New Delhi, October 21
The two main national parties, the Congress and the BJP, were a picture of contrast on the eve of the results of the Assembly elections held in three important states of the country on October 13.

While Congressmen at 24, Akbar Road, looked buoyant and spirited, the BJP headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road, wore a deserted look on Wednesday.

If the exit polls predictions for Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh prove right, the Congress is set to return to power in all the three states, including Maharashtra with its ally the NCP.

This will be quite a feat for the Congress. Winning Maharashtra again for the third consecutive term and will be a big jolt to the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, which has been in power for only one term (1995-2000). Since then, the Congress-NCP alliance has been ruling the state. This, say political observers, may perhaps convey the message that the Sena-BJP government was an aberration.

Also, this will make the continuation of Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in office a near certainty. This may be interpreted in the Congress as the outcome of his low-profile efficient working style. Maharashtra is the only state, out of the three, where the BJP had some fighting chance and if it loses there yet again, this could have long-term repercussions both on the party and on the larger opposition alliance, the NDA, felt a section within the NDA.

The BJP leaders are not too hopeful of their prospects in Harayana and Arunachal Pradesh anyway. But if the Congress manages to pull through, it will be a tremendous feat, because no party has returned so far to serve a second term in Haryana. Besides the stock of CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda will also rise tremendously. And this may dampen the spirits of Hooda baiters.

In Arunachal, no one bothers to hazard a guess because the tradition of most north-eastern states, apart from Tripura and Assam, has been that only the party leading a government at the Centre forms a government there.

But the BJP leaders were mostly busy consoling themselves that they will be able to avenge their successive defeats in Jharkhand likely to go to polls soon. With the UPA having made a mess of the Jharkhand political scenario, the BJP is putting a lot of store by its prospective victory there and if the cabinet accepts his proposal possibly tomorrow, the BJP may be found celebrating this prospective victory rather than pondering over the immediate losses.

New Delhi, October 21
The All-India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) for admission to 20 National Institutes of Technology (NITs) is likely to go online from 2010, with the NIT Council today resolving in favour of the proposal. The written test option currently being offered by the CBSE will, however, continue. Last year 10 lakh students took the test for 13,000 seats.

Meeting for the first time since Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) in India were renamed as NITs on August 15, 2007, the NIT Council debated several admission and exam reforms today, to be finalised by a three-member committee constituted for the purpose.

Going the IIT way, the committee will consider ways of raising the bar for gaining eligibility to take the AIEEE. So far, the minimum academic qualification for taking AIEEE is a pass (33 per cent) in Class XII or its equivalent. “We are seriously considering raising the percentage of marks a student needs to score in Class XII to sit for the AIEEE. The exact percentage will be debated in the committee,” Prof PK Bose, Director, NIT, Agartala, one of the members on the exam/admission reform committee told The Tribune.

NITs are keen not only to fix weightage for Class XII board exams for entering the AIEEE, but also introduce a subjective component in the entrance tests. “We want change in the admission system to discourage the coaching industry. Also, we plan to change the question paper patterns frequently to prevent the coaching mafia from guessing the patterns. For this, we will consult the IITs, CSIR, industry representatives and even students,” said AB Samaddar, Director, NIT, Allahabad, also in the reform committee.

To deal with vacant seats - currently 1,200 across NITs - the directors favour scrapping of less popular courses like textiles, metallurgy, mining and biotechnology. Also on the cards is a proposal to admit qualified students even if they fail to touch the cut off percentages.

“Right now, we decide on admissions on the basis of cut-offs. But we would like to see if we can accommodate more qualified students who have not touched cut-off marks.

Mumbai, October 21
Having hit the headlines two years ago for allegedly planting crude bombs in Maharashtra theatres, the Sanatan Saunstha, a Hindu outfit, is again in the news as “two of its members” died while “ferrying” a bomb in Margao, Goa.

Earlier, the anti-terror squad of the Mumbai police had arrested Sadhvi Pragya Thakur for her association with Sanatan-affiliated Hindu Jangriti Samiti for allegedly planting a bomb in Malegaon. The case also saw the arrest of Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit, a serving Army officer, allegedly the brain behind trying to establish a militant Hindu organisation.

But, it was the Margao blast on Diwali eve that led the investigators to the organisation, as the scooter ferrying the two alleged bombers and a mobile phone carried by them were reportedly traced to the Sanatan Saunstha’s address in Ponda, Goa.

However, the organisation has gone on the defensive. Here are excerpts of an interview with Abhay Vartak, the convener of Sanatan Saunstha.

Q. The Goa government has accused Sanatan Saunstha of trying to plant bombs in different parts of the state?

A. We deny that we were planning to carry out blasts in Goa or any other part of India. It is a conspiracy to hurt an organisation like Sanatan, which is working for the welfare of Hindus. As the Goa government has failed to protect Hindus, it is, therefore, carrying out a false propaganda against Sanatan. For the past few years, a large number of temples have been desecrated all over Goa. The government has not been able to catch the culprits. But they are now targeting Sanatan, as we have been exposing their (Goa government’s) failure.

Q. The government of Maharashtra had earlier investigated your activists for planting bombs in theatres in Thane, Navi Mumbai and other areas. Senior police officials had even called for a ban on your organisation.

A. Even then, we had said the Sanatan had nothing to do with the bomb blasts in Maharashtra. There may have been one or two persons who did something on their own, but the Sanatan had no role in their acts. Ours is purely a religious organisation working in areas of culture. We strongly oppose all acts of terrorism.

Q. Goa police says the two persons who died while transporting the bombs were members of the Sanatan Saunstha?

A. It’s not true that the two persons involved in the blast, Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, were members of the Sanatan. Naik was never our activist, though he used to come and deliver milk to our ashram. But he was not a Sanatan member. Nishad Bakhle is a senior volunteer but there is no proof that he participated in the blast.

Q. Police says the scooter used in the blast and mobile phones recovered from the two suspects belonged to Sanatan?

A. It’s true that the mobile phones with the two persons belonged to Sanatan. But that does not mean that Sanatan was behind the blasts. They could have done that in their individual capacity or someone could have planted the bombs on the scooter. It has to be investigated.

Q. So many of your activists are now under scanner. The government of Goa is mulling a ban on Sanatan. Even Maharashtra politicians like Sharad Pawar have said Sanatan is behind the riots in Malegaon and other places in the state.

A. The governments of Goa and Maharashtra have failed to protect the Hindus. There have been so many communal riots under the Congress-NCP regime and all the victims were Hindus. We spoke out against the attacks on Hindus and that’s what we are being targeted for now.

Chandigarh, October 21
China’s plans to build a rail network in the Aksai Chin area have raised security concerns here. According to sources in the intelligence, a new railway line across Ladakh is being constructed, which would help support Chinese forces deployed opposite Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh.

Sources said there were reports of a 15-odd kilometre stretch between Kashgar and Hotan being completed. Kashgar is the western-most railhead in China and was linked to the mainstream network only in 2000. Hotan is an adjacent prefecture (sub-district) to its south.

The new tracks would enhance the logistics capability of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and, given its location of lying close to the communally sensitive Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Ladakh and Central Asia, would increase the strategic significance of the area.

Kashgar is important because Chinese units deployed in the Ali Military subdistrict across Himachal Pradesh are known to be sustained though this junction. Moreover, sources also indicate the construction of a broad-gauge across the strategically significant Kunjerab and Minloka passes that connect the Gilgit-Baltristan areas with Xinjiang.

This could be the extension of the South Xinjiang branch of Lanxing railway, which at present terminates at Kashgar, marking a rail link into Pakistan and thereafter connecting up to the Karachi coastline.

Complementing the rail network, authorities in the Xinjiang Uijgur Autonomous Region are investing about $800 million to construct a new highway to speed up the development of infrastructure.

It is believed by intelligence analysts that the recent emphasis on improving communications could be due to unrest in Xinjiang to enable faster deployment of troops.

The railway is the primary mode of transporting troops across the Chinese mainland and some recent rail projects across Tibet and those reaching up to Nepal have already raised serious concerns.

China validated its rail logistics capability during the recent two-month long Exercise Kuayue - 2009, when it moved about 50,000 troops across five provinces in 13 days.

Noticeably, it was not the infantry but mechanised formations along with much of their heavy equipment that were transported. From Shangyang, Jinnan, Guangzhou and Lanzhou military regions.

China is also believed to have introduced a laser beam combat simulator besides testing its capability to disrupt electronic communication networks with active support from its air force.

New Delhi, October 21
Notwithstanding the recent verbal exchanges between them over Arunachal Pradesh and other issues, India and China were today busy creating a positive atmosphere for a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the margins of the ASEAN Summit in Thailand.

Briefing reporters on Manmohan Singh’s visit to the South East Asian nation from October 23 to 25, N Ravi, Secretary (East) in the External Affairs Ministry, clearly indicated that there would be a meeting between the two Prime Ministers at which all bilateral issues would come up. The meeting with the Chinese leader was planned, but the date had not yet been fixed.

In Beijing, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue said the two leaders would meet in Thailand and discuss “bilateral relations, and regional and international issues”. On its part, China also sought to play down the recent unsavoury developments in ties with India, saying the leaders of the two countries were committed to advance ties in a “cooperative and mutually beneficial” manner.

According to Chinese Ambassador to India Zhang Yan, there was no need to be worried or concerned about the recent trading of charges between the two countries on Arunachal Pradesh or China’s participation in projects being undertaken by Islamabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). “Our relationship is on a very good term and our leaders and officers-in-charge, including the Chinese Embassy, are committed to advance our relationship in a cooperative and mutually beneficial way,” the Chinese envoy said.

Meanwhile, apart from meeting his Chinese counterpart, the PM will also hold bilateral talks with leaders of other nations attending the ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit being held at Hua Hin.

The Indian foreign and domestic intelligence gathering agencies are now in touch with ISRO following the arrest of an American scientist Stewart David Nozette (52) for attempted espionage in the USA on Tuesday. Nozette’s arrest has raised apprehensions in India as he was associated with country’s lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1.

Nozette had visited Bangalore twice and interacted with ISRO scientists. He had also been to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) have started checking out about his stay and the places that he had visited in India.

They are also checking out with America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which carried out Nozette’s arrest, whether his interrogation had yielded any information related to the Chandrayaan mission.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Washington field office with assistance from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

It is learnt that Nozette was one of the investigators of a NASA scientific instrument that flew aboard Chandrayaan. The intelligence agencies are checking out with ISRO scientists whether this instrument had anything to do with the Chandrayaan mission’s failure recently.

“If Nozette had the tendency to pass on secret information to outsiders for money, we are wondering whether he ever delivered information related to Chandrayaan mission to any unauthorised person, including Americans,” a senior IB officer said.

A senior officer of the FBI from New York told The Tribune that Nozette had developed the Clementine bistatic radar experiment that purportedly discovered water on the south pole of the moon.

“Nozette received a PhD in Planetary Sciences from MIT in 1983, and worked at the White House on the National Space Council, Executive Office of the President, in 1989 and 1990,” he said.

A resident of Chevy Chase, Maryland, Nozette once worked in varying capacities for the Department of Energy, the Department of Defence and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Nozette has been arrested for attempted espionage for knowingly and willfully attempting to communicate, deliver, and transmit classified information relating to the national defence of the USA to an individual that he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer.

The complaint does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under US laws. Nozette, if convicted, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Nozette has earlier also worked at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from approximately 1990 to 1999 where he designed highly advanced technology. At the Department of Energy, Nozette held a special security clearance equivalent to the Defence Department Top Secret and Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information clearances. “The Department of Energy clearances apply to access to information specifically relating to atomic or nuclear-related materials,” the FBI officer said.

Nozette was also the president, treasurer and director of the Alliance for Competitive Technology (ACT), a non-profit corporation that he organized in March 1990. Between January 2000 and February 2006, Nozette, through his company ACT, entered into several agreements to develop advanced technology for the American government.

Nozette performed some of this research and development at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Virginia, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

From 1989 to 2006, Nozette held security clearances as high as top secret and had regular, frequent access to classified information and documents related to the US national defence.

On September 3, 2009, Nozette was contacted via telephone by an individual purporting to be an Israeli intelligence officer, but he was in fact an undercover employee of the FBI. Nozette met the FBI undercover agent and discussed his willingness to work for Israeli intelligence.

Nozette allegedly informed the FBI agent that he had, in the past, held top security clearances and had access to US satellite information. Nozette also allegedly told him that he would be willing to answer questions about this information in exchange for money. The FBI agent explained to Nozette that the Israeli intelligence agency, or ‘Mossad,’ would arrange for a communication system so that Nozette could pass information to the Mossad in a post office box. Nozette agreed and asked for an Israeli passport.

Nozette met the FBI agent again on September 4 in the same hotel and said although he no longer had legal access to any classified information at a US government facility, he could, nonetheless, “recall the classified information to which I had been granted access.”

Bangalore, October 21
The arrest of American astrophysicist Stewart Nozette by the FBI in Washington on espionage charges will not affect future cooperation between NASA and ISRO, ISRO spokesman S Satish said here today.

“We have a very good security arrangement in our establishment here,” Satish told the Tribune. He said Nozette had visited ISRO facilities in Bangalore, but he was not given access to any critical data or technology.

Nozette, who was a co-investigator of the US-built mini-SAR (synthetic aperture radar) aboard the Chandrayaan-1 mission, was picked up on Monday by the FBI sleuths posing as representatives of the Israeli espionage agency Mossad.

Nozette is also principal investigator of the synthetic aperture radar (Mini-RF) aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) launched by NASA in June this year. In August, the LRO and the ISRO flew in tandem to probe a permanently shadowed crater in the lunar north pole. After the successful completion of the mission, Nozette was quoted to have said, “An extraordinary effort was made by the whole NASA team working with ISRO to make this happen.”

Last year ISRO and NASA had signed an agreement establishing the terms of future cooperation between the two countries.

New Delhi/Chandigarh, October 21
The ongoing war of words between Punjab Governor Gen SF Rodrigues (retd) and Union Ministers, Ambika Soni and Pawan Bansal, took a new turn on Wednesday with the Congress clearly indicating that it was not backing the Governor in the matter.

Talking to mediapersons, Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan defended the two ministers and while answering a specific query on whether a probe was on against the Governor, she said, “The issue is being looked into by relevant authorities at the highest level.” Natarajan said the two ministers had already responded to the charges and “investigations will bring out the truth in the matter.”

Separately, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni rubbished the charges leveled by Rodrigues as ‘baseless and false.’

Rodrigues was quoted in the section of media as having said, “I pointed out serious irregularities in the land allotment to the DPS Society which is headed by Ambika Soni’s husband. This automatically put me on the collision course with Soni and Bansal.”

“I am being targeted by all those who see me as a threat to their business interests. Of course Bansal and his cronies are in the forefront”, Rodrigues was further quoted in an interview to a newspaper.

Soni said, “If any wrong practice had been adopted, then the land should be taken back”, adding “I have consciously restrained myself from making any comment on his (Governor’s) statements, since he holds a constitutional post, but I find that he has no compunction about what is correct or otherwise and has lost no opportunity in levelling baseless and false accusations.”

The Minister pointed out that the land was allotted in response to public notices to around 22 entities to run schools. The issue continues to remain sub judice, she said, while expressing surprise that the Governor spent five years looking into the matter while the issue continues to be in court. Soni, who is a Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, explained that once the issue had gone to court, she convened a press conference and had asked the then Home Minister LK Advani to conduct an enquiry, if need be by the CBI, into the allotment.

A PIL challenging the allotment of the six-acre school site to “Heritage Education Society”, which started the Delhi Public School in Chandigarh, was filed in July 2002 and admitted in the HC in 2006.

The allotment letter issued to the society shows the following as members: Uday C Soni, Ambika Soni, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Bal Krishan Bansal, Lajpat Rai, Anoop Soni, Amit Kumar Bansal, Manish Bansal and Mukesh Bansal. It was alleged that the Chandigarh Administration had given land to the society at very low rates --- around Rs 90 lakh, while the market rate was considered to be around Rs 50 crore --- while rejecting the cases of other educational societies.

The spat between the Governor and the two ministers started after the Central Vigilance Commission started a probe into the allotment of land to develop a Film City, a Medi-City and an amusement-cum-theme park in Chandigarh. An NGO, led by HS Johl, president of the Manimajra Farmers Welfare and Environment Protection Society, has claimed that the scam was more than Rs 50,000 crore.

Incidentally, members of the Manimajra Farmers Welfare and Environment Protection Society have been opposing the acquisition of their land for the Phase-IIof the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park.

Panaji, October 21
Main accused in the Margao blast Malgonda Patil had revealed to the police names of those involved in the explosion before his death, Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik has said.

“Patil made certain statements to the police before his death naming persons who were involved in the blast while he was being shifted from a hospital in Margaon to Panaji,” Naik said yesterday.

Patil, a senior functionary of Hindu right-wing outfit Sanatan Sanstha, suspected behind the Goa blast, was also allegedly involved in last year’s explosions in Thane, Vashi, Panvel and Navi Mumbai.

The IEDs carried by Patil and his accomplice Yogesh Naik had exploded near Grace Church in Margao town on October 16. After the first blast, the police had defused three more bombs across the state. Both Patil and Naik later succumbed to injuries.

The home minister, however, refused to divulge the details of Patil’s dying declaration, saying it would be detrimental to the investigation.

However, Superintendent of Police Atmaram Deshpande, who is also the spokesman for Goa police, said he was not aware of any such dying declaration by Patil.

Even five days after the blast, the police has not made any arrest although several persons, including those of Sanatan Sanstha have been questioned by special investigation team (SIT) formed under Superintendent of Police Om Prakash Kurtarkar.

Several raids have been conducted by the Goa police and the Maharahstra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), including the one at Sanatan Sanstha ashram at Ramnathi. — PTI

New Delhi, October 21
A general sense of uncertainty prevails about the schedule of the Commonwealth Games, 2010, because of which the government is unable to give specific time schedule, said BJP general-secretary Vijay Goel, after a meeting with Sports Minister MS Gill.

Goel, himself a former Sports Minister in the NDA regime, led a party delegation to the two ministers today, to discuss the games preparations. Goel expressed his complete lack of faith in the organising committee for the games. He said the Commonwealth Games Federation has also expressed its reservation in its confidential report on the capability of the organising committee to deliver the games that require very high international standards.

The BJP leader listed his concerns in a letter to the Sports Minister. He also criticised Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for ignoring the pending work on city’s infrastructure projects like Badarpur Metro Line to serve the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium or the numerous car park projects.

Goel asked for forming a guiding and monitoring committee consisting of former sportspersons, senior journalists, eminent citizens, including event sponsors and representatives of the Delhi’s major political parties, which should be mandated to expedite the works.

New Delhi, October 21
Reeling under an acute shortage of quality teachers at primary and upper primary level, the government is considering accreditation for private teacher training institutes.

The system is currently short of three lakh teachers (rough estimates) at the elementary level. Also on the government’s mind is uniform qualification and salary for all teachers from Class I to VII and discouragement of distance education mode for acquiring BEds.

“The idea behind uniform qualification is to see that primary teachers are not lured to graduate to upper primary level for better emoluments. That creates quality crunch at primary level. We need to retain the best teaching talent through the elementary system,” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal told The Tribune, admitting to teachers’ shortage as a huge issue.

By 2011, this shortage at primary and middle school level is pegged at 25 lakh, considering 10 per cent of serving teachers are over 55 years. As 6.5 per cent retire or exit every year, some 35 lakh teachers would remain in the system by 2011, causing a shortfall of 25 lakh.

Apart from general shortage, the challenge is to address the issue of quality of teachers, with the Right to Education law waiting to be rolled out. Since 1995, when the National Council for Teachers’ Education (NCTE) was given statutory powers to recognise private colleges to produce more teachers, about 15,000 colleges surfaced, but the quality of instructors they produced remained poor, as the qualifications were relaxed.

The issue was debated yesterday at the first Round Table on Teachers’ Education called by HRD Ministry. The experts agreed to benchmark private teaching colleges to ensure quality teachers. Also, the government said it would discourage distance education mode for acquiring BEds and promote a system, where teachers have face-to-face contact with students, though not at the expense of the classroom teaching.

In the backdrop of these reforms is the recent National University of Educational Planning and Education (NUEPA) finding that one-fourth of all teachers taking Classes I to VIII have themselves studied up to secondary stage, another quarter studied till senior secondary. The academic qualification of half of the teachers is either senior secondary or less. Another disturbing trend is the rising number of teachers at upper primary level, where teachers get better salaries than primary level.

Another problem awaiting a solution is indiscriminate hiring by states of para-teachers (on contract for about Rs 1,500 a month), who are not qualified to teach. In Jharkhand, 39 per cent of all teachers are para-teachers. The percentages are 25, 17, and 14 for Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, respectively. “We need to address the issue of quality and quantity simultaneously,” said HRD Ministry sources.

Patna, October 21
Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s announcement to raise the cut off percentage marks of Class 12 from 60 per cent to 80 per cent for appearing in IIT-JEE has evoked very strong reaction in Bihar. The ruling JD(U) and opposition RJD are united on the issue to oppose this move. Sensing the mood of students and also the teachers of government schools, the student wings of all non-Congress political parties have threatened an intensive agitation against the Centre for its ‘anti-poor move’ to deprive the under-privileged students from entering the IITs.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has registered his strong opposition on this issue by writing a letter to Sibal seeking reconsideration of this move. Not to be left behind, RJD Chief Lalu Yadav also vowed to oppose any change in the existing system of IIT-JEE that may go against the students belonging to rural background.

Nitish’s letter to Sibal says that raising the cut off marks of class 12 for the eligibility criterion to appear in IIT-JEE would deprive the students from weaker socio-economic background who study in government schools and pass out through the state examination board.

At the same time, it would favour students with elite background who study in CBSE affiliated schools and score higher percentage, the letter reads. Nitish has further written to Sibal that an examination system should be inclusive and making changes in the existing system of IIT-JEE would have far reaching consequences which is unwarranted.

Nitish has lauded the existing JEE system saying that it allows students from different socio-economic backgrounds to compete with each other and the success of a large number of students from the backward regions vindicates it.

The chairman of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) Prof. AKP Yadav feels that the new move proposed by the Centre was aimed at abolishing the State Examination Boards and encourage the CBSE affiliated private schools flourish.

According to him, less than 10 students had scored more than 8 per cent marks in the Intermediate Examination (Class 12) conducted by BSEB for the last two consecutive years where as the number of Bihari students succeeding in IIT-JEE were more than 200 during that period. In the new scheme of things, only 10 students passing out of the government schools would be eligible to write the IIT-JEE , Yadav said.

Director of Super-30, a charitable coaching institute meant only for the poor and under privileged students, Anand who is credited with getting all his 30 students qualify the IIT-JEE for the last couple of years, feels that the new scheme would virtually make it impossible for the students coming from poor families ever dream of getting into the IITs. Anand feels that if the Centre wanted to put a curb on the mushroom growth of coaching institutes imparting.

Hyderabad, October 21
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which has taken up the unique identification number (UID) project, will establish a regional office in Hyderabad, its chairman Nandan Nilekani said today.

“The UIDAI looks up to Andhra Pradesh to be the role model for other states in implementing the UID project and integrating it with the existing data,” Nilekani told reporters after meeting Chief Minister K Rosaiah and other officials here to discuss the modalities of the project in the state.

AP, he said, has been in the forefront of using information technology for improving public services. Making a particular mention of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, he said it was best implemented in AP, which has also collected 50 million iris images for use in the public distribution system apart from delivering social pensions to seven million poor.

This data could be integrated with the UID data, he said. The UIDAI would shortly draw up a plan for a pilot project in the state and was ready with a team and required infrastructure. “We are hopeful of rolling out the first batch of UID numbers by August or end of next year,” Nilekani said.

Later, delivering the foundation day lecture at the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) here, he said the provision of an unique identity (UID) for person comprising his or her demographic and biometric details will become a power catalyst for achieving financial inclusion in the country.

The UID would provide online authentication services and it could be done even through a cell phone, he said.

“If the banks have business correspondents (BCs) in villages equipped with a mobile phone, a finger print reader and an ATM kind of software, cash transactions could be done at the village itself. For instance, an NREG worker could go to any BC and withdraw money because UID would be an open architecture,” Nilekani said.

New Delhi, October 21
Having made his mark as the country’s Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Wajahat Habibullah is all set to take up his new assignment as the head of the Right To Information (RTI) watchdog in Jammu and Kashmir.

Having submitted his resignation yesterday to President Pratibha Patil, Habibullah, a 1968-batch IAS officer, would be joining as the State Chief Information Commissioner (SIC) on October 26.

He has been the CIC since October 2005 and has played a vital role in framing of the RTI Act for J&K, which would be different from which is applicable throughout the other parts of the country.

After taking over as Chief Minister in January, Omar Abdullah had listed implementation of the Right to Information Act as one of his top priorities, so the state could be at par with the rest of the country. Habibullah, during his tenure as the CIC took active part in framing of the special RTI Act for the state and as such was offered to be the first State Information Commissioner of J&K.

Keen on ushering in transparency in the functioning of the state government departments, Abdullah was keen on Habibullah's appointment and personally requested him to come to Srinagar. Earlier, Habibullah has served in the state in several capacities. He was divisional commissioner of nine districts in the state between 1991 and 1993. The assignment was abruptly terminated by a near fatal road accident while negotiating with militants occupying the Hazratbal shrine in Kashmir in October 1993.

New Delhi, October 21
A survey carried out by the national secretariat for the Right to Information (RTI) awards has brought to light that some of the State Information Commissions were performing far better than the Central Information Commission (CIC) in providing information to the people.

Interestingly, seven of the CIC Commissioners have been dubbed in the group of the bottom 15 Commissioners with less than 20 per cent of the overall public satisfaction (OPS).

The survey released today on the functioning of the Information Commissions around the country discloses that filing an RTI application will not necessarily mean that one will be provided with the information.

There are only 27 per cent chances that information will be provided. Above all, even if there has been a favorable order from the commission, there are still only 39 per cent chances that the same would be conveyed to the applicant.

There are a total of 28 Information Commissions - one in each state and one at the Center - with 94 Information Commissioners and several joint benches.

For the purpose of this study, orders passed in 51,128 cases by the Information Commissioners and benches during 2008 were analysed by the National RTI Awards Secretariat. However, the analysis does not include Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Sikkim as they did not cooperate in the survey.

The parameters adopted for the survey included the overall public satisfaction (OPS), effectiveness, deterrent impact, and pro-disclosure factor.

The study found that of the 51,128 cases in which orders were passed, in 34,980 cases (i.e. 70 per cent cases), orders were passed in favour of disclosure.

According to the survey, Karnataka tops the list with 55 per cent OPS and West Bengal is at the bottom with six per cent OPS. Incidentally, the CIC stands at 16th position with 19 per cent satisfaction level.

As far as effectiveness of getting its own orders implemented is concerned, it was found that 39 per cent of the pro-disclosure orders were complied with at the national level. This means that despite a favorable order, 61 per cent people still do not get satisfactory information.

Unfortunately, these people made several rounds of the commissions, wrote many letters and made repeated phone calls but did not receive any information as the case was closed after the order was passed.

RTI Act gives powers of summons, penalties, arrests, production of documents etc. Barring penalties, these powers were never invoked by any Commissioner.

However, some commissions like those in Punjab and Karnataka follow an interesting practice. They do not close a case and repeated hearings are conducted till the appellant reports satisfaction, which perhaps is one of the reasons for their high rankings on this parameter.

Karnataka and Kerala were at the top on this parameter with 60 per cent effectiveness, followed by Punjab at 50 per cent.

Chennai, October 21
Asserting that a world Tamil conference was not necessary at a time when about three lakh Tamils in Sri Lanka were confined to camps fenced with barbed wire in unhygienic, subhuman conditions, AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa yesterday rejected Tamil Nadu Government’s invitation to join the organising committee for the conference and announced that her party would boycott the meet.

She said, “More than 80,000 Tamils of Sri Lanka had been brutally massacred in the army action since January this year. Nearly one million Tamils had fled that country and are eking out livelihoods in alien nations. Around 1 lakh of them are living as refugees in India. The circumstances are hardly right for holding a world Tamil conference.”

Guwahati, October 21
The October 16 abduction of Project Engineer P Krishna Rao of Andhra Pradesh -based Gayatree East Coast Insulation (ECI) Company from a project site at Kokrajhar district in Western Assam has triggered a virtual exodus of company staff affecting the work on the East West Corridor project of the National Highway Authority of Indian (NHAI).

The abducted 50-year-old engineer has remained untraced after he was abducted by five gunmen while supervising work at a project site on the morning of October 16. A senior NHAI official informed that Assam Chief Secretary PK Sharma during a review meeting today informed that all-out efforts were on to trace the abducted engineer.

Deputy General Manager of Gayatree ECI Company, SN Raju informed The Tribune over the phone that about 40 panic-stricken company staff working in the project had gone on leave on various excuses following the abduction of the project engineer and it was hampering the progress of work. The NHAI had allotted 63 km-stretch of the East West Corridor to the company in Kokrajhar district.

“The Assam Chief Minister told the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh that special troops had been sent to trace the abducted engineer. So far, he has not been traced,” Raju informed adding that work in the project slowed down after the incident that the working hours now had been limited between 9 am to 5 pm, while earlier it was between 7 am to 11 pm. He said that the work of entire East West Corridor project would be affected.

Five suspected militants from the anti-talks faction of National Democratic Front (NDFB) came on two motorcycles and whisked away the engineer at gun point. The ultras fled towards Chirang Reserve Forest along he India-Bhutan border to the north of NH-31(C). Meanwhile, suspected NDFB militants today fired upon a leader of the pro-talks faction of the outfit, S Sanjarang at Udalguri town in Udalguri district of north Assam bordering Bhutan. The pro-talks militant leader was seriously injured in the incident and rushed to a private hospital in Guwahati later in the day.