25 July 2012

Maruti runs out of Swift, DZire stocks as Manesar plant remains shut

Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday said it has run out of stock of its two best-selling models, Swift and DZire, which are produced at the Manesar plant where it has declared lockout following violence last week.

The company has, however, not stopped bookings for these models.


"We do not have any stock of Swift and DZire at our factory. About 10,000 cars of both the models are on transit and that is the inventory at present," Maruti Suzuki India chief operating officer (marketing and sales) Mayank Pareek said.

When asked if Maruti would stop taking orders for these models, he said: "Our booking is going on and we will not stop it. We have informed the dealers and customers about the situation.

"We tell the customers that this is the current situation (about the production at Manesar) and if even after that, they want to book the car, then it shows the strength of the two brands."

Pareek was confident that customers will remain loyal to the company. "During the strikes in last year also, we did not stop booking. Our rivals are still offering discounts to attract customers, but we are receiving huge response to our cars without any scheme even in our crisis period."

He said at present Swift has a booking order of 55,000 units, while DZire has 65,000 bookings. Out of these, 80 per cent are for the diesel variants. There is no order backlog for SX4 and A-Star models, which are also produced at the Manesar plant.

Asked how long it could take to clear the backlog, Pareek said: "Assuming that production starts today, it will take us 4-6 months to clear the backlog depending upon the variants."

In Chennai, child dies after falling through hole in floor of bus

Chennai: In Chennai, a young child has died after falling onto the road through a hole in the floor of his school bus.

Angry eyewitnesses set the school bus on fire.

Kalmadi not allowed to attend Olympics opening ceremony

New Delhi: Suresh Kalmadi will not be allowed to attend the opening ceremony of the London Olympics and cannot leave the country till July 27.  Checking his plans, the Delhi High Court said that it "cannot remain a passive spectator." 

Mr Kalmadi is President of the Indian Olympics Association, but has agreed that the organisation will not be managed by him while he is being tried for corruption.  He spent close to a year in prison on corruption charges related to his term as the chairman of the Organising Committee for the Commonwealth Games, held in India in 2010.

The court said today that it could not stop Mr Kalmadi from attending the Games in his individual capacity - but by banning him from travel till the opening ceremony takes place, that's ruled out for the Lok Sabha MP.  His lawyer had argued that he would not be representing the government at the Olympics.  


Mr Kalmadi has been suspended by his party, the Congress.  Sports Minister Ajay Maken had urged him to voluntarily skip the opening ceremony.  Mr Kalmadi refused and suggested that Mr Maken resign instead. He pointed out that he remains the President of the Asian Athletes' Association and is also an elected member of the council of the International Association of Athletes Federation.  

An organisation of former athletes, many of who have represented the country, had written to the International Olympic Committee to cancel his accreditation.  

The High Court's verdict is based in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that said Mr Kalmadi should not be allowed to represent India in any way at the Olympics because he is being tried for corruption, and public money cannot be spent on him.  The petitioner also said that his presence at the opening ceremony would violate the code of ethics of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

On July 13, a special CBI court had allowed Kalmadi to go to London from July 26 to August 13 for the 2012 London Olympics.

Mr Kalmadi and 10 others have been charge-sheeted by the CBI for hiring a Swiss firm at inflated prices for timing and scoring equipment for the Commonwealth Games.  This allegedly cost the government 90 crores in losses.

18 July 2012

Govt looking at LPG subsidy cut

The government is close to taking a decision on capping the number of subsidised LPG cylinders to "econonomically not weaker" sections to bring down the subsidies by up to Rs 10,000 crore annually, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R P N Singh said today.

The government is also looking at partial decontrol of diesel, he said.
 
Singh said the government gives Rs 36,000 crore in subsidy on LPG and a lot of people who are "not economically weaker sections" and don't require them, take benefit, adding, the government is looking at reducing the subsidy on LPG by capping the amount (number) of cylinders given on subsidy.
     
Stating that the government is in an adavanced stage of taking a decision on reducing LPG subsidies, he told reporters on the sidelines of a function: "If we cap some cylinders, which do not infringe on the right of poor people who get subsidies, I think we can save Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore just by capping the cylinders for the rich (restricting the number of subsidised cylinders for economically not weaker sections).
     
But he sounded cautious on the issue of raising prices of diesel, saying its a very delicate issue.
     
"If you try to raise the prices of diesel, it has a cascading effect on the economy. We are trying to work out a solution where it impacts the economy in the least manner but also brings down the fiscal deficit", Singh said.

The Minister, who earlier inaugurated the 17th refinery technology meet jointly organised by Centre for High Technology and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, ruled out absolute decontrol of diesel in the near term.
     
"It's extremely difficult for us to absolutely decontrol diesel at the moment because it would impact the economy in a very, very serious manner," he said, but added that the government is looking at partial decontrol of diesel so that the impact on the people would be of "reduced magnitude".
     
He recalled that diesel was decontrolled in 2010 but the measure has not been implemented as the price of crude oil started rising.
     
Singh said the state-run oil marketing companies are bleeding and are having a "terrible time" because of the subsidy burden. The government wants to bring down the subsidies on kerosene, LPG and diesel in a way that does not impact the people in a major manner and takes away subsidies from people who do not deserve them.
     
On prices of petrol, the Minister said his personal opinion is that it should be like in the US, where petrol prices change every day, and different companies have different prices.

सुपरस्टार राजेश खन्ना नहीं रहे

मुंबई: सुपरस्टार राजेश खन्ना का लंबी बीमारी के बाद मुंबई स्थित उनके आवास पर निधन हो गया है। उनके निधन की खबर आते ही उनके घर के बाहर फैन्स का जमावड़ा लगना शुरू हो गया, जिसकी वजह से उनके बंगले की सुरक्षा बढ़ा दी गई है। उनका अंतिम संस्कार कल किया जाएगा। वह मंगलवार को ही अस्पताल से घर लौटे थे।

गौरतलब है कि 70 के दशक के सुपरस्टार पिछले कुछ महीनों से बीमार चल रहे हैं और दो दिन पहले ही वह अस्पताल में रहकर घर लौटे थे। उन्हें कमजोरी के कारण अस्पताल में भर्ती करवाया गया था। उनसे अलग रह रही उनकी पत्नी डिंपल कपाड़िया सहित पूरा परिवार उनके साथ था। इससे पहले 20 जून को खबर आई थी कि खन्ना ने भोजन करना बंद कर दिया जिसके बाद उनकी हालत खराब होती चली गई।

स्कूली जीवन से ही स्टेज और अभिनय के शौकीन रहे राजेश खन्ना का जन्म अविभाजित भारत में पंजाब राज्य के अमृतसर में वर्ष 1942 की 29 दिसंबर को हुआ था, और उनका असली नाम जतिन खन्ना था। उन्होंने वर्ष 1966 में 'आखिरी खत' नामक फिल्म से अपने बॉलीवुड करियर की शुरुआत की थी, और इसके बाद 'राज', 'बहारों के सपने', 'औरत के रूप' जैसी कई फिल्में उन्होंने कीं, लेकिन उन्हें असली कामयाबी वर्ष 1969 में आई 'आराधना' से मिली, जिसके बाद वह सचमुच सुपरस्टार हो गए, और एक के बाद एक 14 सुपरहिट फिल्में दीं।

वर्ष 1971 में भी राजेश ने 'कटी पतंग', 'आनन्द', 'आन मिलो सजना', 'महबूब की मेहंदी', 'हाथी मेरे साथी', 'अंदाज' आदि फिल्मों से कामयाबी का परचम लहराए रखा, और इसके बाद के वक्त में भी उनकी 'दो रास्ते', 'दुश्मन', 'बावर्ची', 'मेरे जीवनसाथी', 'जोरू का गुलाम', 'अनुराग', 'दाग', 'नमकहराम', और 'हमशक्ल' फिल्में बेहद कामयाब रहीं। इसी दौर में राजेश को तीन बार सर्वश्रेष्ठ अभिनेता का फिल्मफेयर पुरस्कार भी मिला, जबकि वह कुल 14 बार इस श्रेणी में नामांकन पाने में कामयाब रहे थे। उन्हें पहली बार वर्ष 1971 में उन्हें फिल्म 'सच्चा झूठा' के लिए सर्वश्रेष्ठ अभिनेता का फिल्मफेयर पुरस्कार मिला। दूसरी बार वर्ष 1972 में आनन्द के लिए उन्हें सर्वश्रेष्ठ अभिनेता चुना गया, जबकि तीसरी बार वर्ष 1975 में फिल्म आविष्कार के लिए वह पुरस्कृत हुए।

वर्ष 1980 के बाद राजेश खन्ना का दौर खत्म होने लगा, और आखिरकार वह भी अपने कई समकालीन साथियों की तरह राजनीति में उतर आए और वर्ष 1991 के लोकसभा चुनाव में नई दिल्ली सीट से कांग्रेस की टिकट पर सांसद चुने गए। वर्ष 1994 में उन्होंने एक बार फिर फिल्म 'खुदाई' से पर्दे पर वापसी की कोशिश की, और 'आ अब लौट चलें', 'क्या दिल ने कहा', 'जाना', और 'वफा' जैसी फिल्मों में अभिनय किया, लेकिन कोई सफलता नहीं मिली।
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