Dinesh Mehrotra top contender for LIC Chairman post

MUMBAI: Dinesh Kumar Mehrotra, managing director at the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation, will compete with his chairman for five years TS Vijayan and others, for the top post at the nation's biggest institutional investor.

Mehrotra, who is credited with raising the public sector behemoth's market share against stiff competition from private rivals such as Max New York Life and Birla Sun Life, may be the first choice of the selection panel, said two people familiar with the development.

A committee headed by R Gopalan, secretary department of economic affairs, and Shashikant Sharma -financial services secretary -is expected to select a chairman this week. J Hari Narayan chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority may have a say in the appointment.

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Government demotes LIC Chairman Vijayan to MD

MUMBAI: TS Vijayan, the chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India , has been demoted to the position of managing director following a cash-for loans scam which engulfed the corporation's investment department in November last year.

This is for the first time that any Chairman of LIC has been asked to work as a managing director. Rakesh Singh, an additional secretary in the financial services department of the finance ministry, has been appointed as the acting chairman.

Vijayan's demotion comes within weeks of the finance ministry setting up a committee led by former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Vepa Kamesam to probe the investments made by the LIC in the last three years. The committee is expected to make recommendations on the governance standards and investment guidelines of India's largest financial institutions. The LIC's investment corpus is worth 9 lakh crore.

A LIC source said Vijayan may resign from the corporation following the snub by the finance ministry and he will take a decision soon whether to continue as MD for the next two years or not. Sources say the finance ministry led by Pranab Mukherjee is taking a strict view of the cash-for-loan scam which broke our in LIC last November. The CBI had arrested LIC Housing CEO RR Nair for approving loans after taking bribes.

Apart from Nair, those arrested were Naresh K Chopra, Secretary (Investment), LIC, R N Tayal, General Manager of Bank of India (Delhi), Maninder Singh Johar, Director (Chartered Accountant) of Central Bank of India , Venkoba Gujjal and Dy General Manager of Punjab National Bank (Delhi). Rajesh Sharma, CMD of Mumbai-based firm Money Matters Ltd and two of its employees -- Suresh Gattani and Sanjay Sharma-- were among those arrested.

The CBI had alleged that bank officials colluded with the firm to sanction large scale corporate loans, overriding mandatory conditions for such approvals along with other irregularities.

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Angela Jonsson Ranbir's new girlfriend : True or False

Ranbir Kapoor is living it up to his player personality.

The latest girl in the actor's life is apparently Kingfisher calendar model Angela Jonsson.

Sources have confirmed that the duo have been going out together almost every night since they met 15 days ago. They were spotted at a hip city nightspot a couple of days ago.

Although how they met is still a mystery, this couple is the current talk of B-town.

Born to a Mangalorean mother and Icelandic father, Angela had won the Kingfisher Calendar model hunt 2001 and aspires to break into Bollywood someday. She has been taking acting and diction classes.

The 20-something model is quite a looker and is said to have floored even Siddharth Mallya, who is dating Ranbir's ex-girlfriend Deepika Padukone.

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Sourav Ganguly Join IPL 4 for Pune Warriors

Sourav Ganguly, the former captain of India’s cricket team and a hugely popular figure in his hometown Kolkata, will belatedly play in this year’s Indian Premier League after being signed by bottom-placed Sahara Pune Warriors. Sourav Ganguly will be vice-captain at Pune Warriors.

Ganguly replaces bowler Ashish Nehra, who has been ruled out of the 2011 IPL because of injury, Abhijit Sarkar, the team’s director and head of corporate communications at Sahara, told news channel NDTV.

Ganguly will be vice-captain at Pune Warriors, one of two new IPL franchises this year. Pune Warriors, who are led by Yuvraj Singh, the man-of-the-World Cup, launched their campaign in style with two wins but have since lost six matches in a row and now languish at the bottom of the table with just four points. Ganguly, therefore, has very little time to influence his new team’s fortunes.

Last Time news was that Sourav was first approached by Kochi Tuskers Kerala but their application was rejected by the IPL’s Governing Council.

All the best Dada & Pune Warriors

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RBI raises key rates by 50 bps : Industry View

The RBI on Tuesday raised key interest rates for the ninth time since March 2010 by a larger-than-expected 50 basis points as it battles persistently high inflation.

KEY POINTS:

- Repo rate, the short-term lending rate, up 50 basis points at 7.25 percent.

- Reverse repo rate, the short-term borrowing rate, up 50 basis points at 6.25 percent.

- Cash reserve ratio, the level of deposits that commercial banks must keep with the central bank, unchanged at 6.0 percent.

According to the new policy format, the central bank has introduced an additional facility-Marginal Standing Facility (MSF)--for banks to borrow from it. Under it, banks would be permitted to borrow short-term funds from RBI up to one per cent of their deposits at 8.25 per cent, with effect from May 7.

"The reverse repo rate will continue to be operative but it will be pegged at a fixed 100 basis points below the repo rate. Hence, the reverse repo will no longer be an independent variable," Subbarao said.


Views of Industry Officials against The Policy:

T.V. SANDEEP REDDY, MD, GAYATRI PROJECTS LTD

"The immediate impact will be that cost of BOT (build-operate-transfer) projects will go up, as BOT projects are tied up to interest rates. We don't know by what percent interest rates would go up, as it depends on hikes in rates by banks. We will have wait and watch."

BHARAT MODY, CFO, ACKRUTI CITY

"The 50 basis point hike is steep, everyone was expecting 25 basis point hike. This will result in an increase in loan rates to builders, and we will have to wait and watch on whether the banks decide to pass it on or banks decide to absorb (the hike).

This will not immediately impact real estate prices as they are decided by market conditions."

H.M.BHARUKA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, KANSAI NEROLAC

"This increase is going to hurt the industry. It is hurting the housing and auto sector and it is already having an impact on the paints sector. The problem the government is trying to tackle is inflation but raising rates is not the solution."


D.S. KULKARNI, CMD, D S KULKARNI DEVELOPERS

"We, as a real-estate industry, have developed a habit of receiving some shock every day and this one was expected. The rate hike would obviously have certain impact on the sector. As it is, nationalised banks are not supporting the construction industry but housing loan segment would see a major impact."

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Saurashtra University Medical Test Results 2011

Saurashtra University at Rajkot is one of the leading universities in Gujarat. The jurisdiction of Saurashtra University includes Amreli, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Rajkot and Surendra Nagar districts. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council, NAAC, accredited the university with four stars in 2002. It has several colleges affiliated to it imparting undergraduate and postgraduate education.

Saurashtra University, Rajkot, Gujarat, has announced the results of PG (Post Graduate) Medical Entrance Test 2011. The detailed mark list and names of all the successful candidates is made available in the university’s official website: http://www.saurashtrauniversity.edu/

All those candidates who have appeared for the PG Medical Entrance Test 2011 can check the results by logging in the aforementioned website. The direct link to view the results is given below: http://www.saurashtrauniversity.edu/img/file/Circulars/PGMEDICAL%20RESULT.pdf

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Ridgewood Reacts to Killing of Bin Laden

Obviously the terror attacks of 9/11 hit very close to home not only for the many lives in Wyckoff that were lost, but also for our very own Dana Hannon, who was formerly a Wyckoff fireman and was a new York city fireman who was lost in the attacks," Wyckoff Fire Chief Mike Rose said. "This news with Osama Bin Laden being killed … it’s some justice to combat the injustice that was done on that terrible day for the families who lost loved ones."

Hannon, one of 11 Wyckoff residents killed in the attacks, was a 29-year-old captain with the Wyckoff Fire Department as well as a firefighter with Engine Company 26 in the New York City Fire Department.

There was no immediate word about whether security into New York would be tightened Monday in the aftermath of bin Laden’s death. New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told officers to be on alert despite not having information about any specific threat.

"I think Obama did a wonderful job in executing his plan to determine the whereabouts and location of Osama," said George Davis of Ridgewood. "I think that he will continue to serve our country in the most dignified manner that he possibly can."

Alex Randi, also of Ridgewood, expressed that he was pleased Bin Laden was killed.

"I love the fact that he was caught," he said.

Dereck Williams, who works at MacMurphy’s Bar in Ridgewood and was a member of the U.S. Navy, said people were jovial when they saw the news on television sets.

"It was only a matter of time," Williams said. “It's just so weird that it took so long."

A stagehand in New York City on the production of Billy Elliot, Richard Fullum said he was at The Blarney Stone in Times Square when he heard the news.

"I did a doubletake, it was just unbelievable. It's really happening," he said. Fullum said The Blarney Stone "was going crazy." He said that his commute back to Ridgewood featured an overwhelming outpouring of emotion. People, he noted, were cheering on the subways and at Secaucus Junction train station, crowding around the small bar.

"Knowing their tears," he said of victims’ families, "it just filled a void.

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Bin Laden Is Dead, President Obama Says

Osama bin Laden has been killed, President Obama announced Sunday night, almost 10 years after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The text of the president’s television address is here. The Times describes the scenes at the World Trade Center, Times Square and Washington. Our colleagues on The Lede blog are also following reaction from around the world, here, and political reaction on The Caucus blog, here.

From Kabul, The New York Times’s bureau chief Alissa J. Rubin writes, ‘Afghans Fear West May See Death as the End’:

KABUL, Afghanistan — In Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden was based for many years and where Al Qaeda helped to train and pay insurgents, there was relief and uncertainty about how his death would play out in the fraught regional power politics now shaping the war.

While senior political figures welcomed the news of his death, they cautioned that it did not necessarily translate into an immediate military victory over the Taliban, and urged the United States and NATO not to use it as a reason to withdraw…

Former members of the Taliban who are now part of the reconciliation efforts with the movement said they believed that Bin Laden’s death would drive the Taliban to make a deal to stop fighting and become a political force in Afghanistan.

The Afghan Taliban had no immediate statement.

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Obama Announces Killing of Osama bin Laden

WASHINGTON —President Obama announced late Sunday that Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, was killed in a firefight during an operation he ordered Sunday inside Pakistan, ending a 10-year manhunt for the world’s most wanted terrorist. American officials were in possession of his body, he said.

“On nights like this one, ‘’ the president said, “we can say that justice has been done.’’

The fate of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Al Qaeda number two in command, was unclear.

The death of Mr. Bin Laden is a defining moment in the American-led war on terrorism. What remains to be seen is whether the death of the leader of Al Qaeda galvanizes his followers by turning him into a martyr, or whether it serves as a turning of the page in the war in Afghanistan and gives further impetus to the Obama administration to bring American troops home.

President Obama said that on Sunday, a small team of U.S. operatives launched a “targeted assault’’ on a compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad where months of intelligence work had established that Mr. Bin Laden was living. Mr. Bin Laden was killed after a firefight, and the troops took custody of his body.

The killing ended a 10-year manhunt in which Mr. Bin Laden repeatedly eluded his pursuers, deeply frustrating the Bush administration and counterterrorism officials.

The news of the death of the leader of Al Qaeda electrified the world — crowds gathered outside the White House, cheering, as they waited for the president to confirm the news. Mr. bin Laden was able to elude capture by hiding out in the mountains of Afghanistan and elsewhere. He initially escaped from Tora Bora in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan after an American invasion routed the Taliban, his protectors.

Since then, he issued some 30 messages, in audio, video or electronic text, sometimes taunting, sometimes gloating, sometimes urging new terrorist attacks. Intelligence officials believe the messages were passed from hand to hand repeatedly to obscure any trail back to his hiding place. Even while in hiding, he remained a potent symbolic figure. And American officials believe, based on intercepted communications from second- and third-tier Qaeda operatives, that he also still helped shape Al Qaeda’s strategy.

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