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Govt adopts tough anti-hijack policy
New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) Adopting tough measures to prevent hijacking, the Government has decided to allow shooting down of an hijacked plane in case there is conclusive evidence that it is being used as a missile like the 9/11 terror attack.
The anti-hijack policy, cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) earlier this week, rules out negotiations with hijackers on their demands and makes it clear that talks will only be aimed at preventing loss of life or ending the incident, official sources said.
The CCS gave its approval to fresh proposals by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, the Indian Air Force and other agencies to tighten existing guidelines in view of the September 11 terror attack in the US and Kandahar hijack in December 1999.
The policy, which provides for death penalty to hijackers, also reduces bureaucratic hassles for getting permission for armed intervention due to shortage of reaction time.
The Indian Air Force has been given the authority to take necessary steps for scrambling fighter jet to guard and guide the hijacked aircraft and force it to land on an Indian airport.
However, a decision in this respect has to be taken by an official of the rank of Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations) or above.
After the hijacked plane is forced to land on an airport in India, all efforts should be made to immobilise it and prevent it from taking off, the sources said. PTI
CBI seeks Interpol help in probe into Denel Defence deal
Sumir Kaul
New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) Launching its probe into alleged irregularities in securing the contract for supply of rifles to Indian Army by South African firm Denel, CBI has approached Interpol seeking more details about company as well as the British intermediatory which had helped clinch the deal.
Highly-placed CBI sources said the Interpol assistance was necessitated before the agency could formally send a Letters Rogatory to South Africa and Isle of Man Island, where the intermediary firm Varas Associates is based, through British Government.
In its communication to Interpol's South Africa office and Scotland Yard of Britain, the CBI has sought details about Denel and its reputation, the sources said.
They said that after the CBI received the information from Interpol, the agency would approach the designated court in Delhi to issue Letters Rogatory for the two countries so that the overseas probe could begin.
The sources admitted the process is long drawn and the legal battle could take some time.
The agency had registered its first FIR in the defence deals on June six this year and booked unnamed officials of Denel, its British agent and of Indian Defence Ministry to probe alleged corruption in purchase of arms and ammunition from the company for the army. PTI
BJP to move EC on abnormal voter increase in Assam: Mahajan
Guwahati, Aug 14 (PTI) The BJP today said it would move the Election Commission on the "abnormal increase and decrease of voters" in various assembly constituencies in Assam which was published recently in the draft electoral roll.
The party has decided to make a representation to the Commission on the "abnormalities" in the draft electoral roll which shows sudden increase and decrease of voters in a good number of constituencies, senior party leader Pramod Mahajan told reporters here.
Citing copies of the draft roll of the 126 assembly constituencies in the state, Mahajan alleged that in seats where the ruling Congress had a stronghold there was "abnormal" increase of voters while opposition stronghold areas showed "abnormal decrease" of voters.
The party leader cited the case of Goalpara district, considered a stronghold of the Congress where there has been an increase of nearly 15 per cent of voters while in Karimganj (BJP dominated) there has been decrease in the number of the of electorate.
"This only goes to say that the infiltrators who are considered as vote bank for the Congress have managed to find their names in the draft roll where the party has a strong hold", Mahajan said.
"Also in the list of D (doubtful) voters, the names of Hindus are in large number than Muslims most of whom are suspected infiltrators and this matter will also be placed by our party before the Commission", he said. PTI
Football: Fiji beat India, take series 2-0
New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) Hosts Fiji handed India a 2-1 humiliation in the second and final international football match at Suva today to clinch the first ever series between the two sides.
India, desperately needing a win to redeem some prestige after losing against a local club side in their tour opener and to the Fiji national side in the first match on Friday, failed to take advantage of an early lead at the Post Fiji Stadium.
Irungbam Surkumar Singh's 10th minute goal put the visitors ahead but the side failed to maintain the lead for long as Luke Vidovi netted the equaliser 15 minutes later, according to information received here.
Seasoned campaigner Esala Masi, who had scored the lone goal in Friday's match, did the trick for the home side this time as well, slamming home the winner in the 61st minute, helping Fiji make a 2-0 clean sweep.
The defeat for India, who are 10 places ahead of Fiji in the FIFA rankings, comes close on the heels of the 1-1 draw to lowly Pakistan in a three-match away series in June. PTI
Bhupathi-Damm crash out of Rogers Cup ATP Tennis
New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) Mahesh Bhupathi followed compatriot Leander Paes out of the Rogers Cup ATP tennis tournament, losing in the doubles quarterfinal at Montreal last night.
Bhupathi and his Czech Republic partner Martin Damm, seeded seventh, lost in straight sets 3-6 6-7 (7-9), against Kevin Ullyett and Wayne Black of Zimbabwe in the last eight match of the USD 2.2-million event.
Bhupathi and Damm played some ordinary tennis in the first set but upped their game in the next to stretch their rivals. But their effort was not enough as they lost the match in 110 minutes, according to information received here today.
Bhupathi's defeat followed an early exit by Paes and his Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic who lost their match in the second round. PTI
Mainz Chess classic: Anand inches towards victory
Mainz (Germany), Aug 14 (PTI) Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk of Russia pulled one back but remained on the brink of defeat against Viswanathan Anand after the end of the sixth game of the Grenke Leasing Championship, the main event of the Mainz Chess classic here.
Even with Anand going a bit haywire in the sixth board of the eight-game contest, the lead remained unchanged in this high profile contest also touted as the World rapid championship.
The Indian ace, on four points out of a possible six, remained in command needing just a half point from the last two games to clinch his fifth straight title on the Mainz soil.
Grischuk, having just two points thus far, has a daunting task as he needs to beat Anand in the remaining boards to force a play off for the crown.
Anand drew the fifth game of the match without much ado but failed to keep the balance ticking in the next one and went down after an intense struggle.
Meanwhile, in the Ordix open rapid event, World Junior champion and Grandmaster P Harikrishna was on the 20th place on four points from five games played thus far. PTI
India pegs FDI in telecom at 49 per cent at WTO
New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) India has pegged FDI in telecom at 49 per cent at the WTO in its just submitted revised services offer in the wake of certain concerns expressed by the Communications Ministry over higher binding rate.
The Commerce Ministry, mandated by the Cabinet Committee on WTO to make services offer to the WTO in line with the autonomous liberalisation in the country, has agreed to the Communications Ministry's stand of not committing 74 per cent FDI in telecom at WTO.
The Commerce Ministry's view point in this regard also stems from the fact that the guidelines on allowing 74 per cent FDI in telecom is yet to be announced.
The Communications Ministry is yet to assess whether permitting 74 per cent FDI in telecom would lead to monopoly in a particular circle.
As per existing condition, every circle has to have at least two licensees.
The Communications ministry felt by binding FDI in telecom at WTO at 74 per cent currently it could have created problems even though offers made can be withdrawn until a final agreement is reached. But after the agreement, a member country cannot go back on what it has agreed upon without a compensation.
India on August 12 filed a revised offer on services to WTO.
India submitted fresh commitments and improvements in offers to WTO in exchange for reciprocal commitments by our trading partners in the areas of interest to the country. PTI
Govt for hike in contributions, age for pension payment of EPS
New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) The government is in favour of raising the monthly contribution and the eligibility age from 58 to 60 years for receiving pension from EPFO's Employees Pension Scheme as part of strategy to reduce its future liabilities.
"There can be three solutions to reduce the future liability -- hike in monthly pension contribution or raising the eligibility age for getting payment by two years or a combination of the two," a senior government official said.
The move comes in the wake of valuation deficit of over Rs 20,000 crore of the EPS, which is calculated in terms of present value of assets and discounted value of future outgo.
At present, an employee in the organised sector other than government contributes 12 per cent of basic salary to Employees Provident Fund Organisation with an equal contribution from employer.
Of this contribution, 15.67 per cent goes to EPF scheme and 8.33 per cent goes to EPS.
By raising eligibility age to 60 years, government will stand to gain by way of a higher contribution for two years from the employees while the payout also reduces by two years.
At present, most of the employees like to work for at least 60 years in the organised sector. Some of them would prefer to continue in service after that also.
Moreover, senior officials normally get higher pay package in most organisations in the penultimate years of retirement. So pension payment also shoots up them.
So, government is also thinking of taking a five-year average of the salary for calculating the pension outgo. PTI
10 pc divestment in 14 PSUs can fetch Rs 310 bn: Assocham
New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) Government can raise a whopping Rs 310 bn in the current stock market boom by divesting only 10 per cent of its stake in each of the top 14 public sector undertakings, industry body Assocham has estimated.
The combined market capitalization of the government holding in these firms as on August 11 was a whopping Rs 316,981 crore on the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange, the chamber said in a release.
The firms tracked by Assocham in terms of market value of government equity included BHEL, Engineers India, Nalco, MTNL, Shipping Corporation of India, ONGC, HPCL, BPCL, NTPC, SAIL, IOC, GAIL (India), Corporation Bank and Punjab National Bank.
The cash-rich PSUs can fill the state coffer and yet remain under its management control as their equity would be well-disbursed with the government remaining an overwhelmingly the largest shareholder, the chamber said.
"The proceeds from the disinvestment could well be parked with the National Investment Fund, the income from which would be deployed to finance selected social sector schemes or to revive some other PSUs," chamber President M K Sanghi said.
Govt can make over Rs 100 bn from stake sale in ONGC while it can garner over Rs 71 bn from NTPC, Rs 40 bn from IOC and Rs 22 bn from SAIL, the chamber said.
A 10 per cent divestment in BHEL will boost the government coffers by about Rs 17 bn while that in GAIL by Rs 11 bn, Assocham said, adding other public sector firms could enable the government to mop up over Rs 50 bn. PTI
ONGC reports four new oil, gas finds
Dehradun, Aug 14 (PTI) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) today reported four new oil and gas finds on the east and west coasts of India.
Speaking at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the company here, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Subir Raha said gas has been found eight kilometres off Amalapuram coast in Andhra Pradesh in two structures GS-15-9 and GS-15-10.
Gas has also been found at Krishna-Godavari offshore well G-4-4 and GS-KW-3, he said.
The three gas finds can together produce three million standard cubic metres of gas per day from 2006-07.
Raha said oil has been found at RV-1 structure off Ratnagiri coast in Maharashtra but did not give the estimated results in the new discovery.
The CMD said in 50 years of ONGC's existence, India's known oil reserves have risen from 40 million tonnes to 8,241 million tonnes.
Raha also said ONGC has made gas discovery in a coal bed methane (CBM) block in Bokaro district. The gas find is assessed to contain 1.625 trillion cubic feet of in-place reserves. PTI
Majority of foreign companies in India making profits: FICCI
New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) A majority of foreign companies operating in India are making profits but the multinationals felt the need to build brand India so as to attract more investors, a study by FICCI has said.
According to FICCI's annual FDI survey, 70 per cent of the foreign companies here are earning profits from their Indian operations.
The survey said 84 per cent of the respondents gave a positive assessment of India, although they highlighted the need for building brand India and showcase India's potential as an investment destination.
Despite an overwhelming majority, 91 per cent, were upbeat about the market conditions and the potential for further FDI inflows, they expressed concerns about the quality of infrastructure in India, it said.
The study also pointed out other issues, such as labour laws, indirect taxes and multiplicity of procedures, as hindrances to India's attractiveness as a manufacturing base or an export platform.
As per the FICCI survey, 84 per cent respondents were planning to expand their business in India; 90 per cent considered the IT and BPO services to be one of the most lucrative sectors for investmentmt.
The survey was conducted across a wide range of activities in all types of organisations including banking, finance, IT and BPO, chemicals and agricultural product companies. Out of these, around 22 per cent respondents were companies with annual turnover of more than Rs 5 bn. Thirty per cent were companies having turn over between Rs 1 bn and Rs 5 bn. PTI
ONGC restores 10 pc of oil output destroyed in blaze
Dehradun, Aug 14 (PTI) The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has restored 10 per cent of the oil output lost in a devastating fire at an oil facility in Mumbai High last month and will bring back 70 per cent of the lost output by this month-end.
"We have already improved production from 1,42,000 barrels per day to 1,56,000 barrels per day four days ago and we hope to add another 65,000 barrels per day by month-end," ONGC CMD Subir Raha told PTI here.
He said the gas production, which had fallen to 6.1 million standard cubic metres per day, has been increased to 7.5 mmscmd and the remaining three mmscmd would be restored by the year-end.
"We have identified FPSOs (a tanker-type vessel) for gas processing and will be placing order soon," Raha said adding a new process platform in place of the destroyed Mumbai High North Platform would be built in two years.
He said ONGC needed a new platform as the Mumbai High field, which produces half of India's oil output, would be in operation for the next 22-25 years.
Mumbai High North Plaftorm was processing about 38,000 barrels per day crude when it was gutted in a fire late last month. The remaining lost ouptut was being processed at a neighbouring platform called NQO.
"We are trying to link up the NQO platform to the trunk pipeline that carries crude to shores. Once that is done, we will be able to restore 85 per cent of the lost output," Raha said.
By September-end, ONGC hopes to reach up to 2,30,000 barrels per day of oil production from the Mumbai High field. The field was producing about 2,65,000 barrels per day of oil before the fire. PTI
Pak vows to improve nuclear, missile capabilities
K J M Varma
Islamabad, Aug 14 (PTI) Marking its 59th Independence Day, Pakistan today vowed to improve its nuclear and missile capabilities while asserting that the resolution of the Kashmir issue was "a must for durable peace" in South Asia.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz hoisted the national flag at an indoor auditorium here due to security concerns.
Without directly referring to India, he said in his speech that Pakistan would continue the process of improving its nuclear and missile capabilities to keep pace with the changing scenario in the neighbourhood, a day after Information Minister Sheikh Rashid stated that the country was on course to develop a 1000-km-range missile.
"The most recent example is successful test-firing of Babur cruise missile. It is a great responsibility to safeguard our independence. Pakistan today is a nuclear power and no one can cast an evil eye on our beloved country," Aziz said.
He said regional peace is directly linked to justice and fair-play. "Solution of the burning issue of Kashmir is a must for durable peace in South Asia. Its resolution must reflect aspirations of the Kashmiri people." On the occasion, President Pervez Musharraf said the nation should reject elements who want to drag Pakistan into darkness, referring to his campaign against extremism.
"I appeal to the nation to reject the retrogressive elements politically and socially as they are opposed to progress," he said. PTI
Now UK school children to be taught from India via internet
London, Aug 14 (PTI) Close on the heels of their successful handling of Business Process Outsourcing and call centres, Indian firms will now provide private tuition facilities to British school children in mathematics and science over the internet.
Two Delhi-based firms - Edu-comp Datamatics and Career Launcher - will begin offering British pupils aged eight to 27 one-to-one lessons with a private tutor from early next year, the media here reported today.
The companies, which already provide tuition facilities to hundreds of American children on the internet, will initially specialise in maths, although help in science subjects will follow.
"The UK is a very big market and we will target it next year," Shantanu Prakash, chief executive of Edu-comp Datamatics, one of the firms involved, told The Sunday Times.
"Our area is maths and we have found that universally across the world we have seen that maths is a huge problem. The UK doesn't have many maths teachers. On the other hand in India we have intellectual talent and capital available for tutoring," he said.
Private tuition for school children in Britain has boomed in recent years, with many parents seeing it as an alternative to going the whole hog and sending their children to private schools.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair engaged a private tutor to help his eldest son Euan through his A-levels -- an example of lack of faith in the education system that has helped create a market worth an estimated 200 million pounds a year. PTI
Life-saving drugs being produced again
Leading drug manufacturers resumed production of various life-saving drugs to meet the growing demand in Mumbai and the suburbs following the outbreak of communicable diseases.
Dance bar ban in Maha from today
The ban on dance bars in Maharashtra came into effect from today with the state government issuing a notification on its implementation.
ONGC restores 10% output at B'bay High
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has restored 10 per cent of the oil output lost in a devastating fire at an oil facility in Bombay High last month, and will bring back 70 per cent of the lost output by this month-end.
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