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Left demands rollback on FDI ceiling

          New Delhi: The UPA government which placed its maiden budget on Thursday faced a major hurdle on Friday with the (FDI) in the insurance, telecom and civil aviation sectors. The ceiling on FDI will be increased to 74 percent in telecommunication, 49 percent in civil aviation and 49 percent in insurance, respectively, up from the previous limits of 49 percent, 40 percent and 26 percent. Although the government has refused to carry out a rollback so far, it has agreed to discuss the issue. Meanwhile, trade unions are gearing up to protest against the hike in FDI ceiling, for which they are planning to hold a meeting on Monday.

VHP to float political front (Go To Top)

          Raipur: The rightist organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Friday reiterated that it would soon float a political front to protect its interests. VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia said the two largest parties have failed to protect the majority community's interests. "A political outfit is essential for the rights of Hindus. We do not mind if the (ruling) Congress party can protect us. And if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ... let them do it. And if both the parties are working only to please Muslims, then we ourselves have to work as politicians to protect the Hinduism," Togadia told reporters here. He had said the BJP lost the recently concluded national elections as it had sidelined the issues concerning the majority community. Togadia also condemned the central government's move to scrap the anti-terrorism law - POTA. "The central government is scrapping POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) which was for booking the militants. Now the new move will restrict the security forces and the police. They are making laws to promote militancy and discourage the police forces," Togadia said.

13 Maoists killed in Nepal (Go To Top)

         Kathmandu: Thirteen Maoists have been killed by the security forces in four different incidents in Nepal. Six of them were killed in Dailekh district and four in Gorkha district. The security forces gunned down another three rebels in Suryapura district and Simjunga village as part of their latest operations. According to the reports, these Mao rebels had abducted 150 teachers and a local correspondent of a radio in Nepal.

Stock traders up in arms against imposition of transaction tax (Go To Top)

        New Delhi: Dozens of stock traders and brokers here took to the streets to protest the government's proposal to tax bond purchases routed through exchanges, here Friday. Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram had in the Union Budget proposed to impose a 0.15 percent tax on all purchases of equities and bonds through stock exchanges, which dealers say would hamper the industry. "The only thing of worry after this imposition of the turnover tax of Rs 15,000 per Rs 10 million. The stock market can not survive, there will not be any business left. Brokers like us who employ 100 people -- where will they go? It is not like that government can garner 4000-5000 crore by imposing a turnover tax on all transactions. Millions of people will be unemployed -- there would be no work," Sanjay Gupta, Director, OPG Securities, told reporters. The bond market had come to a standstill a day after the left- backed government proposed a 0.15 percent tax on securities purchased through exchanges formidable in a market where spreads are around 0.05 percent. Vipin Aggarwal, Director of Delhi based Long View Mutual Funds said that the new tax will create a negative sentiment. "A lot of liquidity is provided by day traders, arbitragers who trade from cash market to future options and vice versa. So that turnover tax at one crore is Rs. 15,000 is very very high. Because the brokerage level running in the stock market at the moment is Rs. 2000-5000 per crore itself. It will be skewed kind of revenue scenario for government and brokers and it will cause a negative sentiment," said Aggarwal. Stray dealers contribute around 60-70 percent of the total volume of trade at the Delhi and Bombay Stock exchange. "Traders are pessimistic, long term scenario for next 4-5 months unless this transaction tax is gone is unclear," Aggarwal added.

IOA releases list of 74 sports persons for Athens Olympics (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Friday released a list of 74 sports persons for the Athens Olympic Games. Announcing the list at a press conference here, IOA president Suresh Kalmadi said they expect a few more athletes to qualify. "Today 74 athletes have qualified for the Olympics. We are expecting a few more to qualify. The last date by which the names have to be sent is July 21st. And the squad is almost final," he said. Among those who qualified for the Olympics are the 16-member hockey team, six archers, 20 athletes, eight shooters, one rowing, seven wrestlers and four weightlifters and as many boxers. Ace shooter Anjali Vedprakash Bhagwat aims to a shot at a historic medal in women's 10m air rifle at the Athens Olympics 2004. Bhagwat was happy with her preparations and is confident to win a medal for India. "So far the preparations are good. The camps were useful. We took part in several competitions and we are definately going to benefit from them," she said. The 34 year old ace shooter, winner of the highest national games award in 2003, is also confident of her chances in rifle three position in which she won the bronze medal in the recent Sydney World Cup. Despite a population of more than one billion, India managed just one Olympic medal at Sydney in 2000 -a bronze by woman weightlifter Karnam Malleswari.

Olympic flame returns to Greece (Go To Top)

          Nicosia: 'Pass the Flame, Unite the World', spreading this message across the world, the Olympic flame today headed back to its birthplace Greece. The torch was scheduled to come in an airplane from Cyprus to Greece, where it would begin its final run around Greece before the August 13 opening ceremony in Athens. The torch will be carried through six major archaeological sites, which includes Battle of Marathon site that gave the race its name. To welcome the Olympic Torch that began its global journey on June 4 and covered 78,000 kilometers and 26 countries, a celebration was planned in Iraklion, one of four sites outside Athens that will host Olympic soccer matches.