Mumbai, October 11
With less than 48 hours to go for the Maharashtra assembly elections, politicians cutting across party lines have virtually accepted the possibility of a hung house being thrown up.

The ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition, which is seeking a third consecutive term, comes across as a jaded combination with little by way of new ideas to pull the state out of the economic morass it has slipped into over the past decade. Rural Maharashtra continues to be in the grip of long power shortages that go up to 18-20 hours in the summer months. Several irrigation projects that promised to give a boost to the rural economy remain under various stages of incompletion.

Maharashtra’s famed Employment Guarantee Scheme, which was seen as the biggest poverty alleviation programme to be undertaken by a state government in more than three decades is mired in scams. Farmers’ suicides are spreading from the dustbowls of Vidarbha to the verdant Western Maharashtra. The state’s reputation as an investment destination has taken a big knock with several high profile projects going to neighbouring Gujarat.

The government’s ham handed attempts to acquire agricultural land have backfired amidst allegations that poor farmers are being robbed to the benefit of big industrialists like Mukesh Ambani. The lack of will inputting in place a rehabilitation programme for those who give up their land for public projects despite professions of concern for the aam aadmi hangs heavy on the ruling coalition.

Worse still, the terrorist attacks of November 26 last year indicate the poor law and order situation in the state. The few reshuffles in the echelons of government and the police that followed haven’t been able change the image of a somnambulant administration waiting helplessly for another terrorist strike.In other words, it is a situation tailor-made for the opposition to go in for the kill. Governments have been unseated for far less in India.

Even in Maharashtra, the final nail on the Congress government then under Sharad Pawar in 1994 was nothing more than unsubstantiated allegations leveled by GR Khairnar against the Maratha strongman.

But the spring in the step is missing as the opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine goes through the motions of electioneering. Shiv Sena executive president Uddhv Thackeray, the unofficial Chief Ministerial candidate of the combine, spends more time defending his status as heir of party supremo Bal Thackeray than taking on the government.

Thackeray Jr is fighting a two-pronged battle - against the ruling combine and cousin Raj who floated the breakaway Maharashtra Navnirman Sena - and the effort is showing. As the charismatic Raj goes about hogging media space far disproportionate to his political stature, the normally reticent Uddhav resorts to pouring vitriol on him. Contract killer and supariman are among the epithets Uddhav uses to describe his cousin.

That Raj’s only agenda is to prevent being upstaged by his cousin in the power stakes has not been lost on the average Marathi voter. Many are also buying Uddhav’s argument that Raj’s MNS is only a stalking horse for the Congress-NCP to prevent a saffron-wash in Maharashtra.

But the New Shiv Sena with a human face that Uddhav propounds is lost on the core constituency that remains alienated from the mainstream today as it was when the party was founded more than four decades ago.

On the other hand, the BJP which is facing its own in-house problems has embarked on a low-profile campaign devoid of its stars like LK Advani and Narendra Modi. The party is banking on the Sangh Parivar cadre to see it through.

So as polling day nears, the Congress-NCP leaders are going about as though they have averted a major defeat. Much is being made of the ruling alliance winning 25 of the 48 seats in the May Lok Sabha elections. That the 145 candidates fielded by MNS would do an encore and hurt the Shiv Sena-BJP combine has been taken for granted.

Adding to the drama is the tug of war between the two allies. While the Congress is clearly keen on showing the NCP its place, Pawar is seen as backing a large number of rebels to maintain his own relevance in Maharashtra politics.

Simultaneously backroom boys of the two outfits are already toting up the numbers and sounding out potential allies to form a government post the elections. Leaders like Pawar, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Chief Minister Ashok Chavan even sound sympathetic towards powerful rebels who are contesting as independent candidates in as many as a 100 seats. The idea is to prevent victorious rebels from ganging up and backing the saffron combine like they did in 1994.

Even newly formed regional parties that may not bag more than two or three seats are being wooed. Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna, which is poised to upset the NCP’s applecart in Western Maharashtra, is one such party. The outfit headed by farm leader Raju Shetty is expected to do well in several seats at the expense of the NCP in the assembly elections as well. But adjustments are being sought to be made in case of a shortfall in numbers.

Mumbai, October 11
Campaigning for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, to be held on October 13, ended this evening amidst stray incidents of violence in several parts of the state. Minor clashes between workers of different parties have been reported from Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Nashik, Nagpur, Amravati and other places. According to the police, complaints have been lodges against various candidates for violating the model code of conduct.

Among the worst incident of violence, Shiv Sena candidate Ajay Bhosale contesting the Vadgaon-Sheri constituency in Pune was shot at by two motorcycle-borne youth as he was about to begin campaigning this morning. While Bhosale escaped unhurt, his driver suffered bullet injuries.In his complaint, Bhosale blamed his rival, Bapu Pathare of the Nationalist Congress Party for the attack. However, Pathare rubbished the charges.

On Saturday, an unidentified person opened fire at the NCP candidate Shyamal Bagal contesting from Karmala in Solapur. A person travelling with Bagal received bullet injuries. The very same night the car of the Congress candidate from Kalyan, Alka Awlaskar, was stoned by unidentified persons, while she was returning home after campaigning. Awlaskar suffered minor injuries in the incident.

The Election Commission has filed cases against Raj Thackeray for using unparliamentary language against former Union Minister Shivraj Patil during a speech in Pune. Veteran BJP leader Ram Naik filed a police complaint against Shirish Parkar of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena for allegedly making defamatory remarks on a television channel.

Among the major leaders hitting the campaign trail were Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who addressed meetings in Mumbai. In all, 3,536 candidates are in the fray for the 288 assembly seats. 

Guwahati, October 11
Choppers were pressed into service to ferry officials to polling stations in remote parts of this frontier hill state where curtains came down on the electioneering on Sunday afternoon. Some polling teams are even trekking along the rugged terrain to reach their stations.

Over 7.5 lakh voters, including 3.7 lakh women, will exercise their franchise on October 13. A total of 154 candidates are in the fray. Three Congress candidates, including Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu (Mukto LAC), have already been declared elected unopposed to the 60-member Assembly from all the three Legislative Assembly segments in Tawang district bordering China and Bhutan.

Meanwhile, Kurung Kumey district administration has arranged for airlifting of polling and security personnel assigned for Damin and Parsi Parlo polling stations from Koloriang.

The IAF chopper ferried polling teams to Kronli, one of the remotest areas of Dibang Valley district, to save the polling teams from undertaking a 78- km gruelling trek through the mountains. Another polling team was also airlifted. They would undertake a two-day trek from Kronli to reach the last polling station of Anini Assembly constituency. The Congress has 57 candidates in the fray against 36 of the NCP, 26 of the AITC and 18 from the BJP.

There are nine women candidates in the fray including two from the INC, four from the AITC, two from the NCP and one Independent. The Congress has fielded former social welfare minister Yari Dulom from Daporijo constituency and Pomaya Mithi, wife of former CM and Rajya Sabha member Mukut Mithi from Roing constituency.

The NCP fielded its women Jitbo Aboh and Kenyir Ringu from Khonsa West and Nari-Koyu constituencies. The women nominees of the AITC, Karya Bagang, Yai Mara, Dakter Basar and Duter Padu are contesting from Chayangtajo, Likabali, Basar and Along West constituencies, respectively.

The lone Independent women candidate Nang Sati Mein is contesting from Namsai constituency. She is the wife of Chowna Mein, a minister in the incumbent government. The BJP has accused the Congress candidates of using money power to lure voters, a charged countered by the Congress leadership as false propaganda stemmed from frustration.

The state government swiftly acted and till now 494 unregistered motorcycles and vehicles were impounded and FIRs lodged. In addition, 255 vehicles have also been challaned, an EC release said.— PTI

Patna, October 11
Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram’s tough words against the Naxals have found support from unusual quarters. The Rashtriaya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) was all praise for the Home Minister for his announcement to tackle Naxal violence with an iron hand.

Talking to mediapersons on the concluding day of the three-day national working committee meeting of the Sangh Parivaar at Rajgir (110 km from Patna) today, national spokesman (Akhil Bharatiya Pracharak Pramukh) of the RSS Madan Das Devi appreciated the steps taken by the UPA government at the Centre, particularly by Chidambaram, to deal with the growing menace of the Naxals.

In the views of the RSS, the Naxals, in the name of fighting a people’s war, had actually waged a war against the state and its people. It was high time the government (the state as well as the Centre) realised the threat and dealt with them sternly. Devi appreciated the efforts of Chidamabaram to deal with the problem by visiting the Naxal-affected areas and assuring required support to the state governments to fight the menace.

Contrary to the criticism of the BJP on Rahul Gandhi’s visits to the villages and spending time with the poor and the downtrodden, the RSS was all praise for the Congress general secretary for his visits to rural areas. “Every Indian should go to the villages and understand the problems being faced by the people living there,” said Mohan Vaidya asenior RSS leader.

However, the RSS, considered to be the ideological mentor of the BJP was critical of the UPA government at the Centre for its policies on the country’s defence and foreign policy. The national convention of the RSS at Rajgir passed a resolution expressing concern over the security of India’s borders, particularly the Indo-China and the Indo-Pakistan borders.

The resolution said China had violated the Line of Actual Control more than 200 times and it was actively engaged in its efforts to encircle India with the help of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Calling the Centre’s response to the “muscle flexing” by China as “muted”, the RSS warned that it could demoralise the nation. The resolution also deplored the attempted “dialogue resumption” with Pakistan in the aftermath of Mumbai terror attacks.

Notably, the RSS was equally critical of the BJP on the security of Indian borders and said it found no difference between the NDA and the UPA governments at the Centre on security front.

Jaipur, October 11
Even as senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu has made it clear that Rajasthan leader of opposition Vasundhara Raje Scindia’s resignation is not a priority for the party, Raje loyalists here feel that the forthcoming by-elections on the two Assembly seats would give her an opportunity to prove that she is the only charismatic leader that the BJP has in Rajasthan.

The by-elections of the two tribal constituencies of Salumber and Toda Bheem is scheduled for November 7. In view of these elections, Raje supporters feel that the party cannot afford to take any unfavourable decision. However, her detractors say it is only a matter of time before she puts in her papers and not much should be read into Naidu’s remarks.

Naidu had recently stated that in wake of floods in southern states and the Assembly elections in states like Maharashtra and Haryana the resignation of Raje was not a priority for the party.

Raje loyalists say she will be the key campaigner for the BJP in the by-elections as the party doesn’t have any other charismatic leader who could match her crowd-pulling ability. Political observers also feel that Raje would exploit the opportunity to the hilt to demonstrate her strength among the party workers and masses.

However, senior BJP leaders maintained that it would be too early to comment on the issue as the party is yet to form its campaigning strategy. Rajasthan BJP chief Arun Chaturvedi said the campaigning was not about any individual and the entire party will be involved in it.

On the other hand, the state Congress spokesperson Satyendra Raghav said the ruling party did well in the state Assembly and the Lok Sabha elections and would repeat its performance in the by-elections as well.

Meanwhile, the Congress and the BJP have started sending feelers to mercurial tribal leader Kirori Lal Meena, seeking his support for their respective candidates in the Toda Bheem Assembly seat, which he vacated after winning the Dausa Lok Sabha seat. Though Meena’s wife Golma Devi is a minister in the Congress government, his relations with the ruling party are passing through a bad phase, particularly after the way the Congress treated him during the Lok Sabha elections.

New Delhi, October 11
A reply under the Right to Information Act by the Central Bureau of Investigation has exposed the claims of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) that it was not allotting land afresh to the housing cooperative societies as investigations were pending by the probe agency.

The reply from the CBI came after some of the aggrieved housing societies moved the Central Information Commission (CIC) seeking to know whether investigations by the agency were pending in the massive cooperative housing scam which rocked Delhi some years ago.

The societies wanted to know the total number of cases in which charge sheets have been filed in various courts in Delhi and their details.

In its reply, the CBI has informed the CIC that investigations were not pending in any case and charge sheets had actually been filed in 197 cases. It has also filed closure reports for five societies in the area.

The scam, which came to light in 2005, had brought out that a large number of societies in the Dwarka area of the Capital were found to be on fake names and as such the allotment of flats were put on hold.

The authorities had then said the housing society scam was worth over Rs. 4,000 crore. However, the CBI has also clarified that it was “not aware as to by whom and how this figure was worked out and projected in the press”.

However, as a result of the scam, a number of housing societies which had been formed fresh and have been waiting for land allotment from the DDA were suffering as the Delhi’s land authority has refused to allot land afresh. These societies have been seeking land in Dheerpur and Karkarduma areas adjoining the scam-hit Dwarka. The affected societies have deposited the land cost with the DDA but have been waiting endlessly for the allotment of land.

More importantly, the members of these societies have been bearing double costs — they are paying the installment of the loans, which they have taken to pay the land cost and also the rent of their present accommodation.

Most of the members have taken loans from Delhi Cooperative Housing Finance Cooperation and with the uncertainty over allotment of land they are also paying a steep 17 per cent interest penalty.

The aggrieved societies have now forwarded an application to Delhi ’s Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna explaining their woes. They have also pointed out that DDA has in fact been allotting land selectively, while they have been overlooked. 

New Delhi, October 11
The Supreme Court collegium has asked the Centre to withhold the proposed elevation of Karnataka Chief Justice PD Dinakaran following a Tamil Nadu Government report, according to which the judge has encroached upon a large area of public land.

The collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan, made the recommendation after discussing the state government’s report at a meeting held last evening, sources said.

The collegium, which includes Justices BN Agrawal, SH Kapadia and Altamas Kabir, has, however, suggested to the Centre to elevate the four other HC Chief Justices whose names it had recommended. The four HC CJs are Justices Tirath Singh Thakur of Punjab and Haryana, Ananga Kumar Patnaik of Madhya Pradesh, Surinder Singh Nijjar of Calcutta and KS Radhakrishnan of Gujarat.

Justice Dinakaran, who had earlier been a Judge of the Madras HC, has been asked to respond to the TN Government’s report within a week, sources said.

Earlier, the CJI had asked the state government to look into the complaints against Justice Dinakaran. The controversy over the judge had been sparked by senior SC lawyers, including Fali S Nariman and Shanti Bhushan, seeking an inquiry into the allegations of corruption levelled against him by the TN Bar Association. The senior advocates had written to the President and the Prime Minister, besides calling on Law Minister M Veerappa Moily.

Justice Dinakaran has reportedly encroached upon 197 acres of land in Tiruvallur, besides owning 500 acres in Kaverirajapuram in Tiruttani Taluk.

Last Thursday, Moily had told reporters that the Constitutional functionaries, responsible for the elevation of judges to the SC, were seized of the matter. Clarifying that such functionaries did not get swayed by allegations and controversies, he said there was a set procedure for the appointments and that was adequate to deal with any exigencies.

With the collegium giving its nod for the elevation of four HC CJs, the law ministry is now expected to expedite the appointments by ensuring the file movement towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Lucknow, October 11
The Samajwadi Party has the highest stakes in the by-election to one Lok Sabha seat and 11 Assembly seats finally announced to be held on November 7. To retain its slipping ground in the state is the major challenge before the party that had held five of the 11 Assembly seats going to polls. The Congress, BSP and the BJP that held two seats each are eager to expand their base.

The by-election to the four Assembly seats held in August had proved to be a rude shock to the SP. It could not retain even one of the three seats that it held. The BSP had snatched away all of them while the Rashtriya Lok Dal had managed to retain the fourth one.

The most prestigious election for the party this time round is the by-election for the Firozabad Lok Sabha seat where daughter-in-law of SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, is making her political debut.

Dimple’s husband and state SP president Akhilesh Yadav had won the seat in the Lok Sabha polls in May, but chose to retain his Kannauj seat transferring the Firozabad seat to wife Dimple.

Hyderabad, October 11
An ambitious project to gold plate the sanctum sanctorum of the popular Tirumala temple in Andhra Pradesh has evoked protest from a Sangh Parivar outfit on the ground that it would “interfere with the religious structure.”

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) today urged the temple trust board to scrap the move keeping in view the religious sentiments of the Hindus.

“There is a craze for covering temple walls and other structures with gold. There is no religious sanction for these acts as it is the willful desire of some politicians and individuals to do so,” VHP International Working President S Vedantam said.

Covering the temple walls with gold would damage the inscriptions on the walls and other places, he said in a letter to Tirumala Tirupati Devastanam (TTD) chairman Adhikesavulu Naidu.

“There are invaluable treasures of our tradition and history behind these inscriptions. Nobody demanded such a project. The total destruction of ancient, authentic records by this work is an interference with the religious nature of the structure. The VHP appeals to stop the work by avoiding further damage to the inscriptions,” the VHP leader said.

The ambitious programme to gold plate the sanctum sanctorum, on the lines of Golden temple of Amritsar, is expected to cost Rs 1,000 crore and will require 100 kg of gold.

The project, launched by former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy, is expected to be completed by middle of next year.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), an autonomous body, which manages the affairs of the world famous temple, had consulted Agama pundits, peethadhipathis and other spiritual leaders and obtained their nod before embarking on the project.

Temple executive officer I V Krishna Rao said enough precautions had been taken for preservation of inscriptions on the temple walls. The inscriptions found on the outer and inner walls of “Ananda Nilayam”, the sanctum sanctorum stretching around 10,000 square feet, have been digitized.

Offerings are pouring in from devotees across the world for the project. The TTD has already received 78 kg of gold as donation for the multi-crore project, christened as ‘Ananda Nilayam Anantha Swarnamayam”.

From business tycoons and corporate houses to ordinary people, the devotees of Lord Venkateswara have been offering gold chains, rings and gold biscuits ever since the project was unveiled in March this year.

The temple board decided to pool in the entire cost involved for completion of the work by way of inviting donations from philanthropists without burdening the TTD coffers. In 1958, the TTD authorities got the outer wall of the sanctum sanctorum, stretching about 200 sq m, gold plated with 12 kg gold donated by devotees.

The temple board has set up a high-security workshop at Tirumala where expert craftsmen would be engaged to chisel out the gold plating to be fitted on to the interior walls of the temple. 

Lucknow, October 11
The Samajwadi Party has the highest stakes in the by-election to one Lok Sabha seat and 11 Assembly seats finally announced to be held on November 7. To retain its slipping ground in the state is the major challenge before the party that had held five of the 11 Assembly seats going to polls. The Congress, BSP and the BJP that held two seats each are eager to expand their base.

The by-election to the four Assembly seats held in August had proved to be a rude shock to the SP. It could not retain even one of the three seats that it held. The BSP had snatched away all of them while the Rashtriya Lok Dal had managed to retain the fourth one.

The most prestigious election for the party this time round is the by-election for the Firozabad Lok Sabha seat where daughter-in-law of SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, is making her political debut.

Dimple’s husband and state SP president Akhilesh Yadav had won the seat in the Lok Sabha polls in May, but chose to retain his Kannauj seat transferring the Firozabad seat to wife Dimple.

Kolkata, October 11
With the latest Maoist strikes that left 17 policemen dead in Maharashtra three days ago preceded by the beheading of an inspector in Jharkhand, the Centre's tough talk seems to have had little effect on the left wing ultras in Naxal-hit states.

Top Maoist leader Koteswar Rao, alias Kisenji, has refused to forsake the gun and violence even after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram warned that as long as the ultras continued to believe in an armed liberation struggle the police would go after them.

"The Naxalites emerged in West Bengal in the late 1960s when India had problems with China," an expert on Maoists, Lt Gen (retd) R Mukherjee said.

Maoists followed hit and run policy of Mao Tse Tung and it is difficult to combat them with traditional organised forces as evidenced in Lalgarh in West Midnapore district, a senior police official said.

Even state Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen went on record to state that anti-Maoist operations in Lalgarh by Central paramiltary and state police forces were below expectations.

"There was a time when China was ideologically close to us because they believed in the same form of society which we believe in. But in the last 30 years they have moved closer to a capitalist form of government. Naturally, there is no question of taking of financial or any other kind of aid from China," Maoist leader Kishneji told PTI.

The Naxalite movement started when an extremist section of CPI(M)) led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal attacked the police on May 25, 1967 in Naxalbari village in North Bengal after a farmer was killed by miscreants over a land dispute.

The same year the Naxalites organised the All-India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR), and later broke away from CPI(M).

Today the Maoists are active in Lalgarh, Bankura, Purulia and Birbhum districts in West Bengal.

From 2002 onwards Maoists have been infiltrating from Jharkhand and Orissa to West Midnapore, particularly in areas like Belpahari, Kantapahari and Banspahari.

In Orissa, 17 of 30 districts are Maoist hit, in Jharkhand 20 of the 24 districts while in Bihar 30 out of 38 districts, according to official sources.

In Bihar on February 9 this year, ten policemen, including some from the Special Auxiliary police, were killed in an ambush in Nawada district.

More recently on August 22, four policemen, including an assistant sub-inspector, were killed by Maoists in Jamui district.

It was the same in Orissa where 10 CISF personnel were killed in an attack by Maoists at NALCO's bauxite mines in Damanjodi on April 12, while 11 other security personnel died in a landmine explosion in the third week of June this year in Narayanpatna in Koraput district.

A top former Jharkhand police officer, who did not wish to be named, was sceptical about the Centre's plans to tackle Maoists with the IAF given permission to retaliate if attacked.

"Unnecessary needling may result in spurt in naxal violence," he said.

A former DGP of Orissa, S N Tiwari, echoed him.

"The situation is grim. Day by day it is becoming difficult," he said. — PTI 

New Delhi, October 11
After the countrywide success of his first three novels, all having been adapted to the silver screen, best selling author Chetan Bhagat is now working full-time on a film script. Bhagat, whose fourth book ‘Two States’ was released recently says his next project is a film script independent of his novels.

“I have a lot of fun while writing and I find that the more personal a story is, the more universal it becomes,” says Bhagat, who is known for his simple man-on-the street style of writing.

Keen to be a screenplay writer, Bhagat gave up a lucrative investment banking career earlier this year to pursue his passion for writing.

Rajkumar Hirani directed ‘Three idiots’ is based on Bhagat's first book ‘Five point someone - what not to do at IIT’ and will release in December this year. Kareena Kapoor, Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi, Madhavan and Boman Irani have been cast in the lead roles.

A film based on the book ‘The three mistakes of my life’ will be directed by Abhishek Kapoor and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. The book is about three friends who open a sports goods shop in Ahmedabad set against the backdrop of the Bhuj earthquake and the Godhra riots.

Married to his IIM Ahmedabad classmate Anusha who is a Tamilian, Bhagat took a cue from his own life for his fourth book titled ‘Two States - the story of my marriage.’ Ananya Swaminathan, a Tamil girl meets a Punjabi boy Krish Malhotra in IIM-A and falls in love with him over umpteen cups of tea as they study together.

A filmy style persuasion of parents begins as Krish joins the Citibank office in Chennai with the sole purpose of winning over his girlfriend’s family. “In India, love marriages are not easy. The families of the boy and girl also have to like each other and this process takes time,” says Bhagat who has been dubbed ‘the biggest selling novelist in India’s history’ by the New York Times.

“My first three books were about friends and it was getting a little repetitive. Two states is different...its about a couple from two different communities who want to get married. Twenty-five per cent of the book is the love story, 75 per cent is about the families and their community," says Bhagat.

The book brings out the idiosyncrasies of both communities and delves into the typical characteristics of Punjabis and Tamilians.

“I had researched a lot, especially on the Tamil Brahmin community,” says the author has dedicated the book to his in-laws. — PTI

New Delhi, October 11
The UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said on Friday India needed to increase its health spending and develop locally sustainable models of funding health programmes. On his first official visit to India, the visiting UNAIDS chief said while it was great that same-sex relationships were on the verge of being de-criminalised in India, efforts remained to be made on the fronts of de-criminalising drug use and sex work.

“The Delhi High Court judgement that de-criminalises homosexuality is a historic one but there is still a long way to go with regards to de-criminalising drug use and sex work to protect the interests of sex workers and injecting drug users who must be seen as in need of help rather than as criminals,” Sidibe told The Tribune. He was detailing India’s efforts on HIV prevention and control, after having visited some targeted interventions being run by the National AIDS Control Organisation.

The expert said it was equally important for the government to ensure the police stopped harassing core groups that are at the highest HIV risk, like IDUs (injecting drug users), sex workers and MSMs (men who have sex with men).

“There is a need for India to start carefully monitoring how the police are acting to reduce harassment that happens all the time. Laws are now changing in this country and becoming more sensitive to human rights of affected people. Along side, the attitude of law enforcers must also change,” Prof Charles Gilks, Country Coordinator, UNAIDS, accompanying Sidibe, said, adding that the complicated issue of trafficking also needed to be understood and responded to in context of its impact on public health, including HIV/AIDS.

Jaipur, October 11
With the Salumber and Toda Bheem Assembly byelections scheduled to take place on November 7, mercurial tribal leader Kirori Lal Meena, who holds considerable clout among the Meena community, is back in the limelight.

While the Congress is hoping that Kirori will throw his weight behind the party as his wife Golma Devi is a minister in the government, the BJP is making all efforts to woo back its former leader, who is now an Independent MP from Dausa.

According to sources, in view of Kirori’s Sangh background, the BJP has put RSS-backed Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi on the job to open channels of communication with him. The BJP is fully aware that the support of the Meenas will play a crucial role, particularly in Toda Bheem that Kirori vacated after winning LS elections from Dausa.

The party has not only evinced interest in allotting the ticket to one of Kirori’s relatives but also reportedly told him that it is ready to allot the ticket to a candidate of his choice from Toda Bheem.

The BJP had made a similar attempt to win over the support of the tribal leader before the Lok Sabha elections, but failed. Kirori parted ways with the BJP ahead of the state Assembly elections last year. He fielded his own candidates on a number of seats and succeeded in winning five Assembly seats.

On the other hand, though a section of the ruling Congress is expecting Kirori’s support during the bypoll, PCC chief CP Joshi has hinted that the Congress may not enter into any poll agreement with the tribal leader. “The political considerations are now entirely different from what they were before the Assembly or Lok Sabha elections,” he said, adding that the Congress would take the feedback from its observers to select candidates for the two seats.

He made it clear that there would be no involvement of Kirori in the selection of the Congress candidates. Kirori had demanded a free hand in the selection of the Congress candidates on a few seats ahead of the Lok Sabha election in lieu of his support to the party. However, the Congress didn’t give in to his demand.

Meanwhile, Kirori has also come clean on his stand on the issue, stating that he will support the candidate who “has clean image and works for the people”. He said though his wife is a minister in the Congress government, he would not hesitate in confronting the ruling party if it allotted ticket to a “wrong” candidate.

New Delhi, October 11
Amid growing environmental concerns attached to the river linking project, an expert has come up with an "eco-friendly" method to connect the water bodies with grids so that states can share the resources according to their requirements.

"Interlinking of Rivers project (ILR) is not viable in its present form. We have, therefore, come up with a new proposal - National Waterways Project (NWP)," A C Kamaraj, member of ILR panel, told PTI today.

Kamaraj, who is also chairman of a Madurai-based NGO - National Waterways Development Council - said, "Unlike ILR where once water given to other state cannot be drawn back, under NWP there is no problem in sharing water as it is water grid and no state is a giver and every state is a receiver. It is a win-win situation for all."

"The NWP, a different and viable concept, is acceptable to many states like West Bengal, Kerala and Karnataka and we are pursuing other states. Bihar has already accepted it for implementation", he said, adding it is also an environment friendly plan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently said that it was necessary to look into the fact whether there are any environmental hazards in the inter-linking of rivers.

"The issue of inter-linking of rivers has been going on for long. We have also been working on this. But the job is not so easy," he said. — PTI 

However, a senior BJP leader indicated that it was not all over for her. But he denied reports that any parliamentary board meeting was in the offing to reverse the earlier decision asking her to quit.

Hyderabad, October 11
With the Congress high command ruling out leadership change in Andhra Pradesh for now, Chief Minister K Rosaiah has begun to assert his authority by shunting out bureaucrats and police officials close to his predecessor, the late YS Rajasekhar Reddy.

Shedding his month-long tentativeness, the septuagenarian leader ordered transfer of the controversial Director General of Police SSP Yadav, suspension of a top official of the state aviation academy and reshuffled the police top brass.

The Chief Minister also approved transfer of a senior IAS officer and secretary in the industries and commerce department Y Srilakshmi who was handpicked by YSR and entrusted with the key task of handling mining lease and licences, an area that came under cloud following allegations of favouritism shown to mining barons.

Rosaiah, who was asked to take over the reins of the state on September 3 following the tragic death of YSR, is also gearing up to revamp the top bureaucracy and re-constitute the CMO.

According to official sources, the Chief Minister would also go for a cabinet reshuffle after getting the nod from the central leadership. Several senior Congress leaders, who were denied cabinet berths by YSR, have already started lobbying for a place in the new team.

The first set of key decisions, including the transfer of DGP, came two days after Rosaiah moved into the Chief Minister’s block in the state Secretariat. Earlier, for nearly a month, he worked from his old chamber of finance minister.

While his formal entry into the “C” Block, housing the CMO, served to dispel any doubts about his continuance in the position, the swift decisions that followed, including transfer of DGP, signalled his growing assertion and tightening grip over the administration.

The DGP was shown the door for his alleged inept handling of the situation in the aftermath of YSR’s death in a helicopter crash. His remark that the police was not responsible for Chief Minister’s security once he is air-borne had evoked widespread criticism. Several ministers demanded his removal.

Yadav courted controversies ever since he was chosen for the post by YSR, bypassing many seniors. In the run-up to the April elections, he was transferred on the orders of the Election Commission for praising the Congress government. He was subsequently reinstated by YSR when he became Chief Minister for the second term.

Another official who was shunted out of the post was AP Aviation Academy managing director KV Brahmananda Reddy who was also hand-picked by YSR. An Indian Railway Services officer, Reddy held crucial positions as in charge of ports and airports.

He incurred the wrath of Rosaiah for delay in arranging him the government helicopter for conducting aerial survey of flood-ravaged areas a few days ago.

The buzz in the police circles is that the party high command has offered Rosaiah a free hand to run the affairs of the state and has virtually put the succession issue on the back burner. 

Patna, October 11
More than 10 armed men on Sunday looted cash and valuables worth Rs 2 lakh from passengers on a train in Jamui district of Bihar, police said. The passengers were looted on the Howrah-New Delhi Janata Express near Lahaban station in Jamui, about 200 km from state capital Patna.

“Armed men boarded the train at Jasidih and stopped the train by pulling the (emergency) chain at an isolated place near Lahaban in Asansol-Jhajha section of East Central Railway. They then looted cash and valuables worth Rs 2 lakh,” a police officer said.

“Nearly 10 passengers were injured when they resisted the robbers. Two seriously injured passengers were admitted to a hospital in railway hospital at Jhajha,” the officer added.

Train robberies have become quite common in Bihar. In August, a passenger was shot dead by a gang of five armed men while a dozen handicapped passengers were looted last month on another trains. In the last two months, armed robbers have looted passengers on half a dozen trains. — IANS

Guwahati, October 11
Senior officials of the Union Home Ministry on Friday reviewed the internal security scenario in the turbulent North-East in a high-level meeting held at Assam police headquarter here.

State police chiefs and home secretaries of all the north-eastern states --- Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Sikkim --- attended the security review meeting that focused on setting up of a regional intelligence sharing mechanism to coordinate operation against insurgents.

Union Joint Secretary Home, Naveen Verma, who shard the meeting, informed the media that the meeting took up various issues related to the security of the region as well as implementation of government of India schemes.

“We discussed about sharing of intelligence, modernisation of state police forces in the region, militants surrender policy, performance of various Centre schemes in the region besides making a review of the situation in the region,” Verma said, while emerging out of the meeting.

He informed that it was the first meeting of its kind and similar meetings of all the DGPs and home secretaries would be held on quarterly basis in different state capitals of the region on rotation basis.

Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday visited Bhimajuli village at Bishwanath Chariali sub-division in Sonitpur district of north Assam to meet the families of those killed and injured in the dastardly attack by the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) on Sunday night. As many as 13 persons, including two children were killed, in the incident while eight others were seriously injured.

The state government has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of those killed in the incident.

New Delhi, October 11
India has stepped up its drive to attract NRI scientists back to their homeland as part of efforts to boost quality research in universities and institutes across the country.

The re-entry programmes, launched by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), offer scientists a handsome remuneration, an institute of their choice to work and freedom to take up research (PhD) scholars under their wings.

The programmes — DBT-Wellcome Trust Fellowships, Ramalingaswami Fellowships and DBT Science Chair — have generated "great enthusiasm" among the NRI scientists, who are keen to get back to their motherland.

"I am flooded with applications for the re-entry packages," Maharaj Kishan Bhan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, told PTI here.

A Ramalingaswami Fellow gets a remuneration of Rs 75,000 per month and is free to take up a job elsewhere while continuing research, he said adding that such researchers also have "rapid access" to principal investigator grants.

As many as 35 NRI scientists have been granted Ramalingaswami Fellowships and have begun working in research laboratories in the country. However, the scientists have to undergo a tough selection process and only "top of the best" get through.

The DBT has also launched an aggressive global marketing drive to showcase new research institutes and laboratories coming up in the country.

Interestingly, the co-winner of this year's Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, was among those shortlisted for the post of Director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad.

Shankar Subramanian of the University of California, San Diego, was also among those being considered for the post which fell vacant after the superannuation of Lalji Singh.

The DBT-Wellcome Trust Fellowships also offer similar benefits for scientists and aim to get back 700 of them to their country over a 10-year period. The DBT and the UK-based Wellcome Trust have earmarked eight million pounds each for the programme.

The idea is to promote excellence in research and development, Bhan said adding that on an average even if 40 top class scientists come back every year the impact will be felt in the innovation sector over the years.

"Earlier, we lacked resources and bright minds had to go abroad for higher studies and pursuing research careers. The Nobel Prize for Venky shows that the systems of the past have worked wonders," said Samir Brahmachari, Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Education resources have improved manifold in the country since the time of Ramakrishnan's graduation from Baroda University in 1971 and "maybe, we can have a Nobel laureate from Indian labs 20-25 years down the line," Brahmachari said.

Research in country labs has been on an upswing and a testimony to that is a finding by Thomson-Reuters that scientific papers by Indian authors has nearly doubled in the past decade.

Scientists in the country churned out over 30,000 research papers which were published in peer-review journals worldwide, a massive jump from 16,500 odd papers in 1998, according to the Global Research Report — India, released by Thomson — Reuters.

India, with 2.75 per cent share in the global output of research papers, ranks ahead of Brazil which accounts for 1.8 per cent of international research, it said.

No wonder, that leading scientists like Rafi Ahmed and Mrigankar Sood have opted to be in India rather than their current universities in the US.

Sood and Ahmed have been chosen for the prestigious DBT Science Chair and would be joining their laboratories in India.. — PTI