India News

New Delhi: The Armed Forces have rescued over 1300 people so far in the flood-ravaged states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The Army, the Air Force and the Navy are working round-the-clock to rescue the marooned people and provide the needed relief in the flood-affected areas.

The Army has deployed 14 columns of its men in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh along with life jackets, boats and medical teams.

In view of improvement in the flood situation in Mehboob Nagar district of Andhra Pradesh, three columns of Army personnel were de-requisitioned today from there.

The Air Force has so far deployed 29 aircraft and helicopters including seven Chetaks and 10 MI-8 for rescue and relief operations.

These aircraft have already carried out 255 sorties and dropped huge quantity of food packets in the affected areas.

The Navy has also deployed 15 teams of its divers and experts to rescue the marooned people in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Out of these five teams are at Vijaywada, three at Mehboob Nagar, three at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh, two at Karwar and two at Gadag district in Karnataka.

These teams have already rescued more than 500 people from the affected areas.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Australian Army chief, Lieutenant-General, K. J. Gillespie, on Monday received a guard of honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The ceremony, held early in the day, was accompanied by light showers.

Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor was present during the ceremony.

Lieutenant-General K. J. Gillespie is on a short Indian visit.

His visit comes close on the heels of Victoria Premier John Brumby''s visit to India.

Brumby was in the country on a damage control and public relations exercise after a series of incidents of racial attacks on Indian students in Australia.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Artist Rachna Chhachhi in her fifth solo exhibition titled “The Ugly Earth” showcased her paintings, which depicts Mother Earth pleading to humanity to reverse the damage before it becomes irreversible.

The entire collection of her paintings has one protagonist - the earth, represented by a lonely woman as Vasundhara, the Earth Goddess in stark.

“She has her back to you, as she feels dejected by the lack of concern by human beings towards the degradation around her,” said Rachna about her paintings, which are on display at the India Habitat Centre here till October 6.

“Art for art’s sake does not have any meaning if it does not make a difference. This is my way of raising funds for the environment. In these paintings, I have shown earth through a feminine entity in various stages of despair,” she added.

Fifty per cent of the proceeds of the paintings sold will go towards the WWF India Projects.

“This exhibition is an expression of solidarity with the conservation movement. We thank corporates and individuals for supporting WWF-India and the artist in our effort to promote awareness of global environmental concerns,” said Ravi Singh, CEO WWF India.

Rachna describes her creative process as unpredictable and extremely fulfilling.

“The idea comes first very often but sometimes, you have to let the painting take its own world. Sometimes the final picture may not be the same as the germinating idea. Then there are other times when four things from different sources combine together,” she said.

Niten Mehta, Founder and Managing Partner, Bank on Art, said that Rachna is an artist who has taken up a cause and presented it in the best and the most aesthetic manner.

She achieves the purpose through her works with so much grace, and this is what pulled me to her works, Mehta added.

Source ANI

Hyderabad: Floodwaters from the Krishna River have cut off the town of Vijaywada from rest of Andhra Pradesh.

The Krishna River contains over 10 lakh cusecs of water received from the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam.

Vijaywada''s Prakasam Barrage has not received this much water in over a decade.

The district administration is busy trying to minimise losses by shifting people residing in lower areas to safer places.

The inflow of water at Srisailam is estimated to be over 25 lakh cusecs the highest in 100 years and way beyond the full reservoir level.

The first casualty has been the 770 MW powerhouse located next to the dam.

Kurnool, Mahbubnagar, Krishna and Guntur are the worst affected districts in the state with over 18 lakh people of nearly 400 villages being affected by the floods.

Floodwaters have inundated 180 villages in Kurnool, 89 in Mahbubnagar, 100 in Guntur and 22 in Nalgonda District.

Source ANI

Panjim: Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat on Monday toured flood-hit areas of the state and said that except for the Canacona region the which is on the bank of the river, the devastation has not been that extensive.

Incessant rains and flash floods have brought parts of Goa to a standstill for last couple of days.

Briefing the media after touring the state, Kamat said except Canacona, there has been no significant damage in other parts of the region.

Floods have left hundreds homeless and thousands affected in Canacona.

"I think except Canacona other areas have not of that significant damage. Because the entire population is living on the riverside it (Canacona) has been badly hit," Kamat said.

He informed that the state government has deployed teams to assess the damage caused by the floods.

"Overall assessment is being done. There are seven teams moving around of agricultural department to assess damages. By this evening or tomorrow, we will get the exact report as far as agricultural damage is concerned. As far as other damages are concerned ----Deputy Collectors in these teams are also moving more or less I think they have finished," Kamat said.

The state government has constituted a fact-finding committee headed by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) Director S. R. Shetye to establish the exact cause of flash floods in Canacona.

Kamat also announced his government’s plan to construct new houses for those who had lost their houses due to the floods.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Kobad Ghandy, a polit bureau member of the banned CPI (Maoist), was on Monday sent to three days police custody by a Delhi Court.

He was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate Kaveri Baweja.

"I think it is exaggeration of the state that the person who writes for Maoists can be termed as a big catch," Ghandy said.

Ghandy, who heads the CPI (Maoist) publication wing, was nabbed in South Delhi following inputs from intelligence agencies. He has been a part of the People''s War Group (PWG) since its initial stages.

Ghandy also played an important role in fostering the development of the front''s organisations. In 1994, he was allegedly active in floating a forum named the All India People''s Resistance Forum.

He had gone underground after the merger of the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist), the People''s War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre of India in 2004 when the CPI (Maoist) came into existence.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the first Conference of State Ministers of Food Processing Industries here tomorrow.

Some of the key issues, which are likely to be discussed in the conference are Government Policies and Procedures, inadequate infrastructure along the value chain, diversification of Product Portfolio and Commercialisation, enabling Policy Structure for Food Processing Sector and schemes for Infrastructure Development.

Food Processing is of paramount importance to the country as it has the potential to transform the current subsistence agriculture being practised in large parts of the country to a more remunerative and environmentally sustainable occupation.

The role of food processing industry is accelerating the growth of agriculture sector in the country becomes critical as it has the potential to drive the rural economy by bringing synergy between industry and agriculture.

A developed food processing industry leads to increase in farm gate prices translating into increased rural incomes, reduction in wastages, ensures value addition, promotes crop diversification, generates employment opportunities as apart from significantly contributing to export earnings.

Source ANI

New Delhi:  Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Tourism Kumari Selja today said only an inclusive city can be a sustainable and we have to work towards an urban India where we would address developmental disparities in a comprehensive and holistic manner.

Delivering the World Habitat Day (WHD) address here, she said the indicator of livable cities is good infrastructure, clean environment, a good quality of life and vibrant economic base for all its citizens.

"It is necessary to break away from past trends and practices and to take decisive action for inclusive urban development that acknowledges the presence of the poor in cities, recognizes their contributions as essential to the city''''s functioning and redresses the fundamental reasons for inequity that ties them down to poverty," she added

She said the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor (ISHUP) and the scheme for Affordable Housing in Partnership together seek to upgrade slums and create additional stock by enabling the construction of about 25 lakh houses with basic amenities for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Low Income Groups (LIG) by the end of 11th Five-Year Plan.

Referring to the proposed Rajiv Awas Yojana, she said, it proposes to bringing existing slums within the formal system and enabling them to avail of the same amenities as the rest of the town; redressing the failures of the formal system that lie behind the creation of slum and force the poor to resort to extralegal solutions in a bid to retain their sources of livelihood and employment.

"A slum-free India is an aggregate of the vision of slum-free state. The minister said the states who need to attend and arrest the problem through a two pronged approach; by upgradation of existing slums and preventing new slums," she added

She also said the scheme will focus on according property rights to slum-dwellers/urban poor by States/UTs, but facilitate an all-encompassing environ adopting a ''''whole city'''' approach and providing basic amenities such as water supply, sewerage, drainage, internal and approach roads, street lighting and social infrastructure facilities in slums and low income settlements and enabling the construction of houses by the slum-dweller/ urban poor through access to subsidized credit.

Listing another major initiative of the ministry, Selja said draft bill of the Model Real Estate (Regulation of Development) Act has been put on website of the Housing ministry inviting comments from public at large.
"The draft bill is essentially rooted in the need to promote planned and healthy real estate development of colonies and apartments, with a view to protection consumer interest on the one hand and to facilitate a smooth and speedy urban construction on the other," she added.

The theme for the WHD 2009 is ''''Planning our urban future''''. The theme has been chosen in order to raise awareness for improvement of urban planning to deal with new challenges of the 21st century, as in both developed and developing countries, cities and towns are increasingly feeling the effects of climate change, resource depletion, food insecurity, population growth and economic instability.

Source ANI

New Delhi: The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) today signed an agreement for Promotion of Indian Black Tiger Shrimp including the Co-Branding Agreement with SYSCO (USA).
 
The agreement was signed by Leena Nair, Chairperson, MPEDA and James Butch Vidrine, Vice President, SYSCO (USA).

Earlier, SYSCO submitted a detailed proposal for promotion of Indian Black Tiger Shrimp through its network by branding it as MPEDA PORTICO shrimps.

The proposal contains three phases of brand promotion. The total estimated expenditure for the entire promotion programme is 2,308,450 dollars, of which 50 per cent will be borne by SYSCO.

Speaking on the occasion, Nair informed that the export of marine products from India reached an all time high of Rs.8608 crore during the year 2008-09. During this period 602,835 MTs of seafood products were exported. There was an increase of 11.29 per cent in terms of quantity and a 12.95 per cent increase in rupee earning compared to the exports during the previous year.

"This was a creditable achievement for the Indian Seafood Industry considering the great recession which has shaken even the strongest economies in the world. Right policies and interventions by Government of India / MPEDA and the pro-active role played by the industry helped in achieving the positive growth in exports for the fifth consecutive year in the most trying circumstances" Nair added.

Nair said that once the Indian Black Tiger brand is established, export of other products will also get a major boost because of better brand image of seafood exported from India.

SYSCO is a fortune 500 food service company and is North America''s leading foodservice marketeer and distributor. They are the global leaders in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home.

Having a record sale of 37.5 billion dollars for fiscal year 2008. SYSCO continues to be the global leader in the foodservice industry. Today, SYSCO has sales and service relationships with approximately 400,000 customers. Operating from 170-plus locations throughout the contiguous United States and portions of Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada, SYSCO''s product lines are as diverse as the 50,000 employees who support its daily operations.

With their vast network all over USA the Corporation has a capacity to absorb almost 10,000 MT of Black Tiger Shrimps from India. Hence this tie up with SYSCO is expected to make a big difference to India''s export earnings.

Source ANI

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Monday urged the Centre to consider areas hit by the devastating floods as a national calamity.

Rosaiah also demanded the release of Rs 6,000 crore as relief for the flood-affected regions.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rosaiah said the preliminary estimate of damages due to heavy rains and floods arrives at Rs 12,225 crore.

In his letter, Rosaiah requested the Centre to consider the prevailing situation in the state as national calamity of rare severity and release immediately an amount of Rs 6,000 crore from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF).

The floods have resulted in heavy damage to the public and private infrastructure. Detailed enumeration is being taken up in this regard. As per the preliminary estimate, more than one lakh acres of standing crops has been affected, Rosaiah said.

He noted that the Srisailam Right Bank powerhouse is under inundation and 770 MW generation capacity is lost for three-four months. About 574 minor irrigation tanks have been breached.

He also asked the officials take up relief, rehabilitation and restoration works on war footing basis.

Some of the blocks in Mahabubnagar and Kurnool districts had a rainfall of over 30 cm in a day, from the last one week leading to heavy inflows into major projects located in Krishna basin like Jurala, Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar, Prakasam barrage and Sunkesula.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal today said that the state has sought rupees 10,000 crore annually for development-related projects and for the maintenance of Ganga and forests.

"We have urged the Centre to give 1,000 mw of power free of cost to us and also sought Rs 10,000 crore annually for the state''s development, maintaining the Ganga and our forests as Uttarakhand has 65 per cent forest cover," he said after he attended the first meeting of the Ganga River Basin Authority (GRBA) here.

"How to keep the Ganga clean as it is a national river and how the cities and towns situated on its banks, can be systematised, were among the issues which were discussed," he added.

The GRBA meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at his official residence.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Forest and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy were also present.

The setting up of the GRBA got the approval of Dr. Singh in February. The authority has been formed to streamline steps to clean up Ganga.

The GRBA is responsible for addressing the problem of pollution in the Ganga in a holistic and comprehensive manner. This will include water quality, minimum ecological flows, sustainable access and other issues relevant to river ecology and management.

The authority has been given the task of managing the basin in addition to look after the cleanliness of the river water flowing through various states.

The Ganga Basin states include Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Source ANI

Badaun (Uttar Pradesh): A 37-year-old Malaysian national was recently detained by Uttar Pradesh Police for overstaying in Badaun district two years after his passport’s expiry.

Mohammad Hashim Abdul Kasim belongs to Perak in Malaysia and was nabbed on September 30 following a tip-off by villagers.
 
Rajpur Police Station officer Ramdeep Singh said police arrested Kasim on behalf of information received from villagers, who were suspicious about Kasim.

“When we checked his passport, we found that it had expired in 2007. The man was also carrying three expired passports,” News Strait Times quoted Singh, as saying.

“He is married to a local woman and has six daughters. We have sent him to the district jail in Budaun,” Singh added.

Singh further said that Kasim would be charged for his offence.

Kasim was born in Malaysia, but has Indian roots, as his father hailed from Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh district before migrating to Malaysia.

Source ANI

Guwahati: Army and paramilitary forces have launched a full-scale operation to capture ultras of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), which was involved in Sunday''s massacre.

On Sunday, eleven villagers were killed by NDFB militants at Bhimajuli in Assam''s Sonitpur District.

Militants armed with sophisticated weapons rode in on motorcycles and opened fire indiscriminately.

Six persons died on the spot, which five others succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

Two of the critically injured have been shifted to the Guwahati Medical College.

A massive manhunt has been launched in the jungles bordering Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan.

State Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has reviewed the situation arising out of the renewed attack by the outfit at a high-level meeting in Guwahati.

Gogoi has sent state Revenue Minister Bhumidhar Barman, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bharat Narah and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma to assess the situation on the spot.

Sunday''s attack was understood to be a fall out of a denial to pay ransom by businessmen of the area.

Source ANI

New Delhi: A Community Radio Station will start functioning at Union Park Residents Association, Khar Bandra, Mumbai.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has has signed a Grant of Permission Agreement for establishing, maintaining and operating a Community Radio Station.

The Community Radio Station is expected to be operational within three months as per the agreement.

With this, the number of CRS will increase to 57 in the country.

"JAGO MUMBAI" as the Community Radio Station will generate awareness for demo centers for composting and vermiculture, rainwater harvesting and solar power.

The vision is to empower the Community Radio Station, awareness and motivation to understand and carry out their civic responsibilities and to proactively participate in their all round development and as well as protection of environment.

The proposed Community Radio Station will create awareness and motivate the surrounding community radio station cleanliness, health and sanitation, environment, waste management, conservation of water and electricity.

It''s intended to empower, unearth and showcase community radio station provide a network for social interface resulting in self - development.

The Ministry encourages setting up the Community Radio Station as it promises to provide an opportunity radio station local communities to express themselves, share their views and particularly empower women, youth, marginalized groups to take part in local self governance and overall socio economic and cultural development in the area.

Source ANI

Bellary (Karnataka): Karnataka Chief Minister B.Y.Yeddyurappa on Monday announced that his government would construct over 2,00,000 houses for flood affected people.

Yeddyurappa said the project would be taken up through a public private partnership (PPP) scheme.

He also informed about plans to raise funds for the project through a padayatra in Bangalore on Wednesday.

Yeddyurappa also hinted at plans to permanently shift some of the villages in Krishna and Kaveri basin.

Torrential rains over last one week have left over 200 people dead and rendered over 3,00,000 people homeless in the state alone.

The floods have affected all 14 districts of state’s northern region.

The Karnataka Government has shifted its attention to rehabilitation work with the rains holding off over the last couple of days and water levels receding from the inundated areas.

The state government has asked its employees not to go on leave for the next two months.

Source ANI

Agra: Three specially-abled youths took up an initiative to spread awareness amongst people against female foeticide in Agra.

"We felt good when these people said that girl child should be saved and are not meant to be killed. If it happens then marriages will never happen and another thing is to stop taking and giving dowry during the marriages," said Kamla, a resident.

These men started their journey from Ambala planning to visit almost ten states with the messages against female foeticide.

"Our main motive will be to make most of the people aware against female foeticide. I also want to say that this female foeticide mainly happens because of dowry," said Deepak, a physically disabled volunteer from Ambala.

During their journey, these youths visit every nook and corner of the state to spread their message. According to them, female foeticide is consequent to dowry.

According to a recent report by the United Nations Children''s Fund (UNICEF), up to 50 million girls and women are missing from India'' s population as a result of systematic gender discrimination in India.

In India, there are less than 93 women for every 100 men in the population. The accepted reason for such a disparity is the practice of female infanticide in India, prompted by the existence of a dowry system which requires the family to pay out a great deal of money when a female child is married.

For a poor family, the birth of a girl child can signal the beginning of financial ruin and extreme hardship.

Source ANI

Bangalore: The Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court P.D.Dinakaran attended court for the first time on Monday after staying away from it for some days following a controversy related to him allegedly acquiring property in illegal ways.

On Saturday, the Advocate General of Karnataka, Ashok Harnahalli urged Justice Dinakaran to sit on the Bench and conduct the proceedings.

Harnahalli, along with Additional Advocate-General K.M. Nataraj and State Public Prosecutor Pravin called on the Chief Justice and urged him to reconsider his decision.

Justice Dinakaran has reportedly expressed unwillingness to sit on the Bench following a resolution passed by the Advocates Association of Bangalore asking him to refrain from attending or presiding over judicial proceedings until he is cleared of the allegations levelled against him.

On the other hand Harnahalli opined that though it was the Bar’s duty to bring to the notice of the Chief Justice of India any complaint about a judge, no judge could be publicly defamed on the basis of a representation. It was, therefore, not correct on the part of the Bar to request Justice Dinakaran not to participate in judicial proceedings.

Justice Dinakaran is among one of the Judges who were recently elevated to Supreme Curt by the Chief Justice of India.

Source ANI

Bangalore/ Hyderabad: Heavy rains and floods over the past week have wreaked havoc in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and claimed over 230 lives and displaced over a million people.

On Monday, the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will undertake an aerial survey of the flood-ravaged states to assess the damage.

Despite a lull in rains over the last 24 hours, the situation in flood-hit north Karnataka remains grim. The death toll in Karnataka alone has crossed 180. Over 3,00,000 people have been displaced in the 14 districts of the state.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has asked the Centre to declare the unprecedented rainfall and flood situation as a national calamity and has demanded the Centre to release 10,000 crore rupees for relief activities.

He submitted the details of the devastation created by the rain and floods in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister.

On Sunday, the Central Government deployed over 250 specially trained National Disaster Relief Force personnel to the state.

In Andhra Pradesh, though the flood situation is improving in Kurnool and Mahaboobnagar districts, but hundreds of villages in Krishna, Guntur and Nalgonda are still inundated.

The state Government has announced an exgratia of one lakh rupees to the families of victims and immediate assistance in cash and kind to the families who lost their homes.

Heavy rains have also lashed the districts in Konkan and southern Maharashtra.

In Goa, large parts of the state are lashed with heavy rains for the third day with people remaining indoors. According to sources over 250 houses have collapsed in the state in last one week.

In Kerala, flash flood has affected normal life at 6 places in Kozhikode district. Landslides were also reported at many places in the district.

In Orissa, floodwater is receding fast in Balasore and Bhadrak districts. But, Jalaka, Kansabansa, Sona and Budhabalanga rivers are still flowing above the danger level.

The Indian Air Force has deployed eight MI-8 and six Chetak helicopters for the rescue and relief operations in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The Army has deployed 600 personnel and about 1000 swimmers and 260 boats for rescue operations in flood hit areas.

Meanwhile, on late Sunday evening, the IAF copter airlifted a man clinging to a tree for more than 72 hours in Raichur District of Karnataka.

The young man identified as Ramesh climbed a tree to escape the flood fury and clung on for life for 72 hours until a rescue chopper finally showed up.

Source ANI

Shimla: The Government of Himachal Pradesh has taken the initiave to  provide a range of government-related services and informations to the public through the mobile network  which is  one of the easiest and quickest forms of governance.

B K Agarwal, Principal Secreatary (Information Technology), informed mediapersons that the mobile governance  scheme has been launched in Shimla, Solan and Hamirpur Districts.

This is largely being  used as a two-way communication services channel between the government and citizens which enables the people to use their mobile phones to get informations relating to  various departments and added that in the initial stage the informations like driving licence,arms license,birth certificates,vehicle registrations are being provided free of  cost to the general public on their mobiles, he added.

He revealed that under the scheme the general public would be requested to mention their mobile number on the applications submitted to various departments and concerned department  inform  the citizens about the status of their  pending work through  SMS and to send an SMS to the concerned person when their work is done.

He said that the IT Mission has identified around 20 services from eight government departments which it believes can be covered by the M-governance project.

These are irrigation and public health, agriculture, horticulture, state electricity board, state transport corporations,forest and education.

Agarwal said all secreataries, head of departments, deputy commissioners have been asked to implement this scheme.

Agarwal said Himachal Pradesh has the distinction of having the highest teledensity  in the country with urban areas have registered around 90 percent teledensity which  is highly benificial for success of M -governance in the state.

He revealed that Spice Digital Limited has been selected  as the service provider for the SMS Gateway Services.

He said that in order to utilize the facility, letters have been issued to all the Deputy Commissioners, all Secretaries to the Government of Himachal Pradesh and all Head of Departments in Himachal Pradesh.

He concluded by saying that Himachal Pradesh will be M-Governance compliant by the end of 2009.

Source ANI

New Delhi: The American Center and Brotherhood, an Indian socio-cultural organization working towards mainstreaming disability since 1994, is highlighting two award-winning American documentaries and the exhibit “Art is Ability,” by young artist Sourabh Mohan, to celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

Hearing impaired Saurabh enlivens his silent world with the rhythm of color and his abstract paintings are a joyful celebration of life and nature.

The film “Autism, the Musical” follows five autistic children and their families as the children write, rehearse and perform their own full-length musical. The film won two Primetime Emmys. “Praying with Lior,” by Ilana Trachtman, follows Lior preparing for his bar mitzvah and asks whether someone with Down syndrome can be a “spiritual genius.” Short films “Still Waiting,” and “Dream It, Do It,” by Ashutosh Narayan, “Sparsh,” by Vrishnika, and “Dark,” by Indranil Goswami will also be screened with the documentaries.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month in the U.S. The United States is a leader in the fight for disability rights worldwide.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will chair the first meeting of the Ganga River Basin Authority (GRBA) here today.

Chief Ministers of States through which the Ganga flows such as Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh will hold a discussion on ways to clean up the river.

The issue of roping in international financial institutions to fund the cleaning up of the Ganga will also be considered.

The setting up of the GRBA got the approval of Dr. Singh in February.

The GRBA is responsible for addressing the problem of pollution in the Ganga in a holistic and comprehensive manner. This will include water quality, minimum ecological flows, sustainable access and other issues relevant to river ecology and management.

The authority has been given the task of managing the basin in addition to look after the cleanliness of the river water flowing through various states.

The Ganga Basin states include Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Source ANI

Srinagar: A team of government officials led by Union Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekar will visit Jammu and Kashmir today to review the progress of developmental projects in the state.

Chandrashekar will lead a delegation of secretaries from 17 Ministries.

The team will hold meetings with various state government officials. Besides, they will hold discussion on the progress of the Prime Minister’s special reconstruction package for the state announced during the UPA’s first term.

During their two-day visit, Chandrashekar will also call upon State Governor N N Vohra and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

The reconstruction plan for Jammu and Kashmir has been listed as a top priority in the second term of UPA.

The Centre has only recently extended the period for implementing the projects under the package at the request of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

Source ANI

Bellary (Karnataka): Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will today undertake an aerial survey of flood-affected areas of Karnataka’s Bellary district.

Sonia Gandhi and Chidambaram will arrive here by a special flight.

Union Ministers M Veerappa Moily and Mallikarjun Kharge will also accompany them.

In Karnataka, thousands of people in the northern part of the state continues to battle for survival for the sixth consecutive day on Sunday, as the rescue work was hampered by swirling waters and destruction of roads and other means of communication.

The State Government, has estimated the losses at over Rs10, 000 crore, and sought urgent Central assistance.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma will address the National Seminar on "Industrial Productivity for Inclusive Growth" here today.

The seminar is being organized by the National Productivity Council, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

A number of international and national experts are expected to deliberate on the subjects with the following objectives: Understanding the scope, current strategies and changing role of industry for inclusive growth; Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility - remodeling for enhancing social productivity and inclusive growth; identifying initiatives in industrial productivity and technology for inclusive Growth; and industry and NGO/government partnership for inclusive growth.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed on Monday clarified his stand on companies paying exorbitant salaries to top company executives and managers, and said that the Government welcomes the top company brass to lead an austere life-style.

Talking to media Khursheed said that the display of wealth and opulence is unacceptable in the present scenario.

“We are in the age of austerity and I am conscious of the fact that a year ago it was the Prime Minister who indicated that we in this country where we are grappling with enormous issues of poverty and empowerment where we follow the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi and try to live our life as much (in) simplicity as possible,” Khursheed said.

Further he mentioned that the decision of executive salaries must be decided in a democratic matter.

“I believe the cap on salary must be rational, it must be clear it must be something that is well known, it must be subject to shareholders democratic decision making. It should not be in the hands of Government, as the government doesn''t control. The Government merely regulates. The Government is the partner in the matter of growth of Indian economy and that is the attitude that we have taken,” he added.

Source ANI

Bhubaneswar: An indefinite strike called by private bus operators in Bhubaneswar entered its fourth day on Monday, as passengers continued to bear the brunt.

The private bus operators are protesting against the collection of toll at multiple points on the National Highway (NH)- five and NH five (A).

Though the strike had begun on Friday, the private bus owners officially announced it on Sunday.

“The toll fees imposed by NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) are exorbitantly high, it costs at least 700-750 per bus per day. Paying such a high amount of toll fees will make it next to impossible to operate,” said Debasis Nayak, spokesperson of Private Bus Owners.

Meanwhile, passengers complained about the whole strike and said that it was out of bounds for them to tackle it.

“Today is the fourth day of strike, there is no facility. Government transport is available, but its services are less. So, there is no transport available, we are facing lot of problems in commuting,” said Nrusingh, a passenger.

The bus operators have also proposed that the government should share 60 per cent of the toll fees and let private operators to contribute the remaining 40 per cent.

The association has firmly said it would not pay such high toll at the gates and that too at multiple points on the highway.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said that India is soon expected to get an aid of 3 billion dollar from the World Bank for preparing projects to clean the river Ganga.

Ramesh said this after attending the first meeting of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the national capital on Monday.

“We are hopeful of clinching an agreement with the World Bank, as the President of the World Bank will visit India in December. The preliminary indications from the World Bank are very positive,” Ramesh said.

“Discussions between Environment and Forest Ministry and the World Bank are proceeding very rapidly and we are likely to get 3 billion dollars very soon for preparing projects under what is called the project preparation facility under the World Bank,” he added.

The Government had earlier constituted NGRBA, under the Environment (Protection) Act as an empowered Authority to adopt a new holistic river basin approach to the cleaning of the river Ganga and address the issue of minimum ecological flows, besides pollution abatement works.

The meeting decided that the on-going sewage treatment projects would be put on fast track and States will formulate projects for critical pollution hotspots and major towns near river Ganga and its tributaries by November 30, 2009.

“By 2020 mission the objective is that no untreated municipal sewage and no untreated industrial effluents will be allowed to flow into river Ganga without full treatment,” Ramesh added.

The Central and State Governments will also provide an estimated Rs. 150 billion for the initiative over the next 10 years.

Industrial discharges, sewage, pesticides and the rotting remains of dead bodies have increased pollution levels in the river over the years despite Government promises to clean-up country’s most sacred river.

Source ANI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday took a serious note of the construction work being carried out at Ambedkar Park despite the court''s directive to halt erection of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati''s statues at various parks in the state.

Amit Bhandari, the petitioner who challenged the erection of statues by Mayawati with the state funds, said that State Government was rebuked for flouting the court''s order.

“The court has now fixed the matter for tomorrow. At 10.30 the matter will start again. But, the court has said that it is not right for Government to carry on construction even after strict order by it on September 11 to carry on no further constructions on the properties,” Bhandari said.

“The court has also asked about the people who have given instructions for the construction on the properties where the construction is going on,” he added.

As per the information by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), the State Government has spent Rs. 34.9 million on installing eight statues of Mayawati at five memorials being constructed in Lucknow.

The Government has also spent another Rs. 33.7 million to install seven statues of Kanshi Ram.

There are 60 statues of elephants, the election symbol of the BSP, erected in these memorials, all at a cost of Rs. 522 million.

Each of these statues, together with their granite-covered pedestals, costs Rs. 8.7 million.

Source ANI

Wagah: The Director General (DG) of the BSF, Raman Srivastava, today said that the Government has decided to strengthen the Border Security Force by deploying other paramilitary soldiers along with them to fight Naxalites, who have emerged as one of the biggest threats to the internal security of the country.

Talking to reporters on Monday at Wagah after inspecting the border area of Punjab along with Pakistan, the BSF DG informed that the jawans of the CRPF would join the BSF in the Maoist infested states for anti-Naxal operations.

Reiterating BSF’s stand of giving befitting reply to any Pakistani misadventure, Srivastava said that the BSF would give befitting reply in future if any misdeed will be committed by Pakistan.

To increase morale of the force and give monitory benefits to BSF personals fighting militancy, insurgency and working in inhospitable conditions, Srivastava informed that a proposal was sent to the government to provide BSF jawans allowances at par with Army.

In recent past, the government has decided to deploy the BSF along with the CRPF in the Maoist infested states.

He informed that 29 new battalions have been sanctioned.

In a good will gesture, the BSF DG gave sweets to Pakistan Rangers Lt. Colonel Akbar Ali Butt on the Zero line at Attari international border.

Source ANI

Srinagar: Patients are suffering at Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital in Jammu and Kashmir, as junior doctors are on a strike protesting against the alleged indifferent attitude of the State Government towards their long-pending demands.

Around 4000 junior doctors are participating in the indefinite strike and their demand includes a hike in pay grades, time bound promotion for doctors after five, ten and fifteen years and formulation of law that ensures action against persons assaulting any health official on duty.

The decision to go on strike was taken in a meeting of the Doctors Joint Action Committee (DJAC).

“The demand of all of us is that the State Government is playing with our dignity and it should not happen. We have been placed in pay band two. Earlier, 6th pay commissions of Central Government had placed us in pay band three, but, the State Government has placed us in pay band 2 with those people who work two-three hours a day or four days a week,” said Dr. Neeraj Sharma, spokesperson of Doctors Joint Action Committee (DJAC).

Due to the strike, patients were left unattended outside emergency wards and in general wards of the hospitals.

They were in grief as some of them had come from far-flung areas and can''t afford private hospitals.

“Police hospital referred me to medical college. But, now where should I go? They are not allowing me to go in. I have been told doctors are on strike. I am taking my last breath. What should I do? What will happen if I die, even if the strike is over later it has no meaning for me,” said Mohammad Aslam, a patient.

DJAC had served a final ultimatum to State Government of September 13 to fulfill their demands.

Source ANI

New Delhi: Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on Monday said that India''s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to grow at a rate 6.3 per cent during this financial year.

Ahluwalia said this on the sidelines of the launch of the United Nations Development Programme''s (UNDP) 2009 Human Development Report in the national capital.

“Drought which was a very big concern is still there. It will have a negative effect, but it will still have probably less negative effect than originally thought. There is a sign of revival in the rest of the economy,” Ahluwalia said.

“So, I''m not revising the original forecast that the Planning Commission had made a couple of months ago, that the growth for the year as whole will be 6.3 per cent, but now I''m eliminating the downside possibilities of that forecast. So, I think 6.3 is very reasonable and could be even better,” he added.

Ahluwalia further said that the Government was concerned over the high prices of food and vegetable items, but hopes that with the revival of monsoon, prices it would soon come back to normal.

“Food prices are higher than they should be. We are very concerned about that. We need to ensure that through measures to increase supply, supplementing domestic supply by imports where possible and through better effective functioning of the public distribution system,” Ahluwalia said.

“The food price inflation has brought under control and I''m fairly hopeful that it will be, especially because that drought is not now felt to be as bad as one once thought. So, the speculative pressure which may have led to somewhat higher prices will slowly begin to ease,” he added.

Ahluwalia also said that the economy is reviving and inflation would remain under 5 per cent.

Source ANI

New Delhi: The first meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) has asked Union Environment and Forest, and Power ministries to jointly study the issue of hydro electric projects in the upper reaches of Bhagirathi and submit the report to the authority by 60 days.

There are three power projects are proposed by the Uttarakhand Government in Loharinag Pala , Pala Maneri and Bhairon Ghati.

NGRBA’s meeting which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was attended by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy, Water Resources Minister Pavan Kumar Bansal, Environment and Forest Minsiter Jairam Ramesh and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

The meeting also approved the Clean Ganga mission, which would ensure that by 2020 no untreated municipal sewage and industrial effluents flow into Ganga.

Currently there is a sewage treatment capacity of only about 1000 million litres per day (mld) against 3000 mld sewage being generated in the towns along Ganga. An estimated investment of Rs 15,000 crores over next 10 years will be required to create the necessary treatment and sewerage infrastructure.

The NGRBA also approved that Centre and States will provide the required resources for the Clean Ganga mission.

The meeting decided to prepare comprehensive river basin management plan by December 2010.

The Authority asked the Union Environment and Forests Ministry to work with state governments to prepare specific action plans for dealing with problem of industrial pollution in Ganga Basin by January 31, 2010.

The meeting decided to constitute a Standing Committee of NGRBA under the Chairmanship of Union Finance Minister to meet more frequently and review implementation, and a steering committee under the chairmanship of Union Environment Secretary for fast track clearance of projects on Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) lines.

The Authority was set up in February, 2009 under the Environment (Protection) Act as an empowered Authority to adopt a new holistic river basin approach to the cleaning of the river Ganga and address the issue of minimum ecological flows, besides pollution abatement works.

Source ANI