The politician who defied stereotypes

New Delhi, October 3
"Get back on track," Lalu Prasad joked in the Lok Sabha when a fellow MP once complained that interruptions were making him lose his train of thought during a noisy debate.

After being consumed by the fodder scam today, the question being asked is will Lalu's own humourous advice early this year in a reference to his former Railways portfolio hold good for him in his derailed political career.

But the next time Parliament is in session, it will be short on humour and miss the wisecracks of the irrepressible Lalu who has enlivened many a proceeding.

Arguably one of India's most colourful politicians, 65-year-old Lalu, son of a milkman, is a unique figure in the hurly-burly of Indian politics and a phenomenon in his hey days. He is one politician who defied stereotypes.

Known for his quirky style and mass appeal, in his prime, there were few leaders in India who could rival his charisma and popularity.

Lalu, who rose from a clerk to become a two-time Chief Minister of undivided Bihar and then the Union Railway Minister, has in essence, provided a perfect example of true Indian rural sophistication.

His trademark lungi, short and stout body, and sprouted ears have endeared him to the masses of India.

His lustrous career kicked off at the age of 29, when he got elected to the 6th Lok Sabha, one of the youngest members in the Lower House.

In a short span of 10 years, Lalu, a canny political operator, went on to become a formidable political force in Bihar, and became the Chief Minister for the first time in 1990.

During his second term, he was charged in the fodder scam of 1996. He resigned as the Chief Minister in 1997 and elected his wife Rabri Devi, with whom he has nine children, as his successor.

Illiterate and a newcomer to politics, Rabri was nick-named "Rubbery Devi" by her critics who alleged that she was a rubber stamp for her husband and a mere figurehead. They said Lalu ran the state by remote control.

In 1997, as corruption allegations against him gathered steam, he left the Janata Dal and created the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). When he was riding high on the success of power, Lalu flaunted himself as the "Raja of Bihar". Truly, the maverick Lalu and his wife held on to his fort in Bihar for 15 long years, but his political fortunes began sliding from 2005.

During the Congress-led UPA government's first term, from 2004 to 2009, he was Union Railway Minister, and was credited with bringing India's Railways back into the black, a feat that led to invitations to speak at business schools.

Lalu even found his way into the textbooks-the prestigious IIM, Ahmedabad, introduced a case study on his work in the Railways Ministry for its business students.

Although he is an MP and remains a key ally of UPA, Prasad has lost much of his political base in the last few years. — PTI

 

The rise and fall Born in a poor milkman's family in Bihar on June 11, 1948, Lalu was known for his quirky style and mass appeal in his prime He rose from a clerk to become a two-time CM of undivided Bihar and then the Union Railway Minister He got elected to the 6th Lok Sabha at the age of 29 He became the CM of Bihar for the first time in 1990 During his second term, he was charged in the fodder scam He had to resign as the Chief Minister in 1997 During the UPA government's first term, from 2004 to 2009, he remained the Union Railway Minister

RJD rules out change in party leadership

New Delhi, October 3
The RJD today alleged a political conspiracy by the BJP and the JD-U behind the sentencing of Lalu Prasad, but ruled out the possibility of a change in party leadership, saying its chief will be out on bail soon.

"Lalu ji has become a victim of a political conspiracy and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar (of the JD-U) and the BJP have an important role in this conspiracy. We will go to the people and apprise them of the conspiracy and hobnobbing between the BJP and the JD-U against Lalu ji," party MP Ramkripal Yadav told reporters after a special court in Ranchi sentenced Prasad to five-year imprisonment in a 17-year-old fodder scam case.

"Lalu is innocent. He has been punished because he was voicing concerns of the poor and strengthening secularism. Those who made money are moving outside freely and the person, who lodged the case, got 45 FIRs registered, has been jailed," Yadav, a close aide of Lalu, said.

Senior party leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh trashed talks about the possibility of a change in the RJD leadership saying it was not required as Lalu would be out on bail. "Lalu is himself available. What crisis if somebody is absent for five-10 days? Yes he has been sentenced for five years, but will he not get bail? We will move an appeal in high court," he said.

"I have given him the Gita. By the time, he reads up half of the scripture, he will be out of jail. If somebody goes somewhere for 10-20 days, should we make another appointment in his place. This is totally impractical," he said. — PTI

Toilet vs temple: Cong takes on Modi
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 3
The ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP were today caught in the most unusual of wars—the one over whether toilets should be built ahead of temples or otherwise. Rooted in the remarks BJP poster boy Narendra Modi made yesterday while addressing some students in a college (I have my Hindutva identity. But I say toilets should be built before temples) the statement found a resonance on the Twitter all day with senior Congress leaders questioning its conviction.

The first to react was general secretary of Congress Digvijay Singh who wanted to know whether the BJP-RSS-VHP combine would respond to Modi's remarks in the same way as they did to BSP founder late Kanshi Ram's suggestion that a public toilet complex should be built in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site as an answer to all problems.

The tweet was followed by a full-fledged press conference by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh who explained at length how VHP and Bajrang Dal activists left bottles full of urine at his doorstep when he said last October exactly the same thing as Modi said yesterday.

"When I said the same thing in Gujarat's Sewagram last October 5, I was slammed by BJP's Rajeev Pratap Rudy and Prakash Javadekar," the minister said rushing to denounce Modi's statement as one borne out of politics rather than conviction.

Taunting the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Jairam also said had Modi received the same enlightenment 22 years ago, the Babri Masjid tragedy would not have unfolded.

The temple versus toilet war saw another participant today in MoS Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla who said Modi was not a Hindu leader and was being projected as one simply for electoral gains.

2014 LS poll
TDP, BJP inching closer to tie-up?
Suresh Dharur/TNS

Hyderabad, October 3
The much-hyped handshake between the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former NDA convener N Chandrababu Naidu and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at a private function in Delhi has triggered speculation about a possible alliance between the two parties ahead of the 2014 General Election.

The two leaders shared the dais at a function organised by the Citizens for Accountable Governance, signalling a possible re-alignment of political forces. Naidu, who lost power in Andhra Pradesh in 2004, was once seen as a "king maker" in national politics and a key player in both the United Front and NDA governments.

The changed political dynamics in his home state, in the wake of UPA's decision to carve out a separate Telangana state, appears to have forced Naidu to contemplate returning to the NDA that he had quit after being voted out of power in 2004. His TDP was a crucial outside supporter of the NDA during 1998-2004.

For Naidu, who was AP's Chief Minister between 1995 and 2004, the political pendulum appears to be swinging from Left to Right. In the 2009 poll, the TDP had an alliance with the CPI and the CPM, but now it seems gravitating towards the saffron party.

The statehood movement in the Telangana region, which accounts for 119 seats in the 294-member state Assembly, and the emergence of YSR Congress Party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy as a new political force are the two major factors that have pushed the TDP into a corner.

Political observers say Naidu is keen on "piggybacking" the BJP in the next elections in view of the growing popularity of Modi.

"If we revive electoral tie-up with the BJP, it will be a win-win situation for both parties," a senior TDP leader from Telangana E Dayakar Rao said.

32 killed in Assam road mishap
13 children, 5 women among dead
Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS

Guwahati, October 3
At least 32 persons, including 13 children and five women, were killed when a speeding truck rammed head-on into two passenger-laden vans on the National Highway No. 35 near Sarbhog in Assam's Barpeta district around 4.30 am today. The victims were reportedly migrant Muslim labourers and their family members.

The "fully packed" vans were thrown off into the paddy fields alongside the road due to the impact of the collision. The accident site is close to Kismat-Dorika village under the Sarbhog police station, about 190 km west of Guwahati.

Barpeta Superintendent of Police GV Shivaprasad said the van occupants were travelling from a village near Tamarhat in Dhubri district to a brick kiln near Rangiya in Kamrup district.

There were at least 45 persons in the two vans. The driver of the truck (WB25C-2618) was arrested. He also suffered minor injuries in the incident. The truck was carrying a consignment of sodium carbonate from Guwahati to West Bengal.

While four persons, including two two-year-old children are undergoing treatment at the Barpeta Medical College Hospital (BMCH), 10 others have been shifted to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital. The condition of several of them is stated to be critical.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi visited Barpeta Medical College Hospital to take stock of the treatment arrangements made for the injured. He announced an ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of each of the deceased. Gogoi also ordered a high-level inquiry into the accident.

India expands uranium search to Central Asia, Africa

New Delhi, October 3
With the requirement of uranium expected to grow, India is expanding its search for countries, mostly in Central Asia and Africa, from where it could procure the fuel for the nuclear plants whose number is going to increase in the coming years.

As part of this endeavour, a delegation of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) travelled to Uzbekistan to explore the possibility of procuring uranium, sources told PTI here. Sources said a contract for procurement of uranium could fructify in the near future.

India is looking at importing about 2,000 tonnes of uranium by 2014 from Uzbekistan, which has 1,85,800 tonnes of proven uranium deposits.

The visit by DAE team took place against the backdrop of talks between External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and his Uzbek counterpart Abdulaziz Kamilov last month in Tashkent on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet. During the talks, the issue of uranium import to India was discussed.

India already has a contract for uranium import from another Central Asian nation Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Apart from these countries, Kyrgyzstan also has rich uranium deposits.

"It is not that we are focussing on Central Asia only, but the region happens to have proven reserves of uranium. We will try to procure uranium from wherever possible," said a senior DAE official. "We are also looking at Niger and Namibia to get our supply of uranium," the official added.

Both these countries have rich deposits of uranium. In 2009, India also signed a civil nuclear cooperation with Namibia.

India currently has 19 active nuclear reactors that produce 4,780 MW of electricity.

In the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017), the Nuclear Power Corporation India Ltd (NPCIL) plans to add 16 more reactors and increase power generation to 16,000 MW and further take it up to 20,000 MW by 2022.

If India starts importing uranium from Uzbekistan, it will be the third central Asian country from where India will procure uranium.

India has already signed a civil nuclear agreement with Mongolia in 2010 while it has a similar agreement in place with Kazakhstan to procures uranium. Kazakhstan has 15 per cent of uranium reserves of the world. India currently gets uranium from Russia, France and Kazakhstan. — PTI

M’rashtra DGP who set himself afire dies
Shiv Kumar/TNS

Mumbai, October 3
Additional Director General of Police (Housing) Ranjit Sahay who allegedly set himself afire last month died early this morning after suffering kidney malfunction dut to his burn injuries.

He allegedly set himself afire on September 15 at his Malabar Hill residence. His wife and daughter were at home when the incident happened.

The police said they could not record Sahay's statement as his condition was very critical ever since he was admitted to hospital. His family had earlier told police that the officer had a quarrel with his wife after which he set himself afire.

Police sources said Sahay, a no-nonsense officer, was under pressure after he detected irregularities in the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) during the tenure of its former chief, Deepak Kapoor, an IAS officer. Soon after, Kapoor — known to be close to ex-Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel was shunted out of MSRTC. 

Global rankings
Research impact, global outlook raised PU stock
Aditi Tandon/TNS

New Delhi, October 3
Panjab University, Chandigarh, has beaten all 15 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) on research impact and international outlook to emerge as the country's top-ranked higher educational institution in the Times Higher Education's (THE) Top 400 World University Rankings published today.

A first time and surprise entrant to the list, PU received the highest citation impact score of 84.7 (relative score out of 100) among the other four Indian representatives — IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Roorkee — in the 400 list powered by Thomson Reuters. The respective citation impact scores of these IITs are lower than that of PU at 38.5, 41.8, 35.3 and 53.6.

Citation impact (average citations per research paper) is a major indicator of academic performance. It means PU is producing research which is more widely used and quoted by academicians internationally than that being produced by others, including IITs.

"The single most important reason for PU's highest rank is its extremely impressive citation impact score. Its research papers are highly respected globally. These scores were awarded after analyzing 50 million citations from 12,000 carefully selected academic journals and six lakh papers. Data was analysed over six years from 2007 to 2012 considering citations take time to accumulate and to minimise the impact of exceptionally highly-cited papers in a given year. PU's rank is absolutely legitimate. There should be no cause for scepticism around it. It's fair to conclude that PU is at present performing more strongly than the IITs," Fran Langdon of THE told The Tribune over phone from London today.

PU's rank has further been boosted by its fine international outlook vis-a-vis that of IITs. As an institution, PU is more attractive to international students (it has more foreign students as a ratio of total students than most Indian institutes) and international faculty. It has more scholarly papers with international co authors as a proportion of total scholarly papers published than the other Indian institutions in the global rankings.

Explains PU vice-chancellor Arun Grover, "We are the most valued institution north of Delhi and our architecture is a huge advantage. Our research is high quality, but it would be unfair to compare us with IITs, which faced stiffer competition being technical institutions. We also gained because varsities like Delhi University and University of Hyderabad didn't participate." In a recent Department of Science ranking, both DU and Hyderabad Central University were ahead of PU in science rankings.

Asked if a university's ranking depended on data sharing, THE clarified, "A university's position is not affected in any way by how quickly or otherwise it shares data with us. If they don't they are simply not ranked." In the global rankings, PU is placed in the 226 to 250 group followed by all IITs placed in the 351 to 400 group.

Khurshid in Moscow to prepare for PM’s visit
Ashok Tuteja/TNS

New Delhi, October 3
Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Russia later this month, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid is in Moscow to attend a crucial meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) tomorrow.

Defence, N-energy on agenda Salman Khurshid will co-chair the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation on Friday Civil nuclear energy and defence cooperation will be high on the agenda of the meeting

Civil nuclear energy and defence cooperation will be high on the agenda of the meeting to be co-chaired by Khurshid and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. India has already made it clear that any defence initiative of India with the US was not at the expense of those of Russia.

“Everybody knows that we have to diversify and expend. But we do not do this at the cost of traditional friend of ours. There is massive cooperation between India and Russia which is not going to be affected,” Indian officials said today.

Defence Minister AK Antony will also be visiting Moscow in the third week of October to co-chair another meeting on defence cooperation before Manmohan Singh flies into the Russian capital.

Khurshid’s talks with his Russian interlocutors will also focus on economic issues, particularly joint investment projects. New Delhi is also going to seek Russian investments in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) Project and India’s greater presence in Russia’s oil and gas sectors.

The civil nuclear accord between the two countries, which has not made much headway due to India’s Civil Nuclear liability Law, will also be discussed at length between the two sides. Moscow is said to be keenly monitoring the pre-early works agreement signed between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and the Westinghouse last week during Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington.

If the agreement reduces the liability of suppliers, Moscow also may like to follow the same for nuclear cooperation with India. There is still uncertainty on whether an accord between the two countries over Units 3 and 4 at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) would be signed during Manmohan Singh’s visit. 

Jessica case: Court summons Shayan Munshi for perjury

New Delhi, October 3
Bollywood actor Shayan Munshi and a ballistic expert were today summoned by a Delhi court on complaints seeking their prosecution for turning hostile in the Jessica Lall murder case.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidya Prakash summoned Munshi and Prem Kumar Manocha for December 18 after taking cognizance of the complaint filed by the Delhi HC registrar on the basis of the March 22 high court order directing their prosecution for perjury. — PTI