Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 25: Demanding construction of alternative four-way circular road from Ambphalla Manda to High Court Janipur to Roop Nagar Ban Talab, activists of Jammu West Assembly Movement held a protest demonstration at New Plot.
Led by Sunil Dimple, they raised slogans against Jammu Municipal Corporation, PWD, R&B ERA and JDA for not working properly in Jammu. They alleged that no development works were taking place in Jammu West constituency.
The protesters were also addressed by Sunil Dimple, Rash Pal Singh, Sumit Virdi, Swarn Lal, Mohinder Kumar, Lichi, Balak Ram and others.
Dimple protests for Manda-HC road
Pvt schools, ETT institutes flay proposal on BPL children
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 25: Jammu Private Schools and ETT Institutes Association (Progressive), have expressed their reservations over the HRD Minister’s decision of involving private schools for enrolling BPL children.
In a statement, president of the Association, Deep Singh explained that 80 percent of the private schools were functioning under compromises due to mismanagement and miscalculation of the Government.
However, appreciating the HRD Minister’s proposals on reducing the age of children for entry in schools and creation of one School Board through out the country, the Association leader lamented that the genuine suggestions would not be implemented.
Krishan Dass elected Bar president Ramnagar
Excelsior Correspondent
RAMNAGAR, Feb 25: Krishan Dass Sharma was elected as Bar president, Ramnagar.
Advocate SK Gupta was elected as general secretary, Advocate Rohin Bhardwaj as secretary whereas Advocate RK Jandial was elected as cashier.
The election in this concern was held in the premises of Sub-Judge Court Ramnagar, where besides outgoing president, Advocate Vikrant Sharma, Advocate Yuvraj Singh was also present.
PDD casual labourers’ strike enters 8th day
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 25: The indefinite strike of All J&K PDD Casual Labour Employees, under the leadership of Jammu provincial president, Choudhary Sampoorn Singh, entered 8th day today.
The casual labourers are demanding the implementation of J&K Government Order No 265-PDD dated Sept 5, 2009, which says that the list of Casual labourers are directed to be published in the local daily newspapers and PDD website.
The Union alleged that the concerned AEEs and Executive Engineers have not yet cleared the verifications of the Casual Labourers and the Principal Secretary (Power), Sudhanshu Pandey had passed another order vide No 3081-PDD/2012 dated Oct 5, 2012, which reads that upto October 15th, 2012, the list of casual labourers will be published, but till date nothing has been published by the concerned officers, the union members maintained.
The union also said that Rs 6.50 crore was announced by the PDD Minister and Chief Minister about one year back, but till now even a single penny has not been disbursed to the needy people.
The union said that the its agitation will continue till the concerned authorities take any solid step to redress the grievances of casual labourers.
SBI approves preferential equity shares to GoI
MUMBAI, Feb 25: Country’s biggest commercial bank, State Bank of India (SBI) today said the Executive Committee of Central Board
(ECCB) of the bank at its meeting has approved preferential allotment of equity shares to the Government of India (GoI) to the
tune of up to Rs 3004 crore to enable the bank to support national
and international banking operations undertaken through its Subsidiaries and Associates.
The preferential issue has been priced at Rs 2,312.78 per share.
SBI’s net profit rose by 4.07 per cent to Rs 3396.06 crore on 14.11 per cent growth in total income to Rs 33992.11 crore in third
quarter of December 2012 over third quarter of December 2011.
The Government of India (GoI) currently holds 61.58% stake in SBI (as per the shareholding pattern as on 31 December 2012), a statement issued by the bank said.
(UNI)
Australia close up 0.8 pct on strong financial and retail stocks
SYDNEY, Feb 25: Australian shares rose 0.8 percent on Monday, ending off their highs after a survey showed a pull-back in China’s factory activity, but strong financial and retail stocks kept the index near a 4-1/2 year peak hit last week.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index gained 37.7 points to 5,055.8, according to the latest data. The index rose 0.8 percent on Friday, but lost 0.3 percent last week.
New Zealand’s benchmark NZX 50 index rose 0.3 percent to 4,226.4.
(AGENCIES)
China money rates rise on expectation of tighter liquidity moves
SHANGHAI, Feb 25: China’s money rates rose across the board on Monday after the People’s Bank of China signalled that it would drain more funds from the market via its open market operations on Tuesday, traders said.
The central bank drained a weekly record 910 billion yuan ($146 billion) from the money market last week in a move widely interpreted as aimed at offsetting excess funds in the market after the lunar new year holiday.
On Monday, the PBOC again surveyed primary dealers for their demand for regular bond repurchase agreements on Tuesday, indicating that it would continue to soak up cash from the market, traders said. Repurchase of bonds drains money from the market while reverse repos inject funds.
Some suspect that regulators might want to lift funding costs to send a signal to the market amid renewed government warnings about rising home prices, traders said.
The weighted-average seven-day bond repurchase rate rose to 3.29 percent near midday, up 19 basis points over Friday, the fifth straight day that the benchmark money market rate has risen.
The overnight repo rate rose to 2.40 percent from Friday’s 2.21 percent and the 14-day repo rate jumped to 3.34 percent to 3.00 percent.
(AGENCIES)
Get2Volume, Tata Elxsi partner to grow tech start-ups
BANGALORE, Feb 25: Tata Elxsi and Get2Volume (G2V) today announced their partnership to incubate and grow technology companies in India and Singapore.
Tata Elxsi, India’s leading design company, recently launched incub@TE, an incubation centre programme to nurture and support aspiring entrepreneurs, a company statement said.
Get2volume, based in Singapore and with funding from the Singapore’s National Research Foundation, invests in, mentors and helps grow innovative microelectronics-centric companies, it said.
Tata Elxsi and G2V agreed to extend their incubation offerings and connections to each other’s portfolio companies. the statement said.
Get2Volume extends its incubation programme to Tata Elxsi companies that include connections, access to the ecosystem within Singapore and funding for companies that meet G2V criteria.
Tata Elxsi extends its incub@TE programme to Get2Volume portfolio companies that want to build their businesses in India, with infrastructure, mentorship and go-to-market support. It will further offer access to product engineering and its Technology IP portfolio, to help reduce development costs and time to market. These will be covered under separate agreements with the respective portfolio companies, the statement added.
“This partnership provides portfolio companies with access to capital, connections and complementary capability,” said Rajesh Kumar, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, Tata Elxsi. (PTI)
Jet Airways down over 3% on bourses
MUMBAI, Feb 25: Shares of Jet Airways today tanked more than 3 per cent amid investor concerns whether its stake-sale deal with Abu-Dhabi based carrier Etihad would materialise.
According to media reports, fresh hurdles have come up in the Jet-Etihad deal. There were also reports that the UAE-based carrier was seeking to revise a proposed deal with the Indian carrier.
Jet shares opened weaker and lost further ground to touch a low of Rs 511.55 on the BSE, down 2.99 per cent from its last closing price.
On the National Stock Exchange as well, the stock opened at Rs 522 and touched intra-day low of Rs 510.25, down 3.38 per cent from its previous closing price.
Etihad has said the deal is being revised and might take some time to conclude. It is reported to be buying 24 per cent equity in Jet Airways for about Rs 1,800 crore. (PTI)
‘Brave’ best animated feature, ‘Paperman’ best animated short
LOS ANGELES, Feb 25: The story of a high-spirited Scottish princess in ‘Brave’ charmed the Academy voters to win the coveted golden statuette in the best animated feature film category while the love story of a young office worker won the best animated short film Oscar.
Directed by Mark Andrews, ‘Brave’ defeated veteran Hollywood filmmaker Tim Burton’s ‘Frankenweenie’, Sam Fell and Chris Butler’s ‘ParaNorman’, Peter Lord’s ‘The Pirates! Band of Misfits’ and Rich Moore’s ‘Wreck-It Ralph’.
The movie follows the story of Merida, a high-spirited Scottish princess who resists her mother’s efforts to transform her into a more ladylike young woman.
Faced with an arranged marriage she doesn’t want, Merida runs away into the forest, where she encounters a witch who teaches her a dangerous spell.
This is the second Academy Award nomination for Andrews as he was previously nominated for ‘One Man Band’ in 2005.
On the other hand ‘Paperman’, is about a young man working in an office who desperately tries to attract the attention of a girl in the building across the street.
This is the first Academy Award nomination for director John Kahrs. (PTI)