Rajiv Nagar (Kanpur), March 30
Star value was missing at the inauguration of the two-day UPCC general body meeting when AICC general secretary and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi failed to turn up for the symbolic hoisting of the party flag this morning.

In a last minute change of programme, the young MP would now make an appearance with Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the concluding day tomorrow.

However, the general body meeting being held after a gap of 26 years, remained historic with AICC general secretary and UP in-charge Digvijay Singh using the occasion to do a bit of straight talking.

Refusing to mince words, Digvijay pointed out that the results of some senior and high profile leaders at the polls had been dismal and such leaders should do some introspection about their base amongst the voters.

Spelling trouble for such leaders, Digvijay pointed out that Rahul Gandhi had decided that those who aspire for a Congress ticket in the forthcoming elections would now be required to attach a list of results of recent elections from the polling booths in their respective areas of influence.

According to Digvijay, the role played by the party leaders in the ongoing “Hisaab Maango” campaign to fix accountability of the Mayawati government, would be crucial indicator to decide their political future in the state.

“The AICC would now demand an explanation from the UP Congress. Ab hum hisaab mangege aur poochenge ki kaun kitna active raha hai,” declared Digvijay.

He underlined that the UP Congress would be asked to submit a list of members who had remained active and those who chose to remain inactive during the ‘Hisaab Maango’ campaign.

“This campaign is just the right barometer to check the sincerity of a party leader. There would be no excuses and indiscipline will be handled firmly. Working against party candidates in elections will not be spared at any cost”, he added.

According to him this campaign concerned real issues of real people. “If the Congress has to regain lost ground then things have to be streamlined. A beginning towards this is to join hands with the people on their day-to-day worries”.

Mocking at party men who merely stage dharnas and hold demonstrations for memento photographs, Digvijay said this type of politics was no longer acceptable.

“Do not bring photographs of these occasions. Instead bring the party to the people. We cannot win the people’s confidence without a struggle,” he pointed out.

Warning so-called leaders who were seen more in New Delhi and Lucknow than in their respective constituencies, Digvijay said, “We are keeping a sharp eye on you.”

Amidst loud applause by the attending delegates, the former Madhya Pradesh CM assured the delegates that till he remained in charge of UP, no decision would be taken by him without the recommendation of the district committees. “There will be no nominations or direct appointments to any post,” he guaranteed.

However, he also expected the workers to do their bit of legwork by taking back party pamphlets listing the achievements of the UPA government for widest possible distribution in the rural areas.

He said only hard work by the party leaders would fill the gap created by the regional parties failure on all fronts. April onwards, the Congress would hold rallies in all districts to highlight the achievements of the UPA government, he promised.

Earlier UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi also expressed unhappiness at several senior leaders, including PCC members, not being active in party programmes.

New Delhi, March 30
A parliamentary panel has asked the MoEF to serve closure notices to industrial units discharging their effluents into rivers if they do not install treatment plants within a specific time frame.

The committee in its report tabled recently in the Rajya Sabha said the ministry should look seriously into such matters and impose heavy penalties and serve closure notices if they continue to pollute. The discharge of effluents in water bodies was leading to an alarming contamination of water threatening animal life and vegetation, it added.

The committee felt that apart from providing financial assistance to state governments on common effluent treatment plants (CETP) for modernisation and capacity expansion, the ministry, through its nodal agency-the CPCB-, should make sure that requisite technical assitance should is also given to them.

The panel was told that 314 polluting industrial units have been closed since 2006 for not installing effluent treatment devices and 115 were facing legal action. A total of 1,204 grossly polluting industries had been identified in 2006 and out of that only 775 units had installed ETPS.

Under a scheme formulated for financial assitance for ETPS, states and the Centre would each give 25 per cent subsidy while the entrepreneur’s contribution would come to 20 per cent and the loan from financial institution would be 30 per cent of the cost.

The main objective of the CETPS is to reduce the treatment cost to be borne by an individual member unit to a minimum by treating the effluent emanating from a cluster of compatible small-scale industries.

It has, however, been found that most of the time the effluent treatment plants do not function properly and state governments do not pay attention to make them functional once they develop problems after installation.

Lack of proper maintenance and technological knowhow is the most common reason of the ETPS becoming non-functional after their installation. Which is why the committee felt that technical assistance should also be given to states in addition to the financial aid.

New Delhi, March 30
Cautioning against trial by media which hampers the rights of the accused, Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan today said the provisions on contempt of court were meant to protect the interest of the common man and enforce judicial orders.

“It is only with the threat of contempt that many government authorities obey court orders...(the provisions) are to protect the interest of the common man and for the administration of justice,” he said.

On suggestions for liberal interpretation of the contempt provisions, the CJI said, “The problem is not with the law but with its misuse.”

Addressing the final session of a two-day workshop on “Reporting of Court Proceedings by Media and Administration of Justice”, Chief Justice Balakrishnan said regarding cases pending in court, the media should refrain from attempts to “prejudice the trial”.

Editor-in-chief of The Hindu, N Ram, sought decriminalisation of law of defamation and pointed to an impression about “a degree of intolerance” within the judiciary while looking at issues related to contemptuous articles.

Earlier, executive editor of PTI VS Chandrasekar felt that the media had the right to run a campaign in cases of blatant miscarriage of justice but it could not deny to an accused his right to be heard.

Justice HK Sema was open to scrutiny by the media but said the only thing that the judiciary wanted was “impartiality” and not a “favour”.

Editor and columnist BG Verghese favoured guidelines for regulation of the media and said there was no need for the media to be wary of a regulatory mechanism as “unless you have strong brakes, you cannot move fast”. — PTI

New Delhi, March 30
The spiralling inflation is a major cause of concern for the government and the Centre will review the situation arising out of skyrocketing food and metal items prices in the country in a Cabinet Committee on Prices (CCP) on Monday.

Another high-level meeting will be held on Wednesday to consider measures for maintaining adequate supply line. The empowered group of ministers on prices, headed by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, will meet on April 2 to review prices of wheat, rice and procurement of edible oil.

While CCP might consider taking fiscal or quantitative steps to control spiralling prices, if high inflation continues in this manner, the RBI is also likely to tighten money supply even if it is at expense of some growth. The bank will take a call on its monetary stance in its annual policy on April 29. Economists also feel that the government and the RBI will have to take fiscal and monetary measures to contain inflation, which could otherwise move beyond 7 per cent. The government is concerned and finance minister on Friday said it was determined to take all steps - fiscal, monetary and supply side - to moderate inflation.

“If that means we have to live with slightly lesser growth, so be it,” he had said in Mumbai. About tomorrow’s CCP, food ministry officials say though there is no specific proposal from the ministry, the committee will generally take stock of the current price line.

New Delhi, March 30
Several players having stakes in the Sikh affairs have joined the ongoing power struggle to control the cash-rich DSGMC that manages historic gurdwaras like Rakabganj and Sisganj in Delhi besides more than two dozen educational institutions in the national capital.

The Parkash Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal and Paramjit Singh Sarna of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee are on warpath. The divide is increasing and the final outcome of this struggle is likely to be known by next week.

Yesterday, Badal lodged a “protest” with the Prime Minister against the move of the Congress-led Delhi government to “meddle” in Sikh affairs and amend the constitution of the DSGMC. The amendment will allow Sarna to continue for another year as the president of the DSGMC. Badal is backing his own candidate, Avatar Singh Hit, a former DSGMC president, for the post.

The amendment bill will come up for argument on Tuesday in the Delhi Assembly. The BJP, an ally of the SAD, will also join in the debate and will field a Sikh MLA to put across its point. With the Congress being in majority, the bill is expected to sail through and pave the way for P.S. Sarna to continue as the DSGMC chief.

H.S. Sarna, younger brother of the DSGMC chief, told The Tribune that it was an internal matter of the Delhi committee and we have just followed the SGPC, which also wanted a longer term for its president. Moreover, annual elections only resulted in horse-trading of the executive members, who actually elect the president, alleged Sarna and went on to claim that Hit does not have the requisite “majority” in the executive. Badal, has requested the PM to let the annual elections be held on time and “let the will” of the executive prevail.

The one-year tenure of P.S. Sarna at the helm ended a few weeks ago, however, the elections have not been held as the Delhi government has introduced a bill to extend the term of the president by a year. The bill, if passed, will mean elections to the post of president of the DSGMC will be held every two years. The 51-member management committee of the DSGMC is elected every four years, which in turn elects the 15-member executive body.

The Congress as well as the SAD-BJP combine knows the importance and financial muscle of the million-strong Sikh community in the national capital. The Assembly elections in Delhi are scheduled in November this year and the Sarna brothers are known as good mobilisers of men and resources and the importance of having them heading the DSGMC is not missed upon by the Congress.

Guwahati, March 30
Fifteen notorious wildlife poachers, who were creating havoc in Manas Biosphere area, surrendered before the Assam Forest and Wildlife Department officials in Chirang district of the state.

Divisional forest officer of Chirang district, B N Patiri informed that the poachers surrendered at Kuklung Range of Manas Biosphere Reserve area and deposited 15 rifles.

The poachers who have been assured of rehabilitation by the department, pledged to work in coordination with the authority for protection of precious flora and fauna of the area. The forest official informed that 30 woodcutters who were involved in rampant illegal cutting of trees inside the forest, also surrendered before the forest authority today.

Manas Biosphere area, bordering Bhutan and West Bengal, is known for its precious wildlife resources including elephants, deers, tigers, wild boars, a large number of Asiatic buffaloes, besides varied species of in situ and migratory birds.

The UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site in Danger after poachers, in collusion with Bodo militants, ran riot inside the picturesque national park that took a heavy toll on its zoological and botanical resources.

According to a forest official, the incumbent rulers in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council (BTADC) had launched an intensive effort to woo fringe villagers to cooperate with the Forest and Wildlife Authority to protect the rich bio-diversity of the area.

The authority in coordination with NGOs had launched a widespread awareness drive among local tribal populace, highlighting the need for protection of wildlife.

Panaji, March 30
The mother of rape and murder victim Scarlett Keeling today said she will seek the help of Britain's Scotland Yard in probing the case, even as the National Commission for Women held that Goa police investigations were "completely misleading".

"I will be asking for Scotland yard help in probing the case," said Fiona Mackeown on the eve of her departure to London to bury the mortal remains of her 15-year-old daughter, nearly six weeks after she was found dead in mysterious circumstances at Anjuna beach in Goa.

The lawyers for the girl's family are also calling for a probe by Britain's premier investigating agency into the Scarlett case. They feel that the agency can provide some excellent forensic help in the homicide case.

In its preliminary report on the teenager's death, commission member Nirmala Venkatesh said "police are trying to hide the facts of the case and close it. We will never allow this to happen."

Venkatesh claimed that Scarlett was injected with morphine. "She was raped by four to five persons by gagging her mouth. There are nail marks on the body and several marks which indicates that more than one person was involved in sexually assaulting her," she said, adding, "Police investigation in this case was completely misleading and evidence in this case was destroyed by police themselves."

Fiona said the commission seemed to be very keen to get justice and it is very reassuring that they are interested in looking into the case. It is really positive thing to go home on," Fiona added. — PTI

New Delhi, March 30
Top Nepali blogger ‘Maila Baje’ claims that China has re-started a dialogue with much-maligned King Gyanendra in a counter-strategy to a perceived Indian countenance to the American policy of containment of China. In a latest posting on the blogspot, nepalinetbook.blogspot.com, it is written, “When US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in the august presence of her Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherji enjoined Beijing to open dialogue with the Dalai Lama, the Chinese recognised the stakes.”

It further states, “As part of its response to a resurgence of America-led containment, Beijing seems to have expedited its own dialogue with King Gyanendra.”

The blog also speaks of the Maoist-monarchist alliance in Nepal. “At a minimum, that is what Rashtriya Prajatantra Party Nepal (RPP-N) chief Kamal Thapa’s suggestion of an imminent Maoist-monarchist nationalist alliance signifies.”

It has been suggesting that China’s influence over the Maoists and the latter being drawn into an ‘unholy’ alliance with the King to beat Indian influence in the Himalayan nation forms part of its larger fight against the American containment policy.

“No Maoist luminary, garrulous at the slightest opportunity, has chosen to dispute Thapa’s assertion.”

The Indian policy on Tibet is well-known and often repeated. The Chinese Prime Minister himself recently appreciated the Indian stand on the current tensions in Lhasa and other areas of Tibet and mainland China.

Then why does China continue to suspect India to be part of the American containment policy? It is not in India’s national interests to be part of any particular power play. Although the ‘Non-aligned Movement’ has lost significance in world politics following the end of the ‘Cold War’, there is no change in India’s commitment to its basic tenets.

India continues to engage every power to suit its national interest but would not be part of any military alliance. It was India which took the initiative to build bridges with China, starting from the ‘historic’ visit of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to Beijing, which is now being commemorated by Chinese authorities. Similar efforts have also been made to improve relations with the US and Washington has been reciprocating.

India, unfortunately, has not abundantly articulated its own concerns about the Chinese containment policy. China has established military bases and is supplying arms to all neighbouring countries of India.

Its intelligence agencies have still been facilitating supplies of arms to Indian insurgent groups. They have been procuring arms and ammunition from China’s Yunan province and bringing them through Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Guwahati, March 30
The government will take its time and test the waters before it decides to respond to the offer of unilateral ceasefire declared by the Black Widow or Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa) militant group.

Assam police Intelligence Wing chief Khagen Sharma (IGP) today said, “Though the government is viewing the offer of unilateral ceasefire as a positive outcome of its efforts to resolve insurgency in the violence-affected North Cachar Hill district of the state, it will take time to weigh the pros and cons of the offer of unilateral ceasefire made by Black Widow group.”

“We have to test the waters and gauge the sincerity of the militant group before responding to their truce offer which is an outcome of sustained pressure maintained on the outfit through counter-insurgency operations as well as initiatives taken to bring the outfit to the negotiation table,” he said.

The police officials, who deal with counter-insurgency operations, informed that the continuing coordinated operation against insurgents in the North Cachar Hill district would continue despite the truce offer made by the Black Widow group as a few other militant groups were also active in the area.

The headquarters of the Intelligence Wing of Assam police received a fax message from the Black Widow group early this week declaring that the outfit offered unilateral ceasefire with the Government of Assam and Government of India for a period of three months.

The faxed latter signed by the outfit’s publicity secretary, Paiparang Dimasa, however, neither mentioned reasons for declaring the truce nor expressed the desire to sit for dialogue with the government.

The truce offer came in the wake of the arrest of two senior leaders of the outfit in Guwahati. “The outfit has so far lost several of its top rung leaders in gun battle with the police and the Army and was under constant pressure. This may have induced it to take a tactical move to offer truce,” the police official said.

The Black Widow group was formed in 2004 by a breakaway faction led by its leader Jewel Garlosa who was opposed to the peace process involving the Government of India and the parent Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) led by Dilip Nunisa.

The Black Widow, which is suspected to be colluding with the Naga rebel group NSCN-IM, has since been creating havoc in North Cachar Hill district areas through rampant extortion and killings.

Coimbatore, March 30
The CPM does not visualise the formation of a third front before the Lok Sabha elections but will strive to form one on a long-term basis. CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury said here today, “The UPA was formed in 48 hours. A front is a cut and paste job. What we are looking at is a third alternative, which is a long-term job. We want to form a third alternative with like-minded parties who are opposed to the Congress as well as the communal BJP”.

Yechury said the new combine would be based on three policy measures of the CPM - oppose the communal offensive, anti-people content of the neo-liberal economic reforms and oppose all efforts to make India a subordinate ally of US imperialism. However, he stressed that the party was not maintaining a policy of equi-distance with the Congress and the BJP. “We need to support the UPA to ward off communal forces,” he said.

Yechury said his party never supported the reckless trajectory of economic growth that was being touted by the UPA government and that the party would begin a nationwide movement after their congress against price rise.

The CPM today in its session also passed a resolution raking up the old issue of Centre-state relations and would approach all non-Congress and non-BJP chief ministers to pressurise the Central government to take another look on the issue. Yechury added, “We also need to think whether the post of Governor is needed.”

However, the UPA government had no reason to fear, as the Left parties were aware of the rising BJP after its victory in some state Assembly elections. The main agenda of both the CPM and the CPI was to prevent the BJP and its allies from coming to power and for that they would try to woo regional parties, which were earlier part of the BJP-led NDA.

CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan issued a warning saying, “Waiting in the wing is the BJP. It is trying to utilise all failings of the UPA government and is making a bid for power. It is instigating communal disharmony and trying to repeat a Gujarat in other states as well. The Left has to take certain steps to ensure that communal forces are not allowed to come to power”.

Mumbai, March 30
A loader was killed in an accident after being hit by a speeding Air India service bus inside the Mumbai’s international airport today morning.

The accident happened at 4 am when Dnyaneshwar Appa Kunte, who works for a private ground handling agency Cambata aviation, was carrying out loading operations for a flight at Bay 46 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji international airport. It is the third incident in recent months, where airport employees have died after being hit by moving vehicles in the airport tarmac in Mumbai and Delhi.

The driver of the bus managed to flee from the scene, a senior police official said, adding, he had been identified and efforts were on to nab him. Directorate-general of civil aviation (DGCA) has ordered a probe that has since commenced.

A Cambata aviation employee Krishna Sontakka said the bus was being driven at a high speed despite guidelines on speed restrictions--around 20 km per hour-- on the airport tarmac. Airport sources and the police also said the bus was at an over speed.

Several workers of Cambata reportedly raised protests after the incident. An Air India spokesman claimed they had not assigned their bus to anyone. “We had not assigned the bus to anyone at that time. So we don’t know how the driver was driving the bus that caused the accident. Air India and the police are looking into the matter.” — PTI

BRIEFLY

Job seeker lands in prostitution racket
Kochi: A 29-year-old woman from Kerala was shocked to find herself trapped in a prostitution racket net after she flew to Oman to work as housemaid, a job promised by her travel agent. However, she was recently rescued from a house following a joint raid by the Indian embassy officials and the Oman police, embassy sources told PTI, adding that four persons, including a woman, hailing from Kerala have been arrested for alleged human trafficking. — PTI

Sabotage Olympic torch, says Fernandes
New Delhi: Former defence minister George Fernandes has threatened that his supporters would do ''everything possible to sabotage'' the Olympic torch relay in India. ''I have asked all my colleagues and those who are with Tibet that they should prevent China from crossing our border with this torch. He told his supporters to ''sabotage'' the torch and put out the flame, Fernandes said: ''Yes, whatever effort they have to make they should make that effort.'' — UNI

Tourist flow to Gangotri area to be curbed
DEHRA DUN: With alarm bells ringing over the rapid melting of glaciers in the Himalayas, the Uttarakhand government has decided to regulate tourist flow to protected areas of Gangotri National Park, including Gomukh. The government would now restrict the number of tourists visiting Gomukh and other Gangotri glaciers, the origin of the holy river Ganga, to only 150 per day. From the next season beginning in April, the new regulations would come into effect. — PTI

Rlys to showcase steam locos
NEW DELHI: Come 2010, steam locomotives will be back on tracks in Delhi.The Railways has decided to run steam trains on the Delhi ring railway route as part of its Heritage Experience Plan for the Commonwealth Games.The train consisting of six heritage coaches with a steam locomotive would start from Safdarjung station and travel to Anand Vihar, Old Yamuna Bridge, Old Delhi, New Delhi and Nizamuddin station before returning to Safdarjung. — PTI

Ancient civilisation traced
KOLKATA: Archaeologists have stumbled upon traces of an ancient civilisation in Bengal dating back to nearly 20,000 years.About 200 small stone tools, knives and needle-like “microliths” among others were excavated at a small village in West Bengal's Murshidabad district."The discovery indicates that an ancient civilisation existed in this part of Bengal and the stone tools, besides agate, quartz, chert and chalcedony were found to be used by a hunting tool-producing community in the pre-historic period," an archaeology department official said. — PTI

Pollution in Ganga
Lucknow: Despite hundreds of crores of rupees being spent to clean the Ganga, the lifeline of north India, pollution levels in the river have reached septic levels at certain points with dissolved oxygen dropping to alarmingly low levels. The samples tested by the laboratories set up under the 'Clean Ganga Campaign' of the Sankat Mochan foundation show that the river is dirty in the upstream Assi Ghat area and by the time it reaches Varuna Sangam, it attains septic levels, said hydraulic expert and Prof Vir Bhadra Misra. — PTI