Railways turn around for Lalu's sake

     New Delhi/Patna: Bihar politicians in Union Cabinet have begun a turf war at the cost of the exchequer through newspapers, as the state goes for re-poll a couple of months later. "A visionary, who scripted the financial turn-around of Indian Railways," reads a series of newspaper advertisements released by Indian Railways with Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's photographs. "Hum laye hein thufan se, Rail ko nikal ke," (We brought the Railways out of a storm), reads another. According to Railway Ministry sources, the Railways have spent Rs. 1.2 crore since the dissolution of Bihar assembly for "projecting" its Minister, which was equal to the expenditure on highlighting the ministry's achievements during the whole financial year, a year ago. "This is nothing, but jugglery of figures," said Virendra Prasad Yadav, President of the Bihar Unit of Janta Dal (U). He said how can a minister who hardly remains in Delhi steer the Railway Ministry out of red, with no change in the passenger or freight fares.

     Not to be left behind, Lalu's bete noire Ram Vilas Paswan has also entered into the fray at the cost of the PSUs under his Steel Ministry. "Indian Steel Industry " marching ahead," reads the advertisement with the photograph of Paswan. Paswan has also given his vision for 2020 in a bid to woe the "poor voters of Bihar", mostly illiterate. As the poll schedule is yet to be announced by the Election Commission, Lalu and Paswan could continue to force their ministries into spending on the self-aggrandizement for some more time. "If this visionary had turned around our home state, which he has been virtually ruling for the last 15 years, Bihar would have been one of the most advanced states in the country," commented a Railway Ministry official from Lalus home state.

Dalai Lama gets a rousing welcome in Leh (Go To Top)

     Leh: The Dalai Lama received a rousing welcome in Leh on Wednesday, with hundreds of Buddhist monks and locals lining up the streets upon his arrival at the town. Long queues of people in their traditional gear carrying scarves and flowers bowed their head in reverence as his motorcade wound through the town's by-lanes. The Dalai Lama who is on a three week visit to the town, was received at the airport by the Science and Technology Minister, Rigzen Jora and the Chief Executive Councillor of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Rigzen Spalbar. "It is a great joy for the Ladakhis that the Dalai Lama is visiting Ladakh. There were smiles on the faces of people while they were welcoming him, " said Tundup Sonam, president, Ladakh Buddhist Association, Leh.

US deports two Pakistani doctors running seminary (Go To Top)

     Islamabad: The US has deported two Pakistani doctors - Dr Adil and his son Dr Hassan Adil - who were running a seminary in California, back to their home country. The father-son duo reached Islamabad yesterday, confirmed the country's Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao. "Yes, the US government has deported them. They have reached Pakistan on Wednesday morning," the Daily Times quoted Sherpao as saying. They were sent to custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Sherpao said adding, "this is purely a case of voluntary repatriation. Their visas expired in 2004. They had applied for an extension, but their request was not entertained by the US authorities." According to unidentified sources, the US authorities had detained the two doctors for suspected links with terrorist organisations, but were later cleared. They further said that intelligence agencies would investigate why the doctors were running a seminary in California and gather information about the Pakistani students studying in their seminary. The agencies might also track the relatives of the Pakistani students, they said adding that it was premature to say how long the doctors would stay in FIA custody.

Reliance Capital approves Anil Ambani's appointment as director (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: The shareholders at the 19th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Reliance Capital held yesterday have approved the appointment of Anil Ambani as director of the company, Reliance Capital informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today. Anil Ambani who got the company as part of settlement with elder brother Mukesh Ambani on June 18, said, "the priority for Reliance Capital will now be growth of mutual fund and life and general insurance businesses." He said the Reliance Capital would continue to explore investment opportunities like Adlabs Films where its investments made for acquisition had more than doubled in the last two months. Reliance Capital announced acquisition of Adlabs Films for Rs 360 crore in June 2005. The shareholders have also approved the re-appointment of Amitabh Jhunjhunwala and appointment of Rajendra P Chitale as director on the company's board, it said. The Reliance Capital has declared a 30 per cent dividend for fiscal 2004-05.

Reliance begins India's first international roaming (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: Reliance Infocomm, an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprise Group company, became the first Indian CDMA operator to offer an international roaming facility commercially to its customers on Thursday. The company announced that its international roaming facilities would be available in the U.S., Israel, China, New Zealand and Indonesia. It also said that it was in an advanced stage of negotiations for starting similar services with other countries, adding that it is close to signing up with 12 operators in 11 countries across three continents, which accounts for 90% of the global CDMA footprint. Reliance Infocomm's current international roaming arrangements include China Unicom in China, Pelephone Cellular Communications in Israel, Sprint PCS in USA, Mobile-8 in Indonesia and Telecom Mobile Ltd in New Zealand. Other countries on the anvil are the United States (in addition to Sprint), Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Canada.

BSE Sensex breaks new grounds, crosses 7,900 mark (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: Breaking new grounds, Bombay Stock Exchange sensex today surged above 7,900 points. The rise was boosted by cheaper oil, firm global markets and robust foreign fund inflows. The 30-share BSE index rose 0.78 percent to 7,920.25 points on active trade of 48 million shares. The index has gained 18 percent since the start of June and is up 20 percent this year, on investments of nearly 7.3 billion dollar by foreign funds. The 50-issue NSE index was up 0.62 percent at 2,418.10 points by 0500 GMT. Analysts dedicate this run to the buoyant quarterly results of most of the companies and hope the bench crosses 8000-mark soon. "I think the way the momentum has been, we have seen most of the companies' results have been very exciting and this quarter also the results have been very good. Lot of companies are going for their expansion plan which they have been put on hold for three- four years. We are actually seeing industry roll and move forward. I think this is a very positive sign. I think the 8000- mark is very near, I don't think it is very far off ," Ganesh Shanbagh, director, S.M. Financial Services. Engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro was holding out with gains of a per cent at Rs 1,332. BHEL, which rose by a per cent, had given up all its gains. Among the auto stocks, Mahindra & Mahindra was holding on to its gains. The stock was up 2.3 per cent at Rs 705. Maruti was up a per cent at Rs 480. Tata Motors was up 0.4 per cent at Rs 496. But two-wheelers had lost steam. Bajaj Auto and Hero Honda were down 0.5 per cent each. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) jumped 1.21 per cent to Rs 723.20 within minutes after the trading commenced. A number of pivotal stocks from auto, banking, pharma and power sectors were also trading firm in the positive territory.

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