The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Tribune Special Aircraft carrier project delay to hit naval preparedness Project runs two years behind schedule due to gearbox incompatibility Ajay Banerjee/TNS New Delhi, June 19 India's project to build a seaborne aircraft carrier of its own has been delayed by two years, raising questions on the Indian Navy's ambition to emerge as a dominant player in the Indian Ocean region. China is also keen to establish itself in this area. About two weeks ago, the US had announced its new military policy to station more naval assets, including six aircraft carriers, in the Asia-Pacific region. The Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC), being built at Cochin Shipyard Limited, is facing delay in the installation of gearboxes for the four powerful engines of the 40,000-tonne warship. As per estimates arrived at by the apex committee of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) last month, the warship can now be launched by the end of this year. This will be almost two years behind its original launch deadline of October 2010. Once the hull of the warship is launched at the sea, the outfitting is likely to take another four years, hence the warship is expected to be delivered to the Navy only by 2016, which is two years behind its original schedule. Defence Minister AK Antony had laid its keel in February 2009. In January this year, the under-construction ship was taken out of the dry dock and stationed in the waters without some of the equipment that should have been in place. Sources said one of the gearboxes had been fitted while another one arrived at the yard a few weeks ago. To get it fitted, the ship will have to be taken back to the dry dock. An Indo-German collaboration that supplied gearboxes for the 5,000-tonne stealth warship, INS Shivalik, was chosen in this case also. The aircraft carrier is almost 10 times bigger. The first lot of gearboxes provided by the company was unacceptable and had to be designed afresh. The contract was to have around 18,000 tonne of the warship ready at the time of the launch, but it is still short by around 4,000 tonne, sources said. The MoD and the Navy have conveyed their displeasure to the shipyard and asked it to get the warship back to the dry dock and simultaneously continue with other works till the gearbox issue is sorted out. The MoD had allocated Rs 230 crore for the modernisation of the shipyard. Since a modular-style construction has been adopted, it is possible to work on other equipment at another site. The primary reason for the delay is the highly complex nature of the warship that India is attempting along with its simultaneous efforts to localise production. India is the fifth country attempting to make such a warship, which will have fighter aircraft stationed at its deck. So far, only the USA, Russia, the UK and France have produced such warships. China is re-fitting the one that it purchased from Ukraine after the USSR broke up. Strategically, this delay will affect the Indian ambition to have two aircraft carriers in its Naval fleet. At present, India has only one, the INS Viraat, which after a life extension, is slated to retire in 2015. It is 50-year-old and the fighter aircraft on its deck, the Sea Harriers, are no more produced now. The second aircraft carrier, the Russian-origin Admiral Gorshkov, is undergoing sea-trials in Russia and is set to join the Indian fleet early next year under its new name, the INS Vikramaditya. In case the IAC is not delivered till 2015 - which is unlikely as per the present status - the Navy will be left with only one aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya. IAF flies commando plane fleet The Indian Air Force, in an important tactical practice mission, simultaneously flew six planes meant specially for dropping commandos to test the readiness of the newly acquired US-origin C-130J transport aircraft fleet. IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Gerald Galway said the six-aircraft fleet of the C-130J took to the skies simultaneously from its home base at Hindon. The fleet was in the air for about an hour before returning to the base. Flying all the planes together indicates that India can rapidly airlift its commandos or almost a full infantry battalion.
	Floods kill 7 in Assam, 2.5 lakh hit Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS Guwahati, June 19 Seven persons have lost their lives in the flood fury that affected 14 districts across Assam. So far about 2.5 lakh people have been affected due to floods that have forced the authorities to shift over 32,000 people to relief camps. Those killed in this second wave of floods this year included a child who drowned in Baska district. Six other persons, including three women and a five-year-old girl, drowned in Barpeta district. Official sources said while flood situation continued to remain grim in Nalbari and Barpeta districts of the state, several villages at Mayanag and Bhuragaon in Morigaon district were flooded by incessant rain and land erosion created havoc in Chirang and Dhubri districts. At least 20 families moved to safer places in Chirang. Road communication in most parts of the state has been snapped due to the heavy floods. Standing crop and many houses have also been damaged in the current wave of floods in these villages. People have taken shelter at four relief camps set up at Lokhoupur, Gandhibari and Kendubari. The Civil Hospital at Pathsala has been evacuated on account of rising water levels in the town. State Agriculture Minister Nilamoni Sen Deka visited the flood-affected areas to take a stock of the situation and instructed the officials to provide necessary relief and rescue work.
	State power utilities told to meet deadlines on reforms Do it or face withholding of grants: Power Secy Pradeep Sharma/TNS Chandigarh, June 19 Union Power Secretary P Uma Shankar today warned state power utilities that the Central Government would be forced to withhold grants in case deadlines on implementation of power sector reforms were not met. Speaking at a review meeting of senior power officers of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh on Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) here, Shankar affirmed that the power utilities had no other option except implementing power sector reforms to augment electricity infrastructure that could bring power utilities out of the red. Officials said the main focus of the today’s meeting was implementation of Part A of the R-APDRP, which included preparation of the base-line data for consumer indexing, GIS mapping, metering of distribution transformers and feeders and automatic data logging for all distribution transformers and feeders through Information Technology(IT). The R-APDRP project has been initiated to bring down transmission and distribution (T&D) losses by upgrading power infrastructure and introducing Information Technology (IT), officials added. Meanwhile, senior officials attending the meeting told The Tribune that power demand peaked during this time of the summer on account of paddy sowing season and scorching heat. While the hilly states of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh usually did not face any power shortage in summer, other states faced acute shortage of electricity and had to rely on temporary sources of power such as buying electricity from public and private sector undertakings and banking on arrangements with hilly states. While Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Chandigarh came in for a word of appreciation from Shankar on power sector reforms, he pointedly mentioned the slow pace of reforms in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. It is learnt that the peak power demand in Punjab is pegged at over 1,800 lakh units (LUs) per day while in Haryana, it is estimated at over 1,400 LUs. In HP and Chandigarh, it is estimated at 235 LUs and 65 LUs respectively. While the availability is always less than demand in summer, the demand keeps on fluctuating on a day-to-day basis, the officials stated. The meeting was attended by senior officials from the Central and state governments, including Satnam Singh , Chairman and Managing Director, Power Finance Corporation, Devender Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power, Anirudh Tiwari, Principal Secretary (Power), Punjab, Arun Gupta, Managing Director, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigan (UHBVN) and VK Singh, Finance-cum-Power Secretary, Chandigarh Administration.
	Cash-for-bail scam Suspended CBI judge grilled, arrested Suresh Dharur/TNS Hyderabad, June 19 The tainted special CBI Judge, T Pattabhirama Rao, whose alleged involvement in the cash-for-bail scam shocked the legal fraternity, was today arrested by the Andhra Pradesh Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths from his residence here. The arrest came after the ACB officials thoroughly grilled him in the case. He was later taken to the ACB office for further questioning. Justice Rao, the 1st Additional Special Judge for CBI cases, was alleged to have taken huge bribe for granting bail to the mining baron from Karnataka, Gali Janardhan Reddy, in the illegal mining case. The ACB has already arrested the tainted judge’s son Ravichandra and a close friend TV Chalapathi Rao, a retired district judge, for their role in the scam that has evoked widespread outrage in the state. It was alleged that Justice Rao had struck a deal with the close aides of the mining baron for Rs 10 crore to grant bail to him and others accused in the Obulapuram illegal mining scam. He had received an initial payment of Rs 2.87 crore. The CBI sleuths conducted searches and recovered Rs 1.6 crore from five bank lockers belonging to the judge’s son and his close associates. As per the deal, the judge granted bail to Janardhan Reddy on May 11. A few days later, huge money was transferred from Bellary to some bank accounts in Hyderabad. After the CBI unearthed the scam, the High Court suspended the judge on May 31. The close followers of the mining baron had initially bargained with the Judge for payment of Rs 5 crore for granting bail to four persons but a deal was finally struck for payment of Rs 10 crore. As per the deal, Janardhan Reddy, his brother-in-law BV Srinivas Reddy, suspended IAS officer Y Srilakshmi and former Director of Mines VD Rajagopal were to be granted bail. The CBI officials kept a close watch on him and tracked his mobile calls. It was found that the judge was in touch with the mediators before and after granting the bail.
	Govt bans blood tests to diagnose TB Aditi Tandon/TNS New Delhi, June 19 The Government has banned blood and antibody tests for the diagnosis of tuberculosis after WHO warned countries of inconsistent and imprecise results from these. Through a notification made public today, the Ministry of Health prohibited the manufacture, sale, distribution and use of serodiagnostic test kits in public interest and said false and negative results from these tests could involve risk to humans. The import of serological kits would also be banned following the notification, which comes a year after the WHO stated how commercial use of serological tests by private practitioners was leading to high risks to lives of patients and putting healthy individuals at risk of infection. The WHO showed through detailed studies that these tests had low sensitivity which resulted in unacceptably high number of patients being given all clear (false negative) results. This could lead to them dying due to untreated TB and the infection being transmitted to others, WHO said in its first ever negative recommendation issued on TB in 2011. The WHO also found these tests had low specificity, which led to unacceptably high numbers of patients being wrongly diagnosed with TB (false positive). This could lead them to undergo six months of unnecessary treatment, also increasing the risk of multi drug resistant TB, while the actual problem would remain undiagnosed and untreated. In India, the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) does not recommend serological tests, but private practitioners rampantly use the same. The International Standards for TB Care guidelines also discourage the tests.
	Rio+20 begins today Green warriors urge PM to protect oceans Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 19 Environmentalists have urged PM Manmohan Singh to take lead in ocean protection - an environmental issue that has so far failed to receive focused attention during negotiations and consultations at climate change meetings. For the Rio+20 convention that the PM is slated to address on June 21, the host Brazil has chosen ocean protection as one of the top four most significant issues. Now, as per Greenpeace campaigner Areeba Hamid, the PM’s stand along with the G-77 on a global implementing agreement on protecting the oceans can be a turning point in the outcomes, especially considering the opposition from countries like the US, Russia, Canada and Venezuela. “As the host country for the next Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in October, India has said marine biodiversity protection is a priority. A vocal support of starting negotiations for an implementing agreement at Rio would set a good example before the CBD, showing India is serious about meeting CBD targets,” she says. Statistics say less than one per cent of international waters are currently protected. There is a free-for-all in many parts of the high seas and, as per environmentalists, marine ecosystems are already reeling under impacts of over-fishing, destructive fishing, marine pollution, seabed mining, dumping, climate change and ocean acidification. Three billion people in the world are dependent on oceans for livelihoods. In India alone, about 15 million people are dependent on fishing and allied activities along its vast coastline. The high seas and the area of the deep seabed, that is the regions beyond national jurisdiction, contain the largest reservoir of biodiversity on earth. While technological capacity and demand for resources have also caused pressure in these areas, resulting in destruction of fishing habitat, climate change, ocean acidification and pollution, international rules and institutional governance structures for conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity have not kept pace with these developments. Challenges to ocean resources have in fact evolved way beyond UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), environmentalists say.
	Cong seeks Uma’s presence in UP House Tribune News Service Lucknow, June 19 The absence of firebrand BJP leader and MLA Uma Bharti became a subject of discussion during the Vidhan Sabha today as senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari requested the Speaker to ensure her "darshan". Responding to the unusual request, Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey conveyed that the House could not do anything in the matter as attending or not attending the House was the prerogative of an individual member. "If a member did not attend the House for long time then the House would surely take action ", Pandey assured Tiwari. After days of intense media speculation regarding the non-attendance of Uma Bharti even for a day during the 16th Vidhan Sabha the matter was today raised by Tiwari during Zero Hour. She is the BJP MLA from Charkhari in Lalitpur in Bundelkhand. A former minister at the Centre and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Bharti led the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh election campaign from the front and was the unofficial CM candidate in the event of a BJP victory. Enthusiastically campaigning across the state, Bharti even described UP as her “karmbhoomi”. However, the dismal electoral results for the BJP apparently dampened Uma Bharti’s new found love for Uttar Pradesh. She did not take oath of office with the remaining 403 MLAs during the two-day oath taking session on April 12-13 choosing instead to take office in the solitude of the Speaker’s chamber. She has not attended Vidhan Sabha even for a day during the ongoing budget session which has been on since May 28. Tiwari today raised the question of her absence as, according to him, the House was being deprived of her varied experience. Replying to the Congress, senior BJP MLA Kalraj Mishra assured the House that the sentiment would be conveyed to Bharti. BJP leader in the House Hukum Singh said he did not know the reason for Bharti’s absence but would find out and let the House know.
	French diplomat arrested for sexually abusing his daughter Shubhadeep Choudhury/TNS Bangalore, June 19 Frenchman Pascal Mazurier, 39, who works in the French Consulate here, was today arrested and remanded to two-week judicial custody by a magistrate. Police produced Mazurier, accused of sexually abusing his minor daughter, before the magistrate at his residence. This was to avoid the commotion that could have ensued if Mazurier was produced in an open court. In the morning, when Pascal was taken to the Bowring Hospital here for medical examination and for giving his blood sample, a hostile crowd had gathered there who wanted to teach the Frenchman a lesson. Police had a tough time escorting Pascal to the vehicle and bringing him back to the High Ground police station where he was first brought after his arrest early this morning. “We arrested Mazurier around 6 to 6.30 am,” Additional Commissioner of Police (law & order) Sunil Kumar said. The arrest took place after the French Embassy issued a press statement in Delhi saying immunity enjoyed by a diplomat was not applicable in this case. Taking a cue from the French Embassy’s press communiqué, the Union Home Ministry, which was approached by the city police for advice, also gave the go-ahead for the arrest of Mazurier who is deputy head of chancery at the French consulate general’s office here. Mazurier was charged on June 15 under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after his Indian wife Suja Jones filed a complaint with police that he had been sexually abusing their four-year-old daughter. The rape charge came to light when Jones, who hails from Kerala, approached Enfold India, a non-government organisation (NGO), for counselling as she was going through the trauma of being a witness to her husband abusing their child over the weeks.
	Storage crisis: Govt to offload 8MT grains at subsidised rates Vibha Sharma/TNS New Delhi, June 19 The Centre today decided to allocate additional eight million tonnes of rice and wheat at cheaper rates to clear the overflowing godowns and create space for the new crop. Headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the EGoM allowed five million tones of foodgrain for poor families in the BPL category and 3 MT of wheat for sale in the open market to bulk users at cheaper rates — decisions that will resolve to some extent the government’s storage crunch but also cost the exchequer anywhere around Rs 10,000 crore. For APL (above poverty line) families, Food Minister KV Thomas said the government had allocated 2 MT of foodgrains last fiscal but only about 50 per cent was lifted by the States. Therefore, the EGoM decided to allocate the remaining I MT for this year. The decision comes in the backdrop of the government facing a severe storage crunch. India harvested a record rice and wheat production in the 2011-12 crop year, leading to bumper stocks of 82 MT against a storage capacity of 63 MT. Sources say the Food Ministry had in fact proposed 8 MT allocation for BPL families and 2 MT for APL families at subsidised rates apart from giving 3 MT of wheat for bulk consumers at a uniform rate of 1,170 per quintal. But considering the huge subsidy costs, Mukherjee scaled down its proposals. According to officials, the allocation of 5 MT to BPL would cost the exchequer Rs 8,500 crore, while the sale through OMSS would lead to additional subsidy burden of Rs 1,900 crore. Under the PDS, BPL families get wheat at Rs 4.15 per kg and rice at Rs 5.65 per kg while the rate for APL is Rs 6.10 for wheat and Rs 8.30 for rice. To clear the glut there really are only two options before the government — one, to give grains to poor — a choice that would entail much higher subsidy burden — and the second, to export them. Even the second option would need export subsidy; the government can recover a part of it through the cost of procuring the foodgrains. Now, all eyes are on whether government would agree on export of wheat.
	NTSE answer key made public New Delhi, June 19 Applicants of the prestigious National Talent Search Examination can now check their performance online. For the first time in the history of the exam, the NCERT has published the key of NTSE answers to allow students to compare their answers and see for themselves where they stand in the exam. For the two sections of the NTSE question paper, the Mental Ability Test (MAT) and the Scholastic Ability Test (SAT), the key has been uploaded on the Council’s website www.ncert.nic.in. The candidates can go through this key to self-assess their performance. — TNS