March 2007
1 March 2007
Brussels, 28 Feb (IndianMuslims.info) A Palestinian national unity government provides the international community with an important opportunity for a much-needed change in policy towards the Palestinians. Failure to do so risks provoking greater internal Palestinian strife as well as Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"After Mecca: Engaging Hamas", the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the Saudi-brokered Mecca Agreement between rival Palestinian organisations Hamas and Fatah. Providing a detailed examination of the agreement and an analysis of Hamas based on extensive discussions with the Palestinian Islamist movement and others, it concludes there are significant challenges but also the chance of a fresh start: for the Palestinians to restore law and order and negotiate genuine power-sharing arrangements; for Israelis and Palestinians to establish a comprehensive cessation of hostilities; and for the international community to focus on a credible peace process.
“A year of pressure and sanctions has extracted little from Hamas�, says Mouin Rabbani, Crisis Group Senior Analyst. “The Quartet – the U.S., EU, Russia and UN – needs to adopt a pragmatic approach that judges a new government by its conduct and seeks to influence its deeds, not its members’ ideology. The alternatives are either illusory or worse�.
The past year has been fruitless for all sides. Hamas has failed to govern, Fatah has failed to rule, and their escalating conflict has been fuelled by the combination of international sanctions and foreign promotion of their power-struggle. While the EU pumped more money into the occupied territories more ineffectively and less transparently, Western commitment to democracy in the Middle East has been roundly discredited, and diplomacy has been virtually non-existent. By almost every standard – governance, security, economics, institution-building and the peace process – there has been only regression.
Without a Hamas-Fatah power-sharing arrangement and as long as the Islamists remain marginalised and unable to govern, there can be no sustainable diplomacy.
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Hamas and Fatah should demilitarise their political rivalry and negotiate sustainable power-sharing arrangements open to all Palestinian political organisations.
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The PA government and presidency should cooperate to negotiate a speedy prisoner exchange and comprehensive cessation of hostilities with Israel.
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The EU and its Member States should engage the new Palestinian government and Hamas with the goal of ensuring the Islamists’ conduct is compatible with the objective of a two-state settlement rather than that of ousting it from power.
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The members of the Quartet and Israel should refrain from undermining either the Mecca Agreement or attempts at engagement by other parties.
“If the international community is serious about its proclaimed goals, it will help stabilise inter-Palestinian relations, broker a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire, permit the unity government to govern and press for meaningful negotiations between Abbas and Olmert,� says Robert Malley, Crisis Group’s Middle East Program Director. “It will see Mecca as an opportunity to revive the peace process, rather than as yet another excuse to bury it�.
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By Manish Chand,
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) Snamprogetti, the Italian company Ottavio Quattrocchi represented for nearly 30 years in India, appears to have run out of luck in this country after the canny businessman, known once for his connections to the Gandhi family, got entangled in the Bofors gun scandal in the mid-1980s.
Snamprogetti, a Milan-based Italian fertiliser and engineering multinational, hasn't won any new project in India for quite some time.
It is mostly involved in the expansion of the existing projects like those of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO) at Phulpur and Tata Chemicals unit at Barbala in Uttar Pradesh, and the Chambal Fertilisers factory in Madhya Pradesh, company sources told IANS.
The company has a liaison office here with a support staff of barely six-eight people.
Snamprogetti was, however, not a party to the $2.1 billion Bofors gun deal in which several million dollars were, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation, paid to Quattrocchi - often referred to as simply 'Q' - for fixing the multi-billion dollar defence contract.
"Quattrocchi quit the company around the time he left India in 1993," a company official, who did not wish to be named, told IANS.
The multinational is now represented by Ashok Chopra in India. Snamprogetti, part of the Eni group and one of Europe's largest contractors, has operated more than 900 projects in nearly 100 countries of the world.
The company's business prospects in India soared when Quattrocchi arrived with his wife Maria in February 1964. The Italian couple cashed in on their ties with the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and his Italian-born wife Sonia Gandhi and gained unfettered access to key bureaucrats and politicians in his office.
With deft liaison with the powers-that-be in India and a free use of the Gandhi name, Snamprogetti's stock rose with the company winning its first big contracts during the emergency regime in the mid-seventies.
IFFCO's Phulpur plant with a urea capacity of 1,550 tonnes a day (mtd), four units of Krishak Bharati Co-operative Ltd (KRIBHCO) at Hazira, each with a capacity of 1,100 mtd, and the Trombay V and the Thal Vaishet plants of Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd were some of the first fertiliser projects executed by Snamprogetti in India between 1975-1986.
The big break for Snamprogetti came when it won contracts for the 10 plants (including two expansion projects) to be fed by natural gas from the HBJ (Hajira-Bijaipur-Jagdishpur) pipeline.
As all these plants depended on gas supplied by the public sector GAIL India Ltd from Bombay High through the HBJ pipeline, the company decided to make Snamprogetti the chosen technology licensor and contractor for all the projects.
Although the Italian firm was known for its cutting edge technology, those in the know argued that these projects were awarded to the company despite rivals offering a lower price.
Another big moment for Snamprogetti was when the then prime minister Indira Gandhi reversed a decision of the previous Janata Party government and awarded a contract for the Thai-Vaishet fertiliser complex to the Italian firm and its Danish associate Haldor Topsoe.
The World Bank and the Confederation of Engineering Industry (the predecessor of the Confederation of Indian Industry - CII) contended that that the fertiliser plants, which came up along the HBJ pipeline, cost the country an extra Rs.100 crore (over $22 million).
In his book, "Beyond Boundaries: A Memoir," the London-based Indian businessman Swraj Paul and head of the Caparo Group, has written revealingly about how he annoyed Rajiv Gandhi because he refused to oblige Quattrocchi despite "strenuous efforts" made by his office to get him to buy Snamprogetti equipment for a fertilizer project he was planning in India.
Shimla, March 1 (IANS) As many as 151 Dalits who had once converted to Christianity have returned to the Hindu fold after a religious ritual in a temple here.
"One hundred and fifty-one Christians have become Hindus again after an elaborate Hindu ceremony carried out in a Shimla temple on Wednesday," said Tarsem Bharti, chairman of the All India Scheduled Caste and Tribes Association here Thursday.
Mahant Suryanath, a priest of the Sanatan Dharma Temple, first washed the feet of each of them and offered them water from the holy Ganges river to drink. Then he welcomed them to the Hindu fold amid reciting of Vedic mantras by Brahmins.
"We welcome the children's return to Hinduism," said Suryanath.
Bharti said: "Many more people want to return to the Hindu fold after they were converted to Christianity as they were induced into it."
In Himahcal Pradesh, an anti-conversion law came into effect On Feb 21, banning forcible religious conversions.
The All India Christians Council (AICC) had warned, "it would challenge the law passed by the state assembly as it was against the minorities and was unconstitutional."
New Delhi, March 1(IRNA) Continuing its offensive against Tamil rebels, Sri Lankan jets today bombed suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) positions in the island's northeast, killing 18 people.
The aerial raids were conducted by MIG jets on a rebel training camp in Vavuniya, PTI reported here quoting Defence Ministry sources who didn't give further details.
Sri Lanka has intensified attacks on LTTE after the rebels fired mortars at two helicopters carrying foreign diplomats and a government minister to the restive eastern Batticaloa district on Tuesday.
The navy yesterday attacked a rebel flotilla in the eastern waters, destroying two of the boats.
In another incident, naval patrol boats fired at and sank a large vessel believed to have been carrying arms for the rebels. At least 15 separatists are believed to have died in the two incidents.
Over 60,000 people have died in the decades-long struggle for independence waged by the LTTE. With the surge in fighting since December 2005, over 3,800 lives have been lost on both sides.
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid hit centuries apiece as India defeated defending champions Sri Lanka by 157 runs in a Group A match in the 1999 World Cup in England.
Ganguly notched up a magnificent 183 and Dravid made a solid 145 to virtually scupper Sri Lanka's chances at the County Ground in Taunton, May 26.
The duo shared the first triple century partnership in one-day internationals as India piled up 373 for six in 50 overs. In reply, Sri Lanka failed to put up a brave front and were all out for 216 in 42.3 overs.
The Sri Lankan fielding was atrocious with innumerable catches being spilled and the bowling was made to look like a Sunday afternoon romp as Ganguly and Dravid made mincemeat of the attack.
Left-hander Ganguly hit 17 fours and seven sixes to become India's highest scorer in ODIs beating Kapil Dev's 175 not out against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells in the 1983 World Cup.
Sri Lanka needed to beat India to stay in the competition, but faced a massive task of bettering their opponents' total.
They faltered right from the start and barring a composed 56 by Aravinda de Silva and 47 by captain Arjuna Ranatunga the efforts from the batsmen were not enough to beat India.
SCOREBOARD
India vs. Sri Lanka, Group A match, World Cup, County Ground, Taunton, May 26, 1999
India:
Sadagoppan Ramesh b Vaas 5
Sourav Ganguly c sub b Wickramasinghe 183
Rahul Dravid run out (Muralitharan) 145
Sachin Tendulkar b Jayasuriya 2
Ajay Jadeja c & b Wickramasinghe 5
Robin Singh c de Silva b Wickramasinghe 0
Mohammed Azharuddin not out 12
Javagal Srinath not out 0
Extras: (lb 3, w 12, nb 6) 21
Total: (for six wickets in 50 overs) 373
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Ramesh, 0.5 overs), 2-324 (Dravid, 45.4), 3-344 (Tendulkar, 46.5), 4-349 (Jadeja, 47.3), 5-349 (Singh, 47.4), 6-372 (Ganguly, 49.5)
Bowling:
Chaminda Vaas 10-0-84-1 (3nb, 1w)
Eric Upashantha 10-0-80-0 (3nb, 3w)
Pramodya Wickramasinghe 10-0-65-3 (1w)
Muttiah Muralitharan 10-0-60-0 (2w)
Mahela Jayawardene 3-0-21-0
Sanath Jayasuriya 3-0-37-1 (2w)
Aravinda de Silva 4-0-23-0 (1w)
Sri Lanka:
Sanath Jayasuriya run out (Srinath) 3
Romesh Kaluwitharana lbw Srinath 7
Maravan Atapattu lbw Mohanty 29
Aravinda de Silva lbw Singh 56
Mahela Jayawardene lbw Kumble 4
Arjuna Ranatunga b Singh 42
Roshan Mahanama run out (Tendulkar) 32
Chaminda Vaas c Ramesh b Singh 1
Eric Upashantha c Azharuddin b Singh 5
Pramodya Wickramasinghe not out 2
Muttiah Muralitharan c Tendulkar b Singh 4
Extras: (b 4, lb 12, w 8, nb 7) 31
Total: (all out in 42.3 overs) 216
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Jayasuriya, 2.1 overs), 2-23 (Kaluwitharana, 4.3), 3-74 (Atapattu, 14.2), 4-79 (Jayawardene, 15.3), 5-147 (de Silva, 28.1), 6-181 (Ranatunga, 34.3), 7-187 (Vaas, 36.4), 8-203 (Upashantha, 40.6), 9-204 (Mahanama, 41.3)
Bowling:
Javagal Srinath 7-0-33-1 (1nb, 2w)
Venkatesh Prasad 8-0-41-0
Debashish Mohanty 5-0-31-1
Anil Kumble 8-0-27-1 (2w)
Sourav Ganguly 5-0-37-0 (2nb, 1w)
Robin Singh 9.3-0-31-5 (4nb, 2w)
Result: India won by 157 runs
Toss: Sri Lanka
Umpires: R.S. Dunne (New Zealand) and David Shepherd (England)
Third Umpire: Ray Julian (England)
Match Referee: Cammie Smith (West Indies)
Man of the Match: Sourav Ganguly (India)
By Badal Mukherji
India's Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, until very recently, was heading to Budget 2007 quite comfortably. With a GDP growth rate over 9 percent and foreign exchange reserves in excess of $180 billion, the Indian economy seemed to be well under control. But inflation and state elections created concern.
The latter gets into the budget debate through the agrarian constituency that most MPs have. This perhaps explains why Chidambaram began his budget presentation Wednesday with the statement that to him agriculture was the first priority.
However, with its share in GDP below 20 percent, there is no way that agriculture can play a dominant role in the economy. There are two major policy corrections required.
First, in order to enhance productivity, infrastructure and technology bottlenecks in agriculture have to be lifted. Secondly, in order to provide gainful employment to a very large number of unemployed people, non-agricultural jobs must be found. Within a year none of these problems can be solved by an annual budget; if anything, it is a five-year plan that should address these issues.
However, in the approach document of the 11th Five-Year Plan there are some general discussions on the subjects but no tangible policies.
To make a realistic dent in the unemployment problem the most important instrument is the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector. But I have not seen any serious understanding of the problems of the sector either in the approach document or in the budget. Vast majority of the SMEs do contract jobs for large corporates but get bankrupted because those contracts cannot be enforced. They get broke in court cases. The state must intervene with a suitable instrument and protocol.
As for inflation, it is observed that there has been 6.2 percent increase in the wholesale price index, implying something like a 12 percent increase in the consumer price index, which is not extraordinarily high but high enough to adversely affect the budget of the lower middle-class and the poor.
It is in order to grapple with this that Chidambaram has lowered the import duties, sales, excise and other indirect taxes; measures that will also increase imports and further lower prices.
Again, international steel, cement and petroleum prices have increased sharply, and the tax component of each of these has been substantially lowered. Whereas industry seems to be unhappy about the lack of any tax sops, they should be thankful that Chidambaram has still avoided the most powerful contra-cyclical instrument of inflation control, which is increase in private and corporate income taxes.
Indeed, if a combination of the monetary policy already instituted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the reduction of indirect taxes introduced in the budget fail to significantly lower inflation, then an increase in income-tax rates across the board will be inevitable.
Hindsight is so easy that I almost decided not to talk about mistakes of the recent past, but to the extent that they have a bearing on the current policy, they need to be sorted out. One of the biggest sources of generation of incomes is capital gain, both on land and buildings and on equity.
In a country where income distributions are so grossly skewed, capital gain must be taxed. But last year taxes on long-term capital gains of equity shares were in fact abolished. Last month there were published estimates of the loss of revenue on this account - it is somewhere between Rs.150-250 billion.
The simple re-imposition of this tax will immediately mop up a substantial percentage of aggregate demand. The point I am trying to make is that whereas RBI has responded with the monetary policy to contain inflation, the discussions about the supply side problems are slightly irrelevant in the short run; there is serious need for appropriate management on the demand side.
With the savings rate of 32 percent and the investment of 33 percent, a good rate of growth is almost assured, especially as it is driven by the service sector, almost independently of what the government does. It is a matter of some concern that the service sector in turn is facing a very serious constraint in the form of supply of skilled manpower. I have not seen anything in the budget that takes this constraint head on.
I am afraid the problem of higher education is far more complex than a simple enhancement of budgetary allocation can handle. One needs not only a flow of quality students coming up through schools to colleges and universities and research institutions, one also needs just as importantly a matching supply of skilled teachers who can train the students.
But the academic scene has changed drastically in the recent past in as much as the top students going out of the universities are being bid away by the private corporate sector and hence there is nobody left for teaching at the higher level.
The consequence is that within a few years the same corporate sector starts bitterly complaining about the shortage of skills, without awareness of the fact that it is their own action that is partly responsible for the problem.
But this is not the full story; agencies like the University Grants Commission (UGC) have for decades permitted colleges and universities to virtually contribute nothing towards the cost of education. Both tuition for students and salary for teachers are miserably low. Growth depends on savings, investment and knowledge. I am afraid there seems to be no awareness of the last factor.
With the government losing its importance in overall economic activities, its responsibilities towards proper regulation of economy and towards social welfare increase substantially. But it has now become a standard practice that plan documents make noble statements about social welfare and budgets largely ignore them.
To sum up, this has been a carefully fine-tuned budget so as to least disturb the arrangement of policies that have generated such impressive growth as of the recent years, especially as that growth is almost entirely due to the private sector.
With large revenue collections in hand the state can turn to urgently required investment in infrastructure sectors. It will hope that better foodgrain output plus imports, wherever necessary, will, together with monetary policies already taken, help contain and lower the rate of inflation. But until such time as the analysis that explains the growth process is reasonably complete, no hard action on any front for who knows what might upset the apple cart!
Chennai, March 1 (IANS) Telecom service provider Aircel Thursday unveiled 3G technology in the city, for the first time in India, showing that the country is ready for the next generation of mobile services.
The union government has asked existing service providers to conduct 3G trials in specific cities.
Aircel, in collaboration with Chinese telecom major ZTE Corp., has conducted the trial of this technology for three weeks in the city, Aircel and ZTE officials told the media here Thursday.
ZTE has the capability to mix 2G and 3G technology in one network. The Chinese telecom giant is also researching R5 and R6 technologies (SoftSwitch-based control system of the commercial next generation core networks), which will comprise the 4G telephone services in future.
High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) services such as downloading of large volume of business data and streaming movies online at speeds of 3.3 MB per second have also been tested in India, for both computers and mobile handsets, using ZTE cards.
The services to be made available are internet access, mobile television, mobile video conferencing, video phone and voice and data services through the same equipment.
"We will be able to offer 3G mobile services upon necessary government clearance in a couple of months," Chinmay Mitra, Aircel group's chief technology officer said here Thursday.
At present a Nokia 6680 handset, which is 3G enabled, costs about Rs.25,000. Experts say once the 3G technology comes in, there will be more demand and hence instrument costs will come down.
Aircel's GSM subscriber base is touching five million and the company says it has the core network and switching in place to go 3G for its subscribers in a few months.
Aircel has also roped in Ericsson to provide its media gateway and servers and is also partner it for other telecom technology.
The 3G trials are taking place in Chennai, Guwahati, Coimbatore and Bhubaneswar. Chennai and Coimbatore will complete trial by March 31, Jagdish Kini, Aircel group's CEO.
By Arun Kumar,
Washington, March 1 (IANS) Al Qaeda and the Taliban maintain "critical sanctuaries" in Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, according to a top US intelligence official, but the US is not yet ready to play a direct role there.
Washington is working with Islamabad to ensure that the region does not become a safe haven for terrorists as Pakistan also has a "strong interest" in not allowing extremism to breed there, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday.
Vice president Dick Cheney, who has reportedly delivered a tough message to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, will "report to the president on what he learned", she told the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee on War Funding.
"But I do think that we need to remember that the Pakistanis have a very strong interest, also, in not having extremism breed in that area," she added, ruling out a direct US role.
Rice's comments came a day after Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told the Senate Armed Services Committee that while 75 percent of Al Qaeda's leadership has been killed or captured, a new generation of terrorists is training in Iraq, the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and East Africa.
McConnell, who recently succeeded John Negroponte, now serving as Rice's deputy as head of 16 agencies that make up the US intelligence community, said both Al Qaeda and the Taliban maintain "critical sanctuaries" in Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions.
Eliminating these strongholds will be top US priorities in Afghanistan this year along with breaking the link between militants and local warlords profiting from drug trafficking, he said.
Criticising Musharraf for making agreements with local tribal leaders who since have allowed the Taliban and Al Qaeda to regroup, McConnell said, "The president of Pakistan believed that he could be more effective by signing this peace agreement.
"And in our point of view, capabilities of Al Qaeda for training and so on increased," he said adding, "We believe (Pakistan) could do more.
"Many nation states are unable to provide good governance or sustain the rule of law within their borders," McConnell said without naming any one country. This sets the conditions for creating "failed states, proxy states, terrorist safe havens, and ungoverned regions that endanger the international community and its citizens," he said.
McConnell was joined by Lieutenant General Michael Maples of the Defence Intelligence Agency and Thomas Fingar, who chairs the National Intelligence Council, to deliver an assessment of current and emerging national security threats.
Terrorism remains the top threat to US security, and Al Qaeda, which is rebuilding itself and strengthening its ties to affiliated groups in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, is the intelligence community's pre-eminent challenge, they said.
Although conventional explosives are the terrorist's weapon of choice, Maples warned that intelligence agencies receive reports that Al Qaeda continues to seek chemical, biological and nuclear weapons for use in future attacks.
With the help of allies such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UK, Maples said, the US successfully has disrupted attacks, such as the 2006 plot to bomb US-bound trans-Atlantic flights, and brought several senior Al Qaeda operatives to justice, such as Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al Qaeda leader in Iraq.
In Iraq, Maples said, Al Qaeda accounts for a fraction of the overall violence, but its focus on executing large-scale, mass casualty bombings has magnified the group's impact on the country's complex security situation by accelerating Sunni-Shia violence.
"Conflict in Iraq is in a self-sustaining cycle, in which violent acts increasingly generate retaliation," he said. "Insecurity rationalises and justifies militias, in particular Shia militias, which increase fears in the Sunni-Arab community. The result is additional support or at least acquiescence to insurgents and terrorists, such as Al Qaeda in Iraq."
Maples told senators that Iraq's Shia militias have been discovered training in neighbouring Iran as well as in facilities operated by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
By Aroonim Bhuyan,
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) Though the allocation in India's budget 2007-08 for health and education has been increased, there is scope for even more, feels Minar Pimple, deputy director (Asia), UN Millennium Campaign.
"The government has actually committed six percent (of the budget) to education and three percent to health," Pimple told IANS in a telephonic interview.
This, he said, though marks an increase from the previous budgets, is still not enough from the UN's Millenium Development Goals' (MDGs) perspective.
"India still ranks 126th among 177 countries across the world in the human development index," Pimple, who oversees the UN Millennium Campaign in 11 countries in Asia, said.
He pointed out that the MDGs closely resemble India's National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP).
There are eights MDGs in all: eradicating extreme hunger and poverty; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and empowering women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development.
Pimple said that in India, 54 percent of pregnant women are still anaemic as also 50 percent of newly born babies. Besides this, a large number of children are stunted at growth.
"Hunger, malnutrition and maternal mortality - these are the issues India need to address on an urgent basis if it has to move up the human development index," he said.
Asked if he was unhappy with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's allocation for the health and education sectors, he said, "I am happy that the allocation for these sectors have been hiked. But I still see scope for more allocation in the health and education sectors. These sectors are a cause of concern for the UN."
He also said that inequalities in economic wealth have been growing in India in the last 10 years.
"The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. I don't see this budget addressing the problem of inequalities in economic wealth," Pimple, who operates out of the UN office in Bangkok, said.
By Sujoy Dhar,
Kolkata, March 1 (IANS) As vehicles whiz past E.M. Bypass on the city's eastern fringe towards the airport, a signboard on the left indicates the Kolkata Municipal Corporation's dog pound now run by Maneka Gandhi's People for Animals (PFA).
It is here that the adage every dog has his day comes true. This sprawling pound aims to restore the mental and physical health of stray dogs. And it particularly focuses on anti-rabies vaccination for the canines.
"We are as much working for humans as animals. The welfare of animals and humans is related since our stray dog sterilisation and anti-rabies vaccination programme only helps prevent rabies in humans," Debasis Chakrabarti, managing trustee, PFA Calcutta, told IANS.
"Since it costs only Rs.25 to vaccinate a stray dog against rabies compared to Rs.1,500 for a human, it is more advisable to spend money on vaccinating dogs for the sake of humans."
With an estimated 19,000 people dying from rabies in India every year, the NGO offers a new model to fight rabies and save thousands of poor people who cannot afford the costly post- bite anti-rabies injections. The injection costs around Rs.1,500, which not many can afford.
PFA suggests that the government spend more money on anti-rabies vaccination for dogs so that a dog bite in a locality is not cause for alarm among the victims.
Indian deaths from rabies account for nearly 35 percent of such deaths worldwide, according to data available with WHO. Worldwide nearly 55,000 people succumb to rabies, mostly caused by dog bites. Of this, Asia accounts for 31,000.
Chakrabarti said: "In a letter to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya we have written that the only way to tackle rabies effectively and economically is to vaccinate the stray dogs. Since the days of killing stray dogs in a cruel and futile exercise are over we can at best sterilise and vaccinate the dogs for our own well-being."
A visit to the otherwise forbidden zone of the PFA-run dog pound off E.M. Bypass offers a pleasant sight. Rows of cages where at least 325 dogs can be accommodated look relatively sanitised and the animals are treated with a lot of care.
PFA's veterinary doctor has conducted over 12,000 surgeries since 2002 as part of its ABC (Animal Birth Control) programme.
The West Bengal figure on rabies deaths is 162 in the year 2005, as provided by state joint secretary of public health S.N. Dutta quoting records of Kolkata's Infectious Diseases (ID) hospital, though he admits that the real figure could be much higher.
Though the West Bengal health department per se is not averse to the idea of vaccinating dogs against rabies, it feels the initiative should be taken by the state veterinary department.
"If the veterinary department wants funds from us we would provide the same. We already fund the vasectomy of stray dogs," Dutta told IANS.
According to Dutta, anti-rabies injections like Rabipol or Rabirix are distributed free among people who are BPL (below the poverty line) but the vaccines are not adequate to meet the demand.
"We offer the injections in two hospitals in Kolkata. But I must admit that the total production of the vaccine is not enough to meet the total number of patients who come to hospitals with dog bites," he said.
Dutta said even if dogs were vaccinated, a victim of bite would not know which dog was vaccinated and which was not.
But Chakrabarti differed.
"We have an extensive programme in every locality. Each dog that we sterilise or vaccinate is ear-clipped. We call it ear-notching so that we can keep track of the vaccination," he stated.
"For so many years we have been working to raise our own funds. PFA Calcutta is a flagship project of PFA nationwide and has set an example in animal management," said Chakrabarti.
He also said: "I have no faith in the state's veterinary department. They have no positive role to play and their contribution to the sterilisation programme is zilch."
With rabies causing a major health hazard in India and the government machinery not equipped to cope with the problem, it remains to be seen if the authorities realise the potential of the non-governmental organisations like PFA which runs Asia's biggest animal hospital ASHARI here besides a huge cat shelter.
Said WHO chief spokesman H.K. Pandey: "Since over 90 percent of the rabies cases are due to dog bite, what India needs to do is to vaccinate dogs. The dog population in India is much higher as compared to any other country and the canines should be sterilised to curb the growth."
Los Angeles, March 1 (DPA) Late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith's funeral is set for Friday after her estranged mother lost a court appeal to prevent her burial in the Bahamas.
Smith's mother Virgie Arthur had appealed to Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal against a lower court ruling that gave custody of Smith's remains to the court-appointed guardian for her daughter, Dannielynn.
The court said Smith be buried in the Bahamas next to her son Daniel, who died in September, three days after Dannielynn's birth.
The ruling came as the National Enquirer, a salacious tabloid weekly, reported that Smith had died of severe pneumonia and not, as many had speculated, from a drug overdose.
Smith, 39, died Feb 8 after collapsing in a hotel room in Hollywood, Florida.
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) Lt Gen Saibal Mukherjee has taken over as the Director General of Army's Medical Services here Thursday.
An alumnus of Government Medical College, Nagpur he was commissioned into the Army Medical Corps in May 1970. After obtaining MD in Radio Diagnosis from Pune University in 1977, he completed training in Radiation Oncology from the prestigious Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai and received MD from Bombay University.
A pioneer in the field of cancer treatment in the Armed Forces, he worked at the Malignant Diseases Treatment Centres, both at Pune and Delhi.
He has held important appointment of Commandant, Command Hospital Kolkata and Deputy Director Medical Services at HQ Eastern Command. He was commanding the prestigious Armed Forces Medical College before he took over as DGMS (Army). For his unflinching dedication to the cause of service, he was recently awarded Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.
New Delhi, March 1 (Indianmuslims.info) Maheshwar Dayal’s drama 1857 ki Dilli was staged at Sri Ram Centre here Wednesday, the third day of the ongoing drama festival organised by Delhi Urdu Akademy.
Directed by Muhammad Shahid, the drama consists of 19 characters with the central role played by the poor Delhi which had witnessed the turbulent scenes of death and destruction of innocent lives and loot and arson of public properties during the first war of independence 1857.
The success of this one-hour-and-a-half long play lies in making it palpably clear that the 1857 incident was in fact the first war of independence rather than a mere revolt when both Hindus and Muslims were getting united all over the country, and that the Indians lost it due only to the treachery of their own people.
The drama portrays the carefree life of children, the waywardness of the progeny of nawabs and the elite, and the concern of people like lalaji, nawab and munshi in a very successful manner. Besides, it also presents how unaware of the then ongoing developments were the womenfolk and servants.
Important characters of the drama were Munshiji (Seekh Kumar), Lalaji (Faisal Zaman) and Meer Sahib (Arshad Khan), etc. Besides, Gami Khan (Vikas Shukla) and Chudiwali played very good roles though their faulty pronunciation of Urdu words marred the warmth of the play.
Other characters include Lalaji ki Bahu (Afreen Fatma), Kanhayya (Naseem Khan), Madhav (Zahid Chauhan), Bahuji (Sunbul Shakeel), Pahalwan (Shahzad Khan), Nathu (Saleem Raza), Chowkidar (Mumtaz Ahmad), Maulvi Sahib (Irshad Saifi), Yusuf (Munis Ahmad), Gulshan (Sonu Singh), Bablu, Zeeshan and Nauneet, etc.
The roles of Gopal Pathak for light arrangement, and Rinku Kumar Gupta, Gopal Pathak and Qayyoom Yasmeen for music direction added to the success of the drama.
Akademy’s secretary Marghoob Haidar Abdi presented a bouquet of flowers to Muhammad Shahid, thanking him for his excellent direction while the playwright Rais Azmi conducted the entire show.
Lahore, March 1 (IANS) Pakistan Thursday received a big jolt as drug-tainted fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif were withdrawn from the upcoming World Cup, with officials saying they were not fit to play.
Announcing this minutes before the team's departure to the West Indies as well as the International Cricket Council's (ICC) announcement to get rid of drugs from the game, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said pacer Mohammad Sami and pace-bowling all-rounder Yasir Arafat will replace them in the 15-member team.
The withdrawal of Shoaib and Asif further weakens Pakistan's pace bowling. The country has also lost all-rounder Abdul Razzaq to knee injury and hard-hitting batsman Shahid Afridi for the first two World Cup matches following a ban over breach of ICC code of conduct.
The PCB banned Shoaib for two years and Asif for one year after they tested positive in internal tests and missed the Champions Trophy in India.
But the PCB, against the wishes of ICC, dramatically reinstated both. The ICC then moved the Court of Arbitration in Sports against the PCB's decision to re-impose the ban. The case is still going on.
"On verbal reports from the doctors, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif require more time to become fit," PCB said in a short statement here Thursday.
"Hence, the national selection committee, in consultation with the team management, has decided that Mohammad Sami and Yasir Arafat would replace Shoaib and Asif for the World Cup."
Shoaib and Asif, skipping the precautionary dope tests conducted by PCB Friday, had gone to England for medical advice. But it was speculated that they had gone to England to take masking agents to avoid traces of Nandrolone. They were to undergo further tests on their return to Pakistan.
Had Shoaib and Asif tested positive again, they would have faced life bans under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules. ICC is a WADA signatory.
The rest of the World Cup-bound players and the seven reserve players took the precautionary dope tests Feb 16. The results are yet to be declared.
Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq had said a few days ago that if Shoaib and Asif were to miss the 16-nation World Cup starting March 11, Pakistan's prospects of doing well would be drastically undermined.
Pakistan are clubbed with the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland in Group D. Following group league matches, two top teams from the four pools advance to the quarter-finals.
Coach Bob Woolmer conceded Thursday the ouster of Shoaib and Asif was a huge disappointment for Pakistan. "It is a big blow and I feel sorry for both these players," he was quoted as saying on a cricket website.
But he added: "They are missing a mega event. But last year we did well without Shoaib in Sri Lanka and the year before in India without either of the two bowlers."
Azhar Mahmood has replaced Razzaq but Pakistan will have to pick their XI from just 14 players for their first match against the West Indies March 13 at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica. Afridi will also miss the second game.
Hyderabad, March 1 (IANS) Four people, including two teachers, were killed Thursday when the boat in which they were travelling capsized in a lake in Nalgonda district, about 200 km from here.
Police said the local made boat went down in a lake in Kottapet village in Ketaypalli mandal.
A group of eight people had gone for hunting in a boat. The mobile phone of one of them fell into the water and all others came to one corner of the boat in order to retrieve it. The boat lost balance and capsized.
Fishermen in the area managed to rescue four people. However, the rest, including headmaster and a teacher of a school, were drowned. All four bodies have been recovered.
Tashkent, March 1 (RIA Novosti) Road construction workers have found a teenaged boy in Uzbekistan's mountainous region eight years after he was reported missing in 1998, local prosecutors said Thursday.
"The boy acts like a wild animal. He is afraid of everything, cannot speak and only makes snarling sounds," prosecutors said, adding that road construction workers found him.
Experts identified the boy after studying his photographs taken in 1998. His parents recognised the boy from among several other teenagers in a line-up.
Prosecutors said the boy would be returned to his family following a course of rehabilitation.
"The boy is being taught to speak and live among people. Experts are also trying to find out where and how he survived all these years," prosecutors said.
SAO PAULO, Marhc 1(NNN-PRENSA LATINA) -- Brazilian and foreign intelligence agencies Tuesday began mounting the largest ever security operations for a president visiting Brazil, in view of United States President George W. Bush’s visit on Thursday and Friday.
The aim is to prevent "possible terrorist attacks" against Bush while he is in Sao Paulo, the largest city in the southern hemisphere.
Social movements in Brazil have called for demonstrations in the country’s main cities to condemn the US president’s visit.
The security system has the active participation of the US Central Intelligence Agency, the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, the country’s Federal Police and Armed Forces, as well as other local and foreign institutions.
This is Bush’s second visit to Brazil. The first took place in the federal capital, Brasilia, in November 2005, and security at that time included 1,800 police and soldiers.
In Montevideo meanwhile, Uruguayan social sectors announced that protests against the visit of Bush to that nation on March 9 would take the form of demonstrations in and outside the capital.
Bush will be making a Latin American tour that will also take him to Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.
Daniel De Souza, secretary general of FUCVAM (National Federation of Housing Cooperatives for Mutual Assistance), confirmed that protests will also be held in the province of Colonia, 112 miles west of Montevideo.
Union leader Juan Castillo said that the Uruguayan people consider the US president persona non grata for his genocide of thousands of innocent people in the occupation wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
-- NNN-PRENSA LATINA
New Delhi, March 1 (indianmuslims.info) Though the Union Budget 2007-08 presented by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday does not come up to the expectations of Indian Muslims – whose socio-economic and educational backwardness has been a subject of discussion and debate for quite some time – it does hold some better prospect for them in the future.
Various packages have been allocated for different heads related to minorities. Rs 63 crore has been allocated for Minority Development Council, Rs 60 crore for Awqaf, and Rs 108 crore for 108 selected districts across the country viz. 1 crore for each such district. Muslim observers hope that these 108 selected districts are the same socio-economically and educationally backward districts that have been recommended for special attention in the Justice Sachar Committee Report.
Rs 210 crore has been allocated for scholarships to poor students doing secondary school, high school and higher studies courses. Besides, Rs 6000 crore has been allocated for mid-day meals for school-going children, and for education for all schemes.
New Delhi, Mar 1 (IANS) The central government Thursday approved the merger of two state-run carriers Air India and Indian making the new entity the largest airline in India.
The government will continue to be the sole owner of the entity. However, it will go for an IPO (initial public offering) after getting necessary approval from the finance ministry, according to sources.
"The two state-owned carriers have both suffered from years of under-investment in their fleet and products," Kapil Kaul, chief executive for South Asia for Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, a leading airline industry think tank, had earlier told IANS.
According to industry experts, the merged entity will have a fleet size of 125 new generation aircraft by 2010 after new aircraft are added and some of the existing ones are phased out to emerge among the top 30 carriers globally. The turnover will also top Rs.150 billion ($3.3 billion).
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) The cabinet Thursday gave its approval for enactment of the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill that aims at preventing sectarian strife and quicker justice to victims.
The bill envisages prevention of communal violence and offences, speedy investigation and dispensation of justice, said an official note issued after the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
It will also impose enhanced punishment on those guilty of communal violence, providing relief and rehabilitation facilities to the victims and empowering the states and central authorities to discharge their duties in assisting victims in the matter, it said.
By Probir Pramanik,
Mumbai, March 1 (IANS) After protesting the controversial blockbuster "The Da Vinci Code" last year, Roman Catholics in the metropolis have again sprung into action against the worldwide premiere of a documentary that claims to have found the burial place of Jesus that challenges the basic tenets the Christian faith.
The Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), a Mumbai-based community organisation, have written to the Discovery Channel's office in New Delhi requesting it to refrain from broadcasting the feature documentary scheduled for a worldwide premiere Sunday.
"The Lost Tomb of Jesus" is a feature documentary, directed by Emmy Award-winning documentary film-maker Simcha Jacobovici and produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron of the "Titanic" fame, Flex Golubev and Ric Esther Bienstock.
"The documentary trivialises the credibility of the Bible and the Christian faith," said CSF general secretary Joseph Dias.
"'The Lost Tomb of Jesus' hurts the sentiments in a pluralistic society and is an attempt for selfish profits and commercial gains or cheap publicity."
"We want the Discovery Channel to relent from broadcasting the documentary in India. We have lodged our complaint with the channels' Delhi office and are expecting a response on the matter by Friday," Dias told IANS here Thursday.
"The documentary can be best described as a hotchpotch, concocting archaeological adventure," he added.
The organisation said that the timing of the broadcast during the 40 days of Lint, observed by Catholics is very unfortunate as was the case with movie version of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code".
"The credibility of the Bible, which says that Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb and rose from the dead to rise to the heaven, is trivialised in the documentary," Dias said.
The CSF is also protesting references made in the documentary to Judah as the secret son of Jesus through Mary Magdalene and portrayal of Mathew, one of the writers of the Gospels, as a maternal relative of Jesus and the mention of the burial of Jesus' siblings in the same tomb.
According to the Discovery Channel website, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" traces the discovery of thousands of tombs containing ossuaries or limestone boxes that served as coffins in the first-century Jerusalem.
"One of these tombs was found to contain ten ossuaries. Six ossuaries have inscriptions on them and it turns out that every inscriptions in this particular tomb relates to the Gospels," it says.
"In the feature documentary, a case is made out that the 2000-year-old 'Tombs of the Ten Ossuaries' belonged to the family of Jesus of Nazareth."
The film also documents DNA extraction from human residue found in two of the ossuaries and reveals new evidence that throws light on Jesus' relationship with Mary Magdalene.
The documentary includes dramatic recreations, based on the latest historical evidence, illustrating accurate images of Jesus of Nazareth, his family, his followers, his ministry, his crucifixion and his entombment.
"We are showing our disappointment to protest and warn viewers that a lot of mistruth is being shown on the Discovery Channel. The viewers should take such kind of telecast with a pinch of salt," Dias warned.
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into corruption charges against Mulayam Singh Yadav, saying the chief minister of a large state like Uttar Pradesh could not function under a cloud.
Dealing a severe blow to Mulayam Singh Yadav ahead of state elections, the bench comprising Justices A.R. Lakshmanan and Altamas Kabir directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary enquiry into the allegations of assets the chief minister has disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Acting on a writ petition filed by Congressman Vishwanath Chaturvedi, alleging that Mulayam Singh and his family members had amassed millions of rupees of ill-gotten wealth, the apex court held these allegations could not be decided in a court of law.
If the CBI finds there are justifications for registering a FIR (first information report) after the preliminary enquiry, it could be so in accordance with law.
Stating that the chief minister of a large state like Uttar Pradesh could not function in a cloud when his integrity had been questioned, the bench said such an enquiry was essential in his own interest.
The petitioner had enclosed copies of the sale deeds of the properties acquired by Mulayam Singh, his two sons and daughter-in-law over the years and alleged the value of these properties was worth more than Rs.1 billion.
The petitioner alleged that Mulayam Singh had in 1979 declared a taxable income of just Rs.79,000. But within three decades, particularly during the period when he was chief minister, he had acquired all these assets through corrupt means.
The petitioner sought a direction to CBI to prosecute Mulayam Singh and his family members under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code.
Lucknow/New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) In a severe blow to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav ahead of assembly polls, the Supreme Court Thursday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into his wealth and property, allegedly far disproportionate to his known sources of income.
As news of the damaging ruling came in, the chief minister stayed holed up inside his house leaving his brother Ram Gopal Yadav, a Rajya Sabha MP as well as general secretary of the ruling Samajwadi Party, to tell the media that he would file a review petition in court.
"The chief minister will file a revision petition as we have no faith in the CBI to which the probe has been assigned by the apex court.
"We have no objection to the probe but let it be done by a sitting or retired judge of a high court or Supreme Court," Ram Gopal Yadav said.
Ordering the CBI probe, the Supreme Court bench comprising Justices A.R. Lakshmanan and Altamas Kabir said the chief minister of a large state like Uttar Pradesh could not function under a cloud when his integrity had been questioned.
It directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary enquiry into allegations that assets the chief minister had were disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Acting on a writ petition filed by Congressman Vishwanath Chaturvedi, alleging that Mulayam Singh and his family members had amassed millions of rupees of ill-gotten wealth, the apex court held these allegations could not be decided in a court of law.
If the CBI finds there are justifications for registering a FIR (first information report) after the preliminary enquiry, it could be so in accordance with law. The bench said such an enquiry was essential in his interest.
The petitioner had enclosed copies of the sale deeds of the properties acquired by Mulayam Singh, his two sons and daughter-in-law over the years and alleged the value of these properties was worth more than Rs.1 billion.
The petitioner alleged that Mulayam Singh had in 1979 declared a taxable income of just Rs.79,000. But within three decades, particularly during the period when he was chief minister, he had acquired all these assets through corrupt means.
The petitioner sought a direction to CBI to prosecute Mulayam Singh and his family members under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code.
The court ruling has given an impetus to the opposition demand that Mulayam Yadav be ousted from office. "He has no moral ground to continue in office and he must step down," demanded state Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari.
Added state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Keshrinath Tripathi: "We are going to raise this as an issue in the state assembly elections (in March-April)."
Surprisingly, however, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati did not even make a passing reference to the apex court order against her sworn political foe during her mammoth poll rally here Thursday afternoon.
The ruling comes just a few days after the Supreme Court disqualified 13 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators who had helped in the formation of the Mulayam Singh Yadav government
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) The make-or-break Class 12 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examinations began Thursday with most students jubilant that the first paper, on physics, turned out to be an easy one.
There were some, however, who felt the three hours allotted to them was not enough.
"I had to leave a couple of questions worth seven marks unanswered because I didn't have the time to attempt them," said a somewhat upset Sneha outside the Delhi Public School in south Delhi's R.K. Puram area. "But I am still expecting around 85 percent."
Most other students had different ideas.
"It was an easy paper! The derivatives were easy and there were very few numericals. That's all that I wanted. It was definitely an easier paper than last year's," said an excited Ritika, as her father beamed.
Seeing the kids' reaction, the anxious parents, many of who had camped outside the school gates where their wards wrote the exams, heaved a sigh of relief.
"Thank god his paper was good. Otherwise it would have spoilt his mood and he wouldn't have been able to prepare for his next paper well," said Anjana Bandopadhyay, whose son Animesh studies at the Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan.
Each exam is of three-hour duration with an extra 15 minutes as cool-off time. The Physics question paper this year had less numerical questions and simple ones on derivatives.
This year 502,688 students from 4,789 schools are taking the school-leaving Class 12 examinations in India and abroad - an increase of 9.59 percent from 2006. The students will take their exams in 2,276 centres, of which 33 are in foreign countries.
Hyderabad, March 1 (IANS) A central team will visit Medak district of Andhra Pradesh on March 11 to identify the location for a proposed Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
The district authorities have short-listed three villages for the institute in Sangareddy, about 70 km from Hyderabad. Out of the three, government land is available only near Lakadram village. Officials said if the central team selects any other location, the government might have to acquire private land.
The team comprising officials of the human resource development ministry is visiting the district amid rival demands over the location of the institute.
The opposition parties as well as leaders of the ruling Congress from some districts have demanded that the IIT be set up in the temple town of Basara in Adilabad district as was originally proposed.
The previous Telugu Desam Party government had lobbied for setting up an IIT at Basara and the state assembly had also passed a resolution in this regard.
In December last year when the central government sanctioned the institute for the state, the Congress government decided it would be located in Medak district because of its proximity to Hyderabad and thus to various infrastructure facilities.
The move evoked strong protests from the opposition parties, ruling party leaders in Adilabad, Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts and even leaders from Nanded in neighbouring Maharashtra.
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has constituted a panel to look into the issue but ruled out shifting the location from Medak district.
Thiruvananthapuram, March 1 (IANS) Kerala opposition leader Oommen Chandy Thursday lauded the achievements made by non-resident Keralites for doing development works for the state in the last 50 years of its formation.
"If you ask me what is the biggest achievement made by Kerala in the last 50 years of its formation, I have no doubt to say that it is the development works done by the Keralites, staying in the country and outside," said Chandy while interacting with the media here Thursday to celebrate the golden jubilee of the state's first government.
"It is they who have brought laurels to the state through their hard work and dedication and we should really applaud their efforts," added Chandy.
He said that Kerala, despite making huge progress in the field of healthcare and education in the last 50 years, has not been able to sustain it.
"It is rather sad that despite making huge strides in the education sector, we have completely failed to take the best of the growing information technology sector," said Chandy.
Speaking on the state politics, he said there was no difference between the two rival fronts in Kerala - the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) opposition.
"Look the Left opposed the tractor, computer, Smart City project at Kochi and now they all speak the same language as we do, so there is no difference between us and them," said Chandy, taking a dig at the LDF.
"We are very clear, we have the same set of ideology, when we are in power or when we sit in the opposition," he said.
Commenting on the nine-month old V.S. Achuthanandan government, Chandy said: "They have been able to pay the salary promptly and has anything happened beyond that?"
Taipei, March 1 (DPA) A grandson of late Taiwan president Chiang Kai-shek Thursday sued President Chen Shui-bian for libel for calling Chiang the main culprit in the 1947 massacre of thousands of Taiwanese.
John Chiang, an opposition lawmaker, filed the libel suit with the Taipei District Court. He demanded one Taiwan dollar (3 US cents) in compensation from Chen as well as a newspaper apology.
"President Chen's arbitrary conclusion of the Feb 28 incident can only deepen ethnic division. I ask him to hold a public debate with me," Chiang told reporters.
"If the debate shows that Chiang Kai-shek was not the main culprit, Chen must apologise to the whole nation and clear Chiang Kai-shek's name," Chiang said.
On Monday, President Chen blamed his predecessor Chiang Kai-shek for the 1947 massacre that killed tens of thousands of Taiwanese and said that Chiang should have been punished for his crimes.
Some US-based relatives of those killed in the massacre have asked Chen to set up a special tribunal to try Chiang in absentia.
In the past week, Taiwan has been holding a series of activities to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the massacre. But the opposition accused Chen of using the incident to fan ethnic conflicts and boost the ruling party's chance of winning the 2008 presidential election.
On Feb 28, 1947, Chinese nationalist inspectors arrested a woman vendor selling cigarettes without license in Taipei. The arrest triggered a mass protest suppressed by nationalist troops, who killed tens of thousands of Taiwanese, breeding hatred of mainlanders that still persists.
Those who were killed were the elite of the Taiwan society. Some were shot dead while others were bundled in sacks and thrown into the sea. Estimates of the death toll range from 15,500 to 28,000.
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) A day after presenting India's general budget for the next fiscal, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Thursday asked India Inc to help the government in containing the price line as the inflation rate had crept to two-year highs.
"I will urge the industry to hold the price line. I will ask them to cooperate in the fight against inflation," the minister said in a post-Budget interaction with top industry leaders here.
He said the government would also provide incentives to those companies that help in easing prices and tax others which tend to make undue profits by taking advantage of rising demand.
The finance minister has said the annual rate of inflation, based on wholesale price index, would be contained at between 3.8 percent and 2.1 percent.
During the interaction Chidambaram said he had already cautioned the industry against spiralling prices. "But I am happy most industries have not pushed up prices. But in cement, prices have gone beyond all reasonable limits," he said.
"Therefore, we say, we will try to reward those having inclination to hold the price line, but we will tax anyone using that opportunity for making huge profit," the finance minister said.
Presenting the national budget Wednesday, Chidambaram proposed to cut excise for those who retailed cement at up to Rs.190 per 50 kg bag from Rs.400 to Rs.350 and sought to raise duty to Rs.600 per tonne if the commodity was sold at a higher price.
He also told the industry leaders that the government has seen no cooperation from the cement industry even though they had promised to bring down prices.
According to the minister, moderation of inflation is possible through certain measures such as duty cuts announced in the budget 2007-08, the monetary steps undertaken by the central bank and supply side augmentation.
"Supply side must be augmented and price line, to the extent possible, must be held," he said, adding that inflationary bouts are not unusual in India.
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and many of his party colleagues were apparently none too happy when Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram sought to highlight the fact that he had significantly reduced customs duty on pet food at a time when there is so much resentment over soaring prices of basic food items.
While reading out his tax proposals Wednesday, Chidambaram announced: "Sir, I have good news for cat and dog lovers. I propose to reduce the duty on pet food."
The remark provoked howls of protest in the packed Lok Sabha. One opposition MP shouted: "You are thinking about dog food? What about the food of the common man?"
Chidambaram's announcement has come under a lot of criticism, in a way overshadowing the numerous people-friendly budgetary proposals that he unveiled in parliament Wednesday, Congress leaders told IANS Thursday.
According to well informed sources in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Manmohan Singh, who had discussed major budgetary proposals with Chidambaram, "lost his excitement" after listening to him announcing duty cut for pet food, which he thought was singularly ill-timed.
Added a minister: "The moment I heard him reading out that, I shook my head in disbelief. How foolish he could be to highlight it at a time when the government is under fire for the soaring prices for food items."
Senior ministers as well as party leaders claimed that Chidambaram's "dog show" in the budget speech had taken away the charm of the budget, which they said had many positive proposals for the common man.
"In fact, the finance minister has done a good job. But unfortunately he could not convince either the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) or the public that it was a budget for them," pointed out a leader.
"Even if he was giving some sops for pet lovers, why should he announce it in the main budgetary speech?" asked another Congress leader.
The opposition and the communists were quick to pounce on Chidambaram's love for pets.
"What a wonderful budget! Food for human being becomes costlier and dog food cheaper!" Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sushma Swaraj yelled as she came out of parliament house Wednesday.
"This government cares for cats and dogs, not for the poor," chipped in Telugu Desam Party MP K. Yerran Naidu.
Beijing, March 1 (Xinhua) China has completed construction of a thermonuclear fusion reactor, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced here Thursday.
The Experimental Advanced Super conducting Tokamak (EAST) is an upgrade of China's first generation Tokamak device and the first of its kind in operation in the world, said Chinese scientists
About 2,000 Chinese researchers are engaged in studying thermonuclear fusion and succeeded in generating an electrical current of 250 kilo amperes in five seconds.
Compared with similar devices in other countries, EAST is the cheapest and fastest to build and the first to go into operation. In 2003, China joined the 4.6 billion euro ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), the largest international programme dedicated to experiments in thermonuclear fusion.
"EAST fusion reactor has obtained state ratification for test results, use of funds, operational management and data authenticity," said a 34-person joint ratification committee at the CAS news conference.
Beijing, March 1 (Xinhua) Southeast China's Fujian province was on high alert after it confirmed a human case of bird flu, an official said Thursday.
Zhang Changpin, vice governor of Fujian, ordered compulsory inoculation of all fowls to prevent an outbreak of the epidemic. He asked the health, stock-raising and forestry authorities at all levels to be on high alert and monitor the situation closely.
Li, a 44-year-old farmer in Jian'ou city, developed symptoms of fever, cough and expectoration Feb 18. Tests by the provincial disease control and prevention centre showed that the patient was infected with the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.
The patient is said to be receiving treatment at a local hospital and is in a critical condition. She was confirmed to have made contact with dead fowls.
Li is the country's first human case of bird flu in about seven weeks. On Jan 10, a 37-year-old farmer in east China's Anhui Province had contracted bird flu but had recovered subsequently.
The virus has killed 14 people in China since 2003.
Beijing, March 1 (Xinhua) China's State Nuclear Power Technology Co. has selected Westinghouse Electric Co. of the US to provide technology for four nuclear power generating units to be built in China, according to a framework contract signed here on Thursday.
Under the contract, Westinghouse will provide four third generation pressurised water reactors, two in Sanmen City, in east China's Zhejiang Province, and two in Haiyang City, Shandong Province.
Beijing, March 1 (Xinhua) The governments of China and France signed a landmark cooperative treaty here Thursday to set new standards for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) expected by practitioners to help in the fight against AIDS and cancer.
The two countries will cooperate in academic and clinical TCM research, setting new standards for TCM products in line with western medical practice and developing new TCM products, said the document signed by Chinese Health Minister Gao Qiang and French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.
"TCM is useful for treating cancers, AIDS and other serious diseases, and is indispensable in disease prevention, health care, treatment and recovery," Gao said.
TCM, considered an alternative medicine in many Western countries, has attracted foreign patients because of its perceived ability to alleviate AIDS and cancer symptoms and improve their life quality. It has millions of followers in China because of its effectiveness and its low cost compared with Western medicines.
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said that France is ready to use its expertise in modern medicine to make TCM safer, more effective and to bring it into line with modern medical practices. France has had a total of 47 Nobel laureates, 8 of them are in the medical field.
China has now signed 26 cooperative agreements on TCM with foreign countries or international medical organizations, and more than 70 medical treaties with foreign countries including cooperation on TCM.
TCM, which has a 3,000-year history, has a unique system for diagnosing and curing illness, fundamentally different from that of Western medicine. Typical TCM therapies include acupuncture, herbal medicine and Qigong exercises.
Beijing, March 1 (Xinhua) Southeast China's Fujian province has put its health service on maximum alert to take preventive measures against bird flu after a a man was confirmed to have been infected with the virus, officials said Thursday.
According to the provincial health department, a 44-year-old farmer, surnamed Li, in Jian'ou city in the province developed symptoms of fever, coughing and expectoration Feb 18 and laboratory test results showed he had been infected with bird flu virus strain H5N1.
Zhang Changpin, vice governor of the Fujian province, has ordered compulsory inoculation on all fowls, and required local authorities to set up vaccination files and issue certificates to vaccinated animals.
Zhang required the health, stock-raising and forestry authorities at all levels to be on high alert and closely monitor it.
He also asked local workers to quarantine and check the animals at every stage when they leave farm, enter slaughter houses and are put in the market. Those who failed should be punished accordingly.
The patient is now receiving treatment at local hospital and is in severe condition. She was confirmed to have made contact with dead fowls.
Li is the country's first human case of bird flu in about seven weeks since China reported Jan 10 that a 37-year-old farmer in east China's Anhui
Province had contracted bird flu but had recovered.
H5N1 infection killed 14 people in China since 2003.
According to Fujian health authorities, China's Health Ministry has conveyed the information to WHO, health agencies in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and some other countries.
New York, March 1(IRNA) Some 25 American peace activists left San Luis, California, on a two-week peace mission to Tehran, the California-based `San Luis Tribune' announced Thursday.
The visit was organized by `Efforts for Peace', an international volunteer group dedicated to the cause of peace.
The organization has over 100 years of experience in peaceful activities and has played a significant role in many regional and international peace demonstrations aimed at promoting peace around the world.
The civic-minded group is to meet with ordinary civilians, the independent and government-run media, university instructors and students, religious leaders and representatives of religious minorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
According to the daily, the US delegation will also confer with politico-religious leaders and visit historical sites in Iran.
Details of the group's itinerary was not disclosed by the daily.
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Thursday declined to stay the release of Ram Gopal Varma's controversial Amitabh Bachchan starrer "Nishabd" that releases Friday.
However, a division bench comprising Chief Justice M.K. Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Khanna issued notice to Ram Gopal Varma, RGV Films and the censor board on a revision petition filed by film director Jahar Kanungo accusing Varma of plagiarism.
The court asked the respondents to file their replies by April 9.
Kanungo, who has made a Bengali art film called "Nisshabd", accused Varma of resorting to plagiarism and sought a court direction seeking stay on the release of the movie.
Kanungo's counsel Kartik Jai Shanker had mentioned the matter Wednesday before the division bench that posted the matter for hearing Thursday.
On Tuesday, a single bench of Justice A.K. Sikri had dismissed Kanungo's petition, squarely blaming him for not getting legal reprieve because he approached the court late.
'Nishabd', directed by Varma, tells the story of a 65-year-old man, infatuated with a girl of his daughter's age. The lead roles in the film have been played by Amitabh Bachchan, Jiah Khan and Rewati.
Karnal, March 1 (IANS) A number of houses belonging to the Dalit community were set on fire near here Thursday afternoon following the murder of a person of another community.
District police officials confirmed that Rajput community members in Salwan village in Haryana set 12 to 15 houses of Dalits on fire.
The action was meant to avenge the murder of Mahipal Singh, a Rajput, by some Dalits Tuesday, police officials said.
Additional police force was rushed to the village to defuse the situation.
The Rajput youths ransacked homes of Dalits before setting some of them on fire.
No loss of life or injury was reported, district police chief Sibash Kabiraj said.
The police conducted raids at several places to arrest the culprits behind setting fire to the houses of Dalits.
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) William Dalrymple's "The Last Mughal", a fascinating account of the final years of Bahadur Shah Zafar II's Delhi court during the first war of Indian independence in 1857, tops the list of non-fiction books while British journalist and author India Knight's "The Dirty Bits for girls" is top in the fiction list.
NON-FICTION
1. Title: The Last Mughal
Author: William Dalrymple
Publisher: Penguin-Viking
Price: Rs.695.00
2. Title: In Spite of the Gods
Author: Edward Luce
Publisher: Little, Brown
Price: Rs.695
3. Title: Trees of Delhi
Author: Pradip Krishen
Publisher: Delhi Tourism
Price: Rs.799.00
4. Title: Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq
Author: Michael R. Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor
Publisher: Vintage
Price: $12.75 (Rs.564)
5. Title: Mohandas: A True Story of a Man, his People and an Empire
Author: Rajmohan Gandhi
Publisher: Penguin - Viking
Price: Rs.650.00
6. Title: The Tao of Deception
Author: Ralph D. Sawyer
Publisher: Basic Books
Price: $22.50 (Rs.990)
7. Title: 13 Dec
Author: Arundhati Roy
Publisher: A Penguin Original
Price: Rs.200
8. Title: Reflections in a Sacred Pond
Author: Murad Ali Baig
Publisher: Tara
Price: Rs.295
9. Title: The World Economy
Author: Angus Maddison
Publisher: Academic Foundation
Price: Rs.1,295.00
10. Title: The Oxford Companion to Economics in India
Author: Kaushik Basu
Publisher: Oxford
Price: Rs.2,750
FICTION
1. Title: The Dirty Bits for girls
Author: India Knight
Publisher: Virago
Price: Rs.495.00
2. Title: Nineteen Minutes
Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Hodder Stoughton
Price: 6.90 pounds (Rs.595)
3. Title: The Peacock Throne
Author: Sujit Saraf
Publisher: Sceptre
Price: 11.99 pounds (Rs.1,034)
4. Title: Sophie Kinsella
Author: Shopaholic & Baby
Publisher: Bantam Press
Price: 7.25 pounds (Rs.626)
5. Title: The Inheritance of Loss
Author: Kiran Desai
Publisher: A Penguin Book
Price: Rs.395.00
6. Title: Animals People
Author: Indra Sinha
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Price: $12.50 (Rs.550)
7. Title: Ishq and Mushq
Author: Priya Basil
Publisher: Doubleday
Price: Rs.495.00
8. Title: Love in Torn Land
Author: Jean Sasson
Publisher: Doubleday
Price: 7.75 pounds (Rs.669)
9. Title: Shame: Forced into Marriage, Rejected by those she loved
Author: Jasvinder Sanghera
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Price: 7.50 pounds (Rs.647)
10. Title: HIDE
Author: Lisa Gardner
Publisher: Orion
Price: 5.50 pounds (Rs.474)
The list has been provided by Bahri Sons, Khan Market, Delhi.
Roorkee, March 1 (Indianmuslims.info) That the division of Muslim votes strengthens communal Hindutva forces came true once again with the results of Assembly elections in Uttarakhand. There are more than a dozen constituencies in the plains region of the State where owing to the division of Muslim votes the Congress candidates were defeated and the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the direct beneficiary of this political game plan.
In bringing defeat to the Congress, which had been in absolute power in the State for the last five years, Maulana Masood Madani’s Maidani Kranti Dal (MKD, whose candidates fought as Independents) and the Bahujan Kranti Party of Asim Singh – who had defected from Bahujan Samaj Party – played an important role. Though these newly-formed parties failed to make their debut in the Assembly, their participation in the electoral fray ultimately paved the way for the BJP.
In some cases more than one Muslim candidate fighting on the tickets of different political parties cost the Muslims very dear.
For instance, in Iqbalpur constituency of Haridwar district three political parties – Indian National Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Kranti Party – fielded Muslim candidates. Although these three Muslim candidates were defeated, the total votes cast for these three candidates proved to be more than those bagged by the winning candidate (in this case a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate, Choudhary Yashveer Singh).
It is widely believed in the political circles here that Maulana Masood Madani’s MKD had the defeat of Congress as its primary goal, and this ‘short-sighted’ policy went in favour of the BJP.
Abu Dhabi, March 1 (Xinhua) A series of hacker attacks launched by an extremist group in Turkey on Dubai eGovernment hosted websites have been foiled by web security team within two hours, the Gulf News reported Thursday.
"We believe the hackers belonged to an extremist group in Turkey as they also pasted a message in Turkish apparently referring to the killing of Hrant Dink and approving it," Said Salem Al Shair, eServices Director of Dubai eGovernment.
Hrant Dink, a 53-year-old Turkish journalist of Armenian descent, was shot dead outside his office on Jan 19 in Istanbul, which stirred a public outcry.
He was well known for writing controversial articles about the alleged Armenian genocide by Ottoman Turks during the World War I and had received a six-month suspended sentence.
London, March 1(IRNA) The pro-British Democratic Unionists (DUP) and their Irish republican adversaries, Sinn Fein, are set to retain their position as Northern Ireland's two leading parties after next week's elections to Belfast's assembly, according to a poll.
The poll, the only one to be published so far during the Northern Ireland election campaign, shows the DUP on 25 per cent and Sinn Fein on 22 per cent, compared to 25.6 per cent and 23.5 per cent at the last assembly elections in 2004.
The Irish nationalist SDLP was shown to be up to 20 per cent, compared to 17 per cent four years ago, while support for the Ulster Unionists, the province's previous largest party, was put on only 16 per cent, down from 22.7 per cent in 2004.
Predictions have suggested that the UUP may gain a handful of seats to boost their current 30 members of the 108 seat devolved assembly and that Sinn Fein's number of 24 could be added to and overtake the UUP's 27, which is expected to fall heavily.
The elections are set to pave the way to the revival of the assembly suspended four years ago following the agreement by the UUP, previously opposed to the Good Friday peace deal, to share power with Sinn Fein.
Just half of those polled in the survey, published in the Belfast Telegraph Thursday, said they believed there was a likelihood of a working executive after the election.
But only a quarter felt that DUP leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness could work well together in their designated positions as First and Deputy First Minister in a new power-sharing administration.
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) Cultures and cuisines will mix, giving India a taste of Europe when EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel comes here with the leaders of top food and liquor companies March 6.
"Boel will be accompanied by a 28-member delegation representing the agricultural and food processing industries of Europe," said Francisco da Camara Gomes, head of the delegation of the European Commission in India.
Boel, the EU commissioner for agriculture and rural development, will start her visit to India March 6. She will meet Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahay and leaders of the Indian business community.
She goes to Mumbai March 9 where she will meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and top business leaders.
"The key objective of the commissioner's visit is to reinforce and highlight common areas of partnership and growth in the field of agriculture and food processing technology," said Gomes.
Indians will get a chance to taste multicultural food at the International Ahaar Food Fair to be held at Pragati Maidan here March 8.
Top EU food companies like Arla Foods of Denmark, Danone and Lactalis of France, Gancia (Italy) and renowned liquor brands like Gonzalez Byass of Spain, Hilltop of Hungary, Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC) of France and Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) of Britain will be pitching their tent at the festival in the hope of getting a slice of the burgeoning Indian pie.
Singapore, March 1 (DPA) India's third-party logistics market is forecast to experience explosive growth, reaching a market size of $125 billion in 2010, market analyst Datamonitor said in a report published Thursday.
The prediction comes on the back of India's gross domestic product (GDP) growing at more than 9 percent a year and the manufacturing sector enjoying double-digit growth rates.
Third-party logistics, or 3PL, is the outsourcing of a company's logistics operations to a specialized firm that provides multiple services for customers as opposed to having the respective company having an in-house unit to oversee its supply chain and transportation of goods.
"With increased geographical distribution of incomes in India, the consumer markets are extending beyond the five metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad," said Datamonitor's report published in The Business Times.
"Strong foreign direct investment in automotive, capital goods, electronics, retail and telecom will lead to increased market opportunities for providers of 3PL in India," it noted.
Outsourced logistics, at one-quarter of the $90 billion Indian market, is set to increase at a compound annual growth rate of more than 16 percent from 2007 to 2010, said Datamonitor.
Recognising the potential in the contract logistics market, 3PL service providers are expanding as companies looking for more than just transportation of their products and raw materials, the report added.
Jaipur, March 1 (IANS) The Rajasthan government has lined up a series of events, festivals and competitions to celebrate Rajasthan Day during March 24-30.
The events will include performances by celebrities such as actor Hema Malini and singer Kailash Kher and plays by the Prithvi Theatre Group from Mumbai. Folk artistes have been also been roped in.
Rajasthan tourism department officials say that efforts are on to invite singing legend Asha Bhosle and musician A.R. Rahman.
The inaugural celebrations for 'Dhora Ri Dharti' (Land of the Desert), organised by the tourism department, will take place at the Sawai Mann Singh stadium here, Usha Punia, Rajasthan's minister of state for tourism, told IANS.
The ceremony will be followed by a dance performance by Hema Malini.
A variety of cultural programmes will be held against the backdrop of the Albert Hall Museum here over the week. These will include a concert by ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali at the Albert Hall. Prithvi Theatre Group will perform March 27.
The other events include a tattoo show, puppet shows, adventure sports, a golf tournament, a `Run for Rajasthan' and a maha aarti (prayers). Rural sports like kabbadi, kho-kho and tug-of-war will take place at the SMS Stadium.
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) Jubilant faces came out of the gates, fanning a wave of relief to the anxious parents waiting for their wards to finish their first paper of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 12 exams Thursday.
The board exams kick-started with Physics, a subject not everyone was very comfortable with. But students, who were seemingly tense in the morning, were quite satisfied with their paper after all.
"It was an easy paper!" said an excited Ritika. "The derivatives were easy and there were very few numericals. That's all that I wanted," she said as her father beamed.
While most of the students heaved a sigh of relief that the exams had started on a good note and that most of the questions were as expected, there were some who said that the paper was a little lengthy.
"I had to leave a couple of questions worth seven marks because I didn't have the time to attempt them," said Sneha. "Nevertheless, the Physics question paper this year is easier than last year's," her friend added.
Each exam is of three-hour duration with an extra 15 minutes as cool-off time. The Physics question paper this year had less numerical questions and simple ones on derivatives.
This year 502,688 students from 4,789 schools are taking the Class 12 examinations both in India and abroad - an increase of 9.59 percent from 2006. The students will take their exams in the 2,276 examination centres, of which 33 are in foreign countries.
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) An estimated 4.43 million people from abroad toured India in 2006, an increase of 13 percent over the previous year, Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni informed parliament Thursday.
Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Soni said: "The foreign tourist arrival to India during 2006 is provisionally estimated to be 4.43 million, showing an increase of 13 percent over the corresponding figure of 3.92 million during 2005."
The minister said Britain tops the list of countries from where India gets the maximum number of tourists. During last year, 651,083 tourists were from Britain followed by 611,165 from the US.
Among others, Canada, France, Sri Lanka, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Australia and Italy are the countries from where India saw a good flow of tourists during 2006.
To woo foreign tourists to India, the government was taking several steps like improving road, rail and air connectivity, participating in international tourism fairs and exhibitions, and using web marketing for better publicity and reach.
The minister said the government was according greater focus in the emerging markets, particularly China, Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia.
By Sudeshna Sarkar,
Kathmandu, March 1 (IANS) Twenty-one years ago Amulya Nath Sharma spent Easter in a Kathmandu police station for preaching before a gathering that also included Hindu relatives of churchgoers. Now, with the world's only Hindu kingdom becoming a secular state, he will lead Nepal's growing Christian community as the country's first bishop.
Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI elevated Nepal from a prefecture to vicariate and named Father Anthony Francis Sharma as the kingdom's first bishop.
Sharma, 69, embraced Christianity at the age of four when his mother, a widow, converted in India's Assam state. He will be ordained at an official ceremony in Kathmandu on May 5 when he will be sworn in by the Pope's representative, Papal nuncio papal Pedro Lopez Quintana, in a ceremony to be also attended by the archbishops of Patna and Bagdogra from India.
It is a moment of exultation for Nepal's Christian community who till the 1990s faced prison or other punishment for proselytising.
Conversions were a punishable offence in Nepal till last April, when a public revolt forced King Gyanendra to step down as head of government and the newly restored parliament declared the world's only Hindu kingdom a secular state.
Father Sharma remembers the earlier days when anyone found to own even a copy of the Bible faced imprisonment or deportation.
He joined the Jesuits in 1956 and spent his childhood in Kurseong in eastern India. Father Sharma was sent to the Philippines for higher education in counselling and psychology and returned to India again for several teaching assignments.
The most prominent was as principal and rector of Darjeeling's famed North Point School, where traditionally, Nepal's royal family used to send its sons for education.
Prince Dhirendra, the present king's younger brother who died in the palace massacre in 2001, was a student of father Sharma.
"I also admitted Crown Prince Paras to the school," the future bishop of Nepal told IANS.
Father Sharma returned to Nepal in 1984 when he was appointed superior of Nepal.
Now eight months away from his 70th birthday, the priest thinks the appointment should have gone to a Nepali Jesuit from the ethnic communities.
"My days are numbered," he said. "In any case, I will have to retire after six years.
"I want to spend that time preparing someone from the ethnic communities."
Though the first Jesuit missionaries arrived in Nepal as early as the 18th century at the invitation of the then Malla kings about 238 years ago, when the present king Gyanendra's ancestor King Prithvi Narayan Shah overran the smaller principalities and consolidated his kingdom, they were expelled on the suspicion they were spying for the British government.
However, after a pro-democracy movement in 1950 ended the tyrannical regime of the all-powerful Rana prime ministers, the Jesuit fathers were invited back, though only to run schools and hospitals.
New York, March 1 (IANS) Garlic supplements may not help reduce cholesterol or other blood fats, irrespective of the type of garlic consumed, says a new study.
Several earlier studies had shown that garlic could effectively lower cholesterol. However, researchers at Stanford University tested raw garlic and two different garlic supplements on nearly 200 adults with moderately high levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol.
After six months, the patients showed no improvements in their average cholesterol or other blood fats (lipids), no matter what kind of garlic they had consumed, reported the online edition of health magazine WebMD.
"Garlic supplements or dietary garlic in reasonable doses are unlikely to produce lipid benefits" in people with moderately high LDL cholesterol levels" the study said.
Researcher Christopher Gardner said the study was large enough and long enough to have detected any cholesterol changes.
"We even looked separately at the participants with the highest versus the lowest LDL cholesterol levels at the start of the study, and the results were identical," Gardner observed.
However, the researchers don't rule out the possibility that garlic has health benefits for other groups of people (such as those with higher LDL cholesterol levels) or those who require higher doses.
Mumbai, March 1 (IANS) The Gateway of India, Mumbai's most prized landmark is all set for a makeover after getting the nod from the city's civic body, which has cleared a Rs.460 million phase one revamp plan.
The Gateway of India precinct, a Grade 1 heritage monument, got the go ahead for a revamp at a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) Standing Committee meeting Wednesday. While the monument itself would remain untouched, the precincts would be made into a "no-parking" zone.
"The revamp plan would include expanding the pedestrian space in the area as well as relocating all public amenities at a facility centre," said P.K. Das architect for Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), the appointed consultant for the makeover project.
The facility centre, to be located behind the Shivaji statue, will house all existing ticket counters for ferries that currently clutter the pathway to the monument. It will have a water fountain, kiosks, toilets, a Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation stall.
"The plan is to create more public movement. In a nutshell, the phase 1 of the project will look at enhancing pedestrian movement over vehicular movement and at augmenting public facilities," Das told IANS Thursday.
But residents of thee nearby Colaba area have voiced opposition to the new plan. The Colaba Residents Welfare Association stressed that the 'no parking' clause would create traffic and congestion problems for them.
"By eliminating the existing space and not providing an alternative will only worsen our condition," said Lucior Gurung, a Colaba resident.
"We are opposed to such revamp plans that do not take the concerns of the local residents into account. We fear severe traffic congestion in the area with visitors parking their vehicles in the residential areas," Gurung said.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ravindra Pawar, who is also a member of the BMC standing committee, was also opposed to the revamp plans.
He said: "The plan makes no provision for parking based on the argument that most people who come to the Gateway use tourist vehicles and public transport. The cars belong to those who come to the nearby Taj Mahal Hotel.
How can they go ahead with the plan without permission from the traffic department?"
Satish Mathur, the city's joint commissioner of police (traffic) said he was yet to get a copy of the revamp plan.
Das, however, defended the plan. "Parking space for tourist buses and cars will be taken care of in phase 2.
"Tell me, where in the world is parking allowed in the precincts of a heritage monument? Moreover, the Taj hotel has its own provision for underground parking, which has for some reason been closed down.
"The BMC is proposing to build an underground parking lot near Regal Cinema close by," Das said.
Geneva, March 1 (DPA) If it's spring in Europe, it must be Geneva. This year, the lakeside motor show at the Palexpo congress centre in the Swiss city can be relied on to present a tempting array of previously unseen cars.
The 77th Geneva Salon event runs for 10 days - from March 8 to 18 - and 250 exhibitors from more than 30 countries are lined up to attend. Most cars on show will be entering the showrooms in time for the start of the car-buying season, but Geneva also gives a taste of what is further down the pipeline.
Among the wraps coming off here are those on the revamped version of Ford's family favourite, the Mondeo, glimpsed in the latest James Bond movie "Casino Royale".
The US maker has high hopes for the new car, which weighs in at Geneva in saloon, hatchback and estate form. Based on the platform of the successful S-Max van, the Mondeo boasts dramatic lines and a remarkably refined ride thanks to new suspension.
"People should be so impressed by what they see that they simply want to own one," said Ford's chief designer Martin Smith, who used to work for General Motor's subsidiary Opel.
Over at the DaimlerChrysler stand, the new third-generation C-class marks a bid by Mercedes-Benz to reposition the model as a genuine sports saloon rather than just the little brother of the executive E-class.
Leaked pictures of Audi's new A5 can be found on motoring blogs all over the Internet, but Ingolstadt's glorious new coupe will not be officially unveiled until Geneva.
The car takes its styling cues from the smaller TT, but sports much more flowing lines than motorists have been used to from this manufacturer. Under-bonnet and interior details will be revealed during the event.
Among the other new cars making their debuts in Switzerland will be Fiat's Stilo-successor, the Bravo, the face-lifted BMW 5 and 1 series saloons and two sporting Honda Civic variants. Renault is due to showcase the second-generation Twingo.
Japanese maker Mazda has turned the angular hatchback 2 on its head and come up with a much sleeker version of the city car on its Geneva stand. The platform will be shared with the new Ford Fiesta. Production of the new Mazda is being switched from the company's European plant in Valencia, Spain to Mazda's main factory in Hiroshima.
Mouth-watering super-cars this year include a new Bentley, a revamped, high-performance BMW M3 and a svelte Maserati Coupé powered by Ferrari's 4.3 litre engine from the F430.
KTM is best known for making motorbikes, but it will be bringing along the X-Bow roadster, a door-less, Audi-engine kit car. Dutch tuner Donkervoort returns to the fray after an absence of some years with a closed top sports car, the D8 GT. Abarth, famous for its breathed-on Fiats, is back too with a cooking version of the Punto hatchback.
Of course, Geneva would not be the same without a host of concepts challenging the way motorists look at cars. Switzerland has no auto industry of its own, but the country is home to numerous custom producers, including Rinspeed.
The Exasis is the latest weird and wonderful creation from the stable that has given us the "Splash", the "Senso" and the "zaZen" - a show stealer last year. It also marks the company's 30th birthday.
Visionary designer Frank Rinderknecht says the Exasis is supposed to look like a cross between an off-roader and Auto Union's classic cigar-shaped racing cars of yore.
The two-seater is made of electrically coated transparent plastic that comes from Germany's Bayer Materialscience company. The car weighs next to nothing around 750 kg in fact with acceleration in the Porsche-class. The lightweight two-cylinder motor turns out 150 hp, but the Exasis can be driven hard with a clear conscience the engine runs on bioethanol fuel, which boasts low CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions.
Bangkok/Berlin, March 1 (DPA) Thailand is a top tourist destination, and no force seems able to stop that - not even the 2004 tsunami, nor the bomb blasts in Bangkok around the turn of 2006.
But some tourists themselves, whether through incapability, carelessness or stupidity, make their Thai holiday a disaster and wind up in hospital, in prison or even dead.
The list of pitfalls is long. It includes overindulgence in alcohol and sex, and inadequate insurance coverage for accidents or illness. In addition, many tourists are unaware that smoking marijuana on the beach or in their hotel room is just as illegal as overstaying their visa.
Visitors who break the law and fail to pay the ensuing fine will end up in jail faster than they think. And those lacking funds cannot expect a gift of money from their country's diplomatic mission in Thailand.
Bangkok-based foreign diplomats and physicians in tourist centres such as Bangkok, Phuket, Ko Samui, Chang Mai and Pattaya are often astounded by tourists' carelessness.
"A lot of people are less inhibited while on holiday than they are at home," noted Olivier Meyer, a Swiss physician who practices in Pattaya.
Older men with fragile health are particularly at risk.
"Someone with heart problems who thoughtlessly plunges into Thailand's pleasures is endangering his life," Meyer said,
His colleagues agree - the heat on the beach, several shots of hard liquor, a Viagra and then vigorous sex with a bar girl is "a life-threatening cocktail".
Heart and circulatory failure, and diseases common in old age generally, are the most frequent causes of death among German tourists, according to the German embassy in Bangkok. Traffic accidents, often involving motorcycles, come next.
Some 160 Germans died in Thailand last year, many of them because of careless behaviour. The figure was about 120 in 2000 when fewer Germans travelled to the Asian country of palm-fringed beaches, Buddhist temples and elephant parks.
The German foreign ministry in Berlin said its embassy in Bangkok registered about 120 arrests of German tourists every year, usually because they committed fraud or remained in the country longer than permitted.
Visitors spending more than four weeks in Thailand require a visa. Missing deadlines and failing to pay fines can result in arrest and deportation.
Safety tips put out by Germany are constantly updated, as they were for Thailand in early January following a series of deadly bomb blasts in Bangkok.
Overall, however, tour operators regard Thailand a safe destination, especially its traditional resorts. Attacks on tourists are seldom.
Motorcycle rentals are probably cheaper at Thailand's popular tourist spots than anywhere else.
Motorcycles with engine sizes of 700 cubic centimetres and more can be had for less than 20 euros (27 dollars0 per day. Mopeds cost as little as 5 euros per day.
Rental firms often do not ask to see a driving licence, and the vehicles are rarely insured, so tourists carry the full risk, often without knowing it. And sometimes they have no health insurance that covers them while abroad.
Helmetless holidaymakers wearing T-shirts and shorts, their hair blowing in the wind, can be seen zipping along the shore on motorcycles, particularly in Pattaya, sometimes even with a bottle of beer in their hand.
Motorcycle rental firms also do good business in lesser-known places such as Hua Hin and on the island of Koh Tao.
The Bangkok-based Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) wants all tourists to obey the country's laws and customs.
"Fortunately, only a fraction of our guests get into trouble," said Satit Nillwongse, executive director of TAT's Europe department.
London, March 1 (IANS) A Lebanese businessman has been charged with the murder of his British Indian police officer wife.
Fadi Nasri, 33, along with another man, 37-year-old Roger Lesley, were charged Thursday with the murder of special constable Nisha Patel Nasri, who was stabbed to death outside her home in Wembley May 11 last year, according to Daily Mail newspaper.
Nasri, who runs a limousine business, was held on suspicion of murder in north London Tuesday.
Nisha, who grew up in London, had been working as a special constable for three-and-a-half years.
The 29-year-old constable and her husband were celebrating their wedding anniversary on the night of the attack.
Two other men Tony Emmanuel, 41 and Jason Jones, 35, are already under police custody and have been charged with the murder.
The motive for the attack on Nisha is still not clear. She was killed with a cook's knife, which was missing from her kitchen after the attack. Later, police was able to recover the knife and it was found to carry not only Nisha's DNA, but also that of her suspected attacker.
By Qaiser Mohammad Ali,
Mumbai, March 1 (IANS) Admitting that his shot selection has been poor, ace batsman Virender Sehwag hopes that luck will "smile" during the World Cup so he can give India flying starts again.
"Luck has not been with me for sometime now. I hope the bad times are over and luck will smile on me during the World Cup," Sehwag told IANS in an exclusive interview here.
"My shot selection has also not been good in the recent past and it contributed to my poor form," he said in his hotel room before catching the early morning flight to West Indies Thursday with the entire Indian team.
The 16-nation World Cup begins March 11, and India plays its first match against Bangladesh March 17 in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Sehwag, who showed signs of regaining his touch with a strokeful 46 against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam in the last one-dayer before the World Cup, is aiming to score consistently in India's two warm-up matches in the West Indies to cement his place in the XI.
"My goal is to put up consistent performance. I have worked hard in the off time in Delhi and hope it will bear fruit. Hope good times are just around the corner," he said of his long practice sessions under his childhood coach Amar Nath Sharma.
"I will take it match by match in the West Indies," said the 28-year-old, the lone Indian to have scored a triple Test century.
Sehwag's hopes emanate especially from his 46-run knock in which he looked in complete control of shot selection. In that series, he returned to the Indian team after being rested for the preceding series against the West Indies owing to poor form.
He was, however, quite bizarrely run out when looking set to notch his 25th half-century, and possibly his eighth century. The run out drew a lot of criticism for his casual approach, but Sehwag emphasised that his mind was very much on the game.
"I was not distracted; I was not thinking anything else except cricket. I just thought I was in the crease," he commented on his dismissal for the first time in the media.
After he completed the run, wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara broke the wickets at the bowler's end to take Sehwag completely by surprise.
"The only thing that I was thinking was that I had missed a boundary; that had I played the shot well it could have crossed the boundary."
Sehwag, who has aggregated 4,833 runs in 167 one-dayers, also clarified that removal from vice-captaincy has not affected him or his batting.
"After all, when I started playing cricket I never expected that one day I would become the Indian team's vice-captain, so when I was removed it did not affect me," he said.
"You have to bat responsibly at all times, whether you are vice-captain or not."
Sehwag said the last two international innings have given him a lot of confidence.
"When you are not scoring runs your confidence is low. During the break (he was rested against the West Indies series) I cleared my mind. I came back with a fresh mind against Sri Lanka," he said.
Sehwag had extended practice sessions, ironing out flaws in his technique with Sharma's help. "I had uninterrupted batting sessions of up to two hours during the break. It helped me improve my concentration level."
"Usually, 30-35 overs are bowled in two hours in one-day internationals. And if you bat for that period, you can carry that concentration to the rest of the (50-over) innings," he explained.
Now Sehwag is looking to score some more runs in the warm-up matches against the Netherlands and the West Indies March 6 and 9 at Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica to enhance his confidence.
"Scoring well in those matches will help a great deal," said the cricketer who was the top scorer with 82 in the 2003 World Cup final against Australia in Johannesburg.
Cape Town, March 1 (IANS) The International Cricket Council (ICC) Thursday decided to "target test" players for banned substances during the forthcoming World Cup, in the wake of Pakistani players Shoaib Ahktar and Mohammed Asif testing positive during the Champions Trophy in India last year.
The target tests will be in addition to ICC's commitment to randomly test four players - two from each side - in 17 of the 51 matches in the 16-nation meet starting March 11 in the West Indies.
The tests may take place at any time from Friday onwards, when the tournament's support period starts ahead of the warm-up matches.
"Both Shoaib and Asif have played for Pakistan over the past few months despite testing positive for prohibited substances last year. That is a fact neither player has disputed and it is also a fact that has caused the game a high level of embarrassment as a result," said Malcolm Speed, chief executive officer of the ICC, during a board meeting here.
He added that the ICC wants to make sure that all the players who take part in the World Cup are free from banned substances.
"From an ICC perspective, having the option to target-test as well as the already-scheduled tests in place means that if a player does have anything in his system then there is a very strong possibility he will be caught out," said Speed.
Speed went on to add that the ICC is committed to maintain zero tolerance of drugs in the game and are loyal to the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) Code, to which they signed in July last year.
"Since signing the WADA Code we have produced a DVD on the ICC's anti-doping policy that was distributed to all teams at the Champions Trophy," revealed Speed.
"The DVD has also been sent to the six other teams taking part in the World Cup and it has been translated into Hindi and Urdu."
Speed said that the ICC has embarked on a mission to help all its members to educate the players and officials and empower them to introduce a WADA-compliant policy.
Shoaib and Asif tested positive of banned substance Nandrolone during an internal test conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in October during the Champions Trophy. Shoaib was handed a two-year ban and Asif for one year but the PCB dramatically reinstated both the players, much against the wishes of the ICC.
The ICC then moved the Court of Arbitration in Sports against the PCB's decision to re-impose the ban and the case is still going on.
The ghost of dope test again returned Thursday as the duo was withdrawn from the World Cup squad on grounds of fitness. It seems that the PCB is not willing to face further humiliation as the chances are that the duo will again test positive in the target tests conducted by the ICC.
Phulwari Sharif, March 1 (Indianmuslims.info) Imarat Shariah Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand has expressed grave concern over the spitting of communal venom by Vishwa Hindu Parishad general secretary Praveen Togadia in Bihar, saying that his (Togadia’s) inflammable statements can poison the atmosphere of brotherhood and communal harmony in the State if stern action is not taken against him.
Imarat Shariah Nazim Maulana Aneesur Rahman Qasmi said here Wednesday, “It seems the State government has given him free hand (to do/say whatsoever he likes) that he is making venomous statements against a particular community in Bihar and polluting the atmosphere of the State.�
The Imarat Shariah leader added that Togadia has made such inflammable statements in Hajipur and Siwan that the government should take stern action against him forthwith. “The government should arrest him,� he said without mincing any words.
He further informed the presspersons that Imarat Shariah had taken serious notice of such statements made by Bajrang Dal and RSS activists in Kishunganj and Darbhanga the other day when it addressed a letter, along with newspaper clippings of their diatribe, to Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah, urging the government to ban making inflammatory speeches and take action against those who are hell bent upon doing so.
New Delhi, March 1(IRNA) India's Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath Thursday invited Australian companies to tap the growing opportunities in India's mining, farm and education sectors.
"The mining sector should be of great interest to you. The economies of India's traditionally backward states, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa, have the potential to grow from USD 30 billion in 2003 to USD 75 billion by 2015 if they tap their mineral wealth, and in the coming years I expect Australian companies with their state-of-the-art clean coal and mining technologies to play a huge role in developing the wealth of these states," said Kamal Nath while addressing the 16th meeting of the India-Australia Joint Business Council organized by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here Thursday.
The farm sector stakeholders may have a lot to offer to India in latest farming methods and cropping patterns, he said.
India, Kamal Nath said, was in the process of revitalizing its farm sector massive investments in processing capabilities and cold chains. It was also looking to diversify its crop mix.
"I believe that Australian food processing companies can play a big role in developing boutique crops in India such as canola, Chinese vegetables, grapes, organic wheat and berries," he pointed out.
Kamal Nath said the education sector had a vast scope for Australian firms and institutions. This was already becoming evident from the fact that last year Australia edged out the UK to become the second most sought after destination for Indian students, attracting 15,000 students in 2006, he added.
Responding to the concerns expressed by Habil Khorakiwala, president of FICCI, on availability of visas for business travel, Australian Minister for Trade Warren Truss said the two governments had agreed to resolve the issue so that multiple entry visas could be made easily available to business visitors.
Truss, who is leading the largest-ever business delegation to India, alluded to the synergies that existed between the two countries that now needed to be translated into concrete business ties. For instance, he said, Australia has huge mineral and energy resources and India has a huge demand in these sectors.
He said food processing in India offered big opportunities for Australian companies. He said he would initiate a major study in Australia on India's food processing industries in order to assess how Australian companies could assist Indian companies in this sector.
The meeting was also addressed by Brian Hayes, chairman of the Australia-India JBC, Vikram Kapur, chairman of the India-Australia JBC, and Habil Khorakiwala, FICCI president.
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) Riding a 15 percent annual growth in arrivals over the last four years, India will be the partner country at ITB Berlin, the world's largest travel and trade show March 6-11 where it will showcase its rich cultural and scenic diversity that is a huge draw globally.
"As a partner state, ITB Berlin will provide the ideal platform for showcasing India's unique tourism products and promoting India as a preferred destination," a tourism ministry official said.
"Significantly, it gives an opportunity (for the) Incredible India (promotion campaign) to be the focus of five-six million people for one week and reach out to the largest audience of travel industry representatives, decision makers, the media and potential travellers," the official added.
"The world is turning towards India and India is open for business like never before. In such an environment, Incredible India is boldly and surely taking on the world," the official maintained.
As the partner state, India will host the opening ceremony, during which a cultural programme will feature a unique fashion and audio visual presentation - 'The Tree of Life' - portraying the country's rich textile craft heritage in contemporary terms, while retaining its cultural ethos.
The show will be a spectacular visual journey across some of the most craft rich areas of India and will tell the historic story of its 16 million crafts persons who, till today, practise their art much as their ancestors did.
Presented by Ritu Kumar, one of India's foremost fashion designers, the presentation will highlight the influence of Indian design motifs on the world.
The dance extravaganza thereafter will include the Kathak and Mohiniattam dance forms, musicians from Rajasthan, folk dancers from Gujarat and Orissa, drummers from Manipur, exuberant and rhythmic dancers from Punjab, martial dance forms, acrobatic acts and a lot more.
Tourism Minister Ambika Soni will inaugurate the India pavilion on March 7.
Set up in an area of 870 square metres, it will see the participation of 20 state tourism departments, organisations like Air India, the Confederation of Indian Industry, and the India Tourism Development Corp, as also some 45 travel agents, tour operators, hotels and resorts.
The daily activities at the pavilion that will have "Colours of India" as its theme will comprise cultural performances, live demonstration of Ayurveda and art and craft skills, application of henna, and distribution of brochures, posters, bindis, bangles and other promotional material.
A 100-strong cultural group from India will give a feel of Indian folk and traditional dance forms to the visitors.
This apart, graffiti splattered on the shuttle buses plying within the fair ground will further enhance the India ambience.
A host of seminars on subjects like business opportunities in India, trekking in the Himalayas, medical and wellness tourism, and scuba diving and river rafting will also be held on the occasion.
For 40 years, ITB Berlin has been a driving force in the worldwide travel industry, attracting high-ranking professionals with decision-making powers, and has shown a steady increase in the number of exhibitors and visitors year-on-year.
"As a principal destination for business travellers and tourists, India has established a firm place in world tourism. Due to the country's political stability, its strong economy and an increasingly favourable business and investment climate, the growth prospects for the country in tourism are substantial," the tourism ministry official pointed out.
Proof of this is found in the fact that Conde Nast Traveller, the world's leading travel and tourism journal, has ranked India amongst the top four preferred holiday destinations of the world.
The website Lonely Planet has placed India amongst the top five destinations in a survey of 167 countries.
By Manish Chand,
New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team will submit a formal request Thursday afternoon to the Argentine authorities to extradite Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi wanted for his role in the Bofors bribery scandal in India, India's envoy Pramathesh Rath said.
"The CBI team has arrived in Buenos Aires and will submit an extradition request along with necessary documents translated into Spanish at 4 p.m. (12.30 am IST) Thursday," Rath told IANS over the phone from Buenos Aires.
"We are well within the deadline," he said when asked whether New Delhi has been late in making a formal extradition request for Quattrocchi, who has been accused by the CBI of receiving $7 million in commissions for helping to fix the $2.1 billion gun deal.
According to Argrnine law, the Indian authorities have to submit an extradition request along with relevant documentation within 30 days of the arrest of a person who is sought to be extradited, Rath explained.
Quattrocchi, the sole surviving accused in the Bofors gun deal scam that rocked India in the eighties, was detained near the picturesque Iguazu Falls in Argentina's Misiones province where he was holidaying with his wife on Feb 6 and was released on bail on Feb 23.
"We have lined up a panel of Argentine lawyers to argue for the extradition of Quattrocchi. It's for