Chennai, June 13
A day after the bomb blast on rail track near Villupuram junction in Tamil Nadu, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram clarified that Centre’s financial assistance to Sri Lanka was meant for the rehabilitation of displaced Tamils and indicated that it would not be handed over to the Mahinda Rajapaksa government directly.

After meeting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today, he said the proposed financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crore was for the purpose of constructing 50,000 houses for the displaced Tamil families. The Centre had not decided to hand over the amount to the Sri Lankan government and was contemplating to disburse the money to the heads of families through banks.

Each Tamil family would be given Rs 2 lakh to build a house and the rehabilitation measures taken by the island government would be monitored by the Indian Government, he said. He also said Colombo had promised to resettle ethnic Tamils staying in camps since the end of the war against the LTTE in another three to six months. To a question why the Centre gave a red carpet welcome to Lankan minister Douglas Devananda, declared a proclaimed offender by a court in Tamil Nadu, instead of arresting him, the Home Minister said the Centre was not officially informed about that and he came to know about it only through newspapers.

Terming the Villupuram blast as an “attempted act of extremism”, Chidambaram expressed confidence that the Tamil Nadu Police would arrest the culprits soon. “It is an attempted act of extremism. Alert railway officials averted a major disaster. The police and intelligence agencies are working together to nab the culprits and I am confident that the state police will arrest the accused soon,” he said.

About 2,000 passengers travelling in the Chennai-bound Rockfort Express had a miraculous escape on Saturday night, when the driver brought the train to halt just 200 feet before a damaged section of the railway track. The track was reportedly damaged with a bomb blast. Pamphlets condemning Rajapaksa’s visit and the signing of agreements between him and the Union Government were found near the place.

Chennai, June 13
Security has been increased for Union Home Minister P Chidambaram following doubts that he might have been the intended target of the yesterday’s bomb blast on the rail track near the Villupuram junction.

Chidambaram had reportedly planned to visit Tiruchi yesterday by the Rockfort Express, which goes in the opposite direction via the same route. While the Chennai-bound Rockfort Express reached the spot where the track was carried out around 2 am, the Tiruchi-bound train, in which Chidambaram had planned to travel, would cross the same place around 1.30 am, police officials said.

A ticket had been booked for the Home Minister to travel in the Tiruchi-bound Rockfort Express, which departs at 10.30 pm, and the minister’s commando forces had arrived at the Chennai railway station around 9.30 pm. But, the flight in which Chidambaram returned to Chennai reached the Chennai airport only at 10.50 pm and hence, his visit to Tiruchi had to be cancelled at the last minute. He stayed at his Chennai residence.

Reacting to this possibility, Chidambaram said he did not think that he might be the target of the attack. He said the decision to cancel his visit to Tiruchi had been taken while he was in Delhi.

Karaikudi (TN), June 13
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has said the government would soon introduce the Communal Violence (Prevention,Control and Rehabilitation) Bill with amendments to prevent violence in the name of caste and religion.

Some suggestions had come from Parliamentary Standing Committee for amending the Bill and it had been placed before Parliament, he said in a function organised to unveil a statue of BR Ambedkar here late last evening.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had suggested to make it tougher for those instigating caste and communal violence, he said, adding the draft bill would be ready soon.

It was not good to hear about caste and communal violence even after several decades of Independence, he said. — PTI

New Delhi, June 13
A longstanding demand for voting rights in India by millions of NRIs may finally see the light of the day with a Group of Ministers (GoM) clearing a draft Bill on the issue, paving way for its consideration by the Union Cabinet. Drafted almost fours years back by the Overseas Affairs Ministry, the Representation of People's (Amendment) Bill was cleared by a GoM headed by Defence Minister AK Antony and is likely to be presented soon before the Cabinet.

"The GoM headed by the Defence Minister cleared the Bill. Now, we are all set to present it before the Cabinet and then it will be introduced in the Parliament," Overseas Indian Affairs Minister, Vayalar Ravi, said. The GoM clearance came months after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while addressing the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas earlier this year here, had said he recognised the "legitimate desire" of Indians living abroad to exercise their franchise and to have a say in the governance of India.

The move to allow the NRI participation in the democratic process will further boost the two-way engagement and help them actively participate in India's growth story, Ravi said. The government had moved the Bill in the Rajya Sabha in 2006 proposing amendments to the Representation of People's Act to make provision for voting rights to NRIs. The Bill was then sent to a Parliamentary Standing Committee and later it was referred to the GoM. Under the existing law, an NRI's name gets deleted from the voters' list if he/she stays outside the country for more than six months at a stretch. The proposed amendments will allow an Indian citizen residing abroad to enroll in voter's list and exercise the franchise even if he or she remained away from place of residence in India for more than six months owing to their employment, education or otherwise. However, the person will be able to exercise the franchise only if he or she is present in the constituency on the polling day.

The GoM that cleared the Bill included Ravi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Law Minister M Veerappa Moily. — PTI

Patna, June 13
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s clear message to his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi to act with some humility and modesty, at least when visiting another state, had little impact on the latter, who regaled an impressive saffron crowd with how he had succeeded on all development indices in his home state.

He was addressing the BJP’s Swabhiman Rally at Gandhi Maidan on the conclusion of its two-day national executive meet here today.

Modi has set foot in Bihar for the first time after becoming the “Hindu Hriday Samrat” following the 2002 Godhra killings and he was the main draw at this rally.

Kumar was irked by an advertisement campaign eulogising Modi’s achievements going so far as to claim through bogus photos that even Muslims were prospering in his regime. An advertisement carrying a photograph of Ludhiana election rally of 2009, showing Narendra Modi holding Kumar’s hand was the last nail in the coffin.

An annoyed Kumar withdrew a dinner invitation he had informally extended to the members of BJP national executive.

It was now the BJP and Modi’s turn to react. And Modi declared, “I have only one agenda. To end the politics of vote bank and force all parties to adopt politics of development, to establish the politics of development throughout the country.”

Throughout his speech, which was much longer than his other party colleagues and fellow BJP chief ministers, Modi did not mention Kumar’s name once. But in the BJP parlance, “politics of vote bank” implies “appeasement of Muslims”. But this was clearly interpreted as a dig at Nitish Kumar, who shuns Narendra Modi’s company for fear of annoying his Muslim voters.

Modi proudly flaunted his achievements. “When I took over, people came to me saying give us some electricity to enable us to at least enjoy our evening meal without darkness. Today, they are getting 24- hour power. We don’t have coal, but we produce more power than anyone. We didn’t have year-round rivers like Ganga, except Narmada, but there is no water crisis there, my cotton farmers are exporting their cotton in China, while Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh farmers are committing suicide.

“We have no mines but for every 10 diamonds produced in the world, eight are manufactured by Gujaratis. NDTV is no friend of mine but it has found Gujarat the best among the five states highest on development indices. Three are ruled by the BJP, one is a non-BJP and only one is ruled by the Congress party.”

By contrast, he was at best condescending towards Bihar. Asking the people to vote again the BJP, he said, “It took five years for Sushil Modi and his associates to fill up the potholes left behind by his predecessor. Today the roads are smooth, things have started moving, give them another chance to complete their development agenda.”

In effect, Modi reflected a mood of sullen annoyance in the BJP at what they considered as “immature overreaction of Nitish Kumar”.

BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy subtly criticised Nitish saying, “We are a mature party with a mature leadership. We have a great sense of resilience. That is what we expect from national leaders. But our self respect is most important.”

Hyderabad, June 13
Iranian conservation experts will soon join hands with the Andhra Pradesh government in restoring the 400-year-old Qutub Shahi tombs, mausoleums of the rulers of Golconda, to their pristine glory.

Standing testimony to Indo-Persian architecture, the majestic monuments, located on the outskirts of Hyderabad, are a major tourist attraction. However, as ravages of time have taken a toll on these heritage sites, the state government has sought the help of Iranian experts for their conservation.

The domed structures, the intricately carved stonework built on a square base and surrounded by pointed arches and landscaped gardens, form a large cluster and stand on a raised platform. They display a distinctive style, a mixture of Persian, Pathan and Hindu forms.

A set of three monuments - Qutub Shahi tombs and gardens, the Premamati mosque and the Badeshahi Ashurkhana - were built by Iranian engineers about 400 years ago during the rule of the Qutub Shahi dynasty.

They are dedicated to the memory of the seven Qutb Shahi kings who ruled Golconda for nearly 170 years. Prominent among these tombs is the one erected in the memory of Hayath Bakshi Begum, daughter of Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah, founder of Hyderabad city.

Iran’s help has been sought to provide technical expertise in the study of structural details of monuments, gardens, stones, carvings, tile work and other aspects of maintenance. Besides, special tiles and other related materials would be procured from Iran as part of conservation efforts. “We will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran in September this year and works will start soon after,” the state Tourism and Culture Minister, Dr J Geetha Reddy, said.

She said the protection of heritage monuments was essential to showcase the great civilizations of India and Iran and to strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries.

The MoU would also cover restoration of manuscripts in several languages, the minister said. The state Tourism and Culture Ministry will conduct the Festival of AP in Iran in September during which the agreement would be signed.

Meanwhile, the central government has also provided financial assistance of Rs 4 crore for taking up restoration works and agreed to include them in the preliminary listing for the status of a world heritage.

“From our side, the works include laying of rough granite stone flooring around the monuments, internal stone pathways, laying of pathways and entrance ways,” the Director of the Department of Archaeology and Museums Chinna Reddy said.

Guwahati, June 13
The National Highway 39 is popularly known as Imphal Road in Manipur and has been witness to many a battle fought over its control. The strategically important road connects the plains of Myanmar with the prosperous Brahmaputra Valley in Assam. It stretches from the oil refinery town of Numaligarh in Assam to Moreh at the Manipur-Myanmar border and passes through Kohima (in Nagaland) and Imphal (in Manipur).

This was the highway Indian National Army (INA) chief Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had planned to capture during World War II when his call for ‘Delhi Chalo’ pitted his men against the might of Allied Forces.

This highway was also the bone of contention during the bloody Naga-Kuki ethnic conflict in 1990s that led to over 2000 deaths. Both the warring groups wanted control over this strategic stretch.

The Government of India’s ‘Look East Policy’ aimed at connecting the country’s industrialised zones with South East Asian countries through the North East, banks on NH 39 that is now under siege of Naga agitating groups for the past two months.

The Union Home Secretary G K Pillai, who visited Manipur and Nagaland this month to take stock of the situation,commented, “ The government’s patience is running out. We have to come down with a hard hand on those who are imposing the blockade and they should call it off immediately. The blockade is illegal.”

However, it has just been a lot of hot air so far and there is no visible sign of action from the Centre. There have been reports of New Delhi promising to send more paramilitary forces to Manipur to help the state government to secure the highways. But on the ground the situation remains unchanged.

New Delhi clearly miscalculated and failed to anticipate the reaction while giving its consent to Thuingaleng Muivah’s desire to visit his ancestral village in Manipur, which he last visited 40 years ago. It is assumed that the Union Home Ministry would have consulted the Manipur government before saying ‘yes’ to Muivah. But with the Manipur Chief Minister putting his feet down, the Nagas feel they have been betrayed and humiliated while the Centre is left looking sheepish.

Without even stepping into Manipur, however, Muivah has accomplished his mission to emerge as the leader of even Nagas from Manipur, thanks to the inept handling of the situation by the governments at Imphal and in New Delhi. Politically, Manipur CM Ibobi Singh may have succeeded in pandering to the Meiteis, who are distrustful of the Nagas, and deflected public attention from his government’s all-round failure. But people of Manipur seem to be paying a heavy price for his political ambitions.

The Opposition Manipur People’s Party (MPP) has been outspoken in its criticism. “ The Government of India just doesn’t care about Manipur. They are treating us in such a shabby way as if Manipur is outside India. They (government of India) want to rule Manipur through the Army only. Such an indifferent and negligent attitude has been the basic reason for discontentment and raging insurgency in Manipur,” fumed Dr Nimaichand, the president of Manipur People’s Party (MPP).

The MPP chief was speaking to The Tribune from hospital where he has been kept confined by Manipur police after he was arrested for resorting to a fast-unto-death demanding immediate government action to ease the economic blockade. The MPP started the hunger strike on June 7 and Manipur government immediately cracked down on MPP agitators.

The situation is grim as there is no diesel for tractors and power tillers. Fertilizer prices have sky-rocketed during the blockade.

Manipur has a total paddy cropping area of 2,33,400 hectares and produces nearly 5.18 lakh tons of rice annually against the total demand of 6.21 lakh tons. However, in case the economic boycott continues for a longer period, rice production this year will be severely hit.

The paddy cultivation season has set in and fields are filled with water; but farmers are yet to start ploughing the land because politicians have again failed them.

Routine operations at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, RIMS, Imphal, one of the largest hospitals in the region with a capacity of 1075 beds, had to be suspended for two weeks last month due to shortage of oxygen. Many other leading hospitals in the state including the state run JN Hospital and the Shija Hospital also followed suit.

Dr Mohen, Superintendent of RIMS points out, “we had problem supplying meals to the patients as the contractor pleaded his inability to supply rice because it was no longer available in the market. The state government did help out with 60 bags of rice but how long will it last ? ” Many of the doctors and staff also found it difficult to commute because of the acute shortage of petrol.

Within a few days into the blockade, outlets started closing down one after the other and petrol became one of the rarest commodities in the state. Whatever was available in the black market sold at Rs 150/- per litre. Many people stopped using their private vehicles, some stopped using them altogether and yet others took to riding bicycles after years. Imphal city, unwittingly and in a perverse way, became a little more environment friendly.

Petrol shortage has also affected the education of school going children. The All Manipur School Students Transporters’ Association, which is responsible for ferrying the school children, suspended the bus service service from May 10 ,forcing many schools to close down. The association has since resumed service from May 31 after the government made special provisions to make petrol available to the school buses.

But petrol is delivered to them from only one outlet. As a result, they have to start queuing up from the previous evening and after a night-long vigil and many hours later the following day, they manage to get 10 litres of the precious fuel that barely last for two days.

Prices of all the essential commodities have gone up. The popular variety of rice consumed by ordinary people, which used to cost Rs 14/Kg, is now selling at Rs 24/kg; a kg of potato is selling at 25 per kg from Rs 16/kg earlier. For those like O Ibeton, a vegetable vendor, it is a daily struggle to keep the fire burning. “ I now spend double the amount on transport and it is becoming very difficult to manage with my meagre earnings”, she says.

Another shortage which has hit every household badly is the shortage of cooking gas. Whatever is available is selling at Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 per cylinder, forcing many households to revert to cooking with charcoal or firewood.

Yet another worrying aspect of the prolonged blockade is the effect it is having on the nutrition and health care of young children. Baby food have disappeared from the shelves. Same is the case with medicines sold at chemists’ shops. Sansam Lokeshwor, a chemist at Uripok, says, “bottled medicine in liquid form, including dextrose drips and ORS are no longer available in the market.”

Jaya, a social worker, involved with Integrated Women & Children Development Centre which runs a child adoption centre and a shelter home for girls, reveals that though they were able to maintain the nutritional intake for the younger children (0-6yrs), “we had to make some compromise with the quantities of rice given to the older children (7-18yrs)”.

Lucknow, June 13
The opposition in Uttar Pradesh has united to oppose the BSP government’s proposal to change the rules so that elections to local bodies scheduled for September this year are held on non-political and non-party lines.

Another move, being described by the opposition parties as the BSP’s attempt to undermine the autonomy of the local self-government, is Mayawati’s proposal to elect heads of urban bodies through an indirect election.

A Gazette notification notifying the new rules and inviting objections to the move was issued on May 11, 2010 and called upon political parties to register their objections within 30 days.

But the notification was kept a closely guarded secret and it was on June 8 that former urban development minister and present MP from Lucknow, BJP leader Lalji Tandon, first alerted the media about the proposal.

Not having a base in urban areas, Tandon alleged, BSP was determined to undermine the autonomy of the urban local bodies by introducing indirect elections which were easier to manipulate through money and muscle power than direct elections where the voters elected their mayor.

On June 9 UPCC spokesperson A K Singh managed to get hold of a copy of the notification and shared it with the media for the first time. The entire opposition cried foul. UPCC president Rita Bahuguan Joshi sought the dismissal of the Bahujan Samaj Party government when she called on the Governor B.L.Joshi at Raj Bhavan with a UPCC delegation on June 11. She pointed out that since 1993 direct elections have taken place in UP without any problem.

In a letter to the Principal Secretary, Urban Development, BJP state president S P Shahi sought to know in which newspaper the notification was published. Pointing out that the party had learnt of the notification only through the media, the BJP president submitted a list of nine objections.

Samajwadi party state president Akhilesh Yadav also presented a memorandum to the Governor describing it as a well-planned scheme of the Mayawati government to take over the urban bodies even in the absence of the required numbers. Yadav also demanded action against the principal secretary, urban development who was responsible for disseminating information about the notification but had filed to do so, evidently expecting the changes to be passed by default.

At present the BJP has 8 mayors in the state while 3 mayors are from the Congress. SP holds the lone Moradabad mayor’s seat. Mayawati had officially announced that the BSP would not participate in the polls held in 2006, citing the death of party founder Kanshi Ram and the party men focusing on the 2007 assembly election.

However, after the results were declared and a large number of independents managed to win, she claimed that they belonged to her party and had won with her party’s tacit support.

She claimed that she had officially not supported them as the party did not want dissident activities so close to the general elections!

However, as the mayor’s election was fought directly on party lines BSP could not claim any victory there. BJP managed 8 seats; the Congress 3 and Samajwadi party narrowly won the lone Moradabad mayor’s seat.

Chennai, June 13
Although the DMK announced on May 30 that PMK was welcome to re-join the alliance, the party of the Vanniyars, a dominant OBC community in the northern region of Tamil Nadu, is playing hard ball. It would first like the DMK to spell out the number of seats it would leave for the PMK in the next Assembly election, due before May next year.

Curiously, the PMK was routed in the last Lok Sabha elections and forced to quit the AIADMK front. There is no sign of the AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa seeking renewal of alliance with Ramadoss, whose only option is to go it alone if he declines DMK’s offer. He was therefore expected to grab the offer but for the past two weeks he appears to be driving a hard bargain.

An immediate gain for the DMK is the support of 18 PMK MLAs in the Assembly, making the DMK less dependent on the Congress for its survival. But a far more important factor is the DMK’s anxiety to dictate terms to the UPA government at the Centre.

Even during the peak of the Sri Lankan conflict, when there was immense pressure on Karunanidhi to stop the war, he was not able to dictate terms to New Delhi. The DMK does not want a similar situation if the Congress decides to remove or shift Union Telecom Minister A Raja, who is under a cloud on the spectrum issue, during the next Cabinet reshuffle.

With PMK’s support, the DMK will cross the half-way mark of 117 in Tamil Nadu Assembly, as Ramadoss also has the support of two members of the pro-Tiger Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), and two AIADMK dissidents. In such a scenario, the DMK will not need Congress support in Chennai, although its 18 MPs will still be crucial for the UPA government at the Centre.

If the DMK clinches a deal with the PMK, therefore, it can dictate terms to New Delhi, without worrying for the survival of its government in the State. The PMK is well aware of this and hence feels that it is in a strong bargaining position, despite the lack of other options.

If Karunanidhi manages to cement the alliance, Raja can breathe easy as it will not be easy to touch him without the DMK leadership’s approval. All the Union Ministers belonging to the DMK can act more freely and the party can impose its decisions over the UPA on crucial issues, if it wants to. Power equations at the Centre may be dramatically altered, casting a shadow over the next four years of the UPA government unless the DMK is reduced to a minority government again after the next Assembly elections.

Chennai, June 13
Moderate tremors were felt in several parts of the city for a few seconds causing panic among the people, who rushed out of their homes during midnight today and spent the rest of the day on the streets.

Apartments and buildings shook for a few seconds and things moved from their places, due to the moderate tremors. Met department officials said the tremors were due to the impact of an earthquake that occurred at 7.9 degree north and 91.9 degree east-west coast of Andaman and Nicobar Islands measuring of 7.8 in Richter scale at 12.56 am.

A tsunami warning which was issued for India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia, was withdrawn later. Although, the tsunami warning was withdrawn, people refrained from visiting the beach today. The Marina beach, which used to witness huge crowds on Sunday, was totally empty till afternoon and only a few people visited it in the evening.

Apartments were the worst hit as the entire structure shook for a few seconds raising fears among inmates, who rushed out to the streets. One of the inmates at Mylapore near the beach said the apartment in which she resided was shaking even as she was running down the stairs. Even after coming out, the people were afraid, since the space between the tall buildings was less and the chances of the structure falling on the crowd were high.

Although, the beach near the area is open and there is no risk of buildings falling on people, nobody ventured to go in that direction, due to previous experience on December 26, 2004, when several people went to the beach early in the morning, after similar tremors, thinking that it was the safest place during an earthquake.

People who were watching television or browsing in their computer systems on a weekend, were shocked to see the tables moving here and there.

Jaipur/Udaipur, June 13
In a politically significant move ahead of the June 17 Rajya Sabha elections, Dausa MP Kirorilal Meena has asked his wife Golma Devi, who is Minister of State for Khadi and Gramodyog in the Ashok Gehlot government, to quit her post on moral grounds in the aftermath of “hunger deaths” of 33 persons belonging to tribal families of Jher village in Kotra region of Udaipur.

The mercurial Meena leader has been staging a dharna along with tribals of the area outside the collectorate in Udaipur since Friday. He also demanded that the state should pay compensation to the families who lost their near and dear ones "in the absence of food".

Meena also submitted a memorandum to Udaipur Collector Anand Kumar, apart from a list of persons who, he claimed, died of hunger in Jher village. He said he visited Kotra on Thursday and saw that the tribal people in the region were facing starvation and were forced to eat toxic seeds. Stating that he had no faith in the government report, he also sought a CBI probe into the deaths of tribals at Kotra.

Meanwhile, lapping up the opportunity to boost its support in the Rajya Sabha polls, the BJP lost no time in coming out in support of Kirori who had been backing the Congress so far. Former Rajasthan Home Minister and Udaipur MLA Gulab Chand Katria joined the dharna, recognising Kirori, a former BJP man, as an “old ally”.

If Golma Devi resigns, the vote arithmetic of Rajya Sabha elections in the state will swing in favour of the BJP, which is grappling to get adequate support for its second candidate. The BJP, with 79 MLAs in the 200-member House, needs the support of only three MLAs to get its both the candidates -- Ram Jethmalani and VP Singh -- elected to the Upper House and in such a scenario, Kirori’s support may come in handy for the party.

In his letter to Golma, Kirori said, “The call of morality is to forsake the ministerial post for the cause of people dying of hunger. If you don’t resign I will be forced to quit my Lok Sabha membership.”

Jaipur, June 13
With five candidates in the fray for four Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan, all eyes in the desert state are on the polling day, June 17.

More than the ruling Congress it is the BJP that is facing tough times ahead of the crucial polls. The BJP with 79 MLAs and support of lone JD(U) MLA in the 200-member House is still short of two MLAs to ensure the victory of both its candidates --- noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani and former Bhilwara MP VP Singh. The nomination of former Union Minister Santosh Bagrodia as an Independent, after he was denied renomination by the Congress, has added to the BJP’s woes.

The Congress has made it clear that the party will support Bagrodia when it comes to voting. Amid apprehensions of horse trading, sources in the BJP indicated that prior to the polling day, the party MLAs may be kept under the close vigil and may even be asked to stay together a day before the election. Though state BJP chief Arun Chaturvedi is putting up a brave front, expressing confidence of victory of both candidates, he has cautioned the Congress against resorting to horse-trading.