2100 HRS.
07-10-2013

THE HEADLINES:   

• In Andhra Pradesh, thousands of villages and towns remain cut off from power supply due to strike protesting bifurcation of the State; Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde appeals to people to create an environment for healthy dialogue.  
• RBI cuts marginal standing facility rate by 0.5 per cent to improve liquidity.
• India test-fires nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile from Chandipur off Odisha coast.
• India and Sri Lanka decide to facilitate an early meeting of fishermen from both the countries to resolve the trespassing issue.
• Nobel Prize for Medicine goes to US duo James Rothman and Randy Schekman and German-born Thomas Suedhof.

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In Andhra Pradesh, thousands of villages and towns remained cut off from power supply for the second consecutive day today due to electricity employees’ strike protesting bifurcation of the state. The power crisis gets deeper with employees of Eastern Power Distribution Corporation joining the strike today. 
 
Meanwhile, the Non-Gazetted Officers who were striking work for the past 65 days, have refused to come for talks with the Group of Ministers. A total of 34 persons who resorted to violence in curfew ridden Vizianagaram during pro-united Andhra demonstrations have been arrested so far. Curfew and shoot at sight orders are in prevalence in the district headquarters. Despite severe hardships, people and state employees in Rayalaseema and Coasatlandhra regions relentlessly continue their agitation protesting against the Union Cabinet’s decision to bifurcate the state. People of all walks of life continued to take part in public demonstrations in favour of united Andhra even as thousands of villages and towns in the 13 districts reeling under the power crisis with electricity employees striking work. The electricity employees strike for the last two days badly hit power supply to all major establishments and services including airports, railways, and hospitals and for supply of drinking water. Hydel power generation reduced by half while thermal power dropped by two thirds in the regions which paved way for tripping of three major transmission lines. already crippled as the state owned road transport corporation employees were on strike for the past 65 days. -with Henry in Vizag, Meanwhile, demanding equal justice to Telangana and rest of Andhra, Telugu Desam Party president began indefinite hunger strike in Delhi. Protesting the bifurcation proposal, YSR Congress President YS Jagnmohan Reddy is on hunger strike for the past three days.M S Lakshmi, AIR NEWS

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Home Minister Sushi Kumar Shinde has assured all regions of the state of an amicable solution that safeguards the interests of all. Talking to a News Agency in Delhi today  after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singhon anti-Telangana protests, Mr Sindhe said that the government of Indiaremains fully committed to addressing all their concerns, particularly with respect to safeguarding the interests of people living in Telangana, including  education employment and opportunities in Hyderabad for the youth, sharing of river waters and issue of government employees. He appealed to people to create an environment for healthy dialogue.                

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Four Union Ministers from the Seemandhra region met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today requesting him to accept their resignations over creating Telangana. HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju, Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi, Minister of State for Commerce, D Purandeswari and Minister of State for Railways, Surya Prakash Reddy, all Congress leaders, met Dr. Singh together to press for the acceptance of their resignations. They also decided not to attend office. Dr Singh told them  he will look into their request.
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Telugu Desam Party President N. Chandrababu Naidu began his indefinite fast against bifurcation in New Delhi this afternoon. Replying to questions from mediapersons, Naidu accused the Congress of playing politics on the Telangana by wooing both Telangana Rashtra Samiti and YSR Congress for electoral alliances. He said that he will fight for justice till the end. The Former Andhra Chief Minister accused the Centre of failing to understand the severity of the crisis in the state. 

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The Congress has expressed serious concern over the on-going agitation in Rayalseema and coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh on Telangana and appealed to the people to maintain calm and peace. Briefing reporters in New Delhi today, party spokesperson Bhakta Charan Das accused TDP of backtracking on the Telangana issue. Mr Das said, TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu had supported the demand for a separate state, saying it was a historic necessity. Replying to a question whether the government will reconsider its decision on Telangana, Mr Das said, the Centre has taken the decision to bifurcate the state after going through wide consultations with all the political parties. 

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BJP has accused the Congress of playing politics over Telangana to take advantage of the situation. Briefing reporters in New Delhi today, party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain asked the Centre to  handle the situation with care. He  also appealed to the people to maintain peace. Mr. Hussain alleged that the Bihar government is creating hurdles for th  BJP's proposed rally in Patna on the 27th of this month. He claimed that the state government is afraid of the popularity of BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi. 

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India today test-fired indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile with a strike range of 350 km from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur off Odisha coast. The surface-to-surface missile was test fired from a mobile launcher in salvo mode from launch complex number 3 of the ITR at about 9.14 this morning. The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and all  launch activities were carried out by the specially formed Strategic Forces Command and monitored by the scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation as part of the practice drill. 

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today reduced the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate to 9 per cent from 9.5 per cent to improve liquidity in the system. In a release issued from Mumbai today the RBI said that the decision was taken after a review of evolving liquidity conditions. MSF allows banks to borrow money from the central bank at a higher rate when there is a significant liquidity crunch.  This is the second reduction in the rate since the September 20 mid-quarter monetary policy review, when it was lowered to 9.5 per cent from 10.25 per cent.

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Foreign Ministers of India and Sri Lanka today decided to facilitate an early meeting of representatives of fishermen from both the countries to resolve the issue of their trespassing into each other’s territories, often resulting in their arrest. Addressing a joint press conference in Colombo this afternoon with his counterpart G L Peiris, visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said that the problem of the fishermen has to be looked into in a humane manner. On the issue of meaningful devolution of power to the newly elected government in the Northern Province, Mr Khurshid called for a consensus in Sri Lanka and expressed hope that the Provincial Council and the Central government will work together to achieve that goal.
 
Today you have elected representatives' government in the Northern province and hope that they will work closely with the Central Government and together governments and the people will arrive at a working arrangement that empowers and gives sense of participation and satisfaction to everybody. Later the two Ministers witnessed the signing of eight agreements related to the 500 MW Sampur Power Project that is to be set up as a joint venture between NTPC and Ceylon Electricity Board. Mr Khurshid will meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa over breakfast tomorrow and then visit Jaffna to meet the newly elected Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran of the Tamil National Alliance. 

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India and Turkey have agreed to resolve terrorism. Both have also agreed to evolve a wider dialogue mechanism to discuss issues of common interest including defence cooperation. Many such aspects of Indo-Turkish relationship were discussed between President Pranab Mukherji and Abdullah Gul, his Turkish counterpart and the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara today. Stating this in a press briefing in Ankara today, the Special Secretary  in the Ministry of External Affairs P.S.Raghaban said that Mr. Mukherji conveyed to Turkey India’s concern on terrorism with reference to recent activities of cross border terrorism. 

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Indian High Commissioner in Brunei, L D Ralte said that efforts are on to provide Bruneian citizens, the facility of visa-on-arrival in India. In an exclusive interview to the AIR, he said that this move will increase the inflow of Bruneian tourists in India. Mr. Ralte said that Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s Brunei visit that starts from the 9th of this month, will provide a big boost to bilateral relations of both the countries. He said, this is for the first time that the Indian Prime Minister will be visiting Brunei in nearly 30 years of the diplomatic relationship. 

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh embarks on a two nation tour on Wednesday to attend the 11th ASEAN Summit at Brunei and also the East Asia Summit at Jakarta. Dr. Singh's visit would further enhance India's strategic partnership and trade ties with ASEAN nations.  ASEAN and India are committed to progress, prosperity and peace in the region.  Briefing newsmen on the PM's visit, Secretary East, Asok Kanth said, work is in progress to enhance ASEAN-INDIA connectivity through land, sea and air routes.  An India-ASEAN, Free Trade Agreement on services and investment is in the final stages. 
 
Our first focus was completing India-ASEAN FTA arrangements which traded services , we did earlier. Now we have completed trade and services investment FTA covering Trade and services will come into force by July 2014

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India has met its commitment on 160 Kilometres of the Tamu-Kalewa- Kalemyao road along the India, Myanmar, Thailand- trinational Highway. It has also taken an additional commitment of 120 Kilometres in the Kalewa-Yargyi sector.  ASEAN-India trade is set to acheive 200 billion US Dollars by 2022. During the second leg of his visit, Dr. Singh will attend the 8th East Asia Summit at Jakarta. Bilateral and multilateral issues of mutual concern are also expected to figure in the high level talks. 

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US duo James Rothman and Randy Schekman and German-born Thomas Suedhof won this year's Nobel  Prize for Medicine today for their groundbreaking work on how the cell organises its transport system. The trio, who all work at US universities, were honoured for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells.

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THE BUSINESS WORLD 
Snapping three days of gains, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange ended with a slim loss of 21 points, or 0.1 percent, at 19,895, today, on weak global cues, amid the continuing US budget standoff.  The Nifty fell just 1 point, to 5,906.Stock markets in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore declined between 0.1 percent and 1.2 percent.  The rupee weakened 35 paise, to close at 61.79 against the dollar. Gold rose 300 rupees, to 30,650 rupees per ten grams in Delhi. Silver gained 250 rupees, to 48,700 rupees per kilo. Brent crude oil futures slipped below 108 dollars a barrel, while US crude fell 1.34 dollars, to 102.50 dollars a barrel. Pradeep Kumar, AIR News

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today held a biannual meeting of the Tri-Service Strategic Forces Command.    The meeting was also attended by National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, Army Chief Gen. Bikram Singh, Air Chief N A K Browne and Naval Chief D K Joshi. Official sources said, it was the usual biannual meeting of the Command. The Tri-Service Strategic Forces Command was created in 2003 to manage and administer the country's nuclear arsenal.

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Indian judo players rounded off their campaign with a couple of bronze medals in the IJF Grand Prix Judo Tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The medals were won by H Sunibala Devi and Kapana Devi.  In the bronze medal fight, Sunibala defeated Anar Seitimoa of Kazakhstan. Earlier, Kapana had won bronze on Friday.

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The News Services Division of All India Radio in its weekly Live Phone-in programme “PUBLIC SPEAK” tonight will bring you a discussion on “Home for homeless and displaced". This can be heard on FM Gold Channel and additional frequencies from 9.30 to 10.05 p.m.  Listeners can ask questions to experts sitting in our Studio on telephone number: 011: 2331-4444. This programme  is also available on Doordarshan DTH.

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The officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence today seized 32 kilogram gold worth 15 crore rupees from an Air India flight which landed in Chennai from Dubai this morning. The officials who acted on a tip off, nabbed three passengers and two others who had plans to smuggle the gold to Delhi.