Kolkata, October 25
Rizwanur Rehman’s family today moved the Calcutta High Court, challenging the West Bengal government-appointed inquiry commission headed by a retired judge to look into his mysterious death and the alleged role of the police in it.

With the court already ordering a CBI probe, there is no point in continuing with the Justice (retd) Aloke Chakraborty Commission of Inquiry, the petitioners - Rehman’s mother Keshwar Jahan and his elder brother Rukbanur, said.

Their counsel Kalyan Banerjee said the mysterious death of of the graphic designer was a matter of investigation by a probe agency and there was no point in conducting an inquiry by a retired high court judge. Moreover, the inquiry commission has no right to question IPS officials who are appointed by the Centre, Banerjee contended. He said the matter is likely to come up before a vacation bench on November 1.

The couple were summoned to Lalbazar Police Head Quarters thrice and she returned to her father’s home on the third occasion on September 8, following a written assurance by her uncle that she could return to her in-laws after a week.

As she did not return, Rizwanur failed to trace her or contact her. His body was found on the railway tracks on September 21. — PTI

Ahmedabad, October 25
In a tragic fallout of corporal punishment, an XIth standard student died today after he was made to take rounds of his school ground by a teacher as a punishment for coming late.

Malay Tanna, a student of Narayan Guru Vidyalay, collapsed suddenly midway through the five rounds and was pronounced dead at a private hospital before he could be admitted, the police said. Dr Vinay Bhumia of Sanjeevini Hospital said the boy was brought dead. He said the boy appeared to have some “heart problem”.

The police has registered a case of accidental death and further investigation was on. The exact cause of the boy’s sudden death is not known and will be clear only after post-mortem is conducted, the police said. The body of the boy was shifted to V.S. Hospital for a post-mortem.

The tragedy occurred in the morning when Tanna reached his school late and was told by the class teacher to run five rounds of the ground as punishment.

School students, who were at the ground, rushed to his side but could not revive him. The school administration later rushed him to Sanjeeveni Hospital.

The administration claimed they had not treated the boy harshly and were equally baffled at his untimely death.

The victim’s uncle Jayantibhai told mediapersons that Malay was an athlete and could not have collapsed and died suddenly. “We want the police to investigate the case properly,” the bereaved relatives of the boy said. — PTI

Guwahati, October 25
Finding itself in the line of fire of the Army that has mounted tremendous pressure, the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has shifted some camps deep inside Myanmar from thickly forested area of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Upper Assam districts.

The operational head of counter-insurgency unified command in Assam and the GOC 4 Corps of the Army, Lt Gen B.S. Jaswal, informed that as the Army had penetrated inside Manabhum forest areas of Arunachal Pradesh where the ULFA had set up mobile camps, the outfit shifted many of its camps and cadres inside Myanmar.

“We now leave it to the Ministry of External Affairs (MoEA) to do the needful to elicit cooperation from Myanmar government to evicting ULFA militants taking shelter inside that country,” the Army core commander said.

The camps inside the Arunachal Pradesh forest areas have been instrumental for the ULFA’s extortion as well as hit-and-run operations carried out in Upper Assam’s tea and mineral rich districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Sivasagar.

Meanwhile, getting jittery over possibility that some of its key militants might resort to surrender because of the pressure from the Army that is now gaining an upper hand in the low intensity conflicts in Upper Assam, the banned ULFA’s leadership had commandeered many of its cadres based in Upper Assam to its camps inside Myanmar.

A security source informed that senior ULFA leaders, Jibon Moran, explosive expert Amrit Ballav Goswami and Amrit Dutta, one of the accused in murder of an NGO official Sanjoy Ghose in Majuli River Island in late 1990s were among those hardcore cadres who were being kept under surveillance at camps in Myanmar.

Giving a major blow to the proscribed outfit, commander of ‘A’ company of the ULFA’s 28th battalion Pranjal Saikia surrendered before the Army last week. The ULFA’s strike force, 28th battalion earlier received a crippling blow when its commander Prabal Neog was arrested by the police last month while he was traveling to Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh via Tezpur in north Assam.

However, despite suffering the reverses at the hands of the Army and police of late, the banned ULFA continued to recruit fresh cadres especially from poverty-stricken and under developed rural parts of Assam. Assam police inspector general, Khagen Sharma, expressed concern that the ULFA had targeted the poor youths from the tea tribe and religious minority communities for fresh recruits.

New Delhi, October 25
Observing they were not a “national asset”, the Delhi High Court today took the politicians head on over having their security guards on tow when they step out and wryly told them to remain in the confines of their homes and offices if they feel threatened by citizens.

“You should not let these men (politicians) to come out. Their presence in public places itself threatens the common men. I do not know why it has become a matter of prestige for them to move with 10-15 uniform security personnel carrying lethal weapon,” a Bench comprising Justice T S Thakur and Justice Veena Birbal told the Centre.

The court made these harsh observations while expressing displeasure over the inconvenience the public have to put up by the overwhelming presence of security guards accompanying politicians at public places.

The court’s observation came while hearing a PIL on police reforms seeking separation of force into two wings to deal with law and order and investigation independently. In sharp remarks laced with sarcasm, the judges could not hide their dismay when they said “If these people feel so threatened they should not come out in public places.”

The judges said they (politicians) were not a national asset which should be protected and if they were, the citizens would protect them and there was no need to be threatened by them (public). “It is obnoxious that common men are forced to stay on the sidelines and are prevented to walk on the pavements when the politicians pass through”, the court said. — PTI

New Delhi, October 25
Maharashtra today sought the Supreme Court’s direction in bringing the disputed Belgaum district of Karnataka under central rule till the final disposal of its suit claiming right over the district on the ground that majority of its population was Marathi speaking.

However, a Bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia outrightly rejected the application of the Maharashtra government.

In its order, the court said it was not inclined to entertain such a petition even as senior advocate Fali S Nariman, appearing for Karnataka, took serious objection to the plea and terming the application as “absurd”.

“Pending the hearing and final disposal of the above suit, this court be pleased to direct defendant No 1 (Centre) to centrally administer Marathi speaking majority areas set out in the plaint (suit), or to place the said areas, under central rule,” Maharashtra, in its application, said.

Besides, it had urged the apex court to appoint its own commission or issue appropriate orders to safeguard the rights of Marathi speaking people in the areas, while seeking early disposal of the suit.

Maharashtra had all along been claiming its right over Belgaum and in its suit it had said that 865 villages and towns of the district were wrongly transferred to Karnataka under the States Reorganisation Act, 1965, despite those areas having a pre-dominantly Marathi speaking population.

New Delhi, October 25
When the last AICC session was convened in Hyderabad over a year ago, party heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi took the floor for the first time at the insistence of eager Congress delegates and assured them that he was ready to work for the party.

Rahul will be at centre stage once again at the next AICC session being held on November 17 at the Talkatora Stadium. Since this is the first session after Gandhi junior’s formal induction into the organisation as AICC general secretary, this will be perfect occasion to present him before the delegates as their future leader and the party’s youth icon.

If Rahul’s anointment will be the focus of attention during the day-long deliberations, the session has acquired significance for several other reasons. It is being held at a time when relations between the Congress and the Left parties have reached a nadir in view of their unresolved differences over the Indo-US nuclear agreement. Since the UPA-Left joint committee on the nuke deal is slated to meet a day before the AICC session, it is bound to cast a shadow on the discussions.

Unlike the previous sessions when the resolution on international affairs is given only cursory attention, this time round the resolution will be read with great interest as it will be expected to reflect the party’s position on the future of the stalled nuclear agreement. Since the nuke deal is slated for a debate in the upcoming winter session of Parliament, likely to commence on November 12 or 19, AICC delegates will be looking for directions on this critical matter.

The Left’s penchant for exercising its veto power on every issue has stretched the patience of the Congress rank and file and this may manifest itself during the session. The Congress leadership will have to contend with growing pressure from within its ranks to take a fresh look at alliances while redefining its relationship with the Left parties.

The political resolution will be required to spell out its future strategy in the light of the lessons it has learnt from managing its first coalition government. It will have to be seen if the party will factor in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent remarks that fractured electoral mandates have stalled governance when it draws up its future roadmap.

There is a strong view in the Congress that the party should chart an independent path in the future even at the risk of sitting in the opposition.

Mumbai, October 25
Three members of the Memon family, which had masterminded the March 1993 serial blasts, and 15 other convicts out on bail, surrendered before the designated TADA court here today after receiving copies of the final verdict.

The 18 blast convicts, including Yusuf Memon and Anjum Memon, brothers of prime absconding accused Tiger Memon, and their sister-in-law Rubina Memon have been awarded imprisonment ranging from six years to life by the TADA court.

However, they were later granted interim bail by the apex court on the ground that copies of the final verdict were not given to the convicts to enable them to approach the Supreme Court and challenge the TADA court judgement.

While granting the bail, the apex court had directed them to surrender before the TADA court once they were furnished with the copies of the judgement.

After the surrender, all the convicts were taken to different jails to serve the remaining sentence.

Two women convicts — Mobina Baya and Rubina Memon — broke down after they received the copies but were immediately taken into custody by the women police constables deployed there.

With this, the court has handed over the final judgement copies to 87 out the total of 100 convicts.

Meanwhile, the court could not hand over the copy of the judgement to prime convict Yakoob Memon, who has been awarded the death penalty, as he failed to come to the court on account of illness. — UNI

New Delhi, October 25
Muslim leaders on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court’s direction asking all states and union territories to bring in a suitable legislation to make registration of marriage compulsory.

"Islam asks its followers to register the marriages and there is nothing new in the apex court directive," All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) spokesman Qasim Rasool Ilyas said.

The apex court's order came in the wake of reports that several states had made registration of marriage compulsory only for the members of the Hindu community.

But by Thursday's order, registration of marriage will be mandatory for all religions. Ilyas, however, said the word ‘compulsory’ should not be the part of the legislation.

"In Islam, all the marriages are registered. This (the direction) would be only their re-registration," he said, adding, "It should not be made compulsory but optional". — PTI

Hyderabad, October 25
In a bid to enforce compulsory registration of Hindu marriages, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to create a registered body of priests, on the lines of notary, to keep an account of the number of marriages.

The Registered Paurohitya Practitioners (RPP) will certify the authenticity of a marriage. This will help in maintaining a record of the weddings.

While there is an existing mechanism for registering the marriages among Muslims and Christians, no such data exists as far as Hindu marriages are concerned.

Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy recently gave his consent to the proposal, making Andhra Pradesh first state in the country to issue licenses to purohits.

“We will shortly work out the details regarding the qualifications to become an RPP,” the minister for women development and child welfare N Rajyalakshmi said.

New Delhi, October 25
The Left parties today, in a strong reaction to Tehelka magazine's sting operation, asked the UPA government to immediately act and put Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi behind the bars, as ''he is the main culprit and organiser of the Gujarat genocide''.

They said what had been in the realm of speculation had now been proved beyond doubt. CPI leaders A.B. Bardhan and Shamim Faizi said Modi has no right to continue in the office now.

CPM senior leader Mohammad Salim said: ''This is how Modi wanted to utilise the passion invoked by the Godhra incident to help his vote-bank politics on the heap of dead bodies.'' ''It is unfortunate that despite the outcry by the entire country, the perpetrators of violence and genocide were not brought to book. Instead Modi got himself rewarded by getting re-elected through hoodwinking the people of Gujarat.''

Salim asked the Centre to take all necessary steps against Modi and his team so that he should not have the opportunity to stage an ''action replay''.

''Now that the UPA government, which has come to power based on — among other things — its promises for secular polity, should muster courage to take action against Modi,” he said. — UNI

Coimbatore, October 25
The special court here today sentenced nine more activists of the banned extremist outfit Al-Umma to life imprisonment for their involvement in the serial blasts in 1998.

Special judge K.Uthirapathi also awarded 13 years’ imprisonment to 13 convicts for their role as conspirators and six to 10 years and two to seven years of rigorous imprisonment.

The total number of convicts awarded life imprisonment for the serial blasts, which left 58 dead and more than 250 injured in this hosiery capital of India in south-central Tamil Nadu, now stood at 40.

While resuming the pronouncing of sentences today, he said he would read out the sentences for the remaining five, including approver Riaz-ur-Rahman, tomorrow. Rahman is likely to be released.

The judge had yesterday sentenced 31 convicts, including Al-Umma president Syed Ahmed Basha and its general secretary Mohammad Ansari, to life imprisonment for the February 14, 1998 serial blasts on the eve of BJP leader L.K. Advani’s election meeting here.

The four convicts, who were sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment yesterday were released as they had completed their term in prison as undertrials. The same applies to five convicts, who were sentenced to seven to 10 years’ imprisonment today, as they were entitled to remission from the state government. One convict will not be released as he is serving a life sentence in a different case. 

New Delhi, October 25
With intelligence warnings of new types of terror-related crimes like biological warfare, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today reviewed a high-level meeting for the preparations to deal with different types of terror attacks.

“The Prime Minister reviewed the preparedness to deal with different types of terrorist attacks,” the PMO said in a release after Singh chaired the first meeting of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The intelligence agencies have warned about new types of crimes like bio-terrorism and hacking and the home ministry is gearing itself up to meet the new threats.

Singh told the meeting that intelligence on terror strikes would remain with the concerned central security agencies, while the group could formulate a plan to deal exigencies in case of biological or chemical warfare. — PTI

New Delhi, October 25
The BJP today accused the ruling UPA and the Left parties of compromising on ‘nation's territorial integrity’ by remaining silent on the issue of Chinese intrusions in Arunahcal Pradesh.

BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said his party is concerned at the lackadaisical and different attitude of the UPA government on the reported intrusions by the Chinese troops into the Indian territory in recent times.

The director general of ITBP stated that over 140 such intrusions have taken place over the last one year in the regions of both Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Both the Left and the Congress have maintained a deafening silence over this issue of the national security and sovereignty, Rudy said and added that both CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and Congress President Sonia Gandhi have instead of raising the issue have only confined themselves to congratulating Chinese President Hu Jintao on his re-election.

Bangalore, October 25
The Light Combat Aircraft ‘TEJAS’ today successively test fired the Close Combat Missile R-73 at the air to air range off Goa coast to begin the process of weaponisation of the indigenously built air plane.

According to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) sources, the weaponisation of the aircraft is the focus of the current initial operational clearance (IOC) phase of the program.

The main objectives of the test firing were to validate the safe separation of the missile from the parent aircraft, effect of missile plume on engine air-intake, functionality of store management system, including safety interlock, effect of missile plume on composite structures and handling quality assessment during missile launch.

DRDO claimed that quick analysis of the data revealed that it was a ‘text book’ launch where the systems performance matched the predictions well. The flight was done on Tejas prototype vehicle PV-1, piloted by the chief test pilot of the National Flight Test Centre ADA, Group Capt. N. Harish. The test firing was done at 7 km altitude and 0.6 Mach.

The flight test was conducted from the mobile telemetry vehicle where all the aircraft, systems and weapon data were closely monitored. DRDO said the test had proven the capability of the composite team comprising of designers, production agency and certification agency. It said the ability of the user agency (IAF) to integrate and flight test an advanced missile on an advanced fighter aircraft -Tejas had also been proven.

INS Hansa of the Indian Navy provided all support for this important flight trial, which was witnessed by the top DRDO management, including chief controller (R&D) Dr D. Banerjee.

Lucknow, October 25
The Samajwadi Party will take a decision about the fate of its sitting MLA, Amarmani Tripathi, only after it receives a copy of the judgment announced the party’s national general-secretary Ashok Bajpai today.

A special CBI Court in Dehradun yesterday granted life sentence to Tripathi, his wife, nephew and another accomplice for the murder of poetess Madhumita Shukla in Lucknow in May 2003.

As Tripathi, representing Laxmipur Assembly segment in district Maharajganj was elected on a Samajwadi Party ticket in the Vidhan Sabha election earlier this year a decision regarding his future in the party and Legislature would be taken after seriously considering the issue in the party forum, Bajpai said today.

Bangalore, October 25
Janata Dal (S) supremo H D Deve Gowda today cited the Congress’ response to his colleague and former home minister M P Prakash’s overtures as a reason for giving a call to party men to go back to the people and demanded state Governor Rameshwar Thakur dissolve the state Assembly immediately.

Gowda met Prakash at his residence today morning after which he addressed a hurriedly organised press conference to present his views on the efforts being made by Prakash to bring about a rapprochement with the Congress.

The veteran leader, who had earlier claimed that Prakash had visited Delhi without his authorisation, today said Prakash’s efforts were in consonance with the wishes of party legislators who wanted to explore a possibility of government formation in coalition with the Congress. He however said the reaction of the Congress general-secretary and Karnataka affairs incharge Prithviraj Chavan who had asserted that the Congress would like to come back to power on its own had shut the door for further talks.

However Prakash, who had gone to Delhi two days back to hold talks with the Congress central leadership in the company of Lingayat legislators of the party, a community he also represents, said he was still optimistic that his efforts would bear fruit. Despite Gowda’s categorical statement on government formation, he said the issue was still open and everyone should wait for the return of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi from China. He refused to comment on Chavan’s statement.

Hyderabad, October 25
The Congress high command has dashed the hopes of Telangana protagonists within the party by sending a clear signal that granting statehood was not welcome.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and in-charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs Veerappa Moily made it clear that the party was committed to constitution of a States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) to examine the demands for smaller states, including Telangana.

This virtually means that Telangana state will not be carved out now. Moily’s assertion has poured cold waters on the hopes of pro-Telangana leaders within the ruling party who have been mounting pressure on the central leadership to take a favourable decision on the statehood issue. “We are in the process of constituting the SRC as promised in the UPA’s Common Minimum Programme. The Congress is very clear in its stand that Telangana demand can be considered only by a new SRC,” Moily said on his maiden visit to the state after assuming his new responsibility. Understandably, the votaries of Telangana cause are disappointed. And their efforts to persuade the high command to accept the statehood demand have virtually come to a naught. A section of Congressmen from Telangana have been pitching for statehood cause. It was only last month that the Telangana Regional Coordination Committee of Congress (TRCCC) held a meeting here and adopted a resolution requesting the high command to take a positive stand on the issue.

It also decided to approach the party President Sonia Gandhi with a request to initiate the process for formation of the Telangana state.

The Congress had constituted a committee of the UPA partners to ascertain views of various political parties and build consensus over the issue, a task that has not made any headway.

The party had lost its pre-poll ally Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) that had pulled out of the UPA last year protesting against the delay in creation of a separate state.

Patna, October 25
The Madhu Koda-led government in Jharkhand is presently facing criticism from its supporting ally, the Congress, as well as from various tribal organisations, over its recent decision to accord “second language” status to Urdu by denying Bengali and Santhali (tribal) languages.

The demand for second language status to Bengali and Santhali has gained momentum in Jharkhand after the state government notified Urdu as the second language on the eve of Ramzan on October 15 by allegedly ignoring the legitimate long demand of Bengalis and Santhals residing in the state.

According to reports reaching here from Ranchi, 40 per cent people reportedly speak Bengali against a little around 20 per cent Urdu speaking people in Jharkhand. Besides, Santhali is among the nine languages spoken in the state, where tribals constitute 27 per cent of the 27 million population. Jharkhand Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee (JPMCC) already staged a demonstration at Birsa Chowk near the Assembly demanding a second language status for Bengali in the state. A 31-member JPMCC delegation yesterday handed over a memorandum to Assembly speaker Alamgir Alam in this regard. JPMCC president Pratibha Pandey told the media that Alam assured the delegation to take up the matter with Madhu Koda for necessary announcement in this regard.

Pandey has threatened to hold a fast unto death from November 20 if the government failed to fulfil her party’s demand by November 15. Besides the protest by the Congress,several tribal and Bengali associations have slammed the government’s move as a “political gimmick”.

Ram Dayal Munda,former vice-chancellor of the Ranchi University and a tribal leader, regretted the move as detrimental to the interest of the state. “If tribal languages are ignored it can never be viewed as a good development for the tribal people. After all the state was bifurcated form Bihar to protect the interests of the tribals.”

Munda met Madhu Koda on Tuesday to demand inclusion of all nine tribal languages in the second language category. The Adivasi Dharam Parisad also held a meeting yesterday demanding inclusion of tribal languages in the second language category. The Bengali associations in Ranchi too have stepped up their demand being supported by the the Congress. 

New Delhi, October 25
The ways in which people at the bottom of socio-economic ladder in India face discrimination, especially in labour market, will be discussed at a high-level conference in the Capital on Friday.

Minister for human resource development Arjun Singh will inaugurate the conference on ‘Social exclusion and inclusive policy’, organised jointly by the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies and Princeton University, USA.

According to HRD ministry officials, main focus of the conference is to discuss the issue of social exclusion and discrimination faced by marginalised sections of the population such as SCs, STs ,OBCs, religious minorities and women.

This is the first conference of its kind that will discuss, through presentation of papers, the economic discrimination faced by the groups in various market and non-market transactions.

New Delhi, October 25
Acknowledging that terrorism remains a serious threat to sustainable peace and development of South Asia, Saarc countries underlined the need to give an added push to evolving a treaty on mutual legal assistance with the home or interior ministers of the grouping pressing for enhanced coordination and networking among the police forces.

The ministers proposed that the process of finalising the Saarc Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) in criminal matters should be accelerated and directed that the legal advisors should meet for the second time in April next year year to examine the draft of the proposed treaty.

Sri Lanka will host this meeting early next year.

Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta told mediapersons here this afternoon that the ministers desired efforts to tackle cross-border crimes like drug and human trafficking, money laundering and smuggling of arms, besides terrorism. The meeting felt that there was need for better electronic networking among the eight-member grouping, with Afghanistan attending the meeting for the first time.

India is strongly pushing for the MLA having raised it at bilateral meetings and at the ministerial level. Under the proposal, Saarc member states will extend legal cooperation among themselves in arresting criminals and checking drug smuggling and trafficing among women.

Reaffirming their commitment to moving from the declaratory to the implementation phase and securing an environment facilitating economic growth, development and progress of the region, the home ministers called upon member countries to strengthen the institutional mechanism within the ambit of the home ministries.

The three-day meeting of the second annual conference of Saarc ministers considered the recommendations made by the police officials at the sixth Saarc Conference on Cooperation in Police Matters held on Tuesday and agreed that this should be upgraded to the level of police chiefs. The ministers said that the meeting of police officers should be held bi-annually instead of annually at present. The next meeting of police officers will be held in Islamabad in February next year.

The ministers felt that the Saarc Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk and the Drug Offences Monitoring desk located in Sri Lanka requires to be strengthened and operationally energised. The meeting noted the Indian offer to provide assistance in strengthening the infrastructure of these desks.

The meeting, chaired by union home minister Shivraj Patil, reviewed the implementation of the Saarc Regional Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and reiterated the need for proactive sustained measures and mutual cooperation to combat these phenomena.

The ministers also discussed the Saarc visa scheme and agreed to provide a special tenure-linked dispensation to the officials at the grouping's secretariat. The ministers were firm that the retired Judges of the Supreme Court as well the serving High Court Judges should be included in the consolidated list of entitled persons. Even though the Saarc member states have agreed in principle to form a police forum called Saarcpol, the ministers appear to have glossed over the issue. Nepal first proposed the formation of Saarcpol on the lines of Interpol and Europol last year for cooperation in police matters in the region.

• Saarc home ministers want Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in criminal matters to be firmed up early.
• Saarc home ministers’ meeting silent on forming Saarcpol on the lines of Interpol and Europol.
• Saarc ministers want meeting of police officers on a bi-annual basis and raise level to police chiefs.
• Saarc ministers want terrorism to be combated and institutional arrangements to be strengthened.

New Delhi, October 25
A majority of Indians, along with other Asia-Pacific citizens, believe the world would be a better place to live in if global influence of the United States is reduced, says a latest survey.

According to a survey, conducted by global market information provider TNS and Gallup International, 62 per cent of Indians believe that the world would become a better place if the global influence of US is decreased.

The 2007 ‘Voice of People’ survey reveals that about 41 per cent of citizens in the Asia-Pacific region would also like to see a decreasing influence of the US.

Interestingly, almost all the people surveyed in India believe the country should increase its role in the global scenario. About 97 per cent of people surveyed believe India should increase its global influence.

Nearly three in 10 respondents among the total respondents also believe India should increase its level of influence (27 per cent), the survey which includes opinions of more than 57,000 people in 52 countries, it said.

The respondents’ attitude towards an increase or decrease in influence of those powers closer geographically to their own country greatly varies, depending on whether the behaviour of the neighbour is perceived as beneficial or is viewed with suspicion. — PTI