New Delhi, Sept. 29 The Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, on Tuesday appealed to the agitating Air India pilots to “see reason” by midnight tonight or the management will be well within its rights to take steps to protect the airline’s interest. “When the main grievance of pilots has been addressed by the management, which has held in abeyance the applicability of the order (cutting productivity-linked incentive, or PLI) for executive pilots, where is the problem,” the Minister wondered. This came soon after the airline said that it would pay PLI to all section of the employees on October 7. However, the agitating pilots had already received support from the Indian Pilots Guild whose members are mainly Air India pilots.

Late this evening, Mr Patel, along with senior Ministry and airline officials, met the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and apprised him of the situation. Private domestic airlines have been asked to step in and ensure that the public is not inconvenienced. This was conveyed at a meeting that the Civil Aviation Secretary, Mr Madhavan Nambiar, had with airline officials here on Tuesday, the fourth day of the agitation. “We have asked other airlines to ensure passenger facilitation and seamless transfer at airports. Airlines have also been told not to increase their fares,” the Secretary said. The meeting was called as Air India operated only 101 of the 177 flights scheduled for Tuesday.

We have stopped taking fresh bookings…Till now, 109 Air India pilots and 71 Indian pilots have reported sick,” said the airline Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Arvind Jadhav. Reiterating that cutting costs was the only way to survive, he pointed out that though the airline is earning daily revenues of about Rs 40 crore, it is reporting a daily loss of about Rs 10 crore or a monthly loss of about Rs 300 crore. He pointed out that of the airline’s annual PLI payout of about Rs 1,500 crore, almost 50 per cent was paid to pilots and cabin crew, while the remaining was shared by about 26,000 employees. Air India has a total staff strength of 31,500 employees.

CENTURION: A semifinal berth well within their grasp despite the wash-out against India, defending champions Australia take on a rejuvinated Pakistan in their final group A match of the Champions Trophy on Wednesday. If Australia win, they would book their place in the semifinal no matter what happens in the India-West Indies match. But if they lose and India win, Ricky Ponting's world champion side has to ensure that its net run rate remains ahead of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men as the two teams would be tied on three points each in such a scenario.

The Australians have had a reasonably good tournament, wining the opening match against the West Indies before dominating the abandoned game against India. Ponting has led from the front in both the matches, scoring a couple of crucial fifties and putting together match-saving partnerships in tough conditions. The biggest concern for the Aussies would be all-rounder Shane Watson. Pushed to the opening slot some time ago, the big-hitting right-hander has come a cropper in the tournament so far, managing two ducks.

He has looked uncomfortable facing up to the new ball and it remains to be seen if he would be persisted with at the top. The other opener Tim Paine has, however, adjusted well to the slot. Paine batted through a testing period in the match against India to make a fifty and stabilize the Australian innings. Mike Hussey also seems to have rediscovered some of his lost form, against India, by scoring a morale-boosting half century. The bowlers didn't get a chance last night as the heavy downpour forced abandonment of the match. But Brett Lee and Co. were not too impressive against the West Indians in the opening match, in which the rag-tag Caribbean team gave a mighty scare to the world champions.

The Centurion track has been a batting paradise and it would take quite an effort from the Aussie bowlers to contain an in-form Pakistani line-up. Pakistan, on the other hand, have little to be concerned about. They are already in the semis and would be aiming to get some match practice before the last-four stage begins on October 2. Skipper Younis Khan, who played with a fractured finger in the crucial win over India, might consider resting himself ahead of the knockout round. It's a match that would decide the semifinal complexion despite the fact that one of the teams has absolutely nothing at stake.

Teams: (from) Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Clarke, Callum Ferguson, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Tim Paine, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White, Brad Haddin, Doug Bollinger. Pakistan: Younis Khan (captain), Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Anjum, Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Yousuf, Naved-ul-Hasan, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul.

NEW DELHI: Construction engineering-to-infotech major Larsen & Toubro on Tuesday claimed it is capable of building nuclear plants capable of producing 3,000-4,000 mw of power every year and will also bid for building the Navy's second line of conventional submarines. "It is not difficult for us to build 3,000-4,000 mw nuclear plants every year," company chairman A M Naik told reporters here. L&T has at present expertise to build 1,000 mw plants and has inked MoU with, as Naik put it, almost all companies — except Areva — keen on doing business in the country in the nuclear sector.

L&T is also in talks with Canadian nuclear firms to build 1,200-mw reactors and it has invested about Rs 5,000 crore in establishing a nuclear shop at Hazira in Gujarat which can undertake all activities related to building of atomic power plants. Naik said the aim is to get orders worth Rs 1,500 crore in the nuclear sector annually if it continues to do "piecemeal projects" as it does at present. "The nuclear business can be worth Rs 7,000 crore annually if we are allowed to do projects on a turn-key basis...Let me do the whole thing (nuclear plant) and I will deliver it in five years," Naik said.

Naik also said L&T will bid for building the Navy's second line of conventional submarines and recalled that it had "almost won" the contract for Amur-class vessels that never took off. He said the company's shipbuilding facilities in Hazira in Gujarat and Kattupalli near Chennai in Tamil Nadu had capacities to take up construction of all types of warships, including submarines.

"Our shipyards in Hazira and Kattupalli have the capability to take up construction of vessels of about 7,000 to 9,000 tonnage and even warships of the size three or four times these vessels... We are bidding for the Navy's second line of submarines. We would like to recall that we were the chosen ones for the Amur-class submarines, which did not fructify." L&T manufactures reactor vessels for pressurised heavy water reactors and fast breeder reactors.

The Group of 20 nations, comprising developed and emerging economies including China, Brazil, India , on Friday permanently replaced the elite club of rich nations called the Group of 8 as the global forum for economic policy. The move highlights the growing economic importance of Asia and some Latin American nations, particularly since the US and many European countries have found their banking systems crippled by an economic crisis originating in excesses in the American mortgage market.

For more than three decades, the main economic group was G7 — the US, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. During the Clinton years, Russia was gradually added, not because of the size of its economy, but to help integrate it with the West. Administration officials said the group would still meet twice a year to discuss security issues. But for practical purposes, the smaller group will become more like a dinner club that defers to the broader group on the economic issues that have dominated summit meetings for nearly three decades.

“Today, leaders endorsed the G20 as the premier forum for their international economic co-operation ,” said a White House statement after a G20 summit dinner in Pittsburgh on Thursday night. “This decision brings to the table the countries needed to build a stronger, more balanced global economy, reform the financial system and lift the lives of the poorest.” The deal was thrashed out by US President Barack Obama, who first showed doubts about the suitability of G8 as a forum for solving the world’s problems in July in L’Aquila , Italy. At the time, his aides characterized the session as merely a way station between G20 meetings.

“We view this meeting and this discussion as a midpoint between the London G20 summit and the Pittsburgh G20 summit,” said Mike Froman , the president’s chief negotiator. The merits of the different sizes of gathering — eight nations, 19 or sometimes something in between — have been vigorously debated. Proponents of the smaller group say the friendships it fosters are important when friction arises in the group or outside it in one-on-one policy disputes between nations. They also point to complications that arise when 20 countries with vastly different economies try to reach agreement on setting exchange rates or other complex financial questions.

Supporters of the larger group say the emerging nations, and the huge slice of the world’s population that they represent, must have a seat at the table to debate not only economic issues, but also environmental issues. Britain had earlier pushed for the promotion of the G20 as the steering committee for the global economy, but faced concern from some European countries that this would be at their expense. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, currently chairman of the G8, urged the two forums be kept separate and made a coded call to maintain the dominance of the smaller group. “It is essential that there should be the closest coordination between the G8 and G20 presidencies, and that the differences between the two are clear,” Berlusconi wrote in a letter to Obama. The new role for the G20 as the premier forum for international economic co-operation will begin with two summits next year, in Canada and South Korea, then annual summits.