New Delhi, May 19
The CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Flaura and Fauna) tiger management task force began its three-day meeting here for exploring ways of improving exchange of intelligence on tiger trade between China, India and Nepal.

The meeting was attended by John Sellers, Senior Enforcement Officer of the CITES Secretariat, headquartered in Geneva, delegations from China and Nepal and the Deputy Directors, Wildlife of North, South and West India.

The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), Environment Investigation Agency of the UK and Care for the Wild International were also represented at the meeting.

All the 167 signatory countries to the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Flaura and Fauna (now supervised by United Nations Environment Programme) are known as the Conference of Parties and meet from time to time to take decisions by consensus or vote. Each signatory country is required to have a Cites Management Authority and a Scientific Authority. Non adherence to the convention can attract sanctions.

WTI Senior Adviser and Trustee Ashok Kumar told TNS that the prime objective of the meeting was to review tiger crisis and exchange intelligence on the tiger trade. “The population of tigers has declined from a peak of 4,300 in 1992 to 3,000 (recent government estimates). A census is going on right now.

Meanwhile, stressing on a complete revamp of current paradigm of conservation that made people criminals in their own land, the Prime Minister’s Tiger Task Force today stressed on the formation of a “leaner and meaner” enforcement agency and involving local people in protecting big cats in the country.

Members of the task force also seemed to reach at a consensus of sorts regarding an effective methodology of conducting tiger census, involving habitat mapping, movement of prey bases besides strengthening the popular pug-mark method with more scientific methods.

Addressing mediapersons after a two-day brainstorming session with leading wildlife experts, scientists and environmental activists during the second meeting of the task force, Centre for Science and Environment Director Sunita Narain, who is the chairperson of the task force, said the multi-disciplinary task force should essentially comprise persons willing to participate in the drive on a voluntary basis, did not consider it a punishment posting and who were able to track crime, manage data bases and follow through on investigations

Illegal wildlife trade, she said, was part of organised international trade, driven with increasing demands from Tibet and China. “The increased economic affluence in Tibet and China is spurring this trade,” she said.

Patna, May 19
Notwithstanding the attack on him by the BJP for his charge of horsetrading for installation of government in Bihar, Governor Buta Singh today stuck to his stand indicating that he had intelligence inputs to this effect.

“I am sure that horse trading for government formation is on. Should I show you the intelligence reports?” an angry Mr Buta Singh told reporters here when asked to comment on BJP Vice President Sushil Kumar Modi’s allegations that the Governor, at the behest of the RJD, the LJP and the Congress, was trying to thwart NDA’s bid to form a government.

“Instead of giving sermons to me, he (Modi) should advise those who are moving with money bags day and night in a bid to form government,” he said.

“Mr Buta Singh is against his installation of a popular government as he himself wants to rule the state,” Mr Modi had charged at a press conference yesterday.

Refuting NDA’s allegation that his sons were interfering in day-to-day functioning of the government, the Governor said: “Sons will always stay with their father”.

Attacking Mr Buta Singh, Mr Modi had said the Governor had no “moral authority” to talk about horsetrading as he was himself convicted in the JMM bribery case and awarded three-years’ imprisonment and fined Rs 2 lakh on the charge of buying JMM MPs to save the P.V. Narasimha Rao government.

He said it was a different matter that he was subsequently acquitted on technical grounds and demanded that he disclose the names of people and parties indulging in horsetrading or stop making statements that were against the sanctity of the post of the Governor.

Mr Buta Singh today hit back saying he knew about the sanctity of the post of the Governor and the Constitution better than the BJP leader. — PTI

New Delhi, May 19
The Congress is getting irritated with the persistent criticism of the UPA government by the Left parties, but finds itself constrained from articulating its views publicly.

Since the UPA government is critically dependent on the Left parties, the Congress has little choice but to suffer its pinpricks in silence. The Congress is particularly upset at the manner the Left leaders dissociated themselves from the statement issued after the UPA coordination committee meeting yesterday. Their decision to stay away from the UPA government’s first anniversary celeberations on May 22 has also irritated the Congress.

After all, they are lending outside support......they should be defending the government on this occasion, said a senior AICC leader who did not wish to be quoted. They also take solace from the fact that the Left parteis are occupying the opposition space, thus keeping the BJP out.

Congress leaders realise that the Left parties are positioning themselves for next year’s Assembly poll in Kerala and West Bengal. They also understand that their criticism will get more strident in the coming days.However, many Congress insiders privately feel the Left parties are being unnecessarily excessive in their utterances against the government. They point out angrily how the Left parties privately keep pushing for the appointment of their nominees to various key positions even as they keep up the attack on the government in public.

But what can we do...we have our compulsions and are unable to respond to their criticism,” added another AICC leader, hinting that their patience could run out once the West Bengal and Kerala elections were over.

For the record, however, Congress leaders tread very carefully in dealing with the Left parties. Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi never say a word out of place in this regard. Mrs Gandhi only recently told mediapersons that the Left parties had every right to articulate their views. Referring to the upcoming electoral battle between the Congress and the Left parties in West Bengal and Kerala, she remarked that they were conscious of this fact when they went into an alliance with the Left.

She was equally circumspect when asked whether their decision to stay away from the May 22 programme would spoil the birthday celerbations. “I don’t think so,” she said evasively. Mrs Gandhi hosted a sepcial dinner for all UPA allies yesterday and had even called up senior CPM leader Jyoti Basu to persuade the Left to attend the first anniversary programme.Although the Left leaders have not budged from their position, behind-the-scene efforts are on. Mrs Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel is constantly in touch with the Left partners to sort out any differences that crop up.

New Delhi, May 19
The BJP today gave a negative grading to one year rule of the Congress lead National Progressive Alliance saying that it was a year of “disappointments and concerns”.

Using Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s comments on the UPA, the BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley said the Prime Minister himself had conceded that the implementation of the common minimum programme had several flaws and it was only the anti-BJP stance of the Left parties and the Congress that was “forcing” them to stay together.

Mr Jaitley’s statements come ahead of the NDA’s official response to the performance the UPA government, scheduled for May 23.

He said the UPA which had the support of 340 MPs no longer enjoyed the total confidence of MPs from the Samajwadi Party and in Bahujan Samaj Party, and the Left parties were not willing to lend their signature to the “self-serving testimonials of the Congress”.

He said political vengeance was evident in all actions of the government. The discarding of Justice Phukan Commission report simply because it was not against former Defence Minister George Fernandes, misusing the positions of the Governors to manipulate the majorities of the elected governments and the attack on constitutional institutions had been the highlight of the UPA rule, he said.

Mr Jaitley said the Left parties which were willing to pontificate, were unwilling to strike. 

New Delhi, May 19
The Manmohan Singh government has constituted a high power committee to prepare what is expected to be the first comprehensive report on the status of the Muslim minority community in the country.

Known as the Prime Minister’s high-level committee, it has been tasked with preparing the social, economic and educational status, exclusively of the minority community for which assistance of various Muslim organisations and individuals has been sought, according to the Cabinet Secretariat.

In notifying the committee headed by Justice Rajinder Sachar, the UPA government has rued the lack of authentic information about the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community which has had an adverse impact on the socio-economic uplift of this community.

Apart from Justice Sachar, the other members of the committee are Sayeed Hamid, T.K. Oomen, M.A. Basith, Rakesh Basant, Akhtar Majeed and Abu Saleh Shariff.

The wide-ranging terms of reference of the Prime Minister’s high-level committee are:

• In which states, regions, districts and blocks do Muslims of India mostly live?
• What is the geographical pattern of their economic activity: what do they mostly do for a living in various states, regions and districts;
• What are their asset base and income levels relative to other groups across various states and regions?
• What is the level of their socio-economic development in terms of relevant indicators like the literacy rate, the dropout rate, the maternal mortality rate, the infant mortality rate...?
• How does this compare with other communities in other states?
• What is the Muslims’ relative share in public and private sector employment. Does it vary across states and what is the pattern of such variations?
• Is the share in employment in proportion to their population in various states? If not what are the hurdles?
• What is the proportion of Other Backward Classes from the Muslim community in the total OBC population in various states?
• What is the share of Muslim OBCs in the total public sector employment for OBCs at the Centre and various states?
• Does the Muslim community have adequate access to (a) education, (b) health services, (c) municipal infrastructure, (d) bank credit and (e) other services provided by the government and public sector entities.
• How does this compare with the access enjoyed by other communities in various states?

Vadodara, May 19
The Directorate of Forensic Sciences (DFS) has failed to arrive at any conclusion on how the windshield of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad’s car was shattered but said the “vehicle suffered no damage inside the SSG Civil Hospital campus during the minister’s visit”.

Quoting the final report of the Gandhinagar-based forensic science laboratory (FSL), Vadodara Police Commissioner Deepak Swaroop said the “car also had no mark of any stone pelting”.

The report said though an attempt was made to reconstruct the broken pieces of the rear windshield to find out the pattern in which the glasspane shattered, it was not possible as it had split into too many small pieces. Some of the glass pieces were also reportedly missing, the police chief said.

Stating that there was no contradiction in the interim and the final FSL reports, Mr Swaroop said the report prepared after thorough screening of the CDs and video footage on the incident at the hospital, had categorically opined that barring some water pouches, no stone or hard objects were thrown at the minister’s vehicle when he visited the injured passengers of the Sabarmati train accident on April 21.

The Commissioner said the FSL experts were, however, unable to resolve the mystery of what and where actually hit the white Chevrolet Optra hired by the railway authorities for the minister’s visit. — UNI

New Delhi, May 19
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to a new draft National Map Policy brought out by the Department of Science and Technology.

Under the new policy, there will be two series of maps — Defence Series Maps (DSMs) and Open Series Maps (OSMs). The DSMs will be for the exclusive use of defence forces and authorised government departments. The policy regarding the use of DSMs will be determined by the Ministry of Defence whereas the policy on OSMs will be the responsibility of the Survey of India and Department of Science and Technology.

Talking to newspersons later, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said one-time clearance would be taken from the Ministry of Defence for use of OSMs. He said guidelines concerning OSMs were being evolved.

The OSMs would have a different datum, projection, content and sheet numbers. These maps would be derived from National Digital Topographical Database (NDTB) which would be created by the Survey of India.

The use of OSMs would be through a process of registration for intimation. There would be a Map Information Registry Database (MIRD). Maps with scales of 1:1 million and less did not require registration, Mr Sibal said.

He said OSMs (digital or analogue) could be disseminated by the Survey of India through an agreement with any agency for specific end use. The user could make value addition to these maps and can share the information after intimating the Survey of India.

All serial photographs after masking of vulnerable areas and vulnerable points would be freely available for processing and project generation. Private agencies would be permitted to carry out surveys in all parts of the country using Public Domain Datum but they should be registered and should carry the accreditation of the Survey of India.

With the adoption of the new map policy, the Survey of India would start releasing maps in both the Defence Series and Open Series. The Open Series Maps would be available to the public and specific users for development, planning and research.

New Delhi, May 19
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved the implementation of Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP). It is estimated to cost Rs 2427.40 crore, (capital cost of Rs 2233 crore and financing cost of Rs 194.40 crore).

Of this, Rs 971 crore will be equity whereas Rs 1456.40 crore will be debt portion. The Union Government’s contribution in the equity will be Rs 495 crore whereas Port Trusts of Tuticorin, Chennai, Ennore, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, Shipping Corporation of India and Dredging Corporation of India will together contribute Rs 250 crore. The remaining Rs 226 crore will be met through IPO/ private placements, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told newspersons after the CCEA meeting.

The SSCP envisages creation and operation of a navigable channel from Gulf of Mannar to Bay of Bengal through Palk Bay so that ships, depending on draft required, moving between east and west coasts of India could have a continuous navigable sea route around the peninsula within India’s own territorial waters.

The Department of Shipping has already set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) by the name and style of ‘Sethusamudram Corporation Limited’ to raise finance and to undertake other necessary activities for the operation of the SSCP.

This will save up to 424 nautical miles (1 nautical mile = 1.82 km) and up to 30 hours of sailing time for ships between east and west coasts. The total length of the proposed channel will be about 167 km, out of which 89 km have to be dredged. The width of the channel at the sea bed level is proposed at 300 metres to provide for safe two-way navigation in the channel. The project would take about 180 weeks for completion.

The project will directly benefit shipping companies since the channel would provide shorter route from the west coast ports and Tuticorin Port to the east coast ports, excluding Tuticorin Port, and vice versa. The foreign exchange saving of up to Rs 215 crore (approx) is estimated in the first year of operation i.e., 2008-2009. Further, due to saving in sailing time, ships can make additional trips, which would enhance their cargo carrying capacity.