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Thursday, January 31, 2008

Farewell to Bapu's last remains

AS HE watched a motley gathering meander up to the beach on Wednesday morning, trailing an urn of Mahatma Gandhi's ashes on its journey to immersion in the sea off south Mumbai, German radio producer Jean-Claude Kuner wondered aloud: "Gandhiji has now vanished from the lives of his countrymen, is it?"

The ashes, which began their journey from Mani Bhavan museum, were the last known physical remains of the man who inspired leaders from Martin Luther King Jr to Nelson Mandela - and whom India calls the Father of the Nation. But on the morning of January 30, the 60th anniversary of Gandhi's martyrdom, the nation seemed to have forgotten the Father As Nilam Parikh, Bapu's grand-daughter, immersed the ashes in the Arabian Sea, Mumbai demonstrated it had little time for him. At 10.45 am, as the urn was

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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

CBI to probe kidney racket

THE CENTRE wants a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the Gurgaon kidney transplant racket, which, it suspects, is spread across the country. And to prevent similar rackets and ensure transparency the government has also decided to set up a Central Registry for Organ Transplantation, which will maintain online medical records of all transplants.

"We have asked the CBI to do a detailed investigation as the kidney racket seems to involve different states. They will also examine how extensive the problem is and how foreign patients are sought out to buy organs illegally in the country," said Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Tuesday.

A CBI probe into this case will need the permission of the Haryana government. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said in Chandigarh he did not have any objection. An Interpol alert has been issued for racket mastermind Dr Amit Kumal, who is suspected to have fled to Nepal. Kumar's e-mail account had 48 requests for donors from both India and abroad, mostly from Greece. Three other doctors who worked with Dr Kumar are also missing.

"Since doctors doing transplants are sometimes involved in illegal activities, medical details of all organ transplants will have to be posted online," Ramadoss said. "Transplant surgeons and doctors will also not be allowed on the hospital authorisation team

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Monday, January 28, 2008

Regulator to plug market loopholes

After the Reliance Power experience, SEBI wants to change the way initial public offers are made

INVESTORS PUTTING their money into initial public offers (IPOs) of shares may soon get a respite from committing funds with no guarantee of quick allotment or refund. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) plans to drastically cut the allotment time to less than five days from the current 21 days. Also, the entire thing will be done online to ensure speedy clearance of applications. The current proposals, being formulated by a SEBI panel, assume significance after the Reliance Power issue, which raised questions as to whether bankers and promoters had time to play with applicants' cash. Top SEBI sources said the regulator believes that physical application forms must be done away with and replaced with online applications. "Since demit accounts have all the relevant information, and bank accounts are online, it is possible to make fresh applications by putting in the demit account number and online payment instruction," a member of the primary market committee told Hindustan Times. "What is the need of putting so much of repetitive information and creating complicated application forms?" he said. The committee is due to meet again in early February and take a final decision on recommendations to be put up to the SEBI board. However, the proposals may not become rules soon enough to affect a spate of forthcoming IPOs. Some 35 companies plan to enter the market by March to mop up around Rs 20,000 crore. The new norms are expected to take effect in March or April, sources in the committee said. Physical applications, particularly in mega issues, involve a logistical nightmare. The forms also require all sorts of details. The new proposals aim at making...

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Article taken from the issue: 28 Jan 2008

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Friday, January 25, 2008

Love in the time of call centres

WORKING LONG, odd hours at a BPO, sleeping away the days and travelling some 30 km to work and back had 23-year-old Pranjul Dogra declaring, "I have no time for love." But then Cupid struck, and Dogra was soon seeing her cab companion - another call centre employee still working long hours, but with love as a convenient side effect. Cab romances are now a common trend in the BPO industry When five to seven people are confined to the seats of a Qualis/ Tavera/ Innova for an average of two hours a day, bonds will invariably emerge, says Dogra. In a cab is where Himani Bahadur, 28, often dated her now ex-boyfriend. They even changed BPO jobs to be able to work - and go to work - together She says their relationship was very much out in the open, with their friends in the cab often teasing them about their constant handholding. The couple's cab driver would even offer good-natured advice to the two - who come from different religious backgrounds and whose families are opposed to the alliance. Laughs Himani, "Our cab driver would tell us ma-baap toh man jayenge, maine bhi bhaag ke shaadi ki thi; meri biwi bhi toh alag jaat ki thi, par bacche ho kar sab maan jaate hain (parents always come around, even I eloped with a girl from a different caste, but once the kids come on the scene, all's well) "In my Thursday-Friday cabs, a couple started seeing each other based solely on their cab interaction," says Sarthak Bhatt, 23-yearold Am Ex employee. While working at Convergys, Pritika Bajaj was witness to a few cases of puppy love.

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Article taken from the issue: 25 Jan 2008

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Thursday, January 24, 2008

Forceps left behind in AllMS patient

A 30-YEAR-OLD woman, who had been operated at AIIMS earlier this month, had to undergo an emergency surgery in the same hospital on Wednesday after an X-ray revealed a pair of surgical forceps in her body. The forceps was removed after a four-hour surgery The patient, Soni Singh, has been kept under observation. The hospital administration admitted that the forceps was left behind, but did not label it a case of negligence immediately "The hospital has appointed a committee to look into the matter and only they can confirm if it was negligence," said Dr YK. Gupta, spokesman for AIIMS. Professor M.C. Mishra, HoD, Surgery, will head the committee, and the panel report is expected within seven days. The spokesman refused to name the surgeon who had operated on the patient for a non-fkmetioning kidney on January 1. He said the...

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Article taken from the issue: 24 Jan 2008

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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Fed oxygen for sinking Sensex

"IF YOU won't take, I'll pay cash," begged small investor Mahesh Bhatt. He wanted to buy Reliance Natural Resources and L&T shares. But there were no brokers willingng to put his orders through.

Dalal Street had shut down. Investors had lost over Rs 6.5 lakh crore within 60 seconds of the market opening shop on Tuesday. Pre-market sell orders had sent the benchmark BSE Sensex plunging by over 11 per cent, triggering the circuit filter, the exchange's safety fuse.

All trade halted and the system automatically locked all broker terminals. Within seconds, the National Stock Exchange had also hit circuit freeze, as the 50-share Nifty index fell 12.10 per cent to 4,578 points.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's appeal for calm from Delhi and his reassurance about the health of the Indian economy helped markets recover when the circuit freeze lifted at 10.57 am. But that was short-lived, as the Sensex dipped to the day's low of 15,332 by I1.53 am. The pain should last one more day and loss of may be another 1.000 points. Then it should stablise,'" said R. Venkataraman, Exceutive Director, India Infoline. After the storm, came some calm. US Federal Reservee chief Ben Bernanke cut key lending rates by 0.75 per cent before US markets opened. London's FTSE Index, which was already trading, immediately jumped 3.5 per cent after the announcement. New York Stock Exchange's Dow Jones index. which opened after the rate out, lost 457.9 points, only to claw back. Hopes have

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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Brown wants India to be a bigger global player

BRITISH PRIME Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday he hoped that India would join a proposed standby, rapid response international team to provide both civilian and military support to help failing states get back on their own feet. In an exclusive interview to the Hindustan Tirnes, Brown said when dealing with a broken-down state or a conflict zone, there was need not only for peace, but also for reconstruction and development. Supporting India's case for the lifting of restrictions imposed by the Nuclear Suppliers Group on civilian nuclear commerce, Brown said Britain would also back India's entry into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-led Financial Action Task Force to combat terrorism funding. Brown hinted that the West, which had backed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in the war against terrorism, would look at the country closely after the February 18 general elections. "We have see how the polls are conducted," he said. "We're always...

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Article taken from the issue: 22 Jan 2008

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Friday, January 18, 2008

20-year-old girl murdered

A 20-YEAR-OLD girl was murdered by an employee of her uncle at her Rajdhani Enclave house in north-west Delhi early on Thursday The accused, identified as Pawan, had been working for the family for over 12 years, police said.

The motive was robbery When Pawan entered the house, the victim, Surabhi, woke up. On seeing him, she raised an alarm. Pawan slit her throat and hit her with a hammer The girl suffered over a dozen injuries and died on the spot ...


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Article taken from the issue: 18 Jan 2008

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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Rape allegation rocks city home for visually impaired

A 20-YEAR-OLD visually impaired woman was allegedly raped by her teacher, who is also visually impaired, at a hostel in Timarpur in north Delhi a week ago. The accused kept threatening the victim for five days and she complained to the police only on Tuesday, confided first in her elder sister.

The teacher, Rajendra Gupta (38), has been arrested. The police said the victim had moved into Vinayak Drishtiheen Mahila Kalyan Samaj Ashram in Timarpur six months ago. On January 11, the accused followed the victim to a storeroom. "He raped her in the storeroom and also threatened her with dire consequences," said a police officer.

The police said the victim, a resident of Uttam Nagar, left her hostel and returned home after the incident. "She was under immense shock after the incident.

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Article taken from the issue: 17 Jan 2008

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Monday, January 14, 2008

Shame: Rape is India's fastest growing crime

RAPE IS the fastest growing crime in the country, shows government data, even as reports of sexual crimes, including those against foreign tourists, continue to pour in from across India. The latest statistics, pertaining to 2006, released by the Home Ministry's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recently, show that every hour 18 women become victims of crime. The number of rapes a day has increased nearly 700 per cent since 1971 - when the NCRB started recording such cases. It has grown from seven cases a day to 53. It was 5.5 per cent more than the number of rape cases registered in 2005. In comparison, all other crimes have grown by 300 per cent since 1953, when the NCRB started keeping records. And these are just the cases that have been reported; the number of unreport- ed cases is far higher. There have been at least a dozen cases of molestation and rape of foreign tourists so far in 2008. The latest was reported on Saturday - a British woman alleged she was raped in Panaji (see more cases in box). Worried over the sexual assaults on tourists, which has the potential to damage the tourism industry and the country's image, the...
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Article taken from the issue: 14 Jan 2008

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Friday, January 11, 2008

2 Canadian girls molested

TWO GIRLS from Canada, holidaying in the backwater resort of Kumarakom with their family, were allegedly molested by a security guard of a hotel on Wednesday night. This was the second such incident involving foreign tourists in Kerala in the past 10 days. Police said the girls, aged 12 and 14, raised an alarm when Shyju Varghese, the guard, tried to molest them in the hotel's billiards room. Varghese was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by the father of the girls. "We took action immediately Investigations are on," Kumarakom station house officer Sanal Kumar said. The accused was granted bail on Thursday Following the incident, the family cut short their stay and left the resort. Such assaults on foreign tourists have become a matter of concern for the authorities in Kerala, a priority tourism destination. On New Year's Eve, two girls were molested on the Fort Kochi beach.

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Article taken from the issue: 10 Jan 2008

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Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Sarkozy turns toAmartya Sen for advice

FRENCH PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday that he has recruited two Nobel economists, Amartya Sen of India and Joseph Stiglitz of the US, to advise him on changing the way French economic growth is calculated so as to include quality-of-life factors.

Sarkozy said, "We must change the way we measure growth," adding that gross national product must be calculated taking into account the quality of life in France. New indices would improve the impression of growth performance among French people who can no longer accept the growing gap between statistics that show continuing progress (in growth) and the increasing difficulties hey are having in their daily lives.

Sarkozy said he had asked the two Nobel prize winners, "who have done a lot of work on these questions," to lead the analysis. Amartya Sen, who won the Nobel Prize in 1998, is a unique modern economist. He successfully bridges philosophy, ethics and economics. An outstanding theorist, an authority on

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Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Congress is trying to kill me, says Mayawati

Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday alleged that certain Congress leaders were plotting to kill her She also threatened to withdraw support to the Congress led UPA government if her demands for a Rs 80,000-crore economic package for the state and SPG cover for herself are not met by the Center.

The BSP supremo set a deadline of January 15, which is also her birthday for the demands to be met. If they aren't, a meeting of BSP MLAs and MPs will decide on the next course of action, she said. "Currently, everyone is busy with the preparations for my birthday celebrations. But we will soon have to take a decision," she said.

The BSP has 19 MPs in Lok Sabha and 7 in Rajya Sabha. It supports the government from outside. Justifying her demand for the elite SPG covery only reserved for prime ministers and ex-PMs under the law, Mayawati said her life was under threat. "Some Uttar Pradesh dons such as

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Monday, January 7, 2008

'She was dead when she fell in my lap' - An eyewitness account of Benazir's last moments

BENAZIR BHUTTO died instantly, without a groan, a wail or a cry for help. She sank down through the sun-roof of her car - out of which she risen seconds earlier to wave at the milling crowds - directly into the lan of her political secretary, Naheed Khan.

"I was taken aback. Her head in my lap, I thought maybe she was exhausted. I said, "Bibi kya hua, aap uthth kar baithen"(What's happened?Why don't you sit up?) There was no response. Just then, I noticed to my horror that she was bleeding profusely My clothes were drenched in blood," recalled Naheed. "I believe she was dead when she fell in my lap."

Moments earlier she had heard gunshots that sounded to her like firecrackers going off. A close Benazir aide since the latter's exile in London in the 1980s, Naheed is a prime witness to the assassination that shook the world.

Her hitherto unpublished account was shared with the Hindustan Times by Pakistani journalists who met Naheed and her husband Senator Dr Safdar Abbasi in Larkana last Friday According to Naheed, seven people travelled to Liaquat Bagh in a B6 bullet proof Land Cruiser on December 27. The former premier's security incharge, Major Imtiaz sat in front next to the driver, while Naheed and Makhodoom Amin Fahim, now the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) prime ministerial candidate, flanked Benazir on either side, in the middle seat. Dr Abbasi sat in the rear seat next to a security guard.

When Naheed raised an alarm, Abbasi leaned forward to check Benazir's pulse: "My gut reaction as a physician was that she's dead," he said later "I had no courage to tell the others. I told them to pray for her long life."

The Land Cruiser's wheels were blown up in the explosion that followed the gunshots. Benazir had to be lifted into her media advisor Sherry Rehman's car "I could feel she was lifeless. There was no movement in her body," said Naheed. At the Rawalpindi General Hospital, Dr Tassadu, one of the doctors who attended on Benazir told PPP spokesperson Farhatullah Babbar that part of her skull had chipped off with brain matter hanging out "I've never seen

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Saturday, January 5, 2008

Racism dir t on Bhajji

A day that India's batsmen dominated thoroughly ended in shock and disbelief for the visitors after the Australians lodged an official complaint saying Harbhajan Singh had abused one of their players racially Sources said the player is Andrew Symonds, with whom the offspinner had a verbal exchange on the field. Harbhajan is bewildered and upset. The Indian team is furious; they say the charges are utter rubbish, and will back Bhajji to the end. And there is a strong feeling here that the Australians, suddenly finding themselves in what may turn out to be a tight corner, have thrown a low blow The Australians would in fact, appear to have enough reasons to target Harbhajan. He was a thorn in their side for nearly 30 overs after lunch.

He smashed a feisty 63 that dashed India into an unlikely lead, allowed Sachin Tendulkar to reach century number 38, and took his side to a situation from where they can make a fight of this Test. And when Australia bat on a spinning track on..






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Article taken from the issue: 5 Jan 2008

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Friday, January 4, 2008

Bloggers' trail: Bilawal Bhutto

Bilawal Zardari, the newest Bhutto, is also the new rage on Facebook, the social networking website. Since his coronation last Monday, there has been a spurt of Facebook accounts named after him. But only the uninitiated would mistake any of them as an account set up by him. The apparently genuine one - Bilawal Lawalib - allows no access to any information. Some of these accounts are straightforward enough, called Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Bilawal Zardari. But there are others with a twist: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari? Where'd he come from? You know from the name the last one will not be kind to the young man. On message goes like this: "...he just seems so lost... he has no idea what to do ... probably gonna ruin Pakistan." Here goes one that Bilawal will like: "btw (net language for by the way), is it just me saying it or is everyone saying it, democracy is the best revenge."

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Thursday, January 3, 2008

Govt war on killer lifestyles

Plans to target diseases that cause 50% of under-60 deaths

Lifestyle Diseases cause over half of all deaths among people aged under 60 in India. And, to fight the problem, the government has decided to launch a programme to encourage people to lead healthy lifestyles. In 2005, chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer and lung problems caused 53 per cent of the 10,362,000 deaths among people aged between 30 and 59. The Union Health Ministry is launching a pilot project to prevent and control heart disease, diabetes and stroke in one district each of six states. The project has a budget of Rs 5 crore for one year, after which it wm be expanded to cover the entire country The districts chosen are Kamrup (Assam), Jalandhar (Punjab), Bhilwara (Rajasthan), Shimoga (Karnataka), Kancheepuram (Tamil Nadu) and Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala). "The districts selected offer a national footprint and wm help identify the underlying determinants of rising diseases among culturally and economically diverse cross-sections in..
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Article taken from the issue: 3 Jan 2008

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Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Sonia in Hospital, better now

Congress President and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital late Monday night following a mild breathing difficulty and chest infection. Hospital sources on Tuesday said she was stable and responding well to treatment.

Her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra were not in Delhi when she was admitted, but rushed back on Tuesday night.

Congress leaders said Sonia, 61, may be discharged from the hospital by Thursday In a statement, Dr . B.K. Rao, chairman of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said, "There is nothing to worry about. We will assess her condition on Wednesday and decide on when to discharge her."

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Article taken from the issue: 2 Jan 2007

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