Archive for: July 15, 2010

Dav Whatmore, the Kolkata Knight Riders coach and the former director of coaching at India’s National Cricket Academy, has questioned the selection of Yuvraj Singh in the Test squad against Sri Lanka ahead of batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who had a prolific run during the recently concluded A tour to England.

“The team surely has some finest Test match players. But, where is Cheteshwar Pujara? I personally think he is a must in the team, especially considering his form. Yuvraj Singh ahead of Pujara is completely baffling. This is just the right time to bring …

Piramal Healthcare Ltd. (PHL), one of India’s largest pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, and Super Religare Laboratories (SRL) signed a definitive agreement for SRL to acquire Piramal Diagnostic Services Private Ltd (PDSL), a subsidiary of Piramal, for Rs. 600 crore.

PDSL provides pathology and radiology diagnostic services through a network of 107 laboratories. Piramal will continue to be involved in the business, including by way of representation on the board and the executive committee of SRL.

According to a company statement, post-acquisition, the combined entity will have nearly 170 laboratories and 1,500 collection centres.

Less than two …

Attributing the double-digit inflation to the petro hike, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said that prices would moderate by the end of the kharif season, and inflation would come down to 5-6 per cent by the year-end.

“I do feel that the annual rate of inflation will be 5-6 per cent (by 2010-end),” Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of a function relating to the setting up of an investment fund between India and Oman.

Wholesale price-based inflation inched …

When Sonia Gandhi - inarguably the most powerful woman in the country - calls up somebody to convey birthday wishes, the media may not be blamed for generating as many stories - from a new political chemistry to cabinet expansion - as were possible from the one phone call.

That’s exactly happened when Mrs Gandhi made a phone call to Lok Janshakti Party Chief Ram Vilas Paswan on July 5 to wish the Dalit leader on his 64th birthday.

But, the innocuous phone call-and the subsequent hype that it kicked …

In a bid to give a sharp edge to anti-Naxal operations, the Union government on Wednesday asked Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal, worst affected by Maoist violence, to set up a Unified Command to carry out anti-Naxal operations.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting of Chief Ministers of the Naxal-affected States that the proposed Unified Command would be headed by the four States’ Chief Secretaries,

The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Unified Command will have a retired Major General as a member. The four States were asked to …

A pall of gloom descended on the bylanes of Satyanarayana Nagar at Karwan here on Wednesday. Relatives and well-wishers started arriving at the modest residence of the Narotes after the news came about the murder of 26-year-old Arun Kumar Narote in the United States.

Arun was shot dead by unidentified persons at a provision store in Bridgeport City on Tuesday. Pursuing his Master’s in Bridgeport University, he was working part time as a sales clerk at the store when robbers attacked it.

Family members said Arun had been working there since he went to the …