New Delhi, January 24
The BASIC group of countries, comprising India, China, Brazil and South Africa, today announced its support to the Copenhagen Accord to combat climate change while asserting that it was a political document and not a legal agreement, which must feed into a legally binding global accord negotiated by all countries.

After a seven-hour meeting here, environment ministers of the four nations also “expressed their intention to communicate information on their voluntary mitigation actions to the UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) by January 31.”

The intention, expressed in a joint communique after the meeting, put at rest speculation about whether India and China would support the accord that they along with the US, Brazil and South Africa had negotiated at the last minute at the Copenhagen Summit in December.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said: “We support the Copenhagen Accord, but were unanimously of the view that its value lies not as a standalone document but as an input into the two-track negotiation process under the UNFCCC."

One track is on long-term cooperative action to combat climate change and the other is for developed countries to commit to what extent they will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions after 2012 when the current commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol runs out.

BASIC countries also asked the UNFCCC secretariat to hold six meetings of negotiators this year so that the process could culminate by the next climate summit in Mexico City in December.

Asked if the Copenhagen Accord would become a legally binding treaty later, Ramesh replied: “It has no hope of doing so”.

Official sources said India's support to the accord came after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon clarified to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the accord was a political statement of intent that would have no legal force.

The Prime Minister had sought clarification in a letter sent to the UN chief on Friday, a move that prompted the UNFCCC to indefinitely defer its January 31 deadline for countries to indicate their support to the accord.

But the BASIC group would stick to the deadline. South Africa's Water Resources and Environment Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said: “We feel obligated that we must commit what we ourselves were part of. That's a leadership obligation, even if Yvo (de Boer, the UNFCCC chief) has decided to extend the deadline.” 

New Delhi, January 24
Cooperation in the civilian nuclear energy field is expected to be high on the agenda during the meeting tomorrow between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who will be the chief guest at the Republic Day.

The two countries will sign accords in diverse areas, including IT and civilian space, following the talks between the two leaders.

Accompanied by ministers, parliamentarians and businessmen, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak began his four-day visit to India today. He will go to the Hyundai factory near the Tamil Nadu capital and meet Korean businessmen living in the city before reaching New Delhi.

Officials said regional and global issues, including the intensification of economic ties and cooperation in sphere of civilian nuclear cooperation and space technologies, will figure prominently during talks between the two sides.

Closer cooperation in combating global financial recession will also be discussed in the context of the G20 summit Seoul will host later this year.

India is looking at the possibility of a nuclear pact with South Korea, a member the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which supported consensus for enabling global civil nuclear trade with India in the NSG in September last year.

A South Korean consortium won $20.4 billion contract to build four 1,400-MW civilian nuclear power units in the UAE, beating American and French companies for one of Middle East's biggest energy deals.

India has signed civil nuclear accords with seven countries --- the US, France, Russia, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Argentina and Mongolia --- and is expected to sign another one with Canada this year.

Manmohan Singh may utilise the opportunity to assure the South Korean leader that his government was doing everything possible to fast-track the $12 billion South Korean Posco steel project at Jagatsinghpur district in Orissa, the single largest direct foreign investment in India.

Patna, January 24
Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad today demanded the immediate dismissal of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for “failing” to check rising prices of essential commodities.

“Pawar should be termed as a minister of price rise. He took decisions not in favour of farmers but for middlemen. Whenever Pawar opens his mouth, prices of essential commodities shoot up,” Prasad said, taking a dig at the NCP chief.Stating that the current situation was due to the “mismanagement of food economy”, Prasad charged that the price of sugar rose despite the Centre distributing over 11 lakh tonnes during the Maharashtra Assembly polls.

Seeking an answer from the Manmohan Singh government as to “why the prices of essential commodities rise only during the Congress dispensation”, Prasad claimed that prices of essentials did not gallop during the Atal Behari Vajpayee regime though 14 states experienced severe droughts besides a cyclone and an earthquake.

“Despite all odds the country under Vajpayee's regime exported crop food produce worth Rs 10,000 crore to 25 countries across the world,” the BJP leader said.

Prasad said: “Not only the people living below poverty line but the entire middle class and upper middle class sections are facing the brunt of inflation and scarcity of food articles which are being sold at a premium”.

Charging that prices of essential commodities sky-rocketed due to “faulty” policies aimed at giving benefits to traders, Prasad said it was not prudent on the part of the Centre to blame the state governments for the “steep” price rise.

He said while the government exported 48 lakh tonnes of sugar and gave transport and export subsidy for it at Rs 13 per kg, after facing the shortage it was importing sugar at Rs 35-40 per kg and selling it in the market for Rs 50 per kg.

Prasad also charged RJD president Lalu Prasad with enacting a drama by giving a Bihar bandh call on January 28 over price rise.

“Before charging the Centre for the price rise, the RJD president should withdraw the letter of support to the Manmohan Singh government. Lalu still nurtures the ambition to become a Union minister,” the BJP leader said. — PTI

New Delhi, January 24
Australian envoy to India Peter Varghese admits that the continuing attacks on Indian nationals in his country have the “potential to impact on the broader relationship” between the two sides.

Varghese, himself of Indian origin, says his country needs ‘to do a better job” of explaining that it is serious about nabbing the culprits.

“I don't see this issue as putting a stop to the positive trajectory of both sides. It is a serious issue and has to be dealt with and certainly has the potential to impact on the broader relationship. But I think we are both working hard to ensure that does not happen,” Varghese, Australia's high commissioner, said in an interview.

“In India, we need to do a better job of explaining that we are pursuing the culprits because I think there is a view here that culprits are getting away scot-free.”

There has been a wave of attacks on Indian students since May last year. After a brief lull, these have recurred in the last two months, with two of the incidents proving fatal.

Students or taxi drivers of Indian origin have found themselves being targeted in both Melbourne and Sydney, sparking allegations of widespread racism in Australian society and a failure by the law enforcement authorities to act.

But Varghese said it was difficult to point out if only Indians were being attacked and singled out.

“This is not an easy question to give you a simple answer because the problem we have here is that no police force in Australia collects statistics, at least comprehensive statistics which record the nationality of victims of crime, let alone occupation,” he said.

“If you are asking me are Indian students or nationals being singled out for attacks, it is very hard for me to give you any authoritative statistics that could prove or disprove that proposition.”

One of Australia's top intelligence experts and most experienced diplomats, Varghese took over in August at a particularly sensitive time for Australian-Indian relations, which have plummeted due to the attacks.

Varghese said he did not think the evidence gathered led to a conclusion that there was a clear pattern of these crimes unlike Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao's recent observation that there was a distinct pattern to the attacks.

“Certainly, we think a number of these crimes are examples of urban crime, assaults, robberies and thefts. And in some cases these crimes would seem to be committed for racial motivations and I think that is completely unacceptable to the government and the vast majority of the Australian community," Varghese said.

The physical assaults have roiled India and the Indian community in Australia and forced Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s government to step up protection in suburbs where many of the over 1,10,000 Indian overseas students live.

Varghese said though such attacks of Indians also happen in the US and Britain, they do not get played up as much.

For a long time Australia had pursued a White Australia policy which was a restrictive immigration policy. This policy of exclusion continued until the 1950s and was finally repudiated in the early 1970s.

One fallout of the attacks, said Varghese, was that it could have some impact on the number of Indian students that were likely to go to Australia this year. although this will not be the sole explanation for the decline in numbers.

Rigorous visa integrity measures, high Australian dollar exchange rate and the decision to increase the minimum requirement to cover the cost of living from $12,000 to $18,000 for a student could be the other reasons, he said.

“I think that it is important that the law and enforcement and criminal justice system works its way through these issues," said Varghese. — IANS

Bangalore, January 24
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is hoping to steal the show in the coming Republic Day march past in the national capital.

Three of their products are being exhibited for the first time in the parade - Tejas, the light combat aircraft (LCA), Shaurya Missile and Rohini Radar. Besides, DRDO’s star - Agni III missile - will be displayed again for the public at the parade.

The indigenous LCA Tejas, a lightweight, supersonic, multi-role, combat aircraft, is being touted by the DRDO as “best in its class in the world”. More than 1200 sorties have been successfully flown by IAF pilots on seven prototypes of Tejas. While a trainer variant of Tejas has been successfully tested, its naval variant is being developed for aircraft carrier borne operations and the prototype for this is in the final stages of fabrication. “It’s a hell of a fighter,” a DRDO official said.

Shaurya is a canisterised surface-to-surface strategic missile developed by DRDO for use by the armed forces. It has a range of 700 km with a 500 kg warhead and can be launched from fixed as well as mobile launchers. Boosted by a solid propellant rocket motor, the missile travels at hypersonic speeds. Production of the missile has commenced and soon this missile will become part of the arsenal of the defence forces, the official said.

Rohini is ground-based three-dimension medium-range radar for air space surveillance. Its range is 180 km and it can give high altitude coverage.

It is capable of detection and tracking hundreds of air targets, even under hostile electronic warfare environment. Advanced features of the radar include multibeam antenna, digital receiver, and a programmable 
signal processor providing high resolution. The radar has been already inducted in 
service.

Agni-III, the indigenously developed intermediate range ballistic missile, has a range of 3500 km. It provides vital deterrence capability for the country’s defence. It has two-stage solid propellant rocket motor and can be launched from rail network anywhere in the country. The missile is designed to carry nuclear payload.

The Army will also parade at least five other DRDO products at the R-Day march past. These are main battle tank (MBT) Arjun, Samyukta integrated electronic warfare system, an armoured engineering reconnaissance vehicle, multi-span mobile bridging system Sarvatra and an armoured ambulance.

New Delhi, January 24
Have you ever paused to think why the stray dog starts up excitedly whenever your car passes by, bounding alongside and barking as if you were its arch enemy? Or why that other stray near the dustbin barks when you cycle along and makes a dive for your ankles?

It could be “out of affection”, in case the stray and you have been neighbours for some years, say vets, or it could be to “protect their territorial rights”.

There are an estimated 2,65,000 stray dogs in the Capital, according to a civic body estimate done last year.

Every morning when Gauri goes in her car to drop the children to the bus stop, there is a particular black stray that sits waiting, and springs into attack mode whenever she sights their white Maruti Suzuki.

“It’s really funny. She’ll be sitting lazily, her jaws resting on her front paws, and as my car comes down the road, she perks up, and takes her daily position a little further up behind a tree. And as my car passes by, she jumps out barking loudly and gives chase for a little while,” Gauri, a housewife, recounts laughing.

However, the black stray, whom her children have nicknamed “Gussi” (angry one), does not bark when Gauri or her children walk past. “She is very quiet then, her tail hangs down, and she looks at us from the corner of her eyes. I wonder why she chases us each morning,” says Gauri. This behaviour of “Gussi” could be out of affection, maintains veterinary surgeon RT Sharma.

“Dogs like to give chase and bark sometimes out of affection, when they recognise the person as a friend. They want to play,” Sharma, who runs Pet Planet, a veterinary clinic in south Delhi, said. Another reason could be to protect its territory, says Sharma. “Sometimes dogs growl and give chase out of protective feelings over their territory. They feel any moving object, like a car or motorcycle, could be a threat to their territory, and they bark and try to bite to defend it,” he said.

So, how does one get past a ferocious dog?

“Offer the dog a biscuit and wait for it to smell you over. It will go away. The next day, give it another biscuit, it will become friendly,” assured Sharma.

According to Deep Mathur, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) spokesperson, around 14,000 dog bite cases were reported in 2009 in the MCD-manned areas of the Capital. “There are 10 NGOs working with the MCD to manage strays in the Capital,” Mathur said.

The NGOs work with resident welfare associations of various colonies to sterilise and vaccinate the stray. “All strays have got black collars so that they cannot be picked up by the civic bodies. They belong to the colony,” he said. — IANS

New Delhi: Melodies of music composer SD Burman will resonate on the Rajpath during the Republic Day parade. Tripura, from where Burman hailed, has based its state tableau on him. More than 51 years after the 1959 classic “…Sun mere Bandhu re….” from the movie Sujata was hummed by many music lovers, the song was rendered from the tableau of the Tripura government at the rehearsal for the parade here on Thursday. The tableaux of the states selected for the event would join the annual Republic day parade - a mélange of military might and culture of the country - at Vijay Chowk to travel towards the India Gate.

SD Burman had composed music for 89 Hindi movies and 31 Bengali movies spanning a career of over four decades. He died in 1975, but he was a living legend by then having composed various classics. Also, evening prayers at Har-ki-Pauri will be depicted in the tableau of Uttrakhand and famous dabbawalas (tiffin carriers) of Mumbai will be depicted in the tableau of Maharashtra. Among the northern states, Jammu and Kashmir will display its acclaimed wooden and woolen handicrafts.

The Indian Air Force will showcase the Airborne Warning and Control System - airborne radar for the first time. A series of fighters and choppers will also be flown. The Army will display its mobile multiple rocket launcher - Smerch - besides Arjun series of tanks and other equipments.

New Delhi, January 24
Just over a month since he took over, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari has asserted he has "100 percent" support and cooperation of party seniors and there was no move by leaders like Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj to "convert him into a puppet."

Speaking to Karan Thapar in his "Devil's Advocate" programme for CNN-IBN, Gadkari, who took over Dec 20 last year, denied any move by Jaitley and Swaraj to make him sing to their tune. Gadkari said: "No, not at all. They don't have such type of intentions. The people who know me know that I will never become a puppet of anybody."

To a question by Thapar if he has the "full support and co-operation of leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar", Gadkari replied: "Hundred percent, I'm telling you that all leaders are with me. They are supporting me from the core of their heart. They are guiding me very properly, taking all precautions about my every activity."

Gadkari, who is the youngest BJP president, also claimed he solved the political dissent in the party's Rajasthan unit within days of taking over.

"When I became the president, the Rajasthan problem of differences between the party president and former chief minister (Vasundhara Raje) was solved," said Gadkari.

"Two days before, the (BJP) president of Rajasthan (Arun) Chaturvedi and Vasundhara Raje had come together and they delivered a press conference there." Gadkari made the claim as Thapar quizzed him on the dissent within the party in states like Rajasthan, Bihar, Karnataka, and Gujarat.

To Thapar's remark that "today the party with a difference looks like a party with sharp differences", Gadkari said: "I'll tell you one thing. We are a democratic party. People are expecting from our party -- a different type of party, which is different from other parties." He sought to brush aside the perception that he was imposed on the BJP as its president by the RSS.

"Two months earlier, L.K. Advani had talked to me if I would accept the post of president. Even Rajnath Singh also had discussed the issue with me. Actually, it was a unanimous decision within the party.

"When it was declared that the party is going to select a new person of the new generation, at the very moment my name was fixed. They all discussed about that with me," said Gadkari.

"After that, when I discussed with the RSS they said this is not our choice and rather the BJP have made the choice." — IANS

Jaipur, January 24
Chaos was witnessed at the Jaipur Marathon when the police resorted to cane-charge in a bid to disperse fans of actor Salman Khan, who flagged off the event here today.

The incident took place early morning when Salman merely flagged off the marathon and did not take part in it. Infuriated over this, the fans went berserk and started throwing chairs and water bottles at the police. The resulting chaos forced the organisers to first escort Salman off the stage before he was whisked away in a car.

The police resorted to cane-charge to prevent the situation from going out of control.

“They wanted him to run with them, but in view of the behaviour of the crowd and due to security reasons, the administration decided the other way round,” a police official said. However, no one was injured in the incident. Over 20,000 people had gathered at the Ramniwas Garden this morning to participate in half-marathon of 21 km and a “dream run” of 6 km.

New Delhi, January 24
The increasing global temperature may spell doom for the Sunderban tigers as a WWF study has cautioned that rise of 28 centimetre in sea levels will engulf 96 per cent of their habitat.

The findings, though specific for Bangladesh, may be a cause of concern for India as well because the Sunderbans are spread across India and Bangladesh having same ecosystem and tiger population. The increase of 28 cm from the sea levels of the year 2000 will cause 96 per cent decline in tiger habitat of Sunderbans in Bangladesh while the number of breeding tigers would be reduced to less than 20, Colby Loucks of WWF-United States said in a paper.

"We find that the Sunderbans, and its biodiversity, may be vulnerable to much lower increases in sea level than previously thought," he said. The researcher say the situation may come in about next 50-90 years if Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimation of sea level rise is taken into consideration.

"The Sunderbans are spread across India and Bangladesh with about 5,000 sq kms in Bangladesh and 4,000 sq kms in India. Although the political boundaries define the region, the entire area has similar ecosystem. Any environmental change taking place will have effect on both sides," Joint Director Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve Raju Das said.

However, some leading tiger experts are not convinced by the study as tides in the area drown considerable part of the reserve in both sides on regular basis. There are estimated 350 Royal Bengal Tigers in the Bangladesh Sunderbans, according to UNESCO. As per estimates of Project Tiger in India, there were 245 striped cats in 2001 census on its Indian side.

On the Indian side, the situation may not be as bad as in Bangladesh as mangrove covers are still safe on Indian coastline in comparison to the other side, experts say. "They (Bangladesh) have larger coastline besides they have lost a major chunk of mangrove cover which acts as wall against inundation of salty sea water," Former Director of Project Tiger and leading tiger expert P K Sen said.

He agreed that because of common eco-system, the impact may cascade on Indian side as well but added that islands in the reserve keep changing as new ones come and older get drowned in the delta but it does not have much impact on the tiger population. When asked about the findings of the WWF study group, he refused to comment on the authenticity of its findings.

"While tigers are a highly adaptable species... the Sunderbans ecosystem has become an isolated refuge, boxed in by humans and the sea. Although there is considerable uncertainty regarding the degree of future habitat loss due to sea level rise, it is still imperative to act now to mitigate the potential habitat loss," the researchers say. — PTI 

Guwahati, January 24
An innovative research that has been conducted by noted social worker and renowned filmmaker Jahnu Barua for the past 20 years has concluded that the far-flung Northeast corner of the vast country should have a separate time zone for the sake of rapid economic development through better utilisation of productive daylight hours in a day.

Making a presentation here, filmmaker Barua of ‘Meine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara’ fame said the time difference between its eastern-most border and western-most border is more than two hours. So, being in the east, the Northeast region gets daylight much before the rest of the country.

Barua, who was conferred Padma Shri by the President of India in 2003, said, sun rises in Kohima (Nagaland) at 4 am, while it is at 6 am in Mumbai. But since India is a single time zone country, the normal activity schedule like meal timings, working hours, sleeping hours, etc, throughout the country remain more of less same throughout the country. As a result, all these activities, including most productive working hours, get delayed in the Northeast compared to those in the country’s western part by about two hours as far as availability and usability of daylight and dark hours concerned. The perennially delayed habit over the years has resulted in colossal losses for the Northeast in all spheres.

He pointed out that vast and developed countries like the US, Canada, Australia, etc, had more than one time zone to facilitate better use of the more productive daylight hours in different parts of those countries. One of the findings of the research is that all more productive, progressive and prosperous states of India like Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are on the west of the IST longitude (82.5 E) while all less productive states like Northeastern states, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand are situated in the east.

“Having situated in the far east, the entire Northeast which wastes 2 to 3 hours of daylight everyday having to function on IST, ends up being the least productive, progressive and prosperous,” Barua said. The research report recommends for creation of separate time zone for the Northeast. 

New Delhi, January 24
Dense fog disrupted air operations at the IGI Airport here for the sixth consecutive day today, throwing schedules of around 70 domestic and international flights out of gear and causing inconvenience to the fliers.

Over 12 domestic morning flights to Chandigarh, Bangalore, Aurangabad and Mumbai were cancelled, 18 inbound and outbound international flights were delayed by over three to four hours while four flights were rescheduled, an airport official said.

Fog started to descend over the airport at around 10.30 pm last night and become thicker by 3.30 am when the runway visibility dropped to 200 m, forcing the airport authorities to implement the low visibility procedures. The runway visibility further deteriorated to 100 m by 5.30 am and some flights arrived here using CAT-IIIB instrument landing system. Visibility continued to fluctuate between 100 m and 175 m, due to which the Air Traffic Control did not clear the flights for take-offs. — PTI 

Guwahati, January 24
Red alert has been sounded in Assam in the wake of Republic Day boycott called by several insurgent groups, including the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), even as suspected ULFA militants blew up a portion of the Rangiya-Murkongselek meter gauge (MG) railway track in Dhemaji district of eastern Assam early this morning.A powerful improvised explosive device (IED) blew off a portion of the MG railway track between Silapathar and Simenchapori stations. The explosion took place about an hour before a passenger train crossed that point.

As part of the precautionary measures adopted to foil possible strike by terror groups in the run up to the Republic Day, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has suspended night running of all mail/express and passenger trains in the Assam region from today till January 27.NFR spokesman Jayanta Sharma said running of the mail/express and passenger trains in Assam had been put on hold during the night hours from 6 pm to 6 am.

Thus, 33 long-distance and short-distance trains have been cancelled while 18 trains have been regulated. Eleven trains have been short-terminated at stations mostly outside Assam or partially cancelled and 24 other trains have been rescheduled.

New Delhi, January 24
Former firebrand BJP leader Uma Bharti has claimed that veteran leader LK Advani had offered her to contest the last Lok Sabha elections on a party ticket from Uttar Pradesh, but she declined.

“Advani offered me to come back to BJP and contest from Amroha Lok Sabha constituency,” Bharti said.

“I rejected Advani’s offer as I did not want to fight the elections on anyone’s mercy. Accepting Advani as my leader, I told him that I want to be a part of the NDA,” she said.

The Bharatiya Janashakti Party chief said she cannot be separated from the BJP. “We will be finished if we tried to look different from the BJP as the core ideology of our party and the BJP is so similar. It is my political compulsion that I cannot be a part of any other alliance but NDA,” she said.

When asked if she would return to BJP, Bharti said she did not want to join the BJP, but be a part of the NDA.

She said she had put up a proposal before Advani and JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav that her party wants to be a part of the NDA. “I have not got any response to it so far, BJP’s new president Nitin Gadkari has not even contacted me once.”

“My proposal was pending before Advani and I was told that only after Gadkari's appointment will any decision be taken,” she said. — PTI