Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday, was a key member of the party’s core decision-making group though never a mass leader.

During his six-year stint in the government, he experienced both highs and lows. The acme of his achievement was his exhaustive rounds of a dialogue that he as external affairs minister minister held with Strobe Talbott, his counterpart in the US administration, following the 1998 Indian nuclear test.

They met as many as 14 times in seven countries between June 1998 and September 2000. These talks have been widely acknowledged by present US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as having laid the groundwork for the eventual transformation of Indo-US ties.

The low point in his ministerial career was when he led Pakistani terrorists to freedom in Kandahar in Afghanistan in December 1999 after the hijack of flight IC-814 by Islamists.

a high-level meeting is to be held in the city this week to discuss the city traffic police’s detailed report which highlights the fact that an average 450 deaths take place every year in Pune.

The meeting will be chaired by district guardian minister Ajit Pawar, and will be attended by the municipal commissioners of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, officials of the civic road and traffic departments, cantonment officials, and a few NGOs working in the field of road safety. The meeting which will discuss road traffic and safety issues will focus on the report made by the traffic police on accident analysis and prevention measures. The report had been released by police commissioner Satyapal Singh in June this year.

‘Lex WITNESS’, India’s First Magazine on Legal and Corporate affairs was launched on August 7th by Hon’ble Dr. Justice AR Lakshmanan, Chairman, Law Commission of India. A pioneering initiative of SriGro Interactive, WITNESS seeks to address topical issues from the legal domain in a subtle yet effective way. Even though the first issue had hit the stands on July 16, 2009, it was formally launched yesterday in V.K Krishna Menon Bhawan, Indian Society of International Law amongst an illustrious list of guest from the legal society.

Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.S. Sirpurkar, Judge, Supreme Court of India graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour and other dignitaries present were –

- Hon’ble Mr. Justice R.S Sodhi, Retired Judge, Delhi High Court
- Mr. Krishan Kalra, Secretary General, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry

“I am delighted to learn that SriGro Interactive Pvt Ltd has launched ‘Witness’, which will mainly cover important legal issues and corporate affairs. With the liberalization of the print and electronic media, hundreds of new Magazines have mushroomed in the market covering different subjects. However, magazines covering legal issues and corporate affairs, touching the common man, are rare. It is expected that this new magazine will play a pivotal role in meeting the aspirations of the common man in dispelling their misconceptions about laws and its application”, Chief Guest, Hon’ble Dr. Justice AR Lakshmanan said while expressing his happiness on the launch of WITNESS.

Sharing the same thought, Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.S. Sirpurkar, Judge, Supreme Court of India, added, “WITNESS will be a great tool for the legal fraternity as well as it will update the professionals about the latest developments in the judicial system. I wish the editors of the magazine success in their endeavour to fill up the vacuum in the Indian Judicial System by launching this magazine”.

Applauding the initiative of Witness and its first issue, Mr. Krishan Kalra, Secretary General, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry said, “Articles in the inaugural issue are excellent and I am confident that the legal sphere would stand further enriched by this collection of varied and mature perspectives on burning legal issues”.

The inaugural issue of WITNESS accentuates the significance of mediation cells in today’s scenario, its success in the West and the need for its adaptation in India. It also extensively covers the Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008 and the Pre-nuptial contracts.

WITNESS would be an amalgamation of the view points of some of the country’s eminent legal luminaries, judges, advocates, educationists and India Inc. and would provide content that is relevant to all stakeholders in this profession. Witness is a subscription based magazine and is currently being marketed in all metros,” according to Mr. Shyam Grover, Group Editor and Chief Executive Officer.

Highlighting the objectives of the magazine, the Editor-in.Chief, Mr. PBA Srinivasan said, “WITNESS would be an active forum for professionals who contribute to the growth of law, business policy making and other aspects of the Judiciary System. Our mission is to inform and empower the legal fraternity, corporate houses and public, through well researched articles, open forums, opinions and analysis”.

Mr. Grover added that, “the magazine is also being circulated in UK and US, targeting law firms and key M&A consulting companies.”

Dr. Neera Bharihoke is the Consulting Editor of WITNESS. The magazine, at a cover price of Rs 50, has been launched with an initial print run of 25,000 copies. The magazine is available only at select stands, and will be distributed through Central News Agency (CNA).
]]> http://lawservice.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/%e2%80%98lex-witness%e2%80%99-india%e2%80%99s-first-magazine-on-legal-and-corporate-affairs-launched/feed/ 0 lawservice http://lawservice.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/capital%e2%80%99s-swine-flu-tally-at-251/ http://lawservice.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/capital%e2%80%99s-swine-flu-tally-at-251/#comments Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:21:06 +0000 lawservice http://lawservice.wordpress.com/?p=175 Continue reading →]]> Eight students were among the 13 that tested positive for swine flu on Saturday, taking Delhi’s tally to 215.

Students bore the brunt of infection again, with many schools fumigating classrooms, canteens, common rooms and buses over the weekend to allay parents’ fears.

“On Saturday, 23 cases were confirmed, which included the 14 new cases. Reports of 16 suspected cases admitted in hospitals across the Capital are awaited,” said Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia.

The minister added that all positive cases had been quarantined at home and health officers were tracking people who have come in contact with them.

“We are doing our best to contain it, but its spread is inevitable,” said Walia.

Only one of the 13 cases reported was an infection acquired abroad.

“When the World Health Organisation declared H1N1 a pandemic, they indicated containment was not possible. We are now focusing on damage reduction,” said a senior Delhi government official, tracking cases in the Capital who is not authorised to speak to the media.

Students from Sanskriti School , Mt Carmel, Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, Mother’s International, CRPF Prashant Vihar and Vishwa Bharti Public School were among the eight students tested positive on Saturday.

Sanskriti School in south Delhi’s Chanakyapuri confirmed three swine flu cases, of which one was a Class VIII student back from a camp in England. The other two students are in Classes IV and XI, who attended school till Thursday.

“Today, we learnt of three students who have contracted the virus. In the UK case, we are not really worried as the student had not rejoined school yet,” said Abha Sahgal, principal, Sanskriti School.

The case reported from Sanskriti on Thursday tested negative. “We had the school fumigated on Friday,” Sahgal added. The school is now closed for all of next week.

With schools being closed for the weekend, schools had a difficult time identifying students who could have contracted the virus.

“There is no way for us for us to find out who could be infected as the school is closed for the weekend. We’ll get a clear picture only on Monday,” said M.I. Husain, principal, DPS Mathura Road.

economic development of the backward Bundelkhand region.

In a statement issued here, the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) media cell chief Vivek Singh flayed Mayawati for criticising the move, which he said was aimed at “ensuring integrated development of the region that covers a few districts both in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh”.

“I fail to understand how a Dalit chief minister of the state can be opposed to any such move that was aimed at ensuring the economic upliftment of the poor and downtrodden living in that area,” he said.

“The initiative was taken by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who took pains to traverse the length and breadth of the Bundelkhand region in the worst of summer to get a first hand account of the plight of the common people there — something that Mayawati never cared to even find out.”

Singh, a prominent legislator from Bundelkhand, said a development authority for the region would ensure proper utilization of funds “that were getting blatantly pilfered”.

Accusing the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ministers from Bundelkhand of having amassed huge wealth for themselves at the expense of development of the region, Singh demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the personal assets of such ministers and their families.

“These ministers have thrived on funds released by the centre for the economic development of Bundelkhand, for which they need to be punished,” he stressed.

“Dhuksingh Chauhan was arrested under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act and spent over a year in jail between 1995 to 2000,” CBI Joint Director Rishiraj Singh told PTI.

He said “we have sought help from ED to throw more light on this as Chauhan is an old hawala operator and further probe from our side is on.”

Singh said a team of CBI is in Bangalore searching for the third hawala operator Shamalal Chaudhari who was to receive the money from Chuahan and transfer it to Delhi to Sweety Singh.

Replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on the working of his Ministry, Mr. Krishna emphasised that no progress in dialogue with Pakistan was possible in an atmosphere vitiated by violence or threat to use violence. The India-Pakistan joint statement, he said, encapsulated this view.

The Minister disagreed with the BJP’s charge that New Delhi removed pressure on Islamabad to act against terror.

“While opposing the government, let us not give more credence to what others say over what the Prime Minister and our own government have formally stated. We are not here to question each others’ motives. We are united against terrorism period,” he said.

In his nearly 50-minute response, Mr. Krishna outlined the contours of the foreign policy, engagement with India’s neighbours, different groupings and regions, the Look-East policy, view on the Israel-Palestine issue, and specific issues, including steps being taken by Australia to address the students attacks problem.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said, “In an exercise to aim damage control, an argument has now been advanced that it is a continuation of the line followed by [the former Prime Minister] Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Now it is sought to be used to cover up their own lapse.”

Terming the joint statement a “shameful draft,” he said, unlike Mr. Vajpayee, who suggested composite dialogue from a position of strength by telling Islamabad that it must credibly act against terror, the latest text puts India in a position of weakness by delinking dialogue from terrorism.

He said the talks were held in the backdrop of the 26/11 attacks but India came back with the “albatross of Balochistan” around its neck allowing Pakistan to give primacy to the issue. He did not agree that the only options were war or dialogue as suggested by the Prime Minister. His view was that “limiting” options would weaken India’s position.

The state-run firm, which has the largest steel making capacity within India, plans to borrow 40 billion to 50 billion rupees ($830 million-$1 billion) this fiscal year to meet its capex plans, Chairman S.K. Roongta said, adding that additional equity issue was also another option the company was looking at.

“We are considering that,” Roongta said of the additional equity issue, without giving details.

The steel industry, recognised as a broad gauge of an economy’s strength, has globally seen demand tumble, driven by the weakness in key automotive and construction sectors.

“We must reckon the fact that even now globally capacity utilisation is quite low. As the demand picks up, there is enough capacity,” Steel Authority’s Roongta said.

“We are not going to see any situation where demand will be more than supply.”

Prices are, however, not under pressure, he said.

Steel Authority’s production and sales in the July month is up about 10 percent from a year ago and it will try to maintain the trend for the quarter ending September, Roongta said.

He expects raw material prices to be sequentially lower in the September quarter.

The company reported a net profit of Rs.3,680 crore ($763 million) for the quarter compared to Rs.410 crore in the like period the year before.

The total income for the same period stood at Rs.60,680 crore, down from Rs.89,140 crore a year earlier.

This year’s first quarter figures also include the numbers for Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (BRPL), which was merged with India Oil March 25, 2009.

The gross refining margin has seen a decline from $16.81 per barrel to $7.36 per barrel during the first quarter.

Indian Oil got discounts worth Rs.229 crore from upstream companies for the April-June quarter as compared to Rs.6,230 crore a year ago.