Newsreel 11.04.04

• The demand to ban opinion and exit polls from across the political establishment was effectively buried as Attorney General Soli Sora...

• The demand to ban opinion and exit polls from across the political establishment was effectively buried as Attorney General Soli Sorabjee said the constitutionality of an ordinance to this effect was ‘‘highly debatable’’. Sorabjee’s opinion came as a rebuff not only to all parties but also to the Election Commission, which proposed an ordinance on the basis of the all-party consensus.

• Just two days after IIM-A declined to cut its fees, IIM-Kolkata chairman Yogi Deveshwar gave in to the Government. Disregarding the faculty’s position, Deveshwar faxed a resolution accepting the fee cut to all board members. But the faculty slammed Deveshwar, and pledged to keep all options open to restore the autonomy of the institute, which, it felt, had been eroded by the chairman’s ‘‘unilateral’’ resolution. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has invited the six IIMs to appear on April 16 and give their views on a PIL against the fee-cut order.

• Hearing the PILs on NHAI engineer Satyendra Dubey’s murder, the SC directed Solicitor General Kirit Raval to propose within a week a mechanism to protect whistle-blowers. On Raval’s argument that the Government would not be able to take any policy decision till the elections were over, the Bench told him to look at the issue himself and propose, as the nation’s second highest law officer, what the court could do short of directing the Government to come up with a Whistle-blowers Act.

Story continues below this ad

• The issue that has figured in virtually every general election since 1989 made another of its habitual comebacks last week when Sten Lindstrom, the Swedish police officer who investigated the Bofors case, reiterated that Sonia Gandhi, among others, must be questioned about the deal. While PM Vajpayee said the CBI would look into the issue, the investigator himself clarified he had made the same points six years ago to The Indian Express.

• Economics won over rhetoric in the battle between India and the US on outsourcing as US giant IBM decided to acquire India’s largest outsourcing company Daksh for a reported Rs 700 crore. While it’s too early to say how the debate over outsourcing will pan out, one thing is clear — it is advantage India as far as the value of the Indian brand ITES (IT enabling services) are concerned.

• Pro-poll predictions of a hung Parliament in Sri Lanka came true last week as President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s alliance ended up eight seats short of a clear majority. Staking claim to form the government as the single largest party, Kumaratunga named party favourite Mahinda Rajapakse for the post of Prime Minister.