CM

YK
ND-ND
12 THE HINDU SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2014
NOIDA/DELHI
NEWS
NEW DELHI: Oil marketing com-
panies (OMCs) on Friday de-
cided to increase the price of
petrol by 60 paise and diesel
by 50 paise per litre; this on a
day when the Centre decided
to let consumers buy more
than one subsidised cylinder
per month.
The hike, which will come
into effect from Friday mid-
night, is exclusive of taxes,
which means that increase in
auto fuel prices will vary
fromcity to city.
This is the second time in
the current year that petrol
prices have been increased
and 14th since January 2013.
In the last one year, diesel
prices have risen by over
Rs.8.
As for the Cabinet decision
to let LPG consumers buy
more than one subsidised
cylinder in a month, comes
on the heels of the govern-
ment raising the annual cap
on supply of subsidised cyl-
inders from 9 to 12, or one
cylinder per month, on Janu-
ary 30. But now the Cabinet
has approved the Oil Minis-
trys proposal to allow LPG
consumers to book a rell
after 21 days within the over-
all cap of 12 subsidised cylin-
ders in a year.
On the fuel price hike, a
statement from Indian Oil
Corporation said: The price
of petrol was last revised up-
wards by Rs.0.75 a litre (ex-
cluding State levies) with
effect from January 4, 2014.
Since the last price change,
international prices of gaso-
line (petrol) have increased
from $116.04 per barrel to
$118.10, and the rupee has
also depreciated from
Rs.62.02 to a U.S. dollar to
Rs.62.12. The combined im-
pact of both these factors,
has warranted the in-
crease...
LPG carrot for fuel price stick
Special Correspondent
MUMBAI: The bodies of the two
Navy officers killed inthe re
aboard the submarine INS
Sindhuratna were handed
over to their families on
Friday.
Lieutenant Commander
Kapilesh Singh Muwal was
cremated with state honours
at the Chandanwadi crema-
torium in South Mumbai.
The body of Lieutenant
Commander Manoranjan
Kumar was own to his
home town in Ranchi. His
last rites will be performed
on Saturday evening.
Vice-Admiral Shekhar
Sinha, Commanding-in-
Chief, Western Naval Com-
mand, and other senior Na-
val officials were present at a
wreath-laying ceremony at
INS Asvini in South Mumbai
on Friday afternoon.
Mistu Chavda, Muwals
friend, said: I spoke to him
two days before the incident.
He had applied for leave, but
it was rejected as the sub-
marine had just come froma
ret. He always spoke about
the submarines not being
seaworthy. We feel that the
government is responsible
for the loss of young lives.
Losing a machine is bearable,
but human lives are
precious.
The two officers were the
rst who swung into action
as the re broke out. Sources
said Manoranjan Kumar,
who was on watch duty on
Wednesday night, rst spot-
ted the re in the battery pit
area in compartment num-
ber three. He immediately
activated the re-ghting
machinery.
Muwal, who was not in the
compartment, joined rescue
efforts immediately and
evacuated the crew. The two
officers pulled the circuit
brakes, cutting off power
supply and preventing the
re from spreading to adja-
cent compartments.
Bodies of Navy officers
handed over to families
Rashmi Rajput
Lt. Commander Manoranjan Kumar and Lt.
Commander Kapilesh Singh Muwal PHOTO: PTI
NEW DELHI: India and Saudi
Arabia on Friday resolved to
provide more diversity to
their economic and political
ties, two days after signing a
breakthrough MoU on de-
fence cooperation.
A joint statement released
after talks between the vis-
iting Saudi Arabian Deputy
Prime Minister and Crown
Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz
Al-Saud and the Indian lead-
ership, including President
Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-
President Hamid Ansari and
Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, took note of the two
high-level interactions over
the past eight years.
While the MoU on greater
cooperation in the defence
industry, science, technology
and transfer of technology
signalled the development of
state-to-state trust, the
Crown Princes meetings also
laid emphasis on greater par-
ticipation by the private sec-
tor, especially the cash-ush
Saudi-based investment
funds by speeding up consul-
tations on a framework
agreement between Saudi
Arabias General Investment
Authority and Invest India.
This pact will facilitate in-
vestments by the private sec-
tors, especially in
petrochemicals, pharmaceu-
ticals and medical equip-
ment.
Saudi Arabia, Indias large-
st supplier of crude oil, reit-
erated its commitment to
implement all issues men-
tioned in the Delhi (2006)
and Riyadh (2010) declara-
tions, especially on moving to
a deeper partnership in the
hydrocarbons arena includ-
ing investments and joint
ventures, bilaterally and in
third countries as well.
The two sides also agreed
to strengthen cooperation in
the area of radio and
television
After defence MoU, Saudi Arabia and
India eye diverse areas for tie-ups
Sandeep Dikshit
NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata
Party leader Arun Jaitley has
slammed the Department of
Personnel and Training
(DoPT) for diluting the role
of Selection and Search
Committees for Lokpal, the
anti-corruption
ombudsman.
Referring to the refusal of
senior lawyer Fali Nariman
to join the Search Commit-
tee, Mr. Jaitley said the best
people should be appointed
to the anti-corruption body
and the procedure should be
strictly on the basis of the
Lokpal Act. The purpose of
the DoPT is only to provide
administrative and logistic
support to the Selection
Committee and the Search
Committee.
Mr. Jaitley, who had writ-
ten to Prime Minister Man-
mohan Singh on the issue
twice earlier, alleged that the
DoPT violated the Lokpal
Act to rush through the ap-
pointments and pack it with
its own men.
The Selection Committee
has met only once on Febru-
ary 21. In the said meeting, I
understand that members of
the Search Committee were
appointed. Instead of the
procedure for selection be-
ing laid down by the Selec-
tion Committee, the entire
functioning has been usurp-
ed by the DoPT, he said.
Meanwhile, highly-placed
sources pointed out the
anomaly in the Lokpal Act
and the Rules framed under
it. The Act says: ....persons
chosen for Search Commit-
tee should have special
knowledge and expertise in
the matters relating to anti-
corruption policy, public ad-
ministration, vigilance, pol-
icy making, nance including
insurance and banking, law
and management or in any
other matter. However, the
Rules prescribe that such
persons must have expertise
in the eld for at least 25
years, the sources told The
Hindu.
The Lokpal Rules says,
Every rule and regulation
made under this Act shall be
laid before each House of
Parliament, while it is in ses-
sion, for 30 days which may
be comprised in one session
or in two or more successive
sessions.. for ratication.
But that had not happened,
the sources said.
DoPT diluting Lokpal selection process
J. Venkatesan
Arun Jaitley
NEW DELHI: The Congress Core
Group that met here on Fri-
day to hold consultations on
whether the government
should promulgate ordinanc-
es to complete its unnished
agenda to tackle corruption
and strengthen the machin-
ery to protect the SCs/STs
and the disabled, ended with-
out a decision, with sources
saying doubts were expressed
about the appropriateness of
a government promulgating a
slew of ordinances on the eve
of general election.
It was also felt that Presi-
dent PranabMukherjee, these
sources said, might not agree
to clear so many ordinances at
this stage. Indeed, though the
meeting was inconclusive, it
seemed unlikely at the time of
our going to press that the
government would attempt to
promulgate the ordinances.
This became clear after the
Union Cabinet, which met on
Friday morning, decided to
postpone a decision on the or-
dinances amid speculation
that a special Cabinet meeting
might be held as early as Sat-
urday on the issue. Shortly af-
ter the Cabinet met here,
government sources said,
Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth
announced that the items re-
lating to the ordinances stand
postponed.
The ordinances planned in-
cluded the anti-corruption
Bills being pushed by Con-
gress vice-president Rahul
Gandhi to create a frame-
work to ght graft the Pre-
vention of Corruption
(Amendment) Bill and the
Right of Citizens for Time-
Bound Delivery of Goods and
Services and Redressal of
their Grievances Bill. The gov-
ernment was unable to pass
these Bills during the recent
extended winter session of
Parliament because of repeat-
ed disturbances in the two
Houses.
The SC/ST (Prevention of
Atrocities) Amendment Bill,
the Rights of Persons with
Disability Bill, the Security
Laws (Amendment) Bill and
the Delhi High Court Act
(Amendment) Bill were also
on the Cabinet's agenda on
Friday.
The members of the Con-
gress Core Group, that was
chaired by party chief Sonia
Gandhi at Prime Minister
ManmohanSingh's residence,
are Defence Minister A.K. An-
tony, Home Minister Sushil-
kumar Shinde, Finance
Minister P. Chidambaram
and Ms Gandhi's Political Sec-
retary, Ahmed Patel are the
other members of the Core
Group.
The special invitees to the
meeting were Union Law
Minister Kapil Sibal, Union
Rural Development Minister
JairamRamesh, Railways and
Social Justice and Empower-
ment Minister Mallikarjun
Kharge, and MoS in the PMO
V. Narayanasamy, wholeft be-
fore the meeting concluded.
UPA government may
abandon ordinance route
Smita Gupta
HYDERABAD: Telangana Rash-
tra Samiti president K. Chan-
drasekhar Rao on Friday
dropped broad hints of his
opposition to a merger of the
party with the Congress by
posing a question to a crowd
whether it wanted the same;
he got a reply in the negative.
As soon as a voice went up
saying no, Mr. Rao was
quick to repeat the word no
to the crowd and targeted the
Congress for setting upobsta-
cles on the TRS path in the
aftermath of the passage of
the bifurcation Bill in Parlia-
ment. He was addressing a
well-attended meeting out-
side the party office here.
The TRS president said a
decision on merger would,
however, be made at a meet-
ing of the partys polit bureau
on March 3. We will decide
whatever is right for Telanga-
na. (The meeting of the polit
bureau along with that of the
parliamentary and legislative
parties and the executive was
initially slated for March 1
but was postponed by two
days as it was a New Moon
Day and the party did not
want its very rst meeting af-
ter the passage of the Bill on
an inauspicious occasion).
Expressing reservations
about the Congress, Mr. Rao
recalled the remarks of Union
Minister for Rural Develop-
ers are critical of statements
made by TRS leaders on the
merger. A section of Congress
leaders maintains that Mr.
Rao is non-committal on the
merger with an eye on seek-
ing his pound of eshinterms
of seats in the coming elec-
tions.
ment JairamRamesh here on
Thursday that he was person-
ally against a separate Telan-
gana. It meant that the
Congress leader was trying to
protect the interests of See-
mandhra. This was a matter
of concern.
Meanwhile, Congress lead-
KCR wriggling out on merger
N. Rahul
NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Com-
mittee on Economic Affairs
on Friday approved revised
benets under the Scheme of
Assistance to Disabled Per-
sons for Purchase/Fitting of
Aids/Appliances (ADIP). The
new norms, proposed by the
Department of Disability Af-
fairs, will be effective from
April 1.
Under the revised norms,
the income eligibility ceiling
for 100 per cent concession,
from the existing Rs. 6,500
per month, has been en-
hanced to Rs. 15,000 per
month and for a 50 per cent
concession fromRs. 15,001 to
Rs. 20,000 per month.
User-friendly mobile
phones will be provided once
in ve years to visually-chal-
lenged students of age 18
years and above. Laptop and
Braille Note Taker will be giv-
en to school-going disabled
students (Class 10 and above),
once in 10 years.
Also, cost ceiling for aids
and appliances have been re-
vised from Rs. 6,000 to Rs.
10,000 for single disability
and from Rs. 8,000 to Rs.
12,000 for students with dis-
abilities. Ceiling of cost of
medical/surgical correction-
,has beenrevised fromRs. 500
to Rs. 1,000 for hearing and
speech challenged; from Rs.
1,000 to Rs. 2,000 for visually
challenged, and from Rs.
3,000 to Rs. 5,000 for ortho-
pedically challenged.
The subsidy for motorised
tricycles and wheelchairs has
also been enhanced from the
present Rs. 6,000 to Rs.
25,000 for the severely dis-
abled. This will be provided to
those aged 18 and above once
in 10 years. The provision for
cochlear implant for 500 chil-
dren per year has also been
increased with a ceiling of Rs.
6 lakh per unit.
Persons with
disabilities
to get higher
nancial help
Aarti Dhar
NEW DELHI: Talks between the
Congress and the Rashtriya
Janata Dal (RJD) to forge an
electoral alliance in Bihar
have hit a rough patch, and
the chances of both contest-
ing separately are high,
sources in both the parties
told The Hindu.
Both parties are nding it
difficult to agree on the seats
that each will contest. The
only good thing at the mo-
ment is that we have not
stopped talking, a Congress
source said.
The LJP had walked out of
talks with the Congress and
announced an alliance with
the BJP on Thursday. Nitish
Kumars JD(U) and the CPI
are in alliance in the State
that has 40 seats in the Lok
Sabha.
The Congress source said
RJD chief Lalu Prasad would
formally give the Congress a
list of 13 or 14 seats that he
would be willing to concede
by Saturday.
In discussions so far, Mr
.Prasad only offered high
risk seats to the Congress,
where the presence of Ya-
davs and Muslims, the core
social combination that sus-
tains the alliance, is negli-
gible. We said let there be a
sharing that involves both
parties contesting good and
bad seats, the Congress
leader said.
What has tied the RJD
chiefs hand is the simmer-
ing revolt in the party, by
MLAs who are hoping to
contest the Lok Sabha elec-
tion. Thirteen of his 22
MLAs had revolted recently,
though Mr. Prasad later
managed to hold back nine of
them. If the rebellion within
the RJD attracts 15 MLAs,
they can form a separate
bloc.
The Madhubani seat the
Congress wants for former
Union Minister Shakeel Ah-
mad is particularly a bone of
contention as the RJDs Ab-
dul Bari Siddiqui is unwilling
to let it go.
Meanwhile, a section in
the Congress is arguing that
the party must go it alone.
In alliance or otherwise,
now the chances are bleak.
By contesting all the seats
alone, at least we will make
our presence felt across the
state, a Congress leader
said.
Cong-RJD alliance talks hit a rough patch
Varghese K. George
Lalu offered
high-risk seats to
the Congress
Madhubani seat is
particularly a bone
of contention
NEW DELHI: Facing criticismfor
the suddentransfer of Keshav
Desiraju from the post of
Health Secretary, the Union
Health and Family Welfare
Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad
has written to Cabinet Secre-
tary Ajit Seth seeking to clar-
ify his position before the
Prime Minister.
The four-page explanation,
written on February 24, fol-
lowed a strongly worded let-
ter to the Prime Minister sent
by many members of civil so-
ciety and former bureaucrats
in which they said Mr. Desir-
ajus transfer violated a Su-
preme Court order that xed
the tenure of senior bureau-
crats. They also charged that
the Health Secretary was
shifted because he had been
resisting the return of a for-
mer chairperson of the Med-
ical Council of India (MCI) to
the Council.
Mr. Desiraju was trans-
ferred to the Ministry of Con-
sumer Affairs on February 11
and Mr. Azad described it as a
routine posting, though the
timing of the transfer had
been questioned.
The Minister also sought to
blame the official for several
court cases related to the
MCI, recent strike by doctors
in the National Capital over
two years mandatory rural
posting and errors in budget-
ary allocations.
Azad blames
Desiraju for
doctors strike
Special Correspondent
RAIPUR: Five policemen were
killed and two others injured
in an ambush by Maoists in
Chhattisgarhs Dantewada
district around noon on Fri-
day.
The rebels opened re
froma distance, as a 12-mem-
ber police teamreached a hil-
ly tract at Shyamagiri in
Kuakonda block, official
sources said. The slainpolice-
men were riding the rst
three motorcycles.
Three bikes were torched
and six guns looted, said a se-
nior officer of the Bastar divi-
sion. Theother vepolicemen
escaped unhurt inthe ring.
The team, from the Kua-
konda station, was deployed
to dominate the area to pro-
tect workers engaged in con-
struction of a 16-km road
fromKuakonda toBacheli vil-
lagevia Shyamagiri. However,
police sources said, the team
had been visiting the area
quite often over the last few
days, allegedly violating the
standard operatingprocedure
(SOP).
Occupational hazard
But a senior officer said,
This is more of an occupa-
tional hazard thanviolationof
the SOP, as we have to visit
Maoist-controlled areas, if we
have to construct roads. He,
however, did not deny that
the successive police visits
had helped the Maoists plan
the ambush.
The slainpolicemenare the
officer in-charge of the Kua-
konda station, Vivek Shukla,
and constables SandeepYadu,
Dhaneswar Mandawai, Cha-
bilal Kasi and Nav Kishore.
5 cops killed in Dantewada Naxal ambush
Suvojit Bagchi
COLOMBO: Expressing Sri
Lankas discomfort with the
United States-sponsored res-
olution to come up in Geneva
in a month, Sri Lankan Presi-
dent Mahinda Rajapaksa on
Friday said: We are uncom-
fortable with the while reso-
lutionthere should not be a
resolution at all.
He was addressing mem-
bers of the Foreign Corre-
spondents Association, a
couple of days after Sri Lanka
responded to U.N. Human
Rights chief Navi Pillays re-
port calling for an interna-
tional probe emphatically
rejecting it.
Covering a range of issues
pertaining to Sri Lankas
preparation for the Human
Rights Council session, which
begins March 3, he seemed to
indicate that the Government
of Sri Lanka would not feel
bogged down, even as an ap-
parently strong resolution
makes its way to Geneva.
There is no evidence [of
rights abuse or war crimes] at
the moment if there is any,
we will look into it, he said,
addressing as many as 17
journalists in his office at
Temple Trees, Colombo.
On how he thinks India
would vote in Geneva on
March 28 President Raja-
paksa said: You must re-
member they [India] are
facing elections and have to
listen to the electorate, think
about the future. Last time
they voted against us, this
time we dont know yet. But
we understand them.
President Rajapaksa is
scheduled to meet Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh in
Myanmar next week on the
sidelines of the Bay of Bengal
Initiative for Multi-sectoral
Technical and Economic
Cooperation.
Responding to a question
on the prevalent perception
that Sri Lanka was playing the
China card, Foreign Minis-
ter G.L. Peiris, who was also
present, said: There is no ex-
clusivity to these relation-
ships. They are all our
friends.
Asked about Tamil Nadu
Chief Minister Jayalalithaas
election manifesto that
speaks of a referendum
among northern Sri Lankan
Tamils and the Sri Lankan
Tamil diaspora on a separate
state, the President said:
They [diaspora] have left Sri
Lanka, they wont come back.
They are British and Cana-
dian citizens.
While Ms. Jayalalithaa re-
peatedly spoke about north-
ern Tamils, she must realise
that it was her shermen who
were taking away their
[northern shermens] re-
sources, he said, while re-
sponding to a question on the
sheries conict between In-
dia and Sri Lanka.
U.N. resolution makes us uncomfortable: Rajapaksa
Meera Srinivasan
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa with
members of the Foreign Correspondents Association
in Colombo on Friday. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
NEW DELHI: In a move that
could be considered a
relief to candidates in the
Lok Sabha and Assembly
polls, the Union Cabinet
on Friday agreed to the
Election Commissions
suggestion that the
ceiling on poll
expenditure be raised. .
The government
agreed to amend Rule 90
of the Conduct of
Election Rules, 1961,
increasing the ceiling for the
Lok Sabha poll to Rs.70 lakh
per candidate fromRs.40
lakh, and for the Assembly
poll to Rs.28 lakh fromRs.16
lakh. However this is
applicable only in the bigger
States.
Increase in the number of
electors and polling stations,
and increase in the cost
ination index were some of
the reasons cited for hiking
the expenditure ceiling.
In Arunachal Pradesh,
Goa, Sikkim, the Andaman
and Nicobar Islands,
Chandigarh, Dadra and
Nagar Haveli, Daman and
Diu, Lakshdweep and
Puducherry, the ceiling for
LS poll is Rs.54 lakh.
For the Assembly
elections, the new ceiling in
Arunachal Pradesh, Goa,
Manipur, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim,
Tripura and Puducherry is
Rs.20 lakh.
Poll expenditure ceiling raised
J. Balaji
NEW DELHI: The Union
Cabinet on Friday approved
several pre-poll sops which
could help the Congress
gain some political mileage
in the Telangana region,
which accounts for 17 Lok
Sabha seats.
It also approved
proposals for higher
education institutions in
the Telangana and
Seemandhra regions of
Andhra Pradesh, which will
be bifurcated a couple of
months after the general
and Assembly elections in
be Rs. 15 crore.
The Seemandhra region
also gets a National
Institute of Design. It will
be located in Vijayawada
and the total investment to
establish it will be Rs.109
crore. It will have an annual
intake of 50 undergraduate
students for its three year
programme.
Cabinet sources said
while the proposal sent to
the Cabinet by the Industry
Ministry mooted
Hyderabad as the location,
the Seemandhra members
in the Cabinet managed to
have their way and get it
shifted to Vijayawada.
the State.
Of the 54 Kendriya
Vidyalayas approved by the
Cabinet, 10 will be located
in the undivided Andhra
Pradesh. While seven will
be in the Telangana region,
the remaining three will be
in Seemandhra.
The seven KVs in
Telangana will be located in
Warangal, Secunderabad,
Nalgonda, Adilabad,
Karimnagar, Medak and
Nizamabad. The three in
Seemandhra will be in
Cuddapah, Guntur and East
Godavari districts. The
Central spend on each by
way of capital cost alone will
Pre-poll sops cleared for Telangana region
B. Muralidhar Reddy &
Anita Joshua