Saravanan's Blog

Source:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18207198 By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo Pic courtesy: www.globaltamilnews.net Sri Lanka's defence secretary has said it is not appropriate to view the north of the country, over which a separatist war was fought, as a predominantly Tamil area. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who many credit with defeating Tamil rebels, also told the BBC there were few civilian casualties in the war's closing phase. Human rights groups say tens of thousands died at the end of that war. He also cast doubt on accounts of enforced disappearances after the war. Mr Rajapaksa, brother of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, portrayed a normalising Sri Lanka with opportunities for all regardless of ethnicity. But he firmly declined to discuss Sarath Fonseka - the man at the helm of the army at the end of the war and who later fell out with the president - who was released from prison last Monday. The army defeated the separatist Li...

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/sainath/article3439624.ece Pranab Mukherjee's stirring call for austerity tugs at the national tear ducts. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pleaded for it in the past and watched his flock embrace it creatively. With the Finance Ministry even acting on Dr. Singh's call in 2009 (economy class air travel, spending cuts), we are now in the fourth year of our noble quest. There are, of course, several kinds of austerity. My pick would be the variety practised by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. No one can challenge Dr. Ahluwalia's commitment to austerity. Look at the way he's stood up to the populist demand for a poverty line that makes sense. No pampering people here. Spend Rs. 29 a day in urban India or Rs. 23 in rural India and you are not poor. He's even asked the Supreme Court to uphold the imposition of such rigour on hundreds of millions of his fellow citizens. One affid...

Published in Sagar Sandesh edition dated May 23, 2012: “With the demand for ocean transportation of coal/ ore in India/china that is bound to increase in the coming years, the future for dry bulk segment in Indian maritime trade is positive”, Mr K Shankar, President –Shipping in the India Cements and the Chairman of Institute of Marine Engineers (India) Chennai Branch , has said. In an exclusive interview to Sagar Sandesh, Shankar, who has more than 40 years of experience in the shipping industry, shared his views on several issues in the maritime trade including the growing piracy menace and also about the future plans of India Cements’ Shipping division to reach numero uno position in the trade in the Southern Region. Excerpts of the interview…   Q: Tell us about the India Cements Shipping division, its vision?   Mr K Shankar: Shipping and India Cements have come a long way together. Our Founder, Shri.T.S.Narayanaswami, a visionary was one of the pi...

Source:  http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3429642.ece?homepage=true By  SUJAY MEHDUDIA &  VINAY KUMAR Pic courtesy:www.topnews.in Even as the cash-starved Air India grapples with a 10-day strike that has cost it over Rs.150 crore and undermined its recovery plans, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has invited journalists to join him and an entourage of officials to travel to the United States to take delivery of the first of the airline's new long-range Boeing 787 jets. In an e-mail sent to media organisations on Thursday, the Civil Aviation Ministry invited journalists to accompany Mr. Singh on his “visit to Seattle and Charlston, USA, from May 28-31 to get delivery of [Air India's first] B787 Dreamliner.” “[T]ravel, accommodation, etc., will be taken care of by us,” the e-mail states. The invitation came hours after the release of official figures which showed that Air India's market share had declined sharply to 17.6 per cent, making it...

"எனவே தனிப்பட்டவர்களும் அமைப்புக்களும் எமது மக்களுக்கான அரசியல்தீர்வாக பன்னாட்டுச்சமூகத்துக்கு முன்மொழிவது எமது மக்களுக்கான தன்னாட்சியுரிமையுடன்கூடிய நிர்வாகக் கட்டமைப்பாகவே இருக்க வேண்டும். அதைநோக்கியே எமது வேண்டுகைகளும் வேலைத்திட்டங்களும் அமைய வேண்டும். அனைவரும் ஒன்றிணைந்த குரலாக எமது அரசியல் வேட்கையை வெளிப்படுத்த வேண்டும் என்பதே எமது அவாவாகும்." Source: http://www.viduthalaipulikal.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=77:may-18-2012-tamil&catid=28:report&Itemid=2 தலைமைச் செயலகம் ,                                                                               ...