Excelsior... Nation

Army rocked by scandals in 2004, adopts ist-ever war doctrine

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: A spate of scandals — ranging from fake encounters to excesses — plagued the Indian Army in 2004, a year otherwise notable for witnessing the adoption of the force’s first-ever war doctrine and the long-awaited measures for lowering the age profile of operational commanders.

A major who resorted to fake encounters in the icy wastes of Siachen in the quest for medals and promotion, the "ketchup" colonel who did the same in the north-east, the "booze" Brigadier committing fraud in canteen accounts and the Rashtriya Rifles officer who allegedly raped a mother and daughter in Kashmir were the few who made the force figure in the news — for all the wrong reasons.

However, the army took prompt action against all these tainted officers, dismissing three from service, while awarding imprisonment to two of them. Court Martial proceedings of the fourth have commenced.

The Army adopted its first-ever war doctrine, which envisages a short war, fought under the shadow of terrorism and the nuclear weapons and accordingly lays down procedures for the modern force.

"We postulate any future war being short and intense, and being held in the probable backdrop of terrorism and nuclear weapons. The new doctrine makes provisions for all these factors, as well as incorporating the concepts of network-centric operations and tri-service jointness," Army Chief Gen N C Vij said at the unveiling of the document during the Army Commanders’ conference this year.

The doctrine, chiefly framed by Chief of Army Staff-designate Lt Gen J J Singh during his tenure as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Army Training Command (Artrac), also incorporates the Army’s formula for fighting insurgency, specially in J&K.

"We follow a three-pronged approach — preventing infiltration, going after militants in the hinterland, and finally and most important, winning the hearts and minds of the people," Gen Vij said.

The other major achievment this year was the long-awaited acceptance of the recommendations of the Ajai Vikram Singh committee on cadre reforms.

"The clearance of this report will ensure enhanced career prospects in the Army and reduce the age of the combative forces," Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, while announcing the Government’s decision to accept the recommendations.

The need to reduce the age of combat-level officers was badly felt during the 1999 Kargil conflict when a number of battalion commanders were not able to keep pace with the combat personnel under their charge in the mountainous terrain, defence sources said.

A battalion commander in the Indian Army — a Colonel — has the average age of 42, thus being five to seven years older than his counterparts in the Pakistani, Chinese, Israeli or other armies, they noted.

Though only a few of the recommendations have been accepted in the first phase, they will have significant results.

An officer will now become a captain after two years, instead of four years as is the practice now, and a major in six years instead of 10 years. Promotion up to Lt Col will become time-bound at about 13 years of service, down from the present 18 years. This rank, which had until now been the first selection board rank, is held by officers in command of operational units — battalions and Brigades.

"This level had been the point of exit from service for several officers, as the number of vacancies for these command positions was limited. This will now change....For the better," the sources said.

The accelerated promotion time-table will address the common feeling of ‘career stagnation’ in junior officers, which had led to early retirement in some cases, while it would also not deter prospective candidates from considering a career in the armed forces.

This year also saw the appointment of the first Sikh to head the Indian Army, with Lt Gen Joginder Jaswant Singh being named to succeed Gen Vij.

Lt Gen J J Singh, currently heading the Army’s Western Command, is a highly-decorated officer and much respected in the force.

The Indian Army also accomplished another major feat this year, when Major Rajvendra Singh Rathore won for the country its first individual silver medal in the Olympic Games.

Major Rathore, a Grenadiers officer, won the medal in the men’s double-trap shooting event, becoming the only Indian to climb the medals rostrum at Athens.

Buoyed by his success, the army announced its decision to commence a ‘mission olympics,’ training its personnel in certain sports to the level required to excel internationally. (UNI)

Modi withstands two BJP rebellions this year

AHMEDABAD, Dec 27: It was another year of withstanding political storms for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

He faced two rebellions from within ruling BJP but survived both and instead had his attackers cowering and apologising for their public outburst.

Even his predecessor Keshubhai Patel, who had termed the political situation in the state BJP as a ‘mini emergency’, retracted his statement within a few hours.

First, it was the powerful Koli community leader and Gujarat BJP MLA Purshottam Solanki who had on May 27 openly defied Modi’s ‘working style’ and called him a ‘Hitler’ before senior leaders. Then it was the TV actress Smriti (tulsi) Irani who on December 13 in Surat city threatened to go on a fast unto death if he does not resign.

Irani too had to eat her words barely hours later and give a televised apology after being pulled up and directed by the party’s top brass.

Solanki, who began this rebellion barely days’ after the state BJP’s ‘poor show’ in Parliamentary polls, sought Modi’s ouster before mediapersons during the birthday celebrations of a veteran leader at a farm in Gandhinagar and also charged MLA’s were being "neglected".

However, two days later bitten by the show cause notice bug from the party high command, Solanki apologised for his outburst against Modi.

After his political ‘enemies’ were silenced, Modi was then the alleged target of Pakistan’s ISI trained ‘fidayeens’ who had come to assasinate him and were gunned down by the police on June 15 on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

The alleged assasins included Ishrat Jehan, a girl from Mumbra in Mumbai, who wanted revenge for the post-Godhra riots.

Just when the dust around him had begun to settle, dissidence in BJP again came to the fore when Keshubhai Patel refused to attend the party’s national executive in Mumbai in May end and termed the situation in the Gujarat BJP as ‘mini emergency’ as MLA’s were working in an atmosphere of ‘fear’. There was no missing the fact that Patel was targetting Modi.

However phone calls from former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani prompted Patel to take the next flight to Mumbai on a wheel chair.

Strangely, even at the airport, Patel maintained his anti-Modi stand without naming him as the source of the trouble in Gujarat BJP and also attended the meeting but he made a volte face on his return to Gujarat and said all was forgotten and the situation in the party was "normal".

Earlier in April, Modi was pulled up by the party high command for derogatory remarks against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul during Lok Sabha election campaign.

Modi, known both for his stoic silence and his sealing replies, brushed aside the episode by using cricket parlance calling it a ‘no-ball’ and ‘wide ball’.

If Modi managed to overcome the political storms this year, he is still to face the ghosts of the post-Godhra riots with the first ever riots case against him being registered in a Himmatnagar district court.

The complainants, NRI’s of minority community, have slapped a compensation suit against the Gujarat Chief Minister for the death of two persons who were attacked by a mob on the outskirts of the city during the riots.

The State Government also passed the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime (Gujcoc) bill in the Assembly session as POTA, the anti-Terrorist law, was being repelled.

The Gujarat BJP ends the year with one issue that is yet to be resolved and that is the selection of the new state president as the tenure of Rajendrasinh Rana has ended and he has faced some opposition from party workers too.

It was a year of gains for the Gujarat Congress who crept their way up and gained seven seats in the Lok Sabha polls but under the new leadeship.

Probably, taking a cue from rebellion in state BJP, Gujarat Congress MLA from Anjar Assembly seat of Kutch district Nima Acharya raised the ‘foreign origin’ issue of party president Sonia Gandhi much to the embarrasment of the party.

Akin to dissidence in state BJP, several party workers led by leader of the opposition in the Assembly Amarsinh Chaudhary, also voiced their concern over former GPCC president Shankersinh Vaghela and his ‘Shakti Dal’.

Chaudhary led a team of supporters to meet senior Congress leaders in Delhi, that resulted in the removal of vaghela as GPCC president and the appointment of B K Ghadvi as the new president.

Vaghela’s luck however stuck with him and he was soon sworn in as Union Textiles Minister after the UPA Goveremnt was formed.

An ailing Chaudhary passed away after a prolonged illness.

Academician and his deputy in the Assembly Arjun Modhvadia got into his shoes and is the current leader of opposition in the Gujarat Assembly. (PTI)

Sonia Gandhi rules by achieving the "near impossible"

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: It was undoubtedly the year of Congress president Sonia Gandhi who achieved the "near impossible" task of handing out a shock defeat to the BJP-led NDA at the Centre, which deluded itself by a false "feel good" factor, and an equally surprise decision to give up the post of the Prime Minister which was hers.

It was also the end of an era for the party with the former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, hailed as the "father of economic reforms" and the first Premier outside Nehru-Gandhi family to complete a five year term, died.

For 2004 started as one of the worst of years for the Congress president, who was driven to the wall as the party lost badly in Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh held in late 2003 on the back of a saffron surge.

Congress was the underdog and BJP the favourite as 2003 rang out and no one in his wildest dreams, including a large section of the media, spoke of Gandhi and her party having a ghost of a chance of gaining power in Delhi as talk of early poll was in the air.

With Atal Bihari Vajpayee being projected as one of the best Prime Ministers India had, the BJP-led NDA advanced the general elections to April-May from October to reap the rewards of "India shining". But, it was not to be.

"I bet none of you present here would have thought that this year I will be here as leader of the ruling party as everyone of you felt I will continue to be opposition leader", these opening remarks of Gandhi at a recent international conference reflected the mood when 2004 rung in.

But Gandhi made all the difference. Caught by the alliance bug in the wake of Shimla conclave of the party, she marshalled her forces in such a way that the saffron combine, entrenched in power since 1998, failed to match.

And when the game was won, Gandhi again did the impossible by renouncing Prime Ministership and nominating Manmohan Singh for the top Government job—an action which resulted in the AICC likening her to Mahatma Gandhi.

Determined to defeat the BJP at its own game - alliance building - Gandhi walked the exra mile in search of friends —from her next door neighbour in Delhi—Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP to DMK’s M Karunanidhi, whose party’s participation in the United Front Government, had resulted in its downfall by Congress.

She also drove down to the residence of Sharad Pawar, who broke away from Congress in 1999 on the issue of her foreign origin and formed the NCP. Neither did she publicly show the humiliation when Lalu Prasad of the RJD gave a mere four seats to her party in Bihar, one of the most important states in the Hindi heartland.

Gandhi was acquiring new friends and was not standing on prestige as head of the country’s oldest and largest political party having Governments in over a dozen states.

The tone of Congress, which felt at Pachmarhi session in September 1998 that coalitions was a "transient phase", changed in Shimla where it underlined the need for coming together of all secular forces to defeat the BJP-led NDA.

The widow of Rajiv Gandhi, who was often derided by the BJP and Sangh Parivar on her leadership qualities, felt in the years of wilderness that unless the party captured the Centre, there was not much use of holding power in the states.

Aware that Vajpayee was able to lead the coalition for six long years as he was liberal with allies, Gandhi took an ambivalent position on the leadership issue in the event of the party led alliance came to power. This was to raise the comfort level of some allies like NCP.

A similar position on the issue of separate Telangana helped Congress to forge ties with the TRS, championing the cause of a separate state and making mincemeat of Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP in Andhra Pradesh in both the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.

In fact, the results in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh turned the tide against the BJP-led coalition as the saffron outfit floundered while retaining allies and nine of them left the NDA in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls.

Gandhi brought in Vilasrao Deshmukh, Y S Rajshekhar Reddy and N Dharam Singh as Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka respectively while Sushil Kumar Shinde and S M Krishna were made Governors.

A reason for the defeat of the BJP-led NDA was the failure of the saffron party and its allies in the south where they came a cropper in Tamil Nadu, won only one in Kerala and a handful in Andhra Pradesh crumbing the fort of Naidu, who with 27 MPs had wielded great influence in the NDA earlier.

The Lok Sabha polls saw Gandhi shifting her constituency from Amethi to Rae Bareli and inducting her son Rahul into active politics, in a move seen as making him ‘heir apparent’. Rahul was made party nominee from Amethi, a seat once held by Rajiv Gandhi.

She dispatched senior leader Salman Khurshid to UP as PCC chief in what he himself described as "make or break" opportunity in a state where the party was getting increasingly at loggerheads with SP led by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The defeat in Kerala in the Lok Sabha polls where the Congress failed to win a single seat of the total 20 seats led to Chief Minister A K Antony giving way to Oomen Chandy. The party also did badly in Uttaranchal and Punjab, where it is ruling as also in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

But the silver lining was in Gujarat, where the party won 12 of the 25 seats, sending shockwaves in the saffron party which considered the Narendra Modi ruled state as its laboratory.

The challenges ahead for Gandhi and her party in the new year are the Assembly elections in Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana.

While Haryana is being seen in party circles as a ripe fruit ready to be plucked in view of handsome results in the Lok Sabha polls, it is expected that with an alliance with Shibu Soren led JMM, going will be smooth in Jharkhand.

The party, however, faces a major problem in Bihar where the ruling RJD, led by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, is a key ally of the UPA, second only to Congress in strength.

The Rabri Devi Government appears to have incurred a lot of anti-incumbency against it. A section of Congress wants to align with Paswan but another believes it would have to willy-nilly go with Lalu.

Gandhi, who is also UPA chairperson, has to manage the contradictions in the ruling alliance with the Left parties, supporting the Government from outside, would get increasingly restive with policies and programmes in view of the Assembly polls in West Bengal and Kerala scheduled in 2006. Congress is their main challenger there. (PTI)

2004- Kashmir talks, repeal of POTA, Naxalism dominate

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: Bumpy rides in Kashmir talks, some progress in peace processes in the north-east, repeal of stringent anti-terror law POTA and a fresh look at ways to deal with Naxalism were among the highlights in the internal security situation falling under the purview of the Union Home Ministry this year.

With the change of regime from BJP-led NDA to Congress-headed ministry, certain changes in policies were also seen especially in the approach towards tackling the Naxalism problem with the Centre backing lifting of the ban by Andhra Pradesh Government on Peoples’ War Group (PWG) and initiating talks with it.

After initial three-round of talks with Hurriyat Conference during the NDA regime, the separatist amalgam refused to come forward for talks with the UPA Government citing one excuse or the other.

The ministry under the leadership of Shivraj Patil stuck to its policy of keeping its doors open for any group willing to come forward and even re-appointed former bureuacrat N N Vohra who at the fag end of the year managed to hold parleys with founder chairman of Hurriyat, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.

The militancy situation in the State was also effectively kept under check even though mid-2004 saw a spate of suicide attacks at security camps especially of CRPF, which eventually resulted in keeping in abeyance the order of Home Ministry for deployment of Central Para Military Force in the State.

The Home Minister addressed a Chief Ministers’ conference on Naxalism in Hyderabad in September this year in which it was decided to pursue a coordinated approach and conduct a peace dialogue to reduce reliance of Naxal groups on armed struggle, accelerate development activities in Naxal areas and take sustained and effective police action wherever required.

With a complete backing of the Centre, Andhra Pradesh Government entered into a dialogue with the PWG but the Naxal problem showed a growing trend and engulfed Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Uttaranchal, the state which witnessed killing of over one dozen police personnel.

At the same time, there was no let-up in the policy to deal with Naxalites with force in rest of the country where the left-wing extremists resorted to the gun and continued attacks on security forces.

The merger of MCC and PWG cadres gave a new dimension to the problem as the unification of the two insurgent groups was viewed as a major threat to security by the Centre.

The wait-and-watch policy of the UPA Government saw rich dividends in northeast during this year as some insurgent groups from Tripura and Assam came forward for talks. This year also saw NSCN (I-M) celebrating Christmas in their home state after nearly five decades.

Manipur gave a tough time to the UPA Government at a time when it was in its infancy at the Centre. The State saw a series of violent agitations following the alleged rape and murder of a suspected women militant Manorama Devi.

The agitation took a mass movement colour with thousands of people coming out on roads against the controversial armed forces Special Power Act. The protests subsided once Apunba Lup, an amalgam of 32 Manipuri socio-cultural groups, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who assured them of speedy assistance in the Manorama Devi case and to set up a committee which would review the AFSPA.

In other parts of the northeast, the existing ceasefire agreements between the Centre and NSCN(I-M) and one faction of the United Peoples’ Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) led by horensing bey, general secretary were extended till July 31, next year.

During this year, the existing ceasefire with the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD), a militant outfit in Assam and with a faction of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (Nayanbasi group), was extended till this year-end.

An agreement for suspension of operations between security forces and Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC), a militant outfit in Meghalaya, has been entered into and is valid till January 22 next year.

Sticking to its Common Minimum Programme, the UPA Government ensured the repeal of POTA during the winter session of Parliament. However, in order to meet India’s commitment towards tackling global terrorism, the Government ensured amendments in the unlawful activities (prevention) Amendment Bill, 2004 which incorporates provisions for dealing with terrorism.

The Home Ministry, in tandem with the CMP, is already working on bringing a bill on tackling communal violence in the country.

A draft of the law was being formulated and the proposed law is expected to focus on the procedure of investigation and trial of the crimes related to communal violence, relief and rehabilitation measures and mechanism for speedy control of law and order in affected areas.

Government also liberalised the visa regime for accredited journalists, academicians and professors and medical doctors accompanying patients for treatment at leading hospitals in India.

The ministry allowed for issuance of multiple entry visa without prior reference and also exemption from police reporting.

The heads of missions were empowered to use their discretion to grant permission to visit upto 12 places as against the existing three places to the above categories of pakistani nationals.

All Pakistan nationals above the age of 65 are exempted from police reporting.

The ministry also took effective steps for modernisation of the Delhi Airport where intelligent computers have been installed at the immigration counters. Twelve Passport Reading Machines (PRMs) have been installed at Delhi Airport for faster immigration clearance. (PTI)

‘We don’t know where to go... How to start life again’

KOLLAM (KERALA), Dec 27: It will take a long long time for the people of the picturesque coastline here to overcome the shock of the nightmare caused by the killer waves that claimed over 100 lives in the densely populated fishing hamlets of the district.

In a string of sea-facing village in Karunagapllay Taluk, there could hardly be anyone who is not bereaved.

"It all happened in a flash. Before one could come to know what it actually is, furious waves had taken away all we have ...Our kith and kin, small savings,thatched huts and fishing implements. We don’t know where to go and how to start it again ," said Francis from Azhikkal.

What awaited 39-year-old Sajeevan when he returned from fishing yesterday was the shocking news that his wife and daugther had been swallowed by surging waves.

A long strip of huts near Vallikkavu had remained cut off for several hours before the rescuers came in boats to take out bodies and move the survivors to safer places.

Frightened by surging waters, many people had shut themselve up their houses, which exposed them to greater danger than those who sought to escape the surging waters by running away, local people said.

The true dimensions of the tragedy would be known only when all these houses are opened, the rescuers said.

The immediate problem staring the survivors is the conduct of the funeral of their relatives who died in the tragedy.

Many of those staying in the relief camps were not in a position to receive the identified bodies as they had no place to take them for a decent burial.

Karunagappaly Panchayt is making arrangements for mass burial as the only way out in the situation.

The killer wave Tsunami began to hit the area around 10.30 am yesterday.

The first report of the calamity came in from Thangassery near Kollam town but soon it became evident that villages along the Karunagapally coast were going to be the worst hit.

As the narrow brittle roads linking hamlets with nearby towns got washed away, rescuers had to walk up to reach the danger zones.

The hospitals around were also cuaght unawares as injured kept on pouring in the afternoon. In many places, the doctors and paramedics on Christmas holidays had been summoned urgently.

About 30,000 people have been shifted to relief camps as entire coastal villages are eaten away by the tidal waves.

Sharing the grief of their brethern, people from all communities and walks of life are pouring in to lend a helping hand to the rescue work.

A naval team is overseeing the operations.

The entire district is observing a self-imposed hartal to mourn the tragedy and all public functions and post-Christmas festivities have been cancelled. (PTI)

NCW asks Home Minister to ensure "proper probe" in Anara case

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: Concerned over allegations of police torture levelled by family members of main accused in the porn CD case Anara Gupta, National Commission for Women (NCW) today asked Home Minister Shivraj Patil to enure a "proper probe", if need be by the CBI, so that their faith in the investigation was restored.

"As NCW does not have jurisdiction in Jammu and Kashmir and the case is already in court, we cannot take up a fresh investigation in the matter," NCW Chairperson Poornima Advani said after Gupta’s relatives, including her mother called on her here.

The former Miss Jammu’s relatives had filed a petition before the NCW on Saturday alleging that she was being "framed" by police who had "illegally" detained the family for 11 days and urging for the probe to be transferred to CBI.

"I am writing to the Home Minister to order Jammu and Kashmir Government to carry out a proper probe. The dignity of the victims is paramount and it is important that their faith in the investigation is restored," she said.

Advani suggested that the investigation be handed over to "senior most" police officials. "If this is still not proper, the cbi may be approached," she added.

Claiming that the girl in the porn CD was not Gupta, her mother Rajrani had submitted two CDs, one of a television programme done by Gupta and the other containing the obscene shots, to Advani.

"We informed her of 36 points which clearly differentiate my daughter from the girl in the porn CD," Rajrani later told reporters.

"There is a clear difference in the age, height, eyebrows, hair texture, teeth and many other physical attributes of the two girls," Rajrani claimed.

Gupta had wanted to come to Delhi personally to file complaints before the NCW and National Human Rights Commission, but could not do so as Jammu and Kashmir High Court had stayed a lower court order permitting her to go to the national capital.

"If the stay is not vacated, we will approach the Supreme Court. We will plead with the Apex Court to shift the probe to CBI so that guilty policemen are punished," said Sanjay Sachdeva, Gupta’s maternal uncle and a local leader of Panthers Party.

Advani also suggested that Gupta approach the Supreme Court if she had "no confidence on the ongoing probe."

She expressed concern that porn CDs purportedly featuring Gupta were being openly sold across Delhi and asked the Government to take immediate steps in this regard.

"I will also ask the Delhi Government to check allegations of sexual exploitation of women in massage parlours," she added.

Asked whether any steps had been taken to bring Jammu and Kashmir under NCW’s jurisdiction, Advani said the Commission had written to Government some years back to make necessary changes in legislation but nothing had yet been done.

Gupta’s 15-year-old brother Kumar Sangam alleged that police had kept him and his youger brother in custody for 11 days during which they were not allowed to meet her. (PTI)

Centre ready to give assistance to TN

CHENNAI, Dec 27: The Tamil Nadu Government was doing its best those affected by the devastating Tsunami and the Centre was ready to provide all requested assistance, including special financial aid, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who reviewed the situation with Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, said here today.

"The State Government is doing its best. We are also willing to provide all requested assistance," Patil, who arrived here to take account of the destruction in Tsunami-ravaged areas of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry where nearly 2,780 people have died, told reporters at the Chennai airport.

He said the state was now looking for logistic and transport facilities like aircraft and helicopters for rescue operations.

"We are too willing to provide it," he said.

As far as special financial assistance was concerned, the Centre would be providing it, Patil said adding that he would undertake a tour of the affected areas to make an on the spot assessment and take a decision.

Soon after arrival Patil met the Chief Minister and her cabinet colleagues.

Asked about the assistance to Sri Lanka affected by Tsunami, he said already two ships had been despatched to Colombo for rescue work.

Patil will visit also worst-affected Nagapattinam, where 1,700 people were killed.

Over 11,000 people have so far died in south and south east Asia as giant Tsunami waves in the Indian Ocean flooded coastal areas following a massive earthquake measuring 8.9 in richter scale that rocked Indonesia yesterday.

During the 25 minute meeting with Patil at Raj Bhavan here, Jayalalithaa was understood to have asked for generous financial help from the Centre for relief operations.

After the meeting, Jayalalithaa left for an aerial survey of the affected districts of Cuddalore and Nagapattinam.

Patil, who will also review the situation in the two districts, visited Nochikuppam Marina beach in Srinivasapuram and met the people there. The Home Minister assured them all necessary help.

"We have asked the Chief Minister to help the people in whatever way possible and we are ready to provide the necessary assistance," he said.

Patil also visited the Apollo hospital where the injured were being treated.

After an overnight stay here, he would leave for Andaman and Nicobar Islands tomorrow morning. (PTI)

Tidal waves revive Sethusamudram canal controversy

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: Tsunami waves, which killed thousands in India and Sri Lanka, are likely to force rethinking on the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) that has already drawn flak from environmentalists and geologists.

The Rs 2,000 crore project envisages dredging the shallow seabed between the Tamil Nadu coast and Sri Lanka to create a shipping channel.

This will allow merchant ships and naval vessels sail from Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal in India’s territorial waters avoiding circling of Sri Lanka thereby saving time and fuel.

But the possible adverse geological and ecological consequences of digging a trench — 150 km long 300 metres wide and 12 metres deep — in the seabed requiring removal and safe dumping of 88 million cubic metres of dredged material have raised a controversy.

"I tend to believe that the environmental viability of the project is to be questioned," C P Rajendran, a renowned geologist at the centre for Earth Science Studies in Trivandrum told PTI.

"From an earth science point of view, I believe that the project area is highly unstable in terms of rapid sedimentation rates, high velocity ocean currents and cyclonic storms."

Rajendran says "unless we have a clear and unambiguous understanding of the sedimentation rates along the various stretches of the Palk Bay Strait, the sustainability of the project cannot be guaranteed."

Rajendran points out that scientists really have no clear understanding of the nature of the ocean bottom strata or where to dump the huge amount of drudged material and what its impact would be on the existing ocean currents and physiography of the area.

What is really bothering is that no serious discussions have been conducted among scientists at large on this project, he says.

"Certainly this is not the way to go about on such sensitive and expensive projects."

Even before yesterdays deadly Tsunami, the project had attracted criticism from geologists elsewhere. "The geology of the region is easily damaged," warned Richard Cathcart an American geographer and specialist in macro-engineering projects.

The geological effects of a channel "brutally excavated" in the limestone bed of northern Sri Lanka and its islands thereabouts needs a wider debate, he told PTI in an email interview.

Indian Government cleared the project in September 2004 after environmental assessment and technical feasibility studies by the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI).

But a 71-page report by "doctors for safer environment," a Coimbatore-based Non-Governmental Organisation, alleged that a NEERI study had neglected two major risk factors — cyclones and sedimentation.

Prof Roelf schuiling, a geoscientist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who has extensive knowledge of this region, agrees that cyclones and siltation are "two probable major dangers" to the project. (PTI)