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Security bogey over Chinese dam
Legal hurdle delays ULFA leader’s extradition
Veteran editor Sharada Prasad dead
Orissa Violence |
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J&K Elections
Irregularities by former govt
Navy mulls protection for ships off Somalia
SC: Debt relief applicable to dairying, sheep rearing
Armed forces pay hike hits roadblock
Four SIMI activists held
CBI books retired Brigadier
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Security bogey over Chinese dam
Mumbai, September 2 The contract to build the Middle Vaitarna project, as the dam is called, was awarded earlier this year to the China International Water and Electric Engineering company
(CWE), owned by the Chinese government and its Indian associate, Soma Enterprises. According to officials here,
CWE-Soma consortium emerged as the lowest bidder. However, work is yet to begin as pressure is building up on the civic body as well as the Maharashtra government not to formally award the contract to the consortium on national security grounds. Opposition is building up from the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party who control the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and some leaders in the Nationalist Congress Party, say sources. However, the Shiv Sena has formally objected to awarding the contract to the consortium with the party’s Ravindra Waikar who is chairman of the standing committee in the BMC objecting to the contract. “China poses a security threat to India and such sensitive projects should not be awarded to Chinese companies,” Waikar said. Those opposed to awarding the contract to the Chinese company say a number of vital installations like BARC and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s aircraft manufacturing facility are located close to the project site. Now, the Sena has demanded for fresh bids to be called and is also keen on putting riders on which companies would be allowed to bid for constructing the project. Some elected representatives who are backing the Chinese company say the opposition to awarding the contract to the lowest bidder is being supported by some
Maharashtra-based construction companies with political clout. The Middle Vaitarna project, which is expected to allow water supply for Mumbai’s residents round the clock, has been delayed for nearly 10 years as it could not get clearance from the union ministry of environment and forests. Civic officials say the project once completed by 2011 would allow for an additional 455 million litres of water to be supplied to Mumbai everyday. The dam will be located nearly 150 km from Mumbai on the Vaitarna river between Mumbai and
Nashik. The dam is expected to stand 105-metre tall and would be the largest in
Maharashtra.
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Legal hurdle delays ULFA leader’s extradition
Guwahati, September 2 Talking to the media at
Shillong, director general of Border Security Force (BSF), A K Mitra revealed that Bangladesh might handover the ULFA leader, who is at present lodged in jail in that country, as soon as the legal hurdle in this regard was cleared. “Authorities in Bangladesh wanted to handover Chetia along with nine other criminals recently. But, he
(Chetia) had moved a Bangla court challenging his deportation to India,” said the BSF chief who met Bangladesh Rifles
(BDR) officials during a five-day conference in Dhaka from August 20 to 25. “Both India and Bangladesh have verified the identity of the ULFA general secretary and he is likely to be handed over to India once the court hurdles are cleared,” Mitra hoped. The BSF chief termed the BDR’s admission about the presence of Chetia in Bangladesh as a “forward movement” in the bilateral ties between the two neighbouring countries. India has been consistently demanding the deportation of the top ULFA rebel, who has been lodged in a jail in Bangladesh since 1998 after he had been arrested while entering the country with forged documents and a ‘satellite phone’. Though the court had ordered his release from Bangladesh jail in 2005, Chetia continued to be lodged in Dhaka by the Bangladeshi authority for ‘security reasons’.
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Veteran editor Sharada Prasad dead
New Delhi, September 2 Holenarsipur Yoganarasimha Sharada Prasad (84), who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease for a very long time and bed-ridden since the last eight months after a fall, breathed his last at his residence here at around 1.30 pm, family sources said. He was also suffering from a terminal lung ailment, the sources added. Known for his incisive writings in his columns, the legendary Mysorean with an intellectual bent of mind is survived by his wife Kamalamma and two sons. Sharada Prasad also served under Morarji Desai and Rajiv Gandhi. He was in the PMO for 20 years writing speeches and was one of the closest aides of the country’s first woman premier Indira Gandhi. He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 2000 and is also a recipient of the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration in 2001. Shourie, as relatives and close friends knew Sharada Prasad, was born in Bangalore, educated at the University of Mysore and jailed during the Quit India movement. He joined the Indian Express group in Bombay in 1945, and was a Neiman fellow in journalism at Harvard University in 1955-56. He edited Yojana, the journal of the Planning Commission, after which followed his stints at the prime ministers office between 1966-78 and 1980-88, under Indira Gandhi and later Rajiv Gandhi. During the Janata government, he worked with Morarji Desai for a few months before being posted as director of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) in New Delhi. — PTI Editors Guild condoles death
The Editors Guild of India deeply condoles the death of veteran editor, columnist and communicator
H.Y. Sharada Prasad. He was one of the finest editors seen by India, who was strongly wedded to the highest ethics in journalism, and was a master writer in English and Kannada. As Editor of Yojana he gave a new dimension to development journalism. As a communicator with the government, he maintained fair standards. In the later years of his life, he was one of the most respected and read newspaper columnists of the country. The Guild conveys its heartfelt condolences to the family of Sharada Prasad and hopes that his work would guide
the media.
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Orissa Violence
New Delhi, September 2 Led by union minister Ajay
Maken, who is also the CWC member incharge of Orissa, the 11-member delegation submitted a memorandum to the President, seeking a CBI enquiry so that real perpetrators of the incident were punished. “We appeal to your excellency to immediately intervene in the matter as required under the law of the land and the powers conferred on you by the Constitution of India and give protection to the life and property of the citizens of the state and in particular to the minority community. It is already late and further delay on the matter may be disastrous and may be out of control of any administration. We request for a CBI enquiry on the matter so that real killers, conspirators and culprits of the incident be punished,” the memorandum said. Later, Maken said the delegation appealed to the President to intervene in the matter, as there had been a grave law and order violation in the state. The delegation also included Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee president Jayadev Jena who on Monday was denied entry into the riot-hit Kandhamal district by the authorities. Around 10 Congress leaders of
Orissa, including Jena, were arrested while allegedly trying to enter the district, defying government orders. The Congress delegation was taken into custody at
Madhapur, in Boudh district, around 40 km from the district headquarter town of Phulbani and the entry point to
Kandhamal, when they tried to forcefully enter the communally sensitive district. Condemning the action against his
partymen, Maken said restrictions were imposed due to political considerations. “While VHP leader Pravin Togadia was allowed to visit Kandhamal despite a curfew, others were being denied entry into the district. Union minister of state Sriprakash
Jaiswal, on August 27, was advised by the state government not to visit riot-affected areas as it may escalate communal violence. On similar lines, a three-member AICC delegation was not allowed to visit the affected areas,” he said. Holding the BJP responsible for the ongoing violence, Maken said it was “BJP’s planned conspiracy to make political gains in the Lok Sabha and state elections, which are likely to be held together.” VHP leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati was killed in Kandhamal district last month, triggering violence.
Maken said there were many unanswered questions such as why the post-mortem was not conducted on Swami Lakshmanananda’s body and why political parties were being stopped from entering Kandhamal for holding peace marches.
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J&K Elections New Delhi, September 2 The Election Commission has swung into action immediately and as a first step, it decided today to consult major national political parties on September 8 to assess the situation in Jammu and Kashmir as there is a view that it might not be possible to hold free and fair polls in light of the prolonged spell of violence which gripped the state. On the other hand, there is a section in the government, which believes that any postponement of the elections will send out a negative signal as Jammu and Kashmir is constantly under international scrutiny. Those advocating timely polls argue that elections will actually speed up normalcy as it will divert the attention of people. The BJP is keen that polls be held on time as it believes the Hindu consolidation in the Jammu region will help the saffron party electorally. The Congress, on the other hand, would like more time to allow for passions to cool but it is not taking any chances. Congress president Sonia Gandhi told AICC general secretaries on Monday that the party should gear itself for a timely election and should not be caught off-guard as it happened in the case of Karnataka, where the party was first led to believe by the Election Commission that the elections will be postponed but were eventually held on time. The Election Commission has also made it known that it is prepared to conduct elections in October. It decided to call leaders of seven national parties and three state parties as Governor’s rule in the state ends on January 10. The tenure of the dissolved assembly was to expire on November 20. Since Governor’s rule was imposed in July, the commission can technically hold elections by January. However, that is a difficult proposition as the state will be snow-bound during that period and the election would have to be postponed till March when the weather improves. If elections are to be conducted on time in October, the commission needs to get all the necessary inputs from the political parties and the government now as it will need at least a month to make the necessary preparations. Before it does that, it needs to assess the ground situation as the Amarnath land row dispute had unleashed widespread violence in the state for over two months. While Jammu is fast returning to normalcy following the agreement between the government and the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, the valley continues to be tense. After its consultations with political parties, the Election Commission will meet the union home secretary for a briefing on the security situation in the state.
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Irregularities by former govt
Dehra Dun, September 2 Justice
A.N. Verma, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, submitted his resignation a day before his tenure was ending. The state government has accepted his resignation. “We will soon appoint another person to head the commission,” said Khanduri today. The issue of irregularities committed by the previous Congress government was a major election plank for the
BJP. The party had promised to probe the irregularities after entering the portals of power. And after BJP came to power,
Khanduri, in September 2007, appointed Justice Verma to probe the 56 alleged scandals of the N.D. Tiwari government. Interestingly, neither the judge heading the commission nor the state government was interested in the probe. Justice Verma only once came to Dehra Dun in November 2007. The opposition Congress has criticised the BJP government on the issue. Meanwhile, Dr. Devender
Bhasin, chairman of the state media advisory committee and a close aide of Khanduri said a new person would be appointed to head the commission soon.
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Tapan Sinha gets Dadasaheb Phalke award New Delhi, September 2 At the 54th National Film Awards function held at the Vigyan Bhavan here, Tapan Sinha, who earned international fame for his film ‘Kabuliwalaa’ (1956), could not personally collect the award, as he is not keeping in good health. His son Adinath Sinha received the award on his behalf. However, the biggest applause was reserved for Dilip Kumar as he walked up to the President to receive the honour. His wife Sairo Bano loudly cheered for her husband. The award for Lata Mangeshkar was accepted by her nephew Adinath Mangeshkar. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which is given for outstanding contribution in the field of Indian Cinema, carries a cash price of Rs 10 lakh, a Swaran Kamal and a shawl. The awards were presented in 31 different categories in the Feature Film Section and 22 categories in the Non-Feature Film Section. Three awards were given for the Best Writing on Cinema. The Best Feature Film Award for the year 2006 was given to the Malayalam film ‘Pulijanmam’. The award carries a Swaran Kamal and Rs 2.5 lakh each for the producer and director of the film. A Swaran Kamal and cash prize of Rs 2 lakh each for the producer and the director for ‘Best popular film providing wholesome entertainment’ was given to Hindi film ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’. Nargis Dutt Award for the ‘Best Feature Film on National Integration’ was presented to Kannada film 'Kallarli Huvagi'. The award carries a Rajat Kamal and a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh each for the producer and director of the film. The Indira Gandhi Award for the ‘Best first film of a director’ was shared by ‘Eakantham’ (Malayalam), directed by Madhu Kaithapuram, and ‘Kabul Express’ (Hindi), directed by Kabir Khan. The award for the best film on social issues was given to the Telugu film ‘Hope’. Madhur Bhandarker received the best direction award for his film ‘Traffic Signal’. The ‘Best Actor Award’ went to Soumitra Chatterjee for his role in ‘Podokkhep’ (Bengali) while the ‘Best Actress Award’ was given to Priyamani for her role in Tamil film ‘Paruthi Veeran’. The award for the ‘Best Child Artiste’ was given to Divya Chahadkar for her role in Konkani film ‘Antarnad’. Gurdas Mann received the award for the ‘Best Male Playback Singer’ and Aarti Anklekar Tikekar got the ‘Best Female Playback Singer’ award. The Special Jury Award was given to director Vishal Bhardwaj for Hindi film ‘Omkara’. The award for the best book on cinema was presented to Jerry Pinto for ‘Helen: The Life and Times of an H Bomb’. The award for the best film critic was received jointly by G.P. Ramachandran (Malayalam) and Rafique A.R. Baghdadi (English).
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Navy mulls protection for ships off Somalia
Mumbai, September 2 According to sources here, naval officials have put up the proposal before the union government after Somalian pirates captured a ship called Iran Deynat on August 21. The ship had four Indians as a part of its crew. The Navy’s proposal also envisages Indian defence personnel working under the UN flag on the basis of an agreement signed between the Somalian government and the United Nations Security Council. Only the Canadian Navy is presently operating in this manner while Yemen’s navy is expected to join in the operations shortly, sources here said. Two months ago, the Indian Navy was called upon to assist in the rescue of the crew of a Jordanian vessel M V Victoria owned by the Five Seas Company of the United Arab Emirates, which was captured by pirates off Somalia. The Indian Navy’s frigate INS Delhi was to have been sent on a rescue mission but the pirates had freed the ship and the crew by then. The ship was on a humanitarian mission to distribute sugar from Mumbai to the war-torn country, when pirates took it. The 21-member crew included 10 Indians. Naval sources here said the M V Victoria was captured by a Somalian clan of pirates who took the ship to the Hobiyo Port 500 km away from Mogadishu. Reports say, the owners of the vessel may have paid a huge ransom to free the ship and the crew. According to naval sources, pirates for ransom have captured more than a dozen ships this year. However, ships operating under armed escorts on behalf of multilateral donor agencies haven't faced interference from pirates.
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SC: Debt relief applicable to dairying, sheep rearing
New Delhi, September 2 The bank, challenging the orders of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and the Rajouri district court, contended that the relief was meant for those who had taken loans up to Rs 50,000 for setting up business and for trade purposes and as such would not be applicable to those who borrowed money for dairying and cattle farming, which fell under the category of agriculture and allied activities. In their verdict delivered on August 29, Judges P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam said a perusal of the finance ministry communication showed that the main purpose of the scheme was to give relief to the militancy-hit borrowers in Jammu and Kashmir. As per the scheme, loans which have been sanctioned for business activities, namely, tourism, transport, small-scale industry, trade sector, hotel, houseboat business, retail trade etc. and which existed in the books as of June 30, 1996, have been waived with immediate effect. The apex court pointed out that it was not in dispute that the amount borrowed had exceeded Rs 50, 000. In fact, most of the loan amounts were below Rs 10, 000. However, the strong objection of the banks was regarding the purpose of the loan. The scheme was meant for the business activities. “Though purchase of buffaloes and sheep related to agriculture and allied activities, it cannot be denied that from the buffaloes, the borrower can establish a dairy unit and earn from the said business and the word ‘etc.’ in the definition of ‘eligible loans’ connotes that besides the activities cited as example for business activity there are other business activities which could be included under the scheme.
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Armed forces pay hike hits roadblock
New Delhi, September 2 The armed forces have been asked to submit their objections to the defence minister. The Pay Fixation Committee of the ministry of defence will start working to fix the wages and these objections will be taken into account. The sixth pay commission empowers the ministry to submit its own objections to the ministry of finance, which can increase the pay at this juncture also. The three chiefs have pointed out that the notification issued by the government has lowered the status and salary of defence officers vis-à-vis their civilian counterparts. The armed forces have expressed their satisfaction over the pay hike of the persons below others ranks
(PBORs), but want major changes for the officers and have cited how the status has been lowered. There have been three major objections. As these objections are being sorted out, there is all possibility that the pay commission could be implemented for the
PBORs, who will get at least 50-60 per cent hike over their existing salaries.
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Four SIMI activists held
Jaipur, September 2 Yesterday, the SOG arrested Munawar
Hussain, who has a tailoring shop in Kota, Atiq and Nadeem Akhtar from Kota, and Moammad Iliyas belonging to Baran district. The four were arrested under the Illegal Activities (Prevention) Act. The investigative agency was interrogating them for their possible role or involvement in the Jaipur serial blasts case. Meanwhile, SOG teams that had gone to Lucknow to procure possible evidences from the key suspect Shahbaz Hussain’s residence and a cyber cafe has returned to Jaipur with some floppies and a
hardisk, Additional Director General of Police A.K. Jain said. — UNI
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CBI books retired Brigadier New Delhi, September 2 These included 18 commercial shops in prime areas of Delhi, Greater Noida, Pune and Secundrabad. He had also acquired a flat as well as agricultural land and farmhouse in Pune, besides a dozen bank accounts with funds running into lakhs of rupees. He owned costly cars and had made heavy investment in shares and FDRs. These assets were over Rs 1.97 crore against the estimated income from all sources which was substantially lower than the assets held by the accused. Searches were conducted at three premises of the accused officer, one in Pune and two in Delhi. The searches in Delhi so far have yielded Rs.9.15 lakhs in cash, 10 gold biscuits, one Opel Astra and incriminating documents relating to various properties.
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Asia’s biggest solar thermal power plant Samaram elected IMA chief Bora inducted into ministry 
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