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THE ASIAN AGE WEATHER

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NEW DELHI FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER 2011

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SANJAY BASAK and PAWAN BALI

FOOD INFLATION RISES TO 11.43%

New Delhi: Food inflation saw a sharp jump to 11.43 per cent for the week ended October 15 led by a steep increase in the prices of vegetables. This is the highest food inflation figure in the last six months. The prices of vegetables are up by 25 per cent as compared to last year.

■ Full report on Page 16

TV STAR’S MERC HITS CAR, HELD, GETS BAIL Mumbai: Film and television star Ronit Roy was arrested on charges of rash and negligent driving after his Mercedes hit a WagonR carrying four members of a family, injuring a woman seriously, in suburban Amboli, the police said. Ronit was granted bail on a surety of `12,000.

— PTI ■ Full report on Page 4

E.U. OKAYS DEAL TO CHECK GREEK DEBT Brussels: Eurozone leaders struck a deal with private banks and insurers on Thursday for them to accept a 50 per cent loss on their Greek government bonds under a plan to lower Greece’s debt burden and try to contain the two-year-old euro zone crisis.

— Reuters ■ Full report on Page 17

ASTROGUIDE: Khara : Uttarayana Tithi: Kartika Sukla Vidiya till 6.14 pm Star: Visakha till 3.59 pm Varjyam: 7.37 pm to 9.03 pm Durmuhurtam: 8.30 am to 9.17 am & 12.24 pm to 1.11 pm Rahukalam: 10.30 am to 12 pm

SUNSET Today 5.41 pm SUNRISE Tomorrow 6.30 am MOONRISE Today 9.09 am MOONSET Tomorrow 6.52 pm FORECAST:

Mainly clear sky

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Cricket

Will Harbhajan Singh make the cut for Test berth?

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee indicated Thursday that the ambitious Goods and Services Tax (GST) has become “hostage of contemporary Opposition politics” in the country.

While some states, including Tamil Nadu, had raised the issue of autonomy at the recent National Development Council meeting, the fact is that even the Centre will lose its exclusive right to tax services in the proposed GST. In an exclusive interview to this newspaper, the finance minister pointed

out that major political parties have made a commitment to support GST. “The BJP has made a commitment to introduce GST. The Left parties have tendered support. Now they must redeem their word, we require their support,” he said. On issues ranging from corruption to legislation, the finance minister, tackling all contentious issues troubling the UPA-2, said: “Well-established and time-tested institutions should not be dismantled, institutions should rather be strengthened... You can’t create anarchy by destroying systems and institutions.”

On the economy, he pointed out that if one

EXCLUSIVE

Pranab Mukherjee talked of “autonomy in the context of the existing constitutional framework, then these aspects should be clearly understood and should not become a

hostage of contemporary Opposition politics.

Because here it is decided that the Centre that has now exclusive jurisdiction to impose taxes on services, will relinquish its authority. Similarly, states will also have to give authority to the Centre to impose taxes on sales.” On the perception of some states that they might lose revenue, the finance minister noted that such fears were also expressed during the introduction of VAT. “But VAT has increased the revenue of states and didn’t cause any loss,” Mr Mukherjee said.

The GST has already missed two deadlines: 201011 and 2011-12. The govern-

YOSHITA SINGH NEW YORK, OCT. 27

Rajat Gupta, an iconic figure in the American corporate sector who was arrested on charges of passing insider information to his friend Raj Rajaratnam, was released Thursday on bail on a $10 million bond after he pleaded not guilty to offences that could keep him in jail for life.

The 62-year-old Indian-American, who has sat on the board of top US companies like Goldman Sachs and Procter and Gamble, was indicted in the massive insider trading scandal that has rocked Wall Street. The not-guilty plea was filed at his arraignment at a US federal district court here.

He is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and five counts of securities fraud. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the conspira-

cy charge and 20 years in prison on each of the securities fraud charges.

If found guilty, he faces a cumulative jail term of 105 years.

Gupta surrendered before the FBI Wednesday. He was accused of sharing confidential information about investments at Goldman Sachs with billionaire hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, the Sri Lankan-born founder of the Galleon Group, already in jail for 11 years in America’s biggest insider trading scam.

US prosecutor Preet Bharara said Gupta broke the trust of some of America’s top companies and “became the illegal eyes and ears in the boardroom for his friend and business associate Raj Rajaratnam, who reaped enormous profits from Mr Gupta’s breach of duty.” — PTI ■ A stunning fall for a star executive: Page 16

Inflation & graft cost India’s richest New Delhi, Oct. 27: India’s richest are losing wealth due to inflation and corruption scandals, according to Forbes magazine, which says that the combined wealth of the country’s 100 wealthiest is down 20 per cent from a year ago.

According to Forbes’ annual India Rich List, the total wealth of the country’s 100 richest has fallen to $241 billion, down by 20 per cent or an estimated $60 billion. The num-

ber of billionaires has also fallen by a dozen to 57 currently, Forbes said, adding that falling stock and currency prices also led to diminishing of their wealth.

Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries Group head, has retained his position as the richest Indian with a net worth of $22.6 billion, though his wealth declined by $4.4 billion in the past one year.

— PTI ■ More on Page 16

F1 METER IS TICKING

AASHIMA DOGRA

ment is now trying to be enforce it from the beginning of the next financial year: April 1, 2012. The GST is meant to replace existing levies such the state VAT, besides the Centre-imposed excise duty as well as service tax.

Mr Mukherjee pointed out that all major political parties had committed themselves to supporting GST in their election manifestos. “The BJP had made a commitment to introduce GST. The Left parties had tendered support. But now they must redeem their word, we require their support,” said the finance minister.

Mr Mukherjee noted that the government had intro-

duced a Constitution Amendment Bill in Parliament. It will now first have to come to the Lok Sabha, after being scrutinised by the standing committee.

“Thereafter we will require the support of political parties other than the ruling party because it requires a two-thirds majority. This is an amendment that will require ratification by 50 per cent of states.

Therefore the players are many, not merely the ruling party,” he said.

■ ‘Anarchy if institutions, systems destroyed’: Page 2 ■ Text of interview on Sunday

McLaren Mercedes driver Jenson Button of Britain drives an autorickshaw on Thursday, ahead of Sunday’s Formula One Grand Prix of India at the Buddh International Circuit in Noida.

— AP ■ Reports on Page 18 & 20

13 infants die in Kolkata hospital AGE CORRESPONDENT KOLKATA, OCT. 27

With one more child dying Thursday, the number of crib deaths at Kolkata’s Dr B.C. Roy Memorial Hospital for Children in the past 48 hours rose to 13. The hospital authorities, however, claimed the deaths of so many babies in such a short span of time was not abnormal.

“After critically analysing the cases, we found they were underweight and most were suffering from infection and congenital heart diseases.

To you the number (of deaths) might seem abnormal, but for the hospital (these) were not unexpected,” Dr Dilip Kumar Pal, the hospital superintendent, said.

Rattled by the furore over the deaths, the West Bengal health department set up a four-member inquiry panel which was directed to submit its report by Thursday

evening.

This report gave the hospital a clean chit, saying there was no negligence by doctors and other hospital staff. The committee found that most babies who had died were brought there in an extremely critical condition.

Echoing the superintendent’s views, the report also said the babies were underweight and were suffering from septicaemia and heart diseases. The long journey from different districts to this Kolkata hospital had also taken its toll on the babies’ delicate health, the report suggested. The hospital superintendent said he would look into complaints of misbehaviour by some hospital staffers.

In late July, nearly 20 babies had died in the same hospital within 48 hours, triggering angry protests.

Then too an inquiry had eventually absolved the hospital of blame.

X 7 billion people in the world by Monday On Monday, October 31, there will be seven billion humans on the planet. The world celebrated the birth of the sixth billionth baby in 1999; it took us just 12 years to add a billion more.

Our numbers make us the most successful species ever, colonising all parts of

Vol. 18 No. 253 | 36

Rajat pleads not guilty, out on $10m bail

BOTTOMLINE

LONDON, OCT. 27

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20 killed as Saleh says he is ready to resign

Pranab: Opp. holding GST hostage NEW DELHI, OCT. 27

A Nihang performs a stunt on the occasion of “Fateh Divas” in Amritsar on Thursday.

— AFP

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WEST ASIA Yemen

the globe, controlling its resources, making our presence felt in outer space and even managing to delay death.

Resisting temptation to construct this dizzying mental imagery, social scientists and demographers have been surveying the challenges we now face, while attempting to shine light on an uncertain

future, in a new UN report “State of World Population 2011”.

The entire landscape of this steep growth curve is confounded by paradoxes.

Rich countries are getting older, thanks to dropping fertility rates and worry about staying rich, while poorer developing nations have high fertility that hinders economic growth.

The one thing that is certain is there will be more mouths to feed, especially in countries with little resources. Key energy sources are unevenly distributed, with little access for the poor. China reigns as the most populous country, but India will surpass it in 2025 with 1.46 billion people. “India will continue to grow to about 1.7 billion by

2060 before beginning to decline,” the report predicts. A large chunk of the world’s population is based in these two nations.

India’s registrar general and census commissioner C. Chandramouli has said: “Now the question is: how the ‘youth bulge’ is handled. What kind of skills do you give them? How do you make them into assets?”

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DIGGY CAUTIONS SRI SRI ON SANGH’S PLAN C AGE CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, OCT. 27

AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday claimed the activities of the anti-graft crusaders were part of a larger RSS-BJP design to divert attention from Sangh’s “terror links”. He also warned spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar that he too could be manipulated by them, as was the case with Anna Hazare and yoga guru Ramdev.

Mr Singh said that while Ramdev and Mr Hazare were Plans A and B of the Sangh/BJP, Sri Sri Ravishankar is Plan C and asked the spiritual guru to be “wary” of the two organisations. The comment appeared on Twitter where he said, “Plan A, B and C are of Sangh/BJP to divert the minds of the people from their involvement in terror activities to corruption.” Later, Mr Singh explained his “twitted remarks”, saying, “Plan A of this overall scheme has been Baba Ramdev, B is Anna and C is Sri Sri Ravishankar.”

However, in another post on Twitter, he said: “I hold Sri Ravi Shankarji in high esteem and have done a course in the Art of Living as CM MP in 2001. He should be wary of Sangh/ BJP.” Reacting, Sri Sri Ravishankar said, “People write so many things. I do not react to every comment. Everybody is entitled to his views.”

The BJP claimed Mr Singh was attempting to “demonise” all those fighting corruption. “I compliment Digvijay Singh for his important plan of almost shameless way (sic) of demonising all those who are fighting against corruption. Good luck to him,” the BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

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