The Swiss water expert appointed by the World Bank to arbitrate the Baglihar dam dispute between India and Pakistan would deliver his final verdict on 6-8th November in Washington DC that would be binding on the two sides.
The announcement was made by Pakistani officials in Islamabad after attending yet another hearing on the Baglihar project held by the Swiss expert, Ramind Lafeeti, in London on Tuesday.
The head of Pakistani delegation and Federal Secretary (Water and Power) Ishfaq Mehmood said Pakistan was satisfied over the way the hearings were conducted.
State-run APP newsagency quoted Mehmood as stating that it gave them a good opportunity to effectively put across their viewpoint.
During the discussion on the Baghliar dam, the technical experts of the two countries gave their oral arguments because they had already submitted their viewpoints in written form.
Ishfaq said the mediator would convene another meeting of the representatives of the two sides in October in Paris to have further discussion on the draft prepared by him before announcing his decision. This is to provide another chance to the two sides to air their views.

 

 

The US has asked India to throw open the financial services sector including the pensions and insurance, so that the American capital flows into the Indian market get a fillip.
Expressing concern over the restrictions in India in the financial services sector, the US took up this issue at the India-US Trade Policy Forum, the high level institutional set-up between the two countries.
''Restrictions adversely impact the flow capital,'' US Deputy Trade Representative Karan Bhatia said after the meeting of the Forum which he co-chaired along with Commerce Secretary S N Menon.
Five focus groups agriculture, trade, tariff and non-tariff barriers, services, investment and innovation will thrash out the difficult issues in each of the five areas.
Bhatia, said if India aspires to become a financial services hub like London, Hong Kong and New York, New Delhi must do away with the entry norms for the financial services players.
The level of India-US trade dialogue has come a long way as the two-way trade is close to touching US$ 27 billion from a level of US$ 7.5 billion in 1994.
He added, while the level of the US foreign direct investment (FDI) in India at around US$ 6 billion, is much below the potential, it increased in 2004-05 by 28 percent and Indian FDI to the US went up by 82.5 percent at US$ 522 million.
As regards the multilateral talks, Bhatia said he has taken up the issue with Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and emphasised the need for maintaining the level of ambitions in the ongoing Doha Round of trade negotiations in the World Trade Organisations.
Agriculture remains the backbone of the negotiations. He denied the charge that the US was not forthcoming in giving meaningful offers.
He said any deal in agriculture, which is not ambitious enough, would not be ''embraced'' by the US Congress

 

 

While serious efforts are underway to implement the quota regime in Central universities, a Parliamentary Committee has said that there is a serious shortage of faculty at the current level of demands.
As per the information available, in the 16 Central universities, there were 1,988 vacancies as on March last year, with the Banaras Hindu University and Delhi University having as many as 687 and 396 vacancies respectively, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD said in its report.
"Situation is also far from satisfactory in JNU, Visva Bharti and Mizoram University", it said noting that out of total vacant 1,988 posts, 1,056 posts belonged to lecturer category.
Expressing surprise over such a large number of posts of lecturers lying vacant, which was the entry point to a University, the Committee apprehended that situation might be worse in State Universities.
In order to attract and retain the qualified and highly motivated teachers, the Committee felt that there was a need to supplement their salaries with an attractive package of perquisites and support for academic activities coupled with appropriate recognition with outstanding achievement.
"Our higher education system is faced with many challenges today. The pressure on higher education system is going to further increase due to large number of additional students expected to join the higher education institutions in coming years, particularly due to upward pull generated by popular interventions like Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day Meal Scheme", it said.
Expressing dismay over the "tremendous imbalance" in access to higher education in urban and rural areas, the Committee said higher education in the country was largely a "pro-rich and urban phenomenon".
Turning to SCs/STs in the higher education, the Committee noted the UGC had introduced the scheme of establishment of SC/ST cells in the universities in 1983 with a view to provide information regarding facilities available for them in universities and colleges.
But these attempts have not helped much, it said adding the enrolment of SCs in higher education has ranged between 8.6 per cent in 1990-91 to 11.3 per cent in 2002-03. Enrolment of ST students in higher education was between 2.1 per cent to 3.6 per cent in 1990-91 and 2003-04 respectively.
It recommended that special programmes for encouraging students from backward and minority communities also needed to be prepared urgently as their participation in higher education was "abysmally low", as compared to their percentage in total population.
On women's participation in higher education, the Committee said their participation in the areas with great demand such as management, engineering, technology and medicine was very low in the country.
"Can a nation progress in real terms and catch up with others in this fiercely competitive world with their women- folk remaining virtually outside the higher education system", it asked.
The Committee recommended that the participation of women in professional courses, which is abysmally low at present, needed to be improved manifold without further delay. More and more women as engineers, professors, lawyers, doctors, architects and extrepreneurs could mould the face of the country to a great extent, it said.
Emphasising on vocational education, it felt that industry-institution linkages may be encouraged as this would take care of many problems simultaneously - promote relevance in the curriculum, enhance the employability of students, provide training facilities and mobilising some resources.
On the importance of management in higher education, the Committee recommended to ensure that academic decision in the institutions of higher learning was taken on merit and the government control must be reduced.
On the role of private universities, the Committee desired that the government should bring a comprehensive legislation for providing effective machinery to ensure that only genuine and quality private providers of higher education services remained in the field.

 

 

Myanmar's military junta has extended the period of house arrest for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi by another year, a Home Ministry official said.
Security outside Suu Kyi's lakeside home in the capital, Yangon, had been stepped up ahead of the extension of her detention, with armed police and barricades preventing any traffic from passing.
After Suu Kyi was allowed to meet a senior United Nations official a week ago, members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party had been quietly hoping the former Burma's military rulers might release her.
Amid the growing optimism, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan made a direct appeal to junta supremo Than Shwe yesterday to free the Nobel peace laureate when her existing six-month detention order expired this weekend.
''I take this opportunity to appeal to General Than Shwe and the government to release her,'' Annan said in a statement. ''I am relying on you, General Than Shwe, to do the right thing.''
Suu Kyi, 60, has spent more than 10 of the past 16 years behind bars or under house arrest. Her latest stretch of detention started ''for her own safety'' on 30th May, 2003 after clashes between her supporters and pro-junta demonstrators.
Today is also the anniversary of the junta's 1990 ballot-box humiliation at the hands of the NLD, which won 392 of 485 parliamentary seats in the first multi-party elections in three decades but was denied power by the military.
Myanmar has been under military rule since a 1962 coup.

 

 

Almost 3,000 people were killed as a powerful earthquake measuring 6.2 quake on the Richter scale struck at 0524 hrs IST (5:54 am local time) near the ancient city of Yogyakarta in central Indonesia.
Social Affairs Ministry official Sopar Jaya said that fourteen hours after the quake struck, the number of dead stood at 3,002, with more than two-thirds of the fatalities occurring in Bantul, closest to the epicenter.
Arifin Muhadi of the Indonesian Red Cross said that the numbers just keep rising, adding that nearly 3,400 people were hurt.
Activity picked up at nearby Mount Merapi, one of the world's most active volcanoes, and one geologist warned that the temblor could still spark a large eruption.
Houses, hotels and government buildings collapsed, sending hysterical people running through the streets. Many roads and bridges were destroyed, hindering efforts to get taxis and pickup trucks filled with wounded to hospitals overflowing with patients.
In hardest hit Bantul district, rescuers tried to pull bodies from the rubble as residents started digging mass graves, rows of corpses awaiting burial beneath the blazing sun.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the army to help evacuate victims and arrived in densely populated Central Java province with a team of Cabinet ministers to oversee rescue operations.
UN, EU express condolences, announce aid
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed his deep condolences to Indonesia following the devastating earthquake in the island of Java.
A UN spokesman said that the Secretary-General was deeply saddened by the loss of life, the hundreds of injuries and the destruction suffered by the people of Indonesia after the earthquake that struck Yogyakarta on the southern coast of Java.
He added that Annan extended his deepest condolences to the families of those who have been killed or injured in the earthquake.
The spokesman added that the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) teams have been alerted to lend their assistance to efforts to respond to humanitarian needs created by the disaster and to mobilize international support.
In Brussels, the European Commission announced that it would release USD 3.8 million in emergency aid in response to the quake.
The EU's executive body said in a statement that it had mobilised staff in southeast Asia and in Brussels in response to the quake.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered urgent assistance to Indonesia and ordered the country's rescue teams to be on standby to fly to the Indonesian island.
In a message to his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Yudhoyono, Putin reaffirm their solidarity and readiness to provide assistance in overcoming the consequences of the natural catastrophe.

 

 

The government has announced caps on margins on the sale of pharmaceutical products, the wholesale margins should not exceed 15 percent while the retail sales should not exceed 35 percent for generic drugs.
Union Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has said the government had also fixed the cap on margins for branded and other branded generic drugs.For these categories of drugs, the margin should not exceed 150 percent of the production cost, he said.Official in the ministry said the decision of the government would help in making drugs "more affordable" to the consumers one of the promises of the UPA's common minimum programme."Earlier, there were no caps on margins and some drug makers were even charging 1,000-2,000 percent, which made the medicines out of reach of many consumers," the official said, adding there were lot of complaints against the high margins.He said the cap on margin should bring down the cost of some of the generic drugs.

 

 

Registration for the annual Amarnath yatra, that commences simultaneously from Baltal and Pahalgam routes in Kashmir on 11th June, begins from Thursday.
Pilgrims planning to visit the cave shrine situated in the Himalayas in south Kashmir can from 25th May book in advance via designated branches of Jammu and Kashmir Bank across the country as per the practice followed during previous years, Arun Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, Amarnath Shrine Board said.
Kumar said arrangements for on-the-spot bookings, subject to weather and route condition, were also being worked out.
Infrastructure facilities were being raised on a war footing at advanced base camps and along the route holy shrine, he said.

 

 

Pakistan has clinched a USD 600-million defence deal with China, which includes construction of four F22P frigates for the Pak Navy, upgradation of the Karachi dockyard and transfer of technology for indigenous production of modern surface fleet.
The deal has been finalised and the keel for construction of the F-22P frigates would be laid at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai this year, Chief of Pakistan Navy, Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir, who concluded a week-long visit to China on Monday.
Under the deal, three frigates would be built in Shanghai and the fourth one would be constructed at Karachi dockyard which would also be upgraded to enable Pakistan to build its own fleet of frigates later.
Tahir said the first frigate would be delivered to Pakistan in 2008 and the other three by 2013 along with transfer of technology.
The frigates would be equipped with organic helicopters specially designed for surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles along with numerous associated self-defence systems, he said, adding that the "modalities of design and configuration are at the final stages."
The four Chinese Frigates would be in addition to the four Pakistan Navy would be buying from Greece. The deal to buy four naval vessels from Greece was struck during the just concluded visit of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to Athens.
The frigate deal with China follow the two sides' decision to jointly develop JF-Thunder fighter, which they plan to begin shortly. Also Pakistan Air Force plans to buy new Chinese made J-10 fighters in big numbers.Pak offers passage for oil and gas pipelines to China
Pak offered China to lay pipelines which will enable Beijing to procure gas and oil through Iran and Central Asian Republics and insisted Beijing to build more nuke plants to offset US refusal to extend the Indo-US nuclear deal to it.
While addressing a seminar organised by Institute of Strategic Studies to mark 55 years of Pakistan-China ties in Islamabad, the Pakistan PM Shaukat Aziz said that Pakistan is exploring possibilities to construct an oil pipeline from its Chinese aided Gwader port in southwest Balochistan to Western China which would considerably reduce time and distance for transportation of oil to China from the Gulf countries.
Pakistan and China would soon be undertaking up gradation of the Karakorum highway that had been built with Chinese assistance, Aziz said.
Gwader port in southwest Balochistan is being built with Chinese assistance.
Further on its part, Pakistan wants China to build more nuclear power plants in addition to the two 350 mw reactors.
China built Chiasma-I and is currently building the second plant at the same place.
With Washington refusing to extend the Indo-US nuclear deal on civilian energy to it, Islamabad wants Beijing to build more, preferably a bigger plant with a capacity to produce 600 mw.
Beside the Pak premier pointed China’s cooperation in the field of research and development, trade and in the sphere of space technology.

 

 

Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Andre Beteille, two leading members of the National Knowledge Commission set up to advise Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resigned from their posts protesting quotas in central educational institutions.
Mehta and Beteille said they had quit the Commission as its views on reservation had come under attack from HRD Minister Arjun Singh.

When contacted, Beteille, a professor emiritus of Sociology, confirmed that he had submitted by resignation earlier in the day.

Mehta and Beteille were among the six members who opposed reservation proposals at a meeting of the Commission in Bangalore recently.

In his four page resignation letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Mehta said that many of the recent announcements made by “your government with respect to Higher Education leads me to the conclusion that my continuation on the Commission will serve no useful purpose."

Mehta further added that the government's recent decision to extend quotas for OBC's in Central universities, the palliative measures the government was contemplating to defuse the resulting agitation and the process employed to arrive at these measures were steps in the wrong directionExpressing his deep disappointment with the quota proposals, Mehta said they will not achieve social justice.He held that every student must be enabled to realise their full potential regardless of financial or social circumstances and achieving “the aim requires radical forms of affirmative action. But the numerically mandated quotas your government is proposing are deeply disappointing.”He said SC/STs and OBCs should not be put together in reservation as the "nature of deprivations they (SC/STs) face is qualitatively of a different order than those faced by OBCs."Alleging that the government has "foreclosed" other mechanisms to address the issue, Mehta said in doing so, it has revealed that it cares about tokenism more than social justice."Pointing out that government's move was contemplating violation of diversity principles, he question as to why all the institutions in a country the size of India adopt the same admission quotas?Finding fault with the constitution of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the issue, Mehta said that as an academic, he found it to be an appalling spectacle when a GoM was empowered to come with admissions policies, seat formulas for institutions across the country.

 

 

Union Power Secretary R B Sahi informed that if everything went well, the Tehri hydel project would start generating electricity by 15th June, Union Power Secretary R B Sahi said.
Talking to newsmen while visiting the Tehri dam site to inspect the progress of the project, Sahi said that the first unit of the project, which is being built at a cost of Rs 7000 crore, would produce 250 MW of power with the dam authorities already testing the turbine in the regard.
It follows an increase in the inflow of Bhagirathi river waters which was presently hovering at around 740 metre above sea level at the Tehri dam reservoir.
Along with Sahi, Uttaranchal principal secretary power N Ravishanker and head of the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) R K Sharma were also present.
Uttaranchal would get 12 per cent of the electricity from Tehri free of cost.
The preparations for starting the 250 MW second unit are also in final stages.
Sahi said that by 15th July, they expected another 250 MW that would take the total production from the project to 500 MW.
He added that by the end of the year, the Tehri project would generate nearly 1000 MW of power.

 

 

Delhi government informed the High Court that it would not be possible to ensure mandatory use of only bio-degradable plastic carrybags in the capital as it was economically unviable.
However, the government has assured it was considering the possibility of making it mandatory in certain sectors which use huge quantum of ubiquitous plastic bags every day.
In an affidavit, R T L D'Souza, Deputy Secretary, Department of Environment, stated that the government in order to check the indiscriminate use of the plastic bags has decided to extend the provisions of the Delhi Plastic Bag and Non-Biodegradable Garbage Act 2000 to all restaurants and eating jaunts with more than 50 seats; fruit and vegetable outlets of Mother Dairy, shopping malls and liquor vends.
Presently, the ban on the use of non bio-degradable plastic bags is being implemented by the government at five-star hotels and hospitals with 100-bed facilities.
According to the government, non bio-degradable bags are comparatively cheaper than bio-degradable bags and as such any ban on the former would jack up the prices of carrybags in the city.
The government's response comes in the wake of a direction by the Delhi High Court seeking a reply as to why no serious effort had been made by it to ban non bio-degradable plastic bags despite the Act coming into force from 2000.
Vinod Kumar Jain of Tapas, an NGO, had earlier filed a PIL complaining that the government had failed to implement the Act thereby causing serious environmental pollution in the national capital.

 

 

Pak said that it was willing to share information with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan's involvement in proliferating nuclear tech, but it would not hand him over to the US.
During a debate on Pakistan's foreign policy in Islamabad, Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri told the Senate that they “have certain bottom lines" and added in "unequivocal terms" that Pakistan "will not surrender him (Khan) to the United States."
Describing Pakistan's foreign policy as the balanced one which was based on protection of national interests, he said "we value our relationship with the US but will never give in where our national interests are concerned."
Khan has been under house arrest for the past two years after he admitted proliferating nuclear technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea.
He was subsequently forgiven by President Pervez Musharraf. Also almost all of Khan's colleagues who were taken into custody for investigations have been released.
Recent reports said Khan's security has been tightened and the government has withdrawn permission to his daughter to meet him.
Khan was in the news recently after a report by the US Congress said that he also aided Syrian nuclear programme.

 

 

The Mukherjee Commission on alleged disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has inferred that he did not die in a plane crash in 1945 but Government said it did not agree with the findings. In the Lok Sabha, the Government also disagreed with the Commission's report that the ashes in Renkoji Temple in Japan were not of that of Netaji.
The Justice M K Mukherjee Commission concluded that Bose "is dead", "he did not die in the plane crash, as alleged", "the ashes in the Japanese temple are not of Netaji" and that "in the absence of any clinching evidence a positive answer cannot be given" to the terms of reference.
The views of the Government were given in an Action Taken Report (ATR) along with the three-volume report of the Commission set up by the previous NDA Government in 1999 to inquire into the circumstances concerning departure of Bose from Bangkok in August 1945, his reported death in an air crash and subsequent developments connected therewith.
The ATR, tabled by Minister of State for Home S Regupathy along with the panel's findings, said Government has examined the Commission's report submitted to it on 8th November last year "in detail and has not agreed with the findings that - Netaji did not die in a plane crash and the ashes in the Renkoji Temple were not of Netaji".The Commission said in the absence of any clinching evidence to prove that 'Bhagwanji-Gumnami Baba was Netaji, the question whether Netaji died in Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh on 16th September, 1985 as testified by some of the witnesses, need not be answered".

 

 

Former Army Chief Gen V P Malik has cautioned the country's decision makers to insist on delineation of positions on Saltoro ridge before agreeing on demilitarization of the world's highest battlefield.
"Most people in India and Pakistan believe that demilitarization of Siachen is feasible as it could be the first political achievement in dialogue to take the peace process forward," he states in his just-released book Kargil - from surprise to victory.Malik says that it should not mean going back to the pre-1984 days when, without any delineation on the maps, it was possible for either side to lay claim or encroach into each other's territory.Saying that there is still "immense mistrust" between the two countries, Malik said India should only agree for delmilitarization of the Siachen Glacier after Pakistan agrees to delineation of the 101 km-long Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) on the map or marking the position through aerial or satellite photography."It is essential to mark the ground position on the AGPL so that future verification is possible, if any party violates the agreement," the General states.

 

 

Citing the rise of "competitors" like India, President George W Bush asked American youngsters to enhance education and help foster technological advances needed by the US to compete with the world's economic powers.
Addressing graduate students of Oklahoma State University, Bush said that was a rise of new competitors like China and India, and it created uncertainty.
The President said that some perceived the changes occurring all around, and began to worry about the future, adding “their reaction is to wall America off from the world, and to retreat into protectionism. This is a sure path to stagnation and decline."
Bush persuaded the students against “this kind of pessimism.”
Bush urged the youth not to become isolationists but to help enhance education and foster technological advances the US needs to compete with the world's economic powers.
He stressed that US should welcome competition because it makes the country stronger and more prosperous.

 

 

Declaring Pak Prez Musharraf as a "slave" of US Prez Bush, the world most wanted al-Qaida Chief Osama Bin Laden has prayed the Pakistani tribesmen, whose houses were destroyed by the Pak army, to assassinate him.
According to the news agency, in pamphlets distributed to Pakistani tribesmen, Bin Laden has purportedly called for help of the tribesmen as recently their homes were destroyed by the Pakistan army in the Waziristan tribal region for "American pleasure."
"I pray to God, without whom there is no other God, that Bush, Pervez and his army meet the fate that they deserve, and give someone among the lions of God the opportunity to kill this slave of Bush in Pakistan," Bin Laden purportedly said in the message.
The pamphlets were distributed by suspected local tribal militants on Satiuday in Mir Ali, a town in the North Waziristan tribal region that borders Afghanistan.
The message begins with a paragraph in Arabic that mentions bin Laden's name, then says in Urdu, Pakistan's primary language: "(A) new message by Sheikh Osama bin Mohammed bin Laden to Muslims about the atrocities by the Pakistani army on the tribes of Waziristan, the bloodshed and destruction of their homes."
However, the top spokesman for Musharraf, Shaukat Sultan did not comment on the authenticity of the statement.
Further he urged the media not to "spread" it, referring to a line in the message saying that Muslims who receive it would reprint it and distribute it.

 

 

Amid acute shortage of electricity, Centre appealed to all north Indian states not to overdraw power from the northern grid and proposed to impose penalty on those who withdraw power beyond their entitled quotas.
After a two-hour long meeting with the chief secretaries, secretaries and principal energy secretaries of the northern states, Power Secretary R V Shahi said that they discussed the power scenario in the northern region and all the states agreed to maintain the grid code and not to overdraw power.
While talking to newsmen, he added that the situation was slowly improving, but the demand-supply mismatch still continued.
Shahi said that they had started getting 1600 MW from the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam in HP, which has relieved the situation quite a bit, but the states were required not to overdraw power than their entitled quota.
Elaborating on the setting up of a deterrent to discourage states to overdraw from the grid, Shahi said all the states had proposed that the charge of Rs 5.70 per unit be enhanced.
He said Centre would be taking the proposal to Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and Central Electricity Authority for a final decision.
Shahi said the efforts taken in the previous months had begun to show results and the grid frequency was now at 35 Hertz that was slightly better though it should be maintained at 48.5-49 Hz as prescribed by the regulator.
He said situation would further improve with 1600MW from Nathpa Jakhri, 250 MW of wind energy in Rajasthan and commissioning of Tehri Hydro Power Project by the end of the month.
The states have also postponed the maintenance of some of the plants to meet the demand in May.
Shahi said that although it was not desirable to postpone the maintenance as it affects the health of the plant, but due to the demand- supply mismatch, the decision has been taken.
To solve the crisis, the shops in UP had been asked to shut down by 7.00 pm, Shahi said. In Delhi too, an advisory has been given to the shops to wind up by 7.30 pm.
However, Shahi did not favour for any law to control usage of electricity. He appealed for judicious use of power especially during the peak hours.
In the capital, the power shortage was to the tune of 450 MW per day, which officials said had come down to 300 MW. He said another review meeting would be held on 31st May with the state officials.

 

 

The US has said that a Washington- based foreign policy journal and think tank's rating of Pakistan as one of the top 10 failed states had noting to do with its official policy, noting that the South Asian country cannot be put in that category as its economy was booming.
"On the basis of my interaction with Pakistan and the American business community, I can say with confidence that Pakistan is the opposite of a failed state," US Under Secretary for International Trade Franklin L Lavin, who is on a visit here, told the media on Friday.
Lavin said the country was facing some challenges but it had the "capability, leadership and necessary policies" to keep up its economic momentum.
Disagreeing with a report released by the Foreign Policy Journal and Fund for Peace, a think tank, rating Pakistan among one of the 10 failed states, Lavin said the views expressed in the report had nothing to do with official US policy.
Lavin noted that Pakistan's economy was booming and performing well.
With strong leadership and policies in place along with a national consensus on these policies, Pakistan can effectively face the challenges, he said.
Pakistan had termed the report as "rubbish", saying that the research methodology adopted was "faulty