Asia Africa Intelligence Wire articles from April 2004, page 10

Asia Africa Intelligence Wire archives from April 2004

SC slams insurance companies over settling claims.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: RAKESH BHATNAGAR (##include msid=43376741,type=11 ##) NEW DELHI: Indicting certain insurance companies over dilly dallying in settling legitimate claims by victims, the Supreme Court has warned...

Laloo goes Mulayam, but not on Rudy.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) NEW DELHI: A day is truly a long time in politics. Less than 24 hours after saying Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav would not be part of a secular alliance in case of a hung Parliament, RJD supremo...

Surjeet: Can he get two Yadavs to tango?
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Akshaya Mukul NEW DELHI: The story goes that when the then Congress president Sitaram Kesri withdrew support from H D Deve Gowda government in April 1997, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, somewhere in the...

EVMs can help a 'scorned winner' take revenge.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Seema Kamdar MUMBAI: Call it revenge of the winning horse. Electronic voting machines (EVMs) offer the distinct possibility of making life miserable for localities that haven't voted for a victorious...

EVMs irk Barmer's Muslims.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) JODHPUR: The man and the machine may not always be friends. For the first times when the world's biggest democracy exercised its franchise, electronically, it was considered a great success. But not all are...

Inside the maze that is Mulayam's mind.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Rajeev Deshpande NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party chieftain Mulayam Singh Yadav has never fought shy of a good fight. For the Yadav from Safai, who began his career as a school teacher, the smell of a...

Policing outsourced: Pvt security firms man thanas.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Lalit Kumar GHAZIABAD: In this day and age of outsourcing, it was really only a matter of time before someone figured it out. The police force is hopelessly stretched by election duty. ...

Jogi's b'day leaves patients fuming.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) MUMBAI: Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi's 58th birthday celebrations at Bombay Hospital on Thursday left other patients on the same floor fuming. "My 22-year-old son has been in coma for the...

Slim is in: Ministers to drop like flies soon.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) NEW DELHI: RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav once said that if he convened a meeting of his entire cabinet, there would be no space to even move an elbow. The inimitable Yadav boss wasn't joking; the wages of...

Tulsi in Hardwar.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Tulsi in Hardwar: Enter Smriti Iraani in Chandni Chowk, exit Tulsi from the Balaji brigade. As Iraani hit the bylanes of the constituency, Tulsi has been packed off for a month and half from Kyunki Saas Bhi...

5 dead, 4 hurt in factory fire.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) NEW DELHI: Five men died after a fire erupted in a helmet factory in Jakhira area in north Delhi on Wednesday afternoon. Four others were seriously injured in the fire. They are being treated at Lok Nayak...

Poll pundits have a field day.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) (##include msid=43376741,type=11 ##) NEW DELHI: While poll candidates are busy flying down stars from Mumbai into the heat and dust of the campaign, it is their astrologers and pundits who are busy humouring...

Jat with mass appeal.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Pallavi Majumdar NEW DELHI: It requires sheer stamina to trudge through 866 sq kms addressing 34 lakh people. But despite the late declaration of ticket, Congress candidate Sajjan Kumar is patiently...

Journey has just begun...
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: NAVNEET MENDIRATTA NEW DELHI: As he starts from his house at 5 Tughlaq Lane, BJP candidate from Outer Delhi constituency Sahib Singh Verma knows he has a long day ahead. Running a good...

Reel stars garner support for real ones.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) NEW DELHI: It will be a star-spangled political skyline for Delhi. After campaigning all over India, the tinseltown stars will shine in the city. The likes of Zeenat Aman, Shakti Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Shabana...

Twin setback for schools.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) NEW DELHI: It seems to be trying times ahead for public schools in Delhi. Having suffered a double blow in the form of Delhi government's reservation order and the Supreme Court's ruling on commercialisation of...

PMT leak: Sachdeva New PT College raided.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) NEW DELHI: The Crime Branch raided one of the branches of Sachdeva New PT College in Patparganj on Wednesday morning and recovered a floppy containing questions of the CBSE AIPMT paper. The coaching institute's...

Christian schools have quotas for years, so why crib?
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) NEW DELHI: Mention the word "reservation" before public schools and most institutions are quick to go on a vehemently defensive mode. While many principals give a number of arguments against reservations, the...

Muck runs deep in CBSE-PMT leak.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Sachin Parashar NEW DELHI: The impending arrest of Sudhir Sachdeva, the owner of Sachdeva New PT College, is likely to unravel the mystery behind the success of one of India's hitherto leading...

MBA student's body found near canal.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) GHAZIABAD: The body of a business management student was discovered near Muradnagar canal on Thursday. Police suspect she may have been raped before being murdered. The victim, Abhilasha, is the daughter of...

Contract killer shot dead.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) GREATER NOIDA: The Surajpur police shot a man, alleged to be a contract killer, in an encounter near the Gamma Sector on Thursday evening. The deceased has been identified as Mohammad Hanif. He allegedly...

Your electricity bill could shock you again.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: ASHLEY D'MELLO MUMBAI: Millions of consumers in the city who get electricity from Reliance Energy Limited (REL) or Brihan Mumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) will be paying higher bills...

Former militants shot dead.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) NEW DELHI: Delhi Police shot dead two former Punjab terrorists in an early morning encounter on Thursday. The encounter took place at Wazirabad T-point. The terrorists were later identified as Jagtar Singh Jagga...

Protest forces navy to stop helibase expansion.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) MUMBAI: Slum residents in Colaba have forced the naval authorities to suspend land-fill work for the expansion of their helibase. On Wednesday, residents of Azad Nagar and Sundar Nagar protested the proposed...

New panel to probe Nalco case.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday asked the National Aluminium Corporation (Nalco) whether it would reconstitute the committee conducting the inquiry into the sexual harassment and molestation charges...

State to stub out cigarette, tobacco ads.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan better watch out. And so should every actor who loves blowing smoke rings in reel life. The state government is gearing up to stub out endorsements for cigarettes and other tobacco...

Four African undertrials booked for assault.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) MUMBAI: Four African undertrials, who assaulted the chief medical examiner in Byculla jail two months ago, have now been booked for the offence. Police said the four women, Helen Gees, Latifa Olayade,...

Uzbek women bash up officials.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) MUMBAI: Two Uzbek women, arrested in a prostitution racket from a Juhu hotel in March, were re-arrested for bashing up officials at the rehabilitation centre in Chembur recently. The two, believed to be...

Officer foils bogus voting attempt.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Milind Ballal THANE: Threats and bribes did not deter an upright presiding officer, Sanjay Gawande, from doing his duty at a polling station in Raigad district on Monday. Gawande foiled an...

The roadrunner show...with Maruti 800.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) MUMBAI: Though the parking space crunch in the city needs no reiteration, the 'Times Of India' decided to check out the situation for itself. On Wednesday morning, we got into a Maruti 800 and tried to park...

EVM info, at the victor's feet.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Seema Kamdar MUMBAI: It's possible for winning poll candidates to know about the localities which haven't voted for them, courtesy EVMs. The address tag on an EVM gives the name of the polling...

No HC relief for Raheja Vihar residents.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) MUMBAI: In a major blow to residents of Raheja Vihar, Powai, the Bombay high court on Wednesday allowed K Raheja Corporation and Powai Developers to continue cutting a natural hill next to their complex. The...

Thackeray blows his top over poll goof-ups.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) MUMBAI: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray reacted sharply to the large-scale glitches in the voters' list in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Monday. "I am shocked that a large number of Mumbai's...

Camas waiting for a suitable buyer.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Baiju Kalesh and Nauzer Bharucha MUMBAI: There are no takers, as of now, for the Rs 100-croreplus residential bungalow of the Cama family situated behind Elizabeth Nursing Home off Napean Sea Road....

Cama sutra: No buyer for 100-cr home.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Baiju Kalesh and Nauzer Bharucha (##include msid=43376741,type=11 ##) MUMBAI: When a sprawling bungalow estate located in the most expensive residential enclave of the city is put up for sale,...

Vengeful winner can use EVMs to hit back.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Seema Kamdar MUMBAI: Call it the revenge of the vindictive winner. Electronic voting machines offer a victorious candidate the distinct possibility of making life miserable for localities that...

Cong-NCP ministers offer to quit.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) MUMBAI: Congress and Nationalist Congress Party members of the 67-strong Democratic Front ministry on Wednesday volunteered to resign to enable chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde to downsize his team. ...

Generating power at sewage treatment plant.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: M B MARAMKAL MYSORE: City corporation which implemented various long term plans such as rain water harvesting, cleaning operations, pisiculture in sewage water and renovation and protection of...

No water rationing in Mysore says MCC.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: M B MARAMKAL MYSORE: City Corporation Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim on Thursday allayed the fears of Mysoreans on the drinking water front and said there is no need to be panicky on this issue. At a...

It's time for betting in Mysore!
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: M B MARAMKAL MYSORE: If Siddaramaiah gets defeated one is bound to hit a jackpot. While one gets 25 paise for a rupee if he wins, he or she will get between Rs 30 and 50 for each rupee one bets on...

Cong unit brushes aside poll surveys.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) BANGALORE: Brushing aside election surveys and exit polls that forecast a close fight in Karnataka Assembly polls, Congress state unit president Janardhan Poojary on Thursday asserted it would be a "miracle" if...

Even a fly can't enter EVM strong rooms.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: SEETHALAKSHMI S BANGALORE: With nearly a fortnight to go for counting, centres where the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are stored, resemble a fortress. For every 100 metres within the...

HUNG-HO: Dal khichdi in state?
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) BANGALORE: Exit polls and enter strategies. Like at the Centre where national parties are all out to kiss and make up with their foes in the event of a hung Parliament, Karnataka is witness to a mirror scenario....

BWSSB eases bill payment.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) BANGALORE: Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is all set to open 200 more KaverEcoms - 24-hour bill payment kiosks - in Bangalore, its chairman M.N. Vidyashankar said on Wednesday. BWSSB at...

Super-speciality hospital touches 2.5 lakh cases.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: B.S. Manu Rao BANGALORE: A steady stream of patients reaches the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences' super-speciality hospital in Whitefield, and has now touched a landmark of 2.5...

Nectarines and Rambutans adorn fruit basket.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Meghana Mathur BANGALORE: Bet you haven't yet sunk your pearlies into the Avocado Butter Fruit, the Kiwi, Rambutan or Nectarine, or dared taste the Dragon Fruit. Look around hard - these exotic fruit...

Computer geeks log in as conmen.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Johnson T.A. BANGALORE: Watch out! Computer-age crooks don the guise of trade fair organisers, lottery operators and spam mailers. And the Internet is frequently the route they are taking. Over...

BDA resumes giving applications for sites.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) BANGALORE: The BDA has started issuing applications for 20,000 sites at Arkavathy Layout. Applicants can collect them from Thursday; the last date for submitting them is May 31. The BDA had invited...

The heavens are right at your ceiling.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) BANGALORE: If you want to see stars for real while you sleep, you don't need to pitch a tent on your terrace. A 'twinkling roof' where stars, planets, the moon, rockets and satellites can be seen on your...

K.G. Road to be one-way.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) BANGALORE: The traffic police will introduce one-ways from May 1 on Sheshadri Road, K.G. Road and Old Post Office Road in view of heavy traffic there. Following are the details: Kempe Gowda (K.G.) Road:...

Alarm scares away bank robbers.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) BANGALORE: Burglars targeted a nationalised bank at J.P. Nagar in the wee hours of Wednesday. They entered the building after prising open a window grill, but fled after the burglar alarm went off. At least 10...

Electronic transmission of election results seen as unnecessary,.
April 30, 2004... (From BusinessWorld (Philippines)) Byline: Judy T. Gulane Four commissioners of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) are against the poll body's Phase 3 project - the electronic transmission, consolidation and dissemination of...

Demography dictates campaign.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) KOLKATA: Political parties, including the CPM, have tailored their campaign this year with demographic changes in the city in mind. With large pockets of south Kolkata and Salt Lake acquiring a multi-ethnic...

Basu for alliance with Cong.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) KOLKATA: With the possibility of a fractured mandate looming large, CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu doesn't want to waste time. He came out clear at an election gathering at Rajabazar on Wednesday, saying he would...

Advani slams Left as Cong 'B-team'.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Debajyoti Chakraborty DURGAPUR: The setting couldn't have been more ironical. Standing on Rajiv Gandhi Maidan here on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani slammed the Congress as a dying party...

Cong rejects Ray call for tie-up with Trinamul.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) KOLKATA: The Pradesh Congress Committee on Wednesday slammed Trinamul for splitting Congress in West Bengal and "helping CPM to stay in power", while former chief minister Siddhartha Sankar Ray said he would not...

Rape revenge to settle dowry scores.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) KOLKATA: Four months ago, when she got married to Smarajit Pramanik of Parbhowanipore near Hasnabad, she didn't know what was there in store for her. It began with physical torture for not meeting the dowry...

Baichung strikes gold, fans paint city red.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Arup Chatterjee KOLKATA: The gruelling trail of the 8th National Football League has been marked by its many hues - till it was just red and gold on Wednesday. East Bengal, having already set...

Desperate Left chases elusive canal votebank.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Aditya Ghosh KOLKATA: Life on canal banks was messy but profitable. For years, hundreds of settlers along Beliaghata Canal and Tolly's Nullah provided a secure votebank for the CPM. And then came the...

KMDA open to JV for IT hub project in Bengal.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Sumali Moitra (##include msid=43376741,type=11 ##) KOLKATA: The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) has expressed its keeness to become a joint venture partner or even participate...

12 killed in bus accident.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Someswar Boral SURI: Twelve passengers including a woman were killed and 52 others seriously injured in a bus accident at Sian near Bolpur on Thursday. The bus was on its way to Asansol when it...

Sena blames state ministers for Khed clash.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) PUNE: Sena candidate from the Khed parliamentary constituency, Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil, has blamed state energy minister Dilip Valse-Patil for the clash between NCP and Sena workers at Landewadi in Ambegaon...

'Collector must face action'.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) PUNE: The Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP) on Wednesday demanded an inquiry into the voter-list confusion, which deprived thousands of Puneites of their right to vote in Monday's Lok Sabha poll. ...

Chaos at pre-paid auto stands.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) PUNE: Pre-paid auto-rickshaw stands, a great idea for visitors and Puneites alike, are in utter chaos. And a prime example is the stand at the Pune railway station, which has been managed by the traffic wing...

Pune's 'most wanted' rides train to freedom.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) PUNE: Daulatsingh Tensingh Tak, despite having a whopping 72 cases of murder, dacoity, housebreak, theft and robbery on his head, thinks no bars can or should hold him. On Wednesday, he left a police escort...

'Condemn those who employ child labour'.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: NIEL PATE PUNE: They should be playing, attending school and nurtured with love and care - but unfortunately approximately nine crore children in India continue to reel under the pressures of child...

People asked to report about missing names.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Siddhartha Kashyap PUNE: Independent candidate for the Lok Sabha seat, Arun Bhatia has appealed to all citizens to write to him about their missing names in the voters' list so that a database can be...

New rules to curb sugar lobby mischief.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: MANJIRI MADHAV DAMLE PUNE: Taking note of the politically motivated price fluctuations and artificial shortage in the sugar market from January, the union government has introduced new rules to...

Medical students' fate hangs in balance.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Siddhartha Kashyap PUNE: Despite getting its hard-fought recognition after seven years in December last year from the medical council of India, problems doesn't seem to disappear from the...

Maharashtra to seed clouds every year.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Siddhartha D Kashyap PUNE: Continuing with last year's cloud-seeding project, the Maharashtra government has now decided to seed clouds every year, particularly in the drought-prone areas of the...

Investments pouring into Kutch.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Swati Bharadwaj AHMEDABAD: Inspite of stiff competition from other states in the incentives-driven investment sweepstakes, the arid landscape of Kutch is getting a definite makeover with investments...

'India one of highest savings society'.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Narayan B Bhatt AHMEDABAD: Investments in debt instruments and gold do not create wealth and insurance is wrongly perceived as an investment avenue, according to Shailendra Jain, investment and...

Principal of Ahmedabad school held for fraud.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) AHMEDABAD: The Bapunagar police on Wednesday arrested the principal of Holy Child School Shashibala Sharma on charges of cheating and fraud. Three other accused Dr Murlidhar Sharma, Hemangini Sharma and...

Cop held for fake insurance fraud.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) AHMEDABAD: A deputy superintendent of police of the CID (Crime and Railways) RN Sharma, was arrested on Wednesday night on charges of fraud for facilitating a fake insurance claim racket where natural deaths were...

UP ready to spring surprises in LS polls.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) (##include msid=43376741,type=11 ##) LUCKNOW: Far away from the glitz and hype surrounding the exit polls, UP appears to be getting ready to spring surprises in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. While 32 seats...

Brand Atal would prove psephologists wrong: Jaitley.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Srawan Shukla LUCKNOW: The Union law minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Thursday claimed that the under-current blowing in favour of BJP and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would...

Kalyan's prestige at stake in UP second round.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Srawan Shukla LUCKNOW: It's time for Kalyan Singh to repay the party he had deserted four years ago. With Lodh factor coming into play during the second round of polls in Uttar Pradesh, tremendous...

Girl's body found, torture marks visible.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) LUCKNOW: Body of a 20-year old girl was found near Paper Mill Colony under Mahanagar police circle on Wednesday. The girl was tortured before she was strangulated and her body was thrown in a field near...

Jaitley accuses Jethamalani of helping Telgi accused.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) Byline: Srawan Kumar Shukla LUCKNOW: Fed up with his tirade against Prime Minister, the BJP finally broke its silence on Thursday accusing Ram Jethamalani of helping and harbouring multi-crore Telgi stamp...

Surgical feat by KGMU doctors.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) LUCKNOW: In a major operation, which lasted for five hours, KGMU doctors salvaged an arm of a patient, which was crushed and mutilated in a road accident. Plastic surgeons successfully repaired the damaged...

Labour safety norms tossed aside.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) LUCKNOW: Nearly two million work-related deaths are reported worldwide accounting for 5,000 deaths in a single day in addition to 270 million work-related accidents besides 160 million diseases. Marking April 28...

Diagnosis errors hurt anti-TB scheme.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) LUCKNOW: With one TB patient dying every minute, doctors at the King George's Medical University (KGMU) are concerned over the 75 per cent error in diagnosis. At a workshop on 'Revised National TB Control...

Family welfare initiatives at IIM.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) LUCKNOW: A Logistics Resource Centre (LRC) on family welfare has been set up at Gyanodaya, Learning and Resource Centre of the Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow (IIM-L) with the aim to provide relevant and...

273 WT passengers caught by NR squad.
April 30, 2004... (From The Times of India) LUCKNOW: In a surprise raid, the Northern Railways (NR) ticket-checking squad caught 273 passengers travelling without ticket or on irregular tickets. Upon instructions from Sr DCM (NR) KM Tripathi, the...