Kashmir wildlife population rising - officials!!!!

By Sheikh Mushtaq

DACHIGAM, India (Reuters Life!) - The wildlife population of Indian Kashmir has registered a "manifold" increase as a two-decade-old separatist rebellion has scared away poachers and hunters from the region, a wildlife official said on Tuesday.

Rare birds like the black partridge and pheasant have increased in thousands while more Asiatic black bear, leopards, musk deer and hangul, a rare red deer, now roam the disputed Himalayan region's pine forests.

"For fear of being caught in exchanges of fire between militants and the security forces, no one dared to venture deep into the forests in the past 20 years," Kashmir's wildlife warden, Rashid Naqash, told Reuters in Dachigam Sanctuary.

"Also, local hunters were ordered to hand in their guns. The impact is visible, there has been a manifold increase in wildlife."

In 1990, Indian authorities asked residents to deposit their hunting rifles with police as part of efforts to quell the revolt.

Authorities estimate the number of threatened black bear, which also inhabit hilly and mountainous forests across Asia from Afghanistan to Taiwan, has jumped in Kashmir to 2,500-3,000 from 700-800 since 1990.

Officials say the increase in wildlife population is good news for Kashmir's ailing tourism industry.

Kashmir has been disputed by India and Pakistan since they won independence from Britain in 1947 after a bloody partition

Fluent Dilshan leads strong Sri Lanka reply !

AHMEDABAD (Reuters) - Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan stroked his fifth test century of the year for Sri Lanka who reached 275 for three in reply to India's 426 at the close on the second day of the first test on Tuesday.

Dilshan hit 112 and shared in a first-wicket stand of 74 with Tharanga Paranavitana (35) and 115 for the next with skipper Kumar Sangakkara (31) to help the tourists make a solid reply on a good batting pitch at the Motera.

Left-arm pace bowler Zaheer Khan struck crucial blows for India when he dismissed Dilshan and Sangakkara in successive overs but Mahela Jayawardene (36 not out) and Thilan Samaraweera (45 not out) made sure no more wickets fell with a stand of 81.

Dilshan, who scored 92 and 123 not out in the first test against New Zealand in August, recorded his 10th test hundred that featured some fine strokeplay.

Dilshan struck 12 fours and reached his century with a spanking cut for a boundary off Ishant Sharma, but fell to a soft dismissal when he top-edged a slash off Zaheer to be caught by Rahul Dravid running in from gully.

Zaheer, returning from a long injury layoff, forced Sangakkara to miscue a hook in his following over to be caught by Sachin Tendulkar at fine leg.

But former captain Jayawardene and Samaraweera batted with patience and poise as Sri Lanka's steadily built on Dilshan's magnificent effort.

Sri Lanka, who are ranked second behind South Africa in the official test rankings, are aiming to win a test on Indian soil for the first time.

India were bowled out in the morning for the addition of 41 runs to their overnight score and their spinners struggled to derive purchase.

Air India expects first round of govt funding by Jan !

MUMBAI (Reuters) - National Aviation Company of India Ltd, which runs ailing carrier Air India, said it expects the first installment of government funding to the tune of 4 billion rupees by Jan 2010.

Aviation Minister Praful Patel said earlier in November India will infuse equity into the state-run carrier by March, but the airline would have to generate 20 billion rupees through cost cuts and revenue gains.

Further installments would be linked to savings effected on account of cost-cutting exercise adopted by the national carrier at various levels, the company said on Tuesday.

Air India will cut its fleet size and network in the coming months it added.

(Reporting by Aniruddha Basu; Editing by Sunil Nair)

Smart gold deal by RBI!!!

(D. H. Pai Panandiker is President of RPG Foundation. The views expressed in this column are his own)

By D.H.Pai Panandiker

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) grabbed 200 tonnes of gold offered for sale by the IMF at the going market price of $1045 an ounce. That gold will be part of the foreign exchange reserves of RBI.

The IMF had to sell gold because it needed money in order to reorganize its finances and to step up concessional loans to the poorest countries that had been hit by world recession. Further, the IMF had to ensure that its operations do not disrupt the market for gold and therefore preferred sale to central banks that generally buy gold for keeps.

Central Banks don’t speculate. Obviously, the gold bought by the RBI is for changing its asset portfolio. The $6.7 billion spent on gold was from investment in securities issued by foreign governments that form the bulk of the foreign exchanges reserves. These securities earn very low rate of interest, if at all. The interest rate in the US and Japan is close zero.

Although the composition of RBI’s foreign exchange reserves is not an open information, it appears that about 50-60 per cent of the reserves are in US dollar securities. The potential risk is that the dollar may depreciate further. Already the dollar had been down 7 per cent against the euro and 11 per cent against the yen in the last 6 months.

It is feared that, with the pumping in of cash by the Fed to avert the impending financial catastrophe last year, the dollar may plunge yet more in future.

The RBI’s gold reserves have been low compared to the gold component of reserves of many other central banks or even its hold reserves in the past. When the IMF took the decision to sell gold it was therefore expected that India will be a potential customer. Even with the additional 200 tonnes in the vault, the gold component of RBI foreign exchange reserves would be only 6 per cent.

The only yield from gold is its appreciation. In recent years, gold has been a favoured asset even among individual investors because of greater uncertainly in the real estate and stock markets. The international price of gold has been consistently rising since 2003. From $400 an ounce in 2004 it jumped to $700 in September 2007 and to $1000 in September 2009

BSE Sensex edges up; Infosys, HDFC Bank gain !!

Reliance said it plans an aggressive exploration campaign, investments in petrochemicals and overseas acquisitions, but did not elaborate on any particular plan.

The main 30-share BSE index closed up 0.1 percent, or 18.14 points, at 17,050.65 points, with half of its components rising. It had fallen as much as 0.9 percent during trade.

"Our market is just reacting to what is happening globally," said Shah.

Foreign funds have been a key driver for the market, pouring in $15 billion so far this year and helping the benchmark jump more than three-quarters in 2009.

The BSE index has risen 7.3 percent this month, erasing its losses in October.

HDFC Bank climbed 1.5 percent to 1,747.35 rupees as investors bet recovering economic activity would boost earnings.

"Besides being a geared play on the economic cycle, banks trade at a 22 percent valuation discount to the broader market, which makes them an attractive buy," HSBC Bank said in a report and added HDFC Bank was its top pick from the sector.

Top lender State Bank of India closed 0.3 percent higher while rival ICICI Bank ended little changed.

Energy explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp fell 2.3 percent to 1,172.20 rupees as investors booked profits after it rose 4.5 percent in the past two sessions