Faster Reform Plan Unveiled

The Economic Survey 2007-08, while upbeat on the over $1 trillion economy, has prescribed a flurry of possible reforms that would help to sustain growth at nine per cent, and reach double-digit levels in future from the estimated 8.7 per cent for the year 2008.

The survey had a touch of French President Nicholas Sarkozy as it recommended increasing the workweek to 60 hours from the current 48, and a daily limit of 12 hours to meet seasonal demands through overtime. President Sarkozy also wants the French to work more and produce more.

The survey, which was tabled in Parliament on Thursday by Union finance minister P. Chidambaram, noted that the economy had achieved a higher trajectory of growth in the past five years, but "the challenge to maintain growth has become more complex because of the increasing globalisation of the world economy and growing influence of global developments, economic as well as non-economic." It noted that infrastructure constraints are more binding and there is "heightened urgency" to augment and upgrade infrastructure, both physical and social, and in particular in the areas of power, ports and roads.

Mr Chidambaram summed up the outlook for 2008-09 with the phrase "optimism with caution as the watchword." He said: "There are a number of things going in favour of India. We need to capitalise on these opportunities while at the same time responding to the evolving situation in the global economy in a manner that our growth story is not affected."

The slew of reforms suggested by the survey include private sector entry into coal mining, phasing out controls on sugar, fertiliser and drugs, raising foreign equity in insurance to 49 per cent, allowing of foreign equity in all retail trade and allowing 100 per cent FDI in greenfield private agricultural rural banks.

The survey stressed the need for "unprecedented amounts of capital with macroeconomic stability", and said this would need public-private participation. It suggested that the government should provide incentives and motivation so that PPP could perform at its best.

This would require policy and regulations that are comprehensive but simple, clear and credible, it said.


To read the full article, click here...

To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

Nun Anna to be first female saint from India

Sister Alphonsa, a saintly nun who lived in Kottayam five decades ago, is all set to become the first Indian saint of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Consistory of Cardinals will meet at the Vatican on March 1 to decide on the date of her canonisation.

Though Sister Alphonsa is the first Indian saint, Gonsalo Garcia, who was born in Vasai near Mumbai to an Indian mother and Portuguese father in 1556, was declared a saint by the church in the 17th century.

Sister Alphonsa was born in Kudamalloor of Kottayam in 1910 and was a devout child.

She was named Annakutty by her parents. She once fell into a pit of burning chaff and the resultant injuries disabled her for life. In fact, she was plagued by ill health throughout her short life.

She became a nun at the Poor Clares Convent at Bharananganam in 1927 and took the name Alphonsa when she got her veil a year later.

In June 2007, Pope Benedict VI had signed a decree approving a miracle in which a handicapped boy of Kottayam had been cured of his deformity after praying at Sister Alphonsa's tomb. This was a prelude to elevating her to sainthood. Her kindness to all people and love for the poor gained her renown in the area. She was not healthy and a severe attack of


To read the full article, click here...

To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

With eye on polls, Lalu cuts fares, offer sops

Commuters across the country breathed a sigh of relief as railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav did not raise passenger fares and instead lowered the AC fares for all classes of travel, announced 53 new passenger trains and 10 new "garib raths" and promised a host of conveniences that would be made available through information technology. He talked of the four Cs: comfort and convenience for passengers, and commitment and connectivity for the freight business, which is the mainstay of the Indian Railways.

A closer reading of Mr Lalu Yadav's budget proposals for 2008-09 brings out the minister in a new avatar: Lalu the Businessman. If the budget reveals sparklers it is in the explosion of business opportunities for public-private partnership -a total of Rs 25,000 crores. One can imagine the employment generation this will create. For the next five years he has planned an investment of Rs 2,50,000 crores - for which he hopes to attract Rs 1,00,000 crores from private-public partnership initiatives. As he said in his budget speech: "The benchmark of net surplus (Rs 25,000 crores) before dividend makes us better than most of the Fortune 500 companies in the world." He also increased incrementally the concession to women senior citizens from 30 per cent to 50 per cent for all kinds of travel and enhanced concession to


To read the full article, click here...

To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

Government hopes Nuclear deal will be possible: President

As political differences continue on the civilian nuclear deal with the US, President Pratibha Patil said here on Monday that her government hopes that the agreement "becomes possible".

In her maiden address to a joint sitting of Parliament, President Patil said, "It is our hope that civil nuclear cooperation with the USA and other friendly countries will become possible."

"Our relations with the US have improved in the past few years and now span a wide spectrum, including high technology, space, agriculture, education and trade and other linkages," Ms Patil noted.

Terming the measures taken by the government as the architecture of inclusive growth, President Patil said it has accelerated economic growth. She said government programmes like Bharat Nirman, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the National Rural Health Mission and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission have promoted socially inclusive and economically manageable urban development.

However, the CPI(M) said President Patil's address missed out on significant issues, like the rise in prices of essential commodities, women's reservation and benefits for the unorganised sector.

Senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters that the UPA government claims to be an architect of inclusive growth. "However, the government's policies seem to be giving birth to two types of Indias, one is India Shining and the other is India Suffering. The government's policies have only widened the disparity between the rich and the poor," he said. "It is the suffering India that resides in rural areas, that continues to suffer and farmers continue to commit suicide in the country," Mr Yechury said.

President Patil's speech also focused on foreign policy and said it seeks to promote an environment of peace and stability in the region and in the world. She said India had made every effort to strengthen Saarc, stood by Nepal in its political transition,


To read the full article, click here..

To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

Mega flood cooled earth 10,000 yrs ago

Canadian geologists say they can shed light on how a vast lake, trapped under the ice sheet that once smothered much of North America, drained into the sea, an event that cooled the Earth's climate for hundreds of years.

During the last ice age, the Laurentide Ice Sheet once covered most of Canada and parts of the northern United States with a frozen crust that in some places was three kilometers thick.

As the temperature gradually rose some 10,000 years ago, the ice receded, gouging out the hollows that would be called the Great Lakes.

Beneath the ice's thinning surface, an extraordinary mass of water built up - the glacial lake Agassiz-Ojibway, a body so vast that it covered parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Ontario and Minnesota.

And then, around 8,200 years ago, Agassiz-Ojibway mas sively drained, sending a flow of water into the Hudson Strait and into the Labrador Sea that was 15 times greater than the present discharge of the Amazon River.

By some estimates, sea levels rose 14 metres as a result.

How the great flood was unleashed has been a matter of debate. Some experts suggest an ice dam was smashed down, or the gushing water spewed out over the top of the icy lid.

Quebec researchers Patrick Lajeunesse and Guillaume Saint-Onge believe,

To read the full article, click here...

To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

PPP, SHARIF TO FORM GOVT

The late Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) will form the new government in Pakistan, the two parties announced after late-night talks by their chiefs here on Thursday.

"We have agreed on a common agenda. We will work together to form the government at the Centre and in the provinces," Mr Sharif, a two-time Prime Minister, announced at a press conference after talks with PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, husband of the late Ms Bhutto.

The alliance between the two parties is seen as a direct threat to President Pervez Musharraf, who has ruled the country singlehandedly for over eight years, ever since he overthrew Prime Minister Sharif in a coup on October 12, 1999.

Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif held a lengthy meeting before meeting the press to announce their joining of hands. Mr Sharif's younger brother Shahbaz Sharif, who is the PML(N) president, was also present.

The PPP leads in the National Assembly with 88 seats, followed by the PML(N) with 66. Together the two have an overwhelming majority in the House.

The Awami National Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement have won 19 seats each, while other political groups and Independents won 27 seats.The ANP is also set to become part of the coalition government.

The president of the former ruling party Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-eAzam), Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, and 22 former federal ministers faced defeat in Monday's election. The PML(Q) has won 37 seats in the National Assembly.

According to the plan worked out on Thursday, the PPP will lead the federal government in Islamabad while the PML(N) will head the provincial government in Punjab, with its chief minister being supported by the PPP. The partners will also become part of the government in NWFP province, where the ANP is expected to lead the government. The coalition partners will also look into chances of forming government in Balochistan, which is the only province where the PML(Q) is the single largest party. In Sindh,

To read the full article, click here...

To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

UK bans Hindi TV ad for Ganesh pendant

Britain has banned a television advertisement in Hindi for a pendant, which allegedly wards off evil spirits, for exploiting the vulnerable.

The direct response advertisement was run by Leicester based Middlesex Broadcasting Corporation Ltd on its MATV Punjabi channel in December.

The ad, very typical of the kind shown on late-night direct shopping advertisements in India, featured a Ganesh Rudraksh pendant and claimed that it promoted good health and protected the wearer from any obstacle in life.

The advertisement also featured so-called "testimonials" of people who had "benefited from wearing the pendant. The on-screen graphic showed the pendant creating a protective shield around the wearer, protecting him from rays, evil spirits, a skull and crossbones and a puppet doll.

The Advertising Standards Authority, an independent ad watchdog, ruled last week that the advertisement for Ganesh Rudraksh pendant on MATV channel had breached the broadcast TV advertising standards code, which prohibits advertising for products or services within the recognised

To read the full article, click here....

To read the ePaper, visit : http://epaper.asianage.com

BUDGET '08 - PC likely to give big relief to income tax payers

Income tax payers are likely to get a major relief in the Union Budget 2008-09, to be presented in Parliament on February 29, as the government prepares itself to please the middle class with general elections just a year away.

Finance minister P.Chidambaram can give a marginal but visible relief to personal income-tax asses sees this year, as tax collections have substantially improved over the past three years, sources said.

With buoyant tax collections in 2007-08, there is significant pressure on Mr Chidambaram to reduce the effective rates.

The minister himself has acknowledged that with better tax compliance, there could be a case for a cut in rates.

The minimum income threshold limit for an income tax payer could be raised from Rs 1,10,000 to Rs 1,25,000 or Rs 1,30,000, the sources said.

Similarly, the income threshold for the 30 per cent tax rate could be raised from the current Rs 2,50,000 per annum, the sources said, adding that this had been kept constant since the fiscal year 2005-06.

Taxpayers would get a relief of Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 even if the finance minister decides to raise the minimum income threshold limit of income-tax by Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 to offset the impact of inflation and submission of the Sixth Pay Commission report later this year. An announcement on the new income-tax code is also expected in the Budget.

The finance minister had earlier said that the code, aimed at simplifying the tax laws, would be put up for public comments shortly.

Apart from pleasing his party colleagues and voters, the tax relief will also help Mr Chidambaram to address the recent slowdown in industrial production. More income in the pockets

To read the full article, click here...

To read the ePaper,visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

IPL cap annoys cricketers

Indian cricketers are not too happy with the cap on income they can make from the cash rich Indian Premier League, and have not yet signed the contracts even a day after Sunday's deadline.

IPL chairman Lalit Modi's secretary Radhika Mulraj has been camping here at the Indian team hotel to sort out last-minute issues and sign up players.

IPL rules allow each franchisee to spend upto $5 million buying players for a team. An icon player, named by IPL, such as Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, can earn $400,000 a year. The auction for the players will take place in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The cricketers are not too happy with the quantum of cash rewards.

Some want the $5 million cap removed so that the bids can go higher. The tension is palpable in the Indian camp, which has been discussing the IPL contracts in murmured conversations. The Indians want a bigger share of the pie as they feel the base appeal for the league is provided by them, it is reliably learnt. They want more than their Australian counterparts, who are being paid in excess of $350,000.

Irfan Pathan said the team was focused on Tuesday's game against Sri Lanka, and was "not thinking of IPL;" but players have been talking about the perceived raw deal in private.

The disappointment of the cricketers was evident as one of the players, when asked for his preference among the eight teams, plainly said: "We are just commodities, we will have to play whichever team buys us."

The Indians were offered contracts

To read the full article, click here...

To read the ePaper, visit : http://epaper.asianage.com

PPP doesn't trust Zardari

Pakistan People's Party leader Asif Ali Zadari is probably the most controversial person in these elections after President Pervez Musharraf. Mr Zardari is leading the PPP into the polls, but he clearly does not enjoy the trust and confidence of a party that has accepted him as the grieving husband of the slain leader Benazir Bhutto, but doubts his intent.

Mr Zardari is the most proactive of the PPP leaders, and clearly one for whom the crowds turn out as he is an unknown entity. "We want to know him," a party leader said.

Even those who counted themselves as amongst the close circle of "Bibi" or "Mohtarma", as Benazir Bhutto is widely referred to here, have little to no idea about Mr Zardari and are waiting to "find out". And, as one ardent Bhutto supporter said, "We could forgive her anything, but the same does not apply to him. He will have to tread very, very carefully."

Mr Zardari is taking care not to strike out as an independent leader at the moment and his speeches remain restricted to "Bibi" as a political leader, as his wife, as the mother of his children, and as a leader who gave her life for Pakistan. He is almost hysterical on occasions, shouting "Zinda hai Bibi, Zinda Hai Bibi

To read the full article, click here...

To read the ePaper, visit : http://epaper.asianage.com

MP Pappu gets life term for murder

High-pro file RJD Lok Sabha member from Madhepura Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday for plotting the murder of CPI(M) MLA Ajit Sarkar about a decade ago. The judgment could well spell doom for his political career.

Special CBI judge B.M. Srivastava, who had on February 4 reserved his judgment, pronounced Pappu Yadav, former Independent MLA Rajan Tiwari and another accused, Anil Yadav, guilty and awarded them life terms. The judge also fined each of the three accused, who were present in court, Rs 10,000 each.

Pappu Yadav was brought here on Thursday morning by train from Delhi's Tihar jail and produced in a wheelchair because of a festering wound in his leg.

As soon as the sentence was pronounced, Yadav broke down and pleaded for leniency with folded hands. "I have been through severe mental and physical tortures in jail and even had to spend time in a mental asylum.

Please show leniency and commute my punishment," he was quoted as having told the court. The media was barred from the pronouncing of sentence.

The judge told the fourth term MP, "You always

To read the full article, click here...

To read the ePaper, visit : http://epaper.asianage.com

Sania won't play in India

Tennis sensation Sania Mirza has pulled out of the Bangalore Open to be held from March 3.

The 21-year old categorically said: "I have opted out of the Bangalore Open on the advice of my manager. He has told me not to play in Bangalore because a lot has been happening in the past few months," Sania told the media on arrival from Bangkok here on Monday.

"Everytime I played in India, there has been some problem or the other. So we decided that it was better not to play this time. It is difficult to handle these things," she added.

Sania has been dogged by controversies in the recent past. In fact, the controversies had even made her think of giving up the sport, just before the Australian Open.

Asked about the comments she made on quitting, the Hyderabadi girl said: "The thought of quitting did cross my mind. After having played with pride for the country, it is really

To read the full article, click here....
To read the ePaper, visit : http://epaper.asianage.com

as

UN inaction in Gaza worries OIC

The Jeddah-based Organisation of the Islamic Conference, which groups 57 countries, lashed out at Israel on Sunday for the crimes it is committing against Palestinians in the occupied territories. It demanded that Tel Aviv end its policy of collective punishment.

At a meeting, convened at the insistence of Iran, OIC ministers and ambassadors asked the international community to play its role in stopping Israel from committing war crimes.

"We hold Israel responsible for the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and assert that these conditions are a direct result of Israel's persistent assault, closure of border crossings and disruption of the flow of fuel, food and medical supplies to the Palestinian people," they said in a written communique issued at the end of the extraordinary meeting of the OIC executive committee.

Among the foreign ministers present at the meeting were Iran's Manouchehr Mottaki and Turkey's Ali Babacan. Minister of state for foreign affairs Nizar Obaid Madani represented Saudi Arabia at the meeting.

The OIC expressed "deep disappointment" at the failure of the UN Security Council to assume its responsibility in addressing the humanitarian plight in Gaza...

To read the complete article click here..
To read the complete e-paper click here: epaper.asianage.com
Image and Article source: Asian Age
Article taken from the issue: 4 Feb 2008