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News:
Six killed in fresh violence in Ahmedabad; toll rises to 16
World Bank visits people displaced by MUTP
Ultras blast rail line in Bihar
Indian ISPs unlikely to prosper soon from VoIP
Shantha Biotech-IISc Bangalore To Co-develop DNA-based TB Vaccine
US Commission on Religious Freedom gives mixed chit to Pak
US Commission expresses "great concern" over Gujarat riots
C.M.Vasudev and Y.V.Reddy to be World Bank and IMF Exec. Dirs
Supreme Court refuses stay on WLL operations
Overall fuel policy likely: Govt
Government sets 100 pc rural electrification target by 2012
Third umpire should also be neutral: Holding
Efforts on to mop up tax dues of cricketers
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Six killed in fresh violence in Ahmedabad; toll rises to 16
Ahmedabad,Tuesday, May 07, 2002: Atleast six people were killed, two of them in police firing, in fresh violence in Sarkhej, Vejalpur and Kalupur areas today, prompting authorities to re-impose indefinite curfew there.
With this, the death toll has mounted to 16 since clashes broke out in the city on Sunday.
The trouble arose after a teacher, belonging to minority community, was burnt to death by a mob near Sarkhej railway station under Ahmedabad Rural District while he was going to attend his duty in a technical college in Sarkhej police station area, police said.
In retaliation, another mob stabbed to death a pedestrian and set ablaze a truck on the national highway falling under Vejalpur police station.
Police burst several teargas shells and opened fire to disperse the violent mob, killing two persons and injuring another in Vejalpur police station areas.
Two persons received minor injuries in the violence, police said adding indefinite curfew was clamped in Vejalpur from noon, while in Sarkhej police station areas indefinite curfew was reimposed from 11.30 am.
Indefinite curfew was imposed in Kalupur police station area from 2 PM after two persons were stabbed to death in Kadiya kui locality, police said.
At least ten people, including five policemen, were injured when mob pelted stones and hurled crude bombs in Kalupur walled city areas late last night.
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World Bank visits people displaced by MUTP
(Express News Service)
NEGOTIATIONS for the Rs 4,500-crore Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) finally began between Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) and the World Bank at Washington today. The four-member negotiating team is led by Metropolitan Commissioner Ajit Warty, said MUTP project director U P S Madan.
The meeting at Washington coincided with the visit of the vice president of the World Bank in south Asia, Mieko Nishi Mizu, to sites where the project affected people (PAP) have been rehabilitated at Mankhurd. Her visit is important as rehabilitation plays a major component in the bank’s criteria for availing the loan.
The MUTP aims to provide an efficient and sustainable urban transport system by improving the frequency of suburban rails by laying new railway lines, adding coaches and constructing new stations. The project will also provide permanent housing, with improved living conditions, to rehabilitate 19,500 poor households from their slums/squatter areas near railway lines. The project is expected to become effective on September 31, 2002.
Mizu’s visit signals the World Bank’s intention of ensuring that the project doesn’t affect the living conditions of the PAP’s, while improving the public transport system.
Mizu expressed satisfaction at the facilities provided at the transit camps and residential complexes for housing the slumdwellers.
Earlier, travelling in the motorman’s cabin, railway officials showed her the railway tracks and pointed out the reduction in travel time from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to Mankhurd. Her first stop was at the transit camps where she was shown around by Sparc, an NGO who carried out a survey of slumdwellers living along the railway tracks.
Mizu later held a meeting with various NGO’s including Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG), Clean Air, Citispace, Humlog and Networking for Transportation Alternatives (NETRA). The NGO’s objected to MUTP saying it didn’t consider the problems of public transport, it will restrict pedestrian movement and most of all, lack of co-ordination between road and rail traffic management. To this, MMRDA replied that it is taking care of these problems, and as part of MUTP six railway stations are going to be built in Dadar, Malad, Andheri, Borivali, Ghatkopar and Chembur. Public consultation will begin in the third week of May.
The meeting was attended by Joint commissioner of MMRDA P L Bongirwar and other officials including urban planner V K Phatak.
The loan sanctioned by the World Bank will be jointly shared by the Railways and MMRDA, which is the main implementing agency. Considering the major component of the project involves modernisation of the railways, the government is expected to recover the cost by levying a surcharge, though nominal from railway commuters.
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Ultras blast rail line in Bihar
Garhwa,Tuesday, May 07, 2002: The outlawed Maoist Communist Centre and People's War Group ultras blasted a rail line on the Garhwa-Chopan section early today on the second day of their three-day economic blockade launched in Jharkhand to protest Prevention of Terrorism Act, hitting rail services for hours.
Police sources said about 35 to 40 extremists stormed the cabin near Meral station on the section and overpowered the cabinman before triggering a landmine blast blowing up the rail line stretching 30 feet.
Train services were affected for several hours, the sources said adding senior railway officials were camping at the spot to restore traffic.
Police patrolling has been further stepped up to guard rail property.
Meanwhile, movement of minerals, including coal, in the [Adistrict too was completely paralysed with private truck operators suspending their services as a precautionary measure.
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Indian ISPs unlikely to prosper soon from VoIP
India's launch of Internet telephony last month will delay a shakeout in the crowded market for Internet Service Providers (ISP), as stiff price competition for Netphone services cripples prospects for profitability.
All of India's 160 ISPs are expected to offer Voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service because it costs only 10,000 rupees ($204) to amend their licences to do.
"A year from now there won't be an ISP provider not offering Internet telephony," said Amitabh Singhal, secretary of the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI).
ISPs in India have generated just a total of $500 million in revenue for the past four years, and most are in the red, Singhal said.
Domestic VoIP revenue will be negligible, as the government has authorised only computer-to-computer calls within India.
And Singhal forecast VoIP would grab only 10 percent of India's $1.5 billion-a-year international call market, though VoIP can be used to call phones overseas for far less.
Using conventional phones, the cheapest peak calling rate to the United States is 24 rupees per minute. By comparison, Satyam Infoway, India's largest ISP, charges just seven rupees anytime.
A recent IDC survey of India's 1,000 largest companies found 32 percent were using VoIP or considering doing so last year. That figure has since risen to 53 percent.
IDC projected a 135 percent compound annual growth rate in VoIP through 2005, with corporate usage increasing about four times that rate.
Driving the increase will be not just "cheap minutes" but value-added services, the survey indicated.
Whereas 85 percent of usage in 2000 was long-distance voice traffic, by 2004 about half the traffic is expected to be enhanced services and voice-enabled e-commerce, it said.
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Shantha Biotech-IISc Bangalore To Co-develop DNA-based TB Vaccine
(Financial Express)
Hyderabad-based biotech player — Shantha Biotechnics Pvt Ltd is all set to further extend its alliance with Bangalore’s reputed Indian Institute of Science (IISc) which will see both the players co-developing a new age DNA-based TB vaccine and an anti-malarial drug.
Shantha is also in final stages of evaluation of setting up a research lab at IISc premises and invest Rs 8.2 crore spread over five years towards this particular drug development project.
TB has been identified as one of the top dreaded disease world wide with India having the largest pool of patients. Moreover TB eradication has been brought under the high priority list of WHO. Given that the current vaccine available is not effective, the need of the hour is to develop a new generation vaccine which could be prophylactic/therapeutic or both.
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US Commission on Religious Freedom gives mixed chit to Pak
Washington,Tuesday, May 07, 2002: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its annual report to the Congress and President, has mixed praise for Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf with criticism for the state of religious freedom in that country.
The report recalled the Commission's successful efforts to get the separate electorate system in Pakistan abolished with the Government announcing plans to do so in January 2002.
"In recent months," the report said, "the Pakistani Government has also undertaken efforts to prevent militant religious extremist groups and religious schools from promoting violence or possessing any type of weapons, in line with the Commssion's recommendations."
The Commission, the report added, wrote to President Bush in February 2002, on the eve of President Musharraf's visit to US, acknowledging Pakistan's progress on the front and asking Bush to raise issues of religious freedom with the Pakistani leader during their talks.
The report said it strongly hopes more action will follow to provide religious freedom, including the elimination of abuse under blasphemy laws and laws targeting Ahmadis.
Expressing concern at the spate of attacks on churches in the country in the recent past, it said, though government has taken steps to investigate the incidents, they have not been adequate to hold accountable those responsible.
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US Commission expresses "great concern" over Gujarat riots
Washington,Tuesday, May 07, 2002: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a statutory body which advises Congress and the American President, has expressed "great concern" over the riots in Gujarat in which the victims, it notes, were "primarily Muslims."
The Commission, headed by Michael Young, Dean of George Washington University Law School and comprising eight others including a person of Indian origin, Shirin Tahir-Kheli of the Johns Hopkins University, said in its report, that it has observed with great concern the communal rioting between Muslims and Hindus in India since February 2002 that has taken more than 800 lives, "primarily Muslims."
The Commission, the report said, "continues to urge the US Government to press Indian authorities to exercise their power to halt the atrocities and violence, bring perpetrators to justice, and do more to root out the causes of religious intolerance, especially by resolving the impasse over the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya detroyed in 1992 by Hindu nationalists who are vowing to construct a Hindu temple on the site."
The Commission said it "has focused on India in light of the increase in recent years in severe violence against religious minorities in that country -- Muslims, Christians and Sikhs nationwide, and Hindus in Tripura State."
It noted that following the outburst of communal violence in Gujarat, the Commission issued a statement calling upon the US to help the Indian Government "foster a climate of religious tolerance and citing its May 2001 recommendations for US policy to promote religious freedom in India".
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C.M.Vasudev and Y.V.Reddy to be World Bank and IMF Exec. Dirs
New Delhi,Tuesday, May 07, 2002: Government today nominated Economic Affairs Secretary C.M.Vasudev as India's Executive Director in World Bank, entailing a possible reshuffle in the top echelons of the Finance Ministry.
Vasudev will take over from B.P.Singh, who is completing his three-year term as Executive Director in the World Bank on July 31.
An official announcement said RBI Deputy Governor Y.V.Reddy has been named India's Executive Director in the International Monetary Fund in place of Vijay Kelkar who is completing his three-year term on July 31.
Vasudev became Economic Affairs Secretary last November when government effected a major reshuffle of the top posts of the Finance Ministry, ahead of the budget preparation.
Though Vasudev replaced Ajit Kumar who held the posts of Economic Affairs secretary as well as Finance Secretary, he was not given the post of Finance Secretary as S Narayanan was senior to him. Usually the senior most of the three secretaries in the ministry takes over as Finance Secretary.
Officials sources said with the appointment of Vasudev as World Bank's executive director, Narayanan could be a top contender for the post of Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary.
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Supreme Court refuses stay on WLL operations
New Delhi,Tuesday, May 07, 2002: In a setback to cellular operators in the legal battle over limited mobility, Supreme Court today refused to stay the Centre's decision allowing basic service providers to offer limited mobility services.
The limited mobility services based on wireless in local loop (WLL) technology offers mobility at a tariff of Rs 1.20 for a three minute outgoing call and free incoming calls.
A Bench comprising Justice R P Sethi and Justice K G Balakrishnan, while issuing notices to Union of India and basic operators on a petition filed by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) challenging the decision, fixed July 19 for final hearing.
Limited mobility services has been a bone of contention between basic and cellular operators for over a year, with the latter moving the apex court after TDSAT, the telecom tribunal, in March last upheld government's decision allowing the basic operators to offer limited mobility services.
In its petition filed before the Supreme Court, the cellular operators sought setting aside of the impugned order of March 15 of TDSAT.
The petition also sought setting aside and quashing of decision of government (Department of Telecom) dated January 25, 2001 by which fixed srevice providers were permitted to provide limited mobility services.
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Overall fuel policy likely: Govt
New Delhi,Tuesday, May 07, 2002: With various types of fuels in use in the country, the Government is considering putting in place an "overall" fuel policy, Rajya Sabha was told today.
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Ram Naik said the Centre will soon take a decision on the matter and it needed the cooperation of Members of Parliament in this regard.
"An overall policy is under active consideration of the government and we will decide about it," he told CPI-M member Dipankar Mukherjee.
In reply to another query by Laloo Prasad Yadav (RJD) whether the government will adhere to Supreme Court directives on CNG, Naik said the government is implementing the orders of the apex court.
He said the CNG situation in Delhi will show further improvement by January 2004 after completion of the Gujarat LNG terminal.
He said an agreement had been reached for 25 years of LNG supply from Qatar and this will ease the natural gas supply situation in the country.
In reply to another query, Naik said about 50,000 vehicles out of 2.5 mn vehicles in Delhi run on CNG.
Naik said gas supplies to 24 industries in Delhi is being cut due to priority given to auto sector.
As many as 16,000 workers are employed by these industries, Naik said.
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Government sets 100 pc rural electrification target by 2012
New Delhi,Tuesday, May 07, 2002: Government has set a target of 100 per cent rural electrification by generating 10,000 MW of power from renewables by 2012, Minister of State for Non-Conventional Energy Sources M Kannappan said here today.
Inaugurating the two-day Annual Renewable Energy seminar, he said out of this ambitious target, by the end of the 11th five year plan, 5,000 remote villages would be electrified by a planned power generation of 4,200 MW from renewable sources during the tenth five year plan.
"In our renewable energy perspective, we have identified three major trust areas-- meeting minimum rural energy needs, electrification of 18,000 remote villages by decentralised energy supply and grid quality power generation," the minister said.
Minister of State for Finance Gingee N Ramachandran, however, said though GDP growth improved in the post-reforms period, there were several aspects of development where the progress had been "clearly disappointing" and providing energy services to rural people was one such area.
"The rural-urban gap in access to electricity is quite striking. When three-fourths of the urban households in the country have access to electricity, only 30 per cent of those living in rural areas have this facility," he said.
Kannappan said a draft renewable energy policy had been prepared by the Ministry and was under process for necessary approval and states would have to initiate a dialogue with their electricity regulatory commissions for bringing about preferential tariff structures for grid power from renewables.
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Third umpire should also be neutral: Holding
Bridgetown,Tuesday, May 07, 2002: With the number of doubtful umpiring decisions on the ascent, just past the half-way stage of the five-Test series, both India and West Indies have expressed their disappointment over the repeated blunders by the men in long white coats.
"Looking at the way things have gone, I would say perhaps it is time to have an independent third umpire as well." says legendary fast bowler Michael Holding. "I have been counting since the start of the first Test and can cite 14 decisions that can at best be termed doubtful," Holding, now a commentator, wrote in his column. "I can understand the umpires in the middle, who make split-second decisions getting it wrong, but how on earth can the third umpire get a decision wrong after seeing so many replays and having so much time? "Such a decision would suggest he should not be umpiring and should be doing something else instead," Holding blasted third umpire Eddie Nichols who ruled Shivnarine Chanderpaul not out on the last day of the second Test.
With only a handful of runs to score, Chanderpaul guided a Javagal Srinath delivery into the gloves of Ajay Ratra but Nichols flashed the green light when the ground umpire asked to clarify whether it was a bumped ball or not. Nichols couldn't be reached at the end of the match but referee Ranjan Madugalle came to his defence saying "the umpire couldn't make out if the ball was bump or not".
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Efforts on to mop up tax dues of cricketers
New Delhi,Tuesday, May 07, 2002: Dispelling impression of Government glossing over tax liabilities of cricketers, the Centre today asserted in the Rajya Sabha that it was pursuing a "pro-active" policy in this regard to mop up Rs 38.1 mn tax dues from 33 such players.
"The impression that we are not pro-active is wrong. We are pro-active. But, we have to be pro-active as per the law of the land," Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said responding to supplementaries during Question Hour.
He said the Income Tax department was pursuing all these cases and had fixed strict norms for their disposal by its Apellate Authority.
Earlier, Minister of State for Finance Gingee Ramachandran said the 33 cricketers included Kapil Dev, Ajay Jadeja, Nikhil Chopra, Mohd Azharuddin, Sunil Joshi, Saurav Ganguly, W V Raman and Nayan Mongia.
Those who did not have any tax dues include Sachin Tendulkar, S S Das, V V S Laxman, Venkatesh Prasad, S Sriram, Kiran More, S Venkataraghavan and Sunil Gavaskar, he said.
He, however, said the IT department did not maintain separate details of tax dues of sports personalities.
Assuring the House that there was no laxity on the part of the department, Sinha said premises of several players and their relatives had been searched and documents seized were under examination.
He said the duty of the IT department was to collect tax and not to defame people.
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