Jagan begins fast against AP bifurcation
Suresh Dharur/TNS

Hyderabad, August 25
In a tactical move to capitalise on the strong anti-bifurcation sentiment sweeping parts of Andhra Pradesh, jailed MP and YSR Congress Party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy today launched fast-unto-death from his prison cell here to protest against the UPA’s “unilateral and authoritarian” decision to divide the state.

The security was beefed up near Chanchalguda central prison as a large number of Jagan’s supporters gathered and raised slogans in his support. The prison authorities said that the MP had not applied for permission to go on fast and appropriate measures would be taken in his case as per the jail manual.

Cutting across party lines, Telangana protagonists raised objections over Jagan undertaking the hunger strike on Telangana soil to protest against the bifurcation and demanded that he be shifted to another prison in Seemandhra region.

Jagan is lodged in the central prison here since his arrest in May last year in connection with the alleged illegal assets case. His fledgling party has a massive following in Rayalseema and coastal Andhra regions, jointly referred as Seemandhra, where the people have been on a warpath opposing the UPA’s decision to carve out separate Telangana state.

Though the YSR Congress Party has not openly opposed the state’s bifurcation, its support to the agitating people of Seemandhra is seen as a clever move by the party to occupy the political space being provided by the united AP movement.

Its main contention is that if the UPA government cannot ensure "equal justice" to all the three regions, then it should not go ahead with the division of the state. This is widely interpreted in political circles as support for the demand to keep the state united.

The YSR Congress Party, which has no representation in the Telangana region, was the first to ask all the 16 legislators, including the floor leader and Jagan’s mother YS Vijayamma, to quit their posts before the Congress Working Committee announced its decision on formation of Telangana state on July 30. Since then, its leaders have been playing an active role in the agitation in Seemandhra.

With the state’s division becoming a fait accompli and his own party losing political relevance in Telangana, the high profile undertrial appears keen to capitalise on the anti-bifurcation sentiment sweeping Seemandhra by positioning himself as the sole champion of their interests.

By undertaking an indefinite fast, Jagan may well look for the first mover advantage in the new territory and hope to reap rich electoral harvest there post-bifurcation. Already, a string of opinion surveys show that his party holds the sway in Seemandhra.

Tunda holds grudges against Lakhvi for being ‘sidelined’

Abdul Karim Tunda

New Delhi, August 25
Arrested terrorist Abdul Karim Tunda told his interrogators that he holds a grudge against Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi for scuttling his chances of reaching the top position in the outfit despite being the "architect" of its pan-India structure, which was earlier confined to Kashmir.

Senior Delhi police officials who interrogated the 70-year-old bomb expert said he blamed Lakhvi for keeping him on "fringes" of the LeT which carried out number of terror attacks in India.

"He says that Lakhvi, who is the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, made sure that Tunda remains on the fringes of the organisation. He said Lakhvi did not allow him to come into the decision- making body," the officials said.

"Tunda claims that he came in contact with LeT in 1991 and since then he had worked tirelessly to build and nurture the terror outfit's structure outside Kashmir. This continued even after he left India and went to Pakistan," the officials who are involved in Tunda's interrogation said.

They said Tunda also claimed that he was sidelined by the top LeT leadership ahead of the 26/11 attacks after his spat with Lakhvi over financial issues.

"Despite being one of the main founders of LeT's pan-India operations, Tunda was kept out of the details of the operation.

Some of the younger operatives of LeT, including Abu Jundal, were being preferred over Tunda," said another police official. Tunda claimed that he was merely informed about the happenings of the Mumbai attack by Jama'at-ud-Da'wah chief Hafiz Saeed who had instructed him to concentrate on Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) into India, the investigators said.

Tunda, who was holding a Pakistani passport with the name Abdul Quddus, was arrested on August 16 from an area on the Indo-Nepal border after being on the run in several countries for 19 years. — PTI 

Cong veteran for trifurcation of Andhra
Suresh Dharur/TNS

Hyderabad, August 25
Amid the continued turmoil rocking Andhra Pradesh, Congress veteran and Union Tribal Affairs Minister Kishore Chandra Deo has come up with a proposal to split the state into three and make Hyderabad a Union Territory with partial statehood on Delhi model.

Deo, a five-time MP from the coastal Andhra region, has suggested the formation of Telangana, Rayalaseema and Andhra states, as the three regions are distinctly divided geographically and culturally.

“The only solution in the present situation is to trifurcate the state. This will assuage the feelings of all three regions and offer a permanent solution,” he said in a letter to the AK Antony Committee constituted by the Congress to address the concerns of the people in the wake of the decision to bifurcate the state.

He also suggested that the coastal city of Visakhapatnam be made the new capital of Andhra state.

On Hyderabad, which has become a major bone of contention, Deo said the cosmopolitan city be made a Union Territory with partial statehood.

“I made this suggestion about two years ago but it was not considered. I had also proposed an economic package for the development of backward regions of Telangana and formation of a Telangana Development Council with a cabinet rank for its chairman. But there was no response,” the Congress veteran said.

“The trifurcation of Andhra Pradesh will bring parity in the number of Lok Sabha seats,” he argued. Out of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, Telangana and coastal Andhra regions account for 17 each, while Rayalaseema has eight seats. “With eight Lok Sabha seats, Rayalaseema will still be a larger state than Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Puducherry, Tripura, Sikkim and other North Eastern states,” he said.

The Union Minister fired a salvo at both Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana for failing to rise above their narrow political interests in finding a solution to the Telangana problem.

“It is unfair and mischievous that both the Chief Minister and the PCC chief are openly accusing the MPs and Union ministers from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema in order to cover up their selfish and ulterior motives.

“Most unfortunate are the allegations and the public perception that leaders from both regions are sponsoring and encouraging violent agitations with a feeling of injured guilt,” he said in the letter while accusing the two leaders of “engineering” assaults on the elected representatives in Seemandhra.

“The people strongly feel that the selfish interests of both heads of the government and the party in the state have led us to this piquant situation,” the Union Minister said.

He said it was unfortunate that the people who were domiciled in Hyderabad for several decades and generations were never consulted nor were their views taken into account before taking the decision on carving out Telangana state.

Salman moves HC seeking quashing of contempt case

Mumbai, August 25
Actor Salman Khan has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of a complaint filed against him in a magistrate's court seeking contempt action for posting court orders in cases against him on his website. Salman's petition, in which he pleaded that he had created the website only to ensure that there was no incorrect reporting by the media, is expected to come up for hearing tomorrow before Justice K U Chandiwal.

A magistrate at Bandra court here had issued summons to the actor on July 10 this year following a complaint filed by activist Hemant Patil alleging contempt of court action against Salman for allegedly posting court proceedings on his website — www.salman-khanfiles.com.

The complaint alleged that Salman was embroiled in legal cases including the 2002 hit-and-run case involving him and said that by posting court matters on the website, the actor had committed contempt of court as the matters were subjudice.

Salman, however, pleaded in his petition that he had created a website only to ensure that there was no incorrect reporting by the media. — PTI 

SP, BJP will fail to draw political mileage: Beni
Tribune News Servce

Lucknow, August 25
Describing the unseasonal VHP “84 kosi parikrama” and the Samajwadi Party’s much-hyped ban on it as a case of “shadow boxing”, Union Minister for Steel Beni Prasad Varma today said neither side would be able to draw political mileage as the people could see through their game plan.

Speaking to reporters, Varma reiterated that this game of “shadow-boxing” between the SP and the BJP had been going on since 1990 as both these parties stand to gain from polarisation of Hindu and Muslim votes. Varma charged said the strategy for this latest episode in their ongoing game was planned during the two-hour meeting between SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and the VHP leaders on August 17 at the CM’s official residence.

According to Varma, this time, however, people can see through their design and will not be affected by this drama. “That is why the VHP yatra has no support from Hindus. Even Muslims are also not overenthusiastic about the so-called ban”, he said.

Questioning the effectiveness of the government ban, Varma asked how Praveen Togadia managed to reach Ayodhya and Ashok Singhal arrive at Lucknow? Claiming that both sides were helping each other out, Varma said the UP Government today detained Singhal at the Amausi airport for two hours so that the protests by his supporters could be captured by the media and maximum mileage could be drawn. 

MHA nod to standard operating procedures for security forces
Issues do’s and don’ts to be adopted by personnel to counter ambush, landmine blasts in Maoist-hit areas
Shaurya Karanbir Gurung/TNS

New Delhi, August 25
“Do not get careless and succumb to death. Your life is precious to the country and society,” and “always be alert and beware. Vigilance and confidentiality is the main base of security,” are some of the dos and don’ts to be adopted by security forces in landmine blasts and ambushes in Maoist-hit areas.

The do’s and don’ts are part of a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) approved standard operating procedures (SOP) for security forces. The MHA had entrusted the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) to prepare the SOP on issues related to landmine blasts and improvised explosive devices (IED) in Maoist-hit areas. In the wake of the Maoist problem, the SOP was created by an expert group consisting of the Central Reserve Police Force, National Security Guard, the Border Security Force and state police forces. The SOP was ready by April this year.

The SOP reads that the Maoists have been extensively using landmines and claymore mines against the security forces. In 2012, 80 security force personnel were killed and 175 others were injured in landmines and IED blasts in Maoist affected areas. In 2011, 121 security force personnel were killed and 270 others were injured in similar attacks.

“Unfortunately, most of the security force personnel have lost their lives as a result of overlooking basic safety measures. Everyone has to remember that ‘eternal vigil’ is the foundation for safety in areas hit by extremism. Any laxity on the part of the security forces will entail a heavy price by the way of lost lives, limbs, etc,” mentions the SOP.

On the precautions to be taken, it reads that security force personnel as far as possible should travel on foot on cross country or some distance away from beaten tracks. Avoid regular movements, such as routine patrolling and village visits, as the enemy can anticipate your movements and strike. It also says that patrolling and village visits should instead be done with an element of surprise, involving different timings, modes of transports and routes.

Rushing of forces to police stations and areas that are under attack by the Maoists, known as ‘fire brigade actions’ in military parlance, should be avoided. “Many security force personnel have lost their lives in landmine blasts while visiting scenes. So, never rush to a scene in extremist affected areas. If an offence does not require immediate response, it is desirable to delay the visit to the scene as much as possible, even days. If it appears like a trap by the extremists, locals may be used to shift the injured or the dead to nearby hospitals,” says the SOP.

According to the SOP, to impose accountability, the militants and sympathisers should be told that a landmine blast or an ambush in their area will entail strict action on them.

It further states that security forces should act only on hard intelligence and not conduct speculative operations. The Maoists may direct their sympathisers to give unimportant information to the security forces and after gaining their confidence lure them into a trap.

The SOP asserts that intelligence collection is of utmost importance. This entails “mapping the area”, meaning to identify the areas which have Maoist sympathisers, dangerous zones and areas where intelligence is available or not available.

“Maintaining good relations with the public by the security forces is a must to enlist cooperation of the public, which may then pass useful information. An officer who has public support will not only be able to save himself but will also be able to save the lives of other security force personnel through useful information,” says the SOP.

We weren’t consulted before calling Anil Ambani or Tina: CBI

New Delhi, August 25
The CBI was not consulted before calling Industrialist Anil Ambani and his wife Tina Ambani as prosecution witnesses in the 2G Spectrum case and the decision was taken by Special Public Prosecutor UU lalit, says CBI Director Ranjit Sinha.

The position of the CBI, which is probing the 2G case, was made known today after both Anil, Chairman of Reliance ADAG, and Tina appeared before a special CBI court here on August 22 and 23 separately. Appearing before Special CBI judge O P Saini hearing the 2G spectrum case, Anil had on Thursday resiled from his statement made during the probe in February, 2011. In the case of Tina, the CBI claimed that she was "deliberately withholding facts" which the judge found was "adverse" to the prosecution. — PTI

No arrests in Dabholkar murder case yet

Narendra Dabholkar

Pune, August 25
The police haven't yet made any arrest in the killing of Narendra Dabholkar, five days after the eminent rationalist was shot dead that sparked an outrage and prompted the Maharashtra Government to go in for an anti-superstition and black magic ordinance.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj said today the investigations had not yet led to any arrests though the police had got some clues regarding the killing of 69-year-old Dabholkar here on Tuesday.

"There is a progress in the investigation and police have got certain clues. But they have not yet led to any arrests in the case," he told reporters here.

Chavan said apart from nabbing the actual killers of Dabholkar, it was also important to find out the elements behind the dastardly attack.

The police had formed 19 teams to crack the case and the progress of investigations was reviewed yesterday by Maharashtra Director General of Police Sanjeev Dayal, he added. A sketch of one of the two alleged assailants were also released by police.

"This (the murder) is a very serious incident in which the assailants tried to silence the voice of an independent thinker," the Chief Minister added.

Dabholkar, who was in the forefront of anti-superstition movement in the state, was shot dead by two motorcycle borne unidentified assailants at around 7.15 am, when he was out for a morning walk on the Omkareshwar temple bridge in Pune.

Four shots were fired at him from close range by the attackers believed to be in the age group of 25-30.

The assent to the anti black magic and superstition ordinance was given by Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan yesterday.

The angry protests sparked by Dabholkar's killing prompted the Maharashtra government to clear an ordinance to enforce the anti-superstition bill he had championed for years.

Dabholkar had drafted the Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Bill over a decade ago, but it repeatedly failed to get through the State Legislature.

The Bill had proposed that those indulging in black magic or preying on peoples' superstitions be jailed for up to seven years. It also sought to ban a range of practices including black magic, animal sacrifice and magical remedies to cure ailments.

The Bill would be taken up for passage during the winter session of state legislature at Nagpur in December.

Accusing the Maharashtra government of being lax in arresting Dabholkar's assilants, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said it was bent on "maligning" image of Hindu organisations by linking them to the killing.

"The perpetrators of Dabholkar's murder are still at large as police have failed to nab them even five days after the incident. We warn government to refrain from linking Hindu organisations to the murder and maligning their image," he told a party rally in Nashik. — PTI 

Minister spells strategy to protect tourists
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 25
Concerned over harassment of women tourists, especially those from foreign countries, Union Minister for Tourism K Chiranjeevi today said his ministry had drawn a two-pronged strategy to deal with the situation. The focus would be on raising awareness and providing greater security to tourists, he said.

Chiranjveevi said he was extremely pained to read about the harassment of a student from the US. Michaela Cross recalled her horrific trip to India where she and her classmates were allegedly subjected to sexual harassment.

The minister said he had personally taken up the issues relating to safety and security of tourists with the chief ministers and state tourism ministers. “Consequently, all state tourism departments have unanimously agreed to put in place measures to give greater security to all tourists, specially women,” he said.

The ministry has also launched a sensitisation campaign. “I am coordinating with the Union ministries concerned. The endeavour is to raise awareness about the need for more sensitive behaviour towards women besides providing greater security to them,” he said. 

Victims of atrocities by BSF men get Rs 8 lakh
Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS

Guwahati, August 25
On the recommendation of the NHRC, the Union Home Ministry has paid Rs 8 lakh as compensation to the four members of a family who suffered atrocities at the hands of some BSF personnel near the Amzadnagar border outpost in South Tripura.

The NHRC recommended relief after the police inquiry confirmed that three BSF constables were prima facie guilty of attempting to rape a girl, killing her father and injuring her two brothers. Out of Rs 8 lakh, Rs 5 lakh were paid to the next of kin of girl’s father, Rs 2 lakh to the girl and Rs 50,000 each to her two brothers.

On November 29, 2010, a constable of the BSF reportedly tried to drag a girl into the jungle with bad intentions. The girl raised the alarm. When her elder brother came to help her, the constable hit him with a stick on the head. The girl’s father, his younger son and some villagers also reached the spot. The constable called his colleagues for help. One of them fired from his service weapon, killing the girl’s father and injuring his younger son. 

Cleanliness a distant reality in Railways
Girja Shankar Kaura/TNS

New Delhi, August 25
Filthy toilets, crawling cockroaches and dirty linen are some of the things noticed by a team of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in its audit of the cleanliness and sanitation in the Indian Railways.

Country’s highest audit, which presented its report in Parliament earlier this week, pointed out that despite the issues having been raised in the past as well, the unhygienic conditions continue to prevail not only on the stations, but also on coaches.

“Despite assurance rendered to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), detailed action plan for maintaining cleanliness and sanitation at stations and on trains was not formulated at the zonal level. Frequency of inspections for different categories of stations for monitoring cleanliness by the officers was not clearly defined,” the report said.

The CAG was referring to the Railways’ assurances given to the Parliament’s committee that became the basis of the CAG audit.

The CAG said: “The commitment of Indian Railways to the PAC for assessment and implementation of remedial measures to overcome the shortcomings in collection and disposal of garbage remained unfulfilled”.

The CAG team had carried out joint inspection with the Railways and found filthy toilets, cockroaches on coaches, and at stations. During inspections in 123 major stations over 17 zones, it found the mechanised cleaning was adopted only in 65 stations.

“Mechanised cleaning could not be effectively implemented at all major stations due to inadequate provision of washable aprons or damaged and uneven platform surfaces. The availability of infrastructure in the field for improving the standard of cleanliness was not commensurate with the policies and guidelines laid down in this regard,” the report said. The CAG also undertook inspection of 88 trains over 17 zones and found cockroaches on AC and non-AC coaches of selected trains in six zones.

In its survey of 212 stations for food adulteration, the CAG found testing of samples as per the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act was not done in 41 stations. Even in major stations such as Howrah and Sealdah, shortage in sampling of food under quality control check was noticed.

Guidelines on management of linen were not effectively monitored resulting in frequent supply of unhygienic and poor quality of linen to its passengers. Slow progress in setting up of automatic mechanized laundries led to large scale outsourcing of cleaning of linen and increased passenger dissatisfaction.

The report added that out of 54 mechanised laundries proposed to be set up in 16 zones, only 15 laundries have so far been commissioned in 11 zones.

Reports goes onto say that provision for availability of drinking water was not made as per prescribed norms. Even the existing facilities were poorly maintained.

“There was shortfall in the periodical testing of water samples though there was an increasing trend in the percentage of unfit samples collected from different stations across zones,” the report said. 

Congress hopeful of food Bill passage

New Delhi, August 25
Conscious that the window to secure passage of the food security Bill is narrowing as the scheduled end of the monsoon session of parliament nears, the Congress on Sunday expressed the hope that the landmark measure will get approved during the coming week.

"We hope the food Bill will be passed in parliament on Monday or Tuesday," Congress spokesperson PC Chacko told IANS. The ongoing monsoon session of parliament is scheduled to end on Aug 30.

Though the Lower House functioned on Saturday, in lieu of a holiday last week, the food bill was not listed as opposition parties wanted it to be debated on Monday. "The food bill will be taken up on Monday," parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath had told reporters on Friday.

If it gets passed in the lower House on Monday, the Bill can be taken up in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Politics scuttled Congress managers' plans to get it passed for the entire week Aug 19-24 as the opposition did not let the house run over the issues of missing coal-block allocation files, statehood for Telangana and high prices of food items.

The managers hope that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement in the Rajya Sabha on Monday would end the controversy over missing coal-block files.

The Speaker's suspension on Friday of 12 anti-Telangana members, who had been disrupting the lower house, has sought to address the issue of endorsement for a new state.

The Lok Sabha functioned Saturday for the first time since the session began Aug 5 and passed three bills - Governors (emoluments, allowances and privileges) Amendment Bill, 2012, The Constitution (scheduled castes) Order (amendment) Bill, 2012 and Constitution (scheduled tribes) Order (second amendment) Bill, 2012. This has given some hope to the managers but they are not sure if the opposition will not come up with another reason to disrupt the house and block the Bill.

"All parties have agreed on the food bill. Their amendments have been incorporated in the Bill. Why should they object now," asked Chacko. The government has planned to take up some other important bills during the coming week like Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2011, The Securities Laws (amendment) Ordinance, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (amendment) Ordinance, 2013, Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011.

Keeping in mind the long list of bills and just four days available to get them passed, the Congress has issued a whip to all its members to be present in parliament and support government business.

Parliament will not work on Wednesday due to Janmashtami holiday. Though there have been some hints that the session may be extended for a week more, nothing has been decided till date, said government sources.

AIADMK to vote against it

Chennai: Charging the Congress-led UPA government with not incorporating the amendments suggested by her in the Food Security Bill, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Sunday said her party AIADMK would vote against it in the Lok Sabha on Monday. — PTI

India turns down China offer of freezing assets along LAC
Ajay Banerjee/TNS

New Delhi, August 25
New Delhi has conveyed to Beijing that it will not be possible to ‘freeze’ the infrastructure construction and forces at existing levels along the LAC. China and India are presently working to have a new Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA).

Both sides have exchanged drafts of what they opine should form part of the new agreement. It is expected to be inked when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits China sometime in October this year. The last meeting on the matter was conducted on August 20 between Indian Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh and Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin.

The existing levels of roads, railways and airfields, all critical for military supplies or in case of an attack, are lopsided in favour of China, a top functionary told The Tribune. “There is no chance of agreeing to a freeze on the infrastructure at existing levels. It would be imprudent,” said the functionary.

The Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and the Ministry of Defence have advised against agreeing to a halt on construction of new roads, airports or railway lines along the 4,057-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC), the name of the de-facto boundary between the two countries.

India is worried with China’s rapid expansion in the past decade. As many as 27 airfields in Tibet and Xinjiang virtually form a ‘ring’. New Delhi is just woken up in the past few years to start building roads, to base frontline fighters, the Sukhoi-30MKI, in its north-eastern part and announced raising of specialised Mountain Strike Crops.

China has two dedicated India-specific Military Area Commands at Lanzhou and Chengdu. Both have been allocated two group armies, each comprising between 75,000 and 1 lakh troops with equipment like tanks, mobile missile launchers, artillery and helicopters.

The latest report of the US Department of Defence titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2013” describes the military capability. It reads: “The Peoples Liberation Army is investing heavily in modernising its ground force, emphasising the ability to deploy campaign-level forces across long distances quickly. This modernisation is playing out with wide-scale restructuring of PLA ground forces that includes a more rapid, flexible special operations force equipped with advanced technology and improved army aviation units utilising ultra-low altitude mobility helicopters armed with precision-guided munitions.”

Sources said the upcoming BDCA would be a filtered version of two existing agreements on maintaining peace and tranquility signed in 1993 and 1996, respectively. Besides this, a 2005 protocol exists on how soldiers on either side of the LAC will behave on coming face-to-face with each other. “The BDCA will address the gaps in the existing agreements especially how the recent incidents have panned out when soldiers have been disregarding the laid down ground rules”, a source said.

Defence Minister AK Antony told the Lok Sabha on August 20: “Two rounds of negotiations have been held so far. The purpose of the proposed agreement is to formalise mechanisms and procedures to enhance mutual trust and confidence between the border troops”.

Antony, during a visit to Beijing July 4-7 this year, had discussed with his Chinese counterpart, Gen Chang Wanquan, for having a formal mechanism to improve security at the borders, pending the final settlement of the territorial dispute between the two countries. Both countries make overlapping claims on where the boundary lies in the Himalayas. The LAC is not demarcated and has been under dispute since the British, in 1846, first offered the Tibetans a joint boundary commission in Ladakh, only to be turned down.

DRDO develops low-level radar for mountains
Vijay Mohan/TNS

Chandigarh, August 25
The country’s air defence capability is expected to get a fillip, especially in the mountainous regions with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) developing a new light-weight, low-level radar (LLR).

The system has been designed to detect low flying aerial threats like aircraft, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) against the background of intense mountain clutter. DRDO scientists have claimed that the radar has gone through extensive user trials and evaluation at electronic warfare ranges as well as in high altitude areas and the system has been recommended for induction in the services.

According to some earlier reports, there are large gaps in India’s air defence network, due to both, lack of adequate surveillance assets as well as the growing obsolescence of the existing radar network and associated anti-aircraft weapon systems. Even Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence has adversely commented on the nation’s air defence capability.

The LLR come in the wake of another portable, three-dimensional (3-D) low-level radar developed indigenously for deployment in diverse terrains like mountains, snow-bound high altitude areas, deserts, urban high rise buildings and the plains. Serial production of this radar for the IAF has already commenced. The 3-D radar which can also be used for detecting very small UAVs, air space surveillance in urban areas for VVIPs and large critical installations, uses active aperture technology and is stated to be the first of its kind in the world.

The LLR is a quadripod mounted fully outdoor shelter-less equipment, rugged enough to operate in harsh environment, extreme temperatures extremes and in strong windy conditions. It can be segmented into several parts for transportation by men, mules or helicopter, and can be assembled in about 10 minutes.

Miniaturisation and low power technologies have been used to a great extent and the radar also has an identify friend and foe system. Hostile targets that are identified by the operator can be designated to weapon sites located in the proximity.

Thereafter, target updates are sent continuously over line or radio and presented on a hand-held target data receiver at these locations. Shoulder fired missiles can be aimed at the intruding aircraft from these weapon sites. 

Litigation has gone beyond reach of poor man: SC

New Delhi, August 25
Fighting legal battle in courts has become so expensive that it has gone beyond the reach of a poor man, the Supreme Court has said while expressing concern over the legal profession getting commercialised.

Virtually holding a mirror to itself, the apex court said that judicial proceeding is so slow that people in the country are convinced that a case would not finish in their lifetime.

"In the present era, the legal profession, once known as a noble profession, has been converted into a commercial undertaking. Litigation has become so expensive that it has gone beyond the reach and means of a poor man.

"For a long time, the people of the nation have been convinced that a case would not culminate during the life time of the litigant and is beyond the ability of astrologer to anticipate his fate," a bench of justices B S Chauhan and S A Bobde said. Observing that lawyers are equal partners with judges in the administration of justice, the apex court said, "Advocates cannot behave with doubtful scruples or strive to thrive on litigation." It said wilful disregard for litigants' interest by a lawyer is reprehensible and unbefitting for an advocate.

"Law is no trade, briefs no merchandise. An advocate being an officer of the court has a duty to ensure smooth functioning of the court. He has to revive the person in distress and cannot exploit the helplessness of innocent litigants. A wilful and callous disregard for the interests to the client may in a proper case be characterised as conduct unbefitting an advocate."

The apex court also frowned upon the "multi-tier operation of one lawyer hauling a client and then acting as a facilitator for some other lawyer to draw proceedings or engage another lawyer for arguing a case is definitely an unchartered and unofficial system which cannot be accepted as in essence, it tantamount to a trap for litigants which is neither ethically nor professionally a sound practice." "Such conduct is ridiculously low from what is expected of a lawyer," it said. — PTI