New Delhi, February 7
Expressing concern over the recent incidents of violence against North Indian settlers in Mumbai, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked home minister Shivraj Patil to see that the state government takes stern measures to deal with the situation.

A similar direction was given by Congress President Sonia Gandhi to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, whose government is under attack for not acting against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray for spearheading the campaign against North Indians.

The Congress is under pressure from its UPA allies who are unhappy that the Maharashtra government failed to act against Thackeray.

The Prime Minister’s firm message to Patil was delivered at today’s Cabinet meeting when railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav drew attention to the hate campaign launched against North Indians.

Seeking the PM’s intervention in defusing the crisis, Yadav wanted the Centre and the state to take steps to check the recurrence of such incidents.

Condemning the campaign unleashed by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Yadav said: “The politics being practised by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is divisive and must be resisted.”

Endorsing his Cabinet colleague’s view, agriculture minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar said it was important to put an immediate end to the campaign propagating that Mumbai belongs to only one community as it could prove dangerous.

In response, Shivraj Patil presented a report to the Cabinet in which he gave a factual account of the incidents that rocked Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra and the action initiated thereafter.

Under attack for his government’s inaction in this matter, Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh briefed the Congress President about last weekend’s violent incidents.

Mumbai, February 7
Armed with an advice from the advocate-general of India that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray may be arrested for inciting hatred between different communities, the Maharashtra government has begun to beef up security in Mumbai and other cities.

According to state home department sources, the state government has the option of proceeding against Raj Thackeray under Section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code which deals with offences "on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other grounds whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or caste or communities".

This afternoon Maharashtra's deputy chief minister R.R Patil was in a meeting with top police officials where the law and order situation in Maharashtra was reviewed.

Should a decision to arrest Raj Thackeray be taken, the government is expected to deploy forces in full combat gear in Mumbai and other cities of Maharashtra as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, disturbances continued today with suspected activists of the MNS ransacking the offices of the Mumbai Taximen's Union in Central Mumbai at around noon. About 15-20 slogan shouting men smashed windowpanes and broke computers before running away, D.A Salian, an office-bearer of the MTU, later said.

Lalu seeks PM’s intervention

Raising the issue of violence against North Indians settled in Mumbai, union railway minister Lalu Prasad has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene and initiate measures to check the recurrence of such incidents.

Prasad demanded action against Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) spearheading the agitation.

“The politics practised by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is divisive and has to be stoutly resisted,” he told mediapersons here after the weekly meeting of the union Cabinet. — TNS

New Delhi, February 7
Following widespread criticism over his remarks on north Indians, Lt Governor (LG) Tejinder Khanna today issued a clarification saying his comments had been distorted in context and content by the media.

In his statement, the LG said some media channels had distorted the context and content of his statement made during the Delhi police motorcycle traffic patrol launch ceremony today.

The reference had been made to the comparatively lower level of autonomous self-compliance of traffic regulations such as maintaining lane discipline, giving right of way and respecting traffic lights in Delhi, as compared to that observed in some metro cities in the south, said the clarification.

Earlier in the day, addressing a function to launch traffic patrol scheme of the Delhi police, Khanna had said generally in north India it was a matter of pride for people to violate the law, while observing that people of south India naturally stayed within the ambit of law. — UNI

New Delhi, February 7
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today that it was during late Babu Jagjivan Ram’s tenure as agriculture minister the country achieved self-sufficiency in food grain production and there is need to understand the role played by him in making a difference to the farm sector.

“Scientist M.S. Swaminathan will provide us guidance and support as we chart out a new course for agricultural renovation and revival,” Singh observed, adding: “We again need the vision and leadership once provided by Babu Jagjivan Ram if our agriculture is to meet the requirements of the coming decades.”

The Prime Minister said the former minister’s political and administrative skills, combined with his vision for a democratic social order, made him stand tall as a crusader for social equality.

Speaking here at the Babu Jagjivan Ram centenary seminar on ‘Agriculture revolutions, inclusive growth and state policies’, Manmohan Singh said Babu Jagjivan Ram had won hearts and respect of the country for his role as a freedom fighter, a great statesman and a fighter for a just social order. His life of intense struggle, great service and sacrifice will continue to guide all those who suffer deprivation and discrimination.

He had made history as the defense minister providing remarkable leadership to the armed forces in the 1971 war against Pakistan.

"By combining his social vision with our approach to nation building, we can make our growth processes more inclusive as they must be if they are to meet the aspirations of our people. That will be our tribute to Babu Jagjivan Ram," the Prime Minister added.

Union minister for social justice and empowerment Meira Kumar said whenever the country faced a crisis, Babu Jagjivan Ram was entrusted with the responsibility of tiding over it. Babu Jagjivan Ram was against import of food grains.

Bangalore, February 7
The focus is back on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and its educated cadres following a lie-detector test on one of the suspected HUJI militants who disclosed that the SIMI leader was, in fact, the mastermind behind a plot for terror strikes in Karnataka and nearby Goa.

According to sources, self-styled leader of the state SIMI unit Adnan is the mastermind behind the terrorist module uncovered by the police following the arrests made after a two-wheeler theft. The sources said one of the two suspected Kashmiri militants arrested in the case had revealed during a lie-detector test that Adnan, a civil engineering graduate, was managing their group.

What is even more worrisome for the intelligence agencies is the revelation that Adnan, who escaped a police dragnet after the arrest of the two suspected Kashmiri militants, is heavily armed and in possession of AK-47 assault rifles and explosives.

Mohammad Riazuddin Nasir, who had been subjected to the lie-detector test, had also disclosed that Adnan had created a cell among other engineers of the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences at Hubli. The Hubli police has since raided the hostel rooms of two SIMI activists Mohammad Asif and a house surgeon Ahmed Baig. Though Asif has been taken into custody and is being interrogated, Baig is reported to have gone to his hometown in Bidar.

Nasir, who was initially arrested on a two-wheeler theft charge, came under the scanner when it was revealed that he did not know Kannada despite the fact that he claimed to belong to Gulbarga district of the state. Nasir has revealed more details of another terror plot, involving strikes at the Hubli airport, and gave the names of Haza and Shahid Imam, who have absconded.

Police sources said SIMI apparently was now targeting software engineers in Bangalore and was also finetuning its operations in the state under the garb of human rights organisations.

The police is investigation the Karnataka Forum for Dignity and the Kerala’s National Development Fund as former SIMI leaders, including its former zonal presidents, have joined these organisations, which are suspected to be receiving funds from abroad.

Bhubaneswar, February 7
A unique species used in cock fights by tribals are set to perish with the Orissa government getting ready to cull nearly nine lakh chicken in districts bordering bird flu hit West Bengal.

''The total number of the fighter breed of chicken could be about 12,000, including 10,000 cocks,'' officer in charge of the Veterinary Officers Training Institute Ramakanta Mohapatra told PTI quoting a survey report conducted by it in 2004-05.

The origin of the breed is not known, but as per the owners they have been raising them since their forefathers' time and are a pure breed.

''No introduction of exotic and local germplasm has been made in the recent past knowingly to maintain the fighting qualities,'' the survey report said.

Orissa's Fisheries and Animal Resource Development Minister Golak Bihari Naik, who is from Mayurbhanj district, said the fighter cocks were the 'life and pride' of a tribal family.

Naik said a family possessing a number of fighter cocks were considered as 'affluent' and 'powerful' in the tribal community.

After a cockfight, the winner took away the vanquished cock and was generally eaten. So in a way almost all surviving cocks were 'bravehearts', he said.

The species locally known as 'hansli', are mostly found in Kaptipada block of Mayurbhanj district.

Their number must have gone up since then and the breedable female chicken could now be more than 2,000, he said. — PTI

New Delhi, February 7
The Left parties today asked the Centre not to go in for a hike in fuel prices. They said it would not only burden the common man and add inflationary pressures, but rather do away with the ad valorem duty structure and replace it with specific duties to ensure price and financial stability.

At a press conference on their proposals for Budget 2008-09, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and his CPI counterpart A.B. Bardhan said, price stabilisation fund for petrol products should also be set up with the resources generated through the oil cess.

To a specific query on the status of the Sixth Pay Commission, Karat said it is in the final stage. But he did not give the time framework saying, “It will come.” To a question on the impact of recession in the US economy in India, the Left leader said it would not only impact the developing and the underdeveloped countries, but also the developed ones.

“We must create a certain degree of immunity to this recession and this is why we have asked the government not to allow the speculative capital in our economy,” Karat added.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet, which was to meet today to take up the decision to hike prices of petrol by Rs 2 and diesel by Re 1 a litre, along with the duty restructuring on petroleum products, put off the issue.

Lucknow, February 7
While Chief Minister Mayawati is declaring at public rallies that Bundelkhand is being starved of funds by the Congress-led UPA government, the state’s bureaucrats admit availability of adequate funds at meetings in Delhi, alleged Uttar Pradesh Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

Demanding the Mayawati government to come out with a “White Paper” on the Bundelkhand drought issue, Bahuguna-Joshi charged the Chief Minister Mayawati with misleading the people not only on the availability of central funds but also on starvation deaths in the drought-hit region.

She shared with the media a list of 47 persons who have reportedly died of starvation in the Bundelkhand region during the past eight months. This is part of a comprehensive list of 204 similar deaths occurring during this period in this region, she claimed.

“I had sent the list to the Chief Minister on 28 January. Far from clarifying, Mayawati has not even acknowledged the letter”, the state Congress president said. “Most of the deaths reported in the region were those of Dalits, as they happen to be the most vulnerable section of society. That is why the Chief Minister is silent over the issue and using offence as the best defence by making baseless allegation against the Congress government, said Bahuguna-Joshi.

Demolishing Mayawati’s anti-Congress rhetoric on refusal of central funds for the drought-hit region, she said her officers had admitted on record during inter-ministerial meetings on Bundelkhand in New Delhi that there were adequate funds for relief work in the region under the Central Relief Fund and National Calamity Contingency Fund.

The Congress state chief said money was lying unutilised in the state or was not being released by the Centre as demand for funds were not accompanied by requisite district development plans.

According to the state Congress president, two central teams have visited the Bundelkhand region and have submitted their preliminary reports. “Both the reports mention that there was no shortage of funds and several crore of rupees in the current financial year was yet to be utilised”, asserted Bahuguna-Joshi.

The central government has altogether released Rs 28,561 crore to the state during 2007-08 for development works, she pointed out.

Hoshangabad (MP), February 7
Three BSF jawans were drugged in a Mumbai-bound train and one of them died this morning at a government hospital at Piparia in Madhya Pradesh’s Hoshangabad district, the police said.

The police said three BSF jawans were found in an unconscious state in an ordinary compartment of 5648 Guwahati-Dadar Express this morning. They were brought down at Piparia station and admitted to a local hospital, where one of them died.

The police apprehend that the jawans in uniform, who were yet to be identified, were offered some foodstuff laced with drugs and the criminals decamped with their belongings. Since no ticket was recovered from them, their boarding station and destination were yet to be ascertained. — UNI

Guwahati, February 7
There is good news for industrial houses, tea estates and a few select on-going infrastructure projects in Assam.

The state government has decided to constitute special forces to shield them from the constant threat from insurgents on the prowl.

The Assam government has decided to constitute two special forces, namely Assam Industrial Security Force (AISF) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) Security Force, to guard industrial houses, oil and tea property in the state against the threat from insurgents.

Besides the numerous installations of ONGC, Oil India Limited, the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (Neepco), four oil refineries, the Assam government has to take care of security of over 800 tea estates, most of which are located in vulnerable far flung locations to the advantage of insurgents.

A state home department source informed that the two special forces would be as well equipped and trained as any other armed Assam police battalion.

The AISF would focus on protecting tea estates in the state, besides other industrial houses.

However, the deployment of the AISF would come at a cost for the industrial houses and tea companies.

They would have to pay to take the services of the special government security forces that would operate under the state director general of civil defence and home guards.

The state would raise one battalion of the ONGC Security Force with 1,250 personnel for deployment in vulnerable drilling sites and other installations of the oil giant against payment.

The force personnel would also be available for other industrial houses.

The Assam government, taking serious view of the situation in the insurgency ravaged North Cachar Hill district, has decided to form a force comprising 500 ex-servicemen to provide security to men and materials in a few infrastructure development projects in the hill district, including a mega gauge conversion project of the Indian Railways and the East-West Corridor project of the National Highway Authority of India.

Tribal militants, especially those belonging to Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa) or Black Widow, have been running riot in the hill district targeting these two projects and other projects and small and medium industrial units for extortion despite continuing counter-insurgency operations by the Army and the Assam Police.

Mumbai, February 7
A struggling actor allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his rented apartment in the posh Lokhandwala complex locality today.

Kunal Singh was found hanging at his apartment in Andheri in Northwest Mumbai.

The reason behind the actor taking the extreme step is yet to be ascertained, a senior police officer said.

The 31-year-old actor acted in some Hindi movies and also featured in a Tamil movie recently.

Lately, he had switched over to film production and was working on a Hindi project, he said.

Kunal, who came to the city around two years ago is survived by wife and two daughters.

The family hails from Haryana. His body has been sent for a post mortem. — PTI

Chennai, February 7
A fast-track court here today sentenced ortho surgeon Dr Prakash to life imprisonment in a case relating to taking obscene pictures of women and uploading them on the Internet.

Judge R. Radha passed the sentence under the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act and imposed a fine of Rs 1,25,000.

The other three accused - Saravanan, Vijayan and Asir - were awarded seven years’ rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 2,500 each.

Delivering the sentence, the judge said the court could not pardon them as they have committed white-collar offence against women.

Yesterday, the court had found Prakash and his associates guilty under Sections 506 (part II), 367 and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act.

Prakash was, however, acquitted from two charges under Section 307 (attempt to murder) and Section 376 (rape) of the IPC. The fifth accused - Nixon - was acquitted from the case.

Prakash was arrested in December 2001 on the charge of taking obscene photos of his women patients through hidden cameras and uploading them on the Internet through his US-based brother. — UNI

Panna (MP), February 7
The oldest female elephant in the world, ‘Vatsala’, has been injured in an attack by a male elephant, who ran amok in the Panna National Park.

Vatsala (91) was attacked by the tusker ‘Rambahadur (45)’ when she was roaming about three km away from the Hinauta gate area on February 3. She received injuries in her chest from the tooth of ‘Rambahadur’.

The female pachyderm was receiving treatment from veterinary doctors and wildlife experts for the past four days.

Park veterinary doctor S. K. Gupta said elephant experts from the US, Sri Lanka and the UK were being consulted for providing treatment to the female elephant. Experts from Mysore and Assam were also being called.

Rambahadur had attacked and seriously injured Vatsala previously on December 12, 2003. Vatsala’s intestines had started bulging out following the deadly assault and it appeared that she would die soon. However, she recovered and was later recognised as the oldest elephant in the world on January 26, 2007.

“Till 2004, it was believed that the oldest female elephant -- of age 84 years -- was in Thailand. However, when life history of Vatsala was traced by park officials they found her age was 91,” Dr Gupta said. — UNI

BRIEFLY

9 lose eyesight in camp
Seoni (MP): Nine persons among a total of 35 patients operated upon at a special eye camp organised by the Mission Hospital at Lakhnadon in Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni district lost their eye sight and were being treated at a private hospital at Nagpur, official sources said on Thursday. A high-level team set up by public health commissioner has been deputed to probe the incident after the district authorities submitted a report to the state government, DC P. Narahari said. As many as 35 persons were operated upon at the eye camp January 28. — UNI

Ban on SIMI extended
New Delhi: The government on Thursday decided to extend the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) for its anti-national activities. Cabinet committee on security took a decision to this effect based on home ministry’s assessment that SIMI indulged in acts of terrorism and anti-national activities. The ban has also been extended due to SIMI’s clandestine activities and links with many terror organisation. Earlier, the home ministry banned the SIMI by a notification on February, 2006, for the third time. — TNS

4,000 docs go on strike
PATNA: Medical services in all hospitals in Bihar came to a halt this morning as about 4,000 odd government doctors went on a two-day strike from midnight yesterday to press for their demands. State Health Services Association president Ramnagina Prasad Singh, however, blamed the alleged lackadaisical attitude of the state government in meeting the doctors’ long standing demands despite a judgement in this regard by the Patna High Court. The doctors’ demands included immediate upgrading of their service conditions to bring them on a par with the Central government medicos. — UNI

BJP retains Keshkal seat
JAGDALPUR/CHATRA: The ruling BJP in Chhattisgarh today retained the Keshkal (ST) Assembly seat in the tribal Bastar district but lost Simaria in Jharkhand to CPI’s Ramchandra Ram, who was backed by the JMM and the RJD, in the February 4 byelections. Sevakram Netam of the BJP defeated his nearest Congress rival Budhsen Markam by a margin of 21,886 votes in Keshkal. The BJP candidate polled 58,362 votes while his Congress rival got 36,476 votes. Independent candidates N. Suri polled 3,099 votes. — UNI