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Nathpa Jhakri project back in action

     Shimla: The country's largest hydro project, Nathpa-Jhakri project, which has been shut since June 23 (except for June 24) due to the high silt levels in the Sutlej resumed its operations on Wednesday. The 1500 MW Nathpa-Jhakri hydel power project has started generating 750 MW of power. Though the silt level has begun receding but is still higher than the permissible level. Three units of 250 MW each out of its six unit have been made functional in this project. "The silt level in the water is not coming down below 6000ppm(parts per million) and what we require is 5000ppm. We are facing a lot of problem because we have to decrease the speed of water and let the silt settel down and then use it. So, it's getting very difficult for us," said Himachal Pradesh Congress leader and minister Vidya Stokes. The silt contect went upto 1.50 Lakh PPM (particle per million) against maximum permissible limit of 5000. The project which was generating about 38 million units of electricity per day during the peak season had so far suffered a loss of about Rs 170 Crore. This project supplies electricity to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.

Chinese military build-up poses threat to India: Pentagon (Go To Top)

     Washington: The U.S.Government says that the Chinese military build-up poses a direct threat to India. According to the assessment by the Pentagon appearing in today's Washington Post, the Chinese military build-up is not only targetted at India, but also at Taiwan, Japan and Russia. Avoiding inflammatory rhetoric, the 45-page factual report based on American intelligence inputs, warns that Beijing could use its new advanced nuclear missile arsenal to "strike India, Russia and virtually all of the United States" at any given time in the future. It further warns that China's defence spending could go up to 90 billion dollars in 2005, three times more than what it has officially projected, making it the world's third largest military budget after the U.S. and Russia, and the largest in Asia. According to Evan Medeiros, an expert on Chinese military affairs at the Rand Corporation, the Chinese military build-up also represents a growing threat to the United States, though the Pentagon report says that Beijing's emergence as a "conventional military power remains limited". China has been busy "qualitatively and quantitatively" improving its nuclear missile force, which is capable of "targetting most of the world," the Pentagon report says. Elaborating further, it says that in 2004, Beijing positioned more CSS-6 and CSS-7 short range ballistic missiles on its coast facing Taiwan, raing it from 500 to between 650 and 730. China, the report says can fly over 700 aircraft to Taiwan without refuelling. General Wen Zongren, the Political Commissar of the

     People's Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Military Science, however, is quoted in the report as saying that Beijing's focus on Taiwan could prove an obstacle to it showcasing its military prowess elsewhere. General Zongren suggests that China's obsession with Taiwan has allowed for the creation of an international armed blockade against Chinese maritime security. "Only when we break this blockade, shal we be able to talk about China's rise. To rise suddenly, China must pass through oceans and go out of oceans in its future development," the Pentagon report quotes General Zongren, as saying. American military analysts are most concerned over China developing new mobile DF-31 and DF-31A intercontinental ballistic missiles, most of which are expected to become operational by 2007. Analysts like Roger Cliff of the Rand Corporation believe that these missiles will give Beijing "second strike capability against the United States. This, coupled with China expanding its naval, ground-to-ground and ground-to-air missiles appears to be aimed at "countering U.S. ability to operate near its borders," says the report. Without sounding alarmed, the report matter of factly says that China's new S-300PMU2 surface-to-air missile, with a range of at least 100 miles, can engage aircraft over Taiwan, including American aircraft aiding Taiwan during a possible confrontation. The report concludes by quoting former U.S.Pacific Command chief , Admiral Dennis Blair, as saying that China's nuclear advances have been revealed to possibly "scare off potential adversaries with the "tacit approval of China's leaders".

Top Pakistani al-Qaeda figure held for 7/7 blasts (Go To Top)

     Islamabad: The Pakistan police have reportedly arrested a top Pakistani al Qaeda operative, thought to have links with the 7/7 London bombing, during a series of raids, conducted yesterday to search for clues in connection with the blasts. "We suspect two or three of the detained had links with the bombers, but one in particular, who is a major figure in al- Qaeda. We are interrogating them intensively," the London-based daily The Times quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying. The al Qaeda figure, whose name was not disclosed, was among the 24 persons arrested in the raids in Lahore and Karachi. He is said to be undergoing severe interrogation over his suspected role in the terrorist attacks, the first ever suicide attacks in the UK.

Congress party protests POSCO deal (Go To Top)

     Bhubaneswar: The opposition Congress party in Orissa today took to the streets here to oppose the state government's decision to hand over captive iron ore mining rights to South Korea's POSCO Co. Ltd, the world's fifth largest steel maker. POSCO signed a deal to set up a four-tranche 12 billion dollar steel project in India last month, marking what will be the biggest foreign direct investment in the country. Congress party activists, including women, held banners and placards, and shouted slogans against the Biju Janata Dal-led state government, which has the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party as its junior partner. "It a loss more than (what) we will gain, much more. If they want to have a steel plant, it must be done at our terms. We will appreciate this. Not on their terms," said J.B.Patnaik, the president of the Congress party in Orissa. The Orissa government has granted POSCO mining lease rights for 30 years to supply a total of 600 million tons of iron ore to the new plant. The mining lease has been given in phases, depending on the progress of the plant. Allowing POSCO to export the iron ore has been the main obstacle to the steel plant deal in Orissa. But the government has said if POSCO needed to import iron ore of low alumina content, it would be allowed to export iron ore of high alumina content to its Korean plants, subject to a ceiling of 30 percent of the ore consumed by the Orissa plant in a year. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the deal would provide more employment and revenue to the state, one of the most backward in the country. "POSCO is the largest foreign direct investment in our country and it has come to Orissa. Also that this will bring forward a lot of revenue for the state and many jobs for the people of our state," he told reporters.

     The project, which could create 48,000 jobs through direct employment and support industries, also includes a dedicated port and power plant, iron mines, a hot-rolled coil mill and possibly helping to build railway lines between the mines and the plant. POSCO aims to start steel production in India by 2010. Steel demand in India, Asia's fourth-largest economy, is rising as investment in infrastructure increases and demand soars for housing and durables such as cars and consumer goods. Global steel making and mining firms have warmed to India's steel industry due to its affordable labour and the world's third- largest deposits of coal and iron ore. India produced about 39 million tonnes of steel in the year to March 2005, making it the eighth-largest producer in the world. The country has struggled to attract foreign money, due to limping infrastructure and huge resistance from the Communist allies. It received just over four billion dollars in foreign direct investment in the first 10 months of the year to March, compared with 50 billion dollars for neighbouring China.

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