Excelsior... Nation

Agartala-Dhaka
bus service begins

AGARTALA, Sept 18: The much-awaited Agartala-Dhaka bus service will be flagged off in Bangladesh capital tomorrow marking another...more

DMK meet likely to
sow seeds of political realignment

CHENNAI, Sept 18: A crucial three-day conference of the DMK, a key constituent of the NDA, which begins at Villipuram.....more

Forest research institute documents 1,400 plant species

SHIMLA, Sept 18: The Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI), dedicated to the cause of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu....more

Eight Pak prisoners
to be deported by
Sept 30: Soli

NEW DELHI, Sept 18: Eight of the 16 Pakistani prisoners detained in Indian jails for .....more

Efficiency, integrity
should be hallmark of bureaucracy: Rio

KOHIMA, Sept 18: In an effort to make administration more efficient, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has .....more

BJP confident of winning elections in four states

PANAJI, Sep 18: Bharatiya Janata Party president M Venkaiah Naidu today asserted that mid-term polls to Lok Sabha is "quite unlikely" but the party ......more

India reports impressive nuclear power output

MUMBAI, Sept 18: India generated 19,358 million units of nuclear energy during 2002-03, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Dr Anil ......more

Bhujbal accused of
political inteference
in police postings

MUMBAI, Sept 18: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has .....more

Agartala-Dhaka bus service begins

AGARTALA, Sept 18: The much-awaited Agartala-Dhaka bus service will be flagged off in Bangladesh capital tomorrow marking another important step by India and its neighbour to consolidate people-to-people contact.

Bangladesh Communication (Transport) Minister Najmul Huda will inauguarate the bus service at Dhaka in the presence of Union Road Transport Minister B C Khanduri and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.

Khanduri, Huda and Sarkar accompanied by a delegation of journalists, poets, litterateurs and politicians of Tripura and Bangladesh would return to Agartala on the same day to attend the flag-off on the Indian side later.

The decision to introduce the bus service was taken at a meeting of joint Economic Commission of India and Bangladesh held in Dhaka on July 16 in the presence of External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha.

The Agartala-Dhaka bus service will commence after nearly four years of successful run of Kolkata-Dhaka bus service.

Passengers movement from Bangladesh to India is one of the highest in the world considering the fact that the Indian High Commission at Dhaka and the two consulates at Chittagong and Rajshahi issue nearly 3000 visas to Bangladeshi nationals everyday.

With Sheikh Hasina at the helm of affairs in Bangladesh a trial run of Agartala-Dhaka bus service was held on July 12, 2001. However, due to elections shortly afterwards in that country no commercial run could be held.

A delegation of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation led by it’s chairman Taimur Alam Khandakar had visited Agartala on Sept 9 and finalised the modalities for the bus service with the representatives of Tripura Road Transport Corporation.

He later told reporters that the round fare for the double journey in a 40-seater bus would be ten US dollars and there would be a halt between the two places.

Issues like providing refreshment to passengers and ensuring their security would be looked after by the respective countries in their territories. (PTI)

DMK meet likely to sow seeds of political realignment

CHENNAI, Sept 18: A crucial three-day conference of the DMK, a key constituent of the NDA, which begins at Villipuram tomorrow, is likely to sow the seeds for a political realignment in Tamil Nadu.

DMK sources said the party was not in a hurry to snap its ties with the NDA and decide about its electoral strategy now as there was no immediate prospects of a Lok Sabha polls, yet the views of the Speakers at the conference would be taken into consideration for deciding the party stand.

This is for the first time in recent times that a major party event was being held without the presence of its master strategist Union Minister Murasoli Maran, who is undergoing treatment in the Apollo hospitals here.

The programme of the conference had been tailored in such a way that it would pave the way for smooth change of guard in the party, which is imminent, the sources said.

DMK deputy general secretary and party supremo M Karunanidhi’s son, M K Stalin, had been asked to preside over the conference, a honour which was normally bestowed on the party president.

The organisers of the conference and former State Minister K Ponmudi, a Stalin loyalist, was sparing no effort to make the conference a big success, which is likely to pave the way for younger elements to take over the party reins.

The DMK, which has firmly opposed the alleged misuse of pota by Tamil Nadu Government, was likely to rake up the issue at the conference in a big way. The conference is expected to pass a resolution demanding the centre to scrap "the black law", the sources said.

Karunanidhi has already stated that the party would organise an agitation against POTA and he would himself not hesitate to lead it.

Enthused by the Supreme Court verdict stopping privatisation of oil majors, HPCL and BPCL, the party is expected to pass a resolution opposing ‘indiscriminate’ privatisation of profitable PSUs. In this connection, the meeting is expected to pass a resolution against the Union Coal Ministry’s moves to reduce Centre’s stakes in Neyveli Lignite Corporation.

Karunanidhi, who will chair the party’s high powered committee meeting tomorrow, will formally approve the resolutions on political and economic situation.

He has also described the conference as a turning point and said the "winds are blowing in favour" of his party in the state.

All the District Secretaries had been asked to spell out the views of the party cadres on the political situation, the sources said.

The conference is also likely to discuss the plight of the Cauvery delta farmers, the "undemocratic and anti-people" policies of the AIADMK Government in the state.(PTI)

Forest research institute documents 1,400 plant species

SHIMLA, Sept 18: The Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI), dedicated to the cause of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, here has conducted a survey of flora in the cold deserts and higher reaches falling in these states and collected specimen of about 6000 plants grown in these areas.

Of these, 1,400 plants have been totally accessed (identified) and documented by the institute.Remaining are being accessed.

According to HFRI director Surinder Sharma, these plants had also been supplied to the Botanical Survey of India, Delhi, and the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. He said the survey had been conducted during the period of four years. During the ecological assessment, plant species were collected and maintained in the institute’s herbarium, Mr Sharma said, adding documentation of these plants has also been done.

These plants were collected from Leh and Ladakh, cold deserts of Jammu and Kashmir, Lahaul and Spiti Sangla and Chitkul Wild Life Sanctuary and other areas of Kinnaur,Kasapat of Shimla and from remote areas like Gamgul of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh.

Other areas from where these species of plants, which have the medicinal value, had been collected include Rupi Bhaba Wild Life Sanctuary, the great Himalayan National Park , Ranuka Wild Life Sanctuary and mining areas falling in Sirmaur district.

India is one of the 12 major mega diversity countries of the world and possesses a rich flora of about 17,000 flowering species with a high degree of endemism. These endemic plants being restricted only to a particular ecological niche, habitat and biogeographic region, need special care and specific conservation plans as they are found to be more vulnerable to different sets of ecological conditions.

Mr Sharma said India was at the tenth position so for the biodiversity is concerned. He said India had eight per cent of the world’s biodiversity whereas it has only two per cent of the earth area. The Himalayas covering the ten per cent of the country’s total area provides an important habitat not only to the flora but also to the fauna.

However, the fragmentation of ecological factors with the passage of time leads to the habitat loss, mainly due to biotic pressure, he added. (UNI)

Efficiency, integrity should be hallmark of bureaucracy: Rio

KOHIMA, Sept 18: In an effort to make administration more efficient, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has stressed that bureaucracy should play a crucial role in bringing a change for the good of the state.

Addressing a meeting of Secretaries and head of departments here yesterday, the Chief Minister asserted that the Government’s most important commitment was to bring about a change for the better.

Stating that there was still a long way to go to bring the state at par with the prosperous ones, Mr Rio said his Government’s efforts needed to be directed towards capitalising on the strengths to solve the problems confronting the statewhich would usher in an era of prosperity and progress.

Exhorting the officials Mr Rio said efficiency, effectiveness and integrity should be the hallmark of the bureaucracy. The good governance and reaching the benefits of the programmes to the people at the grass roots was largely dependent on the bureaucrats’ performance he added.

Mr Rio further called upon the officials to improve functioning of the departments in the Secretariat, directorate and the field offices by setting personal standards by motivating people or through vigilance over their functioning and punishing the guilty ones.

The Chief Minister pointed out that unlike in the past, there was no difficulty in releasing the budgeted funds whenever needed.

He also said with the co-operation of a "friendly" Government at the Centre, Nagland had obtained a one-time grant to wipe out the deficits of the past. There would be no excuses for delay in execution of plan and non-plan schemes, the Chief Minister maintained.

Any delay would have to be accounted for and responsibility fixed, he added.

Referring to the high cost of construction of Government buildings as compared to private buildings Mr Rio informed that a committee had been constituted under the chairmanship of the Additional Chief Secretary (transport and communications) to look into such matters.

He said, besides ensuring a co-ordinated and inter-sectoral approach, each department was expected to show initiatives and strive so as to function in a "visionary manner".

He also emphasised the need to keep the minister in charge correctly informed of all important issues particularly in personnel and financial matters and act in accordance with prescribed rules.

The Chief Minister further said departments should keep in touch with their counterparts at the Centre to obtain maximum fund under the central ministry’s ten per cent reserve.

Alluding to his recent visit to Srinagar for the Inter-State Council meeting and to Gangtok for the North Eastern Council (NEC) meeting, Mr Rio said that everywhere there was talk of good governance and to improve the situation. (UNI)

BJP confident of winning elections in four states

PANAJI, Sep 18: Bharatiya Janata Party president M Venkaiah Naidu today asserted that mid-term polls to Lok Sabha is "quite unlikely" but the party would review the situation after it wins Assembly elections in four of the five states going to polls soon.

"We are confident of forming the Government in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and opening our account in Mizoram, but we are not for the mid-term polls for Lok Sabha as of now," Mr Naidu told mediapersons here today.

The Assembly polls in five states, he said, would be a "trend-setter’ for the future of the BJP and as such the party considers them as "semi-finals". The BJP would go it alone in the elections with its own manifesto, he added.

Asked whether Ayodhya would become the main plank in the electoneering, Mr Naidu said development, good governance, national security and national unity would form the core election issues.

Replying to questions, the BJP chief ruled out resignation of Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Human Resource Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and others in the wake of chargesheet filed by the CBI in Ayodhya structure demolition case as the issue was "political in nature".

He said there was no need for anyone to resign and the question would not arise as the issue did not involve "any moral turpitude or corruption".

"As the BJP leadership continued to believe in rule of law, we did not interfere with the authorities dealing with the case unlike the Congress which meddled with such cases as they rode back to power in the past," Mr Naidu said.

India, he said, should learn from neighbouring country like Thailand where institutions with Hindu names continued to exist as the countrymen there proudly talked of their ancestors. He cited examples of Bank of Ayodhya, Kubera Bank and Garuda Airlines and cultural shows related to epics Ramayana and Mahabharat in Thailand.

Ruling out any paradigm shift on the BJP’s stand on Ayodhya, Mr Naidu appealed to the Muslim leadership to close the issue and allow construction of Ram mandir at the birth place of Lord Rama without falling prey to vote bank politics.

The BJP, at the same time, got its morale booster in the wake of the historical and archaeological evidence on the structures at Ayodhya presented by the Archaeological Survey of India, he said.

The BJP chief also ruled out pressing for any legislation in Parliament paving way for the mandir construction as "we neither like it to be defeated in the House nor want to impose our views on the NDA partners". (UNI)

India reports impressive nuclear power output

MUMBAI, Sept 18: India generated 19,358 million units of nuclear energy during 2002-03, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Dr Anil Kakodkar has said.

Addressing the 47th session of the general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) yesterday at Vienna, he said the annual overall capacity factor of 90 per cent achieved by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) is among the best in the world.

Dr Kakodkar, who is also the Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), said that the Kakrapar Atomic Power Station-1 was adjudged the best performing unit in the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) category.

He said the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) peer reviews for Kaiga generating station and Rajasthan Atomic Power Station 3 and 4 was completed in January 2002 and January 2003 respectively. All the operating nuclear power stations are now ISO 14001 certified.

The en-masse coolant channel replacement and ugpradation of unit 2 of the Madras Atomic Power Station was completed in a record time of about one-and-a-half-years, he informed.

Fast breeder test reactor which is in operation at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research since 1985 with indigenous uranium-plutonium carbide fuel has achieved a burn up of 1,03,000 mwd/t without any fuel failure, he said.

Dr Kakodkar said that the growth of nuclear energy in the developing countries particularly in fast growing economies with large population should be a matter of global interest in view of its potential to protect the earth from irreversible climate changes.

"Wherever there is no genuine concern, barriers to deployment of nuclear energy technologies need to be examined and brought down through a pragmatic approach."

He said looking from the perspective of a large and growing economy like India, with its small hydrocarbon reserves and depleting coal reserves, development of nuclear energy based on a closed cycle approach enabling fuller use of uranium and thorium is the only way to meet development aspirations of over a billion people.

Based on a recent study, India needs to reach around 5,000 KWH/Capita of annual electricity availability to assure a quality of life consistent with modern norms.

Dr Kakodkar said that this would be possible only if the share of nuclear power is at least 25 per cent.

"We are therefore pursuing a comprehensive research and development programme to explore newer technologies to widen the scope of nuclear energy use," India aims to produce 20,000 mega watt by the year 2020, he added.

He said that programmes are already underweight to develop fast breeder reactor fuel cycle with shorter doubling time, clean up of uranium-233, accelerator driven systems for better doubling time with thorium fuel cycle and for waste transmutations and a compact high temperature reactor.

These developments would help deployment of nuclear energy faster, further simplification of radioactive waste issue and expand the role of nuclear energy as a primary energy source, he said. (UNI)