New Delhi, April 30
Thirteen years ago, India compromised its national security and economic sovereignty by outsourcing the printing of its currency notes to three foreign firms.

Printing of a whopping Rs one lakh crore was outsourced by the Reserve Bank of India to American Banknote Company,US (635 million pieces of currency), Thomas de la Rue, UK (1,365 million pieces of Rs 100 denomination) and Giesecke and Devrient Consortium (Germany) (1,600 million pieces of Rs 500 denomination) — all in utter disregard of country’s sovereign interests and all for unconvincing reasons.

The startling revelations were today made by the Committee on Public Undertakings, which, in its report to the Parliament, minced no words in indicting the government of the day (United Front, whose Finance Minister was P Chidambaram) and the Reserve Bank of India for a “move that entailed a grave risk of unauthorised printing of excess currency notes which would have been unaccounted for and therefore could have fallen into the hands of terrorists…”

“We simply wonder how come a decision was taken to have the currency notes printed by foreign companies. These countries certainly had the capability of undertaking the entire printing assignment. The very thought of India’s currency being printed in three different countries is alarming to say the least. Between 1997 and 1998, our entire economic sovereignty was at stake. We express strong resentment over such an unprecedented, unconventional and uncalled for measure,” the panel says.

Aghast at the move, resorted to for the first and last time in 1997 and 1998, chairman of the committee V Kishore Chandra Deo today said the committee indicted government of the day which allowed such a thing to happen and recommended further probe into the issue.

“We are surprised the government of the day ignored grave implications of the move which could endanger national security. It needs to be investigated how the then Union Cabinet cleared the RBI’s proposal?” Deo said. Asked if he was indicting UPA’s current Home Minister, who was the then FM, Deo said he was indicting whoever was in the government of that day.

The committee plainly rejected the pleas, which the RBI extended to justify the move. It cited bad condition of notes and soilage --- something Deo laughed at today, saying: “These are routine things. They don’t warrant drastically mindless moves.” The committee has recommended to the government the strengthening of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) so that it can undertake the printing and minting of required currency within the country.

“The RBI outsourced currency printing on the pretext that there was massive shortfall of currency in the given year. Whatever the crisis, currency requirement of the country should be met within the country,” the committee notes. Its observations form part of the review of SPMCIL, constituted in 2006 to prevent counterfeiting in the area of bank note printing in India. Strangely, the RBI told the committee it had not conducted any assessment of counterfeit currency in the country. As per estimates, Rs 1,69,000 crore counterfeit notes are floating around including in the official banking channels.

New Delhi, April 30
It was the turn of the ruling Congress members today to troop into the well of the Rajya Sabha and force its adjournment not once but twice. The reason: not allowed to raise the issue of certain anti-Dalit remarks being attributed to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.Their conduct later led the BJP to demand an apology from the Leader of the House.

 In fact, BJP leader Najma Heptullah recalled that during her 17 years as Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, treasury benches had never got the House adjourned. “This is unprecedented,” she said.

Interestingly, when Opposition parties had stalled Parliament proceedings over alleged phone tapping of leaders on Monday, it was a very preachy Congress that accused its political rivals of ignoring “national interest” in an attempt to score political brownie points. “Disruption and obstruction leading to adjournment of Parliament for the day is not in national or public interest,” party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi reasoned, armed with the question: “What purpose does it serve to disrupt Parliament.”

However, even as Singhvi berated the Opposition on its “behaviour” in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on that day, he was not so convincing when asked whether his party had done the right thing by disrupting proceedings of the Lok Sabha when BJP’s Yashwant Sinha was speaking on the killing of security personnel in Chhattisgarh. “A distinction has to be drawn between temporary disruption and adjournment for the entire day,” was his logic on whether the ruling party should have resorted to such an exercise.

Today it was senior Congress member Praveen Rashtrapal who wanted to raise the issue during zero hour in the House. Denying the permission, Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan said the notice had not been admitted by the Chairman. Rashtrapal was joined by other members of his party, including JD Seelam, Alka Balram Kshatriya and Ishwar Singh, in the protest.

An agitated Rashtrapal, who stormed the well, insisted that he be allowed to raise the matter. He said the Gujarat Chief Minister had “humiliated” Dalits and BR Ambedkar. Sensing the mood of the treasury benches, Khan adjourned the House for 15 minutes.

During the adjournment period, Congress members were seen holding discussion with Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan. When the House resumed, Rahman Khan called P Rajeev of the CPM for his zero hour mention but Rashtrapal and his colleagues again stormed the well, forcing the Deputy Chairman to adjourn the House till 2 pm.

Outside the House, Rashtrpal said he has been denied the opportunity to raise the matter despite repeated attempts. “The entire world knows about Modi. In his statement while releasing a book 'Samajik Samrasta' on April 26, he had said Ambedkar was not a revolutionary… Modi also compared Dalits to mentally-retarded children,” he was quoted as saying. He added that he would raise the issue again on Monday.

New Delhi, April 30
On a day when the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board suspended the licence of Delhi University’s Chemistry Lab for irresponsible handling of radioactive waste, the government stepped into the ongoing radiation controversy asking the University Grants Commission to frame guidelines in respect of all kinds of research materials being used by higher educational institutions.

The guidelines would have to cover procurement, transport, handling and disposal of all hazardous and non-hazardous materials being used by colleges and universities for research purposes.

Minister for Human Resources Development Kapil Sibal told TNS that he would also write to every department of the government to find out the processes in place with respect to the use of fertilizers, pesticides and any other kind of chemical.

“We are trying to evolve internal and external guidelines to monitor the use of not just radioactive material but all kinds of hazardous and non hazardous materials by institutes. The ministry is writing to every university to find out the processes being currently applied to procure, transport, handle and dispose of such material. All universities must internally look at the handling of such materials including chemical and biomedical. They must also tell us how they propose to handle the materials they procure in future,” Sibal said, adding that public safety was paramount.

The HRD Ministry will pass on to universities the information on hazardous waste handling it receives from government departments. “Once we get the information, we will consult research experts and regulatory bodies to evolve a final guideline in respect of use of research material by institutions,” the minister said, adding that all institutions engaged in frontier research will also be required to inform the ministry about the practices it is adopting to handle research material.

Asked if he would initiate action against Delhi University found grossly negligent in handling radioactive waste, which led to one death, Sibal said the ministry was waiting for the probe report into the matter. “We are in touch with the V-C and will see what to do,” he said.

Mumbai, April 30
The Bombay High Court today directed the Mumbai police commissioner to produce Abdul Rauf Merchant, the absconding convict in Gulshan Kumar murder case, by June 30.

Merchant has been convicted for shooting the music baron dead, and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, he disappeared after being released on parole last year. Earlier, Mumbai police had informed the High Court --- where his appeal against conviction is pending --- that he fled to Bangladesh, and had been detained there.

Police then turned to Interpol, to bring him back. However, today additional public prosecutor Mankunvar Deshmukh told the court that Interpol’s Delhi branch has no information about Rauf’s latest whereabouts.

“Recently there was no communication from Bangladesh authorities as to whether he was still in their custody,” Deshmukh said. The Division Bench of Justices BH Marlapalle and Mridula Bhatkar, however, said it was commissioner of police’s responsibility to produce him before the court.“Produce him on or before June 30,” the court said. The hearing has been adjourned to July 5. Gulshan Kumar was gunned down on August 12, 1997, outside a temple in suburban Andheri. — PTI

New Delhi, April 30
Fifteen-year-old Durga was brought to Bangalore from her hometown in Bengal with an assurance of good education and a respectable lifestyle. Instead she ended up in the house of a software engineer couple where she worked as a domestic help and got mercilessly beaten up on every little pretext.

“Sahib burnt my back and left hand with hot oil when I broke a glass. I was kicked down the stairs many times that left me with a permanently swollen lip,” said Durga as she narrated her horrifying experience at a national public hearing against ban on child labour in the Capital today. This national social audit was held by civil society organisations grouped under campaign against child labour and campaign against child trafficking.

Many other stories like Durga’s jolted the jury and the participants in the audit today. Sanjay from Kursela district in Bihar started working in a hotel because his father is ill and he is the eldest of three children. His day starts at 5 am and ends at 9 pm, and abuses are part of the fare. He also gets Rs 900 and free food. He has studied up to Class IV but now he pays for the education of his siblings. 

Jaipur, April 30
A week after a panchayat diktat forced five persons to commit suicide in Karauli district, a newly-wed couple in the state’s Barmer district has sought permission from the authorities to end their lives after a Khap panchayat ordered their separation and payment of Rs 5 lakh.

According to reports from Barmer, the Khap panchayat of Bhimda village came out with the verdict against Chatra Ram and his wife Khama on March 5. The panchayat asked Khama to sever her ties with her legally-wedded husband Chatra Ram and instead live with Rekha Ram, a resident of Mokhab village. However, unlike Haryana, this isn’t a case of an inter-caste marriage. At the heart of the panchayat diktat is a monetary transaction between Khama’s family and Rekha Ram.

Sources said Khama got engaged to Chatra Ram with the consent of her mother and grandfather in 2001. However, sometime back Khama's brothers and maternal uncle reportedly took Rs 5 lakh from Rekha Ram with a promise that she would be married to him. They had been pressurising her to marry Rekha Ram since February this year. She was even "forcibly" sent to Rekha Ram who allegedly kept her tied with ropes. But, she somehow managed to escape and got married to Chatra Ram as per Arya Samaj traditions in Jodhpur last month.

Her brothers then lodged a complaint against the couple with the police, which arrested Chatra Ram from Jalore. However when Khama expressed her desire to live with Chatra Ram, the court allowed them to live together. After the court decision, her brothers sought help of the khap over the issue. The khap panchayat eventually asked the couple to pay the amount to Rekha Ram, besides ruling that they would be killed if they failed to comply with the order.

The matter came to light when the couple approached District Collector Gaurav Goyal during a public hearing early this week. They requested the Collector to allow them to commit suicide as they would not be able to follow the orders of the panchayat. “We will prefer death to separation. We did not marry to get separated on a panchayat’s diktat,” the couple told the authorities.

According to the Collector, a case has been registered after the couple lodged a complaint about the threats and the extortion. He said the couple had been provided a guard for security and the khap had been warned of strict action. “The police is investigating the matter and action would be taken against the culprits,” he added. 

Guwahati, April 30
It was during late 1990s and the first couple of years of this century, the Bodo tribe-dominated areas in Assam --- spread along the north bank of Brahmaputra River and bordering Bhutan --- were under boil because of the terror perpetrated by an armed group called Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT). The outfit’s chief demand was a separate state for Bodo tribe.

Almost every day during that tumultuous phase, killings, bomb blasts on market areas, railway tracks committed by the dreaded BLT ultras used to hog headlines. The banned BLT 
was led by one ‘Thebela’, an explosives expert.

The BLT was subsequently disbanded and its leaders finally agreed to an autonomous council for rapid socio-economic development of Bodo-tribe dominated areas in the state. As a result, Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) was born.

Former militant leaders of BLT formed Bodo People’s Front (BPF) after signing the Bodo Peace Accord or the BTC Accord on February 10, 2003 with Government of India. The party first came to power in 2005 after winning the first BTC election that year. The party also forged an alliance with the Congress after 2006 Assembly election.. Hagrama Mohilary is the leader of BPF. Mohilary took oath as the chief of the BTC on April 26 last for the second consecutive term after BPF was once again elected to power in the second BTC election held in the second week of April. The BPF won 31 out of total 40 seats in the BTC.

Three BPF leaders, including a former top BLT leader, are now Cabinet ministers in Assam.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the story of formation of BTC could be a role model to solve the raging problem of Naxalism in the heart of the country ‘through devolution of power to aggrieved tribal groups’.

“Bodo tribe youths, under the banner of the BLT, had launched armed revolution on being felt deprived of benefits of development process and to uplift the lot of Bodo masses. The Centre after prolonged negotiation could persuade them to shun violence and take charge of development of Bodoland areas. It has done wonders as the Bodoland is now very much on the path of progress under the BTC ruled by Hagrama Mohilary,” Gogoi said.

Guwahati, April 30
Encouraged by the recent finding of highest tiger density in famous Kaziranga National Park, the Assam Forest Department has constituted the country’s first Tiger Foundation Committee (TFC).

State minister for environment and forest Rockybul Hussain said that the committee would comply with recent National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) directives. It would cover all three tiger reserves in the state - national parks in Kaziranga, Manas and Nameri. The foundation aims to route Project Tiger funds to tiger reserves through it rather than through state governments.

Hussain announced that Kaziranga National Park had the highest tiger density in the world at 32 per 100 sqkm, surpassing Corbett National Park’s record. His claim was based on a study conducted by Kaziranga forest staff and experts from NGO Aaranyak during the first three month of this year using the camera trap method over 144 sqkm of the park’s core area. A report “Monitoring tigers and prey animals in Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India” was also released by the minister yesterday.

“We divided the 144 sqkm study area into equal grids measuring 1.5 sq km. In all, 38 tigers -- including a one-year-old cub -- were spotted from 249 photographs generated by 25 pairs of infrared camera traps. Of those, 20 were females, 15 males while the gender of the remaining three, including the cub, was not known,” Aaranyak field biologist Firoz Ahmed said.

Corbett National Park held the record for highest density of big cats at 19.6 tigers per 100 sq km. Kaziranga was selected for the study as it had a viable tiger population — a population with at least 20 breeding females — and had the potential to become the source of dispersal of tigers to the region.

New Delhi, April 30
The Supreme Court today sought the response of Punjab, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) and the Centre to a suit filed by Haryana opposing Punjab’s control over the Shahpur Kandi Dam, Modhopur Head Works and Thein Dam/Ranjit Sagar Project.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan issued a notice to Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir too.

Appearing for Haryana, senior counsel Abhishek Singhvi and Additional Advocate General Manjit Singh Dalal said building a third dam, Shahpur Kandi Dam, on the Ravi river would further reduce the flow of water downstream, affecting the lower riparian states.

Insisting on the construction, Punjab was going ahead with the work without the consent of Haryana and other states that would be affected, they contended and sought “status quo” on the project as an interim relief on the original suit. The Bench, which included Justices Deepak Verma and HL Gokhale, however, rejected the plea for instant relief.

Haryana has pleaded in the suit that these three projects should be handed over to the BBMB for administration, maintenance and operation for all purposes such as regulation of releases protecting the interests of all the partner states, including Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Haryana.

The state has also sought a decree declaring that Haryana is entitled to draw power from the Anandpur Sahib Hydel Project, Kukerian Hydel Project, Thein Dam, UBDC Stage-II and Shahpur Kandi hydel scheme, in proportion to its share in the waters.

Haryana should be given a legal right to the legal documents, records and data relating to the release patterns of the three projects. It has further demanded that work on Shahpur Kandi Dam should commence only after this exercise and the construction should be done either by the BBMB or the Centre, not by Punjab.

According to Punjab, it has spent Rs 190 crore on the Rs 2,200-crore Shahpur Kandi Dam. Jammu and Kashmir counsel Anis Suhrawardy said this project was to come up under an agreement reached with his state more than 10 years ago on the condition that J-K would get a share of the power generated from it. So, it was also opposed to allowing the project to be set up solely by Punjab.

Jaipur, April 30
Over two-and-a-half years after the Ajmer Dargah blast, the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has made its first breakthrough with the arrest of Devendra Gupta, a suspect, from Ajmer district on Wednesday night.

According to sources, Gupta was under the electronic surveillance and had alleged links with some right-wing Hindu outfits in Jharkhand. He was arrested when he along with his 15-year-old nephew arrived in the holy town to visit his ailing mother at Bihari Ganj locality there.

The ATS had been tracking him for long through his mobile phone calls. “We knew nothing about him for the last 12 years. He didn’t come home. On Wednesday he came and the police caught him,” said SP Gupta, his father who runs a grocery shop.

Though the investigators declined to name the outfit to which Gupta was linked, it was learnt that the investigating agencies were probing into his links with the blasts at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, which was bombed before Ajmer Dargah blast took place. The SIM cards used to trigger bombs at the Hyderabad blasts were also traced to Jharkhand. Officials are also probing Gupta’s alleged link with Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a key suspect in the Malegaon blast case.

Meanwhile, commenting on the breakthrough, Rajasthan Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal said the arrest has been made in view of the concrete evidence against Gupta. The accused was produced in an Ajmer court today where the Chief Judicial Magistrate sent him to 12-day remand.

Three persons were killed and nearly 30 injured on October 11, 2007, when a bomb ripped through the Ajmer Sharif Dargah around 6.15 pm. The blast took place soon after nearly 5,000 devotees had broken their daylong Ramzan fast.

In 2009, investigations into the Malegaon blasts had led the Rajasthan police to the Hindu group, Abhinav Bharat. A team of the state police had then visited Mumbai to collect reports of narco-analysis and brain mapping tests done on Lt Col SP Purohit and other accused in the Malegaon blast. Purohit had told investigators that another member, Dayanand Pandey, also an accused in the Malegaon blast, had planned the Ajmer incident.

Hyderabad, April 30
It was a perfectly normal day for Suryanarayana, a young constable, when he headed for work on his motorcycle. Little did he realise then that a double trouble was waiting to strike him.

After a road accident and bizarre goof-ups by a private blood bank and a hospital, the policeman is now struggling to come to terms with a deadly virus that has entered his body because of sheer negligence of the authorities.

A profusely bleeding cop was admitted to a local hospital and administered blood which later turned out to be infected with HIV.

Suryanarayana, attached to a police station in the coastal Andhra city of Rajahmundry, was injured when his motorcycle hit a road-divider on the national highway near Kalavacharla village in East Godavari district on April 25. While his friend Yesu, who was the pillion rider, died on the spot, the constable suffered multiple fractures to his hand and head.

He was rushed to a private hospital in Rajahmundry. The doctors administered him blood procured from a licensed private blood bank in the town. Subsequently, during the course of surgery, the mandatory screening tests were conducted. They were shocked to find that he tested positive for HIV.

Later, it emerged that the contaminated blood was collected from a HIV positive donor belonging to Rajanagaram village. The hospital authorities had failed to conduct the screening tests on blood units procured from Jagruthi Blood Bank.

“It was an emergency situation as the patient required blood transfusion urgently. Moreover, it is not mandatory on our part to screen blood units bought from authorised blood banks certified as free from infection,” the hospital spokesman said.

As the tragedy evoked widespread public outrage, the authorities cancelled the license of the blood bank and constituted a high-level committee to inspect all the 236 certified blood banks in the state and submit a report within 10 days.

Meanwhile, the constable’s family is shattered over the tragedy and blamed the hospital staff for neglect. Enraged over the development, Suryanaryana’s relatives ransacked the office of Jagruti Blood Bank and lodged a police complaint. The District Collector Ravichandra constituted a five-member committee, comprising revenue and health department officials, to conduct a thorough inquiry. The committee seized all the 101 blood sachets available with the blood bank and conducted tests on them.

Later, the revenue officials confirmed that the blood administered to the injured constable indeed had HIV positive strains and the donor of the blood was also a HIV positive patient. Based on the committee’s recommendations, the police booked cases against the owner of the blood bank under Sections 269 and 336 of IPC for criminal negligence and also under the provisions of AP Transplantation of Human Organs Act.

Chandigarh, April 30
Two days before an Army selection board is to assemble, the Armed Forces Tribunal today ordered that the name of a Lieutenant Colonel who had alleged victimisation for blowing the whistle on his commanding officer, be included in the list of prospective candidates and he be considered for promotion to Colonel.

The petitioner, Lt Col B.S. Goraya, was being considered for promotion by the selection board in December 2009, but a gap in his confidential report profile from September 2008 to May 2009 led to his name being excluded. The Army had debarred his commanding officer to write his confidential report.

“In January this year we had also forwarded a statement of case to debar a Major General, the next superior officer in the hierarchy from initiating his confidential report on the ground that it could lack objectivity in assessment due to circumstances of the case,” his counsel, Rajeev Anand said. “The matter was also repeatedly taken up with Army Headquarters,” he added.

Colonel Goraya, Second-in-Command of an Army Supply Corps battalion, had complained against his commanding officer for various irregularities in May 2009. A court inquiry was ordered and the petitioner was attached to Headquarters Western Command in August last.

The bench comprising Justice Ghanshyam Prashad and Lt Gen H.S. Panag observed that it was clear that the officer had taken all legitimate actions to cover the gap in his confidential report profile and the onus was on the Military Secretary’s Branch army to give a decision to regularise the gap.

Pointing out that due to no fault of his, the name of the petitioner was withdrawn from the selection board held in December 2009 and the same was likely to happen for the board scheduled in May, the bench directed that the officer be considered in the board due next week and the gap in his profile should not be taken into account to defer him from being considered.

Bangalore, April 30
The Karnataka government today said underworld elements and betting lobby were behind the April 17 twin low-intensity bomb explosions outside the Chinnaswamy Cricket stadium before an IPL match.

“Underworld normally has links with betting lobby. Some elements wanted to scare away people and shift the two IPL semifinals from the city to Mumbai,” Home Minister VS Acharya told reporters here.

The probe into the explosions and recovery of crude bombs outside the stadium was on track, he said but declined to divulge details. The twin blasts had left at least 17 persons.

A detailed report on the incident was sent to the Union Home Ministry. — PTI

Patna, April 30
The mysterious death of at least four river dolphins in the Ganges River has worried the local authorities. Gangetic dolphins were once in abundance but an increase in pollution in the river has led to a sharp drop in its numbers.

"I received the information that dolphins have been found dead at Ganges River banks, following which we have come here. We saw that two are dead at the Keshav riverbank and two are dead at Jhavganj riverbank. We have asked them to bring the bodies at one place. Investigations are on to find out the reason behind the deaths," said B K S Chaudhari, Sub-Inspector.

Locals claimed that dolphin deaths signify dangerous levels of pollution in Ganges River.

"It seems that there is dangerous pollution in water. And people here drink this water, considering it very holy. So we want to demand from the government and from the administration that until the Ganges water is announced pollution-free it should not be used for drinking. Such information should be advertised from the government," said Parbhat Jaswal.

According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Gangetic dolphins are in grave danger with their population declining at a rate of 10 percent annually.

Industrial discharges, sewage, pesticides and the rotting remains of corpses have increased pollution levels in the River Ganges over the years despite government promises to clean up the sacred river. — ANI

New Delhi, April 30
Former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh’s grandson Ravneet Singh Bittu has a knack for attracting attention. First he caught the fancy of none other than the Congress scion Rahul Gandhi, who was mighty impressed with the way the Congress MP from Anandpur Sahib always managed to match his turban’s colours with his attire.

Today it was Ravneet Singh’s turn to amuse the Lok Sabha as he set out to make his maiden intervention during the Zero Hour. Amid the din created by RJD members, led by Lalu Prasad Yadav, who wanted the Census to include OBCs, Ravneet began his reference to Punjab’s famous Kandi belt, next to Himachal Pradesh’s once-dense forests.

Just when the House thought Ravneet was approaching a serious issue, the latter said, “The young men of Kandi have no time to get married. They spend their nights in the fields, trying to ward off wild animals, which stray into the area from Himachal, where deforestation has ruined wildlife habitat. I urge the government to fund a project for the wiring of the Kandi belt, which comprises 10 per cent of Punjab’s all-green area,” said the young Congress MP, as the House marvelled at his sense of concern for Punjab’s unmarried young men.