Kashmir Singh admits he was a spy
Kashmir Singh, who was freed from Pakistani jail after 35 years, on Friday admitted that he was an Indian spy and did his best to serve the country, but deplored that successive governments at the Centre did nothing for his family.
“After my arrest in 1974, the successive governments did nothing for my family. I did the duty assigned to me as a spy…but the government after my arrest did not bother to spend a single penny for my family,” a calm and composed looking Singh, who was accompanied by his wife Paramjeet Kaur, told reporters here.
Sixty seven-year-old Singh thanked God for being kind to him and said the various governments at the Centre did nothing for any of the prisoners languishing in various jails in Pakistan.
“The Central government did not bother to take care of my family following my arrest. The government does only the paper work,” he said.
Source: Hindu
Four Indians in Forbes list of 10 richest in the world
Four Indians are among the 10 richest in the world, the highest number from a single country, according to Forbes’ list of world’s billionaires.
While Warren Buffet, the Berkshire Hathaway investor, takes the title of the world’s richest man from Microsoft chief Bill Gates who slips to third place after a 13-year reign at the top, Britain-based industrialist Lakshmi Mittal has climbed one spot from last year to be ranked fourth this year in the US magazine’s annual list of billionaires released on Wednesday.
With a net worth of $45 billion, Mittal heads the world’s largest steel maker ArcelorMittal. He lives in Britain but retains his Indian citizenship.
Just behind Mittal is Mukesh Ambani at No 5. With a net worth of $43 billion, he is Asia’s richest resident. He heads petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable company by market cap. His fortune is up $22.9 billion since last year, making him the world’s second biggest gainer in terms of dollars. His rank last year was 14.
Mukesh’s estranged brother Anil Ambani is the biggest gainer. He now ranks sixth in the world, climbing 12 places from last year. He gained $23.8 billion over the year and is now worth $42 billion. His biggest asset is his 65 per cent stake in telecom venture Reliance Communications. He raised $3 billion last month from the Reliance Power IPO, the biggest in India’s history. Despite the hype, the stock tumbled 17 per cent immediately after it was listed.
KP Singh, chief of real estate developer DLF, has climbed from 62nd place to eighth, helped by his company’s listing which tripled his fortune to $30 billion.
Courtesy: Hindustan Times
India May Ask Banks to Lower Home Loan Interest Rates
Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said Indian banks should consider lowering rates on some housing loans while the central bank maintains high borrowing costs to curb inflation.
The government may ask banks to lower interest charges on housing loans of up to 2 million rupees ($50,000), Chidambaram said at a conference in New Delhi today. The Reserve Bank of India’s policies are aimed at curbing inflation while also boosting economic growth, he said.
Chidambaram today sought to allay concerns that banks would have to shoulder the cost of the government’s planned 600 billion rupee write-off of rural debt. The Bankex Index has slumped 12 percent since Chidambaram in his budget speech on Feb. 29 proposed the loan waivers.
Source: Bloomberg
Remorseless Hayden relishing bad reputation
Matthew Hayden’s recent comments about Harbhajan Singh have upheld his reputation as Australia’s most unforgiving on-field sledger. By David Hopps.
Matthew Hayden has escaped with a reprimand from Cricket Australia after a Brisbane radio interview in which he vilified the Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh as an “obnoxious weed” and happily imagined teaching their spindly, young fast bowler, Ishant Sharma, a lesson in the boxing ring.
Cricket Australia’s reaction to Hayden’s extraordinary verbal attack was rapid, with punishment meted out within a day, but the lenient nature of their sentence will further antagonise the Indians and ensure that a controversial tour ends with recriminations on all sides.
Harbhajan’s four-Test ban for allegedly racially abusing the Australian batsman, Andrew Symonds, during the Sydney Test was overturned on appeal last month, but Hayden is Symonds’ best buddy — the story where they nearly drowned together while fishing in Queensland is part of Australian folklore — and he has now taken his chance of retribution.
He admitted on Brisbane radio that his on-field battles with Harbhajan had persisted for much of his career and claimed to be fed up with India’s complaints about Australian sledging, depicting them as bad losers. “It’s been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan,” he said. “The first time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious weed that he is now. His record speaks for itself in cricket. There is a certain line that you can kind of go to and then you know where you push it and he just pushes it all the time. That’s why he has been charged more than anyone that’s ever played in the history of cricket.”
Australia’s sledging culture has insulted Indian self-esteem and they have taken a stand which could yet have long-term ramifications. ICC chief executives meeting in Kuala Lumpur bowed to Indian pressure to clamp down on on-field abuse. The ICC is writing to umpires and match referees to instruct them to take stronger action.
But if the cricket world really is changing, Hayden does not seem to have cottoned on. He revels in his reputation as Australia’s most unforgiving on-field sledger — many England players privately view him as a loudmouthed bully — and now it seems that he intends to rubbish some opponents off the field as well as on it.
Courtesy: Hindu
Second Round auction next week: Modi
The Cricket Board-floated Indian Premier League (IPL)will conduct a second players’ auction next week to enable franchises, that have money left after the initial auction held on February 20, from the five million USD cap, supplement their player base.
“We plan to hold an internal players auction next week with only the team mangement who have money left to supplement their players,” said Lalit Modi, IPL Commissioner and Chairman.
Each franchise was to spend a minimum of $3.3 million and a maximum of $5 million for buying players put up at the auction as well as paying for the five icon players whose value was fixed at 15 per cent over and above the costliest player bid successfully by that particular franchise.
Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag are the icon players for Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mohali and Delhi franchises respectively.
The first auction held last month saw 79 players snapped up by the eight franchises for sums ranging from $4,00,000 (base price) to $1.5 million (amount paid for Indian one-day and T20 captain by Chennai franchise India Cements).
Modi admitted that the response for the first auction was a bit above what was expected, while mentioning that it was not extra-ordinary considering it was a pioneering effort towards the dawn of a new era in the game.
“To be absolutely honest, the response garnered by the DLF Indian Premier League has been a tad above expectation. But I would not state it is out of the ordinary, when we consider that this was a first towards a bold, new cricketing era,” he said.
Source: Hindustan Times
India has the last laugh after a bitter summer: Aussie media
Australian media again highlighted off spinner Harbhajan Singh as India claimed epoch-making tri-series victory at Brisbane and described the young side’s feat as having “the last laugh after a bitter summer of explosive tensions”.
Harbhajan, who had hit headlines throughout the long tour for being at the centre of off-field controversies, proved to be the nemesis of Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds, claiming him in both the tri-series finals while also cheaply removing another detractor Matthew Hayden at Sydney.
“As cricket became a contact sport, Australia were pitchforked out of the finals in straight sets by an Indian side which had the last laugh after a bitter summer of explosive tensions,” said leading newspaper ‘The Daily Telegraph’.
Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported the home side’s plight under the title ‘Australia sunk in straight sets’ after Ricky Ponting’s men lost to India by nine runs and 2-0 in the best-of-three finals.
“Instead of a fitting One-day farewell for retiring wicketkeeper (Adam) Gilchrist, it was controversial spinner Harbhajan Singh who laughed last and loudest, lapping up the triumph on the Gabba boundary in front of ecstatic expat fans,” the paper said.
Headline of the main article in another national daily The Australian aptly summed up the tour as it said - ‘A summer of spite ends in Indian glory’.
“A fresh, young India beat Australia by nine runs in last night’s ultimately gripping second final at Brisbane’s Gabba to wrap up the competition after winning by six wickets in Sydney on Sunday,” the Australian wrote.
Source: Times of India
US pushes India on nuclear deal
NEW DELHI: The United States on Wednesday urged India to quickly complete all steps required to conclude a civilian nuclear technology deal with Washington before the US presidential polls in November.
“Time is very tight” to get the deal through the US Congress before the United States goes into election mode, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Richard Boucher, told reporters in New Delhi.
“I am certainly aware that things fall apart … but on the other hand, my job is to make things work. What I am focused on right now is how to make things succeed. We both want this to happen,” said Boucher, who is on a two day visit here.
“We are kind of playing in overtime right now,” added the diplomat, the latest in a line of US officials who have recently told India to move ahead with the deal.
The agreement, which would give New Delhi crucial access to civilian atomic technology even though it has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, requires final approval of the US Congress, where it currently has bipartisan support.
Source:Economic Times
Indian Premier League: Good bye sports
Whatever maybe the outcome of this “Great Tamasha,” it is bound to change the face of cricket and could well entice cricketers to put a price on their heads as TV channels and other stake holders come out with innovative methods to reap profits.
And now for 44 days from April 18, India’s great cricket tamasha gets underway as the modern gladiators owned by Bollywood stars and industrialists battle for a prize money of US $5 million which is five times the prize money at the 2007 ICC World Cup in the Caribbean.
So, all those complaints of overdose of cricket and hectic tour schedule have all been pushed into the background and truly the Indian Premier League (IPL) has become Indian Paise Lob for it is just the money making the stars go round. And all this to counter the earlier Indian Cricket League (ICL) launched by media magnate Subhash Chandra.
Courtesy: Organiser
Cricket’s new order
The official Indian Premier League (IPL), and the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) are two rival, cash-rich competitions, which threaten the stability of international cricket as we know it.
Here we pick through the details and explain how a brilliant English concept which started in 2003 (Twenty20 cricket) could, in a worst case scenario, spell the death knell for Test cricket, with its roots stretching back to the 1870s.
For much of the decade, Zee Telefilms, the biggest media company in India, had made a series of bids to broadcast top international cricket for Indian audiences.
Despite always offering the largest bids in terms of money, it was rebuffed time and time again by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
In 2007, Zee, still holding a bundle of cash it wanted to spend on cricket, decided to set up its own competition - the ICL.
Courtesy: BBC Sport
Lalit Modi’s IPL threatens English cricket
The full scale of the threat to English cricket posed by the billion-dollar Indian Premier League was revealed to The Daily Telegraph yesterday when the man leading the revolution said “the majority of the England players have been in contact with us”.
Lalit Modi, the chairman of the IPL, has stood by a deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board in which it was agreed that England players would not be used during the first season.
But yesterday he confirmed that agreement cannot hold. He said: “We would very much like the English players to participate in our league. All our owners are determined to have them play with them.
“I know a lot of our owners are in touch with the English players. I know that the players’ agents have been in touch with me, and I’ve been telling them that we cannot do anything for the moment. After this season, it will be more difficult to do that.”
Courtesy: Telegraph UK