New Delhi, October 15
Describing Pakistan and China as “two major irritants” for India’s security, Army Chief Gen VK Singh today said the armed forces should ensure the country has a “substantial” conventional war capability to fight in a nuclear scenario.

“We have two major irritants. One, there is a problem of governance in Pakistan where terror outfits receive support and where internal situation is not very good. And, therefore, it can have a fallout in terms of how these things impact India. Till the time the terrorist infrastructure remains intact on the other side, we have something to worry,” he said inaugurating a seminar on ‘Indian Army: Emerging Roles and Tasks’ here.

He also referred to the threat posed by China which was rising both economically and militarily. “Although we have a very stable border, yet we have a border dispute. And, therefore, the intentions need to be looked at along with this additional capability that is coming out,” he said. — PTI 

New Delhi, October 15
A day after the Commonwealth Games got over, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has resumed its assessment of various projects related to the mega sporting event that were mired in allegations of corruption.

The CAG today sent its inspection officials to the CPWD office inside SP Mukherjee Stadium to check the accounts related to the Games projects. The audit work for the Games is related to work payments, contracts and leasing of sports equipment among others.

“We have started with the CPWD office inside the SP Mukherjee Stadium today. Now that the athletes have vacated the venues, we will gradually start sending our inspection officers to all the stadia,” an official with the auditing watchdog said.

The CAG had begun assessing the Games’ expenditure in August but had to stop the audit related works in the last week of September as they could not access the premises of the Central Public Works Department. The official said the CAG had to suspend audit works for over a fortnight since most of the CPWD offices are located inside the venues, which had the athletes till yesterday. The official said the biggest venue — Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium — is yet to be inspected by the CAG and the government auditor would soon send its inspectors there.

In August last year, the CAG had submitted an evaluation report to the PMO and the sports ministry pointing out the slow pace of progress of all the projects connected with the Games. — PTI

New Delhi, October 15
India will take up with the US administration its concerns over outsourcing, tighter visa norms for Indians and restrictions on the export of hi-tech items during President Barack Obama’s visit to this country early next month, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said today.

At an interaction with a group of journalists here this morning, he said there were serious reservations being expressed by India’s IT industry about outsourcing which needed to be conveyed to the US. He, however, emphasised that the commonalities between the two countries were so strong that differences in perception on certain issues could not derail the relationship.

Virtually ruling out any modifications in the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill passed by Parliament in view of the reservations expressed over it by the American nuclear lobby, Krishna said the legislation, in fact, was aimed at providing a level-playing field for doing nuclear business with India.

New Delhi, October 15
Giving a new definition to arrears of cases, Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia has said that only those cases which have been pending for more than a year could be placed under this category. Cases which are pending for less than this period should be called as “pending cases” and not as arrears.

“A case filed in the morning cannot — and should not — in the evening fall in the category of arrears,” the CJI has written in his first editorial in the latest Supreme Court’s quarterly ‘Court News’. According to Justice Kapadia, judiciary has been “under attack from various quarters for its ineffectiveness in arresting arrears of cases” mainly because of the fact that even fresh cases are being treated as arrears.

The SC has for the first time applied this definition to separate arrears from other pending cases. Of the 55,717 cases pending (on August 31), 19,680 cases were matters up to one-year old. 

Chandigarh, October 15
The key to ageing gracefully lies in financial planning for the twilight years. Though problems facing the elderly are multi-dimensional, an integrated approach is needed to ensure they lead a life of dignity.

This was the gist of a round-table conference on Independent Senior Citizens Living, held at CII in association with the Impact Senior Living Estates here today. The delegates felt that the real challenge for them lay in ensuring that the elderly, especially those from the lower strata, were well taken care of.

“We must lead the government in forming a policy framework for senior citizens, where their financial, health and security concerns can be taken care of,” said Harpal Singh, past chairman of CII, Northern Region.

The delegates felt that all stakeholders, who have ready models for the betterment of senior citizens should present their ideas to the CII-ISLE and a background paper be prepared by them for the government, to suggest what can be done to take the work forward. They were of the opinion that institutional support from the government and the corporate sector is important.

Justice SS Sodhi, former chairman of Telecom Commission, said the traditional family system was breaking away, so senior citizens need to be independent. “Senior citizens should also keep themselves occupied and can find many avenues, wherein they can give back to the society. They also need to build their inner confidence so that they can lead their lives respectfully and with zeal,” he added.

Dr Ranjana Malik said that the government must develop old age homes in public-private partnership. “Many choose to stay in old age resorts amidst other elderly. But others have to be in a home where the facilities may not be adequate.”

RM Khanna, chairman, CII, Northern Region, also spoke on the occasion. 

New Delhi, October 15
India will assist Sri Lanka move beyond the domination of Sinhalese and Tamil by helping it acquire a trilingual image with the addition of English.A commitment to this effect came today from the government after Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal met the visiting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, G L Peiris, to discuss the matter.

On Sri Lanka’s request for assistance in language knowledge and skills, the HRD Ministry has finalised a panel of experts, mostly from the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, which will travel to the island nation next month and help it craft the 10-year National Master Plan for Trilingual Sri Lanka.

New Delhi, October 15
Special Representatives of India and China will meet soon to hold the 14th round of talks on the lingering boundary dispute, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said here today while emphasising the need for Beijing to be sensitive to New Delhi’s “core concerns”.

Interaction with journalists here, the minister said 13 rounds of talks had been held between the two countries over the border dispute and another one was “on the cards”. Admitting that there were differences between the two countries over the boundary, he said there was, however, willingness on the part of both to resolve the matter.

On China’s claim over Arunachal, he said, “We have always said that Arunachal is a part of India and there cannot be two opinions about it.” In this connection, he pointed out that elections have been regularly held in Arunachal with the voter turnout being as high as 75 per cent.

The minister also hoped Beijing would stick to its policy of neutrality on the Jammu and Kashmir issue. This comment came in view of China issuing stapled visas on separate sheets to Indian nationals from Jammu and Kashmir and denying visa to Lt Gen BS Jaswal since the border state also happens to be under his command.

Noting that China also expected India to be sensitive to its concerns, Krishna said New Delhi would do so “without compromising our national stand in respect of borders and stapled visas”. Asked to comment on the growing Chinese assertiveness, Krishna said China was a power in the region and would make “overtures”. India also was a power and would make overtures but that “does not necessarily mean that we are in conflict”.