Media's President

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Steel baron Laxmi Nivas Mittal's meeting with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Wednesday received prominent coverage in the Hindi press.

Dainik Bhaskar took it as the lead story on the business page in its Thursday edition; the headline read: "Jharkhand, Orissa to have two steel plants." Mittal was accompanied by his son, Aditya Mittal, as he paid the first instalment of Rs 500 crore for a 49 per cent stake in HPCL's Bhatinda refinery, the paper reported. The report was accompanied by a picture of the Mittals with Deora.

Rajasthan Patrika took the story on the second page in its Thursday edition. Headlined "No plans to set up projects in Rajasthan," the report focused on Mittal's plans to open a technical institute and focus on charity works in the state.

The Cabinet nod to the 123 civilian nuclear co-operation agreement, arrived at between Indian and American negotiators in Washington last week, received fair coverage in the Hindi press. Punjab Kesari took the news on the front page in its July 26 edition. The paper reported that the Bush administration may send Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to India to expedite the signing of the agreement. Dainik Bhaskar too took it on the front page in its Thursday edition, saying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had invited leaders of the Left to dinner on Wednesday to clear their doubts over the agreement. The pact will be discussed in the monsoon session of Parliament, the report added.

While the strike by BSNL unions received routine coverage, the cancellation of Lanco's bid for the Sasan power project was not considered for publication in the Kannada press. Only Vijaya Karnataka, the market leader, carried a news agency report on Sasan.

With the state legislature in session, local issues dominated the Kannada press. The transition of power from JD(S) to its coalition ally BJP, which is expected to happen in three months, has become the hot topic of discussion. Another issue, which dominated the local press, is the copious rainfall in the state. All reservoirs are full. Flood alerts have been sounded in both Cauvery and Krishna basins. Kannada newspapers concentrated on this issue.

The Presidential election received front page coverage through the week. Most of the reports were tributes to outgoing President A P J Abdul Kalam. Kannada Prabha of the New Indian Express group described him as a 'People's President', in its editorial: "As a scientist, Kalam's tenure as President will be remembered for ages. He was not only a proactive person, but also made the Presidential office accessible to every citizen of this country."

The news on the cancellation of Lanco's Sasan bid or the strike notice by the BSNL union didn't hit the front pages of Tamil daily Dinamalar.

Reports on the President poll and the election of Pratibha Patil as President, accompanied by photographs, dominated the first and inside pages over the past week. The daily dedicated one page on Kalam and his achievements with some photographs in its edition dated July 25. Reports on the diesel price hike and the formation of the Salem Railway Division were also carried on page 1.

Dinamalar's business pages carried reports on BSNL's plan to procure equipment for 7.5 crore new mobile connections, the investment boom in Tamil Nadu and the hiring by TCS, among others.