Manmohan Singh was delighted “to say that India has been able to face the global economic downturn better than most other countries in the world.” He added that “In the current financial year, we faced the adverse impact of an inadequate monsoon and the resultant slow down in agriculture. Nevertheless growth is expected to be around 6.5 percent.”

“There are clearly signs of an upturn in the economy. With a normal monsoon next year, we hope to achieve a growth rate of over 7 percent,” he concluded, saying that “India’s  strategy today is not just to deliver rapid growth, but to deliver rapid and inclusive growth, a growth that will provide productive employment to our young population and raise living standards in rural areas across the country.”

©2010 Sapped. All Rights Reserved.

Related Articles

• December 2, 2009 -- Come 2100 and You May Go Under Water (0)
• October 30, 2009 -- IOC Fire- Unstoppable! (0)
• October 29, 2009 -- Controversy Killed Indian Summer- Wright (0)
• October 29, 2009 -- Need For A Holistic Approach- PM (0)
• October 29, 2009 -- We Never Backed Any Insurgency- PM (4)

courtesy the hindu

What started of as a little spark has so far remained invincible. The fire that  broke out in the Indian Oil Corporation’s depot near Jaipur on Thursday, October 29, 2009 has so far claimed 12 lives and injured more than 150. There is absolutely “no other solution” to douse the hungry flames, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora shakes his head of in despair, claiming that one “cannot do anything now. It (fire) has to die down on its own.”

courtesy the hindu

Expecting the fuel “to burn out by evening”, Deora  told the media that the “Centre is in touch with authorities and are trying to help the aggrieved. We are also trying to provide proper treatment for the injured”.

The fire was caused when during a transfer of petrol from the depot to a pipeline, leak occured and swiftly all the eleven tanks of the company were burning.

The authorities have closed the Jaipur-Kota highway and have prohibited any vehicle or man to come within 5 miles of the spot. About ten nearby villages have been evacuated that had more than five lakh people as residents and neighbouring 10 engineering hostels and a medical college have been emptied as well. Power supply has been discontinued in the area almost immediately.

courtesy the hindu

As Jaipur-Sanganer is the nearest railway junction, the North-Western Railway in the wake of the fire has, today,  diverted routes of 11 trains and  cancelled 2 as a precautionary measure.

The trains that have beeen delayed or cancelled are as follows-

Jaipur-Shvamgarh Passenger(cancelled)

Jaipur-Bayana(cancelled)

Jaipur-Mumbai Central

Bombay Central-Jaipur train

Sawaimadhopur-Jaipur Holiday

Some other trains whose routes will be or are being planned to be diverted are as follows-

Mumbai-Jaipur superfast

Puri-Jodhpur Express

Bhopal-Jaipur Express

Jabalpur-Jaipur Express

Jaipur- Ernakullum

Jodhpur-Indore Intercity Express

and

Ajmer-Rajendra Nagar Express.

©2010 Sapped. All Rights Reserved.

Related Articles

• November 8, 2009 -- Growth is Expected- Manmohan Singh (0)
• October 29, 2009 -- Controversy Killed Indian Summer- Wright (0)
• October 21, 2009 -- “”I don’t see the need to raise fuel prices “- Rao (0)
• October 16, 2009 -- Zhang Meets Rajnath (0)
• October 13, 2009 -- Indian Bureaucrats Under Scanner (0)

courtesy topnews.in

If reports are to be believed, the very controversial Indian Summer, based on the love story between Jawaharlal Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten, has been scrapped owing to strong opposition from the UPA backed government. “We were in between a rock and a hard place. The Indian government wanted us to make less of the love story while the studio wanted us to make more of the love story,” Director Joe Wright of Pride and Prejudice fame told Variety Magazine.

The director accused the government of its partiality to the Gandhi parivaar over the controversy regarding the basic plot of the story that was based on the love story as protrayed by Alex von Tunzelmann in his novel Indian Summer between Nehru and Edwina during the last few years of British rule in India.

“We were in between a rock and a hard place. The Indian government wanted us to make less of the love story while the studio wanted us to make more of the love story,” Wright concluded.

©2010 Sapped. All Rights Reserved.

Related Articles

• November 8, 2009 -- Growth is Expected- Manmohan Singh (0)
• October 30, 2009 -- IOC Fire- Unstoppable! (0)
• October 16, 2009 -- Zhang Meets Rajnath (0)
• October 13, 2009 -- Indian Bureaucrats Under Scanner (0)
• October 13, 2009 -- Indian Students Fear Australia? (0)

Speaking on behalf of China, Zhang emphasized the sensitivity of the border issue and the necessity of maintaining cordiality between the two neighbouring countries.

He also extended a hand towards BJP to show the Chinese Communist Party’s interest in partnering the cause with the UPA opposition.

©2010 Sapped. All Rights Reserved.

Related Articles

• October 6, 2009 -- 1962 Sino-India War Won’t Be Repeated- Kapoor (0)
• October 13, 2009 -- India Disappointed with China’s Objection (0)
• October 13, 2009 -- Sino-India Arunachal Issue (0)
• December 1, 2009 -- Without IMEI?! (0)
• November 25, 2009 -- India Supports NATO’s Offensive in Afghanistan (0)

courtesy fortunewatch

On asking, an official from the Prime Minister’s Office who chose to remain anonymous, exclaimed, “The Department of Personnel and Training has been ordered to look into the matter and it has also been asked to coordinate with the Central Bureau of Investigation.” He added that “One of the reported beneficiaries is the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. There are over 1,000 employees working in it and obviously it is going to take time to zero in on the culprits, if any.”

In the wake of recent developments, the companies listed by the committee have already been fined. Among these are Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation, Mario Covino of Control Companies and Dow Chemicals.

Leaving no stones unturned, the BJP led NDA party was prompt in accusing the UPA government for their strategy of staying silent for so long calling it “amounts to shielding the corrupt.” Interestingly, most of these deals took place when the Bhajpa government was in power.

©2010 Sapped. All Rights Reserved.

Related Articles

• December 19, 2009 -- Sikh Student Abused in Texas (0)
• November 25, 2009 -- India Supports NATO’s Offensive in Afghanistan (0)
• November 8, 2009 -- Growth is Expected- Manmohan Singh (0)
• October 30, 2009 -- Orissa Orders Probe After Students Protest (0)
• October 30, 2009 -- IOC Fire- Unstoppable! (0)

courtesy ronatvan.com

The ongoing racial abuses and slightings in Australia towards Asian students, particularly Indian, are casting forth dark shadows over the prospects of expansion of educational partnership and enterpreneurship between India and Australia. In accordance with IDP Education chief officer Tony Pollock’s analysis, racist practices may earn Australia a 50% dip in the number of  Indian students interested in pursuing higher courses in the country.

From among the 35000 students intake by the IDP, around 1100 are Indians and more than 6000 foreign sutdents have voted the Australian cities, Sydney and Melbourne as as potentially unsafe for foreign students.

©2010 Sapped. All Rights Reserved.

Related Articles

• October 5, 2009 -- Victims Turn Attackers- Australia (3)
• October 3, 2009 -- Another Indian Attacked by Aussie Goons (4)
• September 24, 2009 -- First Day, First Show! (4)
• December 19, 2009 -- Sikh Student Abused in Texas (0)
• October 16, 2009 -- Will 26/11 be a repeat – telecast? (0)

via wikipedia

Kabul: With a deafening sound, exactly at 8.27 a.m., a perfectly calm morning suddenly turned bloody as a human bomb, alias Khalid, blasted in front of the Indian Embassy at Kabul, Afghanistan killing  a police official and 11 Afghani. Although the bomb missed any Indian present in the vicinity, it managed to shatter the embassy’s windows and doors to pieces. It also damaged the nearby Watch tower. Not only that, 3 Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel deployed outside the fortified mission were injured in the incident. The Taliban claims that it has managed to kill an interim minister whereas Indian ambassador Jayant Prasad said all his staff were safe.

The explosion comes a day after India pledged to continue to “invest and endure” in Afghanistan and asked the international community to maintain a long-term commitment to that country. Currently, India has invested $1.2 billion for the complete re-establishment of Afghanistan, making it the sixth largest bilateral donor.

President Hamid Karzai condemned it as  “a terrorist act against our innocent people”. US ambassador Timothy Roemer toldthe media in New Delhi: “Our heart goes out to India and the victims of terrorism… It is deeply troubling.”

India, meanwhile takes pride in its decision to create “high walls” around the embassy, which, in the context have helped to save the interiors of the building and also its occupants.

Meanwhile, the new suicide bombing technique that has been exposed by a recent attempt at killing an Arab high official revealed the disturbing fact that bombs are now being placed into the stomach of the bomber to avoid any detection which has startled security personnel worldwide.

©2010 Sapped. All Rights Reserved.

Related Articles

• December 14, 2009 -- Indian metros Under Scanner (0)
• November 25, 2009 -- India Supports NATO’s Offensive in Afghanistan (0)
• November 2, 2009 -- Lahore Bomb Blast (0)
• October 16, 2009 -- Mehsud Claims Responsibility, Says India Next (2)
• October 9, 2009 -- It Was Not Taliban- New Delhi (1)

courtesy wikipedia// The western portion of the Line of Actual Control, which lies between Chinese-held and Indian-held territory in the Himalayan region. The line was the focus of a brief war in 1962, when Indian and Chinese forces struggled to control land where, "not even a blade of grass grows," as Indian Prime Minister Nehru put it.

The recent “power show” by the Chinese armies that included 52 never before introduced weapons and the subsequent incursions by the Chinese military personnel across the Line of Actual Control has created quite a stir  in the Indian armed forces. When quizzed, Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor said on tuesday India will not “repeat” the 1962 Sino-Indian war and it is capable of defending its territories. Stating that the sudden stress on offensive is not a counter-movement to a defensive stand and the idea is to modernise the Army, Kapoor said the transgressions by the People’s Liberation Army continued to be at the same level as last year.

Infact, he added that the Indian Army is also sometimes charged for incursions and hence there’s absolutely nothing to be alarmed at, adding that differences on demarcation perspectives are bound to crop up.This hazy idea of a proper line of demarcation actually sends a wrong signal to the media. Kapoor exemplified that sometimes things such as used food cans are left behind by Indian military personnel while touring these areas.

Signalling the close of the press meet, Kapoor added that there is an immense need for an independent ‘space’ stand. Using one’s own satellites to read important security data helps in keeping manipulations at check which may not be the case with using other nation’s satellites.

©2010 Sapped. All Rights Reserved.

Related Articles

• October 16, 2009 -- Zhang Meets Rajnath (0)
• October 13, 2009 -- India Disappointed with China’s Objection (0)
• October 13, 2009 -- Sino-India Arunachal Issue (0)
• December 1, 2009 -- Without IMEI?! (0)
• November 25, 2009 -- India Supports NATO’s Offensive in Afghanistan (0)

pic via streetblog

Both the Indian and Australian governments’ failure is perhaps the reason behind the incident that has once again stirred violence in Australia between the local Melbourne community and the Indian counterpart residing in the same area. Reportedly, one local skateboarder  along with his comrade (aged 25 and 42) who abused a small group of Indians  at a car-park outside Meadowglen International Athletics Stadium in Epping and also damaged an Indian’s car’s rear window when the NRI was coming out with his group after a Kabaddi match, was  beaten badly by the Indians.They have been taken to North Hospital for treatment where their condition has stabilised.

“Associates of the people, whose car was damaged, came to their assistance. Two men were assaulted and hit with sticks in the brawl. These two injured men were from the group outside who had allegedly started to verbally abuse the people from the vehicle,” the local police said in a statement.

No arrests have been made so far.

©2010 Sapped. All Rights Reserved.

Related Articles

• October 13, 2009 -- Indian Students Fear Australia? (0)
• October 3, 2009 -- Another Indian Attacked by Aussie Goons (4)
• September 24, 2009 -- First Day, First Show! (4)
• December 19, 2009 -- Sikh Student Abused in Texas (0)
• October 16, 2009 -- Will 26/11 be a repeat – telecast? (0)

Calling themselves the “strategic” sector of the Indian Air Force, Air Commodore HS Arora,  said that they “are fully geared up to operate in any given time frame like any other Air Force stations of the country.”  The MIGs are being upgraded which “will have better radar systems and avionics to help fighters, a new weapon control system, modernised RD-33 engines, which would increase the aircraft hitting capability from long ranges.”

The newly upgraded MIGs are now tested at Russia. Also expert training is being provided to the IAF pilots.

©2010 Sapped. All Rights Reserved.

Related Articles

• November 25, 2009 -- Patil On Cloud Nine After Flying On Sukhoi (0)
• November 25, 2009 -- IAF Gets Open Fire Approval Against Naxals (0)
• November 8, 2009 -- Growth is Expected- Manmohan Singh (0)
• October 30, 2009 -- IOC Fire- Unstoppable! (0)
• October 29, 2009 -- Controversy Killed Indian Summer- Wright (0)