Indian steel makers

 

"Indian Steelmakers Directory 2011” is one the top sources of information available on steel making companies in India! This directory covers name and contact details of 953 Indian steelmakers

Indian Steelmakers Directory' is one of the most comprehensive and accurate directory of Indian steel companies that have ever been published. This powerful directory is your connection to the entire Indian steel industries sector.

Published in February 2011, “Indian Steelmakers Directory 2011” has been comprehensively researched and prepared, to bring you a fully up to date guide to India's rapidly growing steel makers. This Directory will be extremely useful to businesses that deal specifically with companies in the iron and steel industry, ferroalloys, consumable suppliers, raw material sellers, equipment makers and others.

Whether you are a product manager, in charge of marketing, raw material seller, in equipment business or simply interested to remain in touch with the latest developments in the Indian steel industries, this directory will save you time and effort in finding the information you need.

Gilani acknowledges to play ball with PM

 

The stalemate in India-Pakistan ties after the public falling out during foreign minister S M Krishna's visit to Islamabad in mid-July last year is likely to end with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani accepting his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh's invitation. Gilani will see the high-profile clash between India and Pakistan at the World Cup semifinal in Mohali on Wednesday along with Singh with the occasion expected to push the stalled New Delhi-Islamabad dialogue. The "off field" optics could see some gains in official exchanges that have become largely formal acts.

Official sources said the Pakistani PM was not likely to visit New Delhi and would, in all probability, return after seeing the match with Singh. A formal meeting beyond a welcome -- and informal exchanges -- is as yet not scheduled. The cricket is seen to provide the stage to ease "limiting positions" on both sides. It would serve to break the ice. The view that Singh's move is essentially an "environment enabler" seems to be shared across the border. "The biggest achievement of Manmohan Singh`s gesture is that it has broken the stalemate. At the most, PM Gilani`s visit to India and meeting with his counterpart will help improve the environment for facilitation of talks in future," leading Pakistani analyst Amir Mateen said.

Pakistani officials did not speak of any formal talks. Indian sources made it clear they will not take their eye off major hurdles like lack of progress in bringing the 26/11 guilty to book, a point likely to be emphasized at the home secretaries' meeting due in New Delhi on Monday and Tuesday. However, the latest Indian initiative may smoothen the atmospherics. Singh's move is consistent with his view that there is no alternative to engaging Pakistan despite hiccups in ties. He has been careful of the domestic fallout after the much criticized Sharm-el Sheikh initiative where he agreed to an inclusion of a reference to an implied Indian role in Baluchistan, but remains wedded to moving on with Pakistan.

The Indian PM is not likely to lose sight of terrorism as a core area. Even though there is a tendency for ties to suddenly go into a tailspin as it happened in Islamabad last year despite a "positive" meeting between Gilani and Singh at Thimphu in April 2010, the PM is looking to get things started by reengaging the top leadership of the civilian government in Pakistan. In Islamabad, President Asif Zardari's spokesperson said, "We have welcomed the invitation of the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and it has now been decided that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will visit India to watch the World Cup cricket semifinal match in Mohali on March 30." He did not say whether the leaders would hold talks on any of the issues that strained relations between the two countries.

The decision that Gilani will watch the India-Pakistan match was taken late on Saturday when the PM met Zardari. It was made public when Pakistan`s home secretary Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, leading a three-member delegation, reached India. Talking to media on the Wagah border, Chaudhry said the hugely popular game of cricket would help promote harmony between the two countries. "Cricket is vastly popular in both our countries, and anything that has a commonality and is so equally graded on both sides should definitely lead towards further commonality and harmony," he told reporters. The two countries` top officials are due to hold talks on counter-terrorism and a number of other troublesome issues.

The Indian high commission in Islamabad also lauded Gilani`s visit, saying his presence will have a positive impact on India-Pak talks. Sharat Sabharwal, the Indian high commissioner, said Indian embassy was working hard to deal with visa applications. He said that there was no problem in issuing visas but tickets for the match remained an issue. The visa office was still receiving a large number of applications, he added.

Release of latest tiger census in India

 

On Monday, India will know how many tigers it really has when the latest tiger census is released. The new estimates are expected to be better than the 1,411 reported in 2008, say experts. The census will be released at the March 28-30 international tiger conference at Vigyan Bhawan here. Some 200 delegates, including officials from 13 tiger range countries and experts from international organisations, will participate.

The meet will be hosted by Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh. The conference is a follow up to the St. Petersburg meet held last year in Russia, and will discuss challenges, plans and priorities for implementing the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP), which aims to double the wild tiger population by 2022. It is being organised in collaboration with the Global Tiger Forum (GTF), an inter-governmental body that also has membership of national and international NGOs and the World Bank's Global Tiger Initiative (GTI).

Besides the census report, a film on India's 30 years since the launch of Project Tiger will be released at the conference. The National Tiger Action Plan of 13 tiger range countries and a book by celebrated tiger conservationists Ullas Karanth, 'Science of Tiger', will also be launched. The chief ministers of at least five tiger range states and field directors of all tiger reserves are expected to attend the meet.

'The good news is that we can save the tiger,' said Azzedine Downes, executive vice president of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) that was designated an official NGO partner to facilitate the implementation of the tiger recovery programme. 'To do so, the world community must find new ways of working together and the political will to translate talk into action. The global action plan's goal to double the wild tiger population by 2022 is a positive step in that direction,' Downes said in a statement.

According to the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), poaching, illegal trade of body parts of tigers and habitat degradation have sharply reduced the number of world's tigers, which is now about 3,000, a 97 percent drop since the 1900s. The man-animal conflict has emerged as one of the key challenges to tiger conservation, particularly in India, home to half the world's tiger population, the organisation said.

US denied to help India on IC 814

 

More WikiLeaks revelations have emerged from the over five thousand US diplomatic cables on India that have been accessed by the Hindu newspaper.

The Hindu reported that the FBI did not respond to India's requests for assistance in the IC 814 hijacking investigation as it did not want to cooperate in what it internally dubbed as a "fishing expeditions".

India had sought access to Taliban records which were in the US' possession. US cables dated 2005 also reveal how Washington prior to 26/11 was wary of sharing information with India, especially when it concerned Pakistan.

Another explosive cable which will vindicate New Delhi but leave Islamabad red-faced.

Former Pakistan Minister Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif allegedly told two US senators that he had no doubt that the men who attacked Mumbai in November 2008 were Pakistani. These details were sent by a US Consulate officer in a cable dated December 2009.

The cable describes how Sharif told a visiting delegation of US senators including John McCain that he had listened to the phone call made by one of the attackers to an Indian TV channel, and had heard a Pakistani accent.

Indian becomes millionaire within 5 years

 

Mohammed Qasim Al Ali, CEO of National Bonds Corporation said that the scheme continues to exceed customers' expectations by offering innovative initiatives to make saving a rewarding and enriching experience.

"Most of our customers have turned to more frequent savers since they joined the programme, giving them financial security and peace-of-mind. I am proud to see more and more customers and their families committing to savings and looking ahead for a better financial future."

He said that minors such as Ebrahim form 13 per cent of the overall number of bondholders and this number has increased year on year. "This means that we are encouraging positive savings values from a younger age and this enhanced financial responsibility will lead to a stable economy in the future," he said.

MS Dhoni catches cold

 

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virender Sehwag were the only absentees as Team India resumed training here on Thursday. While Dhoni took a day off due to common cold, Sehwag is recovering from a sore right knee. Sehwag may or may not resume training on Friday, but he is more than certain to play against the West Indies on Sunday.

BCCI secretary N Srinivasan, who paid a visit to the media centre during the England-West Indies match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Thursday, confirmed that Sehwag will indeed be playing against the West Indies. Meanwhile, the others sweated it out in a full-fledged training session at the IIT Chemplast ground on Thursday afternoon.
Interestingly, chief selector Kris Srikkanth was present at the ground.

The former India skipper spoke to coach Gary Kirsten for about 20 minutes at the start of the session. India’s bowlers haven’t had a great time at the World Cup and Srikkanth was seen encouraging them during the training session. In fact, ‘Chika’ took time out to speak to each of the bowlers. Later, he was seen talking to Yuvraj Singh. Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar, who is just one big knock away from his 100th international century, was as focused as ever.

On Thursday, Tendulkar was seen practising his favourite cover drive during an hour-long session with Kirsten. Tendulkar, though, took a break when he saw Kirsten advising Yusuf Pathan. The maestro was seen helping Pathan with his technique. The bowlers were seen training intensely. Ashish Nehra, India’s ‘villain’ in Nagpur, was bowling his heart out at the nets. Clearly, Nehra wants to make amends.

India's nuclear plants manages natural disasters

A country that is probably one of the best countries at disaster management, a country that is resourceful and has been well-prepared for decades for a big calamity like an earthquake or tsunami. Still, Japan teeters on the brink of a disaster at its Fukushima DaiIchi nuclear power plant following a devastating earthquake. The radiation leak in Japan is raising concerns over the safety of Indian atomic power generators also, bringing the focus back on our crisis management plans. While the government is trying to dispel public worries over the safety of Indian reactors, several experts and activists remain unconvinced.

India has seven nuclear plants with 20 nuclear reactors. These are located at Kaiga in Karnatakal; Kalpakkam and Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu; Tarapur in Maharashtra; Kakrapur in Gujarat; Narora in Uttar Pradesh; and Rawatbhatta in Rajasthan. Like the Fukushima plant, several Indian plants sit on the coast. The proposed Jaitapur plant also falls in a seismically sensitive area in Maharashtra.

Anti-nuclear activists have been questioning the safety of the Jaitapur plant, which according to the earthquake hazard zoning of India, comes under Zone III - a moderate risk zone - on the scale of I to V. Activists arguing against the project say the Geological Survey of India revealed that the site and the surrounding area experienced 91 tremors between 1985 and 2005, ranging from 2.9 to 6.3 on the Richter Scale and the area falls in Zone IV. The Kalpakkam plant in Tamil Nadu is also under the threat as the location is near to earthquake or tsunami prone area.

But the authorities in India say there was nothing to worry about. According to nuclear experts, since the type of reactors in India and Japan and the environment in which they operate are different, similar scenarios are unlikely. In case of Japan, the nuclear plants are located in highly seismic areas, for instance, Fukushima is located in Zone 5. On the other hand, India's nuclear plants are situated in the moderately seismic Zone 3. The Narora plant is the only one located in Zone 4. This is what makes Indian officials rule out the possibility of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake striking Indian nuclear plants.

The history also speaks in favour of the Indian nuclear experts. In 2001, when an earthquake of 6.7 magnitude hit Gujarat, operations at the Kakrapur plant went on uninterrupted. When the 2004 tsunami battered the Tamil Nadu coast, the Kalpakkam plant did not suffer any damage during. An additional wall was built to protect the plant after the tsunami. Another aspect that scientists pointed out is that Indian reactors are inherently safer as they use natural uranium as fuel as against enriched uranium that the Japanese reactors use. Apart from this, the Indian reactor design allows for cooling using convection currents even in a state of station blackout - when all power and backups fail.

Despite the chorus of assurances from the government, some of India's leading geologists voiced concern in the wake of the devastation caused by the 9-magnitude quake in Japan. "It is true the Dec 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami did not result in any damage to the Madras Atomic Power Station at Kalpakkam except causing some flooding, but this was because the tsunami originated from the subduction zone near Sumatra some 1,400 km away from India", K.S. Valdiya, a renowned geologist at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, as told to IANS.

According to Valdiya, had the tsunami originated from near the Andaman Islands, instead of Sumatra, the waves would have lashed India's eastern coast with much greater ferocity and travelled much farther inland. He has also warned that India's west coast is also not immune to tsunamis.

2 arrested pilots remitted Rs 10 lakh for forged marksheet

Two pilots arrested in the Capital for procuring flying licence by allegedly forging marksheets are believed to have paid touts Rs 10-12 lakh each, police said on Monday. Police arrested Parminder Kaur Gulati (38) of IndiGo and Jitender Kishen Verma (46) of Air India in the last one week and are hot on the trail of two more pilots who are absconding in the wake of the fake pilot scare. Verma is with the state-owned airline for 22 years. As police widened its probe to nail the touts, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand said they were investigating the case and were looking for Meenakshi Sehgal of IndiGo and Swaran Singh Talwar of MDLR -- against whom Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has lodged complaints.

A senior police official said they were trying to identify the touts from whom the pilots allegedly procured the fake marksheets. "They are believed have paid something around Rs 10-12 lakh. We are investigating this," the official, who did not want to be named, said. Chand said, "The latest to be arrested was Verma. He has been a co-pilot with Air India since 1989. He tried to get a pilot licence but failed in mandatory tests continuously. He then allegedly forged marksheets to procure licence."

He said Verma was arrested on March 12, four days after Gulati was apprehended from the capital. Talwar and Sehgal are absconding. According to Chand, both Gulati and Verma procured Airlines Transport Pilot Licence using fake documents. "One has to clear three subjects -- Aviation Meteorlogy, Radio Aids & Instruments and Air Navigation -- to get ATPL, mandatory for becoming a Commander of a plane," he said.
However in Verma's case, he said, he failed in all three papers continuously from 2006 though he cleared Aviation Meteorology paper in 2009. In December 2009, he went to the US and obtained an ATPL from Florida. To convert this license issued from the US to Indian license, he had to again appear in one Air Navigation composite.

"In June, 2010 he appeared in the paper but did not clear it. Then in September, 2010, he submitted a forged result card of April 2010 of passing Air Navigation Composite for conversion of his license. On this, he obtained the Indian License on the basis of forged result card," Chand said. Verma was born and brought up in Mumbai and did his BCom from Mumbai University in 1986. The next year he obtained a Commercial Pilot License (CPL) from Florida in US and in 1989, he joined as a trainee pilot in Air India. After completion of training he became a co-pilot in Air India.

In the wake of the fake pilot scare, licenses of 3,000 to 4,000 pilots are being scrutinised by the DGCA, according to Civil Aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi. Delhi Police's Crime Branch had on March 8 arrested Gulati for allegedly obtained the mandatory Airlines Transport Pilot License (ALTP) using forged documents.