SA records surprise trade surplus in March

South Africa records trade surplus in March 2011, boosted by strong rand.

ROY DOWNING

Published: 2011/04/29 03:08:18 PM

SA recorded a trade surplus of R0,97bn in March 2011 from a deficit of R0,35bn in February 2011, according to data released by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) on Friday.

"The trade surplus for March 2011 was buoyed by higher commodity exports specifically in precious and semi-precious stones and mineral products," SARS said in a statement.

Exports rose 15,3% to R60,24bn and imports increased 12,7% to R59,27bn.

This is better than expectations as the majority of analysts expected March to show another trade deficit.

Standard Bank said it expected the trade data to reflect another deficit, albeit a rather modest one.

"The gap between exports and imports is expected to have widened in March (after narrowing to just -R0,4bn in February) on the back of an anticipated decline in exports to Japan," Standard Bank said in a statement.

SARS says the cumulative deficit for the year to date is R4,5bn compared with R9bn in 2010, an improvement of 49,9%.

Sasha Naryshkine, asset manager at Vestact, believes the strong rand is the cause of the surplus.

"We are exporting more which is good. What helped the trade surplus was the strong rand in March compared with last year," Naryshkine said.

However, Naryshkine says that April could get a deficit because of the Easter holidays and other public holidays in April.

Isaac Matshego, an economist from Nedbank told Reuters the trade surplus is very encouraging.

"The increase in exports is an encouraging number. I hope this indicates that the global environment is going to be supportive of the local recovery. On the import side, it seems a boost came from vehicles and electrical equipment, but from a low base," Matshego said.

"I think the numbers indicate that imports are not strong. We saw with credit data earlier that the domestic recovery is on track but is not booming, while exports are benefiting from global demand for commodities and remain strong," Salomi Odendaal, an economist from Citadel told Reuters.

"One can expect that if the rand remains strong and recovery picks up imports will pick up as well. But for this year, we should have a fairly small deficit if things continue in this way," Odendaal added.

Ban on booze ads ‘will cost SABC R400m’

Acting CEO says an outright ban on alcohol advertising on television and radio is one of the biggest risks to SABC’s revenue

CHANTELLE BENJAMIN

Published: 2011/04/29 06:27:57 AM

THE cash-strapped SABC stands to lose R250m-R400m if a total ban on alcohol advertising is imposed by the government, the broadcaster’s acting CEO Robin Nicholson said yesterday.

"An outright ban on alcohol advertising on television and radio is one of the biggest risks to SABC’s revenue," said Mr Nicholson. "It’s a significant part of our advertising revenue."

The SABC has warned the parliamentary portfolio committee on communications that such a ban would see the SABC lose about 8,5% of its advertising income. The SABC is the only public broadcaster in the world that has to rely almost exclusively on commercial revenue to fund its operations, with 80% of its revenue derived from advertising and 17% from licence fees.

A discussion document being circulated among the departments of health, social development and trade and industry, contains various proposals aimed at reducing alcohol consumption. These include limiting trading, a ban on sponsorships, higher taxes and a ban on advertising.

The SABC’s financial problems have occupied headlines , with the broadcaster indicating recently it did not intend to borrow more than the R1bn it received through a government guarantee, after a R1bn loss in the 2008-09 financial year. The broadcaster will still have to shed 699 out of 3699 jobs in order to streamline the organisation and cut costs, according to reports.

Mr Nicholson was recently asked by Parliament to name the top 20 risks to SABC revenue. "Obviously there were the normal ones like risk to market share, the decline of advertising and threats like mobile advertising, but loss of alcohol advertising revenue was at the top of the list," he said.

Marketing analyst Chris Moerdyk has warned that a ban would have implications for all media.

He said of the R17bn spent on advertising last year, about 10% could probably be directly attributed to alcohol advertising in the mass media.

"Removing that from the advertising and media industries would achieve nothing but considerable job losses.

"So much so that one could easily argue that an increase in alcohol abuse created by unemployment as a result of an advertising ban would exceed any benefits resulting from the ban," he said.

Mr Moerdyk said legislation banning smoking in public, and changes in the acceptability of smoking, helped to reduce smoking — not a ban on advertising. US research indicated that advertising bans led to a 5%-8% drop.

Some have argued that the ban would have more effect on marketing and advertising companies than on alcohol producers, as ads are aimed more at switching brands than encouraging drinking. It is also not clear how much money would be lost to soccer, cricket and rugby, which receive millions in sponsorship deals.

Health ministry spokesman Fidel Hadebe said yesterday the debate was at an early stage. "The ministerial committee , chaired by Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini, drew up the initial documents. Everyone will be consulted, including the alcohol industry before it is submitted to Cabinet. Look, alcohol abuse is a serious problem," he said.

Last month Ms Dlamini said a survey had shown that alcohol and substance abuse was destroying families.

Zuma offers shock deal on disputed ANC lists

Task team to look at candidates foisted on ANC voters ‘after poll’

SAM MKOKELI

Published: 2011/04/29 06:27:56 AM

IN AN astonishing about-turn just weeks before local government elections, President Jacob Zuma says some African National Congress (ANC) candidates could be ejected to make way for communities’ "preferred" candidates.

His climb-down on candidate lists, which have become a major source of friction in the party, could throw the outcome of the May 18 poll into disarray, certainly for some ANC candidates .

It also appears to negate the frantic efforts of ANC leaders in recent weeks to persuade some local communities to accept party- ordained candidates over their own popular choices.

Mr Zuma said yesterday that a task team would be established to investigate complaints about candidates foisted on communities by party leaders, and possibly replace those with popular candidates after the elections.

Mr Zuma told journalists in Johannesburg yesterday that the task team — whose terms of reference were still to be thrashed out — would investigate irregularities with the list process and remove undeserving councillors.

That can only be done after the polls , since the lists have already been submitted to the Independent Electoral Commission.

"We can’t correct the lists before the election, as legally that process is closed," he said.

Replacing the councillors would lead to by-elections , potentially creating even more problems for a party that has fared relatively badly in by-elections in the past five years.

Revisiting the lists could blow up in Mr Zuma’s face as councillors are unlikely to walk away from their jobs. The announcement may also open the floodgates for more communities to complain that their candidates had been imposed on them .

It may be difficult for the ANC to undertake the investigation after the elections as the focus is expected to shift to the succession within the party and its youth league, and the coming leadership elections in the unions and the South African Communist Party.

Mr Zuma told a press conference: "The ANC has taken a decision that the removal of preferred candidates from our lists should be properly investigated by a team to be set up by the ANC headquarters.

"In the affected wards, candidates that are preferred by our structures and communities were removed from the lists.

"This has understandably caused anger and frustration."

He said the findings of that team would allow the ANC to remove councilors who did not get party and community support but were put on the list by regional leaders. "We will deal with the individuals who should not be on the list after the elections."

He said the ANC’s "honesty and track record" spoke for itself and it would keep its word.

He also called on those who had left the ANC to register as independent candidates to return to the ANC.

During an election drive in Bloemfontein yesterday afternoon, Mr Zuma told unhappy ANC members to "vote for the ANC and we will sort out the candidate lists later". Mr Zuma was visiting the Khayelitsha informal settlement near Grasslands in Bloemfontein when local residents handed a memorandum to him containing their grievances.

Political analyst Steven Friedman said the ANC had dug itself into a hole with the introduction of the "ill-conceived" selection process. Revisiting it after the elections "may well backfire" and encourage councillors likely to lose their jobs to organise communities behind them in protest.

By announcing that the process would be revisited, the ANC was not putting out the fire. "It is making sure that the fires continue," Prof Friedman said.

Getting communities involved in the selection process was a bad idea from the start, when the party did not have its own selection process under control.

The ANC’s election campaign has battled to take off . ANC succession tensions have also seen key organiser Fikile Mbalula — the star of its 2009 national elections campaign — sidelined.

The ANC Youth League is campaigning to install him as secretary-general in party elections in December next year, and those opposed to the idea fear the May 18 elections may give him a platform to campaign for that post. With Sapa

Private sector credit extension below expectations

Growth in credit demand by South Africa's private sector slowed to 5,13% year-on-year in March

Growth in credit demand by South Africa's private sector slowed to 5,13% year-on-year last month, compared with a 5,43% rise in February, central bank data showed on Friday.

This was below expectations of 6,05% year-on-year but the numbers are very unimpressive, Ilke Smit, Economic analyst at Metropolitan Asset Managers said.

"Even though household credit extension increased by R8,398bn during March 2011, corporate lending contracted by R9,997bn. Year to date, corporate credit has declined by R17,113bn since December 2010, as household lending has increased by R19,228bn. Therefore private sector credit extension has only increased by R2,11bn since December 2010 – a meagre 0.5% growth for the first quarter of this year," she said.

Corporates are investing and reinvesting very slowly post-recession. Few companies are hiring en-masse either.

"There was no evidence of a meaningful upturn in corporate borrowing in March’s credit usage figures - surplus capacity means there is little compulsion for corporates to expand operations," Investec economist Annabel Bishop said.

In March, credit extended to the government declined by R4,453bn, which brought total domestic credit extension down to R2,124trn. This is R6,052bn lower than the previous month, and only up 3,63% year-on-year from a year ago. Corporate credit extension is up 2,64% year-on-year. Household lending is up 7,37% year-on-year.

"Mortgage lending declined by R1,616bn to a total of R1,046trn. From a year ago, mortgage lending is only up by 2,89% year-on-year. Instalment sales increased once again, speaking to the growth the economy has been witnessing in vehicle and furniture sale sectors. These types of lending are mostly unsecured– which paints a fragile picture for retailers should the job market not commence on a sustainable recovery," Ms Smit.

Namibia court clears local Walmart deal

Namibian court overturns competition watchdog ruling that placed conditions on Walmart’s proposed takeover of Massmart

A Namibian court has quashed a competition watchdog ruling that placed local conditions on Walmart's planned takeover of South African retailer Massmart Holdings, a newspaper said on Friday.

Massmart operations in Namibia include retailers such as Game and Builders Warehouse. The country's regulator had said the US retail giant's takeover should be subject to conditions relating to local ownership and prevention of job losses.

Walmart contested the decision in the Namibian High Court, which described the conditions as "arbitrary and irritional and impermissibly vague", and said they ran contrary to the Foreign Investment Act, the Namibian daily reported.

The judgment, which was awarded to Walmart with costs, means the $2.3bn acquisition of Massmart is now subject only to a decision by South African competition authorities. A hearing is scheduled for May 9.

Regulators in other African countries where Massmart operates have already given the deal the green light. The merger will affect operations in 14 countries.

CCS cops file chargesheet in Suri case

The Central Crime Station Police on Friday filed a preliminary chargesheet against four persons in connection with the Maddelacheruvu Suri murder case in a Nampally Court.

Though the 25-page chargesheet named five persons as accused in the murder of the factionist from Anantapur district, charges were framed against only four — Sulam Subbaiah, gunman Manmohan Singh Bhadauria, R. Venkataramana and Haribabu.

A chargesheet was not filed against the main accused Bhanu Kiran who is absconding.

Driver Madhumohan who shifted Suri to hospital in a critical condition was included as a witness in the case. A total of 88 persons who were examined in the case were included as witnesses in the case.

MLCs seek CBI probe on Jagan

April 28: The Congress MLCs, Mr K.R. Amos and Mr K. Yadav Reddy on Thursday approached the AP High Court seeking a direction to conduct a CBI probe against the former MP, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, and his associates and associate companies.

The MLCs urged the court to investigate the colossal corruption coupled with abuse of power during the rule of the late chief minister Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy by his own son, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy and others who allegedly amassed assets worth thousands of crores of rupees and expanded their business by not just defrauding the government, but also diluting the institution as a whole by flouting laws.

They also sought a probe against the Rajya Sabha MP, Mr K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, and his relatives Raghuraj, Krishna Mohan and Mr N. Sunil Reddy, a close relative of Mr Jagan. The petitioners told the court that Mr Srinivasulu Naidu, founder of the Indira television, Mr Sajjala Diwakar Reddy, MD of the R.R. Global and his younger brother, Mr S. Ramakrishna Reddy and one Mr Muralidhar Reddy of Chennai were instrumental in causing a huge loss to the exchequer.

They prayed the court to conduct an investigation so that their role in the fraud could be established. They said that a small and defunct power company owned by YSR family attracted foreign investments, contrary to the laws applicable at that time, after he assumed charge as the Chief Minister of the state from tax heaven countries at a premium to promote four companies with this money. They told the court that the details of the modus operandi adopted by Mr Jagan are explained in the writ affidavit.

Nizamabad on top in Inter

April 28: Nizamabad students bagged top honours in the Intermediate Second Year exams, the results of which were announced on Thursday. Ch. Bharat Kumar secured the highest, 993 out of 1,000 in MPC and Sabahat Badar topped the BiPC stream with 991. Both are from Nizamabad. As many as 106 students from the Narayana Group secured more than 980. In MPC, Narayana student Himanshu and Venkata Sravani scored 988, Srija scored 987 and Snehith Reddy, Sirisha and Sukanya scored 986. In BiPC, Narayana students Geethanjali scored 982 and Shraya Yadav, Sujitha, Navya, Sudheer Shankar, Ronita Reddy, Asiya Begum and Aswini Kiran scored 981 each.

Students from the Sri Chaitanya group fared marginally better with 108 students secured over 980 marks. In MPC, Sri Chaitanya students P. Sai Eswar Yashwanth got 987, H. Srinivas Gari Mallik scored 985, D. Murali Mohana Krishna, J. Vara Prasad and Pooja P. Bhatt scored 984 each. In BiPC, Sri Chaitanya students M. Jethavya Reddy and M. Venkata Nagalakshmi scored 987, B. Sravya 986, M. Aravind and S. Sadiq Subhan scored 985 each. Of the total 8,97,953 students who appeared for the Second Year exams in the state, 4,48,281 (63.27 per cent) passed. The pass percentage, however, was 1.42 per cent lower than last year.

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Chandrasekhara Rao re-elected TRS president

( File photo) TRS President K. Chandrasekhar Rao, party MP Vijayashanthi and other leaders during an executive meeting in Hyderabad - PTI

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K. Chandrasekhar Rao was on Friday unanimously re-elected president of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) for the sixth consecutive term.

The Mahabubnagar MP was elected unopposed as the TRS chief for the two-year term at the 10th anniversary celebrations of the party at Mahabubnagar.

TRS MP Vijayashanti, state legislators, politburo and executive members, presidents of all 10 district units of the party and other leaders attended the meeting.

The meeting passed a resolution urging the central government to table a bill in parliament for the formation of separate Telangana state, respecting the sentiments of four crore people of the region.

"People of Telangana want to live with self-respect and they are looking at us with the hope of realising their dream. Our responsibility has increased," said Chandrasekhar Rao while addressing the meeting.

A cultural programme was also held as part of the anniversary celebrations to highlight the unique culture of Telangana.

The meeting was scheduled to be held on April 27 but was postponed as a mark of respect to Sathya Sai Baba, who died last Sunday.

The TRS had planned a massive show of strength at Parade Grounds in Hyderabad but the defence authorities denied permission for using the venue.

It was in 2001 that Chandrasekhar Rao had quit Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to float TRS and revive the Telangana movement.

Newly-wed to get Kalyanam tickets

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), as a token gift to newly wed couples, has introduced current booking of Kalyanotsavam tickets, which will be henceforth issued to them from April 30 onwards, on a first come first serve basis, said TTD executive officer, Mr I.Y.R. Krishna Rao.

Addressing media persons at Tirumala on Friday after reviewing with TTD officials, he said that the TTD had mulled this idea to provide an opportunity to newly wed couples wed in less than a week, to have the blessings of Lord Venkateswara.

He said that a quota of 20 Kalyanotsavam tickets have been allotted to newly weds and the tickets will be issued on a first come first serve basis alone.

“Of 100 kalyanotsavam tickets issued under current booking, 20 will henceforth be allotted to newly wed couples. If the number of couples who have booked tickets does not exceed the quota on any particular day, then the remaining tickets will be issued under general quota to other pilgrims,” the EO added.

Mr Rao further said that to avail this new provision, the newly wed couple has to submit a few photos of their wedding including photos of the knot-tying ceremony (Mangalyadharana) and holy-rice pouring ceremony (Talambralu) along with their invitation card at the exclusive ticket issuing counter meant for them during the time of ticket booking.

Mr Rao said that the TTD has recently introduced a quota of 25 each of Sahasra Kalasabhishekam and Tiruppavadai seva tickets under current booking which will come into existence from May 4 and 5 respectively.

The renovation of various cottages taken up by the TTD at an estimated expenditure of Rs 34 crore will be completed by year end, he said.

Later, the EO inspected the ongoing works of Narayanagiri gardens, new Annadanam complex and wastage dumping area at Kakulakonda.

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Top agricultural officer trapped

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths raided the premises of assistant director of agriculture Vippala Prasad on charges of amassing wealth which was not proportionate to his known sources of income.

On Friday, the sleuths raided his apartment in Maharanipeta, house in Narsipatnam and the premises of his relatives in the city, Jogampeta, Kottakota, Yelamanchili and Guntapalli in the district. Documents relating to assets worth Rs 1.5 crore were found in his possession and the market value of these assets could be around Rs 10 crore.

Prasad is a native of Jogampeta under Golugonda mandal of the district and joined the department as agriculture officer and rose to the level of assistant director.

He is presently posted in Yelamanchili.

The deputy superintendent of police, ACB, Mr A. Ramakrishna Prasad, told reporters that Prasad owned 14 house plots and 20 acres of agriculture land in Narsipatnam and Yelamanchili.

His son, a student of Andhra University owned a cashew factory worth Rs 75 lakh.

Goods worth Rs 70 lakh were recovered in another closed factory.

Apart from these, Rs 3.75 lakh cash and 300 grams of gold was found in his house, the DSP said.

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DSP gets 1-yr jail for bribe

The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) court in Vijayawada on Friday sentenced a DSP and a retired constable to one year imprisonment and imposed a penalty of Rs 2,000 in connection with the suicide of a person on the police station premises in 1994 at Bapatla in Guntur district.

According to prosecution, the DSP G. Srinivas Rao, of Hyderabad, and the retired constable Syed Adam were sentenced for one year imprisonment for demanding Rs 10,000 bribe from two accused of rape case.

Two persons Nannam Guruvaiah and his son Nannam Srinivas were taken into custody on December 17, 1994 in a rape case. The former town sub-inspector (now DSP in Hyderabad), G. Srinivasa Rao and former constable Syed Adam demanded Rs 10,000 bribe to release them.

Guruvaiah’s wife Chinnamma faced many hardships to pay Rs 10,000 bribe but in vain. Hurt with the incident, Guruvaiah committed suicide by hanging in the police station.

The local police booked a case and later it was taken over by the CB-CID.

TRS chief refuses to merge with Congress

TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao poses with a bow and arrow gifted to him by partymen at a meeting org-anised in Mahbubnagar on Friday — S. Surender Reddy

The TRS chief, Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who was elected as the party president for the sixth successive term on Friday, categorically declared that his party will never merge with the Congress.

Addressing a well attended TRS delegates meeting in Mahbubnagar for the party’s 10th formation day, Mr Rao wondered, “How can anyone expect the TRS to join the Congress whose state president, Mr D. Srinivas, lost the deposit in the bypolls held recently?”

He said if the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre is not going to concede to the genuine demand of the people for formation of Telangnaa, the people will themselves merge the Congress in the Bay of Bengal.

Referring to some media reports that the TRS will be merged with the Congress after the Centre announces Telangana state, Mr Rao said, “We will not merge with the Congress before or after formation of Telangana. Nowadays the Congress is suffering due to “mergers” mania. We will never do that. It is our responsibility to simultaneously develop the TRS both electorally and organisationally even after a separate state is formed.”

He said the responsibility lies with the TRS to rebuild Telangana and make it a “golden state”. “In such a case how can anyone think about a merger with the Congress?” he said.

Citing a survey conducted by one media group, Mr Rao said if elections are held in Telangana, the TRS will sweep the polls and bag a minimum of 80 seats.

However he did not unveil the future course of Telangana agitation as reported in the media, but announced that a high-level meeting would be convened after May 5 to check out the next course of agitation programme in the region.

HC says no to Maytas’ plea, flat owners happy

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has struck a blow to Maytas Properties Ltd by turning down its plea to appoint an arbitrator to resolve the dispute between the company and its customers pertaining to Maytas Hill County.

The division bench of Justice Ghulam Mohammed and Justice K.G. Shankar, while dismissing a batch of writ petitions of the company, said the cases can be decided under the Consumer Protection Act.

Several customers who have purchased flats in the Maytas Hill County project approached the State Consumer Redressal Forum after the company failed to deliver possession of the flats as per the purchase agreement and got orders in their favour.

The company challenged the orders of the commission before the High Court contending that the commission has no jurisdiction to entertain complaints of the customers regarding non-delivery of flats in view of the Arbitration Clause in the construction agreement. According to the audit report submitted before the High Court, Maytas stopped construction activity in December 2008.

More than 550 flats were sold by the company.

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Buddhadeb demands judicial probe into arms drop case

KOLKATA: Considering the gravity of the situation and in the interest of internal security, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Friday demanded a judicial inquiry by the Centre into the dropping of arms from an aircraft in the Jhalda area of the State's Purulia district on December 17-18, 1995.

This follows disclosures made by Kim Davy, a prime accused in the case, and Peter Bleach, who served a sentence in connection with the incident, to a national television channel on Thursday that the air-drop operation was approved by the Centre to destabilise and bring down the Left Front government at that time.

Not only has Mr. Bhattacharjee demanded a judicial probe into the operation, implicit in his press release issued here is his questioning why the Centre had not addressed the goings-on with the sense of urgency expected of it.

The Chief Minister has pointed out that a communiqué despatched by the Union Home Ministry alerting the State's Home Department about the air-drop reached here only after the operation was completed.

“Very casual”

The message dated December 12, 1995, was sent in a “very casual manner” from Delhi through ordinary post. The wire service was not taken recourse to for sending it despite the gravity of the situation.

The huge cache of weapons that were air-dropped was meant for the Ananda Margis, he stated.

Given the seriousness of the air-drop operation, the State Government had handed over the responsibility of investigations to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Chief Minister said. The sophisticated weapons that had been air-dropped were handed over by the State Police who had retrieved the arms to the CBI. Since the start of investigations the weapons seized have remained in the CBI's custody, the Chief Minister said.

The “political conspiracy” behind the arms-drop has come to light through the media nearly 16 years after the operation, he noted.

The leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has also taken exception to the Centre's failure to inform the West Bengal government about the matter in time even though it had been alerted of the arms-drop by the British intelligence.

The CPI (M) Polit Bureau has already asserted that it is imperative for the Centre to explain why it failed to act on the information provided to it by the British intelligence.

Hyderabadi girl murdered

HYDERABAD: A 13-year-old girl, who ran away from home along with her school mate, was killed when her friend allegedly pushed her into river Krishna in Vijayawada a week ago. The shocking details behind the death of Bhavani came to light only after her runaway friend Praveen, alias Pappu, confessed to the police about the killing.

The alarmed policemen from Jeedimetla station, who had earlier registered a case of missing, rushed to Tadepally village of Guntur and found her body.

The Guntur police which found the body in the Krishna five days ago preserved it as they could not identify her. The motive for the killing was that Praveen was unable to bear her demands to love her, police said quoting the confession.

Bhavani used to live with her foster father Yadagiri, a scrap dealer, in Sanjay Gandhi Nagar of Jeedimetla and was studying in sixth standard in a private school. Praveen, her senior by one year and another student Srikanth, ran away from their homes on April 21. Police said while the girl stole Rs.2,500 from home, Praveen brought Rs.4,500, and the trio set out for Tirupati on April 21, Balanagar ACP S. Damoder said.

From Tirumala, they came to Vijayawada on April 23. Praveen, police said, had asked Srikanth to stay put at the bus station and took the girl to Prakasam Barrage, where he pushed her into the swirling waters. “Despite Pappu's admission, the motive is not clear as he claims that he murdered her since she pestered him to love her,” Mr. Damoder said.

Later, Srikanth called up his father who rushed to Vijayawada and took him home, while Praveen went to Bapatla and began working in a hotel. The hotel owner grew suspicious of his behaviour and called up Praveen's father.

Passport Office promises remedial measures

— File photo: S. Siva Saravanan

Too much to handle:The delay in securing appointments at the Passport

BANGALORE: The Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Bangalore will not only increase the number of appointments at the four Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) in the State but also throw open its office in Koramangala here to accept applications from May 2.

Drive

Addressing presspersons here on Friday in the wake of complaints from passport applicants, K.J. Srinivasa, Regional Passport Officer, Bangalore, said the Regional Passport Office, along with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), its private partner in the Passport Seva Project, has launched an appointment handling drive to squeeze in an additional 1,450 appointments every day at its PSKs from the present 2,479, apart from accepting 250 to 300 applications at the Regional Passport Office in Koramangala.

To start with, the RPO, Koramangala, will accept hard copies of passport applications from May 2 to 31, 2011 to clear the rush.

“This special drive will not only provide an outlet for those who have not got appointments, but will also help cut the waiting period for future applicants.”

Tokens to be issued

Tokens will be issued from 9.15 a.m. to 12 noon on a first come, first served basis. “Applicants will have to bring all the requisite original documents with a set of photocopies along with a demand draft for the corresponding amount,” Dr. Srinivasa said.

This is expected to bring down the application-to-appointment cycle to one day in the Mangalore PSK and two weeks in the Bangalore PSKs by mid-May.

Big jump

He attributed the delay in securing appointments to an 88 per cent jump in the number of applicants over the past 11 months.

“It went up from 1,103 a day in 2007 to 1,311 in 2008 before reaching 1,700 per day in 2010. At present, the number of applicants had reached 2,479,” he said.

Dr. Srinivasa said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), New Delhi, had assured the RPO, Bangalore, that .additional staff would be deployed from other Passport Offices in south India to clear the rush.

The Hindu report

Following a report appearing in The Hindu on April 28 on the chaotic conditions at the PSKs in the city where frustrated applicants vented their anger against the PSKs' working, senior MEA officials held a meeting with TCS representatives in New Delhi on Friday to review the system.

Faulty documents

He said the RPO, Bangalore, had to discontinue receiving passport applications at the Speed Post Passport Application Collection Centres and BangaloreOne centres as 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the applications lacked proper documents, leading to unnecessary delays in processing.

Rural applicants

However, keeping the interests of applicants from rural areas who face financial and technological difficulties in submitting online applications at the PSKs, the provision to send applications through District Passport Cells (DPC) and the Passport Application Collection Centre (PACC), Gulbarga, continues.

The PACC, Gulbarga, will soon be upgraded to a mini PSK.

Joshi thinking of submitting 2G draft report to Speaker

NEW DELHI: Even as Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi is reported to be exploring the possibility of submitting the contentious draft report on the 2G affairs to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, there are others who hold the view that without following the procedure for approval of the report, he cannot put his signature or submit it.

The Speaker, now in Arunachal Pradesh, is expected back here on Saturday evening, last day of the tenure of the existing PAC. Even if Mr. Joshi continues as Chairman (this question has yet to be decided by the Speaker) for the next one year from May 1, the PAC composition will change and the process of adopting the report by the new Committee will have to be complied with before it is submitted to the Speaker.

A senior BJP leader gave a hint of the party's thinking. He said: “The report is not dead. Whether it is tabled in Parliament or not, it is already with the people, and this is what matters. It has already gone down in history.”

The former Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha, P.D.T. Achary, is not willing to comment on the politically sensitive matters in the report, but he did say: “The procedure for adoption is clear. The Chairman circulates the draft report among members and gives them enough time to read it and cross-check it against documents and evidence on record before the Committee. He then fixes up a meeting where the report is taken up for discussion paragraph by paragraph and every member is entitled to suggest amendments. On the basis of suggestions, a consensus is arrived and duly noted by the secretariat before moving on to the next paragraph or chapter. After a consensus on the entire report, the final report is prepared, signed by the Chairman and submitted to the Speaker along with the minutes of the meetings approving the draft.” The PAC tradition is that all reports are finalised by consensus and there are no dissent notes. This is the first time the PAC report has become so contentious.

In the present context, without the approval of the Committee, “it cannot be submitted to the Speaker,” said Mr. Achary.

On the issue of the Congress, DMK, BSP and SP members on the Committee “electing” Professor Saifuddin Soz to chair the second session of Thursday's meeting after Dr. Joshi walked away, the generally accepted view is “that election of the Chairman” and “voting” by the 11 ruling coalition MPs and their supporters rejecting the report cannot be valid or legal. “The PAC, by tradition, has been headed by a member of the Opposition; it is the Speaker who nominates the Chairman from amongst the members, and he has to be from the Lok Sabha,” said one official who did not want to be identified.

Sources close to Dr. Joshi indicated on Friday he was busy examining the “the serious charges” made by some members that the report had been “outsourced,” that is, it was not entirely prepared by the PAC secretariat. If these charges were proved true, then “there is no draft PAC report,” but clearly no one in the BJP believes that this was possible at all. “Such an eventuality will bring the entire Lok Sabha secretariat into disrepute,” the sources said.

Dr. Joshi's office rejected the charge that the minutes of every meeting were not circulated to members. “Yes, transcripts of the evidence before it were not circulated, but could be examined in the PAC office by any member after seeking the Chairman's approval. Annexures were not sent with the draft report as all members already had photocopies of documents received from various Ministries, including the Prime Minister's Office,” it was said.

“A conspiracy”

On the report leaking to the media before it reached PAC members, the BJP blamed the Congress, saying it was part of a conspiracy to defame the Chairman. The Congress, however, was firm. Its members did not have the reports. They received their copies well after the media got them. And, above all, it was not in the interest of the party to “leak” the report that made serious allegations against its government and Ministers. “The charge that the Congress leaked the report is blatantly absurd,” Aruna Kumar and K.S. Rao, said party members on the PAC.

Left supporters protest Centre's ‘collusion' in Purulia arms-drop

West Bengal Left Front Committee chairman Biman Bose (third from right) and other Left leaders lead a protest in Kolkata on Friday against the alleged involvement of the Centre in the Purulia arms-drop case.

KOLKATA: Supporters of the Left parties in West Bengal, led by chairman of the Left Front Committee Biman Bose, took to the streets on Friday to protest against the ‘involvement' of the Centre in the arms-drop in Purulia in December 1995, as charged by the main accused in the case, Niels Christian Nielsen alias Kim Davy.

“Even as we protest the attempt to destabilise the Left Front government ahead of the 1996 Parliamentary and Assembly elections, we must bear in mind that a similar conspiracy against the Leftist forces is ongoing,” Mr. Bose told the protesters.

He demanded a judicial inquiry into the arms-drop case immediately.

Appealing to supporters to organise protests and mobilise public opinion against the conspiracy, Mr. Bose said: “Forces within and outside the country have been conspiring to dislodge the Left Front government in West Bengal in an unjust manner for a very long time.”

He alleged that the leadership of the ruling party at the Centre was involved in the conspiracy.

Recalling events in the 1990s, he said the then Home Minister had made a statement in Parliament saying that the headquarters of the terrorist organisation Ananda Marg had moved to Purulia, but had assured that the Centre was keeping a close watch on their activities.

Mr. Bose said that when the then Chief Minister Jyoti Basu had called for the Assembly elections to be held simultaneously with the 1996 Parliamentary polls, the arms-drop was planned to create a situation of anarchy and impose President's Rule in West Bengal and then oust the Left Front government.

He added that three inquiries into the incident were held, including one by the CBI, but none of their findings was made pubic.

Left supporters marched through the streets shouting slogans demanding an inquiry into the case and expediting the arrest of Mr. Nielsen.

Even though the first three phases of the ongoing Assembly elections in the State have passed off more or less peacefully, Mr. Bose alleged that attempts were being made to incite trouble, particularly in the Purba Medinipur district, in the fourth phase of polls due on May 3.

He charged that Left supporters in Khejuri in Purba Medinipur were being threatened not to attend an election rally of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Mr. Bose said the developments there could not be viewed in isolation and were part of the ongoing conspiracy by “domestic and international reactionary forces” to oust the Left Front government.

All pomp and pageantry at Britain's most hyped wedding

Rejoicing over royal union:Britain's Prince William kisses his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Royal Wedding in London Friday.

LONDON: A nation in the depths of economic gloom on Friday bravely hauled itself up onto its knees to celebrate Britain's most hyped royal wedding in 30 years as Prince William, the Queen's 28-year-old grandson and second in line to the throne, married his long-term companion, Kate Middleton, after a now-on-now-off relationship.

At 11 a.m. when the bride wearing an ivory and lace gown designed by celebrity designer Sarah Burton entered Westminster Abbey — the venue of the wedding — she was plain Catherine or Kate Middleton. But when she emerged an hour later after exchanging marital vows with the Prince she had been transformed by a royal edict into Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cambridge, though in Britain's rigid class system she still remains a “commoner.” Prince William has been given the title of the Duke of Cambridge.

Some 1,900 guests comprising the crème de la crème of British society and international royalty with a smattering of the hoi-polloi to give the occasion a feel of inclusiveness attended the ceremony marked by singing of hymns (chosen by the couple) and the national anthem. There was apparently only one difficult moment during the otherwise flawless proceedings when the Prince appeared to struggle to place the ring on the bride's finger. (The ring belonged to the Prince's late mother, Diana, whose funeral he attended in the same building 13 years ago.)

In the spirit of the modern age, the bride did not promise to “obey” her husband-to-be while exchanging the vows. The couple were pronounced “man and wife” by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, following which they spent a private moment together with their families as they signed the marriage register before driving to Buckingham Palace in an open air carriage.

It was all pomp and pageantry that Brits still do rather well. The public felt the full weight of the royal paraphernalia as it watched a procession of horse-drawn carriages and old Bentleys roll down the Mall, while Royal Air Force planes did tricks up in the sky. And then there were the Queen's “life guards” in quaint tunics and plumed hats on majestic horses, not to mention an army of bowing-and-curtseying courtiers — and young bridesmaids as they prepared for the big moment.

The whole operation — starting early morning under grey skies and winding up in time for a buffet reception at Buckingham Palace — was run with clockwork precision. Even the moment when the couple appeared on the Palace balcony for that famous public kiss was scripted — down to its duration.

A record global television audience of two billion was said to have watched the wedding, while thousands from across Britain and abroad turned up in person to greet the young couple lining up the route of the procession since early morning. Children, especially little girls in frocks and images of “Kate” and “Will” and the Union Jack painted on their faces, were the most enthusiastic. Many “camped out” overnight wrapped up in sleeping bags, and were seen making tea and cooking sausages on make-shift stoves. Some royal fans had travelled to Britain especially to be part of the “experience.”

Hundreds of street parties were held across Britain. Even royal-sceptics grudgingly acknowledged the occasion by holding “alternative” parties of their own.

To commemorate the occasion they sold “I-am-not-a-royal-wedding-mug” mugs to rival the royal wedding mugs embossed with crude images of Kate and Wills.

The transformation of Ms. Middleton — a descendant of a mine worker and daughter of two former British Airways workers, Michael and Carole Middleton, who now run a successful mail order company — has been dubbed a pit-to-palace story which fits into the narrative of a modern monarchy and the current debate in Britain over social mobility.

Dadasaheb Phalke Award for K. Balachander

K. Balachander

CHENNAI: Director K. Balachander, one of the influential filmmakers and trendsetters in Indian cinema, will receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2010, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry announced on Friday.

“Direction has been my passion and continues to be so. Yes, this is a very happy moment,” said the veteran director. Mr. Balachander's story is as fascinating as the ones he has told on screen.

When he was a government servant, he was drawn to theatre and wrote a set of plays that were marked by realistic portrayals. He later took to penning dialogues and gradually found himself wearing the director's hat with ease.

Amid several television interviews and telephone calls, a very enthusiastic Mr. Balachander said: “It has been over a 100 films in direction. I have also produced a good number of films. But what is really fulfilling is having had the opportunity to shape and mentor several actors and technicians.”

It must be, for he was the director who spotted and groomed several talented artists, including the celebrated Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan.

Film buffs and critics have often credited “KB sir,” as he is fondly known, with making films that were not hero-centric. He has presented an admirable variety of protagonists, the character of a struggling youth played by actor Nagesh in ‘Ethir Neechal' being a classic example. His films such as ‘Avargal' had female actors performing meaty roles, challenging the conventional notion of a “heroine” in films. Also, a Balachander film was always expected to have very good music.

On how he managed to ensure that the music in all his films were super hit numbers, Mr. Balachander said: “As a director, I have always felt responsible for all the departments in filmmaking. With that conviction, it was possible to bring out the best in my technicians.”

Mr. Balachander has explored very interesting themes in several of his films, including ‘Aboorva Ragangal,' ‘Bama Vijayam,' ‘Sindhubhairavi,' ‘Varumayin Niram Sivappu,' and ‘Thanneer Thanneer.' His ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye' caught the attention of cinema lovers in other parts of the country.

“Sometimes, when I see my old films now, I am really surprised. ‘How did we manage to take this scene?' I wonder. It seems like I knew some magic. Otherwise, people would not have let me take those films. It would be nearly impossible now,” he said.

His tryst with television serials also proved successful, again, setting trends in the field. His ‘Rayil Sneham' and ‘Kai Alavu Manasu' were virtually a phenomenon on television, at a time when television soaps were not too common. Even now, the director is busy working on a Tamil serial.

Kollywood responds

The announcement of the award to ‘Iyakkunar Sigaram' as he is known in Kollywood has brought tremendous happiness to the fraternity of artists and technicians. However, some felt that it could have come much earlier.

Actor Kamal Haasan said this was a “belated honour.” “Had I been in the committee, I would have recommended his name soon after ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye,' but people would have attributed motives. In a country like India, a talent like Balachander sir has to wait this long before he gets a well-deserved honour,” he said.

Director Vasanth, who was earlier his assistant, said: “It feels great to have known a genius like him for 30 years. It is a matter of great pride that he gets this award given for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema. I think after Sivaji sir, he is the first person to get it in Tamil Nadu.”

Mr. Balachander is loved by juniors, for he never fails to send a note of appreciation to a technician who has done well.

Director Gautham Vasudeva Menon, who received a letter with nuanced feedback on ‘Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa' said: “All of us have grown up watching his films. I am truly excited and happy. He is someone who keeps in touch with everyone in the industry and his words are very reassuring to all of us.”

Removal proceedings against Dinakaran stayed for two weeks

P.D. Dinakaran

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed all further proceedings of the three-member committee probing corruption and other charges against Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court P.D. Dinakaran.

A Bench of Justices H.S. Bedi and C.K. Prasad granted the stay for two weeks, after senior counsel Amarendra Saran and counsel Romy Chacko, appearing for Justice Dinakaran, pointed out that the committee had passed orders without even hearing the petitioner, raising the question of bias. Mr. Saran said the committee had started day-to-day hearing.

The petition also raised an important constitutional issue: whether the committee, comprising Supreme Court Judge Aftab Alam, Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court J.S. Khehar and senior advocate P.P. Rao, could go beyond the motion admitted in the Rajya Sabha.

The Bench issued notice to the Registrar of the inquiry committee, the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Mr. Rao, seeking their response in two weeks and directed that the matter be listed thereafter for hearing by a vacation Bench.

In his petition, Justice Dinakaran challenged the April 24 order of the committee rejecting his plea that Mr. Rao recuse himself from the committee, on grounds of bias. Once the apprehension of bias was raised against a member, he said, an order compelling him/her to continue to serve was fraught with disastrous consequences, impinging on his fundamental rights. Mr. Rao, he said, was part of a delegation that met the then Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, and urged him that he be not elevated a Supreme Court judge. Alleging that the committee was rushing through the proceedings despite his objections, Justice Dinakaran said he had sought the documents referred to in the notice, but they were yet to be given.

He said the committee could not go beyond the allegations mentioned in the motion. However, in the present case “it appears that charges are framed beyond the ground mentioned in the motion and based on alleged evidence other than the material forming the basis of the admission of notice of motion. Any investigation before framing of charges was beyond the jurisdiction of the committee, and all further proceedings pursuant to such charges should be dropped forthwith.”

He rejected as unjust and baseless the committee's remarks in its April 24 order that he was trying to delay the proceedings. Seeking to quash the order, he sought an interim stay on the proceedings

30 Apr, 2011, 10.49AM IST,Reuters Bank of Japan Governor Shirakawa warns Japan economic outlook 'very severe'

TOKYO: Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said on Saturday that the Japanese economic outlook was very severe and that the central bank would take the appropriate action to support the economy.

Shirakawa made the comments at a financial committee meeting in the lower house of parliament.

The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy unchanged on Thursday even as it lowered its growth forecasts and estimated that the economy tipped into recession early this year, disappointing analysts who felt that the grim data since last month's devastating earthquake called for more policy easing.

Pilots' strike enters 4th day; Air India operates just 39 flights

pilot strike

NEW DELHI: Air India on Saturday further reduced its operations to 39 domestic flights out of its regular 320 as the strike by its pilots entered the fourth day inconveniencing passengers.

"We have curtailed more than 52% of our domestic flights and operating on only trunk routes that is too metro cities," an AI spokesperson said.

"Under the contingency plan, we have reduced the number of flights as we don not have any pilots," he said.

While 21 flights will be operated from the national capital, Air India's Mumbai operations have almost come to a standstill as the airline may operate just five flights between 9 and 11 30 am, an AI spokeswoman said in Mumbai.The national carrier did not undertake any operations from Mumbai before 9 am.

Telecom, power, road claimed 33% of bank credit

UMBAI: Telecom, power and road gobbled up a third of the banking sector loans to industry last fiscal, which may skew the asset-liability position of banks that have more of short-term funds. Agriculture , microfinance and education loans growth rate slowed, raising the possibility of slow farm output growth that may keep food prices high. Personal loans and pledging of shares and bonds for funds also jumped as consumers confident of rising pay splurged on durables such as refrigerators, cars and motorcycles, RBI data show.

Lending to non-banking finance companies, the lenders who mostly don't take deposits or offer cheque facility but perform a similar function to that of banks, jumped more than 50% as they onlent for purchase of trucks, machinery and other industrial equipment. Telecom loans rose the fastest among infrastructure as firms such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications paid more than Rs 1 lakh crore to buy spectrum for 3G services. "Now, we are in a strong position to grow," Chanda Kochhar, chief executive at ICICI Bank , had said. "It is expected to be in line with industry growth... a little upward of 20% in 2011-12.

This year, the thrust will be on project-financing , working capital, housing and car loan segments." Indian banks are forecasting more than 20% growth in loans this fiscal as companies expand capacities to meet the growing demand. But at the same time, rising interest threatens to slow demand and also hurt their profitability . With banks that depend on short-term funds such as current and savings accounts , any delay in implementation of infra-structure projects could raise their bad loans. That could lead to falling profits in future. Nonfood credit comprising loans to businesses rose 20.6% in FY11 to Rs 3,667,354 crore, compared with a 16.8% growth the previous year.

Rajinikanth in hospital on first day of film Rana's shoot

CHENNAI: Superstar Rajinikanth was taken to St Isabel's Hospital in Mylapore on Friday after he complained of fatigue and vomiting on the first day of shooting for his forthcoming film 'Rana' .

Doctors attending on him said he was admitted for dehydration and exhaustion. " He was in ICU. We gave him fluid replacement and medicines for mild stomach infection," said Dr C V Krishnaswamy.

According to sources, the actor complained of breathing difficulty in the morning. His private physician, Dr M Balasubramaniam , sent him to the hospital for fluid replacements and rest, and he was discharged from hospital in the evening.

The actor is playing a triple role in the movie directed by K S Ravikumar, with whom he had earlier done 'Padayappa' and 'Muthu' . The movie, which is planned for release next year in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, will see the superstar romance actor Deepika Padukone.

The movie also has a worldclass list of technicians, including cinematographer R Rathnavelu and Oscar winner A R Rahman.

Eyes on honeymoon after British royal wedding joy

LONDON: Britain's Prince William and his new bride reveal their honeymoon destination on Saturday, after millions of people around the world tuned in to watch the couple tie the knot in a dazzling display of royal pageantry.

The prince and Kate Middleton , his 29-year-old girlfriend of nearly a decade, married in London's historic Westminster Abbey on Friday in the biggest royal wedding for 30 years.

A million cheering people crowded into central London to catch a glimpse of the newlyweds as they rode from the abbey to Queen Elizabeth's Buckingham Palace in a 1902 open-topped state landau carriage.

Commentators praised the royal family for striking a balance between carefully choreographed grandeur -- military bands in black bearskin hats and household cavalrymen in shining breastplates -- and personal spontaneity.

"Nothing else anywhere has the archetypal quality of what was shown in Westminster Abbey, the same closeness between what is unspeakably grand and what is ordinarily human," wrote Charles Moore in the conservative Daily Telegraph newspaper.

William, 28, greeted fans camped out ahead of the wedding, and in another surprise drove his bride the short journey from Buckingham Palace to St James's Palace in his father's open-top Aston Martin with the licence plate "JU5T WED".

HONEYMOON A MYSTERY

Like other details of the wedding, including the designer of Middleton's dress, the honeymoon venue is a closely kept secret, though that has not stopped newspapers from guessing.

Suggestions have included locations as varied as the Seychelles, Kenya, Mustique, an island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the Greek island of Corfu, a villa in Tuscany and the Scilly Isles off England's southwest coast.

Bookmaker Paddy Power has Mustique as the favourite, followed by Jordan, the Seychelles and Australia.

The intense speculation over the couple's every move underlines the pressure they will face as the future British king and queen living in the full glare of the media spotlight.

Uncomfortable parallels have been drawn between Middleton and William's hugely popular mother Princess Diana , who was hounded by paparazzi right up to her death in a Paris car crash in 1997 aged just 36.

Her death, and divorce from Prince Charles the year before, marked a low point for the royal family, which has also been embroiled in scandal and seen by many as out of touch with the British public, particularly during austere economic times.

But Middleton's background -- she is the first commoner to marry a prince close to the British throne in over 350 years -- and William's personable style have helped reverse the monarchy's rating in recent opinion polls, at least for now.

Not that the wedding was high on everyone's agenda. "The royal family have too many rights in a country where other people are having their state rights withdrawn. We are funding a wedding of two people I've never met and I don't care about at all," said London charity worker Jessamy Barker, 29.

Middleton has been given the title Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cambridge, after the queen made her grandson William the Duke of Cambridge to mark the marriage.

No Indian player in Australian Twenty20 Big Bash League Down Under

MELBOURNE: Australian cricketers may be participating in the IPL but Indian players would not get the BCCI's permission to compete in the Twenty20 Big Bash League Down Under later this year because of domestic tournaments.

BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty said the Board would not free the players of their domestic season commitments which run from October to March. The Big Bash is scheduled from mid-December until late January.

"Last year some teams wanted Indian players and they were not available because of (the) domestic tournament," he told 'The Age'.

India have a one-day series in Australia lined up next year soon after the Big Bash but even newly-appointed coach Duncan Fletcher can't ask for a earlier-than-scheduled trip Down Under for his players to get acclimatised.

"It's a policy decision of the board, the new coach has nothing to do with that, and when there is a domestic tournament on I don't think we will release any players.

"Sri Lanka now has some league in the month of July and it doesn't clash with our domestic tournament so whoever wants to go with prior permission can participate," Shetty explained.

There are 35 Australians, including retired champions Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist , playing in the Indian Premier League right now.

US outreach to India business to prevent visa abuse

WASHINGTON: Keen to strengthen its economic relationship with India, the US says it has a lot of outreach with the business community there to prevent abuse of the visa system to spoil it for everyone else. "There's an awful lot of outreach with the business community in India. We have a very good relationship with NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) and other business groups there," Janice Jacobs, assistant secretary of state for consular affairs told reporters Thursday. "So we are very interested in strengthening the economic partnership that we have with India, and I think these visas are part of that," he said. However, US consulates or the Embassy in India had become aware of certain abuses of those two categories of visas, and they are taking measures to make sure that those abuses do not continue, Jacobs said when asked about reports that US missions were denying visas to some people whose visas had been approved in the US. Noting that over 50 percent of the H&L visas for professionals issued by US worldwide are issued in India and these "two programmes, I think, have really benefited Indian nationals over the years," he said: "we don't want people who might try to abuse the system to spoil it for everyone else." "So we do a lot of presentations and outreach on trying to explain what the procedures are, what the requirements are, just to make sure that everyone is sort of playing by the book so that we're able to issue visas to qualified applicants," Jacobs said

Over 80% turnout in third phase of polls in West Bengal

Kolkata: The crucial third phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections — which saw the fates of high-profile candidates such as Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Partha Chatterjee being decided — passed off peacefully on Wednesday.

The voter turnout of 80.43 per cent (till 9 p.m.) was also a record in the three districts in the recent past. The average percentage in the 2006 Assembly elections and 2009 Lok Sabha elections were 77.94 per cent and 78.94 per cent respectively.

Though there was no report of any major incident, minor charges, however, kept pouring in during the day. They included the Trinamool Congress alleging rigging and booth capturing by activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at the Jadavpur Assembly constituency from where the Chief Minister is seeking re-election.

Seventy-five Assembly constituencies in North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts and Kolkata went to the polls. In all 479 candidates were in the fray. The percentage of polling in the city-based constituencies was a shade lower than that in the other two districts.

A spell of late-afternoon showers in the city affected the pace of polling, resulting in long queues outside many booths well after 5 p.m.

“The polling was very peaceful with no report of any law and order violation or disruption. There were strong security arrangements at the polling booths and nearby areasso that security personnel could rush immediately to any spot on receiving a complaint,” State Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta said.

One arrested

Mr. Gupta added that one person was arrested from the city for allegedly trying to canvass for a political party near a polling booth, apart from 106 preventive arrests across the three districts.

Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi with Kanimozhi, MP, arriving for the party's high-level committee meeting in

Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi with Kanimozhi, MP, arriving for the party's high-level committee meeting in Chennai on Wednesday.
Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi with Kanimozhi, MP, arriving for the party's high-level committee meeting in Chennai on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: Expressing surprise over the inclusion of the party's Rajya Sabha Member Kanimozhi in the supplementary charge sheet in the 2G spectrum allocation case, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's high-level committee declared on Wednesday that it would face the situation legally.

A resolution passed at its 90-minute meeting at the DMK headquarters, chaired by its president and Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi, alleged that ever since the Comptroller and Auditor General of India had observed that the exchequer suffered a loss to the tune of several crores of rupees in the allocation of 2G spectrum, there had been attempts by a dominant section to use the issue as a “political chessboard.”

Based on this, an investigation was launched by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and former Telecom Minister A. Raja and directors of various companies were arrested and lodged in the Tihar jail. It was surprising to note that the names of Kanimozhi, a stakeholder in Kalaignar TV, and Sharad Kumar, director in the television company, figured in the charge sheet, even though the channel had explained that it had only taken a loan of Rs.200 crore from another company and that it had repaid the amount with interest and submitted the relevant details to the Income Tax Department.

The resolution also charged the media with blowing this issue out of proportion, seizing it as an opportunity to tarnish the DMK leadership's image. Attempts were being made to make it a political issue and cause loss of trust among constituents of the Democratic Progressive Alliance in a bid to break the alliance.

It alleged that “certain political leaders whose culture and way of life is corruption” and sections of the media bent upon toppling the DMK and Mr. Karunanidhi were trying to exploit this (2G spectrum issue) in order to rattle the party. The DMK would not wilt under this propaganda blitz. As it was confident that justice would be ultimately established, the party decided to handle this issue through legal means, the resolution added.

Later speaking to the press, Mr. Karunanidhi refused to say anything on the 2G spectrum issue and how the CBI was acting in this regard, except reiterating that everything would be handled legally.

On whether Ms. Kanimozhi and Mr. Sharad Kumar would seek anticipatory bail, Mr. Karunanidhi said it was for the lawyers to decide on this. Will she respond to the summons issued by a Delhi court to appear before it on May 6? “She is not like Jayalalithaa (former Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary) to avoid court appearances,” he retorted.

Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi with Kanimozhi, MP, arriving for the party's high-level committee meeting in Chennai on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: Expressing surprise over the inclusion of the party's Rajya Sabha Member Kanimozhi in the supplementary charge sheet in the 2G spectrum allocation case, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's high-level committee declared on Wednesday that it would face the situation legally.

A resolution passed at its 90-minute meeting at the DMK headquarters, chaired by its president and Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi, alleged that ever since the Comptroller and Auditor General of India had observed that the exchequer suffered a loss to the tune of several crores of rupees in the allocation of 2G spectrum, there had been attempts by a dominant section to use the issue as a “political chessboard.”

Based on this, an investigation was launched by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and former Telecom Minister A. Raja and directors of various companies were arrested and lodged in the Tihar jail. It was surprising to note that the names of Kanimozhi, a stakeholder in Kalaignar TV, and Sharad Kumar, director in the television company, figured in the charge sheet, even though the channel had explained that it had only taken a loan of Rs.200 crore from another company and that it had repaid the amount with interest and submitted the relevant details to the Income Tax Department.

The resolution also charged the media with blowing this issue out of proportion, seizing it as an opportunity to tarnish the DMK leadership's image. Attempts were being made to make it a political issue and cause loss of trust among constituents of the Democratic Progressive Alliance in a bid to break the alliance.

It alleged that “certain political leaders whose culture and way of life is corruption” and sections of the media bent upon toppling the DMK and Mr. Karunanidhi were trying to exploit this (2G spectrum issue) in order to rattle the party. The DMK would not wilt under this propaganda blitz. As it was confident that justice would be ultimately established, the party decided to handle this issue through legal means, the resolution added.

Later speaking to the press, Mr. Karunanidhi refused to say anything on the 2G spectrum issue and how the CBI was acting in this regard, except reiterating that everything would be handled legally.

On whether Ms. Kanimozhi and Mr. Sharad Kumar would seek anticipatory bail, Mr. Karunanidhi said it was for the lawyers to decide on this. Will she respond to the summons issued by a Delhi court to appear before it on May 6? “She is not like Jayalalithaa (former Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary) to avoid court appearances,” he retorted.

Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi with Kanimozhi, MP, arriving for the party's high-level committee meeting in Chennai on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: Expressing surprise over the inclusion of the party's Rajya Sabha Member Kanimozhi in the supplementary charge sheet in the 2G spectrum allocation case, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's high-level committee declared on Wednesday that it would face the situation legally.

A resolution passed at its 90-minute meeting at the DMK headquarters, chaired by its president and Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi, alleged that ever since the Comptroller and Auditor General of India had observed that the exchequer suffered a loss to the tune of several crores of rupees in the allocation of 2G spectrum, there had been attempts by a dominant section to use the issue as a “political chessboard.”

Based on this, an investigation was launched by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and former Telecom Minister A. Raja and directors of various companies were arrested and lodged in the Tihar jail. It was surprising to note that the names of Kanimozhi, a stakeholder in Kalaignar TV, and Sharad Kumar, director in the television company, figured in the charge sheet, even though the channel had explained that it had only taken a loan of Rs.200 crore from another company and that it had repaid the amount with interest and submitted the relevant details to the Income Tax Department.

The resolution also charged the media with blowing this issue out of proportion, seizing it as an opportunity to tarnish the DMK leadership's image. Attempts were being made to make it a political issue and cause loss of trust among constituents of the Democratic Progressive Alliance in a bid to break the alliance.

It alleged that “certain political leaders whose culture and way of life is corruption” and sections of the media bent upon toppling the DMK and Mr. Karunanidhi were trying to exploit this (2G spectrum issue) in order to rattle the party. The DMK would not wilt under this propaganda blitz. As it was confident that justice would be ultimately established, the party decided to handle this issue through legal means, the resolution added.

Later speaking to the press, Mr. Karunanidhi refused to say anything on the 2G spectrum issue and how the CBI was acting in this regard, except reiterating that everything would be handled legally.

On whether Ms. Kanimozhi and Mr. Sharad Kumar would seek anticipatory bail, Mr. Karunanidhi said it was for the lawyers to decide on this. Will she respond to the summons issued by a Delhi court to appear before it on May 6? “She is not like Jayalalithaa (former Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary) to avoid court appearances,” he retorted.

Not aware of 200-crore deal: Dayalu Ammal

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal, in her statement to the CBI, said she was not aware of the source of Rs. 200 crore paid to Kalaignar TV Pvt. Ltd. from December 2008 onwards.

“I state that I am not aware about the same as I am neither managing nor involving myself in the day-to-day affairs of the company. I am also not aware about any such funds and as to who arranged that,” the 60 per cent stakeholder told the CBI.

Ms. Ammal said the source of her funds for Kalaignar TV from which the share capital of Rs.6 crore was raised was “arranged out of the proceeds of around Rs.100 crore which I got when I sold my share in Sun TV Pvt. Ltd. to Kalanidhi Maran in 2005-06.”

She also handed over to the CBI a certified copy of the Kalaignar TV Board resolution dated July 27, 2007, when she was appointed director. “I expressed my reservations about the said appointment as I did not understand any language except Tamil,” she said in her statement.

In the Board resolution, Ms. Ammal reportedly said that “in view of her old age and deteriorating health she cannot be expected to give any attention to the company's affairs.”

The statement, which was made under Section 161 of the Cr.PC to a Chennai-based CBI officer, will not be admissible in court as evidence

Dinakaran wants media kept out of hearing

New Delhi: Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court P.D. Dinakaran on Wednesday filed an application before the committee probing charges of corruption, land grab and abuse of judicial office against him, demanding that media be kept out of the hearing on the removal proceedings and that they be held ‘in-camera.'

The application was filed before the panel that comprises Justice Aftab Alam of the Supreme Court, Karnataka High Court Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and senior advocate P.P. Rao.

Justice Dinakaran also filed an application seeking a review of the order on his preliminary objection that Mr. Rao should recuse himself from the probe as he was biased.

The panel, which had issued the charge sheet to Justice Dinakaran, dismissed his application on April 24. (Mr. Rao did not participate in that meeting.)

‘Counsel not heard'

Justice Dinakaran said his counsel was not heard before the committee passed the order.

Rejecting the application, the committee said the hearing would begin on Thursday.

Senior counsel for the panel U.U. Lalit said that based on the written statements filed by Justice Dinakaran to the 16 charges, there was no ground to drop any of the charges.

Accordingly, the committee retained all the charges mentioned in the motion under Section 3 of the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 for removal of Justice Dinakaran, admitted in Parliament on December 17, 2009.

On Tuesday, Justice Dinakaran moved the Supreme Court challenging the order refusing his plea seeking recusal of Mr. Rao and this petition is yet to come up for hearing.

He had sought a stay on the removal proceedings.

Bhawani Singh's grandson crowned Maharaja of Jaipur

Padmanabh Singh being greeted by the royal household staff after his coronation at City Palace in Jaipur on Wednesday.

JAIPUR: Teenager Padmanabh Singh — grandson of the erstwhile Jaipur ruler, the late Brigadier Sawai Bhawani Singh — ascended the titular throne of the Pink City at a magnificent coronation ceremony at the City Palace here on Wednesday.

Brig. Singh died on April 17 at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness and on completion of the mourning period Padmanabh was coronated.

Brig. Singh had adopted Padmanabh, son of his daughter Diya Kumari, as the heir to the Kachwaha Rajput dynasty at a grand ceremony in November 2002.

Padmanabh, 13, lit the funeral pyre of Brig. Singh at the royal family's crematorium at ‘Gaitore Ki Chhatriyan' here last week. The unassuming teenager was called from Mayo College in Ajmer, where he is studying, to join the mourning.

Wednesday afternoon's solemn ceremony was attended by a galaxy of scions of the erstwhile royal families — the former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje and present Arts and Culture Minister Bina Kak were among them.

Padmanabh's coronation in the royal grandeur was followed by the presentation of a guard of honour by an imperial contingent and salute by firing of cannon 12 times. The newly designated titular Maharaja took the salute with poise while holding a sword.

Padmanabh, who has inherited the vast wealth of the former Jaipur rulers, will also squarely face legal disputes pending in connection with a huge chunk of properties. Many of the royal buildings have been given on lease to the State government for a token amount.

Members of the royal family are involved in litigation over distribution of ancestral palaces and enormous wealth in the form of gold, silver, precious gem stones, artefacts and antiques. Brig. Singh's stepmother, the late Gayatri Devi, was one of the litigants.

Brig. Singh's decision to declare Padmanabh his successor met with opposition as the young crown prince's father, Narendra Singh, had been a member of the royal household staff. The late Maharaja's two stepbrothers had stoutly opposed the move, leading to a rift within the family.

Some Rajput groups called upon Brig. Singh's wife Padmini Devi after the Maharaja's death to select a successor from among the sons of his stepbrothers or from any royal family of the erstwhile Rajputana. According to them, Padmanabh's coronation would “break the royal lineage” and damage the princely State's dignity.

The adoption ceremony for Padmanabh was the second at the City Palace after a gap of 81 years. Brig. Singh's father, Sawai Man Singh II — originally from Isarda — was also adopted at the same venue by the then ruler Sawai Madho Singh II in 1921. Brig. Singh, born in 1931, was the natural successor of Man Singh II.

After the coronation ceremony and other rituals, the titular Maharaja Padmanabh went straight to the city deity Govind Deoji's famous temple in the Walled City here. He was accompanied by his parents and Padmini Devi.

Padmanabh Singh being greeted by the royal household staff after his coronation at City Palace in Jaipur on Wednesday.

JAIPUR: Teenager Padmanabh Singh — grandson of the erstwhile Jaipur ruler, the late Brigadier Sawai Bhawani Singh — ascended the titular throne of the Pink City at a magnificent coronation ceremony at the City Palace here on Wednesday.

Brig. Singh died on April 17 at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness and on completion of the mourning period Padmanabh was coronated.

Brig. Singh had adopted Padmanabh, son of his daughter Diya Kumari, as the heir to the Kachwaha Rajput dynasty at a grand ceremony in November 2002.

Padmanabh, 13, lit the funeral pyre of Brig. Singh at the royal family's crematorium at ‘Gaitore Ki Chhatriyan' here last week. The unassuming teenager was called from Mayo College in Ajmer, where he is studying, to join the mourning.

Wednesday afternoon's solemn ceremony was attended by a galaxy of scions of the erstwhile royal families — the former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje and present Arts and Culture Minister Bina Kak were among them.

Padmanabh's coronation in the royal grandeur was followed by the presentation of a guard of honour by an imperial contingent and salute by firing of cannon 12 times. The newly designated titular Maharaja took the salute with poise while holding a sword.

Padmanabh, who has inherited the vast wealth of the former Jaipur rulers, will also squarely face legal disputes pending in connection with a huge chunk of properties. Many of the royal buildings have been given on lease to the State government for a token amount.

Members of the royal family are involved in litigation over distribution of ancestral palaces and enormous wealth in the form of gold, silver, precious gem stones, artefacts and antiques. Brig. Singh's stepmother, the late Gayatri Devi, was one of the litigants.

Brig. Singh's decision to declare Padmanabh his successor met with opposition as the young crown prince's father, Narendra Singh, had been a member of the royal household staff. The late Maharaja's two stepbrothers had stoutly opposed the move, leading to a rift within the family.

Some Rajput groups called upon Brig. Singh's wife Padmini Devi after the Maharaja's death to select a successor from among the sons of his stepbrothers or from any royal family of the erstwhile Rajputana. According to them, Padmanabh's coronation would “break the royal lineage” and damage the princely State's dignity.

The adoption ceremony for Padmanabh was the second at the City Palace after a gap of 81 years. Brig. Singh's father, Sawai Man Singh II — originally from Isarda — was also adopted at the same venue by the then ruler Sawai Madho Singh II in 1921. Brig. Singh, born in 1931, was the natural successor of Man Singh II.

After the coronation ceremony and other rituals, the titular Maharaja Padmanabh went straight to the city deity Govind Deoji's famous temple in the Walled City here. He was accompanied by his parents and Padmini Devi.