New Delhi, February 14
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today called for the forging of a working cooperation among navies of the Indian Ocean region, pointing out that such ties were of paramount importance to tackle threats of terrorism from the seas.

As India launched the initiative with a two-day Indian Ocean Naval Symposium which is being attended by chiefs of Navies of almost all littoral states, the Prime Minister said that high level of trade and economic growth was being witnessed in the region which dictated the need to ensure safety and security of sea lanes.

He pointed out that recent years had seen rise in crimes like terrorism, piracy and smuggling of narcotics and arms in the ocean region and said that there was need for cooperation among the navies of the littoral states to prevent these transnational crimes.

He was of the view that need for cooperation among the navies of the region is of paramount importance for preventing such transnational crimes as the perpetrators of these crimes are well-organised and well-funded. They take full advantage of the vastness of oceans, he said.

The Prime Minister said the Indian Ocean, spanning 28 million sq kms, was a host to a third of the world population and accounted for 40 per cent of the energy sources.

He said the sea lanes of the region had emerged as one of the most important lines of communication in the world with container handling at the ports of Colombo, Mumbai, Chittagong, Bangkok and Malaysia's Port Klan, registering double-digit growth.

A growing percentage of the world's large merchant ships and bulk carrier ships fly an Asian flag and this expansion in trade and economic growth dictates the need to ensure the safety and security of the sea lanes, he said.

Along with rapid economic growth, the Prime Minister said regrettably, the Indian Ocean region also accounted for 70 per cent of the world's natural disasters.

“We look upon our navies to protect our citizens from natural disasters. We must have robust capabilities to deal with environmental emergencies.”

He said India fully backed the United Nations convention of the law of seas and its legal framework should guide all activities in the ocean and the seas around it.

Defence minister A.K. Antony also addressed the inaugural session and sought heightened cooperation among the navies of the Indian Ocean littoral states. He cautioned the participants against seeking extra-regional solutions.

Antony said regionally sensitive solutions needed to be found for problems faced by the states of the region.

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta said the initiative was not aimed at forging a military alliance but was an attempt to bring interoperability among navies of the region specially to tackle the growing menace of terrorism in sea and natural disasters.

The symposium will be followed by a conclave of naval chiefs from 27 countries. 

New Delhi, February 14
Minister of state for industry Ashwani Kumar today said that the Centre would take steps to address the problems of small and medium industry which accounts for 80 per cent of all employment in the industrial sector.

Kumar, who last month completed two years in office, said small and medium industry in Punjab account for more employment than the national average and steps had been taken to address their problems.

He said that the UPA government had taken several decisions to boost development in Punjab and he had been interacting with the ministries regarding the demands of the people of the state.

Kumar said the UPA government was keen to strengthen physical and social infrastructure in Punjab.

He said the proposal to start a new day train from Delhi to Pathankot via Batala and Gurdaspur was in the final stage and an announcement would be made soon.

Kumar said the Centre had given a package of Rs 80 crore for reviving the industry in Batala under the industrial upgradation scheme.

He said that the dedicated freight corridor on the eastern route would be extended till Ludhiana and measures had been taken to open road freight trade across the Wagah border.

Several institutes of excellence had been sanctioned for Mohali. He said there were proposals to set up food/fruit processing zone with a Central government outlay of Rs 50 crore in Punjab. A manufacturing investment region may also be set up after the concept was finalised.

He said the Centre had announced the biggest enhancement in procurement price of wheat and rice.

Kumar has written to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram about the hardships that small and medium industries were facing on account of factors such as lowering of import duties and hardening of rupee and interest rates.

In his letter, he said there was legitimate expectation in industry circles that government should intervene to mitigate the pains of transition to a market economy that needs to be globally integrated.

Seeking a package for small and medium industries, he said the negative impact on industrial production, exports and above all on employment in the blue collar segment needs to be arrested.

Answering queries about the demand of Punjab for an industrial package similar to the neighbouring states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, he said the government recognises the need for a level-playing field for all states. He hoped that after 2009, there will be a level-playing field for all states except Jammu and Kashmir and the North East. 

Hyderabad, February 14
The intelligence agencies have warned that creation of separate Telangana state could strengthen Maoist activity and prove to be another Chhattisgarh.

Making this alarming revelation in Andhra Pradesh Assembly today, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, whose opposition to bifurcation of the state is well known in political circles, said Telangana issue has become “complex and delicate” and could not be solved overnight.

He said intelligence agencies of the state and the central government had cautioned about the possibility of left wing extremists gaining an upper hand in the event of formation of separate Telangana state.

Pointing out that Maoist movement had considerably weakened in Andhra Pradesh during the last couple of years, Reddy said “In this situation, there is a view that a separate Telangana state might help them.”

Citing the example of Chhattisgarh which has witnessed a spurt in Naxalite activity ever since the formation of the state, he quoted intelligence agencies’ inputs to say that a similar situation could emerge in Telangana since Maoists have come out in support of the statehood cause.

Rubbishing the charge that he was the main obstacle in the way of creation of Telangana state, he said there was no political consensus on the statehood demand as parties had expressed divergent views on bifurcation of the state.

In tune with the poll promise, the UPA government had constituted a sub-committee, headed by Pranab Mukherjee, to achieve political consensus and elicit views of various parties.

However, in view of the complex nature of the issue, the final decision on Telangana had been left to the High Command, he said. He advised Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to maintain restraint and wait for the decision which, he said, would come at an “appropriate time.”

The Chief Minister was speaking after suspension of 13 TRS members from the House for stalling proceedings demanding tabling of a resolution on Telangana.

Responding to opposition criticism over the Congress’ ambiguous stand on Telangana, Reddy said it was difficult to say ‘yes or no’ to the statehood demand at this juncture in the absence of a consensus.

“We have left the issue to the party leadership which is looking into all aspects, including reports by intelligence agencies, the view by some Telangana leaders that development of the region is possible only in a separate state and similar demands of statehood from other regions,” Reddy said.

Mumbai, February14
Yesteryear stars of Bollywood today expressed shock and grief over the passing of veteran comedian Rajendra Nath. Nath died on Wednesday night from a prolonged illness brought on by breathing problems. He was 76.

Shammi Kapoor with whom Nath had acted in several popular films of the 1960s, said: “Rajendra Nath has made a major contribution to the film industry. He was a very dear friend of mine, besides being a relative. I have very deep memories of my association with him and I will feel his loss very much.

Nath’s acting career began as a stage artiste with Prithvi Theatres.

Others attending his funeral today included Shammi Kapoor’s nephew Randhir Kapoor, friends and relatives.

Nath was better known as Popatlal for his role of a buffoon in ‘Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai’. He also acted in Punjabi, Bhojpuri and South Indian movies. — ANI

Dehra Dun, February 14
Ex-servicemen in Pauri Garhwal parliamentary constituency are battling out on a political turf in the forthcoming by election as they constitute a very crucial voter segment.

Eyeing this segment, the ex-servicemen cells of the main adversaries - Congress and BJP - are leaving no stone unturned to woo this single largest community of the serving and ex-servicemen. The war of words that started in the beginning of campaigning is intensifying as the polling day draws nearer. The constituency is going to polls on February 24.

Interestingly, the ballot cry is being led by the former army generals. While Chief Minister and Lt.Gen (retd) BC Khanduri is leading the BJP ballot lines, Lt. Gen (retd) Gambhir Singh Negi is marshalling the Congress camp. Another Lt.Gen. (retd) T.P.S. Rawat is the BJP candidate. So an interesting political duel is on the cards in the constituency spread over Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pauri Garhwal and Dehradun districts considered to be the catchment area of Garhwali soldiers.

Of the total voters, the ex-servicemen and widows of Army personnel account for 65,497 votes as per the data available with Sainik Welfare and Rehabilitation Department. The number may be more if those who have not registered with the department are also taken into account. The serving army personnel from the constituency is put around 25,000. Put together this chunk can tilt the poll outcome. Khanduri has been representing this constituency since 1991 till last year when he vacated it after becoming the Chief Minister.

It was to counter his influence as a soldier that the Congress has been promoting Rawat in the constituency and lost against Khanduri in the last Lok Sabha election. However, in a deft political move Khanduri won him over to the BJP camp and prevailed over the central BJP leadership to field him as the BJP candidate in the coming by election dealing a serious blow to the Congress.

Having lost Rawat to the BJP, the Congress sensed loss of political turf and succeeded in winning over Negi, another former General as well as Commandant of the Indian Military Academy Ghambir hailing from Garhwal region to shore up the party popularity in the constituency. He has also served as chairman of Uttarakhand Public Service Commission.

Negi who is actively touring the constituency in favour of the Congress candidate Satpal Maharaj alleged that the BJP candidate Rawat betrayed the soldiers’ community by shifting loyalties to political opponent’s camp. On the other hand, a group of former army generals who had been supporting Khanduri in the past have also appealed for a vote for the BJP. The campaigning is also witnessing political division among retired personnel of paramilitary forces. All India Ex-Paramilitary Personnel Association, Uttarakhand led by a former IG S.S. Kothiyal, has announced support to the BJP for espousing their cause, Uttarakhand Purv Sainik Evam Ardh Sainik Sangathan headed by Lt.Col. Ganga Singh Rawat (retd) is supporting the Congress.

Kolkata, February 14
Union information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi’s appointment as the WBPCC president was not a surprise to the party workers and supporters in the state since Dasmunsi was very close to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Dasmunshi’s supporters claimed that Sonia herself wanted him to take over the responsibility of revamping the party in the state, now in a shambles.

But it took Sonia about a year to finally decide to appoint Dasmunsi as the new head, the post which had been lying vacant from over two years following the resignation of the Pranab Mukherjee after his appointment as external affairs minister.

During Indira Gandhi’s regime, Dasmunsi held the highest post in the All-India Youth Congress and he along with Subrata Mukherjee had mobilised youth against the CPM and other left parties in the seventies and brought the Congress under S.S. Ray to power in Bengal in place of the CPM-controlled UF government.

But Dasmunsi thought himself more powerful than Sanjay Gandhi and Ambika Soni, the growing prominent YC leaders who had the direct blessings of Indira Gandhi. And soon, Dasmunsi incurred the displeasure of the AICC for which he had to lose the YC post.

And he left the Congress, along with handful others and formed a parallel Congress. However, that party was short-lived and DasMunshi and other dissidents were again back to the Congress. And since then Dasmunsi has been in the party running virtually a parallel group against the Ghani-Somen (Ghani Khan Chowdhury and Somen Mitra) combination.

Ghani Khan Chowdhury is no more but Somen is still there in controlling the state Congress, though he does not hold any official post. Meanwhile, Somen says he is happy that the AICC has finally appointed Dasmunsi as president and hoped Dasmunsi would be a whole-time president.

Bangalore, February 14
In a major departure from the past, the Defence Ministry has for the first time admitted of the necessity to exploit Space for military applications.

Union minister of state for defence M.M. Pallam Raju today said the changing geo-political situation, while apparently referred to our neighbour China which has already destroyed a satellite using a missile to test its space weaponisation programme, called for such a change in policy.

India has always maintained that it is committed to non-weaponisation of Space and its Space programme is also entirely civilian oriented.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had last year even criticised China for using a missile to destroy a satellite whose lifetime had expired, saying such testing had only resulted in creation of more debris in the space around the Earth and that such tests should be avoided in the future.

Pallam Raju, who spoke at a function held here to inaugurate the International Flight Test Seminar, said the country needed to be awake to the possibilities open to it and accordingly build capabilities which could allow it to exploit Space for military applications.

He also hinted at a plan to use the country’s satellite system for military purposes, by saying that satellites played an important role in surveillance, reconnaissance and communication.

Speaking on the occasion, Air Force chief F.H. Major indicated that the plan for an Aerospace Command was still on but declined to give details. He said the country was looking forward to building a system which could serve as its “eyes in the Space”.

He said the Air Force needed such a system. He, however, said this was a long-term programme which would utilise the achievements already made in this field. 

New Delhi, February 14
India will soon have a revised defence procurement policy (DPP), fine-tuned with suggestions from the industry and in line with international practices.

Addressing the media on the occasion of announcing the dates for the DefExpo-2008, secretary (defence production) Pradeep Kumar said here yesterday that the new DPP was expected to be out by April this year.It would have adequate changes to enable the domestic industry effectively absorb the cutting edge technologies that would now become available to this country.

The new DPP would come two years after the first-ever DPP was brought out by the country with the idea of ensuring that India gets the benefit of big arms deals it made with other countries. A DPP ensures that the companies being awarded contracts invest back some percentage of the deal for developing the local industry.

Besides, it contained elements like no single-vendor purchases, and compulsory transfer of technology (ToT) in all big deals. “The idea is to fine-tune procedures, make them more transparent and make it easy for foreign suppliers to address their obligations under the contracts they sign with the Indian defence forces,“ he said. He added that it was an evolving process and they were learning from the feedback from the industry.

Under the offsets clause, 30 per cent of all defence deals worth over Rs 3 billion have to be reinvested in India’s defence industry. It is expected to go up to 50 per cent in some of the other big deals India is expected to sign.

A number of foreign defence manufacturers say this clause is restrictive as it narrows down their options. They say they will like the scope widened to enable them to invest in other sectors as well.

Kumar while indicating that many of the issues raised by the industry were being addressed said, “The choice of where to invest the offsets obligation would be left to the foreign vendor. As for the percentage of offsets, this would depend on the size of the contract.”

New Delhi, February 14
The government is making a determined bid to use pictorial warning on tobacco products as a fresh study reveals that 50 per cent of those dying due to smoking are illiterates. The World Health Organisation (WHO) study brought to the fore that majority of those dying due to smoking are in rural areas and more than half of them are illiterates.

Thus, with written warnings not making much of an impact on the illiterate, the government is keen on providing pictorial warnings to tell the people at large about the angers of smoking.

“The rate of quitting smoking across the world is higher than that in India,” said Prabhat Jha, author of the study. The rate of quitting smoking is just two per cent, China scores with nine per cent even as the country did not use pictorial warnings. It has been the awareness crafted through the media, which helped in the Chinese case.

However, in United Kingdom, the change from pictorial warnings to written ones has helped a lot. “Somewhere around 40 per cent of the population in the United Kingdom have quit smoking over a period of 20 years,” said Jha.

Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss supports the pictorial warnings on tobacco products depicting advance stages of diseases caused due to smoking. The idea could not be put into practice due to protests from bidi workers.

The study also reveals extensive information about women smokers in India. Though the percentage of women smokers in the country is much less than the men smokers, the habit kills more women.

There is eight-year gap in the life span of women who smoke and those who do not. For men, the number is six-year for bidi smokers and 10 years for cigarette smokers. Study predicts one million deaths per year for smokers in India from 2010 onwards. 

BRIEFLY

No EC notice to Sonia yet
New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) is yet to issue a show cause notice to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on a complaint filed against her for accepting a Belgian award. According to EC sources, the commission failed to do so in the wake of divided opinion on this issue. There were several rounds of meeting within the commission and the last one in this regard was held here on Wednesday last, the sources said. The issue would be taken up once again when the entire commission meets. — UNI