PM to speak with Civil avi min to find a solution to Kingfisher crisis

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that he will raise the issue of Kingfisher crisis with the civil aviation minister and further said that the issue needs to be resolved amicably in the national interest.

Crisis-hit Kingfisher airlines today questioned whether it was the private carrier's duty to fly on loss-making routes, even as Government said there is no move to bail out the airline which has cancelled 210 flights in six days.

Kingfisher owner Vijay Mallya while blaming the system of airlines in the country being overtaxed and overcharged also said governments abroad have "gone out of the way" to support air carriers and connectivity.
With 50 more flights being cancelled, the beleaguered airline has cancelled 210 flights since Monday putting hundreds of passengers to inconvenience.
"This is to clarify that no such bailout package is pending before the Government nor has been proposed by Ministry of Civil Aviation for the Kingfisher Airlines," Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said in a statement.
Ravi's clarification came aagainst the backdrop of Opposition flak over his statement that he would talk to the Finance Ministry to see whether banks and oil firms could provide some relief to the cash-strapped airline.

Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal said the airline has not made any bailout request to the government but admitted "we have only asked our banks for an increase in limits due to significant increase in operating costs caused by increase in fuel prices and rupee devaluation."

Govt. launches Year-Long ‘Shiksha ka Haq Abhiyan’

The year-long 'Shiksha Ka Haq Abhiyan' campaign was launched on Friday with an appeal from Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to students to study hard for achieving success in life. 

"Education gave me a new life.... It is a magic wand that can help us meet any challenge."

This was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's message to students as Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal rang the school bell in this nondescript town in rustic Mewat region, marking the launch of the year-long 'Shiksha Ka Haq Abhiyan' campaign to create awareness about the Right To Education (RTE).

The Prime Minister's message was read out to children in this and other nearly 13 lakh schools across the country on the occasion of the 'National Education Day' in which he recollected his days as a student in his village school at Gah Begal in Chakwal district of Punjab province -- now in Pakistan -- which had no electricity and pukka roads.

"Education gave me a new life. I went to school in a village that had no electricity. I studied under an earthen oil lamp. I would walk miles to reach my school. I worked as hard as I could and the nation has always rewarded me for my efforts," Singh said.

The Prime Minister appealed to the students to study hard for achieving success in life in his message that was read Singh touched upon the life of prominent people like the country's first Education Minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who by their hard work became distinguished personalities in public life.

The RTE Act came into force last year and so far 20 states have notified the rules.

"After one year, we will review how this programme has had an impact on spreading RTE," Sibal said.

Ruing that big states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal have not notified the law as yet, Sibal had earlier said it will be a historic failure if the Act is not implemented across the country. Delhi too has not notified the Act so far.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar was the chief guest at the function.

The country-wide campaign aims at creating awareness among people about Right to Education and their entitlement to free and compulsory education.

The HRD ministry hopes that a sustained campaign will change and create an interest at the community level to ensure that RTE delivers its objective.

Ministry officials said though it has been more than a year that the RTE has come into being, there is little awareness of the law and its provisions.

The law gives governments a three-year window to ensure that infrastructure and other such provisions to meet the requirements of the law.

The Prime Minister's message in Hindi was read by Minister of State D Purandeshwari.

The Lok Sabha Speaker said all children should be enrolled in schools and no child should work as labourer.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda highlighted the steps taken by his government to bring a qualitative change in the state's education system.

He said there are 23 universities in the state as against seven in 2004-05. The government is providing scholarships ranging from Rs 75 to Rs 400 per month to 16.70 lakh students belonging to backward sections.

To promote Urdu in the state, 550 Urdu teachers would soon be recruited.

New Greek cabinet sworn

Greece's new interim Cabinet was sworn in on Friday, with former European Central Bank Vice President Lucas Papademos at its helm as Prime Minister and the key position of finance minister unchanged.

Papademos was appointed on Thursday to head the temporary coalition government, which includes ministers from Greece's two largest parties and a smaller right-wing party, after a two-week political crisis that endangered the country's continued bailout funding and raised questions about its position within the eurozone.

The new government of Papademos, who also spent time as Greece's central bank governor, must now implement the terms of Greece's latest debt deal, a 130 billion euro (USD 177 billion) agreement reached by the European Union on 27^th October.

It includes provisions for private bondholders to forgive 50 percent, or some 100 billion euro of their Greek debt holdings.

He must also secure the next 8 billion euro installment of the country's initial 110 billion euro eurozone and International Monetary Fund bailout, without which Greece will default in a matter of weeks.

Once that is done and the country has implemented the new debt agreement, Papademos is to lead the country to early elections, tentatively scheduled for February.

The new government will face a confidence vote in Parliament in the coming days, a vote it is almost certain to win as it enjoys the support of both major parties, the socialists headed by George Papandreou, who led the country through the past two years of financial crisis, and the conservatives of Antonis Samaras.

PM meets Afghan President

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday and is understood to have discussed with him the regional situation, particularly in the war-torn country.

The two leaders held talks on the sidelines of the eight-nation SAARC Summit in Maldives.

Dr. Singh and Karzai are understood to have reviewed the bilateral relations.

The security situation in the region, particularly in Afghanistan, is also said to have figured in the talks.

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister met his Nepalese counterpart Baburam Bhattarai.

Seventeenth SAARC summit second day at Addu in Maldives

In a major trade liberalisation effort in South Asia, India on Thursday drastically slashed the sensitive list for Least Developed Countries under SAFTA from 480 tariff lines to just 25 under which zero basic customs duty will be given for all the removed items.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made this declaration to a thunderous applause from the Heads of Government and State at the inauguration of the 17th Summit of the eight-nation SAARC grouping.

Leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal which comprise the Least Developed Countries (LDC) in South Asia were among those present to hear Singh's announcement.

In his speech, that was heard with rapt attention, Singh also said that he recognised that non-tariff barriers were an area of concern and India was committed to the idea of free and balanced growth of trade in South Asia.

Emphasising that integration of SAARC economies should move faster at a comfortable pace, he said India has special responsibilities that flow from the geography of the region and the size of its economy and market.

"I am happy to announce that, in a major trade liberalisation effort, the Government of India has issued a notification to reduce the Sensitive List for the Least Developed Countries under the South Asian Free Trade Area Agreement from 480 tariff lines to 25 tariff lines. Zero basic customs duty access will be given for all items removed with immediate effect," he said.

With 'Building Bridges' as its theme, the Summit hosted by Maldives in the southern most point of the island lying south of equator, is being attended by Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina among others.

President Mohammad Nasheed of Maldives in his inaugural address said the meeting should build on the momentum of its earlier decision on the full implementation of the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA).

In order to realise the full implementation of SAFTA, he said the Summit should mandate the Finance Ministers to discuss a mechanism to promote capital flows and investments and to see progress that would result in ultimate scrapping of the SAFTA Sensitive List.

Singh said industries in the South Asian region have to learn to compete if their economies were to have a future in the globalised world.

"We can all benefit from our respective comparative advantages. These include our hydro-power and natural resource endowments, possibilities of earnings from transit, marine resources, our scientific and technological base and above all our young population which will drive consumption and investment in the years ahead. We should expedite the finalisation of the SAARC Agreement on Investment," he said.

Singh, who last week attended the G20 Summit, referred to the acute crisis in the global economy, which he said has imposed a fresh and entirely uncalled for burden on developing countries.

"We hope that the leaders of the major economies, particularly in the Eurozone, will show the wisdom and will that are required to revive the global economy," he said.

However, he said that the world economy was going to take time to recover.

"In the meantime developing countries like ours will be squeezed for capital, investments and markets for our exports. We should seek imaginative ways to create new avenues and sources of growth and investment in South Asia," Singh said.

Court begins trial in 2G case

Trial commenced on Friday in a Delhi court in the 2G spectrum allocation case in which former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, corporate honchos and telecom firms are among the high-profile accused. 

Special CBI Judge O P Saini started recording statement of Anand Subramaniam, Assistant Vice President of Reliance Capital Ltd, as a prosecution witness.

The court had also summoned for Friday two other prosecution witnesses -- Group President of Reliance A N Sethuraman and Chief Regulatory Officer of Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt Ltd Vinod Kumar Budhiraja -- for their examination.

The CBI, in its first list, had submitted names of 28 persons to be examined as prosecution witnesses before the court in the month of November.

The court after framing charges against 17 accused, including three telecom firms, had slated the trial to begin from Friday.

In the first list, out of 28, 11 witnesses are from Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) which suggest that the agency wants to deal first with the charges against accused firms Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) and Shahid Usman Balwa promoted Swan Telecom.

Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the court had framed charges against Reliance ADAG Managing Director Gautam Doshi, its Group President Surendra Pipara, its senior Vice President Hari Nair, Shahid Usman Balwa, Unitech Ltd's MD Sanjay Chandra, DB Realty MD Vinod Goenka, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar and Bollywood filmmaker Karim Morani.

Former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's former Private Secretary R K Chandolia, directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal, and three telecom firms -- RTL, Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd have also been put on trial in the case.

The charges framed against all the accused under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act deal with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, faking documents, abusing official position, getting bribe and criminal misconduct by public servant.

The offences entail punishment ranging from six months in jail to life imprisonment.

Prez, VP's greetings on Guru Nanak Jayanti

President Pratibha Patil and Vice-President Hamid Ansari have greeted the people on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, which is being celebrated on Thursday

"On the auspicious occasion of the birthday of Guru Nanak Devji, I extend my greetings and good wishes to all my fellow citizens," Patil said in her message.

"May all of us strive to practice the revered Guru's noble teachings in our daily lives and strengthen the bonds of unity and oneness in our society," she said.

In his message, Ansari said, "The divine teachings of Guru Nanak Devji contain the message of peace, harmony and righteousness. On this joyous occasion let us follow his ideals of humanism and social equality that inspire us to move towards a peaceful and just society."

PM to push for greater liberalization of trade under SAFTA

The stage is now set for the opening of the two-day SAARC Summit, which expects to move forward on liberalising trade under its free trade agreement and ink new deals on regional standards, rapid response to national disasters and establishment of a seed bank.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leads a high-level Indian delegation to the 17th SAARC summit of the 8-nation grouping that is meeting in Maldives for the third time but what is unique about this meeting is that it is taking place in Addu City, the southern most point of the island nation, lying south of the Equator in Seenu Atoll.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai are part of the Indian delegation to the Summit, which will be attended among others by Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and Nepal Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai.

With 'Building Bridges' as the theme in the Summit, the SAARC is working to intensify regional integration and develop a South Asian identity.

Implementing the provisions of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) remains central to creating a more prosperous region.

Prime Minister Singh said as much in his departure statement in Delhi when he expressed the hope that the SAARC nations expect to move forward on the process of liberalisation of trade under SAFTA.

"We also expect to sign agreements on Implementation of Regional Standards, Multilateral Arrangement on Recognition of Conformity Assessment, Rapid Response to Natural Disasters and establishment of a Seed Bank," he said.

New Greek govt to be announced today: Official

A new Greek interim govt will be announced on Wednesday afternoon, a govt official said, after critical power-sharing talks between the country's two parties dragged into a third day despite intense European pressure.

Negotiations between Prime Minister George Papandreou and opposition leader Antonis Samaras began Monday in an effort to resolve a political crisis that has threatened to leave Greece without its vital bailout loans and raised the possibility of the country leaving the euro.

The two reached a historic weekend agreement to forge an interim government that will shepherd the country's new a 130 billion (USD 179 billion) European rescue package through Parliament and end an intense political crisis that threatened Greece's solvency and membership of the euro.

Papandreou has agreed to step aside once a deal is reached. His surprise announcement last week that he would put the new debt deal to a referendum sparked the latest political crisis, leading to an angry backlash from European leaders who had hammered out the agreement barely a week before, and a revolt from Papandreou's own Socialist lawmakers.

He withdrew the plan after Samaras indicated he would back the debt deal. As coalition talks spilled into a third day without any public announcement of who will take over as interim premier, a government official said Papandreou would visit the country's president by around midday.

The official said the makeup of the new Cabinet would be announced in the afternoon following a meeting between party leaders.

According to protocol, government changes must be announced to the president, who holds a largely ceremonial post.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the record.

Berlusconi to resign after reforms promised to EU: Official

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to resign following the adoption of key economic reforms promised to the European Union, the Italian president's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Once this commitment has been carried out, the prime minister will submit his resignation to the head of state," read the statement, which came after consultations between Berlusconi and President Giorgio Napolitano.

Napolitano will then "proceed with traditional consultations with maximum attention to the positions and proposals of every political force -- those of the majority from the 2008 elections as well as the opposition," it added.

Napolitano's office said Berlusconi had shown "his awareness of the implications of the results of today's vote" as well as "concern for the urgent need to give prompt answers to the expectations of European partners."

Berlusconi's centre-right coalition earlier on Tuesday failed to obtain an overall majority in parliament on a key vote as Europe ratcheted up the pressure for Italy to move quickly to put its public finances in order.

Trinamool Cong says any further hike in petrol prices would not be accepted in future

Unhappy over the latest hike in petrol prices, Trinamool Congress 22 MPs on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the delegation of the party is the second largest constituent of the UPA after Congress with 18 lok sabha MPs.

 

The delegation of the party, which is the second largest constituent of the UPA after Congress with 22 MPs, indicated that it got no assurance from the Prime Minister on the demands for rollback of Rs 1.8 hike in petrol price announced last week.
"We expressed our sentiments to the Prime Minister and gave him a copy of the resolution adopted at the Parliamentary Party meeting held in Kolkata," said Union Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandhopadhyay after the 45-minute meeting with Singh.
He said the delegation had categorically told the Prime Minister that Trinamool was opposed to any decision that would lead to another rise in the prices of diesel, LPG and kerosene, as has been reported in the media.
Singh said he was not aware of any such decision, Bandhopadhyay told reporters.
"Trinamool Congress will not digest easily whenever there is another rise in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG," Bandhopadhyay said.