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NDA retains Bihar, loses Jharkhand
Work on Scorpene to begin in Dec
Five more guilty in blast case
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Rs 1.57 b for J&K areas hit by earthquake
Reply on RBI proposal, Centre told
Petro-chem SEZ issue referred to GoM
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NDA retains Bihar, loses Jharkhand
Patna, November 9 The UPA, either as a split force in Bihar or as united in Jharkhand, could finish second only. In Bihar, the ruling NDA has convincingly won the byelections to Bhagalpur and Nalanda seats, which were dubbed as a referendum on the Nitish government. The Nitish Kumar-led NDA is about to complete one year in office on November 24. Despite low polling, former Union minister and senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain has won the Bhagalpur seat by over 55,000 votes by defeating his nearest rival, RJD’s Shakuni Chaudhury. For the RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who had turned the byelection to Bhagalpur into a prestige fight to fathom the charm of his Muslim-Yadav equation here, the only solace was that despite strong opposition from other UPA partners, he could push the CPM candidate Subodh Roy to a poor third. The Congress-led UPA, including the LJP, here was backing the Left in its bid to explore the possibility of a “third alternative” to the NDA, sans RJD. In Nalanda, the home turf of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) leader Ram Swarup Prasad has won the seat by over 1,17,000 votes. Here the polling could not even cross 30 per cent mark. Like Bhagalpur, in Nalanda too the UPA was split with Mr Lalu Prasad backing the dissident JD(U) leader Arun Kumar against UPA-backed CPI’s Gaya Singh. While the victory of JD(U) candidate from Nalanda was only supposed to strengthen the hands of Mr Nitish Kumar, for Mr Lalu Prasad he could retain his importance, and not the other UPA partners’, as the major opposition force here too by pushing the CPI’s Gaya Singh to a poor third position. The Bhagalpur and Nalanda seats had been vacated by Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi when they took over as the state’s Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister in the past. While NDA bagged the dividends of a divided UPA House in Bihar, in Jharkhand it finished a poor third following the split of the BJP between Babulal Marandi and former Chief Minister Arjun Munda. Mr Marandi has defeated the UPA-backed Congress candidate Manoj Kumar Yadav by more than 1.94 lakh votes. With the BJP candidate Pranab Verma securing even less votes than Congress’ candidate Manoj Yadav, the outcome could be viewed as a warning signal to the saffron brigade. Soon after his victory, Mr Babulal Marandi demanded the dissolution of the Chief Minister Madhu Koda-led UPA government in Jharkhand to hold fresh elections to elect a stable government. The byelection to the Koderma seat was necessitated following Mr Marandi’s resignation from the Lok Sabha after his exit from the BJP. The winning BJP candidate from Bhagalpur, Mr Shahnawaz Hussain, told The Tribune that his victory was more a defeat for the RJD supremo Lalu Prasad than his party’s candidate Shakuni Chaudhury. Mr Hussain claimed that his victory also proved that the mythical Muslim-Yadav equation based on caste and religion by Mr Lalu Prasad, which was grounded by Nitish Kumar in October-November elections,was fast losing its relevance in Bihar politics. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar congratulated the people for reposing faith in his government and promised to continue with his mission to deliver “good governance” for a turnaround of Bihar honouring the October-November Assembly elections mandate for him.
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Work on Scorpene to begin in Dec
Mumbai, November 9 According to MDL sources, work on the submarine has been advanced by a few months and the inaugural cutting of the metal for the Scorpene will be taken up in December. The first Scorpene submarine will be delivered to the Indian Navy in 2012. Engineers from the MDL were sent to the training facility at Thales in batches. While the first few Scorpenes will be assembled in India, gradually the MDL will start building the submarines from scratch. Already, the French-Spanish company, Direction des Compagnies Navales (DCN) has begun to manufacture critical equipment, which will be shipped to India later this year. The submarine has been developed jointly by the DCN and Spanish shipbuilder Navantia. It is a 1,750-tonne submarine, 67 m (220 feet) long and capable of diving to a depth of 300 m . It can stay at sea for up to 45 days with a crew of 31. The entire project to build six Scorpene submarines is estimated to cost Rs 16,000 crore. The MDL has the country’s only submarine production line commissioned when the HDW submarine deal was signed by the Rajiv Gandhi government in the 1980s. After the deal collapsed, the assembly line was used only for the maintenance of the Navy’s existing fleet. The MDL’s facilities, which were mothballed since then, have been spruced up for the Scorpene.
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India to launch Israeli
satellite next year
Chandigarh, November 9 “This is for the first time that an Indian vehicle will be used to launch an Israeli space payload,” the Ambassador of Israel, Mr David Danieli, said during a brief visit here today. The satellite to be launched is the TAUVEX UV telescope, designed to gather data for astronomy. A memorandum of understanding in this regard was signed with the Indian Space Research Organisation by the Israel’s Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Eliezer Sandberg, as far back as December 2003. The Ambassador, who has been a career diplomat for 32 years and specialises in arms control issues, said that with bilateral cooperation growing, agreements have been signed for undertaking 15 joint scientific research projects, including those in bio-technology, nano-technology, space and life sciences. On the issue of bilateral cooperation in the field of defence and security, he said that activities in this arena were focused more on the conceptual and doctrinal aspects rather than operations. Ruling out joint exercises between the armed forces of India and Israel in the foreseeable future, Mr Danieli said that having robust relations does not necessarily call for joint field exercises. “Israel, as a rule, conducts very limited joint exercises or training of troops with other countries,” he said. India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs hold bilateral discussions every year on issues of mutual interest. Besides, periodic discussions are also held on strategic issues and counter-terrorism by experts from either side. There is also close cooperation in defence research and development between the two countries. “We are going in for joint technology development with a vision in mind,” he said, without elaborating on the projects at hand. He added that current agreements such as the Phalcon AWACS and supply of unmanned aerial vehicles were proceeding on schedule.
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Five more guilty in blast case
Mumbai, November 9 The five - Zameer Ibrahim Kadri, Faki Ali Faki Ahmed, Janardan Gambas, Abdullah Ibrahim Surti and Syed Ibrahim Kadri - were accomplices of Mohammad Dossa, a top gangster with Dawood Ibrahim. They were convicted of smuggling arms and RDX used to carry out the blasts in Mumbai. The accused were found guilty of possessing and concealing AK-56 rifles, 36 magazines and 19,500 bullets in the mango grove of another accused Abdul Razzak Subedar. The site was located at Kandargaon village in Raigad district, a short distance from where the consignment was brought in by sea. Judge Pramod Kode of the TADA court acquitted Zameer's father, Syed Ismail Kadri, citing the benefit of the doubt. So far, 66 persons have been convicted and 20 acquitted in the 1993 blasts case.
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Rs 1.57 b for J&K areas hit by earthquake
New Delhi, November 9 The decision was taken at a meeting to review the progress of the reconstruction plan for the sensitive border state. At the review meeting attended by J and K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, it was decided that the state government's request for taking up the Pakal Dul hydroelectric project under the state sector rather than through the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation would be cosnidered. An additional 70 MW of power would be made available to the state this winter, according to official sources. Identifying education as an area for sustained attention, it was decided that new degree colleges and five industrial training institutes will be established under the reconstruction plan. The J and K Government will be given special allowance for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the government's ambitious programme to universalise elementary education. The Centre will provide 90 per cent of the funds instead of 75 per cent at present.
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Reply on RBI proposal, Centre told
New Delhi, November 9 The proposal was placed before a Bench of Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Mr Justice C.K. Thakker and Mr Justice R.V. Raveendran by RBI counsel Harish Salve during the hearing of a petition, seeking fixation of liabilities for advancing unregulated loans by public sector banks resulting into creation of huge NPAs after opening up of the economy. The government was given two weeks to submit its reply by the court.
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Petro-chem SEZ issue referred to GoM
New Delhi, November 9 Speaking to reporters after the CCEA meeting, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the PCPIR has been referred to GoM to sort out some issues in the matter. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had launched a major initiative to attract huge investments in the petrochemical sector by creating special investment regions for such enterprises. The initiative will be backed by an appropriate policy framework for the development of these regions of requisite scale and level of facilities.
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Jan Morcha cries foul CPM hails Nepal truce Nitish blocks star nite
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