Pervez Musharraf challenges treason trial in civilian court

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Saturday challenged the formation of a special court to try him for high treason, saying he had imposed emergency in 2007 as the army chief and could not be tried by a civilian court.

"We have filed a writ petition in the Islamabad High Court challenging the formation of the special court. They are not competent to try Musharraf," Mohammad Ali Saif, chief of his legal team, said.

The move came three days before the 70-year-old former president was to appear before the special court.

This is the first time in Pakistan's history that a former military dictator is facing trial for treason. If convicted, Musharraf could face either life imprisonment or the death penalty.

"Being an Army officer, the Pakistan Army Act 1952 is applicable to him," Saif told PTI, explaining why the special court was not competent to try Musharraf.

The writ petition said Musharraf took the decision to impose the emergency on November 3, 2007, while he was the army chief. It said the decision was not an individual act and hence cannot be tried alone.

The petition stated that the government is pursuing Musharraf's cases to further a political agenda.

Musharraf's legal representatives in London have already submitted a report to the UN high commissioner for human rights and have appealed to the US, the UK and Saudi Arabia to help the former military ruler.

His legal team has called on the international community, in particular the British, the US and Saudi governments to intervene in support of Musharraf who has provided immense assistance to the West in its "war on terror".

The special court was set up by the Pakistan government to try Musharraf for high treason for suspending the constitution in 2007.

The former president is charged with abrogating, subverting, suspending, holding in abeyance and attempting to conspire against the 1973 Constitution by declaring emergency and overthrowing the superior judiciary.

On November 17, the government decided to initiate treason proceedings against Musharraf.

Attorney General Munir Malik has said there is strong evidence against Musharraf and he could be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky to give press conference in Berlin on Sunday

MOSCOW: Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky will give a news conference in Berlin at 1200 GMT Sunday after being freed from jail following a surprise pardon from President Vladimir Putin, a spokesman said.

Khodorkovsky will address reporters in the German capital at a museum commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall, a spokesman in Moscow said, without providing further details. It will mark his first live public comments following his release.

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Bangladesh PM blasts Khaleda Zia for remaining silent on Pakistani resolution

DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday criticized her arch-rival BNP chief Khaleda Zia for her silence on a Pakistani parliamentary resolution against the hanging of a fundamentalist leader for war crimes.

"She feels pain to speak against Pakistan. So, she needs not to stay here. Go to Pakistan," Awami League head Hasina said about the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief.

Last week, Bangladesh executed Jamaat-e-Islami leadetr Abdul Quader Mollah for "crimes against humanity" committed during the 1971 liberation war by siding with Pakistani troops.

Pakistan's National Assembly passed a resolution that expressed deep concern at the hanging of Mollah for "supporting Pakistan in 1971". The assembly in Pakistan's Punjab province passed a similar resolution.

Hasina had earlier criticized Pakistan, saying the resolution proved that country has "never accepted the victory of Bangladesh in the Liberation War of 1971".

Several people were injured earlier this week when hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police outside the Pakistani high commission demanding the expulsion of high commissioner Afrasiab Mehdi Hashmi Qureshi over the resolution.

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Punjab releases ex-TADA terrorist on parole after protests

CHANDIGARH: Under-pressure, CM Parkash Singh Badal-led government in Punjab on Friday ordered the release of terrorist Lal Singh from the Nabha jail on a 45-day parole, a day after ex-CM Capt Amarinder Singh and the family of late Punjab CM Beant Singh endorsed fasting radical Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa's demand for freeing six Sikh prisoners lodged in various jails across the state.

The Punjab government maintained that no rules were being bent for the terrorist even as it expedited his parole that was due in February next year. Lal Singh has already been released on paroles for 20 times.

"No rules have been bent for him. He has been released only on a 45-day parole by our government after depositing a Rs 2-lakh bond with the Kapurthala deputy commissioner," Punjab Jail minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur told TOI.

Lal Singh, arrested under TADA in Gujarat in 1992 and convicted for transportation of weapons from Pakistan to India, was serving a life-imprisonment sentence since 21 years. He was transferred to Nabha Jail in 1997 as he and his family members had their permanent home in Punjab.

The minister also said that Lal Singh's permanent release would depend entirely on the Gujarat government as his conviction was upheld by a local court at Ahmedabad rural in Mirzapur in Gujarat.

The Akali Dal government had been facing a surging protest by Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa, a former Sikh militant out on bail since 2010 and on hunger strike at Amb Sahib gurdwara in Mohali since November 16.

His fast that entered into its 36th day on Friday has brought Sikh hardliners into the limelight again.

Posters with quotes of former militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and others like Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora, also convicted in Beant Singh's assassination, are on display at the protest venue.

The six former militants in Khalsa's list include Lakhvinder Singh, Shamsher Singh and Gurmit Singh, who received life terms in 1995 for their involvement in the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.

The other three are Lal Singh, Warayam Singh and Gurdeep Singh, who were convicted for life under TADA.

On Thursday, ex-Punjab CM Beant Singh's grandson Gurkirat Kotli had said his family did not have any problems if the three militants were released.

The demand had also found a support from former Congress chief minister Amarinder Singh.

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Karnataka HC grants divorce to a man who was constantly harassed by his wife for years

Bangalore: In an interesting case, the Karnataka high court has passed an order dissolving the marriage of a film producer citing that he has sufficiently proved the cruelty meted out to him by his wife, who was one upon a time was his 'dream girl '.

"The making of unreasonable and unjustifiable demand for a separate house and a sum of Rs 20,00,000 in lump and Rs 20,000 as maintenance per month, the lodging of complaints on important dates, the dates or the previous day, on which the younger brothers of her husband were getting engaged and getting family members arrested and taken straight from choultries(marriage halls) definitely amount to mental cruelty.The family court judge has not appreciated the evidence in right perspective" a division bench headed by Justice K L Manjunath has observed while ordering dissolution of the marriage conducted in Mysore in March 2006.

The husband , who had even claimed that his wife kept on postponing the nuptial ceremony and had even asked him to undergo HIV test, which he underwent and was further asked to undergo other tests . He also insisted that his wife denied him co-habitation .

Interestingly, the wife had given complaints against the family members either on the day or the previous day of the engagement ceremonies of the younger brothers of her husband and forcing them to take anticipatory bail in 2009.

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BJP MP's son, five others arrested for assaulting teenage girl in Karnataka

BELLARY: The son of BJP MP Sanna Fakirappa and five of his supporters have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a teenage girl here claiming she was engaged in prostitution, police said.

The accused, including BJP MP's son, Muthu Sanna Fakirappa, were arrested on Wednesday night and sent to judicial custody till December 30, police said. The arrest came after an FIR was filed against them on the basis of the complaint by the girl's mother, they said.

The girl's mother alleged that Muthu and his supporters visited her house situated in Fort area when her daughter was all alone. "They barged into the house and started assaulting the girl, a college student, alleging she was engaged in prostitution," police said. Muthu and his supporters also thrashed a boy, who had dropped into the house for a book, police said.

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West Bank killings threaten peace talks: Palestinians

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinians on Thursday accused Israel of a "dangerous escalation" after the army killed two people in the West Bank, calling the violence a deliberate attempt to scupper peace talks.

"This dangerous Israeli escalation aims to thwart American and international efforts to move forward with the peace process, and leads the negotiations to a dead end," presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement published by the official WAFA news agency.

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Anna Hazare movement has opened new dimensions of democracy: President

NEW DELHI: A day after Parliament approved the landmark Lokpal Bill, President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said movements like that of Anna Hazare have opened new dimensions of democratic structure suggesting that they cannot be brushed aside.

In extempore remarks made during the annual endowment lecture of Intelligence Bureau, he referred to the conventional thought of democracy which meant periodical elections and review of performance of the government but that has changed now.

"Just 10 years ago nobody could think of the social activists, non-governmental organizations...they will not only demand that a particular piece of legislation is to be enacted to protect the interest of the people as they perceive but they insist that you have to adopt this model, this structure.

"We shall have to agree and if we cannot....keep it under carpet...These are the types of challenges which we are facing today," he said in an apparent reference to the adoption of the Lokpal bill for which a spirited campaign was mounted by Hazare in the last over two years.

Referring to Hazare's movement, Mukherjee said when it was at its height more than two years ago Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asked him to head Group of Minister to have negotiations with the anti-corruption campaigner.

He said he was even asked during a trip in Vietnam as to how he would respond to that movement.

Maintaining that he was responding as a student of politics, he said "it is opening new dimensions of our democratic structure which we shall have to address and what is that new dimension."

Earlier, he said, it was thought that democracy meant people would choose their elected representatives who will make legislations for them and administer for them. At the end of that stipulated period "we shall have an account from them how have we been successful or not".

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Javed Akthar, Mridula Garg chosen for Sahitya Akademi Awards

NEW DELHI: Bollywood lyricist-scriptwriter Javed Akhtar, Hindi novelist Mridula Garg and renowned Bengali poet Subodh Sarkar are among those selected for this year's Sahitya Akademi Award.

The Akademi said eight books of poetry, four essays, three novels, two short stories, two travelogues, an autobiography, a memoir and one play have been chosen for the coveted award.

"We couldn't announce the award in Assamese and Gujarati language due to some unavoidable reasons. We will announce those awards very soon," K Sreenivasarao, Secretary, Sahitya Akademi told reporters today.

Akhtar has been chosen for "Lava", his compilation of 55 Urdu poems.

The awards are recommended by distinguished jury members, representing 22 Indian languages and approved by the executive board of the Akademi, which met on Thursday under the chair of Sahitya Akademi president Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari.

The award, a literary honour conferred to writers for their outstanding works in the field of literature, is scheduled to be conferred here on March 11 during the annual Akademi's Festival of Letters.

"We are happy to say that this year we've been able to confer awards in each category ... from poetries, novels, essay collections to autobiography, play and travelogues," Sreenivasarao said.

Short story category award was bagged by Temsula Ao (English- Laburnum for my head), Mohi-ud-Din Reshi (Kashmiri- Aina Aatash).

CN Ramachandran (Kannada-Akyana-Vyakyana), Tukaram Rama Shet (Konkani- Manmotayam), Satish Kalasekar (Marathi-Vachanaryachi Rojanishee) and Katyani Vidmahe (Telugu-Sahityaakashmlo Sagam) bagged the award for their respective book of essays.

Makhonmani Mongsaba (Manipuri-Chinglon Amadagi Amada) and Man Bhadhur Pradhan (Nepali-Manka Lahar Ra Raharharu) have been chosen for their travelogues.

The bulk of the awards went to poets. Subodh Sarkar (Bengali-Dwaipayan Hrader Dhare), Anil Boro (Bodo-Delphini Onthai Mwdai Arw Gubun Gubun Khonthai) Sitaram Sapolia (Dogri-Doha Satsai), Ambika Dutt (Rajasthani-Aanthyoi Nahi Din Hal) Radhakant Thakur (Sanskri- Chaladuravani), Arjun Charan Hembram (Santhali- Chanda Bonga) and Namdev Tarachandani (Sindhi-Mansh-Nagari).

Mridula Garg (Hindi- Miljul Man), RN Joe D' Cruz (Tamil-Korkai) and Manmohan (Punjabi- Nirvaan) won it for novels.

Sureshwar Jha (Maithili- Sangharsh Aa Sehanta) won the award for memoir, M N Paloor (Malayalam- Kathayillathavante Katha) for autobiography and Bijoy Mishra (Odiya-Banaprastha) for a play.

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Senior police officer 'washes Lalu Prasad's feet', probe ordered into incident

RANCHI: Director general, Jharkhand police, Rajiv Kumar on Thursday ordered a probe into the act of Ramgarh subdivisional police officer (SDPO), Ashok Kumar reportedly washing the feet of fodder scam convict and RJD chief Lalu Prasad at a temple. The state police chief said that since a police officer is expected to maintain high degree of morality, especially while on duty, the allegations have to be verified for which Ramgarh SP has been directed to submit a report on the incident. Asked if an act of 'washing feet' could invite any punitive action against the officer; Kumar said that once report is submitted the police department would go into detail.

The SDPO who is in the rank of DSP, was deployed at Rajrappa temple when the former Bihar chief minister went to pay obeisance at the temple, on way to Patna from Birsa Munda Central jail after seeking bail from the apex court. While Kumar was captured by lensmen pouring water on Lalu's feet, another cop in uniform was seen carrying his slippers. The photographs published in media invited criticism for Jharkhand police prompting the DG to order probe.

Ramgarh SP Ranjit Kumar Prasad said that he had informally questioned the DSP but since a probe has been ordered a report would soon be submitted. "Once I receive a copy of the order from headquarters, the DSP would be questioned for preparing the report," he said.

Senior officials in the police department said that anyone donning a uniform is not expected to show any kind of inclination to any religion, caste, creed or individual. "The act of washing feet may not find an explanation in police code of conduct but obviously it can be considered unethical on part of the police officer who was on duty," the officer said.

The incident grabbed attention of the opposition in Jharkhand who raised the matter in assembly during the proceedings of winter session on Wednesday. Demanding explanation from the government, Pradeep Yadav of JVM and BJP leaders said that the act of the DSP exposed how the ruling coalition was using senior officers in administration.

The DSP reportedly explained to his seniors that since Lalu Prasad was known to his father he expressed gratitude to the 'elderly person' which had nothing to do with political inclination. The policeman carrying Lalu's slipper was not identified by Ramgarh police. He is expected to be one among Lalu's bodyguard from Bihar Police.

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BJP MP's son, five others arrested for assaulting teenage girl in Karnataka

BELLARY: The son of BJP MP Sanna Fakirappa and five of his supporters have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a teenage girl here claiming she was engaged in prostitution, police said.

The accused, including BJP MP's son, Muthu Sanna Fakirappa, were arrested on Wednesday night and sent to judicial custody till December 30, police said. The arrest came after an FIR was filed against them on the basis of the complaint by the girl's mother, they said.

The girl's mother alleged that Muthu and his supporters visited her house situated in Fort area when her daughter was all alone. "They barged into the house and started assaulting the girl, a college student, alleging she was engaged in prostitution," police said. Muthu and his supporters also thrashed a boy, who had dropped into the house for a book, police said.

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Andhra assembly adjourned without debate on Telangana bill

HYDERABAD: For the fourth consecutive day, no debate was possible on the Telangana bill in the Andhra Pradesh assembly, which will now meet again Jan 3 for the second leg of the winter session.

Speaker N. Manohar adjourned the assembly till Jan 3 amid uproar by the Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) lawmakers opposing the debate on the bill for the creation of a separate Telangana state.

The state assembly, which was adjourned a minute after meeting in the morning, reassembled after 1.30 p.m. As the Seemandhra legislators belonging to opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and YSR Congress continued shouting slogans, the speaker adjourned the house till next month.

The winter session, which began Dec 12, was to continue till Friday, but the speaker adjourned the house a day in advance.

The bill for the formation of a separate Telangana state was tabled in both houses Monday after it was sent by the president, seeking the opinion of legislators in Andhra Pradesh. The bill has to be returned to the president by Jan 23.

Seemandhra TDP members wanted the speaker to send back the bill to the president without debate, so that the state remains united, while their counterparts from the YSR Congress wanted the house to pass a resolution opposing the state's bifurcation.

On the other hand, Telangana legislators, irrespective of party affiliation, were urging the speaker to allow the debate on the bill.

The legislators from both Seemandhra and Telangana are planning to meet President Pranab Mukherjee, who is arriving here Thursday afternoon on the annual presidential southern sojourn.

The legislative council was also adjourned till Jan 3 amid ruckus over the bill. Speaking in the council, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy said there was clarity on how the debate should take place. He advised both the speaker and the council chairman to call a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC), if necessary, to set the procedure for the debate.

In his first comments in the legislature since tabling the bill, the chief minister said the issue is sensitive and such a bill was never discussed in both the houses.

"The debate should be within the framework of the Constitution, and its rules and traditions. It should be without provocation, and all members should be careful about the language they use. The sentiments of nobody should be hurt," the chief minister, who is also opposing the bifurcation of the state, said.

Kiran Reddy cited instances of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar assemblies, which discussed the bills for the formation of Uttarakhand and Jharkhand states, respectively, and suggested amendments.

TDP leader in the council Y. Ramakrishnudu took exception to the chief minister's statement, saying he should not direct the presiding officers on how to run the house and conduct the debate.

Amid the pandemonium, council chairman A. Chakrapani adjourned the house.

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Diplomatic row: Protest held at US consulate in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Left workers and others on Thursday held a protest at the US consulate in Hyderabad over the ill-treatment meted out to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York.

The protesters, under the banner of All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO), raised slogans against the US administration outside the consulate at Begumpet here.

They held placards accusing US of being racist. Police removed the protesters from the place.

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West Bank killings threaten peace talks: Palestinians

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinians on Thursday accused Israel of a "dangerous escalation" after the army killed two people in the West Bank, calling the violence a deliberate attempt to scupper peace talks.

"This dangerous Israeli escalation aims to thwart American and international efforts to move forward with the peace process, and leads the negotiations to a dead end," presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement published by the official WAFA news agency.

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Anna Hazare movement has opened new dimensions of democracy: President

NEW DELHI: A day after Parliament approved the landmark Lokpal Bill, President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said movements like that of Anna Hazare have opened new dimensions of democratic structure suggesting that they cannot be brushed aside.

In extempore remarks made during the annual endowment lecture of Intelligence Bureau, he referred to the conventional thought of democracy which meant periodical elections and review of performance of the government but that has changed now.

"Just 10 years ago nobody could think of the social activists, non-governmental organizations...they will not only demand that a particular piece of legislation is to be enacted to protect the interest of the people as they perceive but they insist that you have to adopt this model, this structure.

"We shall have to agree and if we cannot....keep it under carpet...These are the types of challenges which we are facing today," he said in an apparent reference to the adoption of the Lokpal bill for which a spirited campaign was mounted by Hazare in the last over two years.

Referring to Hazare's movement, Mukherjee said when it was at its height more than two years ago Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asked him to head Group of Minister to have negotiations with the anti-corruption campaigner.

He said he was even asked during a trip in Vietnam as to how he would respond to that movement.

Maintaining that he was responding as a student of politics, he said "it is opening new dimensions of our democratic structure which we shall have to address and what is that new dimension."

Earlier, he said, it was thought that democracy meant people would choose their elected representatives who will make legislations for them and administer for them. At the end of that stipulated period "we shall have an account from them how have we been successful or not".

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Singapore riot: Two Indians remanded in custody

SINGAPORE: Two Indians, charged for alleged rioting in Singapore, were on Wednesday remanded in custody for another week to assist the probe into the city-state's worst outbreak of violence in over 40 years.

Moorthy Kabildev, 24, and Sathiyamoorthy Sivaraman, 36, were first charged in court on December 11 for being part of an unlawful assembly at Little India, a precinct of Indian-origin businesses, eateries and pubs where most of the South Asian workers take their Sunday break.

Agreeing to the prosecution's request, District Judge Lim Tse Haw cited the scale and sheer amount of evidence involved in the case for his decision, but asked the police to "expedite investigations".

The case against them will be heard next Monday, along with 23 others who had first appeared in court on Tuesday, a report in the Straits Times said.

The Law Society said today it will assign defence counsel to 26 of the 28 workers charged in the Little India riot case.

The trouble on December 8 started after a private bus fatally knocked down an Indian pedestrian, 33-year-old Sakthivel Kuaravelu in Little India.

Some 400 migrant workers were involved in the rampage that left 39 police and civil defence staff injured and 25 vehicles - including 16 police cars - damaged.

Singapore previously witnessed violence of such scale during race riots in 1969.

The two men remanded into custody today were alleged to have used a wooden stick to smash the windscreen of the bus, as well as thrown a dustbin, hardened concrete, bottles and a metal drain cover at the bus windows.

A third Indian national, Rajendran Ranjan, 22, who was charged with similar offences, was one of seven who had their charges withdrawn yesterday.

A total of 28 individuals, all Indians, have been charged for their involvement as "active participants", another 52 Indians and a Bangladeshi, will be repatriated for being participants in the violence and about 200 will be issued formal advisories.

Earlier, 33 had been charged for their alleged role in the rioting but seven were acquitted yesterday and two others were arraigned bringing the number of those charged in the violence to 28.

The ban on alcohol consumption in public at Little India would continue every weekend, public holiday and eve of public holiday within the proclaimed area, police said today.

Police said these recalibrated measures would be in place for up to six months until the Committee of Inquiry (COI) makes its recommendations. The COI was set up after the riot.

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No militant entered India through Keran in Sep-Oct, Antony says

NEW DELHI: No militant could infiltrate into Kashmir valley through Keran sector in September and October during the fierce gunfight that had broken out between them and Army when they had tried to sneak into the state from Pakistani side, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

11 militants were killed in Keran sector this year and 28 in total were eliminated in various sectors of the state as Army foiled their infiltration attempts, defence minister A K Antony said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

Giving details of the number of infiltrating militants killed by Army in various sectors of the valley during the year, he said three of them were killed in Naugam, one in Gurez, four in Machhal and five in Tangdhar.

Three were killed in Bhimber Gali and one of them was killed in Poonch sector, both of which come under Jammu division, Antony said.

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Attacks across Iraq kill at least 11, including three Pakistani Shiite pilgrims

BAGHDAD: Iraqi officials say attacks across the country have killed 11 people, including three Pakistani Shiite pilgrims.

Police officials say the deadliest among Wednesday's attacks was in the town of Khalis, where a suicide bomber struck a group of Iraqi Shiite pilgrims, killing six and wounding 16. Khalis is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad.

Outside the city of Samarra, 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Pakistani Shiite pilgrims, killing three Pakistanis and wounding 12, along with two Iraqis- the group's driver and the translator.

At a checkpoint in the western city of Ramadi, a suicide car bomber killed two policemen and wounded five. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.

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RBI says time not ripe for lifting curbs on gold imports

The author has posted comments on this articlePTI | Dec 18, 2013, 07.37PM IST

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday said it is not the right time to take back measures it adopted to control rising current account deficit, but favoured removing curbs on gold imports.

"At this point, it will be premature to withdraw these restrictions for a variety of reasons," RBI governor Raghuram Rajan told analysts on a conference call after announcing the mid quarter review of the monetary policy wherein he left all key rates unchanged.

The RBI measures, the prime driver to narrow the current account deficit (CAD) to 1.8 per cent in the second quarter, will be withdrawn once the the deficit stabilises on its own, beyond the imposed gold restrictions, he said.

"Once we feel more comfortable with the current account deficit, once we have a sense that tapering, at least the threat of it, is behind us, we will certainly consider unwinding these distortionary actions," Rajan said.

"I would be much happier if we had the kind of CAD we have without significant curbs on anything, including gold. We should aim to have a CAD without any distortions, removing the incentives for smuggling, that is what we will be working for," he said earlier in the day.

CAD, which is the difference between the inflow and outflow of foreign currency, came down to 1.2 per cent in the September quarter, from 4.9 per cent in April-June period.

In the first half of this year, CAD stood at USD 26.9 billion (3.1 per cent of GDP), down from USD 37.9 billion (4.5 per cent of GDP) in the first six months of 2012-13.

The government and the RBI expect to contain CAD at USD 56 billion in 2013-14. In the previous fiscal, it had touched a record high of 4.8 per cent.

Ever since the release of official data pointing out to a reduction in CAD, there has been speculation that RBI and the Finance Ministry may withdraw the extraordinary steps, saying they were leading to smuggling of the precious metal.

The government had increased import duty on gold imports, considered a prime reason for soaring CAD, from 2 per cent in January 2011 to 10 per cent as of now.

RBI had imposed the 80:20 rule for bank funding of gold imports meant for exports, under which an importer to get bank funds should export 80 per cent back after value additions.

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IIT-Bombay students design user-friendly railway map

MUMBAI: Commuting by Mumbai locals can be a daunting experience for not just a first-time traveller but even for a regular commuter going to a newer destination. Two first-year students of Masters in Visual Communication programme of Industrial Design Centre (IDC), IIT-Bombay, Jaikishan Patel and Snehal Patil, have come up with an easy to understand and commuter-friendly colour-coded railway map for the travellers.

The map, designed by the students, includes connecting routes that link western, central, harbour and trans-harbour train stations. It also attempts to incorporate the route map of the metro line under construction and Nerul-Uran railway link. Speaking about the special features of this railway map, Patil said, "Our map introduces a quick navigation system, which lets the user locate his stations within seconds using the box grid. We have introduced grid system in a different way. The newly designed map also includes the shuttle express way which runs from Vasai to Roha."

The pleasant and visually appealing map is also designed to cater to the colour blind population. "According to statistics, approximately 13,956 people from different regions in India, suffer from colour-blindness. We have tested the map for the same and made changes accordingly," added Patel.

Designing this map had its own share of bottlenecks. Developing a navigation system was a challenge in itself and the other one was to keep it small and portable, (i.e. to accommodate all the lines in a small size of A5 and ensure it was still legible). According to Professor Mandar Rane, associate professor, visual communication, IDC, who acted as a guide to these students, "If the maps are not installed on the stations and people are not using them then it's not worth the effort. This map is useful and the students have designed it very well. The day we launched it through Facebook, it generated a great response."

Students have also come-up with an A4 size of the map which can be folded into a 5cm x 7cm leaflet and can be easily carried in a wallet. The map is currently available in English, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati version. The maps can be downloaded from the link http://mrane.com/railmap.php

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India, Pakistan DGMOs to meet on Dec 24 to discuss LoC violations

NEW DELHI: The director-generals of military operations of India and Pakistan will finally meet on December 24 in a bid to work out a protocol to defuse tensions and uphold the ceasefire along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

Officials on Tuesday said the Indian DGMO Vinod Bhatia had accepted the offer of his Pakistani counterpart major-general Amir Riaz over the hotline to hold the meeting on the Pakistani side of the Wagah border in Punjab on December 24.

The DGMOs will discuss measures to "strengthen" the ceasefire that came into force along the 198-km International Border (IB) in J&K, the 778-km Line of Control (LoC) and the 110-km Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) in the Siachen-Saltoro Ridge on November 26, 2003, as a major CBM between India and Pakistan.

The ceasefire, which by and large held in the earlier years, was virtually blown to smithereens over the last several months, with the two armies exchanging fire almost on a daily basis. Though matters have cooled down now, India has recorded as many as 195 ceasefire violations this year along the LoC, with another 50 violations along the IB.

The decision to hold the DGMO-level meeting was taken during the talks between Manmohan Singh and Nawaz Sharif in New York in September, when the hostilities were at their peak along the LoC.

But India was cold to Pakistan's move to include civilian diplomats in the DGMO-level dialogue mechanism, holding that such a process was best left to the two militaries without turning it into a diplomatic one.With Pakistan now agreeing to the Indian condition, the two DGMOs will meet on December 24.

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Chinese man's severed arm saved after attaching it to its ankle

BEIJING: Doctors in China kept a man's severed hand alive for a month by attaching it to his leg, before restoring it to its usual position, a report said Tuesday.

The 25-year-old, identified by his nickname Xiao Wei, had his right hand sawn off by a drilling machine at work last month in Changde, in the central province of Hunan, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald said.

The damage was too severe to re-attach the hand immediately, so surgeons in the provincial capital Changsha grafted it onto his lower leg, just above his Achilles tendon, to keep it alive while the healing process began.

Severed limbs can be saved if their blood supply is restored within several hours of their amputation, depending on the circumstances.

Earlier this month, doctors removed the hand and successfully reattached it to Xiao Wei's arm in a nine-hour operation, said the newspaper.

He will have to go through several further operations and rehabilitation therapy to restore the limb's function, it added.

"It's just like building a house," the paper quoted Tang Juyu, Xiao Wei's primary doctor, as saying. "Currently the main body is established. There will have to be interior decorations in the future."

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Muzaffarnagar riots: Bail pleas of two accused rejected

MUZAFFARNAGAR: A local court rejected the bail pleas of two men accused of being involved in the murder of four persons during riots in Lank village in Muzaffarnagar.

Bail pleas of Rupender and Mahak Singh were rejected on Monday by the district sessions court judge Rama Jain, who said that there was no case of bail here.

According to the prosecution, Meherdin, Rahis, Tahir and Wahid were killed in the riots on September 8, 2013. Wahid was burnt alive, they said.

Police had registered two cases in connection with Meherdin's killing while one case for the murder of Rahisa Tahir and Wahid.

More than 60 persons were killed and over 40,000 displaced in communal violence that had broken out in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas in September this year.

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Over 250 ex-militants from JK waiting in Nepal to come India

NEW DELHI: Over 250 former militants from Jammu and Kashmir are waiting to enter India from Nepal after security agencies prepared new procedures for crossing the border against the backdrop of a controversy over the arrest of a suspected militant on the frontier.

Sources said close to 200 people, including militants and their families, have already crossed over to India in the last few months through official check posts of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), which guards the 1,751-km border.

The force has also deputed specially chosen personnel, hailing from the state and conversant with the Kashmiri language, to man these locations where the ex-militants reach for crossing over to the Indian soil.

The issue came to the light after the row over the arrest of Syed Liyaqat Shah by the Delhi Police on suspicion of being a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist while Jammu and Kashmir Police claimed he was on his way to surrender in March this year.

The Union home ministry had sometime back institutionalized procedures to be followed for using the Nepal route for surrendering of Kashmiri youths who had crossed over to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir in 1990s.

"The Jammu and Kashmir government (state CID) has validated a list of such people and shared it with the Union government (Home Ministry). The SSB, by virtue of guarding that border, is the nodal authority to receive such people coming from Nepal to JK police," a senior official said.

SSB chief Arun Chaudhary, during an interaction with journalists before the 50th Raising Day celebrations of the force, refused to give details about the procedures adopted on this open border in this regard.

"I can just say that this is a friendly border but we have seen in the last few years that some elements have started exploiting the frontier to carry out their nefarious designs in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. We are always alert," the SSB Director General (DG) said.

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Bihar CM Nitish Kumar supports Communal Violence Bill

PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday supported the Communal Violence Bill, but insisted on a political dialogue with states before finalising it if the Congress-led UPA was serious about the matter and not bringing it on the eve of elections to derive political benefits.

"Its a welcome step which was desired for long," Kumar told reporters emerging from a meeting of the cabinet in Patna.

His former NDA partner BJP has opposed the bill with its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi describing it as "recipe for disaster."

Kumar, who is the driving force of the JD(U), insisted on political dialogue with the states before giving it shape of a law.

"Consultation at executive level conducted by the Union Home Secretary with states is not sufficient. There should be political dialogue with the states before finalising the legislation if the Congress-led UPA is serious on the issue and not bringing it for discussion on the eve of the 2014 elections to derive political benefits," he said.

The Bihar chief minister said there were talks for such a legislation for several years and many drafts were made, but nothing concrete happened.

"Now that the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Accessto Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2013, has been cleared by the Union Cabinet for introduction in the Parliament, its a desired step," he said.

Kumar said his party thinks if some state fails to stop communal violence, the Centre should declare it as a "disturbed area" and intervene directly. Besides, the victims should be given adequate compensation.

Highlighting the seriousness of his government towards riots victims, he said after coming to power in 2005, a commission was set up in 2006 on the 1990 communal violence in Bhagalpur.

Many cases were reopened and chargesheet submitted in the courts to nail the culprits, he said.

For victims of Bhagalpur riots, the Bihar government doubled the life long pension to Rs 5000 a month recently, Kumar added.

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Justice AK Ganguly should resign as West Bengal Human Rights Commission chief: Arun Jaitley

NEW DELHI: In the wake of fresh revelations in the sexual harassment case against Justice AK Ganguly, BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Monday said that since these are not "untested allegations", he should resign as chief of the WBHRC to protect the dignity of the office.

In his latest Facebook post, the leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha said that had the charges against the former Supreme Court judge been untested allegations, he could have taken a stand that the law will take its own course and he would quit only if found guilty.

Jaitley said according to media reports, a three-judge inquiry committee constituted by the Chief Justice of India had found prima facie substance in the intern's complaint against Justice (retired) Ganguly.

"There is reason to believe on the basis of the report of the three judges that an offence could have been committed. Since this involves a former judge of the Supreme Court, who is presently the Chairperson of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, a person in a high position, Justice Ganguly, like Caesar's wife, must be above suspicion," he said.

Jaitley maintained that since Justice Ganguly was suspected of committing an "unacceptable offence," his insistence on continuing in office raised some questions.

"Firstly, if it were a case of a prominent politician rather than a former judge, would the judicial institutions have completely washed their hands of or would they have monitored the investigations?" he said.

Since a former judge of the apex court is involved, the standards of judicial scrutiny should be higher than normal, Jaitley said.

He also asked how Justice Ganguly could discharge his duties as WBHRC chairman in the wake of such allegations.

Jaitley suggested that it would be "fair and proper" if Justice Ganguly contests the allegations as an ordinary citizen rather than a high functionary.

"If he were to relinquish his office, he would only be protecting the dignity of the office that he occupies. His decision to cling on to his office only establishes that even judges, like most in political positions, continue to stick to their office till the intensity of public opinion forces them out," Jaitley said.

Excerpts of an affidavit by the law intern, who has accused Ganguly of sexual harassment, have been made public by additional solicitor general Indira Jaising. Justice Ganguly has denied the charge.

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With 2014 in mind, Centre makes major changes in MNREGA

NEW DELHI: Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the Centre tried to reach out to rural masses on Monday by making major changes in its flagship programme MNREGA which include Rs 10,000 for constructing toilets for all job cardholders and assistance for buildings for women self-help federations.

In a bid to address the issue of delay in distributing wage payment to MNREGA workers, the UPA government also announced compensation for them if it is delayed beyond 15 days and the amount would be deducted from officials responsible for it.

"Every (MNREGA) job cardholder will be entitled to build an individual toilet and the MNREGA contribution goes up from the current Rs 4,500 to Rs 10,000," rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said announcing changes in Schedule I and Schedule II of the Centre's ambitious rural job scheme.

Ramesh, who also held the sanitation portfolio for a brief period, said that with this decision, the government was universalizing the toilet construction programme in the country where 60 per cent of its people still defecate in the open.

"Anybody who has a job card, you may be APL ... and if you don't have a toilet at your home, you will get Rs 10000 under MNRGA for constructing toilet ... What we are doing is we are expanding the universe of people who can build toilets," the minister said.

He announced contribution from MNREGA for building houses for the poor in convergence with Indira Awas Yojana or any other state rural housing scheme, buildings for women self help federations operating in village or block levels, community storage facilities at gram panchayat or women SHG levels for agriculture produce and centres for manufacturing building materials like bricks in gram panchayats.

On the issue of delayed MNREGA payment, Ramesh said, "If wages are delayed beyond 15 days, a compensation at 0.05 per cent of wage per day of delay will be paid and the same will be duly deducted from the salary of the responsible personnel." The minister also said that the payment should not be on "attendance" but on measurement of work.

"I am sorry to say in many states payment is being given on attendance," he said.

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Las Vegas developer selling $7.85 million mansion, will accept payment in bitcoin

LAS VEGAS: A casino owner-turned-commercial developer is asking $7.85 million to sell a Las Vegas home, and he's willing to accept the online currency bitcoin for the deal.

Jack Sommer said he got the idea to seek bitcoin for his 25,000-square-foot (2,300-square meter) mansion from two of his sons, who've been involved in making and trading the currency.

"The advantage is that we're expanding our market and adding some notoriety," Sommer said.

Bitcoin peer-to-peer trading began in 2009. Value is purchased through an exchange website with a mainstream paper currency, such as dollars or euros, though trading isn't government-regulated.

Using the currency can streamline international business deals, said Julian Tosh, a consultant and owner of the marketplace website bitcoinsinvegas.com.

"There are a bunch of people who have bitcoins, and they're dying for a place to spend it," Tosh told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

He said Sommer's willingness to accept bitcoin could open the home to a global audience.

"If you increase awareness of potential buyers, you could tap into new markets," Tosh said.

Sommer has put a lot of work into the home in the posh Spanish Trail Country Club. It features marble from China, Iceland and Brazil, a full basement, staff quarters with Jacuzzis, and a secret garden. It also has 39 air conditioning zones fed from a 120-ton cooling tower.

Library shelves are stainless steel clad in American cherry wood, and the view from the owner's suite is of golf course fairways.

Sommer once owned the Aladdin resort, which is now the Planet Hollywood Resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

He said he and his wife, Laura, were downsizing now that their seven children have grown and moved out.

Sommer's sales agent, Craig Tann, of Prudential American Group's Estates of Las Vegas team, said the home may be the first in southern Nevada to be marketed formally around bitcoin.

A range of businesses accept the currency. A California Lamborghini dealership sold a $103,000 Tesla to a Florida man for 91.4 bitcoin, the Review-Journal reported, and a Canadian man listed his Alberta home for the bitcoin equivalent of $405,000.

The currency hit a watermark when Bank of America Merrill Lynch said this month that one bitcoin could have a maximum value of $1,300, or more than the price of an ounce of gold.

A bitcoin on Friday was valued at about $870, up from $10 in January.

Tosh acknowledged the volatility in value could make a $7.85 million bitcoin trade risky.

"Locking in a price for such a large transaction is going to be kind of difficult," he said. "If the value is changing 30 per cent a day, how do you quantify that in a contract and expect each side to hold on for 30 to 90 days while escrow clears?"

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Govt reduces minimum export price of onion

The author has posted comments on this articleDipak Kumar Dash, TNN | Dec 16, 2013, 07.29PM IST

NEW DELHI: The government reduced minimum export price of onion by $350 a tonne to push exports.

The price was revised on Monday — at $800 per tonne amid reports of crashing onion prices at major mandis.

Though it is expected to bring some relief experts doubt whether it will be of great help considering the prevailing global prices.

They said fixing the price at $600 could have helped exporters to get buyers.

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No evidence against Salman in black buck poaching case: Counsel

JODHPUR: Salman Khan's counsel today on Monday said there were no direct evidence against the actor that he carried arms with expired license during the alleged Blackbuck poaching at the nearby Kankani village in 1998.

Salman's counsel Hastimal Saraswat today claimed at the ACJM (Jodhpur District) court that the case against the actor is nothing but a sheaf of untruth, which has miserably failed to count some very important facts.

"During the arguments, the officer could not give any satisfactory and conclusive replies to some very important questions I had raised," Saraswat said.

It may be recalled that a separate case had been registered against Salman by the forest department on October 15, 1998 under the Arms Act mentioning that the licences of the arms in the actor's possession during the alleged blackbuck poaching had expired and hence he had been using them illegally.

"Upon this complaint, the Luni police had registered a case against the actor under sections 3/25 and 27 of Arms Act," Saraswat said.

Meanwhile, magistrate Chandra Kala Jain deferred the trial of the final witness of prosecution in the Arms Act against Salman in the case till January 15.

The then Additional SP and Investigating Officer Ashok Patni, who is the final witness among 16 others, appeared at the trial began today at the ACJM (Jodhpur District) court.

The trial resumed in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (Jodhpur District) on May 25 this year, seven years after the Rajasthan High Court rejected the revision petition, filed by the state government in 2006.

Besides Salman, actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam were accused of poaching two Blackbucks in the intervening night of October 1 and 2, 1998 in Kankani village near Jodhpur during the shooting of the film 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'.

It may be recalled that the High Court had revised the charges against the actors in December 2012. In the fresh charges, Salman was charged with Section 9/51 of the Wildlife Protection Act and others including a local accused Dushyant Singh with sections 9/51, 9//52 of the same Act and section 149 of IPC.

Blackbuck is a protected animal and hunting or poaching of the same is a punishable offence under law.

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8 killed in roadside bombings in Afghanistan

KABUL: Roadside bombs killed eight people, including four civilians, in two separate incidents Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, officials said.

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for eastern Nangarhar province, said four policemen were killed and seven wounded when their pickup truck ran over a bomb in in the Agam district. He said the dead included the district's police chief.

He said that in an earlier incident, a suicide bomber attacked an intelligence service office near the border with Pakistan, shooting and wounding a guard before detonating his explosives. He added that two intelligence service officials were wounded and the building was damaged by the blast.

The interior ministry said in a statement that four civilians were killed when their car drove over another bomb in the Shegal district of Kunar province. It said the attack wounded one person.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Taliban frequently use roadside bombs and suicide attacks against Afghan and Nato forces and government offices in the country.

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Gaza's sole power station begins working again: Company

GAZA CITY: Palestinian Territo Gaza's lone power station rumbled to life on Sunday for the first time in more than seven weeks after receiving a long-awaited delivery of diesel, the electricity company said.

"The power station started reworking gradually after stopping for 50 days," spokesman Jamal Dirsawi told AFP.

The plant, which supplies some 30 per cent of the coastal enclave's electricity needs, fell silent on November 1 as the stocks of diesel to power it ran out.

"The first generator has started working, the second one will follow, and by this evening, the company should be able to generate around 60 megawatts of electricity," he said.

"This will give the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company (GEDCO) an opportunity to provide more hours of electricity to citizens."

The power station began operating after receiving a delivery of long-awaited fuel earlier in the day that had been purchased from Israel by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority using funds donated by Qatar.

Raed Fatuh, the PA official in charge of transferring goods into Gaza, said 450,000 litres of fuel were being supplied to the plant on Sunday.

The PA is involved in helping coordinate the transfer of goods into Gaza via Israel, which Hamas does not recognize.

Gaza's Hamas rulers have blamed the fuel outage on Egypt's destruction of cross-border tunnels which had been used for bringing fuel into the blockaded Strip.

They have also accused the Palestinian Authority of charging too much for fuel.

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Awaiting Congress, BJP's stand on our 18 points: AAP

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said he would wait for a response from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to the 18 points he raised before deciding on whether his party could form the government in Delhi.

"We are waiting for their (Congress and BJP) reply on 18 issues. Let the reply come, we will decide after that," Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) founder leader Kejriwal told reporters.

He said his party wanted to have a consensus on all the 18 issues with the Congress and the BJP, and would think of a process for forming government only after that.

The AAP on Saturday sought 10 days' time from Delhi L. Governor Najeeb Jung to decide on government formation, and asked the two parties to clear their stand on 18 issues it listed in letters to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and BJP chief Rajnath Singh.

The points include: Regularization of unauthorised colonies, pukka (concrete) houses for slum dwellers, 500 new schools, regular jobs for those working on contract basis with the Delhi government, full statehood for Delhi and control over Delhi Development Authority and Delhi Police by the state government and not the centre, and provision for people to make decisions at "mohalla sabhas" or neighbourhood gatherings.

Kejriwal met Lt governor Jung after the Bharatiya Janata Party, which netted 32 seats in the 70-member assembly, including one seat by its ally Akali Dal, Thursday conveyed it was not in a position to form the government.

The results of the Delhi assembly polls were announced Dec 8. The one-year-old AAP emerged the second-largest party, winning 28 seats.

The Congress, which won only eight seats, has offered the AAP unconditional support. In his letter to Jung, however, Kejriwal maintained that "no support is 'unconditional' in politics".

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Gunmen kill female TV presenter in Iraq: Al-Mosuliyah TV station

MOSUL, Iraq: Gunmen shot dead Al-Mosuliyah TV presenter Nawras al-Nuaimi in northern Iraq on Sunday, the station and police said, the latest in a series of journalists killed in the country.

Nuaimi was killed near her home in the city of Mosul, Al-Mosuliyah said. She was the fourth journalist to be killed in the northern city since October.

The mostly-Sunni Arab city is one of the most dangerous areas in Iraq, with militants frequently carrying out attacks and also reportedly extorting money from shopkeepers.

Iraq has come in for repeated criticism over shortcomings in media freedom, and ranks first in the Committee to Protect Journalists' Impunity Index, which tracks unsolved murders of journalists.

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DRDO parachute to drop heavy combat vehicles from IL-76

NEW DELHI: Enhancing the Army Special Forces' capabilities to airdrop combat vehicles and heavy equipment, DRDO has developed a a heavy system which can drop loads up to 16 tonnes from the IL-76 transport aircraft using parachutes.

"A 16-ton capacity heavy drop system (HDS) consisting of a platform and a highly advanced system of parachutes to drop loads consisting of military stores such as vehicles (including BMP class), supplies and ammunition from IL-76 heavy lift aircraft has been designed and developed and demonstrated," DRDO spokesperson Ravi Gupta said in a release.

Three prototypes of the system developed by an Agra-based DRDO lab have been realised and two successful drops meeting the performance parameters have been demonstrated, they said.

On the development, DRDO chief Avinash Chander said, "The system offered 'drop and drive' capability and once inducted, the system, a force multiplier, will considerably enhance the capabilities of armed forces."

P-7 heavy drop system (P-7 HDS), paradropped as composite unit termed as 'Load', has been developed for paradropping military stores/equipment such as military vehicles and ammunition trolleys from IL-76 aircraft and comprises two main sub-systems namely Platform sub-system and Parachute Sub-system.

The platform has a set of removable wheels which provides transportability for load to be taken to the airfield by means of towing it behind a suitable vehicle once the load is prepared at the distantly located unit.

These parachutes reduce the descent rate to desired speed at touchdown.

On impact with ground, parachutes are released by automatic disengage unit (ADU) to avoid dragging and toppling of load due to high speed winds.

The design features built in the system ensure aircraft safety during the separation of such a large body in a foolproof manner as well as smooth deployment of parachutes and landing of load at pre-designated target point.

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