New Delhi, September 9
The Left parties together with the BSP, the TDP and the JD-S have urged President Pratibha Patil to direct the government to summon a Parliament session immediately.

A delegation of these parties, comprising CPM parliamentary party leader Basudeb Acharia, Politburo member Sitaram Yechury, CPI parliamentary party leader Gurudas Dasgupta and national secretary D Raja, Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas and RSP parliamentary party leader Abani Roy, together with BSP leaders Satish Mishra and Rajesh Verma, TDP parliamentary party leader K. Yerrannaidu and JD-S general secretary Kunwar Danish Ali, called on the President at the Rashtrapati Bhawan today afternoon and presented her a memorandum to this effect.

Later, Yechury said: “We told the President that it is your prerogative to direct the government to summon the Parliament.” “As the custodian of the Constitution, it is for her to uphold the sovereignty of the people in whom all sovereignty lies,” said Dasgupta while stressing the same point.

BSP second in command Satish Mishra expressed apprehension that, “They (the ruling UPA alliance) may have proved majority on July 22 but it seems they are actually in a minority. Therefore they fear facing the Parliament.”

In the memo they stated: “We register our strong protest against the decision of the government to jettison the monsoon session of the Parliament.” They described it as “A deliberate manipulation of established traditions concerning the sessions of Parliament since independence. For a variety of important reasons, such manipulation of Parliament sessions has serious implications. It violates the basic principle of governance established under our system.”

“The absence of the Parliament session negates the legislature’s right and the executive’s obligation. This is a serious compromise with the concept of sovereignty as enshrined in the Constitution,” the memo added.

The leaders also underlined several urgent issues, which need be taken up by Parliament, including the galloping inflation, agrarian crisis, unrest in Jammu & Kashmir, floods in river Kosi etc.

The memorandum also mentioned the brutalities against the Chrisitian tribals and said, “The protection of the life and security of the tribals is the responsibility of the Central government as much as it is the right of the state governments to maintain law and order. Where else can these issues that will determine the future of our country and its people be discussed, except in the Parliament?” They also demanded that the Government should not miss the Winter session and hold it as past precedent in November-December.

New Delhi, September 9
With Congress president Sonia Gandhi setting the tone at a public rally in poll-bound Rajasthan yesterday, the Indo-US nucelar deal is all set to figure prominently in the party’s campaign in the forthcoming assembly polls and the subsequent Lok Sabha elections.

Not only will the Congress tout the deal as among its major achievements along with the UPA government’s other pro-poor programmes, the party also plans to aggressively counter the Left and the BJP’s projection of the nuke deal as a sell-out to the US.

While Congress leaders in Delhi have already gone into attack mode, the Gujarat unit’s proposed 25-day “Gujarat Nirman Yatra”, meant essentially to reach out to the grassroots level in the run-up to the Lok Sabha poll, will be used to propagate the benefits of the Indo-US nuclear deal and clarify all doubts about it.

The yatra for the party’s”prachar and prasar” will travel through all the 26 Lok Sabha constituencies from September 14 to October 9 in 26 raths which are expected to cover as many as 9,000 villages.

B.K.Hariprasad, AICC general secretary incharge of Gujarat, said the state unit has planned 1,300 small and over 100 large meetings during the course of this journey.

Congress leaders said similar campaigns are being planned in other parts of the country with special focus on the election-going states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi. The bais objective is to extract maximum political mileage from this issue.

In a deliberate and conscious move, the Congress has decided not to be defensive on the nuke deal and instead project it as being critical for the country’s energy requirements. “Everybody relates to bijli since large parts of the country are reeling under prolonged power cuts,” remarked as senior Congress leader. Party president Sonia Gandhi set the ball rolling yesterday when she underlined at a rally in Rajasthan that the deal will make the country self-relaint in the power sector.

“We will tell the people: You vote for us and we will give you bijli,” said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari.

The Congress will demolish the BJP campaign as being opportunistic on the ground that it was the NDA government whcih laid the foundation for this agreement and it was former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee who had committed India to a unilateral moratorium on testing, a commitment reiterated by this government. “The BJP has a track record for opposing a progamme when it is not in power and then reversing its decision when it forms a government. This is what they did in the case of economic reforms and WTO,” Tewari pointed out.

The Left parties will be exposed for their hypocritical stand on nuclear weapons. “The CPM’s election manifesto had sid India should abolish nuclear weapons and that Asia should be made a nuclear free zone. Today, it is speaking in favour of nuclear weapons and testing,” remarked a Congress leader, adding that they will also highlight that the Left was acting on China’s behest given their identical positions on the n-deal.

Chandigarh, September 9
While Central government employees continue to hound the establishment over the disparity in the revised pay scales, a section of pensioners too are up in arms over perceived anomalies in the new pension rates.

Though pensions have been increased and several new concessions have been introduced, it is the wide variation in the pensions of similarly placed retirees that now is the bone of contention.

Past pensioners have been granted a fitment of 40 per cent for the

calculation of pension. The new pension, however, will not be less than 50 per cent of the lower limit of the new pay bands plus the applicable grade pay. This may result in a huge difference between the pensions of old retirees of different grades.

In case of the Fifth Pay Commission, there were separate pay scales for each rank, the minimum of which was taken as the basis of pension. However, after the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, there are only four pay bands.

At the upper end, employees in the scale of Rs 24,050-26,000 have now been moved to the pay band of Rs 39,200-67,000, while those in the fixed pay scale of Rs 26,000 have been placed at Rs 80,000.

An officer, who was placed in the erstwhile scale of Rs 24,050-26,000 and who may have retired with a pension of Rs 13,000 as on December 31, 2005, would now receive a basic pension of Rs 29,380, while an officer, who retired in the earlier fixed scale of Rs 26,000 and who was also receiving the same pension, would now get Rs 40,000. Hence both officers on equal basic pension earlier would now have a difference of about Rs 11,000 between them.

Pensioners say that there will be similar disparities down the echelon.

The disparities, notwithstanding, pensioners have expressed satisfaction over some new elements introduced by the commission. The minimum basic pension without DA has been fixed at Rs 3,500 and the maximum at Rs 45,000 as on January 1, 2006. The minimum disability pension has also been fixed at Rs 3,500.

The government has also approved additional quantum for old pensioners. Now a pensioner on attaining 80 years of age will be granted 20 per cent extra basic pension. The said increase will be upgraded to 30, 40, 50 and 100 per cent on attaining the age of 85, 90, 95 and 100 years, respectively.

The same upgrading has also been accepted for family pensioners. The grant of full pension on completing 20 years service has also been accepted and the provision of 33 years service for earning full pension has been abolished.

A revised commutation has been implemented and the maximum amount of gratuity has been increased from Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. Constant attendance allowance for 100 per cent disability has been extended to civilian pensioners on the lines of that granted to defence personnel.

It is for the first time that the newly constituted National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has actively engaged itself in relief operations in a situation arising out of a natural disaster in the country. More than 700 NDRF personnel were deployed to rescue flood victims and NDRF officials say its workforce managed to save thousands of people trapped by swirling waters of the Kosi.

They say that even before the state government requested for the deployment of the NDRF, around 270 trained personnel and 35 motorised boats of the force were moved in Purnia, Madhepura and other affected districts, much before any other agency like the Army or the Navy moved in.

However, Bihar floods have once again highlighted the dependence of the civil administration on armed forces while dealing with a natural disaster. The fact is that it eventually involved as many as 5,000 Army men in 35 columns of a composite force of engineers, signals and medical officers, aircraft from the Air Force, divers from the Navy, the BSF, the CRPF, the ITBP and even the Mumbai Fire Department to control the situation.

Acknowledging that the Kosi disaster was an unprecedented event, Brig Abhimanyu Raut, commander, Jharkhand-Orissa-Bihar sub area, says it was the first time that the NDRF gathered adequate resources to commensurate the role it had to play in the event of a disaster in the country.

“Especially in a state like Bihar, known to experience floods every other year, first of all the state government should be adequately prepared with a state-level plan to deal with the situation. Moreover, resources of the NDRF should also commensurate with the role they have to play in the eventuality of a disaster,” he says, suggesting that the NDRF can be built from a very potent source of retired Army men in the country.

At present, since rescue operations are more or less complete, Army personnel deployed for the operations are engaged in providing relief. Even though the Army is preoccupied in Jammu and Kashmir, northeast etc., whenever a situation like in the Kosi areas arises, Army personnel have to be pulled out from active duty.

But for the relentless effort of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, many lives other than the official figure of around 180, would have been lost. While in one of the rare operations 30 columns of the Army were flown in from different parts of the country, it took 16 ILs 53 AN-32 and eight AVROs of the IAF to complete the induction.

From the Purnia Air Base, till date, as much as 740 tonnes load, including 1,11,117 food packets and 1,59,278 water bottles, have been dropped in affected villages in 332 sorties operated by 11 Mi-17 and Mi-8. Group Capt Jasbir Johar, Task Force Commander Flood Relief Operations at Purnia, says the flood situation in the affected areas is improving and at present five helicopters are engaged in relief work.

At Bihta, near Patna, Wg Cdr B. Malik, COO, is coordinating the operations in conjunction with HQ CAC, Bihar Regimental Centre. There were also talks of setting up another base at Saharsa to reduce flying time, which has now been shelved with the situation improving. As far as the Navy is concerned, its divers have saved hundreds of victims from a certain death in the turbulent Kosi.

Bhubaneshwar, September 9
The rioters of Kandhamal were not simply reacting to the murder of their leader, as the Sangh Parivar in the state has maintained.

Had it not been for a plan, and inexplicable inertia on the part of the state government and district authorities, the killers would not have had the time to arrange for petrol and diesel to torch 255 villages housing thousands of houses and over 150 Christian institutions. They came fully armed with batons, swords, tridents, even pistols and bombs in some cases.

They blocked all entry points behind them. The district forest authorities have already counted over 500 full-grown trees the radicals felled to obstruct vehicular movement into the villages. Actual numbers would touch 1,000, with hundreds of trees still blocking village roads across Kandhamal.

The rioters had obviously worked through the night of August 23 and the whole of August 24 to attack the villages. It’s hard to believe that the local police and intelligence did not know of these plans, says Michael Naik, a former state government employee, who blames the state government for allowing the situation to go out of hand.

At one point, the district collector of Kandhamal was even asked to withdraw his orders of lathicharge on a mob that attacked an old church in Phulbani, the district headquarters, soon after the violence broke out. It is further learnt that the mobs in several cases announced their arrival, as though assured of support. They struck temple chimes and blew whistles to indicate they were coming. “If we could hear all this, why couldn’t the police? ” asks Sister Ratna, a missionary from G Udaygiri block.

In many places, the rioters left their marks behind - saffron flags, which can still be spotted in the vicinity of razed churches. It’s hard to believe the authorities didn’t know of all this. Even secular-minded Hindus in the area doubt the role of local police in aiding the August violence. It was after massive damage had already been done that the state government shifted out the Kandhamal SP and then the inspector in-charge of Raikia police station, where seven murders cases have been registered.

As of now, 223 people have been rounded up for rioting and killing in 255 tribal villages; only 24 of them have been sent to judicial custody, while the rest remain under interrogation. Accountability for 17 officially listed murders is yet to be fixed, as minor cases of violence continue to be reported. The new man in at Raikia police station says, “In a 50 km radius, we have just one police station with 10 personnel each. Mobs usually come in thousands and are mostly well-built tribal people. We are hard-pressed for manpower and vehicles.”

While investigations drag on, people blame vested political interests in the area for the mess. Kandhamal is a Hindu-dominated belt, with Christians comprising 7 per cent of the population. Two of the three assembly seats here are with Hindus from the BJP and BJD ruling combine. Phulbani MP Sugrib Singh also, it is learnt, is a convert Hindu from Christianity. He is yet to visit Phulbani after the recent violence.

Local police hint at the role of radical organisations like Banwas Kalyan Samiti (supported by the VHP) in the Kandhamal violence, but don’t say anything openly. Even the state chief minister, home secretary and DGP have remained silent on why violence was allowed to rage.

New Delhi, September 9
Days after the role of the Pakistan’s ISI was highlighted by the USA in aiding terror attacks, former Indian Army Chief Gen. V.P. Malik today used strong words saying Indian political leaders, policy-makers, including those in the Foreign Service, are not adequately aware of the role being played by the military in Pakistan and its influence on India-Pakistan relations.

Malik, who led the forces in Kargil in 1999 and heads the Institute of Security Studies of Observer Research Foundation in the national capital, said there have not been adequate studies on the role of Pakistan military. The knowledge among the politicians, Foreign Service officials and the academic world is not good enough.

He was speaking at the launch of a book “The Military Factor in Pakistan” written by R.S.N Singh. Gen. V.N. Sharma, former Chief of Army Staff, released the book, here today. The former chief went on to add that inadequate knowledge often led to wrong perceptions about Pakistan and the role of its military, leading to miscalculated Indo-Pakistan relations.

He narrated how the Kargil infiltration by the Pakistani army happened soon after the much-hyped Lahore Declaration between the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

In his opinion, there was a big difference between the ISI and the Indian Research and Analysis Wing. He said people failed to understand that ISI is an extension of the Pakistan army. Giving an example, General Malik said RAW failed to understand the importance of the intercepted telephonic conversations between General Pervez Musharraf and his army officers. He alleged that he was shown the intercepts only after the Prime Minister asked about it at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security. “Who were the best people to understand the conversations? Is it not the Army chief?” General Malik asked.

Gen. V.N. Sharma stressed on the need for continuous study of Pakistani military since fast-faced developments are taking place in the country. Underlining the importance of intelligence coordination, he said there was military intelligence of intercepts of conversations between Pakistani army officers on the killing of Gen. Zia-ul Haq.

At a discussion later, G. Parthasarathi, former High Commissioner to Pakistan, said Pakistan’s nuclear programme was being conducted by the Chinese. “There is no Pakistan nuclear programme. All are Chinese,” he said. Meanwhile, in the book, author R.S.N. Singh says real democracy has, to date, eluded the country to such an extent that, when at the helm of affairs, the duly elected governments have been controlled and manipulated by the military and the bureaucracy, not by the will of the people.

Mumbai, September 9
Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray joined estranged nephew Raj Thackeray in attacking actor-turned-Member of Parliament Jaya Bachchan for a short speech she had made earlier this week. In a signed editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna, Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray today asked her not to insult Maharashtrians. Thackeray said the Bachchans should remember that they got their identity, name and fame in Mumbai when they first came to the city as unknown people. “Having grown fat here, they insult us and if the Marathi manoos retaliates he is called parochial,” Thackeray said.

“Jaya Bachchan has been making controversial statements that has resulted in bad blood and also caused mental agony to her husband,” Thackeray said in the article. The Shiv Sena supremo who enjoys good relations with the Bachchans however praised the actor in his piece. At a party to launch a movie, Jaya had said the Marathi people should pardon her since she would speak in Hindi as she hailed from UP. The remark was played by the media and the Thackerays are spewing venom on her. “Why are they not going to the Southern states or Assam to hoist the flag of Hindi?” Thackeray asked.

The Shiv Sena supremo stated that Maharashtra was in the forefront of the country's freedom struggle. “Mahatma Gandhi who helped get us freedom was inspired by his guru Gopal Krishna Gokhale who was from Maharashtra,” Thackeray said.

Thackeray went on to hit out at actor Shah Rukh Khan who calls himself a Dilliwala. “Shah Rukh says he is a Dilliwala. If you are from Delhi, then why have you come to Maharashtra?” Thackeray asked.

Meanwhile, the battle between Jaya Bachchan and the MNS worsened with the party filing a police complaint against her. The party filed a against her under section 153 (B) for provocative speech.

The complaint came even after Jaya Bachchan apologised for her speech. Jaya told reporters Monday evening that her comments were completely unintentional and that no one should take them seriously. “I am extremely sorry if any of my comments have hurt the sentiments of the people here. It was said casually and without any prejudice.” The MNS has however decided to attack every theatre screening films featuring members of the Bachchan family.

New Delhi, September 9
CPM Politburo member Brinda Karat has asked the Central government to put the VHP and the Bajrang Dal on the watch list of organisations indulging in terrorist like activities.

Brinda has written to union home minister Shivraj Patil stating, “I strongly urge the government to put the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on the watch list of organisations indulging in terrorist like activities.” She said, “Recent events in Orissa have highlighted the use of violence by these two organisations against the Christian community, including the use of weapons, inflammatory material to burn homes, prayer houses and churches etc. In Bhubaneswar, it was reported that the son of a BJP leader and his accomplice, associated with one of these organisations were arrested when the bomb they were making exploded.”

She has also recounted how, “Recently in Kanpur two Bajrang Dal activists were killed while making bombs and several were injured. There are reports of attempts being made to spread the violence in the states such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan by these organisations. In addition, their leaders are making the most rabidly communal speeches. These actions seriously undermine the national security,” the CPM leader said.

Brinda also mentioned, “You will recall that on April 30, 2008, I had raised the issue of the Tenkasi bomb blast in the Rajya Sabha, in which, according to the investigation of the Tamil Nadu police, known RSS men were involved. In the context of similar incidents of bomb blasts in Nanded and the parcel bombs sent to Muslim religious leaders in Maharashtra I had asked for a CBI inquiry into all these blasts and incidents. You had said Tamil Nadu investigations had not mentioned any connection between these different incidents.”

She maintained, “These incidents should not be seen in isolation. As revealed by the Anti Terrorist Squad in Maharashtra it is a carefully prepared plan by the aforesaid organisations to create communal disturbances by making bombs with a view to engineering bomb blasts ostensibly against the Hindu community to rouse communal passions. And by directly attacking minority community religious leaders and other functionaries.”

Lucknow, September 9
Reacting sharply to the communal flare-up in Azamgarh on Sunday and the sporadic violence in various parts of Eastern UP during the Poorvanchal Bandh on Monday, chief minister Mayawati summarily transferred several senior police officers of the region. In a late night development, Mayawati transferred the entire top brass including IG Gorakhpur JP Sharma, DIG (Azamgarh) Abhimanyu Tripathi, SP Azamgarh Vijay Garg and DM Azamgarh Mayur Maheshwari.

Ramit Sharma is the new SP Azamgarh, Vijay Kumar has taken charge as the DIG Azamgarh and Harishchandra Kashyap is the new IG of Gorakhpur. Mayawati expressed displeasure at the way security was arranged in Azamgarh during BJP MP Adityanath’s visit even though the district administration had given permission to hold a public rally.

On Sunday, there was trouble in Azamgarh when BJP MP from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath’s cavalcade was passing through a densely populated Muslim locality. Some persons reportedly pelted stones when the MP’s supporters raised provocative slogans. In the firing that followed, one shop attendant Matiullah was killed and three persons - Gyanedra Mishra, Shivharsh Bharti and Nihal Ahmad were injured.

On Monday, two brothers Dhiraj Singh and Piyush were arrested in Azamgarh when it was confirmed that the shop attendant was indeed killed by a bullet fired from their unlicensed English 32 bore pistol. The police, however, refused to confirm whether they were members of the MP’s entourage. Curiously, rather than taking the bypass route to the DAV college, the Yogi's cavalcade was allowed to pass through the congested Muslim area of the city.

Observers find it a grave lapse on the part of the administration as it has been seen that communal forces always try to create trouble during the festive months of Ramzan, Eid and Dusshera when shopkeepers expect to do brisk business.

Meanwhile, there was widespread reaction from the VHP and other saffron organisations in various districts of eastern UP over the so-called attack on the MP’s cavalcade. During the bandh on Monday, BJP-ABVP activists had burnt a jeep belonging to the Land Development Bank in Ballia. Unruly mobs looted dozens of shops of Muslims in Pipraich, Barhalganj and Bhathat towns in Gorakhpur distict.

Imphal, September 9
Six persons -- five militants and an Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) -- were killed and four others injured in separate militancy-related incidents in Manipur, official sources said here today.

Five suspected militants of the People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) were killed during a heavy exchange of fire with a combined team of police commandoes and the 4/8 Gorkha Regiment in the wee hours today at the Toubul Patto area in Bishenpur district, sources said.

They said the security team raided the area following reports of presence of several militants and were fired upon when they intensified the search operation.

The two sides exchanged fire for more than six hours during which five militants were killed and a woman civilian was injured by a stray bullet, sources said, adding that nine rifles of different types, including four AK- 56 rifles, were recovered, besides several rounds of ammunition.

In another incident this morning,militants exploded a powerful bomb at the Chingmeirong Khongnang Ani Karak area in Imphal West district injuring two Assam Rifles jawans of the 39th Battalion and a civilian, sources said.

In yet another militancy-related incident, a JCO of the 9th Assam Rifles Battalion was killed when insurgents ambushed a security patrol party in interior Churachandpur district bordering Myanmar and Mizoram last night, sources said. — PTI

Nizamabad, September 9
Violence broke out here today following the death of a 12-year-old boy at a private residential hostel under suspicious circumstances, the police said.

Mahesh, a 7th standard student of Priyadarshini residential school here, was found dead in the hostel room with severe burn injuries in the wee hours, it said.

As news of the boy’s death spread, an angry crowd, comprising activists of various student organisations and the victim’s relatives, gathered at the hostel premises, staged a protest and went on the rampage.

“We have booked a case of murder. The body was found in a charred condition. We are further investigating the matter. No arrests have been made so far,” superintendent of police N.Suryanarayan said. — PTI

New Delhi, September 9
The Ghaziabad police wants to hand over the probe in the sensational PF scam, allegedly involving judges, to the CBI, the Bar Association of the district informed the Supreme Court today.

The Ghaziabad Bar Association told the apex court that the SSP had written three letters to the UP DGP in June and July, suggesting that the investigation be transferred to the CBI.

The state counsel told the court the government was yet to take a decision on the matter. Justice Singhvi expressed displeasure that the fact the SSP favoured a CBI probe was not conveyed to the court by the administration. The next hearing will be on October 21.

BRIEFLY

Free bus pass for kids up to 7th standard
BANGALORE: In an attempt to curb dropouts and attract more children to schools, the Karnataka government on Tuesday announced free bus pass facility for schoolchildren up to the 7th standard, minister for transport R. Ashok said. He said with this facility, children could travel to schools from anywhere in the state. — UNI

Short-term forestry courses for MPs, MLAs
Dehra Dun: In an effort to sensitise public representatives on issues related to forestry, the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), in assosiation with Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), would be imparting short-term exposure courses to members of Parliament and legislative assemblies. A six-member high-powered committee led by Jagdish Kishwan, director-general, ICFRE, is already finalising the course module for the MPs and MLAs and the first batch of the public representative is expected to undertake exposure training by the year end. — TNS