declining since September 2009 and I expect the trend to continue beyond March 2010," says Albert Tauro, chairman and managing director, Vijaya Bank.
Recently, the RBI had asked banks to maintain a minimum provision coverage ratio of 70% by September, which most of the banks are yet to achieve.
| Saturday May 15, 03:02 AM | Source: Indian Express Finance |
General Motors, Ford rev up for India
By Rajat GuhaWith the US economy revival yet to take off and Europe remaining a concern as sales in several large markets, such as Germany, are expected to stall this year, auto makers are taking the fast road to China, India and South America. Sales here are buoyant as ever and auto majors are counting on these geographies to revive their investment plans. India is particularly emerging as the critical piece in the global auto industry's new business model, much like in information technology and pharmaceuticals.
Volkswagen AG 20% stake buy in Suzuki Motors has a clear rationale of leveraging on Suzuki's small car expertise and strong India footprint two critical gaps in the German carmaker's portfolio. Existing relationships between global and Indian car makers are deepening or being subject to a quick redo Tata Motors (TATAMOTORS.BO : 788.95 -26.8)-Fiat, Bajaj Auto (BAJAJAUTO.NS : 2101.05 0)-Nissan-Renault to adapt to the realities of the Indian market.
Detroit majors General Motors and Ford are no exception. Having already marked a presence in the Chinese market, General Motors is counting on India as a major market to lead its revival. Struggling to reorient its business after bankruptcy, the company expects sales in India to nearly treble in the next three years to over two lakh units, possibly aided by an equal joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Investment Corporation for selling light commercial vehicles and cars.
But GM has stiff competition, not only from players like Maruti and Hyundai in India, but a major one from its own country cousin, Ford. After putting back the auto major on a strong wicket, for the first time over a decade, Ford has overtaken GM in monthly (February) sales in the US. It also staved off a government bailout, while rivals GM and Chrysler struggled. With the company firmly saddled in various key markets, Ford's global head Alan Mullaly has now trained his eyes on India, a market he believes will grow rapidly and help Ford retain its strength in the coming years.
The war over sales figures is being fuelled with new launches and sprucing up old products. So, if GM gets aggressive with a new small car, the 'Beat', new variants of Spark and light commercial vehicles and mini cars from its Chinese JV with SAIC, Ford is playing the market right by pricing its compact car Figo at Rs 3.49 lakh. The company has launched the Figo as a 'dynamite' vehicle for Ford India. It will also bring in the Focus and the Mondeo, along with the New Fiesta hatchback, to India soon.
Karl Slym, GM India president, says, "While we expect to cross one lakh units in 2010, our target is to cross two lakh units in 2012, by which time we would have a wider and fuller range in our portfolio." The company is backing its ambitious sales targets with some smart manoeuvres. The Beat was launched in January with an aggressive pricing of Rs 3.5 lakh, below competitors like Hyundai i10 and Maruti Ritz.
Similarly, Ford is gaga over its rising sales in India and the perceived outlook of the company in the Indian market. "We have received a tremendous response for the Figo so far. Our March sales created a record in the history of Ford India sales with a 203% jump over last year at 9,478 units sold. With Figo, we are all set to redefine the Ford brand in India," says Nigel E Wark, executive director, marketing sales & service, Ford India.
Last year, Ford introduced only facelifted versions of its existing models in India, such as the Endeavour, Ikon and Fiesta. Speaking about competition from established brands like Maruti, Hyundai and Tata, who are strong on the pricing front, Ford's global head Alan Mullaly had said, "We are absolutely going to be competitive on price, in addition to quality, fuel efficiency, safety and smart design... our plan is to get in one 'dynamite' vehicle at a time. Figo is one such product." He said the compact car segment and less expensive sedans would be one of the key areas for the company in India. "Clearly, the B (compact) and C (entry-level sedans) size makes more sense for us to increase our presence here."
The GM honchos speak the same language of numbers. "We expect to double our sales this year to over one lakh from 69,500 last year," says Karl Slym. GM's sales surged by a whopping 130% in first quarter of 2010 over the same period last year. "We have sold around 9,421 units in January, 11,111 in February and 11,324 units in March," Slym adds.
As part of its initiative to switch over to alternative fuels, the company is expected to roll out the electric version of its small car, Electric Spark, by the end of 2010. GM has a partnership with Reva for rolling out electronic cars. "We have a potential of 5,000 cars a year to begin with, but it all depends on government support," says Slym.
GM is now gearing for more play in the small car market, as it readies an engine plant at its second factory at Talegaon in Maharashtra. Apart from petrol engines, the new engine plant will produce a small, one-litre diesel engine that the company plans to put on the Beat.
"Clearly, we have come later to the small car market in India than competitors. But now we are going to start, to continuously accelerate, and introduce more vehicles. It's a great market with great customers. You will see us accelerate our progress every year," says Slym.
As far as investments lined up by GM, it has committed already more than $1 billion for the Indian markets. The Halol facility in Gujarat is projected to operate in three shifts to cater to production of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and the automaker plans to hire new suppliers for it as well. The Halol facility has an installed annual capacity to roll out 85,000 units.
The company has proposed to separate its products from its joint venture partner in the SAIC and has chosen LCVs from that portfolio to be manufactured at Halol. "The production of LCVs is expected to commence by the end of 2011," says Slym.Clearly, both Ford and GM are here to stay. As Wark puts it, "India is one of the fastest growing automobile markets in the world. It is the second-largest market in the Asia-Pacific region after China and one of the most important markets for us."
Slym shares the same view. "The industry has shown great growth in the year. The main advantage in India is that penetration level of cars is still very low compared to countries in the West. We are committed to the Indian market. There are some concerns like the hardening interest rates and rising input costs, but I am hoping these are not continuous trends," he feels.
Buddhadeb under fire in CPI(M) 'rectification' drive
The move is aimed at setting the house in order at every level
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddadeb Bhattacharjee has been in the firing line of the CPI(M) bosses in Delhi for his new liberal policies that, according to the party, has alienated the masses.
New Delhi/Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, once the poster boy of development for the CPI(M), has come under fire in the party's latest 'rectification' campaign.
The campaign, initiated by general secretary Prakash Karat after the party's debacle in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, is aimed at eradicating wrong trends and shortcomings and setting the house in order at every level. As the party has finalised its rectification process and published the document, Bhattacharjee's "decry" over the bandh culture of the party and its loyal hawks of the trade union wing, centre of Indian Trade Unions), has come for scrutiny.
CPI(M) Prakash Karat feels that there is a primacy of the working class outlook of the party.
In a double blow for Bhattacharjee, Karat took the pen and quoted none other than Ashok Mitra, a comrade-turned-critic of the Left Front government in West Bengal, to say that "the implementation of neoliberal policies (by the Bhattacharjee government) was responsible for the party's alienation from the people." What may sting Bhattacharjee more is that the article by Karat (on Democratic Centralism) came along with the rectification document in the same issue of party mouthpiece The Marxist .
Bhattacharjee, meanwhile, put up a brave face on Sunday indicating that for him the battle within and without the party would be prolonged and hard fought. He refused to be drawn into the question of whether he has any difference of opinion with his party on the issue of calling general strikes.
The rectification document has not named Bhattacharjee or any other leader yet. It has identified the issues only. At a later stage, the party will hold individual leaders accountable for the "wrongdoings".
Shutdowns and bundhs have caused enormous financial loss to West Bengal. Such shut downs have been responsible for industries fleeing from Bengal to 'friendly' states like Gujarat and Karnataka.
The rectification document has observed: "There are instances of leaders decrying working class struggles and strikes." This observation comes in context of West Bengal CM's famous war-cry against the bandh culture during an interaction with the Bengal Chamber of Commerce two years ago. In front of industrialists and business barons, Bhattacharjee had said: "I am opposed to any kind of bandh, be it called by the Opposition or the ruling party. But unfortunately, I belong to a party and when my party calls a bandh, I keep mum. But I have decided I will open my mouth next time." "We are trying to change the mindset of the trade unions and employees. It is changing. I can assure that gherao will never come back in West Bengal. At the national level, my colleagues in Delhi are also changing," he added.
On this issue, the rectification document now says, "There is an erosion in the primacy of the working class outlook of the party. This stems from a reformist outlook, parliamentarism and a tendency to adjust to bourgeois values." As these observations come as a part of the rectification document or the guideline on how to conduct oneself in the party, in other words it means, Bhattacharjee needs to change his outlook. It may be recalled that after Bhattacharjee made those remarks in 2008, the party had swiftly moved to reject his ideas.
Despite Buddadeb Bhattacharjee's war cry against war culture, the CPI(M) feels that such struggles and strikes are part of the rights of the working class
Till a few years ago, Karat and Bhattacharjee shared an excellent rapport but their relationship has turned sour in the recent times, especially after the Lok Sabha debacle of the party in 2009. CPI(M) insiders claim that after Bhattacharjee walked out of the Jyoti Basu cabinet in 1993 terming it as a "cabinet of the thieves", Karat played a key role to reinstate him in the Bengal cabinet.
Significantly, in order to defend the democratic centralism of the party, Karat has now quoted Ashok Mitra's scathing observations to show that the electoral debacle in West Bengal is a result of local misrule. "As far as Ashok Mitra is concerned, he does not reject democratic centralism per se. He criticises its practice in the CPI(M) in West Bengal where, according to him, 'there is an excess of centralism with not even a wee bit of democracy'. This has led to the party getting cut off from the people." Pointing out that Mitra had "strongly criticised the Left Front government's policy of industrialisation and land acquisition", Karat observed: "The setback suffered in West Bengal has its causes in the political, organisational and governmental plane."
Source: Business Standard
Fear is back; global growth deteriorating: Jim Walker, Asianomics
17 May 2010, 1415 hrs IST,ET NowIt seems that fear is coming back to financial markets in a big way and financial conditions are turning bad again, isn't it?
Yeah, I am afraid that's right but I certainly see on the radar screen it's obviously led by what's happening in Southern Europe. But it's not just Southern Europe. I think people need to be aware that one of the main reasons behind this heightened fear is the fact that governments are being forced to exit stimulus programmes whether it's slightly higher interest rates in India, tightening in China, rigid fiscal deficits in Europe and US - all of that. ( Watch )
There is a real doubt on whether or not the private sector is truly on the move after what's happened in the last 18 months. The figures show that certainly there is not very much appetite in the private sector for increased investment and that's what we need to increase employment. So I think the fear is right back and global growth - I am afraid - is deteriorating again, it's not improving.
What about the Eurozone because Nouriel Roubini is talking about a potential breakup of the Eurozone, Paul Krugman is saying that Europe may not have been an optimal currency area to begin with? What are your thoughts?
Well I am kind of surprised at the statement by Paul Krugman. We realised that it really never had the conditions for being an optimal currency zone. Countries were far far too much overlaid in terms of debt and budget deficits and of course there is no unified labour market in the Eurozone which is exactly what was required and to smoother the deficit and surplus.
People cannot move easily between Greece and Germany for example. So what we have at the moment is the realisation that some countries have cheated dramatically in the budget deficit possessions. We had the ECB stepping in and then saying we will buy government debt that's made things worse. It hasn't made things better.
Everybody was rejoicing at the beginning of last week with the ECB saying that it would buy up government debt, it would buy up private debt and would make sure that things didn't fall apart. The natural fact is that it was the worst decision that they could have taken and the reason that it was a worst decision is that this wasn't dealing over the financial system. It wasn't a top programme to shore up the banking sector over the private sector.
This was trying to cover the cracks in the government sector and roughly those were not cracks. They were chasms especially in places like Greece, Portugal and Spain. It cannot be done and because of ECB action people have lost confidence and as a result of that there is an increase in sense of Europe quite rightly.
Eventually the Euro will become a much stronger currency based on a core number of countries. But I am afraid that the end game to this crisis is that it was going to be exit from the Eurozone - people were getting be thrown out probably rather than leave it and dealt with the stronger core Euro. But in the meantime the Euro will go much much weaker from here certainly.
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Dawood Ibrahim third on Forbes' Most Wanted Fugitives list
Washington: Dawood Ibrahim, India's most wanted man suspected of having organized the 1993 Mumbai bombings, figures third on the Forbes' Most Wanted Fugitives list topped by Osama bin Laden for a second time.
Not a single one of the world's most notorious criminals has been brought to justice since the list first appeared in April 2008, the US business magazine noted.
Bin Laden,assumed to be hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas, has managed for eight years to avoid the largest manhunt in history. Other fugitives on the list have not only remained free, some have arguably become more powerful, it said.
Second on the list, Joaquin Guzman, Mexico's most notorious drug trafficker, has extended his control over corridors used to smuggle cocaine into the US, as some of his rivals have fallen in the bloody war between the Mexican army and the cartels.
Dawood Ibrahim, who heads the organized crime group D-Company, and Matteo Messina Denaro, an Italian mafia playboy, also appear to have consolidated control of their organizations, Forbes noted. Ibrahim's 5,000-member criminal syndicate has engaged in everything from narcotics to contract killing, working mostly in Pakistan, India and the United Arab Emirates, it said.
Ibrahim shares smuggling routes with Al Qaeda, the US government says, and has collaborated with both Al Qaeda and its South Asian affiliate, Lashkar-e-Taiba, which pulled off the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, possibly with Ibrahim's help.
Ibrahim is suspected of having organized the 1993 Mumbai bombings that killed 257 people and wounded 713. Though the Pakistani government denies it, Ibrahim is probably in Pakistan, where he has important ties to the powerful intelligence service, Forbes said.
Forbes said it consulted with law enforcement agencies in the US and around the world to identify its top 10. Everyone on the list has been criminally indicted or charged, some in national jurisdictions and some by international tribunals.
They all are accused of a long history of committing serious crimes and are still considered dangerous. And each represents a type of criminal problem with which legal institutions in diverse jurisdictions are grappling, it said.
Source: IANS
Barehand bomb squad in rebel zone Villagers shun police help fearing 'informer' tag | |
| NARESH JANA | |
Salboni (West Midnapore), May 16: Salboni villagers would rather risk defusing the Maoists' mines with untrained hands than risk the rebels' anger by calling the police bomb squad. In the past fortnight, the people of CPM-dominated Kashijora, Deulkunda and Bhursa have unearthed and defused about a dozen improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that were planted by the Maoists beside a 6km stretch of gravelled road or under culverts. The villagers say they are afraid to inform the security forces lest they be branded "police informers" and killed. Two 20-something men have been leading the villagers' efforts at dismantling the crude mines, known as "challengers" in the local parlance. Dilip Bag and Bhupati Rana (names changed) are recent defectors from the Maoist-backed People's Committee Against Police Atrocities. "The Maoists had trained us last year to make such IEDs but did not teach us how to defuse them. However, we are defusing them using our experience and common sense. We are lucky that no accident has happened so far," Dilip said. The explosive devices are similar to the one used to target chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's convoy at Salboni in November 2008, a move whose consequences set off the Lalgarh agitation. The mines are made by packing explosives such as ammonium nitrate and splinters (mostly nuts, bolts and ball-bearings) into iron pipes with one end sealed. They are detonated from a distance with flash guns. Bimal Singha, 44, a day labourer from Kashijora and father of a 14-year-old school-going son, said the villagers had discovered the mines in the past one month. "They were possibly planted earlier, when the area was under Maoist domination. After the Maoists and People's Committee members moved out of these villages last month, we discovered these explosives. The rain had loosened the earth and exposed the mines with their wires," said Bimal. "We were scared because our children walk these roads. We discussed among ourselves and decided not to inform the police. Instead, we decided to take the responsibility of defusing the challengers ourselves. We are continually searching for these mines." The villagers have also detected three crude mines packed in milk cans and sealed with tapes with wires attached. They haven't touched them. "We don't know how to defuse them," a villager said. Memories are still fresh about how Utpal Bhakta, a bomb squad member, was killed when such a milk-can device blew up in his face as he tried to open it with a hammer and chisel at Jhitka forest in September 2006. West Midnapore superintendent of police Manoj Verma said he knew what the villagers were doing. "We have heard that the villagers are themselves defusing the explosives. Yes, the chances of an explosion lessen after one snaps the electrical wire, because it can no longer be detonated from a distance. Still, these are not common bombs; they are very dangerous explosives. I appeal to the villagers to inform the police so that experts can go and defuse them," he said. But the villagers say they don't want the police to come, even with the live milk-can mines around. The mines are the legacy of last year's Lalgarh operation. After the joint forces took control of Lalgarh, some of the Maoists moved outside their former area of domination and took control of these three villages in August. They set up camps and shot dead eight CPM workers in the region. Many CPM workers and supporters fled their homes and some others, like Bhupati and Dilip, joined the People's Committee. The CPM began fighting back to regain lost ground in December and, after a series of encounters, forced the Maoists to withdraw by mid-April. The likes of Bhupati and Dilip too were free to return to the CPM. | |
| WITH INPUTS FROM PRONAB MONDAL | |
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Corporate India wakes up to rural responsibility | |
| CITHARA PAUL | |
New Delhi, May 16: India Inc. has finally warmed to the idea of a rural "marriage" with the government. Top business houses in the country, including the Tatas and Reliance, have responded positively to the government's request to be a partner in urbanising rural India, a concept A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had repeatedly stressed on when he was the President. Sources in the rural development ministry said nearly 100 companies had responded positively to a notice issued last month inviting "expressions of interest" for implementing the Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (Pura) scheme under a public-private partnership (PPP) framework. It is learnt that companies like Tata Power, Tata Realty & Infrastructure, Jindal Steels & Power, cement manufacturer ACC and Reliance Energy have sent proposals to the government under the business model circulated in connection with the Centre-sponsored rural development scheme. "The response that Pura has got is a good sign that corporate India is gradually waking up to something called corporate social responsibility," said an official with the social justice ministry. Encouraged by the response to the scheme, the social justice ministry, too, has sought the support of corporate India to develop 1,000 model villages where 50 per cent of the residents belonged to either the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes. Earlier, too, governments had tapped the private sector for help. Under the culture ministry's National Cultural Fund initiative to conserve heritage structures, the government had asked companies to either adopt or maintain monuments and offered 100 per cent tax exemption for the money spent on conservation. They were also promised advertising spots at sites they agreed to maintain. But not many companies had responded. "Corporate heads are very busy people and to get them initiated in these kinds of activities is an uphill task," a culture ministry official explained. Officials with the rural development ministry said the response to the Pura scheme had a lot to do with the model's viability. "The USP of Pura is the emphasis on convergence of several rural development schemes under a single project and the marriage between the public-interest orientation of the government and the profit orientation of the private sector. The unprecedented interest shown by the private sector validates the credibility of the scheme," said an official. Under the scheme, the private partner will be allowed to choose the villages it wants to develop and generate revenue in return for anchoring development projects. The scheme involves development of livelihood opportunities, urban amenities and infrastructure facilities of prescribed standards and responsibility for maintaining the facilities for a period of 10 years. The selected private partner would be required to provide amenities like water supply and sewerage, streets, drainage, streetlights, telecom links and electricity. The selected partner would also have to provide "add-on" revenue-earning facilities such as village-linked tourism, markets and rural-economy based projects. The implementation of the scheme is expected to begin from January next year after the process to select the partners is over. The only condition was the bidder should have a minimum net worth of Rs 25 crore and experience in developing infrastructure projects with a cumulative value of at least Rs 50 crore. A time frame of 13 years has been set for the success of the scheme. |
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More stories in Front Page |
| • Stampede in train rush • Kasab and Afzal should be hanged together: Bitta • Barehand bomb squad in rebel zone • A way out of spam: Put a tax on it • Corporate India wakes up to rural responsibility • Cop cover for highway vehicles • Email pointer to Times Square bid • Munda talks power swap |
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STATE OF OWNERSHIP - Regulating state-owned enterprises is particularly difficult | ||
Independent regulation requires decisions to be overruled only by a judicial body following the appropriate procedures. Administrative officials and ministers with changing portfolios represent the government as owner. They have to be obeyed despite the autonomous nature of state-owned enterprises. Electricity ministries are staffed by generalists, usually awed by the apparent technical complexity of electricity, and the likely public repercussions of decisions. The management of state-owned generation enterprises has much influence on government decisions. The state enterprise also woos the ministry officials in other ways. Privatization can remove the strong vested interest in the government to retain control over electricity enterprises. Distancing the government from the enterprise cannot otherwise happen. Even unbundled electricity distribution enterprises have less influence on the government. Central cadre officials are at the top, and move on to other assignments from electricity. Politicians have only one interest — to keep electricity tariffs down even if it means growing burdens on state exchequers. State ownership mires the distribution enterprise in subsidies and cross-subsidies, to help the 'poor' at the cost of the 'rich'. These huge liabilities have to be borne by the enterprise, since the government is unable to finance them out of its budget. State electricity boards continue to have large deficits on operations. The trend is again upwards. State ownership leads to higher operational costs, overstaffing, indiscipline, inefficiencies, little accountability of top officers or others for performance and government funds not being used for improving the people's well-being. Generalist administrators as chief executive officers with short tenures have little incentive to improve the enterprise. Regulators collude with governments by withholding approval of legitimate expenses of the utility to keep tariffs low, and adversely affect the cash flow of the enterprise. One of the electricity regulator's dilemmas is poor information from companies for deciding on the tariff. Unreliable data create a mismatch between estimated (proposed) and actual transmission and distribution loss. These losses remain high in most states — from around 19 per cent in Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu to over 50 per cent in the northeastern states and Bihar, and between 30 and 40 per cent even in the 'developed' states. Problems are the poor information base, the inefficiency of state-level generating enterprises, the inability of the state to pay subsidies for selected customer groups, the past liabilities that have to be serviced from an inadequate income stream, and the bellicosity of the Central government-owned outside suppliers demanding to be paid. Load dispatch function should be a neutral function under the regulator, but it remains with the state electricity board, and the regulator regulates tariffs without being able to ensure that load and dispatch are balanced at all times. The regulator has only partial authority and the system is not properly regulated. The same contradiction exists at the central level. Inter-state transmission is regulated by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, but the regional load dispatch centres that do this balancing are under the inter-state transmission monopoly, the Power Grid Corporation. In both instances, the interventions by the CERC to provide a fair playing field, to prevent grid collapse and to ensure that all parties have a fair deal are frustrated by the fact that the transmission company is state-owned and is able to get its owners' approval to stall actions. Two aspects of government ownership make independent regulation difficult: inconsistencies, gaps and ambiguities in government policies, and the fact of government ownership with the consequent nexus (vested interest) supporting the state-owned enterprise. Too many ministries and many senior administrators prevent coordination even when the regulator requires it for his functioning. The CERC cannot regulate atomic energy even though all electricity, irrespective of its source, flows through the same wires. Similarly, the CERC regulates tariffs of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation, a Centrally owned integrated generator using captive lignite mines. Coal is regulated by another ministry, not the CERC, and Neyveli can hide extra profits behind high coal transfer prices. Government ownership enables state electricity boards and companies to violate principles of good governance. Accounts, for example, are often not finalized for years. Asset registers are either not kept or are out of date, and it is impossible to know what to take as asset base for calculating returns. Or there is no record in many cases of the number of transformers, feeders and so on, with the board. Further, demand forecasts for electricity have been perennially overestimated and revenues and expenditures for tariff filings are revised repeatedly. In most states, viability exercises under power sector reform have been worked out on bad assumptions of the demand for power. The assumptions were highly ambitious compared to actuals. So is the estimation of shares of extra high tension and high tension/low tension demand. The latter affects viability because much of the T&C loss occurs in the HT/LT segment. Not surprisingly, the response from private investors to the few proposals offering distribution businesses have been poor. Investors perceive that the price-setting methodology employed by regulatory agencies is hostile to long-term investment. Some regulators routinely remove legitimate expenses from the accounting rate of return and classify them as "regulatory assets", depriving the utility of cash. The multi-year tariff framework also poses some problems for the commissions. Sufficient data are not available to correctly set the initial level and benchmark improvements which can either produce excess profit or loss or require commissions to reopen the issue. This would damage the credibility of the regulatory process. Two, principles must be evolved for sharing of risk if demand and/or demand-mix changes substantially. Three, the basis for laying down targets for investments in advance and the method for relating it to target improvements must be known. Four, there must be linking of the return on capital base to the achievement of certain performance standards, such as improvement in service quality, extension of coverage to specified groups of consumers and so on. Also, the regulatory risks faced by the other utilities where reforms are in place and tariff orders have been passed must be considered. Another risk is in securing political support to implement harsh measures for reducing inefficiencies. There are many examples of unnecessary appeals to courts by state-owned entities, with either explicit or implicit approval of the owners, namely the governments. How can these problems be resolved, since government ownership will continue? One answer is to completely distance government enterprises from the controlling ministry. However, this has not worked despite attempts in many public enterprises since 1988 to do so. These include the government and the enterprise entering into a memorandum of understanding about targets and responsibilities. They are mere paper exercises since the ministry concerned is able to commit only for itself, not for the rest of the government. Another answer is to truncate the size of a ministry after the creation of a regulatory commission, since it will be doing things that were earlier the responsibility of the ministry. This means the loss of power and jobs for many and, especially, for lower-level officers, and no politician or senior bureaucrat (in service) is willing to implement such proposals. Government ownership and control of much of the regulated systems make regulation ineffective. For regulation to be effective, courts and public opinion must clean up the system, privatization, competition, choice for customers must become universal, and electricity markets and trading with adequate regulation to ensure fairness, with an independently run transmission system, must be in place. The Electricity Act, 2003 has brought many initiatives: captive generation, trading, power exchanges, spot trading and day-ahead trading with the possibility of futures trading; mandatory open access is still distant. Merchant power enables investors to sell power outside the regulatory framework at market prices. Hope springs eternal despite state ownership. | ||
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Govt to shield exporters from euro shock | ||
| JAYANTA ROY CHOWDHURY | ||
New Delhi , May 16: India is preparing a contingency plan to tackle the effects of the financial crisis in the euro zone. The plan may contain reliefs for exporters as well as measures to protect them from the appreciating rupee. The government has been putting up a brave front, stating that the current financial crisis in Europe will have no impact on India. However, in internal meetings, officials have expressed concern over the stronger economies in the euro zone being weakened because of their underwriting of the fiscal bankruptcy spreading through southern and eastern Europe. Strong European nations have recently announced a trillion-dollar rescue package to bail out countries such as Greece which are on the verge of bankruptcy. Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Poland have also run up huge unsustainable debts that may need to be underwritten. The bailout will ensure that banks and companies in the UK, Germany and France that had lent money or advanced goods against future payment to entities in the debt stricken countries do not face defaults and subsequent bankruptcies. UK banks alone have around £200 billions tied up in loans to Greek entities. The rescue package would involve cutbacks in public spending in even stronger economies such as the UK, Germany and France. This is expected to impact their economic recovery. The Indian government is keeping a close watch on GDP and job growth figures in the euro zone. Any sign of weakening will be met with the renewal of stimulus measures for exporters, which could include tax breaks and cheaper credit. The government will try to institutionalise the hedging of currency risk by exporter organisations, besides encouraging the RBI to intervene in the money market to halt any quick appreciation of the rupee. The rupee has risen 18 per cent in March 2010 against the year-ago month, as measured by the RBI's six-currency, trade-weighted, real effective exchange rate index. The country's foreign exchange reserves fell by $3.39 billion to $276.24 billion in the week up to May 7 because of the weakening of the euro. | ||
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Articles tagged with: dilip mandal
ख़बर भी नज़र भी, नज़रिया »
डेस्क ♦ रवीश कुमार कुत्तों के सम्मान की रक्षा करना चाहते हैं। वे कहते हैं कि लालू और मुलायम की तुलना किसी और से हो सकती थी। इसलिए वे चाहते हैं कि हम सब कुत्तों के सम्मान में मैंदान में आ जाएं। दिलीप मंडल ने उनसे इस टिप्पणी को हटाने का अनुरोध किया है। दिलीप की राय में इस टिप्पणी की भाषा में जातीय घृणा है। इसलिए रवीश गडकरी को जी कहते हैं और लालू-मुलायम के साथ जी नहीं लगा पाते। इस सवाल पर फेसबुक में जबर्दस्त बहस हुई है। भारतीय समाज और इंटरनेट के कुछ उलझे तारों को समझने में यह बहस मदद कर सकती है।
नज़रिया, रिपोर्ताज »
बीते रविवार 9 मई 2010 को दिल्ली से मानवाधिकार समर्थकों की एक टीम ने रविवार को हिसार जिले के मिरचपुर गांव का दौरा किया। इस गांव में पिछले महीने की 21 तारीख (21 अप्रैल 2010) को दबंग जातियों के हमलावरों ने दलितों की बस्ती पर हमला किया था और 18 घरों को आग लगा दी थी। इस दौरान बारहवीं में पढ़ रही विकलांग दलित लड़की सुमन और उसके साठ वर्षीय पिता ताराचंद की जलाकर हत्या कर दी गयी। दलितों की संपत्ति को काफी नुकसान पहुंचाया गया और कई लोगों को चोटें आयीं। इस आगजनी और हिंसा के ज्यादातर आरोपी अब भी पुलिस की गिरफ्त से बाहर हैं। दलितों का आरोप है कि इस घटना के मास्टरमाइंड अब भी खुलेआम घूम रहे हैं और लोगों को धमका रहे हैँ।
नज़रिया »
दिलीप मंडल ♦ जो लोग नैतिकता के नये को-ऑर्डिनेट्स को नहीं समझ रहे हैं या नहीं मानना चाहते, उन्हें ऐसा करने का पूरा अधिकार है। अगर उन्हें लगता है कि इस तरह की यौन स्वच्छंदता समाज के लिए अहितकारी है, तो हम उनकी भावना का आदर करते हैं। अपेक्षा सिर्फ इतनी है कि आदर का यही भाव वे उन लोगों के प्रति भी रखें, जो बदलते समय और बदलते मानदंडों के साथ चाहे-अनचाहे बदल गये हैं। हम यह नहीं चाहते कि भारतीय संस्कृति की पुरातनपंथी अवधारणा को मानने का आपका अधिकार, इसे न मानने के किसी और के अधिकार को बाधित करे। हम यह समझते हैं कि नये और पुराने के बीच इस समय तीखी लड़ाई चल रही है। इस लड़ाई में जो पक्ष पीछे हट रहा है, उसकी आक्रामकता को भी हम समझ सकते हैं।
ख़बर भी नज़र भी, नज़रिया »
दिलीप मंडल ♦ इस समय भारतीय राजनीति में इन तीनों समूहों के शिखर पर सवर्ण हावी हैं। कांग्रेस में शिखर पर मौजूद तीन नेता – अध्यक्ष सोनिया गांधी (राजीव गांधी से शादी के बाद उन्हें ब्राह्मण मान लिया गया), प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह और प्रणव मुखर्जी सवर्ण हैं। बीजेपी में अध्यक्ष नितिन गडकरी, लोकसभा में विपक्ष की नेता सुषमा स्वराज, राज्यसभा में विपक्ष के नेता अरुण जेटली, तीनों ब्राह्मण हैं। सीपीएम और सीपीआई के नेतृत्व में ब्राह्मण और सवर्ण वर्चस्व तो कभी सवालों के दायरे में भी नहीं रहा। कारात, येचुरी, पांधे, वर्धन, बुद्धदेव की पूरी कतार वामपंथी दलों के नेतृत्व में सामाजिक विविधता के अभाव का प्रमाण है।
ख़बर भी नज़र भी, नज़रिया »
दिलीप मंडल ♦ लोकसभा और विधानसभाओं में पिछड़ी जातियों की बढ़ती उपस्थिति को महिला आरक्षण विधेयक के जरिये नियंत्रित करने की कोशिश की जा रही है। राज्यसभा में महिला आरक्षण विधेयक पर चर्चा के दौरान बहुजन समाज पार्टी के सतीश चंद्र मिश्र ने यह सवाल उठाया। सरकार और प्रमुख विपक्षी दलों की नीयत को लेकर संदेह व्यक्त किये जा रहे हैं। यह सवाल भी उठाया जा रहा है कि क्या इस बिल के पास होने के बाद पहले से ही कम संख्या में नौजूद मुस्लिम सांसदों और विधायकों की संख्या और कम हो जाएगी। 2001 की जनगणना के मुताबिक देश की आबादी में 13.4 फीसदी मुस्लिम हैं। इतनी संख्या के हिसाब से लोकसभा में 72 मुस्लिम सांसद होने चाहिए। जबकि वर्तमान लोकसभा में सिर्फ 28 मुस्लिम सांसद हैं।
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दिलीप मंडल ♦ भारतीय लोकतंत्र में विधायी मामलों में सांसद या विधायक की व्यक्तिगत राय का कोई मतलब नहीं होता। कानून बनाने और संसद या विधानसभा के अंदर नेताओं का अन्य कार्य व्यवहार व्यक्तिगत नहीं, दलगत स्तर पर तय होता है। दलबदल निरोधक कानून और ह्विप की सख्ती के बीच कोई सांसद या विधायक अपने मन या विचार से कोई विधायी कदम नहीं उठा सकता। दलित और आदिवासी सांसद/विधायक अपने समुदायों के लिए अपने मन या विचार से कुछ नहीं कर सकते और महिलाएं भी इस नाते कुछ अलग नहीं कर पाएंगी कि वे महिला आरक्षण विधेयक की वजह से चुनकर आ गयी हैं।
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दिलीप मंडल ♦ भारत में सत्ता यानी पावर के साथ हरम और भरे पूरे रनिवास की अवधारणा पुरानी है और भारतीय राजनीति कम से कम इस मायने में समय के साथ नहीं बदली है। लोगों की मानसिकता ऐसी बना दी गयी है कि प्रभावशाली लोगों के यौन कदाचार को बुरा भी नहीं माना जाता और नेताओं के कई स्त्रियों के साथ यौन संबंधों को उनके शक्तिशाली होने के प्रमाण के तौर पर देखा जाता है। एकनिष्ठता की भारतीय अवधारणा महिलाओं पर तो लागू होती है पर पुरुषों पर लागू नहीं होती। हिंदू धर्म की किताबें बताती हैं कि – "पत्नी को दुश्चरित्र पति का त्याग नहीं करना चाहिए, प्रत्युत अपने पतिव्रत धर्म का पालन करते हुए उसको समझाना चाहिए।" अर्थात हिंदू संस्कृति भी व्यभिचार का समर्थन करती है।
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दिलीप मंडल ♦ तो विभूति नारायण राय को हम क्या मानें? प्रगतिशील, क्योंकि उन्होंने दंगों को लेकर किताबें लिखी थीं? क्योंकि वो दंगों के दौरान उत्तर प्रदेश में पोस्टेड थे और शासन के आदेशों का पालन कर रहे थे? या फिर सांप्रदायिक, क्योंकि उन्होंने वर्धा में एक मुसलमान छात्र को ज्यादा नंबर दिये जाने का विरोध किया था। या फिर जातिवादी और दलित विरोधी क्योंकि उनके विश्वविद्यालय के दलित छात्रों ने पूरी चार्जशीट उनके खिलाफ लिखी है; क्योंकि उन्होंने एक दलित प्रोफेसर को अंबेडकर महापरिनिर्वाण दिवस में शामिल होने और जातिवादी नारे लगाने के आरोप में नोटिस भेज दिया; या फिर एक बूढ़ा होता तानाशाह, जो किसी की परवाह नहीं करता और सबको ठेंगे पर रखता है।
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दिलीप मंडल ♦ उत्तर प्रदेश की मुख्यमंत्री और बहुजन समाज पार्टी की अध्यक्ष मायावती की माला को लेकर राजनीति और भद्र समाज में मचा शोर अकारण है। मायावती ने ऐसा कुछ भी नहीं किया है जो वतर्मान राजनीतिक संस्कृति और परंपरा के विपरीत है। नेताओं को सोने-चांदी से तौलने और रुपयों का हार पहनाने को लेकर ऐसा शोर पहले कभी नहीं मचा। नेताओं की आर्थिक हैसियत के खुलेआम प्रदर्शन का यह कोई अकेला मामला नहीं है। सड़क मार्ग से दो घंटे में पहुंचना संभव होने के बावजूद जब बड़े नेता हेलिकॉप्टर से सभा के लिए पहुंचते हैं, तो किसी को शिकायत नहीं होती। करोड़ों रुपये से लड़े जा रहे चुनाव के बारे में देश और समाज अभ्यस्त हो चुका है।
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वेदप्रताप वैदिक ♦ आरक्षण में आरक्षण के बिना यह आरक्षण अधूरा है, क्योंकि लगभग सभी महिला सीटों पर ऊंची जातियों की महिलाओं का कब्जा हो जाएगा। यह तर्क तथ्यात्मक तो है, पर आरक्षण में यदि आरक्षण दे भी दिया गया होता, तो क्या होता? कठपुतलीवाद बढता, राबड़ीवाद दन्नाता। सर्वथा अयोग्य महिलाओं को पकड़ कर गद्दी पर बैठा दिया जाता। वे क्या खाक कानून बनातीं? वे अपने पार्टी-नेताओं के इशारों पर ही निर्णय लेतीं। यानी, संसद का मजाक बनता। अभी तो प्रयत्न यह होना चाहिए कि सक्षम महिलाओं को ही संसद में भेजा जाए, जो महिला उत्थान के बारे में खुद सोच सकें और जरूरत पडने पर पुरुषों को बराबरी की टक्कर दे सकें।
जनमत
- ये सौ फीसदी सच है
- कृपया न्याय प्रक्रिया पर उंगली न उठाएं
क्या वाकई ब्राह्मणवाद सांस्थानिक रूप से काम करता है और निरुपमा मामले में सनातनी परिवार को बचाने की कोशिश में पुलिस से लेकर अदालत तक सक्रिय हो गयी है?
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