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The Voice of Goa — Since 1900 panjim, friday, december 10, 2010 postal reg. no. Goa 101 price rs. 3.00
India: Goa more than just a tourist paradise — Abhishek Pg 11 It’s a basic truth of the human condition that everybody lies. The only variable is about what. The weird thing about telling someone they’re dying is it tends to focus their priorities. You find out what matters to them. What they’re willing to die for. What they’re willing to lie for. — David Shore
Future trading in iron ore? HERALD NEWS BUREAU NEW DELHI, DEC 9
Future trading in iron ore is on the card. Two leading commodity bourses have approached market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) in Mumbai to allow future contracts in iron ore to help the steel companies manage price risk. A future contract is a standardised contract to buy or sell a specified commodity at a certain date in the future. The price of iron ore currently is around Rs 3000 a tonne. A report says the FMC that functions under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs headed by Sharad Pawar has sought some clarifications about settlement issue for trading in iron ore. The ministry sources say a future contract would work effectively only when there is a counter-party.
Business: FM cautions against volatility in FII flows Pg 12
(air Surcharge rs 2.00) pages 16+4
Sports: India eyes series Pg 16 whitewash
2G SCAM TRIGGERS CoRpoRATE WAR
Tatas hit out at BJp PTI NEW DELHI, DEC 9
The 2G scam today triggered a corporate war with industrialist Ratan Tata hitting out at the policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government, and Rajya Sabha member of parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who had alleged that Tatas were one of the biggest beneficiaries of the spectrum allocation. Accusing certain GSM operators, represented by Cellular Operators Association of India, and journalists of trying to subvert policies to suit their interests, Tata said many of the flip-flops in the telecom policy occurred during the BJP regime. Stating that the telecom licence policy of 2008 helped break the powerful cartel, Tata demanded that 2G spectrum allocation since 2001, a period that includes the BJP-led NDA regime, be probed. Reacting to an open letter by Chandrasekhar, a former president of COAI and an independ-
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PTI NEW DELHI, DEC 9
Many of the flip-flops in the telecom policy occurred during the BJP regime. The switch over from auction to revenue sharing system for telecom operators during the BJP regime could have caused a loss of Rs 50,000 crore. — Ratan Tata ent MP supported by BJP-Janata Dal(Secular), Tata said the recent policy (2G spectrum allocation
Drishti acts tough against lifeguards to be rushed to the Primary Health Centre by 108 service. Drishti Beach Management Serv- Besides, Drishti lifeguards resices has finally acted tough cued three persons at Vagator , against the protesting lifeguards Pallolem and Ashwem today. by issuing show-cause notices Drishti deployed 152 lifeto 308 personnel and terminat- guards from October 2008 and ing 54 trainees. 268 lifeguards commencing “The objective of lifeguarding from November 2009. In Noservice is to save precious vember 2010, 78 trainee lifehuman lives. guards were Hence Drishti coninducted for onsidered it prudent job training. to issue Show The manageCause Notices to ment expects that 308 personnel. with such action, Also, 54 trainee the adamant lifelifeguards have guards would rebeen issued termiturn back to their nation notice as work. their conduct does The lifeguards not make them resorted to strike worthy of being on Monday deappointed as life- DRISHTI: ALL AT SEA manding hike in guards,” said the Chief Operat- salaries, action against senior ing Officer V Kanwar. lifeguards for assaulting their He said that the services juniors and reducing work along the beach stretch from hours. Since the negotiation Baga to Sinquerim stretch which with them did not work out, the has been affected due to the il- management finally decided to legal strike is being patrolled take stern action. continuously by Rescue Jet Ski The 308 personnel issued operators. show cause notice comprised According to Drishti officials, as under: lifeguards administered major 30 personnel appointed in first aid to a domestic tourist July 2008 (Total appointed 101) at Calangute who suffered a 28 personnel appointed in (Continued on page 10) deep gash in his sole and had HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, DEC 9
54% Indians paid bribe last year AgENcIES BERLIN, DEC 9
One person in four worldwide paid bribe during the past year while 54 per cent Indians say they greased the palms of authorities to get things done, says a study released today to mark International Anti-Corruption Day. “Corruption has increased over the last three years, say six out of 10 people around the world, and one in four people report paying bribes in the last year,” the Berlin-based non- governmental agency, Transparency International (TI), said. Releasing the findings of the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer , a worldwide public opinion survey on corruption, TI said it showed that in the past 12 months one in four people paid bribe to one of nine institutions and services, from health to education to tax authorities. The police are named the most frequent recipient of bribes, according to those surveyed, with 29 per cent of those who had contact with the police reporting that they paid bribe. The biggest number of reported bribery payments in 2010 is in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cameroon, India, Iraq,
Retired judge to probe policies from 2001-09
Liberia, Nigeria, Palestine, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda where more than 50 per cent of people surveyed paid bribe in the past 12 months. In India, 54 per cent of users of services said they paid bribe to receive attention from service providers. Almost half of all respondents say they paid bribes to avoid problems with the authorities and a quarter say it was to speed up processes. Most worrying is the fact that bribes to the police have almost doubled since 2006, and more people report paying bribes to the judiciary and for registry and permit services than they did so five years ago, TI said. Worldwide, sub-Saharan Africa was the region reporting the greatest incidence of bribery with more than one person in two saying they had made such payments to officials in the past 12 months. The Middle East and North Africa were the next most corrupt regions with 36 per cent of people there reporting having paid bribes. This compared to 32 per cent in the former Soviet republics, and 23 per cent i n S o u t h America.
A day after the Supreme Court favoured widening the probe, the government today asked a retired judge of the apex court to look into the spectrum allocation procedures and policies during 2001-2009, a period that includes the NDA regime. Announcing the decision, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters that the oneman committee of retired Supreme Court Justice Shivraj V Patil, will :examine appropriateness of procedures (adopted) by DoT in the issuances of licences and allocation of spectrum during the period 2001-2009”. in 2008) broke the powerful cartel that had been holding back competition and delaying im-
plementation of policies. It was in 2008 that Tata’s telecom arm, TTSL - a key player in CDMA space - entered the GSM platform dominated by big names like Airtel and Vodafone. Rebutting the charges, Chandrasekhar, an erstwhile telecom entrepreneur, hit back, saying that Tata was trying to divert the issue — which is the gap between the group’s claim on probity and conduct of their telecom venture TTSL. He alleged that Tata was one of the biggest beneficiaries of spectrum policies, contrary to all their claims of fair play and transparency. Tata’s charge that “many of the flip-flops in the telecom policy occurred during the BJP regime,” drew sharp reaction from the BJP which said the industrialist was “no judge” and his views will not be given much importance as he himself was a “beneficiary” of United Progressive Alliance’s telecom policy. Tata alleged that the switch (Continued on page 10)
India rejects emission cuts PTI CANCUN, DEC 9
Cracks have developed among India and three other developing countries on accepting legally binding emission cuts at the climate change summit here, with Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh saying there is concerted pressure on the country and China to accept such cuts. Rejecting legally binding emission cuts, Ramesh said India, China and the US are not in favour of it though such a move is supported by other developed countries.
Sorry Sir, We can’t give you 4 options & life lines. You are being quizzed for your scam.