New Delhi, November 23
Parliament remained a mute witness to the obstinacy being exhibited by the government and the Opposition on the issue of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the 2G scam with proceedings being stalled for the third week in a row. Twist in the tale was the wedging of the Opposition unity today.

A day after the Opposition said in one voice that it would not allow the Houses to run unless a JPC was conceded to, the government rejected the demand, for the time being. Leader of Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee conveyed the rejection to CPM leader Sitaram Yechury, indicating that the Parliament deadlock was here to stay.

That apart, cracks today appeared in the Opposition unity as non-Congress and non-BJP parties led by JDS’ HD Deve Gowda met late evening to blame the government for its failure to run Parliament. While they reiterated their JPC demand, they also questioned BJP’s role on corruption issue.

So most members of the erstwhile Third Front, minus the BSP, got cosy on the common ground, with Dewe Gowda leading the charge against Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yedyrurappa and accusing the BJP of double standards.

All others, from the TDP (represented by Chandrababu Naidu), the CPM (general secretary Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury), the CPI, the SP and the AIADMK also dared the BJP to set its house in order with respect to illegal mining and land grabbing.

Small wonder then that in this ongoing drama, the hitherto principal player, the BJP, was curiously silent today, saying it was yet to hear back from the government on the JPC.

The Left was the first to slam the saffron party for inaction against Yedyurappa, accused of favouring family in land dealings. BJP’s doublespeak on corruption was striking, CPM’s Brinda Karat said.

Both in the dock, the Congress and the BJP sat pretty all day, waiting for the other to set a trend. So, after Mukherjee ruled out a JPC, Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan came out of Parliament House to remind the BJP that it had no moral right to stall Parliament when it was yet to take action against the Karnataka CM for corruption. “The 2G Spectrum matter is with the PAC already,” she said.

The deadlock continued even though some Congressmen agreed that there was no harm in instituting a JPC. The Congress Core Committee which met yesterday was also divided on the matter fuelling apprehensions of the winter session being curtailed after the excess Budget is sought. 

New Delhi. November 23
The two-day conference of IAF commanders of the strategically vital Western Air Command concluded here on Tuesday with a thrust on developing fresh infrastructure in the northern region, including Leh.

Also, it was felt that there was need to have more chopper landing pads at strategic locations, including the remote Zanskar valley.

The underlying theme of the conference was “enhancing operational capability of Western Air Command”. This is an annual conference of the WAC that controls more than 16 air bases --- from Leh in Ladakh to Bikaner in the deserts of Rajasthan --- in north-western India. The numerous chopper landing grounds in the Himalayas and the supply route to the Siachen are also with the WAC.

Armed with data on all operational aspects of the WAC, the commanders carried out a review of the areas that needed attention. The focus was on induction of new equipment. The medium haul transporter, C-130-J, will be based at Hindon near Delhi. The first lot of planes procured from the US will start arriving in February next year, said sources.

The WAC also supports three Army Commands -Udhampur-based Northern Command, Chandimandir -based Western Command and Jaipur-based South Western Command.

The phased withdrawal of 18-odd choppers from UN duties in Africa has commenced and these will be put to use in areas identified jointly with the Army, 
said officials.

Western Air Command chief Air Marshal NAK Browne told the commanders that the IAF was undergoing major modernisation process and the WAC occupied a unique position in this transformation drive. 

New Delhi, November 23
The Delhi Police arrested a close associate of Ministry of Home Affairs official Ravi Inder Singh and continued with his grilling today for his suspected role in leaking sensitive information to a corporate group in lieu of “money and sex”.

The police also arrested a close associate of the IAS official of 94 batch, director in internal security division of the MHA, who would act as a broker for Singh and pass on the information provided by him to the corporate group.

Police sources said they had tapes of his incriminating conversation with the arrested broker in which he was asking for money and women for sex in exchange for the information he would provide.

The police, though, insisted that they had not arrested Singh, a West Bengal cadre official who hails from Sector 34 in Chandigarh, yet. He was picked up from his residence yesterday and released after hours of questioning and was being grilled again.

MHA sources have not ruled out involvement of more officials in this case of corporate espionage.

The broker, whose identity has been withheld, was picked up from a five-star hotel last evening and later arrested. He had been repeatedly speaking to a telecom company in which he boasted of his links with MHA officials and offered to share some sensitive information for amount running into a few crores.

Kolkata, November 23
Two foreign container vessels collided head-on in the Hooghly river in South 24 Parganas district today, leaving both the ships damaged.The collision between the ships, 'Green valley' and 'Tiger Singh' occurred at about 11.30 am at the confluence of the Hooghly and Rupnarayan rivers near Nurpur under Ramnagar police station area, the district police superintendent said.

One of the vessels was registered in the Bahamas. "There is neither any casualty nor any oil leak due to the collision which, however, caused damage to both the vessels," Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) chairman M L Meena tsaid

Though the district police superintendent said that one of the vessels was sinking, the KoPT chairman said it was not the case. "One vessel suffered serious damage and is likely to be towed to Kolkata port by tomorrow, while the other will sail back here," he said. — PTI

Guwahati, November 23
In a serious blow to the ‘save tiger campaign’, a full grown Royal Bengal Tiger was today shot dead by a policeman at a village in Morigaon district of Central Assam prompting the forest authorities to order an inquiry by the Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) of the state.

The tiger, which had probably strayed from its natural habitat in Orang National Park, was shot dead at Nagabandha village in Morigaon district after it had killed two persons, including a woman, today.

The tiger was being constantly tracked by a team of forest and police personnel accompanied by a tranquilising team since November 17 when it was first spotted at Kandhulimari village in the district. It was moving about in the area and on November 21 the tiger killed and devoured a village cow at nearby Habibonronga village from where it proceeded to Nagabandha village yesterday.

The animal pounced upon a woman, Rukina Khatun (38) at Goromari paddy field this morning killing her on the spot. On being chased by villagers it crossed over a water body and took shelter inside a hut in the village. As agitated villagers surrounded the hut in presence of forest and police officials, suddenly the tiger stormed out of hut killed one of the onlookers, Chand Mian (20), prompting an Assam Police Battalion jawan to open fire killing the animal on the spot. The incident occurred in presence of the Divisional Forest Officer who, sources said, did not order shooting of the tiger. A forest official said the incident definitely attracted law provisions and it has to be ascertained whether the police man fired for self defence or not.

Chandigarh, November 23
Some retired armed forces officers re-employed with central or state government agencies, who had drawn welfare facilities from the Directorate General Resettlement (DGR), may have sub-let them to third parties in gross violation of the eligibility criteria. There have also been instances where some officers have taken dual or multiple benefits at the same time from the DGR.

Taking note of allegations of misconduct on the part of some serving and retired officers, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the defence ministry to investigate the matter and take appropriate action.

Disposing off an application filed by a retired officer seeking information about benefits availed by ex-servicemen under schemes sponsored by the Directorate General Resettlement, the CIC order stated that though the RTI Act did not confer vigilance role on the Commission, even so, the commission cannot ignore allegations levelled by a retired officer on affidavit.

Alleging in his affidavits attached alongside the application that the office of the DGR was not functioning in a fair and transparent manner, a retired colonel running a security agency empanelled by the DGR has listed out instances where some officers up to the rank of brigadier holding post-retirement posts were running commercial agencies through the DGR. He has contended that since these officers were employed full-time elsewhere, they would be “sub-letting” these welfare ventures to non-entitled persons.

Some instances have revealed officers working as promoter-directors of more than one firm registered by the DGR. Other instances include management of more than one highway toll plaza by the same officer at the same time. Others running businesses or security firms already empanelled by the DGR were sponsored for various PSUs and public contracts.

Earlier, details obtained under the RTI Act have revealed that intermediary agencies had tried to offer illegal gratification to a major general heading the resettlement directorate a few years ago also.

New Delhi, November 23
The world is beginning to reverse the HIV-AIDS epidemic with fewer infections and fewer deaths being reported globally, new evidence suggests.Released globally today, the 2010 UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS epidemic shows that new infections have declined by 20 per cent from 1999 when the epidemic peaked worldwide. An estimated 2.6 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2009 as against 3.1 million in 1999.

Similarly, the world saw 1.8 million people dying of AIDS related illnesses in 2009, one-fifth lower than the 2.1 million who died five years ago.

The global adult HIV prevalence now is 0.7 per cent, with 33.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 2009, slightly more than 32.8 million in 2008. “The increase is attributable to greater treatment access for the infected who are now living longer,” Dr Charles Gilks, Country Director, UNAIDS today said. He, however, termed as “sobering” the fact that the world saw 2.6 million new infections in 2009 of HIV, which is preventable and treatable.

Asia as a region saw 3 lakh AIDS related deaths in 2009; of these 1.7 lakh happened in India alone. India continues to account for half of Asia’s HIV infected population of 5 million (at the end of 2009). Of this 5 million, 2.39 million are living in India.

Good news for India is it figures among the 56 nations that have either stabilized or achieved significant declines in the rates of new HIV infections. From 2001 to 2009, infection rate in India decreased by more than 25 per cent, with the adult HIV prevalence rate now being 0.31 per cent as against 0.36 per cent in 2006.

In 2009, India had 2.39 million people living with HIV/AIDS as against 2.5 million in 2001. UNAIDS said India had achieved 50 per cent decline in new infections from 2000. Sadly the HIV prevalence among high-risk categories, female sex workers, men who have sex with men and injecting drug users, continues to be high in India at 4.9 per cent, 7.3 per cent and 9.2 per cent respectively.

Gilks admitted, “Although the prevalence in female sex workers is down, it has increased in IDUs and MSMs. Transgenders are probably the most at risk as we do not have enough data to know the extent of infection among them.”