New Delhi, June 26
Opposition parties today hit the streets in many states enforcing strikes in Kerala, Orissa and West Bengal in protest against the government's decision to hike fuel prices and warned of more agitation unless there is a rollback.

Protests were also staged in Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh among other states. JD-U chief Sharad Yadav appealed to all Opposition parties to unite and call a nationwide bandh to protest the petro price hike and got support from the BJP.

In Kerala, a ruling LDF-sponsored dawn-to-dusk strike crippled normal life but passed off without any major untoward incident. Shops, business establishments and schools were closed. Normal life was hit in West Bengal as buses and taxis went off the roads today in response to a strike called by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions

Despite being a holiday for government employees, commuters were inconvenienced as a handful of taxis and autorickshaws that plied made a killing by charging exorbitant fares.— PTI

New Delhi, June 26
Amid moves by the political leadership to make the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) “more humane”, Army chief Gen VK Singh has voiced his opposition to any change, saying demands for dilution of the Act were being made for “narrow political gains”.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised amendments to the Act that gives sweeping powers to the Army in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East, to make it more humane. Home Minister P Chidambaram is also known to be in favour of diluting some of the provisions of the Act.

The Home Ministry has finalised its views and sent a note to the Cabinet. Comments of the ministries of Defence and Law have been sought before the Cabinet Committee on Security considers amendments.

Describing the AFSPA as a “misunderstood Act”, Army chief told a defence journal, “All who ask for its dilution or withdrawal, probably do so for narrow political gains”. Any dilution “will lead to constraining our operations”, he added.

He said, “We are very clear on the subject that soldiers operating in hostile environment need legal protection to ensure that they perform their tasks efficiently”.

The killings of three Kashmiri youths by the Army in a suspected fake encounter in Machil in Kupwara district on April 29 has sparked off widespread protests in the Valley and strengthened the demand for amending the Act.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as well as political parties in the state are clamouring for dilution of the Act so that any Army personnel involved in extra-judicial killings are held accountable through civilian legal process rather than Army’s internal mechanisms.

However, Gen Singh stated that adequate measures had been instituted at organisational and functional levels to ensure that the powers entrusted through the Act were not misused. — PTI 

New Delhi, June 26
New Delhi is quite satisfied that the annual meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) did not take a view on the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technology by its members to those countries which have not signed the NPT as such a step could have affected India’s interests in procuring sensitive nuclear items.

Welcoming the NSG’s reference to consider the implementation of the civil nuclear cooperation with India, sources here said it should be seen as a general guideline, and added that the NSG waiver to New Delhi in September 2008 “is specific to India and not included in the general statement”.

The sources said India would in the coming days try to get a sense of what the NSG statement meant in the Indian context, and welcomed the move by participating governments to “continue considering ways to further strengthen guidelines dealing with the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technologies.”

New Delhi had been closely monitoring the developments at the June 21-25 meeting of NSG in New Zealand. “The group continued to consider the implementation of the statement on civil nuclear cooperation with India. It noted actions taken to adhere to the NSG guidelines and the voluntary commitments made by India,” said the NSG statement issued after its annual meeting.

New Delhi, June 26
A Delhi court today allowed the city police to interrogate in custody for five days the three persons accused in a sensational honour killing case in the Capital.

"The accused persons have been remanded in police custody till June 2,” Metropolitan Magistrate Satish Kumar said.The Delhi police, which quizzed the accused inside the court premises for half an hour earlier during the day, moved an application seeking their custodial interrogation for 10 days.

“It seems that there was a deep-rooted conspiracy to eliminate the victims who had married against the wishes of their families. The accused are mere doers and the names, if any, of the instigators or the conspirators have to be ascertained," the public prosecutor said. — PTI

New Delhi, June 26
The rainfall till June 24 has been less than normal, but the metrological office yesterday predicted excess overall rainfall this monsoon.

The metrological department while updating its April forecast stated yesterday that the monsoon was likely to be 102 per cent of the long period average, an average measurement of the rainfall between 1941-1990, which is 89 cm. The metrological office in its April forecast had stated that the country would receive 98 per cent rainfall of the average.

The southwest monsoon had weakened in June, but metrological department’s director general Ajit Tyagi said there was no reason to worry, as the revival of the monsoon was visible. Tyagi said the rainfall would likely increase every month and September could be the wettest one. July and August were predicted to receive 98 and 101 per cent of the long period average.

Monsoon entered Kerala on May 31, but slowly weakened, largely due to the influence of cyclone Phet. The country received 97.4 mm of rains from June 1 to June 24, which is only 89 per cent of the normal.

“The latest forecasts from a majority of the dynamical and statistical models indicate continued and rapid cooling of the equatorial Pacific to below La Nina thresholds. There is probability (about 60 per cent) for the La Nina conditions to develop during the monsoon, which favours stronger than normal monsoon,” an official press note stated.

Agriculture experts said a good amount of rainfall in July was must for a generous kharif harvest as its sowing picks up during this month.

New Delhi, June 26
Rajiv Gandhi’s assassin Nalini Sriharan, who had sought transfer from Vellore prison alleging harassment, has decided to drop the demand, saying conditions had improved in the jail, her counsel said today.

“She has said she will no more seek transfer to another prison as things have improved after Deputy Inspector General of Police Govindarajan conducted an inquiry in the prison,” said P Pugalenthi, who met her today.

Nalini, who is serving life imprisonment, had earlier given a three-page complaint and had decided to move the Madras High court, seeking a direction to transfer her from Vellore Prison to Puzhal Central Prison.

In her three-page complaint to the IG prisons she had alleged that prison manual rules regarding rights of prisoners were being violated by jail authorities inside the prison while dealing with her. — PTI

Jaipur/Sawai Madhopur, June 26
With the Centre finally giving its nod, the state government is all set to relocate two more tigers, a male and a female, from the Ranthambore National Park to the Sariska Tiger Reserve by the first week of July.

According to sources, a team comprising Aparajita Dutta of the National Conservation Trust and AJT John Singh, former professor of the Wildlife Trust of India, have already submitted a list of 10 probable tigers from the Ranthambore National Park who will be zeroed in for relocation.

As the government intends to shift only two tigers to Sariska, the wide choice of 10 tigers would check any further delay in executing the plan to relocate the big cats. Sariska's tiger population was wiped out a few years ago due to rampant poaching, while the Ranthambore has nearly 40 of the wild cats. At present, Sariska has two female and a male tiger which were airlifted from the Ranthambore between July 2008 and early 2009.

However, the second phase of the translocation plan got stalled in view of the reports of genetic incompatibility among tigers after they failed to breed. A section of wildlife experts also expressed apprehensions that relocating the tigers without conducting a DNA test on them to see if they belong to the same family may prove disastrous.

Now, the state forest officials say the DNA testing will continue alongside relocation as the former consumes a lot of time. Though the cats have been collected and sent for the DNA testing, the Forest Department is primarily focusing on the relocation of the two tigers that have strayed out of the Ranthambore to Kota and Kailadevi. However, if they fail to locate them prior to the scheduled date of relocation they will shift other identified tigers.

The Two tigers, a male and a female, had strayed away from the Ranthambore earlier this year and are yet to return to the park. Forest officials have been keeping a watch over them and are trying to get them back to the reserve. The purpose behind shifting the strayed big cats is that it will not disturb the gene pool.

Confirming the development, Rajasthan Minister for Forest and Environment Ram Lal Jat attributed the Centre’s nod to sustain efforts of Dutta and Singh in this direction.

He said the Centre’s approval to relocate transient tigers from the Ranthambore to the Sariska has come in response to Dutta’s letter regarding the rising pressure in the Ranthambore due to the increase in population of big cats there.

The Forest Department has already got the pre-requisite permission for using a helicopter for airlifting the tigers, while researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India and officials of the State Forest Department are camping in the Ranthambore, keeping a track of the identified tigers.

Jaipur/Pushkar, June 26
Less than a year after people were shocked to see Pushkar lake completely dry, comes another news that doesn’t augur well for this pilgrimage centre - the desert is expanding and is threatening Pushkar the most.

This has been revealed in a study done by a team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and IIT, Kharagpur, following sanction from the state government.

The study found various causes for desertification, which the experts primarily attributed to the unabated mining in the Aravalli ranges. The study says the area had witnessed ruthless destruction of vegetation, largely due to mining in the ranges.

The experts not only held the climatic change responsible for desertification but also felt that human intervention, particularly mining, has aggravated the problem.

“Also, location of the zone along the fringe of the desert and its inherent vulnerable nature due to its terrain characteristics with the Aravallis are other factors leading to desertification in Budha Pushkar region,’’ they added.

The unwillingness of local populace to initiate any measure to stabilise the ecosystem that has led to devastation of natural vegetation. The movement of sand from the dunes and plains has accelerated that further deteriorated the condition of the lake.

As the wind direction in the state is majorly southwest to northeast, the tendency of desertification has been more in this direction. The Thar Desert is expanding in an eastward and northeast direction as well, the scientists said.

Till now, Aravalli range had been a major barrier but rampant mining over the years has also changed the scenario.

While Pushkar has many cuts in the Aravalli range, experts also attribute desertification to indiscriminate exploitation of ground water, cultivation of water guzzling crops and rising demand for infrastructure that is leading to illegal mining.

Last year, Pushkar had disappeared ahead of the famous Pushkar Mela. The demise of the lake was a man-made disaster as it could have been avoided had the experts paid heed to warnings.

Kolkata, June 26
The captain of the Karachi-bound ship, laden with military hardware, ammunition and explosives, was today questioned after the papers provided by him were not in order and officials said the vessel is being brought to the Kolkata Port for scrutiny.

“Papers and documents furnished by the captain of the ship, Aegean Glory Kingstown, to police and customs teams were inconsistent,” DGP Bhupinder Singh told reporters here.

“Customs have now decided to completely rummage the ship. This could mean opening of all the containers and verifying the contents..For this purpose, they will be bringing the ship to the Kolkata Port,” he said.

The Karachi-bound cargo vessel from Bangladesh with military hardware and explosives was yesterday detained by the police at Diamond Harbour in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district.

The police, Coast Guard and Customs have cordoned off the Liberian registered ship S G Zyat sailing from Chittagong in Bangladesh.

The Navy and Coast Guard personnel after boarding the 153-metre ship yesterday found a huge quantity of explosives, rocket launchers, anti-aircraft guns and smoke bombs in two large containers.

“Details of the consignment were not given in the list furnished to us and further searches will be made in the arms-laden ship,” Singh said.

The captain was deboarded and taken for questioning at Radisson Fort, police said.

DIG (CID) Anuj Sharma, South 24 Parganas SP L N Meena and customs officials visited the vessel anchored at Diamond Harbour on a hovercraft. No boat was allowed near it.

Describing the incident as “alarming”, they said “it’s surprising why the Pakistani-bound vessel was passing through Indian waters.” Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) S Karpurakayastha said “the ship was detained on an intelligence tipoff.

(With inputs from PTI)

Guwahati, June 26
Heeding to the advice of Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh, the Forest and Wildlife Department of Assam has taken steps to facilitate transparency in the processing of burning down of seized rhino horns.

The Assam government has decided to burn to ashes over 1,500 rhino horns in its possession to showcase its commitment to conservation of the pre-historic mammal.

Various NGOs, including the Asian Rhino Specialists Group, had earlier knocked at the door of the Union Environment and Forest Minister demanding maintenance of transparency in the process through involvement of NGO representatives and noted citizens.

These rhino horns have been stockpiled in different treasuries and forest department strong rooms across the state after those had been either seized from poachers and smugglers or collected from carcasses of rhinos, which died a natural death. These rhino horns have been lying in treasuries since 1978 when its sale was banned in Assam.

The horn is the biggest enemy of the rhino given that poachers killed this endangered mammal to extract the horn that is sold at astronomical prices in the international clandestine market. An official in the forest department said the proposed public burning of rhino horns was aimed at busting the myth about ‘medicinal quality’ of rhino horns for which it was so much sought after in the international grey market.

The NGOs called for transparency to stem any controversy over the process as some vested quarters may trying to project it as burning of fake rhino horns in the name of real ones.

Ramesh, during a visit to the state earlier this month, asked the state forest department to adopt a transparent model for burning of rhino horns in public.

Accordingly, chief wildlife warden of Assam Suresh Chand has notified constitution of a state-level committee for monitoring burning of rhino horns. The 11-member committee comprises top wildlife and forest officials, representative of the Union Ministry of State for Environment and Forest, a forensic expert, representatives of prominent national-level NGOs.

Similarly, district-level monitoring committees have been formed with deputy commissioner concerned, local MLA, veterinary officer, district forest officer and representatives of two prominent NGOs.

Guwahati, June 26
Union Minister for Law Veerappa Moily today underlined the need for the states to formulate their own litigation policies on the lines of the National Litigation Policy (NLP), which was launched recently.

Addressing a regional conference of Chief Justices, law ministers, finance ministers, law secretaries of the Northeastern states here, Moily said, “As the Centre has come out with a NLP it requires the states to have their own litigation policies.” The purpose of the new law is also to reduce the government litigation cases in the courts so that they can devote more time in resolving other pending cases.

Lauding the scheme of providing justice to the under trial prisoners (UTPs) a silent revolution in the judiciary, Moily said the scheme had been successful because of the coordinated approach between the Judiciary and the Executive.

He said the total 1,30,651 UTPs had been released since January, when the national mission for delivery of justice and legal reforms under trial programme was launched. 

Hyderabad, June 26
In a novel initiative in prison reforms, Andhra Pradesh will soon allow first-time offenders to take up community service instead of sending them to jails.

The first-time convicts for minor offences, with imprisonment up to six months, will be drafted for community assignments such as cleaning up of public places, schools, hospitals and parks.

A Bill for using prisoners for social services would be introduced in the coming monsoon session of the Assembly, state Home Minister Sabitha Reddy said.

AP will become the first state in the country to have such a law. The move is part of a wide-ranging prison reforms being contemplated in the state.

The courts can order those who commit non-serious offences to perform specified number of hours of unpaid public service.

Instead of going to jail, convicts will have to work for a few hours everyday in a slum, hospital or public place under the supervision of a probationary officer.

Depending on educational qualifications and skills, they will be allotted duties. “The idea is to provide an opportunity to the first-time offenders to reform themselves instead of getting into the company of hardcore criminals in prisons,” the minister said. The act will prove to be a boon for those who have committed unintentional crimes in a fit of rage and will be eager to serve the society as atonement for their mistake, the officials said.

“We have also decided to encourage private industries to set up tiny units inside central jails to make products like steel furniture, chalk pieces, soaps and tailoring, dyeing and printing units. The prisoners can be trained in various trades and engaged as workers in these units,” Reddy said.

Another far-reaching reform is to allow them to live with their families and save them from the trauma of imprisonment. However, the benefit will not be applicable to hardcore criminals convicted for major crimes.

There are about 1,300 jails in the state, including 7 central jails, 11 district jails, two women’s jails, two open jails and 105 sub jails.

The concept of community service will also help address the problem of overcrowding in jails. Several countries like USA, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and France are implementing the system.

Bangalore, June 26
The Congress will move an adjournment motion in the Karnataka Assembly on the issue of “non-cooperation” by the government with Lokayukta Santosh Hegde in his crusade against corruption.

A meeting of senior Congress leaders, including Opposition leader in the state Assembly Siddaramaiah held here yesterday, also resolved to move a resolution in the House demanding giving more powers to Lokayukta, KPCC president RV Deshpande told reporters here. The Assembly session is scheduled to start on June 28.

He alleged that the BJP government had no respect for institutions set up under the Constitution, including Lokayukta and the State Human Rights Commission. The party would launch a statewide agitation against the “insult” heaped on the Lokayukta institution.Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge known for his fight against corruption, had announced his resignation on June 23 rapping the BJP government for its “indifferent attitude” towards fighting corruption, embarrassing the state government.

Deshpande, who came under fire after allegation of the state unit misusing funds collected for flood relief surfaced, said there was no misuse of funds. — PTI