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Headlines
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News:
Two dreaded gangsters gunned down in Mumbai
US Exim may encash Enron India unit guarantee-paper
Special Court has all powers of a Sessions Court: SC
CBI to question Railway, RTDC officials
Thousands of Hindu Dalits Convert - AP
'Monsoon Wedding' Wins Venice Film Festival - Reuters
Pak is keeping militancy boiling in Kashmir: Post
Decision on AI disinvestment next week
PM says slowdown is grave; no room for complacency
L.L.M. admissions
Rupee hits new low against the US dollar
BSE:Equities open firm on fresh buying
Hewitt beats Sampras for US Open title
MCA tries to get Dighe on board for Kenya tour
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Markets:
Sensex: 3183.63, -14.77
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Forex, Metals and
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News
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Two dreaded gangsters gunned down in Mumbai
Mumbai,Monday, September 10, 2001: In a major crackdown on mafia gang in the metropolis, crime branch sleuths gunned down two dreaded gangsters in two separate encounters late Sunday night.
Working on a tip-off that Salim Abdul Kader Mullah, owing allegiance to underworld don Chhota Shakeel would come to meet his accomplices, police had laid a trap at Chakala, in suburban Andheri in north-west Mumbai.
Police said Mullah, who had 40 serious offences registered against him in Thane, Mumbai, Belgaon and Pune, was considered to be among the underworld's top ten gangsters.
Mullah arrived at the scene in an autorickshaw and was asked to surrender. Instead, he fired five rounds from his Chinese 9mm pistol at the police.
Police returned the fire in self-defence in which Mullah was seriously wounded and was rushed to Cooper Hospital, where he was declared dead, police added.
In another encounter, a gangster belonging to Aswin Naik gang was killed at Mulund, in north-east Mumbai.
Police had laid a trap to nab Dharmaveer Singh alias Dhondu (26) after receiving a tip-off that he would come to kill a hotel owner in the area.
On spotting the gangster, police asked him to surrender. but he fired four rounds at the police party from his .38 bore revolver. Police fired in retaliation, seriously injuring Singh, who was rushed to Mulund General Hospital, where he was declared dead before admission.
Singh had serious offences registered against him at Bhandup and Mulund police stations.
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US Exim may encash Enron India unit guarantee-paper
The U.S. Exim Bank has threatened to encash nearly $300 million in guarantees given by Indian banks and financial institutions on loans to Enron's troubled Indian unit, a business daily reported on Monday.
The report in the Economic Times quoted local news agencies as saying the bank had lent $298.2 million to an Enron subsidiary, Dabhol Power Company (DPC), to build a $2.9 billion, 2,184 MW power project on India's western coast.
Of this, Enron's Indian unit owes $221.7 million of the principal to the U.S. Exim bank, the report said.
Enron has been locked in a dispute with the Maharastra State Electricity Board (MSEB), which had contracted to buy power from the Enron project.
The project's first phase of 740 MW is up and running, but work on the second phase, which is 97 percent complete, was halted in June after the (MSEB) refused to draw any more power, claiming the plant's power was too expensive.
The utility has several unpaid bills and has refused to buy power from the second phase of the project. The lenders then refused to disburse the final portion of their loans.
This forced Enron to announce its decision to exit the project because of the row and the utility's delay in payments. Enron claims the utility has not paid bills worth $185 million.
Global lenders like Exim Bank are now afraid that Dabhol may not be able to repay its loans because of the controversy and the stoppage of purchases by its sole customer.
Leading lenders like the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) , the Industrial Finance Corporation , ICICI Ltd , State Bank of India and Canara Bank had given guarantees to U.S. Exim for the loan.
Guarantees are common in large infrastructure projects as a source of comfort for foreign lenders.
Exim Bank officials were not immediately available for comment.
The bank's move is bad news for the Indian government and its banks and financial institutions, led by the IDBI, the country's largest term lender.
The lenders, including IDBI, are reeling under falling profits and mounting bad debts and would be hard-pressed to cough up the amount, analysts said.
Exim's threat will increase pressure on the federal government to solve the spat between the U.S. energy giant and the utility, which some analysts say has hurt India's image among foreign investors.
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Special Court has all powers of a Sessions Court: SC
New Delhi,Monday, September 10, 2001: Clearing all doubts about powers of the Special Courts set up to try cases pertaining to the multi-crore securities scam, the Supreme Court has held that it has all the powers of a Sessions Court or that of a Magistrate including the power to grant pardon.
"The Special Court has all the powers of a Court of Sessions and/or Magistrate, as the case may be, after the prosecution is initiated or transferred before that Court," a Bench comprising Justice S P Bharucha, Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice Brijesh Kumar said in a recent judgement.
The Special Court (Trial of Offences Relating to Transactions in Securities) Act, 1992 provided establishment of Special Court, which would consist of one or more sitting Judges of the High Court nominated by the Chief Justice of the High Court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the Special Court was situated, with the concurrence of Chief Justice of India.
The Special Court in Mumbai granted pardon to S V Prabhu and Bhaskar Roy Choudhury in a Rs 50 crore Bill of Exchange case pertaining to the scam in which Harshad Mehta and former UCO Bank chairman K Margabandhu were accused. Mehta had challenged the order of the Special Court in the apex Court saying it had no power to grant pardon.
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CBI to question Railway, RTDC officials
New Delhi,Monday, September 10, 2001: CBI will soon question several officers of the Railways and the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) for allowing several passengers to travel without ticket by "Palace on Wheels" train.
CBI sources Sunday said that during surprise checking on the famous luxurious train, 56 passengers were found travelling without tickets while the names of 11 others did not figure in the list of passengers causing a loss of nearly a crore of rupees to the government exchequer.
Meanwhile, the CBI spokesman denied that any passenger was harassed during the raid and said the train was moving as per schedule.
The CBI conducted a surprise raid on 'Palace on Wheel' yesterday and found that only 38 passengers had valid tickets, each of which costs about Rs 100,000.
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Thousands of Hindu Dalits Convert - AP
Lucknow: Thousands of Dalits, often segregated as "untouchables" in India's Hindu caste hierarchy, converted to Buddhism at in a northern Indian city.
Leaders of the late-Saturday ritual by some 6,000 Dalits said they were protesting discrimination by upper caste people and India's failure to raise caste issues at the racism conference in Durban, South Africa that concluded over the weekend.
In Kanpur, 240 miles southeast of India's capital, New Delhi, hundreds of monks in flowing robes arrived from Nepal, Japan and other countries to witness the ceremony, which was presided by a Japanese Buddhist priest.
Participants were distributed posters condemning Hinduism, the religion of India's overwhelming majority.
Several Dalit groups had met in the South African city to press for inclusion of caste-based discrimination in the U.N. World Conference on Racism. They said caste-based discrimination in India was as bad as racial discrimination in other parts of the world.
But Indian officials lobbied, and succeeded, in keeping it off the conference declaration. The New Delhi government said equating the caste system with racism would make India a racist country - a categorization it denies.
"The Government of India misguided all at the Durban meet," Dalit leader Ram Prasad Rashik told The Associated Press after the conversion ceremony in Kanpur.
Dalits occupy the lowest rank in India's 3,000-year-old caste system that discriminates against nearly a fourth of the country's billion-plus population.
Though India's Constitution, adopted in 1950, bars discrimination based on caste, the practice still pervades society.
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'Monsoon Wedding' Wins Venice Film Festival - Reuters
Venice - "Monsoon Wedding," the story of an Indian bride who has second thoughts about an arranged marriage, won the coveted Golden Lion award for Best Picture at the 58th Venice Film Festival on Saturday.
Directed by Mira Nair, maker of the 1988 Oscar-nominated "Salaam Bombay," the film is part social documentary, part dramatic comedy, tackling sensitive issues such as incest as an extended Punjabi family reunites from around the world for the wedding.
It was the first time India or a woman had won the top prize at the world's oldest film festival.
Recognized worldwide for provocative movies such as "Mississippi Masala" and "Kamasutra: A Tale of Love," Nair was described as a "visionary" by the head of the jury, Cannes winner Nanni Moretti.
But she played down the acclaim.
"I just wanted to explore something very personal, about my family and families in general, in a free way," she told reporters after the awards ceremony.
"I didn't expect anything from this film really. I wanted to make a small thing, but I am so very happy to say that it has become big," she said.
As for being the first female director to win in 58 festivals at Venice, she said: "I am not one to hold a flag. If we win and we happen to be women, then wonderful."
Nair, who was educated in New Delhi and went to the United States on a theater scholarship to Harvard, said the film was a "love song to Delhi" which sought to praise the Punjabi community while examining its dark side.
Long suppressed revelations of incest in the family mar the build up to the exuberant wedding -- but still Nair said she wanted to show that Punjabi are like the people of Naples in Italy -- "loud, aggressive, individualistic and with a huge appetite for living."
"I have been fed on the cinema, but fueled in the political street theater of Delhi and Calcutta, and that is where I return," she said at a news conference.
"I like to push the envelope...I believe that movies are there to provoke and get under your skin."
The film, shot on a hand-held camera to give it more of the feel of a documentary, received warm reviews from critics and audiences but was not one of the two films hotly tipped by a group of 15 newspaper and magazine critics to win.
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Pak is keeping militancy boiling in Kashmir: Post
Washington,Monday, September 10, 2001: A leading US daily has accused Pakistan of keeping militancy alive in Kashmir and rejected Islamabad's claim that the insurgency in the valley is indigenous and that Pakistan only gives moral and political support to cross-border terrorism.
"Officially, Pakistan insists that the decade-old insurgency in Kashmir is an 'indigenous freedom struggle' and that Pakistan provides the guerrillas with only moral and political support.
"While championing the Kashmir cause at home to rally domestic support, the government also seeks to avoid being accused abroad of promoting international terrorism," 'The Washington Post' said in dispatch from Islamabad.
The paper said, "...Pakistan wants to keep militancy boiling as a way to force India to resolve the long standing issue".
On the recent crackdown on violent groups in Pakistan by the Government, the paper said that compared with the crackdown on sectarian groups, the government's effort to rein in the Jihadis was relatively mild.
It said "the Jihadi groups have long received training and aid from Pakistani intelligence agencies, and they serve as proxies for a major thrust of Pakistan's uncleared foreign policy".
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Decision on AI disinvestment next week
New Delhi,Monday, September 10, 2001: A decision on disinvestment in Air India (AI) will be taken next week after Tata Chief, Ratan Tata, communicates his position on inclusion of a new partner in the bid, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said today.
"I met Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie this morning and discussed various aspects. A decision on AI will be taken after Ratan Tata communicates his position," Hussain said in his first-ever comments on disinvestment in aviation sector after taking charge of the crucial ministry on September 2.
"Tatas are still in the race for AI. They are in search of a new partner. A final decision on the subject will be taken only after meeting with Ratan Tata next week," Hussain, who succeeded Sharad Yadav, said.
Virtually ruling out rebidding for IA, where both the shortlisted bidders Hindujas and Videocon have opted out of the race, Hussain said that for the time being, he would concentrate on reviving and strengthening of the airline.
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PM says slowdown is grave; no room for complacency
New Delhi,Monday, September 10, 2001: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today warned that the strong indicators of macro economic health could not hide the deeper systematic maladies in the economy and said there was no room for complacency over the grave nature of the current economic slowdown.
Though factors like low inflation, high foreign exchange reserves and adequate food grain stock indicated strong economic fundamentals, solution to long-pending problems like poverty and social imbalances lay in faster and more balanced growth, Vajpayee said in his opening remarks at the meeting of Economic Advisory Council here.
Admitting that there was a lower GDP growth rate, fall in industrial production, decline in exports, slump in bank credit and worsening of fiscal position, Vajpayee said the economic slowdown needed to be seen in a proper perspective which was essential to avoid unnecssary pessimism and panic.
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L.L.M. admissions
Prospectus and forms for admission to the first year L.L.M. course offered by Mumbai University for the academic year 2001-2002 are available in the department office, room no. 126, Fort Campus, between 11.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. Completed applications should reach the office of the department of Law on or before September 17
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Rupee hits new low against the US dollar
Mumbai,Monday, September 10, 2001: The Rupee touched new lows against the US currency early today, pulled down by sustained dollar demand from banks in moderately active but slightly nervous trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange.
The Indian unit was quoted at Rs.47.2650/2750 in late morning deals a fresh life-time low, surpassing the all time low closing quote of Rs.47.2550/2650 logged last friday. The Rupee opened at a record low of Rs.47.27/28.
Persistent dollar demand from banks continued to exert pressure on the Rupee and taste the down side in the absence of adequate supplies, a dealer said.
The Rupee dipped to historic-lows of Rs.47.27/28 per dollar in intraday deals last friday before ending at its lowest ever close of Rs.47.2550/2650, driven-down by heavy dollar demand from banks amidst thin supplies.
In cross currency trades, the Euro was quoted at Rs.42.89/91, Pound Sterling at Rs.69.16/18 and Japanese Yen (100) Rs.39.35/37.
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BSE:Equities open firm on fresh buying
Mumbai,Monday, September 10, 2001: Equities, particularly old economy stocks, opened firm in continual listless activity on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today on some buying support prompted by hopes of a fresh initiative by the government to speed up economic reforms.
The BSE Sensitive Index opened smartly at 3224.90 over last Friday's close of 3198.40, but later turned weak and dipped to a low of 3192.83 before being quoted at 3194.84 at 10.30 a.m.
The assurance by the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee earlier last weekend to increase public investments in the core infrastructure sector to avert economic crisis due to slowdown made investors little optimistic.
However, the optimism could not last long as some of the institutional investors used the opportunity to book profits at higher levels.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) which generally were net sellers seemed to be still cautious in the light of sustained slide on Wall Street with the reeling U.S. stocks market dipping further last weekend after government data showed further signs of economic distress.
Among the top gainers, Kodak Ind rose by 6.24 per cent, Apollo Hosptal by 5.12 per cent, Arbindo Pharma by 4.85 per cent, Kesoram by 4.26 per cent, Global Tele by 4.00 per cent, Silverline by 3.58 per cent and Glaxo by 3.55 per cent.
However, HPCL, Dr Reddy's Lab, Carrier Aircon, Mastek, Wipro, Zee Telefilms, Rel Petro, HLL and SBI showed moderate losses on selling pressure.
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Hewitt beats Sampras for US Open title
New York,Monday, September 10, 2001: Australia's Lleyton Hewitt has captured his first Grand Slam singles title here, defeating American veteran Pete Sampras 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 6-1 to win the US Open finals.
The 20-year-old Australian, playing in his first Slam final, chased down every offering Sampras made and fired deadly winners past the 13-time Slam champion, who lost the Flushing Meadows final for the second year in a row.
Hewitt won his 10th career title and by far his most important, becoming the youngest US Open champion since Sampras won his first of four US Open titles 11 years ago.
Tenth seed Sampras beat Hewitt 7-6 6-4 7-6 in last year's US Open semi-finals, the Aussie's best prior Slam performance. But Sampras, who turned 30 last month, saw his 14-month title drought reach 18 events.
Fourth seed Hewitt won his fourth title of the year and went from villian to hero in a week. He was hounded after remarks he made in a second-round match were interpreted as racial insults by a black opponent.
Hewitt was down two sets to one to American wild card games Blake when he complained about a black linesman calling him for foot faults.
But when he asked umpire Andreas Egli if he saw any "similarities", Blake thought he meant the skin colour of player and linesman, not between how Hewitt was being called on opposite ends of the court.
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MCA tries to get Dighe on board for Kenya tour
The Mumbai Cricket Association were making efforts to get Sameer Dighe to accompany the Mumbai team to play in a traingular tournament in Kenya. Baroda are the other team, besides the hosts. Both Baorda and Mumbai travel on the same plane on Monday morning. Nayan Mongia, the man Dighe displaced in the Indian team will be leading Baroda, which also has players like Jacob Martin, Conner Williams and Rakesh Patel, who are in the running for a place in the national side.
MCA joint honorary secretary Mayank Khandwala said they were unable to get in touch with Dighe, who is holidaying in Goa. He said Dighe was to return on Monday and he could join the team later.
Medium-pacer Avishkar Salvi, who was not in the orignal side, has been added to the team. There are reports that he is the fastest of the current crop of Mumbai bowlers. Salvi won't leave with the team on Monday as his passport is not ready.
If Dighe too decides to play he will be the 16th member of the side.
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Sensex: 3183.63, -14.77
The sensex closed at 3183.63, down 14.77
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Forex
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1 U.S. $ = 47.28 INR
1 Japanese Yen = 0.39 INR
1 British Pound = 69.34 INR
1 Canadian $ = 30.17 INR
1 Singapore $ = 27.02 INR
1 UAE Dirham = 12.87 INR
1 Saudi Arabian Riyal = 12.61 INR
1 Euro = 42.77 INR
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Metals
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Weather
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Temperature: 84 F / 29 C
HeatIndex: 89 F / 32 C
Humidity: 66%
Dewpoint: 72 F / 22 C
Wind
WSW at 6 mph / 9.7 km/h
Pressure: 29.71 in / 1006 hPa
Conditions
Scattered Clouds
Clouds
FEW: 2000 ft / 611 m
Scattered Clouds (SCT): 2500 ft / 764 m
Sunrise : 06:25 AM (IST)
Sunset : 06:46 PM (IST)
Moon Rise : 11:55 PM (IST)
Moon Set : 12:31 PM (IST)
Tonight : Low: 71 F / 22 C Thunderstorm
Tuesday : High: 86 F / 30 C Thunderstorm
Tuesday Night : Low: 69 F / 21 C Scattered Clouds
Wednesday : High: 86 F / 30 C Scattered Clouds
Wednesday Night : Low: 69 F / 21 C Scattered Clouds
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