PM to roll out mega farm funding plan
New Delhi: The UPA government has started focusing more keenly on populist measures as the 2009 general elections come closer. These include the immediate and strategic investments of "several thousands of crores" in agriculture so that tangible benefits are visible to the rural folks in the next couple of years.

At the a meeting of the Planning Commission here, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reminded the Centre's top policy-makers of his government's commitment to agriculture on assuming office in May 2004 on an the aam admi plank and directed the panel to "outline a major programme" for providing Central support to state-specific farm strategies aimed at yielding quick results on the ground. The PM will discuss the programme with state chief ministers on May 29 when the National Development Council (NDC) meets to deliberate on India's agrarian crisis. At Monday's two-and-a-quarter hour meeting, it was also decided to launch a "wheat mission", a "rice mission" and a "pulses mission" to reverse the trend of stagnant production in these vital food crops in quickest possible time.
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Air connectivity to Malaysia comes under a cloud
New Delhi: The civil aviation authority has warned Malaysia that if domestic carriers Air India Express and Air Sahara were not allowed to land in Kuala Lumpur, retaliatory action would be taken against Malaysia Airlines.

If the face-off with Malaysia remains unresolved, it has the potential to hit flights of Air India and Jet Airways to Kuala Lumpur. DGCA has already served a show-cause notice on Malaysia Airlines, threatening to stop its flights to India.

Kuala Lumpur has been refusing to allow Air India Express and Air Sahara to operate flights to Malaysia. New Delhi had nominated these carriers to utilise part of the bilateral rights available to it. Air India Express' parent company Air India, and Jet Airways already operate flights to Kuala Lumpur. A number of Indian tourists fly to Malaysia during the summer; holiday packages that combine visits to Malaysia, Singapore and Bangkok too are popular.
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Senators contend H-1B visa misuse
Washington: Two US lawmakers have said that the H-1B visa programme is being abused to displace qualified American workers, and have asked nine Indian companies with operations in the US, which use 20,000 of such visas, to disclose details about their workforce and their use of the special programme. As the US Senate gets ready to take up the comprehensive immigration reform legislation, the two top lawmakers — Republican Senator Charles Grassley and Democratic Senator Richard Durbin — said "more and more it appears that companies are using H-1B visas to displace qualified American workers."

These companies include Infosys Technologies, Wipro Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Patni Computer Systems, i-Flex Solutions Inc, Satyam Computer Services, Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd, Tech Mahindra Americas Inc and Mphasis Corp.

India has protested against the move, saying such missives from American law-makers would "vitiate the atmosphere" of WTO negotiations on services.
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