MUMBAI, June 16:
In a strong message to a critical India Inc, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the government is “not sitting idle” and indicated that RBI may also cut interest rates on Monday to arrest slowdown.
In his first public address after being nominated as the UPA candidate for the Presidential elections, Mukherjee said government was taking steps to address concerns expressed by global agencies like Standard & Poor’s and the industry.
“As Finance Minister, I cannot ignore the ground realities…I do not dismiss their concern. I take serious note of their concern and try to find out what is to be done,” he said while addressing an Assocham conference here.
Indicating that RBI too will be joining the government in dealing with the slowdown, he said “I am confident that keeping in view all the factors, the RBI will adjust the monetary policy as we are adjusting the fiscal policy”.
RBI is expected to cut rates in its review of monetary policy on Monday in the face of the economic growth slipping to a nine-year low of 6.5 per cent during 2011-12.
Mukherjee listed growing burden of petroleum subsidy as one of the difficult areas before the Centre for which he appealed to the States to reduce their taxes.
As far as state finances in 2011-12 were concerned, he said, they were quite satisfactory. He has written to the States that Centre will also respond but it has to be balanced because “if the federal finance becomes weak, nobody will be able to bailout Indian economy.”
On Eurozone crisis, Mukherjee said, India is as concerned as others whether Greece will remain part of the currency union, as the developments are also impacting value of rupee. Rupee has lost against dollar by about 20 per cent in the last one year.
Industry leaders like Azim Premji and N R Narayana Murthy have blamed the government of policy paralysis.
Mukherjee said the government is working on managing its finances and reducing subsidies, and listed slow growth, high fiscal and current account deficits, inflation and negative sentiments as challenges facing the economy.
“We shall have to reduce our subsidy… What I projected that it must be below 2 per cent of GDP, we cannot afford to have it. We shall have to improve delivery mechanism for reaching subsidy to targeted beneficiaries. And we are taking steps…We are not sitting idle,” he said.
The government targets to bring down the subsidy bill to below 2 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal and 1.75 per cent in the subsequent years.
The government has budgeted major subsidies including food, fuel and fertiliser at Rs 1.79 lakh crore for 2012-13, lower than the Rs 2.08 lakh crore in the last fiscal.
Pointing out that the country is in a difficult economic situation and uncertainties over euro-zone crisis, Mukherjee said, “…The devaluation of Rupee, which is closely linked with the euro-zone crisis, is a matter of concern”.
Stating that the country can benefit from the lowering of crude oil prices, Mukherjee said: “We can reduce our import bills to some extent”. Crude oil prices have softened to USD 90 a barrel, from over USD 120 a barrel earlier this year.
In order to provide relief to customers, Mukherjee said he has written to Chief Ministers to consider temporarily lowering of duties on petroleum products.
“I have suggested to them (state CMs) if you agree to reduce the tax burden temporarily, say till crude prices come to USD 90, Union government is ready to reduce. I have written to Chief Ministers. It will provide relief to consumers.
“When situation is difficult, burden has to be shared by all stakeholders, it should not be passed on to only one stakeholder,” he said.
The oil marketing companies had hiked petrol prices by Rs 7.50 a litre in May. Later in June it had rolled back the price hike by Rs 2 a litre. (PTI)

ISLAMABAD, June 16:
A powerful car bomb went off in a busy market in the restive Khyber tribal region of northwest Pakistan today, killing at least 25 people, including three children, and injuring nearly 60 others.
The blast occurred in a market in Landi Kotal town of Khyber Agency.
Officials at a local hospital said they had received 18 bodies while seven persons died while being taken to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
The children who died were aged between nine and 12 years, officials told the media.
Officials said 57 people were injured and several of them were in a serious condition.
The bomb was hidden in a pick-up truck that was parked in the market. About five kilograms of explosives were used in the attack.
The blast targeted members of the pro-Government Zakakhel tribe, who are opposed the banned Lashkar-e-Islam, officials said.
Several shops and cars were destroyed by the blast.
Gas cylinders stored in a shop blew up, triggering a fire.
Police and security forces cordoned off the site and launched a search operation.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Lashkar-e-Islam are active in Khyber Agency.
In a separate development, the bomb disposal squad foiled a terrorist attack by defusing a bomb at Kohat Road in Peshawar. (PTI)

PATNA, June 16:
Expressing disappointment over the rejection of special category status to Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to set up an expert committee to consider the state’s long pending demand.
The Centre should set up an expert committee to consider in-depth a memorandum on the special category status to Bihar and various letters written by the state government for a decision on the long pending request, he said in a letter to the prime minister yesterday.
“The expert committee should take a fair and rational decision on demand for special category status to Bihar and respond positively to the aspirations of a poor, backward state, which notwithstanding recent process, remains at the bottom of development pyramid both in terms of poverty indicators and various indices of human development,” Kumar said.
He also urged Singh to direct the special cell in the Planning Commission set up in the context of Bihar Reorganization Act to draft short and medium-term measures to mitigate the consequences of the bifurcation of the state.
“The 103.8 million people of Bihar expect justice and equity to meet their legitimate aspirations and are hopeful that the central government will initiate steps to fulfil their needs,” Kumar said and hoped that the Centre will set up the expert committee to consider important suggestions mentioned in the memorandum for special category status. (PTI)

BANGALORE, June 16:
A CBI team investigating the charges of kickbacks in illegal iron ore mining, today grilled former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa’s son and Lok Sabha member B S Raghavendra whose Trust had allegedly were bribed.
The CBI, which has issued summons, besides Raghavendra, to second son B Y Vijayendra and son-in-law Sohan Kumar, began questioning Raghavendra since morning.
According to sources, the questions mainly referred to alleged kickbacks received by ‘Prerana Trust’ owned by them from Jindal Group which is owning Jindal Steels in Bellary.
Already CBI has filed the FIR against Yeddyurappa, Raghavendra, Vijayendra and Sohan Kumar.
The family members, after the CBI Court refused their anticipatory bail petition, moved the High Court. The case has been posted for hearing for June 18.
It may be recalled that the CBI team, on a direction from the Supreme Court swung into action and raided the office and residences of the Yeddyurappa and his family members in Bangalore, Shimoga, Bellary simultaneously and filed the FIR in the CBI Court.
The questioning is expected to continue tomorrow also.
However, the CBI has so far not issued summons to Yeddyurappa to appear before it.(UNI)

SELMA, US, June 16:
Avtar Singh, the former Indian Army officer accused of killing a Kashmiri human rights activist, had sneaked in the US after his plea for asylum was denied in Canada, where he had fled from India in 2003.
Singh killed his wife and two sons and grievously injured his another son, before turning the gun on himself last week in Fresno County in California.
Canadian authorities had let Indian officials know Singh was living in Canada in 2004, according to court documents shown to the Associated Press.
The Singhs lived in Canada with family relatives for two years and applied for asylum, but their claim was denied, according to Singh’s US asylum documents provided to AP by his immigration consultant.
After his cover was blown, Singh and his family crossed illegally into the US and settled in Fresno County, where Singh filed an asylum case for himself in 2011.
“He told me, ‘My job in India was to eliminate terrorists who were against the Indian government. I was good at that, they never found the bodies when I did it,’” said Stephens, Singh’s immigration consultant.
In his asylum application, Singh said he did not kill Kashmiri activist Jaleel Andrabi, but knew who did. “I am being made a scapegoat,” he said, adding that he would be killed if he returned to India.
Singh lived quietly in California initially, working at a truck wash and at a sandwich shop. He eventually started a trucking business, he owned five tractors and trailers, which he named Jay Truck Lines, after his third son, a US citizen.
“He was so nice with everyone, with our community. And he was very good to his wife and children,” said Balvir Singh Grewal, who worked as a driver for Singh. “I never saw him angry.”
Community members in Fresno said Singh did not hide that he was an Indian army major, but he omitted the salient detail that he was wanted for murder in his homeland.
“We don’t go anywhere. We don’t have outings or a happy life. We are fearful,” Singh’s wife told a social worker in March in preparing for an asylum claim.
Singh, working as a truck driver in 2007, was detained by immigration agents in Iowa. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had received an anonymous letter stating Singh may have committed fraud to obtain legal status in the United States, said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice.
At the time, Kice said, ICE did not know about Singh’s murder charges in India. While he was placed in removal proceedings, Singh was released on a USD 4,000 bond.
Two years later, India requested that Interpol issue a so-called “red notice” that Singh was wanted in India.
When Singh resurfaced in Selma in the domestic violence case in 2011, Interpol in Washington passed the message of Singh’s whereabouts to Interpol in India, said agency spokeswoman LaTonya Miller.
Interpol Washington officials said the US does not consider an Interpol notice alone to be a sufficient basis for the arrest and detention of a person. So Singh bailed out of jail on the felony domestic violence charges. (Agencies)

BANGALORE, June 16:
The wife of the French diplomat, who has been accused of raping his three-and-a half year-old daughter, has appealed to the Government to ensure that the official faces trial in India even if he enjoys diplomatic immunity.
In a letter to Home Minister P Chidambaram and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, Suja Jones Mazurier has requested that her husband, Pascal Mazurier, be restrained from leaving the country till legal proceedings were completed and that under no circumstance should he be allowed custody of their children, who are French nationals.
Asha S Basu, counsel for Suja Jones Mazurier, who has written the letters on her behalf, sought protection for her client and her children.
Suja Jones also wanted the French Embassy to be directed to help her with legal and financial assistance, as she was currently unemployed and has to take care of their children.
Suja Jones, an Indian citizen, said she is married to Pascal Mazurier, Deputy Head of Chancery in the Consulate of France, Bangalore and have three children- a seven year-old son, the victim and a 20-month-old son.
She said apart from High Grounds police station here registering a case of rape against the diplomat, in view of the “medical evidence”, the Baptist hospital, Bangalore has also registered a medico-legal case against him.
Suja Jones said she has already written to the Ambassador of France intimating the details of alleged domestic violence and repeated child abuse.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) Suneel Kumar said “the victim (the daughter) has been taken to Government-run Bowring Hospital for a medical examination. The medical report will take some time”.
However, he said the police are checking the status of the diplomat with the Union Government to decide on future course of action.
DCP (Central Division) Ravikante Gowda said the diplomat was just questioned and sent back to his consulate, adding, “if necessary, we will question him again.” (PTI)

BHUBANESWAR, June 16:
With UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi naming Pranab Mukherjee as the Presidential candidate, priests at Sri Jagannath Temple at Puri sought the Lord’s blessings for him.
“A special puja has been offered to the Lord seeking victory of Pranab Babu in the ensuing Presidential elections,” said Ramakrushna Dasmohapatra alias Rajesh Daitapati, the family priest of the Mukherjee family.
Stating that Pranab Mukherjee and his other family members used to come Puri to offer puja at the 12th century shrine, Daitapati said they had been their priest since generations.
The people of Miriti area in Birbhum district of West Benegal offer their puja at Puri temple through Daitapatis.
Mukherjee had last visited the temple seven years ago, Daitapati said adding that he used to visit the finance minister at Kolkata and Delhi.
Recalling his recent visit to Mukherjee, the priest said that he had offered a Lord’s cloth to him three months ago. “The person worshiping the Lord’s cloth gets prosperity. Pranab Babu will certainly get it,” he said.
“It is our duty as the priest to wish prosperity of our “Jajamans” (clients). If one of our ‘Jajamans’ become President of India, it is certainly a pride for the preist,” Daitapati said. (PTI)

DEHRADUN, June 16:
Rattled by reports that one more party MLA is likely to quit seat in favour of the ruling Congress in Uttarakhand, BJP today sought a CBI probe into the alleged horse trading.
“One MLA (Mandal) has already been bought and there are reports that another MLA is also being purchased by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna…This is unfortunate that CM himself is trying to downgrade the demoracy…Horse trading is taking place in a big way…We want a CBI probe into it,” Leader of the Opposition in Uttarakhand Assembly Ajay Bhatt told a press conference here.
He said BJP has lodged a complaint with Governor Aziz Qureshi and the Election Commission on the “incidents of horse trading”.
Speculations are rife about BJP MLA from Ghansali, Bhim Lal Arya, will join Congress.
Bhatt said Arya could not be contacted since the past few days and it has raised doubts that he too was joining Congress.
“We also demand that the Congress government in our state should be immediately be dismissed as it is running on the money-power,” he said.
Bhatt also criticized Bahuguna for making a series of announcements despite the election code of conduct coming into effect in the state due to the July 8 bypoll at Sitarganj.
“We are also demanding from the election commission to reject the nomination of Bahuguna from Sitarganj for violating the election code of conduct,” he said.
He also produced Kishore Rai, Tagore Nagar gram pradhan in Sitarganj, before reporters who claimed the deal to vacate the Sitarganj seat was struck by PCC chief Yashpal Arya for money. (PTI)