India Says

The husband was killed in a fake encounter and the Gujarat government was already admitted - now it told the Supreme Court the wife, too, was possibly murdered by its police.

When the police were shot the Sohrabuddin the state government realise that his wife Kauser Bano also missing. Chief Minister Narendra modi was allegely plotting to assassinate by sheikh

Last month, the state tell the court Sohrabuddin was killed on November 26,2005, in cold blood on the border of Ahmedabad – an act that Kauser, 33, would have witness. Today, the K.T.S.Tulsi and Modi government’s counsel, said: “There is a distrust and terror that she (Kauser) may have been killed.”

Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabuddin. said “I knew he had been killed,”   Rubabuddin said from his hometown, Ujjain. He was a housewife that’s why“They had to bump her off in secret.Had they branded her a Lashkar terrorist and killed her along with her husband  Nobody would have believed them said Raees Khan Pathan, a social activist.

Tulsiram Prajapati, was killed in an encounter shortly after Rubabuddin filed his request last year. he is the second witness.

Thay believed to have been partners in an extortion racket across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Prajapati and Sohrabuddin, who had bases in Indore and Ujjain.On November 22, 2005, TheGujarat police team nabbed them. When  the two of them and Kauser were travelling on a private luxury bus from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra.

On Tuesday the three senior IPS officers behind the bogus encounter were under arrest. Tulsi thought their examination was likely to expose the fact. If Kauser were living, she would be traced and created; if not,The lawyer said the court would be told how and when she died.

With ISRO’s successful launch vehicle PSLV-C8, India has entered the global launcher market. The placing of 352-kg Italian astronomical satellite AGILE into a 550 km circular orbit around 22 minutes after lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre was done on 23 April.

As a part of a launch, the Italian Space agency will pay $11 million (Rs45 crore) to Isro.
Though it’s India’s first commercial launch but it is an addition to PSLV profile as it is the 10th successful launch.

After US, Russia, China and Ariane Space (France); now we have India as a fift country to step-in the launch market.
The vehicle also carried ISRO’s 185-kg Advaced Avionics Module (AMM), an important payload to flight-test advanced avionics such as mission computers, navigation.

The marketing for competion of the project was done by Antrix Corporation, commercial arm of the Department of Space, Government of India. The AGILE is a X-ray and gamma ray astronomical satellite of the Italian Space Agency.

Indian industry has to make efforts to stand against other countries when it comes to FTAs, said P K Dash, joint secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.

The India-Asean Round Table organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on 17 April mentioned that it is next to impossible to expect all the sectors gaining out of FTAs. The foremost objective is the maximization of the national welfare.

Dash also suggested that the sensitive list of products has to be cut down to 350 from the present 550. This gap can be filled by the textiles, chemicals and auto sectors. By 2018, the 200 items have to be displaced from the sensitive list and the remaining 16 products in the agriculture list will continue to be on the negative list.

The government fully considers the sensitivities of the domestic industry. Even there are differences between over the Rules of Origin as unlike ASEAN, India insisted for the standard criteria followed by it in FTAs.

About 10% of India’s exports land up in the ASEAN markets and our imports are considerable. In this view we cannot probably ignore FTA with the ASEAN, he said. 

The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) will partner All India Football Federation (AIFF) to fulfill Vision Asia, said Joseph Sepp Blatter, President, FIFA in an interaction with industry organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on 16 April.   

Blatter said that FIFA wants to present India as a football-loving nation. But for development of football in India, greater participation is required from the government and the private sector. He added that India should capitalize on the enthusiasm and feeling for the sport. “Industry and Football have a wonderful opportunity to bring Indian football to the world playing level, ” added Blatter.

It would be great to see India participating in a world cup and FIFA can proactively assist in the development of a sporting India role, said Blatter.  

 FIFA membership and its affiliated association is proud to touch a population of almost 1 billion where 250 million people are active participants from 208 countries, including 50 million women, he added.

FIFA has a vision to develop and promote football in Asia; called Vision Asia said Mohammed Bin Hamman, president, Asian Football Confederation (AFC). With the support of AFC & AIFF, FIFA has launched Vision Manipur and Vision Delhi and will further set-up similar projects in Tamil Nadu and Sikkim, informed Hamman. The common goal is to take football to grass-root levels, added Hammam.

He added that there exist several challenges to Indian Football including inadequate infrastructure and professional management of Football clubs. There is need for better administration, infrastructure and people to fulfill this vision as India has a shining past and should have a brilliant future in the game of Football, he said. FIFA is looking for real partnership for professional football in India and there are global investors, who are interested to professionally manage, endorse and run the football clubs of India provided Indian government allows that. 

Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, President, AIFF and minister of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India urged the India Inc to come forward   and extend support to football.

Responding, Sunil Bharti Mittal, vice president, CII said that India is at the cusp of transforming from a cricketing nation to a sporting nation. Mittal committed that Indian Industry will take interest in the development of football in India and gave the hope for an early initiative announcement.

The upcoming real partnerships for professional football will present opportunities for global investors as FIFA is organizing the Under–17 World Cup for boys and girls, Women’s World Cup, World Club Cup and Beach Soccer along with The World Cup and opportunities for marketing partners for various associations.

A deep glance at the number of factors working against sustaining high growth

The GDP growth projection for 2007-08 has been pegged at 8.5%, said a CII Press Release. The elements in the economy, which have started surfacing towards the latter part of the fiscal 2006-07 are likely to play a moderating role on the growth prospects of the economy, it added.

CII believes that factors such as global moderation of growth, inflation, falling demand as a consequence to spiraling interest rates, appreciating rupee and significant supply shortages in the global and Indian economy may restrict the GDP growth in the current year to 8.5%.

Agriculture is expected to improve its growth performance from 2.7% to 3%, mainly owing to low base of last year and deliberate attempts to increase production of primary articles in response to high prices. However, this sector would continue to be the area to watch out for as this has the potential to become a binding constraint to long-term growth prospects for the Indian economy, said CII.

The strongest factor contributing to growth moderation is going to be the result of repeated monetary interventions being made by the RBI to reign in inflation. This across the board rate hikes yield results with a lag and therefore, CII feels that the effects would be felt well into the new fiscal. The current inflation is the result of mainly supply side shortages and therefore, a modestly tight monetary environment is what should be in place, feels CII. However, there are already signals of demand slowdowns in sectors like automotive, retail banking, etc, as a result of the rate squeeze and therefore, the growth forecasts have accounted for this trend.

With significant demand compression being resorted to, the growth of Industry and Services are likely to suffer slowdowns to 9.3% and 9.9% in the current year compared with the corresponding values of 10% and 11.2% last year.

Part of the growth moderation would also be owing to the strengthening rupee which is likely to slowdown exports, which had been a driver for the last few years, said the CII.

Sectoral GDP Growth (%) 

2005-06 (Q) 

2006-07 (A) 

2007-08 F 

Agriculture 

6.0 

(19.7) 

2.7 

(18.5) 

3.0 

(17.5) 

Industry 

9.6 

(26.2)  

10.0 

(26.4) 

9.3 

(26.6) 

Services 

9.8 

(54.1) 

11.2 

(55.1) 

9.9 

(55.9) 

GDP at factor cost 

9.0 

9.2 

8.5 

This summer block your dates as you come face to face with the best of India’s undiscovered singing talent on ‘Star Voice of India’-Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa, soon on Star Plus

The buzz about the new show on Star Plus is all set to turn up the summer heat with its promises to enthrall audiences week after week. ‘Star Voice of India’- Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa’ (SVOI) conceptualized by TV’s man of music, Gajendrra Siingh, makes its debut on Star Plus. Hosted by Shaan, the panel of judges will be equipped by Alka Yagnik, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Aadesh Shrivastava, Jatin and Lalit Pandit.

Announcing the launch of its exciting new show, Harsh Rohatgi, general manager, marketing and content, Star India Pvt. Ltd, said, “ It’s a date with destiny-not just for the contestants but for the viewers as well! It is a package that one cannot afford to miss.”
With its unique and innovative format, the director and the producer of the show, Gajendrra Siingh has tried to elevate the concept of talent hunts and reality televison to a whole new level. For the first time ever, the talent from each audition city will get the opportunity to perform live in their respective cities at exciting ground events even before the show goes on air.

Expressed Gajendra Singh, “ Music is our passion and has always been. We have always endeavored to do something with music, since we are involved with this concept. Talent scouting is our forte. Our focus has always been to tap talent and with this event, we are here to do that again.”

“I am thrilled and excited about hosting Star Voice of India. Anchoring this show comes naturally to me as I have been long associated with both, the music and this show,” says Shaan.

Cricket and endorsement of brands is inseparable. But unlike cricketers, most celebrities lead a rich life that fades with age. Indian cricketers never seem to be falling out of favour with corporates, who have bet anything between Rs 250- 300 crore on old warhorses Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, for their advertising campaigns.

The present circumstances reveal the trio may not make it to the next World Cup, but ad makers feel that their vacillating performance would not affect long term endorsements.
“It will be a very immediate reaction to say a brand like Tendulkar has eroded.

If a brand like him was event specific and if one bad performance was to erode his value, then the entire concept of celebrity endorsements will be falicious,” Canon India vice-president Alok Bharadwaj. 

Otherwise, advertisers have little choice on whom to pick for brand endorsements. If cricketers are also taken away, (sportsmen in Indian advertising are few), it will leaves only movie stars in the horizon.

Earlier this year, Canon had signed a three-year contract with Tendulkar, who is reported to command an estimated Rs6-7 crore annual fee per endorsement and has about a dozen such contracts with various brands.

“We’ve shared a healthy relationship with him (Tendulkar) and see ourselves continuing to do so in future,” PepsiCo India Executive Vice President (Marketing) Vipul Prakash said.

Considering the non-performance of Tendulkar that has invited lot of criticism, the company would renew his contract if it were to expire now, he said, “Pepsi will not make decisions toward its associations that are based on winning or losing of a match or series.”

Master Plan 2021 focuses upon planning, developmental issues and functional approach towards creating the vision of Delhi as an international city.  

“The Master Plan 2021 for the City of Delhi is a starting point for developing a specific vision for the future of Delhi,” said Dinesh Rai, vice chairman, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) at the CII Delhi State Annual Session and Panel Discussion on Master Plan 2021 on 3 April. 

The Master Plan is a policy document that will address issues at the zonal and local levels providing direction on urban development,” he added.
Outlining the Master Plan, Mr Rai said that strategies for coordinating and leveraging city development on different fronts - economic, educational, cultural, sports and environmental have been incorporated.

“Having a Master Plan is better than not having one,” said Mr Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, The Indian Express, and Moderator for the discussion. He said that the challenge is that we are urbanising faster than we are able to develop the cities.  We have got to ensure maximum growth of cities so that they are in a better position to absorb the urbanising citizen, he said.

The other panelists included Arun Bharat Ram, past president (CII) and chairman, SRF Ltd; Harpal Singh , chairman, Fortis Healthcare Ltd ; Suhel Seth, managing partner, Counselage India ; Vikram Bakshi, joint venture & MD, McDonald’s India (North & East); William Bissell , MD, Fabindia Overseas Pvt Ltd ;  Shyam Divan , senior advocate; Ranjit Sabikhi, architect and Pankaj Vir Gupta, partner, vir.mueller architects.

During the discussion the panelists suggested that the Masterplan 2021 should focus on moving towards the hi-tech era by providing more facilities to the community as a whole be it working women, students, service sector and elderly people. The Master Plan should be projected on the basis of the assessment of basic needs, while maintaining and preserving the cultural ethos of the city.

Earlier in his address Adesh Gupta, chairman CII Northern Region highlighted that Delhi is one of the prosperous and fast growing economies in the country driven by the services sector. Being the national capital, it is one of the most important locations for business and investors.

The Master Plan is an important document for the city because it articulates a broad vision for Delhi’s future and provides direction to all development activities. Essentially, it also serves as the blueprint of plans and designs that contribute to Delhi’s overall urbanization development, stated Ankur Bhatia, Chairman, CII Delhi State Council at the Panel discussion.