Two from Chandigarh killed in accident

SRINAGAR, Oct 15: Two people from Chandigarh were killed and two others wounded when their car skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge at Kangan, about 30 km from here, today, police said.

They said the car with four occupants was on the way to Srinagar from Kargil in the Ladakh region when it skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge at Gund near Kangan.

While two occupants — Nirmal Singh and Utpal — died on the spot, two others were wounded, police added.

The wounded have been hospitalised. (UNI)

Mukesh Ambani topples Premji as India’s richest person

NEW DELHI, Oct 15: In a double-treat of sorts, Reliance industries’ emergence as India’s most valued firm has also catapulted its chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani right on to the top of the country’s richest list.

After toppling state-run energy giant ONGC as India’s largest corporate house among listed entities after more than four years, RIL’s market cap has further swelled to over Rs 1,65,000 crore taking Mukesh Ambani’s net worth based on his shareholding in group companies to more than Rs 70,000 crore.

Ambani’s elevation to the top of the country’s richie-rich club has pushed Wipro’s Azim Premji to the second position with a net worth of about Rs 64,700 crore.

The younger Ambani brother Anil’s net worth has also soared after the recent record breaking rally in the stock market. Anil Ambani maintains his position as the country’s third richest person with a net worth of over Rs 61,000 crore based on his shareholding in group companies.

The combined market value of Mukesh Ambani group companies — RIL, Reliance Petroleum (RPL), IPCL and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Ltd (RIIL) has soared to about Rs 2,04,000 crore.

The cumulative market capitalisation of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group Companies — Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Natural Resources and Reliance Energy —currently stands at about Rs 1,08,500 crore.

While Wipro has also witnessed a sharp rally in its share price over the recent past, Azim Premji’s net worth has not risen much due to the fall in the total promoter stake in the company.

Wipro’s market capitalisation currently stands at about Rs 80,000 crore, which puts Premji’s net wealth based on his 80.94 per cent holding in the company at Rs 64,723 crore.

Promoters, including Mukesh Ambani, hold a total stake of 49.92 per cent in RIL which is estimated to be worth about Rs 82,800 crore based on the company’s current share price.

Total promoter stake in four Mukesh Ambani Group companies — RIL, RPL, IPCL and RIIL — is worth more than Rs 1,00,000 crore, excluding the 5 per cent stake held by us energy major chevron in RPL, while that of four Adag companies is estimated to be around Rs 68,000 crore. (PTI)

Thermal imagers, underground sensors
along Indo-Bangla border

NEW DELHI, Oct 15: Sophisticated surveillance and tracking gadgets like thermal imagers and underground sensors have been installed along the porous Indo-Bangladesh border to prevent infiltration by Pakistan-backed terrorists.

The Border Security Force has been entrusted with installing the gadgets speedily along the 4,096-km frontier on the pattern adopted by the Army along the 742-km Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the International Border (IB) in Punjab and Rajasthan.

The BSF, which guards the Indo-Bangladesh border, has procured 900 hand-held thermal imagers and despatched 400 of them to forward areas. The devices, which cost Rs 28 lakh each, can detect heat from the human body and will help track the movement of people, a senior BSF official told PTI.

Apart from this, the border force is in the process of installing israeli-made long-range recce and observation system (lorros), a radar-based system capable of tracking moving vehicles or humans within a 40-km radius.

"We are in the process of procuring 27 such radars at a cost of Rs 2 crore each," the official said.

The introduction of the hi-tech gadgetry to stop infiltration comes close on the heels of revelations by security agencies that five of the 11 Pakistani terrorists responsible for the July 11 train bombings in Mumbai had entered the country from Bangladesh.

Besides, the BSF has procured around 5,000 ultra-light night vision devices at Rs 1.5 lakh a set, improved search lights and multi-role surveillance vehicles to boost patrolling of the border.

Though BSF Director General A K Mitra has time and again said it is difficult to ensure that nobody crosses the border, the installation of these gadgets is being seen as an attempt to prevent the situation from assuming dangerous proportions.

The border force, however, is not neglecting the conventional mode of patrolling and has bought more than 5,000 bicycles to cover hilly and riverine areas where the use of cars is next to impossible, the official said.

"We are focussing on all-round improvement in border patrolling," he said.

For patrolling rivers, the BSF is procuring fast attack craft, amphibious vehicles, high speed patrol boats and rigid inflatable country boats. These vessels will be deployed with floating border outposts.

While the BSF has floated global tenders to procure all-terrain vehicles at a cost of Rs 75-80 lakh each, the rest of the patrol vessels will be purchased from the Inland Water Transport Corporation (IWTC) and state-run Goa shipyard.

The rigid inflatable country boats will be very lightweight and the BSF plans to buy 69 such boats.

Six to nine battalions of the BSF (around 8,600 personnel) currently guard the Indo-Bangladesh border, most of which is unfenced. (PTI)

Bail denied to woman accused of
selling house to many persons

NEW DELHI, Oct 15: A court here has denied bail to a woman accused of selling her property many times over to prospective buyers and collecting lakhs of rupees.

Rejecting the bail applications of Ruchi Singh Bedi in three cheating cases, Metropolitan Magistrate Pritam Singh observed, "as per allegations she has cheated several persons in respect of the same property and also there is likelihood of her tampering with the evidence."

According to FIRs, the alleged cheating came to light on March 17, when retired IPS officer J S Bedi published a notice in a national daily that the property in dispute still belonged to him and no power of attorney was executed in favour of Yogesh Kumar.

This allegedly prompted three complainants, who had contracted to purchase the property from Ruchi and had even paid lakhs of rupees in earnest money, to rush to J S Bedi’s residence where they learnt that they all had claim on the same property.

They started demanding their money back from Ruchi and lodged complaints with the police when she refused. She had allegedly collected a total of Rs 32 lakh from them.

Ruchi, who is in custody since September 20, contended in her bail applications that she was married to Anil Singh Bedi, the son of A J S Bedi.

She said in her applications that her father-in-law was never happy with the marriage and bore a grudge against her since then.

After marriage she moved into the property in dispute, situated in Kalkaji extension in south Delhi, with her husband.

According to her applications, Ruchi was told by her father-in-law that the house belonged to him. But he later sold it to one Yogesh Kumar through power of attorney. Not willing to lose her shelter, she purchased it from Yogesh through a sale deed.

However, J S Bedi continued to harass her and she decided to sell the house and move somewhere else so that she could live in peace with her husband and children, she alleged.

Opposing her bail applications, the prosecution told the court there were other complaints of cheating against Ruchi, including one in which she tried to take a loan from a bank in Connaught Place using forged securities and impersonating as one Ambika Singh. (PTI)

South Asian countries lose 2-16 pc
GDP in natural disasters

NEW DELHI, Oct 15: As natural calamities cause a substantial loss of GDP in south Asian countries every year, India has launched a major initiative to prepare hazard, risk and vulnerability maps at micro-scale for early warning and effective disaster risk reduction and management.

The move to have micro-scale maps is to make the task of risk assessment and analysis much more accurate and fast, according to sources in the Union Home Ministry.

Studies show two to 16 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of south Asian countries is lost every year due to natural disasters. They also show a dollar spent on mitigating disasters saves five dollars to be spent subsequently on relief and rehabilitation.

In such a scenario, countries in the Asia region, which is considered one of the most critical disaster hotspots in the globe, believe that disaster losses must be prevented or mitigated and kept at the minimum.

Finding it is more prudent and economical to invest in prevention, mitigation and preparedness, there has been a complete shift in the policy of these countries for dealing with disasters — from post-disaster relief and rehabilitation to a holistic management of the entire disaster cycle.

India too has decided to mainstream the disaster risk reduction into the process of development and not treat it as just a matter of relief and rehabilitation. This will be pursued vigorously in the 11th plan, now under formulation, the sources said.

Realising the importance of disaster risk reduction, a SAARC Disaster Management Centre has been opened here recently to serve member countries by providing policy advice and facilitiating capacity development povision and exchange of information.

As part of the initiative, the centre will collect, compile, document and disseminate data, information, case studies, indigenous knowledge and good practices relating to disaster management paticularly from the member countries.

It will collaborate with other centers, particularly SAARC Meteorological Research Centre, SAARC Coastal Zone Management Centre and SAARC Forestry Sector to achieve synergies in programmes and activities.

"Recent advances in the field of science and technology have opened up enormous possibilities for developing an efficient system of disaster risk reduction and management. It is possible to prepare hazard, risk and vulnerability maps at micro-scale which can make the task of risk assessment and risk analysis much more accurate and fast," according to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

He had said it is possible to track atmospheric depression and predict weather and climatic conditions at local levels with reasonable degree of accuracy. Similarly, cyclonic storms can be tracked from the initial formation to its subsequent developments and early warnings issued to people living in vulnerable areas, he says. (PTI)

Kalam caned for being naughty in school

NEW DELHI, Oct 15: A P J Abdul Kalam, the country’s top missile guru who rose to become President, was canned for being a naughty boy in school.

Kalam made this candid admission in response to a query by 12-year-old Naina Gautam of Dehradun, who wanted to know whom he admired the most and whether he was mischievous in school.

"Of course my parents. I always remember my teacher... Since I studied during the 1940s, (those were the times if) you are naughty, you will be caned. I have experienced that," Kalam, who turns 75 today, replied in his popular website presidentofindia.Nic.In.

To a suggestion by 11-year-old Abhudaya of Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh that homework should not be given to students, the man responsible for the development of the Agni and Prithvi missiles had simple words of advice. "I believe that homework is part of education. It improves the working of students. Personally, it has helped me."

The scientist who in his literary pursuit has written thought-provoking books like "Wings Of Fire", "India 2020-A Vision For The New Millennium", "My Journey" and "Ignited Minds-Unleashing The Power Within India", has responded to questions from children that touched on his personal life and issues like poverty eradication, role of parents in moulding children and scientific theories.

Ten-year-old s Arun Venkat Krishna from Trichy in Tamil Nadu had an unusual question. "Sir, if God appears before you, what request will you make to him?"

Kalam’s reply was, "I will pray...God bless my nation with people of hard work and knowledge and thereby make it an economically developed nation."

Nineteen-year-old Hina Gill of Amritsar drew attention to the growing number of drug addicts in the country and wanted to know how youths can be prevented from being affected by this menace.

The President advocated a two-pronged strategy for this. He asked parents and teachers to constantly tell children about the ill-effects of drug addiction and wanted law enforcing agencies to ensure that drug peddlers did not hover around schools and colleges.

He added a word of caution. Parents, he stressed, should not pamper children with unlimited amounts of pocket money.

On the problem faced by many homes of children deviating from studies and turning a blind eye to the country’s rich culture, he spoke of the need for the joint family to continuously feed the traditional value system.

Kalam also suggested that in secondary school, there should be a "moral science" class for one hour every week where the best aspects of great personalities should be taught.

About steps to stop vulgarity on television, kalam felt that "to prevent channels from producing (such programmes), it is essential that we have to stop viewing" them. He asked parents to be selective about which programmes they watched with their children. "Rest of the time, the channels must be switched off," he said.

Kalam, who became the 11th President on July 25, 2002, did not duck a mind-boggling poser: if mass can be converted into mass, then energy can be converted into energy. Therefore, light is a source of energy, then what is the mass of light?

The President’s reply was that even though light has no rest mass, it does have an effective mass which has all the properties one expects from mass.

He went on to cite the classic gedanken experiment in which the net mass of a closed box with mirrored sides increases if it is filled with light bouncing back and forth off the mirrors. (PTI)

Sikh body flays NHRC on relief issue in
‘fake’ encounters case

CHANDIGARH, Oct 15: A Sikh body today claimed National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) lost credibility on the issue of relief extended to kin of only 1,051 "unidentified" persons allegedly cremated secretively by police in Punjab during terrorism, as compared to a list of 2,097 compiled by Human Rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra.

The Commission was supposed to protect the dignity of all human beings in the country, Khalra Mission Organisation (KMO) patron Dalbir Singh Khalra’s wife Paramjit Kaur and Human Rights activist Ajit Singh bains told a press conference here.

They also accused former the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and the then DGP K P S Gill of resorting to mass murders during terrorism in the state.

Jaswant Singh Khalra had come up with a list of 2,097 persons, mostly Sikhs, which police claimed as unidentified and allegedly cremated about a decade earlier.

They also expressed anguish over alleged denial of justice to the aggrieved families. "Where is the justice? When will the sufferers get it? Will the accused themselves grant it? We want an answer," Singh said.

During the last decade, 2,340 writ petitions were disposed of by different courts while 70 cases against police officers, including two ADGPs, were still pending in Supreme Court and Punjab High Court, he said.

Till now, 15 policemen have been convicted, 262 are on bail and 54 still in jails. (PTI)

BJP upbeat about victory under Modi in Gujarat polls

NEW DELHI, Oct 15: The BJP’s confidence that Narendra Modi will pull off a victory in next year’s Gujarat Assembly polls after becoming the first party Chief Minister to complete five consecutive years in office has not cut much ice with the Congress, which feels the situation in the state has changed significantly since 2002.

BJP leaders claim Modi’s rout of the Congress challenge in the local body elections some months ago was proof of which way the winds are blowing in the western state.

But Congressmen disagree, saying there were other reasons for the rout and things have been changing for the better for their party as the people of Gujarat are increasingly becoming "fed up" with Modi’s style of functioning.

State Congress Chief Bharatsinh Solanki said the party will give Modi a run for his money at a time when he is facing criticism for his handling of floods in the state as well as a controversial Anti-Conversion Bill.

AICC general secretary B K Hariprasad said, "we are trying to bring the party back on track to take on Modi and it will emerge stronger in 2007."

The Assembly polls are scheduled for the end of next year.

BJP leaders, however, argue Gujarat has been a "citadel" of their party and Modi has emerged an icon of Hindutva who has "endeared himself" to the people through his clean and efficient administation and developmental work.

Despite the BJP’s projection of Modi as an "icon of development", Congress leaders allege that Gujarat has slipped to the eighth position in attracting Foreign Direct Investment notwithstanding the bluster of the State Government.

The BJP is projecting that it is roses all the way for Modi, but Solanki, who is also an MP, said, "if that was the case, why did the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce president Pankaj Patel along with several of his colleagues pay a visit to the PCC headquarters in Ahmedabad only a fortnight back?"

Modi’s supporters say that the Congress has given up hopes of the party’s revival in Gujarat and the Chief Minister has earned the kudos of the people for effectively countering the "anti-Narmada agitation".

But Congress leaders dismiss this, saying people are very upset over Modi’s "failure" to tackle the situation in the wake of recent floods, which according to the State Government’s claims, resulted in losses to the tune of Rs 22,000 crore.

"Modi and BJP will see the undercurrent when the elections come," said a Congress leader.

BJP leaders say their party’s tally in the 182-member Assembly will increase from the current number of 127.

Congressmen, on the other hand, feel their numbers will grow substantially from the current 51 as they will mount a subtle but effective campaign from early next year to bring Modi into the "reactive" mode.

Congress leaders said Modi and the BJP should not forget that in the Lok Sabha polls in 2004, their party had taken the lead in 91 constituencies.

Solanki, who is the son of veteran leader Madhavsinh Solanki, insisted the Congress’ strategy is centred around the "Aam And Not Kham". The party is for the `Aam Aadmi’ or the poor and middle class, he said when asked whether the Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Minorities (Kham) would be the focus of Congress’ efforts to take on Modi.

The elder Solanki, like Modi and the late Hitendra Desai earlier, had the distinction of completing five years as Chief Minister. Solanki’s success at that time was credited to the Kham combination.

Supporters of Modi say his leadership skills and the success of his strategy has been witnessed several times and his tough stand against terrorism has paid dividends.

His critics feel Modi will make attempts to polarise the society this time too like he did before the 2002 polls in the aftermath of the Godhra incident. The difference this time is that the Government at the Centre is not led by the BJP.

A senior Congress leader said the coming elections were easy for neither his party nor the BJP as Modi is not enjoying the earlier charisma. (PTI)

Arc for removal of clause protecting
dishonest civil servants

NEW DELHI, Oct 15: It could be problems galore for the bureaucracy as the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) is giving a serious thought for advocating the removal of a key provision in the constitution that gives immunity cover to "dishonest" civil servants.

"We are examining the issue as Article 311 of the Constitution gives absolute protection to the bureaucracy. The opinion in the Commission is to repeal this article," Commission’s Chairman Veerappa Moily told PTI.

The Commission’s move comes in the backdrop of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s suggestions to provide a good governance and his Goverment’s determination to eliminate corruption from all walks of life and put in place a system that rewards honesty, probity and efficiency.

"Nowhere in the world there is a provision to protect a dishonest civil servant and it is very special to India. Many of the litigations in the country are because of this clause," Moily said adding that already there was a debate going on in the country to restructure and reform this clause to combat corruption in the bureaucracy.

Observing that the Commission had not come to a conclusion on the issue, the former Karnataka Chief Minister said that a recommendation for repealing this provision from the Constitution could form part of its report on ‘ethics in governance’ likely to be submitted to the Govenment by next month.

Moily pointed out that the Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption had recommended repealing of this article and the National Commission to review the working of the Constitution headed by Justice M Venkatachaliah had also suggested revisiting the Article 311.

Article 311 provides safeguards to a civil servant against dismissal or removal or reduction in his ranks except after an inquiry in which he has been informed of the charges against him and given reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges.

The Commission is also planning to consult legal experts as well on this issue. (PTI)

Govt seeks modification of orders on sealing

NEW DELHI, Oct 15: Facing the daunting task of implementing orders on sealing unauthorised businesses in the national capital, the Centre has moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of its directives which prohibit further notification for converting residential premises for commercial use.

The Urban Development Ministry filed an application in the Apex Court that also requested that it dispense with the requirement for traders to file affidavits as covered under the controversial September 7 notification allowing commercial activity in residential areas.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal had on September 29 made operational the September 7 and 15 notifications allowing commercial activitities in residential areas pending the outcome of their validity.

The court had directed those covered under the notifications to give an undertaking before november 10 to the monitoring committee that misusers would be stopped if the Delhi Laws (Special Protection) Act of 2006 and notification were quashed.

The ministry said administrative difficulties were likely to arise in implemenation and "it would be an extremely difficult and a herculean task for all such establishments to complete the process of tendering of undertakings within such a short period".

It said the condition that undertakings should contain certificates from registered architects that commercial activities could be carried out only from the ground floor, was a difficult exercise in view of the shortage of architects in the capital.

The application said the limited number of working days too was coming in the way of implementing the orders.

The Government sought deletion of the direction restraining it from issuing any other notification for convering a residential user into commercial.

It also asked that the protection given to traders vis-a-vis the September 7 notification be extended without any affidavit since it was an interim measure.

It said if ultimately the notifications were held ultra vires, then premises now covered under the notifications would no longer be protected and they have to stop the misuse forthwith.

"As such undertakings may not be required to be given to further stop what would then be prohibited activity," the ministry said. (PTI)

District Magistrate suspended

PATNA, Oct 15: District Magistrate of Madhepura Hemchandra Jha, who was yesterday remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody after being arrested with a bribe of Rs 1.9 lakh here the day before, has been placed under suspension, official sources said today.

A notification to this effect was issued last night, sources in the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department said.

Joint Secretary in the Finance Department Rajesh Kumar has been appointed the new District Magistrate of Madhepura.

Jha was yesterday remanded to judicial custody till October 27 by Vigilance Judge R N Prasad.

He was arrested from Malsalami area of the old city here on October 13 with Rs 1.9 lakh he had received as bribe when he was on way from Madhepura to his Patna residence.

Jha’s vehicle was intercepted by the Vigilance sleuths who were informed that he was reaching the state capital with Rs 1.9 lakh he had accepted as bribe from a businessman, whose name was not disclosed. (PTI)