The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Evidence for constitutional safety to SCs, minorities
New Delhi, April 6
A significant new study on Dalit rights has concluded that there is a strong case for offering Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians the same constitutional safeguards as available to Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist Dalits. This because they continue to endure discriminatory and exclusionary practises, including untouchability, even though such prejudice receives no doctrinal support in either Islam or Christianity.

IIT entrance test on April 13
New Delhi, April 6
Nearly 3.2 lakh students would appear in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) on April 13 for admission into IITs across the country, registering an increase of about 70,000 candidates over last year.

No ‘cheers’ in Dalit areas, courtesy Maya
Lucknow, April 6
Chief Minister Mayawati clearly does not want her core constituency, the scheduled caste population to hit the bottle. Directives issued by her government has decided that in future, liquor shops would not be opened near SC dominated populations.

Union defence minister A.K. Antony with the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Deepak Kapoor, GOC-in-C Eastern Command, Lieut-Gen V.K. Singh, and other Army officials at the 'War Memorial', constructed in the memory of soldiers, who laid down their lives during the 1962 India-China war, in Tawang on Sunday. ‘Infrastructure top priority in NE’
New Delhi, April 6
Months after China built all-weather four-laned roads on its side of the border with India, the focus of attention of the Indian government will be on building infrastructure in the Northeast. Infrastructure development in the Northeast is now a top priority for the government, said defence minister A.K. Antony on his return today after his maiden visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

Indian murder accused: Kuwait court to decide today
Alappuzha (Kerala), April 6
Thelma, mother of 26-year-old Simil currently on the death row in a Kuwaiti jail, today offered prayers for her son as a Kuwait court decides his fate tomorrow.

Conviction for murder through single blow: SC
New Delhi, April 6
The Supreme Court has rejected the view that a person cannot be convicted for a pre-meditated murder if the victim had died due to a "single" injury inflicted by the accused.

Advani justifies strategy to hard sell him as PM
New Delhi, April 6
Referring to British politics, L.K. Advani today sought to justify BJP’s strategy of hard selling him as the country’s next Prime Minister.

Assam orders probe into mushroom deaths
Guwahati, April 6
Rattled by deaths of 18 persons, including children, in the state so far due to consumption of unidentified wild poisonous mushroom, the Assam government has ordered an inquiry by district authorities to ascertain the root cause of the tragedy that struck a number of villages in Golaghat, Jorhat and Sivasagar districts in eastern part of the state.

‘Naxals planning strikes in UP’
Lucknow, April 6
Naxalites had set up new bases in Uttar Pradesh and were planning “major strikes” in the state, a top police officer said.

Karnataka Poll
BJP will contest alone: Yeddyurappa
Bangalore, April 6
Contrary to the statement given by the party central leadership, BJP leader and former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa today said the party would contest the coming Assembly elections on its own.

India-Africa Summit begins tomorrow
New Delhi, April 6
The Indian and the African continent are going to give a decisive boost to its age-old ties on April 8 when the first ever two-day long India-Africa Forum Summit will begin its deliberations at Vigyan Bhavan.

Austrian kids send SOS to embassy, rescued
Kochi, April 6
Three Austrian children who sent an e-mail to the Austrian Embassy alleging that they were not being properly looked after and were being starved by their mother, were rescued and produced before a court in Kerala.

Not against Muslims, says Shahnawaz
Hyderabad, April 6
In a bid to seek support of Muslim community in the country, the BJP today clarified that the party was not against them as being propagated by Congress and other parties.

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Purchasing Power During Peak Hours
Problems compound for Punjab, Haryana
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 6
High power consuming states like Punjab, Haryana and Delhi will continue to pay more during peak hours in the forthcoming summer months as the Central Regulatory Electricity Authority has stalled the implementation of the new and rational tariff structure for hydropower stations.

The new tariff structure was aimed at providing more power at the rates that were less than the “market rates” during peak hours and was scheduled to be implemented from April 1.

The new tariff structure would have resulted in savings of crores of rupees that these states have to spend on buying power at exorbitant rates during peak hours during the summer months. The demand from the farm sector adds up to the needs of the domestic, commercial and industrial consumers and this forces purchase of power at Rs 7 per unit against the normal rates that vary between Rs 2.50 and Rs 3.50 per unit.

The authority is fully aware of the problem these states are facing when the demand rises, a source said while adding that power surplus states virtually earn money from the plight of states like Punjab and Haryana when paddy is planted and demand for power shoots up.

The authority had started the process to amend the terms and conditions of tariff for hydro generating stations in February and even circulated a draft of the new proposed rules to all states in the northern region. It had suggested a mechanism for equitable sharing of risk between a power generator and its beneficiary. The variations arise on account of less rainfall or less water or less snowfall.

The payment for power was to be linked to what is supplied during peak hours. This would have meant that all hydropower stations in the Himalayas were to be induced to provide the maximum output during the peak hours that is normally between 5 pm and 11 pm.

As of now, the payment and charges are fixed according to the power generating capacity of a hydro project. Full payments have to be made even when the actual generation has been low due to poor availability of water. The scenario is such that the loss of generation has to be borne by the power boards while income from extra generation due to higher availability of water is retained by the hydro project.

In the past, the authority has found that Naptha Jakhri and Tehri Hydro stations had a tendency to avoid increasing their output during peak hours. Normally, hydro generating companies have a tendency to operate their station at a constant output throughout the day whereas they can easily shut-off some of the machines and re-start them during peak hours.

The authority was planning to have a rational tariff structure that was to have more hydropower production during peak hours. The inflating power purchase bill of the states was to be controlled. Also the generating stations were to be stopped from passing on the deficit to the electricity boards. The authority has asked for some more time from all states to analyse the response and demands of the electricity boards and the generating companies.

	Entry into Politics Chiranjeevi to decide soon Tribune News Service Hyderabad, April 6 Fuelling speculation over Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi’s political foray, his brother-in-law and film producer Allu Aravind today indicated that the matinee idol will announce his decision in a “month or two”. “Chiranjeevi is aware of the wishes of the people and the enthusiasm of his countless fans. I am sure he will honour it,” Aravind said. While dropping broad hints about the actor’s political plans, Aravind, however, kept the guessing game alive and evaded persistent queries from reporters on the issue. “Chiranjeevi has definite plans and ideas. He himself will announce them. I am unable to comment beyond this,” he said. The well-calibrated comments by the star’s close aide may well be the first clear indications that he is planning a political plunge. The two-month time frame indicates that the heartthrob of Tollywood will wait for the coming by-elections in Telangana region before announcing his plans. The by-poll has been necessitated by the resignation of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MPs and MLAs in protest against delay in formation of separate Telangana state. For several months now, guesswork about Chiranjeevi’s political party has been a favourite pastime with the political class and the media. The media has been carrying a flurry of reports detailing the preparations for the new party, formulation of its policies and programme, political training for the cadre and possible desertions from existing parties. “He will not take any decision in haste. Please wait till he makes the announcement,” Aravind said. Asked about the statements being made by his fans and some politicians eager to join his party, he said, “We have not authorised anyone to speak on our behalf and we are not responsible for it.” So far, Chiranjeevi, a Padma Bhushan awardee who has acted in 148 films in a three-decade long career, has remained silent about his plans. The major players in the state - the Congress and Telugu Desam Party - fear that their traditional support base might erode if the superstar takes the political plunge.
	Price Rise Finally, UP shares blame Tribune News Service Lucknow, April 6 After constantly blaming the central government for rising prices, the UP government has finally decided to owe up some responsibility. It has directed all the divisional commissioners and district magistrates to keep an eye on inflation. A state government press release admitted, “Prices were constantly going up”. It also acknowledged that “in some places VAT was being misused to charge increased prices, though after the implementation of VAT the tax rate on 436 commodities had decreased, while the same remained unchanged on 1,376 articles”. While holding the central government responsible for rising inflation Chief Minister Mayawati said the Union government had failed to check rising prices, while the state government was making all possible efforts to control them. According to her the central government had conceded the fact and owing to her concern, the custom duty on cement, steel and few other consumer goods had been brought down. Expressing serious concern over the rising prices of the commodities, the state government release pointed out that the officers have been asked to control the prices immediately and keep an eye on the causes of price rise. The officers have been asked to ensure that the traders charge correct rate of tax under VAT and they also issue cash memo and bills. “This should be regularly monitored and those found guilty should be booked under the proper legal provisions”, the release declared.
	Evidence for constitutional safety to SCs, minorities Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 6 A significant new study on Dalit rights has concluded that there is a strong case for offering Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians the same constitutional safeguards as available to Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist Dalits. This because they continue to endure discriminatory and exclusionary practises, including untouchability, even though such prejudice receives no doctrinal support in either Islam or Christianity. However, the forms and intensity of social humiliation Muslim and Christian Dalits suffer are differ from those faced by their counterparts in other religions. The data relied upon for the study also shows that Muslim Dalits are generally the worst off among all Dalits by most economic and educational criteria. Christian Dalits, too, lag far behind non-Dalits, especially upper caste Christians. Commissioned by the National Commission for Minorities, the study is specifically relevant in context of the judiciary’s frequent demand for objective evidence when deciding petitions seeking extension of constitutional protections to Muslim and Christian Dalits out of the Scheduled Castes category. Conducted by Prof Satish Deshpande of Delhi School of Economics, the research is based on a comprehensive survey of the available social and scientific literature on the status of Muslim and Christian Dalits. They have an equal potential to reignite caste and reservation debate. The study, conducted over eight months, breaks fresh grounds by analysing the latest data from the National Samples Survey Organisation’s 61st round survey of 2004-2005. Authors of the study say that despite their small population and relatively low representation in the sample survey, the figures unambiguously establish the backwardness of Muslim and Christian Dalits by the common criteria of human development. The statistical analysis demonstrates that religious affiliation makes no difference for the poorest 75 per cent of all Dalits, with only top 25 per cent showing some differentiation.
	IIT entrance test on April 13 New Delhi, April 6 Nearly 3.2 lakh students would appear in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) on April 13 for admission into IITs across the country, registering an increase of about 70,000 candidates over last year. There will be no change in the question pattern this time, Director of IIT Delhi, Prof Surendra Prasad told PTI today. “The format of the examination remains the same as before. It will comprise two papers of 200 marks each,” he said. Seven zones will conduct the test. Students qualifying for the entrance will be eligible to take admission to the IITs at Kharagpur, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur, Guwahati and Roorkee. There are nearly 4,000 seats in these elite institutions. The candidates include 53,000 students from Delhi zone alone, Prasad said. The test will be held in 600 centres across the country, including 117 centres in Delhi zone. The IIT JEE last year decided to change the pattern, making provision for two papers in place of three earlier. Each paper consist of questions from Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. The questions are of objective type. Earlier, the students had to appear for three papers, one each dealing with physics, chemistry and mathematics. Fee hike proposal reasonable, say experts Mumbai: Top academicians and administrators of the IITs, who recently proposed fee hike, have said that the hike was reasonable and inevitable as these institutions spend almost Rs two lakh on every student per year. “Even if we increase the fee from the current Rs 22,000 per annum per student to Rs 50,000, still we will be spending around Rs 1.5 lakh on every student,” said Prof Ashok Misra, Director, IIT Mumbai. The extra money that the institutions will be getting after the fee hike will only help us reduce growing deficit of the institutions, he said, adding that the proposal is very reasonable and long due. Misra said it was only the subcommittee of the IITs council which has proposed the hike. It has to be approved by the Chairman of the council who happens to be the Human Resource Development minister Arjun Singh as the council does not meet often. The last council meet was held four years back. The council consists of Chairman of board of governors of all the IITs and the Chairman of the council who is the HRD minister himself. Besides the tuition fee, IITs also spend on basic boarding and lodging and as pocket money for some students who are under the reservation category. In IIT-M itself, there are over 500 students from the reserved category, said a top administrator on the condition of anonymity. — PTI
	No ‘cheers’ in Dalit areas, courtesy Maya Tribune News Service Lucknow, April 6 Chief Minister Mayawati clearly does not want her core constituency, the scheduled caste population to hit the bottle. Directives issued by her government has decided that in future, liquor shops would not be opened near SC dominated populations. Speaking to The Tribune, principal secretary excise Netram confirmed that on the initiative of the Chief Minister a directives has been issued deciding not to open new liquor shops in SC/ST localities and to relocate the existing shops from such areas. The government has already communicated this decision to all district magistrates. This new decision applies to both rural and urban pockets of the SC/ST population. According to the principal secretary, the idea behind the decision is to make liquor inaccessible to the SC/ST population. “Keeping their social and economic status in mind, it is hoped that this decision would prove to be a slight discouragement to them to consume liquor.” Admitting that perhaps there was no precedent of such a decision anywhere else in the country, Netram, however, justified the decision on grounds that it was taken keeping the best interest of the community in mind. Besides the present orders, there is another excise department order prohibiting liquor shops within a distance of 50 m from recognised, aided and government schools or places of worship run by trusts.
	‘Infrastructure top priority in NE’ Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 6 Months after China built all-weather four-laned roads on its side of the border with India, the focus of attention of the Indian government will be on building infrastructure in the Northeast. Infrastructure development in the Northeast is now a top priority for the government, said defence minister A.K. Antony on his return today after his maiden visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. A statement issued by the ministry of defence said infrastructure development in the Northeast would not only contribute to the security of the nation but also accelerate the growth process of this vital region. Antony said: “In the past, required attention was not given to this region. There is no point in finding fault with anybody. It’s our top most priority now to develop infrastructure in the Northeast”. The defence minister, who was accompanied by the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Deepak Kapoor, defence secretary Vijay Singh and other senior officials of MoD and the Army on his two-day visit to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, reiterated the government’s commitment to the modernisation of the armed forces. Our overall objective is to provide you with the latest equipment, Antony said while adding that insurgency has neutralised some of the gains in the Northeast. He laid a wreath at the war memorial at Tawang. The 40-ft high multi-hued war memorial is dedicated to the martyrs of the 1962 Sino-Indian war and is nestled among picturesque snow-capped peaks overlooking the imposing Tawang-Chu valley. The memorial has names of 2420 dead soldiers.

Indian murder accused: Kuwait court to decide today

Alappuzha (Kerala), April 6
Thelma, mother of 26-year-old Simil currently on the death row in a Kuwaiti jail, today offered prayers for her son as a Kuwait court decides his fate tomorrow.

For the past five months, time has been running out for Simil, who left Kerala for Kuwait two years ago for a better life but now finds himself in jail for accidental killing of his colleague.

Simil stabbed his friend Nov 21, 2007 in a scuffle that broke out between the winners and losers after a cricket match.

The sharp Kuwaiti knife with which Simil was defending himself during the scuffle accidentally sliced through the neck of his colleague, 31-year-old Suresh, a native of Cuddapah district in Andhra Pradesh. Suresh died within minutes.

Simil went to the nearest police station and owned up to his crime.

According to the Kuwaiti law, if the family of the deceased pardons, the accused can be let off.

A document signed by Suresh’s wife pardoning Simil’s crime was sent to the Indian Embassy in Kuwait and that has been handed over to the Kuwaiti court, which will take up the case tomorrow.

It was through the efforts of Kerala’s opposition Congress leader Oommen Chandy, who helped raise Rs 1 million paid to the deceased’s wife, that the pardon was secured.

Another amount of Rs 500,000 was given by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy after Chandy took up the case with him.

Speaking to IANS, Chandy, on his return from a visit to the Middle East, said he is in constant touch with people in Kuwait.

“Many more Keralites have contributed because the expenses to employ an advocate for Simil are pretty high. We have done our best and hope that we will be able to hear the good news soon,” said Chandy. — IANS

Conviction for murder through single blow: SC

New Delhi, April 6
The Supreme Court has rejected the view that a person cannot be convicted for a pre-meditated murder if the victim had died due to a "single" injury inflicted by the accused.

"The nature of the offence would certainly depend upon the other attendant circumstances which would help the court find definitely about the intention on the part of the accused,"a bench of Justices S.B Sinha and V.S Sirpurkar said.

The apex court passed the judgement while dismissing an appeal filed by accused Bavisetti Kameswara Rao alias Babai challenging the life imprisonment imposed by a sessions court for the murder committed by him.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court had confirmed the sentence upon which he appealed in the apex court.

Rao was convicted for murdering Samudrala Pandu Ranga Rao alias Rayalam Rangaduon on July 30, 2000, with a screw driver due to previous enmity.

It was stated that the accused committed the murder by taking the assistance of seven others.

The murder was said to be a sequel to an incident wherein the deceased assaulted the accused after the latter refused to allow him consume liquor in the mini lorry supply office owned by the accused.

Noting that the accused had formed into an unlawful assembly for carrying out the attack, the apex court rejected the plea that the incident occurred on the spur of the moment. — PTI

Advani justifies strategy to hard sell him as PM

New Delhi, April 6
Referring to British politics, L.K. Advani today sought to justify BJP’s strategy of hard selling him as the country’s next Prime Minister.

He referred to the loss of Labour Party leader James Callaghan in the prime ministerial race to Margaret Thatcher as the opponent of the former British Prime Minister, who was averse to being “sold” to the voters.

“Callaghan during his campaign, said he was averse to the idea of being sold as a packet of popcorn. Thatcher won and he ultimately lost,” Advani said on the occasion of the party’s foundation day here.

“Now people say Callaghan lost because he projected just himself, while Thatcher won because she projected herself as the next Prime Minister,” he added.

Addressing the function that also saw the launch of his autobiography “My Country, My Life’s” Internet portal, Advani said the venture was aimed at reaching out to the youth of the country.

“This website will reach out to the young Indians. Although they may lack in EQ (emotional quotient), they are no doubt the best in with their IQ (intelligence quotient),” he said.

The saffron party has also plans to launch a dedicated website on Advani’s campaign apart from translation of his autobiography to several Indian languages starting with Hindi.

As per sources, a separate control office is already functional in of the senior leader’s residence to coordinate the campaign of Advani. — PTI

Assam orders probe into mushroom deaths
Bijay Sankar Bora
Tribune News Service

Guwahati, April 6
Rattled by deaths of 18 persons, including children, in the state so far due to consumption of unidentified wild poisonous mushroom, the Assam government has ordered an inquiry by district authorities to ascertain the root cause of the tragedy that struck a number of villages in Golaghat, Jorhat and Sivasagar districts in eastern part of the state.

Over 45 persons who had taken ill after consuming wild and poisonous mushrooms are now being treated in different hospitals in the state even as the authorities have sounded alarm against consuming unidentified varieties of mushroom by the people.

Assam health minister Himanta Bishwa Sharma today said detailed report from the district administrations had been sought to find out the actual cause of deaths. He said: “It is definitely not a case of people suffering from abject poverty and hunger resorting to consuming wild mushroom. The poorest of the poor in Assam doesn’t face hunger at this time of the year and secondly the vegetables are sold at cheaper prices in the market around this time of the year.

“It seems to be a clear case of mistaken identity though the government has ordered inquiry into the deaths. The victims consumed the wild mushroom taking it to be the nutritious varieties produced in large scale by numerous self-help groups in rural Assam. We need to launch a massive awareness drive to warn the poor and illiterate people in the village against consuming unidentified varieties of mushroom”.

The government has already rushed a team of agricultural scientists to Golaghat district where 15 persons have died so far. At least 45 persons have fallen seriously ill after taking mushroom meal in three Upper Assam districts.

‘Naxals planning strikes in UP’

Lucknow, April 6
Naxalites had set up new bases in Uttar Pradesh and were planning “major strikes” in the state, a top police officer said.

“We have information that new entrants are being trained in the jungles and rugged zones. We are working to avert any strike,” the officer said.

Quoting intelligence reports, the officer said the Naxals were planning to attack offices and camps of security forces besides planning to loot explosives from godowns of rock industry units and wholesale suppliers based in Sonebhadra and Mirzapur.

The last major Naxal strike in Uttar Pradesh was on November 20, 2004, when the ultras ambushed a police patrol party and killed at least 17 cops near a culvert in Chandauli district.

Besides, the senior officer said the Naxals were also using “money power” to recruit people from weaker sections of society with the help of some NGOs and smaller political outfits.

Such recruits generally conducted single strike after which they returned to their native villages to evade any suspicion, he added. — PTI