India News: May 2006

Sania Mirza out of French Open
Wednesday, May 31, 2006 | MP

Indian tennis star, Sania Mirza lost the first round and was out of the French Open Grand Slam. It was an early end for the 19 year old Indian as she lost it to the Russian 10th seed Anastasia Myskina in the first round tie in straight sets 6-4, 6-1. Though Sania made some initial breaks in serves, she couldnt get hold of the situation from Myskina the 2004 Grand Slam champion, spotted at world number 12.

India,China ink deal on military exchanges
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 | MP

India and China has signed an agreement for institutionalising military training which is said to serve both countries in enhancing its military and defence interactions. An MoU was signed between the Defence ministries of the two countries. "This is the first-ever agreement of its kind between the two countries and I am confident that it will serve as an effective framework for facilitating our defence dialogue and exchanges," said India's Defence Minister,Pranab Mukherjee. As a part of the deal, the two countries are expected to hold joint military training and annual military exchange programmes.

Talks on reservation in deadlock
Monday, May 29, 2006 | MP

Even with continued talks between the Center and protesting medicos on the reservation issue, the situation still remains in deadlock. The agitating students maintained that the government give written assurances to their demands.The strikers also kept that they would continue with the ongoing stir till their demands are fully examined. They had also appealed to the Center to set up an independent commission to review the proposed reservation system. "The government has not given any conclusive statement. It is talking in different voices and we will continue our strike till our demands are met," said a spokesperson of the students. Meanwhile the Center says that it is united in its response to the students. "We have told them that general category seats in educational institutes will not be reduced. Not a single student will be affected," said Minister Oscar Fernandes after helding talks with the agitators.

77.16 pc pass in Class10 CBSE exams
Sunday, May 28, 2006 | MP

This year has witnessed a 2.56% increase in the pass percentage in the results of the Class X examinations of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) making it to total of 77.16 pass pc when the reults was announced on Saturday. Chennai emerged top among the country's six regions with a high pass percentage of 89.44. Ajmer stood second recording 88.24% followed by Chandigarh(82.41),Allahabad(77.16). Delhi came fifth with 68.11%. This year too girls fared better than boys with a pass percentage of 77.7%.

West Indies clinch series with 3-1 lead
Saturday, May 27, 2006 | MP

With a sixwicket win by the hosts in the Friday's fourth ODI at Trinidad played between the West Indies and India, WI has won the series with a 3-1 lead in the 5 match series. India who were put to bat first, struggled with the bat losing some early crucial wickets and manged to make 218 in the 50 overs. In return despite some early wicket losses, WI Captain Brian Lara along with Bravo made a 91 run stand for the 4th wicket which lead the WI team to a memorable victory. Bravo who took 3 wickets was declared the Man of the Match.

Hike in petrol,diesel prices likely
Friday, May 26, 2006 | MP

A hike in the petrol, diesel prices by Rs 3-4/litre is expected possibly by early next week as the government is gearing up on taking adequate measures to reduce the oil companies losses owing to increasing oil prices in the global markets. It is known that Petroleum and Finance Ministers are likey to discuss on these concerns with Prime Minister over the coming days. The government is also considering on duty cuts and issuing oil bonds to firms to overcome with the defecits of the oil firms.

Govt ready to review on Kashmiri militants in PoK: PM
Thursday, May 25, 2006 | MP

Maintaining that India was committed on resolving terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the government was ready to review the cases of Kashmiri militants who had crossed over to Pakistan occupied Kashmir. This was stated by the Prime Minister while adressing the second round table conference in Kashmir. Mr Singh also proposed on building a new Kashmir by resolving the political differences and becoming part of the continued peace efforts in the region.

27% OBC Quota implementation from June 2007
Wednesday, May 24, 2006 | MP

The UPA government together with its allies after prolonged discussions has come up with its decision on implementing reservation in higher educational institutes. The proposed 27 per cent quota will be implemented from June 2007. A bill regarding the proposed reservation would be introduced in the monsoon session. Meanwhile the Government also said that it will increase the number of seats in the institutes to keep the interests of all sections of the society.

Anti quota: PM appeals to call off strike
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 | MP

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday again made a repeated appeal to the protesting students and doctors to call off their stike against the center's reservation proposal."I request all those who are agitating on the quota issue to call off their agitation and have faith in our Government to protect the legitimate interests of all sections of our student communty," said PM. He also asserted that no deserving student would be denied of any oppurtunity in securing education and maintained that his government was committed to work for the well being of all sections of our society.

Militants open fire at Cong rally in Srinagar
Monday, May 22, 2006 | MP

In an act of terror,as many as 22 people were injured and 5 killed when militants opened fire at a Touth Congress party rally held in Srinagar.The rally was being organized to mark the death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi observed as Anti-Terrorism Day. The mishap happened as the two militants in police uniforms carring explosivess and guns triggered fire onto the rally activists who were later gunn.The culprits were later gunned down by the security forces after an intense gunbattle. Meanwhile Prime Minister who condemned the attack said he would go ahead with the Srinagar visit for the second roundtable conference to be held in Kashmir on May 24-25.

WI - Ind 2nd ODI: India defeated by 1 run
Sunday, May 21, 2006 | MP

The Saturdays's second cricket one-day international between India and West Indies in Kingston was a dramatic victory for the WestIndies as they snatched the victory from the Indian side with a 1run win. Needing a target of 199 to win, India was bowled out for 198 with two more balls to spare. With this the 5 match series was levelled as 1-1.The defeat also marked an end to India's chasing streak of 17 wins while batting second. Ramnaresh Sarwan of WI who played abrilliant knock of 98 runs was declared the Man of the Match.

Premier schools object on implementing quota
Saturday, May 20, 2006 | MP

To resolve the ongoing protest on OBC reservations in higher educational institutions, the Government has come out with the idea of increasing seats in these institutions and thereby providing 27% reservation for OBCs in these institutes in phases over the next couple of years. However the country's premier schools like IIMs and IITs had strongly objected to this idea saying the reservations were not possible as the admission processes for the coming years were already done. The authorities also say that they have no infrastructure facilities to manage more students. They also indicate that the government has also not issued any notification to them regarding the reservations.

Sensex marks biggest ever fall
Friday, May 19, 2006 | MP

The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex witnessed the biggest ever fall of the Indian stock markets on Thursday with a historic 826 points fall closing at 11,391. NSE Nifty index also was down by 246 points, closing at 3,388. The steep fall in the index is said to have caused due to the decline in the international markets. But there are also views that the fall was in response to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) circular directed at the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) . Finance Minister P Chidambaram reacted saying that the decline had been a "manufactured crisis".

No going back on OBC quota: HRD Minister
Thursday, May 18, 2006 | MP

HRD Minister Arjun Singh made it clear that there would be no going back on the reservation proposal that the Center has committed for implementing in higher educational institutions. He said that the government will make a collective view considering all the aspects of the issue. "The Central Government is aware of all views expressed in this regard and shall take an appropriate decision on this issue without in anyway diluting the commitment arising out of the Constitutional Amendment in Article 15 (5).",said Mr Singh. He also denied the BJP's charges that the Government was speaking in different voices on reservation to OBCs in IIMs, IITs and other educational institutions.

Office on Profit: Lok Sabha passes bill
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 | MP

The Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill, 2006 was passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The Bill would seek amendment on the office of profit issue which is said to benefit members who would otherwise face disqualification. The bill included exempting 56 posts from being considered as office of profit posts. This also included the Chairpersonship of National Advisory Council which was earlier held by Sonia Gandhi due to which she had to resign from the post. The Bill was passed amidst strong resistance from the BJP led NDA.

Cabinet to seek consensus on quota issue
Tuesday, May 16, 2006 | MP

Amidst continuing protest against Center's reservation proposal, the Center government has come out with a softened stand on the issue saying it would soon work out with a mechanism to satisfy the interests of all sections of the society. A high level meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) was held chaired by the Prime Minister which was attended by UPA allies. Meanwhile health servics were hit in many parts of the country as the agitation intensified with many private and general hospitals continued protest in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkatta etc.

Anti-quota: IMA to support medicos protest
Monday, May 15, 2006 | MP

The ongoing doctors agitation on the anti-reservation move gained more momentum with Indian Medical Association(IMA) proclaiming its support to the striking doctors. IMA has called for medical bandh in Delhi and Maharastra branches and had asked its doctors in the government and private sectors to stay away from work to protest the police action against the medicos. IMA has also written to the Center government seeking action on the police brutality towards doctors and to sort out the ongoing stir. Meanwhile resident doctors of all medical colleges in Delhi are also staging a hunger strike in support of the protest.

Job quota laws to be brought in, says Kamal Nath
Sunday, May 14, 2006 | MP

Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath has indicated that the Government may bring in law for job reservations in the private sector. He said that the Government’s action would depend on the response from the industry and if the government felt that the measures being taken by private firms were not "adequate on the ground", different options would be considered. The move is intended to provide ‘inclusive growth’, persuade private companies to set up industries and create jobs in areas where the majority of the population comprised of SCs, STs and OBCs.

India, WI ODI series in US, Canada likely in Sept
Saturday, May 13, 2006 | MP

The India and WestIndies Cricket Boards have agreed to play an unscheduled one-day international series in the United States and Canada later this year. This is as a part of a deal agreed between the two cricket boards of the two nations. However the BCCI secretatry maintained that talks on this regard was still in the early stages who said that the boards has plans to hold two or three bilateral ODIs in Northern America in September before the Champions Trophy.

Left to have more decisive role in politics: CPM
Friday, May 12, 2006 | MP

With Left parties sweeping victory at the assembly polls in the key states like Kerala and West Bengal, CPI(M) asserted that the poll results would mean the Left to have more involvement in the national politics. In Kerala CPM led LDF secured a big mandate while in Bengal the Left Front made history winning a three-fourth’s majority. "We have been fighting for implementation of the Common Minimum Programme for the past two years and will continue to do so", said CPM's General Secretary Prakash Karat.

Delhi HC puts ban on nursery level interviews
Thursday, May 11, 2006 | MP

The Delhi High Court in an order put a ban on private schools conducting interviews for admission to nursery levels. The practice of interviewing children and parents at the time of admissions was showed up by an NGO who also claimed that it caused humiliation and inconvenience to the parents and severe mental strain to the little children. Previously the court had come up with a similar ban on this regard in Dec 2005 but the school managements had not come out with any suitable response on this matter so far.

ISRO, NASA sign deal on India's moon mission, Chandrayaan-1
Wednesday, May 10, 2006 | MP

ISRO and NASA of the US has signed an agreement on space cooperation betweeen the two nations in India's moon mission 'Chandrayaan-1'. This will comprise of inclusion of two US payloads on board in India's unmanned moon mission which is likely for launch by 2008.The MoU on this regard was signed by ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair and NASA chief, Michael Griffin at ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore.The US instruments are a Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (mini SAR) to track water and cold regions and a Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) for tracing minerals in moon's surface.

SC asks PM to decide on Narmada rehab issues
Tuesday, May 9, 2006 | MP

Supreme Court had asked the Prime Minister to decide on the rehabilitation and relief issues associated with the raising of the height of the Narmada dam."We hope and expect that the Prime Minister will be able to take a decision on or before July three and the decision taken shall be placed on record, "said an order issued by the SC bench headed by the Chief Justice. Meanwhile a committee assigned by the PM to review the situation on the matter is expected to submit its report by June. The Court was also in favor of the dam work being carried out in the meantime without any obstruction from the concerned parties.

Mild tremors felt in Delhi, Kutch regions
Monday, May 8, 2006 | MP

Mild tremors were felt in parts of Delhi and Kutch regions in Gujarat on Sunday night. Howevere no fatalities were reported. Metrological Department had reported the quake intensity in Delhi measuring to 4 on the Ritcher scale.Jhajjar in Haryana was the epicenter of the earthquake. The Kutch region of Gujarat also experienced a slight intensity quake on Sunday night which had a magnitude of 3.7 on Ritcher Scale.

India could double its GDP, says ADB
Sunday, May 7, 2006 | MP

The Asian Development Bank President,Haruhiko Kuroda said that India could double its GDP if it maintained its continuing growth rate to 10%. "India's GDP will double in 10 years if there is a seven per cent growth rate. This could be achieved in seven years if there is a 10 per cent growth rate," said Kuroda. He also added that this could be achieved if adequate measures are taken for improving country's infrastructure and continue economic reforms."I am very hopeful that India can reach the developed economy status at some stage as the country's economy is accelerating, leading to reduction of poverty,",said Kuroda while addressing media after the annual general meeting of the ADB in Hyderabad.

Power crisis: Delhi govt goes tough
Saturday, May 6, 2006 | MP

To deal with the severe power shortage Delhi is facing, Delhi government has ordered all shops and commercial buildings to close down by 7:30pm. Besides markets has been asked to take a day off once a week. Industrial units working on shifts beyond 6pm are asked to suspend the second shifts for which an uninterrupted 10hr power supply will be provided during the day. Even residents are asked not to use their air conditioners before 9 pm. The new orders will come into force from May 6 and is expected to continue till July unless the condition improves. With conserving power during the peak hours, Power Ministry expects to bring some relief to the ongoing power shortage in Delhi.

India Tourism plans big jump: Union Minister
Friday, May 5, 2006 | AA

Indian destinations are receiving increasing popularity in both traditional and new markets like Latin America and West Africa, said Ms. Ambika Soni, Union Minister for Tourism. The minister was speaking after inaugurating the recently held ‘South-Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange Mart'. A number of initiatives have been launched to upgrade tourism infrastructure to catch up with the trend. The Government is hopeful to touch the ten million mark of arrivals within few years. ‘Visa on arrivals' and other options like multiple visa and long-term visa would be taken up to facilitate the flow of tourists to the country. Several other steps like improvement of air connectivity, rail and roads to unexplored destinations, creating budget accommodations in smaller towns and railway properties are also being planned. Highlighting integrated tourism projects in the area of adventure tourism, eco-tourism and Buddhist circuit, the minister said that India would very soon become a destination for 365 days.

Tourism: India's third largest foreign exchange earner
Friday, May 5, 2006 | AA

Tourism has emerged as the third largest net earner of foreign exchange for the country recording earnings of US $ 5731 million in 2005, a growth of 20.2% over 2004, according to a release from the Union Ministry of Tourism. In 1951, international tourist arrivals stood at around 17 thousand only while the same has now gone up to 3.91 million in 2005. Tourism in India has registered significant growth in recent years. The upward trend is expected to remain firm in the coming years. It is also one of the sectors that provide huge employment opportunities.

India Tourism: 12.1 p.c. increase in tourist arrivals
Friday, May 5, 2006 | AA

Foreign tourist arrivals in the country in March 06 have registered an increase of 12.1 per cent compared to the last year. The total arrival in the month is 12,80,524 while in last March it was 11,4,2409. Foreign exchange earnings, in rupees term, recorded a growth of 13.3 per cent i.e., Rs. 77923.7 million.

US Indian in NASA mission to ISS
Friday, May 5, 2006 | MP

After Kalpana Chawla, another Indian origin astronaut is making her way to NASA’s space mission. Sunita Williams, an Indian by origin has her roots in Gujarat, born and bred in US. As a flight engineer, Sunita will be in the team of NASA’s 14th expedition to International Space Station (ISS). This is her first space trip to the ISS. She joined NASA’s astronaut programme in June 1998 and since then served as "Astronaut Candidate" under training waiting for her space flight mission.

Pramod Mahajan no more
Wednesday, May 3, 2006 | MP

Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister,Pramod Mahajan passed away on Wednesday at 4:10pm. He was on treatment at Hinduja hospital in Mumbai following his younger brother opening fire at his home in Mumbai on April 22nd. Mahajan suffered multiple organ failure caused by the bullet injuries. He is survived by his wife, and 2 children. His last rites will be performed in Mumbai on Thursday. President Kalam, Prime Minister and many a political leaders has conveyed condolences at the loss of the BJP leader.

Medicos nation wide protest over quota
Wednesday, May 3, 2006 | MP

Medical students across the country continued their agitation against the quota proposed by the Center government to introduce reservation for OBC students in premier institutes. Students staged protest holding anti-reservation rallies in Delhi. Similar nationwide protests were also prepared at many parts of the country including, Bihar, Assam, Gujarat, WestBangal, Karnataka etc.

BJP asks for President Rule in J&K
Wednesday, May 3, 2006 | MP

Following the recent massacre of hindu community in Jammu and Kashmir, BJP has asked for imposing President's rule in the State. BJP President Rajnath Singh said that the J &K government was not able to handle the militants in dealing with the incident and hence demanded for President's rule in the state. He also maintained that the Center should not carry out any talks with Pakistan unless cross-border terrorism stops.