Mamata delivered what she promised, the Singur Land Bill

The West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday passed by voice vote the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill to enable the Mamata Banerjee led government to acquire the entire 997.11 acres of land earlier handed over to the Tatas for their Nano car project. Now the Bill would be sent to the President for her assent.

As indicated earlier, the Left Front expressed their support to the Bill's spirit of returning lands to the dispossessed farmers but staged a walk- out from the Assembly citing several 'procedural anomalies'. As if to beat the Trinamul Congress with its own stick, Suryakanta Mishra, Leader of the Opposition, demanded that lands would have to be returned to not only those farmers having 400 acres of land and who had refused to accept compensation but to those agriculturists too whose lands fall within the boundaries of Tata's main factory area. In a word, he demanded return of the entire 997.11 acres of land to their previous owners.

The Left Front had two reasons for staging the walk- out and the new demand of the return of land. The walk- out, earlier not included in their plan of actions, had to be effected to prevent a division within the Left Front inside the Assembly. The RSP and the Forward Bloc, now almost on the verge of an open hostility with the CPM, might have voted for the Bill brushing aside all '' procedural objections'' from the CPM. Secondly, in order to counter the CPM propaganda of her being anti- industry, Mamata is now eager to set up alternative industrial units on 600 acres of land which will remain in the hands of the state government after distributing 400 acres to farmers who had refused to part with their lands.

Strangely enough, the Left Front today opposed the Bill's provision of giving compensation to Tatas and other ancillary units and instead maintained that it's the state government which should receive compensations.

The acquisition of Singur land by the state government is going to have tremendous impact on the political economy of West Bengal. Although Mamata Banerjee has decided not to disturb some other industrial ventures, started during the previous regime, industrialists are having a changed outlook.

Already there are hints that Prasun Mukherjee, a nonresident entrepreneur, might proceed with a changed plan of action at Nayachar, an island near the Bay of Bengal, and is expected to set up eco-friendly industries there.

Mamata all set to move the Singur land acquisition bill today

Learning from her mistake, Mamata Banerjee has grown wiser. Jettisoning the idea of an Ordinance, she is all set to move a Bill in the West Bengal Assembly today for taking over the entire 997.11 acres of land in Singur which was handed over to Tata Motors for the Nano car factory.

Interestingly, the CPM, taking a U- turn, has decided to support the land acquisition Bill, leaving Buddhadev in the lurch. It will only raise some objections as far as the modalities are concerned.

In moving the Bill, Mamata has deviated a little from the stand she had maintained ever since the West Bengal government acquired land for the Tatas. Previously her stand was that around 400 acres of land should be returned to those farmers who had refused to take compensation. But now she has decided to acquire the entire land under the Tata's possession.

This certainly amounts to a hardening of attitude. Political circles in Kolkata find it a little difficult to explain.

But sources in the Trinamul Congress point out that an earlier letter from the Tatas to the Buddhadev Bhattacharjee government expressing their unwillingness to go ahead with the project any more has provided Mamata with a potent weapon. However, according to one group of Trinamul leadership, the real reason for taking over the entire project area lies in the nature of ownership of land before the acquisition.

A little more than six hundred acres of land, on which the main car factory of the Tatas was scheduled to come up, belonged to mostly absentee landlords who did accept compensation from the state government. After Tatas carried out the construction, those six hundred acres have become unfit for any cultivation. Trinamul leaders point out that a cursory offer might be made to the Tatas now for re- launching their Nano project and in the event of their refusal Mamata is eyeing either a railway factory or ventures by any other industrial house there.

There is a strong possibility that the Bill will declare the entire land as "khas" or vested and the Tatas will be asked to remove their possessions.

The Tatas, or the other ancillary industrial groups, might ask for compensation, the quantum of which will be decided by an arbitrator who might be the District Judge of the Hooghly district under whose jurisdiction Singur falls.

Till the time computation of the compensation is complete the Tatas as well as the ancillary unit owners will get an interim relief of 6 per cent of their investment. If the Tatas do not vacate the land within the stipulated time then the District Magistrate of Hooghly will be at liberty to take possession of the land by force.

No more free colour televisions in Tamil Nadu, says Jaya

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on scrapped yet another pet project of the previous DMK government, the free colour TV scheme. Only days after scrapping the Kalaignar Kappeetu Thittam (Kalaignar Insurance Scheme), Jaya alleged largescale corruption behind the free colour TV distribution and decided to scrap the scheme.

The free colour TV scheme was one of the most populist schemes in the DMK election manifesto in 2006 and DMK top brass strongly believed that the scheme had played a major role in their victory in the Assembly elections held that year. The party had assured to continue the scheme if they win back power in Tamil Nadu.

Jayalalithaa alleged that DMK introduced these populist schemes not for the welfare of the people but for the welfare of Karunanidhi's family. She said when the government handed over a Rs 2,265 worth colour TV to each household under the scheme, the people were shelling out Rs 4,000 crore per year for cable connections which was monopolised by Maran brothers.

After assuming power, Jayalalithaa has been cancelling all the pet projects of the former government.

Last week, she decided to do away with the housing and insurance scheme named after DMK head and former chief minister M Karunanidhi. She then decided not to form the Legislative Council, which was announced by DMK and also postponed the decision of the previous government to have uniform system of education in the state.

ED makes intentions clear, going after telcos

The Enforcement Directorate has sent its investigation teams to tax havens to unearth alleged money laundering by the companies engaged in the mobile telephony in India. Enforcement Director Arun Kumar made this disclosure while deposing before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 2G here on Wednesday. He also gave out the list of ten companies against whom the cases have been filed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

These companies are Tata Teleservices, Unitech Wireless, Swan Telecom, Loop Telecom, Estell Ltd, Videocon Telecom, Shyam Telecom, Alliance Infotech, Idea Cellular and Spice Communications Ltd (now merged with Idea Cellular). The JPC, which decided to take a month's summer break to meet again on July 7, was told that the Enforcement Directorate interrogated 52 persons to nail these companies.

The frauds of these companies busted by the directorate include oversees financial transactions by way of FDI (foreign direct investment) through purchase of equity and preferable shares and debentures by non- resident persons. All these firms prima facie violated the FDI ceiling of 49 per cent that requires no government clearance and 74 per cent with the permission of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), Arun Kumar disclosed.

Briefing reporters after a day- long busy schedule, JPC chairman P C Chacko said nine former telecom secretaries, including arrested Siddharth Behra, have been summoned to depose before the committee between July 7 and 9. Politicians will be examined after the JPC is finished with these bureaucrats.

Chacko said the JPC is taking a month's break as by that time the CBI would have filed the final chargesheet to help its member MPs to accentuate the probe. CBI chief Amar Singh indicated to the JPC during deposition on Tuesday that the final chargesheet will be filed by June 30.

The officials examined on Wednesday besides the Enforcement Director were Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) Chairman J S Sarma, Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman Prakash Chandra, Financial Intelligence Unit chief P K Tiwari and Secretaries of the Finance Ministry.

The TRAI Chairman told the JPC that his authority is not sitting idle. It has given 11 reports on the 2G spectrum allocation to the government. He admitted that the New Telecom Policy (NTP) of 1999 and the TRAI Act requires the Department of Telecom (DoT) to seek the regulator's recommendations on terms and conditions of the telecom licences, but these recommendations are not mandatory.

Dr Sarma pointed out in response to a query that the regulatory authority cancelled 74 licences issued between 2006 and 2008 due to non- compliance of obligations. He added that it was TRAI recommendation given on August 20, 2007 not to put cap on any telecom operator in any service area and give additional spectrum to both CDMA and GSM service providers, provided they fulfill obligations.

Union Cabinet approves OBC expansion list

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved expansion of the central list of the other backward classes (OBCs) to include more castes and communities from 14 states and two union territories. The states in which this expansion has been cleared on the recommendation of the National Commission for Backward Classes include Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Karnataka.

The official announcement did not specify the benefited castes but said the exercise will be completed with the follow- up action by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to amend the respective central lists. Their inclusion in the central list would enable them to avail the benefits of reservation in Central Government services and posts as well as in the Central education institutions, thus contributing to the goal of equality and inclusiveness, the announcement said.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) raised by more than 60 per cent the post matric scholarships to scheduled tribe students with retrospective effect from July 1, 2010 and revised the eligibility criteria to extend the scheme to wards of parents and guardians whose annual income is Rs 2 lakhs instead of Rs 1.45 lakhs.

Besides revision of maintenance and other allowances to enable the ST students pursue their studies in the recognised institutions, the courses for which the scholarship is available have also been regrouped. Courses have been divided into four groups. The revised scholarship at the highest level for the professional courses group is Rs 550 per month instead of Rs 330 in case of day scholars and Rs 1200 instead of Rs 740 for the hostlers.

Similar revision in other groups is: Rs 530 instead of Rs 330 for day scholars and Rs 820 instead of Rs 510 for hostlers in Group II, Rs 300 instead of Rs 185 for day scholars and Rs 570 instead of Rs 355 for hostlers in Group III and Rs 230 instead of Rs 140 for day scholars and Rs 380 instead of Rs 235 for hostlers in Group IV. Their book grant for correspondence courses is raised from Rs 750 to Rs 1200 per annum, while the annual study tour charges are revised from Rs 1000 to Rs 1600 and thesis typing and printing charger per annum from Rs 1000 to Rs 1600.

Allahabad High Court slams brakes on land acquisition in Greater Noida

The Allahabad High Court decision on Monday striking down the acquisition of 170 hectares of land from farmers in Greater Noida has come as yet another blow to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government led by Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh. In fact, the entire issue of land acquisition in Greater Noida has snowballed into a major embarrassment for the state government.

The Greater Noida township adjoining New Delhi has been promoted as a big achievement of the UP government, involving several top builders and real estate developers who had promised dozens of high- rise residential buildings, green townships and commercial properties. Monday's court decision is the third instance of the Allahabad High Court cancelling the land acquired by the UP government.

Nearly 100 farmers of Gulistanpur village had approached the HC against land acquisition by the Greater Noida authority for " Planned industrial Development" in February 2008, and 656 farmers were promised 132 crores for the acquired land.

With the recent agitation by farmers of Bhatta- Parsaul villages leading to the death of three villagers still being fresh in public memory, there are bound to be fresh demands for the cancellation of the entire land acquisition process in Greater Noida especially with the " urgency clause" of the Land Acquisition Act also coming under a cloud.

Both Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been attacking the BSP government for its handling of the farmers' agitation against land acquisition. The issue will be raised at the forthcoming national executive meet of the BJP in Lucknow, said a BJP spokesman. The Congress spokesman said the party will intensify its agitation against the "anti- people" policies of the government.

PM goes tough on ministries for no action on Shunglu report

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has fired a missile at all ministries concerned with the Commonwealth Games (CWG) to act within two weeks on the irregularities pinpointed by a high - powered committee headed by retired Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) V K Shunglu.

Sources in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said Dr Manmohan Singh is angry over no action taken by the ministry even two months after the Home Ministry had circulated the Shunglu Committee's 534-page report for action.

Asking the concerned ministries to furnish in two weeks answers to the issues raised in the Shunglu report, the Prime Minister has asked them to keep him informed of differences, if any.

The Sports Ministry and the Urban Development Ministry, whose ministers were shunted out after the Games as also Delhi''s Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Muncipal Corporation of Delhi, the New Delhi Municipal Committee and CWG organising committee''s arrested chairman Suresh Kalmadi had come under severe criticism in the Shunglu report.

The report blasts Kalmadi for running the organising committee like a club, misusing powers and neutralising dissent by removing top officials who objected.

Chief Minister Dikshit rejected early this week findings of the Shunglu committee as "self contradictory" and blasted it for lack of understanding on her government's role in conduct of the CWG. Her stand is that the Delhi Government had only supervised the CWG - related works while the execution was done mostly by the BJP led municipal corporation or by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) which does not come under the state government.

Defence Estate Officer eats up her words on Adarsh land

A day after telling the commission probing the Adarsh housing scam that there was 'no record' to show that the land on which Adarsh building now stands is owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and that instead, it belonged to the state government, Defence Estate Officer Geeta Kashyap on Wednesday told the panel that the land was 'disputed'. Kashyap took this U-turn in her reply during crossexamination by Commission's counsel Dipan Merchant when he asked if she was aware of any record to show that the land was handed over by MoD to the State government and then subsequently occupied by the Adarsh CHS.

Merchant was reffering to an affidavit filed K B Nayyar, Under Secretary in MoD, in a petition before the Bombay High Court. The affidavit stated that " the Army was in occupation and possession of the entire Adarsh land and until possession of the plot appears to have been obtained from the Army by the state government and made over to the petitioners (Adarsh CHS)." "Are you aware when possession of the land was given by Army to the state government?'' asked Merchant.

Kashyap replied that she was not aware of any such handing over of land. Adding that the DEO would normally know of handing over of possession of all defence lands. When Merchant further asked if she was not aware of the ' transaction' because it was not Defence land, Kashyap disagreed.

She said it was not because the army was not in possession of the Adarsh land, that the DEO does not have any record regarding the transfer, but because it was a " disputed piece of land." When questioned about what steps were taken to " recover possession of the land and solve the dispute", Kashyap said apart from her report dated November 6, 2010 sent to her higher authorities ( Principal Director, Defence Estates) no other action had been taken.

"The DEO cannot suo moto institute court proceedings, that is the job of the MoD," she added. Kashyap said she is not aware of any suit filed by MoD or DEO to recover possession of the land or to settle the dispute.

Kashyap however admitted that she was aware of the Adarsh building coming up after she took over in October 2008. When asked whether she informed her superiors about the 31- storey building being a security threat, she replied that apart from her November 2010 report, she had not pointed out about the threat to any authorities.

The Commission will cross examine Major S K Lamba of the Mumbai Citizens Group. Lamba has filed an affidavit before the commission alleging that the state government had illegally handed over the plot of land to the Adarsh CHS. Lamba has also claimed that the Army was in physical possession of the land for over 40 years and that the state government did not have documents to prove they have ' clear title' of the controversial plot.

Karunanidhi broke down while meeting daughter Kanimozhi at Tihar

DMK supremo M Karunanidhi broke down inside Tihar Jail on Monday on seeing his arrested MP daughter Kanimozhi in her cell. He spent 20 minutes with a special permission from the court. The jail rules permit not more than three visitors to meet any convict or under trial, but Karunanidhi's lawyers procured permission from the special court for the entire family to meet Kanimozhi.

They spent 20 minutes in her cell. Since the meeting was held in the presence of the Tihar Jail staff and the Tamil Nadu Special Police that guard the jail, Karunanidhi did not speak properly to his daughter.

He just exchanged emotional words. He flew into Delhi in the morning and cancelled his return to Chennai in the night after meeting Kanimozhi. Those calling on him at the hotel Taj Mansingh said he is quite upset with the Congress as he thinks the Cong- led UPA government would have saved the DMK leaders like Kanimozhi and A Raja from going to jail.

The DMK sources said Karunanidhi's health deteriorated after seeing Kanimozhi in the jail and that is why he cancelled his return. He had vomited in the aircraft in the morning while flying to Delhi, they said. He is bound to get upset that nobody from the Congress came to the airport to receive him, nor anybody turned up to meet him in the hotel, just half a km from the AICC headquarters, the DMK sources said. They were expecting at least Chidambaram and G K Vasan would certainly pay a courtesy call on their supremo.

Chhota Rajan ex-aide Santosh Shetty planned attack on Dawood kin

Far East-based gangster Santosh Shetty is believed to be behind the abortive attempt made on the life of Karachi based fugitive Dawood Ibrahim's close kin Iqbal Kaskar, on Tuesday night.

Senior police officials disclosed that Shetty a onetime close associate of Chhota Rajan, is learnt to have organised the shooting which got botched up due to one of the firearms malfunctioning after the first shot was fired on Iqbal, who escaped unhurt while the other gunmen pumped lead into Iqbal's bodyguard- cum- driver Arif Syed Abu Bukha who later succumbed to bullet injuries before landing in hospital.

Shetty who operates a criminal syndicate after he broke away from Chotta Rajan, is one of the key informer of Indian intelligence agencies on Dawood Ibrahim's syndicate following Chotta Rajan's reported, unpublicized truce with Dawood Irbahim, a year ago.

Highly reliable sources disclosed that Shetty was the brain behind eliminating Bharat Nepal a onetime aide of Chotta Rajan who had crossed over to his syndicate and was later suspected by Shetty for double timing him, in Bangkok around three months back.

Following Chotta Rajan maintaining a distance from Indian intelligence agencies, Shetty has been maintaining close ties with Indian intelligence operatives who are on the trail of Dawood Ibrahim.

It is learnt that Shetty has taken over the mission to cripple Dawood Ibrahim's financial network and Iqbal was identified as the prime target to be eliminated, to create a massive dent to Dawood Ibrahim's financial backbone.

Iqbal had allegedly surrendered to the Indian authorities to return back to India in 2003, to manage Dawood Ibrhaim's empire. Currently, Iqbal is looking after Dawood Ibrahim's immovable assets including 12 properties located in south and south central Mumbai.

Speak Asia press conference planned to cover up the exposure by Star News & Aaj Tak

If sources are to be believed, there is a strong buzz that the self proclaimed biggest online survey company of Asia is planning to conduct a press conference answering the allegation put on my the eminent news channels of India i.e. Aajtak and Star News. The chairperson Harinder Kaur who call herself Haren has sent an email to all the people subscribed to SpeakAsia in which she has expressed shock on the news and provided an assurance to reply back to the allegations of the news channels.

Earlier Speak Asia used the biggest social networking site 'Facebook' to spread the news that they have got the permission from the RBI to trade in India though the company itself is not registered in India and appealed that 'Negative' remarks should not be passed for the company.

Now, instead of the press conference what we have been hearing since Sunday, the day after the story on SpeakAsia on Aajtak and Star News was telecasted, couple of links of a web conference has been updated on the Speak Asia site but there has been no official information about the what has been planned by the company.

There are lot of questions which are still unanswered and without which SpeakAsia would not be able to win the trust vote of the planned subscribers. Questions like why the biggest online survey company of Asia does not have their own server & email id for contact ?, Why companies like Samsung and ICICI have denied any links with Speak Asia and why are they paying Rs. 50 for a dollar when the rate of exchange is always between 43 - 44 ?

If you are able to find the answers and satisfied with them, go ahead and invest and earn from your money else stay back and observe the proceedings before investing your hard earned money.

2G scam : Anil Ambani arrest plea deferred

The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred to July an application filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan against the CBI protecting and not arresting Reliance Telecom chairman Anil Ambani in the 2G spectrum scam.

The application moved by him on behalf of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) which brought the scam to the apex court asserted that the real beneficiary is Ambani but " CBI has tried to shield him and has only charge- sheeted his three executives." Bhushan had also sought to bring Essar's CEO Prashant Ruia and the Tatas within the ambit of the 2G scam probe in the application, alleging that the CBI is not catching " big fish" who are the real beneficiaries of the scam.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly put off for July after vacation the application seeking a highpowered panel to supervise the CBI's probe, citing no arrests of the big honchos have been made in the scam.

In the last hearing, advocate Bhushan had asserted that RCom, which was ineligible for the 2G licence, had financed Swan Telecom and its chairman Anil Ambani, who has 50 per cent stake in the company, has not been touched by CBI despite being the real beneficiary.

He also alleged that investigations have gone cold on the alleged involvement of Prashant Ruia and Tatas in the scam.

DDA housing scheme 2010 result by tonight

The much talked about and awaited draw of DDA housing scheme 2010 has been finally concluded and authorities and working hard to make these results available to its more than 7.5 lakhs applicants. There are more than 16000 flats on offer and looking at the controversial past of the DDA, the applicants are eager to know whether luck have favored them to bring them the shelter at the prime locations in the capital city.

The draw was held in high security at Sector-62 office of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) where number of applicants followed the proceedings on the television set placed outside showing the live footage. The draw lasted for 2 hours 45 minutes and only a small group of media persons were allowed the entry into the hall on the premises.

As the sources, these results would be made available on the official website of DDA by late tonight however the exact time has not been determined yet.

Lok Pal Bill awareness to become a campaign!

With the first meeting of the newly formed ten member committee to draft the Lokpal Bill just four days away, city- based activists of the India Against Corruption (IAC) group are now planning awareness activities for the city.

Seeing many negative elements coming up against the Jan Lokpal Bill, the group would be starting awareness campaigns in different areas of the city.

Ten speakers will be targeting various social, cultural, educational and corporate groups to spread awareness about the fight against corruption headed by social activist Anna Hazare. These speakers and a few hundred volunteers will be trained professionally by a corporate communication trainer.

"There are many good speakers but they are not able to express the crux of the message and hence the training would help them to communicate the intricacies about the bill in a logical manner" said Piyush Bhatia, trainer who also is a volunteer if IAC. The speakers would also be provided with a powerpoint presentation prepared by a trainer to help them understand the things in a better way.

"The presentation would include each and every step of the movement in order of occurrence starting from the formation of the group to the details of the bill and the movement and also details about Hazare and the contemporary system" said Bhatia.

IAC is also planning to spread awareness amongst the large organized groups like the Jain Jagruti, Rotary Clubs, Lions Club etc.

They would be distributing the white ribbons, badges and leaflets to these groups during their interaction. " Mumbai would start the movement but it would be spreading to all other states also and we are also planning for a helpline number so that people can call us and get their queries solved regarding the bill" said Mayank Gandhi, who has been heading the movement in Mumbai.

While the online support for the movement has been increasing tremendously and the membership on the social networking site Facebook has shot up, the current number of members on Mumbai page is 2867. Though all the volunteers won't be equally active the strength would be increased by the numbers.

Nation reach out to Anna Hazare

Anna Hazare is an RSS man, said one apologist of the UPA Government. Another said that he is an anarchist. The third called him a blackmailer. A too- clever- by- half loudmouth on nightly television tried to whip up support for the ruling combine by stressing that Hazare sought to sit over judgment over the Supreme Court judges as well. But all the abuse has failed to dent the popular support for Hazare's fast- unto- death. People, young and old, from diverse walks of life have openly offered support to the cause for which the 72-year-old social activist undertook the fast three days ago in the national capital. Of course, his immediate objective is to empower the proposed Lokpal so that he can undertake independent investigations into corruption charges against the highest in authority. But the easy support that Hazare has gathered reflects the general sense of disillusionment with the incumbent rulers for their failure to check runaway corruption.

A government mired in corruption scams of humongous proportions is least equipped to deal with the situation arising from Hazare's fast. Admittedly, some of the amendments proposed in the draft Lokpal Bill by civil activists spearheading the anti- corruption movement are decidedly unreasonable. But so poor is the image of the Government that even reasonable people are willing to endorse the proposals mooted by the Hazare supporters. Having forfeited its moral right to govern, though it still has more than three years to complete its fiveyear term, the UPA Government is hard put to contain the growing tide of popular anger against various corruption scams. The prime minister who pretends not to know when his own colleagues loot the nation has ceased to inspire confidence in his capacity to punish the wrongdoers.

If A. Raja and a few others are cooling their heels in jail, it is no thanks to Singh who, in fact had persisted with the DMK leader in Telecom Ministry even after he had perpetrated the biggest ever scam in free India. The CBI was obliged to act only after the Supreme Court undertook to monitor the investigations in the 2- G scam. Without doubt, there are many more scams than those which have already been exposed to the public. Despite being the world's second fastest growing economy, India ranks pretty low in the Transparency International's rankings of nations on the corruption meter. A corrupt oligarchy has come to rule the roast in the post- liberalization period, with the rent- seeking class raking it in big while the poor get further marginalized.

Corruption, it should be noted, hurts the poor the most. When the PDS rations are pilfered by middlemen, the NREGA payments are misdirected, it is the poor who lose. But those corrupting the system at the lower rungs of the administration draw inspiration from their political masters who loot and pillage with impunity. Corruption, then, is a vicious cycle in which everyone in the ` system' gets sucked in. By sitting on an indefinite hunger strike, Hazare has sought to focus on this hydra- headed monster. Indeed, if Manmohan Singh means well, and, we believe, he does, he would defuse the grave situation caused by his fast by publicly endorsing the aims for which he undertook it in the first place. After all, financial corruption has never been a weakness of this prime minister. He has nothing to lose if he makes common cause with the iconic social activist and commits himself to root out corruption from his government even if it meant his complete alienation from the Congress leadership.

Having enjoyed the fruits of power for six years, let Manmohan Singh play it by his conscience and stand up for some ideals. Otherwise, he will go down as the prime minister sans any sense of morality. Reach out to Hazare. Defuse the situation by undertaking to cleanse your own Augean stables. And you have a lot of cleansing to do, Mr Prime Minister.

Media yet to adhere to guidelines for disabled

While most nations follow the guidelines issued by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which emphasize on facilitating entertainment to all sections of society, India largely fails to adhere to them. The country is a signatory to UNCRPD-2008, which specifies that access to information be mandatory provided to the disabled.

Speaking on a condition of anonymity, an official handling the media literacy campaign said, "We can notice some traces of improvement in the Indian media that signals it is trying to be friendly for the disabled.

While TV soap opera like Shaktimaan and Bollwood films like 'Veer' and 'My Name is Khan' tried to connect with the disabled by displaying subtitles along with the visual, it was not the case with the country's highest budget Bollywood movie Robot, which was broadcast at the World television premiere on April 3." Stating that it is not as if only a section of society was disabled as the list may include a wider section, he added, " If we go by the actual meaning of the word 'disabled' as being " not able to perform a specific task", even the Indian media is disabled. For, it cannot reach each and every section of our society." " In fact, the media is largely losing out on the viewership of the entire population of the " disabled"," the official said. There are many courses in India, which can help the media to connect with the disabled, but it needs to have a desire to reach out to these people.

Stating that a word- to- word translation into sign language did not make the disabled understand, the official said, “ The person who translates should be a master in Indian Sign Language (ISL), because it's not only the words but also expressions which are needed to be translated.”

Four years on, Tigers up by 66%

As per the recent tiger census, the big cat population in the State has increased by 66 per cent, Minister of Forests Patangrao Kadam informed the council on Wednesday. According to the last year's tiger census, which was carried out by Indian Wildlife Institute (IWI) in three stages, a minimum 160, maximum 196 and an average of 169 tigers have been found across the State.

As regards the methodology used in the census, a report tabled by the government said that untill year 2005, national wildlife census would be carried out every four years by a single method of counting pugmarks. In case of tigers, the procedure would be actual spottings, counting pugmarks and other secondary evidences.

However, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests found many discrepancies in this system and accordingly the IWI used the improved system for the 2010 tiger census.

They released their census on July 16, 2007. The report said that including Melghat, Pench and Tadoba- Andhari reserves along with others, a total of 4273 square km housed a minimum of 76, maximum of 131 and an average of 103 tigers.

However, all the areas in the State were not considered in the 2006 census. For one, the 2006 Census did not include Sahyadri- Sindhudurg, Nagzhira Navagaon and Bor. The figures noted in the recent census are 21, 20 and 12 respectively. The Maharashtra average has therefore increased from 103 in 2006 to 169 in 2010.

The average number of tigers in that was 1411 in 2006 has increased to 1706.

On an all- India basis, the census revealed that the number of tigers has reported an increase in Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Asam and Tamil Nadu ( Karnataka). The population is stable in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Orissa, Mizoram, North west Bengal and Kerala. The population has reduced in MP and AP.

Official neglect may shelve heliport plans

The over ambitious plans of the State Government to set up heliports in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai to increase intercity connectivity, might be put on the backburner as the state government officials are not showing much interest. Sources from the urban development department ( UDD) have confirmed that the government as well as the bureaucracy is not much interested about the implementation of the project.

The state government had selected two sites, one at Nariman Point in Mumbai and the other at Nerul in Navi Mumbai to set up heliports.

While Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) was appointed as the nodal agency for Nariman Point, City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) was appointed the consultant for Nerul site. The respective costs of the projects at Nariman Point and Nerul was Rs 131.8 crore and Rs 22.19 crore, respectively.

However, according to an official from UDD, the requirement of the viability gap funding (VGF) for both these projects is difficult to be met with and hence it is leading to a delay. " The VGF for Nariman Point site is Rs 34 crore while for the Nerul site it is Rs 6.35 crore. This amount is expected to be borne by the implementing agencies leading to the delay. VGF means the difference between the total estimated costs and the total estimated returns," claimed the official.

The presentation for these projects was made to the cabinet in February, however no decision was taken. It is also believed that since the Adarsh scam came into the limelight, relations between the state government officials and defence forces have not been good. As a result the clearances required by the defence authorities won't be coming easily, and thereby increasing the problems of the project.

These projects would be requiring clearances from a number of Central agencies including the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) along with an agreement with Airport Authority of India for air traffic control operations.

Opposition stages walkout over oil mafia issue

The Opposition on Monday staged a walkout over the calling attention motion on the oil mafia issue. The walkout was prompted after Minister Anil Deshmukh informed the legislative council that the government had written to the Centre to amend the IPC and provide for stringent action against mafia. Accusing the government of inaction and shifting responsibility to the Centre, the Opposition staged a walkout.

Home Minister R. R. Patil has also said, " The aggrieved families of Popat Shinde and ashwant Sonawane had asked for a CBI inquiry into the matter and the state is willing to do so." MLC Dhananjay Munde questioned why the government had not been able to arrest the four absconding accused in the case even after two months after the incident.

Munde also questioned whether the government will come out with a white paper on externments made by the government and also whether the government will check cell phone records of Popat Shinde, ashwant Sonawane, other accused, other officers and policemen, so as to bring out the whole truth about the extent to which the adulteration racket was spread. Munde also demanded whether the government would come out with the report that was filed by a committee that was appointed when Rs.

3500 cr fuel adulteration scam came to light. Home Minister R R Patil said that action under MCOCA had been taken against 15 accused. " Four people are absconding. These will be caught soon.

We have not let them be given bail." Regarding questions raised about the suspension of externment of Popat Shinde that was suspended Patil said, " The Home Secy has powers to decide on externments on merit to merit basis, looking at earlier court orders. The suspension of externment to Popat was done because no crime had been registered in recent past against him.

Wake up call after the initial bluster

After an initial boasting of safety of country's nuclear reactors, the Indian government seems to be finally waking up the challenges, following China suspending approval for new nuclear reactors and Germany shutting down its seven nuclear installations after Japan's nuclear crises.

Following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's orders, the Nuclear Power Corporation ( NPC,) custodian of atomic power plants, and the Strategic Forces Command ( SFC) holding nuclear buttons have been asked to conduct a safety audit of country's nuclear power plants as well as strategic projects.

It now appears that Japan's nuclear plants were well designed to withstand a quake, even up to the magnitude of 10 Richter scale.

But the designers had not taken into account the disaster that can be accrued through Tsunami. A team of Indian scientists is soon leaving Tokyo to learn lessons from the tragedy.

Experts here believe that even after Tsunami had hit the Indian shores on December 2004, government had undertaken little safety measures to secure nuclear plants. Taking the Japanese tragedy now seriously, different task forces have been assigned to look into reactor technologies and simulate natural disasters to assess if the reactor employing various technologies can survive.

Earlier, few days ago top nuclear scientists, Atomic Energy Commission ( AEC) chairperson Srikumar Banerjee and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board chairperson S S Bajaj briefed the PM on the Japanese nuclear crises.

Though, officials have been assuring that there was no threat to India from radiation, due to large distance as well as winds travelling eastwards, officials maintain there was no complacency.

" Lessons learnt from Japan's nuclear crises would definitely be incorporated in safety programmes as well as in building new reactors," a top official told Tehelka. " We would carry out a comprehensive reassessment of safety," he said.

Officials here, however, believe that except Narora Atomic Power Plant in Aligarh district of UP (zone 4), none other was in high seismic zones. The upcoming plant at Jaitaur in Maharashtra would be in zone 3.