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Dreaded forest brigand Veerappan buried

        Moolakadu (Tamil Nadu): Thousands of people turned out on Wednesday for the funeral and burial of India's most wanted ban  dit, Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, whose killing in a police trap late on Monday night ended an over four-decade long career of crime and bloodshed. Veerappan, 52, was killed in a police encounter in Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri district. He was known as the "Jungle Cat" for his ability to move and disappear in the forests of south India that was his home for decades. Veerappan's family, including his wife Muthulakshi and two teenaged daughters Prabha and Vidya Rani, were present at the Moolakadu burial grounds where the erstwhile brigand was buried after a 20-minute Hindu ritual.

        Veerappan had a Rs 5 cr bounty on his head and was believed to have had ties with Tamil militants, including the LTTE. He hit world headlines in 2000 when he kidnapped ageing film star Rajkumar and held him hostage for 108 days. Born to a poor ethnic Tamil family in a southern forest village, Veerappan is said to have killed his first elephant when he was 10. He first came to the notice of the authorities when he killed a forest official trying to stamp out sandalwood smuggling in the mid-1980s. Veerappan sealed his blood-thirsty reputation when he lured another top forest officer with the promise of surrendering and cut off his head. Veerappan chopped some of his rivals into pieces and tossed them into rivers and shot and killed policemen as they slept, police records said. He has inspired at least two Bollywood movies and despite his fearsome reputation, was seen by many villagers as a Robin Hood figure. It was often with the help of villagers that he eluded troops and police in the jungles straddling Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. He was arrested in 1986, but managed to give the law the slip and disappear into the forest. A special police force was later set up by the two states to nab him but until Monday, this proved to be an elusive exercise.

CPI(M) worried over Congress-NCP dispute in Maharashtra (Go To Top)
by Gautam Ghosh

        Kolkata: The CPI(M) is worried over the on-going tiff between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress party in Maharashtra over the chief minister's post and has called for an early and amicable solution to the dispute in the "larger interest of secular forces." However, the party's decision to remain neutral on the question of supporting the chief ministerial candidate of either of the principal coalition partners has thrown a spanner in the somewhat "cordial relationship" between the Marxists and the Congress. The CPI(M) has already rejected the Congress' claim that its three elected legislators belong to the Congress-led alliance in Maharashtra. The Marxists had contested 16 Assembly seats in the polls after breakdown of its seat-sharing talks with the Congress and won three seats on their own. The party's Maharashtra unit has consequently adopted an anti-Congress stand and is betraying a comparatively soft attitude towards NCP chief Sharad Pawar. According to informed sources, the Maharashtra CPI(M)'s stand vis-a-vis Pawar reflected the party's overall soft stand regarding the NCP leader. Earlier, the West Bengal unit of the CPI(M) had supported Pawar's candidature in the BCCI's presidential election against Jagmohan Dalmia's nominee. The NCP chief is naturally is trying hard to woo the Marxists to ensure the chief ministerial berth for his party;s nominee.

           A CPI(M) state secretariat member observed here today that delay in the announcement of the Maharashtra chief minister's name was not at all desirable since it would be sending wrong signals to "secular people who voted for the Congress and the NCP in the Assembly polls." "We want both the parties to resolve their dispute at the earliest to ensure political stability in the state," he said. Officially the CPI(M) has committed itself to support any candidate of the Congress-NCP combine to keep the Sangh Parivar at bay in Maharashtra. However, political observers believe that the party is against the idea of presenting itself as a political ally of the Congress in view of differences between the two parties on social, political and economic issues. The Marxists intend to provide their support to a Congress-NCP government from outside and have no intention to join it.

          The outcome of the Maharashtra polls has dealt a fresh blow to Trinamul Congress, the BJP's ally in Bengal. Mamata Banerjee, who had expected the BJP=Shiv Sena combine to fare better than the Congress-NCP alliance, is naturally not in a happy mood. The consequent change of guard in the BJP does not seem to have boosted her morale despite her public statement welcoming L. K> Advani's appointment as the new BJP president. Ms Banerjee, who earlier used to describe former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as "the only acceptable leader in the NDA," seems to have accepted Advani's elevation to the top post in the saffron party as a fait accompli and decided to lie low for the time being in view of her party's humiliating defeat in the Assembly by-polls.

          The immediate task before the Trinamul Congress chairperson is to chalk out an effective strategy to fight the elections to Calcutta Municipal Corporation next year. The CPI(M) is certain to capture the civic board if the Congress and Trinamul Congress fail to forge an electoral alliance and decide to fight the polls separately. Sources said Ms Banerjee is not against the idea of unofficial seat adjustments with the Congress in the civic elections. However, this will largely depend on the Congress high stand's stand vis-a-vis the Bengal Marxists.

New Zealand PM pushes India for nuke disarmarment, CTBT (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark on Wednesday made a concerted effort to convince the Indian Government of the need to move towards disarmament and to the necessity of signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). "We do see eye to eye on most issues with India. There are inevitably some points of differences even between some closer friends which comes as no surpise to me that New Zealand comes as world's leading advocate for nuclear disarmament. We were the first ones to do it in the 1980s. We have always urged nations to sign the two nuclear ban treaties, the Non Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty," Clark told a business seminar in New Delhi. New Zealand was among a host of countries that strongly condemned India for its second round of nuclear tests in 1998.India says its nuclear weapons are for deterrence and has a no-first-use policy.

       However, it has refused to sign the CTBT and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), saying they are discriminatory and seek to protect the interests of select Western powers. Clark, the first New Zealand PM to visit India after 19years, is keen to boost bilateral ties and push for improved trade between the two countries despite strong differences with New Delhi over nuclear disarmament. "Despite the vast size of India, it is only New Zealand's 26th lagest trading partner and export market. Despite all the growth and changes which have occured in the Indian economy since the early 1990s, New Zealand's exports to India are only 2.35 percent higher than they were a decade ago. Our export growth has been constrained by continuing high levels of protection in India and by our exchange rate. Nonetheless, I believe we can do better," she said. Trade between the two countries is currently estimated at 250 million dollars till last year. Clark also met Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Foreign Minister K.Natwar Singh.

Total eclipse of the moon on Oct 28 only partial over India (Go To Top)

        New Delhi: A Total Eclipse of the Moon will occur on Thursday, from, 0644 to 1024 Hrs. IST. According to a press release, the beginning of the umbral phase will be visible in Africa, Europe, Greenland, the Arctic region, North America (except its extreme northwest), Central America, South America, extreme western Asia, part of Queen Maud Land and the peninsula of Antarctica, the Atlantic Ocean, the eastern South Pacific Ocean and the western Indian Ocean; the ending visible in North America, the Arctic region, Greenland, Central America, South America, Europe, western Africa, Antarctic Peninsula, the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. However, only the beginning of the partial phase of the eclipse will be visible at the extreme north-western parts of India. The eclipse will begin when the Moon will be near the western horizon.

         Following are the important places. Place Moonset in I.S.T Bhuj 0654 Hrs. Dwarka 0655 Hrs. Jaisalmer 0653 Hrs. Porbandor 0653 Hrs. The circumstances of the eclipse are as follows: Phenomena Time in I.S.T Day Hour Minute Eclipse Begins 28 06 44 Total Eclipse Begins 28 07 53 Middle of the Eclipse 28 08 34 Total Eclipse Ends 28 09 15 Eclipse Ends 28 10 24 Duration of the Eclipse = 3 hrs 40 m Duration of Totality = 1 hr 22 m *Magnitude of the Eclipse= 1.313(Moon's Diameter=1.0) The Moon enters penumbra at h.05-36 I.S.T The Moon leaves penumbra at h.11-33 IST.

India, Pak announce schedule for second round of composite talks (Go To Top)

        New Delhi: India and Pakistan on Wednesday formally announced the schedule for the second round of composite talks covering eight subjects as decided by the foreign ministers of the two countries in the first week of September. Briefing newspersons here, a spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the talks would take place in Islamabad, New Delhi and Karachi between November 29 and December 16 this year. Giving further details, he said that the first of the two-day meetings would take place in the Indian capital on November 29 and 30, when narcotic control authorities of the two countries would meet to finalise a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on ways to curb the spread of the drugs menace and smuggling activities.

        The second meeting would take place on December 2 and 3 in Islamabad and would involve the participation of railway officials, who would discuss the modalities required for starting the railway link and service between Khokhrapar and Munnabao. This would be followed by a between officers of the Indian Coast Guard and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) on December 3 and 4 in Islamabad. They would be discussing and in all probability sign an MoU for better links between the two. Pakistani and Indian officials would meet again on December 7 and 8 in New Delhi to discuss the modalities for launching the bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarbad. A committee of experts would then meet in New Delhi on December 9 for a discussion on trade-related issues. A discussion on modalities for a joint survey of the boundary pillars in the Sir Creek Area would take place on December 14 and 15 in Karachi. The MEA spokesman concluded by saying that on the same two days eperts of both sides would be meeting in Islamabad to take the discussion on nuclear confidence building measures forward, while talks on conventional CMBs would take place in the Pakistan capital on December 15 and 16.

Civil aviation FDI hiked from 40 to 49 pc (Go To Top)

        New Delhi: The Union Cabinet today cleared a proposal to hike foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in the civil aviation sector from 40 to 49 percent, official sources said. The present policy allows 40 percent foreign investment in airlines but bars foreign airlines from picking up a stake. The new FDI norms will come with conditions to ensure that international airlines do not have proxy control of Indian entities. The sources said that according to a note submitted by the Civil Aviation Ministry, the hike in FDI limit was part of the proposals made by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his annual budget for 2004-05. While pegging the plan outlay for the sector at about Rs 1,621 crore, a hike of about Rs 135 crore from the revised estimate for the last fiscal, the government had said there was an "urgent need" for infusing huge amounts of capital in this sector, they said. Meanwhile, the Left has said it has no problem with the hike in FDI as it's only for domestic private airlines.

Study claims RAW involved in terror activity in Pak (Go To Top)

        Islamabad: A new study carried out by the Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS) has claimed that India's Research Analysis Wing (RAW) was involved in carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan. In its latest publication titled RAW-Covert Instrument of Indian Ambitions, the ISS gives a detailed analysis of how India in its pursuit of foreign policy has used the covert help of its intelligence network against Pakistan. Though eyebrows are raised when a report of the "enemy's" intelligence network is published from Pakistan, what gives the publication credibility is that the majority of the research is based on Indian or Western sources with charts based on the Indian Defence Yearbook and Asoka Raina's work of "Inside RAW: The Story of India's Secret Service."

        According to The News, the author, Fahmida Ashraf, has resisted from personal or vague comments and the report relies heavily on references contained in the publication. The study looks into RAW's activities inside Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sikkim, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives and Burma. Of significance for Pakistan is reference to a report by the US security and intelligence information group Global Security, which discloses RAW activities in Pakistan through Afghanistan. "Throughout the Afghan war, RAW was responsible for the planning and execution of terrorist activities in Pakistan to deter Pakistan from support of Afghan liberation movement against India's ally, the Soviet Union. The assistance provided to RAW by the KGB enabled RAW to arrange terrorist attacks in Pakistan cities throughout the Afghan War. The defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan did not end the role of RAW in Pakistan, with reports suggesting that India has established a training camp in the town of Qadian, in East Punjab where non-Muslim Pakistanis are trained for terrorist activities".