India Bans Pak Channels in Kashmir

Srinagar, Sep 16 : After banning news and current affairs programmes on local cable TV channels, authorities here on Wednesday directed cable operators in Kashmir Valley to take off air all unregistered channels including those from Pakistan.

The order to implement the directive strictly comes close on the heels of the government banning Iran-based private news channel -- Press TV -- after it aired a report about alleged desecration of a holy book in the United States, that led to violent protests leaving 18 dead.

The District Administration said it was only going by the law of the land and the orders of taking off the channels was passed in 2008.

"The order of banning all unregistered channels has been passed in 2008. We have only implemented it," District Magistrate Srinagar Meraj Ahmad Kakroo said.

A representative of the Cable Operators Association said they received directions from the state administration asking them to take off air Pakistani news and entertainment channels.

"We have also been told to stop airing religious channels, irrespective of the faith," President of the association Mohammad Amjad said.

He said the cable operators have abided by the directions of the administration and so far 19 channels have been taken off air.

Amjad also claimed that the optic fibre cable of the operators and power supply to the transmitters were being snapped off. "We fail to understand who is playing mischief by cutting the cables as a strict curfew is in place in Kashmir," he said.

Kakroo said no channel would be allowed to be aired which is not registered with the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry as required by the law.

"It is not only about Pakistani channels ... any channel not registered with the concerned authorities will not be allowed to be aired," he said.

The state government had on Monday asked the operators to stop airing news and current affairs programmes on local cable channels, which had been curtailed to 15 minutes per day after the present unrest began on June 11.

Meanwhile, newspapers in Kashmir failed to hit the stands for the second consecutive day today due to curfew as the movement of the local scribes and technical staff of the dailies was restricted.

Source: Indian Express

Get Rid of illegal Shrines: SC to States

By Bhadra Sinha

New Delhi, Sep 15 : Taking exception to states’ dilly-dallying on the removal of illegal religious structures, the Supreme Court threatened to summon the respective chief secretaries if they failed to comply with directions to remove or relocate places of worship built on public land.

On Tuesday, a bench gave two weeks to the states to file their response, the third instance the SC is giving time to states to comply with its directions.

According to affidavits filed by various states, Tamil Nadu has the highest number of unauthorized places of worship (77,450). Delhi has the least, 52.

The bench lauded Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland and Mizoram for being “civilized” as there are no unauthorized structures there.

The court is hearing the Centre’s appeal against a 2006 Gujarat HC order for removal of unauthorized structures.

On September 27, 2009, the SC had ordered there should be no unauthorized religious structures on roads, pavements or other public places, as they were inconvenience to people.

In its order, the apex court had put the onus on chief secretaries’ to ensure no further construction took place. The court said the states should deal with existing structures on individual basis after hearing the parties concerned.

From the affidavits, it transpired none of the States have taken effective methods to abide by the Supreme Court order.

Huge numbers

77,450 - Tamil Nadu
58,253 - Rajasthan
51,624 - Madhya Pradesh
45,000 - Uttar Pradesh
17,385 - Maharashtra
15,000 - Gujarat
52 -        Delhi

Indian Dhruv Copter Gets Italian Makeover

New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) has been widely regarded as a triumph of indigenous military rotorcraft design and manufacturing.

Scores of Dhruvs already flying in army colours will be joined by another 159, which the military ordered last year from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). And, Ecuador's air force chose the Dhruv ALH in an international tender in 2008 for seven helicopters.

But now it emerges that the Dhruv is struggling with a serious problem. The army, which was to be supplied 20 Dhruvs last year, refused to accept any until HAL fixed a problem that was restricting the Dhruv's cruising speed to 250 kilometers per hour, significantly short of the 270 kmph that HAL specifications promise. Unable to find a cure, HAL has brought in a consultant: Italian aerospace propulsion major, Avio.

India's military sets high store by the Dhruv's engine power; the helicopter must operate from tiny landing grounds at 6,500 meters (about 21,000 feet), which is the altitude of Sonam Post, India's highest helipad on the Siachen Glacier.

But even after paying French engine-maker, Turbomeca, Rs 1,000 crore to design the Shakti engine -- - a superb performer at high altitudes -- - the Dhruv's Integrated Dynamic System, or IDS, which transfers power from the Shakti engines to the helicopter rotors, is not performing optimally. That, say HAL engineers, has reduced speed, high-altitude capability, and the life of the IDS.

The Italian consultants will now scrutinise the Dhruv's IDS to diagnose the problem. Avio will start by building a single HAL-designed IDS in Avio's facilities in Italy, using their own materials and tools.

They will then test-run this for 400-500 hours; if it works perfectly, it would be evident that the flaw lies in HAL's manufacturing, rather than the IDS design. On the other hand, if the Avio-built IDS performs poorly during the test run, there is clearly a design problem. Avio will then redesign the IDS.

A senior HAL official explained to Business Standard: "Avio will review the whole design, on a purely consultancy basis. They will give us a redesign... that will be the first phase. We will have to translate that new design into an engineered product. And, after that, we'll have to do the ground testing and the flight-testing. It will be a long-drawn affair."

Avio, Business Standard has learned, was HAL's second choice. But the first choice consultant, an American company, had so much work on its plate that it had to turn HAL away.

Meanwhile, India's army and air force -- strapped for helicopters -- have no choice but to accept and fly Dhruvs, even though they are performing below par and metal keeps chipping off inside the IDS. HAL has itself implemented six changes inside the IDS and 30 helicopters have been flying with these changes for some 400 hours. So far, there has been no major problem.

"This is not dangerous for the pilots", says a senior HAL official. "Heavy chipping of metal would warn us about an impending failure of the IDS. There is a monitoring system inside the IDS, which checks for the presence of tiny metal chips in the oil. There is no danger of sudden, catastrophic failure in flight."

Top officials in the Ministry of Defence have conveyed strong displeasure to HAL over what they consider a "sloppy" work culture. Talking to Business Standard on condition of anonimity, a MoD official points out, "The Avio consultancy will place HAL's work culture under serious scrutiny.

To identify the fault in the Dhruv's IDS, Avio has insisted on auditing HAL's facilities and practices. This will amount to a full external audit, which will highlight systemic and procedural problems that HAL would never have identified on its own."

But the MoD also accepts that the aerospace establishment, hungry for success, developed the Dhruv in haste and introduced it into operational service without adequate testing.

Illustrating this point, the MoD official says: "The IAF asked for about 75 design changes while HAL was developing the Dhruv. This prevented a coherent and systematic design process. And, thereafter, HAL was too eager to introduce the Dhruv into service. It has now emerged that it was unwise of HAL, and of the IAF, to operationalise the Dhruv before the design was fully stabilised."

This year, the army and the IAF will introduce 31 new HAL-built Dhruv Mark 3 helicopters into service. These are part of an order placed on HAL last year for 159 Dhruv helicopters to be supplied by 2015.

Of these, 83 are utility helicopters called Dhruv Mark 3, used for transporting people. The other 76 are Mark 4 helicopters, which will be fitted with cannons, rockets, missiles and electronic warfare equipment. These are called Dhruv (Weapon Systems Integrated), or Dhruv (WSI).

Source: Business Standard

What God Did Not Do, Delhi TV Crew Did

New Delhi, Sep 11 : "Did you pray to the God here at this temple in the morning to spare you from the Yamuna floods?" thundered the Zee TV reporter, half-submerged in the Pracheen Shiv Mandir complex on the banks of the river in East Delhi.

A TV reporter stands in the Yamuna as people look on from the Old Bridge in Delhi.

Deftly balancing a rainbow umbrella and his camera, the cameraman walked down the steps of the temple to where the reporter was standing, his trousers rolled up to the knees.

The target of the reporter's question was the hapless young priest, Bharat Bhushan, who fumbled and stammered before nodding what looked like a half-yes and a half-no.

But the reporter didn't need an answer, he had one already. "What can God do? The God has drowned," he declared, looking straight into the camera.

The camera moved to the deity who sat in her place with a stone smile on her lips, muddy-brown waterlapping against her feet.

This was just one of the over 20 TV teams that had found perches for themselves and their OB vans along the banks of the Yamuna waiting to record the "catastrophe of sorts", the "10,766-crore-litre deluge", the "moment when cars will start swimming and the city will start drowning".

A young boy splashes water directing it towards passengers of a bus as monsoon rains cause waterlogging on a road of New Delhi. AP

Happy children, with more than enough water to splash around and bathe in, shouted, "Aaj ki Taaza Khabar."

They had all started work early in the morning, primed by some newspaper headlines that the end was near, that it would come around 4 pm.

That the water could cross the 207-m mark, as it did in 1978.

After around 6 lakh cusecs were released into the Yamuna from the Hathni Kund Barrage in Haryana on Wednesday, the river rose to reach 206.03 m by Friday evening -- 1.2 m above the danger mark.

By Saturday morning, it is expected to rise to 206.35 m, and maybe even reach the Ring Road. But the Central Water Commission said it wasn't going to breach the 207-m mark.

A flood-affected resident carries a child as as he wades through floodwater in a slum near the river Yamuna in New Delhi. AP

But those were only facts that came in the way of Friday's lovely TV story.

At 4.03 pm, the deluge didn't come. The reporters looked confused. A reporter from India Live stood valiantly, waist-deep in the river, doing her flood piece.

That was the lowest vantage point. As she stood under the bridge, telling the world that Delhi was about to drown, Pawan Mishra, a slightly puzzled bystander, made an obvious point. "But this is where the Yamuna flows. It is the river's space. Why are they all making it seem as if the river has expanded?" Mishra said.

But Mishra confessed to having played his own part in the tamasha. Somewhat guiltily, he said he had succumbed to the invitation of a young reporter who, speaking in Punjabi, had urged him to roll up his trousers and get into the water. He had done so, but the river had only lapped his ankles.

She had egged him to go farther. But from where they were standing, the river had looked menacing to Mishra. He had chickened out.

Later, he was looking for her.

Commuters travel as it rains heavily in New Delhi. AP

"They are like butterflies," Mishra said. "They skip from one spot to another, stand on the bridge, go down to the river, they do all sorts of things," he said. "I have been watching them for a while. One of them asked me to ask for flood relief on camera. But I don't even live here. I only came to watch the 4 pm deluge." One cameraman said his channel had given him specific instructions to show the water as if it was a threat.

"Of course this is a flood," he said, pointing to a few jhuggis that had been submerged.

"We do what we are asked to do. We will be here late into the night. Yo u never know when the floods will come." In 1978, the river had crossed 207.48 m, affecting over 250,000 people.

But on Friday, when no deluge came, the reporters began to take U-turns. One channel said there was a "Brake on the floods"; one reporter, a cloud over his face, said there was "no hope of floods". His anchor had a ready explanation: a crack in a dam in Panipat was the reason why the flood had got delayed.

A resident wades through rising flood waters as he retrieves his belongings from his room at a Hindu temple on the banks of the River Yamuna, seen through alley right, in New Delhi.

At Boat Club near ISBT, TV crew had hired rickety boats to do their "piece-to-camera" or "walk-through".
Around 74 boats and 68 divers were kept in the standby mode by the Delhi government but at the Boat Club most boatmen made a killing by renting out the boats to TV crew.

A member of a television crew stationed near the Yamuna said the boats could be used for rescue operations with the cameras in them.

The media was doing public service, he said.

In a far corner, Doordarshan reporter Anuj Yadav stood with his team. "We are reporting the truth. There are no floods here. The other media are reporting Delhi will be flooded in 24 hours. This is creating a crisis," he said. "This is Peepli [Live]."

A few steps away from this moral high ground, a young TV reporter climbed on to the roof of a house, adjusted her hair and began to speak. She was out of earshot.

Source: The Indian Express

India to Extend Crackdown On Online Communication Companies

By Anjana Pasricha

New Delhi, Sep 4 : India says it will extend its electronic security crackdown on Blackberry cellular phones to include all online communication companies like Google and Skype. Security concerns have prompted India to demand access to encrypted data transmitted online.   

The first target of India's demand for access to encrypted data was Research in Motion, the Canadian company that makes the Blackberry cellular phone.

Although the government did not carry out a threat to block Blackberry messaging services by August 31st, it has said that its concerns must be addressed within two months.   

Customers stand at a mobile phone shop displaying Nokia advertisements in Allahabad, India, 02 Sep 2010

India Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Wednesday negotiations are continuing with Research in Motion, or RIM, for access to data transmitted by the Blackberry.  

"RIM has agreed to provide access to some of the communications that are transmitted through the RIM systems, and these have been operationalized with effect from September 1 2010. Discussions on technical solutions for further access are continuing, and the matter will be reviewed within 60 days," said Chidambaram.

Officials say it not just Blackberry's makers who will have to give the government access to their user content, but also other communication services like Google, Skype, MSN Hotmail and Nokia.    

"All people who operate communication services in India should have a server in India, as well as make available access to law enforcement agencies whatever communication passes through the telecommunication network in India and that has been made clear not only to Research and Motion or Blackberry, but also to other companies," said G.K.  Pillai, India's home secretary.  

Placing a server in India allows the government easier access to user content.

India's demands were raised following concerns that terrorist organizations use internet and mobile phone services that security agencies cannot intercept. Security analysts say the terrorists involved in the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai had used mobile and satellite phones to coordinate the raids.

India has been the victim of frequent terror attacks. It is also battling insurgent groups in Kashmir and in the northeast.

India is one of the world's fastest growing telecommunications markets. Blackberry has more than one million users in the country.

Indian Govt After Scientists Who Worked on Superbug

New Delhi: The government’s licensing authority for medical drugs has served notices on the Indian scientists involved in the ‘superbug’ study published last month, asking them to explain how they collected samples for the research and transported them abroad.

The Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal published the study on a new 'superbug' identified in several patients who had travelled to India for medical treatment, and said there were virtually no drugs to treat it. An international team of researchers, including eight scientists working in Indian institutions, isolated a gene called 'New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase', or NDM-1, which they said makes bacteria resistant to even the most powerful class of antibiotics called 'carbapenems'.

The study was trashed by the Indian government and members of Parliament, who took offence to the name 'New Delhi', and suggested the study was an attempt by vested interests to hurt medical tourism in India.

Now, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has sent letters to the Indian scientists in the research team, asking for details about the "form and manner adopted in collecting human and biological material from various sites within the country and transferring them or exporting them to another country".

The scientists have been given 15 days to list the rules, regulations and guidelines they followed while carrying out the study.

Dr V M Katoch, chairman of the screening committee under the Health Ministry, said the Indian scientists did not seek the mandatory government permission before collaborating with international scientists.

"The records show that no permission was taken to conduct such study by the scietists," Katoch said.

Karthikeyan K Kumarasamy of the Department of Microbiology, Dr A L M Post-Graduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences (PGIBMS) at the University of Madras, confirmed having received the DCGI notice.

"We are discussing the matter with our superiors and other scientists involved in the study," said Kumarasamy, the lead Indian author of the paper. "Some of the isolates were exported, but we did not know that we were to take any permission. We will sit together and send them a reply soon."

Another scientist who is at the Banaras Hindu University and was involved in the study, said, "The government is asking the wrong questions to the wrong people. Most of the processing was done in laboratories here. We did not export the isolates to any other country."

Scientists based in five Indian cities were involved in the study: University of Madras and Apollo Hospital in Chennai; Pandit B D Sharma P-G Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak, Haryana; Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi, Kerala; Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Kolkata, and BHU, Varanasi.

Source: The Indian Express

Big B ‘Proud Mumbaikar’

Mumbai: Under attack from political parties for his comments on Mumbai metro, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan on Wednesday said that being a "proud Mumbaikar" he never opposed the development of the city.

The 67-year-old star claimed that his comments on his blog regarding the proposed metro track invading his privacy were misinterpreted by the media.

"Mumbai as a city has given my family and me a place in their hearts besides recognition and respect. My family and I have never, and at no point of time would ever, like to disregard the conveniences of my fellow Mumbaikars and the development being undertaken for a better future for the city and them," Bachchan said in a statement posted on his blog.

He said his post on the matter clearly talks about the "general happiness" that metro will bring to the commuters.

"Indeed I have ended the piece by saying welcome 'fellow passengers'. By fellow passenger I include myself as one," said Bachchan, adding, "I am proud to be a Mumbaikar and I welcome the changes which are being seen in the city."

Bachchan said that he requested everyone visiting his blog to read it in it's entirety rather than pick up words and fabricate stories which create unnecessary sensation.

In the post that created such furore, Bachchan had said: "It is finally happening. The Metro rail being laid over the metropolis called Mumbai, some under the ground, some above over large tracts of cement structures is taking shape.

There is general happiness from the commuters, for, the misery of crowded locals and the uncertainties of the three-wheeler or the yellow-black cab shall hopefully be greatly reduced.

"But here is the killer! it's going to roll over Prateeksha! So bye bye privacy and hello fellow traveller."

But after his comments were published in the media, they drew flak from political parties such as Shiv Sena, Congress and MNS.

Mumbai suburban guardian minister Naseem Khan of Congress said, "His remarks are very unfortunate. He should care for interests of other people also. Why should the convenience of one person take precedence over that of lakhs of commuters."

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said everyone wanted privacy but convenience of the people cannot be ignored.

MNS spokesperson Nitin Sardesai said development projects could not be stopped for the sake of an individual. If Bachchan did not object when the project was approved, then why is he doing so now, he asked.

The Maharashtra Government has decided to build the 32 km long Charkop-Bandra-Maknkurd metro route through MMRDA and 22 lakh passengers will benefit.

"Bachchan is a celebrity. But is it okay to criticise the entire project just because it hampers one's privacy? His bungalow is not being affected. It is just that the route will pass through the area," Khan said.

Source:Agencies

SC Directs Security Forces To Vacate Educational Institutes

New Delhi, Sep 1 : The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to ensure that all schools and hostels of educational institutions occupied by the Army and paramilitary forces are vacated within two months.

An order to this effect was passed by a bench comprising Justices B Sudarshan Reddy and S S Nijjar during the hearing of the issue relating to the trafficking of 76 children from Manipur and Assam to Tamil Nadu.

While there was a specific direction to the Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure that the schools and hostels be freed from the occupation of the Army and central paramilitary forces, the bench asked the HRD Ministry to find out the list of schools occupied by the forces in two states.

Further, the bench asked the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) to hold meetings with seven North Eastern states on various aspects of development.

The directions were passed on the recommendations of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) which was asked by the court to inquire into the trafficking of children from Manipur and Assam to Tamil Nadu on the pretext of providing them better education.
The bench also asked Manipur, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka to respond to the recommendation of the NCPCR to shut down unregistered charitable houses running schools and hostels.

It asked Manipur and Assam to file an affidavit in response to the suggestions given by NCPCR.

The court also accepted the plea of the NCPCR seeking authority to review the matter with the state government.

The bench posted the matter after two months.

The names of the 76 children were furnished by the Tamil Nadu government. They have been repatriated to their home in two North Eastern states.

The court had asked the NCPCR to inquire into the matter on March 31 while hearing an application based on a media report about recovery of 76 such children.

The Tamil Nadu government had earlier stated that the probe by the Kanyakumari Superintendent of Police has established that the 76 children from Manipur and Assam were brought to Tamil Nadu by one Rev Paul from the north-eastern region on promise of providing them better education.

Facebook as Weapon in Fight For Kashmir

Gen Y using Facebook, YouTube as weapons in fight for Kashmir

Srinagar, Aug 28 : Before hitting the streets, Ahmed reaches for his two essential protest tools: a scarf to mask his face and a cell phone camera to show the world what is happening. The 23-year-old, who posts videos to YouTube under names such as ``oppressedkashimir1,'' is part of a wave of Web-savvy protesters in Indian-controlled Kashmir who have begun using social networking to publicize their fight and keep fellow demonstrators energized and focused.

``(I am) an anonymous soldier of Kashmir's resistance movement, using Facebook and YouTube to fight India,'' Ahmed said, showing off his most recent work, a montage of protest videos and photos set to London-based Sami Yousuf's popular song, ``Try Not to Cry Little One.'' Like other protesters, he declined to give his full name for fear of arrest.

The last three months have seen an upsurge in violent protests against Indian rule in Kashmir. The protesters, mostly youths wearing jeans and hooded shirts, call themselves ``sangbazan,'' or the stone pelters. They have covered Srinagar and other major Kashmiri towns with pro-independence graffiti and mounted fierce stone barrages against security forces, sometimes surrounding armoured vehicles and throwing stones inside through the firing slats.

At least 64 people, mostly teenage boys and young men in their 20s, have been killed. Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, said it's difficult to respond to such attacks. ``We use bullets in self-defense as a last resort,'' he said. With student discussion groups banned and thousands of security operatives believed to be snooping on protesters, the youth of Kashmir are using the Internet as a virtual meeting place.

Social networking sites, though presumably under Indian surveillance, have proven to be more effective than any previous form of political communication in Kashmir, said Shuddabrata Sengupta, a New Delhi-based writer who follows new media issues in India. ``The struggle on the streets and in the corners of cyberspace have a mutually complementary nature,'' he said.

The stone pelters use Facebook to debate the weekly calendar of protests, discuss ways to hold Kashmiri leaders accountable and trade daily news updates, some of questionable reliability.

One user sparked a debate about the role of Kashmiri intellectuals in the fight by posting a picture of the Palestinian-American literary theorist Edward Said symbolically throwing a stone near the Israel- Lebanon border. In Kashmir, many intellectuals do not openly identify with the struggle, though privately they may embrace it.

Another user, whose Facebook name is `` Kale Kharab,'' a Kashmiri term for a hothead, recently posted methods to counter the effects of tear gas and administer first aid to a shooting victim. ``They're shaping the political discourse and raising the bar for pro-independence political groups in Kashmir and authorities in New Delhi,'' said Sheikh Showkat Hussain, a law professor at the University of Kashmir.

Marketing and information technology experts estimate at least 40,000 Kashmir residents are on Facebook. The page for ``Bekaar Jamaath,'' or the Idle Group, amassed about 12,000 members in four months before being hacked, removed and re-established recently. The posting of well-produced Kashmiri protest videos began more than two years ago with the expansion of Internet service in the remote Himalayan region and access to better cell phone technology.

One of the first videos combined images of women and children wailing at graveyards and the bodies of slain Kashmiris with a moving song written by Abdul Ahad Azad, an early 20th-century Kashmiri revolutionary poet. Two other videos were set to singer Chris de Burgh's ``Revolution'' and ``Oh My Brave Hearts.'' Now young Kashmiris are uploading video shot furtively from windows showing government forces damaging vehicles and property during curfews, when there are no journalists around.

``Because of this video evidence that cannot be denied, some people outside Kashmir have started believing the horrors we have been living under,'' said Rayees, a young protester who uploaded a clip to Facebook showing paramilitary forces hurling stones and smashing the windows of homes in a Srinagar neighbourhood.

``There are aberrations,'' said Tripathi, the paramilitary spokesman. ``The commanders in their areas of responsibility have been directed to listen to the public grievances and see if people are facing any problems.'' Another video of intense stone throwing by protesters, set to the Everlast song ``Stone in My Hand,'' has become a hit with the demonstrators and made its shadowy creator _ known only as a computer engineer _ a revered figure among them.

``He made it appear as if the song was composed for Kashmir,'' said Shabir, a college student and stone thrower. ``He showed us how one can be more meaningful and imaginative and yet continue to be a stone pelter.''

Source: AP

Cloudburst in Leh May be Due to Climate Change

New Delhi, Aug 26 : Based on a detailed analysis of weather data from the last five years in Leh, Ladakh, scientists have attributed the recent cloudburst in the region to prolonged winters which may be due to climate change.

"After going through the sequence of events of the weather that led to the cloudburst on August 6, it has been reinforced that the catastrophe was due to prolonged winters being witnessed in the region," sources in Leh-based Defence Institute For High Altitude Research (DIHAR) said.

The analysis by the research institute under the Defence Ministry was done to look into the reasons that triggered the cloudburst in Ladakh which is usually considered unnatural because it is a rain shadow area.

On the condition of anonymity, he said at a recent meeting on "Evaluation of climate change in Ladakh sector and causes of Cloud Burst in Leh," the scientists led by DIHAR director Sashi Bala had analysed the weather data of the last five years in terms of monthly temperature, rainfall, humidity and snowfall.

The study indicated that increased temperature and hot summers in the plains lead to increased evaporation and subsequent cloud formation in the hills. "This in turn, lead to increased duration of snowfall in Ladakh when compared to previous years."

"The winters in Ladakh were found to be prolonged," the experts concluded though they felt the phenomenon could not be directly associated with climate change given the short range of data.

The region was witnessing unusual phenomenon of bright sunshine in the June and July months causing melting of snow and high relative humidity (72%) as compared to previous years (50%), the scientist said.

Tracing the change in weather on the basis of the data available, he pointed out "since snow absorbed the latent heat also, the monthly maximum and minimum temperature remained low and did not shoot up as compared to previous years (2006).

"The low temperature and high relative humidity lead to formation of dense low clouds in the valley. Since the vapour content in the clouds were high and on trying to cross the glaciers, the vapours further condensed.

"The clouds could not retain the water droplets that lead to the cloudburst. Since the rainfall was absent on 3rd, 4th and 5th August and was negligible on 7th, 8th and 9th August the theory of occurrence of a cloudburst in Leh due to prolonged winters may be reinforced," the meeting said on the sequence of event.

The cloudburst, which led to flash floods and mudslides, claimed about 180 lives and injured about 400 people, besides causing widespread damage to public and private property.

The Defence establishment has also initiated research towards preventing soil erosion in case of heavy rains in the area in future in view of climate change.

Source: PTI

Why Not Hold The Games in Manipur, Asks Aiyar

New Delhi, Aug 26 : Keeping up his campaign against organisation of Commonwealth Games, senior Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar on Wednesday questioned the rationale of Delhi hosting the event and said it would have been a "very good answer" to insurgents if it would have been held in Manipur.

Speaking to a group of Delhi University students at Press Club, Aiyar wondered why such mega events come back to Delhi again and again. Even if it is organised here, he asked, why localities in the outskirts like Bawana are ignored.

"There are 37 days to go in which the government has to fill the gaps to ensure a spectacular Games which it has promised us. I am content to wait. The Games will last for 15 days. I will come back. Neither are you going away nor I am going away," Aiyar, a vocal critic of the Games, said.

He said, "What is the point in crying over spoilt milk? We have lost the Games."
Aiyar said there was a "danger" of Asian Games 2019 and Olympics being organised in the city and asked why was it that mega events come back to the city every time.

"Manipur is a tiny state. It bagged the highest number of medals in the National Games (when I was the Sports Minister)...If Rs 35,000 crore (an estimate of the cost of CW Games expenditure) is spent in Manipur, if we conduct the Commonwealth Games there, the insurgents would have got a very good answer," he said.

"There are excellent facilities in Imphal. Why do we keep coming back to Delhi," he said.

Aiyar took potshots at Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi saying that he was not invited to the National Games despite being the country's Sports Minister.

He also asked why the Games should not be conducted in Bawana in outer Delhi, which has a huge number of SC population. "This area is used to burn rubbish only. What message are you giving to its people?" he said.

Later, talking to reporters, Aiyar said sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar did not seek money for composing the welcome song of Afro-Asian Games held in the country earlier.

"He did not seek money nor did we give him money," Aiyar said when asked about a media report in this regard.

Vedanta Mine Project Rejection, A Major Win For Dongria Tribe: Survival Intl.

Survival International, an organization supporting tribals worldwide for over four decades, on Tuesday claimed a major victory for itself and the Dongria Tribe in India's eastern Orissa state after India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh blocked UK-based Vedanta Resources' controversial plan to mine bauxite on the sacred hills of the Dongria Kondh tribe.

Survival campaigner Dr. Jo Woodman, who experienced first-hand the atmosphere of intimidation in the Dongria's hills, said today, "This is a victory nobody would have believed possible.

The Dongria's campaign became a litmus test of whether a small, marginalized tribe could stand up to a massive multinational company with an army of lobbyists and PR firms and the ear of government.

Incredibly, the Dongria's courage and tenacity, allied with the support of many people in India, and Survival's supporters around the world, have triumphed."

Survival's Director Stephen Corry said: "The era when mining companies could get away with destroying those in their path with impunity is thankfully drawing to a close, though it remains significant that Vedanta fought for its plans to the end, repeatedly denying everything the tribes-people said.

The concerned public must remain vigilant about these so-called development projects - companies simply cannot be trusted voluntarily to abide by human rights standards, particularly when dealing with tribal peoples who can't know what they're up against."

Earlier in the day, Ramesh said Vedanta had shown a 'shocking' and 'blatant disregard for the rights of the tribal groups' and also questioned the legality of the massive refinery Vedanta has already built below the hills.

The rejection of the project is a crushing defeat for Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, Vedanta's majority owner and founder.

In recent years the project has come under unprecedented attack. The Norwegian and British governments, the Church of England, organizations such as Survival International, and even insurance giant Aviva have all criticized the company and its ethics.

The struggle had pitted the 8,000-strong tribe, nearly all of them illiterate, against the might of an eight billion dollar company and its founder, himself worth about six billion dollars.

To Curb Population Boom, India Tries Paying Couples Who Delay Kids

India Tries Using Cash Bonuses to Slow Birthrates

By JIM YARDLEY

SATARA, India — Sunita Laxman Jadhav is a door-to-door saleswoman who sells waiting. She sweeps along muddy village lanes in her nurse’s white sari, calling on newly married couples with an unblushing proposition: Wait two years before getting pregnant, and the government will thank you.


Dr. Archana R. Khade, left, and a nurse, Sunita Laxman Jadhav, right, explained incentives to delay childbirth to a new bride near Satara this month.

Mahesh Waghmale and his wife, Sarika, outside their home near Satara. The couple could not wait to have children because of family pressure.

It also will pay you.

“I want to tell you about our honeymoon package,” began Ms. Jadhav, an auxiliary nurse, during a recent house call on a new bride in this farming region in the state of Maharashtra. Ms. Jadhav explained that the district government would pay 5,000 rupees, or about $106, if the couple waited to have children. Waiting, she promised, would allow them time to finish their schooling or to save money.

Waiting also would allow India more time to curb a rapidly growing population that threatens to turn its demography from a prized asset into a crippling burden. With almost 1.2 billion people, India is disproportionately young; roughly half the population is younger than 25. This “demographic dividend” is one reason some economists predict that India could surpass China in economic growth rates within five years. India will have a young, vast work force while a rapidly aging China will face the burden of supporting an older population.

But if youth is India’s advantage, the sheer size of its population poses looming pressures on resources and presents an enormous challenge for an already inefficient government to expand schooling and other services. In coming decades, India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous nation, and the critical uncertainty is just how populous it will be. Estimates range from 1.5 billion to 1.9 billion people, and Indian leaders recognize that that must be avoided.

Yet unlike authoritarian China, where the governing Communist Party long ago instituted the world’s strictest population policy, India is an unruly democracy where the central government has set population targets but where state governments carry out separate efforts to limit the birthrate. While some states have reacted to population fears with coercion, forbidding parents with more than two children from holding local office, or disqualifying government workers from certain benefits if they have larger families, other states have done little.

Meanwhile, many national politicians have been wary of promoting population control ever since an angry public backlash against a scandal over forced vasectomies during the 1970s. It was considered a sign of progress that India’s Parliament debated “population stabilization” this month after largely ignoring the issue for years.

“It’s already late,” said Sabu Padmadas, a demographer with the University of Southampton who has worked extensively in India. “It’s definitely high time for India to act.”

The program here in Satara is a pilot program — one of several initiatives across the country that have used a softer approach — trying to slow down population growth by challenging deeply ingrained rural customs. Experts say far too many rural women wed as teenagers, usually in arranged marriages, and then have babies in quick succession — a pattern that exacerbates poverty and spurs what demographers call “population momentum” by bunching children together. In Satara, local health officials have led campaigns to curb teenage weddings, as well as promoting the “honeymoon package” of cash bonuses and encouraging the use of contraceptives so that couples wait to start a family.

“This is how population stabilization will come,” said Rohini Lahane, an administrator in the district health office.

India averages about 2.6 children per family, far below what it was a half century ago, yet still above the rate of 2.1 that would stabilize the population. Many states with higher income and education levels are already near or below an average of two children per family. Yet the poorest and most populous states, notably Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, average almost four children per family and have some of the lowest levels of female literacy.

“An educated girl is your best contraception,” said Dr. Amarjit Singh, executive director of the National Population Stabilization Fund, a quasi-governmental advisory agency. He said that roughly half of India’s future excess population growth was expected to come from its six poorest states.

Maharashtra is not in that category, but its population is still growing too fast. A farming district ringed with green hills, Satara has three million people. A 1997 survey found that almost a quarter of all women were marrying before the legal age of 18, while roughly 45 percent of all infants and young children in the district were malnourished.

In response, the district began a campaign to reduce the number of child brides and more than 27,000 parents signed a written pledge agreeing not to allow their daughters to wed before age 18. Within a few years, the marrying age rose and the rate of child malnutrition dropped. Today, officials say about 15 percent of children are malnourished. But if couples were marrying a little later, they were usually producing a child within the first year of marriage, followed by another soon after. So in August 2009, Satara introduced its honeymoon package as an incentive to delay childbirths. So far, 2,366 couples have enrolled.

“The response has been good,” said Dr. Archana Khade, a physician at the primary health care center in the village of Kahner. “But the money is a secondary thing. It’s about the other things, for better future prospects.”

Now, health officials in other states have come to Satara to study the program. Every day, auxiliary nurses like Ms. Jadhav canvass villages to disseminate information about family planning and solicit new couples for the honeymoon package. In India, a new couple usually resides with the family of the groom and it is the older generation that represents Ms. Jadhav’s biggest challenge.

“The first time I go, they always defy you,” she said. “They say, ‘No, we don’t want to do that.’ The older generation believes that the moment a couple gets married, they want a baby in their house.”

On a recent afternoon, Ms. Jadhav and Dr. Khade made their pitch to a 20-year-old bride, who stared silently down as her mother-in-law hovered in an adjacent room of their farmhouse.

“You can delay your first pregnancy,” Dr. Khade said. “Have you talked to your husband about family planning or when you want to have a child?”

“He doesn’t want to have children early,” the bride answered, almost in a whisper.

“Do you think your in-laws will be happy with your decision?” Dr. Khade asked.

The young bride was silent. Her in-laws did not know that she was already using birth-control pills.

Many experts emphasize that easing India’s population burden will require a holistic response centered on improving health services and teaching about a full range of contraception.

Many rural women know little about family planning, and female sterilization is the most commonly used form of birth control. During the 1990s, officials in the state of Andhra Pradesh advocated sterilization of mothers after a second child, an approach that brought a sharp drop in the birthrate but was criticized as coercive in some cases.

In Satara, the birthrate has fallen to about 1.9 children per family, partly because of the honeymoon package, with many women opting for sterilization after their second child. Problems persist, such as a sharp gender imbalance in Satara and many other regions of India because of a cultural bias toward having sons. With more pressure to limit families to two children, female fetuses are often aborted after a couple sees an ultrasound.

Yet the idea of waiting appeals to many women. One new bride, Reshma Yogesh Sawand, 25, said she and her husband wanted to wait to have a child — and only one — in order to save money and move to a bigger city.

“If I have just one,” said Ms. Sawand, who is taking a computer course and has a job selling insurance policies, “I can take better care of it.”

via NY Times

Women's Problem Same Everywhere, says Agatha

By Nishant Sinha

Patna, Aug 23 : "I was concerned when the flight in which I was coming along with other women delegates of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was being considered to be diverted to Kolkata due to inclement weather in Patna.

However, thanks to the Almighty it did not happen and I did not miss the opportunity of coming to Bihar for the first time," said Agatha Sangma, the country's youngest MP and youngest-ever minister in the Union cabinet, on Sunday.

Agatha, the Union minister of state (MoS) for rural development was here to attend the NCP's National Women's Conference.

"I have never been to Bihar earlier,"said Agatha, adding: "Though I have little experience of public life as of now, including the time spent in my home state Meghalaya, I can say that the problems related to women are of same nature be it Meghalaya, North-East or Bihar".

Touching upon the most contentious Bill, the Women's Reservation Bill, which was first introduced in the Lok Sabha (LS) in 1996 and has been pending since then, Agatha said the NCP is fully supported to the cause.

"Our effort would be to see the Bill being passed in the LS," she said amidst applause from the hundreds of women delegates present at the meet.

She said as the present LS was engrossed in some pressing issues such as price hike, the Bill was not tabled in the LS this session. However, she was hopeful that the Bill would be passed soon.

Regarding NCP giving priority to women in the party, Agatha said her elevation to the post of central minister itself speaks of the party giving its due share to the women community.

Earlier, the Bihar unit of NCP's Women Cell passed a resolution at the meeting demanding passage of Women's Reservation Bill, change in state liquor policy, which the women members termed as destroying the social fabric, opening of women police stations across the state, 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs and check on spiralling prices of essential commodities.

NCP national general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Tariq Anwar, national president of the party's women's wing Nivedita Mane and Bihar NCP Women's Cell president Nitu Singh were present on the occasion.

Indian IVF Clinics Creating an Army of Over-50 Mums

In India, age often doesn't stop women from seeking help to become pregnant

Rajo Devi Lohan, 72 -- who gave birth to a daughter, Naveen, 18 months ago after seeking fertility treatment in India -- is thought to be one of the oldest mothers in the world. (Emily Wax/the Washington Post)

By Emily Wax

Hisar, India : Inside a crowded rural hospital, gray-haired Nananki Rohtash rested on a cot, her swollen legs elevated while her sister-in-law paced nearby. Rohtash is a 60-year-old mother of five and a grandmother of eight.

She's also nine months pregnant, the result of an in vitro fertilization clinic, one of hundreds that have opened recently in India, urging clients to "Come alone. Leave as a family. Age no bar.''

With 1.2 billion people, India is still growing rapidly, and there are few efforts to control population growth, in sharp contrast to China's one-child policy. Some planning advocates argue that India's population is stalling development, adding to unemployment, and overwhelming roads, schools, water supplies and other basic infrastructure needs.

There are no government regulations for IVF clinics, especially in rural areas of northern India, and women older than 50 make up a surprising number of their patients, in a country where giving birth to many children defines a woman's worth and is considered parents' best chance for financial security.

Rohtash was awaiting a Caesarean section in the private National Fertility Center in Hisar, a middle-class frontier farming town in the northern state of Haryana, more than 170 miles outside the capital of New Delhi.

In the past 18 months, the doctors at this clinic have helped 100 women older than 50 become pregnant. About 60 were able to carry those pregnancies to full term. Some of the women received eggs donated by younger relatives. Their husbands' sperm was used to fertilize the eggs in a lab, and the embryos were then inserted into the women's wombs.

"The women come to us and say, 'Even if I die, at least I won't face the stigma of being barren,' " said Anurag Bishnoi, the center's lead IVF specialist. "These women are like soldiers:, They are on the front lines for their family, their country. They may die, but their family and country will live."

Many fertility experts say performing IVF on women older than 45 can be dangerous for the mother, a stress on her heart and blood pressure. Many must have their uteruses removed immediately after birth, because they are weaker and rupture, doctors said. The baby is also more likely to be born premature and to face health problems. The average life expectancy in India is 63, according to World Bank data.

"We are talking about bringing another human being into the world," said Sonia Verma, a doctor at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, one of the country's leading centers, which discourages the procedure after age 55. "What happens when the parents die? We shouldn't only worry about what the patient wants. We could get a prepubescent girl pregnant with the same technology. Should we also do that?"

More than 40 years ago, Rohtash gave birth to five daughters and one son. But seven years ago, her son died in a car accident. Now she wants to try again for a male heir, a powerful cultural preference in India that many population experts say contributes to women having babies until a son is born.

"The risk for a son and a balanced family is my destiny," she said. "I consider this place to be God."

Many other older Indian women agree. In another case at the Hisar center, Bhateri Devi, 66, in May became the world's oldest woman to give birth to triplets. She was unable to bear children throughout her married life.

Fertility experts here say India is facing a unique problem because there is so much pressure for women to have children and the technology is relatively affordable.

One IVF attempt at this clinic costs about $2,500, while in the United States it can run up to $15,000. Although the fees in India are high for middle-class families earning a typical $15,000 to $20,000 a year, they are often able to get money from relatives or a bank loan. Rohtash's family of farmers did both.

India is expected to surpass the United States and China in the number of IVF cycles, said Hrishikesh Pai, one of the country's leading IVF experts and vice president of the 900-member Indian Society of Assisted Reproduction.

About 150,000 cycles were performed in the United States last year and about 80,000 in China, Pai said. No data were collected for India because many new clinics are not reporting numbers, but some experts think the number could reach 600,000 in the next three years, Pai said. Many doctors will try up to four rounds of IVF.

India has more than 550 registered IVF centers, according to Pai's studies, and he estimates that one new clinic is opening every 15 days.

There are two main client categories. About 20 percent are older and want to shed the stigma of being unable to conceive. Others are similar to many profiles in the United States, where upper-middle-class couples often spend time developing their careers and wait until their late 30s and early 40s to have children.

"The need of the hour is regulating these clinics," said Pai, who worked on a new law that calls for no age limit for IVF. The United States has no age limit for the procedure, but doctors advise against IVF after 45 and can refuse in situations in which it is considered too risky.

"There's an argument that says that if a man of 70 years and can have a child, why can't a woman of 70 have a child," said Pai, who works in Mumbai at several fertility clinics. "But what we need in India, because of our cultural pressures, is a policy to advise against it. It's not safe."

At the Hisar clinic, hundreds of worried-looking couples -- ranging from those in their 20s to senior citizens -- clutched scans and medical forms.

M.R. Bishnoi sat in his medical office under a poster of the Hippocratic oath and photographs of happy babies.

"Better late than never," said Bishnoi, who works with his son, Gyanwati Bishnoi. "Reproduction is a civil right -- nobody can bar you from bearing a child. We are not violating any laws of the land. Is it a home without children? In India, there is no woman who doesn't want a child. Without taking a risk, no one would accomplish anything in this world."

On a recent afternoon, he offered evidence that his procedures are safe by introducing Rajo Devi Lohan, 72, who gave birth to a daughter, Naveen, 18 months ago. Lohan is thought to be one of the oldest mothers in the world.

But Lohan has several health problems. Her husband, Balaram, is a farmer who always wanted a child. He even married a second wife but was unable to impregnate her.

He asked Lohan to try IVF after he read about the clinic in a Hindi newspaper. A relative donated an egg. His sperm was used.

Lohan said she worked through her pregnancy, milking cows, making chapatti bread and cleaning the house.

After Naveen was born, she was even able to breast-feed. Bishnoi said his clinic bought life insurance for Lohan and her husband so their daughter will receive money when they die.

"They are old parents," Bishnoi said, watching as Naveen played on her mother's lap, yanking at her dress. "They won't live for that much longer anyway. But now they have done a noble thing."

Special correspondent Ayesha Manocha contributed to this report.

via washingtonpost

Over 3 Lakh Indian Patients Get Free HIV Treatment

New Delhi, Aug 14 : India is providing over three lakh patients free HIV treatment at 281 centres spread across the country, parliament was informed Friday.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi said that the government is already providing free first line treatment to HIV patients since April 2004.

"At present, a total of 335,232 patients are receiving free ART (antiretroviral therapy) at 281 centres as on June 2010," he said.

While 312,451 adults are getting this therapy, about 20,302 children are on ART, he added.
About 78,592 people - 73,394 adults and 5,198 children - are receiving the free drug in Maharashtra - the highest number in the country.

It is followed by Andhra Pradesh where 71, 769 people - 67,976 adults and 3,793 children - are getting the treatment.

The others are Karnataka (44,017), Tamil Nadu (44,493), Uttar Pradesh (12,163), Delhi (7,875), Rajasthan (7,464), Manipur (5,754) and Orissa (2,503).

India National Film Awards Committee to Now Accept Digital Films

New Delhi,  Aug 14 : National Film Awards committee will now accept digital films to consider for awards. Digital films can be submitted even if they have not been released with a celluloid print. This decision comes after a petition was filed by filmmakers from Manipur where cinema halls have been shut down due to militancy and filmmaking has gone totally digital. 

An expert committee led by filmmaker Shyam Benegal has recommended this and a few other changes which will be implemented from National Film awards 2009 onwards. The awards for 2009 are likely to be announced on September 15.

The cash prize for the Best Film has been increased to Rs 1.5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh to the director and producer each. For the Best Debut Non-Feature Film Award, the cash prize has gone up from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. In the Special Jury Award, Cash component enhanced from Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 2 lakh in feature films, and Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh in non-feature films.

New award categories have also been instituted. Best Location Sound Recordist & Sound Designer are the two new awards in the Sound category. An award for background Score has also been introduced. There will be separate awards for Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay and Dialogues. The Award for Best Film on Family Welfare has been abolished.

It was announced earlier that a two-tier Jury system will be in place for feature films. Five regional panels will do a pre-selection of films, recommending 30 per cent of the films entered in their respective zones or six films – whichever number is higher – to the main jury.

Indian Men Spend Millions on Skin-Lightening Creams

Increasingly, Indian men use skin-whitening products. Racism or fashion?

By Saritha Rai

Indian cinema actor Shahid Kapur at a press conference in Bangalore on Aug. 12, 2009. Kapur is the face of Vaseline's controversial skin-lightening cream and the Facebook application that digitally re-tones photos so skin appears lighter. (Dibyangshu
Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images)

Bangalore, Aug 1 : Skin-whitening products aren't just for the ladies anymore.

In new India, where the market for skin-lightening creams is more than $500 million a year, men are being spoon-fed the message that having fairer skin is the fastest way to fame and fortune.

And they are eating it up.

Venkatesh Vadde, 25, has been using lightening cream for the last couple years. He says it helps him look more professional at his job as a quality analyst in Bangalore.

"My girlfriend makes fun of me," he said during a recent interview. "But I don't mind because lots of men I know use fairness creams."

According to figures provided by market research group Nielsen, sales in the men’s segment of skin-lightening creams are galloping ahead at a yearly growth rate of nearly 30 percent, overtaking the growth rate in the women’s segment, albeit starting from a lower figure.

Anti-tanning treatments, bleaches, face-lightening facials are all the rage at BYS Unisex Salon on Bangalore’s shopping strip, Commercial Street.

“Young men feel skin lightening will make them attractive to women, it will make them look smarter when attending a job interview,” said the salon's manager Rafiqur Rahman, adding that men tend to have more disposable income to spend on such products and services.

The cosmetics industry has made billions of dollars selling skin-lightening products to women. But in the last couple of years, multinational and Indian cosmetics makers have discovered a vast, virtually untapped male market. Commercials, billboards, magazine advertisements drum the unrelenting message: lighter, fairer skin is the key to getting that dream job and hooking that gorgeous girl.

The ads targeting men follow a familiar pattern: A dark-skinned actor is shown feeling dejected and forlorn. His friend/Bollywood hero shows him the secret to a better life — yet another brand of skin lightener. He gets several shades lighter using the skin cream. Soon, he is transformed to an ultra-attractive, utterly eligible version of his former self.

The list of Bollywood stars endorsing such products for men is impressively long, ranging from superstar Shahrukh Khan to hunk John Abraham to the boy-faced Shahid Kapur.

As if the commercials and billboards are not convincing enough, Hindustan Unilever’s Vaseline brand has launched a Facebook application that digitally re-tones photographs for the social networking site. “Transform your face on Facebook with Vaseline Men,” urges the Facebook page.

via GlobalPost

Delhi Games Put Accent on Sounding British

By Sanjoy Majumder

"Delhi Metro welcomes you. Before taking your seats, please check to see that no suspicious, unidentified articles are lying under it," a young Delhi Metro trainee says, looking up nervously after finishing his announcement.

"S-u-s-p-i-c-i-o-u-s," his instructor, Alka Gupta, prompts him. "Go on repeat after me."
"Suspicious," comes the hesitant reply.
I am at the Delhi Metro training institute where a special class is under way.

The class puts an emphasis on mastering a clipped British accent

It is a spoken English class and the students, all dressed in crisp yellow shirts with matching ties, are trainees who will eventually go on to work on the underground rail system.

Mostly in their early 20s, they have been hired after a stiff entrance test and interviews for a job, that for many of them, represents a major opportunity.

In October, the Indian capital Delhi will play host to the Commonwealth Games.

With large numbers of foreign tourists expected to visit the country during the event, India is taking steps to ensure that they have an enjoyable stay.

Regional accents

For the staff of the Delhi Metro this means brushing up on their English language skills and being trained to replace their local, Indian accents with clipped, British ones.

None of the students in the class are native speakers of English and the emphasis is on making sure they speak the language with the right pronunciation.

My English was never very good. But now I am much more fluent and a lot more confident”

Delhi Metro worker

Ms Gupta is from the Delhi-based British Academy for English Language and has been doing this for 17 years - teaching English language to those not familiar with it.

"The trainees who are here come from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and have a strong regional accent," Ms Gupta explains.

"So we first have to reduce their accent and then after neutralising it, we have to give them British accents, since that's the correct way to speak English," she says.

To try to simulate their working environment, the trainees are put through role-playing exercises.

So, in one exercise, a Metro staff member tries to assist a foreign tourist - played by one of the other trainers speaking in an accent that sounds like a cross between an American drawl and broad Australian.

"Since we have these Commonwealth Games coming up, they need to communicate with foreign nationals. If they cannot follow their English, it's going to be a problem," adds Ms Gupta.

Confidence boost

And with the Games just months away, there is a real sense of urgency.
"We are gearing up and we are training all our frontline staff, since we expect a lot of foreign visitors to come to Delhi and we want them to have a world class experience," says Praveen Pathak, the vice-principal of the Training Institute.

The Commonwealth Games are set to take place in October
At the Delhi University station on the Metro's Yellow Line crowds of passengers are coming up from the underground stations on escalators.
Others are gathering outside ticket counters with big glass windows, where metro staff deal with their queries - everything from tickets to which station to get off at and what local attractions there are to see.
"Good morning, how may I help you?". Customer care agent Kailash Chowdhury smiles as he tries to help a student from north-east India find her way to her destination.

Like many of his colleagues, Kailash has been through the English training sessions and is anxious to put his newly acquired skill to practice.

"My English was never very good. But now I am much more fluent and a lot more confident," he says. "My vocabulary has improved tremendously too."
The Delhi Metro is the pride of India's capital city. And why not? It is air conditioned, the stations are spotless, the trains are quick and always on time. It is a convenient way to swing across this vast city.

And for those foreign visitors who may choose to use the service, things may just have got a bit easier.

India Pledges Millions in Credit to Myanmar Regime

New Delhi, Jul 29 : Myanmar's military ruler Than Shwe flew to Hyderabad Wednesday on the latest leg of a controversial state visit to India that has garnered millions of dollars in grants for infrastructure projects.

The general left New Delhi having received a full, red-carpet welcome Tuesday and held talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Human rights groups have severely criticised India for bestowing a formal state visit on Than Shwe, arguing that it helps legitimise a military regime that has been widely condemned for systematic rights abuses.

The two countries signed a series of pacts Tuesday including one to strengthen security along their common border, where India is struggling to curb ethnic separatists.

India also offered a grant of 60 million dollars to build a road connecting Myanmar with the northeast Indian state of Mizoram.

India's EXIM bank agreed to provide a 60-million-dollar line of credit to fund various railway projects, and New Delhi also pledged 10 million dollars for the purchase of modern agricultural equipment.

Once a staunch supporter of Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, India began engaging the junta in the mid-1990s as security, energy and strategic priorities came to the fore.

As well as needing the military regime's help to counter the separatists along the common border, India is eyeing oil and gas fields in Myanmar -- formerly Burma -- and is eager to counter China's growing influence there.

China is the junta's key ally and trading partner, and an eager investor in the isolated state's sizeable natural resources.

The Myanmar junta, which has ruled with an iron fist for nearly 50 years, has promised to hold the first elections since 1990 later this year, and Singh had been urged by rights groups and some Western countries to pressure Than Shwe on the need for a free and fair ballot.

A joint statement said the prime minister had simply "emphasized the importance of comprehensively broad-basing the national reconciliation process and democratic changes being introduced in Myanmar."

Western nations have dismissed the proposed election as a sham, and Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy is boycotting the ballot.

Than Shwe was due to meet Indian business leaders in Hyderabad on Wednesday. He flies to the eastern city of Kolkata the next day before returning home.