India gains as Pakistan loses Iranian rice market

KARACHI, Nov 30 (Agencies): Pakistani rice exporters are up in arms against the government, as India has emerged as the preferred exporter of the commodity to Iran due to heavy tariff on imports through land routes.

Pakistani exporters of the cash crop are blaming Islamabad's lack of coordination, weak foreign policy and apathy of their apex body, the Rice Exporters' Association of Pakistan, for the predicament.

Three years back, India was just a blip on the Iranian rice import map, with just 60,000 tonnes.

But in 2006-07, imports from the South Asian neighbour jumped to around 225,000 tonnes, the exporters said.

According to The News, what has left exporters even more worried is that in recent months there has also been a drastic drop of exports to Europe, Russia, Middle East and Saudi Arabia.

India has been the major gainer from this.

Pakistani rice exporters want their government to take up the matter with Tehran, which has imposed heavy tariffs on commodities exported from Pakistan overland.

India exports rice to Tehran through the sea route.

For 2007-08, India has already secured contracts for shipping around 150,000 tonnes.

Pakistani exporters estimate the total exports above the 300,000 tonnes figure, a big landmark for India.

Indian exporters are selling Pusa-1121 variety, a non-basmati long grain aromatic rice, to Iran.

Indian American student hired by presidential hopeful NEW YORK, Nov 30 (Agencies): An Indian American student who doomed a US senator's re-election bid in 2006 with a camcorder has resurfaced in the presidential contest.

Sidarth, the 22-year-old University of Virginia student, is now a paid staffer in the communications office of Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson.

Sidarth rose to instant fame - accolades included online magazine Salon's person of the year in 2006 and a profile in Time magazine - after Republican senator George Allen called him a 'macaca' (a racial slur for dark-skinned people).

Sidarth works in Richardson's Santa Fe office compiling daily newspaper articles for the New Mexico governor, drafting press releases and performing other communication tasks, according to the Washington Post.

In 2006, he was volunteering for Allen's challenger, Democrat Jim Webb, shadowing Allen with a video camera, hoping to catch him in an unguarded moment.

The Macaca clip recorded over 300,000 hits on YouTube, the popular online video streaming site, questioning Allen's commitment to diversity and forcing him to repeatedly apologise.

The episode destroyed Allen's prospect for the US presidency.

Sidarth, who is majoring in government as well as engineering and wants to study law, is a Capitol Hill intern for Senator Joseph Lieberman.

He won a coveted spot late last year in his university professor Larry Sabato's seminar on campaigns and elections with a three-word essay: 'I am Macaca.' About us | Advertise | Other Publications | Subscriptions | Weather | Letters | Send Mail Disclaimer: Information is being made available at this site purely as a measure of public facilitation.

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