New Delhi, January 29
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has some good news and some bad too. The good news is that food prices may decline in the next fiscal in wake of higher farm output, but what remains a reason to worry is that India will have to keep importing edible oils and pulses for at least next 10 years.

Congress media managers are once again disconcerted with Pawar’s latest statement indicating that prices of pulses and edible oil can rise further in the coming days. They say when the price rise has become such a burning issue, tough but soothing statements are needed to have a desired impact on people and the market. “But you don’t tell someone who has spent a lifetime in politics how he should speak on sensitive issues,” a senior party leader said.

In an interview to a news channel, Pawar said India would have to import edible oil and pulses for next 10 years. However, he said the food prices were expected to decline in the next fiscal due to a higher farm output. “In 2011-12, the government will have to worry about where to store the produce,” Pawar claimed.

Notably, food inflation has already touched 17.40 per cent for the week ended January 16 on account of high prices of vegetables and pulses.

Pawar’s candid admissions are a cause of worry for Congress leaders, who say addressing the psychological part of price rise is more important than taking care of the fiscal part. “Such statements should be avoided. If you give inflation such a treatment, it is bound to have a negative impact on minds of people. In such situations, tough but soothing statements are required to have the required impact on people as well as speculators,” they say. The party is also is in disagreement with Pawar allowing futures trading to continue in wheat. “It doesn’t matter what dynamics of futures trading actually are. But in present circumstances to allow futures trading to carry on sends a wrong signal,” say party leaders say.

When asked to comment on party’s view on futures trading in wheat, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said future trading was earlier banned because the government felt that there was a direct correlation between inflation and futures trading. “It is better to be cautious. However, the judgement needs to be taken by the ministry concerned keeping all factors in mind,” he said.

Bhanu, January 29
It was a momentous occasion for 209 women, who created history by forming the first batch of women constables to join the ranks of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), on passing out from the Basic Training Center (BTC) here today.

Home Minister P Chidambaram reviewed the parade, which was commanded by Poonam Johari. Terming the Sino-Indian border as the most difficult, where these women constables would be deployed, he said the women personnel would be able to regulate and screen women during international trade between India and China at Nathu La and Sherathung, besides escorting female pilgrims on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

Felicitating parents for taking a bold decision to let their daughters join a force entrusted with guarding one of the most challenging borders in the world, Chidambaram said these constables would always cherish this day even as it was written in golden letters in the history of the ITBP.

VVIP security duties, guarding vital installations, rescue and relief operations, including disaster management and psychological operations at border villages and during festivals, public meetings and agitations are other tasks they are expected to undertake.

ITBP Director General Vikram Srivastava said they would be further trained in counter-insurgency and jungle warfare and mountaineering and skiing as well. A Quick Reaction Team (QRT) and a Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad would also be formed in order to raise an independent women’s battalion, he added.

The Home Minister also gave away awards for excellence during training. 

New Delhi, January 29
The government proposes to set up boards for vocational education on state and central level to take school education to the next, functional level, and ensure children have more to choose from than they have had for all these years.

For some time now, Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal has wondered why students have to be doctors and engineers alone and why they can’t be automobile or refrigeration experts. He is for the CBSE offering vocational courses to students at the higher and higher secondary level. To take discussions forward on this front and create an institutionalised mechanism for guidance, boards could come in handy. The proposal was part of the agenda of yesterday’s three-day meeting of state education secretaries, called by the government to discuss issues related to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Right to Education Act. The meeting also put thrust on core curriculum for science, commerce and maths.

Sibal said in the future even a core curriculum for humanities could be mulled and regional and state specific diversities would be made part of its syllabus under the head “core plus”. That apart, the reigning shortage of six lakh teachers at school level consumed a lot of time on discussions, with the minister underlining the need for quality teachers under the RTE Act, which will give five years to all untrained teachers to acquire suitable qualifications.

“Quality should be at the forefront of the education system, and access to quality education must be available for all. The nation cannot move forward with good education being limited to an elite class of people,” Sibal said in his inaugural address yesterday, admitting to the concerns on quality of education and teachers, as raised by the ASER report released last fortnight in the capital. The states are still waiting to know what percentage of expenditure they would have to make towards the overall budget for the RTE Act. The government is yet to announce the sharing pattern but it appears the same is being worked out positively for the states, many of which had earlier expressed concerns over footing the Bill of making education a right of all six to 14 year age.

Mumbai, January 29
The Shiv Sena today attacked Shah Rukh Khan for his comments on Pakistani cricketers being excluded from the Indian Premier League.

Sanjay Raut, editor of Sena mouthpiece Saamna and Rajya Sabha member, today warned him of dire consequences if he included Pakistani players in his Kolkata Knight Riders team.

Kolkata, January 29
Haldiram Bhujiawala proprietor Prabhu Shankar Agarwal was today sentenced to life imprisonment along with four others by a fast track court for conspiring to kill a tea stall owner whose shop came in the way of a food plaza he was building.

Judge Tapan Sen of the Bankshall Court awarded the sentence to Agarwal and history-sheeters Gopal Tiwari, Arun Khandelwal, Manoj Sharma and Raju Sonkar under Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) besides 10 years rigorous prison terms under section 307/34 (attempt to murder/common intention).Tiwari was also found guilty under the Arms Act and sentenced to seven years in one section and three years in another. All the sentences would run concurrently, the judge said in his order.Jaipur-based Agarwal, owner of the multi-crore food and confectionery chain that has outlets in many cities and also in London and elsewhere, had failed to persuade the owner of a tea stall in the Burra Bazar area here - Satyanarayan Singh - to move out, as the stall would spoil the facade of the food plaza he was constructing. He hired a professional killer from Ahmedabad to kill Singh.

On the afternoon of March 25, 2005, the professional killer along with two other associates suddenly appeared in front of the tea stall and opened fire on the person sitting in the manager’s chair, mistaking him to be Satyanarayan Singh.

The injured - later identified as Satyanarayan’s brother - was shot twice but managed to run for his life. 

New Delhi, January 29
The Congress today contemptuously dismissed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that he would write a letter to the UPA chairperson in Italian to draw the Centre’s attention on the price rise issue.

“The Chief Minister of Gujarat has lost it,” said Congress spokesman Manish Tewari when asked to comment on Modi’s dig at Sonia Gandhi. “From an uncivilised person, one can only expect such preposterous rhetoric,” he added.

Speaking at a Garib Kalyan Mela in Patan district last night, Modi said: “I have written number of letters to the Centre on the issue of price rise. I have written letters in the language they can understand, urging them to take steps to rein in spiralling prices of food items. But, I think that they have no empathy for the poor. Now, I need to write a letter in Italian to make them act.”“They (Centre) had organised a meeting on the issue of price rise. But have now postponed it saying that they have some other work. I don’t understand what work is more important than addressing the issue of price rise,” he went on to add.

New Delhi, January 29
Amid fresh attacks on Indians in Australia, the government today expressed the hope that "something will come out" from the investigations into the assaults while drawing attention to an advisory asking students not to go Down Under for studies.

Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur this morning received at the Delhi Airport the body of Ranjodh Singh, a fruit picker, who was killed in Australia on December 29. Ranjodh Singh was set alight and left to die in the New South Wales farming town of Griffith.

Replying to a question from the media, she pointed out that an advisory had been issued by the External Affairs Ministry on June 12, last year, spelling out dos and don’ts for students planning to go to Australia for further studies.

“The advisory encourages the students to conduct due diligence and carefully apprise themselves of the ground realities, including suitability of the institution in question, costs involved and consular services,’’ she added.

Preneet Kaur said the government was pressurising the Australian authorities to find the reasons behind the attacks. ‘’I think they (Australians) are open now to investigation taking place because of the meeting between foreign minister S.M. Krishna and his counterpart in London," she added.

Meanwhile, Australian High Commissioner to India Peter Varghese welcomed the arrests of three Indians in connection with the murder of Ranjodh Singh in Australia's New South Wales and said the investigation showed the attack was not racist.

"The arrests underlined the importance of allowing investigations to run their course and not to jump to conclusions based on initial reports. 

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