The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Probe ordered into Pune firing Mumbai/Pune, August 10 A probe by a retired high court judge was ordered today by the Maharashtra Government into the police firing in which three farmers were killed during violent protests in Pune district, as the incident rocked both Houses of the Maharashtra Legislature. Replying to a debate on the issue raised through an adjournment motion in the Assembly, Home Minister RR Patil said the probe would cover whether there was an excessive use of force by the police and if the Opposition parties had instigated farmers to resort to violence. He said the probe report would be submitted in three months. In a bid to defuse the situation after police firing and violence in Maval near Pune yesterday, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said he has asked the district collector to halt the work on the pipeline from Pavna dam. Official sources in Pune said the situation is peaceful and under control. District collector Vikas Deshmukh said the number of dead in the police firing so far was three and not four as reported earlier and one of the seriously injured was being treated at a hospital at Talegaon. The farmers were protesting against release of Pavana dam water for a drinking water project in the industrial township of Pimpri-Chinchwad, whose civic body is controlled by Ajit Pawar. The Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes over the police firing with the Opposition members stalling proceedings and demanding immediate discussion on the issue. Opposition members shouted slogans against the goverment calling it a "murderer". — PTI
	Reports of Sino-Pak exercise send Indian agencies into a tizzy Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 10 Reports of a joint Pakistan-China army exercise have sent India’s security agencies and the military establishment in a tizzy. Sources across the establishments, that use technical and human surveillance, have been alerted and asked to corroborate media reports of a ‘huge exercise’ close to the Rajasthan border. Reports today said that barely 25 km from the international border along Jaisalmer-Bikaner districts of Rajasthan, a joint war game is being conducted at the brigade-level by the People’s Liberation Army’s 101 Engineering regiment. Militaries of China and Pakistan have exercised together in the past. Indian Army officials said: “We have not been informed of any exercise as is mandatory between the armies of the two countries”. This was an agreement thrashed out between India and Pakistan following the famous 1988 Operation Brasstacks when the entire Western Command of the Indian Army was deployed for an exercise. Gen K Sundarji was the then Army chief. Pakistan had raised a red flag and the understanding was reached of informing each other before any exercise lest it was wrongly construed as preparation of an attack. Sources said if a command-level exercise is taking place, irrespective of the distance from the border, it has to be informed 90 days in advance. In case a division of the Army is involved, the information has to come 30 days in advance. Indian external agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the technical snooping agency, the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), the Intelligence Bureau and the Military Intelligence have been tasked to find out hints of such an exercise. China and Pakistan have a defence agreement pact and are co-developing naval warship, fighter aircrafts, airborne radars, tank upgrades and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s).
	India wants countries to honour N-technology commitments Ashok Tuteja/TNS New Delhi, August 10 Asserting that there was no question of India joining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a non-nuclear weapon state, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said today that New Delhi would not accept any preconditions for the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technology by countries with which it had signed agreements for civil nuclear cooperation. Against the backdrop of concerns in New Delhi over the impact of the Nuclear Suppliers Group’s (NSG) new guidelines on the transfer of sensitive technologies, he underlined that India expected the NSG countries to abide by the 2008 "clean waiver" and honour their commitment to engage in full civil nuclear cooperation with this country. "We are absolutely clear that as far as India is concerned, the basis of our international civil nuclear cooperation remains as contained in the special exemption from the NSG guidelines given to India on September 6, 2008," the minister said in a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha on the ENR technology. "The September 2008 exemption accords a special status to India. It was granted knowing well that India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," Krishna stressed. "As the Prime Minister had informed this august House on July 29, 2009, we were successful in securing a 'clean' exemption from the NSG in September 2008, according to which the NSG members had agreed to transfer all technologies which are consistent with their national law," he said. "As far as we are concerned, the September 2008 decision is the basis and overarching framework that governs cooperation in civil nuclear matters between India and the NSG," he said. "The issue is the full implementation of that understanding. This is what we expect and our major partners are committed to," he underlined. "We expect all the NSG members to honour their commitments as reflected in the 2008 NSG statement and our bilateral cooperation agreements," he stressed.
	Anna urges House panel to reject Lokpal Bill Faraz Ahmad/TNS New Delhi, August 10 Anna Hazare and his comrades asked the Standing Committee on Law and Justice, reviewing the Lokpal Bill introduced in Parliament barely a week ago, to reject and return it, go back to their constituencies, mobilise their people for their Jan Lokpal Bill or get ready for his fast-unto-death from August 16 onwards. Anna’s team was, however, asked by the committee members to send the copy of their Bill which the committee should study along with the other proposals that may come up from other civil society bodies and some other NGOs. The first meeting of the Standing Committee chaired by Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi sat “well beyond the stipulated time”, as Singhvi later put while stressing that the committee proceedings were confidential. More than 15 members carried on the meeting for more than three hours. After a presentation by the ministry secretary of the Bill, the five members of the civil society were invited to present their case. Anna, accompanied by Arvind Kejriwal, Shanti and Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi later said the Bill introduced in Parliament would only encourage corruption and target, harass and victimise whistleblowers and NGOs fighting corruption. “Our Bill was comprehensive providing for Lokpal and Lokayuka in states. But this Bill does not address the day to day corruption faced by the ordinary people,” said Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan simultaneously, with Kiran Bedi pronouncing, “We asked each MP to go back to his constituency and return with the voice of the people against this Bill.”
	NIA on Samjhauta IED trail Rajinder Nagarkoti/TNS Panchkula, August 10 Tightening its noose around Swami Aseemanand -who is being tried for his involvement in the 2007 Samjhauta Express explosions - and other four accused, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is going to conduct forensic tests on the material objects, including an IED timer, seized from the blast site. The agency is trying to find a link between Samjhauta and other blasts, including those at Ajmer, Hyderabad Mecca Masjid & Malegaon. In a letter submitted to the court of Special NIA judge, Panchkula, copy of which is available with The Tribune, NIA official Prithvi Singh, states: “To unearth the larger conspiracy behind the blasts, the comparison of IEDs and other materials used in the Samjhauta blasts with the explosives used in other blasts is required to be done by a team of experts.” A team from CFSL, Hyderabad will conduct the tests on August 21 and 22 at the NIA camp office in Panchkula. NIA official has further sought permission from the court to unseal the objects recovered from the blast site and hand over the same to CFSL experts for preparing a comparison report. The NIA official assured the court that after holding the tests they would re-seal the objects.
	India’s First District Health Survey UP worst, U’khand best in child health Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 10 The country’s first-ever district-level health survey has placed smaller states, including Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, on the top for most of the health indicators surveyed and Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh at the bottom. It finds neonatal mortality as the biggest challenge as seven out of every 10 infant deaths involve neonates. Here, inter-district variations are astounding. Rudraprayag in Uttarakhand has the lowest neonatal mortality rate (NNMR) of 11 while Orissa’s Bolangir has the highest at 75. The survey proves zero correlation between people’s response to general child and maternal health and their preference for the male child. So Uttarakhand, which tops on six of the nine health indicators studied in this largest global sample survey (18.2 million persons covered in nine biggest Indian states), stands at the bottom on sex ratio at birth (SRB) table, with Pithoragarh district posting the lowest number (764) of females born per 1,000 males as against Moradabad in UP with the highest 1,030. “This is the first time since Uttarakhand was carved out of UP that separate data is available for the two states,” said Health Secretary K Chandramauli. Reporting a lower SRB for urban districts, the study shows active prevalence of sex selection in cities. In UP, rural SRB is 911 as against urban 873. On other indicators, urban areas are much better than rural. Conducted by the Registrar General of India (RGI) across Assam and eight Empowered Action Group (EAG) states, Rajasthan, UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, MP and Chhattisgarh comprising 48 per cent of India’s population, 59 per cent births and 70 per cent deaths, the first annual health survey was done at the behest of the PMO. “It provides data for focused policy planning which was hitherto based on the sample registration system, which had smaller state-based samples,” said RGI C Chandramauli. The report lists 57 bottom-most districts; 34 in UP (where all 70 districts were surveyed); 11 in MP; seven in Assam and five in Rajasthan. UP’s Shrawasti district is the worst in India with the highest crude birth rate (CBR is the number of live births per 1,000 persons) of 40.9; highest crude death rate (CDR is the number of deaths per 1,000 persons) of 12.6 and the highest infant mortality rate (IMR denotes the number of infant deaths less than 1 year of age per 1,000 births) of 103. On child health, Orissa’s food crisis-hit KBK districts are the most vulnerable. Under five mortality rate is the highest - 145 - for Kandhamal. MMR (maternal mortality ratio denoting maternal deaths per 1 lakh live births) is the highest - 451 - in Faizabad Mandal of UP, where the NRHM has clearly failed as the recent scam involving three murders of CMOs has shown. On other indicators, Uttarakhand districts outshine others - Bageshwar with the lowest CBR of 14.7; Rudraprayag with the lowest IMR of 19 and the lowest NNMR of 11; Pithoragarh with the lowest under five mortality rate of 24 and Kumaon headquarters with the lowest MMR of 183. The CDR is the lowest (4.5) for Dhemaji district of Assam. Ironically, Uttarakhand’s Tehri Garhwal has the highest -1220 - sex ratio, which is the lowest - 818 - in Morena district of UP. Morena also has the lowest sex ratio of 787 in the 0 to 4 years’ category where Kawardha in Chhattisgarh is the best with 1,076 ratio.