The bulls are in complete charge as CPIM avoids drastic Action on Nuke Deal
We anticipate only a huge debate on the reports of a growing rift
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Asked about her feelings when she flew over India, Sunita Williams said, "It is just an incredible view. I feel proud that my father is from here. ...The first glimpse of earth from the space station brought tears to my eyes. It was just incredible, said Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams who spent a record 195 days at the international space station ...
We anticipate a huge debate on the reports of a growing rift, especially with the West Bengal government's recent overdrive to woo American investors," said economist Abhirup Sarkar of Kolkata's Indian Statistical Institute.
"They will definitely buy more time, because early polls will definitely hurt the left more and especially in West Bengal, where the communists are desperate to consolidate their position among traditional supporters," he said.
As India is toying with the idea of a Manned Space Mission, country's first cosmonaut Wing Cdr (retired) Rakesh Sharma has offered to join it.
The bulls are in complete charge of the markets taking it to yet another life time high. It was not only a strong day for the markets but a good end to a phenomenal week.Carrying on with the stand-off on the nuclear deal with the Congress, Left parties are expected to raise the specific issue of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguard talks at the next meeting of the UPA-Left committee on October 5. In a bid to brush aside differences in opinions over the need for nuclear energy and the contentious Indo-US nuclear deal amongst some of the senior leaders of the CPI (M), the party today said that any decision on the issue would be a unanimous one. Indicating that no immediate drastic move was being taken against the UPA Government on the Indo-US nuclear deal, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat today said the party was looking forward to the October five joint committee meeting. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury today iterated that both Nuke deal and Ram setu warranted importance and the party would hold discussion on these issues. : West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today sought legal action against the Delhi-based FM radio station for allegedly airing derogatory remarks against the newly crowned Indian Idol Prashant Tamang.Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said Army was deployed in this North Bengal town, where people went on a rampage following an alleged remark by a Delhi FM channel about Indian Idol-3 Prashant Tamang. With a view to protect the city's landmark monument Victoria Memorial, Calcutta High Court today asked the West Bengal government to shift bus terminus from the Shahid Minar at Maidan within six months.
West Bengal will attract Rs.50 billion in investments in the energy sector in the next five years, West Bengal special secretary for power S.P. Gon Chaudhuri said here Friday.
A deafening silence on the civil nuclear deal during the last four days of India@60 celebrations was broken by the US, which said the 123 agreement must be completed in the life of the present Congress.
"We have changed laws in the US (when we) negotiated the 123 agreement. Both sides have agreed (to it) and it will move ahead," US Ambassador to India David Mulford said here yesterday, while underlining the importance of the deal to happen before the term of the Congress ends.
The deal, which aims to give India access to American nuclear fuel and equipment to help meet its soaring energy needs even though it has tested nuclear weapons and is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, requires to be approved by the US Congress, the IAEA and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
"Final steps have to be taken with IAEA and NSG. A final vote by the US Congress is also required... time is of the essence," Mulford said, addressing 'India@60: A New Age for Business" conference organized by the CII, USIBC and the Asia Society here.
The civil nuclear initiative with India will help the sub-continent nation in meeting its energy needs, he said, while describing as comprehensive the "456" relations or simply other areas of Indo-US relations.
Indian leaders, including External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, have been silent on the deal during the last four days of celebrations of India's 60th year of independence organized here by the CII and the Ministry of Tourism, barring a passing mention about the pact by India's Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen.
Sen, while addressing the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas New York 2007, mentioned that the Indo-US nuclear deal was an example of the strengthening ties between the two nations.

President Pratibha Patil today inaugurated the 150th anniversary celebrations of the YMCA. The nation today commemorated the birth centenary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.A united effort is needed for bringing a revolutionary change to uplift the weaker sections of the society, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Friday said as he joined leaders from across the political spectrum to pay tribute to Shaheed Bhagat Singh. New AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi will accompany Congress president Sonia Gandhi to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session on October 2 when Mahatma Gandhi's birthday will be formally declared as "International Day of Peace and Non-Violence".
Barely hours after extending the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme to the entire nation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday said more such schemes for under privileged people would be unveiled over the next few weeks. The Government today decided to extend the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to all the remaining districts in the country. The southwest monsoon has been vigorous in east Uttar Pradesh and Konkan and Goa and subdued in Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Saurashtra and Kutch and Vidarbha. The Government today unveiled the National Policy on Petrochemicals with thrust on liberalising the feedstock supply for petro-chemical complexes, setting up of dedicated plastic parks and development of research and development, with an expected investment of over Rs 40,000 crore over the next five years.
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said an estimated Rs 90,000 crore would be invested in the state's industrial sector to meet the unemployment problem.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram today cautioned investors against high volatility in the stock markets, which extended gains for the ninth consecutive trading session today.
"My advice to investors is that they should do their homework. And if they cannot do their homework they should trust those (mutual funds) who do their home work. And for speculators, I have no advice," Chidambaram said.
India plans to spend $5 billion to extend a rural jobs scheme to cover the entire country from April 2008, two years ahead of schedule, in an apparent indication the government is gearing up for early elections.
Company will expand Net and phone services, and is seeking partners to bid on wireless spectrum, says news story. Top U.S. phone company AT&T is eyeing a wireless acquisition in India, a market it is focusing on as a key growth opportunity, The Wall Street Journal reported in...Ahead of the India-European Union (EU) summit on Nov 30, Daniele Smadja, the new envoy of the European Commission, Friday called for pushing negotiations on a broad-based trade and investment agreement between the two sides.
The Embassy of Japan in India today said it will extend grant assistance totaling 1,69,257 dollars (about Rs 67 lakhs) to two Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to support their projects for upgrading medical service for slums and constructing a centre for street children.
We must make room for a nuclear India
The Australian, Australia - 41 minutes ago
INDIA is, for once, an issue, albeit a small one, in an Australian election, while to some extent Australia is an issue in India. ...
Israel cloud on N-deal Calcutta Telegraph
123 deal must happen now: Mulford Hindu

The ongoing reforms, especially in cross-border trade issues, have secured India’s position 12 notches up on the global map, but in terms of the level of ease in doing business, the country is still far behind a number of other nations, a report by the World Bank and its private lending arm IFC said here on Wednesday.
In its report titled ‘Doing Business 2008’, the World Bank pointed out that while India had turned a better place for entrepreneurs in matters such as getting a loan, the overall process for a business start-up had become more difficult as compared to a year ago.Despite moving up in terms of overall ranking based on ten different parameters of business regulation, India still finds itself ranked at the bottom half, at 120th position among 178 economies across the world.
Incidentally, India has achieved significant improvement when it comes to getting credit and trading across the world, but its position has slipped in matters such as starting a business, employing workers, registering property and paying taxes.Gains in corn-seed share will continue through the end of the decade in Europe, South Africa, Argentina and India, St Louis-based Monsanto said on Thursday ...

India’s plans to streamline its huge but disorganized farming sector received a lift from Del Monte today. Del Monte Pacific signed a deal to buy a ...

India's Wipro Ltd said it has agreed to acquire Oki Techno Centre (Singapore) Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned unit of OKI focused on ...

India's Sensitive Index had the biggest quarterly gain since March 2006 as overseas investors bought more shares. The benchmark today rose to its eighth consecutive record, with ICICI Bank Ltd. and Tata Steel Ltd. contributing the most. The Indian rupee slipped from nine-and-a-half year highs on Friday, driven lower by suspected central bank intervention and some short covering by investors, though flows into the stock market limited losses, dealers said.The partially convertible rupee ended at 39.8450/8500 per dollar, slipping from Thursday's 39.71/72 close, when it hit a high of 39.62 in early trade -- its strongest since April 1998.India's benchmark share index rose to a record high for the eighth straight session on Friday, with global investors drawn by attractive returns offered by local stocks.Data shows that overseas investors pumped nearly $2.2 billion into Indian shares in the six days after last Tuesday's rate cut by the Federal Reserve.Overseas investors have bought a record $11.6 billion in Indian shares this year as companies raised a record $8.5 billion from initial public offerings. The Federal Reserve reduced its benchmark rate last week, easing liquidity concerns and helping the Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia- Pacific Index post a fifth quarterly advance, the longest rally since 1999.
The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex added 140.54, or 0.82 percent, to 17,291.10. The S&P/CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange gained 20.80, or 0.42 percent, to 5,021.35. Nifty futures for September delivery gained 29.35 points to 5,038.
Govt, private sector team up to promote brand India
Sify, India - 4 hours ago
New York: India's private and government sectors came together for the first time for the Incredible India@60 campaign here to showcase the country ...
India cool to Iran talks with Pak on LNG pipeline project
Times of India, India - 19 hours ago
NEW DELHI: India remains unfazed by the latest round of meetings Iran had with Pakistan on September 24 to discuss the proposed $7.4 billion tri-nation ...
FACT OR ALARMIST FICTION?
Ramadoss draws IT ire for 'slur' on BPO lifestyle
ibnlive.com
Do BPO workers in India actually lead a hazardous lifestyle as to drop dead on their desks, suffering heart attacks? Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss definitely thinks so. “It's shocking to see 22-year-olds dropping dead on their desks," Ramadoss said on Wednesday. He claimed mental disorders, cardio-vascular diseases and divorce rates among call centre employees are tremendously high. Nasscom described these remarks as alarmist statements that paint a negative image of BPO employees. [0616 hrs IST]
Ash adds spices to Incredible India @ 60 in NY
Prarthna Gahilote / CNN-IBN
New York: In his over 80 trips to India in the last 30 years, Steve McCurry has fallen in love with everything Indian. The culture, the monuments, the colours in Rajasthan and even Bollywood. And that's why when he chose 35 pictures for the Incredible India @ 60 celebrations in New York Aishwarya Rai made it to the exhibition.
not bad to have some fantacy experience with Virtual World!
And see the brand effect in reality!
Vanishing Cos that siphoned Rs 10,000 cr of investor money
114 companies have officially been named Vanishing Companies by Govt.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/vanishing-cos-that-siphoned-rs-10000-cr-of-investor-money/49534-3.html
India's consumer price index rose 7.26 percent in August from a year earlier, higher than July's annual rise of 6.45 percent mainly ...
New York: While activists in India have criticised beverage companies for excessive ground water usage, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo insist that the beverage ...
India's fiscal deficit in the April-August period stood at 1.03 trillion rupees ($26 billion), or 68.5 percent of the full-year target, the government said in a statement on Friday.On the other hand,The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is developing a India-specific navigation system in the lines of the Global Positioning System (GPS) at an investment of Rs 1600 crore.
Close on the heels of a demand from the new AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today decided to extend the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to all the districts of the country from April 1, 2008.
Announcing this at a press conference today, Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that from April next year, 265 more districts would fall under the ambit of the livelihood guarantee programme. At present, NREGA is operational in 330 districts of the country, with 200 districts covered from the first phase that was inaugurated in February 2006. From April this year, an additional 130 districts were added under the Act.
"The plan to extend the programme countrywide was there for some time, and the ministry was working upon it. Just at the same time Rahul Gandhi asked for the same which came as a major support for the plan," Raghuvansh Singh said.
Meanwhile, party veteran Jyoti Basu declined to make any comment.The crucial politburo meeting was being held in the backdrop of the ongoing tussle between the UPA government and the Left parties over the nuke deal.The Politburo meeting will be followed by three-day Central Committee meeting from Saturday.They say the deal compromises India's sovereignty and seeks to influence New Delhi's independent foreign policy. The left parties and the government formed a panel last month to resolve the row and it has met twice so far but made little progress.State leaders have in recent days voiced their support for American investment as well as the need for U.S. help to build a nuclear power plant in the province.These differences are expected to come to the fore at the Kolkata conference and the CPI(M) top brass would try to put a lid on the rift and forge a united front, analysts said.
The communist deliberations in their eastern stronghold of Kolkata assumes added importance as New Delhi faces an informal end-October deadline to push the next steps needed to clinch the deal, something the left parties have warned against.Failure by the two sides to find a way out could force general elections being called early next year instead of early 2009 when they are due, some government leaders have said, as Singh's coalition is unwilling to dump the nuclear deal.While that has not deterred communist leaders in New Delhi from pushing the crisis to the brink, their counterparts in West Bengal are not seen keen to face early elections.

The Communist Party of India -Marxist (CPI-M) would take a unanimous decision on its stand on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, a member of the party's politburo said. India's main communist party begins a meeting of top leaders on Friday to plan its strategy in a stand-off with the government over a controversial nuclear energy pact with the United States.The communists, who shore up Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition government, have opposed the landmark agreement and threatened to end their support, triggering the country's worst political crisis in more than three years.Although leaders on both sides have privately talked about a possible compromise, there has been no indication yet that one is imminent ahead of a crucial Oct. 5 meeting of a joint panel formed to resolve the crisis.The meeting was attended by CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat, party veteran Jyoti Basu and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee among others.Besides the leaders mentioned above, others attending it Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, R Umanath, K Vardarajan, B V Raghavulu, S R Pillai, Biman Bose and Brinda Karat.
''Everything has been discussed and I am sure we will take a unanimous decision'', M K Pandhe said, after a crucial politburo meeting on Friday.When asked whether CPI-M would withdraw support from the UPA government if it went ahead with operationalising the deal, Pandhe said: ''I cannot say anything now.''
"We will be discussing the nuclear issue and the government's policy, the whole political situation in the country and then announce the outcome," Prakash Karat, chief of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), told Reuters ahead of the four-day meeting.
The nuclear pact, first agreed in principle in 2005, aims to help India meet its soaring energy needs by giving it access to U.S. fuel and reactors even though New Delhi has tested nuclear weapons and not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
While the two governments and supporters of the deal have called it historic, saying it symbolises the growing strategic friendship between India and the United States, the communists have rejected it.
Chidanand Rajghatta reports from Washington for Times of India:
Top Indian cabinet ministers met their U.S counterparts here on Wednesday to assure them about New Delhi's commitment to advancing bilateral relations and agreements in the first high-level interaction between the two sides in several months, amid mounting concerns that domestic political pressures are undermining milestones reached between the two countries.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session for talks that officials said covered a "wide range of issues," including obviously the nuclear deal.
Mukherjee is said to have used the opportunity to assure the U.S side of the Indian government's commitment to the nuclear deal in the face of the intense political scrutiny it is receiving in India. Washington is getting increasingly antsy about the roadblocks the deal has run into in India and Rice has expressed concern about the clock running out.
Mukherjee was not the only one offering assurance that India's vigorous democratic process was more about checks and balances than obstruction.
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Kamal Nath were both in the U.S this week pledging further reforms, including opening up of the retail sector that is causing heartburn in the Indian heartland.
Chidambaram offset assurances on the retail front by broadly hinting that the government may try and take some measures to cushion the impact of the rising rupee that has driven export-oriented Indian companies, including the IT sector, to despair, while delighting American manufacturers who see greater export opportunity on account of a weakening dollar.
But there is concern in Washington that New Delhi is taking its eyes of the ball on various key issues as the UPA government is buffeted by political winds and India seems to be entering an election mode ahead of schedule. The Bush administration itself, weighed down by the Iraq albatross, is struggling to keep other major foreign policy issues in focus and the Rice-Mukherjee engagement offered a chance for the two sides to review progress on the nuclear deal and other key issues between the two sides.
Officials on both sides were not immediately available to elaborate precisely on any progress made, and although there was much speechifying on all sides (Rice and Mukherjee delivered speeches on Washington on Thursday on climate change), there was lack of clarity on the next steps in the nuclear deal (a major American concern) and the fate of the roaring rupee (a major Indian concern).
It was not all concessions from India.
In Washington, Mukherjee told a meeting of major economies on climate change and energy security convened by the U.S that India’s targeted growth of 8-10 per cent annual in the coming decades means it "cannot compromise" on the need to drive up energy consumption. However, he assured delegates that even as India pursues economic growth, its per-capita green house gas emissions will not increase beyond those of the industrialized countries, a promise first articulated by the prime minister in Germany.
"We have a very small individual carbon footprint with per-capita CO2 emissions being just about a quarter of the world's average," Mukherjee insisted. "However, our willingness to engage in finding practical, pragmatic solutions, and cooperating in advanced clean technologies for the benefit of entire humankind are second to none."

BEYOND THE VEIL
- India is ignoring the cost and polluting capacity of nuclear power
Cutting Corners - Ashok Mitra

While ‘the Mechanism’ is seemingly at work, the prime minister has struck a lyrical note. He is in raptures over the nuclear renaissance that is a-coming; he would dearly love his countrymen to partake of its fruits.
Is it not however an extraordinary sort of renaissance the prime minister is talking of? The mother country for both fundamental and applied nuclear research is the United States of America. Those at the helm of affairs in that country are desperately anxious to discover a major alternative source of energy, since the doings of Osama bin Laden and Hugo Chavez have cast a shadow on their hitherto held assumption of an unending supply of oil. And yet, hardly any enthusiasm is discernible in the US for making nuclear energy the centrepiece of energy expansion programmes. On the contrary, for more than a decade now, there is a total moratorium on setting up new nuclear power plants there. Even with its best endeavours, the American nuclear lobby has failed to convince either economists or the lay public that the unit cost of nuclear power generation compares favourably with that of power generated from thermal or hydroelelectric sources. While controversy over the economic issue was still raging, environmental groups arrived on the scene, effectively cooking the goose for votaries of nuclear power. The frenzy of protests against the perils of nationwide nuclear pollution reached fever pitch; politicians got the message.
Robert Bruce-like characters nonetheless continue to proliferate. Besides, the American military-industrial complex has its own economic calculations to ponder. Having already invested hundreds of billions of dollars in setting up technological capability to build nuclear power plants, it is most keen to find a solution to the problem of surplus capacity in nuclear power-plant building brought about by the large-scale domestic disenchantment with nuclear power. The plan it has worked out neatly dovetails into official American global strategy. The enforcement of nuclear non-proliferation is a handy weapon to maintain American nuclear hegemony. But why not supplement that policy with a further stratagem? Vulnerable countries around the world could be offered, under strictest safeguards, driblets of nuclear fuel and technology for civilian use. In return, these countries could be cajoled to agree, either tacitly or openly, to submerge their separate, sovereign identities into the American imperium.
Several birds are being sought to be killed with one stone. The retention of the US’s near-monopoly over nuclear power is to be accompanied by a steady widening of the country’s colonial ambit. The military-industrial complex will offload some of its excess capacity in the nuclear power plant sector. The strategy fits in with the objective underlying a model of global economic optimum worked out by a group of neo-liberal American economists. The global economy, the model claims, is the net gainer if pollution-creating industries, such as nuclear power plants, are shifted out of the rich countries and relocated in poor underdeveloped lands; since the productivity of an average citizen in a poor country is way below that of an average citizen in prosperous countries, such a shift optimizes global economic welfare. Whether citizens of poor countries might have a point of view in the matter is a query considered too silly to respond to.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070928/asp/opinion/story_8364874.asp
IIM C-ROREPATIS: The placement season is four months away and five students from IIM-C are already crorepatis.
Crorepati saga at IIM-C, 5 get offers over Rs 1 cr
Priyanka Ghosh / CNN-IBN

One of the highlights of Incredible India is the Indian Institutes of Management. Take IIM Calcutta for instance — the crorepati saga continues in the institute. Pre-placement data indicate the number of offers with Rs 1 crore salaries has already exceeded last year's record.
http://www.ibnlive.com/business/index.html

India should try and shift farmers to non-farm jobs if it wants to battle poverty successfully, the country’s icon for agricultural research has said.
M.S. Swaminathan, considered the pioneer of the Green Revolution, called for a national effort to promote skilled non-farm employment in villages, citing China’s success in moving 100 million people from farm to non-farm jobs since the 1980s.
“We need a large non-farm initiative. People could move out of the poverty trap if there is value addition to their skills and labour,” Swaminathan told the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research on its foundation day yesterday.
He called on the CSIR to deploy some of its workforce to research the subject.
Swaminathan’s views are similar to those of Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who has stressed the need for industrialisation to combat poverty in villages. The scientist heads the Bengal government’s Agriculture Commission, which studies how to increase soil fertility and productivity.
Swaminathan told the CSIR that the rural, non-farm livelihood initiative may be started in the 31 districts the government has identified as agrarian hotspots because of the high numbers of farmer suicides there.
He added that an effort by the CSIR in the early ’70s to bridge the rural-urban divide had fallen short of expectations because there was little synergy at the time among the fields of agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and industrial technologies.
In contrast, a programme begun by the Chinese Academy of Sciences about a quarter century ago had helped shift more than 100 million rural men and women in that country from farm to non-farm employment in seven years.
He said the strategy for rural prosperity in China included concurrent attention to on-farm and non-farm employment, which led to township and village enterprises.
“This was the beginning of the economic revolution in China. China’s ability to become a global outsourcing hub for manufactured products is largely due to the emergence of the township and village enterprises.”
Swaminathan, a plant geneticist who was director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research during the 1970s, said the CSIR had an array of technologies relating to post-harvest processing and value addition, as well as biomass utilisation. These could be used to generate non-farm job opportunities.
Poll-wary CPM looks to buy time on nuke deal
BISWAJIT ROY writes in The Telegraph Kolkata, published today:
The CPM politburo meeting tomorrow, followed by its three-day central committee session, is likely to try and find a way to buy time on the nuclear deal till the party is ready for elections.
The party will also discuss how to dissociate from the UPA government, if it goes ahead with the deal, while not bringing it down and forcing a mid-term poll.
According to central committee members, the CPM units in Left-ruled Bengal and Kerala are not ready for elections. “Moreover, the whole party is busy in organisational conferences which will be completed in the party congress in March. We can’t hold the congress earlier,” a committee member from Bengal said.
If elections are inevitable, it would be better to hold them “after the panchayat polls here in May”, he added.
Officially, though, the party still holds that the ball is in the Congress’s court. “We don’t want to bring down the government. It’s up to the government to decide whether they want to continue or not,’’ politburo member S.R. Pillai said.
While the Bengal comrades led by Jyoti Basu are likely to push for a longer rope to the Congress than Prakash Karat is ready to give, the general secretary’s supporters here point out that he never called for snap polls.
Central committee members said the party could ask for a national law to govern international treaties — so that all treaties have to be ratified by Parliament.
“The government says parliamentary ratification of international treaties is not mandatory under the Constitution. But Article 253 of the Constitution allows room for discussion on such treaties in Parliament. The question is whether the government has the political will to do so,’’ said CPM central secretariat member Nilotpal Basu.
The CPM leader added that the party would ask “the government to enact a law on treaties… to ensure legislative scrutiny of international agreements”.
Party leaders said they would not ask for the deal to be scrapped but try to delay it by asking the government to extract more “safeguards” from the US.
“The government must ask the US to amend its atomic energy laws to ensure uninterrupted N-fuel supply and unhindered reprocessing and enrichment rights as it had given to France and Japan,’’ Basu said.
CPM state secretary and politburo member Biman Bose echoed him. “We want adequate safeguards in the nuclear deal so that Indian sovereignty is not compromised.”
The party might ask the Centre to amend the Indian Atomic Energy Act to ensure such safeguards. “The government can’t operationalise the 123 Agreement without amending our act since it will have to make room for the US and other foreign private sector nuclear energy companies. It needs our support to pass such amendment in Parliament. So, we will ask it to incorporate safeguards against the impact of the Hyde Act,’’ said central committee member Mohammad Salim.
But Basu felt that would not “insulate us from American policy”. “We cannot be party to a deal with America that goes against the people’s mandate,’’ he added.
Even if the CPM withdraws support, it will not topple the Manmohan Singh government and would want it to continue as a minority regime like P.V. Narasimha Rao’s, sources said.
“The day we decide to snap ties, we will inform the President. But we won’t go for any no-confidence motion in Parliament. It will be left to the BJP to bring down the government on the nuclear issue, which it would not want to, given the previous NDA government’s role in the Indo-US deal,” a central committee member said.
But what if BJP does try to bring down the government? “We hope Mayavati and others would save the Congress,” he said, adding the Left would never be seen voting with the BJP in Parliament.
Scam hits Sardar Sarovar project

NDTV Correspondent
Friday, September 28, 2007 (Bhopal)
The Sardar Sarovar project has come under the shadow of a scam that promises to be huge to the tune of hundreds of crores.
It has come to l

So Subjudice Subhuman We Are!
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
So subjudice, subhuman, subordinate enslaved people we happen to be in this divided geopolitics!
One of the most-invoked legal phrases in connection with journalism is the sub judice rule. Sub judice is Latin for under the law, and limits comment and disclosure relating to judicial proceedings in order not to prejudge the issue, influence the court, or obstruct the administration of justice. Violation of the sub judice rule may result in contempt of court. Lawyers, litigants, witnesses and media practitioners are all covered by the rule, even those who have never stepped inside the courtroom. It applies both to pending cases and cases that have already become final.Fair criticism is allowed, but there may be a contempt of court if publication tends to bring the court into disrespect or scandalize it, or if there is a clear and present danger that the administration of justice would be impeded.
justice PB Sawant condemning misinformation campaign against resttled partition victim Bengali dalit refugees countrywide, suggested to go to Supreme Court against the Citizenship Amendment act depriving citizenship of the Bengali refugees. He was addressing the National Convention on the Citizenship Amendment Bill organised by BAMCEF in Nagpur years back. The delegates coming over different states decided against this. I had long discussion with Justice Sawant on the legal implications. I was in favour to go to the Apex court. But BAMCEF President Vaman Meshram opposed thye move vehemently as he felt that judicial activism may harm the dalits much more. He discussed the judicial prejudice and brahminical hegemony as hinderance to Justice. At last there was consensus for a mass movement instead of legal action.
The latest decision against scribes has given me an opportunity to veryfy my stance!The Congress today declined to comment on the issue of alleged contemptuous reports against former Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal.
"The Congress party does not feel the need to comment on matters related to former Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal for the simple reason that the matter is already pending in a court and is directly sub-judice," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters here.
"A Judicial Inquiry Bill is in Parliament, hence there is no need to comment on the issue," he said.
India's judiciary is being accused of gagging the media and acting above the law after a court sentenced journalists and a cartoonist to jail for accusing a retired chief justice of misconduct while in office.Reports Reuters.Mid Day, a Delhi tabloid, ran a series of stories in May which said Y.K. Sabharwal, until recently the most powerful man in the Indian judiciary, had used his office to benefit his sons' businesses, among other allegations.Last week, Delhi High Court sentenced two editors who reported the stories, the paper's publisher and a cartoonist to four months in jail for criminal contempt of court, although they were released on bail while they appeal.
Meanwhile,the Supreme Court has stayed the Delhi High Court order sentencing four Mid Day journalists to four months in jail for contempt. The court will hear the case next in January.They were convicted by the Delhi High Court last Friday. NDTV reports.In May this year Mid Day had carried a series of articles alleging that the two sons of former Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal who are involved in the construction of malls had directly benefited from his orders to seal shops and offices in homes. Justice Sabharwal has refuted the charges.
Investigative journalists should be aware of their legal rights, says Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) chairperson Jose Manuel Diokno. Diokno gave a lecture on legal concerns in investigative journalism during a four-day training on investigative journalism conducted by the PCIJ to Luzon-based reporters and editors.
These include the following:
Right to information on matters of public concern
Right to be free from prior restraint
Right to report on any legislative, judicial or other official proceedings and the statements made in those proceedings, or any other acts of public officers in the exercise of their functions
Right to report on matters of public concern and the conduct of public officials and public figures
Right to protect your sources

The journalists had described the order as harsh and took out a silent protest march from the Press Club to the Supreme Court earlier today. Many commentators have accused the judiciary of using the law to gag the media and shield itself from scrutiny. Politicians and retired Supreme Court judges have added to calls for an inquiry.
"Instead of going into the truth of these charges, which the judiciary can do with its means and mechanisms, it looks like orders are being passed to terrorise these people," Somnath Chatterjee, speaker of the lower house of parliament, was quoted as saying in Friday's Hindustan Times.Around 50 journalists protested in Delhi on Friday, demanding the case be dropped.Twenty-six activists and journalists applied on Thursday to be included as defendants in the case, saying they reiterated the allegations, but their application was rejected.
The high court argued the stories damaged the reputation of the Supreme Court, although Sabharwal had retired months before the stories ran.
A senior lawyer in the Bombay High Court has moved the Attorney General's office seeking permission to initiate contempt proceedings against Union Law Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj over a statement regarding allowing foreign law firms to set up their offices in India, when the matter is sub-judice.Adv M P Vashi, in a letter to the Attorney General of India, has said the Union Minister had no right to pre-judge the issue when the matter was sub-judice and the statement given by the Minister amounted to contempt of court. It said the Union Law Minister wanted to influence the judgement of the court.
A city-based newspaper had carried a story based on Mr Bhardwaj's statement saying that the government had made up its mind to permit foreign law firms to set up offices in India in collaboration with their domestic partners.

The Supreme Court today directed the Andhra Pradesh government not to make any further admissions in professional and educational institiutions under the controversial Act providing four per cent reservations to the Muslims. However, the apex Court said that the admissions made till date will be protected and posted the matter for further hearing on October five. The admission process was scheduled to be completed on September 30. A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said that the status quo be maintained. The Court deferred the hearing after the Andhra Pradesh government sought some time to clarify the queries about the inclusion of 14 sub-castes of the Muslims in the list of socially and educationally backward class.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court judges asked the electronic media to refrain from commenting on matters that are sub judice. First there are the country’s contempt laws to consider. When a case is in court, there must be no attempt to divert the course of justice or to question the competence and integrity of the concerned judges. Two, as one SC judge observed, talk show participants with no legal training are allowed to hold forth on highly sensitive sub judice issues. Legality aside, do such 'debates' add to the knowledge of viewers or swamp them with misinformation? Are members of the media, unwittingly or otherwise, becoming a party to propaganda? Is the media bringing clarity to public discourse or confusing matters further? It goes without saying that we vehemently oppose any curbs on freedom of expression. But these are important questions that the media would do well to ponder. There is no room in ethical journalism for media trials and character assassination, the very traits that the public and the independent media have long deplored in state-run television. True, the electronic media is still in its infancy in Pakistan but it is time it evolved its own code of conduct that incorporates the basic tenets of responsible journalism. Media ethics need not be an oxymoron.
'Indian Idol' Prashant Tamant on Friday appealed for peace in Siliguri after violence and arson rocked the this commercial town, where curfew was imposed and the Army was called in.A radio jockey's remarks against Indian Idol Prashant Tamnang triggered clashes between his fans and local residents and widespread violence and arson here after which curfew was imposed and army called in to help maintain law and order. The trouble erupted when a 2000-strong procession of fans were marching to the SDO's office to submit a memorandum in protest against the derogatory comments by a FM radio jockey in Delhi against Tamang, the police said. An ambulance which sought to enter the Siliguri Zilla Hospital on Hospital Road at that time was obstructed by the fans. This was protested by local people and the Idol's fans in turn vandalised shops in the area. The police fired three rounds injuring two persons as local people brickbatted and chased the fans who took shelter in a court compound, Inspector General of Police, North Bengal R J S Nawla told PTI.
The Supreme Court today ordered the deportation of four Pakistani nationals who are languishing in the jails of Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab for over a decade without being produced before any court. A Bench of Justices B N Aggrawal and P P Naolekar while quashing the proceedings against the four Pakistani prisoners directed the Centre to deport them by November 31 and file a compliance affidavit before it. The apex Court asked the J&K Government to recommend the deportation of the prisoners by October 31, so as to facilitate the Centre carry out the necessary formalities for deporting them by the deadline fixed. Enclosed in the brackets is the number of years spent by the prisoners in the various jails after being detained by the J&K under the Public Safety Act, whose deportation has now been ordered by the Supreme Court.
Raza-ul-Haq (twelve-and-half years, Anantnag), Mohd Osman Sheikh (four-and-half years, Sangrur, Punjab), Mohd Farooq Raja (12 years, Kupwara) and Kudratullah alias Masood (12 year, Jammu). The maximum sentence, even if convicted under the Public Safety Act is two years, but the prisoners were detained in the jails without being produced in the courts, it was alleged in a petition.

Its unsafe to convict on mere dying declaration: SC
The Supreme Court has cautioned that it is "unsafe" to convict a person on the basis of a dying declaration alone, where suspicion is raised as regards the veracity of the deceased`s statement.
CPI(M) wants probe into reported charges against Sabharwal
The CPI(M) has sought a probe into the reported charges made against former Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal to establish the truth.
CNN-IBN EXCLUSIVE
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'People linked to Gandhis got Bofors deal pay-offs'
Sumon K Chakrabarti / CNN-IBN
Published on Thursday , September 27, 2007 at 15:37 in Nation » India section
Stockholm: He is the man who knows the inside story of the Bofors Scam. For the first time ever the Chief Swedish Investigator in charge of the Bofors case since 1989 — Sten Lindstrom — has spoken on camera about the investigations for the first time.

While claiming that the CBI has fooled the Indian public, he said that the money from the Bofors deal was paid to Italian businessman Ottavio Quattorochi only because of his proximity with the Gandhi family and Indian politicians.

He, however, admitted there was no direct evidence of pay-offs against the Gandhis.

Sten Lindstrom was the man who headed the Bofors investigations in Sweden. For 15 years he was in charge of the probe, bringing out all the details in one of India's most high-profile scandals.

Lindstrom's allegation puts the CBI in dock. He says that the CBI officials have so far met him for only 20 minutes and that the Indian Government has never been serious of getting any cooperation from Sweden.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/people-linked-to-gandhis-got-bofors-deal-payoffs/49447-3-1.html
Woman denied child custody for being HIV+
Swati Vashishta / CNN-IBN
Jaipur: It's just a photograph of her nine-year-old daughter that a Jaipur-based HIV positive woman has seen for almost two years now. Infected by her husband, who died in 2003, she was forcibly separated from the child by her in-laws in 2005.

However, the real blow for her came a week ago when a trial court in Jaipur denied her the child's custody on the grounds that she is HIV positive and hence cannot look after the child.

"They say I can't look after her. When her grandparents, who are in their 70s can look after her, then why can't I? And I have already said that as long as I am alive, my child should be with me and then with whoever she wishes to stay with," says the woman.

Adds Secretary People's Union for Civil Liberties Jaipur, Kavita Shrivastava, "What they have ended up doing is violating her mother's natural guardian right, which the Supreme Court has over and over again held for women. The court has denied her this right and that too on a discriminatory ground that she's HIV positive."
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/woman-denied-child-custody-for-being-hiv/49513-3.html

DARJEELING ERUPTS IN PROTEST
RJ Nitin: India's Jade Goody has hills on fire
ibnlive.com

The Darjeeling Hills has erupted in mass outrage following a reckless chatter by a radio jockey of a Delhi-based FM radio station, in which the RJ described Indian Idol Prashant Tamang as ‘chowkidwar se Indian Idol’. BSF has been called in Siliguri to control the situation and curfew has been imposed in the entire subdivison. The West Bengal Government, meanwhile, has decided to take legal action against the FM channel and the radio jockey for the damaging remark. [2027 hrs IST]
http://www.ibnlive.com/nation/index.html
Demolition of Adam`s Bridge to cause natural disasters: Experts

Amidst debates on whether `Ram Setu` was man-made or a natural formation, geological experts on Friday warned that demolition of Adam`s Bridge for the implementation of the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) might trigger natural disasters.

Setu row: Madras HC declines to stay bandh call by DMK
Former Punjab Advocate General arrested in City Centre scam
Sanjay Dutt to get TADA court order copy by mid-Oct
Bachchan files writ in Lucknow bench against land cancellati...

http://zeenews.com/index.asp
Madras High Court has taken exception to the DMK's 12-hour bandh call on October 1, calling it illegal.The bandh has been called in support of the speedy implementation of the Sethusamudram project.The high court has asked the state chief secretary to ensure free movement of rail, air and road traffic.The court has ordered that the public should not be prevented or attacked from doing their routine work.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat today paid a visit to the house of Rizwanur Rehman, who died under mysterious circumstances after he was allegedly threatened by police for marrying a Hindu girl.
The state government had yesterday ordered a judicial probe into the incident even as the family of Rehman, a graphic artist, had moved the Calcutta High Court for a CBI probe.
Speaking at his home, Karat demanded a time-bound probe to unravel the truth.
"It is a sad incident and involves money power and conservative sentiment," she told reporters.
Brinda demanded that steps be taken against the guilty after the inquiry.

Rizwan-like case in Gajole?
MALDA, Sept. 27: A Rizwan-like case has shaken police officials at Gajole in Malda district.
Rajkumar Saha, a 26-year-old boy "legally" married an adult girl, Poulomi Raha, daughter of Mr Asim Kumar Raha, circle-inspector of Gajole police station recently. It was alleged that the police officer forcibly picked up his daughter from Saha's house and threatened him with dire consequences. Rajkumar had informed the matter to the Malda SDO, seeking justice. Though the SDO instructed the police to look into the matter, nothing had allegedly been done. Saha, whose life was in danger, recently fled home. n SNS
Stung by the public outcry over the death of businessman Ashok Todi's son-in-law Rizwanur Rahman, CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday ordered a judicial inquiry by a retired high court judge.
Two hours before the chief minister ordered a judicial probe into the death of Rizwanur Rahman on Thursday, his mother Kishwar Jahan and elder brother Rukbanur moved a writ petition in Calcutta High Court, praying that the CBI be called in.
Moving the petition before Justice Soumitra Pal, advocate and former Trinamul Congress MLA Kalyan Banerjee said: “My clients do not think they will get justice if the probe is conducted by state government officials. So, we are requesting you to appoint the CBI to conduct the probe.”
Even after Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s announcement of a judicial probe, the Rahman family stuck to its demand. “After my brother was hounded to death by the police force, how can we have any faith in the state government machinery? Only a CBI inquiry can bring out the truth,” said Rukbanur.
“They have ordered a judicial inquiry, but the police officers responsible for his death are still holding their posts. Why have they not been removed for the sake of an impartial investigation?” he demanded.
Banerjee claimed that the senior police officers had violated the law by meddling in the matter without registering a case. Fearing that “Rizwanur was murdered”, he said a CBI inquiry could run parallel to the judicial probe.
The state government’s announcement of a judicial probe into the death of Rizwanur Rahman, meant to silence critics and distance itself from the probe to lend it impartiality, has failed to satisfy the Opposition.
While Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee called the probe “toothless”, the Congress said it would go through the terms of reference of the Justice Alok Chakraborty Commission before spelling out its stand.
“Only a CBI probe can unveil the truth,” said Mamata on Thursday. “People must know that a judicial probe is headed by a retired judge handpicked by the government. The government’s influence over the judge cannot be ruled out.”
Besides, she pointed out, a government can sit on the findings of a judicial probe, as has happened with the report of the Srikrishna Commission that had probed the Mumbai blasts of 1993 or the Bhattacharya Commission report on the Wakf property scandal.
“If the police officers accused of threatening Rizwanur continue to hold their posts, they will pressure the Chakraborty Commission to come up with a biased report,” she alleged.
State Congress working president Pradip Bhattacharyya said: “The judicial probe cannot unearth the truth if the terms of reference are not strong enough.”
The commission should look into the role of the cops in the case and also the manner in which Ashok Todi, Rizwanur’s father-in-law, established links with senior police officers, he added.
Jamait Ulema-i-Hind general secretary Siddiqullah Chowdhury demanded that a sitting judge of Calcutta High Court be asked to head the inquiry and that the option of referring the case to the CBI be kept open.

After Rizwanur Rahman’s family alleged that some Left Front leaders had approached them to accept money and hush up the case, names of two prominent CPM leaders — minority affairs minister Abdus Sattar and former MLA Rabin Deb — were dragged into the controversy.
Without naming any leader, Shahidul Rahman, Rizwanur’s uncle, brought the charges on Wednesday. Rukbanur, Rizwanur’s brother, cleared the confusion on Thursday.
“I spoke to my uncle and he told me that people who had come along with Deb and Sattar had offered money. They did not want us to raise a hue and cry over the death,” Rukbanur told Metro.
Shahidul, who lives a few metres away from the Rahman home at 7B Tiljala Lane, could not be contacted.
Both the leaders named by Rukbanur reacted strongly and denied the charges, which have left the party red in the face.
The party and the government are already in a spot because of allegations that some senior police officers had pressured Rizwanur to send his wife back to her parents. Police commissioner Prasun Mukherjee compounded matters by backing his men and announcing that Rizwanur had committed suicide.
Trying to steer clear of the controversy, Sattar said he went to Rizwanur’s home alone and Deb joined him a few minutes later.
“It was the second time I was meeting the family. The first time I met them was in the party office, when Rukbanur went to meet Biman Bose. If someone from the crowd talks about giving money, we can’t be held responsible. However, given the nature of the charge, I would urge them to come up with proof,” Sattar said.
Deb was, however, much more aggressive and said the charges had a political motive.
“We know Shahidul is Trinamul Congress MLA Javed Khan’s man and so, his statements are politically motivated,” said Deb.
“I went to Rizwanur’s house with our party’s Calcutta district secretariat member Prasad Guha to express solidarity with the family. No party leader has talked about giving them money,” said Deb.
But the Rahman family has stuck to the charges. “Offers of money and other favours to maintain silence started pouring in after my brother’s death and they came from various quarters of the CPM. But we will not yield to pressure from police or any political party,” said Rukbanur.

Six days after Rizwanur Rahman was found dead, his father-in-law Ashok Todi appeared at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters for prolonged questioning.
Todi entered Bhabani Bhavan at 3.40pm on Tuesday and emerged at 6.50pm after giving sleuths a detailed account of what had happened since he came to know of daughter Priyanka’s registry marriage with Rizwanur. He mentioned the names of all the police officers he had met for assistance.
After recording Todi’s statement, Bhupinder Singh, the additional director-general CID, echoed what chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had said at Writers’ Buildings earlier — that no officer would be shielded.
“We have taken his statement and will cross-check it with whatever he had told others on previous occasions. We will talk to all those who got involved in this case, including police officers,” said Singh, overseeing the probe into the mysterious death of Rizwanur on September 21.
Where was Priyanka? CID officials said she was traumatised and so, had stayed away. “But we will definitely question her as soon as possible,” said Singh.
The CID had told Todi to appear for questioning at Bhabani Bhavan on Thursday.
Just after 3.30pm, a steel-grey Chevrolet Tavera (WB02 X3621) came to a halt in front of the CID headquarters. Todi, in a white shirt and black trousers, stepped out, along with one of his employees and two lawyers.

Sleuths waiting in front of the main entrance whisked him away to the office of Niraj Narayan Pandey, the deputy inspector-general (CID).
“He told us that he fell ill on September 7 and was admitted to a private hospital. We will check the records of the hospital,” Singh later said.
Todi also mentioned that the written agreement between his relative Anil Saraogi and Rizwanur — with the assurance that Priyanka would return to her husband after seven days — was flouted because of “family problems”.
Earlier in the day, CID officials visited Rizwanur’s Tiljala Lane house and spoke to his family members.
“They asked for a copy of a the marriage certificate of Rizwanur and Priyanka. They also took away some photographs of Priyanka and Rizwanur. Then they asked us in detail what had happened the day Ashok Todi had come here to take his daughter home,” said Rukbanur, Rizwanur’s brother.
Sleuths on Thursday also questioned Sadique Hussain, one of the witnesses in the marriage of Rizwanur and Priyanka. Sadique told CID officials how some officers of the detective department’s anti-rowdy squad had threatened him after he refused to give a false statement that Rizwanur — an ex-student of St Xavier’s College (1999 batch) — had married Priyanka against her wishes.
A court has dismissed a petition of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) seeking registeration of a case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for passing critical remarks on Lord Ram.
The order was passed yesterday by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Faizabad on a petition filed by Mahant Kanhaiyya Das on behalf of the VHP.
"We cannot forgive the TN CM for passing ignominious remarks about Lord Ram, the icon of the Hindu Community. Now, we would file a petition before the Allahabad High Court,'' VHP state media in charge Sharad Sharma told mediapersons here.
Meanwhile, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas president Mahant Nritya Gopal Das said ''the indignified comments of the DMK chief has hurt the religious sentiments of crores of Hindus.
The ignoramus people, who are challenging the existence of Lord Ram ought to go through Ramayan properly.'' He underlined ''...those sitting on dignified posts should not pass such unholy comments.''
Mayawati govt indulging in political vendetta: Mulayam

Lucknow, Sept 27: Samajwadi party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday said recommendations of a probe panel to cancel allotment of plots to politicians made during his regime was a classic example of political vendetta on part of the Mayawati government.
"The BSP government is harassing his party workers and the probe panel's recommendations is an example of this," he told reporters here.
"Mayawati had promised to lodge me and party leader Amar Singh in jail during her election campaign. The lodging of an fir against Singh in a plot allotment case is part of a well-planned strategy," Yadav said.
SC: What's top priority, schools or quota?
28 Sep 2007, 0011 hrs IST,Dhananjay Mahapatra,TNN
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NEW DELHI: The gradual reduction in central contribution to universalisation of primary education in contrast to its willingness to spend Rs 36,000 crore to create infrastructure to accommodate 27% OBC quota made the Supreme Court on Thursday ask the Centre to specify its priority — children's education or reservation.
This query from a five-judge bench headed by chief justice K G Balakrishnan, which is hearing a bunch of PILs challenging the validity of the quota law, came after it noticed that the central share in elementary education programmes in the states had come down from 80% to 50% over the years.
"If you cannot meet 80% of the funds required for elementary education, why spend Rs 36,000 crore on higher education? This money could be put in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to empower all children. What is your primary requirement — right to education or social empowerment?" said the bench, also comprising justices Arijit Pasayat, CK Thakker, RV Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari.
Wriggling out of a difficult situation on which the court wanted him to take a stand, solicitor-general GE Vahanvati said for the government, right to education guaranteed under Article 21A and social empowerment provided under Articles 15 and 16 were equally important as both were fundamental rights of the citizens.
"We cannot look at Article 21A and ignore Articles 15 and 16. The measures to achieve results under both spheres have to go hand-in-hand and simultaneously," he said.
The court said the government was free to decide its policies, but would do well to consider whether grant of money for universalisation of education would not benefit the backward class.
"If you do not give money to fulfil the mandate to universalise elementary education, then 60% of the children belonging to backward classes will be deprived of education. Will they be able to take advantage of reservation in higher education under 27% OBC quota," the bench asked. The foundation was not visible, yet the government was trying to spend money on giving the building an oil paint finish, the bench remarked, summing up its views on the debate. However, the bench clarified, saying: "We are not doubting the Centre's sincerity towards elementary education."
Asked about the time-limit that the Centre had fixed for the 27% OBC quota, the SG said the measure was started 60 years after India gained Independence and hence, the question of fixing a time-limit on this social affirmative action did not arise at this stage.
"Time-limit cannot be conceived at present when we have started it after 60 years. If Parliament at a later stage finds that a large number of backward class people have socially advanced through this measure, it will consider it at that point of time," he said. Concluding his arguments, Vahanvati said the 27% OBC quota in no way affected the seats available for the general category and hence the court should give the green signal to this social engineering mechanism.
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today announced a judicial probe into the death of Rizwanur Rahman, saying the “money power” and “communal” angles to the case needed investigation.
Retired Justice Aloke Chakraborty will conduct the inquiry — announced three days after the chief minister had ordered a CID probe — and the government will draw up the terms of reference “as soon as possible”.
“The judge will be an independent authority. He can summon anyone he wants,” the chief minister said.
Judicial probes usually take a long time but the government may have pre-empted a CBI investigation, as demanded by Rizwanur’s family who approached the high court today. The petition will be heard tomorrow.
Rizwanur, 30, who had married businessman Ashok Todi’s daughter against her family’s wishes, was found dead on the railway tracks on Friday morning. His written allegation that Lalbazar had colluded with his father-in-law in armtwisting him and trying to break up the marriage has provoked public outrage.
Todi was questioned today in Bhabani Bhavan for over three hours.
“We have heard the chief minister has ordered a judicial probe but the officers responsible for my brother’s death still hold their posts,” Rizwanur’s brother Rukbanur said. “Only a CBI inquiry can bring out the truth.”
But a grim-faced chief minister said this evening: “There will be no effort to shield any officer. There are many dimensions to this case. There is money power and the communal angle.”
Asked why he was instituting a judicial probe having already ordered a CID inquiry, Bhattacharjee said: “Since then I have found out many other facts… from government and political sources as well as a cross-section of people. This incident has shaken up the people… raised many questions in people’s minds.”
Transport minister Subhas Chakraborty said a judicial probe would “put the case in deep freeze for five years”.
“I shall try my best to find the truth as soon as possible,” Justice Chakraborty said.
Some legal experts said judicial inquiries were toothless. “Judicial commissions lack the power to arrest people,” advocate Arunava Ghosh said. “They can only make recommendations that the government may or may not accept.”
The CID probe will continue, but the judge’s decision will prevail, Bhattacharjee said.
The transport minister said the three officers accused should be removed from their current posts for the duration of the CID probe.
Police commissioner Prasun Mukherjee had earlier caused an uproar by appearing to suggest his officers had a right to interfere in legally valid marriages. He had also declared the death a suicide without a post-mortem report.

Too perfect a suicide
- Holes in police theory on Rizwanur
KINSUK BASU
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070928/asp/frontpage/story_8371355.asp
Rizwanur Rahman was found dead on the railway tracks between Ultadanga and Dum Dum last Friday. The Telegraph visited the spot and spoke to some residents of Bidhan Pally and Shanti Colony, bordering the rail tracks, who had found the body of the 30-year-old.
WHAT THEY SAW
At 10.35am, Ashish Das, a resident of Shanti Colony, was the first to see the body of a youth lying on the rail tracks, blood oozing from the head.
The back of the head had been blown off. No other signs of injury were visible. “His handsome face was intact,” another witness said.
The youth was sporting a white shirt, “greyish” trousers and leather shoes. In his