Krishnagar, July 16
Bangladesh Rifles opened fire on the Indian border in West Bengal after BSF shot dead a cattle lifter in Nadia district today, BSF DIG S. Ramaswami said.

He said the BSF shot dead an Indian smuggler, identified as Asadul Mondol (3O), while he was fleeing with many head of cattle at Maluapara in Chapra block, about 150 km east of Kolkata.

The Bangladeshi troops, without any provocation, opened firing at the Indian border for half an hour forcing the BSF to retaliate, the DIG said.

He said while the Bangladeshi troops shot around 50 rounds, the BSF spent seven bullets.

The BSF seized around 12 animals and retrieved Mondol’s body. He was a resident of Udo village in Chapra block.

The shootout lasted 30 minutes causing panic among villagers. — UNI

New Delhi July 16
India has successfully developed a vaccine against bird flu.

Speaking at the 77th annual general meeting of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar announced today that the ICAR had successfully developed the vaccine against the disease, which caused widespread panic in the country earlier this year.

Director-General, ICAR, Mangala Rai said the development of the vaccine was a big step in tackling the disease in the country. “viral disease such as avian influenza does not recognise boundaries and the development of indigenous vaccine would go a long way in tackling bird flu effectively,” she added.

Meanwhile, the minister also said the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP), to be launched this month in collaboration with the World Bank, would help in increasing the income of the farmers with livelihood security. Funds worth Rs 1150 crore had been allocated for it.

The project, he said, envisaged targeting the rural poor and the disadvantaged groups like women as beneficiaries of agricultural technology.

The food grain production had increased from 522 kg per hectare in 1950-51 to 1700 kg per hectare in 2005 due to development and adoption of improved, high yield and disease resistant seeds, Mr Pawar added.

New Delhi, July 16
Money sent to separatist elements in Jammu and Kashmir from here through a hawala racket was often transported on the rooftop of state-run buses to avoid detection, investigations into the scam have revealed.

Aizaz Hussain Khwaja, who was arrested by the Delhi police on July 10 after intelligence inputs from central security agencies, said he used to send money through human “couriers”, who in turn stashed it on the rooftop of state-run buses to Srinagar, informed sources said.

Khwaja, from whom the police had recovered Rs 49 lakh and some RDX, used to bring in money mainly to the Muslim separatist leaders and a Lashker-e-Toiba militant code named “Raja”.

To avoid physical checking and surveillance by the intelligence agencies en route from Jammu to Srinagar, the accused and his “couriers”, including some drivers of the State Road Transport Corporation, chose that novel way of transporting cash, the sources said.

Normally, passengers entering Kashmir from outside the state are frisked at Lakhinpur, Banihal and various points along the 299-km stretch from Jammu to Srinagar.

However, the luggage on the rooftop of buses often went unchecked, which Khwaja took advantage of for supplying hawala money to Kashmir, they said.

Khwaja reportedly told his interrogators that he used to receive money from a Dubai-based Kashmiri businessman along with instructions to whom the money was to be handed over, the sources said.

Pakistan’s ISI, Khwaja is believed to have told the sleuths, was using “small timers” or unknown hawala operators to pump money into the valley so that no one was “over used”, thus reducing the chances of their getting caught.

Militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir were facing problems due to unavailability of funds to carry forward terrorist activities and therefore had been pressing their controllers across the border to send more money, Khwaja is believed to have told the sleuths.

The sources said some more hawala operators in the valley had been detained and were being questioned to ascertain how much money they had pumped into the state.

The arrest of Khwaja was seen as yet another blow to the militants and separatists in the valley who were already facing problems with the arrest of Naseer Mir, dubbed as the “master” of hawala dealings. He was arrested in February and chargesheeted in May. — PTI 

New Delhi, July 16
In the wake of growing attacks on the society by perpetrators of crime, the Surpeme Court has said the punishment awarded for a heinous crime should be consistent with the atrocity and brutality with which the crime has been perpetrated in order to act as a deterrent otherwise the justice system would lose its relevance.

"If for extremely heinous crime of murder perpetrated in a very brutal manner without any provocation, most deterrent punishment is not given, the case of deterrent punishment will lose its relevance," a Bench of Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta ruled.

"The enormity of the crime warranting public abhorrence should respond to the society's cry for justice," the court said, adding that, the judiciary would be failing in its duty if appropriate punishment was not awarded for a crime which has been committed not only against an individual but against the society as a whole.

The ruling came in a case where 10 years imprisonment to a Santosh Kumar from Madhya Pradesh for raping a minor girl, was reduced to five years jail term by the High Court, on the ground that the offender was a tribal.

Apart from 10 years rigorous imprisonment awarded by the trial judge for rape, the accused was awarded three month's sentence for wrongful confinement of the child.

"What is applicable to trial courts regarding recording reasons for a departure from minimum sentence is equally applicable to the High Courts," the apex court said terming the tribal status argument for reducing the sentence as not admissible in law.

The punishment awarded to by the trial judge was restored by setting aside the High Court verdict.

Hajipur, July 16
Though many did not appreciate his love affair with his student for which Patna University put him under suspension, Matuk Nath Chaudhary, a professor of Hindi, today found a sympathiser in RJD president and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad who objected to his suspension.

“His (Matuk Nath Chaudhary) suspension is wrong”, Mr Yadav told reporters in reply to a question. He said his suspension would have an effect on the lives of the two women (professor’s wife Abha Thakur and his paramour Julie). Asked if he approved of the activities of the professor, who had openly admitted to his relationship with Julie without divorcing his wife, Mr Yadav said, “Many people do such things”.

The professor, whose face was blackened and his paramour Julie was beaten up by his wife at the Sultanganj police station here on July 7, was suspended by university Vice-Chancellor S. Ehtashamuddin yesterday.

A day after the incident when professor’s wife Abha assaulted her husband’s paramour in front of the police and media persons, the university had issued a show-cause notice to the professor to explain his involvement in an “immoral act”. The incident, which was flashed on all major TV news channels, showed Abha grabbing Julie by hair and pulling her down to the floor accusing her of having destroyed her marital life as the police and media people looked on. — PTI

Chennai, July 16
Sleep-deprived youth working in BPO firms may undergo premature ageing, experts have warned.

Working continually on night shifts takes a heavy toll on the health of the youth, they said.

"Heavy food during night, skipping breakfast, eating lunch in the evening— all such irregular habits affect their health," Dr Lim Li Ling, Deputy Director, Sleep Disorders Unit, Singapore General Hospital, said.

Besides premature ageing, their overall performance would be affected due to lack of proper sleep, Ling, who is specialising in neurophysiology and was recently here in connection with a seminar, said.

Their concentration is hindered due to lack of sleep," she said, adding such people also faced the problem of frequent headaches, fatigue and sleepiness with diminished reflexes.

Though, they have become the envy of others with the fat salary they pocket, they are actually paying a "heavy price" by risking their health, she said.

Elaborating on the importance of night sleep, Dr Prithakachari, a neurology specialist, says: "Nature has a rhythm of its own. There is a time for sleep, work and play. After invention of electric bulb, the natural rhythm of human activity called circadian rhythm had altered as people began working during nights".

Explaining the sleep cycle, Dr N.Ramakrishnan, director, Nithra Institute of Sleep Sciences here, says, "Malatinin is one chemical which controls the cycle. The brain and body is more active when malatinin secretion is high. Its secretion is high during day time, when human beings should be awake and alert. Secretion of malatinin is low during night, inducing sleep."

Another factor was that our body temparature was high during day time and low at nights. Higher body temparature help one to be awake and lower body temparature was suitable for sleep than work, he adds.

When BPO employees accumulate sleep debt for several hours, it can lead serious problems like depression. When others are asleep, they are busy working and vice versa, leading to lesser contacts with friends and relatives. This isolation can cause severe psychological problems, warns Prithakachari.

"It is wrong to think that people who sacrifice sleep steal a march over others in life. Sufficient sleep at the proper time ensures success," Ling adds. — PTI

New Delhi, July 16
Expressing concern over the Ministry of Water Resources utilising only about half of its Budget allocation for research and development over the past two financial years, the Standing Committee on Water Resources has recommended necessary steps to ensure justifiable allocation and effective utilisation of funds under various schemes.

The committee has noted in its fifth report that of the Budget allocation of Rs 6 crore for research and development programme during 2004-05, the ministry could utilise only Rs 2.09 crore. In 2005-06 it could utilise only Rs 4.20 crore of the allocated sum of Rs 8 crore.

“It is further disconcerting to note that despite huge under-utilisation of funds, the Budget allocation to the ministry for research and development for 2006-07 have been enhanced by Rs 5.06 crore which is 63.25 per cent more than the previous financial year,” it said.

Not satisfied with the reasons given by the ministry for the under-utilisation of the funds, including “non-submission of various schemes and non-clearance of received schemes by various organisations”, the committee said all ongoing research and development programmes were getting adversely affected. “The factors stated by the ministry are not that complicated which cannot be resolved”, it said.

The committee expressed its distress over the lack of progress by the government towards forming a “single administrative ministry for water” despite repeated recommendations in its earlier reports.

The committee expressed its dismay over 471 major and minor irrigation projects and extension, renovation and modernisation works spilling over from the Ninth Plan with a balance cost of about Rs 1,00,000 crore. Out of these, only 11 major and seven medium projects were reported to be completed in the first four years of the Tenth Plan.

The committee was perturbed to note that Kanupur Medium Irrigation Project in Andhra Pradesh and Gurgaon Canal Major Irrigation Project, which were started during the Third Plan, were still pending and their likely completion would go beyond the Tenth Plan.

Observing that 300 new projects are being taken up during the Tenth Plan for creating 6.5 million hectare additional irrigation potential, the committee said desired results were not being achieved despite huge investments.

Pointing to the reasons given for delay in completion of projects, including lack of budgetary provisions by the state governments, frequent changes in the scope of projects, problems of land acquisition and rehabilitation of project oustees, the committee called upon the Centre to take steps to resolve the problems.

It asked the ministry to take steps to increase utilisation of irrigation potential already created.

Expressing unhappiness over the government not fully implementing its recommendation to stop flow of funds to projects, which had attained 90 per cent or more of ultimate irrigation potential, the committee said there were 41 such projects in 10 states, which should be treated as completed.

The committee’s remarks follow the ministry’s own admission that only a part of the country’s irrigation potential has been developed so far. Of the net sown area of about 132.8 million hectares, the net irrigated area is only 53.07 million hectare. The rate of creation of irrigation potential varies considerably from state to state.

Ministry officials said the rate of irrigation potential through surface water was about Rs 1,20,000 per hectare and that for ground water development was Rs 30,000 per hectare. The Bharat Nirman programme of the UPA regime envisaged creation of irrigation potential of one crore hectare over four years. This included 4.2 million hectare through completion of ongoing major and medium projects.

Mumbai, July 16
A second green revolution in dry farming areas and community managed grain and water banks could ensure price stability of essential commodities in the country, National Commission on Farmers Chairman M.S. Swaminathan has said.

"The proposed National Rain Fed Authority can have as its sole mandate the launching of a second green revolution in dry farming areas beginning with pulses and oilseeds," Swaminathan said, while delivering the first Avabai B Wadia Memorial Oration here recently.

He added that community managed food and water security systems should be set up with the help from local self help groups and with local staples to avoid distress sale and panic purchase of foodgrains.

"The growing privatisation of food and water security systems is already leading to an unequal social bargain," he said.

Swaminathan suggested assured and remunerative marketing for dry land farm products like pulses, oilseeds, millets and support of credit, insurance and a fair price.

To ensure nutrition security and productive sustainability, he urged the government to make it as a permanent decision to purchase and include ragi, bajra, jowar and other millets in the public distribution system (PDS).

These under-utilised crops should be referred as `nutritious cereals' and not as `coarse cereals' as being done now, he said.

Commenting on the Public Distribution System (PDS), Swaminathan suggested a universal PDS by enlarging the minimum support price to a wide range of food grains.

"If we assume that about 160 million families will use PDS and that each family gets an allocation of 20 kg per month, we will need annually about 38 million tonnes to support a universal PDS," he elaborated.

He observed that while import of wheat, pulses, sugar and oilseeds may be necessary during 2006 in order to prevent an undue price rise, the government should avoid making it a habit.

"Our food budget should be managed with home grown food since agriculture is the backbone of our rural livelihood security system," he added. — PTI

Bhopal, July 16
Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar yesterday alleged the Shunglu Committee report on rehabilitation of the Sardar Sarovar Project-affected people was “untruthful” with a distortion of many facts. She said the NBA would launch a ‘satyagraha’ for justice.

“The report has been unable to hide the fact that at least 25,000 families still live in the original villages,” she told reporters here, adding the report said that the land offered by the Madhya Pradesh government was not cultivable and 49 of the 86 resettlement sites lacked ‘adequate’ development. About 2100 families who only got the first instalment of the compensation have not bought ‘an inch of land yet’.

Pointing out that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had used the Shunglu Report to damn the ministerial group’s report and called for Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz’s resignation, Ms Patkar said inspite of a distortion of many facts, the Oversight Group led by former CAG V.K. Shunglu had vindicated the Soz Committee report and it was Mr Chouhan, who should be asked to resign.

Stating the Shunglu Report cannot stand the test of social science research methodology, she said the report stood exposed and it would be further reviewed by a team of experts comprising Mr Upendra Baxi, Mr Ramaswamy Iyer, Mr L.C. Jain and Mr Girish Patel.

Ms Patkar said the Shunglu Committee’s observations on many issues had been proved wrong by the National Sample Survey Organisation particularly on the number of affected persons and the claimants, besides major sons, whose number was yet to be fixed. There is glaring ambiguity in the number of households and population showing a demographic change. She also challenged the claim about those willingly availing special rehabilitation package of accepting cash in lieu of land.