NEW DELHI, June 11: Opposition today lambasted the government in the Lok Sabha for making “tall promises” which were “difficult to achieve” to garner votes and asked the BJP-led ruling dispensation to explain how they would fulfill the aspirations of the people.

“I am just warning you (government). You should not be so arrogant. We have earlier seen such electoral victory and have fought those governments too — whether of Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi. We fought all of them. I am just reminding you,” Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said.

Speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President for his address, Yadav said, “We fought the imposition of Emergency. After 1971, we saw 1977 (when Indira Gandhi was defeated by Janata Party). We also saw 1984 when Rajiv Gandhi stormed to power after Indira Gandhi’s assassination and then saw 1989 (when Congress was ousted).”

Amid interruptions from the treasury benches as he took the BJP to task on its poll promises, the SP chief said, “You have made tall promises on several issues. You have even promised to take back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the territory taken over by China. Tell us by when will you do this. We will support you.”

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, Yadav said, “Did you ask him to return the land (PoK)? What were the issues you discussed? Will you keep it a secret or inform Parliament?”

He and senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh also took the government to task for making “tall” promises to contain price rise and unemployment, with Yadav claiming that “since your government has come to power, prices have gone up again and we thought you will fulfill the promise of ending inflation.”

BJP has also promised pucca houses for all in ten years “but how will you implement it, we want to know. You have raised the people’s expectations very high, but how will you meet them?”, the SP supremo said, as he was repeatedly interrupted by BJP members.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had to ask members from the treasury benches several times not to disrupt Yadav’s speech.

“If all the promises you have made are fulfilled, then India will be the top-most nation,” Yadav said, adding BJP had used the “socialist slogan of ‘roti, kapda aur makaan’ (food, clothing and shelter) to garner votes”.

The SP chief, however, praised the government for giving emphasis on Hindi and other regional languages and said “we will congratulate you, if you accomplish this.”

Terming the BJP government’s agenda as “old wine in new bottle”, Amarinder Singh (Cong) said almost all the issues raised were “the same programmes started by the Congress earlier which have been brought in now with new names.”

While similarities have been drawn to the Congress strength of 44 and BJP’s 280 in the 16th Lok Sabha with “Pandavas (five) and Kauravas (100), there are so many other such examples like the single legion of Julius Caesar’s triumph over the Gauls,” he said.

The Congress leader wanted to know when the government would get the Women’s Reservation Bill adopted and how the promises of developing 100 cities in five years, 24X7 power supply and toilets to every village would be implemented or how poverty eliminated as promised.

Some BJP members rose in protest when Singh said “while the recent monsoon failure is due to ‘El Nino’ effect, some others say it is ‘El Modi’ effect because when someone does something wrong, as it happened in Gujarat, such things happen.”

“What happened in Gujarat,” shouted BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy, with others from his party rising on their feet and shouting. Undeterred, Singh said “why, haven’t you heard of Ishrat Jahan”, provoking more BJP members to shout back.

He also made a fervent plea for concrete steps to check “large-scale drug abuse” in Punjab and demanded arrest of drug dealers and smugglers instead of the youth who had fallen victims to narcotics.

Singh pointed out that ‘one rank, one pension’ was implemented by the Congress-led government while so many “good laws” like Right to Information, Right to Education, Food Security Act and NREGA did not find a place in the President’s address.

Prem Singh Chandumajra (SAD) said states should be empowered by the new government headed by Narendra Modi.

He said financial assistance should be provided to the states and there should not be any situation in which the state governments beg before the Centre for aid.

He said political blackmailing made states beggars and the Centre a bully.

Sugata Bose (TMC) said India is the largest democracy of the world and should not consider China as a model as dictatorship prevails in China.

Referring to the issue of ousting illegal Bangladeshi migrants, Bose said West Bengal would not allow the use of language that hurts the sentiments of minority community.

He condemned the rape and killings of girls in Uttar Pradesh and murder of a techie in Pune.

Dharamvira Gandhi (AAP) raised the issue of power crisis in Delhi and asked the Centre to apply pressure on discoms to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to Delhiites.

He also asked the Centre not to increase gas prices as it will lead to price rise.

Kiran Rijiju (BJP), Badaruddin Ajmal (AIUDF), P Venugopal (AIADMK), Jayadev Galla (TDP), Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena) and Arjun Meghwal (BJP) also spoke. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: Congress’ student outfit NSUI today staged a protest outside the residence of HRD Minister Smriti Irani demanding scrapping of the controversial Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) of Delhi University.

The protesters, led by National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) general secretary Mohit Sharma, reached Irani’s residence in Lodhi Estate around 9.30 AM and raised slogans against the BJP-led government during the demonstration which lasted for around an hour.

They alleged that lack of any action by the government despite the continued protests by various students and teachers organisations showed that BJP and the Vice Chancellor of DU were “hand in glove”.

“We have come here to protest against the FYUP in Delhi University. NSUI will not sit silent till it is immediately rolled back,” Amrish Ranjan Pandey, national spokesperson of NSUI, told reporters here.

He also alleged that the HRD Minister was not taking any interest in scrapping the programme.

“Unfortunately it is the students who are at the receiving end of this lacklustre attitude of the University owing to the atmosphere of uncertainty about their future with regard to the FYUP course,” he added.

In a statement, NSUI also claimed that its seven activists, who were sitting on hunger strike in Arts Faculty in North Campus of Delhi University for the last six days, were forcibly evicted by police.

“NSUI will, however, continue its fight for justice to students and will continue taking up this cause till our demand for rollback is accepted,” the statement said.

Students bodies and teachers organisations like DUTA have stepped up pressure on the BJP-led government to scrap the programme ever since it came to power, reminding it of the promise made in this regard in its manifesto.

Irani is understood to have told a delegation of BJP’s student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which met her earlier, that any decision to scrap the programme will be taken keeping in mind the interest of students.

Earlier, members of the National Democratic Teachers’ Front (NDTF) had made a representation to the HRD Minister in which they argued that the programme was in violation of laws and UGC norms. (PTI)

MUMBAI, June 11: The domestic aviation space is all set to witness severe competition with the entry of AirAsia India, which starts operation from tomorrow.

AirAsia India, the Indian arm of the Malaysian no-frills airline headed by Tony Fernandes, will become the fourth budget carrier in the country — after IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir — once its maiden flight takes off from Bangalore to Goa at 1510 hours on Thursday.

Besides these, the Naresh-Goyal promoted full service airline Jet Airways also operates a low-cost service JetLite.

As of now among the domestic carriers, including full service ones, Rahul Bhatia-promoted IndiGo dominates the local market with 31.6 per cent share, followed by Jet Airways-JetLite combine with 21.8 per cent and Air India with 18.3 per cent, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation data for April traffic.

While SpiceJet had a 17.9 per cent market share in April this year, GoAir had 9.5 per cent.

AirAsia India, whose top officials have promised to offer low and competitive airfares, will focus on connecting tier-II cities to begin with.

“Our airlines’ fares will be about 35 per cent lower than the current market rates,” AirAsia India Chief Executive Mittu Chandilya had earlier said.

The new entrant has already triggered the fare war by announcing fares as low as Rs 990 for its Bangalore-Goa and Bangalore-Chennai routes, forcing the rival carriers, including IndiGo to come out with matching fares.

IndiGo also announced promotional fares for just Re 1 on the Bangalore, Chennai and Goa routes, taking on the competition from AirAsia India’s Rs 5 fare (excluding airport tax and other applicable fees) offer and putting on sale over 25,000 promotional seats with travel period validity up to October 25.

Leaping up the AirAsia India offer, the flyers rushed to book a seat at dream prices and the airline sold out the entire flight within 10 minutes of opening for sales.

Not only this, 25,000 seats were also booked within 48 hours of the announcement.

Other budget carriers have also been on a low-fare spree with SpiceJet coming out with as many as 13 such offers since January this year till date with the most recent being Rs 1,999 offer on eight cities from South India.

Interestingly, AirAsia India has made Chennai its hub, which also happens to be the base of SpiceJet, promoted by media baron Kalanithi Maran.

The Indian subsidiary of the Malaysian carrier plans to have a fleet of 10 aircrafts, drawn from A-320 family, within a year of starting operations.

On March 22, AirAsia India received its first A-320 aircraft, configured in an all-economy layout, with 180 seats.

AirAsia India, a 49:30:21 joint venture between Malaysian carrier AirAsia, Tata Sons and Arun Bhatia’s Telestra Tradeplace, was granted flying licence by aviation regulator DGCA last month, after 9-month-long wait and various legal hurdles.

At present, AirAsia, through its operations based in Thailand and Malaysia, flies to Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Tiruchirappalli and Kolkata from several destinations in the ASEAN region.

AirAsia had announced its joint venture with Tata Sons and Telestra Tradeplace in February 2013, four months after the then UPA government allowed up to 49 per cent FDI in domestic airlines by foreign carriers. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: With onion and milk prices showing an upward cue, the government today said it is closely watching the trend and will take appropriate steps to ensure adequate availability of these commodities in the domestic market.

“Onion and milk are important. We are closely observing the price trend and an appropriate action will follow, whenever required,” Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher told reporters here.

He was replying to a question whether the government is mulling any export restriction considering the possibility of deficit monsoon and rising prices.

Onions are costlier by Rs 5/kg in retail markets in most cities compared to last year prices. At present, onion prices are hovering in the range Rs 20-25/kg in Delhi. It was Rs 17/kg in the year-ago period.

“Our approach to agri exports is broadly nuanced by the fact that agri exports as far as possible should be open but clearly they are underlined by the attenuating factors of domestic demand and supply,” he said.

He said the government has reviewed the situation and there is no cause of worry for wheat and rice at present.

Consumer Affairs Secretary Keshav Desiraju had recently said that a call on re-imposing MEP would be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Prices soon. At present, there is no minimum export price (MEP) on onion.

Kher also said that the department dealing with future trading too is watching the situation.

In September last year, retail onion prices had shot to up Rs 100 per kg in many parts of the country. To rein in prices, the government had imposed MEP on onion and the minimum export price was raised several times to curb outbound shipments and boost domestic supplies. The government even imported onion.

With domestic supplies improving and wholesale prices crashing, the Centre had later done away with the MEP.

In the 2013-14, total onion exports fell by over 25 per cent to 1.35 million tonnes as against 1.82 million tonnes in the previous year.

According to the government research body National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF), total onion production is estimated to be higher by 15 per cent at 19.29 million tonnes this year (July-June) from Rs 16.81 million tonnes a year ago.

In India, the world’s second largest onion producer after China, onion is grown in three seasons — kharif (summer), late kharif and rabi (winter).

Costlier vegetables, fruits and milk pushed up retail inflation to three-month high of 8.59 per cent in April.

Inflation in milk was 11.42 per cent in April as against 11.02 per cent in the previous month.

Amul and Mother Dairy, the two major milk suppliers in Delhi had increased prices by Rs 2 a litre recently. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: Indian and Chinese armies will hold their fourth joint military exercise in India in November.

This was stated by Joint Secretary in-charge of China in the External Affairs Ministry Gautam Bambawale.

“The next round of joint training exercises between the two armies will be held in India in November,” Bhambawale said at a conference, where his speech was read out.

The third joint exercise between the two armies code named “hand in hand” had taken place in November last year in China’s Chengdu city after a gap of five years.

A 150-strong Indian army contingent had participated in the 10-day long exercise.

The first exercise was held in China’s Kunming city in 2007 followed by the second round at Belgaum in Karnataka in 2008. The next round was called off by India following denial of visa to a top General heading troops in Jammu and Kashmir.

In his address at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, Bambawale said the intensity of defence exchanges between the two countries has grown this year.

In this context, he referred to visits here of Deputy Chief of General Staff of People’s Liberation Army Lt General Wang Guanzhong in February and Deputy Chief of General Staff (Operations) Lt General Qi Jianguo in April.

“We are also expecting a visit by the Chinese Defence Minister in the latter half of this year,” said Bambawale.

Talking about trade relations, he said they form an important part of “our strategic and cooperative partnership”.

He, however, identified trade deficit in favour of China as an issue for the government and said one of the measures to address it was to increase Chinese investment in India. The trade deficit has risen to around USD 40 billion in 2013.

The official described as “difficult” and “sensitive” boundary issue but said efforts by both the countries resulted in peace and tranquility on the border.

“Both sides have also recognised that peace and tranquility on the border is an important guarantor for development and continued growth of our bilateral relations.

“Both sides are also in agreement that for relations to grow more rapidly, they should accommodate and be sensitive to each other’s concerns and aspirations and see each other as equal partners for development,” he said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has written to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi expressing satisfaction over his meeting with him recently and said he was looking forward to working with him in “harmony on all unsettled matters”.

In a letter which was delivered to the Prime Minister’s Office over the weekend, Sharif, who was among the leaders from the neighbouring countries to attend Modi’s swearing in on May 26, said the future of the poor was integrated with “our common economic destiny”.

“I must say that I have returned much satisfied with our meaningful exchange of thoughts on matters of bilateral and regional interest,” Sharif wrote.

A day after he was sworn in, Modi had held a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart on crucial bilateral issues including terror and speedy trial of Mumbai terror attack case in Pakistan.

“I look forward to working with you in harmony on all unsettled matters for the benefit of both nations. Hope that our endeavours will lay the foundation of a much brighter future,” Sharif said.

The letter by the Pakistani leader is seen as a positive development in the Indo-Pak ties, which for last one year have witnessed cold vibes due to the incidents along the Line of Control, including beaheading of an Indian soldier by Pakistan troops.

Sharif’s letter further said, “It is the millions living in poverty in both countries who deserve our foremost attention. I firmly believe that in our concerted efforts lies the welfare and prosperity of our two nations.” (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: State-run BSNL today launched two unlimited data plans for its post-paid users of North zone, targeted towards the youth and students.

The unlimited plans will be offered across the country subsequently, the company said in a statement.

Currently the packs will be available in Haryana, Punjab, UP(West), UP(East), Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and J&K GSM mobile post-paid customers.

“The new add-on data packs 240 and 340, allow unlimited data usage at monthly charges of Rs 240 and Rs 340 respectively,” BSNL said.

However, customers will get reduced speed of 80 Kbps after using up 1GB and 2GB download on the packs.

“This offer is initially for North zone circles and subsequently it will be offered in all other circles as well. The offer is specifically useful for student community and youths,” BSNL Board Director (consumer mobility) Anupam Shrivastava said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: Taking a first step towards appointment of Lokpal, Government has decided to modify rules to give more powers to the search committee mandated to recommend names for appointment of chairperson and members of the anti-corruption body.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) is making changes in the rules on the mandate of the search committee which will be notified soon, official sources said.

As per existing rules, an eight-member search committee is tasked to draw up a panel of persons for consideration by the selection committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for appointment of chairperson and members of the Lokpal.

These persons have to be chosen from among the panel provided by the DoPT, the rules say.

However, the government will now empower the search committee to include people from outside the list provided by DoPT for consideration by the selection committee, the sources said.

There may be some other changes in the constitution of the search committee, they said.

Besides, the DoPT has written to Law Ministry to vet rules formed on filing of property returns by government employees under the Lokpal regime.

As per the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, every public servant shall make a declaration of his assets and liabilities.

A form for filing of such returns by a government officer has been designed and rules in this regard have been sent to the Law Ministry for its comments, the sources said.

The government has made it clear that Lokpal Act is important to curb corruption.

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act provides for the establishment of a Lokpal for the Union and Lokayuktas for the states to inquire into corruption charges against public functionaries.

Outlining Narendra Modi government’s road map, President Pranab Mukherjee had on Monday said in his joint address to Parliament that the new dispensation “is committed to providing a clean and efficient administration focused on delivery. The institution of Lokpal is important to curb corruption and my government will endeavour to formulate rules in conformity with the Act.”

Mukherjee had given his assent to Lokpal Act on January 1 this year.

The last UPA government could not go ahead with the much-touted appointment of Lokpal due to objection raised by the BJP in the selection procedure of the anti-corruption body.

Arun Jaitley, who was Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha before his party came to power at the Centre, had raised strong objections to the “highly improper” procedure adopted by the UPA government in making key appointments to Lokpal.

Jaitley had written twice to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alleging that the procedure adopted by DoPT is violative of the Lokpal Act and an attempt to pack it with Congress loyalists.

The UPA government had in February this year hurriedly formed an eight-member search committee comprising Justice (retd) K T Thomas (as chairperson) and seven other members.

The members included Kaki Madhava Rao (former IAS officer), F S Nariman (legal luminary), Prof Meenakshi Gopinath (educationist), M L Kumawat (former Director General of Border Security Force), H K Dua (senior journalist and Rajya Sabha member), S Y Quraishi (former Chief Election Commissioner) and Prof Mrinal Miri (Rajya Sabha member).

But both Thomas and Nariman had refused to be part of the search panel.

The selection committee, led by Modi, has as its members the Lok Sabha Speaker, Leader of Opposition in the Lower House, the Chief Justice of India or a judge of the apex court nominated by him, and an eminent jurist who could be nominated by the President or any other member.

Since Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is yet to take a decision on the issue of Leader of Opposition in the lower house, the appointment of chairperson and members of Lokpal may take some more time. (PTI)