|
-: Advertisement :-
For up-to-date BSE quotes, subscribe to the BSEdata mailing list. Send an email to BSEdata-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to join and get automatic BSE updates in your email.
|
-: Advertisement :-
Headlines
|
News:
Paswan quits Union Cabinet
Mayawati likely to be sworn in on May 4
NDA sticks together ahead of Gujarat vote
Tree cut down at Grant Rd to provide visibility to restaurant
RBI Clears ICICI-ICICI Bank Merger With Conditions
Soon, lodge civic complaints online
India, Britain propose 5 mn pound trust fund for education
RBI cuts CRR by 0.5 per cent, bank rate remains unchanged
Govt under fire in RS over labour reforms
Jaffer, Dasgupta shine in drawn three-day match
Kumble likely to sit out in third Test too
|
Markets:
Sensex: 3301.21, -70.49
|
Forex, Metals and
Weather below
|
News
|
Paswan quits Union Cabinet
New Delhi,Monday, April 29, 2002: Union Coal and Mines minister Ram Vilas Paswan today resigned from the Union Cabinet on the Gujarat issue.
Sources close to Paswan said the Lok Janshakti leader, which has four M.Ps in the Lok Sabha, met the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and handed over his resignation.
Lok Janshakti spokesman R S Bidhuri said Paswan resigned to express his resentment over the handling of the situation in Gujarat by the Centre and by the Narendra Modi government.
Bidhuri said Paswan had repeatedly demanded that President's rule be imposed in Gujarat besides removal of Modi as Chief Minister.
The country had to hang its head in shame because of the Gujarat developments, Bidhuri said.
Paswan's resignation came just hours before the meeting of the NDA allies to discuss the strategy of the ruling combine for tomorrow's Opposition sponsored censure motion against the Government in Lok Sabha which entails voting.
Top
Mayawati likely to be sworn in on May 4
Lucknow,Monday, April 29, 2002: The BSP-BJP coalition Government in Uttar Pradesh headed by Mayawati is likely to be sworn in on May 4, Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri said today.
The swearing-in ceremony may take place at 5 pm on May 4 at Raj Bhavan, the Governor told reporters here.
Top
NDA sticks together ahead of Gujarat vote
Despite some last-moment realignments in the ruling coalition, the government seems set to come out victorious in Tuesday's censure motion on Gujarat.
In a move that even surprised the NDA, Lok Janshakti leader and Union Coal and Mines Minister Ram Vilas Paswan resigned from the government and severed ties with the alliance.
But the BJP-led government got the support of the BSP and the backing of the rest of the allies, putting it on secure ground in Tuesday's vote, with or without Paswan.
The Prime Minister forwarded Paswan's resignation letter to the President, recommending it be accepted.
Trinamul Congress, the NDA ally who has expressed concern over Gujarat, was clearer on its support. Mamata Banerjee said the Trinamul's Parliamentary Party had met in the morning and presented a resolution to the NDA. She said her party would vote with the government to ensure stability but wanted Gujarat CM Narendra Modi to resign.
Samata Party leader Nitish Kumar said they would back the government and that there was no dissent in the party.
This leaves only the TDP undecided on what it should do on Tuesday. It will decide on its stand after hearing the Prime Minister's reply during the debate under the motion.
Top
Tree cut down at Grant Rd to provide visibility to restaurant
(Express News Service)
A sorry looking stump is all that remains of a full grown Gulmohar tree that was felled in front of the Grant Road station (E) next to the Golden Goose restaurant this week. Farhad Ostavari, a tree lover, said that when he inquired about the felling, people from the area told him that the tree had been felled to provide visibility to board of the restaurant. ‘‘They also said that the BMC had cut down the tree,’’ he added.
Municipal Commissioner, K C Srivastava, when asked whether this was part of a bigger project under which trees were being axed to widen the road, said he was unaware of the fact. ‘‘At least I don’t remember seeing any such proposal or granting any such permission. If such a thing has taken place it must have been done with the proper sanction of the tree authority.’’ He added that he would have to check into the details for further information.
There has been great public outrage in the city over felling of trees and setting up of hoardings. The Bombay High Court had ordered on April 24 that there will be no further felling of trees nor setting up of any new hoarding in the city. But in complete defiance of the order tree lovers allege that hoardings have come up in the compound of the Fellowship of the Physically Handicapped at Haji Ali, a tree has been cut to accommodate six new hoardings by Jyoti Publicity and a complaint has also been filed in Tardeo police station on the issue.
Work of putting up the hoarding was being carried out even as hearing on the public interest litigation filed by Dr Anahita Pandole was being heard. Dr Pandole through her petition, had sought to curb the menace of hoardings as trees were cut arbitrarily throughout the city for enhancing its visibility.
In her petition, Pandole has challenged certain provisions in the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Preservation of Trees Act, 1975 under her constitutional right to life. With the supreme court expanding the scope of right to life to include a clean and healthy environment, Pandole said that protecting and preserving existing trees as well as planting additional trees is vital for improving environment.
Top
RBI Clears ICICI-ICICI Bank Merger With Conditions
Reserve Bank of India on Friday gave its formal approval for the reverse merger of ICICI Ltd with its banking arm ICICI Bank, but imposed several important conditions to be followed by the merged entity, particularly in respect of priority sector advances.
RBI also cleared the merger of two ICICI subsidiaries, ICICI Personal Financial Services and ICICI Capital Services with ICICI Bank.
The clearance gives birth to a Rs 1 lakh crore asset base bank, second only to State Bank of India, which is well over Rs 3 lakh crore in size. The merger is effective from the appointed dated of March 30, 02, and the swap ratio has been fixed at two ICICI shares for one ICICI Bank share.
Top
Soon, lodge civic complaints online
WITH a view to sprucing up the much-touted but poorly delivered Central Complaint Registration System (CCRS) and transforming it into a genuinely interactive and speedy system of civic complaints redressal, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is all set to make the CCRS system online from June.
While the BMC has insisted that any civic complaint can be lodged at the one-stop CCRS mechanism by simply dialling 1916, alert residents have often been disappointed. Unaware of who is handling the complaint and what the timeframe for redressal is, complainants have pointed out several shortcomings of what the BMC maintains is a people-friendly system to address civic issues.
Towards this end, the BMC has entered into a partnership with PRAJA Foundation, an NGO. A memorandum of cooperation was signed between the two late last year and PRAJA has provided the requisite software, called Online Complaint Registration System, which will place the CCRS online. A trial-run of the software has been on since two weeks and results have been positive, says Vaidya. The NGO has also offered its own server for the purpose. Prospective complainants can register complaints at www.praja.org//ocrs.
PRAJA is also currently imparting training to around 60 personnel of the CCRS, who were trained this week at the civic body’s in-house facility, the Civic Training Institute and Research Centre in Borivali.
This is how the online system will work: A complainant from any civic ward in the city can log on to the CCRS site, which will include an exhaustive list of about 200 types of civic problems. The complainant can select a complaint and accept a registration number. Progress on the complaint can then be checked regularly.
If a complaint is not attended to by the concerned officer within a specific time, the software will automatically forward it to a superior. Complainants will be informed about who is handling the complaint and at what stage the civic action is placed.
Complaints registered at 1916 or at the ward office will also be uploaded on the website.
Top
India, Britain propose 5 mn pound trust fund for education
London,Monday, April 29, 2002: India and Britain plan to create a 5 million pound trust fund for the facilitation of educational exchange and promotion of visits by educationists and scholars.
The Fourth meeting of the India-UK Round Table which concluded its three-day meeting at Kingston-upon-Thames, on the outskirts of London, Sunday evening has recommended the setting up of a working group to draw up proposals for establishing such a trust fund.
"The idea needs to be concretised," the Round Table Co-Chairman K C Pant told reporters at a meeting convened by the Indian Journalists Association.
The Round Table, Co-Chaired by Pant and Lord Swraj Paul, Ambassador for Overseas British Business, also made several other recommendations including the one that the two Governments and other relevant bodies should make more efforts to "remove obstacles to bilateral trade and investment" and, as a consequence, to improve perceptions of each other's markets.
"Areas of particular concern identified were shipping insurance, investment in the Indian print media, and access for lawyers," it said, adding that note was taken of the report of the Indo-British partnership on the need to remove bureaucratic hurdles and other impediments to growth in bilateral investment and trade. The progress made on this issue in some states in India was welcomed.
Top
RBI cuts CRR by 0.5 per cent, bank rate remains unchanged
Mumbai,Monday, April 29, 2002: The Reserve Bank of India today, as expected, cut the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points to five per cent effective the fortnight beginning June 15 while leaving the bank rate untouched at 6.5 per cent.
A reduction of 0.5 per cent in bank rate, if necessary, would depend on the overall liquidity, credit situation and inflation rate.
Expecting the soft interest rate regime to continue, the RBI in its monetary and credit policy for 2002-03, said the reduction in CRR was in view of prevailing excess liquidity with the banking system.
However, in case there was an unexpected change in liquidity conditions in the market, the apex bank may advance the effective date of reduction before June 15.
The RBI governor Bimal Jalan, presenting his fifth credit policy, said the bank rate is being kept unchanged in view of the recent reduction on deposit and lending rates by banks as also yields on fixed income securities coming down substantially.
Addressing the chief executives of the banks, Jalan said the overall stance of the policy would be to provide adequate liquidity to meet credit growth and support investment demand while continuing a vigil on price level movements and to impart greater flexbility to the interest rate structure in the medium term.
Jalan said he expected the real GDP growth to be at 6-6.5 per cent while the rate of inflation to be slightly lower than four per cent.
Top
Govt under fire in RS over labour reforms
New Delhi,Monday, April 29, 2002: Labour reforms came in for a sharp attack in the Rajya Sabha today with Left parties charging the Government with succumbing to pressure from industrialised nations and warned that democracy could not promoted by suppressing labour.
Initiating a discussion on the working of the Labour Ministry, CPI(M) member Jibon Roy questioned the rationale behind labour reforms when employment was shrinking and wondered whether demand could be spurred with falling purchasing power.
Roy demanded that trade unions should be consulted and a consensus arrived at before going ahead with labour reforms. He wondered if Labour Ministry was consulted before going ahead with reforms.
He quoted statistics to say that the decade-long liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation had only resulted in falling rate of employment besides retrenchment which he said was a "dangerous situation".
Pointing to the steady fall in allocation towards Labour, he said "this reflects the attitude of the Government about Labour".
While seven paise out of every rupee spent in GDP was allocated to Labour in 1993-94, it had come down to mere half a paise in the 2001-02 budget, he said.
He asked what was the reason in not giving bonus to labour when Government had made it mandatory for government departments and public and private sector units.
Top
Jaffer, Dasgupta shine in drawn three-day match
St Lucia (Grenada),Monday, April 29, 2002: Wasim Jaffer and Deep Dasgupta finally came good with the bat to earn the Indians a comfortable draw after being forced to follow-on in the three day tour match against Busta XI here.
Both Jaffer and Dasgupta struck fine half-centuries as the Indians finished the third and final day Sunday at a respectable 158 for two after being skittled out for 150 in their first innings.
Jaffer and Dasgupta, both claimants for the second opener's slot to partner Shiv Sunder Das, made up for their failures of the first innings and added 101 for the second wicket to ensure their team did not suffer a collapse for the second time in the match.
Jaffer was out in the final session of play for a well- made 62 while Dasgupta remained unbeaten on 54. Ajay Ratra was the other not out batsman on 29.
The Indians, who had fallen 287 runs short of Busta XI's 437 in the first innings, got an early scare when Das was out for nought off the fourth ball of the innings. But Jaffer and Dasgupta applied themselves well and batted comfortably.
Jaffer, a specialist opening batsman who was expected to bring an end to experimentations at the top of the order, staked his claim with a patient 156-ball knock that contained seven hits to the fence. He was finally dismissed by Gareth Breese when the batsman holed out to Darren Ganga.
Top
Kumble likely to sit out in third Test too
St Lucia (Grenada),Monday, April 29, 2002: On the ongoing tour of West Indies, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh looms as the biggest threat to one person who for long has been his friend, philosopher and guide.
Leg spinner Anil Kumble, India's proven match-winner, watched his protege take the lone spinner's berth in the second Test at Port of Spain last week and, if team sources are to be believed, would meet with the same fate in the third Test at Barbados starting on Thursday. Kumble, with 319 wickets from 69 Tests, is India's second highest wicket-taker of all time but the team management believes it cannot accomodate two spinners in the final eleven on the fast pitches in West Indies.
So the Indians went in with three fast bowlers in Port of Spain and would again do so in Barbados which is considered to be one of the fastest tracks in the Caribbean. Feeling guilty at finding his senior partner being put on the bench, Harbhajan Singh offered his apology to Kumble. "I said 'sorry Anil bhai'. But he was full of grace and said 'Don't be silly,'" the offie added. "In moments like this, you realise the quality of a real man," he said. Harbhajan Singh being preferred over Kumble is partly due to a not so impressive record of the leg-spinner on foreign pitches and partly due to the fact that his younger teammate is an unknown customer for the West Indian batsmen.
Kumble is a proven match-winner at home as his record of 210 wickets from 36 matches at 21.31 would illustrate, but outside his familiar terrain, he has struggled, managing only 108 wickets from 33 Tests at an average of 40.04.
This was the guiding factor in Kumble's exclusion in the second Test though with 19 wickets at 30.32 from the five Tests on the 1997 tour, he perhaps deserved a closer look. Harbhajan Singh took three wickets in the second Test and could not get off the mark in either innings.
If Harbhajan is preferred ahead of Kumble in the third Test, it is not because his away record gives him the edge. It is because the West Indian line-up is packed with left-handers and his stock delivery is the one which leaves the bat.
West Indies have Chris Gayle, Brian Lara, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul and now Ridley Jacobs in the squad for the third Test and against their left-handed prowess, Harbhajan Singh is seen as a better bet than Kumble.
Both have struggled to come to grips with injury in recent times.
Top
|
Markets
|
To get today's complete NIFTY (the NSE index) listing send an e-mail to
get-nse@mumbai-central.com
(updated multiple times a day)
|
To get today's BSE index listing send an e-mail to
get-bse@mumbai-central.com
(updated multiple times a day)
|
To get today's NAVs for mutual funds send an e-mail to
get-mf@mumbai-central.com
(updated once a day)
|
Sensex: 3301.21, -70.49
The sensex closed at 3301.21, down 70.49
Top
Top
|
Forex
|
1 U.S. $ = 48.94 INR
1 Japanese Yen = 0.38 INR
1 British Pound = 71.50 INR
1 Canadian $ = 31.27 INR
1 Singapore $ = 27.07 INR
1 UAE Dirham = 13.32 INR
1 Saudi Arabian Riyal = 13.05 INR
1 Euro = 44.22 INR
1 Qatar Rial = 13.44 INR
|
Metals
|
No data |
Weather
|
Temperature: 81 F / 27 C
HeatIndex: 85 F / 29 C
Humidity: 70%
Dew Point: 70 F / 21 C
Wind
West at 5 mph / 8.0 km/h
Pressure: 29.68 in / 1005 hPa
Conditions
Smoke
Clouds
FEW: 2000 ft / 611 m
Sunrise : 06:09 AM (IST)
Sunset : 06:56 PM (IST)
Moonrise : 09:30 PM (IST)
Moonset : 07:56 AM (IST)
|
-: Advertisement :-
For up-to-date BSE quotes, subscribe to the BSEdata mailing list. Send an email to BSEdata-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to join and get automatic BSE updates in your email.
|
-: Advertisement :-
|
Admin Message
Features
Do you own an Internet cafe or provide internet access for web surfing?
If so, please contact us.
Details of the 47th Filmfare Awards
Online election results
for the Mumbai Civic Elections 2002. Results will be available after
noon Feb 11th.
Bollywood Roundup for 2001
74 images with descriptive text showcasing the
Mumbai Ganesh festival 2001
WTC Plane 'bombings' and me - a graphic first-hand account of a 'nukkad' subscriber
Irani Chai Wala - an evocative
description of a typical Irani restaurant in Bombay
Online hotel reservations for all
the major Indian cities.
Easier procedure for non-immigrant U.S. visas - via the Mumbai Grapevine
Latest Bollywood news
Puraani
yaadein - lyrics of old Films Division cartoons (via nukkad).
The wonder that is the Mumbai
tiffinwalla
Mumbai Us Zamaney Ka
- a walk down memory lane (via nukkad)
Refuse, Reduce, Re-use, Re-cycle plastics
List of places to see in Mumbai (with pics). Any corrections/additions/suggestions? Send them in.
Make Mumbai Central your start page! Step-by-step instructions here.
Message boards
Bollywood Masala: Bollywood roundup for 2001
Sporting life: Contact RAHUL DRAVID!!
Twentysomething: Models Wanted for Stage show
Singles scene: girls for pinup photos
nukkad
Re: Re: H Sc exam paper in Gujarat
Re: Bye
Ans to the riddle
re nukkad - site for translation
sawal do ke jawab do
RE: sawal do ke jawab do
(More info on the 'nukkad' mailing list, including subscription info is at:
http://www.mumbai-central.com/nukkad/)
About the Mumbai Grapevine
The Mumbai Grapevine is a daily newsletter with news and info
from the city of Mumbai, formerly Bombay. The newsletter also
has weekly editions of international news.
To express your opinion about a particular story or news item,
write to:
news-editor@mumbai-central.com
These opinions may be published on the newsletter. If you do
not want your name/address to be published along with your
letter, please indicate clearly.
Instructions to unsubscribe are at the end of the newsletter.
Please feel free to forward this message to your friends and co-workers
who might be interested in it. The instructions to join the Mumbai
Grapevine are at the end of the message.
|