Andhranews

Bangalore, Sept. 13: The chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Dr Anil Kakodkar, said here on Wednesday that the country’s civilian nuclear programme would continue irrespective of the outcome of a bill pending before the US Congress.

He said that India should not “bother” if the proposed Indo-US civil nuclear agreement does not come through, and went on to say that New Delhi will not accept any proposal that does not allow reprocessing of spent fuel. “I have only told you what the Indian position is... There is an agreement, it will come very soon. If it (the deal) doesn’t (come through), don’t bother. The Indian programme is going on,” said Dr Kakodkar, who is also secretary in the department of atomic energy, when asked how soon he expects the deal to come through.

On reported US concerns regarding spent fuel and whether the issue had been resolved, he said New Delhi was not going to accept anything which does not allow reprocessing. Speaking to reporters after inaugurating the emergency response centre at the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research here, he said spent fuel could not be left as spent fuel in perpetuity. “That’s part of Indian policy. We have adopted the closed nuclear fuel cycle which is getting broader... worldwide recognition... that it is the correct strategy.

So we are not going to accept where there is no recycling of the plutonium and uranium that’s there in the spent fuel because it’s required even from an environmental point of view, and even from the point of view of credible waste management. Recycling of spent fuel is important. We are not going to accept anything which does not allow (reprocessing),” he said.

Dr Kakodkar said some discussions have been held with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with regard to India-specific safeguards. “As far as we are concerned... on our part, we have identified a separation plan, which has been discussed and agreed by the two sides,” Dr Kakodkar said.

Noting that as per the July 18, 2005 agreement between India and the US, the latter is to amend its laws and also have the guidelines of the Nuclear Supplier Group amended so that civil nuclear agreement with India can start, Dr Kakodkar said: “These processes are taking place in the US Congress and we have to await the outcome of these processes.”

He said the agreement should be seen from the perspective of Indian interests, which would be met in the final treaty. “We have to look at this from the Indian interest point of view. Our interest is we should be able to carry forward our own programmes... The domestic research and development programmes because we should be able to open up three-stage nuclear programme to its full potential... We should be able to carry out our strategic programmes....”

“While we must be able to carry out the domestic programme exactly as per what we have been planning and what we have been working on, we are also keen that international cooperation opens up (so that) we get additional energy resources for nuclear power. Finally, when we come to an agreement, we will, of course, ensure that Indian interests are fully met,” he said.

Asked if India should follow France’s way to develop new sources of nuclear fuel, Dr Kakodkar said: “India is a technically advanced country. Though the energy requirements are large here, we need not follow the footsteps of France as we have found enough substitutes.”

New Delhi, Sept. 13: Zeroing in on the concept of tolerance as the hallmark of our traditions, philosophy and Constitution, the Supreme Court had in a landmark verdict in 1986 ruled that there is no provision in the law which obliges anyone to sing the national anthem Jana Gana Mana. Not joining in the singing of the national anthem does not amount to showing disrespect to it, the court had said, a ruling which assumes significance in the backdrop of the current controversy over the singing of the national song Vande Mataram.

“There is no provision of law which obliges anyone to sing the national anthem, nor do we think that it is disrespectful to the national anthem if a person who stands respectfully when the same is sung does not join in the singing,” Justice Chinnappa Reddy had written on behalf of the Supreme Court bench two decades ago.

Directing the authorities to readmit three schoolchildren belonging to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a worldwide sect of Christians, who were expelled from the school for not singing the national anthem, the bench said compelling them to sing the anthem would infringe on their fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, particularly the freedom of religion.

“The expulsion of the three children from the school for the reason that because of their conscientiously held religious faith they do not join the singing of the national anthem in the morning assembly, though they do stand up respectfully when the anthem is sung, is a violation of their fundamental right to freedom of conscience and to freely profess, practice and propagate religion,” the bench said.

The court also stated that the three appellant schoolchildren who refused to sing the national anthem could not be robbed of their fundamental religious rights guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution on the plea that they belonged to a religious denomination and not a separate religion.

Setting aside a judgment of the Kerala high court, the bench went on to State that to compel each and every pupil in the singing of the national anthem despite his/her genuine, conscientious religious objection, then such compulsion would also clearly contravene the fundamental right guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

If each and every person was compelled to sing the national anthem it would go against our tradition, philosophy and Constitution. “Our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches tolerance; our Constitution practices tolerance; let us not dilute it,” said the bench.

The court delivered its verdict on an appeal by the three schoolchildren, Bijoe, Binu Mol and Bindu Emannuel, adherents of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who were expelled from their school on July 26, 1985 for not singing the national anthem.

Hyderabad, Sept. 13: The State government has changed rules to allow developers to build taller buildings in the upmarket Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills and Nandagiri Hills. This is meant to enable developers to turn these posh areas into apartment zones. Municipal Administration and Urban Development secretary S.P. Singh recently issued a memo clarifying that both the stilt and cellar were exclusive of the height of the building as per GO MS 86 and this rule was also applicable in the three up-market areas.

This has ended the decades-old restriction of 10-metre height for buildings in these areas. “Till now, builders have been clandestinely taking up apartment projects, but now they can construct up to three floors plus stilt and even cellar,” said a senior town planning official. Given the real estate boom, builders feel that people would queue up to buy apartments which are sold for prices ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh.Building activity had slowed down in the twin cities and peripheral areas following tightening of the rules and this had prompted the government to relax them a bit.

It is also considering certain modifications like increasing the coverage area for smaller plots. The coverage area has dipped to 27 per cent because of the six-metre rule in GO 86 and the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad is believed to have recommended 40 per cent coverage area for plots below 1,000 square metres.

“Because of small coverage area, builders were hesitating to construct small apartments or have been quoting unaffordable prices,” said Mr N. Ravi Kumar, chairman of Greater Hyderabad Builders Federation. “This resulted in a situation in which the middle class could not buy apartments.”

Associations of small builders had been pressuring the government to increase the built up area to at least 25 square feet per each square yard. Meanwhile, the MCH is believed to have recommended reducing the set backs to four meters for plots below 1,000 square metres. The MCH has divided plots into three categories and recommended different set back to each category. While the first category of 750-1,000 square metres will have four metres set back, it will be five metres for 1000-1250 square metres and for the final category of 1,250-1,500 square metres.

Hyderabad, Sept. 13: In a dramatic incident, Mr G. Krishnam Raju, 65, a realtor from Banjara Hills was bundled into a car and driven away while he was walking his dog on Wednesday morning. The kidnappers later demanded for Rs 1 crore for his release. Mr Raju was kidnapped between 6 am and 6.30 am just a furlong from his residence. Eyewitness Yakamma, a maid servant, told police that she shouted to alert people but in vain. The kidnappers also picked up Mr Raju’s dog, a pomeranian.

Mr Raju retired as superintending engineer in the irrigation department and began a realty business. He is said to own lands worth crores of rupees in Shankerpalli and Hitec City. The Rajus stay in the lane opposite L.V. Prasad Eye Institute on Road No. 2 Banjara Hills. Locals call the lane after him since he had developed almost all the houses there. Their two sons stay in the United States along with their wives.

At about 7.15 am, Mr Raju called his wife Mrs Subbalakshmi Raju from a landline and told her “to do exactly as the people who will speak to her would say.” The kidnappers took over and asked for Rs 1 crore. They threatened to kill him if she informed anyone. They called again at 8.30 am asking her whether she was arranging for the money, and to inform them where she would drop it off.

Additional commissioner of police, crimes and SIT, Rajiv Trivedi told this correspondent that Mr Raju’s wife called up her sons in the US who asked her to inform their relatives. Within an hour, the relatives reached the residence and lodged a complaint with the police after discussing it with Mr Raju’s sons.

Mr Trivedi said the police had formed special teams to trace the kidnappers. According to preliminary investigations, Mr Raju reportedly had a minor argument over a piece of land near Hitec City on Tuesday with some people. The police is suspecting that a local gang had kidnapped Raju. The police is preparing sketches of the kidnappers based on the description given by witness Yakamma.

Kuala Lumpur, Sept. 13: Ricky Ponting’s joy at having pulled off an amazing win in the tri nation opener against the West Indies on Tuesday night was shortlived as he attracted a severe censure from match referee Chris Broad for breaching the ICC’s code of conduct.
The Australian captain was fined his entire match fee after being found guilty by Broad of “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision.” In a press release, the International Cricket Council said the charge related to Ponting’s reaction to the calling of a wide by umpire Asad Rauf in the 33rd over of the West Indies innings, bowled by Nathan Bracken.
On Wednesday he apologised to the umpire for the incident.

Ponting had walked up to Rauf to query the decision, which was construed as a breach of level 1.3 of the ICC code dealing with dissent at an umpire’s decision “by action or verbal abuse”. The release added that at a post-matchhearing, Ponting pleaded guilty to the charge of showing dissent. Because this was Ponting’s second such offence in the past 12 months — the first one took place during the second Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong in April — his punishment was automatically raised to a level 2 offence.

“A captain should set the example for his players to follow and it is not acceptable for any player, let alone a captain, to question an umpire’s decision,” said Broad after announcing the sanction. Reacting to the match referee’s decision, Ponting said: “Having had the opportunity to sleep on the incident, I know I made a serious error of judgement. I regret the approach I made to umpire Asad Rauf and realise I shouldn’t have behaved in the way I did.”

“International cricket matches are passionate affairs but as the captain of the Australian team I understand it’s my responsibility to uphold the spirit of the game and I know that through my actions last night, I let myself and my team down. The ‘spirit of cricket’ is very important to the Australian team. At the team camp in Queensland last month, the whole squad reaffirmed their commitment to that and I am disappointed that I fell short of the standards I expect of myself and my teammates,” he said.

CM asks VW to stick to old plan, set up AP unit

Hyderabad, Sept. 13: Taking a serious note of German car major Volkswagen’s reported move to set-up its unit in Pune, the State government has asked the company to respect the agreement reached with it on setting up car manufacturing in the State. “We have written a strongly word letter to the German car major. The company had entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State government and they have to honour it,” Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy said on Wednesday. Reacting to reports of Volkswagen deciding to set up its car unit in Pune, Dr Reddy said the government has asked Volkswagen to reconsider their decision and stick to its earlier plan. Earlier, Volkswagen had planned to set up Rs 5,400-crore unit for the manufacture of cars and light commercial vehicles either in Visakhapatnam or at Tada in Nellore district. Controversy hit Volkswagen deal when the State government transferred Rs. 11.67 crores as an advance payment to Vashista Wahan (VW), a special purpose vehicle created for setting up the project, at the instance of then Indian representative of the company, Mr Helmut Schuster. It later turned out that this money was not transferred to Volkswagen. Though the car major owned moral responsibility and offered to pay back Rs 11,67 crore, the government declined to accept it as the CBI was conducting a probe into it.

State to ignore IIM report on RTC

Hyderabad, Sept. 13: The State government has chosen to ignore the interim report submitted by the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, on the financial situation of the AP Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC). Sources said that the government may not even ask the IIM to submit the final report of the study it commissioned. “We are in no hurry to get the final report,” was the reaction of a senior transport official when asked about the IIM study. In all, Rs 36 lakh of public money has been spent for the preparation of the IIM report. Ironically, APSRTC unions which had vigorously opposed the commissioning of an IIM study are now demanding the implementation of recommendations in the interim report which was submitted on January 2006. In its interim report, IIM has reportedly asked the government to provide Rs 750 crores as financial assistance to APSRTC for reducing its debt burden of Rs 1,100 crore. This financial assistance should be given in three annual instalments, the study said. However, the government was in no mood to implement the suggestion while employees were all for it. The three-member IIM committee was appointed to study the financial situation of APSRTC after the statewide strike of RTC employees in July 2005. A Cabinet sub-committee on transport consisting of Kanna Laxmi Narayana, Konatala Rama Krishna and Jakkampudi Ram Mohan Rao had held discussions with the IIM team earlier. The IIM committee submitted its interim report after touring the State and interacting with unions, employees, and passengers. It suggested that vacant plots of the APSRTC be used for commercial purposes and recommended cutting down of services in uneconomic routes. “The government itself had appointed the committee and now they are not ready to implement its recommendations,” said M. Nageswara Rao, working president of the National Mazdoor Union.

Debt-ridden best farmer ends life

Hyderabad/Karimnagar, Sept. 13: Gangula Meenaiah, winner of a best farmer award, ended his life in Karimnagar district on Tuesday night. Neighbours and family members said that he was unable to pay back his debts of about Rs 1.5 lakh. His field of paddy and maize had been destroyed by bad weather and monkeys which ate up the crop. In 1998, Meenaiah had been adjudged best farmer at the mandal level. Meenaiah had 11 acres in two fields on which he was cultivating maize and, against government advise, paddy. He had cultivated paddy since he had two borewells, but one of them dried up. Hordes of monkeys from nearby forests had rampaged through the fields, destroying them. He was unable to pay the money he owed to private moneylenders. Meenaiah drank pesticide at a cattleshed near his house at Ambaripet in Kathalapur mandal of Karimnagar district. The villagers found his body near a haystack early on Wednesday morning. “My husband used to give tips on securing high yield with low investment,” Mee-naiah’s wife G. Hanmakka, 38, said. “His expertise went waste due to the weather and the monkey menace. Our repeated pleas to the staff concerned to contain the monkey devastation fell on deaf ears,” she said. The couple has a daughter, who is married, and a son. “My brother was a symbol of confidence,” said Meenaiah’s brother Bhoomaiah. “If an enlightened farmer like him commits suicide one can easily understand the situation of others,” he remarked. The AP Rythu Sangham says 159 farmers committed suicide in the district in two-and-a-half years as against 154 during the TD rule.

State to revive regional boards

Hyderabad, Sept. 13: To blunt campaigns for separate States, the government is planning to revive regional development boards in Telangana, Rayalaseema and North Coastal Andhra. Though Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy had talked about this on and oft, a serious attempt to revive RDBs is only being made now, for obvious reasons. The idea is to ensure uniform development of all the three regions in the State. With Telangana Rashtra Samiti leaders K. Chandrasekhar Rao and A. Narendra quitting the UPA cabinet to step up the campaign for a separate State, the proposal to set up RDBs has come to the fore again. The government has ordered a thorough study of RDBs, which were in existence till 1983, when they were abolished by the N.T. Rama Rao government. RDBs have to be constituted by an Act of Parliament and will consist of MLAs of the region and officials. The task of RDBs is to oversee developmental programmes, income and expenditure and appointments in the respective regions. Even sale and purchase of land has to be done with the consent of RDBs. “It requires an elaborate exercise,” said an official. “It is not so easy to have details of region-wise income and expenditure. It also involves creation of new jobs so that there is uniform development in all three regions,” he added. However, RDBs are only recommendatory bodies and the final decisions on various projects will remain with the State government. When Andhra Pradesh State was formed in 1956, only a Telangana regional committee was constituted. It was meant to safeguard the interests of the region. “But the committee’s recommendations were usually ignored by the State government which was dominated by Andhra people,” said Telangana ideologue Prof K. Jayashankar. After the Jai Andhra movement in 1973, the Indira Gandhi government came up with the proposal of setting up RDBs. “But the RDBs too served no purpose,” said Prof Jayashankar.

Keshava eats his words

Hyderabad, Sept 13: Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Keshava Rao on Wednesday withdrew his comments on ensuring elections within a month if TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao resigned for his Lok Sabha membership. Maintaining that Mr Chandrasekhar Rao should not have taken his comments seriously and resigned, the PCC chief hoped that the former would withdraw his resignation in the interest of the common cause for which TRS and Congress was fighting for. Apparently after receiving a dressing down from the high command, a visibly upset Keshava Rao went totally on the defensive and said he was withdrawing whatever the comments that had hurt the TRS president. According to the PCC chief, even Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao withdrew his comments against major irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah and former TD minister Kadiyam Srihari. He said it was an usual practice between leaders of TRS and Congress leaders to trade words against each other. “But people should have maturity not to react hastily to unintended words and create a political crisis,” he said. The PCC president, who said TRS was still part of United Progressive Alliance, felt that challenges and counter challenges would not serve any purpose and prove detrimental to the common cause.

Feud, a storm in tea cup: YSR

Hyderabad, Sept. 13: The ongoing tit-for-tat resignations is a storm in the tea cup, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy said. Dr Reddy reportedly said this after receiving the resignation letters of sports minister M. Satyanarayana Rao and energy minister Mohd Ali Shabber on Tuesday night. They had resigned after TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao had quit his Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat earlier in the day. Dr Reddy indicated that the ministers’ resignations had not been accepted and the Congress had already asked Mr Chandrasekhar Rao to withdraw his resignation. “It’s a storm in tea cup. How can it be relevant as long as they (TRS) are in the UPA,” Dr Reddy said. “Congress and TRS leaders have traded words before and it’s nothing new,” he told mediapersons on Wednesday. “It will blow over.” Mr Satyanarayana Rao said that he had received no communication from the Chief Minister on his resignation. “If the Chief Minister and party high command ask me to withdraw the resignation, I will do it,” he reportedly told senior party leaders. Mr Mohd Ali Shabber told this correspondent that he had left the decision to the Chief Minister. Mr Chandrasekhar Rao has remained silent. When a reporter mentioned that Mr Satyanarayana Rao had said that his decision was personal, Dr Reddy asked, “How can it be a personal decision? the Congress decides allotment of tickets.” Then, would Mr Satyanarayana Rao not get a ticket for the possible bypoll for the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat? Dr Reddy said with a laugh that the issue had not come to that. To another query, he said neither AICC president Sonia Gandhi nor anyone from the party leadership had spoken to him on the issue. He blushed when asked if the resignations were political drama. On Congress Nizamabad MP Madhu Yakshi’s comments that Telangana was an issue to be settled, Dr Reddy said that the Statehood sentiment existed. Taliban, not Qaeda, new terror hub: Pervez New Delhi, Sept. 13: Kashmir will be on top of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s agenda when he meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the Nonaligned summit with new confidence-building measures and greater involvement of Kashmiri leaders on his immediate wish list, as steps towards a final resolution. Shrugging away India’s concerns about cross-border terrorism as “finger pointing”, he told the foreign affairs committee of the European Union at Brussels, “Let us have the motivation for everything by moving forward the Kashmir process towards a resolution and then everything will fall in line, even those terrorists.” He said he believed the way forward would be through CBMs and greater participation of the Kashmiri leaders as “any settlement must be acceptable first to the people of Kashmir”. He further said that terrorism had been eradicated from Pakistani territory, and that the effort now was to root out extremism that would take some time. President Musharraf said that a solution for Kashmir was well within reach and made it clear that he had little hold over the militants who are also “trying to kill me”. Indicating that he was prepared for tough negotiations with Prime Minister Singh at Havana he said, “Leaders who cannot grasp fleeting opportunity are no leaders.” He said that the need now was to address the cause of terrorism and that resolving Kashmir was a way forward to ensure peace in the region. He said that he was prepared to concede ground in dropping the demand for plebiscite in Kashmir but that he would do so only if India took a decisive step forward. Significantly, the general, in an indirect way, linked the solution of Kashmir with the resurgence of the Taliban in maintaining that the effort should be to resolve both issues politically and not militarily as both concerned had their roots in “the people”. The Pakistan media has carried extensive reports of President Musharraf’s remarks at Brussels where he said, “The centre of gravity of terrorism has shifted from the Al Qaeda to the Taliban.” He said this was a “new element that has emerged, a more dangerous element because it has roots in the people. The Al Qaeda did not have roots in the people.” He used this argument to justify the deal he had just struck with the tribal leaders in Waziristan, that has generated some criticism in the international media, describing it as an “important step” to curt off recruits to the Taliban. “Military alone buys time and provides an opening for a political solution. Military will never give you the ultimate solution. The military is never the ultimate answer,” he said, adding that in his view, “it is the time for brains rather than brawn.” He made a strong pitch to convince the international community that Pakistan was against terrorism in all forms and that while it had achieved a fair share of success, it was now determined to root out extremism as well. AI flight diverted to Dubai airbase Dubai, Sept. 13: The authorities in Dubai diverted an Air India plane to a military airbase after receiving information concerning the security of the aircraft, the official Emirates News Agency Wam reported on Wednesday. Quoting an official at the Dubai General Civil Aviation Authority, the agency said: “Concerned authorities at Dubai international airport ordered an Air India passenger plane to change course and land instead at al-Minhad airbase in Dubai” late on Tuesday. “The authority received information on the safety and security status of the Dubai-inbound plane and precautionary checks were made to ensure the safety of the plane and passengers,” the official added. The agency said the control tower at the Dubai air port received “notification” from a control tower in India about the aircraft. After the two towers communicated, the authorities discovered that the “information was wrong.” It was not clear what specifically prompted the authorities to divert the plane, what the wrong information was and whether the plane had posed a terror threat. After searching the plane and the passengers, the authorities transported all the passengers to Dubai international airport, to process their entry procedures into the city, the Gulf’s tourism and business hub. The incident came two days Al-Qaeda’s number two, Ayman al-Zawahri, had warned in a videotape that the terror group would strike the Persian Gulf and Israel. Centre: House can expel MPs New Delhi, Sept. 13: Parliament must exercise the power to expel its members with the termination of their membership as a self-pres-ervation mechanism, told the UPA government to the Supreme Court on Wednesday in defence of the expulsion of 11 MPs in connection with the “cash for query” scam. “Expulsion of a member is necessary in certain circumstances when the House finds a member unfit to be a member, and his continuation as a member would bring the House into disrepute and lower its authority and dignity unless it was preserved or maintained,” said senior advocate T.R. Andhyarujina who appeared for Centre to a five judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal. “Acceptance of bribe by a member to influence his conduct as a member would be a case deserving such sanction. This is as much a measure of self protection as a disciplinary measure,” said Mr Andhyarijina in his written submission. Explaining the meaning of expulsion, the written submission on behalf of the Union government said that it amount to depriving a member of his membership. Father disowns son for singing Vande Mataram Lucknow, Sept. 13: After attempting to divide communities, the Vande Mataram controversy is now dividing families. Gulbahar Sherwani of Sadabad, in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh, has disowned his son, Gulchaman Sherwani, after the latter defied the fatwa and sang Vande Mataram. Gulbahar Sherwani has sent a legal notice to his son saying that he is a firm believer in Islam and is deeply hurt by the fact that his son has violated the tenets of Islam by singing Vande Mataram. “I have decided to disown you bec-ause you have gone against Islam and you will no lon-ger be treated as heir to my property,” the notice says. According to sources, the president of the Sunni Ule-ma Board, Maulana Syed Shahbuddin Qadri, had issued a fatwa last month saying that Muslims should not sing Vande Mataram. Gulchaman, a 25-year old youth, was “pained” by the fatwa and immediately sent a letter to SSP Agra de-manding that a case be registered against the Maulana for anti-national activities. Gulchaman, however, is unfazed at his father’s decision. “I fail to understand his behaviour. He had told me that he used to sing Vande Mataram as a child in school. If he could sing Vande Mataram, why can’t I sing the same song now,” he asked. Bhushan: Freedom fighters decided date New Delhi, Sept. 13: With the row over Vande Mataram still troubling the Congress, former MP Shashi Bhushan on Wed-nesday sought to put a lid on the controversy by saying freedom fighters had decided that September 7 should be observed as the centenary of the National Song. Mr Bhushan — accused of suggesting the date that the Congress has described as “not historically correct and a therefore a mistake” — said the freedom fighters had decided on the issue. The former MP, who heads the Freedom Movement Memorial Committee, met HRD minister Arjun Singh, who was targeted by a section of the Congress for “misguiding” the party on the issue, and later issued a statement decrying the “relentlessly orchestrated controversy” on the date of the centenary. Justifying the choice of date, he said 1905 was the year in which Vande Mataram became a war cry in the movement against the British plan to partition Bengal. “In view of the mass upsurge throughout the country, the Indian National Congress at its session held in the last week of December 1905 at Varanasi accepted Vande Mataram as the National Song,” he said. Mr Bhushan, who had once contested polls against former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in New Delhi in 1977, emphasised that Vande Mataram no longer remained confined to any particular community or region. Mr Bhushan claimed that every session of the Congress had started with the singing of Vande Mataram. Freedom fighters had decided to launch the centenary celebrations in New Delhi on September 7, 2005, in the Red Fort, as the events of 1905 marked the first protest by people against British imperialism which ultimately led to a victory in the movement against the partition of Bengal. Detonators seized in Nashik flat Malegaon (Maharashtra), Sept. 13: Less than a week after four blasts killed 31 people here, a bomb scare in this textile town and the seizure of explosives in nearby Nashik sparked fresh panic and prompted the authorities to tighten security measures. The discovery of an unclaimed box in a shopping complex near Mohammedia Madrasa Centre and mosque in the heart of Malegaon triggered the bomb scare. A National Security Guard (NSG) bomb squad examined the box and found it contained “a miniscule amount of the explosive substance used in firecrackers” mixed with soil and stones and a pair of batteries, said inspector-general of police (Nashik Range) P.K. Jain. He described the incident as an attempt to “create communal tension” in the town. Earlier, anti-terrorism squad (ATS) officials had said an explosive device was found in the shopping complex. In the district headquarters of Nashik, the police seized five gelatin sticks, 18 detonators, a locally-made pistol and two cartridges from a flat in Indira Nagar locality and arrested four men. Three of the arrested were identified as Wasim Jabbar Ali Sayyad (23), Joheb Gulam Sarbarkhan (22) and Phirojkhan Pathan alias Munna (24), while the name of the fourth man was not disclosed. Acting on a tipoff, the police seized the explosives from a flat in Rajsarthi Society, acting commissioner of police Param Veer Singh told a press conference, where three of the arrested men were produced. Mr Singh said the arrests and seizure of explosives had no connection with Friday’s blasts in Malegaon that killed 31 people and injured nearly 300 others. The police kept people and media away from the comp-lex. Residents were asked to switch off cellphones to rule out the possibility of detonating any explosive devi-ce. The box was taken to a nearby school ground where the experts examined it. Mr Jain said the authorities had taken some time in completing their examination of the box as the NSG bomb squad had left Malegaon and had to be called back. Confusion was also created when sniffer dogs gave a “positive indication” after smelling the substance in the box, he said. Mr Singh said the tipoff that led to Wednesday’s arrests was given by Munna, who was detained by the police on Tuesday night after the detection of 18 detonators near Lifeline Hospital in Nashik two days ago. CPM rejects Basu’s request Kolkata, Sept. 13: Veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu wants to quit the party politburo but the politburo does not want him to quit. The party general secretary Prakash Karat announced this unanimous politburo decision after the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the party’s apex decision making body. Interestingly, the subject was not on the politburo’s agenda but its importance was evident from the fact that Mr Karat began his news conference with it. “Comrade Basu has been saying it for some time that he would not like to continue without making his full contribution to the party. But when we took the decision in 2005 that he should continue we were aware that he would not be able to work actively in the manner that he had in the past,” he explained. Senior CPI(M) leader and Citu president M.K. Pandhe revealed that towards the end of the meeting, Mr Basu raised the issue about his resignation from the politburo. “All the politburo members said in unison that the party needed his advice and so he should continue in the apex body of the party,” Mr Pandhe added. Describing Mr Basu as a “living legend” and an asset to the Communist movement in India, the CPI(M) general secretary said, “His advice and experience will benefit us.” But the politburo promised to take up the issue of Mr Basu’s retirement in the next party congress which will be held in 2008. “We will place the issue in our next party congress and consider his demand,” Mr Karat said.