Monday, August 9, 2010
Commonwealth Games: Debris clean-up deadline expires today
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had last Month set August 10 as the deadline for removing all Commonwealth Games related construction and demolition waste from the city and ordered all civic agencies to strictly comply with the time-frame.
"I have said before that all most of the big malba will be cleared by August 10. Most of the work will be completely by 30-31st of August. We have kept the whole month of September to complete any other work," the Chief Minister had said on July 30.
She had also reiterated that there would be no deviation in the deadline to halt digging work and to remove the malba.
On Tuesday, when asked about missing the deadline, the Delhi Chief Minister said that most of the debris has been removed.
But with tonnes and tonnes of rubble still strewn around across the city, this does not seem possible.
our camera crew has found mounds of debris in several localities like Siri Fort, where work has been going on since over a month. The scene is pretty much the same at Connaught Place too, where vehicles have to dodge around the debris. It's the same story around Shivaji Stadium as well. With unfinished construction and debris strewn everywhere, it is difficult to believe that the Games are less than two months away.
When asked whether government will miss the deadline to remove the debris, Finance Minister A K Walia preferred not to comment.
"I will not comment on the issue," he said. Dikshit had last month asked her cabinet colleagues not to air views about preparation for Commonwealth Games.
Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta, who was asked the same question, only said removal of debris will not be completed in areas where street-scaping works are going on.
"We have already removed 80,000 metric tons of debris. More or less removal of construction waste will be completed by the deadline," he said.
Mehta said removal of debris will not be completed in NDMC areas as DMRC has been allowed to carry out digging till August 15 for their works.
"If there is digging, then how can we complete the removal of debris," he questioned. (With PTI inputs)
Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/cwg-debris-clean-up-deadline-missed-43295?cp
Moscow smog: 700 deaths a day
The death toll triggered by abnormal heat and dense smog caused by forest fires near the Russian capital has almost doubled to about 700 from the 360-380 deaths per day, a senior health official said on Monday."Usually, 360-380 deaths take place every day in Moscow, but these the rate has almost doubled to about 700," Chief of Moscow City Health Department Andrei Seltsovsky said.
He denied that it was something unusual as Moscow is undergoing a very long spell of abnormal heat wave with temperatures breaking all time records.
Moscow region has witnessed abnormally hot weather and drought for over a month with two temperature records broken in June and 10 records broken in July, RIA Novosti reported.
The heat has caused peat bogs fires nearby Moscow creating toxic smog throughout the capital and pushed the pollution levels to new highs on Saturday.
Quoting an unnamed medico "Novaya Gazeta" reported that ambulance teams have been told not bring patients to hospitals except in case of extreme urgency as they were overcrowded.
Elderly people and patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases are primarily at risk, the paper said.
Meanwhile, meteorologists have said that it will take at least another week for Moscow to be cleared of the smog.
Russia is undergoing the longest unprecedented heat wave for at least one thousand years, the head of the Russian Meteorological Centre Alexander Frolov today said.
"We have an 'archive' of abnormal weather situations stretching over a thousand years. It is possible to say there was nothing similar to this heat wave on the territory of Russia during the last one thousand years," Frolov told reporters.
He said scientists received information on ancient weather conditions by exploring lake deposits. Frolov also said Russia's grain crop may drop by at least 30 per cent.
Meanwhile, after a slight improvement in visibility on Sunday and today most of stranded passengers on Moscow's two worst smog affected airports - Vnukovo and Domodedovo have left for their destinations, but 22 flights are still behind schedule, civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a state of emergency has been declared in the Ozersk district where the nuclear reprocessing plant Mayak is located.
The emergency has been declared after the neighbouring Urals town has been engulfed in raging forest fires.
"A state of emergency has been introduced in forests and parks on the territory of the Ozersk city district due to a complicated fire hazard situation," an official statement said.
26/11 trial: Ball now in Islamabad’s court
India has acted wisely in responding to the Pakistani demand for deposition before a Rawalpindi court of the police officer who led the 26/11 investigations at the Mumbai end and the magistrate who recorded the confessions of Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving member of the marauding gang.
New Delhi’s offer comes in the wake of Islamabad’s request purported to strengthen evidence against seven of those under trial for the Mumbai carnage— the conspiracy for which was hatched on the Pakistani soil. The anti-terrorism court that sits in the garrison town has to decide, among others, the fate of Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi of the LeT, whose lawyers have been harping on the absence of any direct evidence against their client. The proposal for video-conferencing with the Indian policeman and the magistrate — if accepted by the Pakistani court— should hopefully be a good legal counter to averments made on behalf of the accused. Defense lawyers have been seeking Lakhvi’s bail on the ground that the case has gone on for over a year-and-a-half with only two of the 200-odd witnesses testifying. The prosecution has also failed to come up with its final charge sheet despite having submitted interim charges in three installments.
It remains to be seen whether the Rawalpindi court will accept video-conferencing as the via media to avoid personal deposition of the Indian police officer and magistrate who took Kasab’s statement under section 164 of the criminal procedure code. If it doesn’t and there is some judicial or administrative hurdle in sending our officer/magistrate to Pakistan, New Delhi should, I feel, invite the Pakistani judge and the defense and prosecution lawyers to India for a face-to-face deposition. This engagement can also be on the no-man’s land at Wagah. The short point I’m making is that India should go to any length to not give Islamabad an excuse to either blame it for weakening the case against the Pakistani conspirators or not meeting the requirement of its judiciary that it claims is independent.
The conviction of those booked by Pakistani agencies is doubly crucial because Hafiz Sayeed continues to be at large. If Lakhvi and Co are also declared innocent by the court or let off for want of adequate evidence, the gingerly Indo-Pak dialogue will have to be put in cold storage for a long time. The public trust required to make bilateral engagement sustainable will get scarcer and be extremely difficult to mobilize anytime soon.
Bull-fighting gives city bloody nose
The Capital has seemingly failed in efforts to rid itself of the cow-cum-car stereotype of Indian streets during the Commonwealth Games (CWG), an international sporting event, to be held in October. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) entrusted to provide shelter to stray cattle have backed out because their dues have not been paid for more than a year. The NGOs also claim lack of space to house the cattle.
Read full here
Meanwhile, the plan to remove stray dogs has also hit a roadblock after animal lovers voiced their dissent against the plan to round up dogs and confine them to a dog home for the duration of the Games.
"We can't pile up cows one over another. Cows are big animals," said Mahesh Chand Sharma, president of Gausadan foundation.
"The MCD was facing a financial crunch, which is why we could not release the money on time. We will be releasing it shortly," said Municipal Corporation of Delhi's press and information director Deep Mathur.
The NGOs are paid Rs 25 per day for one cow. The MCD contributes Rs 20 and the state government Rs 5.
"If we won't get money how will we feed the animals and take care of them," Sharma asked.
One pilgrim killed, seven others injured in landslide
One person was killed and seven others were injured in a landslide triggered by heavy rains in remote area of Kishtwar district in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said in Kishtwar on Tuesday. After heavy rains, the landslide occurred at Massu, about 280-kms from Jammu, in Kishtwar district last evening, they said, adding a group of eight pilgrims, on way to Machail Mata, came under the debris.
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One of them, identified as Romesh Kumar, was killed and seven others were injured, they said.
The injured have been admitted at Primary Health Center at Atholi.
The traditional Chandi Mata Machail yatra starts today and will conclude on August 28 in the mountainous Paddar in Kishtwar district.
The yatra starts from Bhaderwah in Doda district and further proceeds towards Atholi, Gulabgarh, Massu, Chandoli and finally concludes at Machail.
Lalit Modi's legal counsel to meet ED authorities today
Suspended Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi will provide documents relating to the T20 League on Tuesday to the Enforcement Directorate authorities in Mumbai, it has been learnt. The ED authorities have asked Modi, suspended by BCCI for alleged financial irregularities in the running the details.
Declining to comment on the matter, Modi's attorney Mehmood Abdi said that the former was always willing to co-operate with the government authorities.
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"As a law abiding citizen Mr Lalit Modi has been and will always be co-operating with the government authorities," said Abdi.
Modi's alleged misdeeds are being probed by the BCCI's three-member disciplinary panel which has held three hearings on the matter without his presence.
The panel comprises IPL's interim chairman Chirayu Amin, Arun Jaitley and Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Crude delivery hit due to ships collission off Mumbai
The collision of two cargo ships off Mumbai at the weekend shut India's busiest port on Monday, caused an oil slick and stalled the delivery of 1.5 million barrels of crude oil for one of the biggest refiners. Port operations could resume on Tuesday, officials said, as teams from the navy and
coastguard tried to contain the spill of diesel and lubricant oil from one of the ships that had spread 2 nautical miles from the vessel.
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The two Panamanian ships collided on Saturday, flinging 250 containers overboard and making navigation difficult. All crew members were rescued.
Three crude tankers holding about 1.5 million barrels of crude oil for Bharat Petroleum CorpBPCL were stranded at the port because of the shut down.
The Directorate General of Shipping is likely to issue reports on conditions at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port on Tuesday and decide on whether the port is fit to resume operations, said a port official who declined to be named, as they were not authorised to talk to the media.
"We are taking a survey and marking the containers that are submerged. We are hoping by tomorrow morning we should be able to resume operations," another official said over the phone.
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust handled more than 60.7 million tonnes of container traffic in 2009/10, a 6 percent rise compared with the previous year. A spokesman for the port could not be reached for a comment.
Authorities hope to clear the harbour of the containers within 2-3 days, the Ministry of Shipping said on Monday.
Operations at Mumbai refineries have not been hit because the explorer Oil and Natural Gas CorpONGC has raised crude supplies from its Mumbai High fields, India's biggest crude oil producing fields accounting for half the country's oil output.
Teams from the navy and coastguard were trying to contain the oil spill, but officials were concerned the slick may spread.
"Aerial spraying of chemicals to contain the spill is going on. But oil is still leaking from the cargo and it is likely the slick will spread farther because of the tide and windy conditions," said navy official Captain Manohar Nambiar.Congress wants Kalmadi to quit?
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has said that Commonwealth Games organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi should step down on moral grounds if his name figures in a CBI prima facie case. "If his name is in a CBI prima facie case, then on moral grounds he should resign," he told
Singh, who is in-charge of Uttar Pradesh is the second Congressman after Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar to comment on the Commonwealth Games.
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Singh, who is in-charge of Uttar Pradesh is the second Congressman after Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar to comment on the Commonwealth Games.
Aiyar, a stern critic of the Delhi Games, had recently created a furore by saying that he would be unhappy if the CWG were a success and that only "evil" would support such an event.
He had also said his outburst against the Commonwealth Games has opened up "a can of worms" which was evident from the alleged corruption charges that have rocked the October 3-14 sporting extravaganza.
Singh said an inquiry was already on and if Kalmadi is found guilty, then resignation should be the logical outcome.
He said he was against the media trial of the corruption charges surrounding the Games scheduled to be held in October.
He said no one should jump to any conclusions and await the result of the inquiry.
Osama's bahu expecting twins in England
A British surrogate mother who agreed to have Osama Bin Laden`s grandchild is expecting twins. Louise Pollard was given the news during her eight-week scan at a private clinic in Manchester. She had conceived via IVF using the sperm of Bin Laden`s son Omar and the eggs of his 54-year-old British wife, Zaina, previously known as Jane Felix-Browne.The eight week scan that revealed two babies are on the way. According to daily mail, the couple married in 2007, had proved unable to have children together and contacted 24-year-old Miss Pollard through a surrogacy website. She has already had two babies for British childless couples. Omar Bin Laden lives in the Gulf state Qatar and is not allowed to enter Britain. But his wife, who is from Cheshire, hopes the children will be schooled in the UK. Miss Pollard, a PA from Bristol, said Mrs Bin Laden was at her side when she realised she was expecting twins.
`The sonographer put the ultrasound on my stomach and straight away I saw two distinct sacs, which meant there were two babies.
`I said, "Oh my God, that`s twins" and the sonographer showed us one head and then the other. Zaina was in tears and I just sat there in shock.`
Omar Bin Laden) was diagnosed with schizophrenia following weeks of erratic behaviour during which he began to hear the voice of his father in his head.Mrs Bin Laden left her husband last month, just as the pregnancy was announced. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia following weeks of erratic behaviour during which he began to hear the voice of his father, pictured below left, in his head.
She has since returned to her home in Cheshire where she and Miss Pollard have been spending much of their time together.
But the surrogate mother said news of the twins made a reconciliation more likely. `Omar is really chuffed. He and Zaina have been speaking every day.
`She has been desperate to fly out to see him but has been waiting until I`d had this scan.
Now that is done, she will be visiting him next week. It`s almost certain they will get back together.`
All Miss Pollard`s treatment has been paid for privately and has taken place in the Middle East, outside the jurisdiction of the UK`s strict surrogacy rules.
But she insists she is abiding by British law which states.
Fair deal for fair sex in realty
As the women reservation bill has recently been passed in the upper house of the parliament after stiff opposition and uproar from three Yadav Chieftains- Mulayam, Laloo, Sharad and their ilk, the advocates of gender equality and women empowerment can also feel elated that fair sex is getting their fair share in realty world too, albeit slowly.
As it is really difficult to study the percentage of women holding apartments/other properties in their/joint names with their names coming first, still those who keenly watch realty world claim that situation is far better than, for example, ten years ago.
Supreme Court advocate Sunder Khatri says that after various state governments have decided to charge less stamp duty rates from women property buyers and also growing number of working women coming forward to invest in property, the profile of property buyers has started to alter. “There is no denying the fact that banks too give home loans to them on priority basis after RBI directives in this regards.” says Khatri, who is an expert on realty matters.
Giving sanity to euphoria that women are thronging to buy their own properties, Davinder Gupta, Managing Director of Century 21India, says that definitely more and more single women are enquiring and buying properties. But they still prefer to invest in real-estate with their husbands. Though they take the final call when they buy some property jointly with her husband or even if the property is purchased in the name of her spouse. Though earlier all the properties used to be purchased in the name of male members of the family.
Agrees JK Jain,head off Designers Arch e-homes, “Though we have not done any study on the subject, I still feel that more than 30 per cent properties are registered in the names of women. Even that is also confined to big cities compared to Tier-II & III cities. Senior journalist Anupama Jha, who purchased a flat in Mayur Vihar couple of yeas ago, has a suggestion for all the working women that they must invest in real-estate. “If you have a property of your own, then you would really feel empowered and independent. Your own property would give you huge confidence and financial security,” concludes Jha.
Says Sunil Jindal, CEO,SVP Developers, “ We should look the whole debate in a new perspective. Rather than only counting and talking aboutsingle women investing in properties, we should talk about both single women as well as those women who buy their properties jointly with their husbands. And if we count both of them, the result would be very impressive. Almost 30 per cent of our flats are purchased by women or with their spouses. ”
If women are thinking and investing in real-estate, the pro-active attitude of banks in granting loans to them has also contributed significantly. Not very long ago, banks were show reluctance about granting loans tosingle women since they saw a possible loss of income and therefore inability to service the loan following marriage.
However, this is the age of double-income families and such misgivings are a thing of the past. According to JK Jain, “We are getting more queries from prospective women buyers now, but they are more for Tier-I cities as compared to Tier-II & III cities. They preferto invest in an urban area as most urban centers escalate faster in value than in a suburban environment, so there is opportunity for greater equity growth.”
So far a Design Arch e home is concerned around 6.52% of the Omaxe home owners are women. However, around 30.25% of the buyers of our flats are the joint owners where the name of woman comes before husbands.
Meanwhile, a spokesman of API Ansal says that for some time, a very high majority (may be about 90%) of properties are being bought in joint names. It is basically happening because of two reasons: To save on registration charges. He adds that since a vast majority of house buyers go for housing loans, often one salary would not be enough to get a high loan. Hence banks suggest going for joint ownership (both for working wives as also in case of those wives who has other properties in their names).
Experts also say that women even enjoy the benefit of a higher tax rebate as compared to men. These factors act as a great incentive for women keen to buy property.
Senior journalist Dr. Anuja Bhatt is of the view that there have been many factors that have led women to come to the forefront and invest in realty. The emergence of the new breed of women achievers who place career before marriage, the desire for self-acquired security and awareness of tax benefits has fuelled interest levels. She also belongs to category of those working women who have purchased her own house before marriage and now paying the EMIs with her journalist husband, Deepak Mandal.
Tejaswini Sawant shoots gold in Munich
The Indian shooter Tejaswini Sawant on Sunday added a milestone of glory and pride to her nation after she became the first Indian woman shooter to win a gold at the World Championships. She made a world record by equalling score in the 50m rifle prone event in Munich. The shooter dedicated the medal to her father, who had been her pillar of strength and passed away earlier this year.
Tejaswini shot 597 (100,100,100,99,99,99) and was tied with Polish shooter Ewa Joanna Nowakowska, equalling the 1998 record set by Marina Bobkova of Russia. She was declared winner with a better perfect score tally of 41. Olga Dovgun of Kazakhstan won the bronze with a score of 596.
After winning the medal, the Kolhapuri girl recalled how at one point it was a hard nut for her to crack and how financial constrains forced her to consider giving up shooting, but the strong support of her family, especially her father, kept her going.
"I dedicate this gold to my father," Tejaswini said.
Tejaswini's father passed away on February 23 when she was vying at the Commonwealth Championships.
"I was shattered after hearing the news, but I could not leave the competition. I was part of the team and had I left, the team would not not have been able to participate," she said.
"I owe it to him. On many occasion I told him that I will not go for the camps and tournaments, because it was getting difficult for my family to afford it. We have seen some bad days. But he would always tell me to continue shooting and somehow he would manage the finances," said Tejaswini, 29, who won two gold medals in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games in the air rifle event.
She won gold medals in 10m air rifle singles and 10m air rifle pairs (with Avneet Kaur Sidhu).
Tejaswini says she could have broken the world record but nerves got the better of her in the last shot.
"When I came to know that I would break the world record if I shoot 100, I became nervous. And that affected my performance in the last shot in which I scored 599. But I am very happy to become the firstIndian woman to win a gold in a World Championship."
Tejaswini is now looking forward to give of her best in the October 3-14 Commonwealth Games.
India's shooting coach Sunny Thomas was overjoyed and overwhelmed with Tejaswini's performance.
Sachin and Harbhajan rested for tri-series
Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh were rested while Yuvraj Singh was on Saturday recalled in the 15-member Indian squad for the upcoming cricket tri-series in Sri Lanka, beginning from August 10.
The national selectors also decided to rest injured Gautam Gambhir.Tamil Nadu off-spinner R Ashwin and Jharkhand batsman Saurabh Tiwary, two promising youngsters who have done well in the domestic circuit, have been retained in the squad to be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.The tri-series, which has host Sri Lanka and New Zealand as the two other teams, will be held in Dambulla from August 10 to 25.
There were no major surprises with the selectors more or less retaining the nucleus of the squad that won the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in June."Ashok Dinda and Manish Pandey will replace R Ashwin and Sourav Tiwary in the Indian team participating in the Emerging Players tournament in Australia," Srinivasan said in a statement.Veteran speedster Ashish Nehra will lead the pace attack which also has Ishant Sharma, Abhimanyu Mithun and Praveen Kumar.
The batting will largely depend on the fireworks of Virender Sehwag while there are a number of young talents like Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli who have already established themselves inthe national team.
Yuvraj, who was dropped from the Asia Cup squad because of poor fitness and form, has been given another opportunity to reclaim his position in the team.In the absence of Gambhir, Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik is likely to open the innings with Sehwag.Ravindra Jadeja is the lone all-rounder in the squad although there are a number of batsmen who are known to be part time bowlers.
The squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Virender Sehwag (Vice-Captain), Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, R. Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Sourabh
Ace wrestler accused coach of sexual favours
Ace woman wrestler Sonalika Kaliraman has accused her coach of asking for sexual favours from those girls who train under him. She alleged that Chief wresting coach P R Sondi of sexual favour.
Sonalika, who is a daughter of great wrestler late Chandgi Ram, also accused President of Wrestling federation of India, GS Mander of asking money in return of selecting players in the Indian team for the forthcoming commonwealth games.
Sonalika was member of Indian wrestling team that participated in the Doha Asian games. She has represented India in many prestigious championships.
It may be recalled that She has recently moved Delhi High Court alleging unfair sections by the Wrestling federation of India for the games.
Bollywood calling for Leander Paes
Indian tennis great Leander Paes is all set to join the arch lights of Bollywood. Veteran Davis Cupper has already been offered the lead role in a Hindi film. Sources close to him said Paes has decided to take up a full-time career in Hindi films after he quits tennis.
To start with, he has got an offer to play the hero in a movie. Paes will be in Kolkata in March for the next round of the shooting.Paes, 36, one of the most successful Indian sportspersons of all times, levelled Mahesh Bhupathi`s record of 11 Grand Slam title by partnering Cara Black to the Australian Open mixed doubles triumph.
The Kolkata-born Paes has also geared up for his film career with the same degree of seriousness. "He has been taking acting lessons in Anupam Kher`s institute for the last one and a half years. He has also been learning Hindi for over a year.
A close friend of Paes also confirmed Leander`s foray into films. However, the player`s father Vece Paes said: "Things are in a preliminary stage. He will take a final decision after weighing the pros and cons and seeing the scope.Apart from 11 Grand Slam victories at doubles and mixed doubles events, Paes sparkled while representing India for long in the Davis Cup besides bringing home a bronze medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Also, he achieved the rare double - men`s doubles/mixed doubles - in the 1999 Wimbledon.
Oscar Award winner Patricia Neal died
Oscar Award winning actress Patricia Neal has died. She was 84. In 1964, Neal received an Oscar as best actress for her performance as the tough, shopworn housekeeper who did not succumb to Paul Newman's amoral charm in Hud.
But a year later she had three strokes, leaving her in a coma for three weeks. Although she was semi-paralyzed and unable to speak afterward, she learned to walk and talk again. Despite a severely impaired memory that made it difficult to remember dialogue, she returned to the screen in 1968 as the bitter mother who used her son as a weapon against her husband in the screen version of Frank Gilroy's play The Subject Was Roses. Once again, she was nominated for an Academy Award.
Her career had started at a young age. Before she was 21, she had swept the major acting prizes for her Broadway debut in Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest. She received a Tony, a Donaldson Award and a New York Drama Critics Award. Signed to a seven-year contract by Warner Brothers, she went to Hollywood as the sought-after young actress of her day.
She later starred in the screen version of John Patrick's play The Hasty Heart (1950), in which she played a nurse who tries to comfort a dying soldier, and The Breaking Point (1950), which was based on Ernest Hemingway's novel To Have and Have Not.
Murthy's son to tie knot with TVS heiress
A big event is going to take place as two business family descendants will be two hearts and one soul very soon. Infosys mentor NR Narayana Murthy`s son Rohan is all set to marry Lakshmi Venu, only daughter of TVS Motors chairman Venu Srinivsan. Rohan.
Rohan is a Microsoft fellow, who is doing his PhD in computer science from Harvard University, and has an engineering degree from Cornell University.
He earlier did his schooling at Bishop Cotton Boys` School in Bangalore. Lakshmi, who studied economics at Yale Univeristy, later got a PhD in manufacturing management from Warwick Univesity in the UK. In Chennai her alma mater was in Shishya.
Lakshmi is mandated to steer strategy at both Sundaram Clayton (an auto component maker) and TVS Motor (India`s third largest two-wheeler company).
Said Narayana Murthy, who is on a visit to Mantralaya, home of the revered saint Sri Raghavendra Swami, "We are very happy. Lakshmi is such a wonderful person." He said that the marriage date was left to the couple. "I don`t want to get into the details. It is left to the couple.
They are both mature, intelligent people and will decide these things on their own." Rohan is currently in Chennai meeting members of Lakshmi`s family.
Who would be next boss of Infosys?
After Tata group's annoucement to start operation search in order to find the possible replacement of their chairman Ratan Tata, Infosys Technologies will begin the task of finding a replacement for its chairman and chief mentor, NR Narayana Murthy from January next year. Murthy to step down on next year August after he turns 65.
Infosys’ nominations committee has ICICI Bank non-executive chairman KV Kamath, Cornell University professor Jeffrey Sean Lehman and HDFC Standard Life Insurance CEO Deepak M Satwalekar as its members. They have already started discussions to find the head of Infosys.
The committee has already had five meetings during the year that ended April 2010, three more than what is required under law.
Murthy, who founded Infosys along with six others in 1981, quit as executive chairman when he turned 60 in 2006. The company has been preparing for its biggest leadership transition since then. It is said that the deliberations started a few quarters back, and in any case, Mr Murthy’s retirement particularly has been on the agenda for a long time. Since the day is coming close, there’s an obvious intensity.Mr Murthy and his co-founders, Nandan Nilekani, Kris Gopalakrishnan, SD Shibulal, K Dinesh and SK Arora, have had tremendous success in the past 30 years. They have set up the company with money borrowed from their wives.
The CWG scam: After suspension, TS Darbari sacked
The Commonwealth Games Organising Committee on Monday terminated the services of its tainted Joint Director General T S Darbari in the wake of the corruption scandal that has rocked the event. Darbari, who had been suspended pending an inquiry after his name cropped up in alleged corruption during the Queen`s Baton Relay`s launch in London, has been told to hand over charge to Additional Director General V K Saxena.
According to sources, the Ministry had written several letters to OC asking for his ouster because of the cases in Enforcement Directorate and the last such communication was made on August 6. The Ministry was not happy that he was merely suspended.
The OC has finally acted on the instructions and given the marching orders to Darbari, who appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Monday, in a probe over his alleged customs violations.
According to an order from the OC, pending an inquiry by the ED into the case of alleged involvement of Darbari, who is the Joint Director General (PSUs, sponsorship and marketing), in the payment of an unreasonable amount to a British firm at the time of the QBR ceremony in London, his services are hereby terminated with immediate effect..
According to OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi, Darbari oversaw the QBR preparations in London, which became the focal point of a corruption storm following revelations that a little-known UK-based firm AM Films was paid lakhs of pounds for its "services" during the event.
Later, an e-mail from the Indian High Commission, which Kalmadi made public to justify payments to AM Films also turned out to be doctored, forcing OC to launch a probe into the entire episode.
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