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Bofors charge-sheet half-baked, feels Govt
Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian has reportedly told Prime Minister I K Gujral that the CBI's proposed charge-sheet in the Bofors case needed a closer look by senior law officers of the government. Subsequently, the government has decided to withhold sanction to the CBI to file chargesheets against those mentioned in the CBI's report, rather seeking legal opinion.
Petro prices to go up as FM refuses to climb down
The Finance Ministry rejected demands for slashing Cutstoms and Excise levies on the oil sector to the tune of 10% virtually leaving the government with no other option but to increase the prices of petroleum products. The Finance Minister dismissed the proposal on the ground that it would affect the budgetary revenues.
Reprieve for Khurana too
The designated trial court quashed the Central Bureau of Investigation's charge-sheet against former Delhi chief minister and senior BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana in the Rs 65 crore hawala scam. The court also discharged the Jain brothers S K Jain, B R Jain, N K Jain and their manager J K Jain, co-accused in the case of alleged bribe to Khurana in November 1989.
Rebels join Left against Laloo
The 15-party Left-Democratic Front would stage a dharna before JP's statue here tomorrow to press for the resignation of Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav for his involvement in the fodder scam. Representatives of the Front constituents including the CPI, CPI-M, Samajwadi Party and Marxist Coordination Committee would participate in the dharna.
MPs may just pay lip-service today
The Women's Reservation Bill is to finally come up for discussion in the Lok Sabha yesterday, even as Muslim MPs decided to oppose the Bill until they were given proportionate representation to minorities and backward classes. They declared that they would go to the masses if the Bill was passed in haste.
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SBI Belgian branch accused of money laundering
The Belgian government has charged State Bank of India's Antwerp branch with abetting money laundering. The branch was raided on Wednesday, and three SBI executives of the overseas branch were taken into police custody. The Belgians have additionally accused the bank of a lack of transparency in conducting operations.
DoT to undertake of Ericsson WiLL system trial
The Department of Telecommunications has finally decided to take up field trial of IS-136 standard wireless local loop system being offered by Ericsson Telecom Ltd for induction into the national telecom network. Ericsson has in the last two years been pressing to give it a chance to obtain a approval certificate from the Telecommunication Engineering Centre.
Fixed-to-mobile hike withdrawn
The Department of Telecommunications withdrew the tariff hike from fixed-to-cellular mobile phones with retrospective effect from May 1, 1997. The hike in tariff from fixed-to-cellular phones had seen a 50% fall in airtime traffic. Many foreign telecom operators had threatened to "review" their investment commitments.
Stamp duty on some port constructions likely to go
The ministry of surface transport is expected to issue a notification exempting those investing in certain categories of port constructions from paying stamp duty. Port industry sources said that a circular to this effect will be sent to all port chairmen by the end of this month. The stamp duty is applicable on the documentation of the contract awarded.
Colgate-Palmolive fights to keep dentacare pie
India's leading dental care product company Colgate-Palmolive is losing ground, though marginally, in the urban market while Hindustan Lever continues its upward march. Since there was no major price increase in 1996, Colgate's share in terms of value would have dropped marginally. The total size of the market both the companies together hold 86%.
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