New Delhi, August 11
Just a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh' promised to discuss autonomy for Kashmir if all parties agreed, principal opposition party the BJP appeared eager to get an explanation on the comment.

Senior party leader M Venkaiah Naidu today said all political parties must first discuss the proposal thoroughly. “The Prime Minister must first table a proposal on Jammu and Kashmir," he said today, while BJP Lok Sabha MP Yogi Adityanath said the move would demoralize the security forces and would give an upper hand to terrorists and separatists in the state.

"We are for a total integration of Jammu and Kashmir. All political parties must first discuss the Prime Minister's proposal," Naidu meanwhile said, repeating the stand Chaman Lal Gupta, leader of the BJP J&K Legislative Party yesterday took in the meeting with the PM.

Gupta told The Tribune today that the government must strive for the balanced development of all the three divisions of the state. “Everything has to be worked out within the Constitutional framework. Today seperatists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani are mocking at our Constitution by appealing to Kashmiris to celebrate August 14, the Independence Day of Pakistan and observe India’s freedom day as a black day. I mentioned this point yesterday to the PM,” Gupta said, days after BJP veteran LK Advani while writing in his blog recalled the sacrifices of Jana Sangh leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee, who worked for Kashmir’s integration with India.

Advani wrote that while the Jana Sangh leader had succeeded in extending the authority of Indian President to J&K and ensure the Indian Tricolour furled proudly there, the third goal of Abrogation of Article 370 remained to be achieved. The Prime Minister on his part yesterday said autonomy for Kashmir could be considered if all parties agreed. Clearly, the road is tough.

New Delhi, August 11
Observing that creation of proper atmosphere is required for resolving the Naxal-related problems in Chhattisgarh, the Supreme Court today asked the Centre and the state government to respond by tomorrow to a series of suggestions in a PIL.

A Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and SS Nijjar asked the two governments’ view on the demand for disbanding “Salwa Judum,” an armed outfit of tribals allegedly promoted and supported by the state government to deal with Naxalites, and implementing a rehabilitation plan for all the victims. The PIL has been filed by noted historian Ramachandra Guha, Delhi University Professor Nandini Sunder and others seeking protection for the tribals caught between the Naxalites and the Salwa Judum (purification through collective hunt).

The Bench also asked the two governments’ stand on the demand for vacating the school and ‘ashram’ buildings occupied by the security forces, registration of all complaints sought to be registered by the victims against Salwa Judum activists and appointment of a composite committee to monitor the implementation of all the proposals.

The court wanted to know from them the steps they had taken so far on the rehabilitation front. The PIL has taken specific exception to involving minors in the fight against Naxalites by appointing them as special protection officers (SPOs) and equipping them with guns.

Senior counsel Ashok Desai, appearing for the petitioners, questioned the state’s denial of the existence of Salwa Judum as its presence was acknowledged by the Administrative Reforms Commission headed by M Veerappa Moily, PR Kyndia, Ajit Jogi.

Chandigarh, August 11
When it comes to following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) guidelines on procedures for loan recoveries and engagement of recovery agents, private sector banks in the region, comprising Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and the three neighbouring districts of Haryana, do not have a very good track record.

While there has been a marked reduction in the complaints of harassment of customers by private sector and nationalised banks for loan recoveries, if figures available with the RBI Ombudsman, Chandigarh, are an indication, more than one fourth of the complaints (30 per cent) received by the country’s central bank are still from the region. According to RBI Ombudsman Lalit Srivastava, as compared to 90 complaints in 2008-09 (July 1 to June 30), only 36 complaints of wrong-recovery procedures were received in 2009-10.

Though this decline in numbers is quite impressive, indicating that private sector banks are towing the RBI line well, the figures are quite high if compared with the nationwide complaints received in this context by the RBI.

In response to a question in Lok Sabha earlier this week, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, “The RBI has reported that 120 complaints had been received by 15 Banking Ombudsman Offices in 2009-10 regarding non-observance of RBI guidelines on the engagement of recovery agents by private sector banks.”

Thus, the complaints received by the Chandigarh Ombudsman Office are proportionately high and constitute almost 30 per cent of the total.

While complaints against faulty loan recoveries are on the wane, credit cards and ATM machines continue to bother the banking customers the most. Srivastava said his office receives maximum complaints relating to wrong debits made in the accounts of customers during transactions conducted at ATMs or charges credited to the their accounts on the use of credit cards. He said 778 complaints had been received against various private sector banks in credit card/ATM category in 2009-10, as compared to 625 the previous year.

Interestingly, though the RBI has issued strict guidelines to all pension-disbursing banks to have timely disbursement, complaints of pensioners have also risen this year owing to the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations. Pension-related complaints have gone up from 178 in 2008-09 to 268 this year on account of banks not disbursing arrears after the implementation of the pay commission report.

New Delhi, August 11
In deference to the BJP wishes, the government here today decided to postpone by a week the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Civil Nuclear Liability Bill and seemed willing to accommodate some crucial suggestions of the Opposition to ensure its passage in the current monsoon session of Parliament.

The government attempted to “address the concerns of the Opposition and develop a consensus” by taking everybody along on the Bill, which the Opposition is opposing, government sources said later.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee invited and discussed the issue with the BJP leaders, including LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi, in his chamber today and agreed to most of the points raised by the Opposition.

Mukherjee was assisted by Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal.

Sushma later quoted Mukherjee as saying, “Your argument seems sensible. Let us meet again in next two-three days. I think we can meet some of your demands.”

The BJP leaders had first asked the government not to rush the Bill and asked Chavan specifically whether all the hurry was to ensure its passage before the India visit of US President Barack Obama.

The BJP also asked the government to drop the clause about limiting the liability to Rs 500 crore.

New Delhi, August 11
Senior journalist Ritu Sarin, who heads the investigating team at the Indian Express, was given away this year’s Prem Bhatia Award for best political reporting at a function held in the Capital today. Organised at the India International Centre, the ceremony was presided over by former Delhi University Vice-Chancellor VP Dutt. Sarin, was presented the award by famous columnist Inder Malhotra.

Prem Bhatia Award for the best reporting on environmental issues was awarded to Rajkumar Keswani, Editor of the Bhopal Post, for his coverage and reporting of the Bhopal disaster. Environmental activist Vandana Shiva gave away the award.

The awards presentation was followed by the 15th Prem Bhatia Memorial Lecture on “Rising China, emerging India and a polycentric world”. Delivering the lecture, former diplomat Chandrashekhar Das Gupta said current trends in international politics suggested that the world was heading towards a polycentric order.

“In times to come, India must, seek to cultivate co-operative relations, to the extent possible, with all countries, especially the major powers. For example, success in cultivating close bilateral ties with Washington can also raise our profile in Beijing. Likewise, a cooperative relationship with Beijing can give us leverage in Washington,” he added.

“The polycentrism will affect our immediate neighbourhood in Asia.,” he said.

Speaking further, the former diplomat said: “By 2025, a number of countries are likely to act as autonomous power centres. The US will continue to be the pre-eminent power but China may begin to emerge as a rival and near equal. The gap between the power potentials of the US and China may gradually diminish and this may also be the case in regard to the gap between China and India.”

Lucknow, August 11
The Mayawati government has gone ahead and allocated almost 9 per cent of the first supplementary budget of the current financial year to developing parks and monuments in the memory of Dalit icons.

Finance Minister Lalji Verma yesterday tabled in the state Vidhan Sabha the demands of supplementary budget to the tune of Rs 5461.72 crore, which will include Rs 491 crore for the development of four parks and monuments in the state capital-- two each in the memory of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and BSP founder Kanshiram.

The break up of the amount to be spent on the four monuments includes centage charges for two projects. A centage charge at the rate of around 15 percent of the total cost of the project is paid to government agencies that execute projects towards their administrative charges. Around Rs 23,82,34,000 is to be paid as centage charges for Manyavar Shri Kanshiramji Samarak Sthal and another Rs 48,22,04,000 towards Dr Bhimrao Amedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal in Gomti Nagar.

Besides this the supplementary budget has allocated Rs 8,46,98,000 for the developing the exteriors of Dr Bhimrao Amedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal in Gomti Nagar.

About Rs 410 crore has been earmarked for the construction of Kanshiramji Green Eco Garden on Jail road that is coming up after demolishing the historical jail. It may be recalled that CM Mayawati while justifying the allocation of more than Rs 6,000 crore towards these memorials in successive budgets had asserted that whatever she had spent each year towards commemoration of these icons was not more than one percent of the state's annual budget.

The state government has clarified that budget allocation towards the monuments was in no way a violation of the SC order stalling construction work at the Dr Bhimrao Amedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal in Gomti Nagar.

August 11
Heart-rending scenes at the military hospital and tales of victims of the cloudburst bring tears to the eyes of other patients and melt the hearts of the Army Medical Corps.A Ladakhi woman has opened her eyes after four days following a thorough cleaning of the mud that had entered her eyes; another 15-year-old boy has become a “man’ in five days, while an 18-year-old from Budgam is yearning to go home.

Rinchen Dolma, only 26 years old, has severe injuries on her face and eyes.Yesterday was the first time she could open her eyes since the floods. Mud had entered her eyes and caused abrasions, doctors cleaned and used eye drops to flush out the fine silt. “Make me as beautiful as before?, I have to get married,” she told the Army doctor, Chitra Banerjee, who was dressed in battle fatigues.

The doctor reassured her and asked her to relax. Dolma, a painter, is lucky to survive the floods. A resident of Lamayaru, she was at Choglumsar, where she was learning to paint at a Tibetan school.

Doctors explained that several of the patients turned up with mud in their eyes but it is more difficult to treat patients with injuries on their bodies and mud wrapped around their muscles. The doctors had to give wider incisions to clean the mud and this could cause long-term infections if they are allowed to fester.

In an adjoining ward, 14-year-old Vinod, the son of a Chhattisgarh labourer has matured in five days. He was reunited with his mother this afternoon. His father and younger sister are in another hospital.

In these five days, he has performed the cremation of his seven-year-old brother who could not escape nature’s fury. With his mother’s leg in a plaster, the boy is sitting next to her as newsmen were clicking away furiously.

Reunions between siblings who were separated in the floods have been happening everyday. Eighteen-year-old Wahid Ahmed Mir is from Budgam and sells vegetables. He has an injured neck and does not want to stay back.

“I want to go and see my parents for a few days,” he says. With several broken bones, the doctors may not allow him to go home for the next few days. The wards are full of patients, each with a tale of agony, but the spirit of resilience triumphs. Yesterday, a woman delivered a child in the hospital who has become the darling of the ward. This was the first-ever delivery here.

Srinagar, August 11
Even as the death count in last week’s deadly cloudbursts continues to mount, the state government has so far failed to carry out a detailed survey of the extend of damage caused in the cold desert.

As per the official figures, the death toll in the Leh tragedy has touched 173. This includes five foreigners whose bodies have been evacuated. More than 500 people are still reported to be missing.

“So far no assessment of the damage has been made as the state administration is busy providing relief and rescue operation to the affected families,” a senior state functionary said.

Speaking to The Tribune, Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation, Raman Bhalla, said: “The focus is now on relief and rescue operations. The assessment would start after three to four days.”

He said a committee headed by Chief secretary SS Kapur has been constituted to take care of relief operations. “We are in touch with the Prime Minister’s Office too. The state government first released Rs two crore for rescue work and then Rs three crore were released for restoration. Another four crore would be released for the same purpose,” Bhalla said.

An official said that nearly nine bridges and 12 road links to various villages in Leh division have been restored and efforts were on a war-scale to ensure connectivity.

Source said reconstruction of Leh would be an uphill task, as everything has to be done much before the onset of the winter season, which disconnects the Ladakh region from rest of the country for almost six months.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has asked people to donate generously to bring Leh back on its feet.

New Delhi, August 11
The Supreme Court will take up tomorrow the status report filed by the CBI in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case in which Amit Shah, a former Gujarat minister and close aide of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has been arrested.

The CBI, on July 30, had filed the status report in a sealed cover into its six-month-old investigation in the case in which it has questioned not only Shah but several senior IPS officers, who were associated with the police when the fake encounter took place in 2005. Sources said the investigating agency has submitted voluminous records to support its allegation of involvement of state's top police brass in fake encounter case.

The CBI had interrogated Shah in its custody on August 7-8 and the outcome of the questioning is likely to be spelt out before a Bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and RM Lodha where the petition filed by Sheikh's brother Rubabuddin Sheikh is listed for hearing tomorrow.

The hearing before the apex court assumes importance as it is for the first time it will go into the case after it had on January 12 ordered the CBI to probe the alleged fake encounter, giving the agency six months to submit it progress report.

The issue of suspended DSP NK Amin, an accused in the case who has expressed his desire to turn approver, is likely to come up before the apex court which in the past has rejected a couple of applications by him seeking bail.

The CBI had told the special court in Ahmedabad yesterday that it had no objections to Amin becoming an approver on the condition that he mads true disclosures about the case.

Sources also said the CBI had given full details about its investigation that had led to the arrest of Shah and, in the status report the agency has sought six months extention as it may then extend its arm of probe to neighbouring state of Rajasthan as one of the senior IPS officers from there has already been chargesheeted in the case. — PTI

Hyderabad, August 11
Tirumala, the richest temple in the country, will soon become a plastic-free zone. The Andhra Pradesh government has announced a ban on the use of plastics at the popular hill shrine. The order will come into force within a month, a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said.

The famous “Laddu Prasadam”, now being supplied to the pilgrims in plastic bags, will henceforth be wrapped in bags made of cloth, paper or jute, the officials said.

Chief Minister K Rosaiah directed Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the autonomous temple board, to strictly implement the ban order. “The plastic bags will be totally banned at the hill shrine within a month, irrespective of their size,” the officials said.

The TTD canteens have already stopped using plastic tea cups and water glasses and instead are using paper cups and glasses. The temple authorities are also taking steps to replace the Laddu covers with cloth/paper or jute bags.

The government has also decided to ban plastics below 40 micron thickness all over the state within a month to prevent dangers from pollution. At present, plastics of more than 20 microns thickness are being used in the state.

Hyderabad, August 11
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) will soon formulate guidelines pertaining to administration of health insurance.

Disclosing this here on Monday, the IRDA Chairman J Harinarayan said that the guidelines would basically address the claim forms, billing and registration-related issues.

The regulatory authority had worked with different organisations, including Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for formulating the proposed guidelines, he told reporters.

The issue of cashless medical insurance, which was fundamentally commercial in nature, was between the hospitals and insurance companies. "The so-called five-star hospitals are now looking into it and I am confident that the issue will be resolved," the Chairman said.

The new norms, he said, were aimed at long-term prospects of the insurance industry. "My concern for the insurance industry is not what happens in six months or a year. What is significant is what is going to happen in the medium to long term," Harinarayan said.

Stating that IRDA wanted insurance companies to reduce their costs, he said he was hopeful that the new ULIP (Unit Linked Insurance Policies) guidelines would have the desired impact in this regard.

IRDA had issued new ULIP guidelines on June 28, to be effective from September 1. The ULIP norms had been substantially tightened and the regulator would not envisage any further tightening of the guidelines, he said.

"There is no such thing as super regulator. There is just a forum for resolving misunderstandings and overlap of issues between the regulators," Harinarayan said when asked about the bill introduced in the Lok Sabha last month seeking to set up a joint committee with Finance Minister as chairperson to resolve differences among various regulators in the financial sector.

Asked about the inclusion of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) in the joint committee, he said that the bill was still under consideration and one has to see what the final enactment would be.

Kolkata, August 11
An official complaint was lodged with the Kolaghat police station by the Trinamool MP Suvendu Adhikery saying that there was an attempt at killing Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee while she was returning after attending the massive rally at Lalgarh on August 9.

Mamata was hurt in the chest and the back when a speeding truck coming from Tamluk collided againt her Scorpio after hitting the preceding escort vehicle.

Doctors attending on her took her ECG and X-ray and she was advised bed-rest for a couple of days.

Adhikery demanded an independent probe by a central inquiring agency into the conspiracy of killing their party supremo by the CPM. The DGP Bhupender Singh said it was an accident that a truck hit the Railways Minister’s convoy and the driver was arrested on the spot. He denied there was any conspiracy behind it. However, he ordered a CID inquiry, to be conducted by a DIG rank officer, into the incident.

The CPM leadership also echoed the DGP's views. The WBPCC(l) president Dr Manash Bhuiya, however, condemned the incident and suspected foul play. He said the Congress(l) and Trinamool Congress were now ready to jointly launch a mass movement against the CPM and dislodge it from power.

Patna, August 11
The Assembly polls in Bihar would be staggered in phases as indicated by the Election Commission (EC).

The EC team led by the Chief Election Commissioner S YQuraishi was here to review the poll preparedness in the state for the last two days. Besides having a marathon meeting with the field officers and the top brass of the civil and police administration, the CEC also met the representatives of different political parties to ascertain their viewpoint on poll-schedule and their apprehensions.

The BJP, a part of the ruling alliance in Bihar, was in favour of a single-day poll or in two phases. The party’s logic against staggered polling was that it adversely affects governance and development work.

However, the EC, apparently, was not convinced with this logic. The comments of CEC that phased election was a small price for conducting free and fair polls made it clear that the priorities of Election Commission was to ensure free and peaceful polling in the state. Responding to the complaints of opposition parties against the IAS and IPS officers on inter-state deputation to Bihar and posted as DM, SP and DIG in the fields, the CEC said that the commission had taken note of it and the officers had been told to act impartially as the EC would not hesitate a bit in getting them replaced at any point of time.

Notably, all the political parties including the ruling JD(U) sought coverage of all polling stations by the Central Para Military Force (CPMF). The parties also wanted to avoid polls during the coming festivals like Dussehra, Diwali , Chatth and Eid which are all scheduled in October and November.