Bloscope Bonanaza: Chettiar Chidamparam Steals your Money, Livelihood and Life. Twenty Five Percent Job Cut Threat Exploits Indian Economy as RBI and FINMIN Open the Floodgates of Relief and Concession. Parliament Bypassed to Enhance SEZ and FDI. Superslave Manmohan Appeases the Corporate MNC Heads! Hindutva Superpower Does Everything to Kill the Masses. Thakre Defends Hindutva Bomb!Time for Homosexuality! Media Mogul Murdoch Preaches Against Protectionism and Opposses Barrack hussein Obama!

[PalashKL]

Bloscope Bonanaza: Chettiar Chidamparam Steals your Money, Livelihood
and Life. Twenty Five Percent Job Cut Threat Exploits Indian Economy
as RBI and FINMIN Open the Floodgates of Relief and Concession.
Parliament Bypassed to Enhance SEZ and FDI. Superslave Manmohan
Appeases the Corporate MNC Heads! Hindutva Superpower Does Everything
to Kill the Masses. Thakre Defends Hindutva Bomb!Time for
Homosexuality! Media Mogul Murdoch Preaches Against Protectionism and
Opposses Barrack hussein Obama!




Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 99

Palash Biswas

Bernanke Says the U.S. Needs to Maintain a Role in Mortgage
Securities
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sketched out a blueprint for
handling the mortgage-securitization crisis -- an issue both
presidential candidates have cited as a priority.

Speaking to a mortgage-finance symposium in Berkeley, Calif., by
videoconference Friday, Mr. Bernanke said policy makers may need to
maintain a key role in mortgage securitization regardless of the fate
determined for government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac. Among the options he outlined was creating a government bond
insurer for mortgage funding.

"Government likely has a role to play in supporting mortgage
securitization, at least during periods of high financial stress," Mr.
Bernanke said.

Fear factor: Assam limps back with caution
IBNLive.com - 2 hours ago
Guwahati: Thursday's serial blasts have shaken Guwahati like never
before. Parts of the city were under curfew as unruly mobs protested
against the terror strike.


Times Online
Euphoria alone won’t win the White House for Barack Obama
Times Online - 19 hours ago
The roar of engines and flashing lights of 71 police motorbikes herald
the arrival of Barack Obama in Kissimmee where, on an unusually cold
Florida night, a vast, expectant crowd is waiting for him.
The greatest political show on earth BBC News
Uganda: Obama Assassination; It's Time to Pray AllAfrica.com
Telegraph.co.uk - Times of India - International Herald Tribune - The
Associated Press

Barack Obama: An 'improbable' journey into history
The Associated Press - 1 hour ago
CHICAGO (AP) - It was just before midnight last November when Barack
Obama stepped on stage in a darkened auditorium in Iowa, trailing in
the polls, taking on one of the biggest names in Democratic politics -
and facing a make-or-break moment.
Obama makes a final pitch in radio address guardian.co.uk
An Australian working in the Republican camp The Age

McCain's veep choice sailed into a holy gale
The Associated Press - 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) - The lower 48 haven't seen the last of Sarah Palin,
win or lose. The presidential campaign has had an odd effect on
Palin's unsettled place in political life.
Will Sarah Palin's charm work in US polls? NDTV.com
Win or Lose, Many See Palin as Future of Party New York Times
Reuters India - Times of India - International Herald Tribune -
guardian.co.uk
all 1,336 news articles » ?????? ??? »


News Line 365
Nokia N79 launched in India, an ultimate phone for entertainment
Mobiletor.com - 30 Oct 2008
Nokia unveiled N79 a new sleek phone that adds to the NSeries range of
multimedia phone that combines bright and customizable design with a
complete package of multimedia computer.
Nokia N79 - Another Nseries Phone launched in India TechShout!
Nokia Rolls-Out ‘N79’ In The India @ Rs 22939 TopNews
News Line 365 - Stock Watch - IT Examiner - Indiatimes
all 10 news articles »

Govt nod for ‘Protection and Utilisation of Public Funded ...
TopNews - 11 hours ago
The government has decided to enact a legislation relating to the
protection and utilization of Intellectual Property in the Public
Funded Research and Development.
Cabinet nod for Bill giving scientists share in IPRs Hindu
Royalty share for scientists Calcutta Telegraph

Boston Globe
China: Feed makers defied rule in adding chemical
The Associated Press - 2 hours ago
BEIJING (AP) - Animal feed makers deliberately added an industrial
chemical to their products, ignoring a year-old government rule meant
to protect China's food supply, a government official said.
China tightens control over animal feed amid new melamine scare RIA
Novosti
Animal feed scare as toxin found in eggs Sydney Morning Herald
AFP - International Herald Tribune - BBC News - China Daily
all 1,999 news articles »

Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who holds the moon mission close
to his heart, today expressed happiness over the first photographs of
Earth taken by the terrain mapping camera on board Chandrayaan-1.

Hindutva Superpower Nuclear launched at last! But tragically enough
the Periphery may not prosper if the CORE is Sick! FREEsenSEX Swings
on Tune of DOW ZONES FREEFALL street may be the best hint.

How do you feel friends? What about the Americanised Bastardised Money
Market?

Media Mogul Murdoch Preaches Against Protectionism and Opposses
Barrack hussein Obama!

Evidence of a recession piled ever higher on Friday, with new figures
showing Americans are spending less and gloomy about the economy, w
hile the government signaled it won't buy stock in the financing arms
of auto companies to prop them up. The Commerce Department reported
consumer spending dropped a sharp 0.3 per cent in September while
their incomes, the fuel for future spending, managed only a small 0.2
per cent gain. That followed a report a day earlier that the US
economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter. The accepted
definition of a recession is two straight quarters of a shrinking
economy. Closing out the worst October in 21 years but one of the best
weeks ever, investors did some bargain shopping on Wall Street,
snapping up stocks that have plunged in value. The Dow Jones
industrial average gained nearly 145 points.

Meanwhile, the outgoing Bush administration sent signals to automakers
and other industries hoping for government purchases of their stock
that they probably won't qualify for the program. Administration
officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the program is
still being put together, said it was unlikely the auto companies
would be able to qualify for direct government purchases of stock in
their auto-financing arms as part of the $250 billion stock purchase
program. They could still be eligible for government purchases of bad
assets, such as auto loans, under a separate program that is expected
to spend $100 billion initially. The government plans to buy stock in
banks and lift bad assets on their books as part of the financial
system bailout.


But we have to land on either MOON or MARS! We have to follow the
washington dictations. we have to justify the Indo US Nuke deal and
Strategic Realliance in US lead. Indian Polity, NDA UPa Left combined
stands united rock Solid behind every fascist Imperilist move intiated
by White House, Pentagon, World Bank, IMF, WTO, NASA, GATT, EC!

After infusing Rs 1,85,000-crore liquidity into the banking system,
the RBI on Saturday effected yet another 100 basis points cut in cash
reserve ratio (CRR) and a 0.5 per cent reduction in key short-term
lending (repo) rate, signaling softening of interest rates to prop up
growth. The one percentage point cut in CRR, the amount which banks
have to park with the apex bank, has been brought down to 5.5 per cent
to infuse additional liquidity of Rs 40,000 crore into the system. The
CRR cut will be in two tranches and the first one of 0.5 per cent will
be effective retrospectively from October 25 and the second from
November 8.

Stocks rose on Friday as foreign institutional investors turned net
buyers after a straight fortnight of fierce selling.

FIIs were net buyers of Indian equities for Rs 1,237 crore on Friday,
while domestic institutions were net sellers for Rs 116 crore.

The Sensex was up 743.55 points or 8.22 per cent to close at 9788.06,
and the broader Nifty was up seven per cent at 2,885.6.

The domestic market was also catching up with world markets, which
looked up on Thursday when markets were closed here, said analysts.

Taking October as the reference month, the largest increase in FII
investments was between 2004 and 2005 when net investments by FIIs
rose by $ 36 billion. “But the Sensex in October 2005 was at the 8000-
levels, which we are approaching now. The bull run started in 2004
with FII investments, and there is a fear that the bear run led by
these FIIs, could take the Sensex back to the October 2004 level of
5700,” said a senior official with a stock broking firm.

If the Indian stocks are being both taken up and pulled down by FIIs,
this indicates there is little depth in our markets, said Mr Arun
Kejriwal who heads Kejriwal Research and Information Services. “Our
markets are not mature. We have allowed FIIs to dictate both the rise
and fall of our markets.”

How much more will FIIs sell, and how much will Indian stocks sink?
Experts suggest shunning real estate instruments. A sense of sinking
has suddenly gripped the local market as the Wall Street financial
market crisis increasingly appeared an all-encompassing bottomless
pit.

On the other hand, a week after its launch, Chandrayaan-1 is now more
than halfway towards the Moon with the fourth orbit raising manoeuvre
executed flawlessly The Earth as viewed by the terrain-mapping camera
on board Chandrayaan-1, from a distance of 70,000km. (PTI)
More Pictures
at 7.38am on Wednesday. The mission lifted off at Sriharikota on
October 22. ( Watch )

Isro's telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac) director S K
Shivakumar told TOI during the critical manoeuvre, that the
spacecraft's 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for nearly three
minutes resulting in the Moon-bound Chandrayaan-1 entering into a more
elliptical orbit.

It's apogee (farthest point from Earth) lies at 2,67,000km, while the
perigee (nearest point to Earth) is at 465km. Thus, Chandrayaan-1
spacecraft's present orbit extends more than half the way to the Moon,
he said.

In this orbit, the spacecraft takes about six days to go round the
Earth once. Shivakumar said the next firing will be on Monday which
will further raise the spacecraft's altitude to 3,84,000km. The motor
will be fired for 2.5 minutes. "This will be the last earthbound
firing before the spacecraft enters the lunar orbit on November 8," he
said.

He said for the much-awaited lunar orbit insertion (LOI) on November
8, which will take place at 5pm, the engine will be fired for 800
seconds. Though Shivakumar says all the manoeuvres are equally
crucial, others in the Chandrayaan team say the LOI will be the most
nail-biting and nerve-racking. Even a minor deviation in the timing of
the engine's firing can doom the mission, they say.

Shivakumar, often called the architect of India's space
communications, said that contrary to earlier plans, no shipborne
communication terminals were used for the Moon mission as it was not
considered necessary.



It is quite a Bloscope Bonanza on the Corporate occassion of Happy
birthday Aishwarya Rai Bachchan! The Bacchan Bahu is the most Durable
commodity in Money Market today!Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai
Bachchan, who turned 35 on Saturday, celebrated her birthday shooting
for Mani Ratnam's film 'Ravan' in Kerala. In Karan Johar’s ‘Dostana’
that releases next month, the Bollywood hunks and lead actors,
Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham, pretend to be a couple in a bid to
rent an apartment in Miami. Madhur Bhandarkar’s recent release,
Fashion, in one of its sub-plots, has Harsh Chayya and Samir Soni play
a homosexual fashion designer-couple. It is time for Homosexuality!

Mind you! Chettiar Gangsters of LPG steals your Pocket! Your
livelihhod! Your savings! Your Home! Your Land! And Your Life! You may
not defend your self. As the Constitution of India is killed.
Democracy turned into IPL or ICL Cricket Reality Show and the
Parliament has become the BIG BOSS House anchored by Shantiniketan
DON!

ASSOCHAM threat of Twenty Percent Job Cut works miracle as RBI and
FINMIN open the Floodgates of relief and concessions unprecedented to
feed the Money Machine living on our Blood, Our Flesh and our Bone!
You never know when your savings, salary and pension will go to Mutual
Funds. I had to pay RS 842 for a default of an EMI amounting Rs 2021,
as my account is changed and ECI change is delayed by the concerned
bank technical failure. It is not my fault. but I had to pay the
penalty ! I could go to the Consumer Court. But the proceeding is so
lengthy! We have to pay so much and so long for our smal loans! But
RBI is liberal enough to come with cuts in RR and Repo rates so
repeatedly just to bail out the top guns of India Incs!

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will meet top business and corporate
leaders here on Monday to explore the options for limiting the impac
t of global financial crisis on the Indian economy facing slowdown.

According to sources, Industry leaders who are expected to attend the
meeting include Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra, Mukesh Ambani, Anil
Ambani, Shashi Ruia, KP Singh and Naresh Goyal.

Presidents of the three apex chambers including the Confederation of
Indian Industry (CII), the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (FICCI) and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and
Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) will also participate in the meeting.

As a prelude to the meeting with the Prime Minister, the CII on Friday
held a meeting of 16 past Presidents to finalise recommendations for
the government.

Just see the global Recession Scene and assess the rle of Indian
Ruling Hegemony playing all out to save the capitalists!

Shares in Asia and Europe fell on Friday, heading for their worst
month ever, while the low-yielding yen surged as Japan's interest rate
cut failed to erase concerns about the deteriorating global economic
outlook.
The Bank of Japan joined a global easing cycle by trimming interest
rates by 20 basis points to 0.3 per cent, but disappointed many who
had expected a bigger quarter point cut.

The move followed the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates
to 1 per cent -- its lowest level since June 2004 -- to stave off a
prolonged recession. China, Hong Kong and Taiwan also lowered the cost
of borrowing this week, with the euro zone, Australia and Britain seen
following suit next week.

However, investors feared a round of rate cuts was not enough to stem
the flow of worsening corporate earnings and bolster consumer
consumption in major economies which might be already in recession.


The Parliament is bypassed to enhance 26 percent Insurance FDI to
maximum 49 percent. SEZ drive goes on despite nandigram, singur and
Kalingnagar Insurrections!

Now, the Superslave Washington planted Prime Minisiter meets the
Greedy Tycoons to oil the Money Machine further.

Contrarily, we get no relief!

Hindutva sUPER POWR does everything to kill the masses. North India
Identity in Maharashtra is endangered much more as RSS Ally Bal Thakre
defends the Hindutva Bomb!

What Hindutva!We have Experienced a Month Long Durga Puja Festival
sponsered by the Market Forces. Durga is an incarnation for mass
destruction of Indigenous communities in india. Now, we have been
witnessing Immersion of Kali for three days! Circular Rly cancels all
trains for every Immersion occassion. it will remain cancelled as well
on Chhath!

No other Religion is so liberal to play with religious belief of the
people as we witness in Hindutva. Market forces invoke the Incarnation
of EROTICA. Filmstars are made Idols of Gods and goddesses!
Ressistance Leaders are made Asuras. As they made a MAHISASHUR of Ms
Mamata Bannerjee. As and in the same manner as CPIM declares Taslima
out or brnds Mahashweta Debi as mNaxalite!

Every Puja has its Time Limit. But the Corporate Puja is unlimited as
the Shopping Mall, Multi Ples, Promoter, MNC, Retail Chain combined
has become the best expression of HINDUTVA allied with fascism as well
as Corporate Imperialism! Public Nuisence is allowed to creat
disturbance in Normal Life all in the name of Religion. Obscene Idols
are used to worship the most revered gods and goddesses and you call
it HINDUTVA!


Coming out in support of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and other Malegaon
blasts accused, Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray lashed out at pro-
Hindutva elements for "disowning" them and asked the legal community
to come forward to defend the trio. On the other hand, Maharashtra
Revenue Minister Narayan Rane has said that youth in Maharashtra
should get their due share of jobs in industries set up in the state.
Stressing that industries in Maharashtra should try to give at least
eighty per cent of its jobs to youths in the state, Rane said that
such demands for 'sons of the soil' should be made through democratic
means and not by resorting to violence. Rane was speaking at a
function in Thane on Friday after inaugurating the Malwani Jatrotsav,
an annual festival held across Mumbai and Thane. At het same time ,The
Hindu Mahasabha has decided to provide legal aid to the Malegaon blast
suspects from Pune — Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay and Sameer Kulkarni
— and not the umbrella organization Abhinav Bharat of which the two
are members. This was confirmed to The Indian Express today by Himani
Savarkar, national president of Hindu Mahasabha, also based in Pune.
Both the accused refused to hire lawyers when produced before the
Nashik court on Wednesday. Savarkar is the daughter of Gopal Godse,
brother of Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin. She was married
to late Ashok Savarkar, nephew of freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar
Savarkar, who had launched Abhinav Bharat before Independence for
raising an armed struggle against the British government. The
organisation was dissolved in 1952. Savarkar claimed that she had
become the national president of Abhinav Bharat only eight months ago
and did not know anything about the website of the organisation, she
said.


Funniest newsbreak! The state unit of Congress in Maharashtra on
Saturday refuted the charge that the party was pursuing an agenda to
split Shiv Sena votes by using MNS chief Raj Thackeray. We never
differentiate between NDA and UPA tagged with the Hypocrite most ,
Indian Parliamentary Communists and socialists along with the
gandhians! These are different faces of hindutva!

What a HATE Campaign launched.
See this report:

ULFA, Bangladesh's DGFI join hands to wreak havoc

Sumon K Chakrabarti / CNN-IBN

New Delhi: The serial bomb blasts in four cities of Assam on Thursday
point to a new chapter of terror by the United Liberation Front of
Asom (ULFA).


The investigating agencies say that ULFA is being backed by
Bangaldesh's military intelligence wing, the Directorate General of
Forces Intelligence (DGFI) which has been modelled on Pakistan's ISI.


Chief of Bangladesh's Army General Moeen Uddin Ahmed has been at the
centre of India's diplomatic efforts in Bangladesh in the last eight
months.


Indian agencies say DGFI's head till early this month Major General
ATM Amin has always been close to ISI. Major General ATM Amin was also
instrumental in giving advanced training in bomb making to a new batch
of ULFA cadres in Maximhat near Chittagong in from April to June this
year.


The camp also trained new boys of other tribal insurgent groups from
North-East and West Bengal like the All Tripura Tiger Force and
Kamtapur Liberation Organisation.


"The ISI and the DGFI are behind these things. Their new strategy is
to use the local outfits. They design and plan the entire thing," GM
Srivastav, former ADG (Ops), Assam Police, says.


Indian investigators allege that several separatist militant groups
from North-East are flexing their muscle from hideouts in Dhaka.


According to a list given by India to Bangladesh, nearly 100 insurgent
camps, hideouts and safe houses of militant groups operating in the
North-East are based in Bangladesh.


The document clearly shows that the ULFA leads the pack of separatist
groups that operate from Bangladesh. The group also maintains seven
active training camps in Bangladesh and its chief Paresh Barua is also
hiding there.


"If you look at the history of violence in Assam perpetrated by ULFA
from 80s, there have been a number of blasts people have died in large
numbers," Srivastav says.


ULFA's character is also changing. The group's armed wings do not
recruit only Assamese men anymore. They hire anyone who will carry out
their agenda, for a price and their commander-in-chief Paresh Barua
insists that the new band of boys don't discuss political ideology in
the training camp.


While insurgency has degenerated into urban terrorism, now the ULFA
has gained the eyeballs and attention they have craved for several
years.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ulfa-bangladeshs-dgfi-join-hands-to-wreak-havoc/77251-3.html

Indian TV Channels are the best Tool of Hindutva with every bit of
Astrology, Comedy, reality show, Soap Opera, Laughter Show and crime!

Round the Clock Hindutva! round the Clock Manusmriti! round the clock
Aparteid! round the clock LPG! round the clock HATRED Campaign
Iconised! Against Muslims! Against Untouchables! Against Blacks!
Against Indigenous and Abooriginal communities !

Cast Hindu rituals and Myths, superstitions with Cocktail linguistics
phonetics desi plus English is projected well as Americanised Indian
Culture of super Power FREEsenSEX India!

Now see another Hindutva Version of the Tragedy on NDTV!

Assam police unprepared for crisis?
Bano Haralu
Saturday, November 01, 2008, (Bongaigaon, Assam)

A five-minute delay would have spelt disaster on Thursday in the heart
of Bongaigaon town. But the action of an alert shopkeeper who informed
a constable of an abandoned bike on AOC road saved the day.

"I constantly monitor all cars and motorcycles parked out side my shop
for unattended articles or items. In this case, the man saw me, and
came into my shop as well. My suspicion grew after I found the bike
lying there for over an hour and then I alerted the constable," said
Banthia, the shopkeeper.

A bomb was found attached to this bike on AOC Road which was moved in
the nick of time to a safe location. Soon after, the police removed
the device encased in an ammunition box from the bike's carrier.
Later, it exploded.

The explosion synchronised with the timing of the blasts in Guwahati,
Kokrajhar and Barpeta that killed 77 people and injured over 300
persons.

"It was our fortune that we could shift the motorbike to another
location. We did not have any idea at what time it will explode. It is
natural for us because we don't have any expertise in this regard. We
have to depend on the Army disposal squad usually. We were waiting for
them after detaching the bomb but it bomb exploded," said Bapreta
Lachit Baruah, Superintendent of Police.

The police response may have saved the day but it still exposes a big
handicap the forces face in the area where they have been fighting
militancy for over two decades.

Bridges, railway tracks and oil pipelines of the Bongaigaon Oil
Refinery in the area have long been targets by the Bodos and the ULFA
militants, but the government's response has been one of indifference.

Three years ago, a sub inspector in Bongaigaon district died while
diffusing a bomb but since then no one has come to replace him.

"We want a strong bomb disposal team and a bomb trailer also. This is
a bomb prone area and after Guwahati this is the premier township in
lower Assam," said Bapreta Lachit Baruah.

Perhaps the motorcycle will hold a clue. With the chassis and engine
number now being traced back to an automobile shop in Guwahati, police
are hopeful that this will lead to revealing the identity of the
group.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080070782&ch=11/1/2008%201:02:00%20PM


"The entire Hindu community should support the Sadhvi, retired Major
Ramesh Upadhyay and Samir Kulkarni who are being framed by the ATS,"
Bal Thackeray said in his trademark fiery editorial in the Sena
mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

Thackeray said he did not support any kind of terrorism that "weakens
the country and we regret the loss of life in the Malegaon incident.

"But if the pseudo secularists in the country are supportive of Afzal
Guru (Parliament attack convict), why should we not love and be proud
of Sadhvi Pragya, Ramesh Upadhyay and Samir Kulkarni?"

"Every day Islamic terrorists are planting bombs to kill Hindus in
India. The latest blasts in Assam too were engineered by Bangladeshi
migrants. If a Sadhvi Pragya or a Ramesh Upadhyay or a Samir Kulkarni
is born in the present milieu, they cannot be blamed," it added.

Alleging that the ATS machinery was being used at the behest of the
Congress which is practicing politics of Muslim appeasement, it said,
"the arrests of cultured and educated individuals in connection with
the Malegaon blasts is an effort to crush Hindus to please Muslim
fanatics in the country."

The editorial also lambasted pro-Hindutva organisations for what it
called "disowning" the trio. "If Chhatrapati Shivaji and Veer Savarkar
were alive today, they would suffer bouts of depression to see the
passive tolerance of Islamic intimidation by Hindus," the Sena chief
said.

The editorial ends with a poser. "If a Majid Memon puts on the black
coat to defend brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in a court of
law, can we expect another Memon to stand up to argue for Sadhvi
Pragya, Upadhyay and Kulkarni?"

SYDNEY: A Democrat in the White House after next week's presidential
election could usher in a round of protectionism that would do further
damage to
the world economy, media baron Rupert Murdoch warned Saturday.

The chairman and chief executive of US-based News Corp. said imposing
new tariffs on Chinese imports could be the blue touch paper for a
trade war.

"For the past three or four years some Democrats have been threatening
to do things like put on extra tariffs (against Chinese imports) if
they don't change their currency," he told The Australian newspaper.
"If it happened, it could set off retaliatory action which would
certainly damage the world economy seriously."

Australian-born Murdoch, who is now a US citizen, said that if senator
Barack Obama won the presidency he could be pressured to implement
protectionist measures.

"Presidents don't often behave exactly as the campaign might have
suggested because they become prisoners of all sort of things - mainly
circumstances and events," he said. Murdoch labelled as "rubbish"
Obama's plan to give tax rebates of 95 percent of Americans. "Forty
percent don't pay taxes, so how can he give them a tax cut?" he said.

Murdoch said a rise in protectionism "could add to all sorts of
tensions in the world financial system and the world trading system
and eventually all the way down to employment."

He warned against believing it was in the power of governments to heal
the financial system. "You are going to find that the politicians are
very limited in what they can do: they can make it worse but they
can't stop it."
WBIC asks all parties to appear for hearing on Tata deal
2008-11-01 [15:19:00 hrs]

Following the Calcutta High Court’s stay on its order to disclose the
details of the Singur deal between Tata Motors and the Bengal
government under an RTI appeal, the West Bengal Information Commission
(WBIC) has requested all parties involved to appear before it on
November 19 for a hearing.


The WBIC letter has been sent to 11 parties, including the chief
secretary, principal secretary (commerce and industries), managing
director, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, Leader of
the Opposition Partha Chatterjee and Tata Motors Ltd.

“We have asked all to send in their written submissions by November
10. While granting a stay on full disclosure of the deal in the public
domain, the HC directive had asked us to hold a hearing in which Tata
Motors would also be represented,” WBIC secretary Nandan Roy said on
Friday.

On September 12, the HC had restrained the government and the WBIDC
from making the two annexures of the agreement public, which they had
signed with Tata Motors on the Singur project. The automaker had taken
the government and the WBIDC to court after the latter posted the text
of the “general” agreement on its website upon the direction from the
WBIC. The commission had received an RTI plea for such disclosure.

The Tatas’ lawyer had argued that the WBIC had violated the RTI Act,
2005 by asking the state to display the agreement, citing Section
11(1) of the Act which states in case a third party other than the
petitioner and the government is involved — in this case Tata Motors —
a submission from is needed for any information to be revealed. The
second argument was that the agreement between the three parties was a
“trade secret”, and that the Nano small car project was in effect a
private commercial venture.

Second airport to come up in Howrah
2008-11-01 [15:10:00 hrs]

The Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (NSCBIA) might
finally be relieved of the heavy traffic of passengers with the
proposal of a second airport coming up in Howrah.


Speaking at a function in Howrah yesterday, Subhash Chakraborty, West
Bengal Transport Minister said, “There has been a considerable
increase of passengers at the NSCBIA and so it was necessary to
develop another airport and Howrah was the appropriate place for the
purpose.”

Laying the foundation stone of a bus terminus at Ramrajatala in
Howrah, Chakraborty informed, “Currently, a consultancy agency deputed
by the state government is doing the survey work and once they give
the report, the whole project will be finalised. There is land
belonging to the Eastern Railway beside the Kona Expressway, but there
is some dispute with the land and so we are thinking of some other
land. We have directed all the MPs and the MLAs of the district to
look for land and once they give a report, we will finalise it.

When asked on why Howrah has been chosen for Kolkata’s second airport,
Chakraborty said, “Howrah is the twin city of Kolkata and an airport
in this town was necessary. Moreover Howrah's proximity to Kolkata
will also help in developing this airport.”

Buddha welcomes north indians, minorites to WB
2008-11-01 [15:03:00 hrs]

Calling the spat between the north Indians and Maharashtrians as
“parochialism”, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has assured
that such incidents will never occur in the state.


Addressing a gathering of minorities at the foundation laying ceremony
of an Urdu-medium school in Rajabazar, Bhattacharjee wondered as to
how such restrictions could be imposed within ones own country.

“No one can say that people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar cannot come
to Kolkata. The situation in West Bengal and Kolkata is different. We
are proud that Kolkata is a metropolitan city,” he said.

The chief minister very clearly expressed his displeasure over the
schism that has occurred due to the communal strife in various parts
of the country.

“I cannot imagine such a thing happening in West Bengal where Muslims
and Christians are attacked. Earlier they were destroying mosques, now
they are burning churches,” he said.

Bhattacharjee said he has written to the Centre for taking action
against the people involved in such crimes.

Talking about the condition of minorities in the state, Bhattacharjee
said the government was aware that minorities in the state were
lagging behind even before the Sachar Committee report was published.

About 25 per cent of the population in the state are minorities and
they are lagging behind because of historical reasons, he added.

“For three years repeatedly I have asked the Centre to have a sub-plan
for the development of minorities. But the Centre did not respond and
so we have come up with the minority action plan in 12 districts
across the state where the Muslim population is high,” said
Bhattacharjee implying that the state government is keen on the
development of the minorities.

The chief minister added that in West Bengal the state government has
spent the maximum resources for the development of the minorities in
the state compared to any other state in the country.

Rajasthan-Bengal Maitri Paishad
As the country is being torn apart on the basis of regional
identities, the CPM is all set to keep such sentiments within the
state at bay. This time, it is the Rajasthani community, which the
Marxists intend to impress in Kolkata. The first step towards this was
the formation of the Rajasthan-Bengal Maitri Paishad that will be
formally launched on November 3.


RBI cuts CRR by 1%, repo rate by 0.5%

Home, consumer and corporate loan rates are likely to ease in the
near future, with RBI announcing a slew of monetary measures including
a one per cent cut in cash reserve and stautory liquidity ratios
besides a 0.5 per cent cut in its short term lending rate.
The CRR, the percentage of amount banks are required to keep with the
apex bank, has been cut in two tranches of 0.5 per cent effective from
October 25 and November 8 to infuse Rs 40,000 crore in to the banking
system.

The central bank had already cut CRR by 2.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent
last month injecting Rs one lakh crore in to the system. With this
cut, the apex bank could have injected Rs 1.4 lakh crore through CRR
cut which is now pegged at 5.5 per cent.

The SLR, which is the amount banks have to keep with the RBI in the
form of cash, gold or approved securities, was cut temporarily by one
per cent earlier to 24 per cent and this cut has been made permanent
effective from Novebmber 8.

The RBI also cut its key short term repo rate, the rate at which
Reserve Bank lends overnight funds to bank, by 0.5 per cent to 7.5 per
cent. Last month repo rate was cut by 1 per cent from 9 per cent to 8
per cent.

With today's measures along with several monetary steps taken last
month, the apex bank has so far injected over Rs 2.5 lakh crore in to
the system.

Hailing the policy measures, bankers said that they would soon look at
reducing their lending and deposit rates in the near future.

Economists said the slew of measures would help to prop up growth,
particulalry considering that the inflation has started falling
drastically on the back of declining global crude oil and other
commodity prices.

RBI's move to help SMEs to get affordable credit

The Reserve Bank has addressed the problem of affordable credit for
small and medium enterprises by cutting reserve ratios and short
term
lending rate, Repo, the Prime Minister's economic panel said on
Saturday.

"Credit was getting costlier for SMEs as large companies were managing
from their internals. From the cut, their problem has been addressed,"
Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman Suresh Tendulkar
said.

He said liquidity was getting tighter last week, prompting RBI to
inject additional liquidity.

Inter-bank call money rates have jumped last week on tighter money
supply. The rates closed at 17.5-18 per cent in the weekend.

"I think last week liqudity position was getting tighter, quite
clearly. It was necessary therefore to that additonal liquidity is
injected into the system. So the cut is a right move," Tendulkar
said.

He said the rates cut will not fuel inflation as prices were the
problem on the cost side and by the rate cut the costs are expected to
come down.

"Demand is there. The problem was cost side, so by the rate cut the
costs are expected to come down. International commodity prices are
also coming down. So the rate cut will not impact inflation," the
noted economist said.

He said the panel's forecast of economic growth rate would remain
unchanged at 7.7 per cent so far and it remains unchanged. We may
relook at it after looking at FDI and other figures.

Rajiv Kumar, Director of economic think-tank ICRIER, said along with
improving the investment sentiments, the RBI measures will boost
growth, which has slowed down.

Foreign law firms set to operate in India: CJI
Foreign law firms would soon be allowed to operate from India and the
Bar Council shall not be able to resist their entry, says Chief
Justice of India K G Balakrishnan.
"I don't think the Bar Council of India can continue to resist (the
proposal to allow foreign law firms to operate in India)," the Chief
Justice said here last evening while delivering the keynote address on
'Judicial Reforms in India' organised by the Indo-EU Business Forum.

"I cannot give you a time-frame but this (the proposal) is being
handled at the senior level and it will be done," the CJI said.

Law minister H R Bhardwaj had recently said that the legal fraternity
in India should view the possibility of the entry of foreign law firms
as an opportunity to grow and enjoy the ‘fruits of litigation’ by
setting up partnership firms.

Asked if UK law firms can be allowed to do transactional work with the
objective of facilitating foreign investment in India, Justice
Balakrishnan said, "It should be decided by the BCI. I am sure it will
come soon. Discussion between the BCI and its British counterpart has
started. It may happen shortly and it will be helpful."

India's High Commissioner to the UK Shiv Shankar Mukherjee struck an
optimistic note saying ‘of course it is going to happen’.

Justice Balakrishnan also dwelt at length on the large number of cases
pending in Indian courts and steps taken to deal with the issue.

Justice Arijit Pasayat of Supreme Court voiced concern over the heavy
backlog of cases in various Indian courts and felt unless something
was done about it ‘the whole judicial system may get crushed under the
weight of arrears’.

RBI allows NBFCs to raise up to USD 10 mn in foreign currency

Reserve Bank on Friday allowed non- deposit taking NBFCs to raise
short-term funds in foreign currency up to USD 10 million under the
approva
l route to meet liabilities.

"It has been now decided as a temporary measure, to permit non-deposit
taking NBFCs to raise short-term foreign currency borrowings," RBI
said in a release.

The resource should be used only for refinancing of short-term
liabilities and no fresh asset should be booked out of resources, it
said.

The borrowing should be fully swapped into rupee for the entire
maturity, it said, adding, the maturity of the borrowing should not
exceed three years.

The facility would be available to those NBFCs which are complying
with prudential norms on capital adequacy.

RBI said that the maximum amount should not exceed 50 per cent of the
net owned funds or USD 10 million which ever is higher.

The fund could be raised from multilateral or bilateral financial
institutions, international banks and foreign equity holders with
minimum direct equity holdings of 25 per cent, it added.

Earlier this week, RBI had allowed non-deposit taking NBFCs to raise
capital by issuing perpetual debts.

Taking into consideration, the need for enhanced funds for increasing
business and meeting regulatory requirements, it has been decided the
non-deposit taking non-banking financial companies may augment their
capital funds by issue of perpetual debt, RBI had said in a
notification.


RBI measures to induce rate cuts: Bankers

The Reserve Bank's move to further cut reserve ratios and short term
lending rate (Repo) would induce banks to cut lending rates like
commercial, home, auto loans as well as deposit rates, but it may take
some time to materialise, bankers said.
"Liquidity per se, ideally speaking or rationally speaking, should
bring down the interest rates...But this will take may be a month or
two because the banks which have a lot of sanctions in the pipeline,
which are yet to crystallize into disbursements," Indian Bank's
Association Chairman T S Narayanasami said.

RBI today announced 1 per cent cut in mandatory cash requirement for
banks CRR and short-term lending rate repo by 0.5 per cent.

It also announced cut in the requirement for banks to keep proportion
of their deposits in government securities SLR by 1 per cent. The 1
per cent cut in CRR and Statutory Liquidity Ratio would infuse another
Rs 85,000 crore into the system over and above Rs 1,85,000 crore
already injected by the RBI.

ICICI Bank Joint Manging Director Chanda Kochhar said the RBI's move
will bring down interest rates.

"Second it is showing the mindset of the regulator that is
continuously monitoring the situation and coming up with measures on
dynamic basis. I think these are two positives," she said.

CMD of Delhi-based Punjab National Bank, which yesterday cut benchmark
prime lending rate, saw single digit rate coming soon. "We see single
digit deposit rates soon," PNB CMD K C Chakrabarty.

Chakrabarty had yesterday promised to cut maximum deposit rate by 0.50
per cent to 10 per cent from December one.


Mittal lost $50 bn in ArcelorMittal shares
NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has suffered a USD 50 billion decline
in the value of shares he holds in the ArcelorMittal following the
global financial meltdown, a leading economic daily has claimed.
Mittal, who owns 45 per cent of the stock in ArcelorMittal, has seen
the value of his personal shareholding fall since late June from USD
66 billion to USD 16 billion, ‘The Financial Times’ claimed in an
analysis of the effect of global financial crisis on the steel
industry.

"When Mittal talks to investors and analysts next week, he is likely
to come in for tough questioning about how much he will cut production
in the next few months. He will also be asked to explain the status of
the company's expansion programme, in particular two big plants being
planned for India, which look likely to be scaled back," the report
said.

Noting that Mittal, Chairman and Chief Executive of ArcelorMittal,
next week faces the biggest test of his career, the report said "the
Indian metals magnate will try to convince investors that his vision
of the steel industry still has merit, in spite of the battering the
sector has received amid the global financial crisis."

When he presents the third-quarter results of ArcelorMittal on
Wednesday from the company's imposing headquarters in the centre of
Luxembourg, Mittal will do his best to put a "brave face on a 72 per
cent decline in the share price of the world's biggest steelmaker over
the past four months."

Markets buoyant, Sensex up 744 points

Extending gains for the third day in a row, stock markets staged an
impressive come back rally with the benchmark Sensex closing the day
higher by nearly 750 points on brisk buying by funds.
Marketmen said slew of favourable factors boosted investor sentiment
which was at its lowest ebb after sustained heavy selling in bourses
across the world for about a month.

The 30-share index settled the day higher by 743.55 points at
9,788.06, after opening strong and even posted a gain of over 825
points during intra-day.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also rose by 188.55
points at 2885.60.

Brokers said besides a fall in inflation to below 11 per cent,
anticipation of rate cut by the central bank revived invesotrs's
interest in buying as they feel that both lower lending and inflation
rates bode well economic growth.

Inflation has come down to 10.68 per cent for mid-October. Besides, US
central bank Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan have massively cut
rates, prompting many to believe that RBI will follow suit.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's reaffirming stable outlook for India
also intensified buying support, they said.

Analysts said the bellwether index still recovering from the 23 per
cent massive drop it has seen this month, the most on record, which
saw the Sensex pluning below 8,000 level.

IMG decision to almost double borrowing limits for emerging markets
and waive demands for economic austerity measures also helped turn
around the sentiments on bourses.

The rally came after a day's break, when the MSCI Asia Pacific Index
added 9 per cent, after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rate by
0.50 basic points and agreed to provide 30 billion dollar each to
central banks in Brazil, Mexico and South Korea.

Oil slips to $63, set for record monthly slide

Oil fell more than $2 to below $64 a barrel on Friday and in line
with other markets was on track to post its biggest monthly fall yet.
The slide followed weak US economic data that provided the latest
indication of sharply reduced demand for fuel from the world's biggest
energy consumer.

US light crude for December delivery fell $2.66 to $63.30 a barrel by
1019 GMT, just off a session low of $63.12.

It has fallen by around 35 per cent this month, its steepest decline
to date.

London Brent crude was down $2.89 to $60.82.

"Oil is falling on a poor outlook for demand and the realisation that
rate cuts will take a long time to lead to a recovery," said
Christopher Bellew at Bache Commodities.

Data released on Thursday showed US gross domestic product contracted
at an annual rate of 0.3 per cent for the third quarter.

It was the sharpest fall in the world's largest oil consumer in seven
years and provoked further falls across commodities and global stock
markets, which were also poised for their worst month yet. On Friday
resource companies posted some of the steepest declines on the equity
markets.

A stronger US dollar, which makes dollar-denominated assets less
attractive to buyers, added to the pressure on commodities.

In three months oil has wiped out gains that took more than a year to
build. It has lost more than half of its value since it struck a
record high of $147.27 in July.

While focused on mounting evidence demand has been destroyed by
economic weakness across the world, the market has largely ignored
signs of tighter supplies.

Following a decision last week by the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries to cut output by 1.5 million barrels per day
(bpd), evidence has begun to emerge the group means what it said.

Nigeria informed customers of a 5 per cent cut in exports in November
and December following on from an announcement earlier in the week by
the United Arab Emirates. Top exporter Saudi Arabia has yet to inform
customers of any fresh curbs.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Thursday OPEC should
cut oil output by another 1 million bpd -- possibly before its next
scheduled meeting in December -- and should set a minimum price target
of $70 or $80 a barrel.

Tata Motors Q2 net down 34 pct

Tata Motors Ltd, India's top vehicle maker, reported a lower-than-
expected 34 per cent fall in quarterly profit on Friday, as higher
interest rates dented demand for its trucks and buses and costlier raw
materials hit margins.
The company, which expects to launch the Nano, billed as the world's
cheapest car, in early 2009, said net profit fell to 3.47 billion
rupees ($70.2 million) in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30
from 5.27 billion rupees a year earlier.

The company said it had notional foreign exchange losses of 2.85
billion rupees in the quarter.

Net sales rose to 70.29 billion rupees from 65.95 billion.

A Reuters poll had estimated net profit at 3.3 billion rupees on net
sales of 70 billion rupees.

"The automobile industry remains severely impacted with continued lack
of financing and high interest rates," the company said in a
statement.

"The quarter was also impacted by high input costs, and the company is
aggressively pursuing its cost reduction initiatives."

Tata Motors, which controls about 60 per cent of India's truck and bus
market, the world's fifth-biggest, sold 135,037 vehicles in the
quarter, down 1.1 per cent from a year earlier.

Tata, which in March bought Ford Motor Co's Jaguar and Land Rover
brands for $2.3 billion, struggled to raise $850 million through a
rights issue in October due to a stock market slump and the offering
was bailed out by the founders and underwriters.

Shares in Tata Motors, worth nearly $1.4 billion, fell 16.7 per cent
in the September quarter, while the auto sector sub-index rose 2.5 per
cent and the benchmark index shed 4.5 per cent.



IOC to earn profit on petrol sales again!

State-run fuel retailer Indian Oil Corporation on Friday said it will
again start earning profit on sale of petrol from Saturday, as the
international crude prices have come down.

"Petrol margins will turn positive from tomorrow. Based on the average
crude price of second fortnight of October, it (margin) should be
around Rs 4 a litre," IOC Chairman Sarthak Behuria said in New Delhi.

However, the company would continue to make losses on diesel sales at
about Rs one a litre.

Losses on sale of kerosene would be Rs 22 a litre and on LPG (cooking
gas) Rs 343 per cylinder.

Global crude prices, which touched a record USD 147 a barrel in July,
have since receded to USD 64 level on fears of a global recession.


Arrest Mayawati for razing Patel's statue, SP to Centre

Samajwadi Party on Saturday demanded the arrest of Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Mayawati and District Magistrate of Pratapgarh for allegedly
razing a statue of India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabh Bhai
Patel.
"A statue of Sardar Patel was to be unveiled on his birth anniversary
on October 31. But the district magistrate ordered that the statue and
the platform on which it was built be razed. We demand from the Union
Govt that the district magistrate and the Chief Minister be arrested,"
SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said.

Yadav alleged that District Magistrate Sainthal Pandiyan C had issued
the order at Mayawati's behest.

He alleged that though the land on which the statue was built belongs
to the Gram Sabha, the state government has tried to create an issue
out of it.

"The process of putting up the statue was started four months back but
nobody had objected then," he said.

SP general secretary Amar Singh, who was also present at the press
conference, read out a letter written by Pratapgarh MP Akshay Pratap
Singh, in which the latter maintained that the Gram Sabha had given
permission for using the land.

Yadav said if his party came to power, "it would jail the district
magistrate and Mayawati for this act".

"Sardar Patel stood by Mahatma Gandhi and fought with him shoulder to
shoulder against the British. He should not be shown disrespect,"
Yadav said.

The statue was to be inaugurated by MLA from Kunda assembly
constituency and Pratap's cousin Raghuraj at Katra Gulab Singh, about
30 kms from Pratapgarh.

Loan waiver could have been handled better: Plan panel member

The government's Rs.710-billion farm loan waiver could have been done
in a "better manner", says Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen.


Drawing a distinction between a situation-specific loan write-off with
mass debt waiver, Sen told IANS: "My preference has always been for
assessing why a loan should be waived, and not for general waiver."

Sen's statement comes in the wake of the recent farm loan write-off by
the central government; in February, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram
announced the waiver of Rs.600 billion to bail out nearly four million
small and marginal farmers. This was later increased to around Rs.710
billion.

"I do not grudge the debt waiver, but what I would say is that it
could have been done in a better manner, which was not general, and
was linked to some kind of assessment," Sen, also a professor of
economics at the premier Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here, said
in an interview.

"Some sort of debt assessment council or a debt tribunal should be in
place where you make an application and give the reason why your debt
should be waived off. In most such cases, the bank itself should waive
off debts," he said.

"That is, it (debt waiver) should have been on a case-to-case basis,
in which case the same amount of money could have been used to ensure
that those who really suffered would get much more than what they
really got."

Sen said there are situations that warrant loan write-offs, especially
when developments beyond human control make repayment impossible.

Citing an example, he said two or three years of continuous drought
can ruin farmers. There could also be individual-specific cases, like
a farmer falling ill and being unable to farm.

Sen said any across-the-board debt waiver is a "bad idea", and added:
"If you keep doing that, the culture of banking itself is destroyed."

But the economist said he didn't actually disapprove of the recent
farm loan waiver. "I have no real grudge. The period between 1996 and
2004 was bad for agriculture. It was bad as the rate of growth was
low, and prices were low. So, farmers did suffer."

We are not going soft on terror: PM
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Agencies
Posted: Nov 01, 2008 at 1721 hrs IST

Guwahati, November 1: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rejected charges
that the UPA government was soft on terror.
"We are not going soft on terror. There can be no compromise with
terror," Singh said after visiting the victims of Thursday's serial
blasts in Assam.

"Whosoever is responsible for these dastardly act, we will take
effective measures," he said.

Asked about involvement of other governments, Singh said, "if other
governments are involved we will take up this matter with them also".

The Prime Minister said investigators will look at all the clues that
they have and it would not be proper on his part to comment on the
probe.

Main Opposition BJP has accused Singh and the UPA government of being
soft in dealing with terror.

Assam blasts: Car bombs used, 3 detained
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Agencies
Posted: Nov 01, 2008 at 1549 hrs IST

Guwahati, November 1: Three Maruti cars with ammonium nitrate,
plasticisers and programmable time devices (PTDs) planted in them were
used in the bomb blasts in Guwahati, police said.
Three persons, including Nazir Ahmed, from whose mobile the SMS
claiming responsibility for the blast by Islamic Security Force
(Indian Mujahideen) was sent, have so far been arrested, Inspector
General of Police (Law and Order) Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta said.

The bombs were planted in three Maruti 800 cars at Fancy Bazaar, Pan
Bazaar and Ganeshguri in Guwahati, while a motorbike was used to carry
out the blast in Bongaigaon, he said.

The car used in the Pan Bazaar blast was badly damaged and the last
two digits of the chassis number were missing.

Investigations were being carried out with the help of Maruti Udyog
Limited, Mahanta said.

The car used in the Ganeshguri blast has been traced to Itanagar and
the Arunachal Pradesh DIG (SB) has been approached to help in the
investigations, he said.

Two PTD switches were found from Ganeshguri.

The owner of the car with number AS-01-0327 used in Fancy Bazaar
blast, Tikendra Saikia from Nagaon, has been arrested, he said.

Police in Itanagr said that the car used in the Ganeshguri blast was
sold by a distributor at Naharlagoon in the Arunachal capital to a
bank official in New Delhi in 1996.

The white car was paid for by cheque by the bank official, they said.

A pulsar motorbike used in the Bongaigaon blast has been traced to
Kahilipara area of Guwahati and a person named Biswa Borgohain has
been arrested, the IGP said.

Mahanta said Nazir Ahmed was arrested from Moirabari in Nagaon
district. The SMS could be a ‘diversionary tactic or it could be a
lead. We are not ignoring it and keeping all our options open. There
is not much information on the outfit besides that it was formed in
2000-01 by a section of Muslims to counter bodo militant outfits, BLT
and NDFB’.

Mahanta said that the CID was also preparing sketches of two persons
who were seen moving around suspiciously near the chief judicial
magistrate's office.

He appealed to the people to come forward with information that could
help the investigation.


Murder case filed against Raj Thackeray in Bihar
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Agencies
Posted: Oct 24, 2008 at 1553 hrs IST


Biharsharif (Bihar), October 24: The father of 25 year-old railway job
aspirant who was allegedly killed by an MNS mob in Mumbai, filed a
murder case against Raj Thackeray in Bihar on Friday.
Seeking initiation of criminal proceedings against the Maharashtra
Navnirman Sena chief and his henchmen, Jagdish Prasad, Pavan Kumar's
father, filed the case in the court of CJM Abhimanyu Lal Srivastava in
Biharsharif in Nalanda district.

A case has been filed under different sections of IPC including murder
and criminal conspiracy. Three persons have been named as witnesses in
the petition.

While two of them had accompanied the youth to Mumbai as guardians and
were witness to the assault on Bihari examinees by MNS activists on
October 19, another, an acquaintance living in Pune, had received the
body of Pavan after post mortem. The case is likely to be taken up for
hearing on Saturday.

Raj Thackeray, whose alleged inflammatory anti-north Indian tirade has
led to frequent attacks on Hindi-speaking people in Maharashtra, is
facing a number of cases in Bihar.

An advocate, Sudhir Kumar Ojha, has filed a murder and sedition case
against the MNS leader in Muzaffarpur, while a Dalit examinee Raj
Kumar Chaudhary, who suffered a fractured hand in the MNS attack, has
filed an FIR in Vaishali against Thackeray for instigating an MNS mob
to attack Biharis.

Keshav Kumar Sinha, a lawyer, has filed a complaint case against Raj
Thackeray and Shirish Parkar, MNS spokesman, under sections relating
to culpable homicide, criminal conspiracy and attempt to murder.

Rate hike, meltdown shut liquidity window for MFIs


31 Oct, 2008, 0020 hrs IST,Trushna Udgirkar, ET Bureau

HYDERABAD: Financing for the poor is getting more frugal now, with the
micro-finance institutions (MFIs) facing the heat of the global
financial mel
tdown. There has been a virtual halt in fresh disbursements to MFIs by
banks and financial institutions coupled with over 200 basis points
hike in interest rates.

It does not end at credit squeeze alone. Banks are also asking for
personal guarantees of directors of MFIs. A few banks have hiked
security margins from 10% to 25%, over the loan amount sanctioned to
banks. As a result, MFIs are unable to use even sanctioned funds.

According to sector trackers, MFIs may have trouble raising loans till
January, as banks will try to complete their priority-sector lending
targets more aggressively only in the last quarter of the fiscal.

The total disbursements to MFIs aggregate to around Rs 1 lakh crore
and the South is the hub of micro-finance activity in India. Hyderabad-
based Share Microfin managing director M Udaia Kumar says: “The
situation is alarming in India for MFIs, since it affects the
credibility of the organisation. Further, it strains the relationship
of trust built with clients and may result to clients not making
timely repayments.”

Adds Padmaja Reddy, managing director, Spandana, “Banks are tightening
credit lines. Current sanctions are available but disbursements are
getting delayed. Interest rates have predominantly gone up by over 200
basis points. But we have been able to absorb the rise in interest
cost as our operating costs are low,” she said.

Spandana has a diversified debt portfolio that could help cushion the
impact of higher interest costs. “We are preparing to diversify our
debt raising capabilities, through bonds issuance and securitisation,
capital market and structured debt funding,” said Shiv Narain, CFO,
Spandana.

State-owned banks that ET spoke to, however, deny a slowdown in
lending to MFIs and self-help groups. “One doesn’t see a reason for
reduction in the quantum of lending to these institutions. The rate at
which we lend to MFIs is dependent on a number of factors, including
the rating of such agencies.

These rates may have marginally gone up due to the prevailing
liquidity situations,” said one banker. Also, given nearly 100%
repayment of such loanees, banks say, lending to such entities like
MFIs makes imminent commercial sense. “PSU banks have clearly mandated
social banking goals and we have to achieve it,” said another.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Finance/Rate_hike_meltdown_shut_liquidity_window_for_MFIs/articleshow/3656212.cms

Kerala govt asks Centre to permit direct NRI deposits


1 Nov, 2008, 1928 hrs IST, PTI

KOZHIKODE: The Centre should permit Non-Resident Keralites to invest
in the state-owned chit funds as there was no provision for the state
to accept
such deposits directly, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said on
Saturday.

"More and more Keralites living abroad are showing interest to deposit
in the chit funds run by the Kerala State Financial Enterprises but
there is no provision for the state to receive such deposits
directly," he told reporters here.

KSFE has introduced new chits following the overwhelming support
received after its earlier schemes, he said.

The interest rate on NRI deposits should also be increased to attract
foreign investments to the state, Isaac said.

Referring to the global economic crisis, the Minister said though
tourism and IT, regarded as two dynamic sectors of the state, had
remained unaffected so far, the scenario might change in the coming
years.

"We have flight bookings for this entire year in the tourism sector
but the situation may not remain same from next year," he said.

India, China wary of global economic crisis


1 Nov, 2008, 1950 hrs IST, REUTERS

LONDON: Two powerhouse emerging market countries felt the sting of the
global financial crisis on Saturday as India unexpectedly cut its main
short-term lending rate

Survive credit crisis
again and China said it was now feeling a slowdown.

The developments followed signs elsewhere this week that world markets
were stabilising, with interbank rates falling and US stocks posting
their best week in 34 years.

"The impact of the crisis on China has just started to appear as China
has already seen a sharp slowdown in industrial profit growth and
fiscal income," a senior Bank of China (BOC) executive said in
Shanghai on Saturday.

The global economy will likely enter recession next year with the
United States, Europe and Japan posting negative growth, Executive
Vice President Zhu Min told a financial conference.

"That will have a huge impact on China," he said. Zhu also said
currency volatility was expected to add further pressure on China's
banks, which have enjoyed robust profits for years as the country
boomed. Earnings growth is now slowing as the economy cools from the
impact of the crisis.

"The uncertainties in the world's currency markets have exposed the
Chinese banking sector to higher foreign asset risk," Zhu said.

A central bank spokesman said Beijing was no longer imposing strict
limits on bank lending as it sought to preserve growth in its economy,
in which the overseas market is important.

ACTION ON THE LIQUIDITY FRONT

In India - like China, a magnet for foreign investment investment in
recent years as their economies roared - the Reserve Bank of India cut
its main lending rate for the second time in as many weeks to ease a
cash squeeze and spur economic growth.

Analysts said the surprise move showed India's concern that strains on
Asia's third-largest economy were quickly becoming more severe.

"These actions were necessary (and had) to be taken on the liquidity
front...the situation was getting worse," said Vikas Agarwal,
strategist at JP Morgan.

The central bank cut the repo rate or its main short-term lending rate
by 50 basis points to 7.5 per cent and banks' cash reserve
requirements by 100 basis points to 5.5 per cent.

It also cut banks' bond reserve requirements by 1 percentage point to
24 per cent of their deposits, the central bank said.

"The global financial turmoil has had knock-on effects on our
financial markets; this has reinforced the importance of focusing on
preserving financial stability," the bank said.

Policymakers around the world have slashed interest rates in recent
weeks and injected huge amounts into their banking systems to try to
combat the spillover effects of the global crisis, which is causing
credit markets to freeze up and threatens to plunge the world economy
into recession.

Indian bankers said they would adopt a wait-and-see stance before
deciding on lowering their lending and deposit rates.

The root cause of credit crisis is greed


1 Nov, 2008, 0604 hrs IST,K S Ram,

Governments are trying to bail out failed big businesses with the
taxpayers’ money in what is being referred to as capitalist socialism.
Will the damage-control exercise work? Why are those in governance
reluctant to acknowledge that at the root of the crisis is greed that
is throwing all caution to the winds?

Talk of correction in markets is always in monetary terms; there is no
mention of the need for spiritual solutions. Are moneycentric bailouts
a stable solution to problems born of greed? It might be interesting
and instructive here to recollect the story of Shumbha’s battle with
Durga in the Markandeya Purana.

In the Vedantic context , the term ‘Idam’ refers to ‘This’ and ‘Tat’
to ‘That’ . The physical world is This. What lies beyond the This is
That. The This owes its existence to That. The essence of spiritual
corruption is when This seeks to exclude That and Dharma begins to
decline and conditions ripen for the That to incarnate Itself to reset
the cosmic balance. This in a nutshell is the course of cosmic
evolution. The Shumbha-Durga battle is one among countless instances
of the fall and rise of the spiritual quotient.

Shumbha and his brother Nishumbha were mighty rulers who had conquered
all, including the gods. Having acquired so much power, they assumed
that their success was due to their physical prowess; no thought was
given to the need for Divine Grace. The dispossessed gods invoked
Devi, the power of That, to overcome the brothers intoxicated with
power to restore cosmic equilibrium.

Devi assumed the form of a bewitching beauty and seated herself atop a
hill. She was seen by the servants of Shumbha who duly reported her
presence to him. Shumbha sent a messenger to Devi, inviting her to
become his queen because he was, he claimed, lord of everything
excellent in creation. Devi replied that it was not so easy to attain
her; she would have to be won in battle.

Shumbha, infatuated by bounteous This, felt it was kid’s play for him
to win her. He sent out Dhumralochana to fetch her by diplomacy or
force. But the warrior was easily slain by Devi. Herein was signal
enough for Shumbha to mend himself. But he disregarded That and
trusted the strength of his physical resources. He sent two generals,
Chanda and Munda, with a large army. They were soon routed. Rather
than respecting That, more of This was mobilised by Shumbha. A larger
army with the selfproliferating Raktabija was sent. Even he was
annihilated. Nishumbha was then deployed. He too fell.

Shumbha finally arrived and threw all his remaining resources into the
battle, only to lose his life and all. Why? Because he over-trusted
This. He totally disregarded That. When Devi had effortlessly
vanquished his generals and army, Shumbha still failed to appreciate
that herein was a hopeless contest between the That and the This. He
persisted with reinforcing his army, rather like adding numerous
zeroes to a zero.

In the imagery used in the poem, this was like throwing hay into the
fire to douse it! When the hay got consumed at once, more hay was
thrown in. Why did Shumbha not recognise the absurdity of the
exertion? Why did he not recognise the need for spiritual insight? The
Purana says that it was so because he was overwhelmed by Mahamaya ,
the Great Illusion. Is that perhaps what ails global business today?
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3661014.cms

It’s no more rustic aloofness


1 Nov, 2008, 0155 hrs IST, ET Bureau

About six years ago, panchayats of three villages around Gurgaon’s
‘Mall’ Road picketed entrances to the four malls that were operating
then (current number is over 20) and threatened to shut all pubs and
night clubs located inside if the managements allowed village youth to
come in. They complained that their youth were stealing money, and
even their mother’s jewellery, to be able to pay for what they thought
was the high life.

These columns had then argued that the development pointed to a
looming socio-economic problem. Most landowners in these new boomtowns
had sold their land to developers at what seemed like a lot of money
then. A fair number bought cars, several travelled to Singapore and
Thailand on holidays, and a large number started frequenting pubs and
clubs and generally tried hard to be like the ‘in’ crowd.

Multitude of TV channels and their depiction of high life seemed like
the best thing to follow. However, in the absence of any guidance on
how to wisely invest their money, several of them soon realised their
windfall from land sale had dried up.

Most had also seen by now how developers had marketed, what was once
their land, as a dream destination for the growing middle class, and
at rates that were in multiples of what they had been paid. While
several felt they had been stupid to sell out so cheap, some actually
believed they had been short-changed.

In any case, the hunger for good life had not satiated, but with no
money, the impressionable had started resorting to unlawful
activities, as was exemplified by the happening at the malls.

However, even with the money and minus the nefarious activities, in a
hugely class conscious Indian society, they were still not considered
good enough to be a part. One major cog missing was their inability to
speak English. And while most think the erstwhile landowners’ is a
story that doesn’t have a happy ending, the realisation that English
is necessary for them to survive is one silver lining.

Realising that money alone would not get them the acceptance, a number
of elders urged their kids to learn English. To them, these kids would
get them the recognition in the society that they themselves may have
aspired for but never hoped to get. The added bonus was that it would
give these kids a higher status even among their peers.
It is this class consciousness that has been captured beautifully by a
recent mobile advert where an NRI asks a village boy in accented
Hindi, directions to someone’s house, only to look incredulous as the
child rattles off the direction in perfect English, before rounding
off with “Have a good day sir”.

And, as I realised last week, this is not limited to the advertisement
alone. We have a cycling club and were riding through a village beyond
Gurgaon late last month and stopped at one point to get directions. It
was early morning and a couple of youngsters gathered around us,
admiring our bicycles. These could be kids from any Indian village —
unkempt, excited, and impressionable.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Its_no_more_rustic_aloofness/articleshow/3661090.cms

State must support economic activity


1 Nov, 2008, 0219 hrs IST, ET Bureau

When the private sector spending slows, the government must step in to
support economic activity. Reports suggest, among others, construction
of roa
ds awarded to private sector players is suffering due to increased
cost of funds.

At one level, one could argue the public-private-participation
contracts should have accounted for such increase in costs, including
interest rates. However, the events of recent months were
unprecedented and unanticipated. Although there has been reasonable
monetary easing by the RBI over the past fortnight, that alone is not
enough to arrest further slowing of economic activity or decline in
demand.

Targeted fiscal measures that would have more immediate impact on
economic activity are needed. And, the government would do well to
identify big projects in some sectors where it should step up
spending, create productive assets and generate demand as well as
employment. These projects should be designed to benefit the rural
economy.

After all, the rural economy, including agriculture, supports about
74% of the population. It could be done by accelerating the pace of
implementing projects under the Bharat Nirman programme such as rural
roads, housing and irrigation. On the flip side, protecting and
growing rural incomes from the slowdown can help sustain demand for
goods even as urban centres experience a contraction.

The fallout of raising government spending at this stage would be felt
on the fisc, particularly so as growth of tax revenues is also
slowing. The government at this stage has to choose between fiscal
consolidation and running up a higher deficit to protect the growth
momentum.

It may seem a difficult decision, but the Indian government, like
governments across the world, would need to choose the growth option.
Particularly so, as inflationary pressures have eased. Addressing the
slowdown at this stage would obviate the need for stronger remedy at a
later stage when much damage may have been done to the economy.

The country can return to set targets for reducing budget deficits
when normalcy returns to global and domestic economy. The process of
achieving FRBM targets can always pause for a while to deal with
extraordinary circumstances.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/State_must_support_economic_activity/articleshow/3660489.cms

Investors wary of creeping acquisition rules


31 Oct, 2008, 0723 hrs IST,Nishanth Vasudevan, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: The recent move by the Securities and Exchange Board of India
(SEBI) to relax the creeping-acquisition norms may have cheered
company promot
ers, but it has sparked resentment among a section of the minority
shareholders. The displeasure is not against the easing of rules per
se, but the absence of prompt disclosure norms when promoters hike
their stakes during a particular period.

Currently, the shareholding pattern of a company is disclosed only at
the end of each quarter, except for a major change in the promoter
shareholding. According to minority shareholders, including some fund
managers, a quarter is too long to know about changes in the promoter
shareholding. Shares could be cheaply valued at the beginning of a
quarter, but the situation need not be the same when the shareholding
disclosure is made.

It is felt that the stock exchange should be intimated about any
change in promoter shareholding, irrespective of the quantity, on the
very same day. Many investors consider open market share purchases by
the promoters as a positive indicator about the company’s future
prospects.

“Promoters are in the best position to know the value of their
shares...there are a few retail shareholders who can understand the
value of a company similarly,” said a fund manager at one of the top
mutual fund houses. “There is a need for mandatory promoter
shareholding disclosure immediately after any change in the
shareholding, just like any developed markets.” he added.

Promoters and major shareholders in the US are required to disclose
any changes in their shareholding on the very same day. In India, any
such changes, below the Sebi-mandated levels, are disclosed only
voluntarily and by select companies that observe better corporate
governance practices. “Mandatory disclosures will certainly improve
the corporate governance of companies in India,” said SP Tulsian, a
Mumbai-based investment advisor.

Earlier this week, the Sebi allowed promoters to hike stakes in their
companies through open market purchases by 5% annually and up to 75%
of the total shareholding, as against the previous 55%.

The move is expected to encourage promoters to buy battered shares of
their companies from the open market, thereby cushioning against a
sharp decline in the prices. Several blue-chip stocks have fallen
60-90%, while mid and small-cap shares have been hammered by nearly
100% since the beginning of this bear-phase in January.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Market_Analysis/Investors_wary_of_creeping_acquisition_rules/articleshow/3656230.cms

Gold futures down on weak crude, strong dollar



31 Oct, 2008, 1130 hrs IST, REUTERS

MUMBAI: Gold futures fell on Friday as crude oil weakened on recession
fears and improved sentiment aided gains in the dollar and stocks, and
signs w
ere the sentiment may stay weak during the day, analysts said.

"A lot of steps have been taken to improve liquidity in the markets
that have helped stocks to some extent, so people are selling gold,"
said K.N. Rahaman, deputy research head at Way 2 Wealth Securities
Ltd.

Foreign gold, that guides the local market, was on course for its
biggest monthly decline since 1983 with crude oil down and a rebound
in the dollar.

Gold generally has an inverse relation with the dollar as the two
compete for funds. But the metal usually tracks crude oil as the
latter signals inflation, which gold negates.

The benchmark December gold on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India
Ltd (MCX) was expected to range within 11,600 rupees per 10 grams and
11,900 rupees, said Subodh Gupta, analyst at Anand Rathi Commodities.

December silver on MCX was expected to trade within 16,100 rupees per
kg and 16,900 rupees, Rahaman said.

Falling rupee to make imported pulse costlier


30 Oct, 2008, 2346 hrs IST,Ishta Vohra, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: Import of pulses is expected to increase steadily over the
next ten years as demand is growing while domestic production is
stagnant. Thi
s could be bad news for consumers as the rupee is depreciating,
pushing up the price of imported pulses.

Global producers are also taking advantage of India’s pulse shortfall
by hiking their prices, according to Assocham’s Pulse Production
Report 2008. According to the study, imports would increase to 27 lakh
tonnes by 2019-20. Canada, Australia, Myanmar would be major suppliers
of the commodity to India, benefiting from growing demand and rising
prices.

Since virtually every household in the country uses pulses, the report
is significant. The government is also concerned since prices of urad,
moong, masur and gram has shot up due to shortage in domestic supplies
and higher import prices.

This is affecting the per capita consumption of pulses, which has
plummeted to 12.7 kg/year now from a peak of 27.3 kg/year attained in
1958-59. The negative CAGR of 1.58% is a cause of concern, according
to Assocham’s director general D S Rawat. Pulses are a key source of
protein for the vegetarian sections of the population.

India is the world leader in pulses production, contributing about 24%
or 14.5 mn tonnes to the global production of 61.33 mn tonnes in 2007.
However, production has registered a paltry growth at CAGR of 0.26%
over the last five decades. Production has been virtually stagnant
over the past decade, he added.

The lack of growth in production has led to growth in imports, leaving
the country dependent on overseas suppliers for the past 30 years.
India’s pulses imports have risen at a CAGR of 10.38%, with net
imports rising from 4.6 lakh tonnes in 1998-99 to 20.4 lakh tonnes in
2006-07.

Canada, Myanmar, Australia, and the US contribute about 40%, 27%, 9%
and 6%, respectively, to the country’s pulses basket. The quantum of
pulse import from Canada has more than doubled during the last five
years. In 2006-07, Canada’s share in pulses import touched 905.325
tonnes, out of India’s total imports of 2,255.649 thousand tonnes.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Markets/Commodities/Falling_rupee_to_make_imported_pulse_costlier/articleshow/3656141.cms

Call rates hit 21% as banks rush for funds


1 Nov, 2008, 0346 hrs IST, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: Call rates touched a high of 21% on Friday, as liquidity
starved banks rushed to borrow Rs 65,655 crore from the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI)
through its liquidity adjustment window.

However, the rupee rose, as market sentiment was boosted by a rise in
the local as well as other Asian stock markets, following rate cuts by
the US Fed and other central banks around the world. The rupee rose to
a high of 49.26/27 during the day, as the marker pinned its hopes on
fresh dollar inflows. However, month-end dollar demand from importers
limited its gains. The rupee finally ended the day at 49.44/46 against
the dollar, rising from its previous close of 49.69/70.

“The rupee opened higher, in line with other Asian currencies. This
was pretty much expected, following the rate cuts by central banks
around the world,” said a trader with a private bank. The rupee had
fallen to a record low of 50.29 on Monday. Dealers also said that the
rupee gained from soaring call money rates, which jumped to a high of
21%, making it attractive for banks to hold and lend rupees.

According to market participants, cash conditions have gone through a
strain in spite of heavy liquidity infusion by the central bank. This
is partly because of the heavy intervention by RBI in the forex market
in the past week as well. The central bank is estimated to have sold
up to $2 billion on days when the rupee threatened to breach the 50-
per dollar mark.

Meanwhile, bond-yields dipped during early trade, as cash conditions
tightened ahead of RBI’s Rs 10,000 crore auction. Yield on the 10-year
benchmark bond, the 8.24% bond maturing in 2018, dipped to an-eight-
and-a-half month low of 7.42% during early trade. Yields finally ended
the day at 7.50%, a notch below its previous close of 7.51%.
Market participants are also hopeful of a cut in either the CRR or
repo rate in the coming week; following rate cuts by central banks
across the world, as well as a dip in inflation.

EU nations agree to push back CO2 auto limits to 2015


1 Nov, 2008, 2006 hrs IST, AGENCIES

BRUSSELS: EU member states are ready to grant automakers a three-year
delay until 2015 to reduce the CO2 emissions of their new vehicles, in
light of
the global economic crisis, negotiators said on Saturday.

During a meeting Friday of representatives of the 27 nations, "a
consensus was reached" on pushing back the original 2012 deadline to
reduce carbon dioxide emissions, one of the negotiators said.

Several colleagues confirmed his remarks, as European automakers
grapple with bloated inventories and falling sales brought on by the
credit crunch and a wider economic downturn.

The environmental target remains the same -- for new vehicles sold in
the European Union to emit no more than a benchmark 130 grammes of CO2
per kilometre.

Models that exceed the limit would be subject to penalties that would
escalate sharply after 2015.

The Volkswagen Golf, which regularly tops the list of Europe's most
popular cars, currently emits 119 to 174 grammes of CO2, depending on
engine type and size, the automaker's British website
(www.volkswagen.co.uk) says.

For all vehicles, the current average is 158 grammes.

EU member states also agreed Friday to an additional target -- to
limit CO2 emissions, a major contributor to global warming, to 95
grammes per kilometre in 2020.

The consensus now goes to the European Parliament for its
consideration.

"No country opposed the proposal," another negotiator told AFP. "No
one is totally satisfied, but we all thought that such a compromise
was a sufficient basis to go into negotiations with the parliament."

Britain, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands expressed reservations,
notably over penalties.

Friday's consensus came as European automakers seek 40 billion euros
in preferential-rate loans to develop greener vehicles.

France, which holds the rotating EU presidency, favours such industry
support, and this week the European Commission -- normally required by
EU law to crack down on state aid to industry -- indicated it was open
to the idea.

"The automotive sector is not in great shape, and for some, the
commission's proposal amounts to asking a man who weighs 60
kilogrammes to lose 30 kilogrammes on pain of death," a negotiator
said.

While cutting CO2 emissions to 130 grammes per kilometre is an
industry-wide goal, the limit would vary according to different
automakers.

In Italy, Fiat's target will be 122 grammes, while in France, Renault
and Peugeot-Citroen are to aim for 126 and 127 grammes respectively.
For Volkwagen, the limit would be 132 grammes.

One in five homeowners with mortgages under water


1 Nov, 2008, 1950 hrs IST, REUTERS
NEW YORK: Nearly one in five US mortgage borrowers owe more to lenders
than their homes are worth, and the rate may soon approach one in four
as housing prices fall

US mortgage crisis: A subprimer
and the economy weakens, a report on Friday shows.

About 7.63 million properties, or 18 per cent, had negative equity in
September, and another 2.1 million will follow if home prices fall
another 5 per cent, according to a report by First American
CoreLogic.

The data, covering 43 states and Washington, D.C., includes borrowers
nationwide, even those who took out mortgages before housing prices
began to soar early this decade.

Seven hard-hit states - Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia,
Michigan, Nevada and Ohio - had 64 per cent of all "underwater"
borrowers, but just 41 per cent of US mortgages.

"This is very much a regional problem, and people tend to forget
that," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's, who
expects home prices nationwide to fall another 10 per cent before
bottoming late next year.

"Most of the country is not in bad shape," he continued. "Things seem
to be stabilizing in Michigan, but the big bubble states - Florida,
California, Arizona and Nevada - are still very overpriced."

About 68 per cent of US adults own their own homes, and about two-
thirds of them have mortgages.

JPMorgan Chase & Co, one of the biggest mortgage lenders, on Friday
offered to modify $70 billion of mortgages to keep a potential 400,000
homeowners out of foreclosure. Bank of America Corp, which bought
Countrywide Financial Corp in July, also has a large loan modification
program.

HOME PRICES, ECONOMY UNDER PRESSURE

US home prices fell a record 16.6 per cent in August from a year
earlier, with declines in all 20 major metropolitan areas measured by
the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.

Foreclosure filings rose 71 per cent in the third quarter to a record
765,558, according to RealtyTrac.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said gross domestic product fell at
a 0.3 per cent rate in the third quarter. Some experts expect the
worst US recession since the early 1980s.

Yet despite a series of expensive government programs to spur lending,
mortgage rates are rising, making it tougher to borrow or refinance.
The rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped this week to 6.46 per
cent from 6.04 per cent a week earlier, Freddie Mac said.

Carmakers to lower 2008 target for Germany


1 Nov, 2008, 1758 hrs IST, REUTERS
FRANKFURT: Domestic and international carmakers will lower their
target for new car registrations in Germany due to continued
reluctance among consum
ers to buy new cars, a German weekly reported.

The VDIK car importers' association is expected to lower its target
for this year to less than the previously forecast 3.2 million new
registrations, Welt am Sonntag said in an article to be published on
Sunday citing confirmation by a VDIK spokesman.

The report said German auto industry association VDA also expected a
decline and would lower its outlook when the association reports on
October car sales on Tuesday.

VDA head Matthias Wissmann had said in September, new car
registrations in Europe's biggest economy should end up "somewhere
around 3.2 million" units.

A VDA spokesman declined to confirm the report, saying only: "We will
announce October sales on Tuesday and do not want to anticipate that
report."

New car registrations totalled 3.15 million in 2007, the worst year
for new car sales since German reunification in 1990.

Economy worsened, franc a problem: SNB's Roth


1 Nov, 2008, 1508 hrs IST, REUTERS

ZURICH: The Swiss National Bank is facing the dual challenge of a fast
rising Swiss franc and an off-target three-month franc LIBOR at a time
when th
e financial crisis is clearly hitting the economy, SNB Chairman Jean-
Pierre Roth said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday.

"We have two elements which are not pointing in the right direction --
the nominal development in the franc and the three-month LIBOR rate,
which is above our target," Roth told the Neue Zuercher Zeitung.

"This is a big challenge for us." Roth said the central bank's view of
the economy had not changed for the better in recent weeks.

"We are more concerned than a month ago," Roth said. "The situation
has noticeably worsened because the financial crisis is clearly
affecting the real economy."

When asked whether the country was facing a recession next year, Roth
said he wanted to wait until the central bank's economists had new
forecasts ready before commenting.

Recession fears are mounting in Switzerland after a slew of weak
economic data as key Swiss markets slow sharply and the soaring Swiss
franc puts an extra drag on exports.

The franc has hit an all-time high against the euro last week, having
risen around 10 percent in just one month.

Roth said that the absolute level of the franc was not the problem but
the speed of the rise a concern.

The SNB head noted that the three-month LIBOR -- the SNB's target rate
which is set by the market -- was now moving in the dirction of the
targeted rate of 2.50 percent.

"We see that the trust is increasing slowly and the rates have been
falling in recent days," Roth said. "It's not as fast as in the past
but the direction is the right one."

The LIBOR was fixed at 2.72 percent on Friday, off recent highs of
3.13 percent, after the SNB launched a number of new measures to ease
strains on the money market, including cheap dollar funding and euro/
franc swaps.

Markets are pricing in lower interest rates by December, the SNB's
next regular quarterly meeting, after the SNB joined other central
banks in cutting rates in a coordinated move in early October.

Editorial dalit Voice



When US rejected capitalism why Indian rulers are hugging it ? Free
market musketeers warned
The current financial crisis that threatened the world’s richest and
the most powerful capitalist stronghold, USA, has proved wrong India’s
three notorious free market musketeers — Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram
and Ahluwalia — who are determined to sell this impoverished country
to Tatas, Ambanis, Birlas and such other corrupt capitalists.

Our micro-minority upper castes (15%) led by the less than 3% Brahmins
are the greatest admirers of the LPG market mantra. They hate
governmental control and use their corrupt manuwadi monopoly media to
malign and run down public sector, constitutional reservations and any
development efforts. And that is how these upper castes have become
blind bumlickers of America.

Socialist solution: But what happened in their own dream-land in the
middle of Sept.2008? The American capitalism simply collapsed —
putting a big question mark on the free market philosophy. So much so,
even blind haters of communism and socialism started calling American
President “Comrade Bush” for kicking capitalism, discarding the market
mantra and following the socialist solution.

Death of capitalism: Is capitalist America going socialist? Goldman
Sachs and Morgan Stanley, two of America’s biggest investment banks on
Wall Street, are simply humbled, their ears boxed and reduced to mere
bankers under the communist-type control by the US Govt. Is it the
death of capitalism?

India’s free market Frankensteins, headed by the Khatri Sikh PM and
the Tamil Chettiar FM, beware.

America has less than 3% Jews who control the entire economy. They own
not only almost all financial institutions, run stock exchange, but
even the American Federal Reserve (counterpart of the Reserve Bank of
India). All over the world the sole authority to print currency notes
is a fully owned govt. institution. But only in America it is totally
private and that too in the hands of Jews. To that extent the economy
is privatised in USA.

LPG maniacs: The “Jews of India” have launched a powerful drive to
privatise everything in India and have almost succeeded. The Khatri
Sikh PM, the Chettiar FM and Planning Commission Chief, a world Bank
import, as flag-bearers of the LPG marching brigade, have been blindly
following the American model. Because globalisation is a zionist
manufactured concept. WTO is a zionist creation. We had devoted a
chapter itself to this subject in our book, Shape of the Things to
Come (DSA-2005). In the second week of September 2008 when the
President of America nationalised several world famous banking and
financial institutions, it simply shocked the world.

Is it not a clear indication that unbridled capitalism has failed? And
that “free economy” will hand over the innocent lambs to the
capitalist wolves?

In America, the Jewish capitalist wolves are having a hearty meal and
here the “Jews of India” are having a Bada Khana in the name of free
economy and democracy.

China safe: The American crisis did hit all the capitalist countries
in England and other West European countries but nothing happened in
China, a communist country which has a tight control on its economy.

But in India where the Brahminical wolves run the show, merrily eating
innocent lambs, the capitalist-roader Manmohan Singh Govt. got a
shock. But fortunately the governmental control is fairly strong in
India and that is how India is saved.

The latest crisis must warn our LPG lunatics. Free market will give a
free ride to Banias and Brahmins and other suckers.

Here is a warning: Financial capitalism is not suitable to India’s
caste-ridden society which has already sucked the blood of its over
85% of the weaker sections and fattened the overfed 15% upper castes.
Without dismantling this deathless caste system if Manmohan Singh and
Co. were to introduce market economy the Marwadis and Manuwadis will
make a mince-meat of the Bahujan Samaj.

America saved itself by applying the socialist solution. India,
already a beggar nation and socially paralysed, will get economically
crippled if we follow the capitalist path. In the name of free
enterprise the Marwadis and manuwadis will control even the air, water
and squeeze us to death.

Shift of power from West to East: In our different writings we have
predicted the fall of America. And such a fall has begun with full
force. The Georgian crisis has revealed the shift of power from West
to East. Russia gave a kick on the neck of USA and has warned the
White Europeans that they must stay neutral. (DV Oct.1, 2008 p.11:
“Georgian war divides the world”).

The American boast of unipolar world stands shattered. George W. Bush
as the most hated American President is getting ready to go to the
International Criminal Court.

Economically US is weakened. And with the imminent entry of a Black
into White House the Jews holding the neck of America will be on
notice. (DV Sept.16, 2008 p.6: “Will forces of history put a Black man
in White House?”)

Homeless “Jews of India”: Will the Jews pack off to Europe with their
dollars? Will the emerging super power China, along with Russia, Iran,
Venezuela, the entire Muslim and African world bring peace to the
strife-torn world under the leadership of Barack Obama?

Then India’s Black Untouchables and the entire Bahujan Samaj (85%)
will get a breathing time. Such a situation is sure to make the
shocked “Jews of India” to piss in their pants. But we Bahujans are a
people with a heart. We realise that none in the world is there to
welcome them. The American Jews may manage to settle in Europe — not
the zionist Israel which itself will disappear. The “Jews of India”
will be homeless. But we will assure their safety and security. And
settle the cow-worshippers in the foothills of the Himalayas in their
dreamland of Gorakhpur.
http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/oct_a2008/editorial.htm
MANIPUR CASE

Not Christians, but Hindu terrorists converting Tribals to Hinduism
MADHU CHANDRA, NEW DELHI

Hindutva terrorists have chosen conversion as a yardstick to kill
missionaries, rape nuns and vandalize churches. Who actually does
fraudulent conversion? Charges made against Christians and made to
appear as real because of their Brahminical media.

I am a living example, representing 2.5 million Manipuris where my
forefathers were forcibly converted to Hinduism in 19th century. Since
then every Manipuri (Meitei) has to add Singh at the end of every name
although many youngsters are abandoning it by returning to indigenous
Meitei religion.

Casteism and untouchability emerged after Hinduism entered Manipur
where caste never existed earlier. Brahminisation (hinduisation) is
continuing in different tribal areas. We have witnessed this process
in Dang district of Gujarat during Sabri Kumbha Mela in 2006. The
Tribals of Jhabua (MP), Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Assam, Arunachal etc.
are the example of conversion of non-Hindu Tribals into Hinduism.

Anti-conversion law is forcefully implemented in India and the tribal
Christians in Kandhamal dt. of Orissa are in the grip of these forces.
To be alive in these village one must become Hindu. Otherwise get out
or get killed. This is the law in Orissa. The govt. calls it “freedom
of religion”.

Christians in MP, Orissa and other states, where anti-conversion laws
exist, are accused of forced conversion when they themselves are the
victim of forced conversion at the hands of hindutva forces. So much
so the Christian population in the last 20 yeas has declined in India.
Where then is the question of more people being converted to
Christianity?

The allegations of conversion is a lie. The force, fraud and
fraudulent conversion carried out is done by none other than hindutva
forces, that too totally against the will of the individuals.
(fin...@gmail.com)


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Gujarat Muslims face forcible conversion
SHABNAM HASHMI

On Sept.17, a battery of forest officers and police descended on the
village of Nandapeda, near Ahwa, in the Dangs, Gujarat. Nandapeda is
the only village with majority Muslim population in the Dangs district
considered the poorest district in the whole of India.

The govt. has been forcing the Muslims to convert to Hinduism or face
eviction from their land. They moved the Gujarat High Court against
the govt. move. The families have been living in the village for over
100 years. Justice Jayant Panchal had in July sought explanation from
the govt. After hearing all parties Justice Anant Dave admitted the
case on Sept.11, 2008 and ordered status quo on the “disputed land”.


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DV silver jubilee at Lucknow
V.T. RAJSHEKAR

Lucknow: Dalit Voice family members of UP state held a day-long
meeting here on Sept.28 to celebrate the silver jubilee of the English
fortnightly. Moses Parmar of the OM Northern region hosted the day-
long session attended by about 120 people from different parts of the
state.

DV representatives from outside the state like Andhra Pradesh,
Maharshtra, Haryana, Bihar were also present. A couple of local
Muslims attended.

However, it was an all-male affair as usual with the exception of one
single woman. Despite specific request our family members even from
Lucknow did not bring their wives.

DV wants to bring about Ambedkarite revolution upsetting Brahminism.
Is it possible to destroy Brahminism without the support of the youth
and women?

Discussions were held on Budhism and particularly Vipassana meditation
which was condemned by the entire gathering. Mahar Budhists admitted
that the Mahar monopoly of Budhism was the cause of the confusion in
their state.

The speech delivered by the Editor will be published later.


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Budhism adulterated
PROF. T.D. KOSE, F-1, ADITYA APTS., NR. PRATHAMESH ENCLAVE, GURUDWAR
ROAD, SHASTRI NAGAR, CHANDRAPUR - 442 401

Thank you for reopening the Debate on Budhism. To save Budhism and to
liberate it from Brahminism and also to expose the frauds and fakes of
Vipassana, we must launch district and taluk-wise camp where relevant
literature in local language must be distributed showing clear
adulteration of Budhism. This will expose the Brahminical conspiracy.
I had discussed this with many bhikkhus but no use. They are all
addicted to Vipassana.

Most of the Budhists are emotional about Vipassana. Hence the need to
launch a big campaign to save Budhism. DV is doing the right thing —
yet it has a limitation. It should spread speedily nationwide. Such a
campaign is a must. Otherwise Budhism will be Brahminised and nothing
will remain.


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Budhism reduced to farce
PRADIP SETHI, ATHARNALA, PURI 752 002



DV gives us mental muscle to think independently. Because DV goes to
the heart of the issue. DV’s famous Debate on “caste identity”, “Dalit-
Brahmin alliance” and the current debate on Brahminisation of Budhism
are fantastic.

A common man’s religion needs good scriptures, rituals and some dos
and don’ts. But Dr. Ambedkar’s Budhism is a religion of rationalism,
closer to truth and modern in makeup.

But the votaries of Budhism are sleeping and “eating” dirty meditation
with the commercially designed a Vipanasa. Even Budha said that he got
nothing from his six-year-long yoga and meditation.

We fail to understand how sitting silently (without any work) for
hours will help Dalits or Dalit movement. It is a joke to think that a
group of people with shaven heads, uncommon costume chanting Budha
Vandana with begging bowl will promote socio-cultural revolution in
the present world. Can we turn the clock back?

We would go a little further. Can we say we are giving
disproportionate attention to Budhism in the shape of a religion to
promote Dalit empowerment?

Have the Budhists started a chain of English-medium schools with
modern outlook? Did they groom good number of journalists, advocates
or doctors? What is the use of this idle meditation?

The motive behind some mischievous Budhists seems to be pacify a group
of troublesome persons. Funding agencies working in this field hold
the remote-control. They only know when to go, where to go and how to
go. And their cunning representatives are rushing now to rehabilitate
themselves in the space created by Dalit movement. But the poor
innocent Dalits are becoming vegetarian, keeping Budhist ringtone in
mobile phone, using a pen of stickered Budha or pasting photo of Budha
here and there in their houses. The list can go on. We can call all
these things nothing but a farce of religion.

People who love Budha and Babasaheb are expected to strengthen the
basic values of this movement. To conclude with a famous quote: “In
our time, we will repent not for the evil deeds of bad people, but the
silence of good”.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Corrupted RPI leaders
BHIMRAO GANVIR,196/421 - BHIMASHA, MAHAVIR NAGAR, AT/PO: RANALA, TQ.
KAMPTEE, NAGPUR DT. - 441 002

This refers to DV of Aug.16, 2008, p.23: “Selling Babasaheb beggars
become millionaires in Maharashtra”, by Dr. V.D. Chandanshive.

I liked this article very much. The role of RPI leaders like Jogendra
Kawade and Mrs. Sulekha Kumbhare needs elaboration.

During the recent graduates constituency election in Vidharbha,
Gadkari (BJP) was elected with the support of Kawade and Mrs.
Kumbhare. Kawade resigned from his Vidhan Parishad seat in protest
against Khairlanji multiple murder of Bhowtmange family. But both
these leaders helped the Brahmana Jati Party (BJP) victory.

BAMCEF is also divided into 3-4 factions. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar had
said that social revolution was must before political revolution. How
can we succeed when social revolution is forgotten? All our Dalit
leaders are running after political power forgetting social
revolution. Kuldip Kumar is perfectly right.


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Brahmin says Dalits are useless idiots
SHANTAM, POLICE OFFICER, RAJMAHAL VILAS, BANGALORE - 560 001

You are a bunch of morons writing bullshit. Get a life you idiots. No
one listens to your bullshit seriously. You are a clinical case with
high degree of paronia. Need to be admitted to a mental asylum.
Morons. This so-called Bahujans are useless idiots. They are the ones
who are backward and made the country backward. A bunch of low IQ
morons. Look how Dalit pussies are screwed by smart Brahmin boys.
Whole media is about smart Brahmins. All the smartest men are Brahmins
in India. Bahujans are ugly dicks and pussies. Can never be great.
Always will be servants of Brahmins. Even if you give them 100 percent
reservation they will be dumbheads. Because Brahmins are smart they
will find ways to beat these pussies and idiots like you. How many
people read your shit magazine. Only a bunch of loonies. You don’t
have any say. Your Mayavathi is completely under the grip of Brahmins.
Satish Mishra decides the tunes to which she has to dance and all the
while you dumbfucks believe that Dalits are winning and ruling you
idiots get a life. (shan...@yahoo.com)

We like honest Brahmins like you. But you are such a brave man,
representing such a heroic community, why did you give a false name,
false address, false designation, false email ID? And hide like a rat?
Cowards die many times before their death. But the hero dies only
once. Anyway, thank you for keeping a watch on our website which holds
a mirror before your ugly face. The whole world is also seeing this
face in our website. Anyway we are publishing your email so that the
world will read and laugh at your cockroach mentality — EDITOR.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY TO LAUNCH VARNA YUDDHA MISSED

Dalits sleep as fake Maoists get ready to clamp fascist dictatorship
COM. AYYANKALI

As predicted long ago, the much feared global economic crisis has
finally begun to unfold. The entire Western and zionist capitalist
financial framework is collapsing. ICICI Bank run by a Gowda Saraswat
Brahmin, K.V. Kamath, has already made losses and all GDPwallahs are
silently crying.

Iran or Pakistan may be attacked by the zionist-Western warmongers as
a last resort to come out of this crisis using what is known as
“military Keynesianism” to create “artificial demand” in the crumbling
economy by destroying existing things and grabbing the oil fields.
This may lead to World War-3, but this will also fail.

MARXISTS TURN CAPITALISTS
All the IIM-educated Brahmin financial wizards are now being ridiculed
and laughed at by Brahmin manuwadi fake marxists.

As DV predicted, all these “financial experts” are now listening to
Yechury and CPM, if not Brahminical manuwadi fake maoists. As the
situation worsens, more and more such Brahminical capitalist elements
will change their colours overnight and rush towards marxist
manuwadis.

As the capitalist crisis increases, the fake Maoist Prachanda is
rushing towards capitalism taking help from his Indian Brahmin
brothers to form SEZs (special exploitation zones). This means several
Nandigrams and bloodbath of Nepali Bahujans and nothing else.

Even “Sacred Brahmins” in the RSS may turn fake leftists as the crisis
starts biting. Mayawati’s BSP may become the Congress Party of the
Dalit-Bahujans.

To tackle Brahminical fake Maoism, a new Maoist Party led by the
Negroid Dravidian Dalit-Bahujan proletariat as well as oppressed
nationalities is now becoming a very urgent necessity. Such a party
has to ideologically adopt what I call V.T. Rajshekar thoughts, Steve
Biko thought and Maoism as adopted by the Maoist Internationalist
Movement (MIM). Is Gaddar listening?

It has to be an armed party to launch the long awaited Varna Yuddha
(caste war) through mass Gujjar-type caste insurrections using Maoist
people’s war strategies.

Events are overtaking us as usual and such revolutionary thinking is
lacking. Our Dalit-Bahujans are certain to be taken for a ride for
another 100 years, if they fail to realise what is happening and where
this economic crisis is leading to.

Dalits may be deceived

Our Dalit-Bahujan mass must understand all this right now — because
even their most sincere repentance will be utterly useless after
Brahmin fake Maoists succeed and clamp a Brahminical state-capitalist-
feudal dictatorship in India under the guise of Maoism.

The question is: Will the Brahminical fake Maoists succeed? Well, the
simple answer is a resounding yes.

If the Dalit-Bahujan masses fail to wake up, they will be enslaved by
the Socialist Brahmin fake Maoists much more effectively than the
“Sacred Brahmin” RSS fascist-terrorists can ever hope to do.

Already, Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena is financing Maoists. Imagine what
will happen under a social fascist dictatorship imposed by the
“Socialist Brahmins” under the guise of Maoism.

Gaddar’s role

Frankly, no Dalit-Bahujan seems to be understanding the danger. Gaddar
is happily in the pockets of the manuwadi Brahmin-Reddy- run fake
Maoist party. K.G. Satyamurthy sleeping. Anaimuthu of the Periyarist
Communist Party is also sleeping. Sharad Patil is nowhere in the
picture.

JHARKHAND JUNGLE
The only Dalit-Bahujan-led Maoist Tritiya Prastusti Committee is
somewhere in the Jharkhand jungles. There is no understanding and no
co-ordinated action to adopt caste war as the fundamental strategy and
apply Maoism to the concrete conditions in India right now. In the
absence of any such urgency on the part of revolutionary-minded Dalit
Bahujans, the now unfolding economic crisis can only help Brahminical
manuwadi fake Maoists win and establish the most horrible social
fascist dictatorship that has ever existed under the name of so-called
“Maoism”.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brahminism & Muslims
V.T. RAJSHEKAR

A 16-page pamphlet in English by Sufi Nazir Ahmad Kashmiri, a noted
Muslim scholar from Kashmir (reproduced here), was published way back
in 1967. It was published by Jamia Rural Institute, New Delhi - 110
025 and also c/o No.45, Marcoir Labbai St., Madras - 600 001. A
photocopy of the text was sent to us long, long back by a DV family
member Brother Yoginder Sikand who found it in the library of Henry
Martyn Institute, Hyderabad, where he was working then with a request
for publication in DV.

The recent Kashmiri Muslim uprising in the Valley made us think of
publishing it though every word said in the pamphlet is more relevant
even today as Brahminism, gasping for breath, is becoming more and
more violent subjecting the country’s overwhelming Bahujan population
to great hardship.

Enemy identified: In this English pamphlet titled Revival of
Brahminism & its Consequencs”, Sufi Nazir Ahmad rightly identifies
Brahminism as the principal enemy facing every section of the Indian
society. That is his greatness which we did not find in any other
Muslim religious leadership of this country.

Brahminism, he says, is not merely the enemy of Muslims but also the
Dalit, Tribals and Backward Castes. Here lies the depth of thinking of
the author because we have not come across a single Muslim religious
leader of India with such a courage and philosophical insight. There
may be some like him today but they dare not identify the enemy
oppressor. It is this failure of the Muslim religious leadership (to
identify the enemy) that has caused all the confusion among the Muslim
masses who suffer daily at the hands of Brahminical persecution. Not
only they have been impoverished but denied education and employment
opportunities. More than anything they are daily being portrayed in
the press and TV as traitors and terrorists and their life and little
property destroyed.

Hindu is not our enemy: The Muslim masses no doubt are angry but they
don’t know against whom they should be angry.

India’s Muslim religious leadership identifies the enemy as the Hindu
but in India even the non-Hindu (if not the anti-Hindu) Dalit, Tribals
and Backward Castes are also called Hindu. Brahminical rulers say over
85% of the people in India are Hindu.

The Hindu is not the enemy of the Muslims. The real and the only enemy
of the Muslim is Brahminism, which is not only the enemy of SC/ST/BCs
but even the Brahmins. Dr. Babasheb Ambedkar, the Father of India, has
also identified Brahminism as the one and the only enemy of India.

It is here that Sufi Nazir Ahmad comes to the rescue and clearly
identifies Brahminism as the sole enemy of the Indian Muslims. Dalits
(20%), Tribal (10%) and Backward Caste (35%) are not Hindu and were
never Hindu. Similarly the Christians and Sikhs.

What is Brahminism: Who then are the Brahminical people. They are the
15% upper castes: the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and shudras
(20%).

They only are the Hindu. But the Muslim religious leadership
identifying Hindu as the oppressors of Muslim has done the greatest
disservice and committed the greatest crime against their own innocent
Muslim followers.

Another greatness of the Sufi saint is in reminding the Muslims their
principal duty. That duty is the Quran calls upon every Muslim to
fight for the liberation of all the oppressed — not merely the Muslim.
Since the Dalits are the country’s worst oppressed, the Muslims, being
converts from the indigenous population, should have treated Dalits as
their blood brothers and forged a Dalit-Muslim unity to fight the
common oppressor — Brahminism.

Islam and Brahminism cannot co-exist.


Such a clear message has not come from any Indian Muslim religious
leader except Moulana Moududi, founder of the Jamate-Islami.

Where is the Umma: Such a poverty of thinking in the Indian Muslim
leadership has brought disaster after disaster upon a community that
ruled this country for 800 years before the British came. Within 61
years of “independence” India’s single largest community (20%) of
Muslims has been totally enslaved and looked at with suspicion as
terrorists and traitors. It is this fear complex (cowardliness) that
made the entire Muslims of India to become silent spectators when the
Kashmiri Muslims were fighting and dying in Aug.2008. Where then is
the Muslim umma? What a shame upon the Muslim brotherhood? We don’t
know where Sufi Ahmad lives now and how he is. We will be grateful if
any person alerts us on reading this — EDITOR.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How Muslims can help destroy Brahminism
Foreword
The right course of action for the 20th century Brahminism

Human race all over the world is in fact a single community. Man is a
moral being as opposed to animals. This peculiar nature of man is a
truth universally accepted. There are, however animal urges also in
man. The essence of human religion consists in developing this special
moral nature and in keeping animal urges with in the moral bounds.
This is the basis of universal human brotherhood.

What the Brahmin has, however, done during the last four or 5,000
years to eliminate all possibilities of such a brotherhood and is
doing even now, is briefly sketched in the following pages with the
intention of getting this in human scene terminated by the hand of
Brahmin himself and thereby enabling him to atone for the sins of
thousands of years. May God grant success to this effort.

Solution to Kashmir Problem :
Since these lines were originally written in Kashmir it may also be
submitted that the problem as understood or as explained outside the
state is not the same as exists inside the State. The fact is that
while Brahmin intolerance has cleared Muslims from Jammu, the process
is now in operation in Kashmir. If this problem is considered while
overlooking this real truth it can never be understood. All the
Brahmins of the state seem to be determined to conceal this truth.

It may also be submitted that even a just political solution of the
problem lies in one direction: that the two parts of the state are
forthwith joined together and internal autonomy is given to it and
militarily it is made a joint protectorate of India and Pakistan. This
will also have a soothing effect on the minorities in India and
Pakistan and will possibly bring their foreign policies and even
defence nearer to each other.

Nov.11, 1967 Sufi Nazir Ahmad

Kashmir.

*********************

The soul-killing contradiction of the Indian society & the only way to
resolve it
These lines are being written just in Srinagar. One can most clearly
discern here the working of the age-old contradictions of the Indian
society. It seems that in this state the history of thousands of years
of Brahminism is being repeated. Although this revivalist movement of
Brahminism has been carried on throughout India for the last 20 years,
it does not seem to be so clear there as in the State of Jammu and
Kashmir.

The fact is that on the eve of independence, some nationalist Muslim
leaders disregarding the feelings and sentiments of Kashmiri Muslims
in general attempted to accede this state to India ( I am not
discussing here the question of permanent or temporary accession)
which opened the floodgates of Muslim extermination. In the light of
these developments a sensitive man can see with his naked eyes the
working of Brahminism in the past thousands of years of Indian
history.

A WORD OF JUSTICE FOR JINNAH
These Muslim leaders were probably under the illusion that the Hindu-
Muslim conflict which a reformer politician like Gandhi and an old
nationalist logician like Jinnah could not resolve could be resolved
by them under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. Throughout this
Congress-League conflict the friendship of these leaders with
Jawaharlal Nehru was probably due to this delusion and it continued to
grow instead of diminishing and its consequences became evident in
1948. The result of this friendship which is now manifest as a reality
clearly shows that this friendship was suicidal to the Muslims.

Jinnah continued to remain an ardent nationalist through most of his
life, but during all this period he felt the reality in all its
aspects that the new kind of nationalism which was raising its head in
India would leave no place for Muslims or Islam. Hence if Muslims as
Muslims were not protected they will disappear from India in the next
50-100 years along with Islam. This was the realisation which prompted
the nationalist Jinnah to become the sponsor of Pakistan movement.

BRAHMINS CAPTURE CONGRESS
Nationalism in India which was founded by men like Raja Ram Mohan Ray
and which was fostered by Bengal and Maharashtra and completed in
Northern India by the Arya Samaj, the Hindu Mahasabha, its study
forces a man to the same conclusion which was drawn by Jinnah. Jinnah
in his biography when he mentions the death of Pandit Motilal Nehru
has also mentioned that thereafter the Congress organisation passed
into the hands of those who were the supporters of Brahministic brand
of nationalism.

This nationalism was in fact a revival of Brahminism. It was this
nationalism whose essential part was negation of Muslims and Islam.

Anyway, a political thinker could certainly arrive at this conclusion
only.

GREATEST TYRANNY OF HISTORY
The most palpable tyranny of this new nationalism is that it started
its work by making Aryan culture and religion as the basis of Indian
renaissance, although history has unmistakably shown that when this
Aryan clan came to India it deprived the old inhabitants of the
country of their human rights permanently by making them untouchables.
They were treated as more unclean than cats and dogs.

And then by making this most heinous fascism of history a religion
they imposed it permanently on the people of this country.

But these Brahmin reformers, treating Islam and Muslims as anti-
national and alien to the nation and the country, started to put an
end to them and to make Brahminism or Aryan fascism as the corner
stone of national reformation although wisdom and honesty demanded
that the matter should have been reversed.

MUSLIMS APPLY WRONG REMEDY
The remedy which Muslim politicians devised for this hostility to
Muslims was itself more than 50% against the purpose of Islam. Islam
means an organisation of the entire human race on the belief of a
universal creator of the world and a universal human brotherhood.
Therefore, all the privileges of a Muslim are subservient to this
belief and they ought to be so.

ACTION OF KASHMIR MUSLIM LEADERS
But the Muslim politicians of India entirely separating Muslim rights
from the duties started a purely political movement in opposition to
the representatives of Brahminism which culminated in the achievement
of Pakistan and which even on political lines, instead of solving
Hindu-Muslim conflicts has made confusion worse confounded.

Anyway the Kashmiri Muslim leaders partly under the influence of the
new religion of nationalism and partly under the delusion that the
task which could not be accomplished by the combined efforts of Gandhi
and Jinnah could be accomplished by them under the supervision of
Nehru, took these steps which were also supported by Gandhi in the
hope that probably Kashmir would materialise his dream of Hindu-Muslim
unity. They, however, seem to be leading to the annihilation of
Muslims from the state. The following facts explain it:

JAMMU CLEARED OF MUSLIMS
It so happened that immediately as the Indian army entered Kashmir,
Brahmin brand of nationalism fully established itself there. Jammu
came into their control on the very first onslaught and they began to
clear it of Muslims without the least fear; and the Muslim population
of Jammu is now reduced from 66% to 30%. Now the same operation is
being carried on in Kashmir. Whatever flowering platitudes are used
the reality is just this. The slogan with which Balraj Madhok started
the recent Pandit agitation leaves no room for doubt that the freedom
with which a Madhok or a Prem Nath Dogra can operates in this state is
not available even in India generally. For whatever oppression is done
in India comes to the public in some form or other and its echo is
also heard in the world outside.

BRAHMINICAL MEDIA MISCHIEF
But no one is allowed to know what happens in Jammu and Kashmir. The
correspondents of the foreign papers who are here are full fledged
supporters of the aforesaid Brahman nationalism and upholders of its
cause.

So they cannot be such traitors to their country as to present any
such fact to the world which might hamper the advance of this
nationalism here. They can however represent the fact of a Hindu girl
marrying a Muslim to the world as a matter of universal disorder. But
they can never think of informing the world as to how the 66% of the
Muslim population of Jammu was reduced to 30% in the last 19 years.

NON-MUSLIMS BROUGHT INTO JAMMU
They will not let the world know how many lakhs of non-Muslims were
brought from outside. The irony is when Indian Army entered the state
of Hyderabad, they drew all the Muslims, who had entered the state
from the adjoining areas of India. But in Jammu and Kashmir they are
doing the reverse. Yet they will not let the world know a word about
what slogan Balraj Madhok used in inaugurating the Pandit agitation.
And now when the next target is to be attacked under the leadership of
Sankaracharya of Puri instead of Balraj Madhok they are not going to
reveal. What preparation have been made to make it a success. As this
will be a treason to “nationalism”. Obviously the “nationalist”
journalist will not lose any part of his faith or honesty by telling a
myriad lies but to speak a single truth against this nationalism will
mean a total loss of honesty and faith and so he is ever on guard
against it.

UGLY INSTANCE OF NATIONALISM
The birth place of the writer of these lines is the town of Poonch in
Jammu province. In 1948 along with other thousands of Muslims my whole
family was driven at the point of sword towards the other part of the
state. This family had built some residential premises in Kahoota,
some 12 miles below Haj Pair, which were burnt to ashes in the
disturbance of 1965. In the vicinity of Rajauri, which is in the
Indian province of Jammu, I have still some relatives although I had
renounced my home in 1933 and began to tour India.

It was my firm conviction that I have to carry out a great mission and
had left my home under this pressure. However, in 1961, I established
my contact again with this state in furtherance of the same mission
and as I was an old inhabitant of Jammu I had gathered so much
information as no minister nominated by the Indian Govt. could
probably gather. At the same time god has given me a sympathetic heart
as well. And so last year I tried to persuade an important Congressite
Muslim leader of the state to put the real condition of the state
before the whole country and try to change it. But the reply which
this Muslim leader gave was such as would cause humanity to weep for
centuries.

This leader replied: “This will give a bad name to the country and it
will be exploited by Pakistan”.

SHEIKH ABDULLAH’S NATIONALISM
Such is the training of nationalism which is tantamount to suicide and
under which any Muslim can hold office in the state. The respite which
Sheikh Abdullah and Bakshi got was on this condition and Sadiq and
Qasim hold their offices due to this nationalism. In the circumstances
if any minor local newspaper commits anything for this bad name of the
country and motherland, it is caught by the throat and strangled. It
is suppressed on the charge of “fanning communalism”. This is the
nationalism which is in operation in Jammu and Kashmir and the world
is kept utterly in the dark about it.
UNHAPPY END TO THE MUSLIM NATIONALIST
The Muslim leader who gave the aforesaid reply has been for the last
two years first castigated by Jan Sangh workers as a “Pakistani” and
later as the “worst Pakistani”. And now intensive propaganda is afoot
to oust his party and constitute Madhok Raj.
Sheikh Abdullah, Bakshi, Qasim and Sadiq are being made instruments in
establishing by stages this pure and clear nationalism and now the
establishment of real nationalism is being tried. Governor’s rule will
be nothing but Jan Sangh Raj. Since the entire Secretariat of the
State and most of the officers lent from outside are embodiments of
this nationalism.
PURI SANKARACHARYA
It is reported in newspapers (Times of India, Oct.26, 1967) that after
Madhok and Prem Nath Dogra the supreme supervisor of the Kashmir
policy of Jana Sangh will be Sankaracharya of Puri. Under his
leadership a committee has been constituted to safeguard the rights of
non-Muslim minorities in Kashmir province.
In Jammu, the rights of minorities have been fully safeguarded. Its
minority is raised from 34% to 70%. And now the same safeguard to
minorities is intended in Kashmir. As to the “safeguard of minorities”
in India itself, it is communalism in the language of all these swamis
and Brahmin deities and it is the basic duty of the national govt. to
crush it, which the Congress Govt. has been admirably performing. This
Govt. during the last 20 years did not for once see the necessity of
instituting an independent judicial enquiry into the Hindu-Muslim
riots. What more could it do? As to the establishment of pure
nationalism it is for Jan Sangh and the RSS to accomplish it for which
they have fullest freedom. This has been the working of pure
nationalism in free India during the last 20 years.
May god grant to every true human soul the capacity to comprehend it
fully. And may god grant sadhus like Sankaracharya of Puri the sense
to distinguish the position of a true sadhu and the life work of a
executioner at the gallow. In fact such a basic contradiction is
working in the Muslim-Hindu outlook that the only way of solving it is
to end one of them.
Brahminism divides human race into millions of high and low castes
involving society into eternal contradictions and demolishing all
foundations of human equality in rights and duties.
But to the Brahmin it gives such a high place as is almost divine and
from where he downgrades the rest of the human race in stages, keeping
them subservient to his own interest. This process has been continued
by him in history for the last about 5,000 years sometimes openly and
sometimes unseen like an underground channel.
As against this, Islam is a system of universal human brotherhood on
the basis of faith in one creator of the world in which there is no
room for any discrimination of race or colour or clan which may in
anyway influence human rights and duties. This statement about
Brahminism and Islam is an unavoidable historical truth and it is on
this account that Jan Sangh leaders declaring Islam to be extra-
national and extra-territorial are making repeated declarations of
their determination to destroy it.
APPEAL TO DALITS
I, therefore, appeal to every Brahmin in particular those who even in
this disturbed state can think rightly in the moral light of human
conscience and every Dravidian, Adivasi and Untouchable leader to
awaken fully his conscience and to ponder whether the two facts stated
above are absolute truths. May be the same sun rises again in India
which will not only put an end for ever to the age of murder and
plunder but will also change the immoral night of the darkness of
materialistic oppression and the fraud of secular democracy into light
as well.
FASCIST BRAHMINISM CALLED RELIGION
When Brahminism began its free play in India it classed the old
inhabitants of India as unclean and degraded them below the level of
animals in its own interest. Thereafter this fascism was elevated into
a religion and the people were made to agree to it. It was in the
course of this process that a system of high and low caste was devised
which buried for ever all possibilities of human quality and its
rights and duties. It was now a religion whose violation was not only
violence of the law of the land but also made the transgressor fit for
hell.
BUDHISM DESTROYED
Propagation of Budhism somewhat loosened the grip of Brahminism to
some extent but then there was the movement for the revival of
Brahminism which did not rest till Budhism was driven out of the
country leaving in its wake a reign of social and political anarchy in
the land.
For a vast country like India and for the entire world Brahmin system
of millions of castes and millions of deities can be a cause of
spiritual moral, social and political anarchy but not in any way a
basis for unity. A system so fatal to democratic interest can for a
while be imposed by physical force but it cannot last for ever and is
bound to end in anarchy.
MUSLIM RULERS CRITICISED
This was the historical moment when Islam came to India. But it
entered the country in two ways. The first was the Muslim saints,
merchants and ulamas came here and this was the right way. Their aim
particularly of saints was to propagate Islam. The other was the entry
into India of Muslim conquerors. This was a doubtful manner of coming
for the aim and purpose of these conquerors was in principle similar
to those of Aryan conquerors. They came here to establish their
empire.
Yet there is one thing which distinguishes them from Aryan conquerors
and it is that there was no sanction in their religion that like Aryan
conquerors they could degrade the old inhabitants of the country and
keep them out of the pale of their religious tradition becoming
themselves masters and covering themselves with sanctity. It is
however a fact that the object of their coming here was not to spread
and propagate Islam.
In fact the true Islamic preachers were regarded their rivals.
Nevertheless they were in open conflict with the higher castes of
Brahminic society, and it continued. The social system for which these
higher castes were fighting has already been elaborated. They were not
fighting for the rights of the masses but for their own supremacy.
TYRANNY OF CASTE SYSTEM
The battles of Muslim conquerors had their two-fold effect on Islamic
history. In the first place the motives of the Muslim saints, ulamas
and merchants who could preach Islam with sincerity and selflessness
began to be looked upon with suspicion by the common people. If it
were not so there are reasons to believe that Islam would have spread
here in the same way as it did in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia
etc.
The majority of this country would have accepted the divine unity and
the system of Islamic brotherhood as a matter of necessity as this was
the most suitable way to liberate the common man of the country form
the tyrannies of caste system.
BRITISH PERIOD
The other effect was that due to continuous wars of Muslim conquerors
the representatives of Brahminism were able to use the religion of
untouchability against Muslims also. But this working of the system of
untouchability throughout the Muslim regime was just an undercurrent
and Muslim conquerors never treated it as anything but the
superstition of non-believers. Although in their essence they were not
just superstitions but the undercurrent of the soul of Brahmanic
social system.
During the British period the system of untouchability against the
Muslims and the supremacy of Brahmins began to run side by side and
nearly all the high class Hindus who opposed Muslims and called
Muslims as tyrants and oppressors and aliens like Rana Pratap and
Shivaji were regarded as representing the soul of Indian patriotism
and heroism. In this hysteria of prejudice it was totally forgotten
that this class of super human Brahmins had also come from outside and
had perpetrated unprecedented tyranny upon human nobility and equality
declaring human beings particularly the old inhabitants of the country
to be unclean and untouchable and making themselves super human.
THE AGE OF FREEDOM
To regard this system of belief and action as the real ideology of the
country and to consider the upholders of unity of god and human
brotherhood as enemies of the country was nothing short of uprooting
faith, honesty, justice and equality.
Now in the age of freedom the process continued by Brahminism in so
far as Muslims are concerned is the same as adopted against local
inhabitants on is coming here. During the last 20 years the way in
which Muslims have been killed and plundered without a single
independent judicial inquiry being instituted into it, has now become
a national convention which has bee carried for thousands of years
against the honour and respectability of the ancient inhabitants of
the country.
DALITS SUFFERING
If their plans against the Muslims are successful, the rights which
they have temporarily given to the Dravidians and Untouchables under
the pressure of international democratic forces will also be taken
away and they will have to remain content with their old status, as
this has been the religion of this country for about 5,000 years.
The injustice done in the name of religion is more lasting than
political injustice. Is there any force in the superficial slogans of
secularism etc. which can change the impact of this religious heritage
of genocide?
Nehru was the greatest supporter of secularism and was also considered
the strongest opponent of the caste system. But what was the result?
Just this that his family today rules the entire country with the
possibility that sometime later it may even be given the status of
constitutional monarchy. Even the national convention of killing and
plundering of Muslims without any inquiry was established in his own
moderate regime and the question of Kashmir is also his family
question which has been treated as being synonymous with the
preservation of the freedom of India, probably even more important.
India would have probably become the centre of the entire free Asia
and Africa, but it was just this family question of Kashmir in which
Nehru involved sometimes China and sometimes Russia.
DOUBLE THINK ON KASHMIR & HYDERABAD
Police action against the Muslim State of Hyderabad was launched on
the ground that a minority in fact cannot be given the right to rule
over an absolute majority. And then it was enforced with such
perfection that it constitutes its own example. But when Kashmir was
brought under control this rule of justice as altered to mean that the
Muslim majority cannot in anyway have the right to remain in majority
forever and constitute a danger for ever to the supremacy of Brahmins.
Under this rule Jammu has already been cleared of this danger and now
the process is being carried on in the Kashmir province. Thousands of
devises are being tried to see that the small majority which Muslims
still command there should never enable them to get their rights
accordingly.
PANDIT AGITATION
Only the last summer Sadiq announced that he was going to constitute a
commission for the purpose of giving the right of participation in the
Govt. to the various communities in proportion to their numerical
strength. But a few days after this statement a great storm was raised
which will be remembered in history as the Pandit agitation.
Now Sadiq realised his position and under some secret compromise
changed this commission into a regional one from which it seems to be
understood that the question of communal representation will never
come before it so that Muslims will be made to remain content with
their age-old position.
MUSLIMS AS NEW CLASS OF UNTOUCHABLES
This will be a new national convention and Muslims will become a new
class of untouchables. The result will be that while the province of
Jammu will be ruled by Jan Sangh, Kashmir province will become the
preserve of Kashmiri Pandits. It may be anticipated as a matter of
fact that under this system of justice Sadiq and Qasim will remain on
their gaddi for another five years. A way may probably be found in
this period to clear Kashmir also from the Untouchables. May the
disciples of Gandhi just know what is the nature of work undertaken in
the name of Gandhi in Kashmir?
NON-BRAHMINS WARNED
This is the revival of Brahmanism after a thousand years and its
operation, although it is very difficult for the Brahminical social
system to succeed in this age of universal democracy.
But there is a clear possibility of a bloody future for Muslims in
particular and non-Brahmin communities in general. Specially in view
of the fact that the rights which all Muslim organisations of India
are trying to secure indicate that they are the successors of
Shahabuddin Ghori, Zahiruddin Babur, Nadir Shah Durrani etc. without
being the least trace that they have any relations with Muinuddin of
Ajmer, Nizamuddin of Delhi and Sheikh Ahmad of Sirhind.
WHAT IS CENTRAL DUTY OF A MUSLIM
No doubt profitable trade of preceptors and disciples are being
carried on in their holy names, but there is not the least sign in
these preceptors and disciples of any desire to conveying the message
of unity of god and human brotherhood to every home. It is this alone
that the secret of their humiliation and ruin lies.
Popularly all these people call themselves Muslims and some of them
are devoting all their efforts to become the leaders of Muslims but
they do not believe in practice that all the rights of Muslims emanate
from the performance of their duties.
CONTRADICTION BETWEEN ISLAM & BRAHMINISM
And the great and most central duty of a Muslim is to liberate
humanity from casteism, untouchability and racial or geographical
discriminations and to put them under the banner of the universal
brotherhood of Islam.
The ideal of a Muslim, according to the Quran is:
This, your community, is one community and I am your creator. So fear
me.
The above mentioned fact is the contradiction which exists between
Islam and Brahminism and the existence of one implies the negation of
the other.
Brahmanism is a system of high and low castes which exalts Brahmin to
the proximity of god and grants him a superhuman status, degrading the
rest of the humanity as to the level of his servants, while Islam
regards all such concepts as atheistic and implies a ceaseless effort
to deliver humanity from this course and bring about universal, human
brotherhood.
According to Islam all true religions have tried for this human unity.
Look to the Quran:
Human race was one community (then differences arose among them) then
god sent to them prophets who were harbingers and warners of fear of
god and with them came the code of injunctions that it may resolve the
differences.
WHY MUSLIM IS HATED ?
Thus to eliminate all discriminations of caste and race and colour
which make human rights and duties subservient to caste and country is
the basic teaching of religion.
The entire basis of the religious struggle is to remove this
discrimination which has prevailed in the world in the form of caste,
colour or community. But Brahminism stands for creation and fostering
of such differences.
It is only for this reason that Islam and Muslims are castigated as
extra-territorial and plans are made to exterminate them which is a
matter for serious thought.
THOUGHT FOR EVERY SENSITIVE HUMAN
As a result of it, it is a matter for thought for every morally
sensitive human conscience:
(1) To revive Brahminism and make it a corner stone of India’s social
edifice is to revive justice and equality or to spread oppression and
tyranny?
(2) Is it possible to establish human peace and prosperity by making
moral and spiritual values subservient to discrimination of caste and
untouchability and race and country or this facility can be secured by
making these distinctions subservient in every way and in all aspects
to moral and spiritual values?
(3) Even for the limited object of unity of the country and the
nation, is it necessary to eliminate in every way the Islamic system
of unity of god and human brotherhood and to revive all aspects of
Brahminism (the same age-old undemocratic system of caste
distinctions) or even this limited object can be secured by throwing
away all these pre-historic superstitions and humbugs and to
appropriate in its place the belief in a universal god and the system
of universal brotherhood?
It is now for every Dravidian, Adivasi and Untouchable leader and also
for every Brahmin leader to think with full moral courage. After all
how long this drama of human killing and plunder will be allowed to
continue and that too in the sacred name of religion, which in fact is
the establishment of human brotherhood on the foundations of moral and
spiritual duties.
There is no doubt that today a peaceful bloc can be organised under
this ideal at least from Indonesia to Morocco, Algeria, Turkey and
Iran and moral force can be created which may generate a wholesome
world wide human reaction against Marxist tyranny and Western
imperialism and immoral diplomacy. This is not a very difficult thing
to accomplish and this one act will condone the sins of thousands of
yours.
I also appeal all Muslim organisations to cooperate fully in conveying
this request before all sensible Indians.
http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/oct_a2008/articles.htm
3 reasons for collapse of America
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: Just as Truth never comes out in India, governed by its 3%
Brahminical Bhoodevatas, in America too, governed by its 3% Jews,
Truth is never known. This is also the case with the American
financial collapse as DV goes to press.
What we gathered is: (1) the fury and frustrations of the ruling Jews
over the US failure to defeat Iraq and control its oil, (2) their
failure to force President Bush to attack Iran to protect their blue-
eyed boy zionist Israel, and (3) finally their failure to check the
rise and rise of Barack Obama, a Black and a Muslim.
These are the three principal reasons for the desperate Jews to rise
in revolt and start killing the very American economy itself after
their failure to control its politics.
Yes. This is the end of the American imperialism, which must be
welcomed by the whole world particularly those in Asia and Africa.
America is the world’s most famous thoroughbred capitalist country.
The 700 billion dollar bail-out plan proposed by its Treasury
Secretary Hank Paulson, and strongly supported by the Jewish
bumlicker, President Bush, is a total socialist solution which America
is forced to embrace as capitalism failed.
The story is not over. It has just begun. Just as the zionist fat is
on fire in US, in India the hate-mongering high caste brain is also on
fire. We will watch the fun...

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Karnataka: After attack on Christians Muslims wait for their turn
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: The Karnataka people voted for the Brahmana Jati Party
(BJP) in the recent Assembly election. And the party honestly started
implementing its Brahminical policy by attacking Christians, a soft
target, as a dress rehearsal for a major bloodbath against Muslims.
The party has decided to repeat Gujarat in Bangalore to capture South
India. They will do it.
Manuwadi worry: So the attack on churches did not come as surprise to
us. They are doing their duty to hinduise India. The Hindus (meaning
the 15% upper castes led by Brahmins) are seriously worried that the
“Hindu population” (meaning the 65% SC/ST/BCs who are victims of
Hinduism) is slipping out of their control — either through conversion
or forging solidarity with Muslims/Christians.
Fake SIMI story: Thinking sections among the upper castes are not even
getting sound sleep in the night because of this worry. Only a
Brahminical manuwadi knows how much he is worried about the revolt of
the SC/ST/BCs. The one and the only way to stop the revolt is to
hinduise (enslave) SC/ST/BCs who are not Hindu and never Hindu.
One fantastic weapon the Brahminical people discovered is “terrorism”
which enabled them to recklessly arrest and kill the Muslims. The
manuwadi monopoly media operated by their most cantankerous boys and
girls is doing a wonderful job. But even this weapon is failing lately
because the people have started blaming the govt. itself when
“intelligence” agencies failed. The entire SIMI story proved to be a
big Brahminical bullshit, according to the Tehelka revelation (DV Sept.
16, 2008, p.9).
Ever since “independence” (1947), when the manuwadis directly took
control of the country after killing Gandhi, they have been very
systematically implementing their policies.
Next turn of Muslims: The credit for achieving great success goes to
their manuwadi media. But not one victim of the Brahminical terrorism
is understanding the importance of the media — except Dalit Voice
which alone has been singing the song without any response from its
victims.
The BJP has tested the waters in Karnataka by attacking the churches.
The next turn is Muslims. Bangalore will shortly witness a repetition
of Gujarat. And with that BJP flag will fly still higher.

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Brahminical bid to break up Bangladesh
A CORRESPONDENT
London: Bengali Hindus are plotting to partition Bangladesh by
creating a homeland for its “minorities”. They have come up with a new
blog about this on internet:
http://www.bangabhumi.blogspot.com
S. Guha Thakurta, Advocate is the designated Agent, Hindu Republic of
Bir Bango, Editor, Shakti Samachar, 16-Marcus Lane, Calcutta - 700
007.
Bir Bango Hindu Council is headed by Dr. I.J., Mondal of South Khulna
dt.
The partition of Bengal was not liked by the upper caste Bengalis and
they were conspiring to create a separate Hindu state out of East
Bengal itself but later supported the Bengali Muslims to fight for
Bangladesh. In 2003, a report appeared in the Times of India about the
formation of the state in exile:
Feb.4, 2003: A provisional Hindu republic was established in
Bangladesh six months ago with the declared objective of forming a
“Hindu Republic of Bir Banga” having its capital at Shaktigarh in the
Chittagong hills. Though the republic is still on paper, a “supreme
revolutionary council” and a 17-member interim government in exile
have been formed to launch an armed struggle to bring about partition
of Bangladesh and form the Hindu republic comprising almost the entire
southern half of the country.
VHP international secretary-general Praveen Togadia said during his
recent visit to Calcutta that his organisation was in favour of a
partition of Bangladesh and creation of a homeland for the persecuted
minorities there as well as those now living in exile in India.
The proposed constituent state of federal India comprises Dinajpur-
Rangpur division in current northwest region of Bangladesh for over 15
million tortured non-Muslim (Hindu, Christian, Budhist and Ahmediya)
Bangladeshis. After that through a plebiscite in this new Indian state
it would be decided whether they want to remain a separate state or
merge with West Bengal to form a united Bangal state of India, says
the blog.
Zainal Abedin, Raw & Bangladesh, 1995, pp.270, Fatema Sahab, 7-
Fakirpool, Inner circular Road, Motijheel, Dhaka
Zinal Abedin, The Chittagong Hill Tracts - A Victim of Indian
Intervention, 2003, pp.240, Eastern Publications, 16 - Silvester
House, London.

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FALL OF THABO MBEKI
Racists & zionists finally topple Africa’s towering personality
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: Angry White racists and zionists, who were ousted from
South Africa — the continent’s richest and the politically most
powerful country — finally succeeded in creating confusion and chaos
by managing the ouster of Black Africa’s towering personality, Thabo
Mbeki (66).
AIDS INVENTION
It is Mbeki who made S. Africa the continent’s most important country
and also the world’s most respected. And yet the Whites and zionists
went on squeezing S. Africa. Finally they found an ideal stooge in
Jacob Zuma whom they systematically groomed to take on Mbeki. Poor
Mbeki is on the way out.
Earlier, the Whites and zionists, who still control many things in S.
Africa including its diamond trade, discovered AIDS to physically
weaken the powerful Blacks, S. Africa got world-wide publicity as a
country virtually dying out of AIDS. They forced the Mbeki Govt. to
buy their drugs and use it on a large-scale. But Mbeki put his foot
down. He said if his Black people were poor and hungry it was because
of the White racist rule which could be cured by socio-economic
remedies but not AIDS drugs.
The enemies of Mbeki, headed by a Jew, Bill Gates, the king of the
AIDS empire, did everything to damage Mbeki and his spotless career.
BLACKS REJECT MANDELA
They used even Mandela, a stooge of the Whites to destroy Mbeki’s
reputation. The Jewish Nobel Foundation gave Mandela a Nobel Prize but
the Blacks rejected Mandela.
Zuma was the discovery of the Western enemies of Mbeki and Africa. We
will not be surprised if the enemies do everything to divide the
powerful ruling African National Congress (ANC) and paralyse S. Africa
by grooming Zuma.
ROLE OF CHINA
The world outside is not getting a true picture of Africa because the
entire media is controlled by the Whites. China has emerged as a
trustworthy supporter of Africans but we could not find China doing
enough to avert the current S. African crisis.
Mbeki has emerged as Africa’s tallest and the most respected leader.
And felling such a towering personality, the most impoverished and
crisis-ridden Black continent and the mother of the whole world
population, will suffer a big setback. This is exactly what the
racists and the zionists wanted.

DV Jan.16, 2008 p.13: “Zionists cause defeat of Mbeki?”
DV Jan.1, 2008 p.10: “AIDS as a weapon of war”.
DV Nov.1, 2007 p. 25: “Why this sudden silence on AIDS?”
DV Oct.16, 2007 p.5: “AIDS: Western conspiracy to finish Blacks”.
DV Feb.16, 2007 p. 10: “AIDS used to finish Blacks?”
DV Jan.1, 2006 p.8: “Fears over Bill Gates sudden love for slaves of
India”.
DV April 16, 2005 p.6: “Nobel laureate says West invented AIDS to
exterminate Blacks”.
DV March 1, 2005 p.7: “Western racist bid to topple Mbeki will not
succeed”.
DV Feb.16, 2005 p.4: “AIDS, a White Western conspiracy?”
DV Oct.1, 2004 p.13: “AIDS drugs aim at Blacks”.
DV Sept.16, 2004 p.12: “AIDS: Western conspiracy?”
DV Aug.16, 2004 p.20: “A White man’s conspiracy to finish Blacks?” &
p. 21: “African AIDS statistics bogus”
DV Aug.1, 2004 p.8: “AIDS — a biological weapon of racists?”
DV July 16, 2004 p.5: “Why blame Whites & Jews for AIDS?”
DV June 1, 2004 p.15: “AIDS scare to promote big business in drugs”.
DV May 16, 2004 p.12: “Why Dalit dosctors silent on AIDS?”
DV April 1, 2004 p.13: “DV fears on AIDS”.
DV Edit Jan.16, 2004: “Whythis sudden love for Blacks? AIDS another
White conspiracy to keep Africa enslaved?”, “West conspiring to topple
Mbeki?” & p. 5: “Dalit doctors must testify”.
DV Feb.16, 2003 p.23: “AIDS — more a business than disease?”
DV Jan.1, 2003 p.8: “Western conspiracy to topple Mbeki & enslave S.
Africa through AIDS”.

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INDIA SHINING
Bangalore unsafe for women
Bangalore: Working women in the city do not feel safe at their
workplace. Shockingly, compared to other metros, Bangalore tops the
list in this regard. According to a national survey by the Associated
chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) on cities with a
large concentration of IT and BPO firms, 44% of women working in
Bangalore have expressed insecurity at workplace, which is
higehst,when compared to Delhi-15%, Mumbai-18% and Chennai -24%,
Kolkata -22%, Hyderabad-38% and Pune 24%.
—(Times of India, Sept.17, 2008)
*****
World famous corrupt country
New Delhi: The cash-for-votes scandal that marred the July 22 trust
vote might well have cost India a few points on the transparency index
as the country has slid down to the 85th position in terms of the
global ranking for corruption from 72nd last year. The fall by 13
places may not surprise those who have had even a brush with India’s
governing mechanisms, but it is not the report card that an economy
growing at 8% would expect. India’s integrity score on a scale of 10
has gone down marginally from 3.5 in 2007 to 3.4 this year, but it has
meant a sharp slip in ranking as some other nations have improved. At
the 85th slot India is pretty much in the middle of the Corruption
Perception Index (CPI) of 180 countries. Given India’s size and
muddled politics, a comparison with high-scoring Nordic countries
would be out of place, but even holding the 72nd slot would have been
some consolation.
—(Times of India, Sept.24, 2008)
*****
Inhuman Hindus
New Delhi: Chairman of All-India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations
Udit Raj told to 9th session of UN Human Rights Council at Geneva Sept.
9 to 17, 2008: atrocities, untouchability, insufficient wags, bonded
labour, child labour, landlessness, illiteracy, inequality of
opportunities, manual scavenging are still the order of the day in the
life of Dalits. The Indian National Bureau of Crime Report (2006) said
27,070 crimes had bee committed against Dalits, though many go
unreported. 13 Dalits are murdered every week, 5 Dalit homes are burnt
every week, 6 Dalits abducted every week, 3 Dalit women raped every
day, 11 Dalits beaten daily and a crime committed against a Dalit
every 18 minutes. Literacy rate for Dalits remain abysmal: 54.69%. The
enrolment of Dalits in graduate education is 8.37% as against 91.63%
of others, 37.8% children had to sit separately while eating in 37.8%
govt. schools.
—(scstconf...@gmail.com, Sept.20, 2008)
*****

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Dalits & Muslims as blood brothers
(Dr. Ambedkar’s Praise for Islam)
S.K. Biswas
Noted Dalit Historian
Foreword by
V.T. Rajshekar
Ruling Brahminical forces are rapidly hinduising (meaning enslaving)
the non-Hindu, if not anti-Hindu Dalits and Tribals, pushing them into
Hindu temples so that they are killed in hundreds in stampede.
Such a reckless hinduisation helps the enemy to get ready, cheap and
abundant force to kill Muslims and Christians who are our blood
brothers and also create a permanent hatred against them.
Brahminical terrorist groups like the RSS have gained enough expertise
on this strategy which helped them create the killer Modi.
Islam came to India not only as a liberating religion but bravely
challenging the Brahminical aggression on its indigenous population.
That is how Islam has become the fastest growing religion. Brahminism,
renamed Hinduism to mislead the Bahujans, is treating them as slaves.
Having failed to curb its growth, the Brahminical rulers are today
using police and para-military forces to demoralise Muslims dubbing
them terrorists — although hardly anybody arrested is convicted.
Here is a book that explains the Brahminical trick.
2008 pp.40 Rs. 30
DALIT SAHITYA AKADEMY
Write to :Dalit Voice
No. 109 - 7th Cross, Palace Lower Orchards, Bangalore - 560 003,
INDIA.
http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/oct_a2008/reports.htm
Brazil signs new oil deal as Cuba hopes for economic revival

1 Nov, 2008, 1138 hrs IST, AGENCIES
HAVANA: Brazil has inked a multi-million-dollar deal to explore for
oil off the Cuban coast, joining India, Vietnam, Malaysia Spain,
Norway and Venez
uela in cash-strapped communist Cuba's quest for black gold.
The deal between Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras and Cubapetroleo,
announced by President Raul Castro and visiting Brazilian President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is the latest offshore front on which
Havana is fighting to achieve energy independence, and reverse its
dire economic straits.
"If there is a chance of finding oil in Cuba, don't be worried Raul,
it can be at 500 meters depth, at 1,000, at 3,000 meters, at 7,000, we
are going to look for it, find it and turn it into energy," Lula told
his host.
Cuban authorities in October announced that the Caribbean nation's
crude reserves were more than double what had been thought -- 21
billion barrels of crude.
If the development pans out, it could give rise to an amazing tropical
Cinderella story.
Cuba, the Americas' only communist country, is an oil importer, and
relies heavily both economically and politically on support from oil-
rich leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a staunch ally of the
Castros.
If it becomes energy independent, the communist regime can project
itself into the future indefinitely, and would be jolted from being
virtually unable to obtain credit to being flush with budget funds.
The country's centrally planned economy is frail on a good day, and
its population of over 11 million desperately eager for economic
progress after surviving economic dire straits since 1990. Cuba also
has ridden out two major hurricanes in recent months, and seen a major
share of its food crops wiped out.
Castro, 77, took over from his ailing brother Fidel Castro, 82,
officially in February. The elder Castro was at Cuba's helm for five
decades.
Raul Castro has promised progress but on the economic front it has not
materialized.
Now, it would appear Havana is betting against unknown odds on the oil
card's promise.
Lula and Castro said that under the deal between the two state firms,
Petrobras will operate a 1,600 square kilometer bloc in Cuban waters
in the Gulf of Mexico, at a depth of 500 to 1,600 meters, off the
coast of the province of Matanzas east of Havana.
The Brazilian giant from 1998-2001 explored another bloc
unsuccessfully; now Petrobras will start its investment with eight
million dollars, and can explore within a seven-year period, while
having 25 years to pump, should oil be found.
Raul Castro said he was fully confident that Brazil would find crude
"because we already are extracting some, and because of the Brazilian
company's capacity."
Petrobras is among the companies looking for oil in Cuban waters in
the Gulf of Mexico, sprawling over 112,000 square kilometers divided
up into 59 blocs in 1999.
Cubapetroleo exploration chief Rafael Tenrreyro has said the oil in
question is part of the same subsea geological formation exploited by
Mexico and the United States in the Gulf of Mexico. But he also
cautioned that any big Cuban oil find would take three years to begin
to be pumped.
But official Cuba is glowing with hope.
"Perhaps we will become, within a relatively short time, oil
exporters," Fidel Castro wrote in an October 3 essay in the official
newspaper Granma, in a country where official media tend not to fuel
false hopes.
China eases bank loan restrictions: central bank official

1 Nov, 2008, 1040 hrs IST, AGENCIES
SHANGHAI: China is no longer imposing strict limits on bank lending,
as it seeks to preserve stable and relatively rapid economic growth
while the fi
nancial crisis ravages the global economy, a central bank spokesman
said.
The official Xinhua news agency quoted People's Bank of China
spokesman Li Chao as saying on Friday that China must also flexibly
adjust its economic policies, including monetary policy, and minimise
the impact of the crisis on its economy, which remains relatively
reliant on demand from overseas markets.
"In order to respond flexibly and effectively to the impact of the
widespread international financial crisis, and maintain the Chinese
economy's stable and relatively rapid growth, the central bank is no
longer imposing strict limits on bank lending," Xinhua said,
paraphrasing Li's comments. His remarks were the strongest official
signal yet that China is substantially relaxing bank lending
guidelines as it confronts slowing growth.
Earlier this week, Wu Xiaoling, a former deputy governor of the
People's Bank of China, said the central bank had stopped checking
loans to small firms under lending quotas enforced this year, and
might remove quarterly quotas for all lending in 2009. The central
bank strictly enforced loan controls in the first half of the year to
slow credit growth and prevent the economy from boiling over. China's
GDP grew by 11.9 percent in 2007, but that rate slowed to 9.9 percent
in the first three quarters of this year.
Spurred by the deepening global economic downturn and its own slowing
economy, China on Wednesday announced its third interest rate cut in
six weeks. Li added that banks' reserve requirement ratios were left
unchanged in the latest monetary easing because there was ample
liquidity in the banking system.
'IMF, WB should be reformed to reflect contemporary realities'

1 Nov, 2008, 2025 hrs IST, PTI
TEHRAN: Citing the global economic crisis, India today said the
approach of international financial institutions like IMF and World
Bank was no more
relevant and these bodies should be reformed to reflect the
"contemporary realities".
Addressing the India-Iran Joint Business Council meeting here,
External Affairs Minister Pranab Muikherjee said the financial crisis
that has gripped the world threatens to be worse than that witnessed
in the 1930s.
"We are meeting at a time when there is crisis worldover in the
financial sector," he told the gathering of senior executives of top
business establishments of the two countries here.
Noting that the crisis had particularly hit the banking sector and
stock markets, Mukherjee said if remedies had to found in real terms,
there should be relook at the international financial and economic
structures.
He pointed out that the UN financial bodies like the International
Monetary Fund and World Bank had been established in 1945 in the post-
World War II era to provide help in reconstruction activities across
the globe.
Their approaches have "lost their relevance in the contemporary
situation", the External Affairs Minister said and stressed these
should be reformed so that they are in "tune with today's realities".
Iranian Economic and Finance Minister Shamseddin Hossain, while
referring to the financial crisis, said Iran and India had been left
untouched by the meltdown because of their correct policies.
He underlined the need for closer cooperation between the two
countries to meet the situation and ensure their economic stability.
UK's Brown says Gulf states must help solve crisis

1 Nov, 2008, 1745 hrs IST, REUTERS
LONDON: Oil-rich Gulf states should contribute to a fund to stabilise
the financial system and help countries hit by the global economic
crisis, Brit
ish Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday.
Speaking at the start of a four-day tour of the region, Brown said
restoring stability around the world would benefit wealthy oil-
producing countries.
"Everybody has got a part to play in solving this world downturn and I
think the oil-rich states will want to play their part," Brown said in
an interview with Sky News.
"Their interest is in a stable energy price, not in the massive
volatility we have seen where oil prices have shot up and then come
down again. Their interest too is in a well-functioning global
economy."
His plan calls for greater co-ordination of monetary and fiscal
policy, improving lending between banks and helping struggling
countries with a crisis fund, he added.
The International Monetary Fund needs extra money if it is to create a
facility to help struggling countries.
"The Saudis and other countries in the Gulf states are very
important," he added. "They are the countries with oil revenues; they
are the countries that need to help."
Brown's tour precedes a global summit in Washington on Nov. 15 which
will seek to reform the international financial system following what
some policymakers have called the worst financial crisis in living
memory.
The former finance minister, who has seen his weak poll ratings rise
during the financial turmoil, will be joined on the tour by business
minister Peter Mandelson, energy minister Ed Miliband and a business
delegation.
Iran says OPEC may further cut production

1 Nov, 2008, 1450 hrs IST, REUTERS
TEHRAN: OPEC will cut oil output further, if needed, to achieve
stability in the oil market, state television on Saturday quoted
Iran's oil minister
as saying.
Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari also said Iran would cut output by
199,000 barrels per day (bpd) in line with a decision by the
Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce OPEC
production by 1.5 million bpd from November 1, TV said.
Oil prices have tumbled from a July record of $147 a barrel to less
than half that figure. US crude closed around $67 a barrel on Friday.
Economists say Iran needs around $70 to $75 a barrel, or more, for its
crude in order to balance its books.
"The drop in OPEC's output will continue until it (OPEC) attains
stability in the oil market," state television quoted Oil Minister
Gholamhossein Nozari as saying.
"Based on the new assigned quota, Iran's crude oil production quota
will drop by 199,000 bpd," Nozari said according to the television
report, although he did not say to what level Iran's output would
fall.
Iran has been producing a little more than 4 million bpd although
officials have declined to announce the targets set for before and
after OPEC's latest production cut deal, which was agreed at an OPEC
ministers meeting in Vienna on October 24.
"In the event that falling trend in prices continues, OPEC will have
another emergency meeting," Nozari was quoted as saying in the
newspaper Abrar-e Eqtesadi.
Iran's OPEC governor, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, said last week that OPEC
would cut more production if warranted, comments which have been
echoed by some others in OPEC.
No job cuts in IT industry, says Narayana Murthy

1 Nov, 2008, 1930 hrs IST, IANS
NEW DELHI: The global economic meltdown and the financial crisis
looming large over the Indian economy will not result in any
downsizing or job cuts in the IT industry,

Work experience is important
says N R Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys Technologies, one of
India's most reputed companies in the sector.
"There are no job cuts. The growth has certainly slowed down but it is
not making any significant impact on us," Murthy, who was in the
national capital Saturday to announce the finalists for Rhodes
scholarships, said.
He also hinted that the net rate of growth of employment in his sector
will stay in the green. "Despite reports of companies laying off some
staff as a cost cutting measure, they have been advertising for new
employees at the same time."
According to him, the key challenges facing the Indian industry in
these turbulent times were inflation and the psychological impact of
the US crisis, leading some companies to hit the panic button.

Employees sacked over Facebook posts

1 Nov, 2008, 1327 hrs IST, AGENCIES
LONDON: Virgin Atlantic said it has sacked 13 of its cabin staff after
they criticised the airline and some of its passengers on social
networking website Facebook.
The airline, controlled by Richard Branson's Virgin group, said
yesterday the staff's behaviour was "totally inappropriate" and
"brought the company into disrepute".
The action follows an investigation into the remarks posted on
Facebook, which concerned planes flying from London's Gatwick airport
and insulted passengers, as well as reportedly saying the planes were
full of cockroaches.
"Virgin Atlantic can confirm that 13 members of its cabin crew will be
leaving the company after breaking staff policies due to totally
inappropriate behaviour," the airline said in a statement.
"Following a thorough investigation, it was found that all 13 staff
participated in a discussion on the networking site Facebook, which
brought the company into disrepute and insulted some of our
passengers."
Bharti merges operations, says it has nothing to do with layoffs

1 Nov, 2008, 0426 hrs IST,Joji Thomas Philip & Sandeep Gurumurthi, ET
Bureau
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest telecom player, has
merged operations across several circles to rationalise its 25,000-
plus employees. The telco’s employee’s strength is down 2% in the last
quarter alone, but top Bharti executives emphatically maintain that
the move ‘has nothing to do with cost cutting or layoffs’, but was
aimed at ‘improving employee efficiency and awarding them larger
responsibilities’.
“We have merged Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh into a single
operating team. We have also merged our operations in Mumbai and
Maharashtra into a single entity. Ditto with Chennai which has been
merged with Tamil Nadu, Kolkata with West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh
East and West have also been made into a single circle,” Bharti Airtel
CEO Manoj Kohli told ET.
Prior to this, Bharti had separate CEOs and operating teams for each
of these 11 circles.

Bharti, in the last quarter, added over 8 million customers, expanded
operations to over 20,000 new villages, built about 7,000 towers and
5,000 kms of fibre without any net additions to its payrolls.
According to Mr Kohli, the operational mergers of these circles have
helped the telco achieve higher employee productivity in addition to
considerable savings on ‘operating expenditure’. He, however, did not
quantify the opex savings on account of merging operations across
these 11 circles. Bharti is also set to merge operations across more
circles in the future.
Mr Kohli also provided figures to substantiate his arguments. For
instance, he said that the number of customers per employee had risen
by 14% to 3,123 as of September-end when compared to 2,745 customers
per employee in June ’08. On an year-on-year basis, the number of
customers per employee is up 43%.
Bharti has about 80 million customers across mobile, broadband and
enterprise customers as of September, 08.
Assocham withdraws job-loss report after Govt reprimand

31 Oct, 2008, 1622 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: Under attack from the government and its rival groups,
industry body Assocham today withdrew its controversial report that
forecast a 25-3
0 per cent loss in jobs in certain sectors after Diwali.
"Assocham withdraws its report of 25 per cent job cuts," chamber
Secretary General D S Rawat said in a statement here hours after
Finance Minister P Chidambaram criticised it for setting off a panic
with its report -- whose sample size the industry chamber is yet to
make public.
Rawat simply said the report was "not representative of the industrial
segment in its totality."
He said the "analysis" of job cuts was primarily in real estate,
brokerage and investment advisory sectors. "The chamber's research
team is now following up its recent analysis with a detailed survey on
a much larger sample size to get a more definitive picture on
corporate response to the present crisis," Rawat said.
Interestingly, he said new job opportunities were emerging in
education, bio-technology, petroleum and chemicals and health.
Government as also rival business chambers had slammed Assocham for
the report that spread a scare among employees.
"The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and my colleague
Jairam Ramesh (Minister of State for Commerce) have taken serious
exceptions to an Assocham report... The pace of job creation may slow
down but that doesn't mean that jobs are being destroyed," Finance
Minister P Chidambaram said.
While FICCI has already contradicted the Assocham findings, CII is in
the process of countering the job loss claims with its own study.
"We do not believe any immediate threat exists of the form that
Assocham is alluding to. We should not panic," FICCI President Rajeev
Chandrasekhar had said.
Lay-offs "inevitable", textile exporters warn govt

31 Oct, 2008, 2000 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: Pushed to a "near fatal" situation in the crisis-ridden US
and European markets, the textile exporters have sought immediate
intervention
of the government warning workers' lay-offs are "inevitable".
Three main export promotion councils associated with the textile
industry have shot off letters to the ministries of textile and
commerce apprising the government of the seriousness of the problem.
Exports in segments like cotton and manmade yarn and fabric have seen
a sharp decline ranging between 17 and 19 per cent in September this
year from year-ago period.
"The general atmosphere is prohibitive for the importers and buyers in
most of our main markets as there is a fear of bigger slowdown due to
which they are not opening letter of credits... this is near fatal for
our exports," Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council
(SRTEPC) said.
Even in cases where importers have opened the letters of credit, they
are asking the Indian exporters to hold back the shipments.
"Judging from the reports there is a perceptible slowdown on account
of crisis in the financial systems in the US and Europe," Cotton
Textile Export Promotion Council said, warning "If the situation does
not improve, lay-offs are inevitable".
It said slowdown in export activities is compelling the manufacturing
units to reduce shifts.
Textile, including apparel is the second largest employment generator
in India after agriculture.
Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) said that a large number of
garment stores in the US and EU have closed down shutters.
In 2007-08, the exports stood at about 22 billion dollars against the
target of 25.6 billion dollars.
Support staff face axe due to slowdown

1 Nov, 2008, 0433 hrs IST,Chandra Ranganathan, ET Bureau
CHENNAI: School dropouts, in the age group of 18-25 years, form a
major chunk of the workforce in the facility management services
industry. They seem content in the cut and thrust of the corporate
world as they go about their daily tasks that could range from serving
coffee, guarding the locality, cleaning the facility and providing
technical support.
But, an economic slowdown coupled with the tough financial environment
might conspire to wipe the smile off these young faces. Companies that
provide these services say they are going slow on hiring and expect
muted growth this year as their corporate clients are trimming
expansion plans and reining in expenses.
“Technically, companies can’t cut down on existing support staff in
their facilities but they could put off their expansion plans. That
will affect us. We have 20,000 people on our rolls now and we were
looking to hire 25,000 in the current fiscal. We expect a 10%
reduction in that number,” said Mr T Raghunandana, managing director,
Updater Services (UDS), which manages 55-60 million square feet in
India.
Apart from servicing IT parks, retail and corporates, UDS also offers
production support services for Hyundai Motor India and glass major
Saint Gobain
RBI complements govt efforts to boost growth

1 Nov, 2008, 1923 hrs IST, PTI
MUMBAI: Paving the way for easing home, car and commercial loan rates,
RBI on Saturday announced steps to pump in an estimated additional Rs
85,000 c
rore in the system by cutting deposit requirements and key rates, a
move that complements the government's steps to boost economic
growth.
RBI cut the mandatory cash reserve and statutory liquidity requirement
for banks by one percentage point each, besides lowering the rate at
which it lends short-term funds to banks by 50 basis points, a day
after the Finance Ministry altered duties to help the aviation and
steel sectors.
The series of measures by both RBI and the government comes days ahead
of the Prime Minister's meeting with captains of Indian industry to
assuage fears about economic slowdown as also liquidity crisis in the
face of a global financial meltdown.
Bankers, however, are opting to wait and assess the liquidity position
before taking a call on lowering lending rates to commercial and
retail borrowers, all of whom are crying hoarse about the sky high
cost of loans - which in turn has cast a shadow on the economy.
Already, industrial production growth dropped to a meagre 1.3 per cent
in August.
"It is a highly welcome move by RBI ... But more steps are needed from
policy makers for lowering interest rates by 3-4 per cent," apex
industry chamber CII's President K V Kamath, who is also the head of
the largest private sector lender ICICI Bank said.
Late last evening, the finance ministry in a major breather to cash-
strapped aviation industry had abolished five per cent customs duty on
aviation fuel, the high prices of which were eating into the financial
health many an airline.
The government also scrapped export duty on certain iron and steel
items in order to give relief to steel and iron industry reeling under
acute pressure due to slump in demand for the alloy amid global
financial recession.
RBI cuts rates to induce Rs 85,000 cr; signals interest cut

1 Nov, 2008, 1520 hrs IST, PTI
MUMBAI: In a major move to inject an additional estimated Rs 85,000
crore into the system, Reserve Bank of India today cut key deposit
requirements for banks by 1 per cent and its short-term lending rate
by 0.5 per cent, a decision that may help soften general interest
rates.
The decisions to cut the Cash Reserve Ratio and Statutory Liquidity
Ratio by one per cent each and Repo Rate by 0.50 per cent come a week
after the busy season credit policy review by RBI in which it had
given an assurance of more measures to boost economic growth.
"Global financial conditions continue to remain uncertain and
unsettled and early signs of a global recession are becoming evident.
These developments are being reflected in sharp declines in stock
markets across the world and heightened volatility in currency
movement.
"International money markets are yet to regain calm and confidence and
return to normal functioning," a statement from the Bank said,
announcing the decisions, while adding it will continue to closely
monitor development in global and domestic financial markets and take
swift and effective action as appropriate. With today's measures, the
RBI has pumped in about Rs 270,000 crore in the system since October,
but industry leaders and bankers feel that more is needed to
effectively bring down the commercial lending rates.
"RBI has taken welcome and concrete steps to ease the liquidity
pressures. But more is needed to see that effective interest rates for
borrowers come down by 3-4 per cent," K V Kamath, President of
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said.
Welcoming the decision, ICICI Bank Joint Managing Director Chanda
Kochhar said, "It will release the much-needed liquidity into the
system and signal reduction in interest rates."
New Act to give breather to industries on weights & measures

31 Oct, 2008, 1714 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: Soon industries and exporters will be free from hassles of
weights and measures inspectors visiting their units as the Centre
proposes to
end inspector raj with a new Act.
In the new bill, inspectors will no more go to industrial units to
check manufactured quantity but will keep track of their transaction
once the product enters market, a senior government official said.
A comprehensive Legal Metrology Bill, 2008, introduced in Rajya Sabha
on October 24, will repeal the existing two Acts on weights and
measures. The government has initiated changes after 17 years of
beginning of economic reforms in 1991.
The official said: "We have removed 'industrial production' in the new
bill. However, we have retained regulating weight and measures of
product transacted in the market so that consumers interest can be
protected".
The new bill aims to stop unnecessary interference of inspectors, who
also visit production centres of industries to check machines for
ascertaining weights of products, he added.
Another important feature in the bill is that it also seeks to make
'uniform rules' across the country by taking away state governments'
authority and vesting power with the Centre alone.
The bill also gives room for private companies to act like government
inspectors by acquiring the status of "government approved test
centres".
"It has become necessary to recognise certain government approved test
centres which will be empowered to verify prescribed weight and
measure," the official said.
The bill has relieved exporters from purview of the weights and
measures enforcement as goods meant for exports have been exempted
from the regulation.
Noting on penalty, the official said that the fine will be imposed on
just one director now.
US court verdict on process patent stirs debate in India

1 Nov, 2008, 0010 hrs IST,Harsimran Singh, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: A US federal court judgement on Thursday disallowing
business method (or process) patenting, may have a direct impact on
the ongoing debat
e over amendments to the Indian patents manual. The US judgement could
help in interpreting whether business processes or software written in
India can be patented or not.
While large IT players like Microsoft, IBM have given a thumbs up to
the Bilski judgement, Indian companies like Infosys had been lobbying
for patents on software systems and methods. A US federal court for
appeals in Washington ruled against Bernard Bilski, who wanted to
patent a method for managing weather-related risk through commodities
trading. The court said that business methods (like Amazon.com Inc’s
one-click to buy goods on the Internet which was quashed later) cannot
be patented.
Reacting to the judgement, Sun Microsystems’s director, government
strategy, India & South Asia, Jaijit Bhattacharya said that it was a
positive move towards an appropriate interpretation of innovation and
patentability of software. “It would allow a more open regime and
would help in wider access to computing technologies,” he said.
Companies like IBM, Microsoft lobbied against business method
patenting. But companies like Accenture, Royal Philips Electronics NV,
Bain Capital LC were asking for more protection for business method
patenting.
In contrast, companies like Infosys have been lobbying for business
method patenting. Pinaki Ghosh, intellectual property head of Infosys
has been quoted publicly saying that software systems as well methods
should be patented. Infosys Technologies’ officials were unavailable
for comment. However, the ruling does not significantly impact large
Indian IT services companies as none are majorly into product
development and patenting, at least at present. India’s largest IT
services company TCS said that it’s reviewing its stand on software
patenting in the light of the current judgement.
“The ideas and frameworks for business processes should not be
patentable but the content written within those frameworks should be
allowed to be copyrighted. Indian law is also within boundaries of the
US court judgement,” said Nasscom president Som Mittal. There are few
world famous Indian IT products – like Flexcube and Finacle. But the
judgement may affect smaller companies which want to innovate but were
earlier being strangled by large corporations on account of patenting
of a process.
The judgement may also be used in the larger debate on software
patenting in the country. Venkatesh Hariharan, founding member of
Knowledge Commons, a NGO said: “Business method patents are seven
times more likely to be litigated as compared to other patents,
because it’s difficult to determine the boundaries of abstract patents
categories like business method and software patents.
Indian law is against software patents but in practice, several
software and business method patents have been granted and these will
need to be weeded out to prevent future litigation. Overall, this is a
good decision because it will reduce the risk of litigation that hangs
over users and developers of software.” Knowledge Commons is lobbying
for `no patents on software in India’ if it (the software) is not tied
to a specific hardware.
According to section 3(k) of the Indian Patent Act: “A mathematical or
business method or a computer programme per se or algorithms are not
patentable.” But software in conjunction with hardware is patentable
in accordance with Indian law which is giving rise to ambiguity. The
Bilski judgement may however be used as a reference for drafting the
amendments to the Indian Patents Manual and will also help in
interpretation of the Indian Patent Act.
While rulings over the years have used different methods to determine
if a process is patentable, the Federal Court ruling said the sole
analysis should be the “machine-or-transformation” test – which
requires showing that the claimed invention is either tied to a
particular machine or that it transforms an “article” (such as a
substance or data).
Govt clears NHAI Amendment Bill

31 Oct, 2008, 1534 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: The government has cleared the National Highways Authority
of India Amendment Bill, paving the way for restructuring the
authority enabli
ng it to execute its delegated powers.
"The National Highways Authority of India Amendment Bill has been
approved. The Bill is to increase the institutional capacity of the
NHAI and for ensuring that NHAI effectively executes its delegated
powers," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said while briefing the media
on Cabinet decisions taken last night.
The restructuring exercise of the NHAI includes increasing the number
of part-time members of the authority from the existing two to six,
who would be from non-government sector.
It also includes appointment of six full-time members, against five at
present, one each for finance, administration, public private
partnership, two members for projects and one for technical.
Besides, it also includes creation of Quality Assurance Cell for
promotion of quality assurance initiatives and a Standardisation and
R&D Cell for tracking technical developments in road construction.
Govt withdraws export duty on steel

31 Oct, 2008, 1947 hrs IST, REUTERS
NEW DELHI: Govt said on Friday said it was withdrawing a 15 per cent
export duty on some steel and iron products in view of the steep fall
in interna
tional prices, a finance ministry statement said.
The ministry also said the government would abolish a 5 percent import
duty on aviation turbine fuel to provide relief to the ailing airline
sector.
The duty changes are effective from Oct. 31, the statement said.
Cabinet nod for Bill giving scientists share in IPRs

31 Oct, 2008, 1818 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: Scientists conducting research using public funds may soon
get a share in the intellectual property rights for their discoveries
and inven
tions.
The Union Cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh last night approved the Protection and Utilisation of Public
Funded Intellectual Property Bill 2008, which aims to give scientists
a share in IPR.
The bill, seen as a move to encourage research in state-funded
laboratories, is modelled on the Bayh-Dole Act in the US which spurred
applied research in American universities.
In India, the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) on discoveries and
inventions resulting out of research using state funds rest with the
government.
Protection and Utilisation of Public Funded Intellectual Property Bill
2008 is expected to be introduced in the Parliament soon.
The Bill proposes to share one-third of the incentive amount with the
particular scientist, who created intellectual property, in the form
of royalty fee, and another one-third of the money will be given to
the department where he is working. The remaining portion will go to
the funding agencies.
Scientists and professors of universities will be allowed to set up
Centres on intellectual property rights obtained by them.
India-Iran relations are important in themselves: Pranab
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Agencies
Posted: Nov 01, 2008 at 1915 hrs IST
Tehran, November 1: Iran has every right to develop nuclear energy for
peaceful purposes, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said
but made it clear that this has to be consistent with its
international obligations and commitments.
The minister also stated that all issues relating to Iran's nuclear
programme must be resolved through dialogue and understanding and that
confrontation must be avoided.
In an interview to Iranian news agency IRNA ahead of his visit to
Tehran, the minister felt that the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) must play a ‘central role’ in resolving all the outstanding
issues relating to Tehran's nuclear programme.
"We firmly are of the view that Iran has every right to develop
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and in a manner that is
consistent with its international obligations and commitments.”
New Delhi has held that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT), Iran is entitled to all cooperation in its civilian nuclear
programme. At the same time, as a NPT signatory Iran has to undertake
all the requisite obligations.
India has also stated in clear terms that it would not like another
weapon state emerging in its neighbourhood as it could raise serious
security concerns.
Western nations nurse strong suspicion over Tehran's nuclear ambitions
but undeterred by it, Iran has insisted that it will not stop uranium
enrichment even if it is guaranteed supplies of nuclear fuel from
abroad.
Asked about New Delhi's stand, Mukherjee said, "the Prime Minister has
stated our position which is well known. We have all along been saying
that all issues relating to Iran's nuclear programme must be resolved
through dialogue and understanding and that confrontation must be
avoided.”
"We believe that the IAEA must play a central role in resolving all
the outstanding issues," he said.
Mukherjee sought to allay apprehensions in Iran that inking of the
Indo-US nuclear deal would have an adverse fallout on New Delhi's ties
with Tehran.
"India-Iran relations are important in themselves because of our
historic, civilizational as well as contemporary ties," he said.
Govt appeasing private airlines by reducing ATF: CITU
New Delhi (PTI): Accusing the UPA government of appeasing private
airlines by reducing price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), the CITU on
Saturday lambasted the Centre for "ignoring" the common man's demand
to bring down petrol, diesel and LPG costs.
CITU, the trade union of the CPI(M), also demanded that the government
immediately reduce the price of these fuels used by the common man,
and called upon the working class to "expose the anti-people face" of
the Manmohan Singh government, "masquerading as the government of the
aam aadmi."
Expressing strong resentment at the government's move to reduce the
ATF price, CITU president M K Pandhe said the ATF's cost was now
"lower" than that of petrol.
"In spite of repeated demands from the common man to bring down the
prices of petrol, diesel and LPG to reduce the inflationary burden,
the government has refused to do so, even as the global prices of
crude oil have registered more than 50 per cent fall," Pandhe said in
a statement.
He said the government's refusal to give relief to the comman man on
the plea of poor financial health of the Oil Marketing Companies was
totally untenable when the same OMCs were forced by the government to
accept the deferring of payment of Rs 2,000 crores by the airlines.
The government's present tax structure, as on date, showed its "clear
bias" against the 'aam aadmi' in favour of the airlines, he alleged.
Bush: New democracies eye US election
WASHINGTON (AP): President George W. Bush is urging Americans going to
the polls on Election Day to remember that the U.S. election sets an
example for budding democracies around the world.
Bush, who cast an absentee ballot for Sen. John McCain last week, said
all Americans should take advantage of their right to go to the polls
and cast votes that will determine the nation's future.
``Young democracies from Georgia and Ukraine to Afghanistan and Iraq
can look to the United States for proof that self-government can
endure,'' Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address. ``And
nations that still live under tyranny and oppression can find hope and
inspiration in our commitment to liberty.''
Bush said that the spirited campaign between McCain and front-runner,
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, reflects a political competition that is
an ``essential part of a healthy democracy.''
``But as the campaigns come to a close,'' he said, ``Republicans,
Democrats, and independents can find common ground on at least one
point: Our system of representative democracy is one of America's
greatest strengths.''
Bodo leaders condemn reports on ISF-IM
Kokrajhar (PTI): Bodo leaders on Saturday condemned the reports of
existence of little-known outfit ISF-IM here and its involvement in
the serial blasts, saying it is a "political conspiracy" to malign the
Bodo people.
"There is a deep rooted political conspiracy to malign the Bodo people
and Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) area by substantiating claims
of the Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahideen to be behind the
blasts in Assam," BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary said.
Denying the presence of such an organisation in BTC area and its
formation in 2000 to fight the BLT and NDFB, Mohilary, a former leader
of the disbanded insurgent outfit BLT, said, "the political conspiracy
is to disturb peace and incite communal hatred in the BTC areas."
Mohilary, whose Bodoland Peoples Progressive Forum is a partner of the
ruling Congress in the state, demanded clarification from the
government that such an Islamic organisation was created against the
Bodos.
"If it was created then, why did the authorities and police officials
keep silent for so long ? This proves a security and political nexus
with this outfit," he alleged while speaking to reporters here.
Discounting media reports quoting official sources about the existence
of ISF-IM, he said BLT was created for a separate statehood movement
and "there was no element of fighting or targeting of any community
for their removal".
BTC deputy chief Kampa Borgoyari said the security system in the state
would be responsible in case of any panic or exodus due to "this kind
of sensation."
Obama has testy moment with the media
Chicago (AP): Democrat Barack Obama got annoyed with the media as he
tried to walk down a Chicago street with his 7-year-old daughter,
Sasha, who was dressed up in a shiny costume for Halloween.
A pool of national photographers, reporters and a video crew
travelling with Obama quickly covered the spontaneous moment on
Friday.
"All right guys, that's enough," said Obama, wearing a casual outfit
and sunglasses in the early evening.
He and his daughter were walking right toward the media on a public
street.
"You got a shot," he told the photographers. "Leave us alone. Come on,
guys."
He told the media to get back on the bus, referring to the vehicle
where the travelling press pool often waits for him.
Obama then crossed the street with Sasha. At least one video cameraman
who was not part of Obama's travelling press corps followed him for a
while. Obama grew visibly irritated.
He and his daughter then began jogging, and even running, to get away
from the media.
They ended up out of sight at a friend's house, where they were headed
all along.
In a final dash for the presidency, Obama stopped into Chicago
specifically to spend some time on Halloween with his family,
including his other daughter, Malia, who is 10.
Obama says he'll 'snuff out' Osama
Washington (PTI): Seeking to fend off criticism from his Republican
rival that he was not experienced enough to handle national security,
Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama has vowed to "snuff out"
al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
"We will finally finish the fight and snuff out al-Qaeda and bin
Laden, those who killed 3,000 Americans on 9/11," Obama said at a
campaign rally in Sarasota, Florida, referring to the September 11,
2001 attacks.
"I will never hesitate to do what it takes to defend this nation. From
day one of this campaign, I've made clear that we will increase our
ground troops and our investment in the finest fighting force in the
world," the 47-year-old first-term Illinois Senator said.
His remarks follow the 72-year-old Vietnam War veteran McCain's
statement that Obama was incapable of of protecting America from
terrorism.
Later, Obama told CNN also that "... we need to hunt down bin Laden
and al-Qaeda and put them finally out of business."
Biggest threat to Pak. not India but militants: Obama
Washington (PTI): Voicing concern over the stability of the
"fledgling" government in Islamabad, Democratic Presidential nominee
Barack Obama has said Pakistan needs to be convinced that its "biggest
threat" is not India but militants within its own borders.
"Now you've got a fledgling democratic government (in Pakistan). We
have to support their efforts to democratise. That means, by the way,
not just providing military aid, it means helping them to provide
concrete solutions to the poverty and lack of education that exists in
Pakistan. So I want to increase non-military aid to Pakistan," he told
CNN.
"But we also have to help make the case that the biggest threat to
Pakistan right now is not India which has been their historical enemy,
it is actually militants within their own borders. And if we can get
them to refocus on that, then that is going to be critical to our
success not just in stabilising Pakistan but also in finishing the job
in Afghanistan."
Asked how worried he was about the stability of Pakistani government
as it seemed al-Qaeda was going after the new leadership post-Pervez
Musharraf, Obama said: "Well, I am concerned about it."
"This was one of the problems with our previous strategy where there
was a lot of resentment that built up as a consequence of our support
of President Musharraf there who had squelched democracy," he said in
an interview to CNN's Situation Room.
About Afghanistan, Obama said "we're still going to have expenditures"
there "because we need to hunt down (Osama) bin Laden and al-Qaeda and
put them finally out of business."
During the wide-ranging interview, he spoke both about foreign and
domestic policy challenges and priorities but gave the impression that
his focus, if elected in the November 4 polls, would be in addressing
the economic woes and the mess America finds itself in.
Centre lenient against terrorism: VHP

Indore (PTI): Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Friday accused the Central
government of being lenient against terrorism after serial bomb blasts
in Assam.
Congress-led government at the centre has not been strict against
terrorism due to its policy of Muslim appeasement, while Hindu
organisations are being trapped in `fake cases', alleged Malwa
district head of VHP, Jadawchand Jain.
VHP had organised a silent protest against Thrusday's serial bomb
blasts in Assam in the area on Friday.

Comrades in Delhi in war over candidate
New Delhi (PTI): A candidate in Delhi Assembly election has virtually
brought to blows comrades in the CPI(M) and CPI.
Raza Haider, who is being named as their candidate by both the Left
parties, is the man in question CPI(M) and CPI say that he had
approached them for nomination for the Okhla constituency in south
Delhi.
Haider, the chairman of Urdu Editors Guild, puts it diplomatically
saying that he was a Left Front candidate.
But when pressed by PTI on whose symbol he is contesting, Haider
concedes that it was hammer and the sickle of the CPI(M).
CPI(M) Delhi General Secretary Pushpendra Grewal said his party was in
touch with Haider for the past few days and had expressed interest in
contesting from Okhla on the party symbol.
"How can they (CPI) say that he is their candidate. He himself says he
fights on our symbol," Grewal said.
Angered at the CPI(M) gesture, CPI Delhi General Secretary Amarjeet
Kaur said their state executive had five days ago cleared Haider's
name.
"We are really surprised at the CPI(M) move. He was our candidate,"
she said.
CPI(M) will be contesting from four seats -- Karawal Nagar, Dwarka,
Karol Bagh and Okhla. Anmol Chaudhury will be the party candidate for
Karawal Nagar while Mukesh Chand will fight from Dwarka and Nathu
Prasad from Karol Bagh.
The CPI will be fighting from Adarsh Nagar, Trinagar, Palam, Krishna
Nagar and Patparganj.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The many faces of Goonda Raj
Khushwant Singh, Hindustan Times
October 31, 2008
First Published: 21:54 IST(31/10/2008)
Last Updated: 22:29 IST(31/10/2008)I have drawn up a list of
politicians who are in urgent need of psychiatric treatment. The list
gets longer by the day. I dare not publish it as I am sure if I did
so, I would have dozens of cases of criminal libel slapped on me
across the country — extending from Chennai to Bhubaneshwar to
Kolkata, Patna, Lucknow, Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, Bhopal, Ahmedabad,
Mumbai and Bangalore. If I hired lawyers to defend me, I would be
ruined.
What I fear more than being financially ruined is having to turn up at
different places to seek bail. I know what would happen. Before I
appear in court, I would be roughed up by goons claiming to be
followers of the leaders I named. The police would not be able to
protect me. These hoodlums regard themselves above the law of the
land. State and the Central Governments are honour & duty bound to
suppress these subversive elements. Or quit. A ruler must rule, not
just pretend to be ruling.
The way our governments have handled men and women who assumed they
were above the law can only be described as inept and lacking in
foresight. There was Bhindranwale who incited hatred and violence
against Hindus. He was arrested on charges of incitement to murder.
Then, he was let off on his own terms. Instead of being treated like a
criminal, he became a hero. Successive governments of Maharashtra have
shown the same kind of ineptitude dealing with Thackerays of the Shiv
Sena. Both its founder Bal Thackeray and his son openly preached
violence against non-Maharashtrians: No action was taken against
them.
Then Bal Thackeray’s nephew Raj set up his own splinter party which
forced thousands of Biharis, Oriyas and Uttar Pradeshis to flee
Maharashtra. He showed his contempt for the law by threatening to
molest outsiders if they did not abide by his fiats. After much
prodding Raj Thackeray was arrested. Then promptly let out on bail. As
in the case of Bhindranwale, he has turned from a villain into a hero.
The violence let loose by the Bajrang Dal against Christians and
Muslims should have been crushed a long time ago. Instead of doing so,
its spokesman Sharma goes about challenging the government to do its
worst “Dhajjian uda deyngey — we will tear it to shreds.” He goes scot
free. Meanwhile, mobs of lunatics set fire to trains, buses, cars and
public buildings. It is time our Central and State governments put
down these lawless elements with a firm hand. The only language
goondas understand is the language of the danda (stick).
Fear of death
Thanatophobia, derived from Greek, is the fear of death or dying. It
is a disease which afflicts all living creatures. Human beings are
especially prone to it because they are capable of thinking — and they
think about it frequently. No one is immune to it: a person in good
health and enjoying life puts it aside for a while. But when his
health begins to fail, he is per force reminded of it. Everyone dreads
its coming: those who deny being afraid of it and put up a brave face
when they see it, are liars. In fact, they are as scared of it as a
man being led to the gallows.
Much has been written about the fear of death by thinkers including
those who have suffered short cardiac arrests but survived to relate
their experiences. None of these accounts have solved the mystery of
death. It remains the veil beyond which we cannot see, the door to
which no one has yet found the key. All religions have theories of
what happens after death. None of them adduce evidence in support of
their theories. No rationalist can accept a day of Judgement, heaven,
hell, resurrection, re-incarnation or re-birth, because there is not
an iota of evidence to support any of them. We face a blank wall of
total ignorance of the subject.
The latest book on the subject is Julian Barnes’ Nothing to be
frightened of (Knopt). He is an atheist turned agnostic. (I construe
agnostic as an atheist with an open mind). Barnes begins by admitting:
“I don’t believe in God, but I miss him.” He admits that despite his
belief that death is nothing, he thinks about it day and night and is
dead scared of it.
Mirza Ghalib said the same thing: Maut ka ek din muayyan hai, neend
raat bhar kyon nahin aatee (one day you must die, why then do I have
sleepless nights thinking about it)?
We have to be an oaf not to think about death. There is an epitaph on
an unmarked grave in England which runs as follows:
Gaily I lived, as ease and nature taught
And spent my life without a thought;
And am amazed that death, that tyrant grim
Should think of me, who never thought of him.
The moral of the tale of death is simple: you can’t put it out of your
mind and dread its coming but you need not brood over it, become
melancholic and forgo the fun of living.
Mis-heard prayer
A Hindu in the US suffered a heart attack on the road and was picked
up by an ambulance. Being religious, he kept repeating — Hari Om, Hari
Om, Hari Om.
When the ambulance pulled into his driveway, his wife came out and
screamed to the paramedics: “Why didn’t you take him straight to the
hospital ?” They replied, “because he kept saying hurry home, hurry
home!”
(Contributed by Vipin Buckshey, Delhi)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=92dfa5e8-4b7a-4ff8-93bb-f0945f0af0d6&ParentID=b000d55b-6a8e-469b-92ce-204bc7be4945&MatchID1=4815&TeamID1=6&TeamID2=1&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1212&PrimaryID=4815&Headline=The+many+faces+of+Goonda+Raj
Police submit report to NHRC
Vijaita Singh, Hindustan Times
Email Author
New Delhi, November 01, 2008
First Published: 00:51 IST(1/11/2008)
Last Updated: 00:55 IST(1/11/2008)
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police on Thursday submitted a report to the
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the September 19 Batla
House shootout in which two alleged members of the Indian Mujahideen
and Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma were killed.
The report was submitted in a sealed cover. "It is not a final report,
here we have addressed the points raised by NHRC," said a senior
police officer.
The report is said to have contained the evidences that led to the
raid at the Jamia Nagar flat and the circumstances in which the police
was forced to open fire.
The Crime Branch has even submitted the postmortem report of the two
suspected terrorists and slain Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma.
McCain, Obama Barnstorm States, Argue for Their Economic Fixes
By Lorraine Woellert and Julianna Goldman
Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain
are making final appeals to voters in battleground states, each
arguing he can revive the faltering U.S. economy and criticizing his
opponent.
Both campaigns are spending for a blitz of advertising and get-out-the-
vote efforts. Obama's campaign is putting ads on the air in Georgia
and North Dakota as well at McCain's home state of Arizona. McCain's
advisers said they and the Republican Party would outspend Obama on
television over the last week of the campaign by about $10 million.
McCain wrapped up day two of a bus tour through Ohio yesterday,
campaigning with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Schwarzenegger, an Austrian immigrant who had a career as a body
builder and action-movie star before becoming governor of the most
populous U.S. state in 2003, picked up the line of attack McCain has
been using on Obama's policies.
``Ohio cannot afford, America cannot afford the economic proposals of
Senator Obama,'' he said. ``I left Europe four decades ago because
socialism has killed opportunities there.''
In the face of national and state polls showing him trailing Obama
just days before the Nov. 4 vote, McCain urged his supporters not to
give in to pessimism.
``The enthusiasm and momentum I feel here is going to carry us,''
McCain said to a cheering crowd.
Swing States
Obama and McCain are in close battles for a half-dozen states that
President George W. Bush won in 2004. One of those is Indiana, where
Obama traveled after stopping in Chicago to go trick-or-treating with
his daughters near their home.
Obama used the occasion to repeat a frequent refrain of criticism of
McCain. Speaking of his daughters, Malia and Sasha, the Illinois
senator said, ``every year they've got trouble deciding what they want
to be for Halloween -- but John McCain didn't have that problem. Just
like every year he's going as George W. Bush.''
He also campaigned in Iowa, another state won by Bush in the last
presidential election where Obama is ahead in polls. It's also the
state that in January launched Obama on the path to winning the
Democratic nomination.
``What you started here in Iowa has swept the nation, we're seeing the
same turnout, we're seeing the same people going and getting in lines,
volunteers, people participating,'' Obama said. ``A whole new way of
doing democracy, started right here in Iowa and it's all across the
country now.''
Campaign Help
Both candidates dispatched big name surrogates to assist their
campaigns.
McCain brought the two high-profile Republicans to Ohio. The state,
with 20 electoral votes, is central to McCain's attempt to reach the
270 electoral vote threshold needed to win the presidency. A Bloomberg/
Los Angeles Times poll shows Obama leading there 49 percent to 40
percent among likely voters.
Former President Bill Clinton, who campaigned with Obama in Florida
earlier this week, headlined events for the Democratic candidate
yesterday in Ohio. His wife, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, Obama's
chief rival in the primaries, also campaigned in the state.
Former Vice President Al Gore campaigned for Obama in Florida, where
Gore lost the 2000 election to Bush after the Supreme Court halted a
recount of disputed ballots. The Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times survey
found Obama holding a 7 percentage point advantage in the state, which
has 27 Electoral College votes and is the biggest prize among the
battlegrounds.
Running Mates
Delaware Senator Joe Biden, Obama's running mate was in Ohio yesterday
and will be there again today before moving on to neighboring Indiana
and then to Florida.
McCain's running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, campaigned in
Pennsylvania then flew to Tampa for rallies today.
Obama's campaign announced that he would be spending the final day of
the 2008 election campaigning in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.
Today he'll be in Nevada and Colorado and tomorrow in Ohio.
McCain heads today to Virginia and Pennsylvania.
In addition to swing states, the candidates are hitting less
conventional venues in the final days of the campaign. McCain is
scheduled to appear on ``Saturday Night Live,'' the NBC comedy sketch
show. Obama and McCain both will tape interviews to be broadcast at
half-time of ESPN's ``Monday Night Football'' game on the eve of
Election Day.
Campaign manager David Plouffe said he is confident that Obama is in a
very strong position in all the states that Democrat John Kerry, a
Massachusetts senator, won in 2004. Those account for 252 electoral
votes. Polls show Obama ahead in Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina,
Colorado and Virginia, with a combined 49 electoral votes. Plouffe
said the Democrat has a ``credible pathway'' to win Florida, Ohio,
Missouri and Indiana, which have a total of 69 Electoral College
votes.
McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said the candidate and the
Republican National Committee will outstrip Obama on the airwaves
between Oct. 27 and Election Day, even accounting for the 30-minute
commercial Obama ran on four major broadcast networks as well as cable
channels on Oct. 29.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lorraine Woellert in Mentor,
Ohio, at lwoe...@bloomberg.net; Julianna Goldman in Sarasota,
Florida, at jgol...@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 1, 2008 08:59 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a7coJhLcauKk&refer=home

US-POLITICS Summary

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Who's Blogging» Links to this article
Reuters
Saturday, November 1, 2008; 10:33 AM
McCain, Obama battle into last weekend

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee John McCain
on Friday seized on California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's star power
in Ohio, a state critical to his hopes of clawing back Democrat Barack
Obama's lead going into Tuesday's election. Obama, who is ahead in
national opinion polls and in this Midwestern state that has been
crucial to Republican victories in the last two presidential votes,
warned his supporters to expect attacks from McCain in the last days
of the campaign.
Rare flash of anger from Obama on Halloween night
CHICAGO (Reuters) - It wasn't quite a Halloween nightmare on Obama
street, but journalists on Friday drew a rare flash of anger from the
normally unflappable Democratic presidential nominee. Barack Obama had
taken a break from the campaign trail for a few hours of Halloween fun
at home with his family four days before the election, but ended up
visibly annoyed when news crews dogged their footsteps in their
Chicago neighborhood.

Cindy McCain fits the role of first lady
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With her elegant clothes and perfectly coiffed
blond hair, Cindy McCain looks the part of a U.S. first lady. She is
also well prepared for the role.
Michelle Obama softens image for first lady role
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Michelle Obama will bring the skills of a
corporate lawyer to the White House if her husband wins the U.S.
presidency, but she says her priority will be her role as "mom-in-
chief" to the couple's daughters. Democrat Barack Obama faces
Republican John McCain in Tuesday's election. If the first-term
Illinois senator wins, he will become the first black U.S. president
and his wife the first black first lady.
Obama has 5-point lead over McCain
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican
rival John McCain dipped slightly to 5 points with three days left in
the race for the White House, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll
released on Saturday. Obama leads McCain by 49 percent to 44 percent
among likely voters in the three-day national tracking poll, down from
a 7-point advantage on Friday. The telephone poll has a margin of
error of 2.9 percentage points.
Biden sounds cautious note ahead of election
LIMA, Ohio (Reuters) - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe
Biden sought on Friday to temper over-confidence that Barack Obama is
a sure win in Tuesday's presidential election and said he expected the
poll to be very close. Speaking to reporters at a burger restaurant in
Lima, in the battleground state of Ohio, Biden said he felt "this
good" at the same point in the campaigns of Democrats John Kerry in
2004 and Al Gore in 2000, who were both defeated by President George
W. Bush.

CONTINUED 1 2 Next >
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/01/AR2008110100859.html
November 1, 2008, 10:33 AM
Palin: “Government Is The Problem, Doggone It!”
Posted by Scott Conroy| 11


(CBS)From CBS News' Scott Conroy:
(NEW PORT RICHEY, FLA.) - Sarah Palin pressed her argument that Barack
Obama would move the country in a dramatically leftward direction.
“Our opponent’s plan is just for more bigger government, and doggone
it, government is the problem, not the solution,” Palin said at a
rally here.
“So, John and I, we just have the complete opposite approach in all of
this, the opposite commitment which is so much better. Instead of
taking more of your hard-earned money and then spreading that out
according to a politician’s priorities, we’re gonna spread opportunity
so you can create new wealth. That’s equal opportunity.”
Palin accused Obama of trying to “exploit the fear and worries” of
senior citizens in Florida who are concerned about maintaining their
Social Security and Medicare benefits, calling it “the oldest and
cheapest kind of politics there is.”
Later in the speech, she warned that Obama did not believe in gun
rights, a charge the Democratic nominee has repeatedly denied.
“We believe in the forward movement of freedom, not in the constant
expansion of government, and we believe that the virtues of freedom
are still worth fighting for,” Palin said. “And though Barack Obama
disagrees with some of that freedom, it includes the full rights and
liberties under the 2nd Amendment.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/11/01/politics/fromtheroad/entry4562802.shtml
Banks Alter Loan Terms to Head Off Foreclosures
David McNew/Getty Images
About 1.5 million homes were in foreclosure at the end of June, and
economists expect more.
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By VIKAS BAJAJ and ERIC DASH
Published: October 31, 2008
Even as political pressure builds in Washington for a sweeping program
to help struggling homeowners, some banks are realizing that it may be
good business to keep borrowers in their homes.
Skip to next paragraph
Related
Times Topics: Credit Crisis — The EssentialsOn Friday, JPMorgan Chase
became the latest big bank to pledge to cut monthly payments, by
lowering interest rates and temporarily reducing loan balances for as
many as 400,000 homeowners. Early in October, Bank of America, which
acquired the large lender Countrywide, announced a similar effort
aimed at 400,000 borrowers as part of a settlement with state
officials.
Though the measures encompass only a fraction of the nation’s troubled
homeowners, analysts say they could become more instrumental in
stemming the rising tide of foreclosures than the government’s plan to
partly guarantee home loans.
“The banks are doing the cost-benefit analysis,” said Gerard S.
Cassidy, a banking analyst with RBC Capital Markets. “The banks don’t
want these customers going into foreclosure because it is a costly and
punitive way of trying to collect your money.”
Roughly 1.5 million homes were in foreclosure at the end of June, and
economists expect several million more borrowers may default in the
coming year as housing prices erode and job losses rise. Nearly one in
10 mortgages is either delinquent or in foreclosure.
Chase officials said their effort was not an act of charity or a
response to government pressure. By renegotiating loans with
borrowers, the bank is hoping to reduce the losses that it incurs in
the foreclosure process and when it sells repossessed homes. Chase
said it has already modified 250,000 loans since the start of 2007.
“What we are doing is a process that just makes a lot of sense,” said
Charlie Scharf, chief executive of retail financial services at Chase.
“If the government can come in and help us find ways to modify more
people that would be wonderful.”
The bank, which will open 24 counseling centers and hire 300 employees
to work with borrowers, will suspend foreclosures on loans it owns for
at least 90 days while it puts its new policies into place at Chase
and the two banks it acquired this year, Washington Mutual and Bear
Stearns.
Like other banks, Chase is largely aiming at loans that the bank owns
and not the mortgages that it services on behalf of bond investors who
own mortgage-backed securities. Banks have less leeway in changing the
terms of loans packaged into securities, because contracts that govern
them can be very restrictive.
Those contracts could limit the impact of loan modification programs
at Chase and other banks. For instance, Chase owns $350 billion of the
$1.5 trillion in the home mortgages it services; the rest are owned by
investors. Some hedge fund investors have threatened legal action if
banks aggressively modify the loans that back bonds that they own. Mr.
Scharf said the bank was working with investors to gain approval to
modify more loans.
Chase’s effort resembles a plan put in place at IndyMac after the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took it over in July. Chase’s
program closely mirrors that template by lowering interest rates on
existing mortgages and temporarily reducing the principal owed on
loans. The goal would be to lower a borrower’s housing payments to 31
to 40 percent of disposable income.
Sheila C. Bair, the chairman of the F.D.I.C., has said the agency may
be able to help 40,000 of the 60,000 delinquent IndyMac borrowers.
About 3,500 of those who have been approached have agreed to a
modification. IndyMac owns most of those loans but it has been seeking
permission from investors to modify other loans, as well.
But the steps being taken by banks on their own could affect a much
larger pool of troubled homeowners.
“A clear consensus is emerging that broad-based and systematic loan
modifications are the best way to maximize the value of mortgages
while preserving homeownership — which will ultimately help stabilize
home prices and the broader economy,” Ms. Bair said in a statement
that applauded the announcement by Chase.
Mr. Scharf said Chase would also offer modifications to borrowers who
were not currently delinquent but who the bank thought could be at
risk of defaulting. For certain risky loans, it might offer to
temporarily reduce interest rates to as low as 2 percent and calculate
payments on a reduced loan balance for a few years.
Bank of America agreed to make similar changes under a settlement of
predatory lending practices with officials from 11 states, and agreed
to permanently write down the amount owed on some mortgages. HSBC,
another big bank, is also pre-emptively providing relief to some
borrowers and has modified nearly 25 percent of its subprime
mortgages.
Mark Pearce, a banking regulator in North Carolina, said the
government interventions at IndyMac and Countrywide were helping to
set a good example for lenders like Chase that were now beginning to
take a more aggressive approach to loan modifications.
“It’s clear that they have studied IndyMac and the Countrywide
settlement,” said Mr. Pearce, who is a deputy commissioner for banks
in North Carolina. “Those public programs are leading other servicers
to rethink how they are approaching these issues.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/business/01modify.html?em

ITV.com
Brown heads to Gulf for oil talks
BBC News - 4 hours ago
Gordon Brown has set off on a visit to the oil-rich Gulf for talks on
how to improve the global economy. The prime minister plans to tell
Middle East countries they must play their part in stabilising world
oil prices.
Brown says Gulf states must help solve crisis Reuters UK
Brown in bid to stabilise oil price The Press Association
Sky News - AFP - Times Online - TeleText
all 991 news articles »


AFP
Second bid for HBOS anticipated
BBC News - 5 hours ago
The HBOS merger with Lloyds TSB is being thrown into doubt by a
possible rival bid for the Halifax Bank of Scotland, BBC Scotland has
learned.
Lloyds TSB takeover of HBOS cleared Reuters UK
Overseas bank lines up to bid for HBOS Scotsman
guardian.co.uk - Times Online - Telegraph.co.uk - Independent
all 453 news articles » LON:LLOY


City fury over terms of Barclays bailout
Independent - 14 hours ago
By Mathieu Robbins Barclays faces the possibility of an investor
revolt after announcing it is taking cash from Middle-Eastern
investors, at a hefty cost, as an alternative to accepting the UK
government bailout which its rivals HBOS, Lloyds and Royal ...
Gulf states' spending spree goes on as investors buy stakes in ...
guardian.co.uk
Barclays Agrees to Sell Big Stake Wall Street Journal
Financial Times - Times Online - Forbes - Telegraph.co.uk
all 937 news articles » LON:BARC - PINK:BCLYF - PGD


AFP
Rand posts biggest monthly decline since 1985
Moneyweb - 8 hours ago
The rand weakened the most in October since August 1985, when the
apartheid government suspended debt payments. The All Share Index fell
for a fifth month, losing 12%.
S.Africa rand steadies, stocks follow global markets up Reuters South
Africa
Rand softer against major currencies SABC News
Reuters - Bloomberg - Reuters South Africa - Bloomberg
all 78 news articles »


S.Africa trade gap widens, rate hopes take a knock
guardian.co.uk - 31 Oct 2008
By Gordon Bell JOHANNESBURG, Oct 31 (Reuters) - South Africa's trade
deficit widened in September, data showed on Friday, bucking the trend
of data this week that have raised hopes the next move in interest
rates will be down.
Lower inflation Business Day
South African Bonds Rally as Producer Inflation `Turns Corner'
Bloomberg
Reuters South Africa - The Times - Business Report - The Herald
Eastern Cape
all 65 news articles »


Harmony Gold Q1 results: Graham Briggs – CEO, Harmony Gold
Moneyweb - 21 hours ago
ALEC HOGG: Graham Briggs, chief executive of Harmony Gold is with us
in the studio. All the tough decisions that you took, Graham, are
paying off.
Harmony turnaround continues apace Mining MX
Harmony Gold lifts Q1 profit, output Creamer Media's Mining Weekly
Business Report - Moneybiz - Citizen - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly
all 12 news articles »


Bush urges Americans to vote

AFP - 20 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush on Saturday urged
Americans to vote Tuesday to choose his successor, with an apparent
lack of bitterness over an election in which even his own party has
repudiated him.
McCain renews attacks on 'far-left' Obama The Australian
Last-minute appeals on radio by Obama, McCain The Associated Press
Sydney Morning Herald - Telegraph.co.uk - BBC News - Washington Post
all 1,159 news articles »




Telegraph.co.uk
Barack Obama's 'Auntie Zeituni' made illegal contributions to his ...
Times Online - 43 minutes ago
Barack Obama's 'Auntie Zeituni', found by The Times living on a Boston
housing estate, appears to have made an illegal contribution to her
nephew's presidential campaign because she is not a US citizen.
Obama says he didn't know aunt's illegal status, 12th Ld-Writethru
guardian.co.uk
Barack Obama's Kenyan aunt 'living illegally' in US Telegraph.co.uk
BBC News - Melbourne Herald Sun - The Press Association
all 981 news articles »




Sydney Morning Herald
African Union Condemns Violence in Congo
Voice of America - 5 hours ago
By Peter Heinlein The African Union has condemned the violence in
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and is launching a 'quiet
diplomacy' initiative aimed at bringing all parties involved to the
negotiating table.
Crisis bites for Goma refugees BBC News
Miliband flies to Goma as rebels advance guardian.co.uk
Inter Press Service - AllAfrica.com - Times Online - Deutsche Welle
all 3,590 news articles »
Market wins by a nose over horses
Melbourne Herald Sun - 3 hours ago
There is one very big qualification and associated understanding: that
you are investing for the long term - not for next week, next month or
even next year.
We play a waiting game Sydney Morning Herald
Rudd a step ahead of fear The Australian
The Age - Business Spectator - Sydney Morning Herald - The Australian
all 367 news articles »




AFP
Moves to allow access to funds applauded
Sydney Morning Herald - 11 hours ago
The peak funds body welcomed moves to allow investors facing hardship
access to some frozen funds but urged patience while working through
the process of getting liquidity back into the funds.
Frozen cash to be released Sky News Australia
Australian regulator unfreezes funds to relieve hard-up AFP
The Australian - ABC Online - The Age - WA Business News
(subscription)
all 92 news articles »




Radio Australia
Emissions scheme Rudd's chance to prove economic credentials
The Australian - 31 Oct 2008
Against the backdrop of a world economy heading into recession and
Australian economy like to follow very closely, the Government needs
to press ahead with the implementation of its emissions trading system
(ETS).
Ridout slams 'Dr Who' Treasury modelling ABC Online
PM warns of climate tariffs on tardiness The Age


CBC.ca
TSX holds onto triple-digit losses
Toronto Star - 31 Oct 2008
The Toronto stock market continued to see red in morning trading as
commodities prices weakened in the final session of a terrible month
of declines.
Toronto stock market ends dismal October down 17% CBC.ca
Retrenching consumer slows economy Globe and Mail
Vancouver Sun - The Canadian Press - DigitalJournal.com - Bloomberg
all 364 news articles » TSE:X - TSE:RCI.B - TSE:AZD




CTV British Columbia
Welfare payouts hit target . . . for 1988
Toronto Star - 8 hours ago
Welfare recipient Phill Hozer, in his west-end neighbourhood, will see
two per cent more in his monthly cheque in December. A single person
like Hozer now will get $572 a month.
Local officials pleased with uploading of social services Woodstock
Sentinel Review
Provincial uploading to save $9 million a year Northumberland News
Toronto Sun - Globe and Mail - Ottawa Citizen - Canada.com
all 149 news articles »




680 News
Poor health forces Rogers CEO to step aside
Globe and Mail - 9 hours ago
Ailing communications magnate Ted Rogers has been admitted to
hospital, forcing him to relinquish his duties as CEO of his sprawling
cable TV, wireless, sports and media conglomerate.
Illness sidelines Ted Rogers Toronto Star
Ted Rogers admitted to hospital, temporarily hands over CEO ... The
Canadian Press
CityNews - Edmonton Sun - Bloomberg - Reuters
all 105 news articles » TSE:RCI.B Langue : Français »

700 jobs to go at Dell plant in Limerick
Siliconrepublic.com - 3 hours ago
01.11.2008 Friday was a black day for the tech sector in Limerick
after it emerged that 700 workers are to be let go at Dell’s Raheen
manufacturing operation and a further 100 jobs at the Flextronics
contract... more... 01.11.2008 Local knowledge ...
Fears for hi-tech plant as Dell axes 700 staff Irish Independent
Up to 800 job losses in Limerick companies Irish Times
RTE.ie - FinFacts Ireland - Limerick Leader - Limerick Post
all 10 news articles »


RTE.ie
Minister does not plan to intervene in Aer Lingus and Siptu standoff
Irish Times - 30 Oct 2008
THE MINISTER for Transport Noel Dempsey has no plans to intervene in
the standoff between Aer Lingus and Siptu that could lead to
industrial action at the airline in the run-up to Christmas.
Aer Lingus LRC talks break down RTE.ie
Aer Lingus sticks to cost cuts as union talks fail Reuters
The Press Association - Herald.ie - 4ni.co.uk
all 29 news articles »


RTE.ie
Bin charges increase unlikely, says Gormley
RTE.ie - 9 hours ago
Minister for the Environment John Gormley has said he does not think
bin charges will be increased as a result of a collapse in the global
price for recycled goods.
Bin charges on the way up Irish Independent
Recycling firms warn of collection charge hike Irish Times
Belfast Telegraph - Irish Times
all 19 news articles »

NEWS UPDATE
Round the week

Story of the Day
RBI cuts CRR, repo rates further Updated

Markets
Forex Rates on Oct 31
Call rate higher at 17.00-18.00%


Corporate
Mercedes-Benz to shift to new plant early 2009
Gujarat NRE rights issue on track, says company official
Honda motorcycle October sales up by 23%
GM India sales up 5.31% in October
Bajaj bike sales down 34% in Oct
Maruti Suzuki Oct sales dip 7%
Zee News in tie-up with Sky B(Bangla), also picks up 26% stake
Gujarat NRE Q2 net zooms to Rs 102.75 cr
Board meetings today
Board meetings on Monday


Book Closures/Dividends
Religare Enterprises allots shares under ESOS


Corporate Results
Panacea Biotec net loss at Rs 44.06cr for Sept quarter
Koutons Retail Q2 net at Rs 30.42 cr
Petron Engg net up 58%
Thales posts marginal rise in Q3 revenues at €2.64 bn
Uttam Galva Q2 net down 30% at Rs 21 cr
Lanco Infratech Q2 net up at Rs 39.87 cr
Unitech net jumps to Rs 415.55 cr in Q2


Commodities
Sugar closes quiet in thin trade
Bajra, barley weakens on reduced offtake
Palmolein oil remains weak on global cues
Gold recovers on seasonal demand
Crude oil prices rebound


Logistics
Jet Airways withdraws New Delhi-Raipur flight
Airnetz launches first GDS in Indian pvt jet industry


Global News / Markets
Freedom Bank 17th in the US to close down
European markets gain on last day of Oct month
Wall Street ends higher


General
Castlewood invites Indian buyers to Hungary
RBI's rate cut to help SMEs to get affordable credit
Foreign law firms set to operate in India: CJI
Fuel supply agreement issue to be resolved soon: CIL
Alang ship breaking industry faces recession
India working with Pak to resolve issues on IPI gas pipeline
To save 'Kyunki...', Balaji moves Bombay High Court
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Terkel dead


Politics
RSP flays hike in FDI cap in insurance sector


Info-Tech
Spanco Telesystems net slips 26%
Reliance Communications distributes prizes under festive offer


Banking & Finance
IDBI Bank cuts home, education loan rates by 0.5 %
RBI measures to induce rate cuts: Bankers


Govt/States
MMRDA to carry out comprehensive study for Monorail project
Joint meeting soon to expedite completion of TN court buildings


Weekly Review
Diwali gives much needed impetus to falling market



http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/


US banks using government money for deals

1 Nov, 2008, 2200 hrs IST, AGENCIES




US banks are using the federal bailout money to buy other banks
instead of boosting their lending. BSE Weekly: Gainers, Losers | NSE
Weekly: Losers, Gainers


India, China wary of global economic crisis
Crisis-hit US fears dumping by India, China: Report
RBI cuts rates to induce Rs 85,000 cr; signals interest cut
US heads into another real estate mess
1 Nov, 2008, 2150 hrs IST, REUTERS

Non-residential property investment in US has stayed unusually strong
unusually long into what is looking like a protracted recession. Biz
Week in Pics | CEOtoons



One in five US homeowners with mortgages under water
Uncertainty holds up Wipro's Atlanta plan
1 Nov, 2008, 2210 hrs IST, IANS

Plans of Wipro Ltd to open a software development centre at Atlanta in
the US are on hold due to global meltdown and uncertainty in economic
environment. IT at work



No job cuts in IT industry, says Narayana Murthy

All headlines >>
India, Iran pitch for two-way investments in various fields
1 Nov, 2008, 2222 hrs IST

India and Iran today strongly pitched for increased two-way
investments in various fields as they finalised DTAA and decided to
conclude a pact on promotion and protection of investments at the
earliest.

Crisis-hit US fears dumping by India, China: Report
1 Nov, 2008, 2221 hrs IST

In the midst of the global financial crisis, a media report has raised
the spectre of major producers dumping products in world markets and
giving America another worry.

All News headlines >>


News By Company
Panacea Biotec net loss at Rs 44.06 for Sept qtr
Mercedes Benz India registers 47 per cent growth in car sales
Thales posts marginal rise in Q3 revenues at 2.64 bn Euro

More >>

News By Industry
220,000 Indians make US their home illegally
Govt to examine the reasons for retrenchment in IT Park
Iran urges India to commit to gas pipe plan: Report

More >>

Economy
India, Iran pitch for two-way investments in various fields
Crisis-hit US fears dumping by India, China: Report
'IMF, WB should be reformed to reflect contemporary realities'

More >>

International Business
US banks using government money for deals
US heads into another real estate mess
VW says to make hybrid parts on its own

More >>

Politics/Nation
Ahmedabad blasts: SIMI leaders custody extended
Murder case against Raj in Dhanabad court
Jamia shootout: Delhi Police seek more time to submit report

More >>


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/articlelist/1715249553.cms


Palash Biswas



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