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Political Notes

	February 28, 2005

Think Tank to be set up on external issues

The External Affairs Ministry is planning to float a new organization to provide key inputs for shaping the country’s foreign policy. External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh says, “ What we require is an independent body equipped to make up its own mind on the complex external issues that come before the government. This body must be capable of anticipating problems and be composed of individuals who command the respect to ensure that their views do not go unheard at the highest policy levels”. The proposed Sardar Swaran Singh Institute of Diplomacy will comprise independent specialists from different walks of life.



The institute would provide a continuous over-view of the diplomatic challenges, especially economic, before the country. The institute will be located in New Delhi and Cabinet Ministers associated with diplomacy are likely to be on the board of directors.



Shia-Sunni Clashes in Lucknow

The Uttar Pradesh capital, Lucknow witnessed clashes between the Shias and the Sunnis on February 20, after a gap of several years. The clashes were on the route of the main Muharrum procession. Three persons died in the incidents, while 20 others got serious injuries. Several areas of old Lucknow city were placed under curfew to deal with the violence.

Eye witnesses say that the trouble began when the Shias were taking out the Tazia procession. As soon as it reached an area dominated by members of another sect, clashes began between the two factions. The small police force present there was not able to deal with the incidents as mobs started targeting shops, looting and burning them. Several vehicles were set ablaze.

Muharram was observed peacefully elsewhere in the country including areas dominated by the Muslim Community in Hyderabad.



Attack on Kerala Mosque : RSS workers blamed



One person was killed in an attack on a mosque in Kerala’s Alappuzha district on February 23. Reports say that the attackers were allegedly associated with the RSS.

The police have taken nine persons with RSS links into custody. Two persons were injured in the attack including the Mosque’s Imam Mohammed Musaliar. Police believe that the person who died in the attack was an activist of the National Democratic Front, NDF, an Islamic fundamentalist organization. There have been frequent clashes between the RSS and the NDF in the area during the last one year.



RSS to set up its University

The Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, RSS, the

militant Hindu organization has decided to set up its first university in the country on the outskirts of the Rajasthan capital, Jaipur. The university has been granted the letter of intent by the BJP government in Rajasthan. Spread over 2300 acres, the university will be called Keshav Vidya peeth Vishwavidyalaya and offer Post Graduate courses. The core subjects include: Yoga Sadhana, Ayurveda and culture.

RSS officials said that the organization wants to propagate the country’s culture and ethos through the university. Leader of the opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, B.K. Kalia, however, said that educational institutions should be kept free of religion, caste and politics. The RSS also plans to set up similar universities in other states.



West Bengal : Darjeeling Hill Council renamed, extended

The West Bengal Government has extended the

present term of the Darjeeling Hill Council by one year from March 26. This was announced by State Minister for Darjeeling Affairs, Asoke Bhattachrya, in Kolkata on February 21. He said that the Government has also decided to rename the council as the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, as demanded by Gorkha leader Subhash Ghising who had spearheaded the movement for an independent Gorkhaland within the state in the eighties.

As a result, the plan for holding the Council’s elections due next month, which all political parties, including the ruling CPI(M) in West Bengal, were pressing for, had been shelved.

Ghishing who had asked the people to get ready for launching a prolonged agitation, has called for an urgent meeting of his party to review the situation in the wake of the Government’s decision.

Darjeeling Hill Council issue had been in the news since early this month for holding of council elections next month. While both the Union and the State Government have been pressing for the elections, Subhas Ghishing had been opposing it. He wanted the Centre to issue more funds for development of the region, and then think of elections. A tripartite meeting invovling the Centre, the State Government and Ghishing held in New Delhi recently failed to resolve the issue. According to intelligence reports, the popularity rating of Ghising has come down considerably since he took over the command of Gorkha movement, and that is why he had been fighting shy of elections. There have been reports of widespread corruption in the DHC.



Reliance Infocomm shares to Mahajan’s kin : PMO asks for probe

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has sent

instructions to the Ministry of Finance asking it to examine all aspects of the transfer of Reliance Infocomm shares to companies linked to former Telecom Minister Pramod Mahajan’s family members. Sources say the intervention came at the instance of Prime Minister himself who has been anxious about getting to the bottom of the affair. There are reports that Ashish Deora who had been allotted one crore Reliance Infocomm shares at a throwaway price, held them for former Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan. This was allegedly pay off for helping Reliance Infocomm by circumventing the law and bringing in unified licensing. Deora is reportedly a close business associate of Pramod Mahajan’s son, Rahul Mahajan.



Indo-Pak Cricket : Telecast row settled

The Madras High Court has given a free hand to

the Board of Control for Cricket in India , BCCI, to telecast the coming India-Pakistan cricket series by engaging the services of an outside production house and Prasar Bharati’s terrestrial network. The court decided upon the interim arrangement, pending a detailed order on Zee Telefilms’ writ petition challenging the BCCI decision to cancel the entire tendering process for the award of telecast rights. The interim arrangement is on the lines of the scheme formulated by the Supreme Court in October last year, while considering similar writ petitions when the India-Australia series was round the corner.

The High Court said that the BCCI is free to engage any producer other than Zee Telefilms and ESPN- Star Sports to produce the live feed of the telecast. The court directed Prasar Bharati and BCCI to maintain accounts of all income and expenditure during the Indo-Pak series.

Soon after the court delivered its interim order, the Centre set up a three member committee to finalise the cricket telecast deal with BCCI. But it removed Prasar Bharati CEO K.S. Sarma from the decision making process, apparently because he is facing a CBI probe relating to earlier telecast rights. The committee comprises Prasar Bharati Member(Finance) Director General, Doordarshan and Additional Secretary of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The Centre also directed that I&B Ministry Secretary Navin Chawla will oversee the process and take the final decision in the matter.

The court’s interim order triggered a sigh of relief in the cricket loving public both in India and Pakistan as there were clouds over the series coming through, if there was no quick decision on the telecast issue. The International Cricket Council, ICC, had made it clear that there could be no international series unless live feed of the matches is available to help the third umpire in its task.



Voluntary Retirement Scheme for Central Government Employees

There are reports that the Central Budget to be

unveiled on Monday, February 28 will come up with a scheme for Voluntary Retirement of government employees. Official sources say that the VRS option will be better than the one floated by the previous NDA government for surplus Central Government employees identified in 2002 on the basis of the recommendations of the Expenditure Reforms Commission. Observers say that the Manmohan Singh government wants to send the signal that it is serious about administrative reforms and cutting flab and administrative expenses. The government’s assessment is that the Left parties and their trade unions may not seriously oppose the move as the Retirement Scheme is voluntary in nature and employees would not be compelled to quit.



Clarification on use of the tri-colour

The Manmohan Singh government has clarified

that it has no objection to the use of the tri-colour without the Ashok Chakra by cricketers or other sportspersons on their helmets or costumes. A Home Ministry official said that mere combination of colours is not the national flag. However, the national flag, the tri-colour complete with Ashok Chakra cannot be displayed by cricketers as per existing law. The official was reacting to the letter by Cricket Board Vice President Rajiv Shukla seeking clarification from the Centre on whether cricketers can use the tri-colour of the National Flag on their costumes without the Ashok Chakra. Earlier, the government had banned display of the tri-colour on their uniforms. BCCI has welcomed the government’s clarification.



Indian Institute pioneers Stem Cell Injection

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences,

AIIMS, New Delhi has devised an injection therapy of Stem Cells after two years of research. Stem Cells are versatile cells that have the ability to grow into any kind of tissue - skin, heart, liver, any organ.

AIIMS has experimented with the injection therapy on a number of patients. One of the patients, a seven year old girl suffering from a disease which causes heart muscles to degenerate, was injected stem cells taken from a bone in her leg, into her tiny, frail heart. Another patient, a 70 year old stroke patient is being injected stem cells to improve his condition. He suffers from a neurological disorder, which has severely restricted his movement. Observers say that AIIMS has marked a global first in pioneering stem cell medicine by the injection method, placing it right at the top of the world’s medicine map. As part of the two years of research, 35 cardiac patients were given stem cell treatment and monitored at 6, 12 and 18 months’ intervals. None of the patients has died even though they were brought to the hospital at a stage when their hearts were beyond by-pass surgery. A National Stem Cell Call Centre is to be set up at AIIMS to coordinate the research and its applications.

The striking feature of the treatment is that 56 per cent of the dead muscle area injected with stem cells had shown improvement. After 18 months, this went up to 64 per cent. Most heart patients had come to the hospital at a stage when heart transplant was the only solution to their problems. With the new treatment, the long queue of people awaiting heart transplant can be cut down drastically, not only in India but also in other countries.



India producing the cheapest Hepatitis B vaccine

An Indian Company, Bharat Biotech is producing

the world’s cheapest Hepatitis-B vaccine and distributing it in developing countries. The vaccine costs just 28 cents, compared to around 20 dollars charged by western multi-nationals. Bharat Biotech, owned and promoted by Krishna Ella, a molecular biologist , has the second biggest production facility for the vaccine in the world. It has an annual turn over of 7.3 million dollars. Krishna Ella worked in the University of Wisconsin at Madison in the United States and in 1995, he was running from pillar to post, trying to collect adequate funds to produce the world’s cheapest Hepatitis-B vaccine. He offered the process he had invented to multi-national companies but they turned him down. Ultimately, with his wife Suchitra, Krishna Ella set up Bharat Biotech which now produces, apart from the Hepatitis B vaccine, other products such as Typhoid vaccine and an antibiotic for use against bacteria, which can cause skin and blood infections and pneumonia. A virus that attacks the liver and which can cause life-long infection, liver failure and cancer causes hepatitis-B.