New Delhi, May 28
Amnesty International’s 2008 human rights report shames India considerably. Tracking the violation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by India, and 153 other countries, the report asks governments to “apologise for six decades of human rights failure”. It refers to Darfur, Zimbabwe, Gaza, Iraq and Myanmar as “human rights flashpoints in need of immediate action.”

Globally released today by Amnesty’s secretary-general Irene Khan, the report shows that 60 years after the UDHR was adopted, people are still tortured in at least 81 countries, face unfair trials in at least 54 countries and are not allowed to speak freely in at least 77 countries.

India is, particularly, insensitive to economic, social, cultural rights of people, with 300 million still in poverty, states the report, making unwelcome references to India’s acceptance of death penalty. At least 100 persons were sentenced to death in India although no executions took place.

The report also shows how India is replicating the US model of fighting terror, with human rights situation in West Bengal, Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat worsening. Around 50,000 Adivasi continue to be displaced from Dantewada in Chattisgarh.

Nandigram is also under Amnesty’s scanner, with the report stating: “Here private militia owning allegiance to the ruling Communist Party of India (M) battled for territorial control. A range of human rights violations happened including unlawful killings, forced evictions and excessive police force.” In Orissa, injuries were caused to over 50 people involved in protests against forced displacements.

An exhaustive section of the India report is contributed by Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland and Assam, where evidence shows that state and non-state actors continued to enjoy impunity for torture, deaths in custody, abductions and disappearances.

“Little progress was made in the peace initiatives over Kashmir and Nagaland,” rues the report, reminding India that it signed the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances in February but is yet to ratify the Convention against Torture and another for protection of rights of all migrant workers and their families.

India report was released in the capital by Murshirul Hasan, Jamia Milia Ismalia’s V-C and Amnesty (India) director Mukul Sharma, who later presented its copy to National Human Rights Commission chairperson Justice S. Rajendra Babu.

India apart, the report assesses 153 nations against promises made under UDHR and actual performance. Article 1 states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, but the report shows how in the first half of the last year, 250 women were killed by violent husbands or family members in Egypt; on an average two women were raped there every hour.

At the end of 2007, there were over 600 people detained without charge at the US airbase in Bagram, Afghanistan; 25,000 were held by Multinational Force in Iraq; 54 countries were recorded as conducting unfair trials; 800 people were held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002, and 45 countries were still detaining “Prisoners of Conscience.” 

Tezpur, May 28
The Army wants more stringent laws to back the counter-insurgency operation in Assam. The General Officer-in-Commanding (GOC) of the 4 Corps of the Army, B.S. Jaswal, told mediapersons here today that the Army was perturbed over jailed-hardcore members of the insurgent groups rejoining ranks of those outfits, once they were released from jails.

“We must have some legal provisions in place that will keep apprehended insurgents in jails for a longer period so that they lose motivation as well as contacts with leaders, and it becomes impossible for them to rejoin the groups after their release,” he said.

He rued that the fruits of the sustained counter-insurgency operations in Assam to some extent got neutralised because of recycling of apprehended insurgents. “I have already taken up the matter with the higher authorities. We are also preparing a list of such instances when hardcore terrorists have come back to the ranks of the militants groups,” he added.

The Army official, who heads the counter-insurgency operation in Assam, claimed that the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) had nexus with fundamentalist elements hiding among the illegal migrant population in Assam.

“Though there is no direct evidence of the ULFA targeting the illegal migrants for fresh recruitment, there is definitely nexus between the ULFA and the illegal migrants. At least 30 per cent of ULFA cadres neutralised in Western Assam since last year were from the illegal migrants population,” he said.

He claimed that the ULFA was facing crisis of leaders after surrender of at least 80 of its leaders since last year. He informed that top leaders of the ULFA, who are taking shelter outside the country, were keeping regular contacts with the cadres in the state as reflected in messages intercepted by the Army. “However, of late, the communication between the cadres here and their leaders in Bangladesh have come down drastically,” he said.

The Army claimed that insurgency in Assam had degenerated into terrorism that involves dealing with easy money (business). Lt Gen Jaswal informed that the total annual budget of all four active ULFA battalions was around Rs 10 crore.

Mumbai, May 28
The Digambar Kamat government in Goa is facing the after-effects of an upbeat Bharatiya Janata Party, which wants to add one more state to its kitty after Karnataka.

According to sources in Goa, a number of disgruntled MLAs who are part of the Kamat’s Congress Party-led coalition government have already begun talks with BJP leader and former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to form a new government. The scene of action happens to be a Mumbai hospital room where confabulations to topple the government are bring held. Gurudas Gawas, a rebel Congress party MLA, who has been admitted to the hospital with a heart ailment is said to have held a long meeting with other rebels to plot overthrow of the government. Gawas has the support of another rebel Congress party MLA Sham Satardekar.

Such is the situation that as a damage control measure Kamat flew down to Mumbai to inquire about the health of Gawas and held meetings in a bid to rein him in.

Sources said the rebellion is led by Independent MLA and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane. Two similar bids by Rane almost brought down the government with Kamat openly seeking divine intervention to save his position as the Chief Minister.

The composition of the 40-member Goa assembly is badly fractured. The Congress party has 16 MLAs of its own to which were added two MLAs of the Save Goa Front. The NCP and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party has three and two MLAs respectively.

In addition to two Independent MLAs, there is the lone unattached member of the United Goans Democratic Party Atnasio Monserrate. The BJP with 14 MLAs is trying to get the two rebel Congress MLAs to resign from their seats in order to throw the ruling party into disarray.

The BJP’s earlier plans to topple the government have been thwarted as the NCP’s Central leadership leaned on the party’s three MLAs to stick with the Kamat government. The most vocal NCP MLA Mickey Pachecho, who hit out Kamat in open public, was threatened with suspension from the party.

Observers said Vishwajit Rane has the support of his father and former Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane, who is now the speaker of the Goa Assembly. The Speaker’s office is very crucial in case of a fractured mandate and Vishwajit shrewdly negotiated the top job for his father as a pre-condition for backing the Congress government shortly after last June’s elections.

Kamat, who bought time earlier this year by offering the prized public works department ministry to the MGP, is facing fresh demands from the party. The PWD minister Sudhin Dhavalikar is now demanding more plum portfolios like the finance ministry in order to stay in the government, sources added.

Meanwhile, sections of the Congress party are demanding that Kamat should dissolve the assembly and go in for fresh elections.

New Delhi, May 28
Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council wants the government to pay its employees in phased manner and deposit part of the estimated arrear of 18,000 crore in their Provident Fund while implementing the sixth pay panel report to minimise its impact on inflation.

“Since the payment of arrears in cash could result in marginal rise in inflation rate due to spurt in demand for various products, the EAC has said that government should consider depositing part of the arrears due to employees in provident fund and pay the remaining amount in a phased manner,” official sources said.

The council, headed by noted economist and former Reserve Bank governor C. Rangarajan, is of the opinion that the payment of arrears in one go could result in further rise in prices, especially of manufactured goods and consumer products.

“The government had paid the arrears in a phased manner while implementing the report of previous Pay Commissions, so it can consider it again,” said Rangarajan.

The council, which advises Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on important economic matters, had earlier said the inflation rate could come down to 5 to 5.5 per cent after about four months following good monsoon and measures taken by the government. — PTI

New Delhi, May 28
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has got cracking on its ambitious plan to set up South Asia’s first national police university in Bhondsi, Haryana.

The proposal was approved by the Cabinet recently. The ministry has already acquired 200 acres of land for a sprawling campus for the university. Union home minister Shivraj Patil, who conceptualised the project, chaired a meeting yesterday to review the progress on this project. It is looking at a time frame of two years.

Special secretary (internal security), home ministry, Mahendra Kumawat, told The Tribune here that their objective is to set up a futuristic and the police specific world class institution. "This will accrue two clear advantages- to create a professional police force and faculty needed to run such a university. The doors of the university will be open to anybody who is interested in the academic and research aspects of policing.’’

Kumawat said the ministry required to submit a detailed project proposal to the government within two months. "The initial expenditure is estimated to be Rs 300 crore. We have started looking at best practices being followed by the police universities around the world. ’’

Kumawat said the university would offer a futuristic curriculum, which would provide a multi-disciplinary approach to the policing.

The project is inspired by the belief among the senior officers of the ministry of home affairs that it is very important to equip the ordinary police officers with updated knowledge in a highly specialised world.

The ministry plans to bring to the campus some of the best known police and the intelligence officers from India and abroad as guest faculty.

The Punjab government is also keen on setting up a police university in Phillaur, Near Ludhiana. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal announced the government’s plan to set up such a university on March 21 this year after reviewing the annual pass out parade at the Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur.

Mumbai, May 28
Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt’s marriage to his girlfriend, starlet Mannyata, has finally received a go-ahead from the Mumbai Sessions Court.

The court today dismissed a petition filed by Mehraj Sheikh who claims to be the legal husband of the actress. The court upheld the contention of Manyata that she was legally divorced from Sheikh.

Dutt had married Mannyata in Goa and Mumbai earlier this year.

However the event ended in a controversy after it transpired that the duo had fraudulently claimed to be residents of that state.

Noida, May 28
The all-India Jagriti Yatra, Guru Manyo Granth, will reach Noida tomorrow. After a night stay in Ghaziabad today, the procession will be received by Sikh sangat of Noida in Sector 62 for about half-an-hour near the Mamora crossing at 11 am.

After a stop of about half-an-hour at Sector 62, the convoy will proceed to other gurdwaras of the town.

The next stop of the procession will be near Flex factory and then it will move towards Sector 12 gurdwara near Nehru Bal Bhawan. The procession will stop here for refreshment and langar around 1 pm to 2 pm.

From Sector 12, the convoy will proceed to Sector 25 gurdwara and to Sector 37, Guru Nanak Mission Gurdwara via Sahara Complex, Noida Stadium, Shipra Mall, Gurdwara, Sector 25, opposite community centre Sector 21, Jal Vayu Vihar, D.M. residence, Kailash hospital, DPS crossing, road dividing Sector 30 -28, Red Market in Sector 37.

Refreshments will be served en-route. After a few minutes stay at Guru Nanak Mission Gurdwara in Sector 37, the procession will be accorded a reception outside the Army Public School at 5 pm. Then it will proceed towards Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Sector 18 Noida via Ganga Shopping centre, Atta crossing etc, reaching there tentatively by 7 pm. After a night stay at Sector 18 gurdwara, Noida, the procession will proceed towards New Delhi on Friday, May 30.

The 300 years of the Guru Granth Sahib is being celebrated through a year-long programme throughout the country. The Jagriti Yatra started from Takhat Hazoor Sahib, in Abchal Nagar, Nader in Maharashtra, and has already covered Amrtisar, Punjab and Haryana.

The original hand written copy of the Guru Granth Sahib is being carried in the procession, in a special vehicle, to spread the message of universal brotherhood. Historic arms and weapons used by Guru Gobind Singh and other Sikh heroes are also being shown to the devotees en-route. 

Roorkee, May 28
Moving beyond the conventional method of coating system for preventing corrosion, the fertiliser industries can now rely on the modified epoxy resins coating system to curtail their corrosion losses.

The Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, in its ongoing research over the development of coating system based on modified epoxy resins for fertiliser industries has come out with encouraging results. The results reveal that the overall performance of the coating system based on the modified epoxies are superior to that of the coating system based on conventional methods.

Consequent to the excellent performance of the trial coating system based on modified epoxy resin in variety of environment, the CBRI is working to make use of these modified epoxy resins for the development of environment specific coating system for the fertiliser industries.

The environment in most fertiliser plants is polluted with chemicals and moist fumes, heat, gases surround the structure, causing severe corrosion.

As most of the fertilisers are hygroscopic in nature, the problem of corrosion is compounded and, therefore, need for environment specific coating system has arisen.

“An epoxy cardanol resin and newly synthesised cardanol-based hardener had been developed that has shown superior corrosion protection efficiency as compared to other commercially used epoxy resins,” says Atul Agarwal, a CBRI official.

New Delhi, May 28
Hundreds of Tibetan college students organised a peace march, here today, asking China to hold immediate and meaningful dialogue with their leader the Dalai Lama.

The march from Rajghat to Jantar Mantar by All India Tibetan College Student’s Mass Movement was later joined by former MP Jaya Jaitley and Miss Tibet (2006) Tsering Chundak La.

The former MP said Indians were in full support of their cause and asked them to continue with peaceful protests.

She urged the global community to support their cause. — PTI

Dehra Dun, May 28
Importance of forests has been increasingly emphasised in the climate change mitigation process, as forests are treated as an integral part of international agreements dealing with the climate change alleviation.

This was stated in the inaugural speech of the three-day senior foresters’ workshop delivered by G.K. Prasad, additional director general, Forests, Ministry of Environment and Forests held at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in Dehra Dun today.

The workshop was organised for 1978 Indian Forest Service (IFS) batch. The topics of the workshop were ‘Need to improve effectiveness and performance of the forest development agencies to address issues of sustainable management and global warming’ and ‘Streamlining the mechanism for smooth implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (Recognition Forest Rights) Act 2006 -bottlenecks and grounds realities in states’. As many as 42 IFS officers across the country participated in the session.

The most debatable topic of the day was the Forest Act-2006, which is criticised by many environmentalists and NGOs.

The recommendations on the major problems envisaged in the smooth implementation of the Forest Act will be compiled on the last day of the workshop and sent to the Government of India for further considerations.

BRIEFLY

Hashish seized from courier firm office
SILIGURI (WB): Three kg of hashish with a street value of Rs 1 crore was seized by the Customs from the office of a courier firm in this commercial hub of north Bengal. Assistant Commissioner of Customs H N Meena said on Wednesday that the narcotic, found packed in a polythene bag, was booked with the courier company for sending it to Japan. A sample of the hashish would be sent to Kolkata for proper verification. No arrest has been made so far in this connection. — PTI

Kolkata surpasses Delhi in pollution
KOLKATA: Kolkata has upstaged Delhi as the air pollution capital of India, accounting for more deaths due to lung cancer and heart attack than the capital city. More than 18 persons per one lakh people in Kolkata fall victim to lung cancer every year compared to 13 per one lakh in Delhi, according to environmental scientist and adviser of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) Twisha Lahiri. Not only lung cancer, but also cases of heart attack are also rising in Kolkata, Lahiri said, quoting a six-year survey conducted by the CNCI. — PTI

Documentary on Andamans wins award
PORT BLAIR: “Beyond the Horizon” (Amrit Jal), a short documentary on Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has grabbed the best film award, social issues category, in the Nasik International Film Festival in Nasik recently. “Altogether 90 films were nominated for this section and 11 of them were shortlisted for the finals,” Naresh Chandra Lall, writer and director of the ‘censor passed’ film said here on Tuesday. — UNI

20 killed in fresh storm in UP
LUCKNOW: Twenty persons were killed in a fresh storm that swept through several districts of central Uttar Pradesh, official sources said. Scores of trees were uprooted and mud houses collapsed as the dust storm with a speed of 100 kph, followed by lightning and rain, struck the state. Five persons were killed in Badaun, two each in Sultanpur, Sitapur, Hardoi, Gorakhpur and Unnao, and one each in Raebareli, Faizabad, Gonda, Deoria and Ambedkar Nagar districts. — PTI

ULFA militants kill BRO driver
GUWAHATI: A Border Roads Organisation (BRO) driver was shot dead by ULFA militants at Goalpara district of Assam, BRO sources said on Wednesday. Driver Surendra Paul and two others travelling from here were intercepted at a place, 40 km away from Dudhnoi on NH 62, by the four militants who were following them in another vehicle on Tuesday. The militants shot at them, killing Paul. The two others escaped unhurt. — PTI