New Delhi, January 25
India and Indonesia today signed nearly 30 agreements, including an extradition treaty and a mutual legal assistance treaty, and pledged to achieve a bilateral trade target of $ 25 billion by 2015 from about $ 11 billion last fiscal.

Eleven accords were signed after wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who will be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade tomorrow.

Eighteen MOUs worth $ 15.1 billion in sectors like mining, infrastructure and manufacturing were announced by the Indonesia President while addressing captains of the Indian industry late in the afternoon.

The main accords signed by the two sides were: MOU for cooperation in the field of education; MOU on the establishment of biennial trade ministers’ forum; protocol for extension of the MOU on cooperation in marine and fisheries; MOU for the development of urea manufacturing plant in Indonesia; air services agreement; MOU on cooperation in oil and gas; MOU on cooperation in the field of micro, small and medium enterprises; MOU on cooperation in science and technology; and MOU between the Press Council of India and the Press Council of Indonesia.

In a joint statement issued after the talks between the Prime Minister and the Indonesian President, the two countries unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and stressed that there could be no justification whatsoever for any act of terrorism. Recognising the common threats to national security from transnational crimes, including international terrorism, the two sides resolved to significantly enhance bilateral cooperation in combating terrorism.

The two leaders used the occasion to announce the commencement of negotiation on an India-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), building on what has already been achieved under the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

In the field of tourism, the two leaders recognised that a quantum leap in tourism between India and Indonesia was desirable to strengthen vibrant and long-standing people-to-people ties. As a step towards this objective, the Prime Minister announced a scheme of granting visa on arrival to the citizens of Indonesia.

New Delhi, January 25
Suresh Kalmadi has termed his ouster from the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games “illegal and arbitrary” as he claimed that he had extended “all possible co-operation” to all the investigating agencies, and handed over charge to Chief Executive Officer Jarnail Singh “under protest”.

In response to the order of Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Ajay Maken on January 24, removing Kalmadi and Lalit Bhanot from both the Organising Committee and the Executive Board of the CWG, Kalmadi replied to Maken today that he was “shocked to receive the order, illegally and arbitrarily removing me from the position of chairman of the Executive Board and the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games”.

Kalmadi claimed that he had not only extended all co-operation to the investigating agencies, but also “specifically directed the entire OC, including the CEO, to whom all FA heads report since 2009, to extend all assistance possible to the CBI and co-operate with them to the fullest extent”. He said he had even written to the CBI, “stating that I am available to assist them in any given point of time”.

Kalmadi pointed out in his letter that the OC was an “autonomous society” registered under the Societies Registration Act, and as the chairman of the society, he could only be removed “in accordance with the constitutional documents of the society”.

He pointed out that he was elected as chairman of the OC by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) general assembly on November 1, 2004, and as per the host city contract of the Commonwealth Games, it was the responsibility of the IOA to establish the OC. He said the IOA was an independent autonomous body, and as per the Olympic Charter, “must remain free from Government interference”.

“The Sports Ministry is therefore not legally empowered to remove me”, he said, adding that the Government order “ought not to have been issued as the same is without any jurisdiction”.

New Delhi, January 25
In the wake of the criticism over its remarks on conversion, the Supreme Court today expunged its two controversial observations in its judgment on the killing of Australian missionary Graham Staines.

A bench of justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan, which had given the verdict in the Staines case on Friday, replaced the original remarks in two different paragraphs with new sentences.

The new sentence, replacing one paragraph, said, “However, more than 12 years have elapsed since the act was committed, we are of the opinion that the life sentence awarded by the High Court need not be enhanced in view of the factual position discussed in the earlier paras.”

The original para in this context had read: “In the case on hand, though Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burnt to death while they were sleeping inside a station wagon at Manoharpur, the intention was to teach a lesson to Graham Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity.”

The other replaced para read, “There is no justification for interfering in someone's religious belief by any means.” The original paragraph in this context had read, “It is undisputed that there is no justification for interfering in someone's belief by way of use of force, provocation, conversion, incitement or upon a flawed premise that one religion is better than the other.” — PTI 

Vikram Seth may not be looking for ‘A Suitable Girl’, she will still descend on the title page of his next novel. The celebrated Booker Prize winner, author of million-dollar signing deals has finally decided to come out of his natural ‘laziness’ to write a sequel to ‘A Suitable Boy’.

The new novel will be set in the present, with the protagonist of ‘The Suitable Boy’, Lata, now 80, looking for a match for her grandson. “The grandson finds it easier to confide in Lata than his parents. The grandmother- ‘pota’ relationship is very interesting,” says the author. When Vikram Seth finally decides to write, the canvas cannot remain restrained. Like his earlier novel, this story too will expand beyond a family drama, travelling through Independence, crossing over from the Nehruvian era into liberalisation.

Seth remarked, “India has changed so much and so little. My characters will be looking forward and back.” He elaborated, “I will be exploring several complex issues, including politics, economics, gender, demography, the position of villages relative to cities, finding a companion and seeing whether that is for life. I mean, can you imagine a shaadi.com in 1951?” Asked to comment on the connecting thread between the two books, Seth quipped, “It might be helpful if readers bought both. Considering the weight, they could use them for arm exercises. My pockets would also be grateful.”

Dispelling some misconceptions readers might have about his committed writing schedules, Seth says he is easily distracted. For the past two years he has been sculpting with mediums as varying as glass, wood, stone and mud. “The point is not being a writer, the point is to write a poem or story or whatever when there is a real urge to write. That in itself is its reward. If you write with a publisher in mind, you might end up in disappointment. Life is not about writing alone, there are many experiences you cannot write about,” says the prolific writing genius.

Emerging literary landscape of Pak

A number of sessions were devoted to the emerging literary landscape from Pakistan during the festival. Post-9/11, the Pakistan migrant community has experienced a fresh branding of identity, of suspicion, mistrust and cultural exclusion from the West. Mohsin Hamid, the author of “Moth Smoke” and “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, shared how when he wrote the novel in 2000, his agent told him, “Who will be interested in a well-off Pakistani working as investment banker? But, after 9/11 things changed and this very agent came enquiring about how the book was progressing.” Hamid believes an interest in South Asian literature is not only because of the exotica involved, it also reflects how hard working these authors are. Talking of his works, he said he works on several drafts of his novels, destroying the previous draft when he begins to work on a fresh one, reading aloud each page hundreds of time, till he is satisfied. Which, in fact, he never is.

Women writers from Pakistan and Bangladesh, representatives of traditional victims of all kinds of socio-political oppression, braving a fresh threat that comes with renewed Talibanisation of their societies too had a opportunity to give vent to their angst. Zaheda Hina, Shaneen Akhtar, from Bangladesh and Shehriyar Fazli gave a talk on their search for literary expression.

The closing day at Jaipur Literature festival presented both ends of the spectrum in literature and whatever lies in- between. Lee Seigel’s “Love in a Dead Language”, for its ingenuity, madness, wit and devastating satire, to the fantastic mystery of stars, galaxies, numbers, intuition and creativity introduced by Arthur I Miller’s books, “Empire of the Stars”, “Insights of Genius”, the mesmerised audience was not satiated even after five days of magic unfolded by books and more books.

Seth’s session was the penultimate one at no 113, the festival ended with a session no 114 on RTI, on the beat of nagaras. Going by the free spirit of JLF, one wondered if the session was really required ! 

Ghazibad, January 25
Dentist Rajesh Talwar, father of slain teenager Aarushi, was today attacked and injured outside a court here by the same man who had stabbed former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore, a convict in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case.

Fityfour-year-old Talwar was rushed to a hospital by his lawyers after he was left profusely bleeding in the attack by Utsav Sharma, a graduate of National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad), and doctors later described his condition as stable.

Sharma, 30, a resident of Varanasi, who had come here from Delhi, took Talwar by surprise as he came out of the court after filing a petition challenging the CBI's closure report in the Aarushi-Hemraj twin murder case. Sharma, who was nabbed after the incident, slashed Talwar's face and hands with a cleaver, leaving him bleeding, Senior Superintendent of Police (Ghaziabad) Raghuvir Lal said. He has been arrested under Section 307 of the IPC (attempt to murder). Sharma told the police that his intention was to cause injury and not to kill Talwar. He was upset as Aarushi murder case had still not been solved. He felt that her father was the culprit and would be let off due to lack of evidence. He said he was upset over the judicial and investigation system which caused a lot of delay in deciding a case and allowed the culprits to roam freely,” said the Senior Superintendent of Police.

“Sharma had also attacked former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore outside the district court complex in Chandigarh in February 2010.The attacker reportedly suffers from a pyschological disorder,” the SSP said.

Utsav’s parents have also told the police that their son was under depression and was undergoing treatment for it.

Following the attack on Talwar, the court adjourned the hearing in the case till February 8. Talwar had filed a protest petition against the CBI’s closure report in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case and demanded a fresh investigation.