Political Economy - Livemint.com

Bomb blasts in Assam leave seven dead

Wasbir Hussain / AP — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:16:00 GMT

Guwahati: Suspected militants set off two bombs outside a police station in Nalbari town near Guwahati on Sunday, killing seven and wounding at least 50, police said.

Five people died instantly after two blasts went off within minutes of each other, a local police official said. Two people died later in a hospital, he said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media, said what officials had earlier reported was a third bomb in a market a few miles away, turned out to be a firecracker.

At least 52 people were wounded in the blasts, said Bhaskar Mahanta, Assam’s inspector general of police. He said authorities suspect the militant separatist group United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) is behind the blasts. The bombers had parked two bicycles fitted with carriers packed with explosives outside the Nalbari police station, which is located in a congested part of the town, he said.

Mahanta said police had received intelligence reports suggesting that Ulfa was planning to avenge last week’s arrest of two of the group’s leaders.

feedback@livemint.com

India not worried about US honouring N-deal: PM

Lalit K. Jha / PTI — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:10:00 GMT

Washington: Ahead of his meeting with US President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said India has no worries about US honouring the Indo-US nuclear deal, but would like to get a “positive reaffirmation” from the present administration to carry forward the process.

Equitable order: A file photo of US President Barack Obama (left) and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the G-20 summit in London. PIB

Singh, who will arrive in Washington on a state visit late Sunday, said India would like to operationalize the “watershed” agreement and ensure that the objectives for the nuclear deal are realized in full merit.

“We have no worries, but we would like a positive reaffirmation of this administration to carry forward the process,” Singh said in an interview to NewsWeek magazine, the full transcript of which was released by the ministry of external affairs on its website.

He was asked whether he was concerned about the US honouring the consent agreement.

Singh said the partnership with US was for sustained and sustainable development of India and the new global world order which is in search of a new equilibrium.

“India and the US could be partners in refocusing our attention on an equitable, balanced, global order,” Singh, who will meet Obama on Tuesday, said.

Asked whether India is worried about the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which President Obama seems very intent on pushing through the senate, Singh said. “Why should we be worried? We are not worried at all.”

feedback@livemint.com

ULFA twin blasts claim 6 lives, injure 54 in Assam

PTI — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:03:00 GMT

Nalbari, Assam: Six people were on Sunday killed and 54 others injured, including 34 seriously, in the two blasts suspected to have been triggered by Ulfa near a police station here, five days ahead of the banned militant outfit’s raising day.

A high alert has been sounded across Assam after the blasts and patrolling intensified in the affected area.

Nalbari police superintendent Jitmol Doley said the bombs were planted in bicycles placed at a distance of 50 meters from each other and went off in a gap of few minutes. Rumours of a third blast in the town were discounted by the police.

Four persons-- Pawan Thakur from Bihar and local residents Ganesh Das, Dipu Das and Keshab Das -- were killed on the spot, while two others -- Mohammad Ali, a village headman and Secunder Ali -- died on way to hospital, he said.

Vehicles parked in the area were damaged due to the impact of the blasts.

Following the blasts, people came out of their homes in protest and shouted slogans against the Ulfa.

The police immediately cordoned off the entire busy area, which has a number of shops, and began a thorough check of the town.

Fearing more blasts, the district administration made announcements over the public address system asking the people to stay indoors.

A total 34 critically injured have been rushed to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital and the rest to Nalbari Civil Hospital, Doley said.

Security was tightened in both Lower and Upper Assam districts following intelligence reports that a group of Ulfa militants have entered the state to carry out subversive activities, official sources said.

According to the intelligence reports, 9 Ulfa militants belonging to the banned outfit’s 709 and 27 battalions have entered the state to carry out their nefarious designs.

In capital Guwahati, security was intensified and vehicles were being checked at sensitive and entry and exit points, they said.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who is in Delhi, condemned the blasts and condoled the death of the innocent people.

“We will not tolerate the killing of innocent people. Security has been further heightened and a massive search operation launched to nab the killers,” he said.

The Ulfa, facing heat in Bangladesh which led to the arrest of its two top leaders Sashadhar Choudhury and Chitraban Hazarika on 6 November, is suspected to have initiated fresh offensive in Assam after a comparative lull.

The outfit allegedly burnt down 12 oil tankers and derailed four bogies of a goods train on November 16 before triggering the twin blasts today.

UPA blinks, rolls back price rule

Santosh K. Joy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:48:00 GMT

New Delhi: The government, under pressure from a united Opposition as well as an aggressive farm lobby, finally blinked and rolled back contentious rules it had effected on sugar cane pricing, clearing the decks for the crushing season to resume in earnest in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

Loading video...

While this is a setback for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), it allowed the Opposition to score vital political brownie points. At the same time, the resumption of crushing will ease the supply situation and reduce pressure on the government to seek sugar imports.

The three-week-long protests by farmers from UP, which produces almost half the country’s sugar cane, had hampered crushing. The Opposition stalled the first two days of the winter session of Parliament over the issue.

This deadlock ended after the government agreed to make changes in the sugar pricing ordinance, though experts aver that the underlying issue on pricing is yet to be resolved. The farmers are yet to formally call off the agitation.

A statement issued by parliamentary affairs minister P.K. Bansal after an all-party meeting on Friday said, “It is proposed to delete the clause. Consequently, if the state announces an SAP (state-assured price for sugar cane), it will be the responsibility of the sugar mills to pay the SAP to the farmers.”

New front: D. Raja of CPI (extreme right) and RLD chief Ajit Singh at the farmers’ rally on Thursday. Shabaz Khan/PTI

The controversial ordinance amending the Sugarcane (Control) Order, cleared by the government on 31 October, had put the burden of absorbing the difference between SAP and the Centre’s fair and remunerative price (FRP) on the states. The Opposition and even some ruling UPA constituents, such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Trinamool Congress, also resisted the move.

Crushing can now start, said Vinay Kumar, managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd.

“The delay of almost six weeks has tightened supplies further. Everyone was depending on UP mills to start on time to tide over the situation,” said Yatin Wadhwana, head of Sucden India.

India, the world’s top consumer and the biggest producer behind Brazil, has placed an import order of a record five million tonnes of raws, pushing New York-traded raw sugar to 28-and-a-half-year highs.

A massive demonstration by farmers in the Capital on the first day of the winter session on Thursday raised the profile of the agitation, especially after political parties turned up in support. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday to seek “pro-farmer” changes in the ordinance.

After the adjournment of both houses of Parliament for two consecutive days, the government advanced an all-party meet convened for Monday and announced the decision to amend the ordinance. The UPA allies held a separate meeting before the all-party meet.

A Bill to replace the ordinance will be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday and will contain the revised provisions, said minister of state for parliamentary affairs V. Narayanswamy.

“In view of certain judgements of the Supreme Court, it was necessary to determine the price of levy sugar and to validate the actions taken by the Centre in the past,” Bansal said, underlining the need for the Sugarcane Bill.

The Opposition said it will ensure speedy passage of the Bill.

“No single party or individual could be given credit as it goes to the farmers. This is a victory of the farmers’ rights and strengthens the democratic process,” said Sushma Swaraj, deputy leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha.

Gandhi’s intervention has been cited by the media as being key in persuading the government to change its mind.

The farmers’ agitation is only “partly over”, according to its leaders.

“We have not called off our agitation, the struggle would now shift from Delhi to Lucknow. The damage that could have been made by the ordinance has been averted, but we still want a higher price for the farmers’ sugar cane produce,” said Rashtriya Lok Dal chief and member of Parliament Ajit Singh.

The government had fixed the purchase price at Rs129.84 a quintal for the current season. Farmers in UP are demanding a rate of Rs280 a quintal, while sugar mills in the state have agreed to pay Rs180-185.

Sudhir Panwar, a professor at Lucknow University and president of the Kisan Jagriti Manch, said, “The government’s decision will give limited relief to the farmers. The new FRP of Rs129.84 per quintal declared by the Centre, which replaced the earlier statutory minimum price (SMP), is neither fair nor remunerative as it is much less than the market price of sugar cane, which is Rs172-230. So, either the government should hike the FRP or should go back to the earlier SMP because state governments will have no authority to hike the price above FRP. The new provision also could be spiked by the judiciary, if challenged.”

Sugar stocks showed mixed reactions on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), with Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd rising 1.61% to end at Rs230.25, while Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd fell 3.18% to close at Rs134.05. EID Parry (India) Ltd fell 1.56% to finish the day at Rs 315.20.

BSE’s benchmark index, the Sensex, rose 236.20 points, or 1.4%, to end at 17,021.85 on Friday. The National Stock Exchange sugar sector index gained 10.05 points, or 0.3%, to close at 3,333.02.

Asit Ranjan Mishra and Shauvik Ghosh of Mint, Reuters and PTI contributed to this story.

Sugarcane issue | Parliament adjourned till Monday

PTI — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:13:00 GMT

New Delhi: Parliament was rocked for the second day on Friday over the new sugarcane pricing policy with a united opposition mounting further pressure on the government to withdraw the controversial Ordinance that saw massive farmers’ protests yesterday.

It was trouble from the word go in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha as opposition parties closed ranks to take on the government which has convened an all-party meeting on Monday to hammer out a solution.

“Withdraw the black order”, “Take back anti-farmers’ ordinance,” shouted members of BJP and SP who stormed the well in both Houses.

The agitated opposition was protesting against Sugar Control (Amendment) Order, which fixes a uniform Central Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane growers. Anything over and above the FRP will have to be borne by the states unlike in the past when the burden was to be taken by the mills.

Besides the new pricing policy, the farmers especially in Uttar Pradesh are demanding hike in cane prices because they feel the industry is making huge profits as sugar is selling at Rs40 a kg.

Members of RLD and BJD were also in the well in the Lok Sabha, while members of almost the entire opposition were on their feet in support of the demand.

Both the Houses witnessed adjournments soon after they met for the day.

The Rajya Sabha was forced to call it a day after two adjournments while the Lok Sabha after one adjournment.

In the din, Speaker Meira Kumar in the Lok Sabha and chairman Hamid Ansari in the Rajya Sabha ordered tabling of listed papers including statement of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora in the Lower House on the recent fire incident in the IOC depot in Jaipur.

BJP members Varun Gandhi, Gopinath Munde and SP’s Dharmendra Yadav were among those who stormed the well in the Lok Sabha.

Govt won’t tax capital inflows: Montek

Manoj Kumar / Reuters — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:39:00 GMT

New Delhi: The government is not considering imposing a tax to curb an influx in overseas funds, and indeed wants an increase in inflows, the deputy chairman of the planning commission said on Friday.

Foreign investors have so far bought more than $15 billion of local equities in 2009, after selling $13 billion in 2008, helping send Indian stocks up about 75% and lifting the rupee to its highest in more than a year.

Brazil and Taiwan have taken steps to curb hot money inflows, and other governments are keeping a watchful eye on inflows, wary that they could fuel asset price bubbles.

“It (capital flows) is rising but we want it to rise a little bit more,” Montek Singh Ahluwalia told Reuters when asked whether government was considering restrictions on capital flows.

Asked if there was a possibility of India imposing a tax to curb capital flows, he said, “I will certainly not.”

Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India, a government body that advises on key economic issues, said foreign funds were needed for developing infrastructure such as road projects and were unlikely to create asset price bubbles.

“Bubbles only happen if you can’t use the money productively. We should be able to use it productively,” he said outside his office.

India has said it needs to invest $500 billion on infrastructure over the five years to 2012.

“So I do not anticipate any asset bubbles,” he said.

Economists, however, have said the government may need to impose restrictions on capital flows at some point to head off volatility in the stock and commodity markets.

“The government is not likely to do it (impose tax) in a hurry, but, considering the steps taken by other emerging markets and the impact on the economy, it cannot be ruled out,” said Abheek Barua, chief economist at HDFC Bank, India’s second largest private sector lender.

He said flow of funds could become a “real problem” by next year, and India would perhaps have no other option but to impose restrictions.

“The imposition of tax will not affect the long-term flow of funds, as a tax could be considered on flow of short-term non-FDI funds and restrictions on overseas borrowings,” he said.

On Thursday, finance secretary Ashok Chawla said the government was not considering a cap on overseas borrowings and would see how the situation evolved before considering what needs to be done.

The Reserve bank of India (RBI) has said there was a risk that if it raised interest rates ahead of other central banks, it could attract more inflows and complicate policymaking.

India and South Korea are expected to be among the first Group of 20 nations, after Australia, to begin raising interest rates as they recover from the global financial crisis.

Higher capital inflows have resulted in currency appreciation mainly in Asia and Latin America, prompting central banks contemplate a range of measures to hold back the tide.

PM’s visit to US comes with rapid trade growth

Reuters — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:42:00 GMT

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives in Washington on Monday for a state visit set to boost the burgeoning economic relationship between two countries, which had relatively marginal commercial dealings a decade ago.

Following are key aspects of economic ties that took off with the end of the cold war and the embrace of economic reforms by India — an adoption of market-friendly policies in which Singh played a prominent role earlier in his career:

Bilateral Trade: Two-way trade, just $5 billion in 1990, reached $14 billion in 2000 and rose to nearly $50 billion last year, according to US figures, making US India’s largest trading partner. The US sells India aircraft and parts, advanced machinery, cotton, fertilizers, and computer hardware. It imports Indian textiles and leather goods, Internet services, agricultural products, gems, leather products, and chemicals. India reckons trade has at least doubled in the past five years, while US exports to India have tripled in that period.

Also Read Edit | The world is not enough

Investment: US cumulative direct investments through mid-2008 of nearly $16 billion in power and oil refineries, telecommunications, electronics, food processing and services make the US one of India’s largest investors, according to US statistics.

The Indian embassy lists the US as the largest portfolio investor in India. US-bound investment from India has grown about 75% annually since 2002, the embassy says.

Information Technology: India says two in five of America’s Fortune 500 companies outsource their software in India. With India’s growing wealth, the telecom sector has grown about 20% a year in recent years. India has courted investment in the sector, projecting that it needs some $84 billion worth of telecom equipments to hit its target of 650 million subscribers by 2012. The US hi-tech regions of the Silicon Valley in California and Route 128 Corridor in Massachusetts have deep ties with their Indian counterparts, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Nuclear Power: The 2005 US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, which eases strictures on US nuclear exports to India, opens India’s potential $150 billion market in power plants. This offers potential for big deals for US nuclear reactor builders such as General Electric Co and Westinghouse Electric Co, a subsidiary of Japan’s Toshiba Corp.

Arms Sales: India’s embassy says US arms sales to India have risen from almost nothing a few years to about $3.5 billion last year. The US is competing with Europe and Russia to supply India 126 multi-role fighter aircraft worth up to $10.4 billion, the biggest such market in decades. In March, the Obama administration approved a $2.1 billion sale to India of eight Boeing Co P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, the largest US arms transfer to India to date. In January 2008, Washington and New Delhi clinched India’s previous largest US arms purchase — six Lockheed Martin Corp C-130J Super Hercules military transport planes valued at about $1 billion, including related gear, training and spares.

Rahul Gandhi largesse for Bundelkhand

Ruhi Tewari and Santosh K. Joy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:26:00 GMT

New Delhi: The government approved a Rs7,266 crore drought relief package for Bundelkhand, a region that spans parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, in a significant victory for Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi who pushed for it as part of a strategy to revive the party in the two states.

The Congress has already scripted a comeback in Uttar Pradesh, which elects the largest number of representatives to the Lok Sabha, in the 15th general election when it won 21 of the 80 seats; in 2004 it had won only nine seats. In the just concluded by-elections in UP, the Congress’ showing reiterated that it has replaced the Samajwadi Party as the main challenger in the state.

While part of the money to be spent over three years beginning this year will be realized from ongoing Union government schemes, the Centre would spend an additional Rs3,450 crore in the form of additional plan assistance to the two states.

To manage the sensitivities of the two states—Uttar Pradesh is governed by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Madhya Pradesh by the Bharatiya Janata Party, both Congress rivals—the spending will be overseen by the chief secretaries of the two states. To monitor the progress a group will be set up at the Centre that will include representatives from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and will be co-chaired by two members of the Planning Commission.

Given that the region has consistently had deficient rainfall since 2004-05, an inter-ministerial central team (MCT) was set up to visit the Bundelkhand areas and assess the ground situation in order to recommend strategies and measures required for agriculture development in the region in both the states. The team submitted its report in April 2008 recommending a drought mitigation package of Rs8,316 crore. Of these recommendations, the components relating to debt relief were covered under the farmers’ debt relief scheme announced by the government in 2008.

The package announced on Thursday calls for drought mitigation in 13 districts of the Bundelkhand region, spread over Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The districts are Jhansi, Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Lalipur, Mahoba, Chhatarpur, Damoh, Datia, Panna, Sagar and Tikamgarh.

The focus of the package will be on watershed development and irrigation facilities to make the region more resilient to drought. In addition, the package will also promote drought resistant, arid-horticulture, and animal husbandry activities to provide alternative source of income.

Opposition parties were quick to claim credit for the package seeking to blunt the political advantage that is likely to accrue to the Congress party.

“We were demanding such a package and our state unit was agitating for the same, but our objection is to associate a much wanted relief like this to a particular person in the ruling party. The approach of the government to focus on Rahul Gandhi through a region’s development is regrettable,” said BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

Similarly, a senior BSP leader, who did not want to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media, said: “The implementation part is not clear yet, we have been demanding the same package but we wanted it to be implemented through the state government and if it is done in the manner we wanted...it is welcome.”

However, the Congress and Gandhi in particular have been visibly associated with the drought relief package for Bundelkhand. In fact, this was a major campaign plank for the Congress in the 2009 general election. Soon after coming to power, the party also rewarded first-time member of Parliament Pradeep Jain, who contested from Jhansi which falls in the region, with the post of minister of state in the crucial rural development ministry.

According to Indra Bhushan Singh, Lucknow-based political analyst, the package will enhance the political standing of Gandhi, who is a member of Parliament from the state—he has been elected twice from Amethi, which is in central Uttar Pradesh.

“By clearing this package, the Congress has taken an appropriate approach towards planning its revival in Uttar Pradesh. In fact, it is imperative to divide Uttar Pradesh into several parts as far as development is concerned. The Bundelkhand issue is not new. Even Mayawati had raised it earlier and demanded a special package for the region. It is an old, almost decade-long, movement which has got a political tone and thrust now. And given that the Congress is in the opposition in both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, this is a clear strategy to chart a revival,” Singh added.

In a separate development, the government sought to strengthen its mid-day meal programme in schools with the cabinet committee on economic affairs reworking the food norms for upper primary school children. In addition, it made a provision for honorarium of Rs1,000 per month for cook-cum-helpers under the programme.

ruhi.t@livemint.com

Pallavi Singh also contributed to the story.

Politics | AP opposition seeks probe into mine deals

C.R. Kumar — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:22:00 GMT

Hyderabad: Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh will seek a multi-disciplinary probe into the alleged iron ore mining irregularities by the Obulapuram Mining Co. Pvt. Ltd on the Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka border, said N. Chandrababu Naidu, president of the Telugu Desam Party.

We should not expect much from Copenhagen summit: Ramesh

PTI — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:50:00 GMT

New Delhi: Asking Indians not to expect much from the climate change conference in Copenhagen, environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said the government would follow a “twin track” approach of not binding itself to any global agreement but at the same time putting in place “ruthless” measures to cut emissions on the domestic front.

“You should not have too much expectations from the Copenhagen summit. It looks like the negotiations would continue,” he said here releasing a United Nations report on population.

“It seems there is a long haul before we arrive at an international commitment,” Ramesh added.

According to the minister, though climate change is a fundamental issue for India, the country has to look at it from a development perspective.

“I think there is an abundance of evidence to show that climate change is not related in any way to population growth,” he said, adding rather it is more a lifestyle issue.

Ramesh said this was evident from the fact that though China was recording negative population growth during the 1990s, its emissions kept on increasing.

“Emissions are caused by consumption patterns. There is no iron law to say that India with its growing population has chances of increasing emissions,” he said.

He added that in fact India through its growth model can set alternative patters for growth without leaving carbon footprints.

Ramesh said climate change was in fact a domestic issue for India and the country should be prepared for ruthless measures to tackle it.

“India is very vulnerable on the climate front. Nobody is more vulnerable than India. It is really a domestic issue for us,” he said.

The response to this is that we act independent of what happens in the international scene, he said, adding, “while we reject legally binding emission cuts, on domestic front we have to be very careful”.

“Low carbon growth will be a part of the new five-year plan,” he added.

Listing out some of the measures India needs to take, he said, “We need to have mandatory fuel efficiency standards, a prospective water legislation and renewable energy sources.”

This twin track approach will help strengthen India’s position globally.

Citing measures for developed countries to cut emissions, he said, “It has been seen that developed countries which eat beef have the maximum amount of emissions. They can cut down on emissions, if they stop eating beef.”

Truth of Bastar will finally be told

Neelesh Misra — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:37:00 GMT

New Delhi: In a moment of rare frankness, the senior Indian Administrative Service official described how, on one of his official trips to rural Maharashtra, he saw a poster printed by Naxalites in the northern Gadchiroli region, making 40 demands of the government.

The fallout: Children at a school in Madded town in Chhattisgarh’s southern Bijapur district. The government blames the Naxalite rebels for blowing up 247 schools in Bastar. Satish Bate / HT

“Would you believe it? I agreed with 39 out of the 40,” he said. “I just disagreed with one: armed rebellion.”

For the first time, spearheaded by home minister P. Chidambaram, the government seems to be recalibrating its thinking on those lines on the 42-year-old Naxalite insurgency, as it prepares a joint national push—thousands of new troops being despatched to states such as Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, among the worst affected by rebel violence.

It seems ready to deal with the truth.

The effect could be a bit like what happened in the Andaman and Nicobar islands following the disastrous 2004 Asian tsunami. Faraway lands, where there was no accountability for government officials, were suddenly swarming with journalists, aid groups and officials, bringing an unprecedented level of national attention and scrutiny.

“I am so glad that finally journalists from Delhi are coming to Bastar,” said Suresh Mahapatra, editor of Dantewada-based newspaper Bastar Impact. “For a quarter-century, after the start of the Naxalite movement here, it has been totally ignored. Now the issues here, and the truth, will be portrayed in a correct way.”

That could be a battle as difficult in this mineral-rich heart of India as the campaign against Naxalites raging in an impossible terrain, in impossible conditions. Because the first casualty in insurgency land was the death of a sense of proportion.

Here is the truth of Bastar: This is not Kashmir. Indeed, paramilitary soldiers and policemen have carried out excesses, and Maoists have regularly done grisly killings. But Chhattisgarh is not a human rights gutter, unlike the blood-soaked prism many often view it through. That is not the most important issue in this conflict.

The real human rights violations in this remote region are crushing poverty, the impossible geography, and an oppressive lack of governance—all of which have contributed to the spiralling of the rebel movement.

And the police are not operating in some la-la-land.

“A few days ago, I went to a police station called Jagarguda, 40km as the crow flies. But there is no road, I walked 59km over two days to reach there from the nearest roadhead,” said Amaresh Mishra, superintendent of police in the rebel hub of Dantewada.

When police have to ferry rations to the Jagarguda police station once every three months, it involves the movement of a 1,000-member caravan that involves a security detail, a tractor full of sand, another with crushed stones, bomb disposal experts, sniffer dogs, cooks. Ambushes are common. Land mines are found frequently—mostly more than 100kg in weight, which no land mine-protected vehicle can survive.

“That’s how we deliver food to our men in Jagarguda,” Mishra said.

On 14 March 2007, Naxalites raided a police camp at Ranibodli village and killed and mutilated 55 policemen in retaliation against the anti-Maoist Salwa Judum movement.

“It was a three-column news item in newspapers, and a ticker ran at the bottom of the TV screen for a few hours,” a senior police officer said in Raipur, speaking on condition of anonymity. “This is not a part of India Shining. A person dying in Bombay in an accident gets more publicity.”

Even former home minister Shivraj Patil continued to dismiss the Maoist menace as only a police problem, limited to certain areas of the country.

The government has shrugged off the collapse of governance and the year-after-year non-use of development funds. The Comptroller and Auditor General’s stinging reports on insurgency-affected states were ignored by the legislature. Authorities rejected accusations of human rights violations by security forces, though several had taken place, according to the National Human Rights Commission.

“Last year, one day at 4am, the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) ordered everyone out and to one side. Then something happened, and there was shooting. A woman and a small child died,” said Nakka Bhima, a 60-year-old labourer in Cherpal village. “Once they took away a boy called Punen Ram, he was made to wear a green dress like Naxalites, and they were about to kill him. Somehow they backed off.”

Then, there are the activists, who slam the security forces but look the other way when Maoist rebels indulge in widespread violence—they hack off the heads of police and civilians, shoot people in the head in execution-style point-blank killings and mutilate bodies.

“The Naxalites cut the heads of eight people right before my eyes—I was hiding there, there in that small ditch,” farmer Kannam S. Raj, 45, said, pointing towards a clearing in the rural hub of Gangalur in southern Bijapur district. “They killed one here. They hacked two people here. They killed two here.”

Then Raj turns to his friend and whispers about the reporter: “He is a big officer from Delhi. They have started coming to Bastar now.”

Opposition gears up to take on govt over prices, corruption

Santosh K. Joy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:51:00 GMT

New Delhi: The Opposition led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plans to kick off Parliament’s winter session on a stormy note on Thursday by protesting an ordinance that restricts states’ right to set sugar cane prices and seeking to embarrass the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government over the Jharkhand corruption scam.

Seeking accountability: Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley says the government is sure to face a tough time issues many issues such as corruption and internal security. Hemant Mishra / Mint

Along with other members of the National Democratic Alliance, the BJP plans to stall a Bill to replace the Essential Commodities (Amendment and Valuation) Ordinance, 2009. Under the ordinance, the Union government amended the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966, and it indirectly restricted the right of state governments to fix a state-assured price for sugar cane.

“One should not be surprised if we find support of some UPA partners...,” said Arun Jaitley, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. “The government is sure to face a tough time on this and many other issues like corruption and internal security.”

The BJP would move an adjournment motion on the sugar cane pricing ordinance on the first day of the session, said Sushma Swaraj, deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, after a meeting on Tuesday.

Ahead of the session, the Opposition has stepped up attacks on the government, alleging that investigation of the corruption charges against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda was being slowed.

Koda was booked by the Enforcement Directorate in early October under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act for allegedly diverting state funds and making huge investments abroad.

“We demand that the government should make public the details of the beneficiaries (of) the corruption money,” said Jaitley. “The investigations into the scam seem to be slowing down fearing the revelation of some names of the ruling party in the scam. We will raise the issue in the coming session.”

The Left parties led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, say they will work closely with other opposition groups in taking on the Congress-led government. Left parties and their allies will raise issues including rising prices, disinvestment, Maoist violence and labour laws, said Basudev Acharya, leader of the CPM in the Lok Sabha.

CPM deputy leader in the Lok Sabha P. Karunakaran said there there could be “some issues” on which the Left and the BJP agree.

After a series of electoral reverses, internal differences have surfaced in both the BJP and the Left that could blunt their ability to take on the Congress party, strengthened by its victory in three state assembly elections last month after winning the April-May general elections.

“It is obvious and clear. The differences within the political parties are bound to be reflected in their performance on the floor of the House also,” said N. Bhaskara Rao, political analyst and chairman of the Centre for Media Studies.

The winter session ends on 21 December.

No role in BJP president selection, says RSS

Santosh K. Joy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:37:00 GMT

New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS), the ideological parent of the main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Wednesday claimed that it had no role in the selection of a new president for the party.

The statement issued by the All India Prachar Pramuk(media incharge) Manmohan Vaid says: “Election of a new president is purely a affair of BJP. We only give our view when it is asked for.”

Reports suggested that RSS have forwarded Maharashtra unit chief Nitin Gadkari’s name for the top post falling vacant this year end. Callling it a wrong news, the right wing organization also clarified that it has longstanding cordial relationship with Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar, the four senior leaders whom RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat ruled out of the race to the post of party president.

Meanwhile, a senior leader known close to incumbent party president Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that Singh’s request to be relieved of his job early and ahead of the

election to the new president has been declined by the party and RSS leaders.

Gas row | Suitable arrangement must be approved by govt

PTI — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:28:00 GMT

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday asserted in the Supreme Court that any suitable arrangement between the Ambani brothers for the supply of gas from K G basin has to be approved by it keeping the national interest paramount.

It said the 2005 family MoU between the Ambani brothers cannot override the public policy on the gas supply and utilization.

Even the production sharing agreement (PSA) between Mukesh Ambani Group firm RIL and the government talks about public interest, additional solicitor general Vivek Tankha submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.

“The RIL and Anil Ambani’s RNRL could arrive at suitable arrangement but it has to be a suitable arrangement for the country approved by the government,” he said.

“How could their (Ambanis) MoU override public document which is the PSA. The MoU is a family arrangement while PSA is an arrangement for the country.

“We are concerned with the protection of natural resources which is not limited to this case but for for all times to come. People’s right has to be protected,” he argued before the bench, also comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and P Sathasivam.

However, the government faced tough time as both the bench and RNRL questioned its submissions which were purportedly not part of the record in the Bombay high court.

“Our simple question is what are the material available with you on which you are arguing,” the bench asked the ASG, who said there was nothing on record from government’s side before the high court.

However, Tankha said this cannot be a ground to keep the government away from the dispute as “peoples’ right have to be protected”.

“How can the resource of the country be discussed and decided in the absence of the government,” the ASG said.

Tankha was frequently interrupted by RNRL’s counsel Ram Jethmalani and Mukul Rohatgi who accused the government of putting forth submissions which were never the part of the high court records.

Jethmalani said government submissions are designed to “help” RIL and its officials must be ready to face cross- examination.

Earlier, continuing the arguments additional solicitor general Mohan Parasaran said government is the sovereign owner of all natural resources and the constitution obligates upon it to distribute it in the best interest to subserve the common good.

He said the high court had, on the other hand, proceeded to conclude that an assured allocation of natural gas in favour of RNRL exists which results in compelling RIL to enter into contract with RNRL for the supply of 28 MMSCMD in addition to 12 MMSCMD of natural gas in case NTPC contract does not fructify.

The Ambani brothers are locked in a bitter battle over the supply and price of the gas from KG basin.

While RNRL is seeking gas at a committed price of $2.34 per unit, RIL says it cannot honour the commitment made in the family agreement due to government’s pricing and gas policies.

Parasaran said government policy was clear that gas was its property till it reached the delivery point. In this case, from the delivery point it would be under the control of RIL which is assuming the role of a contractor.

He said it was not permissible for the RIL to enter into contract with RNRL without the express approval of the government.

This prompted the bench to ask the government whether it ever objected to the RIL offer to RNRL.

The bench also wanted to know whether the empowered group of ministers had fixed the gas price after being in the know about the contract between RIL and RNRL.

Parasaran said the government had rejected the price of $2.34 mmBtu fixed between RIL and RNRL in 2006.

However, this submission was opposed by Jethmalani, who said the arguments were contrary to its stand in the high court.

“You don’t even have the right to approve the price,” he said opposing the government stand that any suitable arrangement between the Ambani brothers will have to be approved by it.

“There is only one gas utilization policy. I am bound by that,” he said and termed the submissions of government as “wild arguments”.

Unions scout for members among job guarantee scheme workers

Maitreyee Handique — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:56:00 GMT

Trade unions often struggle to enlist workers in the so-called informal sector, who by the nature and orientation of their occupations, are a scattered and divided mass. But in recent times, union leaders have discovered a new avenue of comradeship to enrol members: by appealing to the country’s rural employment guarantee job card holders.

Rural activism: Villagers working under NREGS in Rajasthan’s Dilwara district. Around 25.3 million have got jobs under the scheme across India. Madhu Kapparath / Mint

With complaints of non-payment of minimum wages on the increase among workers employed under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), trade unions of all stripes and colours are attempting to gain the goodwill of the rural working class, who often lack an outlet to ventilate their grievances.

For example, the Indian National Trade Union Congress (Intuc), which is affiliated to the ruling Congess party that launched NREGS in 2005 with the support of coalition partners, has announced plans to address problems of workers who get jobs under the nation’s flagship employment guarantee programme.

In its plenary meeting held in Kochi, Kerala, last month, Intuc decided to form trade unions solely dedicated to rural workers eligible for NREGS, which promises at least 100 days of employment a year to one member of every rural household.

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (Citu), affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has gained the membership of at least 15,000 rural workers in Punjab alone during the last three years.

Also See Mobilizing Support (Graphics)

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, widely regarded as an affiliate of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, although it doesn’t formally acknowledge the relationship, has set up both associations and trade unions at the local level in the last one year, according to Sukumaran N.M., its secretary. He did not provide any statistics.

“We will form unions in both Congress- and non-Congress-ruled states,” Intuc national vice-president Ashok Singh said. Intuc plans to demand the Rs25,000 stipulated compensation that workers’ families are entitled to in case of death at work, but which, according to him, nobody ever receives.

Around 25.3 million households across the country have been provided jobs under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or NREGA. Until July, nearly 870 million man days of work have been generated under the scheme, for which the government has set aside Rs39,100 crore in the current fiscal year.

Under the law, every rural household can volunteer for 100 days of unskilled work in a year. Rural workers can also demand a fraction of the stipulated daily wage in case employment is not provided within a fortnight of applying for a job.

Trade unions say that these guidelines are routinely violated and full minimum wages promised by states rarely get paid to workers.

According to Raghubir Singh, secretary of Lal Zhanda Kaumi Rozgaar Guarantee Mazdoor Union, which is mobilizing NREGS workers in Punjab, and is affiliated to Citu, no job-card holders have received the full pay of Rs136.79 in the state and no one ever receives unemployment wages.

Singh said union membership will reach 30,000 this year in the districts of Mansa, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar, where it currently operates.

Not-for-profit organizations have generally been the ones to champion rural workers’ causes. But with regular employment declining in the formal sector, trade unions, which fund themselves with membership fees, are spreading their nets wide to call on unorganized workers as a survival strategy.

At present, only around 9% of India’s estimated 400-million-strong workforce is unionized.

The informal sector includes all economic activities that are neither taxed nor regulated by the government, and is not included in the government’s gross national product, as opposed to a formal economy.

But organizing this splintered class of workers is easier said than done.

“Unlike a factory where workers are found in the same place, informal workers are scattered. They have to work long hours for less pay. They fear about job security. They fear to form unions,” said K. Hemlata, a secretary of Citu.

Mobilizing support in opposition-ruled states has not been easy for some. According to R. Chandrasekharan, Intuc president in Left-ruled Kerala, unionizing NREGS workers in the state has been a problem because “the state does not appreciate the scheme introduced by the Congress government”.

The state unit of Intuc has mobilized 25,000 rural workers across 14 Kerala districts, including Thiruvanathapuram and Ernakulam.

Not all unions believe forming exclusive NREGA unions will work in their best interest. Hind Mazdoor Sangh, which claims to have 5.4 million members of which 35-40% belong to the unorganized sector, said it has no plan to form or embrace new unions.

“We are, however, spreading information about the rights of these workers and how to access the benefit in Bihar and Rajasthan,” said Ram Autar Mittal, secretary of Hind Mazdoor Sangh.

Experts say the unorganized sector holds the key to trade union activity in the coming years and competition is likely to grow to win new members.

“This is the future of unionism,” said C.S. Venkata Ratnam, director of New Delhi-based International Management Institute. “It will continue to go this way as informalization of the formal sector grows. And, trade unions will have to continue to look for non-traditional and atypical forms of employment to find new members.”

Graphics by Sandeep Bhatnagar / Mint

maitreyee.h@livemint.com

25 years on, what’s next for Mayawati?

Pallavi Singh — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:39:00 GMT

Kairana, Muzaffarnagar: The young lady was dark, dressed in a salwar-suit, and had been through college —a rarity for a Dalit woman 25 years ago (as was the dress itself). Khem Chand remembers the day in December the lady, a candidate in the parliamentary elections, came campaigning in the Al Darmiyan area of Kairana where he lives.

Loading video...

She spoke of Dalit and Muslim causes and struck a chord with people such as Chand, a worker at a brick kiln, but she lost.

She was already a member of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), founded by the late Dalit leader Kanshi Ram, but the Election Commission registered her as an Independent because the party was still in its formative stages (it was formed in April 1984).

Guiding hand: A 1995 photo of Mayawati with mentor Kanshi Ram. Hindustan Times

Almost 25 years on, the lady, Mayawati, now 53 years old and the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, is still going strong. Temporarily touted as the prime ministerial candidate of an alternative coalition to those headed by the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), her party contested at least 500 seats in April’s parliamentary elections but won just 21. However, the party, and Mayawati, bounced back in 7 November’s by-elections to the Uttar Pradesh assembly, where the BSP won seven of the 11 seats on offer, many in areas considered strongholds of the rival Samajwadi Party (SP).

Her appeal remains strong among Dalits.

“No one talked about Dalits then. She spoke really forcefully,” remembers Chand.

December 1984 marked Mayawati’s political debut. Parliamentary elections were held in December that year (except in two states where they were held in January 1985) in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination in late October. The Mayawati of today bears little resemblance to the young lady Chand saw campaigning. Her attire has become smarter, her hair shorter, and her lavish birthday parties have become the talk of the country.

Also See The Political Journey

Yet, she remains the X-factor in every political party’s calculations, a variable that could exert its influence strongly, like it did in the last state assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh or fade into insignificance as it did during the last parliamentary elections. And so, everyone is wary of Mayawati. And the lady herself, of nothing and nobody.

“It’s her ability to fight which leads her to success. She is not afraid of anything,” says Ram Kumar, a Dalit activist and head of Dynamic Action Group, a Lucknow-based activist group.

Mayawati couldn’t be reached for comment despite several calls to her office.

The early years

Mayawati didn’t win her first election. The Congress swept to power on the back of a sympathy wave following Indira Gandhi’s killing. The Kairana Lok Sabha seat was won that year by Congressman Akhtar Hasan, but Mayawati came third, and polled around 40,000 votes, roughly one-sixth the number Hasan did.

Hasan, now 75 years old and retired from active politics, says that back then, “there was no election issue powerful enough as Indira (Gandhi’s assassination)”.

Her performance, “for a first timer from a party which was in its nascent stages, was quite something”, says Gaje Singh, a retired schoolteacher from Kairana and a campaigner for the party in Mayawati’s early days. “A large number of Dalits voted for her.”

And some of them were taken up enough by Mayawati’s fiery speeches and repeated assertion that she was one of them to start working for her. Chand was one such. He acquired a poster of B.R. Ambedkar, the icon of India’s Dalit movement and the man who drafted the country’s Constitution. But even he, like her other diehard supporters, didn’t foresee that Mayawati would rise as far as she has done.

In Kairana, Mayawati campaigned on bicycles and gave speeches at street corners.

In Al Darmiyan, she set up an office in three rooms of an old building and moved in with some of her supporters. “We took her on bicycles to neighbouring villages for her campaign,’’ says Gaje Singh.

“We often joked about her ways. Her appeal rested with young men and women. I don’t think anyone beyond the Dalit community even took her seriously then,” says Hasan.

For five years, Mayawati and her mentor Kanshi Ram worked with Dalits, trying to unite them into an electoral force. During the period, she fought and lost two elections. In 1989, she won her first election, a bypoll to the Lok Sabha from Bijnaur.

“She gained the most from the Dalit movement. In 1983, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati were fighting to unite Dalits. Before them, Dalits were divided in several camps. They became the hope for Dalits and they started thinking for them,” says Indra Bhushan Singh, a Lucknow-based political analyst.

A growing presence

By the time of Mayawati’s first electoral victory, her party had subtly changed its political platform. No longer was it merely Dalit-centric; Kanshi Ram and Mayawati started talking of the so-called other backward classes or OBCs, other minority communities that have typically existed at the fringes of the economic and electoral mainstream.

“Though Babasaheb Ambedkar wrote the Indian Constitution and gave people the right to vote, he could never win an election himself. Mayawati’s party established BSP model on Ambedkar’s theory of equality and empowerment,” says activist Ram Kumar.

And the party translated these into practice—no matter how hard it was.

“It is for the sacrifices Mayawati made that she became popular,” says Ram Kumar. She would make day trips to villages (she couldn’t spend the night in most villages because there was nowhere to stay, especially for a woman). “Her struggle was closely watched by the Dalits,” Kumar adds.

And it paid off.

In the 1989 parliamentary elections, the BSP won three Lok Sabha seats and 9.3% of the popular vote, ahead of the BJP’s 7.4% (the party, however, won 85 seats). The BSP had also expanded its presence from its base in Uttar Pradesh to Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. In 1993, it entered into a pre-poll alliance with Mulayam Singh Yadav’s SP, consolidating the anti-upper caste opposition ahead of the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. The SP won 109 seats in the 425-member assembly, and the BSP won 67. “Those were the days when she used the anti-upper caste slogans most extensively. Tilak, taraju aur talwar, inko maaro joote chaar (Hurl shoes at Brahmins, traders, and Rajputs), was often uttered in her political discourse,” says Hasan.

In 1995, Mayawati became chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for five months with the support of the BJP, a national party with a pro-upper caste agenda. The alliance marked the intersection of Dalit and upper caste votes that Mayawati would later leverage to good effect.

Still, she didn’t lose sight of the fact that her original and enduring electoral base was the Dalits. In 1995, she organized a Periyar Mela in Uttar Pradesh, in honour of Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy, a Tamil leader who was Ambedkar’s alter-ego in south India.

“The essence of the symbolism used by the party is the propagation and prominence given to Dalit and social reform leaders of the past and present—from Jyotiba Phule to Ambedkar to E.V. “Periyar” Ramaswamy to Kanshi Ram by constructing murals, statues and other media. However, the scale of this has blurred the thin line between symbolism and personality cult,” says Kumar.

Some of this has come to haunt Mayawati in recent months.

But Mayawati’s finest moment was in the Uttar Pradesh polls in 2007 when she successfully wooed upper-caste Hindus, who had traditionally supported the BJP, to the BSP fold and won an absolute majority. It marked the first time a Dalit party had come to power on its own.

The perils of symbolism

Mayawati and the BSP may have bounced back from their drubbing in the recent parliamentary polls with the victory in the assembly by-elections.

However, her tendency to build parks and statues dedicated to Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram and herself has come in for criticism from various quarters. In October, the Supreme Court restrained installation of her statues at a park in Noida, a satellite of Delhi. The apex court order came rapidly in the wake of a similar order by it stopping similar statue projects in Lucknow in September. In the second case, the court initiated contempt proceedings against the Uttar Pradesh government for violation of its directions.

Mayawati herself is under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly amassing wealth disproportionate to her known sources of income. In 2008, CBI asked Mayawati how her declared assets of Rs1 crore had increased to around Rs50 crore between 2003 and 2007. Mayawati claimed she had received the money as donations from party workers.

Still, some analysts say the cases against her are politically motivated.

Mayawati isn’t a stranger to controversy.

In 2003, she was accused of corruption by the SP in 140 cases filed against her by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

She was at the centre of the so-called Taj corridor case in which CBI questioned certain permissions granted by her government for construction of a massive shopping mall and recreational centres near the Taj Mahal in Agra; the plan was later dropped as was the case. In September this year, a public interest litigation (PIL) filed against her revived the case and on 16 November, the Supreme Court rejected her plea for quashing the PIL.

Mayawati’s biggest problem, however, could be the criticism that she is beginning to ignore Dalits. “She has stopped mixing with common people. She is not aware of their problems any more. While she has become a symbol of Dalit movement, she doesn’t think about Dalits in remote villages any more,” says political analyst Indra Bhushan Singh.

That criticism finds an echo in Kairana.

“We have no BPL (below the poverty line) cards, land or jobs. How does she care?” says Chand.

“She is only building statues.”

pallavi.s@livemint.com

Rajnath Singh hints at early exit, looks to lengthen career

Santosh K. Joy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:53:00 GMT

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) president Rajnath Singh hinted at an earlier-than-expected end to his term—a move that indicated both to the extent of the turmoil in the party that has had no reason for cheer in the past few months and to the strengthening of ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) hold over the party.

A political analyst also saw in Singh’s hints a message to the party’s leader and leader of the Opposition, L.K. Advani, asking him to quit as well.

Talking to reporters on Tuesday, Singh, 58, said: “I have almost completed my tenure. A new president has to take over..., the efforts should be to complete the process (election of the new president) at the earliest... I have conveyed my wish (to quit) to others in the party.”

Making way: Singh says his tenure as BJP president is almost over.

“By this last-minute hurry to quit, Rajnath Singh is trying to convey the message that he is fully amiable to the RSS plans and wish to see it implemented at the earliest, implicating that Advani, on the other hand, is not doing so,” said Kamal M. Chenoy, professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Advani, 82, was projected as the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance combine in parliamentary elections held earlier this year, where it fared badly.

Since then, the RSS has sought to overhaul the top leadership of the party, although its public position has been that there “is no deadline for Advani to quit”.

Two central office bearers of the party said when contacted that in a recent meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Singh had conveyed his desire to quit “at the earliest” and insisted that “the new president should be given caretaker charge even if the organizational polls are not completed on time by December-end”.

Singh will likely be replaced by Maharashtra BJP chief Nitin Gadkari.

As for Advani, it is almost certain that “deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj” will replace him and senior party leaders “have been conveyed” this, said a senior BJP leader who did not want to be identified.

Bhagwat had, in a recent interview, ruled out the candidature of four senior BJP leaders—Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar—known to be close to Advani, for the president’s post and said that it was time for “young leaders” to take up responsibilities within the party.

Gadkari is 52 years old. Kumar, the youngest of the four BJP leaders, is 50 years old, and Naidu, the oldest, is 60.

Singh, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, took over as caretaker president of the party on 26 November 2005. He was named president on 31 December the same year. His three-year tenure and the one-year leftover tenure of former party president Naidu ends this year, and Singh has been insisting that he be relieved by the end of the month.

As per the organizational poll schedule, the party’s returning officer for the elections Thawarchand Gehlot said, the state-level elections (of at least 50% state units) will finish by 15 December and the next level of central elections could take another fortnight.

Singh’s move is also seen by the analyst as an attempt to lengthen his political career.

“He is clearly trying to earn brownie points with the RSS bosses. He also wishes a regime without Advani’s influence,” added Chenoy.

Singh said he was open to any role. “I am a dedicated worker of the party.”

IT department seeks audit of all Union Bank branches for high-value transactions

PTI — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:10:00 GMT

New Delhi: The income tax (IT) department has asked state-run Union Bank of India to immediately carry out an audit of all of its branches to check for such large deposits that have gone unreported.

The IT department, during a probe into alleged money laundering by former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, had stumbled upon a bank account at Union Bank’s Zaveri Bazar branch in Mumbai where approximately Rs214 crore had been deposited in cash between 5 January and 30 March in 2007.

Under Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, all cash deposits of at least Rs50,000 must be checked by a branch manager, while the Prevention of Money Laundering Act mandates that banks must furnish to the finance ministry’s Financial Intelligence Unit a statement of all cash transactions of more than Rs1 million.

The IT department has said that the bank did not furnish details of cash transactions worth more than Rs1 million by Balaji Bullion Corporation and Balaji Bullion Bazar, two companies alleged to have helped Koda. The Zaveri Bazaar branch in Mumbai had cash transactions worth crores for both firms that were not reported to the FIU.

The bank’s chairman and managing director M.V. Nair was questioned on Monday by the IT department as part of the investigations into alleged corruption by Koda.

“Not taking cognizance of transactions of such serious nature by you and non reporting (of these) could have serious implications for the country. It is likely that your branches all over the country might be having many more such accounts with whopping cash deposits therein which have gone unreported,” a letter to Nair allegedly says.

“You are requested to kindly consider ordering a thorough audit of all accounts in your bank and furnish details of all those accounts which are having such cash deposits or which are of suspicious nature,” the letter says. Bank officials did not immediately comment on the letter.

Gas not a private property of Ambani brothers: Govt

PTI — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:02:00 GMT

New Delhi: Government on Tuesday opened its arguments in the high-voltage gas row between the Ambani brothers in the Supreme Court asserting that any understanding reached between them was not binding on it as gas was not their “private property”.

“It (gas) is not the private property of RIL or RNRL. It is a national asset,” additional solicitor general Mohan Parasaran said while presenting the government’s case before a bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan.

No sooner the government commenced its arguments after RIL completed its submissions, RNRL’s counsel Ram Jethmalani raised objections to the petroleum ministry being allowed to be heard as a party to the dispute.

He said the ministry had dropped its prayer in the Bombay high court to be included as a party and was only accepted as an intervener.

Countering RNRL’s stand, Parasaran said government has every right to be a party as gas is a national asset and a natural resource.

“RIL (Mukesh Ambani’s group) and RNRL cannot settle between themselves as to how the gas, which is a national asset and a natural resource, which vests in the government and which is to be utilised in the welfare of the nation, is to be distributed.”

“It is not the private property of RIL or RNRL and any understanding arrived at between them is not binding upon the government,” he said before the bench, also comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and P Sathasivam.

Parasaran contested the RNRL’s claim that it is entitled to a particular quantity of gas. “This cannot be sustained as it is for the government to determine as to who is entitled to the gas in terms of the Gas Utilization Policy,” he said.

Government started its submission amidst frequent interruptions by Jethmalani, who said the government stand cannot be accepted as it had withdrawn all the affidavits filed by it in the high court.

He said even today there was no objection to RNRL if government assisted the apex court only as an intervener.

However, if the government insists on becoming a party then RNRL should be granted the right to inspect the orginal documents and cross examine those who had filed the affidavits, Jethmalani said.

Parasaran went ahead with the government stand and said, “gas has to be distributed in terms of the Gas Utilisation Policy as approved by EGoM (Empowered Group of Ministers) and marketing freedom afforded to RIL was subject to the same.”

He said government’s intervention in the gas dispute was necessitated by the 15 July 2009 orders of the Bombay high court which seriously impinged upon the rights of the Centre.

The Ambani brothers are locked in a bitter battle over the supply and price of the gas from KG basin.

While RNRL is seeking gas at a committed price of $2.34 per unit, RIL says it cannot honour the commitment made in the family agreement due to government’s pricing and gas policies.

Govt nods ArcelorMittal’s Rs503 cr FDI in Uttam Galva

PTI — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:46:00 GMT

New Delhi: The government has approved NRI billionaire Lakshmi Mittal-led ArcelorMittal’s over Rs500 crore foreign direct investment (FDI) for acquisition of 35% stake in steel products maker Uttam Galva.

The proposed FDI of Rs503.37 crore by ArcelorMittal, Netherlands, has been approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the finance ministry said in a statement here.

The FIPB nod is a major regulatory go-ahead for the deal, which would mark the first operational presence in India for the world’s largest steelmaker whose greenfield projects here have been plagued by regulatory and administrative hurdles.

Last month, ArcelorMittal had threatened to abandon its $20 billion steel projects in Orissa and Jharkhand over delays, but said it will look for new sites within the country.

The Uttam Galva deal is also currently awaiting a nod from market regulator Sebi.

The investment is for “induction of foreign equity in a company engaged in the business of manufacture of cold-rolled semi finished iron and steel products in cold rolling mills etc,” the ministry said.

In early September, ArcelorMittal had agreed to acquire 35% stake in Uttam Galva, a domestic producer of steel products, for about Rs500 crore. The proposed deal comprises of purchase of 5.61% stake from Uttam Galva’s existing promoters and another 29.39% through an open offer made to the public shareholders.