India’s Rediff unveils Daily Deals Site Deal

Rediff.com, one of India’s oldest Internet companies, has launched a group buying site called Deal Ho Jaye! The site has partnered with over 700 merchants to offer deals of 30 to 60 percent off in 40 market locations in India. “With the introduction of Deal Ho Jaye!, Rediff now offers local merchants and business owners options for reaching consumers beyond their traditional scope, building upon our e-commerce platform. Merchants can take advantage of Rediff.com’s reach to generate business through new customers by offering special discounts and promotions on Rediff Deal Ho Jaye!,” said Ajit Balakrishnan, Chairman and CEO of Rediff.com.

As with many daily deal sites, offers on Deal Ho Jaye! will only be available for one day and consumers will have to pay in advance with either an electronic payment or cash which will be picked up from the consumer by a Rediff representative. Upon payment the customer will get a voucher with a unique number which they can then present to the merchant. Balakrishnan added that India’s poor broadband issues were not going to be a problem for the success of Deal Ho Jaye! since the service will also be available on WAP-enabled mobile phones and users can access the available deals on their mobile devices.

There are currently a number of group buying sites in India including Groupon, Snapdeal.com, Indiatimes Active Deals, Taggle, BuyThePrice, MyDala and DealsAndYou. Some have said that Deal Ho Jaye! Is coming late to the game but what will determine the success of the site is the quality of the deals.

Petitions in Bhopal gas tragedy

Survivors of the Bhopal gas leak disaster have urged the Supreme Court to hold daily hearings on the civil and criminal curative petitions filed by the Centre. Survivor organisations Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS) and the Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahyog Samiti have also urged the Supreme Court to constitute a special court and appoint a Special Public Prosecutor as it has done in the 2G spectrum scam case.

Sore with

Vahanvati

“We feel compelled to make these requests since the Attorney-General Mr. G. E. Vahanvati, in Wednesday's hearing, merely spoke for re-framing the charges against the Indian accused in the case to Section 304-II [of the Indian Penal Code] and did not ask for any such special provisions for the case which it deserves,” Abdul Jabbar of the BGPMUS told The Hindu. “Without special treatment, we are afraid the case will go the same way as it did in the trial court and the victims might have to wait another 26 years for justice,” he said. Recently, the Supreme Court has directed the Centre to constitute a special court and has named U.U. Lalit as the Special Public Prosecutor in the 2G spectrum scam case.

Curative petition

The curative petition in the gas tragedy, filed last July by the Centre, seeks a review of the 1996 order, passed by a Bench presided by the then Chief Justice of India, A.M. Ahmadi, that diluted the charges against the Indian accused from Section 304-II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) to Section 304A (causing death by negligence). The 1996 order eventually led to the controversial June 7th judgment of the Bhopal Chief Judicial Metropolitan Court whereby the convicts, including former UCIL chairman Keshub Mahindra, got away with mild sentences and were subsequently released on bail the same day.

The survivor organisations have also requested the Supreme Court to ask the Centre about what it was doing to bring to book Union Carbide Corporation (New York), Union Carbide Eastern (Hong Kong) and Warren Anderson (former chairman of Union Carbide) — absconding since 1992.