Delhi blasts: Three more arrested, sent to 14 day custody

A day after claiming a breakthrough, the Delhi Police on Sunday arrested three more suspects in connection with the September 13 serial blasts. In a joint operation by the Special Cell and South District police, three suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists – identified as Zia, Shakeel and Shakir-ur-Rahman – were nabbed from Jamia Nagar. All the three suspects have been remanded to 14 day police custody.

Stricter laws mooted to deal with fake universities

Concerned over mushrooming of fake universities and dubious institutes across the country, the government plans to amend the existing law to make it stricter, Minister for Human Resource Development Arjun Singh said here Thursday.

"We understand that there is a need to impose heavy monetary penalty and strict action against such institutions," the minister told reporters on the sidelines of the two-day state education ministers' conference, which concluded Thursday.

Singh said the government would soon amend the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) Act and make it more viable and efficient. At present, the institutes violating the norms for approval are fined up to Rs 1,000.

The AICTE is the regulator for technical institutions in India.

Singh added that the states have agreed to take action against fake universities and dubious institutes.

The AICTE this month served notices to over 169 institutes for partnering foreign universities and for conducting unauthorised technical courses, without its approval. This included some of the big names in the private education sector.

States have also agreed to bifurcate existing big universities in order to bring down the number of affiliated colleges to manage them efficiently.

States have also agreed to set up State Councils of Higher Education and have endorsed the need to share 25 per cent of costs for setting up internet connectivity. But the northeast states said they would be able to bear only 10 percent of the costs.

Most of the states were enthusiastic about following public-private partnership (PPP) model in the higher and technical education. But they added that the PPP model should not deny access to technical education to the poor sections of society.

State governments also agreed to introduce reforms in examination system, introduction of semester system, streamlining of admission procedures and introducing credit system, besides eliminating ragging.

Brit students to get Indian business experience

As many as 40 British students will spend six weeks in India with leading companies to have a closer understanding of the business environment and culture of the country.

A British council release issued here said 100 students between the age group of 18-19 were selected under the British prime minister's global fellowship programme to travel to emerging countries like India, China and Brazil to have first-hand experience with these economies.

"The candidates have been drawn from a diverse socio-economic background. Many may have never had the opportunity to travel overseas, and indeed may never have been away from home for an extended period," said the release.

The 40 students visiting India will learn about the prevailing competitive environment, skill sets required in a global economy, undertake research work in a local school and also get exposure to the rich Indian culture and history.

The host institutions will include Shell Technologies, Tesco, Hindustan Service Centre, Tata Consultancy Services, HSBC, Ernst & Young, KPMG and Group 4.

Britney Spears' mother a killer?

Britney Spears’ mother Lynne accidentally killed a 12-year-old boy when she was 20-years-old, it has been revealed.

The 53-year-old hit the boy, Anthony Winters, with her car in 1975 in Kentwood, Louisiana, when he was riding on his bicycle.

He later died as a result of the injuries he suffered from the accident. Lynne’s representative said: “Anthony Winters and his friend were in the road on a curve on a bicycle. As Lynne rounded the curve she could not avoid the boy in the street as there was oncoming traffic in the opposite lane. “Lynne realised the boy was struck immediately and to this day is grieved by the Winters’ loss of their son.”

A friend of Lynne – the mother of troubled singer Britney and new 17-year-old mom Jamie Lynn – said she is still haunted by the incident. The friend said: “To this day, Lynne hasn’t gotten over what she did. She gets that terrified look in her eye when she is thinking about it. She has told only a few people about the accident and always says, ‘Please don’t think I’m a bad person.’

Mallika planning to sue Ramu?

Mallika Sherawat plans to take filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma to court for misusing her photograph in his film Contract.

A scene in the movie, shows a police inspector talking suggestively to Mallika’s photograph.

“They will be getting a legal notice pretty soon,” Mallika is quoted as saying.

This will not be the first time that RGV has taken potshots at his fellow colleagues — in Company he ridiculed Karan Johar and in Road, he took a dig at Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Bebo kisses Stallone, offends beau

Kareena Kapoor’s romantic scene with Hollywood superstar Sylvester Stallone didn’t go down well with boyfriend Saif Ali Khan. The actress who is shooting Kambakht Ishq with Sylvester Stallone in Los Angeles kissed the actor on his cheek as part of an action sequence, coordinated by the Hollywood action director Spiro Razatoss.

It took Kareena three takes to get the shot right. Saif who was also present at the shoot, allegedly objected to the kissing scene. A stand Kareena did not take kindly to.

“If you can’t see me doing a kissing scene, then stop coming on the sets of my shootings,” Kareena was heard shouting at Saif.

According to a source, she is also reported to have told him to be more broad-minded. This is another in a long sequence of spats between Kareena and Saif; the last was at the IIFA awards, when Saif was reportedly unhappy with her clothes. Most of their fights seem to have have been triggered by Saif ’s possessiveness.

Saif has gone on record that he wants to marry Kareena immediately. “If I had my way, I’d marry her today,” he said earlier in the month. Revealingly, Saif has admitted that he is anxious about his relationship with Kareena. “Of course, I’m anxious. You must understand this is the most important part of my life... so much so that at times I find even my career taking a backseat to my relationship. I’ve to guard against that. I must quickly learn to separate the professional from the personal.”

He has also said that “after my marriage to Amrita and my two kids, this is the most important relationship I’ve had.” After yelling at Saif, Kareena is reported to have continued shooting unfazed. In fact, she was visibly excited about shooting with Sylvester Stallone. According to the source, “Kareena spent a lot of time chatting with Sly.”

I'd do anything for Amitabh Bachchan: Akshay Kumar

Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, who took time out from the shooting of Sajid Nadiadwala's Kambhakt Ishq in Los Angeles to be part of the Bachchan's Unforgettable tour opening show in Toronto, says he wouldn't mind going out of the way for the Big B.

The concert kicked off July 18 and the actor performed with the Bachchans - Amitabh, Abhishek, Aishwarya Rai. Preity Zinta and Riteish Deshmukh also participated in the event.

"Amitji is the most respected actor in our country. I'd do anything he asks me to. I wanted to do the concert in Toronto and I'm glad it went well," Akshay, who resumes shooting for Kambhakt Ishq, told IANS on phone from Los Angeles.

"I joined the Bachchans for the first of their Unforgettable concerts in Toronto. With the shooting and the rehearsals, I didn't know whether I was coming or going," he added.

This is the only concert that Akshay participated in. "There's no time for me to cram in any more activity."

"I'm far away from the maddening gossip and idle talk in Mumbai. I'm not bothered with what they're saying about me at home. And I'm happy that way," he said.

Akshay, who plays a stuntman in the film, was especially happy to work with Sylvester Stallone.

"Since it's a stuntman's role, Akshay has been asked to do some of the most complicated stunts of his career. And there's no question of using body doubles. Akshay has decided to do all the stunts himself, although producer Sajid Nadiadwala thought some stunts were way too dangerous. Out there at Universal Stuidios all Hollywood actors are insured against dangerous stunts," said a source.

Film Reveiw (Money hai to honey hai)

When crores bore

Cast: Govinda, Hanssika Motwani, Celina Jaitly
Direction: Ganesh Acharya
Rating: *

After all these decades, dear old Prem Chopra is still as mean as a cobra. Before he kicks the bucket, he calls up this caboodle of wackos (Govinda and Co), informing them that he’s leaving them his factory worth crores. And all the beneficiaries turn out to be mega-bores.

Govinda is a wealthy scamster, Aftab Shivdasani is an ad copywriter (what he writes for a restaurant is total cuckoo), Manoj Bajpai has a fetish for his bicycle and mercy be, Upen Patel is a gigolo whom Archana Puran Singh keeps barking at, “Again..again..again.” It’s one of those kind of crude-coms.

On the girlie side count Celina Jaitley as a Marxist designer (really, she wants her clothes to reach everyone) and Hanssika who’s awfully hysterical. Plus, there are spoofs of Ekta Kapoor and Vijay Mallya. Oh, and Ravi Kissen fetches up to do absolutely nothing.

Excruciatingly juvenile and as annoying as a traffic jam, the outcome does have a surprise though. Director Ganesh Acharya performs an earthquake-like item number. He shouldn’t have. Like you shouldn’t have made the mistake of stepping anywhere in the vicinity of this Money Hai to Pakav Hai.

Film Reveiw (Mission Istanbul)

Such a long journo
Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Zayed Khan, Shreya Saran
Direction: Apoorva Lakhia
Rating: **

Now just imagine that my 18-year-old son and I had this discussion (and a rather serious one at that) after seeing Apoorva Lakhia’s Mission Istanbul, pronounced Meeeshan Isthanbool for some reason by the title song here.

Herculean attempts have been on to take the son’s mind away from the family career, journalism, towards something less perilious like say deep sea diving or fire eating. Alas Lakhia has sealed the matter for Mohamed Jr. He wants to be a TV reporter, go to Isthanbool, cavort with the belly dancers, wear hats-‘n’-glares and, enjoy a guest boogie by Abhishek Bachchan, all in the midst of a gruelling reporting session. Our conversation went like this:

Son: See abba, after graduating in fashion design I’ll take up a job in Aaj Tak as its senior news reader. You can recommend me. The degree will help me to wear designer gear like Zayed Khan. With a correspondence hair-styling course, I will be able to gel my hair like him, over the eyes, so I don’t see anything. Yes?

Me: No.

Son: You probably didn’t understand the plot. Neither did I actually. It seems because Zayed is divorcing his wife, Shreya Saran, he takes up a job with a channel called Al Johara (Johar?). Why the channel wants him is a mystery. Next:Suniel Shetty shows Zayed a corridor full of photos of dead editors. Shortly Suniel lands up in a photo-frame too. Were you laughing because that meant the end of Suniel Shetty’s role?

Me: No, not at all.

Son: You’re being very difficult abboo. I just loved watching Zayed run, like Lola, all over Afghanistan and Istanbul. Then that line of dialogue uttered by a terrorist — that he dreams about eating limitless biryani in heaven — was funny. The channel head Ghazni Nikitin Dheer was very menacing..his physique was so much better than yours.

(Continuing) And Niki’s henchmen were hilarious, especially Shabir Ahluwalia who looked at the sky and cried out loud. Was he homesick? Actually everyone was crying, killing and killing. Remember the two red hands chopped off from a guy’s body? At least a 1,000 guys and two women were killed. Didn’t you love the violence?

Me: Never, never, my son..

Son: Chill abboo. I did notice you sighing with relief when Vivek Oberoi entered the movie. Like you, I thought he was convincing, even jumping on and off helicopters. He was meant to be Turkish hero, methinks. Do you know?

Me: No.

Son: The best, of course was this year’s sensational discovery, Brent Mendenhall, a carbon copy of American President George Bush. I liked him confusing Turkey with something you eat..his effort to pronounce the name of our Prime Minister right..and also saluting our call center employees. Decent of him. As for that Bin

Laden morphed lookalike..it was all very vague..did you get it?

Me: No.

Son: The chase scenes through the Istanbool streets were terrific..see even you’re nodding, so like Bourne Ultimatum. The fights and fights went on but so did they in the dhishum dhisham 1970s. Lyrics and dialogue were so today, with so much use of “shit, shit, shit, shit.”

Music by practically every composer in the business was kind of inconsistent, very Sanjay Guptaish. Vivek Oberoi was the only actor on the scene, Zayed was much too teakwood..and the girls Shreya Saran and Shweta Bhardwaj (Charlie’s Angel type) were quite cute. Agree?

Me: Absolutely not.

Son: Tell me abba, are you upset because you can’t sing, dance, run, fight, swim and say, “I love you” very often to ammi like Zayed Khan does. You don’t want me to grow up and become a journo like him?

Me: (pause)

Son: Abba, I do get a sneaking suspicion that you didn’t like this Istaan bhool..was that you making odd, angry noises in the auditorium?

Me: YES.

Vidya Balan on a two-month break

Vidya Balan is going to be on vacation for the next couple of months. Reason: the shooting of her next two films, Chenab Gandhi and Pa, has been pushed back.

Family time
"No, the shooting hasn't been postponed. It's just a coincidence that I haven't signed any new projects lately. So, it's going to be a two month vacation for me. From mid September, I start shooting for a Vishal Bharadwaj film. But for now I'm getting to spend some quality time with my family," says a delighted Balan.

"My elder sister is home too. I'm loving it."

The other day she was telling didi how five years ago, she had never imagined she'd be a movie star. "Today, I'm nine movies old of which five have been big hits. Even Kismat Konnection is doing well," she says.

Balan is busy reading scripts. "And I'm also watching the Sex and the City series, back to back. It's great fun," she says.

Ask her about her recent release, Kismat Konnection, and Balan admits that she was a little nervous before the release.

Facts and figures
"For the first time in my life, I was calling up people from the trade and quizzing them on net and gross collections," she laughs. "Today, since I have all the time in the world, I'm keen on knowing the exact business the film does."

Indians caught in Scrabble scramble

Two Indian brothers who created the hugely popular online word game ‘Scrabulous’ on the Facebook networking website have been sued by US toymaker Hasbro, which owns Scrabble. It accused them of “blatant infringement” of its intellectual property by copying Scrabble’s rules, format and name.


The suit filed in a federal court in New York City also names RJ Software, the Kolkata-based company owned by Rajat (27) and Jayant Agarwalla (22), and seeks unspecified damages and an order barring them from using the name ‘Scrabulous’. “We are not in a position to comment because the matter is pending in court,” Rajat told HT. Hasbro also sent a copyright notice to Facebook, demanding that it remove Scrabulous.

Scrabulous became one of the most popular activities on Facebook after its 2006 launch and is believed to have over 2.5 million registered users. The suit came less than two weeks after the release of an authorised version of Scrabble for Facebook, which drew a lukewarm response with just 10,000 users.

Housewarming parties

Now that the political orchestra has hit a noisy but compelling crescendo, and the high notes are beginning to give way to well-rehearsed and oft-sung songs, it’s time to step back and ask ourselves which tune was humming in our head when we left the hall.

I have to confess to some very mixed feelings. The obvious disgust and distaste at the ugly underbelly of what makes Indian politics work was tempered by some real delight in the quality of the parliamentary debate. Yes, this was a drama without any major heroes. Yet, it had some fascinating twists and turns, a few riveting performances and enough reason for those in the supporting cast to be admired and applauded. (Omar Abdullah would get my vote for the Oscar.)

The end of this week may have meant six more months for the UPA in government. But don’t treat this as closure. Instead, what we witnessed was a preview of the uncertainties that will define the general elections in 2009. If you thought this was a cliffhanger, wait till April.

Now that Singh has been anointed King again, there is already frenzied speculation in Congress circles over whether the PM has bought himself another bash at the job, were it the UPA’s for the taking. Quite apart from the fact that Manmohan Singh would have always been the candidate for the top job (Rahul Gandhi is still one election away), the PM must ask himself whether the new tag of being ‘political’ is one he considers a compliment or a curse. There is no doubt that a man once written off as naïve and apolitical even by his own party has emerged to be a canny and smart political risk-taker.

The BJP will find it impossible to ever snidely describe him again as India’s “weakest Prime Minister”, images of a once-diffident man waving the victory sign at eager camera crews combined with a hard-hitting and unusually aggressive reply to both Advani and Karat completed the transformation of Manmohan Singh from technocrat to neta. His party colleagues who were once so quick to undermine him are now nervous and deferential about his influence. And those of us who have always admired his integrity are glad that good men can also survive to tell the tale.

But there’s a catch. Once upon a time, an apolitical PM could have stood apart from and above the dirt and din of politics. Congress managers could have been blamed for the amoral machinations of the party and most of us would have bought it. But in his new avatar, as politician, Manmohan Singh may find it difficult to stand at one arm’s length from the grime of electoral survival. When Shibu Soren returns to the Cabinet, the PM can’t disassociate himself from a decision he once so bitterly opposed. And if it turns out that the BJP MPs who brandished bundles of cash in Parliament were telling the truth about being bribed, the PM’s squeaky clean image could take a knock as well. That, sadly, is the flip side of wielding political influence; is the ‘King’ now wearing a crown of thorns?

L.K. Advani, the man whom the BJP believes will be ensconced in the throne of power by next year has some reason to be unsettled right now. It was a move of Machiavellian brilliance to turn Parliament into the set of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ just 40 minutes before the vote was scheduled. The Congress may question the morality of the timing. But since the UPA has just negotiated ten abstentions — obviously at a price, whether political or monetary — it should know that everything is fair in politics and war.

Those who suggest that the BJP MPs, who are alleging bribery, should have first gone and knocked on the door of some hapless sub-inspector are being ludicrous. It was entirely legitimate of the Opposition to use the issue of cash-for-votes to stall Parliament. And there are serious implications for the credibility of the trust vote if any of these charges turn out to be true. But, when the news channel in possession of the sting-operation tapes opted not to telecast the footage, on the plea that the investigations were still “incomplete”, the BJP’s case was automatically weakened. Add to that the seven defections, and you have a very angry Leader of Opposition whose war plan was poorly executed.

And then, most importantly, there is Mayawati. The well-heeled elite of urban India may laugh (half fearfully) at her aspirations to be Prime Minister but the Congress and the BJP know that she is the one who will keep them awake at night. The BSP may have got only 2.6 per cent and 7 per cent of the vote in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh last year, but it split the traditional Congress vote and hurt it in at least 14 seats in Gujarat alone. In Delhi, the BSP vote share cost the Congress the municipal elections. In the Lok Sabha elections of 2004, Mayawati won a little over 5 per cent of the national vote. If she manages to double this in 2009, she can preside over a kitty of 50 seats across India and happily topple the Congress applecart. Yes, a strategic tie-up with the NDA is not ruled out. But then she would want to be PM, wouldn’t she? The BJP has bravely brushed away the possibility of this as “hypothetical”. But it is, in fact, more real than anyone cares to admit.

So, this week of high drama is really only the beginning. The boiling cauldron of Indian politics may have been brought to a low simmer for now. But the fire is still on, and as the churning contradictions cook in their own steam, you never know what may finally make its way to your table.

Sensex runs out of steam, falls 502 pts

The euphoria the market built a couple of days ago with a gain of 838 points lost its steam under pressure from global markets. The 30 stock BSE Sensex fell by 502 points or 3.4 per cent on Friday.

America’s Dow Jones Industrial was down 2.4 per cent on Thursday and as the day began the Asian markets remained under pressure. Japan’s Nikkei fell by 2 per cent, Hang Seng of Hong Kong closed the day with a fall of 1.5 per cent. “The global market trend was not supportive and led to the fall,” said D.D Sharma, vice president research, AnandRathi, a brokerage.

“The global negative factors are still present,” said Rajesh Jain, head of research, SMC Global. “Oil prices are still high, sub-prime crisis is yet not over and the inflationary pressure also exists.”

In the mid trading session the markets were in the recovery phase but six consecutive blasts in Bangalore battered the market down 200 points in the last two hours. “As the sentiments are weak any bad news brings along uncertainty to the market,” said Sharma.

BSE banking index that gained 10 per cent on Wednesday closed with a fall of 5.8 per cent on Friday. “The sharp recovery over the past week in the banking index was due for some correction,” said Sharma.

Defensive sectors like fast moving consumer goods (up 0.26 per cent) and healthcare were up marginally. All others, including oil and gas, real estate and capital goods were down.

RPower to raise $4 bn via ECBs

After the largest ever public offer in the Indian capital market industry, Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Power is on the verge of creating another benchmark.

Reliance Power is planning to raise over $4 billion (Rs 17,000 crore) through external commercial borrowings (ECBs) to fund two of its power generation projects. In addition, the company is planning to raise another Rs 10,000 crore. This could be one of the largest debt raising plans in the Indian corporate history so far.

“RBI accorded approval for raising $2 billion each of ECB for both Sasan and Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs),” Reliance Power said in a media statement on Friday.

Reliance Power is constructing two UMPPs — one in Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and the other in Krishnapatanam in Andhra Pradesh — with a total project cost of over Rs 32,000 crore.

Earlier this year, the company had raised over Rs 11,700 crore through the public offer. “This will contribute the equity portion of the project, while we are planning to raise further debt,” said a senior Reliance Power official, who did not wish to be named. “The $2 billion ECB will contribute half of the debt portion, while we are planning to raise the remaining through domestic banks.”

ECB is one of the cheapest ways of raising funds from the international markets.

A consortium of international banks, including Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, and ABN Amro will raise debt for RPower. For the Sasan Project, Chinese development banks will also be part of the consortium.

“We have asked the banks to give a proposal for the lead lender,” the official said. “We are expecting a reply with in a couple of weeks.” Meanwhile, RPower is in talks with a domestic bank consortium led by the State Bank of India to raise as much as Rs 10,000 crore. “There are 15 banks in the consortium,” the official said. “We are in the advanced stages of talks with these banks.”

According to analysts, the ECBs and domestic fund raising were part of the company's expansion plans. “They have already announced a robust debt equity mix,"said Dev Kapadia, research analyst, Lalkar Securities. “I think, the fund raising will fasten the pace of UMPP plans.”

Govt calls for SC/ST job data

With its promise of inclusive growth heading for possible political scrutiny in an election year, the government has sought details of ground-level action on the recruitment of scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) candidates in public sector companies to see if they have walked the talk on filling posts that often go vacant.

The department of public enterprises (DPE) has asked all the 217 operational central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to furnish the details of their recruitments.

“Each PSE would consolidate the information received from all appointing authorities under and shall send the DPE by March 31 every year,” the DPE said in communication to all CPSEs last month.

These enterprises have been asked to submit two separate reports. The first report would contain total number of SC, ST and OBC employees in the company and the number of new such employees appointed in the preceding calendar year.

The second report would have details of SC, ST, and OBCs persons employed in various grades of Group A services in the company.

“All administrative ministries and departments are requested to furnish requisite information by July 18,” a top government official said.

But appointments of “sweepers and safai karamcharies” should not be included in the reports. “Such inclusion results in inflating the figures of representation of SCs in Group D posts,” the communication said.

While the practice of furnishing representation of SC, ST employees in annual reports have been in place since 2003, officials said the government has now sought more comprehensive details.

“It has been made clear that the reports relate to persons and not to posts. Therefore, the posts vacant should not be taken into account,” the official said.

Of the 217 companies, 59 are loss making and 156 are profit making, while two are not making any profits. An estimated 17-lakh employees work in these organisations.

Last year, the government had asked India Inc to incorporate employment data of SCs and STs in their annual reports.

Home Ministry closely monitoring situation in Bangalore

The Union Home Ministry is closely monitoring the situation in Bangalore in the wake of Friday's serial blasts, which killed one person and injured some others.

Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and other senior officials are in constant touch with Karnataka government officials, a ministry spokesman said.

"A senior Home Ministry official is closely monitoring the situation," he said.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Shivraj Patil condemned the blasts in eastern parts of Bangalore and offered all assistance to the Karnataka government to deal with the situation.

IT sector to get CISF security: Home Minister

With the country's IT hub in Bangalore coming under terror radar, the Centre on Friday said it was ready to amend the law to allow the Central Industrial Security Force(CISF) to provide security cover for the billion dollar Information Technology industry there. ( Watch )

Shortly after multiple blasts rocked Bangalore and claimed two lives, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil told reporters here that there has been a constant demand from the IT industry that the expertise of CISF personnel be also made available to the private sector for security duties.

The garden city is home to some 1,500 foreign and domestic firms including IT majors like Infosys and Wipro.

"We have decided to provide security to private sector also especially the IT industry in Bangalore. IT sector has come up very well and we are ready to amend the law and provide security to them," Patil said.

Patil said the Centre was always ready to provide CISF personnel for the IT industry but the law only allowed Public Sector Units (PSUs) to have the benefit of this para-military organisation.

Key details about Bangalore

Seven blasts hit the IT city of Bangalore on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring around 15 others, police said.

Here are some facts about the city

Geography:Located on the southern Deccan Plateau at an altitude of 920 metres (3,000 feet), Bangalore is the administrative and commercial capital of the southern state of Karnataka and has an area of 225 square km (87 square miles).

Population:7.2 million, of whom just 38 percent are native Kannada speakers, the main language of Karnataka. Tamil and Telugu speaking groups are substantial minorities while there has been a sizeable influx of Hindi speakers from the northern states in recent years.

Name:The original name of Bangalore is said to be derived from "benda kalooru", or "town of boiled beans", because a 14th-century king -- exhausted during a hunt -- was fed boiled beans by a villager where the city now stands. In November 2006 Bangalore changed its name to its vernacular original Bengalooru.

History:Kempe Gowda, a feudal chief, is regarded as the founder of the city. He enclosed the first major settlements in the area within a mud fort that was built in 1537.

In the 19th century, the British wrested control of the territory from Tipu Sultan, ruler of the kingdom of Mysore, and established south India's largest cantonment there. After independence, the federal government invested heavily to make Bangalore an industrial and educational centre.

Economy: Today, Bangalore is one of the world's most prominent centres for software development and is the hub of India's aerospace, electronics and biotechnology industries.

Touted as the Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore is home to software giants Wipro Technologies and Infosys Technologies Ltd, and has a budding biotech sector industry.

Known as the world's "back office," Bangalore accounts for a third of India's $41 billion software exports.

About 1,500 technology and business process outsourcing companies employ nearly 400,000 people.

The city is also home to about 1,000 garment units which employ over 300,000 people, earning export revenues of more than $1 billion annually.

Chronology: Major attacks in India since 2003

Following is a chronology of some of the major attacks in India in the last five years:

March 13, 2003 - A bomb attack on a commuter train in Mumbai kills 11 people.

Aug. 25, 2003 - Two almost simultaneous car bombs kill about 60 in Mumbai.

Aug. 15, 2004 - Bomb explodes in northeastern state of Assam, killing 16 people, mostly schoolchildren, and wounding dozens.

Oct. 29, 2005 - Sixty-six people are killed when three blasts rip through markets in New Delhi.

March 7, 2006 - At least 15 people are killed and 60 wounded in three explosions in the north Indian Hindu pilgrimage city of Varanasi.

July 11, 2006 - More than 180 people are killed in seven bomb explosions at railway stations and on trains in Mumbai, blamed on Islamist militants.

Sept. 8, 2006 - At least 32 people are killed in a series of explosions, including one near a mosque, in Malegaon town, 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Mumbai.

Feb. 19, 2007 - Two bombs explode aboard a train bound from India to Pakistan, burning to death at least 66 passengers, most of them Pakistanis.

May 18, 2007 - A bomb explodes during Friday prayers at a historic mosque in the southern city of Hyderabad, killing 11 worshippers. Police later shoot dead five people in clashes with hundreds of enraged Muslims who protest against the attack.

Aug. 25, 2007 - Three explosions within minutes at an amusement park and a street-side food stall in Hyderabad kill at least 40 people.

May 13, 2008 - Seven bombs rip through the crowded streets of India's western city of Jaipur, killing at least 63 people in markets and outside Hindu temples.

July 25, 2008 - Seven blasts strike the IT city of Bangalore killing at least one person and injuring at least 15.

Nine blasts rock B'lore; two dead, dozens hurt

The seven low-intensity bombs that panicked Bangalore on Friday were meant to spread fear more than mass destruction or death, said investigators and anti-terrorism experts.

There were no immediate clues to the synchronised explosions — a woman was killed and shrapnel injured seven people — but HT has learned that a Karnataka police team left for Hyderabad on Friday night to interrogate an MBA student who was arrested on July 15 in that city.

They hope to interrogate Mohammed Muqeemudin Yasir, brother of Raziuddin Nasir, arrested on January 29 on charges of organising terror-training camps in the forests near Hubli, Karnataka. “During interrogation, he (Yasir) said he had taken operatives to Karnataka and arranged safehouses,” Hyderabad Police Commissioner Prasanna Rao told HT.

Both men are sons of Hyderabad’s Maulana Nasiruddin, convicted of murdering former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya in March 2003.

“The primary objective (of Friday’s bombings) was to convey a message that the terrorists have the capability to hit at will, when and where they want,” said Bahukutumbi Raman, former additional secretary in the Research and Analysis Wing. “Their second objective is possibly to spread nervousness among tourists and businessmen.”

Many infotech firms and malls shut down after the bombings. “We have increased security on our campus,” said a spokesperson for tech giant Infosys. Bomb-disposal units and forensic experts raced from bomb-site to bomb-site in a 10- to 15-km radius after the bombs went off within 70 minutes from 1.20 pm. The bombs were placed in flower pots stuffed with nuts and bolts, preliminary investigations revealed.

The bombs were placed near a bus stop, three police outposts and transformers.

“Four of these seven bombs had been planted on a 3-km stretch of Hosur Road. The total amount of explosive chemicals used in these bombs is equivalent to one or two hand grenades,” Police Commissioner Shankar Bidri said.

In the evening, the state cabinet headed by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa reviewed the security arrangements at the airport, bus and train stations and vital installations. “This is a cowardly act by anti-national forces to create panic and disrupt normalcy,” said Yeddyurappa.

In Delhi, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said the Centre was willing to provide Central

Industrial Security Force security — as in airports — to the IT sector.