Excelsior... Nation

Defence official
challenges Tehelka
tapes authenticity

NEW DELHI, Nov 21: A defence official accused by Tehelka of accepting money from it in ficticious arms deals, today moved the Delhi High Court ....more

BJP raking up
Ayodhya issue with
eye on up polls: Oppn

NEW DELHI, Nov 21: Opposition in the Rajya Sabha today charged the ruling BJP and Sangh Parivar with raking up Ayodhya issue with an eye on the coming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. ...more

Indo-US defence
cooperation to accelerate,
says Blackwill

NEW DELHI, Nov 21: US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill today said today there is conclusive acceleration ....more

Structure at disputed
site not damaged: HM

NEW DELHI, Nov 21: The Government today asserted that the structure at the ..more

Announcing schemes
for poor easy, tell us
how to implement: SC

NEW DELHI, Nov 21: Taking a serious view of the dozens of unimplemented pro-poor schemes formulated by the Centre and the starvation deaths in few states, the Supreme Court today asked the Gove......more

Taj made out of bound
for protestors and rallyists

NEW DELHI, Nov 21: To keep the 17th century world wonder Taj Mahal safe from hooligans and miscreants, the Supreme Court today directed the Uttar ......more

Inquiry ordered into
train accident in Bihar

PATNA, Nov 21: The railways today ordered a statutory enquiry into the train accident at Dumri Halt in Bihar last evening.............more

Prasar Bharati on
dues recovery spree

NEW DELHI, Nov 21: With around 60 defaulting agencies owing it Rs 185.26 crore, the Prasar Bharati has gone on a dues ....more

Defence official challenges Tehelka tapes authenticity

NEW DELHI, Nov 21: A defence official accused by Tehelka of accepting money from it in ficticious arms deals, today moved the Delhi High Court challenging the authenticity of news portal’s secret tapes and issuance of the notice to him by the Venkataswami Commission, probing the whole episode.

Narinder Singh, to whom the commission had issued notice on July 19 under Section 8-B of the Commission of Inquiries Act, sought direction to the panel to get the authenticity of the Tehelka tapes examined by forensic experts and get prepared a "true transcription" of the same.

Justice Mukul Mudgal after a brief hearing deferred the matter for further hearing till November 26 saying he needed more time to study the bulky documents annexed by Singh with his writ petition.

Questioning the authenticity of the Tehelka tapes, Singh’s counsel Rajiv Nayar said two expert witnesses presented by the news portal before the Commission in their statements had "categorically stated that to establish the genuineness of the tapes it will be necessary to look at the camera originals.

Tehelka’s witness Pradip Krishan had "clearly stated to the commission that the original unedited camera tapes will definitely reveal if there is any interpolation. He had also admitted that he did not have the equipment or the expertise to authenticate the camera original, Nayar told the court.

News portal’s another witness M Umashakar had told the Commission that "interpolation was possible and he could turn a man’s voice into a woman’s voice," the counsel said.

Nayar said the Commission had turned down Singh’s request to get the "unedited" tapes examined by forensic experts as serious doubts had been raised on the authenticity of the tapes submitted before it.

He said Singh was specifically questioning the September 14 order of the Commission asking the Government to withdraw its affidavit in which it had raised questions over the veracity of Tehelka’s sting operation and October 12 order declaring the tapes as "genuine".

Examination of the tapes submitted before the Commission by experts had become necessary after Tehelka’s own witnesses had raised doubts about their "genuineness", he said.

The petitioner had controverted the allegations of the news portal that he had accepted money from its reporter Samuel Mathew, Nayar said.

Tehelka tapes did not show Singh accepting any money from him contrary to its claim in the audio narration as had been recorded, he alleged.

"At no stage has the petitioner been shown as accepting or keeping the money under the table as claimed by the news portal," he said adding "in fact the money is never seen in the petitioner’s hand."

"There is, therefore a discrepancy in the tapes and transcripts in as much as the allegation is made against the petitioner that he accepted money from the Tehelka journalist," Nayar argued. (PTI)

BJP raking up Ayodhya issue with eye on up polls: Oppn

NEW DELHI, Nov 21: Opposition in the Rajya Sabha today charged the ruling BJP and Sangh Parivar with raking up Ayodhya issue with an eye on the coming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

"BJP Government is hoping to win votes in UP polls" by raising the Ayodhya issue at this point of time, Congress and CPI(M) members said participating in a calling attention motion on the October 17 storming of the make-shift temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya by VHP activists.

Though the State Government was prompt in taking action against officials, why no action was taken against VHP activists despite lodging of an FIR, asked senior Congress member Suresh Pachouri.

"VHP activists had been motivated and encouraged by the action of the UP Government. This shows the State Government is not serious and the VHP took advantage of the situation," he said.

Pachouri charged that the VHP activists got inspiration from three Union Ministers — L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati — involved in Ayodhya cases.

Sarla Maheswari (CPI-M) said despite raking up of Ayodhya issue often, the BJP prospects at the hustings in up were not bright. The BJP’s Hindutva image was spoiling the image of the country, she said.

Countering the opposition charge, BJP member Narender Mohan said it was only opposition parties that were raising Ayodhya issue and not the Government.

Referring to the Home Minister’s statement on the recent incidents at Ayodhya, Pachouri said it seemed that the statement was not prepared by the Home Ministry but by the RSS headquarters at Nagpur.

He wondered whether adequate precautionary measures were being taken to ensure law and order on Vasant Panchami Day which falls on February 17 next when VHP has threatened to start construction of Ram Temple at the disputed site.

Pachouri was frequently interrupted by BJP members who attacked the Congress for trying to politicise the issue.

Maheswari said the Home Minister’s statement was only giving protection to those who were taking law into their hands.

"The country is not protected in the hands of BJP," she said, adding the State Government could not take action when sangh parivar activists were reportedly involved in vandalism in Taj Mahal at Agra as well as in Ayodhya. The Government was not at all impartial on the Ayodya issue, she said.

Stating that UP Chief Minister Rajnath Singh was showing sensitivity to POTO but not on the Ayodhya issue, she asked whether the Chief Minister saw any similarity between the Bamiyan Buddha statue destroyed by the Taliban and the historic Babri masque. (PTI)

Indo-US defence cooperation to accelerate, says Blackwill

NEW DELHI, Nov 21: US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill today said today there is conclusive acceleration in defence cooperation between the two countries to stamp out global terrorism.

He said United States and India were on the brink of a major relationship after President George Bush met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on November 9 in "the most substantive summit between the two countries in the past 50 years."

Mr Blackwill said the long-term strategic cooperation between Washington and New Delhi will increase in future. "This will include joint military exercises, sale of US arms to India and educational exchange programmes. We anticipate a robust Indo-US relationship in a new era of global cooperation."

He was addressing a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) of South Asia here. The Ambassador said the US-led war against terrorism will not end until terrorism ends against both countries.

"A terrorist is a terrorist. They are not freedom fighters. No country will be permitted to provide sanctuaries to terrorists," Ambassador Robert Blackwill said in reply to a question about Pakistan’s support for militants battling in Jammu and Kashmir. The United States had imposed economic and military sanctions in may 1998 when India tested its nuclear devices at Pokhran. However, now both the countries are holding a defence policy group meeting in the first week of December.

Two high-ranking officials are due to visit New Delhi soon. They are Admiral Dennis Blair, Commander-in-Chief of US Pacific Command, and Mr Douglas Feith, Under-Secretary of Defence Policy.

Mr Blackwill said India has high technology capabilities and the United States is interested in a fresh joint initiative to counter cyber terrorism. At the same time, intelligence cooperation is poised to increase between the two countries.

"We have common democratic and overlapping international interests," he said adding that the new focus areas were trade, finance, commerce, energy and environment.

Mr Blackwill, who interacted closely with President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell before and after Mr Vajpayee’s Washington visit, said the United States regards India as a central player in the formation of a provincial government in Afghanistan in the post-Taliban scenario.

He said the initial phase of international coalition’s war against terrorism has succeeded in destroying the Al Qaeda network. "We have put plenty of resources to catch its leader Osama bin Laden and narrow down his options. Eventually, we will get him." (UNI)

di 31external indo-us three last new delhi

mr blackwill said afghanistan was a training ground for islamicterrorists who went on killing innocent people. ‘’the war againstterrorism will continue. We have made that absolutely clear rightfrom the beginning. There are no good terrorists or bad terrorists.Terrorists are terrorists. They are not freedom fighters.’’

when asked about the possibility of taliban reeling under usattacks and fleeing to take refuge in pakistan-occupied kashmir, hesaid the terrorists are not safe anywhere now. No country will beallowed to provide them a sanctuary.

The ambassador said pakistan had provided valuable informationabout the whereabouts of the taliban leadership. The united statesvalues islamabad’s vital role in its war against terrorism, he said.

On being asked why the united states did not react in the past 12 years when pakistan was formenting terrorism in kashmir. Mrblackwill’s response was frank and honest: ‘’the us policy againstterrorism changed after september 11 attacks on the world tradecenter in new york and the pentagon in washington.’’ uni su ijd hs1517jmu 15 20

Structure at disputed site not damaged: HM

NEW DELHI, Nov 21: The Government today asserted that the structure at the disputed site in Ayodhya has not been altered by VHP as alleged by opposition parties and said security has been tightened after the October 17 incident during which vhp activists stormed the make-shift temple.

"No addition, alteration or damage to the structure was carried out by these (VHP) persons," Home Minister L K Advani told Rajya Sabha in a calling attention statement.

Fully conscious of its responsibility of maintaining peace and communal harmony, Advani said the State Government was directed to fix responsibility and punish the guilty after the incident.

Advani said the Government was of the view that the Ayodhya problem could be solved either through mutual consensus among all the parties concerned or on the basis of adjudication by courts.

Quoting reports from the Uttar Pradesh Government, he said two senior officials, a magistrate and a Deputy Superintendent of Police, responsible for the incident have been placed under suspension.

CRPF has also replaced the company on duty by another company, transferred the Deputy Commandant and an Inspector of the unit responsible for the incident and departmental action has been initiated against the officials concerned.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC as a measure to further strengthen security arrangements there have already been promulgated and steps have been taken to regulate Darshan by forming small batches of 15-20 devotees so that there is no crowding near the makeshift temple at any point of time, Advani said.

"All the vacancies of the magistrates, police officers and other ranks have been filled up so that duty officers are available as per the security scheme round the clock to take care of any eventuality, " he said.

Briefly narrating the facts of the incident, Advani said VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and S C Dikshit along with 20 other persons, who had come through the gangway to have Darshan, made their way through the bars and entered the isolation cordon where devotees are normally not allowed.

On receiving the information, senior police and district officials reached the spot immediately and on their arrival they found that these persons were sitting inside the premises and singing hymns and raising slogans, Advani said.

All these persons were persuaded by the local officials to vacate the premises, he said, adding a non-cognisable fir was registered against them for obstructing public servants in the discharge of their functions. (PTI)

Announcing schemes for poor easy, tell us how to implement: SC

"Don’t leave the governance to the court," said a bench comprising Justice B N Kirpal and Justice K G Balakrishnan while directing the Centre to "indicate as to how it will ensure that the schemes formulated by it are implemented so that benefit is received by those for whom they are intended."

This direction came on a petition filed by People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) highlighting the non-implementation of the pro-poor schemes launched by the Centre through the years and also the starvation deaths in Orissa and other states.

The petition also sought a direction from the court for the implementation of the food for work schemes in the drought affected areas while requesting the court to make right to food a fundamental right.

During the hearing of the matter, petitioner’s counsel Cecil Gonsalves and Aparna Bhat pointed out that most of the states have not lifted their quota of food grains allotted by the centre on the ground that the centre was not giving the costs of transportation.

Gonsalves also pointed out that the identification of the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families have not yet been completed by some states resulting in non-implementation of the schemes announced by the Centre for this category of population.

He said while some of the states have implemented the midday meal scheme successfully resulting in a higher attendance rate of poor children in schools, some other states have abolished the scheme altogether.

Taking the example of orissa, the counsel said orissa had allocated five paisa per child per day but still it did not carry on with the scheme. "How wonderful, five paisa per child per day," was the comment from the bench.

When the non-implementation of various schemes were narrated by gonsalves, the bench observed "what is the purpose of proclaiming the schemes from public platform without knowing the manner in which it will be implemented".

On September 17 the Supreme Court had termed the steps taken by states to identify bpl families in starvation affected areas as a "tragicomedy" and directed 13 States and Union Territories to identify them in three weeks’ time and immediately lift their food grain quota from FCI and implement the food-for-work programme.

The schemes on which the court had sought status report were the employment assurance scheme now modified as Sampoorna Gramin Yojana, midday meal scheme, Integrated Child Development Scheme, National Benefit Maternity Scheme for BPL pregnant women, national old age pension scheme for destitutes over 65 years of age, Annapoorna scheme and Antyodya Anna Yojana. (PTI)

Taj made out of bound for protestors and rallyists

NEW DELHI, Nov 21: To keep the 17th century world wonder Taj Mahal safe from hooligans and miscreants, the Supreme Court today directed the Uttar Pradesh Government to implement its contingency security plan envisaging to make the Mughal monument out of bound for protestors and rallyists.

Accepting the contingency security plan for Taj made by the Uttar Pradesh Government, a bench comprising Justice M B Shah, Justice B N Agrawal and Justice Arijit Pasayat directed the police to give adequate personnel so that no mob or protestors could come within 500 metres of the monument.

The court had taken notice of the October 14 invasion of a huge crowd of BJP youth wing activists into the premises of Taj Mahal when counsel Vijay Panjwani mentioned it before a bench headed by Justice Shah the very next day.

On the directive of the court, the Chief Secretary of the State Government Ajay Prakash Srivastava filed an affidavit today admitting that the security around the monument was not adequate to meet sudden influx of a mob or protestors.

In his affidavit, the Secretary said no damage had been caused to the monument on October 14 but as a precautionary measure the State Government has prepared a formal contingency plan showing its commitment to safety of Taj Mahal.

The Government said "in the prevailing global situation, the security of Taj Mahal has become very important. On an average five to seven thousand Indian and foreign tourists visit Taj everyday and the number goes up to about ten to twelve thousand per day in the months from November to February.

"It has been observed in the past that on the eve of political rallies, seminars, conventions and festivals, the number of visitors to the Taj is greatly increased," it said citing this as a major reason for chalking out of the plan.

"The underlying idea behind this contingency plan is to check the sudden influx of visitors and to keep them at least 500 metres away from the main monument so that crowd does not get unrestricted entry inside the Taj Mahal," the Chief Secretary said.

"No one carrying flags, banners and placards should be permitted to reach anywhere near Taj Mahal," he said adding apart from the deployment of personnel inside Taj, contingent reserve force would be kept at various gates of the monument and control room.

He said Additional Superintendent of Police (City) Agra will be responsible for proper rehearsal of the contingency plan and he would also coordinate with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Additional District Magistrate (City) Agra to ensure smooth implementation of the plan. (PTI)

Inquiry ordered into train accident in Bihar

PATNA, Nov 21: The railways today ordered a statutory enquiry into the train accident at Dumri Halt in Bihar last evening killing 13 people and injuring ten others after a pilot engine rammed into the rear of the Mokama-Howrah Train.

Commissioner for Railway Safety (CRS), Eastern Railway, R P Agrawal would begin the enquiry from tomorrow, an Eastern Railway spokesman said.

Rail traffic was completely disrupted between Howrah and Patna because of delay in clearing of the debris at the accident site and heated arguments between locals and railway officials over the removal of the bodies, he said.

The local people disallowed the bodies from being cremated till the arrival of Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, who was on his way to the accident site.

Meanwhile, five of the deceased have been identified as Railway gangmen Mahinder Singh, Bhasho Singh, Uchit Shao, Ramswaroop, Jairam.

Six of the critically injured were taken to the Danapur Railway Hospital here while others were being treated at mokama. Medical vans and cranes from Danapur and Jhajha were clearing the down track where two of the bogies, including the guard van, had derailed.

Eastern Railway General Manager Arvind Sharma and Divisional Railway Manager (Danapur) S K Budhalakoti were camping at the spot to oversee the operations.

The railway spokesman said several important trains including the up and down Patna-Howrah Shatabdi Express, the Patna-Tatanagar Superfast Express were cancelled due to the accident.

Routes of some trains from Howrah and Patna were being changed, he said.

Giving the details of the accident, the spokesman said the engine of the 214 dn Mokama-Howrah passenger train, which reached Dumri Halt at 5.35 pm, suddenly failed.

The Harauni-Sealdah passenger which was coming from Barauni was stopped at the outer signal of Barahiya Station.

To clear the track, the Barahiya Station Master decided to send the engine of the Barauni-Sealdah Passenger train to Dumri Halt for shifting the stranded train to another track when it dashed against it derailing two bogies, including the guard van.

Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi has expressed grief over the accident and called for adequate compensation for dependents of each of the dead and injured.

She directed the district administration of Patna and Lakhisarai to extend full cooperation to railway officials. (PTI)