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Kaif replaces Tendulkar for 2nd Test
Monday, 31 March, 2008
Indian top batsman Sachin Tendulkar who suffered a groin starin during the first Test against South Africa has been ruled out of the second Test in Ahmedabad.
Instead right handed batsman Mohammed Kaif who was away for a while has been included in the squad for the 2nd Test match which will be begin on April 3rd.
Tendulkar had been earlier advised two weeks rest after the Aussie tour but was declared fit prior to the Test squad.
Paceman Ishant Sharma also who skipped the first test following injury has been considered to play the 2nd Test.
--MP
Sehwag makes fastest 300
Friday, 28 March, 2008
India's Virender Sehwag has once again hit his career best triple century with an unbeaten 309 during the first innings of the first cricket test against South Africa. Sehwag scored it with a blast hitting 41 fours and five sixes from 292-balls and has been recorded with the fastest triple century in the history of Test cricket. With this Sehwag also became only the third player to achieve the record of two triple hundreds, the others being Australia's Don Bradman and West Indies batsman Brian Lara. On the third day of the match, India was 468 for one in reply to South Africa's first innings impressive total of 540. --MP Labels: Sports Inflation highest in a year
The country's inflation soared to 6.68 pc, the highest in a year. As a precautionary measure government has taken fiscal measures to keep check of the rising inflation levels.
Inflation surged by 0.76 per cent during the week ended March 15 despite high base of 6.56 per cent in the corresponding period of last year.
The last time inflation rate was so high was in February 3, 2007 at 6.73 per cent. "The government is looking at a proposal to ban non-basmati rice exports. We are also going to recommend scrapping of import duty on steel," said Commerce Minister Kamal Nath.--MP
Tata win JLR bid
Wednesday, 26 March, 2008
Ratan Tata's Tata Motors has won the landmark bid for the premium British car brands Jaguar and Land Rover. The deal signed from Ford Motor for 2.3 billion dollars was announced after Tata's negotiations with JLR union workers. It is understood that the agreement also include Tata's contribution to JLR's pension plan. "We are very pleased at the prospect of Jaguar and Land Rover being a significant part of our automotive business," said Ratan Tata on Wednesday after signing the deal. --MP Pay hike for Central staff
Tuesday, 25 March, 2008
The Sixth Pay Commission headed by Justice B N Srikrishna in its report submitted to the Finance Minister have recommended an average 40 per cent hike in the salaries of government employees. The revised pay hike will come into effect from Jan 1, 2006. However the effective pay hike is said to much lesser than this as the government had merged 50 per cent of the Dearness Allowance with the basic pay with effect from January 1, 2004. The commission has also proposed increase in other allowances like HRA, educational allowance and transport allowance. Under the new scales, the minimum entry level salary would be Rs 6660 while the highest for the cabinet secretary post would be Rs 1 lakh.
--MP Gavaskar to quit ICC post
Former Indian cricketer and captain Sunil Gavaskar is all set to step down as ICC's cricket committee chairman after being asked by the ICC to do so as he was doing alternate jobs as a TV commentator and newspaper columnist. The matter was raised by the members within the ICC during an ICC top level meeting and the committee suggested Gavaskar to decide on his choice. The former cricketer is likely to take a decision following his meeting with ICC CEO this week. Gavaskar has been serving as the ICC cricket committee chairman since June 2000.
--MP Labels: Sports India ready to challenge SA
Monday, 24 March, 2008
India is all set for the three match test series against South Africa that will begin on March 26th.
Fresh after a successful recent Australian tour, the Indian side is confident of putting up a good fight against the South Africans especially with the home advantage. It would be challenging to both the teams as both sides recording recent wins. While India had it in Australia, SA did well aginst Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Meantime the Indian team is undergoing rigorous training sessions amid the hot and humid conditions in Chennai which will host the first match of the test series begining on March 26th.
--MP
Advani extend greetings to PM, Sonia
Sunday, 23 March, 2008
Leader of Opposition L K Advani, has called upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi to greet them on the occasion of Holi.
L K Advani on Saturday visited Congress President Sonia Gandhi at her residence to extend greetings. Advani along with his wife stayed at Sonia's residence at 10 Janpath for about 15-20 minutes, and also presented a copy of his memoirs 'My country my life' to her.
This is the first time after several years that Advani has met Gandhi at her residence. Advani in his auto biography also refers about Sonia's foreign orgin and other issues.
--MP
India top remittance recipient nation
India has topped as the highest remittance recieving country, says a report released by the World bank.
The recent trends shows that remittances which is money sent home by immigrant workers abroad has grown up significantly in India in the recent past years. In 2003 India recieved remittances at US $17.4.
While in 2007, India' migrants across the world sending remittances back home amounted to $27 billion. India topped the list followed by China, Mexico, Philippines and France.
--MP
Husain painting fetches record $1.6mn
Saturday, 22 March, 2008
India's best known artist, M F Husain's painting "Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12 " fetched a whopping $1.6 million in an auction held at Christie's Southeast Asia and Contemporary Indian art at New York. This has also set a world record at Christie's beating Tyeb Mehta's earlier record of $1.58mn in 2005 auction. Hussein's work from the Hindu epic was painted in 1972 was sold to an anonymous bidder. While the auction was going on there were wide protests outside the venue with Hindu fundamentalist supporters demonstrating against the artist for his controversial paintings.
--MP Pranab to meet Bush
Friday, 21 March, 2008
India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on his 2 day visit to US will meet US President George Bush. Pranab's visit is significant as it will focus on discussions on the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal. This is Mukherjee's first visit to the US as External Affairs Minister and comes at a time when India and US are keen to improve bilateral ties and improved cooperation on the nuke deal. He will also hold discussions with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other senior officials in the Bush administration on Monday in Washington. --MP Sarabjit's execution delayed
Thursday, 20 March, 2008
Following India's appeal for clemency for Sarabjit Singh, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has deferred the execution of the Indian national by 30 days. The hanging which was scheduled for April 1st would now be delayed till April 30th after the Indian government made attempt to seek a reprieve for Sarabjit Singh. Apart from Sarabjit's family members requesting for a mercy plea, India had appealed to the Pakistan government to treat Sarabjit's case with clemency on humanitarian grounds. "Government of India is continuing its efforts to save the life of Sarabjit Singh. We have achieved partial success and we will continue to carry on our efforts," said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
--MP Taslima leaves India to Europe
Controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has left India on Wednesday to an undisclosed location in a European country. Sources say she has moved out of the country to seek medical care. Nasreen was secluded in secret government custody in India since November 2007. The author had claimed that her life in isolation has reportedly seriously undermined her health. However the writer refused to reveal where she was heading to saying that it would compromise on her security. --MP Gold and silver prices drops
Tuesday, 18 March, 2008
Prices of precious metals like gold and silver dropped today in view of the slowing global economy. Standard gold (99.5 purity) dropped by Rs 290 per ten grams to end at Rs 13,205 from the yesterday's record closing high of Rs 13,495. Pure gold (99.9 purity) also fell by Rs 295 per ten grams to Rs 13,260 from Rs 13,555. Earlier increased buying of gold, had surged to an all-time high of 1033 dollar an ounce in overseas markets.
Silver prices also fell down by Rs 600 per kilo to Rs 25,050 from Rs 25,650.
--MP Sarabjit to be hanged on April 1
Monday, 17 March, 2008
Sarabjit Singh, the Indian prisoner in Pakistan who is facing death sentence for alleged involvement in Pakistan bomb blasts will be hanged on April 1st. The death warrant was recieved by the jail authorities in Lahore where he was being held for the past 17 years. His mercy petition was rejected twice by the Pakistan President and the Supreme Court. The Indian convict has been condemned to death for his alleged involvement in four blasts in Multan and Lahore in 1990.
--MP India rejects OICs comment on Kashmir issue
Reacting strongly against Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), India rejected the observations made by the OIC which stated that the Kasmir issue should be resolved in accordance with UN resolutions. Indian Ministry of External Affairs maintained that it regretted for the OIC comments on Jammu and Kashmir and issues concerning to India. "The OIC has no locus standi in matters concerning India's internal affairs including Jammu & Kashmir which is an integral part of India. We strongly reject all such comments.", said India's foreign ministry spokesperson.
--MP RBI not to slash rates
Sunday, 16 March, 2008
With view of the rising inflation levels, India Inc has expressed that RBI would not cut interest rates to boost the slowing industrial growth. This was revealed in a survey among 130 CEOs conducted by industry chamber Assocham. "Government is confronted with the dilemma of keeping the inflation rate low and prevent further hardening of the interest rates, hence they are left with little elbow room," said Assocham President Venugopal Dhoot. Earlier commenting on the rising infaltion which went on to a nine-month high of 5.11 per cent, Finance Minister P Chidambaram also indicated that RBI may not go for cut in policy interest rates due to high inflation rate.
--MP Annemarie-Maddison Prize for Kiran Bedi
Saturday, 15 March, 2008
One of India's most admired woman and first and highest ranking woman IPS officer, Kiran Bedi has been awarded the Annemarie-Madison prize.
The award was given to Bedi for initiating prison reforms at Delhi's Tihar jail. Bedi has served as the Inspector General Prisons of Tihar Jail, from 1993 to 1995 and her prison reforms policies lead to her winning, Ramon Magsaysay Award earlier in 1994.
Annemarie-Madison award constituted by an international health organisation, KIS Board of Trustees and Curatorship for Immunodeficiency, has been conferred on her ata function on Munich on Friday. --MP Nationwide airport strike withdrawn
Friday, 14 March, 2008
After 2 days nation wide stir against the closure of existing airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad, the striking employees of the Airports Authority of India had called off its strike on Thursday evening after talks with the employee representitives and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel. The decision to withdraw the stir was made after the Union Minister assured that any closure of airports in the future would be made only after government's consultation with AAI and its employees. During the meeting the Minister assured that modernaisation of 35 non-metro airports would be undertaken with "full involvement" of the AAI and its employees. --MP Indian-American girl win Jr Nobel prize
Thursday, 13 March, 2008
An Indian American teenager, a college student from North Carolina in the US has won the grand prize of US$ 1 lakh for her project work involved with cancer. The 17 year old Shivani Sud, bagged the Junior Nobel Prize organized by the Intel Science Talent Search contest in the US for developing a model she used to identify stage II colon cancer patients at a high risk for recurrence. Shivani in her work also identifed the drugs using genetic and bioinformatics that could be most effective for treating their tumors.The high school student said that her own family member's experience has inspired her to do the research on this particular subject.
--MP Flights operate amid airport strike
Wednesday, 12 March, 2008
Amid country wide airport strike called by the employees of Airport Authority of India, flight operations were reportedly unaffected by the stir. The aviation stir was called by the workers across the country to protest against the closure of Hyderabad and Bangalore airports in fear of privatisation. However the domestic and international flight services were undisrupted by the indefenite strike which was called on Tueday midnight. Major airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata continued to operate as per schedule in the morning hours. On the wake of the strike call, the government had deployed 479 additional personnel in 21 key airports across the country.
--MP India Fashion week begins
The 5 day Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week has started in New Delhi on Wednesday with designers from the fashion industry showcasing thier collections through ramp shows and stalls. First day of the event would display collections of Bollywood's favourite designer Vikram Phadnis along with Mandira Wirk, Manoviraj Khosla, Suneet Varma, Kavita Bhartia, Gauri and Nainika Karan, Ranna Gill and Rohit Bal. The Autumn-Winter collection of 2008, the 11 th edition of the fashion event organised by the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) is expected to draw a lot of crowd from the fashion community including domestic and foreign buyers. As many as 61 select designers will showcase their collections on the ramp in 40 shows.
--MP Indian Hockey team misses Olympics
Monday, 10 March, 2008
It has been a disappointing day for the Indian hockey as the Indian team missed out on the Olympics Games men's hockey event for the first time in the history. India in the qualifiers lost 2-0 to Britain in the final of the qualifying tournament of the World Hockey on Sunday. With the defeat Indian team has failed to qualify and missed out on the oppourtunity for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. India which has won the gold medal eight times have never missed the Olympics, ever since field hockey was introduced as a medal sport in 1928. --MP 3 detained in Keeling case
Sunday, 9 March, 2008
Goan police has detained three men in connection with the death of a 15-year-old British girl who was found dead at a beach in Goa last month. "Detention of three is made while we are on look out for four others," said a police official investigating on the case. Police had initially stated that the girl was drowned. However a second autopsy revealed that she recieved several bruises with the doctors recommending it as an act of murder. This has led to a different take on the investigation with police registering the death as murder. --MP Rahul Gandhi starts his Discover India tour
Saturday, 8 March, 2008
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi has started his 4 day tour 'Discover India' from Orissa's Nuapada District on Friday. The tour that will cover various districts of Orissa, has started from the poverty striken Kalahandi area. Rahul's tour is expected to cover atleast 13 districts during which he will address public meetings and conduct interactions with youths, students, tribals, farmers and party workers focusing on issues such as education and employment. On his first day vist to Kalahandi the most backward region in the State, he criticised the BJD-BJP government for the alleged poor implementation of the Centre's flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
--MP CPI threatens to withdraw support
Friday, 7 March, 2008
In a fresh move, UPA ally and Left party, CPI has finally come up with an official letter addressed to the Prime Minister making it clear that the party would withdraw support if the government goes ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal. In his letter to the PM, CPI General Secretary stated: "Should the government decide to push ahead with the deal, we will not and cannot be a party to go along with it. We will then be left with no other option than to withdraw our support to the government." Ever since the agreement was signed, Left parties took a tough stance against the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal though they maintained that it no threat to the UPA government. Meanwhile opposition BJP also said that it would not support the nuclear agreement in the present form.
--MP PM hits back on NDA
Thursday, 6 March, 2008
In a reply to the President's address to the joint session of Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came heavily on the BJP-led NDA government for the problems faced in the agriculture sector. Remarking on the loan waiver PM said: "What we have done is nothing more than picking up the unpaid distress bill which the NDA government left behind." He also made it clear that there was no need to doubt his government's ability on how to raise money to waive off farmers' loans. He assured that his government would make adequate resources from increased tax and non-tax revenue receipts to erase the debts. During his speech he also referred on the Indo-US nuke deal saying that all efforts would be made possible to seek the "broadest possible consensus" on the issues ans also stressed that the national interest of the country will not be compromised. --MP Rs 10 crore award for Dhoni and men
Tuesday, 4 March, 2008
Indian cricket board, BCCI chief has announced a cash award of Rs 10 crore for the Indian team who made a historic win in the ODI tri series beating Australia by straight 2-0 in the the best-of-three finals today. "Sharad Pawar has announced a cash award of Rs 10 crore. It will also be given a public reception in Delhi at the DDCA on March 6 on its return," said BCCI CAO Ratnakar Shetty from Brisbane. India who batted first in the second finals at Brisbane made 259 runs. Chasing a target of 260 runs to win, Australians were reduced to 32-3 at one stage. With two balls to spare Australians were finally bundled for 249. India's Praveen Kumar who took 4 wickets were adjudged the man of the match. --MP Meghalaya goes for polling
Monday, 3 March, 2008
Amid high security, the polling for eighth Meghalaya Assembly has begun on Monday morning. Meanwhile Baghmara assembly constituency elections were delayed for a later date on March 22 following death of Cong MLA S Sangma. There are a total of 331 candidates contesting this elections including 6 former chief ministers. The fate of the candidates will be decided as Meghalaya goes for polling which has a total of 12,32,907 voters. The Congress is contesting all the seats while the United Democratic Party has 52 candidates. The Nationalist Congress Party has come up with 50 candidates. There are 73 Independents in the fray
--MP India lift U-19 cricket World cup
Sunday, 2 March, 2008
Sunday was a memorable day for the Indian cricket with the junior Indian cricketers beating South Africa to lift the Under-19 World Cup for the second time. With the rains interrupting the match, the South Africans were given a revised target of 116 runs from 25 overs. Indian bowlers put up a brilliant performance restricting the opponents fall short of 12 runs. Earlier the senior national players also made a great day by beating Australia in the first of three-finals of the cricket tri series, at the Sydney Cricket Ground for the first time in 12 years. It was a remarakble day for the little master, Tendulkar too as he went on to score his first century in Australia. He was unbeaten at 117 which helped India to a six-wicket win against Australia. Tendulkar also won the Man of the Match. --MP Debt waiver a hogwash, says UNPA
Attacking on the Congress led UPA government, UNPA on Saturday said that he governments debt waiver announced in the Union budget was 'hogwash' and ust a 'book adjustment'. While the political parties within UPA trying to take credits on the loan waiver, UNPA feels thath the debt waiver package will provide no reprieve to farmers. 'There is no fresh budgetary allocation for farmers. It is just book adjustment. And to add to it, there are so many ifs and buts and categorization of farmers,' said SP general sec, Amar Singh. However he did not disclose what stategy the party would adopt on the matter in Parliament. "The strategy of the UNPA will be decided after a meeting of all its leaders," he added.
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