Munabao-Khokrapar train service may be deferred

     New Delhi: Railway Board Chairman JP Batra has indicated that the much awaited Thar Express train service, connecting Munabao in Rajasthan and Khokrapar, a border village in Pakistan's Sindh province, may be deferred by at least a week. The service, which is slated to commence on February 1, may be delayed as India and Pakistan are yet to finalise modalities of the operations. "The train is unlikely to run from February 1. I presume that it will take at least 15 days more to finalise everything between the two countries," Batra told reporters here today. Batra said that India had asked Pakistan to fix a date for the visit of its delegation for the finalisation of all modalities, adding that they had been waiting for an answer from the latter. Replying to a question about the delay in the process, Batra said that they were dealing with two different systems and they would go ahead with the plan after being furnished all the details. The rail link between the two countries was snapped almost 40 years ago when Pakistani fighter jets bombed the tracks during the 1965 war between India and Pakistan. But as part of as part of a slow peace process the passenger train has been proposed to be rerun. Both countries are putting the finishing touches to a new rail link.

    At Munabao, a small town known mainly as the last stop for the train to Pakistan, India has built a gleaming new station and workers are rushing to spruce up the terminal ahead of the inauguration. Babu Lal, a train driver, is hopeful of taking the first train from this region whenever it resumes. Mohammad Ismail, a painter engaged at the construction work on Munabao station takes pride in his work. Many people who go from places to places in search of work are hopeful that, once operational, the train service will get them employment. Locals too are elated over the prospect of being able to meet friends and relatives separated from them after India was partitioned in 1947 and Pakistan created. Indian security officials say that the train will be heavily guarded. A 12-ft (three-metre) high fence is being erected parallel to the tracks from Munabao to the frontier, a few miles away. Security posts have been built around the station and Border Security Force (BSF) jeeps would accompany the train from Munabao to the frontier to prevent smuggling or attacks en route. Some of the Pakistani leaders are demanding that the train to be extended up to Ajmer. Indian authorities, however, feel that the priority should be given to the commencement of the service.

Daya Nayak moves court for anticipatory bail (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: Disgraced Mumbai Crime Branch encounter specialist Daya Nayak, who has been booked for accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income, moved a Sessions Court on Tuesday to grant him anticipatory bail. Nayak's lawyer filed the petition for anticipatory bail on Nayak and his wife's behalf. Earlier, fearing arrest by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Nayak had filed a request for anticipatory bail before the Bombay High Court. The High Court, however, asked him to approach the Sessions Court first before coming to it, and only if it was necessary.

   Meanwhile, Rajendra Phadte who is a supervisor in a company handled by P Mani Vellan has also sought anticipatory bail in the Sessions Court. P Mani Vellan was arrested on Monday in connection with the same case. Sub-Inspector Nayak was suspended from service on Monday after the citys Anti-Corruption Bureau recovered at least Rs.9 crores (two million dollars) worth of illegal assets in raids carried out on Saturday. Nayak has been absconding ever since the ACB raided his residence and sent out a team to investigate his assets at his native place Mangalore and in Goa. He is believed to be hiding at his native village Yennehole in Mangalore. On Saturday, raids were simultaneously conducted in Lokhandwala, Kandivili and Goregaon in Maharashtra and in Mangalore (Karnataka). Two finance companies, Ojus Finance and Kuber Housing Private Limited, alleged to be run by one of Nayak's associates, were also raided in Mumbai. Daya Nayak's fall from grace began in 2004 when a petition was filed by a journalist Ketan Tirodkar, who had alleged that Nayak had links with the underworld and that he possessed disproportionate assets. It was also alleged that Nayak used to kill the rivals of underworld dons with whom he had made links on the pretext of police encounters.

    Nayak became a celebrated police officer with over 83 encounters in his name when he was associated with the Mumbai Crime Branch. He rose to fame after he gunned down two of underworld don Chhota Rajan's aides in December 1996. But trouble began when Ketan Tirodkar claimed that Nayak had close links with Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel and that he had gained monetarily through the liaison. Taking note of the allegation, a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court ordered an enquiry into Daya Nayak's Wealth. Assistant Commissioner of Police Dilip Sawant, the investigating officer, submitted his report to Mumbai's Commissioner of Police, A N Roy in October 2005. According to the report, most of the investments were made in the name of Nayak's wife. The report also claimed that Nayak owns a fleet of luxury tourist buses and a travel company in the name of Vishal Travels in Andheri, besides a penthouse on Malad-Link Road registered in the name of one of his relatives. Though two Hindi movies inspired from the life of Daya Nayak have been made, his links with the film industry have also been revealed in the report. The report states that he himself had financed two films, a Kannada film titled Encounter Daya Nayak and a Hindi film Kagaar. The ACB has identified a person called Mansoor Hemjady who paid for the travel and hotel bills when Nayak's crew was in Dubai for a shoot. Mansoor also ran a website called dayanayak.com. The other film inspired by the life of Daya Nayak is the Ram Gopal Verma's 'Ab Tak Chhappan' starring Nana Patekar.

Saudi King arrives in India on landmark visit (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al- Saud arrived in Delhi on Tuesday evening, marking the first-ever visit to the country by a Saudi ruler in over 50 years. He was received by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and other Indian dignitaries. The King is on a four -day visit, during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on energy cooperation and ways to enhance bilateral trade. Terrorism, energy cooperation, avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax evasion will be the main topics taken up by both sides. The two countries are also expected to sign agreements on jointly combating terrorism and a convention on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax evasion. The King, who is the chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations this year, will be accompanied by a high-level delegation. He is also scheduled to meet President APJ Abdul Kalam and Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat during the visit.

    This is the first time a Saudi monarch is travelling to India after the visit of King Saud bin Abdul Aziz in 1955. In 1956, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had visited the Kingdom and in 1982, the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had travelled to Saudi Arabia. India's trade relations with Saudi Arabia are focused on oil and labour exports, and the visit of the King will help extend relations beyond these limits. Ahead of his visit to New Delhi on Monday, King Abdullah had said to a private news channel that he was keen to see India play an active role in OIC (Organisation of Islamic the Conferences). "Yes, I do believe that India can play a role in such an organisation, just like Russia does as an observer," he said but added a rider that "it will be very beneficial if the application is put forth by a country like Pakistan." The statement from the King Abdullah assumes significance, as Pakistan has always been a strong opponent to India's entry into the OIC. OIC, established in 1969 is an inter-governmental organisation consisting of fifty-seven member States, with an aim to safeguard the interests of Muslims all over the world. The group is powerful one as it consists of oil-rich countries like Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Egypt and others as its members. The conference have 11 observers which includes United Nations, European Union, Cyprus, Thailand, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the latest entrant -Russia in 2005. India has always staked claim to be a part of OIC as the Muslim population in India is far more than that in Pakistan. But Pakistan has always opposed India's entry in the coveted Muslim nations club. The King also said that Saudi Arabia's relation with India is based on bilateral trust and respect between the two nations and should not be seen in Pakistan s perspective. Emphasizing the de-hyphenation of Saudi Arab "India relation vis- `a-vis Pakistan the King said, "both the countries are friendly countries with great ties. The relationship between us and India is not affected with regard to any other country."

Notice to Centre, Delhi Govt in phone tapping case  (Go To Top)
by Maya Singh

      New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday served notices on the Central and the Delhi Governments in connection with the phone tapping case filed by Samajwadi Member of Parliament Amar Singh. Admitting Amar Singh's petition, a judicial bench headed by Chief Justice YK Sabharwal asked the Ministry of Telecommunications, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Commissioner of Police, Delhi and others to file their replies within two weeks. On January 9, Amar Singh had filed a petition before the Supreme Court asking that guidelines be laid down for intercepting calls so that the facility of tapping should not be abused for achieving political gains. Singh had made the Union Home Secretary, Reliance Infocom -- the phone service provider and Delhi Police respondents in his petition and blamed the Congress party for tapping his phone. He had also filed a petition before the apex court on Monday seeking a judicial inquiry in to the matter. He sought a full fledged and honest investigation into the telephone tapping through an impartial judicial inquiry and not by investigating agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation, which were controlled by the party in power at the Centre. The petition sought summoning of the necessary documents including those relating to the issuance of two orders pursuant to which his telephone was tapped. Amar Singh cited statements by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and former Union minister George Fernandes that they apprehended their telephones were being tapped.

Ordinance on minority commission education Act (Go To Top)
by Maya Singh

     New Delhi: President APJ Abdul Kalam has promulgated an ordinance, amending the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) Act, 2004. The ordinance gives NCMEI the power to give and take away the minority status of any institution. It will also enable the commission to probe complaints regarding violations of the rights of minority institutions.

    The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act, 2004 came into effect from November 11, 2004. The Commission was set up for the educational development of minorities and to protect their constitutional right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. Thereafter, a Bill entitled the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (Amendment) Bill, 2005 to amend the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act, 2004 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament in 2005. The House referred it to the Parliamentary Standing Committee relating to Human Resource Development. The Parliamentary Standing Committee examined the proposed amendments and the Report of the Committee was presented to the Rajya Sabha on December 6, 2005. However, the NCMEI (Amendment) Bill could not be taken up for consideration in the last session of Parliament. During the Winter Session of Parliament, both Houses passed the Constitution (Ninety Third Amendment) Bill, 2005. According to this amendment, the State can by law introduce a "special provision by law for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes insofar as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in Clause (I) of article 30". The Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act 2005 came into force on January 20, 2006.

    Because of the constitutional amendment, state legislatures are now competent to make reservations for the weaker sections for admission in aided or unaided educational institutions falling in each States domain, except those declared by the relevant authorities in each State as minority educational institutions. It has, therefore, become necessary that eligible minority educational institutions in each state enjoy the exemption under Article 15(5) while ineligible institutions do not do so. Since the NCMEI Act (Amendment) Bill could not be taken up for consideration by Parliament and admission processes in respect of the new academic session is underway, it was considered urgent and necessary to promulgate an Ordinance under Article 123 of the Constitution on the lines of the provisions of the pending Bill, including a provision to empower the Commission to determine the minority status of educational institutions, where such status is disputed. The Union Cabinet on January 6 this year had decided to bring in the ordinance empowering the NCMEI to decide on the status of minority educational institutions. The ordinance is aimed at amending the original act that constituted the commission. Accordingly, President Kalam promulgated the ordinance on Monday. Now the status of universities does not come under the NCMEI's purview. The ordinance came after the Allahabad High Court rejected Centre's petition to restore minority status of Aligarh Muslim University and 50 percent reservation of seats in it for Muslims recently. The Central Government is also planning to table the ordinance before the Parliament in the forthcoming Budget session.

Congress wins Sangli, Rajapur seats (Go To Top)

    Mumbai: The Congress has bagged the Sangli Lok Sabha seat and the Rajapur assembly seat in Maharashtra even as counting for another two assembly seats is underway. Congress nominee Prateek Patil won the Sangli Lok Sabha seat, defeating his nearest rival and Congress rebel Dinkar Patil by over 80,425 votes in the recently held bypoll. Prateek secured 25,2716 votes, while his rivals Dinkar Patil, an independent candidate, polled 17,2285 votes followed by Deepak Shinde Mhaisalkar of BJP. Congress nominee Ganpat Kadam won the Rajapur assembly bypoll, defeating Rajan Salvi of the Shiv Sena by 42340 votes.

BJP-RSS 'Chintan Baithak' begins in Jaipur  (Go To Top)
by Lokendra Singh

    Jaipur: Hindutva idealogy is expected to dominate the two-day "Chintan Baithak" between the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), beginning here today. BJP President Rajnath Singh will attend the meeting along with chief ministers of the five BJP-ruled States - Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand - and the new generation party leaders. However, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former BJP Chief LK Advani will not attend the session. Sangh Pracharaks say that the focus of the meeting would be "back to basics" and "transparency" in running party affairs. The meeting attains significance on two scores. First, it comes just a few days after the ratification of Mr Rajnath Singh's election as BJP President. Second, the meeting is being held to coincide with the process of finalisation of names of central office-bearers, including General Secretaries, Secretaries and Vice-Presidents by the new BJP Chief. The Sangh leaders may pressurise the BJP to return to the core Hindutva ideology during the brainstorming session between the two parties. It is believed that the RSS intend to give the new dispensation a few tips on routine ideological matters and warn them against the dangers of any "deviations". "The discussions will not be party-specific or about individuals. Instead, the focus will be on our ideology," said RSS Spokesperson Ram Madhav. It might be recalled that Rajnath won the RSS's backing after he had stressed on the core issues of Hindutva in his first Presidential address. "His speech gives us the signal that the entire party is now thinking on the same ideological lines, and this is most welcome," Madhav said. Advani's relations with the RSS have, however, been strained ever since he referred to Mohammad Ali Jinnah as a secular leader during his private visit to Pakistan in June 2005. Former Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh's visit to Jinnah's memorial during his trip to Pakistan next week is likely to have an impact on the future of the BJP-RSS relationship.

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