01 June 2006
Patna, June 1 (IANS) Boys and girls from socially disadvantaged sections in Bihar have cleared the Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT JEE) on merit.
Like last year, success came to the door of Patna-based Ramanujam School of Mathematics, where these youngsters worked hard day and night for nearly eight to 10 months.
The youths were part of "Super 30" - a group of 30 students, mainly from poor and rural backgrounds who are given free coaching, food, accommodation and other facilities by young mathematician Anand Kumar and a senior police official, ADG (headquarters) Abhyanand.
This year, 28 of the 30 students - with nearly half of them from the other backward classes (OBCs) and three from the Scheduled Castes (SCs) category - made it to IIT JEE.
Last year, 26 were selected, while 22 made it in 2004 and 18 cracked the test in 2003, when Super 30 was born.
Interestingly, these students have shown their abilities to compete in the general category at a time when anti-quota stir is underway across the nation to protest central government's decision to provide 27 percent reservation for OBCs in higher educational institutions.
"They were selected in the general category, thanks to their hard work and proper guidance," Anand Kumar, who belongs to the OBC, said.
Take for instance Kumar Dipankar, who studied in a Hindi-medium school in Chapra district, ranked 486 in the all-India entrance exam in the general category despite being an SC, he said.
"We encourage and promote boys and girls from poor and socially disadvantaged sections of society to reach the top," he said adding that he hoped to achieve a 100 percent success rate next year.
Super 30 is supported with the income generated from the Ramanujam School of Mathematics, said Anand Kumar, who could not take admission at the Cambridge University for want of money a few years ago.
Super 30 is situated at Jhakkanpur, a lower middle-class, crime-infested locality in Patna.
By Prasun Sonwalkar,
London, June 1 (IANS) Leading British academics have condemned the forced closure of noted Indian artist M.F. Husain's exhibition and criticised Hindu groups in Britain for putting pressure on the organisers.
The exhibition, called M.F. Husain: Early Masterpieces 1950-70s, was to run at Asia House until Aug 5 but was cancelled following protests by the Hindu Forum of Britain against some paintings that allegedly violated Hindu sentiments.
Moreover, two of Husain's paintings depicting Hindu goddesses were defaced by three men with black spray paint in what is being called the first act of Hindu extremism in Britain. The damage to the paintings was reported to be to the tune of 200,000 pounds.
Officially, Asia House cancelled the exhibition for "for security reasons".
In a letter to The Guardian, 43 academics and researchers, most of them of Indian origin, alleged that groups such as the Hindu Forum of Britain and Hindu Human Rights "are wielding the same tactics used by organisations in India".
"These groups are known for repeatedly attacking the works of artists and intellectuals, undermining India's constitutional right to freedom of thought and expression...As scholars of South Asia and its rich traditions of artistic, social, religious and political expression, we condemn the forced closure of the exhibition," the letter stated.
The academics, led by Chetan Bhatt of Goldsmiths College, London, said: "The Hindu Forum of Britain and Hindu Human Rights accuse Asia House of not 'consulting' with them before putting on the exhibition.
"Consultation should not be a requirement for artistic expression. These are unelected groups, not known for consulting democratically with the community before putting pressure on others in the name of Hinduism.
"Their actions would not be sanctioned by most Hindus. Hindu traditions have an extensive history of diverse representations of deities, include nude and erotic images of gods and goddesses. Hinduism has never possessed a concept of censorship of the kind that these authoritarian groups wish to promote."
The academics said they urged Asia House to reopen the exhibition - by doing so it would honour the rich and diverse traditions of expression arising from Hinduism and from India.
In a separate communication to The Guardian, Lord Meghnad Desai wrote: "Hindu goddesses can be seen in a variety of poses which many may find erotic in the temples of Khajuraho and Tirupati and many others.
"Hindu society and religion are remarkably relaxed and tolerant about sexual practices of human beings as well as of their gods and goddesses. What we are witnessing is the import into the UK of a group which under the guise of Hindu human rights is practising censorship for which there is no sanction in Hindu religion.
"In my view the objection to Husain is not the so-called obscenity of his paintings. It is because he is a Muslim and hence the desire of some Hindu groups to deny his artistic freedom to take Hindu gods and goddesses as his theme.
"This is an outrageous attack on artistic freedom in the British context. Would the media have ignored such an event had the protesters been Muslims and not Hindus?"
Nairobi/Brussels, June 1 (IMI) The internal situation in Chad is deteriorating rapidly, and spill-over from the Darfur crisis is only part of the reason.
Chad: Back towards War?, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the country’s growing instability. Sudan’s deliberate use of Chadian warlords in its counter-insurgency strategy in Darfur and as a tool in its attempts to topple President Idriss Déby is just one aspect of Chad’s woes. The ever deeper convergence of the two crises underlines the difficulty of settling one independently of the other. But Chad’s troubles are equally the result of Déby’s brittle semi-authoritarian regime, and the charade of the 3 May presidential election only made things worse.
“The absence of domestic political space has militarised all political differences in Chad�, says David Mozersky, Crisis Group Senior Analyst.
Déby’s sixteen-year rule has been marked by coup attempts and rebellions that were either suppressed with extreme violence or partially settled by expelling dissident elements to Sudan and the Central African Republic. Chad has known relative peace but never reconciliation, since renegotiating the social contract would have weakened the militarily dominant groups and opened a political process Déby did not control.
The April 2006 rebel offensive brought Chad to the brink of all-out civil war. The victory Déby ultimately achieved in pushing the United Front for Democracy and Change (FUCD) back from the gates of the capital, N’Djamena, to its Darfur sanctuary settled nothing militarily and highlighted the political fragility of the regime. The army’s success was primarily due to French logistical and intelligence support.
The armed opposition to Déby has three significant groups: the FUCD, headed by Mahamat Nour, which receives strong Sudanese support; the Zaghawa dissident groups, under the Rally of Democratic Forces (RaFD) umbrella and chaired by Timan Erdimi, a former director of Déby’s cabinet; and the Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT), established in 1998 and operating in the extreme north along the Libyan border under the command of Mahmat Choua Dazi.
This armed opposition, however, reflects only the aspirations of marginal or minority groups in the population. A regime change by force in such a context would bring neither stabilisation nor a democratic opening.
There are about 70 political parties, the most significant of which joined in 2002 to create the Coordination of Political Parties for the Defence of Democracy (CPPDD), and civil society has become increasingly organised.
“Chadians share a common aspiration for security, in particular an end to ubiquitous police and army harassment, and a national dialogue that permits a political opening and transparent elections�, says Suliman Baldo, Africa Program Director.
New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Thursday flayed India's decision to join a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline deal and New Delhi's alleged pro-US tilt in foreign policy.
In an editorial, the latest issue of its organ "People's Democracy" said the Indian decision showed that the Congress-led government was "giving priority to US strategic interests and sidelining the Iran pipeline project which is more suited for our energy requirements".
It said the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) project was "uncertain and illusory" and there were serious doubts about the availability of gas in the long-term for such a project. As against this, Iran had abundant gas reserves.
"If the Iran pipeline is considered 'insecure', then the TAP passing through Afghanistan and Pakistan should be doubly so.
"Thus, if this project were to materialise in the final analysis, which is highly doubtful, then it would only serve US geo-political interests in the region."
The journal said this was clear because the foreign secretary had sent a note to the ministry of petroleum and natural gas recommending the TAP project saying: "It would be in tune with the latest US strategic thinking for the region."
The CPI-M said there was suspicion that "vested political interests" did not stand to gain from the Iran pipeline project. "Their interests would be best served if India continues to depend on the market for purchase of oil rather than address its energy security by firming up pipeline projects.
"This is because spot purchase of oil facilitates lucrative kickbacks. Therefore, the 'enlightened national interests' of the country are best served if we continue to buy oil from American oil majors."
It said this episode "illustrates the new direction of India's foreign and strategic policy.
"The Manmohan Singh government expects its stance on ... these issues to be overlooked by proclaiming that it will act on 'enlightened national interests'. But the overall direction of foreign policy and the constant erosion of India's strategic autonomy will be major issues and will haunt the government in the coming days."
New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) Asserting that all unauthorised constructions along the banks of the Yamuna river here would have to go irrespective of their nature, Delhi High Court Thursday ordered demolition of all illegal places of worship forthwith.
A division bench comprising judges Vijender Jain and Kailash Gambhir directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to go ahead with its demolition plan.
The bench pointed out that Section 4 of the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions), 2006 - recently passed by parliament putting one-year moratorium on demolitions of unauthorised constructions and sealing of commercial premises in residential areas in the capital - allowed removal of "slums and jhuggi-jhompri dwellers... in accordance with the relevant policies approved by the central government for clearance of land required for specific public purposes".
The bench passed the order after the convener of the court-appointed Justice Usha Mehra Committee, S.M. Aggarwal, submitted that the unauthorised religious structures - mosques and temples - along the river's banks could not be removed due to the new law.
The court also ordered removal of washermen's facilities from the river banks, so as to prevent Yamuna waters from polluting with chemicals and inferior soaps used by them.
The priests who perform last rites at the crematoria on the banks would also have to go, the bench said.
The bench summoned the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) of South Delhi and issued a contempt of court notice to the station house officer of the Indraprastha Estate police station for not assisting the authorities in carrying out the demolitions.
The bench directed the DCP to be present on July 20 in the court in person and explain the non-cooperation.
In its report submitted to the court, the committee said that it had been successful in getting about 5,150 jhuggies (slums) removed from the eastern bank of the river in the first week of May.
By Kazem al-Attabi
Baghdad, June 1 (DPA) Over 90 women are widowed each day in Iraq amid an escalation in sectarian violence and most of them struggle to make ends meet, having lost their family's sole bread-winner.
Life has been a struggle for 39-year-old Somaya since her husband was felled two years ago by a random bullet as he was walking in a Baghdad suburb leaving her along to bring up three children, the oldest only 11.
She lives in a small rented apartment in the Shia-dominated Al-Shoala district of western Baghdad, where she works as a vegetable vendor. Her apartment building lacks basic sanitation.
"Two years ago my husband was killed. He did not have any political activities or animosities, he was just working selling leftovers," she says.
"We were happy despite having a difficult life. Now I am alone and have to raise three kids and send them to school regularly with the little income I get from my work," she adds.
The ministry for women's affairs is unable to provide statistics on the number of widows in the country but a recent UN report, based on information from several Iraqi aid organisations, showed that around 90-100 women are widowed each day, owing to an escalation in sectarian violence.
Targeted assassinations, random killings and roadside and car bombs have become commonplace in Iraq in the aftermath of the US-led invasion and ouster of former president Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Asma al-Shabout, a women's rights activist, says the statistics provided by UN reflect the increase in violence across the country, but also noted that the country already had many young widows before the current Iraq war.
"The phenomenon dates back to the start of the wars ordered by Saddam in 1980 until he was toppled in 2003," informs al-Shabout.
Official statistics on the numbers of women widowed during Saddam Hussein's rule were never published, probably because in some cases the men died in controversial circumstances.
"Some of them (widows) were under conditions that did not allow them from demanding their rights as their husbands died by being hanged or tortured in Saddam's prisons on political or sectarian grounds," she explains.
Fa'eza Papakhan, a former Kurdish MP and activist, also sounds the alarm bell over the growing number of widows.
"Iraqi streets are experiencing lots of violence and killing, so the rate of widows is at risk of rising, something that would put the Iraqi family at risk," she says.
Papakhan believes that the problem of Iraqi widows could only be tackled by improving the security situation and by disarming the militias. "The problem of widows needs serious government intervention and real aid."
The Iraqi government has earmarked 1.5 million Iraqi dinars ($1,000) for each Iraqi widow, but some complain that only those with political connections get help.
"We did not receive any financial assistance from the government because my husband was not affiliated with any of the government bodies," laments Somaya.
By Mayank Chhaya
Actor Aamir Khan is discovering what many celebrities before him have done to their chagrin - the price of expressing a dissenting opinion in India's fractious and imperfect democracy.
In specific financial terms there is a way to put a price on Khan's dissent. "Fanaa", Khan's latest film whose release has been quasi-officially banned across Gujarat, would cost upwards of Rs.50 million (about $1 million) in losses to its makers.
The actor came under fire after he voiced support for rehabilitation of those ousted by the Narmada dam project and for his criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat for its alleged failure to control violence in Vadodara after the demolition of a mosque in the city.
The issue is not so much about the financial loss as it is about Gujarat's worrisome slide into knee-jerk and abrasive intolerance of dissent. The state has for quite some time been displaying intolerance peculiar to societies in early throes of fascism. Gujaratis are by nature pragmatic and seekers of the honorable way out of any dispute.
However, that laudable characteristic has been in serious decline for the past decade or so, roughly coinciding with the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its virulent brand of politics.
The party has been strikingly successful in rallying the unusually responsive Gujarati citizenry, first around the issue of Hindutva and now around the Narmada dam.
In both cases it has subtly and not so subtly exploited the Gujarati passion for causes. Anyone who has the gumption to question the pervasive wisdom on these two issues has had to face unvarnished wrath in the state.
Dancer and social activist Mallika Sarabhai is all too familiar with her home state's visceral dislike for competing opinions. So is Narmada activist Medha Patkar. Actress Shabana Azmi too has encountered similar protests.
What compounds Khan's case is that he has chosen to express his views on both, the consequences of unbridled Hindutva and the plight of the farmers and tribal populations displaced by the dam.
That he happens to be Muslim who is speaking out against two of Gujarat's pet obsessions also fuels the fury against him.
At an intellectual level it may be a fair game to question and even deride Khan's understanding of the Narmada issue and the complex politics of water. But it is one thing to question his qualification and quite another to unleash an economic boycott against him.
In any case, Khan has as much right to express his opinion, however ill informed or half-baked, as any citizen of the country on any issue.
There is something fundamentally flawed about the street-side logic that merely because he is a hugely successful film star who gets paid tens of millions of rupees and has women of various ages swooning over him it automatically precludes him from acquiring a sound understanding of larger societal issues.
Deriding celebrities with strong opinions is not unique to Gujarat or India.
Many Hollywood stars such as George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and others have faced the same level of censure for speaking out against President George W. Bush's policies.
It is fascinating to see how the right wing of American politics mirrors the right wing of Indian politics when it comes to dissent against the establishment.
Some time ago some leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had issued an appeal to Hindus to produce more children in order not to be outnumbered by Muslims.
Recently an anchor of the rightwing Fox News issued a similar call to "white Americans" to produce more children in order not to be outnumbered by Hispanics.
The difference between the two calls is largely symbolic - one is based on religion and the other is based on skin colour. In reality both are about supremacy of a particular group. Zealots on either side of the political divide strangely sound alike because Muslim fundamentalists are known to have issued similar calls. In some ways they have even pioneered that practice.
Intolerance for dissent is a bad sign in any situation but it acquires even greater urgency when it happens in societies whose members are as industrious, economically savvy and generally intelligent as the Gujaratis are.
It is interesting that even in their political protest they have built in a strong element of economics by imposing a boycott not on just Khan's latest film but even asking video and DVD libraries to pull out his earlier films.
There was news even about the protesting organisations, which are predominantly offshoots of the BJP, preventing movie fans from going to Mumbai and watching "Fanaa". If this is not an onslaught on individual freedom reminiscent of what early fascists did, then what is?
It has been argued with some legitimacy that outsiders confuse the loony political fringe with the people of Gujarat generally when it comes to issues such as Hindu-Muslim tensions.
However, what reinforces the impression that a substantial number of Gujaratis are becoming intolerant of any opinion other than their own is the fact that too few others speak out.
In this context the failure of the state unit of the Congress party is galling. Here is a political organisation which so handsomely mined the Gujarati passion for lofty causes during India's independence movement in the early 20th century is now looking askance as the debate has been hijacked.
To its credit the BJP has been successful in articulating some of the popular feelings on the question of Hindu-Muslim relations and how skewed government policies have become in favour a certain pressure group. There is validity to the party's refrain that celebrity activists of a certain hue pick and choose the wrongs they want to champion as opposed to speaking out against all wrongs.
Shouldn't Aamir Khan or Shabana Azmi or Mallika Sarabhai or Arundhati Roy feel as aggrieved and as exercised when Hindus die in Kashmir is the question frequently asked. Sure they should and they most likely do. But that is the essential part of the freedom to choose your causes and express your opinion about in any democracy.
Gujarat has always been at the vanguard of major national causes. It has the intrinsic ability to choose the right causes. Banning "Fanaa" because Aamir Khan spoke out in favour of farmers is a cause not even worthy of being ridiculous.
(Mayank Chhaya is a Chicago-based journalist.)
Beijing, June 1 (Xinhua) Chinese President Hu Jintao Thursday night told US President George W. Bush in a telephonic conversation that he welcomed the US stance on resolving the Iran nuclear issue through diplomatic means and its willingness to join negotiations on the issue.
The Chinese government believes the international non-proliferation system should be maintained and the Iran issue be resolved in a peaceful way through diplomatic means and talks, Hu told Bush.
"China is ready to maintain contact and coordination with the US and play a constructive role in resuming negotiations at an early date," a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry quoted Hu as saying.
Bush told Hu that his country was determined to resolve the Iran nuclear issue through diplomatic means. He said as long as Iran agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment activities in verifiable ways, the US would join relevant negotiations.
The Iran nuclear issue is reaching a critical stage.
Earlier Thursday, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters in Tehran that Iran welcomed direct talks with Washington, but would not give up its nuclear rights.
Senior representatives from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany were to meet in Vienna later Thursday to discuss the issue, China's Foreign Ministry said earlier.
Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo would attend the meeting, which was expected to focus on a decision to offer Iran a package of incentives in return for suspension of its nuclear activities.
The six nations achieved some progress in forming a common position at a meeting in London last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, France, Germany and Britain, or the EU-3, have been trying to work out a package of both incentives and possible penalties to persuade Iran to suspend its nuclear programme.
Hu also told Bush he was ready to work with Bush to advance bilateral relations in a healthy and stable way.
Bush said it was important for both leaders to exchange ideas on strategic cooperation through such ways as telephone conversations.
By T.R. Ramakrishnan, St John's (Antigua), June 1 (IANS) Practice matches have a way of meandering to meaningless finishes and India's two-day game against Antigua and Barbuda at the Police Ground Wednesday was no exception.
Wasim Jaffer 52 (87 balls, 108 minutes, 8 fours), V.V.S. Laxman 72 (122b, 204m, 9 fours), Mohammad Kaif 53 retired (127b, 119m, 2 sixes, 5 fours) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni 60 not out (78b, 103m, 1 six, 8 fours) all had a good stint at the wicket as the Indians ended the day at 311/8 in reply to the Antigua-Barbuda score of 300.
Yuvraj Singh (20) and Rahul Dravid (5) missed out but overall the Indians were pleased to make the transition from the one-dayers to the Tests with this rather than two days of nets, as skipper Dravid said later. "It was a good hit for us," he said.
It was a quiet day around the ground. The first day's buzz was missing, there weren't as many spectators and those present weren't as vocal.
There was more noise when Andy Roberts, the great pace hero of the 70s, one whose menace and thrust began the era of domination by the West Indian quicks, entered the ground in the afternoon session.
Roberts, who sat and chatted with coach Greg Chappell and Dravid for a while, works with the Antiguan Sports Ministry, whose office is just next to the Police Recreation ground, a cream bungalow-like structure from whose elevated verandas the match could easily be witnessed.
The Sports Ministry also employs three other famous pacemen, Curtley Ambrose and Kenneth and Winston Benjamin. A trip there in the pre-lunch session in the hope of catching Ambrose proved in vain.
Instead we bumped into another officer, Hugh Gore, perched on the veranda and watching the game. And then he surprised us by asking if Sunil was coming over.
Sunil, of course, was Sunil Gavaskar and apparently he had played in the same Somerset team as Gavaskar in 1980, along with Viv Richards and Joel Garner.
Gore, a left-arm fast bowler was excited to know that Gavaskar was in the Caribbean, he was scheduled to deliver the Sonny Ramadhin Memorial Lecture in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Wednesday, but we could not tell him whether the "little master" would be here in Antigua to watch the Test, starting Friday.
Wonder whether it would have mattered in any case for when asked whether he would be watching the Test, Gore replied: "Haven't been at the ground (Antigua Recreation Ground) for 12 years and there's another 12 coming."
New Delhi/Washington, June 1 (IANS) India Thursday welcomed the US' new-found "readiness" to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue with the European Union (EU) troika and urged all sides to adopt a "constructive and forward looking approach" towards the issue of Tehran's nuclear programme.
"The readiness of the US to join in the dialogue between EU-3 (Britain, France and Germany) and Iran, which India has all along supported, is to be welcomed," external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said in response to a question in New Delhi.
"India has all along advocated that issues relating to Iran's nuclear programme ought to be resolved through dialogue and that confrontation should be avoided," the spokesperson added.
New Delhi urged all sides to display "flexibility and adopt a constructive and forward looking approach," and hoped that the on-going diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff would reach "successful conclusion."
Sarna was alluding to US President George Bush's remarks at a press conference in Washington Wednesday about resolving the Iranian issue through "robust diplomacy."
"You are seeing robust diplomacy," Bush had commented in response to a question about US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's enunciation of the American policy towards Iran that was seen as slight softening of the earlier American insistence on imposing sanctions against Tehran.
"... I believe it's very important that we solve this issue diplomatically. And my decision today says that the United States is going to take a leadership position in solving this issue," Bush said.
"And our message to the Iranians is that, One, you won't have a weapon and, two, that you must verifiably suspend any programs, at which point we will come to the negotiating table to work on a way forward," Bush added.
In her enunciation of the re-calibrated US' policy on Iran, Rice exhorted Iran to work with the international community to inspire confidence in its nuclear programme, but made it clear that it would not allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.
According to Rice, there were two options before Iran: the "negative choice" meant pursuing nuclear weapons in defiance of international obligations and the positive one to alter its present course and cooperate in resolving the issue.
Rice warned Tehran that the former option would entail "great costs" and lead to "international isolation and progressively stronger political and economic sanctions."
Britain has also "welcomed" the US' proposal to join EU-3 in any new negotiations. "The US offer will, therefore, give added weight to the proposals which Foreign Ministers will be discussing in Vienna tomorrow. I urge Iran to respond positively to this opportunity," British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett Beckett said in London Wednesday.
New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) India's IT and ITeS industry recorded a 33 percent growth in exports, earning $23 billion in the financial year 2005-06 as against $17.7 billion in 2004-05.
According to the annual survey of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) released here Thursday, 2005-06 saw the Indian IT-ITeS industry (including the domestic market) grow by 31 percent registering revenues of $29.6 billion, up from $22.5 billion in 2004-05.
According to the survey, exports of IT software and services grew by 33 percent, registering revenues of $13.3 billion. The ITeS-BPO segment clocked revenues of $6.2 billion, recording a growth of 37 percent.
Engineering services and product exports grew from $3.14 billion in 2004-05 to $4 billion in 2005-06. The domestic market clocked revenues of $6 billion in 2005-06, up from $4.8 billion in 2004-05.
This amounts to $23 billion in total exports.
A press release quoted Nasscom president Kiran Karnik as saying, "The excellent performance of the Indian software and services industry once again reinforces our confidence that the industry is on course to meet the projected target of $60 billion exports by 2010, as projected in the Nasscom McKinsey Report.
"This growth is also reflected in the employment trends, both direct and indirect which according to our estimates is to the tune of 4.3 million."
The Nasscom survey also projected that the overall software and services sector will grow by 25-28 percent clocking revenues of $36-38 billion in the financial year 2006-07.
IT-ITeS exports are likely to grow by 27-30 percent in 2006-07, posting revenues up to $29-31 billion, the survey stated.
"With less than 10 percent of the market currently addressed, a large market opportunity exists for the sector which will ensure sustained demand led growth.
Factors like evolution of global delivery model, unbundling of large IT outsourcing deals with larger India based delivery shares, and the large contract values due for renewal over next two years are some of the positive indicators for the sector," Karnik said.
He said that last year India's strength emerged through large client wins, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, movement of the industry towards stable pricing model and a gradual positive shift in the outsourcing debate.
At the same time, he warned that there are challenges that call for focused efforts.
"These include concerns about the quality and skill sets of graduates, infrastructure, maintaining the attractiveness of India for IT investments and steps to boost the domestic market," he said.
New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) India and the US will share their security perspectives during the June 4-7 visit of Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee, the highest ranking American military officer to visit here in three years.
"The visit is reflective of the growing closeness between the two countries and is part of a series of exchange visits that have been agreed upon," a defence ministry spokesman said Thursday.
A crowded schedule awaits Pace, who arrives here from Singapore on a special US Air Force jet. His predecessor, Gen. (retd) Richard B. Myers, had visited India in July 2003.
After a briefing at the US embassy June 5, Pace will lay a wreath at the eternal flame that burns for martyred soldiers at the India Gate and inspect a guard of honour before holding discussions with his host, Indian Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash.
Prakash is the chairman of the Indian chiefs of staff committee.
Thereafter, Lt. Gen. H.S. Lidder, chief of Integrated Defence Staff, will brief Pace on "India's Security Perspective", following which US officials will brief senior Indian officers on "Regional Security Perspective".
After his meetings with Indian Army chief Gen. J.J. Singh and Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, Pace will attend a lunch hosted by Prakash.
A meeting with Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has not been confirmed but Pace will call on National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan.
Pace's other two engagements June 5 are a press conference at US Ambassador David Mulford's residence and an informal dinner hosted by Prakash at his official residence Navy House.
Early June 6, Pace flies to Agra for a view of Taj Mahal and then to Chandimandir, adjacent to Punjab-Haryana capital Chandigarh, for a briefing at the Indian Army's Western Command headquarters.
He will deliver an address at the United Services Institution on his return to the capital the same day. Pace departs June 7.
Pace is the third senior US military officer to visit India this year after US Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Gary Roughead.
India and the US had upgraded their defence ties in June 2005 by signing a 10-year agreement that envisages stepped up military cooperation in fields like missile defence, joint weapons production and technology transfer.
Mumbai, June 1 (IANS) Indian equities crashed again Thursday because of selling pressures, notwithstanding a robust economic growth of 9.3 percent reported by the government a day before for the last quarter of the previous fiscal.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened strong at 10,472.46 points, compared with the previous day's close of 10,398.61 points and moved higher to 10,597.23 points, but soon began a southward journey.
The index finally closed at 10,071.42 points and registered a loss of 327.19 points, or 3.15 percent, over the previous day's close. As many as 28 stocks that go into the basket of 30 Sensex shares ended in the red.
The bellwether index had crashed 388.02 points or 3.60 percent Wednesday, after losing as much as 567.53 points during intra-day trading.
In the past month, the Sensex has shed 16.37 percent, mainly on account of heavy selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs). It had touched an all-time high of 12,671.11 points May 11.
Among the Sensex shares, ICICI Bank and Bharat Heavy Electricals were the only gainers, while the major losers included Maruti Udyog, Hindustan Aluminium, Tata Motors, Larsen and Toubru, Hero Honda and Tata Steel.
By Mahendra Ved,
New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has scored a significant point at home and abroad by demonstrating a commitment to fight terrorism with the arrest, trial and conviction of some of the most wanted Islamist militants.
The convictions of Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam, alias Bangla Bhai, leaders of the outlawed Jamiat-ul-Mujahiden Bangladesh (JMB) on charges of murdering two judges were carried out in a matter of about 10 weeks.
Even in the unlikely event of the convictions being challenged - those convicted have declared that as "soldiers of Islam" they do not acknowledge non-Islamic courts and are willing to die for their cause - the course of justice can be safely said to have been set.
Bangladesh watchers may note with satisfaction the Zia government's current approach as also the role of the police and the judiciary in bringing the killers to book. Also significant is the public revulsion that came out when the trial was on; the accused were spat upon, indicating a strong social disapproval against extremism.
The Zia government had earned much flak for denying the very presence of the militants all through the period Bangla Bhai had been functioning in and around Bheramara on the country's western flank, extorting funds, terrorising non-Muslims and spreading hatred built on an extreme version of Wahabi Islam.
With veterans of the anti-Soviet campaign in Afghanistan involved, the activities of JMB and other Islamist outfits had attracted the concern of the media at home and in the West. Bangladesh's donor nations had warned the Zia government that it would cut off development aid if these forces, seen as part of the global terror network, were not arraigned.
Zia's domestic compulsion has been the sympathy, if not outright support, the militants had within the ruling coalition, of which a three-party Islamic Oikya Jote (Islamic unity front) is a part.
Its largest constituent, Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), has 18 members in the National Assembly of whom three are ministers, including JEI's Amir (chief) Matiur Rahman Nizami.
The JEI and the IOJ have denied any links with the militants who have been active since the 2001 victory of the alliance. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to watch the political repercussions of the conviction of eight militants.
Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party can be expected to show this high on its performance card to the critics and to the donor nations. The opposition led by her rival and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina on the other hand would still go hammer and tongs at the government, reminding that it had acted only after the Aug 17 nationwide bomb explosions.
Hasina was the target of at least two assassination attempts credited to the Islamists. For Hasina and her 14-party alliance, the battle lines would be sharper in time for the parliamentary polls due later this year.
It needs watching if Zia will follow up her resolve to fight terrorism by passing an anti-terror law, on the lines of the Homeland Act of the US, that is on the anvil and by amending the banking laws that are weak and outdated, not geared to fighting money laundering done at home and through foreign banks.
The Bangladesh Bank levied a niggardly fine of taka 100,000 ($1,440) on Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd (IBBL), the largest Shariah-based bank that has 169 branches, for its alleged violation of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2002.
Such fund flows have occurred with full government knowledge through what can be considered 'legal channels'.
New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) An examination centre for the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) will be opened in Saudi Arabia in the next academic year 2007, India's Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh has said in Riyadh.
"The issue of equivalence of degrees will cease to be a problem very soon," the visiting minister told the Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys' Association (AMUOBA), which had organised a reception in his honour Wednesday.
The education of Indian expatriates' children is an important issue for the Indian government and it would take every step to ensure that they did not face any difficulty, Singh said, according to an official release issued here.
The minister also assured the AMUOBA that the minority character of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) would be protected. The government had initiated a number of steps to promote education among minorities, he added.
"The UPA government has ensured the minorities in India get what is legitimately due to them," the minister said.
He said while several universities had offered him honorary doctorates, he declined them and chose to accept only the doctorate awarded by the AMU, which he values and cherishes most.
The reception was attended by Indian Ambassador in Saudi Arabia M.O.H. Farook, former MP Waseem Ahmed and AMUOBA president Syed Misbahul Arifin among others.
The minister is currently on a week-long visit to the Gulf countries to discuss collaborations in the field of education and meet the top leadership of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Dubai, June 1 (IANS) More and more Indian students in Qatar, especially Doha, are opting for distance education programmes after passing their higher secondary examinations.
After clearing their Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 12 exams, the students are making a beeline for the various distance education programmes offered by a number of Indian universities in Qatar.
The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), the Mahatma Gandhi university and the Kerala, Alagappa, Calicut, Kannur and Karnataka open universities are among those who have opened shop in that Gulf country.
These universities are opening their centres at local CBSE-affiliated schools like MES Indian School and Shantiniketan Indian School.
Recently, Kerala University's Institute of Distance Education opened its centre at Shantiniketan Indian School.
The courses offered include all streams - from humanities and science to commerce and business management programmes. The courses are being offered at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
The latest postgraduate diploma courses in child and family counselling, journalism, early childcare, educational planning, hospital administration and functional Hindi are supposed to start from this year.
"A majority of our students are those who have passed senior secondary from MES school itself," a report in the Gulf Times newspaper quoted MES Off Campus Centre administrator P. Manoharan as saying. Over 93 percent students in the Gulf cleared the CBSE Class 12 exams this year.
There has also been a significant rise in the number of girls seeking distance education programmes. The reason, according to Ahmed Ottayil, director of the National Education Centre (NEC), was that parents wanted their daughters to stay close to them.
Also, the thought of the hardships involved in procuring admission for their children back home in India has made them look at correspondence courses.
The admission process for the various courses will start this month.
Over 130,000 Indians live in Qatar and distance education is expected to provide a big boost for the education of their children.
Islamabad, June 1 (IANS) Pakistan wants to close down within three years all Afghan refugee camps that some say shelter fugitive Taliban and drug and arms peddlers.
Some of the camps, which critics maintain are also the source of disease and socio-economic problems, are a quarter century old and still house many who fled the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, The Daily Times newspaper noted.
The government proposed to gradually close all the camps at a meeting held in Qatar's capital Doha Tuesday.
Participating in the meeting were representatives of the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) - a group that governs the voluntary repatriation programme of Afghan refugees from Pakistan.
"We have prepared a strategy to close all (Afghan refugee) camps gradually over the next three years, which has been shared in the meeting with UNHCR and Afghan officials in Doha," Fehmina Taufeeq, deputy director of the ministry dealing with refugees, said in Islamabad.
Repatriation of the refugees began after the fall of the Taliban regime in December 2001. But thousands have come back to the camps using the money given to them to buy goods that would fetch high prices in Pakistan, upsetting local economies.
The camps were the source of problems right from the time they were set up by the late Zia-ul Haq's government in the 1980s, becoming hotbeds of drug and arms peddling and upsetting the economies in Balochistan and North West Frontier Province.
Afghan refugees lived in similar camps in Iran, since largely closed down, and also in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia. An estimated 30,000 refugees live in India.
Dubai, June 1 (IANS) Bahrain's Fakhro Insurance Services (FIS) has announced that it will offer a pension scheme for NRIs in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
According to a press release, the company's 'Life Time Pension II' programme is a regular-premium, unit-linked retirement solution that offers flexible annuity options, ensuring customised choices to suit the need of the insurer on retirement.
With five different annuity options to choose from, insurers have the flexibility to select the best suitable way on how to receive their pension.
The choices include deferring the start date of annuity until the age of 75, or taking annuity from any other player in the insurance industry with the help of the Open Market Option, to assess the best offer available in the market.
Till now, there was no pension plan for NRIs in GCC countries.
The GCC countries, comprising Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Yemen, are home to around 3.5 million Indians.
FIS is a part of Abdulla Yousif Fakhro group of companies and was incorporated in January 2000 as a limited liability company. It is registered with the ministry of commerce in Bahrain as insurance brokers for all classes of insurance and is a member of the Bahrain Insurance Association.
Nagpur, June 1 (IANS) Three militants wearing police uniforms were shot dead when they tried to barge into the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) headquarters here early Thursday armed with AK-47 rifles and grenades.
Two police personnel were injured in the operation, police sources said, without giving further details. The incident occurred at the rear side of the RSS building at about 4.15 a.m.
No organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
This attack comes within days of a series of arrest of suspected militants, shootouts and seizures of explosive materials from terrorists in the Maharashtra cities of Aurangabad and Nasik.
Vienna/Tehran, June 1 (DPA) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Vienna Thursday for the six-nation talks on the nuclear dispute with Iran.
She will meet her counterparts from Russia and China and the European Union trio of France, Britain and Germany later Thursday as the six nations seek to hammer out a common position to dissuade Iran from pursuing a nuclear programme which includes uranium enrichment.
On Wednesday, Rice made an offer of direct talks between the US and Iran, conditional on Tehran "verifiably" suspending uranium enrichment.
She called the offer a bid to give "the negotiating track new energy" - and to see if Iran does "intend to come into the international consensus about this."
But in Tehran on Thursday, Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki told the Khabar news network that Iran would reject any talks with the US with preconditions.
"We welcome negotiations upon equal conditions but will not make any concessions on our legitimate rights (in pursuing nuclear technology," he said.
"The remarks by (US Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice did not contain anything new and especially nothing which would lead to a logical settlement (of the nuclear dispute)," Mottaki added.
Madrid, June 1 (DPA) Spain's Supreme Court has lowered a prison sentence handed to an Al Qaeda leader, acquitting him of charges that he helped to prepare the Sep 11, 2001 attacks in the US, judicial sources said Thursday.
Syrian-born Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, known as Abu Dahdah, had appealed the 27-year sentence given by the National Court at a mega-trial in September. He will only serve 12 years for belonging to a terrorist organisation.
Yarkas was the only one among 18 convicts to be sentenced on account of the Sep 11 attacks. The Supreme Court acquitted Driss Chebli, Sadik Merizak and Abdelaziz Benyaich, who had been sentenced to six, eight and eight years respectively for collaborating or belonging to a terrorist group.
The three had already been released in April in anticipation of their acquittal.
The Supreme Court rejected the appeals of the 14 other convicts, including Al-Jazeera television journalist Taysir Alony, who is serving seven years for collaborating with Al Qaeda.
Alony, who interviewed Osama bin Laden after the Sep 11 attacks, was accused of transporting Al Qaeda funds to Afghanistan.
The National Court had deemed Yarkas guilty of conspiracy to terrorist homicide on evidence such as his meeting suicide pilot Mohammed Atta in the eastern Spanish city of Tarragona before the attacks.
The court was to make its reasons public next week. Its position coincided with that of the prosecutors who described the evidence against Yarkas as flimsy during the trial.
Prosecution also maintained there was not sufficient proof that Chebli, Merizak and Benyaich had served as Islamist fighters.
By Uma Nair
The rising number of teen suicides, highlighted by the tragic death of a bright Delhi school girl who hanged herself, not only sent waves of shock and dismay through the nation but brought into sharp focus the need to confront the issue upfront and immediately.
Teachers, parents, teenagers and the Central Board of Secondary Education - all of us together form the fulcrum of a system that is obviously providing the necessary fermentation for such a grim act.
"Teenagers today have a stronger role in family decision making, so they can be more dictatorial about their requirements," explains my friend and counsellor Mallika Raghavan. "I think they have been given more space, but with space come dilemmas of how much, when and why."
Raghavan says that among the reasons why teenagers commit suicide are: they have been thwarted in love; lack of acceptance or a sense of belonging; frustrated desires for achievement, order and understanding; damage to self-image and the need to avoid shame, defeat, humiliation or disgrace; ruptured key relationships, with attendant grief and bereavement; and excessive anger, rage and hostility, coupled with frustrated desire for dominance and aggression.
But what happens when a student who has never exhibited any of these traits takes the extreme step of ending his or her life?
What happens when a fun-loving, happy teenager decides that her life must end despite scoring 95 percent marks, as happened in the case of Shefali Bhan who took her own life even before the Class 10 exam results were announced.
If any problem needs a high-profile counter-offensive, it is suicide. It needs to be studied, discussed and debated threadbare - teachers and parents need to sit down and chat with their kids, especially since this approach would seem to represent our best hope of solving the problem.
It will seem insensitive to some but it needs to be spelt out in tough terms - suicide is wrong. It is not cool, it is not clever, and it is terribly cruel on families.
Yes, your parents will be sorry they were hard on you. Yes, people will say nice things about you in the funeral grounds after you are dead. But life will go on, and you will still be dead.
Today's teenagers are considerably more grown-up and sophisticated than we ever were, with one upsetting exception - they seem to have a lethal logic.
This is the generation wowed and wooed by the livid packaging and lurid colours of advertising and marketing and the onslaught of terror and horror garbed in glamorous ideology.
Teenagers have different priorities. To them, the important things in life are saving the world from capitalism, protecting the polar ice caps and ending world poverty.
To an adult, a major goal can be getting up from the sofa and being able to remember what it is they stood up to do, helping with household chores, going out of way to be kind to someone, and living life without hurting someone. But today's teens have other things on their minds.
Twenty-three years ago I remember a Class 10 student coming to me and breaking down. "I want to commit suicide because my parents are separating," he said.
It took me two weeks of patiently talking to him and getting him to understand that life wouldn't stop even after his parents' divorce, he would have to make a life for himself and move on and love both his parents for different reasons. Today he works for the UN and is somewhat content.
The grave problem of suicide needs to be confronted in a novel, outspoken way but we prefer to tiptoe around the issue while praying it won't happen to anybody close to us. This is where we as a nation need to change. One loss must be the lesson that saves many others.
We've tried hushing suicide up, making it a cause of shame, refusing to acknowledge it. Youngsters are hugely impressionable, and there is no doubt that many are charmed by the thought of being the centre of such intense attention. They picture themselves as doomed, misunderstood, almost romantic figures.
It is difficult to believe that all those suicide-prone youths are suffering from profound mental illness. That there are other influences at play becomes undeniable. Is it impulse? A lethal logic that snuffs everything else out and leaves them alone as monarchs of their destiny?
At a time in their lives when they are at war with the world, feeling unloved and unlovable, teens are obviously susceptible to the package that goes with suicide: the scene that follows is even more heart-rending - grieving parents blaming themselves, stricken schoolmates eulogizing their deceased pal, their favourite songs being sung in a prayer meeting and teachers regretting every harsh word they ever uttered.
We need to counter promptly this insidious glamorisation of suicide, and we also need people to lead the required campaign against suicides. It requires a courageous, direct, straight-talking approach based on concern not just for the at-risk category but also for those who will be left behind.
As parents, we certainly have a duty to feed, nurse and care for our children. But it is also our duty to give our children a taste of what life holds in store; in the future if we are overly protective they will be end up being misfits in the matrix of modernism. Has modern day education brought the teenager to the edge of a precipice? A life lost to suicide is indeed a precious life wasted.
(Uma Nair is an English teacher at Don Bosco School, Delhi. She can be reached at umatnair@gmail.com)
Washington, June 1 (DPA) The US will engage in multilateral talks with Iran if Tehran verifiably suspends uranium enrichment, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday.
The talks would take place along with France, Britain and Germany, the so-called EU-3 that have been trying for more than two years to get Iran to dismantle its nuclear ambitions, Rice said in a formal speech at the State Department here.
The proposal offers for the first time that Washington would sit at one table with Tehran - after more than 25 years of severed diplomatic relations.
Rice said the US believes the offer to talk to Iran "gives the negotiating track new energy".
She said the US was willing to engage in talks as a way of exerting "strong leadership to give diplomacy its very best chance to succeed".
"As soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the United States will come to the table with our EU-3 colleagues and meet with Iran's representatives," she said.
She made clear that if Iran refused to suspend enrichment and hold talks, it was making a "negative choice" that would "incur only great costs".
She sidestepped questions from journalists about whether China and Russia had agreed to back sanctions in a UN Security Council resolution if Iran does not accept Wednesday's overture. China and Russia have objected to the threat of economic or military sanctions in a resolution.
But without mentioning Moscow and Beijing, Rice said "there is substantial agreement and understanding that Iran now faces a clear choice ... If Iran is not willing to suspend, there is another path. Our friends and partners understand the importance of this step."
US President George W. Bush had telephone discussions with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany earlier this week on the Iran issue.
The US may also be willing to scrap the threat of the use of force in a UN resolution under debate, The New York Times reported Wednesday. Rice was heading to Vienna to continue negotiations on the nuclear standoff with Iran later this week.
Bush has been under pressure to engage Iran in talks after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent letter to the White House - the first overture for direct contact in more than 25 years.
The pressure for talks has come from former secretaries of state and diplomats. But the Bush administration had until Wednesday rejected such an idea and dismissed the letter as not serious because it did not offer any compromise on the nuclear issue.
The overture to talk was apparently sent from Washington to Iran via Switzerland, CNN reported. Switzerland has acted as the diplomatic intermediary since the seizure of the American embassy and American hostages in Tehran provoked the US to break off diplomatic contacts.
Caracas, June 1 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said that the current prices of crude oil are affected by geopolitical factors and other tensions.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday accredited to the 141st Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) extraordinary meeting, Ramirez denied the rising tendency of oil corresponded to the existing supplies on the world oil market.
"We think there is an overproduction, but every time the US administration threatens Iran, or acts in Iraq, prices become unstable," he explained.
Ramirez said it was impossible to try to stabilise oil prices if there was no security in the producing countries.
The 141st OPEC extraordinary meeting began Thursday with the presence of the OPEC member countries comprising of Venezuela, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar, Libya, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates and Algeria.
Nagpur, June 1 (IANS) Three terrorists wearing police uniforms and armed with AK-47 rifles and grenades were shot dead when they tried to barge into the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the pre-eminent Hindu nationalist organisation, early Thursday, police said.
Three police personnel, including a sub-inspector, were injured in the shootout, police sources said. The terrorists were trying to enter from the rear side of the multi-storey RSS building in old Nagpur at about 4.15 a.m. when they were detected by security personnel who opened fire on them.
No organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack so far but police say the modus operandi and the planning point to the hand of the Lashker-e-Taiba, the terror outfit that is based in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
This attack comes within days of a series of arrests of suspected militants, shootouts and seizures of explosive materials from terrorists in the Maharashtra cities of Aurangabad and Nashik.
Police sources said in Mumbai that the RSS top brass - none of whom were inside the building at the time - were warned of such an attack in the wake of intelligence reports of suspicious militant movement in and around Nagpur.
The attack was probably timed to coincide with the morning 'shakhas', or drill, that is held at around 5.30 a.m. and is attended by large number of Hindu volunteers.
The RSS is the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and right-wing Hindu nationalist outfits that go under the banner of the Sangh Parivar.
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attack and said "the entire nation remains united in its fight against terrorism" and appealed to the people to remain calm and maintain communal harmony.
RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said "Hindu centres have been a major target for the last few months. They (terrorists) have been emboldened to the extent to attack the RSS headquarters today. It is a matter of major concern for us. We want the government to ensure safety of all these places."
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said security forces had "defused" the attack plan and a team is on the job. We have an anti-terrorist squad in Mumbai and we are considering having similar squads at Nagpur and Aurangabad and, if needed, other places as well."
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is on a holiday in Himachal Pradesh, also appealed for calm and said the situation should not lead to lawlessness.
Islamabad, June 1 (IANS) Pakistan has said it is ready to address the nuclear "proliferation concerns" of the United States and its allies but is not ready to provide any foreign agency "direct access" to disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qader Khan.
Reliable sources in the Pakistan government told the Dawn newspaper that Islamabad would resist the pressures being exerted in this regard through different means.
Perceived US pressures to make Khan, now under house arrest, available for further probe into his past proliferation activities have prompted Pakistan on one hand to seek nuclear energy facilities on a par with India and, on the other, to cooperate on combating terrorism and arraigning the Taliban working against the Hamid Karzai government in Kabul.
According to a Washington-datelined report in the Daily Times, US-Pakistan relations are seen as "at their coldest since 9/11" because of these factors.
Noting reactions from the US State Department and Congressional sources, Dawn noted that the US, on its part, has refused to ease the negative travel advisory for its citizens and investors wishing to visit Pakistan, demanding "substantive improvement" in the security situation.
Unidentified sources told the newspaper that Pakistan's security situation was uncertain "partly because of Pakistan's participation in the United States war on terrorism."
In their recent formal and informal meetings, Pakistani officials told their American counterparts that Pakistan was energy deficient and could not sustain 7-8 per cent GDP growth rate without meeting its energy needs.
"With the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline still undecided and the US-promoted gas pipeline from Central Asia even more uncertain, Pakistan is constrained to make difficult choices to keep up its growth momentum," an unnamed source was quoted as saying.
On the nuclear energy front, Islamabad is ready to play the China card. "Since the United States and the Western nations are not ready to oblige over the issue of nuclear energy, all eyes are now on President Pervez Musharraf's visit to China next month, the source told Dawn.
Musharraf will brief the Chinese leadership about the current status of Pakistan-US cooperation in various political, economic and defence fields, and would particularly raise the issue of acquiring a few more nuclear power plants from China during 2006-08.
The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, sources said, has informed higher authorities that Pakistan was unlikely to meet its 88,000-mw power requirements by 2030 without having more nuclear power plants.
"Chashma-1 is successfully producing 300 mw of electricity while the Chashma-2 of 325 mw was expected to be completed - and linked to the national grid - ahead of schedule due to huge support from China," another source was quoted as saying.
Sources said that Pakistan has again urged the United States to allow its companies to invest in energy projects in the "designated industrial parks".
Musharraf had reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and to the International Atomic Energy Agency's safeguards in industrial parks when he met US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher recently.
Musharraf, the sources said, had also underlined the importance of consolidating and expanding bilateral cooperation in diverse areas in the framework of the Pakistan-US Joint Statement on Strategic Partnership issued during the visit of President Bush to Pakistan in March this year.
Bangalore, June 1 (IANS) Wipro Technologies, the global services of Wipro Ltd., has acquired Europe-based retail solutions provider Enabler for $53 million (euro 41 million) in an all-cash deal, a top company official said here Thursday.
The transaction, however, includes earn-outs of Enabler over the next two years. The integration will be completed by this month-end and its projected revenues will be taken into Wipro Technologies division account from July 1.
For the calendar and fiscal year 2005, Enabler posted revenue of $39 million (euro 30 million). Being a privately held firm, its net margins were not made public, despite a track record of profitability and being in line with the industry leaders in the IT services space.
The 10-year-old Enabler, with delivery centres in Portugal and Brazil, was spun out of Modelo Continente, a leading Portugal retailer and a division of Sonae group.
As a preferred integrator of Oracle Retail (Retek) solutions, Enabler provides consulting services to global retailers in Europe, Middle East and Latin America. Wipro intends to retain Enabler's identity to leverage its brand reputation in the markets it operates.
"Enabler is a leading specialist in consulting and implementation of integrated solutions for retail systems. Its customer base has a dozen Retek users for retail formats such as food, fashion and DIY (do-it-yourself), covering Oracle Retail modules," Wipro Technologies president Sudip Banerjee told reporters.
Post-acquisition, about 300 employees of Enabler will join the 2,500-strong Wipro retail solutions division to serve the former's customers in Portugal, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Britain in Europe, besides Middle East, Latin America and Britain.
"With the retail industry emerging as one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors in the enterprise solutions market, the acquisition makes a strategic fit for us in the light of Enabler's track record in retail domain consulting and package implementation," Banerjee said.
As the fifth overseas acquisition in as many months, Enabler will enable Wipro to extend its geographic footprint into Europe and Latin America. As a subsidiary, its operations will be integrated with the IT services division and expanded with additional investments and hiring in the coming months.
Enabler CEO Antonio Murta will be joining Wipro Technologies as vice-president after the transaction is completed.