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Thursday,
June 14, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Maharashtra to make Enron papers public New missiles to enhance Navy capabilities
Does India need
Chief of Defence Staff? Lyngdoh takes
over as CEC Blast rips through
Singaporean tanker Uttaranchal’s first test-tube baby born |
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Chhattisgarh capital to be Chandigarh-like Kazakhstan beckons Indian students Wife gets husband’s
domicile status: HC Is Bombay mafia after Govinda? Police to move court to get at Prabhakar Yatra against
corruption in Delhi Govt Man jumps
to death
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Maharashtra to make Enron papers public Mumbai, June 13 The documents related to the power purchase agreement and the relevant papers concerning the counter guarantee given by the Centre would be made available at nominal charges, a senior state government official said today. Pressure had been mounting on the DF Government in this regard from its constituents ever since the state Cabinet accepted the Godbole panel report. Two days ago the Janata Dal (Secular), a DF constituent, had threatened to pull out of the government if all documents of the agreement were not made public and a judicial probe was not ordered into the contract. The government was contemplating making available the documents of the Enron agreement at district collectorates and divisional offices of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB). Meanwhile, in an effort to put pressure on the ruling Democratic Front (DF) Government, the CPM, which supports the ruling coalition, would organise a state-wide demonstration, demanding the scrapping of the infamous agreement with US-energy giant, Enron, and instituting a judicial probe into the agreement. “Two months have passed since the Godbole Committee, exposed irregularities in the agreement but the state government has not taken any decision in this regard”, CPM general secretary Prabhakar Sanzgiri said in a statement here. He alleged that the “Sharad Pawar-led NCP was backing the US-multinational and had threatened to bring down the DF Government if Enron was forced to withdraw from the state”.
PTI |
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New missiles to enhance Navy capabilities New Delhi, June 13 Besides giving entry to India into the elite group of the countries producing the cruise missiles, the test firing of the PJ-10 missiles will also write a new chapter in the Indo-Russian defence ties. It will also, for the first time, put India in the category of missile exporters as there is likely to be a great demand for such missiles. According to experts, the serial production of the missiles will greatly increase the land attack capabilities of the Navy and actually prove as a force multiplier. It will also provide the Air Force with the opportunity to move away from its conventional role and help it concentrate on targeting the highly strategic points. The Navy presently has a very strong maritime strike capability and to some extent the land strike capabilities. But with the addition of the supersonic missiles, which are likely to be called “Brahmos”, to its armoury, its land strike capabilities are likely to become very powerful. The development of “Brahmos” will in fact come as a great boost to the Navy as its other missile, Dhanush, has not proved to be very successful. Reports say that the development of these missiles is also expected to help in further development of Dhanush missiles. More importantly, it will provide India the opportunity to move away from bigger and bulkier ballistic missiles, providing enormous striking capability at much lesser cost. The cruise missiles are actually nicknamed poorman’s weapons of mass destruction. However, the difference in the PJ-10 missiles and the other cruise missiles available around the world will be of the speed. This is the only cruise missile to travel at the speed of Mach 2.5 more than twice the speed of sound. Incidentally, at present there are just four countries in the world which produce the cruise missiles. India’s name will now be added to the club consisting of Russia, USA, China and France. The missiles being produced by these countries are mainly anti-ship and other variants are also being tested. India and Russia are also coordinating on developing the Air Force variant of PJ-10 missiles. According to experts, cruise missile is a small pilotless aircraft operating as a supersonic missile which makes it different from the ballistic missile. It essentially is an offensive weapon and its qualities are accuracy, low radar cross-section and low level penetration. One such example being the Tomahawk missiles of the USA. Experts point out that if a country has the capability to produce light aircraft then it can also produce a supersonic missile at almost 10-20 per cent cost of the ballistic missiles. The missile tested yesterday is a medium range one. Its range can be increased by simply changing the stages of propulsion. Its range can be kept from anywhere between 20 to 3,000 km and it is much easier to produce than the inter continental ballistic missile (ICBM) and the intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM). This because it requires no re-entry technology which is a must for the ICBMs and IRBMs. It is also an ideal platform to launch nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. These missiles will add to the already existing Klub cruise missiles which were also bought from Russia. The Klub missiles are mounted on the Kilo class submarines purchased also from Russia. These will also form part of the three Khriwak class ships being built in Russia’s Baltiskyie shipyard. It is a solid fuel missile with a range of 250 to 300 km. The PJ-10 cruise missiles are the new generation cruise missiles which have the capability of being launched from different platforms. It cruises at subsonic speed initially at just about 15 feet above the sea level. With about 60 km left from the target, the forward section separates and ignites. It is the solid boosters which rocket the missile to a supersonic speed of Mach 2.5. It is expected to be fixed on submarines, long range maritime patrol aircraft and destroyers. Incidentally India has TU-142 M Maritime patrol and strike aircraft and is negotiating to buy eight more of them. |
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Does India need
Chief of Defence Staff? New Delhi, June 13 Advocates say that the CDS would integrate the command and control system of the Army, Navy, Air Force, military intelligence and the nuclear armour, thus ensuring proper threat assessment, streamlined decision-making and timely action. But others say the recommendation of the Group of Ministers’ (GoM) on National Security to have a CDS is a hasty decision and not suitable for India’s specific conditions. We need to wait, defer the decision and reach a consensus at the political level, says Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Kak (retd), the new Joint Director of Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA). But Mr Subrahmanyam, National Security Advisory Board Convener is for a unified command and control system as future wars will not and cannot be fought and won by a single force. “We cannot hope to win future wars unless we plan and organise operational tactics and training together. To promote this, we need CDS, which is a symbol of thinking in integrated concept of fighting,” Mr Subrahmanyam says. “In future wars, land, air and marine forces cannot be separated. We have seen it in the Kargil conflict, which we won because air and land forces co-ordinated the operations.” “The present controversy as to who should become the CDS, should not be an issue that overlooks the importance of setting up a CDS,” he argues. On the other hand, to a “not-much-excited” Dr K Sridhar, senior fellow at the IDSA, the issue has only served to bring to the fore divergences within the three armed forces. “Personally, if you ask me, I am not too enthusiastic about the CDS. The Air Force has made its displeasure known public on the issue. The Navy has shown divergence. Unless we have a convergence at all levels, why buy another controversy?” he asks. Similarly Kapil Kak has raised some practical questions: “What will a CDS with naval background do in our low-intensity conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir? What can a CDS from the Air Force command in a submarine warfare?” “How can we have a single point military adviser at a political level when the three services: Army, Navy and Air Force have been functioning in divergent styles?” “At the moment, our national security scenario”, says Sridhar,”does not require a single point adviser to the Ministry of Defence.” In his opinion, India should concentrate on the content, composition and effectiveness of the armed forces. “Change of defence management is different from the concept of CDS. The single-window concept has not worked in India.” |
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Lyngdoh takes
over as CEC New Delhi, June 13 |
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Blast rips through
Singaporean tanker
Mumbai, June 13 The empty oil tanker split into two, about 350 nautical miles south-west of Mumbai when it was on way to Fujiyara in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) last night, Balkishan, chief sailor of Coast Guard, said here. One crew member was missing, he added. Two merchant vessels from Panama and Greece, on being alerted by the Coast Guard, rescued 38 of the 42 on board the Singaporean vessel, including the Captain of the ship, he said. Singapore’s Maritime Port Authority (MPA) in a statement said there were 42 crew members — 34 Chinese, seven South Koreans and one Myanmarese — on board the vessel when the explosion occurred. Of them, 30 Chinese, seven South Koreans and the Myanmarese have been rescued. It said the vessel caught fire and broke into two pieces battling rough sea lashed by heavy downpour. A distress message was received by the Coast Guard at around 11 pm last night from the ship saying it had been rocked by a powerful explosion and was sinking, Balkishan said. Meanwhile, a Defence spokesman said Indian naval ship Himgiri, which was exercising with the fleet off Mumbai, had been ordered to proceed to the area. But it was merchant ship —MV Clovely — that reported rescue of 37 out of 42 crew members and sinking of the Singaporean vessel. “There was no oil spill pollution observed by the aircraft that undertook the search operation,” he added. PTI |
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Uttaranchal’s first test-tube baby born Dehra Dun, June 13 Talking to mediapersons Dr (Ms) Pratibha Saini of Saini IVF and Fertility Research Centre said the baby was born at 8 a.m. this morning. The baby weighed 2.75 kg at the time of birth and was healthy. The doctor trained at Shefield Fertility Centre, England, and Bonn University, Germany claimed that she was the first North Indian doctor to introduce “blastocyst culture” for embryo development. She said under this system of embryo development, 12 embryos were developed by taking out the ova and sperms from the female and male reproductive organs of a couple for fertilisation in a test tube and the healthiest one was injected into the mother’s womb. On the other hand, all fertility centres of North India developed only four to eight embryos and transferred the healthiest one into womb. She claimed the success rate of 35 per cent in embryo development as compared to the 20 per cent in the rest of India . She is likely to introduce Lymphocite Immune Therapy (LIT) in the next couple of months which will further increase the success rate to more than 55 per cent. |
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Chhattisgarh capital to be Chandigarh-like New Delhi, June 13 The Chief Minister, who was in the Capital to meet the party President Mrs Sonia Gandhi, said experts from France and the USA had already visited the likely site for preliminary studies. The work for the new capital had been entrusted to a Mumbai-based firm and global tenders might be floated for construction work. Only a few states have capital cities planned according to norms and aesthetics of modern architecture and Chandigarh is one example Mr Jogi would like to emulate. Meanwhile, to help the Congress-ruled states emerge as front-runners in issues concerning development, attention towards the weaker sections and strong fiscal management, a meeting of the Chief Ministers of 11 Congress-ruled states has been convened by the party President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, on June 16. According to AICC sources, the meeting would focus on good governance, problems of agriculturists, fiscal management, weaker sections and sustainable development. The Chief Ministers would discuss ways to make their respective administrations more transparent, accountable and responsive. The problems faced by the farmers would get special attention and the CMs would discuss the impact of WTO on them. |
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Kazakhstan beckons Indian students New Delhi, June 13 Having taken on himself the task of propagating Kazakhstan as an
educational hub of the future, Mr Bhalla has opened a centre in Delhi which will guide Indian students to seek admission in various professional colleges in Kazakhstan. Talking to TNS, Mr Bhalla said the quality of education in Kazakhstan was at par with Western universities and certainly better than some Indian institutes, which lacked even the basic infrastructure. Besides, it was also cost effective education, he added. Asked if the courses were recognised, Mr Bhalla said Almaty Medical College in Kazakhstan was recognised by the Medical Council of India (MCI) and even those students who had graduated from colleges which were not recognised could take the exam conducted by the MCI in India. However, what remains to be seen is how capable are these Kazakhstan medical graduates to take on the challenge of treating tropical
ailments. A senior doctor speaking on the condition of anonymity expressed skepticism about the capability of these Kazakhstan returned medicos. |
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Wife gets husband’s
domicile status: HC Jaipur, June 13 The bench comprising Mr Justice Arun Madan and Mr Justice K.S. Rathore “dismissed” a special leave petition moved by the state government challenging a single bench verdict which had also taken a similar view. The bench observed that “having heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the impugned judgement of the single judge, prima-facie, we do not find any merit in any of the contentions urged by the state government”. Ms Asha Devi, in whose case the judgment has been given, had challenged the state Health and Medical Department decision to “disallow” her from the interview for the training course for women health worker in 1998, on the plea that she lacked a domicile status of Rajasthan. The division bench noted that the conclusion drawn by the single judge bench was perfectly “legal” and deserved to be confirmed. The single judge bench had held that “though the petitioner originally belonged to Haryana but since she had married to a domicile resident of Rajasthan, and as per our Indian culture, the wife is considered to be the domicile of the area where she is married and stays with her husband.” “That being so, the domicile of the petitioner woman cannot be any other than the domicile of her husband that is Rajasthan”, the court added.
UNI |
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Is Bombay mafia after Govinda? Jaipur, June 13 Govinda’s brother and a film director Kirti Kumar had sleepless nights in Rajasthan recently when he had come to Ajmer for ziarat at the Dargah of Khuwaja Moinuddin Chisti last week. According to information reaching here Kirti Kumar noticed certain unidentified persons chasing him at the dargah. He gave them the slip and after the ziarat instead of staying at Ajmer drove away straight to Banswara where he has a friend. Govinda was informed in Bombay about this. He talked to police officials in Banswara and told them about the possible threat to the life of his brother and urged for adequate protection. Chief Minister’s office was also informed and the secretariat too ordered the local police to take necessary steps to safeguard the film director. The police surrounded the Housing Board Colony, where Kirti Kumar was stayings with his friend. On Monday morning Kirti Kumar was sent to Udaipur under tight security from where he flew to Bombay. |
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Police to move court to get at Prabhakar Dehra Dun, June 13 Talking to The Tribune here today, Mr Ashok Kant Sharan, DGP, Uttaranchal, said, efforts were being made to arrest the accused but so far he has been successful in evading the arrest. Earlier, non-bailable warrants were issued against him by the Haldwani court in the case. The Delhi and Rajasthan police had failed to locate the former cricketer. The DGP said the application under Section 82 of the CrPC would be filed in the court next week. If the court declares him a proclaimed offender, the police would be empowered to ‘attach’ his property to force him to appear before the court or surrender to the police. According to the normal judicial procedure, if Prabhakar is not arrested or he does not appear before the court within one month of being declared a proclaimed offender, then the court has the power to declare him an “absconder” under Section 83 of the CrPC and put a cash reward for his arrest. |
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Yatra against
corruption in Delhi Govt Delhi, June 13 In a press conference the Delhi unit of the BJP announced to undertake a” “jan sangharsh yatra” in the Capital to highlight the “allround failure” of the “incompetent” state government. The yatra, scheduled to take place on June 15, will be flagged of by the Union HRD Minister, Mr Murli Manohar Joshi, and is stated to cover 800 km covering the entire Delhi region. |
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Man jumps
to death New Delhi, June 13 |
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New Delhi, June 13
