“I am a fighter and I will fight till the end,” said Harbhajan in an interview before the Bangalore test. And, true to his words, he fought and took India to safety.

Bhajji in a belligerent mood in Bangalore

India found unlikely batting heroes in tailenders Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan who launched a stunning late-order fightback and ease Australia’s stranglehold in the first cricket Test in Bangalore on Saturday.

Responding to Australia’s first innings total of 430, the hosts were gasping at a precarious 232 for seven before Harbhajan (54) and Zaheer (batting 35) saved them the blushes with a dramatic counter attack to take the score to a much healthier 313 for eight at close on an eventful third day.

While most of the star batsmen fell cheaply on the dual-paced track at the Chinnaswamy stadium, the combative Harbhajan unleashed a barrage of strokes to notch up his fifth Test half century and give India a glimmer of hope to not only save the match but push for a victory.

Harbhajan and Zaheer Khan put on a vital 80-run parnership for the eighth wicket to narrow down the lead and frustrate the Australians who seemed to be firmly in control of the proceedings at one stage.

The Indians are still trailing Australia by 117 runs and their immediate task would be to reduce the margin as much as possible since they have to bat last on a track which was expected to deteriorate.

With two days left, the Test match appears to be heading for a thrilling finish with both teams fancing their chances.

Sehwag stood rooted to the crease as he offered an outer edge to Hayden at first slip, Tendulkar chipped the ball to Cameron White at short cover while Laxman tentatively poked at a good length ball pitched on the off and seaming away to give wicketkeeper Brad Haddin simplest of catches.

Rahul Dravid compiled a fighting fifty before returning back to the pavilion. However, he was not pleased with the leg before decision given without any hesitation by Pakistan umpire Asad Rauf.

A Watson delivery swung in sharply and trapped Dravid though the disappointed batsman thought it had got an inside edge.

Dravid took 104 balls for his knock and helped himself with seven boundaries.
Dhoni (9) joined the Bengal batsman after the fall of Dravid and the duo added 40 runs for the sixth wicket.

The one-day skipper however disappointed as he was stunned by a quick Michael Clarke delivery, which uprooted his off-stump.

Sourav and Harbhajan continued the rescue act until the tea break with the latter scoring a couple of boundaries much to the delight of weekend crowd.— DDI News

Michael Hussey slammed a crafty 146 as Australia piled up a commanding first innings total to push India on the backfoot but the hosts fought back with a flourishing start to keep themselves afloat in the first cricket Test at Bangalore on Friday.

The 33-year-old Hussey gave ample display of his class by notching up his ninth Test century and steer the visitors to a comfortable first innings total of 430 on the second day.

The Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir provided a confident start to the second innings rattling up 68 for no loss in 18.1 overs before a sharp shower forced play to be called off a little early.

Sehwag was on 43 and Gambhir was giving him company on 20 at stumps on day two which saw the Australians consolidating their position in the match.

It was Hussey who stole the limelight on the second day with a fine exhibition of strokeplay and temparament as he guided his team to a position from where it could dictate terms in the remaining three days.

Paceman Zaheer Khan was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 5 for 91 while fellow paceman Ishant Sharma scalped 4 for 77 as the fast bowlers accounted for nine wickets in the innings.

Harbhajan Singh had to be content with one wicket while captain Anil Kumble returned with dismal figures of 43-6-129-0.

Brad Haddin (33) and Bret Lee (27) came up with useful contributions in the lower order to torment the Indians on a Chinnaswamy track which is showing signs of a gradual deterioration.

With the three days left in the match, the Indians will have to bat out of their skins to counter the Aussie total since they may have to bat on a last day track in the fourth innings.

Resuming at the overnight score of 254 for four, the visitors lost Shane Watson (2) cheaply but Hussey and Brad Haddin rebuild the innings with some sensible batting.

Hussey and Haddin stitched a 74-run partnership for the sixth wicket frustrating the Indian bowlers for 104 minutes before the lunch break. The only wicket the visitors lost in this session was that of Shane Watson.

It was a good breakthrough for India in ideal batting conditions as Ishant Sharma clipped the off stump of Watson with a good length delivery early in the day to raise hopes of an Indian fightback.

Watson, who played his first Test innings in three years, lasted just 14 balls. Ishant, who swung the ball well, recorded an impressive first spell of 7-4-4-1.

But with Hussey in command and Haddin finding his feet, Aussies had different plans as they negotiated the two Indian spinners Kumble and Harbhajan without much difficulty while the pacers also got little assistance from the Chinnaswamy track.

Kumble, in particular, failed to penetrate the Aussie batsmen’s defense and the Indian skipper ended up with a dubious world record of conceding 100 runs for the 56th time in Test cricket. Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan has done it 55 times.
Soon after the lunch break, Hussey notched up his ninth Test century and his second against India, continuing to add to his remarkable record since joining the team in 2005.

Although Hussey continued to pile up the misery, the post-lunch session turned out to be a little more productive for the Indians as Ishant Sharma struck twice to remove Brad Haddin (33) and Cameron White (6).

Hussey and Brett Lee (27), however, tormented the hosts with a valuable 59-run partnership for the eighth wicket which took Australia past the 400 mark.

Both Haddin and White perished in quick succession offering simple catches at covers to VVS Laxman and Harbhajan Singh respectively as Ishant capped his fourth wicket of the innings and looked like wrapping up the tail.

But Hussey proved to be a thorn in India‘s flesh as he unleashed a flurry of scintillating strokes and even fetched the first six of the innings off Harbhajan.

When Hussey reached his century, it was the 25th century scored at this venue and sixth by an Australian.

The post-tea session saw a dramatic change in India‘s fortune as Zaheer got some reverse swing going to polish off the tail in quick time.

From a comfortable 416 for seven at the tea interval, the visitors were all out for 430, facing just 3.5 overs after the break.

Zaheer first castled Lee with a gem of an inswinger and then accounted for Mitchell Johnson with a similar delivery.

Hussey was the last wicket to fall with Zaheer dismissing with a vicious delivery which dislodged his stumps, much to the delight of the Indians who could hardly afford the Australians to pile up a bigger first innings total.

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir provided a confident start to the Indian essay with both the batsmen showing no signs of nerve as they attacked the Australian pacers.

Both were quick to punish the loose balls and ensured that no scoring opportunity was missed.

Sehwag, expectedly, was the more belligerent of the two batsmen with some crisp shots on both sides of the wicket, prompting the visitors to spread out the field. — DDI News

With increasing number of women taking part in law and order related problems, the Manipur government will open women police stations and raise women commando units at the headquarters of all districts.

More number of women would be recruited in the police department for which funds have been earmarked under the Centre’s Special Plan Assistance (SPA) programme 2008-09, official sources said, adding that women commandos would deal with militants also.

This has been decided in view of increasing number of women taking part in law and order related problems and for gender sensitisation of the forces, the sources said.

The government would also construct a police training centre and a rehabilitation centre for surrendered militants at Jiribam bordering Cachar district of Assam.

Accommodation would be provided to personnel of the Manipur police, Manipur Rifles and Indian Reserve Battalion at headquarters of all districts.

Instructions have been issued to set-up 10 police check-posts in Imphal and Greater Imphal area.

Construction of barracks for the 300 Special Police Officers (SPO), recruited recently to defend villagers from militants in interior Heirok village in Thoubal district, have also started, the sources said.

They said the government would take up various measures to effectively counter the activities of militant outfits and was determined to contain all outlawed activity in the state by strengthening the state forces.

Taking swift action to inject about Rs 60,000 crore into the cash-strapped system, the Reserve Bank on Friday announced additional one percent cut in mandatory requirements for banks to keep cash with the central bank over and above 0.50 percent reduction announced earlier.

With this, a total 1.50 percent cut in Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to 7.50 percent will come into effect from Saturday.

“Accordingly, on a review of the evolving liquidity situation in the context of global and domestic developments it has been decided to reduce CRR by 150 basis points to 7.50 per cent with effect from the fortnight beginning October 11, 2008 instead of 50 basis points reduction announced on October 6, 2008,” RBI said in a statement in Mumbai.

Both the measures — a one percent and a 0.50 percent cuts in CRR — came ahead of RBI’s mid-term review of monetary policy slated for 24^th October.

“In the context of the abrupt changes in the international financial environment, it is important to note that the economic fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong and resilient and that India‘s financial system is sound, well-capitalist and well-regulated,” RBI said.

The central bank said money in forex markets in India have been operating in a relatively orderly manner.

“The current domestic market conditions are essentially a reflection of the adverse developments and extreme uncertainty in international financial markets,” the statement said.

The Reserve Bank also said that it would ensure price stability along with the growth process.

“The Reserve Bank is monitoring developments closely and continuously and would respond swiftly and even preemptively to any adverse external developments impinging on domestic financial stability, price stability and inflation expectations and the continuation of the growth momentum of the Indian economy,” it said.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram had already assured the nation that liquidity will be injected into the system if the need arises.

Besides RBI’s measures, certain other steps like lifting of curbs on Participatory Notes by market regulator Sebi and relaxation in overseas borrowing norms by the government have already been taken to inject money flow into the system.

By Ashok Handoo

The latest inflation figure in the country has slipped down the 12 per cent mark which, if nothing else, should at least give a psychological relief to the people; the same way as a mere marginal increase in the inflation rate would ring the alarm bells in the media leading people to be overduely concerned about the issue. But a marginal fall in the inflation rate is not something one can be satisfied with. What, however, is a matter of satisfaction is that the phase of constant rise in inflation seems to be over.

During his recent trip to the United States with the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters that inflation rate will return to single digit by the end of current fiscal. Some even believe that a single digit figure will be achieved by the end of December and by March the position would be still better.

The Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Shri Pronab Sen is of the view that inflation will remain in double digit until January, due to the base effect and higher prices of manufactured products.

Dr. Ahluwalia however indicated that the government is not in favour of taking excessive harsh measures to check inflation because that will impact the growth of the economy.

The government has already taken a number of measures to increase the domestic supply of goods and services in the country. For this purpose while the import of goods has been liberalised, restrictions have been placed on the exports of certain commodities. For instance, in the case of pulses, customs duty on imports has been reduced to zero, until March 2009. Simultaneously a ban has been imposed on its export up to March end. Custom duty on semi-milled or wholly-milled rice too has been completely done away with, till March 2009. Export of non basmati rice was banned and the minimum export price of basmati rice was raised to $1200 per tonne . In the case of wheat there will be no import duty till December this year. In order to pave the way for increased supply of edible oils, a commonly used medium of cooking in India, a number of steps have been taken. Customs duties on crude and refined edible oil have been reduced by about 50 percent and now range from 20 to 27.5 percent. Simultaneously, the import of crude edible oil at zero duty and refined oil at 7.5 percent has been allowed. Customs duty on palm oils too was reduced by 10 percentage points. The 4 percent additional countervailing duty on all edible oils was also withdrawn. Export of all edible oils has already been prohibited.

Customs duty on maize imported under Tariff Rate Quota of five lakh metric tonnes was also done away with. Import of Portland cement, other than white cement, was exempted from countervailing duty. At the same time, export of cement was banned. Basic customs duty on various kinds of steel too was either reduced or done away with. On cotton imports the 10 percent customs duty along with 4 percent special additional duty was abolished. Crude oil and petroleum products also received a favourable consideration. In the case of crude oil customs duty was done away with. On petrol and diesel it was reduced from 7.5 to 2.5 percent. On other petroleum products it was halved to just 5 percent. Excise duty on petrol and diesel too was reduced by Rs. 1 per litre. What is a matter of some consolation is that the international price of crude oil is coming down and has already reached $ 94 a barrel. If the trend continues it will bring down the inflation level in the days ahead.

A series of monetary measures too have been taken to deal with the situation. These include repeated increases in the cash reserve ratio of banks and the Repo, as well as reverse Repo rates. The purpose is to check the flow of liquidity into the open market and thereby reduce the price level.

The problem is that just like any health care medicine, the economic measures mentioned above have a negative aspect too. They can impact the growth rate also if adopted without proper monitoring.

The real treatment of the problem is to increase the supply position. This is bound to happen as soon as fresh crops come to the market. In the long run, the government needs to draw a strategy to ensure that agriculture produce in the country, which continues to be our mainstay, increases. Since food represents more than half of the expenditure of a vast majority of our poor population, adequate attention needs to be given to this aspect.

The question now is how far is the meltdown in the US financial market going to affect the Indian economy. Dr. Ahluwalia maintains that its’ direct impact on India has been negligible. There is also a silver lining. The country has ample stock of foreign exchange reserves. So we should be able to deal with the situation that may arise temporarily in the financial markets. But the US financial turmoil is not likely to end anytime soon. Economists believe that this may happen only by the end of the next year. As such India cannot be completely insulated against the economic uncertainties in future. Even the US government believes that the massive bail- out package of $ 700 billion that it has approved may not be enough to stave a financial turmoil in the US. The sub- prime crisis in the United States is a matter of concern since it is exerting pressure on the financial systems and growth implications around the world.

Ultimately it boils down to somehow increasing the supply of goods and services in the market by increasing the imports and reducing or stopping altogether the exports of certain key commodities, reducing money supply in the short run and ensuring proper distribution of whatever stocks are available. That is precisely what the government is doing right now. How soon it can overpower the monster of inflation can be anybody’s guess. All that we can say right now is that we seem to have crossed the inflation hump. — PIB

*Freelance Journalist

Disclaimer :  The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of PIB

As India readies to launch its first unmanned lunar mission on 22nd October, space authorities are awaiting the green signal from the government for the country’s maiden human space flight planned around 2015.

A project report on the human space flight is ready and is awaiting final approval from the government, SHAR Director M P Dathan said.

For the proposed human space flight (manned mission) programme, Dathan said there will be a new launchpad–the third–at Sriharikota.

Dathan said the indigenously built geosynchronous launch vehicle will be upgraded to undertake this mission.

According to ISRO officials,this human space flight is expected in 2015.

On critics questioning the need for a moon mission by India after several countries have undertaken similar ventures in the past, ISRO officials said though dozens of manned and unmanned spacecraft have explored the moon, this does not mean that every important aspect of the moon is known to humans or is fully understood by them.

On the contrary, they said there are many secrets which the moon is yet to reveal.

Dussehra, which marks the end of nine-day Navratri festival also known as Vijayadashmi signifies the victory of good over evil is being celebrated across the country on Thursday.

 Hindu devotees are visiting temples, especially those dedicated to various goddesses including Shantadurga, Kamakshi, Mahalaxmi, Gajantlaxmi, Navadurga since morning .

Ponting scores his first century on Indian soil — Photo courtesy CA

By Ashok Kumar

 

India failed to capitalize on a dream start by getting the wicket of Mathew Hayden in the very first over, while Australia helped by Ponting’s century marched towards safety and ending the day 1 on 254/4. Ponting’s 123 is his first century on Indian soil and overall 36^th, a spot behind Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 39 centuries. However, Ponting set a record of scoring most centuries by a captain (16) in 45 matches. Interestingly, Sachin is way behind with seven from 25 matches.

While Ponting and opener Katich (66) played cautiously through to second session, India grabbed a wicket in each session. Ponting and Katich were separated after a partnership of 166 runs just before the Tea interval when a rising and moving away Ishant Sharma’s delivery took the outer edge of Katich’s bat and Dhoni doing the rest.

Thereafter, Michael Hussy and Ponting steadied the innings with the latter completing his first ton on Indian soil. Ponting was lucky to survive a caught and bowled chance off Kumble which the replays showed a clean catch but umpire Rudy Koertzen ruled him not out. The replays prompted Mark Waugh, the expert commentator on Foxtel to say that Rudy should have referred it to the third umpire.

A few overs later, an LBW appeal against Ponting was negated by Rudy while replays showed the Aussie skipper plumb in front. However, it was finally Harbhajan who angled the ball in and Ponting going for a sweep missed the line and Asad Rauf after a pause had no hesitation in giving him out.

In the last over of the day, Michael Clarke who came in after the fall of Ponting was out to Zaheer’s swinging delivery that kept low. Mike Hussy was not out on 46. Zaheer Khan (2/39) will complete his unfinished over in the morning on the second day.

Brief Scores

Australia 1^st innings

M Hayden c MS Dhoni b Zaheer Khan 0

S Katich c MS Dhoni b I Sharma 66

R Ponting lbw Harbhajan Singh 123

M Hussey not out 46

M Clarke lbw Zaheer Khan 11

Allaying India’s fears on certain provisions of the legislation on Indo-US nuclear deal which he signed into law, President George W Bush has said there are “no changes” in fuel supply commitments as provided in the 123 Agreement.

“This legislation does not change the fuel assurance commitments that the US government has made to the Government of India as recorded in the 123 Agreement,” Bush said while signing the HR7081 bill into law last night, paving the way for the two countries to finally ink the deal tomorrow.

Bush’s remarks came against the backdrop of concerns expressed by India over the fuel supplies following his Administration’s assertion that the assurances were only political commitments and not legally binding.

“The Agreement grants India advance consent to reprocessing which will be brought into effect upon conclusion of arrangements and procedures for a dedicated reprocessing facility under IAEA safeguards,” Bush said.

Describing Bush’s signing of the legislation into law a “new beginning” in bilateral ties, Indian Ambassador to US, Ronen Sen, said New Delhi’s concerns on certain provisions of the bill have been addressed.

“Absolutely”, remarked Sen when asked by reporters if the President’s address at the signing of the legislation met all of India’s concerns.

“I think the statement (of Bush) speaks for itself… All concerns that have been expressed who fear the implications of certain elements of the legislation. All those have been met,” Sen said in response to a query on fuel supply assurances.

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will formally sign the overall bilateral nuclear cooperation accord tomorrow.

After a controversial stay in West Bengal, Tatas shifted their Rs one-lakh car Nano project to Sanand near Ahmedabad at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore, delcaring that efforts will be made to roll out the world’s cheapest car from a make-shift plant to meet the deadline.

“This is an extremely momentous and happy day for us because we have been through a rather sad experience from a small quarter of residents of West Bengal despite the state government’s efforts,” Tata Group Chief Ratan Tata said at a joint press conference with Cheif Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.The MoU was signed by Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant and Industrial Secretary Gouri Kumar

Praising Modi for speedy allocation of about 1,100 acres of centrally located land, Tata said the company had a great deal of urgency in having a new location and was driven by the reputation of the state.

“The site in Gujarat, already under the possession of the state government, will help Tata Motors establish a new dedicated mother plant with the shortest possible time lag and least possible increment project cost,” he said.

Together with Tata Motors, about 60 vendors would also move to the new location.

Asked about the over-all deal offered by the Gujarat government, Tata said, “it is as good as or slightly better than the one we had previously (in West Bengal).”

Gujarat was one of many states in the race for Nano car manufacturing facility.

Welcoming Tatas, the Chief Minister said, “Tatas and Gujarat have started a new chapter of partnership which will give a new direction and dimension to the state. “After the Nano car project, Gujarat will make an important place in surface transport.”

To begin with, Tata Motors would produce 2.5-3 lakh cars annually and the capacity is expandable up to five lakh cars per annum, Tata said.

When asked about the timing of launching Nano, Tata said, “It will be our endeavour to be close to the timeline so that we can keep our promise.”He, however, did not specify any timeline and said the company would make an announcement in this regard later.

“Building this plant in Gujarat will take some time and we have some make-shift plan to introduce Nano in the market in the interim month while the plant is being built,” he said.

A company statement said it would explore the possibility of manufacturing Nano at its existing facilities in Pune and Pantnagar and would launch the car in the last quarter (Jan-March) of the current financial year.

Meanwhile, reports from Uttarakhand said ‘limited production’ of the world’s cheapest car will take place in Pantnagar.

“Tata Motors officials have conveyed to the state government that limited production of Nano will be held in Pantnagar despite their decision to take the mother plant to Gujarat,” said Uttarakhand media advisory committee Chairman Devendra Bhasin quoting Chief Minister B C Khanduri.

Tata Motors also plans to have CNG, electric and exports variants manufactured at the mother plant in Sanand, Tata said.

Talking about the size of investment, company’s Managing Director Ravi Kant said it would be about Rs 2,000 crore.

“… there will be some more things that we are talking about. We expect more number of vendors to come here. The size of the plant would be much bigger than what we had planned for West Bengal,” he added.

As per the agreement, Tatas would also undertake a number of initiatives for human resource development in the state, including setting up of ITIs.

When asked about the loss incurred due to pulling out of West Bengal, Tata said, “We would be retrieving most of our costs out of Singur and I don’t believe that there will be a need to have any appreciable loss reflected in our financials in the current year.”

“The cost of moving out would be the cost of dismantling and the cost of moving to a new location,” he said.

According to the agreement, the homegrown auto major would purchase land from the Gujarat government at current market prices.

Last week, Tata Motors withdrew its Rs one-lakh Nano car project from West Bengal, with a disappointed Ratan Tata blaming the Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee for the “unfortunate and painful” decision.

Hitting out at Mamata, Tata had said, “Agitation by the opposition party has been the sole reason for this decision… How can we go into production when people are saying that we will continue agitation… I think Banerjee pulled the trigger”.

Retaliating, Banerjee had said it was a “joint game plan” by the Tatas and the state government during Durga Puja festival.

Tatas had evacuated entire work force from Singur, complaining intimidation and violence from the agitators who had cordoned of the entire area since August to prevent progress on the project.

In the auto space, Gujarat so far has a General Motors plant in Halol, Bombardier’s bus body making facility and Asia Motor Works’ truck manufacturing unit at Bhuj.