Air India Sacks 6 Pilots, Declares Strike Illegal; PAC Draft Report Indicts Raja, Slams PMO; Sensex Down 96 Pts

Wednesday, Apr 27, 2011 SPECIAL LEAD Click here for India Business Update Mobile Version AI SACKS 6 PILOTS, DECLARES STRIKE ILLEGAL Air India management has hit back at the striking pilots and terminated the services of six members of the Indian Commercial Pilot Association (ICPA). The airline has declared the strike illegal, de-recognised the ICPA and sealed its offices in Delhi and Mumbai after over 600 pilots of the national carrier went on a strike from Tuesday midnight leading to many flights being either cancelled or delayed. read more PVT AIRLINES HIKE FARES TO CASH IN ON AI STRIKE Private airlines led by low cost carriers have hiked their fares by up to 50% on the Mumbai-Delhi route in the wake of strike by a section of Air India pilots. read more LEAD STORIES SENSEX FALLS FOR THIRD DAY; WIPRO, RIL SLUMP Sensex fell 96.66 points to close at 19,448.69 on lower Wipro earnings and downgrade of RIL by Goldman. Nifty fell 34.50 points to end at 5,833.90. read more PAC DRAFT REPORT INDICTS RAJA, SLAMS PMO The PAC draft on 2G scam indicted A Raja and came down heavily on the PMO. It did not spare even the Prime Minister for 'some unfortunate omissions'. read more TOP STORIES • Jyothy Labs may buy 51% of Henkel India for $203 mn • Silver falls further to 68,600, gold down by Rs 25 • Rupee snaps 3-day losing streak, up 8 paise • I-T dept refunds Rs 20,000 cr to taxpayers in April • Wipro Q4 net up 13.77% to Rs 1,375 cr • Patni Q1 net up 3% at Rs 162 cr • Govt prepares paper on 'ultra mega steel projects' • RIL could be penalised for gas shortfall • ASSOCHAM asks Karnataka to review mining leases • Govt exploring Iran oil payment via Turkey • Deora left out of GoM on Cairn-Vedanta deal • J&J to buy Synthes in $21.3 bn cash & stock deal • Hackers steal data of 70 mn Sony PlayStation users • 2G scam: ED to attach properties of errant telcos • Joshi intends to destabilise govt: PAC member • Karunanidhi plays victim, says Kanimozhi innocent • Hasan Ali case: Mumbai court to decide on May 7 • Shiney Ahuja gets bail from HC in rape case • Ex-Zimbabwe captain Fletcher to coach Indian team • Does corporate America kowtow to China? more stories TOP VIDEOS Markets May Correct If RBI Hikes Rates By 50 Bps: Nilesh Shah, President - Corporate Banking, Axis Bank The Whole Point Of Quantitative Easing (QE) Is That It's Designed To Stop Prices Falling And It's Worked: Peter Elston, Strategist, Aberdeen Asset Management Asia AT A GLANCE BSE 19448.69 -96.66 NSE 5833.9 -34.5 TURNOVER Rs. 198,208 cr BSE CASH Rs. 3,158 cr NSE CASH Rs. 11,543 cr NSE F&O Rs. 183,506 cr BULLION GOLD 21938 +54 SILVER 66757 +16 CRUDE NYMEX 102.25 -0.08 BRENT 123.87 -0.27 FOREX $ / Re 44.44 -0.07 £ / Re 73.581 +0.46 € / Re 65.236 +0.18 EVENTS 28 April National Advisory Council Meet 29 April Delhi High Court To Resume 2G Trial Bail Hearing 28 April- 1May Golden Maharashtra Mega Exhibition 30 April Infosys Technologies Board To Finalise Company's Leadership Succession Plans EXPERT VIEWS "The committee views it most unfortunate that the Finance Minister, the guardian of the public exchequer... instead of initiating stringent and swift action against all those responsible for the whopping loss to the exchequer, pleaded with the Prime Minister to treat the matter as closed." Public Accounts Committee Report "The Prime Minister's desire to keep the PMO at arms length indirectly helped the Telecom Minister to go ahead and execute his arbitrary and dubious designs." Public Accounts Committee Report "The Prime Minister was in fact misled when he was informed by the minister (A Raja) that the issue of auction of spectrum was considered but not recommended by the Telecom Commission and also not recommended by TRAI. The minister was saying half truth, concealing the other half, concealing his ulterior design." Public Accounts Committee Report WATCH OUT Tech Toyz This week on Tech Toyz, the geeks of Network 18 come together for the ultimate challenge. Team Tech Toyz and team Tech Guru join hands to answer one single question- is there a world beyond Google? Its Google vs rest of the world! Whose side are you on? SHOW TIMINGS Fri 6:30 pm Sat 8:30 pm Sun 1 pm