The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	No more outages, assures Moily Girja Shankar Kaura/TNS New Delhi, August 1 A day after the country faced its worst grid collapse, also the world’s biggest, power network was back at full capacity today after two days of massive outages that left more than 650 million people and 20 out of the 29 states without electricity. As the newly-appointed Power Minister Veerappa Moily took charge here with the assurance that such outages would not happen again, the blame game was on with Uttar Pradesh insisting that it did not overdraw power on Monday and yesterday which led to the collapse of the northern grid. Moily, while taking the additional charge of the ministry, said he would set up 24x7 monitoring to ensure constant vigil against power crashes and promised restructuring of state electricity regulatory boards. Refraining from blaming the states for over-drawing electricity from grids and not adhering to a discipline, Moily said he did not want to start his innings with a blame-game. "I don't want to start with the blame game...at the appropriate time, we will find out short term and medium term solutions," he said. He said that he would take stock of the situation and start working on clearing the hurdles facing the sector. "First thing is to stabilise the grid and it has to sustain. For that we will work out a proper strategy," he said. Referring to his future course of action, he said, "We have called a meeting on August 6 of the affected chief ministers. In case any chief minister cannot come, they can send secretaries." Taking over the hot seat at a time when the power sector is steeped in crisis, Moily will have to address the issues ranging from the failure of the three grids that plunged 20 states into darkness to fuel shortages and the financial health of the distribution companies. Before assuming charge as the Home Minister, the outgoing Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde applauded the efforts of all the officials which ensured the restoration of the power supply.
	Cordial relations with states is new Home Minister’s priority Ajay Banerjee/TNS New Delhi, August 1 Sushil Kumar Shinde, a former sub-inspector of the Maharashtra Police, today took over as the Union Home Minister, marking a significant political leap from the Power Ministry to the ‘centre of power’ located at the imposing North Block atop the Raisina Hill in the National Capital. Even as Shinde took over, questions are being raised over the continuation of the existing ‘security and intelligence gathering’ focus of the Home Ministry. Among the first questions he faced from journalists were how fears were being expressed about the Home Ministry lapsing into its pre-26/11 kind of slumber after P Chidambaram’s departure. Shinde started off by saying, “You will see my goals and actions in two months.” Listing his immediate priorities, he said, “We must have very cordial relations with states and I will certainly maintain them.” When asked if he was hinting that Centre-state relations had suffered in the past, Shinde was quick to clarify, “It is not so. I have been hearing from political circles at the Central Hall in Parliament that there is still scope to plug the gaps in Centre-state relations. We will have to go ahead further. The states may be ruled by different parties, but I want to send a message to all Chief Ministers that we are all Indians and we will work together wherever there is a difficulty.” The statement comes in the backdrop of the opposition the Home Ministry faced in the recent past to the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and some other issues. On being repeatedly questioned on the NCTC, Shinde said, “I have nothing on my mind about the NCTC. I will have to see what is in the records.” Then, he again went on to lay stress on “having good relations with states”. Shinde, on being questioned on the fears of a pre-26/11 kind of situation returning, said, “As a former police officer, I know about the need to be alert to deal with the situation.” In the pre-Mumbai attack days, the then Home Minister Shivraj Patil had faced flak after a series of blasts. Naxalism, which had been in focus in the past few years, is not unknown to Shinde as he asserted, “I am aware of the issue as I was Governor of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. I know the reality and know how Andhra worked. But I will have to check the latest.” He went on the praise his predecessor saying, “He has done good work and I will continue to take it forward.” Rise to the top Shinde started off as a bailiff in the courts at Solapur in Maharashtra and then joined the police as a Sub-Inspector He is the nation’s second Dalit Home Minister after Buta Singh
	Like Congress, BJP also keeps away from Anna Anita Katyal/TNS New Delhi, August 1 While the UPA government is cool towards Anna Hazare’s ongoing indefinite fast, the BJP has also distanced itself from the anti-graft crusader’s campaign. This is in sharp contrast to the BJP’s stand last year when it had wholeheartedly embraced Team Anna, even going to the extent of sharing a dias with the agitators in support of its demand for a Lokpal Bill. The Opposition’s show of solidarity with the protesters had clearly been aimed at winning their support in the upcoming Assembly polls especially since Team Anna had declared its intention to campaign against the UPA government. But now, like the Congress, the BJP is not going out of its way to engage with Team Anna as it believes its protest is losing steam. Although Team Anna was banking on divisions within the political class to exert pressure on the government - as it had done last year - the BJP has not openly supported the agitation this time. On the contrary, the principal Opposition party was disapproving of its attack on President Pranab Mukherjee. When Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal alleged there were corruption charges against the new President, the BJP came out in Mukherjee’s defence. Former BJP president Rajnath Singh cautioned against running down constitutional institutions stating, “The President’s post is the highest constitutional post. Its dignity should not be lowered.” Clearly disappointed that its protest had failed to elicit the BJP’s backing, several Team Anna supporters today held a protest at the party’s headquarters here demanding that the party support Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption. Donning Team Anna caps, the protesters shouted slogans against the party for not supporting Hazare's campaign against corruption. “This is a strange and a new way of seeking support,” was all that BJP spokesperson Parkash Javadekar had to say on the issue. He parried all questions on the ongoing agitation and the deteriorating health of the fasting protesters. Javadekar said these queries should be put to the government as the BJP was not in the loop on this issue. This is a far cry from the stand adopted by the main Opposition party last August when Anna Hazare went on fast at the Ramlila Grounds to press for a Lokpal Bill.
	Heed to medical advice, cops tell Team Anna Ananya Panda/TNS New Delhi, August 1 While the government maintained its seemingly unfazed posture to Team Anna’s indefinite fast over the Jan Lokpal Bill, a warning regarding any untoward incident if Anna’s fasting aides are not hospitalised immediately came in today from the Delhi Police. However, the spirits of the fasting trio - Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai - remained high. They refused to accept medical intervention until the team’s demands of a stringent anti-graft Lokpal legislation and SIT inquiry to probe into the charges against 15 ministers at the Centre are met. In the morning today, a worried Team Anna core committee held two rounds of talks at the Jantar Mantar in view of the extant deadlock and after apprehension that fasting members might be evacuated. They accused the Congress-led UPA government of using power to suppress the anti-corruption movement and maintained that the letter the police have issued was “unlawful”. The letter was issued by the police on the advice of a team of doctors from Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital which has been monitoring the health of the fasting members.
	Groundwater and Reservoir Pawar, Jairam to visit Punjab, Haryana Vibha Sharma/TNS New Delhi, August 1 The “sowing condition” during the ongoing kharif season may be “good” in Punjab and Haryana, but critical levels of groundwater and reservoir feeding the two grain-producing states is serious enough to warrant a visit by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. Accompanied by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Pawar would visit Punjab and Haryana to assess with the respective Chief Ministers their further requirements for kharif and also water availability for the rabi season. The southwest monsoon has witnessed 19 per cent deficient rains in the first two months of the four-month season, prompting experts to draw comparisons with droughts in the years 2002 and 2009. Deficient rains have affected major reservoir feeding states including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, UP, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Orissa, which are currently holding lower than average storage capacity. Woes of Punjab and Haryana are multiplied by their dipping groundwater levels. The groundwater in the two states, which is already touching critical levels, has gone further down this kharif season. While kharif will give a satisfactory output, the country’s planners are worried that poor levels of groundwater and reservoir may affect output of winter crops. Adding to their woes is the possibility that the monsoon, which is expected to bring widespread showers this month, may run into trouble in September due to warming of the central Pacific Ocean, commonly known as the El Nino phenomenon. The central Pacific Ocean is expected to experience a warming of the sea surface temperature by 0.5 to 0.7 degree Celsius, a senior official said, adding that the weather office had detected signals and also warned policymakers accordingly. After visiting Punjab and Haryana and four other states facing the maximum monsoon ire this year - Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan - the Empowered Group of Ministers will meet again in August to consider further requirements of the states. Meanwhile, the Centre on Wednesday reviewed procurement and storage arrangements for the kharif marketing season 2012-13 for planning in advance actions for procurement for paddy and coarse grains in producing states, particularly decentralised procurement states and other “non-traditional” states to maximise procurement. FCI and state agencies have been directed to identify areas with maximum paddy production in all the states and arrange opening of adequate purchase centres and deploy sufficient manpower. They have also been asked to provide district-wise details of purchase centres to be opened during this crop year.
	Replace warnings with strict action: ex-Power Minister Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 1 Questioning the logic of issuing hundreds of unheeded warnings to states which were overdrawing power from the Northern power grid, former Union Power Minister Suresh Prabhu has said strict and timely action should have been taken to prevent the grid collapse - twice in two days on July 30 and July 31. Prabhu, a former Shiv Sena MP, who was Power Minister during the BJP-led NDA regime, told the Tribune over phone from Mumbai, “Warning without any action means nothing.” He was referring to the hundreds of warnings which the northern states ignored, putting the grid at great risk. From May onwards, the Northern Region Load Despatch Centre (NRLDC) issued these warnings to Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. The states ignored them and continued to overdraw, the Tribune reported in its edition today. Since May, the grid was overloaded 70 per cent of the time. “Be more strict with the erring states. Disconnect power supply in case indiscipline continues,” said Prabhu, adding, “If you do not do that, the entire country is put at risk like the past two days when the grid collapsed. A grid failure causes losses of crores of rupees to business and attracts international ridicule, especially when it happens twice in two days.” Prabhu buttressed his argument saying the situation showed a lack of political will to take strong steps. “We disconnected supplies to UP after a few warnings when Atal Behari Vajpayee was Prime Minister and an elected MP from Lucknow,” said Prabhu. “The time has come to tell the erring states that the supplies will be disconnected on sections of the grid in their areas unless discipline is restored,” he affirmed. Regulators put in place - like the NRLDC - have no powers, cited Prabhu, while adding that 77 paise per unit were being lost due to inability of the states to raise tariffs to match production costs. At present, the state electricity boards have losses of Rs 2,00,000 crore.
	Development index Ferozepur tops list of 548 districts Awarded 5th JRD Tata Memorial Award by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 1 Ferozepur has done Punjab proud. It was presented the 5th JRD Tata Memorial Award by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen last evening for being ranked first on the composite development index for 548 districts evaluated countrywide. Ferozepur, along with five other districts, was picked for the award for showing improvement in child and maternal health. Ferozepur scored the highest composite index of 141.1 measured by an expert committee set up by the Population Fund of India (PFI). The most outstanding achievement of the district was its ability to arrest the decline in the child gender ratio. While the national child gender ratio declined from 927 to 914 per 1,000 boys between 2001 and 2011, Ferozepur reported a ratio of 885 per 1,000 boys aged 0 to 6 years in 2011 as against 822 in 2001. “The increase of 63 points is phenomenal,” said PFI executive director Poonam Muttreja. Ferozepur also posted huge gains on all 13 indicators of development the expert committee looked into while short-listing the districts. It reported a 10.5 per cent raise in female literacy rate, from 51.7 per cent in 2001 to 62.2 per cent in 2011. Also, the percentage of safe deliveries in the districtn “rose incredibly well from 53.9 in 2002-2006 to 80.6 per cent. The 26.8 per cent increase augurs well for maternal and child health and gives Ferozepur the highest composite index value of 141.1 among all the 548 districts measured,” Sona Sharma of the PFI said. “It is significant that the percentage of Drinking water availability was another vital indicator for Ferozepur. As of date, all households in Ferozepur is being supplied improved sources of drinking water, higher than even the other awarded districts of Thoubal (Manipur), Ahmednagar (Maharashtra), North Goa (Goa), Jajapur (Odisha) and Varanasi (UP). Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner S Karuna Raju, who was here to collect the award, said the district had been religiously keeping a track of pregnant women and infants to ensure there was no sex selection. The award comprises a citation and Rs 2 lakh in cash. The award ceremony had Amartya Sen deliver a lecture on “Women and the Other People”.
	BJP leaders caught in Adarsh web Shiv Kumar/TNS Mumbai, August 1 The Adarsh Housing Society scandal is all set to cast its long shadow on the BJP with at least two of its leaders turning out to be beneficiaries of the controversial project. According to the submissions made before the commission probing the controversial project, 10 of the 100 flats in the Adarsh Society were funded by loans from a finance company owned by Ajay Sancheti, the BJP's member of the Rajya Sabha and close associate of party president Nitin Gadkari. Documents indicate San Finance Corporation, promoted by Sancheti and his relatives had lent money to 10 persons who were allotted flats in the society.
	2G policy is fine but its implementation faulty: SC R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, August 1 Endorsing the first-come, first-served (FCFS) policy adopted in 2008 for the allocation of 2G Spectrum, a five-member Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court today said it was distorted by the then Telecom Minister A Raja when he changed the cut-off dates. “We find the FCFS policy is fine, but its implementation was flawed. The moment you change the criterion and distort the FCFS policy, it ceases to be the FCFS policy,” Chief Justice of India (CJI) SH Kapadia observed while hearing the Presidential Reference seeking clarifications on the February 2, 2012 SC verdict cancelling the 122 2G licences granted by Raja. A bench of Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly (since retired) had cancelled the licences, observing that the FCFS policy was, per se, violative of Article 14 of the Constitution pertaining to equality. The Bench also directed the government to allocate natural resources such as Spectrum only through auction in order to realise the market price and avoid losses to the exchequer. Through the Presidential Reference, the government wants to know whether it is duty bound to auction other natural resources such as coal, oil and natural gas. During the day-long hearing, the CJI also sought clarifications from Attorney General GE Vahanvati on the modalities adopted in 2001 and 2008 for the allocation of 2G licences embedded with Spectrum. The AG said the FCFS policy was followed both in 2001 and 2008. In 2001, FCFS meant those who had applied for licence first, but in 2008 Raja changed it at the eleventh hour to mean those who made the payment first. Raja also advanced the cut-off date with retrospective effect for submitting the application. At this, the CJI said this made it clear that it was not the policy but its implementation which was to be faulted. The CJI also asked the AG as to what made PM Manmohan Singh write a letter to Raja suggesting the auction. The AG said the PM was acting on a note by the then Finance Secretary. The CJI also wanted to know the difference between the 2G and 3G policies. The AG said 3G was auctioned after unbundling Spectrum from the license.
	SC acquits 3 co-accused in BMW hit-and-run case New Delhi, August 1 The Supreme Court today acquitted three co-accused of Sanjeev Nanda, grandson of former Naval chief Admiral SM Nanda, in the 1999 BMW hit-and-run case. The three had been sentenced to three-six months for tampering with evidence. A Bench comprising Justices Deepak Verma and KS Radhakrishnan set aside the Delhi High Court verdict upholding the conviction of businessman Rajeev Gupta and his two employees Bhola Nath and Shyam Singh by the trial court. The trial court had sentenced Rajeev Gupta to one year in jail and awarded six months of imprisonment to his employees, but the high court had reduced the duration of the sentences to half for all the three. The SC Bench has already reserved its verdict on the Delhi Police appeal against the HC verdict relating to Sanjeev Nanda who had mowed down six persons while driving his BMW car on January 10, 1999. — TNS