New Delhi, June 25
BJP leader Uma Bharti landed up at 10, Janpath, the residence of Sonia Gandhi, ostensibly to save the Ganga and the Gangotri, raising eyebrows in political circles.Uma Bharti, who barely five days ago on the birthday of Rahul Gandhi, had described the Congress president as belonging to Rome and appropriated Lord Ram to herself, was at Sonia Gandhi’s door to thank her for a nice and sweet letter Sonia had written to her, supporting her effort to save the Ganga from pollution and to demand an Act for Ganga Basin Authority, she said speaking to mediapersons outside 10, Janpath.

Overlooking the fact that it was her party’s government in Uttarakhand whom Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh held directly responsible for the death of fasting Ganga warrior Swami Nigmanand, Uma involved Sonia to save the holy river above party politics.

Praising the Congress president after the meeting, she said, “If the government makes any contribution to save Ganga, the credit for it will go to the UPA chairperson. Four months ago, I was disturbed to see the state of the Ganga. I had then written a letter to the Prime Minister and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. My demand is that the Ganga should be declared a national river,” Uma said, forgetting that the river had already been designated as a national river.

She admitted that she was “overwhelmed” that Sonia Gandhi did not bring in the party politics on the Ganga issue and readily agreed to meet her. “She (Sonia) read out portions from a book by Jawaharlal Nehru and told me that her family has faith in the Ganga. She assured me that she will speak to the Prime Minister and Ramesh regarding my demands, and also ask them to meet me”.

Uma argued that the mere setting up of the Ganga Basin Authority had not served much purpose because it did not stated clearly the violations and the respective penalties for these violations. She, therefore, demanded statutory powers for the Authority through the passage of an Act this Monsoon session and hoped Sonia would facilitate that.

This came as a big surprise in political circles who recall that when Sonia Gandhi-led UPA won the 2004 elections and Sonia was elected the leader of Congress parliamentary party and of the UPA, clearing all hurdles in her becoming the Prime Minister of India, BJP leaders Uma Bharti and Sushma Swaraj were most vocal threatening an agitation against a “Roman Sonia”. While Sushma threatened to shave her head and sleep on the floor the day Sonia occupied 7, Race Course Road, in a spirit of healthy competitive Uma too offered to get her hair chopped off and proceed to Badrinath on a prolonged “sanyas”. From all accounts this is probably the first time she ever set her foot in 10, Janpath.

New Delhi, June 25
Army Chief Gen VK Singh may have to retire in June next year as Attorney General G E Vahanvati is understood to have firmly said that his plea for treating his date of birth as May 10, 1951, cannot be countenanced.

Rejecting the opinions of two former Chief Justices of India J S Varma and G B Patnaik, the Attorney General said their views were not based on facts and that the government should stick to the date of birth given by Gen V K Singh to the UPSC.

The country's top law officer is understood to have said that May 10, 1950, marks the entry of General Singh into the National Defence Academy and that alone should be taken into account.

Vahanvati was responding to a second request by the Defence Ministry on the age controversy.

The Law Ministry is believed to have forwarded the AG's opinion to the Defence Ministry.

In a span of one month, the Defence Ministry had for the second time sought the opinion of the Law Ministry on the issue of the date of birth of the Army Chief.

The Adjutant General's branch of the Army had sought the opinion of the two former Chief Justices after the Attorney General had earlier given his view that the May 10, 1950, date could not be altered as it would lead to serious legal disputes.

The first opinion given by a Joint Secretary rank officer of the Law Ministry in February this year that General Singh's date of birth be treated as May 10, 1951. — PTI 

New Delhi, June 25
In a decision that could have a bearing on India, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has decided to strengthen its guidelines on the transfer of sensitive enrichment and reprocessing technologies (ENR).

At a two-day meeting in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, which ended yesterday, the 46-nation grouping also considered “all aspects of the implementation of the 2008 Statement on Civil Nuclear Cooperation with India”. The meeting also discussed the “NSG relationship with India”, at a time when the grouping is considering the country's entry as a full member.

A press statement issued after the meeting said the NSG noted the need to “address proliferation concerns without hampering legitimate trade and reaffirmed the importance of licensing and enforcement based on NSG guidelines and control lists.” The NSG, therefore, “agreed to strengthen its guidelines on the transfer of sensitive enrichment and reprocessing technologies”. Though it did not specify as to what aspects of the guidelines were to be strengthened, the move would have a bearing on India considering that some countries have been insisting that ENR technology should be denied to it as it has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

While the NSG has been trying to evolve a consensus on curbing transfer of ENR technology and equipment to countries which have not signed the NPT, the group of eight developed countries had vowed in 2009 to do so.

This had surprised India which had got a "clean waiver" from the NSG in September 2008. The NSG meeting also discussed “brokering and transit” issues and agreed to consider options how to best reflect these matters in the guidelines of the NSG.

Concerned over the possibility of proliferation, the grouping called on all states to exercise vigilance and “make best efforts to ensure that none of their exports of goods or technologies contribute to nuclear weapons programmes”.

The NSG emphasised the importance of keeping its lists up to date with technological developments and took stock of the work done for a fundamental review of the trigger and dual use lists, the statement said.

It also discussed a report on the NSG's outreach programme and decided to work on guidance for such outreach.

Reiterating their firm support for the NPT, the member countries emphasised that “challenges remain to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime”. In this context, the member countries exchanged information on positive and negative developments in the nuclear non-proliferation regime. — PTI

Puttaparthi, June 25
Late Sathya Sai Baba's nephew RJ Ratnakar was today questioned by the police in connection with the seizure of Rs 35.5 lakh in cash from this Andhra Pradesh town recently.

A team lead by the Investigative Officer, who is probing the case, quizzed Ratnakar at his residence in Prashanti Nilayam here, a senior police officer said.Meanwhile, followers of Sathya Sai Baba today took out a rally here protesting the alleged mishandling of funds of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust and other controversies involving some of its members.

Traders in Puttaparthi also shut down their shops and gathered at the Hanuman Temple Circle to take part in the protests, the police said.Later, the protesters took out a rally from Hanuman Temple Circle to Mandal Revenue Office (MRO) where they submitted a memorandum demanding intervention of the government, they said. — PTI 

Kolkata, June 25
The CPM leadership has not been able to finalise its candidate for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections which will take place on July 14.The elections will be held following the expiry of tenure of six members, including Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat and Md Amin. Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Abani Roy and Trinamool’s Swapan Sadhan Bose’s term would also come to an end.

As per their current strength in the state Assembly after the recent elections, only one Rajya Sabha seat can be treated “as sure seat” for the Left Front and for that lone seat, all three CPM candidates are the claimants. The RSP will not be in the fray.

The CPM with its present strength of 39 MLAs will need the support of three more members from the allies for winning the seat. However, the party’s real problem is finalising its candidate’s name.

While party general secretary Prakash Karat, senior leader Biman Bose and former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee want either Yechury or Brinda Karat to be elected once again, a large section of the MLAs want some suitable candidate from the state to get the opportunity.

Yechury is a resident of Andhra Pradesh while Brinda Karat has been a voter in Kolkata. However, both leaders have their working base in the Capital. So, the MLAs want either Md Amin be re-nominated or any other suitable candidate from the state be given the chance to go to the RS.

Interestingly, similar demands were made when both Yechury and Karat had got the nomination for the first time. However, a section in the state leadership did not entertain the proposal.

At that time, veteran Jyoti Basu wanted the party leadership to select some one from the state but the then state secretary Anil Bose issued directives to the MLAs for supporting Yechury and Karat. However, this time after the party’s debacle in the poll neither Biman Bose nor Bhattacharjee is in the position for issuing any such orders to the MLAs. 

Mumbai, June 25
A sex-selection racket has been unearthed at Parli in Maharashtra’s Beed district.The discovery came to light last week when a large number of female foetuses were discovered from a nullah in the area, according to the state police control room.

A woman who was trying to get rid of a foetus wrapped in plastic bags was nabbed by the locals. “We subsequently discovered 39 foetuses from various spots in the area,” Assistant Police Inspector Mirza Baig who is probing the incident told this reporter from Beed.

Local villagers told the police that as much as half-a-dozen foetuses were found in different parts of Parli everyday.

The authorities have arrested one doctor, Sudama Munde, for carrying out illegal abortions, the police said. The backyard of the doctor’s clinic was also used to bury the foetuses, the police said.

Maharashtra's Health Minister Suresh Shetty, who is overseeing investigations in the incident, told local reporters in Beed today that 32 sonography centres illegally conducting sex-determination tests have been shut down. “The local authorities have been asked to strictly enforce the laws banning sex determination and selective abortion of female foetuses,” Shetty said.

Beed district has the lowest sex ratio in Maharashtra with 801 girls per 1,000 boys. Maharashtra’s own figures are dismal with just 883 girls per 1,000 boys. 

BRIEFLY

Two more rape cases reported in UP
Lucknow: Two more fresh cases of alleged rape were reported in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. In Faizabad’s Anjarauli village, a 16-year-old girl was abducted on Wednesday and allegedly raped by two men. “The girl on Friday lodged a compliant following which we arrested the two,” the police said. In the second case, a 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped on Friday by an owner of a photo studio in Fakharpur in Bahraich. The accused is still absconding. — IANS