The  politicians  miss  the  woods  for the  trees.  The  decline  in  India  is  far beyond a remedy through change of governments. A change of system is required. And no political party or leader is focusing on that ~ RAJINDER PURI

Once again this writer is taking a line of argument that will displease all the anti-Congress elements in the opposition. As one who has been for the past many decades the most consistent and unflinching critic of the Congress in media as well as in politics it will be doubly unpleasant to invite brickbats from readers generally tolerant. But it must be done because this writer does not seek cosmetic improvement in governance but a radical change to create a new India. Nothing less will be satisfying. And in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, the reaction of the opposition to the event reveals a pathetic state of mind that must be criticized. What is that case?
Following a court direction the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing a Gujarat police encounter in which four individuals, including a 19-year-old student Ishrat Jahan, were killed, concluded that it was a fake encounter and the four were killed in cold blood. Earlier in 2009 an inquiry into the same case by a Gujarat Metropolitan Magistrate had reached a similar conclusion. The only difference in the findings of the Metropolitan Magistrate&’s report from the CBI was that it stated that the four were killed elsewhere and their bodies dumped at the spot later. The CBI stated that the four were killed on the same spot where the bodies were found. The Magistrate attributed the motive for the fake encounter to the desire of the guilty police officers to gain promotion. It implied that seniors were aware of the proposed fake encounter and were pleased by it.
The CBI report recalls the statement of a Gujarat police officer, Mr DS Goswamy, deposing before a Mumbai Magistrate much before the CBI undertook its investigation that he had witnessed the accused Gujarat police officers claiming that the fake encounter had been cleared by their political bosses. The Ishrat Jahan encounter was the fourth fake encounter listed in Gujarat in recent years. Of these, in three of the alleged fake encounters the Gujarat police had claimed that Pakistani terrorists were aiming to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Mr Narendra Modi. The main accused in an earlier case, the Sohrabuddin fake encounter, is the same police officer presently convicted and in jail, who is also accused in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. There is enormous confusion caused by motivated leaks by different sections of the government and the enormous media hype that has obfuscated the truth. But if the various media reports are correct, and that admittedly is a big if, the sequence of events can be conjectured. One makes no claim that this version is correct, only that it is reached after connecting the dots of what has appeared in different sections of the media.
On information provided by the IB, the Gujarat police apprehended the four victims travelling together in a car. The police detained the two who were from Pakistan and had later confessed that they belonged to a Kashmiri separatist outfit. The police allowed the other two to go. The other two were one Javed and Ishrat Jahan who was employed by him. Javed was a Hindu converted to Islam. He was a petty criminal in Pune and was recruited by the IB to act as an informer and keep watch on the two Pakistanis. Later the police decided to eliminate the Pakistani terrorists.
 But possibly they thought that by then the IB informer had done his job and was expendable. His knowledge of a fake encounter by the cops could be exploited by him later. Therefore, they decided to eliminate him too. There was a dispute among the cops about the fate of Ishrat. But since she had witnessed the others being taken into custody by the police she would know that they would have been killed in cold blood. Therefore, the cops decided to eliminate her too. That the four were killed in a fake encounter was determined first by a Metropolitan Magistrate&’s probe, later by a Special Investigative Team (SIT) appointed by the Gujarat government, and eventually by the CBI. The veracity of the encounter was all that the CBI had the brief to probe under the court&’s orders at this stage.
Now consider how the opposition and large sections of the mainstream media reacted. They kept harping on the allegation that Ishrat was a terrorist and a suicide bomber and refused to address the fake nature of the encounter. They were aided by a leak by the IB quoting David Coleman Headley as having described Ishrat as a suicide bomber. On June 19, this writer commented in these columns: “The IB… to the media… released an FBI report from the US which quoted David Coleman Headley quoting a Lashkar terrorist leader quoting another Lashkar operative claiming that another Lashkar operator had recruited one Ishrat Jahan as a suicide bomber. This thrice removed hearsay was seized upon by IB as clinching proof that Ishrat Jahan was a terrorist.” The TV channels went to town with the IB leak. But what did the NIA actually convey to the IB regarding the information imparted by the FBI?
Paragraph 168 of the NIA report to the IB quoted David Coleman Headley stating: “I state that in late 2005, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi introduced Muzammil to me. Having introduced Muzammil, Zaki talked about the accomplishments of Muzammil as a Lashkar commander. Zaki also sarcastically mentioned that Muzammil was a top commander whose every big ‘project’ had ended in a failure. Zaki added that Ishrat Jahan module was also one of Muzammil&’s ‘botched up’ operations.” In Para 169 of that report it was stated that “apart from this, he (Headley) had no other information/knowledge about Ishrat Jahan”. Forget evidentiary value of this text, does it by even the understanding of ordinary English suggest that Ishrat was necessarily a terrorist or a suicide bomber? Headley&’s vague allusion, like Goswamy&’s evidence, was pure hearsay. Not surprisingly the NIA in a subsequent appearance in the court echoed the views of this writer by informing the court that it had not described Ishrat as a terrorist because Headley&’s statement was “only hearsay”.
Forget the media, how did the opposition react to this fake encounter? BJP leaders kept harping on the unsubstantiated and irrelevant charge that Ishrat was a terrorist. As if that would justify murder in cold blood. BJP president Mr Rajnath Singh accused the Congress of misusing the CBI and creating hype for political advantage and said that there had been over 3000 police encounters across the nation. Of course the UPA government misuses the CBI! Of course it blackmails several regional leaders having disproportionate assets. But why should those who seek to replace this corrupt and motivated government expect conduct any different? The bottom line is, are the victims of CBI blackmail guilty or not? The bottom line in the present dispute is whether or not the Gujarat police encounter was faked.
Mr Rajnath Singh&’s reference to 3000 police encounters across India is mystifying. Even if many of these were fake encounters would it justify a similar encounter in Gujarat? Or does it call additionally for overall systemic reform? One recalls Indira Gandhi&’s justification of corruption by her notorious remark: “Corruption is a worldwide phenomenon!” The BJP president and other political leaders of the opposition should appreciate that the people of India do not want to replace the UPA government by a successor operating under the same corrupt and undemocratic culture. People want genuine change. Bihar politicians would like to remove Mr Narendra Modi&’s government, Gujarat politicians would like to remove Mr Nitish Kumar&’s government, and politicians of both states would like to remove Mr Manmohan Singh&’s government. All these politicians miss the woods for the trees. The decline in India is far beyond a remedy through change of governments. A change of system is required. And no political party or leader is focusing on that.
The writer is a veteran journalist and cartoonist. He blogs at www.rajinderpuri.wordpress.com

Mayhem in Bodhgaya
It has been a lethal cocktail of suspected terrorism, religious persecution and geo-politics. Rakhine in Myanmar has had a devastating echo in Bodhgaya in Bihar. There is an element of pregnant symbolism in what, prima facie, appears to have been a terrorist strike in the world&’s citadel of Buddhism, seemingly a reprisal for the relentless persecution of Rohingya Muslims ~ a stateless community on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. Neither country can evade the charge of flagrant violation of international law.
 That persecution has been the handiwork of Myanmar&’s Buddhist-dominated military junta. The reprisal has been as tragic as it is shameful; the credibility of the Centre and Bihar, indeed their ability to protect the shrines, must be at stake in the perception of the Buddhist bloc of nations. More than 72 hours after the serial explosions in Bodhgaya&’s Mahabodhi temple ~ the world&’s bastion of Buddhism ~ the plot and scenario are still fogbound. The suspected involvement of the India Mujahideen is at best a tentative conclusion; from Nitish Kumar to Sushil Kumar Shinde, the authorities are remarkably clueless. As the CCTV&’s grained images are splashed across the media, it is fervently to be hoped that truth will be unravelled in course of the probe being conducted by the National Investigation Agency. Well and truly has the State, as an entity of governance, been caught with all defences down.
It would be redundant to harp on the very obvious ~ the failure of Intelligence, the common strand that binds terrorist outrages. No less crucially, Bodhgaya showcases the pathetic response of the Bihar government, whose head has of late been more obsessed with politics in the Delhi  darbar than with his home turf&’s underbelly. The security lapse in Bodhgaya has been disastrous even at the mildest estimation as governance lies rather thin on the ground across the state. A deceptive sense of smugness alone explains why the Union home ministry&’s successive alerts about a possible Indian Mujahideen strike were ignored.
The timeline of the alerts is critical ~ October 2012, followed by two warnings in January and June. As it turns out, Sunday&’s mayhem follows the latest alert a few weeks ago. Altogether, the incident signifies an appalling failure of Bihar&’s security network, such as it is.
The putrid inter-party shadow-boxing is the worst development that could have happened. It is almost as if the Congress general secretary, Digvijay Singh, and the BJP are engaged in a competitive exercise to politicise the outrage. And  Mamata  Banerjee  makes  the  waters murkier by pulling up a chair to insinuate that “the blasts are a gameplan of the Centre to finish the regional parties”. This isn’t the moment for sniper attacks. A responsible political class would have acted in concert to assist the security agencies.

Still ‘chicken’?
Disconcerting but not surprising was the “gun salute” from a Chinese military leader that welcomed AK Antony to Beijing. It was in keeping with the People&’s Liberation Army&’s assertiveness that counters any seemingly conciliatory moves by the political leadership. Equally unsurprising was the attempt by the Indian defence minister, and others, to underplay the belligerence and divert attention towards the essentially cosmetic “positives” (at best a re-rail job) that emerged from Antony&’s interaction with the Chinese leadership.
 It was convenient for India to buy the line that Maj-Gen Luo Yan of the PLA Academy of Military Science was not articulating the official line, but it would be naive to accept that the Chinese system allows loudmouths and loose cannon to flourish ~ as ex-generals do on Indian TV.
Gen Luo&’s contention that India was claiming 90,000 sq.kms of Chinese territory, was the only country that raised a China-bogey to justify military upgrades, and his cautioning New Delhi against provocation cannot be wished away. Analysed in the context of the incursion in the Depsang Valley, repeated objections to India developing roads near the “disputed boundary, tricky incidents at sea, the bottom line remains clear ~ Beijing will have its own way during any negotiations on the boundary, even maintaining peace and tranquility along it.
All the planned boost of military-level exchanges and diplomatic syrup will not alter the equation. Despite several rounds of talks and a few moves on the ground the Chinese have not moved an inch back from the position taken 50 years ago: “let those who committed aggression vacate it first.” Consistent.
Consistent too has been New Delhi&’s acquiescence. It is apparent that despite the military&’s claims that there can be no repeat of 1962, the mindset on Raisina Hill remains fixated on that drubbing. Evidence was available at Depsang, as well as from the regurgitation of the alibi that repeated incursions are the result of “varying perceptions” of the Line of Actual Control. To stretch a point: so haunted by the ghost of 1962 is the establishment that the Henderson-Brooks report remains “secret”. All the reopening of airfields, raising new Mountain Divisions, deploying SU-30s at Tezpur is merely a bid at boosting domestic morale. Among the first terms used during Antony&’s trip was the need for “strategic communication”: Gen Luo&’s presentation was precisely that.

 Kolkata, 10 July: A book containing rare hand-written letters and prose by Swami Vivekananda was released on Wednesday by  Swami Atmasthananda, the president of  Ramakrishna Mission and Math at  Belurmath.
The book ~ A Boutique of Swami Vivekanandas Writings~ contains the writings of  Swamiji and the letters which he wrote to various important personalities of his  time, said Swami Prabhananda, the vice-president who has penned its preface. 
The book also contains the song of Sanyasi***, which Swamiji wrote during  his stay in New York in 1895. The scanned version of his original writings have been placed on the left side of the book, while the typescript of the same has been placed on the right hand side for reader’s convenience.
 Swami Prabhananda said that  the compilation process was arduous as several people who possess Swamiji’s writings refused to hand them over to the Math as they consider those to be sacred.
The first 1,000 copies of the 310 page book will be up for sale at a subsidised price of Rs 500 and will be available at all branches of the Mission.
Later,  Swami Suvirananda, the assistant secretary of the Math briefed  media persons about the rescue works undertaken by them in Uttarakhand.
"Our monks are transporting food items on their backs and distributing them directly to the affected households,"  he added. 

statesman news service
Kolkata, 10 July
The state municipal affairs department will appoint SDOs as administrators for running the 13 civic bodies that are expected to end their terms in July.   Mr Firad Hakim, state municipal affairs and urban development minister said a notification for appointment of the administrators will be issued tomorrow as per Section 14 of the West Bengal Municipal Act.
Following the notification, the SDOs will function as administrators till formation of the new bodies, he said.
The terms of 13 municipalities ~ Dubrajpur, Habra, Haldibari, Mekhligunj, Alipurduar, Chakda, Balurghat, Dalkhola, Panihati, Diamond Harbour, Burdwan, Guskora and West Midnapore are scheduled to expire this month.
Earlier, the state government and the State Election Commission had enetered into a controversy over holding of municipal polls. Despite several reminders form the commission in April and May urging the state government to discuss and finalise the dates for holding the elections, the latter did
not respond.
It was only recently that the government informed the commission that it was ready to hold the polls on 7 September.
Nine out of 13 municipalities had been completed long time back.

Polling duties to break down barriers
Biswabrata Goswami
biswabrata.goswami@gmail.com
Midnapore 10 July
 A peep into the offices of most of the organizations in  around the world and you will notice a familiar scene – the boss sitting in his well cushioned wheel chair like a super-human in an expansive manner and the subordinate sitting in front of him  submissively addressing him as sir. “Sir, yes sir, very good sir, you are right sir, yes sir and yes sir and ……….”
But, for a day, a bank manager will have to call his subordinate fourth grade staff as ‘Sir’,  thanks to a curious exercise by the  West Midnapore district administration.
As the first phase panchayat elections for three Junglemahal districts –West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia are scheduled tomorrow, thousands of polling persons have already reached their respective booths by this evening.
Among these polling persons, Mr Nitya Ranjan Ghoroi, a group D staff of Mallabhum Gramin Bank at Neradeul in West Midnapore has been posted as second polling officer while the bank&’s manager Mr Ashok Tewari has been posted as fourth polling officer.
The duo has been asked to go to booth number 39/2 at Mohonpur to perform their duties.
Mr Ghoroi said: “I was first asked to perform my duties as first polling officer, but I personally requested the returning officer to change my duty category since my ‘boss’ has been asked to do polling duties as fourth polling officer.” “Later, the returning officer changed my duties and asked me to act as second polling officer,” he said. Mr Ghoroi also said, “In West Midnapore, many senior officers of different organizations have been asked to perform duties as lower-rung polling officers while their sub-ordinate staff will perform duties as high-rung polling officers or presiding officers”. A senior CPI-M leader alleged that there were rampant irregularities in selecting polling persons at different levels across the district with people of lower runks getting selection.

eligibility criteria to be looked at
statesman news service
Behrampore, 10 July
The state school education department has decided to prepare a fresh list of teachers eligible for admission into B. Ed training through open and distance learning (ODL) mode.
Teachers recruited by West Bengal School Service Commission and engaged in teaching of upper primary students in non-government aided secondary schools were earlier directed to complete the B. Ed training through ODL.
A list of school teachers eligible for the training programme through ODL mode was reportedly prepared by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Mission for the current academic session.
The list made by SSAM and published by Netaji Subhash Open University (NSOU) in its website was allegedly full of anomalies because it excluded many eligible teachers and cited no reason.
Moreover, the list included ineligible candidates like clerks, teachers already trained, retired or dead etc, admitted education department officials.
 To set things right, the District Inspector (DI) of Schools, Murshidabad issued a circular yesterday directing the Head Masters of  secondary schools to meet the education officials like the local AI in their respective jurisdiction.
According to the circular, the Head Masters will have to make necessary changes correcting errors in information database on the basis of which the previous list was prepared. The Head Masters need to resubmit the names of eligible teachers excluded in earlier list, said Mr. Bimal Pandey, DI of Schools (Secondary), Murshidabad.
The Head Masters have also been directed to update the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) to the concerned AI office. The initial list of eligible teachers was made on the basis of UDISE, officials here informed.
Apprehending that incremental benefits accrual to B. Ed training might be stopped in case of failure to complete the training, a number of teachers voiced their grievance before the DI, Murshidabad yesterday. Incremental benefit of several non-trained teachers has already been stopped as per government order, alleged Mr. Prasun Biswas, an in-service teacher who found his name missing from the list of teachers eligible for admission in B. Ed training.  
“We must ensure that no teacher gets affected due to lack of opportunity in completing the B.Ed training in time. All the eligible
teachers will be given a fair chance to take the
training by 31 March, 2015”, said Mr  Dilip Singha Roy of Murshidabad District Trinamul Congress
Shiksha Cell.

statesman news service
Purulia, 10 July
A father killed his daughter this morning for  attempting  to elope with her boyfriend against the will of the family.            
Police said that Suneeta Gorai (15), a resident of Jabarrah village under Hura police station was murdered this morning by her father~ Dharani Gorai. Family sources said that the deceased Suneeta, one of the three daughters of her parents was a student of class VIII at Jabarrah Junior High School. The girl, according to her mother  was romantically involved with Krishna Gorai~ a youth residing neighbouring Nawadihi village under Hura police station.              
In defiance to her mother’s wishes, the girl kept  getting closer to the young man. Last evening local people saw the young lovers trying to  slip out of the village. They caught them and informed the family members of the girl. To save the girl from her father’s wrath, Baldev Gorai, the elder brother of Dharani Gorai kept her that night at his residence. This morning Suneeta was reportedly summoned by her father at home. Sources said that  the moment she arrived at her home, the infuriated father struck her with an iron rod on her head. With the impact of this fatal hit, the girl  slumped to the floor in a bloody heap.
Police being informed rushed to the spot and  arrested the father.  The teenager’s body  was sent for post-mortem.
Police said that they are interrogating the father. Investigations are on. 

press trust of india
Thiruvananthapuram, 10 July
With the LDF in Kerala baying for his resignation on the solar panel scam, a defiant Chief Minister Oommen Chandy rejected their demand, saying it was part of a political conspiracy by the CPI-M-led Opposition and if he stepped down now, he would be doing an “injustice to truth.”
“I am not a person who wants to cling to power at any cost. But, if I resign now, I will be doing injustice to truth,” Mr Chandy, in the eye of a storm triggered by the scam, told reporters after a Cabinet meeting here today.
Expressing confidence of overcoming the present crisis, he said it was now a political issue and “we will fight it out.”
“Party high command, state Congress party, the ministry and the ruling UDF are united on this issue,” he asserted.
Mr Chandy said the charges against him were part of a political conspiracy by the CPI-M led LDF Opposition, because all their agitations against the UDF government after it came to power failed to click.
The conspiracy began after the arrest of a personal staff member in the Chief Minister’s office, he said.
“After that the LDF thought, it was a chance to target me and the UDF government, he said adding “we will not yield to their political designs.”
On the 12-hour hartal called by the Opposition today, demanding his resignation, Mr Chandy said it was a challenge to the people and the government would not tolerate violence in the pretext of agitation.
Mr Chandy also rejected the statement of the complainant in the solar case, Sreedharan Nair, that he had met the chief minister and discussed the solar project. Investigation into the case was progressing in the right direction and “all accused in the case would be brought before the law,” he said.
The scam pertains to alleged cheating of several people to the tune of crores by one Saritha Nair and her accomplice Biju Radhakrishnan by offering solar panel solutions. An actress, Shalu Menon has also been arrested in connection with the case.
It took a serious political turn with the arrest of one of Mr Chandy’s close personal aides, who has alleged links with the accused. Two other employees from his personal staff have also been removed.

EVEREADY INDUSTRIES INDIA LTD.
Registered Office:
1, Middleton Street
Kolkata-700071
Notice is hereby given that at a Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company to be held on Friday, July 26, 2013 the Unaudited Financial Results of the Company for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 will be considered.
By Order of the Board
Eveready Industries India Ltd.
T. Punwani
Sr. General Manager – Legal
& Company Secretary
Kolkata
July 10, 2013                    (B0007)         C20221

statesman news service
Hyderabad, 10 July
Congress leaders from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema are like coiled springs ready to burst anytime with a large majority anticipating that the Congress high command would announce Telangana on 12 March. The overwhelming feeling is that they are going to lose Hyderabad, even though it&’s in the middle of Telangana.
Once the core committee makes this clear on Friday or the next, no one knows fully what would be on the integrationists’ table. Will there be resistance? This is a foregone conclusion. The pro-integrationist sentiment is not spoken in the same breath as the pro-Telangana sentiment, but the fact is it exists and that too strongly. The agitation when it begins would be a bottom to top movement.
“When we were kids there used to be a slogan that said ‘what is left for us other than chains, slavery and oppression’. We are there. Andhra Pradesh is at a dangerous cross roads and that places the country at a similar cross road,” a top leader said.
None has an idea if the leaders could guide and control the agitation. “We (leaders) will think about how to take things ahead. It may not be violent. And we do not believe in provoking people when emotions are already charged. Natural reactions to the development will surely be there. We are actually in for troubled times. This, I can assure you,” a leader said.
Integrationists are at a loss to understand why a Telangana state should be carved.
This is particularly so when the Justice BN Srikrishna Committee, which was set up after the 2009 disturbances, in its first recommendation said that the state should be kept united.
They say that every family in the two regions has an attachment to Hyderabad ~be it their child pursuing higher education, a retailer-wholesaler relationship, a member of the family working here or close relatives and family friends living here. They now feel that Hyderabad is drifting towards the horizon.
“In the delimitation exercise, Seema-Andhra lost 12 seats and Hyderabad the surrounding Rangareddy district added ten of those seats. Why did this happen? Where did these people come from? Certainly not from outside Andhra,” senior Congress leader and staunch integrationist Mr Gade Venkat Reddy asked.
“Nothing short of an integrated Andhra Pradesh is acceptable to us”.
The argument is, Hyderabad has a population of nearly 1 crore and has been developed over decades by people across the three regions.
“You can’t deal with this arbitrarily. BR Ambedkar said Hyderabad should be developed into the second national capital.”
“Let&’s all move that way. If Telangana is inevitable then let them develop their own capital,” he said.

press trust of india
Thiruvananthapuram, 10 July
Stray incidents of violence today marred the 12-hour strike called by the CPI-M led LDF in Kerala to demand resignation of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy over the solar scam issue even as normal life was badly hit across the state.
A Congress office in Kannur and the office of Congress MLA, M A Waheed at Kazhakootam near here was stoned allegedly by the hartal supporters, as reported by police.
In another stone pelting incident, a bus of Karnataka Road Transport Corporation was damaged in Kozhikode.
Incidents of stone pelting on private vehicles were also reported from different parts of the state, police said.
No one had been injured in any of the incidents, police said, adding “no major untoward incident has been reported from any part of the state”.
LDF supporters took out protest demonstrations in different parts of the state as part of the agitation.
All shops, business establishments and markets and educational institutions remained closed. Services in banks and government offices were also badly affected due to the hartal.
Except for a few private vehicles and two-wheelers, all modes of transport were off the road, causing inconvenience to passengers who arrived at railway stations and airports unaware of the strike, called by the LDF last evening.
Security had been tightened all over the state in view of the hartal, which has been called by the LDF as it stepped up pressure on the Congress-led UDF government.
The LDF has been agitating for the past two weeks seeking to corner the government over the multi-crore solar panel scam which has brought the chief minister’s office under a cloud as well.

Press Trust of india
Beijing, 10 July
At least 16 people were killed and over 36 others went missing in heavy rains, landslides and flash floods in China’s Sichuan and Shanxi provinces. State television has shown grim pictures of multi-storey buildings as well as bridges with vehicles being washed away by surging flood waters in Sichuan province which also suffered extensive damage during the recent earthquake.
Twelve construction workers were killed and seven others injured when their make-shift house was buried under the debris of a collapsed wall in Shanxi Province.

London, 10 July:Rupert Murdoch will be hauled up for a second grilling by British MPs later this year, as lawmakers probe the phone-hacking scandal involving the US-based media mogul’s now-defunct News of the World tabloid.
Members of the House of Commons’ Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, had quizzed Murdoch and his son James in July 2011 around allegations of phone-hacking involving the News of the World, voted yesterday to ask him to return in a few months’ time.
82-year-old Murdoch will be expected to answer questions over a tape recording of a meeting he had in March with more than 20 Sun newspaper journalists who have been arrested in connection with alleged unlawful payments to police and other public officials for stories. The recording reveals Murdoch apparently telling journalists that he regretted the level of cooperation given by News UK formerly News International to the investigation into illegal payments.   PTI

Press Trust of india
Seoul, 10 July
Seoul and Pyongyang were to start fresh talks on reopening a joint industrial complex today as a group of South Korean factory owners visit the mothballed site.
The sensitive talks follow a rare weekend meeting in which the two sides agreed in principle to reopen the Kaesong industrial complex, which shut down three months ago as relations between the neighbours hit crisis point.
Pyongyang, citing military tensions and the South’s hostility toward the North, in April withdrew its 53,000 workers from the 123 Seoul-owned factories at the complex, which is seen as the last remaining symbol of cross-border reconciliation.
The South withdrew managers from most of the operations in early May.
The latest round of talks, which were expected to begin later today, follow months of friction and threats of war by Pyongyang after its February nuclear test attracted tougher UN sanctions, further squeezing its struggling economy.
High on the agenda will be a demand from Seoul that Pyongyang guarantees it will never again unilaterally shut down the South Korean-funded site, a key source of hard currency for the impoverished North.
The South also wants a pledge to safeguard uninterrupted movement in and out of the complex, as well as compensation for losses stemming from the suspension, a demand that the North is unlikely to accept.
“We will not accept circumstances reverting back to the way they were before the crisis,” Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-Suk told reporters in Seoul yesterday.
At the end of gruelling 15-hour talks, the two sides said in a joint statement Sunday that they had agreed to let South Korean firms restart their shuttered plants at the complex near the border when conditions are ripe.
The statement was viewed as a crucial step forward in winding down months of high tension.
Yesterday, more than 20 visitors from the South, including government officials and workers, went to  restart power supplies. Dozens of South Korean businessmen were expected to inspect the factories on the sidelines of the talks.

Python in store: Australian police investigating a suspected break-in at a charity store have discovered that the culprit was actually a 5.7-metre(19-foot), 17-kg (37-pound) python. pti
Unique Sphinx found: Archaeologists have unearthed part of a unique Sphinx,in northern Israel, belonging to an ancient Egyptian king  Mycerinusin,one of the builders of Giza pyramids and ruled more than 4,000 years ago. pti
New Catfish species: Scientists have discovered a tiny new species of catfish, Pareiorhina hyptiorhachis, measuring about 3 cm in length, in the waters of Rio Paraiba do Sul basin, in Brazil. pti
Tech breakthrough: A UAE-based university claimed its researchers have fabricated the very first polymer based organic solar cell, marking a technological breakthrough in the clean energy sector. pti
Solar headphones: Andrew Anderson, a Glasgow-based designer, launched the OnBeat headphones,that can harness solar power to charge mobile devices when you are on the move has been designed in the UK. pti
New letter for ‘the’: An Australian businessman, Paul Mathis from Melbourne, has invented a new letter of the English alphabet to replace the word ‘the’ because he thinks it is more efficient. pti
Obamas loves spices: US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle expressed their love for spices and food, with the First Lady telling an Indian-origin kid that she is a big fan of Indian cuisine. pti
Brain tumours: Scientists have found that an overactive signalling pathway is a common cause in cases of pilocytic astrocytoma, the most frequent type of brain cancer in children. pti
Lottery win: Gary Patel, 30, who immigrated to the US from India as a teenager and owns beer shop in Pennsylvania, will get a whopping US$ 100,000 for selling a US$ 131.5 million-winning lottery ticket.     ptI
Close shave : Fighting bulls caught at least two runners between their horns and threw them to the ground in the fourth run of Spain’s San Fermin festival. Three were hurt but no one was gored. ap
12 die in wall collapse: Twelve construction workers were killed and seven others injured when their makeshift house was damaged by a collapsed wall in China’s northern Shanxi province, as reported by officials. pti
Dead girl assaulted: Police claim to have arrested a man who allegedly sexually assaulted the body of a dead minor girl in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Abdul Waheed, who was arrested on Wednesday, confessed to his crime. pti
Ex-spy chief detained: South Korea’s former spy chief, Won Sei-Hoon, was, on Wednesday, detained over allegations that he accepted bribes from a construction company in return for peddling influence, a report said. afp
UK house fire: Two persons, including a 30-year-old woman, were killed and two others injured in a “suspicious” fire in west London on Wednesday A Metropolitan Police spokesman said “the fire is being treated as suspicious”.  pti
Racial bias: UK’s General Medical Council is investigating fears of racial bias against foreign-trained doctors affecting the outcome of the general practitioners’ examination in the country. pti

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
New Delhi, 10 July:
In a move to firm up the telecom sector, the government plans to announce the long awaited mergers and acquisitions guidelines by the end of this month.
“I am sure that before 31 July that policy will be in place, the guidelines for mergers and acquisitions,” the law and telecom minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, said on the sidelines of Assocham’s roundtable on legal system. 
The Indian telecom sector has at present around 13 mobile phone service providers with some of them expected to go for consolidation once the final guidelines are in place.
“Telecom operators are talking to each other. There are three Indian service providers that are looking for significant stake sale but waiting for clear guidelines,” said an executive of a telecom company. 
Though the telecom ministry had announced broad guidelines for mergers and acquisitions in February last year, detailed guidelines are yet to be spelt out.
The guidelines that have been cleared in principle include expeditious approval to merger proposals of telecom companies if their combined market share is up to 35 per cent.
It will seek sector regulator Trai’s recommendation in case the resultant entity has a market share between 35 and 60 per cent.
The government has de-linked spectrum from new licences and both have to be procured by companies separately.
Consequent upon the merger of licences, the total spectrum held by the resultant entity should not exceed 25 per cent of the spectrum assigned, by way of auction or otherwise, to it in the concerned service area in case of GSM spectrum services which include 900 and 1800 megahertz (MHz) bands frequencies.
In respect of 800 MHz band (CDMA), the in-principle approved guidelines state that the ceiling will be 10 MHz and for other spectrum bands, relevant conditions pertaining to auction of that spectrum will apply.

Operation Rahat was the biggest ever air operation undertaken by IAF, reports Sri Krishna

In what was one of the biggest relief and rescue operation undertaken by any Air Force in the world,  “Operation Rahat” of IAF, operating since 16 June in Uttarakhand hit by “Himalayan Tsunami” killing thousands, including  a  large number of pilgrims on the Char Dham Yatra ~ Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri ~ was indeed a mammoth task.
As the Task Force Commander, Air Commodore Rajesh Isser said it was “the biggest civilian rescue operation carried out by any air
force using helicopters across the globe,” deploying 45 helicopters for the operation. The IAF, which lost five of its personnel in the course of the relief and rescue operations, which was closely monitored by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne, continued undeterred by this loss.
The 45 helicopters, included powerful ones like Mi-17 and Mi-26. The Mi-26 is the largest and most powerful helicopter in the world. It also deployed airplanes like Dorniers, C-130s and AN-32s. What was indeed a major challenge for the IAF was that these flying machines’ performance usually is measured at sea level and the conditions they operated in were not conducive and it was hostile, reducing their performance by almost half as there are no landing pads, the topography dotted with cliffs and hills meant the space to manoeuvre was narrow and inclement weather made flying conditions extremely dangerous.
But, the Indian genius came through in what is popularly called in Hindi “jugad”. with the Air Force coming up with instant solutions and innovations to rescue people while keeping reduced functioning and safety in mind.
The IAF brought into full play its previous experiences of dealing with natural calamities having been involved with the Ladakh flash floods of 2010, the Andhra Pradesh flood disaster in 2009 and the Tsunami rescue operations of 2004. One of the major challenges faced by the IAF was the unpredictable weather conditions in the Himalayan terrain and so the operations depended not only on the reports of the Met department but also it used the C-130 aircraft on daily sorties, utilising its Electro-Optic Infrared sensors to prepare reports enabling it to get accurate weather conditions in all the valleys. As Air Commodore Isser said, “All our operations could have stopped due to lack of fuel on the second day itself but the C-130 took fuel and directly refuelled bowsers flown in by Mi-26 helicopters for this.” Besides, the IAF had to winch down specialists where helicopters couldn’t even approach and this enabled it to save people from areas which after such a  disaster are totally cut off. During the first 15 days after the calamity struck Uttarakhand, the IAF flew 2,140 missions with helicopters evacuating 19,600 people and carrying 3,82,400 kg of relief material which was indeed an Herculean task. As the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne said “By placing the safety, security and comfort of our distressed countrymen above your own, you have indeed enhanced the prestige of IAF in the eyes of the nation.”  With the first phase of “Operation Rahat,” completed, the IAF is now moving into the second phase of the operation to support long-term rehabilitation efforts in the hilly areas of Uttarakhand. In a communication to all units and stations of the IAF, the Air Chief reminded his force that they would be required to “shift gears and adopt a different approach and formulate a new strategy”.
Taking note of the synergy, which the IAF had achieved with the Army, the ITBP and the NDRF and local administration in rescue efforts, he was confident that the Air Force “will continue to contribute significantly towards rebuilding Uttarakhand”. Commending all air warriors for their contribution towards execution the IAF&’s mission, he saluted the five brave air force personnel of 157 helicopter unit who sacrificed their lives while carrying out rescue mission in Kedar Valley.