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Sonia justifies move to go nuclear
Need to have policy on bio-diesel plants
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Gowda wants BJP to forego Hindutva
Andhra issues notice to Jaya
LCA
trainer version in Aug
Rs 22,000-cr fertiliser subsidy cleared
Bihar opens call centre under RTI Act
Kaunda urges Bush, allies to stop Iraq war
HC disallows book fair
Sonia to open Surajkund mela
Khurana joins Uma’s party
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Sonia justifies move to go nuclear
New Delhi, January 29 The conference, titled “Peace, non-violence and empowerment: Gandhian philosophy in the 21st century”, which opened here today, is as much about the Mahatma as it is about the Nehru-Gandhi family. Presiding over the gathering, Mrs Gandhi chose to follow in her husband, late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s footsteps when she reiterated India’s commitment to comprehensive, universal nuclear disarmament in her opening remarks at the inaugural function. Nearly 20 years ago, Rajiv Gandhi had presented a similar blueprint before the UN. Justifying India’s move to go nuclear, she said this was due to strategic compulsions and its failure to persuade the world to abolish nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, she reiterated, India remained committed to nuclear disarmament. It was not just Sonia Gandhi alone but son Rahul Gandhi, who was included as a delegate to the conference on the last day, was also all set to be showcased before the international gathering. It is no coincidence that like his father, the Lok Sabha MP from Amethi has chosen to participate in tomorrow’s session on “Towards a nuclear weapons-free and non-violent world order.” Dwelling at length on the continuing “resonance of Gandhian ideals”, and the need to evolve a “Satyagraha appropriate to our times”, Mrs Gandhi also used this platform to remind the international community and her own party about the adverse impact of globalisation. In what is seen as a strong message to the Manmohan government, which often gets criticised for its free-market economic policies that have benefited only a fragment of the Indian population, she said: “Our own country, for instance, has made spectacular gains over the past decades and is being rapidly transformed. But destitution, poverty, malnutrition and illiteracy are still widespread. Inequality is very visible. In a hard-hitting speech, the UPA chairperson said economic growth could be sustainable only if it was all-inclusive and in harmony with nature and the earth’s long-term future.” Leaders of the Left Front, including CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, also attended the function. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, Kaunda, Yunus, former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser Al Kidwa and Lech Walesa also addressed.
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Need to have policy on bio-diesel plants
New Delhi, January 29 “We need to set up such a mechanism that farmers can get financial support. They can’t wait two to three years for plantations to bear fruits,” Dr Kirit S. Parikh said at the bio-diesel summit here. Jatropha, one of the raw materials used for the production of bio-diesel, starts bearing fruits in the second or third year of its plantation and produces harvestable yield of about 1.5 to 2.5 kg per tree. Dr Parikh said up to 250 tonnes of oil could be produced if 60-65 hectares of wasteland, which the country currently possesses, were brought under cultivation. Scouting for the introduction of the financial mechanism, he said such a facility would reduce India’s dependence on the imported oil. Currently, the country requires more than 100 million tonnes of oil, which is expected to reach between 350 to 500 million tonnes in the next 25 years. The consumption of high-speed diesel during 2005-06 was around 40 million mmt. “Even 5 per cent blend of bio-diesel in petrol diesel would save a significant amount of foreign exchange outflow,” Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said. The Petroleum Ministry has already announced ‘bio-diesel purchase policy’ in October 2005, under which the bio-diesel produced with BIS specifications would be purchased by the public sector oil companies.
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Gowda wants BJP to forego Hindutva Bangalore, January 29 Gowda’s statement, made at the JD (S) National Council, assumes significance in the wake of an aggressive Hindutva programme launched by the party ever since it formed a coalition government with the JD (S). A few months back it had openly supported holding of ‘padyatras’ at Baba Badungari shrine, which is a bone of contention between Hindus and Muslims, with its senior most leaders only baulking from attending the celebrations at the last minute. Recently senior BJP leaders had enthusiastically participated in large religious functions held by the Hindu Virat Samudai. Scuffles over removing of some banners during such a programme in the city recently had led to communal riots. Speaking at the National Council meeting of the party, Gowda said the state BJP must adhere to the common minimum programme (CMP) agreed upon by both the coalition partners. He said he understood the party was free to promote temple building at the national level but that it had to focus on development, which was the main focus of the CMP at the state level. Meanwhile, the National Executive also urged the Centre to write off farmers’ loans from Cooperative Credit institutions to allow farmers to stand up on their feet again. The executive noted that steps were already being taken in this regard by the state government. It said, however, the Centre, besides announcing a broad policy on loans, could form a policy to cover various crops under the crop insurance scheme to safeguard the interests of farmers. The executive said the Centre could also make provisions to compensate commercial banks, which write off farmers’ loans to ensure their financial status to continue credit disbursement to the farmers. It said the government could start anew by waiving off such loans fully and completely and offer soft loans to the farmers at 4 per cent interest. On the issue of special economic zones (SEZs), the executive said while it was not against creation of any Special Economic Zones, they should not be at the cost of poor farmers or their productive agricultural land. It said efforts should be taken to ensure land sharks should not be allowed to grab land in the name of creating infrastructure.
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Andhra issues notice to Jaya
Hyderabad, January 29 According to the Ranga Reddy District Collector, Mr Premchandra Reddy, revenue officials issued notices to J Jayalalithaa Grape Gardens at Pet Bashirabad on the outskirts of the city after identifying seven acres as assignment land. Land assigned by the government to the landless poor is not transferable, and purchasing such land is violation of AP Land Reforms Act. The notices were issued in accordance with a recent Act, which enables the government to take back land distributed to the poor, if it was found to be in the possession of others. Accordingly notices were issued recently to many companies, including Ramoji Film City, Satyam Computers and the Sanghi Group. The Tamil Nadu former Chief Minister, however, sharply reacted to the Andhra Government move, dubbing it as politically motivated. In a statement released in Chennai yesterday, Jaya alleged that she was targeted because of her party’s support to Telugu Desam Party’s agitation against Andhra Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who was accused of possessing hundreds of acres of lands against land reform laws.
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LCA
trainer version in Aug Bangalore, January 29 HAL officials, who took journalists around the LCA, IJT (intermediate
jet trainer) and Jaguar manufacturing and upgradation lines, claimed
that the IJT project established a benchmark as it had led to the
production of a prototype within 39 months of conception and taken only
20 months to be produced after metal cutting began.
Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) general manager A. Mohan,
while talking to The Tribune, disclosed that eight flights of the LCA
PV-3 armed version had been completed and the initial operational
clearance (IOC) was expected in 2008-09.
He said the three prototypes of the LCA, PV-1,2 and 3, had together
completed 590 hours of flying.
The ARDC head said the government had cleared the production of seven
prototypes in all and the PV-5 was being produced in response to the
IAF’s need for a trainer aircraft in the same series.
The IAF had ordered 20 aircraft while the navy had ordered a fighter
and a trainer.
The LCA came with R-73 missile integration and drop tanks as standard
equipment.
The HAL had received order for the limited series production of 12
IJT aircraft.
Officials said the delivery of the limited series would take place in
2008 and mass production would begin in 2010.
It is estimated that 200 IJTs would be inducted into the IAF for
training its pilots and replace the ageing HJT-16 (Kiran) aircraft.
The HAL had developed two prototypes of the IJT, which had completed
335 flights as of date, its chief test pilot Baldev Singh said.
He said flight testing was progressing briskly and that hot weather
trials had already been completed in Nagpur in May last year. He said
high-altitude and sea-level flying tests would be undertaken this year.
HAL officials also disclosed that the Jaguar assembly line would be
replaced by the Hawk (advanced jet trainer) in two years, heralding the
end of the production of the aircraft in India.
The HAL would produce 20 more Jaguars during this period.
All Jaguars being produced currently were the Darin-2 model, which
had advanced features like digital map generator, smart multi-functional
display, mission computer, initial navigation platform and digital
recording system.
Eight aircraft were likely to be manufactured this year and the
remaining 12 next year.
Simultaneously the Jaguar fleet of 110 aircraft manufactured in India
since the 1980s would undergo an upgradation to the Darin-2 model.
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Rs 22,000-cr fertiliser subsidy cleared
New Delhi, January 29 Mr Paswan said the Department was pursuing the release of Rs 6,000 crore fertiliser subsidy arrears from the Finance Ministry. The Minister told newspersons at the end of the first conference of State Agriculture Ministers that complaints of fertiliser companies regarding delay in payment of subsidy will be looked into by the government. The day-long meeting reviewed the recent experience of buoyant demand for fertiliser products in the country besides taking stock of shortcomings in its overall management, including demand assessment, availability and infrastructural constraints. The meeting also debated at length the ways and means to delineate areas of responsibility between the stakeholders involved in the process of manufacture/ import and the distribution of fertilisers to farmers.
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Bihar opens call centre under RTI Act
Patna, January 29 Inaugurating the call centre at Suchna Bhawan here today, CM Nitish Kumar said the move was aimed at ending corruption and to reduce the gap between the government and the people. Going by the format, one simply has to dial 155311 from any VSNL number and get whatever information required on Bihar. The person has to provide his/her address and the type of information he/she wants to get. The call centre will then pass on the application to the department concerned for the information. The commission has a website www.bsic.co.in
— TNS
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Kaunda urges Bush, allies to stop Iraq war
New Delhi, January 29 At the inaugural function of the two-day conference to commemorate the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha movement, the feisty African leader launched a scathing attack against “terrorism, wars, war mongers and warlords” to declare passionately, “I appeal to US President George Bush, to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and their allies to stop this war in Iraq.”
— TNS
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HC disallows book fair
Kolkata, January 29 Today's judgement was yet an another slap on the CM’s face, at whose assurance the fair authorities had proceeded in the preparation of the book fair at maidan instead of waiting for the HC's final verdict. The 12-day international book fair was scheduled to start in the maidan from tomorrow following a special permission obtained from the Army which had already banned all the fairs and exhibitions at maidan since 2004.
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Sonia to open Surajkund mela
New Delhi, January 29 The theme of the Mela this year is Andhra Pradesh. As many as 350 craftspersons will participate in this 15-day mela from all over the country. There will also be participation from SAARC countries.
— TNS
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It was a Gandhi show all the way. While Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy was at the centre of the two-day international conference being held here to commemorate the centenary of his Satyagraha movement, the Nehru-Gandhi family proved to be an equal scene-stealer.
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