Four persons, including three Bangladeshi nationals staying illegally in India, have been arrested by the Tripura police in connection with the Wednesday night serial blasts that rocked the state capital city even as additional forces were deployed and alert sounded throughout the state, surrounded by the over-839 km long border with Bangladesh to north, west and south directions.

Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of police Nepal Chandra Das said the three arrested illegal Bangladeshi nationals were identified as Md Joinal (28), Roshan Jamam and Abdul Malek (22) from Rangpur. They were arrested from the Lankamura area of Agartala by the police late last night.

“Md Joinal claims to hail from Chittagong district in Bangladesh while Roshan and Adbul are from Sylhet and Rongpur districts of he neighbouring country,” the police official said, adding that the presence of Bangladeshi criminals who sneak in through natural gaps along the border fencing near the capital city had been a major security risk and concern.

The fourth arrested person was identified as Nurul Amin (43) who had been initially picked up for interrogation from the Gaiaria area under West Agartala police station on the night of the blast along with five others. All the four blasts accused were remanded in police custody by the court here today.

The police official further informed that availability of Bangladeshi mobile phone networks across the border inside the Tripura territory, including the state capital city, had been exploited by criminals and anti-India elements from the neighbouring country to expand their network and activities inside the Indian territory here.

BSNL general manager of Tripura Circle B Munindranath, confirmed that Bangladeshi mobile phone signals, available inside Tripura through the BSNL mobile network, had been restricted to within 5 km from the border inside the Indian territory.

“The BSNL has nothing to do in respect of availability of Bangladeshi mobile phones inside the Indian territory here. However, in response to a recent instruction from the Government of India, the BSNL has taken steps to shrink the BSNL mobile network to within 5 km from the international border. In some special cases, the CellOne signals are extended near the border in a depleted way,” the BSNL official said.

New Delhi, October 3
As terrorist attacks and the violence against minorities show no signs of abating, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a meeting of the National Integration Council (NIC) on October 13 to build a national consensus for fighting divisive forces.

The Prime Minister felt the need to call a meeting of the NIC in view of the recent spate of terror strikes as well as the continuing violent attacks against Christians in Orissa and Karnataka, which have not only sullied India’s image abroad but also resulted in an overwhelming view that the Centre is helpless in dealing with the situation.

The UPA government’s worries have been further compounded as its recent crackdown on terrorism has led to the alienation of Muslims as all arrests made in connection with the bomb blasts belong to one community.

The 103-member NIC, comprising union ministers, chief ministers, political leaders, heads of national commissions and eminent public figures, is mandated to find ways and means to deal with tendencies, which undermine national integration and solidarity. The NIC has previously discussed issues relating to national integration and communal harmony in the context of Kashmir, the Punjab problem and the dispute over Ramjanam Bhoomi-Babri Masjid.

In addition to the NIC meeting, a special meeting of the union cabinet is also to be convened shortly to discuss the ongoing violence on Christians in Orissa’s Kandhamal district. While making this announcement at today’s cabinet meeting, Manmohan Singh expressed his deep anguish over these attacks which, he said, had embarrassed him on his recent trip to France when several European Union leaders raised questions on these attacks on Christians.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy had described the attacks as a massacre while the Prime Minister had assured the international community that there was no need for apprehension on this front as India was committed to providing all protection to its minorities.

The Prime Minister was joined by a number of senior Congress leaders like Kapil Sibal, Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, Vyalyar Ravi and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav at today’s cabinet meeting, who also expressed their deep concern at the apathy of the Orissa government in cracking down on those responsible for the attacks on Christians. While asking the Centre to take firm steps in dealing with this situation, the ministers suggested the Bajrang Dal be banned in view of its open involvement in this violence. The centre has issued several advisories to the state to uphold the rule of law but to little avail.

New Delhi, October 3
In view of the rapid acquisition of new aircrafts, helicopters, radars and equipment, the country will see a very different Air force in the next seven-10 years while immediate steps have been taken to build infrastructure in the northeast, said the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshall Fali Homi Major.

The Air Force is upgrading 39 of its airfields across the country to make them capable of handling all varieties of aircraft. The Air Force chief was addressing a press conference on the 76th Air Force Day in the national Capital here today. He said “our biggest challenge is to be build capacities to address all levels of conflict”. In reply to a question on the Chinese capacity building in Tibet, he said we had already planned to augment infrastructure and the Prime Minister had announced it.

Listing out the changes, the Air Force chief said the Sukhoi-30 MKI was being manufactured here and 230 of these would be inducted by 2014. The other two jets of the VIP squadron would arrive in January next year. The advanced warning and control system would be here in January.

The induction of the hawk jet trainer, manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAL), has started.

The technical evaluation for buying the 126 medium-range multi-role aircraft (MMRCA) is on and the flight evaluation will commence early next year after short-listing. The evaluation process to buy eight VVIP choppers is on, said the Air Force chief while adding that radars were being built within India and Rohini was fine equipment. Upgradation of AN 32, MiG 29 and Mirage 200 had started.

The IAF was also working to replace the IL 76 transport aircraft. The request of interest will be issued to acquire very heavy transport aircraft. The IAF wants six more mid-flight re-fuelling aircraft. Price negotiations had begun to purchase either the IL 78 or the Airbus 330. On manpower, he said the problem was in recruitment and retention of the officers.

New Delhi, October 3
In the election year, the UGC Pay Review Committee today recommended 74 to 88 per cent hike in the pay scales of university and college teachers - more than the pay hike proposed for any of the Central government categories by the Sixth Pay Commission.

Faced with the challenge of attracting young faculty and retaining it (the country will soon have 14 new central universities and 300 colleges), the committee headed by former JNU vice-chancellor G.K. Chadha not only raised the retirement age of teachers in India to 65, it also proposed 74 per cent pay hike at entry level for assistant professors. Entrants into teaching will have a grade pay higher than what bureaucrats at entry point get.

The committee agreed to professorship in colleges teaching postgraduate courses. Also, readers in the colleges will no longer retire as readers, with the committee proposing a new position of senior reader. Promotion policies have been eased. An associate professor can now be professor in six years instead of eight.

The committee is for abolition of old nomenclature and suggested that lecturers now be called assistant professors. It has mooted three new positions - senior associate professor, senior professor and professor of eminence. The last position will be meant for just 10 per cent of college’s/varsity’s total faculty and will go to someone who has contributed to the philosophy of the subject. The professor of eminence will be equal to vice-chancellor in every respect. For the record, the committee has proposed a massive hike in vice-chancellor’s salary, fixing it at Rs 80,000 instead of Rs 25,000. Pro vice-chancellor’s scale which ended at Rs 22,400 will not end at Rs 67,000.

Annual increments for teachers are also proposed to be hiked, and the regime of leave set to be liberalised. At entry level, a PhD holder will get five increments instead of four, an M Phil holder will get three increments instead of two on compounding basis, three advance increments on non-compounding basis will be offered to those holding M Tech, MD, MS, LLM degrees at the time of recruitment as assistant professors.

For stagnation removal, the committee says an incumbent after reaching the top of the scale in the pay band can now move to the next pay band without change in the grade pay.

New Delhi, September 3
The government today gave its approval to 30 per cent interim relief to journalists and non-journalists employees of the newspaper industry.

The approval for the long-pending decision came at a meeting of the Union Cabinet here that was presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"The Cabinet has approved 30 per cent interim relief to the journalists and non-journalists employees of the newspaper industry under the Wage Boards," minister for information and broadcasting Priyaranjan Dasmunshi told reporters here after the meeting.

The Wage Board set up by the government to look into the wage revision for the journalists and non-journalists had recommended 30 per cent interim relief in its report on June 28. It had also recommended that the arrears on the interim relief be given from January 2008, he said.

However, there were strong reactions from various trade unions of the newspaper employees which said that the interim relief provided was not adequate. "There has been a tradition to increase the amount of interim relief by the government over and above the recommendation of the Wage Board but it was not done this time," said the leaders of the Confederation of Newspaper and News Agency Employees' Organisations, the apex body of federations in the newspaper industry.

Criticising the decision, confederation general- secretary M S Yadav said, "Journalists across the country had pinned their hopes on the government and believed that it would provide at least 40 per cent relief to them but nothing of this sort happened. We are now left with no other option but to go in for agitation."

He added that confederation leaders would meet the Prime Minister, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and railway minister Lalu Prasad with their demand to review the matter.

If this genuine demand of the journalists is not met, the confederation will go for a nationwide agitation.

Some other confederation leaders, including Suresh Akhauri, president, IJU, N K Trikha, leader NUJI, K L Kapoor, leader AINEF, and Rajesh Verma, secretary-general UNI Worker's Union, also criticised the decision.

New Delhi, October 3
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for raising the age of superannuation of ICMR scientists from 60 to 62 years. This will enable the council to retain the services of experienced scientists and attract talented scientists to join the council, thereby bolstering medical research activities in the country.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also approved the continuation of National Programme for Control of Blindness during the 11th Five Year Plan with an overall outlay of Rs 1,250 crore. The new initiatives of the programme in the 11th Plan, in addition to cataract, will be to include diseases like diabetic retinopathy (DR), childhood blindness, low-vision aids, squint, VR surgery, glaucoma, laser techniques and corneal transplantation surgeries, within the ambit of the programme.

New Delhi, October 3
Paying heed to a long-standing demand of railway federations, the government approved 73-day productivity-linked bonus to eligible railway employees and enhancement in the prescribed wage calculation ceiling.

The Union Cabinet gave a nod for payment of productivity linked bonus (PLB) equivalent to 73 days wages to the eligible non-gazetted railway employees for the financial year 2007-08, although this did not include Railway Protection Force (RPF) and RPSF, information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi said.

The Cabinet also gave its approval for enhancement in the wage-calculation ceiling prescribed for payment of PLB and ad hoc bonus to the eligible non-gazetted railway employees covered by the PLB scheme and also to gazetted RPF/RPSF personnel covered by the ad hoc bonus scheme, Dasmunshi said.

The increase is from Rs 2,500 per month to Rs 3,500 per month and will be effective from April 1, 2006.

This had been a long-standing demand of the railway federations. The grant this year is more than last year when the bonus was given for 70 days wages and the total amount was Rs 600 crore. There are about 14 lakh railway employees in the country.

However, about 17,000 railway officials are not entitled to bonus. The Railways had projected Rs 24,783 crore as cash surplus in the current fiscal.

The Cabinet also gave its approval for granting the payment of interest amounting to Rs 3,872 crore on the balance amount i.e. the 2nd, 3rd and 4th instalment of the reimburse claims of lending institutions pertaining to the Agricultural Debt Waiver & Debt Relief Scheme (2008) to be paid in July 2009, July 2010 and July 2011, respectively.

This approval was given for continuation of the Command Area Development and Water Management (CADWM) Programme for the remaining 4 years of the XI Plan.

New Delhi, October 3
Even as Seema Goyal, wife of Capt Prabhat Goyal who along with other Indian sailors have been taken captive by pirates, today met UPA chief Sonia Gandhi to seek the release of her husband, it has dawned now that India does not even have strategy of “hot pursuit” in place for attacking such pirates in the high seas.

A strategy to counter the threat of sea pirates is being formulated, while efforts are on to obtain release of 16 Indian sailors held hostage by pirates near Somalia are in progress.

The government has turned down suggestions of a policy of “hot pursuit” against pirates in the present case, as it had wider implications, A.K. Antony had told reporters two days on the sidelines of a defence function. A meeting of the countries of the Indian Ocean Rim had been conducted and the Indian Navy is in contact with other navies to formulate a strategy to counter pirates.

Ghaziabad, October 3
Ajay Katara, a key eyewitness in the high-profile Nitish Katara murder case, was today arrested by the police for allegedly kidnapping a man and unlawfully entering his house in Indira Nagar here last evening. Katara was later produced in court which sent him to judicial custody for 14 days in connection with the incident in which Dharmendra Yadav was allegedly kidnapped but subsequently rescued amid high drama outside his house, with his wife and neighbours raising an alarm.

According to the complaint received from victim's wife Manjula Yadav, the incident took place at 4.30 pm yesterday in their Sector 4 house when Ajay allegedly came to her house with four others — two police security guards, a private body guard and driver. SSP L Ravi Kumar said the police registered a criminal case against Ajay, his private guard and the driver under IPC Sections 364, 511, 452 and 352.

The SSP said no action could be taken against the two police security guards provided to Ajay in connection with the Nitish Katara case. — PTI

Jaipur, October 3
A simmering tension between Hindus and Muslims over the desecration of a temple five days ago turned violent today when several shops and vehicles were set afire by different group of hooligans belonging to both communities. Five persons were reportedly injured in clashes.

The Bajrang Dal had called for a bandh today in protest against the desecration.

Information reaching here stated that the communities had managed to maintain peace till today but tension was heightened when activists of Bajang Dal forcibly tried to close down shops in certain areas. On the other hand a group of Muslims objected to Garba festival celebrations on a street.

Police sources said Section 144 CrPc has been imposed. The police carried out a flag march in the evening with officials indicating a curfew may be imposed in certain pockets if the situation did not improve.

Jaipur, October 3
All efforts of the state government, NGOs and the media to improve the skewed sex ratio of the state seem to have come to a nought with the revised voters’ list revealing a downfall in the male-female ratio.

The special summary revision of the electoral rolls, released here today, stated that against every 1,000 males, 906 female voters’ existed in the state. The previous voters’ list, used for the last legislative and Vidhan Sabha elections, had put the figure at 909.

The voters’ list is considered a major indicator of the population, urbanisation and sex-ratio trends. Rajasthan, despite having a woman Chief Minister, is known for child marriages, female foeticide, discrimination against widows, especially child widows. The 2001 census said there were 886 females against every 1,000 males in the state.

Vinod Zutshi, chief electoral officer, while releasing the revised electoral rolls, which will be the base for the ensuing Vidhan Sabha elections and later parliamentary elections, agreed to the observation that the sex ratio has been further hit in the state.

"The voters’ list data does not suggest encouraging signs on the gender-ratio parameter," he said. The electoral roll revision usually adds new voters in the list. Youngsters who have attained 18 years of age become new voters. The data said a lesser number of females reached that age, suggesting lesser births due to female foeticide or death at an early age, sources added.

Surprisingly, urban constituencies like Vidhyadhar Nagar in Jaipur city have the lowest sex ratio with only 824 female voters.

Residents of the Kapasan constituency in Chittor can hold their head high as they have 998 women voters against every 1,000 males.

The revised rolls released to the media showed that though over five lakh new women voters were added to the list, yet the sex ratio dipped.

BRIEFLY

25 hurt as Muslims clash after Namaz
BALASORE: At least 25 persons were injured in a clash between two groups of Muslims after Namaz of the Eid festival at Khagarapal village in Balasore district, the police said on Friday. The incident occurred after some persons made indecent comments about certain other fellow members of the community while coming out of the local mosque after offering namaz on Thursday. — PTI

Bhujbal withdraws case against Thackeray
MUMBAI: NCP leader and Maharashtra Public Works Department minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Friday, withdrew the defamation case he filed against his former mentor Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. After withdrawing the case at the suburban Bandra metropolitan magistrate court, Bhujbal, along with Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, left for Bal Thackeray’s residence ‘Matoshree’. Bhujbal had filed the case in 1997, prompted by a news report in Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’. — PTI