Patna, September 29
At least 27 persons (30 according to PTI), mostly women and kids, were drowned and 40 others missing after two boats carrying Durga Puja revellers capsised in the swollen Bagmati and Kamala Balan rivers in Bihar on late Monday evening.

According to the additional Director General of Police (Headquarters), Neelmani, the victims were returning home after participating in a local fair organised on the occasion of Vijay Dashmi and Durga Pooja.

The first tragedy took place on Bagmati river near Fultora Ghat, about 200 km from here. The place is quite close to the native village of the former Union Minister and the LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan. More than 50 persons were crossing the river on the ill-fated boat, which had a capacity of 30, when it capsised midstream. “Nearly 25 persons swam to safety and also rescued few others. The rest are missing,” said an official.

On getting the information of the tragedy, the state administration rushed a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to the spot. The The team comprising 26 jawans of NDRF with six mechanised boats managed to fish out 19 bodies. Of the 19 dead, two were women and the rest children. More bodies are likely to be recovered in the next few hours, said the officials, adding that the chances of survival of the missing people are remote. “It has been over 12 hours, so we fear the worst,” said an official said. The state government has ordered an inquiry into the incident and announced a cash compensation of Rs 1.50 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased. The opposition leaders --- Lalu Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan- -- have demanded compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of the deceased. The duo also blamed Nitish Kumar government for the tragedy and charged it for delaying the construction of bridge over the said river.

The second incident took place near Kusheshwarsthan in Darbhanga district. Eight persons were drowned when a boat carrying 17 people overturned in river Kamla Balan. 

New Delhi, September 29
The Supreme Court today asked Attorney General GE Vahanvati to respond within three weeks to a petition that has sought dissolution of the Jharkhand Assembly and holding of early election in the Naxalite-infested state.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan sought the AG’s views after senior counsel Ajit Kumar Sinha, appearing for the petitioner argued that the Centre was deliberately keeping the House in suspended animation despite extending the President’s rule. The Centre was delaying holding of the Assembly election in Jharkhand, but had facilitated such polls in Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh before the respective Houses completed their five-year term, he said.

Home Minister P Chidambaram had assured the Parliament that early elections would be held in Jharkhand, but the Centre had failed to keep the word, the counsel said. BJP MLAs in the state had resigned en masse forcing the imposition of President’s rule.

New Delhi, Sept 29
Foreign education providers, it appears, can’t wait to set up shop in India. Just a fortnight after Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal mentioned that fair progress had been made on India’s foreign education providers’ bill, 35 US universities are lining up to visit India to discuss future collaborations.

The top fields emerging for partnerships are international law, terrorism, aerospace, energy, sensors, nanotechnology, robotics, biomedical technology and information security.

The US universities will be participating in the Indo-US Education Summit on academic collaborations scheduled for November in Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. The summit will start from New Delhi on November 8, said S. B. Anumolu, a former IPS officer now settled in the US, where he runs a foundation with a motto “Educational Excellence without Borders” -- something Kapil Sibal has been talking about, of late.The summit is being organised in the backdrop of India’s decision to liberalise its education sector. Expected to attend the conference are university provosts, deans, and other officers of around 35 US universities. Several hundred Indian institutions and organisations interested in collaborations will also be part of the affair.

Some of the A-list universities set to participate in the conference include Tufts, Case Western, Northeastern, Florida State, Southern Illinois-Carbondale, Clarkson, Concordia (Canada), Drexel, Oregon, Rochester, Massachusetts-Boston, South Dakota Tech, Wisconsin, and Widener.

Their areas of interest include science, engineering, medicine, biotechnology, environment and management. Anumolu today told The Tribune that there were more than 600 major fields of study in the US at various levels, including associate (two years), Bachelor’s (four years), Master’s (two years), and doctoral (three to five years).

The on-campus programmes to be offered in India by American universities in collaboration with Indian institutions would be degree, diploma, and certificate programmes at all levels. As per plans, students will receive degrees of the US universities after successful completion of their programmes in India. Importantly, through these programmes, Indian students will be able to earn several credits during the course of their normal study in Indian institutions. They will have the opportunity either to complete their studies at home or transfer their credits to the US universities at any time after completing at least one year of study in India. Students opting for transfer can then finish their degree programmes by completing the remaining credits in residence at the American universities, said Anumolu.

New Delhi, September 29
The Centre today assured the Supreme Court that it was “negotiating” with various governments, including Switzerland, for getting details about secret accounts held by Indian nationals in their banks.

Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanium gave this assurance to a three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan even as the court issued notices on a fresh application filed by former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani and four others who have, through a PIL, sought action to unearth ill-gotten wealth.

India pursued the issue even during the just-concluded G-20 meeting held in the USA, which was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said.

A meeting would be held with the Swiss authorities in December for taking the matter forward, he said.

Senior counsel Anil Divan, appearing for the petitioners, who included former Punjab police chief KPS Gill, said the Income Tax Department, the Enforcement Directorate and the other authorities were not taking the matter seriously. This was despite PM’s statement that the UPA government would make “vigorous” efforts to bring back black money stashed away in overseas banks.

In the fresh application, the petitioners had sought the documents the Centre had relied upon for filing its response to their PIL.

Hyderabad, September 29
Betrayal by a trusted courier had led to the arrest of top Maoist leader and ideologue Kobad Ghandy, the CPI (Maoist) has said.“Comrade Kobad Ghandy was betrayed by his courier who led the Special Intelligence Bureau of Andhra Pradesh police and the intelligence wing in Delhi to the appointment spot in Bhikaji Cama Place in South Delhi,” the Maoist outfit said in a statement.

Sixty-three year old Ghandy, a London-educated Maoist ideologue and a member of the politburo and central committee of CPI (Maoist), was arrested by police in Delhi on September 21.

Admitting that the arrest of Ghandy was a big loss to the Maoist movement in the country, it, however, said the development was only a temporary success for the authorities.

Ghandy, who hailed from a rich family of ice-cream baron and was educated in Doon School, was in-charge of expanding the organisation in urban areas and played a key role in getting international recognition for the outfit. Ghandy had been liaisoning with revolutionary parties in Belgium, Peru, Philippines, Turkey, Germany and Nepal.

“Kobad Ghandy had just returned from a trip to the guerrilla zone. His arrest is being touted as a big success for the intelligence officials while it was actually a result of the betrayal by a weak element in the party who was acting as his courier,” said the statement signed by Azad, the spokesperson of the outfit’s central committee.

The central committee appealed to democratic forces to fight against the ‘heinous’ attempts of the reactionary rulers to implicate Ghandy in false cases, to conduct narco tests and to mentally harass him.

It said Ghandy hailed from a rich, elitist background but had abandoned everything and mingled with the oppressed masses serving them selflessly for almost four decades.

Describing Ghandy as a role model to be emulated by the new generation of youth, the Maoists said he had organised revolutionary activities in Maharashtra during the 1970s and became a member of the central committee of the erstwhile CPI (Marxist-Leninist) (Peoples War) in 1981.

He continued as member of the central committee of the merged CPI-Maoist in 2004 and was elected to the politburo after the unity Congress in February 2007. He played a key role in bringing out the party publications in English and was also looking after the sub-committee on mass organisations set up by the central committee besides other work.

Hyderabad, September 29
In a first sign of open confrontation with the Congress high command, the “Jagan-for-CM” campaigners in Andhra Pradesh set a three-day deadline for convening a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) to elect the new leader.

Five legislators from Kadapa district today threatened to quit if the CLP meeting was not convened to enable MLAs to elect Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, as their leader.The open threat came in the backdrop of increasing restlessness among Jagan loyalists even as the central leadership gave clear indications that it was in favour of continuing the veteran leader K Rosaiah in the post.

The MLAs who have held out the threat are C Adinarayana Reddy, K Sreenivasulu, P M Kamalamma, G Srikanth Reddy and A Amarnath Redy. They all hail from YSR’s native district of Kadapa and are considered his staunch loyalists.The Jagan supporters also prevented authorities from holding the general body meeting of the Kadapa Zilla Parishad. YSR’s younger brother and MLC Y S Viveknanda Reddy also squatted on the ZP premises in solidarity with the protesters. 

Chennai, September 29
Tamil Nadu in the last few months has become a preferred destination for construction workers from northern states as it offers them higher wages and a low cost of living.

While workers said the wages in Tamil Nadu were high compared to the other states, the contractors too are glad since the “outside” workers were working for less as compared to those from Tamil Nadu.

Purushothaman, a contractor employing a large number of North Indian workers, said: "Workers here will not work for less than Rs 300 per day. But, those from northern states are ready to work hard for Rs 150. Workers from Tamil Nadu demand a hygienic atmosphere to live. But, those from the Hindi heartland do not demand facilities for bathing and toilet," he said.

A large number of construction workers from North India are seen working hard to build the new secretariat complex. Most of them are unmarried youths, while some of them have left their wives and children in their villages.

Koshal Ram, a worker from Uttar Pradesh, said: "We do not have employment opportunities in our state. The wages in other states are less compared to those given in Tamil Nadu. We do not have to spend much for our living here since essential commodities are cheaper. We stay near the construction sites and use public toilets, which are very good".

Another worker Pradeep Kumar said: "We cook chappatis at night and eat them the next day. I have been to states like Maharashtra, where people treat us with hatred and contempt, although they know Hindi. People here do not know Hindi. But, they try to understand and help us. Since, the people are kind and affectionate, I feel very much at home".

Bangalore, September 29
Protesting against what they called the “paltry” increase in their salaries, more than 3,500 government doctors submitted their resignations today. Treatment of patients was, however, not immediately affected as the doctors have given the government two weeks to either accept their demands or accept their resignations.

Karnataka principal health secretary IR Perumal told The Tribune that in a fresh initiative Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa had assured the doctors of sympathetically considering their demands.

“The CM’s message has been conveyed to leaders of the Karnataka Government Medical Officers Association and they have said they would get back to us after discussing his offer with members of their executive committee. The leaders of the protesting doctors are expected to meet Yeddyurappa with their demands on October 4”, said Perumal.

“Since 2005 the government has been giving us assurances”, said GA Srinivas, a spokesman of the doctors, and added 3,681 doctors submitted their resignations to the health & family welfare department director today.

Significantly, the entire Karnataka cabinet including the CM and the health minister has moved to Suttur, near Mysore, for a three-day ‘brainstorming session’ of the BJP on improving the government’s public image. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and senior party leader Arun Jaitley, among others, will address the meet.

Yeddyurappa’s preoccupation with the Suttur programme has apparently come in the way of paying immediate attention to the agitation by the doctors.

However, Srinivas confirmed the doctors would meet the CM on October 4. “Let the government take a decision on our demands by then”, he said. According to him, another 400 doctors would also submit their resignations in a day or two. These doctors were asked to stay back in their hospitals across the state so that treatment of patients was not affected.

Guwahati, September 29
The government’s efforts for formation of a Naga Common Platform, to find a political solution to the vexed insurgency problem, have run into trouble with all the three rebel groups — NSCN-IM, NSCN-K(GPRN) and NNC(FGN) — voicing their strong opposition to it.

In a joint statement issued to the local media, the groups have declared that they were strongly opposed to any form of conditional package offered to the Nagas by the Centre. The Naga Common Platform was not warranted at this juncture, they added.

Conveners of the joint working group for Naga reconciliation, VS Atem of the NSCN (I-M), Zhopra Vero of the NNC (FGN) and Wangtin Naga of NSCN-K (GPRN), in a joint declaration, stated their opposition to the issues was in line with the “Declaration of Commitment” signed by them during the recent reconciliation meet held at Chiangmai in Thailand. The three leaders during the meet affirmed to “work together in the spirit of love, non-violence, peace and respect to resolve outstanding issues.”

The Central government was contemplating to offer a conditional peace package to the state if the Naga rebels factions gave up their struggle. The package, which was still being worked, was to include financial largesse, greater devolution of powers to the state. However, the Centre had made it clear that any solution to the protracted Naga political issue would be within the Constitution of India. The NSCN (I-M) had earlier said such packages were “unacceptable” to it.

The Nagaland People’s Front (NPF) led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government has been striving to bring all the underground groups together on a common platform to facilitate discussion on the issue.

Not only the rebel groups, but also some prominent citizens’ organisations in the state have declared their opposition to the idea of a common platform.

The reconciliation process is currently being taken care of by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR). The FNR has been holding meetings both within and outside the state with the different Naga political groups and NGOs. However, the FNR has limited its role only to the reconciliation process and has shown no apparent interest in formation of a common platform to facilitate political dialogue with all the rebel groups.