Sunday, November 21, 2010

Alagiri's son gets married, PM, Sonia convey best wishes

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi have sent their greetings to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi expressing their best wishes for his grandson, Dayanidhi Alagiri, who got married here today.

Singh, in his message thanked Karunanidhi for inviting him and said he could not attend the wedding due to busy schedule.

He congratulated the couple and wished them all the best.

Gandhi also wished the couple a happy married life.

Union Minister M K Alagiri's son, Dayanidhi, got married to Anusha, daughter of a Chennai-based lawyer.

News: chennaionline Nov 18, 2010

No word on BSY's visit to Delhi, to seek Sai Baba's blessings

No word on BSY's visit to Delhi, to seek Sai Baba's blessings

Amid indications that the BJP high command may ask him to step down in the wake of alleged land scams, Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Monday left for Puttaparthi to "seek the blessings" of Sri Satya Sai Baba.

There is no official word yet on Yeddyurappa's visit to Delhi as per the direction of his party top brass.

Yeddyurappa has so far struck a defiant note on quitting and cancelled his visit to Delhi last night after which he has been summoned to meet the leaders today.

Yeddyurappa left for Puttaparthi to participate in the ongoing 85th birthday celebrations of Satya Sai Baba, sources said.

The party's core group which met in Delhi yesterday had authorised BJP president Nitin Gadkari to take a decision on the issue of Yeddyurappa's continuance.

The sources said the leaders felt that it was becoming increasingly untenable for Yeddyurappa to continue in office at a time when the party was carrying on a campaign against the Congress-led UPA at the national level on the telecom scam.

Read more: - The Times of India

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Rupee up 9 paise against dollar as stocks rise

The rupee today snapped out of the four-sessions of losing spree and recovered moderately by nine paise to close at Rs 45.22/23 against the US currency following late rebound in local equities amid a weaker dollar overseas.

Good dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, after mid-session too supported the rupee's rise.

In a fairly active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange ( Forex) market, the local unit opened weak at Rs 45.44/45 a dollar from Tuesday's close of Rs 45.31/32/ a dollar. Yesterday, the market was closed for "Bakri-Id".

It later touched a fresh 2-month intra-day low of 45.58 in line with steep fall in equities where the benchmark Sensex was down by nearly 250 points in mid-morning trade.

But, the Indian currency recovered in the latter part of the day to log a high of 45.2075 before concluding at 45.22/23 on the back of smart rebound in stocks.

In the last four trading sessions, the rupee had depreciated by 101 paise or 2.27 per cent.

The Indian benchmark Sensex today ended up by 65.50 points or 0.33 per cent while all Asian indices too ended in the green, supporting the local unit.

Dollar was broadly trading low against its major rivals after announcement of subdued US inflation data on Wednesday following Federal Reserve's decision to ease the monetary policy by picking up billions of worth of treasury bonds.

The dollar index of six major currencies was down by 0.4 per cent in European market today.

Rupee up 9 paise against dollar as stocks rise

The rupee today snapped out of the four-sessions of losing spree and recovered moderately by nine paise to close at Rs 45.22/23 against the US currency following late rebound in local equities amid a weaker dollar overseas.

Good dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, after mid-session too supported the rupee's rise.

In a fairly active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange ( Forex) market, the local unit opened weak at Rs 45.44/45 a dollar from Tuesday's close of Rs 45.31/32/ a dollar. Yesterday, the market was closed for "Bakri-Id".

It later touched a fresh 2-month intra-day low of 45.58 in line with steep fall in equities where the benchmark Sensex was down by nearly 250 points in mid-morning trade.

But, the Indian currency recovered in the latter part of the day to log a high of 45.2075 before concluding at 45.22/23 on the back of smart rebound in stocks.

In the last four trading sessions, the rupee had depreciated by 101 paise or 2.27 per cent.

The Indian benchmark Sensex today ended up by 65.50 points or 0.33 per cent while all Asian indices too ended in the green, supporting the local unit.

Dollar was broadly trading low against its major rivals after announcement of subdued US inflation data on Wednesday following Federal Reserve's decision to ease the monetary policy by picking up billions of worth of treasury bonds.

The dollar index of six major currencies was down by 0.4 per cent in European market today.

Trai recommends 2G licence cancellation, Sibal calls meeting

On the heels of government auditor CAG's castigating report on 2G air wave allocaton, telecom regulator Trai today asked government to cancel nearly 70 licences of five new players including Etisalat, Videocon and Uninor.

Shortly after Trai made its recommendation on the network roll-out failure by these companies that were given licences and spectrum in 2008, new Telecom minister Kapil Sibal is believed to have summoned his top officials for a discussion.

There were also indications that the Telecom ministry could witness a shake-up and the axe could fall on some key officials who worked under former Telecom Minister A Raja, who resigned earlier this week following his indictment by government auditor CAG over 2G spectrum allocation.

The regulator recommended that licences be cancelled in at least 15 circles given to Etisalat, a company earlier known as Swan that CAG had dubbed as a front company of Anil Ambani group, and 10 circles given to Sistema-Shyam.

Besides, it recommended that Unitech group's Uninor be deprived of licences in 8 circles, Videocon in 10 circles and Loop in 19 circles.

Trai, which had recommended penalty for non-compliance with the roll-out obligations, said that this amount could run into several thousands of crores. "So, we had suggested that these licences should be cancelled. This would vacate enormous amount of spectrum (radio waves) and this can be given to companies that are serious about meeting the schedule," the regulator said.

Meanwhile, Sistema-Shyam and Uninor said that they were in compliance with the network roll-out obligations and added that they had not got any notice from either the government or the regulator.

As per the conditions of licence, the licencees are required to roll-out the services in 90 per cent service area in metros and 10 per cent district headquarters in other service areas within 12 months of the date of award of licences.

Trai's action comes amid the Comptroller and Auditor General slamming the Telecom Ministry for irregularity and impropriety in giving licences to new players in 2008, causing a loss of a whopping Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.

The action also coincides with the Supreme Court hearing into the allocation of 2G spectrum in 2008 at 2001 prices.

Telecom Secretary R Chandrasekhar and other senior officials, particularly those dealing with policy and licensing, were believed to have attended the meeting called by Sibal in the aftermath of the Trai recommendations.

Sibal was given additional charge of Communications and IT Ministry earlier this week after A Raja stepped down.

Alagiri's son gets married, PM, Sonia convey best wishes

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi have sent their greetings to chief minister M Karunanidhi expressing their best wishes for his grandson, Dayanidhi Alagiri, who got married here on Thursday.

Singh, in his message thanked Karunanidhi for inviting him and said he could not attend the wedding due to busy schedule.

He congratulated the couple and wished them all the best. Gandhi also wished the couple a happy married life. Union minister M K Alagiri's son, Dayanidhi, got married to Anusha, daughter of a Chennai-based