Pranab's son owns assets worth Rs 5 cr

Nalhati, West Bengal: Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's son Avijit, who has filed his papers as a Congress nominee for the West Bengal Assembly polls, owns assets worth over Rs 5 crore jointly with his wife. 

In affidavits submitted while filing his nomination from Nalhati in Birbhum Tuesday, the junior Mukherjee said he had movable assets worth Rs 58,22,890 (Rs 58.2 lakh). This includes four four vehicles and jewellery. His wife Chitralekha owns movable assets worth over Rs 90 lakh, including jewellery of Rs 52 lakh. 

Avijit also possesses agricultural land and non-agricultural land currently valued at around Rs 30 lakh, while his wife owns agricultural land worth Rs 42,31,930. Both own residential property worth over Rs 1 crore each. 

The income statement for the fiscal 2009-10 mentioned in the affidavits shows Avijit and Chitralekha have earned Rs 21,16,740 and Rs 2,06,259 respectively. 

Avijit, who worked as a general manager at Steel Authority of India Limited, took voluntary retirement recently for testing his fate in politics. 

IANS

Source: http://www.zeenews.com/news697981.html

Security forces vacate 1,225 buildings in J&K

Jammu: Committed to decreasing the footprint of security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, the state government has ensured that the forces have been vacated from 1,225 buildings in the state till date.

"As many as 1,225 buildings including 427 government buildings have been vacated from occupation of the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir till date," officials of the state Home Ministry said here. 

Apart from the 427 government buildings, 766 private houses and 32 hotels were vacated from the occupation of the security forces, they said. 

The officials said 100 government buildings were vacated in 2010-11, including 39 educational institutes and 8 health institutions. 

The buildings were vacated by shifting the security forces to alternate accommodation being constructed in a phased manner, they said, adding that Jammu and Kashmir government is committed to lessen the footprint of the security forces in the state, depending upon the improvement in the security situation. 

Source: http://www.zeenews.com/news698003.html

CMO murder: UP police announces cash reward

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh police has announced a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh to any person providing information in the Chief Medical officer Dr BP Singh's murder case. 

The Director General of Police Karamveer Singh has announced the cash reward to a person providing vital information regarding assailants of the CMO, officials said. 

The DGP has assured that the identity of the person would be kept secret, they said. 

The information can be given to Special DGP Brij Lal, DIG Lucknow, STF or the district police, they said. 

Singh was shot dead by two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants on Saturday, near his Gomti Nagar residence when he had gone out for the morning walk. 

Protesting against the incident, doctors of Provincial Medical Services went on a state-wide flash strike, which was called off last night after a meeting with the government officials. 

Meanwhile, security has been provided to Singh's family and other eye-witnesses, who were present on the spot when the CMO was killed, they said. 

PTI 

Source: http://www.zeenews.com/news697562.html

Afghans protest Quran burning for 4th day

Kabul: Protests erupted in Afghanistan again on Monday against a Florida pastor's burning of the Quran, making four straight days of demonstrations — some deadly — against the destruction of Islam's holy book in a country struggling to beat back an insurgency led by Taliban religious extremists. 

The demonstration in eastern Laghman province briefly threatened to turn into another melee as about 300 protesters brandished sticks and threw stones at police, who in turned started firing shots in the air, according to a news agency photographer at the scene.

The protest started in Alingar district and the shouting crowd moved toward the provincial capital of Mihtarlam, where they clashed with officers who wanted to keep them out of the city, said Gen Abdul Aziz Gharanai, the provincial police chief. 

However, the protesters dispersed as officers started firing warning shots and no one was wounded, Gharanai said. The agency photographer also heard no reports of serious injuries. 

At least 21 people have been killed in the past three days of protests across the country. 

The violence was set off by anger over the March 20 burning of the Quran by a Florida church — the same church whose pastor had threatened to do so last year on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, triggering worldwide outrage. 

The protests began Friday when thousands of demonstrators in the previously peaceful northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif poured into the streets after Friday's Muslim prayer services and overran a UN compound, killing three UN staff members and four Nepalese guards. 

The demonstrations have appeared to awaken a simmering anti-foreigner sentiment in the country, where anger about civilian casualties and international contractors making fortunes off the long-running conflict have worn down the welcome for Western forces over more than nine years of fighting. 

Meanwhile, NATO said one of its service members was killed Sunday in an insurgent attack in the east. NATO did not disclose other details or the nationality of the dead. The majority of the troops in the east are American. 

The latest death makes a total of 102 NATO service members killed so far this year. In the same period of 2010, 129 NATO troops died. 

Bureau Report

Source: http://www.zeenews.com/news697581.html

Rajat Gupta resigns as ISB chairman

Hyderabad: Rajat Gupta, the former McKinsey & Co chief accused of insider trading in the US, has resigned from chairmanship of Indian School of Business, a Hyderabad-based B-School, Monday.

Putting an end to the speculation that loomed large over the issue of his resignation, the ISB confirmed his resignation and is on the lookout for a new chairman for the executive committee of the board.

"Rajat Gupta has requested the ISB executive board to relieve him of his board responsibilities till his pending matter with the US SEC is resolved.

"This, and the appointment of the new chairman, will be tabled at the upcoming board meeting on April 2, 2011," an ISB spokesperson said.

Gupta, who is the co-founder of ISB, may not attend the upcoming board meeting scheduled for April 2, sources said.

A McKinsey veteran, Gupta has decided to take "leave of absence" from management of USD 1.4-billion PE fund New Silk Route, which he co-founded five years ago.

Earlier, Indian-American Rajat Gupta had resigned from three corporate boards, including American Airlines.

Gupta, a former board member of Goldman Sachs and Proctor & Gamble, has denied the charges level against him by the American regulator.

"We also note the statement of counsel for Rajat Gupta, which asserts that the allegations are totally baseless. The ISB community is confident that Rajat Gupta will be vindicated. He continues to be the Chairman of the ISB executive board," ISB had said in a statement earlier.

ISB is a premier business school in the country and has academic alliances with the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, among others.

Source: http://biz.zeenews.com/news/news_content.aspx?newscatid=3&newsid=22313

Veena Malik not to seek asylum in India over Taliban threat

slamabad: Pakistani artiste Veena Malik, who has reportedly been threatened by the Taliban, has said she will not seek asylum in India.

Malik, who is currently in India appearing on television shows for the ICC World Cup 2011, said she had received a letter from the Taliban a few days back via a media house in Pakistan.

She had spoken to representatives of the media house, who confirmed its legitimacy, she added.

Malik said the letter has been sent from a Ahmed Masood of the Taliban, a daily reports.

The letter threatened to give Malik ‘exemplary punishment for her work in India’, and also threatened her family, said the Pakistani actress, adding that she would hold the government responsible if anything happened to them.

Malik, who became a household name in India following her stint on reality TV show Bigg Boss, said she will not seek asylum in India.

She will return to Pakistan as running away is not an option, she added.

Malik also said that Indian authorities had provided her with security, and that she was getting in touch with Pakistani authorities to inform them of the situation. 

ANI

Source: http://spicezee.zeenews.com/articles/story83598.htm

Sensex extends losses, down by over 127 points on funds selling

Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by over 127 points in opening trade Friday on continued selling by foreign funds amid a subdued trend in global markets over weak US economic data and unrest in Saudi Arabia.

The 30-share barometer, which lost 141.97 points in the previous session, lost another 127.61 points, or 0.69 percent, to 18,200.37 points on Friday, with metals, IT and capital goods stocks leading the fall.

In a similar fashion, the wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index moved down 43.80 points, or 0.79 percent, to 5,450.60 points.

The trading sentiment remained bearish on the back of a weakening trend on other Asian bourses due to unrest in Saudi Arabia and overnight losses in the US market due to weak economic data, brokers said.

They said a cautious approach adopted by participants ahead of the release of IIP data for the month of January later today also influenced the sentiment.

Meanwhile, in the Asia region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down by 0.67 per cent and Japan's Nikkei by 1.3 percent in early trade this morning. 

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.87 per cent lower yesterday.

Source: http://biz.zeenews.com/news/news_content.aspx?newscatid=2&newsid=21944

Govt unveils “tool box” to counter black money

New Delhi: Unveiling the "toolbox" of counter measures to check black money, the government Tuesday has said the payments made to entities located in countries and tax jurisdictions which refuse to share tax-related information will attract a TDS(Tax Deduction at Source) of 30 percent or more.

"...any payment made to a person located in the notified jurisdictional area shall be liable to deduction of tax at the higher of the rates specified...or at a rate of 30 percent", says the 'toolbox' of counter measures which will be incorporated in the Income Tax Act.

The G20 leaders at Seoul summit last year had asked each country to develop a toolbox of counter measures against non-cooperative jurisdictions.

Under proposed provisions, the government will notify the countries and jurisdictions which are reluctant to share banking information and other details with it.

The provisions, proposed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Budget for 2011-12, are in line with the commitments made by India at G-20 meetings that it would come out with its own 'toolbox' of countermeasures to deal with tax havens.

These measures are aimed at discouraging transactions by "a resident assessee with persons located in any country or jurisdiction which does not effectively exchange information with India," said the Memorandum explaining the provisions of the Finance Bill 2011.

It further said that the persons dealing with entities in notified jurisdictions will not be entitled for any tax benefit unless they authorise the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to seek financial information from the overseas bodies.

Moreover, the Memorandum added, the funds received from overseas entities would be treated as his income for purpose of taxation unless he is "satisfactorily" able to show the source of money.

Also such dealings will be treated as international transactions and all parties in the deal will be scrutinised under the transfer pricing regulations.

The amendments, according to the Memorandum, will come into effect from June 1, 2011.

These provisions, Mukherjee had said in his Budget speech, would "strengthen our system of collection of information from foreign tax jurisdictions...(and) discourage transactions with entities located in non-cooperative jurisdictions as may be notified by the government".

Source:-http://biz.zeenews.com/news/news_content.aspx?newsid=21584

CBSE Board exams for Class 12, 10 begin today

New Delhi: Over 769,929 students are appearing in the Class 12 exam of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) which start Tuesday.

The Class 10 Board exams would also begin the same day. Over 1,061,566 students will appear in Class 10 exams, almost 15 percent higher than last year.

'A total of 454,131 boys and 315,798 girls will be appear in Class 12 board exams, while the Class 10 exam would be taken by 632,726 boys and 428,840 girls,' a CBSE official said

IANS

Source:-http://www.zeenews.com/news690431.html