Patna, October 31
Security arrangements for the fourth phase of polls in Bihar have virtually turned the 42 constituencies in eight districts going to polls tomorrow as battlefronts.

Four choppers from the BSF - MI-17 and Dhruv - have been deployed in the state for air surveillance. The choppers carrying Special Task Force, an elite battalion of specially trained jawans of the Bihar police, led by DIG rank police officers and divisional commissioners would be making aerial survey of the polling booths from their base at Patna, Munger, Bhagalpur and Jamui, said Director General of Police Neelmani.

As 10 Assembly constituencies out of the 42 going to polls had been categorised as ‘A class’ Naxal zones, the administration has made exclusive deployment of the Central Para Military Force on each polling station there, informed the DGP.

Security personnel deployed for patrolling from one booth to another would be moving in mine protected vehicles and bulletproof vehicles. They had all been provided satellite phones for effective communication.

Arrangements have been made for river patrolling on high speed boats and the mounted military police (on horse back) would be patrolling the Diara and Tal areas in the riverine belt as well, Neelmani said.

Of the total 243 seats, polling had been already held in 140 constituencies during the last three phases and without any major incident of violence.

ut the administration was taking no chances as most of the Naxal-affected constituencies were yet to go through the polling exercise, Neelmani said.

Kolkata, October 31
The rescue teams conducting the search operations after yesterday’s trawler disaster in the Muriganga river in the Sunderbans suspect that most of the missing people might have been swept away into the deep sea of the Bay of Bengal.

With the retrieval of more bodies today, the toll in the trawler capsize tragedy near Talpatty island in the Hooghly river at the confluence of the Bay of Bengal, has risen to 25. Neither the district administration nor the rescue teams had any idea about the exact number of the occupants the trawler was carrying at the time of its sinking following the turbulent wave of a passing cargo ship.

The trawler, which had the carrying capacity of some 100 persons, was over-loaded. According to a statement of the victim, who was rescued, the trawler was carrying over 200 persons who were on their way to Hijli Sharieff on a pilgrimage.

As the reports of the disaster reached the city, the police, civil defence, Calcutta Port and the disaster management personnel rushed to the spot. The state civil defence minister Srikumar Mukherjee and the minister for Sunderbands Development Kani Ganguli were the first to reach the spot.

Afterwards, the two union ministers Mukul Roy (shipping) and C.M.Jatua (information & culture) led a rescue team of the shipping ministry which took part in the searching operation.

But still the victims could not be traced. Later, the naval force, the coast guards and the central rescue teams were engaged on the search operation inside the deep sea. The air force plane and helicopters were also pressed into service.

Thousands of persons, including relatives of the missing persons demonstrated and gheraoed the two state ministers demanding rescue of the relatives and the missing persons.

(With inputs from PTI)

Mumbai, October 31
Even as the Damocles sword hangs over Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Maharashtra's Revenue Minister Narayan Rane is now in trouble after his wife is accused of attempting to grab land belonging to a temple trust.

In a petition filed before the Bombay High Court, the Shri-Kshetra Mahabaleshwar Devasthan Trust claimed that land belonging to it in the hill station of Mahableshwar for more than 350 years has been illegally transferred to Nilima Rane, wife of the Revenue Minister. The trust also sought a stay on any development on the property.

According to the petition, officials of the trust noticed last year that two acres of land belonging to it was transferred to Mahesh B Panchal. Of this, half-an-acre was sold by Panchal to Nilima Rane, the petition said.

The petitioner also contended that changes in the property records were made by an officer of the Revenue Department, which was headed by Narayan Rane. The Bombay High Court has ordered status quo to be maintained on the property and stayed any construction on the plot.

According to the trust, the land was given to it by the Maratha king Chatrapati Shivaji.

New Delhi, October 31
Militants in Jammu and Kashmir have expressed their willingness to present a “peace plan” during their meeting with the group of interlocutors appointed by the Centre, a move seen as “something important” by Dilip Padgaonkar, who led the three-member team.

Giving details about their meetings with those from militant groups, Padgaonkar said: “The first time we met guys from terrorist organisations, they said would you mind coming again once. We need to talk to you. So we went a second time.” “And the second time, something quite surprising took place which was one of those guys who acted as spokesperson of one of these organisations said to us that they would like to submit to us a peace plan,” he said in an interview to Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate programme on CNN-IBN.

The person asked the group whether they would be prepared to wait for few days because they too wanted their voice to be heard.

“They believed that they have a roadmap etc. So we said we have come to listen to you. We are quite prepared. As and when you prepare your point of view, let us know and we will examine that as well. I see this as something important because this is when the idea came that you need to talk also to our people that was the message given to us,” he said.

Replying to objections raised about the meeting of Radha Kumar, one of the three interlocutors, with people accused of terror, she said: “They do represent, unfortunately, a rather ugly view point in Kashmir but that is important for us to meet them.”

She said the purpose of her visit to prison was to meet young detainees “stonepelters” and political prisoners. It was during one such visit that she met people charged with terror which transpired into an “interesting meeting”, she said.

She said the view of terrorists might be “unpalatable but that we must listen to them”. Kumar said: “As far as the dissident groups are concerned especially the Hurriyat groups we do understand their compulsions and we will always be willing to listen to them, their point of view. That is part of our mandate." She said it was very rare to meet the Mirwaiz, Geelani or leaders of that opinion on a first visit.

“It (peace process) needs to build up,” she said, adding that there was not commitment for such meeting in next visit.

On BJP's accusation against them of using the language of separatists, Padgaonkar said if the group was speaking their language, they would not not have been boycotted. When asked about his statement on factoring in of Pakistan, Padgaonkar said the country had been involved in Jammu and Kashmir since 1947-48 through overt means and covert means of violence and diplomatic discussion. — PTI

Chennai, October 31
Condemning the proposed protest by Left parties against the visit of US president Barack Obama, MDMK leader Vaiko today asked whether the Communist parties conducted any protest against Chinese government which was issuing loose paper visas to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Did the Left parties condemn the Government of China which is making an atrocious claim over Arunachal Pradesh which is part and parcel of India? Did they make any condemnation against the Chinese Government which gave all logistic support to the Government of Sri Lanka to perpetrate its genocide against Tamils? Will the Left parties come forward to launch an agitation against the proposed visit of the Prime Minister of China Wen Jiabao?", he asked the Left allies, who are part of the AIADMK-MDMK front in Tamil Nadu.

Vaiko, who had met Obama soon after his victory in the US presidential elections, recalled that Obama, despite the US ban on LTTE, repeatedly insisted the Lankan government to effect ceasefire.

"On the eve of the gruesome tragedy of Tamils at Mullivaikkal in Sri Lanka, Obama convened an urgent press meet in the White House on May 13, 2009, and expressed his grave concern over the massacre of Tamils in the island. We Tamils will never forget his humanitarian call", he said.

Appealing to the people of India to extend a warm welcome cutting across religion and party affiliation to "the black jewel Barack Obama, who has glorified the White House", the MDMK leader said "It is Barack Obama, who cherishes Mahatma Gandhi, father of India as the guiding star of humanity and keeps his portrait in his office".

The greatest revolutionary Fidel Castro had applauded Barack Obama as a man of honesty in his principles and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, a strong critic of the US, had softened his severe criticism on Obama, he said.

Obama had fulfilled his election promise to withdraw all the US combat forces from Iraq and he had assured that the remaining 50,000 American forces would be withdrawn before the end of next year. He had ordered the closure of Guantanamo bay prison and stopped the torture of the inmates, Vaiko added.

New Delhi, October 31
The Supreme Court has given a new meaning to “rarest of rare” cases by holding that though bride burning had become quite common in the country it still fell within the category and attracted death penalty.

Rarest of rare, as mentioned in the Bachan Singh vs. State of Punjab (AIR 1980 SC 898), did not mean that the “act is uncommon”. It meant the “act is brutal and barbaric. Bride killing is certainly barbaric,” a Bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra clarified in an order on Thursday.

Crimes against women were not ordinary crimes committed in a fit of anger or for property. “They are social crimes. They disrupt the entire social fabric. Hence, they call for harsh punishment,” the Bench noted.

Observing that the “hallmark of a healthy society is the respect it shows to women,” the judges felt that “Indian society has become a sick society. This is evident from the large number of cases filed in the SC and other courts across the country. These mostly pertained to killing of young women by husbands or by in-laws by pouring kerosene and setting them on fire or by strangulating them, the Bench pointed out.

“What is the level of civilisation of a society in which a large number of women are treated in this horrendous and barbaric manner,” the Bench asked. Unfortunately, what was happening in India was that out of lust for money people were often demanding dowry and after extracting as much money as they could killed their wives and married again to repeat the same act.

“The time has come when we have to stamp out this evil from our society with an iron hand,” they said while cancelling the bail granted to the husband and mother-in-law of a 24-year-old woman allegedly killed by them.

Bankura (WB), October 31
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today said her party favours peace through development in tribal Jangalmahal area of West Bengal and demanded withdrawal of the joint forces from there.

"Peace cannot come from the barrel of a gun but only through development ... Let the joint force go back," she told a public meeting here after signing an MoU with NTPC for setting up a captive power plant at Adra and laying the foundation of a midlife coach rehabilitation plant of the Railways at Anara in neighbouring Purulia district.

"The CPM is using a section of the joint force to do whatever it likes in the area and is also sending goons to intimidate the opposition. I have brought the situation in Jangalmahal to the notice of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram," Banerjee claimed.

She said the CPI-M would find during the Assembly elections next year that the people of Jangalmahal, which comprise the tribal areas of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts, are not with it.

"How many armed goons does the CPI-M have ? One lakh, two lakhs ? There are ten crore people in West Bengal. They will give you (CPI-M) a fitting reply. "I will oust CPI-M politically from Bengal. I promise I will," she said.

The Railway minister alleged that the CPI-M cadres were killing TC workers in Jangalmahal to retain the 42 seats in the area.

If voted to power, she said her party would address various demands of the state police force.

Accusing Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of using "intemperate language" against her and TC at a rally here yesterday, Banerjee said, "I could have used equally bad language against him but I will not, as I believe in political retaliation and not a duel of bad language." Bhattacharjee had called her a 'liar' and TC a 'party of liars'.

Harping on development, the Trinamool chief said that it can be brought about only by caring for people and everybody irrespective of party colours should participate.

"Keep faith on Trinamool Congress as it is the only hope in Bengal."

Referring to Bhattacharjee's taunts that she merely flagged off trains everyday but unable to provide any jobs, Banerjee said "I have been the Railway Minister for only a year. How many jobs have the Left Front government in its 34 years rule?"

"During my tenure as Railway Minister, I have taken up the initiative of setting up a large number of industries. Where will you (Bhattacharjee) be when these industries start functioning?" Banerjee said she had taken the initiative to set up industrial units at Dankuni, Kanchrapara, Sankrail, New Jalpaiguri, Budge Budge, Andal, Kulti and Anara in the state besides signing a MoU with NTPC for a power plant at Adra.

The minister, who has opposed land acquisition for industries, said she was not in a position to set up any industry in Bankura as Railways did not have any land there.

"I welcome any move by individuals to give land to the Railways," she said, adding that the land needed for the two projects at Adra and Anara were not forcibly acquired.

"I had not acquired land with the help of the gun," she said apparently hinting at the state government's botched efforts at Nandigram.

She said efforts were on to provide the Bandwan-Purulia- Jhargram rail connection to develop Jangalmahal.

Referring to the suspension of night running of trains in the Kharagpur-Adra section since the Jnaneswari disaster, she said the Howrah-Chakradharpur passenger, which has been suspended, would be rescheduled by three hours to fit in to the night timings. — PTI

Jangipur (WB), October 31
In an apparent message to cabinet colleague Mamata Banerjee who is opposed to land acquisition, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said there were some areas where land acquisition was "inevitable".

"Roads can only be built on land and improvement can only take place on land. Completion of road development projects will depend on land acquisition," Mukherjee said against the backdrop of the railway minister not turning up for a meeting in Delhi on the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill called by him, but sending her views.

He said that the Centre was working on the relief and rehabilitation package for the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill.

"We are at present discussing the rehabilitation package at the central level and we will bring an act on the same," Mukherjee said at the foundation stone-laying ceremony for four-laning of the the NH 34 between Berhampur and Dalkhola in West Bengal's Murshidabad district. Stating that he expected the act would come soon, he, however, declined to give any time frame.

He said financial compensation would be 'healthy' and jobs would be offered for acquisition of land for four-laning of the NH 34 between Berhampur and Dalkhola.

A total 680 hectares would be required to complete four-laning of the NH-34 out of which contract for 260 km has been awarded to the Hindustan Construction Company.

The project is estimated to be completed in 30 months.

Mukherjee said the project would help in fructifying the SAFTA and the Look East policy.

The NH-34 begins from Kolkata and ends at Dalkhola covering 482 km connecting international borders of Myannmar, China (through Nathula), Nepal and Bangladesh with West Bengal.

Modernisation of the highway would have a great impact on growth of trade commerce, Mukherjee said. — PTI

New Delhi, October 31
Accusing Congress of repeatedly misusing CBI to serve its political interests, BJP today said the "haste" shown by the investigation agency in seeking the cancellation of bail granted former Gujarat minister Amit Shah was the latest example to prove the charge.

"While on the one hand the CBI showed undue haste in seeking the cancellation of Shah's bail during court vacation, on the other it watered down case against (Bofors scam) accused Ottavio Quattrocchi and is trying to help 1984 riots accused Sajjan Kumar," party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters here.

Claiming that the Congress was "fast emerging as corrupt party of India", the spokesperson said the CBI has now become an investigation arm of the ruling party at the Centre.

"The CBI moved court seeking cancellation of (Satyam scam accused) R Raju a month after he was granted one. The same CBI was pulled up by the Supreme Court for its shoddy investigation in the 2 G scam," she said.

Sitharaman said the Congress was using the CBI to suppress its political opponents and help its own leaders. Shah left for Mumbai this morning following a Supreme Court directive asking him to be out of the state till November 15, when the CBI's plea seeking cancellation of his bail will be heard. — PTI

New Delhi, October 31
The focus of the Aadhaar initiative, under which citizens across the country are being provided unique identification (UID) cards, will be on homeless, handicapped, migrants and other underprivileged sections such as Dalits, according to UID Authority Chairman Nandan Nilekani.

Nilekani gave this assurance to a delegate from the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies at a seminar held here last evening. Pointing out that these people were caught in a “vicious circle”, he said they were finding it difficult to get any identity document, be it a ration card or a voter I-card. For getting one such document, they needed to provide to the authorities some other documentary proof of their identity and the place of stay.

However, the12-digit Aadhaar cards would be issued to them on the basis of reference by other people and would thus address the concern expressed by the delegate from the institute, he said.

Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), who also attended the panel discussion, said the students doing science and engineering courses should be allowed to simultaneously pursue social science subjects even if it meant doing these from other universities. This would address the problem of dearth of talent being faced by research institutions working for poverty reduction.

The discussion marked the launch of a think tank initiative (TTI) by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Melinda Gates Foundation and two others. Under the initiative, 16 think tanks from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh would get $21 million in grants for doing policy research.

The function was attended by Canadian High Commissioner-designate Stewart Beck, British High Commissioner Richard Stagg, IDRC Regional Director Stephen McGurk and researchers from South Asia.

Guwahati, October 31
The Kaziranga National Park (KNP), the famed abode for animals on the bank of the Brahmaputra in Assam, turns into a nightmare for its denizens when swirling flood waters of the mighty river inundate its sprawling grassland.

Words will not suffice to describe the plight of animals in the park, known for one-horned rhinoceros, during floods, notwithstanding the efforts put in by the park authority to keep the animals safe on numerous artificial highlands in the park where low-lying grassland dominates the topography.

Documentary filmmaker from Assam Dip Bhuyan spent time in the park during four consecutive flood seasons during 2004-2007 in his quest for making a non-feature film on the agony of Kaziranga animals when the Brahmaputra and its tributaries wreak havoc in the world famous rhino abode and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The fruit of his hard work, “Sesh Asha” (last hope), is full of touching shots on the animals’ struggle for survival and untiring efforts put in by forest and wildlife personnel to safeguard the animals in distress. The 22.30-minute documentary has been selected for screening in the India Panorama Section (non-feature) of the forthcoming India-International Film Festival to be held in Goa from November 22 to December 2. The film has been directed and shot by Dip Bhuyan, while editing is by Simanta Sandilya.

“Selection of my documentary for screening at Indian Panorama is like giving recognition to the hard work and passion that has gone into the making of the film. We have to keep patience and bank on limited resources for four years to get the right shots during four consecutive flood seasons in the Kaziranga National Park. I hope it will be liked by everyone, especially the wildlife buff and green brigades,” Dip Bhuyan told The Tribune here.

The documentary was earlier screened during the 11th Mumbai International Film Festival earlier this year. It was also well appreciated at the “Vatavaran International Environment and Wildlife Film Festival held in New Delhi in 2009.

New Delhi, October 31
The induction of specially-trained dogs has boosted country’s anti-poaching campaign as they have helped bust gangs of poachers and recover coveted items like leopard skins and other body parts.

The officials of Traffic India, an international NGO monitoring wildlife trade, said they had facilitated training of German Shepherd dogs at government centres as a pilot project and it had shown encouraging results.

One of the trained dogs, Jackie, helped his handlers nab two poachers in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh on October 26. Several traps for catching wild animals, apart from six live Grey Francolin birds, were recovered from them, a Traffic India spokesperson said.

Last month, Raja, another of the trained dogs kept at Bhrampuri Wildlife Division, Maharashtra, had helped bust another gang dealing in leopard skins and seven persons were arrested. Villagers in Buldhana district had killed a leopard and hidden its body parts but the dog sniffed it out.

“Wildlife crime is more organised and transnational these days. Innovative methods are needed to tackle it and use of dogs is a step in this direction. These specially-trained dogs are not a substitute for existing methods but add another layer to it,” Samir Sinha, head of Traffic India, said.

Five dogs, trained to detect animal products like tiger bone and skin, leopard bone and ski and bear bile, have joined the team of wildlife officials in Madhya Pradesh, Maharahtra and Jharkhand since July this year. The dogs and their 10 handlers had completed a rigorous nine-month training programme at the Dog Training Centre, 23rd Battalion of Special Armed Forces, Madhya Pradesh Police.

Sinha said they were initially concentrating on areas with tiger habitats. Traffic India and WWF-India funded and facilitated the procurement of the dogs and their training.

He said the use of dogs in anti-poaching drive is an established practice in several countries but had been done for the first time in India.

Banka, October 31
Till four months ago, she was an ideal housewife taking care of her politician husband and two daughters. By a sudden quirk of fate, politics was thrust upon her. Even before the tears in her eyes could dry following the untimely death of her husband, Digvijay Singh, a former Union minister and sitting MP from Banka, Putul Kumari was pressurised by her friends and well-wishers to carry on the political legacy of her late husband who was elected to the Lok Sabha thrice from Banka constituency.

In the last Lok Sabha elections held in 2009, Digvijay Singh was elected as an Independent after being denied the party ticket by the JD (U), the ruling party in Bihar. Earlier, he had also been elected to the Rajya Sabha twice and got a chance to serve as minister of state in the union cabinet led by Chandrashekhar and Atal Bihari Vajpayee with portfolios like finance, commerce, railways and external affairs.

The fact that Putul Kumari (50) had never come to Banka, the ‘karmbhoomi’ of her husband in his life time, indicates that he wanted her to stay out of the hurly burly of politics. But destiny has made her criss-cross this Lok Sabha constituency meeting the electorate and seeking their mandate to carry on with the unfinished agenda of development perceived by her late husband and their former MP.

In the past more than a month, she has covered almost 60 per cent villages under this Lok Sabha constituency and her two grown up daughters, Manasi and Shreyasi Singh, covered the remaining areas, said Dr Phool Chand Singh, one of her poll managers. Almost all mainstream parties offered their symbol to Putul for the byelection to Banka Lok Sabha seat. Other than Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad and senior Congress leaders like Ahmed Patel and Digvijay Singh spoke to her on this issue.

But she preferred to go by the wishes of the people of Banka and a majority of them preferred her to contest the bypoll as an Independent.

Subsequently, the ruling NDA constituents and the Congress extended their support to her. Perhaps, it is an unprecedented development in the electoral polity where the Congress and the NDA are supporting the same candidate. It also vindicates the popularity of Putul’s husband in the political circles. However, the RJD and its ally LJP (Lalu and Ram Vilas Paswan) have fielded its candidate Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav, a former union minister of state against Putul.