EXCELLENT EXCUSE for OPERATION ETHNIC Cleansing!CHIDAMBARAM FLOP Show Continues in Internal security also!Rebel ring around cordon of ‘security’!5000 CRPF personnel and Sukhoi fighter jet to locate YSR's chopper!

EXCELLENT EXCUSE for OPERATION ETHNIC Cleansing!CHIDAMBARAM FLOP Show Continues in Internal security also!Rebel ring around cordon of ‘security’!5000 CRPF personnel and Sukhoi fighter jet to locate YSR's chopper!

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, Chapter 362

Palash Biswas

http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com

CHIDAMBARAM: Union home minister P Chidambaram said "AP forces have moved to a point where the chopper site was last seen. There is no good news yet. We are keeping our fingers crossed. The search operation would continue through the night. I have advised the state government to begin the search even during the night. We will have to wait until first light tomorrow [Thursday]......when we will have to press more helicopters. Let's hope for the...
more by P Chidambaram - 32 minutes ago - Deccan Herald (1 occurrences)

US offers help in locating Andhra CM

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) The US has offered all help in locating Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S R Reddy whose helicopter went missing in the state this morning.

US Ambassador Timothy J Roemer was in touch with Home Minister P Chidambaram through the day and offered all help in this development, the Embassy spokesman said.

His heart goes out to all those involved in the development, the spokesman said.

Sonia holds consultations with party colleagues on Reddy
New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI):

A concerned Congress President Sonia Gandhi tonight held consultations with senior party leaders in the wake of the disappearance of a helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S R Rajasekhar Reddy.

Senior ministers Pranab Mukherjee (Finance) and A K Antony (Defence) as also Political Secretary to the Congress President Ahmed Patel were present at the deliberations. Mukherjee said "today we are very sad about Rajasekhar Reddy's incident. Till now, there is no trace. I spoke to the Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister and other senior ministers there. It is very sad".

Gandhi's consultations with the leaders took place shortly after Home Minister P Chidambaram had a meeting with her. Law Minister M Veerappa Moily and Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan have left for Hyderabad after Gandhi asked them to proceed there in the wake of the incident.

The AICC has described the situation in Andhra Pradesh following the disappearance of the chopper as that of a "crisis". Gandhi is personally monitoring the situation and has spoken to Reddy's son Jaganmohan, party sources said.

02/09/2009
TV Channel run by YSR's son claims he is safe
Hyderabad: With panic and anxiety writ large on their faces, hundreds of Congress party workers gathered at the state secretariat here waiting to hear some news about the whereabouts and safety of chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who remained untraced since his chopper went missing Wednesday morning.

State ministers, top bureaucrats, a large number of state employees, ruling party leaders and workers descended at the secretariat, the seat of government, as the word spread that the chief minister remained untraced even eight hours after his chopper lost contact with the air traffic control.

With prayers on their lips, the Congress leaders and admirers of YSR, as the chief minister is popularly known, stood outside the D block in the secretariat, which houses the Chief Minister's Office.

They were raising slogans "Long live YSR" as the security personnel had a tough time controlling the crowd.

State Ministers assure masses

There was some relief when state ministers told reporters that the chief minister was safe and his chopper had landed somewhere.

There were also reports on Sakshi television channel owned by the chief minister's son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy that YSR was safe and spoke to his close aide K.V.P. Ramchandra Rao.
The channel also claimed that the chief minister would be reaching Hyderabad in an army helicopter any moment.
However, minutes later finance minister K.Rosaiah told reporters at the secretariat that the chief minister remained untraced.

He only hoped that the chopper had landed in some forest area and appealed to people to help trace it.
"We are worried after what Rosaiah said. We were earlier happy that the chief minister is safe. We are now praying to god," said Sudhakar Reddy, a Youth Congress leader.

Another Congress supporter said: "I am confident that he is safe. He is people's man. He did a lot for the welfare of people. Nothing will happen to him."

At Gandhi Bhavan, the headquarters of the ruling Congress, a large number of women workers were seen praying for the safety of their leader.

Hundreds of others gathered outside the chief minister's camp office in Begumpet bringing the traffic to a halt in the busy area.

Source - IANS

Aerial version of BrahMos-II missile in the offing
Tiruchirapalli: The modalities for developing hypersonic missile BrahMos-II to be carried out by the Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace, are on the verge of being finalised, a top official of the company said here.

02/09/2009
Pak now has 90 nuclear warheads, India concerned
Pakistan has increased its nuclear warheads from 60 to around 70-90 and is enhancing its nuclear weapon capabilities across the board by developing and deploying new nuclear-capable missiles, say two experts in a report in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

The report, entitled "Pakistani nuclear forces, 2009", by Robert S. Norris of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists is published in the Nuclear Notebook section of the Bulletin.

The two experts added that Pakistan is keeping its missiles with nuclear warheads in a completely assembled form and can launch them at a very short notice.

According to them, a satellite picture shows that the Masroor Air Base near Karachi is where missiles like the medium range Shaheen may be stored.

They also claim that Pakistan is developing two new cruise missiles - the ground-launched Babur and the air-launched Ra'ad.

The new cruise missiles will carry nuclear warheads miniaturised to fit onto them.

The report details how Pakistan is improving its weapons designs and is moving beyond the first-generation nuclear weapons that relied on highly enriched uranium.

The increase in the warhead estimate does not mean Pakistan is thought to be sprinting ahead of India, which is also increasing its stockpile, Kristensen writes in a condensed version of the report published on the website of the Federation of American Scientists.

India has taken note of the report and is viewing with concern the increasing Pakistani arsenal, especially as the disclosure comes close on the heels of a New York Times report quoting unnamed senior officials that Islamabad modified Harpoon anti-ship missiles purchased from the US to target India, official sources said here Tuesday.

Besides, Islamabad is adding more nuclear capable missiles to its arsenal.

"The new nuclear-capable ballistic missile is being readied for deployment, and two nuclear capable cruise missiles are under development. Two new plutonium production reactors and a second chemical separation facility also are under construction," said the report.

"For at least a decade, Pakistan has been pursuing plutonium-based designs. Central to that effort is the 40-50-megawatt heavy water Khushab plutonium production reactor, which was completed in 1998 and is located at Joharabad in the Khushab district of Punjab," they write.

The report goes on to add that Pakistan is building two additional heavy water reactors at the Khushab site, which will more than triple the country's plutonium production.

Pakistan's nuclear weapons stockpile may reach between 100 and 120 warheads within the next decade, or even sooner, the two nuclear experts said.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a non-technical online magazine that focuses on global security and public policy issues, especially related to the dangers posed by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. It has been published continuously since 1945, when it was founded by former Manhattan Project physicists after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Source: IANS

02/09/2009
Andhra CM’s chopper not airworthy, says DGCA
Hyderabad/New Delhi: A controversial twist was introduced into the case of missing Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy on Wednesday, when a private television channel revealed that the seven-seater Bell chopper that was carrying him to Chitoor, was not airworthy.

According to a Times Now report, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) certifcate shows that the chopper was last inspected two years ago. The certificate also describes the owner and operator of the chopper as being the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

The revelation comes as the Andhra Pradesh Government set up 14 teams, each consisting of eight members (112 personnel), to search for Reddy and the chopper in which he was traveling.

Local villagers have also been provided with torches and other equipment to help in the search of an area that is dominated by Naxals.

The State Government has also asked the Central Government to provide it with an unmanned aircraft and all-weather Fokker aircraft for the search operation in the Nanamalla and Seer Sailam forest ranges, where the chopper is believed to have made an emergency landing due to bad weather. At least seven choppers, including four from the Indian Air Force (IAF) have been pressed into the rescue operation.

The State Government has also said that it will be giving a fresh update on the situation at 7 p.m.

Source - ANI

It is going to PROVE Excellent EXCUSE for ETHNIC Cleansing! Hundred days Mass DESTRUCTION Agenda is ACCOMPLISHED with Merciless SURGICAL Precision! Forest Land and Natural Resources have to be CAPTURED. Lalgarh OPERATION made the GROUND for an ALL Out SLAUGHTER campaign as maoist Menace is being branded as UNABATED! CIA and MOSSAD INVOLVED and we know well their METHODS to JUSTIFY any Military Operation!

The Telegraph published a FRONT Page story about Maoist Military Strategy! We know it is under MIND Control game! If a CHIEF MInister go MISSING in Naxal maoist Dominated area, any EMERGENCY MILITARY Operation is automatically JUSTIFIED. No one would rather DARE to question the PROJECTED facts! Mind you, the SHALBONI blast created the Launching Pad for Anti Maoist drive nationwide which is nothing but the MONOPOLISTIC Corporate ILLUMINATI aggression against the aboriginal People already in the MAP of Boneded Labour, food insecurity, sTARVATION, Displacement and EXODUS for so called Industrialisation, Urbanisation, Development and Infrastructure!

Meanwhile, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan on Wednesday appeared to completely rule out the possibility of Naxals bringing down the
helicopter

of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S R Reddy that went missing in the state, saying the ultras did not have such a capability.

He said it was quite possible that a technical snag or a pilot error could have led to the chopper going missing.

"Naxal strike seems extremely improbable. I would almost entirely rule it out. I do not think the Naxalites have the capability to bring down the helicopter," Narayanan said here.

Narayanan said the government was determined to continue the search for the helicopter or its wreckage and the Chief Minister, his secretary and personal security officer.

"The search will continue till we get hold of the helicopter or its wreckage and the persons on board the helicopter. We will search tonight and tomorrow morning. I don't think there is any question of calling off the search," he told a TV channel.

Pointing out that the country has been very worried over the safety of the chief minister, he said the Centre, apart from the state, had done the utmost to find the helicopter by pressing into service IAF helicopers and aircraft with radars for ground mapping the region.

"The situation does not seem to be good. We have done helicopter search in several areas such as the Northeast where communication has been far less adequate," Narayanan said.

He said the government also planned to have satellite images of the region obtained from ISRO once Indian satellites come over the region tomorrow.

"We are keeping our fingers crossed that there would be miraculous escape (of the Reddy and his personnel) in this case," he added.

About 500 CRPF personnel were deployed for a combing operation in naxal-affected dense forests in the Kurnool area over which the Bell helicopter may have passed, Home Ministry officials said in New Delhi.

The CRPF personnel will be called from neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Orissa, the officials said adding the first batch of these men is expected to reach soon.

The AP government has also rushed hundreds of 'Greyhounds' or special commandoes used to junge terrain to the area.

The Andhra Pradesh Government has set up 14 teams, each consisting of eight members (112 personnel), to search for missing Chief Minister Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy and the seven-seater Bell chopper in which he was traveling to Chitoor District.

Local villagers have also been provided with torches and other equipment to help in the search of an area that is dominated by Naxals.

The State Government has also asked the Central Government to provide it with an unmanned aircraft and all-weather Fokker aircraft for the search operation in the Nanamalla and Seer Sailam forest ranges, where the chopper is believed to have made an emergency landing due to bad weather. At least seven choppers, including four from the Indian Air Force (IAF) have been pressed into the rescue operation.

The State Government has also said that it will be giving a fresh update on the situation at 7 p.m.

The latest missive comes shortly after former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and now Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Chandrababu Naidu said that everyone was concerned about the missing chopper that was carrying incumbent Chief Minister Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy.

Villagers urged to help rescue ops

Addressing a press conference here, Naidu said: "We are all concerned. I also appeal to nearby villagers to help with the rescue. The situation is being monitored."

Naidu's appeal came as the Andhra Pradesh Government revealed this afternoon that the search is still on for the seven-seater Bell chopper that was carrying Reddy towards the state's Chitoor District in inclement weather.

From remote sensing satellites, IAF's Sukhoi-30 jet and military helicopters to special commandos and army soldiers a mission
of a huge magnitude was underway tonight to trace the missing helicopter with Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on board.

And no possible rescue tool was left out with local villagers even provided with torches as the search covered six districts most of it in Nallamala forests that used to be dominated by Naxals. Tribal teams, forest and revenue officials were also scouring the area.

ISRO's Radar Imaging Satellite had been pressed into service and will click photographs of a area on the route of the helicopter while the IAF pressed into service a Su-30MKI fighter aircraft with synthetic aperture radar for high-resolution ground mapping.

The radar of the Sukhoi aircraft which can sweep the six districts in a jiffy can help in finding out if anything is amiss. And two mid-air refuelling aircraft will be in service so that the Sukhoi does not have to go their base.

The air-to-air refuelling will help the Sukhoi to continue its search for longer hours as the aircraft is capable of operating day and night. The Sukhois have an endurance level of three to four hours of continuous flying, but it could be enhanced to about 10 hours at a stretch with refuelling.

Several boats were also scouring River Krishna. Chief Secretary P Ramakanth Reddy said the state government is also trying to seek help of the US Defence department to have real-time satellite imagery of the area where the Bell-430 helicopter went missing.

Eleven choopers including four from the IAF were also pressed into service.

The Indian Army has deployed over 250 personnel with night vision devices to carry out search operations in the Nallamala forest area.

"We have deployed two columns and one ghatak platoon in the area for searching the Chief Minister. Our troops are equipped with night vision devices such as goggles and hand held thermal imagers," Army officials said in New Delhi.

"Our troops will focus on searching for the chopper in the Nallamalla forest area in the night also with the help of their equipment," they added.

The troops, officials said, are from the infantry division based in the area.

About 500 CRPF personnel were deployed for a combing operation in naxal-affected dense forests in the Kurnool area over which the Bell helicopter may have passed, Home Ministry officials said in New Delhi.

The CRPF personnel will be called from neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Orissa, the officials said adding the first batch of these men is expected to reach soon.

The AP government has also rushed hundreds of 'Greyhounds' or special commandoes used to junge terrain to the area.

CHIDAMBARAM FLOP Show Continues in Internal security also! Police and paramilitary forces are moving towards a forested area where Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's missing helicopter was last spotted but the helicopter search has been called off, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Wednesday.There has been no contact with the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, whose helicopter has been missing for over five hours now now after he took off from Hyderabad this morning, Home Ministry sources said in New Delhi.Moreover,An experts committee, which probed the near-miss incident between a Presidential helicopter and an Air India plane at Mumbai this February, has found that an IAF chopper of the VVIP entourage landed on the runway making a short circuit and without clearance from the Air Traffic Control.

Five guerrillas attempting to cross over from Pakistan were killed early Wednesday when Indian Army soldiers foiled their infiltration bid in Jammu and Kashmir's Gurez sector, officials in Srinagar said.

CIA and Mossad may defend Corporate, MNC and Zionist US Israel Interests in this Bleeding Divided Geopolitics. But the US Military Prence may not SUCCEED to CRUSH Nationalities, it has been prooved in Middle East Oil war. AFPAK Policy has been Super Flop! Tagging Indian Politics as well as Economy with US Corporate Problems may not solve Indigenous Probles of Life and death! The Ruling Superslaves, Comradors, Extra Constitutional Elements and Political masks, LPG Mafia and Immoral anti nationa gang of Ruling manusmriti Hegemony would Never Understand! Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi Wednesday expressed concern over the reported disappearance of a helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy after it encountered inclement weather in the interior areas of the state.

In a considerable downer for space conspiracy theorists, Chandrayaan-1's terrain-mapper camera has recorded images of the landing site of US spaceship Apollo 15 and tracks of its lunar rovers that were used by astronauts to travel on moon's surface nearly four decades ago, a scientist said Wednesday.

Chettiar Chidambaram had been a SUPER Flop in FINMIN dictated by Washington as well as India Incs!

The Chettiar Flop show continues in Internal security also!

AFPSA is being remodelled with Human Face! It would not be withdrawn at any cost. The Military Option and ZERO intolerance would be some what HUMANISED. Humanoid Rulers gear up for REPRESSION assisted by CIA as well as Mossad!But it has COMPLICATED so much so that a Chief Minister of Indian state goes MISSING!

Representative from PRABUDDHA Mahila Sangathana Maharashtra based in Nagpur called me this morning and I had a Good Interaction! It would definitely help us in national networking of Resistance in DEFENCE of Aboriginal Indigenous Minority Refugee slumdog Black Untouchables in the Subcontint!

For me, it is nothing new!

I feel from my INNER Most heart that the Ladies do understand Politics as well as Economy better than the Men! Taslima nasrin told me once that there would not be any Human Right without the abolition of Religion! She told that the Untouchables, Underclasses, PROLETARIATES and the Women as well as Children are being VICTIMISED by RELIGION which bears with Manusmriti Based caste system as well as Apartheid and strengthens ZIONISM!

I have heard the Echoes in every corner of the Geopolitics often and friends , it has never been a HALUCINATION!

I have visited the dalit pnchayats in karantak led and run by WOMEN!

I have fortunate enough to work with the lady activsists in nationality Movements countrywide from North East to uttarakhand, Jharkhand to DANDAKARANYA! I have interactions with Mahwashweta devi to madhu Kishwar and DR Uma Bhatt.

The ladies are habitual leaders simply because of their Motherly Character which sustains Humanity, Nature and life! They MANAGE and Maintain, defend and sustain our HOME! Indigenous Insurrection History tells us that the Ladies do defend our Homes, land and Livelihood with RARE Commitment! recent History proves that! They hold on the Culture and heritage as well! They bear our Mother Languages!

I am very OPTIMISTIC, provided we allow the Bright and Committed ladies o lead us, it would be a DIFFERENT nation! but it would never happen in Manusmriti Rule which CONSIDERS WOMAN a COMMODITY or LUXURY or SEX Machine only!

Let us think on that!

last Day I had been in BURDWAN to attend a DISTRICT Convention where representatives of Different Professions and areas were Elegant speakers!

I just posed and Focused on the Present Economic Contradiction! The masses may not afford basic needs and utilities! They fail to by anything from Grocery! They may not afford Rs Twenty Two per KG POTATO! But the Ruling class enjoy the KING SIZE Recipe of HILSA SIXTEEN HUNDRED Rs per KG! children may not have MILK but the Effluent class eat FRUITS Inflamable and enjoy DRINKS adn DRIVES Unlimited! Budget Defecit is said to be only around SIX percent and it has already Crossed FORTY Percent! What type of FISCAL and Monetary management is this which creates hype of Terror, SECURITY risk, EXTREMISM and INSURGENCT! All security EXERCISE benefits India Incs and MNCs to capture Human and Natural resources! Defence deals and Fuel Flirting NEVER Considered while we calcualte balance of Payamnet. Anti Muslim hatred leads to NUCLEAR ARMS Race! And we FOOLS do feel that we happen to be EDUCATED, EMPOWERED, Progressive, SECULAR, Democarte, Awakened, Organised, Political, Proactive,Resisting and Intelligent.. What Not? ..

With daylight giving way to darkness in the sprawling Nallamalla forest range in and around Kurnool district, hopes of locating the Bell 430 chopper faded even as thousands of police and paramilitary personnel trekked towards an interior area over which the helicopter was spotted shortly before it lost contact with air controllers at 9.35 a.m.

A sombre Chidamabaram, overseeing the multi-faceted hunt for the helicopter, told reporters in New Delhi that the search by the Indian Air Force was called off late in the evening "because of the weather and failing light" but said the manual search for the chopper would go on "at least for a few hours" before resuming at first light.

Two air force helicopters from Secunderabad and three from Bangalore had searched for the American-made helicopter for several hours along with a private chopper from Andhra Pradesh.

After stating that forest and revenue department officials had conducted searches in Kurnool district, Chidambaram said: "We are keeping our fingers crossed. The police and paramilitary forces are moving towards that point... Perhaps they would be able to do a search for a couple of hours at least, then we will have to wait first light tomorrow.

Let us hope for the best. Let us pray for the best."

Even as rescuers combed the forest range, officials reluctantly admitted that the missing helicopter had not renewed its airworthiness certificate for two years. Experts denounced the shocking revelation.

Authorities said US satellites would be used to scan the dense Nallamalla forest. Simultaneously, a low flying aircraft of the National Remote Sensing Agency would search the missing helicopter throughout the night. The Indian Air Force said it would press Sukhoi aircraft for night operations.

President Pratibha Patil, now in Moscow, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed concern over the fate of YSR, as the chief minister is widely known. Congress president Sonia Gandhi prepared to travel to Hyderabad.

His disappearance while flying from Hyderabad to Chittoor, about 580 km away from here towards Tamil Nadu, has caused concern in the Congress where YSR is highly regarded both for his administrative acumen and political skills. He is also credited with crushing the Maoist movement in Andhra Pradesh, a long-time ultra-Left bastion.

In a sign of desperation, Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Ramakant Reddy urged anyone who gets to know anything to contact the police.

"So far we have not been able to get any confirmation (about the chief minister). It is possible that because of the strong winds and heavy rains, it may have landed in some unfamiliar area," Reddy said here. "If you land in an unfamiliar forested area, getting out will be very difficult."

Andhra government plunged into crisis

The Andhra Pradesh government was plunged into crisis as Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy remained untraced even nine hours since
his helicopter went missing in a forested Maoist stronghold Wednesday morning.

As darkness closed in and army choppers called off their search operations over Kurnool and adjoining districts, the administration, led by veteran Congress leader and Finance Minister Minister K. Rosaiah, was trying to grapple with the crisis.

Rosaiah is leading the efforts to coordinate search operations with the central government. He is in touch with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) as well as the defence ministry.

He was amongst the first to rush to the chief minister's office in the secretariat. He held an emergency meeting of ministers and top officials.

Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy, whom YSR considers his younger sister, Chief Secretary P. Ramakant Reddy, Director General of Police S.S.P. Yadav and YSR's friend and Rajya Sabha member K.V.P. Ramchandra Rao were among those who attended the meeting.

The crisis has hit the state only four months after YSR retained power to return as chief minister for the second time.
Still no trace of Andhra Chief Minister !
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy went missing on Wednesday morning under mysterious circumstances. For over five hours he has not been traceable and when last reports came in, he has still not been found.

Home Ministry officials in Delhi confirmed that they have not been able to establish contact so far (at 3.30 pm).

YSR was on his way from Kurnool to Chittoor on Wednesday at around 8.30 am. One hour later the Begumpet ATC in Hyderabad suddenly lost contact with his helicopter.

Reports indicated that Reddy's chopper was forced to land due to inclement weather in the dense forests of Kurnool-Chittoor area. After that, some reports said, he was taken by road to Kurnool. However, there is no independent confirmation on this. Three officials were accompanying him in the chopper.

Finance Minister Rosaiah told the media in Hyderabad this evening that all efforts are being made to establish contacts with the Chief Minister who, he said, was safe. He said the areas has very dense forests and inclement weather has made matters more difficult.

Rosaiah confirmed that the CM was travelling in an all-weather proof helicopter. Helicopters from the IAF base at Hakimpet have been despatched for search and rescue operations.

Some sources said that for security reasons the officials did not want to reveal the whereabouts of the Chief Minister as he had to make an unscheduled landing and a journey by road.

However, what added to the intrigue was that Army helicopters were rushed from Hyderabad and Bangalore to trace the CM's chopper. Chittoor district in Rayalaseema region borders Karnataka.

For the past two days, Andhra Pradesh has been experiencing heavy rains and inclement weather.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked Union Law Minister and general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh Veerappa Moily and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chauhan to rush to Hyderabad to oversee the search and rescue operations for missing state Chief Minister Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has also joined in the search operation. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has said that he has advised the Andhra Pradesh Government to conduct a ground search for Reddy through the night. Aerial search has been called off.

IAF deploys Sukhoi 30 jets.

The Indian Air Force has deployed Sukhoi 30 fighter jets to conduct an air sweep of the area where the chief minister's chopper is said to have landed due to inclement weather.

The decision to send Moily and Chauhan comes as the State Government sources said the CRPF, the Army and Special Forces would conduct their search on foot through the night till the chief minister is traced.

The defence personnel would move along the same route that the chief minister took, notwithstanding the inclement weather.

The Andhra Pradesh Government has separately set up 14 teams, each consisting of eight members (112 personnel), to search for Reddy.

Local villagers have also been provided with torches and other equipment to help in the search of an area that is dominated by Naxals.

State Govt asks for unmanned craft

The State Government has also asked the Central Government to provide it with an unmanned aircraft and all-weather Fokker aircraft for the search operation in the Nanamalla and Seer Sailam forest ranges.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has denied that the seven-seater Bell chopper was not air worthy. It said that the outdated certificate that a private channel accessed appeared on the DGCA web site. The DGCA says the copter is air worthy.

Mysterious silence of AP Chief Minister’s copter

Aviation experts are intrigued on one issue concerning the disappearance of the helicopter of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y Rajasekhara Reddy: Why is there no signal coming from the BEL 430 chopper?

Helicopter experts point out that the BEL chopper is equipped with an Emergency Location Transmitter (ELT) that can send out signals for 48 to 72 hours. The ELT gets automatically activated if the chopper crashes. But if it has been caught in a difficult weather or terrain, the pilot can manually activate the ELT.

In the case of YSR's helicopter, neither of this has happened. This is a mystery. Experts say there could be two reasons: The ELT probably is not functioning (which, if true, is a major lapse) or there was a serious mechanical problem that rendered the ELT useless (which is a remote possibility).

If the signals were emitted, it could have been captured by the search and rescue satellite operated by ISRO. The satellites of ISRO have a transponder only for this purpose and it is use extensively by the Air Force in case of a missing plane - either of India or other countries.

Since this signal did not come from YSR's chopper, the Air Force decided to press in the Sukhoi-30 fighters that have very sensitive radars and capabilities to reconstruct a thermal map of a wide area. The Sukhois can catch any unusual event in difficult terrain.

In 2005, it was a Sukhoi that caught an unusual activity in the deep forest area of Belgaum where an Indian Navy plane had gone missing for four days. Based on the Sukhoi's inputs, troops were able to locate the aircraft after five days and found a survivor who was still strapped to his seat.

The government has also pressed in the aircraft of National Remote Sensing organisation (NRSA ) that can fly at very low altitude and has good night vision.

The problem, according to experts, is that in case of an emergency landing or crash of a helicopter in dense forest, the `disturbance' in the area will be hardly 200-500 metres. Such a small disturbance is hard to locate by overhead flying planes. It all depends on how big a `footprint' the aircraft leaves behind when it goes down, said an expert.

The only hope is to physically look out for the helicopter through dense combing operations. That is why the Army has pressed in its elite troops that have what is called `deep instincts' to locate and rescue personnel.

Reports also indicate that the pilot may have deviated from the approved flight path in order to avoid rough weather conditions. This has made the search operations difficult. If the pilot had stuck to the flight path, it would have been easy to pin-point a rough area where it went down by calculating the flight duration.

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3202905

Panic, anxiety grips YSR's followers

With panic and anxiety writ large on their faces, hundreds of Congress party workers gathered at the state secretariat here waiting to
hear some news about the whereabouts and safety of chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who remained untraced since his chopper went missing Wednesday morning.

State ministers, top bureaucrats, a large number of state employees, ruling party leaders and workers descended at the secretariat, the seat of government, as the word spread that the chief minister remained untraced even eight hours after his chopper lost contact with the air traffic control.

With prayers on their lips, the Congress leaders and admirers of YSR, as the chief minister is popularly known, stood outside the D block in the secretariat, which houses the Chief Minister's Office.

They were raising slogans "Long live YSR" as the security personnel had a tough time controlling the crowd.

There was some relief when state ministers told reporters that the chief minister was safe and his chopper had landed somewhere.

There were also reports on Sakshi television channel owned by the chief minister's son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy that YSR was safe and spoke to his close aide K.V.P. Ramchandra Rao.

The channel also claimed that the chief minister would be reaching Hyderabad in an army helicopter any moment.

However, minutes later finance minister K.Rosaiah told reporters at the secretariat that the chief minister remained untraced.

He only hoped that the chopper had landed in some forest area and appealed to people to help trace it.

"We are worried after what Rosaiah said. We were earlier happy that the chief minister is safe. We are now praying to god," said Sudhakar Reddy, a Youth Congress leader.

Another Congress supporter said: "I am confident that he is safe. He is people's man. He did a lot for the welfare of people. Nothing will happen to him."

At least 5,000 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have reportedly been deployed for the search of missing Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy.

State Government sources said the CRPF personnel would move along the same route that the chief minister took, notwithstanding the inclement weather. It is reported also that the eleven choppers, including four from the Indian Air Force (IAF), may call off their aerial search soon due to dwindling light.

The Andhra Pradesh Government has separately set up 14 teams, each consisting of eight members (112 personnel), to search for Reddy and the seven-seater Bell chopper in which he was traveling to Chitoor District.

Local villagers have also been provided with torches and other equipment to help in the search of an area that is dominated by Naxals.

The State Government has also asked the Central Government to provide it with an unmanned aircraft and all-weather Fokker aircraft for the search operation in the Nanamalla and Seer Sailam forest ranges, where the chopper is believed to have made an emergency landing due to bad weather. At least seven choppers, including four from the Indian Air Force (IAF) have been pressed into the rescue operation.

The State Government has also said that it will be giving a fresh update on the situation at 7 p.m.

Ramping up the frantic search for missing helicopter of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S R Reddy, the IAF today deployed a Sukhoi fighter jet with on-board radar for high resolution ground mapping to locate it.

"The IAF has pressed into service a Su-30MKI fighter aircraft with synthetic aperture radar for high-resolution ground mapping to locate the missing helicopter of the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister," an IAF officer said here.

The Su-30MKI air superiority fighter jet will be supported in the search operation by an air-to-air refueller so that fuel could be transferred to the aircraft while flying.

The air-to-air refuelling will help the Sukhoi to continue its search for longer hours as the aircraft is capable of operating day and night.

Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai most affluent cities: Neilsen

Delhi, Bengaluru and greater Mumbai have been named as the top three most affluent cities in the country based on lifestyle and consumption habits of the people residing there, according to a survey by The Nielsen.

The Nielsen Upper Middle and Rich (UMAR) survey has ranked Delhi at the top of the chart of 10 most affluent cities based followed by Bengaluru at the second place, Greater Mumbai (3rd), Chennai (4th) and Hyderabad (5th).

The survey has initiated a new method of defining 'affluence', based on lifestyle and consumer durables' ownership of a household rather than monthly income and education.

Three distinct segments of affluence emerged by such lifestyle and consumer durables mapping - upper middle, upper-upper middle and rich and are quite distinct in their consumption habits, the survey said.

The grouping was done based on the ownership of a car, a computer, an LCD, and a holiday abroad, the survey said.

"The primary reason for conducting Nielsen UMAR was to obtain first of all a realistic estimate of this segment, and secondly, to profile their media and consumption habits," The Nielsen Company Managing Director (South Asia) Partha Rakshit said.

2.5 million affluent households

The Nielsen survey estimates that there are a total of 2.5 million affluent households in the country, of which 2.2 million belong to the upper-middle segment -- these households own a car and a computer.

The upper-upper middle segment consists of some 0.2 million households and are owners of a car, computer, an LCD, while the rich segment makes about 0.1 million of households in the affluent pie, who own all the things above in addition have taken a holiday abroad.

Consumers to spend $706 bn on electronics this year: Survey

Despite the ongoing global economic crisis, people worldwide will spend more this year on consumer electronics, IT and telecom and are expected to take the total market size to $706 billion, according to a survey.

"In 2009, consumers will spend 2 per cent more on products in the audio/video, photography, IT and telecommunications segments, with total global expenditure for the year as a whole forecast at euro 494 billion ($706 billion)," said Gfk Retail and Technology survey, carried out in more than 80 countries.

Japan is showing the biggest expansion at 8 per cent, followed by Africa (6 per cent) and China (5 Per cent), Gfk said in a statement today. North America and Europe are expected to see a decline of 3 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively.

"Mobile phones and televisions each increased 4 per cent in terms of value, while consumer PCs grew by 2 per cent," Gfk said.

"In each of these categories, which account for 78 per cent of the total market, innovation is the growth driver. This is underlined by new products such as smart phones, flat-screen televisions and notebooks," it added.

Among the smaller product groups, Blu-ray players are expected to grow 117 per cent, while portable navigation devices are growing at 17 per cent.

02/09/2009

Recession? Look at Kerala's Onam alcohol sales..hic
Onam has created a record of sorts in Kerala. Alcohol sales touched a record single-day high to touch Rs.34.13 crore.

According to N. Sankar Reddy, managing director of Kerala State Beverages Corp (KSBC), the sole wholesaler of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) and beer in the state, this was 49 percent more than what was sold on the first day of Onam festival last year.

"The pattern of sale is that the maximum sale is seen on the first Onam day, which is today (Tuesday), but as the first of the month is a dry day in Kerala, sales peaked yesterday," Reddy told IANS.

"Last year, on the first Onam day, we had sales of Rs.22.62 crore."

Thiruonam, the most important day during the 10-day festival, is being celebrated today.

Reddy said only 17 shops sold liquor worth more than Rs.10 lakh the first Onam day last year, but Monday saw 85 shops crossing this figure.

"Our shop at Chalakudy (in Thrissur district) recorded the highest sale worth Rs.22 lakh, followed by the shop at Karunagapally (in Kollam district), with sales worth Rs.20.4 lakh," said Reddy.

There are 383 liquor and beer outlets in Kerala.

The 10-day Onam season saw sales of Rs.160 crore last year, and KSBC expects it to cross Rs.200 crore this time.

Last year, total sales in August stood at Rs.369.5 crore, which jumped to Rs.486 crore last month.

KSBC also saw a spurt in sales in the first four months this fiscal despite the economic downturn.

Sales soared to Rs.1,746.84 crore in April-July as compared to Rs.1,483.99 in the like period last year.

In quantity terms, IMFL sales went up to 63 lakh cases from 59 lakh cases in the corresponding period last fiscal, while beer sales increased to 25.6 lakh cases from 23.4 lakh cases.

KSBC's contribution to the state exchequer by way of taxes has jumped from Rs.1,163 crore to Rs.1,356 crore during the year-ago period.

Source: IANS

Maoists attack pvt plant, abduct six security guards

2 Sep 2009, 1202 hrs IST, PTI

PATNA: Armed Maoists on Wednesday attacked a plant owned by a private road construction firm in naxal-hit Jamui district of Bihar and kidnapped six
of its security guards.

Over 400 ultras raided the SMPL's plant at Hariondhi village and damaged payloaders and three trucks, ADG (headquarters) Neelmani said.

They also kidnapped six private security guards employed by the company, he said.

The senior police officer said that though Special Task Force (STF) personnel assisted by district armed police men engaged the naxalites in an encounter for some time, they managed to escape in the thick forest area on Jamui-Chakai road.

Alleged non-payment of money demanded by the Maoists from the private firm owner was reported to be the reason behind the attack, Neelmani said.

Rebel ring around cordon of ‘security’
Maoists’ military tactic
SUJAN DUTTA
Lalgarh, Sept. 1: The Maoists’ brutality in Lalgarh does not lack method.

First, they have carried out their operations outside the security forces’ “circle of domination” — the roads ringing Pirakata, Goaltore, Kadashole, Ramgarh, Kantapahari and Lalgarh. That speaks of a military mind and a tactic called “counter-encirclement”.

Second, the Maoists have effectively cut off most field intelligence assets the security forces could seek to cultivate. Across three police station areas — Salboni, Lalgarh and Goaltore — CPM activists have put up posters in villages proclaiming they have abandoned the party.

Counter-encirclement has also meant that the Maoists have expanded their area of influence.

“In my area, only Pingboni was Maoist-affected till June,” said Sharmistha Ghosh Roy, block development officer at Goaltore.

“But from the reports I’m getting now, Maoist squads are roaming around at will in all seven panchayats.”

Currently, 40 companies of central and state forces are involved in Operation Lalgarh. There were 50 at one time in June. These forces include the CRPF, BSF, India Reserve Battalion, Bengal Armed Police and Cobra units.

A senior officer visiting Midnapore indicated, but did not confirm, that the Cobra units were being retreated temporarily. Contingents of the Calcutta police that were sent have been mostly re-deployed.

The officer said, on the strength of the expansion of the Maoist area of influence as in Goaltore block, that there was an urgent requirement for at least 10 more companies of forces. But he is prepared to wait out the monsoon.

That means the offensive is likely to be more vigorous as soon as the season turns drier — coinciding with the all-India operation the Centre is planning and a hammer-and-sickle move with the aid of forces in Jharkhand, across the district and state boundary.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee insisted (in absentia) on the move from Jharkhand at the conclave convened by Union home minister P. Chidambaram last week.

This means more guns and mortars are likely to be poured into Lalgarh, increasing the likelihood of a bloody crackdown that Bengal, heading into an election with the potential to be regime-altering, can probably ill-afford.

“Had it not been for Nandigram, Lalgarh would not have assumed such a scale,” said the officer.

In an oblique way, Chhatradhar Mahato corroborated this. “Look at what the CPM government did in Nandigram,” he said.

“Why do you think it does not want to repeat its violence here? It is only the resistance of the people and popularity of our movement that is stalling it.”

The possibility that the powder keg in the lab called Lalgarh will still blow up is high because this has ceased to be a Nandigram-Singur-Bengal only dispute. The Centre has planned to test and learn from here.

“Lalgarh is the laboratory for the kind of operation we will carry out in Chhattisgarh (and elsewhere),” Union home secretary G.K. Pillai had said in New Delhi on August 20.

“When they (the Maoists) learn from us, we also learn from them.”

Chidambaram, soon to visit each of the states where the Maoists have bases, has stated that he has a clear, two-pronged strategy: first, use the forces to clear and hold; second, fire a development surge.

But Lalgarh has shown the Maoists have a three-pronged strategy as well: first, resist and revolt; second, cut off the forces from the people, if necessary by butchering suspected informers.

A third, and more complex tactic they have adopted, is to gain/retain popularity by initiating new social reconstruction projects or by hijacking the state’s dole-giving role.

For instance, in Lalgarh where their writ ran uncha- llenged for eight months till June, they dug tanks and, in Kantapahari, opened a community hospital.

Now, they are also seeking to cut into the administration’s own welfare schemes. They have asked villagers to question why the Rs 81 per head promised under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in these parts should not be distributed by the “people’s own committees”.

How strange that in this, too, they should mirror the CPM’s style of functioning. Just as the party ruling Bengal has converted welfare plans into a patronage distribution system, the Maoists too are doing image-building by hijacking government schemes.

Two days back, in Kuldiha, a village where the Bengal police brutally beat womenfolk in June, a woman herding goats said she was looking forward to getting some of the old-age pension for tribals that she has heard is doled out by the administration.

“I don’t care where and who, era dik ba ora dik (whether these people give it or those people give it), as long as I get it,” she said.

In the lab called Lalgarh, they simply seek deliverance.

Kidnap on Lalgarh fringes
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Midnapore, Sept. 1: Maoists last night abducted a CPM worker from his house just outside the security forces’ so-called circle of domination.

There was no trace of Kanai Nayek, 34, till late tonight.

“We are searching the local jungles,” said West Midnapore police chief Manoj Verma.

Some 50 armed men came to Kanai’s house and dragged him out, said a resident of Barkola village, only 6km from Lalgarh town, which is crawling with security personnel. “They tied his hands with a towel and took him away.”

Another group raided the house of ration dealer and CPM supporter Lakshmikanta Das at Memul village in Salboni, 10km from Lalgarh.

The Dases had fled home a month ago following threats from the rebels.

Neighbours said the Maoists had taken Lakshmikanta to a kangaroo court in May and asked him to snap ties with the CPM. The guerrillas had also paraded him in the neighbourhood with a garland of shoes around his neck.

While ransacking his house last night, the Maoists found many ration cards and distributed them among the villagers.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090902/jsp/bengal/story_11440096.jsp

Jammu & Kashmir to revoke AFPSA, strip forces of special powers

26 Feb 2009, 1628 hrs IST, IANS

JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir government has set in motion the process of revoking the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) to strip the armed
forces of their special powers in the terrorism-hit state, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Thursday.

Abdullah made this announcement while replying to a debate on the withdrawal of the AFSPA and human rights violations. The debate was initiated by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the legislative assembly.

"We have started the process of revoking the AFSPA and Disturbed Area Act," Omar told the house after members, mostly from the Kashmir Valley, demanded that the special powers of the armed forces be withdrawn and they be sent back to their barracks.

"The first step has been taken with the replacement of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Srinagar," Abdullah said, amid thumping of desks by treasury benches.

Earlier, PDP legislature party leader Mehbooba Mufti lashed out at the government for "perpetuating the reign of terror in Kashmir, where the people are being pulled out of their homes and killed..."

"This must stop," she said, adding for this, the government must recall the special powers of the army and paramilitary forces and order them back to barracks.

"Nothing short of that would assuage the people of Kashmir," she said.

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act gives powers to armed forces to carry out operations in disturbed areas. It was promulgated in Jammu and Kashmir in July 1990.

Indian, Pakistani militants use Bangladesh for transit: Police

2 Sep 2009, 1052 hrs IST, IANS

DHAKA: Islamist militants fighting in Jammu and Kashmir have regularly used Bangladesh as a transit point to travel

to Pakistan, a militant nabbed

by the police has said.

Safe havens have been built in Bangladesh to shelter and train militants for terrorist operations in the South Asian region, detained Indian terrorist Mufti Obaidullah, a top leader of the India-based Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF) has revealed.

His interrogation statement has been obtained by The Daily Star newspaper that published details Wednesday.

ARCF works as an associate of the Pakistan-based international terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Maulana Obaidullah, working undercover as a madrassa teacher for the last 14 years, was nabbed along with another alleged Indian operative, Maulana Mansoor Ali, two months ago.

Obaidullah said that Pakistani militants crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir to enter India to run terror operations.

They then crossed the Indian border into Bangladesh to fly back to Pakistan.

"As it was tough to cross back to Pakistan through the India-Pakistan border, the Mujahideen would cross to Bangladesh and then leave for their
destinations using fake passports and visas," Obaidullah's statement said.

His student Selim and a close associate Jalal helped him.

The detained Indian militant also said that he built a safe-home in Habiganj in 2002 to shelter fugitive terrorists, and recruit and train Bangladeshis to take part in terror attacks.

Obaidullah built the safe-shelter under the cover of a kindergarten named 'Noor Shah Islami Kindergarten' in Habiganj's Shayestaganj upazila (sub-district).

Bangladesh intelligence sources, however, say that Obaidullah has not revealed all the details about his operations in Bangladesh since his arrival in 1995.

In his statement, Obaidullah said several other militants in Bangladesh visited his safe-home, including Moulana Mohiuddin, who he claims to have known from the Deoband madrassa, and Harkat-ul Jihad's Bangladesh leader Mufti Abdur Rouf.

Deoband in India's Uttar Pradesh state is where Darul Uloom, a world renowned centre for Islamic theology has been functioning. It denies having imparted any training in militancy to the thousands of students from across the world who study there.

In 2005, Obaidullah met ARCF's new chief Amir Reza in Dhaka's Goran area. There, Amir asked Obaidullah to buy a permanent safe house and provide Jihadi training to Bangladeshi recruits.

Obaidullah claims they insisted on giving him the responsibility for the camp despite his reluctance.

Bangladesh authorities have in the recent weeks nabbed several militants who have yielded valuable information about the nexus among the militant groups in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh and the role of international mafia don, Dawood Ibrahim.

Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy
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