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Headlines
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News:
Fire at TN Asylum Kills 25
Bus strike paralyses Mumbai
"India has no option but to have a missile shield"
Maharashtra govt takes steps to curb SIMI activities
VSNL selloff delayed, now expected in Oct
FM Admits Mistakes Over Unit Trust of India
Non-bailable warrants stayed against Dilip Kumar
Akash, Trishul missile projects further delayed
Indo-Austria treaty to avoid double taxation, check evasion
UK proposes to launch new initiative to promote trade
New guidelines for global advisers in disinvestment
No proposal for disinvestment of SAIL: Govt
BSE:Cement stocks rally at early stages on BSE
India insists on changing venue for ATC final
Indian cricketers arrive
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Sensex: 3329.95, +4.57
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News
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Fire at TN Asylum Kills 25
Ramanathapuram (TN),Monday, August 06, 2001: At least 25 mentally challenged persons were charred to death and five injured in a fire that broke out early today at an asylum near Erwadi dargah, about 25 km from here, police said.
When the fire broke out around 5 AM (IST), most of the inmates of the asylum, numbering over 40, were chained as per the normal practice, police said.
Fifteen bodies have been recovered so far and the toll is likely to go up, they said.
The fire, suspected to have been caused by a lamp burning in one of the shelters housing the inmates, was brought under control after a two-hour battle by fire tenders and local people.
Most of the bodies were charred beyond recognition, police said adding an alarm raised by some of the inmates earlier were ignored by local people and asylum owners. The asylum is run by a private firm.
There are about 15 mental asylums, mostly private ones, around the durgah, believed to have powers to cure mentally challenged persons, and more than 1,000 such people are staying there, police added.
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Bus strike paralyses Mumbai
Three drivers and two conductors were injured in stone pelting incidents and office goers faced hardships as employees of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) buses abstained from work to press for their demands.
"Several workers kept away from work to attend a rally called by the action committees of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and BEST at Shivaji Park here to press for their demands, including payment of bonus, pension issue and renewal of agreements," union leader Sharad Rao said.
"Several of them decided to abstain from work to attend the meeting," Rao said refusing to term it as a 'strike'.
Only 134 conductors and 97 drivers out of nearly 9000 staff had reported to duty, a BEST spokesperson said, adding 38 buses were put into operation.
Minor stone-pelting incidents were reported from Sion, Jogeshwari, Vikhroli, Vile Parle, Marve and SV Road where five employees operating the skeletal bus services were injured, official sources said.
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"India has no option but to have a missile shield"
New Delhi,Friday, August 06, 1999: India should either negotiate with the United States on the National Missile Defence (NMD) system or have an understanding with Russia and China, as it has no other option but to have a missile shield to protect its key cities, an Indian defence think-tank has said.
"A global balance of power debate will mean little to India in the event of a surprise Pakistani or Chinese missile attack on Bangalore or Hyderabad. In the future, it will be absolutely critical that certain Indian cities be defended at all costs from a missile attack and a missile shield is the only choice," the private think-tank, Security and Political Risk Analysis (SAPRA), said in its latest bulletin.
Besides tying up with either the US or the Russia-China alliance, the third option for India was to increase spending on indigenous Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) research and development "with a focus on developing local NMD systems in the long run".
"From an Indian perspective, an optimal course of action at this point would be to conditionally support the US in its NMD efforts while keeping a close watch on technical developments in the field," the SAPRA, which is headed by former Army Chief Gen Shankar Roychowdhury, said.
"In the short term, India should do whatever it takes to minimise the threat of Pakistani, Middle-Eastern and Chinese missile programmes even if it means accepting the reality of NMD," it said.
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Maharashtra govt takes steps to curb SIMI activities
Maharashtra government is taking all possible steps to curb the activities of SIMI as the recent arrest of six SIMI activists revealed that they had received arms training at Baboor in Doda district on the Indo-Pak border.
Talking informally to reporters at the 29th annual day function of the city press club on Saturday, deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal said problem of SIMI was not confined only to Maharashtra but a national problem and police were taking all steps to curb it.
Central intelligence agencies were also rendering help in this connection, Bhujbal, who holds home portfolio, said.
"In this regard, I have personally talked to union home minister L K Advani," he said.
About security arrangements for the independence day celebrations, he said there was no threat.
All arrangements were being made to ensure that no untoward incident takes place on that day and the city police were vigilant, the deputy chief minister added.
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VSNL selloff delayed, now expected in Oct
India hopes to wrap up the privatisation of state-run telecoms giant Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) in October, nearly two months behind schedule, a senior government official said on Monday.
The government, which holds a 52.97-percent stake in the monopoly overseas telecoms carrier and largest Internet access provider, is selling a 25-percent stake together with control to a strategic partner and another 1.97 percent to VSNL's employees.
The sale of the controlling stake in the profit-making company is billed as one of the most ambitious selloffs being undertaken by the government in a decade of economic reforms.
"We wanted to finish it by the end of August. But it now appears we'll be able to do it only in October," Pradip Baijal, secretary in the government's department of disinvestment, told Reuters.
He said the selloff had been delayed because bidders wanted more time to study the company.
Three bidders including leading business conglomerates, the Tata and Reliance groups, and a consortium comprising telecoms firm BPL Communications are in the fray for the New York Stock Exchange-listed VSNL.
Three bidders -- the Aditya Vikram Birla group, Videocon group and a consortium comprising leading telecoms group Bharti Enterprises and Singapore Telecom -- have withdrawn from the race.
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FM Admits Mistakes Over Unit Trust of India
Federal External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday regretted the muddle caused in Unit Trust of India [UTI], but said it would not affect investor confidence.
"It is regretable that it (UTI) happened....some mistakes have been made and the government has been hauled over the coals in Parliament for it," he said at the presentation of the first report on FDI by Mckinsey.
Stating that it was the function of parliament to pull up the federal government for any mistakes he said, "I would have been surprised had the Parliament not hauled us over the coals".
Singh, however, said that the incident would not affect investor confidence. "UTI represents the foundation of investor confidence of India...abberrations of this kind will happen in any country."
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Non-bailable warrants stayed against Dilip Kumar
NASIK: A local court on Saturday night stayed till August 9 the "non-bailable" warrants issued earlier in the day against noted Hindi film actor dilip kumar and three others in connection with a criminal case pertaining to alleged "land grabbing".
Dilip Kumar's brother Ahsan Khan along with his counsel met chief judicial magistrate S V Deshpande on Saturday night and urged him to cancel the warrants but the magistrate stayed it till August nine, the day of next hearing.
Earlier, non-bailable warrants were issued against the actor, his brother, a Talathi - Sukdev Tajanpure and a circle officer Ratnakar Shirsat, after they failed to appear before the court twice in June.
Dilip Kumar's counsel advocate Kale and his brother were present in the court earlier.
According to a complaint filed by Meerabai, widow of freedom fighter Shivram Khanderao Borate, Dilip Kumar had allegedly "grabbed" 19 acres of land belonging to borate in Dudgaon village near Trimbakeshware, after making a provisional agreement by paying Rs 3,000.
Meerabai alleged that the actor had approached Talathi Sukdev Tajanpure and circle officer Ratnakar Shirsat and got the property registered in his name and transferred the land to his brother, Ahsas Khan.
A lower court had cancelled the provisional agreement, but the district court had upheld the actor's appeal in 1987. On an appeal against the district court ruling, Mumbai High Court stayed the verdict in 1996.
Earlier, summons were issued against the four but hey had failed to appear before the court.
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Akash, Trishul missile projects further delayed
The prestigious Akash and Trishul missiles have slipped further and are now running almost two years behind schedule.
Official sources attributed the slippage to the failure to realize appropriate "guidance and propulsion" system for the two missiles, which in the normal course should have completed their test firing by now.
While Akash has been tested twice, Trishul is yet to undergo a single test firing so far. The slippage would mean a further setback to the Government’s plans to replace the Russian acquired Sam system by 2002.
The medium range Akash missile is capable of hitting air-borne target from a treetop to a distance of eight km. It was scheduled to enter user trial by 2003.
Trishul is a multi-target strike-capability missile, which can take on as many as three to five targets.
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Indo-Austria treaty to avoid double taxation, check evasion
New Delhi,Monday, August 06, 2001: India and Austria today signed a treaty for avoiding double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion, to be effective from September 5, 2001, as part of efforts to boost flow of investment, technology and trade between the two nations.
Austrian Ambassador to India, Herbert Traxl, and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman, O P Srivastava, signed the treaty, which ratifies the old treaty of 1963.
"This is a renegotiation of the old treaty of 1963. The two governments felt there was a need to create an environment in the changed scenario to ensure that business and economy can grow," Traxl told PTI after signing the treaty here.
The convention provides for a 10 per cent lower tax rate in case of payment of dividend, interest, royalties and fees for technical services, as against the domestic rate of 20 per cent for each of these items, Srivastava said.
"The convention seeks to provide fresh impetus to the mutual flow of investment, technology, trade and services between the two countries," he said.
The treaty covers income tax and surcharge in India, and both income tax and corporation tax in Austria.
Although the revised convention would be effective from September 5, 2001, Srivastava said its provisions would come into effect from April, 2002 in India while it would be implemented from January, 2002 in Austria.
To avoid double taxation, India would give credit for taxes paid by its residents in Austria on the doubly taxed income while the European nation would exempt the income which is taxable in India under the provisions of the convention.
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UK proposes to launch new initiative to promote trade
Noida (U.P),Monday, August 06, 2001: Britain, which is the largest single investor in India exceeding three billion pounds, proposes to launch a new initiative for encouraging bilateral cooperation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), UK's business ambassador Lord Swraj Paul said today.
"We are particularly keen to encourage SMEs into the Indian market. Hence the creation of the Enterprise Initiative -- India, an innovative trade development campaign to broker marriages between British and Indian small and medium-sized companies," Lord Paul told a seminar organised here under the aegis of the Indo-British Partnership.
The new "Outreach" programme to promote trade and investment links has already resulted in an impressive 100 local companies wishing to engage with the British Trade International team led by John Dennis over the next few days.
The Outreach event in Noida, which "we are all part of today will help build a closer and lasting relationship between public and private enterprises and the Commercial team from the British High Commission," Lord Paul said.
Bilateral trade between India and Britain grew by 30 per cent last year and is now worth five billion pounds per year, Lord Paul said, adding "We are now now seeing an increasing amount of Indian investment going into the U K".
"I want to build on this impressive trading relationship to improve trade and investment dramatically between India and the UK," the London-based industrialist asserted.
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New guidelines for global advisers in disinvestment
New Delhi,Monday, August 06, 2001: Government today said new guidelines had been framed and circulated to global advisers on disinvestment asking them to furnish undertakings whether they qualified to continue as advisers in terms of the new rules.
This was stated by Union Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie in the Rajya Sabha who said the action had been taken following SEBI making critical observations about several foreign institutional investors, corporates and investment bankers in connection with some scams in the share market through price rigging and other violations.
The Minister said show cause notice had been served on Credit Suisse First Boston (Singapore) in pursuance of the guidelines. He said the notice had been served since the company was a member of the advising consortium to the Government for disinvestment in VSNL.
Shourie, in written replies, said there was no (no) move on the part of the Government to formulate any new policy on disinvestment. The Minister also discounted any move to privatise the coal sector.
I & B: CBI has registered cases against four senior officials of Doordarshan in case of fraudulently awarding commercial rights in Sunday feature film in the Benglai slot.
The Minister in a written reply said the four officials were Kalyan Ghosh, Assistant Station Director; A K Biswas, former Director General; Anurag Mishra, then Assistant Controller Sales and S Narayan, Assistant Controller.
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No proposal for disinvestment of SAIL: Govt
New Delhi,Monday, August 06, 2001: The Government today indicated in the Rajya Sabha that there was no proposal for disinvestment of the public sector Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) saying it was not at all running in loss.
Responding to a supplementary during question hour whether the Government was considering any proposal for disinvestment of SAIL, Minister of State for Steel Braja Kishore Tripathy said there was "no loss at all. It (SAIL) has made a profit of Rs 4.31 bn last year".
To a question regarding implementation of Voluntary Retirement Scheme in SAIL, he said the target would be fulfilled this financial year. "The task of downsizing is on and from the present staff strength of 160,000, it will be brought down to one lakh in the next five years," he said.
Tripathy said entire high-cost debt of Rs 9.60 bn of SAIL is due for maturity during the current financial year. The level of total market borrowing of SAIL as on June 30 was Rs 141.01 bn out of which Rs 9.60 bn was high cost debt whose interest rate ranged between 15 per cent and 17 per cent.
"The entire amount of Rs 9.60 bn is due for maturity during the current financial year. This is proposed to be repaid out of market borrowing, the proceeds of assets restructuring and reduction in working capital," he said.
He said SAIL made borrowings of Rs 12.87 bn, comprising Bonds and Term Loans, which include Rs 3.47 bn of loans at an annual interest rate of less than 12 per cent.
The balance amount of Rs 9.4 bn was raised at 12 to 13.05 per cent interest and Rs 9.23 bn were utilised for repayment of high cost Bonds, he added.
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BSE:Cement stocks rally at early stages on BSE
Mumbai,Monday, August 06, 2001: Led by cement stocks, old economy shares rallied smartly aiding the sensex rally further at early stages on the opening day of new account on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today following continual purchases by Institutional Investors.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) which have stepped up their activity and made net investments of about Rs 139 crore in the first four days of last week as against Rs 63 crore in the preceding week, were the prime driving force behind the market.
Bolstered by the upbeat mood on the Wall Street last week, FIIs were reportedly making good purchases not only in IT stocks but also in old economy counters at lower levels.
The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened fractionally down at 3323.36 as against last Friday's close of 3325.38, but later recovered smartly and even rallied further to a high of 3353.68 before being quoted at 3348.91 at 10.30 a.m.
ACC, GACL, Grasim Ind, L&T, NIIT, HLL, ITC, NIIT and a few others were in the limelight on fresh buying.
NIIT, SSI Ltd, Crompton Greaves, Rolta, Himachal futur, LML Ltd, HInd Zinc, Tata elxsi and Shyam Telecom were among th top gainers.
However, BASF, Indogulf, ZEE Tele, IPCL, Wipro and Dr Reddy showed moderate losses.
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India insists on changing venue for ATC final
New Delhi,Friday, August 06, 1999: With barely 37 days left for the much-hyped Asian Test Championship involving Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the tournament has run into rough weather with India insisting on changing Dhaka as the venue for the final.
Cricket Board Secretary Jaywant Lele has written to the Asian Cricket Council and its affiliate Asian cricket Foundation that if Bangladesh does not reach the final of the quadrangular Test tourney, then Dhaka should not host it, BCCI sources said. He wrote that India should be the venue for the final in the event of India and Pakistan making it to the final. "If India and Sri Lanka make the final, it should be held in Sri Lanka," Lele said in the letter.
The sources said BCCI has not received any reply so far and that it might be difficult for India to participate in the tournament if the venue for the final was undecided by then.
The ACF, organisers of the September 2001 to January 2002 tournament, are also still to finalise sponsorship and telecast rights, the sources confirmed.
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Indian cricketers arrive
Chennai,Monday, August 06, 2001: Leaving behind memories of the crushing defeat to Sri Lanka in the final of the triangular series at Colombo yesterday, eight Indian cricketers arrived here this afternoon.
A few hours before the eight returned from Colombo at the end of the one-dayers, six players selected for the Three Test series against Sri Lanka left here for Colombo.
Karnataka speedsters, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad, who arrived here yesterday, would join the Indian team in Colombo tomorrow afternoon, cricket board sources said.
No confirmation was available as to when master bat Sachin Tendulkar would be joining the team but Board Secretary J Y Lele had on August 2 said Tendulkar had to undergo a bone scan on August 10 and his inclusion would depend on his fitness.
In case Tendulkar was unable to assist the team in the Test series, Jacob Martin will replace him.
Openers Shiv Sunder Das and Sadagopan Ramesh, Mohd Kaif, Sairaj Bahutule, Dinesh Mongia, Harvinder Singh also left for Colombo this afternoon.
Among the eight players who returned, Zaheer Khan, who is nursing a 'stress fracture' on his right shin, would stay back in Chennai. Zaheer will undergo a bone scan at a private hospital here tomorrow and may return to Colombo.
Others who arrived were V V S Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Amay Khurasia, Virender Sehwag, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Ajit Agarkar and Debashish Mohtanty. They would leave for their respective homes in the evening.
The first Test begins on August 14 at Galle.
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Sensex: 3329.95, +4.57
The sensex closed at 3329.95, up 4.57
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Forex
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1 U.S. $ = 47.08 INR
1 Japanese Yen = 0.38 INR
1 British Pound = 66.95 INR
1 Canadian $ = 30.78 INR
1 Singapore $ = 26.41 INR
1 UAE Dirham = 12.82 INR
1 Saudi Arabian Riyal = 12.55 INR
1 Euro = 41.47 INR
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Temperature: 86 F / 30 C
HeatIndex: 92 F / 33 C
Humidity: 62%
Dewpoint: 72 F / 22 C
Wind
West at 8 mph / 12.9 km/h
Pressure
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Conditions
Haze
Clouds
Scattered Clouds (SCT): 1800 ft / 550 m
Towering Culmulus,FEW: 2500 ft / 764 m
Mostly Cloudy (BKN): 10000 ft / 3050 m
Sunrise : 06:17 AM (IST)
Sunset : 07:12 PM (IST)
Moon Rise : 08:49 PM (IST)
Moon Set : 07:49 AM (IST)
Tonight : Low: 73 F / 23 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
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