14 May 2009,
NEW DELHI: With backroom discussions on in full swing in the quest for a new, viable government and talk about the Left coming around once again supporting a Congress-led government, the unlikely name of Defence Minister A.K. Antony has been thrown up as a compromise candidate acceptable to both sides.
This is one of the scenarios that could possibly emerge after results of the Lok Sabha elections are declared Saturday in which it is widely expected that no single party or alliance will be able to form a government on its own, say intelligence sources that keep a close ear to the ground in the inner precints of political decision making.
The assessment of these sources is that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will again form the government at the centre, probably with the external support of the Left parties that broke away from the Congress on the issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal last year.
"For next five years the country's reins will be in the hands of A.K. Antony. He will be a compromise figure for the Congress and Left parties," a top intelligence official told IANS on condition of strict anonymity.
"Our assessment suggests that no party will be able to get the numbers (for a majority in the Lok Sabha). And they will seek alliances to form a government. It is very likely that the Left parties and Congress will get close to each other again.
"And they will agree on the name of Antony, a senior Congress leader from Kerala. He enjoys the confidence of the Left parties and the Congress. Our assessment says that he will be an acceptable face of both the parties and bridge the faith gap between them," said the official.
The assessment is based on the thinking that incumbent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not be acceptable to the Left parties, or at least its
hardline faction, as the nuclear deal with the US was powered by the prime minister.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat has made no bones about his distaste for the prime minister and has ruled out any truck with the Congress post-polls.
But moderate sections in the party, particularly West Bengal Chief Minister Buddadeb Bhattacharjee, do not rule out the two coming together to keep out the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from forming a government.
Antony has been thrice the chief minister of Kerala. He has also been a central minister besides being the leader of the opposition in the Kerala assembly.
Other factor which make the 68-year-old Antony favourable for the coveted position is his known clean image, said the official.
On chances of BJP leader L.K. Advani becoming the prime minister, the source said: "He may not be able to fulfill his wishes this time at least. Had the BJP contested elections in the name of a young leader or perhaps Gujarat chief Minister Narendra Modi, their chances of forming the government would have been very high."
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Advani will be next prime minister: BJP
14 May 2009, PTI
NEW DELHI: Disregarding exit poll findings, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asserted Thursday that its leader L.K. Advani will be the country's next prime minister.
"After the 16th, Advani will become the prime minister of India," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad told the media, referring to Saturday when votes polled in the Lok Sabha election will be counted.
He insisted that the BJP would emerge as the single largest party in the 545-seat Lok Sabha and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) "will be the largest pre-poll alliance".
He discounted Wednesday's exit polls that put the Congress marginally ahead of the BJP in the five-phase
NEW DELHI: Disregarding exit poll findings, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asserted Thursday that its leader L.K. Advani will be the country's next prime minister.
"After the 16th, Advani will become the prime minister of India," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad told the media, referring to Saturday when votes polled in the Lok Sabha election will be counted.
He insisted that the BJP would emerge as the single largest party in the 545-seat Lok Sabha and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) "will be the largest pre-poll alliance".
He discounted Wednesday's exit polls that put the Congress marginally ahead of the BJP in the five-phase
Kerala tourism ties up with Jet Airways
14 May 2009, ET Bureau
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala tourism and Jet Airways have joined hands to launch Jet2Kerala, a domestic travel initiative aimed at leveraging the two brands and thereby boost tourist traffic into Kerala. Jet Airways and its all-economy subsidiary JetLite offer connectivity from all major parts of the country to Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode in Kerala.
The partnership has designed a range of holiday options in Kerala, packaged with Jet Airways tickets. Jet2Kerala will offer these packages which fall into a broad price range aimed at premium to value travelers. Accordingly, travelers can opt accommodation to suit their budget, from luxury properties to budget hotels and houseboats.
Kerala tourism secretary V Venu said despite the global downturn, international tourist traffic showed a 16.11% growth in 2008, and that Kerala tourism was focusing on the domestic market, given the increasing propensity for travel in this market.
Jet Airways chief commercial manager Sudheer Raghavan said the tie-up was part of the airline’s efforts to boost domestic travel and tourism, and that the “compelling value proposition would spur more travelers to visit Kerala this year”.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala tourism and Jet Airways have joined hands to launch Jet2Kerala, a domestic travel initiative aimed at leveraging the two brands and thereby boost tourist traffic into Kerala. Jet Airways and its all-economy subsidiary JetLite offer connectivity from all major parts of the country to Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode in Kerala.
The partnership has designed a range of holiday options in Kerala, packaged with Jet Airways tickets. Jet2Kerala will offer these packages which fall into a broad price range aimed at premium to value travelers. Accordingly, travelers can opt accommodation to suit their budget, from luxury properties to budget hotels and houseboats.
Kerala tourism secretary V Venu said despite the global downturn, international tourist traffic showed a 16.11% growth in 2008, and that Kerala tourism was focusing on the domestic market, given the increasing propensity for travel in this market.
Jet Airways chief commercial manager Sudheer Raghavan said the tie-up was part of the airline’s efforts to boost domestic travel and tourism, and that the “compelling value proposition would spur more travelers to visit Kerala this year”.
Forex inflow cheers up tourism sector
May 2009
NEW DELHI: Tourism in India may well be out of the woods if latest data is anything to go by. While the number of foreign tourist arrivals is still less than April last year, significantly, foreign exchange earnings have gone up.
The number of foreign tourists who arrived in India, excluding NRIs, in April 2009 is 3.71 lakh as opposed to 3.84 lakh in April 2008, closing the gap substantially to 3.5%. Foreign exchange earnings, on the other hand, increased as compared to last year. FEEs were Rs 4,061 crore for April 2009, up from last year’s Rs 3,773 crore.
“The data is certainly encouraging. After a spell of negative growth, the fact that only 13,000 fewer visitors came to India in April this year as compared to last year could mean that tourist arrivals could show positive growth by October,” Leena Nandan, tourism joint secretary said.
The last quarter of 2008 spelt bad news for leisure travel and India suffered the combined impact of economic recession and Mumbai terror attacks. Growth rate dropped to 18% in January and the first three months of 2009 have been difficult for the industry.
The tourism ministry, along with the industry, has incentivised travel under the Visit India 2009 programme promoting discounts on travel, stay and sightseeing.
While growth of foreign tourist arrivals to India dropped from a high of 14% in 2007 to 5.6% in 2008, world tourism growth has come down from 6.6% in 2007 to 1.8 in 2008. According to UNWTO, world growth in 2009 is expected to be stagnant.
NEW DELHI: Tourism in India may well be out of the woods if latest data is anything to go by. While the number of foreign tourist arrivals is still less than April last year, significantly, foreign exchange earnings have gone up.
The number of foreign tourists who arrived in India, excluding NRIs, in April 2009 is 3.71 lakh as opposed to 3.84 lakh in April 2008, closing the gap substantially to 3.5%. Foreign exchange earnings, on the other hand, increased as compared to last year. FEEs were Rs 4,061 crore for April 2009, up from last year’s Rs 3,773 crore.
“The data is certainly encouraging. After a spell of negative growth, the fact that only 13,000 fewer visitors came to India in April this year as compared to last year could mean that tourist arrivals could show positive growth by October,” Leena Nandan, tourism joint secretary said.
The last quarter of 2008 spelt bad news for leisure travel and India suffered the combined impact of economic recession and Mumbai terror attacks. Growth rate dropped to 18% in January and the first three months of 2009 have been difficult for the industry.
The tourism ministry, along with the industry, has incentivised travel under the Visit India 2009 programme promoting discounts on travel, stay and sightseeing.
While growth of foreign tourist arrivals to India dropped from a high of 14% in 2007 to 5.6% in 2008, world tourism growth has come down from 6.6% in 2007 to 1.8 in 2008. According to UNWTO, world growth in 2009 is expected to be stagnant.
Monsoon lag in Bay, Kerala may spring a surprise
Thiruvananthapuram, May 13
India Meteorological Department (IMD) has started an unofficial `count-down' prior to declaring monsoon onset conditions even as the Bay of Bengal weather kept forecasters on their tenterhooks.
Indications are that the flagging winds may delay the Bay onset until May 20 (five days behind schedule) while a `low' could spring up at the crucial monsoon `gateway' in the south-east Arabian Sea.
NO TRIGGER
But the latter might not trigger the conventional onset over adjoining Kerala coast despite an expected scale-up of rain showers in the region, according to Dr Akhilesh Gupta, Senior Adviser to the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The wind flow in the lower levels is predominantly north-northwesterly whereas the flow over the Bay remains weak and is not representative of typical monsoonal flow required for onset over the Andaman Sea region, he said.
Based on medium range predictions for next seven days, a gradual build up of monsoon flow over southeast Bay and Andaman sea regions is likely to take place beginning May 18 (Monday next).
BUILD-UP FEATURES
This build up may be seen in the form of strong westerly winds in the equatorial zone (in the lower levels) over south-west Bay which appears to be converging with a southerly cross-equatorial flow (from southern hemisphere) across southeast Bay of Bengal.
This flow is expected to strengthen further and result in greater moisture incursion into the region.
This may eventualy cause large-scale rainfall activity over the region during subsequent 2-3 days.
"This analysis suggests that we can expect onset of monsoon over Andaman and Nicobar Islands around May 20," Dr Gupta told Business Line speaking in his individual capacity.
MJO ENABLER
Both the Arabian Sea and the Bay get `lighted up' as an enhanced convective phase of an itinerant Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) wave, a major monsoon onset enabler, makes a fortuitous call.
The MJO wave is a periodical wave transiting east Africa into the southwest Indian Ocean and the north Indian Ocean (Arabian and Sea and Bay of Bengal combined) and has alternating wet and dry phases.
The wet phase has been known to set up monsoon onsets and intra-seasonal surplus rain events while the dry phase is identified with the feared `break monsoon' (when the rains dry up mid-season).
NO GROUND SUPPORT
In the instant case, the upper-level MJO is not forecast to enjoy `ground-level' support around the Somali coast where southeast trades cross the equator to become monsoon-carrier southwesterly flows, currently lacking in strength.
The Somali orientation becomes important given that it is the low-level monsoon `jet' (LLJ) extending from this African destination that powers the entry of the seasonal rains into the mainland
Given this, the early rains over the peninsula might just peter out unless the monsoon manages to switch itself to `auto-pilot,' says Dr Gupta.
The auto-pilot is best achieved best when the `east-west shear zone' fully evolves and manages to migrate to the northern latitudes (up to around the 20 deg North) beyond the ken of MJO influence.
SHEAR ZONE
The east-west shear zone manifests itself in the middle levels of the atmosphere and is set up by opposing wind regimes (westerly as against southwesterly at the lower levels) and triggers formation of massive rain-bearing clouds.
While migrating to the northern latitudes, the shear zone can ignite the Bay and set up the usual monsoon `low' which can take the rains farther into the west and the northwest in near copybook fashion.
MJO RISK
An MJO-assisted onset is fraught with the risk of untimely and season-spoiler storms in the Arabian Sea, as in Super Cyclone Gonu among others that took the winds out of monsoon sails during the past few years.
But this is unlikely to happen this time round if only for the fact that the MJO wave is forecast to stay anchored for a while - even up to June 12 though progressively reducing in intensity, according to coupled Linear Inverse Modelling by the Earth Systems Research Laboratory (ESRL) at US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
India Meteorological Department (IMD) has started an unofficial `count-down' prior to declaring monsoon onset conditions even as the Bay of Bengal weather kept forecasters on their tenterhooks.
Indications are that the flagging winds may delay the Bay onset until May 20 (five days behind schedule) while a `low' could spring up at the crucial monsoon `gateway' in the south-east Arabian Sea.
NO TRIGGER
But the latter might not trigger the conventional onset over adjoining Kerala coast despite an expected scale-up of rain showers in the region, according to Dr Akhilesh Gupta, Senior Adviser to the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The wind flow in the lower levels is predominantly north-northwesterly whereas the flow over the Bay remains weak and is not representative of typical monsoonal flow required for onset over the Andaman Sea region, he said.
Based on medium range predictions for next seven days, a gradual build up of monsoon flow over southeast Bay and Andaman sea regions is likely to take place beginning May 18 (Monday next).
BUILD-UP FEATURES
This build up may be seen in the form of strong westerly winds in the equatorial zone (in the lower levels) over south-west Bay which appears to be converging with a southerly cross-equatorial flow (from southern hemisphere) across southeast Bay of Bengal.
This flow is expected to strengthen further and result in greater moisture incursion into the region.
This may eventualy cause large-scale rainfall activity over the region during subsequent 2-3 days.
"This analysis suggests that we can expect onset of monsoon over Andaman and Nicobar Islands around May 20," Dr Gupta told Business Line speaking in his individual capacity.
MJO ENABLER
Both the Arabian Sea and the Bay get `lighted up' as an enhanced convective phase of an itinerant Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) wave, a major monsoon onset enabler, makes a fortuitous call.
The MJO wave is a periodical wave transiting east Africa into the southwest Indian Ocean and the north Indian Ocean (Arabian and Sea and Bay of Bengal combined) and has alternating wet and dry phases.
The wet phase has been known to set up monsoon onsets and intra-seasonal surplus rain events while the dry phase is identified with the feared `break monsoon' (when the rains dry up mid-season).
NO GROUND SUPPORT
In the instant case, the upper-level MJO is not forecast to enjoy `ground-level' support around the Somali coast where southeast trades cross the equator to become monsoon-carrier southwesterly flows, currently lacking in strength.
The Somali orientation becomes important given that it is the low-level monsoon `jet' (LLJ) extending from this African destination that powers the entry of the seasonal rains into the mainland
Given this, the early rains over the peninsula might just peter out unless the monsoon manages to switch itself to `auto-pilot,' says Dr Gupta.
The auto-pilot is best achieved best when the `east-west shear zone' fully evolves and manages to migrate to the northern latitudes (up to around the 20 deg North) beyond the ken of MJO influence.
SHEAR ZONE
The east-west shear zone manifests itself in the middle levels of the atmosphere and is set up by opposing wind regimes (westerly as against southwesterly at the lower levels) and triggers formation of massive rain-bearing clouds.
While migrating to the northern latitudes, the shear zone can ignite the Bay and set up the usual monsoon `low' which can take the rains farther into the west and the northwest in near copybook fashion.
MJO RISK
An MJO-assisted onset is fraught with the risk of untimely and season-spoiler storms in the Arabian Sea, as in Super Cyclone Gonu among others that took the winds out of monsoon sails during the past few years.
But this is unlikely to happen this time round if only for the fact that the MJO wave is forecast to stay anchored for a while - even up to June 12 though progressively reducing in intensity, according to coupled Linear Inverse Modelling by the Earth Systems Research Laboratory (ESRL) at US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
'Rahman was paid Rs.1.5 Cr for Jai Ho show'
6 May 2009
Kozhikode: Double Oscar winner A.R. Rahman was paid a whopping Rs.1.5 crore for conducting the `Jai Ho' live concert here on Sunday, organisers said. `We booked the show paying Rs.1.5 crore', P.V. Abdul Wahab, MP and Chairman of Kerala-based NGO `Keraleeyam', organisers of the show, said.
Touted to be the most expensive musical extravaganza held in recent times, it had netted sizeable profit, he said, adding the exact details could be made available only after the completion of audit of accounts.
A major portion of the proceeds had been earmarked for the rehabilitation of HIV-positive children.
Earlier, organisers had claimed that they had sold tickets worth Rs.seven crore for the programme, which was witnessed by music lovers from all over the country and abroad.
The `Jai Ho' live concert held here was the first of 39 such shows planned by the music maestro during the next five years in various destinations across the world with the next show scheduled to be conducted in Abu Dhabi.
Wahab said Keraleeyam, which was providing financial assistance to the tune of Rs.15,000 per annum to about 450 HIV-positive children, was now in a position to help another 1,000 children following huge flow of donations.
Rahman had also said that he would contribute a portion of the proceeds from the Abu Dhabi show, he added.
Kozhikode: Double Oscar winner A.R. Rahman was paid a whopping Rs.1.5 crore for conducting the `Jai Ho' live concert here on Sunday, organisers said. `We booked the show paying Rs.1.5 crore', P.V. Abdul Wahab, MP and Chairman of Kerala-based NGO `Keraleeyam', organisers of the show, said.
Touted to be the most expensive musical extravaganza held in recent times, it had netted sizeable profit, he said, adding the exact details could be made available only after the completion of audit of accounts.
A major portion of the proceeds had been earmarked for the rehabilitation of HIV-positive children.
Earlier, organisers had claimed that they had sold tickets worth Rs.seven crore for the programme, which was witnessed by music lovers from all over the country and abroad.
The `Jai Ho' live concert held here was the first of 39 such shows planned by the music maestro during the next five years in various destinations across the world with the next show scheduled to be conducted in Abu Dhabi.
Wahab said Keraleeyam, which was providing financial assistance to the tune of Rs.15,000 per annum to about 450 HIV-positive children, was now in a position to help another 1,000 children following huge flow of donations.
Rahman had also said that he would contribute a portion of the proceeds from the Abu Dhabi show, he added.
Mammootty detained at US airport
6 May 2009
New Delhi: Noted film actor and Padmasree awardee Mammootty was detained by US homeland security for around two hours at the JFK airport over his passport name.
The actor was released only after the intervention of the Indian consulate. The incident happened on 29th of April when Mammootty arrived at JFK airport, New York, in a British Airways flight BA 113 from Chennai.
Name of Mammooty as it appears in his passport is Mohammedkutty Ismail Paniparambil. According to reports Mammootty was detained because of the name Mohammed Ismail for which an alert has been sounded in British and US airports.
Mammootty was released after an official from the Indian consulate reached the airport.
Mammooty was in New York to attend fundraising meetings in favour of his childhood friend Stanley Kulathara who is standing in for New York city council elections. Meetings were planned in Queens, Long Island and New Jersey as part of the campaign.
External Affairs Minister E. Ahmed said he has taken steps to ensure that no other Indian celebrities face such issues in the future when they arrive in US airports.
New Delhi: Noted film actor and Padmasree awardee Mammootty was detained by US homeland security for around two hours at the JFK airport over his passport name.
The actor was released only after the intervention of the Indian consulate. The incident happened on 29th of April when Mammootty arrived at JFK airport, New York, in a British Airways flight BA 113 from Chennai.
Name of Mammooty as it appears in his passport is Mohammedkutty Ismail Paniparambil. According to reports Mammootty was detained because of the name Mohammed Ismail for which an alert has been sounded in British and US airports.
Mammootty was released after an official from the Indian consulate reached the airport.
Mammooty was in New York to attend fundraising meetings in favour of his childhood friend Stanley Kulathara who is standing in for New York city council elections. Meetings were planned in Queens, Long Island and New Jersey as part of the campaign.
External Affairs Minister E. Ahmed said he has taken steps to ensure that no other Indian celebrities face such issues in the future when they arrive in US airports.
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