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Himachal to move SC over abrogation of water treaty

          Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to move the Supreme Court against the abrogation of nearly four decade old river water sharing agreement by Punjab. State Chief Minister Veerbhadra Singh announced this here Wednesday. He said his government was forced to approach Supreme Court as the recent act passed by Punjab government has put those projects in jeopardy. "This is to safeguard the interests of the state with respect to two projects of Chinar and Anandpur hydro projects. There are agreements between the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. By abrogation of this agreement, the rights of Himachal Pradesh have been put in jeopardy. To safeguard our interests we have decided to move to Supreme Court," Singh told reporters. It may be recalled that earlier this month, the Punjab Assembly had unanimously passed the Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, annulling all water sharing agreements with neighbouring states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. Himachal Pradesh, which was carved out of greater Punjab, has an agreement with the parent state over several hydel and irrigation projects. Sutlej-Yamuna link (SYL) canal is at the heart of a water-sharing row between Punjab and its neighbouring states, primarily Haryana, since 1966. The completion of the canal would have ensured waters for Haryana, Rajasthan and other neighbouring states. But Punjab has been delaying the construction work for more than a decade.

Andhra Pradesh launches cloud-seeding programme (Go To Top)

        Hyderabad: Faced with erratic rainfall and prolonged dry spells during the current monsoon, the Andhra Pradesh government today launched cloud-seeding operations in the state's 10 rain-deficient districts. Speaking to reporters here, the state's Agriculture Minister N Raghuveera Reddy said the operations would formally commence from Thursday and be undertaken for a total of 105 days. "This will go on 105 days in this season. So far the reports available across the world - China, US - the results are good. There it is being used for past four-five decades. Last year the same process was used in Karnataka and this year the same process was taken up in Maharashtra. The farmers in rain shadow areas are in total distress," said Reddy. The state government has engaged two aircraft of the Bangalore- based Agni Aviation to undertake cloud seeding operations. The districts of Anantapur, Chittoor, Cuddapah and Kurnool in Rayalaseema, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda and Rangareddy in Telangana and Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore in coastal Andhra have been selected for the programme.

         Cloud seeding refers to using silver iodide or other materials to increase the amount of precipitation from clouds. It is the one technique of planned weather modification. "The aeroplane will be fitted with special flare racks on which ejectable flares as well as burning flares which release silver iodite and clacium chloride into the respective cloud for cloud seeding. The same plane is equipped for flying for four-and-a- half hours. In this one mission it can do both warm and cold cloud seeding," Capt. Arvind Sharma of the Agni Aviation Foundation told reporters. Control rooms have been set up at Hyderabad and Kurnool to monitor the progress of the experiment named as 'Project Varuna' or `Meghamadhanam'. One aircraft will be stationed in Hyderabad and the other in Bangalore. The government has earmarked Rs.12 crore for the experiment. So far, the experiment has met with success in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

India win over Bangladesh (Go To Top)

          Colombo: Thanks to the superb all round performance by Sachin Tendulkar and excellent bowling by Irfan Pathan, India comfortably defeated Bangladesh on Wednesday by eight wickets. The victory earned India six points including a bonus point. The Indians will now take on arch-rival Pakistan in their next Super League match on Sunday. Tendulkar snared three Bangladesh wickets before hitting up his highest-ever score of 82 not out against the minnows to help India overhaul Bangladesh's total of 177 in just 38.3 overs. Harbhajan marked his return to international cricket after an eight-month injury layoff with impressive figures of 10-2-20-1 on a placid track at the SSC ground after Sourav Ganguly won the toss and elected to bowl. Nehra, playing his first match of the tournament in place of an injured Zaheer Khan, also did not disappoint with some disciplined bowling in the middle overs.

Racism charge hits umpiring at Asia Cup (Go To Top)

         Colombo: Umpires of Asian origin have reportedly taken up cudgels against what they perceive to be a clear case of disparity in treatment being given to them and their 'white- country' counterparts. The row has erupted after it was announced that no Asian umpire will be the field umpire in the main rounds of the Asia Cup and that this job will be handled by Billy Bowden (New Zealand), David Shepherd (England) and Peter Parker (Australia). Furthermore, of the Asian umpires on call for the tournament, only two Sri Lankans will get a chance to officiate as field umpires while those from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh have been relegated to television umpire duties. Additionally, sources told The News that a problem has also erupted over money matters. According to the paper, umpires from England, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia are reportedly being paid 6000 dollars or 1000 dollars per match, while their Asian counterparts are being given a consolidated sum of 2000 dollars for the entire tournament. Indian Test umpire A V Jayaprakash is now actively campaigning for a meeting of the Asian umpires here later this week to convey and register their strong objection to this discriminatory arrangement to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) cricket management committee. Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, who is on the ICC cricket management committee, however, explained that the decision has been taken to avoid any controversy and was not a verdict on the competence of the Asian umpires.

Disparity in emoluments causes heartburn among Indian cricketers (Go To Top)

          Colombo: The internal tussle within the Indian cricket team over their central contracts with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shows no signs of an immediate solution, with juniors in the squad still complaining about the disparity in emoluments as they exist now. Sources in the Indian camp were quoted by The News as saying that players slotted in Categories B and C have rejected the payment pattern system decided for them by the board and senior players. Their objection is to Category A senior players Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag getting paid Rs.6 million annually as a retainer, while Category B and C players getting only Rs.3 million and Rs.1.5 million respectively.

          Those falling in the B grade include Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan, Laxmipathy Balaji, Yuvraj Singh, Muhammad Kaif. Those in the C grade include Parthiv Patel, Hemang Badani and Aakash Chopra etc. According to the paper, leg spinner Anil Kumble has been asked to talk to the juniors. "Kumble spoke to Nehra, Yuvraj, Kaif and the others in Dambulla and told them that under the revised formula suggested by the senior players, they would get five million rupees as the annual retainer, the B grade players 3.5 million and the C grade players two million. But players in the B grade are adamant that the amounts in the central contracts sent by the BCCI should be made on basis of form and performance and not on reputation alone. As the situation now stands, the contracts have been returned to the Board unsigned. "Obviously this has become a contentious issue in the Indian camp, but Wright (Coach John Wright) wants them (the players) to put it behind them and perform to their true potential," a source was quoted as saying.