New Delhi, May 23
In what is the first test of the Prithvi-II after the missile was inducted into the armed forces, The Indian Army and the defence research and the development organisation today successfully conducted a user’s trial and test-fired its 150-250 km range surface-to-surface Prithvi missile from the integrated test range at Chandipur, Orissa.

“The Prithvi missile was test-fired as a part of a user’s trial by the Indian Army and the test was successful,” defence sources said. The missile is 8.56 metre-long and one metre thick, which can carry a pay load of 1,000 kg explosives.

The indigenously built missile, developed by the DRDO, has already been inducted in the Army, they said. “It was launched from a mounted on a mobile ‘Tatra transporter-erector launcher’, the missile took off vertically at about 10.30 am and plunged into the pre-designated splash-down point in the Bay of Bengal,” the sources said.

Powered by liquid propellant, Prithvi can operate with both fuels liquid as well as solid. All parameters of the missile are now being analysed after the successful test fire,” said the sources.

Today’s launch was carried out as a part of Army exercise under the command of the special missile regiment. The missile was taken from routine production lot and launched with an improved aided inertial navigation and achieved high degree accuracy. The missile has the features to deceive any anti ballistic missile. The launch in effect confirms the capabilities and dependability of the Prithvi weapon system in a strategic role.

The Army officials and the DRDO scientists witnessed the launch. Dr V.K. Saraswat, chief controller R & D, oversaw oversaw all the operations of the missile launch. S.P. Dash, director, ITR, D.S. Reddy, project director and other scientists led the team of scientists. The defence minister A.K. Antony congratulated the scientists of the DRDO on the successful launch of Prithvi-II.

New Delhi, May 23
Leading Indian companies in the defence production sector will participate in the Berlin air show beginning May 27. For the first time, since the show started in 1909, India will be a partner country, largely because of its growing defence market and space capabilities.

Defence minister A.K. Antony will leave for Berlin on a three-day visit on Sunday. He will be accompanied by a team of bureaucrats, armed forces personnel and representatives of defence public sector undertakings.

Antony will attend the international aerospace exhibition and conferences - ILA 2008 that is popularly known as the “Berlin air show”. He will also hold talks with his German counterpart Dr Franz Josef Jung.

The air show provides an ideal platform for exploring business opportunities and joint ventures, said a defence spokesperson. A large number of Indian companies - both public and private -- and defence organisations will showcase their defence related capabilities and products at the show.

The composite India Pavilion covering 1,200 sq m will witness the participation of five defence public sector undertakings -- Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI). Besides, the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will also participate.

Another five private defence industries - TATA group of companies, Larsen and Toubro, Cades, Accord Software & Systems and Saraswati Dynamics will also be at the show. Indicative of the importance being attached to India, a seminar on “Opportunities in the Indian Defence Sector” will be held on May 28.

The SARANG team of the Indian Air Force will give a display of aerobatics with their helicopters. The air warriors symphony orchestra will also perform.

In a message for the organisers of the show, Antony said a strong industrial base, sophisticated research and development institutions and a huge domestic market had resulted in a fast growing aviation sector in India. Also the nation was harnessing indigenously developed civilian space technologies as a key multiplier for development, Antony added.

Referring to the Indian defence sector, Antony said, “New policies have been put in place to transform the sector by actively roping in private or public players through mutually beneficial partnerships. Private investment and technology transfers have been put in place. Companies that pro-actively seek industrial partners in India will enjoy advantages in our expanding market. In this context, we welcome recent commitments made by some European partners to transfer technology to Indian partners and locate production in India.”

Antony would start his official engagements with a visit to the Berlin War Cemetery and pay homage. It is the place where 51 soldiers of undivided India, who died during the World War II, had been laid to rest. 

New Delhi, May 23
The Left parties, supporting the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government from outside are unlikely to permit the government to go to Vienna to finalise the Nuclear Safeguards Agreement.

The four Left parties, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the All-India Forward Bloc (AIFB) met here today to discuss the proposed agreement, the government seeks to sign with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

A meeting between the Left parties and the government is scheduled for May 28, where the government hopes to secure the Left clearance to go to Vienna to sign this agreement.

Left Front members met here today to examine the government proposal.

The two Communist parties were more circumspect in reacting to the government proposal and while CPM general secretary tried to brush aside the issue saying that, “We have not completed our discussion on the safeguards agreement. We will be able to say anything on this only after our meeting with the government.

Similarly, CPI national secretary D. Raja told The Tribune, “They said they would like to go, we said we need some more clarifications. We will see what the government says when we meet.”

But Abani Roy of the RSP was more categorical in his assertion and said, “They have not yet fulfilled the earlier conditions that they will tell us all.”

He insisted that the IAEA safeguards would merely open the first door towards signing the 123 Agreement with the US. He said, “The IAEA safeguards emerge from the 123 Agreement so that opens the door for the agreement. If we sign this then if not today, tomorrow it may lead to the 123 agreement with the US.”

Meanwhile, the Left also rejected the government’s contention that going ahead with this deal would in anyway help the current level of shortage of nuclear fuel in India.

Issuing a statement after a two-hour meeting, the Left leaders saw a design in the “creation of temporary shortage of nuclear fuel in India.”

Karat said on behalf of the Left leaders, “There is no doubt that India is currently experiencing a shortage of uranium compared to what its requirements are for running its PWRs. The question is this shortage due to actually running out of nuclear fuel as is being projected or due to a temporary shortage, created either through a lack of proper planning or deliberately in order to push a high-cost import-based nuclear energy sector?”

The Left concluded, “A temporary mismatch between the national uranium supply and demand cannot be the basis to plunge the country into an India-US deal with far reaching adverse implications.”

On another note, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan ruled out the Left allowing the government any hike in petrol and petroleum products prices driven by the rise of fuel prices in the international market.

Bardhan said, “They know our views seeking restructuring the excise duties on petrol products” and added that “This will also help the oil companies facing a crunch.”

New Delhi, May 23
Uttar Pradesh has got the Centre’s approval for declaring Pilibhit Forests in its Terai region as a tiger reserve. The state had lost its tiger reserve, the Jim Corbett National Park, to Uttarakhand when the hill state was carved out of it.

Besides Uttar Pradesh, three more states will get a reserve each - Sunabeda in Orissa, Shahyadri in Maharashtra, and Ratapani in Madhya Pradesh. One park will be treated as a separate reserve.

According to MoEF officials, the approval for creation of these parks was given at the third meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on Wednesday. The Pilibhit Forests in UP were physically viable for having tigers as they fulfill the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) criteria for tiger reserves regarding minimum area and number of breeding female big cats.

All four states concerned had submitted proposals to the MoEF sometime back. The authority also approved a proposal from Karnataka to treat Nagarahole National Park as a separate reserve, which was a part of Bandipur Tiger Reserve.

The meeting, held under the chairmanship of minister of state for environment and forest S. Regupathy, also discussed reports of the committees constituted by the authority for refinement of monitoring process and strategy for tiger reserves affected by extremist disturbances.

The authority took note of recent All-India Tiger Estimation findings and protection strategy in tiger reserves. Several other proposals were also approved, including funding support for research and monitoring through the WII, contractual arrangement for NTCA staff, radio telemetry monitoring of tigers, awareness programme, research and tiger estimation and tiger reintroduction proposals.

The country has 28 tiger reserves set up under the project tiger started in 1973. Eight new reserves approved earlier were Kaziranga national park in Assam, Satkosia in Orissa, Perimbikulam-Annamalai on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu, Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary and Hansi National Park in Karnataka, Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Sanjay Dhubri Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, Udanti and Sitanadi an Achanakmar in Chhattisgarh.

New Delhi, May 23
Girls have done it yet again taking a clear lead over boys in the class XII CBSE results, which were declared on Friday. Some 193 girls out of 384 students managed to score over 95 per cent marks in the examinations, while 8,252 students managed to cross the 90 per cent marks. Girls stood at 4,190 in scoring over 90 per cent marks nationally.

The result was declared early Friday morning and nervous students could be seen lining up outside internet cafes keeping the phone lines buzzing to get their result, in this second round of CBSE declaration.

The result for Chennai, Panchkula and Ajmer was declared earlier on Wednesday. Some incredibly meritorious students scoring over 100 per cent marks from the national capital are Vishal Swami who gets 100 per cent in mathematics. Somil Meghlani from Greenfields Safdarjung gets 100 per cent in physics and a blind student studying in Mudit Kalra has raked in a score of over 90 per cent.

The overall pass percentage this year stands at 80.91 per cent and the pass percentage has registered an increase of 0.27 per cent from last year.

CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly informed the media here that Chennai had topped the list of pass percentages with some 90.31 per cent students clearing the exam, this was followed surprisingly by Ajmer at 85.18 per cent, Delhi stood third at 83.69 per cent, Panchkula was close behind at 80.80 per cent, Allahabad at 75.23 per cent and Guwhati had done well for itself finishing sixth in the national run up at 63.24 per cent.Panel for rotating SC constituencies

Guwahati, May 23
As many as 17 militants, including 12 from the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), today surrendered before the Army at its Dinjan base in eastern Assam.

Army spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said the militants included one each from Naga rebel group, NSCN-IM and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and three from tribal militant group, Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF). The militants deposited one assault rifle, two guns, 10 pistols, one revolver, three grenades, 54 rounds of assorted ammunition while coming over ground. The Army claims that the surrender was a fallout of sustained counter-insurgency operations carried out by the Army in the militants’ bastion in eastern Assam and that it was a major blow to the ULFA.

Two of the senior ULFA militants who surrendered today were identified as self-styled captain Pradeep Bora of the B Company of 27th battalion of the ULFA and self styled lieutenant Samuel Jack. Maj-Gen Jatinder Singh from Dinjan Army base said surrender by such senior cadres exposed serious cracks within the ULFA which was fast losing the support of the masses in the wake mindless IED blasts and extortion activities carried out by ULFA in Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and other districts of eastern Assam.

Guwahati, May 23
Notwithstanding a directive from the Gauhati High Court, the Assam government has hitherto done nothing to protect numerous Vaishnavite monasteries in the state against rampant encroachment by “illegal Bangladeshi migrants”.

Former director general of national museum Rabin Deb Chaudhuri, who has joined a save Vaishnavite monasteries (satras) led by NGO Himalaya Parivar, today informed that there were about 900 such monasteries spread all over the state and out of which at least 32 satras belonging to most popular Hindu religious cult in the state had been encroached upon by illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

Rabin said about 7,000 bighas belonging to 32 satras were now under the possession of illegal Bangladeshi migrants, who enjoyed political patronage in the state. “In some of these Vaishnavite satras illegal migrants have not only grabbed land, but they also indulge in criminal activities like theft, robbery, harassing women in these monasteries. Some head priests of these satras were murdered along with their tribal disciples and all these were aimed at scaring away the Vaishnavites from those areas.”

However, the Gauhati High Court, responding to a writ petition, tried to come to rescue of these monasteries by delivering a judgement saying respective deputy commissioners and superintendents of police would be held responsible for the security of these institutions and freeing satra land from the encroacher.

In another judgement, the Board of Revenue said people belonging to a religion could not encroach upon land belonging to people of some other religion. Unfortunately, the Assam government is sitting on both these directives aimed at safeguarding the interests of Vaishnava monasteries much to the chagrin of the cult of Hindus.