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India, Bangladesh to resolve complex border issues
Acquisition Bill may be
altered to suit Mamata |
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Villagers await relief against loss of animals
India to develop missiles with speed of 6,000 kmph
Navi Mumbai Airport
CVC appointment a move to cover up scams: BJP
Advani most regular politician in LS
Pushkar Lake at its highest level in last two decades
The Rahul ‘rekha’
Plea against GCM rejected
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India, Bangladesh to resolve complex border issues
New Delhi, September 5 Highly-placed sources said New Delhi and Dhaka in principal had decided to ‘swap’ each other’s ‘chitmahals’ (enclaves) in near future. This complex border issue has been pending since India’s independence in 1947. These enclaves are spread all along the two countries’ border like ‘pawns on a chess board.’ “It is just a question of time,” Indian and Bangladeshi diplomatic sources told The Tribune here adding that “the deal may happen after the Assembly elections in West Bengal next year.” If this historical ‘deal’ finally comes through, Bangladesh will gain more than India. Bangladesh has 106 Indian enclaves. And India has 92 Bangladeshi enclaves. Most of the Bangladeshi enclaves under India’s control are in Cooch Behar district. The whole exercise will require massive relocation of people living in these enclaves. They will be given a choice of relocating themselves to the country of their choice or accept the citizenship of the land where they are living now. In case of relocation, they will be given an alternate piece of land. India-Bangladesh joint boundary commission is likely to meet this month after Id to discuss the demarcation of 6.1 km of boundary and swapping of the enclaves. An agreement between New Delhi and Dhaka reportedly emerged during the recent Bangladesh visit of the Union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to attend an inter-ministerial meeting to review progress on Bangladesh’s demand for concessions on trade, border and sharing of river waters. The settlement of enclaves issue will be a big push in India-Bangladesh relations. Sources said Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was keen to ink the historical agreement as early as possible. Dhaka is hoping to have Indian PM visit Bangladesh at the time of agreement. Both sides see the swapping of enclaves as part of strong confidence building measures. The enclaves were part of the high stake card or chess games centuries ago between two regional kings - the Raja of Cooch Behar and the Nawab of Rangpur. The little territories were the result of a confused outcome of a treaty between the Kingdom of Cooch Bihar and the Mughal empire. After India’s partition in 1947, Cooch Bihar district was merged with India and Rangpur went to then East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh in 1971. In 1974, both countries agreed to exchange the enclaves or, at least, provide easy access to the enclaves. But the issue got entangled in diplomatic negotiations and border security concerns expressed by the India’s Defence and Home ministries. Talks between the two countries resumed in 2001, but, as no time frame could be fixed, the issue dragged on. People in these enclaves have been living in bad conditions. There are hardly any roads. There is no electricity, schools and dispensaries. As both countries take little interest in the welfare of these enclaves, crime is rampant. To go to their respective countries, people have to produce an identity card. Meanwhile, India is also keen to build strong bilateral trade ties with Bangladesh. During his recent trip to Dhaka, Mukherjee signed a $1-billion loan agreement. India will lend the amount - the biggest it has offered to any foreign country - at a 1.75 per cent rate of interest with a repayment period of 20 years, including a grace period of five years. India is also likely to waive import duties on another 45 to 50 items from Bangladesh. Dhaka had asked for 61 items to be added to the duty-free list of over 4,000 categories of products. India exports $3.37-billion worth of goods annually to Bangladesh and imports items worth $358 million.
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Acquisition Bill may be
altered to suit Mamata
A top government functionary told The Tribune that winning over Mamata was a must to make some changes in the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2007, and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2009. The planned alternations include some “out-of-box” alternatives for landowners, like the lease option or models followed by Gujarat and Haryana, which have rarely faced any protest. “For example, if Gujarat acquires land it returns a part of it in the developed form to the owner. States like Haryana are giving more money than the value of the land along with some long-term benefits, so there is no objection from farmers. However, these are only administrative orders and not part of an Act,” he says. To address the one-time compensation issue, which is Mamata’s main objection, the government is even contemplating making landowners partners in enterprises by offering them a share. “The problem with land acquisition is that the livelihood of families who depend on farming is hit. One way to resolve that conflict is offering them share for their long-term sustenance as developers learnt to do long time back with residential plot owners in Delhi,” he says. Mamata strongly resisted the Bills relating to land acquisition when they were last moved by the UPA. Now that Prime Minister has promised to re-introduce them in the Winter session following a strong intervention by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in the wake of the UP farmers’ crisis, the first effort by the Congress is to get Mamata on board. Contending that the clause can be misused to forcibly acquire land using money and muscle power, Mamata has been demanding penal provisions to check the use of money and force by private developers. Being at the forefront of agitations in Nandigram and Singur, she wanted at least four changes:
The second provision, the functionary says, may be difficult to ensure as it is not possible to divest the state government of all powers in land acquisition. On the issue, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh recently said: “When a way can be found out on the issue of nuclear Bill through discussion, why can't this be done? The issue can be discussed with Mamata Banerjee. This is a minor point of difference, which can be discussed.” Currently, a Group of Ministers headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is looking into the issue.
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Villagers await relief against loss of animals
It took three days for Sonam Gyaltsan to reach Leh from Fotaksar village that has still no road connectivity even a month after the Leh cloudburst. Sonam, a ponywallah, lost his house and pony during the catastrophe. He has been visiting the Leh Deputy Commissioner’s office for the past three days to get some relief money.
Though the administration and some NGOs have provided him some relief money and material, he has no source of income as he has lost his only pony and is totally dependent upon the government’s relief for survival. Not only this, Sonam’s problems become graver as he has to support his family of eight. Sonam, who earlier used to go with trekkers, especially with foreigners, as a guide, has barely Rs 100 in his pocket. “Our village is around 150 km away from Leh. The Air Force dropped relief material about a week ago, but that is also coming to an end. So, I decided to come to Leh to get some compensation,” he said. While talking to The Tribune, he stated that an NGO, PEHAL, supported him. “Though a few persons have helped me, the administration has not even assured to give any compensation against the loss of my pony, which was the only source of income”. Sonam is not the only one awaiting compensation against the loss of his animal, a number of other persons are also hoping to get compensation from the administration, but they don’t know, when it will come. According to official records from the Deputy Commissioner’s office, 1,329 animals have lost their lives in the catastrophe. A senior official of the state government said they faced major loss of animals that were being used for transportation purposes. On delay in giving compensation, Leh Deputy Commissioner T Angchok said, “Our first priority is to provide relief to those who are homeless. All other things will be looked into later. We have assured Sonam that he would be provided a shelter”. He added, “We are preparing a list of persons who suffered loss of their animals and they will be provided compensation soon. But, so far, not even a single person has been given any compensation amount against loss of animal”.
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India to develop missiles with speed of 6,000 kmph
New Delhi, September 5 The first unit of Kudankulam nuclear plant, built by Russia in Tamil
Nadu, will also be commissioned during the visit slated to begin from December 21. Medvedev will be undertaking the visit for annual India-Russia Summit with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during which the two sides will discuss ways to further enhance their relations in various fields. One of the highlights of the visit will be signing of a contract for joint development of hypersonic version of the BrahMos cruise missile, Defence Ministry sources said. This version of the missile will have a speed of over 6,000 km per hour, making India the only country in the world to possess such missiles of this speed. The speed of the existing variant of the BrahMos is half than that of the proposed ones. With a range of 290 km, the hypersonic missiles are expected to be ready by 2015-16, the sources said. The much-delayed first unit of Kudankulam nuclear power plant is also expected to be made operational during the visit of
Medvedev, who will be visiting the site for the purpose, they said. The commissioning of the 1,000 MW
Kudankulam-I work, which began three years back, will set in motion the roadmap that the two countries are working on in the field of atomic energy cooperation. — PTI
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Navi Mumbai Airport
New Delhi, September 5 According to Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok
Chavan, the Prime Minister told the delegation that he would personally look into the issue. “Mumbai is of paramount importance to the country. I appreciate that a new airport is a necessity. Nothing will come in the way of Mumbai's development,” the Prime Minister said, according to
Chavan, adding that Manmohan Singh also assured that he would shortly convene a meeting of officials from the environment and civil aviation ministries to resolve the issue. The two ministries are currently engaged in a major tug-of-war over the proposed airport with Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh holding the project, citing environmental concerns. Chief among them are that the greenfield airport would affect the flow of the rivers in the vicinity, lead to destruction of over 160 hectares of mangroves and require the flattening of a hill at the proposed site near
Panvel. Besides, Ramesh’s emphatic “no” to Vedenta project in Orissa recently must have had the Maharashtra government worried about the fate of its own projects. Even after two years of Cabinet clearance, the Navi Mumbai airport project is hanging fire. Though there appeared to be a degree of thaw on the issue between Ramesh and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel when the two warring ministers recently met to make a headway. Regarding Ramesh’s environmental concerns, Chavan said he had held three meeting with the Environment Minister and all along had shown the state’s willingness to take measures to protect the environment. He also dismissed Shiv Sena's allegation that the Congress was pressing for the project as some party leaders had bought
land nearby. Interestingly, the most surprising turn in the Navi Mumbai controversy came with the Congress’ arch rival in Mumbai Shiv Sena supporting Ramesh on the issue. Bharatkumar Raut of Shiv Sena told the Rajya Sabha recently that his party would oppose building of the Navi Mumbai airport at the cost of
environment. “My party will oppose it,” Raut asserted, saying that the Navi Mumbai project was being pursued for benefit of industrialists and politicians who must have purchased huge piece of land at throwaway price and sell it at a premium for the airport project.
“….Is it because some industrialists and industrialists, politicians have already purchased huge pieces of land in this area at throw-away prices from the farmers and now they are dreaming that if airport comes up there, their pieces of land will have gold or more than gold or platinum price? Sir, this airport will be directly benefiting the industry
of Maharashtra and the country. When the industry and industrialists are benefited, why should poor farmers and fishermen suffer?” he wondered.
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CVC appointment a move to cover up scams: BJP
New Delhi, September 5 Thomas is likely to take charge as CVC tomorrow when Pratyush Sinha, the incumbent, superannuates. “The blatant and hasty manner in which the CVC was being appointed is a clear indication that the government wants to cover up the scams,” BJP spokesman Tarun Vijay told reporters. It was sad and shocking that the government had ignored the opinion of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, against Thomas, Vijay said. Besides Sushma, the CVC selection panel had on board Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram. Sushma had suggested that the other two bureaucrats who had been empanelled for the post should be considered or ideally more candidates should be included in the list. “It is really shocking that the government insisted on just one name, that is of Thomas, ignoring the objection,” Vijay said. The CVC was already monitoring the CBI probe into the spectrum scam and complaints of irregularities in the CWG were likely to be referred to the CVC after the games were over next month, he pointed out. Vijay also alleged that the “pro-Naxal statements” of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her party colleagues in the government had led to the rise in Maoist activities in Bihar. Congress leaders like Digvijay Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar were responsible for weakening Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s fight against Maoists, he contended.
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Advani most regular politician in LS
New Delhi, September 5
The third most regular party chief slot is bracketed between Akali Dal’s Rattan Singh Ajnala and Telegu Desam’s Nama Nageshwar Rao. Both scored 95 per cent attendance, while Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj finishing fourth with 94 per cent. The “least regular political party leader category” is dominated by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi who managed 55 per cent attendance where the average attendance of Uttar Pradesh MPs was 81 per cent for the 15th LS up to the Monsoon Session. Rahul Gandhi scored lesser at 59 per cent while mother-son duo of Maneka and Varun Gandhi fared better with 72 and 71 per cent attendance record, respectively. Sonia, however, had competition from Telangana Rashtriya Samiti president Chandrashekhar Rao, who was too busy steering the Telegnana movement to attend the Lok Sabha. With 5 per cent, he has the lowest attendance among LS leaders. His friend and actor Vijaya Shanthi managed 11 per cent attendance. Leaders of smaller parties remained largely irregular, with Haryana Janhit Congress president Bhajan Lal managing 46 per cent attendance and Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Ajit Singh getting 45 per cent. Among party leaders from UP, BSP’s Dara Singh Chauhan, with 89 per cent, finished a little ahead of SP’s Mulayam Singh who scored 86 per cent in the attendance register. Interestingly, political adversaries CPM and Trinamool Congress finished at the same slot with both Trinamool’s Sudip Bandopadhyay and CPM’s Basudeb Acharia scoring 92 per cent attendance. CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, with 89 per cent, finished behind his Left Front colleague. Archrivals from Bihar -- Lalu Prasad of RJD and Sharad Yadav of JDU - remained neck-to-neck, respectively scoring 78 and 76 per cent attendance. Among actors, Shatrughan Sinha with 68 per cent attendance ended up leading the pack, while Jaya Prada had 37 and Navjot Sidhu 34 per cent attendance. Performance-wise (attendance is no indicator of performance as MPs needn’t sit in the House after signing the register), Congress leaders stand outshined by the Opposition. Sonia Gandhi has no participation record in the 15th Lok Sabha; Sushma has 54 debate and 41 question entries while Advani has 17 debate participations. Acharia wins hands down in this section with 61 debates and 94 question entries while Sharad Yadav has 53 debate participations and 41 question entries.
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Pushkar Lake at its highest level in last two decades
Jaipur/Pushkar, September 5 Currently, the water level in the lake stands at around 18 feet, which is the highest in the last two decades, a good sign indeed for the forthcoming Pushkar Fair. The lake had been completely dry for the last two years, but today it is brimming with hope as Ajmer district, under which the holy town of Pushkar falls, has received 904 mm of rainfall in the last couple of months. Already pilgrims from different parts of the state like Jodhpur, Jaipur and Kota have started thronging the lake. “I have come all the way from Phalodi in Jodhpur to collect water from the holy lake for our local temple. It is great to see so much water flowing into the lake from Makrada and Savitri hills,” said Yogendra Shekhawat, a pilgrim. Shraddhanand, a local priest, said the people visiting the lake these days are simply ecstatic as they are not only taking a holy dip in the lake but are also getting to perform the rituals in it. “For the last two-three years, the administration had to construct water tanks so as to facilitate performance of such rituals, but now with the incessant flow of water into the lake everything here is back to the normal,” he added. Not only the pilgrims, the holy town is also attracting a large number of tourists, most of whom are from Israel, Germany, England and Canada. According to Kishan Sharma, a local hotelier, attributed the arrival of tourists to good rainfall. “Undoubtedly, the lake full of water presents a breathtaking sight, but I find Pushkar much greener as well this time as compared to previous years,” said an Israeli tourist who often visits the place. Those associated with the tourism sector here are looking forward to a good tourist season which begins next month and reaches its zenith during the Pushkar Fair. They are expecting the number of foreign tourists to be anywhere between 50,000 and 60,000 during the fair this year.
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The Rahul ‘rekha’
Harsimrat smells a rat
Wedded to serve
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Plea against GCM rejected Chandigarh, September 5 The defence had contended that “tearing hurry causing prejudice” to the accused had been the hallmark of the functioning of the court and “illegal advice” by the judge advocate had done irreparable damage to the accused. The defence had alleged that the judge advocate had not only ignored the duties cast upon him under Army Rule 105, but also involved himself in malafides. The submission further contended that the judge advocate jumped in the “cesspool of illegality” by giving decisions immediately on behalf of the court without closing the court to enable members to discuss the submission made by the defence and vote thereupon.
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As India is finding it difficult to break the ice with Pakistan because of Islamabad’s stubborn stand on Kashmir and indifferent approach to terrorist activities from across the border, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is said to be keen to take historical decisions to strengthen ties with Bangladesh.
Congress leaders who speak out of turn are usually ticked off for crossing the “Lakshman rekha”. Therefore, everybody was taken by surprise when Rajya Sabha member Keshav Rao’s stinging criticism of the educational tribunals bill was actually defended by party leaders.
New Delhi, September 4
Data available at the end of the just-concluded Monsoon Session shows a 100 per cent attendance record for the BJP parliamentary party chief and Gandhinagar MP, who is followed by Biju Janata Dal leader Arjan Sethi, with an attendance of 97 per cent.
Congress leaders who speak out of turn are usually ticked off for crossing the “Lakshman rekha”. Therefore, everybody was taken by surprise when Rajya Sabha member Keshav Rao’s stinging criticism of the educational tribunals bill was actually defended by party leaders. Both Parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and AICC media in-charge Janardan Dwivedi described Keshav Rao’s diatribe as an instance of “inner-party democracy”. Party insiders, however, revealed that the Rajya Sabha MP’s critical speech on the Bill was apparently overlooked because Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi is a member of the Parliamentary standing committee on human resource development (HRD) ministry which had vetted the Bill. The committee had made a large number of recommendations which were all rejected by the HRD ministry. So when Keshav Rao slammed the Bill during the debate, a section in the Congress felt that he enjoyed Rahul Gandhi’s backing. Senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes, who heads this standing committee, was so miffed that he even suggested that these panels be wound up since their recommendations are not given due consideration. HRD minister Kapil Sibal, who was forced to defer the Bill after it came up against a wall of resistance in the Rajya Sabha, will now have to work doubly hard to mollify his angry colleagues to ensure the passage of the proposed legislation.
Lok Sabha member Harsimrat Kaur of the Akali Dal , who is slated to travel abroad as a member of a Parliamentary delegation, is a worried person these days. She believes her political identity will be compromised as the Akali Dal has consistently fought against the Congress while she will have no choice but to sing the UPA government’s praise as the country’s representative at an international conference. She is convinced that there is a conspiracy to include her in the delegation which is dominated by the Congress. BJP’s Lok Sabha leader Sushma Swaraj, however, explained to the first-time MP that she would be given a brief by the ministry of external affairs on the country’s position on various international issues on which there is broad agreement between the government and the Opposition. In any case, Swaraj told the doubting Harsimarat Kaur that parliamentarians are not expected to criticise their government when they travel abroad as its representatives. The Akali Dal MP, however, remained as scepticsal as ever.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is said to be extremely worried about her son Rahul Gandhi’s disinclinaton to get married and has said a much in several private conversations. Worse, Rahul Gandhi also appears to be in no hurry to take on the responsibility of the country’s leadership either. While Sonia Gandhi anxiously waits for him to take a decision on both counts, Rahul Gandhi is enjoying his role as politician-at-large. He campaigns for the party, travels across the country hinterland and pays periodic visits to universities and colleges to strike a rapport with the youth. He also takes time to do a lot of reading on subjects which range from strategic affairs to IT and latest developments in the field of science. He recently recommended a book on Genome and an article on “the future of the Internet” to a senior Union minister as a must read.