Announcement likely on Thursday about grant of dual citizenship
New Delhi,Wednesday, January 08, 2003: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is likely to announce on Thursday Government's decision on grant of dual citizenship at a conference of over 1000 Persons of Indian Origin and NRIs gathering here for a three-day meeting.
Coming with conditions, the dual citizenship will be confined to PIOs living in specified countries on the basis of reciprocity and will not be automatic. It will be Government's prerogative whether to grant or not in the case of each applicant.
The Prime Minister's announcement is expected to be made during his inaugural address at the first-ever 'Pravasi Bharatiya Divas' here tomorrow.
Over 1200 NRIs and PIOs from 55 countries are participating in the three-day meet jointly organised by the External Affairs Ministry and FICCI.
The Prime Minister will present the 'Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards' to ten eminent NRIs and PIOs.
Mauritian Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth, who will be honoured along with nine others, will deliver a special address at the conference.
Vajpayee would light the lamp, marking the opening of the conference followed by invocation by sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar and Shehnai Wizard Bismillah Khan, both Bharat Ratna awardees.
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Vajpayee to hold talks with Naga leaders on Thursday
New Delhi,Wednesday, January 08, 2003: In a major attempt towards solution of the vexed Naga problem, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Naga leaders Isak Chisi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah will hold crucial talks here Thursday, the first such exercise in India in 35 years.
Significantly, rebel leaders NSCN (I-M) Chairman Swu and General Secretary Muivah have been provided Indian travel documents and will be arriving from Amsterdam for the dialogue, Centre's emissary on Naga peace process K Padmanabhaiah told PTI today.
The two-day talks with Vajpayee and his deputy L K Advani would be followed by official level parleys.
While the Naga leadership had met then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi here way back in 1967, Vajpayee had briefly met them in Japan in December 2001 in the run up to the present exercise. Swu and Muivah "are coming here to hold a dialogue without any conditions. They have been provided Indian travel documents. This itself shows the trend," Padmanabhaiah said, adding "their visit is a very important development towards finding a lasting solution to the vexed Naga issue".
He said "the Government is committed to taking care of the safety, security and well-being of Naga leaders during their stay in India".
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Delhi govt to start deportation of nationals staying illegally
New Delhi,Wednesday, January 08, 2003: A day after Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani expressed serious concern over Pakistanis and Bangladeshis over-staying in the country and the need to throw them out, Delhi government today said it will soon start a deportation drive and undertake other stringent measures to overcome the problem.
Describing the over-staying and illegal entry by various foreign nationals in Delhi as a "major worry" for security, Delhi Lt Governor Vijai Kapoor said "we must comprehend the danger posed by illegal presence of these nationals here. It is unacceptable situation and we are soon going to take stringent measures including deportation of these nationals."
The Delhi government had recently held a meeting with various security agencies including IB, RAW and Delhi Police and decided to take strong action for their deportation and other measures, he said.
"Next week again we are going to hold a meeting to chalk out the future course of action which includes identification of such nationals and throwing them out," Kapoor said, adding Delhi has always been focus of terrorism and other crimes.
Recently the Delhi police have busted a gang of Bangladeshis involved in various crimes.
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Centre to check foreign travel by separatist leaders
New Delhi,Wednesday, January 08, 2003: Stung by their anti-India activities and seccessionist statements abroad, the Centre has decided to get tough with Kashmiri separatist leaders with regard to their foreign travel and it may even impound their passports.
Highly-placed sources said here today that the Government has decided to reverse its policy of being liberal in enabling the separatist elements to travel abroad and participate in conferences and other meetings. Several of them undertake foreign trips on ostensible medical grounds and use the opportunity to carryout vicious anti-India campaigns, the sources said.
A dossier submitted to the Home Ministry names Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Yaseen Malik and Sheikh Abdul Aziz among the separatist leaders against whom action has been proposed by way of either impounding their passport or refusal of permission to travel abroad.
Citing the case of former Hurriyat Chairman Umer, the document accuses him of holding meetings with expatriate pro-Pakistani Kashmiri groups, ISI operatives and other anti-India elements and espousing the right of "self-determination" of Kashmiris.
It said that the Mirwaiz had tried to influence the General Secretary of Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) in New York to take "economic sanctions" against India for its "illegal occupation" of Kashmir.
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Salman disowns statements to cops
Salman Khan, film actor and witness in a case of alleged Bollywood nexus with the underworld, on Wednesday informed a special court that his statements recorded by the police allegedly did not bear his signature and were also not read out to him.
He was answering questions put to him by defence lawyer Majeed Memon during cross-examination.
The actor had on Tuesday resiled from his statements recorded by the police on December 16, 2000 and February 25, 2001.
"The police had called me to give statements twice. I was answering their questions and they were typing my replies on a computer. As the computer screen was far away I could not read what was being typed," Salman told designated judge A P Bhangale.
The actor disowned his statement in which he had told the police that Shakeel had called him on his cell phone and that producer Nasim Rizvi and his assistant Abdul Rahim Allah Baksh had come to his house where he picked up a fight with them over the signing amount of the film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke.
Salman also refuted allegation that absconding accused Anjum Adam Ajlani had intervened to calm him down. He also resiled from his statement in which he had said that Abu Salem had threatened him to act in his films or face consequences.
The police alleged Chori Chori Chupke Chupke was produced by Rizvi and financed by Bharat Shah at Shakeel's behest.
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3 Indian immigrants found dead near Ukraine border
BRATISLAVA: Three Indian illegal immigrants were found dead at Vysna Rybnica, near the Slovak-Ukrainian border, Slovak interior ministry spokeswoman Monika Kuhajdova has said.
The three, aged between 25 and 30, were found Monday by Soak police, dead from exhaustion after their long journey that wound up with a trek through the mountains in icy temperatures.
Seven other Indians were found alive near the border and interned in a camp in eastern Slovakia pending a decision on their fate, Kuhajdova said on Tuesday.
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Pak peeved over UNMG report
Islamabad,Wednesday, January 08, 2003: Pakistan would lodge a protest to the UN over the critical remarks made by UN Monitoring Group alleging support from Islamabad to forces inimical to Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai as well as taking inadequate measures along the Pak-Afghan border enabling Al Qaeda and Taliban militants to move freely along the borders.
The third report of the UN Monitoring Group, which was submitted to the UN Security Council last month, raised serious questions about the Al Qaeda movement and arms smuggling along the Pakistan-Afghan border, a local Daily said.
The 40-page report of the UNMG noted that Al Qaeda activists continue to move about freely in Pakistan and inadequate measures are in place to restrict mobility and flexibility of the 'network'.
"They appear able to move, with relative ease within their areas of operation, e.g., Europe, Southeast Asia or between Afghanistan and Pakistan," the report said.
The "Dawn' daily quoted officials as saying that Pakistan, which has been elected as the non-permanent member of the UN Security Council this year would challenge the UNMG report at the Security Council's meeting scheduled for January 24.
"We intend to counter segments of the report that point the accusing finger towards Pakistan," the newspaper quoted well-placed officials in the Pakistan foreign ministry as saying.
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Disinvestment Commission recommends sale of four PSUs
New Delhi,Wednesday, January 08, 2003: The Disinvestment Commission has recommended privatisation of four PSUs including National Buildings Construction Corporation and Cotton Corporation.
In a report submitted to government recently, the Commission suggested sale of 74 per cent stake of its 100 per cent shareholding in NBCC to strategic partner while retaining 26 per cent for three years.
The Commission has also recommended disinvestment in Indian Medicines Pharmaceuticals Corporation (IMPCL) and Jute Corporation of India (JCL).
It has also said that an appropriate financial and organisational restructuring package should be formulated for the company after consultation with bidders.
The Commission noted that there was no rationale for the government to continue in the company as there were no social benefits accruing from future association due to existence of employment opportunities.
It further said that there were no strategic reasons for continuation nor was government presence necessiated owing to monopoly considerations on account of presence of adequate number of players in the market.
NBCC has a equity base of Rs 1.2 billion and employs around 3150 employees.
In the case of Cotton Corporation (CCI) where government holds 100 per cent stake, it said that disinvestment would be conditioned by whether government decides to retain minimum support price (MSP) for cotton.
It said that in case government chose to retain MSP then strategic sale of 51 per cent stake would be appropriate while holding onto remaining 49 per cent for a period of three years.
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S&P maintain negative outlook, junk rating for India
New Delhi,Wednesday, January 08, 2003: Global rating agency Standard & Poor's today maintained its "negative" outlook and the junk 'BB' rating on India's foreign currency despite the swelling 70 billion dollars forex reserves and higher GDP growth of 5.8
per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal.
The rating agency cited the worsening fiscal situation for retaining the "BB" for foreign currency long-term rating and "BB+" rating for local currency, as assigned by it in September last.
"Political compulsions are likely to prevent significant fiscal adjustment through reduced government spending, placing the burden of change on the revenue side," S&P said in a statement today.
S&P cut India's ratings following government decision to defer disinvestment for oil PSUs.
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Bangladesh to adopt Indian system of floating oil prices
Dhaka,Wednesday, January 08, 2003: Bangladesh may adopt Indian system of floating oil prices and dismantle administered price mechanism in the face of strong opposition to its recent decision to hike fuel oil prices.
"The government is envisaging floating prices of fuel oils in open market relaxing state control that officials think would create certain distortions", a private news agency said quoting State Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources A K M Mosharraf Hossain.
Consumers have alleged that government only increases price citing higher prices at international market, but never lowers when prices go down.
The government cited hike in international oil prices and smuggling to India as the prime reasons for the increase in prices of petroleum products.
Hossain, who announced the latest price hike, said India has a floating pricing system and "that's why we observe that prices of oils in Kolkata mark both rise and fall depending on the international market."
An independent Energy Regulatory Commission will soon determine the prices of petroleum products, Hossain said.
The Commission, to be formed latest by July 1, "will increase or decrease prices of fuel oils as international tariffs" Hossain told the agency.
Protest rallies were held and a general strike is being planned by the opposition urging the government to withdraw its decision price hike of fuel oil. This is the second time within 15 months of its coming to power that Begum Zia-led alliance government has raised the fuel prices.
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Rupee rock steady against US dollar
Mumbai,Wednesday, January 08, 2003: The Rupee held rock steady against the US currency in extremely thin and listless early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market today.
The domestic unit was quoted at its overnight closing levels of Rs 47.9750/9850 per dollar in muted business. The Rupee opened at Rs 47.97/98 per dollar.
The forex spot trade remained quiet and range-bound due to lack of market moving factors. However, dollar supplies from export proceeds and inward remittances continued to give the Rupee underlying support, despite sporadic dollar demand from state-run banks, a forex dealer said.
In cross currency trades, the Euro was quoted at Rs 50.01/03, Pound Sterling at Rs 77.04/06 and Japanese Yen (100) at Rs 39.94/96.
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Four-session losing streak is wiped out, sensex up by 27.37
Mumbai,Wednesday, January 08, 2003: The four-session losing streak on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was wiped out here today on emergence of all-round buying by operators, helping the sensex to recover smartly by 27.37 points and close at 3357.87.
Shares, after a firm start, continued to rise following overnight's positive advices from Wall Street after President Bush's economic-stimulus plan released on Tuesday in order to strengthen New York stock markets, dealers said.
The upsurge in the sensex could be gauged by a sharp to moderate rise in 24 out of 30 index-based counters including heavyweights like RIL, Telco, Tisco, BHEL, ITC, Grasim, L&T, Infosys Tech and Satyam Computer.
The BSE-30 share sensitive index opened firm at 3339.89 and immediately touched a low of 3338.94. Later it rallied smartly to the day's high of 3362.12 before concluding at 3357.87 as against Tuesday's close of 3330.50, netting a gain of 0.82 per cent.
The broad-based BSE-100 index also rose by 10.22 points to 1662.87 from previous close of 1652.65.
Under the leadership of Mastek, which shot up by 9.17 per cent, majority of IT counters also attracted good buying support from speculators and institutional investors.
Renewed support was extended to cement stocks also which, under the leadership of ACC, displayed smart rallies.
"All eyes are now set on the results of IT bellwether, Infosys Tech, to be announced on January 10" a dealer said.
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India finally secure victory
Wellington,Wednesday, January 08, 2003: In a match of academic interest, India finally managed a victory on their troubled tour of New Zealand, hanging on desperately for a narrow two-wicket win in the fifth one-day international here today after their top order crumbled once again.
Having been blanked out in the Tests and conceded a 0-4 lead in the seven-match one-day series, the Indians just managed to scrape through a modest New Zealand score of 168 all out after Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan survived some tense moments.
Yuvraj Singh, who top-scored with a gritty 54, and Zaheer Khan put on a crucial 44-run partnership for the eighth wicket which saw the tourists move on from a precarious 116 for seven in the 30th over to within nine runs of their first victory on this tour.
Zaheer Khan, who claimed three vital wickets early in the New Zealand innings, remained unbeaten on a stubborn 34, his career-best one-day score, to be adjudged the man of the match.
The much awaited return of Sachin Tendulkar ended in a big disappointment for the Indian team with the maestro becoming a victim of debatable leg before wicket decision. Tendulkar, playing his first match of the series after sitting out the first four games due to an ankle injury, could not even open his account.
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