Bachchan's detractors the 'Taliban of untouchability': Modi

Lashing out at those objecting to Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan's presence at a government function in Mumbai, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has dubbed them as "Talibans of untouchability". Writing on his blog, Modi described 67-year-old Bachchan as a great artist with legendary humility and even taller achievements who has chosen to celebrate the glorious heritage of Gujarat even while facing a lot of criticism from many quarters. "This is inspiring", he said on Sunday. A controversy erupted over Bachchan attending at a government function in Mumbai where Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan was also present. A section of Congress took objection to his presence as he is the brand ambassador for BJP-ruled Gujarat. The Bachchan-Congress row took a new twist on Sunday with the megastar claiming that his son Abhishek's posters were removed from the venue of WWF's Earth Hour event in Delhi on Saturday evening attended by Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and saw a "pattern" behind such acts. Modi said the anti-Gujarat game plan behind the opposition and the controversy over senior Bachchan stood exposed in daylight now. "These 'Talibans of Untouchability' have lost all their sensibilities in their pursuit of anti-Gujarat attitudes. "They may well in future tell us not to eat even salt. They may even ban the eating of Amul butter and milk and order our young people not to wear denim jeans! And guess why? Because Gujarat produces these things," he said. "Friends, my heart is still unwilling to believe that these Talibans are unaware of the damage they are causing to this nation and to our society," said Modi. The Gujarat chief minister also wrote about his marathon grilling by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT in connection with a Gujarat riots case. "I have cooperated with the process of law and accepted its supremacy. I heartily express my thankfulness to the people for their support and prayers in this difficult moment," his blog entry read. Modi was grilled for over nine hours on Saturday for his alleged role in the Gulbarg Society massacre in which 69 people, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri were killed.

Mumbai Indians beat Deccan Chargers by 41 runs

Harbhajan Singh cracked a stunning 18-ball unbeaten 49 and then grabbed three wickets as Mumbai Indians crushed Deccan Chargers by 41 runs in an Indian Premier League match on Sunday
Harbhajan turned the game around for MI with a stunning innings laced with eight fours and two sixes as he single handedly took them from 119 for seven to 172 for seven after the home side were sent into bat and captain Sachin Tendulkar (43-ball 55) had held the innings together with his fourth IPL 3 half century. The fiesty off-spinner, who opened bowling for the home side, then took three wickets - including that of dangerous Adam Gilchrist - for 31 runs from his four overs as Deccan Chargers were all out for 131 in 17.4 overs in chase of 173. Harbhajan got superb support from pacers Lasith Malinga, who took three for 12 from his 3.4 overs, and Zaheer Khan who returned with figures of 3/21 from his three overs as MI put up a brilliant bowling effort to notch up a comprehensive victory despite the dew playing a part, though small, at the DY Patil Stadium at Navi Mumbai.

Indian American appointed US chief Agriculture Negotiator

An Indian American has been appointed as the chief agriculture negotiator of the United States, who would carry out all critical negotiations for the country in the crucial Doha round and other bilateral discussions. Welcoming Dr Islam A Siddiqui as Chief Agricultural Negotiator, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk yesterday said Siddiqui brings to this office incredible agricultural expertise built over years of work in both government and private sectors. Speaking on Dr Siddiqui, Kirk said "(he) can be counted on to stand up for American farmers, ranchers, and families in all our negotiations - from the Doha round talks to bilateral discussions." Currently serving as a consultant to the USTR, Dr Siddiqui formerly served as Vice President for Science and Regulatory Affairs at CropLife America, where he was responsible for regulatory and international trade issues related to crop protection chemicals. "If we want to double American exports in the next five years, we have to seize every opportunity to grow agricultural exports, as well as exports of goods and services. Isi (Dr Islam Siddiqui) is going to make sure we don't leave any of those opportunities on the table," Kirk said.

Companies target young Indians to boost growth

Companies target young Indians to boost growth
The strong purchasing power of upwardly mobile young Indians is prompting corporate groups, which have been around for long, to adopt a fresh approach to market their products in a bid to remain relevant. At least two such groups are consciously making efforts to take on a more contemporary look — the Godrej group and Bombay Swadeshi Stores. Both the over hundred-year-old groups may be vastly different in their business profiles, but their objective is the same. From product range and image makeovers to tapping social networking sites, these traditionally run groups are aggressively pitching themselves to a younger audience with a clear objective to grow. The Godrej group has set up a special taskforce to ensure that its products continue to meet modern consumer needs. ‘‘Godrej would like to increase the proportion of youth, especially in metros, using four or more Godrej products to rise to a level of 44% over the next three years as against the current 39%,’’ said Tanya Dubash, executive director & president (marketing), Godrej Industries. The group recently launched an online platform (GoJiyo) for its brands to engage with the youth and is now extending the vision to its productline too. Within Godrej’s portfolio, there has been a perceptible shift in the pivot of a vast array of Godrej brands towards a younger audience. Launches like the Krsna Mehta range of Godrej Interio products, Godrej Eon Mirror Star air-conditioners, Yummiez, Good Knight Naturals and Yummiez, have been the vanguards of this youth-centric movement from Godrej. ‘‘There is a lot of innovation happening in the group to appeal to a younger, optimistic and ambitious target consumer. GoJiyo will be an extremely powerful platform for these future launches too,’’ said Dubash. Bombay Swadeshi Stores, which runs ‘The Bombay Store’, on the other hand, is tapping social networking sites to attract consumers and is soon going to launch its own e-commerce business to deliver products across India. ‘‘We are planning to relaunch an entire range with designer Krsna Mehta,” said Asim Dalal, MD , Bombay Swadeshi Stores.

9 players to bid for 3G, no new entrants in fray

NEW DELHI: Nine players will participate in the auctions for pan-India 3G spectrum, which will begin on April 9. In addition, the department of telecom has received 11 applications to participate in the auctions of broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, making for a total of 20 applications. Predictably, the 3G auctions have attracted only existing 2G players -- Aircel, Bharti, Etisalat, Idea, Reliance Telecom, S Tel, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone and Videocon Telecom -- with not a single new entrant, global or Indian, in the list. TOI was the first to predict, way back on August 12, 2008, that new players would probably stay away from the 3G auctions after the auctions were first announced. Even after the guidelines were revised for the 2010 auctions, the barriers for new entrants remained unchanged. The absence of global bidders is likely to ensure that the bidding will be conservative, and probably lower than the ambitious Rs 40,000 crore revenue target first announced by telecom minister A Raja. The BWA list has four new players -- Augere, Tikona Wireless, Infotel Broadband Services and Qualcomm -- while Spice is making a comeback into the telecom space. Infotel belongs to Anant Nahatta, the son of HFCL owner Mahendra Nahatta. It could not be confirmed if these are all pan-India applications or if players will eventually bid only for select circles. DoT is meeting at 11.30am on Saturday, March 20 to screen the applications. "We will check to see if the applicants meet the licence criteria. For example, no company can hold more than 10% in another applicant company," a senior DoT official told TOI.

Headly Accepted the charges Against Him in America

Gain from Headley bargain: Watertight case against Lashkar
The agreement between David Coleman Headley and US authorities, under which he pleaded guilty to being part of the 26/11 plot in order to dodge the death sentence and extradition to India, has considerably abated the fear here that the Americans would let off Headley aka Daood Gilani, a suspected "double agent", lightly. It also marks a big boost to New Delhi's efforts to expose Pakistan's propaganda to project Lashkar as a group focused on J&K. Details of the "guilty" plea made by Headley validate India's claims about the Lashkar leadership masterminding 26/11, and suggest that the American jihadi may not be able to get away lightly as was being feared. What should temper the disappointment in certain quarters over Americans agreeing to Headley's condition not to extradite him to India is that the deal marks the first time that top Lashkar leaders -- mentioned in the agreement as Lashkar Members A, B, C and D -- have been held responsible for the killing of American citizens in a US court.

Home, car loans to get costlier
PRABHAKAR SINHA
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Interest rates on home, car and other retail loans are set to firm up in near future as the RBI on Friday hiked the rates at which it takes deposits, and lends short-term funds to banks by 25 basis points.Home, car loans to get costlier
PRABHAKAR SINHA
df('20 Mar 2010, 00:51',3);
Interest rates on home, car and other retail loans are set to firm up in near future as the RBI on Friday hiked the rates at which it takes deposits, and lends short-term funds to banks by 25 basis points.

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank on Friday raised its key short-term lending and borrowing rates by 25 basis points each as part of its tight money policy to combat inflation, which the government feels is a cause of concern. The repo and reverse rate (short-term rates at which RBI lends and borrows from banks) were hiked to 5%t and 3.5% respectively and could make banks commercial lending dearer. "These measures should anchor inflationary expectations and contain inflation going forward," the Reserve Bank said a month ahead of the announcement of its annual monetary policy on April 20 for 2010-11. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has expressed concern saying inflation is heading to double digits from to 9.89% at present while at the same time not giving up on growth. "As liquidity in the banking system will remain adequate, credit expansion for sustaining the recovery will not be affected", RBI said.

SPLIT in JD(U) OVER WOMEN,s RESERVATION BILL

Sharp divisions emerged among the opponents of the women's reservation bill with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar supporting the measure pitting himself against his party President Sharad Yadav who is opposed to it. "When I was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, I had given a dissent note (more than a decade ago). Now the time has come to give women reservation in Parliament and State Assemblies. I will talk to Sharadji and appeal to him to ensure passage of the bill," Kumar told reporters in Patna. However, JD(U) President Sharad Yadav, a strong opponent of the Bill ever since its introduction in 1997, said his party's opposition to the measure in its present form would continue. The Constitution amendment bill seeking to provide reservation for women in Lok Sabha and Assemblies is slated to come up for consideration on Monday in Rajya Sabha, where the JD(U) has seven MPs. The party also has 20 MPs in the Lok Sabha. The government is happily placed in the 245-member Rajya Sabha, where it has the support of 138 members of Congress, BJP and Left parties besides a number of small parties, which takes the backing to more than 165. The special majority required in the House with an effective strength of 233 is 155. Kumar said that it would be good if the government accepts the demand for introducing quota within quota but it would not be appropriate to block the bill on the issue. "Ideally, women of extremely backward and backward castes should be provided reservation in both Parliament and Assembly. We will keep our efforts on for getting it," he added. On Kumar's stand, Yadav told reporters in Delhi that the chief minister had also talked to him about his "suggestion" and pointed out that he had strongly opposed the measure in the past demanding quota within quota for women belonging to backward castes. Asked whether he was rejecting Kumar's suggestion, he evaded a direct reply saying,"the answer is in what I have said." To a question whether the party would oppose the Bill when it comes before Rajya Sabha, Yadav said that his party's opposition was not of one day. Yadav dared both BJP and Congress to seek passage of the bill without issuing any whip to their members. "If they are saying that they have majority then I challenge them not to issue any whip to their members on the issue. JD(U) will also not issue a whip and then if they succeed in passing the bill, I will be the first to accept it," Yadav said adding this will reveal to both the parties what is the internal situation in their organizations over the issue. Yadav also stressed that it was former BJP leader Uma Bharti, who along with Nitish Kumar and few others had given her dissent to the Bill more than a decade back. He also accused the proponents of the Bill of "bulldozing" 80% of the population and said that they are the real opponents of the empowerment of women. "We are in favour of the empowerment of the majority of women but it is being said that we are opposing it," Yadav said adding that those, who are pushing for the Bill in its present form "at the instance of some NGOs and women in Delhi" are its real opponents.

ASHOK VERMA
PGDM II sem