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Almost half of WB bird flu hit, culling target may be raised
Kolkata, Jan 23 (PTI) Bird flu has spread to almost half of West Bengal with Cooch Behar and Hoogly being added today to the list of districts affected by the disease even as the authorities said they may have to raise the target of culling 20 lakh chicken.
Death of chicken was also reported from Howrah, bordering Kolkata.
Even in the already affected districts of Nadia and Murshidabad districts, more blocks have reported the disease, local administration officials said.
"Samples of chicken sent from Cooch Behar and Hooghly districts to the High-risk Security Disease Laboratory (HSDL) in Bhopal yesterday tested positive," Animal Resources Development Minister Anisur Rahaman said today.
Nine districts -- Birbhum, Murshidabad, South Dinajpur, Burdwan, Nadia, Bankura and Malda Cooch Behar and Hoogly -- out of 19 in the state have so far fallen prey to avian flu.
"Steps are being taken to officially notify both districts as bird flu affected for the next course of action including culling," Rahaman said.
The samples which tested positive were from Dinhata in Cooch Behar district and Balagarh in Hooghly district, he said. There was, however, no case of humans beings being affected, the minister said.
The target of culling, set at 20 lakh spread over seven days, was also likely to be raised, he said.
The daily target now was three lakh with 600 teams on the job from today, he said. PTI
Bihar government orders culling of chicken in Katihar
Patna, Jan 22 (PTI) The Bihar government today ordered culling of chicken in six panchayat areas in Katihar district, adjacent to affected Malda district of West Bengal, as a preventive measure, a day after imposing a blanket ban on entry of poultry from the neighbouring state.
There is, however, no report of any instance of bird flu in Katihar and the culling in the six panchayat areas is a preventive measure, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi told PTI.
"We have received reports about a suspected case of bird flu at Mohammedpur in Malda district, hardly 5 km from Katihar. We are in constant touch with the West Bengal government about it," Deputy Chief Minister S Modi, who is also incharge of animal and fishery resources department, told PTI.
Katihar district authorities have been directed to coordinate with their counterpart in Malda and carry out culling of chicken in six panchayats identified as Khasota, Mimaua, Deogaon, Sitalpati, Garghatu and Anarsinghpur in Katihar district, he said.
All these panchayats are close to Mohammedpur.
Modi said he was in touch with the Union health ministry and the state government had decided to procure Temflu -- a preventive medicine for bird flu.
One hundred and fifty personal protection equipment were also being sent to Purnia Commissionary and the Centre had been requested to send 500 more, he added. PTI
Malpractices behind stock market crash: CPI
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Alleging that "malpractices" in the stock market has led to its crash on the past two days, the Communist Party of India today demanded an enquiry into the collapse and sought a heavy increase in the securities transaction tax from the present levels.
"We demand an appropriate inquiry as there are reasons to believe that malpractices, aberrations and the lack of a supervisory role by SEBI has led to such a crash," party leader Gurudas Dasgupta said.
He held Finance Minister P Chidambaram "morally responsible" along with the government's economic policies for the crumbling on the bourses.
Party General Secretary A B Bardhan demanded a hefty increase in the securities transaction tax (applicable on purchase and sale of equities), which, he said, had been reduced to a "nominal 0.1 per cent" following "pressure" from the big players in stock exchanges.
Observing that the Indian stock market is "increasingly becoming a casino", he said if such volatility continued, "there can be a big crisis, may be a hundred times more than the Harshad Mehta episode." Calling for a halt to the "senseless Sensex boom", Bardhan said when thousands of farmers commit suicide due to the acute agrarian distress, "government does not lose its sleep. But when there is a panic in the market and Sensex falls, the Finance Minister rushes in to reassure everyone." The veteran Communist leader sought corrective measures to regulate and stabilise the stock market to "prevent huge accumulation of wealth by a few at the cost of pauperising the common man, looting his hard-earned savings, and demanded imposition of "heavy" transaction tax on this "profit without production". PTI
MEA, MoD have no information on Netaji
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Two key ministries -- External Affairs and the Defence Ministry -- have said they had no information about Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and referred a Right to Information Act plea to the National Archives of India.
Delhi-based RTI activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya had approached the Union Home Ministry with a list of questions about Netaji's life which was circulated to various ministries for replies.
The question to the Ministry of External Affairs was that whether the Government of India acknowledged the provisional government of "Free India in exile" formed by Bose and if so, then whether Netaji was given a status of head of the state and if not, the reasons thereof.
Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs Debnath Shaw replied to the question saying, "there is no information in this ministry on the question." Shaw said a reference had been made to National Archives of India to provide information on the subject, if any, available with them.
Bhattacharya said it was shocking that External Affairs Ministry, which showcases the India abroad, was not well versed with freedom fighters of the country especially the fact that Bose's Government in exile had been recognised by countries like Japan and Germany.
The question sent to Defence Ministry was that whether Bose was being recognised as Commander-in-chief of Indian National Army and his status in the military hierarchy.
Deputy Director of History Division of the Ministry R Dhanedhar replied that the division has no records pertaining to INA now and a few of them had earlier been with National Archives of India. PTI
Fears of US recession dominates WEF meet
Manoj Kumar
Davos, Jan 23 (PTI) The World Economic Forum's 38th annual meet began here today amid growing concerns over the global impact of possible US recession, but Commerce Minister Kamal Nath saying its affect may be limited as the economic momentum has shifted to countries like India and China.
"The US is heading towards recession. But it may not have that much an impact because of a shift in growth momentum towards India, China and East Asian countries," Kamal Nath said while participating in a panel discussion here this morning.
Ruling out any major impact on India of a slowdown in the US economy, he said even though the US is India's major trading partner, growth in the south Asian nation is mainly dependent on domestic demand. Trade growth with China and other European countries was also growing, Nath added.
Participating in the discussion on issues likely to dominate the global economy over the next 18 months, World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo Iweala said apart from possible US recession, which will have its impact on Europe and other economies, rising food and energy prices would be an issue to contend with.
Moderating the first session of economists, Time Magazine' Editor Michael Elliot said, "strong Euro is affecting negatively not just Greece, but also countries like France and Germany in Europe. There are housing bubbles now in Europe as well as in UK and Spain. That is another threat for the global growth." Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said policy makers would require new instruments to face the threat in the US economy, besides depending on growth in India and China. PTI
Sensex rises 864 points after US Fed rate cut
Mumbai, Jan 23 (PTI) Stock market benchmark Sensex ended a seven-day losing streak today, gaining 864 points after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates in an emergency move to prevent the world's biggest economy from slipping into a recession.
The 3-share index rose 864.13 points to 17,594.07, led by index-heaviest Reliance Industries Ltd, which rose by Rs 196.80 to settle at Rs 2,554.85. The Sensex rose to a high of 17,997.11 and fell to a low of 16,951.03 points in volatile intra-day trading.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty surged by 404.10 points at 5203.40, after touching the day's high of 5328.05 and a low of 4891.60 points.
The US central bank cut short-term benchmark rate by a steep 75 basis points yesterday, in a surprise move that is aimed at checking the nation's economy from slowing down and soothing the investor community. PTI
SBI to talk with associates on merger: Bhatt
Mumbai, Jan 23 (PTI) Country's largest lender State Bank of India today said it would hold discussions with six of its associate banks, except State Bank of Saurashtra, to decide on their merger with itself, which is opposed by employee unions.
"At the moment, we will only talk (with the associate banks)," SBI Chairman O P Bhatt told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here.
The six associate banks are State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Indore, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore, and State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur.
Bhatt's remarks came after his talks yesterday with union representatives on the issue of merger remained inconclusive. The two sides have agreed to meet again.
Boards of six associate banks were originally scheduled to meet tomorrow to discuss the issue, but the meeting has now been postponed.
On the merger of State Bank of Saurashtra with SBI, Bhatt said the Central Government's approval was awaited. The Boards of SBI and SBS had approved the merger in August last.
"The government has to give its approval for the merger. If that approval comes, then the merger will take place. Till the approval comes, the merger will not take place," Bhatt said.
"Other formalities regarding the merger have been completed and only the government approval remains," Bhatt said, adding that since SBS was a 100 per cent subsidiary of SBI, the merger was only a technical process.
SBI is keen on merging the associate banks with itself to gain in size as well as market share, which has slipped a little of late. PTI
Markets trim early gains, Sensex up 555 pts
Mumbai, Jan 23 (PTI) Stocks trimmed initial gains but still showed handsome rise with the BSE benchmark Sensex up 555 points in early trade following a surprise higher-than- expected rate cut by the US Federal Reserve yesterday.
The market failed to hold early gains as investors who had incurred losses in the two-day stock crash, booked profits at higher levels.
Bouncing by about 946.66 points to 17,676.60 in the initial five minutes of trade, the Bombay Stock Exchange barometer later fell back to 17,285.26 at 1030 hrs, up 555.32 points from previous day's close of 16,729.94.
The Federal Reserve announced an emergency inter-meeting rate cut by 75 basis points to 3.5 per cent yesterday and gave indications that it will lower rates further.
The US President Bush also has proposed an economic stimulus package that includes about USD 150 billion in tax cuts but investors worldwide seem still doubtful that the measures would lift the economy quickly, market participant said.
The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also gained 126.95 points at 5,026.25 at 1030 hrs from last close of 4,899.30.
Investors still looked worried about the stability in market, which plunged by 2,283.76 points in the two-day mayhem on bourses.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) pullout heavily in the last five days. Their outflows amounted to USD 3 billion in the period. They were, however, net buyers in the Futures and Options yesterday. PTI
LTTE chief will be handed over to India if captured: Rajapakse
Colombo, Jan 23 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has promised to hand over V Prabhakaran to India to face trial in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case if the elusive LTTE supremo is captured.
In the event of Prabhakaran getting caught, he would be tried for offences in the island country and then handed over to India for trial over the killing of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, he said during an interaction with foreign correspondents here.
Gandhi was killed by a woman Tiger suicide bomber during electioneering in Sriperumbudur near Chennai on May 21, 1991.
Rajapakse also said there was no need to ban the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as of now though the options are always open.
The LTTE is not banned in Sri Lanka, though India, the US and the EU have proscribed the outfit.
Asked why the government was not keen to allow foreign observers in the rebel-dominated areas, the Sri Lankan President quipped "but India can go there".
He agreed that international pressure on the LTTE, especially the declaration of the Tigers as the most dangerous group by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, has helped the Sri Lankan government.
"We welcome that statement from FBI," he said. PTI
Pak police question teenage suspect in Bhutto assassination
Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Jan 23 (PTI) Police in the garrison city of Rawalpindi today questioned a teenaged boy arrested for alleged involvement in former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination and his accomplice.
Aitezaz Shah, the 15-year-old boy who was trained as a suicide bomber, was arrested along with Sher Zaman in Dera Ismail Khan town of the North West Frontier Province last week. The duo was handed over to Punjab Police yesterday and brought to Rawalpindi.
The police team formed specially to probe Bhutto's assassination in Rawalpindi on December 27 will also question the duo.
Security officials last night raided a madrassa in Karachi where Shah had studied before going to South Waziristan and Afghanistan for training in terrorist camps.
During a raid on Zaman's house in Dera Ismail Khan, police claimed to have seized explosives and other materials used in making suicide vests.
Officials connected with the probe into Bhutto's assassination have said Shah was likely to be questioned by the Scotland Yard team that is helping Pakistani investigators. PTI
Pak defence delegation makes second major visit to Sri Lanka
T V Sriram
Colombo, Jan 23 (PTI) With India reluctant to enhance defence cooperation with it, Sri Lanka has shown signs of turning towards Pakistan with a high-level defence delegation from Islamabad holding talks with senior officials here.
The Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) chief held detailed discussions with Sri Lanka's security officials including Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse, brother of Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.
Lt Gen Syed Sabahat Hussein stressed on enhancing defence ties with Sri Lanka during his meeting with the top defence official Rajapakse yesterday, the 'Morning Leader' reported today.
The visit has come at a crucial time when the Lankan military, emboldened by Colombo's withdrawal from the six-year old ceasefire agreement with the LTTE, has stepped up its offensive against the rebels.
The delegation included senior POF officials, Export Director Usman Ali Bhatti and General Manager Abbas Ali.
POF is Pakistan's largest conventional arms and ordnance facility and its 14 factories and four subsidiaries produce several varieties of armaments for export.
This includes infantry weapons and ammunition, tank and aircraft ammunition, anti-aircraft and artillery ammunition, rockets, aerial bombs, hand grenades and mortars.
However, Sri Lankan defence officials viewed that the weapons from Pakistan are costlier when compared to those from China.
Sri Lanka buys military equipment, mainly small arms, from Pakistan, as other countries, including India, have been reluctant to supply it with lethal weapons. PTI
IPL franchises to be finalised tomorrow
Mumbai, Jan 24 (PTI) The Cricket Board is to announce the winning bids for the eight city-based franchisee teams to take part in the forthcoming Indian Premier League tomorrow.
The IPL Council, headed by BCCI Vice President Lalit Modi, is to meet here tomorrow afternoon before the names of the successful bidders are announced to the media.
The base price for the bids is USD 50 million and some of the names doing the rounds are, Ambani brothers Mukesh and Anil, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, consumer durable major Videocon and real estate firm DLF and liquor baron Vijay Mallya.
Modi could not be reached to confirm the number of bids or names of bidders received so far.
Indian stars Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, V V S Laxman and Sourav Ganguly and retired Australian cricketers Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath are among the 79 players who have been roped in by the IPL to play in the Twenty20 tournament from April 18 at different centres in the country.
The players' bids are to be held next month and a top BCCI source said that even non-contracted (to BCCI) Indian players have been guaranteed a minimum of USD 15,000 by the IPL. PTI
Foreign coach has helped Indian football: Bhutia
Ranchi, Jan 23 (PTI) Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia today said the appointment of a foreign coach has helped enormously in improving the standard and expressed the hope that the team would deliver good results in the future.
"Appointment of foreign coach has been fruitful. You have seen results coming in. We won the Nehru Cup under the guidance of Bob Houghton. After that we have not played any tournaments but hopefully we will do better in the future tourneys," the nimble-footed striker said here.
Lauding the introduction of National Football League a decade-and-a-half ago, the Mohun Bagan striker said the game in India still has to cover a long distance to catch up with world standards.
The development of infrastructure was not seen as much as one would have liked to, he said.
"To reach world football standards, we have to see everything, from infrastructural development to developmental programmes. We have to work on it," Bhutia said.
On the tight schedule after introduction of the I-League, Bhutia said there was a proposal to maintain gap between matches from next year.
The veteran striker, fresh from scoring a brace against East Bengal on Monday, is here at the invitation of Chief Minister Madhu Koda and Sports Minister Bandhu Tirkey for an exhibition match.
Revealing that he had the distinction of playing with Bhutia in Jamshedpur some years ago, the 36-year-old Koda said he would request Bhuita to help promote football in Jharkhand. PTI
Jaffer set to make way for Harbhajan or Kaarthick
Adelaide, Jan 23 (PTI) Struggling opener Wasim Jaffer is all set to give way to either Harbhajan Singh or Dinesh Kaarthick in the Indian team for the crucial fourth and final cricket Test against Australia beginning here tomorrow.
Jaffer, who has failed in all the six innings in the Test series so far, has been left out of the shortlisted 12 for the game.
It will virtually be a toss-up between off-spinner Harbhajan and wicketkeeper-batsman Kaarthick to take the vacant spot.
If the Indian team management opts to go with a five-pronged bowling attack, Kaarthick may be asked to perform the 12th man's duties.
But, if they stick to a conventional four-man bowling attack, Kaarthick may don the opener's role since the team management may not want to push Rahul Dravid to do the job again.
With the Adelaide track expected to assist the slow bowlers on the last two days, it appears that Harbhajan stands a good chance of being in the playing eleven.
In that case, young Ishant Sharma, who was highly impressive in the Perth Test, may have to sit out to accommodate Harbhajan in the team.
Irfan Pathan's batting ability makes him almost a certainty in the team while paceman R P Singh has emerged as the bowling spearhead.
The Indians will decide the final composition tomorrow after having another close look at the Adelaide Oval track. PTI
Tendulkar living in the present; not thinking of retirement
Ashish Shukla
Adelaide, Jan 23 (PTI) How long will Sachin Tendulkar prolong his illustrious career may be a matter of speculation for experts and fans alike, but the champion batsman says he just "wants to live in the moment" and enjoy the game without thinking too much about retirement.
"To be honest, I haven't thought about it (retirement). Basically, I just want to go out and enjoy the game. I just want to live in the moment, enjoy it all to the best of my ability," Tendulkar said.
The Adelaide Test starting tomorrow will be Tendulkar's 146th but the veteran batsman does not want to think about how long he can go on.
"I don't want to waste my time thinking about when I will stop. I don't want to think about whether I have two, three or even four years left," said Tendulkar at a pre-match dinner hosted by the South Australian Cricket Association at the Adelaide Oval yesterday.
Tendulkar, who began his journey in 1989 as a callow 16-year-old in Pakistan, is already in his 18th year of international cricket.
He holds the record for most runs in one-day cricket - he is only 38 shy of completing 16,000 runs -- besides having scored most centuries and could be on his way to overtake Steve Waugh's world record of 168 Tests.
If Tendulkar indeed goes on for a few more years, he would have played more years of international cricket than some of the biggest names the game has seen, when he calls it a day. PTI
Its time for promises in Karnataka
M Siddaraju
Bangalore, Jan 23 (PTI) The uncertainty on whether Karnataka will go to polls by this May end or a few months later notwithstanding, the BJP has already started showering promises to woo the electorate.
There is speculation that the elections to the state assembly might get postponed to October or November in the wake of the Centre mulling to hold polls on the basis of the report of the Commission on Delimitation of constituencies.
In the event of the Centre notifying the report, the Election Commission will require time to re-draw the boundaries of constituencies.
Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami, however has said that the poll process in Karnataka has to be completed May 28, indicating that the elections will be held by that time.
Leaving no stone unturned to rule Karnataka for the next five years, after its week-old government was pulled down by its coalition partner JDS, the BJP is in the forefront promising free power supply to Irrigation pumpsets to woo the farming community.
BJP's chief ministerial nominee, B S Yeddyurappa has declared "if my party is voted to power, we will provide free power supply to farmers owning irrigation pumpsets upto 10 HP (Horse Power)".
The saffron party leader, who held the office of the chief minister for eight-days, one of the shortest for a chief minister in the state's history, is keen on installing the party to power, which it lost due to what it terms as JDS's act of betrayal.
The state has about 20 lakh irrigation pumps sets and majority of farmers have installed 10 HP motors. PTI
Ghazals need reality shows-type platform: Pankaj Udhas
Zafri Mudasser Nofil
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) His "Chithi aayee hai", "Chandi jaisa rang" and "Deewaron se milkar rona" are still hummed by youths and elders alike. But ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas, who gave us these hits, feels a reality show-type platform is needed now to boost his type of singing.
"The focus has shifted nowadays. The young generation is attracted by the talent hunt shows that provide fast bucks and instant fame," he says.
"What we need is a platform on the lines of these reality shows to boost ghazal singing and listening," Udhas told PTI in an interview.
He goes on to say that some attempts made in this regard met little success.
"In our own way we had tried some ghazal contests a few years back but the response was far from satisfactory," said Udhas, who recently released his new album -- "Endless Love -- Kitni Yaad Aati Hai".
"Maybe the hard work in ghazal singing do not appeal to singers nowadays," he rues.
But Udhas feels electronic channels have a lot to contribute in this regard. "If they (the channels) devote some time to promotion of ghazals and classical music forms, a lot of good will be done." He will be next heard singing in Sanjay Chhel's film "Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam", likely to be released in April and which stars Rahul Bose and Kay Kay Menon. PTI
In Pink city, a time for celebration of literature
Wasfia Jalali
Jaipur, Jan 23 (PTI) Aamir Khan and Dev Anand might be on the list of celebrities attending the third edition of the 'Jaipur Literature festival' that kickstarted here today, the organisers however believe the event is strictly a celebration of literature from all across the world and the Bollywood greats will only be a part of it.
While Dev Anand has been invited at the festival as a writer and not as a Bollywood celebrity, Aamir Khan's presence will lend just another creative touch to the proceedings, says author Namita Gokhale who is one of the directors of the event along with William Dalrymple and Eleanor O' Keeffe.
"It will be wrong to interpret that we are trying to glamorise a literary event by giving it a touch of Bollywood. As far as Dev Anand is concerned, he will feature at the event as an author who penned down his autobiography last year. He will speak about his 'Life and Times'," says Gokhale.
"A number of cultural events including a play by Girish Karnad and a performance by Anoushka Shanker have been clustered around the literature festival and the presence of Aamir Khan and the screening of his latest film 'Tare Zameen Par' will be another ancillary event", she adds.
The festival which is being held for a third year has given Jaipur a strong identity as a literary city, according to Gokhale.
"The four day festival will be literature lover's delight, a rendezvous with some of the world's great literary figures, all under one roof", she says. PTI
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