N A T I O N

UP for grabs 2007
BSP has edge
Basti, April 21
Bumpy roads, power cuts, poor health facilities or lack of schools do not figure in the heated political discussions at roadside tea stalls. Here, the farmer, who has done the day’s harvesting, sits to work out caste equations and clout of the individual candidates.

Bhandari to head Punjab BJP
New Delhi, April 21
Rajinder Bhandari, a senior swayamsewak, was today appointed as the head of the BJP’s Punjab unit by the party president Rajnath Singh. He would succeed parliamentarian Avinash Rai Khanna, who has completed his term. Bhandari is presently general secretary of the Punjab BJP.

PM warns forces of communalism
New Delhi, April 21
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh categorically said today that any political formation inciting people on religious grounds is betraying both the religion and the constitution. Emphasising that secularism means separating religion from politics, Dr Singh warned that the forces of bigotry and communalism are trying to tear apart the fine fabric of the country's composite culture.

SC orders early deportation, fast trial
New Delhi, April 21
Eighteen Pakistan nationals lodged in different jails in Jammu and Kashmir and outside for several years have a ray of hope to return home as the Supreme Court has directed the Centre and the state governments to immediately deport those who have served their sentences and complete the process against others who have yet to get final verdicts from the trial courts.

Bhayana confirmed as HC judge
New Delhi, April 21
The President finally has approved the confirmation of Justice S L Bhayana as permanent judge of the Delhi High Court after the Supreme Court Collegium reiterated its decision even when Dr A P J Abdul Kalama had returned his file in the wake of his judgement in the Jessica Lall murder case as a Sessions Judge.

Maoists seize rly station
Patna, April 21
In what appeared to be an open challenge to the government, over 200 armed Maoists seized the Narganjo halt railway station in Jamui district of Bihar in the wee hours today by forcing the Eastern Railway to suspend train movements on the Howrah-Patna section for several hours.

2006 was the hottest in 100 yrs
New Delhi, Apr 21
It is official now. Temperatures are rising and the year 2006 was the warmest year ever during the past more than 100 years, ever since the temperature records started being maintained in India since 1901, says the latest climate summary by the Pune-based National Climate Center.

Abhi-Aish to fly to Tirumala today
Hyderabad, April 21
The newly weds Abhi-Aish will be flying down to Tirumala tomorrow to have a darshan of Lord Balaji. This will be their first trip together after the marriage. They are scheduled to arrive at the Renigunta airport by 7 am and will depart at 11 am after paying respects to the God of Seven Hills.

Army against olive branch to ULFA
Guwahati, April 21
The Army has warned the government against hurrying into a truce with the banned ULFA, reminding it of the unwanted fall out after the government had announced a unilateral truce with the outfit last year.

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UP for grabs 2007
BSP has edge
Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service

Basti, April 21
Bumpy roads, power cuts, poor health facilities or lack of schools do not figure in the heated political discussions at roadside tea stalls.

Here, the farmer, who has done the day’s harvesting, sits to work out caste equations and clout of the individual candidates. Turning this pass time into a fine art, the so-called “illiterate Indian voter” works out caste and sub caste factors, local influences and gives you a fair idea of who would get that seat.

While the decisive battle in the 57 seats spread over 10 districts that go to polls on April 23 remains between the “cycle” and “haathi” as the locals put it, the “panja” and “kamal” also make their presence felt.

While the BSP and the SP are once again face to face. The BSP gain would be at the cost of the SP and the BJP. This also applies to the Congress that is also set to improve its tally.

This is largely because the BJP had held 14 and the Congress merely two seats in this region is a major gain for the Congress, which during the last three days concentrated their attention in this area.

Describing the meetings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Balrampur and Kaptanganj in Basti or of Rahul Gandhi in Nanpara and Domriaganj or even the ones addressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Bahraich and Lakhim Khiri, the local people emphasise that for once they placed development of the state on their agenda.

Pointing to the road connecting Domariaganj with Basti, Ram Krishan Mishra, who runs a dhaba, said during the Congress rule the road was much narrower but did not have potholes.

Another factor that helped the Congress is the strategy to rope in winnable candidates of the BSP who had been refused tickets by Mayawati this time.

Even the present speaker Mata Prasad Pandey is facing a tough time in Itawa constituency in Siddharth Nagar, which has a sizeable Muslim population and arguably the worst roads in the entire region.

Visibly angry at Pandey at the neglect of the area, the Muslim population now wants to give a chance to BSP candidate Javed Mustaqeem who is also the son of the sitting BSP Lok Sabha MP from the area.

Mulayam Singh Yadav, who rushed to the aid of Pandey today, was shocked to see the poor attendance at the SP meeting. He left the place in within 10 minutes.

Bhandari to head Punjab BJP
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 21
Rajinder Bhandari, a senior swayamsewak, was today appointed as the head of the BJP’s Punjab unit by the party president Rajnath Singh. He would succeed parliamentarian Avinash Rai Khanna, who has completed his term. Bhandari is presently general secretary of the Punjab BJP.

The outgoing BJP Punjab unit head said there was unanimity over Bhandari’s candidacy for the post. The party had gained electorally during Khanna’s tenure and was able to capture a record number of seats in the just concluded assembly polls in the state.

The BJP won 19 of the 23 seats it contested in Punjab, a success rate of over 82 per cent much more than the alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal.

Meanwhile, the saffron party got a shot in its arm when Atal Bihari Vajpayee agreed to campaign for the party and address election rallies in the Uttar Pradesh.

However, unlike his Kanpur campaign plans, which were cancelled abruptly last month, there are no joint meetings scheduled for him this time. The former Prime Minister will address public meetings in Lucknow on April 25, party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

PM warns forces of communalism
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 21
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh categorically said today that any political formation inciting people on religious grounds is betraying both the religion and the constitution.

Emphasising that secularism means separating religion from politics, Dr Singh warned that the forces of bigotry and communalism are trying to tear apart the fine fabric of the country's composite culture. What he found even worse is that religious intolerance is being deployed for narrow political gains.

"Any political formation trying to incite people in the name of religion, whatever religion, is, in fact, betraying both religion and our Constitution," the Prime Minister stressed inaugurating a two-day South Asia Interfaith Harmony conference here.

Affirming that the Constitution is based on equal respect for all religious faiths, Dr Singh drew pointed attention to the Indian Constitution being secular which means that it espouses the separation of religion from politics and governance. Simultaneously, the idea of equality is important.

Noting that destruction of composite culture can be checked by interfaith dialogue, he said attempts to divide society along religious lines "deserves to be condemned with contempt."

Pakistan's Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani, Tehrik-e-Insaf party leader and former cricket great Imran Khan and Jehan Perera, Executive Director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka are also attending the conclave.

Be forward looking

The Prime Minister on Saturday exhorted bureaucrats to be more forward looking and act as agents of change as part of efforts to re-engineer government processes which are often the root cause of corruption.

A proposal is being prepared for appointing "Agents of Change" to catalyse reform initiatives. These Agents of Change will be public-oriented personnel of outstanding calibre who will be strategically located to engineer reform, Dr Singh said addressing a function here marking the second Civil Service Day.

“Just as the private sector has re-engineered itself to become world class, we have to design ways for re-engineering government process,” the Prime Minister said.

Underlining the need for dispensing with archaic procedures and processes, he regretted that the reform measures did not deliver the desired outcome because of lack of forward movement in the reform of government processes giving rise to Inspector Raj. “We need to think 20 to 30 years into the future”, he added.

Detained Pak nationals
SC orders early deportation, fast trial
S.S. Negi
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, April 21
Eighteen Pakistan nationals lodged in different jails in Jammu and Kashmir and outside for several years have a ray of hope to return home as the Supreme Court has directed the Centre and the state governments to immediately deport those who have served their sentences and complete the process against others who have yet to get final verdicts from the trial courts.

Besides, the apex court has sought basic information about 54 other Pakistani nationals lodged in different jails in the country so that the process of their deportation could also be completed soon.

The directions were issued by two different Benches on the petitions of Panthers Party president Bhim Singh, who has been fighting a legal battle for the deportation of Pakistan nationals. According to him, most of them had been charged with less serious offence of crossing the Line of Control (LoC).

Regarding six among the 18, Alam Khan, Zafar Ali, Nasir Ikran, Saifullah Khalid, Sultan Ahmed and Zamir Ahmed, a Bench of justices A.K. Mathur and Tarun Chatterjee directed additional solicitor general Vikas Singh to inform the court within four weeks about the steps being taken for their deportation as they had been in jail for more than the period of sentence awarded to them.

Immediate deportation of Muzaffar Hussain Bhatti, a Pakistani national, acquitted by the trial court in October last year, was ordered by the court.

The court said the other four PoK citizens, Muzmil Ahmed Dhar, Sayeed Khalid, Nissar Ahmed Rajput and Sharief Khan, who were only charged with crossing the LoC without valid documents for which the maximum sentence was two years, also be deported soon as they had been in jails more than three years.

The Jammu and Kashmir government was directed to expedite trial proceeding against another PoK national Umer Din, who has been in jail for 12 years but could be punished maximum of 10 years for the offence he was charged with, while a deadline of one year was fixed for the prosecution to complete the trial in a murder case against Mohd Sahafi Malik of Faislabad.

Abu Haya Malik, Mohd Ajmal Malik, Nassarullah Mansoor Langrial, facing trial for attempt to murder, were directed to be produced before the trial courts concerned in Jammu and Kashmir, if they were lodged in jails outside the state to ensure that the trial in their cases was speeded up.

Similarly, the Jammu Sessions Court was directed to complete the trial proceedings within six months against Nagar Shah, who had been in jail since 1996. “It appears that he has already served out the maximum sentence under the offences charged with,” the court in its order recorded.

Bhayana confirmed as HC judge
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, April 21
The President finally has approved the confirmation of Justice S L Bhayana as permanent judge of the Delhi High Court after the Supreme Court Collegium reiterated its decision even when Dr A P J Abdul Kalama had returned his file in the wake of his judgement in the Jessica Lall murder case as a Sessions Judge.

The President yesterday approved the confirmation of Justice Bhayana along with five other judges in the Delhi High Court, including Justice S N Dhingra who as a special TADA and POTA court judge had decided various sensitive cases, including the Parliament Attack case and anti-Sikh riot cases.

Besides, Justices Bhayana and Dhingra, the four other judges confirmed are: Jatinder Mohan Malik, Reva Khetrapal, Sri Niwas Agrawal and P K Bhasin.

Incidentally, Justice Bhasin was a judge with Justice R S Sodhi in a Bench, which had questioned the Jessica Lall murder case judgement of Justice Bhayana, given by him in February last year, acquitting all accused, including key accused Manu Sharma.

The Bench of Justices Sodhi and Bhayana had bitterly criticised the Jessica case judgement on various counts and even described it a “perverse” verdict.

The President also has issued orders for appointment of Andhra Pradesh High Court Judge Jasti Chelameswar as Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court and confirmation of four Bombay High Court judges - J H Bhatia, Vasanti Anil Naik, R C Chavan and Roshan Shamim Dalvi - as permanent judges, a Law Ministry spokesman said.

Maoists seize rly station
Tribune News Service

Patna, April 21
In what appeared to be an open challenge to the government, over 200 armed Maoists seized the Narganjo halt railway station in Jamui district of Bihar in the wee hours today by forcing the Eastern Railway to suspend train movements on the Howrah-Patna section for several hours.

This was the second attack by Naxals in Jamui in less than a fortnight after they had shot dead two Railway Protection Force personnel and injured four others on a train near the Narganjo station on April 8.

Jamui is among the 23 Maoist affected districts of Bihar.

Besides seizing the station, the ultras also held captive the cabin master and porters to enforce a bandh called by them today.

The police said the left-wing ultras raided the small station at around 1 am. Subsequently, the cabin master informed the divisional control room at Asansol in West Bengal about the incident. The divisional railway manager of Eastern Railway, contingents of special auxiliary police, government railway police, RPF and Bihar police rushed to the spot, following which the Naxalites retreated without causing any damage to the station or personnel.

The cabin master and porters were later set free by the Maoists.

2006 was the hottest in 100 yrs
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, Apr 21
It is official now. Temperatures are rising and the year 2006 was the warmest year ever during the past more than 100 years, ever since the temperature records started being maintained in India since 1901, says the latest climate summary by the Pune-based National Climate Center. In 2006, the annual mean temperatures averaged at +0.59 degree Celsius in the country on the whole.

The report, a corroboration of recent concerns about global warming and climate change, says that 2006 was marked by extreme weather events across the country, both in terms of temperature as well as precipitation.

But dispelling fears about the situation worsening during 2007, IMD director-general, R.C. Bhatia, told The Tribune that normal temperatures would prevail during summer months of May and June. However, there was a likelihood of an increase in extreme weather conditions like unprecedented rains in Barmer in 2006 and Mumbai rains in 2005.

The report says during 2006, a number of cyclonic storms and depressions formed over the Indian seas. Severe cold wave conditions over northern and eastern parts claimed more that 80 lives. Heat wave events over northern and some western parts of the country claimed close to 100 lives and as many as 1500 persons were killed in floods during the monsoon season.

“In fact, 2006 was the warmest year on record since 1901. February and December months were abnormally warmer with record mean temperatures,” the report highlights, adding that minimum temperatures were more than 2 degree Celsius above normal over normal over northern parts of the country.

The 10 warmest years ever since the Met Department started keeping a record of temperatures since 1901 are 2006 (0.595), 2002(0.59), 1998(0.50), 2004 & 2001( 0.47) 2003 (0.45), 1958 (0.43), 1941 (0.41), 2005(0.40), 1999 (0.39), 1953 & 2000 (0.36) and 1980 (0.34).

What is surprising is that spatial pattern of mean annual temperature anomalies suggest significant positive (increasing) trend over most parts of the country except some parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar where significant (decreasing) trends were observed.

Another anomaly was that whereas traditionally dry areas like Saurashtra and Kutch and west Rajasthan , besides Gujarat, Madhya Maharasthra and Orissa, received excess rainfall, Himachal Pradesh, east and west UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam and Meghalaya remained deficient. But overall the country received 100 per cent normal rainfall. During February, northern hilly regions, Uttrrakhand, Himachal and parts of Jammu and Kashmir were abnormally warmer with maximum temperatures 6 to 8 degree above normal.

Abhi-Aish to fly to Tirumala today
Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, April 21
The newly weds Abhi-Aish will be flying down to Tirumala tomorrow to have a darshan of Lord Balaji. This will be their first trip together after the marriage.

They are scheduled to arrive at the Renigunta airport by 7 am and will depart at 11 am after paying respects to the God of Seven Hills.

Ahead of his son Abhishek's marriage, Amitabh Bachchan had offered special prayers last Wednesday here.

Accompanied by friends, industrialist Anil Ambani and politician Amar Singh, Amitabh had placed the first wedding card at the feet of the Lord and sought blessings. The three of them made a donation of Rs 51 lakh each to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD).

Army against olive branch to ULFA
Bijay Sankar Bora
Tribune News Service

Guwahati, April 21
The Army has warned the government against hurrying into a truce with the banned ULFA, reminding it of the unwanted fall out after the government had announced a unilateral truce with the outfit last year.

“My only advice is please don’t forget what had happened after August last year. Adequate preventive measures should be taken to ensure that the outfit doesn’t utilise any future cessation of hostilities to regroup and replenish its coffer,” Army’s 4 corps general officer commanding (GOC), Lt Gen R K Chhabra told The Tribune.

The GOC who is overseeing the counter insurgency operation in the state, pointed out that the ULFA took the advantage of 43 days of truce during August-September last year to regroup and went on to massacre over 70 Hindi-speaking civilians in upper Assam.