New Delhi, January 18
Like Russia and France, the United Kingdom too is keen on having a civilian nuclear cooperation with India on the lines of Indo-US nuclear deal and the subject is likely to figure prominently during the Fourth India-UK Summit here on January 20-21.

Gordon Brown would arrive here from Beijing on January 20 on his maiden India visit as UK Prime Minister for participating in the summit, which is expected to focus on boosting trade and investment between the two countries. India has already emerged as the second largest investor in the UK. The summit talks between Brown and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will also cover the subjects of terrorism, climate change and business cooperation besides regional issues.

Apart from taking the India-UK strategic partnership to a new pedestal by having its own nuclear pact with New Delhi, London’s earnestness in forging civilian nuclear cooperation with India is economy-driven too. Operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal, which can happen only after it passes muster at the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, would throw open to the world an opportunity of doing nuclear commerce with India worth $ 500 billion in the next five years.

British High Commissioner Richard Stagg, however, cautioned that the “real opportunity” for major India-UK collaboration in the civilian nuclear field would require changes in the status of international rules, which New Delhi “is trying to do” with the 35-nation IAEA and the 45-nation NSG.

Stagg said the UK was supportive of the Indo-US nuclear deal and was of the view that it would open opportunities for collaboration, which do not exist at present. The High Commissioner said the Brown government was keen on enhancing Britain’s nuclear capacity. “We see ourselves using international expertise,” he said.

New Delhi, January 18
The paper industry is perceived as one of the most environment damaging industries. In fact environmentalists call it environmental intensive, using large amount of wood and bamboo as raw material and releasing huge amounts of wastewater into rivers.

But the industry calls it an erroneous impression saying, “Misgivings on this issue need to be dispelled especially since it has now been following voluntary environmental code of conduct set by the environment ministry”.

Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) secretary general R Narayan Moorthy says it is a myth that forests are cut by the paper industry to meet its raw material needs. In fact, paper industry has adopted a system of social forestry that not just fulfills its needs but helps save the environment, he claims.

“Under the system, the industry provides seedlings, fast breeding clones, fertilisers and extension services to marginal farmers to enable them to derive economic benefit out of their degraded land. Farmers have the responsibility of protecting trees that are harvested upon maturity and sold at the market price to paper mills,” he adds.

Regarding the contentious issue of hazardous waste AOX being released in wastewater he says the content that used to be three kg/tonne has now come down one kg/tonne, adding that clearance and disposal of bamboo clumps is a necessity and commonly adopted as a silviculture practice.

“The industry has taken upon itself a voluntary code of conduct on pollution control. It has invested over Rs 3,000 crore to assimilate cleaner technologies in adherence to corporate responsibility for environment protection,” he says.

Moorthy adds that IPMA members are actively promoting social-forestry with marginal farmers to meet imminent raw material needs in a sustainable manner. “This not only has a positive impact on the greening India mission of the government but also aids rural development, as paper manufacturing facilities are mostly located in remote areas of the country”.

He also feels the industry can help the government in increasing forest cover. India has a forest cover of 77 million hectares and degraded land of about 28 million hectares. The new environment policy of the government has set a target of achieving 33 per cent green cover over the geographical area of India by 2012.

“To cover 33 per cent means bringing 34 million hectares under plantation. The investment required to afforest this land is nearly Rs 60,000 crore which is quite high. The industry believes it can be achieved through PPP.”

Envisaged as a tripartite agreement between the local community, state forest departments and private investors, the model could help provide a green cover over 28 million hectares of degraded land in India.

New Delhi, January 18
A large number of Sikh organisations will seek lifting of ban on turbans in French schools with President Nicolas Sarkozy during his visit to India later this month.

The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to raise the issue with the French President.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), Delhi, today said it would hand over a memorandum to Sarkozy through French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont, demanding lifting of ban on wearing turbans in France.

The memorandum would be presented to Bonnafont at the embassy here tomorrow.

Sarkozy would be the chief guest at this year’s Republic Day parade.

Another organisation, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), would organise a candle light march of hundreds of thousands of students of Guru Harkrishan Public and Khalsa Schools tomorrow to mark a protest against the ban. — UNI

Hyderabad, January 18
Several antique pieces, including a sword of the Nizam, the erstwhile ruler of Hyderabad state, have been stolen from the state Museum here.

The miscreants gained entry into the museum, located at a stone's throw from the police control room and the Assembly, by breaking the iron shutters and took away two swords, a spearhead and four mosquito net supporters with silver inlay, the police said.

The authorities noticed the theft yesterday when the museum was opened in the morning and immediately informed city police commissioner Balwinder Singh.

The robbery at the “period Gallery”, where 51 items belonging to the 19th century Nizam era were on display, exposed lapses in the security set-up at the state’s oldest museum, which is one of the richest repositories of antiques and art objects in the country.

The state museum, originally known as Hyderabad Museum, was built in 1930 by the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, to preserve the cultural heritage of his state.

The museum has a rich collection of over 14,000 gold coins, one lakh coins made of other materials, rare collection of manuscripts. The police has registered house-breaking and theft cases under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC. 

Dehra Dun, January 18
After winning the Dhumakot Assembly byelection, Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri is working overtime to ensure repeat performance in the bypoll for the Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat vacated by him after taking reins of the state in March.

Even as the BJP is fully geared up to take on the Congress in the bypoll, the state Congress unit is in complete disarray as almost a year after the defeat in the Assembly elections the formation of its state executive body is still not completed.

Since the Pauri bypoll is to be held by March, Khanduri has already completed the first round of the constituency in run-up to the polling. Congress leaders, on the other hand, have yet to get their house in order. The bickering between Rajya Sabha member Harish Rawat and Yashpal Arya, who replaced Rawat as the state unit president, is now open.

Khanduri has started the second round of campaigning and is announcing various development projects before the imposition of the model code of conduct. Though winning this seat since 1991, except 1996, Khanduri is not taking any chance as his position as Chief Minister is at stake. These days he is addressing public meetings in Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Pauri Garhwal districts.

Patna, January 18
At a time when a few political leaders apparently go overboard to include their lives into the school textbooks and project themselves as role models, a teenage girl from Bihar has made it to textbook published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on her own merit.

The 17-year old Anita Kushwaha from a remote village in Muzaffarpur truly vindicated the belief that real India, as often argued, lived in mostly unexplored small towns and villages. Her success story in educating herself against all odds while rearing honeybees for a livelihood drew her admiration from the UNICEF too.

Anita refused to marry and convinced her parents to let her continue her studies. She hit the headlines, when UNICEF picked up her story and selected her as part of their girl stars campaign in 2006.

She was then the youngest among 15 girls, who were selected for a UNICEF multimedia campaign to create icons from the underprivileged backgrounds. The UN body had made a film on her and released books about Anita’s inspirational story along with others. The Tribune too had carried an elaborate story on Anita, who was referred to as “queen bee”.

Till UNICEF spotted her by early 2006, Anita was an unknown face in Pattiayasam, a nondescript village, mainly populated by Dalits, in Muzaffarpur. In appreciation of the qualities of Anita, NCERT recently decided to include a new chapter on her success story, titled “Anita and the honey bees”, in a Class IV book on environmental studies called “Looking Around”.

The chapter reportedly projects Anita as a role model for students and others for her efforts in educating herself and taking to beekeeping to increase the family income. Her parents used to work as agricultural labourers. Her determination to educate herself despite poverty has been termed in the book as a “great struggle”.

Beekeeping, proved to be a turning point in supplementing her family’s income and funding her school as well as college education. She is currently studying for her Bachelors in Arts degree from MDDM College, Muzaffarpur.

Imphal, January 18
At least 22 persons were killed and 25 injured when a bridge caved in as an overloaded truck was negotiating it close to the Myanmar border in Manipur, authorities said today.

The incident took place yesterday in remote Behiang village in Churachandpur district of Manipur, around 180 km south of Imphal. ”Troops of the 57 Mountain Division, which has a post near the accident site, reached the spot after receiving the news and fished out 19 bodies from the river besides rescuing 28 others,” Army spokesman Col Rajesh Mishra said.

“The wooden bridge was weak and the truck was overloaded. In the absence of bus services, locals use trucks to commute,” Col Mishra said. — IANS

Patna, January 18
Even before Chief Minister Madhu Koda could pacify the Congress, which was expected to spell out its final stand with regard to its support to him within the next few days, the followers of Mahatma Gandhian, Tanabhagats, were now up in arms against the Jharkhand government for it’s recent decision not to include them in the team participating at the Republic Day celebration in New Delhi.

The culture of the Tanabhagats would be highlighted at the Republic Day tableau on January 26 this year by the Jharkhand government.

Reports reaching here said instead of selecting the team from among the Tanabhagats the public relations department had selected around 12 artists from outside to perform their role.

The decision to hire artists to play the role of Tanabhagats had irked the Gandhi followers as they viewed it not only as an insult to them, but also Mahatma Gandhi.

The Tanabhagats also held a sit-in at Morabadi ground in Ranchi in protest against the decision.

Kolkata, January 18
In a big relief for the West Bengal government and Tata Motors’ small car plant in Singur, the Calcutta High Court today held as legal the acquisition of land in Singur for the company’s unit, an issue which saw a year-long agitation by farmers opposed to the project.

The Trinamool Congress, which spearheaded the anti-farmland acquisition movement, said it would move the Supreme Court soon against the high court order.

The court decision came a week after Ratan Tata unveiled the world’s cheapest car ‘Nano’ which is to be manufactured at the Singur factory.

Dismissing all 11 petitions challenging the process of acquisition of 997.11 acres at Singur, a Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice S.S. Nijjar and Justice P.C. Ghosh, observed that there had been “no colourable exercise of power” by the state government in acquiring the land.

The court ruled that since all PILs were filed much after the actual acquiring of land and its transferring to Tata Motors was completed, the Bench could not find any justification to hold further hearing in the case. After all, the land already acquired and handed over can never be taken back, the Bench observed.

With this judgment, the long-drawn struggle for the protection of land by the farmers and others suffered a set back.

Criticising the judgment, the Bhoomi Raksha Committee chairman, Becharam Manna, said: “The judgment was biased and motivated. We would move the apex court against the judgment.”

The High Court Bar Association, the state legal aids forum and several others social organisations would also move the Supreme Court.

But Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, industries minister Nirupam Sen and CPM secretary Biman Bose welcomed the judgment.

Bhattachajee said the government would now go ahead with its industrialisation programme. He, however, made it clear that before acquiring any land, the landholders and others would be consulted.

But some of the Left front parties like the Forward Bloc, the RSP and the CPI were not happy with the judgment.

RSP leader Kshiti Goswami, who is a minister in the state government, said they would still fight for the farmers’ cause.

Forward Bloc leader Ashoke Ghose, who recently organised a rally at Nandigram against acquiring land at Singur, Nandigram and elsewhere in the state, said the high court’s decision would not stop them from fighting for the poor farmers’ cause.

Bangalore, January 18
Puttige seer Sugunendra Tirtha Swami today broke a century- old tradition and created history by ascending the ‘Paryaya Peetha’ and taking administrative control of the Sri Krishna Math and temple at the temple town of Udupi despite a boycott from a majority of the eight ‘ashta maths’ who claimed he had become ineligible for the post after committing ‘sagaralongana’ (crossing the seas).

The ‘paryaya’ ceremony in the temple town saw Sugunendra Swami entering the premises of the Sri Krishna Math in a palanquin in a colourful procession which was witnessed by thousands of people.However, when he came to the gates of the Sri Krishna temple, there was no one to receive him as the outgoing “Paryaya Peetha” head did not wait to hand over the keys to the Peetha to him.None of the pontiffs of the other Maths who have been opposing his ascension received him at the gates of the temple as is the tradition.

The responsibility of handing over the keys of the ‘Paryaya Peetha’ to Sugundendra Swami was taken up by a pontiff of a subordinate Madhava Math who led him inside to the ‘Paryaya Peetha’ seat.The virtual boycott of the ceremony by his peers did not seem to deter Sugunendra Swami who in a speech after performing ‘pooja’ at the Sri Krishna temple said that he proposed to establish a math in the United States to propagate the Madhava philosophy and that he would appoint a Swami for the new Math soon. 

New Delhi, January 18
Rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh today said his ministry was working towards zero tolerance of corruption. He added anyone indulging in malpractices in the central schemes being run by it would face the consequences.

The minister, who presided over a performance review meeting of his ministry, which focussed primarily on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) in the light of draft CAG report on its implementation and the replies submitted by the state governments, said the programme was achieving its objectives in the areas where it was being put to practise properly. “It has helped check migration in areas where it was implemented properly in the first phase,” he said.

Admitting that there were some shortcomings in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), he said the purpose of the audit report was to bring them to the attention of state governments and initiate correctives. “The purpose is not to find faults,” he said.

The minister said 17 states had given their replies to the points mentioned in the draft CAG report and others had been asked to submit their replies before January 31.

Dismissing criticism about the low level of employment under the NREGA, he said it was a demand-driven programme and there was no shortage of funds from the Centre. He said the states had informed the ministry that they were taking steps to recruit the staff needed for proper implementation of the programme. “There is no possibility of doubt on the success of the NREGA,” he said.

The minister said a purpose of identifying weaknesses in implementation of the NREGA was to ensure that correctives were initiated before extension of the programme to the entire country from April this year. He said there were systems in place, including mutli-level monitoring, which had helped identify faults in implementation.

With states such as Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Karnataka having started disbursing wages through savings accounts of workers in banks and post offices, the minister said that this system of wage payment would be universalised. He said the Department of Posts has decided to extend the requisite assistance following PMO’s intervention following a proposal given by the ministry.

Lucknow, January 18
Taking the case of Congress MLA Pankaj Malik, who reportedly assaulted a Dalit district development officer in Muzaffarnagar yesterday, Chief Minister Mayawati today denounced what she termed the “anti-Dalit” mentality of the Congress.

The Congress MLA from Baghra in Muzzafarnagar reportedly manhandled development officer Brahma Swaroop during an official meeting in full view of senior officials of the district administration.

He along with his party workers has been booked under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. While eight persons have been arrested, the MLA is still absconding.

Addressing a press conference here, Mayawati charged the Congress of harassing Dalits.

“If the Congress continues such anti-Dalit behaviour they would be wiped out from the country,” said Mayawati.

“I have asked the DGP and the principal secretary, home, to enforce the SC Act in the state with utmost caution,” she Mayawati.

Meanwhile, a Congress spokesperson refused to comment on the Muzzafarnagar incident.

Bangalore, January 18
The family of a retired assistant engineer has ended up behind bars on the charge of allegedly murdering 21 people in Maharashtra and cheating people to the tune of Rs 15 crore in real estate dealings.

DCP Alok Kumar told reporters here that the main accused Chandrakant Sharma, hailing from Nasik, had confessed to having murdered 20 people in Maharashtra between 1978 and 1981. While he had murdered some with the help of his wife and son, he had hired contract killers to finish off others.

Sharma, after quarrelling with his doctor father, had shifted to Bangalore in 1985 and cheated public by running a real estate business. His criminal activities came to light during investigation of the murder of a retired Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) assistant engineer, Raghavan, who was allegedly strangulated to death by the accused and his son and the body was burnt later.

Sharma confessed to have beheaded five people in Pune during his stay at Nasik, killed another person in Reva lorry camp, got Nasik silver merchant Ramesh killed by a supari killer, one Arun and Suleman killed in Mumbai by administering heavy dose of Chloroform and slaying a hotel owner in Pune.

He also confessed to having killed a buffalo seller in Nasik using a lethal weapon. In Aurangabad, he had hired a contract killer to murder Bashir over a financial dispute and one Salim.

He also murdered Ibrahim, a gold biscuit merchant from Dubai, by shooting him at point blank range and threw the pistol in the sea. In Bangalore, he was involved in cheating the public to the tune of Rs 15 crore by promising land and buildings. — UNI

Mumbai, January 18
An unruly passenger, who allegedly molested two females of the cabin crew and abused other crew aboard a private airline, was offloaded and handed over to the police, airport sources said today.

Prakash Ved, a businessman from Jaipur, was offloaded from GoAir flight G8-118 from Mumbai to Delhi via Jaipur after he allegedly misbehaved with the female cabin crew yesterday.

Ved, after boarding the plane, allegedly acted indecently with the female cabin crew and also turned abusive, demanding a change of seat.

“We were informed that a passenger was creating disturbance on board the flight while it was getting ready to leave and we offloaded the passenger and escorted him out of the airport,” Sanjay Prakash, commandant, Central Industrial Security Force, said.

Ved was taken to a nearby police station, where the airline filed a non-cognisable offence against him. He was later released after the payment of a fine. — PTI

Ranchi, January 18
Hundreds of people turned up at a police station in Jharkhand, but not to complain. They had come to attend the marriage of a midget couple.

The marriage of Babban, who measures three feet and four inches, and Jyoti, who is three feet and five inches, was solemnised on Wednesday at Kunda police station in Deoghar district, around 400 km from here.

Babban belongs to the Rajput caste while Jyoti is from the Swarnakar caste.

Jyoti met Babban at a circus, where he works.

Babban arrived at the police station with hundreds of ‘baratis’. The policemen were at the gate to welcome them. They also gave gifts to the couple.

“It is a great feeling. I cannot express my happiness,” said Babban after the marriage. Jyoti said, “I am happy to be married to Babban.” — IANS