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Govt to secure skies over oil refineries
Worldwide bailouts 10 times bigger than Indian economy
65% cast vote in Rajasthan repoll
‘Akalis will create history in Delhi’
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Mumbai Heat
Maj Sandeep’s father accepts compensation
Mothers hushed their babies as terrorists struck Cama Hospital
India, an easy target
for terrorists: Kiran Bedi
Mumbai Heat
Intelligence at wits’ end over timing of Mumbai attack
ISI ‘involved’ in SIM card controversy
Lethal Combo
Central team to study security in Bengal, says Mamata
Blabbering by anchors is not journalism
Dates of terror attacks a coincidence?
Faith Factor
‘Son’ sets on papa’s political path
Ghulam Ali missed at Rajgir festival
Naga team visits Myanmar to bolster trade
Sleep is citizen’s basic right: SC
4 pilgrims die, 40 hurt in Assam
Charkha awards presented
Chiru’s brother to head Praja Rajyam’s youth wing
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Govt to secure skies over oil refineries
New Delhi, December 7 After terrorists came on speedboats to launch the attack on Mumbai nearly two weeks ago, the Navy and the Coast Guard may patrol the mouth of Gulf of Cambay more frequently to protect oil and gas wells and other such installations in the western offshore, besides ships carrying crude oil and LNG into the country. The need is being felt for securing the airspace as well. Oil minister Murli Deora has met home minister P. Chidambaram and defence minister A.K. Antony to “flag possible threats to oil and gas installations,” official sources said. Nineteen public and private sector oil refineries and installations such as crude import hubs at Kandla in Gujarat and liquefied natural gas receiving facilities at Dahej and Hazira, in the same state, may be covered by the no-fly zone. The Indian Air Force would be responsible for reinforcing the ‘no-fly zones’, they said pointing a suicide mission like the 9/11 strike in the US or even a remote control-operated unmanned plane could create havoc at oil installations. The Navy and the Coast Guard may be pressed for increasing patrol in western offshore to guard against terrorist strikes on facilities like oil wells, most of which are unmanned. While the Navy, the Coast Guard and the security apparatus of the oil companies would guard the entire perimeter of the installations, sources said a “quick-response” team may be constituted to respond to any emergency.
— PTI
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Worldwide bailouts 10 times bigger than Indian economy
New Delhi, December 7 A lion’s share of about three-fourth of the worldwide bailout package of about $10.1 trillion has come from the world’s biggest economy, the US, whose total national debt has also incidentally crossed the 10 trillion-dollar mark. The size of the entire Indian economy, where the impact of global crisis has been relatively less disastrous, pales at about $1 trillion. These bailouts, which have been prevalent in both developed and developing worlds due to the financial turmoil that turned severe after the fall of Lehman Brothers, have come in various forms of financial stimulus by the governments across the world, be it putting in fresh money into a crisis-ridden institution, bringing them under the government’s fold or other fiscal measures. America set the ball rolling for such packages, with the world’s largest economy announcing 700 billion-dollar plan primarily to shore up the fortunes of the country’s battered financial institutions. Taking into account other rescue acts by the US, its total bailout plan runs into more than $7trillion. Various European nations together have come up with about $1.3 trillion in financial assistance apart from the European Commission urging the constituent countries to pledge nearly $254 billion. Further, Germany has thrown lifelines to the tune of $60 billion to save the country’s leading financial firms, Dexia Bank and Hypo Real Estate, both of which were battered by the worsening economic turmoil. While Hypo Real Estate received $50 billion, Dexia Bank got a lifeline worth about $10 billion. Among the developing nations, China has announced a massive 586 billion-dollar plan to boost its economy and the funds would be mainly utilised for infrastructure projects. Other major bailouts in recent times include $572 billion pumped by Ireland administration to strengthen the country’s banks, $150 billion pledged by Russia and $30 billion put in by the Poland government. Meanwhile, the whopping seven trillion-dollar injected into the economy by the US, includes billions of dollars of term funding facilities, currency swap arrangement with various foreign governments and rescue of Wall Street giants. With the economic turmoil continuing unabated, the Bush administration recently came up with another mega 800 billion-dollar plan, which would help in buying toxic mortgage assets, among others. Further, the Federal government threw a lifeline of more than $300 billion to banking behemoth
Citigroup. The rescue includes fresh capital injection to the tune of $40 billion and guaranteeing assets worth $306 billion.
— PTI
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65% cast vote in Rajasthan repoll
Jaipur, December 7 Nearly 65 per cent voting was reported in the repoll with no major incident of violence reported from the areas, said a spokesman of the Chief Electoral Officer of the state. BJP leaders held couple of meetings presided by Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje at her residence today with sources revealing they took stock of the development made in roping in the independents and the rebels. The Congress too was in no mood to sit relaxed even if the analysts and bookies rate it may emerge the strongest party, but without majority. The exact picture would be cleared by tomorrow noon but then it may be too late in wooing the independents. Officially both parties maintain there is no such exercise going on. Senior Congress leaders, Dr C.P. Joshi and ex-CM Ashok Gehlot, maintained they don’t need any such exercise as the Congress would get majority. State BJP president O.P. Mathur exudes same confidence. Sources said the BJP has played it smart all along as none of the “expelled” BJP leader has been formally shown the door. Many BJP leaders who were ministers are still enjoying the same position. Political analysts said the Congress had lost the chance to form a government in 1993 for its failure to woo independent candidates.
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‘Akalis will create history in Delhi’
New Delhi, December 7 Landing in New Delhi before the D-Day, Sukhbir spent the day invigorating his cadres, who are naturally anxious about the results, considering the party for the first time contested elections on its own symbol
of scales. But SAD president regards that as his biggest strength. "In a place like Delhi where every constituency is like a country in itself and every other national party symbol so well
recognised, contesting on our own symbol was a very bold decision. We are hopeful of victory on all the seats we are contesting, especially the Rajouri Garden seat which we are contesting on our part symbol," Sukhbir today told The Tribune. For SAD, tomorrow's election results, if positive, would spell the beginning of a new era, which will have roots in the Punjabi brotherhood - a thought the Akali leadership used during canvassing. Sukhbir Badal also admitted today: "We may be a regional party but we have the power to unite the Punjabis in the Capital. That is our strength. As a party based in Punjab, we know the aspirations of Punjabis and want to bring them on the national platform," said SAD president, adding that the Congress was responsible for complete decay of governance in the national capital and would pay up for the same.
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Mumbai, December 7 Governor S.C. Jamir will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Chavan and deputy Chief Minister-designate Chhagan Bhujbal, along with 40 other ministers at a simple ceremony at Darbar Hall of Raj Bhavan. The political scenario underwent a change in Maharashtra after the then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh resigned in the aftermath of the 26/11 terror strikes, owning moral responsibility for the security lapses and bowed to a large-scale public outcry against the functioning of the government. The decks were cleared for the formation of the new government in the state after Chavan met AICC president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi to finalise the names of ministers, who would be sworn in. NCP supremo Sharad Pawar held meetings with senior leaders from his party at his residence on the list of probable party ministers. NCP state unit president Arun Gujarathi and brother of Vilasrao Deshmukh, Dilip Deshmukh, are expected to be inducted in the ministry with cabinet ranks. The transition, however, would not be a smooth affair for the Congress, which suffered a hiccup in the form of chief ministerial aspirant Narayan Rane, who blew hot and cold over the Congress high command, following his rejection. Rane was suspended from the Congress for his outburst against the party leadership. Most of the senior leaders of both the parties are expected to retain their portfolios. Outgoing CM Deshmukh, CM-designate Chavan and state Congress chief Manikrao Thakre held several meetings with the party's central leadership, including AICC president Sonia Gandhi and senior leaders A K Antony and Ahmed Patel. Senior ministers like Patangrao Kadam and Balasaheb Thorat are likely to be retained but some others may face the axe. Senior Congress leader Narayan Rane, Deshmukh and NCP leader R.R. Patil will not be in the new cabinet. While Deshmukh and Patil have resigned owning moral responsibility for the Mumbai terror attacks, Rane, who has raised the banner of revolt and criticised the leadership, has been suspended from the party. Rane, who has been claiming support of over 25 out of 75 Congress MLAs, has accused the Congress leadership of conspiring against him to keep him away from the top job. Antony, who is in charge of Congress affairs in Maharashtra, has termed the allegations as baseless and asserted that overwhelming majority of MLAs backed Chavan for the top job. — Agencies
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Mumbai Heat
New Delhi, December 7 The records of the Indian Railways show that there is a sharp decline in the number of passengers coming from Pakistan through trans-national Samjhauta Express after
the November 26 attacks in Mumbai. The records show that during the first three weeks of November, the occupancy of the Samjhauta Express coming to Delhi from Pakistan was around 500 on every trip out of a total capacity of 777. But after the terror strikes in India's financial hub, the number started declining. A day after the November 26 attacks in Mumbai, the number of passengers coming from Pakistan stood at 334. The number further slipped to 268 in the trip on December 2 and on December 5 it was just 250 passengers on board. India has blamed the elements inside Pakistan for the attack, a charge denied by Islamabad, which says New Delhi has yet to offer any proof to support allegations that Pakistani-based elements were behind the strikes. However, the number of passengers going to Pakistan from India has, in contrast, increased during the same period. The number of passengers going to Pakistan was 489 on November 26, 518 on November 30, and 597 on December 3 on board the bi-weekly trans-border train. Railway officials believe that the attacks in Mumbai could be a reason behind the decline in the number of Pakisani passengers. When asked from a Pakistani passenger who arrived here this week, he said there was a "sense of fear". "People are thinking what will happen next? They are scared to undertake a journey by a train which has been targeted in the past." "But, we should not provide a chance to those who want India and Pakistan to be at each other's throat. That's the reason I'm here," he said, but refused to give his name. Samjhauta Express was targeted by the terrorists in February 2007. Sixtyseven persons were charred to death and several others injured when two powerful explosions ripped through the two coaches of the Lahore-bound trans-national train, about 10 km from Panipat.
— PTI
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Maj Sandeep’s father accepts compensation
Bangalore, December 7 Talking to The Tribune, Nair said, “I shall accept the money. What I do with it is a different thing”. “Karnataka is my state, you see. It does not look good if I refuse the compensation offered by the Chief Minister”, Nair said. He said the deputy commissioner had come to his residence yesterday to ask him if he would accept if a cash grant was made by the Chief Minister. Earlier, Chief Minister Yeddyurappa announced that Rs 30 lakh would be given to the Unnikrishnan family as a mark of respect to the memory of the Army officer who died recently in an encounter with the terrorists in Mumbai's Taj Hotel. Unnikrishnan said his son was a soldier and died a death befitting a soldier. On the incident involving him and Kerala Chief Minister Achuthanandan, Nair said it resulted from a misunderstanding for which a reporter was responsible. “The Kerala Chief Minister is a fatherly figure,” Nair, who originally hails from Kerala, said. He said he did not have any grudge against Achuthanandan for paying a delayed visit to his house. “After all, he stays in a distant location,” Nair said. Another Bangalore-based Malayali Army officer, Col Jojan Thomas, was killed in an encounter with terrorists in Kashmir in August. At that time the Kerala government had sent a representative in Bangalore to offer condolences to the family. While the Kerala Chief Minister came to Sandeep’s home, nobody from Kerala government attended the funeral. At least, Unnikrishnan Nair could not recall any Kerala government representative being present at the funeral of his son. Karnataka CM Yeddyurappa had attended the service held after Jojan Thomas’s death and also announced that the expenditure on the education of the elder of the two children left behind by Thomas would be taken care of. The CM, however, did not announce any cash grant for the family.
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Mothers hushed their babies as terrorists struck Cama Hospital
Mumbai, December 7 “I was admitted in the hospital just a day before the incident took place. I had developed some complications after my delivery, but after what we went through that night, my only aim was to get out of this place alive with my baby,” said Sahira. She was back at the hospital for a check-up, but the place now resembles a fortress with more security personnel visible than doctors and patients. But Sahira still shudders at the nightmarish happenings. Admitted to the charitable hospital Nov 25, Sahira was taking a nap on the fateful Wednesday with her baby by her side when she heard a lot of commotion outside. “Suddenly the nurse ran in and told us that there was some shooting outside. She shut the door, drew the curtains and switched off the lights. In order to keep the babies from crying, she advised us to breast-feed them,” she said. Sahira's eyes moistened and she held her baby closer as she continued to recollect the horror of that night. “Everything was so sudden that I was trembling with fear. But the nurse kept telling us to hush down and just keep our babies from crying. At that point of time, all I could think was how to save my child who is not even a month old,” she said. The nightmare, a memory that women like Sahira will probably never forget, lasted for more than five hours, till it was declared that the terrorists were no longer in the hospital building. According to one of the nurses, most of the young mothers in the hospital November 26 chose to be discharged the next morning, despite doctors advising some of them against it. Kalyani Dev, whose friend Mariam underwent a Caesarian that
morning, said. — IANS
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India, an easy target
for terrorists: Kiran Bedi
Mumbai, December 7 “Our system is old and medieval and the neighbours know this. We
have not let the police system become professional and fully accountable
because politicians and bureaucrats want to retain control.
Professionalising the police means true rule of law. The police is fully
accountable to law and no one else,” the first woman IPS officer said. On
the recent terror attack on Mumbai, Bedi said, “All those who had
access to information, be it politicians, bureaucrats, law enforcement
agencies and the police among others, should be held responsible for the
attack.” “Breach in accountability ought to have meant dismissals
and not mere transfers or suspensions. And later, reinstatements,” she
added. Calling for sweeping changes in the archaic criminal legal system, Bedi said citizens should play an active role in demanding changes and seeking accountability. “Our
laws have never been known to keep pace with ground needs. We still have
the Police Act of 1861, Prison Act of 1894 and the Indian Penal Code,
also of the same vintage. Our elected representatives accuse each other
but do not legislate. They have failed us on this completely,” she
said. “We all have to wake up and shake off the slumber or else we
will be victimised more and more. And the invisibles will continue to
get away,” Bedi said. The problem cannot be solved by rolling heads of
politicians, she said adding, “It requires a major shift in the way we
administer policing, its processes and its resources, the way we govern,
coordinate and deliver the sense of urgency with which we treat police
and justice issues, laws and resources.” Lack of manpower, technology and little coordination are a few reasons for lapse in security, the Magsaysay Award winner said. “Where
are the men and resources even for normal day-to-day policing? Mobility
is weak. Use of IT is low and coordination almost negligible,” Bedi
added.
— PTI
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Mumbai Heat
New Delhi, December 7 Sibal also regretted that the government could not prevent the unprecedented attacks and said "we are sorry, we are really sorry. I am genuinely very very upset... More than embarassed, I am enraged." Noting that there were alerts and information, he said "no seriousness was given to that information... Someone said it was not actionable information. The point is obviously there is something wrong with the agencies which look at that information and analyse it." "What was the credence, seriousness given to the information? This is the point," Sibal told Karan Thapar's Devil's Advocate programme of CNN-IBN in an apparent reference to the remark made by Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta that there were no "actionable" inputs about the attacks. The science and technology minister noted it was right to say that there cannot be something as "horrendous" as this which happened "without there being security lapses or lapses in intelligence". "I look at the enormity of what happened and I look at the fact that this could have happened on a plan which was executed overnight. Obviously there have been serious lapses," he said. Asked whether he would seek forgiveness from the countrymen, he said, "There is no question of forgiveness. We have to now fight this and fight this together...what is the point of my saying forgive us. Somebody will say to me this is all very well for you to say forgive you." "I am sure that there was information of some sort or the other, that such a particular attack could not have been executed without long term planning and training. And down the road obviously there were some lapses," Sibal said. When told that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had in 2004 said that "country will be safe in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's hands", he said "nobody at that time, neither Soniaji nor the Prime Minister nor any of us could have imagined. Remember, this attack was something very different." He said the Mumbai attacks were a "wake-up call" for the entire country and the government to put in place a system which can fight such attacks. Asked about the delay in choosing a successor to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vialsrao Deshmukh, he said to replace a leader was not an easy job.
— PTI
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Intelligence at wits’ end over timing of Mumbai attack
New Delhi, December 7 Why did the terrorists or their ‘master brain’ choose November 26 to launch the attack on India’s financial capital? They want to know. The espionage agencies’ best brains are burning midnight oil to decode the matrix of the attacks’ timings. They are convinced that it will help in clearing a lot of mist. Did the timing have anything to do with important Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh next day i.e. November 27, in Delhi two days later and in Rajasthan on December 4? This is one of the many theories on which the Indian intelligence community is working. In all the three states, a high percentage of voting was recorded. Political experts are of the opinion that the Mumbai attacks influenced the voting pattern as angry people cast their vote against terror, damaging the fortunes of specific parties considered to be soft on terrorism. “Did the terrorists’ master-mind want to kill two birds with one stone — influence poll results as well as shake the country?” wondered a strategic affairs expert, recalling the drama of the hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft in Kandahar during the BJP-led NDA regime, “Which had shown too much eagerness to release three dreaded Kashmiri terrorists.” “The terrorists’ precise war like operation itself is telling a tale,” said a highly placed Intelligence Bureau source, adding: “We want to know why they selected November 26? Why not a day earlier or a day later?” While selecting a target and date of attack, many important things are taken into account especially the ‘real-time ground situation’. A top officer of the Army’s elite para-commando unit said: “The terrorists’ operation has made us suspect that they were trained by best serving or retired instructors of the Army and the Navy”. “When such operations are planned,” the officer explained, “you just don’t decide one day to run for the target. For such a ‘commando’ style operation, a calendar of things to do is prepared much in advance and the team goes through minute details like weapons, logistics, rations, personal belongings (what to carry or not), backup, contingency plans and escape routes (if required) before it gets the go ahead signal. Also, if the situation demands, false information about the time and place of their operation is leaked to divert the intelligence gathering agencies’ attention.” “The dedicated team members in such operations wait for the D-day, which is disclosed to their leader only by the faceless planners/controllers at the last minute,” he said, adding, “Only in special circumstances, the operation is advanced, postponed or abandoned.” The lone captured Pakistani terrorist, Azam Amir Kasab, has told his interrogators that after a long gruelling training, their team was ready to move to Indian targets at a very short notice. “We waited for quite some time before the green signal came,” sources quoted him saying. “The professional style of the terrorists contradict Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s claim that the gunmen were ‘stateless actors’ who wanted to hold the entire world hostage,” an officer of the National Security Guard said observing: “The stateless actors don’t get the kind of high degree of training that was reflected in the attacks.” As the gravity of the deadly attacks began to unfold, political parties started apprehending that the terror attacks might ‘influence the polling pattern’ for Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls the next day. In Madhya Pradesh, the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur in the Malegaon blast case was made into a major poll issue by the BJP, accusing the Congress ruled Maharashatra’s Anti Terrorist Squad of gunning for her, a serving army officer and some influential Hindu religious leaders without any evidence. As the BJP was more aggressive against Islamic terrorism in its election campaign, political experts believe that the Mumbai attacks certainly influenced the voting pattern in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan. It seems that the ‘war on Mumbai’ damaged the election fortunes of certain parties whom people thought to be soft on terrorism.
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ISI ‘involved’ in SIM card controversy
Kolkata, December 7 According to police sources, the ISI has been patronising at least eight major terrorist organisations in the Indo-Bangladesh border states like West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and some others in the NE region both with money and material for involving them in the terror activities in the country. Several unemployed youths were also recruited for acting as their agents who were not only passing secret information to these terrorists organisations but were also buying firearms and other equipment clandestinely from the black market for supplying them to the terrorists. Since the buying of SIM cards has been easy in the city and elsewhere in the state and the neighbouring Bangladesh, the terrorists very often were procuring these cards from these two places for sending them to the people involved in the terror activities elsewhere in the country. Bangladesh SIM cards had been also easily available in the border districts of these states. Already, 22 pre-activated SIM cards of two different IT companies, had been bought by one Tausif Rehman (21), a resident of Ostagar Lane in central Calcutta, clandestinely for supplying them to one Mukthar Ahmed (37), stated to be the ISI agent. Two of these SIM cards were inserted in the cellphones which were used by the terrorists in the Mumbai carnage. Both Tausif and Mukthar were arrested yesterday from Calcutta and New Delhi respectively. The DC (DD), Kolkata police, Javed Shamin said they had already alerted the IT companies for imposing restrictions in the selling of the SIM cards and IT cards to the people for
preventing their use in the subversive activities. He admitted it was easy to procure cellphone SIM cards in the city and other places and hence, there had been a tendency by people from outside for frequently buying SIM cards from Kolkata.
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Lethal Combo
New Delhi, December 7 Addressing the UN’s anti-corruption campaign members before the International Anti-Corruption Day, which is on December 9, the Secretary-General said in no unclear terms that corruption allowed terrorists to finance their nefarious operations. He further attributed the global financial crisis in part on greed and corruption, saying confidence in the financial system had been battered, integrity of many banks called into question, and many people had lost their life savings. “This is bad enough; yet another, silent financial crisis afflicting the world’s poorest people attracts far less attention. Every year across the developing world, billions of dollars that are badly needed for health care, schools, clean water and infrastructure are stolen or lost through bribes and other misdeeds,” the Secretary-General has said in his message to the world, expressing anguish on how such misdeeds made it harder to provide basic services and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. “It denies people their fundamental human rights,”
he said. The message mentions that the UN is fighting back, and the UN Convention against Corruption, which came into force in December 2005, contains strong measures for fighting corruption. The warning, however, is: “There is an urgent need to make the convention work and become the global norm. I look forward to the establishment of a robust mechanism to review implementation of the convention, which is expected to be adopted by the next Conference of States Parties.” The Secretary-General also said the global financial crisis underlined the need for greater regulation. However, under the convention, bank secrecy is no longer an impediment to recovering stolen assets. The World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime {UNODC} are now making important progress in helping states to get their money back through the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative.
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Central team to study security in Bengal, says Mamata
Kolkata, December 7 Mamata met the Prime Minister at Raj Bhavan last evening and complained to him against the state government’s “misuse” of the police and power for serving the political interests of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. The Prime Minister, who was in the city yesterday for attending the convocation of Rabindranath Tagore’s Visva Bharati university, returned to the Capital in the morning by cancelling his tour to Malda, where he was to attend a function this morning, organised by the district Congress in honour of the late A.B.A Ghani Khan Chowdhury. But due to fog, his helicopter could not land at the helipad and he had to return to Kolkata. Shortly after 9 am, accompanied by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Prime Minister had flown back to the Capital. Yesterday, Mamata and Somen Mitra met the Prime Minister separately and complained to him about the Chief Minister’s “mishandling” of the tribal problems and his misuse of the police against rival political parties. Mamata also sought his intervention in solving the problems that thousands of trainee primary teachers had been facing in the state. A WBPCC (l) team led by the working president, Pradip Bhattacharya, also met the Prime Minister and discussed with him party matters vis-à-vis the state’s deteriorating law and order situation. The external affairs minister was present during the meeting. Mamata alleged to the prime minister that the police and the cadres had been torturing the innocent adivasis in the Largarh-Salboni-Belparahi areas in west Midnapore and the poor farmers at Singur and Nandigram for capturing the places for the CPM. Mamata said she requested the Prime Minister to immediately send an official team for making an on-the-spot study of the state’s deteriorating law and order situation to which he agreed.
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Blabbering by anchors is not journalism
News channel bosses must be patting themselves on the back on their marathon terror coverage. For three days they had treated the viewers to live coverage of the multiple terror strikes in Mumbai. In doing so, they probably set a record in television history.
As the terrorists delivered the heaviest blow yet on the country, the 24x7 news channels rose to the occasion. They took the nation's attention off everything else so that it could concentrate fully on the mayhem in Mumbai. What more could the terrorists have asked for? With the terrorists operating simultaneously on several fronts, there was plenty to do and the channels rushed their best talents and possibly additional equipment to Mumbai to augment the resources available locally. Cameras were deployed on all war fronts and they instantly brought into drawing rooms (or wherever else the TV sets were) the sights and sounds that they picked up. The reporters kept up an incessant flow of words, either on their own or in response to questions posed by anchors sitting in the studios. Their labour earned handsome rewards in terms of TRP ratings, and that certainly is reason enough to celebrate. TRP is not a measure of professional performance. It is, therefore, to be hoped that when the euphoric mood wears out, the media bosses will make an effort to objectively assess their performance in strictly professional terms. At an early stage in the live coverage, the cameras picked up the image of a gun-wielding young man, warily watching the surroundings. The reporter and the anchor helpfully informed the viewers that they did not know whether he was a terrorist or a commando! On the second day, while all eyes were on the Taj, the Oberoi and the Nariman House, the channels 'broke' news of fresh gunfire at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, where terrorists had mowed down scores of passengers the previous day. One anchor, with his superior knowledge of the topography of Bori Bunder, explained to viewers that it was an area with many buildings and that he was not able to state whether the shooting took place in the rail terminus or some other building nearby. Actually, at that point, his channel was scrolling a headline which said the shooting was on Platform No.8 of CST. At that very point, on another channel, a reporter was informing viewers that the shooting was on Platforms No. 14 and No. 15, from where long distance trains leave. Later in the day the Indian Railways denied there had been any firing at the station on that day. In the coverage of a running story, unfolding itself simultaneously at different locations, inaccurate information creeping in is not entirely unusual. However, in this instance, there is reason to suspect that reporters, eager to break news, had gone on air without waiting for confirmation from either the police or the Railways, the two sources that could be relied upon for information about a shooting incident in a railway station. On the third day, as the Taj nightmare was drawing to a close, the anchor and reporter of a channel were engaged in a heroic effort to make sense out of the sounds emerging from the hotel. According to the National Security Guard, a lone terrorist was still holding out inside the hotel at the time. The reporter, crouching on the ground, drew the viewers' attention to gunfire. The anchor asked from which floor it was coming. "First floor," said the reporter. More explosions followed. When the seventh explosion was reported, the anchor asked: “Where was it coming from, the same floor or somewhere else?” The reporter said this one appeared to be from the ground floor. The two then speculated on the possibility of the lone terrorist moving from one floor to another as though his precise location was a crucial matter. Like the national channels, CNN and BBC also provided extended live coverage of the terror strike. Since they did not have their own cameras at the scenes of action, they turned to the Indian channels for visuals. While the CNN drew visuals from its local partner CNN-IBN, BBC picked feeds from the Hindi channels. However, the words the viewers heard were their own. There was no meaningless chatter by the anchors and correspondents. There was no speculation either. Instead, there were reports which bore the imprint of professional journalists. Live television has opened up new possibilities. The marathon Mumbai terror coverage has shown that Indian news channels have yet to learn how to make effective use of the facility that technology has put at their disposal. They must realize that the media's job is to gather and disseminate information. Seeing is not knowing, much less understanding. The sights and sounds the switched-on camera picks up have to be made intelligible to the viewers. Blabbering by anchors and reporters, howsoever entertaining, is not an adequate substitute for professional reporting.
— IANS B.R.P. Bhaskar is a veteran journalist.
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Dates of terror attacks a coincidence?
Bhopal, December 7 It points out that the first terror attack took place in Jaipur on May 13, then there was no attack in June and the second attack occurred on July 26 at Ahmedabad. The month of August went by without an attack and then an attack took place on September 13 at New Delhi. October went by without an attack but Mumbai was hit by the worst-ever terror attacks on November 26, the e-mail added.
— PTI
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Faith Factor
Guwahati, December 7 Lakhs of people from the Sikh community living in different parts of the country and abroad have shown interest to visit this centuries old gurdwara that is well managed by the Sikh Pratinidhi Board, Eastern Zone. Board president Satnam Singh said over 50,000 people from India and abroad visited Dhubri Sahib gurdwara on the occasion of three-day Shahidi Divas (martyrdom day) of Guru Tegh Bahadur during December 2 to December 4 this year. Since Wednesday, the western town of Dhubri turned out to be the perfect melting point of different cultures with Sikh pilgrims from all parts of the country and abroad flocking the place. Among the crowd were an eighteen-member team of Sikhs from Myanmar. They were just delighted to be among a huge gathering of their community. Significantly, the board hardly publicise the annual celebrations of the martyrdom day at Dhubri, which has played a crucial role in cementing the bond of communal harmony in the region for centuries. The board has already taken initiative to put Dhubri on the map of religious tourism in the country. According to the history, Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, came to Assam in 1505 via Dhanpur near Dacca and stayed with Shankardeva, Vaishnavite reformer of Assam, at the present site of the gurdwara. Guru Tegh Bahadur also spent time at Dhubri during his visit to this part of the land.
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‘Son’ sets on papa’s political path
New Delhi, December 7 Vilasrao Deshmukh, already being criticised for the recent Mumbai mayhem, got further flak for letting his son and filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma accompany him to the Taj hotel. Though Deshmukh officially said he stepped down owning “moral responsibility” for the terror attack, party insiders said he was “removed” from his post for his poor handling and casual approach to the situation. Well, Deshmukh is not alone. Former AICC general secretary Margaret Alva also had to resign from her post, when the party did not take lightly her allegations of tickets being sold after her son Nivedith was denied a nomination to contest the Karnataka assembly poll. Alva wanted a party ticket for Nivedith and in an emotional outburst had publicly criticised the leadership for denying the ticket to her son. Reaction from the top brass of the Congress was quick and swift and Alva had to resign from the party post before being removed by the disciplinary action committee. Not so long ago, it was the then external affairs minister Natwar Singh who went down together with his son Jagat in the “oil-for-food” scam.
— PTI
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Ghulam Ali missed at Rajgir festival
Patna, December 7 security reasons. His Mumbai-based agent Birendra Shankar said Ali was very much upset for not being allowed to visit India where he has been singing ghazals for past several years. His fans in India would be equally sad over this development, said Shankar. According to him, Ghuam Ali was to perform at seven other places in India, including Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai besides the "Rajgir festival”. Everything was finalised and he was to leave Pakistan for Patna when he was advised against travelling to India. The Bihar goverment’s tourism department, which has been organising “Rajgir festival” every year, recieved the information regarding cancellation of his trip late on Thursday, principal secretary of the department Rashmi Verma informed. The harried officials, however, made an alternative arrangement by contacting Talat Aziz for replacing Ghulam Ali. Aziz agreed for the show. The show is to be inaugurated by Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi. Famous Kuchipudi dancer Swapana Sundari would also regale the audience during the inaugural session of “Rajgir festival” by presenting a ballet.
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Naga team visits Myanmar to bolster trade
Kohima, December 7 The study tour was a follow-up action to the pact signed between the Government of India and the Myanmar Trade committee on October 17 at Mandalay since Nagaland shares nearly a 300-km border with Myanmar and potential of border trade is
very promising. In addition to the existing two border trade centres, Pangsha (Tuensang) and Longwa (Mon), the government identified a few more such trade centres and necessary infrastructure is being developed, particularly road communication in border areas. The OSD to the state industries department, M.K. Mero, who led Nagaland team to Myanmar,
on Sunday said: “We mainly focus on opening up of the trade centre at Avangkhu in Phek district during our interactions with the Federation of Industries and Commerce, Myanmar.”
— PTI
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Sleep is citizen’s basic right: SC
New Delhi, December 7 The permission was denied by the authorities on the ground that the venue was located within 100 metres of an educational institution and a hospital. A bench of Justices S.B. Sinha and Cyriac Joseph upheld the validity of an order passed by the Maharashtra government denying permission to Farhd K. Wadia, chief executive officer of Power Productions, a leading audio studio in Mumbai, for conducting a music event at an open-air auditorium near a school. “Interference by the court in respect of noise pollution is premised on the basis that a citizen has certain rights like ‘necessity of silence’, ‘necessity of sleep’, ‘process during sleep’ and ‘rest’, which are biological necessities and essential for health. Silence is considered to be golden. “It is considered to be one of the human rights as noise is injurious to human health, which is required to be preserved at any cost,” the apex court observed. Wadia had earlier approached the High Court challenging the authority’s decision, but his plea was dismissed, following which he filed the SLP (special leave petition) in the apex court.
— PTI
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4 pilgrims die, 40 hurt in Assam
Rangiya, December 7 The brakes of the bus failed as it was climbing a hill to the famous Kedar temple atop after the pilgrims coming from Patbaosi in neighbouring Barpeta district visited the nearby Madhab temple, police sources said. Most of the passengers escaped with wounds as the bus hit a tree on the left side of the road that has a 15 ft deep gorge. It got deflected to the hillside on the right, thus avoiding a major accident and loss of more lives.
— PTI
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Charkha awards presented
New Delhi, December 7
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Chiru’s brother to head Praja Rajyam’s youth wing
Hyderabad, December 7 Chiranjeevi, who launched the party in August this year, claimed that Kalyan has his own identity. “It is not proper to keep him away just because he is my brother,” the superstar added. Kalyan said he would not contest elections and would discharge the responsibilities entrusted to him. — IANS
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Research cell for Delhi police IGNOU results on demand Security for monuments Next: Elite railway force
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