Follow palashbiswaskl on Twitter

PalahBiswas On Unique Identity No1.mpg

Unique Identity Number2

Please send the LINK to your Addresslist and send me every update, event, development,documents and FEEDBACK . just mail to palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

Website templates

Zia clarifies his timing of declaration of independence

What Mujib Said

Jyoti Basu is dead

Dr.BR Ambedkar

Memories of Another day

Memories of Another day
While my Parents Pulin babu and Basanti Devi were living

Friday, August 28, 2009

Satyam was India Inc's biggest fraud,...

 







Call for more India nuclear tests


Govt to consider fresh SEZ proposals on Sep 30


 

Satyam was India Inc's biggest fraud, it won't be the last!Washington has $9-trillion deficit staring in the face.Credit flow to MSMEs to double in five years, says PM

 

Troubled galaxy Destroyed Dreams, chapter 354

 

 Palash Biswas

 


 Results 1 - 10 of about 284,000 for Satyam fraud. (0.20 seconds) 




Search Results




    Results include your SearchWiki notes for Satyam fraud. Share these notes

    Copy and paste this link into an email or IM:

    See a preview of the shared page


  1. News results for Satyam fraud






    Satyam was India Inc's biggest fraud, it won't be the last‎ - 15 hours ago

    In its turn, the Serious Fraud Investigating Office (SFIO) of the Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) got the mandate to investigate the Satyam case on ...
    Economic Times - 2 related articles »






  2. Satyam fraud: Full text of Raju's letter to board


    7 Jan 2009 ... Satyam fraud: Full text of Raju's letter to board .... Mr.Raju has bought disregard to entire IT Faternity and Satyam should be banned from ...
    www.financialexpress.com/news/satyam-fraud.../407799/ - Cached - Similar -




  3. Satyam Scam - Ramalinga Raju's Satyam Fraud


    The six-member Satyam Computer Services board is on a war-footing to find a strategic investor to buy out the fraud hit Indian software outsourcer, ...
    satyamscam.in/ - Cached - Similar -




  4. The Hindu Business Line : Satyam fraud: More than accounting ...


    12 Jan 2009 ... Satyam fraud: More than accounting skullduggery. Raghuvir Srinivasan. Is the Satyam scandal just about a promoter manipulating the financial ...
    www.thehindubusinessline.com/.../2009011250310800.htm - Cached - Similar -




  5. Satyam fraud a blow to Indian capitalism - Money Matters ...


    8 Jan 2009 ... Satyam fraud a blow to Indian capitalism, After years of vastly inflating profits, it turns out Satyam isn?ta rapid-growth bellwether of ...
    www.livemint.com/.../Satyam-fraud-a-blow-to-Indian.html - Cached - Similar -




  6. The Hindu : Front Page : CID probe ordered into Satyam fraud


    8 Jan 2009 ... Satyam chief admits to fraud, quits · Fraud investigation office to look into case · Ajmal is Pakistani, admits Islamabad after media report ...
    www.thehindu.com/2009/01/08/.../2009010855740100.htm - Cached - Similar -




  7. Satyam fraud: Full text of Raju's letter to board - Express India


    7 Jan 2009 ... Fraud by karan on 07 Jan 2009. Raju (B Ramalinga Raju) adds a new achievment in his life ...after creating a company like satyam the 4th ...
    www.expressindia.com/latest.../Satyam-fraud...of.../407799/ - Cached - Similar -




  8. 'Satyam fraud: Not a one man show' - Express India


    9 Jan 2009 ... Satyam fraud has thrown open the question as to how safe the public money are in the hands of private corporate entities and even in Govt ...
    www.expressindia.com/latest.../Satyam-fraud-Not.../408664/ - Cached - Similar -




  9. Nine Charged in Hyderabad in Satyam Fraud - BusinessWeek


    7 Apr 2009 ... As elections loom, Price Waterhouse auditors, former chairman Raju, and others are accused of falsifying accounts and other crimes.
    www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/.../gb2009047_927710.htm - Cached - Similar -




  10. SFIO submits Satyam fraud report to govt, say sources - India ...


    NEW DELHI: The Serious Fraud Investigation Office is believed to have completed the investigation of the Satyam-fraud case and submitted its report to the ...
    timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...Satyam-fraud.../4396926.cms - Cached - Similar -




  11. CBI probes hawala racket in Satyam fraud: Rediff Business News ...


    CBI sources said involvement of hawala operators had surfaced during its probe in Satyam fraud since a lot of money was siphoned off from the company and ...
    business.rediff.com/.../satyam-fraud-cbi-probes-hawala-racket.htm - Cached - Similar -




You have removed results from this search. Hide them

Loading...







     









    SFIO to visit Satyam office to enquire into fund siphoning


    Economic Times - ‎Aug 26, 2009‎


    The SFIO team, sources said, will be meeting officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is also probing the Satyam fraud. ...




    Satyam was India Inc's biggest fraud, it won't be the last


    Economic Times - ‎15 hours ago‎


    In its turn, the Serious Fraud Investigating Office (SFIO) of the Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) got the mandate to investigate the Satyam case on ...






    'Satyam scam has scared small investors off stock markets'


    Economic Times - ‎Aug 22, 2009‎


    That is why it (Satyam fraud) happened." Elaborating, he said: "There are people who are directors of 15 companies. How can you be an independent director ...




    Centre yet to assess magnitude of Satyam fraud


    Economic Times - ‎Aug 21, 2009‎


    HYDERABAD: The Centre is yet to assess the magnitude of the fraud at Satyam Computer Services and find concrete proof of fund diversion by its founder B ...





    Report awaited on Satyam-Maytas link


    Times of India - ‎Aug 21, 2009‎


    He, however, said investigations in the multi-crore Satyam fraud were almost over and only the ED and IRS report was awaited to conclude them. ...











    Leading stockbroker under scanner


    Business Standard - ‎Aug 23, 2009‎


    The Satyam fraud, running into around Rs 7800-crore, came to light in January this year after Raju disclosed that he had falsified profits for years and ...









    Satyam fraud: Law will take its own course, says Khurshid


    Hindu - ‎Aug 8, 2009‎


    While the CBI has already filed a charge-sheet in the multi-crore Satyam scam that came to light early this year following Mr Raju's confession on having ...










    Govt asks SFIO to inspect money-siphoning angle in Satyam case


    Times of India - ‎Aug 17, 2009‎


    Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which submitted a detailed report on the Rs 10000-crore Satyam fraud to the government in April, will soon begin ...










    SFIO in Satyam trail


    Calcutta Telegraph - ‎Aug 23, 2009‎


    23: The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) will examine the balance sheets of over 350 companies and 800 bank accounts to track down the money ...




    Billionaire Ross Invests in Satyam After Losing Bid for Control


    Bloomberg - Pooja Thakur - ‎6 hours ago‎


    Satyam, at the centre of India's biggest corporate fraud, has more than doubled since Pune-based Tech Mahindra Ltd., a software provider, won the auction on ...








     









    Call for more India nuclear tests







    By Zubair Ahmed
    BBC News, Mumbai






    In a file photo from 1974, a crater is shown in the Thar desert area southwest of New Delhi where India conducted an underground nuclear test. India successfully tested three devices in the same area on Monday May 11,1998. (AP Photo/HO)
    India's nuclear tests shocked the world

    India should conduct further nuclear tests to establish itself as a true nuclear power, the former head of India's main nuclear body has said.

    PK Iyengar told the BBC that he made it clear in 2002 that India's nuclear tests were inconclusive and ambiguous.


    His comments come as atomic scientist K Santhanam, who was associated with India's 1998 nuclear tests, said they were not as successful as claimed.


    This was dismissed by the government and former colleagues.


    The Indian tests led to similar tests by Pakistan, raising fears of a nuclear conflict between the two countries.


    Endorsement


    "If India wants to declare itself as a nuclear power and confirm to the military that you have all the means of designing a thermo-nuclear device which can go into a missile, which can be dropped from an aircraft or can be launched from a submarine, you need many more tests," Mr Iyengar, the former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), told the BBC.


    Mr Iyengar also said that India's 1998 nuclear test was not a deterrent against China, though it was against Pakistan.


    "The Chinese are aware of it and that should be a worry for India," he said.


    Mr Iyengar's endorsement of Mr Santhanam came soon after the latter's claim was dismissed by the Indian government.


    On Wednesday, Mr Santhanam claimed that the "yield in the thermo-nuclear device test was much lower than what was claimed".


    He said one of the tests - on a hydrogen bomb - had not worked and that India would have to carry out more tests for a credible nuclear deterrent.


    Mr Santhanam is a respected Indian atomic scientist who was project director of the 1998 nuclear tests.


    His remarks on India's nuclear capabilities sparked protests from the government as well as some fellow scientists.


    The government swiftly dismissed the claim saying it was based on no scientific evidence.




    RSS will not interfere in internal matters of BJP: Bhagwat


    Indian Express - ‎1 hour ago‎


    Mohan Bhagwat said: ' We advise and support the BJP, but decisions in internal matters is theirs'. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Friday that the age group of 55 to 60 is the ideal for leaders of the Sangh Parivar, ...


    RSS chief snubs Shourie Hindustan Times







    Garrido 'has forensic awareness'


    BBC News - ‎3 hours ago‎


    Criminal psychologist Dr David Holmes has examined the telephone interview given by alleged kidnapper Phillip Garrido from prison to the KCRA-TV station in California.









    Kennedy's Catholicism source of comfort, conflict


    The Associated Press - Jay Lindsay - ‎2 hours ago‎


    BOSTON - Sen. Edward Kennedy was raised from birth to cherish his Catholicism, and it became both a source of comfort and conflict throughout his life.






     

    Super monitor for markets in the offing

    28 Aug 2009, 0039 hrs IST, Anto Antony, ET Bureau

     

    NEW DELHI: The finance ministry is considering a proposal to give statutory powers to the high-level co-ordination committee on capital markets






    (HLCC), a move that could transform it into a super regulator, creating the ground for a single regulator for the entire financial services sector in the likes of the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA).

    Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to discuss the proposal with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Duvvuri Subbarao next month, said a finance ministry official who asked not to be named. Currently, the HLCC is a non-statutory body comprising representatives of all financial regulators.

    “The high-level co-ordination committee can be eventually turned into an agency that can ensure compliance across markets. Giving statutory powers to the HLCC is the first step towards this. The finance minister will discuss with the central bank governor on how this can be taken forward,” the official said.

    The UK, Japan and Ireland are among countries which have an umbrella regulator which supervises all sectors. The US, on the other hand, has multiple regulators overseeing different parts of the financial services market.

    A clearer picture of HLCC’s mandate and how it will be transform into a super regulator is expected to emerge through discussions between the finance minister and the RBI governor. Various financial sector regulators — Reserve Bank of India, finance ministry, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Insurance Regulatory Development Authority and Pension

    Fund Regulatory Development Authority— meet under the HLCC to debate and sort out any divergence in policy issues. Under the current arrangement, different regulators are overseeing competing products — Unit-Linked Insurance Plans and the mutual funds, for instance — which creates policy complication. Once HLCC gets statutory powers, regulation of competing products from different regulatory jurisdictions will become less complicated

    “As of now, the industry has to deal with many regulators. With this umbrella body in place a consistent and holistic view will emerge on the regulatory front which will help to take Indian financial markets to the next level,” said Naresh Makhijani, executive director of KPMG.

    Though Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had suggested the idea of HLCC getting statutory status earlier also, the finance ministry had taken the stand that any move towards a single regulator for the financial sector was premature. But the thinking within the finance ministry seems to have changed now. “With consensus emerging between RBI and finance ministry, work can be started towards forming an overhead regulator. Lot of groundwork needs to be done before we can put in place a regulator of that scale,” commenting on the development, an RBI official said.

    The Raghuram Rajan committee had suggested constitution of a Financial Sector Oversight Agency, a statutory body comprising chiefs of existing regulatory bodies and answerable to Financial Development Council chaired by the finance minister.


     

    Govt to consider fresh SEZ proposals on Sep 30
    The Board of Approval, the apex body which clears Special Economic Zone projects, will meet next month to approve fresh proposals.



    The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has held on to its 6% growth target despite a weak monsoon on the grounds that the economic impact of the



    drought would not be as bad as expected. However, the poor rains would push up food prices in the short-term and add to inflationary pressures.  Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today projected a 15-20 per cent fall in summer crop output, and said economy in the next fiscal could



    grow over 8 per cent if no further adverse situation emerges.

    He also said despite a deficient monsoon, Indian economy will register "some reasonable growth of over 6 per cent" in the current financial year.

    "From the picture of sowing, one can easily estimate that there is a likelihood of a shortfall (of kharif crop output) to the extent of 15-20 per cent," Mukherjee said at a FICCI conference here. He, however, also said that the exact quantum of the shortfall will be known only when harvesting starts.

    Admitting that there is a situation of drought in the country, he said so far 252 districts in 10 states have been declared drought-affected.

    Replying to a query whether economy could grow over 8 per cent next fiscal, he said, "There is a possibility (of over 8 per cent growth) if there is no further adverse situation over which we have no control."

    On the fiscal front, Mukherjee said it was government's endeavour to ensure that paucity of resources does not hamper private investment and that the government has spread out its borrowing to prevent any crowding out of the corporate sector.

    He said it was necessary to make a "temporary deviation" from the fiscal discipline to provide the required stimulus to the economy hit by upsurge in fuel prices and global meltdown.

    RBI has stuck to its growth target even after close to a dozen research reports by banks and broking houses have scaled down their growth forecasts for the fiscal based on the failure of the rains in large parts of India. “One needs to recognise the progress on effective diversification of Indian agriculture towards horticulture, livestock and fisheries and their rising share in total output of the agricultural sector” RBI said in its annual report which was released here on Thursday. The central bank added that cereals, pulses and oilseeds grown during kharif account for only 20% of total agri output.

    “Since the presentation of the policy statement, while the extent of rainfall deficiency associated with south west monsoon has increased, the IIP figures for June show `09 show significant recovery in industrial output” the central bank said in its annual report. The central bank has also said that index of industrial production has also showed an improvement.

    Another positive is that the central bank expects capital flows to India to increase because of better medium-term growth and faster recovery prospects even as capital flows to overall emerging markets decline during the year. “Early indications for the first quarter of 2009-10 suggest that NRI deposits, FII portfolio inflows and inward FDI flows have generally been strong, as against the net capital outflows witnessed in the last two quarters of 2008-09” RBI said.

    While optimistic on growth, RBI has warned that price pressures are already being felt with the wholesale price index moving up by 4 percentage points over the March `09 levels. Although inflation as measured by the year on year movement of the wholesale price index is still negative, RBI has said that is a statistical phenomenon with the base effect running out in October `09. the central bank also appears to be concerned over the high level of consumer price inflation for agriculture workers which is around 13%.

    "The Board of Approval chaired by Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar will take up fresh proposals for setting up SEZs on September 30," a senior Commerce Ministry official said.

    Senior officials from different ministries, including Finance, Home Affairs and Defence, would be attending the meeting, the official said.

    The last BOA held on August 11 had allowed Maytas Ventures, promoted by the disgraced former Satyam Chairman B Ramalinga Raju's son, to surrender its biotech SEZ and approved three new proposals, including that of Brooke Bond Real Estates IT/ITES tax-free enclave in Karnataka.

    Exports worth Rs 99,689 crore were made from SEZs during 2008-09, a growth of about 50 per cent over the previous year. Exports in the first quarter of this fiscal was about Rs 39,411 crore.

    The government expects the exports to touch Rs 1,10,000 crore in the current fiscal.

    So far, 577 formal approvals have been given for setting up SEZs, of which about 325 have been notified.

    The tax-free enclaves have attracted foreign direct investment of over Rs 10,900 crore in the last three years.

     

     India's poor monsoon rains will improve slightly in their final month but will still end the June-September season about 20 percent below






    normal, a top official said, making this year's rainfall the worst since 1972.

    Weak and uneven monsoon rains have ravaged India's rice crop and hit the sugarcane, soybean and groundnut crops as well as disrupting the flow of water into the main reservoirs, which are vital for hydropower generation and winter irrigation.

    "We expect at least 4-5 percent improvement in the seasonal rainfall deficit for the entire season from the current level," Ajit Tyagi, director general of the India Meteorological Department, told Reuters on Friday.

    India last suffered a monsoon failure in 2002, when rainfall was 19.2 percent below average through the season, and July rains were 54.2 percent below normal. India's crop output in 2002/03 fell 18 percent.

    This year, June rainfall was the worst in over 80 years, while July saw a 5 percent deficit. August began with an exceptionally dry two weeks, followed by near-normal rains in the later part of the month.

    From the start of June to Aug. 26, rains were 25 percent below normal, data showed on Thursday.

    "In 2002, the seasonal rainfall deficit was 19 percent. The only difference is that this year's July rainfall was relatively better than 2002," Tyagi said.

     

    Credit flow to MSMEs to double in five years, says PM

    The government is committed to doubling credit flow to micro, small and medium enterprises, which employ 6 crore persons and contribute



    45 per cent to India's manufactured goods, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday.

    "Credit is the lifeline of any business. The government is committed to double the flow of credit to MSMEs in five years," Singh said after giving away national awards to entrepreneurs in the sector here.

    The Prime Minister, who reviewed the performance and difficulties of the sector with the industry representatives on Wednesday, said public sector banks increased lending to MSMEs by 25 per cent in 2008-09.

    According to estimates, MSMEs are given credit of about Rs 1,50,000 crore by PSU banks per annum. There are 2.60 crore units in the sector which contribute 40 per cent to exports.

    The Prime Minister has issued directions for constitution of a task force to look into the difficulties of MSMEs and recommend steps within next three months.

    He said recent global economic slowdown has had an adverse impact on the growth of Indian economy. "Micro, small and medium enterprises have also not remained unaffected," he said, adding the government has been alive to the concerns.

    The two stimulus packages the government announced in coordination with RBI have been of some help to the MSMEs, he added.

     

    US stocks edge higher after consumer spending boost

     

    US stocks posted a modest rise Friday after data showed rising consumer spending, key to driving growth back in the recession struck



    nation.

    The blue-chip
    Dow Jones Industrial Average
    added 2.41 points (0.03 percent) to 9,583.04 after ending higher for the eighth straight session a day earlier and extending its longest winning streak in 28 months.

    The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was buoyant, climbing 18.64 points (0.92 percent) to 2,046.37 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index, a broad measure of the market, added 2.86 points (0.28 percent) to 1,033.84.

    Just before the opening bell, the Commerce Department reported that consumer spending rose for the third consecutive month in July while incomes were virtually flat, suggesting demand picking up amid the long recession.

    Consumer spending drives two-thirds of US economic activity.

    "The good news is the
    stock market is holding steady as traders continue to contemplate whether we are long overdue for a pullback, as well as when the economy will finally inch itself out of its current hole," said Frederic Dickson, chief market strategist for DA Davidson & Co.

    Joseph Hargett of Schaeffer's
    Investment Research said strength in commodities was also responsible for the positive bias, with rising crude and metals prices providing lift in overseas trading despite a plunge in the Chinese markets.

    "The stock market continues to focus on the positives and almost ignore the negatives," said Wells Fargo Advisors chief market strategist Al Goldman.

    "There is a pullback out there but for the moment, momentum says stocks are going higher."

     


    Over 90,000 jobs at risk in German car industry: Study


     

    More than 90,000 jobs are in danger in Germany's automobile industry as the government's "cash-for-clunkers" scheme comes to an end, a






    report showed on Friday.

    The study, by Roland Berger consultancy, said that the very successful programme, which gives people 2,500 euros off a new car if they scrap their old one, has only deferred problems for the industry until next year.

    The scheme has brought "some relief in 2009 to the makers of economy and midsize cars but the incentives will only push the sales problem forward into 2010, unless the real economy takes off again," the study said.

    "In Germany alone, more than 90,000 jobs are at risk in the country's automotive industry."

    Last month, the government said it would not extend the programme, which has been copied in Britain and the United States, once the five billion euros (seven billion dollars) set aside has been used up.

    It has already been extended once and figures on the website of the government agency managing the programme show that fewer than 100,000 applications out of an original two million can still be made.

     

    New scheme a leg up for tea exporters

    28 Aug 2009, 0329 hrs IST, ET Bureau



    The foreign trade policy announced by Union commerce minister Anand Sharma on Thursday brought much cheer to the tea industry. One of the key



    announcements in the trade policy is bringing tea under the Vishesh Krishi Upaj Yojana (VKUY) scheme, which will help increase the competitiveness of Indian tea in the global market.

    Under the VKUY scheme, export of tea will be eligible for duty scrip equivalent to 5% of FOB value. Incidentally, the VKUY scheme was first introduced by former commerce minister Kamal Nath on August 31, 2004, as part of the special focus initiative for agriculture in the foreign trade policy.

    “This has come as a major relief as this incentive will offset the high transport cost that is critical for the tea sector. Teas have to be brought to the warehouse from remote areas. This will make Indian tea competitive compared to those produced in Kenya and Sri Lanka,” said Mr Aditya Khaitan, managing director of McLeod Russel India Ltd.
    The trade policy has also reduced the minimum value addition under advance authorisation scheme for tea exports from the existing 100% to 50%.

    An advance authorisation is issued to allow duty-free import of inputs, which are physically incorporated in the export product (making normal allowance for wastage). In addition, fuel, oil, energy, catalysts and others which are consumed or utilised in the course of their use to obtain the export product, may also be allowed under the scheme.

    “This step is also aimed at increasing the competitiveness of Indian tea at a time when exports are down due to the global meltdown,” said a senior official of Indian Tea Association. Incidentally, India is likely to miss the 200 million kg exports in the current fiscal as enquiries from Russia and UK are much less compared to the previous year.

    The foreign trade policy has also announced that the DTA (domestic tariff area) sale limit of instant tea by EOU units be increased from 30% to 50%.

    A senior official of Goodricke Group Ltd, which runs an instant tea plant at Aibheel said: “This is a welcome step for those who owns instant tea units. They will now be able to sell more instant tea in the Indian market. Typically, the volume of instant tea that canbe sold in the domestic market will be calculated on the FOB value of exports for the last three years.”

     

    FTP disappoints ailing textile industry

    28 Aug 2009, 0327 hrs IST, ET Bureau

     



    The ailing domestic textile industry is disappointed with the Foreign Trade Policy as it does not contain specific measures for the industry, though



    the general incentives would benefit the textile industry also.

    The Foreign Trade Policy (2009-2014) announced by the ministry of commerce has introduced an export promotion capital goods (EPCG) scheme at zero duty. The scheme is available till march 2011 and would help technological upgradation of some of the major exports sectors such as engineering & Electronics, textiles and handcrafts.

    The initiative, however, failed to impress the textile exporters. “The zero duty under EPCG Scheme for textile and apparel will not benefit small and medium exporters as it excludes current beneficiaries under the Technological Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS)” said Rakesh Vaid, chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC).

    According to the policy statement, although the zero duty EPCG scheme will be available for engineering and electronic products, basic chemicals and pharmaceuticals, apparels and textiles, handicrafts and leather products, it will exclude exporters who have availed the TUFS scheme of the ministry of textiles.

    The industry was also unhappy that the duty drawback rates had not been raised. “The clauses under the FTP policy for textile sector is too little and too late. ... The duty drawback rates have not been increased. Just extending it would not solve the problems of the industry,” said Deepak Seth, chairman of House of Pearls, a multinational apparel manufacturing conglomerate.

    The handicrafts industry was largely satisfied with the policy and expects it to help enough to arrest the declining trend of handicrafts export.

     

    Exporters given relief from paperwork

    28 Aug 2009, 0320 hrs IST, ET Bureau

     



    Exporters, saddled with high transaction costs and time-consuming paper work, have been given some relief in this year’s Foreign Trade Policy. The



    government has offered reduced fees towards licensing charges and a total exemption in fees for exporters when they avail incentives under certain export development schemes, measures that can help lower transactions costs.

    A road map for various e-filing initiatives, which will finally lead to paperless exchange of information between the directorate general of foreign trade and various other agencies, including Customs, have also been put in place.
    All authorisations and licence applications will now attract lower fee, even as it gave a total exemption of fees for exporters’ availing the developmental schemes.

    The maximum applicable fee in case of manual application for authorisation and licensing has been reduced to Rs 1 lakh from the existing Rs 1.5 lakh. Applications made in electronic format (Electronic Data Interchange— EDI) will now attract a fee of only Rs 50,000 against Rs 75,000 earlier.

    Exporters will also now get a full exemption of their fees for availing benefits under the various developmental schemes — Assistance to States for Developing Export Infrastructure and Allied Activities (ASIDE), Market Access Initiative (MAI), Market Development Assistance (MDA), and Towns of Export Excellence (TEE). These schemes are defined under chapter 3 of the Foreign Trade Policy, and are designed to develop the exports sector.

    The government will also enable electronic message exchange between customs and the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) for these companies availing benefits beginning December 31, 2009. This will enable faster clearances for exporters and save them the hassle of physically filing documents.

    The commerce ministry is also promoting the use of electronic systems with initiatives like EDI ports, electronic message exchange between Customs and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade. For EDI ports the double verification of shipping bills by customs for DGFT schemes will also be dispensed with from December 2009.

     

    Advani was at centre of ‘Cash for Vote’: Jaswant Singh
    Updated on Friday, August 28, 2009, 20:03 IST Tags:JaswantAdvaniCash for VoteBJP

    Zeenews Bureau

    New Delhi: In a startling revelation, a news magazine has uncovered that BJP Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani was involved in staging the “Cash for Vote” drama in the House, as per ousted BJP leader Jaswant Singh.

    "Do you know this whole wretched thing of money for votes is a classic example of wrong decision making and it's extremely troubling that he did not stand up and say no. Advaniji was at the centre of this whole drama," he told the magazine.





    Singh was referring to the episode in the Lok Sabha during the Trust Vote in July last year when three BJP MPs displayed bundles of currency notes totalling Rs one crore claiming they were being offered as bribe to support the government.

    Singh said the facts were clear and he stumbled on to the whole thing when a very strange looking fellow was brought to his house by Sudheendra Kulkarni, a former aide of Advani.

    When Singh was asked by reporters whether he was seeking revenge from the leader who did not stand by him, Jaswant replied in the negative, stating that he actually pitied the man who went to such an extent in his lust for power.

    "It's a great sense of pity. Here was a man who has consumed by an ambition to be Prime Minister, and that desire made him commit so many mistakes,” he added.

    Vinod Mehta, while speaking with a news channel, remarked that BJP’s Sudheenda Kulkarni- who recently resigned from BJP- was the mastermind of the entire episode that unravelled during Trust Vote at the end of a discussion on Indo-US nuclear deal.

    Interestingly, when he was questioned by the media about his involvement, Kulkarni had pointed the finger at some other BJP leader without naming him, thus conceding the involvement of the party but washing his own hands off the entire episode.

    Jaswant’s charge that Advani told MPs to display money in Parliament comes at a time when the former is hit by controversies because of his book on Jinnah and has been sacked from the primary membership of the party on account of the same.

    The magazine quotes Jaswant as saying, “To me it is a matter of great sadness…” that Advani has failed as a leader.

    “Advani said they had two choices. They could take the money to the Speaker or the House. But Advani told the MPs to display money in Parliament.”

    Jaswant said he was not consulted on the matter but was ‘extremely saddened’ when it came to his knowledge.

    Citing the example of the army where leaders take responsibility, he said there were numerous examples when Advani would either keep quite or transfer responsibility to somebody else on occasions that troubled him and where he is likely to come under fire. "That is not the trait of a leader."

     








    Indian Taxation News







     










    Market
    NSE|BSE

    Graph

     





















    SENSEX15922.34141.27
    NIFTY4732.3544.15
    NASDAQ2027.733.30
    DJIA9580.6337.11
    RS/$48.98-0.15


     




    Advani



    A beleaguered BJP leader Lal Kishan Advani may be forced to resign with mounting evidence now surfacing that he was aware of the deal to swap terrorists for hostages in the 1999 Kandahar hijack episode.


    Other Top Stories



     


     











    Monsoon may be the worst since 1972

    Monsoon rains will improve slightly in final months but will still end June-Sept season about 20% below normal, making this year's rainfall worst since 1972.




    India faces drought but economists upbeat

    Crops are shrivelling as India faces the spectre of drought but economists say they are still upbeat about the country's economic prospects.




    North India losing groundwater at rate of foot per year: NASA

    Using Nasa satellite data, scientists have found that groundwater levels in northern India have been declining by as much as 33 cm (one foot) per year over the past decade.




    Drought almost certain now, admits IMD

    There is every possibility of 2009 being a “drought year” with weather officials saying that only rainfall 30% in excess of normal for the remainder of the monsoon from mid-August to September - a near impossibility - can now stave off the spectre of drought.




    Drought or not, Pranab sees 6% GDP growth

    The economy will grow by more than 6% and there is no need to press the panic button despite a fear of drought and the decline in the sowing of the kharif crop such as rice, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday.




    India sees drought threat in 161 districts, sowing down

    The threat of a drought looms large over India's 161 districts and sowing of crops was down by a fifth, the finance minister said.




    Bad monsoon brings exodus time again in villages

    Nagendra Yadav of Bagaura village in Bihar's Siwan district will migrate to Delhi or Punjab next week. The 20-year-old has no other option.




    Make contingency plans to tackle drought: PM to states

    Manmohan Singh says agriculture had been adversely affected in several parts of the country due to the delayed and deficient monsoon and urged states to draw up contingency plans to deal with the situation.




    25% less rainfall in country this year, says agri expert

    The country has received 25 per cent less than normal rainfall so far this year, a senior agriculture scientist today said here.




    Stress levels rise in the suicide belt

    Nature has once again turned against Vidarbha, the most backward region of Maharashtra, where an overwhelming majority of farmers depend on rain gods.




    Paddy sown, but will it be harvested?

    For weeks, Balbir Singh, the sarpanch of Janetpur village near Chandigarh, prayed for rain to sow his paddy crop. Now, like thousands of other farmers in the state, Balbir finds that sustaining the crop is more difficult and prohibitive.




    Late monsoon to lower farm growth by 5% and GDP by 0.25%: Godrej

    India's agriculture growth could be lowered by 5 per cent due to deficient monsoon, top corporate leader Adi Godrej said.




    No citizen should go hungry over poor rains: PM

    PM said rice was the worst-hit crop and that agricultural production had been hit around the country causing distress to farmers. Top 10 challenges for India




    Drought clouds growth story

    The Indian economy showed great resilience, growing 6.7% last year in spite of being buffeted by the worst global recession in a generation, but below-average monsoon rains this year threaten to call a premature end to the celebrations.




    Dark spots in nation's granary

    The mood is sombre in most of Punjab with paddy growing districts like Fatehgarh Sahib, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Patiala and Bathinda going rain-deficient by as much as 71% to 35%.



    Washington has $9-trillion deficit staring in the face

    28 Aug 2009, 1656 hrs IST, New York Times

     




    Ten years ago, Washington was worried about the budget outlook, and there were forecasts of dire outcomes. And so it is today.






     

    Satyam was India Inc's biggest fraud, it won't be the last


    28 Aug 2009, 1510 hrs IST, Moinak Mitra & Vinod Mahanta, ET Bureau



    If it is a fraud to conceal fraud, consider this a sincere effort to shed some light. With 697 cases of fraud filed under the Companies Act and 70
    Dollars



    The difference is the nature of the worries. Alan Greenspan, then the Federal Reserve chairman, talked about the dangers of a shortage of Treasury securities as the $5 trillion surplus forecast for the next decade enabled the national debt to be paid down. This week we were warned of a $9 trillion deficit over the next 10 years.

    "The last time people got really excited about a 10-year budget outlook, they were hysterically wrong about what transpired," said Robert Barbera, the chief economist of ITG, who mocked the surplus forecasts then and now thinks the consensus outlook is too negative.

    "The $5 trillion surplus was a 'nothing can go wrong' forecast," he said. "No recessions, no wars, no bear markets and a perpetuation of inexplicably high tax receipts. You can make the case that the current conversations about our fiscal outlook are effectively, 'Nothing can go right.' The estimates assume we continue to allocate over $100 billion a year for fighting wars. They assume a very mild recovery for the economy, and an even milder recovery for tax receipts."
















    Also Read
     → Will US stock market defy gravity?
     → AIG's stock rises, and many wonder why
     → US dollar bulls may be hobbled by economy
     → US problem bank list hits 416; highest in 15 years
     → AIG CEO defends holiday, slams 'lynch mob' attacks


    It was easier a decade ago to know the forecast was foolish, although few did. The assumption that politicians would refrain from cutting taxes or raising spending in the face of large surpluses had no historical support. On the other hand, the notion that politicians will point fingers and do nothing as deficits mount has plenty of historical support.

    One unusual factor now is that everyone agrees Congress must pass a new tax law. If it does not, taxes on nearly everyone will soar under an absurd plan enacted in 2001 called the snap-back tax, which provides that in 2011 the tax law that had been in effect in 2000 will reappear.

    That would drive tax rates up sharply for most people, which might reduce budget deficits. But it is hardly what anyone wants if the economy is not booming by then.

    Most of the tax changes being mulled can await congressional action until next year. Under the snap-back tax plan, however, the estate tax is set to vanish for a year if nothing happens before the end of 2009, just over four months from now.

    Heirs of a very rich person who died on Dec. 31, 2010, would get everything, without any estate tax. If that person died a day later, his or her estate would owe 55 percent of everything over $1 million. (I call that the Dr. Kevorkian provision, after the physician who specialized in assisted suicides until he was sent to prison.) How will hospitals respond if heirs demand that life support be ended before the clock strikes 12?
    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/US-has-9-tn-deficit-staring-in-the-face/articleshow/4945225.cms
    It would have been nice to fix that up in a nonelection year, but the health care debate has consumed Congress. The chairman of one tax-writing committee, Sen. Max Baucus, is still trying to shape a bipartisan health care bill, a Sisyphean task that may not leave much time for taxes. The other chairman, Rep. Charles Rangel, has just discovered that he forgot to mention a checking account with more than $250,000 in it when he listed his assets. Tax policy may not be on the top of his to-do list either, at least while the dual investigations of his ethics are continuing.






    complaints logged in with Indian Penal Code, corporate India is under a cloud. The slowdown has only turned the canter to a trot, with more and more cases of fraud being reported as companies tighten their purse strings and resort to cutting costs.

    The 26/11 terror strikes in South Mumbai, the Mecca of corporate India, coupled with the infamous Satyam saga at the beginning of this year were the other catalysts that have woken up India Inc. from its growth slumber and take notice of systemic faults. There are cracks in the wall and a whole new breed of forensic experts, detectives and lawyers are now out there to fill the gaps.

    Move over Frank Abagnale Jr. (the infamous US impostor and the inspiration behind Catch Me If You Can), Nick Leeson and Charles Ponzi (father of the Ponzi scheme). Even Wall Street fund operator Bernie Madoff's defrauding investors to the tune of $65 billion looks distant compared to the enemy within. The overstating of financial accounts by former Satyam chairman and promoter Ramalinga Raju has sent shockwaves across India Inc. and zapped the rest of the world.

    He has admitted to overstating the IT firm's cash reserves to the tune of $1.5 billion and the tech-savvy Raju family made full use of technology to conceal the fraud. In its turn, the Serious Fraud Investigating Office (SFIO) of the Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) got the mandate to investigate the Satyam case on January 13 this year.

    "It's the most difficult case we have received till date and nearly 30-35 people worked on it daily for almost 24 hours for 90 days at a stretch before submitting the report to MCA on April 13," admits SK Sharma, Jt. Director , SFIO. "It took time and resources to crack Satyam as the Rajus used technology to the hilt."

    Sharma doesn't stop there. He points to a spike in promoter-related frauds corroborated by many others. "Promoters mostly put public or the bank's money into projects and try to jack up its cost...they use the margin for personal gains," he claims. Forensic experts couldn't agree more.

    "Windowdressing of accounts is where the big play happens because if the company's share price can be jacked up, so will its valuations, and promoters and the top management benefit the most," says Deepankar Sanwalka, Executive Director, Advisory Head-Forensic Services, KPMG, who now heads a team of 350 people having started out solo 14 years ago. In the value pie, Sanwalka claims that window-dressing of accounts contributes to as much as 50% of the total frauds committed in the country.

    Downturns usually see a spike in frauds. Why? Because of three conditions that a downturn presents, explains criminologist Dr Donald Cressey. The perpetrators experience incentive or pressure to engage in misconduct; there is an opportunity to commit frauds; and perpetrators are often able to rationalise or justify their actions. For some, desperate times call for desperate measures.





     

     

    Conspiracy theories on delayed launch of iPhone in India

    28 Aug 2009, 0516 hrs IST, Abhimanyu Radhakrishnan, ET Bureau

     

    This is the first time in three years that I’ve gone without a shiny new (test/demo) iPhone beyond Independence day. The first one of course didn’t launch in India but I managed to get my hands on one anyway. I got to review the iPhone 3G on the 18th of August last year, but we knew well in advance, exactly on what day it would launch. This time around, although “sometime in August” was the official word from Apple and its partnering telecom operators, there’s been absolutely no sign of the new iPhone 3GS till now.

    This could either be a routine delay or possibly a sensational goof-up . Even though it’s 90% more likely to be the former, it’s infinitely more exciting to speculate about the latter, so lets get some conspiracy theories going:

    Apple is still to get its India act together:

    Sometime in December last year, Apple decided to restructure its India ops, moving it from South East Asia to EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) so Apple’s India head would now report into London rather than Singapore. In June however, Apple India’s Country Manager, Alok Sharma put in his papers. Apple’s only statement since then: “Tom Preising is Apple’s new acting country sales manager for India responsible for the day-to-day operations in the region. Apple continues to invest in India as a growing market for the company.” It could be, that in the absence of a full time country head, Apple EMEA just doesn’t have the bandwidth to concentrate on India at the moment.

    Apple and Vodafone/Airtel are falling out:

    I’m among the many people who believe that a key reason that the iPhone 3G was such a miserable flop in India was that Airtel and Vodafone didn’t seem particularly interested in selling it aggressively. Neither bothered to offer a handset subsidy or even an unlimited data/GPRS scheme with the iPhone, thus rendering it unaffordable to nearly everyone. Moreover, they’re both working on competing Application Platforms that will be direct rivals to Apple’s iTunes AppStore.

    The Government got in the way:

    Remember how RIM was told its Blackberry was ‘illegal’ , nearly four years after it began selling in India? Well, our “powers that be” can have strange changes of heart and maybe there’s an Apple-hater somewhere in those corridors. For instance, a couple of years ago, the iPod Touch didn’t launch in India

    On the same day as the rest of the new iPod line-up . When I asked some Apple sources, they let slip that every different kind of wireless spec needs DoT (Department of Telecom) approval and sometimes the paperwork can just get indefinitely delayed. This time around, the iPhone 3GS, has a different radio (according to the world’s most authoritative electronics component site isuppli.com, it has a single Broadcom chip that handles WiFi, Bluetooth and ‘gasp’ even possibly FM! The iPhone 3G had separate WiFi and Bluetooth components!) and it could just be that red tape has played spoilsport.

    It’s likely that by the time this column is printed, Apple will have announced the launch date, but if that doesn’t happen then we’ll know for sure that something’s gone wrong!



    AIG's stock rises, and many wonder why

    28 Aug 2009, 1641 hrs IST, New York Times
    NEW YORK: It may have been written off as a hopeless case less than a year ago,




    but the stock of the American International Group shot up to $50 on Thursday, capping a fourfold gain in the last two months. For all the optimism taking hold in the markets these days, it is hard to find a tangible explanation.

    "Who would want to buy a stock that's still 80 percent owned by the government?" wondered William T. Fitzpatrick, an equity analyst at Optique Capital. Shares ended the day at $47.84, a gain of 27 percent from the previous close of $37.69.

    Yes, the company has named a new chief executive, who comes from a solid background at MetLife, and yes, he has said that AIG will pay back the government for its bailout sooner rather than later. The giant insurer has been moving ahead to change the names of key business units and working to disentangle its bewildering corporate structure. It even reported a profit in its latest quarter.














    Also Read
     → US dollar bulls may be hobbled by economy
     → US problem bank list hits 416; highest in 15 years
     → Economy leaves some US workers stuck in bad jobs
     → AIG CEO defends holiday, slams 'lynch mob' attacks


    But none of that really explains the recent gains. Speculation swirls daily that some deal may be in the works, that short sellers are being squeezed out of their positions, or that the company's former chief executive, Maurice R. Greenberg, may be poised to make a comeback in the role of consultant.

    The new chief executive, Robert Benmosche, has been fueling some of the interest, as he talks about seeking advice from Greenberg and slowing the breakup of AIG so it is not a fire sale.

    Fitzpatrick said he thought the likelier explanation for the increased share price was that speculators looking to profit from a distressed stock had pounced on AIG.

    "The risk appetite has returned to the marketplace," he said. "People don't want to get 5 percent back. They want to get the money back that they lost over the last year." They look at a cratered stock like AIG and think, "This is the place to do it," he said.

    Taxpayers may take some comfort from the rise in AIG's stock, which means better returns on their involuntary investment. Even though the government owns most of AIG, however, the soaring value of its shares does not come close to matching the vast amount of credit it extended through the Federal Reserve and the Treasury. Roughly $180 billion was marshaled to keep AIG afloat last fall and winter. The entire market value of AIG's stock is just $6.4 billion, even at the current price.

    Also, the stock is concentrated in a few hands, meaning that a small number of investors can cause a big move in the stock price. The number of shares was reduced by a 20-for-1 reverse split in June. The government has the biggest stake in AIG, and the biggest common shareholder is Greenberg and a group of entities he controls.

    Estate planning a must to avoid inheritance of loss


    28 Aug 2009, 1109 hrs IST, ET Bureau


     



    MUMBAI: Notwithstanding recent financial setbacks, most people claim they are better off financially than they were five years ago. That was the



    reason why a financial expert asked a group of novices to the investment arena whether they had done any estate planning in the past. However, much to his surprise no participant answered in the affirmative. Most raised their eyebrows and looked perplexed. Some wanted to know whether the expert meant drawing up a will or setting up a trust.

    “It is interesting to note that most people haven’t heard of the concept of estate planning. Even those who are aware of it, haven’t taken it seriously,’’ says the expert, asking not to be named. “However, it is going to be a serious issue as people get richer,’’ he adds. “We don’t get too many queries on estate planning. We have been trying to spread awareness of the concept, but it is yet to catch up. Mostly, estate planning is limited to drafting a will or setting up a trust,’’ says Kartik Jhaveri, director, Transcend Consulting. “Even those who have gone about doing estate plan do it in a superficial manner,’’ he adds. Financial advisors say they address the issue in a roundabout fashion. “We address the issue indirectly. We try to address the issue through financial planning,’’ says Jhaveri. “When you talk about estate planning, most people find it difficult grasp it. So we normally talk about different financial planning concepts like retirement planning along with a bit of estate planning,’’ says another wealth manager.

    But isn’t it a bit ironic in a nation where siblings fighting over inheritance is common? Why doesn’t a person want to draw up a plan to make sure that the inheritance is passed on to the rightful person in an orderly manner? “It is absolutely a must. When you have children and their children and you want to pass on your wealth smoothly, you should seriously look into estate planning,’’ says Jhaveri. Investment consultants say the problem arises from the lack of awareness about what goes behind the process of estate planning. “Most people go for a superficial division of business or assets, which may not be backed by proper valuation of assets or they don’t even get into details,’’ says an investment consultant. “That is why even if there is some plan, it doesn’t succeed always,’’ he adds.

    So, how does one take a baby step towards estate planning? Jhaveri says it would be a great idea if people start the process with proper nominations for all their investments. “Find relevant papers and make proper nominations. If you want to go a step further, draw up a will to make sure that everything goes smoothly. If you have any doubts about the execution of the will, it is a better idea to set up a trust to make sure your wishes are fulfilled,’’ he says.

    However, he adds that the trouble with most people is that they tend to take action “post the event’’ .

    If this was a mini estate planning exercise, what exactly would it involve? Investment experts say though the basic idea remains the same, the process is done in an exhaustive manner. Jhaveri says, for example, a detailed process of valuation of movable and immovable assets are taken to ascertain the true value of the wealth. “Then you can think of how to distribute it—through a will or a power of attorney or any other,’’ he adds.

    Passing It On

    Estate planning not yet popular in India Most people limit it to drawing up a will Some set up a trust to execute the will It is important to pass on the inheritance to the rightful heir It helps avoid future trouble








    India

    Updated 9 minutes ago











    RSS will not interfere in internal matters of BJP: Bhagwat


    Indian Express - ‎1 hour ago‎


    Mohan Bhagwat said: ' We advise and support the BJP, but decisions in internal matters is theirs'. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Friday that the age group of 55 to 60 is the ideal for leaders of the Sangh Parivar, ...


    RSS chief snubs Shourie Hindustan Times







    Call for more India nuclear tests


    BBC News - Zubair Ahmed - ‎2 hours ago‎


    India should conduct further nuclear tests to establish itself as a true nuclear power, the former head of India's main nuclear body has said.









    26/11 witness reported missing


    Sify - ‎1 hour ago‎


    A key witness of the November 26, 2008 terror attack on Mumbai, in which more than 160 people lost their lives and more than 300 were injured, is being reported as missing.









    Assets of SC judges to be on website in a month or more: CJI


    Times of India - ‎1 hour ago‎


    PTI 28 August 2009, 07:21pm IST NEW DELHI: The Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan on Friday said Supreme Court judges would make their assets public on the official website in a month or more but suggested the judges of High Courts cannot be ...









    Nehru, Patel are 'respectable' for RSS: Bhagwat


    Times of India - ‎40 minutes ago‎


    NEW DELHI: Amid a raging political storm in the BJP following Jaswant Singh's book on Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah that criticised Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said the two were ...









    Omar promises to fast-track Shopian case probe


    Press Trust of India - ‎1 hour ago‎


    Srinagar, Aug 28 (PTI) Asserting that at no point of time his government had shown any laxity in efforts to uncover the truth in the Shopian case, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today promised to "fast-track" the probe and ensure ...









    Hizbul operative Mujeeb Ahmad gets lifer


    Rediff - ‎47 minutes ago‎


    Mujeeb Ahmad, a suspected Hyderabad-based operative of terrorist organization Hizbul Mujahideen [ Images ] was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Hyderabad on the charges of sedition and collecting arms to wage war against the country.








    India to probe security of China-made telecoms: Minister


    Economic Times - ‎1 hour ago‎


    NEW DELHI: India is to investigate whether its use of Chinese-made telecom equipment in sensitive border and insurgency-hit areas could jeopardise national security, a minister said Friday.









    Devil's Advocate: Brajesh Mishra on Vajpayee vs Advani


    IBNLive.com - ‎5 hours ago‎


    NDA'S DARKEST SECRET: Advani was aware of Jaswant's Kandahar trip and there was no dissent, says Mishra. ibnlive.com is on mobile now.









    BJP seeks white paper on economic situation of Haryana


    Press Trust of India - ‎1 hour ago‎


    Chandigarh, Aug 28 (PTI) BJP today accused Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of misleading people through "false advertisements" on the state's economy, and dared the Congress government to issue a white paper on the development works carried out ...









    No Room for Development of Patna Airport; Says AAI Official


    Patna Daily - ‎12 hours ago‎


    Airport Authority of India (AAI), during a meeting with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on Thursday, ruled out the possibility of the expansion of Patna's Jai Prakash Narain International Airport saying there was not enough space for further ...


    Mayhem on Bihar tracks Calcutta Telegraph







    Passenger aircraft with wrong code creates security scare


    Times of India - ‎18 hours ago‎


    NEW DELHI: Maintaining a vigil against any attempt by a terrorist outfit to use planes as missiles akin to the 9/11 strikes in US, IAF scrambled two MiG-29 fighter jets to intercept an "unidentified aircraft'' over Amritsar after it entered Indian ...


    Plane alarm Calcutta Telegraph






    JK HC throws ball in state govt court in Shopian case


    Press Trust of India - ‎55 minutes ago‎


    Srinagar, Aug 28 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir High Court today threw the ball in the state government's court over transfer of the double rape-cum-murder of two women in Shopian to CBI saying it was up to the administration to take a decision.









    Bangalore: Techie Jumps to Death in Wipro Campus


    Daijiworld.com - ‎21 minutes ago‎


    Bangalore, Aug 28: A software engineer of IT major Wipro Technologies, reportedly committed suicide in the campus of the company located in Electronic City here, on Wednesday August 26, days before his service with the company was to end.




    Wipro techie 'falls to death' Calcutta Telegraph





    NCP backs third front to hurt Cong at polls


    Times of India - ‎14 hours ago‎


    MUMBAI: With the Congress turning the heat on the NCP and forcing it to concede more seats for the upcoming assembly elections, the latter is using the newly-formed third front to put pressure on the Congress.









    Vedic churn in Bengal politics


    Calcutta Telegraph - ‎17 hours ago‎


    Calcutta, Aug. 27: The Vedic Village episode has quietly begun to churn Bengal politics, exposing players in the CPM, the Trinamul Congress and the real estate business behind the questionable land acquisition in the area.









    Quota for women in panchayats to be raised to 50%


    Times of India - ‎18 hours ago‎


    NEW DELHI: The country seems set to have an army of women politicians. UPA-2 may have failed to deliver on its promise of 33% reservation for women in legislatures within 100 days but it has kept its word on empowerment at the grassroots with the Union ...









    Pakistan to examine fresh 26/11 evidence


    Sify - ‎1 hour ago‎


    Islamabad: Holding that 'certain procedures' had to be followed, Pakistan has said it would examine the fresh evidence submitted by India on the basis of which Interpol had issued a red corner notice against Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, ...








    Judicial inquiry ordered into fake encounter in Manipur


    Press Trust of India - ‎4 hours ago‎


    Imphal, Aug 28 (PTI) A judicial inquiry was today ordered into the alleged fake encounter of a youth in Manipur last month even as an organisation spearheading public protests against the killing said it would intensify its stir.









    Cong objects to BSP holding party executive at CM's residence


    SamayLive - Noor Khan - ‎2 hours ago‎


    Lucknow: Taking exception to the BSP's national executive held recently at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's official residence, the UPCC's media cell today said it will soon ask the Governor BL Joshi to seek an explanation from her for doing so.






    Kennedy's Catholicism source of comfort, conflict


    The Associated Press - Jay Lindsay - ‎2 hours ago‎


    BOSTON - Sen. Edward Kennedy was raised from birth to cherish his Catholicism, and it became both a source of comfort and conflict throughout his life.









    US kidnap survivor 'doing great'


    BBC News - ‎9 minutes ago‎


    A woman freed in California 18 years after being kidnapped at the age of 11 is said to have had a happy reunion with her mother. Jaycee Lee Dugard was found living in her alleged kidnapper's home in a suburb of San Francisco after her abduction 200 ...









    Japan Poised for Historic Political Shift in Predicted Election ...


    Voice of America - Kurt Achin - ‎25 minutes ago‎


    More than half a century of all but uncontested political leadership in Japan appears set to end this weekend, as voters elect new parliamentary representatives.









    Dutch girl, 13, blocked from global solo sail


    Reuters India - Aaron Gray-Block - ‎1 hour ago‎


    UTRECHT, Netherlands (Reuters) - A 13-year-old Dutch girl's attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo around the globe was blocked on Friday by a court which placed her under state supervision for two months.









    Lockerbie bomber's release linked with trade talks, says Gaddafi's son


    guardian.co.uk - ‎3 hours ago‎


    A television picture showing Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the convicted Lockerbie bomber, meeting with the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi.









    Complaints of Afghan election fraud pour in


    Reuters - Peter Graff, Nick Macfie - ‎2 hours ago‎


    KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission has received more than 2000 complaints of fraud or abuse in last week's disputed presidential election, with 270 now listed as serious enough to affect the result, ...









    Q+A-China's response to Dalai Lama's Taiwan visit


    Reuters India - ‎6 hours ago‎


    BEIJING (Reuters) - Taiwan's president, trying to salvage his reputation after a deadly typhoon, is treading a delicate path as an upcoming visit by the Dalai Lama threatens to rock warming relations with China.









    Ban Ki-moon: Palestinian unity crucial to Mideast peace talks


    Ha'aretz - ‎2 hours ago‎


    By DPA It is "crucial" for Palestinians to show unity in order to proceed with negotiations with Israel, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Friday in Vienna.









    Britain pledges $1 billion to help Pakistan


    Reuters - Farah Master, Angus MacSwan - ‎7 minutes ago‎


    LONDON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Britain will committ 665 million pounds ($1.08 billion) in aid to help Pakistan stabilise its violent border areas and tackle the underlying causes of extremism, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday.









    Police say slain model's car showed evidence of a struggle


    Los Angeles Times - Ari B. Bloomekatz, Andrew Blankstein - ‎10 hours ago‎


    Buena Park investigators found blood and hair in Jasmine Fiore's Mercedes-Benz, indicating that she and her ex-husband, Ryan Jenkins, had fought violently in the vehicle.









    Pakistan Taliban claim suicide attack


    AFP - ‎6 hours ago‎


    PESHAWAR, Pakistan - The Pakistan Taliban on Friday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack near the Afghan border that killed 22 policemen, saying it was their first retaliation for their leader's death.









    Two Koreas to restart family reunions as tensions ease


    AFP - ‎8 hours ago‎


    SEOUL - South and North Korea agreed Friday to restart a reunion programme for families divided by their 1950-53 war, the latest sign of easing tensions after more than a year of hostility.









    Myanmar fighting forces up to 30000 to flee to China


    Reuters - Chris Buckley - ‎25 minutes ago‎


    BEIJING (Reuters) - Fresh fighting has erupted between Myanmar forces and an armed ethnic group in the remote northeast, forcing tens of thousands to flee across the border into China, activists and state media said on Friday.









    Activists seek tough UN climate pact in 100 days


    Reuters - Alister Doyle, Charles Dick - ‎2 hours ago‎


    OSLO, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Activists launched what they called the world's biggest campaign to combat global warming on Friday, urging governments to agree a tough UN climate pact at talks in Copenhagen ...









    Zawahiri urges Pakistanis to join Jihad


    Rediff - ‎48 minutes ago‎


    Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second-in-command in the Al Qaeda [ Images ], has urged the citizens of Pakistan to join a Jihad to thwart 'America's attempts to divide Pakistan'.









    Iranian President Calls for Prosecution of Opposition Leaders


    Voice of America - ‎55 minutes ago‎


    By VOA News Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the prosecution of the opposition leaders who led the unrest that followed his re-election in June.









    Canada names new envoy to Washington


    The Associated Press - Rob Gillies - ‎48 minutes ago‎


    TORONTO - Canada's prime minister has named a provincial premier from a leftist opposition party as the country's new ambassador to the United States.









    Iraqis Mourn Death of Shi'ite Leader


    Voice of America - ‎10 minutes ago‎


    By VOA News Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad Friday amid tight security to mourn the death of Shi'ite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.









    Curbs on nuclear scientist lifted


    BBC News - ‎4 hours ago‎


    A court in Pakistan has lifted the final restrictions on controversial nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, allowing him total freedom of movement.









    Saudi Royal Survives Attack Claimed By Qaeda


    New York Times - John Irish, Thomas Atkins - ‎3 hours ago‎


    By REUTERS RIYADH (Reuters) - A senior member of Saudi Arabia's royal family who is in charge of the kingdom's anti-terrorism campaign has survived a suicide attack by an al Qaeda-linked group.







    No comments: