India News: January 2006

Kalam on a 10 day three-nation tour
Tuesday, January 31, 2006 | AA

President A P J Abdul Kalam today left on a 10-day tour of Singapore, the Philippines and South Korea as part of India's efforts to provide a new impetus to its "Look East Policy'. Kalam was seen off at the airport by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh his cabinet colleagues, three services chiefs and senior bureaucrats. Kalam begins his tour with a three-day visit to Singapore and then he will be visiting the Philippines from February three to February six and Republic of Korea (South Korea) between February six and February nine. President will have wide-ranging discussions with Presidents and Prime Ministers of the three countries besides interacting with business leaders, intellectuals and student leaders there.

Pakistan in command
Tuesday, January 31, 2006 | AA

Karachi, Jan 31 Stand-in captain Younis Khan and middle order bat Mohammed Yousuf put up a century partnership to put Pakistan in a strong position on the third day of the third and final cricket Test against India at the National Stadium here today. Younis and Yousuf, both of whom were out for ducks during Irfan Pathan's dream hat-trick in the first over of the match, thwarted India's hopes of getting a quick breakthrough in the morning session. At lunch on day three, Pakistan were 270 for the loss of two wickets with both overnight batsmen Yousuf (74,124b,10x4s) and Younis (72,106 b,11x4s) at the crease.

India has eliminated leprosy: Health Ministry
Tuesday, January 31, 2006 | MP

Marking the Leprosy Day on Jan 30th, the Union Health Ministry has announced that leprosy has been eliminated from the country with the incidence rate dropping to less than one in 10,000 cases in December 2005. "As a result of the hard work and meticulously planned and executed activity, the country has achieved the goal of eliminating leprosy as a public health problem", Health Minister Ramadoss said. Though the pervelance rate of this disease in India has dropped significantly over the last year, however Delhi continues to report the highest number of leprosy cases because of the large migrant workers there. Efforts are being carried out to completely eradicate leprosy from India.

Wedding Malls, a booming business in India
Monday, January 30, 2006 | MP

Like any other speciality markets wedding mall concept are also catching a booming trend in India. The Indian marriage business which makes over Rs 5000 crore a year is very popular among the NRI markets and has already become a huge international tourist attraction. The idea of wedding malls will provide more convenience to the shoppers with everything under one roof ranging from matchmaker, astrologer, wedding planners, designer brands, fine jewellery, footwear, apparel, food and beverage outlets to even honeymoon tour operators. The Omaxe group has set up the Wedding Mall on Gurgaon, the first of its kind and is taking the concept of Wedding Malls to Patiala and Agra. By 2008, more gold and wedding souks are set to open across Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Kolkota etc. which is sure to boost up marriage tourism in India.

Union Cabinet reshuffle: PM keeps External Affairs
Sunday, January 29, 2006 | MP

The Union cabinet reshuffle and expansion will give way to seven new Cabinet Ministers. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will retain the Ministry of External Affairs. He will be assisted by Anand Sharma, the new Minister of State for External Affairs. The Coal Ministry portfolio returns to Shibu Soren. Mani Shankar powers the Youth Affairs & Sports in addition to Panchayati Raj portfolio while his Petroleum Ministry handed over to Murli Deora. Ambika Soni gets Tourism and Culture while Renuka Chowdhry will have Women and Child Development. New face AR Antulay to handle Minority Affairs. Vayalar Ravi, another new face in cabinet has Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry. Sushil Kumar Shinde will take over as Power Minister with cabinet rank. Saifuddin Soz to hold Water Resources.

Science Safari in Nat Geo to exhibit Indian science
Saturday, January 28, 2006 | MP

With the initiative to showcase Indian science and scientists, the Ministry of Science & Technology has announced plans to launch a series of films named ‘Science Safari’ with the foreign channel, National Geographic Channel (NGC). The programme will exhibit India’s achievements in the field of science, which is aimed at creating a greater interest in science among people. The NGC will produce a one-hour film and 15 two-minute shorts that will focus on nano-technology, Indian scientists, rural advancements in science and several novel initiatives in universities. The Ministry will have the copyright for the content and will be telecast by NGC from May 2006. The programmes will also be aired on Doordarshan channel a year later in Hindi and several regional languages.

IAEA vote: Mulford express regret for his remarks
Friday, January 27, 2006 | MP

US Ambassador Mulford expressed his sincere regrets on the comment he made that if India did not vote against Iran's nuclear programme at the IAEA meeting, there would be a "devastating" effect on the Indo-US nuclear deal. India immediately reacted saying that the remarks made by him as inappropriate and not conducive to building a strong partnership between the two independent democracies. Mulford expressed his "sincere regrets", saying his remarks had been taken "out of context" and he didn’t intend to question India's right to take decisions on various issues on the basis of its own national interests.

India celebrates 57th Republic Day
Thursday, January 26, 2006 | MP

Amidst of tight security India celebrated the 57th Republic Day with colourful parade taking off at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. President A P J Abdul Kalam took the salute as the national flag was unfurled. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah was the chief guest of the R-Day celebrations.Thousands of school children from all over the country also participated in the parade which showcased India's cultural diversity and military strength.

Bihar House dissolution: SC indicts Buta Singh
Wednesday, January 25, 2006 | MP

The Supreme Court in an important judgement indicted Bihar Governor Buta Singh for acting in undue haste in sending his report for recommending the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly. The court held that the Governor misled the Union government by sending the report containing unascertained facts and stated that his motive was to prevent JD (U) from claiming stake for government formation in the state. Meanwhile the Government said that it would study the SC judgement in detail and would give a detail statement on this regard within a day.

Not ready for party post now: Rahul Gandhi
Tuesday, January 24, 2006 | MP

Congress MP from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi signaled that he was not ready to take any party post at the moment who said that he wanted to learn and understand people and the country better before accepting any responsibility. "There is no fast track to success.Leadership has to be built slowly, brick by brick.", said Mr Gandhi while addressing the 82nd AICC plenary session at Hyderabad, who was forced to come up to the stage following the repeated demands of the party workers. He aldo called upon the party men to reach out to schools, colleges and universities to win back the people's confidence and restore the glory of the Congress party.

Security tightened ahead of Republic Day
Sunday, January 22, 2006 | MP

Tight security measures have been taken in all the Eastern and North Eastern states of the country ahead of the Republic Day celebrations. The states sharing border with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan are under high alert in view of the strike and boycott calls by different rebel groups and maoists. Preventive measures are being taken to avoid violence or any terrorist activities in the region following the killings of tribals in Orissa and arrest of some leaders in West Bengal.

BSNL launching video conferencing services
Friday, January 20, 2006 | MP

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will soon introduce to its customers video conferencing services where people can see and talk to each other while making a call from home or office. Subcribers can make use of this facility by installing a video end-point (H.323 standard). Similarly for those with PC wanting to do the video conferencing via webcam can avail the facility by downloading the ‘PVX’ software from BSNL's website. Though the service could be a little bit costly for individual users, this is the first time such service being made available to retail users. BSNL in its initial phase is expected to provide the service in 94 cities across the country starting from January end.

Tourism Ireland focus India on its trade mission
Thursday, January 19, 2006 | MP

The visiting Ireland Prime Minister and a team of delegates including Tourism Ireland chief executive and Tourism Minister are on a week long trade mission to India. Tourism Ireland will be using this opportunity to attract the Indian tourists by projecting Ireland as a holiday destination in the Indian market. Also the team will be conducting two high-level tourism events in Delhi and Mumbai. “With over 250,000 Indians visited the UK in 2004, there is clear potential to target this market for an add-on or separate visit to Ireland," says the Ireland Tourism Minister.

Lahore Test drawn; Indians miss world record short of 3 runs
Tuesday, January 17, 2006 | MP

The first test match played between India and Pakistan at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore ended in a draw on the fifth day of the match today. In reply to Pakistan’s 679/7, declared, India responded with an outstanding display by openers Virender Sehwag and captain Rahul Dravid making 410 in the opening stand, the second highest in history of world cricket. Just short of 3 runs, the duo just missed the world record for the highest opening stand of 413 set by India’s Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy's partnership against New Zealand in Chennai in 1955-56. Virender Sehwag who was dismissed at 254 was awarded the man of the match.

BJP asks PM’s intervention in Bofors issue
Monday, January 16, 2006 | MP

With the London high court ordering the defreezing of the British bank accounts of the Italian businessman, an accused in the Bofors payoff case, the BJP has come forward asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention to ensure that the accounts remain frozen. BJP leader Arun Jaitley also demanded action against the Law Ministry for dealing with the matter. The CBI alone is authorised to deal with this case, he said. BJP chief Rajnath Singh indicated that the party would take up the issue in Parliament for the government giving a ‘clean chit’ to those involved.

India fully committed to pipeline project: Aiyar
Saturday, January 14, 2006 | MP

Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Mani Shankar Aiyar firmly denied media reports on India's withdrawal from the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project and maintained that India was fully committed to the project. Bilateral discussions are underway for the purchase of India border natural gas that would be piped from Iran through Pakistan to the Pak-India border."There can be no Iranian gas made available at the Pak-India border unless there is a pipeline project, which would bring gas from Iran to Pakistan and to India," he said. Officials are also discussing on the sideline matters relating to the pipeline.

TRAI suggest for country’s IPv6 migration
Friday, January 13, 2006 | MP

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended that the country should go ahead for transferring its current Internet standard IPv4 to the next generation Internet Protocol version 6, the IPv6. This would help enhance the growth of broadband and Internet services in the country. TRAI also advised on creating a National Internet Registry for managing the growing demand of the IP addresses by the net users in the country. Migrating to the IPv6 technology would provide better quality of service, mobility and security within the Internet.

Fetal nerve cells cultured for AIDS study
Thursday, January 12, 2006 | MP

Making an advance in the study of AIDS related problems, Indian scientists of the National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) have cultured primal human nervous system cells from fetal cells. Scientists were successful in isolating and maintaining purified cell populations of human fetal brain-derived cells that produce the cells of nervous system. These cultured cells can help in the study of development of neurological and psychiatric symptoms in AIDS patients. The system is aimed to be used as a tool to explore the problems linking to the nervous system including disease like HIV-induced neuropathogenesis.

Great challenge for both teams: Sewag
Tuesday, January 10, 2006 | MP

As India and Pakistan gear up for the Test series, cricket fans of both the countries are looking forward a big fight ahead. Indian Vice captain, Virender Sewag has no doubt that the Test series is going to be a challenging one, but not only for the Indians. It will be challenge for both the teams, says Sewag. It will be tougher for the Pakistanis as they are playing at home and will be under more pressure than us. The first test series will start on Friday at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore in Pakistan.

Phone tapping: Amar Singh approaches SC
Tuesday, January 10, 2006 | MP

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has moved the Supreme Court seeking a judicial probe into the whole incident of the phone tapping issue. Amar Singh has filed the petition targeting many in the government and the Congress party and also telecom major, Reliance Infocomm.Now it is up to the Supreme Court to decide whether to admit Amar Singh's petition, which also puts the Home Ministry and Delhi police chief on notice.

SBI revises domestic interest rates
Sunday, January 8, 2006 | MP

State Bank of India (SBI) is revising its interest rate on domestic term deposits effective from Jan 9th. The revised interest rates for deposits with a maturity period of 1-45 days would be 4.50%. For those with a period of 46-179 days, the rate would be 4.75%, while for 180 days to 1 year it will be 5.50 %. The term deposit rates would be offered a 6% rate (for 1-3 years) and 6.25% for 3-5 years. For those above 5 years will get a rate of 6.50%. For senior citizens the special interest rates will be 6.50 %(1-3 years), 6.75 %( 3-5 years) and 7% (5 years and above).

India, Pak to begin Thar Express from Feb 1
Saturday, January 7, 2006 | MP

Following talks between India and Pak on the rail link between the two countries, the two nations have decided to resume the second cross border train, Thar Express servicing Khokrapar-Munnabao rail link from February 1st. The opening of the rail link between Munnabao in Rajasthan and Khokrapar in Sindh province of Pakistan was agreed upon after the end of the 2 day talks between delegations from the two sides. India and Pakistan will provide the train services alternately on a six month basis.

India ranks first in expatriate remittances
Thursday, January 5, 2006 | AA

The remittances by Overseas Indians are the highest expatriate remittances in the world, Mr. Oscar Fernandez, Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs, informed the Rajya Sabha. Recent studies by the World Bank estimate that, the expatriate remittance to India is around US $ 21.7 billion, thus making it the highest in the world, ahead of China and Mexico. Indians work in large numbers, especially in countries in the Gulf region. It is estimated that the number of Overseas Indians in the Gulf would be around 4 million, the minister said.

Sensex run to 10,000 continues, reaches 9,648 pts with 108 pts gain
Wednesday, January 4, 2006 | AA

Continuing their mega-bull run, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensitive Index (Sensex) today crossed the 9,600 mark and the 50-share National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty index too crossed 2,900 mark for the first time.

Promote rural sector with affordable technologies: PM
Wednesday, January 4, 2006 | MP

The Prime Minister has called upon the Indian scientists to create economically affordable technologies for the development of the rural sectors and thereby bring an end to the urban and rural divide in India. Mr Singh said that quality of rural life could be made better only by creating more jobs in the villages. Science and technology should be harnessed for achieving rural development that could lead to increased rural incomes and agricultural productivity, he said while addressing the 93rd Indian Science Congress in Hyderabad

Medical Tourism: One Million Tourists targeted by 2010
Tuesday, January 3, 2006 | AA

India would become a major health destination and an additional one million tourists is expected by 2010 through medical tourism, said Ms. Renuka Chowdhury, Union Minister of State for Tourism. These arrivals would fetch an extra foreign exchange between Rs. 5,0000-10,0000 million. Chairing the meeting of the Consultative Committee on Tourism, the minister said that in collaboration with medical industry, discussions with hospitals have been completed to ensure uniform and reasonable prices for particular treatment. Accreditation of hospitals, maintaining required international standards for the treatment has also been done in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry and medical industry. Medical visa for a 6months to 1year stay for treatment in India has also been launched.

Centre to promote Adventure Tourism
Tuesday, January 3, 2006 | AA

Adventure Tourism would become one of the biggest foreign exchange earner soon, Ms. Renuka Chowdhury, Union Minister of State for Tourism informed the Rajya Sabha. Central Financial assistance would be provided to the states for the development of adventure tourism subject to availability of funds and priorities. Assistance would be given to set up infrastructure facilities and procurement of equipment for activities like white water river rafting, paragliding, hot air ballooning, skiing, mountain biking. Most of the States have identified locations for development of adventure tourism. The new National Tourism Policy acknowledges the critical role of private sector as a pro-active facilitator and catalyst for development of tourism including adventure tourism, the minister said. For another question, the minister said that states have also been asked to send proposals for improving connectivity to major tourist centres.

Record increase in tourist arrivals to India
Tuesday, January 3, 2006 | AA

The Indian tourism sector touched new heights in 2005, registering about 13.5% growth in tourist arrivals and about 20% increase in foreign exchange earnings, according to a release from the Union Ministry of Tourism. This gains significance since the average growth in global tourism was 5 percent. During the first 11 months of the year, 3.35 million tourists visited the country as against 2.59 million during the corresponding period in last year. Foreign exchange earnings from tourism during Jan.-Nov., 2005 was Rs. 22,9580 million as against Rs. 17,0390 million during the corresponding period in the previous year. The launching of several innovative schemes like ‘Atithi Devo Bhava', ‘Priyadarshini' and ‘Rural Tourism' has enabled India to emerge as one of the hottest destinations in the world. India has been ranked 5th among the world's tourist hot spots and also the fastest growing tourism. According to the an estimate by the WTTC India's foreign exchange earnings would be by 2015 India would be $ 24 billion by 2015, says the release.

Air Sahara offers Del-Lon-Del trip for Rs 10000
Tuesday, January 3, 2006 | MP

Private airliner,Air Sahara has come up with an exciting offer for the Delhi- London- Delhi sector for just Rs 10000. The offer will be valid only on the 2006 tickets. The airline has introduced the scheme from Tuesday and the tickets are also available for purchase from the airline’s website. The airline will launch the new services with the Boeing 767 aircrafts operating four times a week. The airline also plans to offer daily flights in this sector from March onwards.

SAFTA enforced
Monday, January 2, 2006 | MP

South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) that was agreed upon the seven SAARC countries has come into effect from Jan 1st. SAFTA would allow free trade of goods between nations in the South Asian region. However Pakistan is still on the ratification process which is expected to get completed soon. "Implementation of SAFTA will further strengthen our trade relations with the SAARC countries," said Commerce Minister Kamal Nath.

Rajnath to officially take over on Jan 2nd
Sunday, January 1, 2006 | MP

Following L K Advani’s stepping down as BJP party President, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh will formally take over as the BJP new party Chief on January 2nd. However Advani will continue as the leader of opposition. Mr Singh who is in active politics since 1974 is known as a mass leader who looks beyond the party which is what BJP is focusing on under his leadership.