| Air
India employees go on two-hour strike over non-payment of wages Mumbai:
Employees of India's flagship carrier Air India went on two-hour-long strike over
non-payment of wages on Friday afternoon, even as the airline management sternly
warned that it would take action against them. In a letter to all employees, Air
India's Chairman and Managing Director, Arvind Jadhav, said: "The gravity of the
situation has not seemingly sunk in all of us. Many of us continue to believe
that our financial requirements can be met by taking loans endlessly and that
the financial situation is not that grave. Considering the critical financial
state of the airline, we should all be prepared to face the impact of harsh decisions
that will be required to be taken to meet the current situation. There can be
no escape from harsh realities. We also need to make a choice between austerity
and oblivion." The unions had earlier called off their proposed strike on June
30 after the management had agreed to pay the salaries of 70 per cent of workers
by today. The Air India management warned its employees of wage and allowance
cuts if they participated in the protest. Aviation Industry Employees Guild (AIEG),
Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) and some other unions walked out of their
offices nationwide and stage demonstrations on Friday, besides threatening to
boycott their meetings with the management. In Mumbai, an airline spokesman said
steps were being taken to ensure smooth operations across all airports in view
of the proposed agitation. Passengers travelling on the airline were critical
of the walk out, saying it was uncalled for when everyone knew that the airline
was deeply in the red. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said the government
cannot bail Air India out every time, and it is time for the flagship carrier
to tighten its belt and resolve its financial woes. Air India's borrowings have
risen from Rs.6, 550 crore in November 2007 to Rs.15, 241 crore in June this year.
He said that the airline has been asked to prepare a restructuring plan in the
next 30 days. In reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Patel said the borrowings
have gone up largely due to servicing of debt on account of purchase of new aircraft
and its operating losses, which have compounded due to the present economic recession
and the high oil prices last year. He said the National Aviation Company of India
Limited (NACIL) has been advised to formulate "a concrete proposal for equity
induction and provision of loans". Patel also made it clear that there was no
plan to retrench any employee of Air India. Highlights
of Railway budget Top
(Also
See Railway Budget details) New
Delhi: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday presented the railway budget
in the Parliament. The highlights of the budget are as follow:
1. 50 railway stations to have world-class facilities: They include CST Mumbai,
Nagpur, Pune, Howrah, Sealdah, Varanasi, New Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Kanpur, Chennai
Central, Thiruvananthapuram Central, Secunderabad, Bangalore, Byappanahalli, Ahmedabad,
Bhopal, Habibganj, Agra Central, Chandigarh, Kolkata, New Jalpaiguri, Puri and
Kochi. 2. Railways to develop multi-functional complexes with
shopping malls, food stalls, medicines and variety stores in different parts of
the country. 3. Railways to introduce 67 new trains across
the nation. 4. Infotainment services to be provided in major
long-distance trains. 5. One doctor to be posted on long distance
trains. 6. 309 stations out of 375 across the nation have
been identified for development and special facilities will be provided. 7.
Unreserved ticketing terminals to be expanded from 5000 to 8000. Automatic ticket
vending machines to be increased. Arrangement with Department of Posts for issuance
of tickets. 8. SMS updates will be made available for passengers
to check train status and reservation status. 9. Auto-vending
machines to be installed in large and medium stations. 10.
E-ticket cancellation system to be simplified. 11.High-capacity
air-conditioned double-decker trains to be introduced on select inter-city routes.
12. An Integrated Security System is being developed for 130
vulnerable stations to provide security to passengers. 13.
Seven nursing colleges to be set up on railway land in places including Delhi,
Kolkata and Mumbai. 14.Railway medical colleges to be developed
along with rail hospitals on public-private partnership. 15.
ATMs on 200 mid and small sized stations 16. New factory in
West Bengal for making 500 state-of-the-art coaches annually 17.
Railways to develop cold storages for farmers to store vegetables and fruits.
18. Scheme named Izzjat for low-income monthly travel till
100 kilometres. 19. Superfast parcel express trains to be
started on a pilot basis between Delhi and Chennai and Delhi and Mumbai. 20.
Priority areas to be railway catering, punctuality, food and sanity of rail bogeys.
21. Railways to extend helping hand to physically challenged
and elderly people by providing ramps, specially designed bogeys. 22.
Committed for the downtrodden and development of the country Infotainment services
to be provided in major long-distance trains. 23. Expert committee
to be established to look into economic viability of socially important projects.
Government adopts
zero tolerance against ragging Top New
Delhi: The Union Government reiterated its stand of zero tolerance for ragging
in institutions of higher education and said tough regulations have been put in
force against this menace. Replying a short duration discussion on increasing
incidents of ragging in the country in Rajya Sabha today Union Human Resource
Minister Kapil Sibal said the policy of the government shall be zero tolerance
for anti social activities like ragging. Sibal said stringent measures against
ragging could include rustication of student, withholding of scholarship, derecognising
the institution, debarring student from appearing in any test and stopping of
grant to the institution. He said previously, the government made its mind to
educate students to not to indulge in ragging activities, but now the focus would
be on taking strict measures to prevent ragging incidents. Ruling out the demand
for national law against ragging, Sibal said the regulations made by the University
Grant Commission (UGC) have the backing of the constitution, and all educational
institutions in the country have to abide by these regulations. The HRD minister
also disclosed that his ministry has written letter to All India Council for Technical
Education (AICTE), Medical Council of India (MCI), Dental Council of India (DCI)
and Indian Nursing Council (INC) to adopt the regulations made by the UGC against
ragging. In the mid June President of India wrote a letter to the Governors and
Lt Governors of all the states to use their office to control the menace of ragging
in their respective states. India,
Bhutan agree to fast-track implementation of hydropower projects Top New
Delhi: India and Bhutan will hold a meeting of the Empowered Joint Group to
fast-track implementation of hydropower projects next month. The first meeting
of this group was held in New Delhi in March 2009 after the signing of the Protocol
to the 2006 Agreement on Cooperation in Hydropower. During his recent visit to
India, Bhutan Prime Minister Thinley held extensive talks with his Indian counterpart
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in this regard. Both sides expressed satisfaction
over the progress made in the hydropower sector and reiterated their commitment
to achieve the target of 10,000 MW of hydroelectric generation in Bhutan by 2020.
They exchanged views on various facets of Indo-Bhutan relations and measures to
further enhance the relationship. Bhutan Prime Minister conveyed deep appreciation
to Dr. Manmohan Singh and other Indian leaders for their contribution to Indo-Bhutan
relations. Thinley, who was on an official visit to India from June 28 to July
3, expressed the gratitude of his Government and people of Bhutan for India's
unwavering assistance and cooperation in Bhutan's development. He also apprised
Dr. Singh of Bhutan's preparations for hosting the 16th SAARC Summit in Thimphu
in April 2010. Gilani
to meet Manmohan at NAM summit on July 16: Pak Top Islamabad:
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani would meet Dr. Manmohan Singh on the
sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt on July
16, the Pakistan Foreign Office has said. The Foreign Office spokesman, Abdul
Basit said that the foreign secretaries of both countries would also meet during
the summit, The Daily Times reports. Speculations about resumption of the Indo-Pak
bilateral talks, which was stalled after the November 2008 Mumbai terror strikes,
gained momentum recently when Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh met Pakistan President
Asif Ali Zardari on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and
Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC) summits in Russia's Yekaterinburg city last month.
During the meeting, Singh told Zardari in clear cut terms that his country must
stop terrorists from launching attacks on India. Both the leaders vowed to meet
again during the NAM summit, but later it was announced that Gilani would represent
Pakistan instead of Zardari. Wimbledon
final tickets being sold for 8,500 pounds! Top
London: Tickets for the Wimbledon men's final
are being sold for 8,500 pounds each. According to The Sun, Wimbledon top brass
have pledged to prosecute black market touts trying to cash in on Murray mania.
But well-heeled debenture holders who provide funds for Wimbledon can sell their
tickets. An All England Club spokesman said: "It is thanks to debenture holders
that we can undertake projects like the Centre Court roof. In return, we think
it only fair that these investors are allowed to trade their tickets if they want
to. "But I must point out that most debentures are bought by out-and-out tennis
enthusiasts." Wimbledon themselves actively encourage the sale of debenture tickets
by approving a website set up especially for the purpose of selling on the 'white
market'. But ticket agencies get in through the back door by snapping up unwanted
debenture holders' seats so they can make booming profits from enthusiasts. The
All England Club issues debentures every five years to raise funds for capital
expenditure. The last batch in 2006 realized 46 million pounds and each single
debenture cost 23,150 pounds. 20
drugs seized from Jacko's house Top London:
Cops have reportedly found a horde of 20 different drugs at late singer Michael
Jackson's home, of which ten are potentially lethal painkillers and anaesthetics.
There were anti-anxiety pills, including Valium, Methadone, used to wean junkies
off heroin, Demerol, a pain reliever, anaesthetic Propofol, dubbed "the Milk of
Amnesia", Fentanyl, a powerful pain reliever given to terminal cancer patients
and Oxycontin, a painkiller similar to morphine but branded "Hillbilly Heroin".
"The Jackson mansion was more like a drug store than someone's home," the Sun
quoted a source close to the probe as saying. Some of the medications bore labels
showing that they had been prescribed to Jacko, while rest of them were labelled
with other names - and some were not labelled at all. The King of Pop is believed
to have used aliases to obtain his prescriptions. "Powerful narcotic painkillers
of all kinds were found. There was no reasonable excuse for them all being there.
Using more than one of this type of drug can be potentially fatal," said the source.
"But there were ten in the house - it's unbelievable. "Police want to know whether
the other people named on the medicine labels really needed the drugs prescribed
to them and will be speaking to the doctors involved. "The drugs found remain
at the very heart of the investigation into the death of Michael Jackson," the
source added. | 
