Now, Goa Tourism to promote backwaters

Kolkata: Going beyond sea and beaches for which the state is known globally, Goa Tourism wants to promote its backwaters to cash in on the monsoon season.

"There are many a things beyond the beaches of Goa and the monsoons are the best time to experience them. We also have very good backwaters like Kerala," Goa Tourism Development Corporation Ltd Chairman Nilesh Cabral said.

Goa, which experiences a lean period during the monsoon months in terms of tourism revenue, is trying to create more utility infrastructure for the rich experience of backwater cruises.

Cabral said that GTDC offers monsoon packa

ges at nearly 50 per cent discount compared to the peak season which would be valid till September.

Goa is also promoting safari tours, spice plantations, white-water rafting, trekking, mountaineering and traditional Goan festivals.

For the safari tours, the tourism board is promoting places such as Bhagwan Mahavir National Park, Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary, Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, among others.

The spice plantation guided tours cover places such as tropical spice plantation in Ponda, Savoi, Pascoal Spice Village near Khandepar and Sahakar Spice Farm on the Ponda-Belgaum road.


Goa also offers world class spa resorts and day spas with a variety of Ayurvedic treatments, a niche of Kerala known globally.

Goa would also complete installing basic amenities on all its beaches in public private partnership over the next one year, Cabral added.

PTI

Mayor shares failures, achievements

KANPUR: Mayor Jagatveeer Singh Drona on Saturday conceded that in the first year of his tenure, the municipal corporation had failed to meet people's expectations in the cleaning of nullahs and lifting of garbage. However, his first year as mayor had several achievements, said the mayor citing enhanced co-ordination among the corporators, officials, employees and the public.

The first person of the city said that desilting of nullah and lifting of garbage were hampered because of several reasons. However, the situation was better than previous years. He attributed his failure to perform up to expectations to limited resources, manpower and staff crunch.

He said city produced 1,200 tonnes of garbage daily. Despite efforts the corporation managed to life merely 1,000 tonnes of the garbage on daily basis. He said that A2Z and corporation employees both had been deployed to life garbage. "We are unable to lift the entire garbage produced by the city in a day. Hence 200 tonnes of garbage that is left in the city every day appears to be a big heap," the mayor said.

Blaming early monsoon for disturbing nullah cleaning exercise, he said that daily arrear of garbage was seeping into the nullahs with rainwater. When his attention was drawn towards the inquiry conducted by the commissioner, he said commissioner might not be satisfied therefore he ordered a probe.About staff crunch he said several posts were lying vacant. Six posts of deputy city commissioner were lying vacant along with two posts of assistant municipal commissioner. Every section of the corporation was battling staff crisis, he added.

Citing his achievements, Drona said municipal corporation realized around Rs 90 crore in previous financial year which was a record. Payment of Rs 28 crore arrears of VIth Pay Commission was also cleared. Developmen work worth Rs 114 crore was either finished or was underway. Every newly constructed road had a life of three years. When his attention was drawn towards roads being constructed without drains had led to waterlogging, the mayor said that bills of those roads were yet to be cleared. About error in house tax bills he said that round figure was allowed by him and it did not make much of a difference in the total bill amount.

Anti-Naxal cops form anti-Romeo squads

NAGPUR: Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district police have formed their first anti-eve teasing squads, with a woman officer and five constables, to rein in the road Romeos this week.

The formation of the squad, along with the women's helpline 1091, was announced during the tri-monthly meeting of the 'mahila suraksha samiti' or women security cell comprising of volunteers working in tandem with police department. The cops, who so far concentrated on Naxal issues, have vowed to give attention to women's issues.

The meet was told that the helpline 1091 would be a toll free facility available round the clock. The cops would attend and reach the place immediately after receiving a call on 1091, which would be meant only for women-related issues.

It was also decided that the newly formed squad, along with Mahila Suraksha Samiti, would visit schools and colleges to apprise students about the rights and privileges that government and judiciary extends to women under special and other general provisions.

The squad would also undertake measures to spread awareness through programmes organized on the roads and other public places too.

Also at the meeting, two members were felicitated for their contributions and awards received. Surekhatai Barsagle was felicitated for her nomination in the Ahilyabai Holkar award for working on women issues at the district level. Sudha Seta was also honoured for receiving best teacher award. Seta has also won the best scout guide and leader trainer award.

Midday meal safety norms to be painted on Bihar schools walls

PATNA: Facing the ire of people over the midday meal tragedy, the Bihargovt plans to provide printed instructions to school principals about food quality and safety besides painting the norms on the schools walls.

"We are readying detailed instructions about maintaining quality and safety of food served under midday meal scheme in schools," Director midday meal scheme, R Lakshmanan said.

The instructions being prepared with the help of food experts will include giving knowledge to principals about first aid measures in cases like that of Dharmasati Gandaman primary school in Saran district.

In the wake of the tragedy, many medical experts voiced that ORS should have been provided to the ill for immediate relief. These things should be known to school principals to face challenges of such nature immediately, Lakshmanan said, explaining the need for first aid protocol being issued to the principals.

The Bihar midday meal director said that besides providing printed instructions about safety and quality of food to be served under the programme, the details would be painted on the walls of schools for everyone to see and follow.

A forensic report had yesterday confirmed the presence of poisonous pesticide in the midday meal served to the students of the school in Chhapra where 23 children died after taking the contaminated food.

The midday meal scheme, a flagship programme of the Union government, is given in 70,200 schools of Bihar covering more than 1.30 crore children.

50 new ambulances flagged off in Himachal Pradesh

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday flagged off 50 new ambulances under the 'Free 108 National Ambulance Service' raising the strength of the fleet to 162 in the state.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh flagged off 50 ambulances, equipped and fabricated to provide emergency medical aid to patients, from the historic Ridge Maidan here.

125 more small ambulances would be purchased shortly to facilitate expectant mothers to reach hospitals and return back to their homes after delivery with new-borns, he said.

The National Ambulance Service has proved a boon for the people and benefited more than three lakh patients besides being used in 2,500 fire and 10,000 police related cases since its inception three years ago, Singh said.

The free ambulance project was a Centrally sponsored scheme but the previous BJP government claimed it as its own scheme for deriving political mileage, he said.

The state government was pursuing the matter regarding increasing 50 MBBS seats each in IGMC and Government Medical college at Tanda (Kangra) with the Union government and hoping for early nod from the Centre, the Chief Minister said.

An approval has been granted to fill 475 vacant posts of various categories in Health department to provide best health care services to the people at their door-steps, he said.

The Chief Minister also launched National Rural Health Mission website (www.Nrhmhp.Gov.In), which would provide all updated health related information to the people.


Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said 200 posts of doctors would be filled up during 2013-14 and 2014-15 and the IGMC would be developed as a Super Speciality Hospital.

He said that ECG machine and snake bite serum had also been made available besides other life saving medicines and equipments in the 108 Ambulance.

PTI

A person in jail cannot fight polls for legislative bodies: SC

New Delhi: A person, who is in jail or in police custody, cannot contest election to legislative bodies, the Supreme Court has held, bringing to an end an era of undertrial politicians fighting polls from behind bars.

In another path breaking verdict to prevent criminal elements from entering Parliament and state assemblies, the apex court ruled that only an "elector" can contest the polls and he/she ceases the right to cast vote due to confinement in prison or being in custody of police.

The court, however, made it clear that disqualification would not be applicable to person subjected to preventive detention under any law.

Referring to the Representation of Peoples' Act, a bench of justices AK Patnaik and SJ Mukhopadhayay said that the Act (Section 4 & 5)lays down the qualifications for membership of the House of the People and Legislative Assembly and one of the qualifications laid down is that he must be an elector.

The bench said Section 62(5) of the Act says that no person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or is in the lawful custody of the police.

Reading Sections 4, 5 and 62(5) together, the apex court came to the conclusion that a person in jail or police custody cannot contest election.

The court passed the order on a appeal filed by the Chief Election Commissioner and others challenging a Patna High Court order barring people in police custody to contest polls.

"We do not find any infirmity in the findings of the High Court in the impugned common order that a person who has no right to vote by virtue of the provisions of sub-section (5) of Section 62 of the 1951 Act is not an elector and is therefore not qualified to contest the election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of a State," the apex court said.


In a landmark judgement on Wednesday, the same bench had struck down a provision in the Representation of Peoples Act that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts.

The bench had also made it clear that MPs, MLAs and MLCs would stand disqualified on the date of conviction.

Legal experts said the two verdicts will force political parties to make sure that candidates facing criminal charges are not fielded.

The court had in its yesterday's judgement held that Parliament exceeded its powers by enacting the provision (Section 8(4) of the Representation of Peoples Act) that gives a convicted lawmaker the power to remain in office on the ground that appeals have been filed and pending.

The sub-section 8(4), which was struck down, said a lawmaker cannot be disqualified for three months from the conviction and if in that period he or she files an appeal against till its disposal by a higher court.

PTI 

Odisha special unit to counter urban terrorism

Bhubaneswar: A special police unit has been created in Odisha to deal with terrorism in the state's urban areas, police said on Tuesday.

The Special Tactical Unit (STU) has currently 30 Special Operations Group (SOG) personnel who were trained for about three months at the National Security Guard (NSG) camp in Manesar, Haryana.

"This unit is a part of the Special Operations Group (SOG). We plan to gradually raise the strength of this unit to about 100," Odisha Director General of Police Prakash Mishra said.

The SOG, which has 3,000 personnel, was set up in the state in 2004. It is primarily being used to counter left wing extremism.

"There was a need for creating a dedicated force to counter attacks like those happened in Bodh Gaya in Bihar and Mumbai," he said.

The STU unit conducted its first mock drill at the battalion ground of the state's armed police force in Bhubaneswar Monday. Chief Secretary Jugal Kishor Mohapatra and police chief Prakash Mishra were among those present.

Odisha is now the third state in India after Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh to have a dedicated force to counter terrorism in urban areas.

IANS

Maharashtra govt to sell 30% cheaper veggies at 10 city centres

MUMBAI: Unable to prevent prices of vegetables and fruits from going through the roof, the state government is now promising their supply to Mumbaikars at reduced rates, a promise observers say needs to be taken with a pile of salt. Starting Monday, the government will—for the first time since 1999—sell vegetables and fruits at a price 30% lower than the current retail rate at select co-operative outlets across the city.

The announcement comes a day after the Union Cabinet approved the ordinance on the food security bill and amid speculation that the government is preparing for elections.

"Vegetable prices in the city are high despite a good monsoon. While it is not the government's job to procure and sell vegetables, market intervention is a tool it is forced to use when prices are artificially inflated," state agriculture minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil told TOI.

TOI had reported on June 29 how retailers in the city have hiked vegetable prices to four times their wholesale value despite a good harvest.

How the new scheme works on the ground, given the logistics, quality-control issues and fears of dumping of sub-standard veggies, remains to be seen. There are also concerns over why the rates are pegged 30% lower than already inflated rates.

But the state government is confident about its implementation. It says it will initially stock supplies at 10 ten outlets; if the programme takes off, 90 more stores would be added. Of the 10 outlets, seven would be at Apna Bazar stores at Andheri, Ghatkopar, Sion and Dadar, among other places; the other three will be at stores of the Sahakari Bhandar and Supari Baug.

The stocks would be procured by the Agriculture Mahasangh, a body of wholesale traders, from collection centres of the state-run Agriculture Produce Markets Committee (APMC). They will be cleaned, graded, packed and transported to outlets of the co-operative stores which are members of the state-run Maharashtra State Consumer Federation, an umbrella body of more than 100 co-operatives.

State officials said a daily MRP list will be displayed at the stores, and the arrangement would continue for a month, by which time they expect fresh stock arriving in the market to help rein in prices. This programme was first implemented for a month in 1999 when retailers had similarly hiked rates, officials said.

The traders would be exempted from paying state cess (currently charged at 0.85 paisa per kg), and transportation and labour charges would be relaxed as well. This would save the traders Rs 6-7 per kg, officials said.

The government says retail rates per kg should be just Re 3-4 more than the wholesale rates, inclusive of transportation, loading charges and spoilage.

"We have agreed to provide space in the stores as the government has assured full support in logistics and pricing," said Anil Ganger, chairman of Apna Bazar. Managers of co-operative stores, however, fear that their outlets may become dumping grounds for poor-quality vegetables.

"The government continues to have a hold over co-operative stores. We are forced to buy sacks of vegetables weighing 50kg when the requirement is not even a fraction of that amount. Certain favoured suppliers at the APMC market are chosen to carry out this scheme, and often, they make a killing at the expense of cooperatives," a manager at one of the outlets said. "Why not buy directly from farmers and sell at a fraction of the market rate, or why not allow us to choose our own suppliers?" he asked.

"This is an election gimmick. We have been suffering losses running into lakhs of rupees every time the government comes up with a so-called subsidy on vegetables. The appointed suppliers provide fresh, good-quality produce for the first day or two until the photo-ops are over. On the third or fourth day, co-operative stores become a dumping ground for vegetables that no consumer will touch. Moreover, the rate remains unchanged. Why will consumers purchase wilted, smelly vegetables for Rs 60-65 a kg when they can get fresh produce at the neighbourhood greengrocer for a few rupees more?" the manager added.

The manager of a suburban co-operative store said: "Several cooperative stores are not air-conditioned, so we literally throw out vegetables worth lakhs of rupees every evening at the close of business. The government does not provide storage facilities or take back spoiled goods. The next morning, sacks of bad vegetables arrive and remain unsold through the day."

24 Indian fishermen released by Sri Lanka

RAMESWARAM (TN): Twenty-four fishermen, who were arrested by Sri Lankan naval personnel on June 5 when they were fishing near Katchathivu islet, arrived here today after a court in the island nation ordered their release.

Coast Guard officials, who received them at the International Maritime Boundary line, later handed them over to Indian authorities, officials said.

The fishermen arrived here along with their five boats. The court in Mannar ordered their release on July 3, officials said.

Mauritius lauds India's efforts to fight piracy

Port Louis: Mauritius on Thursday lauded India's contribution in fighting piracy in the Indian Ocean Rim region.

Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam said India made "significant contribution to fight against the scourge of piracy in our region."

He was speaking after inaugurating the first Economic and Business Conference of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC).

The two-day conference, among others, is being attended by Indian Commerce and Industry Ministry Anand Sharma and representatives of several nations including Japan, Singapore, Sri

Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa.

IOR-ARC is a grouping of 20 nations.

Ramgoolam also underlined the need for focusing on concrete deliverables by the governments of the Indian Ocean Rim (IOR) countries to improve the lives of about 2 billion people living in region.

"We need for focus on concrete deliverables," he said.

He also said trade and investment among the member countries has remained much below potential.

In this regard, Ramgoolam made a case for increasing cooperation in the field of deep sea mining, rare earth metals, defence and other emerging sectors among the member nations. IOC-ARC is a 15-year old association which was formed in 1977 to promote mutually beneficial cooperation among countries in the Indian Ocean region through a consensus- based, evolutionary and non-intrusive approach.

The Maurtius Prime Minister called upon the member countries to adopt right approach and and formulate new trade agenda for the region.

Ramgoolam, however, ruled out any move towards a common currency saying that the system had created problems in the European Union.

The focus, he added, should be on "exploring the best possible arrangement in a structured manner to boost trade and investment."

The combined GDP of IOR-ARC member countries in 2012 rose to an estimated USD 6.9 trillion from USD 5.8 trillion in 2010.

By 2016, the combined GDP of IOR-ARC countries is expected to reach over USD 9 trillion. The recent performance of the regional economies indicates that they have successfully come out of the global financial crisis.

The economies in the region have both traditional and knowledge-based sectors, having the capacity to absorb increasing pressure of the regional demand in most of the sectors, he said.

India has been on the forefront in combating the menace of piracy through naval exercises and seeking cooperation from other countries.

PTI

Kerala to strengthen disaster management system

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala will strengthen its disaster management system to tackle crisis arising from natural calamities and outbreak of epidemics, taking the cue from havoc wrought by cloudburst in Uttarakhand.

Health Minister V S Shivakumar said on Thursday that the government was working out plans in this regard in view of the Uttarakhand calamity which claimed thousands of lives in cloudburst and the following flood.

"We are taking steps to strengthen the disaster management system. Doctors and paramedical staff will be given special training to tackle unexpected calamities and outbreak of

epidemics," he said at a function organised to congratulate a medical team from Kerala sent to Uttarakhand as part of emergency response initiatives.

The government, in co-operation with National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), had sent a 10-member team comprising doctors, nurses, health inspectors and other paramedical staff, to the calamity-stricken state last month.

Showering praise on the services rendered by the team, the minister said its members would be given good service entry in appreciation of the help they lent to the affected people.

"They managed to reach the flood-hit area with great difficulty and rendered services in Haridwar and Uttara Kashi and surrounding areas. They also conducted medical camps in six flood-hit villages. They did all these risking their own lives," he added.

The team was led by Dr S Sajith, Associate Professor, Alappuzha Medical College.

PTI

Govt to supply milk in schools to check malnutrition

BANGALORE: Karnataka is set to launch another ambitious scheme to prevent malnutrition and its resultant health problems among pre-school children aged between three and six years.

The children will be provided with milk in addition to supplementary nutrition at anganwadi centres to help them fight malnutrition and grow healthy,'' chief minister Siddaramaiah said. Siddaramaiah will announce the new scheme in his budget speech.

The woman and child welfare department, which has been entrusted with the task to implement the scheme, is gearing up to implement it. The children enrolled in Integrated Child Development Scheme and attend Anganwadi centres will be provided with 200 ml boiled milk supplied by KMF every two days.

The milk scheme is being implemented mainly tackle the problem of malnutrition and ensuring that extra milk available with the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) promoters of Nandini brand milk is consumed by those in need rather than converting it into milk powder.

Though the government had taken the steps to implement the scheme last month, it was delayed because of technical reasons.

But things have been sorted out now and we are egaring to implement the scheme,'' said women and child welfare minister Umashree.

Animal husbandry Officials said the government may need about Rs 400 to Rs 500 crore for the scheme and it will possibly be earmarked in the budget to be presented on July 12.

At present, they said 50 lakh litres of milk is produced daily in the state, and this may go up to 60 lakh litres soon. The new scheme will facilitate in utilizing the excess 30 lakh liters milk produced.

But the major reason why the government has taken initiative is to check child malnutrition in the state, which is growing by the day specifically in Raichur district. Quite alarmingly, date collected by women and child welfare department suggest that between April 2009 to August 2011, 2689 malnourished children have died in the district of Raichur alone, and 4531 children are suffering from severe malnutrition.

Malnutrition has been the underlying cause of deaths of children under five years in the state since 2008. Even if it does not lead to death, malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies, often leads to permanent damage, including impairment of physical growth and mental development, '' G R Hiremath, a social activist fighting for the cause in Raichur.

Trucks with over 150 bags of cash seized in Mumbai

Mumbai: Four trucks carrying over 150 bags ofcash and other valuables have been seized by the investigating wing of Income Tax and National Investigation Agency from outside the suburban Mumbai Central Railway Station here. The amount of seizure is yet to be ascertained and NIA officials are probing the money trail.

The trucks seized last night, after a tip off received by NIA, were on their way to Gujarat, I-T officials said today. "Four trucks containing more than 150 bags have been seized and around 40 people have been detained," they said.

According to sources, each truck with 15 people on board, was carrying around 35 bags, allegedly stuffed with cash and valuables.

I-T officials said that so far, 50 bags containing cash have been scrutinised and they are looking into the contents of the remaining. Prima facie the cash appears to be part of hawala
transaction, to be carried to Gujarat from Mumbai, they said.

While I-T sleuths impounded the truck and bags, NIA picked up the occupants, who were supposed to board a train to Gujarat with the bags.  

AP Police gets breakthrough in Hyderabad blasts case

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Police on Tuesday claimed a 'breakthrough' in the February 21 Dilsukhnagar twin bomb blasts case here and said they were close to nabbing the accused with the help of NIA.

"We know the persons who had done that (blast)...we are on the job of apprehending them. The NIA knows it. We are keeping it as a closely guarded secret to give a surprise to the accused so that it facilitates us in apprehending them," state Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy told reporters here. "...we made a breakthrough. But in the interest of the case, I will not reveal more details (at this moment)," Reddy said.

Seventeen people were killed and over 100 injured when two bomb explosions took place on February 21 at Dilsukhnagar, a crowded shopping area in the city, within 100 metres of each other.

After an initial probe by the Andhra Pradesh Police, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had taken over the case. 

3 more districts enter National Capital Region fold

NEW DELHI: The National Capital Region has undergone another expansion with three more districts - Mahendragarh and Bhiwani (both in Haryana) and Bharatpur (Rajasthan) - added to it on Monday. This brings the number of districts in the NCR to 19, with the total area increasing by 34% to 45,887sq km.


And there are other districts waiting to join the elite club. Haryana wants Jind and Karnal in NCR, while UP is pushing for the inclusion of Mathura-Vrindavan.

Government sources said Monday's inclusion was dictated by contiguity with existing NCR boundaries and 'good' rail and road connectivity to the national capital and other major cities.

Move aims to ease Delhi's burden

The NCR Planning Board, which took the decision under the chairmanship of union urban development minister Kamal Nath, claimed the expansion would help in dispersal of economic activities and reduce pressure on Delhi's health, educational and economic infrastructure. However, except for Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon, the dispersal being talked about has remained in theory. It is no secret that the plan to shift central government offices to NCR cities has failed completely. It's not these offices but corporate organizations which have shifted base to Gurgaon and Noida.

Despite the cheap loans that come to a district with an NCR membership, the lack of infrastructure and planned growth in cities such as Meerut, Bulandshahr, Baghpat and Hapur remains glaring. Moreover, the abject failure to resolve transport as well as law and order issues between Delhi and its immediate neighbours points to lack of coordination between administrations wi8th often different political masters.

Sources said the biggest parameter of prosperity in most NCR districts were "real estate prices". The NCR tag could prove to be a goldmine for realtors and builders in the areas where infrastructure remains pathetic and the resolve to change things largely absent.

"The demand of constituent states in the NCR to include more areas will increase due to political reasons. The recent requests came from MLAs or parliamentary secretaries," said an official who did not wish to be named. TOI asked some of the political leaders and bureaucrats who attended the meeting on how the NCR tag would benefit the districts. Most did not give a satisfactory answer. An official said the biggest benefit was that districts would have access to funding from NCRPB at a cheap rates. "They can avail loans for infrastructure projects at 7-8% interest. Fund availability makes cities and government capable of taking up infrastructure augmentation projects," he added.

While most cities have failed in exploiting the opportunity to get low-interest loans, Haryana has taken almost 70% of the total loans that NCRPB has disbursed. The official claimed that once a district is a part of NCR, the board motivates the state government to plan infrastructure at par with Delhi. "There is also focus on having a proper plan conforming to the regional plan," he added.

NCR's expansion also does not seem to have helped in decongesting Delhi. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit had said people from neighbouring states come, work here and use the infrastructure. Her Haryana counterpart, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has claimed the opposite. He has said the Haryana sub-region has fulfilled NCR objectives by not only checking the flight to Delhi but causing reverse migration.

However, Kamal Nath seemed to agree with Dikshit that the other constituents of NCR need to create adequate social infrastructure to reduce the burden on Delhi.

India's first midnight satellite launch set for Monday

CHENNAI: The countdown for the Monday midnight launch of an Indian navigation satellite is progressing smoothly with the liquid fuel filling for the fourth stage engine getting completed, an official said on Sunday.

"Yesterday (Saturday) evening, the filling of the liquid fuel in the fourth stage was completed and the fuel for the second stage will be filled during the countdown. In addition, pressurisation of the stages with gases will also be done," a senior official at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

The 64.5 hour countdown began at 7:11am Saturday.

The 44-metre-tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-XL (PSLV-XL) weighing 320 tonnes at lift-off is a four-stage rocket powered by solid and liquid propellants alternatively.

The solid fuel hydroxyl-terminated-poly-butadiene comes readily cast while the liquid fuel - unsymmetrical dimethyl-hydrazine-hydrate and 25 percent of nitrogen tetroxide for second stage and mono-methyl-hydrazine and mixed oxide nitrogen for fourth stage - are filled during the countdown.

The PSLV will blast off into the dark skies from Sriharikota, around 80 km from here, Monday night around 11.41pm carrying India's first navigational satellite the 1,425 kg IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System)-1A.

"We have had late evening and early morning launches. But this is the first time ISRO is launching a rocket around midnight," the ISRO official said.

The official said the launch time has been fixed taking into account the orbit and inclination at which the satellite will be injected into the space.

According to him, the weather at Sriharikota is fine and it may not pose any hindrance for the rocket launch.

He said ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan is expected to have a brief meeting with the media at the rocket port post-launch which will be around 12.45am on Tuesday.

Around 20 minutes into the launch, the rocket PSLV-XL will eject the navigational satellite at an altitude of 501 km.

The satellite is intended to provide terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation services and help in disaster and fleet management.

The satellite with a life span of around 10 years is one of the seven satellites constituting the IRNSS space segment -- a regional navigational system developed by India designed to provide accurate position information service to users within the country and up to 1,500 km from the nation's boundary line, ISRO said.

The IRNSS will provide two types of services - standard positioning service and restricted service. The former is provided to all users and the later is an encrypted service for authorised users.

ISRO had planned to launch IRNSS-1A last month. But it had to put it off after finding a problem in one of the electro-hydraulic control actuators in the second stage engine.

The rocket was fully assembled with the satellite when the problem was detected during checks.

The second stage had to be dismantled to replace the actuator which is an assembly of several components. It weighs around 20 kg.

Following the Monday launch of the navigational satellite, ISRO is planning to launch its communication satellite G-Sat 14 using a heavier rocket - Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) - powered by a domestic cryogenic engine some time in August this year.

Preparatory work for the G-Sat 14 launch is going ahead at the rocket launch pad in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, around 80 km from here.

It will be followed by the mission to Mars later this year. The launch of one more remote sensing satellite is also being planned before the end of the year.

Nawaz Sharif to send Pak power minister to India to tackle energy crisis

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed his water and power minister to India to address the severe energy crisis facing the country.

"We are facing acute electricity shortage and any assistance in the power sector will help us in addressing the problem," Sharif said while speaking to members of the Pak-India Joint Business Council at the Prime Minister's Office yesterday.

Sharif told the meeting that he had directed Khawaja Muhammad Asif, minister for water and power, to visit India and explore potential areas of cooperation between the two countries, the official APP news agency reported.

Earlier, Asif had said that the energy crisis in Pakistan will take at least two years to be resolved.

Asif said that due to shortage of power the country had sustained a huge loss of Rs 1,000 billion in the last five years. Pakistan is currently facing a power deficit of 4,000-5,000 megawatts per day.

Earlier this month, Pakistan had sought 500 MW of electricity from India by laying a transmission line from Punjab into Lahore. The proposal to buy power was made when an expert group visited Pakistan to discuss energy cooperation.

India is willing to help and is exploring the points which can be used to hook-up to the grid in Pakistan through a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) line, government sources in New Delhi has said.

Sharif has earlier said that tackling the energy crisis will be among the top priorities of his government. 

PM sets target for infrastructure projects, approves proposals for 2 international and 50 domestic airports

New Delhi: In a bid to ramp up investor sentiment, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday set an investment target of Rs 1.15 lakh crore in PPP (public private partnership) projects across infrastructure sectors in rail, port and power in the next six months. The proposals include Mumbai elevated rail corridor (Rs 30,000 crore), two international airports in Bhubneshwar and Imphal (Rs 20,000 crore) and power and Transmission projects (Rs 40,000 crore).
The decisions were taken at a meeting the Prime Minister held to finalise infrastructure projects for 2013-14 which was attended by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and the Ministers of Power, Coal, Railways, Roads, Shipping and Civil Aviation.
The meeting decided that the proposal for creating a rail tariff authority will be accelerated and brought before the Cabinet soon. The Prime Minister highlighted the need for ramping up investment in infrastructure to revive investor sentiment.

"For this purpose, a target of rolling out PPP projects of at least Rs 1 lakh crore in the next six months was set. A steering group is being formed to monitor the award and implementation of projects on priority basis," a PMO release said.
The Prime Minister emphasised that a lot of work was needed to be done to improve infrastructure sector and there should be no slackening of the pace of work, the release said. Ahluwaila also made a presentation about the performance of the six infrastructure ministries and the targets for 2013-14. The government, the release said, decided to form a steering group to monitor the award and implementation of projects.
Besides airports and Mumbai's elevated rail corridor projects, the group will also monitor two Locomotive projects (Rs 5,000 crore), accelerating E-DFC (Eastern-Dedicated Freight Corridor) (Rs 10,000 crore) and port projects (Rs 10,000 crore). In the civil aviation sector, apart from two new international airports, 50 new low cost small airports will be taken up by the Airports Authority of India.
Besides, a target for awarding eight greenfield airports was set for this year in PPP mode at Navi Mumbai, Juhu (Mumbai), Goa, Kannur, Pune (Rajguru Nagar Chakan), Sriperumbudur, Bellary and Raigarh. The statement said airport operations and maintenance through PPP contracts will be introduced in AAI airports and the airports considered for these are Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Guwahati, Jaipur and Ahmedabad.
Besides new low cost airports would be set up at 51 places in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. As far as ports were concerned, it stated that both the new ports on PPP mode -- one at Sagar (West Bengal) and the other Durgarajapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) -- approved by Cabinet will be awarded.
For funding of railway projects, the statement issued by PMO said an Inter-Ministerial Group of Railways, Finance and Planning will be formed for coming up with a "financing-cum- implementation mechanism in two months for clearing the large backlog of sanctioned projects of over Rs 200,000 crore in a prioritised and time-bound manner". As far as roads sector was concerned, the PMO emphasised that the slowdown in award of road projects should get reversed in view of the large number of relaxations that have already been provided to PPP road projects.
Concerned over delay in execution of the PPP projects, the Prime Minister asked ministries to ensure proper implementation and monitoring of projects especially roads, an according to an official. The PMO said, "Expressways will get focused attention and the Planning Commission will work with the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways to suggest an implementation mechanism for expressways."
Sources said given the poor performance of the Road Transport and Highways Ministry during 2012-13 when it could award barely 1,321 km of the 9,500 km target on account of factors like bidders shying away from projects, the PMO set a target of 5,000 km for the current fiscal. The target set was higher by about 1,000 km as the Road Ministry was in favour of fixing a target of 4,028 km for 2013-14.
As far as the target for award of roads on OMT (operate, maintain and transfer) mode was concerned, the PMO was in favour of fixing a target of 3,110 km. However, sources said the Road Ministry put its foot down and ultimately the target was revised to 1,295 km. On power front, the statement said, the Ministry will work with Planning Commission and Finance Ministry to resolve issues in the power sector and improve generation and transmission capacity.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Ahluwalia said that shortage in fuel supply was hurting the power sector. "The supply as part of the system has not been able to deliver as much fuel as was necessary," Montek said. "New policies for ramping up coal production will be put in place," PMO said.
Coal Secretary SK Srivastava said India will have to import 140 MT during the fiscal as compared to 135 MT last fiscal, of which 110 MT was imported for the power sector. Talking about the shortfall, Ahluwalia said production was much below the target during the 11th Plan and exuded hope that output will increase. Srivastava said coal production target has been fixed at 604 million tonnes (MT), including 482 MT for Coal India, for 2013-14. Last fiscal the production was recorded at 557 MT against the targetted 578 MT.

Guard of honour for 20 bravehearts who died in Uttarakhand chopper crash

DEHRADUN: Home minister SushilkumarShinde led the nation in paying tributes to the twenty bravehearts, who died in Tuesday's chopper crash while rescuing stranded people in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.

Shinde, tourism minister K Chiranjeevi, Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, Army chief Gen Bikram Singh, senior officials of Army, Air Force, ITBP and NDMA paid their respect to the personnel at a special function organised by the Uttarakhand government and NDMA.

The 'guard of honour' — a ceremonial mark of respect — to the 5 Air Force, 6 ITBP and 9 NDRF personnel was led by Shinde.

The NDRF personnel were from ITBP on deputation to NDRF. Those killed in the chopper crash included Wg Cdr Darryl Castelino, Flt Lt K Praveen, Flt Lt Tapan Kapoor, JWO A K Singh, Sgt Sudhakar Yadav (all IAF).

The men from NDRF who died were commandant Nitya Nand Gupta, inspector Bhim Singh, sub inspector Satish Kumar, constables K Vinaygan, Bassavaraj Yaragatti, Santosh Kumar Paswan, Sanjiva Kumar, Shashi Kant Ramesh Pawar and Ahir Rao Ganesh.

Six ITBP personnel who lost their lives were commandant Nand Ram, sub inspector Jayender Prasad, constables Jomon P G, Bibhuti Roy, Sarvesh Kumar and Ajay Lal.

The sophisticated Mi-17V5 helicopter of IAF had crashed in bad weather during a rescue mission in the flood-ravaged hill state.

Shinde said the nation would not forget the supreme sacrifice of these 20 brave men who gave their lives while rescuing thousands of people in the Uttarakhand floods.

"The guard of honour to the 20 bravehearts is a little step from our side to remember their supreme sacrifice for the service of the nation. We offer our prayer to all those who lost their lives," he said.

SSA scheme: Students to get uniforms free of cost in Goa

Panaji: For the first time in Goa, around 25,000 school students would be provided two pairs of uniforms free of cost under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA).

The students are from SCs, STs and below poverty line families, SSA Goa project director Minanath Upadhye told.

This would be in addition to the Goa government's programme under which students in the government-run schools are provided a set of uniform.

Around 1,019 government primary and middle schools would be covered under this ambitious scheme, for which the Centre has sanctioned Rs 80.63 lakh, Upadhye said.

The SSA officials have decided to route the fund through School Management Committees (SMCs), which will decide on the purchase and distribution of the uniforms.

"As per SSA guidelines, uniforms are to be distributed at SMC level and not by inviting tenders at the centralised level," Upadhye said.

As many as 15,921 students would be provided two pairs of uniforms, while 8,473 students from Class I-III, who are already getting uniform from the state government, would be provided with an additional pair, he said.

During this academic year, the SSA has also provided free text books for 1.37 lakh students in primary and upper primary schools.

A total of 65,358 students from primary and 71,773 from upper primary schools ? government and aided ones -- would be provided free text books, Upadhye added.

PTI