Andhranews

New Delhi, Sept. 7: The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs met on Thursday amidst speculation in political circles about the fate of the Jharkhand government from which four sitting ministers have withdrawn support. The meeting was chaired by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence. However, there was no official word immediately after the meeting as to what figured in it. The political developments in Jharkhand are being closely watched as the Arjun Munda government has been reduced to minority following the resignation of four ministers.

But there were broad indications that this time the Central government would prefer to go wholly by the book in dealing with the current political situation. While it is amply clear to the Centre that the Arjun Munda government has been reduced to minority, the government would not like to invite another round of criticism or questioning of its decision by the Supreme Court, as it happened the last time round.

Consequently, state Governor Syed Sibte Razi too has immediately provided the chief minister more time than he sought to prove his majority in the state Assembly. The vote of confidence is not likely to be moved by the chief minister before next week. The UPA-led Central government may make any move whether in respect of formation of another coalition government, with the help of the defectors or recommend President’s rule only after the result of the vote of confidence in the state Assembly is out.

New Delhi, Sept. 7: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have his task cut out for him at the Non-Aligned Movement meeting at Havana next week, which will see a strong assertion by progressive states to redefine the role of the movement and protect the interests of the developing world against what Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and Syria, along with other nations, are going to pinpoint as “US imperialism”.

Prime Minister Singh, who does not share this view about the United States, will seek to influence Nam to adopt a more moderate stance, according to sources here, on sensitive issues such as US-led policy on Iran and West Asia. India’s effort will be to tone down the rhetoric even as the progressive governments, including the hosts, work to give a new direction and meaning to the Nam meeting. It might be recalled that New Delhi’s unofficial position has for long been: “Non-alignment as a concept is dead, it is totally meaningless.” Senior ministers and officials have often told this correspondent that Nam was “outdated” and its utility has been “long since over”.

Sources said the effort of the Havana meet will be to inject new fervour into Nam and to bring in new ideas to shape the future for the developing world. Cuba is preparing to push through an agenda with health, education and energy at the core with the single intention of bringing into play an alternative policy to ensure the availability of these to the poor. Significantly, Cuba deputy minister Abelardo Moreno has been quoted in the media as saying, “We believe the movement must be more proactive in the future, rather than reactive; rich in initiatives, ideas and projects of its own.”

The movement has grown to include 116 nations with a new set of nations now determined to turn Nam into an effective and powerful body representing the developing world. Prime Minister Singh, who is travelling to Brazil and Cuba with a 200-strong contingent, might just find that Indian cynicism about the non-aligned process is completely misplaced. Cuba will be taking over the presidency of Nam for three years and has been working hard to turn this summit into a memorable exercise.

Cuba’s charismatic leader, Fidel Castro, had been personally involved in the initiative and has now declared from his hospital bed that he would be well enough to attend the summit. There is a sense of unease in Washington about the bonhomie that has come to characterise relations between countries that it looks upon as its “enemies”, like Cuba. Venezuela, Malaysia, Syria, Iran and others who are represented in Nam.

India is regarded as a good friend by Washington and is perceived as such by many of the West Asian and African countries today. Sources said New Delhi had still not given a commitment to Venezuela, which has been lobbying for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council. The Havana meet will witness some intense lobbying for the same. Venezuela is being opposed for the seat by Guatemala.
Washington, the sources said, is determined to keep Venezuela out of the UN decision-making body.

New Delhi, Sept. 7: Over 10 million Central government employees and pensioners will benefit from the decision of the Central government to enhance the dearness allowance by five per cent over the existing rate of 24 per cent, with retrospective effect from July 1. The decision was taken by the Union Cabinet at its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday.

The decision in respect of government employees will cost the exchequer an additional Rs 1,888.8 crores to the national exchequer and this year alone it will cause an additional burden of Rs 1259.25 crores. “This will benefit the Central government employees and pensioners to get higher amount of DA and dearness relief respectively,” the official spokesperson told newsmen after the meeting. The rate of DA and dearness relief from July 1, 2006 would now go up from 24 per cent to 29 per cent for all Central government employees and pensioners besides family pensioners of Central government, the spokesperson said.

The additional financial implications on account of increased dearness allowance to pensioners is estimated at Rs 898.35 crores per annum and Rs 598.9 crores in the current financial year. Consequently, the total would come to Rs 1858.15 crores for this year and Rs 2787.15 crores annually.

Mumbai, Sept. 7: Pictures of rotting corpses piled at a centuries-old Zoroastrian funeral ground, secretly snapped by a Parsi woman, have sparked a furore over ancient rituals. For centuries, the Zoroastrian dead have been wrapped in white muslin and left at a leafy, funeral ground in Mumbai’s Malabar Hill, where they are devoured by vultures. But with only a handful of the critically-endangered birds remaining in the city, authorities installed solar panels three years ago to dry out the bodies. her mother’s corpse would take at least a year to decompose, she slipped into the funeral ground to take her shocking photographs of a place that few people are even allowed to enter.

Orthodox Parsi elders said that the funeral system is working fine. But Ms Baria is challenging that contention with her stack of pictures, a 15-minute video clip and thousands of handbills she has been distributing in the community showing rotting corpses and body parts. “Would you like to have the bodies of your mother, father, daughter piled up in a horrible state?” asked Ms Baria, whose mother died nine months ago. “It is a terrible sight, the stench is horrible. It’s as if the bodies have been tortured. The dead have no dignity,” she said.

Patna, Sept. 7: The political crisis in Jharkhand took a new turn on Thursday when state Assembly Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari issued notices to three Opposition MLAs asking them why they should not be disqualified. Notices have been served to Mr Enos Ekka, Mr Kamlesh Singh and Mr Stephen Marandi. Mr Ekka and Mr Singh were ministers in the NDA government and had deserted Mr Arjun Munda just two days ago.

“Several petitions were pending against these MLAs,” the Assembly Speaker said.
The move is seen as an attempt by the NDA to win the trust vote in the state Assembly by disqualifying detractors of chief minister Arjun Munda. Mr Ekka and Mr Singh were served notices for defying their parties while Mr Marandi was issued the same for contesting Assembly elections without resigning as a Rajya Sabha member of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). Veteran leader and president of the Jharkhand Party, N.E. Horo, had petitioned the Assembly speaker almost a year and a half back to disqualify the legislator of his party, Enos

Ekka, for rallying behind the NDA despite party’s decision to back the UPA. No action was taken against Enos Ekka for the last one and a half year. The Assembly Speaker said he has also received two separate and fresh petitions against Mr Kamlesh Singh and Mr Marandi. Mr Singh, who had fought the state Assembly elections last year on a Nationalist Congress Party ticket, was sworn in as a minister in the short-lived Shibu Soren government.

After Mr Soren stepped down, Mr Singh accepted a ministerial berth in the NDA government headed by Mr Munda. He turned back to the UPA again on September 4 this year. Mr Namdhari decided to serve a notice to him after two BJP legislators, Dinesh Sarangi and Saryu Rai, petitioned him to take action against the MLAs for violating Section 102(2) of the 10th Schedule by “switching over sides three times”. Mr Marandi is facing disqualification as he fought the Assembly elections as an Independent from Dumka without resigning from the Rajya Sabha, where he was a member of the JMM.

Two other BJP legislators, Putkar Hembrom and Chandresh Oraon, have filed fresh petitions requesting the Assembly Speaker not only to review the membership of Mr Marandi in light of the fact but also against the backdrop that despite being an Independent MLA he joined the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, a political outfit headed by former chief minister Babulal Marandi, which is a violation of the 10th Schedule.

Jaipur, Sept. 7: The Medical Council of Rajasthan restrained seven doctors from practice for their alleged involvement in aborting female foetuses. The restraint would be effective for at least six months or till the finalisation of investigation, whichever is first. The doctors included three government doctors.

Medical council registrar Sanjay Sharma told this correspondent that the council received over 60 complaints related to illegal sex determination tests. “We are investigating such complaints,” he said. According to the council, these doctors would not perform ultrasound tests and would also be restrained from obstetrics.
The doctors, however, refuted the charges and said they had been framed. The issue of doctors and diagnostic centres involved in female foeticide came to light when a TV channel highlighted it. Women’s groups were quick in to launch a campaign against it to put pressure on the government.

New Delhi, Sept. 7: The Supreme Court has ruled that employees cannot claim voluntary retirement from service as a matter of right. VRS is not a proposal or an offer, but merely an invitation to treat. The request of the employees seeking such retirement constitutes an offer and it is upto the authorities whether to accept or reject that, said the Supreme Court. A bench comprising Justices A.R. Lakshamanan and Tarun Chatterjee said, “In our opinion, the request of the employees seeking voluntary retirement was not to take effect until and unless it was accepted in writing by the authorities.”

“It is the absolute discretion of the authorities whether to accept or reject the request of the employees seeking voluntary retirement under the scheme,” said Justice Lakshamanan while writing the judgment for the bench. Setting aside the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh high court, the bench said, “Voluntary retirement can be claimed as a right. There is no assurance that the application for voluntary retirement would be accepted without any consideration.”

The process of acceptance of such an offer made by an employee was in discretion of the authorities, the bench said and allowed an appeal of the Board of Trustees, Visakhapatnam Port Trust and others. The port had moved the top court over a case of its two employees who had sought retirement under the VRS. The port authorities said that they were not entitled to this benefit as they had attained the cut-off age of 58 years.

Lucknow, Sept. 7: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday rejected applications of the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government seeking vacation of the stay on providing subsidy for Haj or any other pilgrimage. The Lucknow bench of the court, comprising Justice A.K. Yog and Justice Shailendra Saxena, granted a week’s time to the petitioner to file a rejoinder and fixed September 18 for further hearing of the matter. Solicitor General G.E. Vahnavat and Advocate General S.M.A. Kazmi pleaded before the bench for vacation of the stay saying otherwise, it would affect arrangements for haj and Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimages.

The court clarified there was no bar on making necessary arrangements for Haj and other pilgrimages. The bench said neither the Centre nor the State government should bear or provide any financial assistance to people for undertaking pilgrimages. On August 25, the court restrained the Centre and the UP government from providing subsidy for Haj or any other pilgrimage.

New Delhi, Sept. 7: A team of 10 Indian naval personnel will set out to conquer the South Pole in Antarctica in December 2006, as part of the Navy’s zeal for more adventure missions to enha-nce self confidence in the force. But that is not all. Navy personnel will also embark on a mission to sail around the world in 2008.

So far the mission to the South Pole is concerned, the 10-member Indian team, led by Commander Satya-brata Dam, will initially fly down to Puntas Arenas, the southern-most point of Chile from where they will again fly down to the Ice cap of Antarctica. From there, they will ski to the South Pole where they hope to unfurl the Indian tricolour.

“Such missions build self confidence in the force,” said Naval Chief Admiral Arun Prakash. The mission has been code-named Dakshin Dhruv, 2006. The team will have to contend with sub-zero temperatures, fierce storms and blizzards. They will also have to carry adequate rations, with each member pulling a 140 kg sledge and skiing for miles. The personnel will carry ready-to-eat meals and will even eat food such as raw fish with butter to survive in the harsh climate. The youngest member of the team is 20-year-old Soman Tamchos, a sailor from Ladakh.

However, the Naval Chief Admiral declined to answer questions from reporters on the achievements and setbacks during his tenure and left immediately after the function.
Admiral Prakash retires on October 31, 2006 and the government has already announced that his successor will be vice-admiral Sureesh Mehta.

New Delhi, Sept. 7: A joint study by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad and Railway Staff College, Baroda has held minister of railways Lalu Prasad Yadav’s “common sense-based approach” as one of the key enabling factors for the turnaround of Indian Railways into a profitable public utility.

In one of two documents, titled Turnaround of Indian Railways: A Critical Appraisal of Strategies and Processes, Prof. G. Raghuram suggests that the Mr Yadav’s “style” has certain attributes that make him worthy of emulation by politicians who will succeed him as minister of railways and by ministers heading similar public utilities.

The IIM professor observes, “It was a common sense-based approach, showing an astute understanding of the market reality, the asset base of the Indian Railways and the expertise and capability of the Indian Railways’ management and systems. Consequently, he followed this up with the principles of leveraging the assets and empowerment and delegation. With whatever has been achieved in the “turnaround”, Mr Yadav has demonstrated that good economics is good politics.” The two documents were presented to Mr Yadav on Wednesday.

Prof. Raghuram, who credits the minister for “milking the cow fully”, flags five attributes of Mr Yadav’s style of functioning for the benefit of academics, corporates and commoners alike who might want to understand how the former chief minister of a state like Bihar turned a public utility like the Indian Railways around. He is non-interfering so far, as in his interaction with the railway board is concerned, he adds.

Guwahati, Sept. 7: The Assam government on Thursday sounded a general alert in all the districts following predictions by a geologist from the University of Madras that a high magnitude earthquake was likely to hit the region on Friday. Disclosing this to repo-rters, the government spo-kesman and health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “There is no need to be panicky as there is no definite scientific evidence yet to predict an earthquake but we are not ignoring such warning so a general alert has been sounded across the State,” he said.

The panic prevailed since Thursday morning when newspaper reports quoted a statement issued by Mr N. Venkatanathan of the department of applied geology saying that there was 70 per cent chance of a 7-8 magnitude earthquake hitting Assam at 8.21 am on Friday. The epicentre would be about 15 km southwest of Dibrugarh, about 500 km east of the capital city Guwahati.

Though, seismologists debunked his theory, Mr Venkatanathan said that his alert was not an official warning but flowed out of his theory based on geo-astrophysical calculations that he has successfully tested for several years. The Assam government said, “We have sought clarification from the government of India to ascertain the validity of such a prediction although at the moment we are not taking any chance.”

“Our disaster management teams of civil defence, health workers, doctors, the police and paramilitary soldiers, fire services and engineers are on full alert,” a spokesman of the Assam government added. The additional chief secretary of disaster management Mr C.K. Das has also convened a meeting of the disaster management committee on Thursday evening to review the preparedness of the government in any case of eventuality.