‘Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign' launched

Supporting the cause of the Manipuri civil rights activist, who has been on fast for the past 11 years demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, several organisations came together here on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi to launch a nation-wide “Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign.”

The campaign began at Jantar Mantar with several people coming out in support of the cause. “It is the first time in 11 years that people from all over the country, including non-Manipuri organisations, have come together to support Irom Sharmila,” said Faisal Khan from the National Alliance of People's Movements.

The campaign will culminate on the International Human Rights Day on December 10. “That day, leading social activists will sit on a day-long fast and then march from India Gate to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to submit the signatures collected during the campaign,” said Ravi Nitesh, another member of movement.

The campaign was launched on Sunday in 21 States and around 300 signatures were collected in Delhi, he said. Signatures would be collected on banners and “signature sheets” distributed at different places by volunteer groups and supporters.

“The next step is to reach out to as many people as we can. We have student coordinators in all Delhi University colleges, who will distribute signature sheets till December,” said Mr. Nitesh. The campaign would also approach other public and private universities in the capital.

The campaign has laid down four main demands: initiating a dialogue with Ms. Sharmila, sending an all-party delegation for talks, sending members of the National Commission for Women to assess her condition and deputing a special team of doctors from New Delhi to examine her.

As part of the campaign, a caravan of supporters will travel from Srinagar to Imphal, covering 10 States, between October 16 and 26. A cycle rally will also be organised at State levels.

At present, the campaign is supported by over 50 organisations across the country and it is reaching out to people through different media, including streetplays and distribution of pamphlets.

Chidambaram could not have changed Cabinet decision: Khursheed

No vast differences between Home Minister and Pranab, he says

Law Minister Salman Khursheed has come out in defence of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum allocation issue, saying Mr. Chidambaram could not have changed a Cabinet decision. “...Mr. Chidambaram, even after the Cabinet decision, continued to argue for auction of the spectrum,” he said.

“Could Mr. Chidambaram alone have overturned the Cabinet decision? What was the other way for market determination once the Cabinet had decided against auction,” Mr. Khursheed told Karan Thapar in the “Devil's Advocate” programme in CNN-IBN.

Mr. Khursheed said that when there was a disagreement among a large number of ministers and one minister, or between two ministers in the context of a decision taken by the Cabinet “there is a point at which you have to say okay thus far and no further.”

“Mr. Chidambaram said whatever you have done until now based on Cabinet decision, henceforth, the additional spectrum required — it will be required — must be done on a different context,” he said.

Mr. Khursheed scoffed at claims of BJP leader Arun Jaitley that under Section 13 (i) (d) (ii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Mr. Chidambaram was guilty of giving an unwarranted pecuniary advantage to licence allottees.

“Can you explain how this means criminal culpability...Our position, based on Planning Commission documents, was we were not there to make money. We were there to ensure there should be maximum coverage, there should be affordable telephony available to people,” he said.

Mr. Khursheed claimed that today India had the largest coverage in the world with lowest tariff. “So if that was our policy, we succeeded. Mr. Chidambaram and UPA-I is today being pilloried for successful implementation of a policy, because one of our ministers in the implementation process might have made some mistakes and the court is going to judge.”

The Minister said the 2001 decision to give spectrum at a particular price was taken by “Mr. Jaitley's government.” For further licences to be given, the decision was taken in 2003 by the NDA government.

“All we did was... we took a conscious decision, the Cabinet, not Mr. Raja, not Mr. Chidambaram, took a conscious decision to follow the 2003 Cabinet decision and continue with the first-come, first-served procedure,” he said.

Replying to a series of questions on the March 25 Finance Ministry's office memorandum, which suggested that Mr. Chidambaram could have insisted on auctioning of the 2G spectrum, Mr. Khursheed said a summary was needed and everyone had to be on board with one clear articulation and, therefore, whoever knew anything had to provide input.

Senior officials from different Ministries provided inputs but a junior official of the Finance Ministry was compiling it. “There was an inference drawn in that... it was the author's inference. It was unwarranted and, therefore, it is an orphaned inference.”

He said the inference did not reflect the views of officers from various Ministries.

When asked that Mr. Mukherjee only said the memorandum did not reflect his views but he did not say he disagreed with it, Mr. Khursheed said this was the only way one could say “these are not my views.”

Web system in place to protect Indians' job contracts in UAE

Procedure to be extended to other countries in West Asia: Ravi

The government has launched a Web-based procedure of attesting employment contracts of Indian workers in the United Arab Emirates to prevent exploitation by foreign employers.

The procedure is in place now, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said on Sunday, adding it would be formally inaugurated during his visit to Dubai next month.

The procedure would be extended to other countries in West Asia in due course, he told The Hindu here.

Now foreign employers could not change the terms of contracts on their own. The procedure would ensure that the same documents and job contracts were submitted to government authorities on both sides. The Indian missions in West Asia would attest the employment contracts with due procedures followed. This would help in enforcing contract conditions.

Mr. Ravi said the government was also considering merging Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) cards into a single facility. It was to simplify visa-free entry and participation of the Indian diaspora in business and other activities in the country.

He said his Ministry asked the State governments to open a separate department to attend to the problems of overseas Indians. “An active officer should be posted to head the department.”

ROUGH PATCH FOR CIVIL AVIATION

To a question, Mr. Ravi, who is also Minister for Civil Aviation, said the sector was now going through a bad phase owing to high fuel prices. The State governments should either do away with their sales tax on fuel or reduce it.

The high cost of fuel and sales tax by the States burdened airlines.

He said cargo operations from the Mangalore airport would start soon. Passenger traffic there was expected to cross one million this year.

The government was pursuing a proposal to extend the runway.

Uproar in J&K Assembly; adjourned for 30 minutes

Pandemonium on Monday broke out in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly over an adjournment motion moved by the Opposition PDP to discuss the death of a NC worker allegedly in police custody.

PDP members demanded suspension of the Question Hour to discuss the matter which agitated the treasury benches who also took to their feet.

In the course of the heated exchange, Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone and PDP MLA Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain traded charges against each other.

An agitated Speaker took strong exception to Mr. Hussain’s charges.

Following the uproar, the Speaker adjourned the House for half-an-hour.

Syed Mohammad Yousuf (55), a NC worker from south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, died allegedly in police custody on September 29 after two fellow party workers had accused him of taking Rs 1.18 crore from them for getting them berths in the Legislative Council.

According to the government version, the accused was summoned to the camp office of the Chief Minister where he was confronted with the allegation about taking money.

Yousuf had admitted to taking money after which he was handed over to IGP Crime Branch for further investigation.

However, he complained of nausea while on way to the Crime Branch office. He was taken to a hospital where he died of cardiac arrest, the government version said.

The state government had ordered an inquiry by a High Court judge into the circumstances leading to Yousuf’s death.

The PDP has demanded the resignation of Omar, Minister of State for Home Nasir Aslam Wani and Union Minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah pending a judicial probe into the NC’s worker death.

The PDP on Sunday also decided to move an adjournment motion in the Assembly to discuss the situation arising out of the alleged custodial death.

Yousuf’s family has demanded a CBI probe into his death.

US needs to do many things in war on terror: Hina Rabbani Khar

Foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Sunday fought back allegations thatPakistan had not done enough against extremists, reminding that the "Frankenstein" of terrorism in the Af-Pak region was financed by the US but her country had been left alone to sort out the mess. 

Khar said the war against terrorism was being fought in the region with joint cooperation between the US and Pakistan, and singling out Islamabad's role was being "biased". 

Hitting back at allegations that Pakistan had not done enough in the war on terror, she said even Washington needed to do certain things. 

"We strongly deny that. We feel that this is completely incorrect. That this is what could be called, you know, a biased statement. We feel that we are the ones who have reacted the most," Khar told CNN, denying allegations that Pakistan is not taking action against groups that use tribal areas as safe havens and attack Americans, westerners and Indians across the border. 

She said Pakistanis were the ones who had sacrificed the most, fighting it out on the ground on a daily basis. 

"I would completely deny that," Khar said when pointed out that Pakistan has never fought against the Haqqani faction. 

"Let me also very humbly say that it takes two to tango. There are many things that the US would have to do," Khar said in response to a question. 

Khar said the Frankenstein of terrorism in the region was not created by Pakistan, rather it was financed and assisted by several world powers including the US. 

"This Frankenstein was financed and assisted by many world powers, including that was the US. So, while we are left behind to sort out the mess as the fear of Pakistanis is and this might happen again, we must not forget the historical evidence that we have which has led us to the place that we have," she said.

Greek 2011 budget deficit 8.5% of GDP, misses initial target

Greece's budget deficit should drop to 8.5 percent of GDP in 2011 from 10.5 percent last year, short of a 7.4-percent target initially fixed in June, the government said on Sunday. 

The figure was set out in a draft 2012 budget adopted during an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Sunday evening, a statement said. 

While the deficit will hover above the target projected in June, it is better than the projection made in September by Greece's international creditors, the EU, European Central Bank andInternational Monetary Fund, which stood at around 9.5 percent of GDP, according to press reports. 

The EU-IMF auditors returned to Athens on Thursday, four weeks after they abruptly left disappointed at Greece's lack of progress in implementing promised structural reform measures. 

They pressed the goverment to underdake further austerity measures to reduce expenses and increase revenues. 

"The additional measures that have been decided and announced for 2011 and 2012 amount to 6.6 billion euros," the finance ministry said in the statement. 

In 2012, Greece expects a further reduction of public deficits, setting the target to 6.8% of gross domestic product, instead of the 6.5% forecast in June, due to a deeper recession. 

"This marks the country's entry into another financial phase," the ministry said. This should enable Greece to record next year for the first time a primary surplus of 3.2 billion euros. 

The 17 countries that share the debt-challenged euro currency will meet in Luxembourg on Monday and will assess Greece's budget draft, in an effort to reach an agreement on releasing a vital 8.0 billion euros bailout tranche.

Russia launches first Soyuz rocket since August crash

A Russian Soyuz-2 rocket launched a GLONASS navigation satellite on Sunday, the defence ministry said, in the first launch since a freighter carried by the flagship vehicle crashed into Earth in August. 

Russia has "successfully completed the launch of a Soyuz-2 rocket with the GLONASS-M (satellite) at 0015 (2015 GMT)," Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. 

The satellite was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome 800 kilometres (500 miles) south ofMoscow. 

In August, an unmanned Progress space ship carrying tonnes of cargo for the International Space Station (ISS) crashed into Siberia in August shortly after blast-off. 

Sunday's launch had been scheduled for late August, but was repeatedly postponed following cargo ship's crash.

Beniwal obstructing schemes for people's welfare: Modi

Why is Governor not giving assent to some Bills passed by State Assembly?

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday criticised Governor Kamla Beniwal for “coming in the way” of his government implementing pro-people programmes.

Addressing a meeting in Porbandar after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of the 142nd birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Mr. Modi said he was at a loss to understand why the Governor was not giving her assent to some of the Bills passed by the Assembly which were intended for larger good of the masses.

He particularly referred to the Bills pertaining to reservation of 50 per cent seats for women in the local self-government bodies and the impact fee Bill which intended to regularise unauthorised constructions in the urban areas after charging some penalty.

“The present Governor is a woman and yet she is opposed to women getting the benefit of reservation of seats,” amidst hooting by the crowd against the Governor. Pointing out that the impact fee Bill was aimed at helping the urban masses who might have “innocently and ignorantly” made alterations in building plans for convenience, but were now facing threat of demolition, “but the Governor has refused to sign the Bill just because it was moved by the Modi government,” he said.

Besides filing an affidavit in the High Court, challenging the appointment of the Lokayukta by the Governor bypassing the government, Mr. Modi had also taken the fight against her to the streets, addressing a largely attended rally of the BJP workers to demand “recall” of the Governor.

TRIBUTES TO MAHATMA

Before addressing the meeting, the Chief Minister paid tributes to the Mahatma at Kirti Mandir, the ancestral house of the Father of the Nation, where he was born, and attended an all-religion prayer meeting, State Congress president Arjun Modhvadia, who represents Porbandar in the Assembly, and the local Congress member of the Lok Sabha, Vithhal Radariya, also shared dais with Mr. Modi at the prayer meeting.

Mr. Modi later also paid tributes to the former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on his 107th birth anniversary.

Attacking the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, Mr. Modi asked it “compete” with Gujarat in its race for development rather than taking the “path of conflict and maligning the State.” Claiming that the “Gujarat pattern” of development was being hailed “all over the world,” Mr. Modi said it was the only State where the area under agricultural production was increasing despite rapid industrial growth. “But the Congress and the Centre envious of the State's progress, do not see all this and pounce upon Gujarat at every opportunity,” he alleged and asked the people to “give such Congressmen a fitting reply when the time comes.”

In Ahmedabad, the Congress leaders paid tributes to the Mahatma at the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram, while the BJP, after garlanding the statue of the Mahatma at the Income Tax circle, the city's one of the main thoroughfares, later held a “yagna” at a Shiva temple with a prayer “Let wiser counsel prevail among the UPA government.”

The former Chief Minister, Shankarsinh Waghela, Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Shaktisinh Gohil, and the former Deputy Chief Minister, Narhari Amin, met Shweta Bhatt, wife of the arrested IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who is now under judicial custody.

Mr. Waghela later said he had known Mr. Bhatt's family for long and had come to express solidarity with her when her husband had become a victim of “vindictive attitude” of the Modi government.

The Congress leaders said it was unfortunate that a serving IPS officer was treated like an ordinary criminal by the government when he was arrested.

For China's leaders, Mao fades from memory

At Beijing's iconic Great Hall of the People on Friday evening, Premier Wen Jiabao raised a glass in front of foreign journalists and diplomats to toast his nation ahead of the October 1 National Day.

“Let us rally closely around the Communist Party of China [CPC] Central Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as the General Secretary,” said Mr. Wen.

“Let us hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics,” he continued, “follow the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents, and fully implement the Scientific Outlook on Development.”

Mr. Wen's speech, which invoked the theoretical concepts established by President Hu and his two predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Deng Xiaoping, did not make a single reference to Mao Zedong, China's founding father who is still regarded as the CPC's most influential political figure.

A decade ago, a National Day speech at the Great Hall that did not mention Mao would have been unthinkable.

Chinese analysts have noted that the CPC's leaders are invoking Mao and his ideology — known here as “Mao Zedong Thought” — less and less. This is a reflection, they say, of how far both the party and the country have moved away from the founding principles established by the Chairman.

“Mao Zedong Thought is a political buzzword already belonging to the past,” Qian Gang, an eminent Chinese journalist and fellow at the Hong Kong University-based China Media Project, wrote recently.

As Mr. Qian and other scholars have written, in Chinese politics, power, and the shifts in power and ideology, are closely reflected in the political lexicon in use.

For the CPC, Mao Zedong Thought, along with Deng Xiaoping Theory, Jiang Zemin's “Three Represents” (to represent productive forces, advanced culture and the interests of the majority), and Mr. Hu's emphasis on a scientific outlook on development, are the trademark theoretical concepts created by four generations of its leadership.

Up until the early 1990s, Mao Zedong Thought was often invoked. But after Deng's reforms and the move away from the Left gathered pace, these references became less frequent. For instance, as Mr. Qian notes, in Jiang Zemin's report on the 70th anniversary of the CPC in 1991, he mentioned Mao Zedong Thought 12 times. When the CPC marked its 80th and 85th anniversaries, Mao was mentioned less frequently.

In recent months, Mao Zedong Thought has all but faded from the lexicon, even denied the customary mentions it was accorded in the past.

When Mr. Wen delivered the annual government work report when the National People's Congress convened in March, he called for China to “hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, take Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents as our guide, and thoroughly apply the Scientific Outlook on Development.”

In July, Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping, who will succeed Mr. Hu next year, also made no reference to Mao Zedong Thought in a landmark speech in Tibet, only echoing the formulation Mr. Wen used on Friday.

And, in August, Mr. Hu made no reference to Mao Zedong Thought in a preface he wrote for a textbook designed for training CPC officials. “Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of the Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development,” he wrote, “should be adhered to.”

Sri Lanka mulls food security bill

Remarkable increase in rice production in island nation: M.S. Swaminathan

The draft Indian Food Security Bill could provide valuable inputs to a similar Sri Lankan initiative, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said.

The Indian Bill is designed to ensure that every citizen has a legal right to food.

Mr. Rajapaksa made the remark at a meeting with Indian agricultural scientist and Member of Parliament M.S. Swaminathan here.

Professor Swaminathan, who has visited Sri Lanka several times since the 1970s to share his expertise in agriculture, observed that rice production in the island nation had shown a remarkable increase in recent years, largely due to supply of fertilizers to farmers at subsidised prices.

This year, Sri Lanka would export rice, he was informed at the meeting held at Temple Trees, official residence of the President.

Steps to sustain and expand the rice “revolution” were discussed at the meeting.

The additional measures suggested included providing nutrient-based subsidy to promote balanced fertilization, introducing Mobile Soil Health Monitoring Vans that can issue Soil Health Passbooks to farmers and appropriate high-yielding hybrid rice strains, coupled with sustainable rice intensification agronomic procedures. Steps will have to be taken to increase the yield per unit of land and water on an environmentally sustainable basis, it was felt.

Improving productivity with respect to other crops, enhancing the catch for fishermen using modern technology and introducing mitigation measures in the context of climate change also came up for discussion.

Climate change

Anticipatory action was required to meet the challenge of rising sea level. The December 26, 2004 tsunami was a wake-up call, it was noted.

The meeting recognised that climate refugees will move from coastal to inland areas.

Professor Swaminathan suggested that Sri Lanka's Sea Level Rise Management Strategy might include the following components: updating the coastal vulnerability map prepared about 10 years ago, raising mangrove and non-mangrove bioshields, introducing and cultivating salinity tolerant rice varieties and establishing a genetic garden of halphytes (seawater-tolerant plants) to promote agri-aqua farms along the coast.

It was decided to establish a Translational Research Centre at Jaffna to convert the scientific findings into field-level applications. Such a centre will help to bridge the gap between scientific know-how and field level do-how.

Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, Fisheries Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Foreign Secretary K. Amunugama and Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ashok K Kantha attended the meeting.