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MUMBAI, Mumbai Mirror: When the Sharad Pawar-led BCCI regime in 2006 accused Jagmohan Dalmiya, who ruled Indian cricket for over a decade, of misusing BCCI funds from a bank account opened during the 1996 World Cup, a belligerent 'Jaggu' Dalmiya had challenged the Board to provide documentary evidence to substantiate its charges. Now, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police apparently has got that documentary proof.

The EOW, which recently completed its investigations into Dalmiya's role in the case, has found him guilty of misappropriation of BCCI funds to the tune of Rs 2.90 crore

Gilani is PPP's choice for Pak PM's post
23 Mar 2008, 0241 hrs IST...............

ISLAMABAD: The party of assassinated former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto nominated on Saturday former National Assembly speaker Yousaf Raza Gilani as its candidate for prime minister.

President Pervez Musharraf has asked the National Assembly to reconvene on Monday to elect the prime minister.

Gilani, a vice chairman of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, is all but guaranteed to win the vote with the support of his party, which won the most seats in a Feb. 18 parliamentary election, and its coalition allies.

The PPP is led by Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, but he is ineligible to stand for prime minister because he is not a member of parliament.

"At this point, I only urge the nation and you all to pray for me, that we take on such a big challenge and do something for the nation, practically," Gilani told Geo Television shortly after the announcement.

Announcing Gilani would be the party's candidate, PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar told reporters a consensus had been reached within the party and with its coalition partners.

Party officials said earlier the chairman of the party, the son of Bhutto and Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, had been due to announce the candidate but they later said he was feeling unwell.

The 19-year-old was appointed after his mother's assassination on Dec. 27 but has said he will complete his studies at Oxford University before entering politics.

There had been speculation the PPP would nominate a stop-gap prime minister and Zardari would take over the post after entering parliament via a by-election.

Analysts said the appointment of Gilani, a low-key Bhutto loyalist, was likely to add to speculation Zardari would seek to become prime minister.

"It's not a nomination you'd expect for a five-year term," said political analyst Masooda Bano.

"He's proved his loyalty but even in the public mind he doesn't have that strong a presence."

The small pro-Musharraf Muttahida Qaumi Movement said it was withdrawing its candidate for prime minister and would vote for the PPP candidate to show goodwill.

But the main pro-Musharraf party, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), which came a poor third in the election, said it would be fielding a candidate whose name would be announced on Sunday.

Musharraf, an important US ally, will swear in the prime minister on Tuesday and the government is expected to be sworn in later in the week.

The president, who came to power as a general in a 1999 coup, appears increasingly isolated and there is intense speculation over how long he will be able to hold on to power.

The incoming government has pledged to pass a resolution to reinstate Supreme Court judges whom Musharraf dismissed in November out of fear they could rule unconstitutional his own re-election in October by the previous assembly.

If reinstated, the judges are expected to take up legal challenges to the president. Gilani, from the central province of Punjab, was National Assembly speaker from 1993 to 1997 during Bhutto's second term as prime minister.

He later spent four years in prison on charges of making illegal government appointments, charges he said were politically motivated.

The PPP emerged with the most seats in the 342-member National Assembly after last month's election but not enough to rule alone.

The PPP's main coalition partner, the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, came second. Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf deposed in 1999, and Zardari have agreed to form a coalition with a small regional party and a religious party.

Indices drift off highs
24 Mar 2008, 1227 hrs IST.......................
MUMBAI: Frontline shares came off initial highs, while tier II and III stocks remained under pressure despite mostly positive cues from Asian markets which lifted sentiment at the start of the session. Inflation, which rose to 5.92 per cent for the week to March 8, kept investors skeptical, analysts said.

At 11:30 am, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was up 165 points or 1.1 per cent at 15,160.12. The index was off the high of 15,338.23. The low was 15,071.63.

HDFC (up 5.06%), Wipro (3.93%), ICICI Bank (3.74%), ONGC (3.15%) and Tata Consultancy Services (2.5%) were the biggest index gainers.

The major losers comprised Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.36%), Reliance Energy (2.65%), BHEL (2.39%), Tata Steel (1.91%) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (1.51%).

The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was up 26 points or 0.57 per cent at 4600. The index touched a high of 4649.45 and low of 4576.80 in trade so far.

“The Nifty witnessed a volatile week. Last Monday it formed a long black candle (almost Marubozu pattern). In the next session a doji pattern followed, and on the last day, an inverted hammer pattern was formed. All of these patterns suggest lack of conviction and no clear evidence of the trend in the market,” said Suresh Kumar Iyer, technical analyst at Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediates.

Mid-cap shares were subdued as investors were unwilling to take bets given heavy global volatility. The BSE Mid-cap Index was down 2.85 per cent and the CNX Mid-cap Index lost 2.4 per cent.

Market breadth on NSE showed 210 advances and 991 declines. On BSE, 497 shares rose and 1906 fell.

Stocks Rise on Bear Stearns News
Monday March 24, 9:36 am ET
By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer
Stocks Trade Higher on Report Bear Stearns Could Fetch More Than Initial Offer


NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks are trading higher with investors more upbeat over a report that Bear Stearns Cos. could fetch more money than the amount set in a buyout deal a week ago.
Shares of Bear Stearns are moving higher on a New York Times report that JPMorgan Chase & Co. is in talks to boost its offer to $10 per share from $2. The discussions are aimed at soothing Bear Stearns shareholders who are upset over JPMorgan's earlier offer. That deal was made at the behest of the Federal Reserve when Bear Stearns was near collapse.

In the first minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average is up about 75 at the 12,436 level.

Sulking Rajput awaits new role
New Delhi, March 24

Jettisoned by the BCCI in the recent support staff shakeup, former Team India manager Lalchand Rajput cannot figure out why the historic Twenty20 World Cup win and the sensational tri-series triumph in Australia could not save his job.

"Obviously it`s disappointing to see that I have not been retained. I tried my best and the results too are also there. But I guess I can`t do anything about it. I have to be positive about the whole thing," a sulking Rajput said.

BCCI last week retained fielding coach Robin Singh and bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad for India`s Test series against South Africa but Rajput, who served as the assistant coach in Australia, got no such favour.

Asked what would be his new role now, Rajput said he was waiting for a word from the BCCI.

"I`m waiting to hear from the Board. I`m sure they have something in mind," he said.

After Greg Chappell packed his bag to end his roller-coaster two-year stint, India were without a full-time coach, with Ravi Shastri and Chandu Borde volunteering to guide the side during its tour of Bangladesh and England.

Rajput then took over as the manager of the Indian Twenty20 team and the side under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, despite lack of exposure in the bang-bang version of the game, went on to win the title.

And though India could not beat Australia when Ricky Ponting came here with his team here last year, beating arch-rivals Pakistan in another ODI series was a highlight for the team.

With the team doing pretty well, some of the senior players apparently felt the side did not need a full-time coach at all and could continue with the existing set-up.

Rajput, however, felt having a full-time coach was a must.

"Maybe that was the view of some people but if you ask me, you have to have a full-time coach, there can`t be two opinions about that," he said.

Looking back at his stint with the side, Rajput said the Twenty20 World Cup win was the obvious high point.

"I would put the Twenty20 World Cup above all, even though beating Australia at their own backyard and winning the tri-series would come a close second. It was not like beating any other team in any other tournament," he said.

While the tri-series triumph in Australia was a reason for unbridled joy, it was there that he faced the biggest challenge of his stint, Rajput said.

"It was a real challenge to stay focussed after the Sydney Test (which was marred by a racism row). There your man-management skill is put into Test. But we stayed together there and overcame the episode. It was a learning experience for me as well," he recalled.

Rajput does not grudge Gary Kirsten or any foreigner taking over the coaching reins but expects the Board to give opportunity to Indian players as well.

"You have a lot of coaching options now and the Indians have delivered the results too. I think at some point of time, the Board would appoint an Indian for the job," said the former player, who could well be the one.

INDIA: LOAN WAIVER FAILS TO BENEFIT MANY NEEDY COTTON FARMERS
PUNE, India, Mar 21, 2008, 2008 (IPS/GIN via COMTEX) -- On March 4, barely four days after Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced a mammoth loan waiver for farmers, 55-year-old Dattu Chaudhary committed suicide.

Chaudhary, a farmer who owned 3 hectares of land in Nara village within Maharashtra state, gave up hope when he saw that he was above the finance minister's cut-off mark of 2 hectares for the bank loan waiver.

Two other farmers also ended their lives on the same day. All three were dry-land cotton farmers in Vidarbha, a region that has become known in India for driving poor cotton growers to their deaths.

With 3 hectares, Chaudhury could only have gotten a 25 percent rebate on the loan, said his nephew Gajanan Chaudhury.

"My uncle owed 75,000 rupees [$1,800] to the State Bank of India. He was already bankrupt -- he could not have repaid 75 percent all at once to avail of the rebate benefit," Gajanan said.

The two other farmers who killed themselves by consuming pesticides were, as reports indicate, out of the institutional credit structure. Their loans were from private moneylenders. Chidambaram's waiver gift only applied to borrowings from public banks.

The finance minister said in Parliament that he expects 30 million farmers to benefit. Small and marginal farmers owe the banks $1.2 billion, while the one-time settlement offer would cost $2.5 billion to the government exchequer.

But most Vidarbha farmers are outside the limit. As farmer Vitthal Elkunchwar, 60, in Bhadumri village in Yavatmal district, put it, "The total loan waiver is for 2-hectare farmers, but thousands of farmers like me have land holdings of 5 acres, or just over 2 hectares."

Nanda Bhandare, the widow of Dnyaneshwar, a farmer with 6 acres who committed suicide in 2005 owing to distress, can barely hide her tears. She cannot avail herself of the total waiver. With two children and her old mother-in-law to look after, she is struggling. "I can't repay my loans; the land is giving me no income," she said.

In Katiyar Village, Akola District, Jyoti Deshmukh's husband, who owned 20 acres of cotton land, killed himself in 2007. Before that her brother-in-law and father-in-law took their lives.

Vijay Jawandhia, a farm leader in Wardha, believes the loan waiver package benefited western Maharashtra's farmers more than those in Vidarbha. "When the country enacted the Land Ceiling Act, it imposed a ceiling of 18 acres on irrigated areas and 54 acres in the dry land areas. Naturally, 30 years later, farmers with irrigated land have smaller land holdings than their counterparts in the rain-fed areas."

As a result the average per capita holding in Vidarbha is 3.03 hectares, which is far larger than the average of 1.75 hectares in the sugar belt of the Pune revenue division. More importantly, the average loan burden on Vidarbha farmers is only $200, a fourth of the average outstanding loans of farmers in the irrigated western Maharashtra districts, as per the government's cooperative department's records.

The average crop loan from the banks for sugarcane is $325 per acre. Sugarcane farmers also get up to $450 per acre for drip irrigation. In Vidarbha's cotton regions, the average loan is just $110 per acre. The scale of the finance minister's write-off for relatively better off farmers is greater.

Maharashtra minister for cooperation Patangrao Kadam said the state would get benefits to the tune of $3.2 billion, or more than a fifth of Chidambaram's $15 billion waiver outlay. But Vidarbha's share would be around $375 million, while that of western Maharashtra would be about $1.5 billion.

The agriculture department's statistics show that roughly half of Vidarbha's 3.5 million households have up to 2 hectares of land. Of this, 760,000 farmers have less than 1 hectare. It is not clear how many get bank loans. By one estimate, more than half of Vidarbha's distressed farmers are out of the formal credit basket.

"That is one reason why thousands of them borrow money from private usurers at exorbitant rates for farm and domestic needs," said Mohan Jadhav in Pandharkawda town, Yavatmal district.

Often poor farmers are not the land owners, and hence are ineligible for bank loans. Most land holders do not bother to transfer holdings to their name. Farms are shown as undivided in village records even years after they are partitioned among family members.

Farm leaders such as Jawandhia point out that by itself Chidambaram's total farm loan waiver is puny when compared with the annual tax and duty concessions given to a handful of industries.

Loan write-offs to industry are done quietly. Between 2000 and 2004, government-controlled banks canceled a staggering $11 billion, mainly benefiting a few wealthy people.

Every year banks write off 20,499 crore rupees ($5.1 billion) as bad debts for industry, which is the total amount owed to banks by some 7 million farmers with less than 1 hectare of land, according to the Reserve Bank of India's "Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy" from 2006-2007.

Vandana Shende's husband was driven to suicide by debts two years ago. "We were unable to repay debts. Even today, much of that loan remains to be repaid," said the frail 30-year-old woman, who has been tilling the land, which is a little over 2 hectares. "Of the 85,000 rupees [$2,125] I owe, 15,000 rupees [$375] is from the bank -- the rest is from private sources," she said.

Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, a farmers' movement said "over two thirds of Vidarbha farmers' debts are on non-institutional credit."

A Planning Commission team that visited Vidarbha in 2006 found banks considered only a quarter of cotton farmers as creditworthy. It was only after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's much-publicized two-day visit at the end of June that the number of farmers in institutional credit went up to 50 percent in Vidarbha.

Munna Bolenwar, a farmer with 15 acres of unproductive and unirrigated land in Vidarbha, said state policies have failed him. "The government

Zeecric.com » World Cup » Story
India to play tri-series in Dhaka
New Delhi, March 23

Asian cricket administrators are juggling dates to accommodate a proposed ODI series involving Pakistan after Australia refused to tour that country for security reasons, the Asia Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL). The only confirmed event is a tri-series in Dhaka, involving India.

After Australia declined to tour Pakistan in March-April and with the lucrative IPL starting April 18, officials from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which is to host a tri-series in June, are trying their best to accommodate one another`s requirements.

At the moment only the triangular series in Dhaka is a certainty, according to Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

`India will play the tri-series in Dhaka with Bangladesh and Pakistan in June,` Shah said on Sunday.

Shah, however, did not get give the dates.

The Dhaka triangular series will be held after the postponed Asia Cup, which is now scheduled to be staged June 24-July 6 in Pakistan.

In another development, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has accepted the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) invitation to play a One-Day International series after the islanders` tour of the West Indies. Unconfirmed reports say this series could be held between April 23 and May 5.

If this series does take on or around those dates, it could have an effect on the International Cricket Council (ICC)-backed IPL, in which billions of dollars are at stake. The Twenty20 IPL runs between April 18 and June 1.

So, PCB and SLC officials along with those of the BCCI, which owns the IPL, will have to take into account the multi-million-dollar league.

Shah was noncommittal when asked about the impact that the proposed Pakistan-Sri Lanka series could have on the IPL.

`I don`t think so,` he said of the proposed series.

When asked if the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series goes ahead and clashes with the IPL dates, will the Sri Lankans and Pakistanis play in league, he said: `I can`t say anything now. It is up to the respective boards to allow or not allow their players for IPL.`

In fact, no country is committing anything. PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf has accepted that a proposal for a tri-series in Dhaka is on the table.

`In the beginning of June, there is a potential tri-series with Bangladesh and India in Dhaka. Tentative dates for it are June 8-15, though it is not yet confirmed,` Ashraf was quoted as saying by the Cricinfo website.

If the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series goes ahead between the speculated April 23-May 5 period or thereabouts, IPL may not have players from the two countries whom the Indian franchise owners have bought for millions of dollars.

The IPL, launched to counter the rebel Indian Cricket League, has the backing of all 10 Test-playing countries, including Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Deposed, detained Pak CJ freed as new PM is appointed

Islamabad, March 24: In his first act after winning the premiership of Pakistan, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani ordered the release of the deposed Pak Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The barricades around the judge`s enclave and the security forces deployed in front of Chaudhry’s house in the Judges Enclave in Islamabad were immediately removed.

According to the senior leader of the lawyers’ movement, Justice chaudhry came out of his house for the first time after a five month long detention, and waved to thousands of his supporters who had gathered outside his house. Scenes of jubilation filled the streets of Islamabad as lawyers celebrated his release.

The order is in keeping with the terms of an accord of signed by the PML(N) and the PPP, as part of a power sharing deal. The accord lists reinstating the chief justice and other sacked judges and one of the first goals of the new governments.

PML(N) chief Nawaz Sharif has reiterated that the judges would be reinstated within 30 days of the new government taking office.

Earlier in the day, in a one-sided contest, Gillani bagged 264 votes in voting in the 342-seat National Assembly trouncing Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the opposition candidate, who got just 42 votes. There were several abstentions.

The PPP stalwart will be sworn in tomorrow by Musharraf at a ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr or presidency at 1130 IST.

This event could mark the downward spiral of Musharraf’s tight grip over all the affairs in Pakistan. Musharraf had put Iftikhar Chaudhry under house-arrest after he imposed Emergency on Pakistan.

India to become 2nd largest wireless network by April: TRAI

New Delhi, March 24: Continuing its growth momentum, the country is set to become the second largest wireless network in the world with a subscriber base of over 300 million by April, telecom regulator TRAI on Monday said.

"India's wireless subscriber base during the first half of April 2008, will surpass that of the US and will become the second wireless network in the world," TRAI said in a statement.

Moreover, the total subscriber base, including wireless and wire-line would also cross 300 million mark in April, it added.

Currently, China is the world's largest wireless network and is adding around 6-7 million subscribers every month.

According to CTIA, a US-based wireless operators association, the current subscriber base of America is 256 million.

The US is adding about 2-3 million subscribers in a month where as India's monthly wireless subscriber addition is highest in the range of 8-9 million a month, TRAI said.

Releasing the monthly telecom subscriber base figures TRAI said during February, about 8.49 million telephone connections have been added as compared to 8.74 million in January.

The total number of telephone connections reaches 290.11 million at the end of February, as compared to 281.62 million in January.

The overall tele-density is 25.31 percent at the end of February, against 24.63 percent in January.

In the wire-line segment, the subscriber base has slightly decreased to 39.18 million in February, against 39.22 million subscribers in January.

India to become 2nd largest wireless network by April: TRAI

New Delhi, March 24: Continuing its growth momentum, the country is set to become the second largest wireless network in the world with a subscriber base of over 300 million by April, telecom regulator TRAI on Monday said.

"India's wireless subscriber base during the first half of April 2008, will surpass that of the US and will become the second wireless network in the world," TRAI said in a statement.

Moreover, the total subscriber base, including wireless and wire-line would also cross 300 million mark in April, it added.

Currently, China is the world's largest wireless network and is adding around 6-7 million subscribers every month.

According to CTIA, a US-based wireless operators association, the current subscriber base of America is 256 million.

The US is adding about 2-3 million subscribers in a month where as India's monthly wireless subscriber addition is highest in the range of 8-9 million a month, TRAI said.

Releasing the monthly telecom subscriber base figures TRAI said during February, about 8.49 million telephone connections have been added as compared to 8.74 million in January.

The total number of telephone connections reaches 290.11 million at the end of February, as compared to 281.62 million in January.

The overall tele-density is 25.31 percent at the end of February, against 24.63 percent in January.

In the wire-line segment, the subscriber base has slightly decreased to 39.18 million in February, against 39.22 million subscribers in January.