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Saturday, July 11, 2009

RONEN Sen SHERA BANGALI! Indo US Deal Connects Bengali Brahaminical Hegemony. ART of waging war in golf cart! And MELATONIN in a World of drug ADDICTION!

 RONEN Sen SHERA BANGALI! Indo US Deal Connects Bengali Brahaminical Hegemony. ART of waging war in golf cart! And MELATONIN in a World of drug ADDICTION!

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 282
 
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Drug Addiction

7 min - 9 Jan 2009 -

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  1. Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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THE COLD WAR CONTINUES

Calcutta Telegraph - Sunanda K. Datta-Ray - ‎21 hours ago‎
But Barack Obama's barely coded offer to Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin of a nuclear-shield-for-Iran deal did confirm the non-aligned movement's ...

India seeks Pak action against Mumbai attackers

MorungExpress - ‎1 hour ago‎
India had close relations with the previous Bush Administration during which Indo-US nuclear deal was signed and the Prime Minister has tried to allay the ...

Rahul now calling power shots

Economic Times - Aarthi Ramachandran - ‎21 hours ago‎
Mr Rahul Gandhi had also backed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh fully on the contentious Indo-US nuclear deal issue that threatened the survival of the ...

India-US 'standards portal' launched

Economic Times - ‎Jul 7, 2009‎
He said accelerated trade activities would also generate jobs especially in the nuclear field after the civilian nuclear deal reached between the two ...

Pak's 'unnecessary excitement' may delay its 'cherished' goal of ...

Thaindian.com - ‎10 hours ago‎
... by Pakistani ruling circles regarding the deal may delay country's objective of entering a nuclear deal with France much like the Indo-US nuclear pact. ...

India, US work out liability insurance issues for N-plants

Business Standard - ‎Jul 8, 2009‎
PTI / Rome July 8, 2009, 13:09 IST US nuclear companies will start cooperating with India under the bilateral Indo-US atomic deal once the issues relating ...

FICCI proposes five-point agenda for Indo-US ties

Hindu - ‎Jun 23, 2009‎
... (FICCI) has proposed a five point agenda topped by "deepening of India-US nuclear cooperation" to take their bilateral relations to the next level. ...

Indo-US trade can reach $320 bn in 10 years: CII

Hindu - ‎Jun 21, 2009‎
... said that the bilateral trade between India and the US can touch 320 billion dollars in next 10 years due to the recently concluded civil nuclear deal. ...

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Two CPM activists lynched by Maoists in Lalgarh

Times of India - ‎8 hours ago‎
LALGARH: Maoist rebels abducted and lynched two Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) activists here on Friday night, even as the joint security operation ...
Eye of a storm The Week
 

PM confident India can sustain 8-9 per cent growth

11 Jul 2009, 0855 hrs IST, PTI
 
ON BOARD PM'S AIRCRAFT: Notwithstanding the uncertainty surrounding the global economic recovery, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said

India should be able to sustain a growth rate of 8 to 9 per cent GDP growth.

He said he was confident that India would come out of this crisis stronger but the road ahead was also going to be difficult to traverse.

"It is not not going to be easy but I am convinced that India's savings rate, which is as high as 35 per cent with a normal capital output ratio of 4:1, we should be able to sustain, with a little bit effort, a growth rate of about 8 to 9 per cent notwithstanding the difficulties on the international front," Sing told reporters accompanying him on his way back home from a four-day visit to Italy.

Against the backdrop of the world attempting a recovery from the recession caused by the financial crisis in the heart of the developed world, he said he had discussions with the leaders of G-8 and G-5, Egypt and African countries.

"After our discussions, it is my sense that while there are some signs of recovery, the world economy is still a long way from recovering the earlier growth momentum and there must be questions whether that will soon be possible for the global economy," he said.

The Prime Minister said he was returning home convinced that India must continue to strengthen steps at home to regain the 8 to 10 per cent growth path.

The Prime Minister said international environment would not not be as supportive as before for some time to come. "I am, however, confident that our domestic economic strengths will enable us to return to our earlier path of rapid and inclusive growth."

He said in his statement in the G-8,G-5 summit he did mention that all available indicators for 2009 point to a deceleration in the US economy in the European Union economies and, therefore, one can say that the global environment for the development of the countries of the third world has undergone a sharp deterioration.

Singh noted that India's exports have suffered, capital flows from abroad have declined and international bank lending to the developing countries has declined.

"Therefore the challenge before us is to sustain and revive the growth momentum which we have built up in the last five years notwithstanding the deterioration in the international environment for development," he said.

Answering a question, Singh said he had always viewed his government's role was to get rid of chronic poverty, ignorance and disease which still afflicted millions and millions of people.

"We have made some important gains in the last five years. We managed to impart to our country a stronger growth momentum. We strengthened the forces which make for inclusive social and economic development," he said.

He mentioned that the government had put in place social safety nets which soften the harsh edges of extreme poverty substantially.

"But this is a long and arduous journey and our challenge is to take full advantage of the instrumentalities which are now now in place for inclusive growth to plug loopholes, to reduce leakages and to ensure that these instruments become more effective instruments of social and economic change, accelerated growth, more inclusive development and more emphasis on rural development and agriculture."

Sing said it was a continuation of the journey they undertook for five years with renewed commitment and determination even though it must be recognised that the international environment was not not as supportive as was imagined at one time.
 

Ronen Sen

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Ronen Sen (born April 9, 1944) was India's ambassador to the United States of America from August 2004 to March 2009.

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Career

After graduation, Sen joined the Indian Foreign Service in July 1966. From 1968 to 1984, he served in Indian missions/posts in Moscow, San Francisco and in Dhaka and in the Ministry of External Affairs. He has also been Secretary to the Atomic Energy Commission of India.

From July 1984 to December 1985, Sen was Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. Thereafter he was Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister of India from 1986 to July 1991 responsible for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Science and Technology.

Sen also served as India's ambassador to Mexico from September 1991 to August 1992; Ambassador of India to Russia from October 1992 to October 1998; India's ambassador to Germany from October 1998 to May 2002 and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from May 2002 to April 2004.

Mr. Sen has also participated in summit meetings in the United Nations, Commonwealth, Non-Aligned Movement, Six Nation Five Continent Peace Initiative, SAARC, International Atomic Energy Agency, G-15 and other forums and also in over 160 bilateral summit meetings. He has also served as Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of India several times.

[edit] Personal life

Ronen Sen is married to Kalpana, who was previously an airhostess with Indian Airlines. They have a daughter.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Headless Chicken remark

In August 2007, Ronen Sen was issued notice (and subsequently censured) by the Parliamentary Privileges Committee to explain the "headless chicken" remark he is alleged to have made in an off-the-record interview which was published by "rediff.com" on 20 August 2007 titled as "We will have zero credibility" on the Atomic energy pact. Sen had said:

"It has been approved here (in Washington, DC) by the President, and there (in New Delhi) it's been approved by the Indian cabinet. So why do you have all this running around like headless chicken, looking for a comment here or comment there, and these little storms in a tea-cup?"

Following the uproar over this remark, Sen later tendered his apology before Parliamentary Privileges Committee. Sen clarified:

" "My comment about "running round like headless chicken looking for a comment here or comment there" was a tactless observation on some of my media friends, and most certainly not with reference to any Honourable Member of Parliament.""

The Rajya Sabha panel too decided to close the issue since "Sen has tendered unconditional and sincere apologies". "In view of Sen's acceptance of having made the impugned remarks and that the same were unwarranted, and having tendered his unconditional apology, the Committee recommends that the matter should be allowed to rest here," the Rajya Sabha Committee said in its report tabled in the House.

In its uncharacteristic censure, The Rajya Sabha panel felt his remarks were

"not only in poor taste but also unwarranted .. personal frame of mind should not have influenced public utterances of a senior and experienced diplomat .. The Committee expects that such lapses, as admitted by him, shall not recur"[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Press release of Press Trust of India (a Government of India body) published by rediff.com at http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/nov/26ronen.htm

[edit] External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Lalit Mansingh
Indian Ambassador to the United States
2004-2009
Succeeded by
[Meera Shankar]

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Beating age without botox
Stretching lifespans a bit longer has always been the quintessential quest of humankind. Scientists studying ageing have shown in the past that tweaking certain genes can produce the desired results in roundworms, fruit flies and mice. Similar results came through dietary restrictions too....  | Read.. 
 

How India could be affected due to poor monsoon
11 Jul 2009, 1315 hrs IST


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The latest IMD estimates states that the cumulative seasonal rainfall during this year's monsoon has so far been 43 percent below the long-term average. It was the driest June in 83 years and water in the main reservoirs has more than halved.

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A few showers later, Centre on cloud nine

India faces monsoon washout

 
Have you read the TELEGRAPH report on ARMS Shopping?
 
Now read it!
 
The Defence Ministry on Saturday said it would probe allegations of the army spending Rs 1.17 crores on golf carts from special funds.

 

Referring to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) slamming chiefs of the Army's Northern and Western Commands for alleged misuse of special financial powers during April 2002 and August 2007, Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju told NDTV over phone that "irregularities, if any, will be addressed at."

 

"There is a procedure for these things. Whatever are the shortcomings or whatever have been the deviations from the procedure, they will be examined and suitable action will be taken," he said.

 

A CAG report, tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, said the Army commanders had "irregularly used" the funds apparently for purchasing golf carts in the name of buying battery-operated wheel chairs for hospital patients and track laying recce vehicles and for procuring trailers and stretchers for field hospitals.

 

The report said three out of five 'electric multiutility vehicles' (motorised carts) procured for Rs. 15.6 lakhs in May 2006 under the Western Army commander's special financial powers to transport aged and handicapped patients in military hospitals were instead sent to Sivalik Golf Course inside the military station for use by golfers.

 

Similarly, 22 motorised carts purchased in the name of 'track alignment reconnaissance vehicle' (TARV) for Rs 1.01 crores in March 2008 meant for army engineer regiments were sent to golf courses.

 

What an EYE Washing

 

The CAG has pulled up the Army for short supply of Russian-made Igla surface-to-air missiles and Franco-German Milan anti-tank missile, adversely impacting its war reserves and operational readiness.

 

In its report presented in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, the CAG said despite the war wastage reserve (WWR) holding of Igla missiles, used for protection of mechanised forces from air attacks, had come down to only 20 per cent in 2004.

 

But the Army placed orders for only 250 of these missiles and despite the precarious shortfall in reserves, it took four years to finalise a contract with Russian arms export firm Rosoboronexport for Rs 103.72 crores.

 

"Despite the operational urgency, the procurement of these missiles took four years and the staggered supply would continue to impact the WWR adversely," the report for 2008-09 said.

 

However, the delivery schedule was fixed as 50 missiles every year beginning 2008 and the entire supply to be completed by 2012.

Surprisingly, the Army had already decided in 2003 that Igla missiles did not fit into the current Air Defence philosophy and to de-induct them by 2013.

 
20 hospital employees attempt suicide in Haldwani, 3 critical!
 
HALDWANI (UTTARAKHAND): Demanding regularisation of their jobs, twenty hospital employees including five women on Friday allegedly attempted suicide outside a hospital here.

Wardboys and midwives of the Sushila Tiwari Forest Trust Hospital allegedly consumed pesticide after the hospital authorities turned down their demand, official sources said.

However, police took them inside the hospital where they were given treatment.

The condition of three of them was stated to be critical and they were referred to the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, they said.

Meanwhile, Nainital district administration has ordered an inquiry into the matter.

They were agitating over the last two months demanding regularisation of their jobs.
 
Have you any IDEA what impact is going to be DESTNED with JOB LOSS associated with Hundred days` Killing Agenda and INDO US Nuke Deal on with So called Economic Reforms and DISINVESTMENT Drive?
 
Lalgarh Operation has to REPLICATED Countrywide in Indigenous aboriginal Demographic areas everywhere not sparing OBC and Minorities to sustain MONOPOLISTIC Aggression under Strategic realliance Umbrella and CIA Mossad Involvement!
 
And Lo!
 
RONEN SEN emerges the Best from and of Bengalies because of his COMPETENCE to Operationalise INDO US Nuke Deal and tagging Indian Economy and Politics with US Zionist Imperialism!
 
Shoumitra Chatterjeee has got the life time Achievement for his DETACHED role in Bengal on Insurrection!
 
Meanwhile, The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha gave an ultimatum to the West Bengal government to meet its demands by July 13 failing which it threatened of an indefinite bandh in Darjeeling
 
Home secretary Ardhendu Sen said "tourists have almost all come down to the plains in view of the threatened strike by the Morcha".

Asked about the ultimatum served by GJM to the government to concede its demands by mid day of July 13, Sen said it appeared that the Morcha was heading towards an indefinite bandh in the hills.

District Magistrate Surendra Gupta said, "There are very few tourists in Darjeeling as this is the off season. Most
hotels are empty. It will be not be a problem for the few tourists to leave."

GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said that letter has been faxed to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee giving a noon deadline of July 13 for removal of North Bengal IGP K L Tamta and an inquiry into yesterday's baton charge on GJM supporters at Panighatta.

Giri said over phone from Darjeeling that Additional SP Akhilesh Chaturvedi under whom the 'unprovoked' baton charge was initiated be punished.
 
The real issue is connected with the NON Hindu Peripherra still EXISTING in Hidu geopolitics which have to be MERCILESSLY Turminated. Neither the Lalgarh People nor the GURKHAS are ever treated as Bengali and Hindu! The KANDHMAL has to be replicated everywhere. NDA and UPA is COMBINED for the KILL with PROACTIVE Left under PRANAB Prominent Power Axis of Manusmriti RULE!
 
ANANDABAZAAR Star Anand Group selects the Brands and Icons to Present what is all about Gloaban Bango Connection! Earlier the greatest Spokes piece of Sovereignty of Market, Global Village, Economic Ethnic cleansing, Manusmriti and Apartheid tri IBLIS Illuminati Order, BRAIN WASH Complete, ANTI COMMUNIST International elevated Brand Buddha, Icon Saurabh and Globalisation Masters Dr Amartya sen and Md. Yunus as the Best amongst the Bengalies!
 
The PRANAB Phenomenon is all about the Brahaminical West Bengal branded Bangla Nationality, I have been insisting, and within this Elite Brahaminical Bengali Marxist Hegemony Geopolitics , we the Black Untouchables, HAVE NOTS, Underclasses, Outcasts, Slum dogs, Refugees, Indianness, folk and Folk Lore, districts and Villages, Rural landscape as well as Human scape, SC, ST, OBC and Minorities have no SPACE!
 
Generation Seventies does WITHER away and the RESEARCH and development project on MELATONIN, beating AGING continues in a Global Village DRUG Addicted.
 
We have nothing to do with MONSOON and Food security. Job loss and Employment as we LIVE in AIR COOLED IT World of Virtual Reality overwhelmed by Magic Realism, Magic Economics!
 
I have got COLD for a few days and I may not RECOVER! The Fan at home is DEREGULATED and it may not be set OFF. At my work place, it is a vast HALL full of Computer Network and Suffocating Environment of English speaking High Caste Elite people. I may not switch off the Centralised AIR CONDITIONER  as Every one seems to be BORN with an AIR Conditioner.
 
Since I may not go on casual or Sick leave as MANPOWER to replace is missing. I have to stay on and bear on!
 
This is our typical metro Society where from the BIRD`s eye View on Indian Reality may have some useful BITES to make the sensational DISH Delicious for URBAN Audiences living with URBAN Legends, but it may not dare to EXPOSE the TRUTH!
 
No body seems to be alarmed with the DEFENCE Expenditure, Kickbacks, Mass JOB Loss, Indiscriminate Land Acquisition, Auto BOOST and Accident Prone Daily routine, Rural market Expansion associated with ETHNIC Cleansing, FII, FDI, Oil Economy and mass Destruction agenda as we have consumed the Magic Economics with False Graphics and Visuals so heavy.
 
The stomach seems full of OIL and Liquor ILLICIT and Adultery is Valid quite!
 
Why should we care for the CAG Reports and Monsoon Forcast IRRELEVANT!
 
We practice IDEOLOGIES and avoid ACTIVISM!
 
THIS IS IT!
 
And we do not fail to SCREAM: We CAN!
 
Mind you! Here you are!
 
'Clinton's visit 'tremendous opportunity' to expand Indo-US ties'
 
The US sees Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's planned visit to India later this month as a "tremendous opportunity" to deepen the relationship between the two countries and expand New Delhi's role in world affairs.

 

"It (Clinton's visit) is a tremendous opportunity to expand and deepen the relationship between the United States and India not just in a bilateral standpoint, but also seeing how India can play a much more significant role on a multilateral basis as well," Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley said in Washington.

 

He was replying to questions on Ms. Clinton's visit to India.

 

Mr. Crowley said the US' relationship with India has improved over the last 20 years and that New Delhi is playing a major role in global issues.

 

"Relations between the world's largest democracy and the world's oldest democracy have improved significantly over the last 20 years," he said.

 

India, Mr. Crowley said at the State Department briefing, is playing a vastly more significant role on issues ranging from climate change to non-proliferation, extremism, global economy and food security.

 
India's agriculture sector has accounted for only 16.6 per cent of its gross domestic product so far this plan period (2007-12) despite record production of farm commodities in the 2007-08 season, according to the latest government estimate
 
Global rating agency Moody's on Friday said that India's ratings may be downgraded if the government debt rises substantially, due to a lack of medium-term reforms and delay in privatization among others.
 
For me, Cash Crunch and Foreign Borrowing crisis along with balance of payament Gimmick set up may break down anytime despite Nine Percent Growth Rate Claim by the Government of India Incorporation, RBI and Extra Constitutional Policy Finalisers just because Auto Boost and OIL Economy heralds the Dooms` day and the CALAMITY is ENHANCED as FEROCIOUS with the RAVAGING Arms Shopping Spree waging War at GOLF Cart!
 
The government on Friday said it will return to the FRBM target for fiscal deficit at the earliest, as soon as the negative effects of the global economic crisis on India are overcome.
 
The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act required the government to bring down the fiscal deficit to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2008-09.

However, because of the steps taken by the government to stimulate the Indian economy reeling under the impact of the global financial meltdown, the fiscal deficit has soared to 6.2 per cent.

The government has pegged the fiscal deficit for 2009-10 at 6.8 per cent, much above the target prescribed by the FRBM Act.

In a written reply, Minister of State for finance Namo Narain Meena told the Lok Sabha, "the government intends to return to the FRBM target for fiscal deficit at the earliest and as soon as the negative effects of the global crisis on the Indian economy have been overcome,"

Meena said the government would initiate institutional reforms encompassing all aspects of budget like subsidies,
taxes, expenditure and disinvestment to bring fiscal deficit under control.

He said a roadmap has been prepared where it has been indicated that the fiscal deficit will be brought down to 5.5 per cent of GDP in 2010-11 and 4 per cent of GDP in 2011-12.  
Have you read the Lead EXCLUSIVE Report on CAG Report on DEFENCE Shop listing?
 
Please read it!
 
"... if the Indian government's debt finance-ability and its debt sustainability were to worsen- due to a lack of medium-term reforms or delays in privatization, or due to large unexpected shocks- then negative rating actions may follow, " Moody's Vice President and Senior Analyst Aninda Mitra said.

He said the recent
Budget announcement is in line with its stable outlook on India's ratings.

However, Mitra added that India's overall deficit is larger than the countries which are given the same ratings by Moody's.

"The overall deficit out-turn is larger than those of India's Baa- and Ba-rated peers, but it is at the same time based on conservative macro-economic assumptions, and still broadly consistent with the near-term stability in the government's debt trajectory," said Mitra.

The Centre's fiscal deficit is projected to widen to an 18-year high of 6.8 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal.


The share of the farm sector in the GDP is down to 16.6 per cent from a whopping 46.3 per cent during the First Plan period (1951-56), according to the data presented by Minister of State for Agriculture K V Thomas in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

The sector contributed 17.8 per cent to the overall GDP in the last Plan period (2002-07), he said.

For the plan period 2007-12, the figures for only the first fiscal of the duration (2007-08) have been released.

The declining share of the sector in the GDP can be a major cause of concern for policy makers this year as the forecast of a "below-normal monsoon" during the on-going Kharif has cast a gloom on production.

Moreover, the dependence on farming has not dipped that dramatically. About 65 per cent of the world's second-most populous nation still depends upon farming for livelihood.

Even though the country has witnessed record foodgrain production of 230.78 million tonnes in the 2007-08 season followed by another year of bumper output of the grains at 229.85 million tonnes, the share of the sector in the GDP has not shown any improvement.
 
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subbarao has expressed optimism that India will soon return to a high economic growth of 9 per cent,

even as he ruled out the spectre of deflation in the country, when low inflation is accompanied by low industrial output.

"For me, the single most important objective is returning the economy to a high growth path," Subbarao said in an interview to the London-based Central Banking Publications that was posted on the RBI website.

"The challenge for the Reserve
Bank will be to create the stage for a 9 per cent growth in an environment of price and financial stability," he said. "Higher growth in India cannot be meaningful unless the gains of growth are distributed more widely."

The
central bank governor acknowledged that there was concern over deflation in India, especially since the annual inflation rate based on wholesale prices had turned negative a few weeks ago.

Deflation refers to a reduction in aggregate level of demand, which results in falling prices of goods. Such a situation discourages manufacturers from producing goods and intensifies the recessionary cycle in the economy.

"It is important for the central bank to communicate the message that this is not a structural deflation and that what we are seeing is purely statistical in its nature," he said.

"Our negative inflation does not reflect a demand constraint. Far from it. We are a supply-constrained economy, not demand constrained."

During the course of the interview, Subbarao admitted that the much touted "decoupling theory", which predicted that emerging economies would continue to grow even while advanced countries went into recession, was not accurate.

"The decoupling theory was never totally persuasive in a globalising world and its credibility has been seriously dented by the events of the past few months," said Subbarao.

"If the downturn in advanced economies is relatively mild, then emerging economies could do enough through policy responses to insulate their economies. But if the downturn is severe, they will be impacted, of course differently in different economies," he added.

The governor also sought to dispel the notion that India's central bank was not doing as much as other central banks around the world in the context of the economic crisis.

"Countries have had to respond to the specific situation in their countries," said Subbarao.

"In the advanced economies, the transmission of the crisis has been from the financial sector to the real sector. In contrast, in a number of countries including India, the transmission of the crisis has been from the real sector to the financial sector and iterations thereon."
 
Meanwhile, Gujarat Health Minister Jay Narayan Vyas on Saturday rebuked liquor baron Vijay Mallya who had suggested the state review its

prohibition policy after illicit liquor claimed at least 136 lives in Ahmedabad this week.

"This is an internal matter of the Gujarat government and Mr. Mallya should avoid making suggestions on what should be done in Gujarat," Vyas told reporters here.

The moonshine tragedy came to light in the eastern part of Ahmedabad, 35 km from here, Tuesday and 136 people, most of them labourers, have died of consuming illegally brewed alcohol.

The state has implemented the prohibition policy since its birth in 1960. Mallya, who runs United Breweries that owns several leading liquor brands, blamed the tragedy on prohibition.

Replying to his statement, Vyas pointed out that similar tragedies had taken places in recent months in "Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi and Maharashtra, which do not practise prohibition".

The state government, meanwhile, ordered suspension and demotion of more police personnel - transferring 10 constables from the affected area and demoting two police inspectors to the ranks of assistant police inspector.
 

Biometric ID cards for fishermen in TN

With 26/11 terrorists taking the sea-route, the Centre has decided to launch a pilot project in Tamil Nadu under which fishermen will be provided biometric identity cards and their boats will be registered.

This was informed in the state assembly by Fisheries minister K P P Samy.

He said the Centre had given utmost importance to coastal states to tone up security in the wake of the Mumbai attacks where the terrorists came by sea.

For the pilot project, he said, two states have been selected, Gujarat being the other.

The Tamil Nadu government has planned to provide "smart cards" to fishermen to identify themselves.

The cards would have a comprehensive database of each fishermen and their family and will be helpful for regulating fishing activity.

Fishermen in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari coastal districts in the state would be given the cards this year at a cost of Rs 20 lakhs.

 

Shedding equity on agenda: Pranab

 

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said that even as he had taken a "calculated" risk in opting for a higher fiscal deficit to push growth without laying down a road map for disinvestment in the budget for 2009-10, equity sell-off in public sector undertakings (PSUs) would be on the government's economic policy agenda.

In his first post-budget interaction with apex chambers here, Mr. Mukherjee noted that the government was committed to divesting its equity in PSUs but would retain a minimum of 51 per cent equity in these enterprises. "I have made our intentions clear, to encourage people's participation in our disinvestment programmes while retaining at least 51 per cent equity in our enterprises," he said.

He pointed out that the budget was not the only document and perhaps not the appropriate place to put forth micro details and minute aspects of the disinvestment programme. A road map in this regard should come out after deliberations with all the stakeholders, he said.

During the session which had the chambers — Assocham, CII and FICCI — asking for tax breaks in more sectors, Mr. Mukherjee assured India Inc. that the tax cuts announced in the stimulus packages would not be rolled back, nor would the Centre's market borrowings up to about Rs. 4 lakh crore tend to crowd out the private sector.

"I have no intention of rolling back [tax cuts given in stimulus packages]... No doubt I have taken a risk, a risk of leaving fiscal deficit of 6.8 per cent which is perhaps the highest," he said, while noting that he would strive to pare down the high fiscal deficit of 6.8 per cent of the GDP estimated for this fiscal to 5.5 per cent in the next year and to four per cent in 2011-12.

Manmohan wants more experts involved in governance

 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said he would like to involve more intellectuals and experts in the processes of governance but made it clear this would be done at a pace that will not create any "side effects".

"There is enormous reserve of knowledge, wisdom and experience available outside the political system. It has to be harnessed in the service of the Indian people," he told reporters on his way back from Italy.

He was asked whether more experts can be expected after the recent appointment of Infosys Technologies co-chairman Nandan Nilekani as chairman of an authority to steer the ambitious scheme for creating a multi-purpose unique identification database of citizens.

"I would like to involve more and more intellectuals in the processes of governance of our country. It is a process, and we have made a beginning and it is my hope that in due course of time, we can enlarge this process," he said.

The Prime Minister said it would be his effort to do so "at a pace at which it does not create any side effects".

He said 54-year-old Nilekani's appointment has been widely welcomed. "I sincerely hope that in due course of time, we can enlarge the involvement of top intellectual elements in processes of governance".

 

Maharashtra Govt. terminates 3148 striking resident doctors

 

Acting tough on the striking resident doctors, the Maharashtra Government on Saturday terminated 3,148 medicos.

"We have issued termination notices to 3,148 resident doctors," W.B. Tayade, Director of Medical Education, told PTI on Saturday evening.

The notices were issued following the failure of talks between the medicos and the health authorities.

"We have also written to respective universities to initiate the process of cancellation of the registration of these doctors," Dr. Tayade said.

Some resident doctors in Akola, Dhule, Latur, Kolhapur and Nagpur did not participate in the strike, Dr. Tayade said.

The stern action came on the fifth day of the doctors' indefinite strike to demand enhancement of stipend and better living conditions.

After giving show-cause notices to more than 2,500 striking resident doctors on Friday, the state government set a deadline of 2 pm on Saturday for the doctors to return to work.

As they did not turn up, the deadline was extended by a few hours and since there was no signs of relentment, the authorities cracked the whip and terminated their services.

 

Support for reform of global institutions: PM

There is growing support for the demand for reforms of the global governance institutions and that it should start with reform of the UN Security Council, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday.

He said there is also a growing support for the view that the Security Council membership should be enlarged both in the permanent category members as well as in the non-category members in which India has a rightful claim to be a member.

Winding up his four-day visit to Italy, where he attended the summit of G-8, G-5 leaders, he told reporters accompanying him on his trip to Italy said countries like India have a legitimate claim to be considered for permanent membership of the Council.

But, he said, international relations in the final sense were power relations. "And nobody gives up power willingly. Those who have the power want to hold on so I don't think an easy solution is in sight. It will have to be a long drawn out struggle and I do believe that we have every reason to feel that in the long run our views will prevail."

 

Jet Airways sacks 50 trainee engineers

New Delhi (IANS): Private carrier Jet Airways has terminated the services of over 50 trainee engineers as part of its cost-cutting measures, the airline said on Saturday.

"As a part of our cost restructuring exercise and in order to meet the challenges of the downturn in the aviation sector, Jet Airways has found it necessary to issue notices of termination to trainee junior technicians," Ragini Chopra, a spokesperson of the airline, said in a statement.

"These personnel are on fixed term contracts and the notices are being issued in accordance with the terms of their contracts and in compliance with law. This trimming of the workforce has been necessitated by the ongoing rationalisation of the airline's operations," she added.

Jet Airways had posted a loss of over Rs.1,000 crore ($205 million) during the last fiscal. In October last year, the airline had sacked about 1,900 of its employees, but later took them back under pressure from the government.

 

NTPC to set up 4,000 MW power plant in Chhattisgarh

Raipur (IANS): India's largest power producer, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), will sign a deal with the Chhattisgarh government on Sunday for setting up a 4,000 MW coal-fired power plant in the state, officials said here on Saturday.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the ultra mega power project (UMPP) will be signed Sunday afternoon in the presence of Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.

The plant will come up at Lara village in the state's northern coal-abundant Raigarh district.

The central government, which had earlier selected Chhattisgarh as one of the five states for setting up UMPPs, reportedly rejected the project last August as the state government stuck to its demand for 50 percent of power from the project at production cost.

The project was put back on track late last month after Shinde and Raman Singh had a meeting in New Delhi. The state government has committed to make sufficient land and water available to help the NTPC set up the plant at the earliest.

The NTPC will also sign a deal with the state government Sunday for setting up an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Chhattisgarh.

 

Ranbir case recommended to CBI, govt. tells court

Nainital (PTI) As the controversy over the killing of an MBA graduate in an alleged fake encounter here continues to rage, the State Government on Friday told the Uttarakhand High Court that it has already recommended a CBI probe into the case.

Filing an affidavit before a division bench of Uttarakhand High Court comprising Chief Justice V.K. Gupta and Justice V.K. Bist, Nainital District Magistrate Haritash Gulshan said the state government has already recommended the matter to be investigated by the CBI.

"In respect to the matter in hand, the state government has recommended the matter to be investigated by the CBI. The said recommendation has been notified by the state government vide notification dated Jul 8, 2009," said the affidavit, which was read out by government counsel P.C. Bist.

The government affidavit comes in the wake of the court issuing notices to the state government on Thursday while hearing a PIL filed by Rajiv Lochan Shah, convenor of Uttarakhand branch of People's Union for Civil Liberties.

22-year-old Ranbir Singh, an MBA graduate from Ghaziabad, was killed in an encounter on July 3 after police claimed he along with two companions snatched the service revolver of Sub-Inspector G.D. Bhatt, who stopped them at Mohini Road here for routine checking during the President Pratibha Patil's visit.

 

More CBI courts required to hear corruption cases: CJI

Patna (PTI) Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan on Saturday stressed the need for setting up more special CBI courts across the country for speedy trial of high-profile corruption cases.

Addressing the centenary celebration of Patna Law College here, Mr. Justice Balakrishnan said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too shared his view.

In a letter to the CJI recently, Mr. Singh said he had asked the Chief Ministers to take steps for early establishment of CBI courts for expeditious hearing of high profile corruption cases, Mr. Balakrishnan said.

"I have sought setting up of 71 more special CBI courts across the country of which Bihar would get three to four in addition to two already functioning in the state," he said.

He asked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to initiate steps for early setting up of these courts.

Expressing concern over the huge pile-up of pending cases in different courts due to shortage of judges, the CJI said, "Delhi accounts for nearly 350 murders a year and the courts dispose of 200 to 225 cases, meaning thereby that over 100 cases remain pending each year."

"Unless large number of courts are established, we cannot expect speedy disposal of cases," he said.

 

 Nimbalkar murder: Documents found at Padamsinh's house

Mumbai (PTI): The search of NCP MP Padamsinh Patil's house at Osmanabad has allegedly led to the seizure of documents related to Nimbalkar murder case, CBI said.

The agency, which arrested Patil for his alleged role in murder of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar in 2006, today searched Patil's house at Osmanabad, central Maharashtra.

The documents found in the search would be used as evidence against him, CBI official said.

Patil's elder son Jagatsinh Patil, a minister with Maharashtra government, was asked to remain in the house during the searches.

Last month, CBI had raided Patil's residence in South Mumbai and claimed to have recovered several firearms and documents.

Patil, a former Maharashtra minister, is currently lodged in Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.

 

Medicine supply on credit led to Rs. 20 cr.loss to govt: CAG

New Delhi (PTI) The Comptroller and Auditor General has found fault in supply of medicines on credit basis by government medical stores to various other departments, which, it said, led to a loss of nearly Rs. 20 crores.

The government medical stores in Mumbai are engaged in procurement and supply of medicines required by hospitals and dispensaries run by the Central and State Government departments and local bodies.

According to the CAG, scrutiny of records revealed that supplies to central and state government hospitals and dispensaries were being made on credit basis and supplies to non-government departments on cash basis.

The client departments were to make the payments within the financial year of purchase. As of August 2008, Rs. 19.73 crores remained to be recovered from various organisations which had received supplies on credit basis during the period 1990 to 2008, it said.

Out of this, more than 53 per cent of the outstanding amount was due from Maharashtra Government alone.

"The fact remains that more than one-third of the indebted were defaulters and nearly two-thirds of the arrears were outstanding for more than five years," the report said.

The CAG has also pointed out a failure to recover Rs 11.90 crores from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Postal department on account of medical services rendered by CGHS, Allahabad.

 

Death toll rises to 127 in Ahmedabad hooch tragedy

Ahmedabad (PTI) Fourteen more people died in the city taking the toll in the hooch tragedy to 127 on Saturday.

"So far, 104 people have died in the hospitals, while 23 bodies were found in different places in the city," a senior official in the State Home Department told PTI.

He said 229 people were under treatment at various government hospitals.

According to him, treatment was being provided round-the-clock at the government hospitals where victims of spurious liquor are admitted.

The victims had consumed spurious liquor spiked with methyl alcohol and other industrial spirits on Monday night and subsequently deaths started occurring in the areas like Majur Gam, Odhav, Amraiwadi, Raipur and Rakhial.

Most victims, who consumed the tainted brew, were poor slum dwellers looking for cheap means of intoxication, said a senior doctor in the Civil Hospital.

Meanwhile, Opposition parties continued their agitation on the issue. On Saturday Congress' student wing NSUI and Youth Congress gave bandh call to schools and colleges in Gandhinagar, Mehsana and Junagagadh.

 

Heroin worth Rs. 17 crore seized in Delhi

New Delhi (PTI) The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has seized heroin worth about Rs. 17 crores from the national capital thus taking the total value of seizures here in the last 40 days to about Rs 72 crores.

Official sources said based on specific inputs, the DRI sleuths had intercepted a Rajasthan Transport bus coming to the city near Tikri Border here on Friday night.

On inspection, 16.5 kg of heroin, valued at Rs 16.5 crores in the international market, was recovered from the bag of a 40-year-old man, who has been arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Sources said, primary investigation revealed that the consignment had been smuggled into the country through the India-Pakistan border at Jaisalmer in Rajasthan by a Pakistan national, who "seemed to have crossed over" to the Indian side.

 

CAG pulls up HRD ministry

New Delhi (PTI) The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pulled up the HRD Ministry for releasing funds to Bihar for certain educational projects without proper monitoring, resulting in non-utilisation of Rs 8.73 crores.

The HRD Ministry had released Rs 15.66 crores to Bihar government in two instalments from 1991-92 to 2002-03 for establishment of 25 District Institutes of Education (DIET) and three Training and Colleges of Teachers Education (CTE).

However, an expenditure of Rs 6.93 crores has been made during this period, leaving Rs 8.73 crores unspent, the CAG said in the report for the year ending March 2008.

The HRD Ministry had released Rs 12.47 crores as a non-recurring grant for civil works and equipment from 1991-92 to 1993-94 to the Bihar government as the first instalment for establishment of DIETs and CTEs.

However, after bifurcation of the state, 18 DIETs and two CTEs remained in Bihar while seven DIETs and a CTE went to Jharkhand.

In 2002, the Bihar government sent a proposal to ministry, demanding release of second instalment for seven DIETs on which work had progressed. But the work on 11 DIETs had not started by then and the state government requested for carry forward of the unspent grants.

 

Mallya wants Gujarat govt. to revise alcohol policy

New Delhi (PTI): Liquor-baron Vijay Mallya on Saturday virtually asked the Gujarat government to lift prohibition in force in the State.

Saying that "blanket prohibition has never worked in this free world," Mr. Mallya, in the wake of recent hooch tragedy in the state which claimed more than 100 lives, said his United Breweries Group would be ready to work with the Gujarat government in revisiting its alcohol beverage policy.

"The UB Group stands ready to work with the Government of Gujarat to introduce a responsible beverage consumption policy with appropriate warning and restraint," the UB Group Chairman said in a statement.

Mr. Mallya said the liquor prohibition in the state had failed to stop the illegal, unhygienic and unsupervised production of deadly spurious liquor, which is very dangerous for people of the State.

Mr. Mallya said the death of over 100 people resulting from the consumption of spurious alcohol is not only tragic but should serve as "a wake-up call to our political hypocrites."

"Chief Minister Narendra Modi knows fully well that every brand of alcohol is available in the state of Gujarat at two or three times the price charged in neighbouring states. This means that the government of Gujarat is losing thousands of crores in potential revenue." he said.

 

Finance Minister allays fear of high govt borrowing

New Delhi (PTI): Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday allayed fears that high government market borrowing, pegged at about Rs 4 lakh crore, for the current fiscal will leave little resources for the private sector.

Just as the Reserve Bank managed market borrowings of the government, which increased after the stimulus packages were announced last fiscal, without disrupting markets, similarly it will handle it this fiscal, Mukherjee told reporters after his customary post-budget meeting with the RBI board here.

The government's borrowing is projected to be around Rs 4 lakh crore for this fiscal to fund its widening fiscal deficit pegged at 6.8 per cent of GDP.

Many fear that the high borrowing will crowd out or leave little money for the private sector to raise from the market.

Asked whether interest rate will be cut he said, appropriate actions would taken as and when required.

 

G8 meetings to focus on economic crisis and climate change

 

N. Ravi

 

 

 

 

Rome: It is a confident, resurgent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who will be discussing global issues with leaders at the G8 outreach meetings in Italy for three days. Earlier in April, when he attended the G20 summit in London, it was as a lame duck Prime Minister facing uncertain prospects of return to power in an election process that was already under way. If then his standing as an economist and originator of economic reforms in India still made the outside world hear him with respect, he can now speak with the authority of popular endorsement of his policies and the renewed mandate.

The G8 meetings provide an opportunity to discuss global issues in an informal setting and they are not a negotiating forum. Originally scheduled to be held in La Maddalena in the island of Sardinia, the venue was shifted to the austere setting of a military training school in L'Aquila in the middle of the Abruzzo region in central Italy that was hit by an earthquake on April 6. This move was Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi's way of showing empathy and bringing the leaders closer to the people and their concerns.

The G8 that started out as an exclusive club of the industrial nations has over the years expanded its reach to bring in other countries into the dialogue process. The major dialogue partners are the G5 countries – Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. In addition, Egypt has been invited to this year's meetings. Australia, Indonesia and South Korea are being brought into the meetings to constitute the major economies forum along with the European Commission and the major multilateral organisations. In all, the leaders meeting in Italy represent 90 per cent of the world's economy.

India sees the G8 as a useful and effective forum for discussing issues of the global economy and moving things forward in international institutions. The format of the meetings is a compromise between the original exclusivity and the broader expansion of the dialogue.

Parallel summits

 

On Wednesday, there will be parallel summits of the G8 countries (chaired by Italy) and the G5 (chaired by Mexico). Then on Thursday will follow the combined meetings of the G8 and the G5 along with the international organisations, Egypt and other major economies. The third day of the summit will bring the African countries into the dialogue with the G8 and the G5, with the focus on food security.

The Heiligendamm dialogue process between the G8 and the G5 was started at the summit in Germany in 2007 and focuses on innovation, including intellectual property rights, investments including ethical business conduct, energy and economic development. Four working groups have been appointed to study the issues and they will be submitting their reports at this summit.

The two major issues to be addressed at this summit will be economic recovery and climate change. The process of bringing about a greater coordination of policies to reverse the current downturn and making regulation more effective that was started at the G20 London summit in April will be taken forward now even as the G20 Pittsburg summit approaches later this year.

The discussions on climate change at the meeting of major economies forum — accounting for 80 per cent of the global carbon emissions — are considered critical in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit on climate change to be held in December.

Several unresolved issues remain in this area, with the industrial countries pushing China and India to move to a less polluting path to development while the developing countries, particularly India, want the developed world to cut back its emissions sharply — by 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. While the meetings in Italy are not expected to resolve all the issues, a strong declaration of political commitment to move towards an agreement in Copenhagen is expected.

In addition to the summit meetings, Dr. Singh will be holding a series of bilateral meetings with the leaders who have assembled here.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/08/stories/2009070857620100.htm

 

Obama: Prosperity is in Africa's future

ACCRA (AP) President Barack Obama is promising to make sure that U.S. aid to Africa gets to the people who need it most, such as farmers and entrepreneurs, and not Western consultants and administrators.

In a speech on Saturday in Ghana, Mr. Obama said that is why $3.5 billion in food assistance will focus on new methods and technologies for farmers, instead of simply sending U.S. goods to Africa.

The American president, making his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa, says wealthy countries like the U.S. have a lot to gain by opening their doors to more goods and services from Africa.

He says that will help reduce poverty and create wealth on the continent, while creating new markets and demand for American goods.

 

Dalit woman spearheads struggle against hooch menace

New Delhi (PTI) As the Ahmedabad hooch tragedy assumes alarming proportions, a dalit woman spearheading a four-year fight against spurious liquor in Haryana, was on Saturday honoured by President Pratibha Patil for showing the way to tackle the menace gripping many parts of the country.

"The work which Roshani Devi and her two fellow women activists Usha and Tripti have done shows how courage, dedication and confidence can overcome even the most difficult of problems," Ms. Patil said while presenting shawls and mementos to Devi, the first dalit sarpanch of her village, and her two associates, at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here.

A beaming 35-year-old Ms. Devi said she was proud of the honour but her battle against liquor continues.

"I feel proud that President has honoured me but this is not the end. My battle will continue," she said,.

 

It all started when Ms. Devi, the first Dalit graduate of her village in Mahendergarh District of Haryana decided to contest the Panchayat elections in 2005 with a promise that she would ensure that no one drinks alcohol in public places.

Her appeal immediately struck a chord with women voters for whom drinking of liquor by men especially at public places was a menace which they had to face every day.

"Addicted to hooch, the villagers would often come drunk and beat their wives and children. Most of them used to open bottles at public places which would make it difficult for women to venture out," Ms. Devi said.

 

Militants explode bomb at official's residence in Manipur

Imphal (PTI) Unidentified militants on Saturday exploded a powerful bomb at the gate of the residence of a Manipur government official but no casualty was reported, official sources said.

Sources said the militants set off the explosive at the gate of the residence of assistant engineer of state public works department A. Narendradhaja at Wangkhei Laishram Leikai area in Imphal east district at around 12.45 pm.

No one was injured, sources said adding that monetary demand could be the cause of the incident.

In another incident, unidentified militants lobbed a powerful grenade at the residence of private clinic owner, H Rajen, at Soibam Leikai area in the district late Friday night injuring a man and woman, sources said.

In yet another incident, the militants also hurled a powerful grenade at the private house of a superintending engineer of state public works department, H. Santakumar, at Heingang area in Imphal east district, sources said adding that no casualty was reported.

Both the incidents appeared to be connected with monetary demand of a militant outfit, sources added.

 

Senate confirms Roemer as next US Ambassador to India

Washington (PTI) The US Senate has unanimously confirmed the nomination of Tim J. Roemer as the next US envoy to India to facilitate him to take charge well before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's New Delhi visit later this month.

The confirmation was made by the Senate on Friday after lawmakers approved Mr. Roemer's nomination by unanimous consent.

A former US lawmaker from Indiana and a member of the 9/11 Commission, 53-year-old Roemer is currently head of Washington-based think tank Center for National Policy (CNP).

Mr. Roemer had testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, which confirmed his nomination the following day.

The Senate accelerated his nomination process so that he could be in New Delhi before Ms. Clinton's proposed visit to India.

The nomination of Mr. Roemer, who is expected to leave for New Delhi soon, as the US Ambassador to India was officially announced by the White House on May 28 and sent to the Senate on June 11.

Mr. Roemer is considered close to President Barack Obama and was among the first few Democrats to support his run for US Presidency.

India, Pak should take cue from EU and shed differences: Kalam

New Delhi (PTI) Hoping for a lasting peace between India and Pakistan, former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Saturday said the two countries should follow the example of the European Union and shed their differences in larger interest.

Mr. Kalam said at an international conference on Unity of Faiths here that spiritual leaders also need to contribute towards establishing a world "where people can live in peace without the fear of war and terrorism".

"While I was addressing the European Parliament recently, I noticed how nations that had fought for over 100 years have come together," he said at the global meet.

Hoping that India and Pakistan too would shed their differences, he said, "You can fight for hundreds of years and even then you can come together... This is evident from the example of the 23 European nations."

The two-day conference was attended by representatives of different religions and 26 papers have been presented by contributors from the US, Ireland, Australia, Turkey and Pakistan, besides India. 

 

Lalgarh (Midnapore) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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21 Jun 2009 ... LALGARH: Three days after the West Bengal government finally moved against the Naxalites, security forces marched into Lalgarh on Saturday ...
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'Lalgarh will be torn by violence if I'm arrested': Rediff.com news

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16 Jun 2009 ... KOLKATA: The situation in the troubled Lalgarh area of West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district took a turn for the worse on Monday when a ...
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Revival on as factory output fires again
11 Jul 2009, 0212 hrs IST, ET Bureau
 
NEW DELHI: Industrial output rose for the second straight month in May, drawing varying interpretations from the finance ministry and the Planning
IIP Growth
Commission: the former saw it as one more sign of economic recovery, while the latter viewed the data with a little more circumspection.

Led by the consumer durables sector, the Index of Industrial Production rose by 2.7%, its biggest increase since October 2008. Industrial output, which expanded by a revised 1.2% in April, is seen as responding to the economic stimulus packages from the government.

Finance secretary Ashok Chawla said factory production was showing signs of improvement, indicating that the country is back on the trajectory of high growth. "This is what we were expecting, what we have been saying for some time now. Except capital goods and non-consumer durables, the rest are certainly looking much better. I think, we are back on track as was expected," he told reporters.

While the 12.4% increase in the output of consumer durables such as refrigerators, televisions and electronic appliances boosted growth in the manufacturing sector to 2.5%, consumer non-durables (perishables such as food items) and capital goods continued to languish in negative territory. Electricity generation went up by 3.3% and the mining sector posted a growth of 3.7%.

Mr Chawla said he expected the growth trend to continue and that the sectors, which have shown "slight" negative growth, would improve in the coming months.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on the other hand, was chary of painting too rosy a picture too soon. "We do believe that the worst is over. But, there is difference between the worst being over and getting back to robust growth. The real question is that how rapidly we resume growth," he said.

DK Joshi, principal economist at ratings agency Crisil, observed that nothing conclusive could be said about the months ahead, as the performance of industry is also linked to the monsoon.

"The growth in consumer durables and the cement and steel sectors can be directly attributable to the stimulus packages announced by the government," Mr Joshi said.

He added, however, that if monsoon fails, the effects of the stimulus packages could get negated. Moreover, the performance of the industrial sector, this year, would not match that of previous years as exports are still low and demand in Western markets is yet to pick up, he said.
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Want to buy imported car? Wait for 3 months
11 Jul 2009, 2015 hrs IST, CHANCHAL PAL CHAUHAN,ET Bureau

Customers will now have to wait longer to get imported cars, with carmakers deciding to import vehicles only against confirmed bookings. Cars that changed the world

 

Jackson's Neverland to be bought by fashion designer
11 Jul 2009, 1819 hrs IST, PTI

French fashion designer Christian Audigier is planning to buy Michael Jackson's fantasy themed Neverland Ranch. MJ died of lethal levels of potential medicines

 


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Students advised to leave hills

July 10: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has "requested" students staying in hostels and tourists to leave Darjeeling hills by Monday noon after which an indefinite strike might be called if the government does not remove the senior-most police officer in north Bengal.

This is the first time students are being asked to leave Darjeeling schools, some of which are still counted among the most reputable institutes of the country.

However, the Morcha hastened to add that the advice had been issued to ensure that students were not confined in hostels without food if the threatened strike dragged on and not because they hailed from outside the hills.

The three hill subdivisions have around 5,000 student boarders, including many from neighbouring countries. But it is not tourist season now.

The latest round of unrest unfolded because of a turf battle between the Morcha and the Gorkha National Liberation Front that has largely been ousted from the hills but retains some pockets of influence in the foothills.

Tension, building over the past few days over a rivalry to back construction orders, burst forth this noon, triggering clashes between Morcha supporters and police in Panighata, about 40km from Siliguri.

The police burst tear-gas shells and baton-charged a Morcha rally after participants allegedly attacked the house of a GNLF leader.

The Morcha, which has been accusing the state machinery of being vindictive towards its supporters, called a strike and demanded the transfer of K.L. Tamta, the north Bengal inspector-general of police, and two other officers. Morcha president Bimal Gurung also sought the arrest of Rajen Mukhia, whose house was attacked, for allegedly getting police to beat up rivals.

"We will give time till Monday noon to the government to fulfil our demands. Even then, I request all tourists, along with school and college students, to leave the hills," Gurung said, relaxing the strike till the deadline. "Even if our demands are met, some agitation will continue. That is why I have requested those residing outside the hills to leave."

A senior teacher of North Point, Darjeeling, said there were 250 international students in the hostel. "We do not know what we will do; we will take a decision at a governing body meeting tomorrow."


Girl with zeal on global stage
- From Orissa to Italy, Sanjukta meets PM with advice on education

Calcutta, July 10: Meeting the Prime Minister was a dream but Sanjukta Pangi, 16, stayed cool — she had a mission to accomplish.

The tribal teen had come all the way to L'Aquila, Italy, from one of Orissa's most backward districts to tell Manmohan Singh what he could do to transform the education scene in her village, Semiliguda.

She won a promise from Singh, during the G8 summit yesterday afternoon, that his government would lay stress on rural education in the country.

The student of Government Girls' High School in Pottangi, Koraput district, had been selected by Unicef to represent India at the J8 (Junior 8) summit in Rome along with 53 others from 14 countries, including all the G8 ones.

Fourteen of the children — one from each participating country — were picked to meet their respective leaders at L'Aquila.

"I told the Prime Minister about the J8 declaration on free and qualitative education in developing countries," Sanjukta told The Telegraph from L'Aquila.

"Initially, I was quite tense talking to him…. I requested him to improve the transport sector in rural areas so students like me don't have to stay in school hostels."

After the 15-minute meeting, Singh introduced Sanjukta to world leaders, including US President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Two other Indian teenagers had been selected to attend the J8 summit: Narendra Kumar, 15, from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Samuel Venkatesan, 17, from Dam Kottapalla, Tamil Nadu.

Sanjukta made the team of 14 to L'Aquila on the strength of her performances in the discussions and debates at the J8.

Sanjukta, who comes from a village near Daman Jodi, Orissa's highest peak, said the J8 summit had made her more confident than ever about talking on child rights, especially on education for girls.

"In my village, girls are married off at an early age. I had to fight with my parents to continue to study," she said.

At both the G8 and J8 summits, the delegates — the world leaders and their younger counterparts — were looking for an answer to climate change and carbon emission.

Sanjukta calmly told the Prime Minister: "Youths like us are the future of the world. Together we can change it into a better place for the next generations to live. My father is a farmer; he has to wait for the rains every year because industries have come up near our village and trees have been felled randomly. Are we going to a world where there'll be no greens? We should focus on plantation and the green drive."

Mission accomplished, she returns to her village, about 500km from state capital Bhubaneswar, next week. She promises it will be "a new Sanjukta going back to India" with a "changed mindset" for a better tomorrow.


Take-it-or-leave-it land line

Calcutta, July 10: Industry will not be allowed to set up units on fertile tracts in Bengal but will be asked to choose sites in five districts where barren stretches are available, said a minister tasked after the Left Front's poll setback to draw up a land-use map.

"Industrialists will no longer be allowed to ask for land of their choice in places like Singur. From now on, we will tell them land is available in the western districts. Either you accept it or go (pachhando hole nao, noile kete poro)," land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah told the Assembly today while replying to the debate on his departmental budget.

The minister listed the five districts as Bankura, Purulia, West Midnapore as well as parts of Burdwan and Birbhum. Non-agricultural land — scarce in Bengal because of the fertility of the Gangetic plain — is available in these areas but investors have largely been skirting the region for lack of infrastructure and connectivity with Calcutta.

The assertion of Mollah, a known critic of the use of farmland for industry, is largely symbolic for the time being as few big-ticket investments are expected before the Assembly elections in 2011. The Left Front government, reduced almost to lameduck status after the successive controversies in Nandigram and Singur and the debilitating blows in the elections, is not expected to court industry aggressively during the intervening months.

However, Mollah's statement today served to bring back under the glare the divisions within the government on the issue. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and industries minister Nirupam Sen, two faces with whom the reindustrialisation drive was identified, were not present in the House.

If the government decides to enforce the Mollah model, it will mean that investors like Ratan Tata will have to confine themselves to western Bengal.

Tata Motors was shown four places — Guptamani, Sankrail, Uluberia and Singur — for the Nano factory in early 2006. The company chose Singur mainly because of its proximity to Calcutta, although Guptamani had less fertile land.

Biswadip Gupta, the CEO and managing director of JSW Bengal, today said the government must provide adequate infrastructure if it wanted industry to come up in backward areas.

Mollah signalled intention to table a law barring non-cultivators from buying farmland. "I will try to table a bill to stop the sale of large swathes of farmland to non-cultivators in the next session. But I am not sure whether I will be able to do it."

He made a distinction between acquisitions for private sector and government-run infrastructure projects. Mollah counted railway projects, now under Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee, on his list of "top priorities" for acquisition.

Push for seat at global high table
PM lists need for change

Rome, July 10: India senses in the economic crisis snagging the West a fresh opportunity to push for a more central and effective role in international financial and governance institutions.

New Delhi continues to tread cautiously on the specific issue of its claim to a permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC), but a new Indian thrust for international high tables across the board has clearly emerged from the L'Aquila summit.

Indeed, even before arriving here, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had outlined mounting Indian ambitions in a short vision treatise he wrote for a volume being put together by the Silvio Berlusconi premiership.

"The deficiencies of the existing system of governance have been dramatically brought home during the recent international financial and economic crisis," Singh wrote, adding that the world does not have a "structure which is functionally efficient and capable of dealing with the complex challenges the world faces today….

"The Security Council has not changed at all and its present structure poses serious problems of legitimacy.… It is obvious that if the system (UNSC) was being designed today it would be very different. While problems have long been recognised, efforts to reform the system have made little headway."

Asked where the issue of reforms to include claims of emerging economies on political and financial issues stood after the G8-G5 conclave at L'Aquila, foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said: "For me the impressive thing — and this is partly a result of the economic crisis — is that there is broad recognition that we really need to work these institutions, we need to change them."

Menon recalled the commitment made at the April G20 summit in London that voting shares in financial institutions would be revised.

Asked whether the L'Aquila declaration gave hope for changes to the UNSC, Menon said: "This is an expression of will, ultimately we will have to go out and (do) work in each of these organisations, we still have to do the hard work in the UN."

India's claim to the permanent position in the UNSC has found widespread lip-support internationally but not enough substantive backing. But reconstituting the UNSC is not an India-specific issue and expansion lies mired in so many claims and counter-claims that permanent members continue to favour status quo.

But even so, major emerging economies like India believe that the current financial crisis — and the consequent "softening" of industrialised nations on international forums — is an opportunity to take the "democratisation" campaign forward.

To that extent, New Delhi believes it has extracted "more than satisfactory" takeaways from L'Aquila. "The joint declaration itself was a victory for us, but only in content and tone," said a member of the Indian delegation.

"If you look at the print carefully, several sections have echoed the Prime Minister's pre-summit statement almost word to word. It is clear that the industrialised world has realised it cannot afford to ignore the concerns of the developing nations, in fact, they will have to yield more and more where we make them see reason because at the moment they probably need us more than the other way round."

Beat office blown up in Gajapati

Bhubaneswar, July 10: After a brief lull, Naxalites blew up a beat office at Paniganda in Gajapati district at 2pm late last night.

Fifty armed Maoists, including women, swooped down on the beat office under Adaba police area of Mohana block and dragged out the forest guard manning the house and tied him to a tree. The women then reportedly ransacked the house before blowing it up using detonators, said inspector-in-charge of Adaba police station N. Kero.

Three villagers were injured in the incident, two of them seriously. The injured have been identified as Jugal Dandasena, Prashant Paik and Dibakar Gadanayak, who were rushed to Adaba hospital, police said.

The rebels finally left after felling trees along the Daringbadi-Berhampur and Sunabeda-Chandrapur roads.

Meanwhile, security was beefed up in rebel-hit districts after a Maoist bandh call.

Demanding the immediate release of their cadre staying behind bars, the state CPI(Maoist) called a 12-hour bandh today.

Letters regarding the demand were earlier despatched to the media, whereas posters carrying the name of leader Sabyasachi were pasted in town and village squares.

"A number of innocent men have been arrested on charges of spreading so-called Left-wing terrorism in the state.

"All of them have to be released at the earliest. Those involved in the riots at Raikia in Kandhamal district should surrender at the earliest, else they would be punished like the Swamiji," the letters stated.

Rebels chose rural districts in Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts to paste their posters.

The bandh, however, received little response as normal life continued as usual in most districts barring Rayagada. At Rayagada, vehicles kept off the roads and most shops remained closed throughout the day.

Students lock up cops in school

Midnapore, July 10: Students of a high school 15km from Lalgarh today marched to their institution and locked its gates demanding that policemen camping there vacate the premises and let classes resume.

Over a dozen high schools in and around Lalgarh are shut now because they are being used to house security forces.

At Binpur High School, where classes have not been held since June 15, 250 students came in a procession and asked the 50 personnel living inside to clear out immediately. Then they locked the cops in.

At 12.30pm, the inspector in charge of Binpur came with a large team of baton-wielding personnel and chased the children away. The force broke the lock on the school gate.

"We have repeatedly asked the administration to shift the camp but nothing has happened. That is why we decided to demonstrate today but the police hit us with sticks," said Dayal Sinha, who is in Class XI.

A farmer whose son is in Class VIII threatened a police boycott if they did not relent.

Ironically, it is a boycott that brought such a large number of security personnel here. The tribals of Lalgarh had been boycotting the administration to protest alleged police atrocities. Maoist guerrillas made use of it and turned the area into their stronghold until the forces marched in.

"If necessary, we will go for a police boycott," said Amitava Bera, 48.

In Calcutta, home secretary Ardhendu Sen held out hope. "We will vacate the schools in 15 days and shift the forces to new camps."

A retired police officer said occupying schools for an "indefinite period" was not a right "tactical" decision. "When a large contingent is invol-ved in area domination, they should be provided with good accommodation. Government buildings such as schools are ideal, but only if the forces are going to be stationed there for a short time," said S.N. Sarkar.

West Midnapore police chief Manoj Verma said over 15 permanent camps were being constructed in the area. "We are trying to build them fast."

Even before the forces move out for good, attempts are being made to resume the higher classes. Jhargram subdivisional officer P. Ulganathan said: "We have requested the district police chief to vacate a few classrooms so Classes VIII to XII can be held."

District inspector of schools Santosh Patra said about 20,000 students were missing their classes. "The school education department told us to find rooms in the nearest primary schools and hold classes there. But it is not feasible. First, primary schools have few rooms. Second, all the affected high schools don't have primary schools nearby."

The higher secondary council said it was exploring ways to make up on lost time. "We may ask the schools to hold full classes on Saturdays and beyond normal hours. The Puja vacation may have to be curtailed," said council secretary Swapan Sarkar.

THE COLD WAR CONTINUES
- Obama's barely coded offer to Medvedev and Putin

The recent summit meeting in Moscow did not dispel the suspicion that Russia, too, has lost an empire without finding a role, as Dean Acheson said of Britain. But Barack Obama's barely coded offer to Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin of a nuclear-shield-for-Iran deal did confirm the non-aligned movement's rationale, which the West persistently denied, that the Cold War was more about power, influence and territory than about ideology.

The contest has lost its edge but has not been put to rest. Among other results of that continuing tussle was the drift in India-Russia relations during the last few years when India sought to "reset" (using Obama's term for his plans for Moscow) relations with the United States of America. Now, America's example shows that it is just as important for India not to neglect Russia. Whether it is possible to do so without jeopardizing the close Indo-American ties that Manmohan Singh and George W. Bush built up will depend largely on the Obama administration, which has not so far treated India as a foreign policy priority.

Medvedev's grandiose vision — "Such powerful states as Russia and America have special responsibility for everything that is happening on this planet" — revealed Russia's self-perception. Clearly this is not quite how the US views its partnership with yesterday's superpower. Obama avoided Richard Nixon's folie de grandeur in hailing the formal end of the Cold War as the beginning of the age of Pax Americana and Bush's blunder in treating those who did not wholeheartedly support his aggressiveness as enemies. But Russian analysts found his eulogies of democracy and criticism of corruption "mentoring" and "talking down". At times, especially when telling Russian students they would "get to decide" the future, Obama also sounded as if he was threatening regime change in Moscow too.

His hosts had the last laugh when he warned that a great power "does not show strength by dominating or demonizing other countries". Or that empires cannot "treat sovereign states as pieces on a chess board". Obama spoke of Georgia and the Ukraine, but Russians could have asked, "What, then, did the US do in Iraq? What is it doing in Afghanistan?" The condemnation of military power sounded especially unconvincing since US forces provide the anchor of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which is being extended and strengthened while the Warsaw Pact has been wound up.

Russia's defence budget is only 11 per cent of America's. Over 70 per cent of Russia's 10,000 warheads are not operational. Western observers calculate that Russia will not be able to maintain more than 500 nuclear weapons by 2020. Of America's 5,200 nuclear weapons, 2,700 are fully operational. The American economy is 14 times bigger than Russia's and Russia's population of 142 million is slated to fall to 107 million in the next 40 years.

In the circumstances, the agreement to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty may have been a concession to Moscow. If both sides cut down 2,200 warheads to between 1,500 and 1,675, Russia will be able to get rid of an ageing arsenal without loss of either face or serious strategic advantage. Start-I would have lapsed in December in any case and a review was overdue. A politically more important gain from the visit was the agreement on 4,500 US military flights carrying men and weapons free of charge across Russian territory to Afghanistan, where Obama is making a fresh effort to defeat the Taliban and shore up Hamid Karzai's regime in preparation for the August 20 presidential election.

It can be argued that this is wasted effort. No matter what Pakistan's rulers promise, their cooperation can never be wholehearted when the enemy is not only another Islamic entity, but one that they themselves created. The corrupt Karzai government is manifestly ineffective. The Afghan tribes always back the winning side or whoever pays them most. Helmand province, where the US effort is focussed, lucratively produces most of the heroin that makes Afghanistan responsible for 90 per cent of the world's output. Above all, history is against the so-called International Security Assistance Force, the fig leaf for the US forces. Lady Elizabeth Butler's painting of Dr Brydon's arrival at Jalalabad depicts the sole survivor in January 1842 of an army of 4,500 British troops and 12,000 camp followers. They suffered the fate that was to defeat the Soviet invaders more than a century later.

Be that as it may, the overflight agreement without any of the hysteria that foiled Chandra Shekhar's similar permission in 1991 indicates an appreciation in Moscow of common political aims. An ISAF victory in Afghanistan is important to the Russians because of Muslim separatism in the southern parts of their own country. They do not want a revival of the Chechen war or a repetition of the current revolt in Xinjiang against Han Chinese rule. Fear of Islamic fundamentalism makes for strange bedfellows.

That may not mean Russia subscribes to all US aims. The centrepiece of Obama's diplomacy was to enlist Medvedev and Putin, the reputably more powerful prime minister whom he criticized only the week before as someone with "one foot in the old ways of doing business", in persuading Iran to give up its nuclear ambition. The implicit message was that if they supported him against Iran, the US might consider abandoning the missile defence shield it proposes to instal in Poland and the Czech Republic. Obama argued that the shield is aimed at "preventing a potential attack from Iran".

Russia, which is building Iran's first nuclear power station, is sceptical about this explanation and opposes punitive measures against Iran. Medvedev was the first world leader to meet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the agonized protests against his landslide victory in the June 12 election. Moscow is convinced that far from being a deterrent against Iran, the US missile defence shield is "a direct threat" to Russia's "integrity and existence". US determination in pushing Nato to include former Soviet republics only substantiates Russian fears of encirclement.

Historically, Russia regards the region it calls the "near abroad" as its backyard, protected by an invisible Monroe Doctrine. American recognition of Kosovo's secession from Serbia and attempts to draw Georgia and the Ukraine into Nato are seen as modern equivalents of the provocation of Soviet missiles in Cuba. By that token, Russia's invasion of Serbia last August could be compared to John F. Kennedy's response to the Cuban missiles.

The stalemate places Manmohan Singh in a quandary. India cannot ignore the traditional strategic partnership with Russia, for though Russia is no longer the sole supplier of India's defence needs, Russia's aircraft carrier and nuclear submarines are still valuable assets. India must also forge a firm and coherent response to Chinese aggrandizement. Nor is there any reason why India should gratuitously alienate an Iran whose oil and gas, common border with Afghanistan, strategic potential in respect of Pakistan, and independent foreign policy make it a desirable ally. If Iran must be ostracized for its notional bomb, Pakistan should be punished far more severely for its actual arsenal.

Hillary Clinton's belated travel plans encourage the hope that it is not impossible to reconcile these compulsions and salvage something of the trust between Manmohan Singh and Bush despite divergent positions on climate change and the World Trade Organization. India needs the US as much as ever, both for nuclear cooperation and regional security. The US, too, must know that it is absurd to imagine that a stable, democratic South Asia can rest on the pivots of two feudal theocracies without the active participation of the region's only democracy, which also happens to be the largest in the world.

Meanwhile, notwithstanding some positive results, Obama's fencing with Medvedev and Putin confirmed that the Cold War continues in the Balkans.

sunandadr@yahoo.co.in
Prayers banned at Urumqi mosques

Urumqi (China), July 10: Chinese authorities banned prayer gatherings at mosques here today as security officials tried to prevent further ethnic violence in the Xinjiang region.

But local officials appeared to partly relax the ban this afternoon, allowing shortened prayer services after hundreds of Uighur worshippers gathered outside at least two of Urumqi's main mosques and pressed to be allowed inside, news agencies reported.

The security clampdown that followed Sunday's deadly riots remained tight. A small group of about 40 Uighur men and women began a protest march after prayers ended today, but they were quickly blocked by police forces, The Associated Press reported. Officials later announced a curfew would be reimposed on the city this evening. The city's main bus station was filled with people trying to flee the unrest, news services said.

Meanwhile, in another large Xinjiang city, the ancient Silk Road oasis town of Kashgar, foreign journalists and other visitors were instructed to leave. Strictly enforced security was clearly high on the government's agenda, and The People's Daily, the Communist Party's official newspaper, said in an editorial today that "to maintain social stability, we need to isolate and crack down hard on a handful of people". The paper said those who "masterminded, organised and committed serious violence during the riot" should be targets.

Hike in death toll

China's state news agency today said the death toll in the rioting had risen from 156 to 184. Xinhua News Agency said the dead included 137 people — 111 men and 26 women — from the dominant ethnic Han Chinese group. The other fatalities include 46 Uighurs.


The devil in the drug

Shekhar didn't really suffer from muscle pain. But he was at the chemist's every day, buying a strip of Spasmoproxyvon — a medicine that doctors would sparingly prescribe for muscular aches.

He is now at a rehabilitation centre in Mumbai. His left eye twitches involuntarily, as Shekhar — an electrician — looks stony faced. It is for the first time in three years that he has been forced to go without his daily fix of tablets.

Like Michael Jackson — who died last week in a suspected case of abuse of medicines — Shekhar didn't have to look far for his daily fix. He didn't have to hobnob with peddlers for hard drugs in shady street corners. He just bought them over the counter at a pharmacist's.

Anybody — from a school student to a housewife — can get a high on a host of medicines that are easily available and perfectly legal. Though you need a prescription to buy most of these medicinal drugs — those listed in Schedule H of the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules, 1945, cannot be sold without a prescription — unscrupulous chemists are willing to sell them to you without the doctor's orders.

For many abusers, it all begins with just a few tablets, or an injection or two. Sunil Trivedi, currently in rehab in Mumbai, used to take two or three tablets of Spasmoproxyvon a day. Gradually, a feeling of calm replaced initial side effects such as nausea. "I became oblivious to the constant bickering at home," says Trivedi, 24, who until recently worked in the office of his uncle, a Congress legislator, in Raipur. "I felt very peaceful and enjoyed driving under the influence of the drug," he says.

But the craving led to more pills and sleeplessness — which he tried to cure by overdosing on Alprax, a tranquiliser. Soon, Trivedi couldn't do without his daily dose of medicines.

Medicine abuse — of pills and injectables — is on the rise. Dr Yusuf Matcheswalla, a psychiatrist in Mumbai who works with addicts, says prescription medication abuse has increased "drastically" over the years. The medicines are easily available, don't cost too much, and there are chemists who are willing to sell them without prescriptions.

Some chemists, of course, make a profit by selling them at a premium — two to ten times more than the actual price, he says.

Besides the abuse of synthetic opiates — painkillers, tranquilisers and anti-depressants — the potentially addictive codeine phosphate in cough syrups are hot favourites. Corex, for instance, is a popular cough syrup that addicts love for the high it gives them.

Riyaz Sheikh (name changed), a chemist in Bandra (West), says he recognises an addict when he sees an old prescription. "Doctors usually taper off the medication after a few weeks or a month, but these people get so addicted to the medication that they continue to take it long after the doctor has tried to wean them off the drugs," says Sheikh.

Some addicts, says Mumbai-based psychiatrist Anjali Chabbria, are patients of hypertension and anxiety. Some, adds Dr Sujata Nair, who is attached to a Mumbai de-addiction centre called Kripa, abuse heart and hypertension medication.

Even the over-the-counter diarrhoea medication Lomotil is used by addicts to calm their nerves. Sheikh speaks of a client who confessed to using the medicine to get sleep during the day, as he worked mainly night shifts.

Most of the drugs relax the muscles which sedate a person. More than anything else, it's this feeling of "well being" that addicts seek.

Another reason people prefer prescription medicine abuse, doctors say, is because there are not as many outward manifestations as in alcohol or narcotic drug abuse.

As a teenager, Pranaadhika Sinha, founder director of Elaan, a Calcutta-based support group for incest survivors, got addicted to the sedative Ativan, a benzodiazepine prescribed for anxiety, insomnia, seizures, muscle spasms or for withdrawal symptoms of drugs and alcohol use. Sinha faced intense insomnia — she was unable to sleep for a week at a stretch — after her parents separated. She took to the drug, which had earlier helped her mother. "Before taking the drug my mother used to shout at me. But after taking it, she stopped."

The battle over insomnia was won, but Sinha got hooked on the drug, which she regularly stole from her mother's medicine chest. "I simply couldn't do without it," she says.

One day after a fight with her mother, Sinha took an overdose of Ativan and ended up unconscious for three days — putting an end to the addiction.

Sinha may have been freed from a lifetime of addiction, but many others have been gently lulled into it. At least two of her mother's friends in Calcutta, she says, have been self medicating — taking anti-depressants such as Paxil — to fight menopausal blues.

There are people who pop pills by the dozen or inject themselves to get their high, but in most cases a patient gets hooked to medicines through sheer accident or lack of awareness. Sunil John, 33, an executive at a media house in Mumbai, is a classic case of an accidental addict. He used to suffer from frequent headaches, and started taking the analgesic Saridon for a cure. Then one day he realised that he couldn't do without the medicine — an addiction that has lasted five years. "Often I take the pill as a preventive measure, fearing I will have to take twice the number of pills if the headache worsens," says John.

Many of the addicts are doctors — tempted by the easy availability of the pills and stressed by the pressures of work. One of Matcheswalla's patients — currently in rehab for prescription medicine abuse — is a doctor, whose husband is a doctor as well. "I have treated not less than 50 doctors addicted to prescription medicine over the last 15 years," says Dr Matcheswalla. Another patient is a young animal lover who got addicted to an anaesthetic used to sedate the animals she worked with.

People have different reasons for getting addicted to medicines. Sonia, 25, a Pune resident, says it was her "addictive personality" and "curiosity" that led to her getting hooked on prescription medication when she was 15. She says she continued with the drugs because they "stabilised" her moods. Mamta, a 29-year-old information technology professional in Mumbai, however, has no idea why she needed an addiction. But she knew she couldn't do without the sleep-inducing family of nitrazepams.

"Most doctors would conclude that addiction is the result of a messed up family background. But I came from a very loving and protective family where there was no violence or abuse," says Mamta. "My brother who grew up in the same home has never even touched alcohol or drugs," she adds.

Mamta's epiphany came by way of the Narcotics Anonymous (NA) (http://www.nabombay.org/) where she learnt that her's was an illness that plagued not just her body but also her mind. NA, like the Alcoholics Anonymous which helps alcoholics go off liquor, conducts a 12-step programme for recovering drug addicts, who meet regularly in every city to help each other stay clean. The steps include admitting the addiction, prayer and meditation.

It is almost six years since Sonia and Mamta have been off drugs — after several failed attempts. "My family is proud of me now," says Mamta.

But a "clean" life does not necessarily translate as easy. There are unresolved issues that come with an "addictive" personality. "There are days when I get overwhelmed with life and feel like going back to my relationship with drugs," says Mamta.

That's when she stops and is reminded of all the steps that constituted her de-addiction programme. And she takes one day at a time.

Lack of triggers, FII outflow hurting market sentiment

11 Jul 2009, 1725 hrs IST, Surya R Kannoth, ET Bureau

 


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MUMBAI: Market men expect weakness to persist in the forthcoming week for the lack of positive cues. Now that the Budget is out of the way, the
earnings season for the first quarter of the new financial year is expected to set the market tone in the immediate term. However, other important factors such as poor monsoon and concerns on the global economic conditions play on investor sentiment.

Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said the poor monsoon rains in northern parts of India were posing a severe crisis. Rains have been 8 percent below normal in early July, reviving after the driest June in 83 years, but water in the main reservoirs has more than halved, putting at risk agricultural produce.

The official start of the earnings season began Friday with IT bellwether Infosys Technologies raising its full year forecasts after beating estimates with a 17 per cent rise in quarterly profit, helped by currency gains but warned of a challenging global environment.

However, the Indian stock market failed to be cheered by the results with equities registering the biggest weekly fall since October 2008. National Stock Exchange's Nifty settled at 4080.95, down 7.75 per cent or 343 points from the previous week. Bombay Stock Exchange's Nifty ended at 13,504.22, lower by 9.45 per cent or 1409 points.

"A downward bias is likely next week as the market is bereft of any positive triggers. International markets have painted a dismal picture for the last few weeks. Data on the monsoon front will be announced sometime next week which will again add to the weak sentiment. Moreover, quarterly earnings will not throw any positive surprises. In fact, Infosys results have been above expectations but this will now raise the bar for other IT companies. As expectations rise, chances of disappointments are higher," said Ambareesh Baliga, head of research at Karvy Stock Broking.


Also Read
 → Sensex trips 13500 support as FIIs exit
 → Indian shares post biggest weekly fall in 8 mths
 → Sebi discussing proposal on 25% compulsory public shareholding
 → FIIs turn bullish on Indian mkts; invest Rs 30K cr in Q1


Earlier this week, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the country's fiscal deficit would reach 6.8 percent of gross domestic product for the year to March 2010.

Global rating agency Moody's said that India's ratings may be downgraded if the government debt rises substantially, due to a lack of medium-term reforms and delay in privatisation among others. "If the Indian government's debt finance-ability and its debt sustainability were to worsen--due to a lack of medium-term reforms or delays in privatization, or due to large unexpected shocks-- then negative rating actions may follow, " said Moody's Vice President and Senior Analyst Aninda Mitra.

Mitra said the recent Budget announcement is in line with its stable outlook on India's ratings. However, he added that India's overall deficit is larger than the countries which are given the same ratings by Moody's.

"Foreign institutional investors have been on a selling spree for the last 7 days even domestic institutions have not been buying aggressively. Global cues are also not supportive and equity benchmarks close to their technical support levels. Furthermore, factors like Budget and the monsoons have been a dampener. Sectorwise, banking, realty and metals look weak. We may see Nifty slipping to 3860 in the coming week," Prahlad Bang, HNI desk, Networth Stock Broking




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US bull market for investment scams

11 Jul 2009, 1733 hrs IST, BusinessWeek

 


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By Brian Burnsed
BusinessWeek logo
Bernard L Madoff may have pulled off the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. But his is far from being the one and only. Since the start of 2009, the Securities & Exchange Commission has filed 34 cases alleging investor scams, up from the pace just a year earlier.

The latest: A July 8 complaint against Sky Capital that alleges the New York broker-dealer and a predecessor firm were merely boiler rooms that bilked investors out of more than $140 million over the past decade. Founder and Chief Executive Ross Mandell, 52, and five middle-aged associates, who were led into court in handcuffs, could face 20 years in prison if convicted of fraud charges.

Why the rise in arrests and criminal charges? The downturn in the economy is outing more con artists, attorneys say. Like Madoff's record-setting $65 billion, decades-long scam, many frauds rely on money from new investors to pay returns promised to older investors and to support the perpetrators' typically lavish lifestyles. When financial markets collapsed last year, new investors vanished while older investors began to demand withdrawals. Suddenly funds that had seemed solid turned out to be empty shells.

Madoff Exposed by Market Crisis

Had the economy remained stable, attorneys argue, many of these long-running schemes would have gone on undetected. "I don't think there's a rise in these fraud schemes and Ponzi schemes; they've been around forever," says Bradley D. Simon, a white-collar criminal defense attorney of New York-based firm Simon & Partners. "The downturn in the economy is exposing some of these operations. Had it not been for [the downturn], I think Madoff would be perpetuating his."



The North American Securities Administrators Assn. estimates that securities fraud costs investors about $40 billion a year.

Beyond headline-grabbing scams like Madoff's and an $8 billion scheme alleged to have been orchestrated by Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, smaller cases are emerging weekly, on average.
Triggered by Investor Tips

These are cases like Tom Petters of Minnesota, who allegedly tricked investors into pouring at least $1 billion into a phony wholesale consumer-goods scam from 1995 to 2008. Petters is awaiting trial. Paul Greenwood and Stephen Walsh face civil and criminal charges for allegedly using money that investors turned over to New York-based WG Trading Investors as their own "personal piggy bank," according to SEC documents. The duo is estimated to have taken $554 million since 1996.



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Nothing wrong in being selfish
10 Jul 2009, 0218 hrs IST, Mukul Sharma,
It's probably apocryphal but the story goes that once when Abraham Lincoln — then a young lawyer riding the circuit with others of his profession —

was travelling between towns he came across a pig hopelessly stuck in the mud. The more the animal struggled to get free, the more it mired itself in and was sure to die of thirst or starvation ultimately.

They say the future 16th President of the United States was wearing a new suit he hadn't owned for very long and, as such, most thoughts of compassion or rescue were not really on the front burner of his priorities right then. However, apparently he couldn't get the pig out of his head and after a while doubled back and helped it out.


Now honest Abe definitely doesn't need a latter day 21st century makeover by any columnist but it's still worth noting what he's supposed to have reflected on about his motives for executing such compassion. At first he thought he'd rescued the pig just because he was a nice guy. With a little more deliberation, though, he came to the conclusion he'd done it out of pure selfishness. As he later is said to have told a friend, he'd gone back to free the pig to "take a pain out of his mind."

The difference between the child beggar dirtying the door window of our car at a traffic signal which most of us ignore, wish away or forget as soon as the lights green out is that Lincoln let it linger.

Those of us — and there are many — who actually roll the glass down and deliver a couple of coins into the grubby palm would find it difficult to admit why we do so — especially if we've got well-fed kids in the back seat. At the same time it's also true that, basically, the sight is a pain. Whether we deliver or not, we don't let it last long; we don't let it linger.

Importantly, neither did Lincoln. He didn't dedicate the rest of his life to saving animals in distress. That's because when he lived he had all sorts of other pains to take "out of his mind" which required the selfish motivation of somehow getting rid of them.

And he did to the best of his abilities. Those who do it "selflessly" are actually doing the same thing because they can't bear the thought of living while they see suffering and anguish in the world. It pains them. Some are even enlightened people who turn back from a guaranteed personal salvation to help others because of selfish motives. The truth is, if one is truthful to oneself, at least a millionth of the battle is won.

The issue of climate change

The issue of climate change

Come December and developed and developing countries will meet in Copenhagen to deliberate the issue of climate change.

In banking, do what is doable 

Given the present global and domestic realities, we need to face up to the fact that the banking sector reform can happen only gradually.

A perfect recipe for stagflation 

The finance minister has indulged in an unprecedented spree of social spending instead of focusing on economic revival.


Editorial
Have simple, sensible norms to tax perks
People's tax liability should be directly proportional to their incomes.
First ladies have to get it right
Hobnobbing with the First Ladies at international summits is now akin to negotiating a minefield, albeit of fashion faux-pas.
Policy action on climate change urgent
Over 500 mn Indians do not have access to sources of power.

More >>

Columnists
T T Ram Mohan
In banking, do what is doable
Given the present global and domestic realities, we need to face up to the fact that the banking sector reform can happen only gradually.
Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar
Strong content, lousy presentation
History will judge this budget by its success in combating the recession.
M K VENU
Why markets don't like Pranab babu
The market will soon realise its folly and start looking at the Budget proposals in a different light in the days ahead.

Students lock up personnel classrooms to protest Lalgarh

Zee News - ‎Jul 10, 2009‎
Lalgarh, July 10: Students of a high school today locked up classrooms, being used as camps by security forces who were engaged in anti-Maoist operations at ...

300 protesters stopped on way to Lalgarh

Times of India - Sukumar Mahato - ‎Jul 9, 2009‎
The MKP workers looked determined to reach out to Lalgarh breaking the police barricade right at the Midnapore railway station. Police finally detained all ...

Lalgarh scores over Amlasole

The Statesman - Shyam Sundar Roy - ‎Jul 9, 2009‎
MIDNAPORE, 9 JULY: While Lalgarh has stolen the show, thanks to an eight-month long agitation spearheaded by the Police Santras Birodhi Public Committee ...

Lalgarh operation will continue, says West Bengal

Hindu - ‎Jul 5, 2009‎
Photo: PTI On the offensive: Joint forces take position during an operation against naxals near Lalgarh in West Bengal's West Midnapore district on Saturday ...
Lalgarh forest clean-up begins Calcutta Telegraph

At Rs 10 lakh a day, Lalgarh meter ticks

Calcutta Telegraph - Anindya Sengupta - ‎Jul 9, 2009‎
July 9: Bengal is running up a bill of at least Rs 10 lakh a day to keep security forces on their feet in Lalgarh, a burden the cash-strapped state possibly ...

Mamata calls for disturbed' tag on Lalgarh

Times of India - ‎Jun 29, 2009‎
KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee has called upon the Centre to call an emergency meeting to review the Lalgarh situation and declare the area "disturbed". ...

Lalgarh operations nearing end

Hindu - Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury - ‎Jul 1, 2009‎
ROAD TO RECOVERY: After 18 days, the first bus from Medinipur to Lalgarh crosses the Jhitka forest on Wednesday. The public transport system was affected ...

Lalgarh villagers vow to resist security forces

Times of India - ‎Jun 24, 2009‎
LALGARH: Amid allegations that security forces were ransacking homes and even throwing away food, villagers in this trouble zone where operations to flush ...

Stay up to date on these results:

Govt to develop tourism infrastructure in Maoist-hit areas

Economic Times - ‎6 hours ago‎
11 Jul 2009, 1730 hrs IST, PTI KOLKATA: To offset Maoist influence, the West Bengal government has comprehensive plans to develop tourism infrastructure in ...

Maoists attack forest beat house in Gajapati

Times of India - Rajaram Satapathy - ‎Jul 10, 2009‎
BHUBANESWAR: At least three people were injured when a land mine planted by Maoists inside a forest beat house at a village in Gajapati district went off in ...

Buddhadeb asks Opposition to join fight against Maoists

Hindu - Indrani Dutta - ‎Jul 9, 2009‎
KOLKATA: Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday asked the Opposition to reach a consensus on the Maoist issue, and to join hands to "free our ...

MLAs warned against contact with Maoists

The Statesman - ‎Jul 9, 2009‎
However, Mr Bhattacharjee had stated in the Assembly last week that Mr Chhatradhar Mahato, chief of PSBPC was not a Maoist, though the committee itself is a ...

Police moot reforming youngsters forced to join Maoists

Times of India - Abhijit Sen - ‎Jul 8, 2009‎
Minors and youths, who were forced to join Maoists groups, are now going to be slowly disengaged from the Red rebels and integrated into mainstream society ...

Chhatradhar helped Maoists, says CM

Times of India - ‎Jul 2, 2009‎
KOLKATA: People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) leader Chhatradhar Mahato is helping Maoists though he may not be a Maoist himself, ...

Maoists torch hijacked buses, release staff

Times of India - Abdul Qadir - ‎Jul 5, 2009‎
GAYA: Maoists, on Sunday, torched the two hijacked buses of the a private transport company in Chakarbandha forests, a few km away from where the buses were ...
Rebel torch buses Calcutta Telegraph

Maoist stronghold seized

Times of India - ‎Jun 29, 2009‎
LALGARH: Forty-eight hours after Ramgarh was captured, the Maoist stronghold of Kantapahari, too, was seized by security forces without any resistance on ...

Maoists issue fresh threat to transporter firm staff

Times of India - ‎Jul 8, 2009‎
GAYA: Continuing their tirade against Maharani Transport, the biggest transport company of South Bihar, Maoists have issued a fresh threat to the company ...

Survival of major non-Han culture in China is threatened, says ...

Tibetan Culture & News Online - ‎Jul 10, 2009‎
"Demographically, what Beijing is pursuing there is not ethnic cleansing but ethnic drowning. This strategy to ethnically drown the natives through the "Go ...
China's Failures Evidenced In Recent Violence Everything PR - The Public Relations News Portal

Sonalika Sahay

Times of India - ‎8 hours ago‎
Beauty tip : Healthy skin is the best makeup one can wear, so regular cleansing, toning and moisturising is a must. In addition to this, sound sleep is the ...

Tamil death toll 'is 1400 a week' at Manik Farm camp in Sri Lanka

Times Online - Rhys Blakely - ‎20 hours ago‎
There is clearly a systematic ethnic cleansing of Tamils in Sri Lanka and the world is still letting this happen. Though the numbers looks to be higher, ...

'Pakistan created and nurtured terrorists'

Express Buzz - ‎Jul 9, 2009‎
... every TRICK to put the blame ON majority hindus&SHOUT all over india &the world that hindu majority IS doing ethnic cleansing of minorities here. ...

Indian envoy holds talks with Tamil leaders

Express Buzz - ‎Jul 9, 2009‎
... that most of the money India has promised is going to go into the pockets of the Sinhala politicians and also for their ethnic cleansing projects. ...
Doctors' orders Times Online

Report: 'White flight' causes growing school segregation

Times Online - ‎17 hours ago‎
White parents are pulling their children out of schools where they are outnumbered by ethnic-minority pupils, according to a report that shows increasing ...

Multiculturalism's bitter harvest

Examiner.com - ‎Jul 10, 2009‎
... slaughter and deportation (Euphemistically referred to as ethnic cleansing) of various ethnic and religious groups following the breakup of Yugoslavia. ...

COMMENT: Pakistan's Kashmir problem —Alok Rai

Daily Times - ‎Jul 2, 2009‎
... and allowed to work its malign destruction again, unleashing the ethnic cleansing that would necessarily result in Kashmir — with its Muslim majority ...

Conversion, reconversion led to Kandhamal riots: Commission

Express Buzz - Kishore Anthony - ‎Jul 4, 2009‎
Banned NLFT, NSCN are involved in a campaign of "gunpoint conversions" and "ethnic cleansing" of Hindus, which has left over 50000 Hindus dead and many more ...

Bangladesh as a jehadi hub A threat to Indian security and ...

Organiser - Shyam Khosla - ‎Jul 5, 2009‎
... Zia claimed in a televised broadcast that Bangladesh was a country of communal harmony even when it was rocked by Islamic frenzy and ethnic cleansing. ...



 
Palash Biswas

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