New Delhi: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has alleged that Pakistan is shielding key players involved in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. Pakistan had earlier admitted that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was behind 26/11 and Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi was responsible for the attacks.
Chidambaram categorically said that Pakistan need to do more to bring the perpetrators of 26/11 into book. Chidambaram's comments in the wake of the reports that he will be going to Pakistan to attend the SAARC Summit.
Hyderabad: The committee proposed to be appointed by the Centre to go into Telangana issue should stick to a clear time-frame, all-party Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) spearheading the agitation for the separate state said here on Saturday.
"They should commit to the December nine programme and have a clear time-frame. These are our two expectations," JAC Convener C Kodandaram said here on Saturday.
Telangana JAC chalk out agitation programme
The JAC insisted on a time-frame for the completion of the task by the proposed committee as it fears the panel may end up like the women's reservation bill, he said.
"We said some time-frame should be there. Otherwise, it would become an endless process. Like the women's reservation bill, it will never see the light of the day," Kodandaram said.
The committee should be within the framework of the two demands, he said, adding JAC has not discussed the nature of the panel.
Congress core committee discusses Telangana issue
"Within the framework of these two demands, the committee should be only for formation of Telangana. Nothing short of this will satisfy us," he said and added JAC would continue its agitation if the Centre's announcement falls short of its expectations.
At least 10 persons drowned and over 40 others went missing after their boat overturned in Andhra Pradesh's Godavari river early on Saturday morning.
The incident took place at Upputeru in Narsapuram mandal of West Godavari district.
The boat that overturned was carrying around 40-50 persons, who were going to Lakshmi Narasimha Swami temple on the other side of the river.
The locals here said the boat was ferrying people more than its capacity.
However, rescue operations are on to trace the missing persons. (ANI)
Hyderabad: At least 11 people including four women and four children were killed and 19 were missing on Saturday after an overcrowded boat capsized in Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh.
Police said 11 bodies had been recovered while a search was on for the missing people. The boat was carrying 70 people, mostly pilgrims. Officials said 40 passengers either swam to safety or were rescued by local people.
The accident took place at Upputeru in Narsapuram mandal of West Godavari district, near the mouth of the river. The pilgrims were going to Lakshmi Narasimha Swami temple, also known as Antarvedi temple, in East Godavari district, on the other side of the river.
A police officer said the boat was carrying more people than its capacity, which led to the accident. It reportedly hit an empty boat before capsizing.
Authorities launched large-scale rescue and relief operations. Navy helicopters and boats were pressed into service to search for the missing people.
The state government has announced compensation of Rs.100,000 to the families of each of those killed. Agriculture Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy, who is also the in charge minister for West Godavari, announced the compensation here.
Earlier, Joint collector Ronald Ross, who visited the scene, had to face the ire of the relatives of victims. He assured that all efforts would be made to search for the missing people.
Chief Minister K. Rosaiah expressed shock and grief over the tragedy and asked Rural Development Minister Vatti Vasant Kumar to rush to the scene and monitor the rescue and relief operations.
Dubai: Thanks to their 2-0 series victory in Bangladesh, world number one India gained one rating point while Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan returned to the top 10 of ICC Test Players rankings, issued on Thursday.
Winning both the Test matches in Chittagong and Mirpur put India (125) five rating points ahead of South Africa (120).
It sets up an enthralling two-Test series between the two top-ranked teams, starting in Nagpur from February 6, with India trying to defend their position at the top of the table while South Africa aiming to regain the spot they conceded on December 6.
South Africa need to win the series to become the number one team. However, they will slip behind Australia in third position if India win both the Tests.
Individually, Tendulkar returned among the top 10 batsman first time since December 2005.
Tendulkar entered the series in 14th spot and scored 105 not out and 16 in the first Test in Chittagong. He started the second Test in 13th position and jumped four places to ninth spot after hitting his 45th career century.
Besides Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid too moved up the order. Dravid, who scored 111 before being retired hurt, has jumped four places to occupy the 15th position.
However, VVS Laxman has dropped four places to 19th spot after missing out on the second Test due to injury.
Among others, top-ranked Gautam Gambhir has extended his advantage over South Africa's Graeme Smith and Virender Sehwag has consolidated his sixth position.
Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal made an upward movement in the latest rankings. Tamim scored 0 and 151 in Mirpur and has vaulted 13 places to share 42nd spot with New Zealand's Brendon McCullum.
In the Test bowlers' chart, Zaheer has become India's highest-ranked bowler in sixth position.
Zaheer has jumped five places after recording his maiden 10-wicket haul in the Mirpur Test. Zaheer finished with figures of 10-149 to win the man-of-the-match award.
Team-mate Harbhajan Singh, however, has slipped two places to eighth position after managing just two wickets.
Wedding bells to ring for popular Tollywood actor Junior NTR.
The young actor, son of TDP MP Nandamuri Harikrishna would enter into wedlock with Narne Pranita, daughter of businessman Narne Srinivasa Rao and niece of Telugu Desam Party President N Chandrababu Naidu, according to family sources.
He came closer to Mr Naidu when he was campaigning for the TDP in the simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly in April 2009.
The marriage of eighteen-year-old Pranita studying in intermediate in Nazar Junior College is likely to be in May next.
Twentysix-year-old Junior NTR has several box office hits to his credit including his latest film ''Adurs''.
As a child artiste he had acted in legendary thespian N T Rama Rao's ''Brahmarshi Viswamithra'(1991). He made his debut as a hero in "Ninnu Choodalani"(2001) and made a mark in the Tollywood with his performance in ''Student No 1''(2001) and went on to carve a niche for himself with his captivating role in, among other films, ''Aadi''(2002), ''Simhadri''(2003), ''Andhrawala(2004), Yamadonga(2007) and Kanthri Kanthri(2008).
Reliance Industries boss Mukesh Ambani's comment that Mumbai belongs to all Indians has enraged Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
Thackeray gave Ambani a piece of his mind in the Sena mouthpiece Saamna.
Washington: US President Barack Obama pushed job creation to the top of his agenda on Wednesday and promised not to abandon his struggling healthcare overhaul after a political setback that raised doubts about his leadership.
"Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010," he said in his annual State of the Union address as US unemployment remained at a painful 10 per cent and the weak economy dominated the debate before coming congressional elections in November.
Obama admitted he had made mistakes and that his first year in office had been a difficult one, but vowed not to give up in his efforts to change the way that Washington works and push through his ambitious legislative agenda.
"I don't quit," he told the US Congress. "Let's seize this moment -- to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more."
Obama pledged to slap tough new regulations on Wall Street. He said he would work to dig the country out a "massive fiscal hole" and was willing to use his presidential veto power to enforce budgetary discipline.
Still smarting from the loss by his Democratic Party of a pivotal US Senate seat in Massachusetts, Obama said he would not back down from efforts to revamp the US healthcare system and forge bipartisan consensus on climate change.
But he put the greatest emphasis on the need to fix the still-struggling US economy and bring down the punishing unemployment rate.
"People are out of work. They are hurting. They need our help. And I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay," he said.
Budget challenges
Obama proposed a three-year freeze on some domestic spending programs to take aim at soaring budget deficits.
He called for the creation of a bipartisan commission to tackle long-term budget challenges, such as the Social Security retirement program and Medicare health program for older Americans.
Obama took office promising to bring wholesale change to Washington, including the push for healthcare reform and a drive to set caps on carbon emissions to fight climate change.
But the healthcare reform legislation faces possible failure now that Democrats no longer hold a "supermajority" of 60 Senate votes to overcome Republican procedural hurdles.
The climate legislation has stalled and even some of its supporters believe it may be sidelined this year.
He insisted he was not giving up on health care reform.
"By the time I'm finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance. Millions will lose it this year," Obama said. "I will not walk away from these Americans. And neither should the people in this chamber."
He criticized "bad behavior" and recklessness on Wall Street and demanded Congress pass robust legislation on financial regulation.
Obama promised to push back against financial industry lobbyists who are seeking to water down or kill the proposed legislation.
"We cannot let them win this fight. And if the bill that ends up on my desk does not meet the test of real reform, I will send it back," Obama said.
Many of his Democratic allies fear they will lose their seats in November's election, but Obama highlighted economic improvements and tried to deflect criticism that the healthcare push shifted his focus.
The economy was shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs each month when Obama took office but it has begun to slowly grow again.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) conducted a successful static test of its largest 'solid booster' on Sunday.
With this, it has reached a step closer to launching four-tonne class communication satellites on its own, doubling the current payload capacity.
The solid booster (S200) will form the first stage for the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III (GSLV-Mk III).
"The booster test was conducted at ISRO's spaceport, Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km north-east of Chennai," a space agency spokesperson said.
The step is significant as ISRO strengthens its foothold in the commercial satellite launch market.
At the recent Indian Science Congress, chairman K. Radhakrishnan said launcher development was a thrust area and the ISRO would like to launch six-tonne class satellites.
"The GSLV-Mk III is in an advanced stage of development," an ISRO spokesperson said. The GSLV-Mk III is shorter, fatter and stronger than the current version. The ISRO had earlier slated the launch for 2011.
The three-stage launcher will be 42.4 m tall and weigh 630 tonne at the launch. The payload fairing will be five metres wide.
The solid boosters that give it an initial 'brute force' will be strapped on to the second stage of the launcher that runs on liquid propellant.
The third stage will be cryogenic - using super-cooled liquid hydrogen as fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidiser that help it burn.
S200 is the third largest solid booster in the world, next to the reusable solid rocket motor booster of the NASA Space Shuttle and P230 solid booster of Ariane-5 of the European consortium Arianespace.
The booster containing 200 tonne of solid propellant (fuel and oxidiser) in three segments, with a height of about 22 m and diameter of three metres, was developed at ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram.
The ISRO has used the indigenous GSLV-Mk I and II for launching five satellites, weighing 1.5 to 2.5 tonne, for communication, broadcasting, weather and education between 2001 and 2007. India currently uses Ariane launchers for heavier satellites.
While Mark-III remains on the anvil, a modified version of the existing GSLV, but with a new indigenous cryogenic stage, is slated for launch later this year.
"So far, India has been dependent on Russian technology for the complex cryogenic stage in these advanced launchers. The ISRO is going slow to make it flawless," Radhakrishnan said.
"The GSLV-Mk III will enhance India's capability as a competitive player in the multi-million dollar launch market," said ISRO public relations director S. Satish.
The court will hear the arguments on March 9, including the lawsuits filed by the aggrieved institutions against the ministry of human resources development (HRD) for proposing to scrap their deemed status.A bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and AK Patnaik, which had earlier asked the government about the efficacy of deemed universities, issued notices to the aggrieved institutions and others.
Attorney-general Goolam E Vahanvati said that the centre would submit within two weeks the reports of the review committee and the task force that went into the functioning of 126 institutions that were granted deemed university status by the HRD ministry.
Dispelling the general apprehension that the ministry would rush to squash their deemed university status, Vahanvati assured the court that “there is no automatic derecognition.”
When lawyers representing these institutions sought a directive
that the government shouldn’t do anything to change the status of the 44 deemed universities till the matter was finally disposed of, the bench remarked: “Nothing is being done in the pending matter.”
The procedure to be adopted (for revoking the deemed university status) should satisfy the rule of natural justice. The court also said that if that wasn’t done, it would have to “step in”.
When the lawyers pointed out that there was “panic” and “frustration” among the students enrolled in these universities, the bench said “care should be taken that a situation must not arise that would put in peril the future of these students.” The judges asked: “How are you (HRD ministry) going to protect their (students) future? You have to give a road map.”
Former attorney-general K Parasaran said “there are black sheep in every walk of life, but don’t paint us (deemed universities) all in black”. The government’s decision, he said, amounted to “making (someone) a widow even before her marriage is solemnised.” He said the students enrolled in these universities were mid-way through their courses and their parents had paid for it. The judges assured them that “not a single student will be affected.”
HRD minister Kapil Sibal has already said that students would not suffer. “We are going to take care of all students. And government’s intention is not to put any student in problem. All students will get a university degree,” he said last week.
Among the institutes facing the heat are Jaypee Institute of Information, Noida, Gurukul Kangri Biswavidyalaya, Hardwar, National Museum Institute of History of Art, New Delhi, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Satara, DY Patil Medical College, Kolhapaur, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune, and several institutions in Tamil Nadu and six in Karnataka.
The aggrieved varsities took a consistent view that the review committee and the task force did not give them sufficient opportunity before taking a decision. In fact, senior counsel Rajeev Dhawan said the views of the colleges were heard barely for three to five minutes by the two committees which, he said, also lacked statutory powers to decide on such issues.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna tonight spoke of the possibility of Government advising Indian students not to go to Australia if the attacks on them which has claimed one life so far continued.
Krishna said different kinds of action can be taken by the Government in the wake of the attacks like issuing an advisory for Indian students not to go to Australia.
"But, I think that(the advisory) would not be in the interest of our bilateral relatiaons. So I am not thinking on those lines," he told NDTV.
Krishna however kept the option of asking Indian students not to travel to Australia open saying it could possibly be one of the actions that the government can take if the "present trend"(rise in attacks) continued.
Krishna said he was sure Australian authorities would take cognisance of the fact that India talks "softly" but certainly when the decisive moment comes the country can also act which, he said, will not be in the interest of either of
the two countries.
He feared that if the string of attacks continued the way it has been in the last few days the flow of Indian students to Australia might slow down and could unfortunately taper off also.
"This will have to be kept in mind by the Australian authorities and also the provincial governments," he said.
The Minister said it was unfortunate that though there were students from several countries studying in Australia it is only a section of foreign students, mainly from India, that are being attacked.
Beijing: China on Tuesday dismissed as "groundless" India's charge that Chinese hackers had attempted to break into sensitive Indian government computers, a week after American internet giant Google levelled a similar allegation against it.
"I can say that these accusations are groundless," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters when asked to comment on National Security Adviser M K Narayanan's reported comments that Chinese hackers may be involved in a December 15 attempt to penetrate Indian government computers, including that of his office.
"The Chinese government is firmly against hacking activities and will deal with relevant cases in accordance with the law," Ma said.
He also claimed that China itself was the "biggest victim" of hacking activities.
Narayanan has told London The Times that his office and other government departments were targeted on December 15, the same date when Google reported cyber attacks originating from China.
Kolkata: Jyoti Basu was known for his connect with the masses in his lifetime, in death too he drew lakhs. Thousands converged at the state assembly on Tuesday to pay their last respects, creating a near-stampede situation that left some people, particularly the elderly, fainting.
A sea of people thronged the assembly, where Basu's body lay in state. The crowd grew impatient after having to wait for hours for a last glimpse of the leader.
Around 2 p.m., hundreds of people tried to force their way through the assembly's southwest gate, designated for the commoners' entry.
There was a near-stampede situation, and some people were taken ill.
Inside, the crowd turned into a deluge, and for some time there were fears of the order collapsing.
Some people were seen throwing wreaths and flowers towards the podium where the body was placed while some others refused to move as they seemed more intent on capturing Basu's image on their mobile cameras.
There were repeated requests from top CPI-M leaders, including state party secretary Biman Bose, for the crowds to move on, but nobody seemed to be listening.
People also pushed their way into the press enclosure.
The body of Basu, who died Sunday at age 95, will be donated to a hospital in the evening for medical research in keeping with his wish.
in.com
Donear Industries is into textile and they have a very strong brand Donear Suitings for which Yuvraj Singh is the brand ambassador. The company has set up a new textile plant in Surat with an investment outlay of about Rs 220 crore for which they have gone for a borrowing of about Rs 120 crore. Prior to that it was a debt-free company and it has been doing quite. It had given bonuses in last five-years with a very high promoter stake of 90%, which the stock exchanges has asked them to reduce to 75%.
But since the Surat project of Rs 220 crore, which had gone onstream just six-months back, the company have been providing depreciation on the written down value method while all the listed companies are providing depreciation on the straight-line method. This is was because of the policy having adopted for written down value method. The depreciation burden has been quite high and that has resulted into the net loss.
If the company would have opted to provide depreciation on the straight-line method, there would have been net profit. If you see their H1 performance, they had a topline of close to Rs 115 crore in which Surat project has not contributed much – with a net loss of about Rs 5.80 crore and in this Rs 5.80 crore the depreciation element was at about Rs 17.5 crore. So if I take the cash profit element, the company had posted a cash profit of about Rs 11 crore for six-months on a equity of close to about Rs 10.40 crore.
The share has a face value of Rs 2 and now this Surat project will start contributing to the topline as well as to the bottomline. Maybe, I don’t know what would the logic will be, it may prevail upon the management to opt for the change in the depreciation policy and if they opt to do that – there would be a reversal of depreciation, which can result in a huge write back of the depreciation which can improve the bottomline.
But even if you take on a fundamental basis with a market cap of the company at about Rs 165 crore, as I said the debt is only to the extent of Rs120 crore – this company with an enterprise value of Rs 300 crore is ruling at a very low valuation. Their brand itself has been estimated in the past at about close to Rs 130-140 crore.
There is good upside. We have been seeing renewed interest coming in the textile stocks. I think if someone can take a call on this stock with six months view, one can expect at least 60% return from hereon.
The company is into providing finance to tourism related projects. It has been giving a consistent performance. In fact this has not been in the news. If you look at FY09, they had an EPS of about Rs 3.6 which is likely to be maintained for FY10 as well.
The book value of this share at present is about Rs 37 and I think it is ruling at a price to book of 70% with a price of about Rs 26. We have seen all – whether it is small PSU banks or maybe financing or lending institutions to the power sector – have appreciated in the last six months by about 50-70%.
But I do not think that this has come into focus of analysts or maybe even investors. If somebody can take a call, I don’t think that there is any downside. The way we have seen a run up especially in stocks like LIC Housing and GIC Housing, this can also come on the radar.
IFCI holds a 32% stake and since IFCI is also regaining its health and again loaded with news, this could also be tagged along with the company or we may see a good restructuring or maybe even infusion of fresh funds to enlarge the level of activity.
If all those things can happen, I won’t be surprised if the company surpasses Rs 5 EPS for FY11. As I said, the book value is close to Rs 38 now which could rise to about Rs 42-43 by then. The stock has very good potential to appreciate by about 50-60% in the next six months.
On Ugar Sugar
Ugar Sugar has not participated in the run up for a simple reason that for September 2009, the company had posted a net loss. This has been scaring investors and keeping them away. The state with the most advantage in the sugar sector is Karnataka because there you have a recovery of 11.5-12% plus you are not seeing such a hue and cry for the sugarcane price as well.
All the mills, whether it is Ugar or Renuka Sugar are paying a price of about Rs 240-250 for a recovery of 11.5% which translates to an equivalent price with 10% recovery to about Rs 220.
Now this company has recently commissioned a new mill of 2,500 tonne in this season. The old mill at Ugar had a capacity of about 10,000 tcd. If you take any sugar mill in the country, I do not think that anyone will be able to exceed the production what they have done in the previous years because of the overall low production of sugar expected in the country.
However, this company is likely produce about 17 lakh bags of sugar for this season against 15.5 lakh in the previous year.
Apart from that they have 56 megawatt (MW) cogeneration capacity. Even the debt portion of the company is not very stiff. It is at about Rs 130-140 crore which has largely realized to finance the working capital. The December quarter results are likely to be quite good. The company should be able to post a profit after tax (PAT) of about Rs 36-40 crore on an equity of about Rs 11.25 crore, which is at present.
So once the results are out for the December quarter, we all know that even in the March quarter there will be more sweeteners because of the increase in prices and operation of the cogeneration plant. These two quarters can drastically change the view on the stock. I won’t be surprised if this stock reaches about Rs 35 maybe by April end in this year.
| The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has said there was 'no breach' in the security systems of its computers or those in other central government departments. | |
| Asked about a media report that hackers from China have targeted computers in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), an official in the PMO denied the report. "Attempts have always been there to hack our computers, but we have our security systems in place," a PMO official said. "There has been no breach on our security system, we are absolutely safe," PMO media adviser Harish Khare said. According to a Headlines Today TV channel report, hackers from China had targetted computers in the PMO around Dec 15 last year and "investigators are still coming to terms with the depth of the damage". It said the hackers had aimed at the "cream of India's national security set-up: National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan, Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrashekhar, PM's Special Envoy Shyam Saran and Deputy National Security Advisor Shekhar Dutt. The four and up to 26 others were squarely in the crosshairs of the hacking attempt". "The hacking spyware itself was embedded in a PDF document. And the Trojan Horse was programmed to carry out an array of functions, including downloading files, accessing emails and passwords and also accessing the desktop from a remote location," it said. | |
| Toyota Motor Co, seeking to draw a line under a dire 2009, is ramping up in India with the launch of a new low-cost compact car to tap the fast-growing market. | |
 The world's largest automaker is a laggard in India, Asia's third biggest economy, and is facing increasing competition from rivals targeting one of the few bright spots in an industry ravaged by the global financial crisis. At the Delhi Auto Expo, Honda Motor Co also unveiled a new compact car, a 5-seater model being developed especially for India and other emerging markets that are quickly replacing major Western markets as a key battleground for auto firms. "India will play a pivotal role in Toyota's global expansion plans and the time has come for us to strategically accelerate our growth here," Toyota Vice-Chairman Kazuo Okamoto told a media conference to mark the launch of its new compact car Etios. Driven by the world's second-largest population, government incentives and a relatively strong domestic economy, Indian auto sales are set to grow about 16 percent this year to 1.4 million vehicles, after posting double-digit growth through most of 2009. By comparison, U.S. auto sales due later on Tuesday are expected to show the market there slumping to its worst year since 1982, or possibly 1970. This year, China is due to surpass the United States as the world's largest auto market with about 13 million vehicles sold. Toyota, which has forecast an operating loss of 350 billion yen ($3.8 billion) in the year to March 2010 after the slump in the U.S. market, said more than 2,000 engineers in India and Japan worked for four years on the Etios. The car will go on sale later this year with a price tag of less than 500,000 rupees ($10,823). "With the introduction of Etios, we hope to attain a sizeable market share in India in the shortest possible time," said Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director of marketing at Toyota's local unit, Toyota Kirloskar Motor. CROWDED MARKET Honda's new family car based on the "Honda New Small Concept" unveiled in Delhi will hit showrooms in India and Thailand by 2011. It will be one of the 10 small cars due to be launched at India's Auto Expo this week. Shinzo Nakanishi, chief executive officer of Maruti Suzuki, said the entry of so many new models would make it difficult for his company to defend its half share of the Indian market. "This is not an easy job this year with so many new cars being launched," he said. "We have to prepare ourselves well for the competition with more products and with better network." Maruti Suzuki is the market leader with cut-price hatchbacks such as the Maruti 800 and Alto. The mini and compact segments of cars shorter than 4 metres (13 ft 1.4 in) account for three-quarters of India's car market. The push in India is not limited to passenger cars either, with U.S. motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson announcing plans to launch 12 models there this year, and VE Commercial Vehicles, a joint venture between Eicher Motors and Volvo planning to ramp up production capacity to 100,000 units by 2015 as it targets a 15 percent share of the heavy duty truck segment. SOURCING CENTRE As well as its growing influence as a market, India is becoming an increasingly important centre for building and exporting small, low-cost vehicles. Volvo, the world's second biggest truck maker, will increase component sourcing from India by five times to $5 billion by 2015, said Bertil Thoren, president of the Volvo Group Alliance Office. Volkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker, said it will launch its Polo sedan model in India in the second half of 2010, with half the components to be sourced locally. Honda will increase sourcing of parts from India for its new car. It plans to use Indian steel sheet for the first time when it starts making small cars on the subcontinent next year to lower costs, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday. | |
“He is suffering from an infection in his lower respiratory tract with consolidation. His condition is stable,” said Dr. Debashish Sharma, official spokesperson of the hospital. 
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called up Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to inquire about Mr. Basu’s health. Secretary of the West Bengal State Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Biman Bose and the former Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, were among those who visited him at the hospital.
A team of six specialists is attending on the nonagenarian leader. He has been put on a light but normal diet, Dr. Sharma said.
Mr. Basu was last hospitalised in July 2009 after he lost consciousness for a while at his Salt Lake residence. He was in hospital for eight days, but doctors later set up an emergency facility equipped with an ECG monitor, defibrillator and pulse oximeter to monitor his heart condition at his residence.
Medical tests conducted after a fall prior to his last bout of hospitalisation revealed a clot in his brain, but surgery was ruled out considering his age.
Police booked a case against TV 5, which aired the story based on a report on a Russian website. Cases under sections 153/3A (provocation with intent to cause riot) and 502 A (sale of printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter) were registered at Jubilee Hills police station here, police said.
Director General of Police R.R. Girish Kumar told reporters that notices would also be issued to other TV channels which aired the story after TV 5 began telecasting it Thursday night.
The report led to a series of attacks on Reliance stores throughout the state, since it had alleged a role by the company in the helicopter crash that killed YSR.
The police have booked 96 cases and arrested 185 people for the attacks on properties of both Reliance groups.
Home Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy told reporters that the government would deal firmly with anyone breaking the law.
She said that Chief Minister K. Rosaiah spoke to Home Minister P. Chidambaram over telephone and asked him to speed up the probe by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the crash.
Police chief Girish Kumar warned that stern action would be taken against those indulging in violence. Prohibitory orders against assembly of people have been imposed in the state in view of the shutdown called by loyalists of the late chief minister in some districts.
Kumar said investigations into the September 2 helicopter crash were continuing and appealed to people not to believe rumours.
YSR's son and Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy appealed to people not to resort to violence.
Meanwhile, leaders cutting across party lines condemned attacks on Reliance outlets and called for immediate steps to control television channels to prevent such incidents.
IN.COM
Shooting of Leader is currently in progress from the coal belt area of Ramagundam in Karimnagar district. Some laborers from this area tried to stall the shoot but when hero Rana interfered. He sid that he never objected the cause of Telangana, they withdrew their agitation.
Instead they wanted Rana to say `Jai Telangana` which the hero readily agreed to. They were then allowed to continue with their shooting.
Sekhar Kammula directed Leader is in the final stages of shooting and is gearing up for release shortly. Although the film has been censored earlier, looks like the director is shooting 'patch-work'.
It's a new year and a new timing for stock market traders and investors in India. And if one were to go by broker sentiment, not a very happy one.
The country's key exchanges, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will start trading at 9am from today, January 4th 2010. The opening has been advanced by close to an hour - from the earlier 9.55am, but the close will continue to be at 3.30pm.
These new timings follow a very public duel between both exchanges.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in October allowed stock exchanges in India to extend their trading hours to a maximum possible window of trading between 9am and 5pm.
The SEBI move was prompted by a long-standing demand by the stock exchanges for allowing extension of trading hours to capture more trading from international investors, especially from Asian countries like Singapore where exchanges open earlier, Indian time.
However, soon after the regulator gave exchanges the go-ahead, opinion in the stock market fraternity was vertically divided with several brokers and brokerages saying lack of infrastructure could prove a hindrance to extend market hours to the full window of 9am to 5pm.
More trading, more stress: Brokers
Brokers, though, are not too impressed. “Starting the markets early will serve no purpose and the market men and brokers are getting caught in the crossfire between the two exchanges,” said broker Dipan Mehta, a member of both the BSE and NSE. He said the move would serve no purpose but would put more stress on those involved in the stock market.
Trading volumes in the stock market would go up, said Ambareesh Baliga of Karvy Stock Broking, “though it won’t be in the same proportion as the increased time".
Baliga said the move may be aimed at increasing more day-trading and capturing some trades from the Singapore’s SGX Nifty, which opens two-and-a-half hour earlier than Indian time.
“Volumes will increase because a large part of the trade flows from other parts of the world, particularly Asian markets,” said Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Securities. “It would be good as far as fund allocations to India are concerned and we would see some more action coming into the market in the early hours of the day.”
He added that most brokerages had prepared themselves, infrastructure-wise, to a possible shift to 9am.
Vinay Agarwal, Executive Director of Angel Broking, said the move could lessen volatility in the markets.
Are we ready?
The revised notice from the exchanges now says that trading hour extension has been postponed by a couple of weeks. According to experts, this by no means prepare them to deal with the technacalities involved in longer trading hours. The banks’ real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system, a funds transfer mechanism where transfer of money takes place from one bank to another on a 'real time' and on 'gross' basis is not in place yet—it starts only at 9.45 am, they say. This will cause disruption in the functioning of the exchanges.
Traders, who, want to make margin payment at 9 am though their banks may face a hitch. However, bankers say this isn’t a major glitch, since brokers can always make the payments via the internet.
However, in all probability, enterprising banks may think of booting their systems earlier.
Moreover, President of broker body AMNI EMC Palaniappan says, brokers’ offices may also not be able to handle the extension of trading hours as of now.
Money Control
New Delhi/ Chandigarh: Former Haryana director general of police SPS Rathore's lawyer and wife Abha Rathore on Monday will challenge his conviction in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case in court.
In more bad news for Rathore, Union Home Ministry officials will in new Delhi to discuss whether the former DGP can retain his medals or not.
The issue of Rathore's police medals will be taken up by the Medal's Committee of the Home Ministry.
The committee headed by Union Home Secretary GK Pillai will decide on the issue and send its recommendations to President Pratibha Patil.
Rathore, who retired in 2002, was awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in August, 1985. As per rules, the medal can be stripped if in President's view the officer has brought the police force into disrepute.
A showcause has already been served on Rathore for withdrawal of his pension.
The Committee will also revisit the guidelines for awarding and taking away medals.
Meanwhile, the former school principal of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School where Ruchika was a student when she was molested could be pulled up by the Chandigarh administration for her unwarranted expulsion.
The administration's findings on Ruchika’s expulsion from the Sacred Heart Convent indicate that the teenager was forced to leave school on flimsy grounds and subsequently harassed to death.
Former principal of Sacred Heart Convent Sister Sebastina and the school itself have failed to respond to the administration queries despite numerous summons.
CNN-IBN has exclusive access to an enquiry report of the Chandigarh administration which holds that Sacred Heart Convent guilty of wrongly expelling Ruchika.
The report has concluded that Ruchika, a class 10 student at the time of the incident, was expelled by the school under external pressure.
The report cites 10 documents as evidences to hold Sacred Heart guilty in which the role of Rathore has also been mentioned.
The report will be submitted to the Governor on Monday and a copy will also be forwarded to the Central Board of Secondary Education and all other agencies investigating the case.
"School fee pertaining to her were not deposited continuously for six months during the period of April to September 1990. She was never expelled from the school," claimed Father Thomas, Spokesman for Chandigarh Shimla Diocese, which runs the school.
Ruchika wasn't the only one who failed to pay her fees but Sacred Heart Convent only expelled her.
The enquiry found out that she was expelled was because of external pressure, a finding, which not only jeopardises the school's reputation but which can also hold it guilty in a court of law.
The findings of the enquiry can hold Rathore and Ruchika's school culpable for abetment of suicide, a charge that her friends and family members have been making all along.
"The ground was nothing but the pressure of Rathore because after her expulsion from the school he had presented his case before the Haryana government that the enquiry conducted by RR Singh is biased and the girl involved has been expelled from t5he school on loose morals," pointed put Anand Prakash, father of Ruchika’s friend Aradhna Prakash Gupta.
After a fresh FIR charging Rathore with abetment to suicide and this latest report the question is will Rathore be able to get out of the legal mess this time?
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The inauguration of the structure developed by Emaar Properties marks fourth anniversary of the accession day of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum as the Ruler of Dubai.
