EC to launch new norms to fill poll affidavits

New Delhi: The Election Commission is planning to introduce new and stringent norms for filing affidavits of personal assets and expenditure for candidates and political parties in the assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and other states next year.

The EC -- which has recently activated an election expenditure monitoring cell to curb the use of illegal money in polls with a senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer at the helm -- is mulling changes and new formatted affidavits after its experience in the recently concluded polls in Bihar.  The EC, according to sources, has also decided to involve the manpower and machinery of Income Tax department's investigation wing in all the upcoming polls as done during the Bihar polls after it found the maiden initiative to be very beneficial.

The EC, in consultation with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), will introduce new and stringent measures in the new mandated "shadow expenditure registers" for candidates and political parties and new fields related to investments and others will be introduced for candidates to file details on their assets and liabilities in the affidavit, sources said. 

WikiLeaks: India faces bioterror threat, said cable

London:  US diplomats were concerned that India could be the target of a biological terror attack, with fatal diseases such as anthrax being released into the country before spreading around the world, according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

The confidential cables revealed that a senior Indian diplomat told the US in 2006 that concerns about biological weapons were "no longer academic", adding that intelligence suggested terror groups were increasingly discussing biowarfare, the Guardian reported on Friday.

"(Diplomat) YK Singh reported that Indian intelligence is picking up chatter indicating jehadi groups are interested in bioterrorism, for example seeking out like-minded PhDs in biology and biotechnology," a cable from the US embassy in New Delhi sent to Washington said.

"He compared the prospects for nuclear terrorism ('still in the realm of the imaginary') to bioterrorism ('an ideal weapon for terrorism ... anthrax could pose a serious problem ...it is no longer an academic exercise for us')."

Sonia took Congress charge to fight resurgent BJP: WikiLeaks

London: It was the rise of the BJP and right-wing politics that "compelled" Sonia Gandhi to enter politics, despite much reluctance, the WikiLeaks revealed on Friday. 

The US cable of 2006 says: "In a candid revelation of her personal political stance, Mrs Gandhi stated that 'the right (wing) was becoming strong in India and Congress weak,' tipping her hand and 'compelling' her to enter politics to protect the Gandhi family legacy.  "She also revealed that her children were 'not keen' about the idea, but eventually told her, 'whatever you decide, we will back you.” 

The 2006 cable details Gandhi's meeting with Maria Shriver, the First Lady of California and wife of Governor Arnold Shwarznegger. It is titled 'A Garrulous Sonia Gandhi Opens Up to Maria Shriver'. 

This is the second WikiLeaks revelation to have hit the Congress party on a single day. Earlier in the day, a US cable quotes US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer reporting that Rahul had said Hinidu extremism was more dangerous than Lashkar-e-Toiba. 

India and its Muslims get a thumbs up from US

WASHINGTON: In a rousing endorsement of the secular and nationalistic nature of India and its Muslim population, the United States has recognized and appreciated that a "vast majority" of them remain committed to the Indian state and seek to participate in mainstream politics and economic life, thus cutting down scope for recruitment by extremist organizations.

In an extensive commentary about India's 150 million plus Muslims (the second largest in the world after Indonesia, former US envoy to New Delhi David Mulford recorded in a cable (released by WikiLeaks) that "India's vibrant democracy, inclusive culture and growing economy have made it easier for Muslim youth to find a place in the mainstream, reduced the pool of potential recruits, and the space in which Islamic extremist organizations can operate." 

WikiLeaks: India's tough talk with US

New Delhi:  The latest WikiLeaks revelations expose the tough talk that took place between the United States and India post 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

A cable from a US diplomat in India quotes former Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon telling Richard Boucher, the then Assistant Secretary of State, "Let's not insult one another by telling a story that the Pakistan Army was not involved. They're either unwilling to take action, or incapable, or both; any way you look at it, they're involved."

India has repeatedly pointed to lack of progress in the trial of seven Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives in Pakistan who were arrested in connection with the 26/11 attacks on November 26, 2008, in which 166 people were killed.

The cable quoting Menon is one of about 3,038 US diplomatic cables sent from Delhi and leaked by the whistle-blower website. 

WikiLeaks is releasing a quarter million secret US documents and 5,087 records amongst these refer to India.

The cables, which date from 1966 up until the end of February this year, contain confidential communications between 274 embassies in countries throughout the world and the State Department in Washington DC. Of these, 15,652 of the cables are classified Secret.

Was ex-CJI Balakrishnan aware of Raja influencing judge?

Chennai:  Did former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan hide the truth about A Raja trying to influence a Madras High court judge? 

In a rare disclosure, today, Supreme Court judge H L Gokhale issued a statement contradicting the former top judge, and said, "The former Chief Justice of India has stated in his press conference that in my letter I did not mention the name of any Union Minister having talked to Justice Reghupati over phone to influence him. I may point out that Justice Regupati's letter was already with him and in the second paragraph Justice Regupathi had specifically mentioned the name of minister Raja."

"What Justice Gokhale has said is the truth. That's what really happened. The majesty of law and truth will triumph. I stand vindicated," said Justice S Regupathi, Former Judge of Madras High Court.

The controversy centers around a criminal case in the Madras High court, which was being heard by Justice Reghupati in 2009 .

It was then that Reghupati wrote to Justice Gokhale, then the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, alleging that Raja had tried to influence him through advocate Chandra Mohan.

Justice Gokhale today released an extract from that letter, which he said he forwarded to Justice Balakrishnan and even got an acknowledgement.

The extract says: (Chandramohan) said that two persons, who are father and son, accused in a criminal case, are family friends of a Union Minister by the name Raja and that the petition filed by them must be considered favourably.

Balakrishnan had denied this, saying the report he received just mentioned a minister and no names were disclosed.

"When this incident was reported in the media, I sought for a report from the then Chief Justice of Madras High Court Justice Gokhale and he sent me a report wherein nothing was mentioned about any Union Minister having made a telephonic talk with Justice Regupathy to influence him," Balakrishnan had said.

Justice Gokhale clearly keen to set the record straight, says, "The continuity of the correspondence clearly shows that the incident related to Advocate Chandramohan and Minister Raja had been brought to the notice of the former CJI."

It is perhaps for the first time that the judiciary is questioning its own, whether its Supreme Court's observations against the Allahabad High Court, or, a sitting Judge contradicting the former Chief Justice of India.

2G scam: Telecom ministry begins issuing notices

New Delhi, Dec 14: The Indian telecom ministry on Tuesday started slapping show-cause notices to operators who were found to have benefited from former minister A Raja's questionable 2G spectrum allocation methods in 2008.

85 telecom licences are in line to for the notices. In addition, 69 others, identified by Trai for failing to meet their rollout obligations, are also being slapped showcause notices.

The entire process of issuing show-cause notices on around 200 license will be wrapped up within the next three days, a Department of Telecommunications(DoT) official was quoted as saying.

Operators would be given 60 days to respond to the notices after which each case would be dealt with individually.

The Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) had identified 85 of 122 licences issued in 2008 to be ineligible as companies mis-represented facts.

In addition, Trai wrote to the DoT on November 18, asking it to cancel 38 licences and legally examine another 31 others.

The companies which face the wrath includes Unitech (Uninor), Loop Telecom, Datacom, S Tel, Swan Telecom (Etisalat) and Sistema Shyam (MTS).

Indians at number three in Google searches

Kolkata: Indians stood at number three position after Chinese and Americans in terms of Google users, a top official of the popular search engine said Tuesday.

"India is a big market for Google and is behind China and US," Vinay Goel, country head (products) of Google India told a press conference here.

He, however, did not specify any period in this regard.

India is a bigger market than the UK, Japan and Germany, he said, adding Google users had been steadily rising in the country.

"Three years ago, Google had 20 million users. Now it is at 100 million."

He said that revenues were directly related with the number of users.

Speaking about Google's latest offering, Google Instant, he said that it was a new search interface which was very fast and predictive.

"It saves between two and five seconds on typical searches," he said.

Goel said that Google had been investing resources for upgrading of the search engine to offer users a better experience.

ArticleComments Washout of Parliament triggered off by Congress: LK Advani

New Delhi:  The Winter Session of Parliament ended on Monday with the rift between the Government and the Opposition growing wider than ever. Today, senior Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani led the charge as the NDA took its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe to the people.

Advani targeted the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi for the Government's refusal to set up a JPC to investigate the 2G spectrum scam.

 Addressing the media in New Delhi, Advani said, "They created an earthquake in Indian politics. 2G scam- so many lobbyists talking to so many people. Looks like the UPA government was not made by the Prime Minister as he doesn't even know about many things...  portfolios are decided by others."

Advani added that even though the Opposition and the UPA-II allies were united on the demand for JPC, the Congress party did not budge causing the entire session's wastage.

The BJP leader also added that the extent to which corruption has plagued the UPA government is worrying. "Today, Congress party is ruling the country in alliance with Karunanidhi's DMK, tomorrow it can be any other party but the issue of corruption needs to be highlighted and justice should prevail," he said.

"We decided today that if we don't get justice in Parliament, then we will go to the streets. We will go to the people. If you don't constitute JPC, then we don't want to discuss anything else," Advani told the media clarifying why they did not let the JPC heat die down in Parliament.

The party has planned to hold a massive rally against corruption across the country December 22.

Yeddy asks Sonia to provide proof of allegations

Bangalore: Hitting back at Congress President Sonia Gandhi for hurling charges of corruption against him, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa today shot off a letter to her asking her to provide proof for her allegations. 

"The charges against me are baseless and made with the intention of maligning my government", he said, a day after Gandhi lashed out at BJP leaderhship for not acting against Yeddyurappa despite corruption charges against him. 

In his letter to Gandhi, copies of which were released to the media here, he said "I would like to know whether there is any proof or evidence to prove these charges and if there is any, I request you to send the same to enable me to place the record straight". 

No need for me to lie on Karkare call: Digvijaya

New Delhi:  Congress leader Digvijaya Singh continues to insist he did speak to Hemant Karkare hours before the chief of the Anti-Terror Squad in Maharashtra was killed during 26/11.   

"I am not a liar, there is no need for me to lie that I had spoken to (slain Maharashtra ATS chief) Hemant Karkare," Singh, who has recently been made party in-charge of poll-bound Assam, told reporters in Guwahati.

Digvijaya said he had requested the Telecom Ministry to get the record of the call between him and the police officer from its centre in Pune.

Singh said that he had sent a request in this regard to the General Manager of BSNL at Bhopal but "has got in writing from them that they cannot provide details of this number as the records are kept only for 12 months".

He said he had spoken to Karkare from his number registered in Bhopal.

Petrol prices hiked by Rs. 3 per litre

Oil major Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) on Tuesday hiked petrol prices by about Rs. 2.95 per litre, following a spike in international crude oil prices.

The hike would be effective from Tuesday midnight. This would be the fourth hike after government’s decision to deregulate petrol prices.

Other two state-run refiners Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) will also hike petrol prices by Rs. 2.40 - 2.95 per litre from Thursday, sources told NDTV.

The oil ministry on Tuesday gave the three companies a go-ahead to raise petrol prices after international crude oil prices touched $90 per barrel.

The state-run refiners had on November 9 raised petrol price by Rs. 0.32 per litre to Rs. 52.91 a litre in Delhi.

IOC, BPCL and HPCL have revised rates only four times since June 26 when petrol price was deregulated, while crude oil has jumped from $73-74 per barrel at that time to $90 a barrel now.

A similar hike in diesel rates is likely to be considered by an Empowered Group of Ministers headed by Pranab Mukherjee on December 22.

After Tuesday’s increase, petrol prices have gone up by Rs. 4.44 a litre since deregulation.

The basket of crude oil India buys was at $89.34 per barrel on Monday. It has averaged $88.47 per barrel in December as against about $79 a barrel at the time of last hike in petrol price on November 9.

If prices are not revised, IOC, BPCL and HPCL are likely to end the fiscal with close to Rs. 67,000 crore revenue losses on sale of diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost.

The oil retailers lose Rs. 272.19 on the sale of every 14.2-kg LPG cylinder and Rs. 17.72 per litre of kerosene.

India tops list of countries where bribery is way of life

BERLIN: India is among the countries topping the list for reported bribe payments over the year along with Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cameroon, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria, the Palestinian territories, Senegal, Sierre Leone and Uganda. More than one person out of two in these countries said they had handed out financial sweeteners to officials.

The study, by the Berlin-based non-governmental agency Transparency International, focuses on small-scale bribery and was put together from polls conducted among more than 91,000 people in 86 countries and territories.

The study reveals one person in four worldwide paid a bribe during the past year.

In the past 12 months, one in four paid a bribe to one of nine institutions, such as health, education or tax authorities, according to the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer.

But it was the police who proved most corrupt, according to the study which reported that 29 per cent of those having dealings with police said they had paid a bribe.

Worldwide, sub-Saharan Africa was the region reporting the greatest incidence of bribery with more than one person in two saying they had made such payments to officials in the past 12 months.

The Middle East and North Africa was the next most corrupt region with 36 per cent of people there reporting having paid a bribe.

This compared to 32 per cent in the former Soviet republics, 23 per cent in South America, 19 per cent in the Balkans and Turkey, 11 per cent in the Asia-Pacific region, and five per cent in the European Union and North America.

Nearly half of the respondents said they paid to avoid problems, while a quarter said it was meant to speed up procedures.

Lower income earners reported paying more bribes than the better paid.

The study, the seventh on the matter by Transparency International since 2003, this time involved a greater number of countries, including for the first time China, Bangladesh and the Palestinian territories.

Polling, mostly by the Gallup Institute, was conducted between June 1 and September 30.

The United Nations established International Anti-Corruption Day in 2003 to raise awareness of graft and promote the global fight against it
.

Krishna on Meera Shankar being patted down: 'It is unacceptable'

New Delhi:  India's envoy to Washington, Meera Shankar, is at the centre of a diplomatic storm.

On December 4, Ms Shankar who was travelling from the American state of Mississippi to Baltimore in Maryland was pulled out of an airport security line and patted down by an American security official. That despite letting them know her diplomatic status.

Reports say security singled her out because she was wearing a sari. Ms Shankar presented her diplomatic papers to the officers but witnesses said she was subjected to a hands-on search. 

Foreign Minister SM Krishna has called the incident unacceptable and asked for a report.

                                              
"This is unacceptable to India and we are going to take it up with the government of the United States and I hope that things could be resolved so that unpleasant incidents do not recur," Krishna said.

But former US envoy Ronen Sen says the rules in America are much tougher and do not exempt ambassadors from such searches.

"Firstly, it's not new. Because I've had a similar experience since 2004 to 2009 when I was there and I've had similar experiences in Germany and other countries. So one, it is strictly not restricted to the United States. Second, the security screening at airports is applicable to all dignitaries of all countries with the exception of Union Cabinet ministers and above on official visits, not on private visits. It does not cover ambassadors, Governors, Chief Ministers or Union Ministers of State," he said.

This isn't the first time this has happened to an Indian dignitary. Just a couple of months ago, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel was detained and questioned at Chicago airport because his name was similar to someone on a no-fly list. But with the incident involving Meera Shankar, the Indian government is now saying this is simply not on.