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Centre mulls shortcut to get multi-role aircraft
Nation pays tributes to Gandhi, Shashtri
Afzal’s family arrives in Delhi
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Breakdown of peace process in Assam
New Indo-Nepal pact aims to check terrorism
India’s assertion on blasts ‘based on concrete evidence’
37 Pakistanis funded terror strikes: police
Kalam will take right decision on Afzal: Rajnath
Bihar jail may provide rope to hang Afzal
Ramadoss calls emergency meeting on dengue
Where Koran, shlokas go together
Kabir Puraskar for Ram Babu Singh
Govt to come out with report on Panchayati Raj
77-year-old man dies after 4 days of ‘santhara’
Dasehra celebrated with gaiety
Miscreants torch Ravana effigy
on Navami
Biometric passports from next year
Bodies of
35 pilgrims fished out
Hindu prisoners observe Ramzan fast
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Centre mulls shortcut to get multi-role aircraft
New Delhi, October 2 Such a change in tack is expected to facilitate changing to the fast track lane in acquiring the 126 multi-role combat aircraft. Early last month the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, had disclosed that the IAF would float a request for proposals for fighter jets very soon and suppliers would be given six months to close the deal estimated at $ 9 billion. Air Chief Tyagi had explained that once the choice was finalised, the first lot of around 20 jets would be acquired within 42 or 54 months and the rest made in the country. Leading the fray are Russia’s MiG 35, Boeing’s F 18 Super Hornet fighter, Lockheed Martin’s F-16F Desert Falcon, Typhoon Eurofighter, French Rafale and Swedish Grippen. The IAF is keen to clinch the giant order before the middle of 2007 as the new fighters will form the backbone of the service for the next two or three decades. Under its new arms acquisition guidelines, all defence deals worth over $ 70 million will be used as “offsets”. This requires foreign vendors to buy defence or procure other specified equipment locally from Indian suppliers. With the offset clause in place, foreign fighter jet vendors, including Boeing, EADS and Lockheed Martin, have shown interest in developing their activities in India. Boeing, which is offering the Super Hornet is setting up a $ 100 million maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Maharashtra. EADS has pledged training and engineering operations. Lockheed Martin has made its intention clear of partnering Indian companies to meet its offset requirements. The effective strength of the IAF has plunged to 35 squadrons from 39 due to crashes and want of spares for the Russian MiGs. The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) set to replace the MiG-21 fighters is yet to go through its paces of weaponisation and system integration. Authoritative sources said with the number of Russian made MiG 21s and MiG 23s being retired from service, the squadron level of the IAF can reach delicate levels over the next three or four years. This can underline the need for adding at least six or eight combat squadrons to the IAF. At the same time what experts find worrisome is that the combat fleet phase out rate far exceeds the rate of induction. Senior IAF officers believe that the force’s inventory should be narrowed down to consist of three types of aircraft: air dominance, multi-role combat and tactical combat. The proposal to buy 126 combat aircraft was cleared by the government in 2002 and it took the ministry of Defence three years to send the requests of information to Russia’s MiG Corporation, Sweden’s SAAB and to Lockheed Martin.
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Nation pays tributes to Gandhi, Shashtri
New Delhi, October 2 President Abdul Kalam laid wreaths at Rajghat, the memorial of the Father of the Nation here, on his 137th birthday and paid tributes to former Prime Minister Shastri, known for his slogan of “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan”, at Vijay Ghat. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not present at the functions as he is in South Africa where he yesterday attended centenary celebrations of “Satyagraha”. An inter-religious prayer meet was held at Rajghat and a 24-hour non-stop collective spinning of charkha (cotton spinning wheel) organised to mark the centenary year of the non-cooperative movement launched by Gandhi. The charkha of the Mahatma continues to be an enduring symbol of the freedom movement. Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit also paid homage to the two leaders. The nation also remembered Gandhi’s disciple K Kamaraj on his 30th death anniversary. Parliamentarians paid floral tributes at portraits of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri in the Central Hall of Parliament. In Mumbai, the entire cast of the latest Bollywood hit “Lage Raho Munnabhai”, along with other film industry personalities participated in a peace march. Hundreds of children also joined the cast of the film. The march was organised by Congress MP Priya Dutt and besides actors Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi, it also included actors Shabana Azmi and Raza Murad. In Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad asked the people, particularly the youth, to adhere to the philosophy of nonviolence and usher in peace and prosperity in the state. Taking the Mahatma’s example, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi urged ULFA to come to the negotiating table even as the outfit attacked a Durga Puja pandal in Dhemaji district, killing a 7-year-old boy and injuring 20 others. In Pune’s Yerawada Central Jail, Bollywood actor Sadashiv Amarapurkar gave away certificates for passing the “Gandhi Vichar Dhara” examination to 40 prisoners and awards to 60 others for good work and conduct. In Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said Gandhi’s “time-tested” principles of ahimsa (nonviolence) were all the more important today given the caste and communal tension widespread in the society. Gandhi’s home state of Gujarat is observing prohibition week while the sale of liquor was banned is most states of the country today.
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Afzal’s family arrives in Delhi
New Delhi, October 2 Afzal’s wife Tabasum, seven-year-old son Ghalib, mother Ayesha Begum, brother Hilal Ahmed Guru and father-in-law Ghulam Mohammed flew in this afternoon without much media fanfare. The family is expected to approach the President to seek clemency for Afzal, convicted for plotting the December 13 Parliament attack that left 14 persons dead, including five armed assailants. “We will go and meet Afzal at Tihar tomorrow afternoon before taking a final decision on filing the mercy plea,” his second brother Aijaz Ahmed Guru, who received the family at the airport, said. Aijaz was accompanied by S.A.R. Geelani, who was acquitted in the case earlier. Though Afzal has indicated that he was not willing to seek clemency, Tabasum had said she would go to the President on behalf of their children and his mother to appeal for forgiveness. Tabasum, a nurse by profession, had said her husband was innocent and implicated deliberately in the case. The family will also release a booklet containing letters written by Afzal from jail. The announcement of the date of Afzal’s execution by a court here had triggered widespread protests in the Kashmir valley with Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and major political parties seeking lesser punishment for him. |
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Breakdown of peace process in Assam
Patna,October 2 People of Assam are now apparently worried in view of the lull before the storm. Already there are reports of clashes between the Army and the ULFA in upper Assam, always known as a stronghold of the extremist outfit. More than seven persons have been killed and a few injured in clashes between the Army and ULFA since Monday. The Army was said to have launched a combing operation at Jerai village in upper Assam,which housed the residence of ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Barua. Public memory is still fresh when a month ago, peace descended on insurgency-ravaged Assam with the Army and the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) began a ceasefire. The idea was to start a peace process through negotiations and find a political solution to issues raised by the ULFA, which was waging a violent movement for a sovereign Assam. The credit for this initiative obviously goes to award wining writer Indira Goswami, alias Mamoni Raisom Goswami, who once was the colleague of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi University. At the same time, she was regarded as his elder sister by ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Barua. Mrs Goswami understandbaly had used her good offices both with the Prime Minister and Paresh Barua in the interest of Assam to begin the peace process afresh in October, 2004 which finally culminated in the month-long ceasefire between Centre and ULFA from the third week of August this year. The ULFA was formed in 1979. Before that, the People`s Consultative Group(PCG) comprising intellectuals, journalists,social activists and opinion makers of Assam was constituted to facilitate the peace process for holding a dialogue with the Centre on its behalf and subsequently set the stage for direct talks. Before the ceasefire was withdrawn, three rounds of talks were held between the Centre and the PCG. Incidentally, unlike the past, in the Assmebly elections held in Assam in May last, the ULFA did not ask the people to boycott the polls too. The ceasefire was indicative of the fact that ULFA was willing to shun violence because of its reported eroding base following "Bhutan operation" in 2003 to destroy its camps there by the Royal Bhutan Army, and also in view of the recent improvement of bilateral ties between Indian and Myanmar. The ULFA had used both Bhutan and Myamnar as its operational bases, besides the reported logistic
support to it from the soils of Bangladesh by various anti-India jehadi groups. The
ULFA leader, Anup Chetia, was reportedly in Bangladesh jail. The question uppermost in the minds of quarters concerned now is why the ceasefire failed. On the face of it, the reasons appear simple. The Centre had insisted on a written commitment from the ULFA that it would hold talks. It also had wanted a list of top ULFA leaders who could discuss the peace
process. The list never came. Instead, the ULFA shot dead a policeman and killed a tea garden manager while the ceasefire was still in place. It allegedly used the ceasefire period to regroup in Myanmar and Bhutan and extort money from non-Assamese people. The ULFA demanded that the Centre should first release its five jailed leaders. The Centre had refused, fearing that the militants would go underground if they were released. Official sources in Assam disclosed that the Home and Defence ministries also had disagreed with each other on how to deal with the ULFA. The Army was reportedly not happy with the Home Ministry's initiative to start negotiations. Sources
further disclosed that the Army was convinced about wiping out ULFA, given a free hand. The failure of the ceasefire could perhaps be attributed to the lack of mutual trust between the ULFA and the Centre. Besides, the Army was sceptic of ULFA`s intention because of its alleged links with various fundamentalist organisations of Bangladesh. The ULFA`s reported strong base in Bangladesh, unlike the NSCN(IM), was a known secret in the corridors of power in Delhi. The ULFA-nominated People's Consultative Group (PCG), constituted to work out modalities for direct talks between the Centre and the outlawed insurgent outfit, alreday had pulled out of the peace process in Assam. PCG spokesman Anup Barboa alleged that it had withdrawn from the parleys with the Government of India because of the Centre’s backing out from the commitments made in the last three rounds of talks with it. Mr Barbora reportedly claimed that the government was making ridiculous demands for a letter from the ULFA after three rounds of talks. While ULFA sympathisers like PCG protest the breakdown in talks with the Centre, a new movement has begun silently. An NGO called Assam Public Works has begun a signature campaign so that people across the state can speak out. And ironically, the NGO included family members of 202 ULFA cadres. Mr Abhijit Das of Assam Public Works said they were unhappy about the Army operations but would not just blame the government alone. "The ULFA is equally guilty so we are coming to the people. We will roam around for two months and collect more than 20 lakh signatures," Mr Das said. Mr Das claimed that the people of Assam wanted to say something but they could not because they were scared of the gun. The NGO alreday had filed a case against ULFA commander-in-chief chief Paresh Baruah in 2002 with the Human Rights Commission, accusing him of misleading youth in the state. The NGO further alleged that the ULFA was now under the control of the Pakistan-based ISI. The other organisation PCPI (People's Committee for Peace Initiatives) , a conglomerate of
organisations sympathetic towards the ULFA, however, like the PCG, still holds the Indian government responsible for the breakdown in talks.
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New Indo-Nepal pact aims to check terrorism
New Delhi, October 2 The treaty, along with an agreement on mutual legal assistance, will be signed during the forthcoming visit of Nepalese Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitoula beginning October 5, Home Ministry sources said here. While the extradition treaty will be useful to nab criminals who cross the border after indulging in criminal activities, the other agreement will facilitate legal aspects of implementing the treaty. The two agreements have provisions that would help investigators of both countries reach the suspects and smoothly allow court proceedings, the sources said. Though the countries had agreed to bring the treaties into force at the earliest so that lawbreakers in one country did not find easy refuge across the border, there was a delay in finalising the treaty following King Gyanendra’s royal coup in February 2005. The mutual legal assistance agreement will enable both countries to locate, restrain and confiscate proceeds of crime, take evidence of statements, execute requests for search and seizure and provide information, documents and records. |
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India’s assertion on blasts ‘based on concrete evidence’
New Delhi, October 2 Brushing aside Pakistan’s description as “propogandist” Mumbai top cop A.N. Roy’s assertions, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said in India investigations are sincere and “we just do not stand up and name some one.” The probe into the July 11 blasts have taken a long time. “It proves one thing that in India investigations are sincere. We just do not stand up and name some one. It is backed by concrete investigation and evidence,” he told Times Now news channel. He said India will hand over to Pakistan evidence of ISI’s involvement in the blasts and asserted that it was up to Islamabad to deliver on its commitments made under the joint mechanism against terror. Asserting that the government had taken a “serious note” of the findings, he said “We will give to the government of Pakistan all evidences and the information and it is for them to deliver on their assurances and commitments. We will watch what they do.” His comments came a day after new Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon’s statement that India wants Pakistan to “not only talk but take action against terrorism on the ground” as Islamabad will be judged by its actions and not words. — PTI
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37 Pakistanis funded terror strikes: police
New Delhi, October 2 Huge amounts in Dollars and Riyals through hawala and foreign remittances were sent to LeT operative and October 29 blast accused Tariq Ahmed Dar’s accounts in Delhi and Srinagar from these 37 sources to fund terror strikes, especially last year’s blasts which killed 67 persons here, the police said. Probe agencies are studying the probability if the same sources had funded the July 11 train blasts. “Many parallels can be drawn from both cases. The nature of funding largely shows a similar pattern... We are still trying to know whether the same sources had supplied money for both strikes,” a senior police official said. Dar had disclosed to the police that the flow of funds from Pakistan was controlled by Abu Ozefa, a Pakistani national and divisional commander of the LeT, who was killed in Kashmir, the chargesheet says. He disclosed details of clandestine meetings held with Ozefa in a forest near the Harwan area of Srinagar to exchange funds, the police
said. — PTI
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Kalam will take right decision on Afzal: Rajnath
New Delhi, October 2 “I am confident the President will take a decision after a careful thought and which will be in the interest of the country and society,” he said at a Dasehra function here. His comments came in the wake of reports that Afzal’s family is likely to approach the President to seek clemency for him. Mr Rajnath Singh described as unfortunate the call, especially from Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, to grant clemency to Afzal. He recalled that the Congress had made no efforts to save Bhagat Singh who was executed by the then British government for a bomb attack.
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Bihar jail may provide rope to hang Afzal
Patna, October 2 A jail official said, “We are ready to send the rope if a demand is made.” Afzal, a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist, has been sentenced to hang on October 20 at the Tihar Jail in New Delhi. But protests are gathering momentum in Jammu and Kashmir against his hanging and he can seek clemency from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. When Dhananjay Chatterjee, accused of raping and killing a 14-year-old, was hanged at the Alipore jail in Kolkata in 2004, the rope was supplied by Buxar Jail. There are varieties of ropes made by Buxar inmates - tent rope, handcuff rope and hanging rope. The count of the yarn indicates its finesse. A lot of hard work goes into the making of the Manila rope. First the yarn is spun into a thick thread from J-34 variety of cotton. Then the thread is smoothened by soft wax. ”While making the rope it is important to ensure there are no knots in the thread,” the official added. According to the jail records, the rope was supplied to the Andhra Pradesh Government in 2003. A consignment was also sent in 1995 to the Bhagalpur Central Jail where a dozen convicts sentenced to death are lodged. Jail superintendent I.H. Ansari said, “The demand for the hanging rope has decreased over the years as the number of cases of hanging has reduced”.
— IANS |
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Ramadoss calls emergency meeting on dengue
New Delhi/Pune, October 2 Thirtyfive persons, including 18 medicos, are being treated at AIIMS. Eleven persons have died in Delhi and two in Uttar Pradesh. Sources said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had issued a notice to the institute a few weeks ago, asking why the complex was prone to dengue and necessary steps were not taken. In 2003, AIIMS saw a similar situation. The dengue outbreak in the country would be declared an epidemic if the situation does not come under control, Delhi Health Minister Yoganand Shastri said. A Health Ministry official said the worst-affected areas in AIIMS were hostel number 4, 5 and 6. “The students share a common bathroom which seems to be the breeding ground for the mosquito. From here dengue is spreading to other areas,” he said, adding that a resident doctor was also in a serious condition. Around 448 cases have been reported from Delhi, which saw 121 fresh cases in the past two weeks alone. In UP, 40 suspected dengue cases have been reported. Director-General of Health Services
R.K. Srivastava has called a meeting of the MCD, the NDMC and other health officials tomorrow to assess the situation. Around 2,400 additional personnel are involved in fumigation and fogging drive. The dengue virus spreads by the bite of female Aedes
Aegypti, which breeds in clean water collections. The hospital has formed a fever cell consisting of four teams of seven resident doctors to tackle the crisis. The worst dengue outbreak was in 1996 when over 10,000 dengue cases were reported. Meanwhile, A 22-year-old youth died of dengue here, the first this year in the city, which has seen a rise in the number of patients suffering from the disease, health officials
said. Nitesh Devendra died of dengue haemorrhagic fever on Saturday, Dr Rajesh
Gadia, in charge of the dengue project at KEM Hospital, said here today. Suffering from low blood pressure and breathlessness, Nitesh was admitted to the hospital on Friday and shifted to the ICU when he developed further complications such as acute renal failure and respiratory distress syndrome, he said. Dr Gadia said in the past three months, he had treated some 70 dengue patients and three others were undergoing treatment at the hospital. Meanwhile, the Senior Resident Medical Officer of the government-run Sassoon General Hospital, said though dengue had not assumed the form of an epidemic in Pune, the existing situation could not be ignored.—PTI
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Where Koran, shlokas go together
Patna, October 2 This Islamic school has 40 Hindu students and they are at ease with both Koran Sharif and Sanskrit hymns. This unique madarsa teaches Hindus about the Koran and Muslims about Sanskrit texts. A Hindu student said: “We learn both Hindi and Urdu. That is how we will progress and know one another in a better manner to build a new India.” Vande Mataram is recited here everyday and the teachers are proud of it. Mr Khurshid Anwar, a teacher, said: “Muslim and non-Muslim students both come here in large numbers. We teach them with love and care.” A Muslim student said: “It is a pleasure for us to learn with Hindu students. There is no ill feeling against one another in this madarsa.” Parents also feel that religion should not be a barrier in building relations. “How are Hindus and Muslims different? The blood is the same,” a parent said.
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Kabir Puraskar for Ram Babu Singh
New Delhi, October 2 Mr Chauhan got injured while protecting the woman from some miscreants at Chamar Gate,
Hathras. Apart from this, he has been organising a number of seminars/corner meetings for the promotion of national integration, communal harmony and protection of human rights. He also undertook pad yatra from Hathras to Agra in 1996. He has been doing social work for a long time, an official press note said here. Kabir Puraskar is a national award instituted by the Government of India in April 1990 for recognising the acts of physical/moral courage displayed by a member of one caste, community or ethnic group in saving the lives and properties of
member(s) of another caste, community or ethnic group. The award is given annually in three grades carrying cash amount of Rs 1,00,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively.
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Govt to come out with report on Panchayati Raj
New Delhi, October 2 Describing the process as “silent revolution without parallel and precedent in the world”, Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said “India today has 3.2 million elected representatives (in Panchayati Raj) out of which 1.2 million are women.” Besides containing the progress made under the Panchayati Raj, the report will also highlight the important aspects of the system. Rejecting the popular notion that state efforts like Panchayati Raj was full of “corruption”, he said the government was trying to make a “systematic” improvement and stressed that “a step towards this will be coming out with the activity map for the village council.” The map will outline a clear roadmap of activities to be done by every department concerned of the Panchayati system, removing “needless competition and grabbing of funds for the same projects,” he said, adding the first state to get such a map will be Punjab, for which the Prime Minister will unveil the map next month
— PTI
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77-year-old man dies after 4 days of ‘santhara’
Jaipur, October 2 Amarchand Kaswan is the second person to succumb to the Jain tradition of fasting unto death to attain salvation, after Vimla Devi (60) who died on September 28 in Jaipur. Four such cases, including of three women, have been reported in Rajasthan over the past month. Kaswan breathed his last at 4.32 pm, his younger son Rikatchand said over phone from Kotari in Ajmer district and claimed “my father has attained ‘nirvana’”. He has five sons and a daughter and the family is engaged in business. He decided to “embrace” ‘santhara’ after developing post-surgical complications and had abstained from food and water since September 29, Rikatchand said. Kaswan underwent surgery at Santokbhai Durlabhji hospital in Jaipur about a fortnight ago and his condition deteriorated with him contracting pneumonia and blood infection, he said. — PTI
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Dasehra celebrated with gaiety
New Delhi, October 2 Uttar Pradesh Governor T.V. Rajeswar and Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav greeted people on the occasion. Mysore Dasehra, known for its grandeur the world over, culminated with the impressive ‘Jamboo Savari’ procession. Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy performed puja and offered flowers to Goddess Chamundeshwari, the presiding deity of this heritage city. In Mumbai, devotees performed special “pujas” in temples.
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Miscreants torch Ravana effigy
on Navami
Hardoi, October 2 Officials said since no senior official of the district administration reached the spot, the agitated mob started pelting stones at roadways buses and private vehicles. At least five roadways buses were reportedly damaged. In a bid to disperse the mob, police later used force and opened fire in the air, injuring 10 persons, including three cops. The situation in Kauchna is reported to be tense but under control. As a precaution, additional forces have been deployed in the area.
— UNI
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Biometric passports from next year
New Delhi, October 2 Such passports are aimed at eliminating the scope of impersonation and other forms of manipulations. These passports will have a chip, which will carry the fingerprint and all other details of its holder. |
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Bodies of
35 pilgrims fished out
Datia (MP), October 2 Bodies of 35 pilgrims, mostly women, who were swept away in the river yesterday, have been recovered during the ongoing operation, Deputy Inspector General of Police D.C. Sagar told PTI. Among the deceased were 20 women and a child, official sources said, adding nine persons have been identified till now.
— PTI
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Hindu prisoners observe Ramzan fast
Bhagalpur, October 2 A total of 303 inmates are observing Ramzan fast in the high-security Bhagalpur Central Jail, Jail Superintendent P.K. Jha told PTI. Special food arrangements have been made for prisoners on fast, he said adding that the gesture by Hindu prisoners should set an example to others who want to divide society on communal lines, Mr Jha said. —
PTI
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1 killed in blast
Guwahati, October 2
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