The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Cong questions BJP’s anti-graft plank
Vibha Sharma/TNS

New Delhi, January 4
Smarting under the Opposition’s relentless onslaught on corruption and Lokpal, Congress today launched an offensive against the saffron party in the wake of the embarrassment that the BJP had to face today for inducting former BSP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha into the party fold. The CBI today conducted raids on Kushwaha’s residences and business establishments in different cities of Uttar Pradesh in the NRHM scam case.

Congress questioned BJP’s credentials to take up the corruption issue, targeting even senior leader LK Advani with sarcastic references to his recent Rath Yatra. From senior ministers to party spokespersons and local state leaders, Congress lambasted the saffron party for posing as a “champion” of those against corruption.

Senior Congress minister Ambika Soni said Kushwaha’s induction smacked of “opportunistic politics of BJP” while Congress legislature party (CLP) leader of UP Pramod Tiwari asked senior BJP leaders to probe whether National Rural Health Mission funds were used by their party members to induct corrupt MLAs. “Today, they (BJP) have become the strongest advocate of a man accused of having embezzled thousands of crores of NRHM funds,” Soni said while Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi sarcastically commented it appeared “BJP’s PM-in-waiting had gone scouting for corrupt people during his Rath Yatra”.

“I congratulate BJP for being able to find such people in UP,” Alvi said in a tongue-in-cheek remark on Advani’s country-wide endeavour, accusing the BJP of not only inducting tainted leaders like Khushwaha into its fold but also giving them a clean chit. The grand old party, which has suffered extensively at the hands of Team Anna’s continuous criticism, also condemned Anna Hazare-led activists for remaining silent on the issue.

Fog continues, so do traffic woes in the region
Sanjay Bumbroo/TNS

Chandigarh, January 4
Dense fog disrupted road, rail and air traffic for the second consecutive day today with hundreds of passengers having a harrowing time at the Chandigarh airport as no flights arrived or departed from the city.

Commuters at a rail crossing in Jalandhar on Wednesday.

About 11 flights of Go Airways, Jet Airways, Indian Airlines and Indigo Airlines operate from the city but in view of the heavy fog conditions at New Delhi, all flights were cancelled.

The international flight from Sharjah was also delayed at the Rajasansi International Airport, Amritsar.

Similarly, 57 trains of the Northern division were also affected. While 27 trains had to be cancelled, 30 were running late by more than an hour due to poor visibility that dropped to 200 m around 8 am. Eleven trains of the Ambala division were running late by about two to three hours.

lost in the maze

* Rail, road, air services hit for second day in a row
* All flights to and from Chandigarh grounded
* 27 trains cancelled, 30 running late

Vehicular traffic in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh was also affected as a thick blanket of fog enveloped many parts of the northern region. Dense fog was witnessed in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Jalandhar and Moga in Punjab. The scene was not much better at Hisar, Rohtak, Karnal, Ambala, Panipat and Kurukshetra in Haryana.

In Chandigarh also, dense fog made its first appearance. Visibility was quite low in the southern sectors of the city and its periphery in the morning. The situation was better in the northern sectors.

Amritsar was the coldest place in the two states. It recorded a minimum temperature of 2°C, which was 1°C below normal. In Ludhiana, the minimum temperature was 5°C, down one notch, while the low at Patiala settled at 4.6°C. In Chandigarh, the minimum temperature was 6.2°C. In Haryana, Hissar recorded a minimum of 3.9°C, 1°C below normal, followed by Rohtak and Karnal that recorded minimum temperatures of 4.9°C and 5.8°C, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Met Department has predicted that light rain or thundershowers could occur at isolated places in Haryana and Punjab after 24 hours.

100 trains affected in DELHI

* A light blanket of fog also enveloped Delhi through Wednesday, affecting close to 100 trains. The Met Office has forecast rain on Thursday

* According to the Northern Railway website at 4.45 pm, 30 trains has been cancelled and 68 were running late by more than an hour

* The Delhi International Airport Limited said six flights were cancelled due to bad weather conditions at the destination airports

Telecom scam: SC to hear Sukh Ram’s appeal today
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, January 4
The Supreme Court will hear tomorrow the appeal of former Union Telecom Minister Sukh Ram against the Delhi High Court verdict, upholding his three-year sentence for corruption in the purchase of about 2,500 multi-access rural radio (MARR) systems in 1993-94 for providing telephone connection to every panchayat in the country.

A Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and J Chelameswar will take up the petition filed through his counsel Anil Nag, hours before the deadline for Sukh Ram’s surrender before the CBI court here for serving his sentence. Sukh Ram was the telecom minister in the PV Narasimha Rao Government from January 18, 1993 to May 16, 1996.

In a 120-page judgment delivered on December 21, 2011, the high court had also upheld the conviction and sentence awarded by the trial court to Runu Ghosh, who was Director (Finance), and Rama Rao, owner of a telecom company, ARM, which had won the contract for the MARR systems. Ghosh had been sentenced to two years , while Rao would have to be in jail for three years.

Sukh Ram had approved the purchase of MARR systems at a price of Rs 3.4 lakh per system, irrespective of the fact whether the system was crystal or synthesised, over-ruling the price evaluation committee that had recommended Rs 2.98 lakh for the “inferior” crystal versions.

Place where Bhanwari’s body was burnt identified; 1 more held

Pune/Jodhpur, January 4
Four months after she went missing and with several arrested in the case, the Central Bureau of Investigation today identified the location where Rajasthan nurse Bhanwari Devi's body was disposed off after she was kidnapped and burnt to ashes.

The CBI took Omprakash Bishnoi, who was arrested in connection with the case, to a place near Jaloda village where the nurse's body was burnt. "Omprakash told the agency that the remains of her body were dumped into a canal near the village," sources said.

The location of the body was the biggest mystery in the case, which the CBI has apparently solved. Omprakash is the brother of Bishnaram Bishnoi who was held near Pune by the Maharashtra Police today morning. A team from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory is expected to arrive in Jodhpur from New Delhi tomorrow and inspect the place where the body was brunt.

In Jodhpur, the CBI arrested Kailash Jakhar, believed to be the owner of the jeep used to dispose of the nurse's body and destroy evidence. He is alleged to be a member of Bishnaram Bishnoi's gang, CBI sources said. — Agencies

Cong ready with plan to rein in temperamental Mamata
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 4
Eagerly looking for ways to counter the tantrums of its ally Mamata Banerjee, Congress seems to have realised that launching an offensive will be the best way to tackle the temperamental Trinamool Congress chief.

Mamata, who had lately been putting its senior UPA ally in one embarrassing situation or the other, whether it was her non-cooperation over the FDI in retail and Lokpal Bill or reported decision to fight alone on some seats in UP and renaming Indira Bhawan in Kolkata, will now have to face stepped up Congress attack on her government’s procurement policy on paddy and other farm items. With the Left-backed organisations also pitching in, the Congress-supported farmers’ agitation against the West Bengal Government is all set to gain momentum in days to come, Congress sources said today.

A senior Congress leader said even though she desperately needed UPA’s support to sustain her cash-strapped state, Mamata was not playing the part of a productive ally.

“Enough is enough. Mamata has been toeing the BJP line on every issue, right from the FDI to the Lokpal. Indications that she is interested in contesting elections in UP has not gone down well with the party leadership,” he said revealing the plans of a new belligerent avtaar of the Congress. After earlier flare-ups, the latest flash point has been on renaming of Indira Bhawan after famous poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. For the record, the Congress says all is well with the alliance.

“We have an alliance with the Trinamool at the state and the Centre,” Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi said. He defended the protests by its West Bengal unit against the move to rename Indira Bhavan. “Kazi Nazrul Islam is a respected figure, but changing the name of a building already named after a well known personality hurts public sentiments,” Alvi said.

Five years on, Nandigram feels forgotten, betrayed

Nandigram (WB), January 4
Five years after a movement that catapulted it into spotlight at the national level and spelt the beginning of the end of the 34-year Left rule, Nandigram is still counting the losses of the bloody anti-land acquisition movement.

Development is at a standstill and many of those who had been at the forefront of the movement and lost their family members say they were used as cannon fodder against the mighty Left, which was defeated by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in May last year.

“It was a fight for justice that we won. But what did we get? What did Nandigram and Khejuri get? Our houses were burnt by CPM cadres. But the Trinamool Congress took the entire mileage. And it no longer cares for the martyrs and the heroes of the movement,” complained Atin Nanda, a local Trinamool leader, lamenting the lack of development in the area.

Atin was one of the founders of the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC). The movement later snowballed into a major agrarian agitation as protesters dug up roads and damaged bridges, virtually cutting off Nandigram.

The disturbance culminated in police firing on March 14 that left 14 villagers dead and scores injured. There were also allegations of rape and torture by the police and the ruling Marxists.

The chain of incidents led to outrage across the country as civil rights groups, intellectuals and farmer bodies expressed solidarity with the protesters and flayed the then CPM-led Left Front government for its alleged “brutality”.

The developments happened alongside protests in Singur, where the government’s bid to lease out land to Tata Motors for the Nano car project was faced with a fierce anti-land acquisition protest.

The Marxists, entrenched in power since 1977, slipped in the quicksand of Nandigram and Singur, losing one election after another across the state as their hitherto impregnable rural base collapsed.

“We were used as bullets to take on the CPM. But now there is a lot of corruption in the panchayat bodies run by Trinamool. There are no traces of development,” said Shyamal Kumar Mishra, a former BUPC leader.

Mishra alleged the rural job schemes under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and other developmental works of the area had been stalled due to infighting.

Swadesh Adhikary, a former BUPC member who lost two of his close friends during the movement, alleged none of the Trinamool leaders had visited the houses of the “martyrs” after the party came to power.

Several people of the area were still missing, he added.

Five years on, residents of Nandigram-Khejuri say that an industry can always be established without touching agricultural land.

“We were never against industrialisation. We wanted industrialisation but without affecting the agriculture. If an industry comes up on the vacant tracts of land we will be happy,” said Debasish Juri from Khejuri.

The political one-upmanship has begun again.

“It is true that the police officers involved in the March 14 massacre could not be brought to book but we are always by the side of the valiant people of Nandigram,” said Suvendu Adhikari, Trinamool MP.

Said CPM leader Mohammed Salim: “Nandigram was one of the factors behind our defeat. But what did the locals get from the movement? They remain on the same boat.”

According to some experts, Nandigram has blocked the path of industrialisation in the state.

“Nandigram no doubt had provided a much needed jolt in terms of amendment of the 1894 draconian land acquisition Bill. At the same time it has blocked the path of industrialisation,” said Amartya Mukhopadhaya of Calcutta University. — IANS

The movement

In January 2007, protests started against the notification for acquiring land in Nandigram and Khejuri in East Midnapore district, 125 km from Kolkata, for a special economic zone (SEZ).

The scar

Fourteen villagers were killed and several others injured in a police firing on March 14 the same year. There were also allegations of rape and torture by the police and the ruling Marxists.

The result

The Marxists ruling the state since 1977 were thrown out of power. However, Nandigram is still counting its losses and there is hardly anything in the name of development in the area.

Maoist leader freed after human rights suit
Shiv Kumar/TNS

Mumbai, January 4
Arun Ferreira, an alleged Maoist leader from Mumbai, was released from police custody after his lawyer filed a petition before the Bombay High Court yesterday alleging that the Maharashtra government had violated his human rights.

According to information, Ferreira was released from the Nagpur Central Jail this afternoon. His friends and associates said they were waiting for further information on the matter.

Ferreira was arrested on May 7, 2007 along with three others - Mahesh, alias Murli Satyareddy, Davendra Bhurle and Naresh Bansod for allegedly participating in a meeting of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). However, all four were acquitted in one case on December 2009 after the prosecution failed to prove that they were Naxalites or took part in any illegal activities.

Ferreira was acquitted in all cases in September last year and was released from the Nagpur prison. However, within hours of his release, Ferreira was again picked up police from Dhantoli police station in Gadchiroli in connection with a three-year-old case. The police had then said that Ferreira was absconding in connection with that case.

In his petition, Ferreira said the police had declared him an absconder only to keep in jail for a longer period. Ferreira who obtained a post-graduate diploma in human rights during his stay in jail also demanded a probe conducted by a retired judge of the high court into the matter.

Manipur notification sets poll process in motion

New Delhi, January 4
The notification for the January 28 Assembly polls in Manipur was issued today, setting in motion the poll process in the five poll-bound states, including Uttar Pradesh.

The elections in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases while in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, it will be held in a single phase. Counting of votes in all the states will be held on March 4.

Manipur, which is the first among the five states to go to polls, will elect a 60-member assembly on January 28.

Punjab and Uttarakhand go to polls on January 30, while Goa goes to polls on March 3. The seven-phased elections for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly would start on February 4 and end on February 28.

Manipur Governor issued the notification today for the January 28 elections to the 60-member assembly, starting the process of filing of nominations. The last date for filing of papers is January 11.

Scrutiny of nominations would be held on January 12 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 14. The term of the current state assembly in Manipur expires on March 15, 2012.

The EC has said the election process in the eastern state has to be completed by March 9, 2012. Manipur has a total of 16,77,270 electors and the EC has set up 2,325 polling booths in the state.

Of the 60 assembly constituencies, one is reserved for Scheduled Caste and 19 for Scheduled Tribes.

On January 5, the Governors of Punjab and Uttarakhand will issue notifications for election to their state assemblies respectively.

The last date of filing nominations in both the states is January 12, scrutiny the next day and the last date of withdrawl January 16. Polling is billed for January 30.

The term of the present assemblies in Punjab (117 seats) and Uttarakhand (70) ends on March 14 and March 12, respectively.

The notification of polls to the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly will be issued on January 10 for the first phase of poll to be held on February 4.

Notification for the second phase of poll in the state on February 8 will be issued on January 12, third phase on February 11 on January 16, fourth phase February 15 on January 21, fifth phase February 19 on January 25, sixth phase on February 23 on January 28 and seventh and last phase on February 28 on February 2.

For the 40-member Goa assembly poll, the notification will be issued on February 6. The last date for filing nominations is February 13, followed by scrutiny the next day and the last of withdrawl of candidature is February 16.

In Uttar Pradesh, 60 constituencies will go to poll in the first phase, 55 in the second phase, 59 (third), 56 each (fourth and fifth), 49 (sixth) and 68 (seventh). — PTI

Defence accounting automation project a non-starter
Vijay Mohan/TNS

Chandigarh, January 4
In spite of having spent over Rs 20 crore, an ambitious project by the Defence Accounts Department (DAD) to automate its functioning and ensure online transactions has not be able to meet its envisioned objectives.

The automation project required computerisation of over 900 offices at 200 locations besides ensuring that every DAD employee used a computer for official work.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has, in its latest report, observed that the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) could not expedite the progress of the software development resulting in non-completion of the project even after the completion schedule was revised. “In spite of incurring an expenditure of Rs 20.47 crore on hardware, software and training, the project has already been inordinately delayed.

One of the oldest government departments, the two-and-a-half centuries old DAD’s responsibilities include audit, payment and accounting of all charges pertaining to the Armed Forces and allied military establishments, including bills for supplies and services rendered and for construction/repair works, pay and allowances of personnel, pensions, and other miscellaneous expenses.

CAG’s findings assume significance in the backdrop of the department going in for web enabled pension disbursement system for quick the payments as well as redressal of grievances. Several projects have recently been initiated by the department to provide e-services to pensioners in regard to entitlements, statements and orders.

CAG has also observed that in spite of receipt of unworkable rates in three lots, the CGDA, who heads DAD, did not exercise the option of re-tendering and awarded contracts to firms that failed to produce the critical and important modules of software by taking four years time as against the stipulated three months and ultimately the contracts were terminated. Also some firms did not meet the basic criteria yet contracts were awarded to them.

The CGDA, in its reply to CAG, has admitted the failure of the vendors in designing an development of the software. The equipment procured for automation is being out to use in routine office work.

World Sanskrit Conference begins in Capital today
Aditi Tandon/TNS

New Delhi, January 4
Since Rick Briggs of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) wrote a paper saying Sanskrit was the best language for computer programming, his thought has engaged the scientific community globally, evoking sharp reactions for and against the assertion.

The thought will again occupy centrestage when more than 200 scholars from 32 countries assemble in New Delhi on Thursday to attend the six-day 15th World Sanskrit Conference.

The first conference was held in India in 1972. It has since been hosted every three years even by nations like Japan and Finland where Sanskrit wouldn’t appear to strike a chord.

This year, the conference will have a special theme on the relevance of Sanskrit in the modern technological world with new evidence from India suggesting that Sanskrit grammar can be used to develop computer software for inter-language translations.

International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai have been collaborating with Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan (RSS), New Delhi, the largest multi-campus Sanskrit teaching institution in the world, to develop Sanskrit Computational Toolkit and Sanskrit-Machine Translation System, which the government is funding.

At IIIT, Hyderabad’s Natural Language Processing- Machine Translation Lab, Sanskrit grammar has been used to create software
for translation from Kannada to Hindi and Marathi to Hindi.

“Many other translations are underway using Sanskrit grammar as a tool for machine translations. Considering India has 22 main languages and over 500 dialects, this is significant,” Radhavallabh Tripathi, Vice-Chancellor of RSS, told The Tribune.

The Sansthan, along with the International Association for Sanskrit Studies, is hosting the conference, which will have a special session on how Sanskrit texts can be used for computer technology and science advancement.

One text lined up for deliberations is Bhardwaj Muni’s ‘Vimaan Granth’ which offers ancient knowledge on aeronautical engineering. “There is documented history of two Mumbai-based Indians using this text to create an airplane in 1911 and test it,” Tripathi, himself a renowned Sanskrit scholar, said.

Other rare Sanskrit manuscripts containing ancient scientific knowledge on Ayurveda, vanaspati shastra, horticulture and medicine (like treatment using water) will also be discussed over six days. RSS has secured some of these manuscripts from private individuals.

Overall, India is estimated to be left with only one crore Sanskrit manuscripts. These are being preserved under the National Manuscripts Mission.

back to roots

* The first such conference was held in India in 1972

* It has since been hosted every three years even by nations like Japan and Finland where Sanskrit wouldn't appear to strike a chord

* This year, the conference will have a special theme - the relevance of Sanskrit in the modern technological world

* IIIT, Hyderabad has used Sanskrit grammar to create computer software for inter-language translation Scientists, scholars to tap Sanskrit's tech potential.

A weird way of doing up lab
K’taka doc used to put on display preserved deformed foetuses
Shubhadeep Choudhury/TNS

Bangalore, January 4
A hospital director’s liking for dressing up the hospital laboratory with deformed foetuses was behind the mystery of recovery of 24 foetuses at two places in Shimoga town of Karnataka recently.

The police today said the recovered foetuses were at least “five-year-old”.

Twenty-four aborted foetuses were found dumped by the roadside at the hometown of former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa on December 30. Fourteen were found in a dustbin on the OT Road and 10 were found in a gutter in Harakere. The recoveries triggered off speculations ranging from female foeticides to illegal sex racket in the otherwise sleepy town.

MV Pavin, Additional SP, told this reporter from Shimoga that tests were conducted on the recovered foetuses by a group of experts. “It was found that all foetuses had some deformity,” he said.

According to Pavin, 17 foetuses had genetic defects, the brain was found to have been deformed in the case of two more foetuses and the remaining foetuses had deformed limbs. The foetuses were being preserved in formalin at the Vivekananda Hospital laboratory. “Hospital director Dr Mahendrappa apparently felt the foetuses preserved in formalin in glass jars gave the hospital lab an impressive look,” Pavin said.

“According to experts, the recovered foetuses were at least five-year-old. These were not result of any recent abortion,” Pavin said. Citing the fact that both male and female foetuses were recovered, Pavin said the abortions could not be instances of female foeticide.

There are legally approved provisions for medical termination of pregnancy in case the foetus is found to be suffering from genetic defects or internal or external deformities. However, ordinarily hospitals are not supposed to preserve these foetuses.

Vivekananda Hospital had launched a cleaning operation and the workers carrying out the job disposed of the foetuses in garbage dumps without fully realising what this could lead to.

Dr Mahendrappa, who is also Shimoga district IMA president, is absconding.

Rs 6,600-crore new missiles for Mirage fighter jets
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 4
Indian Air Force will have a new set of missiles on its fleet of French-built Mirage-2000 warplanes. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) today cleared a Euro 950 million (Rs 6,600 crore) deal to procure some 490 air-to- air missiles.

These are produced by French firm MBDA for Euro 950 million (Rs 6,600 crore), sources in the ministry of defence confirmed. The missiles would be deployed on Mirage aircraft. The IAF operates some 51 Mirage aircraft which are undergoing mid-life upgrade at a French facility under a Euro 1.47 billion (Rs 10,000 crore) deal signed earlier this year.

Under the deal, MBDA will have to do offsets worth 30 per cent of the deal meaning that they will have to invest 315 million Euros back in the Indian defence sector. The Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) mandates that foreign vendors bagging deals worth over Rs 300 crore have to invest back at least 30 per cent of the contract's worth into Indian defence, civil aerospace and homeland security sector.

The MBDA already has a tie-up with the Indian government-owned missile manufacturer Bharat Dynamics Limited as the offsets will most likely be executed through this venture.

Some of the Mirage aircraft would be modernised in India at Hindustan Aeronautic Limited plant.