New Delhi, June 10
In a veiled reference to Pakistan’s clandestine proliferation attempts, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee has asserted that the pursuit of clandestine activities in respect of nuclear technologies was unacceptable and dangerous.

“All states must transparently live up to the international commitments that they have undertaken,” he said in his address at the international conference “Towards a world free of nuclear weapons.”

Mukherjee said international efforts towards a nuclear weapon free world could be fruitful only when backed by a solid and sustainable consensus among all states.

“The forums are there, the tools are known and many of the pathways, notably that of de-legitimisation, are familiar to all. What is required is a commitment. In India, we are willing and our commitment is firm,” he added.

Mukherjee pointed out to the gathering that India was not a nuclear power in 1988 when Rajiv Gandhi enunciated his theory of complete nuclear disarmament. “India today is a nuclear weapon state. However, this does not diminish in any manner our commitment to nuclear disarmament. We are ready to support multilateral negotiations leading to an early conclusion of a nuclear weapons convention prohibiting the development, production, testing, stockpiling, threat or use of nuclear weapons and providing for their elimination,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, the two-day conference ended today with India appealing to the global community to implement Rajiv Gandhi’s action plan to rid the world of nuclear weapons in a time-bound manner.

A plan and timetable on the pattern of the Rajiv Gandhi plan would be essential. A change in the situation was possible only through such an action plan, Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari said.

The conference provided an opportunity to New Delhi to build a consensus among the world’s top nuclear experts and strategists in favour of Rajiv Gandhi’s plan presented to the United Nations Special Session on June 9, 2008. The conclave also marked the 20th anniversary of the ambitious plan.

The Vice-President, himself a former diplomat, said proliferation of nuclear weapons was a threat to international peace and security. “Between the two ends of this spectrum falls the question of production, possession and threat to use of nuclear weapons. It is an irony of Realpolitik that these have so far not been perceived to constitute a threat to international peace and security,” he regretted.

Observing that the question of disarmament had remained in the exclusive domain of states and their experts, Ansari wondered if it was “not time now to open a window or two to let in the fresh breeze of global public opinion.”

New Delhi, June 10
In what is seen as “polite reminder” to the Armed Forces on doing things at the right pace, defence minister A. K. Antony today made it clear to the senior commanders that the defence forces should first spend the budgeted money instead of demanding more allocation.

Sources in the ministry said Antony deviated from his written speech at the unified commanders conference here today and said the systems and procedures in the government were transparent, however, demands of more budgetary allocation have to be matched by spending the existing budget within the given time-frame.

Antony made it known that procurement was not slow and nor was any system preventing spending. His remarks came after Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta, while addressing the meeting had pointed out that procurement was slowing down and hinted that more money was needed. It may be mentioned here that the defence forces have often talk about India’s defence budget being just 1.99 per cent of the GDP, which is one of the lowest in the world. The ideal situation would be 3 per cent of GDP, which is the global average.

Meanwhile, after reacting to recent reports of Chinese incursions and Beijing’s claims over chunks of Indian territory notwithstanding, Antony today said India would follow a non-confrontationist approach towards its neighbours.

“We (India) are not ignoring (these incidents). To a maximum extent, we will try to avoid confrontation,” Antony said.

Over 150 incursions into Indian territory by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops have been reported in the last one year.

“We are in the process of finding solutions to the long standing disputes with China, and the process is continuing,” Antony said replying to a query.

Responding to the recent Pakistani announcement of a freeze in their defence budget and the cuts in the Chinese defence budget, Antony said India’s defence spending was not matching the economic boom that the country had witnessed in the recent past.

Meanwhile. even eight years after recommendation for the creation of a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), a consensus on the issue was still elusive.

“Most of the political parties are still to respond with their suggestions on the issue,” A. K. Antony, told reporters today. Antony said he had recently written a fresh letter to political parties seeking their views for arriving at a consensus on the CDS.

The K Subrahmanyam Committee, set up by the NDA government in July 1999 to review the Kargil battle, had made a forceful plea in its report submitted in 2000 for having a CDS as the single point interface between the government and the Armed Forces.

New Delhi, June 10
'Pulijanmam' (Malyalam), directed by Priyanandanan, bagged the prestigious 'Swarna Kamal' (Golden Lotus) in the Best Feature Film category of the 54th National Film Awards, 2006, announced here today.

The citation for 'Pulijanmam', produced by M G Vijay, said it was ''a layered film that uses metaphors to address global and local issues of contemporary society.'' The award carried a cash prize of Rs 2,50,000.

Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee and Tamil film star Priyamani both got the Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) as the Best Actor and Best Actress for their role in 'Podokkhepand' and 'Paruthi Veeran', respectively.

Sanjay Dutt-starrer 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai', directed by Rajkumar Hirani, won the award for the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. The award has been given ''for revalidating the philosophy of non-violence in a strife-torn world and helping rediscover the Gandhi within the common man,'' the citation said. The film also got awards in the categories of Best lyrics, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.

Madhur Bhandarakar got the top film honour as Best Director for his film 'Traffic Signal' (Hindi). The award for Best Music direction went to Ashok Patki for Antarnad (Konkani).

The Indira Gandhi Award for the Best First Film of a Director went jointly to Ekantham (Malyalam) and Kabul Express (Hindi) directed by Madhukaithapuram and Kabir Khan, respectively. The best film award in the non-feature film category was bagged by ‘Bishar Blues’ by Amitabh Chakraborty. The awards for 2007 will be announced later. The delay was caused by the court orders for stay obtained by a member of the jury who had challenged the criteria for inclusion of films for consideration of the awards.

The top honour for playback singing was bagged by Gurdas Mann for Waris Shah Ishq Da Waris (Punjabi) in the male category while the best Female Playback Singer Award went to Aarti Anklekar Tikekar for Anatarnad (Konkani). The Award for Best Child Artiste went to Divya Chahadakar for her role in Anatarnad.

Dilip Prabhavalkar got the Best Supporting Actor honour for 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai', whereas Konkana Sen Sharma was adjudged the Best Supporting Actress for her role in ‘Omkara’ (Hindi). The award for Best Cinematography went to Goutam Ghose for 'Yatra' (Hindi).

The honour for the Best Screenplay was shared by Abhijit Joshi, Raj Kumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra for 'Lage Raho Munnabhai’.

The Special Jury Award went to Vishal Bhardawaj for 'Omkara'. In the Non-Feature Film category, the award for Best First Film of a director was bagged by Jacob Verghese for 'Andhiyam'.

The Award for Best biographical/ historical reconstruction film was given jointly to 'Minukku' and 'Guru Laimayum Thambalngoubi'. The honour for Best Environmental Film was given to 'Kalpavriksha-Legacy of Forests' by Nina Subramani.

The Award for Best Film on Social Issues went to 'Children of Nomads' by Meenakshi Vinay Rai.'Mere Desh ki dharti' won the Best Investigative Film honour. The award for Best Direction in the non-feature film category went to 'Ek Aadesh-Command for Choti' by Ramesh Asher. — UNI

New Delhi, June 10
Minister of state for commerce and industry Ashwini Kumar has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that there was a strong case for relief to small farmers of Punjab who remain indebted to non-institutional credit agencies despite the government’s multi-crore loan waiver scheme.

“Whether through enforcement of relevant provisions in the Sir Chhotu Ram Act of 1935 or of any of other relevant legislations those marginal farmers living in penury and abject poverty in Punjab and elsewhere need to be rescued from perennial debt trap that has led to suicides and loss of dignity of our farmers,” the minister said in his letter dated June 9.

The Tribune, on the basis of a study, had reported on Monday that small and marginal farmers of Punjab would not be able to gain from the loan waiver as many of them had taken loans from non-institutional sources.

Quoting the report, the minister urged the Prime Minister to “explore all possibilities for providing succour to the farmers”.

“An effective enforcement mechanism of the existing legislation and /or introduction of new legislation to ensure that moneylenders do not recover any interest or notional interest on the principal amount of loans to marginal farmers.

The government may wish to consider other measures to effectuate the spirit behind the loan waiver even with respect to those small and marginal farmers who may not be directly covered by the waiver scheme,” he said.

A study of 200 suicide cases in Sangrur, Bathinda, Mansa and Ferozepur districts conducted by Gurpreet Singh and R.S. Ghuman disclosed that the green revolution of the late 1970s had done nothing for small and marginal farmers in Punjab. 

New Delhi, June 10
If you thought call centres were only meant to address business-related queries, come again. The government today wielded its innovative wand by setting up one to deal with the issue of population stabilisation in India.

“People will marry and continue to have children. You can involve them in a way that they treat this challenge as their own,” said Shailaja Chandra, executive director at the health ministry’s National Population Stabilisation Fund. The fund today partnered with vCustomer Corporation, an international leader in delivering customer care, to provide call centre support to people and counsel them on reproductive health, family planning and infant health issues.

Anyone interested in aforesaid information can now simply call on 6666-5555 to get advice. Call centre agents in the newly set up arrangement have been trained by medical professionals to handle such queries. Yesterday, there were 507 calls from remote corners of Faislabad and other such areas of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

With the new initiative, all calls to a single number in India (6666-5555) will be routed to the centralised vCustomer contact centre based in Delhi, where agents will clear doubts and tell people what to do.

With its new service, the health ministry wants to target smaller towns of the northern states with poor maternal and child health indicators. The service, first in India, will not be toll-free. Normal call rates will be charged. As for support, it will be given in English and Hindi.

New Delhi, June 10
The government today intervened at the highest possible level to prevent Star Plus from airing any controversial bit on Arushi Talwar in a Balaji Telefilms serial.

Admittedly “under pressure from all quarters”, minister of information and broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi personally spoke to Star Plus authorities late this evening, asking them not to air any such serial as it would offend the sensibilities of people and interfere with the course of investigations in the case.

“I am under tremendous pressure from both the minister of women and child development Renuka Choudhury and the commission for protection of child rights whose member I have met. I have tried to resolve the issue by asking the channel concerned to not air any such serial,” Damunshi said, after meeting Sandhya Bajaj, member of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), on this subject.

He added that although it was not legally possible for the government to prevent anyone from making a serial, it was possible to prevent the same from going on air. Dasmunshi spoke to Uday Shankar of Star Plus on this matter and the latter reportedly honoured the minister’s word.

Earlier at the meeting, Bajaj urged Dasmunshi to act in view of the complaint filed yesterday by Nupur Talwar, mother of the murdered teenager Arushi Talwar. In her representation to the commission, Nupur wrote: “Balaji Telefilms, taking undue advantage of the publicity of this case, have now claimed on record that they will incorporate the Arushi killing as part of the popular daily soap Kahani ghar ghar ki.”

For its part, the NCPCR today issued a notice to Balaji Telefilms, warning them of dire consequences in case they aired a serial on Arushi, whose murder the CBI is still investigating.

“If any stage Balaji Telefilms is found to have committed any act amounting to the violation of rights of the deceased child for the purpose of commercial gain, we will initiate stern legal action which shall entirely be at your cost and consequence,” Sandhya Bajaj wrote to Balaji Telefilms today, after meeting Renuka Choudhry. Choudhry also decried the move on Balaji’s part as “unfortunate and insensitive.”

Ghaziabad: A court here today rejected the bail application of dentist Rajesh Talwar, the alleged main accused in the double murder of his daughter, Arushi, and domestic help in Noida, on the grounds that it was not empowered to hear the plea.

Special Magistrate for CBI cases Sapna Mishra rejected his bail application saying that the matter could be taken up by a sessions court only.

New Delhi, June 10
Imagine a scenario that a communication satellite or a defence (spy) satellite of India is brought down. It will halt a large chunk of telephony and stop weapons based on global positing systems from firing besides preventing pilotless airborne spying aircraft from taking-off.

With such threats and China already having acquired the ability to shoot down satellites using missiles, India today announced setting up of a cell to counter threats to its space-based assets. China had destroyed its ageing weather satellite about 500 km above the earth in January 2007 raising fear of space-based assets across the globe.

The space cell, under the aegis of the integrated defence services headquarters, is to act as a single window between the Armed Forces, department of space and Indian Space Research Organisation to work out measures to protect India’s space-based assets.

Defence minister A. K. Antony today announced the new cell and said India remains committed to non-weaponisation of space, emergence of offensive counter space systems and anti-satellite weaponry posed new threats that had to be countered.

Antony said new threats to space-assets were also emerging from building of new class of heavy lift and small boosters and improved array of military space systems in the country’s neighbourhood. The reference was to China.

The announcement comes in the wake of India recently putting into orbit a number of specialised satellites, including the nation’s first-ever dedicated military satellite this year.

New Delhi, June 10
Having botched up its campaign in the last Gujarat assembly elections, the Congress is now veering round to the view that it should not focus its attack on Chief Minister Narendra Modi alone but pitch for an ideological battle with the BJP by making it a fight between Gandhi and Godse.

The Congress has decided to fall back on Gandhi and Gandhian ideas and ideals in its desperate effort to revive the party in the land of Mahatma. Besides pursuing Gandhi’s secular path, the party plans to emulate him by reaching out to the poor and the dispossessed by “reinventing the charka”, a powerful tool in the country’s freedom struggle. The new, modified “e-charkha” is being planned as the party’s new symbol of rural regeneration.

This was decided at a two-day “chintan shivir” organised by the Congress at the pilgrim city of Dwarka over the last weekend where all state leaders brainstormed about how it should counter the BJP in Gujarat in the run-up to next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

In keeping with the party’s decision to avoid a personalised campaign, the Gujarat declaration finalised at this meet makes no mention of BJP’s Hindutva mascot Narendra Modi. Instead, the party resolved to meet the challenge posed by the communal forces represented by the Sangh Parivar such as the BJP, RSS, Bajrang Dal and the VHP by launching a save Gujarat movement.

The declaration only maintains that the continuation of the present dispensation in Gujarat is dangerous as it is fanning communalism, adding that the save Gujarat movement will attempt to bring people back to the path shown by Gandhi through special “ghostis” at the state, district and block levels.

“We will focus on the BJP and its ideology, not an individual. In that case, we will be no different from the BJP which keeps targeting Sonia Gandhi,” remarked a senior Gujarat Congress leader.

Congress leaders who participated in this meet said as a legatee of Gandhian values, it was decided that the Congress would reach out to the people in the land of Mahatma by asking them: “Do you want an India of Gandhiji or Godse?”

But in pushing Gandhi’s secular agenda, the Congress has also taken care to see that it is not accused of appeasing the minorities and, in the process, alienating the others. Playing the soft Hindutva line, the Congress has pointed out that Gandhi was the biggest Ram bhakt, but his Ram dhun also has “Allah Ishwar tero naam, sab ko samiti de bhagvan”. At the same time, the Congress also explained how the party defines secularism as the BJP is constantly accusing the grand old party of indulging in “minority game”. To put the record straight, the Congress said its secular ideal was “Sarva Dharma Sambhav” or equal respect for all religions.

Mumbai, June 10
A press note issued by the Maharashtra government’s publicity department today stated that shops and establishments in the state should compulsorily have their nameplates displayed in Marathi.

The note stated that the government had issued a notification on May 31 that brought within its ambit shops, commercial organisations, hotels, theatres and restaurants.

However, shopkeepers in most parts of Mumbai say they have been observing the rules that have been in the statute.

New Delhi, June 10
BJP leader L.K. Advani has regretted releasing a book on Benazir Bhutto, authored by London-based journalist Shyam Bhatia, recently saying its contents are disturbing for any one who knew the former Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The book “Goodbye Shahzadi” claimed that Bhutto as Prime Minister of Pakistan had smuggled out nuclear technology to North Korea and in return brought home missile technology from there.

BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy quoted Advani to say here that, “I regret having attended the function. Had I read the contents of the book, I would not have gone for the book launch.”

Rudy explained that Advani personally apologised to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) spokesman Farhatullah Babar when Babar called him over phone to register his protest over Advani releasing the book last month.

Advani said Benazir was a good friend of his and that “the contents of the book are disturbing for anyone who knew her”, Rudy said.

Advani attended the function when he was strongly persuaded and he stayed there for only a few minutes, Rudy said adding, “The few words he spoke during the launch were based on the glimpses of the book which he was told.”

The BJP spokesman said, “Things have been put in better perspective after Babar spoke to Advani.”

Reacting to this controversial book, the PPP had contemplated legal action against Bhatia for levelling allegations against Bhutto. It had also expressed surprise at Advani’s decision to launch the book.

New Delhi, June 10
A married woman's self-acquired wealth can also be given to her parents, apart from her husband, children and their relatives, in case she dies without writing a will, the Law Commission has recommended.

The proposal, which is part of the panel's 207th report, may benefit the elderly parents of rich women who are the only child of their parents. The report, submitted to law minister H.R. Bhardwaj by commission chairman Justice A.R. Lakshmanan today, may also make life easy for elderly who face financial hardships due to ill-treatment by their own sons and daughters-in-law.

Such elderly may now get a financial cushion by way of getting a share in their married daughter's property after her death.

The report seeks to promote gender equality and remove an anomaly in Section 15 of the Hindu Succession Act, commission's member secretary D.P. Sharma said. In case parents of such a woman are dead, he added, her brother and sister would get a share in her riches. The Act seemed to be biased against parents and relatives of a wealthy woman. For instance, if a rich woman died leaving behind a mother-in-law and mother, then only her mother-in-law could acquire her wealth. — PTI

BRIEFLY

SP activists protest against price rise
Hardwar: After the ruling BJP, the Samajwadi Party (SP) also swung into action against the price rise in the holy town. Criticising the Congress as well as the BJP responsible for the hike in the prices of essential commodities followed by the fresh increase in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG, hundreds of SP activists today took out a protest march here. The activists, led by state party president Ambrish Kumar, termed both the BJP and the Congress responsible for the price rise. — TNS

Malegaon MP Chavan injured
NASHIK: BJP MP from Malegaon, Harishchandra Chavan, was injured in a road accident here on Tuesday. He was on way to Niphad from Nashik when his vehicle dashed against a three-wheeler near Gondegaon Pahta in Niphad taluka of the district. Besides Chavan, his bodyguard and driver were also injured. The injured were recuperating at a private hospital, sources said. — UNI

TN may give up free TV scheme
CHENNAI: As spiralling inflation, coupled with recent increase in fuel prices, pushed up the cost of basic commodities causing widespread concern among people, the DMK government in Tamil Nadu is under pressure from its friends and foes alike to give up freebies, like free colour TV scheme, which helped it to come to power in the 2006 polls. DMK's ally, PMK and the Left parties had been demanding the withdrawal of free distribution of TV and LPG stoves schemes. They wanted, instead, funds to be diverted to lower sales tax on petroleum products. — PTI