| New Delhi, Sept. 2: Three of 14 Indian pilgrims kidnapped on Thursday by unidentified gunmen in Iraq have since been shot dead in Al Anbar province. An Indian student named Askari called up the Indian mission in Baghdad at 9.30 pm on Friday to inform the diplomats there about the killings of the Indian nationals, charge d’affaires Kedar Singh told this newspaper over the telephone from the Iraqi capital.
The caller identified the victims as M.M. Baig and Muhammad Ahmed Ali of Hyderabad and Mir Zafar Mahshadi of Nagaram in East Godavari district. The Indian mission has since got in touch with the wives of two of the deceased, who agreed to have the last rites of the dead conducted at Karbala in Iraq. “The last rites of the deceased are expected to be performed by this evening or tomorrow,” Mr Kedar Singh said.
The three were members of a group of 40 people — 14 Indians and 26 Pakistanis — who were travelling on a bus to the Shia holy city of Karbala, about 80 km from Baghdad, on a pilgrimage. Sources in the ministry of external affairs said a large number of Shia pilgrims from many countries, including India, are expected in Karbala on September 9 to observe Shaaban, a religious celebration.
[Iraqi interior ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf said the insurgents had dragged 11 Pakistanis and three Indians off a bus and shot them dead at close range, reports AFP. “They were coming from the desert area of Turaibil toward the Nakhab region. They did not ask the authorities to provide them with security,” he said.
[“They were coming in a big bus with children and women. The attackers freed the women and children and shot dead the men, execution-style.” Karbala city health director Salim Kadhim confirmed the death toll. “Two of them were elderly men, two were young men in their 20s and the others were middle-aged,” he said, adding that they were killed on a route that comes across the desert from Iraq’s western border past the city of Ramadi. Ramadi is a stronghold of Sunni insurgents, who are blamed for murderous attacks against Iraq’s Shia majority and against foreign Shias on pilgrimage to Iraqi shrines.]
In New Delhi, minister of state for external affairs E. Ahamed confirmed the killings. He said the Indian mission in Baghdad had come to know that the group of pilgrims was intercepted by unidentified gunmen at a place called Rutba in Al Anbar province on August 31. The armed men segregated male members of the group, who numbered 14 — three Indians and 11 Pakistanis — and whisked them away.
Describing the incident as unfortunate, Mr Ahamed regretted that people continued to go to Iraq despite the travel advisory of the government not to do so in view of the prevailing security situation there. The ill-fated group of pilgrims had entered Iraq through Syria with the help of a travel agent. India had issued the advisory in 2004 after the kidnapping of three Indian drivers there.
Sources in the MEA said the bodies of the three Indians with bullet wounds were lying in a Karbala hospital. Incidentally, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy was meeting Union home minister Shivraj Patil when the news of the killings filtered in. “We will consider what kind of steps are required and we will take all necessary steps,” Mr Reddy said.
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| Hyderabad/Rajahmundry, Sept. 2: Local residents at Ghatkesar, some 20 km from Hyderabad, on Saturday put up an simple memorial for Dr M.M. Baig, who was killed by extremists while on a pilgrimage in Iraq.
Nothing elaborate, just a photograph of Dr Baig. Local residents garlanded the photographs and offered prayers for him. “He was really a good man,” said Sudhakar Rao, a local activist. “He would treat poor people free of cost. He was loved by all,” Mr Rao said. Dr Baig was among the three persons from Andhra Pradesh killed by suspected Sunni militiamen while on a pilgrimage to Syria and Iraq. The others were Muhammad Ahmed Ali, 42, of Chanchalguda, Hyderabad, who works in a public call office and Mir Zafar Mahshadi, 62, from Nagaram in East Godavari district, a retired State government official. They were the only three men in a group of 15 members who embarked on a pilgrimage of holy sites in Syria and Iraq on August 23. The 12 women in the group are safe. Among them were Dr Baig’s wife Zaheera Begum and mother-in-law Hussaini Begum, and Mahshadi’s wife Masuma Khathun and his mother-in-law Abedunnisa. A representative of the Iraq government deputed to assist the group said that the rest of the group had been put up in Hotel Jinain near the Hazrat Iman shrine in Karbala, their intended destination.The representative told this correspondent over phone from Karbala that the women members were in a state of shock. He advised against trying to talk to them at this time. A special prayer was being organised at about 6 pm local time. The group was led by Zainab Fathima of Hyderabad. “All the women are safe and have been put up in a hotel near Karbala,” said Ms Fathima’s husband Yousuf Abbas. “She called me up over telephone and informed us of the incident,” he said. The family members had given permission for the funeral rites to be held in Iraq, Mr Abbas said. Two separate groups from Hyderabad, one comprising 103 members, and three members of another group are also in Iraq and are reported to be safe. The group had left Mumbai for Damascus on August 25. After visiting the shrine of Hazrat Zainab, sister of Imam Hussain and granddaughter of Prophet Mohammed, and the shrine of Hazrat Sakina, daughter of Imam Hussain in Syria, the group had travelled to Karbala in Iraq via Jordan by bus. They were about 100 km from Karbala when they were stopped, the men taken out and killed. Of Dr Baig’s children, Ali Abbas is an ophthalmologist in Ghatkesar and Mehdi Abbas works with an FM ration station in the city. His daughter Hina Fatima is married and stays separately. Mr Mehdi Abbas said, “Our father helped us to have good education despite not having adequate money. We lost him before we could anything for him.” He said that the funeral rites had been completed in Iraq. “My mother and grandmother are safe,” he said. PCO employee Md Ahmed Ali of Chanchalguda collected donations to go on the pilgrimage. He used to do the pilgrimage every year, his family said. After he left on pilgrimage, his wife, two sons and a daughter went on to stay at his in-laws house in Noor Khan Bazar in the old city. Ali’s daughter Zehra Begum, a first intermediate student, had fainted twice after hearing of the killing of her father. They had received the news at 1.45 am on Saturday. Her mother, Mallika Begum, and brothers Yusha Hyder, studying Intermediate 1 year, and Kumail Hyder, a Class IX student, recalled that Ali had called them five days ago and said that he would pray for them. “It is not the first time that our father has gone on this pilgrimage. For the last 10 years, he has been going on this pilgrimage every year, sometimes twice a year,” the sons said. Ali was the lone bread-earner for the family. Some local residents vented their ire over Al-Qaeda. “This is the handiwork of Al-Qaeda. The Indian government along with US and Iraqi governments should do something about this terrorist organisation. They have to be stopped from killing innocent people,” the locals said. Mir Abujafar Mashaddi, 62, the third person killed in Iraq was from Jaggannapeta in East Godavari district. [Incidentally, Ghatkesar’s Dr Baig came from Nagaram village in this district.] Mashaddi went on pilgrimage accompanied by his wife Masuma Khathun and mother-in-law Abedunnisa. Two sisters Mazaherunnisa and B.V. Zahera and a 60-year-old woman Taherunnisa comprised the rest of the party. Mashaddi retired as a co-operative manager, all his six daughters are married. One of them, Abbasi Begum, said, “Even after we were married, we used to feel secure after seeing our father. Now he is no more. We have become orphans.”
“My father has not done anything to be brutally shot down,” she said. |
| Karimnagar, Sept. 2: The district police on Saturday announced the arrests of CPI (ML) Janashakti central committee secretary Kura Rajaiah alias K. Rajanna, 59, and four top leaders of the outfit. Superintendent of police D.S. Chauhan said that a police team had gone to Lucknow after being tipped off about the movement of the Naxalites, and arrested them. Other Naxalites arrested by the police were AP committee members Yerramreddy Naras-imha Reddy alias Satyam, 31, Nambi Narsimhaiah alias Ram Pullaiah, 53, Maharashtra Sta-te committee secretary Rama-krishna Pawar alias Ram, 50, and UP’s Bijnore district secretary Ashok Kumar Rajput. The team arrested the five Naxals including Rajanna at the bus station in Barabanki district headquarters near Lucknow on Thursday afternoon. All of them were remanded to judicial custody and shifted to jail in Jagityal in the district. Police also recovered a UK-made .32 pistol with four live cartridges, ammunition for other guns, explosive material and party literature besides cash worth Rs 3 lakh. Mr Chauhan said that the arrested Naxals made an abortive attempt to escape when the police team stopped the vehicle at Venkatraopet near Metpalli on Friday night. Soon after the police stopped the vehicle to allow the Naxalites to urinate, they assaulted the cops, but were soon overpowered. The SP added that Rajanna had masterminded several murders, arsons, and extortions. He had also supplied arms to Janashakti and Maoist activists in the district and elsewhere. “Detailed interrogation will help unravel the nexus between the extremist outfit and other organisations,” said Mr Chauhan. The police produced the five Janashakti Naxalites including at Metpalli court on Saturday. The magistrate G. Malathi remanded them to judicial custody. The police shifted them to Jagtial sub-jail in the night. |
| Mumbai, Sept. 2: Supriya Sule, daughter of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, is now certain to be the NCP-Congress candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat from Maharashtra which had fallen vacant on the death of NCP leader Vasant Chavan. Mr Pawar is said to favour his daughter for this seat and the Congress is most likely to support his decision. The last day for filing nominations is September 8. According to the political grapevine, civil aviation minister Praful Patel, a close associate of Mr Pawar, is holding consultations with Mr Ahmed Patel of the Congress to ensure that Ms Sule has an easy passage into the Upper House. The candidate-in-waiting herself appears relaxed and ready, if elected, to take on added responsibility. She is extremely involved in the education sector, and has over the past six to seven years been committed to ensuring a level playing field — that people in village schools and those in other disadvantaged areas have the same access to quality education as those in elite public schools in urban areas. She has also been busy spreading awareness about the educational needs of the handicapped. In the school that she runs — Pawar Public School in Bhandup, which has students from the nursery level to Class VI — Ms Pawar has taken in a handicapped student with a high IQ, and she says if she succeeds in getting this child integrated in the school she will then increase the intake of handicapped students with high IQs. She is trying to sensitise 700 schools to the needs of the handicapped, as she feels, as she told this correspondent, that they have an equal right to quality education. Asked whether a Rajya Sabha ticket would mark her entry into politics, Ms Sule responded: “I am not a product to be launched.” Politics, in her view, “is a medium which gives one an opportunity to stand up for people and voice their views and grievances. That’s what politics is all about — development, progress and a vision of the future.” Ms Sule’s focus will be education and health, and she is likely to be a tremendous asset to the NCP, which she joined recently. The BJP and Shiv Sena are also understood to be supportive of her candidature. The NCP would, however, like the Congress to support her because she would be an official party candidate. Earlier, in the case of the candidature of industrialist Rahul Bajaj, the NCP had supported Mr Bajaj because he was an Independent candidate. Mr Bajaj was also supported by the BJP-Sena combine. The Congress put up its own candidate at the behest of Maharashtra revenue minister Narayan Rane, who wanted to settle scores with the NCP. But the Congress candidate lost to Mr Bajaj. The only apparent worry over the entry of Ms Sule into the party and in the Rajya Sabha is the camp of State irrigation minister Ajit Pawar. Ajit is a nephew of Mr Sharad Pawar and was always seen as his political heir. Ajit has, however, not endeared himself to party workers, who have several complaints against him for ignoring them. He also does not have a pan-Maharashtra image, nor does he have any of the charisma of Mr Pawar to carry party members along with him. Ms Sule, on the other hand, has been involved in ashram shalas and women’s self-help groups in almost every district of Maharashtra through her dedicated work in the field of educating the girl child. |
| Hyderabad, Sept. 2: The University of Hyderabad has been roped in by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for critical research into high-energy materials used in rockets, missiles and ammunition. It is for the first time that an academic institution has been selected for this type of strategic research. “We are not going to make any explosives here,” said Prof. Surya P. Tewari, director of the Advanced Centre of Research in High Energy Materials (ACRHEM) at the university. “Our work will be mostly theoretical.” The research would involve discovering and perfecting fuels with give greater thrust and developing new theoretical models for combustion and detonation. It will focus on how to improve propelling power even while reducing the quantity of the fuel used. Researchers have informally started work on the project a few months ago. According to experts, the base high-energy material used could be petrol, liquid gas and even nuclear fuel. Prof. Tewari said that high-energy materials had important uses in the defence sector. Also, the research it will help defence experts calibrate their response to such materials. “There is also a need for ordinary people to understand how such materials function in order to protect themselves,” he added. Former vice-chancellor of the university Dr Kota Harinarayana said that unless researchers succeeded in generating high energy by burning small quantities of fuel, energy efficiency would not be achieved. Prof. Tewari will be heading a team of about 25 academicians from different departments and 35 postgraduate students and research scholars. ACRHEM will be working in collaboration with the High Energy Materials Lab in Pune. Vice Chancellor Dr Syed Ehtesham Hasnain disclosed that DRDO would give Rs 34.79 crore to the university in five years to set up a centre and for carrying out the research. Sophisticated equipment necessary for research would reach the university shortly. | State plans 120 casteless hostels | | |
| | Hyderabad, Sept. 2: In a bid to promote social integration among students of different castes, the State government has decided to start “integrated welfare hostel complexes” in different parts of the State. At present, there are separate welfare hostels for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, run by the Social Welfare department, Tribal Welfare department and BC Welfare department, respectively. No student from upper castes or minorities would be admitted into these hostels. But the proposed Integrated Welfare Hostels would accommodate students from all these castes. “These hostels will be modern with more facilities. Initially, there is a proposal for 120 hostels — 62 for girls and 58 for boys. Of them, 66 hostels would be run by the Social Welfare department, 40 by BC Welfare department and 14 by the Tribal Welfare department,” Minister for social welfare Redya Naik told mediapersons, after a two-day review meeting of the departmental programmes, on Saturday. The minister said the total cost of construction of these complexes would be around Rs 180 crore, each complex costing Rs 1.50 crore. “Housing and Urban Development Corporation would provide financial assitance to the tune of Rs 162 crore and the remaining expenditure would be borne by respective departments,” he said. Mr Naik said the government was concentrating on improving the educational standards in the social welfare hostels and residential schools. Except in Medak, Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad, which recorded less than 50 per cent passes in the SSC examinations, in other districts, the average pass percentage was above 80. |  |
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BJP to pursue T-State issue | | |
| | Hyderabad, Sept. 2: The State unit of Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday dared Telangana Rashtra Samiti leaders to resign their membership in Lok Sabha and Assembly to prove their “sincerity and honesty” towards separate Telangana. Addressing a press conference here senior BJP leaders Bandaru Dattatreya, K. Laxman and N. Indrasena Reddy said the TRS leaders should fight elections again on Telangana slogan and prove their claims by winning elections. The BJP leaders said their party resolved to fight for separate Telangana much before the birth of TRS. “We did not misuse the sentiment like TRS and on the contrary Congress and TRS cheated people,” they said. They also pooh- poohed TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao for describing Sonia Gandhi as “neo Congress” leader. The BJP also announced that the State unit asked its cadre to sing Vandemataram in all the important road junctions across the State on September 7. The mass rendering of Vandemataram was part of BJP's nationwide protest against the recent directive of Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh stating that rendering of national song in schools was not compulsory.
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Picturesque Kattedan lake turns pink | | |
| | Hyderabad, Sept. 2: Mystery continues to shroud the Kattedan lake that has turned pink.
Some argue that the unique colour of the lake, also known as Noor Mohammed Kunta, is due to the high level of pollutants that are being emptied into the lake. Others say that the lake’s colour is due to the presence of innumerable colonies of Amoebobacter, a rare bacteria. The textile and dyeing industry along with battery recondition and oil reclamation units situated near the lake are the main sources of the industrial waste. A Local Area Environment Committee (LAEC) set up by the Supreme Court had come up with recommendations for the closure of these industries. As per the directions of the committee, 61 industries have been shut down. Dr Venkatramana, Reader in the Department of Plant Sciences of HCU, said, “The colour is the result of a rare kind of pink- coloured bacteria that thrive in this lake in large numbers. These bacteria are harmless and even help in bio-remediation of the lake pollutants.” Capt. J. Rama Rao, member of the LAEC looking into this matter, dismissed this explanation and said, “The inflow into the lake is of the same colour as the lake and thus it is the polluting inflows that are causing the colour.” Dr N.N. Murthy of the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) said that the colour was earlier related to inorganic toxic elements. However, NGRI is now looking into the issue of bacterial presence in the lake. However, in spite of a foundation stone being laid by Chief Minister last year, Sewage Treatment Plant is yet to be constructed. | |
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Desam corners State on ORR land acquisition | | |
| | Hyderabad, Sept. 2: The Telugu Desam on Saturday accused the Congress government of helping a few “influential persons” to lay claim on 300 acres of prime land earmarked for evacuees. Addressing a press conference at TDLP office here, senior TD leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy said that of the 600 acres of land earmarked for evacuees, only 300 acres is entangled in a legal battle. He wanted the State to declare the present status of the remaining 300 acres of land which is free from litigation. “The government should convene an all-party meeting on this issue. It should present all the relevant records at the all-party meet,” Mr Reddy said adding that his party would prove the irregularities in land dealings if such a meeting is convened. Mr Reddy said he would approach court, if needed, to protect the prime land from being given away by the government to influential persons. The TD leader, however, refused to name the ‘influential persons’. Releasing copies of GOs in support of his claims, Janardhan Reddy said the then Telugu Desam government had issued a GO (No. 786) on November 9, 1999 making it mandatory on the part of officials to refer to the government before taking any decision on the 600 acres of land earmarked for evacuees at Puppalaguda in the city outskirts. The Congress government had also issued a GO (1092) on June 6, 2005 declaring any registration done on Puppalaguda lands as illegal. However, Ranga Reddy district collector had later wrote to the Stateseeking denotification of land for handing it over to Huda. Following this the government issued orders (1961) on October 19, 2005. Mr Reddy wondered how could the State could hand over the land to private parties which was declared as government land through a gazette notification. He added that the people were fed up with the “wrong policies” of the government. | |
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MCH seals manhole covers with saplings to check theft | | |
| | Hyderabad, Sept. 2: The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) has found a new way of stalling the theft of manhole-covers which are made of cast-iron. It is planting saplings on covers of storm water drains to protect them from thieves. This is done by sealing the cover with cement and then pouring mud to a height of one-and-a-half feet on the manhole cover so that the sapling grows. However, MCH officials claimed that they were not aware of this process. But investigations by this correspondent who visited Shantinagar, Masab Tank, found about half-a-dozen covers over which trees had been planted. These saplings were also properly fenced in order to protect them from being eaten away by cattle. Mr. B.V. Narayan, a resident of the area, said that he was surprised that the MCH chose the manholes instead of the opposite sidewalk to plant saplings. Additional Commissioner (Health and Sanitation), MCH, Ram Mohan Rao, promised to probe into the matter. According to Mr Sunder Ram Reddy, Superintendent (Works) MCH, “Those who steal the cast-iron covers earn Rs 1,000 by selling a cover but it has long ranging effects. It causes health problems.” The MCH and the Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewage Board (HMWSSB) have together laid more than one lakh manhole covers. Chief General Manager, HMWSSB, C.V. Ram Babu, said that his department had already started replacing the cast iron covers with fibre reinforced concrete covers. HMWSSB can be contacted at 155313 to report on open manholes. | |
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Holiday declared on Sept. 6 | | |
| | Hyderabad, Sept. 2: The State government has declared a general holiday on September 6 to all government offices, schools and colleges located in twin cities of Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Ranga Reddy district on account of Ganesh idols immersion. Consequently, September 9 (second Saturday) will be observed as a working day for government offices and educational institutions in the twin cities and Ranga Reddy district. | |
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APCC to ignore KCR, focus on T-development | | |
| | Hyderabad, Sept. 2: The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee has decided to ignore Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K. Chandrasekhar Rao and concentrate on the development of Telangana to win over the hearts of people.The APCC has also planned to take out “yatras” as a counter to the programme of the TRS. “The TRS has been issuing threats over Telangana. We will not be cowed down by such threats. If the TRS has cadre, we have a larger cadre base. We will not keep quiet,” senior Congress leaders Paladugu Venkat Rao and Gone Prakash Rao said. Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan here on Saturday, the Congress leaders said even if a separate State was carved out for Telangana, the backward region would not develop. “It will be ruled by upper castes and the rich. The poor and the common man will have no place in Telangana,” they said pointing out that the Congress is committed to the development of all the regions and welfare of all sections of people. They said that Mr Rao should explain to people the reasons which led to his resignation from the UPA ministry at the Centre. | |
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T-issue on back burner: CM | | |
| | Hyderabad, Sept. 2: Indicating that the Congress high command has put the Telangana issue on the back burner, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on Saturday said UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was by and large happy with the developmental programmes taken up by his government in Telangana. In an informal chat with mediapersons at Secretariat after his return from New Delhi, the Chief Minister said he explained to Sonia the programmes being implemented in Telangana region and she was immensely satisfied with the performance. “The confidence level of our government in New Delhi has gone up tremendously and our projects and programmes have got nation-wide recognition,” he said. He said the focus on the Telangana development programme would be completion of irrigation projects and creation of em-ployment opportunities.
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APGenco to construct hydel power stations | | |
| | Hyderabad, Sept. 2: The Irrigation department has dropped the idea of privatising the construction of hydel power stations and decided to entrust it to the State-owned APGenco. The decision was taken at a high-level official meeting of the department a couple of days ago, department sources told this correspondent. Earlier, the department had ignored proposals from APGenco and decided to call tenders from private parties for the hydel power projects — 120 MW Pulichintala power station, 960 MW Indira Sagar (Polavaram) power project, 360 MW Rajiv Sagar (Dummugudem) project and 360 MW Singareddypalle power project. In fact, last November, the Polavaram project was awarded to Sabir Dam and Constructions. But the government cancelled it when irregularities surfaced from tender process. Now, the government feels that APGenco has the expertise to complete the projects at a cheaper cost. Since APGenco is a State-owned company, it could generate its own financial resources for the projects. Hence, APGenco has been awarded the Pulichintala project, which is expected to be completed by 2008. Once APGenco completes these projects, the Irrigation department will take complete control over them as the power generated by them is dedicated for operating the 16- lift irrigation projects, which require as much as 1,554 MW. Operation and maintenance will be done by APGenco. | |
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Pilgrims ignore Centre’s advise | | |
| | Hyderabad, Sept. 2: Hundreds of Muslims particularly Shias from the State ignore the travel advisories issued by the Union external affairs ministry against travelling to Iraq despite the obvious dangers of journey though the war-torn country where Shias are frequently targeted.
Shia Muslims form groups and go on pilgrimage; the groups are usually led by a veteran on the circuit. The pilgrimage is organised by private individuals, and therefore figures of the number of pilgrims are hard to come by. From Hyderabad, the group travels to Mumbai and from there to Damascus, Syria, or Dubai. In Syria, the pilgrim spots are the shrine of Hazrat Zainab, sister of Imam Hussain and granddaughter of Prophet Mohammed, and the shrine of Hazrat Sakina, daughter of Imam Hussain. From there, they head for Karbala in Iraq by road via Jordan. Karbala is the the place where Imam Hussain and 71 of his followers were slain. At different places in Iraq are the shrines of Hazrat Ali, son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad, and shrines important Imams. Depending upon the package, the group either returns or proceed to Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage to Mecca and Madina before coming back home. “The trip takes 40 days. Each pilgrim pays about Rs 45,000 for tickets, food, boarding and other expenditure, and it would be Rs 75,000 if they are continuing to Mecca and Madina,” Firasat Ali Baqri, general Secretary of Hydri Educational and Social Welfare Society said. Mr Baqri himself went on pilgrimage to Iraq in March earlier this year. “All the pilgrims are told about the travel advisories. But it is a matter of faith and religious sentiment. So we keep going,” he said. “While we were going to Karbala, our bus was stopped at least 40 times in less than 80 km by US and Iraqi soldiers. Every time they searched the bus, questioned us and checked our baggage,” Mr Baqri recalled. “Hardly 40 km from Karbala, a blast occurred half-a-kilometre away from our bus. All the pilgrims were shocked. After so many checks, there was this blast,” he said. City police commissioner A.K. Mohanty said the police had not booked any cases against the people who have organised the pilgrimage. “There has been no complaint and what can one do if someone is shot during a pilgrimage,” he said.
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Inflation will be contained: RBI chief | | |
| | Hyderabad, Sept. 2: Reserve Bank of India Governor Y.V. Reddy on Saturday said he expects the Central Bank to be able to contain inflation to between 5-5.5 per cent during 2006-07. “As of now, based on all evidence, we believe that it will be possible to contain the inflation for the current year as mentioned in the monetary policy,” Dr Reddy told reporters on the sidelin-es of the 10th year celebrat-ions of the Institute for De-velopment and Research in Banking Technology here.
According to government data, the inflation rate for the week ended August 19 was at 4.91 per cent. Dr Reddy said that it was still possible to keep inflation in the projected 5—5.5 per cent bank. He said the Central Bank also believed that India’s GDP growth rate was on course, and is expected to grow by 7.5-8 per cent in 2005-06. Asked about the possible impact of a slowing US economy on India, the governor said, “There will be a minimal impact on emerging economies.” Dr Reddy said the RBI would take a view on measures outlined by the committee on Fuller Rupee Convertibility for 2006-07 in two months. “The committee’s specific recommendation to the RBI concerns regulatory mechanisms. The RBI will be taking a view on the Tarapore Committee’s recommendation on fuller rupee convertibility in the next few weeks,” Dr Reddy said. The committee, which released its report on Friday, calls for full rupee convertibility, in phases, by the year 2011. Earlier, speaking at the IDRBT Banking Technology Awards event, Dr Reddy said while several urban co-operative banks had impro-ved their technology prow-ess, but a lot more needed to be done. Eight banks were given the IDRBT Banking Technology Awards in various categories. | |
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