BrahMos cruise missile test-fired from Orissa coast!India, Russia to develop missiles having speed of 6,000 kmph!
High demand to persist, as govt ups demand side GDP: Experts
Amid China trouble, India, Japan to firm up economic pact.MEA laying greater thrust on economic diplomacy!
Sonia, Rahul visit to Bengal to boost morale of partymen!
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time- Four Hundred SEVENTY FIVE
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
India, Russia to develop missiles having speed of 6,000 kmph!Mind you,India has already signed an agreement with the US government to purchase 24 Harpoon Block II missiles for its Jaguar strike aircraft, in a bid to ramp up its maritime warfare capability. Thus, Indian Weapon Market invites Intense Copetetion of global Weapon Industries in USA and Europe as US Focuses on the SHIFTED war Zone in South Asia and Governement of India Incs remains INDUGED in its acomplishment of the Agenda of Economic Ethnic Cleansing to sustain the Zionist Manusmriti rule!
Amid China trouble, India, Japan to firm up economic pact. Thus, the Zionist Indian Brahaminical Antinational ruling superslaves invite the Economic superpower to have its share in the Flood of blood, Flesh and Bones of aboriginal Indigenous Communities in Economic ethnic Cleansing!Amid dissonance in relations with China, India is looking to expand strategic and economic ties with Japan as the two sides hold the final round of negotiations next week to finalise a key economic pact ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Tokyo in October.
MEA laying greater thrust on economic diplomacy!Aspiring for two-digit GDP growth, India has decided to lay greater thrust on economic diplomacy and in this regard negotiations are being expedited on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with a number of countries and regional groupings.
The government has asked its Missions abroad to vigorously pursue the economic component of relations with their host countries, an aspect which is seen as important for India's ambition of pushing its own growth.
The contours of the new priority area in diplomacy were outlined by External Affairs Minister SM Krishna while addressing the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of MEA held in Mumbai on Friday, sources said.
At the meeting which assumed added significance as it was held at the 26/11 target Taj Hotel, Krishna said a message had been sent out to all the 175 Indian Missions that thrust should be laid on economic diplomacy.
Reflecting the priority of the external affairs ministry, it has since last year put aside a separate budget for economic diplomacy, which includes organising buyer-seller meets and promoting brand India overseas, sources said.
This year Rs 8 crore have been earmarked for this purpose, they said, adding this fund was besides the budget of the Commerce Ministry and other departments.
The MEA has also created a website indiainbusiness.nic.in to serve as a single source of information with regard to Indian economy and possibilities of doing business.
To pursue the goals of economic diplomacy, India is vigorously pursuing FTAs with regional blocks like 27-nation European Union, six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), 16-nation East Asia Summit and five-nation South African Customs Union (SACU).
Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar is expected to travel to Tokyo Tuesday to hold a final round of negotiations on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) with Japan, well-placed sources told IANS.
The pact, called Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) in Japan, is expected to slash tariff duties on around 9,000 products, ranging from steel and apparel to drugs and machinery, and give a big boost to bilateral trade whichwas estimated to be around $11 billion in 2008-09. The two sides are keen to clinch the pact well in time before Manmohan Singh travels to Tokyo for the annual summit with his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan, likely Oct 25-27.
As soon as all the Flood Gates of War Civil Market got Opened with N- Liability Bill Passed in the Billionairs` Parliamnet of the Free market Democarcy described as Emerging Market Number One and Greatest Economy Number Threee though lagging far behind in UN Well Ness Index at Numebr 136, having more Starving People under Man Made Calamities of so called development , with NDA UPA Solidarity and Marxist DRAMA of Opposition having ensured the Indo US Nuclear deal as well as Strategic realliance in US Israel lead evented!
Now, India successfully tested on Sunday a BrahMos supersonic cruise missile as part of ongoing trials to fine-tune its ability to hit targets, an official said.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan regularly test missiles, and normally only give each other advance notice for long-range launches. It was not immediately clear whether India informed Pakistan ahead of Sunday's test.India will soon become the first country to have cruise missiles with hyper speed of over 6,000 km per hour, as an agreement for their joint development will be signed with Russia during the visit of President Dmitry Medvedev here in December.
Sonia, Rahul visit to Bengal to boost morale of partymen
With ally Trinamool Congress occupying the major opposition space in Left-ruled West Bengal after its spectacular electoral victories, the Congress is banking on upcoming visits of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to boost the morale of partymen ahead of the Assembly elections.While AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi will address a rally to launch the membership drive of the Youth Congress in Kolkata on Monday, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will be here on September 25 to attend the AICC\'s eastern zonal conference.
"We expect that the visits of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will help boost workers\' morale ahead of the crucial Assembly elections scheduled next year,\" West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) chief Manas Bhunia said.
He claimed that the proposed visits of the two leaders have made young Congress supporters upbeat.
Bhunia would request Rahul to visit the WBPCC office in Kolkata on Monday and meet state leaders, Seva Dal and Youth Congress activists.
The young Congress leader would again be in Kolkata during the second or third week of this month for three days to undertake a state-wide tour, Bhunia said.
In the past few weeks, at least 42 MLAs from across India have been deputed by Rahul Gandhi to prepare a political status report on the Congress and the Youth Congress at the ground level in West Bengal, and create a climate for a vigorous membership drive, he said.
Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has been occupying the major opposition space in West Bengal after its spectacular victories in Lok Sabha polls and Municipal elections.
Banerjee has been addressing a number of rallies across the state ahead of the next year\'s Assembly polls. In the past few weeks, eleven zonal coordinators have been criss-crossing each block of the state to create awareness about the membership drive, Bhunia said.
The zonal co-ordinators include union ministers Jitin Prasada and Sachin Pilot and party MP Mohammad Azharuddin. \"The exercise was aimed at creating a streamlined, elected, talented and youthful leadership from the grassroots to the top with a clear chain of command,\" party leaders in the state said.
\"The target is to enrol 10 to 15 lakh youths as members of the state Youth Congress,\" they said.
In reply to a question, Bhunia said: \"It is not correct to say that the Congress in the state is moribund. In the 2006 Assembly elections, Congress won 21 Assembly seats as against the Trinamool Congress\'s 29.
Stating that only a third of Bengal\'s 42 Lok Sabha seats were left for the Congress to contest in 2009 after the seat-sharing deal with the Trinamool Congress, he said, \"the Congress sacrificed a lot and did not get a seat within 200 km of Kolkata during the Lok Sabha polls.
\"We, however, accepted it as the people of Bengal wanted us to to fight together to free the state from the clutches of Marxist misrule,\" he said.
The results of the election to 81 municipalities across the state on May 30 saw Trinamool Congress making inroads into Congress territory in north Bengal and Murshidabad without alliance after having consolidating its base in the south.
No trace of abducted policemen, says governmentThe Hindu - 17 minutes agoPTI Maoists on Sunday claimed to have released the three Bihar policemen taken hostage a week back but the State government said it had no information as the agonizing wait for their families continued. "The search has been intensified as we have to ... BJP accuses Centre and Congress leaders for Maoists menaceDaily News & Analysis - 15 minutes agoPlace: New Delhi | Agency: PTI The BJP today accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her party leaders and the Centre of being directly responsible for the rise in Maoist menace in Bihar with their "pro-Naxal statements". ... Suspense over release of abducted Bihar copsSify - 11 minutes agoThe suspense over the release of three Bihar policemen abducted by Maoists deepened Sunday evening with police saying that there was information that they had not been freed. Local media earlier claimed that the hostage crisis had ended. ...
No knowledge about Maoists releasing hostages: NitishThe Hindu - 6 hours agoPTI Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Sunday he had no knowledge about Maoists releasing the three policemen abducted during the Lakhisarai encounter on August 29. "I have no knowledge about the release of the hostages (by the Maoists)," Mr. ... Nitish is double-faced, says RahulTimes of India - Sep 4, 2010SAHARSA: On a trip to galvanise his party in Bihar ahead of the Assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of maintaining a double face on relationship with BJP and Narendra Modi. ... I will repeat a UP in Bihar, says RahulTimes of India - 12 hours agoSAMASTIPUR/SAHARSA: Sleeves rolled up and mood combative, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Saturday strongly sounded a poll bugle in the north Bihar districts, exhorting people to push aside "tired politicians'' and bring forward young and new ... Maoists reject Nitish's talks offer, to free copsTimes of India - Abhay Singh, Gyan Prakash - 17 hours agoPATNA: Even as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar offered "direct" talks with the Maoists, the rebels announced the unconditional release of the three cops they held on Sunday morning. Late on Saturday, Maoist spokesman Avinash told local newspersons that the ... Naxals agree to free hostages but spurn Nitish's talks offerThe Hindu - 17 hours agoSALUTE OF HONOUR:Jharkhand Police paying homage to slain policeman Lukas Tete in the Kolabera block of Simdega on Saturday. Patna: Seven days into the Bihar hostage crisis, Naxals have agreed to release the three policemen they are holding captive in ... Ready for talks with Naxals, any mediator welcome: NitishThe Hindu - Manob Chowdhury - 17 hours agoSALUTE OF HONOUR:Jharkhand Police paying homage to slain policeman Lukas Tete in the Kolabera block of Simdega on Saturday. Patna: In a bid to end the hostage crisis, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said the Bihar government was ready to ... Maoists reject talks offer, to free policemen tomorrowTimes of India - 21 hours agoJAMUI (Bihar): A Maoist spokesman on Saturday night said the three policemen taken hostage by them in Lakhisarai would be freed by Sunday morning and the outfit's top decision-making body rejected the talks offered by Bihar government. ... All 67 related articles » | RelatedNitish KumarBihar Rahul Gandhi Patna Timeline of articles Number of sources covering this story
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Manmohan Singh's visit to Tokyo will be keenly watched in Beijing that sees both a rising India and Japan, which it overtook as the world's second largest economy recently,as rivals and competitors in the Asian hemisphere.
Beijing has taken note of the recent launch of negotiations for a bilateral nuclear pact between India and Japan, a breakthrough of sorts given Tokyo's past aversion to doing nuclear business with any country outside the fold of
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Significantly, the China threat perception figured in discussions between External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada a fortnight ago. The Japanese side spoke of its unease about the opaqueness of China's military spending and stressed the need for transparency during discussions, top sources said. India shared
this sense of unease, the sources added.
The recent Chinese aggressiveness on issues critical to India's sovereignty like the denial of visa to a senior Indian Army officer on grounds that his command included Jammu and Kashmir has revived the spectre of the China threat in India.
The reports of the presence of 11,000 Chinese troops in Pakistan-administered Kashmir has further fuelled anxiety in New Delhi, which has already conveyed concerns to Beijing over the issue.
The incident has also prompted India to pursue a more robust Look East policy to position itself as a democratic alternative to China in the East Asian region, which will hold the regional summit in Hanoi October-end.
Against this backdrop, although Indian officials maintain India's relations with Japan are independent of its ties
with China, New Delhi and Tokyo have been quietly giving a strategic orientation to their relationship.
Two months ago, India and Japan held two back-to-back separate dialogues that discussed a wide array of issues, including counter-terrorism, jointly combating piracy and UN reforms, to give more heft to their strategic partnership.
With an eye on Beijing's growing clout in Africa, the Japanese foreign minister sought India's cooperation in starting talks with African countries to push forward UN Security Council reforms when he visited India last month.
The subtle message was not lost on China.
Earlier,With China increasing its military power and influence in the strategically crucial Indian Ocean, a noted American expert has urged the Obama Administration to partner India to balance and counter Beijing's increasing influence in the region. As the Indian Ocean is becoming increasingly important to China's economic and security interests, Dean Cheng of the Heritage Foundation said that Beijing appears to be pursuing what has been widely known as a "string of pearls" strategy of cultivating India's neighbours as friendly states, both to protect its economic and security interests and to balance a "rising India".With Chinese influence in the region growing, it is essential that the US not fall behind in the Indian Ocean, but maintain a steady presence in the region, both to signal its resolve to stay engaged and to avoid the difficulties of reentering a region, Cheng wrote.
Boeing country head, defence, space and security, Mr Vivek Lall told ET, "the deal was successfully concluded through the Foreign Military Sales route late last month, with Boeing as the prime contractor. The missiles are for the Indian Air Force's maritime strike squadron."
The Harpoon Block II is the latest version of the subsonic missile and is able to strike land-based targets and ships. It is an all-weather, over the horizon, anti-ship missile which can be launched from surface ships, submarines and aircraft.
However, Lall said no agreement had been reached yet with regard to supplying the missile for P-8I, India's long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. The P-8I is scheduled for delivery in 2013.
"The final weapons package for the P-8I is yet to be decided, and will again be sold through the FMS route," he said.
According to the latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, the attack capability of the Navy's depleted fighter aircraft fleet has been significantly eroded, as they have not been kept in full combat readiness, with the bombs fitted having become obsolescent.
The first unit of Kudankulam nuclear plant, built by Russia in Tamil Nadu, will also be commissioned during the visit slated to begin from December 21.
Medvedev will be undertaking the visit for annual India-Russia Summit with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during which the two sides will discuss ways to further enhance their relations in various fields.
One of the highlights of the visit would be signing of a contract for joint development of hypersonic version of the BrahMos cruise missile, defence ministry sources said in New Delhi.
This version of the missile will have a speed of over 6,000 kms per hour, making India the only country in the world to possess such missiles of this speed.
The speed of the existing variant of BrahMos is half than that of the proposed ones.
With a range of 290 kms, the hypersonic missiles are expected to be ready by 2015-16, the sources said.
The much-delayed first unit of Kudankulam nuclear power plant is also expected be made operational during the visit of Medvedev, who will be visiting the site for the purpose, they said.
The commissioning of the 1,000 MW Kudankulam-I, work on which began three years back, will set in motion the roadmap that the two countries are working on in the field of atomic energy cooperation.
Under the roadmap, a number of nuclear reactors would be set up by Russia in India.
Four of the reactors are envisaged to be established in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and one in Haripur in West Bengal, with scope for more in future.
The proposal to set up a Russian nuclear plant in Haripur is facing resistance from local people, but the government is hopeful of convincing them about its utility and allay their apprehensions.
The second unit of Kudankulam power plant will be made operational within six months of commissioning of the Unit-I.
During the visit of the Russian President, a number of other defence deals are also expected to be signed.
The BrahMos, jointly developed by India and Russia, has already been deployed by one army battalion. The missile was fired from a mobile launcher 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of Bhubaneswar, the capital of the eastern state of Orissa.
"The test of surface-to-surface version of BrahMos was successful and matched all the mission objectives", director of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur-on-sea S.P. Dash told AFP.
Last tested on March 21, BrahMos has a range of 290 kilometers and can carry a 300-kilogram (660 pounds) conventional warhead.
The missile was fired from the country's testing range in the eastern state of Orissa, a defence official said.
He said the BrahMos can be used for surgical strikes, such as targeting terrorist training camps or underground bunkers. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The missile can fly at 2.8 times the speed of sound and can be launched from land, ships, submarines and aircraft. It can carry conventional warheads weighing 620 to 660 pounds (280 to 300 kilograms) and has a maximum range of 180 miles (290 kilometres).
However, Indian defence research scientists frequently conduct tests of the missile to improve its performance, including its ability to hit targets, the official said.
The BrahMos is named after India's Brahmaputra and Russia's Moskva rivers.
India's missile arsenal also includes the short-range Prithvi missile, the anti-tank Nag missile, the short-range surface-to-air Trishul missile, and the medium-range Agni missile.
BrahMos cruise missile test-fired from Orissa coast
The Hindu - T.S. Subramanian - 1 hour agoThe BrahMos supersonic cruise missile being launched from the Integrated Test Range at the Chandibur, Orissa on Sunday. The missile performed a steep dive ...
BrahMos cruise missile achieves supersonic dive
Sify - 1 hour agoBalasore: In a first in the military world, the BrahMos cruise missile being jointly developed by India and Russia achieved a supersonic dive after being ...
India tests BrahMos cruise missile
Sify - 6 hours agoSep 5 (IANS) India Sunday successfully test fired the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a military base in Orissa. The missile was tested for the army ...
India test fires BrahMos cruise missile
Economic Times - 7 hours agoBHUBANESWAR: India on Sunday test fired the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a defence base in Orissa, official sources said. The missile was test ...
India, Russia to develop missiles having speed of 6000 kmph
Economic Times - 9 hours agoOne of the highlights of the visit would be signing of a contract for joint development of hypersonic version of the BrahMos cruise missile, ...
Indian military tests supersonic cruise missile off country's eastern coast
The Canadian Press - Nirmala George - 4 hours agoNEW DELHI — India successfully tested on Sunday a BrahMos supersonic cruise missile as part of ongoing trials to fine-tune its ability to hit targets, ...
India tests supersonic cruise missile
Inquirer.net - 3 hours agoBHUBANESWAR – India on Sunday successfully tested a surface-to-surface version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile which it has developed jointly with ...
India tests "diving" cruise missile successfully
Monsters and Critics.com - 5 hours agoNew Delhi - India on Sunday successfully tested a 'diving' version of its BrahMos cruise missile, jointly developed with Russia, in the eastern state of ...
India test-fires supersonic cruise missile
Ynetnews - 4 hours ago... an advanced version of a supersonic cruise missile, officials said, as part of the country's drive to boost its defence system. The Brahmos, which can ...
Preparations on for super-sonic BrahMos test-firing
The Hindu - Sep 4, 2010PTI Preparation for the test-firing of super—sonic cruise missile BrahMos, likely to be held on Sunday, reached its final stage today at the Integrated Test ...
India tests supersonic cruise missile off east coast
Emirates 24/7 - 4 hours agoAP India has successfully tested its BrahMos supersonic cruise missile as part of ongoing tests for its induction into the Indian defence forces, ...
BrahMos to be test fired on September 5
Express Buzz - 11 hours agoBALASORE: India is all set to test the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a defence base off the Orissa coast on Sunday. The 'Army' version of the ...
BRAHMOS cruise missile test-fired from Orissa coast
NDTV.com - 7 hours agoPTI, Updated: September 05, 2010 12:41 IST Balasore, Orissa: India test-fired the 290-km range BRAHMOS cruise missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) ...
India to testfire BrahMos missile off coast of eastern state of Orissa
Xinhua - Zhang Xiang - Sep 4, 20104 (Xinhua) -- India is to testfire the supersonic BrahMos cruise off the coast of the eastern state of Orissa on Sunday, official sources said on Saturday. ...
BrahMos Cruise Missile test-fired from Orissa
BreakingNewsOnline. - 4 hours agoIndia successfully test fired supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Balasore, which is 230 km from Bhubaneswar, ...
BrahMos missile successfully test fired
samaylive - 8 hours agoIndia successfully test fired the surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a defence base in Orissa on Sunday. According to the sources, ...
High demand to persist, as govt ups demand side GDP: Experts
he government's upward correction of growth estimates from the demand side for the first quarter of this fiscal have reduced apprehensions that the economy might slow down in the coming months, say experts.Admitting to error, the government had last week revised the economic growth at market prices (that consumers pay) to 10.02 per cent for the quarter ending June 2010, from 3.65 per cent stated earlier.
However, economic growth, as is measured traditionally from GDP at factor costs or through supply side, was estimated correctly at 8.8 per cent for April-June 2010.
The wrong estimation had led to confusion among economists, who predicted that slowdown in demand will pull down economic growth in the coming months.
However they said that after the revision, it no longer seems to be the case.
"There is no question of any decline in consumption and we are in fact going to see jump in it during the coming festive and marriage season associated with the third quarter," National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) chief statistician Rajesh Shukla said.
"This is a natural phenomena and demand will be more in the third quarter," he added.
The revised GDP data showed that the private final consumption expenditure (PFCE), which comprises expenses of households and others, had grown by 3.79 per cent during the quarter as against the earlier estimate of 0.34 per cent.
Simultaneously, the government final consumption expenditure (GFCE) was revised showing a growth of 14.20 per cent, from the original estimate of 0.59 per cent decline.
Shukla said the economy will see a stable growth in the long term.
"The response of consumers to inflation has changed and they see to it that high growth and high inflation can go side-to-side. Besides, income levels are also increasing," he said.
According to him, though the actual GDP growth in the first quarter has been better than expected, the factor is difficult to explain it by any visible indicator.
"On a conservative side, we can hope for an average annual GDP growth of 8.75 per cent from now till 2015. The nine per cent target for economic growth set by government for this fiscal is not a very high figure. It can definitely touch nine per cent," he said.
Chandrayaan-2 to get closer to moon
CHENNAI/MUMBAI: India's second mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-2, a Rs 425 crore project, took a definite shape with Isro on Monday announcing details of payloads or scientific instruments to be flown on the orbiter and the rover. Chandrayaan-2 will be launched in 2013 from Sriharikota.Hovering 100km above the moon, Chandrayaan-1 had confirmed water ice last year. Chandrayaan-2, equipped with an array of payloads, will probe closer and deeper for several things on the lunar surface, including water.
A series of meetings of experts chaired by UR Rao, chairman of the advisory committee on space sciences, last week decided that the mission would carry five payloads on the orbiter that goes around the moon and two scientific payloads on the rover, which will travel on the moon's surface. Three of the payloads are new, while two others are improved versions of those flown on Chandrayaan-1 orbiter.
A geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) will blast off sometime in early 2013 from the Sriharikota spaceport carrying the orbiter, the lander and the rover to the moon, about 3.8 lakh km away. While Russia will provide the lander, Isro will make the orbiter and rover.
"Chandrayaan-1 made observations of the moon from a distance. Chandrayaan-2 will actually get there and probe further. The previous mission found evidence of water in the polar region of the moon. We haven't decided on which part of the moon the lander carrying the rover would land, but it will be to look for water, among other things," said Isro spokesperson S Satish.
Unlike the lunar probe of Chandrayaan-1 which plunged into the moon, the Russian-designed lander will make a soft touchdown and release the rover, which will travel a few metres to collect lunar rocks and other materials. The scientific payloads on the rover will analyse surface elements on the moon and send the data to the orbiter, which eventually sends them to the earth station.
But why a moon mission more than half a century after the Soviet Union landed Luna 2 on the lunar surface in 1959 and 41 years after the US put the first man on the moon in 1969? "The last moon mission was in the 1970s and we don't have access to much of that data. The dozens of moon missions by other countries could not find water on the moon, which Chandrayaan-1 did. So we can rightfully expect some new findings," said Satish.
Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft weighs about 2,650kg, including the 1,400-kg orbiter and the 1,250kg lander.
US warns citizens of terror strike during CWG
Washington: The US has warned its citizens travelling to or residing in India during the upcoming Commonwealth Games of a threat of "terrorist action and violence" and asked them to "take care when travelling within Delhi"."The US Mission in India alerts US citizens travelling to or residing in India to safety and security issues related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held in New Delhi," a statement by the US State Department said Wednesday.
The Games will be held Oct 3-14 in Delhi.
The statement warned of a "worldwide caution" regarding the threat of terrorist actions and violence against US citizens and interests.
It, however, stated that the US government has no information on any specific threat of attack that any individual or group is planning to coincide with the Games.
The US asked all its citizens planning on travelling to India during the Games to be up-to-date with the travel alerts or security warnings issued by the State Department.
American citizens were advised to monitor local news reports and think about their security when visiting public places, including religious sites, or while choosing hotels, restaurants, entertainment and recreation venues.
They were also advised to take care when travelling within Delhi.
"Special care should be taken when using public transportation or driving at night," it said.
It asked all US citizens "to be on guard against petty crime, pickpockets, and the theft of personal property on trains or buses".
Tourists were asked to be on alert at airports, train stations and tourist sites and be aware of "scam artists looking to prey on visitors".
The citizens were asked to enroll with the nearest US embassy or consulate through the State Department's travel website.
In case of any emergency, citizens have been asked to call up the US embassy in New Delhi, the US consulate general in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata or Hyderabad.
India to miss $200 bn export target: Assocham
Industry body Assocham has said that India may miss the $200 billion export target for 2010-11 due to sluggish demand in Europe, contrary to the government's assertion of meeting the target.
"India's exports would be around $180 billion against the target level of $200 billion by the end 2010-2011," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said in a statement.
The sluggish demand in several European countries would adversely affect India's exports, the chamber said. Europe accounted for about $39 billion of the $179 billion exports in the last fiscal.
Exports in the first four months of the fiscal totalled $68.6 billion.
While announcing the annual supplement to Foreign Trade Policy on August 23, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma had expressed confidence that India would be able to achieve the target.
"We are on course to achieving export target ($200 billion) for 2010-11," he said.
Even, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) in its latest outlook said the exports could touch $216 billion this fiscal.
Assocham, however, said that with the countries like Spain and Portugal going in for fiscal consolidation, exports to the European Union is likely to take a backseat.
While the government is confident of achieving the $200 billion exports, it too has expressed apprehensions of a slowdown as the developed countries may go for fiscal consolidation by partially rolling back the economic stimulus packages.
After posting a robust growth of over 32 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal, exports growth slipped to 13.2 per cent in July.
India's exports entered into positive territory in November 2009, after contracting for 13 months in a row due to global economic slowdown.
BrahMos cruise missile test-fired from Orissa coast
T.S. SubramanianShare · print · T+ <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/article615545.ece?textsize=large&test=1" title="Large Text Size" >T+</a> · <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/article615545.ece?textsize=small&test=2" title="Small Text Size">T-</a>
The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile being launched from the Integrated Test Range at the Chandibur, Orissa on Sunday. The missile performed a steep dive at a supersonic speed. Photo : DRDO
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India successfully launched the BrahMos cruise missile on Sunday, and the highlight of the mission was that the missile performed a steep dive at a supersonic speed. After BrahMos rose from its launch pad at Chandipur, Orissa and reached a flat trajectory, it suddenly dived vertically with its engine running in full throttle. The missile performed the manoeuvre when it was flying at a velocity of three times the speed of sound. Normally, a missile comes down gradually. This is a new capability that has been proved in BrahMos, which is a product of the Indo-Russian collaboration. The launch took place from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
"It was an important mission. For the first time in the world, a cruise missile was tested at a supersonic speed in a steep-dive mode," said A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Executive Officer, BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited. "When you launch a missile, it goes up and reaches a flat trajectory. In this case, the BrahMos missile dove straight down from its flat trajectory" while it was cruising at a supersonic speed, he explained.
It was a difficult manoeuvre to achieve but the missile did it.
Naval ships, positioned in the Bay of Bengal, gathered telemetry data during the terminal phase of the missile's flight. "Besides, a host of telemetry stations were used to collect full information on the manoeuvre. Everything went well," said Dr. Pillai. This was BrahMos' 23rd flight.
P. Venugopalan, Director, Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad, described it as "a fantastic mission that was well-planned and executed." The missile performing "a steep dive at a supersonic speed is a new capability we have proved. We went for the full range [of 290 km]," he said. The DRDL is a missile complex that comes under the DRDO and the DRDL designs and develops a variety of missiles.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony congratulated the BrahMos missile team. The Director-General of Artillery, Lt. Gen. Vinod Nayanar and the Additional Director-General of Artillery, Maj. Gen. P.K. Chakravarty, witnessed the flight at Chandipur. Lt. Gen. Nayanar congratulated the BrahMos team on the successful mission and said he was happy that the missile flawlessly performed the manoeuvre.
The two-stage BrahMos is nine metres long, has a diameter of 70cm and weighs 3.9 tonnes with the canister. It carries conventional warheads weighing 300 kg.
Work is under way to realise a hypersonic version of the missile under BrahMos-II programme. It will be a joint-venture between India and Russia.
Keywords: BrahMos, DRDO, Test firing, Orissa coast, Super-sonic
Slideshow
'Aviva Great Wall of Education' launched to support underprivileged childrenWhen actor Kamal Hassan placed the first set of books on the 'Aviva Great Wall of Education' presented by The Hindu on September 5, it marked the formal launch of a large book collection drive to support children from underprivileged sections. Photos: R. Ragu.
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US Open 2010: Day 6Some hard-court action served up in images from day four (September 4) of the U.S. Open. Photos: AP
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AP Home Minister P. Chidambaram walks with Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik in Rawalpindi. File photoMalik, Chidambaram discuss Pakistan's 26/11 trial
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Sri Lankan player under ICC scanner
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3 Sep, 2010, 05.35AM IST, Rohini Singh & Subhash Narayan,ET Bureau
Cos with captive mines to share profits with affected people
NEW DELHI: The government is determined to implement a policy intended to give those displaced by mining a share in the profits of the miners despite a less than enthusiastic response from industry, the minister for mines said on Thursday.The policy, part of a legislation setting the rules for investment in mining, will also apply to captive mines of companies such as Tata Steel, SAIL and Hindalco. The bill, if approved by Parliament, could make it mandatory for companies to issue equity shares to each member of every family displaced by the project as well as 26% of the profit, according to a draft version of the bill, minister for mines BK Handique said.
In what could pose severe logistical challenge for companies as well as the government, Mr Handique suggested that the benefits of the policy should apply not only to new mines but also to existing ones and those whose leases come up for renewal. This could happen if the local administration is able to identify those displaced in the past. Mines generated profits for their owners for decades, and those who had lost their land in the past should also benefit, he said.
"The state governments are firmly backing this proposal and I will ensure that it is part of the new mining law," Mr Handique said in an interview. "This is in line with our focus on sustainable development."
The draft of the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Bill, 2010, being prepared under the supervision of a group of ministers, has endorsed a proposal stipulating that all resource operations of what it describes as "standalone companies" share 26% of their net profit on an annual basis with the people affected by the project.
Lukewarm reception from mining cos
They will also have to offer one share to each individual from displaced families.
The government's thinking is that if affected persons share profits arising from mining operations, resistance from the local population whose land has to be acquired for industrial projects would dwindle.
The proposal has had a lukewarm reception from mining companies. Tata Steel, India's largest private steel company with its own iron ore and coal mines, said locals should be made to benefit through gainful engagement rather than equity stakes and profit-sharing.
"The thrust should be on building capacities and not on distributing money, which will defeat the intended objectives. There should be a mechanism for smooth implementation and monitoring where the government and industry take joint responsibility for improving the delivery system so that the benefits reach the targeted people," the Jamshedpur-based steelmaker said in an emailed response.
While Hindalco and Jindal Steel could not be reached for their comments, CS Verma, chairman of state-owned SAIL, was cautious in his reaction. "There is no clarity so far on how it will apply to captive mines that are cost centres," he said in a response.
If the bill is passed, metal companies could be required to hive off captive mining operations and offer shares in these as well as part of the profit for the lifetime of the mine. Companies will also be free to offer equity and profit in their larger metal operations on a voluntary basis.
Standalone mining companies such as NMDC and Sesa Goa will also have to follow the same principle while rewarding project-affected families with a share in profit and equity.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/Cos-with-captive-mines-to-share-profits-with-affected-people/articleshow/6483144.cms
CII report paints dismal picture of India's health sector
Exploring critical gaps in the health infrastructure in the country, a new report says that 7-8 per cent of households are pushed below the poverty line because of expenses incurred in health care.Indians have inadequate access to quality health care and this is particularly true for the poor, those residing in rural areas, Scheduled Tribes and women, it says.
The India Health Report, released by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) recently, has consolidated various facets of health sector in India such as access to health care, major inputs such as infrastructure availability, human resources, water and sanitation, nutrition, and the role of government.
According to the report, about 7-8 per cent of households are pushed below the poverty line because of expenses incurred on health care. There are critical gaps in infrastructure, especially with respect to the presence of health care centres and well-trained staff.
The report also states that the contribution of the private sector in terms of availability of hospital beds has gradually increased from about 28 per cent in 1973 to about 61 per cent in 1996.
In terms of under-nutrition, India's performance is no better than the countries in Africa and some of its neighbours such as Bangladesh and Pakistan, and it is substantially below that of countries in Latin America, China and the Philippines, it says.
India remains home to one-third of the world's undernourished children. Policy makers will need to incorporate the impact of their decisions on the nutrition profile of Indian households.
The focus needs to increasingly shift away from merely foodgrains and towards the intake of a variety of foods in the correct proportions, the report states.
On disease management in India, it says that health education and regular screening are crucial if the country is to tackle the spread of the diseases on an up trend.
The government also has to step up initiatives to create an environment where mental and physical disorders and disabilities are included in the mainstream discussion on health management.
The report recommends that India needs to move away from disease-specific measures and towards the development of a holistic public health and health care regime.
It states that focus is required to adequately empower the institutions that govern India's healthcare sector making them answerable for health outcomes.
Whither urban development? Bleak future stares at India's cities
A New Delhi newspaper reported last Thursday that local authorities received 117 complaints of waterlogging, five of falling trees and six of building collapses, in one of which a four-year-old boy was killed. A school bus carrying 35 children became so deeply "embedded" in a road that a crane had to be called in, but it, too, got stuck. There was another report of a road caving in. Since it was in an area where several embassies are located, the incident will not send a flattering image of India abroad.If this is the situation in the national capital, it is not difficult to imagine how dismal the conditions are in the other cities and smaller towns. Mumbai and Bangalore citizens have their own dismal tales to tell. The monsoon is undoubtedly the worst time because it aggravates the numerous existing problems, which include both overflowing drains and the accumulation of stagnant water, breeding mosquitoes.
Such pools near the unfinished construction sites for the Commonwealth Games have been blamed by Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for the spread of dengue in Delhi, which has also highlighted the paucity of hospital beds. However, Urban (non?)Development Minister Jaipal Reddy wants the news to be kept under wraps lest it scare away the athletes. Reddy, however, was quick to blame the delay in Commonwealth Games preparations to the rains as well.
In Mumbai, the outbreak of malaria has given a fresh boost to parochial politics with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray blaming the immigrants, who are mostly from Bihar, for the problem.
What these reports show is that the urban scene in India is one of unrelieved gloom. A citizen steps out every morning to contend with potholed roads, endless traffic snarls, unannounced diversions, beggars at every crossing, the unavailability of a sufficient number of public transport vehicles and their not infrequent breakdowns and general urban chaos.
For instance, on Raksha Bandhan day, Delhi Metro's promise to run more trains was blighted by a two-hour breakdown of a train near Connaught Place, causing breathing problems to passengers because of inadequate ventilation, and disrupting the entire system.
Delhi, of course, is the most pampered of all cities, with a massive amount of funds being spent for upgrading its infrastructure in preparation for the Games. Roads are being widened, flyovers being built and saplings being planted. Yet, there is hardly any lessening of the average citizen's plight.
It has always been a feature of Indian metropolises that except for the small areas where the affluent and the rulers live, the rest of the city bears the scars of persistent neglect. The reason is the almost total absence of urban planning due to lack of funds and lack of interest on the part of the so-called city fathers, whose proverbial corruption and incompetence made a Kolkata newspaper call them "city duds" in the 1960s.
The Calcutta Corporation was usually called "Chor-poration" by the disgruntled citizens just as another name for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is "most corrupt department".
There is little doubt that it is the conversion of these municipal bodies into political playgrounds which is partly responsible for their fecklessness. Since the elected councillors regard their entry into the municipalities as the first step (or the second, if they had also contested student union elections) towards the larger political field, they have little time or inclination to look after the crumbling urban infrastructure and city improvement that is their primary charge.
Panel to find ways for convergence of NREGA, water projects
Government has set up an expert group to devise better methods to achieve convergence of MGNREGA activities with that of various water conservation and management programmes.The 30-member expert group, constituted by the Rural Development Ministry, will be headed by the CEO of the National Rainfed Areas Authority.
"It has been decided to constitute an expert group to devise process, methodologies and mechanisms for convergence of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA with watershed development and other water conservation programmes of various ministries and departments," a Rural Development Ministry official said.
Convergence of NREGA activities with those of the watershed development programmes of various department and ministries assumes importance as more than 50 per cent the activities under the scheme has to be related to land development, water resource development, water harvesting and afforestation, he said.
The states have been making efforts to converge NREGA with watershed development programmes since it was permitted under the Act.
"Unless these works (water conservation and management) are properly orchestrated to support and strengthen development of the watershed, the expenditure so made may become superfluous and wasteful," the official said.
The expert group will comprise officials from ministries of Rural Development, Panchayti Raj, Water Resources and Environment and Forest, as members.
Representatives from NABARD, and other stake holders including NGOs working in the field of water conservation and management have also been made part of the group.
"The committee has been assigned to develop ways and means of harmoniously integrating activities of MGNREGA and the watershed programmes through well defined seamless convergence process, including participation people and institutional approach," the official said.
It will also suggest mechanisms or arrangements for documenting "location specific" development works, prescribe farming system to land use.
"The group can also suggest launching of pilot projects in selected districts to test and validate the methodologies developed for later adoption all over the country," the official said.
India looks at South America for farm revolution
India, looking to launch a second green revolution to boost its food security, has begun looking at distant South America where countries have been able to ramp up food production with new technology and farming methods. And to take lessons first-hand, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will visit Argentina, Brazil and Mexico this month."India has much to learn from the best practices of South America, especially Brazil and Argentina," R. Viswanathan, Indian Ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, told IANS during a visit here.
The South American countries have overtaken the United States in soya production, accounting for 50 percent of global production, and significantly denting the American domination in the agri-business sector.
With large swathes of land in a sparsely populated region, which accounts for 26 percent of global freshwater reserves, South American nations have the highest yields per hectare.
For Indian companies, which have been looking at farmlands for their agri-business, there is another attraction, the technologies that have been indigenously developed in these countries and applied in farming.
A revolutionary method is "no-till farming", which is applied in 80 percent of the land cultivated in the Mercosur countries (a trading bloc comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay,). In this kind of farming, land is not ploughed. Instead, the agricultural residue of the last plant is allowed to enrich the soil. The seed is then injected into the soil through special machines.
Another technology which Pawar is likely to see in Argentina is the Silobag, a polyeutherane bag that can store up to 200 tonnes of foodgrains on the field itself - that saves costs on building concrete storage units.
"We have brought this to the notice of the agriculture ministry," said Viswanathan.
India faces a shortage of 15 million tonnes in storage capacity, one of the main reasons why hundreds of tonnes of food grains are wasted every year in the country. The technology figured at a meeting between Pawar and his Argentine counterpart, Julian Andres Dominguez here earlier last month.
Moreover, India can look to replicate the success of Argentina in turning agriculture into a high-technology sector.
Viswanathan referred to the Argentine group Los Grobos, which has brought the outsourcing model to agriculture. Los Grobos cultivates 270,000 hectares in Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina, without owning a single plot of land.
It uses "precision farming", which employs software to determine the input distribution and monitors by satellite the location of the seeds and sprayer machines. At the same time, soil monitors give real-time information, helping the group head office to decide on the nutritional and other parameters.
All this could be brought to India for trial.
Also, Indian companies can move to the continent to take advantage of the available technology and expertise for business in the agricultural sector.
Viswanathan said Indian entrepreneurs should vigorously explore the region "since South America has an agri-business ecosystem like the IT ecosystem in India - export-oriented with competent human resources and service providers that allow investors to focus on output and returns."
South America is a major source of oilseeds. It exports soya and sunflower oil worth $1 billion to India annually. It is learnt that the Indian delegation led by Pawar would explore increasing the supply of edible oil and pulses to the subcontinent as domestic output has not been able to meet galloping demand.
2 Sep, 2010, 10.48PM IST,ET Bureau
NBS policy fails to balance fertiliser uses
NEW DELHI: Consumption of urea, still the cheapest fertiliser, has increased in the first few months of the newly introduced Nutrient-based Subsidy (NBS) policy, quite contrary to expectation that the new policy would lead to a balanced use of fertilisers. Consequently, the Centre's subsidy spend on the fertiliser will remain high, defying projections of a lower bill in 2010-11, if the trends in this kharif (summer sowing ) season upto end July are any indication, although a macro picture of consumption this year will only emerge by the end of the fiscal.The sale of urea in Kharif 2010 season upto July 31 this year, according to ministry data , was 73.59 lakh tonnes compared to a lower 68.05 lakh tonnes in the same period last year, spelling a "substantial increase." The ministry, infact, has noted an approximately 10% increase in the supply of fertilisers annually since kharif 2008. Overall urea use last kharif stood at 136.65 lt compared to 120.03lt the previous year. Overuse of urea has led to soil degradation and abysmal lack of nutrients in several key crop regions, stalling crop productivity.
The current trends on the consumption of urea have renewed the demand for the government to urgently de-canalise the import of the commodity, a proposal made more than six months ago. Urea has accounted for over half of India's fertiliser consumption. Currently, only parastatals are allowed to import urea. But industry sources believe that allowing individual companies to import at the best prices will peg down overall subsidy spends.
In 2009-10, the fertiliser subsidy spend of the Centre on indigenous urea totalled Rs 17580.25 crore and another Rs 6999.63 crore was spent on imported urea. In volume terms, imported urea went up to 52.10 lakh tonnes in 2009-10 compared to only 20.57 lt in 2005-06, burgeoning the urea subsidy bill each year. The government's fertiliser subsidy spend for 2009-10 stands at Rs 64,932 crore but it has signalled its desire to reduce this to 1.5% of the GDP by 2011-12.
Significantly, the new policy for decontrolled fertilisers has, for the first time in years, ensured that availability and supply of DAP is far more than the demand for the season. .." The government has actually been pleading with us to hold off supply of potassic and phosphatic fertilsers such as DAP, MoP and other key fertilisers since they have more than enough. This is perhaps the first time that there has been no report of DAP or MoP shortages anywhere and supply has met demand sufficiently." an official of the Fertiliser Association of India (FAI),
A fertiliser ministry official acknowledged "There used to be a maximum dearth of DAP for the last 4-5 seasons. The main problem was that of DAP supply and availability. In the last three years, the consumption of DAP was 43.55 lt,59.51lt and 68.75lt. We have tried out best to meet the entire requirement of DAP in states because we want farmers to use a NPK in a balanced manner. ...it is widely known that soil fertility in most districts countrywide is quite low for decades due to unscientific agricultural practices and low replenishment of nutrients. "
Endorsing this, a ministry official maintained "Requirements of fertilisers for both kharif 2010 and Rabi 2010-11 have already been firmed up. Fertiliser companies have assured us production and import of fertilisers for all of 2010-11." Fertiliser ministry data shows that in addition to indigenous production of DAP (45lt) and complex ferts (87lt) and import of 70lt of DAP, 45lt of MoP and 11 lt of complex fertilisers have been committed so already by the industry. Further, inclusion of SSP under NBS is expected to make about 30lt of the commodity available indigenously.
Interestingly, the price of DAP under the NBS was hiked by Rs 30/bag over the earlier retail price, MoP retail price remained static while the price of SSP decreased by RS 70/bag. Farmers have bought despite the price hike, in effect. "The best way to control an increased subsidy burden without adversely affecting foodgrain production would be to increase prices by some fraction of the raised foodgrain prices," a Delhi-based commodity analyst maintained. Domestic fertiliser prices have risen by 5-10%, he contends, but there was no resistance from farmers due to the high support prices being offered for crops currently. .
The new policy has meant that the fertiliser industry has been able to clinch the most reasonable import prices for decontrolled fertilisers, besides meeting the total demand for related fertilisers this season, for the first time in years .Under the policy, the government announces a fixed subsidy spend for the entire year on the nutrients. For 2010-11, it has been fixed at Rs 28,500 crore compared to Rs 39,452.06 crore in 2009-10..
Under the NBS, retail prices of complex fertilisers will be decided by companies. Therefore, the NBS was aimed at allowing the more efficient fertiiliser companies to neutralise the impact of volatility in prices, introduce innovative products and promote balanced fertilisation. But it now appears that some of these questions, including the big one of whether indeed it will reduce the government's subsidy bill, are still left hanging.
The NBS came into force from April 1 this year and was expected to gradually pave the way for balanced fertilisation by farmers by changing the prevailing over-reliance on nitrogenous fertilisers. The policy was made applicable to DAP, MOP, TSP, SSP and the 12 grades of complex fertilizers which are already covered under the subsidy regime. The secondary and micro nutrients in such fertilizers attracted a separate per tonne subsidy.
Critics of the NBS have been maintaining that since the price of decontrolled P&K ferts under the NBS would be pegged at IPP (import parity price), be determined by market forces and decided by companies, this would place them out of the reach of many farmers. Urea, being controlled by price and movement, could continue to be overused. NBS enthusiasts, however, have maintained that the situation will change after a gestation period. In the longer run, the NBS envisages the inclusion of urea as well.
The NBS was aimed at allowing the more efficient fertiiliser companies to neutralise the impact of volatility in prices, introduce innovative products and promote balanced fertilisation. But it now appears that some of these questions, including the big ones of whether indeed it will indeed increase balanced soil fertilisation and reduce the government's subsidy bill, appear to be still hanging.
31 Aug, 2010, 03.47AM IST, Gayatri Nayak & Atmadip Ray,ET Bureau
Rising prices: Top foodgrain producing states worst hit
MUMBAI/KOLKATA: Major foodgrains producing states have been the worst hit by rising prices, thanks to the Centre's decision to pay more to farmers for their produce.Although inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), has been in double digits for nearly six months, there are several states where CPI in the rural region has been around 20%. A look at state-wise consumer price index numbers shows that pre-dominantly agri-based states such as West Bengal, Punjab and Haryana have seen steeper price rise than others.
Consumer prices in FY10 rose the most in West Bengal at 20.9%, followed by Haryana at 20.9% and Punjab at 19.7%. The all India average for the same period was 15.8%.
Rising food prices have been one of the major drivers of inflation. Yet, the government has been paying farmers more by increasing the minimum support price for various food grains. Higher minimum support prices (MSP) enable the Centre to build up its buffer stock which is later sold at subsidised rates through the public distribution system.
These items have a 40% weightage in the consumer price index. One explanation for the rise in food prices is that the purchasing power has gone up in the hands of the rural poor, following NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). An indicator of high purchasing power is the higher cash in circulation this year. It rose Rs 59,185 crore in April-August 2010 compared with the growth of Rs 19,537 crore in the year-ago period.
"Foodgrain-intensive states have seen a sharp rise in consumer prices largely because of the steep rise in the MSPs of wheat and rice in the recent past. While in case of other food products, like fruits, vegetable and oilseeds, these states have suffered on account of factors like higher transportation costs, in addition to the natural price rise of these items," said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist of Care Ratings.
West Bengal, which tops the inflation list, is the country's largest rice and vegetable producer. According to Sugata Marjit, director of Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata, the state-wise differences in CPI are a reflection of poor inter-state mobility of food items.
Economists said the reason for this trend lies in rampant hoarding of foodgrains and the existence of several layers of middlemen for food item marketing. "There are several probable reasons behind the high rise in food prices. In West Bengal, the large stocks have typically been controlled by a small number of people and hoarding of foodgrains is probably the most widespread in the state.
The existence of several marketing layers pushed up prices further in the state," said Prof Marjit, who is also a Reserve Bank of India professor. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana, he said, have incentives to pile up their stocks with the Food Corporation of India as the MSP for their products — wheat and paddy — rose more than anything else.
4 Sep, 2010, 11.03AM IST,REUTERS
India should follow map to account convertibility: RBI
BUENOS AIRES: India should move toward capital account convertibility on a calibrated basis according to domestic and global factors, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Duvvuri Subbarao said on Friday.The rupee is fully convertible on the current account, but only partially convertible on the capital account.
Subbarao's comments were in line with those of other policymakers who have repeatedly said the capital account must be opened up only gradually.
"We believe we must move towards capital account convertibility, along a road map -- the road map itself being recalibrated on a dynamic basis depending on both global and domestic developments," RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao told a meeting of central bankers and economists in Argentina.
He said capital flows must always be managed and that India would have a widening current account deficit as its economy grows more quickly than others in the world.
"Managing capital flows you never get capital flows of exactly the kind you want and exactly the quantity you want," he said.
"This year, 2010/11, is quite important. We think current account deficit will widen because India is growing faster that the world which means our imports will grow faster than our exports," he added.
Different price rise data make policy making tough: RBI study
: Even as RBI has been tightening monetary policy to attack inflation, a study by the central bank says various measurements of the rate of price rise in India make it difficult to frame policies, as all of them are volatile in nature."In the Indian context, the alternative measures of inflation, such as month-over-month seasonally-adjusted inflation and core inflation, do not exhibit the desirable properties for becoming the key reference indicators in monetary policy, as they are significantly volatile, like the headline inflation," the study said.
However, the new proposed consumer price index (CPI), which is expected to come into effect in January next year, is expected to eliminate some of the shortcomings in measuring the rate of inflation, according to the study, titled, 'Measurement of Inflation in India, Issues and Associated Challenges for the Conduct of Monetary Policy.'
"Recent initiatives on improving price statistics in India, especially in terms of generating data on CPI-Urban and CPI-Rural and a representative CPI for the country as a whole over time, would address a major data gap in India," it said.
CPI is a measure estimating the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households and measures the price change for a constant market basket of goods and services from one period to the next within the same area like a city, region, or country.
Currently, there are four CPI inflation indexes — the CPI for industrial workers, CPI for agricultural labourers, CPI for rural labourers and CPI for urban non-manual employees. This will be changed with the new index.
The study said discrepancies in proper inflation measurement could lead to complications in policy making.
"Limitations of the data on prices could yield misleading empirical estimates generated from analysis of money demand, monetary policy transmission, policy reaction function, pass-through effects and the real effective exchange rate (Reer). All these are important for the conduct of monetary and macro-economic policies," it added.
The government had planned to introduce the new system of inflation measurement from August. It was, however, postponed and official sources said it is now likely to be come only in October as the government tries to up some "loose ends" to include about 250 extra items, like LCD TVs, in sync with modern times.
In the new wholesale price-based index for measuring inflation — with 2004-05 as the base year — the number of commodities will go up to about 680.
The new WPI is likely to include a host of new products like LCD TV sets and other electronic products. However, mobile phones and laptops may not find a place in the new index as their prices change very fast and models also get obsolete fast.
"Since the distribution of inflation across different commodities within WPI exhibits large changes during periods of supply shocks, understanding the variability within the commodity basket is critical for analysing the underlying price pressures and respond with appropriate policy action," the RBI study said.
3 Sep, 2010, 02.56AM IST,ET Bureau
Pawar pushes for sugar decontrol, presents case before prime minister
NEW DELHI: Food, PDS and civil supplies minister Sharad Pawar made a big pitch to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Thursday on sugar sector decontrol. He placed a plan for the Centre to buy sugar at prevailing market price for the public distribution system (PDS) directly from the open market in the new sugar year starting October.If this goes through in the coming season, sectoral decontrol would be attained after 15 years of waiting for the right environment. Past attempts to remove government control on the sweetener have so far failed because of acute concerns over price fluctuations and food inflation.
But the chances of higher output in the next year is giving room for the government to consider the major change.
While pushing the case for decontrol, Mr Pawar is understood to have made a "detailed presentation" to the prime minister on the advantages of sugar sector decontrol to the retail consumers and to the cane farmers.
Farmers will be able to sell sugarcane to the mill that pays the highest and not stick to a specific cane area under the decontrol scenario, Mr Pawar said. Mills had asked that the designated cane area for each sugar mill not be disturbed under decontrol. He is also believed to have maintained that sugar prices would become less volatile after decontrol.
Crucially, Mr Pawar had made it clear that the Centre would continue to fix the fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugar cane even after decontrol.
According to the industry, the big sugar output projections made for 2010-11 is the "ideal environment" for pricing and marketing decontrol, a move that would allow sugar price to be dictated entirely by the market. While the government has pegged sugar output for the coming year at 23mt, sugar industry, including global analyst Kingsman SA, has pegged production at anywhere between 23mt and 28mt.
At present, mills are obliged to sell 20% of their produce to the government for distribution through PDS. Purchase of sugar for PDS from the open market by the Centre would mean that sugar mills will no longer be directed each month by the government's release system. In short, a cornerstone of sectoral deregulation would be conclusively laid by the government.
5 Sep, 2010, 09.27AM IST,REUTERS
IMF's Lipsky says moderate world recovery underway
GWANGJU: The world economy is recovering moderately but still faces challenges such as the need for medium-term fiscal consolidation, the IMF's First Managing Director, John Lipsky, said on Sunday. "They are mainly confident that there is a moderate recovery underway globally," he told reporters, referring to delegates at the G20 meeting of deputy finance and central bank chiefs in South Korea.
"Obviously there are risks and challenges, but things seem to be moving more or less in line with our forecast," he said, listing well-designed exit strategies and medium-term fiscal consolidation as challenges. He said some good progress has been made in discusing changes to the IMFs executive board, but did not elaborate.
G20 members have pledged to reach an agreement on the issue by the time leaders meet in Seoul in November. The United States, frustrated at Europe's refusal to share more IMF power with emerging economies, took unprecedented action last month to block plans that would have kept Europe's long-running dominance over the 24-member board.
Emerging economies have called for a bigger say in international institutions such as the IMF in line with their increasing contribution to the global economy and the resultant importance in global economic policy coordination.
A senior Indonesian official told Reuters separately that emerging economies want not only more voting power, but some readjustment in the way the global economic policy is made. "For emerging markets, the important thing is not only the size of the increase of the quota, but the general idea of the relationship between the quota and governance of the IMF -- and that needs to come in one package," Hartadi Sarwono, deputy governor of the Indonesian central bank, said in an interview.
South Korea will host the Nov. 11-12 summit of G20 leaders in Seoul, with key issues also including reforming the global financial regulatory framework and drawing up plans to put the world economy on a balanced and sustainable growth path.
Poor public governance behind India's ills: Murthy
BANGALORE: Software icon N R Narayana Murthy today blamed poor public governance for major ills faced by the country such as illiteracy, malnourishment, lack of sanitation facilities and dismal food and power management.Murthy said even 63 years after independence, 35 crore Indians can't read and write, and the country has the largest mass of malnourished children. Twenty-five crore people do not have access to safe drinking water, while 75 crore have no access to sanitation facilities.
"35 per cent of (total production of) grains are allowed to rot", the Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies Ltd said at the inaugural function of first year BE/B.Arch classes at the BMS College of Engineering here.
He said India has an installed electricity generation capacity of 145 gigawatts but only 84 gigawatts are available, which is "sadly a shame".
"Lot of it is due to poor (public) governance. There is no doubt about it", Murthy said. "Unfortunately, whatever, our public governance is in charge of....whatever our public governance has touched...has not made as good a progress as that happened in a significant percentage of private governance".
While he would not say that all of private governance is good, private governance institutions have by and large done better because of competition, entry of multinational companies and the need to compete at the global level.
Murthy also said: "This country requires discipline like no other country. We are like this because we are not a disciplined set of people. And that discipline has to start right in classrooms".
He said information technology industry has earned India "a little bit of recognition" in the world, first time in 300 years.
"Today we are thought of as people who can indeed do something worthwhile. This was not so some 25 years ago. Indians (till three decades ago) were seen as people incapable of doing anything worthwhile. Wherever you went, you were looked down upon as people worthy of pity. But that scenario has changed a little bit thanks to at least one (IT) industry", Murthy added.
Barak: Israel unlikely to extend current settlement curbsJerusalem Post - Ariel Harmoni - 43 minutes agoBy AP Defense Minister says he does not believe the freeze will be canceled entirely, leaves option for compromise with Palestinians to continue talks, Abbas threatens to leave negotiations if freeze expired. JERUSALEM — A slowdown in West Bank ... Israeli PM Says Conditions Ripe for PeaceVoice of America - Robert Berger - 42 minutes agoPhoto: AP Israel is optimistic about new peace talks with the Palestinians despite deadly violence in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is prepared for a "historic compromise" with Israel's Arab neighbors. ... Erekat: If talks fail, PA will disappearYnetnews - 7 minutes agoThe Palestinian Authority will "disappear" if direct negotiations do not lead to a peace agreement, warned chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. "We hope to achieve a Palestinian state. If that doesn't happen, it will signal the end of the ...
Netanyahu to cabinet: We must learn lessons from pastJerusalem Post - 3 hours agoBy JPOST.COM STAFF PM debriefs ministers on direct talks meetings in Washington; says "creative thinking" is key for progress in peace talks with Palestinians. Creative thinking and original solutions are key to the success of the peace process and the ... PA negotiator: Endgame peace deal could bring Hamas-run Gaza back into foldHa'aretz - 5 hours agoSaeb Erekat tells Army Radio both sides have reached maturity in understanding that the price of war is greater than that of peace. A peace agreement that would tackle all the core issues would convince the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to accept peace with ... Israel's Netanyahu offers regular talks with AbbasCNN - Guy Azriel, Suzanne Malveux - 2 hours agoBy the CNN Wire Staff Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered to meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas one-on-one every two weeks to discuss "the agenda for a peace agreement," he said Sunday. ... Netanyahu: Creative thinking can remove obstacles on the way to Mideast peaceHa'aretz - 5 hours agoSpeaking to his cabinet following last week's peace summit in Washington, PM says Israel has shown it is willing to go a long way in order to achieve peace. Israel and the Palestinian Authority would have to find new and original solutions to the ... Fresh startBBC News - Wyre Davies - 2 hours agoAs direct peace talks between Israel and Palestine continue in the US, Wyre Davies discovers that few Palestinians and Israelis are confident of a lasting deal, but encounters one man with a positive outlook. ... All 8,662 related articles » | RelatedMahmoud AbbasBenjamin Netanyahu Israel Hamas Palestinian people Palestinian National Authority Timeline of articles Number of sources covering this story
ImagesHa'aretz Ha'aretz CNN  Ha'aretz  Xinhua  Aljazeera.net Ha'aretz  Aljazeera.net  Xinhua All related images » |
Malik, Chidambaram discuss Pak's 26/11 trial
Hindustan Times - 4 hours agoPTI "We discussed security issues and the ongoing trial here in Pakistan, of those accused in the Mumbai blast," Malik wrote on Twitter, a social networking website. During their conversation yesterday, the Pakistani minister proposed that a Commission ...
Pakistan for panel visit to record Kasab's testimony
The Hindu - Anita Joshua - 17 hours agoISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday admitted that the trial here in the Mumbai terror case had got "stuck" and said it decided to approach the trial court on Monday for permission to set up a commission to visit India to record the statements of the key ...
Pakistan seeks India's help for Mumbai attacks trial
AFP - Sep 4, 2010ISLAMABAD — Islamabad on Saturday urged India to help find a way to progress the trial in Pakistan of seven suspects linked to the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which has strained ties between the nuclear-armed rivals. The suspects include the alleged ...
| ...high commissioner and speaking to Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram on the telephone: "The trial is stuck and actually we do not want to give an impression to the international community that perhaps it has been delayed. We proposed to India while talking to Mr Chidambaram that how about that we move our case to our trial court and request them to appoint a commission of relevant officials to record the statements of the witnesses," he said. more by Rehman - Sep 4, 2010 - AFP (5 occurrences) |
India awaiting Pak response on voice samples of 26/11 accused
Times of India - Sep 3, 2010NEW DELHI: India is yet to get a reply from Pakistan to its request for voice sample of key Mumbai terror attack accused including Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Government sources said Islamabad is yet to send its reply to New ...
Pakistan wants 26/11 Commission to be set up
NDTV.com - 8 hours agoNew Delhi: Home Minister Chidambaram and his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik have spoken on the 26/11 trial process now taking place in Pakistan. "I spoke to Mr Chidambaram today. We discussed security issues and the ongoing trial here in Pak, ...
Dossier sharing 'turns into game', India wants action
Hindustan Times - Sep 3, 2010Days after India responded to a 47-point questionnaire from Pakistan on Lashkar operative David Coleman Headley, New Delhi is getting increasingly disillusioned at the lack of seriousness in Islamabad over acting against perpetrators of the 26/11 ...
26/11 attack: Pak to inquire Indian witnesses
Oneindia - Sep 4, 2010New Delhi, Sep 4: India and Pakistan again had resumed the discussion over the formation of judicial commission for 26/11 Mumbai attack. Interior Minister of Pakistan, Rehman Malik met Indian high commissioner Sharat Sabharwal on Saturday, on Sep 4. ...
Pakistan asks India to present witnesses in Rawalpindi court
The Express Tribune - 8 hours agoIndian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal meets Interior Minister Rehman Malik in Islamabad. Photo: APP ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday formally asked Indian authorities to help present Indian witnesses in the Rawalpindi anti-terrorism ...
Pak wants progress in 26/11 Mumbai attack case: Malik
Sify - Sep 4, 2010Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Saturday said that his country wants progress in the 26/11 Mumbai attack case, and would extend every possible cooperation to India to take things forward. Addressing the media after meeting Indian Ambassador ...
Headley: India asks Pak for letter rogatory
Expressindia.com - Raghvendra Rao - Sep 3, 2010New Delhi Carring on the "dossier" diplomacy with Pakistan, India has now told Islamabad that it will have to send a letter rogatory if it wants answers relating to Lashkar-e-Toiba operative David Coleman Headley's visits to India between 2006 and 2009 ...
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BrahMos
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"Brahmos" redirects here. For adherents of Brahmoism, see Brahmo.
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BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. It is a joint venture between India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia's NPO Mashinostroeyenia who have together formed BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited.
The name BrahMos is a portmanteau formed from the names of two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia. It travels at speeds of Mach 2.5 to 2.8. It is about three-and-a-half times faster than the USA's subsonic Harpoon[2] cruise missile. A hypersonic version of the missile is also presently under development (Lab Tested with 5.26 Mach Speed).[3]
Though India had wanted the BrahMos to be based on a mid range cruise missile, namely P-700 Granit, instead Russia opted for the shorter range sister of the missile, P-800 Oniks, in order to comply with MTCR restrictions, to which Russia is a signatory. Its propulsion is based on the Russian missile, and guidance has been developed by BrahMos Corp. The missile is expected to reach total order worth $13 billion [4][5]
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