New Delhi, August 26
The monsoon session of Parliament, which is conventionally held in July-August, has been scheduled from October 17 to November 21, setting off speculation that this could well be the UPA government’s last session and the country may be staring at a general election in February.

The decision on the schedule of the next Parliament session, which has predictably evoked strong criticism from the Opposition, was taken at a meeting of the cabinet committee for parliamentary affairs today.

The month-long monsoon session usually commences by July-end but this year the UPA government had called a special session of the Lok Sabha on July 21-22 to seek a trust vote after the Left parties withdrew support to the UPA government. Instead of proroguing the House, the ruling coalition chose to keep the session alive requiring only a 20-day notice for Parliament to reconvene.

The Centre had originally decided to call the monsoon session on August 11 but decided against it. Although the BJP and the Left parties have charged the government for running away from Parliament, the Centre has said it was on sound ground as long as it met the Constitutional requirement of holding a session within six months from the last date of the previous one.

Now that the session will be ending as late as November-end, a winter session in December has been ruled out. UPA sources admit that this would be the government’s last full-fledged session. If the next Lok Sabha elections are held as per schedule in April, this government would call a short session in February for a vote-on-account. Alternatively, if the general elections are advanced to February, as is being indicated, it will be left to the new government to take a vote-on-account before the end of the financial year on March 31.

The government was not particularly keen on facing Parliament so soon after the last volatile session when it came under sharp attack from the Opposition for having engineered a victory in the trust vote. The Centre did not want any distractions as it got down to the task of negotiating the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal through the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group as failure on this front would have immediately invited sharp criticism from the BJP and the Left parties whose opposition to the deal is all too well-known. Spiralling inflation and the ongoing agitation in Jammu and Kashmir has also forced the UPA to defer the session.

For the record, however, the government maintained that these dates were finalised after taking into account the travel plans of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee who will be out of the country end-September and beginning October.

The Opposition, however, is not impressed with the government’s explanations and is waiting to put it on the mat for avoiding Parliament. Janata Dal (United) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sharad Yadav remarked: “It is a joke on the Constitution. It is being dubbed a monsoon session but will take place when winter is on its way.”
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad warned that the NDA would hold the government accountable for the “skeletons tumbling out of its cupboard”. “The corrupt and dubious way in which it procured its majority, the rank mishandling of J&K, the highest price rise in 16 years and the mess over SIMI and security are some of the issues on which we will corner them,” he added.

New Delhi, August 26
Even as the Uday Foundation which filed the RTI query that exposed infant deaths at AIIMS moved the National Human Rights Commission on the issue, AIIMS today said none of the infants died due to treatment modality in clinical trials.

In a statement issued today, AIIMS said: “The deaths in children were due to high risk and serious disease conditions that the children suffered from.” The statement came in the wake of certain media reports that suggested that deaths happened due to treatment during trials. “All the trials had approvals of regulatory authorities,” said AIIMS public relations officer, refuting such reports: “Reports in some print and electronic media based on an RTI enquiry have erroneously created an impression that 49 babies died due to the treatments being investigated in clinical trials at AIIMS. Insinuations have been made that AIIMS used new drugs that had earlier been used in children, that these studies were conducted exclusively in India, and selectively on children from poor illiterate families.”

None of these trials was done exclusively on Indian children, the statement said, adding: Medicines for treatment of high BP, namely, Valsartan and Olmesartan, have been marketed in India for over three years.

These drugs have relatively much less side effects than other drugs for blood pressure. Further, this group of medicines has been safely and effectively used in children with high blood pressure worldwide.”

AIIMS also refuted media reports saying that the pharmaceutical funded trials were responsible for the deaths. “Only six of the 42 trials done were funded by pharmaceutical industry and involved about five per cent of the enrolled children,” the PRO said.

New Delhi, August 26
The government has launched a new Ground Water Management and Regulation scheme with an outlay of Rs 460 crore. Merging existing schemes, the new scheme will delineate potential ground water aquifers and hand over 2,500 drilled wells to state governments for augmentation of water supply.

According to the Ministry of Water Resources, existing schemes on the Ground Water Survey, Exploration and Investigation’, Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA), and ‘Studies of Recharge to Ground Water’ through Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) till the 10th Plan have now been integrated as one scheme termed as “The Ground Water Management and Regulation”.

The objective of the new scheme will be to develop web-enabled ground water information services, design artificial recharge and rain water harvesting projects for replication by states and arrest depletion of ground water through regulatory measures.

The capacity building of scientists, planners and other stakeholders and strengthening of coordination and synergy amongst all other stakeholders is a part of the proposed activities.

Ground-water levels have gone down drastically in most states, including Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh in the northern region, Gujarat, Daman and Diu in the west and Andhra and Tamil Nadu in the south. Large parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi fall in the extreme category of over exploitation and experts say that water level in the 70 per cent area of Haryana and 80 per cent of Punjab has gone down

Under the scheme 7.5 square km area will be studied for ground water management in the country during the 11th plan to explore the new aquifer areas through drilling of 4,000 wells and monitor water levels and quality through nationwide network of 15,500 observation wells. The scheme will help in strengthening the Ground Water Resource Management System, delineation of ground water development worthy areas, and developing area specific artificial recharge and rain water harvesting techniques, the Ministry of Water Resources says. 

New Delhi, August 26
The Parliamentary panel probing the cash for votes controversy involving members of Parliament will sit down tomorrow to discuss and deliberate on the evidence and statement of witnesses that have come up before the committee.

Panel chairman V.Kishore Chandra Deo said: “We now have all the evidence and the statements of the witnesses before us. We have to sit and deliberate on these now.”

During the vote of confidence on July 22, three BJP MPs had walked into the House with bagful of currency notes worth Rs one crore claiming that these were sent to them by SP leader and Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh to switch sides and abstain from voting against the UPA government.

The MPs had also claimed that they had filmed all this in a sting operation in collaboration with a TV news channel. The panel was setup to probe the claim of the BJP MPs.

So far the MPs as well as those involved directly and indirectly in the sting operation have appeared before the Parliamentary committee.

The panel has members both from the Opposition as well as from the treasury benches.

New Delhi, August 26
The study of the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan is an “integral part” of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India’s training manual.

The issue helps the SIMI leadership in motivating activists at their physical and mental conditioning training camps. This has been revealed by a top SIMI leader during his interrogation in connection with the recent serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and Bangalore.

A banned book, “Mass Resistance in Kashmir”, is a “must read” at the SIMI”s weapon and jungle warfare training camps, the interrogators were told.

Copies of the book were seized from the possession of some of the SIMI members recently picked up by the Gujarat police in connection with the Ahmedabad and Bangalore blasts last month. Earlier also, copies of the book have been seized from SIMI workers in various states from time to time.

The book, printed and published by the Institute of Policy Research, Islamabad, describes India as “an occupying force in Kashmir” and asks readers to worship the terrorists as “nationalists and resistance heroes.”

The book, claims the publisher, “ carefully examines the history of the Kashmir dispute created by the British and then Indians and outlines the origins, evolution and nature of the mass movement of resistance there.”

The SIMI leader, during interrogation, said: “ At our training workshops, we project jehadi groups coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan or from anywhere else as heroes, fighting in Kashmir against the Indian forces, and we utilise the Kashmir issue to bind our activists together by highlighting violation of human rights by Indian security agencies there.”

“ When we tell our activists attending SIMI training camps that women are being raped, youths are being shot dead and children are being tortured in Kashmir, they get agitated, and, thus, motivated to take revenge on the Indian system,” the SIMI leader told his interrogators.

When a copy of “Mass Resistance in Kashmir” was seized by the police from a SIMI activist in Kerala some time ago, they found it carried the address of the Jamaat-e-Islami library in Kozhikode. Interestingly, when the library records were checked, they showed that the book was issued to SIMI that has been banned by the Central government three times for anti-national activities.

The interrogation of SIMI members, arrested for the Ahmedabad and Bangalore serial bomb blasts in July, has revealed that the banned organisation has been operating in Kerala under 12 different names. At least, two of these are located in the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram, and a third in the port city of Kochi.

SIMI has also been found distributing several booklets, articles, photographs and CDs containing “seditious and anti-national remarks”. They depict India’s physical map showing Kashmir as part of Pakistan. Most of these have been found printed in Pakistan.

SIMI”s training literature also talks about the plan to whip up anti-Hindu and anti-Army sentiments among the Muslims by focussing on the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya, the Gujarat riots and human rights “violations” by the Indian security forces in Kashmir.

Various documents seized from SIMI members in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal also reveal SIMI”s plan to divide the Hindu society by turning OBCs, SCs, STs and Vanavasis against the upper castes. 

Chandigarh, August 26
What happens when reason meets rhyme? A Sibal special is born. And indeed “i witness” by the former top legal eagle is a smooth transition of a man from logic to lyrics.

Union science and technology minister Kapil Sibal's maiden poetical venture was released by Haryana Governor Dr A. R. Kidwai in a hall packed with distinguished guests, including Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune H. K. Dua and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, at Raj Bhavan here on Tuesday.

"We have worked together for a long time, yet I never realised his poetic side. The man is an excellent lawyer, an excellent parliamentarian and an excellent poet," said Kidwai in his address.

Dua welcomed the poet on his own soil. Praising the theme dealt within the collection of poems, he said, “Sibal’s range of themes is as wide as his arguments in the court.”

The evening saw varied colours of the minister as he read out poems ranging from universal emotions like father-son relationship, mother’s love, environment, inflation, law, politics and technology etc.

Sibal started with his poem, ‘What’s in a Name’, which showcases his wit, satire and humour.

The conversation between Sibal and Dua brought out the positive outlook that the minister has exhibited in his poems as including ‘Tsunami,’ ‘Human spirit/shall resurrect/triumphantly’. The poem is especially close to his heart, as Sibal was minister in charge at the time of natural disaster. Sibal confirmed his faith in young India which, he is confident, will take nation to new heights.

The audience was with the duo in conversation, applauding with clapping and occasional comments. Jaspal Bhatti had his dig at “i witness” if Sibal meant “eyewitness”.

Dua hailed the poet for espousing the cause of the Indian womanhood in ‘The lioness’: ‘like a colossus she will rise/to see the turn of tide’.

Sibal with passion and vigour read out poem after poem on issues close to his heart, including cricket, wherein he admitted he is partial to classical cricket form.

Sibal’s favourite poem of the lot is ‘Nano’, in which he expresses the future possibilities of the echnology.

The end of the evening saw some newly composed poems on the minister’s black and red Blackberry, including one on Abhinav Bindra’s Olympic gold in which the poet hails him as “India’s shooting star”. 

Mumbai, August 26
Investigators on the lookout for suspects in the Ahmedabad serial blasts conducted raids in a number of neighbourhoods in Mumbai yesterday.

According to sources, a number of places were raided in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and the suburbs of Mumbra. The police said they were on the lookout for one Abdul Subhan Qureshi who is believed to be hiding in Mumbai after playing a major role in carrying out the terror attacks in Ahmedabad.

The Mumbai link to the Gujarat blasts came shortly after the incidents on July 26 when it transpired that vehicles used to carry out the bombings were stolen from the city. A team of car thieves from Central India was suspected to have helped the bombers but the police is yet to make any headway in tracing them.

According to information put out by the Gujarat police, Qureshi is said to have left Ahmedabad days before the blasts. The police say that Qureshi is an important activist of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India and is an expert in computers though he does not hold a degree in computer engineering. Qureshi also worked with computer firm Wipro and is said to have quit to pursue his ‘religious interests’.

The police say Qureshi may have hacked into the computers of American national Ken Haywood and sent the e-mails to media outlets warning of the blasts minutes before the incidents.

However, raids at several places in Gujarat and Bangalore over the past fortnight haven’t yielded any results. The police now suspects that Qureshi may be holed up in either Mumbai or in its outskirts.

Security has been tightened in areas like Mumbra and Mira Road, which have a substantial number of Muslim residents. Mumbra has been on the radar of the authorities after some activists of the Lashkar-e-Toiba were arrested from that township a few years ago. Detailed plans of the Bombay High and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s residence had been recovered from them.

Guwahati, August 26
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, while addressing the faculty and students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-G), here today, said an amount of Rs 2,75,000 crore would be invested during the 11th plan period to undertake an education revolution that would aim at creating a pool of 500 million trained human resources by the year 2020.

He also called for intensive knowledge collaboration between the corporate sector and eminent educational institutions in tune with the global trend.

Dr Singh announced that the knowledge investment was aimed at massive expansion of elementary and secondary education besides setting up world-class institutes in the fields of management, technology, science, education and research.

“We are beginning a major expansion of secondary schooling. In higher education we are building eight new IITs, seven new IIMs, 16 new Central universities, 14 world-class universities and five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, of which few are already functioning,” he said.

“We have tried to address the uneven geographical spread of higher education facilities in this phase of rapid expansion. The northeast and Assam in particular have received its due share of such institutions. Ten new National Institutes of Technology, 20 Indian Institutes of Information Technology and a thousand new Polytechnics are all being established in this Five Year Plan to provide our youth with vocational and professional educational opportunities to realise their individual potential and create a globally competitive India,” the PM added.

To the students, the PM said: “The Nation has invested heavily in IITs so that best brains are given the opportunity to fire their imagination. The country expects you to use your creativity, enterprise, leadership and innovation to solve challenging problems. 

Patna, August 26
With the Kosi river continuing to unleash its fury in Supaul, Araria, Madhepura and Saharsa districts of Bihar bordering Nepal, the Army was today called out to help the marooned people.

The Army will work in addition to three IAF helicopters dropping relief materials for the sixth day today.

The water gushing in torrents through the breach in the east Kosi afflux embankment at upstream Kusaha village In Nepal that has widened to more than two km now and is still stretching, devastated fresh areas in the four districts, according to Disaster Management Department Additional Commissioner Pratyay Amrit.

An Army contingent, comprising about 100 men and officers with ten motorboats have rushed to Madhepura and one more IAF chopper, in addition to three already pressed into service would join in the relief operations from tomorrow, he told PTI.

Hundreds of jawans and officers of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Special Auxiliary Police (SAP), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and district police are already engaged to provide succour to the lakhs of people affected by the deluge.

“Nearly 25 lakh people are waging a grim battle against the floods which have assumed proportions of a catastrophe. The nature is putting my government to test once again, but we will succeed,” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said while addressing party workers, who he called upon to plunge wholeheartedly into providing relief to the suffering masses. — PTI 

Lucknow, August 26
A local court here today sentenced Waliullah to 13 years of imprisonment in the Varanasi serial blasts case and imposed a penalty of Rs 1.05 lakh in two different cases, even as the Judge acquitted the accused in other cases, including sedition.

Additional Session Judge Samsher Tripathi pronounced the judgement of 10 years’ imprisonment and over Rs one lakh fine under Section 15/16 of the Unlawful Act, while another three years of imprisonment and Rs 5,000 penalty under Section 3/25 of the Arms Act for possessing a foreign-made pistol.

Government counsel Aslam Javed Siddiqui said generally a penalty under Section 15 was imposed for involvement in terrorist activities. Siddiqui further said the outlaw was not charged under the IPC sections as no documentary evidence was found against him.

Waliullah, a resident of Phulpur in Allahabad district, was arrested under Gosaiganj police station in the state capital on April 5, 2006, when he was coming to Lucknow from Haidergarh.

The police had recovered 1.5 kg of RDX, two detonators and one foreign-made pistol from his possession. But during the court hearing the police did not mention the recovery of RDX and detonators in its chargesheet. Waliullah was also accused of harbouring terrorists involved in the Varanasi serial blasts that occurred on March 7, 2006, and the police during investigations said he provided a rented room and pressure cookers and explosives to them in Allahabad.

Later, Waliullah fled to Haidergarh when the explosions rocked the temple city.

Cases under various sections of the IPC along with sections of the Unlawful Activities Act and the Arms Act were registered against him.

Altogether eight witnesses appeared for the prosecution’s side, while just one witness was presented by the counsel of the accused. — UNI 

Lucknow, August 26
The station officer of the Dumariaganj police station in Siddharthnagar, initially investigating the counterfeit currency racket, was yesterday suspended for pocketing a sizeable portion of the recovered amount.

SP Siddharthnagar R.P. Chaturvedi confirmed the suspension of Shamsher Bahadur Singh. He said action against the policeman was taken after it was found that he had deposited Rs 4 lakh in his account.

The money was seized during a raid at the residence of SBI chief cashier Sudhakar Tripathi, prime accused in the case.

On July 29, the state STF had arrested the SBI chief cashier on a lead given by self-styled journalist Abid in Lucknow.

A sum of Rs 7,21,000, including fake notes, was seized from Tripathi's house by a team including the suspended policeman. Later, cash found missing from the recovered booty was traced to the policeman’s account.

Meanwhile, former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Jagdambika Pal has suggested to the state government to hand over the case to the STF in case the CBI was interested in investigating the matter. 

Roorkee, August 26
In a bid to combat forest mafia, the Uttarakhand police in Manglore has launched a special drive to nail their illicit activities.

In a special drive launched against the organised mafia and curb illicit felling and smuggling of forest produce, the Manglore police has seized nearly 200 illegally felled trees, priced worth lakhs of rupees during the past three months in the region.

Police sleuths had been organising checks and raids in the Manglore area that ought to be a corridor for the inter-state forest mafia due to its bordering with state of Uttar Pradesh. The police in four different cases has arrested nearly seven persons and booked them under Section 4/10 of the UP Forest Act. 

Dehra Dun, August 26
Yoga guru Ashwani expressed strong reservation over tendencies among yoga teachers to commercialise the same.

Yogi Ashwani, who was in Dehra Dun today, held that while there were yoga teachers who believed in gathering more and more students in order to make fast money, such tendencies were definitely not in the interests of the practice.

Guru-shishya parampara has been the main focus of Guru Ashwani’s teaching of yoga which involves no charge of money. "Yoga is no business but complete sadhana and the entire purpose is lost if any aspect of it is adulterated or modified according to one's requirements,” said Guru Ashwani.

He also gave a demonstration to the Doonites under the aegis of Dhyan foundation which was attended by a large number of people.

An honours degree holder in Economics from the Delhi University, Yogi Ashwani has been working to promote yoga in the country for the past two decades.

Tirupati, August 26
Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi today launched his party ‘Praja Rajyam’ in true cinematic style before a huge gathering of his fans and supporters here today and pledged to work for change and social justice and root out political corruption in Andhra Pradesh.

The 53-year-old matinée idol and son of a police constable outlined his party’s vision in various sectors and also unveiled the party flag - green and white with the sun in the middle - amidst rapturous applause from the huge gathering.

1 dead, 35 hurt in stampede A woman was killed and 35 persons were injured in a stampede at the maiden public meeting of Telugu superstar-turned-politician Chiranjeevi here today. The stampede occurred when thousands of excited fans forced their entry close to the dais when the actor reached there, the police said. Despite baton charges, the crowd surge went out of control, it added.

In his speech, the megastar, however, skirted thorny issues like naxalism and categorisation of the Scheduled Castes, saying a “collective decision” would be taken on these matters after a“scientific evaluation”.

On the raging demand for separate Telangana state, Chiranjeevi appeared to tread a cautious path.

Attributing the backwardness in Telangana region to the failure of the successive governments, he said: “If the division becomes inevitable, we will co-operate and assist the process. Let us respect the sentiments of the region which has suffered neglect in all sectors.”

BRIEFLY

MUMBAI
Priyanka’s ex-secy held: The Mumbai Crime Branch on Tuesday arrested Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra’s former secretary Prakash Jaju from Madhya Pradesh for allegedly sending threatening and obscene messages to her if he was not given his job back. He was arrested from the city of Mau in Madhya Pradesh. Chopra noticed that Jaju was trying to get close with her and started harassing her by sending obscene and threatening messages demanding her to stop talking to any other man. — PTI

BANGALORE
Man views ‘Phoonk’, gets Rs 5 lakh: Accepting the challenge given by film director Ram Gopal Varma to watch his latest horror flick Phoonk alone in a theatre for a prize money of Rs 5 lakh, Areyada Pavin Ponnanna from Kodagu won it, pocketing the reward. He had bought all 227 tickets for the night show at INOX theatre in the city by paying Rs 47,500. He said he took up the challenge not for money, but to deliver a message to people that nobody should believe in superstition. — UNI

Museum of moving images: India will have an international museum of moving images by 2010, Films Division chief producer Kuldeep Sinha said on Tuesday. The 45-crore museum would be the third in the world after New York and London, he said. To come up in Mumbai, the museum would have a multiplex, manuscript complex, animation theatre and infrastructure for film production. — PTI

CHENNAI
Bid to smuggle star turtles: The airport police arrested a man for attempting to smuggle 660 star tortoises at the Chennai International Airport on Monday night. The police said 47-year-old passenger Md John was about to board an Indian Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur when the officials noticed the tortoises in his bag. — UNI