The Mumbai Grapevine
Connecting Mumbaikars with Mumbai
(Published by Mumbai-Central.com)
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.
41 policemen missing after encounter in Chhattisgarh
Raipur, Jul 10 (PTI) At least 41 security personnel, including 17 CRPF men, were missing and nine injured in a fierce gunbattle with naxals in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.
"Twenty-two Special Police Force personnel, 17 CRPF men and two personnel of the district police are missing after the last night gunbattle with naxals in Elampatti-Regadgatta jungle, about 550 km from here," a top police official told PTI by phone from Dantewada today.
"115 personnel had gone for the joint anti-naxal operation in the area. While 71 personnel came back in the night and three returned this morning, 41 are still missing," the official said.
Among the returned, nine are injured, officials said adding the condition of three of them is stated to be serious and have been shifted to a hospital in Jagdalpur, divisional headquarters of Bastar district.
Officials at the police headquarters here said some of the personnel, who had not returned back so far, had received bullet injuries on their legs.
Chattisgarh's Special Task Force and Andhra Police's 'Greyhound' assisted by Union Home Ministry's air wing have launched a search operation in the jungle bordering Andhra, a CRPF spokesman told PTI in New Delhi.
Among the missing was an Assistant Commandant of the CRPF, who was leading the police party, sources said. "As radio communication is yet to be established, the condition of the missing force are not known," they said.
The gunbattle erupted after a 115-member strong security force launched the operation in the jungle and were fired upon by Maoists from LMG and mortar fire last evening. PTI
Pak troops storm Lal Masjid, 50 militants, 8 commandos dead
K J M Varma
Islamabad, July 10 (PTI) In a pre-dawn operation, Pakistan army stormed the pro-Taliban Lal Masjid in central Islamabad to flush out militants holding a large number of women and children as hostages, triggering a fierce gunbattle which left 50 radicals and eight commandos dead.
Fifty militants were injured in the operation and an equal number of madrassa students and ultras surrendered. Twentysix women and three children were rescued from the besieged complex.
Deputy Administrator of the mosque Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who is using women and children as human shields, is holed up in the basement of the mosque and has been asked to surrender.
The army launched the Operation Silence at 0400 hrs after last-ditch talks with Ghazi, brother of captured head of the mosque Maulana Abdul Aziz, to end the week-long standoff failed as he demanded special deal for foreign militants.
Heavy gunfire erupted and loud blasts were heard as commandos surrounded the mosque, where militants are believed to be holding 150 hostages, from three sides.
Security forces were being challenged by militants, who are using rocket launchers and machine guns. They have taken positions in the basement and were firing from the minarets of the mosque.
Army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad told reporters that "It is the final push to clear the mosque of armed militants.
He said so far eight military personnel were killed and 29 others including a Captain injured in the operation.
Asked why the operation has taken this long, Arshad said troops followed a step by step approach to minimise the casualties and to avoid collateral damage to the mosque. PTI
Cotton farmers earn additional Rs 7,039 crore: Assocham
New Delhi, July 10 (PTI) Cotton farmers have earned an additional income of Rs 7,039 crore in 2006 after a 50 per cent increase in yield due to use of Bt cotton seed, says an Assocham report.
Assocham's report 'Bt cotton Farming in India', a joint effort of Indicus Analytics and IMRB, establishes the overall socio-economic benefits that have accrued to the cotton farmers as a result of the introduction of this technology.
"Farmers who planted Bt cotton in 2006 earned an additional Rs 7,039 crore in income based on 8.77 million acreage penetration achieved during the crop season," the report said.
The report said that there has been about 50 per cent higher yield increase in Bt fields in 2006, when compared with conventional cotton fields.
"The net profit to farmers from Bt cultivations was significantly higher by 162 per cent at Rs 7,757 per acre over conventional cotton," it said.
While the use of Bt cotton has fetched farmers Rs 12,541 per acre, the conventional cotton has yielded Rs 4,484 per acre, the study says.
"Bt cotton is now extensively used. India has become surplus in cotton and is ranked 3rd in the world. About 3.8 million hectare of area is under Bt cultivation which is 2 per cent increase over 2006 across 9 states," said Anil K. Agarwal, the former Assocham President. PTI
ONGC, RIL present case before CoS on gas pricing
New Delhi, July 10 (PTI) State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) today said it was making an annual loss of Rs 700 crore on sale of gas at administered prices even as Reliance Industries stated it followed a transparent process to discover the price of gas to be produced from KG-D6 block.
ONGC chairman R S Sharma told a Committee of Secretaries, set up to look into the pricing of gas from RIL's KG-D6 block off the east coast, that the present price of Rs 3.2 per cubic meters that it gets for gas produced from its own fields was not sustainable.
The hike suggested by Tariff Commission to Rs 3.6 per cubic meters would only help ONGC break-even on sale of gas produced from old fields, sources said.
For gas from new fields, like the deepsea field of RIL, Sharma sought prices close to the one it was getting for selling gas from jointly-operated Tapti gas fields (4.75 dollars per million British thermal unit).
Sources said Sharma told the panel that ONGC's 2-3 billion dollar investment in bringing to production small and marginal gas fields was on the premise that it would get market price and the investments would become infructous if government regulates the price.
Sources also said RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani told the CoS that his company followed a very transparent process to arrive at a price of 4.33 dollars per mBtu for KG-D6 gas. Power generation at this price would be less than Rs 2.5 a unit and would help save Rs 6,400 crore in fertilizer subsidy annually.
RIL presented it invited bids from all private and public sector power and fertilizer units having consumption of over one million standard cubic meters per day and falling on route of the pipeline it plans to lay for transporting gas from Andhra Pradesh to Gujarat, the sources said. PTI
India, Russia to set up task force on trade
Vinay Shukla
Moscow, July 10 (PTI) India and Russia will set up a joint task force (JTF) to boost bilateral trade to a level of 10 billion dollars by 2010 from the present two billion dollars, a senior official of the Indian government has said.
The JTF would be set up by the end of this year when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Moscow for summit talks with President Vladimir Putin, Commerce Secretary G K Pillai at a meeting of Joint Study Group (JSG) on economic cooperation here.
The JSG was instituted to identify the bottlenecks in tapping the potential of bilateral economic cooperation and trade.
According to Pillai, the proposed task force would monitor implementations of recommendations, covering goods, services and investments, as given in a 150-page-report prepared by the JSG.
JTF would be a time-bound mechanism with the final goal of signing comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) and free trade agreement (FTA) with Russia, once it joins WTO, Pillai told reporters.
From the Indian side, JTF would be headed by the Commerce Secretary, Pillai said, adding that the Russia would be represented by a team led by Mikhail Dmitriyev, Centre of Strategic Research (CSR), which is a Kremlin think-tank linked to the Russian Economy and Trade Ministry. PTI
India needs 9 pc growth: Chidambaram
Theni (TN), Jul 10 (PTI) Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said the country needs to grow at nine per cent and needs investment in industry and agriculture.
"We can't be satisfied with a three per cent growth like the European Union countries. We need to grow at nine per cent rate. There was also a need to enroll more students in the institutions of higher learnings," he said while inaugurating the new administrative block in Cardamom Planters' Association College at Bodinayakanur near here yesterday.
He said though poverty had not been eradicated, the level of poverty had come down. "Money alone did not decide whether a man is rich or poor. If a person does not get proper drinking water, housing facility, road, school or health care, then he can be called as poor." The country needed capital in business, industry and agriculture, he said, adding that "we do not need just the theory but also investments as only it would lead to rapid growth." Investment is also required to produce research scholars, technocrats, doctors and engineers.
Referring to the appeal of the cardamom growers for steps to protect its cultivation, he said efforts should be taken to fill the yield gap. PTI
India vs Sussex: Harbhajan fails with 0-66 in 2nd innings
London, Jul 10 (PTI) Harbhajan Singh failed to recreate the magic of his off-spin bowling to return empty handed in Durham's second innings but spearhead Matthew Nicholson put Surrey on the victory track in their County Championship - Division one match at the Oval.
Harbhajan returned 0-66 in 15 overs but Surrey spearhead Matthew Nicholson picked 4 for 44 allowing Durham only 204 more runs to add to their first innings score of 191.
Surrey, who replied with an emphatic 243 in the first innings, were chasing a victory target of only 153 with the scoreboard reading 46 for three at the close of third day's play yesterday.
Earlier, Harbhajan, who had plucked 3-44 on day one, also failed to contribute with the bat as he was out on duck in the first innings.
The Punjab bowler is missing India's on-going tour of England after being overlooked by national selectors due to his lack of form. PTI
India will be tougher than West Indies, admits Vaughan
London, July 10 (PTI) It looked like a stroll in the park as England blanked the West Indies in the recent Test series but life would be difficult against India, host captain Michael Vaughan warned his teammates.
Back in the side after a nagging knee injury that kept him out of action for a whole year, Vaughan refused to bask in the glory of the 3-0 win against a depleted West Indies and felt his side would need to raise the bar if they were to beat Rahul Dravid's men in the three-match Test series.
"They bring a batting line-up that's formidable and full of experience." "The bowlers - there are a couple of left-armers (Rudra Pratap Singh and Zaheer Khan) and the young (S) Sreesanth - who I think is a real quality seamer -- and (Anil) Kumble with all his experience," Vaughan said in an interview with Sky Sports.
"They will pose probably a little bit of a bigger threat than the West Indies.
"We might have to raise our bar just a little bit to ensure we get a good series victory against the Indians," added Vaughan.
The Yorkshire batsman also sounded wary of Team India's middle order, which sports an aged look with the trio of Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly being on the wrong side of the 30. PTI
Bacher denies involvement in UCBSA funds defrauding case
Durban, Jul 10 (PTI) Former CEO of the United Cricket Board of South Africa Ali Bacher has rejected claims that he gave permission to a former financial manager to transfer funds that had been defrauded from the board.
Bacher was giving evidence in a Johannesburg court in the trial of Diteko Modise, who is being charged with defrauding the cricket board of more than USD 1 million.
Diteko had alleged that he had been given permission by Bacher through a fax document in March 2004.
The fax stated that Bacher had given Modise permission to transfer USD 235,000 and USD 415,000 to the bank account of a so-called company within PPC Cement.
The bank account was Modise's private account.
Modise was arrested in March 2004 after an investigation by the UCB's auditors into allegations of misappropriation of funds.
The investigations were undertaken after it was found that approximately USD 1 million had disappeared from the organisation's funds while it was Modise's job to handle all internal UCB audits.
Modise was, despite his position, not entitled to spend any UCB money without the necessary authorisation.
Bacher said in his evidence that the correspondence was forged.
"I never sent this letter and never gave such permission", he said. PTI
Mosque stormed after Ghazi insisted on deal for ultras: Pak
K J M Varma
Islamabad, July 10 (PTI) Pakistan government today said it decided to storm the Lal Masjid after its deputy head Abdul Rashid Ghazi insisted on negotiating "special terms" for foreign militants holed up in the complex even though an agreement had been reached over his own surrender.
After 11 hour-long talks last night, the 13-member committee headed by former premier Shujaat Hussain reached an agreement on the terms and conditions for Ghazi and his associates to give up their arms and come out of the besieged complex, Religious Affairs Minister Ijazul Haq said.
As per the "agreement", Ghazi and his family had agreed to be put up in a rest house under "house arrest" and face legal proceedings in the cases related to him.
The negotiations were conducted through a cellular phone given to Ghazi by the negotiators as both sides preferred not to meet directly due to security reasons.
The radical cleric had also agreed to face legal proceedings as the Supreme Court yesterday took suo moto notice of the incident and ordered that any surrender be done before the sessions judge of Islamabad, Haq told reporters.
An understanding had been reached with Ghazi that all militants, who were with him would be screened and released if they were not wanted by security forces.
For this ten buses were ordered and a place had been prepared for their stay, Haq, said.
However, after reaching an understanding on all issues, Ghazi sought to know the fate of foreign ultras. He was then told that they would have to face legal proceedings and no free passage would be given to them.
When the government insisted that foreign militants should surrender, Ghazi said he would call back but the call never came and he switched off the phone. PTI
Bangla, India hold talks on direct train service
Dhaka, July 10 (PTI) Bangladesh and India today held another round of talks to finalise the logistics related to the launch of a direct passenger train service between Dhaka and Kolkata.
"The meeting today is expected to resolve the issues of frequency of the train service and customs and immigration checking and security along with some other minor things," Bangladesh Railway Spokesman Shafique Khan told PTI.
During the talks yesterday, the two sides agreed to launch the service in September this year instead of August and settled several other issues, railway sources said.
However, an official announcement is yet to be made.
The first train from West Bengal's capital Kolkata reached Bangladesh capital two days ago on a trial-run carrying a 14-member Indian delegation led by Additional Home Secretary A E Ahmed.
The Bangladeshi delegation to the two day talks is led by communication ministry's additional secretary ATM Ismail.
Officials familiar with the meeting yesterday said the two sides would require a consensus on the frequency of the inter-country Moitree Express as India insisted it be operated once in a week while Bangladesh wanted it to ply three days a week to make it commercially viable.
"We also want the immigration and custom formalities to be accomplished at the originating stations to save journey time and make it comfortable while our Indian counterparts suggested it be done at Gede, the Indian side of the border," a railway official said on condition of anonymity. PTI
Australia sends senior police official to India
Melbourne, July 10 (PTI) Australia has sent a senior federal police official to India as part of its investigation against Mohamed Haneef who is under detention in Brisbane in connection with the UK failed terror plot.
"An Australian Federal Police (AFP) officer has been sent to the home country of Gold Coast-based Dr Haneef," Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said.
"I welcome the cooperation that has been provided to the Australian Federal Police (AFP)," ABC quoted him as saying.
Police custody of the Indian doctor was extended till tomorrow by a Brisbane court. Haneef, 27, is in detention for more than a week without charge in connection with the investigation. PTI
New Arunachal CM actively pursuing central schemes
Parasar Ghosh Dastitar
Itanagar, Jul 10 (PTI) After many years things appear to be moving in Arunachal Pradesh with the new Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu vigorously pursuing implementation of different central schemes.
Within just three months of his taking the reins of the state from Gegong Apang in a silent coup on April 9 last, Khandu forced the central leaders to fix the transportation charge for carrying PDS items in the state.
Khandu felt without a reasonable rate of transportation charge, it is not possible to streamline PDS which had almost collapsed in the state and thousands of people in remote inaccessible border areas had to go without rice and other essential items for the past several years.
The Chief Minister disclosed at a recent function that when he threatened to stage a dharna at the India Gate, the central leaders relented and agreed to fix the rate at Rs.2.25 per quintal per km.
Buoyed at the success Khandu placed his second demand to the centre to give him Rs.500 crore as advance against power projects being developed in the state.
On June 24 the National Hydro Power Corporation Chairman-cum managing director S K Garge came down to Itanagar and handed over a cheque for Rs.225 crore as advance and signed a revised MoU for three of their mega projects in the state.
Garge told a gathering on the occasion that this is the first advance being paid by any organisation to a state government in the country and the amount will be used for revival of state owned apex cooperative bank lying non functional for the past two years. PTI
Business of coaching
Anurag Sharma
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) Charmed by the power of being driven around in a beacon ambassador car or attracted to fat paycheques drawn by engineers and doctors, the growing demand by students for professional courses like engineering, medicine and civil service has led to private coaching industry flourishing like never before.
Educationists however, consider this as a grim reflection of the country's education system.
"We have yet not done any survey about how big the coaching industry is but definitely it is mushrooming across the country because of the lack of proper education system", says a senior official in the Education Department, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
The public perception now is that private tuition is a necessity to succeed in entrance tests and board exams, she adds. "The main problems that plague our education system today are lack of infrastructure and the environment to prepare students for competitive exams," she says.
Coaching centres all over the country thrive on the ever-growing demand of students who are keen on getting a professional education. Some of these centres have grown to become big business houses by providing their services all around the country, and reaping profits.
The average private institute that trains students for IIT-JEE demands anything between Rs 40,000 and 50,000. And this doesn't include the cost of study material. The fees maybe higher for 'crash' course. PTI
___________________________________________________________
This is the Mumbai Grapevine
___________________________________________________________
______Market_______
To get regularly updated NIFTY (NSE) quotes by email, join the NSEData
mailing list by sending an email to NSEData-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To get regularly updated BSE quotes by email, join the BSEData mailing
list by sending an email to BSEData-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Sensex: 15009.88, -35.85
The sensex closed at 15009.88, down 35.85
___________________________________________________________
This is the Mumbai Grapevine
___________________________________________________________
______Forex_______
1 U.S. $ = 40.360 INR
1 Japanese Yen = 0.3279 INR
1 British Pound = 81.408 INR
1 Canadian $ = 38.493 INR
1 Singapore $ = 26.591 INR
1 UAE Dirham = 10.988 INR
1 Saudi Arabian Riyal = 10.761 INR
1 Euro = 55.120 INR
1 Qatar Rial = 11.088 INR
___________________________________________________________
This is the Mumbai Grapevine
___________________________________________________________