Sibal tells Indian Institutes of Technology professor to drop fast, no to pleas

Taking a tough stance against the faculty members of the Indian Institutes of Technology who had on Monday announced a day-long nationwide protest hunger strike on Thursday demanding a better pay package and more functional autonomy for their premier institutes, human resources development minister Kapil Sibal said Tuesday that their behaviour was unbecoming for professors of the elite institutions.

"It is not proper for professors of elite institutions to resort to hunger strikes. We always dream that the IITs should produce Nobel laureates. We do not expect our prospective Nobel laureates to go on hunger strike. They should be hungry for knowledge," he said.

"We are not averse to meeting anybody. We are averse to the procedure adopted by the faculty of talking to us through the media. They just cannot announce a hunger strike and (then) ask for a meeting," Mr Sibal said

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Sensex down by 529 points

Heavy selling by foreign institutional investors and domestic funds and total lack of buying saw the Sensex tank over 500 points in the last hour of trade. FIIs were sellers in pivotal stocks.

Reliance Industries which has a 15 per cent weightage in the Sensex lost Rs 146.83 as the Singapore gross refining margins were falling said Mr Alok Agarwal, head research, K.R.Choksey Securities and Shares Limited.

It also has several court cases pending and there has been a delay in its gas production. Commodities too took their cue from the London Metal Exchange and steel and metal stocks were down. The Baltic freight rates indicate that there is less demand and supply for exports and imports, said Mr Agarwal.

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25 killed in Lal Masjid blast

At least 25 people, mostly policemen, were killed in a suspected suicide attack near Lal Masjid here on Sunday minutes after Islamic hardliners demanded the public hanging of President Pervez Musharraf at a rally to mark the shrine’s storming by the military a year ago.

“The death toll can rise but we can confirm 25 deaths till now. Most of those killed are policemen,” an interior ministry official told this newspaper. The official toll, however, stood at 19 till the time of filing this report.

The Pakistan government declared a “red alert” throughout the country. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Tehrik-e-Taliban’s Pakistan commander Baitullah Mehsud and other militant leaders had threatened to retaliate against an operation in Pakistan’s northwest.

“There were quite a few policemen at the venue due to the demonstration by Lal Masjid students and clerics, so we can expect more deaths. Dozens have been injured. They will be over 50,” the official added.

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Gujjar solution likely today

Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje is likely to clinch a peaceful solution to the ongoing Gujjar agitation in the final round of talks with community leader Col. Kirori Singh Bainsla on Tuesday.

Satisfied with the negotiations which took place with the state government representatives in Jaipur on Monday, leaders of the five member Gujjar team said all their demands were discussed in a cordial atmosphere.

“All our demands were discussed. The government appears to be very positive and there is no confrontation with them. We are hopeful that an agreement could be arrived at between Col. Bainsla and CM Raje on Tuesday,” Delhi MLA and member of the Gujjar delegation Ramvir Singh Bidhuri told this newspaper.

Apart from the main demand of Scheduled Tribe status, the Gujjars’ demand for Rs 10 lakhs each as compensation to all those killed in police firing during the protests and the state government’s offer of special reservation (around four to six per cent as nomadic tribe) was also brought on the table.

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Government flooded with new state demands

The Union home ministry finds itself flooded with demands for the creation of at least 15 new states.

After the clamour for carving out separate states - Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, Vidarbha in Maharashtra and Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh - the ministry of home affairs (MHA) has told Parliament that it has received recommendations from "various sources" for the creation of several new states, such as Bhojpur in East Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Bihar, Saurashtra in Gujarat, Coorg in Karnataka, Koshalanchal in western Orissa, Gorkhaland in West Bengal, Mithilanchal in north Bihar, parts of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, and Purvanchal, Harith Pradesh, Braj Pradesh and Awadh Pradesh from various regions of Uttar Pradesh.

The MHA has denied receiving any recommendation from "state governments" for the creation of new states, which includes the demand for Telangana and the call for the trifurcation of UP, a move supported by UP chief minister Mayawati. The ministry has said that all the "demands and representations" for creation of new states have been coming from "various sources" from time to time. The MHA, however, has not specified these "sources".

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Gold touches record high, good news for Indians

The price of gold moved up even as stock markets tanked around the world. The ongoing turmoil has shown gold to be an effective hedge against financial uncertainty. Gold prices crossed Rs 13,500 in the Indian market on Monday while the price of a gold sovereign crossed Rs 10,000 for the first time. For Indians, this is good news as they hold almost 15 per cent of the world's total stock of gold, now worth $576 billion.

"The fundamental reason for the high price of gold is the demand-supply mismatch.
While the supply of gold being mined is constant, demand is growing because of India, China and the Gulf countries," said Mr Keyur Shah, associate director, World Gold Council, an industry body. "During the near term, however, gold prices are rising because investors are trying to hedge against inflation. The US dollar is weakening and crude oil prices are high, all signs of inflation," he added.

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