The Indian Economy - Page 37

It sounds like a classic Bangalore story. A winsome young woman employed by a call center falls in love with a man who works at an IT company. He decides to leave India in search of higher pay in America, and she promises to wait for him.

Then comes the twist: To finance her boyfriend's journey, the woman accepts a lucrative offer to become a surrogate mother for a childless couple only to have her presence arouse the jealousy of the barren wife. In a second twist, the surrogate has moved in with the couple for the duration of the pregnancy. Welcome to the world of Jogula Lullaby, a TV serial on Zee Kannada a channel in India's southern state of Karnataka that premiered last year and is still going strong after some 200 episodes. Making the most of surrogacy's potential for emotional turmoil, similar tearful tales are unfolding in Tamil, Telugu and other regional languages as well. Surrogacy also has surfaced as a theme in both films in regional dialects and Bollywood productions, but it has been especially valuable for perpetually plot-hungry serials. Surrogacy has become a news staple in recent years in India and what's making headlines is always a rich source of story lines that will keep viewers hooked. Ardent fans of Jogula include Radha, a 32-year-old tailor in Bangalore, who says the serial spurred her to offer her services as a surrogate earlier this year, after she found herself mired in debt. Definitely, it has given me courage to do it, says the mother of two, who prefers not to give her full name. As wildly unrealistic as the show is to start with, most doctors won't accept as surrogates never-married women or women who haven't had children, and surrogates don't live with the intended parents Radha did draw reassurance from some of its reality-based content, particularly the fictional doctor's explanation that the eggs are fertilized in a laboratory, rather than by the surrogate's having sex with another woman's husband. It wasn't Zee Kannada's aim to design a surrogate-recruiting tool, says Parameshwar Gundkal, the channel's head of fiction programming. The channel simply wanted to present something new to the audience. At the long-running serial Arasi, by contrast, the overall aim of the surrogacy story lines which represent just one tendril of the sprawling, twisting Tamil family drama is to legitimize the practice, says Raj Prabu, a scriptwriter for the show. The basic thinking of the culture here is that surrogacy is a form of indirect prostitution, Mr. Prabu explains, an attitude the serial fights with the message that "there's nothing wrong with it. This doesn't keep the writers from employing such useful but implausible plot developments as having a doctor suddenly drop dead and leave a surrogate with no way to contact the biological parents.Arasi, he says, has received a lot of fan mail from childless couples who are grateful for its efforts to liberate surrogacy from social stigma. If everyone has an accepting heart, then nobody will remain without a child, Mr. Prabu says. Sometimes the drama hits close to home. On July 31 in Anand, Gujarat, 25 pregnant surrogates and 70 postpartum surrogates from the clinic of fertility specialist Nayana Patel, along with their families, formed the audience for a special performance of the play Miss Fool Gulabi, by Naushil Mehta. The playwright says he was initially inspired to explore surrogacy by a newspaper story he saw a few years ago the subject struck him as an area of emotional conflict, crucial to a play but this humorous fantasy is partly based on a heady day of interviews at the clinic. It recounts the tale of the feisty title character, who, abandoned by her husband and his family, turns to surrogacy to earn money for the medical treatment and education of a daughter with cerebral palsy. In the course of the play, Gulabi defends her sister surrogates from the taunts of disapproving relatives, confronts a goon who wants to destroy the clinic, and foolishly agrees to take care of the baby she carried after she is born disabled and rejected by the biological parents in America. In one scene, Gulabli talks a distraught woman out of attacking her daughter-in-law with a machete over the dishonor brought on the family by the younger woman's becoming a surrogate. After hearing Gulabi explain how surrogacy can overcome her friend's pressing financial needs, the mother-in-law proclaims, If I was younger, I would also have done the same thing. That line brought down the house. Dr. Patel, who was in the audience, recalls, I could hear all of my surrogates clapping.

Edited by jagdu - 14 years ago

he Taliban targeted India's embassy in Afghanistan for the second time in two years with a car bomb that killed at least 17 people on a heavily guarded street in downtown Kabul.
The attacker, Mr. Mujahid said, was an Afghan in a sport-utility vehicle laden with explosives, and his intended target was the Indian Embassy, which was rebuilt this year after being hit by a car bomb in July 2008. Last year's attack on the embassy killed 54 people, including India's defense attach. Indian and U.S. officials have since said it was carried out by a Taliban-allied insurgent group known as the Haqqani network, with assistance from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency. Neither India nor the U.S. cast blame in the hours following bombing. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the U.S. and United Nations also condemned the attack.

A powerful blast that reverberated through the surrounding area. The building was shaking a lot, there was a lot of dust, said Esmatullah Qadri, 28 years old, whose family owns a guest house on a side lane off the street where the explosion went off. Body parts and some of the pieces of cars flew into the guest house, he said. The explosion took place around 8:30 a.m., just as people were arriving for work. It left the street littered with dead and wounded people and debris and sent a plume of smoke rising from the center of the city. India's ambassador to Afghanistan, Jayant Prasad, said the embassy's Indian staffers were safe, although three Indians guards were injured. There has been extensive damage to property; the protective barriers outside the embassy have been damaged. The blast was of the same intensity and nature as last year July, Mr. Prasad said.
Since the July 2008 embassy attack, traffic on the block, which is also home to Afghanistan's Interior Ministry, has been severely restricted and cement blast walls have gone up all along the street, likely helping contain Thursday's explosion. But it wasn't clear how a suicide car bomber managed to get past the police guarding either end of the street. A large bomb explodes near the Indian embassy in the center of Kabul, Afghanistan killing at least 12 people and wounding more than 80. The possibility that the attack will worsen relations between India and Pakistan adds another wrinkle. Ties between the nuclear-armed neighbors have begun to warm in recent months after last year's assault on Mumbai, launched from Pakistan, put peace talks on hold.  Afghanistan is one of many stumbling blocks to any meaningful peace talks between archrivals India and Pakistan. Islamabad backed the Taliban regime before 2001 and has repeatedly accused India of trying to use its $1.2 billion aid program for Afghanistan to gain favor in Kabul and encircle Pakistan. Pakistan's security establishment, in particular, feels threatened by the role that India is playing in rebuilding Afghanistan. Both Indian and U.S. officials accuse Pakistan of not doing enough to shut down Islamist militant groups, including the one that attacked Mumbai. They say Pakistan sees the Taliban and its allies as a lever to maintain influence in Afghanistan. The Haqqani network blamed for the first bombing of the Indian Embassy is of particular concern to the U.S. It dominates the insurgency in eastern Afghanistan from its base in Pakistan's tribal areas and is believed to have close ties to al Qaeda.

Edited by jagdu - 14 years ago

PM rules out curbs on CEO pay packets

A week after corporate affairs minister Salman Khursheed kicked off a debate on controlling pay packets of corporate honchos, his boss PM Manmohan Singh ruled out government curbs on CEO remunerations offered by private entities. We still believe that salaries are best determined by boards of various companies and the government, as such, has no intention of imposing restrictions on CEOs' salaries, he told in Mumbai.

AI selects Booz, Rothschild for cost restructuring

Air India has selected global consultancy firms Booz Allen & Company and Rothschild to guide the national airline on its cost rationalisation and debt restructuring strategies. We have selected Booz & Allen and Rothschild to devise strategies on cost-rationalisation and debt-restructuring,  Air India told 

Carlsberg gets cracking on 5th India brewery

It's the Nordic leap of faith in India's beer story. Carlsberg has started work on its fifth brewery in the country, signalling the fastest ramp-up by any international brewer in the local market. The $20-million plus brewery will come up in Andhra Pradesh with monthly capacity of half-a-million cases. The Denmark-based global beermaker has acquired 40 acres in Medak district, and expects to put the plant on stream within 12 months. In third year of Indian operations, Carlsberg already has four existing breweries in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradaesh and West Bengal with a combined capacity of 8.25 lakh hectolitre or nearly 10 million cases (of 7.8 litre each) annually.

Lupin eyes $200 million opportunity in US contraceptives market

Mumbai-based pharmaceutical is gearing to tap opportunities to the tune of up to $200 million in the US oral contraceptives market, despite patent litigation from rivals on its plans to sell generic drugs there. The oral contraceptives (OCs) market in the US is valued at around $4 billion and growing at around 10 per cent annually. This is a segment where it makes sense to have a complete basket of products so that one can drive serious value into the market and Lupin would be one of the few innovators to drive it in, Lupin Group President and Executive Director to the Board Nilesh Gupta told.

SAIL says it's mine for 2 billion tones ore reserves at Chiria fields

The battle for the control of Chiria mines, one of the world's largest source of good quality iron ore, seems far from over with its prime stakeholder Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) stepping up the ante to get full control of the over 2 billion tonne ore reserve estimated in the region. The fresh move from the state-owned steel major is expected to dent plans of companies such as ArcelorMittal, JSW Steel, Essar Steel and Tata Steel, which have been eyeing a portion of Chiria mines to serve their proposed steel projects in the state.

Kapoor leaves for Yangon to hold cooperation talks

To provide a boost to India's defence ties with Myanmar, Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor today left for Yangon on a three-day visit to meet his counterpart and discuss issues concerning South Asian security. Kapoor's visit to Yangon, ruled at present by a military junta, comes at a time when China has unveiled plans to construct a railway line up to its border with Myanmar.

US F1 student visas fall 25%

It's official. There were less F1 student visas for the US issued across India in financial year 2009 (Oct 08-Sep 09) than the previous FY08. In fact, 25,860 issuances in FY09 actually translates into a whopping 25% decline over 34,510, which was the number issued last year. Most experts and consultants feel that the fall in numbers of Indian students choosing to go to the US for higher studies is because of the fall in financial aid offered by institutions rather than any visa strictures.

CM Buddhadeb gets govt's support to combat Naxals

The Centre has extended its full support to West Bengal's Left Front government to combat Maoist terror in the state in what could spark fresh tension between Congress and UPA ally, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress. The Centre's stand was communicated to Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee during his meeting with Union home minister P Chidambaram at the latter's residence.

Hindu Temple of Minnesota

On Diwali, the annual Hindu festival of lights, Shweta Mundhra will cook food all morning, adorn her newest and brightest sari and arm herself with fresh flowers, fruit and dried nuts for the gods. The 30-year-old mother of two will then hop on a train and head not to a temple or a friend's home but to the office of JP Trades Inc., her family's wholesale gemstone business in downtown Chicago, to bless the books. We take out all of our office files, change them over to new files, and put tikkas religious marks on them, says Ms. Mundhra, who with her husband runs the company. She will then place flowers, fruit and nuts at the feet of various statues of gods as an offering for blessings on the business. The five-day Diwali festival is as important to Hindus as Christmas is to Christians. Leading up to the festival, dozens of special dishes are prepared, houses are cleaned, candles lit, sweets are distributed and, in India, firecrackers are set off in huge celebrations. But for some followers, Diwali is as much about the awareness of the inner light, its literal meaning, as it is the opportunity to ask the gods for a fortuitous balance sheet.

The financial aspect of Diwali was first started centuries ago in Western India, where many families owned businesses and the holiday was considered the official start of the new year. Handwritten ledger books were traditionally closed on the holiday, and new ones were opened and blessed by a priest. The practice soon became recognized and adopted by many throughout India and overseas. This year, with the effects of the recession in full force, Hindu temples are bracing for an onslaught of Diwali devotees. Some are even preparing special ceremonies for those seeking financial blessings. The first few months of the year were really bad, says Ms. Mundhra, whose gemstone sales were down 40% in the first six months versus the same period a year ago. When we pray this year, we will be saying, give more money and prosperity to this house. Based on the Hindu calendar, the actual date of Diwali changes every year, but always occurs during the new moon in October or November. This year, it falls on Oct. 17. Hindus believe Diwali is the day Lord Rama returned to the holy kingdom of Ayodhya after 14 years in exile. He was greeted with rows upon rows of lit diyas, or small clay lamps, celebrating the triumph of good over evil. It is said that homes that glow the brightest will be the ones to best attract the attention and blessings of Goddess Lakshmi, who symbolizes the earth, wealth, prosperity and abundance. A deity of near-cult status among Hindus, the goddess is often depicted with coins falling from her hands. Most devotees will light up their homes with lamps and candles, distribute sweets and visit a temple they regard the holiday as a time to start new projects and relinquish grudges. But the growing group that recognizes the financial aspects of the holiday will go through a formal prayer ceremony called Sharada, or Chopda Puja accounts prayer. The Hindu Temple Society of North America in Flushing, N.Y., one of the first Hindu temples built in the U.S., began offering the accounts puja 10 years ago after some of its 14,000 members began asking for it. For the first time this year, the Hindu Temple Society offered a special financial prayer in February to boost members' spirits; many said they wanted the blessing to help relieve stress over lost jobs.  For the accounts puja, participants must first pray to Lord Ganesha, the elephant god, to clear their minds and hearts of any distractions that could interfere with prayers. A fistful of rice yellowed with turmeric powder and a bright silver coin of Goddess Lakshmi are placed in a stainless steel plate. A priest then blesses the offering along with the devotees' accounting books. At some temples, people bring their laptops, iPods, stethoscopes, power tools or any other business essentials to be blessed. 

This year the Hindu Temple Society expects up to 6,000 worshippers it doubled its seating capacity earlier this year to accommodate its growing crowd for festivals.  It's quite possible this Diwali there will be even more people here for the accounts puja says Dr. Uma Mysorekar, president and co-founder of the temple.  Computers, checkbooks and accounting records are already being dropped off at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Bartlett, Ill., where over 500 prayer plates have been ordered. Last year as many as 400 people showed up for the accounts puja; this year, the temple expects up to 700. It's the same story at the Hindu Temple of Minnesota, in Maple Grove, where priests are preparing to tend to up to 12,000 expected visitors about a thousand of which organizers say will be there for the accounts puja. Why wouldn't someone do it? says Harish Patel, spokesman for the Bartlett Swaminarayan temple. People know that businesses are run by acumen, management and strategy. But more are starting to recognize that even in business, there's the involvement of the divine. Mahendra Nath, once the fourth-largest franchise owner of Burger Kings in the U.S., has never missed a Diwali celebration since migrating from India in 1964. He and his wife plan to light candles and other lamps in their St. Paul, Minn., home to welcome Goddess Lakshmi, and will bow their heads for financial success in the year ahead. This year, they'll ask for just a little more. We will pray for the recession to end fast and have a better business going forward, says Mr. Nath, who also owns three hotels and several fine-dining restaurants through the Midwest. His business has suffered as corporate accounts have shrunk.  Komal Patel, a 22-year-old college graduate living with her parents in Westmont, Ill., is praying, too that she gets into medical school. She plans to take her laptop computer with her to the Bartlett Swaminarayan temple on Saturday.  The computer is my life, says Ms. Patel. I want it to be blessed so I can have a future that is blessed.

India's richest man announced he will voluntarily cap his compensation at 150 million rupees ($3.3 million) this year, saying  that he will get by on about a third of his take-home pay from the previous year. Mukesh Ambani's flagship company, Reliance Industries, said his decision reflects his desire to set a personal example of moderation. In 2008, he made 66% more, or 440.2 million rupees ($9.6 million), a drop in the bucket of his overall wealth, which Forbes magazine puts at $19.5 billion. In March, Mukesh's younger brother, Anil, decided to forego all compensation this year, Tony Jesudasan said. Last fiscal year, Anil received 520.8 million rupees ($11.3 million). The two brothers are locked in a bitter dispute over the spoils of their father Dhirubhai's empire which is scheduled to go before India's Supreme Court next week. The global debate over executive compensation has largely bypassed India, where compensation is already regulated and economic growth has remained relatively strong. The instabilities India suffered after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in late 2008 were seen largely as imported problems, rather than domestic issues that required structural reform. Also, Indian executives make far less than their Western counterparts on average 1/100th as much. But as India where more than 450 million people live on less than $1.25 a day struggles to make sense of its robust but inequitable economic growth, the government has repeatedly asked executives to exercise restraint. By early 2008, the ratio of the net worth of India's 50 billionaires to total gross domestic product was over 20% higher than in Brazil, Mexico and Russia. The country, it seems, is caught between two heroes: Mohandas Gandhi, the ascetic father of Indian independence, and the Ambani brothers' father, Dhirubhai one of India's most successful and controversial early capitalists, accused by critics of unscrupulous business practices. As the government battles a rising fiscal deficit, a few public officials have taken pay cuts and trimmed perquisites, part of the ruling Congress Party's austerity drive. Corporate leaders have been slower to follow. This month, Minister of Corporate Affairs Salman Khurshid warned against excessive executive pay, prompting a flurry of complaints among business leaders. I don't think anyone in India today, in politics or outside politics has reached the level of liberalism where vulgarity is also a fundamental right, Mr. Khurshid told. His comments echoed a 2007 idea given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to a business group in which he urged executives to eschew conspicuous consumption and resist excessive remuneration, which he warned could deepen inequalities and fuel social unrest. For the moment, however, there are no concrete plans to place additional regulations on executive pay. India's Companies Act of 1956 places caps on executive compensation that are linked to a public company's net revenue. Executives who want to be paid more must apply to the government for special approval, which is hard to obtain. Bankers face additional scrutiny: Their salaries must be vetted by the central bank. Vikram Shroff, head of employment law at Mumbai's Nishith Desai Associates, said some other Indian executives whose companies have seen revenues fall as a result of the global downturn may soon follow the Ambani brothers' example. If the company hasn't reached its targeted revenues, senior executives may be willing to take a temporary pay cut, he said. It's just to give a strong message that they remain responsible. If the company is not doing well, why should they take a bonus?

A passenger train crashed into another train's rear carriage reserved for women and disabled passengers, killing 21 people and injuring 17 who remained trapped for hours near the Taj Mahal in northern India, police said.

Rescuers used gas cutters to open the wrecked compartment to free trapped passengers following the collision near Agra, the site of the famed white-marble monument about 130 miles 210 kilometers southeast of New Delhi, said Rajesh Bajpai, railways. Rescuers recovered 19 bodies during a rescue operation that lasted nearly seven hours, said Rajesh Dikshit. Two of the 19 injured people died in hospital, Mr. Dikshit told. No foreigners were among the victims, he said. The smashed coach was reserved for women and physically handicapped people, although some additional people may have been among the victims, district Magistrate Suresh Chandra Sharma said. The two trains were heading to New Delhi from southern India. One of the trains, the Mewar Express, was stopped at a red signal when the other train rammed into it from behind, Mr. Sharma told. We felt a massive jolt, said Ramesh Charan, a passenger aboard the Mewar Express. Some people sleeping on upper berths fell to the coach floor by the impact of the collision. Villagers and army soldiers stationed nearby helped police and rail officials in rescuing injured people. Authorities are still trying to determine why the accident happened, rail official Sri Prakash said. Accidents are common on India's sprawling rail network, which is one of the world's largest, with most accidents blamed on poor maintenance.

Edited by jagdu - 14 years ago

In the brewing discord between two giant, ambitious nations, even a remote meadow in the Himalayas is worth fighting over.

Some two-dozen Chinese soldiers converged earlier this year on a family of nomads who wouldn't budge from a winter grazing ground that locals say Indian herders had used for generations. China claims the pasture is part of Tibet, not northern India. The soldiers tore up the family's tent and tried to push them back toward the Indian border town of Demchok, Indian authorities say.

Chering Dorjay, the chairman of India's Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, says he arrived on the scene with a new tent and Indian intelligence officers and urged the herders to stay put. The Chinese, it seems, are gradually taking our territory, he says. We will feel very insecure unless India strengthens its defenses. Dueling territorial claims along this heavily militarized mountain border, coupled with economic tensions between the two nations, are kindling a 21st-century rivalry. China and India cooperate occasionally. But in recent years, they have competed vigorously over trade, energy investments, even a race to land a man on the moon. Some Indians want their nation to move closer to the U.S. as a hedge against a rising China a strategic shift that's likely to complicate ties among all three.C hina is trying to become No. 1, says Brajesh Mishra, a former national-security adviser for India. This is the seed of conflict between China, India and the U.S.

the prime ministers of India and China met at a summit of Asian leaders in Thailand, following several weeks in which their nations traded barbs over trade and disputed territory. In their meeting, China's Wen Jiabao and Manmohan Singh agreed to try to narrow differences over a shared border, with the goal of striking an acceptable agreement on unsettled territory. India's Prime Minister Singh also noted the need to improve understanding and trust between the two countries, and urged that their differences not divide them, following the meeting. Next month, after a planned visit to China, President Barack Obama will host a U.S. visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a meeting meant to highlight what the White House says is a growing strategic partnership. Commercial and military ties between the two countries have been getting stronger. Last year, the U.S. loosened restrictions to allow India to buy sensitive technology and nuclear equipment for civilian use. Soldiers from both countries are participating this month in a joint defense exercise. Indian defense analysts say India needs closer U.S. ties to hedge against potential hostilities with China. If China's rise is peaceful, and it integrates into the global economy, everything should be fine, says retired Indian Brig. Gen. Gurmeet Kanwal, director of the Center for Land Warfare Studies, an army think tank. Should China implode, it's better to have a friend like the U.S. In addition to the defense concerns, trade friction is growing between India and China. India leads all members of the World Trade Organization in antidumping cases against China. India has banned imports of Chinese toys, milk and chocolate, citing safety concerns, and has launched investigations into export surges of Chinese truck tires and chemicals, among other products. On Oct. 15, Indian heavy-industries minister Vilasrao Deshmukh asked the finance ministry to impose taxes on imports of inexpensive Chinese power equipment. We don't want India to be turned into a dumping ground, he told. At the moment, the biggest threat to India-China relations may be their competing claims for big swaths of territory along their border. In recent years, China has settled border disputes with a host of nations, including Russia, as part of what it calls its good neighbor policy.But China and India have made little progress, despite 13 rounds of meetings since 2003. China says the eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh is historically part of southern Tibet. India wants China to hand back territory it calls Aksai Chin, desolate high-altitude salt flats that residents of Ladakh claim as part of its ancient Buddhist kingdom. India's discovery of a Chinese-built road in the region helped spark a border war in 1962. Earlier this month, China objected to a visit by Indian Prime Minister Singh to Arunachal Pradesh to campaign for local elections, saying it was disputed territory. We request India to pay great attention to China's solemn concerns, and not stir up incidents in the areas of dispute,  Zhaoxu told. India's foreign minister countered that Arunachal Pradesh is Indian territory, and demanded that China stop investing in infrastructure-related projects in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan claim the whole of Kashmir. The 1962 border war, which India lost, complicated the boundary between the two countries. These days, Chinese and Indian forces in some border areas have agreed to go out on different days to patrol contested territory. We want to avoid an eyeball-to-eyeball conflict, says Gopal Pillai, India's secretary for the home ministry, which oversees the border police. India and China are intent on turning fast economic growth into national strength. When their interests have converged, they have proven a powerful combination.  they announced plans to cooperate at December's climate-change talks in Copenhagen, a pact likely to see both fighting carbon-emission caps proposed by industrialized nations. During global-trade talks, they both resisted Western pressure to open farm markets. China's economic and military growth is not a threat to India. And India's shouldn't be a threat to China, says Cheng Ruisheng, a former Chinese ambassador to India. We should be an opportunity to one another. But many Chinese resent any comparison with India, still a largely poor agrarian nation with only about one-third of China's per-capita income. And they're generally wary of India's warming ties with the U.S. Indians, for their part, bristle over the flood of Chinese imports and China's increasingly cozy ties with India's neighbors, including Nepal, Sri Lanka and arch-rival Pakistan. In a speech last November, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, then its foreign minister, identified an expansionist China as one of India's top challenges. Today's China seeks to further her interests more aggressively than in the past, he told the National Defense College in New Delhi.

The Indian government has closely scrutinized proposals by Chinese companies to invest in India. It recently demanded that thousands of Chinese citizens in India convert short-term business visas into employment visas a move that effectively boots unskilled Chinese workers from the country. The Chinese government has objected to a proposed Asian Development Bank program that India hoped would help fund a water project in the disputed territory of Arunachal Pradesh. This year, the Chinese embassy began issuing visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir in a manner that Indian officials say leaves China with a way to later claim that it isn't recognizing the visa recipients as Indian citizens. the Chinese embassy in New Delhi says every country has the right to set its own visa policies. U.S. defense contractors could benefit from India's desire to modernize its military. While the U.S. has banned weapons sales to China, it has ramped up such sales to India. defense contractors competing to supply India's air force a new fleet of jet fighters a deal that could be valued at $10.4 billion. Contested territory in northern India lies in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The region abutting China, known as Ladakh, consists largely of rocky mountain terrain with isolated green pastures grazed by yaks, goats and horses. Many of the herders and traders living on both sides of the blurred border share the same Tibetan heritage and Buddhist faith. The main town on the Indian side, Leh, was an ancient caravan stop. Today, the area crawls with Indian soldiers. Indian border police tightly regulate visitors traveling east toward China.

These days, locals say, border forces on both sides turn smugglers back. After violent protests in Tibet last year, China has been sensitive about who crosses over. Indian police worry that herders and smugglers may be offering the Chinese information on military positions and infrastructure projects, locals say. According to Mr. Pillai, the Indian home secretary, infrastructure development on both sides of the border has heightened interest in establishing an exact line. The confrontation between the Indian goatherds and Chinese soldiers, which occurred in January, began after the herders crossed a river to reach a pasture they'd used for generations, Mr. Pillai says. The Chinese viewed the river as the border line. Indian security forces haven't pressed the claim, he says, because the pasture now is encircled by Chinese sentry posts. We'd find it difficult tactically to hold that land, he says. China's ministry of defense declined to comment on the incident, and the Chinese foreign ministry has denied any incursions into Indian territory. China's border patrol is always conducted in strict accordance with rules. pillai says more troops are moving to the border with China, which he describes as a gradual buildup of defensive positions. Some residents of Arunachal Pradesh the Indian state that China claims  say it's about time.

India needs to wake up. China is going to flex its muscles,says Kiren Rijiju, a former member of parliament from Arunachal Pradesh. Being one of its largest neighbors, we are a soft target.

Edited by jagdu - 14 years ago

 Meat lovers in New Delhi are having a tough time getting the essential ingredient for their favorite mutton biryani and seekh kebabs: The city's meat supplies are drying up, as butchers and meat traders continued their strike for the 12th consecutive day over the proposed relocation of an abattoir.

FMCG, pharma seen safe as market turns weak

Investors have once again turned to the safety of defensive sectors like FMCG and pharma, as market sentiment has become weak. The downtrend Why realty is good in global markets amid tightening liquidity conditions, and back home, just about passable quarterly earnings from key companies. Investors have now shifted focus to relatively less volatile sectors while booking profits in high-beta sectors like realty and construction, the biggest outperformers in the recent bull run.

TCS, Wipro eye $400 mn Target outsourcing deal

India's top tech firms Tata Consultancy Services TCS, Wipro and several others are pursuing Target's captive technology centre for a potential acquisition, in what could be a transaction bundled with a long-term outsourcing contract worth $300-400 million. America's second-biggest discount retailer Target has around 1,500 staff employed at its Bangalore centre, currently doing software development and maintenance work. We have been in discussions with them for the past few months and the dialogue is still open,here is no conclusion yet about how this transaction can be structured, and it's very early days. Both TCS and Wipro count Target as one of their top retail customers.

Govt asks listed PSUs to expand equity bases

Profitable listed public sector undertakings (PSUs), in need of funds to meet their capital expenditure, will be encouraged to approach the stock market with follow-on public offerings. The government will consider the sale of a part of its shareholding in such PSUs when they expand their equity bases by issuing fresh shares. This has been made clear in an approach paper on disinvestment, prepared by the finance ministry. The paper also notes that the government policy will now focus on listing of profitable PSUs through offer for sale of equity or issue of fresh shares.

L&T bags Rs 68.97 billion from Mahagenco

Larsen & Toubro Ltd has bagged a Rs 68.97 billion contract from Maharashtra State Power Generation Co Ltd  for three 660 Mw super-critical Boiler Turbine Generator units. The project is one of the largest engineering, procurement and construction EPC orders for thermal power stations in the country. The project, for the 1,980 Mw thermal power plant at Koradi near Nagpur, was won after stiff competition from domestic and international power majors, said L&T.

All hopes on rabi after drought pulls kharif crop down by 18%

The impact of drought on agricultural output this kharif season is expected to weigh down the shoots of economic recovery with the first advance estimate projecting an 18 per cent dip in the kharif crop this year as compared to last year with cotton being the sole  but thin  silver lining. Agriculture Ministry data today estimated a shortfall this year of about 21 million tonnes -17.90% in the kharif crop, which includes rice, coarse cereals and pulses.

6-man Puducherry cabinet spends Rs 36L on snacks

It's a small cabinet but with a healthy appetite and a penchant for entertaining guests quite liberally. A query under RTI has revealed that Puducherry chief minister V Vaithilingam and his five colleagues in the cabinet have spent more than Rs 36 lakh on tea, snacks and beverages while hosting visitors in their respective offices in the assembly in the eight months between September 2008 and April 2009.

Edited by jagdu - 14 years ago

Forecasters issued a warning as cyclone Phyan approached India's western coast with wind speed of about 45 miles per hour. Edited by jagdu - 14 years ago