News on India

PM did not seek Parliament’s confidence before finalizing N-deal:Left
NEW DELHI, Sept 28: The Left parties Sunday criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not seeking the confidence of parliament before finalising the civilian nuclear deal with the US.
“Our prime minister, who termed the Indo-US civil nuclear deal as a good deal, has not sought the confidence of parliament and people of the country before finalsing the deal,” said M.K. Pandhe, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member, referring to the ongoing Congressional procedures in the US before signing the deal.
“But the Bush administration did it by sailing through all the democratic procedures of their country before engaging the deal,” he said.
The prime minister Sunday expressed happiness over the US House of Representatives’ approval to the 123 Agreement, before concluding his US visit. The landmark deal is poised to clear the Senate soon.
Recalling the Prime Minister’s statement that he would discuss the deal in parliament before finalising it, Pandhe said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is “scared of facing parliament as it is in a minority”.
Pandhe alleged that the deal is completely bound to the provisions in the Hyde Act and would affect India’s independent foreign policy and New Delhi’s relations with Tehran.
“It is a serious issue to be discussed during the next general elections. We will fight the deal. We will take the matter to the people,” Pandhe, who is also general secretary of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), said.
Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja said the apprehensions voiced about the nuclear deal by the Left parties “have come true and the country is going to face serious consequences”.
“The government by-passed parliament in the entire process of the deal. The prime minister should be held responsible and accountable in parliament, as he did not come back to it after the waiver by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG),” Raja said.
Forward Bloc national secretary G. Devarajan said the deal was meant for protecting the interests of the private monopoly nuclear business houses in the US.
“The US has succeeded in making New Delhi its strategic alliance partner. It will cost India dearly as it would prevent India from following an independent foreign policy,” Devarajan added. (IANS)

Lata celebrates her 79th birthday
MUMBAI, Sept 28:India’s most revered singer melody queen Lata Mangeshkar who has mesmerised music lovers with her celestial voice for over six decades celebrated her 79th birthday with family members in her Pune home today.
Didi as she is fondly called by family, fans and admirers is rarely in Mumbai on her birthday. She stays put in her Kolhapur or Pune residence.
She was last heard in Vikram Bhatt’s “1920” where she shared playback credits with Pandit Jasraj and Asha Bhosale.
On her 75th birthday, Lata was in Mumbai as her nephew Adinath had organised a concert where other singers sang her classic songs. The function was attended by Sharad Pawar, L K Advani among others.
Lata’s brother Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar organised a musical concert ‘Didi ani mi’ (Didi and I) at the Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir in Pune in her honour. The legendary singer was introduced to intricacies of classical music by her father master Dinanath Mangeshkar.
After his demise, the entire responsibility of looking after the family fell on her young shoulders and at the age of 13 she was compelled to don the greasepaint and act.
She did a few Marathi films like ‘Pahili Mangalagaur’, ‘Majhe Bal’, ‘Gaja Bhau’ and even few Hindi movies like ‘Badi Maa’, ‘Jeevan Yatra’ and ‘Samudra Mandir’.
Though her playback career started in 1942, she was leaving her first tentative footprints on a music scene dominated by the legendary Shamshad Begum and Noorjehan. It was in 1948 that her career graph took giant leaps with films like Mahal, Baiju bawra, Nagin, Madhumati among others.
Even though Lata has cut down on her work assignments since the 70s and now sings occasionally for selected filmmakers, her songs continue to make a mark. She returned with a bang in the 80s with ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’, ‘Chandni’ and ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’, ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun’,’Dil Se’, ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Veer Zara’ to name a few.
Winner of numerous awards, including Bharat Ratna and Dada Saheb Phalke, Lata rose to fame rapidly and left her indelible mark in the industry. In her entire career, she perfected almost every genre of music. Her success and determination made her one of the most powerful women in the film industry.
She is listed in the Guiness Book of World records as the most recorded artist in the world. She has sung over 40,000 songs in 20 different languages.
Today, the legendary singer sits pretty, occasionally crooning for selected numbers especially that of filmmaker Yash chopra’s films and many non-film albums. (PTI)

Dasmunshi calls for fresh efforts to solve Singur stalemate
Singur, Sept 28: Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunshi today called for fresh efforts to solve the tangle around the Tata Motors small car project at Singur.
He said an all-party meeting should be called to discuss the impasse where attempt should be made to find a solution on the basis of three formulae — land for land, adequate compensation and employment.
Addressing a rally at Sahanapara village here, Dasmunshi, who is the president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress, said the Tatas should not be stubborn in their attitude, nor should they insist on pulling out their project.
“Is it a child’s play to suddenly abandon the project? One thousand acres have been acquired and even if the land is returned, it will not be cultivable for a long time after all that piling work that has been done over there,” he said.
He also criticised the Tatas’ attitude, saying if the October deadline could not be met for rolling out the Nano car, it could be done in November. Both Tatas and the government should be patient enough.
He said the Tatas should have been involved in the discussion at the Raj Bhavan brokered by Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi to find a solution and the industry minister of the state Nirupam Sen had to explain their absence.
He said the Tatas had taken a soft loan of 200 crore for a nominal interest of one per cent. The government could easily enhance the 10 per cent additional compensation to the farmers who had given the land for the project. The compensation should be adequate enough to enable the land-losers to purchase fresh land or start a business, he said.
“What will happen to those who have received training on working at the plant and their families? Don’t we (political parties) have responsibility towards the people who have given their land?” He said the government had flouted the September seven Raj Bhavan agreement where it agreed to return maximum land within the project area. “Is the government not aware that once acquired, land cannot be returned as per law?” Urging all the stakeholders to have patience, Dasmunshi said the government itself does not want the small car plant to get off the ground at Singur for “extracting political mileage” ahead of the approaching Lok Sabha elections by cornering the Opposition with their so-called “anti-industry stance”.
He said the governor should once again take initiative to give a fresh impetus to the process for finding an acceptable solution to the impasse over the project. (PTI)

Communal violence in Orissa, Karnataka condemned
NEW DELHI, Sept 28: Noted Human Rights activists and Christian leaders today accused the Centre and state governments of adopting “double standards” in dealing with terrorism and communal violence in Orissa and Karnataka and demanded a ban on Hindutva outfits.
The activists and leaders who released a ‘Citizen’s statement against Terrorism and Communal Violence’ here, condemned the incidents of violence that have resulted in loss of life and grievous injury to innocent people in the two states.
“It is clear that whoever is responsible for such violence should be severly punished under Indian law and all measures be taken to protect the lives of ordinary citizens under threat from their activities,” they said.They alleged that Muslim youths are being targeted by the police, without any or little evidence, and being held responsible for terrorist attacks.
Noted activists Shabnam Hashmi, film maker Anand Patwardhan and John Dayal have signed the statement among others.
The statement also demanded that Hindutva outfits such as Bajrang Dal, VHP and Shiv Sena be banned and action against individulas who carry out or incite communal violence.Stringent punishment should be awarded to those organising or participating in communal violence against Christians in orissa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and other places.
The activists also demanded the setting up of a judicial commission to inquire into the indiscriminate arrests, torture and killings of youth belonging to the Muslim community.
Hashmi said the Congress-led UPA has failed to control the violence against minorities in the country and accused the state of “demonising” the people belonging to the community. (PTI)

Home Ministry asks Army to explain infiltration along LoC
NEW DELHI, Sept 28 (PTI) The Home Ministry has sought an explanation from the Army about the recent ‘infiltration’ of civilians through the barbed fence along the Line of Control (LoC) in North Kashmir going un-noticed.
Sources in the Ministry said the Army authorities have been given details about the incident when three families went 10 km inside the Indian side from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and reported to the police post.The Ministry questioned the vigilance at the borders and the safety about the efficacy of barbed wire fencing along the LoC as kids and old age people could cross un-noticed.
The note to the Army was sent through the Defence Ministry, the sources said.No one from the army was available for comments.The Jammu and Kashmir Home Department had apprised the Union Home Ministry about the incident when 12 people, including five children and an aged lady, crossed over the LoC in the wee hours of September 26 in Tanghdar area in Karnah sector of North Kashmir.
The 12 people, including five children and an eight- month old toddler, reached the police post, located 10 km, away from the LoC and presented themselves. The people had been detained and an appropriate action is being taken against them as some of them were Pakistani citizens, the sources said.The Army was trying to put a brave face and were conveying unofficially that the families had reported to their outpost, a charge denied by the members to the police.
The families, in their statement to police, said that they had migrated to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) between 1988 to 1996 and settled there after marriage.The Police authorities reported the matter to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office and the Pakistani citizens had been served a notice, they said.
This was not an isolated incident as infiltration by civilians had become a normal affair along the Line of Control (LoC).Such incidents were reported in 2006 from the north Kashmir area but came to an abrupt halt after the state police started registering cases against them and also asked the Centre to formulate a policy.However, two years since, the Union Home Ministry was unable to formulate any policy on such ‘family infiltrations’ from PoK. (PTI)

CPI(M) to oppose N-deal in Parliament
KOLKATA, Sept 28:CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury today said his party would oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal in Parliament after the return of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from France.
“We hope he will bring it and we will oppose it”, Yechury said. Claiming that the apprehension of the Left parties over the nuke deal would come true, the CPI(M) leader reiterated that this would lead to the country’s surrender to the US dictate and would have bearing beyond the pact.“The Americans and the Manmohan Singh government wanted it. This will only lead to India’s surrender to American dictate and this will have implications and bearing beyond the nuclear deal,’’ he said.Yechury said it was ‘not surprising’ that the deal, likely to be put up for vote before the US senate tomorrow, would be approved by it. (UNI)

SIMI activist nabbed in Bangalore
BANGALORE, Sept 28: An activist belonging to the banned SIMI outfit has been arrested in connection with the serial blasts that rocked the city on July 25, police said here today.
Mohammad Samee Bagewadi alias Mohammad Samee, arrested here on September 25, allegedly attended most of the important camps organised by SIMI at Castle Rock near Hubli, Vagamon in Kerala and other places and also underwent training in these camps, they said.
Bagewadi, a resident of Bijapur, was allegedly influenced by SIMI’s ideology, and was closely associated with its leaders such as Safdar Hussain Nagori, Hafeez Hussain alias Adnan, Shibly, Tauqeer, Shahbaaz, Abu Bashar and others, police said.
He also attended many of the important meetings held in Karnataka by SIMI hardliners. During these meetings and camps, important decisions were taken to carry out violent jihadi activities and to take revenge against those responsible for demolition of Babri Masjid, Godhra incident and perceived discrimination of minority, the sources said.
In furtherance of the decisions, SIMI activists allegedly hatched a conspiracy for carrying out a series of violent terrorist attacks in various parts of the country and foreign nationals in Goa, they said.
Mohammad Samee’s movements before and after Bangalore blasts were closely tracked by a special team of Bangalore police. As his movements were found to be suspicious, he was taken into custody, police said. He was produced before the Judicial Magistrate (Bangalore) and remanded to police custody for 14 days. (PTI)

Russian defence minister arrives in Delhi
NEW DELHI, Sept 28: Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov arrived here today ahead of a crucial meeting with his Indian counterpart to discuss big ticket defence deals, including fresh price negotiations for Gorshkov aircraft carrier.
During his three-day stay in India till September 30, Serdyukov will co-chair the Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) on Military and Technical Cooperation tomorrow along with Indian Defence Minister A K Antony, where the two sides would deliberate on the modalities of a joint venture between New Delhi and Moscow for the development of a multi-role transport aircraft (MTA).The 8th meeting of the IGC will cover a broad spectrum of issues including supply of defence systems, equipment upgrade, product and life cycle support for defence platforms of Russian origin, Defence Ministry sources said here.
The last IGC meeting was held in Moscow in September 2007 when Antony had visited Moscow and signed the deal for designing and developing of a fifth generation fighter and the MTA.
Licensed and joint production of various weapons, joint development and production of systems and platforms, interaction between the two armed forces and military technical cooperation would be the other issues to be discussed at the IGC. (PTI)

‘National consensus should be formed on terrorism’
Jalandhar, Sept 28: Accusing UPA Government of being soft on terror, BJP president Rajnath Singh today said national consensus should be formed on issues like inflation and terrorism.
“All political parties and other big stake-holders should reach a national consensus on issues like inflation and terrorism,” Rajnath said while addressing a ‘Vijay Sankalp’ rally organised by BJP Yuva Morcha here.
Rajnath also accused UPA Government of playing “vote bank politics” on sensitive issues like terrorism.
“Terrorist activities have increased in the country after UPA Government came to power and instead of indulging in vote bank politics, the government should take terrorism as a challenge and tough law should be enacted to deal with it,” he added.
“Government never gave heed to our demand of stern law against terror and now even the Administrative Reforms Committee headed by Moily has recommended need for a tough law to deal with terrorism”, he said adding that due to non-serious approach of the Central Government, terrorists’ morale were high and they are striking at their own will.
Rajnath criticized Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh’s support to Jamia Millia Islamia’s Vice Chancellor on providing legal aid to the terrorists arrested in Delhi.
Making a scathing attack on the Union Government, he said this government has failed to curb growing inflation and extra-ordinary increase in prices of essential commodities.
Rajnath blamed that Union Finance Minister misled the nation saying that growing inflation was due to the increase in global prices of crude oil but “now when the prices of crude oil has decreased at international level why inflation in India was not coming down?” “The Union Minister said that low inflation and high growth rate cannot go together but NDA Government had successfully controlled the inflation with continued high growth rate despite international sanctioned put on the country after Pokhran nuclear blasts,” he added.
Commenting on the Indo-US Nuclear Deal, the BJP chief said NDA’s apprehension about the treaty proved valid after US President wrote a letter to the US Congress and Senate’s panel released its report on the treaty. He said that no compromise would be made on the issue of sovereignty of the country with having strategic relationship with US if NDA comes to power, however, he evaded a direct reply on a query that would the alliance scrap the treaty after coming to power.
Regarding Indo-Pak relations, especially after coming of a new political regime in the neighbouring country, he said “when Prime Minister was leaving for the US, we appealed to him that issue of cross-border terrorism should be taken up with the Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.
Commenting of the view of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who advocated extending right to voter to call back elected representatives on the basis of non-performance, BJP National President said the idea was good and it should be debated at national level. (PTI)

Massive combing operations in Delhi; toll so far two
New Delhi, Sept 28: Police today launched a massive combing operation in the national capital to track down two motorcycle-borne youths, who had dropped a bomb-laden polythene bag at Mehrauli in South Delhi, which exploded claiming two lives.
With Mehrauli located near Haryana, checking of vehicles has been intensified at the Delhi-Gurgaon border, a senior police officer said.
“We have questioned some people,” he said. AIIMS hospital superintendent John Bera said he was wrongly briefed by his staff that one of the injured persons of the yesterday’s explosion succumbed to his injuries which led him to tell media that the toll had gone up to three.
“The toll in the Mehrauli blast is two so far. The person died in the morning at AIIMS was actually a fire victim of another incident,” Bera told PTI.
A 13-year-old boy and a 60-year-old man had died yesterday. Police said at least 22 people were injured in the explosion, which took place exactly two weeks after the national capital was rocked by five near-simultaneous blasts in which 25 people were killed and more than 100 injured.
Of the injured, 14 were admitted to the trauma centre of AIIMS and the condition of six is critical and two extremely critical, M C Mishra, HOD, AIIMS Trauma Centre (Surgery) said in a release.
One person was today discharged from the hospital, he said. Investigators are suspecting the hand of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in yesterday’s blast, maintaining that the explosion does not have the signature of Indian Mujahideen, which carried out the serial blasts in Delhi and certain other cities.
Two men, believed to be aged around 30-32 years, riding a black motorcycle with a Delhi registration number, were responsible for the explosion, police said. (PTI)

‘No differences with government on Pay Panel’
New Delhi, Sept 28: The armed forces today said they had no differences with the government, amid reports that Defence Minister A K Antony had conveyed his unhappiness over their unprecedented refusal to implement the pay commission notification and got them around to accept the revised salaries temporarily.
“I just want to clarify that this talk of differences between the armed forces and the government...I think that is not right,” Army chief General Deepak Kapoor told reporters here after laying a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyothi in India Gate to mark Gunners Day.
“The fact that the Defence Ministry, Defence Minister and the Prime Minister are with us shows that he (Antony) is also part of the government, as we are. So there are no differences. I think it has been played up a little incorrectly,” Kapoor said.
Giving defence personnel reasons to cheer before Diwali, the government had yesterday ordered release of their ad-hoc arrears for the current year this week, even as the government said the armed forces would submit fresh salary vouchers tomorrow, paving the way for the 1.5 million personnel to take home the revised pay on October 1.
But the “discriminatory” pay commission report would come under fresh scrutiny with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is abroad, setting up a high-level ministerial committee yesterday to address their grievances.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee would head the three-member committee with Antony and Finance Minister P Chidambaram as members and the panel would go into the defence personnel complaint that the new pay commission report put them at a disadvantage vis-a-vis their civilian counterparts. Expressing hope that all their “genuine and bona fide requests would be looked into by the committee, the Army chief said: “We made our recommendations. So let us see how the deliberations go (in the ministerial committee).” The rest of the 40 per cent arrears would be paid to the defence personnel along with their November salaries with the government stating that there could be a delay in calculating the amount before the October salaries are released.
The delay is a result of the armed forces’ fresh pay vouchers for October salaries likely to land in the Defence Ministry’s accounts office only tomorrow, the government clarified. While the armed forces would take only part arrears, their 3.5 million civilian counterparts would be paid the entire 40 per cent arrears. The government has already announced the the remaining 60 per cent of the arrears would be paid in the next fiscal.
In October, the arrears to be paid to officers from Lieutenant to Lieutenant-General and their equivalents in Navy and Air Force would range from Rs 55,000 to Rs 2.25 lakh respectively.
In case of jawans, it would range from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 for ranks from Sepoy to Subedar Major and their counterparts in Navy and Air Force respectively. (PTI)

Congress thanks Bush, criticizes Left
New Delhi, Sept 28: The Congress party, which leads India’s ruling coalition, on Sunday thanked US President George W Bush for his “untiring” efforts in clearing the India-US civil nuclear deal in the House of Representatives even as it criticized the Left parties for opposing the pact.
Describing the clearance of the deal by the US House as the “highest feat” of diplomacy by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress general secretary M. Veerappa Moily said the country is also “grateful” to President Bush whose untiring efforts made it possible. “This is the highest feat of diplomacy chiselled and sculpted by our great statesman Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, guided and inspired by our visionary party president Sonia Gandhi,” Moily, also the media in-charge of the party, said in a statement. (IANS)

I prefer wearing ethnic to western for ramp: Karan
Mumbai, Sept 28: Director Karan Johar, who walked the ramp here for his designer friend Rohit Bal at the Chivas Fashion Tour, says he prefers wearing ethnic sherwani than westerns on such occasions.
“I can’t say I’m crazy about the idea of being a model. And please, it’s not about modelling at all. It’s about just lending my name to a friend who happens to be a dress designer. And this time it was a dear designer friend Rohit Bal who invited me to wear his couture,” Karan told IANS.
“If I have to walk the ramp I prefer wearing ethnic to western. I’ve walked the ramp before. In fact the last time I did so was last year for the same fashion event, and it was again for a dear friend Nandita Mahtani. So you can say it’s very hard for me to say no to friends. I guess it’s better to walk the ramp than face the camera,” he added.
Karan, who was seen as an overweight guy in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, is astonished at the amount of weight he has lost over the years.
“I can’t believe I’m today seen to be slim enough to walk the ramp. I remember a time as a very fat child when I’d fool my mother into believing it’s my friends’ birthday. I’d buy a one-pound cake, hide and eat the whole thing at one go. My turning point was when I saw my fat self on TV receiving the best director’s award for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai,” said Karan.
As for directors rubbing shoulders with top actors and models, Karan said: “I’m flattered. And like I said I prefer walking the ramp. I hate acting. I never want to act.” As far as his role as producer and director is concerned — Dharma Productions’ next big release is Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra starrer Dostana. It is being directed by Tarun Mansukhani. Apart from that Karan is gearing up to direct My Name Is Khan with Shah Rukh Khan. (IANS)