New Delhi, April 19
In a move to boost paddy procurement, the government today extended the Rs 40 bonus scheme by two to six months to enable the Food Corporation of India to buy more from the market.

The bonus scheme, which was to have expired on March 31 this year, was extended by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

This would allow the FCI, the nodal foodgrain procurement agency, to pay a bonus of Rs 40 per quintal of paddy over and above the minimum support price, a spokesperson told reporters after the meeting.

The decision was taken to ensure adequacy of foodgrain stocks in the central pool and food security, she said.

The government had announced the bonus for paddy procurement during the kharif marketing season 2006-07 above the MSP of Rs 580 per quintal for common variety and Rs 610 per quintal for category ‘a’ variety.

The extension of bonus will be valid till May 31 this year in Bihar and Kerala, while farmers in other rice-growing states such as Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal would be able to avail of this incentive till September-end.

Rice production this year is likely to decline marginally to 91.05 million tonnes (mt) as compared to last year and the bonus period is being extended as the government does not want to take any chance in ensuring adequate procurement.

The FCI, which maintains the central pool, has procured 27.02 mt of rice, including 6.14 mt of levy rice, from millers till April 15 during the 2006-07 marketing season.

The country is expected to produce a total of 91.05 mt of rice, both during the kharif and rabi seasons 2006-07, as per the third advance estimate against 91.79 mt produced in the year-ago period.

New Delhi, April 19
India is watching very closely Bangladesh’s interim government’s ongoing experimentation with “minus two” formula aimed at marginalising the two Begums - Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina - from this least developed South Asian country.

As of now, India is well aware that it is army rule by proxy in Bangladesh but New Delhi is not upping its ante on the question of democracy. That is because India’s two immediate concerns - a substantive improvement in all-round bilateral relations and disallowing Islamic fundamentalist forces from spreading their tentacles in Bangladesh - are being satisfactorily met by the caretaker government of chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed.

As of now, it does not matter to India whether Bangladesh has no democracy, or complete democracy or partial democracy or Singapore-type controlled democracy.

Fakruddin Ahmed has made it clear that the suspended elections would not take place before the end of 2008. The Americans, both through their ambassador Patricia Butenis in Dhaka and the state department, have endorsed the work and programme of the caretaker government. So have the British and the 27-nation European Union. All concerned agree that for a free and fair elections a lot of work remains to be done, including revising the electoral roll doctored by the BNP, and issuing identity cards to Bangladeshi citizens.

The immediate past Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Begum Khaleda Zia, has been persuaded to leave the country along with her younger son, Arafat Zia. Her elder son, Tareq Rehman Zia, who is also the senior joint general secretary of the BNP, may also follow his mother in due course.

The notorious Tareq Zia is currently in police remand on charges of corruption and extortion. Simultaneously, efforts are being made by the army-backed caretaker government to keep Awami League leader and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina out of the country by lodging extortion and murder charges against her. Hasina is currently on a private visit to the USA.

The Bangladesh Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen Moeen U. Ahmed, recently gave his own recipe for a new Bangladesh. Addressing a seminar on April 2, organised by the International Political Association Bangladesh, Moeen listed some significant steps, which apparently the army and the caretaker government envisioned. One suggestion was eliminating family and dynasty-based politics.

The process has already been operationalised by exiling the Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina families. This, of course, is not a new project. According to earlier reports, expelling these two families, known as the “minus two” formula, was in the consideration of the US policy makers for sometime.

The two Begums have been at each other’s throats for decades, adversely affecting stability and development. The last five years of the BNP rule from 2001 to 2006 was a virtual nightmare. Ruled by the Zia family and especially Tareq Rehman from the BNP headquarters, Hawa Bhavan , Bangladesh went through a period of unbridled corruption, extra-judicial killings and rise of Islamic terrorism. The emergency declared on January 11 last year and backed by the army saved situation at that time.

Three other observations of the army chief require close scrutiny. These include “own brand of democracy,” “Religion … As its national identity”, and “armed forces a silent partner of the people”. While Lt-Gen Moeen did not elaborate, the signs are that a new model of government is about to be experimented, which may draw on Pakistan, Turkey and one political entity rule for sometime.

Khairabad, (Sitapur), April 19
Wooing first-time voters, emerging youth icon and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi declared that the young had the magical key to change things for the better.

Addressing whirlwind public meetings in the districts of Bahraich, Sitapur and later in Basti, Gandhi targeted the young of these traditionally SP and BSP strongholds to give the Congress a second look.

In his seven-minute speech at the J.L.M.D.J. Inter College grounds in Khairabad which falls in the Leharpur assembly constituency, Gandhi assured the young that election or no election, he was to remain in Uttar Pradesh and work along with them in the days ahead. "It will be clear soon that I am not here only for a month,” he said.

The sprawling ground was virtually empty as Gandhi's meeting was more than two hours behind schedule. However, as soon as the two helicopters were visible in the sky, people started rushing towards the venue.

Within minutes the maidan acquired a mela-like environment, as people came running- some out of curiosity to see the flying machines, others to have a look at "Indira's pota.” The Congress district president reminded the public thronging the grounds that Gandhi's grandmother, Indira Gandhi, had visited Sitapur in 1979 and Rajiv Gandhi in 1985.

Informing the crowd that 40 per cent of the state's development budget came from Delhi, Gandhi wondered where it went. "I do not see new schools, roads, hospitals or even employment opportunities.”

Asking the people to demand development as a matter of right, he said each government during the past 15 years had let them down. "Nothing has moved during the last 15 years. Now only the young can change things. I am here to help you achieve that,” Gandhi told a loudly cheering crowd.

Narrating his interaction with people in Nanpara, Bahraich, where he had addressed a meeting earlier in the day, Gandhi said there the people had been requesting for a bridge for the last five years. "I told them you are asking for too little. Just demand it from the rulers. This is their job. And you deserve it as a matter of right. I would now help you fight for your rights.”

In 2002 the present Congress candidate, Haji Jalis Ansari, was in the BSP and lost by a narrow margin to the sitting SP MLA Anil Kumar Verma. This time after being refused a ticket in the BSP, Ansari is contesting on the Congress ticket and giving a tough fight to Verma.

Guwahati, April 19
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said ULFA was behind Tuesday night’s abduction of north-east zone executive director of the FCI Phool Chand Ram from the city.

Gogoi told mediapersons here, “We are sure about militants’ involvement in the abduction and most likely it is ULFA. We have specific information that we can’t divulge at this point in time.”

When contacted by The Tribune over the phone at his Noida residence, Pravin, son of the abducted FCI official, said the family was yet to receive any ransom demand from anybody for the release of his father.

“We are in the dark. Family members are worried; we hope we will have him back among us soon,” he said.

Meanwhile, the police today recovered the abandoned official vehicle, a white Ambassador (AS01 V 1353), used by the abductors near Rangiya, about 40 km from here, even as the driver, who was kidnapped along with the official, remained untraced.

The centre is likely to depute a team of senior officials to monitor the police operation to secure the release of the FCI official. Union food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar is in touch with the Assam Chief Minister regarding the incident.

Gogoi renewed his appeal to ULFA militants to abjure the path of violence and come for talks.

Chennai, April 19
Tamil Nadu has started a crackdown on hospitals in the state for violating the Transplantation of Human Organs Act and their alleged role in the kidney transplant racket.

It has also decided to initiate measures to prevent the selling of kidneys by the poor and tsunami victims.

A large number of patients with renal problems from other parts of the country, particularly North India, have been coming to Tamil Nadu for kidney transplant and they too had fallen prey to unscrupulous brokers, who duped them.

As part of the measure,the Tamil Nadu government has cancelled the organ transplantation licences of the two hospitals here for their alleged role in a kidney transplant racket and issued show cause notices to 13 other hospitals.

Tamil Nadu health minister K.K.S.S. Ramchandran said following an investigation a few months ago, an inquiry report confirmed that M.R. Hospitals and Aswini Soundarya Hospital were carrying out illegal transplantation of kidneys and their licences had been cancelled.

The minister said the two hospitals had forged transplantation orders and 13 hospitals did not have proper documentation for organ transplantations to which show cause notices had been served.

Brokers involved in the illegal trade of kidneys had been arrested and action was being initiated against the hospitals where illegal transplantations had been performed.

He said a total of 54 hospitals, including 49 private hospitals, had been given licences for kidney transplantation and added the screening committee, which examined and approved the applications, would include the police and other government officials in order to strengthen it.

However,he pointed out that the action would not affect the interests of patients needing kidney transplantations and the state government would continue to issue new licences.

Bangalore, April 19
The IT capital of Bangalore is set to become Karnataka’s trump card in its fight with Tamil Nadu over the Cauvery waters. The state announced today that apathy towards the drinking water needs of the people of the city would be the focus of the government’s special leave petition (SLP) and clarification petition before the supreme court.

A meeting of the cabinet today cleared the SLP and clarification petition, which is to be filed before the supreme court to challenge the “disproportionate allocation of water” by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.

Home minister M.P. Prakash, while giving details of the meeting, said water from the Cauvery was being supplied to the residences of two-third of the population of the city.

He said this fact should have been considered by the tribunal before coming out with its final order. Besides taking up the issue of provision of water for Bangalore, which would be severely affected in case the award passed by the tribunal was not revised, the home minister said other arguments made by the neighbouring states were also been addressed in the SLP.

The city is already facing a drinking water shortage because of drying up of the T G Halli reservoir in the summer months. The capacity of the T G Hall reservoir has also come down drastically from the earlier 140 MLD to 50 MLD due to degradation of its catchment area. The city gets about 810 million litres per day (MLD) from the Cauvery.

The city’s administrators want to increase this figure due to the rampant increase in the population.

However, this may not be easy with farmers in the Mandya belt protesting against any move to reduce supply in the Cauvery basin. The Mandya Raitha Hitarakshana Samiti recently appealed to the state government to stop the supply of Cauvery water to Bangalore city as agitations there against the Cauvery tribunal’s verdict had stopped.

The samiti has been agitating against the award for two months now but with no results forthcoming it wants the agitation to be revived in Bangalore so that it can get national attention.

Meanwhile, even as the debate continues, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has asked residents not to use piped water for non-essential purposes such as hosing yards and gardens and washing cars and to recycle water used for laundry and in the kitchen.

New Delhi, April 19
The Union Cabinet today cleared the repealing of the 142-year-old Carriers Act, 1865, and tabling of the Carriage by Road Bill in Parliament to meet the current requirements of the trade and transport sector.

The new legislation, which would be introduced in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament, would pave the way for modern systems of road transportation and bring about transparency in the sector, an official spokesperson told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

The proposed bill would make the registration mandatory for the common carrier, which would include people engaged in business of collecting, storing, forwarding or distributing goods to be carried by goods carriage by motorised transport on road.

Kolkata, April 19
Not only the employees and the MLAs, but the ministers of the Left Front government in Bengal, too, have demanded hike in salary and the sanctioning of several other benefits.

A group of ministers belonging to the CPM and other allies made the demand for salary rise to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today’s Cabinet meeting. They said it was impossible to meet even the minimum requirements with the paltry salary they were getting in “this price-hike market.”

Co-operative minister Rabin Ghose of Forward Bloc alleged they had been getting salaries lower than even the class IV employees of the government.

CPM minister, Manab Mukherjee ( in charge of small and cottage industries) supported Ghose and raised the demand for salary rise. Fisheries minister Kironmoy Nanda (DSP) and minority cell minister Abdus Sattar (CPM), also demanded an immediate increase of the touring allowances, house rent and traveling expenses.

These ministers also demanded that they be sanctioned computers for their personal uses and a special entertainment allowance.

Bhattacharjee was initially surprised when the FB minister suddenly raised the demand of the salary rise during the meeting, which was to discuss the government’s future course of action on the legal notice by the Reliance Industries on the violation of the terms agreement of the retailed trade in the agricultural commodities in the state. But he agreed to sympathetically consider the demands.

According to official records, the left front ministers are getting a monthly salary of Rs 7,450 in addition to traveling allowances, accommodation and the car facilities, which in terms of money will be around another Rs 3,500, totaling about Rs 8,000 as the minister’s pay-packet per month.

In comparison, the MLAs and the government employees, including the primary and secondary teachers are much better off. While the MLAs in the state assembly on an average draw the salary of Rs 16,000 to 17,000, including special allowances, the state employees and the teachers at the lowest categories in the state, are now getting around Rs 15,000 per month.

The party’s whole-timers in the CPM also have been getting an enhancement of their monthly remunerations time to time. While in the eighties, a party whole-timer was getting a paltry amount of Rs 3,000 as remuneration; now the amount had been enhanced to about Rs 10,000.

Dehra Dun, April 19
Nearly a month after the formation of the BJP government in Uttarakhand, its main political opponents, including the Congress and the BSP, have launched a major political offensive against Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri.

Irked by what it claimed were baseless allegations repeatedly levelled in public over fiscal mismanagement that landed the state in a debt trap during the previous Congress regime, the state Congress unit on its part today demanded that Khanduri should either substantiate his allegations in a special session of the assembly or immediately withdraw the same. This demand was made in a memorandum addressed to Khanduri which was submitted at his official residence by a Congress delegation, led by its spokesperson Surinder Aggarwal.

General secretary of the state Congress unit Yoginder Khanduri also presented a memorandum to Khanduri yesterday demanding an apology by him for allegedly portraying the tenure of the Congress government as full of scams.

The Chief Minister was also asked to prove the allegations in public by explaining the financial position of the state since its creation. The Congress leader also wanted to know the use of discretionary funds by all Chief Ministers of the state so far, including those belonging to the BJP.

The same day, R.K. Verman, president of the state unit of the BSP, which is the second largest opposition group in the assembly having eight legislators, also dared Khanduri to break his silence over allegations being reported in the media about alleged financial bungling in the prestigious Golden Quadrilateral project worth crores undertaken during his tenure as union surface transport minister in the NDA government.

Maintaining that such media reports had brought the image of Khanduri under a scanner, a day before leader of the opposition in the House Harak Singh Rawat asked the Chief Minister to come clean by offering to get the matter investigated by the CBI.

Countering the charges made by Khanduri, the Congress leader claimed that his party government had laid a strong economic foundation. During its tenure, the state registered an annual growth rate of more than 20 per cent and earned the distinction of being among the few states having more than 20 per cent industrial growth rate. 

Bhubaneswar, April 19
A young Orissa government officer and a girl he had allegedly raped tied the knot in the special jail here under full media glare today.

Srikant Dalei, a young officer of Orissa Administrative Service (OAS), who had been arrested on the charge levelled against him by Jyotsnarani Panda (22), wed inside the jail in the presence of prisoners, women activists and jail officials.

The prison authorities also arranged a feast on the occasion.

The marriage ceremony in the jail came close on the heels of a similar wedding in Baripada jail in Mayurbhanj district on Tuesday.

“Allowing marriage inside the jail is not illegal. We are doing some good work for the society,’’ Inspector-General Tarashankar Chakraborty told PTI.

Dalei had been in jail since March 31 after Jyotsnarani lodged a complaint with the police alleging the former refused to marry her after knowing that she had become pregnant. She later took the help of some women activists and moved the police leading to his arrest. — PTI

Hyderabad, April 19
Khushwant Singh will certainly not relish this idea. The humble and ubiquitous yellow bulb, which he immortalised through his caricature inside, may not last long, if Greenpeace, an environment campaign group, has its way.

“Ban the bulb” is the slogan Greenpeace wants to popularise across the country in its bid to banish the yellow incandescent bulb from our midst.

Calling it a "hazardous product", Greenpeace on Wednesday launched a petition-signing drive across eight cities in the country aimed at collecting one million signatures to call on the centre to implement a ban on the bulb by 2010.

In Hyderabad, Amala Akkineni, a former actress, environmental activist and wife of Telugu star Nagarjuna Akkineni, was the celebrity campaigner, while in other cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh, musicians Jatin-Lalit, adman Prahlad Kakkar, Nethra Raghunathan, Tom Alter, Suhasini Mulay and Nekchand among others supported the demand.

According to Greenpeace activists, up to 95 per cent of the energy used by an incandescent bulb is wasted as heat.