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The French President’s visit
France adamant on turban ban
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Upload fares on websites, DGCA tells carriers
Fight for Permanent Commission
Sena protests against Jaitapur nuke plant
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The French President’s visit
New Delhi, December 6 The agreement between seven original Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and ParisTech, a conglomerate of 12 top educational institutes of France, was inked today afternoon on the sidelines of delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and his French counterpart were present at the time of signing. Seed money of two lakh Euros for IITs-ParisTech Fund for Science and Technology has come on the Indian side from IT giant Infosys and on the French side from the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), the European aerospace corporation which makes civil and military aircrafts. The pact is significant as it’s the first formal partnership the two nations have announced on the education side. All old collaborations have been based on individual contacts between scientists. With the new partnership in place (its seeds were sown in June 2009 when the IIT Mumbai director was invited by France to make a proposal), students on both the sides will be exposed to the best education programmes in engineering in partnership with established companies. “Of the 2 lakh euros, 70,000 would be utilised for the movement of undergraduate and postgraduate Indian and French students back and forth for short periods. The remaining fund will go into promoting collaborative research through joint guidance of PhD students. “We will develop programmes for joint PhD research through joint supervisions on both sides and will explore the possibility of awarding joint PhD degrees,” IIT Mumbai Director Prof Devang Khakkar told The Tribune after he signed the pact on the behalf of the IIT consortium. On the French side, ParisTech president Cyrille van Effenterre signed.
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France adamant on turban ban
New Delhi, December 6 While a group of children from the community blocked the Teen Murti section in central Delhi, SAD MPs SS Dhindsa and Harsimrat Kaur presented a memorandum seeking revocation of the turban ban to Sarkozy. "In our country we have that rule which prohibits religious signs in schools. I don't know how public school system is coping with that for the moment," visiting French Cultural Minister Frederic Mitterrand told reporters here. Mitterrand said he respected the community but does not "have an official answer" on the issue. The Minister, who is part of a French delegation, said he was not aware if the leaders of both the countries discussed the issue during their talks. Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur said the Prime Minister had taken up the issue at the highest level earlier and "we are continuing to take it up". "As far as Sikhs are concerned, it (the turban) is not purely a religious symbol. It's an identification... We hope that at some stage they will say that it is something that is an identity problem and we would like it solved," she said.
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Bruni interacts with HIV patients
New Delhi: French First Lady Carla Bruni Monday interacted with HIV+ patients and counsellors at the Safdarjung Hospital and a home for HIV+ children here. Dressed in a formal navy blue suit and a blue scarf, the glamorous Bruni reached the hospital at 11.10 a.m. and visited the Anti-Retroviral Therapy centre and the OPDs of the hospital. During her 1.15 hour stay in the hospital, Bruni asked the counsellors to work towards integrating HIV+ people with the mainstream. Bruni, goodwill ambassador of Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, also visited the Naz Foundation-run home for HIV+ kids.
— IANS
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Vohra stresses on national security architecture
New Delhi, December 6 Vohra, ex-Defence Secretary and Home Secretary, drew a clear line with his opinion while delivering the inaugural address at the three-day international conference on public security in federal polities, ‘Exploring the Global-National-Level Continuum’ here today evening. Organised by the Centre for Public Affairs, the conference will explore the approach needed to evolve a national security consensus. “The nation immediately needs an over-arching national security management structure,” said Vohra, stating that it should be backed by adequate technical resources and manpower. He cited the example of the US which had a homeland security network in place after the 9/11 attacks in New York. Incidentally, the Union Home Ministry is also pushing for a centralised counter-terrorism network amid opposition. Quite candidly Vohra said it would be impractical and hazardous to assume that security concerns would be addressed if the home and defence ministries continue to work in their respective spheres of internal security and external security. “Over the past 60-odd years, trans-border activities have not only blurred, they have also virtually demolished the line between internal and external security as we had envisaged. The security plan has to factor in both kinds of threats and the way to deal with them jointly,” the Governor said. He cited the example of trans-border infiltration from Pakistan into Jammu and Kashmir and said it was being organised by the ISI. Mafia and criminal networks have links with intelligence agencies which allow them to plan and perpetrate incidents of the kind they do, he said. Dwelling upon the role of states in law and order situations and the impact on national security, Vohra said, “We have not been able to have a collaborative and bipartisan approach to national security issues. Most states have been guilty of not maintaining the same level of preparedness while politicisation of police has affected its morale and accountability. At times, MHA advisories don’t even have the impact they should have.” Former Governor and IPS officer Ved Marwah, who was chairing the session, squarely blamed political parties saying that they wanted power but no responsibility.
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Lt Gen Lamba takes over as Army Vice-Chief
New Delhi, December 6 An alumnus of the Khadakvasla-based National Defence Academy, Lamba was commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery in June 1997 and now he is also the Senior Colonel of the Regiment. An Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) awardee, his operational experience includes participation in the 1971 Indo-Pak War in the eastern as well as the western theatres and vast exposure to counter-insurgency operations over several years, both within and outside the country. His Command assignments encompass that of a Rocket Regiment, Mountain Brigade in counter-insurgency and later on in Operation Parakram in 2001-02, Infantry Division on the western sector, and an elite Strike Corps in the southern theatre. The officer was Commander-in-Chief of the Army's Training Command at Shimla prior to taking over as the Army vice-chief. This tenure at the training command drew the General's focus on the imperative transformation in training to meet the postulations of emerging security and technological challenges.
— PTI
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Upload fares on websites, DGCA tells carriers
New Delhi, December 6 Airlines have been given 48 hours to comply with the directive. Private airlines are not happy with the ‘government’s interference’, especially in ‘today’s era of liberalised environment’. Sources however say Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who is often charged with being lenient toward private airlines, this time made it clear that he expected a pro-passenger response from airlines. Patel also made it clear that the DGCA would be forced to action if errant airlines did not stop ‘predatory’ pricing of fares. The new directive was issued this evening after top officials of the Ministry and the DGCA met representatives of full cost carriers Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher. To ensure that customers are not taken by surprise, especially while booking tickets close to the day of travel, airlines have been asked to ‘upload the route wise tariff across its network in various fare categories commensurate with date of purchase on their respective websites, in addition to adhering to the directions issued on November 19’. Ministry officials say airlines’ representatives were briefed about the provisions of Rule 135 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, which deals with publishing of tariff established by them on their websites or in daily newspapers. All airlines have agreed to comply with the directive, which has to be implemented latest by 5 pm on December 8, they add. This means that airlines will have to provide details of route-wise fares and also each ‘fare bucket’. Aircraft seats are grouped into different categories, each at a distinct price, called ‘fare buckets’. Airline officials say while they have been providing fare details to customers on websites, they do not want to make public competitive information like bucket-seat prices. Their apprehension is that if put on the web, the information can adversely impact health of the industry, which has just about recovering from a long recessionary spell. Post Diwali, air fares, especially the last-minute or spot tickets, skyrocketed. In view of the sudden and inordinate surge in airfares from November 15, particularly on various metro routes, scheduled airlines were directed to bring tariffs to a reasonable level on November 17. Following this, the DGCA had issued a directive on November 19 asking airlines to furnish a copy of established tariff route-wise across its network in various fare categories to the DGCA on every first day of the calendar month. The response of the airlines to the notice was not satisfactory and as the increase in tariff continued unabated, the DGCA held meetings with CEOs of established domestic airlines on Saturday and today to remedy the situation.
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Fight for Permanent Commission
Chandigarh, December 6 Major Gaurav, who is waging a legal battle for grant of permanent commission, was to be released from service on December 2, on completion of her terms of engagement, but just two days before the Tribunal stayed her discharge. The case is scheduled to come up for hearing before the Tribunal on December 18. Faced with the possibility of having her claim for permanent commission rejected by the service selection board after receiving a letter from Army Headquarters on the status an exemption granted to her earlier, she had moved the Tribunal. In spite of having qualified in the departmental exam for promotion to lieutenant colonel after 13 years of service, the Army wants her to appear for a department exam supposed to be written after about four years’ service. Incidentally, the said exam was not required for woman officer when she was in the service bracket at that time and was made mandatory only in 2008. Based on a similar exemption granted to another woman officer, she had taken up her case for exemption for the lower examination with the authorities. She was granted exemption by the department in interests of career progression, but in October she received a letter from the Adjutant General, which was “evasive” and “undecisive” over the issue of exemption. The Tribunal had earlier directed the Army to consider her case for permanent commission “on merits independently of the ineligibility of the applicant on the aforesaid ground” and lace the result before it in a sealed cover.
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Sena protests against Jaitapur nuke plant
Mumbai, December 6 In a statement published in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna today, party's executive president Uddhav Thackeray said they had decided to support the local villagers who were against the Jaitapur project.
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