‘Low conviction rate spurring sexual assault cases in India’

In 2011, Only 25% Men Accused Of Rape Found Guilty

    Sexual assaults on women across the country increased by 25% in the six years to 2011 and a significant contributory cause of the alarming trend, legal experts believe, was the low conviction rate in rape cases. 
    According to data collated by the National Crime Records Bureau, 19,348 instances of rape were recorded in India in 2006. By the year 2008, the figure rose to 21,467, and by the year 2011, it was 24,206. This 25% rise in six years, legal experts assert, assumes more disturbing shades, given the poor conviction rate in sexual assault cases. 
    Last year, across India, the police filed chargesheets in nearly 94% of the incidents of rape but, separately, convictions were achieved in just 25% of the rape cases pending before courts. Compared to this, the police filed chargesheets in 85% of murder cases and convictions were realized in 40% of such trials before the judiciary. 
    This considerable variation puzzles legal eagles. They point out that the filing of a chargesheet means the police have thoroughly investigated a crime; it also signifies that law-enforcers have a prima facie case, with strong evidence, to establish that the accused person committed the offence. Why is it then, lawyers ask, that the police case so often falls apart when the trial starts in court? How are teams of defence lawyers so frequently able to punch holes in police contentions, eventually securing freedom for their clients? 
    "The police must ensure that they file the chargesheet as far as possible within the stipulated time limit of 90 days. Equally importantly, they should ensure that the evidence, gathered scientifically, is incontestable," said human rights lawyer Mihir Desai. 
    In Mumbai, a Right to Information Act (RTI) query revealed that between 2001 and 2010 there were approximately 400 unsolved murder cases and around 115 unsolved cases of sexual assault. 
    Activist Jeetendra Ghadge, who filed the RTI application, said, "The main problem is that, due to the abysmal conviction rates, there is no fear of law among criminals. A recent example of this was the sexual assault on a Spanish expatriate in the city. The accused there was out on bail for 10 different crimes involving break-ins." 
    When cases are not solved over a prolonged period, Ghadge said, the police can close them by filing 'A' summary reports. But when they make such a decision in a rape case, he continued, cops forget that they are deepening the trauma of the victim and leaving multitudes of women exposed to the unidentified sexual assaulter. 
    Women's activist and lawyer Flavia Agnes said her NGO Majlis has undertaken a study of rape cases in Mumbai and will soon compile data on convictions and acquittals. "The aim of the study is to examine actual cases that were tried, identify the loopholes in the system and find ways to plug them. This would help the prosecution in conducting better trials in future," explained Agnes. "The data and material gathered so far shows a very low conviction rate in rape cases." 
    In Maharashtra, the overall conviction rate stood at less than 9% in 2011. For this too, legal experts blame the poor coordination between the police machinery and prosecutors. 
    In an effort to bring in some change, the state government set up a committee two years ago. The panel recommended weekly meetings between police officers and prosecutors during investigations and later monthly meetings between senior policemen and prosecutors. The idea, unfortunately for the state, is yet to take root. 
TERRIBLE SHAME FOR SOCIETY DAMAGING THE CAUSE 
The low conviction rate in rape cases is owed to several reasons, primary among them being police ineptness. Lawyers say the men in khaki often fail to collect evidence properly, enfeebling the prosecution's case in court: 
Forensic evidence is vital in rape trials. That is why rules unambiguously state the procedures for evidence collection and analysis. Police are mandated to follow a process for custody and storage of samples of vaginal swabs, skin and other agents—but they seldom do. This disregard of rules causes trouble for the prosecution and frequently leads to acquittal of the accused 
Police do not get the victim's medical examination conducted in time. The delay leads to flawed results and erasure of cogent evidence, such as presence of semen 
Chargesheets are often filed late despite the 90-day deadline. To curb this trend, lawyers say, errant cops should be suspended and punished if they fail to provide suitable reasons for the delay 
Given the frequent bungling by cops, legal eagles suggest appointment of special prosecutors for rape trials to ensure that the evidence gathered by policemen in such cases is incontestable and incontrovertible 
Trial courts are occasionally faced with a peculiar situation. As the trial gets drawn out due to judicial backlog, the victim's statement at times slightly diverges from that recorded in the FIR or before a magistrate. Lawyers recommend fasttracking rape trials—even establishment of a 60-day deadline—to avert this setback and to ensure that the victim's trauma is not played out in court for a prolonged period 
A major requirement in cases of sexual assault is sensitivity. Victims have to recount the trauma in court (even in an in-camera trial) for the judge. That is why, experts insist, it is imperative that prosecutors handle the victims with extreme sensitivity

Home NaMo Sweepaya Gujarat Wants Modi, But Does He Want Only Gujarat? His Big Hat-Trick In State Will Fuel Ambitions Of Going National. Will It Be Rahul Vs Modi In 2014?

"You should now get used to hearing me speak in Hindi," Narendra Modi told the adulatory droves, gathered to celebrate his emphatic victory, when they insisted that he speak in Gujarati. 

    The sudden switch to Hindi for someone who spoke in little else but Gujarati throughout the election campaign led to an obvious interpretation—Modi, having scored a hat-trick, was now flashing his fortified claim to be the BJP's choice for prime minister in 2014, setting the stage for a presidentialtype race with Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls. 
    Although Modi said he did not plan to camp in New Delhi and would visit the capital only for a day on December 27 for the National Development Council meet, his devotees were already serenading him with "desh ka neta kaisa ho, Narendra bhai jaisa ho" chants. 
    Modi won 115 seats, just a couple short of his previous tally of 117 seats in the 2007 election. Modi's victory came against the backdrop of indifference, even opposition, from a section of the RSS, hostility of an influential and tenacious faction of civil society and the Congress's tacit understanding with BJP rebel Keshubhai Patel who sought to rally his community against the chief minister. 
DECODING THE WIN 
Tireless Campaigner | Modi addressed 250 rallies and reached out to 180 more locations through 3D projections. Sonia Gandhi addressed 7 and Rahul Gandhi 8 election meetings 
Sweeps Urban Seats | Delimitation increased urban seats. BJP won 12 of 16 seats in Ahmedabad, all 12 in Surat, and all 5 in Vadodara 
Safely Home | Modi was perturbed by the surging crowds of women a few months back when the Congress started distributing lakhs of forms to the homeless, promising them subsidized housing. But the results in seats with mainly poor neighbourhoods show the Congress was building castles in the air 
Sad-Bhavana | The last assembly had 5 Muslim MLAs, the new one will have only two, both from Cong. The BJP didn't give a ticket to any Muslim 
Turnout Works | The unusually high voter turnout of 71.9% was the key to the BJP's big win. This was almost 10% higher than in the previous two assembly polls. Modi told voters to come out and vote for him, not the candidates. The personality cult worked 
Caste Contours Change | Call it social engineering, Modi style. With Leuva Patels swinging away from the BJP, especially under Keshubhai's influence in Saurashtra, the OBCs consolidated around the BJP. This was seen as a reaction to the ganging up of the dominant Patels in the countryside 
Exchange Programme | Cong, BJP wrested 30 seats from each other. Cong gained in Saurashtra & N Gujarat, conceded seats to BJP in central and S Gujarat. 5 ministers lost their seats, but so did Guj Cong president Arjun Modhwadia 
Batting Failure | Armed with a 'bat' as an election symbol, 84-year-old Keshubhai padded up for a match with Modi but flattered to deceive. He retired hurt, scoring only two but managed to inflict some body blows in Saurashtra where the BJP slipped by nine seats 
Bharuch Breached | The Congress won no seat in Bharuch district, home turf of Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel. Of the five seats, the BJP won four and the JD(U) one. Modi targeted Patel by calling him Ahmed 'Miyan' Patel and mischievously claiming he was the Congress' CM candidate 
Pro-Incumbency | Modi's strategy every time he faced an election was to drop most of the candidates — a good way to fight anti-incumbency at the local level. As the rejects would have switched over to Keshubhai, he decided to repeat most of the candidates and coined the word pro-incumbency 
    Modi is the 13th politician to serve at least 3 consecutive terms as CM. 
Including him, there are 6 such CMs serving at present, including Tarun Gogoi (Assam), Naveen Patnaik (Odisha), Okram Ibobi Singh (Manipur), Manik Sarkar (Tripura) & Sheila Dikshit (Delhi) 
    Gujarat is one of 7 states where Cong has been out of power for at least 20 years. The others are Bihar, Sikkim, Tripura, TN, UP and Bengal (barring a brief stint as junior coalition partner with Trinamool). These 7 states together account for 230 Lok Sabha seats

2002, 2007, 2012...2014? WILL MODI BE BJP'S POSTER BOY IN THE NEXT LOK SABHA POLLS?

For Election Riches, UPA Plans Houses for the Poor

The government plans to launch an ambitious housing scheme to woo the urban poor, ahead of the next general elections. 

The housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry has tapped several central ministries and agencies to prepare a comprehensive package, which will include building high-rise apartments for the urban poor on land owned by central agencies such as the railways and defence; doing away with the cap of . 80,000 on home loans under the JNNURM scheme; incentivising construction of homes for the poor; and making it mandatory for builders to reserve 35% of houses in any housing complex for economically weaker sections and lower income groups under the Rajiv Awas Yojana. Looking at Ways to Reclaim the Urban Voters 
"Consultations with various arms of the government are on. This will be another game-changer as millions of poor will benefit," said Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Ajay Maken. This move comes in the run-up to the next general elections. Congress had done very well in the urban areas in the 2009 elections, but the government's image has been severely hit by corruption scandals and the perception that it has not done enough in the last few years. A string of defeats suffered by the party in the civic polls of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and other cities post-2009 has worried its leadership, which is looking at ways to reclaim the urban vote. The party had launched the 'Ghar Nu Ghar' affordable housing scheme for women ahead of the Gujarat elections that saw nearly 28 lakh women sign up. "The queues in Gujarat showed us the appetite for affordable homes. Steep real estate prices and expensive loans have discouraged people from buying homes — by far the biggest investment in their lifetime," said a housing ministry official. Congress has decided to make the direct cash transfer scheme — a programme that gives the poor access to welfare scheme funds directly, using the electronically-enabled Aadhaar card — a major plank of its election strategy. The Food Security Bill and the Land Rehabilitation Bill are also expected to form a part of its election strategy. While housing for the urban poor is a vote-catching proposition, it is a state subject and the 12-18 months left before the next elections is too short a period for construction to happen. "We can't start constructing houses before polls, but we can launch the schemes," said Maken. The minister said the proposed package wasn't just a political move, and added that it was imperative for the government to provide housing for theurban poor. "We are talking about almost 50% of our population, of which 26% live in slums. I think we need to give them some good programmes and policies, which we are working through our re-christened Rajiv Awas Yojana.We are making a number of changes so that this scheme becomes more effective and meaningful." The government has calculated that there is a shortfall of 18.78 million homes in the country, mostly in the low-income category. The poor in India usually live in unregulated areas, especially slum developments in big cities such as Delhi and Mumbai. Delhi alone has more than 50,000 slums units on railway land and between 5,000 and 10,000 on defence properties. Maken's ministry has had a series of discussions with the railways and defence ministries. "We are looking at how, through Rajiv Awas Yojana, we can straightaway start with slum eradication or improvement of slums or housing in the central government agency areas," Maken said. In addition, the railways and defence establishments have huge tracts of surplus, unutilised land all over the country, especially in habitable regions, and the idea is to develop homes and colonies on them. The minister said the government had failed to achieve certain goals in the first phase of JNNURM. But the gaps will be plugged this time around to make it more relevant. For instance, an anomaly in the first phase of JNNURM was that under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP), in small towns, the home loan limit was Rs 80,000 per house, which was too small. That is why many of the IHSDP programmes could not succeed. The government now plans to remove this artificial restriction on the amount in the second phase of Rajiv Awas Yojana and make loans available on actuals. "We would like to be more realistic and in terms of actuals, we would like to give 50% or 80% of the amount which would be spent," Maken said, adding he was expecting the Planning Commission to agree to this proposal. Also, in the Rajiv Awas Yojana, one of the mandatory conditions would be that 35% of the houses for any housing complex should be reserved for EWS and LIG. "This we want them to be over and above what has been given to them. We should give them extra FSI and also give transfer of development rights (TDR) to developers so that it incentivises the construction of EWS housing," Maken said. He also said the government will relax FSI norms in cities to allow vertical developments. "We feel that unless you are liberal with the FSI and population density norms, you can't have cities that would meet the housing needs of people, particularly the poor," said the minister.

POLL VAULT: Maken

Worst may be over for eco: Govt Growth Target Lowered But Review Sees Brighter Prospects In 2nd Half

New Delhi: The government on Monday suggested that the worst may be over for the faltering Indian economy and it is headed for a recovery in the second half of 2012-13. But the mid-year review of the economy presented in Parliament scaled down growth projection for the current fiscal year to 5.7-5.9% from the previous estimate of 7.6%, citing the slowdown in the previous quarters. 
    Even at the scaled down level, the government's estimate is more optimistic than what most economists and agencies have suggested. It is, however, inline with RBI's forecast of 5.7% growth in the current financial year. The optimistic assessment for the second half of the fiscal year was based on a rebound in industrial growth of 8.2% in October 2012, better corporate profit margins, moderation in inflation and better business expectations for the third quarter. "There are, however, reasons to believe that the slowdown has bottomed out and the economy is headed towards higher growth in the second half of 2012-13," the review said. 
    The finance ministry is also confident of meeting the fiscal deficit target of 5.3% of GDP for the current fiscal year despite challenges on raising Rs 30,000 crore from stake sales in state-run firms and slowdown in revenues."Given such an emerging scenario, it should be possible for the economy to improve the overall growth rate of GDP to around 5.7 to 5.9% for the year 2012-13. This would imply that the growth rate for the second half of the year 2012-13 would be close to around 6%," the review said in its outlook for Asia's third-largest economy. "To achieve this, both fiscal and monetary policies, however, would need to be supportive to sustain investor confidence. The government will also have to address the concerns relating to structural supply side bottlenecks," it said. 
    The review said the reform steps undertaken by the government and the fiscal consolidation roadmap should provide room for RBI to ease policy. The RBI will review monetary policy on Tuesday and a majority of economists say they expect the central bank to hold rates given sticky inflation. 
    The review defended the RBI's tight monetary policy in the previous months saying there were several risks to inflation. The review said a further moderation in inflation, likely to commence from the fourth quarter of the current year and together with benign global commodity prices, will also facilitate softening of the monetary policy stance of RBI. Inflation at the end of March 2013 is expected to moderate to 6.8-7% level, it added. The review said achieving the target of raising Rs 30,000 crore from disinvestment in 2012-13 would be a challenge given the present trend and prevailing scenario in the capital market but said efforts were on to fast-track stake sales. It said on the tax revenue side, the trend growth in the mid-year was lower than estimated and achieving targets would be difficult. 
    "While the targets may be achieved in taxes on income other than corporation tax and service tax, achieving targets in corporation tax on the direct tax side and customs and central excise duty on the indirect tax side is somewhat difficult given the trend so far," the review said, attributing it to slower economic growth and the global economic slowdown.

Hat-trick? Exit polls predict landslide victory for Modi Dead Heat In HP With Edge For Congress

    Narendra Modi is all set for an enviable hat-trick. If exit polls have got it right, Modi is poised to record a thumping win in the assembly elections in Gujarat, possibly by a two-thirds majority, 

setting the stage for him to make a virtually undeniable claim to lead the BJP — and the NDA—in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. 
    In Himachal Pradesh, the pollsters predict a photo-finish with the Congress perhaps just a touch ahead. Only one poll gives the Congress a clear lead. The results of the Gujarat and Himachal polls will be announced on Thursday. 
    In the four exit polls for which projections were available on Gujarat, the BJP's estimated tally ranges between 118 and 140 in the 182-member assembly. Even the lowest projection, therefore, puts the party within touching distance of 121 seats—the number required for a two-thirds majority, and higher than the BJP's 2007 tally of 117. All the polls also seem to agree that Keshubhai Patel's GPP, seen by some as a potential spoiler in these elections, has come a cropper. 
    The ABP News-Nielsen poll projects 126 seats for the BJP, 50 for the Congress and only two for the GPP. The remaining four are picked up by 'others'. In the same ballpark are two other polls. The one done for Aaj Tak and Headlines Today by ORG says the BJP will win between 118 and 128 seats, the Congress 50-56, the GPP one or two and others between four and six. The CVoter poll projects 120 seats for the BJP, 58 for the Congress and two each for GPP and others. Can Cong pull it off in HP? T he News24-Chanakya Today poll gives Narendra Modi an even more comprehensive sweep. It predicts a tsunami of a wave for Modi, giving him 140 seats against just 40 for the Congress and two for others. It does not give a specific figure for the GPP. 
    While the CNN-IBN-CSDS post-poll survey has also made some projections for Gujarat, they are confined to those seats that polled in the first phase of the elections on December 13. Even in these, the indications are that the BJP will do very well and come back to power, giving Modi three wins on the trot. 
    In Himachal, there were three polls available and two of them suggest an extremely close race. The CNN-IBN-CSDS post-poll survey projects a dead heat with both the Congress and the BJP winning between 29 and 35 seats in a 68-member House. The CVoter poll gives the Congress 34, exactly half the strength of the House and the BJP 31, leaving three 'others' perhaps holding the balance. 
    Once again, the News24-Chanakya Today poll is a bit of an outlier with the Congress projected to win 40 seats and the BJP just 23, others picking up the remaining five. While the polls have indicated varying margins of error, this makes little difference to the big picture in Gujarat: Modi's triumphant re-election.

FINGERS CROSSED

Dissolvable stents to be sold in India

Mumbai:Cardiac patients across India will soon have a new option while seeking treatment for their hearts. Within the next 10 days, they can ask for a bio-absorbable stent, which will completely disappear some 18-odd months after it's fixed in their blocked blood vessel. At present, metallic stents that permanently stay in the blood vessel are the most-sought-after treatment for cardiac diseases.      The bio-absorbable stent's upcoming commercial launch follows an approval given by the Drug Controller General of India to multinational firm Abbott Vascular after a review of the results of a trial, involving 100 patients. "The patients were doing well during a six-month follow-up. The results are as good as metallic stents," said the trial's Delhi-based principal investigator Dr Ashok Seth.      Each of these stents will cost around Rs 3 lakh. Soluble stents mark the 'dawning of a new era'  However, The Treatment For Blocked Blood Vessels Comes With A Price Tag. Each Stent Will Cost Rs 2.8L to Rs 3L      The new bio-absorbable stent, which can dissolve completely after some 18-odd months in the blood vessel, is set to revolutionize the treatment of cardiac problems in India. However, the bio-absorbale stent comes with a premium price tag.      "It will cost Rs 2.85 to 3 lakh for each stent, and the entire hospitalization may cost a patient over Rs 4 lakh for a single stent," said a hospital administrator. In contrast, imported drug-coated permanent metallic stents cost Rs 1.3 lakh each.      Senior cardiologist Dr A B Mehta, of Jaslok Hospital, said, "The absorbable stent may only be used for a few  wealthy people in the city." However, Seth added, "We are still negotiating the cost with the company, because the absorbable stent will be beyond the reach of the common man in India."      But experts said there is no denying that the absorbable stent is an evolution.     "It's the dawning of a new era. From using balloons in the 1970s, we have now evolved to using absorbable stents," said Dr Ganesh Kumar, of Hiranandani Hospital, Powai. He said the bioabsorbable device, in fact, should be called a scaffolding and not a stent. "A stent is a permanent metallic device, while this one will dissolve completely within two years," he added.      Experts list three major advantages of the absorbable scaffolding. "There is no question of stent thrombosis (clotting) because the scaffolding dissolves," said Mehta.      Seth said the biggest advantage of the bio-absorbable stent is that patients will not need to take two anti-platelet (blood-thinning) medicines for years on end.      City-based cardiologist V T Shah said patients will need to take two blood-thinners till the scaffolding dissolves. "Thereafter, they will need to take only one for up to two years," he added. Long-term studies will show whether the blood thinners need to be taken at all in the long run.      At present, patients with regular metallic stents can never be asked to stop taking their blood thinners for fear of some clotting occurring in the stent.      "So the patients w i t h stents w h o need to undergo another operation in the future, such as knee-replacement surgery or dental implants, are at risk of excessive bleeding. They cannot risk stopping taking the blood thinners," said Shah.      The bio-absorbable stent, or scaffolding, may be the best invention for younger cardiac patients who require treatment in their 30s or 40s.      "The scaffolding will dissolve and doctors can use any mode of treatment in the future, even a cardiac bypass surgery," said Seth.

‘Scandal-hit’ city falls to new low as realty investment hub

Mumbai: The city's rating as a real estate investment destination has taken a further hit, and a "political scandal" is among the factors being blamed for it. Mumbai has dropped from No. 3 in 2011 to 

No. 20 on a list of 22 investment destinations covered by the Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2013, published by the Urban Land Institute and Price WaterhouseCoopers. The report was released on Tuesday. The city was already down at No. 15 in the 2012 report. 
    The study has attributed Mumbai's low ranking to a "recent political scandal" in the state which, it said, had paralysed development over the past year. It does not name the scandal, but it is believed to be referring to Adarsh, in which government officials, politicians and armymen have found themselves in the dock. 
Washington House is Lodha's for 342cr R ealty company Lodha Developer has finally acquired Washington House, the three-storey residential building owned by the US consulate on Altamont Road, for Rs 341.82 crore. P 2 EMERGING TRENDS REPORT 'Jakarta best city for realty investment' 
Mumbai: Not just "political scandal", Mumbai's fall as a real estate investment destination has been attributed to lack of transparency too. A Price WaterhouseCoopers official said transparency was another reason realty investments in Mumbai had come to a standstill when the BMC overhauled building rules to make them more stringent for unscrupulous developers who used to manipulate habitable and non-livable spaces in their buildings. 
    The Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2013 report quotes an investor, who said, "In a way, it has been a blessing in disguise as it has allowed the city to work out its oversupply problem." 
    Property valuations in Mumbai are unlikely to rebound until these issues are fully resolved, the report said. According to it, local developers are more "aggressive, and so, more stressed" because they appear willing to borrow money at expensive rates. "Mumbai is likely to be a good destination for opportunistic capital looking to leverage against developer stress,'' the report stated. 
    It's not jut Mumbai that has seen a dip in its ranking. Delhi has slipped from 5th slot in 2011 to No. 21, while Bangalore has 
tumbled from No. 10 in 2011 to No. 19 because of its "over-reliance" on the sluggish global IT industry. 
    According to the study, the top investment markets for 2013 are Jakarta, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Kuala Lumpur. Jakarta has been described as a 'surprising' choice, given the city's lack of investment grade stock and its economy which, while growing, lacks the enterprise, scale and infrastructure of its more developed neighbours. However, it said the city was seen by real estate professionals as the most favourable emerging market in the region with business transactions being simpler and more transparent than in other markets like Vietnam. "Demand for property is strong, resulting in year-to-year office rents leaping by 29%," it said. Jakarta had been ranked a lowly 14th in 2011. 
    For the third year, Shanghai is at the number two position. "However, Shanghai is not as appealing to foreigners today as it was earlier. This is partly because markets have become saturated and Chinese regulators are now not as welcoming as they once were," it said. Although sales have dropped in the commercial sector, the city remains firmly on the radar for domestic buyers and many foreign funds with a mandate to invest in Chinese real estate.

M&M walkout gives govt LS win, RS will be tougher 261 MPs Opposed FDI, But Only 218 Voted Against It

New Delhi: It was again the same sort of numbers mismatch which has the opposition tearing its hair out after each trial of strength with the UPA. In the contest in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday over the desirability of allowing FDI in multi-brand retail, parties accounting for 261 members took strong positions against the Manmohan Singh government's decision. Yet, when the vote was taken, only 218 votes could be counted in the anti-FDI column.      The UPA's serial rescuers—the SP and the BSP with 43 votes between them—again performed the role to the hilt. The two UP outfits which had slammed the FDI move on Tuesday predictably decided not to translate their rhetoric into action. They walked out of the House just before  the members were called to stand up and be counted, allowing the UPA to romp home with 253 seats with a total 471 members voting. A motion for amending the Foreign Exchange Management Act, an imperative for the implementation of the decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail, was also passed by 30 votes.      The rescue act attracted the familiar allegation that Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati had let the fear of the CBI get the better of their aversion for Walmart, but reinforced the reputation of the UPA as an escape artiste that manages to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat every time. Beginning with its win in the trust vote over the nuclear deal with the US, the UPA government has consistently defied numerical odds to pip its rivals to the post.  ...BUT IT WILL BE A CLIFFHANGER IN UPPER HOUSE      Rajya Sabha's strength: 244. BSP & SP have 24 (15 & 9) MPs. If they abstain, House strength down to 220, leaving majority mark at 111. NDA claims it has 110 votes. If that's so, UPA won't get majority in RS      But it's not as pat as that. Both sides scrambling to get support of MPs who are unattached (Amar Singh & BJD rebel Pyari Mohan Mahapatra) or independent (Rajeev Chandrasekhar & A B Swamy)      4 MPs supporting govt won't be there: Tendulkar will be playing cricket at Eden Gardens, while Murli Deora, Janardhana Reddy & Janardhan Waghmare are grounded due to ill health      Not known how 2 JMM members will vote. NDA camp's V N Singh of JD(U) won't attend because his daughter is getting married, while floater Parimal Nathwani's preference is not known

Govt will try to rein in fisc deficit close to 5.3%

New Delhi:The government will strive to rein in the fiscal deficit within the revised target of 5.3% of GDP for 2012-13, C Rangarajan, chairman of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, said on Monday. 

    The UPA coalition is struggling to meet its fiscal deficit target due to sluggish revenues, delayed stake sales in state-run firms, rising subsidies and lower-thanexpected cash from the auction of second generation (2G) spectrum. "I think the attempt will be to see that we remain as close as possible to revised fiscal deficit that has been indicated by the finance ministry. All efforts will be made to get that number," Rangarajan told reporters on the sidelines of a function. 
    Faced with a challenging situation, the finance ministry recently revised the fiscal deficit target to 5.3% of GDP from the earlier projection of 5.1% of GDP. 
    The government has unveiled a fiscal consolidation plan and has said it is committed to tackle the yawning deficit, which the central bank has said is a stumbling block before easing monetary policy. The finance ministry has also undertaken an austerity drive to tame wasteful spending but economists estimate that the deficit would still be close to 5.8% of GDP. 
    Efforts to sell stakes in state-run firms are yet to take off significantly despite government's commitment to fast-track the process. The government expects to raise Rs 30,000 crore from stake sales in state-run firms in the current fiscal but analysts say it would be an uphill task to meet the target. 
    "I think still there are about four to five months for the end of the year. There are many actions that are possible," Rangarajan said, when asked whether the government would be able to meet its fiscal deficit target. 
    During April-September, the fiscal deficit stood at Rs 3.37 lakh crore, or 65.6% of the full year-target set for 2012-13 compared to 68% in the same year-ago period, government data showed. The former central bank governor also said the Reserve Bank of India will consider several factors into consideration before deciding on interest rates. 
    "We need to watch the behaviour of prices of course, the Reserve Bank will take all factors into consideration. But there is still some time for Reserve Bank to take a decision."

PMEAC chairman C Rangarajan

Saffron Loses Its Senapati:Bal Thackeray Called The Shots In Mumbai Like No One Has In Decades.

Jan 23, 1927- Nov 17, 2012

End Comes At 3.33pm After Long Ailment With His Brand Of Marathi Manoos-Hindutva-Rough & Ready Politics,  Both Feared And Loved, One Of India's Most Colourful, Charismatic & Controversial Leaders Leaves Behind A Divided Family And An Uncertain Legacy

TEAM TOI 

Mumbai: Bal Keshav Thackeray, founder of Shiv Sena and one of Maharashtra's most iconic and divisive figures, died on Saturday after weeks of ill-health. Thackeray, 85, was seriously ill since Wednesday when his blood pressure plunged and he lost consciousness. 
    "He suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest today. We could not revive him despite 
our best efforts. He breathed his last at 3.33 pm," said pulmonologist Dr Jalil Parkar, who was the Sena chief's doctor for the last five years and was by his bedside till the end. In his last days, Thackeray received round-the-clock attention from a battery of Mumbai's best doctors. 
    Thackeray's body, wrapped in saffron and with his trademark dark glasses on, has been kept in a glass casket in a hall on the second floor of 'Matoshree', his residence in Bandra. It will be taken at 7 am on Sunday to Shivaji Park, where legions of supporters are expected to pay their last respects between 10am and 5pm. A large stage is being erected on the sprawling grounds under the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji. Party leaders announced that the final rites will be held at 6pm at the Shivaji Park crematorium. 
    Thackeray is survived by sons Jaidev and Uddhav, who is executive president of the party. News of his demise was followed by an appeal from Uddhav to restive cadres, requesting them to maintain calm. However, the city of Mumbai and its suburbs had already begun shutting down in anticipation of trouble. 
    The post-Thackeray phase marks a new era in Maharashtra's politics and heightens speculation about the strategies the Sena would need to adopt in the absence of its principal crowd-puller. For over four decades, Thackeray had dominated the stage, courting controversy with a blend of regional chauvinism and cultural aggression, and punctuating it with biting, if often crude, humour through editorials in his mouthpiece Saamna. On the demolition of the Babri Masjid, Thackeray famously said, "If Shiv Sainiks have done it, I am proud of them." Thackeray ran Sena govt on remote control 
    Thackeray was the eldest son of writer-crusader K S Thackeray, also known as Prabodhankar, for he edited a periodical called Prabodhan (Renaissance). Beginning his career as a cartoonist in the 1950s, he plunged into a nascent statehood movement for Maharashtra. 
    The Sena, which began as an outfit that fought to secure employment opportunities for Maharashtrians in the 1960s, gradually turned into a mainstream party that tasted power for the first time when it swept Mumbai's local body polls in 1985. The use and threat of mob violence became a calling card. There were even whispers about a culture of extortion taking root. 
    But it was Thackeray's sons-of-thesoil agenda that altered the state's political culture and eroded the Congress base. Using aggression to demand job quotas for the working class Mumbaikar Marathi, he built a loyal constituency and acquired near-mythical stature. 
    The Sena acquired prominence on the national stage when it embraced Hindutva and aligned with the BJP, eventually winning the Maharashtra assembly polls in the charged atmosphere of the mid-90s. Thackeray's stature grew when he spurned public office and installed Manohar Joshi as CM, although he made it known that he would be the one in charge running the government on "remote control". From film-makers to businessmen, Thackeray's approval was considered a must. 
    His predilection for rough-andready methods showed in the manner in which his government dealt with the Mumbai underworld. During the Sena-BJP regime, nearly 100 gangsters were gunned down in 'encounters' that were described by then home minister Gopinath Munde as 'necessary' to tackle the deteriorating law and order situation. 
    However, cases for hate speech registered against him in the wake of the 1992 Mumbai riots continued to dog him. He escaped prosecution due to the reluctance shown by successive governments, including the ones headed by the Congress, to grant sanction. But he was banned in 1999 by the EC from voting or contesting in any election for six years for violating the code by seeking votes in the name of religion and caste in a bypoll in Mumbai in 1987. 
Leaders to attend funeral G ujarat CM Narendra Modi, MP CM Shivraj Chauhan, BJP's LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari and Arun Jaitley will be present for the funeral as will be NCP leader Sharad Pawar. They will be taken from Veer Sawarkar Marg, which will remain closed to traffic. TNN

FUTURE TENSE: Does Uddhav (52) have it in him to emerge out of his father's shadow and take centrestage? Or will 44-year-old cousin Raj (seen below at 'Matoshree' on Saturday evening) move into the driver's seat?

Unlike Your Pizzas, Home Deliveries to be Delayed

DREAMS CRASH A new survey shows nearly half of the 323,000 homes to be delivered in 2013 will be delayed     Here's a shocking piece of news for those waiting to take possession of their homes next year. A new survey has found that nearly half of the 323,000 homes to be delivered in 2013 are lagging behind construction schedule, with a third not ready for a housewarming before 2014. In addition, nearly three of every four homes promised for delivery in 2014 are also likely to be delayed, real estate research firm Liases Foras has found in a nationwide survey conducted recently. "There have always been delays, but it is a bigger concern today as the quantum of homes being built is much larger now," says Deepak Parekh, chairman of India's biggest mortgage lender HDFC Ltd. "Everyone's money is stuck. It is not only bad for homebuyers, but also for the economy," adds DK Mittal, secretary, department of financial services. The problem that began in 2010, when the economy started to weaken, has aggravated in the last one year due to paucity of funds as well as delays in securing approvals. Home sales have slowed down, private equity has dried up, the primary market is subdued, and banks have been reluctant to lend to builders. A combination of consumer activism, agitation by farmers, bureaucratic delays, labour shortage and legal wrangles has also contributed to the holding up of projects. The delays leave lakhs of homebuyers to grapple with another problem in the midst of rising prices and a slowing economy. "Individual homebuyers have the option of taking recourse to the law, but almost no one does so as it is a cumbersome process and may lead to further delays if the builder digs in his heels," says Vaibhav Gaggar, partner at law firm Gaggar & Associates, which helps clients in real estate disputes, among others. "If they choose, buyers could invoke a clause that is part of most standard contracts, to terminate the contract and get back their money with interest. If the person chooses to retain the property, he could file for compensation and damages by proving that he has been injured financially," added Gaggar. At present, contracts between buyers and builders provide for a per sq ft compensation in case of delays. "But the amount is minuscule," he said. Builders in the Delhi-National Capital Region have been the biggest culprit, with a 74% late delivery rate, followed by Mumbai and Chennai at 61%, Bangalore at 59% and Kolkata at 57%. "Data indicates that there would be more delays going forward because of the stress on cashflows of developers," says Pankaj Kapoor, managing director at Liases Foras, the firm that carried out the survey. Supply, Demand Both a Concern  This non-brokerage real estate research and rating firm services banks like HDFC, Axis Bank, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered as well as big real estate companies and private equity (PE) funds.  Experts say there are liquidity concerns both on the supply and demand side. Many developers are faced with a liquidity crunch and cashflow issues due to slowdown in home sales, and this is turn is impacting their ability to finance construction of new properties.  "Home sales are down nearly 40% because of the very high cost of homes. This is becoming a vicious cycle," says Anckur Srivasttava, who heads GenReal Property Advisers, a property consultancy. Adds Anshuman Magazine, managing director of CB Richard Ellis: "There is a liquidity concern on both the supply and demand side due to high interest rates and high prices. The impact of the slowing economy is reflecting on the ground now, in demand slowing down and execution of projects being hit." According to a recent report by real estate consulting firm PropEquity, the number of unsold properties in India's top seven cities at the end of December this year is expected to be around 32,000 units and valued at over . 21,000 crore. Developers argue that liquidity issues are just one of the reasons for the delays. More pressing is the issue of getting approvals on time to get on with construction. "After the first approval, subsequent no-objection certificates and approvals like water, electricity connections, completion certificate and others get delayed," says Lalit Kumar Jain, president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (Credai), the national association of builders. The regulator will, however, have the right to give an extension to the builder on a case-to-case basis.  ravi.sharma@timesgroup.com

Cell towers to need 70% residents’ nod

Civic Body's Draft Proposal Lines Up Stringent Installation Rules

Mumbai: Mobile operators may soon have to secure consent from 70% occupants of a housing society to install a cellphone tower. 
    This stringent guideline is among several others that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has lined up in its draft policy on cellphone towers. Several citizens have been up in arms against their respective societies' managing committees for permitting towers without their consent, especially considering growing concerns over thehealth hazards of radiation emitted from cellphone towers. 
    "We plan to make it mandatory for an operator to get 70% consent from the occupants of a housing society on which a mobile tower is proposed. Citizens' views must be considered before a tower is allowed on their building," said municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte. 
    The entire framework for this rule, Kunte further said, will be similar to that of any redevelopment or slum rehabilitation proposal. Even in such proposals, 70% consent of the residents is required before details of a plan are finalized. 
    The draft proposal, which was formulated following instructions from the high court, also mentions that no more than two towers will be allowed on a building terrace. A structural certificate will have to be acquired from a structural engineer who holds a BMC licence. 
    The civic body also plans to increase the operator's deposit amount. "The deposit amount will be increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000," said a senior civic official from the building proposal department. 
    Additions are being made to the draft policy on the lines of the Union department of telecommunications (DoT) guidelines on installation of mobile phone towers. It will be tabled before the civic general body. 
    "There are a few clauses in the draft policy which will need the civic general body's ratification. We will soon table the policy before the body," said Kunte. 
    The policy also mentions no towers will be allowed on school and hospital buildings. 
    The antenna position of towers atop buildings around schools and hospitals has also been specified in the draft policy.

Indian banks hit by slowdown, government to infuse capital: Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: The slowdown in economic growth has hit the performance of Indian banks, resulting in a sharp increase in bad loans, finance minister P Chidambaram said Thursday, adding that the government would soon infuse capital into the lenders. 

"NPA (non perfoming assets) has increased. This is the reflection of the slowdown in the economy, and reflection of some sectors which are under stress," Chidambaram said at a press conference after meeting heads of public sector banks and financial institutions. 

Chidambaram said non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans, of the public sector banks increased by 0.98% at the end of the second quarter of the current financial year from the level of September-end 2011. 

Mumbai on edge as Bal Thackeray’s health see-saws

Like the ailing Sena chief's reported condition, the situation in Mumbai has swung from precarious to stable since Wednesday night. Here is a round-up

    Matoshree has seen a steady stream of VIP visitors since Wednesday night, when reports of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's failing health began to emerge from a thicket of rumours. But news of the Sena chief's condition has repercussions far beyond his immediate neighbourhood. Here's what's happened at Matoshree and across the city since Wednesday night. 
POLICE MOBILISED 
The Mumbai police began mobilising forces around 8.30 pm on Wednesday, after CommissionerSatyapalSinghandothertopofficialsmet with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. 
    "We were informed that the Sena chief's health was critical and we anticipated a huge crowd at Matoshree. We also anticipated problems elsewhere and hence deployed forces all over the city," a senior police officer said. 
    The main control room, located at the Police Commissionerate at Crawford Market, sent an emergency wireless message asking all police station heads and officers above the rank of assistant police commissioner to report to their stations by 10 pm. 
    Meanwhile, police stations in western region (from Bandra to Andheri on either side of the Western Expressway) were asked to deploy two-thirdsoftheirforcesatvantagepointsinthe area. Fortunately, barring incidents of violence outsideMatoshree,whereSenasupportersdamaged a TV broadcast van, there was no violence reported on Wednesday night. 
    Orders to remain present at their stations continued till early Thursday morning, till reports of the Sena chief's improving condition began to emerge. 
    In the morning, many shops and establishments remained closed on their own accord. While some be forced to shut, no violence was reported.AtMahim,atensesituationdeveloped when Sena workers tried to forcibly close an eatery. They came face to face with a crowd of people who insisted that it remain open, and there was a confrontation before the police intervened and dispersed both mobs. 
AT MATOSHREE 
Among the first to arrive at Matoshree on Wednesday evening, around 8.30 pm, was his nephew and MNS chief Raj Thackeray. Soon after, Diwali celebration lights in and around Matoshree were turned off and taken down as the Sena chief was put on life support by Dr Jalil Parkar, who remained at Matoshree till 5.30 am. 
    Suryakant Mahadik, head of the Bharatiya Kamgar Sena, the Shiv Sena's trade union, who was there with MLC Ramdas Kadam, appealed for the crowd to disperse after leading a chant of "Balasaheb zindabad". 
    Inside Matoshree, Raj was spotted conversing with his MLAs, while Uddhav was with his wife, his personal assistant Ravindra Mhatre and Sena aide Ravi Dodi. 
    When Amitabh Bachchan arrived around 1 am, the main gate had been locked and the actor had to be hoisted over it to enter Matoshree. He later tweeted that both him and son Abhishek had sustained minor cuts and wounds at Matoshree and were treated by doctors there. 
    AndwhilethesteamofvisitorsarrivedatMatoshree all through Thursday, Thackeray is believed to have personally met only four: Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, BJP leader Gopinath Munde and actor Nana Patekar. 
    According to a source, Pawar is believed to haveaskedUddhaviftherewasanyneedforhim to come and visit the Sena chief, to which Uddhavrespondedintheaffirmative.Atitspeak,the crowd outside Thackeray's heavily-guarded Bandra (E) residence swelled to over 7,000 on Wednesday night, and sporadic incidents of violence against journalists were reported. 
'LET US PRAY FOR HIM' 
Late on Thursday night, Uddhav Thackeray stepped outside Matoshree with his wife and son and told Sena supporters that Bal Thackeray's health was stable, and that they should not lose hope. "You have forgotten your hunger and thirst, and you have been here since yesterday (Wednesday). Your prayers will pull Balasaheb out of this crisis," he said to hundreds of supporters around 11 pm. 
    Wearing a light blue kurta, he added, "I have not lost hope; you should also not lose hope. We are soldiers of a leader who is known to be a fighter. Let us pray for him together." GHOST TOWN 
Thursday morning began on a cautious note for Mumbaikars. Shops were shut in several Sena strongholds despite bhau-beej celebrations. Dadar, Matunga and Bandra (East) were all but deserted - only a few medical stores remained open. 
    There were fewer rickshaws and taxis available, with many anticipating trouble and choosing to stay off the roads. 
    "It was very difficult to get auto. I needed to travel from Kandivali to Bandra to visit my brother but not a single auto driver was ready to ply. Finally I took a bus and was surpised by howlittletraffictherewas,"saidNisha Sinha , a resident of Kandivali. 
    Dadar's Plaza cinema downed its shutters and cancelled all its shows; eventhepetrolpumpacrossfromSena Bhavan remained shut. 
    There were policemen at almost every junction across the city. After 7 pm on Thursday though, with several top Sena leaders claiming that the condition Thackeray's condition was stable, tension eased across the city, barring pockets around Sena Bhavan, Shivaji Park and Kalanagar. 
CHIEF MINISTER'S MEETING 
Meanwhile, antipating huge crowds outside Matoshree and at Shivaji Park, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan calledanemergencymeetingofsenior officials on Wednesday night to discuss matters such as crowd control, preventingthespreadofrumours,and arrangementsforanypossibleeventuality. 
    Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh, Director-General of Police S S Dayal, senior officers of the state government and Chief Decretary Jayant Banthia were present at the meeting. 
    The police and its intelligence units told the chief minister that they anticipate a crowds of up to 20 lakh over the coming day. Following this, a message was sent to all reserve police police units to beef up their manpower; the Rapid Action Force was also sounded out. 
    Every policeman on leave in Maharashtra was told to report back to work. 
    The traffic police have been told to keep basic connectivity working, while Railway Police Commissioner Prabhat Kumar has been instructed to keep Mumbai's lifeline on track. 
    AseniorIPSofficersaid,"Therewas a farmer agitation in western Maharashtra and most of the reserve forces were tackling the law and order situation there. We needed some time to prepare and by morning we were able to gather enough forces." Sources in the chief minister's office said that the Lt General Sanjay Kapoor, in charge of Maharashtra,GujaratandGoa,wasalsoalertedandtoldtobereadyincaseof an emergency. 
    The local army unit was also asked to be on alert. Soon after the meeting, the CM apprised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee of the situation in Mumbai, following which the President decided to cancel his scheduled visit to the city.

On Wednesday evening, Diwali lights around Matoshree were taken down and a massive crowd gathered outside, waiting for news about the Sena chief's health

1. Police officials struggle to control the swelling crowds outside Matoshree on Thursday 2. Shops around Sena Bhavan remained shut 3. Uddhav, Rashmi, Aditya and Tejas outside Matoshree on Thursday night

From left: The Kapoors, veteran actor Manoj Kumar, director Madhur Bhandarkar at Matoshree on Wednesday. Cops stop a Sena worker and Salman Khan fan as he tries to approach the actor

LEARNING WITH THE TIMES India to be hit if US fails to fix ‘fisc cliff’

What's US fiscal cliff? 

-8The term 'fiscal cliff', coined by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, refers to a combination of a series of tax hikes as well as cuts in government spending that may push the world's largest economy, still struggling with lower growth rate and higher unemployment, back into economic recession. If the Barack Obama-led government is not able to make changes to several laws and rules, the tax increases and spending cuts could start as early as January. 
In monetary terms what is the impact on the economy? 
According to some estimates, if the legislative changes are not put in place in time, the tax increases and spending cuts will bring in about $7 trillion, or nearly Rs 39 lakh crore, into the US government exchequer over the next 10 years. So much of cash would have been good news for any government under normal circumstances, but in this case the law curbs the government from spending as well. 
What type of cuts will the 
new rules put in place? 
There would be cuts in defense and non-defense spending. In 2013, tax cuts that give huge sops to wealthy Americans, put in place by former president George W Bush, will expire. The year will also see the end of the extended unemployment benefits to Americans. And the year would also bring in a system under which doctors enrolled under the government-supported low-cost Medicare policy, will get a lower reimbursement from the government. This means the government will be forced to spend less on medical facilities for the needy. The US would also need to change its laws so that the government can borrow more than the current limit of $16.394 trillion. 
What's its impact on the Indian economy? 
According to Indranil Sen Gupta of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the growth of the Indian economy during Fiscal 2014 would depend on how quickly or slowly the US is able to fix the looming cliff. If Obama is able to fix it by theend of this year, India could see a growth of 7.2% during FY14. If the same is prolonged, and the US economy dips into a recession, we could see a modest growth of 5.5%. The most probable case is that Obama is able to fix it by April 2013, India's growth should hover around 6.9%. 
What's its impact on the 
markets? 
As has already started, the fears are driving people to play safe and sell risky assets, 'a risk-off ' approach in market parlance. This means people will buy US dollar and gold, and sell emerging market currencies and stocks. In such a scenario, FIIs may sell in the Indian market, pulling the market down. FII selling would weaken the rupee, and could also increase our trade deficit. 
What's the impact on corporates? 
If the Indian currency weakens, the rupee-denominated revenues of exporters like IT, pharma and jewelers would go up. But if the fiscal cliff itself brings in a recession in the US, companies from these sectors will witness weaker demand. That may affect several other sectors as well.

Nasscom Cuts IT Sector Growth Forecast to 11%

Industry body says slower growth at Indian back offices of multi-national cos to hit industry OUR BUREAU MUMBAI      Half way into the financial year, information technology industry body the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) has scaled down its growth expectations from India's software services sector blaming slower growth at India's back offices of multi-national corporations (MNCs).  Nasscom now expects the industry to grow by at least 11%, against the earlier forecast of 11-14%.  Based on the revised guidance, Nasscom has projected export revenues of $75-77 billion (. 4.1–4.2 lakh crore) in the year to March 31. Including the domestic business, the industry is worth about $100 billion.  "The GICs (global in-house centres or captive units) are going through huge efficiency improvement. They are on a cost-plus model," said Nasscom president Som Mittal.  Currency movements had also adversely impacted revenues reported by captives, which make up about 20-25% of software exports. The mid-year review was necessitated by a tough and uncertain economic environment in the sector's two largest markets — the US and Europe — which together consume about 80% services exported by the sector. Vast divergence in growth among India's top five software services — with some growing fastwhile others lag behind significantly unlike the uniform growth a few years ago — has also taken the wind out of industry sails these past two years.  Infosys, the second largest software services exporter stopped giving out quarterly growth guidance earlier this year, as its management said it was unable to accurately predict near-term spending patterns of its clients. Infosys expects to grow at least 5% during the current fiscal. Another top-tier company Wipro has also been struggling to return to the growth path and has been barely managing at 1-2% sequential growth in the past quarters.  In contrast, both HCL Technologies and largest software services exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) growing at a steady clip and gaining market share. "Growth rate has picked up in September and many companies have indicated that the second half will be better than that of the first half. Based on that, we are pretty confident we will meet the lower end of the guidance," said Nasscom chairman and CEO of TCS, N Chandrasekaran.  Measured in local currency, however, the sector will grow at by about 18-20%. A year marked by wild swings of the rupee has seen a high of about . 52 against the dollar and a low of . 56. In the long term, the industry has good growth prospects, Nasscom said as corporations worldwide seek technology services to improve their processes, and become more efficient. What is helping Indian IT is also a large number of technology outsourcing deals signed nearly a decade ago coming up for renewal now. Such deals, where corporations are looking to reduce the number of smaller deals and service providers, have increased 25% in 2012, according to Nasscom.  ROAD MAP FOR FUTURE  The industry body has set up a committee, headed by Infosys cofounder and chairman emeritus, NR Narayana Murthy, to draw a roadmap for the next ten years.  "Nasscom is the centre of the development of this (IT) industry. We have kicked off an exercise on what infrastructure we must have in Nasscom in order to address the opportunities in core IT, digital solutions, infrastructure, engineering services, business process management," said Chandrasekaran. As compared to a decade ago, when the offshore business model was still establishing itself, the software industry is now several times larger and in many subsegments such as engineering services, which are sizable opportunities on their own.  "There is a huge opportunity ahead and it's time for us to make the necessary investments, initiatives to capture all the opportunities," added Chandrasekaran. The apex industry body is will also appoint a committee to find a replacement for Nasscom president, Som Mittal, whose term in coming to an end this year but who will stay on for another year.  Mittal's term was the most tumultuous in any president's tenure characterised by the global financial meltdown and high unemployment in Indian IT's key markets of US and UK. We have kicked off an exercise on what infrastructure we must have in Nasscom to address the opportunities in core IT, digital solutions, infrastructure, engineering services and business process management      N CHANDRASEKARAN      Chairman, Nasscom

PM hints at more steps to boost investor mood

Mumbai: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the UPA government would soon announce further steps to boost confidence among investors who have been spooked by recent measures such as the anti-tax avoidance rules and retrospective tax amendments. 

    Admitting that measures like the general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR) and retrospective tax amendments in the Budget had led to negative reaction among foreign investors, he said, "We hope to announce decisions on all these issues within the next few weeks." He made the statement while addressing business leaders at the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence in Mumbai. 
    The PM also hinted at decisions to speed up infrastructure projects, which face long delays on account of clearance bottlenecks, and promised corrective steps. Outlining the efforts of his government to push reforms, Singh said the UPA had bit the bullet and approved higher foreign direct investment in a host of sectors, including retail, aviation, insurance and pensions. 
    On banking and insurance, Singh said, "It will be our endeavour to get reforms measures passed by Parliament as soon as possible. They will enable our financial system support growth." 
WHAT PM SAID 
PM Manmohan Singh speaks at the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence in Mumbai on Saturday 

• Will address general antiavoidance rules (GAAR) and retrospective tax issues 

•Will promote pooling of imported coal 

• Growth to be around 6% in the current year 

•FDI best option to reduce current account deficit 

•Will push infra projects stuck for want of clearances PM Manmohan flags iconic infra projects for Mumbai 
    Stressing on the need for infrastructure investments, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the government expected the private sector to contribute half of the $1 trillion required during the 12th five year plan. "Investment in infrastructure has to be in the vanguard of public investment for many years to come, and we are working in that direction. We have set ambitious targets for the infrastructure sector and ministries are being monitored regularly to see that they perform as expected," Singh said. 
    For Mumbai, the prime minister announced a host of 'iconic' infrastructure projects, including viability gap funding for the Mumbai transharbour link in the 12th 5-year plan and approval for the elevated rail corridor, besides a new airport in Navi Mumbai. It may be pointed out that he has in the past referred to his desire to transform Mumbai into Shanghai. He also said that some domestic airports would be elevated to the level of international airports. 
    In his welcome address, Vineet Jain, MD, Times Group, said some weeks ago, the government sprang into action with a spate of reforms and a cabinet reshuffle that sent out a clear signal that it meant business. "Against this backdrop, we felt it's a good time to ask the question: What next? Can the recent burst of reforms return us to high growth?" he said. 
    Praising Indian businessmen, the PM said they had transformed their businesses into world-class corporations with a high level of efficiency and had acquired companies abroad. "We welcome Indian companies developing footprint abroad even as we welcome foreign companies into India," Singh said. Accepting the fact that the Indian economy has been impacted by global developments, the prime minister said growth was expected to come down to the region of 6% for the year. "The Indian slowdown is also because of domestic constraints. Such downturns can have value if they make us focus on the weaknesses that are masked when times are good. We can and we must correct our own weaknesses. I assure you this will be the focus of our policy in the months ahead," he said, exhorting industry to drive harder. 
    Singh said the current account deficit had also widened because of a fall in exports. "It is difficult to reduce deficit in the short term because exports will not grow fast while efforts to raise the investment rate will lead to higher imports. Foreign direct investment is the best source to finance the deficit. It is more stable than other sources of funds and also brings in knowhow and access to global supply chain," he said. In the same vein, he added; "We have dispelled gloom and doom, improved the climate for foreign investment, improved ministry coordination and are working hard to restore investor confidence and the growth environment." 
    Speaking at the event, Ravi Dhariwal, CEO, Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd, the publishers of The Times of India and The Economic Times, said the two main objections against the reforms had been that they were not inclusive and that they were "unpatriotic" as they encouraged foreign investment. "We have always argued that reforms are inclusive and they lead citizenry to a much better place. We urge all parties to come out openly in support of reforms," he said. 
    Earlier in the evening, the government's reforms agenda was reiterated by all members of a panel discussion which included cabinet ministers Anand Sharma and Kapil Sibal, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Nandan Nilekani, chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India. The audience included top industry captains such as Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Sunil Mittal and Kumar Mangalam Birla.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Times Group MD Vineet Jain (extreme left), commerce minister Anand Sharma (second from right) and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia (extreme right) with the winners of the ET Awards For Corporate Excellence, in Mumbai on Saturday