Bangalore, June 9
India today successfully test-fired indigenously built surface-to-surface nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur on Sea in Orissa.

The missile, capable of carrying a pay-load of 500-1000 kg for hitting installations at ranges of up to 350 km, reached the designated target in the Bay of Bengal with high accuracy (less than 10 metres deviation from the target). Radars located along the coast tracked and monitored the missile throughout the flight path. An Indian Navy ship located near the target watched the final hit.

The missile, developed under the country’s prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), is propelled by liquid propulsion twin engine.

“The flight test of the Prithvi-II met all the mission objectives and was like a text book launch. Dr VK Saraswat, scientific adviser to the Defence Minister and secretary, Defence R&D, witnessed the launch operations and congratulated the armed forces and the DRDO scientists for the successful flight test”, a press release issued here by the DRDO said.

The indigenously developed missile mounted on a mobile launcher was test-fired at around 9.05 am. The missile, with features to deceive interceptors, had demonstrated flight duration of 483 seconds reaching a peak altitude of 43.5 km in a trial in 2008.

Later, as a part of the operational exercises by the military, two Prithvi-II missiles, aimed at two different targets at 350 km from launch point of ITR, were successfully launched within minutes of each other on October 12, 2009, and all the mission objectives were met.

The missile again proved its accuracy when the armed forces tried it in a ‘salvo mode’ on March 27 and June 18 last year from ITR, Chandipur. It was the fourth successful Prithvi-II flight within a period of eight months.

Haridwar, June 9
The Haridwar District Magistrate and Senior Superintendent of Police today met yoga guru Ramdev at Patanjali Yogpeeth here to persuade him to give up his fast. Ramdev has lost about 2 kg weight in the past four days.

District Magistrate R Meenakshi Sundaram and SSP Kewal Khurana urged Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishan to give up fast as it was having severe repercussions on their health.

Ramdev apprised the administrative officials that he would continue with the fast, though on consistent persistence he accepted to take honey and lemon juice on the advice of doctors.

"There is our team which is regularly monitoring Ramdev's health. I have told them to do checkups every three hours. We have seen formation of ketone particles in his body. Dehydration, dip in water level and increase of ketone in urine samples have been found. Formation of ketone particles is dangerous as it may affect vital organs like kidney and liver. We have also urged Acharya Balkrishan to give up agitation but both have declined,” said Sundaram.

Dr Yogesh Sharma, who examined both Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishan, said: “A dip of 1.5 kg weight has been noted while glucose intake is necessary in the coming days. If the fast continues for more than three weeks, there is serious threat to the life of Ramdev”.

Meanwhile, the yoga guru spoke minimal during his address today but reiterated that in no case he would shun the fast till his demands of bringing black money, declaring the same as national asset and impartial governance are met by the Centre.

Meanwhile, disclosing the financial details of the various trusts run by Swami Ramdev in India and abroad managing director of the Patanjali Yogpeeth Acharya BalaKrishan revealed the assets covering a span of 17 years since the first trust, Divya Yog Mandir, was founded in 1995. Capital assets of Divya Yog Mandir trust, Patnjali Yogpeeth, Acharya Kul Sansthan and Bharat Swabhiman Trust were provided by Bal Krishan in the presence of Swami Ramdev at a press conference in Haridwar.

New Delhi, June 9
An anti-corruption front today filed a PIL in the Supreme Court, seeking permission for Baba Ramdev to visit Delhi to meet the injured in the midnight crackdown on the people fasting against corruption at the Ramlila Maidan here.

The front has also sought payment of adequate compensation to the people affected by the police lathi charge on the night of June 4/5 and action against those responsible for the violation of human rights and misuse of power.

An inquiry by an independent agency should be ordered into the assault on women, children and old-aged people in the middle of the night, the Maharashtra-based Rashtriya Brashtachar Virodhi Janshakti said in the PIL.

The petition has named the Centre, the Delhi Police Commissioner and the Delhi Government as respondents. The action against the fasting people was unjust as the government itself had given permission to Baba Ramdev to hold the hunger strike at the Ramlila Maidan, it said.

The front has filed the petition as the Delhi Police has imposed a ban preventing Ramdev from entering Delhi for two weeks. The peaceful hunger strike was necessary in view of the “prevalence of large-scale corruption” in the country. The 2G spectrum scam was indicative of the extent of corruption, it said.

On June 6, the Supreme Court directed the Centre, the Delhi Government and the city Police Commissioner to provide all the details relating to the forceful eviction of Baba Ramdev and his followers from the Ramlila Maidan.

Taking suo motu congnisance of the midnight crackdown on the fasting Baba and his supporters, a vacation Bench of Justices BS Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar issued notice to the Union Home Secretary and the Chief Secretary of Delhi, besides the city police chief. The court directed them to file their response within two weeks.

Mumbai, June 9
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was today given an extension till June 17 to file affidavit before the judicial panel probing the Adarsh scam.

Deshmukh, who had dealt with files pertaining to the high-rise in south Mumbai during his tenure as the Maharashtra Chief Minister, was issued summons by the two-member commission on May 10 to file affidavit with regard to the Adarsh scam.

The panel had initially asked Deshmukh, who is now the minister for rural development, to file his reply by May 26 but granted him extension till today. He however, sought further time to file the affidavit citing “official workload” as the reason. — PTI

Hyderabad, June 9
On a day when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met a delegation of the ruling Congress leaders from Telangana, a Joint Action Committee of the statehood movement has set June 25 as the deadline for all the elected representatives of the region to resign from their posts to mount pressure on the UPA government.

While Congress MPs, Ministers and MLAs from the region urged the Prime Minister to take an early decision on granting statehood for the region, the Joint Action Committee, comprising political parties and civil groups, raised its pitch and issued a fresh ultimatum to the Centre.

The Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) has asked elected representatives of Telangana, irrespective of their party affiliation, to quit their posts by June 25 to force to Centre to take steps for carving out a separate state.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the TJAC’s steering committee held in Hyderabad. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi President and MP K Chandrasekhar Rao and TJAC Convener Prof M Kodandaram attended the meeting, which also decided to step up the agitation by organising “Rail Roko” and “Rasta Roko” programmes in the region.

Meanwhile, the Telangana leaders told the Prime Minister that they would be forced to quit their posts if the Centre failed to take a favourable decision on the statehood demand. “We explained the ground realities to the Prime Minister. The situation in Telangana is so volatile that we cannot move around in our constituencies. We must tell the people when we are going to deliver the statehood,” senior MP K Kesava Rao said after their 45-minute long meeting with the Prime Minister.

Any delay on the part of the Centre in taking a decision on the issue would compel them to resign, he said. “The positions of power are not important for us. Nothing short of separate Telangana state will satisfy us,” Rao said.

The Prime Minister told the delegation that an appropriate decision would be taken at an appropriate time.

The meeting assumes significance in the backdrop of the threat of a political showdown in the volatile region. The elected representatives of Telangana have already warned of en mass resignations if the Centre failed to announce a favourable decision by the end of this month.

The Telangana MPs and MLAs are also expected to meet the central leaders.

10 MODERN THINKERS IN SYLLABI

The CABE has agreed to discuss a proposal to include in school syllabi chapters on “10 Great Thinkers of Modern India”. While the Centre will ask the NCERT to draw up a list and a course, the states would be free to adopt the central list or make their own. The move is sure to generate political heat over who should be on the list. Those assured of a place in the list are: Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Tagore.

New Delhi, June 9
In a move that will ensure 10 years of compulsory schooling, the country’s highest policy making body in the education sector yesterday agreed to extend the Right to Education (RTE) Act up to the secondary level, i.e. Class X. The law presently guarantees free education to children up to class VIII (aged 6 to 14 years). The decision came at the end of day-long deliberations of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), which decided to constitute a committee to prepare a law within three months to provide 10 years of free and compulsory schooling. Once the draft is ready, the Government could consider amending the existing RTE Act, 2009.

The CABE tasked another panel from within its members, (state education ministers, civil representatives and educationists), to draft a legislation to prohibit unfair practices at schools. This one would be fashioned along the one to prohibit malpractices in higher education, already pending before the HRD-related standing committee of the Parliament.

As reported earlier by The Tribune, while extension of RTE to Class X would honour the society’s urge for free and compulsory education to all children (defined under the UN Convention as those aged 0 to 18 years), the law to prevent schools from taking students for a ride in matters of fees and admissions would guarantee accountability of school managements which want autonomy without really bothering to provide what their promise.

At present, 11, 600 schools are affiliated to the CBSE and out of these 8500 are private institutions governed by weak CBSE affiliation byelaws that, at the most, prescribe disaffiliation of a school found guilty of violation. “Disaffiliation only harms students’ interest. The proposed law will allow civil and criminal liability for lapses such as overcharging of fee, donations, acceptance of money without issuing receipts, denying admissions on frivolous grounds,” CABE sources said. The draft law would be ready in three months and would then be discussed with states, students, parents and teachers. It will also mandate schools to declare courses and infrastructure in a printed prospectus.

As for the extension of the RTE Act, even members of the law’s drafting panel wanted this move. Vinod Raina, member, CABE, who earlier drafted the RTE Act, today told The Tribune, “We are incrementally heading towards free and compulsory education for all children. I suggested one year of preschool for children aged five years. The CABE will consider this suggestion later.”

The coverage of the RTE Act to the secondary sector will ensure that students who pass out of Class VIII have somewhere to go and are not lost to gaps in the system.

New Delhi, June 9
The trial consignment of government’s much-awaited cheap laptop unveiled by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal last year, will arrive by the end of this month and be given first to state governments for trials. The order of one lakh laptops, which at present cost the government Rs 2,200 a piece as against the promised Rs 1,500 a piece, will be divided among state governments depending on the size of their students in the highest education sector. About 10,000 laptops will be handed over to IIT Rajasthan for use and trial.

Once these laptops are used by the states, each will roughly get 3,000 pieces, they will be free to hand them down to whichever college or institution they want.

The improved versions of the laptops will be produced in bulk and hopefully be marketed in India for Rs 1,500 per piece. Once their use becomes a routine, the Centre and states could share their cost, HRD Ministry sources said.

BRIEFLY

Submarine set for indigenisation
MUMBAI: The indigenisation programme of the Scorpene submarines is all set to take off after technology provider, the France-based DCNS signed a contract with Vishakhapatnam-based Flash Forge India for supply of critical parts for the submarines. The six submarines will be built at a cost of $4.5 billion. — TNS

Super snooping grid gets nod
NEW DELHI: Super snooping body, the National Intelligence Grid, that will channelise 21 different databases from banking, telecom, insurance, airline and taxation sector in one single file for sleuths to probe, was okayed by the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the Prime Minister here. — TNS