Chennai, December 16
DMK MP Kanimozhi today said her party would come out clean in the CBI probe into the 2G spectrum issue and voiced confidence that the ties with the Congress would not come under strain on the issue.

“The law has to take its own course. It is a process to prove us not guilty. Definitely we will come out clean,” Kanimozhi, who is the daughter of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, told reporters here, a day after the CBI conducted raids against her associates and those close to former telecom minister A Raja.

Asserting that the DMK was open to the ongoing probe, she denied any strain in ties with the Congress party.

“No strains at all... I am sure together we will prove that nothing wrong is going on,” she said replying to a question whether the developments had affected ties with the Congress.

Kanimozhi denied allegations that her mother Rajathi Ammal owned Royal Enterprises, a furniture mart, and had purchased prime land on arterial Anna road, saying that "the property was owned by a private party and not by Tatas, as reported in media.

“One former employee of the furniture mart, Saravanan, acted as an intermediary and the property was sold to a Malaysian businessman. My family has no connection in the deal,” she said.

In a crackdown yesterday as part of the 2G spectrum scam probe, the CBI searched 34 offices and residences of corporate lobbyist Nira Radia, former TRAI chairman Pradip Baijal, siblings of Raja and an NGO linked to Kanimozhi and claimed to have recovered several incriminating documents.

The premises of Kamaraj, Associate Editor of Tamil magazine 'Nakkeran' in Chennai, Raja's brother and sister near Tiruchirappalli and Tamil Maiyam, an NGO in which Kanimozhi is on the Board of Directors, were among those searched.

The investigating agency also swooped down on the premises of Raja's auditor Subramanyam and also auditor of Kanimozhi's mother. — PTI

New Delhi, December 16
New Yorkers may be famously hiring Chinese grannies so that their children can grow up learning Mandarin, the Chinese dialect, but India will soon be offering the language formally in its schools.

Beginning April 2011, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will include Chinese in the foreign language club in its schools from Class VI onwards. Expressions of interest have been invited until January 15, 2011, from all the 11,438 affiliated schools though the CBSE today said the response was overwhelming for Mandarin, which is the most widely spoken language of the world.

The CBSE gesture was applauded today in the India-China joint statement issued after delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. The Chinese were quick to make a commitment: “We welcome the CBSE move and will offer support for training Chinese language teachers and providing Chinese language training materials to India.” The help will come in handy given the expanding job market for Indians in China and vice-versa. Both sides committed today to achieve the trade target of $100 billion by 2015.

Roughly, India will require over 5,000 Chinese language experts, interpreters and translators each year over the next decade to meet industry targets with China. Over 15,000 jobs are currently on offer in China where the Indian industry, specially the pharma and IT sectors, are growing. Only about 1,000 Chinese language students pass out annually from institutes offering Mandarin training in India. However, only Delhi University and JNU’s Chinese degrees are officially recognised by China.

The CBSE initiative will help bridge the demand-supply gap of Mandarin experts. “We want to tap the available expertise and conduct training courses for our teachers at the institutes offering Chinese language education,” CBSE sources said. In the notification on Mandarin teaching, the Board acknowledges: “This is in view of China emerging as a major global economy…” Gradually, India and China may also develop equivalence of educational degrees where again the knowledge of each other’s language will help.

But major beneficiaries of Mandarin would be business executives. Top FICCI sources admit: “If you want to do business in China, you must know Mandarin because all rules and laws are in Mandarin. The Chinese courts don’t admit translated versions. Even to market your products in China, you need to label them in Mandarin. That explains the value of the language of the world’s fastest growing economy.” Already, over 35 major Indian companies, including Infosys (software) and Ranbaxy (pharma), have a presence in China.

New Delhi, December 16
The Mundra Port & SEZ Limited, a private port and special economic zone being developed on the west coast of the country, has landed in trouble with the Environment Ministry for violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 1991.

Acting on a complaint of NGO Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan, the company has been served a show-cause notice and told to reply in 15 days why environmental clearance accorded to the project by Gujarat State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) should not be cancelled.

The Green Ministry has asked the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to enquire and submit a report within four weeks.

The show-cause notice follows a site visit report by a senior MoEF official, indicating a large-scale reclamation using dredged material in the mangrove area behind the west and the north port site due to which mangroves stretches have been seriously affected.

Meanwhile, the ministry has struck down the request of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), seeking more time to reply to its notice revoking environmental clearance for the integrated steel plant and 1,000 megawatt captive power plant in Angul district of Orissa. The company has been told to submit a reply by December 22.

The ministry has also asked the scam-tainted Adarsh Housing Society to submit its reply to the show-cause notice issued to it by December 24.

Panchkula December 16
The Panchkula police today stumbled upon an international fraudster when it caught a Chandigarh resident for a petty crime of cheque bounce involving Rs 26,000 only.

Local lawyer Arvind Thakur claimed accused Manjit Singh Rattu was responsible for bomb blasts in Pakistan. Sarabjit Singh of Bhikhiwind is facing death sentence in Pakistan for those bomb blasts and was a victim of mistaken identity as his face resembles Manjit Singh’s, Thakur said.

Thakur has been pleading the case of Sarabjit at the International Court of Justice and has filed a mercy petition before the Pakistan President.

Rattu was arrested this morning. The police recovered a car, 2 PAN cards and several debit and credit cards from him. He had been staying in Sector 35, Chandigarh, and had opened his office in Phase I of the Industrial Area in Panchkula. He had ordered for the delivery of 100 mobile phones to a dealer in Sector 11 of Panchkula. He was delivered 10 mobile phones. However, a cheque issued by Manjit was dishonoured following which the police arrested him on the complaint of the dealer.

Manjit claimed he had not committed any fraud. He had been living in the USA and had returned to his village in the Nakodar area early this year. After returning here, he decided to start a newspaper for which he opened an office in Panchkula. He had been planning to bring out a daily newspaper “Morning Standard” next year, he said.

On the other hand, Thakur alleged Manjit Singh Rattu was an international fraudster and the real Manjit Singh accused of bomb blasts in Pakistan. He married many women, including one in Pakistan and another at Canada, he alleged. There were four other cases of cheating registered against him in Pakistan, where he duped people of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of giving then jobs in news agencies to be started by him, Thakur said.

Manjit Singh Rattu, brother of a Punjab cadre IAS officer, is known by a number of names, including R Ahmed, Manjit Singh, Mumtaz Sharif Rattu and Mohammed Sharif Rattu. He was arrested by the Canada police in the past.

Awais Sheikh, lawyer of Sarabjit in Pakistan, however, maintained that Manjit Singh kept on changing his identity and as of now he could not confirm whether the accused arrested by the Panchkula police was the real Manjit Singh. He, however, said he had a photograph of Manjit Singh, and he would be able to comment of the issue only after he matched the photograph in his possession with that of the accused arrested by the Panchkula police.

Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarbjit Singh, however, maintained that the photographs of Manjit Singh, accused of bomb blasts case in Pakistan, resembled with that of the person arrested by the Panchkula police. Meanwhile, Manjit Singh Rattu had reportedly told the police authorities that he had never visited Pakistan.

Lucknow, December 16
Poverty has driven a family in an Uttar Pradesh village to give away their three children in bondage against a loan of Rs 42,000. The children have to now toil for 12 hours a day to make up for the loan taken by the family, a distraught relative said.

This followed a request by Sharif Ahmad to get an electricity connection in Milakrota village of Bareilly district, about 250 km from here, around four months ago.

After making him run from pillar to post, officials of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corp told him that it would not be possible for him to get a connection.

They, however, encouraged Ahmad to go for an illegal connection by hooking on a cable from the main line flowing through the village - a practice followed by many with the connivance of the officials.

“Since a number of villagers were enjoying the facility of such illegal connections, we easily fell into the trap and opted for one myself against a nominal underhand payment to the officials,” confessed a close kin of Ahmad.

“One morning, a fine of Rs.42,000 was slapped on us for the illegal connection,” said Ahmad, who earns barely Rs.200 a day by preparing thread to fly kites.

Left with no option, he sought a loan from a kite thread manufacturer, who agreed to shell out the money in lieu of labour provided by his three children.

The kids - Salim (15), Mohsin (13) and Shoaib (12) - now toil every day at their employer’s workshop so that the huge loan of Rs.42,000 could be repaid.

For how long this could continue is not known as the terms are not laid down in black and white.

Ironically, this has neither attracted the attention of the authorities dealing with bonded labour nor have human rights activists cared to look into the case. — IANS

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