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BJP National Executive
N-deal opposed for fear of China
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PM, Sarkozy to discuss nuclear cooperation
Leaders ‘plotting’ for more security
Tribune
Special
Time for reality check, CWC meeting today
I am happy and relieved: Big B
Stray rhino keeps wildlife staff on tenterhooks
‘Land-for-land’ proposal to solve Singur crisis
Two COs in dock for assaulting juniors
Arushi Murder
Nitish seeks Rs 9,000 crore
SC to hear Anand’s plea
Fewer militants-Army
encounters in J&K
Death of malnourished kids
Rs 500-cr special scheme for Naxal-hit states
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Pre-poll hunt for new allies
Tribune News Service
Bangalore, September 12 BJP president Rajnath Singh made an inspiring speech to his party karyakartas (workers) to bring the party back in power in the 2009 general election and score a historical victory this time in southern India as well, what with Karnataka under the BJP belt. But, significantly, two important central leaders of the BJP, vice-president Kalyan Singh and general secretary Vinay Katiyar, were conspicuous by their absence. And not to leave any doubts about his absence, party sources said Kalyan Singh had announced in advance that he was staying away from the national executive to avoid any embarrassment to the party on the question of future alliances, since this question was likely to come up for discussion at the three-day meet. The issue at hand is the BJP’s desperate attempt to find new allies and project itself as a viable alternative. In the process, the BJP has been approaching the RLD and Western UP leader Ajit Singh to join forces with them. Last month, BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi went all the way to Baghpat to hold a secret conclave with Ajit Singh and returned hopeful from that meeting. The party’s national executive was expected to take a view on possibly aligning with Ajit Singh at the current meeting. But Kalyan Singh and Vinay Katiyar are upset because they feel that the party has almost unilaterally decided to go with Ajit Singh without bothering to consult them. Incidentally, Rajnath Singh himself is from UP and sources indicated that the BJP President was keen to contest the Lok Sabha elections this time and he was weighing the options of contesting from Ghaziabad. According to BJP insiders, the Rajnath Singh camp feels that if the BJP were to align with Ajit Singh, then he could easily sail through from this constituency. This in spite of the fact that the BJP is not in a very robust health in UP.
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N-deal opposed for fear of China
Bangalore, September 12 BJP President Rajnath Singh clearly indicated this while delivering his presidential address at the party’s three-day national executive meet which began here today. He said, “The approach of the government with regard to China has been very slack and weak. China has tried to create a border dispute even in undisputed areas such as Sikkim.” Rajnath Singh further stated, “The Indian government appears to be incapable of offering tough resistance on this front.” He also objected to what he called “the kind of construction activity that China is undertaking in the Himalayan region and Tibet. It could adversely impact the environment. But the Indian Government has not been able to even raise the issue.” His grouse against the UPA government is, “Ever since the UPA has come to power, China has been continuously exerting pressure on India.” The BJP President revealed that his party was opposing the deal for fear of China. He said, “There are many reasons for opposing this deal. For instance, one of the main newspapers of China , the People’ Daily, has recently published an article that China does not intend to limit its nuclear power. According to this newspaper, China needs to conduct further nuclear tests. If this kind of thinking is taking place in China and if in such a situation the Government of India surrenders its right to conduct a nuclear test, then it could be dangerous for the country. And such a surrender will impact the autonomy of our decision-making ability.”
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PM, Sarkozy to discuss nuclear cooperation
New Delhi, September 12 French Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont today met senior officials of the external affairs ministry and discussed the agenda for Manmohan Singh’s visit to France to attend the India-EU Summit and a bilateral India-France summit from September 28-30.
Addressing a press conference later, Bonnafont said India and France “technically” had an agreement on cooperating in civilian nuclear energy and this would be at the centre of talks between Manmohan Singh and President Nicolas Sarkozy. The “provision for fuel supply” was part of the agreement and if India sought French help in reprocessing technology, Paris would be willing to consider the request, he said. Welcoming the NSG waiver for India, the French envoy said: “It is the beginning of a new chapter for India in which France very much desires to be India’s partner.” Bonnafont said France was developing a new generation of nuclear plants, which would also be proposed to India. He said any accord between India and France on civilian nuclear energy cooperation would be independent of the fate of the 123 agreement between India and the US. On whether France would also extend the reprocessing facility to India, Bonafont said: “India has a right to reprocess…if there is a request, we are going to examine that.” Asked if the collaboration between India and France could end in the event of India conducting a nuclear test, Bonnafont did not give a straight reply saying “we are working on the basis of the Indian declaration about a unilateral moratorium.”
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Leaders ‘plotting’ for more security
Lucknow, September 12 According to a Faizabad police press release, Vedanti in fact knew the duo, Ramesh Tiwari and Pawan Pandey, picked up for questioning in the case. Now Vedanti has written to the police not to take any action against the two. While Tiwari is the president of the Katra unit of the Bajrang Dal in Gonda, Pandey is reported to be the convener of the Hindu Yuva Vahini that owes allegiance to the BJP MP from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath. On August 30, Vedanti had lodged a complaint with the Faizabad police saying that he had received death threats from some SIMI and Al-Qaida terrorists on his mobile
phone. When the local intelligence unit investigated the matter, they traced the calls to these two young men who belong to the former BJP’s erstwhile constituency of Gonda and appear to be well known to him. While the police is refusing to comment on the motive of the youths threatening the former BJP MP, insiders feel that this was a strategy on the part Vedanti to demand a gunner and also communalise matters in the process. Barely six months ago, president of the Ramjanambhoomi Trust Mahant Nritya Gopal Das had claimed to receive a postcard sent by Al-Qaida from Hardwar threatening to kill him. With a few months to the Lok Sabha elections, the religious leaders instigating such mischievous incidents clearly to seek more security is a cause for concern. Moving around with security cover has become a much sought after status symbol in the state not only for the politicians but even the religious fraternity.
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Kandhamal hits another low
Has highest infant mortality rate in India Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 12 The IMR for Kandhamal, which has been in the news for anti-Christian riots, is a whopping 121 per 1,000 live births, as against the national average of 54. Such a high IMR is a significant indicator of the extent of backwardness in tribal Kandhamal, say experts. State-wise, the highest infant mortality rate has been reported from Madhya Pradesh at 94, while the lowest is in Kerala at 18. Madhya Pradesh also has the highest child mortality rate (CMR) of 102 as against the national average of 59, while Kerala reports the lowest CMR at 20 among the states. The CMR is the number of deaths of children within the first five years of birth. Kerala’s Kottayam district has the distinction of having the lowest IMR (13 per 1,000 live births) as well as the lowest CMR (just 14) in India while east Kamang district in Arunachal Pradesh has the highest CMR in India at 141. But even with its impressive child health care indicators, Kerala reports a higher female IMR as well as a higher female CMR as compared to corresponding indicators for male children. A persisting high female IMR than male in several states is one of the most disturbing findings of the PFI study, admit experts. In India, the female infant mortality rate remains higher than the male infant mortality rate in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Mizoram, Nagaland , and even Kerala. If that was less, as many as 244 districts in India still have a higher IMR than the national average of 54. “Only eight Indian districts have an IMR that equals the national average,” says the report, which studies two major indicators of child health -- IMR and CMR at national, state and district levels. “The idea is to facilitate decentralised planning and programme intervention to contain high IMR and CMR. Large intra and inter district variations continue to exist in the level of socioeconomic development and health care indicators and these require specific combat programmes,” the assessors point out. Bias against the girl child is evident even in the data for the child mortality rate, with the female CMR being higher than the male CMR in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Delhi, Nagaland and even Kerala. The rural-urban differential for the IMR and the CMR is also disturbing, with the rural IMR being 58 as compared to urban at 40. Likewise, the rural CMR is high at 65 as compared to urban, which is 42. In terms of the CMR, only 13 districts of India equal the national CMR average of 59; as many as 228 have a child mortality rate exceeding the national average - not a happy finding at all.
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Time for reality check, CWC meeting today
New Delhi, September 12 The challenges faced by the Congress in the poll-bound states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and the party’s organisational health will come in for special focus during the day-long deliberations that will draw up a strategy for these elections and prepare a response to the opposition campaign on the N-deal, inflation and terrorism. The meeting will take a hard look at the state of its alliances in different states, particularly its ongoing discussions on seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh with the Samajwadi Party. The nuclear deal will come in for a special mention and a resolution congratulating Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the UPA government’s success on the foreign policy front will be on the table. The party will also don its thinking cap on how it should go about extracting maximum political mileage from the N-deal, especially in the light of the strong criticism voiced by the BJP and Left parties. While the BJP is in deep introspection in Bangalore on extending its influence in the South, the Congress will be deliberating on regaining its support base in the North. Having lost ground in the key states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, it has become absolutely vital for the Congress to recapture the assemblies of three northern states going to polls at the end of the year as these will set the tone for the subsequent general elections. While the BJP is pinning hopes on the performance of its chief ministers, Congress spokesperson Veerappa Moily said the party had enough issues to pin down the saffron party. The CWC will also take note of the growing clout of Mayawati’s BSP that is expected to expand its base in the poll-bound states and the Chiranjeevi factor in Andhra Pradesh. Delhi and the state of Jammu and Kashmir, also headed for elections, are the other problem areas for the Congress. The party faces severe anti-incumbency in Delhi while it is at the receiving end in Jammu and Kashmir over the Amarnath land issue. At its brainstorming session in Shimla in 2003, the party had abandoned its “ekla
chalo” line and instead favoured unity of secular parties. Despite strong internal misgivings about its experience with coalitions, there is growing recognition in the Congress that alliances are now a compulsion from which there is no escape.
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I am happy and relieved: Big B
New Delhi, September 12 The actor was reacting to the withdrawal of agitation by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena against his film ‘The Last Lear’. Bachchan, who plays a veteran thespian Harish Mishra in the film, said, “I loved the script and enjoyed doing this movie.” He said that it requires guts to invest in such a movie and congratulated the producer of the film, Arindam Chaudhuri for making this film. When asked whether it was his best performance till date, the actor said, “I think it would be terrible for an actor to classify his best work. That would be the end of his work. Let’s not limit ourselves by saying that its my best
work”. Chaudhari was all praise for director Rituparno Ghosh and the cast of the
film. “I call Ritu Da a magician as he weaves magic with a subject that has to do with relationships. It is a dream project and the character was tailor-made for Bachchan," he said “It’s a story we believed in. It’'s what we categorise as good cinema,” Chaudhari
said. Rituparno Ghosh, known for films like ‘Unishe April’, ‘Chokher Bali’ and ‘Raincoat’ seemed impressed by the work of his cast in the film. “I need actors who can transform a stimulus into performance and fortunately, I had such actors to do it in this film.” He was completely smitten by the ‘Bachchan bug’.
— PTI
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Stray rhino keeps wildlife staff on tenterhooks
Guwahati, September 12 Assam's chief wildlife warden, M.C. Malakar, said a team of trackers last spotted the rhino at a place called Bogamati at Tamulpur near Bhutan border about 70 kms from the eastern fringe of Manas Park. The team has been tracking the lost rhino that was translocated to the Manas National Park from Pabitora Wildlife sanctuary in Marigaon district of central Assam as part of the Project Rhino Vision 2020, with the help of electromagnetic waves emitted from the radio collar fitted in it. "We have issued necessary permission to use tranquiliser gun to capture the rhino that had strayed from the national park about ten days back and are confident of bringing it back. But because of the floodwater all over the area, we have not tried to tranquilise it now. It will be fatal if it gets drowned in water after being hit by the bullet," Malakar said. The recapture and subsequent survival of the rhino in the grasslands of Manas National Park is vital for the future of the wild-to-wild rhino translocation project in Assam that is aimed at shifting of rhinos from densely populated areas to other suitable locations to facilitate better growth of the population of the endangered species.
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‘Land-for-land’ proposal to solve Singur crisis
Kolkata, September 12 He, however, did not elaborate anything about the new land proposal. Nor did he disclose the contents of the Tata Motor’s letter. But it was certain that a new crisis had developed on the Singur impasse, which might delay the solution and also put the future of the Tata Nano car proposal into doldrums. Tata Motors already conveyed to the government that they did not want the basic plan and design of the Nano project to be changed and the ancillary industries had been the very part of their plan. On the other hand, over 150 farmers who had surrendered their lands to Tata Motors and also received their payments were opposed to the transferring of their specific lands to farmers. They also demanded the enhanced rate of compensations offered to the agitating farmers. Sen informed mediapersons at the Writers Buildings today that the government had received a letter from the Tatas about their stand on the returning of lands from the Nano project area to the unwilling farmers. Accordingly, the joint committee comprising the government officials and the farmers representatives set up by the Governor had also been told. The joint committee met for the third day today at the WBIDC’s office. Mamata was also sent a copy of the government’s fresh proposal for their consideration. He said after receiving Mamata’s views, the government would take further steps in implementing the decisions taken jointly at the Raj Bhawan meeting by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mamata in the presence of Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi. But the Chief Minister said there were fruitful discussions between the state officials and the farmers representatives and he hoped that the issue of the land-return and the rehabilitation package to the unwilling farmers would be solved soon. He said if necessary both the government and the farmers representatives would be meeting once again at Taj Bhawan. After today’s meeting the Trinamool MLA at Singur Rabindralal Bhattacharyya, however, did not make any specific demand of returning of 300 acres of lands from within the Tata Motors’ project site. It had been made clear to Mamata and other leaders that some 100 acres of lands lying within the project (not the Nano plant), which belonged to the WBIDC and the WBSEB could be returned to the farmers and the maximum remaining lands of the 300 acres would be acquired in the local areas for the farmers so that the Tatas project was not disturbed.
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Australia says no to uranium supply
New Delhi, September 12 At a meeting here today with external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, Australian foreign affairs minister Stephen Smith said his country favoured India’s inclusion in the security council in keeping with the current political and economic realities of the century. An external affairs ministry spokesman said the two leaders discussed bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest and importance. The discussions covered a wide-range of subjects, reflecting the increasingly close ties between their two countries. They noted that India and Australia had a strong commitment to countering the scourge of global terrorism and that cooperative links between the two countries continued to grow steadily in this area. Smith condemned the recent suicide bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul as well as terrorist attacks in Ahmedabad and Bangalore, and conveyed Australia’s condolences to the victims. Smith concluded a five-day visit to India this evening during which he re-emphasised his country’s position that it could not supply uranium to India because New Delhi was not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). He, however, welcomed the NSG amending its stringent rules to allow India to undertake nuclear commerce. His country, he noted, fully supported the waiver in the 45-member cartel last week.
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Two COs in dock for assaulting juniors
Chandigarh, September 12 Army sources revealed that the trial of a colonel who was commanding an armoured regiment based at Patiala is scheduled to commence on September 16 at Ambala. A subaltern in the same regiment, Lt Vineet Bindal had alleged that his CO had manhandled him after he had had an altercation with a scooterist who had a brush with tank transporters. The incident had occurred about two years ago when elements of the unit were returning from an exercise. Acting upon the lieutenant’s complaint, the Army ordered a court of inquiry (COI), which was presided over by Brig C.K. Bajaj, commander of an artillery brigade at Ambala. The officer is now facing a single charge under Section 47 of the Army Act for ill-treating a subordinate. Brig Rahul Gupta, commander of an air defence brigade, is the GCM’s presiding officer. Meanwhile, in a separate case, a JCO serving with an air defence regiment under the Western Command has submitted a written complaint that he was assaulted by the commanding officer a few weeks ago. Sources said the complaint had gone up the chain of command and the Army was yet to decide upon a course of action. Last year, a GCM had awarded a severe reprimand to Col Sharad Shukla of 171 Field Regiment for allegedly hitting Lt V.P. Singh of his own unit. A policy letter from the Discipline and Vigilance Directorate at Army Headquarters states that cases under the Army Act, Section 47, cannot be disposed of administratively and if a COI holds an accused blameworthy, he is to face disciplinary action.
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Raj Kumar, Krishna get bail
Ghaziabad, September 12 Krishna, compounder of Rajesh Talwar who was arrested by the CBI on June 13, was granted bail by the designated CBI court of Sapna Mishra as the agency had announced earlier this week that it would not be able to file a chargesheet. His 90 days in the judicial custody ended today. In another CBI court of Rama Jain, Raj Kumar, servant of Talwar’s family friend, was also granted bail even before the end of three-month period. He was arrested on June 27. Both the accused were asked to furnish two sureties of Rs 25,000 each and a personal bond of the like amount. With today’s release, no person is in jail in connection with the murder of 14-year-old Arushi, a class IX student of DPS Noida, and her domestic help Hemraj on the intervening night of May 15 and 16 this year. Rajesh Talwar, Arushi’s father, was the first to be arrested in the case by the Noida Police on May 23 but was let off on bail on July 11 after the CBI informed the court that it had found no evidence against him. The CBI, after making tall claims about cracking the case earlier, did a u-turn this week and informed that it was not in a position as of now to file a chargesheet within the stipulated 90-day period. — PTI
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Nitish seeks Rs 9,000 crore
New Delhi, September 12 Reacting to the criticism of railway minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad about the inept handling of the flood situation by the state government, Kumar said Those (Prasad), who never did any relief and rehabilitation work, are now giving certificate. I don’t need to react to them.” Moreover, the state government has instituted a judicial probe into the reasons for embankment breach of the Kosi and fix responsibility of those guilty and anyone having any information could approach the commission about it. He was referring to Prasad’s charge that despite repeated alters by the officer posted on Kosi embankment, the authorities at Patna ignored them resulting in devastating floods. Kumar said he had urged the Prime Minister that the Centre should, on the lines of tsunami, provide relief of Rs. 1.5 lakh per dwelling unit to three lakh flood-affected people of Bihar, which would amount of Rs 4,500 crore. He said the Rs 9,000-crore package would be utilised for reclaiming the one lakh hectare agriculture land affected by the floods and reconstruction of roads, schools, colleges and hospitals.
— UNI
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SC to hear Anand’s plea
New Delhi, September 12 A bench comprising Justices B.N. Agarwal and G.S. Singhvi will hear the case. Anand, who was counsel for the main accused Sanjeev Nanda, grandson of former Navy Chief S.M. Nanda, and I.U. Khan, who was special prosecutor for the Delhi police, had been caught on camera in an NDTV sting operation while trying to win over the a key eye-witness, Sunil Kulkarni, by offering him huge amount of money. In his petition, Anand has contended that the High Court did not have powers to suspend or cancel the licence of any advocate and only the State Bar Council concerned could impose such a penalty. He has also sought interim stay against the operation of the impugned HC order till the final disposal of his petition.
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Fewer militants-Army
encounters in J&K
New Delhi, September 12 Not only these, even the incidents like explosions triggered by militants have declined in this year. Despite this noticeable drop, the Army had killed more than 225 militants this year alone (till September 3). This includes 45 militants, who were killed while trying to infiltrate into India. Last year and the year before that the numbers of killings were much more. In 2007, more than 470 militants were killed while more than 550 were killed in 2006. And about 100-odd militants were killed in each of the years, when the Army foiled attempts of infiltration.
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MP government orders health survey
Tribune News Service
Bhopal, September 12 A government panel, appointed by the divisional commissioner of Indore, to go into the deaths, claims that the children’s parents were informed “well-in advance” about the condition of their children, but they neither sent them to “aaganwadis”- where the government provides mid-day meals - and nor agreed to get them hospitalised. And that 40 per cent of those who did, took away their children within a day of admitting them to the hospitals. The Chief Minister has visited the area and the government says it will do everything possible to prevent the deaths due to, what it calls “undernourishment”.
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Rs 500-cr special scheme for Naxal-hit states
New Delhi, September 12 The scheme was approved yesterday at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, an official spokesperson said. For the current financial year, Rs 100 crore has been earmarked for the scheme whose objective is to adequately provide for crucial infrastructure requirement that are critical to policing and security needs in the field but are not adequately provided for in any existing scheme, she said. Over 70 districts in the country are affected by the Left wing extremism.
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The three-day meeting of the BJP national executive began here in Bangalore today to deliberate on the party’s election plans and strategies sans some vital elements — the UP factor.
