Rajya Sabha elections: Mallya, Venkaiah, Paswan, Rudy win

The biggies have cruised into the Rajya Sabha. And in the end all the drama in the Rajasthan BJP seems to have paid off, with Ram Jethmalani managing to win a place in the House of Elders.

In Karnataka, Vijay Mallya has won as an Independent candidate backed by friends-turned-foes, JD(S) and the BJP. Mallya pulled a rabbit out of the hat by making JD(S) chief HD Kumaraswamy and Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa shake hands over his candidature, if only to keep the Congress out.
This is a sight unseen since the JD(S) and BJP fell out when their coalition government failed. They managed to ensure the Congress's second candidate, TV Maruthi, was defeated. But the Congress' Oscar Fernandes made as did the BJP's Venkaiah Naidu and Ayanur Manjunath, with the highest first preference votes as expected.
In Bihar, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Ram Kripal Yadav of the RJD and RP Singh of the Janata Dal have won. Paswan, no doubt heaving a sigh of relief, having been out in the cold ever since he lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2009. While the results were tame, BSP MLAs got the most attention with four out of the five cross-voting for the RJD.
But it was Rajasthan that everyone was watching, particularly how Ram Jethmalani, a rank outsider contesting for the BJP, would fare. BJP MLAs objected to Jethmalani's candidature for his having defended Parliament-attack-accused Afzal Guru and the party had to lock up its 79 MLAs in a luxury resort to prevent cross voting. The 86-year-old Jethmalani was seen canvassing hard with the locked-up MLAs. Well, he won, but had the party biting nails

As charges of horse-trading flew, the BJP held two full dress rehearsals on Wednesday for all its MLAs to cast their votes properly. Adding to the party's woes, at least five MLAs goofed up in casting their vote during the training session. The electoral arithmetic in Rajasthan is such that even a single vote miscast could spell doom for the BJP.

Several BJP MLAs, locked up in the resort since Monday, accused not just the ruling Congress, but also bureaucrats, of telephoning them to switch sides. Rubbish, said the Congress. The party rules in Rajasthan and both its candidates, Anand Sharma and Ashq Ali Tank, have made the grade, though not without some tense moments.
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma's candidature had caused some heartburn in the Rajasthan Congress. Sharma belongs to Haryana, and is politically active in Himachal Pradesh. But this time, with the BJP in power in Himachal, the Congress did not have the sole seat from that state.

Orissa, where elections were held for three Rajya Sabha seats, saw its share of drama. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's advisor Pyarimohan Mohapatra was re-elected. Former BJD MLA Sashi Bhushan Behera was elected, as was Baishnab Charan Parida, a politician who has been with the CPI, Samajwadi Party and the Congress before joining the BJD two years ago.

The ruling BJD was expected to win two of the seats. The third win was made possible by three MLAs, one of the BJP and two Congressmen not casting their votes and two votes being declared invalid. The "missing" MLAs have sent in their excuses, but the BJP man Bhimsen Choudhury may even be expelled, say party sources

Nitish vs Modi: Ad sets off cold war

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An ill-timed advertisement proclaiming the “generous” help extended by the Gujarat government to Kosi flood victims and an old photo of Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar linking arms to show unity has sparked a controversy between the JD(U) and BJP just when senior BJP leaders are camping in the city.

With any association with Modi a sensitive matter for the Bihar chief minister, an incandescent Kumar lashed out at the use of the photo that dates to a rally in Ludhiana in 2009 in the run-up to the national election. “Is it not expected that my permission should be sought before use of any photographs,” he asked.

The Bihar elections are just months away and the advertisements have severely embarrassed the chief minister who has done his best to keep his distance from Modi as he assidously wooed Muslims in Bihar in order to neutralize the advantage enjoyed by his rival, RJD chief Lalu Prasad. Kumar believes that his efforts have met with some success as he focused on “backward” Muslims.

Kumar called off a dinner he was to host for the BJP executive, which started in Patna on Saturday. Already dogged by the absence of some sulking leaders, the BJP’s attempt to use the meeting of its executive as a boost for its state unit seems to have boomeranged in a spectacular fashion even as it created avoidable friction with the JD(U).

The controversial advertisements are understood to have been issued or funded by the Gujarat government. An irritated Kumar even threatened legal action and dismissed Modi’s claims about helping the Kosi victims as “uncivilized and against Indian culture. No one tom-toms help offered during a tragedy as a favour.” He said he would return the unutilized money. “It has caused great embarrassment to me,” he said.

Though the Gujarat government issued a statement denying it had anything to do with the advertisements, there were few takers for this claim. “Who else would pay large sums of money for the advertisements,” a BJP leader asked. The chief minister was careful to note that he had no grievance against the state BJP as the two parties had run a successful coalition. In response to questions, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said “we have had a long association with JD(U) and fought six Lok Sabha elections together.”

Facebook gives Dawood away

In her Facebook profile, Dawood Ibrahim’s daughter has given away the fact that India’s most wanted criminal is still living in Karachi.

Pakistan may claim it has no clue to Dawood’s whereabouts. But a status message posted on Dawood’s daughter Mahrukh’s Facebook profile on May 5, says tellingly: “Missing mom and dad and Junaid and Reenz and Moeen and mazia and everyone in Karachi.”

The last four are all Dawood’s family members.

Mahrukh, who is said to live in Lahore with Junaid, cricketer Javed Miandad’s son whom she married in 2005, reveals in the profile that she went to school in Clifton, an upmarket area in Karachi where the Bhuttos too had a home. Indian security agencies have been insisting Dawood lives in Clifton.

Mahrukh and Junaid have put up several pictures on Facebook. Mahrukh’s profile reveals that she has more than 250 friends on Facebook across the globe.

The privacy settings on Mahrukh’s profile were changed on Friday and access to the pictures posted by her was blocked. Earlier, any facebook subscriber could visit her profile. Indian intelligence sources said they were aware of Mahrukh’s profile.

Outrage in India over Bhopal verdicts

Indian politicians, campaigners and newspapers vented outrage yesterday at two-year prison terms handed to those found guilty over the 1984 Bhopal gas leak disaster that left thousands dead.
Anger focused on the 25-year delay in the convictions, the perceived leniency of the sentences and the feeling that the "big fish" – the chief executive of the US parent group Union Carbide – had got away.
Seven Indian managers from the pesticide factory that caused the world's worst industrial accident were found guilty in a court in Bhopal on Monday and each sentenced to two years in jail.
They were all granted bail and will now begin what promises to be a lengthy appeal process.
The two-year sentences were the maximum that could be imposed after the Supreme Court in 1996 reduced the charges from culpable homicide to negligence, but many survivors said the guilty should be hanged.
"It is sad but true that we live in a country that does not understand the value of life," Bhopal activist Hemlata Sahay told AFP. "The guilty can easily get away and the victims are destined to suffer."
One survivor, Champa Devi Shukla, said she "felt like an idiot holding a placard outside the court while the accused left in big cars".
"Shame On India" headlined the Mail Today, while the front page of The Times of India read: "Justice Delayed, Denied."
The Express, The Times and NDTV news channel focused on the "man who got away" – Union Carbide's then-chief executive Warren Anderson, who fled India after the disaster and was named as an absconder by the court.
The ageing former executive lives in suburban New York, and the Hindustan Times blamed the Indian government for allowing him "to live a life of ease far away in the US while the victims struggle from day to day".
Anderson is unlikely to ever return to India, but Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily told NDTV that the case against him was still open and that he "can be still be tried".
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh state, of which Bhopal is the capital, demanded radical legal reform and more help for survivors.
"The present laws are inadequate in dealing with the tragedy," he said. "The punishment in this case is too little and laws should be amended to ensure maximum punishment."
The prosecution argued in the Bhopal court that there were design defects in the factory as well as other criminally negligent operational practices that were known to management but ignored for commercial reasons.
Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide in 1999 and says all liabilities related to the accident were cleared in a 470-million-dollar settlement reached out of court with India's government in 1989.

Document shows City Corporation made IPL bid:Pawar in trouble

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar insists that he or his family members never bid for the Pune IPL team but he is increasingly finding it difficult to convince people.

The BJP on Sunday demanded that the NCP chief resign from the government after media reports that the City Corporation Ltd (CCL), a company in which the Minister and his family have 16 per cent equity, had bid for the Pune team. The Congress, the NCP’s ally at the Centre and in Maharashtra, refused to comment on the matter.

"Pawar has been repeatedly misleading the country and misrepresenting the facts on his role in IPL bidding," said senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad in Uttan, Maharashtra.

Prasad rejected Pawar’s statements that the Pune-based City Corporation’s managing director Aniruddha Deshpande bid for the Pune team in his personal capacity and the company was not involved in it.

"It is not that only Pawar is misleading the country but CCL MD Anirudh Deshpande has also misrepresented the facts. The Company Affairs Ministry must take action," he said.

"If Pawar fails to quit, Prime Minister should take action against him," said Prasad. "Every day Pawar has been misrepresenting facts. Should a political leader of his stature indulge in gross misrepresentation?"

"Mr Prime Minister you always talk of integrity in governance. We will judge you on the action you take on this matter," he said.

In New Delhi, the Congress offered no defence for the Agriculture Minister. "The Congress party's stand is the same. These are the nitty-gritty details about which you will have to ask the NCP. A general inquiry into the matter is already on," said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi.

CNN-IBN on Saturday accessed a City Corporation board resolution dated the January 31st that authorised Deshpande to bid for the Pune IPL franchise on behalf of the company. Deshpande insists that the January 31st resolution was reversed by the board on March 17.

Deshpande told CNN-IBN that the company decided not to bid for the Pune IPL team but allowed him to do so in his personal capacity. He claims the board allowed him to use the company's name on bid documents.

“The bid was made by a top official of the company in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the firm. What is relevant is the subsequent resolution of the board in March which is binding,” said Pawar on Sunday.

Pawar’s statement doesn’t explain why he and Deshpande never mentioned the January 31st resolution until it came out in the media.

Critics said that it took City Corporation seven weeks -- from January 31 to March 17 -- to reverse its decision to bid for the Pune IPL franchisee is suspicious. They also point out that the Pawars did speak about their stake in City Corporation till The Times of India revealed it

Obama challenges Republicans to help on economy

President Barack Obama is accusing Republicans of refusing to help as he's sought to rescue the economy, overhaul health care laws and enact new Wall Street regulations.

In prepared remarks for a speech in Pittsburgh Wednesday Obama says most in the GOP "sat on the sidelines and shouted from the bleachers" and said no to everything from clean-energy investments to tax credits for college tuition.

Obama is making a quick visit to Pennsylvania to deliver an update on the nation's economy, in a week otherwise dominated by the Gulf oil spill and the deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

His remarks at Carnegie Mellon University highlight progress that Obama said he's made in building a "new foundation" for growth and prosperity.
President Barack Obama says getting Americans back to work is his top priority, a message the White House has tried to underscore with weekly economy-focused stops outside Washington.

His latest trip is Wednesday, when he is making a quick visit to Pittsburgh to deliver an update on the nation's economy in a week otherwise dominated by the Gulf oil spill and the deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

The White House said Obama's remarks at Carnegie Mellon University would highlight the progress that has been made in building the "new foundation" for growth and prosperity that the president called for a year ago.

That new foundation, Obama said in April 2009, would be built on five pillars: new rules for Wall Street; investments in education, renewable energy and health care; and reductions in federal spending to bring down budget deficits.

In some areas, the president can claim victory. His administration's $862 billion stimulus plan included significant investments in education and incentives for growth in renewable energy industries. The $1 trillion health care bill he signed into law in March was the largest overhaul of the U.S. health care system in decades.

But not every goal has been met. A sweeping overhaul of Wall Street regulations is still tied up in Congress, with lawmakers hoping to deliver final legislation to the president by July 4.

And the national debt has ticked up to $13 trillion on Obama's watch. The president contends the recession made it necessary to add to the debt in the short term. He's appointed a bipartisan commission to make recommendations to Congress on ways the government can balance the budget by 2015.

Overall, there have been signs of progress since the president called for a new economic foundation — the economy is growing and adding jobs. But as the president himself frequently acknowledges, the recovery hasn't reached everyone.

The April unemployment report showed that 15.3 million people remain out of work, and economists say it will take at least five years to regain the nearly 8 million jobs wiped out during the recession. The nation's unemployment rate is expected to hover near 10 percent through the end of year.

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, who lost his re-election bid last month when he fell to Rep. Joe Sestak in the Senate primary, is expected to be at Obama's event. Sestak is not. All statewide officials were invited, the White House said. Obama's administration disclosed last week that it had tried indirectly to nudge Sestak out of the race against Specter by tapping former President Bill Clinton to offer him an unpaid position in the administration. Sestak rejected the idea last year.

Obama 'deeply committed' to India's rise

The United States is heartily backing India's rise again after briefly flirting with the idea of a G-2 clinch with China.

Re-stating even more assertively the Bush era pledge to support India's rise as a global power, a top official of the Obama administration on Tuesday allayed New Delhi's apprehensions that it is being relegated to play second fiddle to Beijing while suggesting Washington is favorably disposed towards India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

Speaking on the eve of the inaugural US-India Strategic Dialogue, US Undersecretary of State William Burns sought to dispel a raft of doubts and misgivings among South Asia pundits – primary among them, that President Obama had downgraded ties with India at the expense of Washington embrace of China, and US security objectives in AfPak region.

"The simple truth is India's strength and progress on world stage is deeply in strategic interest of the US," Burns told a packed audience of policy mavens at the Center for Foreign Relations next to the White House. "This Administration has been, and will remain, deeply committed to supporting India's rise and to building the strongest possible partnership between us."

In setting the stage for the strategic dialogue starting Wednesday, Burns insisted President Obama had never really taken his eye off the ball, joking that "India's rise and the promise of US.-Indian partnership – is one of those rarest of Washington species, a genuinely bipartisan policy priority."

He pointed out that a third of the US. Cabinet has visited India in the first sixteen months of the new Administration, with President Obama to follow later this year; Washington had followed through its commitments on the civilian nuclear deal; and the US was conducting more military exercises with India than any other country in the world.

"The only hyphen that we will pursue with respect to our relationship is the one that links the United States and India," Burns maintained.

Burns also indicated the Obama administration will soon take up the issue of expanding the UN Security Council and that India's time for a permanent membership may have come.

"We recognize very clearly India's increasing global role. We recognize the importance of reforming the UN Security Council," he said, adding "We're open to expansion of permanent membership of the Council and we believe India's going to have a central part to play in the consideration that's going to come."

Pressed repeatedly to elaborate or clarify, Burns danced around the questions while stopping short of explicitly supporting India's bid. But some officials present said there appeared to be subtle shift in the US approach with Washington seemingly more inclined towards India's bid for membership and an Obama scrutiny of the issue was on the cards.

In course of an upbeat assessment of the trajectory of US-India ties, Burns spoke expansively about India's growing role in East Asia, ostensibly in a bid to counter the perception that the US has come close to outsourcing South Asian security to China and regards it as the pre-eminent Asian power. President Obama's joint statement during a visit to Beijing in November that said US and China would "work together to promote peace, stability and development" in South Asia had rankled New Delhi.

Although Burns stopped short of describing India as an "Asia-Pacific power" as Senator John Kerry did a ToI op-ed ahead of the talks, he said, "it is very much in the American interest for India to build on this role (in East Asia) in the years ahead...and it is no coincidence that other large Asia-Pacific democracies –Japan, Australia, and South Korea – are also engaging more closely with New Delhi and cooperating more systematically on security issues."

"The United States supports broadened Indian participation in the institutional architecture of the Asia-Pacific region," he added, generating discussion that the Obama administration had quickly re-considered its assessment of China as the principal Asian power. The National Security Strategy released by the Obama administration last week too had formulations of a different tone from the primacy Washington typically gives China in South Asia and elsewhere.

Illustrative of the fact that the Obama administration is determined to correct any real or perceived slights towards India is gesture President Obama will make on Thursday when he is scheduled to drive down to the State Department in Foggy Bottom to attend Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's reception for her Indian counterpart S M Krishna and address the gathering. Obama had also spoken at the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue at the Ronald Reagan Building in July 2009; but he did not attend the US-Pakistan dialogue earlier this year.

Burns also spoke of US-India partnership in the neighborhood saying the two sides had "complementary interests on the Subcontinent," where some analysts fear China is trying to muscle in. Washington, Burns said, supports India's leadership in encouraging the emergence of a stable democratic government in Bangladesh... easing tensions in Nepal... and promoting peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

"Neither of us intends to outsource South Asia policy to the other, but more often than not our policy prescriptions converge," he added.

He also spoke of engaging India in affairs beyond its borders but in its sphere of interest such as Middle-East and Africa, which has seen growing Chinese influence. He obliquely twitted New Delhi for not realizing its own growing interests saying "some Americans, for their part, worry that it is India which "self-hyphenates" ... that India sometimes has a hard time realizing how far its influence and its interests have taken it beyond its immediate neighborhood ... that India is ambivalent about its own rise in the world, still torn between its G-77 and G-20 identities."

India wants UK to return Kohinoor, other artifacts

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has joined an international network for the return of priceless artifacts taken away during British rule including the Kohinoor diamond and the Sultanganj Buddha.
ASI Director-General Gautam Sengupta said the list of India's treasures held abroad was "too long to handle" and there was a need for a "diplomatic and legal campaign" for their restitution from institutions, including the British Museum, the Royal Collection and the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Speaking to The Independent, Sengupta said that after decades of unsuccessful unilateral lobbying, India was looking to join a campaign with the support of UNESCO, and other countries with longstanding complaints about the foreign ownership of their artistic riches, including Egypt and Greece. "As efforts so far to reclaim stolen treasures have proved futile, UNESCO support is required for launching an international campaign to achieve this end. "Not only India, various other countries like Mexico, Peru, China, Bolivia, Cyprus and Guatemala also the voiced the same concern to get back their stolen and looted antiquities and to join the international campaign," Sengupta said. While underlining the need to be "realistic" about the chances of large numbers of items being returned, Sengupta told the newspaper that a list of "unique items" that should be returned to their home countries was being drawn up by each of the participating countries. "Once this list is ready, these countries will jointly initiate a series of steps, including a diplomatic and legal campaign to get back the lost treasures," he added. Rita McLean, head of the Birmingham Museum, said: "We have not received any official request for the return of the Sultanganj Buddha. Any requests for restitution will be treated on a case-by-case basis." According to the newspaper report, the British Museum said it was satisfied that the objects highlighted by the Indian authorities had been acquired legitimately.

Rahul Gandhi picks his team for UP polls

Rahul Gandhi, it appears, has little confidence in the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) going by his decision to deploy a parallel team to assist him in the 2012 assembly polls.
The Congress general secretary has chosen a 10-member team of his trusted men drawn from across the country to help him prepare a panel of potential candidates to take on the might of Mayawati.
Normally, the state unit of the party recommends names of potential candidates.
But showing little confidence in the UPCC, he has chosen his own team to prepare confidential reports of all 403 assembly seats. Three prospective candidates will be shortlisted from each constituency.
Rahul's show of no-confidence in the state unit apparently stems from its apparent failure to mobilise masses for the ' Rath Yatra' flagged off by him from Ambedkar Nagar on April 14.
The concern of the Gandhi scion is not unfounded as the state leaders had suspended the 'rath yatra' two weeks ago on the pretext that people were not turning up because of the excessive heat.
They say it will be restarted when the "weather improves". But at the same time, they invited Rahul to Mirzapur on May 18 to give the yatra a boost.
Initially, Rahul had decided to let the state leaders manage the yatra . But seeing their lax attitude, he has decided to get involved and will address more rallies in Bundelkhand and eastern UP in the second half of June.
Party sources said the team members - three each from MP and Haryana, two from Maharashtra and one each from Rajasthan and Gujarat - have been told to keep away from local Congressmen and meet up people to gauge the impression of the party and its leaders in the state.
"They have been asked to search for new talents and also look for potential rebels with a clean image in other parties," said a Congress leader, who refused to be named.
The presence of 10 observers chosen by Rahul was confirmed by UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi. "We know about it and appreciate the effort of Rahul Gandhi. While they would be preparing a list of candidates, we would also prepare our list. We hope the best from both the lists would finally get the ticket," she said.
But Congress sources said the decision of Rahul was influenced by a report of Congress general secretary in-charge of UP, Digvijay Singh, who told the Gandhi scion there was discontent against Joshi's leadership.
The dissatisfaction of the central Congress leadership reached the surface in February this year when Joshi's decision to replace Maruf Khan with Muid Ahmed as chairman of the minority cell of the state unit and Vinod Chaudhary with Sidh Gopal Sahu, as chief of the OBC cell, was reverted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Earlier, Deepak Gupta, a former treasurer of UPCC had registered a complaint with Digvijay that Joshi was misusing party funds.
But Joshi said, "There is no difference among the party leaders. We all want to win the election." P. L. Punia, Congress MP from Barabanki said, "It is true that some observers from outside have been asked by Rahul to take stock. But I think they will coordinate with the local leaders before preparing their list and submitting their report to him."

WHO to award Turkey's Erdogan for his fight against tobacco

POST BY CURRENT NEWS
World Health Organization, or WHO, decided to grant its "World No Tobacco Day 2010 Award" to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a WHO official said on Friday. Erdogan will be given WHO's special award, the Director-General Special Recognition Award, for his anti-smoking efforts, WHO official Toker Erguder said. In July 2009, Turkish government introduced a law that made it illegal to light up in all enclosed areas including bars, cafes and restaurants across the country. Despite calls to ease the law, Prime Minister Erdogan, known for his anti-tobacco stance, has not taken a step backwards. Erguder said Erdogan was chosen for his determinant stance and his pioneer role that made Turkey one of the leading countries in global tobacco control activities. Turkey, Britain and Ireland are the only three countries in Europe which have 100 percent smoke-free airspace, Erguder said. Every year, WHO recognizes individuals or organizations in each of the six WHO regions for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control. This recognition takes the form of Director-General Special Recognition Awards and World No Tobacco Day Awards.

Indo-US civil nuclear deal

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The much heralded Indo-US civil nuclear deal for co-operation in nuclear power is fraught with controversies. Nuclear power is a double-edged term - as it may refer to peaceful power generation or the production of nuclear weapons capable of mass destruction. The benefit of this ambiguity has been repeatedly exploited by a de-facto nuclear weapons state, India. The conclusion of this deal in the form of a signature on 123 Agreement in October 2008 between India and the US has created yet another international dogma. The end of 1960s saw the developing states of the world striving hard to acquire nuclear weapons technology. Therefore, the creation of the nuclear non-proliferation regime to control and limit the development of nuclear weapons became an imperative need. At the centre of this regime, is the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT), which came into force in 1970, and has been ratified by 189 countries. The objective of the treaty is to curtail the spread of nuclear weapons technology and ensure disarmament. The NPT classifies the world into two groups; the Nuclear Weapons States (NWS) which include the USA, Russia, the UK, France and China, and the Non-Nuclear Weapon States (NNWS), which comprise the rest of the world. According to the NPT, a NWS is one which has manufactured and tested a nuclear explosive device prior to 1st January 1967. Under Articles I and II of the NPT, the NWS undertake not to help the NNWS to develop or acquire nuclear weapons, and the NNWS permanently renounce the pursuit of such weapons. To ensure the commitment towards treaty obligations, Article III of the NPT authorizes the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the nuclear facilities of the NNWS.India has never been a member of the NPT. However, it tested a 'peaceful nuclear device', as it was then described by the Indian government) in 1974. This was the first nuclear device developed and tested after the creation of the NPT and hence it raised new questions about how civilian nuclear technology could secretly be diverted to weapons programmes (dual-use technology).

Turkey's FM says Iran nuclear deal "a test" for Vienna Group
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the discussion topic should be Vienna Group's response to Iran, not sanctions.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the discussion topic should be Vienna Group's response to Iran, not sanctions. At a joint press conference with his Brazilian and Spanish counterparts following the second day of the Alliance of Civilizations Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Davutoglu said, "now we have to look ahead." Davutoglu said Turkey and Brazil's efforts were aimed at defusing tension and paving the way for a diplomatic solution to reach a final settlement in Iran's nuclear program. "This is a test for all of us whether we will solve problems through conflict or negotiation. As Turkey and Brazil, we convinced Iran to use diplomatic means. Tehran deal was reached thanks to flexible policies by Iranian administration," he said. Foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran and Brazil signed a deal where Iran committed to give the 1,200 kg of 3.5 percent enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for 20 percent enriched uranium it will receive from Western countries to be used as fuel in the nuclear research reactor in Tehran. Tehran will receive the enriched uranium in Turkey from the Vienna Group, comprising of the U.S., France, Russia and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Recalling that Iran has fulfilled its responsibility to send a letter to IAEA, Davutoglu said that it was now time to talk about diplomacy to move forward. "Yes, this is a success achieved by Turkey and Brazil but it is also a result of U.S. President Barack Obama's policy of engagement and many-sidedness," he added

Afzal Guru file hanging decision in a week file sent to home ministry

The file on parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's mercy petition, which is with Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna, will be sent to the central home ministry within a week, an official said Thursday.

The Delhi government had sent Guru's file to the Lieutenant Governor May 19 after giving some clarifications sought from his office.

'The file is being studied on an urgent basis. It will be sent at an early date,' Khanna's OSD, Ranjan Mukherjee told IANS.

An official in the lieutenant governor's office said the file is being 'studied minutely and urgently', and will be sent directly to the home ministry within a week.

The official said Guru's file was sent back to the Delhi government which did not oppose his execution but commented on the law and order situation in its wake. 'That comment was unwarranted from a government which doesn't have control over law and order,' the official added.
POST BY IMRAN KHAN
Guru, a resident of Sopore in the Kashmir Valley, was found guilty of plotting the Dec 13, 2001, parliament attack and was sentenced to death by a trial court in December 2002. The Delhi High Court confirmed the death penalty in October 2003.

The Supreme Court had also upheld the capital punishment given to him for his role in the terror attack. Guru's wife, Tabassum, filed a mercy petition to the president after the apex court's verdict.

As per the laid down procedure, the president sought the home ministry's views on the mercy petition in 2005.

The procedure on mercy petition also requires the home ministry to seek comments of the state government in whose jurisdiction the crime, for which the death penalty is awarded to the convict, has been committed

Hindu ethos key to Indian democracy, secularism: Advani

• New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Sunday said Hindu ethos was responsible for the success of democracy and secularism in India.
• 'In human history, intolerance towards a different point of view has been reflected most in the field of religion,' Advani said in the latest post 'Roots of Democracy and Secularism' on his blog.
• He said as opposed to the west, there has been an open-minded and liberal approach in India, even in religious matters.
• He quoted Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, from his book 'The Post American World' that every sect and sub-sect of Hinduism worships its own god, goddess, or holy creature.
• 'Every family forges its own distinct version of Hinduism. You can pay your respects to some beliefs, and not to others. You can be a vegetarian or eat meat. You can pray or not pray. None of these choices determines whether you are a Hindu. There is no heresy or apostasy, because there is no core set of beliefs, no doctrine, and no commandments,' Advani said quoting the author.
• 'Zakaria argues that it is this non-doctrinaire character that gives Hinduism its absorptive and assimilative power. I hold that it is this Hindu ethos that accounts for the success of both democracy as well as secularism in India,' Advani said.
• Advani said in late 1980s when he was BJP president, a Canadian television channel approached him for an interview on a serial 'The Rise and Fall of Democracies around the Globe'.
• He said the team wanted to know his analysis as to why democracy had been such a success in India.
• Advani said his answer was: 'I hold that the most important ingredient for a successful democracy is readiness of the people of that country to accept that on any issue there are bound to be divergent views and that citizens generally must be informed by an attitude of tolerance toward diametrically different points of view. And in India, this has never been lacking.'

BJP protests anti-Modi remarks by German parliament team

• New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday demanded an apology from Germany over the provocative remarks made by a German parliamentary delegation about Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi during a recent visit to the state.
• BJP leader Vijay Jolly, also the joint convenor of the party's foreign cell, termed the remarks a 'foreign intervention in India's internal affairs'.
• 'Describing Modi as a 'dictator' is intolerable. Tarnishing the image of a democratically elected chief minister by visiting German officials is unacceptable. This is undiplomatic and unfair to the Indian cause,' Jolly said.
• 'The single-day visit to Ahmedabad city, meeting Gujarat Congress leaders Shakti Singh Gohil and former MP Madhusudan Mistry and commenting that 'Christian conversion activity was becoming difficult under the new religious freedom law enacted by Gujarat government' is an alarming, mischievous act and comment by the visiting German MPs,' Jolly added.
• The party announced it is organising a protest outside the German embassy in New Delhi Monday.

Sonia not to visit Kumbh, conveys her greetings

• New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi has decided against going to the Kumbh festival this year to prevent any inconvenience to people at the religious gathering, said to be one of the world's largest congregations.
• In a message, Gandhi said she was grateful to the residents of Haridwar and saints who had invited her to the Kumbh festival. 'I wanted to come, but thinking that my visit on this occasion should not cause any inconvenience, I have been forced to drop the idea,' she said.
• Gandhi said the Kumbh festival was part of the country's tradition and people had an abiding faith in it for centuries.
• She said faith among people in a religious country like India evokes in them feeling of respect towards human values.
• She hoped that the approach of respecting human values in accordance with the thoughts of the country's ancient seers, saints and philosophers will continue to inspire the society towards justice, tolerance and high principles.
• Gandhi conveyed her greetings to all 'Kumbh-yatris (visitors to Kumbh)' and the devotees. The Kumbh this year is from Jan 14 to April 28.

Shutdown in Vasai against arrest of lawmaker

• Thane (Maharashtra), April 11 (IANS) At least five vehicles were damaged in stone pelting in Vasai and surrounding villages of Thane as protesters observed a shutdown Sunday against the arrest of legislator Vivek Pandit, police said.
• Pandit, Shramjeevi Sanghatana leader and independent MLA, was nabbed late Saturday night in connection with the blockade of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway.
• An official of Vasai police said that protesters pelted stones at passing vehicles, including a bus, smashing the glass panes and damaging them.
• However, he said there were no arrests made in connection with the incidents till afternoon.
• Meanwhile, large areas of Vasai town and surrounding villages observed a shutdown since morning in protest against the arrest of Pandit.
• This was the second day of protests demanding delinking of 18 villages from the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC).
• In the first phase of the agitation in early March, the Shramjeevi Santhatana had succeeded in getting the government to concede to their main demand of delinking 53 villages from VVMC.
• However, the government delinked 35 and kept the fate of the remaining 18 in abeyance, prompting the Shramjeevi Sanghatana to revive its agitation.
• Pandit, an independent legislator backed by the Shiv Sena, reiterated before mediapersons that the state government's decision to exclude only 35 villages from the VVMC was not acceptable to them.
• 'We want even the remaining 18 villages to be delinked from the VVMC. Until this is done, the agitation will continue,' he warned.
• Pandit, who had undertaken an indefinite hunger strike last month for this, called it off after Chief Minister Ashok Chavan assured that his demands would be met.
• The 53 villages have a total population of around 60,000, mostly poor tribals and farmers.

Why Didi is afraid of Dada

• New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) It appears no Congress minister dares to talk with West Bengal's Communist leaders in the formidable presence of Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee. But Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is an exception.
• Popularly called 'Pranab da', he even shared a car with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee - archrival of Mamata Banerjee - after a meeting at the prime minister's residence over price rise.
• Mukherjee is not believed to be too happy about Banerjee meddling in the central government's handling of problems in the Left-ruled state.
• But Banerjee, often addressed as 'Didi', had to be silent on Pranab da's open bonhomie with the Marxists because she fears he may lose his temper, which he often does. She also believes that he has the ability to broker a political alliance with the Communists in the state where she is making an all-out effort to end three decades of leftist rule, they say.
• -*-
• A Thackeray waits
• Is the Congress reluctant to open its doors to Smita Thackeray, who has fallen out with her father-in-law Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray? Or has she set her sights too high?
• Though it has been over four months since she sent clear feelers to the grand old party, matters haven't moved much. While Smita wants to be invited by no less than Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the party's Maharashtra unit finds no reason for the leadership to indulge her.
• State Congress leaders feel she is being over-ambitious and does not merit the prominence she seeks, a little birdie has it. They say she has the option of joining the party the way millions of others do - by filling up a membership form.
• -*-
• What an idea, madam ji
• The Jammu and Kashmir government faced a breakdown over a controversial bill allowing educated youths to apply for government jobs only in one's home district. But it seems the crisis was averted, thanks to 'madam'!
• The legislation would mean that Scheduled Caste candidates would have to stick to districts in the Jammu region only as there is nobody from Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley who falls in that category.
• Pitted against each other were lawmakers from the Valley and Jammu until Chief Minister Omar Abdullah knocked on 10, Janpath, the residence of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
• From there he got a brief to ensure a provision under which Scheduled Caste candidates could apply for government jobs in any of the 22 districts in the state, sources say.
• The crisis was defused and the National Conference-Congress coalition saved.

Pakistan in spotlight at Washington nuclear summit

• Pakistan will confront its reputation as a proliferator head-on this week when its prime minister addresses a global summit in Washington aimed at keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.
• Arch-rival India and other critics could however undercut Pakistan by reminding the world of its nuclear smuggling, highlighting the Taliban insurgency and fanning fears of a Muslim country in chaos where militants could seize atomic material.
• "India will demand restrictions imposed on Pakistan's nuclear programme," said Shahid-ur-Rehman, a Pakistani journalist and author of "Long Road to Chagai", a book on Pakistan's nuclear programme.
• "Their main stress will be on securing Pakistan's nuclear assets by the world," he told Reuters.
• "Pakistan's efforts will be to counter that and convince them that our National Command Authority, which oversees the country's strategic assets, is very effective and that our nuclear assets are safe and secure."
• Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani will speak at the summit after meeting President Barack Obama on Sunday. There are no plans for Gilani and his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to meet, although the leaders of the nuclear-armed rivals may have a brief "encounter".
• Obama called the Nuclear Security Summit to reach a common understanding on the threat posed by nuclear terrorism and an agreement on steps to secure all loose nuclear material within four years to stop it falling into the hands of groups such as al Qaeda.
• U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the April 12-13 gathering of 47 nations is possibly the largest assembly of world leaders in the United States since 1945.
• Two countries not on the guest list are Iran and North Korea, both of which are locked in their own nuclear standoffs with the West. And both countries have allegedly benefited from the smuggling network of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb and a national hero.
• PRESSURE
• It is this history -- and Pakistan's uncertain future -- that has put the country's nuclear programme in the spotlight this week. Experts say Pakistan's arsenal and stockpile of weapons-grade material represent the area of greatest risk, because of huge internal security threats from the Taliban and al Qaeda.
• "Because of Pakistan's so-called past, that there was proliferation from Pakistan and that Pakistani scientists had met Osama bin Laden ... there will be pressure on Pakistan," said Rehman, referring to reported meetings involving two retired Pakistani nuclear scientists before the Sept. 11 attacks.
• "America and the West's biggest concern is that weapons of mass destruction should not fall into extremists' hands and, in this case, they seem to be tacitly pointing at Pakistan. India and the anti-Pakistani lobby have always tried to exploit that and they will try to do it again."
• Pakistan dismisses that concern, calling it "speculative".
• "I do not see any possibility, whatsoever, of Pakistani material, or nuclear technology falling into the wrong hands," a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Abdul Basit, told Reuters.
• "India knows full well how secure Pakistan's strategic assets are."
• Obama says he's confident in the security of Pakistan's arsenal, but India isn't so sure.
• The neighbours have fought three wars since being carved out of colonial India in 1947 and engaged in several smaller conflicts, including one in 1999 that threatened to go nuclear.
• Both nations conducted nuclear tests in 1998.
• Currently, they have an agreement to share prior information about new missile tests they plan to carry out, as well as an agreement to share details about each other's nuclear facilities and their safety on a periodical basis.
• But their armies often exchange fire across the border, and peace talks are held only intermittently.
• "There is a lot of mistrust as India keeps on receiving reports of secret (nuclear) installations in Pakistan, and it believes that Islamabad is not sharing all its details," said Naresh Chandra, India's former envoy to Pakistan.
• India is aware, however, of Pakistan's importance to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, so it doesn't expect much American intervention between the two on nuclear issues, Chandra added.
• There is more at stake in Washington than nuclear one-upmanship between old enemies. Pakistan's economy has been hammered by energy shortfalls and high on its wish-list is a civilian nuclear deal with the United States like the one India received under President George W. Bush.
• It has been repeatedly rebuffed by the United States -- although lately more gently -- and media reports in Pakistan suggested China may step up and help with civilian nuclear technology.
• That would likely make India even more suspicious because of its own rivalry with China. The two fought a war in 1962.
• Washington also would like Pakistan's help in curtailing Iran's nuclear programme, although there appears little chance of that.
• According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India has between 60-70 warheads while Pakistan has about 60. Neither India nor Pakistan are party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons that Obama hopes to strengthen.

Munde for OBC count in Census, sub-quota in women's Bill

• Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde has demanded a headcount of OBCs in the 2011 Census exercise, arguing that this is imperative if benefits of government schemes are to adequately reach the OBC population. Munde also appeared to be in agreement with the demand for a sub-quota for OBC women in the Women's Reservation Bill.
• Like the Congress, the BJP is opposed to counting OBCs as a separate category in the Census, with the argument that this would strengthen caste identities. When asked about this, Munde told The Sunday Express that "OBCs constituted a class", adding that "over 6,000 communities were bracketed under OBCs". He added that the "Union government once failed to present an accurate estimate of OBCs in the Supreme Court, in a case related to IITs", a reason why the matter acquires urgency.
• While Munde first made this demand at a convention of OBC leaders in Mumbai on Saturday, where NCP's Chaggan Bhujbal was also present, he went a step further while talking to this paper and said there should be an OBC sub-quota in the Women's Reservation Bill. The BJP is, however, firmly against any quota within quota in the Bill.
• "Some women groups demanding an OBC sub-quota in the Bill approached me for party's support. While I told them that I am bound by the party discipline, and thus opposed to the demand in principle, I am also sympathetic to their demand at the same time," he told this paper.
• Munde belongs to the Vanjari community (a denotified tribe, and regarded as an OBC community, outside the state) and was considered a rival of Nitin Gadkari when the two were confined to Maharashtra. After Gadkari's elevation as national BJP president, Munde was made the deputy Leader of Opposition in the LS.
• Munde has, in the past, also demanded reservation for SCs and STs in the private sector. Asked if his present demand had something to do with BJP's intra-party dynamics, Munde said: "I've fought for the cause of social justice in Maharashtra. Deendayal Upadhyay's antodyaya was all about furthering the cause of the disadvantaged. I'm talking about social justice, and I'm thus only talking about Deendayal Upadhyay's ideals."
• Sharing the dais, Bhujbal supported Munde's view on women's Bill but stressed the need for a separate Bill for OBC reservation in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies.

Biman cautions party ranks

• Kolkata, April 11 -- The CPI(M) has failed to douse class consciousness within a section of its ranks and steer it towards people's movement, Biman Bose, state secretary of CPI(M), has admitted in a recent document being circulated by the party. "The duty of a mass organisation is not just to hold one or two committee meetings and recruit new members.
• It is the leadership's responsibility to lead the members into working class movement. It is unfortunate that even after all these years we have failed to introduce the required idealistic change among members.
• The party has failed to steer a section of members to emerge as warriors of the working class," Bose has said in the article, which analyses the Maoist movement and unrest in Bengal's tribal belts at length. Significantly, about six months before his death, former CPI(M) state secretary Anil Biswas had prepared a detailed report on decadence in the organisation and warned the leadership of a severe crisis.
• But a tremendous victory in 2006 Assembly polls apparently made the leadership too complacent to take action on his report. Till recently, Bose, Biswas' successor, had never made such scathing remarks in documents.
• CPI(M) leaders feel the rectification process and the imminent civic polls, which are nothing short of a precursor to the Assembly elections of 2011, has forced the state secretary to lash out. "A section within the party has failed to realise why we are not in power at the Centre though we have ruled Bengal for 33 years.
• Now, it has become all the more necessary to follow the eight conditions while inducting new members. The party cannot ignore this process at any level and under any circumstance.
• Unless ill or rendered incapable by age, every members has to work for the party," Bose has said. The state secretary has expressed noticeable concern over raising of funds.
• "We are aware that the party needs funds to perform. But members should be stopped from approaching rich businessmen, corporate houses and 'undesirable elements' for money.
• Money should be raised directly from the masses, though drives in every neighbourhood," said Bose. Earlier, the Left Front chairman had said that rectification in the CPI(M) would begin from the top and his Politburo colleague, Prakash Karat, had said that the party's "glorious history" in West Bengal had been tarnished by the greed for power and money of some.
• Attributed the decline in the party's fortunes in Bengal to "bourgeois influence on living standards, Karat had criticised the deviation of Marxists from simple living.