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Indian Airlines hikes fares by 12 per cent

     New Delhi: Indian Airlines today announced an increase of 12 percent in fare across the board due to rising prices of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF). The hike will come into effect form April 15. An Indian Airlines spokesman said that the domestic ATF price has increased from 27,250 rupees per kiloliter to 32,250 rupees per kiloliter from April 1. He said, "Due to this massive increase in the ATF prices the airline will be increasing its domestic rupee fares by 12 per cent from April 15, 2005". While the promotional and other discounted schemes like Advance purchase (APEX), promotional fares, positioning flight fares and point to point fares would be continued, "the fares for these special schemes are also being revised upwards proportionately". However, there would be no immediate increase in the case of Indian Airlines Holiday Packages and the Bumper Super Saver Schemes, he added.

Chinese PM arrives in Bangalore (Go To Top)

    Bangalore: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived here this evening with a 100-member delegation on a four-day visit. He was accorded a red -carpet welcome by Chief Minister Dharam Singh and Governor T N Chaturvedi. The Prime Minister, who came here from Colombo on the last lap of his ongoing South Asia tour would visit software companies and also discuss with the Indian scientists. The Chinese premier would be holding a one-to-one discussion with chief minister N Dharam Singh later in the night. However, the Chinese Premier did not speak to the media at the airport. Jiabao will pay a visit to Tata Consultancy Service here on Sunday. Besides this he will also visit Huweia Technology, the only Chinese software company in India , ISRO and Indian Institute of Science. According to sources he would be holding dialogue with the Indian leaders on long pending border issue and on military cooperation. The government also said that India was ready to cooperate with the Chinese leadership and the two countries would work out mechanism to solve the border disputes.

      India is the largest trading partner of China in south Asia. At present bi-lateral trade between India and China is of 13.6 billion dollars. However, this bi-lateral trade is expected to touch the figure of 50 billion dollars by the year 2010. China imported goods from India worth 7.68 billion dollars whereas export from India was 5.92 billion dollars. China exports mainly machinery and equipment, electric and electronic products, chemical products, textile, mineral product and metal. Major imported products of China from India are mineral products, base metal, textiles, vegetable products and electronic goods. According to the ministry of commerce, two Chinese funded non- financial enterprises were set up in India in 2004 with a total contractual investment of 2.2 million dollars from Chinese investors. By the end of 2004, there were 17 Chinese funded enterprises set up in India with a total investment of 22.83 million dollars from Chinese investors. Indian investors invested in 37 projects in China in 2004 with a contractual volume of 62.90 million dollars and actual utilization of 19.48 million dollars.

      Meanwhile, the Tibetan Youth organization held protest and hunger strike in Bangalore. The police detained the Tibetan youths in their hostel and Tibetans started hunger strike protesting against the visit of the Chinese Premier. Tibetan Students who were under house arrest in their hostel in a suburb of Bangalore shouted slogans to free Tibet and said they were on a day long hunger strike to protest against the visit of Chinese Premier to Bangalore.

      The Chinese Premier's visit is being seen as very significant and might break the ice on the long pending border issues. Wen will leave for Delhi on Sunday where he would hold wide- ranging discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday. He would also call on President A P J Abdul Kalam and Vice- President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. It is expected that Jiabao's meeting with the Prime Minister will give a breakthrough to the continuing boundary issue that has been a rift between the two countries for more than four decades. According to the official sources, the guiding principles during the talks between the two leaders are likely to take into account security interests, welfare of people living around the border region and other key factors. While, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will meet his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei here tomorrow, National Security Adviser (NSA) M. K. Narayanan will hold talks with senior Chinese Vice Minister Dai Bingguo on Sunday to explore from political perspective the framework of a boundary settlement. The special political representatives, who were appointed during former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit have already met four times over this issue. Since the 1962 war, India has accused China of occupying over 40,000 square kilometers of Jammu and Kashmir, especially, Aksai Chin, which Pakistan transferred to it. On the other hand, China claims that India possesses 90,000 sq km of its territory, mostly in Arunachal Pradesh.

No plan to topple UPA Govt: Jyoti Basu (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: Veteran CPI(M) leader and Politburo member Jyoti Basu on Saturday said that his party had no intention of toppling the UPA government led by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, but insisted that the Left would make sure that the government follow the Common Minimum Program (CMP) of the ruling coalition. Addressing mediapersons here on the sidelines of the 18th Party Congress, Basu said:"We are not asking the government to follow the Communist agenda.What we want is the Common Minimum Programme to be followed strictly. We have no intention of toppling the government. But we want that they respect and behave keeping in mind the fact that we are indispensable for the UPA Government. We will also reciprocate them, as at the present perspective we are also dependent on the UPA," said Basu. Basu also urged the CPI(M) cadre to launch mass struggles to ensure that the CMP is followed, the upshot of its stand is that the CPI(M) is now willing to go along with the economic reforms package that the Congress carries. Many had feared that the Left might pull the plug before the 2006 elections in West Bengal and Kerala. As things stand, the Left Front does not have to worry in either of the states. In West Bengal, the Congress does not stand a chance and in Kerala it is hopelessly divided. It might have been a different story, had the Congress been on the upswing. Basu's stand towards the Congress shows that the CPI(M)'s fight against communalism and its determination to keeping the BJP out at all costs remains its number one priority Earlier, Basu released a book ' Memoirs of 25 Communist Freedom Fighters' published by People's Democracy on the occasion of the Party Congress.

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