New Delhi, January 24
The Supreme Court today directed the CBI to release within a week, the passport of arms dealer Suresh Nanda, allegedly involved in receiving a kickback in the Rs 1,150 crore Barak missile deal.

The court held that the investigating agency failed to follow the proper procedure laid down in the law for impounding the passport.

“We set aside the Delhi High Court’s order and direct the CBI to hand over the passport to Nanda within a week,” a Bench comprising Justices P.P. Naolekar and Markandey Katju said.

It said the CBI had erroneously taken Nanda’s passport in its custody by following the CrPC instead of the Passport Act which specifically says that any issues relating to passport has to be dealt in accordance with the special law. “It appears that passport cannot be impounded except by passport authority. Retaining passport by the CBI is not in accordance with law as there is no order from passport authority,” the Bench said. — PTI

New Delhi, January 24
The Punjab Congress has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to strongly take up the issue of ban on wearing turbans in schools in France with the visiting French President Nicholas Sarkozy.

President of the PPCC Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who is here along with some senior Congress leaders, said they had conveyed their desire to the Prime Minister to meet Sarkozy to convey their concern on the problems being faced by the Sikhs in France.

Hitting out at the Akali-Dal government, Bhattal said it was selling land to generate revenue and was seeking credit for schemes launched by the previous government.

Bhattal said the PPCC had invited Congress president Sonia Gandhi to address a thanksgiving rally in the state. The Centre had approved funds to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore for 37 projects in Punjab since the present Akali Dal-BJP government came to power. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had failed to get this kind of assistance during his term as Chief Minister when the NDA government was in power at the Centre. She said the Congress president was likely to address the rally in the third week of February at Ludhiana.

She said the UPA government had allocated liberal funds to mark anniversaries of Sikh historical events, improving facilities in towns of historical significance for the community. Bhattal said it had been decided to name the road from Talwandi Sabo to Nanded Sahib as Guru Gobind Singh Marg.

Farmers in the state were in distress and were under debts totalling Rs 26,000 crore. “The Centre should find a way to help them. The state government should also pitch in with help,” she added.

The unprecedented hike in the MSP of foodgrain by the UPA government had benefited farmers of the state to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore.

Answering queries, Bhattal said rather than giving security to only SGPC functionaries, the state government should step up security of elected representatives also.

Calling upon the Akali-BJP government to continue power subsidy for farmers, she said it should not put fresh burden on the people.

Bhattal said the proposed central university in the state should be set up at Talawandi Sabo.

New Delhi, January 24
After India’s refusal to a move to honour Taslima Nasreen here, the French government today asked New Delhi to facilitate the controversial Bangladeshi author’s journey to France so that ‘Prix Simone de Beauvoir’ award be given to her officially.

In a statement here, the French embassy said: “The President of the French Republic, Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, has asked that Ms Taslima Nasreen be invited to France so that the prize, ‘Prix Simone de Beauvoir’, which has been awarded to her, may be given to her officially.

“France is grateful to the Indian authorities for all measures that they may kindly take to facilitate Ms Nasreen’s journey to France,” the statement said.

India had poured cold water on the move by the French government to present the prestigious award to Taslima during Sarkozy’s two-day state visit beginning here tomorrow.

Wary of repercussions, the ministry of external affairs had cited the recent violence here over her writings as the reason for disfavouring such an honour.

A few months ago, widespread violence was witnessed in West Bengal after some radical Islamists demanded that she be thrown out of the country for hurting the sentiments of Muslims through her writings.

The government said she was free to travel outside the country to receive the award given to her for her writings on women’s rights.

The award is to be given on French author Beauvoir’s 100th birth anniversary. — UNI

New Delhi, January 24
The cabinet today approved signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Railways and the SNCF, French National Railways.

They will promote bilateral cooperation in the rail sector covering a wide gamut of issues, including high speed rail projects, safety and maintenance of tracks.

The MoU, to be valid for three years, will be signed during French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s official visit to India, beginning tomorrow.

New Delhi, January 24
As the process for selecting a candidate to replace V. Thulasidas as chairman and managing director (CMD) of the National Aviation Company India Ltd (NACIL), the entity came into being after the merger of public sector Air-India and Indian, enters the final phase, ministry of civil aviation’s own men could emerge as the frontrunners for the post.

While a total of 51 applications have been received from candidates from various fields, including those from IAS, IPS, Air-India, armed forces and those sponsored by the ministry of civil aviation, sources said the eventual race could be either between someone sponsored by the ministry itself or someone already heading another public sector undertaking.

Thulasidas retires on March 31 and a replacement for him would be in place before his retirement after the screening committee prunes down the list and forwards it to the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet would then eventually clear the name from the final shortlist cleared by the PESB.

Sources said while at least 30 of the 51 applicants, including assistant accountants, retired professors, bank managers, factory in charges and civil judges, were not likely to make the cut, there were a host of serious contenders before the first screening, which could take place next week.

Reports suggest that the race could eventually be among the ministry’s own men with the focus now being on the candidate who has interest in turning around the airline, specially, in view of the stiff competition it is likely to get from the private sector airlines.

Topping the list among the contenders from the ministry are additional secretary Raghu Menon and Dr Vishwapati Trivedi, joint MD and at present second in command at NACIL. Sources, however, said with Raghu Menon already having moved into the “secretary”-level grade, he might be considered a “little too experienced” for the job. The post of CMD (NACIL) is of the additional secretary level.

However, such would not be the case with Dr Trivedi. Not only is he already second in command at NACIL, but also has had the experience of heading Indian before it was merged with Air-India.

He is said to be having the backing of the “people who matter” in the government and has a history of coming to the Indian with an unprecedented “five-year” term. That, however, was eventually cut down when the new company NACIL was formed.

Among the other contenders from the ministry are functional directors Anup Srivastava (personnel), S. Chandrashekhar (finance) and Amod Sharma, Strategic Business Unit (SBU). While the former has again been sponsored by the ministry, the latter two have been sponsored by Air-India. A surprise candidate is Capt N.K. Beri, resident director of NACIL.

However, a surprise absentee is Sunil Arora, at present principal secretary to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. An IAS officer from Punjab, he is credited to have turned around Indian Airlines to make it a profit-making company and considered among the most efficient officers.

The others on the list include IAS officer K. Jairaj, known for having turned around Bangalore city with his no-nonsense attitude under the S.M. Krishna government, Arvind Mayaram, joint secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Prabhat Chander Chaturvedi, DG, Employees State Insurance Corporation, formerly Uttar Pradesh joint secretary and also joint secretary civil aviation, Ranjan Chatterjee, chief secretary, Meghalaya, and also formerly joint secretary in the ministries of civil aviation and defence, and S.N. Mohanty, principal secretary in the Andhra Pradesh government.

Additional director-general of the BSF Amar Pratap Singh, and T Radha Krishnan, principal secretary, tourism and culture, Chhattisgarh, are also among applicants, including seven officers from the armed forces.

Chennai, January 24
To intensify its renewed war against the LTTE, the Sri Lankan navy has mined the Palk Bay, which separates India and Sri Lanka, and asked India to restrain its fishermen from venturing into the sea.

This is for the first time ever since the ethnic conflict began in Sri Lanka in the mid-70s.

According to a communication received by the Naval Operations Centre here the Sri Lankan navy has installed an “underwater defence system” in the sea to prevent the Sea Tigers, the LTTE’s naval wing commandos, from crossing the Indian Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).

The “underwater defence system” comprises various classes of mines within which micro-chips are implanted and through it the position and depth of the mines can be changed.

The mines can be activated either by contact, magnetism, sound waves, or water pressure, when a ship passes by and it can be programmed in such a manner that it will explode after a certain number of vessels sail through.

While all navies in the world possess mine sweeping ships, the LTTE do not have any. The strategy of the Sri Lankan Navy is to intensify its attack by confining the Sea Tigers within a closed area in the sea and decimates the LTTE’s naval wing.

The mines, which can blow up any vessel sailing in the high sea have been laid between Kachchatheevu and Delft Island. Though it is within Sri Lankan’s territorial waters but a traditional fishing place for Indian fishermen.

The Sri Lankan Navy in its communiqué wanted cooperation from the Indian Navy and asked to warn Indian fishermen not to cross the IMBL. The Indian Navy had passed on the message to the Tamil Nadu government and all the seven Indian Navy detachments along the East coast in the state had been alerted.

The Sea Tigers were under heavy attacks by the Sri Lankan Navy and had recently lost many of its vessels and personnel.

Tamulpur, January 24
Thirty-eight cadres of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) surrendered before the Army at the Tamulpur Army base near India-Bhutan border in Baksa district of Assam.

Thirty-eight ULFA militants, including a woman cadre, laid down arms before the General Officer commanding 4 Corps of Indian Army Lt-Gen B.S. Jaswal in presence of senior Army officials, state police director-general, R.N. Mathur and Assam home commissioner Rajib Borah.

The militants deposited 26 small arms, ammunition, 18 grenades, 30 kg of explosives. The militants belonged to 27th, 709 and 109 battalions of the ULFA.

Over 150 ULFA militants surrendered in the state during the past six months in four different surrender ceremonies organised by the Army and the police. The ULFA stated that such surrender by some of its ‘chicken-hearted cadres’ would not affect its revolution.

Welcoming the militants to the mainstream, the Army core commander Lt Gen Jaswal said the Army had been focused on fighting the insurgency and not the insurgents, who were just misguided youths of the society and would welcome those wanted to come back to the mainstream of the society leaving ranks of the outfit.

The GOC said the Army had been maintaining constant pressure on the ULFA and that led to recent surrenders of a large number of militants in the state.

New Delhi, January 24
Former President K.R. Narayanan’s wife Usha, the only person of foreign origin to have become India’s First Lady, had carved a niche for herself as a champion of social and women’s issues and a prolific writer.

Usha, who died at a hospital here today, always believed that women could be the determining force in taking sustainable development to a new high.

“Reserving 33 per cent seats at the grassroots democratic bodies and the election of almost one million women to such bodies is a good example of empowering women,” she had once told a global conference.

Born as Ma Tint Tint in 1923 in Burma, now Myanmar, she adopted the name Usha and became an Indian citizen after marrying Narayanan on June 8, 1951.

Their marriage needed a special clearance from Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru because Narayanan was in the Indian Foreign Service and Usha was a foreigner.

Usha’s husband died on November 9, 2005.

Usha took her BA Hons degree from Rangoon University and worked as a lecturing tutor in the Department of Burmese Language and Literature of the university. She came to India on scholarship and took her MA degree from the Delhi School of Social Work, specialising in juvenile delinquency. — PTI