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No cut in fuel prices now because oil cos are bleeding: Deora
New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) Government will consider reducing petrol and diesel prices once rupee-dollar parity and crude oil stabilise at levels sustainable to public sector oil companies, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said today.
"Prime Minister has already said this, and I don't need to repeat that we cannot reduce prices just now because the oil companies are losing heavily," Deora said.
The rupee-dollar rate and international crude oil prices continue to be volatile and it would not be prudent to cut prices during such times, he said.
"We wanted to reduce prices but the rupee depreciation against the US dollar made things difficult," Deora said. Indian rupee has depreciated 20 per cent against the greenback since April.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had earlier this week stated that the Government would wait for public sector oil companies to break even on fuel sales before considering a price cut.
International crude oil prices have slid from an all-time high of USD 147 to USD 60 a barrel, but public sector oil companies continue to make losses on sale of diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene.
Though Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum have started making profit on sale of petrol, they lose about Rs 155 crore per day on sale of other three products.
Oil firms make a profit of Rs 4.12 a litre on petrol but lose Rs 0.96 on every litre of diesel, Rs 22.40 per litre on kerosene and Rs 343.49 per LPG cylinder.
Deora said a second tranche of oil bonds for the state oil firms was expected next week. "There were differences over calculation of revenue loss. Finance Minister P Chidambaram is very cooperative and I hope more bonds will be issued next week." PTI
Margaret Alva removed from CWC, CEC
New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) Cracking the whip, Congress today removed Margaret Alva from the highest bodies of the party, Working Committee and Election Committee, and accepted her resignation from the General Secretaryship holding her guilty of violating discipline.
The action was taken a day after the 66-year-old leader sent her resignation to party chief Sonia Gandhi in the wake of controversy over her charge about sale of party tickets in the Karnataka assembly polls.
"Alva was found guilty of violation of discipline. Howsoever high a person may be in the party hierarchy discipline is vital," Congress spokesperson Satyavrat Chaturvedi said explaining the decision against her.
Suggesting that it was a strong signal against indiscipline, another party spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said all party workers and leaders are expected to observe party discipline.
Alva had come under sharp attack from a number of leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Digvijay Singh, Ashok Gehlot and party's media department chairperson M Veerappa Moily. The refrain in the party was that the AICC General Secretary had committed a "gross breach of discipline".
Alva's case was referred to Disciplinary Committee Chairman A K Antony before whom the leader had appeared some days back.
Alva has been sulking for the past few months over the denial of ticket to her son Nivedith and it was compounded when her bete noire R V Deshpande was made the Karnataka PCC chief despite her reservations.
Alva had been in-charge of party affairs in several important states, including Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana. PTI
Laxman overshadowed in-form Tendulkar in Sydney Test: Symonds
Natasha Chaku
Melbourne, Nov 11 (PTI) It's not always that players admire their opponents on field but Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds has disclosed how he was unusually enamoured by the rare sight of VVS Laxman overshadowing an in-form Sachin Tendulkar during the Sydney Test.
Apart from the many unpleasant stories related to the spiteful Sydney match, Symonds also had a pleasant observation about Indians which he narrated in his newly published autobiography 'Roy on the rise - A year of living dangerously'.
"So much for the diamond days, but even the stony days had a bit to recommend them during the Sydney Test," he said.
"It's rare to see Sachin Tendulkar in from yet being overshadowed by another batsman, but VVS in my book did exactly that during his first innings knock of 109," Symonds said.
He was, however, quick to add that the two batsmen were at par but it was just a matter of one's perspective.
"In saying that, it was like holding a Rolex watch and a Patek Phillipe watch and saying which one looks best? Depending upon your taste, you'll opt for one while acknowledging the other is pretty sharp as well," he said.
Symonds said he felt privileged to watch Laxman, who has been a nemesis for Australian bowlers, and Tendulkar, when duo's shots were just "flowing". PTI
Pak tour cancelled, Indian juniors turn to Argentina
Saumojyoti Singha Chaudhary
New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) The last-minute cancellation of Indian junior hockey team's Pakistan tour has jolted the side's preparation for next year's Junior World Cup, but an unfazed chief coach A K Bansal says he is eyeing next month's Argentina tour to finetune his strategies.
Indian junior team was scheduled to play a five-match Test series against Pakistan this month, but the tour was called off at the eleventh hour after the Ministry of External Affairs refused to give permission citing security fears.
Bansal says he is disappointed by the cancellation but admitted the security fears were unavoidable.
"Obviously, the cancellation of the tour is a big disappointment for the entire team as we have been looking forward to the series for long.
"The team had some fresh boys and we wanted to try them out in the series. Even the senior players were excited about the tour. We wanted to try out some technical things, strategies and set plays, but security of players is the top priority.
"Yesterday, also a blast took place in Peshawar just outside the stadium where we were supposed to play a match," Bansal told PTI today after returning from Amritsar. PTI
Sydney incident inspired us to beat Aussies: Harbhajan
New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh today said the incident in Sydney early this year inspired his side to the historic 2-0 thrashing of the Australians and challenged Ricky Ponting that he would dismiss him any time, even without playing cricket for six months.
"I think the events in the Sydney Test match really hurt all of us. The things that they accused me of and their overall approach irked us as a team. I can safely say that the events at the Sydney Test match inspired this win," he said.
The Punjab offie said he did not consider Ponting a 'complete batsman' as the Australian captain had failed to leave a mark against the Indians.
"Ponting had a lot to say about our players and about the way we play our cricket. In fact, it is Ponting who first needs to go and learn to bat against spin bowling.
"He got a hundred in the first Test match in Bangalore but I don't think that is enough, he needs to comeback and score some more before he can claim to be a complete batsman," Harbhajan told ESPN STAR SPORTS.
Harbhajan has so far dismissed Ponting 10 times including the two occasions in the four-match series which ended yesterday with the Australians losing 0-2.
"I can get Ponting out any time, I think I can get him even after I come post a six-month lay off," Harbhajan said.
During the series, the Australians continued to play mind games. Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds did it in their books while Ponting did in his captain's diary.
Harbhajan lashed out at them for employing cheap tactics to shore up the sale of their books.
"The whole team was infuriated by the claims made by Adam Gilchrist about Sachin Tendulkar. He (Tendulkar) is a legend and insulting him was a big mistake and Gilchrist accused him of things that he never did. PTI
White House gears up to host G-20 summit
Sridhar Krishnaswami
Washington, Nov 12 (PTI) The White House is gearing up to host one of the biggest political shows in the eight year stay of President George W Bush by organising the G-20 summit where the top world leaders are expected to participate.
"The summit is a too serious a matter for posturing. There is no time for posturing. The shoe is really pinching," a senior official speaking on background maintained stressing the fact that each of the representative country is going to speak for itself.
"There is not going to be a group view," the official maintained making the point that each country is on its own capacity.
Besides, twenty world leaders, the heads of the World Bank Group, the IMF, the chair of the Global Financial Stability Forum, the President of the European Commission and the Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-Moon will also attend the summit.
The dinner scheduled at the White House on Friday is said to be a "brainstorming" session. Simultaneously, the Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will be hosting a dinner for Finance Ministers, the Sherpas (advisors) and Finance Deputies.
New Delhi will be represented by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Secretary for Economic Affairs Ashok Chawla will accompany the Prime Minister. PTI
Jindal says he was approached by Mccain campaign over VP post
Washington, Nov 12 (PTI) Indian-American Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, has disclosed that he was approached by the McCain campaign to be a possible running mate of the Republican nominee in the November 4 polls, but he declined the offer as he was satisfied with his current position.
"They actually contacted me and asked me to be vetted. And we politely declined. I said I was honoured that they wanted me to do that, but the reality is that I do have the job that I want. I've been Governor for about a year now," he told MSNBC when asked if he was surprised when the Republicans did not even attempt to vet him.
His remarks came a week after Republican Senator John McCain was trounced by Afro-American Democrat Barack Obama in the historic presidential polls.
The 37-year-old Louisiana Governor said he was "flattered" when he was asked to be vetted. But, added that "I told them what I said all along, which was that I've got the job that I want. I certainly support the ticket, but didn't want to be part of the ticket." "...I was even flattered to be mentioned in the same sentence with some of those other names," Jindal said.
The election of Obama as the 44th President of the US has started off a thinking in many quarters that anything is possible in the American democracy and that someone like Jindal could make it to the Oval Office in the near future.
Jindal, who has not expressed any such political drive right now, argued that one would have to look past the McCain campaign to see why the Grand Old Party lost on November 4. PTI
Ban to focus on developing countries at G-20 summit
United Nations, Nov 12 (PTI) Ban Ki-moon, who becomes the first UN Secretary-General to be invited to G-20 meeting, said his main thrust at the summit in Washington this week would be on ensuring that steps need to be taken to protect the most vulnerable developing nations from the global financial crisis.
"I would welcome any measures and initiatives to address the global financial crisis, including the reinvention and reform of the basic structure of financial institutions. But I am more interested, and my focus, will be more on how to insulate the interest and well-being of developing countries from the financial crisis impact," he told reporters yesterday.
The discussion on restructuring or institutional reforms, he said, would take time and the UN will actively participate in the process of an inclusive multilateralism.
But at present, there is a need to focus more on the vulnerable as well as ensuring that the UN development goals, including on climate change, food crisis and financing for development, are met.
To a query, he said this is only the beginning and he expects many more discussions and consultations to follow.
He would emphasise the importance of tackling the systemic roots of the crisis, Ban said.
The UN chief also warned of the negative impact of the financial crisis on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the globally agreed targets to halve extreme poverty and other ills by 2015 as well as on efforts to deal with climate change, which he has described as the "defining challenge of our era." PTI
Sensex plunges 430 points in choppy trade
Mumbai, Nov 12 (PTI) The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark indices dipped nearly 430 points at 1430 hours today on major sell-off by foreign funds in heavy-weight stocks led by Reliance Industries.
The 30-share index tumbled by 429.88 points, or 4.37 per cent at 9,409.81 after touching a high of 9,928.60. All the sectoral indices were trading in negative zone with falls between 1.64 per cent and 6.98 per cent.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange's index Nifty also crashed by 125.65 points, of 4.28 per cent, at 2,813.00.
Share of the country's most valueable private entity -- Reliance Industries -- dropped by Rs 57, or 4.72 per cent, at Rs 1,150 and Infosys Technologies by Rs 9.70, or 0.77 per cent, at Rs 1,245.90. Both have nearly one-fifth weight on the Sensex. PTI
HC seeks Govt response on spectrum allocation policy
New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) The Delhi High Court today sought a response from the Centre on a petition challenging its first come-first serve procedure adopted in spectrum allocation.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar asked the government to file its response within three weeks and posted the matter to December 10 for hearing.
The petition had challenged the Centre's policy of allocating 2G spectrum and alleged it had caused a loss of crores of rupees to the exchequer.
The PIL alleged that the procedure followed by the government was non-transparent, and was intended for the benefit of some private players in the telecom industry.
"The telecom ministry's deliberate inaction on the recommendations of the finance ministry, Prime Minister's Office and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has benefited private parties at the expense of public exchequer," individual petitioner Arvind Gupta said.
He also referred to an earlier judgement of the High Court delivered in 1993 by which the court had said that "first come first serve" policy is unreasonable and unfair.
"The basis of first come-first serve for allotment of time slots on satellite channels is arbitrary. It is unreasonable, unjust and unfair," Gupta said quoting the High Court judgement.
He questioned the government's intention of not following a competitive bidding procedure.
"The proximity of real estate developers to corridors of the department of telecom has enabled even real estate developers to overnight turn into telecom entrepreneurs. Indian real estate developers and infrastructure promoters have also become Indian telcom players," Gupta alleged in his petition. PTI
Industry grows by 4.8 pc in Sep
New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) Poor manufacturing sector output pulled down India's industrial growth to 4.8 per cent in September, although Finance Minister P Chidambaram termed it as encouraging after a near no-show in August.
Experts, however, read the Index of Industrial Production numbers in a different light, saying it was a clear indication of an economic slowdown and called for fiscal stimulus and further cut in policy rates.
Industrial output fell from 7 per cent in September 2007 to 4.8 per cent in the same month this year, but is still higher than 1.42 per cent registered in August 2008.
Chidambaram said in a statement that the numbers for September were encouraging coming as it does on top of poor growth in August.
According to data released today, industrial output for August was revised upwards from the provisional estimate of 1.3 per cent, which many experts described as an aberration.
Describing the growth as below expectations, Principal economist Crisil D K Joshi said, "It's now becoming clear that the growth is declining faster than expectations. I expect interest rates to come down in coming days as inflation worries have receded." Even the revenue collections from excise and customs, which serve as a measure of manufacturing output and imports, dipped by 5 per cent in October and exports too fell by 15 per cent in October, confirming fears of an economic slowdown.
The IIP in September is down primarily on account of declining output in manufacturing, which recorded a growth of 4.8 per cent against 7.4 per cent during the same period a year ago. Manufacturing accounts for 80 per cent of the index. PTI
Rani, Shahid film still on track, to release in 2009: Yashraj
New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) Yashraj Films today denied reports that actress Rani Mukherjee was allegedly ghost directing their untitled project and that she had a rift with co-star Shahid Kapoor on the sets of the film.
The reports had suggested that debutant director Anurag Singh was sidelined during the film's shooting in Chandigarh.
"Anurag Singh's directorial debut starring Shahid Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee in the lead, which is under production since July 2008, has been plagued with incorrect news reports from the outset," the production company said in a statement today.
"Yashraj films would like to clarify that the name of the film has not yet been finalised and is slated as per plan for release in 2009.
"All reports about the involvement of actors other than as mentioned above are baseless and untrue. The film is sixty per cent complete, it said.
Rani Mukherjee is cast as a 'Sardar' in the film opposite Shahid Kapoor who is the male lead.
"There are too many reports circulating against the actors. The allegations against Rani and Shahid are rubbish and baseless. Both of them are very professional actors," a source close to Yashraj clarified. PTI
Mining poses threat to Sahyadri Tiger Park
Archana Jyoti
New Delhi, Nov 10 (PTI) As the Maharashtra government awaits Environment Ministry's nod for notification on the newly created Sahyadri tiger park, there is a word of caution from the wildlife experts.
Worried over the ongoing bauxite mining activities on the periphery of the tiger park, they stress on adequate steps to curb the mining activity least the wildlife is threatened by people.
"The mines which are in proximity to the park have to be either stopped or controlled. Otherwise all efforts and money will go down the drain," Ashok Kumar of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) says.
He pointed out that the noise due to blasts and heavy machinery besides regular biotic pressure on the Reserve for fire wood and fodder from the mine workers will disturb the habitat as has happened in Panna Tiger reserve where Supreme Court has sought closure of the mines.
The Maharashtra government has submitted a draft notification of the newly approved reserve to the environment ministry for its nod so as to notify the entire area.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has given in-principle approval to the park asking the state authorities to give a detail project report.
Maharashtra already boasts of three tiger reserves -- Melghat,Tadoba-Andhari and Pench Tiger Reserves, drawing lakhs of tourists to the parks every year.
Sahyadri Tiger Reserve will include 317.67 sq km of Chandoli National Park and 423.55 sq km of Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary. The Chandoli National Park was formed in 2004 while Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary was formed in 1985. PTI
Newsletter: Kerala village declared first litigation-controlled panchayat
N Muraleedharan
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 9 (PTI): After its pioneering efforts in universal literacy, Kerala has scored another first with a sleepy hamlet of Cheriyanad in Alappuzha district being declared the country's maiden litigation-controlled and legal-literate panchayat.
Starting on a modest note in 1988, the campaign for the case-free panchayat has seen about 1500 disputes settled since then, which included 676 cases disposed off through conciliations by the specially set up panchayat court.
The civic body has received the support of the judges of the Kerala High court, the state Legal Services Society and several serving and retired legal luminaries in the quest for making the village virtually litigation-free.
"The cases settled included both civil and criminal. Many of them we could settle within the panchayat itself, where a specially designated sub-committee heard both sides and brought about conciliations. In the end, those who came as foes would disperse shaking hands over a cup of tea", Cheriyanad Panchayat President V K Vasudevan, told PTI.
A predominantly agrarian panchayat of about 7000 families, the process had been generally welcomed by the people though many of them had initial doubts about its success. "Now they know that they had been able to save money and time which would have wasted on if they went for litigation over petty disputes", a panchayat official said. PTI
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