Hindustan Times

Clinton urges India to be a global power

Hillary Clinton ensured there was a lot of Barack and a bit of Bill in her five-day state visit to India.

The US secretary of state laid out an agenda of global problems for New Delhi and Washington to explore. That was President Barack Obama’s priority. But she also met a wide swathe of Indian civil society, from the captains of industry to women activists, in an echo of her husband’s historic visit.

New Delhi gave a guarded welcome to working with Washington, with Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna saying the two countries were “partners” prepared to work on “global issues together.”

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Labels: barack, clinton urges, five day india visit, global problems, group of eight, hitech military equipment, India, indo united states relations, nuclear technologies, obama priority, women activists

Man who knit India and Bharat through theatre passes away

Veteran Indian playwright and theatre director Habib Ahmed Khan ‘Tanvir’ died on June 8, in Bhopal, aged 85, after a brief illness. Tanvir was reportedly admitted to hospital three weeks ago with breathing difficulties.

He leaves behind a daughter, Nagin, who is a Hindustani vocal singer, having debuted at the home of Bhopal-based dhrupad maestros Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha. Tanvir’s wife and professional partner, Moneeka Mishra, died in 2005. Tanvir’s burial will take place in the Bada Bara graveyard in Bhopal on Tuesday evening.

Born on September 1, 1923 at Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Tanvir schooled in Nagpur. He was the organiser, secretary, playwright and actor-director of the Left-leaning, progressive and secular Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) during 1948-50.

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Labels: bhopal, breathing difficulties, gaveyard, habib tanvir, hindustani vocal singer, illness, India, sanskrit drama, tanvir died, tanvirs burial, theatre director habib ahmed khan

India joins race for land in Africa, China way ahead

After years of competing for overseas oil and mines to fuel their still-growing economies, India and China are silently scouring the world for their next great need: farmland to grow food.

The destination: Africa, where economies are poor and land is cheap.

Buying farmland abroad is not new, but it has gained urgency after a worldwide spike in food prices through 2007 and 2008.

So, more than a dozen companies from India, backed by the government, invested about $2 billion (Rs 10,000 crore) in leasing land and installing plants in Ethiopia last year to produce sugar, tea and several other crops.

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Labels: africa, china, ethiopia, farmland, farmland to grow food, food prices, India, leasing land and installing plants, verseas oil and mines

'Women jihadis at India's door'

The Mujahidaat or women terrorists have reached India's doorstep.

Army chief General Deepak Kapoor disclosed on Tuesday that women were being trained on the other side of the Line of Control to unleash terror in Jammu and Kashmir.

He said, "We have infbrmation that women terrorists are waiting to infiltrate into J&K." The army chief was responding to a question on the possibility of women handlers taking part in the Pulwama encounter that ended on Monday.

The female terrorist will be a new phenomenon in Kashmir and it could compel the army to fine-tune its counter-terrorism strategy. There are several reasons why terror groups use women.

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Labels: army chief general deepak kapoor, counter terrorism strategy, India, Jammu and kashmir, jihadis, line of control, pulwama encounter, terror groups use women, women fighters, women terrorists

United States says India critical to Afghanistan solution

A day after Pakistan pointed to the “gap” with the United States in tackling terror, Richard Holbrooke, America’s special envoy said the Afghanistan situation can’t be settled without India’s full involvement.

Holbrooke, tasked by President Barack Obama to engineer a “regional solution” to the Afghanistan-Pakistan, or Af-Pak, region, told the press that India and the US had the same goals, but little coordination in Afghanistan.

Speaking in the presence of America’s top military official, Mike Mullen, he insisted on Wednesday that they were not visiting the region to negotiate between India and Pakistan.

“We didn’t come here to ask India to do anything. We did not come here with requests,” Holbrooke said, stressing that his mission was to “inform and consult” with Indian officials.

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Labels: afghan border, afghanistan solution, afghanistan-pakistan, americas special envoy, India, Joe Biden, osama hiding in pak, Richard Holbrooke, tackling terror, United States

'Taliban a common threat to India, Pakistan, United States'

India, Pakistan and the United States face a common threat for the first time ever in the Taliban, US special representative Richard Holbrooke said in Delhi as he wound up a fact-finding trip to the region.

"For the first time in 60 years, your country, Pakistan and the US all face an enemy that poses direct threats to our leaderships, our capitals and our people," he said after meeting Pranab Mukherjee.

"I do want to underscore the fact that what happened in Swat demonstrates a key point and that is that India, US and Pakistan all have a common threat now."

In a meeting at the US ambassador's residence, Holbrooke wanted to know what India would do in case it faced another Mumbai-style attack.

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Labels: India, Mumbai-style attack, Pakistan, Pranab Mukherjee, Richard Holbrooke, Swat demonstrates, Taliban threat, United States

On a day India become No. 2 ODI team, foreign players rake in the moolah

On Friday, India became No. 2 in world ODI rankings, on the strength of a nine-match winning streak and a decline in Australia’s dominance.

On the same day, India, the cricketing nation, seemed to laugh at the global meltdown at an auction where crores were spent buying the services of 17 overseas players.

Former England skippers Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen went for about Rs 7.5 crore apiece ($1.55 million), making them jointly the highest valued players in the Indian Premier League (IPL), more than M.S. Dhoni, bought for Rs 6 crore last year.

Bangladesh’s paceman Mashrafe Mortaza would not know how to react to the Rs 2.93 crore the Kolkata Knight Riders have paid for his “commercial value”.

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Labels: Australia’s dominance, cricket, Deccan Chargers, highest valued players, India, Indian Premier League, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, ODi, Preity Zinta, world ODI rankings

Together against terror

Outrage over the November 26 terror attack in Mumbai that left at least 164 people dead and over 300 injured, brought India’s feuding political classes together in Parliament on Thursday .

Cutting across party lines, politicians mounted a scathing attack on Pakistan with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP’s L.K. Advani calling it the “epicentre of terrorism”.

In a parliamentary resolution that capped the day long discussion in both Houses, Parliament condemned the “attacks in Mumbai by terrorist elements from Pakistan” and committed to ceaselessly work to wards exposing and punishing the terrorists and those who train, fund and abet them.

“This House expresses its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous terrorist attacks in Mumbai by terrorist elements from Pakistan…Notes that this outrage follows acts of terror committed since the beginning of this year,” the resolution said, authorising the government to “take further measures” to safeguard national security .

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Labels: 164 people, 26 terror attack in Mumbai, 300 injured, Angry House condemns, epicentre of terrorism, India, Manmohan Singh and BJP’s L.K. Advani, Pakistan, Together against terror

Pakistan cracle down

ARE PAKISTAN'S anti-terror steps for real? Or will it be another case of one step forward, two steps back? Those are the questions being asked in India and the United States as Pakistan "confined" Jaish-eMuhammad chief Masood Azhar to his Bahawalpur house on Monday Azhar's "detention", reported by The News and confirmed by Pakistan's Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar on Tuesday, came a day after Lashkar-e-Tayyeba's chief commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was arrested. However, Bahawalpur police officialAzhar Hameed Khokhar told Aaj TV on Tuesday that Azhar's movements had not been restricted. Mukhtar told CNN-IBN that India "may be allowed" to interrogate those detained by Islamabad.

Pakistan's army under relentless pressure from the US and India, has only said this is an "intelligence-led operation against banned militant outfits and organisations". "There have been arrest(s) and investigations are on. Further details will be available on completion of preliminary inquiries," the Pakistani military said in a statement. No Pakistani official went on record to say that the "arrests" were in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai strikes. In the past, Pakistan has detained top terrorists such as Azhar, wanted for the December 2001 Parliament attack, only to release them to carry on with their activities.

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Labels: 26/11 Mumbai strikes, Ahmed Mukhtar, anti-terror, India, Jaish-eMuhammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba's, Masood Azhar, PAKISTAN'S, Pakistan's Defence Minister, United States, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi

China slowing to 19 year low, watches India

Both India and China may grow at almost the same pace next year, when the global slowdown triggered in the US and Europe will hit home harder.

On Tuesday, the World Bank in Beijing forecast that China would grow at a 7.5 per cent rate next year — China’s lowest since 1990 and a drop from 9.4 per cent growth projected for this year. There is no Bank figure for India, but Prime Manmohan Minister Singh has predicted a 7 to 7.5 per cent growth.

China is the world’s fastest-growing economy and had expanded in double digits for the last five years, touching 11.9 per cent last year.

“More than half of our GDP growth forecast of around 7.5 per- cent for 2009 is coming from government influenced spending,” said main author Louis Kuijs in Beijing.

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Labels: author Louis Kuijs, china, China is the world’s fastest-growing economy, GDP growth forecast, India, World Bank in Beijing

In downturn, India looks for uranium bargain

In every crisis, there's an opportunity. As India hopes to stitch up its first purchase of uranium from Kazakhstan in January, prices have fallen from a high of $138 (Rs 6,900) in 2007 to about $48 (Rs 2,400) per pound now. It's time to buy.

India, which ended its nuclear pariah status in September, can now stock up on cheap uranium- at a time its nuclear plants are running at about half capacity due to fuel shortages.

With an eye on purchasing uranium from Kazakhstan, which has the world's second largest reserves and is the third largest producer of nuclear fuel, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev will be the chief guest at the 2009 Republic Day celebrations.

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Labels: 2009 Republic Day celebrations, fuel shortages, India, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan, nuclear pariah status, nuclear plants, uranium bargain, uranium from Kazakhstan

Police say Pakistani teenager is innocent

Pakistani teenager Nasir Sultan had crossed the border and stepped into India innocently, the Punjab Police said on Sunday, a day after the Hindustan Times reported his detention.

Ferozepur district police chief Dinesh Partap Singh told HT that after Nasir’s interrogation, it was clear that the boy had unknowingly violated the Indian Passport Act.

The 15-year-old from the North-West Frontier Province, who crossed the border to make it big in Bollywood just like his idol Shah Rukh Khan, was picked up by the Border Security Force and put behind bars in a juvenile home in Faridkot 41 days ago.

A case was registered against Nasir for entering India illegally at the Sadar police station, Ferozepur on August 18. He has been facing trial in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Juvenile Court Jatinder Singh Behniwal in Ferozepur.

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Labels: border, Border Security Force, Faridkot, Ferozepur district, India, Indian Passport Act, interrogation, Nasir Sultan, Pakistani teenager

World champions stumble towards a mighty fall

The Second Test between India and Australia has produced scenes that would delight those envious of the seemingly unending domination of the world champions.

India are in sight of a famous victory as Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma reduced Australia to 141 for five at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium on Monday.

Australia's batting caved in on a surface where the Indians scored big at a good pace. The bowlers failed to capture or contain, there were frequent overthrows, the captain lost the plot and the team conceded the psychological game - even in defeat Australia have never looked so disjointed.

Matthew Hayden's wild batting in the second innings reflected the mental state of a team that had lost focus.

For everyone else losing is part of the game, but for Australia it's next to impossible. That's why they have won with amazing success in the last many years, when the stakes were high, even when the matches were inconsequential- showing no dearth of ruthlessness.

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Labels: Australia, Cricket Players, domination, harbhajan singh, India, Ishant Sharma, Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Ricky Pointing, second innings, Shane Watson, world champions

Jet Trackbacks

All the 1,900 employees sacked by Jet Airways over the last 48 hours will get their jobs back, Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal announced in a dramatic, late night press conference on Thursday night.

"I want to see smiles on your faces," he said, after driving in to the Jet corporate office from the airport. "My management took this decision on the basis of certain economic condtions...As the head of the family, my conscience does not allow me to look at just economics."

"I want to see my family happy," said Goyal, 48 hours after scenes of weeping, protesting Jet employees played out on television screens across India.

Goyal, who was accompanied by his wife, looked tired, and his voice was laden with emotion on a day when politicians from the ruling alliance expressed their nervousness over the biggest job losses ever in India's struggling aviation sector ".

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Labels: announced, aviation sector, economics, India, Jet Airways, Jet corporate office, Jet employees, jobs, Naresh Goyal, political pressure, television screens

Mumbai-based writer is second-youngest Booker winner ever

Earlier this year, Salman Rushdie won the Booker of Bookers — a special prize set up to mark the award’s 40th anniversary — for Midnight’s Children, a book that defined India and Indian writing to a generation of readers across the world.

Rushdie’s latest cross-continental romp, The Enchantress of Florence, was left out of this year’s Man Booker shortlist, but it is exquisitely appropriate that another Indian writer — a 33-year-old whom not many had hitherto heard of — won English fiction’s most-hyped award by triumphing over strong competition (including fancied veteran Amitav Ghosh) with a story that is a riveting, trenchant portrait of contemporary India.

Aravind Adiga is £50,000 richer for the Man Booker Prize. But the real benefit of winning it will actually come in the rocketing international sales, the making of his reputation and (if he is lucky) a film deal, things that will buy Adiga — a full-time writer the time and comfort to write.

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Labels: Aravind Adiga, Booker of Bookers, English fiction, India, Indian writer, Indian writing, international sales, Man Booker Prize, Midnight’s Children, reputation, Salman Rushdie, winner

Obama: Pakistan using United States aid against India

US Presidential candidate Barack Obama has said that Pakistan was using American aid to fight the war on terror for "preparing for a war against India".

The Democratic nominee said the US was providing Pakistan military aid "without having enough strings attached". "They're (Pakistan) using the military aid... Pakistan... They're preparing for a war against India," he told Fox News.

Obama vowed to hold Islamabad accountable for the massive military aid it has received from Washington if he is elected to the White House.

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Labels: aid, American aid, Barack Obama, Democratic nominee, elected, fight, India, Islamabad, Pakistan, Pakistan military, terror, United States, US Presidential candidate, war, Washington, White House

Chhetri ends India's 24-year wait

On the eve of the AFC Challenge Cup final against holders Tajikistan, India coach Bob Houghton had stressed on the importance of a vociferous crowd support in big games. Understandable because with a place in the Asian Cup finals in Qatar on line, India were undoubtedly playing their biggest game in over two decades.

The Nehru Cup champions were given a standing ovation by an over 20,000 crowd at the Ambedkar stadium before kick-off and the inspired men in blue scored thrice before the clock touched the 30-minute mark to lead India to a comprehensive 4-1 win.

The second title in under a year in the capital also catapulted India into the continent's highest championship after 24 years.

Sunil Chhetri scored a hattrick (9th, 23, 75) - the first by an Indian ever in a final - and Bhaichung Bhutia added another in the 19th minute to end the contest even before their opponents warmed up.

Fatkhullo Falkuloev found the consolation goal in the 44th minute with a superb 25-yard pile driver but the early deficit proved too much for the defending champions.

Supporters had started throng- ing the stadium since noon for a match that was to start at 7pm since the organisers could only get tickets printed late on Tuesday night.The long queue outside would have pleased Houghton and his wards no end when they reached the ground a couple of hours later.

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Labels: AFC Challenge Cup, Ambedkar stadium, Asian Cup finals, hattrick, India, India coach Bob Houghton, Nehru Cup champions, Qatar, Sunil Chhetri, Supporters, Tajikistan, tFatkhullo Falkuloev

Information Technology firms slow campus hires

From Matrimonials to swank offices, software engineers have been much sought after since the information technology boom brought thousands of lucrative jobs into India. Times are changing, though.

As the US economy goes from bad to worse, India's biggest outsourcing customer is getting stingy about placing new orders.

The result: IT firms are hiring less and offering less as they pick talent from campuses. In some cases, they are even refusing to go through with offers they've already made.

This is the first time since the outsourcing boom began a decade ago that IT companies are dragging their feet on campus hiring, placement officers at colleges across India told Hindustan Times.

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Labels: campus, colleges, customer, hiring, India, IT, IT companies, outsource, placements, Software engineer, talent, US economy

Good News

After 34 years of nuclear isolation, India on Friday will be within striking distance of dissolving the sanctions the world imposed on New Delhi against buying nuclear reactors and fuel from abroad.

A first transformational step will be taken at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. The atomic watchdog will debate and clear an inspection arrangement for the nuclear plants that India says are for civilian purposes and important to Indian efforts of bridging the annual electricity shortfall of 14,000 mega watts, enough to power three cities the size of Delhi.

A diplomatic effort similar in scale to the one launched during the 1999 Kargil war has been mounted by India, as envoys criss Cross the world in support of the civil nuclear deal.

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Labels: American Congress, civil nuclear deal, fuel, IAEA, India, New delhi, NSG, nuclear deal, nuclear isolation, nuclear reactors, Pakistani opposition, President Bush, support, Vienna

In a year's time, you could ride the lovable bug

It's official. All those who've desired to drive the lovable bug needn't wait too long now.

The Volkswagen Beetle will be in India before 2009 ends. "We should see the car in India within a year," Joerg Muller, managing director, Volkswagen Group India, said on the sidelines of the launch of the Jetta, a sedan aimed at the well heeled youngster and businessman.

The German automaker is waiting to put in place a network of sales, service and quality before the car, made famous in such memorable Hollywood films as Herbie and The Love Bug comedy series, is brought to India.

"It is a car that instantly brings a smile to whoever sees it, and since it is one of our best vehicles, we need to ensure we give customers the best quality and service," Mueller said.

For the uninitiated, the Beetle, which made Volkswagen a household name, is a two- or four door mini-car with a distinctive, rounded appearance.

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Labels: drive, German automaker, Herbie, Hollywood films, India, lovable bug, mini car, quality, service, vehicles, Volkswagen Beetle, youngster

India profile tanks, Foreign Institutional Investors pullout sinks Sensex

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIS) pressed the panic button as global agency Fitch downgraded India's credit profile to "negative". Sensex, BSE's 30-share benchmark index, dropped to lowest levels in 15 months as foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 702.50 crore on Tuesday alone.

ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, two of India's three largest banks, tumbled. Sensex fell 654.32 points, or 4.9 per cent, to 12,676.19. All stocks dropped on the index. The NSE Nifty dropped 178.60 points, or 4.4 per cent, to 3,861.10.

"Money is flying out of emerging markets and inflows into India have been negative so fax:" said Madhavi Vora of ULJK Securities, a broking firm. "There is a major liquidity crunch along with other external factors like political uncertainty that are ailing markets."

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Labels: Bank, BSE, FIIS, foreign funds, HDFC, ICICI, India, Nifty, NSE, panic, Sensex, shares, stock market, tumbled

Trust vote 'as early as possible'

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will seek a vote of confidence "as early as possible" in response to the Left's withdrawal of support to the UPA on the India US civil nuclear agreement.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique issued after the PM called on President Pratibha Patil on Thursday evening, the PM told Patil that "he and his cabinet colleagues (were) keen to seek a vote of confidence as early as possible." The PM spent 30 minutes with the President. The communique was based on a letter he handed to her.

The PM will communicate the exact date of the trust vote to the President on Friday. There was speculation on Thursday that the government may choose a date around July 22 to call a special Lok Sabha session for the vote. Though the date will be finalised only after meetings of the UPA and the Congress Working Committee (CWC), coalition MPs have been asked to be in Delhi by July 22. This will be the first time since the beginning of the coalition era in 1989 that a PM will seek a trust vote after four years in office- six PMs before Singh faced trust votes inside their first couple of years.

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Labels: cabinet colleagues, civil nuclear agreement, CWC, delhi, India, Manmohan singh, Pervez Musharraf, president Pratibha Patil, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Sonia Gandhi, trust votes, UPA, US

Red flag up, but UPA may push ahead

In the face of the Left's unrelenting opposition to the India-US nuclear deal, the Congress, in a major shift of stance, is seriously evaluating the political fallout of sewing up the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA without their consent.

The postponement of the schedu1ed UPA-Left meeting on the issue on Wednesday saw hectic consultations in both camps. After being closeted with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and Union Minister Kapil Sibal, a member of the panel for nuclear talks, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee conferred with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Others present at the meeting were Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel.

Congress sources confirmed to Hindustan Times the possibility of the government signing the agreement despite the Communists' rigid opposition. But the final call would be taken after the UPA-Left committee meeting now slated on June 25.

The urgency in the government's moves was explained to the tight deadlines for completing the next three stages in the deal: the IAEA safeguards pact, the NSG waiver and the up and down vote in the US Congress on the 123 agreement. There was some relief, however, after the US State Department's public assurance that Washington would push for the deal till January 20, the day the new President would take oath in that country.

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Labels: American Congress, Bush administration, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, India, Indian government, nuclear deal, UPA, US

Job prospects best in India

Despite fears of an economic slow down at home and a slump worldwide, the country's employers are looking for workers actively. India has topped a global employment outlook survey, powered mainly by service industries such as IT, realty and financial services.

The latest quarterly survey of about 5,636 employers - part of a global sample of 55,000 - by multinational human resource firm Manpower Inc says that India's Net Employment Outlook for the July-September quarter stands at 45 per cent, the highest in the world.

"The strongest hiring intention is seen in sectors such as the services, finance, insurance, real estate, media and tourism," said Naresh Malhan, managing director of the Indian unit of Manpower .

Hiring intentions are weakest in the whole sale and retail trade industry sector and the manufacturing sector where employers have indicated a decline in their hiring plans.

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Labels: call centers, china, hiring, human resource, India, India's Net Employment Outlook, IT, ITES, Job, MNC, prospects, Singapore, survey

Top Naxal leaders now have faces

They are two of India's most wanted and between them they command up to 20,000 trained Maoist guerrillas with a presence in nearly 200 districts of the country.

For years Ganapathi, the general secretary of the feared Communist Party of India (Maoist) and his deputy Kishenda, a politburo member, were faceless. Today, Hindustan Times brings them to the public for the first time (see box).

The Maoists, described by PM Manmohan Singh as the country's single biggest security challenge, are accused of hundreds of knings, kidnapping and looting in the vast swathes they control. Home Ministry says they were responsible for the killing of 418 civilians and 214 security personnel in 2007. In 2006, the numbers were 501 and 133 respectively.

Ganapathi and Kishenda have been living secret lives for decades, though not always in the huge expanse of jungles under their complete control. Police in different states have had inputs about having spotted them in Cochin, Rourkela, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Raipur.

The security agencies acquired the photographs of the two six months ago either through a mole in the Naxal hierarchy or from a seized computer disk from a hideout in Bastar forests. The nearly 40,000 sq km expanse of forests on Chhatisgarh's border with Orissa and Andhra Pradesh is home for most number of Maoists an estimated 10,000.

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Labels: CPI, Ganapathi, India, India's Most Wanted, Kishenda forests, Maoists, Naxal hierarchy, secret lives, security, security challenge, Top Naxal leaders

Gas pipeline deal soon, says Iran President

Iran, Pakistan and India would soon give final shape to the proposed three nation gas pipeline, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday night. But he placed a question mark on the implementation of the June 2005 gas-by-ship contract.

The Iranian President conceded there was a clear link between the gas by ship deal to sell 5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to lndia and New Delhi's decision to vote against Tehran at the IAEA governing board in September 2005.

Talking to the press after talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said: "Each vote has its own impact." But he added that the India-Iran relationship was "deeper than a vote". India's vote against Iran at the IAEA "related to the past", he said. "We are now looking forward."

The IAEA votes took the Iranian nuclear issue from the domain of the atomic watchdog to the UN Security Council. Ahmadinejad was pleased that Indian officials had given a "good and appropriate response" to Washington when it came forward with words of advice for Iran before his brief visit to Delhi.

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Labels: decision, Gas pipeline deal soon, IAEA vote, India, India-Iran relationship, Iran, Iran President, New delhi, Pakistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Tehran

For Putin successor, yoga the best pill

Yoga is set to get a huge push in Russia, where the Indian art was banned and lessons were passed on secretly during the Soviet era.

Dmitri Medvedev, who will take over as Russia's new president next month, is a known yoga man and is expected to do what his predecessor Vladimir Putin did to judo.

"Little by little, I'm mastering yoga," Medvedev, who takes pride in his ability to perform shirshasana, a headstand pose, recently told the weekly news magazine Itogi. "The responsibility (of my job) is huge. To prevent headaches, I needed to practice yoga more intensively than before."

Yoga was banned in the Soviet era as the art, with its Hindu spiritual underpinnings, was seen as against the prevailing philosophy of MarxismLeninism. Today, it sweeps through Russia's physical culture studios, which until recently were dominated by body building and martial arts.

"Ten years ago there were only three yoga schools in all of Moscow, now there are several hundreds," said Inna Assekritova, a Moscow business executive who got hooked to yoga 30 years ago, when it was strictly banned. "In Soviet times, it was almost impossible to find a teacher; and all information about it had to be secretly passed from hand to hand," she said.

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Labels: India, Indian art, Russia, Russia's new president, Soviet era, Vladimir Putin, Yoga

US dream lost in packed dorms, stink of stale food

When Kurian David sold his home, he believed he was doing so to seek a better life in the US for him and his family He was promised good wages, decent accommodation, a green card and permanent residency for him, his wife and two sons.

He paid $20,000 (Rs 8 lakh) in exchange for a job at the Signal International shipyard in Orange, Texas.

When he arrived at the facility there was no opportunity for his dreams to come to fruition. Instead, he lived in a room with 23 other men, sleeping in bunk beds and sharing two bathrooms. David, 41, said he worked 10-hour days in the hull of a ship where he inhaled fumes and smoke. He was served stale bread for breakfast and forced to eat lunches left in the elements for hours.

When he and fellow workers at the plant complained, they were told they would be deported, a paralyzing possibility because of the debt he incurred getting the job.

"I decided to gamble everything," David said. "We felt bonded. We felt like we were in prison. None the less, we ate their rotten food and stayed in their degrading conditions because they promised us green cards."

David is one of about 120 workers brought to the US from India to work for Signal International in their two shipyards who walked off the job last week in protest of the conditions.

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Labels: bunk beds, India, Kurian David, Signal International shipyard, stink of stale food, US

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

Labels: british, election, India, Pakistan, Prime Minister, terrorism, war

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

Labels: crime, crime rate, India, largest, molestation, molested, rape, raped

Kirsten set to be next coach

FORMER South Africa opener Gary Kirsten is set to take over as India's next coach later this winter, over seven months after Greg Chappell left the post.

Kirsten, who secretly met top BCCI officials, the coach selection panel (comprising former cap tains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and S. Venkataraghavan) and Test skipper Anil Kumble on Monday night in New Delhi, has been offered a two-year contract. "We have offered him a copy of the contract," said BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty "He . will let us know whether he's joining us or not latest by December 3." The South African seemed quite comfortable with the way things had worked out. "The inter view went well, but I haven't signed anything yet," said Kirsten.

HIS SCORECARD ¦ The former South African opener has played 101 Tests and 185 ODIs. He made his debut against Australia in Melbourne in 1993. He has a Test average of 45.27 and an aggregate of 7,289 runs. ¦ He was South Africa's batting coach after his retirement in 2004...

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Article taken from the issue:28 November, 2007

Labels: BCCI, coach, cricket, gary Kirsten, India, Indian cricket team, South Africa

Hindustan Times

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Clinton urges India to be a global power

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Man who knit India and Bharat through theatre passes away

Monday, May 4, 2009

India joins race for land in Africa, China way ahead

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

'Women jihadis at India's door'

Thursday, April 9, 2009

United States says India critical to Afghanistan solution

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

'Taliban a common threat to India, Pakistan, United States'

Saturday, February 7, 2009

On a day India become No. 2 ODI team, foreign players rake in the moolah

Friday, December 12, 2008

Together against terror

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Pakistan cracle down

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

China slowing to 19 year low, watches India

Friday, November 21, 2008

In downturn, India looks for uranium bargain

Monday, October 27, 2008

Police say Pakistani teenager is innocent

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

World champions stumble towards a mighty fall

Friday, October 17, 2008

Jet Trackbacks

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Mumbai-based writer is second-youngest Booker winner ever

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Obama: Pakistan using United States aid against India

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Chhetri ends India's 24-year wait

Monday, August 11, 2008

Information Technology firms slow campus hires

Friday, August 1, 2008

Good News

Thursday, July 17, 2008

In a year's time, you could ride the lovable bug

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

India profile tanks, Foreign Institutional Investors pullout sinks Sensex

Friday, July 11, 2008

Trust vote 'as early as possible'

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Red flag up, but UPA may push ahead

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Job prospects best in India

Friday, June 6, 2008

Top Naxal leaders now have faces

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Gas pipeline deal soon, says Iran President

Monday, April 21, 2008

For Putin successor, yoga the best pill

Monday, March 10, 2008

US dream lost in packed dorms, stink of stale food

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Brown wants India to be a bigger global player

Monday, January 14, 2008

Shame: Rape is India's fastest growing crime

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Kirsten set to be next coach

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