The searches in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad were carried out after the CBI registered two cases in connection with the IPO scam in a designated court at Mumbai against 21 people. The case mainly involves Roopalben Panchal, her husband Deepakbai and her daughter Devangani and some unknown bank officials.

The Bank Securities and Fraud Cell of CBI booked these people for allegedly making illegal profit after "cornering" large number of shares meant for retail investors in the IPO issues of YES bank and IDFC. The cases were registered after the CBI received a complaint from the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), CBI said in a release here.

The searches which began early on Wednesday have revealed that Hasmukh Lal Vora, a financer had cornered Rs 1.5 lakh shares of IDFC and 30,000 shares of YBL and had made a profit of Rs 4.6 crore. CBI team, during its search operation, also recovered Rs 46 lakh cash from him.

The complaint filed by SEBI revealed that certain individuals and entities had cornered shares reserved for retail applicants by making applications in fictitious names. For this purpose, a group of individuals opened fictitious accounts in several banks, particularly with Bharat Overseas Bank, Ahmedabad and Worli and Goregaon branches located in Mumbai. 

These individuals and entities also opened several fictitious Demat (dematerialised) accounts with Depository Participants (DPs). The opening of fictitious bank and Demat accounts was done for the purpose of cornering the shares which otherwise would have been allotted to the genuine retail investors.

Upon allotment of 150 shares each in the names of 6,315 fictitious individuals (6,221 of them had the same address given in the bank account and Demat form), a total of 9.47 lakh YBL shares were transferred on July six, 2005 to the Demat account of Roopalben.

From this account, the shares were further transferred to the Demat accounts of several conspirators through off market deals, which took place on July 11, 2005, a day prior to the listing of these shares on the stock exchange. On the day of the listing, majority of these shares held by the conspirators were sold in the market at the prevailing price which was much higher than the allotment price.(PTI)

New Delhi: In a balancing act of humouring crucial allies--the Left parties, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday snubbed US Ambassador David Mulford but turned down demands for his recall following his controversial actions.

He dismissed criticism over the Muslim headcount in Armed Forces and the charge of appeasement by creation of a separate ministry for minority affairs. He also deprecated attempts to play politics over the cartoon issue and asked political parties to exercise "utmost restraint".

Winding up the debate on President's address in Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister sought to assuage the Left members who had demanded recall of Mulford by saying "I share the sentiments of the members." The motion of thanks to the address was adopted by the House.(PTI)

A formal arrest under IPC sections dealing with hurting religious sentiments and attempt to breach communal harmony was likely on Wednesday night, the sources said. Ironically, the offending cartoon had accompanied an article that accused Western powers of hubris and callous disregard to the religious sentiments of Easterners.(UNI)

The boys - identified as Shabir (10), Ghulam Hasan Bhat (12), Aamir Hajam (16) and Abdul Samad Mir (18) - died when they were caught in an exchange of fire between Rashtriya Rifles troops and militants at Dudipurain village in Kupwara district, 85 km from summer capital Srinagar.

Inspector General of Police K. Rajendra told IANS: "As the troops were trying to lay a cordon around the village, they came under fire from the militants. In the crossfire, the four youths died."

However, another police officer said the boys, who were playing cricket in the village ground, died when the troops opened fire without provocation.The officer said the troops had come to arrest Abdul Samad Mir. This triggered panic and the youth started running.The troops then opened fire, killing two of them instantly. The other two succumbed to their injuries on the way to a hospital.

Tension gripped Dudipurain as hundreds of people staged a protest. Hours before the incident, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had addressed a rally in nearby Kupwara town.Earlier Wednesday, at least five terrorists and an Indian soldier were killed in two separate gun battles. Another soldier was injured in one of the firefights.(IANS)

Hota was reacting to reports that two people in Maharashtra’s Navapur village, from where India’s first case of bird flue was confirmed Saturday, were suffering from a mild case of human avian influenza. Twelve people, including two children, had been kept in an isolation ward in Navapur’s sub-district hospital after they reported flu-like symptoms. The two people displaying bird flu-like symptoms were part of this group.

Hota said there was a "protocol" to be followed in such cases and details about the suspected cases would be available only Thursday.

This apart, blood samples had been collected from 104 Navapur residents to ascertain if the H5N1 strain of avian influenza had affected them. Known to spread to human beings, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has resulted in nearly 100 human casualties across Southeast Asia, mostly in Vietnam. It has so far been reported in seven countries.(IANS)

According to official sources, Cabinet Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi has been asked to chart out a solution along with officials of the two ministries. "He is likely to meet the officials of the two ministries in the first week of March," they said.

While the health ministry has been backing a complete ban on smoking in films and television, the information and broadcasting ministry has been looking for ways to implement the ban in a milder form with various exemptions. The issue has also reached the courts, with filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt mounting a legal challenge in Delhi High Court against the ban in September 2005, saying it would suppress an individual’s right of expression and meddle with the creativity of an artiste. He said the ban was contrary to the Cinematographic Act.(IANS)

Kolkata: The final list of voters released on Wednesday showed that 12.98 lakh names have been deleted from the electoral rolls in West Bengal, which is four times the number of deletions as compared with that in 2004 when it was 3.47 lakh.

Chief Electoral Officer Debashis Sen, who had sought the approval of the Election Commission to publish the electoral rolls two days earlier, told newsmen that the deletions were four times than in 2004 and 2005 (3.39 lakh deletions). The CEO, however, could not give the number of dead and voters who have shifted out, or the break up of males and females.

On the other hand, there was a 1.77 per cent rise, the highest, in the number of voters, who number nearly 4.89 crore, he said. Last year 10.33 lakh new voters were added, which this year totalled 21.5 lakh. The final electoral roll was released after special summary revision of the draft roll. There were 4.81 crore electors in the last Lok Sabha elections in the state in 2004.

Sen said the task of inclusion, deletion and modification under the special summary revision of electoral rolls was possible within a short time following extraordinary steps initiated by the EC to ensure a more accurate voters' list in the state. (PTI)

This became known Tuesday when some Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party legislators revealed that they were given envelopes containing a CD and Maoist literature. The CDs had clippings of alleged ‘police brutalities’. The literature described Chief Minister Raman Singh, Netam and Congress leader Mahendra Karma and some officials as "anti-tribals".

"Police are investigating how the rebels managed to sneak into the state capital and distribute the literature without anybody stopping them," Netam said.

New Delhi: A day after its famous Gorkha soldiers began their deployment with a UN group in Sudan, India Wednesday flagged off an air force contingent on its way to the peacekeeping mission in Congo.The Indian Air Force (IAF) contingent, comprising 285 personnel and five Mi-17 transport helicopters and four Mi-35 attack helicopters, will provide mobility to UN staff and forces and "act as deterrence for belligerent groups who may try to destabilise the peace process" in Congo, said spokesman Wing Commander Mahesh Upasani.

The IAF team will join some 3,500 Indian soldiers already serving with the 17,500-strong UN mission in Congo in west Africa. Congo continues to witness violence by Ugandan rebels, and eight Guatemalan peacekeepers were killed in a firefight last month. In June 2005, an Indian soldier was killed after getting caught in a gun battle between government troops and rebels.

On Tuesday, two battalions or nearly 2,000 soldiers of the Indian Army’s elite 1/5 Gorkha Rifles began their deployment with the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan in east Africa. The force commander of the UN mission in Sudan is also an Indian - Lt. Gen. J.S. Lidder. The deployment in Sudan marked the Gorkha Rifles’ third foray into the African continent, the first two having been during World War I and World War II.(IANS)

New Delhi: Amendments to the Representation of the People Act allowing people to contest Rajya Sabha elections outside their home states will encourage "powerbrokers", senior counsel Fali Nariman told the Supreme Court Wednesday.

Nariman made this submission before a five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal that was hearing a petition filed by former Rajya Sabha members Kuldip Nayar and Inderjit to challenge the amendments. Nariman contended the amendments would disturb the very character of the constitution to have a "Council of States" and a "House of the People".

He said: "Big spenders in big cities and powerbrokers are going to decide as to who should represent a particular state. It is going to open the floodgates of money power and we will have a mockery of the Council of States.

"Rajya Sabha can no longer be called the Council of States, it can be called only as the Upper House."

Nariman argued that the doing away of the requirement that a person could contest the Rajya Sabha polls only in his or her home state would have been understandable if some different method of representation had been prescribed - such as birth, education, or working in the place for a prescribed period.

But by the amendments, a qualification had been introduced that "anyone who is on the electoral roll of any parliamentary constituency can be chosen by any state assembly as a representative of that state in the Council of States".

Nariman said that "in effect the Council of States becomes redundant; the second chamber then merely duplicates the House of the People". He said a person elected to the Council of States could be called a representative of the state assembly that elected him and not a representative of the state.

Nariman quoted extensively from the constituent assembly debates to drive the point that a person elected to the Rajya Sabha must in one way or the other represent the state concerned. He said for 55 years, the criterion of residence was the accepted qualification since that was the intent of the makers of the constitution.By doing away with this, the constitution’s structure had been changed, he said.Attorney General Milon Banerjee will make his submissions in the case Thursday.(IANS)

According to official sources, the order for extension of service was signed by MeSEB Member Secretary M Kharmujai.

Earlier on January 28, the Board had issued similar order for extension of service to the employees en-mass, but the same had to be revoked fearing violation of the Election Commission's code of conduct in view of Tura Parliamentary by-election.

"We will see some more service extension orders soon and among those who will benefit from the process are Board's chairman Mr Bazeley and Member (Hydro) DP Bhattacharya who has retired a few years back, but is being retained under contract till date", a senior MeSEB official said.

Moreover, the Centre was likely to extend the service of Mr Bazeley as Chief Secretary by three months. The top bureaucrat, who was due to retire on February 28, was expected to get further extension till May this year after much insistence by the State government including the Chief Minister, Mr DD Lapang.

Meanwhile, joining ranks with FKJGP, KSU and GSU against the proposed extension of the tenure of Chief Secretary PJ Bazeley, the Civil Society of Women's Organisation (CSWO) on Wednesday warned of "public ire" if the State government went ahead with the plan.

In a statement issued here, CSWO president Irene P Hujon said the women's body was monitoring the move of the State government with regard to the proposal for extension of Mr Bazeley's service both as Chief Secretary and as the chairman of the MeSEB.

"The CSWO having observed the tactics of the present government in attempting to extend the service of Mr Bazeley, is determined to thwart any attempt to retain the official. The organisation as well as majority of the people of the State will strongly oppose any such move by the government", Ms Hujon said.

While making it clear that extension of Mr Bazeley's service was not acceptable to the people of the State, the women's body warned that such a decision "would invite public ire". She reminded that any person holding a government post was not indispensable.

"Meghalaya in no way lacks dynamic, dedicated, efficient and qualified officers capable of holding the post of Chief Secretary or any other post in the government. Mr Bazeley's continuance in office is no merit to the State", the CSWO leader said.

Ms Hujon said that by extending the service of Mr Bazeley, the State government was depriving other officials who were due for promotion. She asserted that the present government should consider the plight of unemployed youth who were already at their wits end "instead of haggling over one officer who has no support from the people to continue in office".

Soon after the escape of the three under trial prisoners - Lyngdoh, David Thankul and Amit Singh - the department had suspended seven jail personnel for negligence of duty.Five warders, one havildar from the armed branch and another guard were suspended for dereliction of duty.

Earlier, East Garo Hills DC had ordered a magisterial inquiry into the jail break

SHILLONG: The brutal killing of a student of St Anthony's college has sent a shock wave through the students' community in Shillong. Parents are also a worried lot. Biplab Das was a second year student of Mass Communication studying in St Anthony's College. He was abducted from Police Bazaar on Saturday evening and his body was recovered from Mawlai Mawroh on Tuesday evening.

The College authority had a condolence meeting on Wednesday at which the faculty members and the students in strong voice condemned the "brutal murder". They demanded "severe punishments for the culprits for heinous crime".

The gathering remembered Biplab as a friendly, dedicated, dynamic, energetic, conscientious, young boy who was always happy and helpful. His death has left a void in the department and college, the meeting observed. It also offered condolences and sympathy to the bereaved family.

Police, on the other hand, almost completed the investigation in the case with the arrest of Bonnie Lyngdoh Phawa, the main accused, on Wednesday from the Secretariat parking lot at 2 pm. Police said Bonnie confessed that he had killed Biplab just for ransom money and buried his body so that the crime did not come to light before they got the money.

After the confession of Bonnie, police said there was no other suspect in this case. The two other accused - Akbar Qureshi and Bernard Lyngdoh Phawa were arrested earlier on Tuesday Meanwhile, Laban MDC Sanbor Shullai demanded capital punishment for the murderers.

In a letter to the East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police, Mr AR Mawthoh and the Public Prosecutor, Mr E Diengdoh, Mr Shullai said that concerned authorities including the judges "should not hesitate to use their office in pronouncing a death penalty or life imprisonment without any bail". He shot the letter on Wednesday.

Condemning the "barbaric act of the abductors-turned-killers", the MDC felt that the murderers should be convicted and penalised with a capital punishment as done in other countries. "This will definitely put an end to this sort of unwanted unbearable crimes", Mr Shullai said adding that this would create awareness among the people about the consequences of indulging in such crimes.

The DGP stressed the need of co-ordination among agencies like police, BSF and the Customs for better security in the border areas. "We are seized with the problem, there is a need to discuss further on the ways and means to contain crime in the border", Mr Marbaniang said.

Deputy Commissioner Customs (Preventive) Mr GM Kamei said that soon after the funeral of Late Das, the Chief Commissioner had a meeting with the police officials. According to him, border security was the need of the hour as many officials were posted in the remote border areas.Meghalaya has more than 10 land Customs stations and the sensitive ones are Borosora, Bholaganj, Gasuapara and Dawki.

SHILLONG: Despite of the opposition and pressure from the NGOs including the KSU and the Coordination Committee on International Border (CCIB), spearheading a movement against border fencing, the National Building Construction Corporation is continuing with the fencing works along the India-Bangladesh border in Jaintia Hills.

Members of the KSU and of the CCIB, consisting HNYF, FKJGP and Federal Council of War Mihngi and War Jaintia (FCWMWJ), inspected the border along with the Jaintia Hills district administration on Tuesday and found that their demand for suspension of fencing works did not materialise.

The NBCC employees are very much at work and even in the areas, which the KSU and the CCIB claimed, are under adverse possession of Bangladesh. These NGOs were demanding that the areas under adverse possession should not be fenced till a proper demarcation was done. They said that border fencing could come up only on the zero line in those areas where there was no dispute. They said it would be necessary to prevent any land loss.

However, the NGO leaders said they witnessed erection of fence even in disputed areas and that too more than 150 yards  inside the actual border. Some local people also alleged that while carrying out the construction of border fencing, the NBCC damaged many cultivable land and standing crops.The NGOs also pointed out some areas, which are under adverse possession of Bangladesh but not enlisted by the district administration. The areas include Dawki, Amdoh, Syngkhat and Jaliakhola where the NGOs wanted fencing should be stopped.

During the inspection, the BSF personnel at S Pitila Border Outpost manhandled some media persons accompanying the joint inspection team. The area is just a few kilometres away from Amlarem.The pressmen were assaulted in presence of a magistrate leading the inspection team, besides the State police personnel. The BSF personnel took away the video camera of one TV journalist.

However, after much persuasion by the magistrate, the BSF jawans returned the camera. The jawans also abused the team. It was learnt that the BSF had been nurturing vengeance because of the allegation that some members of the NGOs assaulted some employees of NBCC.CCIB spokesperson GH Kharshanlor condemned the act saying that the force has become main a cause of insecurity for the people living along the border. Mr Kharshanlor reminded that the duty of the BSF was to guard the border and not to terrorise the people.

SHILLONG: The former Chief Minister of Meghalaya and now a senior Congress leader, Mr SC Marak, on Wednesday said the Tura by-election result would not make any impact on the Congress' prospect in the 2008 Assembly elections "albeit, the State government needs to perform during the next two years".

Speaking to the The Shillong Times, Mr Marak said, "The election result does not indicate any loss or gain of Congress' popularity. Congress is still stronger in Garo Hills and the picture will be quite different during the 2008 elections". "Still there are two years left for the elections. If the MBOSE issue is settled, people would not take it as an issue any more", the veteran leader predicted.

However, while critically studying the political situation and the performance of the Congress government in the State, Mr Marak said the State government should be more active to expedite implementation of various development programmes in the State. "Three years have already gone and the government has to pull up its socks".

Though the party lost in Tura by-election and badly performed in East and South Garo Hills, yet Mr Marak felt that the Congress candidate gave a good fight to the nine-time MP.Analysing the election results of individual Assembly segments, Mr Marak said, "First of all, the September 30 incident was a major factor, which favoured the NCP candidate. It will take time to heal the wounds inflicted by the police firing and the results from various pockets show that the incident still lingers in the minds of people".

The Garo leader, however, felt that to revive the party, confidence has to be instilled in the minds of Garo people and the party at the grassroots level would have to be strengthened.

About his probability in taking the rein of Congress in the State against the backdrop of a section of party leaders demanding a change in leadership, Mr Marak found distancing himself from controversy as he said, "It is upto them to sort out the problem". He ruled out any Congress-NCP alliance in the State.

TURA: Two Independent candidates, former DFO Winstone G Momin and Ismail A Sangma, who contested February 16 by-poll to Tura constituency unsuccessfully, have forfeited their security deposits of Rs 5,000 each.

In this election, the total votes polled was 3,59,051 out of which Winstone G Momin secured 11,480 votes and Ismail A Sangma polled 8683 votes, way behind the required margin. To prevent their security deposits from being forfeited the two candidates had to garner minimum 51,293 votes.

Shillong: A three-day national symposium on "Citriculture: A Road Map" began at the ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam on Wednesday.Inaugurating the seminar, Mr P. Bazeley, Chief Secretary, Government of Meghalaya, said that the North Eastern Region is the home to various horticultural crops, especially citrus fruits, but unfortunately, production of such crops have gone down in recent times.

In this regard, he referred to the Technology Mission adopted by the Central government for development of horticulture, which can be implemented in full earnest in the region for the betterment of the common man, especially the farmers.Mr Bazeley hoped that the road map will help to bring about a change in the scenario which will make cultivation of citrus fruits like lemon, oranges, pineapples, etc., sustainable which can give a boost to the food processing industry.

However, an area-specific study has to be made for this purpose as soil conditions are different in the region, he said. In this regard, he urged the ICAR to take the lead in preparing the road map.

Others who spoke on the occasion were Dr. Shyam Singh, Director, National Research Centre for Citrus (NRCC), Nagpur, Dr. B.S. Chundawat, VC, Dantiware Agricultural University, Gujarat, Dr. V.J. Shivankar, NRCC, Nagpur etc., who stressed on the need for proper cultivation, marketing and capacity building among farmers to make the crops competitive in the N.E., which is the native place of citrus, after Central India.

Dr. K.M. Bujarbaruah, Director, ICAR, Meghalaya, in his welcome address, said that though Citrus is an important plant of the N.E. Region, there is a need to increase productivity and processing, and marketing issues also needed to be addressed.

Citrus covers 57.2 thousand hectares in N.E. Region with production of 300.7 thousand tonnes, with Arunachal Pradesh leading in cultivation, followed by Assam. The seminar is being organised in collaboration with Indian Society of Citriculture, Nagpur and National Research Centre for Citrus, Nagpur

SHILLONG: With the Central Government Vision 2020 to eradicate all kinds of blindness in the country there is an urgent need to create awareness on eye donation in order to achieve this target.

Delivering a presentation on Prevention and treatment of Corneal Blindness at Anton Hall, Laitumkhrah, Prof Anita Nanda of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi on Wednesday said that various awareness seminars on eye donation needed to be conducted frequently.

Besides that, there is also a need to set up an eye bank in every eye care centre in the different districts of the State, she added."If one person donates, two persons will be cured from their blindness," Prof Nanda said.

Commenting on the various aspects of corneal blindness, Prof Nanda informed that this type of blindness is one of the most common cases.She informed that about 45 million people are suffering from corneal blindness and about 135 million are visually disabled, adding that corneal blindness varies from country to country and from population to population.

"Children are the worse affected from this disease, but it is a preventable disease and there is need for proper protection", Prof Nanda said.

Welcoming the children, Education Officer Ms B R Syiem talked about the issues pertaining to child labour and urged the children to be determined and to strive hard for all round development.Various forms of child labour and child abuse was also touched upon where the children were told about the facility of Childline and its emergency services.

Sessions on health, cleanliness and sanitation were also held.The programme concluded with feedback from the children and a proposal to conduct such programmes again in the future.

SHILLONG: With barely a day left for the final showdown between the two finalists of the reality TV show Sa Re Ga Ma, the campaign for the budding singer from Silchar, Debojit Saha has reached it pick even as a Shillong-based organisation has joined the 'vote for Debojit' campaign.Members of the Shillong Art & Music Lovers' Forum have been campaigning for the singer by displaying posters and visiting various localities and offices.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Forum had adopted a resolution to motivate Shillongites to vote for Debojit through SMS or through landline. Voters can either send their votes by typing DEBOJIT and sending it to 7575 or though landline No 190-4424-7575-08.  Of late more and more posters are seen in different parts of the city.According to some ciber cafe owners, most of the netizens are now visiting cafes for voting through net.

Meanwhile, students of several Guwahati-based colleges and private institutes on Wednesday took to the streets to publicise the "pride of Assam" and to help him win the title "Voice of India". Samiran Baishya of Cotton College said that the Cotton College Union Society members have been doing the rounds for last few days and that they have urged the people to send SMS Debojit as their choice.

On the other hand, students of the IEMS institute in the city took out a rally shouting slogans and placards urging everyone to vote for Debojit. "We know that everyone is voting for Debojit but there is not much time left and we do not want to take any chances," said a student of IEMS.

This is not all, the city has been witnessing rallies organised by different organizations for the last few days urging people to vote for the singer, who is contesting against Vinit of Lucknow to win the mega title "Voice of India". (With inputs from NNN)

On the face of it, the OneIndia tariff scheme announced by Telecommunications Minister Dayanidhi Maran is indubitably attractive. Indeed, it has been called "revolutionary". Reducing the local-call rates charged on landline connections of the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd by 17 percent to the magic figure of Re 1 for three minutes is an audacious step. And slashing the long-distance tariff by 58 percent from Rs 2.40 to Re 1 a minute irrespective of distance is even bolder. This carries the dazzling attraction of promoting a single, unified all-India market. Similar reductions have been effected in mobile telephone tariffs too.

However, on closer examination, the OneIndia plan is highly problematic: it’s likely to block telecom growth, especially in the rural areas which need it the most. It will also discourage poor and lower-middle class people from acquiring telephone connections and thus widen India’s already yawning Telecom Divide. There’s little merit in imposing uniform distance-independent tariffs in a semi-continental country like India. That’s the wrong way of promoting national integration.

OneIndia is likely to prolong the long stagnation in India’s teledensity, which is currently just 4.5 fixed lines per 100 people, or among the bottom 20 percent of the world. In Asia too, India compares poorly not just with South Korea or Taiwan (teledensity, about 50 per 100), but even with China or Malaysia (teledensity, about 20). Thanks to OneIndia, the Telecommunications Revolution will again bypass India, depriving it of major advantages like saving real costs, and reducing drudgery and unproductive labour expended in avoidable physical movements of people from one place to another.

What explains the gap between appearance and reality? Call charges have been lowered, but telephone rentals have been sharply raised. The rise in monthly rentals is Rs 49 (or 20 percent) for Mumbai and Delhi, which MTNL serves. But it’s much steeper (Rs 119, or 66 percent) for BSNL’s city-based subscribers and an even sharper (Rs 249, or 498 percent) for rural lines. This five-fold increase will certainly put off potential new subscribers. True, existing subscribers have the option of staying with their old plan. But high rentals will act as future barriers to the entry of new landline subscribers in villages and small towns. These have extremely low connectivity. In villages, teledensity is an abysmal 2 per 100.

Equally important, OneIndia discriminates against low-end users to favour high-end subscribers such as businessmen who make frequent long-distance calls. In India, ordinary people use the telephone remarkably frugally. According to BSNL estimates, 73 percent of fixed-line subscribers pay monthly bills of Rs 500 or less. And as many as two-fifths ensure that their monthly bill doesn’t exceed the rent, which includes a number of free calls. Under OneIndia, there will be no free calls at all. Lower call rates won’t compensate the frugal user for the loss of free calls plus the higher rental. Thus, Mr Maran’s expectation that OneIndia will check the phenomenon of surrender of fixed-line connections will be probably belied. Incomes of those who operate India’s 1.2 million public-call offices will be badly hit. BSNL and MTNL will suffer a revenue loss estimated at Rs 3,000 to 5,000 crores a year.

Mr Maran, a high-technology enthusiast, seems to have been guided by motives other than ensuring BSNL and MTNL’s financial well-being, or boosting India’s teledensity. One obvious motive has to do with the coming Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, which has a relatively high telecom penetration and where reduction in call charges will be appreciated by STD users. But this short-sighted, short-term calculation will prove expensive for the country in the long run.

It’s even harder to justify the sudden, large, reduction in long-distance rates. These have seen a sharp fall since 1999 from a high of Rs 36 per minute for calls, say, from Chennai to Delhi. Rates have steadily dropped to Rs 24 (2000) to Rs 9 (2002), Rs 4.80 (2003), to Rs 3.60 (April 2004) and Rs 2.40 (September 2004). A further reduction might have been in order, spread over, say, two to three years. But a precipitate decrease will impose losses on the two public-sector companies, which already face stiff competition from private mobile operators primarily because they weren’t allowed to enter this lucrative field at an early stage.

Public-sector telecom companies need to be strongly supported -- not for some ideological reason, but for sound economic and social reasons. The burden of providing rural connectivity has fallen on BSNL’s shoulders. It has connected over 500,000 villages. The private companies have only connected 15,000! Under the terms of their licence, private firms were meant to commit 10 percent of all new direct exchange lines to the rural areas. They have provided only one-tenth of this number. The OneIndia plan will probably aggravate this situation. Private companies will increasingly focus on well-off urban consumers and indulge in cherry-picking. And public companies would be left mainly with low-end users, and hence lose revenue, further crippling their ability to provide greater rural connectivity.

India’s telecom sector is marked by enormous disparities, imbalances and anomalies. The greatest anomaly is the National Telecom Policy of 1994, arbitrarily and repeatedly revised later, under which private operators were to provide landline connections by bidding for licence fees for each of India’s 20 telecom circles. They vastly overestimated the likely rise in demand and offered sky-high fees. When they found they couldn’t pay these, they were illegally allowed to "migrate" to a revenue-sharing formula!

Perhaps never before had such a breach of contract happened in a major service and been rationalised outside a Banana Republic! This created a huge mess especially after mobile telephony arrived in August 1995, when West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu called Union Telecom Minister Sukh Ram in New Delhi from Calcutta. A series of scandals followed: cheating on service obligations, formation of cartels, sell-off at throw-away prices of the public sector VSNL (which provides the sole gateway to the international network), and Reliance’s abuse of its wireless-in-local-loop licence to provide full mobility.

Telecom disparities are no less striking. On the one hand, mobile telephony has witnessed dizzying growth, especially after 2003, when incoming calls were made free. Since 2000, the number of mobile telephone lines has increased 30-fold to about 65 million. In late 2004, mobiles overtook the number of fixed-line connections. They are now growing at the rate of 50 percent annually, or by two million lines a month.

However, the growth of fixed-line connections has slowed down from about 25 percent a year in the 1990s to just 7-8 percent. Worst of all, the rural-urban divide has widened from 1:3 to 1:11. About 85,000 villages still remain completely unconnected. This is an extremely unhealthy trend. Mobile telephony has not bridged the divide. Network coverage for mobile telephones is only about 30 percent of India’s territorial area.

Three lessons emerge from this. Mobile telephones are not a substitute for expanded fixed-line connectivity. Not only are a large proportion of their owners fixed-line subscribers. Their spin-off effects are limited too. For instance, unlike fixed-line phones, most cellphone don’t allow Internet access. Second, competition by itself doesn’t guarantee telecom growth. High growth rates (30 percent a year) were registered even before private operators entered India’s telecom sector. Competitors can narrowly focus on affluent urban consumers. It’s only when MTNL and BSNL were allowed to enter mobile telephony that costs dropped and real expansion began. Third, markets don’t address the needs of low-end consumers. They tend to sharpen the Telecom Divide.

Mr Maran’s new scheme is based on a technologically unsound presumption -- the "death of distance". This can only happen when the Internet becomes the main carrier for long-distance voice traffic through software like Skype, and data transfers through Broadband connections greatly exceed voice traffic volumes. Only then will the distinction between data and voice become irrelevant. But in India, the number of fixed lines is 48 million. Yet, there are only about 1 million Broadband subscribers. Therefore, the length of copper wire or optical fibre must remain a major determinant of the real cost of phone calls.

So it’s only logical and economically rational to charge calls according to distance. There’s no reason why a call between Delhi and Chandigarh should be charged at the same rate as a call from Delhi to Kolkata, or from Chennai to Mumbai. Irrational pricing is a recipe for losses -- which will slow down telecom growth, especially in the rural areas which need connectivity the most.

Mr Maran is a man in a hurry. But he should pause and ask if any country has provided telephones to the masses without painstakingly building the infrastructure, without cross-subsidies -- so that surpluses gathered from long-distance calls and rich subscribers are spent to support expansion in backward areas and among low-end users --, or without relying on public-sector providers. The answer would be no. India is no exception to this. OneIndia will promote telecom elitism and further divide the country. Surely, that’s not what we need. The emphasis must shift from the elite to the people. (IPA)

Sir,

The Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians, the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Tura, which also houses the mortal remains of Bishop Orestes Marengo, the first Bishop of Tura is today in dilapidated condition. If no immediate step is taken, the entire Church will one day tumble down particularly during the rainy season.

It was in the month of November that a contractor started constructing the retaining wall. He dug deep foundation and begun quality work. However, to our utter dismay and surprise, the entire work came to a standstill, even before completing one-fourth of the work. No one is seen working on it for nearly two months now. The result is that today already a great depression of land is seen all along. This depression has reached very close to the Church pillars. Even now, one senses great danger walking on it. With the onset of monsoon, more land will slide down. Hence if no action is taken, on a war footing, the Church as well as the residents of the area will be in danger.

We appeal to the Governor and the Chief Minister to look into this matter and do the needful so as to prevent this impending catastrophe.

Yours etc,
Some concerned residents,
Tura
Via e-mail

Sir,

I wish to express my concern over the illicit mass extortion of money from the students of St. Anthony's College Hostel, Stephen hall by the warden of the hostel. One can not imagine the plight of the innocent students studying for their coming examinations now. The warden, who took charge only last year, started charging fines from the students for minor cases of impudence. The previous warden never charged a fine to the tune of Rs 4500.00 from one single student. Owing to the increasing demand by the hostel warden as fines, many students have left the hostel during this crucial period of the year when the examinations are only scants a week ahead. The hefty fines that he collects from the students is a burden to the students as well as their parents. After all, this warden has collected a fine of more than Rs 40,000 from the students last year. In what sense of the world is it justifiable and legitimate? I consider this act as completely criminal and loathsome. And very recently, one of the students was asked to pay the electricity bill of the hostel for the whole month of February just because he was caught charging his mobile phone in his room. Unable to fulfill the demand, the student paid an amount of Rs. 2500.00 to the warden. This proves the fact that corruption lies in every corner of our society, even in places like Stephen Hall which is well known as one of the best hostels in India. After all, where is the money going?

There are several complaints from the students residing in Stephen Hall against the present warden, but there is no one to listen to them. Stringent measures must be taken to counteract this practice. One must not exploit the innocent students for his own benefit. Sanity must prevail at all costs.

Yours etc,
Ligang Noro
Via e-mail

NEW DELHI: The much talked about Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill may not see the light of day during the ongoing Budget session of Parliament due to some internal problems.Several political parties have asked the BJP-led Joint Committee on the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill to present its report on the Bill in the House as soon as possible. But the Chairman of the committee V Kishore Chandra S Deo has sought permission to present the report in the next session.

The Bill, which aims at giving land rights to tribals living in the forest areas, got mention in the UPA's common minimum programme. Mr Deo's motion for extension of timeframe for presenting the report drew objections from both the BJP and the Left members in Parliament on Wednesday. BJP's Vijay Kumar Malhotra said that the report was already delayed and it should be presented in the second phase of the current session of Parliament.

While intervening in the discussion, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that there would be time constraints in the second phase of the Budget session and requested the members to consider the motion. Earlier, Deo pointed out that there were several representations for the joint committee to consider and a detailed examination of them was time consuming. He, however, assured the members that efforts would be made to present the committee's report as soon as possible. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs and DONER, when contacted, expressed helplessness on the matter.

NEW DELHI: Mr Purno A Sangma, who was re-elected from the Tura Lok Sabha constituency recently, will take oath as member of Lok Sabha on Thursday.

The NCP leader arrived here from Meghalaya on Tuesday night. Throughout the day on Wednesday, NCP leaders as well as leaders from other political parties, intellectuals, student leaders and eminent persons from various walks of life called on Mr Sangma to congratulate him on his record-breaking feat.He will be meeting top leaders soon after taking oath.

When contacted the veteran leader from Garo Hills said that he was happy to be back in Lok Sabha and would take part in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament.

Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court has upheld the death sentence awarded to a 20-year-old youth for attempting to rape a minor girl and killing her.A division Bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising Justice P G Agarwal and Justice I A Ansari on Monday rejected the appeal made by Mithu Kalita against the decision of the Morigaon trial court awarding him death sentence.

The court while dismissing the appeal upheld the death sentence and observed that the manner in which the innocent and helpless child was subjected to repeated attempts of rape and ultimately killed was most "inhuman, barbaric and dastardly."

The judges further observed that the accused does not deserve undue sympathy as it may shake the confidence of the public in the efficacy of the justice delivery system and the court must respond to the situation positively by confirming the imposition of death penalty on the accused.

The accused took the minor victim, who had gone to attend a wedding with her parents in Morigaon, to a bamboo grove on the night of March 14, 2005 and tried to rape her. But as she kept shouting he took her to a nearby tank and pressed her head under the water killing her ultimately.

The neighbours later caught Kalita and handed him over to the police. He was chargesheeted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. The trial court of Morigaon in a speedy judgement had sentenced him to death in September last year.(PTI)

Imphal: The proposed indefinite economic blockade along the National Highway-39 and NH-53 from February 24 was called off following an agreement reached between the striking bodies and the Manipur government in a two-hour long meeting held at the Chief Minister’s office on Wednesday evening.

The blockade was called by the IT Road Development Committee and supported by Kuki Students Organisation of Sardar Hills and Zeliangrong Students Union of Tamei Area.

According to the agreement, works along the IT Road will start from Thursday onwards.The Chief Minister has assured the striking representatives that black topping along the IT Road would be completed within two and a half months time. (NNN)

Silchar: Four people, including the general manager, were injured in an attempted bank robbery at the Federal Bank branch in the busy Shillongpatty locality of this South Assam town.Bank officials on Wednesday said two miscreants, posing as customers, went to see general manager K P Nanadakumar at about 1800 hours on Tuesday.

The duo took out sharp edged weapons and tied up the staff. Most of the employees had already left by then. The miscreants demanded the keys of the lockers. However, when denied, they attacked the officials, injuring four. The incident was reported to the police after the gateman raised an alarm. By the time police arrived, the robbers had escaped. They could not take away any money, the bank sources said.

The injured officials were shifted to Silchar Medical College and Hospital where the condition of the general manager was stated to be serious. Superintendent of Police Satyen Gogoi said a massive hunt had been launched to nab the miscreants. An Army sniffer dog had also been pressed into service.(UNI)

Agartala: Life was crippled in two Tripura districts Wednesday due to a shutdown called by opposition Congress to protest the rape of four tribal women allegedly by Assam Rifles troopers. Most of the government offices, educational institutions, shops and markets remained closed and private vehicles were off the roads during the 12-hour shutdown. The shutdown was more or less peaceful with few supporters being arrested for picketing in front of the government offices.

The Assam Rifles troopers were accused of raping four tribal women, molesting two girls and assaulting several villagers during a counter insurgency operation at Sachindra Roaja Para village in Dhalai district last week. The paramilitary force, however, claimed these allegations were a pressure tactic to impede its operations against the tribal guerrillas in the state. A case has been registered by the police in connection with the rape case and a high-level inquiry is now on.(IANS)

Concerned over the growing militant related incidents ahead of the Village Committee elections in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTADC), the Tripura Government has sounded a red alert across the state to ensure peaceful polls.

The elections will be held on February 27 and March 3 next. Altogether 13 persons were injured in four separate incidents in West Tripura district and Dhalai district over the past one week raising concerns over security arrangements.

Though the Central Government dispatched 30 companies of Central Para Military Forces for election related duties, outlawed groups continued to launch fresh offensive in the run up to the elections. The state poll panel has demanded 40-45 companies of security forces to ensure peaceful elections. Twenty companies of CRPF have already arrived here and more are expected within a day or two.

Manas: Rhino translocation in the country has begun with the arrival of a baby rhino in her new home here at the Manas National Park (MNP) here on Wednesday. She was translocated from world famous Kaziranga National Park (KNP), which has an excess rhino population. The entire Rhino population in Manas was wiped out during Bodo militancy between 1990-2003.

As Bodo militancy now moved to pages of history, the Kaziranga authorities became part of conservation history by sending the three-year-old calf, which was recovered three years back in a devastating flood. A 14-member team, led by Director of the KNP N.K.Vasu, escorted the precious cargo to its new home. A zoological expert, three doctors and other staff were with the calf throughout the night long journey and it was released at an earmarked zone in the morning.

The calf was being radio collared and for some time, she would be kept in a two hectare fenced plot till she gets adapted to the new home. "The baby rhino is in good mood and showed no signs of tiring even after nearly 15 hours of road journey covering a distance of 400 km," Manas park warden Abhijit Rabha told reporters.

The 519 sq km MNP, also a Project Tiger Reserve, is a World Heritage Site with just about half-a-dozen rhinos surviving at present. "We have made an enclosure of about a square kilometre with solar-powered fencing to keep elephants and tigers from attacking the baby rhino," Mr Rabha said.

"The translocation of the rhino to Manas is indeed a historic moment," said KNP warden N.K.Vasu.(UNI)

Guwahati: The bird flu scare across India has led to prices of fish and mutton in the north-east skyrocketing as sales of poultry and eggs plummet to an all time low. Some states like Mizoram and Tripura have banned the import of poultry and eggs from other Indian states as well as Bangladesh and Myanmar to prevent the spread of the global disease that is known to spread from birds to humans.

"There is a drop in sales of chicken and eggs in the northeast by about 40 percent in recent days," said Pranjit Pratim Koch, technical director of the Northeastern Poultry and Egg Federation.

There has been no reported case of bird flu in the northeast, but the spread of the virus in other states has led to panic in the region. "People have stopped eating chicken and even eggs and so the demand for fish and mutton has gone up manifold during the past week," said veterinarian Bhairab Kanta Sharma.

With the demand for fish and mutton on the rise, traders in Assam and other northeastern states have hiked prices of the two commodities. "Butchers and fish mongers have increased their prices by Rs.15 to Rs.25 a kg," Lonkeswar Das, a resident of Guwahati, said.

All the seven regional states - Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Tripura - have sounded a maximum alert to prevent the outbreak of bird flu in the region. "Although there are no reports of any bird flu in our state yet, we have prohibited import of chicken and eggs from other states and even from Myanmar as a precautionary measure," said C. Sangnghina, Mizoram's animal husbandry and veterinary director.

Similar alerts were also sounded in Tripura. "We have banned import of poultry and eggs from other states and Bangladesh as precautionary measures and asked the airport authorities, all check posts, and border trade centres to immediately enforce the directive," a state government official said.

The Assam government has set up control rooms in bordering areas with West Bengal for the public to report any signs of bird flu in the state. "We are fully prepared and are sounding an alert across the state. However, there is no need for panic," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told IANS.