New Delhi, November 22
The doubts raised by medical experts on the inefficacy of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) serology test for diagnosing HIV have been finally confirmed by the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, following a study, AIIMS NAT Experience.

With this, the National AIDS Control Programme (NACO) stands faltering, even as the government pumps in crores of rupees every year on ELISA, which is the reining test for detecting HIV in India. However, faculty in charge of the AIIMS Blood Bank Kabita Chatterjee, who lead the study, said the nucleic acid amplification test (NAT) came as a complimentary method to ELISA, and would bring an additional layer of safety to the blood supply.

Besides, HIV, ELISA has also failed to identify HB and HC infections during early stages. Going by the study, 20,000 patients can be at risk of receiving infected blood, with an estimated 7.4 million blood donations in the country.

Realising that ELISA is not a foolproof test, AIIMS carried the NAT study. Out of 5,818 donor samples, five were found to be NAT-positive and sero-negative. “The study indicates the existence of a missed sample in every 164 samples. The idea was to make blood safer for patients,” Dr Kabita told The Tribune.

“At present, ELISA test has been mandated as per the Drug Control and Cosmetics Act and a Supreme Court order passed in 2000. Given the fallout with respect to detecting viruses of HIV, HB and C before it starts proliferating, NAT will help in reducing the “window period”, the time period between viral infection and its detection, to a considerable extent,” said Dr Kabita.

The window period for all three viruses is variable. With NAT, the window period for HIV can be brought down to 4-5 days against nine days under ELISA testing; for HB and C, it can be reduced by up to 10-11 days. Dr Kabita said the effectiveness of the testing procedure rested on the transcription mediated amplification technology, which, due to high assay sensitiveness with individual testing detected the virus even in low amount of genetic materials. Head of the RML Blood Bank Veena Doda said NAT testing would also be beneficial to donors as they would be able start treatment for the disease at an early stage.

“The aim is to ensure safer supply of blood. NAT would ensure zero-risk of transmission of infectious agents through blood transfusion. NAT, which is commonly used in developing nations along with some parts of Asia, should be declared a mandatory test for blood screening in India,” asserted Dr Anand Deshpande, consultant in transfusion medicine, Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai.

Every ELISA costs Rs 15 vis-à-vis Rs 800 for NAT. Given the expensive nature of NAT, this facility is available only at 12 centres across India, including AIIMS, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML), Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai and Apollo Hospital. But with India being home to three million, 10 million and 43 million carriers of HIV-1, Hepatitis B (HB) and C (HC) isolate, respectively, going by NACO report 2008-2009, the availability is hardly adequate.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was trying to work out modalities for making NAT more accessible throughout the country. Four fully equipped blood testing centres, to be set up in metros cities of the country, would come up within two years and the ministry had already allocated Rs 468 for these, said Dr Veena.

Hyderabad, November 22
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah today rejected the opposition demand for his resignation over the mining scam involving a company owned by the controversial Karnataka minister G Janardhan Reddy.

“We are awaiting the Supreme Court verdict on the matter and we will abide by its directives,” the Chief Minister said even as his government was put in an embarrassing position after a central empowered committee, appointed by the apex court, concluded that Reddy’s Obulapuram Minining Corporation (OMC) was resorting to illegal mining activities.

The committee’s stinging report on the OMC activities in Anantapur district and the government’s inaction has prompted the main opposition TDP to demand Chief Minister’s resignation, cancellation of mining lease to the company and confiscation of the iron ore.

Pointing out that his government had already ordered a CBI probe as the issue involved inter-state ramifications, Rosaiah asserted that Supreme Court’s directions would be implemented. Taking umbrage over TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu’s allegation that he was on the “pay rolls” of the mining baron and was trying to shield his company, the Chief Minister said, “Any person with a sound mind will not make such wild allegations and use such language.” He mounted a counter-attack, reminding the opposition leader of a spate of corruption charges against the previous TDP regime.

“Never did Naidu come forward for a probe into the allegations of corruption during his nine-year tenure as Chief Minister. I am ready for an open debate on corruption,” Rosaiah said.

“I have seen media reports about the committee’s report to the Supreme Court, but the government cannot go by media reports and hence it will wait for the court verdict,” he said. The Chief Minister pointed out that the original mining lease to the OMC was issued in 2002 by the then TDP government. He said the CBI inquiry would go to the root of the problem and ferret out facts in the entirety.

Earlier, Naidu had yesterday set a 48-hour deadline for the government to stop all mining activities by the OMC and threatened to resort to direct action if it failed to act. The crux of the opposition charge is that the Bellary Billionaire has “close business links” with the family of former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy and the OMC’s “ill-gotten wealth” was being pumped into the businesses of YSR’s son and MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The TDP chief also alleged that both the Karnataka and AP governments had surrendered to the “mining mafia”.

New Delhi, November 22
Adding a new dangerous dimension to its growing arsenal of weapons, China has tested a long-range nuclear missile which will have the mobility to be moved around and fired upon a specially designed truck. All this retaining the ability to fire at targets located across continents.

In military parlance, it is known as a mobile inter-continental ballistic missile or a mobile-ICBM.

It can fire at targets up to 11,000 km away, hence making large parts of north-western US and Canada within the Chinese missile reach. Also areas like eastern part of Europe will be within its reach.

So far, only the US and Russia possess such equipment and the two countries had started working on it during the peak of cold war during the 1980s.

Indian intelligence agencies have informed the government that China tested its mobile-ICMB in the middle of October at its Wuzhai space centre in Shanghai province.

The dangerous and long distance missile code named ‘Dongfeng 31-A’ was launched from specially designed mount on a truck, said sources while detailing about the secret test about which details are filtering in now.

Unlike India, China has only a government-run media and no independent media outfits, hence there have been no reports about the test in the Chinese newspapers or TV. The information about the test has come across through one of the intelligence agencies.

So far the Chinese ability to fire a missile from a truck was restricted to smaller range of missiles, this mobile-ICMB is surely a dangerous weapon, said a senior official. Sources said ‘Dongfeng 31’ is the code name for the Chinese ICMB and the ‘A’ is to denote it mobile variant.

With this China can now not only move its warheads to locations it wants, it will be make it much easier for China to hit at enemy targets at distant places.

A well-informed China watcher said the Chinese were facing a problem with their ICMB due to the poor quality of sealing between the solid fuel chamber and the booster casing, this seems to have been sorted out.

China, has possessed ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. The ability of firing the same from a truck is seen as achievement among strategic circles. Such a truck is called the transporter-erector-launcher, or TEL.

The TEL not only transports the missile, it erects it and also launches it from one single unit. The entire system is highly mobile.

Strategically this means, in a crisis, China can disperse its ballistic missile forces across the country making it sure that some of these missiles would survive a pre-emptive strike by an enemy.

Jaipur, November 22
It may have been close to a month since the IOC blaze broke out in Jaipur, but the after-effects of the tragedy are still very much visible, whether it be on students studying in educational institutions in the Sitapura Industrial Area or winged guests at the nearby Chandlai dam.

A steep fall in number of migratory birds at the Chandlai dam has jolted bird enthusiasts and environmentalists here. According to them, the bird count at the dam has dropped from over 2,500 to a meagre 150 in the aftermath of the IOC fire tragedy. Though every year the number of flamingoes flocking to the dam is on the rise till mid-November, but this time there has been a sudden decline after the fire. A thick cloud of smoke, which was billowing incessantly from oil tanks at the IOC depot for almost 10 days, had enveloped the area. Experts fear the emission of pollutants in such a huge quantity may have forced the migratory birds to fly away from the dam. However, the officials of forest and environment ministry maintain that the after-effects of the tragedy on flora and fauna of the area could only be known once the committee of experts formed by the government submits its report on the issue.

Meanwhile, students of various colleges in Sitapura Industrial Area, where the IOC depot was located, lamented that their hostels had not been repaired even three weeks after the tragedy. They also complained that the colleges were yet to restore laboratory facilities to them. Many of these colleges had reopened just a few days ago and now they are again facing closure due to rising H1N1 threat. Siddharth Khandelwal, a student of Jagannath Engineering College, said their classes were yet to resume after the October 29 IOC blaze. “On the one hand, we are lagging behind in completion of our syllabus and on the other our placement schedule has been badly affected. Our placement session has already been postponed twice,” he said. His college had reopened only three days ago but it closed as an H1N1 positive case was reported in the institution.

The students of other institutions like Poornima College and Kautilaya College also aired similar concerns. There are a number of professional colleges in the Sitapura Industrial Area.

The IOC inferno took a heavy toll on studies in these colleges and now the H1N1 scourge is adding to their woes.

Lucknow, November 22
Crushing work has already begun in 14 sugar mills in the states while another 13 have completed preparations to commence work, Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh said today.

Speaking to mediapersons, Singh said till now approximately 6.5 lakh quintals of sugarcane had been bought, of which 4.5 lakh quintals had already been crushed. Of the sugar mills starting crushing work, nine are in the private sector, four in the cooperative sector and one belongs to the UP state Sugar Nigam.

Recounting Mayawati government’s “pro-farmer” measures, Singh said the Chief Minister had written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh way back on October 30 requesting him to revise the ‘fair and remunerative pricing’ (FRP) so that it is not weighed against the sugarcane farmer.

According to him, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had written a letter to the state government requesting the resumption of import of raw sugar. “Responding to the letter, the state government has said that keeping the interests of the sugar cane framers in view, raw sugar should not be imported as this could lead to further problems.”

Early this month, the sugar cane farmers of the state had called for a statewide bandh in which they held up rail and road traffic protesting against the state government’s SAP prices and offloading of raw duty free sugar from Brazil.

Bhilwara, November 22
Seeking arrest of four cops who allegedly abetted a lawyer to commit suicide, agitating lawyers of the town continued with their dharna for the fourth consecutive day today with no signs of resolution of the deadlock between them and the administration.

“We will not call off our dharna till the policemen responsible for our colleague’s death are arrested,” said the protesting lawyers.

The family members of the deceased, Amit Yadav, as well as the lawyers are not ready to perform his last rites till their demands are met. They are also demanding transfer of the Bhilwara SP P Ramjee. Yadav’s body is still lying at his house. Agitating against the government apathy, the lawyers today burnt effigies of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Union Minister CP Joshi, who represents Bhilwara in Parliament, in protest against the government’s failure to arrest the accused.

Yadav had allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan at his Subhash Nagar residence in Bhilwara on Thursday.

According to sources, a case was registered against Yadav at the Subhash Nagar police station after he took part in a protest during Joshi’s recent visit to the city. Yadav’s family alleged that the local cops had started harassing him after registration of the case, following which he raised the matter with the Bhilwara SP on Monday last. He had accused circle inspector Om Prakash, assistant sub-inspector Kishan Singh and constables Surendra Singh and Bhupendra Singh of harassing him. He had also sought protection, but his demands fell on deaf ears. Disappointed, he took the extreme step on Thursday morning after dropping his child in school. His family members alleged policemen had visited their house a day earlier and misbehaved with him.

IG (Ajmer range) RP Singh said a case had been registered against the accused, adding that directions had also been issued to investigate the role of the policemen named in the complaint.

Hyderabad, November 22
A seven-year-old mystery girl is making waves in Andhra Pradesh after claiming that she was a close associate of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in her past life.

Chubby and vivacious, Acharya Sambhavi comes across as a normal child of her age. But, what sets her apart is her attire and her sermons on Tibet, freedom and Buddhism.

Sporting white robes, Sambhavi spends the day in meditation, lecturing on “Tibet freedom” and making predictions about future.

Not much is known about her parents. The little girl lives at an ashram at Suryanandi near Nandyal in Kurnool town, about 250 km from the state capital, along with her guardian Usha Rani. It is said that Usha had spotted the “divine powers” of the girl, born to Telugu-speaking parents settled down in Varanasi.She was brought to Andhra Pradesh from Varanasi in August last year. A large number of people have been thronging the ashram to have a glimpse of the little saint with the word about her “spiritual powers” spreading far and wide.

Several people have even turned her devotees. Extensive media coverage of Sambhavi’s “spiritual discourses” and visits to various temples has helped in creating an aura around her.“The ambition of my life is to see Tibet’s liberation. Tibet will be a free nation by 2012,” Sambhavi tells the gatherings. However, the rationalists are far from impressed. In fact, they have voiced concern over the violation of child rights and exploitation of the little girl in the garb of spirituality.

A group of rationalists have submitted a petition to the Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission (ASHRC) and also the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, seeking protection of Sambhavi’s right to get educated and lead a normal life of a child of her age.

Chairman of APSHRC Justice B Subhashan Reddy has directed the Kurnool district administration to inquire into the charges of abuse of child rights and submit a report by November 30.

Following this, the district collector Mukhesh Kumar Meena asked the officials to ascertain details about Sambhavi, her parents and guardian and the circumstances surrounding her projection as spiritual leader.

The child rights activists and progressive organisations have accused the guardian of “exploiting” Sambhavi for her own “business interests” by not allowing her to attend school and enjoy childhood. They alleged that attempts were being made to install the girl as the “Living Goddess” by publicising about her spiritual connection with the Dalai Lama.

Sambhavi, along with her guardian, had visited Dharmasala, the temporal abode of the Dalai Lama, and met him in March this year. She had even addressed the local monks about the Tibet issue. Meanwhile, Sambhavi told the media that Dalai Lama would be visiting Suryanandi on December 21 to lay foundation stone for a monastery, to be named as “Buddha Vijaya.”

Sambhavi claimed that she and Dalai Lama were the disciples of Lord Buddha in their previous incarnation. “In our earlier life, his name was Bala Buddha and my name was Ugra Taraka Devi. We knew each other,” she said.

New Delhi, November 22
A couple's superstition that their two-year-old daughter would bring ill-luck to the family landed them in jail and in a 13-year litigation that was disposed of by the Supreme Court last week.

The mad faith also haunted the teacher-turned 'tantrik' who had made the prediction about the child as he was also involved in the court case and had to undergo imprisonment.

It all started on August 14, 1996, when the girl child died of starvation after being confined in a tiny bathroom, measuring 3.4x4.4 feet, for two weeks and forced to go without food and water due to fear, arising from the tantrik's comments.

Ironically, the parents, Dada and Panchashila, had named their daughter, Rani, and the tantrik, who practised black magic and sorcery, is known as Daulat Baba. And Rajratan, the landlord of the couple, had registered the FIR on the death of the child.

The trial court at Bhandara, Maharashtra, had sentenced all the three accused to life term -- the couple for intentionally or knowingly killing Rani and the tantrik for abetting the offence -- under Section 302 of IPC and related sections.

The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court, however, reduced the sentence on July 15, 2002, to six years of rigorous imprisonment for the parents after convicting them under Section 304, Part II read with Section 34 of IPC. The HC also ruled that there was no evidence against the tantrik.

An apex court Bench comprising Justices Sudershan Reddy and JM Panchal, in their verdict delivered on November 17, confirmed the conviction but reduced the sentence of the mother to the period already undergone as she has two other children. The father had already served out his jail term.

The case has a lesson or two for parents in Punjab and Haryana where the female sex ratio is alarmingly low and dipping further every year, according to latest official data. Pamper the girl child and never ever seek any prediction and sex determination test of the embryo, lest they also land themselves in similar travails.

Kolkata, November 22
Treading into the footsteps of its alliance partner Trinamool Congress, the Congress too has demanded resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and hold of fresh polls in the state.

According to information, the party’s core committee, at an urgent meeting yesterday, decided to launch a massive agitation from next month to seek Bhattacharjee’s ouster.

Bhattacharjee, however, has declined to resign. Speaking on the CPM TV channel, he said: “We have one-and-a-half year still to go. In this period, we will work for the welfare of people. At this stage, we don’t want to retreat like defeated soldiers and resign.” The detailed interview would be aired on Wednesday. West Bengal Congress working president Subrata Mukherjee said they would now move forward jointly with the TMC against the CPM. “We are not demanding article 356 or 355 in the state, but we want the CM to resign as his party has lost the people’s mandate.”

Meanwhile, the CM today visited East Midnapore and held meetings with the district officials and the Left Front workers to review various on-going projects and held discussions about several future development programmes.

During his visit, TMC workers organised ‘black-flag’ demonstration in support of their demand (CM’s resignation). The workers even tried to stop the CM’s convoy at four places on his way to Midnapore town.

New Delhi, November 22
India’s civil aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided to take steps to reduce carbon footprint of the Indian aviation sector.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told the Parliament that the DGCA had commissioned a study to determine Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions by airline aircraft in India and set up an emission database with 2005 as base year. As the proposal is yet in its preliminary stage, the time frame for the report has not been specified.

In the meantime, the civil aviation regulator has asked airline operators to reduce emissions by improving fuel efficiency, adhering to proper maintenance of aircraft and implementing weight reduction measures in the aircraft.

While individual contribution of countries, including India, has not been identified, experts estimate that the total global contribution of aviation sector in carbon emission is approximately two per cent of the total emission.

The aviation industry has become increasingly conscious of the growing demand to address environmental concerns as well as its own fuel costs. Not just climate change issue, rising ATF costs and stricter emission regulations envisaged for the future have ensured that the airline industry works out a cheaper as well as greener alternative to fossil fuels.

To help limit climate change, the international air transport industry has committed to cut its carbon emissions to half by 2050, compared to 2005 levels. The airlines have also pledged to improve fuel efficiency by an average of 1.5 percent annually to 2020 and stabilise carbon emissions with carbon-neutral growth from 2020.

As per reports, recently head of the International Air Transport Association Giovanni Bisignani presented the aviation industry's climate change strategy and targets to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Bisignani says the entire aviation industry is “globally aligned” in its approach to climate change.

World's leading airlines and manufacturers of commercial airliners are testing biomass-derived ATF to cut CO2 emissions. Experts say biomass-derived jet fuels have the potential to become alternative to fossil fuels within the next couple of years.

The airline sector has emerged as favourite bad boy of the Green brigade and the industry is facing mounting pressure to curb emissions and look for more eco-friendly fuels.Commercial airliners are said to account for two per cent global carbon emissions and the figure is only expected to rise along with further increase in volume of air travel.

Airlines are also trying out other ways to reduce fuel consumption, including operational and maintenance procedures and practices. These include towing aircraft to runways instead of taxing them under their own power to cut pre-flight fuel consumption, reducing passenger service, like in-flight meals and entertainment items, besides monitoring weather and air traffic at airports to prevent circling overhead.

New Delhi, November 22
Taking strong exception to environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s remark that if there were a Nobel Prize for filth, India would bag it hands down, the CPM yesterday said it would be better if the government offered solutions to problems rather than listing the evils.

Taking swipe at Ramesh, leader of the CPM in Rajya Sabha Sitaram Yechury asked the minister and the aggressive Youth Congress to volunteer for clean-up drives in cities. “If they think the cities are dirty, why don’t they them clean up. We should preach solutions and not problems?” Yechury said.

Chennai, November 22
With the major contestants - the ruling DMK and the principal opposition, the AIADMK, evenly matched in the two constituencies that go to the polls on December 19, the decision of smaller parties like Vijaykanth's DMDK and the PMK will hold the key to the outcome.

In both Vandavasi and Tiruchendur, the ruling DMK has polled about 40 per cent votes when it contested without any major ally in 2001 and 1989. The party has secured about 53 per cent votes with the support of the PMK and the Congress in the last Assembly elections, which it won by a huge margin of about 22,000 votes.

Although the Congress continues in the DMK front, the PMK, which recently snapped ties with the AIADMK, is yet to announce its decision.

The Vandavasi seat falls in north Tamil Nadu, where the Vanniyars, a powerful backward community, have a huge presence. The PMK, the Vanniyar outfit, has obtained more than 20 per cent votes in the constituency, when it entered the electoral race alone in 1991.

If the PMK decides to support the ruling DMK, the contest may tilt in the latter's favour. However, Dr Ramadoss, leading the Vanniyar party, is under pressure to prove his vote share, following the rout in the recent Lok Sabha elections, which has led to speculations that the PMK's vote bank has been eroded by the DMK and Vijaykanth's DMDK. If the PMK decides to field a candidate, the contest will be wide open in Vandavasi.

The other major player Vijaykanth, who polled more than 20 per cent votes in the recent byelections to five constituencies, is yet to announce his decision.

If the actor opts out of the race, the AIADMK will be the beneficiary, since the division of opposition votes will be prevented.

Even though, the DMDK has secured only a few thousand votes in both Vandavasi and Tiruchendur, those votes would play a crucial role in case of a close contest. Vijaykanth is reluctant to contest this time, as his party, caught between the two major fronts, is most likely to come out with a poor show, which will affect his bargaining capacity in the next Assembly elections.

The BJP has a small presence in Tiruchendur, but the strength of Left parties is negligible in both seats.

The Congress continues in the DMK alliance and Vaiko's MDMK in the AIADMK front. In the two seats, both the parties have a few thousand votes, which will be a good support to their allies. The cadre strength of the MDMK and Vaiko's appeal among youths is an added strength to AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, who is certain to make an extensive campaign and battle the "vote for ruling syndrome", usually perceived in Tamil Nadu byelections.

New Delhi, November 22
A group of Muslim intellectuals teachers and students has come out severely criticising the Darul Uloom Deoband and the Jamiatul Ulema Hind for their recent controversial resolutions, including the one on Vande Mataram.

The group led by ANHAD chief Shabnam Hashmi held a press conference here on Thursday, to mention some major points on which the Muslim seminary and the Jamiat should be opposed by all thinking Muslims. They claimed to have collected signatures of hundreds of Muslims, who according to them are upset with Deoband for raking up the Vande Mataram issue, only to help and resuscitate the saffron forces currently in a state of complete disarray.

She said, there was no compulsion for anyone to sing Vande Mataram, though the objectionable portions were taken out from it way back in 1930s and the matter was settled then. But just as there was no pressure on anyone to sing the song, there was no threat to Islam, if a Muslim sang Vande Mataram.

The conference was also addressed by noted journalists Zafar Agha and Sohail Hashmi and poet Gauhar Raza. They also opposed resolutions seeking to restrict education of Muslim girls after the age of 10, suggesting separate education for Muslim children, opposition to Central Madrasa Board and resolution opposing reservation for women.

These are all very regressive suggestions that only seek to put the Muslim community to further backwardness, said the organisers.

Chandigarh, November 22
In the backdrop of nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons being a major factor in the geo-political security environment, the DRDO is developing herbal protective measures to guard the fallout of the use of such weapons.

This is the first such project of its kind in the world where extracts from herbal plants are being used to produce agents to protect humans against radioactivity. Besides military applications, the spin-off of this project will also have spin-offs in civilian sectors like nuclear medicine and radiology.

“We are in advance stages of clinical trials of these products,” Dr W Selvamurthy, Chief Controller, DRDO, said here on Friday. “Clinical trials are expected to take about a year after which the products will be sent to the Drug Controller of India for ratification,” he added.

Dr Selvamurthy said at present there was only one chemical agent available to combat radioactivity, but that was very toxic and hence dangerous to handle. The herbal products would counter this drawback. Extracts of two plants, podophylum hexandrum and the well-known seabuckthorn, are being used in the project being undertaken by three different DRDO laboratories at Leh, Delhi and Gwalior.

The plants grow only in high altitude areas above 9000 feet and are native only to the Himalayas. Efforts are on to cultivate the plants in the DRDO laboratories to ascertain their characteristics and their ability to adapt to other geographical conditions for mass-scale production, Dr Selvamurthy said.

Some other herbal products developed by the DRDO for use by the armed forces include UV protection agents, high energy food items and insect repellants. The DRDO chief said so far NBC warfare and protection items worth about Rs 800 crore developed by the DRDO and manufactured by the industry had been supplied to the armed forces.

These include sensors, detection systems, individual and collective protection systems and medical equipment.

The DRDO has recently supplied about 25 underground shelters for protection of troops in an NBC environment. Each shelter can sustain about 30 men for four days.

Orders for another 100 such shelters have been received. Under the 11th Five-Year Plan, major research and development work is being undertaken in application of nanotechnology and lasers for bio-sensors and stand-off NBC detection systems. This includes “smart” protective clothing that automatically decontaminates itself.

Jaipur, November 22
The IOC fire tragedy followed by the fast-spreading H1N1 scare in Rajasthan has taken a toll on inflow of foreign tourists with the state registering a 20 per cent drop in tourist traffic in the beginning of the peak season.

To add further to the tourism industry’s woes, Embassies of several foreign countries have issued advisories to their citizens in wake of terror threat in India. For instance, the US state department has extended its advisory, asking its citizens not to travel to India. It has cited reason as it “continues to receive information that terrorist groups may be planning attacks in India.’’

The October 29 advisory replaced the travel alert dated September 12, 2009, and expires on January 28, 2010. Similarly, Israel too issued an advisory to its citizens last month, asking them to be wary about travelling to India. The apprehensions of a 26/11-like terror strike on the eve of its first anniversary have also played a spoilsport in the tourist season. The statistics available till August show a decline of 35.41 per cent in number of foreign tourists arriving in the desert state, though it registered a marginal increase in number of domestic tourists.

The famous Pushkar Fair wasn’t too encouraging either for the tourism industry as the tourist arrival witnessed a drop of around 50 per cent this year. There have also been reports of cancellation of tour bookings in Jaiselmer.

A sudden spate in the H1N1 cases has also contributed to the drop in number of tourists visiting it. While the H1N1 death toll has reached 28 in the state, the total number of cases has climbed up to 922, of which 592 are school-going children.

Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) MD Manjit Singh said the occupancy rate in Jaipur hotels, which is normally 70-80 per cent during this time of the year, has been hovering around a mere 40 per cent these days. He said the tragic incidents like serial blasts and IOC blaze has harmed the state’s image as a tourism destination.

On the other hand, tour operators are complaining that instead of extending a helping hand to the industry in the hour of crisis, the government has increased taxes on transport and bars. They rued that while tourism sector has been reeling under one crisis after the other like serial blasts and Gujjar agitation last year, the government is yet to announce any relief for them.

New Delhi, November 22
Insurance regulator IRDA is mulling to put a cap of Rs 1.5 crore on the annnual salary of chief executive officer, which could be paid from the policyholders' fund.

Any salary beyond this could be paid by promoters, as per a proposal being studied by IRDA, sources said.

“IRDA is examining the CEOs salary with great details and is having discussion with insurers on putting a cap. We are told Rs 1.5 crore could be paid by the company,” a source close to the development said, adding that any pay-packet higher than could not come from policyholders' funds, if the proposal is accepted.

In June, IRDA chairman J Harinarayan had said IRDA was mulling to put a cap on the managerial remuneration of insurance firms. He added that there should be a limit on what the policyholders could be charged for paying compensation to the managerial staff.

The issue of CEOs salaries assume importance after some countries at G-20 meeting earlier this year had called for limiting their bonuses and tieing their salaries to long-term performance.

In India, Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had said the government did not want to play the regulator by intervening in executive remuneration and the issue should rest with the shareholders and the board of the company.

There are more than 40 life and non-life insurance companies operating in the country.

Banking regulator the Reserve Bank is also set to come out with a guideline to regulate the pay packages of senior executives of both private and foreign banks.

The RBI currently clears the pay packages of CEOs of private and foreign banks on case-by-case basis after the compensation committee at each bank approves it.

On the other hand, the salaries of CEOs of public sector banks are set by the government. — PTI

New Delhi, November 22
Commander Dilip Dhonde of the Indian Navy, the first Indian to attempt to circumnavigate the world alone, yesterday reached Christchurch in New Zealand after covering 9,000 nautical miles.

A large crowd, including several Indians, welcomed Dhonde at Lyttelton Port of Christchurch. His last port call was at Fremantle Port in western Australia from where he set off Nov 1.

“Mhadei, the Indian Naval Sailing Vessel, along with Dhonde at the helm entered Lyttelton Port today (Saturday). He will set sail for Falkland Islands (South Atlantic Ocean) Dec 6 after tending to the various maintenance requirements of the boat,” Indian Navy spokesperson Commander P.V.S. Satish told IANS here.

Dhonde, 42, embarked on the solo circumnavigation of the world on Aug 19 this year from Mumbai. Less than 300 people the world over have succeeded in this endeavour till date, with this being the first attempt for an Indian.

Speaking about his experience on his blog, Dhonde said: “Since the last three days winds gusting to 55 knots, swell - 8 to 9 metres, temperature below 10 degree Celsius. Stay sail came down yesterday probably due broken halyard, waiting for winds to reduce to put it up. Starboard wheel had to be disconnected as the base holding its ram connection to the rudder broke in heavy weather so one electronic autopilot less and no Wind Vane autopilot.”

“Port, and only, autopilot groaning badly and threatening to rip its base out! Doing over 8 knots with just 1/3 of main sail, 03 reefs, and still getting overpowered at times! Forecast predicts winds to reduce after tomorrow, keeping my fingers crossed!” adds Dhonde.

Mhadei, during her voyage of over 21,600 nautical miles (38,880 km) under sail will take on the exceptional winds and swell which are prevalent especially below 60 degree south latitude called the Screaming 60s.

“This feat is often compared to conquering of Everest (the highest peak in the world) yet ironically is one that requires greater mettle and much longer time. The perils of the capricious sea and the vagaries of the unpredictable weather in a lonely sailboat become the canvas where this Herculean challenge to the human spirit unravels,” Satish added.

“Mhadei will sail for approximately nine months and is stopping at only four ports - Fremantle (Australia), Christchurch (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falkland Islands) and Cape Town (South Africa) before returning to Mumbai,” the spokesperson added.

There are four pre-requisites to qualify for a circumnavigation voyage. First, it should start and end in the same port - Mumbai in this case - crossing all meridians of longitude at least once and the equator at least twice.

Second, the distance covered should be more than the length of a meridian, 21,600 nautical miles. Third, the boat should not pass through any canals or straits, where use of engines or towing would be unavoidable. And fourth, the boat should round the three Great Capes - Cape Leeuwin (Australia), Cape Horn (South America) and Cape of Good Hope (Africa). — IANS

Ranchi/Jamshedpur, November 22
Election freebies in Jharkhand are getting trendier, with caps, paper goggles and mobile phone covers carrying party logos and icons being freely distributed ahead of the Assembly polls.

The days of posters, pamphlets and handbooks are over. In its place, political parties in Jharkhand are distributing paper goggles with a lotus -- the BJP symbol -- on it, caps bearing pictures of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, fancy sun shades and mobile phone covers with printed imprints of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren.

The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, former Chief Minister Madhu Koda's party, is distributing combs, while the BJP is cashing in on lotus-shaped balloons.

"We are giving green combs, which is the symbol of the party and green is the colour of the party. The combs symbolise cleansing and setting the House in order. The voters must remember to press the button on the comb symbol,” a JVM campaigner in Jamshedpur said. The first phase of polls is being held on November 25.

Raghubar Das, the BJP candidate from Jamshedpur, is distributing lotus shaped balloons.

Apart from designer T-shirts, paper shades, the parties are also distributing designer key rings, metal belts, calendars, stickers, pocket diaries and small flags. For married women, parties are distributing "mangalsutras" with party symbols inscribed on them.

"We have a huge women's support base and we wanted to nurture them with a symbol that they could identify with," a BJP worker said.

According to figures from the party office, the BJP has distributed 10,000-15,000 paper goggles with the lotus symbol among youths in Ranchi Assembly constituency. The goggles were purchased from New Delhi. “Since it's the youth who are campaigning for us, we are distributing stylish accessories. Most of them ride motorbikes,” the BJP worker said.

The Congress is distributing pocket calendars. The modernisation of poll accessories was aimed to "draw more young campaigners and give the political entities a more friendly and contemporary look", said workers cutting across party lines. Jharkhand is holding five-phased Assembly polls from November 25 to December 18. — IANS