New Delhi, August 12
The IAF has got the government's permission to fire back at Naxals in extremist-hit areas in self-defence, highly placed Air Force sources said today. The government's nod to the IAF's request made in September last comes at a time when a debate is raging on whether India should use its armed forces against Left-wing extremists, whom Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as the gravest internal security threat.

The IAF currently deploys two of its Mi-17s and two Dhruv helicopters in anti-Naxal operations. It had lost one of its personnel when a helicopter ferrying election officials and material during the Chhattisgarh assembly polls was fired at by suspected Naxals a couple of years ago. The government had given permission to the IAF to defend itself from the extremists’ fire and had laid out conditions on the use of small arms in self-defence sometime in October-November last year.

Consequently, the IAF has fitted sideward-mounted machine guns on its helicopters flying in Naxal-affected areas basically for logistics, personnel transport and casualty evacuation of paramilitary forces engaged in fighting the Maoists, the sources said.

These guns would be operated by IAF commandos belonging to Garud units, who would be on board the helicopters every time they go out on sorties, the sources said. Defence Minister AK Antony had told Parliament in November last that though no offensive military action had been envisaged while using the IAF helicopters in anti-Naxal operations, there was no specific approval required for action in self-defence.

However, the IAF has proposed a draft 'Rules of Engagement' to regulate such action, in order to avoid any ambiguity and damage to the helicopters or injury to their occupants, he had said replying to members' questions.

Among the conditions laid out were that no indiscriminate firing should be carried out and that the Garuds should be sure of the source of the attack on the helicopters before retaliatory fire was unleashed.

“The IAF helicopter crew will not use the conventional heavy fire power weapons such as rockets and other guns on board, but only the sideward-mounted machine guns. They will use the weapons only if fired upon,” the sources said.

The IAF, the sources said, had obtained the government's approval recently to withdraw 17 of its Mi-17 helicopters that are currently in operation with various UN missions. Once the number of its helicopters increased, it could think of sparing more choppers for the paramilitary forces that were combating the Maoists after assessing the situation, the sources said.

They said for the use of its helicopters in Maoist-hit areas, the IAF had asked the state police and the paramilitary to take a number of precautions such as sanitising the helipad areas. “If the Naxals have rockets, as it is being suggested, the security forces would sanitise the area up to the range of these rockets, be it 600 metres or more, from the helipads,” the sources said. — PTI

Hyderabad/Bangalore, August 12
In an ominous development, Pakistan's ISI is making attempts to establish contacts with Naxals with the help of underworld don Chota Shakeel for carrying out subversive activities in the country and six people have been arrested so far in this connection.

Police forces in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh assisted by central security agencies in a swift operation arrested four persons from AP and two from Bangalore. A sum of Rs 25 lakh, meant for distribution to Naxals, mainly in Andhra Pradesh, was also seized from them, official sources said today.

According to officials privy to the operations, ISI -- Pakistan's intelligence agency -- had contacted Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed alias Chota Shakeel, who is at present holed up in Pakistan.

The underworld don, wanted in many cases in India, got in touch with a person identified as Altaf, alleged to be one of his touts and a resident in Karnataka, for establishing contacts with Naxals in these two states. Altaf alias Rakesh got in touch with a person named Vinay who had promised him to introduce him to some prominent Naxalite leader from Andhra Pradesh, the sources said. Making attempts to nip in bud any subversive motive, the Andhra Pradesh police closely monitored the activities of Vinay and in a discreet probe, it was found that he had received Rs 25 lakh through hawala channel from Altaf in Dubai as a token amount to forge a long-term relationship.

Police have arrested another person, Shreedhar, and three more associates from Andhra Pradesh while Vinay along with one of his accomplice was arrested from Karnataka. All the six persons were being interrogated, the sources said. During investigations, the arrested people claimed that they were planning to visit Dubai and meet Altaf to build ties between ISI and Naxals and extract as much money as they could, the officials claimed.

Vinay is claimed to have told the investigators that Altaf had conveyed to him that ISI was willing to pump in money for Left-wing extremism provided they could establish right contacts. This could be followed with the supply of arms and ammunition, the sources said.

Police have seized their passports stamped with a Visa for Dubai and an air ticket, the sources said. The country is facing Naxal problem in around 15 states. ISI had made an attempt to woo the Naxalites earlier as well, but could not make any headway.

The latest development is seen as a fresh effort by ISI to take the help of underworld to pump in money for Naxalites. — PTI

Kolkata, August 12
The Maoists are ready for talks with the government on the condition that a judicial inquiry be held into the death of their top leader Cherukuri Rajkumar, alias Azad, in a police encounter in Andhra Pradesh in early July, social activist Swami Agnivesh said today.

“The Maoists have communicated to me through a channel that they are ready to consider the government’s offer of talks provided the Centre or the Andhra Pradesh government orders a judicial enquiry into the encounter,” Agnivesh said. He said he had sought an appointment from the Prime Minister’s Office to convey the offer of the Maoists.

“I have just received the offer and have contacted the Prime Minister’s Office and asked for an appointment. Once the Prime Minister gives an appointment, I will tell him about the offer,” he said. The activist also praised Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for helping to “break the deadlock.”

At a rally on Monday in Lalgarh, Banerjee had appealed to the Maoists to renounce arms and hold talks. She had also condemned the killing of Azad. Agnivesh, who had been present there, said: “I praise the courage of the Railway Minister. She has risen over narrow political gains and this helped in breaking the deadlock.”

Agnivesh, who had been acting as a mediator between the Centre and the Maoists when Azad was killed on July 2 in Andhra Pradesh’s Adilabad district, said, “after the killing of Azad I felt that I had been betrayed.

“But the truce offer came from the side of the Maoists. It has happened because of the Railway Minister’s initiative. It’s very positive,” he said. — PTI

Leh, August 12
At a time when people in the Valley are fighting pitched battles with security forces, for 18-year-old Wahid, a victim of the deadly cloudburst, the Army was godsend.

Lying at the Army hospital here, Wahid, a vegetable vendor from Budgam in Kashmir, said: “I was sleeping in my shop with two others when the water suddenly gushed in. I was swept away for over a kilometre before I could grab a window bar and hold on to it.”

Wahid says one of his friend was washed away while another was rescued and now has been sent back to Srinagar.

The youngster was finally saved by the Army and brought to the hospital. Timely treatment meant that his fracture, which could also have resulted in complete paralysis, was taken care of.

“The Army has been extremely nice. I am being looked after properly here. Had it not being for them, I would have been one among the many killed,” he said. “I am thankful to the Army. The men were godsend,” the youth added. — PTI

Leh, August 12
The two-and-a-half-year-old miracle baby of the Leh cloudburst who survived slush and boulders has been reunited with her father, who incidentally is an Army jawan posted in the Siachen region.

Three-year-old Deldan Anjmo, was found floating in the water by the Army jawans with her eyes and mouth full of slush at about six in the morning on August 6 after the cloudburst triggering flashfloods caused havoc the intervening night in the worst-hit Choglamsar.

“She was such a cute girl and was brought in with injuries on her face. Her mouth and eyes were full of slush. She is a miracle girl because she managed to stay alive in spite of all the ice, mud and water around her. Though on one hand I was happy that she was alive, I wondered whether her parents were all right,” said Col Anurag Khanna, Commanding Officer, Army General Hospital. It was later during the day that the Army got to know from a local that her mother Tsering Dolma also survived the ordeal and was being treated at a makeshift hospital set up by the ITBP.

Deldan was reunited with her mother only late in the night. Tsering Dolma was not able to speak anything and it was only on Saturday afternoon that she told the doctors that her husband was an Army jawan named Tsering Dorjey posted in Siachen.

Messages were quickly transmitted and within time, Dorjey was given the message that all is well with his family.Even though his leave was instantly sanctioned so that he could tend to his family, the weather at Siachen marred any helicopters landing. So he remained stuck. It was only on Wednesday that Dorjey was able to get out and reach his family.

“When I heard about the news, I was very worried about my family as they stayed in Choglamsar which is the worst affected. After being told that they are in the Army hospital, all I wanted was to get back and hold my girl in my arms,” Dorjey said. — PTI

Bangalore, August 12
Army chief General VK Singh today announced that the Army Service Corps Centre (North) would be shifted from Gaya in Bihar to Bangalore. VK Singh, who first made the announcement in the presence of Karnataka Chief Minister at a function here, later told reporters that the shifting was part of the “relocation policy” of the Army.

An officers training academy, second in the country (another is in Chennai), would be set up in Gaya to compensate that area, Singh said.

The decision to relocate the ASC Centre (North) is in conformity with the steps taken by the Army earlier to shift Army institutions from the north to the southern metropolis to strengthen the ASC set up here.

The Army School of Mechanical Transport (ASMT) was shifted to Bangalore from Faizabad (Uttar Pradesh) in 1976. In May 1999, the ASC School, Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), was merged with the ASC Centre (South) and ASMT, with the merged institution christened the ASC Centre and College, Bangalore. 

New Delhi, August 12
Efforts are on to make Hindi an official language of the UN and assistance from NRIs has been sought for this, the Rajya Sabha was informed today. “The government has taken action to make Hindi one of the official languages of the UN... A high-level committee under the External Affairs Minister was also formed in 2003 for this. 

Another subcommittee was formed the same year headed by the Minister of State to examine the matter and take necessary measures,” External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said during the question hour. Krishna said inclusion of Hindi as official language in the UN had several financial and procedural implications, which were required to be met before a formal proposal could be tabled.

“Procedurally, the UN General Assembly would need to adopt a resolution by a majority of the 192 member states. After this, India, as the proposing country, would need to provide sufficient financial resources to the UN to cover the additional expenditure related to interpretation, translation, and other things,” he said. “Any effort of this kind also needs support and goodwill of NRIs, who also played a vital role in favouring the nuclear deal,”he added.

On financial implications involved, Krishna said it entailed an expenditure of $ 14 million annually, which was a recurring expenditure. “Adding another official language also entails a significant increase in the budget of the UN like personnel, equipment and other costs. All member states have to proportionately bear a share of this reapportioned payment,” he said.

New Delhi, August 12
Bombarded with criticism from Cabinet colleagues for blocking development and infrastructure projects, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh today said he was not a “minister for stoppages”.

“I cannot become a minister for stoppages,” Ramesh said in the Rajya Sabha responding to a Calling Attention Motion on environmental impacts of mega dams in northeastern states. The Environment Minister, who has had tiffs with senior colleagues, including Kamal Nath, Prithviraj Chavan, Kapil Sibal, Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel over issues ranging from introduction of GM food crops to clearances for roads, airport and mining projects, said he could not hold projects where 50 per cent work was completed but could certainly ensure mitigation measures.

Concerns have been raised over adverse effects of the Lower Subansiri hydel project in Assam. But referring to the demand for scrapping of the project on the Assam-Arunachal border, Ramesh said, “I cannot give a clear assurance that the project will be stopped but I can give an assurance that all recommendations of the expert group on how to minimise its environmental impact will be implemented.”

The minister explained that dams apart from generating electricity were also important from the strategic point of view. “The dams are also of strategic importance. If we don't build dams on the Siang River (in Arunachal Pradesh), our stand against China will weaken,” he said, adding that dams in Bhutan were also of strategic importance.

Ramesh has been in direct conflict over the issue of environmental clearances with several ministries, in particular the Aviation Ministry and the Surface and Transport Ministry. With the Power Ministry too, he had issues regarding hydroelectric projects on Bhagirathi in Uttrakhand.

The Loharinag Pala project, a bone of contention between the power and environment ministries, was largely cleared on the basis of the fact that Rs 2,000 crore have been sanctioned to the venture. It is no secret that Ramesh was opposed to the project and Loharinag Pala was pushed by the Power Ministry and project developer NTPC on the ground that the project was much required by the state and large scale orders had been placed for the ongoing construction.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel recently levelled the charge of “obstructionism” against Ramesh, criticising the Environment Minister for delaying clearances to the Navi Mumbai project. Surface Transport Minister Kamal Nath has on several occasions voiced discontent over time-consuming process of securing environmental clearance to road projects. The NHPC is developing the 2,000 MW in Dhemaji district of Assam. An expert committee has recommended a thorough review and redesign of the 115-metre high dam on the tributary of the Brahmaputra. Environment groups and All Assam Students Union have been demanding immediate stoppage of work on the project.

New Delhi, August 12
The Supreme Court today suggested to the government to make proper use of its foodgrain stock rotting due to lack of storage space by distributing it free of cost to hunger-stricken people in tribal and drought-prone areas.

A Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma further directed the government to construct proper godowns in every district of the country. Till that time, it should take godowns on rent from all possible sources.

The court further asked state governments to keep fair price shops open round the month as poor people had no money to purchase rations in one go. Taking exception to some states’ failure to implement its earlier order of selling 35 kg grain to every family, the Bench asked them to file their status reports within a week.

Another proposal was to replace fair price shops run by individuals with women self-help groups, cooperatives, state warehousing corporations and other such outfits. Additional Solicitor-General Mohan Parasaran said it was already under the consideration of the National Development Council (NDC) comprising the states and the Centre.

Earlier, the Bench had suggested raising the income ceiling for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families and thereafter eliminating the Above Poverty Line (APL) category from the purview of the public distribution system.

However, the Centre today contended that this was not necessary as the government had sufficient stocks to meet the requirements of both the categories. Further, while the entitlement for the BPL remained constant at 35 kg a month, the supply to the APL at higher prices was subject to availability.

New Delhi, August 12
The Supreme Court today granted three more months to the CBI to probe a possible “larger conspiracy” in the killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kauser Bi and friend Tulsiram Prajapati allegedly by Gujarat police.

A Bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and RM Lodha granted further time to the CBI after nearly two hours of heated arguments marked by banging of a file on the desk in front of senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, appearing for former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah.

Shah has been arrested in the case after he was forced to quit as Minister of State following CBI summons for interrogating him. The file was thrown by senior counsel Dushyant Dave, representing Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabuddin who had sought the CBI inquiry.

Jethmalani questioned the legality of the apex court still monitoring the investigations in the case as under Section 173(8) of CrPC, this could be done only by the trial court after filing of the chargesheet. The CBI has already filed the chargesheet on July 23 against Shah and others.

Jethmalani also contended that the investigation was handed over to the CBI on January 12 by an apex court Bench headed by Justice Tarun Chatterjee (since retired). That time Justice Chatterjee himself was under CBI scanner in connection with the investigations into the PF scam involving the Uttar Pradesh judiciary, he said.

Enraged by this argument, Dushyant Dave, who was sitting behind, picked up a file, rushed to the front and banged it on the desk in front of Jethmalani. A lawyer standing behind the court shouted at Dave. Jethmalani said he had never been “assaulted” like this before. The Judges warned the unruly advocates, stating that they would just stop hearing the case, as it was not possible in this atmosphere.

Chandigarh, August 12
In a landmark judgment affecting thousands of disabled personnel, the Armed Forces Tribunal yesterday extended the benefits of “broad-banding” disability pension to those who are released on the completion of their terms of engagement or on superannuation. Earlier, these benefits were applicable only to those invalided out of service on medical grounds.

This had resulted in a peculiar situation wherein the disability pension for an individual discharged even a single day before his actual date of discharge or normal retirement was fixed on the basis of higher disability percentage, while a person discharged on his actual date is not entitled to the same.

Acting upon a petition filed by former vice-chief of the Army Staff, Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi, the Bench comprising Justice NP Gupta and Lt Gen AS Bahia held that withholding the benefit of broad-banding from certain categories of ex-servicemen by the government was discriminatory. The pension of a large number of disabled ex-servicemen may now be enhanced.

In order to curtail medical subjectivity and mottled declaration of disability percentages for similar disabilities by different medical boards, the government had initiated a system of “broad-banding” or “rounding-off” of disability percentages in which it was provided that disability percentages for 20-49 per cent, 50-75 per cent and 76-100 per cent categories would be treated as 50, 75 and 100 per cent, respectively, for calculating disability pension.

The Ministry of Defence, however, added a line in the sanction letter that broad-banding would be applicable only to “invalided” personnel and not to those disabled persons who are released on the completion of terms or on superannuation.

Distinguishing the present case from a Supreme Court judgment in Lt Col PK Kapur vs UOI, where the principle of broad-banding was rejected, the Bench observed that the reason behind the concept of broad-banding and statutory rules concerned had not been then brought to the notice of the SC by the Defence Ministry and, hence, the judgment rendered without full disclosure of facts and law was sub-silentio and not binding on other courts as per the SC’s own rulings.

The MoD had “misleadingly” informed the SC in Kapur’s case that broad-banding was introduced to grant benefit to personnel whose career was cut short due to invalidation. Documents, however, show that the policy was in fact introduced to avoid subjectivity and variance in calculating disability percentage. Further, the SC was also not informed that according to rules, superannuating disabled personnel are deemed as “invalided” for the purpose of granting disability pension. 

New Delhi, August 12
The final decision on how and when caste would be included in the census (2011) will be taken shortly by the Union Cabinet, said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee following disruption and agitation in the Lok Sabha today by the members of BJP, SP, JD-U and RJD, demanding the immediate commencement of caste enumeration.

Mukherejee told the House that while the GoM had cleared caste enumeration in census, the Union Cabinet has yet to decide and the process would start only after that. He said it is still under consideration as to “how and when this should be done”. “We will inform you when the decision is taken.”

The assurance came following the suspension of question hour forced by the disruption by leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad who together and separately questioned the government’s sincerity in implementing caste census.

They were referring to reports that the government planned to put off caste enumeration till the third round of biometric registration, by which time they felt it may be too late. Soon as the question hour commenced, the three Yadav leaders along with BJP deputy leader Gopinath Munde were on their feet, demanding an explanation from the government.

Mulayam Singh said, “Are they (government) fooling us?”. Lalu Prasad rose to explain how the biometric was merely a ruse. “This will not complete in 100 years,” said the RJD leader, promptly supported by Sharad Yadav. Lalu reminded the House, “The process of voter identity cards started 15 years ago and has still not been completed.”

Amidst noise and protests from Opposition members, the House adjourned without taking up the question hour. But by the time it resumed sitting at noon, peace had prevailed, because the matter seemed to have been sorted in a meeting between these leaders and Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Later, Munde explained their concern, “Phase I of census enumeration is over. Phase II may complete shortly. In phase I, the enumerator came to the house to seek details and in phase II, he will return to verify the given details. If caste enumeration is not done at this stage, then phase III is only for analysis in which they analyse the available data but do not go from home to home to seek details.”

The BJP leader, however, said that Chidambaram felt this could delay the process.

Guwahati, August 12
With militants on the prowl before Independence Day, the Northeast Frontier Railway heeding to the advice of the Assam government has suspended night running of all trains in Assam during 6pm of August 14 to 5am of August 17.

This will result in cancellation of 26 passenger trains, short termination of five trains, rescheduling of nine trains and regulation of 12 other trains during the period, an NF Railway spokesman said.

Vigil has been geared up in all vital installations, including railway property and tracks, throughout Assam in view of threat from outlawed militants groups to strike around Independence Day.

Already six militants groups in Assam and other parts of the Northeast have called for general strike from the night of August 14 till the evening of August 15. — TNS