The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	SPECTRUM ROW JPC won’t call PM, Chidambaram as witnesses Girja Shankar Kaura/TNS New Delhi, October 18 The standoff between the Congress and the BJP over calling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram as witnesses in the 2G Spectrum issue being probed by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) is likely to intensify with the panel chief PC Chacko virtually rejecting the main Opposition party’s demand. While former Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar deposed before the panel, hinting that the controversial March 25, 2011 note which suggested that the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram could have insisted on auction was “seen by” the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee which translates into his endorsement of its contents, Chacko said that while there was no question of calling the Prime Minister, Chidambaram would be called only if there was consensus among JPC members. Chacko, a senior Congress MP, while briefing reporters after the meeting said that Speaker Meira Kumar, to whom he had written last week seeking her advice on calling ministers as witnesses, too had asked the JPC to first arrive at a decision on the matter before she gives her ruling on the subject. "If I was to call them as witnesses, it would have happened by now. There is no question of calling the Prime Minister as there is no precedent. With regard to the ministers, if there is a unanimous decision, we will call them," Chacko said. He said the JPC would meet again at a later date to consider this issue and arrive at a decision. The comments from Chacko came even as the BJP members continued to boycott the panel meeting sticking to their demand of summoning both the Prime Minister and Chidambaram. "It is always good if there is a unanimous decision. If there is no unanimity, there has to be a majority decision," he said. To a query whether there had been effort to convince the six BJP members to return to the meeting, the Congress MP said all his efforts in this regard till now had failed. The JPC chief said that the panel functioned according to rules and regulations that apply to any other parliamentary committee and that neither the Prime Minister nor the ministers could be summoned under these.
	Brahmos for sukhoi Cabinet panel gives nod to Rs 6,000-cr plan Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 18 India’s frontline fighter Sukhoi-30MKI is set to get a lethal edge with the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) tonight clearing a Rs 6,000-crore plan to acquire the air-launched version of the BrahMos missile, a joint Indo-Russian production, for the warplanes. The IAF will get 200 of these missiles. The BrahMos, a supersonic missile with the capability of travelling at 2.8 mach, has already been inducted into the Indian Navy and the Indian Army. Some modifications are needed to enable Sukhoi-30 carry the missile and deliver it. The missiles need some miniaturisation and Sukhoi-30 needs special under-the-wing pods to carry it. Some of the fighter aircraft are being modified indigenously by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at its Nasik facility and fitted with an integrated aerial launcher developed by the BrahMos. The first live test of the missile using a Sukhoi-30 is expected in December. Once inducted, the missile will complete a sort of triad of supersonic missiles available with India on land, in air and at sea. The IAF warplane will be able to hit a target 300 km away. The Rs 6,000-crore outgo will involve purchase of BrahMos missiles, its integration onto the warplanes and testing, sources said. Halwara, near Ludhiana, will be the second base of Sukhoi-30s in North India. The warplanes are currently based at Bareilly in western UP. The deployment of Sukhoi-30s at Halwara will complete in July 2013. At a Defence Minister-level meeting between India and Russia on October 10, Russia’s Anatoly Serdyukov had said: “We are working on making 1,000 BrahMos missiles for India.” Sources said the CCS also cleared a Rs 2,000-crore proposal to tide over the crippling shortage of tank ammunition. The Invar Missile, which can be fired from the barrel of the T-90 tanks, has also been okayed. The Army had projected its demand for 20,000 Invar missiles at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore. Under the Army proposal, 10,000 Invar missiles would be procured from Russian manufacturers whereas the remaining would be license-produced by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) under the transfer of technology (ToT) agreement. Fighting Brain fever With Japanese encephalitis (brain fever) and acute encephalitis syndrome continuing to claim lives of children, the Cabinet cleared a Rs 4000 crore comprehensive proposal to address the problem on all fronts pension hike The Cabinet revised the norms and enhanced rates of pension for widows and persons with disabilities. As many as 76 lakh BPL widows and 11 lakh BPL persons with severe or multiple disability will get enhanced amount of central assistance of Rs 300 per month instead of Rs 200 earlier
	With assets over Rs 100 cr, Butail is HP’s richest politician in fray Lalit Mohan/TNS Dharamsala, October 18 Himachal Pradesh, otherwise perceived as a poor state, has a billionaire amongst its ranks of politicians contesting the Assembly elections in the state. Brij Behari Butail, the Congress candidate from Palampur in Kangra district, is the richest politician contesting these elections, owning movable and immovable assets worth more than Rs 100 crore. He owes it to the value of tea gardens he owns in Palampur. Butail is a former revenue minister and belongs to the family that has been affiliated with the Congress from the very beginning. His elder brother Kunj Behari Lal Butial was a former head of the HPCC. Brij Behari Butial won his first election in 1985 from Palampur. Right from the start of his political career, he had been squaring off against BJP stalwart Shanta Kumar, with both leaders defeating each other consecutively from the Palampur Assembly constituency. In the last Assembly elections, Brij Behari Butial was defeated by BJP candidate Parveen Sharma, a Shanta’s protégé. He is a leading tea planter of the state and owns maximum land in Palampur town. The Butail family was able to retain a majority of its land even after the land ceiling of 300 kanal per person was imposed in the state, as the state government exempted the tea garden land from the land ceiling Act. The exemption had come with the condition that the land could not be diverted for any other purpose. But Butail family’s tea garden land was diverted for housing colonies in Palampur. GS Bali, the Congress candidate from Nagrota Bagwan, has disclosed an annual income of Rs 1,06,02,721 in his tax return for 2011-12. In their affidavits of income filed before the returning officers, a majority of contesting candidates have disclosed meager annual incomes despite having assets worth crores of rupees. The annual income of some candidates from Kangra district: Kishan Kapoor (BJP-Dharamsala) Rs 7,35,000; Ravinder Ravi (BJP-Dehra) Rs 5,42,032; Rakesh Pathania (Independent-Nurpur) Rs 5,31,640; Ajay Mahajan (Congress-Nurpur) Rs 3,89,707; Sujjan Singh Pathania (Congress-Fatehpur) Rs 3,47,436.
	Ex-IPS officer targets Pawar, relatives Mumbai, October 18 In the season of scams, Union Minister Sharad Pawar and his close relatives were today dragged into a corruption scandal by a former IPS officer-turned-lawyer for benefiting a private developer by allegedly bestowing undue favours for the controversial Lavasa hill city project. YP Singh, a former IPS officer of Maharashtra cadre, alleged that Ajit Pawar, irrigation minister and nephew of Sharad Pawar, allotted 141 hectares (348 acres), belonging to Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation, on a renewable lease of 30 years to the Lake City Corporation in 2002 violating a Supreme Court judgment. The company which later came to be known as Lavasa Corporation, a subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Company, was allotted the land at a monthly rent of Rs 23,000, Singh said. — PTI
	States to get flexibility in spending Central funds Vibha Sharma/TNS New Delhi, October 18 After some big ticket economic reforms, the next on the UPA government’s agenda are modifications in flagship schemes to fulfil a key demand of states - more flexibility in the usage of funds allocated under the Centre-funded programmes for different ministries. Responding to the increasing demands from state governments for greater flexibility in spending decisions with respect to government schemes and cooperative federalism, the government is considering restructuring its flagship programmes with “flexi funds” in the 12th Plan. The beginning is being made with the Rural Development Ministry where for the first time the government has allocated Rs 40,000 crore for a “flexi-fund” in the next Plan for focused spending on state-specific priorities. Making the announcement, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said the Rural Development Flexi-fund (RDF) of Rs 40,000 crore would be made available to all states from the financial year 2013-14 and the corpus could expand when it comes up for a mid-term appraisal. The Central government will have a 70 per cent share in the fund. The flexi-fund would ensure better targeting and sent a powerful signal about the Central Government's commitment to cooperative federalism, Ramesh said. The fund would be available as an additional amount that can be spent either on existing Centrally-sponsored schemes of the Ministry or on new projects proposed by the states. Ramesh said the states would be free to use the funds the way they wanted to on works under the scheme and even those not currently covered under scheme but the intent of the project should be clear. Besides the intra-scheme flexibility, the RDF would also provide inter-scheme flexibility. For example, Punjab may want to spend less on MNREGA and more on rural roads and another state may prefer to spend less on housing and more on connecting smaller habitations with roads. The arrangement will become operational from the financial year 1013-14.
	Generic names to replace brands in pharma sector Sushil Manav/TNS Sirsa, October 18 Well-known brands of drugs like Crocin, Iodex and Combiflam may not exist in the market after some time and people may instead get these medicines by their generic names. The move, while lowering the price of drugs considerably for the common man, will hit the small pharmaceutical industry hard. Small pharmaceuticals firms, which used to manufacture same drugs formulations under more than one brand name - sometimes the number of trade names running into double figures - to promote their drugs through monopoly by bribing some unscrupulous medical practitioners, will be hit the most by these directives. The Union Health Ministry had directed drug-licencing authorities in the states to stop issuing manufacturing licences for any drug under its brand name. The ministry has also directed the state licencing authorities to cancel licences to manufacture drugs falling under the purview of “new drugs” and also the fixed dose combinations (FDCs) as defined in Section 122 (E) of the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules 1945. Confirming the Central government’s directions in this regard, GL Singal, Joint Commission, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Haryana, who is also the licencing authority for the state, said these guidelines would be enforced in the state with immediate effect. In his letter to health secretaries of all the states and union territories of the country dated October 1, Sanjay Prasad, Director in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that the grant of drug manufacturing licences under brand names or trade names were not in accordance with the spirit of the legislation. The letter mentions that under the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules 1945, applications to manufacture drugs require merely the drugs to be specified and not their brand or trade names. The Union Ministry’s directions said that in view of this, licences to manufacture drugs should in future be granted for generic names only. Another letter written by Prasad said, "Instances were brought to the notice of the Central government that the licencing authorities of many states have been granting licences for the manufacture of new drugs, including FDCs, in violation of drugs and cosmetics rules." As per Section 122 (E) of the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules 1945, before granting licence or manufacturing any “new drug” and FDC that have not been used in the country to a significant extent, the approval of the Drug Controller General of India was required. The matter, he said, was taken up in a meeting of the Drug Consultative Committee (DCC) held on July 20. "It was reiterated in the DCC meeting that such a licence for new drugs for unapproved FDCs must not be granted by any state licencing authorities," stated the letter to state health secretaries.
	SC stays trial of Amit Shah Legal Correspondent New Delhi, October 18 The Supreme Court today stayed further proceedings against former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah in a case relating to the killing of Tulsiram Prajapati, an associate of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, in a fake encounter. A Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi also issued notice to the CBI on Shah's plea for clubbing the fake encounter cases of Prajapati and Sohrabuddin. Prajapati was the lone eyewitness to the killings of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauserbi by Gujarat police in a fake encounter in 2005. Subsequently, he was also eliminated. Arguing for Shah, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi contended that the fake encounter relating to Prajapati had come to light during the investigation of the Sohrabuddin case and as such there was no need for two separate chargesheets and trials. The Bench listed the next hearing for November 23.
	Repeat of 1962 defeat impossible, says Antony Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 18 Defence Minister AK Antony today joined the growing tribe of optimists who believe it was impossible to have a repeat of the humiliating military defeat of 1962 Sino-India war. Over the past four weeks, Army Chief General Bikram Singh and Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne have assured the nation of the prowess of the armed forces. General Bikram Singh had said a repeat of 1962 was not possible while the IAF boss pointed out that the outcome of the 1962 war would have been different had the IAF warplanes been used. Antony, talking to the media on the sidelines of the Navy Commanders Conference today, said, "India of 2012 is not the India of that (1962) period. We are now capable of defending every inch of our country." He was replying to a question on India vis-a-vis China 50 years after the 1962 war in which India had suffered a defeat. Antony quickly added a caveat to his words by talking about the abysmal infrastructure saying "infrastructure in the North-East is not up to our satisfaction, but it has improved a lot as compared to the past". Earlier, India, as per its policy, had not focused on enhancing infrastructure in border areas of northeastern states fearing the road could be used by an ingressing army. "Now we have moved very fast. Our infrastructure, assets and manpower have substantially improved," he added. He said India would continue to build infrastructure.
	6 CRPF men killed in Maoist ambush Gaya, October 18 Six CRPF personnel were killed and nine others injured in an ambush by Maoists of an anti-landmine vehicle that was followed by an encounter in Bihar's Gaya district today. Maoists triggered an IED at 06.20 am, blowing up an anti-landmine vehicle that was carrying about a dozen CRPF personnel of the 159th Battalion at Chakarbanda forest near Barha village, CRPF DIG Umesh Kumar said. Two CRPF personnel were killed on the spot and four died of injuries in hospital. Driver Lalu Babu was among the victims. The other victims were sub-inspector Ramji Ram, constables Vikramaditya Yadav, Ashok Nirala, GD Raj Singh and Hanumant Singh Gurjar. Four injured CRPF personnel were evacuated to a private hospital by an IAF helicopter, Kumar said. An encounter followed in the Chakarbanda forest after additional CRPF personnel were rushed in. — PTI
	Satyam founder Raju’s assets attached Hyderabad/New Delhi, Oct 18 The Enforcement Directorate today issued attachment orders freezing fixed deposits worth Rs 822 crore of B Ramalinga Raju, founder of scam-hit Satyam computers, and his family in connection with its probe in the money laundering case. The orders issued by the Hyderabad zonal office of the agency specify that these deposits, held in the accounts of Ms Satyam Computers and Services Limited (SCSL), were being attched as it has identified these value of assets as "proceeds of crime" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). — PTI
	India, Japan to hold talks before PM’s Tokyo visit Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 18 Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Tokyo in mid-November, Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai are going to Japan for two+two dialogue between the two countries. Briefing reporters here today, MEA spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said the dialogue, to be held on Monday and Tuesday, will cover a wide-range of bilateral issues as well as global developments. This is the second time that the two countries would hold dialogue in the two+two format. The last such dialogue was held in July 2010. The idea was to make it an annual affair. However, the dialogue could not be held last year. India is conducting such a dialogue only with Japan to discuss issues like maritime security, cyber security and space. Both the foreign secretary and the defence secretary will have discussions with their respective counterparts. According to sources, the two countries will obviously discuss the aggressive posturing by China in the South China Sea during the defence dialogue. The two defence secretaries are also expected to discuss joint naval exercises. The talks between the two foreign secretaries are likely to focus on the Prime Minister’s visit to Tokyo. They are expected to review the progress in the talks between the two countries over a civil nuclear energy agreement. They will also review the status of the ongoing mega projects such as the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and the Dedicated Freight Corridor besides exchanging views on the Japanese overseas development assistance being given to India.