[Grapevine] For July 19, 1999

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______Headlines_______
(Details below)

 Your Letters


 News:
 India asks Pakistan to restore trust
 Cong disputes govt statement on Kargil incursions
 Certificates scam
 Bail plea rejected
 Drug ring busted
 Dacoit shot dead
 Arun Bhatia plea
 Canara Bank approaches BIFR to attach ABCL's flats in Mumbai
 Chandra space observatory to look for mysteries of universe
 20 killed during army recruitment drive in Bihar
 Women's Cricket: One-off test ends in a draw after thrilling climax
 Cricket and cine stars play for Kargil funds
 

 Markets:
 BSE: Infosys lead the rally at midsession
 Further sharp rise in share prices at NSE         

 Forex and Weather below



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______Your letters_______

 * Dilip Kumar's award 

   The Indian politicians un-necessarily create this kind of issues for
   popularity or just to draw people's attentions away from the real issues, so
   that they can continue in the government even though they don't do any good
   for the people. Not everybody in India understands this and they fall in
   their trap. I believe this "e-mail news  paper" is being read by the
   educated and understanding people and this "news paper" do not need any
   publicity for increasing "the sale". Why do we spend time and efforts on
   getting everybody's views on this kind of trivial issues and encourage the
   politicians to come up with more and more of crap? In fact, we should
   protest against them spending time and money on these things (also things
   like names of the roads, bridges, airports and cities)
   :-(

   - Hiren       



 * "Mumbai was not so contaminated earlier"

   I personally feel that Dillip Kumar is a very confused person who is 
   not very sure of his thoughts. On one hand he says that few people create 
   a hue and cry over a trivial issue, and on the other hand he makes a 
   derogatory remark on the entire city. It's the people of a city who make 
   it or break it. He being a part of the city is also to be blamed for 
   his views.

   As far as the matter concerning his returning the Nishan-E-Imtiaz, 
   it's very true that the award is rightfully his and it is he who decide 
   what to do it. And very rightfully did he keep the award. But at the 
   face of the Kargil crisis, his fellow countrymen did expect him to openly 
   show his patriotism for his country not by returning the award, but 
   atleast by making some sound statements expressing his solidarity for 
   the soldiers fighting the war in unenviable circumstances. What was 
   expected of him was criticism about Pakistan and it's actions and not 
   criticism about the city which has given him so much....

   - Manjit Tiwari, Canada.     




______News_______
(From various agencies)



 India asks Pakistan to restore trust
   India today asked Pakistan to take steps to restore the trust 
   breached by its misadventure in Kargil, renounce cross-border 
   terrorism and understand that it cannot force a resolution of 
   the Kashmir issue.

   'The main point is for Pakistan to understand that it cannot force a
   resolution (of the issue) ....it has to come to terms with history,'
   External Affairs minister Jaswant Singh told BBC's 'Hard Talk'
   programme.

   Asked why India was reluctant to accept outside mediation when such
   intervention had been successful in the Middle East, he retorted
   'Middle East is not India and India is not Middle East'.

   He made it clear that 'international mediation is not the answer
   to the Jammu and Kashmir issue'.


 Cong disputes govt statement on Kargil incursions
   Congress today disputed government statements about it being aware of 
   the Pakistani intrusion in Kargil only in early May this year by 
   claiming that the first report about increased Pakistani activity in 
   the area was received way back on August 24 last year, but 
   the government failed to act.

   'The then Brigadier of the Kargil sector had informed his divisional
   commander that lot of activity appeared to be going on in other side
   of the Line of Control (LOC) as the Pakistani artillery fire has
   increased', party spokesman Kapil Sibal told reporters.

   Answering a query, he said he was not not charging the government
   with wilfully allowing the intruders inside the country but accusing
   it of lowering its guard.

   Referring to defence minister George Fernandes's statement that there
   was no intelligence failure, Sibal said it showed that government
   possessed information regarding intrusions but 'turned a blind eye as
   it was obsessed with the Lahore spirit'.


 Certificates scam
   The Maharashtra Governor has assured that he would consider the demand
   for handing over the investigation into the Nagpur University bogus
   certificate and marksheet scandal to the CBI.
  
 Bail plea rejected
   A local court today refused to grant bail to enlarge on bail four
   suspected ISI agents, who allegedly procured and transmitted
   "classified documents" to Pakistani Intelligence agency in Karachi.
   They have been remanded in judicial custody till 31 July.
  
 Drug ring busted
   Police busted an inter-state drug ring by arresting two brothers from
   Andhra Pradesh and their three local accomplices. Police said Arshad
   Khan and his brother Shabbir Khan, hailing from Adilabad, were
   arrested along with Pundalik Taksande for carrying two kg of ganja
   here on Friday.
  
 7 killed, 2 hurt in Mumbai landslide
   Seven persons were killed and two injured in a landslide at Bhandup in
   north Mumbai on Friday following incessant rains. According to fire
   brigade sources, the victims were hutment dwellers. The injured have
   been rushed to Mulund General Hospital. Rescue operations were on.
  
 Dacoit shot dead
   A notorious dacoit, Patarya, and two miscreants were killed by the
   police in separate encounters in Kanpur and Kanpur Dehat districts in
   the last 24 hours.
  
 Arun Bhatia plea
   The IAS officer Arun Bhatia recently moved to state archives, on
   Friday urged the Bombay High Court to direct the CBI or Pune police to
   register an FIR on alleged irregularities committed by Arun Bongirwar,
   Maharashtra chief secretary, during the latter's tenure as Pune
   municipal commissioner.


 Canara Bank approaches BIFR to attach ABCL's flats in Mumbai
   Canara Bank today moved Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction 
   (BIFR) to appoint a court receiver for attachment of two flats of 
   Amitabh Bachchan Corporation (ABCL) in Mumbai to recover its dues of 
   Rs 14 crore.

   Canara Bank had in consortium with Allahabad Bank had extended credit
   facilities of Rs 14 crore, including Rs 10 crore from its coffers, to
   the entertainment company floated by Amitabh Bachchan.

   ABCL was declared a sick company by BIFR on July 9. The board had
   asked Canara Bank to move an application within 10 days in case it
   desired to seek attachment of properties belonging to the company.

   The flats, measuring 1700 square feet each, are located in suburban
   Juhu and are valued at over Rs one crore.



 Chandra space observatory to look for mysteries of universe
   When the US space observatory 'Chandra' will start its journey 
   tomorrow, it will carry two distinct Indian marks.

   The first one is its name which has been given after late Indian
   scientist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and the second one is
   contribution of a young Indian scientist who was associated with the
   designing of some hi-tech cameras on the telescope.

   Chandra, the world's most advanced x-ray observatory would study
   flaring and exploding stars, black holes (the ultimate remnant of a
   dying star) and vast clouds of hot gas in galaxy clusters which are
   invisible to normal optical telescopes.

   The telescope has been named after Chandrasekhar, an India-born
   nobel-laureate physicist who discovered some basic laws governing
   modern astrophysics.

   The second Indian name involved with the 45-feet-long telescope is of
   Somak Raychaudhury's, currently working at Inter University Centre
   for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) at Pune, who was associated
   with the designing of some very sophisticated cameras on the
   telescope.



 20 killed during army recruitment drive in Bihar
   Darbhanga (Bihar): At least 20 people were killed in
   incidents of police firing and stampede in Bihar's Darbhanga and
   Chapra district yesterday. An official inquiry has been ordered into
   the incidents by the government.

   The state's Director-General of Police, K A Jacob, told PTI that
   while three people were killed in police firing on the unruly
   aspirants for recruitment in the army in the two districts, the other
   17 were swept away by swirling flood waters near Darbhanga's army
   airbase campus following a stampede.

   The stampede occurred when a desperate youth in the crowd while
   trying to force his entry into the airbase campus snatched a pistol
   of a policeman and pumped bullets into his chest.


 One-off test ends in a draw after thrilling climax
   Shenley (England): Seemingly out of the game after two
   days, India cruised to within 20 runs of outright victory today in
   one-off women's test against England before settling for a draw.

   Set 252 to win in 83 overs when England - which already had a 128-run
   lead after the first innings - declared at 123 for nine, India
   finished 223 for eight at stumps.

   India was in a prime position to grab an unlikely win when openers
   Anju Jain (59) and Chander Aheer (66) shared a 132 run partnership in
   quick time.

   The opening stand was broken when Kathryn Leng effected a brilliant
   run out to remove Aheer and put England back in the game.

   Sarah Collyer and Clare Connor turned the game back in England's
   favor as India's tail-end went into defensive mode late in the day to
   ensure a draw.

   Charlotte Edwards scored a maiden test century as England piled on
   329 runs. In reply, India just avoided the follow-on target of 180
   and finished 201 all out due to a gritty lower-oder fightback. The
   top order had slumped to 123 for six.



 Cricket and cine stars play for Kargil funds
   Chennai: A limited-overs cricket match and a musical
   extravaganza to raise contributions for the Kargil relief fund was
   organised by the Tamil film industry at the M A Chidambaram stadium
   here on July 18.

   The 30-over cricket match between Kapil Dev XI and Srikkanth XI,
   consisting of film stars and Indian cricketers, was the main
   attraction of the event. Kapil Dev XI defeated Srikkanth XI by a
   margin of 47 runs.

   Kapil dev XI scored 279 runs for eight wickets in which Ajay Jadeja
   was the top scorer with 64. Kapil scored 51 and Rahul Dravid 50.

   Srikkanth XI were all out for 232 in its 29th over, with Robin Singh
   scoring a valiant 88, followed by Srikkanth who made a quick 69.
   Jadeja claimed three wickets.

   A galaxy of film personalities, including thespian Sivaji Ganesan and
   super star Rajnikant attended the function. Rajnikant made a personal
   contribution of Rs. Five lakh to the Kargil fund.

   A cheque for Rs one crore, being the first instalment of the
   collections made at Madurai and Chennai through the music programmes
   organised by the film industry, was handed over to the chief minister
   M Karunanidhi by Sivaji Ganesan.




___________________________________________________________
               This is the Mumbai Grapevine 
___________________________________________________________




______Market_______

 To get today's complete NIFTY (the NSE index) listing send an e-mail to
                    get-nse@mumbai-central.com



 BSE: Infosys lead the rally at midsession
   Led by infosys technologies, software shares including index 
   heavyweights like HLL and ITC stole the limelight at the midsession on 
   the stock market here today in the wake of fresh purchases from 
   Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and renewed bull support.

   Once again, FIIs had shifted their focus to the software sector
   following news that American Depository Receipts (adr) of infosys
   technologies had raced up to U.S. Dlr 112 on NASDAQ last week, and
   were picking up shares of infosys tech, zee telefilms, dig
   equipments, niit besides hll and itc.

   Mrf, infosys tech, zee telefilms, dig equipments, sun pharma, voltas,
   rhone poule and ici ltd were locked at the eight per cent daily upper
   limit.

   The bse sensitive index opened firm at 4683.99 and moved further
   upwards to a high of 4741.40 at 1301 hours as against last friday's
   close of 4639.94.

   Dealers had anticipated technical correction with the badla rates
   high at around 20 per cent per annum at the turn of account. However,
   operators were seen making fresh commitments at the opening day of
   the new account.

   Garware polyester also found a place in the top gainers with a rise
   of 13.71 per cent. Niit spurted by 7.97 per cent.

   Tisco, hindalco, telco, grasim and mah & mah recorded moderate falls
   on selling pressure.


 Further sharp rise in share prices at NSE
   Share prices rose further sharply at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) 
   here today due to heavy bull support coupled with good buying by 
   Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).

   Pivotals, after a positive start, rose further on renewed buying and
   the Nifty shot up by 25 points.

   Mirroring the general trend, the s&p cnx nifty opened at 1325.35 and
   rallied to close at 1349.60, showing a good gain of 25.35 over the
   last close of 1324.25. Cnx nifty junior rallied by 72.65 to 2168.90
   as against the previous close of 2096.25. S&p cnx defty hardened by
   20.85 to end at 1082.20 from the weekend level of 1061.35. S&p cnx
   500 rallied by 17.60 to 921.45 from 903.85. Cnx midcap 200 rose
   sharply to close at 783.30 from the last close of 764.20.

   The total turnover was Rs 2,768.18 crore from 1,133.14 lakh shares in
   3,67,001 trades. Debentures traded value was Rs 43.86 lakh.

   In the market, 595 securities advanced, 496 declined and 79 held
   steady.

   The most actively traded securities were pentsfware with a turnover
   of Rs 414.90 crore, sbin Rs 328.60 crore, satyam comp Rs 285.81
   crore, ranbaxy Rs 178.19 crore, reliance Rs 139.34 crore, itc rs
   118.71 crore and acc Rs 110.46 crore.








______Forex_______
      

      
  1 DMark  = 22.38411    INR    
  1 FFranc  = 6.673984    INR    
  1 U.K. Pound  = 67.28908    INR    
  1 US $  = 43.17000    INR    
  1 Yen  = 0.360020    INR    
  1 Singapore $ = 25.33 INR
  1 UAE Dirham = 11.75 INR
  1 Saudi Arabian Riyal = 11.51 INR

___________________________________________________________
               This is the Mumbai Grapevine 
___________________________________________________________





______Weather_______
(From the Weather Underground)

Temperature: 82 F / 28 C
HeatIndex: 89 F / 31 C
Humidity: 79%
Dewpoint: 75 F / 24 C
Wind: SSW  at 9 mph / 14.5 km/h
Pressure: N/A
Conditions: Haze
  
Today: High: 84 F / 29 C Thunderstorm 
Tonight: Low: 75 F / 24 C Thunderstorm 
Tuesday: High: 82 F / 28 C Thunderstorm 
Tuesday Night: Low: 73 F / 23 C Thunderstorm 
Wednesday: High: 82 F / 28 C Thunderstorm 
Wednesday Night: Low: 73 F / 23 C Thunderstorm 
 
 

___________________________________________________________
               This is the Mumbai Grapevine 
___________________________________________________________


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	          http://www.pugmark.org

          Help conserve our wildlife and environment!
          Join forces with A.P.E. 
          (Association for the Preservation of the Environment)

          Visit 
	          http://www.pugmark.org
          and find out how you can do your bit.

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