_________________________________________________________________________________ CURRENT AFFAIRS UPDATE I

(June)

MAJOR NEWS
Section A: INDIA v Sikhs will no longer have to remove turbans in Italy v Munjals decide to drop 'Honda' tag v Sukanya Roy wins America's coveted spelling bee crown v Rs. 1,000 cr Shiv Nadar University to begin sessions from July 2011 v Baba Ramdev begins fast against black money v India on high alert against deadly E. coli strain that causes kidney failure v Govt crackdown unites Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev v Ramdev was flown to Dehradun in a BSF plane which had been kept on standby v IPL 4 saw 31% jump in online viewership with over 72 million page views v Husain works top sale, fetches Rs. 2.3 cr v Goa temple bans entry of foreigners, others impose dress code v Narayana Murthy's son ties the knot with TVS Motor CMD Venu Srinivasan's daughter v Airtel tops list with maximum consumer complaints v Wikimedia Foundation launches Campus Ambassadors Program in Pune v Cong calls for action against Ramdevs volunteer army call v Analjit Singh steps down as Max MD, Rahul Khosla to take charge v Commonwealth Games scam: CBI files case against MTNL v IIM-Ahmedabad comes up with India's first Eco-label v M F Husain's death stokes anger and regret back home Section B: WORLD v Google reveals attempt at hacking Gmail accounts of senior US government officials v Twitter launches photo, video search service v Airtel partners Huawei for Africa operations v With China in mind, Agni-V test scheduled for December v Google launches tools to help Indian businesses go global Section C: ECONOMY & CORPORATE v Auto sales growth skids on oil price hike, interest rates v Renault to launch four new models in India by 2012 v BMW sees smooth road in Punjab Expects to repeat last years sales growth of 110% v 'Nano' state Gujarat wooing top automakers, Maruti & Peugeot, to set up plant v Maruti sacks 11 at Manesar; production loss at 1,800 units v CCS approves biggest defence deal with US on purchase of 10 C-17 heavy lift aircraft for $4.1 billion v Kingfisher to raise $300 million via GDRs v Steve Jobs launches Apple's new OS Lion and iCloud v Bharti may tie-up with Etisalat, Vodafone, Millicom, MTN & Orange Africa v Ramdev's business empire worth over Rs. 1,100 crore v Maruti production loss at 4,200 units; strike may spread

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Section D: AWARD v Kochi refinery wins pollution control award v Awards presented v India International Film Awards (IIFA) Section E: SPORTS v Sepp Blatter re-elected v Sania-Vesnina finish runners up at French Open v Tennis: Nadal wins French Open for sixth time v Kirsten takes over as South Africa's coach v Jenson Button wins dramatic Canadian Grand Prix

Section A: INDIA

News round up Sikhs will no longer have to remove turbans in Italy

Sikhs travelling to Italy will no longer have to remove their turbans at the airport during security screening. This was officially announced by the Italian interior ministry after bilateral discussions between foreign minister SM Krishna and his Italian counterpart, Franco Frattini, in Rome. The turban will be accepted as a symbol of religion when Sikhs are photographed for identification cards at local police stations in Italy. Official sources said this was a "big achievement" for Indian diplomacy. Italy has the second biggest Sikh population in Europe after UK. There are more than 70,000 Sikhs living and working in Italy. There are over 20 gurdwaras across the country.

Munjals decide to drop 'Honda' tag

It's end of the road for brand 'Hero Honda. The Munjals have decided to do away with the name for any new launch or even a refresh that the two-wheeler major announces henceforth. The Munjals, who gained majority control of the company post the exit of erstwhile partner Honda in December last year, are working for a faster shift to a new brand strategy, even though they have rights to use the 'Honda' tag till June 2014. Company sources said the 'Hero Honda' tag will be dropped from all new launches and even minor model facelifts. This will happen over the next few months. It may continue on existing models till the time they also move for a refresh. While the Hero Honda tag will be dropped, the names of the products (bike models) will continue. For example, if the company comes out with a new variant of the popular Splendor, it will be called 'X Splendor' instead of the 'Hero Honda Splendor' (X standing for the new brand identity). Company insiders said that since the product names would continue to remain the same, the market is expected to not feel much of a difference.

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_________________________________________________________________________________ Sukanya Roy wins America's coveted spelling bee crown

Indian American Sukanya Roy has won the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee crown to retain the coveted honour for the community for the fourth year in a row. Sukanya Roy, 14, an eighth-grader at Abington Heights Middle School, Pennsylvania, said she knew as soon as she heard "cymotrichous" that she'd get the word right and win the championship. Roy is the ninth Indian-American in the last 13 years, a run that began when Nupur Lala captured the crown in 1999 and was later featured in the documentary "Spellbound." The winner will be awarded a $30,000 cash prize, a trophy, a $2,500 US savings bond, a complete reference library, a $5,000 scholarship and $2,600 in reference works and other prizes. Anamika Veeramani had scored a hat-trick for Indian-Americans in taking the crown last year. Sukanya Roy was one of the six Indian Americans - Sriram Hathwar, Arvind Mahankali, Prakash Mishra, Mashad Arora, and Dhivya Senthil Murugan - who made it to the last 13 in the finals.

Rs. 1,000 cr Shiv Nadar University to begin sessions from July 2011
The Rs. 1,000 crore Shiv Nadar University, founded by the HCL Technologies founder Shiv Nadar, would begin its first academic session from July. The university aspires not only to be among the top most institutes in the country but also among the elite institutions of higher learning globally. The fully residential multi disciplinary university has been established on a 286 acre campus and is a not for profit initiative. It is funded entirely through the money donated by technology czar Shiv Nadar who founded HCL Technologies and HCL Infosystem and is among the pioneers of the IT sector in the country. He has pledged 10% of his personal wealth estimated at Rs. 15,000 crores to the Shiv Nadar Foundation which is setting up the University in greater Noida and schools for the underprivileged in remote corners of Uttar Pradesh.

Baba Ramdev begins fast against black money

With thousands of followers assembled in the Ramlila ground, Baba Ramdev started his indefinite fast against black money and corruption. The day started early for Ramdev as he appeared on the stage at 5 am to address his supporters. In his usual lively style, the yoga guru engaged the gathered crowd with his exercises and devotional songs. Ramdev reiterated that his fight was against black money and he would carry his campaign to its logical conclusion. He warned his followers against making any personal attacks on individuals and urged them to remain focussed on the issue. The stage was set for Ramdev's fast after the second round of talks between the yoga guru and government representatives failed. However, in their meeting with Baba Ramdev, ministers Kapil Sibal and Subodh Kant Sahay did manage to soften his tough stand. Ramdev announced to his supporters that the government had agreed on 90 percent of his demands.

India on high alert against deadly E. coli strain that causes kidney failure
India is on high alert against the deadly strain of Shiga toxin-producing E coli, which has infected over 1,700 people across 12 European nations. The deadly food-borne bacterium is causing haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) or kidney failure.

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The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has informed its officials posted in the five major ports and four airports which receive imports, to watch out for all food items, especially fruits and vegetables coming in from Europe. All such items will first be tested in FSSAI labs before being allowed into the country.

Govt crackdown unites Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev

Manmohan Singh government's high-risk move in evicting Baba Ramdev from the Capital after a midnight police raid on his camp at Ramlila Maidan has brought together rival factions of civil society, besides exposing the Centre and Congress leadership to sharp attacks from political opponents. Just hours after the dramatic police raid on Ramlila Maidan, Anna Hazare's camp announced that they would boycott the meeting of the joint Lokpal panel and sit on a one-day hunger strike on June 8 as a mark of solidarity against the midnight strike against Baba, who has been externed from the Capital for 15 days. The Hazare group also endorsed Ramdev's demand for an ordinance to declare Indian funds illegally stashed abroad as national asset and to provide means to bring the money back. Even Aruna Roy, member of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council who had publicly expressed reservations about civil society's anticorruption agitation, joined the chorus of condemnation. The Hazare camp upped the ante, laying down conditions for its further participation in talks on the Lokpal bill. It demanded that the government should clarify its stand on contentious issues like whether the PM and judiciary should be brought under the proposed Lokpal bill. In sharp contrast, the Hazare team came out in open support for Baba, keeping their differences aside. Speaking in Delhi, Hazare accused the government of throttling democracy, and said civil society would launch protests throughout the country to "teach government a lesson". "There might have been some faults with Baba Ramdev's agitation but at midnight, beating up people -- women, children and elderly -- is a blot on democracy," Hazare said. He announced that he would sit on a day-long fast at Jantar Mantar in June. The police operation was cleared by government leaders following the recognition that Baba was not going to call off his protest soon. It was executed efficiently, with Delhi Police managing to clear the camp site of protesters with maximum restraint. There was no lathi charge, while a few protesters suffered serious injuries and had to be taken to hospital.

Ramdev was flown to Dehradun in a BSF plane which had been kept on standby.
Government justified the action as inevitable. There also seems to be the calculation that stress on "communal forces" as justification for Ramdev's eviction could have political spinoffs. While keeping its distance from the police operation, Congress stressed the threat from "communal forces". But this may not help it earn concessions from the Hazare group. Joint drafting committee member Arvind Kejriwal said, "The government's motives are suspect now. The government has been trying to crush the anticorruption movement."

IPL 4 saw 31% jump in online viewership with over 72 million page views
Season four of the IPL T20 tournament , saw a 31% jump in online viewership, indicating growth and acceptance of online streaming for live sporting events in India against established mediums like television. With over 72 million page views generated for the tournament up from 55 million last year, a clear reason indicated by users to opt for online over television was the ability to multi-task on the computer.

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The tournament, which was streamed live by Times Internet Limited (TIL), the official digital partner of IPL in partnership with YouTube, saw page views for India going up 79% over last season at 43 million, up from the previous year number of 24 million. The final match of the tournament alone generated over five million page views - the highest single-day viewership for the tournament. TIL CEO Rishi Khiani said: "Our approach to IPL was focused on providing a high quality viewing experience and maximizing audience reach through TIL's network strength and distribution partnerships. Our efforts around product innovation and quality continuously paid off with increased audience loyalty, strong value to advertisers and brand associations with the tournament."

Husain works top sale, fetches Rs. 2.3 cr

Three paintings by MF Husain topped a Bonhams auction here, going under the hammer for Rs. 2.32 crore with an untitled oil work in which the legendary artist combines his iconic subject matters horse and women fetching Rs1.23 crore alone. Though an exciting element of the sale was the presence of Bakre, who was part of the Bombay Progressive Artists Group, only two of his five works on offer sold. While Bakres metallic work sold for Rs. 7 lakh, a signed acrylic work on canvas, titled Thames and dated 1969, went under the hammer for Rs. 6.18 lakh.

Goa temple bans entry of foreigners, others impose dress code

Few of the important temples in Goa have recently laid down a strict dress code for visitors, aimed at those from the foreign countries, while one prominent temple has banned foreigners altogether. Why a dress code? Temple authorities say that the devotees were upset over 'scantily dressed' tourists in 'beach-wear' entering the temples. Mahalasa Narayani Temple at Mardol, 20 km from Panaji, has put up a board: "Entry Restricted for Foreign Tourists". Mangueshi temple at Mangueshi village, and Ramnathi temple at Ponda have put a dress code in place. "We are not against foreigners, but their dresses and conduct in the temple is highly objectionable, so the management has decided to ban them," said Vinod Kamat, President, Mahalasa Narayani Temple. Mangueshi Temple, located next to Mahalsa Temple, has imposed dress restrictions. The temple president, Jayant Mandurkar, said the dress code was same for both domestic as well as foreign tourists.

Narayana Murthy's son ties the knot with TVS Motor CMD Venu Srinivasan's daughter
Lakshmi Venu, the only daughter of TVS Motor CMD Venu Srinivasan, tied the knot with Rohan Murthy, the only son of Infosys Technologies mentor N R Narayana Murthy, in Chennai. The wedding, which brought together two prominent business families was attended by top politicians such as BJP leader LK Advani and Central ministers P Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, Anand Sharma and GK Vasan as well as corporate bigwigs such as Godrej Chairman Adi Godrej, former Infosys chief Nandan Nilekani and members of the family that runs Apollo Hospitals.

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_________________________________________________________________________________ Airtel tops list with maximum consumer complaints

Bharti Airtel has earned the dubious distinction of being the company facing the largest number of consumer complaints, according to latest government data. As per the latest data available with the National Consumer Helpline (NCH), as many as 2001 complaint calls were received against Bharti Airtel between March 2010 and February 2011. This was the highest number of complaints against a single company, followed by BSNL (1,986 complaints), Indian Oil (1,940), RCom (1,792) and Nokia India (1,616). Other companies in the top-10 list in terms of number of complaints included Samsung India (1,560), SBI (912), BPCL (872), LIC (626) and ICICI Bank (569). NCH is a public service project of the Consumer Affairs Ministry run by Delhi University and has been functional since March 2005. It helps consumers in dealing with problems related to defective products, deficiency in services and unfair trade practices.

Wikimedia Foundation launches Campus Ambassadors Program in Pune

The Wikimedia Foundation launched its Campus Ambassadors Program on June 05, making Pune the first city in India and the first city outside the United States, to host the Programme. Part of the India Education Programme, the 22 Campus Ambassadors will be working towards promoting Wikipedia as a tool in education across institutes here. The Program would encourage the use of Wikipedia in colleges. The Campus Ambassadors would form a network of students and professors in the city and train them to write and edit articles on Wikipedia, thus increasing the academic value.

Cong calls for action against Ramdevs volunteer army call

Congress called for strong action against Baba Ramdev after he announced that he would raise an army of 11,000 men to fight off police action like at Ramlila Maidan as it took to task leader of the opposition Sushma Swaraj for meeting the man who was challenging the Constitution. Party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters that Baba's call for raising an army was a plan to subvert the Constitution. AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh sought immediate action to quell the threat of violence. He said, "Ramdev has violent instincts and he has joined ranks with a violent RSS. There should be strong action against him." The shocking call for private army met with a stern response from government too. Home minister P Chidambaram warned that Ramdev's announcement had exposed his true intentions and the law would deal with him.

Analjit Singh steps down as Max MD, Rahul Khosla to take charge
Delhi-based Max India has appointed Rahul Khosla as its new managing director in place of its founder Analjit Singh who will continue as executive chairman of Max India and will also be the chairman of its subsidiaries. Rapid growth in all the four verticals that Max India is operating, the business environment is becoming more complex and the landscape is changing rapidly. Prior to joining Max, Khosla, 51, was group head of products for Visa in Asia pacific. Besides focusing on Max India businesses, Khosla will ensure smooth continuity of its existing joint venture relationship with New York Life for its life insurance business and Bupa Plc for its health insurance business.

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_________________________________________________________________________________ Commonwealth Games scam: CBI files case against MTNL

The CBI registered another case in the Commonwealth Games scam and searched the residences of officials of Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited, MTNL and Noidabased HCL Infosystems for allegedly inflating cost of setting up a broadcast network for the Games by nearly Rs. 400 crore. Soon after registering the new case, sleuths of the agency swooped down on the residential premises of MTNL's former CMD RSP Sinha, executive director SM Talwar, GM (Corporate Sales) NK Jain and DGM Jitendra Garg at Noida, Jaipur and Patna and in the Capital.

IIM-Ahmedabad comes up with India's first Eco-label

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) today launched India's first Eco-label. The Green Signal which certifies environmental preferences adopted during the manufacturing of a product or a service. "Our Eco-label shall give a big push to the industry and service sector on being greener. The availability of such a label in India will benefit both the conscious buyers and progressive sellers." Eco-labelling, a concept largely prevalent in developed countries, is a voluntary environment performance certification The inaugural meeting of the steering committee to validate India's first Eco-label was held at IIM-A. The label is being launched under the aegis of Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), IIM-A; in collaboration with CII.

M F Husain's death stokes anger and regret back home

M F Husain's death in a London hospital at 2.30 in the morning brings the 95-year-old painter, political philosopher and passionate admirer of beauteous Bollywood actresses startlingly to life. The passing of India's most famous contemporary artist in self-imposed exile under a foreign sky resurrects the fractious debate over freedom of expression and the state's failure to protect it. Husain, an Expressionist who gloried in the elegant rendering of his trademark subjects horse and woman died a Qatari, after 94 years as an Indian national. Almost till the end, he insisted he wanted to return to India. But a non-bailable warrant for his arrest forced the painter who famously favoured bare feet and Bugattis to leave India in 2006 with the soberly hurt explanation that "matters are so legally complicated I have been advised not to return home".

SECTION B: WORLD News round up Google reveals attempt at hacking Gmail accounts of senior US government officials
Google Inc said that unknown hackers likely originating from central China tried to hack into the Gmail accounts of hundreds of users, including senior US government officials, Chinese activists and journalists. The world's largest Internet company said on its official blog that the hackers, who appeared to originate from Jinan, China, recently tried to crack and monitor email accounts by stealing passwords, but Google detected and "disrupted" the campaign. The attacks were the latest computer-based invasions directed at western companies and come a year after Internet giant Google and numerous companies were targeted by hackers traced to China.

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_________________________________________________________________________________ Twitter launches photo, video search service

Microblogging service Twitter launched a photo and video search service that lets users own the rights to the photos they post, makes search results more personalized and makes the results of more authoritative tweeters prominent. Chief Executive Dick Costolo unveiled the service at the D: All Things Digital'' conference. Costolo said the service will eliminate some friction that users face when trying to post images. It will also allow links to videos to be posted but users cannot upload videos.

Airtel partners Huawei for Africa operations

Bharti Airtel announced an agreement with Huawei to modernise and expand its 2G and 3G network infrastructure in Africa. As per the agreement, Huawei will be responsible for designing, planning, modernisation and expansion of Airtels networks as well as managing operations and maintenance. Airtel has operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. The agreement will enable Airtel Africa to rapidly expand its mobile services and mobile broadband footprint in the region. Manoj Kohli, CEO (International) and Joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, said The partnership with Huawei takes us one step closer to realise our vision of making affordable and world-class telecom services available to Africa. Sun Yafang, Chairperson of Huawei Board, said: We understand Airtels strategic requirements and will match their fast development to achieve a win-win business success between both parties.

With China in mind, Agni-V test scheduled for December

India finally plans to test its most ambitious strategic missile Agni-V, with near ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) capabilities, this December. With high road mobility, fast reaction ability and a strike range over 5,000 km, Agni-V would even bring China's northernmost regions within its nuclear strike envelope if it is ever required. The armed forces are already inducting the two-stage 3,500 km Agni-III after completion of its developmental and pre-induction trials last year, having earlier operationalised the Pakistan-specific Agni-I (700-km) and Agni-II (over 2,000-km) missiles. The Agni-V, is meant to add some much needed credible deterrence muscle against China, which has a massive nuclear arsenal with missiles like the 11,200-km Dong Feng-31A capable of hitting any Indian city. It will be quite easy to store and swiftly transport the 17.5-metre tall Agni-V by road since it's a canister-launch missile system, unlike the earlier Agni missiles. If fired from the North-East it would be able to hit China's northernmost city of Habin. DRDO is also gearing up for another test of its two-tier BMD (ballistic missile defence) system, designed to track and destroy hostile missiles both inside (endo) and outside (exo) the earth's atmosphere, around this August with a new interceptor missile called PDV to add to the existing ones.

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_________________________________________________________________________________ Google launches tools to help Indian businesses go global

The new tool is designed to help Indian businesses expand their business and reach out to potential customers in international markets, Sridhar Seshadri, Head Online Sales, Google India. The new tool would help businesses of all sizes, address traditional barriers to international expansion, such as finding the right customers, translating their websites and ad campaigns into local languages and reaching customers in foreign markets with relevant ads.

Section C: ECONOMY & CORPORATE

News round up Auto sales growth skids on oil price hike, interest rates
Slowing economy has an impact; growth below expectation for 2nd month in a row Automobile sales in the country grew at a slower than expected pace for the second consecutive month in May on higher fuel costs and rising interest rates on loans. Most automobile makers saw only a marginal increase in sales. The slowing economy seems to have had an effect with sluggish investment cycle and uncertainty over clearances dogging the industry. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), reportedly scouting for a plant in Gujarat, reported 1.9 percent increase in total sales for May to 1,04,073 units from 1,02,175 units in the same month last year. In May, the company reported 3.9 percent increase in sales in the domestic market to 93,519 units from 90,041 units in the same period last year. MSIL's exports, however fell 13 percent to 10,554 units from 12,134 units in the year-ago period. MSIL's total passenger car sales rose 1 percent to 76,874 units in May from 76,120 units in the same month of 2010. Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) also reported just 2.04 percent increase in the total sales for the month of May at 47,766 units. Exports were down 15.33 percent to 16,643 units in May from 19,657 units last year. The companys latest model Fluidic Verna has received a good response with over 12,000 bookings in a month. There was a staggering increase in sales for Volkswagen brand as it sold 6,185 vehicles in May, a growth of 244 percent over 1,796 vehicles sold in May 2010. The recently-launched Passat also saw an impressive response from customers with 184 units sold last month. Toyota Kirloskar Motor registered 24 percent growth in sales to 7,470 units in May 2011. Etios was its star performer with 3,412 units being sold in May 2011. General Motors India sold 8,329 units in May 2011, registering a marginal growth of 1.3 percent. Tata Motors reported a 10 percent increase in total sales in May to 62,296 units. Two-wheeler maker Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd reported 39 percent growth in sales in May, 2011, to 30,222 units. TVS Motor Co said its total sales in May rose over 18 percent to 185,930 units.

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_________________________________________________________________________________ Renault to launch four new models in India by 2012

French auto major Renault will launch one model in 2011 and three more models next year in India. "We will launch Koleos, an SUV variety, in India in October this year. And three more cars will be launched in 2012," Renault India Private Limited vice president, sales and marketing, Len Curran told reporters after launching luxury sedan 'Fluence' here. Renault and Nissan have an alliance greenfield manufacturing facility in Chennai. "This is the first new greenfield manufacturing plant for Renault and Nissan alliance. The capacity of the plant is 400,000 cars per year. The total investment made is Rs. 5,000 crore," Curran said. Stating that currently the company had 14 dealers across the country, he said the number of dealers will be increased to 40 by the end of this year and 100 by the end of next year.

BMW sees smooth road in Punjab Expects to repeat last years sales growth of 110%
BMW India has sold 271 cars in Punjab this year till now and plans to expand in the market. We have 44 percent market share in the luxury car segment in Punjab and we will continue to grow. We have opened a new dealership in Ludhiana and are examining the possibility of expanding our dealership in the state, said Dr Andreas Schaaf, President BMW India. Last year, the company grew 110 percent in the Punjab market. The company sold 415 vehicles in Punjab last year. Delhi and Mumbai gives 70 percent of the companys sales. The company sees growth coming in from the secondary and tertiary car markets, with the share of these markets growing to 50 percent. We are looking to expand our presence in these areas. We have 22 dealerships and hope to expand these to over 40 by 2012 end and to 60 by 2015. Most of these dealerships will be opened in the smaller cities. The growth drivers for the company are the BMW 5 series and the recently-launched X1. These two models will drive volumes growth for BMW India. Last year, we sold 2,400 units of BMW 5 series and till date this year (January till date), we have sold 1,185 units. The SUV segment growth has been driven by XI, since its launch in January we have sold 790 cars.

'Nano' state Gujarat wooing top automakers, Maruti & Peugeot, to set up plant
One year after Tata Motors rolled out its first ultra-cheap 'Nano' from Gujarat, the state is wooing top automakers with its skilled labour and industry-friendly policies. Even a month-long labour unrest at US automaker General Motor's manufacturing unit in the state could not dent its image as the destination for automakers. The state is now gearing up to play host to Maruti and Peugeot Citroen. Maruti plans to set up a facility in Gujarat to produce 20 lakh vehicles a year, its first outside Haryana. Peugeot too is looking at manufacturing mid-sized sedans in the state. The strategy of the Narendra Modi government to market Gujarat as an upcoming auto hub has thrown a challenge to existing auto centers like Chennai, Pune and Gurgaon. The moving of Tata Motors Nano project to Gujarat in 2008 gave an impetus to the auto industry. Although the state was doing well in auto components, everything around an automotive sector gained momentum with the first Nano rolling out in 2010. Spread over 1,100 acres, the Nano plant at Sanand has brought 27 component makers to the vendor park and another 15 are expected soon.

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Gujarat is also looking at promoting itself as a hub for auto sector jobs. "The auto sector is a big generator of employment. Gujarat has ideal infrastructure for the industry. Moreover, the ports of the state can be used for exports," says Maheshwar Sahu, principal secretary in the state's industries department. Another attraction for automakers is the 40-odd ports along the state's 1,600 km-long coastline. This fitted well with the exports plans of Maruti Suzuki, which has already shipped 2.4 lakh units from the Mundra port.

Maruti sacks 11 at Manesar; production loss at 1,800 units

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), sacked 11 employees at Manesar facility which has been crippled by a strike resulting in a production loss of about 1,800 units so far. "The services of 11 persons, who were inciting workers to go on an illegal strike and created an atmosphere where safety of people was in danger, have been terminated. He said the workers had gone on strike without any notice but added the management is continuing the dialogue with the striking workers. Refusing to accept the worker's demand, Bhargava said: "There is no other union... If they have any issue, they should have at first written to us and discussed with us". He, however, said the company is hopeful of finding an amicable solution soon. According to some workers, the sacked employees include eight office bearers of the newly formed union, Maruti Suzuki Employees Union (MSEU), besides three other workers.

CCS approves biggest defence deal with US on purchase of 10 C-17 heavy lift aircraft for $4.1 billion
The Cabinet Committee on Security has cleared a proposal to buy 10 C-17 heavy lift aircraft worth $4.1 billion from US-based Boeing, the biggest defence deal between the two countries. The CCS meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, cleared the proposal for purchase of the planes from the US through Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route. The CCS also gave its in principle approval to the Home Ministry's Natgrid proposal - envisaging linking of 21 categories of databases maintained by different public and private agencies for ready access by the country's intelligence agencies. A detailed briefing and presentation about the Natgrid project, alongwith safeguards and oversight mechanism, had been made before the members of the CCS by the MHA officials. The US had, however said that strategic ties with India would not be overshadowed by exclusion of the two American companies from the Indian fighter contract and the bilateral defence dialogue between the two nations would work on enhancing cooperation in cutting edge technology.

Kingfisher to raise $300 million via GDRs

Kingfisher Airlines, India's second largest private carrier in terms of market share, plans to raise $300 million through a GDR issue as oil prices show signs of easing after sustained upward spiral, said Vijay Mallya. The government should consider allowing foreign carriers to invest in airlines in India. "We will keep making representations to the government. A foreign airline will understand the investment opportunity in a much better way," he said. Kingfisher has applied to the Indian civil aviation regulator and the civil aviation ministry for traffic rights on some of the international routes. Kingfisher will leverage its membership of one world alliance to strengthen international footprint especially on the London and Hong Kong routes. The airline will become a fully operational member of the alliance by 2012. Malaysian Airlines is also tipped to join the alliance.

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_________________________________________________________________________________ Steve Jobs launches Apple's new OS Lion and iCloud

Apple CEO Steve Jobs came out of his medical leave to announce the company's latest operating system Lion, which will make Mac feel a lot like the company's iconic tablet, the iPad. The company also announced its pioneering iCloud cloud computing offering, besides new OS for mobile devices - iOS 5 for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. The new iOS has integrated a Twitter client with camera, pictures, browser Safari and even maps. It even has a bookmarks feature called Reading List which can sync your bookmarks across your different Apple devices. iPhone and iPad users will now be able to edit their pictures within the device itself thanks to iOS 5.

Bharti may tie-up with Etisalat, Vodafone, Millicom, MTN & Orange Africa
India's largest mobile phone company Bharti Airtel , which expanded operations to 16 African countries last year, is in talks with five leading operators - Etisalat , MTN , France Telecom (Orange), Millicom and Vodafone for sharing telecoms infrastructure such as towers and fibre in that continent, a top executive said. "We have hived off the towers in all African countries we operate into separate companies - we have 16 tower cos. Talks have started for sharing but it is too early to predict if we can replace the Indus model in Africa," Bharti Airtel's chief executive for international operations. Bharti is attempting a model similar to that of Indus Towers in India, which it jointly owns with its competitors Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular - and the trio have combined their physical infrastructure assets in this company. Bharti and Vodafone have a 42% stake each in this tower co while is rest is owned by Idea Cellular. Kohli also ruled out immediate acquisitions in Africa to expand operations to more countries and said that the top priority would be to turn around its existing businesses there. Currently, the loss-making Africa operations have been weighing down Bharti Airtel's top and bottom lines. Its operating margins for Africa were at 24% for the year-ended March 11 when compared to about 37% for India. Kohli said the 16 independent tower cos would soon begin building new infrastructure to expand their geographic coverage. "The other two big future plans are leading the African market for 3G services and launching mobile commerce services in all 16 markets. We have 3G airwaves in 10 countries there. We will be launching mobile commerce in eight countries this fiscal and will extend these services to the remaining eight next year.

Ramdev's business empire worth over Rs. 1,100 crore

Yoga guru Ramdev, who is on an indefinite hunger strike against black money and corruption, made public details of his business empire worth over Rs. 1,100 crore, claiming everything was in order. On his sixth day of fast, Ramdev addressed a press conference during which his close aide Balakrishna said that the capital involving the four trusts run by him totalled Rs. 426.19 crore while the expenditure incurred on them amounted to Rs. 751.02 crore. "We believe in transparency in work and in financial matters. There is proper audit of all our firms and companies. As per rules, government renews our trusts every two years only when our audits are clean. What has come and what has gone, who has given it and how was it spent, is all maintained," Balakrishna said. The move to make public assets followed questions raised by Digvijay Singh and other Congress leaders who wanted a thorough probe into the source of the wealth acquired by Ramdev in the last five years.

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_________________________________________________________________________________ Maruti production loss at 4,200 units; strike may spread

A strike at car maker Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant entered its fifth day, causing a production loss of 4,200 vehicles. Around 800 workers began the strike demanding the recognition of a new union Maruti Suzuki Employees Union. At present, Maruti has one workers' union that is recognized by the management. The production loss was estimated at 1.6 billion rupees ($35.79 million) with loss of 600 to 650 units in each shift. Maruti, 54.2 percent-owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, operates two manufacturing facilities in India, housing several plants, both in the northern part of the country. The company plans to invest $1.3 billion over the next three years on manufacturing plants to boost capacity and is considering locations in northern and western India. The strike at the plant is threatening to spread to Gurgaon-Manesar belt, with a panel of workers of various firms in the region warning of a similar stir if demands of their agitating colleagues are not met.

SECTION D: AWARD

News round up Kochi refinery wins pollution control award

The refineries of Bharat Petroleum Corporation in Kochi and HLL Lifecare Limited in Thiruvananthapuram have won the awards instituted by the State government for excellence in pollution control among very large and large industries. First places in pollution control have been taken by MRF Limited, Kottayam, and Philips Carbon Black Limited, Ernakulam. The excellence award for small industries went to Victory Granite Metals, Thrissur, and the first place to Devi Sands Private Limited, Wayanad. Among the hotels, Spice Village, Thekkady, emerged the topper.

Awards presented
Sachin Tendulkar picked up the Polly Umrigar award (outstanding Indian cricketer) for the second time at the BCCI awards ceremony for 2009-2010. Award winners (2009-2010): Salim Durrani C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award; Sachin Tendulkar Polly Umrigar award; Manish Pandey (KSCA) - Madhavrao Scindia award for highest Ranji scorer; Abhimanyu Mithun (KSCA) - Madhavrao Scindia award for highest Ranji wicket-taker. B. Aparajith (TNCA) - M.A. Chidambaram Trophy for best u-16 player; Bhargav Merai (GCA) - M.A. Chidambaram Trophy for best u-19 player; Nataraj Behera (OCA) - M.A. Chidambaram Trophy for best u-22 player. M.D. Thirushkamini (TNCA) M.A. Chidambaram Trophy for best woman player; Reva Arora (PCA) - M.A. Chidambaram Trophy for best junior woman player. K. Hariharan - Best umpire in domestic cricket.

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_________________________________________________________________________________ India International Film Awards (IIFA)

Playback singer (female): Mamata Sharma for Munni Badnaam Hui (Dabangg) Playback singer (male): Rahat Fateh Ali Khan for Tere Mast Mast Do Nain (Dabangg) Music director: Sajid-Wajid, Lalit Pandit (Dabangg) Best lyricist: Niranjan Iyengar for Sajda (My Name Is Khan) Screenplay: Abhinav Kashyap, Dilip Shukla (Dabangg) Dialogue: Vishal Bhardwaj (Ishqiya) Outstanding achievement in cinema: Sharmila Tagore 50 years contribution to Indian Cinema: Dharmendra Debutant actor (male): Ranveer Singh Debutant actor (female): Sonakshi Sinha Best actor (in a comic role): Riteish Deshmukh (Housefull) Best actor (in a negative role): Sonu Sood (Dabangg) Supporting actor (female): Prachi Desai (Once Upon A Time In Mumbai) Supporting actor (male): Arjun Rampal (Rajneeti) Actor (female): Anushka Sharma (Band Baaja Baraat) Actor (male): Shah Rukh Khan (My Name Is Khan) Film: Dabangg

SECTION E: SPORTS

News round up Sepp Blatter re-elected

FIFA president Sepp Blatter was re-elected head of world football's governing body FIFA, vowing to clean up the body's tarnished image following a series of explosive corruption allegations. Blatter, 75, was given a free run at another four-year term following the withdrawal of Asian football chief Mohamed bin Hammam, who was later suspended amid claims that he tried to bribe voters with cash-filled envelopes.

Sania-Vesnina finish runners up at French Open

Sania Mirza will have to wait some more for a women's doubles Grand Slam title after partnering Elena Vesnina, lost to unheralded Czech pair Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka (4-6, 3-6) in the French Open here. Hlavackova and Hradecka are the sixth unseeded team to capture a major in three decades and are the second unseeded French Open finalists in 30 years. They collect euros 330,000 while Sania and Elena take home euros 165,000.

Tennis: Nadal wins French Open for sixth time

Top seeded and defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain won a record-equalling sixth French Open crown by defeating Roger Federer of Switzerland 7-5, 7-6 (7/3), 5-7, 6-1 in the final. He matched the record set by Bjorn Borg of Sweden in 1981 and it was also his 10th Grand Slam title, making him sixth equal on the all-time list, level with 1920s American star Bill Tilden.

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_________________________________________________________________________________ Kirsten takes over as South Africa's coach

Former India coach Gary Kirsten is appointed the coach of the South African cricket team. The 43-year-old South African has been given a two-year contract by Cricket South Africa (CSA). Kirsten was the coach of the World Cup-winning Indian team and will take over the South African team ahead of two home series against Australia and Sri Lanka. "Having filled the same position with the Indian national team for the past three years, I believe this is a natural progression as far as my coaching career is concerned. Kirsten's three-year stint with the Indian team ended with the World Cup win in April after 28 years.

Jenson Button wins dramatic Canadian Grand Prix

Jenson Button secured his first win of the season after passing defending Sebastian Vettel on the final lap of an extraordinary, dramatic, rain-delayed and crash-hit Canadian Grand Prix. The 31-year-old Englishman, driving his McLaren car with great courage, speed and judgement after surviving an early collision with his team-mate and compatriot Lewis Hamilton, emerged triumphant at the conclusion of an unpredictable and sensational race. Vettel, of Red Bull, had looked sure to win after leading from pole position both before and after a two-hour suspension of the action due to torrential rain. He buckled under pressure from Button on the final lap and finished second. This enabled Button, who was in last place at one time, to come home in a winning time of four hours, four minutes and 37.037 seconds. It was the 10th win of his career for the champion of 2009. Vettel managed to hang on and finish second after being defeated for only the second time this year in seven races and his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber came home third, after battling through in the closing laps.

ICC reinstates associates for 2015 World Cup, 10 teams in 2019

Under fire for its move to restrict the World Cup to 10 teams, the ICC reversed its decision on excluding the associate nations for the 2015 event which will now comprise 14 teams. The 2019 World Cup will, however, see only 10 teams with the top eight in ICC rankings getting automatic entry and the remaining two spots being filled up through a qualification tournament. The decision was taken by the ICC's Executive Board on the third day of its annual conference. The ICC Executive Board reversed its previous decisions and approved a 14-team format for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to be held in Australia and New Zealand and a 12-team format for the ICC World Twenty20 events in 2012 (Sri Lanka) and 2014 (Bangladesh). The ICC in April had decided to restrict the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand to top 10 nations only, much to the dismay of the associate nations like Ireland and the Netherlands who strongly protested the decision.

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