My-India News

I am still hopeful of N-deal: PM

2008-05-07T22:58:00.001+05:30

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said he was still hopeful of the deal.

"I am hopeful so long as we are discussing it," Singh said "I hope good sense will prevail."

"I am negotiating in good faith," the Prime Minister told reporters on the sidelines of a military investiture at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

His remarks came in the midst of government's renewed bid to enlist the support of Left parties, for going ahead with securing the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

CPI(M) blames Centre for price rise

2008-05-07T22:52:00.001+05:30

Madurai, May 7 (PTI) Blaming the Centre solely for the spiralling price rise, the CPI-M today asked the UPA government to restore the original allocation of foodgrains for all the states to help them control prices.

Party General Secretary Prakash Karat said essential commodities, through the Public Distribution system, should be given to all the people instead of the targetted sections.

The Centre had also failed to procure adequate quantity of foodgrains from the farmers, he told reporters here.

The state government's role with regard to control of prices was restricted to strengthening the PDS. But for this the Centre should help, he said.

Chile supports India's bid for UNSC

2008-04-22T21:51:00.001+05:30

Chile supported India's bid for a permanent seat at the U.N. Security Council and expressed that Chile favoured a more transparent Security Council and with a larger participation.

This comes in the wake of the Indian President's trip to Chile and both Presidents of the two countries agreed to work together for increased bilateral ties.

Further India and Chile has signed four agreements on science and technology, air services, sports and Antarctica expeditions.
--MP

Tata set for R&D center in UK

2008-04-22T16:27:00.001+05:30

India's largest private sector group, Tata group is all set to begin its research and development (R&D) center in UK soon.

As a part of Tata's expansion drive, it would set up its global R&D hub that will comprise of its various group of companies including Tata Motors, TCS, Tata Chemicals, Tata Power, Corus group, Jaguar Cars, Land Rover etc.

The Tata already got a UK based technical Centre that is focussed on automotive design and research. With the Tata group's recent acqisitions, the new research unit is expected to perform R&D in areas including high-end innovation and basic research facities.
--MP

Govt ask to implement quotas from 2008

2008-04-21T21:38:00.001+05:30

Even with the premier institutes asking for more time on the OBC quotas, the Center government had asked all the higher educational institutions across the country to implement the OBC quotas from the coming academic session of 2008.

The HRD ministry issued the directive on this regard to the Central Educational Institutions (CIE). This is in view with the Supreme Court's judgement on April 10 uphelding the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs excluding the creamy layer from its ambit.

"The policy of reservation for the OBCs under the Central Educational Institutions Act is to be implemented from the forthcoming academic session and this is applicable to all the CEIs, exceptions being only those institutions of excellence, research institutions of national and strategic importance specified in the Schedule to the CEI Act," said the HRD ministry.
--MP

RBI to go tough on inflation

2008-04-20T20:24:00.001+05:30

Concerned over rising inflation, Reserve Bank of India is set for tough monetary policy measures to contain inflation.

The inflation number which stands above 7% would pressurise RBI to take more fiscal measures on monetary policies. With this RBI is likely to hike 0.25-0.5 per cent in the repo rate in addition to the last week's 0.5 per cent (CRR) hike.

Meanwhile Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the current levels of price hikes could be mainly attributed to imported inflation ie, rise in prices of imported commodities in the country.
--MP

Delhi Dare Devils claim 9 wicket win

2008-04-20T12:53:00.001+05:30

The Delhi Dare Devils in their IPL opening match against team Jaipur made a thumbing victory on Satuday in Delhi.

Sehwag's Delhi Daredevils made an impressive nine-wicket win against the Rajasthan Royals in just over 15 overs.

Delhi which restricted the visitors to 129 runs in limited 20 overs chased the target with its local players Gautam Gambhir (58) and Shikhar Dhawan (52) finishing the match with ease.
--MP

OBC quota: Creamy layer excluded

2008-04-18T21:57:00.001+05:30

The Cabinet Committee of the Union Government has expressed its decision to exclude the creamy layer from the benefits of 27 per cent quota in higher educational institutions including IIts and IIMs in the country.

Earlier the SC Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Baakrishnan excluded the creamy layer among the OBCs from the quota benefit.

"Whatever the Supreme Court has suggested, we will try and implement it," said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. "The creamy layer concept was intended for job reservation ... The 93rd amendment is for educational opportunites to be open to all OBCs, including those belonging to the creamy layer," he added.
--MP

Olympics Torch relay amid high security

2008-04-16T20:09:00.001+05:30

Indian capital city will be holding the Olympic torch relay in Delhi today evening amid heightenend security with view of threats from Tibetan protestors.

Heavy security has been arranged along Rajpath and premises where the relay run will pass through.

Around 15,000 security personnels are being deployed along the 1.8 mile route which would cover Rashtrapati Bhawan and India Gate.

Around 70 celebrities, including sportsperson and filmstars will take part in the event. Meanwhile Indian ace cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has pulled out of the relay due to health reasons, the Indian Olympic Association has informed.--MP

Inflation issue rocks Parliament

2008-04-15T22:52:00.001+05:30

Both Houses of the Parliament was adjourned today with protest from parties over the issue of rising inflation levels. The opposition and Left has put pressure on UPA criticising the government for failure to curb the price rises.

Lok Sabha which opened for the second part of the Budget session today was interrupted as soon as it was assembled with members from Left and BJP protesting on the issue.

Rajya Sabha also witnessed similar scenes and was adjorned soon after the newly elected members took their oath.
--MP

Bihar CM launch Rs 300cr mission

2008-04-14T21:23:00.001+05:30

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had announced a Rs 300crore worth
"Mahadalit" mission towards the upliftment of the most depressed
classes of the dalits.

"There is no denying the fact that dalits collectively constitute the
most deprived section of the society, but mahadalits are still more
deprived among them," said Nitish while addressing a "mahadalit"
conference to mark the 117th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar.

The mission launched under the state government would carry out
various schemes initiated for the welfare of Mahadalits over the next
three years.
--MP

India win final Test and level series

2008-04-13T20:55:00.001+05:30

Winning the third and final test with a commendable victory, India levelled the Future Cup series against South Africa. Earlier today India won the Kanpur Test by 8 wickets.

India's first innings lead of 60 runs helped overcome the S African second innings score of 121 with ease. India had to chase just a target of 62 runs to win the Test. Sourav Ganguly who took an impressive 87 runs in the 1st innings won the Man of the Match award.

Harbhajan Singh who took overall 19 wickets in the series was declared the Man of the Series.

--MP

IITs, IIMs to have OBC quota: Arjun

2008-04-11T22:09:00.001+05:30

Ruling out on any confusion over the implementation of the 27 per OBC reservation, Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh said that the premium institites IITs and IIMs too would implement it.

"As per the court order, the OBC reservation will be offered in all the institutes including IIMs and IITs," said Singh.

This comes in the wake of Supreme Court's yesterday's order uphedling the implementation of OBC quota in higher educational institutions.
--MP

Prez on Latin American tour

2008-04-11T22:01:00.001+05:30

President Pratibha Patil will leave on a 12 day long tour to latin American countries which will begin on Saturday. During the trip she will be visiting Brazil, Mexico and Chile and this will be the President's first such tour.

She is also expected to sign two major agreements.

A high level delegation team would be later joining the President in the tour including members of CII, representatives of Essar Steel, Bajaj Auto, NIIT, UP Hotels, United Phosphorus.

--MP

Davis Cup: India lead 2-0 on first day

2008-04-11T21:25:00.001+05:30

Indian top tennis players Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj powerful performances against the Japanese helped India put up a 2-0 lead on the opening day of the Davis Cup tie held in New Delhi today.

Bopanna who had a hurt knee came in form against the Japan's top player Nishikori 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

The US based Amritraj's win over Go Soed came crucial for India who made it with a memorable 4-6 6-7 6-4 6-4 8-6 marathon win.
--MP

Birdflu hits Tripura

2008-04-09T20:21:00.001+05:30

After West Bengal struggling with the deadly bird flu virus, the neary by state of Tripura is now being hit by the avian flu. Over 3,000 birds in Tripura's Dhalai district are reported dead over the last week.

Samples of the dead birds were sent to Bhopal's High Security Animal Disease Laboratory for examination and had confirmed of the death due to the bird flu outbreak.

The samples were tested positive for the H5N1 strain virus. Culling operations is already underway since Tuesday morning. The Satte government has given a target of 20,000 birds to be killed over the next couple of days.
--MP

India pulls out of Zimbabwe tour

2008-04-08T21:56:00.001+05:30

Indian Cricket board has decided to pull out of Zimbabwe tour which was scheduled for June this year.

It is learnt that the tight schedule of the team including the BCCI's 2 month long IPL matches and series of tours following that has been seen as the reason behind the decision to withdraw from the Zimbawae tour.

India will be touring Bangladesh for tri series matches from June 8-14 and then will be heading to Pakistan for the Asia Cup.
--MP

Govt desperate over rising prices

2008-04-07T22:39:00.001+05:30

With UNPA and the Left parties threatening for a country wide stir against rising prices, UPA government is all set to take measures to bring the soaring inflation levels under control.

Meanwhile main opposition BJP accused the Center for blaming the responsibility on States and termed it as an 'act of desperation'. The party even attacked the government saying that the government's failure to contain the inflation would have an impact on common man who suffer from skyrocketing prices of essential commodities.

When asked on concerns over inflation, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar assured that prices of essential commodities would be kept under check.
--MP

Delhi most populated metro

2008-04-06T09:45:00.001+05:30

The capital city Delhi is said to be overtaken Mumbai as the most populous metropolitan city in the country. Till now Delhi has been considered the second-largest metropolis in India, after Mumbai.

According to a study conducted by US based researchers of Population Reference Bureau has pointed out that if the same populace definitions for other other large cities like Mumbai and Kolkatta been applied for Delhi then the estimated population would be even higher.

Delhi's cosmopolitan nature owing to the immigration of people from across the country has accounted for the increasing population.
--MP

We'll fight back: Kumble

2008-04-06T09:25:00.001+05:30

After facing an innings defeat in the home country against South Africans, India's test captain Anil Kumble has said that India would bounce back in the coming Test.

India was defeated by South Africa in the second cricket Test in three days by an ainnings and 90 runs to take the visitors a 1-0 lead in the three match series. " There is lot of pressure. You have lost a Test here, so its important for us to bounce back and we have the confidence we will bounce back," said the skipper.

India will play the third Test match at Kanpur starting on April 11th. Meanwhile top batsman Sachin Tendulkar is said to miss the third test match too due to injury.--MP

India set for 70 space missions in 5 years

2008-04-04T21:04:00.001+05:30

Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) chief has said that India would undertake 70 space missions in five years time.

The proposed manned missions are aimed to address requirements and develop new technologies to meet future demands. "We have proposed something like 70 missions totally in the 11th plan compared to about 26 missions in the tenth plan period," said ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair.

"Future developments will be towards the manned space mission and reusable satellites and Ka-band satellites," he said.
--MP

Prez rule in Manipur may be opted

2008-04-03T23:16:00.001+05:30

Referring on the state of militancy in Manipur,the Center government has indicated that it may consider imposing President's Rule in the State.

"The Centre may consider it if situation in the militancy-affected state worsens," said,Union Minister of State for Defence M M Palam Raju.

Various militant groups are still thriving in the region even with security force operations using the army, state police forces and the paramilitary forces in action to contain militancy.

The Minister also said that the alleged violations of 'suspension of operation' (SOO) agreement between the security forces and the militant outfits would be looked into.
--MP

Gold prices drop

2008-04-02T17:27:00.001+05:30

The prices of gold and silver metals declined in the bullion markets in response to higher demands and fresh stocks.

The price of standard gold (99.5 purity) dropped by Rs 440 per ten grams to Rs 11,685 from the previous closing level of Rs 12,125 in the local market. Pure gold (99.9 purity) price also fell to Rs 11,750 from Rs 12,185.

Silver ready (.999 fineness) dropped by Rs 985 per kilo to end at Rs 22,640 as against Rs 23,625 previously.
--MP

Kaif replaces Tendulkar for 2nd Test

2008-03-31T09:48:00.001+05:30

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

2008-03-28T23:38:00.000+05:30

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