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| Saturday, December 9, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Waiver on Sea King spares likely UK formally seeks Peter
Bleach’s release PM to visit Vietnam, Indonesia in Jan Assam Governor, CM to meet Advani Speaker may relent on Cong demand Airlines revise schedules |
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‘Discovery’ space camp opens new
vistas for 14-yr-old North India in Parliament No end in sight to postal stir Hostile witness can be believed: SC Theft at house of
Kumaramangalam
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Waiver on Sea King spares likely NEW DELHI, Dec 8 — India will finally be able to get its grounded fleet of Sea King helicopters repaired with the US State Department indicating to the United Kingdom that it is willing to waive the sanctions imposed on providing of spares for the Indian Navy choppers. Addressing mediapersons here today on the state visit of British Secretary of State for Defence Geoffrey Hoon, the first by any Secretary of State of Defence from Britain in the past over a decade, the British High Commissioner Sir Rob Young said the one-billion pound Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) aircraft deal would not be affected by the American sanctions. Sir Rob Young said the British Government had lobbied with the
USA for a waiver in sanctions so that American spares could be provided for the Sea Kings. He, however, clarified that the waiver was only for the Sea King helicopters and not for the Sea Harrier fighter aircraft, some of which are also awaiting repairs. “The process is not complete yet. The White House has recommended a waiver. It will be pursued by the American authorities”, he said. In 1997 the Indian Navy had sent five Sea King gear boxes to the UK for repairs. Since the components were made in the USA, the gear boxes have not been repaired after sanctions were imposed against India for the May, 1998, nuclear tests. To a question, the High Commissioner said the US sanctions would not affect the Hawk deal. The negotiations which were under way, would ensure that the specification of the aircraft would satisfy India, he said, adding that while India was insisting on US components, the British Aerospace was trying to convince that other British components could be provided as substitutes for those components. The British High Commissioner said there was a connection between the Hawk deal and Mr Hoon’s visit. “It will be good if the deal is concluded, it will strengthen the defence relations between the two countries, he said. On the U.S. objections with regard to the Hawk deal which is expected to be concluded early next year, he said it was true that specifications had been one of the issues but the negotiations would ensure that India would not have reason to complain. Britain is exploring the licensed production of the Hawk AJT in India, which is also one of the demands of the Indian authorities. If it comes through it will be a breakthrough of sorts as it will be the first time that the Hawk trainer will be manufactured outside the UK, a British High Commission official said. Mr Hoon will visit Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bangalore on December 13, along with Defence Minister George Fernandes, which Sir Rob Young said would also be to see the facilities available at HAL. “Local manufacturing is going to be an increasing factor in our collaboration,” the British High Commissioner said. “It will be a major contract concluded after 14 years”, he said although renewed sales of Jaguar fighter aircraft had been on for the past two years. India is in the process of purchasing 66 Hawk AJTs and it will take about 36 months for the delivery to begin after the deal is sealed. The timetable of delivery will be known only after the deal is struck. Indian pilots will be trained on the AJT in England. Sir Rob Young said there was quite a lot of discussion on the naval side with India but there was no big deal on the horizon, he said. As regards cooperation with India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Britain was looking at future projects on the radar technology. Asked why it had taken 10 years for a British Defence Minister to visit India, the British High Commissioner said since the defence relationship had been growing fast in the past two years with strong two-way visits, it was felt that it would be the right time for Mr Hoon to take up Mr Fernandes’ invitation. Mr Fernandes had visited Britain in June and the three service chiefs had also made official visits there during the year. Sir Rob Young said Britain had a wide agenda. Besides defence sales and procurement, military collaboration, peacekeeping, conflict prevention and resolution would be the key areas of focus. He said an Indo-UK defence consultative group had been set up for this purpose, which last met in London in August. Research and Training was another major area for joint work between the two countries. Mr Hoon, as part of Britain’s quest for more collaboration with India, will attend a lunch hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry to discuss private sector participation. At a seminar held in the UK in January 20 MoUs were signed between Indian and British companies, Sir Rob noted. The High Commissioner said keeping in view the debate in the United Nations on the role of peacekeepers, it was important for India and the UK to work out a joint strategy on better peacekeeping. To a question, he said Kashmir would not be an issue that would figure in the talks that Mr Hoon would have with Mr Fernandes and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh on December 12. Sir Rob Young, asked whether the signing of the CTBT still remained an irritant between the two countries, said it was an area of disagreement. The UK would like both India and Pakistan to ratify the treaty as the next step for a shared agenda for nuclear disarmament. “We think India has got nothing to lose by signing the CTBT. In fact it will only gain by it”, he added. |
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UK formally seeks Peter
Bleach’s release NEW DELHI, Dec 8 — Britain has formally asked India for the release of Peter Bleach, who has been serving a sentence in Calcutta jail after being found guilty in the Purulia arms dropping case. While seeking the release of Peter Bleach, Britain has pointed out that the five Latvian crew members, who had also been sentenced to life imprisonment along with Peter Bleach, have since been pardoned and released, so there should be no discrimination with the British national. Apparently, the five Latvians had been released following the threat from Russia to cancel President Vladimir Putin’s visit earlier this year if they were not released. Briefing newsmen here on the forthcoming state visit of Mr Geoffrey Hoon, British Secretary of State for Defence, from December 11 to 13, the British High Commissioner, Sir Rob Young, said here today that a formal request seeking the release of Peter Bleach had been forwarded to the Minister of External Affairs, Mr Jaswant Singh, on Monday last. According to the British High Commissioner, the request had been forwarded by British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook after the discussions he had with Mr Jaswant Singh on the issue during the latter’s visit to London in November. Apparently the External Affairs Minister had assured Mr Robin Cook to look into the matter all over again. He denied that the visit of British Prime Minister Tony Blair was in anyway linked to the release of Peter Bleach. |
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PM to visit Vietnam, Indonesia in Jan NEW DELHI, Dec 8 — In a determined bid to provide substance and content to India’s : “look East” policy, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will pay a week-long official visit to Indonesia and Vietnam from January 8 to 14, it is learnt. India’s engagement with South-East Asia which remained dormant for nearly two decades is now beginning to look up as Mr Vajpayee is expected to tour Malaysia and Japan in February before the budget session of Parliament gets under way. The upcoming sojourn to Indonesia and Vietnam assumes significance as both the countries are members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and New Delhi believes it can play a positive role in forging closer links politically and economically with that region. The NDA leadership wants to forge closer engagement with the ASEAN group and make its presence felt in the India-China region. Singapore had taken up India’s case recently that New Delhi should be formally inducted in the discussions held after the ASEAN summit. The endeavour of having India as the fourth nation in the existing ASEAN plus three arrangement failed to materialise for lack of unanimity. The three countries forming part of ASEAN plus three are Japan, China and South Korea. Sources said Jakarta responded positively to Mr Vajpayee’s visit. It will facilitate the Prime Minister in renewing his contacts with Indonesian President A. Wahid, who had visited this country early this year, and exchanging views on bilateral, political, regional and multilateral issues. The Indonesian President, who visited Pakistan in June this year, told his interlocutors in Islamabad that India with a population of more than 140 million Muslims could not be considered out of the Islamic world. He made it clear to the Pakistani leadership that the protracted Kashmir problem should be discussed with India as “negotiations are the main factor in international democracy.” Notwithstanding the problems in Indonesia’s oil-rich Aceh province, India is keen to diversify its crude supplies at competitive prices besides offering its expertise in the information technology sector. Mr Vajpayee will be going to Vietnam to substantiate bilateral relations by forging educational, military and energy linkages. New Delhi, which is looking afresh at procuring certain essential commodities form the South-East Asian region, will be keen on buying oil and gas from Vietnam’s hydrocarbon rich enclaves. Vietnam has the third largest reserves of oil in the region. The bulk of Vietnam’s crude supplies
goes to Japan though even as that country is looking at diversifying its markets. |
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Assam Governor, CM to meet Advani NEW DELHI, Dec 8 (UNI) — The central government is likely to send a high-level team to make an on-the-spot assessment of the situation in Assam following a step-up of its militant activities by the ULFA resulting in the death of at least 30 persons yesterday. Assam Governor S.K. Sinha, Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and Director-General of Police Harekrishna Deka are meeting Home Minister L. K. Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes on the law and order situation in the state. The Centre is concerned as the number of killings of innocent people in the North-East has risen to more than 750 during the current year. Home Ministry sources said it was clear the killings were aimed at terrorising the non-Assamese people in the state. The Centre has already invited all insurgent groups to come forward for talks within the ambit of the Constitution. A high-level coordination centre headed by the Home Secretary and with senior officials of the state government and the police is also assessing the situation. The Centre has also been providing financial assistance to north-eastern states to deal with the situation there.
GUWAHATI: The Army and the police have launched a massive joint search operation in the Sadiya area of Tinsukia district where 30 Biharis were killed and as many injured on Thursday night by ULFA and a relative of a top leader of the outfit shot dead in retaliation. However, according to Assam Home Commissioner Mrinal Barua, the death toll in the massacre stood at 28 while 14 others were battling for life. The nine seriously injured are being treated in Assam Medical College while others are in Tinsukia and Sadiya Civil Hospitals. Meanwhile, police officials in Sadiya said six suspects had been rounded up but admitted it would be very easy for the militants to hide in the jungles of Arunachal Pradesh as Thursday’s massacre site is just 3 km from the state border. Tinsukia district Additional Deputy Collector Anurag Goel said the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police were camping at the spot. He said casualty figure might rise as the area was inaccessible and it was difficult to get information. In retaliation to Thursday’s massacre, certain unidentified persons went to the house of ULFA’s “foreign secretary” Sasha Choudhury at Helocha in Nalbari district, dragged out his brother Deepak and shot him dead on the spot. They also fired at the residence of Bubul Sharma, an important ULFA activist. Every major killings by the ULFA in the past has been followed by the killing of relatives of its top leaders. On November 30, when 18 Biharis were massacred in three incidents in lower Assam, three relatives of important ULFA leaders were killed by unidentified gunmen. Shots were fired at the residence of ULFA “commander-in-chief” Paresh Barua. Mr Goel said the post-mortem examination of all 28 bodies had been carried out in Sadiya. Meanwhile, the Home Commisssioner said 18 CRPF companies had been rushed to the spot. |
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Speaker may relent on Cong demand NEW DELHI, Dec 8 — The impasse over non-functioning of Parliament for the past five days is likely to be over by Monday with Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi allowing a discussion on the Congress demand for a discussion on the resignation of three BJP ministers under Rule 184. While officially the issue could not be resolved at today’s meeting of leaders of all political parties with the Speaker, it was decided that another meeting would be held on Monday before Parliament meets to conduct business at 11 a.m. However, there is a strong likelihood that the Speaker would allow a discussion on the Congress demand for a discussion under Rule 184 as the Government has already conveyed its readiness to accept Mr Balayogi’s decision. On similar lines, a discussion would also take place in the Rajya Sabha. While the Congress has shown its readiness to relent on its demand for two discussions, the government is prepared to have a discussion under any rule which the Speaker allows, the sources said. Earlier, leaders emerging from the meeting told reporters that the Speaker had asked the leaders to discuss the issue among themselves and report back to him on December 11 so that the two Houses of Parliament could function normally. Airlines revise schedules CHANDIGARH, Dec 8 — To reduce inconvenience to passengers, some of the major international air carriers have revised their schedules for flights operating from Indira Gandhi International Airport from the middle of this month to next month in anticipation of acute fog conditions over North India. “Every year, hundreds of passengers are inconvenienced due to poor weather conditions in Delhi where aircraft are not able to land or take off due to poor visibility. These hostile weather conditions result in many delayed flight departures and arrivals,” said a senior official of an international air carrier maintaining that “airlines, too, suffer heavily on account of delays”. “In anticipation of bad weather and subsequent inconvenience to passengers, we have decided to revise our schedule on the days when passengers could be the most affected,” says Mr Alan Briggs, General Manager (South Asia) of British Airways. Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways, too, have announced a modified schedule of their flights operating from Indira Gandhi International Airport. The new schedules of British Airways, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways become effective from December 15. It is perhaps for the first time that international air carriers have announced changed flight schedules in anticipation of “foggy weather”. Between December 15 and January 15, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport remains the worst affected as all late evening and early morning flights, both incoming and outgoing, get delayed by a few to several hours depending upon the density of the fog. According to the revised schedule between December 15 and January 14 next year, the Delhi-London flight of British Airways will now depart at 1.20 p.m. to arrive at Heathrow in London at 5.45 p.m. the same day while the London-Delhi flight will arrive at 11 a.m. after taking off from Heathrow at 9.05 p.m. the previous night. Similarly, from December 16 onwards, the Delhi-Bangkok flight of Thai Airways will leave at 10.30 p.m. instead of 12.10 a.m. (0010 hours). This flight operates on all days except Tuesdays and Fridays. Singapore Airlines has also rescheduled its Delhi-Singapore flight. Instead of taking off from Indira Gandhi International Airport at 11.15 p.m., it will not take off at 8.50 p.m. This flight now operates throughout the week. Though the revised schedule will save the passengers from inconvenience at Indira Gandhi International Airport, some of the passengers travelling beyond London to say Toronto, may have to forgo convenient onward connections. Under the revised schedule, they may have to spend the night at Heathrow before getting a connecting flight to Toronto early next morning. Those flying to New York may not face this problem. Other European carriers, including Lufthansa, KLM and Air France, are also expected to modify their flight schedules to fight Delhi’s fog. Besides air traffic, thick fog also affects both rail and road traffic in northern India. Most of the fast moving trains, especially the Shatabdis and the Rajdhanis, run at a slower speed. Similarly, traffic on both national and state highways is also affected on foggy days. |
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‘Discovery’ space camp opens new vistas for 14-yr-old
NEW DELHI, Dec 8 (UNI) —Fourteen-year-old Deepak Jagdish from Calicut in Kerala always wanted to be an IAS officer but a week-long stay at a Space Camp in the USA has changed his ambition. The 10th standard student of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Calicut, was chosen from among 9,000 aspirants by the Discovery Channel to represent India at the Space Camp in Huntsville in Alabama where 12 children from across the world underwent rigorous astronaut training programme from September 13 to 19. Divided in two teams, the children chosen from the USA, the UK, Japan, Taiwan, Argentina, Taiwan, Brazil and Chile went through a series of gruelling challenges. Deepak was chosen the Mission Commander of his team and won the event for it. Back from the camp, Deepak says: “We learnt in seven days what astronauts learn in three years.’’ The Discovery Channel, which presented Deepak before the mediapersons in the Capital yesterday, would feature the real-life experiences of the young “could be’’ astronauts in Blast Off on Discovery Kids at 11 a.m. on December 10. |
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North India in Parliament NEW DELHI, Dec 8 — The Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Mr Sriram Chauhan said the government had not given instructions to the FCI to purchase damaged stocks of paddy in Punjab and Haryana this year. In a written reply to question from Mr V P Duraisamy in Rajya Sabha, the minister said in order to reduce the hardship of farmers and enable agencies to procure paddy which was affected due
to unseasonal rains and blight disease at MSP, the government had extended relaxations in specification of paddy to Punjab and Haryana, providing for procurement of paddy with damaged, discoloured, sprouted and weevilled grains up to a maximum limit of 8 per cent as against 3 per cent provided in the uniform FAQ specifications. Punjab request to Centre: Mr Chauhan said Punjab had requested the Central Government to move rice and wheat from Punjab, particularly the stocks of wheat from its godowns, to make space available for the current kharif crop. Sugar units default in payment:
The Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Mr V Srieenivasa Prasad said a total of 303 sugar factories have defaulted in respect of repayment of loans received from the Sugar Development Fund. In a written reply to a question from Mr Lajpat Rai, the minister said of these 18 units were in Punjab, (2 PSU, 12 coop sector, and 4 in the private sector) and in Haryana six units (all in coop sector). Rainfall in Haryana: The Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Shripad Y Naik, said eight out of 16 districts of Haryana received less than normal rainfall according to the IMD data. However, for the state as a whole, the total monsoon rainfall during 2000 was normal and better than last year. In a written reply to a question from Mr Nana Deshmukh in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said a record production of kharif foodgrains had been achieved this year and the kharif foodgrains productivity was estimated as 1954 kg/ha as compared to 1785 kg/ha achieved last year. The minister said due to low rains in September and no rains in October this year, sowing of rabi crops under rainfed conditions like gram and rapeseed and mustard have got a setback. Annual plan size of states: The Union Minister of State for Planning, Mr Arun Shourie, said the government had not reduced the annual plan size of some states. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha to a question from Mr W Angou Singh, the minister said core plan outlays for 2000-01 over previous year’s revised approval plan outlays were higher in respect of all states except Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Manipur for which they are lower. Bypass sanctioned: The Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri, said an estimate amounting to Rs 6.68 lakh for carrying out feasibility study and preparation of detailed project for Sunder Nagar bypass on NH-21 in Himachal Pradesh had been sanctioned. |
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No end in sight to postal stir NEW DELHI, Dec 8 — The indefinite strike by six lakh postal employees entered the fourth day today with no sign of breakthrough despite striking employees urging the Prime Minister to intervene and pave the way for a negotiated settlement. The postal employees got a boost today with state government employees of Kerala and West Bengal expressing their solidarity, reports said. While the striking employees claimed postal work throughout the country had been paralysed, the Union Communications Ministry said over 55 per cent of the head post offices, which carry out counter services and deliver mail, were open throughout the country. The attendance of staff in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir was between 20 to 30 per cent while in the rest of the country the attendence recorded was below normal, the ministry in a statement said. The protesting postal employees are demanding implementation of the Talwar Committee recommendations on extra-departmental employees who are 300,000 strong, revision of scales for payment of various cadres, increase in percentage of promotion in cadres and absorbing casual labourers in the vacant positions. The three employees’ federations which have called the strike — the National Federation of Postal Employees, the Federation of National Postal Organisations and the Bhartiya Postal Employees Federation — claimed the strike was near total on the fourth day. |
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Hostile witness can be believed: SC NEW DELHI, Dec 8 (PTI, UNI) — Clearing a major misconception in criminal proceedings, the Supreme Court has ruled that merely because a witness has turned hostile, his entire evidence cannot be termed unworthy of consideration for trial court. “It is a misconceived notion that merely because a witness is declared hostile his entire evidence should be excluded or rendered unworthy of consideration,” a Bench comprising Justice K.T. Thomas and Justice R.P. Sethi said. In a recent order upholding the conviction of a person who killed his father for scolding him to curb his wasteful expenditure, the Bench said, “The evidence remains admissible in the trial and there is no legal bar to base conviction upon the testimony of such (hostile) witness.” Mr Justice Sethi, writing the judgement for the Bench, said it was for the trial court to decide, on the basis of the cross-examination carried out, which parts of the testimony of such witnesses to be relied upon. The conviction, in this case, was based on the extra-judicial confession made by the accused to some persons as there was no independent witness to the act of crime. The accused had challenged the order of conviction saying the extra-judicial confession has not been proved. Accused Gura Singh, after killing his father over the trivial issue, told two persons about the manner in which he killed his father and sought their help. One of the persons, before whom the extra-judicial confession was made, had lodged the FIR with the police. It was alleged by the accused that he was being wrongly roped into the case by the two witnesses with the oblique motive of usurping his father’s property. Upholding the trial court’s view to believe the extra-judicial confession, the Bench said it was a settled position of law that extra-judicial confession, if true and voluntary, could be relied to convict the accused for the commission of the crime alleged. In another case, the Supreme Court has ruled that the evidence of eyewitnesses cannot be discarded merely on the ground that they are relatives of a deceased victim of an attack. “Normally close relations of the deceased are not likely to falsely implicate a person in the incident leading to the death of the relation unless there are very strong and cogent reasons to accept such criticism,” the court added. The ruling, which may come to aid the prosecution in criminal cases, was given by Mr Justice S.S.M. Quadri and Mr Justice D.P. Mohapatra while setting aside a judgement of the Rajasthan High Court acquitting an accused in a murder case on the ground that the eyewitnesses in the case were relatives of the deceased. Respondent-accused Hanuman had on October 9, 1982, killed Panchu with the help of co-accused — Ganesh and Ram Kumar — who held the victim while he gave him three blows on his head with an axe. A dispute over sharing of water from a well for irrigation purposes between the parties was the cause of the attack. When Badami, wife of Panchu and his sister Chhoti tried to intervene one of the co-accused assaulted them. Based on the evidence of the two eyewitnesses, an Ajmer trial court convicted Hanuman and sentenced him to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1000. The trial court, however, acquitted the two co-accused. Discarding the evidence of the two eyewitnesses, the high court acquitted Hanuman. Hence, the appeal before the apex court by the state of Rajasthan. The apex court in its judgement said that from the testimony of the two women, whose presence at the spot was not disputed by the defence, it was clear that they had described the incident in a clear and graphic manner. |
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Theft at house of
Kumaramangalam NEW DELHI, Dec 8 (UNI) — The Delhi Police today registered a case of theft at the house of the wife of late Union Power Minister P.R. Kumaramangalam at R.K. Puram in South Delhi. The theft was reportedly committed by their Nepali servant who was employed by only a couple of days ago. The Assistant Commissioner of Police of the area told UNI the theft took place between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. yesterday when Mrs Kitty Kumaramangalam, wife of the late BJP leader, and their kids were not at home. She reported the case to the police this morning and an FIR that the theft was committed by the servant was registered in the R.K. Puram police station. The police official said the servant, Vinod, was employed two days ago without any verification by the family. The servant’s friend, who was employed by Mrs Kumaramangalam’s mother, is also absconding. The police said the servant had fled with an unspecified sum and some jewellery. |
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