India - WikiLeaks



INDIA COUNTRY BRIEF

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Basic Political Developments

• Sources close to Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said he has reportedly sought time for a meeting with UPA Chairperson and Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi today. The appointment has been sought to clear the air on the controversy surrounding his alleged involvement with the newly formed Kochi franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), and is clash/ disagreement with Lalit Modi, the chairman of the IPL Governing Council.

• The Congress party on Thursday objected to its senior leader Digvijay Singh's remarks, in an article, against Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram' "rigid" stance on tackling Maoist guerrillas, and advised him that the party was an appropriate forum to raise such issues democratically.

• The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday slammed the Congress, saying it looked a divided house lacking the "will power" to fight Maoist guerrillas. BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad outside parliament today that "What is disturbing is the division in the Congress government over its fight against the Naxalites. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has criticised the home minister (P. Chidambaram). Former minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is also targeting the government and so is Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee."

• Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha today Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday said states have the primary responsibility of combating the Maoists with a policy of development and calibrated police action.

• Samajwadi Party (SP) today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to remove Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor from Union cabinet over the Kochi IPL team controversy. SP national general secretary Mohan Singh said "It was the Congress which promoted Tharoor and after he has been made a minister his acts are now getting exposed."

• The opposition BJP today attacked the government saying while it was extending its support in the fight against Naxals, the "divided" treasury benches and Congress had been pulling down Home Minister P Chidamabaram. Arun Jaitley said Chidamabaram's task has been made difficult by senior Congress leaders like Digvijay Singh.

National Economic Trends

• Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday that the wholesale price-based inflation may have moderated somewhat in March but the pressure on prices is likely to continue for another two months.

• Data showed on Thursday that India's annual food inflation dropped marginally to 17.22 percent for the week ended April 3 from 17.7 percent a week before even as prices of milk, fruits and lentils rose during the period under review.

• Media reports said allowing public scrutiny of the functioning of stock market, the Delhi high Court today held that stock exchanges are public authorities and are bound to disclose information under Right To Information Act.

• Wholesale prices based inflation touched nearly 10 per cent in March as the impact of food inflation spread to other sectors, which economists said strengthens the case for RBI to tighten money supply.

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions

• Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL), which has acquired as many as three companies in Africa since 2006 — Rapidol, Kinky and Tura — is now looking at a consolidation plan which will involve the merger of Rapidol and Kinky.

• Housing finance major HDFC today lowered its home loan rate to 8.25 per cent for the first year in its new dual rate scheme, commonly known as teaser loans, applicable on fresh loans.

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)

• BP PLC is facing a rebellion from major shareholders over a controversial oil sands project in Canada. BP says the project - a joint venture with Canada’s Husky Energy - have the potential to sustain production levels for many decades. It adds that it will mitigate some of the harmful environmental effects and emissions from the oil sands.

• Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) today said it will not be economically viable to produce gas from its Krishna-Godavari basin Reliance Industries' KG-D6 facility, which has made 10 gas finds in a block that sits next to Reliance Industries' prolific KG-D6 block off the Andhra coast, wants over $7 per million British thermal unit as gas price.

• Rajan K Pillai, chief executive officer of India Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd - the state-owned firm building the strategic stockpile, today said India will complete building its first strategic crude oil storage by October 2011 in an effort to insulate itself from supply disruptions. "The storage at Visakhapatnam will be mechanically completed by October 2011."

• Triveni Engineering & Industries on Thursday said it has entered into an agreement with GE Oil & Gas to form a joint venture company, GE Triveni, to design and manufacture steam turbines in India. The company has signed a joint venture agreement with GE Oil & Gas, through one if its affiliates GE Pacific Mauritius, to form GE Triveni Ltd.

Militant Activity/Terrorism (Particularly in Bangalore, Mumbai, Noida, Chennai, Coimbatore)

• Police said Maoist guerrillas in Jharkhand have killed a former member after dubbing him a police informer on Thursday. A former member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), Rana left the party after a stint in prison.

• Strongly reacting to the recent Dantewada massacre, eminent writer and Magsaysay award winner Mahasweta Devi today said such incidents would continue to happen if the government does not talk with Maoists.

• Officials said today that a high intensity sophisticated bomb was found in a sleeper coach of Delhi-bound Manikpur- Hazrat Nizamuddin Express at Mahoba railway station in Uttar Pradesh and was later defused. Principal Secretary (Home) Kunwar Fateh Bahadur and Director General of Police Karamveer Singh said "A high intensity bomb was recovered from S-2 coach of the Sampark Kranti train at Mahoba railway station last night."

• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, used by US forces to track down Taliban militants, successfully flew over the dense forests of Bastar in the first trial run for anti-naxal operations. The decision to have UAV flights was taken by the Union Home Ministry after the April six attack and their field trials were ordered immediately.

• Tribal women today took out a rally in Maoist-hit Narayanpatna in Orissa's Koraput district in protest against proposed special joint anti-Maoist operations in the area.

Labor/Social Unrest

Full Text

Basic Political Developments

Tharoor seeks time to meet Sonia Gandhi



Thu, Apr 15 12:45 PM

New Delhi, Apr.15 (ANI): Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has reportedly sought time for a meeting with UPA Chairperson and Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi today.

Sources close to the minister said that the appointment has been sought to clear the air on the controversy surrounding his alleged involvement with the newly formed Kochi franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), and is clash/ disagreement with Lalit Modi, the chairman of the IPL Governing Council.

According to one private television channel, Tharoor met both Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister AK Anthony on Wednesday night to explain the ongoing controversy, even as the opposition continues to demand that he be sacked on charges of corruption and conflict of interest.

Sources said Tharoor explained his version to both ministers at the nearly one-hour-long meeting, and Mukherjee and Anthony are said to have deliberated further on the matter after Tharoor left.

Sources have suggested that Tharoor has been given an option of explaining his position in Parliament today.

On Wednesday, Tharoor ruled out chances of him resigning from the Union Cabinet over the IPL issue saying that he has not done anything wrong or misused his office.

The meeting came after the Congress Core Group headed by party chief Sonia Gandhi met to discuss the strategy in Parliament on the eve of the resumption of the Budget Session.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, had indicated in Washington that he would take action in the issue if warranted after his return from Brazil, where he is at present to attend the fourth IBSA summit and the BRIC summit.

Earlier, Modi in his email to BCCI chief Shashank Manohar had stated it was Tharoor who called him and instructed him not to reveal identities of the stakeholders of Kochi IPL franchisee.

Tharoor, according to news channels, has denied Modi"s allegation, and said: "I deny Modi"s allegation that I called him during his meeting with investors in the Kochi consortium in Bangalore in order to press him not to question the composition of the consortium."

Tharoor said he had "enough" of the controversy and went on to deny any monetary interest in the Kochi IPL team.

"I called Modi to ask why he was further delaying the approval of the franchise when all the legal requirements had been fulfilled.

Mr. Modi had held up approval by the IPL of the franchisee agreement earlier by insisting on the reversal of a change in the document that he himself had earlier suggested", Tharoor said "This change was made, the consortium members flew to Bangalore and met Modi after that night"s IPL game for what they had been told would be a routine exercise. Instead they were submitted to a barrage of questions, which led some to suspect that Modi was seeking a further excuse to delay approval. This was the reason for my intervention with Modi", he added.

In tweets on Monday, Modi has accused Tharoor of asking him not to investigate who makes up the Rendezvous Sports World group that led the consortium that bought the Kochi team. Modi also revealed the details of the different partners and their stake in the Kochi team.

Digvijay should raise issues at party forum: Congress



New Delhi |Thursday, 2010 6:35:08 PM IST

The Congress Thursday objected to its senior leader Digvijay Singh's remarks, in an article, against Home Minister P. Chidambaram' "rigid" stance on tackling Maoist guerrillas, and advised him that the party was an appropriate forum to raise such issues democratically.

"The Congress is a democratic organisation. There may be differences of opinion on one particular issue, but these should be raised only in party forums," Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed told reporters in Parliament House.

He was responding to questions about Digvijay Singh's remarks in a newspaper article in which he said Chidambaram is "extremely rigid once he makes up his mind" and suggested the home minister not opt for a "narrow sectarian view" when tackling Maoist rebels.

Ahmed, however, agreed on Digvijay Singh's suggestion that the government should adopt a "holistic" approach to tackle the left-wing extremism problem, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as the "greatest threat" to the nation.

"It should be holistic and there should be development activities in tribal areas," Ahmed said.

Congress lacks will to fight Maoists: BJP



New Delhi, April 15 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday slammed the Congress, saying it looked a divided house lacking the "will power" to fight Maoist guerrillas.

"What is disturbing is the division in the Congress government over its fight against the Naxalites. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has criticised the home minister (P. Chidambaram). Former minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is also targeting the government and so is Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told IANS outside parliament.

The BJP leader said the Congress betrayed "its lack of will power to fight the Naxals".

Prasad said the opposition was deeply hurt because the government did not make a statement on its own in parliament, which resumed Thursday, over the Dantewada massacre in which 76 security personnel "laid their lives in Chhattisgarh fighting Naxalites (Maoists)".

Leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the BJP, are demanding a debate and a statement from the government.

He said: "What these leaders don't believe is that Maoists are a threat to our internal security."

In an article published in a national daily, Digvijay Singh made scathing remarks against Chidambaram accusing him of being "extremely rigid once he makes up his mind".

He said he "differed with (Chidambaram's) strategy that does not take into consideration the people living in the affected area who ultimately matter".

Aiyar at a conference Wednesday said Singh is "one lakh percent right".

States have primary role in fighting Maoists: Chidambaram



New Delhi, April 15 : Home Minister P. Chidambaram Thursday said states have the primary responsibility of combating the Maoists with a policy of development and calibrated police action.

Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha on the Maoist massacre of 76 security personnel in Chhattisgarh April 6, the minister said anti-Maoist operations were being carried out with the policy deliberated and agreed upon in meetings with the chief ministers of the affected states.

He said the government had qualities of "a strong head, a stronger heart and enormous staying power" to fight the insurgents.

"We should stay calm, hold our nerve and stay on the course that we had carefully chosen since October 2009," he said.

Chidambaram said the government's call for talks with the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maosit) was made in the hope that there will be a sincere response.

"The only condition is that the CPI-Maoist must abjure violence.

"Paramilitary forces have been provided to the affected states, including Chhattisgarh, to help the state governments carry out counter-insurgency operations, regain control of areas dominated by Naxalites (Maoists), restore the civil administration and re-start development work. The state governments, therefore, have the primary responsibility," he said.

He said an inquiry committee headed by E.N. Ram Mohan will complete its probe into the Dantewada massacre in two weeks.

He said report of the inquiry panel should be awaited "before arriving at any conclusion".

Giving details of the April 6 attack, he said a 81-strong force from A, C and G companies of the 62nd battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was instructed to undertake operations between April 4-6.

He said the contingent came under heavy fire from Maoists at 5.50 a.m. on April 6 in Chintalnar forests in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district and reinforcements that moved towards the area were also attacked.

Pointing out that anti-Maoist exercise had been jointly planned by senior officers of Chattisgarh police and the CRPF, he said the three companies involved in the operation had undergone pre-induction training before being sent to the area.

"Preliminary inquiries have revealed that the deaths were caused largely due to bullet injuries, crude bombs and grenades. Seventy-four men of the CRPF, one head constable of the civil police and one driver of the reinforcement party lost their lives. Seventy five weapons were also lost. Only post mortem reports and a through inquiry, including de-briefing of the injured 'jawans' (soldiers), would fully establish the sequence of events and the facts," he said.

SP demands Tharoor's resignation



Lucknow, Apr 15 (PTI) Samajwadi Party today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to remove Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor from Union cabinet over the Kochi IPL team controversy.

"It was the Congress which promoted Tharoor and after he has been made a minister his acts are now getting exposed," SP national general secretary Mohan Singh told reporters here.

He alleged that Tharoor had been exposed in the IPL row and now he was making desperate efforts to conceal his mistakes.

"I feel ashamed of taking name of such a person. I request the Prime Minister that he (Tharoor) should be removed from the Union Ministry immediately," Singh demanded.

The PM's statement that he was looking into the matter was beyond understanding, he said. "He should take immediate decision in such matters," the SP leader said.

PC lacks backing from govt, party on combating Naxals: BJP



New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) The opposition BJP today attacked the government saying while it was extending its support in the fight against Naxals, the "divided" treasury benches and Congress had been pulling down Home Minister P Chidamabaram.

Lambasting the government in the Rajya Sabha on the response to the Maoist attack in Dantewada which claimed 76 lives, Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said Chidamabaram's task has been made difficult by senior Congress leaders like Digvijay Singh.

"We do not need a divided government", Jaitley said adding, "What we don't need is a government which tries to pull down its Home Minister."

Singh, AICC General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, had in a newspaper article questioned Chidambaram's handling of the Maoist menace as a mere law and order problem and accused him of "intellectual arrogance".

National Economic Trends

Inflationary pressure to continue till June: FM



The wholesale price-based inflation may have moderated somewhat in March but the pressure on prices is likely to continue for another two months, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday.

“Of course, the apprehension was that it may reach the double digit figure. So it has moderated to some extent but you will have to see that till the month of June, this pressure will continue,” Mukherjee told reporters here.

Inflation rose moderately to 9.9 per cent in March from 9.89 per cent in the previous month.

Mukherjee said inflation will cool down after the Rabi (winter crops) harvesting is complete and clearer indications of a good monsoon are available.

Harvesting of Rabi crops like wheat, potatoes, sugarcane and some pulses will be complete by mid-May.

Inflation remained largely concentrated on food items, particularly pulses and sugarcane. For the week ended April 3, however, food inflation inched down to 17.22 per cent from 17.70 per cent in the previous week.

Inflation did not touch the double digit mark in March, but remained far above RBI’s projection of 8.5 per cent by the end of last fiscal.

Earlier the Finance Minister had said he would not be surprised if inflation touches double digits in March.

Food inflation drops marginally to 17.22 percent



New Delhi, April 15: India's annual food inflation dropped marginally to 17.22 percent for the week ended April 3 from 17.7 percent a week before even as prices of milk, fruits and lentils rose during the period under review, data showed Thursday.

Data on the wholesale price index released by the commerce and industry ministry showed the index for food articles rose 1.4 percent during the week under review. The index for non-food articles rose 0.1 percent.

Taking into account the year as a whole, the prices of wheat, lentils, fruit, milk, oil seeds and non-food articles like fibre and fuel were ruling sharply higher than the levels seen last year. However rice, onion and potato became cheaper.

Following are the prices of some essential food items over the 52-week period:

- Pulses: 32.55 percent

- Potato: (-)23.71 percent

- Milk: 22.21 percent

- Wheat: 12.42 percent

- Cereals: 10.21 percent

- Onion: (-)2.50 percent

- Fruits: 11.96 percent

- Rice: 8.45 percent

The central bank has initiated measures to tighten its monetary policy by hiking key rates in a bid to suck out excess liquidity from the system and tame inflationary expectations.

Stock exchanges come under the ambit of RTI Act:HC



New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) Allowing public scrutiny of the functioning of stock market, the Delhi high Court today held that stock exchanges are public authorities and are bound to disclose information under Right To Information Act.

The court dismissed the plea of National Stock Exchange and Jaipur Stock Exchange which submitted that they cannot be forced to reveal information to public under the transparency law as they are autonomous bodies incorporated under Company Act and not controlled by the government.

Justice Sanjeev Khanna dismissed the petition of the stock exchanges and upheld the decision of the Central Information Commission which had declared stock exchange as a public authority.

The CIC had in 2007 held that stock exchanges are "quasi" governmental bodies which are bound to disclose information to the public under the Right to Information Act.

Inflation spiral may force RBI to tighten money supply



New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) Wholesale prices based inflation touched nearly 10 per cent in March as the impact of food inflation spread to other sectors, which economists said strengthens the case for RBI to tighten money supply.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that inflationary pressures will remain till June and prices will start cooling down only after the harvesting of the rabi crop (winter) is complete.

The wholesale price-based inflation was at 9.89 per cent in February and 1.20 per cent in the March of 2009.

It was also much higher than the RBI's projection of 8.5 per cent by the end of last fiscal.

Economists say, despite the moderate rise, the RBI will tighten money supply to cool down the surging prices as there is not much difference between 9.9 per cent and 10 per cent.

RBI will on Tuesday announce its annual monetary policy.

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions

Godrej to merge its African buys



15 Apr 2010, 0502 hrs IST,

MUMBAI: Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL), which has acquired as many as three companies in Africa since 2006 — Rapidol, Kinky and Tura — is now looking at a consolidation plan which will involve the merger of Rapidol and Kinky. Though Tura is being kept out of the consolidation plan for now, given that GCPL is still completing the formalities of the acquisition, it is understood that the Nigeriabased beauty care company would eventually be consolidated into the single entity created by the merger of Rapidol and Kinky.

‘‘ Initially , we will merge Rapidol and Kinky operationally, which will involve their distribution and sales networks. We will then look at a legal merger,'' Jimmy Anklesaria, executive vice-president , international operations, GCPL, told TOI.

Operationally, the two companies would merge by 2010-11 . However, the contours of a legal merger would be finalised only after the group looks into the finer details of taxation as also the new name for the merged entity. Culturally, the two companies are said to be similar. The two companies are wholly-owned by the Godrej group.

Rapidol Pty, which was acquired by GCPL in September 2006, gave the company an opportunity to enhance its global presence through the modern trade network and the ownership of ethnic hair colour brands like Inecto and Soflene in ten countries. Inecto has a 92% market share in the South African Rand 135 million ethnic hair colour market. Kinky, which was acquired in 2008, offers a variety of products like hair, hair braids, hair pieces, wigs and wefted pieces to the South African consumer.

‘‘ We have started work on the One Africa strategy, which is to look at Africa as an opportunity right across the continent. The group has a substantial business in hair extensions in South Africa and is looking to leverage that across Africa,'' said Keith Harrison , director and chief executive officer, Godrej Africa.

In Africa alone, the potential for hair extensions is about $2 billion. The competitive arena is limited with multinational brands like L'Oreal's Dark n lovely, Wella's Go Black and other regional brands sharing the remaining 8% market share.

HDFC lowers first yr home loan rate to 8.25 per cent



New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) Housing finance major HDFC today lowered its home loan rate to 8.25 per cent for the first year in its new dual rate scheme, commonly known as teaser loans, applicable on fresh loans.

Under the scheme, the country's biggest mortgage provider would offer a fixed rate of 8.25 per cent up to March 2011, then 9 per cent for the next one year and the prevailing floating rate for the remainder of the loan tenure.

"This is a flexible product with dual rates. The fixed rates are applicable for all new loans irrespective of the loan amount," HDFC said in a statement.

The teaser rates have been a major issue in the home loan market in the recent past, with public sector lender SBI walking away with a big pie of the market through its own teaser rates.

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)

BP faces opposition to Canadian oil sands project



BP PLC is facing a rebellion from major shareholders over a controversial oil sands project in Canada.

Institutional and individual investors are expected to back a resolution at the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday in London calling for a review of the company’s plans to extract oil from the vast tar sands in north-eastern Alberta.

Campaigners want more detail on the environmental impact, expressing skepticism about BP’s assumptions on future oil demand and carbon emissions.

BP says the project - a joint venture with Canada’s Husky Energy - have the potential to sustain production levels for many decades. It adds that it will mitigate some of the harmful environmental effects and emissions from the oil sands.

Gas production from KG basin uneconomic at $4.20/mmBtu: ONGC



15 Apr 2010, 1619 hrs IST,PTI

NEW DELHI: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) today said it will not be economically viable to produce gas from its Krishna-Godavari basin Reliance Industries' KG-D6 facility ONGC, which has made 10 gas finds in a block that sits next to Reliance Industries' prolific KG-D6 block off the Andhra coast, wants over $7 per million British thermal unit as gas price.

"I am categorically stating that current price levels are not viable to make investments," ONGC Chairman and Managing Director R S Sharma told reporters here.

The government has fixed $4.20 per mmBtu as the sale price of gas from RIL's KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D/ block for five years. These rates, which are now being considered as a benchmark, are lower than $5.7 per mmBtu that gas from BG-led Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields command.

"This ($4.2 per mmBtu) is not a viable price for making future investments. Nobody in the world makes investments at these price levels," he said.

ONGC plans to begin gas production from KG-DWN-98/2 block in 2015-16, later than previously anticipated 2013.

Before ONGC, Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC)-- a Gujarat government firm-- will begin gas production from its KG basin block. It remains to be seen if the government will approve a higher price for GSPC gas. Also if the opponents to $4.2 per mmBtu rate for RIL would seek to push for lower price for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's showcase firm that will begin gas production in 2011.

Sharma said 20-25 million standard cubic meters per day of peak output is envisaged from ONGC's KG block.

When asked what price level would ONGC be comfortable with, he said, "certainly higher than current rates (USD 4.2) but lower than LNG import price (over USD 9 per mmBtu).

When asked if USD 6-7 per mmBtu was an acceptable price, he said, "it could be even higher than that."

ONGC is planning to invest a minimum of USD 5.3 billion in developing gas finds in two of its eastern offshore Krishna Godavari basin blocks to produce 25 million standard cubic meters per day of gas.

"The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons has approved our appraisal plan for the gas discoveries in deep-sea block KG-DWN-98/2. We plan to drill six appraisal wells to assess the potential and delineate the discoveries," a company official said.

India to have strategic oil reserve by October 2011



15 Apr 2010, 1830 hrs IST,PTI

NEW DELHI: India will complete building its first strategic crude oil storage by October 2011 in an effort to insulate itself from supply disruptions.

India, which is 75 per cent import dependent to meet its crude oil needs, is building under-ground storages at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka to store about 5.33 million tons of crude oil. This is enough to meet nation's oil requirement of 13-14 days.

"The storage at Visakhapatnam will be mechanically completed by October 2011," said Rajan K Pillai, chief executive officer of India Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd - the state-owned firm building the strategic stockpile.

Visakhapatnam will have capacity to store 1.33 million tons of crude oil in underground rock caverns.

"Huge underground cavities, almost ten storey tall and approximately 3.3 km long are to be built (in Visakhapatnam)," he said.

A similar facility in Mangalore will have a capacity of 1.55 million tons and would be mechanically completed by November 2012. A 2.5 million tons storage at Padur, near Mangalore, would be completed by December 2012.

India will join nations like the US, Japan and China who have strategic reserves. These nations use the stockpiles not only as insurance against supply disruptions but also to buy and store oil when prices are low and release them to refiners when there is a spike in global rates.

However, the storage India is building is very small compared to the 90-day strategic stockpile in the US. New Delhi was considering to raise the storage capacity to 15 million tons to cover for 45 days requirement but no decision has been taken as yet.

The over 5 million tons strategic storage facility, Pillai said, was being built at an estimated cost of Rs 2,397 crore (at 2005 prices). "There is likely to be a price escalation because these cost estimates are based on 2005 prices. We think the cost may cross Rs 3,000 crore," he said.

ISPRL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) - a government body that lends money to energy projects.

Pillai said the cost of building the strategic stockpile is being provided by OIDB as equity to ISPRL.

"The three storages will be able to meet nation's oil requirement of 13-14 days (in case of emergency)," he said.

The cost estimate does not include the cost of purchasing 5.3 million tons of crude oil. "The crude procurement and how it will be managed will be the responsibility of the Government. Our job is to build the storage," he said.

Like the US, the government may buy crude oil when rates are low for stockpiling. It may release it to refiners during times of spike in global crude rates like those witnessed in July 2008 when prices touched an all-time high of USD 147.

Triveni partners GE Oil & Gas for steam turbines



NEW DELHI: Triveni Engineering & Industries on Thursday said it has entered into an agreement with GE Oil & Gas to form a joint venture company, GE Triveni, to design and manufacture steam turbines in India.

The company has signed a joint venture agreement with GE Oil & Gas, through one if its affiliates GE Pacific Mauritius, to form GE Triveni Ltd, Triveni Engineering said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company would develop advanced technology steam turbines in India within 30 to 100 MW range for power generation applications in the Indian and worldwide markets, the filing added.

Triveni Engineering will hold one extra share with both parties, with equal representation on the board.

GE Triveni Ltd, would manufacture advanced technology steam turbines in India for both domestic customers and export to global markets, it said.

The JV, which will benefit from a full and exclusive technology transfer and on—going R&D support from GE, will use Triveni’s Bangalore facility for turbine manufacturing.

GE Oil & Gas provides advanced technology equipment and services across oil segments of the global oil and gas industry, on land, offshore.

The transaction is expected to close in the next few months, subject to legal and regulatory approvals. - PTI

Militant Activity/Terrorism (Particularly in Bangalore, Mumbai, Noida, Chennai, Coimbatore)

Maoists kill former guerrilla



Apr 15 01:08 PM

Ranchi, April 15 (IANS) Maoist guerrillas in Jharkhand have killed a former member after dubbing him a police spy, police said Thursday.

Kishore Rana was abducted from Ratanjori village in Giridih district Wednesday. He was later shot dead and his body was found on the outskirts of the village Thursday morning, police said.

A former member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), Rana left the party after a stint in prison.

'It seems that Maoists suspected Rana of being a police informer. A pamphlet found near his body shows he was killed because of that,' said a police officer.

More than 90 people have been killed in Jharkhand in the last five years on charges of being police spies.

Talk to Maoists else Dantewada will repeat: Mahasweta Devi



Thursday, Apr 15 2010 IST

Strongly reacting to the recent Dantewada massacre, eminent writer and Magsaysay award winner Mahasweta Devi today said such incidents would continue to happen if the government does not talk with Maoists. ''The government, especially the country's Prime Minister, should go and talk with the tribals. If he does not do so, more and more tribals would turn into Maoists creating more menace,'' she said. She asserted that she was against any violence and killings and so did not want such massacres to happen again.

The rebels had killed 75 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers and a Chhattisgarh policeman in Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh in the worst ever attack by the Maoists. Expressing her concern to the community, she said, ''Government is selling India, its states, its soil, its water inch by inch to the corporates under Special Economic Zones (SEZ). This is the greater menace which should be stopped immediately.'' While talking to UNI, she reiterated that condition of tribals in India was really bad, in fact worse beyond imagination. ''Wherever there are mineral rich lands, tribals are evicted from there and lands are sold to big corporates. Our government is bad to have been doing so with the weaker sections,'' she said. The condition was similar everywhere in the country, be it Orissa, West Bengal, Jharkhand or Chhattisgarh, she added. The social activist was in the Capital today to receive Manavata Vikas Award for her commitment towards the society. She was presented with a gold medal, a citation and a cheque of Rs 5 lakh as part of the award, instituted by Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM). ''Whatever money I get in such awards or from anywhere else, it all goes to the tribals. It is worth only if is used for their welfare,'' she said.

Bomb found in a toilet of Sampark Kranti train



Lucknow, Apr 15 (PTI) A high intensity sophisticated bomb was found in a sleeper coach of Delhi-bound Manikpur- Hazrat Nizamuddin Express at Mahoba railway station in Uttar Pradesh and was later defused, officials said here today.

"A high intensity bomb was recovered from S-2 coach of the Sampark Kranti train at Mahoba railway station last night," Principal Secretary (Home) Kunwar Fateh Bahadur and Director General of Police Karamveer Singh told reporters.

When the train reached Mahoba railway station, passengers raised an alarm that a bomb like device has been planted in the toilet of the coach, Bahadur said.

"The coach and the platform was immediately evicted and the bogie was detached from the train," he said.

A PAC bomb disposal squad recovered the bomb, which weighed around 1.5 kg to 2 kg, and defused it in an open area this morning, he said.

India tests UAV for anti-Naxal operations



Kanker (Chhattisgarh), Apr 15 (PTI) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, used by US forces to track down Taliban militants, successfully flew over over the dense forests of Bastar in the first trial run for anti-naxal operations.

The trials, which assumed urgency after the Dantewada massacre in which 76 security personnel were killed by Maoists, were aimed at generating real-time intelligence information to help ground forces in any offensive. The first trial involved an American UAV.

The decision to have UAV flights was taken by the Union Home Ministry after the April six attack and their field trials were ordered immediately.

An UAV of US' Honeywell, whose pilotless planes are reportedly used successfully by allied forces in the hunt for targets in war-hit Afghanistan and Iraq, flew during the night trial.

Tribal women protest anti-Maoist operation



Koraput (Orissa), Apr 15 (PTI) Tribal women today took out a rally in Maoist-hit Narayanpatna in Orissa's Koraput district in protest against proposed special joint anti-Maoist operations in the area.

"Tribals residing in the forests will suffer from the anti-Maoist operations. They will be branded as Maoist supporters and targeted by security forces," the protestors, under the banner of Biplabi Adivasi Mahila Sangha (BAMS) said.

The tribals also put up posters at several places in the district urging the state administration to refrain from such operation.

The protestors handed over a memorandum to officials at the Narayanpatna block office.

The rally was peaceful, police sources said.

This was the second anti-operation rally in the state.

Earlier, tribals in neighbouring Malkangiri district had also opposed the government's plan to launch anti-Maoist operations.

Labor/Social Unrest

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