Week in Review: April 4-10

Three days after social activist Anna Hazare went on a fast until death for the implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill, the government to agreed to set up a committee of both ministers and citizens to draft the anti-corruption legislation. Hazare, who broke his fast on Saturday morning, said he would go on another agitation on August 15 if the bill was not passed during the monsoon session of Parliament. According to the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, which is investigating the 2G Spectrum scam, when questioned, industrialist Ratan Tata was found to be “candid” and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia was found to be “evasive”. While Tata admitted to his recorded conversations and Radia accepted that she had spoken to the journalists who appear on the tapes, the PAC felt that she “was not putting facts clearly”.

Team India captain and Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was insured for Rs34 crore for the ongoing Indian Premier League cricket tournament, which began on Friday, April 8. The sum, which is the highest for any player in any team, covers travel risk, medical emergencies, personal accident and loss of baggage. In an interview with Pakistani TV channel Samaa, Shahid Afridi, the captain of the Pakistan cricket team, was reported to have said that “they (Indians) will never have hearts like Muslims and Pakistanis” and that “it is very difficult for us to live with them or have a long-term relationship with them.” He also allegedly criticised Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir for dedicating India’s World Cup win to the victims of the November 26, 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. “I wasn’t expecting this from Gambhir,” said Afridi. “All this is politics.”

It was revealed that exactly three hours before the cricket World Cup final on Saturday, April 2, the Mumbai police received an hoax email saying that 30 bombs had been planted inside Wankhede Stadium. The email was traced to 40-year-old railway ticketing agent Rajesh Bhaskar Dave from Worli, who was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad on Friday. On a less serious note, about 675 students of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay were found to have fallen prey to an April Fool’s Day prank after they received and believed an email that asked them to write a 250-word essay on why they deserved to win one of the 50 free tickets the institute had for the World Cup final. The perpetrator could not be traced, and college authorities had to send out an email telling students the email was a prank. Ninety-eight per cent of sample coins and rupee notes were found to contain different bacterial species that can cause infectious diseases such as tuberculosis.

The majority of the city’s 40,000 homeless people, according to the latest census data, were found to be living in South Mumbai, in areas such as Colabla, Cuffe Parade, Fort, Ballard Estate, Churchgate and Kalbadevi. Rates for luxury residences in Mumbai increased by 20 per cent over the last year, a rise that was second only to that in Shanghai, which recorded a 21 per cent hike. Buying a home in Dubai was 30 to 50 per cent cheaper than buying one in Mumbai; and for the first time in three years, the Income Tax Department in Mumbai exceeded its target collection by Rs3,000 crore.