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Service tax makes insurance, pay orders, DD costly

         New Delhi: A host of banking services like pay- orders, demand drafts, safe deposit lockers, safe vaults and insurance cover have become costlier following levy of Service Tax and Education Cess from September 10. Services offered by sub-brokers, non-bank financial companies, multi-system operators of cable TV, tour operators have also become costlier. The government has notified the new services brought under the tax net after President A P J Abdul Kalam gave his assent to the Finance Bill on Friday night. Accordingly, the eight new services category will now attract 10 per cent Service Tax and a 2.0 per cent cess on it. Commission charged for banking services like issue of pay orders, demand drafts, cheque, letter of credit, bill of exchange, bank guarantee, overdraft facility, bill discounting facility, safe deposit lockers, safe vaults and operation of bank accounts, would go up by 10.2 per cent, a senior bank official said. The extra charges would be have to borne by consumers, he said, adding if a bank is offering these services free of cost then the consumer need not pay the tax. Banks are, however, exempted from the service tax for handling government businesses like collection of taxes levied by central and state governments. In case of insurance, the government has given a option -- either pay 10.2 per cent on the risk cover or pay 1.0 per cent of the gross premium. The other services that will now attract service tax include companies including NBFCs offering financial services.

Police lathicharge VHP activists in Pratapgarh (Go To Top)

          Panchwad (Maharashtra): The police had to lathi- charge hundreds of slogan-shouting Hindu rightists belonging to the VHP and Bajrang Dal when they tried to enter the 17th century tomb of Afzal Khan and threatened to demolish it. Police said they charged the crowd of about 500 people throwing stones at them and the passing vehicles in Panchwad village near the heavily guarded tomb, about 250 kms from Mumbai. Local officials said that about 100 people had been detained after the clash and authorities were on alert to prevent anybody from sneaking up the hills to the tomb, which Hindus want to remove as it lies near the fort of the Shivaji, whom the former tried to kill. "We will try to demolish it (tomb). We will not step back at all...let the police stop us," Vijaya Pathak, an activist of the women's wing of VHP, said. Shankar Gaiwkar, a defiant activist of Bajrang Dal, an offshoot of the VHP, said: "We are law abiding citizens. But if the government wants to torture us or want that protests should happen like this, with violence agains us then they will have to face the consequences." Police had already detained hundreds of people as a preventive measure and set up dozens of barricades on the roads leading to the tomb and the Pratapgadh fort near the hill resort of Mahabaleshwar. Muslims consider the tomb holy, and for years the faithful travelled there to offer prayers. But, a year ago, authorities closed the site because of the controversy between the two communities. It is said that Afzal Khan met Shivaji to initiate peace talks on the hill where the tomb - and the ruins of Shivaji's Pratapgadh fort - now lie. The general tried to assassinate Shivaji, but the king stabbed him instead and buried Afzal Khan where he fell.

Delhi farmhouse murder: MP's brother-in-law arrested from Siliguri (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Delhi Police today arrested the absconding brother-in-law of Congress MP Mani Kumar Subba in connection with the murder of the latter's parliamentary aide at his farmhouse three days ago. Narinder, the brother-in-law, was arrested in Siliguri, police sources said. Subba's aide Milan was allegedly shot dead at former's farmhouse on Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road on Thursday and the deceased's wife had alleged the involvement of Narinder in the crime. Police have already arrested two other suspects including the guard Ravi Lal whose gun was apparently used in the killing.

Uma's `Tiranga Yatra' enters Maharashtra (Go To Top)

          Mumbai: The BJP's Tiranga Yatra led by former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti entered Maharashtra today. /Hundreds of BJP workers led by party's state unit chief Gopinath Munde received the yatra at the Maharashtra-Karnataka border. Bharti will be in Maharashtra for five days, the most in any state during her 16-day tour. Meanwhile, the Election Commission has cautioned that it will be monitoring her and the party's conduct closely. The Tiranga Yatra, which was flagged off from Hubli in Karnataka on September 10 will cover Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. The Yatra will conclude at Jallianwallah Bagh at Amritsar on September 25.

Two CRPF officers, two militants killed in Srinagar (Go To Top)

          Srinagar: At least two militants stormed a CRPF camp last night in Srinagar killing two officers of the force and injuring four others. The two members of suicide squad of Al-mansoorian outfit intruded into the camp housed in Hotel York on the banks of Dal Lake around 9.30 pm yesterday. They exploded grenades and resorted to indiscriminate firing resulting in the injuries to an Assistant Commandant of the force and two jawans. Soon the CRPF engaged the intruders in the gunfight, in which another Assistant Commandant and a jawan were injured. The two Assistant Commandants later succumbed to their injuries. And in the gunfight that continued for nearly 12 hours, the two militants were also killed. Security forces have cordoned off the entire area and are carrying out search operations.

Manmohan puts off J and K visit (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today postponed his next week's visit to Jammu and Kashmir. The move comes in view of the October 13 by polls in four assembly constituencies in the state as the model code of conduct is in prevalence there. "The Prime Minister will certainly visit the state once the by- elections were over," a PMO spokesperson said today. Official sources earlier indicated that Singh was likely to go there next week before flying to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly session later this month. No fresh dates for the PM's proposed tour of Jammu and Kashmir were announced.

After Mulayam's assurance UP lawyers call off strike (Go To Top)

          Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh lawyers today called off their 10-day-old strike temporarily in protest against police lathicharge on them on September 3, Oudh Bar Association president Ashok Nigam said. The strike was called off after State Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav gave an assurance that action would be taken against guilty police officials within two days, Nigam said. A delegation of lawyers had called on Yadav yesterday at the latter's invitation. Keeping in view the CM's positive assurance and the interest of litigants, it was unanimously resolved at a meeting of different bar associations to suspend the agitation temporarily to watch the situation, Nigan added. Now, the lawyers will resume work from Monday.

Abdul Kalam lands in Tanzania  (Go To Top)
by Prasad Sanyal

         Dar-es-Salaam: President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam arrived in Tanzania today on a four-day state visit. Before touching down at the Dar-es-Salam airport, Kalam briefed the media onboard the aircraft regarding his Africa visit. He said that this visit was a culmination of the New Delhi's `Focus Africa' policy and his own personal interest in the African continent, due to civilizational similarities and a shared colonial past. "Africa as a continent we want to extend India's traditional friendship. We want to cooperate with them in many ways. Civilizationally we are nearer, India has a civilization of around five thousand years, Africa also has a civilization of five to ten thousand years, so personally, I am interested in African history," said the President. The President is accompanied on this trip by the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Meira Kumar, Member of Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir and Vice President of the PDP, Mehbooba Mufti, Member of the Rajya Sabha and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Bimal Jalan and a senior scientific delegation. India is looking to co-operate with Tanzania in the areas of education and health care. On this visit, President Kalam will go to a special school for physically challenged children in Dar-es Salam and distribute educational aids. The school has been set up with Indian aid. "President was very kind and he was so sensitive to the needs of the children...where we would be distributing aids and apliances to the children. President would be going there. Our team has already arrived," said Meira Kumar, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment.

           This visit of the President has generated a lot of interest in Tanzania. The enthusiam and spontaneity of the welcome on the tarmac and as the cavalcade drove through the streets of the capital was far from being stage managed. Tanzanians are looking at critical areas of cooperation with India. One of them is combatting the menace of HIV-AIDS. With Indian drug and pharmaceutical companies reaking new ground in research and development of a HIV vaccine, not only Tanzania, but other less developed countries in the African subcontinet can stand to benefit. In the delegation level talks, attended by both Presidents, the two sides also discussed ways and means to tackle other dreaded diseases such as Malaria and Tuberculosis. Another area of co-operation which will get a boost from the President's visit and came up for talks when the two delegations met was agriculture, especially methods of irrigation. Tanzania, like India, has a primarily agrarian economy with over eighty percent of the population dependent on it. Agriculture accounts for about 44% of the east African nation's Gross Domestic Product and contributes more than half of its foreign exchange earnings. The President's visit has also been greeted by the expatriate Indian community and the people of Indian origin in Tanzania. There are over 40,000 people of Indian descent in this country of 35 million. The community is influential in business and economic lie of Tanzania. In addition, there are about five thousand Indian expatriates. There is an even mix of Hindus and Muslims and they are very active in social and cultural fields.