Mumbai, September 6
The Shiv Sena and the BJP have almost finalised their alliance for the Maharashtra assembly elections due on October 13.

Both parties have decided to stick to the old formula of 171 seats for the Shiv Sena and 117 seats for the BJP, sources said. However, leaders of both parties are still in the process of choosing their seats since the delimitation of constituencies has changed every party's calculations.

Observers say, the BJP is at a slight disadvantage compared to the Shiv Sena since Maharashtra's urban areas will have a larger number of seats as compared to its rural parts. With constituencies in Mumbai also being altered, the BJP has been forced to negotiate with its

partner for certain seats. BJP leader Gopinath Munde, who is in charge of the party's elections in the state, has held talks with the Shiv Sena to make it yield a seat for Poonam Rao, daughter of the late Pramod Mahajan. Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray has announced that it will give a seat to Poonam as a mark of respect to Pramod Mahajan, who crafted the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra. Poonam is said to be keen on the Ghatkopar East seat where Pramod Mahajan enjoyed a tremendous following amidst the Gujarati population.

However, leaders of both parties are still deadlocked over the Guhagar assembly seat, sources said.

Despite the irritant, both parties are likely to announce their first list of candidates over the next few days, say sources. There seems to be no disagreement regarding seat-sharing in places like Pune where both parties have begun to interview candidates.

Mumbai, September 6
Maharashtra's urban voters will play a major role in the state assembly elections scheduled for October 13, as the delimitation of constituencies has increased the number of seats in the cities.

The two main political formations in the state-the Congress-NCP and the Shiv Sena-BJP are already planning their campaign strategies keeping in mind the new combination of voters.

The ruling Congress-NCP alliance was the first off the mark when it proposed to regularise slums that came up till January 1, 2000. Though the proposal is yet to pass muster before the Supreme Court, the authorities have stopped demolishing slums that came up before that date. Earlier, slums constructed till January 1, 1995, were given protection by the government.

According to sources, in the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee, the election manifesto under preparation is likely to offer a number of concessions to slum dwellers. “Once the slums built till January 1, 2000, are regularised, they would be eligible for regular water supply and electricity connections,” says a local Congress party leader.

Already the party workers have become active with MPs from the Congress and the NCP spending their constituency funds to carry out public works.

All the parties will be concentrating on Mumbai and Thane cities, which account for 60 of the 288 seats in the Maharashtra assembly.

The opposition Shiv Sena-BJP has plans to highlight the shortage of water supply in the two cities apart from other issues like the 26/11 terrorist attacks. “We will be focusing on urban centric issues this time,” says senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde. He added that the BJP would be focusing on women who are bearing the brunt of rising prices.

Following the delimitation exercise carried out last year, the numbers of urban and semi-urban constituencies in Maharashtra have gone up by 30 seats to 130. The numbers of rural seats have fallen from 188 to 158.

Even within the urban areas, the numbers of seats in the newly expanding suburbs have gone up sharply. Thane city which has grown exponentially in the past decade will have 24 more assembly seats, up by 11 from 2004. While the number of seats in Mumbai city has fallen from 17 to 10, it has increased from 17 to 26 in the suburbs.

Other cities in Maharashtra will also have more seats. The addition of three seats each will give Pune and Aurangabad 21 and 10 seats, respectively. Nasik and Kolhapur will have two more seats, while one seat each have been given each to Jalgaon, Dhule, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Nanded and Latur. All these places which were categorised as part of rural areas earlier will have one urban seat each.

Among the parties that are redrawing their strategies include the Shiv Sena, which is wooing the migrants into Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik and other cities of Maharashtra. For instance, North Indian migrants account for more than 35 per cent of the voters in Mumbai. Even the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is expected to cut into the Marathi votes in Mumbai, Thane and Nashik cities, that usually go to the Shiv Sena-BJP combine.

Jaipur, September 6
Even as the suspense over the resignation of Leader of the Opposition Vasundhara Raje Scindia seems far from over, her loyalists are planning to reach Delhi by September 8 ahead of former Rajasthan CM’s crucial meeting with senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu.

“She is likely to meet Naidu on September 9 or 10,” a close aide of Raje said. She had gone to New Delhi on August 30, but fell ill the very next day when she was scheduled to meet Naidu. While Raje’s loyalists say she has been advised rest by the doctors attending on her, the leader’s detractors allege that she has been dilly-dallying her resignation on the advice of some astrologer who has asked her not to resign till September 9.

Marred by a string of rows and succession talk, the BJP high command also took a lenient view and gave her time to recuperate before resuming the talks over the issue. Raje had been adamant on her three demands for putting in her papers --- a person of her choice to replace her, honourable exit from Rajasthan and revocation of her two loyalists’ suspension.

After many ups and downs, it seems that the curtain will fall on the drama, which is on for the last one month, this week. Though Raje had been changing her stance over the issue time and again, she fully knows that she cannot avoid the inevitable for long. Earlier, she denied that the party high command had asked her to resign and sent over 50 MLAs to put up a show of strength in her support in New Delhi.

Later, she held meetings with her loyalists at her Jaipur residence and softened her stand only after Jaswant Singh was expelled from the party on August 19. The powerful Rajasthan leader then visited Delhi only to return without reaching any decision under the pretext of heading the party in a brief Assembly session. She continued with her defiant approach and called a meeting of BJP legislature party meeting against the wish of the party high command.

Meanwhile, after waiting “endlessly” for the stalemate on Raje issue to end, the work on formation of new committees at the state BJP has finally picked up the pace. With the panchayat and local body elections round the corner, the party is expected to announce its new panels any time now. “We have waited for long, but we cannot afford to lose any more time,” said a senior BJP leader. According to sources, the infighting in the party led to the delay in formation of committees. While the Raje camp wanted to share the pie in the organisation, the state BJP chief Arun Chaturvedi had been waiting for the Raje episode to end, which had forced the latter to hold back the announcement.

Guwahati, September 6
The BJP has suffered a serious setback in Arunachal Pradesh ahead of the October 13 assembly elections in losing its strongest leader not only in the hill state but the entire region, Khiren Rijiju, to the Congress party.

The BJP leadership was stunned when its national secretary and one of the few leaders in the northeast with a mass following announced his decision to join the rival camp. With the Arunachal assembly polls round the corner, the defection of Rijiju, who has been part of the saffron brigade since his school days, could not have come at a worse time for the party.

Rijiju, a former BJP MP, has been the party’s pillar in the state and was a powerful figure in its policy making body. The BJP’s organising secretary in the northeast, P Chandrasekhar, has called Rijiju’s decision to quit as a “betrayal”.

However, Rijiju said he was prompted to join the rival Congress after the BJP leadership had failed to fully back him in tackling issues concerning the state. “I was alone holding the fort for the party in Arunachal Pradesh. As a national secretary of the party I was privy to its policy decisions. The BJP, because of its internal problems, The BJP has failed to draw up a roadmap for the state and instead chose to depend too much on me. I wanted the party to back me, not to depend too much on me,” he told The Tribune.

Saying his decision to quit should not be linked to the ouster of senior leader Jaswant Singh from the BJP, Rijiju said being a frontier state Arunachal needed more attention from a national party like the BJP.

What the BJP has lost is a major gain for the Congress before the assembly elections given that the latter ruled Arunachal Pradesh.

Till now Rijiju, who represented the BJP in the last Lok Sabha, was the only opposition member in the hill state’s 60-member assembly. He lost the last parliamentary polls from Arunachal West constituency to his Congress rival by just 1,300 votes. He said he did not intend to contest in the upcoming assembly polls as a Congress candidate but will work to ensure the party’s victory.

New Delhi, September 6
With the 64th session of the UN General Assembly slated to be convened later this month, India is all set to renew its bid for permanent membership of the all-powerful Security Council.

The upcoming session has once again set off a debate in political, diplomatic and media circles over India’s candidature for occupying a seat at the highest forum in the UN system.

The tone has already been set by Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur and India’s permanent representative to the UN Hardip Singh Puri by making a strong case for the country’s inclusion in the Security Council while addressing international forums. As the General assembly meet comes closer, New Delhi will seek to bolster its campaign.

“Today, it makes no sense to conceive a world structure without India…we have come a long way since the inception of the UN,” said a Union Minister, who did not wish to be identified. He said a membership of the Security Council would be recognition for India more than anything else of its immense contribution to the UN system. “We are willing to serve the world more responsibly…today there are 192 members of the UN which are being represented on the Security Council merely by less than 8 per cent of the total members.’’

According to the minister, India should have actually gone for the kill in 1997 when working groups of UN reforms had made far-reaching recommendations for strengthening the world body. “We really missed the bus in 1997, thanks to an uncertain domestic political situation,” he rued. Thereafter, so many countries ganged up to oppose the candidatures of G-4 countries-India, Germany, Brazil and Japan.

But Indian officials say India’s legitimate claim can’t be ignored for long by the world community, taking into account the fact that it is a responsible nuclear power, has the world’ 12th largest economy, third largest armed force and is the largest contributor of troops to UN peacekeeping missions.

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna will lead India’s charge at the UN since the Prime Minister will not be attending the meet this year. Manmohan Singh would, however, be in the US around the same time for the G-20 Summit on global economic meltdown at Pittsburgh.

There is a growing sense of frustration in the corridors of power here over the attitude of the US on the proposed expansion of the Security Council. In a sense, the US approach is being seen as supportive of the initiatives of the so-called ‘Coffee Club’, comprising countries like Pakistan, Italy, Argentine and Mexico, which have been opposing the expansion for obvious reasons. Pakistan would not like India to be there on the powerful body while Italy is opposed to Germany’s candidature and Argentina and Mexico are uncomfortable with Brazil’s bid.

India supports expansion of the Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent members’ categories. It is of the firm view that any expansion of the permanent members’ category should be based on an agreed criteria, rather than be a pre-determined selection.

Britain, France and Russia fully support India’s admission to the council as a permanent member. China, despite reluctance to strongly back New Delhi’s case, supports greater role for India at the UN but the US is turning out to be the biggest hurdle. While Washington appreciates India’s growing stature as a world power, it has so far refrained from supporting New Delhi’s candidature for a permanent seat on the Security Council.

Guwahati, September 6
Five earthquakes of moderate intensity that have jolted the North East region between August 11 and September 4, have raised concern among the people as they apprehend that a mega earthquake may be on the offing.

The region experienced the last mega earthquake in 1950, which left a trail of destruction, besides altering the topography in many parts. “I stay in a fourth floor apartment. We fear that there may be a mega earthquake after these moderate quakes. So, we have stopped locking our front door at night so that we can escape to safety in case a high intensity earthquake hit us. I have read something about mega quakes recurring after a gap of 50 years or so,” said Bhaskar Kakoty, a city resident.

“There is no technology to make precise prediction of an earthquake. The damaged caused by an earthquake is related to the location of its epicentre. A shallow epicentre means more damage even if the intensity is not much. No one can claim that moderate earthquakes precede a mega one. So we have to remain alert and prepared as we live in a highly seismic region,” said Dr Ranju Duarah, scientist of the North East Institute of Science and Technology of the CSIR.

Dr Parag Phukon of the Earth Science Department in Guwahati University said, “There is no recurrence theory related to mega earthquakes that are spin off of the basic physics beneath the lithosphere. No one can predict an earthquake precisely as there is no technology available.”

A moderate earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale jolted the North East states at around 1.21 am on Friday. The epicentre was traced to India-Myanmar border in Manipur at a depth of 97 km. It was the fifth quake since August 11 last.

An earth quake measuring 7.8 in the Richter scale rocked the region on August 11 last and the epicentre was located at Andaman area. It was followed by another earthquake of intensity 5.4 in the Richter scale on August 12, that had its epicentre along India-Myanmar border. The third earthquake in the series occurred on August 19 last. The fourth quake with intensity measuring 5.3 in the Richter scale rocked the region on August 31 at around 12-58 am with the epicentre lying along India-Myanmar border in Nagaland.

Jaipur, September 6
Aiming to step up protection for the big cats in sensitive areas, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has issued revised guidelines to the states for the formation of Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) on the lines of the India Reserve Battalion.

As per the new guidelines, the Centre will bear 100 per cent expenses on the force and the services of the STPF personnel only will be utilised for protection of tigers.

The STPF will comprise 13 companies each having strength of 112 personnel, including six tiger force foresters and 30 special tiger guards. Local forest dwellers like Van Gujjars, Mongiyas and other communities will be roped in for the project and constitute 30 per cent of the special tiger guards.

The guidelines for the STPF formation were reviewed after Union Minister of State for Forest and Environment Jairam Ramesh urged the NTCA to revamp the whole scheme to pave way for the involvement of local community in tiger conservation. “The involvement of local people would help more in intelligence gathering. Their recruitment in the force seems to make more sense than recruiting outsiders,” he had said.

The State Forest Department will recruit STPF personnel, aged below 40 years, from the districts where tiger reserves are located and make them available to these reserves on deputation for a period of three years.

Bangalore, September 6
ISRO is planning to build two new satellites especially for environmental monitoring even as it is stepping up efforts to use its assessment on agriculture conditions and weather to effectively help people on the ground in co-ordination with other government agencies.

"One (satellite) is mainly for studying aerosols and related things and another one for tracing gases (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide and sulphur dioxide, among others)," Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair said here.

He said the satellites were in line with what the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests wanted. Nair recently had a discussion with Union Minister of State Jairam Ramesh, who is now expected to submit a note to the Prime Minister on the subject.

Nair said while Bangalore-headquartered ISRO would build these satellites, it would work with the ministry to put together a competent team to analyse the data from the missions and study the climate change. — PTI

New Delhi, September 6
Saturn, the lord of rings, is without its rings! Shocked! Don't be, as the rings have not gone anywhere. They have just become invisible to us due to a rare celestial phenomenon.

Explaining the phenomenon, which occurs after every 14.7 years, R C Kapoor, a scientist at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, said, "Saturn is going through a phase called 'Ring Crossing'. In this condition, its rings become aligned along our line of sight and are therefore very difficult to see." The Saturn's rings keep tilting in different directions as viewed from the Earth, due to changing geometry, as it moves around the Sun. At times, when the geometry is very favourable, the rings appear face on, spread out and clearly visible. This had happened in 2000, he said.

"In the present situation, the rings of the planet are tilted edge-on to the Earth, making them impossible to see," C B Devgun, president of the Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE), said.

Devgun said, since the ring system is extremely thin, the entire system becomes invisible during this phase (ring crossing) of around 15 days.

The complete edge-on phenomenon was visible on September 4, he informs.

Since then, the view of Saturn's rings has been slowly tilting towards us in such a way that they are now visible almost edge-on, he added.

One can see the no-ring Saturn with the help of a telescope of about 5-cm aperture or more and a magnification upward of 100 for a good view. Of the four planets with rings -- Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune -- in the solar system, Saturn has the most prominent ring system. The planet takes about twentynine and a half years to revolve around the Sun. While it does so, its axis of rotation and the plane of the rings are tilted 26.7 degrees to the plane of its orbit.

On September 17, when it will be on the other side of the Sun from the Earth, the northern side of the ring system of the planet would come into visibility and will be visible until 2025. — PTI

New Delhi, September 6
The Supreme Court has held that consumer courts cannot entertain disputes relating to telecom services under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

The judgement has come as a much-awaited relief to telecom operators, which are being dragged to consumer courts for deficiency in services.A Bench headed by Mr Justice Markandey Katju said, "In our opinion when there is a special remedy provided in Section 7-B of the Indian Telegraph Act regarding disputes in respect of telephone bills, then the remedy under the Consumer Protection Act is by implication barred. "It said that Section 7-B of the Telegraph Act provided for appointment of an arbitrator by the Central government specifically for determination of the disputes and the award of the arbitrator should not be questioned in any court.

According to the court, the provisions of the Telegraph Act, which is a special law, would prevail over a general law like the Consumer Protection Act.Allowing a BSNL appeal, the Supreme Court set aside the impugned judgment of the Kerala High Court that had dismissed the PSU's appeal questioning the consumer court's jurisdiction to entertain telecom disputes.

Citing another apex court's judgement in the case of Chairman, Thiruvalluvar Transport Corporation Vs Consumer Protection Council, the Bench said the National Consumer Commission had no jurisdiction to adjudicate claims for compensation arising out of motor vehicles accidents.

The BSNL was dragged to a consumer court after it had disconnected a consumer's telephone connection for non-payment of telephone bill.

The district consumer forum had allowed the consumer's plea in November 2001 and directed BSNL to re-connect the telephone connection and pay compensation of Rs 5,000 with interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the date of filing of the complaint.Both the single judge and the Full Bench of the high court had dismissed the BSNL's plea challenging the jurisdiction of the consumer forum to pass the impugned order. — PTI

New Delhi, September 6
The Supreme Court has stayed the Uttarakhand High Court order that had quashed the notice issued under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act for the seizure of properties worth crores of rupees owned by Ayurvedic doctor Rajesh Kumar Gupta and his relatives.

A Bench comprising Justices Harjit Singh Bedi and JM Panchal also issued notice to Dr Gupta and other respondents on September 4, seeking their response to the petition by the law-enforcing agencies, challenging the HC order.

Gupta, who claimed to cure epilepsy using herbal plants collected from the banks of the Ganges, had been arrested on August 13, 2004, under the NDPS Act following seizure of 70 kg of pure phenobarbitone from his two clinics -- Neeraj Clinic and BS Gupta Medical Charitable Society. The SC, however, granted him bail on November 10, 2006. Subsequently, the HC set aside the notice, citing the observations in the apex court's bail order.

According to the Uttarakhand police, Gupta was giving medicines containing psychotropic substances to his patients suffering from epilepsy, telling them that his prescriptions were nothing but herbal medicines.

In the notice for seizing his properties, reportedly running into hundreds of crores, the authorities had maintained that Gupta had amassed wealth by prescribing and selling psychotropic substances in contravention of the NDPS Act.

Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Mohan Jain contended before the apex court that the HC had wrongly relied on the SC verdict. The case had hit news headlines in 2004.

New Delhi, September 6
Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily last evening released a book titled "India, NRIs and The Law" aimed at helping millions of Indians settled across the globe and their relatives within the country to resolve myriad disputes ranging from immigration to marital disputes and surrogacy.

A galaxy of legal luminaries, who attended the function at the India International Centre (IIC) here, hailed the book as a pioneering work that not only dealt with the problems at length but also offered effective solutions to the litigants.

The author, Anil Malhotra, who has been dealing with NRI issues for decades, had also suggested options for the government for formulating laws to deal with the increasing number of cases pertaining to adoption and renting of the womb by Indian women to individuals and couples overseas, the experts opined.

Among others who spoke on the occasion were Law Commission chairman and former Supreme Court Judge AR Lakshmanan, former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee and Indian Society of International Law president Ram Niwas Mirdha. Supreme Court Judge P Sathasivam was also present.

Moily said hardworking Indians who migrated to various countries were increasingly being exposed to a number of problems that were not contemplated earlier. "The author has touched the NRI chord by looking at what ails them and providing practical solutions" to all their problems, leaving nothing untouched.

Pointing out that India or any other country for that matter could not be happy if its people settled overseas had unresolved matrimonial and other disputes, Moily said the book had been brought out at the right juncture and it would be of help to the litigants. Also, it would go a long way in making the job of the legal fraternity dealing with such cases easier.

Sorabjee said though India was not a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on civil aspects of international child abduction, the book had useful suggestions for evolving necessary laws within the country.

Justice Lakshmanan regretted that on the one hand the problems and grievances of NRIs, persons of Indian origin and overseas citizens of India had proliferated, on the other there were no effective legislative remedies or administrative solutions.

New Delhi, September 6
Australia has ruled out uranium sale to New Delhi but is keen to develop a strategic partnership and ensure that India becomes a "front-ranking" nation with which it has such ties. Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her country wants to build defence and security ties with India.

"We understand that energy security is important for India... (But) we have a longstanding position about uranium sales and nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT)," she told PTI in an interview here while explaining why Australia will not supply nuclear fuel to India. Australia has taken a position that it will not supply uranium to a country, which has not signed the NPT.

"We do have this longstanding in principle position about sale of uranium to non-NPT countries... That is not policy that is the focus in relation to India, that is general policy," said Gillard during her just concluded visit here.

Australia has refused to give uranium even though it supported grant of waiver to India by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) last year.

Gillard, however, said there is good prospect of cooperation between India and Australia on energy security.

"We are a nation that has big coal reserves and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)," Gillard elaborated. The Australian Deputy Prime Minister said her country wanted to develop strategic ties with India and that her visit here was in that context.

Movement on this front could be expected when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd undertakes a visit here in the next few months.

Asked why the quadrilateral format of security cooperation among India, Australia, the US and Japan had fizzled out, she said "there was no enthusiasm from any of the nations to continue in that particular form" of partnership.

"We want to build direct relations with India, direct friendship with India, to build into a strategic partnership, for India to be in the front rank of the nations with whom we have strategic partnership and a strong relationship. Our focus is on doing that," said Gillard.

There have been reports that Australia developed cold feet on the four-nation cooperation after China raised questions over it. Identifying areas of cooperation, Gillard said security is one of the key elements which will cover the threat of terrorism also. — PTI

New Delhi, September 6
Amidst mixed opinions on the future of reading culture, the sight at the 15th Delhi Book Fair on the final day as against the other eight days was satisfying and encouraging for book houses and enthusiasts.

Being a weekend, all 600 stalls were thronged by visitors and the majority of stalls today recorded a brisk business.

The gates of Pragati Maidan registered increasing footfalls and sale of tickets with gate number 7 being the main entry point receiving the maximum crowd and gate number 10 having it at over 1,500 tickets till 5:30 pm, said an official of the India Trade Promotion Organisation. He added that the number of visitors saw a rise by over 20 per cent today vis-à-vis the other days.

Still the number of visitors was not as expected. Many believe it was because of the hike in the entry ticket besides the swine flu impact. Others attributed it to lifestyle changes and a shift towards audio-visual medium and Internet.

Patna, September 6
The summons issued by a lower court against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in an 18-year old poll violence case has snowballed into major a political issue with the opposition seeking his immediate resignation. Representatives of the main opposition parties - the RJD led by Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP - met the Bihar governor here on Saturday and submitted him a memorandum saying the summons issued to the CM by the Barh additional chief judicial magistrate had created a “constitutional crisis”.

The memo urged the governor to dismiss Nitish from the post of chief minister if he did not quit on his own.

On his part the CM has refused to “oblige the opposition” by resigning over what he called “a non issue”. According to him he had been already exonerated in the case relating to firing at an election booth during the 1991 general elections in Barh parliamentary constituency, in which one man was killed.

The ruling JD(U) has also threatened to move the Patna High Court against the Barh magistrate for issuing summons to the CM even after the high court had stayed further proceedings in the case last April. The State party chief Rajiv Ranjan Singh, who held a press conference to “clear the facts,” charged Lalu with “creating confusion to destabilise the popular government” led by Nitish.

Countering the JD(U) charges, senior RJD leader and former law minister Shakeel Ahmed Khan said the CM “had no option but to appear in the court on September 9”. He also criticised advocate general PK Shahi for holding a press conference in his office chamber o defend the chief minister.

The opposition parties have also accused Nitish of suppressing information in the affidavits he submitted regarding a criminal case pending against him at the time of filing his nomination for the elections. According to them the CM had violated the Representation of People’s Act.

The ongoing political battle over the issue is likely to become further heated when the courts reopen on Monday.

New Delhi, September 6
Facing a shortage of IPS officers to man several critical posts in the state and central police forces, the Ministry of Home Affairs will increase the intake of IPS cadre, starting this year. The increased intake will go on for 10 years.

From this year onward, 130 IPS officers will be inducted every year. Normally, the intake would have been 100 IPS officers each year. The increased intake is to meet the shortfall in the past and to induct more officers as several new agencies have been created or manpower is being added to the existing agencies due to the changed internal security scenario.

IPS officers are allocated to state police forces and also central forces like the CRPF, BSF, SPG and the ITBP among others.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram confirmed last week that the intake would have to be more than usual as shortage existed among the IPS cadre. He blamed it on lack of proper planning between 2000 and 2004. The recruitment of IPS officers was lesser by 49 for each year. This means that some 200 officers are short. During this period, 85 IPS officers should have been inducted each year. However, this did not happen.

Crucially the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been formed in the past. It needs staff. Also the Intelligence Bureau needs more people for analysis. The IB is also going to have a new research and technical wing. With technology playing a major role in snooping, the security apparatus needs skilled persons to handle the job. “The new technology needs a lot of analysis,” said an official.

Also the number of CRPF battalions have been increased. Some of the top posts in these battalions will also be manned by the IPS.

With cross-border infiltration becoming a major threat, India is now focusing on Bangladesh and Nepal. The BSF is posted on the Bangladesh border while the Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) is posted along the Indo-Nepal border. The Home Ministry has also set up a multi-agency centre for coordination of inputs.

Noida, September 6
Amid reports of vaginal swabs of Noida murder victim Aarushi Talwar being substituted with those of an unidentified woman, a senior former police officer has said even a lower-level employee having the keys to the storage room could "easily manipulate" the medical evidence.

"For manipulating the stomach wash, viscera or other slides at the post-mortem room or government laboratories, one does not have to be influential," deputy superintendent of police (retd) K K Gautam said.

"A class four employee who has the keys of the storage room can easily manipulate the medical evidence. Moreover, due to improper storage system, slides or other test items get mixed up unknowingly too," he said.

There was a feeling among some locals that the CBI probe into the Aarushi-Hemraj case was reaching a dead end and that some "influential person" was behind the fudging of evidence.

"As the CBI is still considering the three servants as main accused, the question arises are they powerful enough to influence the police or doctor? I strongly feel some influential person has manipulated the medical evidence," the All-India Women's Conference representative Raksha Shukla said.

General secretary of NGO Noida Lok Manch Mahesh Saksena also felt "some influential persons who did not wish the case to be solved manipulated the medical evidence." — PTI

Lucknow, September 6
Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday formally inaugurated a modern spacious jail complex, including an 80-bedded hospital, built on the outskirts of the city.

Speaking on the occasion, she said old jail buildings had to be abandoned as they were no longer safe and secure. The buildings of the district jail and model jail had been constructed in 1861 and 1867, respectively. With the expansion of the city, they were now at the centre of the city and had been causing a security hazard.

While the old jail complex had been spread over 195-acre of now prime land, the new jail complex, including the model jail and Nari Bandi Niketan, had been built over a remote 81.068-hectare piece of land on the Mohanlalganj-Gosainganj route at the cost of Rs 327.965 crore.

The old district jail had become overcrowded, as it had a capacity of 1,004 prisoners against which 2,680 prisoners had presently been kept there. The new district jail would now accommodate 3,640 prisoners, including 600 inmates in the model jail, and 420 in the Nari Bandi Niketan.

According to the CM, the new jail had become necessary as per directives of the courts, the Human Rights Commission and the Central government prisoners had to be kept with human dignity equipped with complete basic facilities.

The new jails would have a modern kitchen, 80-bed hospital safe meeting place, sewerage treatment plant, multi-purpose hall, school buildings in each circle, canteen, visitors’ shade and a bakery building.

It has modern arrangements for the training and improvement of prisoners. X-ray scanning, high security remises, CCTV, court room, video conferencing room, central watch towers, high mast light, police chowki, sensitive prisoner room, barracks, MT garage facilities had been provided in these buildings.

The old jail building, adjacent to the Kanshi Ram Memorial, has been demolished to develop an eco-park at cost of Rs 199.90 crore. Incidentally, this park project had run into trouble when on a PIL, the Allahabad High Court had stayed the demolition of the historic jail as the petitioners had apprehended that hundreds of trees were cut and the jail being demolished only to extend the area of the adjacent Kanshi Ram Memorial to install still more statues.

On July 8, the Supreme Court had vacated the stay by allowing the demolition of the jail and construction of an ecological park there. The court had put a rider that the new park should not have any statues of Chief Minister Mayawati or her political mentor.

Chennai, September 6
A flurry of plane crashes across the world this year will find its echo in the domestic aviation insurance premium rates in the form of a 25-40 per cent hike.

The year 2009 will go down as a bad year for airlines with three major accidents - Air France, Yemenia and Caspian Airlines - killing around 550 persons. There were several other minor incidents too.

“The Air France and Yemenia losses in June this year are likely to set the agenda for the airline insurance market for the rest of the year and potentially well into 2010. Estimates for Air France and Yemen Air loss have been put in the range of $700-800 million and $250-300 million, respectively,” Bhargav Dasgupta, managing director and CEO, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, said.

According to him, the losses incurred by the global aviation insurance market this year, excluding minor losses, are estimated at $1.32 billion till June 2009, as against a premium income of $416 million. “Nearly half of the airline placements so far globally have seen their hull and liability premium costs rise by more than 25 per cent compared to the previous year. This pattern is likely to continue for the rest of the year. As airlines insurance in India follows global trends, we expect a price rise for Indian carriers as well,” he added.

The aviation premium rate is primarily driven by the global trends owing to the large values for the aircraft and liability covers for which international reinsurance capacity is required.

The aviation insurance segment in India is set to boom with around 450 aircraft valued around Rs 49,200 crore to be added to existing fleet over the next five years, he added. — IANS

New Delhi, September 6
The office of President Pratibha Patil’s Officer on Special Duty was burgled in the high-security Rashtrapati Bhavan complex.

The office of Wing Commander Vikram Dutta, which is located in the health club of the Presidential Estate, was burgled on Wednesday and the thieves walked away with his computer, police officials said.

While a case was registered on Friday, the officials believed that the job was that of an insider who has also walked away with six dumbbells from the health club.

Tasmim Ahmed, caretaker of the health centre, had given the office keys to a CPWD employee who had then returned it to him after clearing the rain water accumulated inside the centre on Wednesday night, they said.

But when Ahmed came on duty the next day he found the doors of the health centre open and some items missing from the Wing Commander’s room, the police said.

“We have registered the case and investigating the matter. It seems to be an insider’s job. The authorities need to fix the responsibility,” a senior police official said. — PTI

Bangalore, September 6
Weapons testing of the F-16 IN Super Viper aircraft for the MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) purchase trials of the IAF will be carried out in the deserts near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

Michael Griswold, director, advanced development programmes, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, revealed this to the TNS during an interview here. Orville Prins, Vice-President, business development for India, and Jack Giese, a senior Lockheed Martin (LM) manager, were also present.

Officials of the American aeronautics giant, which is the largest supplier of hardware to the US air force, are here in connection with the evaluation by the IAF of the Super Viper, a fourth-generation fighter aircraft from the LM stable.

The IAF had earlier said weapon testing of the six shortlisted bidders would take place in the countries of their origins to avoid legal tangles and unavailability of the infrastructure necessary for carrying out the tests. It could not be immediately confirmed if the LM was the only bidder to have made arrangements for weapon testing in India. The Super Viper team will shift base to Rajasthan toward the end of this month.

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet of the Boeing, the Russian MiG 35, the Swedish JAS 39 Gripen, the Eurofighter Typhoon (manufactured by an European consortium) and the French Rafale are the other competitors in the race.

On the presence of F-16 aircraft in the Pakistani air force, Griswold said the aircraft being offered to India had been “tailor made” for the IAF. “The IAF had specified what they were looking for and the aircraft is equipped to meet those requirements”, he said.

He said a unique feature of Super Viper is the AESA (active electronically steered array) radar. The radar, apart from tracking enemy targets, will also help the pilot in carrying out low flying missions.

Test pilots of the IAF are now working on simulators at the Aircraft and System Training Establishment (ASTE) here to get familiarised with the Super Viper control system. This will be followed by actual flying of the aircraft by IAF pilots together with the LM test pilots. Three Super Vipers, having tandem seating arrangements, have been flown to Bangalore from UAE for this purpose.

“The IAF pilot will sit in the front cockpit and our pilot will handle the rear control. Solo flying by IAF pilots of Super Vipers will take place in the US in early 2010”, Griswold said.

The IAF had earlier placed order with the Lockheed Martin for supplying six C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft. These aircraft would be given to the IAF in 2011, the officials said.

The MMRCA contract for supplying 126 fighter jets to the IAF is worth Rs 42,000 crore (US$ 10.5 billion). It is said to be the single largest defence deal ever in the history of IAF.