New Delhi, August 30
Parliament today approved the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, paving the way for US companies like General Electric and Westinghouse Electric and other foreign players to participate in the country’s 150 billion dollars civil nuclear energy programme.

The Rajya Sabha this evening approved the ambitious legislation, which was passed by the Lok Sabha last week, bringing a sigh of relief in the UPA camp. After all, the government has managed to secure the passage of the controversial Bill before the US President Barack Obama visits India in November.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sat through the marathon debate on the legislation and also voted against the amendments moved by the Left parties. With the main Opposition BJP having decided to support the legislation, its approval in the Upper House by a voice vote was a foregone conclusion.

The Parliamentary approval for the Bill was crucial for the implementation of the nuclear pact India has signed with the US. Apart from the US companies, other foreign nuclear giants can now invest in India’s nuclear energy programme by setting up power plants and bringing into the country the technical know-how. Replying to the debate, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan assured the House that the government would strengthen the regulatory regime for the country’s nuclear energy programme. He asserted that the compensation package for victims matched that in the US though the government was still open to accommodate some suggestions.

“The ceiling on compensation is Rs 1,500 crore. The liability of the operator is exactly the same in the US.”

The legislation, which the Prime Minister has said was criticial for India’s energy needs, was backed by the BJP after the government agreed to tougher provisions, including increasing the cap on liability of operators from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,500 crore.

An unusual bonhomie was witnessed in the House between the Congress and the BJP during the debate on the Bill. However, the main Opposition did caution the government not to get carried away by “phoney campaign” that no global supplier would be coming to India with the proposed law fixing suppliers' liability in the event of the nuclear mishap.

Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley was of the opinion that when India went to buy 40 reactors the character of the global market would change. It would no longer be sellers market, but a buyers market, he said urging the government not to be overtaken by reports that reactor supplier from several countries would not be interested to come to India.

In fact, Satyavrat Chaturvedi of the Congress, a known baiter of the Saffron party, even complimented the BJP saying it was a rare occasion when the ruling party and the Opposition were together on an issue of national interest and it should happen more in “national interest”.

New Delhi, August 30
Many attempts have been made since the eighties to settle decades old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute outside the court. From both sides, some religious and political personalities have played a “silent role” behind the scene to find a solution of this complex controversy. However, there were many who tried to take personal mileage out of it.

This time also, both types of religious and political players are active to find an out-of-court settlement in their own style before the court verdict in September. Reacting to a report that the Prime Minister’s Office has decided to rope in Congress president’s political secretary Ahmad Patel to play a key role in bringing Muslim religious and political leaders to the negotiation table, he (Patel) said he was not aware of any such move.

The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court reserved its judgment in July. The Ayodhya dispute has been pending since 1950. It acquired political overtones in the 1980s when Hindu religious organisations affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh launched an agitation for the construction of a Ram Lalla temple at the disputed site.

During Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s regime, the “doors” of Ram temple at the disputed site were opened. The first serious attempt to find an out-of-court settlement was made during VP Singh’s regime, but it failed. Former East Delhi Lok Sabha MP Kishor Lal, who played the role of a mediator, told The Tribune that “both sides’ top religious leaders kept on waiting at the Delhi airport for a helicopter to take them to Ayodhya but, for strange reasons, it did not come”.

Lal also played the role of “go-between” during the regimes of Chandra Shekhar, PV Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “Always, the talks were torpedoed at the last minute by some persons,” he disclosed, but refused to name them at this moment. According to a counsel for the UP Sunni Central Board of Waqfs, one of the parties involved in the dispute, informal attempts were made for settling the issue in 1986 and 2002. “These involved the Jagadguru Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam and the president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, but there was no headway,” he said.

The Kanchi Shankaracharya met Muslim Personal Law Board chairman Maulana Syed Rabey Hasni Nadwi at the Darul Uloom Nadwadul Ulema on June 7, 2003. They exchanged letters but no solution emerged after that.

In November 1990, when Chandra Shekhar formed the government with the support of the Congress, the VHP and the Babri Masjid Action Committee exchanged documents in support of their claims. But the initiative withered after the Chandra Shekhar government fell.

Another attempt was made during PV Narasimha Rao regime. But the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, turned the clock back. During the NDA regime, sources said, talks failed “because of sharp differences between PM Vajpayee and LK Advani.”

Lucknow, August 30
Three crucial protagonists of the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute today ruled out any possibility of an out-of court settlement of the matter. VHP international president Ashok Singhal along with the chief of Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad, Baba Gyan Das, today described as absurd talks of an out-of-court settlement.

Similarly, senior counsel in the controversial Babri Masjid title suit and member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and the Babri Masjid Action Committee, Zafaryab Jilani, also did not see any likelihood of an out-of-court settlement at this juncture.

In reply to a question, Singhal retorted: “What out-of-court settlement? Who is trying for it? No one has approached either us or only the mahants in Ayodhya. There was a time when we wanted an out-of-court settlement. But with days left to the judgment what is the point of even talking about it?” He was returning from Ayodhya after a closed door meeting with Baba Gyan Das, who is also the mahant of the famous Hanuman Garhi temple.

Speaking to The Tribune, Baba said it has been agreed to respect the verdict of the court. “We do not want to vitiate the environment or threaten the law and order situation. The Hanuman Chalisa recital is continuing in all temples around the country. I depend on Lord Hanuman to guide the people who matter so that hurdles in the path of the temple are removed.” He also pooh poohed the idea of an out-of-court settlement.

“Some months ago a retired High Court Judge, Pulok Basu, made several rounds. But he had come in his personal capacity. Neither did he have the backing of any worthwhile organisation nor a clear plan. So I asked him not to waste his time as well as ours,” said Baba Gyan Das.

Singhal reiterated his demand for a peaceful constitutional solution to the dispute through legislation. He said that irrespective of the judgment the VHP and the mahants would insist on Parliament enacting a legislation to enable the peaceful handing over to Hindus of the disputed land in and around the demolished Babri Masjid where Ram Lala temple already stands, so that a ‘bhavya mandir’ on the model of the Akshardham temple in Delhi can be built”. He said that the matter would be taken to the Supreme Court if the judgment did the not go in their favour.

Barwala/Fatehgarh Sahib/ Ludhiana, August 30
The middlemen in the poultry business are making a neat profit, even as the consumer fumes over high prices of chicken and eggs. The poultry farmer is forced to sell his produce at a loss. Just as in the case of vegetables, middlemen (poultry traders and retailers) are gobbling up a whopping profit margin of 40 per cent.

Thus, in spite of the price of live birds (which are processed into dressed chicken that you consume) having come down substantially in the past one year, the consumer is being forced to pay the same high price for chicken and eggs, as during the last year.

During a visit to the poultry farms located in Barwala (Panchkula), Fatehgarh Sahib and Ludhiana, The Tribune team found that the standard rate of a live bird (or the farm-gate price) of a live bird for the trader is just Rs 37- 38 per bird. However, in Chandigarh, the chicken (after being processed) is selling at Rs 140 per kg and in Punjab and Haryana between Rs 100-Rs 110 per kg.

The poultry farmers in these places feel that with the prices of live bird going down, the cost of chicken should not be more than Rs 80- 85 per kg. “But, even though the cost of the live birds has come down from Rs 55 in August 2009 to Rs 37 now, the traders have failed to reduce the prices of processed chicken, thus ensuring larger profit margins for themselves,” says Sanjay Sharma, who runs a poultry farm in Kasabad near Ludhiana, and is president of the Ludhiana Broiler Farmers Association.

Similarly, in case of eggs, the farm-gate price of eggs is Rs 2.20 per egg, but it is being retailed at Rs 3 per egg, ensuring a profit margin of 40 per cent to the middlemen.

The poultry farmers here say that the rates of the poultry products had gone up last year because of a shortage of parent chicks. The population of parent chicks that are provided to the farmers by the hatcheries had reduced drastically last year, forcing the hatcheries to raise their prices. Though, the parent chick population has improved drastically, the poultry farmers insist that they are being forced to buy the parent chicks at higher price, thus leading to a higher cost of production of the chicks.

“The cost of production of the chicks has gone up by almost Rs 20 per kg in the past few years, because of the high cost of parent chicks and the high cost of poultry feed. But, the price being fetched by us for the live birds has gone down. We are getting Rs 37 per bird, while the cost of production is Rs 60 per bird. This mismatch in prices is now forcing several poultry farmers, especially in Amritsar, to close down the business,” said a leading poultry farmer in Amritsar, while requesting anonymity.

Atul Mahajan, a poultry farmer in Barwala, said, “The poultry farming was initially meant to substitute income for small and marginal farmers. But, the current pricing mechanism is forcing the small farmers out of this business.” (Concluded)

New Delhi, August 30
The much-awaited government notification on a common test for entry to all medical colleges of the country (private and government) from 2011 has been shelved under pressure from the southern and western states, including Tamil Nadu.

The proposal, described last month by the Medical Council of India board of Governors as the “only way forward”, is now unlikely to see light of the day. At the last minute, a decision was taken to remove it from the agenda of the meeting of the Central Council for Health, which congregated in the capital today to debate on the important health policy issues. The Council is the highest decision-making body in matters related to the health policy, and is chaired by the Health Minister.

Although, MCI board chairman Dr SK Sareen had last month said the notification in respect of a common medical test for all colleges was on its way and would roll from the next academic session after being cleared at the Central Health Council meet, the same was absent from the agenda today. Health Secretary Sujatha Rao admitted that the proposal had been shelved for the time being in the absence of political consensus on the issue.

DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi recently wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing his strong reservations to the move. Karnataka and Maharashtra also expressed apprehensions it is learnt.

The reform was sacrificed, with the state government unwilling to let go off their control on the private medical colleges in their jurisdiction.

Kolkata, August 30
The engine and a coach of the New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express (2302 Dn) got derailed near Baruipara in Hooghly just before reaching the Howrah station around 9.30 am today. However, no one was injured in the incident.

Sources said the driver stopped the train by applying emergency brakes near Baruipara when he noticed that pin-drop clips (around 300) were missing at several places on the track. Due to sudden application of the brakes, the engine of the train went off the track, but a major accident was averted.

The train was to reach the Howrah station at 9.55 am. After the accident, the stranded passengers were taken to the Howrah station in a special train.