Security agencies to form task force for tiger conservation; Iranian hardliner Ahamdinejad wins Iran presidential vote; Pak police become mullahs, authorities get worried; Indian call centres on alert after fraud claim; Tendulkar will get over form slump: Chappell; Jessica Simpson's hairstyle is 'Most Wanted'; Beyonce's gowns up for grabs; Earl Jones' illness causes 'Pond' to close; Timberlake may star in 'Black Snake Moan'; 'Close Encounters' may have been of 'Third Kind'; Nicole Kidman terrified of exposing herself; Internet blamed for Scottish Live 8 ticket chaos;India Travel Times, Indian News, Tourism, Hotels, Airlines, Tour, Travel, Ayurveda, Yoga, Festival, Hindu, Taj Mahal, Kathakali, Dance,

Home Contact Us Dateline New Delhi, Saturday, June 25, 2005

Security agencies to form task force for tiger conservation

New Delhi: A dedicated task force would be set up to ensure conservation of tigers and wild life sanctuaries. Making the announcement regarding this in his 90-minute presentation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his office in New Delhi about the disappearance of tigers from Sariska, CBI Director U S Misra said that the law against poaching would also be strengthened. According to Misra, personnel from Forest department, CBI and other agencies would form the joint task force to carry out coordinated efforts. There was a discussion on legal aspects of such cases and it was decided to review the law so that bail in poaching cases was not easy, Misra said. Misra pointed out that as many as 10 tigers had been poached at Sariska during the last two years. "Rajasthan police has also handed over four cases to the CBI which will be taken up in due course of time," Misra said. The forest and police officials guarding the forests or the wild life sanctuaries would be given latest weapons for better fire power. "The poachers are also armed and, therefore, it is necessary that the forest officials have better arms and ammunition," Misra said. In its report, the CBI has said the poaching of tigers increases during the monsoon season. On the Prime Minister's directives, the Environment and Forest Ministry is already working on having a Wildlife Crime Bureau which is expected to be in place soon. Concerned over increasing assaults on wildlife and forest wealth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as head of the National Board for Wildlife, has decided to set up a wildlife crime bureau on the lines of the highly successful Narcotics Control Bureau.

Iranian hardliner Ahamdinejad wins Iran presidential vote (Go To Top)

Tehran: Conservative Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad swept to victory in Iran's presidential election on Saturday spelling a possible end to fragile social reforms and rapprochement with the West. Ahmadinejad, 48, received the backing of the religious poor to defeat moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was supported by pro-reform parties and wealthy Iranians fearful of a hard line monopoly on power in the Islamic state. Although Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word on all matters of state, a hardline presidency would remove the moderating influence on decision-making exercised by outgoing reformist President Mohammad Khatami since 1997, sources said.

Pak police become mullahs, authorities get worried (Go To Top)

Karachi: Police and provincial officials in Karachi are worried over the fact that a large number of police guards provided to leaders of religious and sectarian organizations are growing beards and emulating the leaders to whom they are attached, and becoming less and less of policemen. "We have reports that a number of guards assigned to protect some Deobandi scholars became Deobandis while those who were supposed to guard the Barelvi leaders ended up becoming Barelvis sporting flowing beards," the Daily Times quoted a senior provincial official as saying. Officials said that such instances, more than anything else, only increased the risk factors to the lives of these religious leaders. "We have learnt this fact at various instances and this is one of the few main factors increasing risks to the lives of these religious figures," he added. They said that a large number of religious figures, who were given police guards for protection, used them as "status symbol" rather than using them for the specific purpose of security. "There are a number of religious leaders who travel with dozens of police guards only to intimidate people, but such a mentality is a serious security risk because this makes the target too visible to attackers," he further added. The apprehension by the officials has been caused by the fact that Pakistani military personnel involved in the attack on General Pervez Musharraf too had become members of religious organizations and got indoctrinated with jihadi ideology.

Indian call centres on alert after fraud claim (Go To Top)

Gurgaon (Haryana): India's call centres have moved to tighten security at their respective premises, even as London Police continues its investigation of a report that workers illegally sold data on British bank customers. Meanwhile, the Indian firm at the centre of newspaper allegations one of its workers illegally sold the confidential details said it never had that information and had no British clients. An industry body said they have not been approached by the London police but confirmed they were coordinating with Indian enforcement agencies. "We have no reason to doubt the report, clearly what the report is saying is that the person employed in the company provided the data. That does not mean that the data is from that company. The data could be from elsewhere. This is exactly what needs to be examined because as of now it is not clear from where the data has come in and how. And further action can be proceeded once that is clear and from where the data was obtained and how. Was it obtained illegally and what is the kind of criminal offence," Kiran Karnik, President of National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), said on the sidelines of a seminar in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi.

The BPO scandal rocked the industry on Thursday (June 23) when the Sun tabloid reported in Britain that one of its reporters bought British bank details from a Delhi-based ex-call centre worker. India's call centres were first hit in April by a $400,000 online credit card fraud involving three ex-MphasiS employees, who police said enticed Citibank customers to part with personal identification numbers. In London, Barclays, one of the banks whose data was said to be leaked, said the information did not come from its own operation but probably from a third party that requires customers to provide bank details in sales transactions. Citibank, ABN Amro, Standard Chartered and HSBC are among financial giants that employ thousands of workers in India to serve global customers. HSBC was among those whose data was said to be stolen in the Sun's sting report. The Sun said the institutions targeted included many of Britain's top banks such as HSBC, Barclays, and Lloyds TSB. It added the call centre worker claimed he could provide 200,000 account details a month -- including those of U.S. citizens While industry officials said security measures were in place, investors felt security concerns could cause a short-term slowdown for outsourcing firms that employ 350,000 workers. "As far as customers are concerned, I think they have confidence in India's security and safety mechanisms. As far as the general public abroad is concerned, media plays this up so there is some concern there. But even they know, in a short time there is an immediate reaction, they know these are very rare cases. So, I do not think there is any serious concern (about this)," Karnik said. He admitted there are some loopholes in a five-year-old IT law that need to be plugged to help police crack down on unauthorised use of computer data. "These are being amended and we will look at it, we are working on it jointly with the government. It is not something that's a reaction to this case, it is a process which was started earlier. We will put the amendments into use as soon as they are passed by the government," Karnik said.

About 350,000-call centre workers and back-office agents are employed in India working for about a fifth of Western wages. Industry officials say employees are frisked and banned from carrying hand phones, papers, pens or cameras that could be used to steal data that can be used in credit card or bank frauds. Workers also undergo background checks, sign non-disclosure agreements and attend courses on guarding customer secrecy. Helped by cheap telecoms and English speakers employed at a fifth of Western wages, India's 5.2 billion dollars backoffice exports are expected to jump 40 percent in the year to March 2006. In recent years, many British and U.S. businesses particularly in financial services have "outsourced" thousands of back-office jobs to India to save money on wages. The industry suffered a blow in April when police arrested three employees over a $400,000 online credit card fraud in which Citibank customers were allegedly enticed to part with their personal identification numbers. Shares in leading Indian outsourcing firms, including MphasiS BFL Ltd., Hinduja TMT and Wipro, fell on Friday despite a record high for the broader market.

Tendulkar will get over form slump: Chappell (Go To Top)

Bangalore: Indian cricket coach Greg Chappell has backed master blaster Sachin Tendulkar to come out of his present form slump, and score runs by the tons as he used to do a couple of seasons ago. "Each guy is an individual case and Sachin obviously will be recovering from his operation and he will be doing all the work he needs to do. If he still has got a desire to play, then I think it will be hard to stop him, because I have no doubt that he will make runs. And if he makes runs, then the selectors will want to pick him," Chappell said in an interview to Asian News International. Both Chappell and former Indian captain-cum allrounder Kapil Dev had earlier this month expressed serious doubts about Tendulkar recapturing the form of the past that has brought him 34 Test hundreds and 38 one-day hundreds. Both also said that Tendulkar would serve his own cause well if he retired from the game gracefully before it was too late. Chappell, who is currently here ahead of the first coaching camp this season that gets underway next month, had also cast doubts about whether Tendulkar could return to the heights of the past. Known for his tough attitude, Chappell appears determined to give the Indian team a new look. He has already called on the players to emulate the commitment and team spirit of the Australians, the current world champions, when he took over in May from New Zealander John Wright. Tendulkar is currently out of reckoningfor about 16 weeks after undergoing surgery in a London hospital to fix a persistent left elbow injury. Chappell has said since his appointment as coach by a six-member special BCCI committee last month that his priority would be to motivate the side, which he believes has the potential to win the 2007 World Cup if they perform as a unit. Tendulkar, the highest one-day run-getter, became only the fifth batsman in Test history to score 10,000 runs during the March- April home Test series against Pakistan. He also has over 13,000 runs in one-day internationals.

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