News4u-News Desk-External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said one should not pre-judge the outcome of the new initiative for talks between India and Pakistanas these were primarily aimed at reducing the “trust deficit” between the two neighbours.

“Let us not pre-judge the outcome. An initiative has been taken by Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and PM Manmohan Singh. This is primarily to reduce the trust deficit. This is a confidence building measure,” Krishna told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday.

He said this in reply to a question on whether the Sir Creek issue would figure in the Indo-Pak talks. He was speaking on the sidelines of the All India Annual Conference for Haj.

Gilani and Manmohan Singh met during the SAARC summit inBhutan in April which saw restoration of dialogue between the two countries after nine months.

India had asked Pakistan to take action against the 26/11 Mumbai attack accused living in the neighbouring country before talks could be resumed.

When asked about China’s attempt to build a rail link withPakistan through Karakoram, Krishna said, “Our National Security Advisor (NSA) went to China as Prime Minister’s emissary. I have not got a chance to discuss the issue with him yet. But we are closely watching what is happening.”

NSA Shiv Shankar Menon had visited China last week to discuss bilateral issues.

News4u-News Desk-As curfew was clamped in more areas of Kashmir, Home Minister P Chidambaram hoped Army would not be required there for too long and appealed to people of the valley to observe restrictions.

He said major share of patrolling and law enforcement was being done by the state police and CRPF and Army was on standby in case there was need for its deployment.

The Home Minister said Kashmir witnessed two very minor incidents of violence on Wednesday but today he was yet to receive any report on the situation.

“Army was deployed at the request of government of Jammu and Kashmir. I am not at liberty to disclose where it has been deployed. But I can assure that most of the places affected are still being patrolled and curfew enforced by J and K Police and paramilitary forces,” he told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday.

His comments while briefing on decisions of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs came as more areas of Kashmir were brought under curfew on Thursday.

Underlining that the purpose of moving in the Army was to “serve as a deterrent”, he said, “Army has been kept ready in case it becomes necessary to deploy them.”

Chidambaram said Army will be in Kashmir ”as long as it is necessary” to deal with the situation there. “But I sincerely hope that it will not be necessary for too long.”

He emphasised that people should not come out of their homes during curfew and pelt stones.

“I appeal to Jammu and Kashmir people to observe curfew and stay indoors. Curfew is in place for a couple of days. I am sure the J and K government will be able to relax curfew in a couple of days,” he said.

“Parents should ensure that their children remain indoors. It is the responsibility of parents,” the Home Minister said, adding “It is important that curfew is enforced and observed by everybody.”

Curfew in more areas of Kashmir Valley, flag march by Army

Curfew was clamped in more areas of the Kashmir Valley on Thursday which witnessed stray incidents of violence as the Army carried out a flag march in Srinagar to maintain law and order.

Sopore town and old parts of Baramulla were placed under curfew as a precautionary measure, official sources said on Thursday.

Curfew was also being enforced strictly in Srinagar, where three persons were killed in alleged firing by security forces on Tuesday.

The sources said that there was no curfew in Baramulla town, Handwara, Shopian, Ganderbal and Budgam.

A group of protestors had attempted to gather in Batmaloo area of Srinagar during the night but were peacefully dispersed by the security forces, they said.

Protestors had also tried to attack a bus carrying new police recruits in the outskirts of Srinagar but the attempt was thwarted.

The Army had Wednesday moved 17 columns (about 1,700 personnel) into various parts of the city to assist the civil administration in maintaining law and order.

Srinagar, which was bustling with tourists before the trouble started, looked like a lifeless city with empty streets, closed shops and deserted shikaras amid the heavy presence of security forces.

The state government had sought help of the Army in the wake of spiralling protests in the city.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had on Wednesday spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over phone and briefed him on the law and order situation in the Valley.

Omar had apprised the Prime Minister about the steps being taken in restoring normalcy which included cracking down on mischief-makers and miscreants, sources said.

The Chief Minister had also spoken twice to Home Minister P Chidambaram and also to Defence Minister A K Antony about the developments.

Union Home Secretary G K Pillai, who had flown in Srinagar on Wednesday from Delhi along with Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen A M Verma, had met the Chief Minister and reviewed the overall law and order situation.

Pillai had assured the Chief Minister of complete support of the Centre in maintaining peace in the Valley.

The Home Secretary had also chaired a meeting of officials of CRPF, Army and State Police and Intelligence Bureau.

The Kashmir situation was discussed at the CCS meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on Wednesday. It was decided that Army would be deployed only in the “periphery” and not in the congested areas of Kashmir.

The CCS had favoured “maximum crackdown” on miscreants who had contributed to the deterioration of the current situation in the valley.

It was also made clear that army has been deployed inSrinagar for “deterrent effect” and the decision to place it in specific areas would be done by the civil administration.

“The law and order situation is peaceful. Curfew is in force in Sopore, Anantnag, Srinagar and Pulwama districts of the valley,” Inspector General, Kashmir region, Farooq Ahmad said.

He said that no major incident of violence was reported since Thursday morning even as there were minor overnight protests in a couple of mosques in Batamaloo area of the city.

Deal sternly with those behind unrest: Pillai

In a clear message to those fomenting violence in Kashmir, the Centre has asked the state to deal “sternly” with the “anti-nationals and vested interests” creating unrest in the valley.

Home Secretary G K Pillai chaired a high-level meeting late on Wednesday night to review the situation in the Valley during which he asked the officials to ensure that no guilty person be allowed to go scot-free and efforts should be made to ensure safety of innocent civilians, official sources said on Thursday.

The meeting was attended by Jammu and Kashmir DGP Kuldeep Khoda, Special DG CRPF N K Tripathi, Commander of Army’s 15 Corps Lt Gen G S Marwah, Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen A M Verma and senior officials of central security agencies.

He told the officials that anti-national and vested interests were behind the ongoing unrest in the valley and they need to be dealt with sternly, they said.

Pillai asked security agencies to make efforts to nab those people who were responsible for funding the current unrest, sources said.

Earlier, Pillai also met Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and reviewed the overall law and order situation.

Pillai assured the Chief Minister of complete support of the Centre in maintaining peace in the valley.

News4u-Business Desk-Faced with global shortage of offshore drilling rigs, the government has decided to give a three-year drilling holiday or moratorium to firms such as state-run ONGC and Reliance Industries.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday, approved a drilling moratorium from 1^st January 2008, on 30 exploration blocks — 16 of ONGC, 13 of Reliance Industries (RIL) and one of Italy’s Eni, official sources said.

Companies such as ONGC and RIL have not been able to meet their work commitments for the blocks they had won under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) rounds because of a crunch in availability of deep-sea drilling rigs.

Sources said the CCEA approved a drilling holiday from 1^stJanuary 2008, to 31^st December 2010, for 30 blocks awarded in the fifth round of NELP.

Globally, oil and gas explorers are faced with huge shortage of drilling rigs as countries stepped up oil and gas hunt in the wake of the surge in crude oil prices in 2008. Day-hire charges for a deep-sea drill rig had shot up 250 percent between 2007 and 2008.

But for the drilling holiday, the companies faced huge penalties for not fulfilling their work commitments that included drilling of a certain number of wells.

The petroleum ministry had first moved the Cabinet for the three-year drilling holiday or moratorium in 2008-end but the proposal was withdrawn after the finance ministry wanted a system of incentives and disincentives introduced to reward and punish companies based on performance during the period.

A grade system of incentives and disincentives will differentiate between companies which have completed the drilling work programme in deepwater acreages, which are being considered for a rig moratorium within the proposed three-year exploration holiday period or earlier and those which fail to complete the work, sources said.

India joins global jewellery hallmarking convention

Hallmarking of jewellery in India at globally recognised centres will be acceptable in 18 countries, with the country deciding to join an international convention on precious metals.

The decision on accession by India to the Convention on Control and Marking of Articles of Precious Metals, known as the Vienna Convention, 1972, was taken by the Union Cabinet on Thursday.

India will be the 19th country to join the league.

“Accession to the convention will result in technological upgradation of the country’s assaying and hallmarking centres and their recognition by the members of the Vienna Convention,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

She said the decision would also facilitate jewellery exports from the country.
Gems and jewellery are the largest contributors to India’s exports. Exports in the segment aggregated USD 29 billion in 2009-10.

With this decision, India’s jewellery exports to Austria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Hungary,Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway,Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine will not be subject to further tests of purity once they carry the Common Control Mark (CCM) of domestic testing centres.

“The higher level of consumer awareness about the purity of jewellery articles will make the jewellers in India more accountable to the Indian consumers,” Soni said.

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News4u-News Desk-With a spurt in incidents of honour killings across the country, the Government decided to set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) to consider amendments to the law to deal with the issue and said the bill for that will be brought in the monsoon session of Parliament.

“Government wants amendments to be brought to Parliament in the monsoon session,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters after the meeting of the Union Cabinet in New Delhi on Thursday.

Apart from a Group of Ministers (GoM) which would be set up to consider amendments to the law to deal with honour killings, views will also be sought from states to the proposed amendments to IPC and CrPC to deal with the killings, Soni said.

“The so-called honour killings have to be brought under the ambit of law of land,” she said.

“Consultations will be completed well before the monsoon session is over,” Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram added.

The amendments will seek to bring honour killings under the definition of murder by amending the Indian Penal Code.

It would also seek to amend the Indian Evidence Act which would bring the onus on Khap Panchayats to prove their innocence in any such case.

The khap panchayat (caste council) or any group ordering honour killings and any person who carries out the diktat will be jointly liable for punishment under the proposed legislation.

The Government also plans to do away with the 30-day notice period under the Special Marriage Act for inter-caste and inter-religion marriages.

Taking note of the recent spurt in ‘honour’ killings, the Supreme Court had last month sought response from the Union Government and eight states on steps taken to prevent such incidents.

Govt approves presentation of Nalanda University Bill in Parl

The ball has been set rolling for the proposed NalandaUniversity with the Government giving its nod for the presentation of a bill in this regard in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

The Union Cabinet gave its approval for the presentation of the Nalanda University Bill 2010 in the Parliament Session likely to start on 26^th July.

The university will be set up in the vicinity of the ancientNalanda University in Bihar at an approximate cost of Rs 1005 crore.

The Ministry of External Affairs has prepared the Bill following a consensus reached at the East Asia Summit held in Thailandin October 2009.

The proposed university will have schools like Buddhist studies, philosophy and comparative literature, historical studies and ecology and environmental studies among others.

According to the Bill, the University shall function as a public-private partnership and funds shall be provided by the Government of the member states.

India as the host country will make significant contribution in the initial stage, with the Planning Commission already having allocated Rs 50 crore as endowment fund in the form of a special grant.

The Nalanda Mentor Group constituted by the Centre in June, 2007, shall exercise powers as the interim governing board of the University for a period of one year or till the members of the governing board have been nominated.

The Bill also says that Visitor of the University shall be the President of India or any other person who may be appointed by the President.

The Bihar Government has already acquired about 500 acres of land in Rajgir (in the vicinity of the original university) while another 500 acres is scheduled to be acquired.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting, said the establishment of the university would facilitate the revival of Nalanda as a centre of excellence in East Asia and South Asia, reflecting in some measures the role played by the University in ancient times.

The University would associate with 200 odd villages in the local area that are connection with the ancient university.

The project is poised to give a boost to the Buddhist circuit and also benefit the tourism industry.

The University will also offer studies in international relations and peace studies and business management in relation to public policy and development studies, besides studies on language and literature.

Govt approves proposal to increase share capital of NMDFC

In a move to encourage self-employment initiatives among minorities, Government has approved a proposal to enhance the authorised share capital of National Minorities Development Finance Corporation (NMDFC) from the existing Rs 1000 crore to 1500 crore.

In the increased share capital, the share of Government of India will be Rs 975 crore followed by Rs 390 crore of state governments and Rs 135 crore of individuals and institutions, Union Minister Ambika Soni told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday after a meeting of the Union Cabinet.

NMDFC, a non-profit company with share contribution from the Centre, states and individual and institutions, provides financial assistance to people belonging to minorities, who live below the poverty line to encourage entrepreneurship and employment among them.

NMDFC’s role is significant in view of the government’s recent initiatives for economic development of the minorities in light of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee, which went into the issue of the backwardness of Muslims and other minorities.

NMDFC is dependent on central equity contribution. The enhanced authorised share capital will enable the Centre release its full budgetary provision of Rs 115 crore towards equity of NMDFC in the current financial year. Around 87,984 beneficiaries will be covered during 2010-11.

“The equity contribution from Government of India, together with, contribution from state governments and individuals and institutions and also the recovery of loans from beneficiaries will be spent for providing term loans and micro finance through State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) and for providing micro finance through NGOs, Soni said.

Sources in the Minority Affairs Ministry said as the focus is now more on creating self-employment opportunities for minorities, the government is striving to provide them better credit facilities and financial assistance like the one being provided by NMDFC.

Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had recently said the government aims to provide 15 percent of the priority sector lending to minorities, which is currently pegged at around 8 percent.

The ministry figures also indicate that credit facilities provided to minorities have increased in recent years.

After the RBI revised its Master Circular in 2007 on priority sector lending for improving credit facilities to minority communities, the loans being extended to them have gone up to over Rs one lakh crore in the last financial year, an increase of Rs 26 thousand crore from 2008-09.

District Consultative Committees (DCCs) of lead banks have been directed to regularly monitor disposal and rejection of loan applications for minority members to ensure that their credit needs are taken care of, sources in the ministry said.

Govt to amend Public Premises Act

Government is bringing amendments to a legislation to enable quick eviction of unauthorised occupants from Delhi Metro and New Delhi Municipal Corporation properties.

The Union Cabinet approved amendments to Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act 1971 to bring properties of Delhi Metro and NDMC within the definition of public premises.

“This will enable eviction of unauthorised occupants of the properties without delay,” Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said in New Delhi on Thursday.

She said the amendment with regard to NDMC is only a matter of “abundant caution” to remove any doubt since the properties of New Delhi Municipal Committee were already included in the existing definition of public properties.

The word Municipal Council is being added to ensure that the properties of NDMC as successor of New Delhi Municipal Committee remain covered under the definition of public premises and there is no technical or legal lacuna in this regard, she said.

News4u-News Desk-Japan’s space agency said on Monday it has found “minute particles” of what it hopes is asteroid dust in the capsule of the space probe Hayabusa which returned to Earth last month.

Scientists hope any dust samples from the potato-shaped asteroid Itokawa could help reveal secrets about the origins of the solar system.
“We have started the opening process of the sample container of Hayabusa since 24^th June, 2010 and confirmed there are minute particles,” the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said.
But the agency added it remained unclear whether the particles are contaminants from Earth or come from Itokawa which the space probe landed on during its multi-billion-kilometre (mile) journey.
It is expected to take months to get the final results of the analysis.
When Hayabusa was launched in 2003, the canister was open, meaning it may contain materials that originated on Earth, a JAXA spokesman said.
Technical problems plagued the journey of Hayabusa, which at one stage spun out of control and lost contact with JAXA for seven weeks, delaying the mission for three years until the asteroid and Earth re-aligned.
When it finally latched onto the Itokawa asteroid, a pellet-firing system designed to stir up dust malfunctioned, leaving it unclear how much material the probe was able to gather.
After a seven-year space odyssey, the heat-proof pod was fired back to Earth by the Hayabusa probe in June.
Researchers at the Sagamihara Campus near Tokyo, have been opening the multi-layered canister in cooperation withUS space agency NASA.
Scientists expect to recover at least some asteroid dust from the world-first mission.