Explain how Lokpal is strong: Anna tells Sonia

Hitting out at the government on the "useless" Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare today challenged Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to a public debate on it to convince people that the proposed legislation is strong.

Hazare said the new Bill is of no use if the anti-corruption ombudsman does not have control over CBI and the lower bureaucracy is not brought under its direct control. "Sonia Gandhi says the bill is strong. If it is so, let she come out and debate with us in front of media. Let people see it.

Convince the people of the country that it is strong. We will explain how it is not strong," he told reporters here. "What is right and wrong with the bill, let us debate in public," he said as government prepared to introduce the bill in Lok Sabha. Hazare's remarks came as a response to Gandhi's speech at Congress Parliamentary Party meeting yesterday during which she said the proposed legislation was strong and she was ready for a fight for it.

Continuing his attack on the government, Hazare said he will go ahead with his three-day fast from December 27 and then 'jail bharo' agitation against the "weak" bill which will not help the poor in their fight against corruption. "I will be part of the group that will 'gherao' the residences of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as part of our jail filling agitation," he said. He said putting CBI out of Lokpal shows how the bill will be "useless". "The biggest victims of corruption are the poor who have to pay bribes to get any work done.

How will the commonman live like this? Out demand is that lower bureaucracy be brought under Lokpal," he said.

Lokpal Bill in Parliament on Wed

As pressure mounts on the UPA government to pass the Lokpal Bill in the winter session of Parliament, sources now say that the bill is likely to be tabled in Parliament on Wednesday for discussion. Not just that, sources also say that Parliament may have an extended session from December 27 to 29 to pass the Lokpal Bill.

Ahead of the Cabinet meeting on the Lokpal Bill on Monday, Opposition leaders LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee over a possible extension of the winter session of Parliament so that the Lokpal Bill can be tabled and passed.

Minister of State in the HRD Ministry D Purandeswari assured that the government is committed to getting a strong Lokpal Bill passed. "The Lokpal Bill will come in Parliament and then deliberations will happen with various parties expressing their views," she said.

She also said that the Prime Minister may be included in the Lokpal Bill, but with riders. "If you remember the Prime Minister had said he wants to be included under the ambit of the Lokpal, safeguards are important, so it's likely," she said.

National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah has said, "There should be a strong Lokpal Bill, but shouldn't be a super government and above Parliament. The draft has been prepared and will be discussed in the Cabinet."

Congress spokesperson and Standing Committee Chairman Abhishek Manu Singhvi also said, "We are not here to offer any carrot, it's a piece of legislation, and it needs to be passed in Parliament. Please wait for the bill to be tabled in Parliament."

The BJP, however, said that the government seems confused over the Lokpal Bill. "The government is confused, they take one step forward, two step backwards. We want a strong Lokpal Bill to be passed in the current session. I don't know what this government plans to do," BJP leader Balbir Punj said.

The options that the government now has are:

Firstly, the government may table the Lokpal Bill in Parliament on Tuesday or Wednesday, begin a discussion right away and try and pass the bill this week itself.

A second option is that the bill be tabled on Tuesday or Wednesday, then depending on the mood in Parliament, extend the session to the next week for debate and passage of the bill.

Alternatively, the government may after tabling the bill in Parliament on Tuesday or Wednesday, call for a special extended session in early January for a debate or else once the bill is tabled, the government won't push for a debate till a broad consensus has been arrived at within Parliament.

Cabinet meet on Monday

Meanwhile, as Anna Hazare steps up the attack on the government threatening to go on a fast from December 27 and a jail bharo agitation, the government, sources say, may meet most of his demands.

The Union Cabinet will meet on Monday evening to discuss the Lokpal Bill. Sources say that the UPA, under pressure, has proposed that the Prime Minister be included in the bill with riders, that Group C bureaucrats under the Chief Vigilance Commissioner be supervised by Lokpal and that the CBI director be appointed by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Lokpal. Sources say the government has also proposed that Lokpal members get a vigilance clearance from the CVC.

Sources say the government is also proposing nearly 50 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other backward classes in the Lokpal Bill and that the Lokpal monitors the CBI in cases of corruption it refers to the investigative agency.

Samsung Vs Apple

Just when we were hoping that the existing war between Apple and Samsung would dissipate, if not get done completely, by the end of this year; there's news about the battle escalating in Germany. A Reuters report confirms that Samsung has freshly accused Apple of infringing on four of its patents pertaining to the use of emoticons, among other things. This only means that Samsung now has an escalated battle with Apple in Germany (the two have been battling it out over infringments pertaining to telecommunications standard technology WCDMA for 3G mobile handsets owned by Samsung). 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is dead

Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader, has died. He was 69. Kim's death was announced today by state television from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 but appeared relatively vigorous in photos and video from recent trips to China and Russia and in numerous trips around the country carefully documented by state media. The leader, reputed to have had a taste for cigars, cognac and gourmet cuisine, was believed to have had diabetes and heart disease.

The news came as North Korea prepared for a hereditary succession. Kim Jong Il inherited power after his father, revered North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, died in 1994. In September 2010, Kim Jong Il unveiled his third son, the twenty-something Kim Jong Un, as his successor, putting him in high-ranking posts.

Nifty closes below 4700 for 1st time since 2009

It was a dire situation for the market on Friday despite RBI's policy on expected lines and flat global cues. The Nifty closed below the psychological 4700-mark for the first time since November 3, 2009 while theSensex shed 345.12 points. Looking at the sharp sell-off in index heavyweights, it seems investors cut some of their exposure in the second half of trade.

The Sensex closed at 15,491.4, after shedding more than 560 points from day's high of 16,068.90. The Nifty dropped 94.75 points, to end at 4,651.60; it touched the 4800 mark in an intra-day trade.

Sanjay Sinha, Founder of Citrus Advisors listed out the points, which spoiled the mood of markets. According to him, first is global problem, second is currency, third is government policies and fourth is interest rates.

For the week, the Sensex and Nifty fell over 4.5%.

Experts feel the mid quarter review of monetary policy announced by the RBI was on expected lines, so it was completely non-event for the market. Breaking of technical level of 4700 amid huge volumes may be the reason that traders opted to short selling.

"Today’s fall is definitely a little more unexpected because the RBI policy didn’t have anything that would spook the market," He feels this is some bout of concentrated selling.

The Reserve Bank of India kept CRR unchanged at 6% (the money banks have to necessarily park with the RBI), SLR at 24% (money which every bank has to maintain in the form of cash, gold or approved securities), repo rate (at which banks borrow money from RBI) at 8.5%, and even reverse repo rate (at which RBI borrow money from banks) remains unchanged at 7.5%.

The central bank insisted that downside risks to growth have clearly increased and inflation is still above comfort level. But it relieved some tension by saying further rate hikes may not be warranted. "Further monetary policy is likely to reverse cycle."

There was another ray of optimism, which is appreciation in the rupee after central bank's intervention. To control speculation in the currency, the Reserve Bank imposed restrictions with immediate effect on forward trading in the local currency by FIIs and traders and capped banks exposure to the forex market.

The Indian rupee moved up 1.5% or by 82 paise to 52.82 a dollar, which is quite better from record low of 54.29 touched yesterday. It was down by 80 paise to 68.85 an euro.

Shares of capital goods companies hit quite badly as experts feel the thrid quarter earnings would be very bad due to low order book and overall slowdown. The respective index fell 4.4%; L&T was down 5.33% and BHEL tanked 3.9%.

The BSE Bank, Realty, Power, Metal and Oil & Gas indices were down 2-3%. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries plunged 3.43%, to close at Rs 723 a share.