Civil Nuclear deal may never be offered to India again : Mulford

NEW DELHI, Feb 9: Stepping up pressure on New Delhi to speed up with the civilian nuclear deal, US Ambassador to India David Mulford has warned that such an agreement was unlikely to be revived and offered again by the next US administration.

"If this is not processed in the present Congress, it is unlikely that this deal will be offered again to India. It certainly would not be reviewed and offered by any administration, Democratic or Republican, before 2010, which is after the life of this administration in India," Mr Mulford said in an interview.

Echoing External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s observation that the deal is "India’s passport to the world," the Ambassador said that even if the deal were to be reviewed, it would have to go through the Committee process.

He cautioned that non-proliferation groups would insist on changes in terms or additional conditions, this was the time to conclude the deal.

Mr Mulford also sought to allay fears that by concluding the deal, India would forfeit the right to nuclear testing.

Pointng out that Americans were puzzled at India not immediately concluding and activating the deal, Mr Mulford said the Bush Administration had changed the country’s 1954 Atomic Energy Act to accomodate India-first time such a change had been made.

"I think Americans are puzzled that this agreement was not immediately enbraced and activated by India," he said.

He also made it clear that there was no undertaking that India would have to make purchases to acquire technology from the US saying "it is a competitive market."

Asked whether India’s refusal to go ahead with the deal would damage Indo-US relationship, the US envoy said he did not think so but added it would affect "elements of trust and discretion."

"I don’t think it will damage that relationship... I think there has to be some concern about elements of trust and discretion at the core of that relationship...," Mr Mulford said in the interview with CNN-IBN.

Refuting statements that the US intention behind the deal was to convert India into a subordinate ally in South Asia, Mr Mulford said "that is completely untrue."

"The United States wants to assist India in achieving its global vision of emerging as a major economic power in the world. This was America’s motivation in initiating the Indo-US nuclear deal."

He also denied reports that the US had put pressure on India not to pursue the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project.

"I don_t think that_s true at all. What we_ve done is to indicate to members of the Government that we have legislation on our books, which is well-known, which is directed towards discouraging development of natural resources in Iran. And this is a legislation which has not been used but it is there and it could come into play," he added.

Asked if the 123 Agreement would mean that India would lose its right to carry out further nuclear tests, the Ambassador said "Not at all. It can make that decision at any time. It’s a sovereign state. It is very clear that India is free to do as it wishes with regard to future testing."

To another question on the fears that the 123 Agreement did not contain sufficiently binding assurances on lifetime supply of fuel, he said the matter of lifetime supplies of fuel was "a closed issue."

He also said the 123 agreement "granted upfront" India a clear and unequivocal right to reprocess and that India was being treated like any other country in the world and not being discriminated against.

He asserted that an American right of return would not undermine India’s strategic reserves and the agreemet would permit India to retain its strategic reserves even if it carries out fresh nuclear tests and America thereafter chooses to enforce its right of return.

He said there was no deadline for the deal to be returned to the US Congress to ensure it was passed during President Bush’s time in office.

"I don’t think it’s sensible in the case of the US Congress to set a deadline."

Asked about US capacity to secure for India a clean and unconditional clearance from the NSG, the Ambassador said "I think it is achievable." He, however, said the process was not going to be easy.

"I think it is achievable but I think it will take some time and will take some political energy. Our opinion is, very strongly, that the group (the NSG) will go for a relatively simple consensus and a clean solution to the problem and will not attempt to move beyond effectively the provisions that have been so carefully negotiated in the 123 Agreement." (UNI)

Five Bihar officers fined for not providing information

PATNA, Feb 9: As many as five officers of the Bihar government have been fined by the state information commission for their failure to provide information to the petitioners under the Right to Information (RTI) act.

Goa hotels, lodges asked to keep record of their guests

PANAJI, Feb 9: The Goa Government has said that hotels, guest houses, lodges and other accomodations here will have their lincences cancelled if they do not keep record of their guests.

Goa Government has taken this step to prevent any militant activity in the state.

Whoever does not follow regulations, their licences would be cancelled, Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat said last evening.

Recently, three suspected militants who were arrested in Karnataka, allegedly confessed that they were planning to strike in the tourist state.

The chief minister, who had earlier said the state was on general alert, stated that precautions have been taken to block any possible militant activity in the state.

"We are awaiting detailed interrogation report from Karnataka; only after that we will be able to comment more," Kamat said.

Goa has sent its police team headed by Superintendent of Police Neeraj Thakur to Karnataka to interrogate the arrested militants.

Kamat, giving clean chit to the state police machinery, said that there was no lapse on their part.

Replying to yet another question, Goa Chief Minister said the state is safe and all the precautions are taken. (PTI)

PM calls for investment, reforms in education system

PUNE, Feb 9: Asserting that the country’s education system urgently required investment and reforms, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the XI Five-Year Plan would be dubbed the National Education Plan.

"Our education system is in urgent need of both investment and reform at every level of the learning pyramid. We have launched a five-year plan that we have dubbed as the National Education Plan because of the public investment we are making in it," Singh said.

Singh was inaugurating the Van Vihar Biodiversity Park & Reserve at Mahindra United World College of India (MUWCI) Campus, here.

"We need a modern education system for the 21st century that would prepare our children for the challenges of the future and not make them prisoners of the past," he said, adding "we need a system that is both compassionate and demanding."

"No child should ever feel left out for no fault of his or her. No child should nurse a grievance that his creativity has been suppressed. No child should ever feel compelled to do things that she or he may not be best equipped to do," Singh said.

Stressing the country needed a humane education system, Singh said there was also a need for a creative and forward-looking system.

While the Government was placing great emphasis on improving access to education for all, Singh he would like to urge teachers to pay equal attention to excellence and creativity.

"In the corner of every classroom, there is a C V Raman waiting to be discovered, a Jagdish Chandra Bose, a Hargobind Khorana and an Abdus Salam," the Prime Minister said.

Recently, Singh said he had complimented the Indian mathematician Professor S R R Varadhan, when the latter received the Abel award, known as the Maths Nobel.

Varadhan wrote back saying his achievements owed to the good training he received in school and college in Chennai and Kolkata, Singh said, adding "it is the foundation laid in India that enabled him to make a mark globally."

Singh recalled how former President K R Narayanan came from a poor and under-privileged background but went to the UK in the days of the empire and acquitted himself admirably in his studies.

"He (Narayanan) never asked for a level-playing field. He, like thousands of us, who went to village schools and fought hard to earn scholarships went and tested our worth against those who were born with a silver spoon, nay, a golden spoon in their mouth," Singh said.

"Over the years, we have seen boys and girls from modest social and economic background passing out of institutions of higher learning and writing competitive examinations to secure admissions in the best institutions in the world," he said.

"It is they who have shaped the image of brand India across the world," the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister said that the country was committed to sustainable development, and the government would take up initiatives required to address the challenge of carbon emissions and depleting forest cover.

While inaugurating the Van Vihar Biodiversity Park & Reserve, Singh hoped that "it would grow into an oasis of peace and natural beauty in a world where green spaces are increasingly becoming a rarity."

"By taking the initiative to develop a project as marvellous and unique as Van Vihar, you students have demonstrated that the next generation is more than capable of preserving and protecting our fragile eco-ssytem for the benefit of generations to come," he said.

The bio-diversity project, initiated by MUWCI, aims to enhance the existing species of flora and fauna in the Western Ghats.

The project covers 170 acres of area, comprising the bio-diversity park and conservation reserve.

The project aims to regenerate around 250 acres of forest area and will function as a research source for colleges and research institutes, MUWCI said in a statement.

Presently, the project has nearly 800 species of flora while the fauna consists of 130 species of birds, 160 species of moths, 60 species of butterflies and 30 species of higher mammals, it said.

Also present at the function were MUWCI Governing Council Chairman, Keshub Mahindra, Vice-Chairman of M&M, Anand Mahindra and former UN Under Secretary General, Shashi Tharoor. (PTI)

Ordinance: Kamath ceases to be Prasar Bharati Board Chairman ...

NEW DELHI, Feb 9:The Government has brought out an ordinance, reducing the term of the Prasar Bharati Chairman to three years from six years, which relieves incumbent M V Kamath of his post with immediate effect.

However, CEO Prasar Bharati B S Lalli will get a full five years as

the ordinanace has raised the upper age limit for the post from 62 to 65. Besides, it has raised the term of the post to six years from five years, a senior official told UNI.

"The ordinance, which amends section 6 of the Prasar Bharati Act, has come into force from yesterday," the officail said.

Mr Kamath, a senior journalist, had been appointed as Chairman of the Board by the previous NDA Government. (UNI)

LF Govt should bear responsibility for Nandigram violence: NHRC

NEW DELHI, Feb 9: In a severe indictment of the Left Front regime in West Bengal for "failing" to prevent the violence in Nandigram, the NHRC has said the state Government should bear the responsibility for the loss of life and property following the attack.

"Since the State Government does not appear to have discharged its primary obligation in preventing the attack by CPI(M) cadres, it should bear the responsibility for the loss of life and property following the attack," the NHRC said in its report on the incident.

The report of the investigation by a three-member team of the Commission headed by NHRC Chairperson S Rajendra Babu highlighted the gravity of the incident, noting that it visited rife-torn area in "very difficult circumstances and when the situation was tense."

"Communication with the local people was also difficult, being still under the trauma of riots and violence," said the report, while giving elaborate details of entire episode.

The NHRC observed that while local police started losing control over the law and order situation gradually in the area, the villagers were instigated by different political parties to fight against the government policy.

Making observations on the incident, the NHRC said agriculture being the only source of livelihood for the farmers, compensation or any other land can be given to them or they should be relocated or be linked to the project for which the land is acquired.

Critical of the ruling Left Front Government’s role in tackling the situation, the NHRC said, "the party in power should always be alive to its constitutional obligation to rule without favour and prejudice and never encourage or connive with the illegal activities of its supporters."

"The police and the bureaucracy should keep themselves aloof from political influence. Alignment with the party in power results in erosion of public trust which leads to unavoidable misery," it said.

On the Opposition’s role, the NHRC said it has a right to highlight the failures of the government and it may take recourse to peaceful agitation, but it should in no case encourage people to indulge in unlawful activities.

The rights panel while praising the role of the press in highlighting the atrocities on the people, said it failed to emphasise that the blockade of a large area of Nandigram by the agitators was unconstitutional.

The Commission has also set up a committee headed by NHRC Secretary General A K Jain to suggest compensation regarding damage that occurred and to ensure that the monetary relief does not fall in wrong hands but goes to genuine victims.

"The enquiry team of the Commission has found that after the incidents of November six, 2007 several houses of BUPC supporters have been occupied by CPI (M) cadres, demanding compensation," the report said.

Observing that the compensation offered by the State Government for damaged houses appears quite inadequate, the rights panel has sought its enhancement. (PTI)

Baba Amte, eminent social worker no more

NAGPUR, Feb 9: "Compassion has no utopia, party or ideology" eminent social worker Baba Amte once said.

A perfect embodiment of compassion, he breathed his last in the early hours today at "Anandwan" in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra, after devoting his entire life kto bring succour to the downtrodden, especially leprosy patients and tribals.

For the underprivileged lot, including lepers, tribals, orphans, the aged and neglected handicapped, Baba Amte was the last ray of hope. He took them into his fold and gave them a way of life spreading his motto ‘Charity destroys, work builds’.

It was this message that made him build Anandwan, the sprawling home for leprosy patients in 1949 on 50 acres of barren land with six leprosy patients, Rs 14 and a lame cow.

Today, Anandwan is a self-sufficient sprawling rehabilitation centre with over 3,000 inmates. Funded largely by donations, it has its own university, hospital, orphanage, technical units, dairy and farmlands.

His relentless struggle against leprosy did not stop here, he even allowed his body to be used as an experiment when he allowed bacilli from a leprosy patient to be injected into him for tests.

In the Narmada bachao Andoloan, he camped in Nijibal, up stream the river, refusing to leave the place and was forcibly taken by police in a boat and confined to a local circuit house, for two days.

Born on December 24, 1914, at Hinganghat in Wardha district, also in Vidarbha, Baba Amte hailing from a family of Brahmin ‘jagirdars’ left his lucrative law practice appalled by the poverty in his family estate.

For a man who once speeded in fancy cars, wrote film reviews for the film-goers, corresponded with Hollywood icons Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer, Baba Amte came a long way since that rainy night in Warora. The sight of Tulshiram, a maggot-eaten leper, changed his life forever.

He relinquished his robes and began working with sweepers and carriers of night soil. He married Sadhana Guleshastri in 1946. She has been by Mr Amte’s side through all his campaigns.

After marriage, Baba Amte started working for those struck by leprosy outside Warora. He set up 11 clinics around Warora before starting Anandwan.

Baba Amte also launched two Bharat Jodo (Knit India) Movements, the first from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in 1985 and the second from Assam to Gujarat in 1988. His aim was to establish peace and generate environmental awareness. The proceeds of the several awards won by him and his family, amounting to nearly Rs 15 million have been given to Anandwan.

(UNI)

PFRDA demands equal tax treatment for NPS

NEW DELHI, Feb 9: Ahead of the budget, interim pension regulator PFRDA today demanded equal tax treatment for New Pension Scheme (NPS) for Government employees vis-a-vis provident funds like EPF, PPF and GPF.

"We have taken up this issue with the Government and I am hopeful that this will receive favourable consideration," Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman D Swarup said at a workshop on NPS here.

While contribution, returns and withdrawals under Public Provident Fund (PPF), Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and General Provident Fund (GPF) are exempt from tax, in case of NPS, only contribution and returns do not attract tax.

However, withdrawal under NPS attract tax. This is called exempt, exempt and tax (EET) system, unlike exempt, exempt and exempt (EEE) system for PPF, EPF and GPF.

"At present, NPS is subject to EET tax regime. On the other hand, EPF, GPF and PPF have a more favourable tax treatment. EEE is available to them. This goes against the basic philosophy of encouraging long-term contractual savings, which provide long-term funds for investment," he said.

Swarup clarified that NPS only replaces old pension system and is not a substitute for other retirement benefits like gratuity and leave encashment.

A high-level task force appointed by the Union Government is already looking into the matter and is in the process of framing detailed rules in this regard.

Under NPS, applicable to Central government employees since January 1, 2004, employees have to contribute to their pension funds with matching contribution from the employer.

Besides the Centre, as many as 19 states have adopted NPS. North-eastern states have also agreed to opt for the scheme once the architecture for NPS is available.

PFRDA has appointed NSDL to keep records, and SBI, UTI Mutual Fund and LIC as manager of the NPS funds.

Only the left-ruled states of West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala have opposed the scheme, which now would have an option to invest 5 per cent of the fund directly into equity and another 10 per cent in equity-linked mutual funds.

At present, the funds collected under NPS are parked under public accounts, which yield only eight per cent returns.

However, if part of these funds would have been invested in markets for the last four years, they would have got 14-29 per cent returns, Swarup said.

Under the old pension system, that the Left-ruled states are retaining, employees are guaranteed a specific pension amount. This is called assured benefit system unlike defined contribution system or NPS.

NPS is just part of interim pension reforms as the bill to open up pension sector and give statutory powers to PFRDA is pending before Parliament. (PTI)