'US to rely on India if Pak doesn't open NATO route'

The US will have to default and rely on India and Northern Distribution network if Pakistan does not open up its crucial Afghan supply route, a top Pentagon official told lawmakers on Thursday.

However, the Pentagon official testifying before a Congressional subcommittee did not gave details of the Indian network, on which it can depend for its crucial supplies to Afghanistan.

"If we can't negotiate or successfully negotiate the reopening of the PAK GLOC (Ground Lines of Communication) we have to default and rely on India and the Northern Distribution Network, our increased strat airlift," Marine Corps Lieutenant General Frank Panter, the Deputy Commandant for Installations and Logistics, told lawmakers.

Both are expensive propositions and it increases the deployment or redeployment, Panter said in his testimony before the Readiness Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

Islamabad has closed the NATO supply route after the November 26 cross-border fire that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

At the same time, the Pentagon official indicated that this (India) is a sensitive issue.

"There's always that sensitive issue about the nations. We're dealing with the Indian network in itself. If for some reason there's additional political strain related to these countries, that restricts the flow as well. Redeployment timelines, by not being able to use the PAK GLOC, will increase along with, as you mentioned, ma'am, the cost as well," he said.

"Despite all these challenges, though, TRANSCOM and CENTCOM, they do have mitigation strategies in place. I would be more than happy to talk about those as well. There are quite a few of them. But negotiations are ongoing, as you know, to reopen the PAK GLOC," Panter said.

Army Lieutenant General Raymond Mason, Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics, said the Pak GLOC is critical and it has been closed since November.

"The good news is, because of a lot of really great planning, our logistics situation is in very good shape. Fuel we watch very closely," he said.

"But back to the issue of retrograde out of Afghanistan. We're getting it out by air, so as aircraft come in and we fill the aircraft as they depart, both Air Force aircraft as well as commercial aircraft so we're using every available aircraft to go back out again," Mason said.

"The Northern Distribution Network, it's three to four times more expensive because it's three to four times lengthier. It's very complicated, a variety of different methods -- rail, ferries, truck -- so significant amount of changing and loading and unloading, so that adds to the cost as well," he added.

JKCA official appointed as Team India manager

Chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) Mohd Aslam Goni has been appointed as the manager of the Team India for the one-off T20 match against South Africa despite being allegdly involved in multi-crore cricket scam.

His appointment came at a time when the members of his own cricket association are demanding his resignation.

He, along the team, left for South Africa on Wednesday to play one-off T0 match against the hosts.

Fear of China scuttles move for BRICS bank

BRICS nations on Thursday decided to examine the viability of a development bank for developing countries, besides agreeing to make it a little simpler for those trading within the group by settling transactions in local currency.

But in both cases, the outcome fell short of expectations as four members - India, Russia, Brazil and South Africa - seemed to fear the clout that China would enjoy if the proposal to set up a bank and move to a single currency went through.

As a result, finance ministers have been tasked to study the feasibility of a multilateral agency modeled on the lines of the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank to generate resources for funding infrastructure and core sector projects in the BRICS nations as well as other emerging economies. The idea is also to ensure adequate financing during a period of global economic uncertainty. The joint working group will submit a report at the next meeting, a joint declaration said.

On the issue of making credit available, the five countries signed a master agreement to ensure that purchases from the other members of the groups are settled in local currency. Although the stated goal is to boost trade within the group by cutting down on transaction cost, the move is being seen as a step towards replacing dollar as the main currency of trade. Once the arrangement is in place, funds routed through the five designated banks, an Indian buyer can make the payment to a Chinese supplier in yuan instead of first converting the rupee into dollars and then reconverting it into the Chinese currency.

Although the summit may have ended a little short of expectations on the overall substance, the five countries were not short of words. They blamed the US and Europe for generating excessive liquidity in the global financial system as part of their strategy to boost local economic activity. On Wednesday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff had said that the steps taken in the developed countries had created "monetary tsunami" as most BRICS nations had to initiate measures to check excessive volatility in capital flows and commodity prices. "It is critical for advanced economies to adopt responsible macro-economic and financial policies, avoid creating excessive global liquidity and undertake structural reforms to lift growth that create jobs," the Delhi Declaration said.

Arvind Kejriwal renews attack on 'criminal' MPs

Striking a defiant note, Arvind Kejriwal on today replied to the privilege notices served on him for "insulting" Parliament, saying how can he respect the institution which has MPs with "criminal background".

The Team Anna member alleged that all the parties are responsible for bringing Parliament to disrepute as 162 MPs with criminal background have managed to get into it.

"There was a Parliament in which Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned (from the post of railway minister) following a train accident. I would like to sacrifice anything for such a Parliament but how will I respect Parliament of present days," Kejriwal said in the letter.

He also alleged that industrialists, who were not known for any public service, have managed to get into Parliament with the help of various parties.

"They enter Parliament to further their business interest. If this is not misuse of Parliament, if this is not insult to Parliament then what is it," he asked.

Besides Congress MP Sajjan Singh Verma, RJD MPs Rajniti Prasad and Ram Kripal Yadav had served a privilege notice against Kejriwal for calling MPs "rapists, murderers and looters" during an election campaign rally last month.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat has sought reply from Kejriwal following the receipt of the notices.

"Received privilege notices from Rajniti Prasad and Ram Kripal Yadav also...Rajniti Prasad is the same MP who tore the Lokpal Bil in Parliament. Did he insult Parliament or did I insult Parliament?" Kejriwal had tweeted after he got the notices.

Earlier in September last year, Kejriwal was served a notice for making "derogatory" remarks against Parliamentarians during Hazare's agitation in Ramlila Maidan.

"In this Parliament, 163 members have cases of heinous offences against them. In this Parliament, rapists are sitting, murderers and looters are sitting. How can you expect Jan Lokpal Bill to be passed by Parliament? How can you expect that you can get reprieve from poverty and corruption," Kejriwal had said on February 25.

Talking to reporters today, Kejriwal also said that Team Anna will soon write to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh providing evidence against 14 Union Cabinet ministers whom he had named as "corrupt".

Hazare had set a deadline of August to register FIR against these ministers and warned the government that they will launch 'jail bharo' agitation, if it is not done.

CAG exposes multi-crore land scam in Andhra Pradesh

The "benevolence" of the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh in allocation of land (irregularly) for different purposes has caused enormous monetary loss running into several thousand crores of rupees between 2006 and 2011, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said.

Alienation/allotment of land by the AP government during 2006-11 was characterised by grave irregularities, involving allotment in an ad-hoc, arbitrary and discretionary manner to private persons and entities at very low rates, without safeguarding the financial and socio-economic interests of the state, the CAG said in its audit report for 2010-11 which was tabled in the Assembly on Thursday.

Most of these allotments were made during the tenure of the late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy (who was in power between 2004 and 2009).

In a large number of cases of land allotment, the state government ignored the prescribed procedures and disregarded "canons of financial propriety", the CAG noted.

Audit scrutiny revealed that undue benefit of Rs 1,784 crore was given to various entities and persons, due to the difference in the rates at which land was allotted and the market value as recommended by the District Collector concerned or the Empowered Committee (headed by the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration).

"During 2006-11, the state government alienated/ allotted 88,492 acres of land to 1,027 beneficiaries. In the 11 sampled districts, 459 allotments were made, involving 50,285.90 acres of land. Of these, 409 cases were scrutinised in audit.

"Audit found that land allotments for commercial purposes were not made in a fair, consistent and transparent manner so as to serve the public interest," the CAG observed.

The Government was yet to realise the cost of land alienation in 60 cases in 11 districts, resulting in dues amounting to Rs 2,559 crore, the auditor said.

This was the first time that the CAG has come out with a comprehensive audit report on land allotments in AP even as the doles of the YSR Government remained a subject of major scandal and controversy in the last few years.

Among the major findings of the CAG were the irregular allotment of thousands of acres of land to former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy's business ventures, the proposed Lepakshi Knowledge Hub in Anantapur district and the Vanpic port project, all of which incidentally are being probed by CBI as part of inquiry into the amassing of illegal wealth by YSR's son and Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

The CAG, in a way, endorsed the allegations levelled by all Opposition parties in the state over the allotment of land in total violation of rules.

"An extent of 3,115.64 acres of land in Jammalamadugu mandal in Kadapa district was allotted to Brahmani Industries Ltd (of Gali Janardhana Reddy) for setting up a commercial airport and flying academy, in violation of Government of India's policy on setting up of commercial airports, and without verifying the suitability of the site and viability of the project. It overlooked the fact that the Kadapa airport was just 50 km away," the CAG report pointed out.

Although the land required for the proposed airport was only around 2,500 acres (as observed by Principal Secretary-Industries and Infrastructure Department), the extent of land alienated was 3,115.64 acres. Thus, an excess allotment of 615.64 acres was made in this case, it said.

The decision to alienate land to Brahmani Industries (BIL) was taken by the Council of Ministers (headed by YSR) even though all the facts were brought to its notice by CCLA, who had also cautioned the Government against the viability of setting up a second airport in the same area, it said.

Alienation of government land to BIL was thus injudicious and in violation of all the established rules and good practices. It clearly amounted to an undue favour to the company without any justification, the CAG observed.

Not stopping at that, another 10,760.66 acres of land in the same mandal was allotted to Brahmani Industries for a green-field Integrated Steel Plant. This involved illegal alienation of 674.58 acres of water bodies and allocation of 2 tmc feet of water from the Gandikota Reservoir without environmental clearance or independent examination of the project report. As of November 2011, even the first phase of construction had not been completed, the CAG noted.

Favours under the YSR Government were also allegedly extended to Gali Janardhana Reddy's Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC), which has figured in illegal mining activities.

The request of OMC, which had unauthorisedly occupied Government lands, for grant of lease of 413.81 acres was turned down by Anantapur District Collector in August 2008.

However, within a month thereafter, this position was reversed by the Collector who, at the request of state-run APIIC, recommended alienation of 304.66 acres of land (for transfer to OMC) for establishment of an industrial park. The reasons for reconsidering the lease or alienating the land were not recorded, the CAG observed.

The State Government lost revenue of Rs 874.03 crore by alienating 881.32 acres in Mamidipally Village, Ranga Reddy District to APIIC at a meagre cost. APIIC, in turn allotted 500 acres of this land at very low rates to Indu Tech Zone and Brahmani Infra Tech even before orders of alienation were issued, the CAG said in another observation.

The state government has been a "mute spectator" to encroachment of its lands. Instead of instituting a mechanism for preventing and detecting illegal encroachments and dealing with them swiftly and effectively, in a sense, it has fuelled encroachments by regularising 14,878 of such unauthorised encroachments involving 21 lakh sq yards of land, collecting a meagre revenue of Rs 63.71 crore, the CAG maintained.

"The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has been pointing out, in his Audit Reports, year after year, several irregularities relating to allotment of land by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

The state government, however, is yet to take corrective measures in this regard and come up with a comprehensive policy relating to alienation/allotment of land.

The Government had also not formulated any land use policy defining its sector-wise priorities in utilisation/allotment of land for the present and future needs for socio-economic development of the state," the CAG report observed.

AK Antony was aware of Tatra scam since 2009

Even as Defence Minister AK Antony is seeking to assure transparency in defence procurement, it appears that he may have more to explain, especially in the controversial Tatra trucks deal.

According to documents available with DNA newspaper, Antony knew of the Tatra trucks scam as early as 2009 but he chose not to act on the matter.

This is in contrast to his claims made in Parliament that Army Chief General VK Singh had informed him in September 2010 that he was offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore to clear the purchase of a tranche of 600 Tatra trucks.

Antony had told Parliament that he had asked the Army Chief to act in the matter and take action against the person guilty, but the latter chose not to pursue it. Due to this, Antony said, he could not act as he had not got any “written complaint”.

However, DNA reports that Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, also a senior Congress party leader, had written to Antony on October 5, 2009 on behalf of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi seeking “necessary action” in the Tatra case.

The Defence Ministry’s Department of Defence Production had even replied on October 22 that year stating that a probe was underway into the Tatra trucks deal.

“I would like to inform you that the matter is being examined in this ministry… the examination may take some time. As such, the minister (Azad) will be communicated after detailed examination of the case at appropriate level,” the letter stated.

Azad’s letter followed a complaint made in August 2009 to Sonia Gandhi by Dr D Hanumanthappa, president of the Karnataka wing of All India Federation of SC/ST/Backward Class and Minority Employees Welfare Association, alleging the BEML was purchasing Rs 6,000 crores worth of Tatra trucks from a UK agent and not from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), which was against established defence procurement rules.

BEML is the nodal agency appointed by the government to procure trucks for the Indian Army.

Dr Hanumanthappa says he had “met Sonia Gandhi and Defence Minister Antony personally” and got assurance of necessary action in the matter. “However, until today, I have not received any response on what happened to my complaint,” he said.

Apart from Antony, even then Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily was made aware of the scam.

Moily too had assured Dr Hanumanthappa of action in the matter but nothing happened on that front too.

Censor Board hates Paoli Dam’s sex talk in "Hate Story"

Director Vivek Agnihotri is miffed. Thanks to the censor board, Paoli's explicit sex talk in the controversial promo of " Hate Story" will now have to be beeped changing the thrust of the film from being an erotic thriller to a mushy, romantic movie.

Says Vivek, "The censor board has old-fashioned people and we have no choice but to live with the norms. The soap operas show so much of vulgar stuff and yet, no one has any problem with that. Lovemaking scenes are being shown on television. There is so much of vulgarity in the minds of characters from popular serials. But no one is bothered.

When it comes to the promos, we are told that we have to mute certain words. We have to cut a few things here and there. The scene where Paoli says: 'Main iss shehar ki sabse badi r**di banna chahti hoon (I want to be the biggest whore in the city)' and 'I f**k those who f**k with me' will be there though the words will be beeped. The result is that the promo is not representing the boldness of the movie. It's like buying a Merc but still having to negotiate bad traffic. However, when it comes to my film, I will not cut anything and will fight till the end. Mine is an adult film. It is not for kids and not meant for adults who think like kids."

However, the promos on YouTube will remain uncensored. "YouTube has very international laws of censorship. We are also finding out ways of using the digital media to screen these promos. We have a confused government and don't know what to do with life," he says.

Talking about performances, Vivek says he is lucky to have got someone like Paoli Dam who is "hungry to make a mark in Hindi cinema" and her ease to shed her voluptuous look. "Voluptuousness doesn't work in Bollywood. It might work in South Indian and Bengali cinema. But in Bollywood, the rules are different. Kareena too changed herself when she went for size zero.

What about rumours that her character is to some extent modelled on that of Sharon Stone in " Basic Instinct"? "This is the most original script by Vikram Bhatt. It has an Indianized commercial setting," the director says,