सोमवार, 30 जून 2008

No escape from price hike:

No escape from price hike: Holcim Dev Chatterjee & Chandan Kishore Kant in Mumbai

Swiss cement major, Holcim, promoter of two of India's biggest cement companies, ACC and Ambuja Cements, said there is no escape from increasing the cement prices in the country considering the high energy costs.
In an interview, Paul Hugentobler, member of executive committee of Holcim, said the cement prices across the world including in India has to rise by $20 to $30 a tonne so that the companies can maintain their profitability.
"If we compare the first quarter of this calender year with the same period of last year, our profitability has come down by 5-7 per cent। If the input costs continue to rise like this, we will not have any other option but to raise prices," he said. Cement prices have already gone up by 4 per cent in the last one year.
Many cement companies are looking at increasing their prices in the coming months to cushion the impact of rising raw material costs। On the government's move to put a ceiling on cement prices, Hugentobler said if this (government intervention combined with high energy costs) continues, the cement companies may have to shut shop. "There is no way out."
"There could be a demand slowdown," Hugentobler warned, adding that the company is making its capacity addition plans according to market cues। "If raw material prices keep rising like this, the demand will obviously come down," he added.
Holcim, which increased its stake in ACC this week by 3 per cent to 46 per cent, has made sufficient plans by substituting energy with alternative fuels to cut costs so that they can maintain their margins.
"Of course our margins are under pressure। Coal prices have gone up by 60 per cent. This constitutes a major component in cement production. We are looking at the option of substituting oil and coal with windpower, waste steam and alternative fuel."
Thanks to rising input costs, Indian companies are taking many steps so that they can maintain their margins। Holcim, which plans to increase the capacity of both the companies from 40 million tonnes to 55 million tonnes in two years, is spending more on making its plants environment-friendly.
"We are targeting to substitute our energy by 30 per cent in 3-5 years." On the market speculation that Holcim will eventually merge ACC with Ambuja Cements, Hugentober said: "We can always send the accountants to merge the balancesheet but it is very difficult to merge the culture of both the companies. We have no plans as of now to merge the two entities though in our global balancesheet we are consolidating our Indian operations."

The NAPM also cites other environmental and security concerns against the nuclear deal:

Amidst protests against price rises of essential items throughout the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has again started harping on the issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal। The deal has been pushed forward in India in an anti-democratic manner without the approval of the Parliament - in fact in the teeth of opposition by a large majority of parliamentarians. The deal has the potential of disturbing regional stability and further distorting India 's relationships with important neighbours like China, Pakistan and Iran . This cannot also but severely undermine the prospects for both vertical and horizontal non-proliferation and thereby the prospects for global nuclear disarmament.
This allurement also has the danger of further propelling India towards becoming a junior military ally of the US and a market to mint profits for its MNCs and also the nuclear industry of other advanced countries -- Russia and France, in particular। Most importantly it will be a set back to the environmentally friendly sustainable ways of meeting our energy requirements. Power from nuclear energy is a failed project in developed countries and the eagerness of the Prime Minister to clinch the deal fails to generate any enthusiasm among the common people of India. Neither is nuclear energy a solution to global warming as some experts make it out to be. On the contrary, the entire nuclear fuel cycle is fraught with danger and exposes human beings to hazardous radiation. The world is yet to find a safe way for disposal of radioactive waste, a factor that is constraining the growth of nuclear power programmes in the developed countries.
The Indo-US nuclear deal is meant to serve the interests of the global nuclear power industry and is a ploy to keep India away from staking claims to the shrinking fossil fuel reserves in proportion to its large population, so that these reserves may last for some more time for the rich countries।The undue importance given to the Indo-US nuclear deal, as opposed to the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, even though gas is predicted to be the major source of power globally for the next two to three decades, raises questions about the motives of the Indian government.
We take strong objection to the joint Indo-US military exercises that have been taking place for the last seven years with the aim of building interoperability and we demand immediate closure of the Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairengte in Mizoram। The increasing militarisation of the India State is also being used to crush civil liberties and democratic movements in the country. India must learn a lesson from the history of US military involvement in various parts of the world.
We appreciate the consistent stand taken by the Left Front, a partner in the United Progressive Alliance, in successfully stalling the Indo-US Nuclear Deal up till now and hope that the India specific agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency will never be finalised। Even as we note their foresight in foiling the US hegemonic designs in South Asia, we also expect them to take a principled stand against the nuclear power programme. We believe that the IAEA safeguards must be implemented nationally and internationally on all declared and undeclared nuclear activities, including that of Israel and US. The government of India must also make its nuclear related activities transparent and accountable to the people, especially those who are directly affected by radiation.
We welcome the government's decision to ask the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to draft an umbrella legislation for promotion and growth of renewable energy.
Surendra Mohan, Achin Vanaik, Major General S.G. Vombatkere (Retired), J Sri Raman, Thomas Kocherry, Sukla Sen, Mukta Srivastava, Anand Patwardhan, Ajit Jha, Feroze Mithiborwala, Kishore Jagtap, P.T.M. Hussain, Ashish Ranjan Jha, Kamayani, Sanjay M G, Arundhati Dhuru, Medha Patkar, Sandeep Pandey On behalf of National Alliance of People's Movements

'Only MNCs will profit from the N-deal'

The National Alliance of People's Movements, the largest network of grassroots people's movements in India, has reaffirmed its opposition to the India-United States nuclear agreement.
A statement issued by the NAPM argues, "The deal has the potential of disturbing regional stability and further distorting India 's relationships with important neighbours like China, Pakistan and Iran।" It states that the efforts to generate power from nuclear energy have failed in advanced countries and the nuclear fuel cycle is dangerous to the common man.
NAPM cautions that the deal might make India a junior military ally of the US and only MNCs and the nuclear industry of other developed nations will benefit from the deal.
The signatories of the statement include prominent filmmaker Anand Patwardhan and activist Medha Patkar, among others.

Twin blasts rock Rawalpindi

Two massive explosions rocked the cantonment area of the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi on Monday। There were no details of casualties.The blasts were so powerful that they were heard in the nearby capital of Islamabad.
Aaj TV channel reported that the blasts had caused extensive damage to a building housing an office of the Income Tax Department. Several ambulances were seen rushing to the scene of the blasts.

Aarushi case: Blood stains on T-shirt not Rajkumar's

Even as the Central Bureau of Investigation digs deeper and deeper into the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case, the T-shirt allegedly belonging to one of the accused, Rajkumar, will play a crucial role in cracking the case.
The T-Shirt with blood stains allegedly belonging to Rajkumar, Anita Durani's domestic help, is at present with the Centre for Finger Printing DNA and Diagnostics at Hyderabad.
A source in the investigating agency said that it has been confirmed that the blood stains on the T-shirt are not Rajkumar's.
After Rajkumar had been arrested, it was alleged by him initially that the blood stains on the T-shirt were his.
It was said that he had bruises on his body thanks to an allergy and that may have caused the blood stains.
The CDFD is trying to ascertain now whether the blood stains were of Aarushi and Hemraj.
The CDFD is yet to complete the verification process and sources say that it may take another day or two before they come to any sort of conclusion.
Rajkumar was picked up by the CBI based on the results of the narco-analysis tests conducted on Krishna, the compounder at Dr Rajesh Talwar's clinic.
Krishna, during the test conducted at Bengaluru, had said that the motive was two-fold। Firstly, Krishna had sought to take revenge on Dr Talwar who had allegedly humiliated him for goofing up at the clinic.
Secondly, it was alleged that Rajkumar had tried forcing himself on Aarushi and when she resisted, he killed her fearing that he might get exposed.
Hemraj, the domestic help at the Talwars, was murdered two as he threatened to expose both Krishna and Rajkumar for committing the murder.
Although the tests make no mention of Dr Talwar's role in the murder, the CBI is not ready to give him a clean chit as yet.
They say that the investigations are still on and they are not ready to free Dr Talwar as yet। During Krishna's interrogation, it was stated that Dr Talwar, who is now in judicial custody, had no role to play in the murder and he was fast asleep in his room when the incident occurred.
The CBI is now trying to ascertain whether Dr Talwar was part of a conspiracy and also how he did not hear anything when the double murder and the attempted rape took place, considering the fact he was in the next room.

13 die as rain lashes UP, Punjab

Thirteen people, four of them siblings, were killed in incessant rains that lashed vast areas of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab triggering house collapses and inundating low-lying areas।
Major rivers, including Ganga, Gomti, Rapti and Ramganga, were also rising menacingly in Uttar Pradesh due to heavy rains, officials in Lucknow said।
Two persons each were killed in Santkabir Nagar, Mau and Ballia and one each in Gorkahpur and Azamgarh districts in Uttar Pradesh in incidents of house collapse।
The Central Water Board said major rivers were rising in the state, but none of them had yet crossed the red mark.
In Punjab, the roof of a house gave way in Kotkapura town in Faridkot district killing four siblings aged between eight and 16.
All the four used to live with their parents in a single room accommodation in Kishan Nagar locality, police said.
In Chandigarh, a two-year-old boy drowned in a rain-fed rivulet in Vikas Nagar.
Heavy downpours inundated low-lying areas causing traffic snarl-ups at many places in the two states.

Government did not disclose whole truth on N-deal: CPI-M

The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday made a fresh attack against the United Progressive Alliance government over the Indo-US nuclear deal, saying it had not disclosed that it was mandatory to go to the International Atomic Energy Agency for the India-specific safeguard agreement.
"At the UPA-Left Coordination Committee meeting in October-November on the deal, what was stated by the government side did not represent the whole truth। They did not say at that meeting that it was mandatory for the government to go to the IAEA as it is saying now," CPI-M politburo member and party's state secretary Biman Bose said.
"This shows that certain things were not disclosed to the committee," Bose told reporters after the ruling Left Front meeting।
"The Manmohan Singh government did not do the right thing," Bose added।
The Left coordination committee, Bose said, would be meeting in Delhi on July 4 to take stock of the situation।
"The meeting can be held a day earlier," he said।
Before that meeting, Bose said, the CPI-M would hold consultations with the Left parties।
The meeting had already been held with the CPI, he said, adding the CPI(M)-Forward Bloc meeting of central leaders was likely on Monday।
"Our meeting with Revolutionary Socialist Party is likely on Tuesday," he said।
The CPI-M leader said that the United National Progressive Alliance would meet in Delhi on July 3।
Criticising the Centre, Bose said, "Instead of being serious about tackling price rise and high rate of inflation which is a 13-year high, the Manmohan Singh government is busy pushing the Nuclear deal। This is not good for the country, nor for the Government and Congress party."
Bose said that the Left parties had decided to organise campaigns against the UPA government's failure to arrest price rise and inflation।
"The government has been ignoring vital issues like countering growing communalism in the country। This has led to the growth of such forces in Karnataka, MP, Rajasthan and some other states," he said.
"By its inaction, the UPA government has been helping communal forces to grow," the CPI-M leader said।
Replying to a question that if the Lok Sabha poll could be advanced and if the Left Front was prepared for it, Bose said the meeting had not discussed the elections.

Ready to face Parliament before operationalising N-deal: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday played down the Left Parties' threat to withdraw support to his government on the Indo-US nuclear deal and made it clear that he was prepared to face Parliament before operationalising the deal।
Breaking his silence on the nearly fortnight-long stand-off with the Left parties supporting his government from outside, he said all that he wanted was that the government should be allowed to complete the negotiation process with the International Atomic Energy Aagency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group।
Dr Singh expressed confidence that the government would be able to address concerns of all, including the Left parties on the civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the US।
"We will grapple with that stage when we come to it," he said when asked about the threat held out on Sunday by Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat that his party would withdraw support in concert with other Left parties if the government went ahead with the deal।
"I hope we can work this out। We can still work out an outcome that will satisfy all parties," he told senior journalists at his residence after releasing the 'National Action Plan on Climate Change' brought out by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change.
Initially the prime minister, who appeared relaxed despite the political stalemate, said he would not like to speak on the nuclear issue maintaining that silence was better but later came out with his comments in reply to questions। "I have said it before. I will repeat it again that you allow us to complete the process. Once the process is over, I will bring it before Parliament and abide by the House," he said.
The prime minister said, "I am not asking for something that the government should not be doing। I am only saying that you me to complete the negotiations. There are concerns. I agree to come to Parliament before I proceed to operationalise (the deal). What can be more reasonable than this?"
He said the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties will have an opportunity to discuss the deal in Parliament। "If Parliament feels you (government) have done some wrong, so be it," Dr Singh said.
"All that I want is the authority to proceed with the process of negotiations through all stages like the IAEA and NSG that will not tie down the hands of the country," he said।
Asked about the prospects of early elections because of the political problems over the deal, Dr Singh said, "I don't see elections।"
To a question about Karat's strident attack on Sunday, he said, "There is nothing new in what the Left parties have said। I have not given up hope still."
He parried a question on the speculation about his attending the G-8 summit in Tokyo saying the nuclear deal was not on the agenda there. He laughed off a suggestion that he would be more comfortable attending the G-8 if the issue was resolved before his departure.
Dr Singh said he does recognise that the issue has aroused a great deal of interest.

रविवार, 29 जून 2008

ULFA strikes weekly market, kills six in Assam

Guwahati, Jun 29 (DNS) At least six people were killed and 75 injured when ULFA rebels detonated a powerful bomb at a Kumarikata weekly market, adjacent to the Indo-Bhutan boundary this afternoon.
Police said the ULFA engineered the blast, the second in three days after a faction of the outfit offered ceasefire and was ready to talk with the government.
Today's bombing that occurred at around 1340 hrs in a crowded weekly market killed four people on the spot. The other two died on way to Guwahati Medical College.
About 75 people in cluding two Assam police constables were injured in the blast.
Police recovered one unexploded bomb from the site.
Sources close to the ULFA said the attack was the handiwork of ULFA's 709 battalion and chose the Baska district as Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had visited the district on the previous day and announced that more units of the outift were for ceasefire agreement.
On Friday the proscribed outfit triggered a bomb at Nagaon injuring four.
The explosives were strapped to a bicycle at the weekly market that sells pigs, goats, vegetables and clothes at Kumarikata in western Assam, near Bhutan border.
The area, falling under the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts (BTAD), is a bastion of Bodo militants.

Private operators allege harassment, seek concessions

Hyderabad, Jun 29 (DNS) Private Bus Operators Association of Andhra Pradesh today alleged that officials of the transport department were harassing them and appealed to the state government to intervene.
Addressing a press conference here the Association's President H S C Bose alleged that though private bus operators were running their buses with valid permits, the transport authorities were terming them 'illegal' and imposing penalties.
He claimd that private bus operators were providing more facilities to passengers compared to the government owned Road Transport Corproation.
He said there were 1000 private buses in the state and they were providing direct employment to nearly two lakh people and indirect employment to another three lakh.
They also urged the state government to provide concessions and facilities to private bus operators on par with the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation(APSRTC).

J&K govt not to go ahead with order on land transfer to SASB

Srinagar, June 29 (DNS) In a highly significant step to defuse the volatile situation in the Kashmir valley, the state government today announced that it was not going ahead with the decision of handing over 40 hectares of land to the Board handling the Amarnath Yatra, a move that has plunged the state into a political crisis.
After a week-long street protests that had nearly paralysed the valley, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told a press conference here that the state government had assured Governor N N Vohra, who is chairman of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), that the state was in a better position to provide better facilities to pilgrims on a large scale than the board. This was accepted by the Governor who gave up SASB's claim on the forest land.
Azad's decision came less than 24 hours after Congress party's coalition partner in government PDP had pulled out of the state government with all its nine ministers resigning over the issue.
Azad, who has accused PDP of backtracking on the controversial cabinet decision to divert the land to SASB, left no one in doubt that he does not want PDP back in the government by getting the resignation of the ministers accepted by the Governor although his government has been reduced to a minority.
Azad clearly expects to continue in power even as a minority government in the four months to the assembly elections due before mid-November. He is unlikely to get support of the other major party National Conference to regain his majority, nor does he require it. More DNS

Impasse over Indo-US nuclear deal deepens

New Delhi, Jun 29 (DNS) The stand off over the Indo-US nuclear deal worsened today with CPI(M) threatening to withdraw support to the UPA government if it pushed ahead with the "harmful" agreement.
"In case the government decides to go ahead with such a harmful agreement, which has no support in Parliament, the CPI(M) will withdraw support to the UPA government in concert with other Left parties," a statement of the CPI(M) Politburo said after a meeting here.
However, Congress, which heads the UPA that survives on the outside support of 59 MPs of the Left parties, sought to downplay the threat saying there was nothing new in the warning.
RJD, an important constituent of the UPA with 24 MPs, expressed confidence that the government will not not fall on the deal, which will also go through.
The first public declaration of withdrawal of support by CPI(M) General Secretary, Prakash Karat, came at a press conference in the midst of a deepening stand off with the government, which is keen on going ahead with the deal.
While the other Left parties, like the CPI, have already declared their intention to withdraw support if the government went ahead with the deal, the CPI(M) had so far only given strong indications that it would withdraw its support.
The UPA government is now now said to be involved in efforts to woo the Samajawadi Party, which has 39 MPs, and some other smaller groups, to make up for the numbers in Lok Sabha in case the Left carries out its threat.
SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is being watched with keen interest, maintained suspense over his party's stand saying it would be decided on July 3 when the UNPA will meet. However, the arrival of his lieutenant Amar Singh from the US is expected to set in motion moves for a tie up between the Congress and the SP. DNS

शनिवार, 28 जून 2008

BJP's announcement of candidates biggest joke: Congress

June 28, 2008 01:11 IST
The Congress on Friday termed "biggest joke", the BJP's announcement of six candidates for the next Lok Sabha elections।It also accused the saffron party of seeking to benefit from the rising inflation and other problems facing the common man.
"The BJP's announcement of candidates is the biggest joke on the people of the country," Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmad said।
Seeking to ridicule the BJP move, he said, "As a spokesman I can announce seven Congress candidates without holding any meeting as was done by the BJP।"
He said Congress president Sonia Gandhi , AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, senior leaders Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal, P Chidambaram, Kamal Nath and P R Dasmunsi would contest the Lok Sabha elections।
The BJP had on Thursday declared the first list of its candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.

What oil prices have done to India

June 28, 2008There is much criticism of the government and the Reserve Bank for their handling of the macro-economic problems caused by the spurt in international oil prices।
Setting aside the question of who deserves how much criticism and for what, take a short history lesson on what oil prices have done to India, starting with the first oil shock, which was when Opec moved in response to the Yom Kippur war of October 1973 and took oil prices up sharply to the equivalent, in today's context, of $110/barrel।
All those who have been arguing that the Manmohan Singh government should have passed on the full impact of the present oil price increase, should give Indira Gandhi credit for taking the bit between her teeth and jacking up oil product prices overnight।
The price index for the fuel sub-set went up by 80 per cent in barely a year, as a result। General inflation in 1973-74 rose to 20 per cent, and 25 per cent the following year. The fall-out wasn't long in coming.
Student mess bills went up in Gujarat, sparking off an agitation that became a movement for unseating the state government। George Fernandes launched a railway strike, and another fire was lit in Bihar against corruption.
Before you knew it, Jayaprakash Narayan had started an all-India agitation against the government। In the summer of 1974, Mrs Gandhi finally moved against inflation, imposing a dearness allowance freeze, restricting dividend payouts by companies, and cracking down on money supply.
The stock market tanked overnight and the economy stalled, but in three months the inflation curve began dropping, and the JP movement soon began losing steam। It was in fact petering out when the unrelated Allahabad high court judgment created a fresh crisis that led to the Emergency.
Though no one can argue that it was the only cause, Mrs Gandhi's long slide down began with her decision to raise petrol and diesel prices, and the runaway inflation that resulted।
The second oil shock came in 1979-80, when prices touched the current equivalent of about $90 per barrel। The government raised fuel prices, inflation soared from nothing in one year to 17 per cent in the next, GDP actually shrank 5 per cent in the wake of a bad harvest, and there was widespread resentment against what was seen as an incompetent government, which got a drubbing in the election that followed.
The foreign exchange situation stabilised only after the new government under Indira Gandhi negotiated what was then the largest ever loan taken from the International Monetary Fund, of $5 billion।
Cut to January 1986। Rajiv Gandhi had just enjoyed a year-long honeymoon with the country through his long first year as Prime Minister. Then he raised oil product prices. There was an almighty uproar, and the government had to roll back the price increase in a matter of weeks, but by then Rajiv's honeymoon was well and truly over and he never recovered.
Five years later, in 1990, the first Gulf crisis sparked off a sharp spurt in oil prices, the government kept postponing key decisions and before you knew it the country had run out of foreign exchange। This time, though, there was a happy ending as the economic reforms got launched.
In other words, high oil prices light a fire, every time. In today's context, if the government tries to cushion the impact of oil prices, the fiscal deficit (correctly measured) goes sky-high.

13 Indian cos among world's 500 most valued firms

London, June 28 ( DNS) : Thirteen Indian firms, led by Reliance Industries, have made to the list of world's 500 most valued companies compiled by the UK business daily Financial Times, even as 12 of them fell down from their previous rankings amid weak stock market trends।
Excluding tobacco-to-consumer goods major ITC, all the 12 Indian companies present on the list, including RIL, ONGC, NTPC, SBI, Bharti Airtel, DLF and Reliance Communications, saw their rankings drop in the latest FT Global 500 list, topped by American energy giant ExxonMobil with a market value of 452।5 billion dollars.
FT publishes the list based on the market capitalisation of the companies at the end of every quarter and the latest rankings are based on March-end figures for this year। The previous list was based on market cap figures at the end of December 2007.
In the global list, ExxonMobil has replaced China's PetroChia as the most valued firm, while US industrial conglomerate GE has retained its third position। Other firms in the top 10 include Gazprom, China Mobile, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Microsoft, AT&T, Royal Dutch Shell and P&G.
Among the Indian companies, Mukesh Ambani-led RIL has been ranked the highest at 80th, down 15 places from 65th earlier, with a market cap of 82 billion dollars।
RIL is followed by state-run ONGC at 148th (down from 115), public sector power major NTPC at 206th (down from 163), Sunil Mittal-led telecom giant Bharti Airtel at 218th (down from 193), realty major DLF at 329th (down from 195) and Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications at 350th position (down from 252)।
However, ITC climbed six spots to the 484th place, with a market value of 19.38 billion dollars. ( DNS)

Jawan commits suicide in JK

Jammu, Jun 28 ( DNS) : A jawan allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service weapon in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, a defence spokesman here today said।
Sepoy G L Rao of Maratha Light Infantry who was deployed in Forward Peer Bhadesar area in Nowshera sector of, shot himself with his service weapon yesterday, he said adding the jawan died on the spot।
His body was sent for postmortem।
The Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry into the incident, the spokesman added.( DNS)

Sena hits out at BCCI, Sharad Pawar

Mumbai, June 28 ( DNS) : Shiv Sena today hit out at BCCI for the deteriorating standard of Indian cricket and also took a swipe at its President Sharad Pawar for "raining money over the cricketers" at a time when farmers in Maharashtra are committing suicide।"Cricket has become a mental disease which has been badly exploited by the industrialists and rich politicians" said an editorial in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.
"Cricketers are becoming more and more rich while the farmers, who are not getting two square meals a day, are committing suicide," it added।
In a sarcastic note, the editorial said, "The son of Maharashtra and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is a divine person। He is a man who has never held a bat in his hand and yet is running the show of Indian cricket".
"The manner in which he wiped out Jagmohan Dalmia, the former BCCI Chief, from the field of cricket is another example of his miraculous powers। Now nobody is even talking about him (Dalmia)" said the editorial.
It has also said the Union Minister, who is instrumental in raining money on the players has done little to arrest the suicide of the farmers by solving their problems।
"The rain of money is only benefiting the cricketers. It is not going to stop the farmers' suicides, it is not going to solve the fertilizer shortage in the state and it will not solve the power and water shortage in the state" added the editorial. ( DNS)

Congress in poll mode; draw up LS strategies, says Sonia

New Delhi, Jun 28 ( DNS) : Congress today decided to plunge into election mode, with party chief Sonia Gandhi directing senior leaders to draw up time-bound programmes and strategies to re-energise the party in all states.At a meeting of party general secretaries and incharges of states, Gandhi assigned tasks to them to organise the party "everywhere" at all levels for five assemblies and the next Lok Sabha elections.
"This meeting was about poll preparations। The Lok Sabha elections were also discussed, the party has to get ready for polls and everybody has been asked to draw up programmes and submit the same at the next meeting," AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters here।
Gandhi also reviewed the progress of programmes assigned to the senior leaders by the party for implementation।
Interestingly, the issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal, which has taken the UPA-Left ties to the brink of a breakup, did not figure in the hour-long discussions Gandhi had with the top party functionaries।
"The issue has already been discussed at two working committee meetings," a senior leader said, indicating that no further discussion was required at the party level on the nuclear deal।
Though the UPA constituents strongly favour the nuclear deal, they hold almost equally strident views against holding of early elections।
A section of the party leadership also feels that nuclear deal is not an issue to fight elections।
The Congress president has given partymen a time-table for building the party at all levels, Veerappa Moily, Chairman of the AICC Media Cell said.