New Delhi, September 21
Expecting a really tough fight in Maharashtra this time, alliance partners Congress and NCP have decided to launch a joint campaign and manifesto for the Assembly poll on October 13.

State Congress chief Manikrao Thackre today said the joint manifesto would further strengthen the Congress-NCP partnership. “After the alliance is formalised, we will release a common manifesto and launch a joint election campaign in the state,” he said, replying to queries whether the Congress agreed with the NCP’s point of view that the alliance should go to people with a common manifesto and campaign.

Leaving no stone unturned after 10 years in the political wilderness, rival alliance Shiv Sena and the BJP had recently announced a similar decision for the elections.

Initially, there was some opposition from senior Congress leaders against a joint venture with the NCP. When earlier NCP leader Praful Patel said both parties should fight the elections with a joint manifesto, a Congress leader, disfavouring the idea, had said each party should go to the masses with its own manifesto. But the ruling combine, with several odds stacked against it this time, including an anti-incumbency factor of more than 10 years, appears to be willing to go that extra mile to project a picture of unity.

Meanwhile, with just four days left for the last date to file nominations, the Congress is yet to make an announcement of its list of candidates for the Maharashtra poll. While one reason is that a formal announcement of the pact with the NCP is still awaited, the Congress is also in a dilemma over demand for party tickets by relatives of some senior leaders. The list of high-profile candidates includes son of President Pratibha Patil Rajendra (Rao Saheb) Shekhawat.

Party sources say the CEC has cleared the candidatures of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and several of his cabinet colleagues and tonight Congress president Sonia Gandhi would take a call on the fate of these high-profile candidates. The central election committee has “nearly reached an agreement” on contestants for around 170 seats out of 174-175 seats that the party is likely to contest, they add.

Shekhawat’s demand has landed the Congress in a tight spot as Sunil Deshmukh, the sitting MLA from Amravati, has indicated that he would contest as a rebel in case he was denied a party ticket. While Deshmukh is considered a strong candidate, the party’s problem is that Shekhawat’s past political record is nothing to write back home about.

Sources, in fact, say the party high command is quite cheesed off by Shekahwat staking a claim and there is a section in the Congress that believes that he should not be given the ticket to send a strong message to other high-profile ticket seekers.

There are other Congress leaders demanding seats for family members, including Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for daughter Praniti and son-in-law Raj Shroff, former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for son Amit, former state party chief Ranjit Deshmukh for son Ashish, state minister Patangrao Kadam for son Bishwajit and Revenue Minister Narayan Rane for son Nitesh.

Mumbai, September 21
The Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena today released their first list of candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly elections due on October 13. The party announced the names of candidates for 126 of the 169 seats it is contesting. The Shiv Sena's ally is contesting 119 Assembly seats.

Among the prominent candidates being fielded by the Shiv Sena include Omraje Nimbalkar, son of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar who was murdered a few years ago. Nimbalkar has been fielded from Osmanabad. The murder case returned to the spotlight following the arrest of senior Nationalist Congress Party leader and sitting Member of Parliament Padamsinh Patil. Omraje Nimbalkar joined the Shiv Sena only on Sunday evening.

Releasing the list here today, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray said the names of the candidates for the remaining seats would be announced in the next few days. The party has 60 new names in the list even as 37 sitting MLAs have been retained.

As expected Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assembly Ramdas Kadam will contest from from Guhagar.

Other prominent names in the Shiv Sena's list include Subhash Desai, publisher of party mouthpiece Saamna, and Sureshdada Jain, who has been renominated from his home turf Jalgaon.

On the other hand, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, headed by Raj Thackeray, has also put out its first list of 100 names. All the party's candidates who contested the last parliamentary elections and are still with the MNS have been fielded again.

The MNS has kept its options open in a number of seats in the Konkan, the urban areas of Thane and Mumbai to attract defectors from the Shiv Sena, say observers.

Announcing his party's candidates, Raj Thackeray said the focus of the MNS continued to be the Marathi-speaking people of Mumbai. Thackeray used the occasion to hit out at the Shiv Sena-BJP combine for launching their campaign from Vikhroli where the MNS first kick-started its campaign against North Indian migrants in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party are still in a deadlock over sharing of seats amidst reports that they haven't been able to agree on five or six seats in Mumbai and Pune.

Negotiations have shifted to Delhi with emissaries of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and the Congress leadership holding talks.

Sources in both parties said names of candidates for most of the seats have been finalised and the first lists of the two would be announced soon.

Guwahati/Thimpu, September 21
A high magnitude earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale Monday killed at least 10 people in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and left dozens more injured, while several buildings developed cracks in India's northeastern state of Assam.

Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BSS), the national broadcaster, quoted Bhutanese government officials and witnesses as confirming 10 deaths. “Of the 10 deaths, three were of Indian origin who were engaged in road widening work. They died after being hit by falling boulders,” the BSS report said.

The bodies of the three Indians killed, all from Assam, were handed over to their relatives in the border town of Darranga in Assam late Monday.

“Five people were killed in Mongar and two deaths were reported from Trashigang in eastern Bhutan,” U. Tenzing, the director of Bhutan’s disaster management department, said, adding, “We are trying to get more information from the affected places.” The casualties were reported when their houses collapsed or some of them were hit by falling debris.

Police and civil rescue teams have since fanned out to the quake hit eastern districts of Mongar and Trashigang to look for people who could be trapped or injured. The tremors were also felt in parts of Assam, other north-eastern states of India, and West Bengal at 2.24 p.m. No casualties were reported. The temblor led to cracks in apartments and concrete structures in Assam's main cty of Guwahati.

According to Dr Ranju Duarah, a scientist at the earthquake observation centre at North-East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST), a CSIR laboratory located at Jorhat in Assam, the earthquake had its epicenter inside Bhutan, about 60 km from India-Bhutan border at a shallow depth of less than 10 km.

Since the epicenter was at a shallow depth, its intensity was felt more in places like Guwahati where a few multi-storied buildings developed minor cracks.

The epicenter was at a distance of about 136 km from Guwahati and 195 km from Shillong. The quake lasted for about 40 seconds in Guwahati.

Chennai, September 21
S Nalini, undergoing life imprisonment in the Vellore jail for her involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, today started a fast to demand her immediate release from jail.

Nalini was awarded death penalty in 1991 but later at the intervention of Congress chief and Rajiv Gandhi’ widow, Sonia Gandhi, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Last week, Nalini, 43, had filed a petition in the Madras High Court asking for the Tamil Nadu government to convene the advisory board to consider her case for release from the jail. In her petition, Nalini had said that she was entitled for release in 2005 itself as she had completed 14 years in jail.

In 2007, the state government had rejected her application for release and she had then filed a case in the Madras High Court in 2008.

The court directed the state government to reconsider her request for release by a validly constituted advisory board. As the government has not constituted the advisory board yet Nalini asked the court to form a board and to submit a report to the state.

This petition came up for hearing in the Madras High Court Monday and the court asked the state government to respond in two weeks time and posted the next hearing for October 6. Meanwhile, Nalini started her fast at the jail in Vellore, 130 km from Chennai, and has said she would continue her protest till she is released from the prison.

According to the prison authorities, Nalini informed them about her decision to go on fast by a letter Monday morning. Her husband and co-convict Murugan is also serving his sentence in the same prison. — IANS

New Delhi, September 21
In a startling revelation, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has brought to light the decadent practices being followed in allowing the erection of mobile towers by telecom operators out to increase their subscriber base.

In a case regarding the coming up of a mobile tower over an unsafe structure in a part of Delhi, the CIC came across the information that more than 50 per cent of the mobile towers erected around the city had no authorisation from the civic authorities.

While the police had no authority to take action against these illegal structures following the passing of the Sections 3(2) and (3) of the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2009, which provides protection to such structures, the most disturbing aspect was that one of the agencies authorised to give the stability certificate to the structure maintained no record of such structures and did not physically verify them before issuing the certificate.

There could be wider implications around the country as the mobile operators, sitting in one of the fastest growing telecom markets around the world, are going out of their way to attract subscribers and as such would also need to put up more towers with increasing subscription base and area of operations.

Information Commissioner Sailesh Gandhi, hearing the petition of a citizen over the coming up of a mobile tower atop an unsafe structure, was told by the Additional Commissioner (Engg) Delhi that more than 50 per cent of the towers were illegal.

This information came as the repeated complaints of a citizen with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Commissioner of Police to bring down a tower, which could pose a hazard to the lives of people staying in the building, bore no results.

The Additional Commissioner (Engg) disclosed that out of 4532 mobile towers in Delhi only 2015 had the requisite permission from the civic authorities. Rest of the 2517 did not have the permission of the MCD. An Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police also undertook an inquiry and came to the conclusion that the police could not take any action since all ‘unauthorised development’ in Delhi had been given official protection by the Delhi Government by Sections 3(2) and (3) of the NCT of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2009.

While hearing the application, Gandhi was informed that to install a mobile tower a stability certificate was required to declare that the building was not likely to be endangered by putting additional load on it.

The MCD has specified that the stability certificate will be accepted only if it is issued by one of the five agencies approved by it.

One of the approved agencies is IIT Delhi. But what came to light during the hearing was that this very agency had issued two certificates for the same address.

The PIO has stated that the faculty members in IIT issues a stability certificate based on the drawings provided by the client in which the address is mentioned. However, no records are maintained by the IIT of the drawings.

Besides, the PIO pointed out, the certificate was based on drawings with an address which was not verified at all.

Gandhi was of the view that the case was a potent combination whereby conscious collusion and inactive passivity had led to a society where the rule of law was effectively subverted by the powerful, leading to a decadent governance structure.

New Delhi, September 21
Leader of the Opposition and senior BJP leader LK Advani today said he was not in favour of Jaswant Singh’s expulsion, contradicting the party’s assertion that he was part of the decision.

“These reports are correct that I was not in agreement with the decision to expel Jaswant Singh,” he told a news agency about the decision of the party’s parliamentary board on August 19 in Shimla in which he was present.

He, however, refused to elaborate saying, “I am not interested in any further controversy.” The statement goes contrary to the assertion by the BJP that Advani was party to the decision to expel the Darjeeling MP for eulogising Pakistan founder MA Jinnah and denigrating Sardar Patel.

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, while briefing reporters on the deliberations of BJP’s ‘Chintan Baithak’ in Shimla, had said on August 21 that Advani had described the decision to expel Jaswant as “painful but necessary”.

“It is mentally painful to expel somebody who has been with you for the past 30 years but what he wrote was against the basic ideology of the party,” Swaraj, considered close to Advani, had quoted him as telling the BJP meet.

When asked about his future plans, Advani said he was busy finalising his tour plans for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. “In October, I will spend 10 days on campaigning in these two states,” he said, adding that apart from state-related issues, price rise would be a big issue in these polls.

Advani said despite the Lok Sabha defeat, all was not lost for the BJP. "Despite the defeat in the last Lok Sabha elections, we have proved again that Indian politics is bipolar. We are in power in eight states, including two where we share power with allies,” he said. “These responsibilities need accountability too,” Advani added.

The Leader of the Opposition informed that he would tour the country to meet party workers and discuss the importance of responsibility with them.

“After Assembly elections, I plan to visit different states. I will not address public meetings, but address workers’ conferences. I will express my views to workers about responsibility and will listen to the views of office-bearers,” he said. — PTI

New Delhi, September 21
Moody’s today said there was always a risk of another major event sending shock waves in financial markets, even as Asian stocks may have rebounded from the lows post the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year.

Moody’s Economy.com, a research arm of Moody’s, also said any tightening of money supply by central banks to arrest inflation may dampen value of equities in the coming months.

The analysis by Moody’s assumes significance with many central banks around the world talking about exit from monetary stimulus soon to tame the rising inflation.

After initial losses following Lehman Brothers’ collapse, emerging Asia’s financial markets have rebounded. Leading indicators suggest that the recent strong rally in equity markets is justified based on expected GDP growth.

“Financial markets are also influenced by liquidity and events. With many central banks in the region worried about excess liquidity feeding into higher inflation, monetary tightening could weigh on equities’ performance in coming months,” it said, adding, “Meanwhile, the risk of another major event rocking financial markets will always remain.” Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao recently said the country would have to take a call on exiting stimulus measures, both fiscal and monetary, sooner than most other countries. He, however, added that RBI would continue to retain soft monetary stance unless sure of sustained economic recovery. — PTI

New Delhi, September 21
Seventeen swine flu deaths, ten of them in Karnataka alone, were confirmed today, taking the total toll due to H1N1 virus to 257 in India, health authorities said here.

Although health ministry officials said seven deaths were reported today — three each in Maharashtra and Gujarat and one in Andhra Pradesh, 10 deaths occurred in Karnataka in a span of 10 days, but were only confirmed today.

The official said the 10 deaths that occurred in Karnataka between September 8 and 18 have been found to be due to the contagious virus. The laboratory confirmations came today.

“Four more deaths have taken place in the state. But we are waiting for the laboratory confirmation,” the official said.

With these deaths, the total death toll in Karnataka has jumped to 79 — the second highest in the country.

In Maharashtra, two deaths were reported from Pune, the epicentre of the virus, and one in Nagpur. With the three deaths, the total number of deaths in the state has gone up to 106 — the highest in the country.

Three deaths -- one each from Gandhinagar, Surat and Vadodara -- were also reported from Gujarat. With these three deaths, the toll in the state has risen to 26 — the third highest in the country.

Authorities said one death was also reported from Hyderabad. The total death toll in Andhra Pradesh is now 22 — the fourth highest.

Meanwhile, 228 fresh swine flu cases were reported in the country, taking the total number of people affected with H1N1 virus to 8,153.

Of these, 49 new cases were reported in Maharashtra, taking the total number of people affected with the virus to 2,427 — the highest in the country.

Delhi also continued to record fresh cases. Of the 228 new cases, 59 were from the Capital alone, taking the total number of people affected with the virus to 1,893. This figure is the second highest in the country. Eight people have died in the Capital.

The other states that recorded new cases are Andhra Pradesh (32), Tamil Nadu (30), Haryana (26), Kerala (11), Gujarat (7) and Bihar (1).

“Till date, samples from 35,148 people have been tested for H1N1 virus in government laboratories and a few private laboratories across the country and 8,153 of them have been found positive," a statement issued here said. — IANS

Chandigarh, September 21
After reequipping its Special Forces units and parachute battalions with the new generation Israeli automatic assault rifles, the Indian army is now looking for contemporary semiautomatic pistols to replace their antiquated 9 mm handguns. It wants a robust weapon that is lightweight and is easy to carry and operate, and has asked arms vendors for details on the latest pistols for its Special Forces units.

Since the new weapons are to be used by commandos, additional features being sought are the option of fixing on a laser ranger and aiming device and a high intensity flashlight for operations in the dark or dimly lit areas. Flashlights, besides illuminating the area ahead of the shooter, also serve the dual purpose of blinding the opponent.

Though the Special Forces units have access to a wide variety of weapons, the standard issue handgun is the 9 mm pistol produced by the Ordnance Factories.

The Swiss SIG-Sauer, Austrian Glock, German Walther and Italian Beretta are among the firms known for contemporary pistol designs that are favoured by major special forces units around the world.

Over the past two years the Special Forces have adapted the Israeli Tavor 21 as its standard assault rifle. The army had procured about 3,000 such rifles to replace the earlier mix of AK-47, M-16s and INSAS rifles.

Hyderabad, September 21
In a novel initiative to reach out to the victims of domestic violence, the Andhra Pradesh government is planning to deploy mobile vans, similar to the ambulance service, to provide urgent help.

The vans, carrying counsellors and home guards, will rush to the spot on receiving complaint and will shift the victims to shelter homes. Later, the authorities would initiate proceedings against the aggressors as per the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act, Minister for Women and Child Welfare Konda Surekha said.

The service was aimed at quickly coming to the rescue of women facing harassment for dowry and other issues, the minister said.

Andhra has done exemplary work in effective implementation of the Domestic Violence Act. The state government has appointed Revenue Divisional Officers (RDOs) as protection officers under the Act who would guide the victims to file a Domestic Incident Report.

Once the DIR is filed, legal proceedings will be initiated against the accused. Inspector General of the Women Protection Cell of the CID S Umapathi said the mobile vans would be very useful in providing necessary succour and help to the victims of domestic violence.

“We get cases mostly from the urban classes and the higher middle income group,” K Rajyalakshmi, protection officer of Hyderabad district, said.

Andhra is among the worst-affected states in terms of domestic violence against women. As per the statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the state had recorded 24,738 cases of crimes committed against women, including 1,070 cases of rape, 1,564 cases of kidnapping and abduction, 613 cases of dowry deaths and 11,335 cases of domestic violence, in 2007-08.

The state capital registered 1,931 cases, the second highest in the country after Delhi.

Bangalore, September 21
Doubts raised over the efficacy of the last thermo-nuclear test at Pokhran (Pokhran-II) would impact the armed forces, Major General Brajesh Kumar, commander of the Madras Engineering Group (Madras Sappers) said on Saturday.

The scientists doubting the efficacy of the test had said delay in weaponisation of the thermo-nuclear device was a major indication that the tests were a failure.

Gen Kumar, who is the first serving Army officer to comment on the ongoing debate over the results of the Pokhran-II tests, however, steered clear of the controversy and said the services were never a part of the weaponisation programme of nuclear devices.

“The information about the tests is not available on the public domain. But as far as the impact on the debate on the armed forces is concerned, yes it will impact the forces,” he said.

Gen Kumar, who was here in connection with the 229th anniversary celebration of the Sappers, also revealed that landmines were being modified in India in deference to a UN convention on landmines.

“Earlier, landmines were designed to kill enemy personnel. But now, mines are now designed to blow up the limbs of enemy personnel because that drains the enemy’s resources more,” he said.

He said, “After India became a signatory to a UN convention on landmine, we are compulsorily putting a steel rod measuring a few inches in each mine so that it can be detected during demining operations.”

The Sappers (known for their skill in handling mines and other explosives), had not laid any landmine since the Operation Parakram in 1991, he said.

Infrastructure in the Chinese side of the Sino-Indian border was much better because the terrain in the Chinese side was conducive for construction of roads and other infrastructure, he said, adding that infrastructure-building on the Indian side of the border too is proceeding in a fast pace.

New Delhi, September 21
The already highly polluted Yamuna faces a fresh threat of toxic elements during Navaratra festival when religious articles are immersed in the river as the government has not so far earmarked separate enclosures for dumping the materials as directed by the Delhi High Court.

In absence of alternative arrangements, people have been immersing the religious articles and idols in the river and ruining the water quality further.

Even though the government has been spending crores of rupees on its “Save Yamuna” campaign, it has not even managed to ensure designated enclosures to prevent the dumping of religious articles and idols in the river, environmentalist Vinod Jain rued.

According to a survey, more than 300 idols were immersed in Yamuna last year, accounting for approximately 36 tonne of paints and other chemicals and over 15 tonne of puja material, including flowers, leaves and clothes among other articles.

“With no preventive steps taken by the government to save the Yamuna from such pollution, the river's condition will deteriorate even more,” Jain said.

This, despite the Delhi High Court directing the state authorities to take preventive measures to ensure that river is not polluted further during the festive seasons such as 'Durga pooja' and 'Dusshera'.

The order had come a few years back when the court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Jain, seeking proper implementation of the Delhi Plastic Bag (Manufacture, Sale, Usage) Act, 2000, and amended in 2004, laying special focus on curbing pollution in rivers and water bodies.

Noting that the river cannot take the load of the 'religious samagris' and idols which at times have toxic contents, the court directed the authorities concerned to “provide designated enclosures for such materials in the river Yamuna.” At the same time, the court also directed the Delhi government to create awareness among people to encourage them to immerse the religious materials in a proposed enclosure.

“In this festive season, the river will be again inundated with idols and 'religious samagri' that will further choke it with toxic elements,” Jain said, adding, with no effective steps by the government, the threat to the Yamuna is rising day by day. — PTI

Berhampur, September 21
With spiralling prices, the cost of clay idols of Goddess Durga has also sky-rocketed forcing puja organisers here to reduce the size of the idols this year.

Attributing the high cost to increased price of ingredients required for idol making, artisans said price of yarn, husk, bamboo sticks, black soil and paints has increased manifold forcing them to hike the price of idols.

However, Benugopal Dora, an idol maker since last 25 years, says the increase of price of the idols, particularly of Goddess Durga, is marginal as puja organisers are reluctant to pay more.

The cost of a 10-ft clay idol of Durga costs between Rs 10,000 and Rs 30,000 depending on the decorations and installation of the other gods and goddesses.

"We provide Durga idols to the organisers with marginal profit," Dora said.

Potters from different places of West Bengal who come to make the idols in various places of Orissa have also charged higher this time.

Bidyut Jana, an artist from Kolkata, along with three of his co-artists camped in the state to make idols of about 10 to 12-feet height. As the cost of idols has increased, we are forced to reduce the size of the idol, said one of the puja organisers at Girimarket puja committee here.

Expenditure on several rituals during the puja including "yagnas" and decoration, which attract the visitors, cannot be reduced. So, we have cut the cost of the idol by reducing the size, another puja organiser at Hanumana Bazar puja committee said. — PTI

Ahmedabad, September 21
In Hindutva poster-boy Narendra Modi's Gujarat, religious tourism will soon have a renewed vigour with all temples and places associated with Lord Ram set to figure in the state's travel map.

Apart from the religious tourism titled 'Rama Tour', son of the soil Mahatma Gandhi will be showcased as an icon to attract foreign tourists, Tourism Minister Jay Narayan Vyas said.

"If Sri Lanka can cash in on Ramayana to promote tourism, then why not Gujarat. We have old temples and sites which have mythology woven around them. These will be of interest to both domestic and international tourists," he said.

The government also plans to link tourism with Buddhist pilgrim centres ahead of this year's World Buddhist Conference to be hosted by the state.

The initiatives are part of government's effort to make up for the lost years in the sphere of tourism, by wooing travellers to the state, which is more known as a much sought-after region for entrepreneurs and industrialists.

"If we look at prominent world leaders, be it (US President) Barack Obama or (former South African president) Nelson Mandela, they all speak of the importance of Gandhi's message and there is increased awareness about his life and teachings," the minister said.

"We have a trail of places like Dandi and Porbander, which played a role in Gandhi's life," he added.

The tour plan linking places associated with the Father of the Nation is branded as 'Gandhi Tour'.

According to the statistics released by the Union Ministry of Tourism in 2008, Gujarat is not in the top 10 tourist destinations for foreign travellers, but occupies the ninth position in domestic tourism.

However, Vyas was confident that the scenario will soon change in favour of Gujarat. "We are a society known for entrepreneurship and enterprise. In the initial stages of development, tourism was not on our list of priorities. I am sure that five years from now, we will be on top of the list," he said.

'Vibrant Navratri' is another government initiative which plans to develop the religious festival into a tourist attraction, marketing it as the 'Longest Dance Festival of the World'.

The celebrations were kicked off yesterday with a grand cultural programme inaugurated by Modi with delegates from 35 nations as special guests.

"Gujarat has long been seen as merely an industrialist state. But we Gujaratis are also people who love life, dance and music and the festival is a celebration of that heritage," Modi said. — PTI

New Delhi, September 21
To counter terror threats in the backdrop of the Mumbai attacks, top army generals have evolved detailed plans to secure the country's coastline from Gujarat to Orissa and refine the force's amphibious warfare tactics.

The strategies were fine-tuned by top brass, including Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, during a two-day table-top war game in Pune last week, army sources here said today.

Plans for the Southern Command to protect the coastline from both conventional and asymmetric threats were discussed threadbare, they said.

The war game was a closed-door conceptual exercise conducted by top commanders with the help of sand models and large-scale maps, which do not involve troops on the ground.

The Pune drill follows a similar exercise by the Kolkata-based Eastern Command a fortnight back for area in the North-eastern states along the borders with China, Bangladesh and Myanmar, apart from its counter-insurgency operations.

During May this year, some formations under the Western Command had carried out annual field exercises in Punjab plains to validate operational concepts and test their equipment.

Later, in June, the Western Command's top brass conducted a war game at its headquarters in Chandimandir near Chandigarh concentrating on the Pakistani border along Jammu and Punjab, apart from counter-insurgency strategies in Jammu region.

For quite some time now, the Army's emphasis has been on table-top war games rather than field exercises due to constraints of space and expenses involved.

The field exercises usually take place in Punjab plains between the harvest seasons and in the Pokhran firing ranges in Rajasthan desert.

"Earlier, villagers in Punjab were willing to give their agriculture land for the army exercises between harvest seasons. They used to do it enthusiastically. But, of late, the trend has changed leading to space crunch for these large scale exercises. The money spent on mobilisation and the exercise too is large," an Army officer said explaining the need for such games.

"Moreover, during the table-top war game, 10 or more war scenarios and the responses to them from troops and commanders can be worked out within a matter of hours. But during a field exercise, only a couple of scenarios can be worked out," they said.

War games are held at all Command levels every year to review existing operational plans keeping in view recent on-ground developments. It also helps expose new commanders to offensive and defensive strategies pertaining to a particular operational theatre.

Army sources said besides top commanders from respective commands and their field formations, senior representatives from Army headquarters and the Training Command usually attend the brainstorming session.

Since the turn of the century, the Army has been focusing on fighting a high-intensity, short-duration war in a built-up urban and semi-urban environment, mainly by a division-sized offensive formation.

Fundamental to this 'Cold Start' doctrine is a networked environment enabling real time flow of intelligence, data and information, as well as rapid troop mobilisation and deployment of devastating firepower across the entire spectrum of conflict, the sources added. — PTI

Hingalganj (Sundarbans), September 21
Soon after the clock strikes midnight, the muddy roads on the Indo-Bangla border, at Sahebkhali in Sundarbans, become busy with trains of cattle being herded on a secret journey culminating in Bangladesh where they will be slaughtered for shipment as processed beef.

The border at Chanralkhali village here on the bank of Kalindi river which separates Bangladesh and India has been a witness to the smuggling of truckloads of cattle from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for some time now.

Ever since Cyclone Aila devastated the deltas and hit the Border Security Force (BSF) by damaging patrolling boats and breaching embankments and roads, there has been a manifold increase in smuggling aided by hapless villagers.

“A recent spate in smuggling by villagers has put BSF jawans on high alert,” says a jawan on duty at the border village, 100 km from Kolkata.

The cyclone has destroyed all means of livelihood for 1.6 lakh people of Hingalganj by damaging houses and rendering fields saline. Sights of devastation are evident everywhere.

BSF jawans say smugglers have taken advantage of the situation by engaging hapless villagers into smuggling cattle, bidi, garments and drugs at night.

“Normally, the smugglers pay us Rs 200 for transporting cattle from one village to another. With more people offering to do so smugglers have cut the rates and are now paying half the amount,” says Ramesh Mondal, a resident of Chanralkhali village.

Most smuggling of cattle takes place at night usually in large boats deep inside the Sundarbans mangrove jungle which borders Bangladesh.

“Attempts to smuggle goods by villagers have gone up considerably since the cyclone destroyed BSF patrolling boats and vigilance on foot was hampered along damaged roads and river embankments,” Vikash Chandra, Deputy Inspector General of BSF South Bengal frontier which protects the border in Sundarbans told PTI.

The cyclone also killed cattle in the region and the remaining were sold to the smugglers by villagers to feed themselves. Risking their lives, villagers have been guiding cattle through water-filled fields and pushing them into the ebbing Kalindi river to send them to Bangladesh. The smugglers got a free hand until the boats of BSF and roads were repaired.

Jawans say the growing smuggling has put a lot of pressure on them from their top brass. Chandra said BSF takes firm action if anybody was found to be involved in the crime.

“Three jawans were dismissed from service this year on similar charges. We have a system of cross-checking where if hundreds of cattle hoof marks are noticed on the bank of the river, the jawan on duty is asked to explain and if he fails to do so it results in suspension,” says Chandra.

The BSF has so far seized 4,169 cattle, 1,451 pieces of clothing, 3,550 packets of fertilisers and 2,543 bottles of a medicine, phensidyl which people in Bangladesh consume to get drunk.

Revenue worth Rs 12 crore has come from cattle auctioning this year, BSF officials said. Villagers say the cattle smuggling has affected their lone source of livelihood of catching fish from the stagnant water of the fields.

“The cattle tears the fishing nets cast in the fields at night,” Sushanta Roy, a villager, says. The vigilance along the embankments and village roads has been intensified after the roads and boats were repaired, BSF’s Chandra says.

Maintaining vigilance on the border divided by tidal rivers is tough as it is difficult to navigate on swollen rivers during the monsoon.BSF keeps an eye on the 70-km border in Sundarbans mangrove forest with two floating Border Outposts (BOP).

Indo-Bangla border on the side of Hingalganj and Hasnabad blocks are porus as they are without border fencing.

The issue of cattle trade came up in sector-level border guards meeting of the BSF and their Bangladeshi counterparts, Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) after the cyclone.

BDR never takes action against the cattle smugglers as they consider them as “cattle traders” to which BSF says that India does not sell them and trade cannot take place at midnight, a BSF officer says. — PTI

Patna, September 21
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has decided to permanently station a disaster relief force in Bihar in view of the recurrent floods in the state, during which the central government has to undertake rescue and relief operations. The authority has already begun the job to set up a full fledged battalion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in Patna. It will not only tackle natural disasters in Bihar but also in eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh.

NDMA member KM Singh said the 1,000-strong battalion would be raised by inducting Border Security Force jawans. The authority has already taken possession of 75 acres of land on the Patna-Bihta road where the new battalion would be stationed.

Singh expects the Patna centre to become functional on a limited basis by November this year. Work has already started to set up the battalion headquarters by assembling prefabricated structures at the site. However, it may take at least two years before the full NDRF battalion is functional at the Patna centre, he said.

The Patna NDRF centre will also serve as an advanced training centre to impart disaster response skills to NDRF personnel. A four-member NDMA team will visit the United States next month to acquaint itself about the techniques adopted by the top disaster response training centres in that country. Subsequently they will apply similar techniques and facilities in their own state-of-the-art training centre coming up at Patna, Singh said.

The NDRF centre at Patna would also serve as the training hub for the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) proposed to be raised by the state government soon. The Bihar government has decided to set up its own disaster response force.

Kolkata/Ahmedabad, September 21
In a rare protest action, around 1,500 faculty members, including professors, at the coveted IITs across the country will go on a hunger strike on September 24 agitated over "anomalies" in pay structure but there will be no disruption in classes.

The decision taken at a meeting of the IIT Faculty Federation at IIT Kharagpur. The action by the IITs came even as the IIM-Ahmedabad Board decided to meet on September 25 to deal with the situation arising out of faculty members rejecting the Union HRD Ministry's latest order on pay structure for Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTI).

The IIT federation assured that classes at the 13 IITs would, however, not be affected during the strike. In all there are 800 professors in the IITs.

“We will observe a strike on September 24. But we will not boycott work. The classes will go on. We will protest the pay structure that puts a number of curbs on the IIT system," said Prof M Thenmozhi, president of the federation, after the meeting.

Thenmozhi said the federation would seek an appointment with HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on the issue and submit a fresh memorandum on its demands.

A faculty spokesperson said the payscales had been made in a manner which would destroy the excellent status of the institutes and not attract the best of talent in future.

The HRD Ministry had recently notified the pay structure for Central Funded Technical Institutes (CFTIs), including IITs and IIMs. However, the IIT faculty opposed certain provisions, including 40 per cent cap on promotion of professors to the senior grade. — PTI

Chennai, September 21
Coming down heavily on Centre’s permission for Kerala to conduct a survey to construct a new dam near the Mullaiperiyar dam even while the issue was pending before the Supreme Court, AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa today warned of a stir against the move.

Referring to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s observations “the Centre knows that the issue is before the Supreme Court and I hope that it has not given such a permission”, the AIADMK leader said Union Minister for Environment Jairam Ramesh had already stated that such permission had been given.

Without trying to know whether such a permission had been given or not, Karunanidhi, whose DMK is a part of the Union Cabinet, had tried to deceive the people by his statement that he hoped that the Centre had not done so. “If Karunanidhi is in such a position that he cannot even know from the Centre whether permission for the survey is given or not, his party members should resign from the Central ministry and issue a open warning to the Union government”, she opined.

The DMK leader boycotted the swearing-in-ceremony of the Union Cabinet when he came to know that the portfolios would not be given. “Karunanidhi is able to know about the portfolios to his party, even before the ceremony. When it comes to personal gain, he will ascertain the details. But, when it is an issue concerning the rights of Tamils, he will not care to know the details and will merely express hope that nothing had been done against the interests of Tamils”.

Karunanidhi was sticking to power by sacrificing the rights of Tamils, she charged and added that both the Kerala government and the Centre knew that he would not be firm in protecting the rights of Tamils and hence they had initiated steps to build a new dam.

The Supreme Court in its verdict on February 2006, allowed Tamil Nadu to store 142 feet of water in Mullaiperiyar dam due to the efforts of the AIADMK government, she said.