Jaipur, August 16
After defying the BJP high command diktat to quit as Leader of Opposition over the last few days, Vasundhara Raje Scindia today softened her stance and decided to accept the verdict of the party’s parliamentary board.

Talking to the mediapersons after holding discussions with Raje, Gyandev Ahuja, a Raje loyalist and Alwar MLA, said, “We have conveyed to the parliamentary board that the party should resolve the issue while ensuring that her dignity is not compromised.”

Whatever the board decides, he said, would be acceptable to the BJP legislature party. He, however, towed Raje’s line and said the party never sought resignation from her. He claimed that all the MLAs who visited New Delhi in Raje’s support were very much with her. “There is no question of decline in their number. In fact, the number may increase,” he said.

BJP chief whip in Assembly Rajendra Rathore, while dubbing their meeting with Raje as a courtesy call, said, “We have conveyed to the party high command that 61 MLAs (out of 78) and all four MPs are unanimously supporting Raje as the Leader of Opposition. We have full faith in the Parliamentary Board and we hope that it will respect the sentiments of the party MLAs.”

Meanwhile, Raje too issued a statement, making conciliatory notes and refuting reports carried in a section of media. She said, “I have neither made any comment against the party or its leaders nor have I ever thought of floating a new political outfit.” She said her mother Vijaya Raje Scindia was one of the founder members of the BJP and the latter nurtured the party with her blood and sweat throughout her life. She went on to add: “BJP is like my mother”.

However, Raje’s climbdown here is being attributed to backtracking by a section of MLAs who went to New Delhi to stage a show of strength in her support. While Raje’s loyalists claimed the support of over 60 MLAs, only six legislators paid a visit to her residence today. MLAs Kalicharan Saraf and Ashok Parnami, who till yesterday were vocal in their support to Raje, today said they were with the party and not any individual. MLAs Bhawani Singh Rajawat, Digambar Singh and Kiran Maheshwari, considered close to Raje, were also conspicuous by their absence. Some of the MLAs had even switched off their mobile phones and hence could not be contacted.

Later, former state BJP president Om Prakash Mathur also called on Raje. The meeting between the two leaders lasted for over couple of hours, following which Mathur said the matter would be sorted out in the next couple of days. 

New Delhi, August 16
The chief ministers’ conference on internal security, scheduled for tomorrow, will assess the level of preparedness to counter terrorism and other security threats and is expected to be a stormy affair. The meet, which will be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will also review the steps taken to bolster the capability of security forces to meet internal security challenges as also the preparedness for rebuffing any terrorist attacks.

The conference will focus on operational preparedness of the ‘quick response’ teams, strengthening the states’ special branches and intelligence wings, steps to tackle the counterfeit currency menace, draw up guidelines for security at places with large footfalls, police reforms and better police-community interaction besides issues concerning border management. Coastal security including operationalisation of new interceptor boats will also be taken up.

At a separate session issues related to left-wing extremism will be discussed by CMs of seven Naxal-affected states - Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal, who will interact with the home minister. The contours of the new force that is to be set up for areas hit by the Naxal insurgency are likely to emerge.

The daylong meet will also take stock of implementation of the decisions taken at the last chief ministers’ conference held on January 6.

Hyderabad, August 16
In a reassuring gesture, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today made a surprise appearance at the venue of the World Badminton Championships here and sat in the audience as a commoner.

By his unpublicised visit, the Minister drove home the point that there was no security problem at the tournament. Chidambaram’s presence at the event, sans the security cover, also came as a rebuff to England team, which had pulled out of the championships citing terror threat.

Unlike his usual attire of white ‘lungi’ and shirt, Chidambaram was clad in formal trousers and shirt. Taking the organisers by surprise, the Minister purchased the entry ticket of Rs 1,000, went to the gallery and sat in the audience. He watched the men’s singles finals event with keenness. The local police was not informed about the minister’s visit.

Later, the organisers noticed the high-profile spectator and walked up to him to request him to hand over the trophy to the men’s singles winner. He obliged them. Soon after, he left the stadium as swiftly as he had come.

Later, talking to reporters, Chidambaram said it was unfortunate that England had pulled out of the tournament on security grounds. “We are well equipped to organise international events of any scale. In India, it is absolutely safe to conduct such events,” he said.

About 300 players from 23 countries vied for honours at the six-day championships. The police made elaborate security arrangements for the high profile event in view of intelligence alert over possible terror strikes on the eve of the Independence Day. With less than 24 hours to go for the event, the England team had withdrawn from the tournament, citing terror threat. 

Patna, August 16
Bihar government has sought a package of Rs 23,071crore from the Centre to tackle the unprecedented drought that has gripped the state. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this connection.

Copies of the said letter were given to the press on Sunday just before Nitish left for New Delhi to attend the meeting of CMs convened by the PM on August 17 to discuss internal security and Naxalism.

Nitish’s letter to the PM says 26 out of the 38 districts in Bihar have been already officially declared drought hit and if the rainfall continues to be scanty even this month, the state government may also declare the remaining 12 districts as drought affected. The state requires funds to the tune of Rs 10,254 crore to provide gratuitous relief to the 1.26 crore drought-affected families.

Another Rs 10,845 crore are required tio generate employment under schemes like National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREGA). The letter further says that Rs 310 crore is required for providing potable water, Rs 166.80 crore for providing energy in the drought-hit areas, Rs 221 crore for providing fodder and other feed and medicine to about 1.10 crore cattle heads, Rs 1005 crore for the agricultural sector besides Rs 545 crore as agricultural input subsidy and Rs 50 crore as seed subsidy under norms of Calamity Relief Fund and National Calamity Relief Fund.

The letter talks about Bihar being the first state to provide Diesel subsidy to farmers and says the Centre had assured to bear the cost of subsidy. The total requirement for providing subsidised diesel for four rounds of irrigation to the paddy and maize crops would be Rs 410 crore and the Centre should ensure that it is immediately provided to the needy farmers. 

New Delhi, August 16
Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishanan today expressed concern over the "chronic shortage" of judicial officers, which is hindering efforts to overcome ever-increasing number of pending cases.

There are structural obstacles which discourage talented law graduates from joining the judicial services and over 17 per cent posts of judicial officers remained vacant in the subordinate judiciary, he said.

"There has undoubtedly been a chronic shortage of judicial officers, especially at subordinate level and there are also some structural obstacles which discourage talented law graduates from joining judicial services," the CJI said at a conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts here.

He quoted the Law Commission report to say that the judicial system needed to be expanded by at least five times in order to meet the judge-to-population ratio of developed countries. Balakrishnan said considerable number of vacancies at subordinate level have been filled in recent months but still 2,783 out of 16,946 sanctioned posts are vacant which calls for a compelling need for state governments and high courts to work in close coordination to fill up the vacancies in a time-bound manner.

He said establishment of gram nyayalayas would bring about a substantial change to the reach and quality of the justice delivery system. Incentives were required to be given for attracting talented lawyers to join as judicial officers for these village-level courts, he said.

"There is tremendous potential in gram nyayalayas scheme since the intention is to reduce the costs borne by litigants in approaching courts located at district centres," Balakrishnan said adding that the underlying philosophy is to bring justice at the doorsteps of rural citizens.

The CJI stressed the need for deliberating upon financial commitments needed for the establishment of gram nyayalayas as well as service condition of the judicial officers.

"It is important to create sufficient incentives for practising lawyers who are talented and motivated to take up these positions," he said adding that there will be a need for 3000 judicial officers to implement the ambitious scheme. Speaking on the arrears of cases, the CJI said the higher pendency did not necessarily mean that the courts are becoming accessible to all sections of society.

"In other words, even as we dwell on the size of court-dockets, there is a very real danger that many sections of our citizenry are being increasingly alienated from our judicial system," he said. "It is in this sense that our main worry should not be confined to the size of the case load before the courts.

Instead, our collective efforts should be directed towards devising and streamlining measures for ensuring that most of our citizens should have the ability as well as the incentive to take their disputes to the judicial system," the CJI said. However, he appreciated the government for being responsive to the demands for establishment of more CBI courts and family courts.

Balakrishnan, who said that there were 52,592 cases pending before the Supreme Court, over 40 lakh cases in high courts and more than 2.71 crore cases in trial courts, called for resorting to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods like Lok Adalats, mediation, negotiated settlements to reduce the burden of pending cases and for their quick disposal.

He said special emphasis should be given on sensitising the judges to the needs of the litigants belonging to the disadvantaged sections. — PTI 

New Delhi, August 16
Months after it extended unsolicited “outside support” to the UPA government at the centre, the Samajwadi Party (SP) is beginning to realise it has gained nothing from the gesture but instead drawn unwelcome comparisons to the rival BSP, which also did the same.

Faced with the predicament of sharing the same fate as its arch-enemy, the SP has now apparently decided to revise its political strategy especially vis-à-vis the Congress party, which has consistently cold-shouldered it. It has convened a special national convention from August 19 to 21 in Agra for the purpose.

The meet will deliberate on the future role of the SP, which wears its “Congress-inflicted wounds” on its sleeve. The party’s top leadership, too, makes no bones about how frustrated they feel over “having got nothing in return for having given away everything” (in a reference to supporting the UPA’s trust vote on July 21 and now supporting the government unconditionally).

Speaking to The Tribune on the eve of the convention, to be preceded by a national executive meet, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said he would still like to give the Congress six months before taking any final decision (on whether to continue supporting it).

“We feel any party should be given some time to show its intent and six months should be enough,” he said, not denying the issue of support to the Congress would be discussed at length at the meeting, especially after general secretary Amar Singh has specifically hammered home the need to do so. This has also become inevitable considering the increasing public presence of the Congress and BSP in Uttar Pradesh politics where the SP appears to have been isolated of late.

The SP feels left out in the aftermath of UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna’s spat with BSP leader Mayawati, one reason why the party’s Agra convention will also focus on how to be “seen with the people.” Beginning September the party also plans to hold street demonstrations on the drought. “No opposition party has yet focused on the drought in north India. We’ll take the lead in this and stage demonstrations in the trans-Yamuna areas of Allahabad,” said a senior party leader.

Besides regaining prominence in UP’s political landscape, the Agra meet will discuss at length ties with the Congress. In the just-concluded budget session of Parliament Mulayam had categorically told the latter it could not expect to have the support of both the SP and BSP forever. “Just as you can’t be friends with both the DMK and AIADMK, the TMC and the Left Front, you can’t have us - Mulayam and Maya - together,” he had said, almost setting the agenda for the SP’s convention that has been specially called to review the post general elections situation as well as political relationships.

New Delhi, August 16
What cannot be removed must be hidden, the city fathers believe. As Delhi readies to host the Commonwealth Games next year, it is looking to show its painted face to the world while hiding slums behind bamboo screens.

Realising that uprooting slum clusters from all over the capital and rehabilitating its inhabitants is not a pragmatic solution, especially as the deadline for the 2010 Commonwealth Games is drawing close, the Delhi Government has decided to literally screen the not-so-welcoming sights from the visitors expected for the event.

Similar moves were made in Beijing during last year’s Olympics when screens were put up before not so pretty sections of the city that the authorities did not want millions of visitors to China to see.

Giant screens are also seen in several cities in Latin America to block out ugly sights from visitors.

Delhi Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta said: “We have spoken to the Agriculture Department of Mizoram to help us in planting bamboo trees that can be used to screen the shanties and slums on the roadside of all those routes through which the Commonwealth convoy is expected to go.”

“We want to present a good face of Delhi during the games next year, but it is not possible to remove all slums. Therefore, we have decided to use bamboo screens to conceal the sights,” Mehta said.

The Agriculture Department of Mizoram has been especially asked for a type of bamboo that can withstand Delhi’s dry climate.

“In the northeast, the weather is humid, but for our purpose we need at least five-foot-tall bamboos that can survive the dry weather. We are also planning to take Assam’s help in this regard since bamboo grows there as well,” Mehta said in an interview.

“We are also consulting the National Bamboo Mission and the National Mission of Bamboo Application in this regard,” he added.

However, not all “jhuggis” or slums would be “screened”.

“Slum dwellers near the Commonwealth Games village have been rehabilitated at Bawana. About 9,000 houses have been made for them there,” Mehta said.

The Commonwealth Games, to be held from October 3 to 14 next year, are expected to see a huge turnout of players and tourists. Seventy-one member countries are scheduled to participate in the games that will see competitions in 17 sports disciplines.

While numerous other preparations are under way to make the event a success -giving all flyovers an aesthetic look, improving connectivity and ensuring that there are enough rooms to accommodate players and tourists - the slums have continued to be a matter of concern. — IANS

New Delhi, August 16
India and China will collaborate to monitor the health of glaciers in the Himalayas. Despite the Himalayan region’s crucial significance to water supplies of both India and China, there are not enough “decisively scientific studies” on glaciers on the strategic border between the two countries.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh says the two countries will collaborate to monitor the health of glaciers in the Himalayas. Ramesh, who will be visiting China, for initiating dialogue with Beijing ahead of the Copenhagen talks on climate change in December, says even though the region is crucial to both India and China for their water supplies there are not enough decisively conclusive scientific studies on Himalayan glaciers.

The state of knowledge about snow masses in the region in the scientific community is more or less based on conclusions that Himalayan glaciers are receding, he says.

“However, while the bulk of the Himalayan glaciers are said to be receding, some are advancing also. Also there is no conclusive robust scientific evidence to show that receding of glaciers is caused by climate change,” Ramesh adds, stressing that India needs to know exactly what is happening with glaciers in the Himalayas.

Also, there are different scientific viewpoints on Himalayan glaciers. A recent white paper on Himalayan glaciers by the Ministry of External Affairs suggests that many glaciers had stopped showing an alarming decline and also that the Gangotri glacier had stopped receding between 2007and 2009.

“Popular anecdotal evidence is different from robust scientific evidence. Recently, a study said the Siachen glacier was actually advancing. Some other findings suggest that the rate at which the Gangotri glaciers receded was more in the 970s and 1980s than at present. Some scientific papers also say that Himalayan glaciers will vanish by 2030, but which one…and when? There is not enough evidence that links receding of glaciers to climate change.We really need to study and build our own data and adequate scientific capacity to monitor the health of our glaciers that are so crucial for our survival,” he says

Ramesh says while India needs to build up the capacity to understand the glaciers, caution will be taken to ensure that the country’s borders remain secure to the scrutiny of China. So while Indian scientists will monitor glaciers on their side, the Chinese will carry out a similar exercise on their side.

“The effort will not just be to produce research papers on glaciers but also take concrete action plan to save them. Both sides will exchange their findings and work out a comprehensive plan”

On its part India also plans to establish a network of weather stations in other Himalayan states like Uttarakhand, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh to monitor the health of glaciers. Currently, a majority of weather stations are located in J&K. The government has also decided to set up a national institute for glaciology for undertaking a advanced study on glaciers

India-China talks will be based on issue related to environment cooperation, especially in the forestry sector.

New Delhi, August 16
The Delhi police has arrested Som Prakash alias Manoj (34) --- son of a former Uttar Pradesh MLA Manphool Singh --- wanted in a sensational murder of a contractor Rajesh Kumar Bunty alias Bunty Swami in Abohar in Punjab.

Manoj allegedly shot Bunty on July 25, 2008, after the latter’s rival Jasvinder Singh alias Rocky paid him Rs 1 lakh for the job. Rocky was arrested but Manoj has been absconding since then and was declared a proclaimed offender. According to HGS Dhaliwal, DCP (south), Manoj was arrested yesterday from Mahipalpur area while he was looking for a hotel to stay.

Citing details of the case, Dhaliwal revealed that Bunty and Rocky were contractors. “Being in the same business rivalry developed between them and Rocky decided to eliminate Bunty. He contacted Manoj through his criminal friends for the purpose and offered Rs 5 lakh supari to him,” said Dhaliwal. According to police, Rocky discreetly showed the victim and his Scooty to Manoj and gave him Rs 1 lakh advance. On July 25, at around 8 pm, Manoj along with his associate murdered Bunty by opening fire on him with pistol, while the former was going home from his factory. A murder case was registsred at Abohar police station. Subsequently, Jasvinder was arrested.

Dhaliwal said during his sustained interrogation, Manoj disclosed that he is a son of a former MLA and a practicing lawyer in Muzaffar Nagar. His brother Ravi Prakash was also involved in a triple murder case at Greater Kailash, New Delhi and kidnapping case at Khatoli, Muzaffarnagar. He has further disclosed that he was involved in some vehicle theft cases also.

New Delhi, August 16
The government is in the final stages of preparation for the launch of its "surgical" offensive against the Naxals, for which specialised training will be imparted to BSF and ITBP personnel soon.

"Specialised training for BSF and ITBP personnel will begin soon. The focus would be on surgical operations and better intelligence," sources in the home ministry said.

"The already trained men will have to undergo further training which includes topography familiarisation, besides, more gruelling on guerrilla warfare and courses on improvised explosive devices, which cause maximum casualty to the forces in Naxal areas," they said.

So far, the CRPF is the only main Central force along with the police forces from the affected states fighting against the menace. While the BSF had dealt with Naxals long ago, it would be for the first time that ITBP personnel would be facing the Left-wing extremists.

The home ministry sources said five battalions (5,000 personnel) of the BSF and four battalions of the ITBP have been shortlisted for the new offensive against the Naxals, which they believe will be a long-drawn fight against Left-wing extremism.

However, the sources did not indicate the time for the launch of the offensive.

The government has earmarked an additional 24 battalions of the Central paramilitary forces which includes some from the CRPF.

The additional CRPF battalions, the sources said, would be made available by tactical withdrawal of its personnel from areas other than those which are Naxal infested.

The Centre's offensive against the Naxals would not just be purely militarily but would also involve its civil arms to work for the welfare of the people, the sources said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his address to the nation on the 63ed Independence Day, had said the Centre will "redouble its efforts to deal with Naxalite activities." "We will also do more to ensure better coordination among states," he added.

Slamming Maoist violence, Singh said, "Those who think that they can seize power by recourse to the gun do not understand the strength of our democracy."

On August 17, the Prime Minister will chair a meeting of chief ministers organised by the Union Home Ministry on internal security where Naxalism would be one of the primary issues.

Later, a meeting is also scheduled between Home minister P Chidambaram and chief ministers of the seven most Naxal-infested states -- Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra -- to discuss the new strategy. PTI

Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar had in June visited Jharkhand along with about 12 secretaries of various central ministries and held a series of meetings besides visiting a number of affected areas.

Sources said as per the plan, there would be coordinated offensives against the Naxals which would be led by the newly set up elite force CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action). — PTI 

Lucknow, August 16
The Uttar Pradesh administration has unearthed largescale fraud in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), with touts as well as bank and government officials conniving to pocket the money under it.

Chief Minister Mayawati has ordered punitive action against 14 government officials who were found to have committed irregularities in implementing the scheme in Sitapur district, about 85 km from here.

The administration has found that the daily wage of Rs.100 guaranteed under the scheme was being stealthily transferred in the bank accounts of touts, who shared the booty with bank and government officials.

Last week's exposure of pilferage of NREGS funds in Sitapur district has opened a pandora's box that could lead the officials to a racket with larger ramifications.

Mayawati had been dismissing Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's criticism that the scheme was not being implemented properly in the state as a "wild and baseless accusation". But she is now livid about the whole affair.

The state's rural development commissioner Manoj Kumar Singh, who detected how wages under the scheme were being transferred into fictitious bank accounts run by touts, plans to go for a random spot verification of accounts across the state over the coming months.

"What I discovered in Sitapur was that wages were being transferred into the accounts of people who had nothing to do with actual employment on ground. Yet, wages were transferred into their bank accounts in the local Land Development Bank with rural development department officials duly certifying the identity of the account holders," he said.

The commissioner has got criminal cases registered against 14 officials, including manager of the local branch of Land Development Bank. "I do not rule out the possibility of a similar racket thriving in several other parts of the state as well," Singh said.

Suspecting that the chances of such fraud were more in places where accounts were opened in cooperative sector banks, Singh has sought details of each and every account across the state's 70 districts. — IANS

Bangalore, August 16
India has completed the design of Chandrayaan-2, its next mission to the moon — his time in collaboration with Russia — that would have a lander and rover which can collect samples of the lunar soil and analyse them and send back the data.

"Right now, the design has been completed. We had a joint review with Russian scientists here," Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, G Madhavan Nair, told PTI.

According to the Bangalore-headquartered space agency, the Chandrayaan-2 mission would have an orbital flight vehicle constituting an Orbital Craft (OC) and a Lunar Craft (LC) that would carry a soft landing system up to Lunar Transfer Trajectory (LTT).

The target location for the lander-rover would be identified using data from instruments of Chandrayaan-1, India's own and first unmanned mission to the Moon launched on October 22 last year.

While ISRO will be developing the orbiter, it will be Russia's job to make the lander and rover. Additional scientific payloads would be acquired from international scientific community.

"Next (now that design has been completed) we will go towards prototype building, which will be taken up next year," Nair, also secretary in the Department of Space, said.

Nair said ISRO has learnt plenty of lessons from Chandrayaan-1 mission, particularly on the thermal and redundancy management fronts and would seek to improve systems in Chandrayaan-2, slated towards the end of 2012.

"I think we have got very valuable inputs on the heat radiation from the moon's surface and so on. Accordingly, the thermal design of the future aircraft can be addressed," he said.

"Radiation is much beyond our expectations, so we will have to see how the radiation hardening has to be strengthened."

"Then, in redundancy management also, there are some inputs which are available from this (Chandrayaan-1), which we will try to incorporate in Chandrayaan-2."

The ISRO Chairman said contingency operations undertaken by the organisation following the failure of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft's onboard star sensor earlier this year have worked well and "this is (now) as precise as it was earlier."

"We are able to locate the cameras at specific locations," he said noting some of the stereo images that have come recently.

"The fact that we were able to point the spacecraft towards the Earth and capture the (recent) solar eclipse, shows the accuracy of the system." Nair said 95 per cent of the scientific objectives of Chandrayaan-1 mission have been achieved.

"Another five per cent, what's left out, we will try to take up in the next season which is starting in October so that we can complete all the observations."

Nair said India's ground station at Byalalu on the city outskirts has given precision as good as the NASA station. "We are comparing both the tracking results."

On how the US and Europe, which have flown instruments on board Chandrayaan-1, have taken to the failure of star sensor, Nair said, "They have got more than sufficient data with them and are extremely happy. Now, Indian and foreign scientists are working together to analyse the data and they have promised some results before the year end." Three-dimensional pictures of the moon would be available soon, he said.

On the agenda for scientists' meet to discuss the Chandrayaan-1 project next month, Nair said ISRO wants to ensure that it has not "left out anything". "Today, we know that there is no redundancy on board. So, if further failure...if it happens, then we will be crippled.

"So, all the scientific objectives have to be completed in the remaining time. We will discuss with them what is pending and what needs to be done. Secondly, if some of them have got preliminary findings then we will try to make an assessment." — PTI