The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	JPC to grill CAG on leak of audit findings, 2G loss figure Aditi Tandon/TNS New Delhi, November 10 The controversial letter that the country’s supreme auditor wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, rebutting some of his perceptions about CAG, is set to figure in the meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) due to be held on Monday. The JPC, probing the pricing and allocation of 2G Spectrum, has called Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai as a witness on November 14 and will question him on a range of issues arising out of his audit findings on what turned out to be one of the biggest scams in recent history. Speaking to The Tribune today, JPC Chairman PC Chacko said the panel had asked for the letter that CAG wrote to the PM because it preferred to have every document related to the 2G issue in its possession. “We like to call for everything related to the issue under discussion,” Chacko said. He said the panel would examine two key witnesses related to the 2G audit next Monday. “We have called RP Singh, the auditor whose calculations on the loss were at variance with what the CAG finally estimated. After examining RP Singh, we will examine CAG,” Chacko said. Importantly, the JPC has called RP Singh and Rai separately to avoid trouble which the Public Accounts Committee debating the 2G issue faced when the two landed there together. Congress members objected to this, forcing adjournment of the meeting. In the JPC, RP Singh will be the first witness to be called on Monday morning. CAG will come later. Congress sources said he would be questioned on his purported media policy that he cited in the letter to the PM as being upheld by the Madras High Court. “It needs to be known if such press briefings are part of the CAG’s constitutional powers. We also need to know how the findings of CAG’s audit on 2G got leaked much before the actual report was tabled in the Parliament,” JPC sources said. Some members of the JPC argued that the practice of estimating notional loss itself would be questioned. “CAG will have to explain leakage of his audit reports and also why he calculated presumptive loss which is not a practice,” a JPC member said. While RP Singh, Director-General Audit (Post and Telecommunications) who has since retired had estimated the 2G loss at Rs 2,645 crore, CAG’s report finally put the notional loss at Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Another JPC member said CAG must say that he had the constitutional power to hold press briefings. “If he says so, he will be justified,” sources said.
	Aircraft-carrier launch delayed by few weeks Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 10 India’s poor record in meeting deadlines of defence projects has now hit the prestigious sea-borne aircraft carrier which is under construction at the Defence Ministry-owned Cochin shipyard in Kerala. Despite a laid-down schedule and strict vigil by Defence Minister AK Antony, the planned sea launch, slated for December, has been postponed. There has been a delay in the amalgamation of some critical components on board the 40,000 tonne aircraft carrier, said sources, hence the slight delay. The launch would be delayed by a few weeks, said officials. This is India’s first attempt at building a sea-borne aircraft carrier on its own. A modular construction pattern (block-building method) is being followed. Complete blocks are built off site and then fitted into place. This is said to be a faster method of construction and is followed by leading European shipyards. During the monsoon session of Parliament, Defence Minister AK Antony, answering a query in the Lok Sabha, said that 75 per cent of hull work had been completed and the ship would be launched in December. Additional work will be undertaken after the warship has been commissioned. One of the reasons for the delay is the final fitment of the four General Electric-supplied LM 2500 engines. The building of a ship of this size is divided into seven phases: design, construction planning, work prior to keel laying, ship erection, launching, final outfitting and sea trials. The keel of the ship was laid in February 2009. The last two steps - final outfitting and sea trials - are carried out after the launch. As per the original schedule, the warship is to be handed over to the Indian Navy by the end of 2013. The Indian Navy has, in the past, operated two such aircraft carriers - the INS Vikrant and INS Viraat - but both had been imported. INS Viraat is still in service. Besides this, the Navy is expected to operate three aircraft carriers by 2015, which include Admiral Gorshkov being imported from Russia that is expected join the fleet next year and the one being built at Cochin. After the sea launch, hundreds of km of wiring will be laid. A flight deck, capable of operating the Russian MiG-29K, Kamov-31 choppers and the indigenous naval light combat aircraft Tejas, will be laid. The vessel will have two take-off runways and landing will be done using arrester wires. It will have the capacity to carry a maximum of 30 aircraft with hangars to house these. India’s neighbour China is aiming to induct three such carriers by 2015.
	RTE campaign begins today CMs' letters to accompany the PM's letter in non-Cong states Aditi Tandon/TNS New Delhi, November 10 Punjab has joined the club of non-Congress states where messages of Chief Ministers will be read out along with the one by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when the government tomorrow launches its year-long Right to Education (RTE) campaign in schools across India. The original plan, as conceived by the National Advisory Council on RTE, was to have the PM’s personal message on RTE read out to students in the assemblies of all 13 lakh elementary schools in the country on the occasion of National Education Day tomorrow to create a buzz around the law. The council, which oversaw the task of translating the PM’s letter into 14 regional languages, later found that CMs of several non-Congress states were keen to have their messages accompany that of the PM on the occasion of Education Day. Thanks to this insistence, students in non-Congress states of Punjab, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh will have a lot of listening to do tomorrow when they arrive for their school assembly. Four letters will be read out to them - that of the PM, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, state Chief Minister and the state Education Minister. Punjab has not organised any state-level function tomorrow to mark the launch of “Shiksha ka Haq”, the biggest social campaign in the history of India. State government officials said they had delivered the letter of the CM and the Education Minister to 13,000 elementary schools, where these would be read out along with the letters of the PM and Kapil Sibal. “We have asked local officers to coordinate,” said Hussan Lal, Secretary, Education, Punjab. The Centre will, however, formally launch the year-long RTE drive from educationally backward Nooh in Mewat district of Haryana tomorrow. “The idea is political affirmation of the Right to Education,” said Vinod Raina, member of the National Advisory Council, RTE. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Kapil Sibal, Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda will be present on the occasion. PM’s message Precious children of this great nation! Education is a magic wand that can help us meet any challenge. Education gave me a new life. I went to school in a village that had no electricity. I studied under an earthen oil lamp. My village did not have pucca roads or fast vehicles to take me to school. During my childhood, elementary education was not free, nor did children have a fundamental right to education as they do today. In the India of today, every child, without discrimination, has the right to education. I promise that India will provide opportunities to all of you to fulfil your hopes and dreams.
	Indian warships guard Maldives New Delhi, November 10 Acting on a request from Maldives, the Indian Navy has put in place a security ring deploying warships around the tiny Island nation, which is taking no chances with the security of assembled SAARC leaders. India had put in place a similar security ring with three warships and helicopters during the 2008 SAARC summit in Colombo. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Yousuf Raza Gilani are among the seven visiting SAARC leaders who would be in Maldives for four days. "At the request of Maldives, we have deployed our warships, including a Beas Class frigate, along with vessels of the Sri Lankan Navy around Maldives to provide security to the SAARC summit," Navy sources said here today. Sources said the warships had been deployed there to counter any threat of terrorists using the sea route to target the summit venue. However, they refused to divulge details about the number and type of warships deployed around the island nation, adding that the Indian Navy was not "in charge" of the security arrangements there. Two to three warships are believed to be in the area. The Indian Navy has also been providing security to Maldives in its anti-piracy operations. India recently deployed a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft in Male and has been sending a warship or a naval plane to perform security roles for Maldives in the past two years. — PTI
	9 more crib deaths in Bengal Malda, Novemeber 10 In the latest instance of crib deaths in West Bengal, nine babies have died at the Malda District Sadar Hospital in the last two days, Health Department sources said today. Hospital superintendent HK Ari said the deaths occurred in the neo-natal unit from 12 noon on Tuesday. A woman gave birth to a stillborn baby at the hospital today, Ari said. The babies were in the age group of 0 to nine months and were suffering from broncho-pneumonia and low birth weight, he said. While two newborns died soon after birth at the hospital, others were brought there from villages and nearby areas, he said. The areas include Mahananda Pally on the outskirts of Englishbazar town and villages such as Manikchak and Kaliachak and the tribal-dominated Bamungola block, he said. Thirty-six babies had died at several district hospitals and the referral BC Roy Children's hospital in Kolkata in October. Ari ruled out any lapse on the part of the hospital's doctors and said the infants were suffering from broncho-pneumonia and were underweight. Preventive steps were being taken to pre-empt such deaths in future. Meanwhile, state’s Director of Health Services SP Basak said an investigation had been ordered into the deaths and a report had been sought from the hospital pinpointing responsibility and preventive steps being taken in this regard. — PTI
	Assembly Poll SP announces sops for ‘weak’ candidates who quit Shahira Naim Tribune News Service Lucknow, November 10 The Samajwadi Party (SP) has a unique electoral offer for ‘weak’ candidates willing to quit the electoral battle in favour of a stronger contender. SP national general secretary and Leader of Opposition Shivpal Singh Yadav has offered the carrot of office and a red beacon car to candidates who voluntarily withdraw from the electoral battle. The party’s first experiment with the early announcement of its candidates for the Assembly elections has apparently not given the kind of results the party was looking for. Seven months after the first list was released, party national president Mulayam Singh Yadav expressed anguish at a recent review meeting with candidates when he found that very little organisational work had been completed by them. He, along with other senior leaders, is travelling to various parts of the state assessing the ground-level preparations by party candidates. Faced with the difficult situation of many candidates not measuring up to the party’s expectations, Shivpal Yadav has come out with this unique scheme to strengthen the party’s poll prospects. Yadav made this offer at a public meeting in Moradabad where he said that a ‘weak’ candidate who voluntarily withdrew from the electoral race to support a stronger candidate would not only receive the party’s respect, but also a high office if the party returned to power. Normally, when a candidate is removed by a party, it starts a round of infighting wreaking the chances of the official candidate.
	ED issues summons to Jagan Hyderabad, November 10 Widening its probe into the finances of YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the Enforcement Directorate has issued summons to him in connection with the money laundering case against the MP. The ED has asked Jaganmohan, son of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, to send an authorised person who has his power of attorney to submit documents and answer questions on his behalf at its headquarters in Delhi on or before November 28. The ED has registered a case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against him and is also probing alleged contravention of foreign exchange rules in his financial transactions and investments, sources said. The ED action comes days after the CBI had searched various premises belonging to him. The CBI, which has also registered a case against him, had called him recently for questioning in connection with the alleged multi-crore iron ore mining scam. The agency is said to be probing alleged nexus between Jaganmohan and former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy, who owns Obulapuram Mining Company. The case was registered after the ED conducted a probe to trail the funds pumped by the Kadapa MP and his associates into the companies owned by them. — PTI
	Come clean on assets: HC to DGP Suresh Dharur/TNS Hyderabad, November 10 Andhra Pradesh High Court today directed the state Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy to submit details of his assets before the court by November 14. The order was given on the basis of a petition filed by another senior IPS officer Umesh Kumar, seeking a “full and complete statement of all movable and immovable properties” acquired or sold by the DGP or members of his family. Umesh, who is now the chairman of Godavari Valley Authority, has alleged that the DGP made a false declaration of his properties. The two senior IPS officers of 1977 batch are locked in a bitter ego tussle. Kumar had also challenged the elevation of Reddy as the state police chief. The rivalry between the two senior officers came out in the open recently with the arrest of a former journalist Sunil Reddy who was alleged to have forged the signature of an MP to malign the image of Dinesh Reddy. The case took a curious turn when Sunil turned an approver in the case. In his confession note, Sunil stated that he had forged Khan’s signature at the behest of Umesh Kumar who was then the Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). Soon after taking over as the DGP recently, Dinesh ordered a CID probe into the forgery case. The CID, which registered a criminal case, named Umesh as one of the accused. However, Umesh rubbished the charges and said his name was being dragged into the case.
	JD (S) not to contest Bellary byelection Shubhadeep Choudhury Tribune News Service Bangalore, November 10 The ruling BJP’s woes in Karnataka continue to pile up, with the opposition party Janata Dal (Secular) announcing that it will not contest in the byelection for Bellary Rural (ST) constituency to be held on November 30. While JD (S) said it felt participation in the bypoll was not needed since the state government would itself fall very soon, its decision to keep away from the byelection would help the rebel BJP leader B Sriramulu, who filed his nomination papers for the seat yesterday as an Independent. Sriramulu, a close confidante of Bellary’s Reddy brothers, had on Tuesday met his mentor Janardhana Reddy in a Hyderabad prison where Janardhana has been lodged ever since his arrest by the CBI on September 5 for alleged illegal mining of iron ore. Sriramulu later said he had been advised by Janardhana Reddy to dissociate himself from BJP. Two of the three Reddy brothers (Karunakara and Janardhana) and Sriramulu were ministers in the Yeddyurappa-led Cabinet, but failed to find a place in the new Cabinet formed by Sadananda Gowda after Yeddyurappa resigned following his indictment in the Lokayukta’s report on illegal mining which also indicted the Reddy brothers and Sriramulu. Having failed to persuade Sriramulu — seeking re-election from the seat vacated by him on August 4 in protest against his omission in the Sadananda Gowda ministry — to contest on the lotus symbol, BJP has come up with two names as alternatives.