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56 killed, 350 injured in serial blasts in Assam
Guwahati, Oct 30 (PTI) Terror struck the hub of North-East when over a dozen blasts today ripped through commercial areas of the capital and three other districts, killing 56 people and injuring 350 others.
The first of the 13 bombs, suspected to have been planted by Bangladesh-based HuJI members, went off simultaneously at around 11.30 AM under the Ganeshguri flyover, near the high-security capital complex housing the Assembly building, Paltan Bazar and Fancy Bazar here.
Around the same time, bombs also went off in crowded market places of Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Barpeta districts in lower Assam.
Black smoke billowed from the Deputy Commissioner's Office housing the district courts, which bore the brunt of the attacks in Guwahati, as vehicles, including a number of cars, turned into mangled heaps of metal.
Police suspected that the bomb was planted in the court complex on a two-wheeler.
At least 25 people were killed and 235 injured in the blasts in Guwahati where an indefinite curfew was clamped following protests by residents, who accused the police of delayed action.
While 19 were killed and 64 injured in Kokrajhar, 12 died in Barpeta where 46 others were wounded. Five people were injured in Bongaigaon, Principal Secretary (Home) Subhash Das told PTI.
A red alert has been sounded across the state and army has also been put on alert in view of the security situation, he said after Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi held a review meeting with his cabinet colleagues and top officials. PTI
Inflation dips to 10.68 pc; many expect rate cut by RBI
New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) Declining for five weeks in a row, inflation slipped below 11 per cent for the first time in over four months on lower prices of industrial fuel and manufactured items, igniting hopes of RBI cutting key rates to spur economic growth.
The finance ministry said in a statement that inflation for 30 essential commodities decelerated to 7.47 per cent against 7.80 per cent in the previous week. "Seasonally adjusted inflation during September 2008 is provisionally estimated at minus 4.6 per cent," the statement said.
It added hat there was a decline in prices of 6 essential items and prices of another 16 commodities remained unchanged.
The wholesale price-based inflation fell by 0.39 per cent to 10.68 per cent for the week ended October 18, while it was 3.11 per cent in the same period a year ago.
Analysts believe that the declining trend in rate of price rise could lead to easing of monetary policy by either cutting short-term lending rate (repo) or lowering of CRR-- the mandatory deposit banks are required to keep with RBI.
Crisil Principal Economist D K Joshi said RBI could slash CRR by 100 to 150 bps, depending on the liquidity condition.
During the week, prices of food articles like pulses, fruits and wheat declined. However, vegetables rates rose by 2.3 per cent and spices by half a per cent.
Inflation had soared to two digits from 8.75 per cent in June first week after the government hiked administered prices of petrol, diesel and LPG owing to high international crude prices. The rate of price rise almost touched 13 per cent at 12. 63 per cent, a 16-year high, in early August.
However crude oil prices have crumbled in recent weeks, leading to a fall in prices of some industrial fuel, including furnace oil, which was cheaper by six per cent while prices of light diesel oil declined by three per cent. PTI
Rahul Bakshi zooms to third place at Faldo Series Grand finals
New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) Rahul Bakshi turned in a sedate three-under 69 to move two places up the rung to third spot after the second round of the Faldo Series Grand Finals in Brazil.
After a first round 73, Rahul came back strongly on the second day, shooting five birdies and an eagle against four bogeys to take his two-day total to two-under 142, just four strokes adrift of leader England's James Watts who blasted a flawless seven-under 65 today.
Rahul, currently placed 22nd on the LG Amateur Tour Order of Merit list, is just one shot behind second-placed Steven Brown (141), who carded an identical three-under 69 in the second round.
However, compatriot Rashid Khan had another poor outing, carding a nightmarish nine-over 81 which snuffed out his chances of leaving a mark in the Grand Finals. PTI
Bangla Supreme Court denies bail to Hasina in graft case
Anisur Rahman
Dhaka, Oct 30 (PTI) Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina was today denied bail by the Supreme Court in a corruption case, raising a question mark over whether she will be able to campaign for the upcoming general elections.
The full bench of the Appellate Division of the apex court, chaired by Chief Justice M M Ruhul Amin, passed the order upholding an earlier High Court ruling.
The ex-premier's counsels described the order as "unexpected" as she was on parole on a government "executive order" to be treated abroad for critical hearing impairment.
Leaders of Hasina's Awami League party had earlier said she was expected to return home next week after three months of treatment in the United States.
The High Court earlier rejected her bail petition saying Hasina's personal appearance would be required for the bail on her return home as her lawyers filed the petition attaching "old medical reports" while submitting the petition.
The ex-premier was arrested on July 16 last year on a graft charge brought against her by a Bangladeshi businessman as part of a massive anti-graft campaign by the current interim government, installed with crucial military support after the January 11, 2007 proclamation of emergency. PTI
Pakistan condemns Assam serial blasts
Islamabad, Oct 30 (PTI) Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today condemned the serial bomb blasts in Assam, saying terrorism in all forms needs to be eliminated.
In his message to the Indian leadership, Zardari expressed grief and sorrow at the death of innocent people in the blasts.
Terrorism and extremism in all forms and manifestations need to be eradicated, he said.
In a separate message, Gilani strongly condemned the act of terrorism and offered his sympathies to the families of the dead. He expressed the Pakistan government's "firm resolve to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations".
Gilani also "underscored the need for increased cooperation among all countries for fighting this menace effectively".
A series of blasts rocked Assam's capital Guwahati and some other towns this morning, killing nearly 40 people and injuring over 100 others. PTI
Deora seeks more oil bond assistance to fuel retailers
New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today met Finance Minister P Chidambaram, seeking an increase in the quantum of oil bonds issued to fuel retailers to partly compensate their losses on account of selling fuel below cost price.
"My meeting today was essentially for seeking a higher quantum of oil bonds, as under the present compensation package some of the oil companies have reported losses in their quarterly earnings," he told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with Chidambaram.
PSU oil marketing companies BPCL and HPCL reported net losses in the first quarter and they along with IOC are expected to report bad results in Q2 as well, Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey said.
At present, 50 per cent of the revenue loss is met by the government through oil bonds and another 33 per cent comes from upstream companies and Deora made a pitch for increasing the bonds to meet the uncovered portion.
IOC, BPCL and HPCL in April-September lost Rs 92,853 crore on fuel sales (audited figures) and are projected to lose Rs 1,47,486 crore in the full fiscal. Half of the projected revenue loss is to be compensated through oil bonds.
The three firms would get Rs 14,956.17 crore worth of bonds for the January-March quarter. They will get an additional Rs 24,408 crore compensation for April-June quarter and the remaining will be for July-September quarter. PTI
IMF offers USD 100 bn loan to countries facing financial crisis
New York, Oct 30 (PTI) The International Monetary Fund will offer as much as USD 100 billion in a new kind of loan to countries that are battered by the financial crisis, making available new cash to help ease the world credit crisis.
The new three-month loans, aimed at economies the IMF judges to be troubled but basically sound, wouldn't require countries to make the often severe changes in their policies that the IMF has demanded for decades, a media report said today.
That makes it potentially easier for crisis-hammered countries such as Mexico, Brazil and South Korea -- which the IMF judges to have basically sound economic policies -- to shore up cash reserves, their currency, and their ability to help ailing companies as shaken foreign investors withdraw, the Wall Street Journal said.
Those countries, it noted, have shunned the IMF because of the strings attached to the loans, which often force sharp budget cuts or interest-rate increases. The conditions are designed to help governments save money and pay for necessary imports, but they also often deepen an economic downturn, making the IMF deeply unpopular around the world.
Now it essentially is dividing developing countries into an A-list of nations that qualify for loans without strings, and a B-list of everyone else, the Journal said.
The new programme, which will use up to about half the IMF's resources, represents a big break from such requirements. "Exceptional times call for an exceptional response," it quoted IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn as saying. PTI
Rural market in India still in shackles, book
New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) Although liberalization of theIndian economy began in 1991 and allowed Indian industry tobe governed and led by market forces, there remain manyrestrictions that throttle rural development, says a newbook.
The rural market still remains regulated andcontrolled by the government to a great extent. There aregovernment dictates that allow the sale of some varieties offarm produce only through government-owned mandis (markets)and there are crops that cannot move borders of the state theyare grown in says a paper in 'ICTs and Indian SocialChange', published by Sage Publications. These measures may have come into place to safeguardthe interests of the farmers.
However, they are now passe andnot in sync with current realities. Thus archaic regulationsand half-hearted, hastily planned measures stifle the growthof the rural economy and need to be done away with, theauthors say. There are compelling reasons to reach out to the ruralmarket for companies. The fast saturation of urban marketpresents the need to explore newer markets. The rural markets,however, remain unexplored because of high cost of telecominfrastructure, diverse terrain, low affordability of therural masses, the book says.
Edited by Ashwani Saith, M.Vijaybaskar and V.Gayathri,the book brings together a set of papers on the relationshipbetween new technologies and socio-economic divides,deployment of new technologies in governance and other publicpolicy initiatives to overcome such divisions.
The book says that the services sector has arguablybeen the driver of India's growth process in recent years. Thecontribution of IT related services to this phenomenon iswidely acknowledged and well documented. PTI
Cake, bread or ice cream? Delectable poll symbols up for grabs
Archana Jyoti
New Delhi, Oct 29 (PTI) Seeking an election symbol to fight the upcoming assembly polls in Delhi? You can be a 'whistle' blower or 'hammer' the minds of voters with poll symbols like 'iron', 'coconut' or 'bat'.
One of the possible symbols can be a 'carrot' to be dangled before the voters to woo them or opt for the 'kite' symbol which would ensure voters' dreams are kept soaring high, of course till the results are out.
Then there are 'pressure cooker', 'railway engine', 'walking stick', and 'sewing machine' too on the platter offered by the Election Commission to the candidates keen to contest the polls scheduled for November 29 in the national capital.
For that matter, if you are keen to stand apart in the crowd of independent candidates there is a 'hat' to wear this polls or just carry 'candles' if you think elections are the means to dispel darkness around you.
"There are over 59 free symbols that one can choose from for the ensuing polls in Delhi," Deputy Chief Electoral Officer JK Sharma told PTI.
'Glass tumbler', 'cup and saucer,' 'cake,' 'ice cream' 'jug' and 'kettle' are also available as election symbols available to candidates or political parties to use as an identity at the electoral ballot when the voters cast their franchise on the D-day.
Among eatables 'bread', and 'banana' also figure as choices. Animals are no longer used as poll symbols due to a new order following protests by animal activists after the BSP had managed to bag the 'elephant' symbol. PTI
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