New Delhi, March 24
The recovery of fake currency notes continues to be a grim reality in the states that border Pakistan or have sea routes running close to the neighbouring country.

Close to 30 per cent of all recoveries of fake notes by security agencies and banks during 2007 have been made in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. According to data at the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), more than Rs 2.6 crore worth of fake currency notes were seized in these states last year.

The recovery in the rest of the country was around Rs 5.5 crore. These recoveries may be just like the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Currency notes worth several crores remain in day-to-day circulation and may not be passing through banks at all or finding their way into hands of security agencies.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has now appointed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the nodal agency to monitor the investigation in tackling the racket.

The CBI is actively coordinating with states and gathering information. So much so that more than 1,400 FIRs have been registered across the country during the last year and the details are being studied to analyse definitive patterns used by people pushing in fake notes. The thrust is naturally on pushing in notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination.

Apart from that, the MHA has asked the border-states to be more vigilant while specialised teams of the BSF water wing have been stationed to man the riverine segments where fencing does not exist. The problem is more in Punjab where the Satluj and the Ravi criss-cross the border several times rendering patrolling tougher.

BJP MP from Hoshiarpur Avinash Rai Khanna said he had raised the matter in the Lok Sabha on March 4 demanding to know what was being done to curb the circulation of fake notes. “It is a serious issue especially in rural areas where people do not know the method to detect fake notes and are fooled when they accept such money that looks exactly like the original,” Khanna added.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India has installed currency verification and processing systems at its various offices where high-capacity machines sort up to 50,000 notes in an hour to categorise them as non-issuable or re-issuable.

The RBI has now asked banks to install such processing systems at their respective currency chests and also set up a forged note vigilance cell at their respective headquarters. The RBI is also training selected officers from the BSF and the Indo-Tibetan Border Force and states police forces in detecting fake currency and on how various aspects of currency notes can be studied to know if it is fake or genuine.

New Delhi, March 24
Loans under the reverse mortgage scheme for senior citizens may well be available beyond a period of 15 years. National Housing Bank (NHB), a subisdiary of RBI, which developed the scheme for supplementing the cash flow stream for older persons, has now asked insurance companies to see if they can extend the loan term. This has been done to fill the most glaring gap in the scheme, which otherwise guarantees financial freedom to the elders in India.

The banks in that case will give premiums to insurance companies out of the reverse mortgage payment being made to the beneficiaries of the scheme. "We are pressing the insurance companies hard for provision of annuity after 15 years unto death. They will now have to work it out at their level. As far as we are concerned, it should work," S. Sridhar, chairman and managing director of the bank told The Tribune today on the sidelines of a conference on issues relating to the elderly, organised by Guild of Service.

The NHB further plans to energise the scheme by setting up counselling centres for the same in eight cities across the country. The idea is to extend the scheme’s benefits to as many elderly as possible. The centres will be set up among other cities at Chandigarh, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. These are the places with high concentration of senior citizens; also the bank has received maximum queries about the reverse mortage scheme from here. The centres will be set up in collaboration with voluntary organisations, which can approach the bank to build partnerships.

As for success of the scheme, the NHB has extended 350 loans under the same since the finance minister announced it last year. These loans amount to Rs 500 crore. The scheme, say senior RBI functionaries, has come out stronger after this year budget speech, with the finance minister clarifying the reigning doubts that were marring the scheme’s progress in the first place.

It has now been clarified that payments under the scheme will be exempted from income tax; no taxes would be payable at the time of mortgage.

"Capital gains will have to be paid only when the property in question is being sold by legal heirs, following the demise of senior citizens," Sridhar said.

The scheme, it may be mentioned, enables older persons owning a house to ensure a steady flow of income after mortgaging their property to the bank. The borrower owns and occupies the property till his/her demise. Even after demise, the spouse can continue to stay in the house. If the spouse is a co-borrower, he/she will receive the payment "up to 15 years", a period now set to be extended.

New Delhi, March 24
Political will does not come easy when the issue at hand is “the welfare of elderly.” Why else would an act of Parliament, created to ensure protection for the elderly, languish in the states for attention.

Four months after the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, got the President’s nod on December 31, 2007, it is yet to be notified by the states. Not a single state in the country has found the time to convert the act into legislation and extend its benefits to the 90 million elderly in India.

Admitting that the states are still to act in this direction, Arbind Prasad, joint secretary in the ministry of social justice and empowerment today told The Tribune that the ministry had written to the states asking them to speed up notification. “We have told the states that they have two months to go to notify the act. Unless that happens, the provisions will have no meaning at all,” he said during an interview at a conference on geriatric issues, held at the India International Centre. The conference was jointly organised by the Guild of Service and HelpAge India. The ministry is meanwhile in the process of formulating a policy on old age homes. Each district will have an old age home for 150 persons. The ministry has set aside Rs 2 crore each for the same. It has agreed in principle to extend financial cover to a range of schemes for the welfare of the elderly.

These include provisions for the establishment of respite care and continuous care homes for the old - a brand new concept in the Indian context. These homes will be meant to house parents of couples, who want to travel out for short periods and have nowhere to leave their elderly.

A creche-like concept, it has already been cleared by the ministry, which has cleared two more novel initiatives - volunteers’ bureaus to consolidate the elderly and offer them employment opportunities with organisations looking for workers. Also, the plan is to set up special centres for dementia care - a long-standing demand of wards of the elderly, who suffer from a string of sinister problems, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

For the latter initiative, the ministry has sought help from Dr Kalyan Bagchi, India’s leading Alzheimer expert and president of the Society for Gerontological Research, New Delhi.

Kolkata, March 24
The police and the agitating Tibetans were involved in a clash today at Mongpu near Siliguri. At least 15 Tibetans were injured in the police lathicharge. Four policemen were also injured following brick batting by the angry demonstrators. Altogether 30 Tibetan, who were arrested were released afterwards.

According to report reaching the state government in Kolkata from Siliguri, as many as 700 Tibetans living in Darjeeling and other hills areas today came out in a procession protesting the Chinese “genocide on the Tibetans”.

They were also demanding the boycotting of the forthcoming Olympic at Beijing by the participating countries.

When the agitating Tibetans were entering into Gangtok on their way to Nathula, they had been intercepted by the police near Mongpu, when they had organised a sit-in-demonstration. But soon they were involved in a clash with the police in which the stones and brickbats were showered at the policemen. The police also resorted to lathicharges. However, after some time, at the intervention of the senior policemen the situation was controlled. The agitating Tibetans were also persuaded to withdraw their demonstrations.

The arrested Tibetan were also released. But still several aggrieved Tibetans were assembling there in an attempt to march towards Nathula for organising protests and demonstrations against the Chinese genocide on the innocent Tibetans.

New Delhi, March 24
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said his government was committed to developing nuclear energy as part of a multi-pronged strategy for energy security as the country could not depend on just one or two sources to meet the growing demand for power.

“Our government is committed to further development of energy both as an environment friendly source of power and as a means of widening the energy basket available to us,” he said, laying the foundation stone for the Rs 5,000 crore gas based power project at Bawana here.

The plant is to be commissioned ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

India is trying to push through a civilian deal with the US that would give it access to American nuclear fuel and equipment, but the pact is being fiercely opposed by the UPA’s Left allies on the ground that it would compromise India’s sovereignty.

Currently, nuclear power accounts for just 3 per cent of India’s installed power generation capacity, while over 60 per cent of it is being met by coal.

The Prime Minister said that while some sources of energy might be cheap today, the country needs to think for future generations. “Our energy needs are bound to grow. We will be failing in the duty to our nation and to posterity, if we do not look ahead and take steps for not just today and tomorrow but for future generations,” he said.

Singh said the strategy for energy security was multi-pronged. “We don’t have the luxury of depending upon only one or two sources,” he said. — PTI

Lucknow, March 24
After being scolded for watching too much TV, a brother murdered his sister along with his two nieces before he slit his own throat open. A tanker driver shot his newly married stepdaughter and her husband for marrying on their own.

In two separate incidents in the industrial town of Kanpur five gruesome murders and one failed suicide over the Holi weekend has left the police stunned.

The first incident occurred on Saturday morning in Shyam Nagar. A 30-year-old man, a barber by profession, reportedly suffering from depression, murdered his sister Anita (26) and two nieces Sonali (6) and Pragya (1) by slitting their throats with a razor.

After that, he tried to slash his own throat but failed to make a deep enough gash and has survived. The police have taken him into custody and he is being treated at a local hospital.

What enraged Sunil was his sister switching off the television and asking him to help her with cleaning the house and making a special meal on the occasion.

Describing the family who live in a tiny one room house as a "quarrelsome one", Anand Swaroop, SSP Kanpur, said that it consisted of an ageing mother, her two unmarried middle-aged sons, an abandoned daughter and another daughter whose husband had recently committed suicide.

In another incident, Rajinder, who is a tanker driver, chased and finally shot his pregnant 22-year-old stepdaughter Nishtha and her 29-year-old lawyer husband Hemant Tripathi for, reportedly, marrying within the prohibited "gotra" on Sunday near Dharamkanta crossing under Govindpur police station.

According to SSP Kanpur, Rajinder had married his widowed sister-in-law and Nishta was actually the biological daughter of his elder brother.

What had angered the uncle-stepfather was Nishtha choosing to marry Hemant on her own who is reportedly from the same gotra and thus "a sort of brother".

He chased the scooter-borne couple in the deserted streets and managed to first shoot Hemant and then Nishtha who had started running on the streets to save her life.

While the couple instantly succumbed to their injuries, Rajinder is absconding.

Chennai, March 24
A Malaysian Hindu activist body today alleged that Malaysia was trying to trap India through its proposed pact guaranteeing rights of emigrant workers, as it was a ploy to dilute India’s support for Malaysian ethnic Indians struggling for their fundamental rights.

Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) president P. Waythamoorthy said here today, “The MoU between the two countries was in fact only a diversionary tactic by Malaysia. It is aimed at silencing India’s support by way of expressing concern for ethnic Indian workers in Malaysia.”

Waythamoorthy felt that this agreement was unnecessary since according to existing laws workers were protected of their rights. He said, “India should not fall into this trap since it was a ploy by Malaysia to divert attention away from the problems that people of Indian origin faced there due to discrimination.”

The Union Cabinet last week approved the MoU, which is meant to deal with the exploitation of workers, mainly 1.37 lakh ethnic Indians in the Muslim majority south-east Asian country.

It clearly stated the responsibilities of employers, recruitment agencies and workers for the protection and welfare of all classes of workers employed in Malaysia as well as in India under the laws of the host country. Hindraf had organised a rally with pictures of Mahatma Gandhi in Kuala Lumpur on November 25 last year, which was dispersed by the Malaysian police using teargas and water cannons. They were demanding equal rights for ethnic Indians, mostly Tamils, constituting about 8 per cent of Malaysia’s population.

Waythamoorthy pointed out that the failure of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) to win two-thirds of the total seats led to Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmed Badawi admit that he had “learnt some lessons from the outcome of the elections”.

“It is because of the wave created by Hindraf that the ruling alliance had to settle for lesser seats. Our movement encouraged even Malays and Chinese also to speak up for their rights and defeat the BN in many places,” he said.

New Delhi, March 24
Union ministers Suresh Pachouri and M.V Rajashekharan are learnt to have told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that they would like to be relieved of their ministerial responsibilities after their Rajya Sabha term ends early next month.

The two ministers have not been renominated to the upper House. The party was unable to field Pachouri again as the Congress does not have the requisite numbers in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly to get him elected. Rajashekharan could not make it to the upper House as the Karnataka Assembly has been dissolved and the state is under President’s rule.

Pachouri today confirmed that he had told the Prime Minister that he would like to step down once his Rajya Sabha terms ends. The two ministers have also conveyed the same request to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

According to the Constitution, a minister can remain in office provided he gets elected to Parliament within six months. However, legal experts in the Congress maintained this provision applied to persons who could get elected to Parliament and in the case of these two ministers, there was no such possibility.

Since this is a grey area, the Prime Minister was stated to be uncomfortable with retaining the ministers as it would invite adverse comment. He had hoped they would step down voluntarily.

New Delhi, March 24
Two days after BJP’s PM-in-waiting L.K. Advani stumped his political opponents by personally presenting a copy of his memoirs to Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence, the Congress today tore into the former deputy Prime Minister and decided to bring out a special booklet to highlight the opposition party and Advani’s doublespeak on a host of issues.

Endorsing this suggestion at a meeting of the party’s publicity committee, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi joined his party in expressing surprise and shock at Advani’s revelation on the Kandahar episode that he was unaware that the foreign minister was going to escort the militants to Afghanistan. The Congress has asked former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh to clarify to the country whether Advani was speaking the truth.

Rahul Gandhi, it is learnt, agreed with his colleagues that the Congress must sharpen its attack against the BJP in general, and L.K. Advani in particular, to expose their shifting positions on various issues like the nuclear deal, corruption and the Babri Masjid incident.

AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, who heads the publicity committee, later told mediapersons that the booklet on the BJP’s doublespeak will focus on the functioning of the NDA government by pointing out how the country’s home minister was unaware that dreaded terrorists were being freed.

“Any other home minister would have resigned,” he said, adding that either Advani was not consulted or he is not telling the full truth.

Hitting out at Advani, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said it is mind-boggling that no less a person than the home minister of India did not know that the foreign minister of India was going to Afghanistan.

Singhvi pointed to the level of competence of a government whose home minister is not even asked, when the country is going through one of its greatest national security crisis.

New Delhi, March 24
With the UPA government under attack from the Left and the right for its inability to keep a check on rising prices, a worried Congress is struggling to come up with credible explanations to counter this offensive.

Although the UPA government had silenced the BJP and the Left parties by presenting a “pro-farmer” budget, the two parties have since changed track and are now running a full-throated campaign on the issue of spiralling prices of essential commodities.

Realising that this campaign could nullify any political mileage that the party hoped to gain from its populist budget, Congress strategists have begun brainstorming on how best it should present its case to the people. The party’s publicity committee, headed by AICC general secretary Digivijay Singh, met here today to chalk out some of the talking points for the party workers, who are concerned that public focus is gradually shifting from the farmers’ loan waiver to inflation.

The Congress, on its part, is preparing to counter this offensive by highlighting the UPA government’s allocations for pro-poor schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and other such pro-poor programmes. While highlighting how the present ruling combine has increased subsidies for the poor as compared to the NDA regime, the Congress will underline that this government had kept the price of kerosene down even when the international prices of crude oil had spiralled. “The NDA regime, on the other hand raised the price of kerosene by Rs 3 to 10,” remarked former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh.

In addition, the Congress will also highlight how the UPA government had restored the powers of state governments to crackdown on hoarders which had been withdrawn by the NDA regime. Similarly, the Congress will also point out that it had removed import duty on pulses and foodgrains and stopped futures trading in pulses, oilseeds and edible oils.

Price rise and inflation have been a priority item on Sonia Gandhi’s agenda for the past two years now. She had called a special meeting of the party’s working committee on this issue while a special conference of Congress chief ministers had focused on agriculture and price rise.

Hyderabad, March 24
The media war in Andhra Pradesh is all set to hot up with Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s son Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launching a Telugu daily “Sakshi”, which is widely seen as a platform for the ruling Congress.

“Sakshi” (Witness), an-all colour newspaper designed by renowned layout designer Mario Garcia, is being published from 23 centres, including 19 in the state and four editions from New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

The glittering launch ceremony here last night was attended by film stars, sports personalities and representatives of various political parties, barring the main opposition Telugu Desam Party.

The ruling party, particularly the Chief Minister, has been locked in a running feud with the two leading Telugu dailies “Eenadu” and “Andhra Jyothi”, accusing them of serving as the “mouthpiece” of the TDP.

Ever since it came to power in the 2004 elections, the Congress has been targeting media baron Ramoji Rao, owner of “Eenadu” Group of publications and “Etv” channels, as they have been carrying reports highly critical of the government.

With the entry of “Sakshi”, the battle is set to turn bitter ahead of the elections.

TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, whose close affinity with Ramoji Rao is well known, has been openly attacking the media venture of the Chief Minister’s son, saying the “ill-gotten wealth” was being used for launching the daily.

With an aggressive marketing strategy, “Sakshi”, said to have started off with a print order of 11 lakh, is expected to give a tough fight to other dailies, particularly “Eenadu”.

Brushing aside the charge that his newspaper would be a mouthpiece of the Congress, Jagan Mohan Reddy said it would present news in an objective and balanced manner.

“We will tell the truth without any distortion or slant. We want to set a new trend in Telugu journalism,” Reddy said.

The state Governor, N.D. Tiwari, launched the daily at a star-studded function in which mega star of Telugu cinema Chiranjeevi, who is said to be preparing for a foray into politics, was the main attraction.

The AICC general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, M. Veerappa Moily, state CPM secretary B.V. Raghavulu, CPI secretary K. Narayana, BJP state president B. Dattatreya and MIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi were among the political leaders who attended the function.

B. Ramalinga Raju, chairman of the Satyam Group, launched the daily’s web edition. The dividing line between the political parties and the media in the state has been blurring in for some time now.

The Congress leaders accuse “Eenadu” and “Andhra Jyothi”, which together have a circulation of over 16 lakh, of “distorting the facts” and carry baseless allegations to malign the government.

The TDP, on its part, has alleged that the Chief Minister was intolerant to criticism and was bent upon gagging the media. The campaign against Margadarsi Financiers, owned by Ramoji Rao, was a clear instance of attack on the media, the opposition leaders said.

On several occasions, including on the floor of the Assembly, the Chief Minister targeted the two dailies and read out some of the reports carried by them to drive home his point that they were “deliberately distorted and biased.”

The paper, priced Rs 2, in all colour pages, is being published from 23 centres, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Incidentally, the launch edition carried more than a dozen advertisements of the state government, prominently featuring Chief Minister Rajasekahra Reddy.

New Delhi, March 24
India and New Zealand have agreed to increase cooperation in agriculture and sort out issues related to bio-security at the earliest.

At delegation-level discussions today, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar proposed to have an ‘umbrella agreement’ to raise the level of cooperation and expand cooperation into a range of issues in the agriculture sector.

New Delhi, March 24
The Delhi High Court today sought status reports from the Centre and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on a PIL alleging that the oil major had failed to take action against black marketing of LPG cylinders and ensure their supply to genuine consumers.

Issuing notice to the ministry of petroleum and the general manager of the IOC, a Division Bench, comprising Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice Siddharth Mirdul, asked them to submit their replies by July 19.

In a writ petition, filed through the Society for Voice of Human Rights and Justices, an NGO, contended that distributors of LPG gas were not supplying cylinders to genuine consumer but they were freely available on the black market.

The distributors have failed to take action against the black marketers despite repeated complaints from the general public, it claimed. Referring to some instances in Ghaziabad, the NGO sought the court’s direction to the central government and the corporation for taking appropriate steps to find a way out.

The court fixed July 19 for further hearing on the matter. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Scribes protest threat by militants
IMPHAL: An indefinite strike by journalists here in protest against threats and intimidations to them by the Peoples United Liberation Front entered its fourth day on Monday. The All Manipur Working Journalists Union and the Editors Forum Manipur said the militant outfit used to threaten the scribes over publication of some items. “They want us to publish only those items which were desired by them and they force us to do so,” a senior journalist said. — UNI

Pregnant woman, husband shot dead
KANPUR: A pregnant woman and her husband were shot dead here on Sunday night. Hemant Tripathi (29), a lawyer, and his wife Nishtha (22) were returning to their home on scooter when four persons on two motorbikes stopped Hemant and allegedly shot dead him near the Nirankari Bhavan T-point, SSP Anand Swaroop said, adding Hemant died on the spot. While Nishtha died when she was shot at her head. According to the police, Nishtha’s love marriage to Hemant, seven months back, had angered her uncle, Raju, and his family. The uncle is, therefore, suspected to be involved in their murder. — PTI

Rain claims seven lives in Karnataka
BANGALORE: The summer rainfall lashing several parts of the state for the past three days has claimed seven lives and damaged large tracts of standing crops in northern districts of Karnataka. According to official sources, seven persons have lost their lives in various parts, including Gulbarga and Bijapur districts. In Gulbarga district, state highways have suffered damages even as several houses were in water. The meteorological department has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in the next two days in many parts of the state due to low pressure in the Arabian Sea. — UNI

Chittorgarh peaceful; curfew continues
JAIPUR: The situation in Chittorgarh, which witnessed communal tension during Holi celebrations, was peaceful on Monday but there was no relaxation in the curfew. However, despite the curfew, the administration allowed college and school students to appear for their respective examinations. Tension was triggered in the town on Saturday over a minor argument between members of two communities after one group burnt down a motorcycle belonging to another group. Later, 18 persons, including five policemen, were injured and two dozen shops torched by a mob leading the administration to impose curfew. — PTI

MLA observes fast inside Assembly
PUDUCHERRY: AIADMK MLA Om Sakthi Sekhar on Monday caused a flutter when he observed a fast inside the Legislative Assembly premises. The fast was to condemn the government for its alleged failure to provide adequate relief to rain-affected people and proper drainage facilities in his Nellithoppe constituency. Carrying two placards with demands written on them, he sat on the steps at the entrance of the Assembly hall. — UNI