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Land Scam Blow to Air Force, 101 pilots queue up at exit door
Exit plans: Wait for six months, says Karuna
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‘Pradhan panel report never leaked out’
Ranganath Recommendations
Liberhan Debate
Krishna reiterates India’s stand on Chinese visas
Pillai: IT industry on terror target
Clean chit to Rahul’s pilots
Telangana agitation back in limelight
Tourists from 5 nations to get visa on arrival
CJI in hospital
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Land Scam
Chandigarh, December 9 Sources close to the investigation said the COI has recommended disciplinary action against at least five officers and administrative action against others. As a fallout of this, the court of inquiry (COI) that investigated the matter has recommended that the recent promotions and postings of certain officers based at various places be investigated. The COI, headed by Lt Gen KT Parnaik, General Officer Commanding 4 Corps, Tezpur, concluded on December 3, sources said. The senior-most officer to be blamed in this matter, Lt Gen Avdesh Prakash is the Military Secretary at Army Headquarters and responsible for the officer cadre management, including promotions and postings. Sources said the opinion was that some promotions and postings could have been manipulated to benefit certain officers for their alleged acts of omission and commission. Besides General Prakash, the other officers held blameworthy include Lt Gen PK Rath, the commander of 33 Corps who was to move as the Deputy Chief of Army Staff at Army Headquarters before his posting was cancelled. The other two Generals include a corps commander in the western sector and a Major-General on staff appointment at Headquarters Western Command. Both had served in the northeast before their promotion. The findings and recommendations of the COI are now before the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command, Lt Gen VK Singh for further action. The number of officers that finally face disciplinary action and administrative action would depend on a review of the COI proceedings at command headquarters and the directions of the GCO-in-C thereof. Sources said that a separate COI has also been recommended to investigate some similar lapses pertaining to military land in the area near Gangtok in Sikkim, which also comes under the territorial jurisdiction of 33 Corps. Given its history and location, Sikkim is extremely sensitive politically, diplomatically and militarily.
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Blow to Air Force, 101 pilots queue up at exit door New Delhi, December 9 The IAF has some 1,500 pilots in total and it has projected shortfall of some 300 pilots in future as it expands its squadrons of fighters and adds more choppers. The IAF has already hiked the intake of pilots in its training academies and now they take around 260 trainees in each annual course, up from 190 trainees earlier. Defence Minister AK Antony gave out the fact that 101 pilots --- most of who are highly skilled in flying fighters, choppers and transport planes --- have applied for a premature retirement. Antony told Rajya Sabha that the broad reasons furnished by the applicants for grant of premature retirement are supersession, lack of career progression, medical/compassionate grounds etc. Such applications are considered on a case-to-case basis in accordance with extant government policy and service exigencies. Antony said efforts were being made to carry out a proactive publicity campaign to reach the target group across the country. The number of retirement seekers has gone up despite the government having made claims that the sixth pay commission had addressed the needs and aspirations of defence personnel. Separately, the government today said IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal PK Barbora’s remarks that politics was impinging badly on the country’s military requirements were his “personal views”. “The IAF Vice Chief had expressed his personal views during his talk at a seminar while referring to the delays that had occurred in the past in procurement of aircraft and systems,” Antony said in reply to a Rajya Sabha query. Meanwhile, replying to another query, the Defence Minister said the DRDO had entered into a joint venture with Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) to develop a long range and medium range surface-to-air missile systems.
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Exit plans: Wait for six months, says Karuna
Chennai, December 9 When asked about Stalin’s appeal to his father to continue as Chief Minister and the opinion of some partymen that Stalin should be elevated, the DMK leader said: “We will consider both the views”. To a query on his remarks on Saturday that he would leave ministerial post and political activities “to be one among the people”, the Chief Minister said, “Wait till the (International Tamil Classical) conference ends. We have six-months time.” Karunanidhi’s comments on retirement at a function here last week were seen as paving the way for handing over the mantle to Stalin, regarded as his successor. Stalin was elevated to the post of Chief Minister in May with key portfolios like industries and general administration, earlier handled by his father. However, reacting to his father’s announcement, Stalin, had yesterday said he wanted his father to continue and expressed the hope his father would reconsider his plans. Stalin’s request comes amid reports that elder son Alagiri was not comfortable in Delhi and was keen on returning to state politics. It is not known whether the Congress, supporting the government from outside, will extend support to Stalin. Of late, Karunanidhi is moving in a wheelchair after a spinal surgery and Stalin and elder son MK Alagiri are sharing the bypoll campaign work.
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‘Pradhan panel report never leaked out’
Mumbai, December 9 Chavan told the Maharashtra Assembly in Nagpur where it is holding its winter session that the purported copies of the report, which the Opposition produced in the House on Tuesday, were not genuine. “The copies given to me by the Opposition are different from the original report,” Chavan told the House. He added that there were only four copies of the report and none of them have been leaked. The Opposition has been demanding that the full report of the Ram Pradhan Committee, which inquired into the Mumbai terrorist attack, be tabled. So far only an Action Taken Report has been tabled before the Maharashtra legislature. However, purported copies of the report have found their way into the public domain. The CM said the government was concerned that tabling the report could jeopardise the ongoing trial of Mohammad Ajmal alias Kasab, the lone 26/11 terrorist to be captured alive. The Opposition, led by the BJP, has been leading the tirade against the government in the Assembly. An aggressive opposition forced the house to be adjourned six times today. On Monday, the BJP and the Shiv Sena separately gave breach of privilege notices against the CM, Deputy CM Chaggan Bhujbal, Home Minister RR Patil and senior bureaucrats.
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Ranganath Recommendations
New Delhi, December 9 The assurance came today from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after pressure mounted in the Lok Sabha from several Dalit-based parties, including the Samajwadi Party, to present the report in Parliament. Constituted to assess the status of minorities and suggest ways of improving their lot, the commission, headed by Justice Ranganath Misra, has recommended 15per cent reservation in non-minority educational institutions and central and state government jobs for all religious and linguistic minorities. Out of the 15 per cent earmarked seats in education institutions, Muslims should be given 10 per cent reservation (commensurate with their 73 per cent share in the total minority population in India) and the remaining 5 per cent to other minorities, states the report. It adds that if Muslim candidates are not available to fill 10 per cent seats, the remaining vacancies should go to other minorities and in “no case to the majority community.”On employment front, the report argues that since the minorities, especially Muslims, are much underrepresented in government jobs, “we recommend they should be regarded as backward in this respect within the meaning of that term as used in Article 16 (4) of the Constitution.” Accordingly, the recommendation is to reserve 15 per cent of posts in all cadres and grades under the Central and state governments for the religious and linguistic minorities. Of this, 10 per cent quota is recommended for Muslims and the rest for other minorities. The report, co-authored by Tahir Mahmood, also recommends the inclusion of Muslim and Christian Dalits in SC list, something the National Commission for Minorities has also been supporting.
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Liberhan Debate
New Delhi, December 9 As he went about methodically targeting the Congress and the BJP - holding them both responsible for the disputed structure’s demolition - his comments drew vociferous protests from both parties. A particularly agitated Vinay Katiyar of the BJP - one of the 68 accused in the report and to whom the SP leader referred to several times in his speech - kept asking the Chair for time to put forth his views, holding up proceedings for several minutes. The SP leader argued that the dispute began with placing of idols of Lord Ram in 1949. Identifying three “landmark” developments - 1949 when the idols were placed, 1986 when locks were opened and 1989 when shilanyas took place days before the Lok Sabha election -he said on all the three occasions the Congress was in power at the Centre. There were noisy protests from BJP members when Singh said that leader of the Opposition, LK Advani, was born in Pakistan and had incited people in India through his rath yatra. Strongly objecting to this, BJP’s SS Ahluwalia said most of the national leaders were born in Pakistan and had suffered for India's Independence.
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Krishna reiterates India’s stand on Chinese visas
New Delhi, December 9 Minister of External Affairs S.M. Krishna stated this while replying to a day-long debate on Indo-China relations in the Lok Sabha here today. He said, “We have reacted to the Kashmiris’ issue as a strong nation, that anything not stamped on the Indian passport will not be treated by India as a valid visa. So how can you say we are a soft state? We are not going to compromise on the visa policy.” Replying to the Opposition charge that China was constantly raising objections to the visit of the Dalai Lama to Tawang and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Krishna said, “Much has been made out of this here that the Dalai Lama should not go to Tawang, or the Prime Minister should not go to Arunachal Pradesh. Didn’t the Prime Minister go there? Didn’t Dalai Lama go there? Even my predecessor (former External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee) went to Arunachal Pradesh.” The Minister told Parliament today, “Let me reiterate that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India,” but added, “We must learn from the past and realise that conflict is no solution to any problem.” Expressing confidence in China’s assurance of its commitment to the principles of Panchsheela, the Minister said, “Recently when Chinese Foreign Minister met me in Bangalore, he only reminded me of the five principles of co-existence. I was surprised and also impressed.” While admitting that incursions are taking place along the Indo-China border, Krishna declared, “We will remain vigilant on our borders and our armed forces are patrolling the India-China border. As many as 13 meetings have taken place between Indian and Chinese representatives and more are in the pipeline.” Earlier BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi initiated the debate, recalling how India had to face a conflict with China because of the Indo-Chinese border dispute on Arunachal Pradesh. He also mentioned how the Chinese were planning to construct a dam on Brahmputra river, on China objecting to our construction of road in Ladakh near the Indo-China border and its objection to the Dalai Lama and Prime Minister’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh. Interestingly, successive speakers like Shailendra Kumar (SP), Vijay Bahadur Singh (BSP) and Jagtanand Singh (RJD), not only stuck to Joshi’s line of argument but even repeatedly mentioned him by name during the course of their speech, demonstrating a new understated, subterranean affinity developing between the BJP and non-Congress, secular formations like the SP, BSP and RJD and even the Left parties on issues other than communal. However in this case expectedly the Left came out strongly in support of the government which was defending moderation towards China.
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Pillai: IT industry on terror target
New Delhi, December 9 Home Secretary GK Pillai, addressing a seminar on “Challenge of terrorism to India's infrastructure and economy”, this morning said the time had come to "think the unthinkable" as terrorists were working on new strategies to breach the country's security. "We have seen from the Headley case that one can still slip through the radar. Because we are not looking for them. Because nobody will look for a US citizen, with a US passport and a business visa, you will not think that he is a terrorist," Pillai said. He went on to warn that India’s globally acclaimed software industry was high on the terrorists' target list and sensitive installations like atomic plants and refineries located on the coastline were vulnerable to
terror attacks. Pillai said all software companies in India were now realising this fact and they were taking their own measures to protect themselves. The government was also in partnership with many companies making effort to provide adequate security. Indian software exports today stand at some Rs 2 lakh crore in 2008-09. Pillai pointed out that India's western coastline hosting several petroleum and nuclear installations were vulnerable to terror strikes from the sea route. There were attractive installations on the west coast. No doubt, it was still vulnerable, he said. A good number of nuclear power plants, including the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, are located along western coast. Other than this, some of the biggest oil refineries were located on the west coast as oil was imported from
West Asia and the west coast was the closest. Six refineries are also located in places like Jamnagar, Mumbai, Mangalore
and Kochi.
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Clean chit to Rahul’s pilots
New Delhi, December 9 Sources said statements of the pilots, who had been taken off duty to enable them to appear before the DGCA for a probe, were recorded as part of investigations ordered by the authority after the incident hit national headlines. The pilots told DGCA officials that they had landed well within the civil twilight hours at 5.25 pm with a two-km visibility and under “good light” conditions. They also told the investigating officials that pilot in command had “no discussions with anyone on board”, thereby indicating that the Congress general secretary had no role whatsoever in the landing of the helicopter. Gandhi had yesterday tried to stave off the controversy that he had forced the pilots to land the helicopter in poor visibility conditions. “I am a pilot and I am absolutely aware of the dangers of flying in low visibility conditions,” he said after UP Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi triggered a controversy by saying that Gandhi had forced the pilots to land the chopper in zero visibility conditions. Joshi said, “We had to leave in 15 minutes because it was so dark. Putting our life in danger, we landed the helicopter in zero visibility at Sitapur. The pilot was not ready to land, but Rahul Gandhi forced him to land. You should see his commitment.” However, countering Joshi Gandhi had said, “The PCC president is not a pilot. She is not an expert on weather condition. I did not put any pressure on the pilots.” The Sitapur District Magistrate, however, had alleged that the chopper landed after sunset in poor visibility.
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Telangana agitation back in limelight
Hyderabad, December 9 The indefinite fast by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao has resuscitated a dying movement. At a time when the statehood slogan was losing relevance following a near-total rout of the TRS in the April Assembly elections, the maverick Telangana leader has brought back the issue to the centre stage of
national politics. All eyes are now riveted on 10, Janpath, as UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi holds key to the future of Telangana, a backward region in Andhra Pradesh where an underlying sentiment in favour of separate state had often found violent expression. Comprising nine districts and the state capital of Hyderabad, the Telangana witnessed a violent statehood agitation in 1969, claiming over 300 lives, mostly students. The Telangana protagonists argue that only statehood can solve the problems of backwardness of the region and liberate it from the “clutches of rich and exploitative migrants” from other regions. Lack of irrigation facilities, industries, educational and employment opportunities have been the bane of the region. It is also alleged that the region suffered “deliberate neglect and discrimination” by successive governments. Telangana was part of the Hyderabad state ruled by the Nizams. It was merged with other Telugu-speaking areas of Andhra state to form unified Andhra Pradesh in 1956, the first linguistic state to be formed in the country. Despite gaining popular support, the first bout of Telangana agitation in 1969 fizzled out after a few years. Its chief architect Dr M Channa Reddy had merged his party, the Telangana Praja Samithi, into the Congress and then went on to become the Chief Minister of the state. After nearly three decades, a rabble-rousing politician Chandrasekhar Rao, known as KCR in political circles, revived an otherwise dormant movement and launched the TRS in 2001.
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Tourists from 5 nations to get visa on arrival
New Delhi, December 9 The decision follows efforts made by the Ministry of Tourism to introduce the visa on arrival (VoA) scheme for tourists from the countries which from where there are no security concerns. Union Tourism Minister Kumari Selja had met Home Minister P Chidambaram two weeks ago on the issue. Officials from the Ministry of Tourism said the scheme would be implemented on a pilot basis for one year, adding that modalities for the implementation of the scheme were being worked out with all stakeholders and would be notified very shortly. The introduction of the scheme is expected to provide a quantum jump in foreign tourist arrivals to India from these countries. “The decision to provide VoA facility has sent a positive message about the intention of our country to welcome foreign tourists and also signals a sense of self-confidence in the security systems of the country,” officials said.
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CJI in hospital
New Delhi, December 9 The special Bench, headed by the CJI, will not hear the gas dispute between Reliance Industries and Reliance Natural Resources tomorrow also, the sources said. Justices BS Sudershan Reddy and P Sathasivam are the other members of the Bench.
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Narrow escape
for President Goa rape case: Accused gives up
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