Sea Link is India’s longest

Themain span of the cable stayed portion of the Bandra-Worli sea link measuring 500 metres is the largest in India superseding Vidyasagar Setu in Kolkata and shares the 20th spot with Thailand’s Kanchanaphisek Bridge among the bridges with the longest span in the world.

The Sutong Bridge over the Yangtze River in China, opened June last year, has the largest span of any cable-stayed bridge at 1,088 meters. Hong Kong’s Stone cutters Bridge has the second longest span at 1,018 metres and with 890 metre the Tatara Bridge in Japan is the third longest.

Main span is the distance between the suspension towers and is the most common way to rank cable stayed bridges

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Poor monsoon will hit North-West India hard

There is bad news for North-West India: these states are likely to be the worst affected in this year’s monsoon, and are expected to get only 81 per cent of the average rainfall. The Indian Meteorological Department’s forecast released Wednesday says major states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and the western part of Uttar Pradesh will get “deficient rainfall”, which in turn might adversely affect agricultural activities.

The forecast was made public on Wednesday by the IMD, which also predicted a “below normal” monsoon in the country as a whole this year. In April, it had predicted a “near normal” monsoon.

IMD officials did not categorically accept the “El Nino” factor as a direct cause for lower rainfall levels, claiming that the correlation between the two was yet to be conclusively established.

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P Chidambaram: Bangla citizens are getting too many visas

Illegal migration from Bangladesh has become a major cause of concern for home minister P. Chidambaram, who “sees no reason” why a large number of visas are being issued to Bangladeshis. Security agencies, on the other hand, are increasingly alarmed over gaps in the Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Pakistan border fencing, which serve as entry points for both illegal migrants and terrorists crossing over into India. The states causing concern include Gujarat, West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram. The home minister also feels that these porous borders and illegal immigration were causing “unexpected demographic changes” in the country.

Mr Chidambaram, in an interview to NDTV, meanwhile, also said he was concerned about the huge influx of Bangladeshis into the country every month, many of whom were “staying back” even after their visas expired. He saw “no reason” why such a large number of visas should be issued to Bangladeshis every month. Mr Chidambaram’s statement could well take the sting out of a major BJP campaign theme: on the illegal entry of Bangladeshis into India.

The home minister acknowledged that the existing mechanism to monitor whether a Bangladeshi who had legally entered had indeed returned to his country after expiry of his visa was “ineffective”.

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European Union summit to take up tiger population

European Union and India will not just be deliberating on free trade and world food situation at the EU-India Summit next week at Marseille. Issue of India’s dwindling tiger population is also scheduled to be discussed during the summit.

The European Parliament on Wednesday passed a resolution asking both EU and India to renew their efforts in saving wild tigers, whose global population is now limited to mere 2,500. The resolution calls on both Europe and India to strengthen their efforts in dealing with organised wildlife crime networks and issue of protecting forest habitats. Conservationists fear that if present trend in tiger poaching continues, tigers will become extinct by 2025.

India, which used to boast of around 40,000 tigers till beginning of the last century, is now left with a little more than 1,400 tigers in the wild. The latest census on tiger population, which was made public earlier this year shocked not only tiger lovers in the country but animals groups worldwide. According to the report, India is left with only 1,411 tigers in the wild.

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Rahul is the future of country: Congress

“Rahul Gandhi is absolutely the future of the country,” said the Congress at a time when speculation about a prime ministerial candidate is gaining ground once again in party circles.

“Rahul Gandhi is a practical person, he is not greedy for power. He is honest, loyal to the country, we are proud of him,” said AICC media department chairperson M. Veerappa Moily here on Tuesday.

Replying to questions about whether the party sees him as a potential candidate for the top post, Mr Moily said, “He is definitely the future of the country, working on the ground, hundred per cent he fills the bill.” Though the party does not want to project him as its prime ministerial candidate “at this juncture”, perhaps due to the coalition compulsions, the rank and file is clear that he will lead the party and the government.

Asked who would be the party’s prime ministerial candidate if it retains power after the general election next year, Mr Moily said: “This is a decision to be taken by the Congress president and MPs.”

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India, Pakistan inch closer to starting Line of Control trade

India and Pakistan have made good progress towards starting trade across the Line of Control, but the euphoria was tempered by Islamabad’s reluctance to open a third trade route between Kargil and Skardu and its dilly-dallying over dispatching a business delegation from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to Srinagar.

The Indo-Pak joint working group on cross-LoC confidence-building measures, which met here on Monday, firmed up lists of items to be traded on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalkot routes. Both countries will trade in export surplus commodities. Customs and security matters were also discussed.

India was keen to launch cross-LoC trade in the first week of October, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti and Id-ul-Fitr, but the Pakistani delegation led by additional secretary (South Asia) Aizaz Ahmed Choudhary is understood to have told the Indian team, headed by external affairs ministry joint secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran) T.C.A. Raghavan, that it wanted more time.

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India deal is main focus of United States policy

As India and the US work overtime to get a clean NSG waiver, the Bush administration said the Indo-US atomic deal was currently the “principal focus” of its nuclear policy and given a priority over a similar pact with Russia.

Asked whether developments in Georgia will affect the US-Russia civilian nuclear deal, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said that the present focus of America’s nuclear commerce policy was the India deal and not the one with Russia.

“Our principal focus right now has been on the India civil nuclear deal, having worked through the IAEA, now working through the NSG, and still trying to get into a position to make the appropriate presidential determinations in early September. So that’s our focus right now on the civil nuclear side,” Ms Rice told reporters on her way to Tel Aviv.

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Devyani unites Ranas, Rajputs

After her own marriage to a scion of India’s aristocracy, Devyani Singh nee Rana, once known as the girl for whom Nepal’s Crown Prince Dipendra allegedly killed his entire family, is now playing matchmaker between India and Nepal.

Devyani, who hit the headlines earlier this year when she campaigned for her father Pashupati Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana in Nepal’s historic Constituent Assembly elections in April, is now unit ing the seniormost Rajput clan of India with the blue blooded Ranas of Nepal, who once ruled the Himalayan nation as hereditary premiers.

Preparations are on for one of the subcontinent’s most spectacular society weddings, where the groom’s procession will include an elephant, four horses and four camels. The groom, Virat Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, 27, is great-great grandson of Chandra Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, Nepal’s longest-ruling Rana premier.

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Online tax payment huge hit with NRIs

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has claimed to have received overwhelming response to its online property tax payment system.

Within few months of its implementation, the MCD has declared that more than 5,000 NRIs have paid taxes for their properties in India. “Till June 30, 2008, the number of online property tax-payers have increased to 2,46,725 from 96,890 in 2007. Thus, there is a substantial increase of 154.46 per cent,” said Vijender Gupta, standing committee chairman.

According to MCD leaders, this year online tax has been received from 97 countries, including countries like the USA, Canada, Aus tralia, the UK, France, Germany, China and Russia. From USA, a total of 3,000 NRIs made online payments, from the UK (466), Australia (227), Singapore (277), Canada (1,189) and Germany (100).

“In India, nearly 20,000 people living in various cities and having properties in Delhi have paid their property tax online.

Of these, 7,000 paid tax from Mumbai, 2,000 from Bengaluru, 2,000 from Chandigarh, 1,500 from Gurgaon and 100 from Faridabad. The civic body has also claimed to have increased the ambit of number of property tax payers by more than 50,000.

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Mansarovar yatra put off 2 weeks, to start June 13

India has can celled the first two batches of the Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage this year after China cited "domestic reasons" to suggest it would not be in a position to receive pilgrims from India before June 21.

The external affairs ministry spokesman said on Tuesday that the pilgrimage will now commence from Batch Number 3, which is scheduled to depart New Delhi on June 13.

The annual Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage for 2008 was earlier scheduled to commence from June 1.

"The ministry is continuing its efforts with the Government of the People's Republic of China to accommodate the pilgrims of Batch Numbers 1 and 2 in later batches," the spokesman said.

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Government flooded with new state demands

The Union home ministry finds itself flooded with demands for the creation of at least 15 new states.

After the clamour for carving out separate states - Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, Vidarbha in Maharashtra and Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh - the ministry of home affairs (MHA) has told Parliament that it has received recommendations from "various sources" for the creation of several new states, such as Bhojpur in East Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Bihar, Saurashtra in Gujarat, Coorg in Karnataka, Koshalanchal in western Orissa, Gorkhaland in West Bengal, Mithilanchal in north Bihar, parts of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, and Purvanchal, Harith Pradesh, Braj Pradesh and Awadh Pradesh from various regions of Uttar Pradesh.

The MHA has denied receiving any recommendation from "state governments" for the creation of new states, which includes the demand for Telangana and the call for the trifurcation of UP, a move supported by UP chief minister Mayawati. The ministry has said that all the "demands and representations" for creation of new states have been coming from "various sources" from time to time. The MHA, however, has not specified these "sources".

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Devils out to challenge Kings status

Two of the best performing batsmen in the IPL, Mike Hussey and Matthew Hayden, will not be available to take on the most incisive bowling attack in the league, at the MAC Stadium here on Friday. Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings are two of three sides that have been consistent in the tournament so far, the other being Rajasthan Royals who won their fourth game on Thursday.

Barring a loss to Kings XI, the Delhi outfit has had everything going to plan. Delhi will miss the services of Daniel Vettori who bowled with guile in the last game against Bangalore. It is something Delhi are not perturbed about. "We have lost Vettori and Chennai has lost three players. These are things that are not in our control. We will have to device our plans based on what we have," said T.A. Sekar of Delhi Daredevils.

It will be vital for the Super Kings to get on against Mohammed Asif and Glenn McGrath and not get bogged down. Once bowlers of that calibre are allowed to settle down to a rhythm they are difficult to get away.

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‘Little Tibet' torch brighter

Statistics can be deceptive, but in a country where there are only about 140 police personnel per one lakh of population, an estimated 17,000 security personnel on Thursday guarded the Beijing Olympics torch to ensure its smooth passage through India.

The majestic Rajpath witnessed unprecedented security for a symbolic event, which was smooth and incident free although Tibet supporters held demonstrations here since early Thursday morning, including taking out a parallel torch relay to protest against Chinese repression in Tibet.

The relay passed off uneventfully but left in its wake barricaded roads, massive traffic jams and grumbling commuters trying their best to get home in a city paralysed. A two-km radius around India Gate was blocked to traffic with several rings of security sealing the area.

The Olympic torch relay ran into more trouble with ace shooter Jaspal Rana and musician Ayaan Ali Bangash pulling out barely a few hours before the event, citing personal reasons. The two were part of the official list of torch-bearers announced by the Indian Olympic Association. Their withdrawals came a day after Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar gave the relay a miss.

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Mumbai sees world's biggest rent rise

Mumbai, often termed as the financial capital of the country, has become the biggest riser when it comes to industrial property rentals, according to "Industrial Spaces Across the World 2008", a Cushman & Wakefield report. Mumbai recorded the highest increase in rental values in a single year, at 94.44 per cent, and leaped 11 positions to be the 26th most expensive industrial location in the world, according to the same report.

"It also recorded the highest percentage growth in rental values in one year, at 94 per cent over a single year. New Delhi (IMT Manesar) also accounted for the sixth highest percentage growth in rental values in a single year, with a growth of approximately 30 per cent. Mumbai commanded a rental value of $10.88/sq.ft./year (approximately Rs 428.78/sq.ft./year) in December 2007 as against $5.6/sq.ft./year (Rs 221.02/sq.ft./year) in January 2007," said a release from Cushman & Wakefield India.

The release also quoted Sanjay Dutt, joint managing director of Cushman & Wakefield India, as saying: "High levels of owner occupancy in Mumbai have led to a shortage of product at a time when demand is being stimulated by India's strong economic growth.This in turn has increased rents. With a shortage of space in the city, many occupiers are locating in industrial parks in the outskirts, in particular as the infrastructure improves and with the introduction of state incentives. In Chennai, locations such as Sriperumbudur, and in NCR, Manesar and Greater Noida, have seen a similar shift towards development in peripheral locations."

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Nuclear Deal has to wair till differences are settled, Pranab told Bush

External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee has told US President George W. Bush that the Indo-US nuclear deal will have to wait till the differences with the UPA's Communist allies and the Opposition BJP are resolved.

"We are trying to resolve the issues but it may take some more time," he said, in the clearest indication yet that New Delhi will not meet Washington's deadline of getting the deal past the US Congress before Mr Bush leaves the White House in January 2009.

Mr Mukherjee on Tuesday told a press conference held at the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. towards the end of his two-day visit to the US that it would be difficult for him to indicate a particular time frame by which the UPA government would be able to close the deal.

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Left pushes for a Third Front

The four major Left parties on Sunday stressed the need to create and present a third alternative before the people.

Leaders of the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the All India Forward Bloc came together on the occasion of the 20th party congress of the CPI held here.

Delivering the inaugural address, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, said every effort should be made to build a Left democratic alternative to the Congress as well as the BJP."We should present an alternative programme," he said.

Mr Bardhan also warned that the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal was an attempt to cap a strategic partnership with the United States. "We have no problems with the India-specific safeguards agreement (with the IAEA), our opposition is to the Indo-US nuclear agreement as such," he said.

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India to launch 2 more Israeli spy sats

India and Israel are working together to launch two more spy satellites with the schedule requiring at least one of these to be placed in orbit within this year. The successful launch of the 300-kg TecSar has been generated considerable enthusiasm in both India and Israel with the satellite expected to start sending the first images in early February.

The decision to launch the TecSar spy satellite, which is also referred to as Polaris, was taken shortly after the UPA government came to power. The deal was finalised during the visit of Israeli defence ministry director-general Amos Yaron to New Delhi three years ago. It is the first of three such satellites agreed upon between the two governments with the government here oblivious to the adverse reaction to the launch from its traditional friends in West Asia. The launch was effected in great secrecy with only a couple of mainstream Israeli newspapers getting a whiff of the new cooperation between New Delhi and Tel Aviv just a week before the launch.

The Israeli media, which has had access to more information than given out by the government here, has pointed out that the satellite was intended to spy on Iran and Syria. The government here has tried to give the strategic cooperation a "commercial" colour by highlighting the fact that India is virtually renting out its launching pad for such satellites. It did the same for Italy, it is pointed out, at a cost that is supposedly 70 per cent less than offered by other such countries for putting satellites in orbit. This runs counter to reports in the Israeli and international media of growing strategic cooperation between the two countries and that India hopes to benefit from the satellite with information on Pakistan, which is not outside the orbit of TecSar.

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Article taken from the issue:24 Jan 2008

France says N-pact when India ready

India and France have concluded the negotiations for a bilateral agreement on civil nuclear cooperation but the pact will be signed and operationalised after India wraps up a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and gets the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) nod.

Sources familiar with the negotiations between the Indian and the French governments on Monday said the bilateral pact, therefore, might not be signed during French President Nicolas Sarkozy's state visit to India this week.

Instead, both sides could choose to iterate their intent to take an agreed framework for civil nuclear cooperation a step further pending the required approvals.

The sources said that the French, who would like to clinch the pact as soon as possible, have conveyed to their Indian counterparts that the text will be ready to be signed any time...

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Article taken from the issue: 22 Jan 2008

Malaysia Indians face lesser charge

Amid international pressure to permit democratic expression of dissent and treat the minorities better, Kuala Lumpur's Muslim-dominated coalition government on Monday dropped the "attempt to murder" charge against the 31 Malaysian Indians who had allegedly hit a policeman with a brick during their massive protest rally here on November 25.

Responding to advice from Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, attorney general Abdul Gani Patail told the Shah Alam sessions court that he was dropping the "attempt to murder" charges against all the accused, who have come to be known as Hindraf-31 for participating in the big rally organized by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf). The attorney-general said all charges were dropped against five students in the group, obviously considering their age and future education and career prospects. He also said the charges of illegal assembly and causing mischief would remain against the other 26 demonstrators, who had pleaded guilty.

Judge Nursinah Adzmi allowed the 26 to be released on bail at 500 ring git and one surety each until she delivers sentence on December 27. These men could face up to five years in jail or a fine, or both.

Interestingly, Mr Patail said all the 31 had written to him swearing that they had nothing to do with Hindraf and giving an undertaking that they would never again participate in an illegal assembly. "I could be very strict but this is not the time (for it). This is not a good- will gesture. It is the fairest thing to do," the attorney-general told the media. To a question on why the charges were dropped, he said it was difficult to identify the person who had thrown the brick that had injured police officer Dadi Abdul Rani.

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Article taken from the issue: 18 Dec 2007