5 Stories for Today

(1) Fearing virtual revolt, BJP cracks the whip

Upset with some of its party MPs for speaking their minds against the Women's Reservation Bill and fearing a virtual revolt, the Bharatiya Janata Party has cracked the whip and said every party MP will vote in favour of the Bill as and when it is taken up in the Lok Sabha.

At a meeting of MPs at senior leader L.K. Advani's residence on Thursday, it was made clear that every MP must toe the party line and refrain from adversely commenting on the Bill. That, however, did not prevent them from voicing their dissent and even charging the leadership with being “unnecessarily” proactive on the issue. Some urged it not to issue a whip and others questioned the wisdom of the party agreeing to “rotation” of reserved seats, saying the MPs will not nurture their constituencies.

The BJP leadership said a parliamentary party meeting would be called to discuss the issue. Conscious of the three-fold tasks before the party — maintaining discipline, not allowing the Congress to run away with all credit for empowering women, and ensuring that the MPs followed the party line as they did toe in the Rajya Sabha — BJP leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj got into action early in the morning, calling MPs telephonically and giving them a piece of her mind for speaking out against the Bill in public.

Ms. Swaraj, who faces the challenge of ensuring full support for the Bill in the Lower House, said: “On every issue and on each piece of legislation there are differences in any party. In our party no one's mouth is sealed; they are free to express their views. But once the leadership takes a decision, everyone falls in line. That is the party system and whips are issued for all Bills and all debates where there is a vote recorded.” The same would happen to the women's Bill. There was no doubt that the BJP would support the Bill in the Lok Sabha, she emphasised.

(2) Chile: President sworn-in amidst strong quakes

The earth shook and shook on Thursday as dignitaries walked in for the swearing-in of Sebastian Pinera as Chile’s President. It shook some more as they waited for him.

People in the balconies of the vast congressional hall in coastal Valparaiso shouted warnings as a massive light fixture rocked overhead, and heads of state nervously eyed the ceiling. But a steely calm prevailed, and Mr. Pinera strode in smiling. The 60-year-old president and his ministers then quickly swore their oaths, and the audience of 2,000 headed for the exits and the hills, joining an evacuation called out of concern that Thursday’s repeated aftershocks would set off another tsunami. Inauguration Day was peppered with more than a dozen significant aftershocks, amply demonstrating Pinera’s challenges after last month’s magnitude-8.8 quake, one of the biggest in modern history. Chile’s first elected right-wing president in 52 years won office promising to improve the economy. Now, he says he’ll be the “reconstruction president.” His advice to citizens: “Let’s dry our tears and put our hands to work.”

But relief efforts stalled on Thursday as more than 10 earthquakes shook Chile in a span of six hours. The strongest, at 6.9, nearly matched the 7.0-magnitude quake that devastated Haiti on Jan. 12.

Mr. Pinera urged citizens to heed the Chilean navy’s tsunami warning and seek higher ground. Then he made a show of normality, greeting other presidents for lunch at the Cerro Castillo summer palace, where he left them at the table and boarded a helicopter to tour disaster areas.

The inauguration had lasted just 30 minutes, marked by three of the aftershocks. One prompted Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe to leave the hall for several minutes as an announcer appealed for calm. Outgoing President Michelle Bachelet sat unperturbed as a nearby flower arrangement rocked back and forth. Mr. Pinera called on Chileans to dedicate themselves to “this colossal job of reconstructing our country, of rebuilding better than what we had before, not just to lift up our schools, our hospitals, our homes, but also to make them better, and also to lift up the soul of our country.”

The Feb. 27 earthquake — the fifth—strongest since 1900 — killed 497 identified victims and potentially hundreds of others, destroyed or heavily damaged at least 500,000 homes and broke apart highways and hospitals. Recovery costs could soar above $15 billion, including $5 billion for infrastructure alone.

(3) Raju moves SC for bail in Satyam scam case

After spending more than a year behind bars in the Rs 7,100 crore Satyam financial scam, key accused B Ramalinga Raju on Thursday moved Supreme Court seeking bail saying the CBI had completed its investigation and had filed chargesheet.

Once the probe was completed and chargesheet filed, there could be no possible apprehension about the accused tampering with evidence, Raju said in his appeal challenging a recent decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court rejecting his bail plea.

Apart from legal grounds, Raju said he was in urgent need of specialised medical help for his serious cardiac and other health problems. He promised to abide by all conditions that the apex court thinks fit to be imposed on him for ordering his release from prison on bail.

Raju's move to approach the apex court could have been prompted by the recent decision of the SC to grant bail to Satyam's auditor T Srinivas on the ground that the bulky chargesheet running into over 55,000 pages and continuing probe could lead to a long drawn trial process.

Raju also claimed that his ailments and incarceration were coming in the way of preparing an effective defence against a bulky chargesheet and voluminous documents annexed to it.

During the hearing of Srinivas's bail plea, CBI had sought deferment of the hearing for three months saying by that time, the agency would know the status of letters rogatory sent to US, UK, Belgium, Singapore, Mauritius and British Virgin Islands seeking assistance of the authorities for information on Satyam related activities there.

(4) Data of 24,000 Swiss a/c holders stolen: HSBC

Information on 24,000 HSBC customers with Swiss accounts has been stolen, British bank HSBC said on Thursday, potentially exposing large numbers of international clients to prosecution by tax authorities in their home countries. A former IT employee of Swiss subsidiary HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA, identified by French authorities as Herve Falciani, stole the information between late 2006 and early 2007, the bank said. The accounts, held by individuals worldwide, were all opened before October 2006 and some 9,000 have since been closed.

"We deeply regret this situation and unreservedly apologize to our clients for this threat to their privacy," said Alexandre Zeller, chief executive of the Swiss subsidiary. The bank said it has contacted the affected customers and doesn't believe the stolen data has or will allow any unauthorized person to access the affected accounts.

The stolen information only affects accounts in Switzerland with the exception of its former subsidiary HSBC Guyerzeller Bank, it said. However, the theft could leave some of those account holders exposed to prosecution by tax authorities. In recent cases of data theft from banks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the information was offered to foreign governments seeking to track down nationals who avoided paying their taxes by hiding money in Swiss accounts.

The French government said last year it had obtained a list of 3,000 French HSBC clients compiled from numerous sources.

(5) Government ignoring inflation: Yashwant

The Opposition parties on Thursday expressed dismay that the UPA government had not listed the challenge of galloping inflation in the general budget for 2010-11 and charged that the “aam aadmi” had been bypassed altogether. Initiating the debate on the budget, the former Finance Minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha was critical of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement that the crisis of inflation had been weathered.

He also questioned the rationale of the government that prices had shot up due to the hype over the failure of the monsoon. “If the hype was there, it is the government which is responsible.”

Mr. Sinha took a dig at the UPA alliance politics where the Congress sought to put the blame on its allies, as in the case of agriculture on Sharad Pawar and Mamata Banerjee for problems in the Railways. “The entire government is responsible, including the Prime Minister who heads the Cabinet Committee on Prices.”

It was not surprising, Mr. Sinha said, that no measures had been suggested to combat inflation as the burning issue had been ignored totally in the budget.

The agrarian crisis also did not get the importance it should have got.Taking at dig at the Finance Minister, Mr. Sinha said the only good news about the budget was that toy balloons had become cheaper. “When a child cries for a morsel of food, his mother may console him saying that she did not have roti but would promise a toy balloon instead.”

He also made light of the stress being attached to the growth of the economy. “You don't eat GDP. You eat rice and roti. And these are totally out of the reach of the common masses.”

Mr. Sinha also warned that the spiralling prices of essential commodities would impact the growth rate and doubted if the country would achieve a nine per cent GDP growth rate in the fourth quarter to get close to the projected GDP of 7.2 per cent during the current fiscal.

He wondered why the government had not offloaded some of its buffer stock in the market to contain prices when godowns were brimming with stocks thrice in excess of the prescribed level. The “aam aadmi” had been left to fend for himself.

“What is the definition of aam aadmi for this government?” he asked and said it was those earning more than Rs. 25,000 per month as the income tax rebate had been given only to those earning above that.