The two marines, who are being held in custody in the southern Indian state of Kerala, were deployed as guards on an Italian oil tanker when they were accused of shooting dead the fishermen after mistaking them for pirates.

The Italians face murder charges in the Indian courts, and the cash settlement will not affect the criminal case lodged against them by the Kerala state government.

C. Unnikrishnan, a lawyer representing the widow of one of the fishermen, said the Italian government had paid 10 million rupees ($189,500) each to the families of Selestian Valentine, 45, and Ajesh Pinky, 24.

“We have settled the compensation case and signed the agreement to withdraw the (civil) cases with the consent of the High Court of Kerala,” Unnikrishnan told AFP.

The Reserve Bank of India cut the repo rate – the rate at which the central bank lends to commercial banks – by 50 basis points to 8 per cent. The more than expected reduction was widely welcomed by business.

Having increased interest rates 13 times since March 2010, the RBI’s move reflects a shift in the bank’s policy from focusing exclusively on reining in inflation – which at 6.89 per cent remains high – to reviving the country’s slowing economy.

“The rate cut shows that the attention has now shifted towards stimulating growth, there is no doubt about that,” A. Prasanna, an economist at ICICI Securities, said. “The RBI was worried about inflation but from the latest data we can see that it has come down and is somewhat under control.”

The bank also doubled, to 2 per cent, the borrowing limit for banks at the marginal standing facility – which provides emergency funds to banks at 1 percentage point above the repo rate – in a move that will boost liquidity in the system.

The decision, announced by Duvvuri Subbarao, India’s central bank governor, comes after China, Brazil and Indonesia moved to ease liquidity, as emerging economies try to shield themselves from the European debt crisis.

Growth in the last quarter of 2011 was the slowest in almost three years, rising 6.1 per cent in the three months to December 31, compared with more than 8 per cent a year earlier. Meanwhile, inflation has eased persistently over the past year. The wholesale price index rose 6.89 per cent in March – below 7 per cent for the third consecutive time.

The central bank said it expected growth to rise to 7.3 per cent in the fiscal year ending March 2013 and forecast that annual inflation would be 6.5 per cent for the same period.

Mr Subbarao said that he was confident the rate cut would lead banks to reduce lending rates for industry and consumers. But some industrialists remained sceptical.

“Radha and Krishna in the boat of love” from the National Museum and “Santiniketan Triptych” currently housed at the National Gallery of Modern Art can be enjoyed in ‘gigapixel’ super high resolutions thus revealing their fine-grain details beyond what is visible to the naked eye. Visitors can also stroll through the galleries themselves using the technology from Google Street View, and save specific views of artwork to create a personalized online collection.

Kumari Selja, Minister of Culture and Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, who inaugurated the initiative, said, “In recent times, unfortunately, art has become somewhat inaccessible for a variety of reasons. A substantial body of artwork is locked up in private collections that are not easily accessible. Only a portion of art, that is available in public museums, can be put on display, and a vast majority is kept away from public view, in reserve collections. Even what is on display is subject to several limitations such as visiting hours of the Museums that are always limited, and lastly traveling to these Museums can be expensive and time-consuming.

Fortunately, technology has come to our aid and it has now become possible to access art, and information related to it, with relative ease and little expenditure. And I am happy that Google Art Project has created this extensive platform that allows Web surfers to not only see high quality digitized images of art on their computer screens, but also to access enormous amount of information about the art works.

From a child accessing the Web from an Internet cafe in Mumbai, to a student in New York looking for inspiration for a thesis, this project will connect a cross section of art enthusiasts providing them with information and a unique viewing experience. I am happy that my ministry is partnering with Google to get Indian art and culture online.”

The partnership is part of a major global expansion of the project, which now counts 151 partners in 40 countries. Thanks to Google, art lovers are able with a few simple clicks of their fingers to discover not just paintings, but also sculpture, street art, and photographs. Globally more than 30,000 high resolution objects are available and Street View images cover 46 Museums, with more on the way.

Rajan Anandan, Managing Director and VP – Sales and Operations, Google India, said, “The Art Project illustrates Google’s commitment to bringing culture online and making it accessible to the widest possible audience. Globally, we’re working with 151 cultural institutions in 41 countries. In India, we have partnered with great national institutions like NGMA and National Museum to take Indian culture and art online and we hope to collaborate with more institutions across India. Internet is unlocking our culture and history, and making it accessible to everyone worldwide.”

What is behind Indian Americans heading so many US business schools?
A lot of students from the very best Indian schools came to the US to do their PhDs in the 70s and 80s. What you are seeing is their coming of age.

Do you see emerging countries such as India contributing to business governance? How?
India is at an amazing stage.  However, there still isn’t an understanding or commitment locally in India of the need to systematically question and examine ideas with critical thinking and good data (which is what research is about), and to disseminate this knowledge.
So India’s contribution to advancing studies of business governance or anything else remains largely in the realm of potential rather than realisation, although there are pockets of change.   We need to strengthen the research culture in India. And the world is very interested!

The European Union in January placed an immediate ban on new contracts to import, purchase or transport Iranian crude and petroleum products. EU members with existing contracts, however, can honor them until July 1.

The government had argued that the Supreme Court had made legal errors in its dismissal in January of the tax demand.

But the Supreme Court justices threw out the government’s plea during closed-door proceedings, saying they believed their judgement was right.

The Supreme Court had rejected in January the $2.2 billion tax bill imposed on Vodafone over the firm’s $10.7 billion takeover of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa’s Indian cellular subsidiary in 2007.

The court had held that Vodafone’s transaction with Hutchison Group was a “bona fide” deal which fell outside India’s tax jurisdiction as it was an acquisition agreement between two foreign entities.

But a lawyer for Vodafone said there was still a possibility that the Indian government might pursue its tax claim against the world’s largest cellular company by subscribers by other means.

Anu Dutt, lawyer for Vodafone, welcomed the Supreme Court decision on Tuesday but said “this may not be the end of the road” for the Indian government in its claim against Vodafone.

In a separate move last Friday, the government announced it would change a law to allow it to tax capital gains made by foreign companies — a step that observers say could be targeting the British company.

“If this change is approved by parliament, the government may choose to reopen the case against Vodafone,” the company’s lawyer told AFP.

“The limit-up rally last Monday was a knee-jerk reaction by speculators who were short cotton futures on the misconception that the export ban would cause a shortage of supplies,” according to Mike Stevens, a Louisiana-based cotton analyst. “The rally was a welcome opportunity for producers and other commercials to hedge inventory as, globally, we are in a period of oversupply,” he said.

In India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, the Congress Party had hoped to make substantial gains following months of intensive campaigning by key leader Rahul Gandhi.

The two countries, however, pledged not to allow the incident to cast a shadow on bilateral ties. External Affairs Minister SM Krishna held wide-ranging talks here this afternoon with visiting Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Maria Terzi di Sant’ Agata. However, the February 15 incident in which the two Indian fishermen were killed is understood to have dominated the talks.

Italy has planned to send a top official for discussions on Wednesday in New Delhi. Announcing the visit, the Italian Foreign Ministry said in a statement in Rome, Junior Foreign Minister Staffan De Mistura will “continue on a political level the action so far carried out by a delegation of experts from the Italian Foreign, Defence and Justice Ministries.”

Even though Italy is rushing its top diplomats and experts over the issue of arrest of Italian Naval guards, New Delhi has made it clear that since the matter was now legal, the Government will go by its legal process only, maintaining that there are “differences of opinion” on procedures and process.

Government sources said, “We have made it very clear to them (Italy) that as representatives of India, we will go by our legal process.”

New Delhi has protested against the killing of unarmed men asking the suspects to face legal action in Indian courts.

Referring to the telephonic conversation between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries and subsequent visit by an Italian delegation comprising officials from their legal and Foreign Ministries, the sources said India was willing to engage and put across its legal process to them.

Observing that the incident was at the stage of investigation, the sources said if the prosecution felt that it should go to the court, Italy is free to present any issue of judicial nature through their legal counsel.

“As regards press reports on the coercive operations carried out by Indian police forces against the crew of the Italian ship, we confirm that these were unilateral acts, as we have already indicated in a communiqué published on 19 February,” the press statement said.

Terming the incident as “a specific incident of suez” nature, they said it is an incident which, perhaps, has never happened before in the relationship between the two countries.

“We are trying to come to grips with it and see how we can move about it,” they said, adding India has given the Counsellor access.

Sources also said Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi will visit India “personally” next week on Tuesday. However, they maintained it is a scheduled visit.