N A T I O N

news analysis
Jagan’s win spells trouble for AP Cong
Hyderabad, June 17
A glorious past, turbulent present and a gloomy future — this sums up the position of the Congress in Andhra Pradesh which was badly mauled by the fledgling YSR Congress, headed by its one-time enfant terrible YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, in the just-concluded byelections.

Party’s best bet fails to deliver

Six injured as two local trains collide in Mumbai
Mumbai, June 17
Three passengers suffered serious injuries while at least three others were hurt after two local trains on Mumbai's Western Railway going in opposite directions ended on the same track resulting in a collision.

The two local trains that collided in Mumbai on Saturday night. — PTI

India, Pakistan to hold talks on Sir Creek from today
New Delhi, June 17
Notwithstanding reports of ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the Line of Control (LoC), India and Pakistan will hold two-day talks on the Sir Creek issue in New Delhi from tomorrow.

BSF, Pak Rangers to meet on July 1

IIT, IIM clients, payment to surgeons on tax radar
New Delhi, June 17
Consultancy services taken from the elite IIMs and IITs and cash payments made to surgeons of large multi-speciality hospitals have come under the tax scanner as a country-wide Income Tax department probe has found that these transactions were largely escaping the tax net.

India ranks 55th on foreign money in Swiss banks
New Delhi, June 17
Indians’ money in Swiss banks may have risen for the first time in five years, but they account for a meagre 0.14 per cent of total foreign wealth deposited there -- putting India at 55th place globally for such funds.

French diplomat does not have diplomatic immunity
Holds service passport and not a diplomatic one
Bangalore, June 17
Pascal Mazurier, the French diplomat, who has been accused of raping his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, does not have diplomatic immunity and can be tried in India, official sources said here today. Mazurier “holds a service passport and not a diplomatic passport,” they said.

Jantar Mantar
Pranab’s razor-sharp memory
Veteran Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee, who is all set to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhavan, has often stumped his colleagues and political adversaries with his phenomenal memory for facts and past events right down to the minutest details, which could even include the seating arrangement at a party meeting held three decades ago.

news analysis
Jagan’s win spells trouble for AP Cong
Suresh Dharur
Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, June 17
A glorious past, turbulent present and a gloomy future — this sums up the position of the Congress in Andhra Pradesh which was badly mauled by the fledgling YSR Congress, headed by its one-time enfant terrible YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, in the just-concluded byelections.

The key southern state, which accounted for the highest contribution of 33 Congress MPs to the UPA kitty in the previous Lok Sabha elections, is surely slipping away from the ruling party’s hands as the June 12 bypoll to the 18 Assembly seats and Nellore Lok Sabha constituency proved to be a game changer in state politics.

The 15-month-old YSR Congress, which positions itself as the true inheritor of the political legacy of charismatic Congress leader and former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy, emerged as a dominant force, edging out the traditional players - the Congress and the main Opposition Telugu Desam Party.

Bagging 15 Assembly seats and Nellore LS seat with huge margins in the battle that was widely seen as “semifinals” before the 2014 Assembly polls, the fledgling party sent out a clear signal that it was on course to capture power in the next elections.

Though the Congress and TDP attributed the outcome to the “sympathy wave” in favour of YSR Congress following Jagan’s arrest in the disproportionate assets case, it was clear that the voters largely ignored the corruption charges against the 39-year-old MP.

The voting pattern in the byelections, spread over 12 out of 23 districts, shows that Jagan held sway across the regions.

Even in the Telangana region, where the statehood sentiment is strong, the YSR Congress, which is not known to be a supporter of statehood cause, put up an impressive performance.

In Parakala, the lone constituency in the region where the bypoll was held, its candidate lost to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) by a narrow margin of 1,500 votes.

The youth, women and minorities appear to have solidly backed his party which promises to usher in “Rajanna Rajyam”, a reference to YSR's pro-poor rule.

The bypoll outcome has dealt a severe blow to an already tenuous Congress government. A question mark now hangs over the stability of the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in the face of growing fears over desertions from the ruling party. It had barely managed to survive a no-confidence motion in the Assembly in December last year.

At present, the Congress has 154 MLAs - six more than the magic figure of 148 - in the 294-member Assembly. Any desertions from its ranks could spell trouble for the ruling party which is already plagued by infighting and rebellion.

Already, two Congress legislators have submitted their resignations and expressed support for Jagan. The YSR Congress Party has claimed that several Congress and TDP legislators are ready to switch loyalties.

However, being in jail, Jagan may not go for the kill — for now.

According to sources close to him, the Kadapa MP would rather wait for the anti-incumbency sentiment to consolidate till the 2014 elections.

Moreover, the 86-member TDP may bail out the government in the event of a showdown as it is not prepared to face the mid-term polls.

Party’s best bet fails to deliver

For flamboyant Congress leader T Subbarami Reddy, known to host lavish and star-studded parties, the party may well be over.

His humiliating defeat in the just-concluded byelection to Nellore Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh has stunned political circles.

The scale of his defeat has shocked his supporters. The 69-year-old veteran Congressman was trounced by the fledgling YSR Congress’ M Rajamohan Reddy by a huge margin of 2.91 lakh votes.

The verdict was so resounding that the YRS Congress secured massive majorities in all the seven Assembly segments in Nellore Lok Sabha constituencies.

Known for his networking abilities and clout with the top Congress leadership, Subbarami Reddy, a Rajya Sabha member, was picked by the high command for what was projected as a prestigious contest in Nellore.

He was considered the best bet to neutralise the growing influence of YSR Congress because of his deep pockets.

A great patron of arts, movie producer, philanthropist, industrialist and a high-profile Page 3 personality all rolled into one, Reddy was expected to lift the spirits of the Congress cadre.

Six injured as two local trains collide in Mumbai
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, June 17
Three passengers suffered serious injuries while at least three others were hurt after two local trains on Mumbai's Western Railway going in opposite directions ended on the same track resulting in a collision.

According to the Western Railways, the incident happened shortly after 11 pm on Saturday night at Andheri railway station.

Both the trains had slowed down at the railway station because of which the impact of the collision was lower, officials said.

Chief Public Relation Officer of Western Railways, Sharat Chandrayan, said that the buffers of the two suburban trains hit each other, derailing three coaches of one of the trains.

Angry commuters, who were left stranded on the platforms, ran riot throwing stones and damaging railway property, the police said.

The Government Railway Police were called in to disperse the people who had gathered inside the station, the police said.

An inquiry has been ordered into the incident, according to the Western Railways.

Railway officials said services on the Churchgate to Virar section of the Western Railways were disrupted today because of the incident.

Attempts were on to clear the tracks and repair signalling equipment so that services get restored by Monday morning, a WR official said.

(With ANI inputs)

India, Pakistan to hold talks on Sir Creek from today
Ashok Tuteja
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 17
Notwithstanding reports of ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the Line of Control (LoC), India and Pakistan will hold two-day talks on the Sir Creek issue in New Delhi from tomorrow.

The talks will be held between the Surveyors Generals from the two sides. They are expected to take forward their discussions on the basis on 'non-papers'. This will be the 12th round of talks between the two countries on Sir Creek. The last meeting on the issue was held in Rawalpindi on May 20 and 21 last year.

Sources, meanwhile, sought to play down the latest ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, saying such incidents had happened in the past as well. However, these incidents will not have a bearing on the dialogue process between the two countries.

On the Sir Creek issue, New Delhi has proposed a "mid-stream formula" among its proposals to resolve the dispute while Pakistan seems to have suggested that the line of delineation should be to the "east of the creek". This has led to a stalemate.

Sir Creek, named after a British official, is a 96 km strip of water that is disputed between the two countries in the Rann of Kutch marshlands. The creek, which opens up into the Arabian Sea, divides the Kutch region of the Indian state of Gujarat with the Sindh province of Pakistan. Originally and locally, it is called 'Baan Ganga'.

The long-standing dispute hinges in the actual demarcation "from the mouth of Sir Creek to the top of Sir Creek, and from the top of Sir Creek eastward to a point on the line designated on the Western Terminus".

From this point onwards, the boundary is unambiguously fixed as defined by the Tribunal Award of 1968. The creek itself is located in the uninhabited marshlands.

During the monsoon season between June and September, the creek floods its banks and envelops the low-lying salty mudflats around it. During the winter season, the area is home to flamingoes and other migratory birds.

The two countries will discuss the Sir Creek issue a week after their Defence Secretaries ended talks on the Siachen issue without making much headway.

However, officials said the two countries were keen to resolve this particular issue in an attempt to demonstrate to their people as well as the world at large that they were committed to resolving the disputes between them.

Even Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who had visited India in early April on a private trip, had sought an early resolution to issues like Sir Creek and Siachen during his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Both sides consider these two issues as 'do-ables'.

The Sir Creek talks were initially scheduled for mid-May but were postponed at Pakistan's behest. Islamabad apparently wanted to gauge India's mood on the Siachen issue before going into talks on Sir Creek.

For Pakistan, resolving the Siachen issue has assumed urgency after the avalanche in April which killed 140 of its soldiers. The Sir Creek talks will be followed by the meeting between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan towards the end of the month in New Delhi to do the groundwork for External Affairs Minister SM Krishna's visit to Pakistan in the third week of July.

Long-standing issue

Sir Creek is a 96-km disputed strip of water between India and Pakistan that separates the Kutch region of Gujarat from Pakistan’s Sindh province

reason for stalemate

New Delhi has proposed a "mid-stream formula" to resolve the dispute. Pakistan seems to have suggested that the line of delineation should be to the "east of the creek"

BSF, Pak Rangers to meet on July 1
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 17
The smuggling of narcotics, fake Indian currency notes and ceasefire violations along the international border with Pakistan are expected to dominate the forthcoming talks between the BSF and Pakistan Rangers.

The Director-Generals of the two border-guarding forces are slated to meet on July 1 at the BSF headquarters in the national capital. This will be first meeting of the two chiefs in New Delhi.

Earlier, whenever India has played host, meetings had been conducted at Chandigarh or Amritsar.

The five-day Director-General (DG)-level talks will feature a wide range of issues. The 20-member BSF delegation will be led by its Director General UK Bansal while the other side will be headed by Pakistan Rangers chief Major General Rizwan Akhtar.
Both the forces will discuss issues related to the border areas which include trans-border crime, smuggling of fake Indian currency and narcotics with a special focus on ceasefire violations.

IIT, IIM clients, payment to surgeons on tax radar

New Delhi, June 17
Consultancy services taken from the elite IIMs and IITs and cash payments made to surgeons of large multi-speciality hospitals have come under the tax scanner as a country-wide Income Tax department probe has found that these transactions were largely escaping the tax net.

An elaborate “analysis probe” conducted by the I-T department's snoop apparatus has found that a number of services, which also includes large and small Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and state government enterprises, are a large catchment area to realise taxes under the Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) category and should be essentially tapped now.

A communication to keep a track on these potential tax generating areas has recently been sounded by the department to its Chief Commissioners (CCs) and Director Generals (DGs) during a recently held conference of the department brass and the CBDT in the national capital.

According to the I-T data, while the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) render consultancy services to a host of government and non-government sectors, the beneficiaries (clients) of these services do not deduct the TDS on the payments made to these elite institutions. The report stated the consultancy offered by these elite pan-India institutes as "commercial".

The I-T Department found that on an average, an IIM undertakes about 40 fresh consultancy projects in an year on a host of subjects. While some are related to giving advice to clients on specific issues and problems, others include training modules for the staff of the client company, while some are related to orient maximum output from a desired project of the client firm.

The IITs too undertake similar projects but their consultancy services are higher on the technical and statistical fronts, the taxman found.

The analysis probe also reported that big hospitals are making "huge cash payments" to doctors, particulary surgeons, without deducting the requisite TDS. — PTI

Under the lens

• The IIMs and IITs render consultancy services to the government and non-government sector
• The I-T Dept found that clients of these services do not deduct TDS on the payments made to these elite institutions
• The department stated that the consultancy offered by these elite pan-India institutes was "commercial"

India ranks 55th on foreign money in Swiss banks

New Delhi, June 17
Indians’ money in Swiss banks may have risen for the first time in five years, but they account for a meagre 0.14 per cent of total foreign wealth deposited there -- putting India at 55th place globally for such funds.

The total overseas funds in Switzerland's banking system stood at 1.53 trillion Swiss francs (about Rs 90 trillion) at the end of 2011. This included 2.18 billion Swiss francs (Rs 12,700 crore) belonging to Indian individuals and entities.

The UK accounted for the largest share of a little over 20 per cent, followed closely by the US with about 18 per cent.

According to the latest data disclosed by Swiss National Bank (SNB), Switzerland's central bank, India is now ranked 55th in terms of funds belonging to overseas clients in Swiss banks.

Among the top-ranked jurisdictions, the UK and the US were followed by West Indies, Jersey, Germany, Bahamas, Guernsey, Luxembourg, Panama and France, Hong Kong, Cayman Islands, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab of Emirates.

The SNB data shows that the quantum of money held by Indians in the Swiss banking system rose for the first time in five years during 2011.

These official figures, described by SNB as 'liabilities' of Swiss banks towards their clients from various countries, do not indicate the quantum of the much-debated alleged black money held by Indians or other nationals in the safe havens of Switzerland.

Also, SNB's figures do not include the money that Indians or other nationals might have in Swiss banks in others' names. — PTI

Stashed abroad

• Out of the total overseas funds in Switzerland's banking system amounting to 1.53 trillion Swiss francs at the end of 2011, Indian entities contributed 2.18 billion Swiss francs - just 0.14%
• This is despite the rise by about Rs 3,500 crore last year in the amount belonging to the Indians

French diplomat does not have diplomatic immunity
Holds service passport and not a diplomatic one

Bangalore, June 17
Pascal Mazurier, the French diplomat, who has been accused of raping his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, does not have diplomatic immunity and can be tried in India, official sources said here today. Mazurier “holds a service passport and not a diplomatic passport,” they said.

He does not enjoy diplomatic immunity and can be prosecuted in India, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the wife of the French diplomat, who has been accused of raping his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, has sought monetary support to raise her children in case her husband is imprisoned.

"Suja Jones Mazurier has sought monetary support to raise her children in case her husband Pascal Mazurier is arrested, imprisoned or deported," Chairperson of Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Nina Nayak said.

Nina claimed Mazurier, Deputy Head of Chancery in the Consulate of France, Bangalore, was not allowing Suja Jones to withdraw funds deposited in a joint account and the money was being sent to France.

Concerned over Suja and her children's financial security, Nina said she held discussions with the French Consulate Chief Vincent, who expressed shock over the incident and promised to take up the matter with the French government.
Suja Jones, an Indian citizen, had said she is married to Pascal Mazurier, Deputy Head of Chancery in the Consulate of France, Bangalore and have three children — a seven year-old son, the victim and a 20-month-old son.

The police had registered a case of rape against the diplomat, under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code following a complaint from Suja. — PTI

Jantar Mantar
Pranab’s razor-sharp memory
Anita Katyal

However, there is a catch in this. Pranabda does not write about the events the very same day but puts them down two days later. This, he disclosed, forces him to jog his memory so that he is able to pen an accurate account of the day’s developments. Needless to say, the diaries are a treasure trove which any publisher would love to get his hands on.

Cong lost sleep over Prez poll

Although the UPA meeting called at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence to announce Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature for the presidential election turned out to be a smooth affair, Congress spent a few sleepless nights in the run-up to the final declaration.

The party was dealt a rude shock when Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav joined forces and proposed their names for the President’s post. Panic-stricken Congress leaders were locked in intense meetings through the night, living up to their reputation as a nocturnal party, as emissaries were sent to meet Yadav.

It was only after the party was confident of weaning him away from mercurial Mamata that the Congress decided to launch an offensive against the Trinamool Congress chief. At the same time, Congress Chief Ministers were asked to rush to Delhi but they ended up killing time in the Capital for two days as nobody had a clue about their role in this crisis.

According to one version, the Chief Ministers were summoned to showcase the UPA’s strength in case the script went awry but, as it turned out, the Congress plan worked.