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Govt allows FDI in private FM radio, says no to news

     New Delhi: Launching a major expansion programme for private FM radio services, the government on Thursday allowed 20 per cent foreign direct investment in the sector. It has also decided on a revenue sharing regime against the existing licence fee structure, to allow a total of 330 stations in 90 cities. The Union Cabinet, which met here to thrash out the policy framework for the second phase of FM radio licensing, has however, decided to continue the ban on news and current affairs. Under the present regime though FDI has been allowed at the existing 20 per cent cap for FIIS, OCBs and NRIs, no news on private FM channels has been permitted.

      Said Union Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy Reddy said that the operators will now have to shell four per cent of their revenue as annual licence fee, adding that existing operators will also be allowed to migrate to the new regime and there would be no black-listing of any player. Bidding for the second phase will start in about a month's time, he said, observing that the government has not looked at the revenue aspect at all while framing the new policy and the idea was to encourage expansion of radio in the private sector.

NCW demands deterrent punishment for Imrana's father-in-law  (Go To Top)

     Muzaffarnagar: The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Thursday came out in support of Imrana, and demanded her father in law to be booked under the criminal penal code. NCW chairperson, Girija Vyas demanded that the culprit should be booked under the criminal procedure code and Imrana's statement put on record. "I told them two things, he should be taken into custody under section 377 and secondly Imrana's statement as per section 164. Also, the decision of the Rajasthan court should be implemented at the earliest," Vyas, said after visiting Imrana in Muzaffarnagar. Community leaders in Imrana's Charthawal village, backed by local Muslim clerics, believe that by being raped, the 28-year-old's 10-year marriage has been nullified under Islamic law. Village leaders ordered the mother of five to leave her husband, Noor Mohammed, and live with her parental family for seven months and 10 days and make herself "pure" again.

     Women activist and Communist Party of India (Marxist) politburo member, Brinda Karat said that any action in the case should not hurt Imrana's sensitivities. "Our representatives have met Imrana and she is extremely traumatized. She is torn between what she is being told about her responsibility to her religion and her needs. This is such an unfortunate thing to have put that woman in such a position. We do not want to do anything, which is going to further the trauma. So, whatever we do in this particular case as far as the action is concerned we will do in consultation with Imrana," Karat said. Meanwhile, BJP spokesman Arun Jaitely, condemned Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's stand on the case, and said it was a "cruel example of vote bank politics". "This is a strange situation when injustice is being done to a rape victim and the chief minister instead of helping the woman, who has been ordered to live with her father-in-law, is supporting it. This is a cruel example of vote bank politics," Jaitley told reporters in Chandigarh. Earlier, Mulayam Singh Yadav had supported the edict in the Imrana case, saying the decision taken by the Muslim religious leaders must have been well thought out. Police are now investigating and have said that they plan to arrest the father-in-law. They have also refused to comment on the village elders' ruling, saying it was a sensitive religious issue.

Developed countries siphon off tsunami aid (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: Action Aid on Thursday slammed the developed countries for siphoning off billions of rupees from the aid they gave to the poor and third world countries during disasters and for development. According to Action Aid, more than 6.5 billion dollars aid was pledged by developed countries to 13 countries of the Indian Ocean affected during the tsunami disaster of December 26 last year, but so far only 17,000 dollars has reached the needy. The organisation said that some private donors were demanding to know why their generosity wasn't flowing more rapidly to the affected countries, as some government agencies were being scrutinized for holding onto millions of dollars in pledges. Last week solemn ceremonies marked the half-year anniversary of the massive waves triggered by an earthquake that wiped out coastal communities in Southeast Asia and Africa, killing over 240,000 people and displacing about one million more. Development agencies and non-profit organizations working in the region provided updates on progress, showing that emergency relief efforts were just beginning to shift to long-term reconstruction. "Tsunami aid was for buying more motorboats. Was it for buying huge five star hospitals in Sri Lanka? Or was it for buying colleges or schools and restoring livelihoods? That is the question we are asking," said Professor Mathew, Country Director of Action Aid India, in New Delhi. Mathew said the worst obstacle was the lack of co-ordination among both the government and non-government organizations and the absence of a common aid plan centred on the real needs of the devastated regions. International organizations have put the overall cost of reconstruction during the next three to five years at 12.5 billion dollars. The December 26 tsunami trigerred by an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, left behind a swathe of destruction across South and South East Asia. The most affected country was Indonesia, which had a casualty of 230,000 people. Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and the Maldives, were the other countries that were severely affected. While Indonesia will be needing as much as 2.2 billion dollars for the reconstruction of the affected zones, Sri Lanka will require 1.4 billions dollars.

Shaukat Aziz 'violates Indian airspace' (Go To Top)

     Islamabad: A Pakistani military helicopter carrying Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz briefly crossed over to the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC) while carrying out an aerial survey in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). The News quoted Geo channel as saying that the helicopter crossed over to the Indian side near the Chakoti sector in PoK, but soon turned back after the pilot realised his mistake. IAF officials when contacted said that had nothing on the matter. Shaukat Aziz was on a day's visit to PoK, where he addressed the budget session of the PoK Council in Muzaffarabad. He also visited Chakoti, the last point in PoK and boarded the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus, where he interacted with the passengers before returning to Muzaffarabad. Incidentally, this was the first time that a Pakistani leader had boarded the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service, since its operations started in April.

`Bodyline' ball sells for 10K pounds (Go To Top)

     London: A cricket ball used during the 1932-33 infamous "Bodyline " cricket series between Australia and England has been auctioned for 10,000 pounds in Plymouth on Wednesday. The ball, mounted on a shield signed by 10 England players, went to a mystery British buyer, reports The Mirror. The Bodyline series was and still is a big part of Australian life, taking place during a savage depression of 1930s when money for Test tickets was incredibly hard to come by. There were 'suggestions' from the MCC (before the tour was finalised) that the tour should be cut back to three Test matches after two profit losing home Test series against the West Indies (their first to Australia) and South Africa.

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