Month: October 2012

The committee on infrastructure financing Wednesday asked the government to allow 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in telecom, privatise state-owned monopolies and raise electricity charges and rail fares.

In its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the panel asked the government to overhaul the regulatory framework in infrastructure, bring in clarity on taxation issues such as anti-tax avoidance rules, and expedite land acquisition and environmental clearance to attract investment in the infrastructure sector.

Over 55,000 taxis in Mumbai may go off the roads as cabbies will launch an indefinite strike from Sunday midnight to press their demand for a fare hike, a union leader said here Wednesday.

The cabbies, who are an integral part of Mumbai’s public transport system, are demanding a minimum fare of Rs.20 for the first mile (nearly 1.4 km) which would increase progressively with each additional kilometre.

Last week, the state government permitted a hike of Re.1, taking the minimum fare from existing Rs.17 to Rs.18. The new fare will become effective Oct 15.

As many as 31 people were killed and scores were injured in multiple blasts that struck Syria’s Aleppo city Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

Conflicting reports emerged about the number of car bombs that ripped through the city’s Sa’ad Allah al-Jabiri square.

According to the state-run SANA news agency, three suicide car bombs went off in swift succession at the square. Other media reports, however, put the car bombs’ figure at four.

A Taiwanese pilot was killed in France Wednesday after his fighter jet crashed, Xinhua reported.

According to French media, the Mirage 2000-5 fighter jet crashed in eastern France early Wednesday, killing the pilot, who was the only occupant of the aircraft.

The 37-year-old pilot was a Taiwanese. He was on a training course with the French air force at the Luxeuil-les-Bains airbase.

A probe has been ordered to determine the cause of the crash.

Former Pakistan cricket captain Wasim Akram blamed Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s flawed selection policy for India’s failure in the World Twenty20.

Akram said India failed to get the balance of the team. The legendary fast bowler asked why Harbhajan Singh was left out against South Africa, who are vulnerable to spin.

“I am puzzled with the way the Indian team management has picked playing XIs. For example, I feel a wicket-taking bowler like Harbhajan Singh was missed against the ragged South Africans on Tuesday night,” Akram was quoted as saying by ESPNStar.com.

A man in Canada has been sentenced to jail for nine months for throwing an elderly birdwatcher off a cliff in Canada.

Joshua Skinner,30, pleaded guilty to assaulting Roy Prior, 78, and Jason Easton, who came to Prior’s rescue, The Vancouver Sun reported.

The Victoria provincial court heard Skinner, who was going through a breakup with his girlfriend, took two bottles of wine to Dallas Road and drank one bottle. He has no memory of the offences, and remembers only waking up in a Victoria police jail cell.

The High Court on Wednesday administered shock to Telangana Rashtra Samithi supremo and Mahbubnagar MP K. Chandrasekhara Rao over “misuse” of party State office “Telangana Bhavan.

Stung by Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s attack on Gujarat government led by Narendra Modi, BJP on Wednesday hit back saying she has no “moral right” to raise the issue of corruption as scams worth lakhs of crores have taken place during the UPA government.

“Shockingly, Sonia Gandhi has talked about corruption in her speech in Rajkot. We all thought who is this talking about corruption…. A party which has a track record of corruption is in a complete denial mode… BJP feels she has no moral authority to speak about corruption,” party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday rubbished a suggestion that most ministers accept bribes and challenged anyone to prove that he was made any such offer.

“If you find one person in India or anyone in the world who will stand before me and say I gave you a rupee as bribe …It is utter rubbish to say that most ministers will receive bribe,” he told BBC.

He was asked about an impression that most ministers take bribes at some point and whether he had received a bribe or inducement in his job.

Alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Afaq Iqbal alias Danish Riyaz was brought to the city from Gujarat by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) sleuths of the city police.

He was sent to fourteen-day judicial custody. Iqbal, who is reportedly involved in the July 2008 twin blast case in Ahmedabad, is wanted in a cheating and fraud case in Hyderabad.

The Ahmedabad police had charged Ranchi’s software engineer Iqbal, who is a member of outlawed Student Islamic Movement of India, with involvement in terror activities..

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday agreed to positively consider the request of AP Genco for coal linkage of their three projects.

The Chief Minister gave the nod while reviewing the coal linkage for AP Genco Projects with officials at Secretariat. Chief Secretary Minnie Mathew, Principal Secretary (Energy) M Sahoo, Singareni Collieries CMD Suthirtha Bhattacharya and other officials attended the meeting.

Taking strong objection to TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu’s remark attributing fledgling qualities to YSRCP, the Party spokesperson Vasireddy Padma has said, padayatra is routine duty of any leader and it need not be dubbed as a sacrifice.

The seperate Telangana issue continued to haunt Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu during his padayatra “Vastunna Mee Kosam”.

The departure of nearly 8,000 pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh and adjacent districts of Karnataka for Haj-2012 will begin from October 6.

According to the State Haj Committee, the arrangements for the departure of Haj pilgrims from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport are complete both at the Haj Camp at Haj House at Nampally and the GMR Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamsabad. The first flight will depart from RGI Airport at October 6 at 9.20 pm. The Haj pilgrims bound for the first flight have been asked to report at the Haj Camp on Thursday.

The City Police on Wednesday arrested 14 corporators of Telugu Desam Party for staging dharna before the State Secretariat in protest against the failure of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation in spread of dengue and other viral diseases.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday asked the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to speed up the Hussainsagar cleaning project and complete it on war footing.

Reviewing all the projects taken up and proposed to be taken up by the HMDA, the Chief Minister told the officials that all the lakes in and around Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy have to be protected. He also asked the HMDA to prioritise radial road works in the city and also other new projects.

The Delhi High Court was Wednesday informed by the central government that the nomination of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to the Rajya Sabha was according to a constitutional provision.

The provision allowed nomination of experts from the fields of literature, science, art and social services but also from sports, education and others, the government said.

Information and Public Relations Minister DK Aruna on Wednesday turned down the demand for resignation of elected representatives from the Telangana region.

Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy on Wednesday reviewed the security arrangements for the on-going global bio-diversity conference.

Dinesh Reddy, along with DGP (Law & Order) SA Huda, Additional DGP (P&L) Krishna Prasad and Cyberabad Commissioner Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao visited the venue of the conference and reviewed the arrangements. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the Convention on Bio-Diversity (CBD) on October 16 and therefore, the DGP has issued necessary instructions to the officials for ensuring fool-proof security.

Almost a month after staying in New Delhi, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao returned to Hyderabad on Wednesday evening.

Before leaving for Hyderabad, KCR told reporters that he came to New Delhi on the invitation of Congress leaders. Describing the talks with the Congress leaders as successful, he said that another round of deliberations on the Telangana issue would be held soon. KCR did not elaborate on when and where the final round of talks would be held with the Congress leaders.

India’s heaviest communication satellite (GSAT-10) was Wednesday placed in the geosynchronous orbit, about 36,000 km above the earth, the Indian space agency said.

“The 3.4-tonne satellite was placed in the geosynchronous orbit at 35,734 km apogee (farthest from earth) and 35,585 km perigee (nearest to earth) through the third and final orbit-raising exercise,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement here.

On his first visit to Mumbai as the president, Pranab Mukherjee will Thursday inaugurate India Chem 2012, an international conference to promote the Indian chemical industry.

The three-day event is being organised by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Government of India, and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The conference, organised every other year, is being held the seventh time this year.

The ongoing UN convention here on bio-safety is expected to take decisions to ensure safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms (LMOs).

The LMOs are the organisms that have been genetically modified through biotechnology.

The sixth meeting of the Conference of Parties (to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP MOP 6)), that began on Monday last, is discussing capacity-building, biosafety clearing-house, socio-economic considerations concerning LMOs and review of the effectiveness of the Protocol, officials of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) said.

The Champions League Twenty20 technical committee today approved a change to the Kolkata Knight Riders squad, with Debabrata Das replacing Laxmi Ratan Shukla.

Shukla will remain in India and not travel to South Africa with the Knight Riders squad as he has to attend to a family illness.

The CLT20 technical committee has allowed KKR to replace Shukla with Das, a 26-year-old middle-order batsman who played eight matches for KKR during their IPL title-winning season this year.

KKR will open their campaign with a match against Delhi Daredevils at Centurion on October 13.

PTI

Mahendra Singh Dhoni`s “tactical errors” and the poor form of some senior players were the main reasons for India`s early exit from the World Twenty20, according to former cricketers who said that there was no need for making drastic changes in the team despite the debacle.

While Dhoni came under fire for some of his “tactical blunders”, some former cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar were not in favour of changing the captain or making too many changes in the team.