INDIA COUNTRY BRIEF
111011
Basic Political Developments
· Nitish Kumar refused to put on a saffron shawl and a saffron badge offered by Bharatiya Janata Party.
· Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy adopted a policy of 'zero tolerance' towards Telangana agitators.
· Congress leader Digvijay Singh questioned Anna Hazare on why he was not attacking the BJP.
· DMK president M. Karunanidhi said his support would always be with Maran to face the present situation.
· The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha virtually ruled out the demand for the creation of a separate state as is being asked for by Telangana protesters.
National Economic Trends
· The Government will infuse Rs 3,000-4,500 crore in the State Bank of India (SBI) by the March end.
· The Reserve Bank announced 2 per cent interest subsidy on Rupee export credit to the labour-oriented and small scale sectors to cushion them from slowdown in the major markets like the U.S. and Europe.
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
· NTPC may soon appoint Deloitte as a consultant on revamping its operations and human resources development.
· Indian shipping firms are planning to expand their fleet to take advantage of falling vessel prices.
· Maruti fear heavy losses this festival season and have sought government intervention to help resolve the issues.
· Government is "seriously" considering to raise the 51 per cent cap in foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail business.
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
· The Oil Ministry is mulling a ban on the supply of scarce domestically produced natural gas to merchant power plants.
Militant Activity/Terrorism (Particularly in Bangalore, Mumbai, Noida, Chennai, Coimbatore)
· The army has deployed additional troops in priority areas to counter infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir ahead of snowfall.
· Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh urged senior commanders of the armed forces to remain vigilant to counter the threat of terrorists.
· Maoists felled 13 giant trees in Agency areas of Andhra Pradesh to block the road connectivity.
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· The Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) and the police have launched one of the biggest combing operations ever taken up in the Western Ghats of Karnataka.
Labor/Social Unrest
· Maruti Suzuki said it would try to avoid using force to evict some 1,500 striking workers who last week seized control of a factory, halting production.
Full Text
Basic Political Developments
Nitish refuses to put on saffron shawl during Advani's yatra
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/nitish-refuses-to-put-on-saffron-shawl-during-advanis-yatra/20111011.htm
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday refused to put on a saffron shawl and a saffron badge offered by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders at Sitabdiara and Chapra during the launch of L K Advani's rath yatra against corruption.
At the public meeting in Sitabdiara, the birth place of Jayaprakash Narayan, Kumar refused to put on a saffron shawl given by BJP leaders.
He was then given a white shawl by BJP leaders.
"When Kumar refused to put on saffron shawl, he was given a white shawl and he accepted it," a Janata Dal - United leader told rediff.com.
According to him, Kumar also objected to a poster at the venue, which was removed immediately by BJP leaders.
Advani's yatra was flagged off by Kumar at the airport ground in Chhapra.
Telangana: AP govt adopts zero tolerance policy
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/telangana-ap-govt-adopts-zero-tolerance-policy/191967-62-127.html
Hyderabad: Fresh from his talks with senior figures in the central government, Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday adopted a policy of 'zero tolerance' towards Telangana agitators trying to disrupt public services. At the same time, he plugged his familiar line that the agitators were causing difficulties to their own people, including loss of jobs to Telangana youth and disrupting of the academic schedule of its students.
Putting into practice the ‘get tough’ diktat from the Centre, the government moved to break the strike in the APSRTC and persuaded one section of the striking union to call off the strike.
The strike breakers were induced with juicy welcome-back sops including pay for the strike period and a festival advance. This only triggered rifts within the RTC union and stung the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) into swearing defiance against the government’s strong-arm tactics.
The Chief Minister made pointed mention of the jobs Telangana youth stand to lose if the strike continued.
At a press conference on Monday, the Chief Minister made pointed mention of the jobs Telangana youth stand to lose if the strike continued. He said the government has decided to notify recruitment to 1.16 lakh jobs in various departments by the end of this year.
"The finance department has already gave clearance for 30,000 jobs. Around 4.5 lakh students are eagerly waiting to take the Group-2 exam. All this will be affected by the stir," he said.
He also leveraged the disquiet among parents over dislocated academic schedules in schools and colleges. Along with the soft spiel came tough talk.
"Stern action will be taken against breakers of law and order, however big they may be. Those who burn buses will be put behind bars," he said.
In concert with the tough talk by the government, APSRTC sent more buses into the streets of Hyderabad under police escort.
Senior police officials convened press conferences to threaten tough laws against agitators intending to derail train services from Wednesday.
Groups of parents gathered at the gates of colleges and schools and berated Telangana agitators for disrupting their children’s studies. TJAC denounced these protests as orchestrated maneouvres and vowed to intensify the Sakala Janula Samme from Tuesday. TJAC leaders suspect that the Congress high command directed Kiran Kumar Reddy to break the strike ahead of K Chandrasekhar Rao’s visit to Delhi on Tuesday.
As a signal of defiance, TJAC, which had earlier decided to exempt educational institutions from the strike, decided to go ahead with its fiat of forcing closure of schools until October 15.
Why are you soft on BJP, Digvijay asks Hazare
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/why-are-you-soft-on-bjp-digvijay-asks-hazare/858523/
With Team Anna campaigning against his party in Hisar bypoll, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Tuesday questioned Anna Hazare on why he was not attacking the BJP and cautioned him against “lofty promises” by that party of making him a Presidential candidate.
“You have never raised your voice against the BJP,” Mr. Singh, who has been a vocal critic of Team Anna, said and asked why he was “silent” on the issue of corruption when the BJP-led NDA was in power.
“What is being seen now is that you have been strongly opposing the Congress and as against this you have been praising BJP’s Narendra Modi despite the fact that there is no Lokayukta in Gujarat for the past nine years,” Mr. Singh said in the four-page open letter written just two days before the Hisar bypoll.
Referring again to his claim that BJP has offered to make Hazare the presidential candidate, he said, “The talk is that the BJP wants to make you a candidate in the Presidential election next year. You become a candidate, but beware of the lofty promises of the BJP, which is in the habit of leading people up the garden path.”
Mr. Singh, a former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, asked Mr. Hazare as to whether he was oblivious as to with whom he and his associates will be aligning by the call to vote against the Congress.
“Are you not aware of the history of the family of late Bhajan Lal? Are you not acquainted with the history of Chautala family? Are you oblivious of the fact that there were cases of corruption pending against them in courts?” he asked.
Mr. Singh told Mr. Hazare that an impression was gaining ground that he has been surrounded by people who have always been opposed to the ideology of the Congress.
“Be it Shanti Bhushan or his son Prashant or your colleague Arvind Kejriwal. All these people have been opposed to the Congress. These people are taking benefit of your clean character for their own political gains,” he said attacking Team Anna members.
Mr. Singh told Mr. Hazare that he has been taking several decisions under the influence of these associates “which are divergent with his values of life“.
While referring to the show of support by RSS including its chief Mohan Bhagwat, Mr. Singh alleged that Mr. Hazare’s statements that he is not aware that Sangh has extended support to their movement raises questions about his “credibility“.
In an obvious reference to L K Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra, Digvijay Singh said BJP leaders have now been making strong statements on the issue of black money, but they had done precious little when they were in power. “That time too, you remained silent.” Recalling that whenever he had taken the name of RSS in connection with his campaign, “You have said that I should be sent to a mental hospital, but I don’t want to say anything on the matter as I respect you.” He claimed that now even Bhagwat has admitted to Sangh’s support and said so clearly in his Dussehra address in Nagpur.
Prior to this, Govindacharya has also said the same thing and Sangh has even written a communication to its volunteers in your support, Mr. Singh said.
“Are you not aware that Sangh spokesman Ram Madhav had come to your dais and had extended you support. During the conclusion of your programme at the Ramlila grounds, special mention was made of the RSS and BJP chief Nitin Gadkari while extending thanks,” he said.
“In such a backdrop, your statements that you are not aware that the Sangh has extended support to you raises questions on your credibility,” Mr. Singh said.
“My simple question to you is that while conducting such a huge nation-wide campaign, are you not aware which organisations are supporting you and do you still want to go ahead by taking their support.”
Karunanidhi backs Maran brothers after CBI raids
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2528267.ece?homepage=true
PTI
Breaking his silence on the CBI action against the Maran brothers over the Aircel-Maxis deal, DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Tuesday said his support would always be with them to face the present situation.
“I treat my daughter Kanimozhi and Maran brothers equally. Reports that I did not support Maran brothers is a part of a conspiracy by some vested interests to destroy the DMK totally,” he said in a statement a day after CBI searched the residences of Maran brothers and eight other locations.
The DMK patriarch said he was keeping mum on the CBI cases against Ms. Kanimozhi in connection with the 2G spectrum issue and raids on Maran brothers only because the Centre was saying that it would not interfere in judiciary and CBI acts.
“I do not want to politicise these things, but some media and vested interests have magnified these and stated that I have ignored the raids conducted on the residences of Kalanidhi Maran and Dayanidhi Maran, my grandnephews. These reports have mentally hurt me”, Mr. Karunanidhi said.
He said Maran brothers “are like my sons and my support to them to face the situation arising out of the raids legally will always be there. I appeal to the people not to believe the reports that I have not supported the Maran brothers”.
“I have the same interest that Kanimozhi, against whom the CBI has registered a case on the 2G issue and the Maran brothers, on whom cases had been foisted, come out clean. I never hesitated to face any issue legally and will never do so in future also. I have complete faith in the doctrine that justice will ultimately triumph,” he said.
The CBI had searched the residence of Mr. Maran, former Telecom minister and eight other locations after registering a case against him in connection with the controversial Aircel-Maxis deal, alleging that he received Rs 547 crore as kickbacks from the Malaysian company.
The CBI has also accused his brother Kalanithi Maran, SUN Direct TV Pvt Director, Chairman of Maxis Communication T Ananda Krishnan, senior executive of Astro All Asia Network and Maxis Ralph Marshall and three companies Astro All Asia Networks, Sun Direct TV and Maxis Communications of complicity.
West Bengal: GJM rules out demand for GorkhalandPress Trust of India
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/west-bengal-gjm-rules-out-demand-for-gorkhaland/192107-37-64.html
Kolkata: In what could be music to the ears of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, currently on a visit to Darjeeling, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha on Tuesday virtually ruled out the demand for the creation of a separate state as is being asked for by Telangana protesters.
"Telangana has a different perspective and Darjeeling has a different perspective," GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri told PTI from Darjeeling.
The issue of Telangana and the issue of Darjeeling though on the same lines have to be viewed differently," he said when asked about his party's response if the Centre agreed to a separate Telangana state.
The GJM General Secretary said Telangana has a different perspective and Darjeeling has a different perspective.
Earlier, the GJM had insisted that if there could be a separate state of Telangana, there should also be a separate state of Gorkhaland.
"We can survive together and we can live in the state," GJM central committee MLA and the party MLA from Kalimpong Harka Bahadur Chhetri added referring to the people in Darjeeling hills and adjoining plain areas in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri district in North Bengal.