Govt presses ahead with bill on more
transparency in judiciary

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: With allegations of corruption echoing in the higher echelons of the judiciary, the Government for the first time this year sought to draw a legislative line bringing Judges within the purview of legal scrutiny.

The Judges Inquiry Bill is still being vetted as the Law Ministry and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice disagreed whether the top judicial office of Chief Justice of India (CJI) should be kept out of it.

The debate over how far the judges can be kept immune from public inquiry was triggered by Justice Jagdish Bhalla’s elevation as Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court. Charges of corruption flew thick and fast as former President A P J Kalam returned his file asking for a review of Justice Bhalla’s promotion.

The disagreement over the top judicial office accountability was further aggravated as another controversy surfaced later in the year-former Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal was caught in allegations of nepotism in allotment of plots in Noida.

The proposed law provides for setting up a National Judicial Council (NJC) to probe any misconduct by a judge of the Supreme Court or high courts. It also seeks to spell out a procedure through which one can make a complaint to the NJC.

Hardly had the opposition protests against the "interference" of the Law Ministry in Bofors case subsided, another controversy erupted-the ministry had allegedly advised the External Affairs Ministry on the futility of chasing the accused Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, who had escaped to Argentina for good.

On the upside, several reforms in the functioning of judicial system were initiated under the supervision of the Law Ministry.

Top among these is the setting up of e-courts, where a petitioner can file a complaint or affidavit from any corner of the country, without having to physically travel all the way to the court.

With a view to making quick and less expensive justice accessible to the common man at the grassroots level, the Ministry also introduced Gram Nyayalalyas Bill, which seeks to set up courts in rural areas.

Judges and court staff were exposed to the advantages of information technology. So far 8,700 judicial officers and around 32,000 court staff have been given a three-month computer training.

Though speculation about outsourcing has been doing the rounds, the Law Ministry maintained it had no proposal to allow foreign solicitors to participate in the judicial process.

However, the issue of allowing foreign law firms to set up their offices to give legal advice and assistance on foreign law remains under discussion with the stakeholders, including the Bar Council of India.

The Law Commission brought out certain reports of public interest on issues such as withdrawal of life support from terminally-ill patients, and enhancing punishment in case of dowry death.

The commission recommended setting up of a three-member panel of reputed medical persons to clear the decision on withdrawing life support system from the terminally ill. It also said the patients and their relatives should notify a high court about such a decision, so that the doctor is immune from legal action.

But the ministry set aside the recommendation.

However, the commission received a pat on the back as the Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan called for implementing its serious recommendations.

In another report, the Commission recommended the enhancement of sentence in a dowry death case from seven years to ten years, but it said the crime does not warrant a death sentence. However, if it is a murder, then an accused can be tried under an additional Section 302 of the IPC, in which punishment can go up to death.

Despite hectic efforts to fill vacancies in the Supreme Court and High Courts, the shortfall remains. The apex court has a strength of 22 judges against the sanctioned 26. In various High Courts the working strength remained at 589 judges against the sanctioned 689.

In an image makeover exercise, the ministry also rejected the Transparency Internationals Global Corruption Report, 2007 which cited 77 per cent of the general public as saying the Indian judicial system was corrupt.

Keeping in view the ever-growing pendency of cases in courts across the country, the Law Ministry asked various state governments to start evening courts, but only Gujarat volunteered by starting double-shift facility in the state courts.

The running battle for authority between the Supreme Court, executive and the legislature found expression in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s address to Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of various High Courts when he cautioned courts against "the judicial over-reach".

However, Law Minister Bhardwaj threw his weight behind the judiciary, saying courts remained supreme and power for judicial reviews flows from the Constitution and cannot be taken away. (PTI)

Indians resolve to lose weight and stay fit in 2008: Survey

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: Having a lithe and supple body followed by a purse throbbing with currency notes are the most popular new year resolutions taken by Indians, an online survey says.

The survey conducted by global information and media company Nielsen India showed that about 58 per cent of Indians surveyed online have resolved to lose weight and improve their fitness levels in the new year.

"This year, ‘remaining fit and healthy’ has all of a sudden taken the lead in people’s resolutions list compared to last year, taking over better time management, saving money, getting organised, and reading more books that ranked the top last year," N S Muthukumaran, Director of Online Panel, The Nielsen Company (India) said in a statement.

According to the survey, 55 per cent of India’s online population have resolved to save money while 51 per cent have taken the resolution to manage their time better.

Interestingly, losing weight and improving fitness and health were not ranking high in New Year resolutions made by people in the past year, Nielsen said in the statement.

Remaining fit and healthy is a more popular resolution with 73 percent of people aged between 35 and 44 years.

Saving more money is popular among 62 per cent of people in the 25-34 years age group while only 26 per cent in the age group of 45 years and above have resolved to save more money in 2008.

Nielsen conducted the survey using their online research panel Your Voice. About 292 people aged 15 years and above were surveyed to understand what resolutions people have made for 2008 and how they have fared on resolutions made in the past years.

"People are more health conscious today. They want to remain fit not only to look good physically, but also to protect themselves from diseases. Eating healthy and regular exercise is the way to achieve optimum health and fitness," Muthukumaran added.

In the age group of 15-24 years, 14 per cent respondents have taken the resolution to pursue higher education and 13 per cent would like to manage their time in a better way.

Meanwhile, among the people surveyed, 41 per cent have been making resolutions for the past six to ten years, a quarter have been making such resolutions for over ten years and 27 per cent respondents make a New Year resolution every year.

Further, amongst those who have made New Year’s resolutions in the past, 27 percent have fulfilled their resolutions successfully while 18 percent have been successful for more than six months. About 23 per cent have kept their resolutions for about three months.

Lack of planning (44 per cent) and commitment (37 per cent) are the key reasons mentioned by respondents for not keeping their New Year resolutions while other factors include lack of time, support, and energy.

People also have different ways of making resolutions. While 79 percent of the respondents make a mental note of the resolution that they keep, 28 percent tell a friend or a family member about their resolution, and 21 percent write it down.

Among those who share their resolution with someone, 66 percent share it with their close friends, 55 per cent share it with their spouse, and 32 per cent tell their parents about their resolution for the New Year. (PTI)

Adampur, Amritsar freeze as Punjab reels
under severe cold

CHANDIGARH, Dec 31: Adampur shivered under minus three while severe chill gripped Amritsar at minus two degrees celsius as current spell of cold wave sweeping Punjab and Haryana further intensified today.

While the minimum at Adampur and Amritsar dropped five and six degrees below normal range, both places witnessed season’s coldest night so far.

The minimum at Adampur had yesterday settled at minus 2 c while at Amritsar it was minus 0.9 c.

Ludhiana also braved the chill today at 2.2 degrees celsius, which was four degrees below normal while the low at Patiala was 4 c, down three degrees, the meteorological department said here. Chandigarh residents also experienced a cold night at 4.4 c, two below normal.

Most of Haryana continued to be under the grip of cold wave, with piercing cold sweeping Ambala at 2.2 c, down six degrees. Narnaul at 2.5 c and Karnal at 2.2 c, too, came under the influence of severe cold while Rohtak at 4.4 c and Hisar at 5.8 c were looking for respite from the chilly conditions.

The met said that cold to severe cold wave conditions were likely to persist at many places in Punjab and Haryana during the next two days.

Today, fog reduced visibility at some places in the two states in the early hours, they said. (PTI)

Poll defeats leave Congress dispirited in 2007

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: A string of electoral defeats in states and the threat of mid-term polls to Lok Sabha, which ironically looks receded because of its reverses, left the Congress dispirited in 2007.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who plainly told her party that neither she nor her son Rahul had a magic wand, may look to the year that is coming for the wheels of fortune to change in their favour.

Assembly elections are scheduled in nine states, including BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh, ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

The party would hope that the anti-incumbency factor which worked against it in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, may do a favour to it in the saffron-ruled states where already the BJP had suffered defeats in by-elections.

Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, of course, were different cups of tea for the party had not looked up for less than two decades.

The poll debacle in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh at the fag end of the year brought the party’s morale down while the sole consolation during the year for it was the victory in Goa and Manipur.

Facing a saffron surge, Congress has been introspecting on the way ahead and how to revive and rejuvenate the organisation amidst suggestion of emulating the British Labour Party, which was transformed by Tony Blair.

As the new year is about to dawn, the question is whether Gandhi can become Blair, who ensured a new vibrant Labour Party, which defeated the conservatives and has retained hold over power for more than a decade.

Congress has to get its act together in the new year as the BJP-led NDA has sought to put its best foot forward by projecting L K Advani as its Prime Ministerial candidate.

There are also fears that the Gujarat win could catapult Modi, the ‘master campaigner’ and ‘demagogue’, to the centrestage, much to the worry of Congress and its allies.

The elections scheduled include those in three BJP-ruled states as also in Karnataka, where the Lotus bloomed fleetingly for the first time in the south in 2007.

A highlight of the year gone by was Gandhi bringing in her son and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi as a general secretary of the AICC and is being projected as the future leader of the party and potential Prime Minister.

Rahul cut his political teeth in the political badlands of Uttar Pradesh without much success as the polity in the most populous state was seen divided between two regional parties — BSP and Samajwadi Party — making the Congress and BJP, the national parties, mere ‘also rans’. Neither did his charm work in Gujarat.

Mindful of the challenges, Gandhi exhorted partymen during the AICC meeting held in November in Delhi that they have to go the extra mile to woo the people as neither she nor her son Rahul has a magic wand.

As the coalition experiment entered the fourth year, demands grew for the party to go it alone with the aim of capturing power on its own, but the voices appeared to have become feeble after successive defeats.

However, not everything was lost as the party steered the coalition to a new year despite the constant sniping and threats by key outside supporter left parties which warned ad nauseam of serious consequeces if it failed to halt the Indo-US nuclear deal.

There are, however, questions about the strategy employed in Uttar Pradesh as a section felt that in the party’s eagerness to marginalise SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav it gave added strength to BSP.

This resulted in Mayawati turning the latest bugbear of Congress as bsp started spreading its wings far and wide in an attempt to make inroads mainly in the Congress support base.

Gujarat was just one instance where Mayawati put up candidates for all the 182 seats. It was just another story that the ‘Gajraj’ was grounded in the Modiland and could not win a single seat.

The ‘Elephant’ — symbol of the BSP — was attempting to threaten Congress fortresses in several states including Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir amid assertions that the party’s aim was to capture power in Delhi to make Mayawati the Prime Minister.

Earlier in the year, there was a new found bonhomie between Sonia Gandhi and Mayawati, who became the good Samaritan to extend much needed help to the ruling UPA in the Presidential election.

This ensured that the then Rajasthan Governor Pratibha Patil reaching the Rashtrapati Bhavan smoothly, making mincemeat of the challenge posed by the then Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

But as the year came to a close, a sort of warmth appeared to be developing between the Congress and SP as Mayawati became increasingly critical of the Government at the Centre.

The issue of revival of the Congress in the Hindi heartland continued to be a big question mark as BSP’s victory in Uttar Pradesh was seen as a defining moment in Indian politics while there appeared no light at the end of the tunnel for the party in Bihar.

A good news for Congress was the Marxists losing their sheen in West Bengal following the forcible recapture of Nandigram villages which made Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi as also several left sympathisers see red. (PTI)

Security guard of ex-MLA killed in landmine attack

TIRUPATI, Dec 31: Former Congress MLA C K Jayachandra reddy along with three of his associates were injured in a landmine attack on his car about 70 kms from here, but his security guard was killed in the blast.

Reddy alias C K Babu was returning from a local temple when the land mine planted on the road side went off near his car. The blast was caused by remote control device, police said.

The 40 year old security guard Surendra was killed on the spot.

The vehicle was tossed up in the air in the impact of the explosion, they said.

Reddy suffered a fracture in his hand and was admitted to a nearby hospital.

The vehicle carried eight persons including four guards. Reddy along with three others were injureed in the attack. (PTI)

ISRO saw string of successes in 2007

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: Capping a string of successes in 2007 in space research, India is poised to take a giant leap forward in the new year with the launch of its maiden Moon Mission Chandrayaan-I, a feat achieved by a few nations.

2008 will also see India taking first steps towards putting a man in space.

In the year gone by, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) achieved self-reliance in launch vehicle technology with the successful ground testing of the cryogenic upper stage, a key component in putting heavier payloads in orbit.

Space scientists also accomplished the feat of bringing back a spacecraft to earth and was developing a rocket to put four tonne satellites in orbit.

Hectic preparations were underway for the launch of ‘Chandrayaan-I’ on April 9.

Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE) conducted micro gravity experiments in orbit for 12 days before it was reoriented and de-orbited to splash down at the designated location on January 22, 2007.

The precise splash down established India’s capability to launch and control accurately to bring back a space capsule and made them confident to undertake more complex manned missions into low earth orbit.

The launch of SRE in the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C7 (PSLV) was significant as it also put into orbit three other payloads — Cartosat-2 of ISRO, 56 kg Lapan-Tubsat satellite from Indonesia and six kg pehuensat from Argentina.

Closely following the SRE was the launch of PSLV-C8 on April 23 carrying an Italian satellite agile into a low earth orbit.

It was for the first time that the PSLV was used to send a single foreign payload into orbit, marking India’s arrival in the global commercial launch market.

Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO charged the Italian Space Agency USD 29,000 per kg of satellite weight, perhaps offering the cheapest option for the putting a satellite in orbit.

Space scientists are working towards developing a newer version of the Geosynchronus Satellite Launch Vehicle - Mark III (GSLV-MK III) that is expected to make satellite launches cheaper.

Research and development activities in semi-cryogenic propulsion stages, air breathing propulsion, re-usable launch vehicle technology are being pursued vigorously in an effort towards reducing the launch costs.

Despite nearly five decades of Lunar missions, scientists still lack definitive answers to questions about the Moon’s origin, the minerals it contains and whether it has water that could support human life.

ISRO scientists have charted out a precise plan to hunt for these resources and have loaded Chandrayaan-I with a Lunar orbiter and an impactor probe.

The orbiter will revolve around the Moon at a distance of 100-km, scanning the earth’s natural satellite with its remote sensing equipment like X-Ray and Gamma Ray and laser imaging machines. It will look for hills and valleys and hunt for rare elements there.

The Lunar orbiter will survey the Lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography over a two-year period.

India has installed two giant antennae to monitor Chandrayaan-I next year, provide command support during its two-year orbit around the Moon and receive data from the mission.

The Antennae, set up at Byalalu, 45 kms from Bangalore, are a part of India’s Deep Space Network (IDSN), making it one of a few nations with such tracking ability.

The IDSN will serve as the base station for future planetary exploration. It will also be used to track the proposed astrosat, a space telescope designed to hunt for galactic clusters, new stars beyond the milky way.

ISRO is also planning to approach Japan and the US to allow the IDSN to track their on-going space missions Kaguya and the Mars express.

As India gears up for its maiden Moon mission, it has begun talks with Russia for Chandrayaan-II, a Lunar mission that will be developed as a joint venture.

India aims at landing a rover on the Moon as part of Chandrayaan-II which is planned for launch during 2011-12 time frame.

Not only the Lunar missions, India is charting out plans to land spaceships on comets and asteroids besides working on a proposal to undertake a human spaceflight.

The GSLV put communications satellite Insat-4CR in orbit on September two. The launch was significant as the previous flight had failed to accomplish the mission.

Insat-4B, the second satellite in the series in Insat 4 series, was successfully launched on ariane launch vehicle on March 12. (PTI)

Benazir wanted to call Nawaz Sharif
minutes before she died

ISLAMABAD, Dec 31: Minutes before she was killed, former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto wanted to speak to PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif whose supporters had been attacked in Rawalpindi on the same day.

Bhutto was assassinated on December 27 shortly after she addressed an election rally at the historical Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi.

As she left the venue in her bulletproof vehicle, Bhutto said she wanted to speak to Sharif, but then she heard the "Jeay Bhutto" slogans from her supporters and decided to wave to them from the car’s sunroof.

Bhutto’s political secretary Nahid Khan reportedly told a mourner that the former premier initially sat in the vehicle and asked for her mobile phone, the Dawn newspaper reported today.

Bhutto said she wanted to call Sharif as she had just learnt that five of his supporters had been killed in an attack as he was also campaigning in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Khan said when Bhutto fell inside the vehicle after the attack, she thought she had lost her balance and slipped.

"I said ‘Bismillah’ when BB almost fell into my lap but then to my horror I saw blood oozing out of her head and she was almost unconscious," Khan recalled.

Bhutto had called Sharif a day before her assassination to discuss with him the Government’s alleged plan for "massive rigging" in the January 8 general elections.

The two leaders had a long telephonic conversation and talked about evolving a joint strategy to foil the rigging plans. She had also sent flowers and a cake to Sharif on his birthday on December 25.

Chief political adviser of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, Safdar Abbasi said Bhutto’s last words were "Long live Bhutto".

Bhutto, who was chanting slogans along with her supporters from the sunroof of her vehicle, said "Long live Bhutto" just before she fell.

"She did not say anything more," Abbasi, who is Nahid Khan’s husband, recalled.

Recounting the incident, Abbasi said: "All of a sudden there was the sound of firing. I heard the sound of a bullet.

"I saw her: she looked as though she ducked in when she heard the firing. We did not realise that she had been hit by a bullet."

He said he looked up to see Bhutto sliding back through the sunroof just before the vehicle was rocked by a huge explosion.

There was no sound from the 54-year-old Bhutto and Abbasi said he noticed blood seeping from a deep wound on the left side of her neck.

Abbasi said Bhutto chose to travel in the first of two waiting vehicles. "She was smiling and she was extremely happy," he said. (PTI)

Year 2007: Lalu’s Resurgent Railways moves on fast track

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: Basking in his iconic image of a ‘management guru’, Lalu Prasad continued to fuel the triumphal journey of a resurgent Indian Railways with his out of box initiatives, as the transport behemoth bettered its milestones in revenue generation and created benchmarks in passenger amenities through IT application in the year-gone-by.

Awash with a cash surplus of over Rs 21,000 crore, the minister even assured that the coming railway budget would be better than all his earlier budgets, sustaining the passengers’ faith that they would be spared a hike in ticket fare for the fifth year on the trot.

But 2007 was not only a year of achievements for the Railways, it was also a year of rhetoric, of populism, of promises of better safety and quality catering gone awry while a number of projects floundered on the paper.

With modernisation and passenger amenities becoming the buzzwords of the Railways, people can look forward to booking tickets through SMS and availing ATM facility on some super fast trains in 2008. And if a pilot project for onboard entertainment becomes a success, they can also hope to watch TV while travelling in premium trains.

The earnings of the Railways zoomed phenomenally, and the ‘turnaround story’ ignited interest in the leading management institutes within the country and outside while Pakistan, Bangladesh and some other African countries evinced keen interest in it.

However, the Railways’ grandiose plan to observe 2007 as the ‘Year of Cleanliness’ remained mostly a pompous proclamation. Shoddy catering, dirty bedrolls, stinking toilets and rodents and cockroaches moving freely in coaches and pantry cars continued to greet passengers in most of the mail and express trains.

In the name of cleanliness, Eureka Forbes and some other big companies were given the job of keeping spick and span at important stations like Delhi, Asansol, Howrah and Chennai, but it came at a price: the regular sanitary staff were removed.

However, the impact of the Rs 17,000 crore Railway Safety Fund, an initiative of former Railway Minister Nitish Kumar for modernising the signalling system and tracks, has started showing results.

Last year, the Railways recorded about 195 accidents. In 2007, the number of accidents came down to about 150. Barring the terror blast in the Attari Special going from Delhi to Pakistan, there were no major accidents that could shake the passengers to the core.

Mr Prasad may not have hiked the passenger fare in his last four budgets, but this year would be remembered for the passengers being made to lighten their wallets on the sly.

‘Tatkal’ ticket facility, which had been launched to facilitate travelling in emergency situations with a ten per cent reservation in certain trains, was extended to all mail and express trains. Not only that, some 30 per cent seats were put in this category as the Railways turned the Tatkal scheme into a source of revenue.

Further, a surcharge was slapped on the return tickets while dozens of express trains were put into super fast category to extract ‘super fast surcharge’ from the passengers.

Despite all these shortcomings, the year 2007 has been significant for the Railways with regard to the revenue generation, which was pegged at Rs 44472.14 crore during April-November as compared to Rs 39669.25 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 12.11 per cent.

Besides making optimal use of conventional sources of revenues, the Railways also earned money through newer sources like ads on reservation tickets, using train compartments as mobile hoarding and even branding some trains after commercial products, like ‘Kurkure Express’.

Mr Prasad, who got a first hand account of the railway systems in European countries, got his General Managers and Divisional Mangers trained abroad. Not only that, the foundation stone was laid for the International Railway Strategic Management Institute (IRSMI) to be set up in New Delhi.

Slated to be operationalised by 2010 with the help from the Paris-based International Union of Railways (UIC), it is likely to make India a global hub for International Railway Managers.

In line with the Government’s "Look East Policy’ that requires strengthening of rail linkages in the region, especially with South East Asian neighbours, India signed the Inter-Governmental Agreement on Trans-Asian Railway at the UN headquarters in New York.

Under fire from the Delhi High Court and the travelling public, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a PSU of the Railway Ministry, initiated the process of modernising the departmental base kitchens at New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It is proposed to have state-of-the-art equipment and professional manpower for the base kitchens.

In a bid to position Indian Railways as the world’s leading railway network, the government approved the proposal to develop New Delhi Railway Station as a world class station before the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

The ministry also decided to constitute a Core Group for monitoring of Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects related to development of 22 world class stations across the country, including the New Delhi station.

In an endeavour to provide modern and improved facilities to the passengers, the Railways introduced the Integrated Train Enquiry System (ITES) ‘Rail Sampark’ call centre with common telephone number 139.

Under this system, the MTNL and BSNL subscribers in the covered area may make a local call at telephone No 139 (without requiring STD facility) to get basic inquiries like arrival/departure of train, status of availability of seats and train fare.

More importantly, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) presented the final study report on the Rs 28,000 crore Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), touted as the flagship project of the Railways.

Railways have proposed a 2700-km-long railway line project (Eastern Corridor - 1279 km) and Western corridor (1483 km) for augmenting the capacity of its network to handle the large increase in volume of traffic expected over the coming years.

For improving the disbursal of railway tickets, a large number of ATMs are being installed at various stations. Last year, the Railways had entered into an agreement with the SBI for installation of ATMs at 682 stations. Six more banks were allowed to install ATMs at 711 locations by March next year.

In the field of IT, Railways created a record. IRCTC sold 146,76,887 tickets on the Internet, earning for Railways a tidy amount of around Rs 1331 crore. On an average, 40,500 tickets were sold daily which went up to 60,000 during the last three months. November 13, in fact, proved to be historic as 83,000 tickets were sold on the net, better than any airline.

Another landmark achievement of the Railways was to expand the reach of reserved tickets nearer to the doorsteps of passengers even in remote areas by allowing selling of such tickets through post offices.

In the field of technological upgradation, RailTel is to set up cyber cafes at 82 stations. Till November, cyber cafes at 24 stations were commissioned.

RailTel also decided to install Wi-Fi systems at 50 stations, which will enable passengers to avail broadband internet facility using their laptops and other Wi-Fi enabled services. Twenty stations are expected to be made operational by March 2008.

Faced with stiff competition from budget airlines, Railways embarked on a project to provide onboard entertainment in some premium Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express trains. A pilot project is under way for installing TV screen behind every seat in a Shatabdi train.

Railways announced plans to set up a coach factory in Rai Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, an electric engine factory in Bihar’s Madhepura district and a diesel engine factory at Madhaura, also in Bihar. The foundation stones were laid for these factories, but work failed to start. In fact, no decision has so far been taken on the choice of private sector companies which are to be involved in these projects.

Similarly, the Kashmir Valley failed get its first train despite most of the arrangements being put in place. In the like manner, a company was formed to execute the Dedicated Freight Corridor project, but it largely remained on the paper. Even the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA), set up for the commercial exploitation of Railways’ vacant land, was a non-starter.

With regard to accidents, it was a rather inauspicious start for the Railways. In the intervening night of February 18 and 19, there was a terror blast in Attari Express near Deewana station in Haryana, killing 68 people.

Accidents also took place because of negligence of railway employees. A stampede broke out at Mughalsarai station when a large number of devout assembled there for going to Varanasi. More than 15 women pilgrims were killed.

But the most shocking instance of the negligence of railway employees was a collision between a school bus and Satluj Express at a level crossing in Punjab’s Moga in December. Eighteen lives were snuffed out in that accident.

During the same month, extremists triggered explosion in a Rajdhani Express near Dimapur in Assam, killing five passengers.

Railways are under the process of installing CCTV and x-ray machines on railway stations initially at identified 185 sensitive locations across the country for a more effective handling of crime, pilferage and terrorist threats.

In an example of PPP, Railways, SAIL, National Minerals Development Corporation (NMDC) and the Chhattisgarh Government came together to construct a 235-km broad gauge railway line from Dalli Rajhara to Jagdalpur in the eastern state.

The project is to bring about socio-economic development of the backward areas of Bastar region in Chhattisgarh and further the industrial progress and mining activities in the region.

Railways added another milestone by signing a joint venture agreement with NTPC to set up a 1000 MW power plant-Bharatiya Rail Bijlee Company Limited-at Nabinagar in Bihar. The electricity from this plant will power electric trains in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhatisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

A proposal to include Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR) as world heritage site is to be considered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Canada in July 2008.

Three exhibition trains — Azadi Express, Science Express and Red Ribbon Express — were launched while a special train for Buddhist pilgrims — Mahaparinirvan Express —covering some major Buddhist sites in an eight-day package, was flagged off during the year. (UNI)