New Delhi, October 31
The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) has favoured bringing one per cent of country's population within the ambit of civil defence to strengthen the mechanism to counter natural disasters.

It has also recommended that the Civil Defence Act should be amended so as to cover all types of disasters and setting up of two funds with an annual contribution of Rs 10,000 crore each.

In a report on 'Crisis Management - From Despair to Hope' that was presented to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, by the ARC Chairman, Mr Veerappa Moily, here today, it has been observed that civil defence should be constituted in all districts which were vulnerable not only to hostile attacks but also to natural calamities.

The report said the objective should be to include one per cent of the population within the fold of civil defence within five years.

Recommending the creation of two funds under the Disaster Management Act, the report said the National Disaster Mitigation Fund and the National Disaster Response Fund should be operationalised from April 1, 2007, with an annual contribution of Rs 5,000 crore each from the Centre.

Advocating a national policy on disaster management, the report said it must address all issues not included in legislation and suggested that disaster management should be professionalised.

Building by-laws should incorporate the disaster- resistant features of the buildings, it said suggesting that the safety codes should be simplified so as to enable people understand them. The codes should be implemented in the most hazard prone areas on priority, it said.

As part of risk reduction efforts, it said the government and insurance companies should play a more pro-active role in motivating people in vulnerable areas to take insurance cover.

This could be done through suitably designed insurance policies and, if required, with part funding from the government, it said. The report also suggested the setting up of a national institute of drought management as part of long-term measures to meet the crisis arising out of drought situation in the country.

A national rainfed areas authority may also be constituted immediately to deal with all issues of drought management, it said. In an effort to effectively prevent the outbreak of epidemics, the report suggested a comprehensive revised 'model' legislation on public health at an early date.

New Delhi, October 31
While appreciating the concerns shown by the RBI over inflation in its half-yearly credit policy review, the main opposition BJP today said that the mere increase in the Repo Rate will not help contain inflation, rather it would result in "cost push" inflation.

"The ills of the present surge in inflation lie on the UPA government's supply management of essential commodities. So, applying the traditional economic theory alone will not help contain inflation," one of the economic think-tanks and former convener of the economic cell of the BJP Jagdish Shettigar told The Tribune here, reacting to the RBI's mid-term credit policy review.

"The rise in the price of essential commodities like foodgrains, vegetables etc and allowing of forward trading in essential items are the main reasons for the spurt in inflation in the past one year. Here, the RBI can do nothing, as the problem lies in supply management policy followed by the Congress-led government at the Centre," Mr Shettigar said. The BJP leader said the RBI should have also taken steps to contain surplus money available in the banking system, which is over 19 per cent , more than the RBI's targeted growth of 15 per cent.

In fact, the revision in Repo Rate alone would push the interest rate in loanable funds. However, when the marginal efficiency of capital is high, the cost of raising funds becomes irrelevant as investors are not bothered about the rate of interest, Mr Shettigar argued.

New Delhi, October 31
India sees some positive developments at last in Bangladesh which has been rocked by political violence on the issue of caretaker government in run up to general elections next January.

Though the Ministry of External Affairs preferred to wait and watch and refrained from issuing any statement yesterday on the situation in Bangladesh, key officials in Government of India saw three distinct reasons to feel positive.

One, Bangladesh remained largely peaceful today after Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed, a BNP appointee, took over last evening as caretaker Prime Minister. Mr Ahmed’s appointment came hours after outgoing Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia met the three Service chiefs, fuelling speculation that troops might be summoned to quell violence rocking the country.

Second, the caretaker Prime Minister yesterday held separate meetings with Begum Zia and her main rival and bete noire, Sheikh Hasina. This correspondent understands that Mr Ahmed agreed to appoint his advisors in consultation with Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League and Begum Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

The Awami League-led 14 party Opposition alliance is not convinced of the neutrality of President Iajuddin. They point out that he was propelled into presidential palace by the BNP lawmakers.

Third, the opposition parties of Bangladesh have neither accepted nor rejected President Iajuddin Ahmed’s taking office of the chief adviser to the non-party interim government, which it termed a violation of the constitution.

Mr Ahmed’s assurances to Sheikh Hasina and the fact that he met her and Begum Zia separately is being looked at in a positive way by New Delhi. A job well begun is half done, is the South Block’s take on Mr Ahmed’s actions.

However, Mr Ahmed has still to go a long way as it is a long haul before Bangladesh political crisis is completely blown over and free and fair elections are conducted. Sheikh Hasina went on record to say last night in Dhaka that the opposition alliance will observe the President’s activities as the chief of caretaker government and decide later whether to participate in the next parliamentary elections.

That is why when Mr Ahmed was sworn by Chief Justice Syed JR Mudassir Husain as caretaker Prime Minister last evening, the opposition boycotted the oath-taking ceremony and vowed to continue with their street protest programme and blockade of the capital.

New Delhi, October 31
With onset of winter, India’s diplomatic season is kicking off as leaders from four European and one African country are set to come here on official visits later this week.

The Foreign Ministers of United Kingdom, Hungary and Uganda, the Belgian Prime Minister and the Norwegian Crown Prince are all scheduled to come here this week, beginning tomorrow.

The more important visits among these five are by British Foreign Secretary Margaret Becket, who arrives here tomorrow and Guy Verhofstadt, who comes here on November 2.

On that very day Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz also arrives here on a five-day official visit. She would also be visiting Agra and Khajuraho. This will be the first-ever visit by Hungarian Foreign Minister to India.

Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon comes calling here tomorrow on a six-day visit during which he will have meetings with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa, who is already in the country, arrives here tomorrow after winding up his visits to Mumbai and Bangalore.

The focus of all these visits is to strengthen trade and economic relations with India and attract investment, Foreign Office spokesman said today.

Visits by the Belgian Prime Minister and the British Foreign Minister are important because of their rich political content. Belgium is the member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and has already dropped enough indications that it will adopt a constructive approach with regard to India’s quest for civil nuclear cooperation with the international community in wake of the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The British Foreign Minister’s India visit is a follow-up to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to London for attending the third India-UK annual summit. Her talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee are scheduled for November 2 which will be followed by delegation-level talks.

Economically, the UK has already emerged as a key market for India as it provides ready access to the European Union which now has a consuming population of almost 500 million - larger than the US, Canadian and Japanese markets combined.

The number of Indian companies with operations in the UK has grown to over 500 and last year alone saw a 110% rise in this figure, bringing the 2005-06 total to 76-worth £1.02 billion. As a result, India has jumped from 8th to 3rd in the UK’s FDI league table, behind only the USA and Japan. Just last month, independent analysis has indicated that India has moved into second place, pushing Japan down to third.

Besides, more people than ever are travelling between the UK and India, and the number of flights to and from India have grown exponentially in the last 18 months - now up to 100 flights a week.

Hyderabad, October 31
The state police has written to a British news channel requesting to furnish details of the city-based BPO company that figured in a sting operation telecast by it.

The request was made by the DGP, following unsuccessful efforts by the police to locate the persons caught in the sting operation conducted by Channel 4, allegedly offering to sell data from a city-based BPO company.

Based on a complaint filed by Nasscom Regional Director (Hyderabad) S.V. Ramachandran on October 10, the Cyber Crime Wing of the Crime Investigation Department had taken up investigation into the alleged fraud.

“We have requested the channel to disclose the identity of the company whose staff were shown offering to sell data of UK customers, for further investigation,” SP Cyber Crime Wing M. Shivanand Reddy said.

Channel 4 on October 5 had telecast the documentary, Dispatches, based on a sting operation that showed middlemen in Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata offering personal data of British clients to journalists posing as entrepreneurs.

Channel’s undercover correspondent Sue Turton claimed in the story that the middlemen offered her to sell personal financial information of one lakh UK citizens every month at £ 8 each.

But the channel did not divulge the names of the BPOs where security procedures were reportedly breached by middlemen.

The state CID released the photographs of four suspected offenders from Hyderabad — Javed, Mushtaq Hussain, Khaleel Ibrahim Mohammad and Sharif — culled from the footage.

Reddy said their efforts to identify the persons in the footage proved futile as no BPO company came forward to own the employees caught in the sting operation.

The police is still ascertaining whether the persons who offered to sell the data were employees of a BPO company or just imposters trying to make a quick buck.

New Delhi, October 31
The new emerging trend among political parties calling to put any controversial law in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to “silence” the judiciary on it, was a dangerous trend for smooth functioning of democracy, was the thrust of arguments before a nine-judge constitution Bench of the Supreme Court today.

In this context, K. Vijayan, senior advocate, appearing for a private organistion challenging the placing of the Tamil Nadu Reservation Act in 9th Schedule, told the Bench, headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, that this was done by the state government even when the validity of the Act was under challenge before the apex court and it had yet to give its ruling on the law.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, who challenged placing of a Gujarat law in the 9th Schedule on behalf of P.K. Jadeja, said such a trend emerging in the political class was not a healthy sign for proper functioning of the Constitution, which provides to maintain a delicate balance between the three wings of democracy.

He said the Supreme Court and High Courts have been given unfettered powers under the Constitution to interpret the laws passed by legislature but putting a bar on testing of the validity of a law by the court, was not permitted.

He said two theories were earlier at work that a law which strikes the basic structure of the Constitution, or the fundamental rights was saved from being put in the 9th Schedule under Article 31(B). “But a third regime has emerged now that any law passed by the legislature can be put in 9th Schedule to silence the court to look into their validity. But no such constitution immunity could be given as Article 31(B) dies not provide any standard as to which law to be placed in 9th Schedule and which not,” he said.

He also said no question of “basic structure” would arise as any law which strikes at the fundamental rights of citizens, was not allowed to be placed in the 9th Schedule.

In this context, he challenged the government's stand in its affidavit that only those laws were saved from being placed in the 9th Schedule, which struck at the basic structure of the Constitution and not the other laws.

The validity of any amendment to the Constitution would have to be adjudged by applying the direct impact and effect of the judicial test. It could not simply be placed in 9th Schedule to revive it after being declared void by the Court. Each time when it was placed there, it required to be re-enacted quo Article 31(b), he argued.

The Tamil Nadu Government had passed the Reservation Act in 1993 soon after the apex curt ruling in the Mandal Commission case to overreach its impact of 50 per cent ceiling on reservation.

Kancheepuram, October 31
In a tragic incident, 17 persons, including 13 women, were killed when a share auto in which they were travelling was hit by an EMU train at an unmanned level crossing in Pudupakkam village of this district of Tamil Nadu today.

Police and Railway sources told UNI the victims were on their way to attend a funeral in the village when the mishap occurred.

The driver of the ill-fated auto tried to cross the track without noticing the Chennai Beach-bound train from Tirumaalpur, when the vehicle got struck on the tracks, leading to the tragedy.

All the victims, hailing from Orikkai village, were relatives. The dceased included five members of a family and a newly-wed woman, Bhavani, whose grandmother Elizabeth (80) had died in the village. They had hired the auto to attend the funeral of Elizabeth when the fate proved cruel to them.

Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi expressed anguish over the mishap and announced a compensation of Rs. 50,000 each the families of the deceased. — UNI

New Delhi, October 31
Three days after the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) activists torched a field in Haryana where tests for genetically modified rice were being carried out, rice exporters, including those from Punjab and Haryana, today joined the farmers’ chorus against genetically engineered (GE) field trials for rice in India.

On Saturday, BKU activists had burnt the field at Rampura in Karnal district where Bt Cry 1 Ac rice was at the harvest stage. Open field trails of GE rice are being conducted at 10 locations across the country, which, the rice exporters say, will end up contaminating the country’s entire rice supply and jeopardise Indian rice exports.

The All-India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA) and the BKU have urged the government to “pay heed to the Chinese and US rice scandals that have sent financial ripples across the world and keep Indian rice GE-free. Any doubts on the Indian rice will have disastrous consequences for the country, the industry and farmers,” they said.

“Trace contamination of GE rice in US commercial consignments have been ruthlessly rejected by all 25 countries of the EU. The Middle East also has an equally unrelenting policy on GM (genetically modified) foods. Indian rice is GE-free today, therefore we urge all stakeholders to reopen the debate and make necessary mid-course corrections if we want to remain a serious agricultural exporter,” Executive Director AIREA Anil Adlakha said.

India is the largest producer and exporter of Basmati and exported 1.15 million tonnes worth Rs 3030 crore in 2005-06. The major Basmati producing states include Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttaranchal.

Of these, Haryana produces 47.3 per cent, followed by UP at 30.2 per cent, Punjab 18 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir 4.2 per cent and Uttaranchal 0. 2 per cent. The major importing destinations include the Middle East, Europe and the USA.

The BKU, the AIREA and the Greenpeace say that Bayer’s genetically engineered LL Rice, which was under field trials in the US has contaminated the US rice stock, rice products in Europe and the Middle East imported from the US.

“Countries like Japan and the EU have already placed restrictions for the US long grain rice. Many European rice brands like Ebro Puleva have decided to shun rice exports from the USA,” Brig Adlakha (retd) told mediapersons.

The exporters fear that any complacency in ensuring the present GE-free status of Indian Basmati and other varieties of rice may prove costly in near future with these GM trials.

“People across the world pay higher price for Indian Basmati because they feel that it is the best Basmati in the international market. Indian rice farmers are getting a good price due to the export market. Any rejection or doubt on the GM-free status of Indian rice in the global market will break the back of a large section of these rice growers,” BKU Convenor (Delhi) Yudvir Singh said.

He told The Tribune that BKU workers were trying to locate other fields in the country where GM trials were taking place. “The only problem is that the government is making all attempts to keep these trials secret,” the BKU leader said.

New Delhi, October 31
The Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in the country has declined to 301 per one lakh, the Centre today said. The Centre also announced incentives to encourage women to go for institutional delivery in six states where an alarming number of mothers continue to die during childbirth.

“The MMR declined to 301 in 2001-03 as against 398 in 1997-98 and 327 in 1999-01,” outgoing Health Secretary P.K. Hota told mediapersons here releasing the findings of a survey conducted by the Registrar General of India.

However, six states — Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa — with MMR ranging between 517 and 358 still remain a cause of concern, said Mr Hota.

Mr Hota, who is retiring from service today, also announced incentives from the Central Government to encourage pregnant women to get themselves admitted to hospitals for proper delivery in the six states.

“Expectant mothers opting for institutional delivery will be given Rs 2,000 each at the time of childbirth,” Mr Hota said adding the money had to be given seven days before or seven days after the delivery. The Centre has also enhanced the incentives given to men and women opting for sterlisation.

“Rs 800 would be given to each of the men and women opting for tubectomy and vasectomy,” Mr Hota said adding that a part of the amount would go to the doctors to meet medicinal expenses for the patient.

He expressed the hope that the new schemes would lead to a further decline in MMR.