April 10, 2008 11:26 IST
Last Updated: April 10, 2008 12:47 ISTIn a major boost to reservation, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Constitution amendment law providing for 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes in IITs, IIMs and other Central educational institutions, but excluded the creamy layer from the benefit.
Coverage: The Reservation Issue
A five-judge Constitution bench cleared the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 providing for the quota, by a unanimous verdict.
The bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan excluded the creamy layer among the OBCs from the quota benefit.
The court held that the Act does not violate the basic structure of the Constitution.
The verdict came on a bunch of petitions by anti-quota activists challenging the Act. They vehemently opposed government's move saying caste cannot be the starting point for identifying backward classes.
The inclusion of creamy layer in the reservation policy was also questioned by the anti-quota petitioners.
With this judgment, the interim order of March 29, 2007 staying the implementation of the Act has been lifted.
In effect, the reservation policy can be put in place for the 2008-09 academic session.The court held that the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act, under which the government came out with the law providing 27 per cent quota in Centrally-aided institutions, was not violative of the basic structure of the Constitution.
All judges favoured periodic revision on the implementation of the 27 per cent quota.
The court ruled that the delegation of power to the Centre to determine OBCs was valid.
The parameter applied for identifying the creamy layer among the OBCs for jobs as per the office memorandum of September 8, 1993, will be applicable, the court said.
It also held as valid the exclusion of minority institutions from the ambit of quota under the Act.
Besides the Chief Justice, the bench comprised Justices Arijit Pasayat, C K Thakker, R V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
SC gives nod to 27 per cent quota for OBCs
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Olympics to 'rebound from crisis'
The head of the International Olympic Committee has said the Beijing Games will rebound from "crisis" after days of protests along the torch route.
Jacques Rogge told a meeting of national committees in the Chinese capital that they should assure their countries the Games would succeed.
The US stage of the torch relay passed off amid confusion and tight security in San Francisco on Wednesday.
The route was totally changed at the last minute amid anti-Chinese protests.
Torch-bearers were immersed in a cocoon of security, surrounded by dozens of police officers and Chinese guards in track-suits.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Highly-skilled Indian workers win court challenge in UK-UK-World-The Times of India
LONDON: An estimated 30,000 Indians and 19,000 other non-Europeans successfully overturned the British government's hardline new rules for highly-skilled migrant workers on Tuesday with the High Court decisively ruling the immigration changes "unlawful" and a rank "abuse of (administrative) power".
Tuesday's legal triumph for the Highly-Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP), the non-profit campaign organisation that was the lead appellant in the 14-month case, puts Britain's progressively-tighter immigration policies under the microscope.
It comes almost exactly six months after thousands of Indian doctors won their High Court challenge to the British government to force it to treat them on a par with European medics.
The High Court judgement dismissed the government's argument that it was in the "public interest...the national interest" retrospectively to apply changes to HSMP visas.
The ruling, by Judge Sir George Newman, means that Britain will be forced to grant entry, residence and/or settlement to non-European Union nationals who entered the UK under the 2002 HSMP rules.
But a defiant government said it wants to appeal.
Newman said, in his landmark judgement, "In the circumstances, I am satisfied that the terms of the original scheme should be honoured and that there is no good reason why those already on the scheme shall not enjoy the benefits of it as originally offered to them. Good administration and straightforward dealing with the public require it. Not to restrain the impact of the changes would, in my judgment, give rise to conspicuous unfairness and an abuse of power."
Flushed with victory, an ebullient Amit Kapadia, the HSMP Forum's executive director, told TOI, "We are relieved and happy and very glad that British justice is available as a last resort when there is a clear abuse of power by the government. This is a lesson for this government and those in the future".
The judge ruled that it was only fair the UK apply the original HSMP rules to thousands of non-European nationals who migrated to the UK in the "legitimate expectation" they were entitled to a year-long stay, a two-year visa extension, then a further three years before applying for settlement.
He ruled it unlawful to apply the 2006 points-based immigration rules to existing HSMP visa-holders as criteria for remaining in the UK.
But the judge ruled that "the old scheme constituted an integrated and entire programme and that it was not open to the government to alter the terms and conditions upon which the pre-arranged stages were to be implemented."
The High Court ruling means that hundreds of Indian HSMP visa-holders who were forced to go back to India can now legitimately ask to return to the UK. It will also finally mean the freedom from fear – of deportation – for 100,000 Indians here, which is thought to signify the total number of HSMP visa-holders and their families.
Indian HSMP visa-holders said they felt "vindicated" in their claim, first revealed by TOI, that they had been suddenly disenfranchised by Britain's allegedly "racist, Idi Amin-style immigration policies".
The HSMP Forum, which brought its legal challenge against the government with the thousands of pounds it collected from its often-impecunious members, said it was a comeuppance for "the immigration department (which) was obsessed with defending their decision and were not open to any reasoning. We had no other recourse but to approach the judiciary".
Highly-skilled Indian workers win court challenge in UK-UK-World-The Times of India
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Inflation at new high, hits the 7%-mark
April 04, 2008 12:17 IST
Last Updated: April 04, 2008 12:49 IST
Inflation galloped to 7 per cent for the week ended March 22, on higher prices of food, vegetables, minerals and manufactured items, even as measures to tame prices are expected to take effect only in 2-3 weeks.
Inflation growth in the previous week was 6.68 per cent and was 6.54 per cent in the corresponding week a year-ago.
On Monday, the government decided to abolish import duty on crude form of edible oils, cut rate on refined edible oils and ban non-basmati rice exports among other measures to ease the pressure off prices.
However, Manila-based Asian Development Bank expects these measures to influence prices only by the month end.
The high rate of inflation could also prompt the Reserve Bank of India to take monetary measures, like hike in interest rate or tighten money supply through hike in CRR.
During the week, prices of fruits and vegetable, pulses, cereals, eggs, meat and fish went up, while condiments and spices were cheaper. The mineral category-index shot up by 38.2 per cent driven by 46 per cent rise in prices of iron ore.
In the manufactured items category, sunflower oil, vanaspati, butter, mustard oil, sugar and groundnut oil became expensive, while prices of ghee, coconut oil mellowed down by 1 per cent each.
At the same time, prices of steel ingots, alloy steel casting were higher. However, car chassis moved down by one per cent.
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Friday, April 4, 2008
The Hindu News Update Service
Kallis, de Villiers cement South Africa's position
Ahmedabad (PTI): Jacques Kallis and A B de Villiers cemented South Africa's already dominant position with a record fifth wicket 189-run stand to take the visitors to 306 for four at lunch in the second cricket Test against India here on Friday.
The duo, who joined forces on Thursday when the visitors were 117 for four replying to the Indian first innings total of 76, faced 279 balls during the stand, leaving the visitors ahead of the home team by 230 runs.
At lunch, Kallis was unbeaten on 97, three short of his 30th Test century, while the more attacking de Villiers, who completed his fifth ton and first against India in the last over before lunch, was on 102.
The duo's unfinished stand overhauled the previous fifth-wicket best of 164 between Kallis and Lance Klusener against the hosts done at Bangalore during the 1999-2000 visit by the Proteas.
The well-settled pair, which resumed at the overnight 223 for four, was hardly troubled by the Indian bowlers in the opening hour of play, barring once when Kallis was nearly bowled off his gloves.
Kallis was lucky that the ball hit the stumps without disturbing the bails when he batted against off spinner Harbhajan Singh, the hosts' most penetrative bowler on Thursday.
Later, the burly all-rounder survived a close leg before appeal when trying to pull Indian pacer S Sreesanth. TV replays indicated he could have been declared out.
Kallis and de Villiers added 83 runs in 29 overs in the session, with the former scoring 37 and the more enterprising de Villiers adding 43 to slowly take the match away from India's grasp.
In the first over after drinks, de Villiers, who once again showed fleetness of foot to negotiate the spinners, survived a run-out attempt when on 89 in 270 for four.
The batsman tapped R P Singh to the vacant fine leg position and, after a yes-no with partner Kallis, was trying to scamper to the non-striker's end when Mahendra Singh Dhoni collected the ball and threw it wide of the bowler whose aim at the stumps after a dive was way off the mark.
At lunch, the powerfully built Kallis had hit 11 fours and a six, while facing 223 balls and staying for 287 minutes at the crease.
The Indian attack looked mostly clueless. The pacers tried to dig the ball in on the slow pitch offering low bounce and were hammered with pull shots by the 32-year-old Kallis.
The rub of the green also seemed to go against their attempts to come back into the game after having become the first team from the country to be bowled out in the first session of a Test match on Thursday.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Videocon eyeing Motorola`s handset biz: report
Indiainfoline.com-Top stories,Leader speak,company news,sector news,Market talk,lifestyle,budget,market today,global indicators
India Infoline News Service / Mumbai Apr 02, 2008 10:54
According to media reports, Videocon group chairman said that we have expressed our interest in acquiring Motorola’s handset business. We learnt from a reliable source that they will be selling it and when they do we are sending an expression of interest.
The Videocon group is planning to bid for Motorola's troubled handset unit, if the US-based company decides to sell the loss-making business. According to media reports, Videocon group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot has been quoted as saying that Videocon is in the initial stages of evaluating a bid.
"We have learnt from a reliable source that they (Motorola) will be selling it and when they do we are sending an expression of interest," he added. According to a financial daily, the group has hired a leading investment banker to convey its interest to buy out the mobile handset business of Motorola.
Motorola, on March 26 said it plans to split into two companies next year amid pressure from billionaire investor Carl Icahn to spin off the handset business that it pioneered 25 years ago. The board is looking for a new CEO for the mobile handset business, Motorola said.
Motorola spokespersons declined to comment on the news.
Motorola's handset business may be worth about US $3.8bn, according to Merrill Lynch. That's more than double the market value of Videocon Industries Ltd., the Videocon group's listed company. Some analysts say Motorola won't sell its mobile handset business to Videocon as it does not have a global brand value.
Having said that there are definite synergies to be had as Videocon group's subsidiary Datacom has received license for launching pan-India mobile operations and is awaiting allotment of spectrum.
The group plans to invest Rs60bn on the mobile services business across all the 23 circles in India. It is looking at a subscriber base of 25mn in the next three years. India adds around 7-8mn new mobile users every month.
So, the potential is quite big given the tele-density of just 25% in the country. At the same time, the challenges too are quite a few. One is the stiff competition among global mobile phone makers and low margins of the business.
Second, how will Videocon fund the acquisition, considering the ongoing turmoil in global credit markets. Another issue is how to revive the Motorola brand, which has seen its market share erode considerably over the past 12 months. Motorola has lost its No.2 spot to Samsung due to lack of strong products.
Last year, Motorola sold over 159mn mobil e phones globally. Its market share is down to around 14%, just behind Samsung, and way below Nokia, which is the No.1 brand with a market share of close to 40%.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Airtel, Google come together for Airtel Live Portal
Indian telecom service provider Airtel has announced the launch of an all-in-one Internet portal called Airtel Live. This service is powered by Airtel broadband and software-cum-Internet giant Google.
Customers at airtellive.com will get free access to a number of Google products including Google Apps messaging and collaboration suite which comprises Gmail, Google Docs and Google Calendar. It will also include the Start Page feature which allows users to create a customizable home page.
Besides Google, Airtel has partnered with other Indian companies like shaadi.com, naukri.com and 24×7guru. With this partnership, Airtel Live will also offer exclusive deals and discounts to customers.
Atul Bindal, President, Airtel Telemedia services commented on the launch saying, “Airtellive.com is a milestone in Airtel’s broadband strategy and it builds upon the current broadband ecosystem infrastructure to establish an Internet destination for web applications.”
“It underlines our commitment towards simplifying and adding value to our broadband customers and driving the adoption of broadband in the country,” he added.
Users will definitely enjoy the Airtel Live experience as the collaboration includes two major powerhouses who will offer a good customer experience with their expertise and innovation.