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India lags far behind China in military spending
Baru blames Antony, ex-Army chief for scuttling PM’s Siachen initiative
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Senior officials argued in his presence: Book
Rapist must face severe punishment
but only after guilt is proved, says SC
Poll season: Chartered planes rake in moolah
Sonia tells voters to save ‘Bharatiyata’
Jagan to contest Assembly
polls, mother Lok Sabha
‘We didn’t know our daughter was married to a
butcher’
Two Maoists killed in Odisha
Kejriwal beats Modi, Rahul in prime time TV news coverage
Stones hurled at dais during Shazia's rally
India climate study project launched
Narrow escape for Mayawati Mulayam hits out at EC
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India lags far behind China in military spending
New Delhi, April 14 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in its report “Trends in World Military Expenditure 2013” released globally today has laid out the military expenditure by the topmost countries in the world. The world, as a whole, spent $1,747 billion on building its military muscle last year -- a decline of 1.9 per cent. There was only one change in the world’s top 15 military spenders -- Canada dropped out and was replaced by Turkey, said the report. “China’s spending increased by 7.4 per cent,” the report said, adding Beijing spent $180 billion on its military. The US, China and Russia were the top spenders followed by Saudi Arabia and France. India was at the ninth spot, one lower than what it was in 2012. China, says the SIPRI report, has been behaving more assertively in recent years in its territorial disputes with Japan in the East China Sea, and with the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea. The Chinese military spending represents a long-term policy of rising military spending in line with economic growth. Saudi Arabia is now the fourth biggest spender, beating France and the United Kingdom. Saudi Arabia, the largest spender in the region, increased spending by 14 per cent to reach a total of $67 billion in 2013. It climbed from seventh to fourth place -- edging out the UK from the top five. The kingdom has the highest spending as a share of its GDP -- 9.3 per cent. The military expenditure in the Middle East has increased by 4 per cent in 2013 and 56 per cent between 2004 and 2013 -- to reach an estimated $150 billion. Iraq and Bahrain have registered hikes in military spending. “Military spending by the USA declined by 7.8 per cent in 2013 -- to $640 billion -- probably for the first time since World War II,” the SIPRI report says. It attributed the fall to the $20 billion reduction in outlays for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) - that mean the overseas military operations chiefly in Afghanistan and Iraq. Trends in world military expenditure
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Baru blames Antony, ex-Army chief for scuttling PM’s Siachen initiative
New Delhi, April 14 Manmohan’s initiative
Referring to the attempts by the Prime Minister to follow-up on his June 2005 declaration that Siachen Glacier would be a "symbol of peace" rather than conflict, former Media Adviser to Prime Minister Sanjaya Baru in his book "The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh" said the option to demilitarise the battlefield occupied by both India and Pakistan since 1984 was the last in the series of steps envisaged by both sides through track-2. The first step would be to make the Line of Control
(LoC) just a "line on a map", the second would be to strengthen local self-government on both sides of the LoC and the third step would entail creation of "joint or cooperative institutions" under the charge of Kashmiri leaders to coordinate polices on matters of common interest. "If all this worked and peace was restored, then the fourth and final element of the peace formula would be "agreed withdrawal" of troops from both
sides. Baru says while there has been some criticism on the Prime Minister's Siachen proposal in India, the fact is that he pursued this idea only after consulting every retired Army General who had actually commanded troops at
Siachen. "Each one of them had been witness to the tragic deaths of soldiers and the huge expense of the operation. All of them supported the Prime Minister's decision to find a final solution to the problem of Kashmir and
Siachen," the book said The author says while the Prime Minister wanted former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to own and propagate the Kashmir peace formula, he was quite willing to sell this as a
"Musharraf formula" rather than a Manmohan-Musharraf formula. "He believed at the time that it would be tougher for Musharraf to sell the peace formula in Pakistan than for him to get majority opinion in India on his side....In Pakistan, Musharraf would have to deal with political parties, religious groups and the army, the Prime Minister felt that in India there would be a wider constituency of support, including large sections of the Congress, several regional parties and the Left. He thought the only real opposition would come from the
BJP," Baru said.
‘Underestimated resistance from within’
However, Baru said, "The Prime Minister perhaps underestimated likely resistance from within his own part. Pranab Mukherjee and AK
Antony, as successive defence ministers in the UPA-1, were reportedly not enthusiastic about a deal on
Siachen, though Sonia had blessed the peace formula. The Armed forces were ambivalent, with the retired General who had served in Siachen favouring a deal to end the agony of the troops serving in that inhospitable terrain, but the serving General was not willing to trust Pakistan on a deal," the book said.
Adding to the woes was the stand of the then Army Chief. "The Prime Minister had to also contend with a declining quality of defence services leadership, which has since become all too visible. For me, the first sign of this decline was evident in the manner in which former Army Chief General JJ Singh dealt with the Siachen issue.” “In closed-door briefings, the General would say a deal with Pakistan was doable, but in public he would back Antony when the defence minister chose not to back the PM... I was never sure whether Antony's hawkish stance was because he genuinely disagreed with the Siachen initiative or whether he was merely toeing the Nehru-Gandhi family line that would not allow the PM to be the one finally normalising relations with Pakistan. After all, the Kashmir problem had its roots in Nehru’s policies. Both Indira and Rajiv tried to solve it and failed. Would Sonia, who backed the peace initiative with Pakistan, finally allow the Prime Minister to resolve this legacy of history and enter the history books? I remained a skeptic. I felt she would wait till Rahul became PM so that he could claim credit," he says.
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Senior officials argued in his presence: Book
In his book "The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh", Baru wrote about the turf war between National Security Adviser (NSA) JN 'Mani' Dixit and MK Narayanan, special adviser for internal security, and also how retired Punjab cadre IAS officer TKA Nair was not the PM's first choice for the all-important post of Principal Secretary to PM. The author notes that Nair's name was backed by a friend of Prime Minister's family, Rashpal Malhotra, chairman of the Chandigarh-based Centre for Research on Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) with PM having been its chairman and Nair, a member of its governing body. Showdown between NSA, Internal Security Adviser
Recalling an incident of a showdown between the NSA and Internal Security Adviser, Baru wrote: "Mani and Narayanan would often explode into angry arguments in the presence of PM. On one occasion, both spoke against each other's assessment of work done with the author noting that the outbursts in part reflected a turf war between the two with Narayanan seeking greater control of the intelligence agencies than Dixit wanted him to have." "The Prime Minister would sit through such altercations with a worried look. But on one occasion, it got a bit too much even for a man as patient as him. While Mani and Narayanan were arguing vociferously in his presence, Dr Singh at first kept quiet and then got up abruptly, looking visibly irritated. That was a signal that the meeting was over and we all could leave," the author said. Later, the author said, he walked into his room and sought to cheer him up pointing out that it was good to have different points of view being aired as this would allow the PM to decide which view to take. He also narrated similar differences between Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Deepak Nayyar in the Ministry of Finance or even by officials who worked for Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi. "After hearing me out, he smiled, and said, I am not sure they all shouted at each other," he wrote. The book also takes potshots at Narayanan, who later succeeded Dixit as the NSA and is currently the Governor of West Bengal. He said a former Chief of Intelligence Bureau, Narayanan's favourite line was "I have a file on you" and used it, humorously, with ministers, officials, journalists and others he met. "He seemed to derive great pleasure in letting me know that he kept a tab on the credit-card spending of influential editors. On long flights in the PM's aircraft, he would regale us with stories about how various prime ministers had summoned him for information on their colleagues," Baru said. ‘PM resisted temptation to spy on his colleagues’
However, the author notes that the Prime Minister not only resisted this temptation to spy on his colleagues, but also gave up the opportunity to be offered such information by declining to take a daily briefing from the intelligence chiefs and was the first Prime Minister not to do so. The chiefs of IB and Research and Analysis wing were told to report to the NSA instead.
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Rapist must face severe punishment
but only after guilt is proved, says SC
New Delhi, April 14 The court said while setting aside the Kerala High Court verdict holding Vinod guilty of rape and sentencing him to four years in jail. The high court, while holding Vinod guilty, had however reduced his jail term from seven years as he was sentenced to by the Thiruvananthapuram additional district and sessions
judge. Vinod, who was already married and had two children, got into a relationship with the college-going girl. She eloped with Vinod on April 19, 2000 after finishing her examination earlier in the day. Thereafter, both travelled to different places before her uncle Abdul Rasheed chanced upon then in a market. While Vinod claimed that he had told her about being already married and having children, the girl said that she was unaware of Vinod's marital status otherwise she would not have consummated their marriage which they had entered into by way of an agreement. Setting aside the conviction of
Vinod, the apex court noted that the high court had "aptly observed" that what began as a telephonic friendship strengthened into close acquaintance between Vinod and the girl which later blossomed into love, eventually leading them to elope". Yet despite arriving at this conclusion the high court termed her a victim,"which seems to us to be an incongruous factual finding leading to a misconception and consequently a misapplication of the law". "In our deduction there was no seduction; just two persons fatally in love, their youth blinding them to the futility of their relationship," said the apex court. "Rape is indeed a reprehensible act and every perpetrator should be punished expeditiously, severally and strictly. However, this is only possible when guilt has been proved beyond reasonable doubt," the court said. The apex court said it had no doubt that the girl was aware that "the appellant
(Vinod) was already married but, possibly because a polygamous relationship was not anathema to her because of the faith which she adheres to, the prosecutrix was willing to start a home with the appellant". However, it noted that Vinod "is not an innocent man inasmuch as he had willy-nilly entered into a relationship with the
prosecutrix, in violation of his matrimonial vows and his paternal duties and responsibilities". "If he has suffered incarceration for an offence for which he is not culpable, he should realise that retribution in another form has duly visited him." "It can only be hoped that his wife Chitralekha will find in herself the fortitude to forgive so that their family may be united again and may rediscover happiness, as avowedly the prosecutrix has found."
— IANS
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Poll season: Chartered planes rake in moolah
New Delhi, April 14 The sector's turn-around is significant as it was reporting negative growth of two per cent in the past two years. The business has increased by over 35-40 per cent in the last two months, mainly due to hiring of the flying machines by the politicos for the campaigning, Industry sources said the parties and individual politicos are roughly spending Rs 350-400 crore to criss-cross the country in chartered planes during campaign for the world's biggest democratic exercise spread over two months. So far BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has clocked maximum number of flying hours to campaign for the party followed by Congress vice- president Rahul Gandhi, experts in the industry said. An industry insider said BJP was the top spender so far in using choppers and business jets. A number of operators said there has been scramble for aircraft in this election season as availability of the business jets and choppers have outpaced the demand, triggering a huge surge in rates. Secretary of Business Aircraft Operator's Association R K Bali said the sector was witnessing negative growth of two per cent in the last two years but business has seen impressive growth as leading parties hit an aggressive campaign trail. "This is the only boom time in the air charter services industry. Otherwise they are struggling in India as the aircraft are mostly under utilised," said Bali. According to DGCA figures, around 130 non-scheduled aircraft operators are in the business currently out of which around 40 are big operators having four to five private jets which ferry people abroad also. They are operating around 520 aircraft and choppers. Captain GR Gopinath, the pioneer of low-cost airline in India and promoter of Deccan Charters, said election was a good time for the air charter industry as they were making "hay" when the "sun was shining". "It is more visible because of the glamour, sound and furry that surround a chopper or a business jet... Even after hopping in and out of choppers and jets, national leaders like Modi and Rahul may not be able to cover more than 200 constituencies," he said.
Boom time
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Sonia tells voters to save ‘Bharatiyata’
New Delhi, April 14 Her final message to the masses was “defeat the BJP”, and she delivered it in chaste Hindi without once mentioning Modi. Throughout the three-minute address, Sonia addressed the BJP in
third person telling people that the choice they had was between forces that would ruin “Bharatiyata” and those that would preserve it. The development is in line with several past first-time measures the Congress has been employing in its self-professed bid to stop Modi’s march, Sonia’s meeting with Imam Bukhari of the Jama Masjid (her first-ever with a religious leader) was also meant to prevent the division of secular votes and hence stop Modi. “Vo kehte hain mai hi mai hoon…Mujh par vishwas karo…Hum kehte hain hamari niyat aur uplabdhiyon par vishwas karo (they believe in “me”; we say believe in “us” and our achievements)” Sonia said. She went on to project the ongoing poll battle as one “for a future where power is not the preserve of few but is shared by all”. “Our society is at crossroads. The Congress ideology will continue to take us towards a healthy, free democracy. Their vision, clouded with hatred and falsehood; their ideology, divisive and autocratic, will drive us to the ruination of our Bharatiyata, our Hindustaniyat….My heart says you will choose the right path, the path of the Congress,” she said. Shot at her 10 Janpath residence and uploaded on the Congress website for anyone to view, the appeal captures Sonia at her office, the portrait of her mother in-law, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, hanging in the background.
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Jagan to contest Assembly
polls, mother Lok Sabha
Hyderabad, April 14 Vijayamma, YS Avinash Reddy and YV Subba Reddy were among 24 candidates announced by the party for May 7 elections. The party also declared names of 170 candidates for Assembly
elections. Jagan, who eyes the post of Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, will contest Assembly election from Pulivendula in his home district
Kadapa. Vijayamma was elected unopposed to Andhra Pradesh assembly as Congress candidate from Pulivendula in the by-elections in December 2009 following the death of her husband and then Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash, a few months after he led the Congress to second successive term in
power. Vijayamma was elected by over 85,000 votes from Pulivendula in the 2011 bypolls caused by her resignation following the formation of YSR Congress party by her son. Pulivendula is considered a family stronghold.
YSR, as the late chief minister was popularly known, was elected six times from this
constituency. YSR Congress chief turned down strong requests from the party cadres to field his sister
Sharmila, who is campaigning for the party. Party spokesperson Vasireddy
Padma, however, said Sharmila had already made it clear that she would not contest the
polls. Jagan’s cousin YS Avinash Reddy will contest for the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat, currently held by the party chief. Avinash Reddy is son of YS Bhaskar Reddy, brother of YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
— IANS
YSR Cong lists out
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‘We didn’t know our daughter was married to a
butcher’
Jalandhar, April 14 "The sentence cannot bring back my dear daughter. She was the youngest of my four children. We educated our daughter and married her off to the UK so that she could have a bright future. She did MSc (IT), PGDCA and
BEd. However, we never knew that we had handed her over to a family of butchers," she said. In an inconsolable condition at her house in Shaheed Udham Singh
Nagar, she said, "They left her in such a state that neither me nor my husband Surjit Singh, who is in the UK for the past four months, have been able to see her face after death. All my husband has been given is her ashes, which he would bring back when he returns next week. What has been even worse is that the cops there had to take my husband's DNA sample to match it with the burnt remains that were left behind to establish her identity." Rewinding the sequence of events, Kashmir said, "It was through my husband's colleague that we got to know about this
Phagwara-based family. We were told that our son-in-law Jasvir is a banker and born and brought up there. The marriage was solemnised on March 28 last. It was on September 8 that her father-in-law called us from there saying that Varkha had gone missing from house taking away 500 pounds and that they had lodged a complaint with the police. We were too shocked at the call, but felt a bit suspicious. We cross-checked from our relatives, who informed us later as to what might have happened."
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Two Maoists killed in Odisha
Koraput/Nuapada, April 14 Huluka was an armed cadre and active member of the outlawed CPI(Maoist) and carrying a reward of Rs one lakh on his head. The slain rebel was also suspected to have played a major role in several murders in Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon area of Koraput district, the police said. A combing operation had been launched in the area after the incident. A report from Nuapada said a woman Maoist was killed during an exchange of fire inside Sunabeda sanctuary. The Ultras, however, fled the area leaving the body of the woman behind. The security personnel found a gun, live cartridges and other ammunitions from the spot. “The identity of the woman Maoist is yet to be ascertained and we suspect more casualties on the side of the red rebels. The combing operation has been intensified further to track down the ultras”, a senior police officer said.
— PTI
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Kejriwal beats Modi, Rahul in prime time TV news coverage
New Delhi, April 14 The study, by CMS Media Lab after analysing five top news channels, shows that while Kejriwal has received 429 minutes or 28.19 per cent of the time given during 8-10 PM from March 1 to 15, BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate has secured 356 minutes (23.98 per cent). The Gandhi family scion has received 72 minutes of coverage (4.76 per cent), followed by RJD's Lalu Prasad Yadav at 46 minutes (3.05 per cent) and MNS founder Raj Thackeray at 33 minutes (2.20 per cent), the study says about the news coverage of these top leaders. The channels used for the study were -- Aaj
Tak, ABP News, Zee News, NDTV 24X7 and CNN IBN. "Rahul Gandhi has received 6 times and 5 five less coverage as compared to Kejriwal and Modi respectively... The coverage demolished popular myth of 2014 Lok Sabha elections that Modi is media and media is
Modi... as Arvind Kejriwal toppled Narendra Modi in news coverage," CMS Media Lab
said. JDU senior leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar secured sixth slot with 2.01 per cent of news coverage, followed by TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at seventh (1.67 per cent) and Samajwadi Party chairperson Mulayam Yadav at eighth rank (1.65 per cent).
— PTI
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Not contesting a personal decision, says Priyanka
New Delhi, April 14 Forced to clarify her stand in the midst of repeated insinuations about her “larger role” in the Congress, Priyanka set aside current reports that she was interested in taking on BJP’s PM nominee Narendra Modi in Varanasi but the party leadership decided otherwise. Priyanka admitted that her brother and Congress vice-president Rahul had often asked her to fight elections but she had herself decided not to. “My brother, mother and husband would wholeheartedly support me if I ever wanted to (contest),” said Priyanka who is married to businessman Robert Vadra. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said: “Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is bedrock of support for her mother and brother. She has defined her political role to campaign in Amethi and Rae Bareilly Lok Sabha segments. Everything else is a continued speculation which we reject. Please respect her privacy and decision.”
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Stones hurled at dais during Shazia's rally
Neemuch (MP), April 14 She was addressing the rally in support of AAP candidate from the Mandsaur-Neemuch Lok Sabha seat Paras
Saklecha. As she began criticising Modi, the unidentified men started raising slogans in support of Modi and later pelted stones towards the dais, forcing her to stop her speech. Later, AAP workers and police chased the men but they managed to flee the spot. After the rally,
Ilmi, along with AAP workers, marched towards Kotwali police station, filed a complaint and demanded registration of a case against BJP
workers. Ilmi told reporters that if they had guts they should come in front and throw stones, and that they should feel ashamed to hurl stones at a woman. Superintendent of Police
(CSP) Pankaj Dixit said that after watching the video-recording of the event and CCTV footage, legal action would be taken in the matter.
— PTI
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NDA to win 300 LS seats, says Rajnath
Lucknow, April 14 He said during his extensive travel round the country, he had seen that the people had already decided to choose the BJP as
an alternative party and the BJP-led NDA as an alternative alliance to rule
the country. He said India was no longer an ideal investment destination for foreign investors. Even the native investors preferred to make investments abroad rather than investing in the country itself. This was because the business environment in the country had deteriorated, he said. Substantiating his point, he said domestic investors invested $30 million
outside the country and barely $7 million in India in 2013.
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India climate study project launched
New Delhi, April 14 The Global Commission is led by former President of Mexico Felipe Calderón and comprises leaders from government, finance and business from 16 countries. Rajat Kathuria, Director and Chief Executive of ICRIER said the research explores the sustainability of India’s growth model from a climate perspective and seeks to offer real policy choices with a view to inform the new reform agenda. “The approach is to identify and leverage win-win opportunities for India in key sectors such as in urbanisation, agriculture and energy demand,” he said.
— TNS
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tell-all book, underscoring that besides opposition from political leaders within the government the varying stance of the then Army Chief General Joginder Jaswant Singh, currently holding a gubernatorial post, led to stalemate on
Siachen.
It was a horrendous experience for this
Nawanshahr-based family, whose 24-year-old daughter Varkha Rani was not just brutally strangled, but also charred to death by her husband in an incinerator in the UK just a month after she had joined him there in August last.
Even as a court there has pronounced life term for victim’s husband Jasvir Ram
Ginday, the victim's mother, Kashmir Kaur, is still shocked and angry.
New Delhi, April 14