Anna Hazare leads largest India Day parade in US

Indian social activist Anna Hazare and Bollywood star Vidya Balan led America's largest India Day parade in Manhattan as Indian New Yorkers waving the country's tricolour flags celebrated India's independence.

The 33rd annual India Day parade down Madison Avenue on Sunday featured 40 colourful floats, marching bands and convertibles and thousands of cheering revellers marching to the beat of dhols or the Indian drums.

Another highlight of the parade was a replica of the Red Fort in an 80 by 10 feet area in Manhattan near the parade route to showcase India's heritage.

Many parade-goers along the orange, white and green-lined route wore "I am Anna" paper hats to signify their support to Mr Hazare, whose anti-corruption crusade has inspired thousands at home and abroad.

One parade-goer wore a multi-coloured turban with three miniature Indian flags stuck in it. He waved an American flag and marched with three dozen members of the Vaishnav Temple of New York in New Hyde Park.

The parade drew elected officials and political candidates, including Reshma Saujani, a Democratic candidate for public advocate and Joe Lhota, a Republican mayoral candidate ahead of the September 10 primary.

"I think our voice is getting more politically powerful," said Ms Saujani, who would be New York City's first Indian-American politician, if elected. "It's important for the community to be out recognizing that."

"What we're really doing here is celebrating coming to America."
Also joining the event organized by the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) were former Indian Chief of Army Staff General VK Singh, Tamil film star Sarath Kumar and his wife Radhika Sarath Kumar, a television and film actress.

Mr Hazare will be ringing the opening bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange on Monday morning to mark India's Independence Day with many IT companies listed on Nasdaq.

Meanwhile, veteran community leader Thomas Abraham, founder of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) led the India Day parade organized by India cultural society of Rockland county in New City in New York on Saturday.

Rupee falls to 62.45 to a new record low

The Indian rupee opened at its weakest ever against the US dollar on Monday morning. The partially convertible rupee dropped over 1 per cent to hit a record low of 62.45 surpassing the previous low of 62.03 hit on Friday.

The rupee traded at 62.25 as of 09.50 a.m. as against Friday's close of 61.65 against the greenback. The BSE Sensex dropped over 240 points, while the 50-share Nifty benchmark slipped below the key 5,450 levels.

The rupee has now decisively breached the 62 levels despite several measures announced by the Reserve Bank and the government.

Analysts have blamed the sharp fall over the last two sessions to the RBI's latest measure announced last week. The central bank on Wednesday announced measures to restrict how much citizens and companies can invest abroad, but these steps have raised fears of outright capital controls, traders said.

The latest measures would further undermine the confidence of foreign investors, traders said.

According to data from market regulator Sebi, FIIs sold stocks worth Rs. 563 crore on Friday.

Analysts say policy makers will need to unveil a credible plan to attract foreign inflows to support the rupee.

"The RBI has done enough to support the rupee, but unfortunately nothing has worked because markets are fixated on growth. RBI should look beyond these measures," forex expert Moses Harding told NDTV.

Deven Choksey, managing director of domestic brokerage KR Choksey said signals from RBI that it is ready to bring down rates to drive growth would be enough to retain capital in the markets.

Slammed by the opposition for what it called the UPA government's "financial mismanagement," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday that the sharp falls in domestic markets that sent the rupee to a record low were a reaction to global developments and he expected calm to return.

Madras High Court dismisses petition seeking to ban Madras Cafe

Madras High Court bench in Madurai today dismissed a petition seeking to ban the release of Bollywood film "Madras Cafe" of actor-producer John Abraham for allegedly portraying the LTTE in a bad light.

Justice Manikumar dismissed the petition by advocate Ezhilarasu, stating that he had not substantiated with materials that the film would cause law and order problem in Tamil Nadu.

The petitioner had contended that the film, to be released on August 23, was a political thriller set in the backdrop of the assassination of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

He had claimed that the depiction of the Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka as terrorist in the film raised concerns among the Tamil population in India.

If the film was permitted to be released in the present form, it might affect the law and order situation in the state besides the sentiments of the Tamils, he had argued.

MS Dhoni heads Kapil Dev's greatest all-time Indian ODI team, Ravindra Jadeja included too

   

Kapil All-time XII: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Mohammed Azharuddin, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan. 12th Man: Ravindra Jadeja.Interestingly, Kapil didn't select a single member of the victorious 1983 squad.

He can walk into any Indian team on a given day but former captain Kapil Dev decided to keep himself "out" of the best-ever Indian ODI line-up which he feels should be led by another limited overs legend Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The World Cup winning captain's team of 12 has young Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja while Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble are the other two spinners.

Apart from Dhoni, the team has legendary Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli, Mohammed Azharuddin while Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath are the two fast bowlers.

Interestingly, Kapil didn't select a single member of the victorious 1983 squad.

Asked about the reason behind leaving out members of 1983 side, Kapil said:"I feel this is India's best ODI team. People can disagree with me but that's my personal view."

"Furthermore, I am selecting the side so how can I include myself in it," he said when asked to hand pick India's best ODI team on the sidelines of promotional event here today.

"We won the 1983 World Cup but the fact remains that West Indies were by far the better side. We were just confident of doing well on that given day."

Kapil reiterated that the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led team which won the Champions Trophy in England this year is the best-ever team in the history of Indian cricket.

"The team did not have key players like Sehwag, (Gautam) Gambhir, Zaheer but the way they played nobody missed them. West Indies is still missing the likes of Viv Richards, Desmond Haynes," he said.

"I have never seen such outstanding fielding side in the history of Indian cricket. The Champions Trophy title is the ultimate tribute to this team."

Kapil had words of appreciation for India's new batting sensation Shikhar Dhawan and compared the hard-hitting left-hander to Sehwag.

"Shikhar has been outstanding from his very first match. I had never thought there would be someone who can hit the ball better than Sehwag," he said.

With the present Indian team sporting a settled look, Kapil feels it would be tough for seniors like Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj and Zaheer to make a comeback.

"Nothing is impossible but they need to have patience. The competition would be tough because and the age is also not in their favour," he said.

Mohammad Azharuddin offered role as Jammu and Kashmir coach

Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin has been offered the job of coaching the Jammu and Kashmir cricket team and is considering whether to take it up or not, a report said.

Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association President Farooq Abdullah offered Azharuddin the position that has been lying vacant since Bishan Singh Bedi's exit after the end of last season.

"We still haven't reached the final decision," Abdullah was quoted as saying by 'ESPNCricinfo'.

Azharuddin's life ban handed by the BCCI in 2000 for his alleged involvement in match-fixing was overturned last year by the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Mujeeb Khan, Azharuddin's secretary, said the former batsman hadn't made up his mind.

"He has been offered the post of coach by JKCA but he hasn't decided whether to take it or not. They want to avail of whatever services he could render. He is seriously considering it since he is desperate to give back to the game that has been so close to his heart," Mujeeb said.

The report also said that even if Azharuddin accepts the offer, his return to the cricket field, albeit as a coach, won't be easy.

It quoted a BCCI official as saying that Azharuddin cannot return to cricket in any role without BCCI's permission since the ruling has been challenged.

Delhi government to sell onion at Rs. 50 per kg through mobile vans

With onion prices shooting through the roof, Delhi government will facilitate selling of the kitchen staple at around Rs. 50 per kg at 1,000 points across the city from Saturday morning.

A total of 150 mobile vans will be deployed to sell onion across the city and each of the vehicles will visit four places in a locality, which means coverage of 600 points.

Besides this, the vegetable will be made available at a total of 400 stores, including 280 Mother Dairy outlets.

"The onions will be made available at around Rs. 50 per kg at 1,000 points across the city. We are selling onions on no-profit no-loss basis," Food and Supplies Minister Harun Yusuf told PTI.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, facing assembly elections after three months, is concerned about the high prices of onion and has told the Food and Supplies Department to come down hard on those hoarding the vegetable.

BJP was voted out of power in 1998 in Delhi following spiralling onion prices.

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