Mumbai, January 23
If Mumbai police is to be believed, American-born terrorist David Headley, who has confessed to conducting a recce of all 26/11 targets in the city, may have played no role in the carnage.

The assessment by the Mumbai police is reflected in its appeal before the Bombay High Court in which its crime branch is silent on the role of the Pakistan-origin LeT terrorist while contesting the acquittal of Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin in the November 26, 2008, attack that left 166 persons dead.

While the Ministry of Home Affairs burnt midnight oil over getting access to Headley after his role in the brazen attack emerged, the focus of Mumbai police through its special public prosecutor Ujjwal D Nikam was that the terrorists intruded into the country’s financial capital with the help of hand-written maps drawn by Ansari.

Headley is at present in a jail in Chicago in the USA.

“When they (police) are seized of the issue of 26/11, it was incumbent upon them to bring forward all criminals and their respective roles played therein before the court of trial so that the truth prevails and there is no scope for misunderstanding,” defence counsel for Ansari RB Mokashi said.

Headley’s arrest and subsequent revelations had left Mumbai police red-faced and punctured is theory of criminal conspiracy involving only Ansari and Sabahuddin.

The two had, however, been discharged by Special Judge ML Tahaliyani saying better maps were available on the Internet.

“As per judicial confession of Ajmal Kasab, the Lashkar had explained the targets with the help of video shootings and map. It is clear from the plea bargain of David Headley that he was entrusted the work of taking video of targets,” Nikam said and maintained that the maps were prepared by Ansari and Sabahuddin.

“One such map was found in the pocket of deceased terrorist Abu Ismail and the handwriting on it is proved to be that of Ansari,” Nikam claimed.

A response was also sought from Joint Commissioner of Mumbai’s Crime Branch Himanshu Roy to comment on role played by Headley in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. However, there was no immediate response from him. — PTI

New Delhi/Chennai/Colombo, January 23
A fisherman was killed and two others were injured while fishing off the Kodiakarai coast yesterday. The man, who had put out to sea with two others from Pushpavanam coastal hamlet, died after Sri Lankan Naval personnel allegedly tied a rope around his neck and pushed him into the water, fisheries department sources said. This is the second incident of the kind in 10 days.

New Delhi has strongly and unequivocally condemned the killing of the fisherman, saying that use of force must be "eschewed" in all such situations even as Colombo rejected as "baseless" the charge that its personnel were involved. "We have received reports of the tragic killing of another Indian fisherman allegedly due to firing by Sri Lankan Navy personnel. The External Affairs Minister has expressed the government's strong and unequivocal condemnation of this violent incident and conveyed his deep sympathies to the family of the deceased," a ministry statement said.

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna is learnt to have taken up the matter "very seriously", saying it is "unacceptable" and has sought a report from the Indian mission in Colombo. He is expected to take up the matter with his Lankan counterpart GL Peiris, but since he is travelling within the US, he could not be contacted.

Sri Lankan Navy spokesman Captain Athula Senarth said that the allegations were baseless and without proof. "We have given strict instructions to our naval patrols and we ensure that these instructions are carried out,” Senarth said in Colombo.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the shooting of the fishermen could not be justified. If they had done something wrong (like crossing International Maritime Boundary Line), they should have been apprehended, he said. — PTI

New Delhi, January 23
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) scanning through the capital, snipers on rooftops and armed personnel at “every inch” form the ground-to-air security apparatus for the Republic Day celebrations here on Wednesday.

Already under a hawk-eye vigil for the event to be attended by the top political and military leadership of the country, the security establishment has fine-tuned its mechanism to ensure that the function goes without any untoward incident. Around 35,000 police personnel, including 15,000 from paramilitary forces and elite National Security Guards (NSG) will fan across the city in the run-up to the celebrations, which will also be attended by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

A senior security official said UAVs of the Air Force would be deployed for surveillance besides the usual deployment of helicopters. “The UAVs will not only keep an eye on the parade route but entire Delhi,” the official said.

The airspace over the capital will remain closed for an hour tomorrow and Wednesday from 11.15 am to 12.15 pm for fly-past. The airspace remains closed for all flight operations between 11.15 am and 12.15 pm every year on January 23, 24 and January 26 for Republic Day celebrations.

Mobile hit teams, anti-aircraft guns and sharpshooters of the NSG will be deployed at various places while paramilitary and Delhi Police commandos will keep a close watch along the route of the eight-kilometre long Republic Day parade from Raisana Hills to Red Fort.

Snipers will be deployed at high-rise buildings while around 100 CCTVs will keep a tight vigil on people’s movement between Rajpath and Red Fort, the route of the parade which showcases India's military might and cultural diversity. A multi-layer security ring has already been put in place at Rajpath, where President Pratibha Patil will unfurl the Tricolour and take the salute of marching contingents.

“A special emphasis is being laid on anti-sabotage checks, access control measures and intelligence coordination. The entire route of the parade will be covered by special security and anti-terror arrangements. Elaborate air defence measures, including deployment of anti-aircraft guns, have also been taken to check intrusion of air space,” a senior police official said. Besides the air defence measures, helicopters of the Indian Air Force will hover around Rajpath and all along the route of the parade.

Patrolling in crowded market areas has been intensified and checking and frisking in Metro, railway stations and bus terminals tightened. Security at the IGI Airport was also strengthened in coordination with the CISF.

Checking and frisking have also been intensified at all entry points with police setting up barricades to keep a vigil on all those entering the capital. All property dealers and second-hand car dealers have been asked to furnish details about their recent deals and pass on information especially about customers from outside the state. Cyber cafe owners have been directed to maintain the records of all e-mail users.

No vehicles will be allowed to ply on the Rajpath from 6 pm on January 25 while vehicular movement will be affected on Tilak Marg, Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, Netaji Subhash Marg upto Red Fort from 4 am the next day. — PTI

Chandigarh, January 23
In an unprecedented order, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has directed the Central Government to consider a retired Lieutenant-General for elevation to the rank of the Director-General Armed Forces Medical Services (DGAFMS). The tribunal has also quashed the appointment orders of the present incumbent.

Lieut-Gen Pradeep Bhargava had challenged the expunging of remarks in the annual confidential report of another officer, Lieut-Gen Naresh Kumar, that led to the latter stealing a march over his seniority. Terming the manner in which the remarks were expunged as “unfair” and “malafide”, General Bhargava had contended that the remarks pertained to the period when General Naresh was a Brigadier and he got them expunged at a belated stage. Till the time they were not expunged, Bhargava was the senior-most medical officer.

“The selection criterion is seniority-cum-fitness,” his counsel, Jyoti Singh said. “With the redressal granted by the tribunal, Gen Bhargava becomes the senior-most officer and if the selection board finds no adverse reports against him, he would, in all likelihood, become the DGAFMS,” she claimed.

A few months ago, the tribunal had directed the government to consider a retired major general for promotion after allowing his petition. “The Defence Ministry is directed to consider the case of Lieut-Gen Bhargava along with other eligible candidates in accordance with law without expunging of remarks of Lieut-Gen Kumar in the rank of Brigadier in 2005,” the tribunal’s Bench comprising Justice AK Mathur and Lieut-Gen ML Naidu ordered.

January 20 saw a dawn of a new era in the country’s telecom sector where the already “king” subscriber got another tool in his hand to bring the telecom operator down to its knees to hold onto the mobile phone user.

The launch of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was a major step that the country took for further empowering the mobile phone user who already had the choice of riches with him in the backdrop of as many as 14 telecom companies operating to share the pie of one of the fastest growing markets in the world.

In a country that already has one of the lowest mobile phone tariff rates in the world, the launch of MNP gave subscribers the option to switch operators without losing their mobile numbers.

By paying a fee of Rs 19, the subscribers will be able to change their network, but they will have to continue with an operator for a minimum period of three months in order to avail the MNP service. The new operators have been given the option to either waive or reduce the portability fee.

MNP will compel the operators to improve the quality of their mobile services in order to retain subscribers and not lose them to their rivals. However, subscribers will have to continue with an operator for at least three months before the next switch.

The service, which was initially launched in Haryana in November 2010 was given a nationwide imprint by the Prime Minister in a bid to ensure that people dissatisfied with the quality of service of the existing telecom providers get a choice while being able to retain their mobile numbers.

However, MNP would be valid only within a circle. This means that mobile phone users would not be able to change the service provider if moving out of the state in which the number has been issued. While moving from one state to another, the subscribers would have to get a new number and they would not be able to retain their previous number.

India currently has over 700 million mobile phone users, making the network the largest in the world after China but ahead of the US. The country has been adding 15-18 million new mobile phone connections to the network every month. MNP technology is widely prevalent in most parts of Europe and North America, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea.

MNP was to be initially implemented in all the metros along with Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu by December 31, 2009, but was delayed several times as operators were not ready with the required infrastructure. The deadline was first changed to March 31, 2010, and then to June 30 and subsequently again to Oct 31. Finally, the service was launched in Haryana on November 25.

The reason for the delay was that the Home Ministry had raised some security-related issues over Telcordia Technologies Inc.’s proposal to invest in a local joint venture. MNP Interconnection Solutions Pvt. Ltd., the joint venture between Telcordia and New Delhi-based DTC Pvt. Ltd., was one of the two companies that had been given licenses by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to roll out the MNP service across the country. The other company which had been selected was the US-based Syniverse Technologies Inc. They were to provide services in 11 telecommunications areas each so as to cover all the 22 areas in the country.

However, with the Home Ministry raising security concerns, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board put on hold the investment proposal. The concern was that Telcordia had also signed a contract to implement MNP services in Pakistan, which forced the DoT to look for solution and finally, Syniverse was asked to get ready to roll out the services across the country.

Incidentally, the experts are divided over the impact that the MNP would have on the subscriber base of various telecom companies. While they agree that post-MNP, mobile tariffs will go down further, especially in the post-paid customer base, they feel that it is unlikely to have any major impact on large cellular service providers and only the smaller ones may feel the pinch of customer switch.

According to a recent report by Goldman Sachs, it is the post-paid section of the customers and the high-end prepaid users who are more likely to shift to another operator. While the pre-paid customers of a telecom operator form the majority of the subscribers (nearly 95 per cent), it is the post-paid customers who give the company a substantial (nearly 25 per cent) of its revenue share. So, the companies will either have to work out new schemes for their post-paid customers or will have to simply let them switch to other companies offering better schemes to them.

Goldman Sachs analysts also expect that rather than shifting to a new operator, corporate subscribers would negotiate their tariffs with the incumbents. Ratings major ICRA in a recent report said: “Operators with superior quality of service would be the clear winners, while those with less than satisfactory service quality would stand to lose the maximum by way of subscriber churn.’’There is also a feeling that MNP is likely to prompt six to seven per cent of existing users to switch to other operators. However, after the first few months, the switching rate would stabilise as the operators would improve their networks to retain existing subscribers. Incidentally, there is an average monthly shift of about four per cent already prevailing in the market on account of both the post-paid and the pre-paid subscribers. About six-eight per cent of pre-paid subscribers keep changing operators, while in the post-paid segment it is between one to three pre cent.

While a large number of pre-paid customers carry two to three SIM cards of different telecom operators to enjoy the maximum advantage on account of different tariff plans, some others keep shifting from one operator to another with the same basic purpose.

Experts point out that it would result in a zero-sum game for the big three telecom companies-Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. In a zero-sum game, one company would gain at the expense of the other.

“It is the post-paid customer who these companies should really concentrate on, given the fact that MNP has kicked off along with the launch of 3G services. And it would make sense for post-paid users to switch to telcos that offer 3G services,” opine experts. However, some other feel that the post-paid user would not shift too easily as they are relatively more brand conscious.

LIRNE Asia has also come out with a report which says most prepaid subscribers are especially strategic in their phone use and operators would be forced to compete purely on the range of value-added services they offer and the quality of their services. Service providers trying to poach the subscribers of other operators can attempt this, but this may not be enough to entice the subscribers and even regular pre-paid customers to port their numbers out of the networks that they are familiar with. In fact, 26 per cent of mobile users said they would definitely not consider switching to a cheaper package.

According to the findings of the study, there is little evidence that pre-paid users are number loyal. This is explained by the number of different SIM connections from various operators that they own. In India, nine per cent of all BOP mobile subscribers own more than one SIM, while in Pakistan the corresponding figure is 23 per cent.

Obtaining a new connection has now become so cheap and accessible that an urban male respondent was likely to have three SIMs while a rural male respondent had two; urban female respondents were also likely to have two SIMs while their rural counterparts had access to only one connection.

In the telecommunication sector, there have been many significant landmarks even as consumers were liberated from the stranglehold of an octopus-like telecommunications department. Often, a look at history gives a better perspective to divining future.

Many readers will remember the days of the telephone, that black box which was literally the lifeline for the whole neighbourhood. The first flush of independence that many homes had was just getting a landline in the house, after an inordinately wait or through the good offices of a friendly politician like an MP or a Minister. No longer would you have to go to the neighbour’s house to attend to your phone call, you could say what you wanted in the privacy of your own home, without that annoying and pesky Auntiji listening to the conversation.

You had to be an Indian to understand why someone would get excited because he got STD. Instead of a trip to the doctors, as was the case the world over, in India you celebrated when you got the Subscriber Trunk Dialling facility. Of course, it was not simple, you went to the telephone exchange, filled in many forms, etc.

When you got STD, you were liberated from booking trunk calls. Invariably, you booked an ‘urgent’ call and still waited the whole day for it to mature, unless it was an emergency and you made a ‘lightning’ call, at many times the cost of an ‘ordinary’ call.

The ubiquitous ‘lineman’ kept you connected to the world beyond, and for this he demanded his pound of flesh, much as any Shylock would. You had to keep him happy, and pray that he did not do some jiggery-pokery that resulted in your paying the bills of someone else’s call. Of course, this was seen as an opportunity for some who got access to many ‘free’ calls at others’ expense.

For those unable to get the landlines, there came the STD Booths. No, they did not have any penicillin handy, they allowed ordinary millions to make phone calls, and so pleased were the voters that they even rewarded the Minister concerned by re-electing him, even after the CBI found that he found comfort in beds lined with bundles of currency notes.

So continued the merry dance, till came a new kid on the block. It was the cell phone, introduced in India in August 1995.

This was an electronic gadget that you could use conveniently to drive a nail with, and one in which you paid as much as Rs 8 a minute to listen to a call. God help you some voluble friend called!

People took to it like a duck to water, and so much so that the world was amazed at and the telecommunication pool became bigger and still bigger.

What the cell phone meant at that time was freedom from the tyranny of the tangle of landlines. A flawed, sometimes dysfunctional, and often cacophonic freedom is infinitely better than being tied down, as we Indians especially know.

In time cell phones got better, they could actually be carried in your pocket instead of belt holsters originally associated with that wonderful weapon that tamed the Wild West: Colt 45.

The telecom players became better, and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India showed such teeth that even the Time magazine commented on its functioning. Of course, this was too good to last, but even as various shenanigans kept the telecom players, ministers and officials busy, the Indian consumer continued to enjoy among the lowest rates in the world.

Cell phones proliferated to such an extent and became so common that much to the photographers’ despair, pictures of rickshaw walas, sabzi walas, labourers, sadhus and what have you using cell phones ceased to be exotic.

Our self-worth was determined by the model of the cell phone we used. Services were added at a bewildering rate. Our musical choices were pandered to and we could load ring tones by the thousands, with nary a thought to those who would have to inadvertently listen to them. The technical side of this revolution was that we became among the world leaders and Indian companies started looking for opportunities abroad. Many practises adopted by Indian companies are looked upon as best practises.

Then came the 3G spectrum auction, and thus the terms ‘3G’ and ‘scam’ come together. The Minister who is no longer there and his cohorts did not follow norms and have already been convicted in the court of public opinion, even as the Supreme Court and other bodies debate on legal issues.

3G will bring in much greater connectivity and will allow the phone to become a smart device, a computer, actually. In fact, the tech world has already started classifying smart phones as computers. Given the configuration of these phones, they are computers!

Now that number portability is a reality, we will be able to enjoy the benefits of better services, and at more competitive rates. Remember, to retain the land line under DOT rules, you had to pay a ‘deposit’ of Rs 10,000 so that your phone could be ‘suspended’ till you needed the number again. Now you have to pay Rs 19 to keep your phone number even as you change your service provider.

The empowerment of number portability, of choosing your phone service provider without giving up your phone number, is all about giving choice to the consumers. Whether they exercise it or not is their prerogative.

The gloves are off between the rival telecom companies to attract subscribers in earnest after the launch of the mobile number portability (MNP) service. While the mobile phone subscribers-both pre-paid and post-paid-are laughing their way home, the telecom operators are trying their level best to outwit each other in wooing the subscribers.

The freebees are flying from all directions with an extra dash of innovative schemes to retain the existing subscribers. The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd was first off the blocks to announce that it would provide free 2G and 3G connections, besides free talktime to MNP customers migrating to BSNL.

Uninor, another new player, is betting on its dynamic pricing scheme. “You keep the same number but start getting up to 60 per cent discounts on all your calls - that is a powerful proposition,” said a Uninor spokesperson.

Loop Mobile, which operates in Mumbai, has come out with an innovative offer to woo subscribers. It has launched a new scheme under which its subscribers will get minimum 50 paise per minute for every call drop in Mumbai and Thane.

Incumbent operators such as Vodafone and Airtel, on the other hand, are banking on their brand. “MNP is not about competing on pricing, it’s about innovation, having good quality of service and customer support. We would like to compete at that level,” said Atul Bindal, president, Airtel Mobile Services.

Idea Cellular, which was the first operator to launch an advertisement series on MNP, has launched a dedicated helpline that offers all the relevant information on the processes and procedures of availing MNP.

Reliance Communication and Tata Teleservices are banking on their dual technology. Mahesh Prasad, president, RCom, said: “As RCom offers one of the best networks-both CDMA and GSM-and has extensive coverage, it stands to gain from MNP. “

Deepak Gulati, executive president, Tata Teleservices, said: “Our cutting edge technology and a robust network will help us not only retain our customers but also gain the position of operator of choice in the new regime. TTL’s MNP strategy will ride strongly on a simple tariff structure and strong customer care and service levels.”

Ahmednagar, January 23
Police and railway officials here hoodwinked BJP activists headed to Jammu and Kashmir for the Republic Day flag hoisting and shunted their special train back to Karnataka today. The Bengaluru-New Delhi Karnataka Express, whose 18 bogies were full of Karnataka BJP youth activists, arrived at Sarola station in the district and was due for onward departure to the north.

The activists, estimated at around 1,500, were scheduled to join other colleagues from different states for the party's Tiranga Yatra in Srinagar Jan 26.

However, the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government have already announced that political activists from other states would not be allowed to create mischief. The local railway authorities here acted swiftly to thwart the onward journey of the train.

When the train halted here, they blacked out Sarola railway station.

Taking advantage of the blanket of darkness, they detached the train's engine and attached it to the rear of the train.

Two more bogies with around 150 Railway Protection Force personnel were also attached to the train and around 1.30 a.m., it "started" its journey - but in the reverse direction and back to Karnataka.

It was only too late when the BJP workers, many of them fast asleep, in the train realised that they had been taken for a ride and halted the train at Nagansur station on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border.

A railway official said that "the drastic measure was implemented in order to avoid any untoward situation in Maharashtra." — IANS

Now that the long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle is finally over, ministers are now in the process of settling down into their new jobs even as some of them are still trying to find proper office accommodation. The newly-appointed Minister of State Ashwani Kumar, who has been given the charge of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, Planning and Parliamentary Affairs, has a room in the centrally located Planning Commission building on Parliament Street but the office of the Science and Technology Ministry is located in the far-flung South Delhi. Kumar is apparently not keen on moving too far from the centre of action and instead asked for a room in the building allotted to the CSIR on Rafi Marg. Ministry officials, however, explained to him that this may not be possible as the building does not house its offices. However, issue is said to have been resolved with the allotment of a special room for the MoS in the new building of the Met department.

Suites for Anurag, dormitory for others

The BJP's two-week long march to Kashmir to unfurl the Tricolour at Srinagar's Lal Chowk has been ambitiously billed as the Rashtriya Ekta Yatra but in the process spreading the message of national unity, it has ended up creating fissures within its own ranks. The 'yatra' was kicked off from Kolkata on January 12 under the leadership of Anurag Thakur, Bharatiya Yuva Janata Morcha chief. However, the journey has upset the BYJM cadres who have complained in private conversations that Anurag, who also happens to be the son of Himachal Pradesh CM PK Dhumal, always lodged himself in good hotels while they were put up in dormitories. Listening to these complaints, BJP old timers recalled how senior party leaders like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi made it a point to stay in the same place as those accompanying them during the yatras.

PC, cricket & the WC venue blues

P Chidambaram

Home Minister P Chidambaram is keeping his fingers crossed as the date of ICC Cricket World Cup draws closer. And it is not only for security reasons. He recently confessed that though he had been extended several invitations to watch cricket matches in the past, he could never make it as something urgent cropped up at the last minute. So even though he would love to make it for at least one match this time, he is not sure if he will have time for such an indulgence. As far as the security angle is concerned, Chidambaram said he had discussed the matter with Jaitley who had assured him that no match would be held in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and other states are going to the polls. However, it is inconceivable to think that a Cricket World Cup can be hosted in India without holding matches in the cricket-crazy cities of Kolkata and Chennai. Both cities do figure in the list of venues put out by the ICC.