Alang beach remains a security concern, 5924 end-of-life ships beached so far

New Delhi : An application has been filed in Supreme Court in the matter of a hazardous end-of-life vessel named 'Oriental Nicety' (formerly Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, Sea River Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean) which has been purchased by Best Oasis Company, (a subsidiary of Priya Blue Industries Pvt Ltd) in the Indian waters in the name of dismantling and recycling. The minutes of the court constituted Inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on shipbreaking and a sensitive document that has been filed in the court reveal the repeated security concerns which remain unaddressed. The hazardous wastes/shipbreaking case Writ Petition (Civil) 657/1995 is coming up for hearing on May 3, 2012.  The application is attached.


The following are the prayers in the application: A relevant sensitive document (that is corroborated by recent minutes of IMC's 14th meeting dated February 2012) is


(i) Direct the Union of India to ensure that no end-of-life ship should be allowed without prior decontamination in the country of export as per this Hon’ble Court’s order dated October 14, 2003,
(ii) Direct the Union of India to send back all hazardous wastes laden end-of-life ships entering/ or have entered the Indian territorial waters without prior informed consent and without prior decontamination keeping in view the environmental principles,
(iii) Direct inquiry by an independent trans-disciplinary investigating agency to ascertain the circumstances of the dead US ship’s arrival in Indian territorial waters, to make concerned officials accountable for their acts of omission and commission and seek a detailed report on more than 1200 ships broken in last 5 years and more than 5924 ships broken since 1982;
(iv) Direct Union of India to ensure compliance with the recommendations of the Hon'ble Court constituted Inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on ship-breaking


The illegal traffic of this dead ship must be stopped besides investigating the possibility of fake documents which came to light in the earlier case of Platinum II, a US ship.The Ministry of Environment & Forests has invoked the Precautionary Principle and directed that granting permission for beaching and breaking, purposes of the ship will not be advisable in the case of Platinum II. It may be mentioned that precautionary principle is the basis of UN conventions, such as Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade and Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). India is a signatory to these conventions and has ratified them as well.The ex-Exxon Valdez is violating these international laws besides the court's order.

Need to Save Workers in Nuclear, Shipbreaking & Asbestos Industry

New Delhi : On International Commemoration Day  for Dead and Injured or Day of Mourning, ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA) remembers all the workers workers who got killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work in the nuclear, ship breaking and asbestos industry and appeals for legal remedy and justice for these workers.


Asbestos is banned in 55 countries. Nuclear power industry is being phased out in the post Fukushima world. The workers  condition in these two industries besides shipbreaking is among the worst in the industrial sector. TWA demands that asbestos should be phased out, non-nuclear sources of energy be adopted and shipbreaking industry be taken away from the Alang beach in the interest of workers environmental and occupational health rights.


TWA seeks a register of workers who work in the hazardous industries so that they can claim compensation for the occupational injuries and diseases they suffer. The recommendations contained in the minutes of the Interministerial committee is attached. These recommendations for safety measures for Alang Workers has been ignored.


The hazardous wastes/shipbreaking case Writ Petition (Civil) 657/1995 is coming up for hearing on May 3, 2012. An application has been filed in the Supreme Court has prayed for ban on end-of-life ships without prior decontamination in the country of export as per this Hon’ble Court’s order dated October 14, 2003 and an inquiry by an independent trans-disciplinary investigating agency to ascertain the circumstances of 'Oriental Nicety' (ex-Exxon Valdez), the dead US ship’s arrival in Indian territorial waters and to make concerned officials accountable for their acts of omission and commission and seek a detailed report on more than 1200 ships broken in last 5 years and more than 5924 ships broken since 1982 and for compliance with the recommendations of the Hon'ble Court constituted Inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on ship-breaking.


TWA demands provision of asbestos free housing facilities for workers of both the unorganised and organsied sector workers.  It demands the list of workers suffering occupational diseases for enabling the struggle for occupational and environmental health justice.

Mysore ready for water rationing?‏

MYSORE: Get ready for water rationing. Faced with a faulty distribution network, Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has decided to ration the supply and will announce the schedule. The limited time supply is likely to come into force early next week. The rationing will be in place at least till May-end. 


The civic body will press five additional tankers, taking their number to 40, and start the operations from 6am. There will be an exclusive mobile squad to attend to complaints and the officials tasking with water supply will meet daily at 7pm and chalk out a strategy. MCC has Rs 1-crore special grant, while Rs 30 lakh sanctioned to each of the three city MLAs for water will be used to meet the drinking water needs of one million people. 


Armed with chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda's directive to directly handle water supply in the city, the civic body is focusing on supplying water to all 65 wards. Some pockets in 14 wards are facing problems owing to technical reasons, which has aggravated since a month, leading to street protests. While the local body was confident that the crisis could be effectively handled with the commissioning of 14 overhead tanks by mid-April, the problem has deepened with some areas going dry. With the election to the civic body nine months away, the issue has assumed political colours. 


What has made the issue tricky is the Cauvery row with the Tamil Nadu seeking the apex court to restrain Karnataka from using water in the four major dams in the Cauvery delta, including the Krishnarajasagar dam, the main source for Mysore's drinking water needs. The live storage, which is usable water at the dam, is half of what it was during the corresponding period last year. Sources told TOI that as on Friday, 8.212 tmcft of water is available at the dam, which was 16.280 tmcft last year. As against the maximum of 124.8 feet, the water level is 91.08 feet, which is 11 feet less compared to 2011. 


This is for the first time in four years that the civic body is going in for extraordinary move even as the main water source has not hit rock bottom, indicating the mess in the execution of the project to overhaul the water distribution network. 


District minister S A Ramdas blamed Jameshdpur Utilities and Services Company (Jusco), a unit of Tata, for the mess but didn't spare the MCC either. "I don't know who devised the terms of conditions for the O&M of the water distribution network before signing agreement with Jusco. We can't go back on it too, even when Jusco is ready to pack and go," Ramdas said. "For two months, we will supply water during a particular time and we will announce the schedule too," he said. MCC agreed that even when the water level had plummeted to 67 feet, it had ensured the supply, which it cannot do now. Ramdas attributed this to lack of co-ordination between the MCC and Jusco officials.

PM Manmohan's disappointing speech at the NGBRA meeting

at the 3rd National Ganga River Basin Authority meeting on April 17, 2012, it promises nothing, says the most discredited IIT Roorkee report that even the Ministry of Environment and Forests’ Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley Projects criticized and does not follow and the report of the Wildlife Institute of India that his environment minister Jayanti Natrajan refuses to follow, will be their guiding lights and a multi disciplinary group will now study them! PM also has hopes from IIT consortium to provide guidance for future! The Consortium that has no track record on either understanding the complex social, cultural, environmental, economic and governance issues that plague the issues related to the state of the river, not does it have track record of taking independent positions on these politically tough issues.


On the deficit of 1800 MLD treatment capacity of Urban sewage (it is a gross underestimate) the only thing he has to offer is MONEY: "There is adequate funding available to create additional treatment facilities under the National Mission Clean Ganga." On under utililization of existing sewage, he suggests that it is basically because lack of connection with the sewage and O&M expenses, so he offers relaxation of norms! Neither are really the key problems affecting existing STPs.On persistently polluting industries, he only has a sermon to state government to strengthen enforcement mechanisms... such sermons have come and gone hundreds of times without any impact...


“...to attend to some of the institutional, administrative and financial problems that may be coming in the way of more effective implementation of pollution control and abatement measures", he asks the states to submit reports on urban and industrial pollution and than NGBRA can consider actions! He hints that it is well known what needs to be done, but clearly does not want to do anything...And of course not a word on the issue of Dams, the biggest threat to the river and all the related problems... Not a word on addressing the governance issues... PM acknowledges, "We should remember that our efforts in the past have not been very successful." but the only thing on offer is "a renewed and sincere commitment in both thought and action to make a definite change in the situation". Unfortunately, in the entire speech there is nothing at all to suggest that he means what he says.


The Full speech:
“I am happy to be present here today at the 3rd meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Authority. I extend a very warm welcome to you all. The National Ganga River Basin Authority was set up as a high level body that would give focussed attention to fulfilling our sacred and solemn duty to restore the pristine glory of the Ganga and preserve its riches for future generations.  The Centre, the Ganga basin States, civil society and industry should work together to make a success of this important national endeavour. We should remember that our efforts in the past have not been very successful. Therefore, we must together show a renewed and sincere commitment in both thought and action to make a definite change in the situation.

NCTC and UID/Aadhaar projects, threat to Citizens’ Rights & States’ Autonomy‏

*Punjab & Haryana Must Stop Collection of Citizens’ Biometric Data
*Govt overwhelmed by marketing blitzkrieg of surveillance, biometric,
*communication technology companies & international financial institutions


Chandigarh: The Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar project is a project that has no support in law. The collection of biometrics under the project to create a National Population Register (NPR) is illegal. This has been underlined by the report of India’s Parliamentary Standing on Finance. There are good reasons why countries like the UK, Australia, Philippines and China have rejected UID/Aadhaar and NPR-like projects, but these seem to have escaped the attention of the governments of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh which are implementing them in pursuance of the MoUs they have signed with the Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI).
These projects are based on the biometric profiling of citizens which, as the Standing Committee on Finance has observed, is without any legal mandate. These instead represent a threat to citizens’ rights and States’autonomy. The Central Government appears to have lost its way and has embarked on projects that show a deep disrespect for citizens of this country The profiling, and the intrusion of privacy, that is a central aspect of these projects are, among other things, contrary to the Supreme Court’s judgment dated July 4, 2011 where it reiterated that the Right to Privacy is a part of the constitutional Right to Life. The central government appears to have been in disrespectful disdain of this judgment too when it launched these projects on the basis of biometrics which is untested and untried, and which have surveillance, tracking, profiling, tagging and convergence at its core.
The 5 page MoU was initially signed by Punjab Govt on 15 April, 2010 and later revised on June 23, 2010. Haryana Government signed a 7 page MoU with UIDAI on June 10, 2010. The 5 page MoU between Union Territory of Chandigarh and UIDAI was signed on June 10, 2012. The MoUs are attached.

CPCB Report Condemns Jindal Ecopolis, Reveals Disaster Management Plan Missing‏

April 12, 2012, New Delhi:* Ongoing construction of waste incineration based power plants is an irresponsible way of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi government and central government to mask today's waste problems and pass the toxic burden they release on to future generations.

Environmental, resident and labour groups demand that all governments to start eliminating all Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). This means stopping all existing POPs sources, including dioxins. To achieve this, all existing incinerators must be closed, any plans for new incinerators must be scrapped and investment made into other, safer methods of waste disposal.

The 31 page report of the Union Environment Ministry constituted Technical Experts Evaluation Committee of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on the Timarpur-Okhla Waste to Energy Incinerator Plant was communicated on March 22, 2012. The which is owned by Timarpur-Okhla Waste to Energy Incinerator Plant by Prithivraj Jindal’s JITF Urban Infrastructure Limited (Jindal Ecopolis) has violated every rule in the rule book including environmental clearance conditions. It revealed to the Experts Committee in
September 2011 that it is using untested and unapproved Chinese incinerator technology in complete violation all laws and environmental clearance of 2007 including its own project design document and environment impact assessment report. The CPCB report, its critique and a Letter to the Prime Minister is attached.

During MCD elections underway, it has come to light that both Bhartiya Janta Party led MCD and Indian National Congress led Delhi government are colluding for the construction of three Dioxins emitting municipal waste incinerator based power plants for 66.9 MW power in Delhi unmindful of disastrous public health consequences disregarding bitter opposition from the residents of Okhla, Ghazipur and Narela-Bawana. In manifest contempt of Supreme Court’s order, Central government’s Ministry of New & Renewable Energy is providing Rs 1.5 crore/MW subsidy under its waste to energy policy.

PM's address at the inaugural ceremony of India Water Week‏

PM's address at the inaugural ceremony of India Water Week The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressed the inaugural ceremony of India Water Week today in New Delhi. Following is the text of Prime Minister's address on the occasion:

"I am very happy to have this opportunity to inaugurate the India Water Week that is focussing this year on the important themes of water, food and energy security.

With around 17% of the world's population but only 4% of its usable fresh water, India has a scarcity of water. Rapid economic growth and urbanisation are widening the demand supply gap. Climate change could further aggravate the availability of water in the country as it threatens the water cycle. Our water bodies are getting increasingly polluted by untreated industrial effluents and sewage. Groundwater levels are falling in many parts due to excess drawals leading to contamination with fluoride, arsenic and other chemicals. The practice of open defecation, which regrettably is all too widespread, contributes to contaminating potable water sources.

The Planning Commission has identified the challenge of managing our water resources in a rational and sustainable manner as one of the critical challenges in the Twelfth Five year Plan. It will require action on many fronts and coordination across different sectors of our economy.

We have launched a National Water Mission as part of our Action Plan on Climate Change. The main objective of this Mission is to achieve integrated management of water resources by conserving water, minimizing wastage and ensuring its more equitable distribution both across and within various States of our Union.

The Mission proposed a review of the National Water Policy and a draft of the new Policy has been put in the public domain for widespread public consultation.

Open Letter for Converting Siachen Glacier into Nature & Peace Park‏

An Open Letter to President of Pakistan and Prime Minister of India on Siachen Glacier, urging them to convert `world's highest battlefield' into a Nature and Peace Park 

Hon'ble President, Government of Pakistan  

Hon'ble Prime Minister, Government of India

Sir,

This is to draw your attention towards the avalanche in Siachen glacier that hit a Pakistani military camp in the area, burying at least 130 Pakistani soldiers on April 7, 2012. This avalanche underlines how governments of India and Pakistan have maintained a permanent military presence on Siachen glacier at a height of over 6,000 meters since April 1984.

It has been estimated that more than 2000 people have died in this inhospitable terrain, mostly due to weather extremes and the natural hazards of mountain warfare. several thousand Indian and Pakistan soldiers are deployed at Siachen, the site of one of the border disputes between the two countries. Bothe Indian and Pakistani soldiers have died. They suffer from sunburns and frostbites in temperatures that plunge to -40 degrees C.

It is high time both the governments withdrew the military from Siachen. The withdrawal of armed forces will be a great act of ecological sanity. The glacier's melting waters are the main source of the Nubra river in India Ladakh, which drains into the Shyok river. The Shyok in turn joins the Indus river It is thus a major source of recharge of the Indus. The glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalaya mountains east of the Line of Control between India-Pakistan is longest glacier in the Karakoram and second-longest in the world's non-polar areas.  

It is noteworthy that the visit by a US Army Chief along with the Indian Army Chief in October 2008 underlined the strategic significance of the area. What has not been underlined is its ecological significance. It has been noted that Siachen glacier has vanished by half as per geological field evidence.

As you are aware, Siachen glacier, where both Indian and Pakistani military troops are stationed for 25 years, has melted to half its earlier size. It has reduced it to 74 kilometers from 150 kilometers in length.

In such a situation, if this trend is not arrested with promptness and unity of purpose Siachen glacier might vanish in your life time. This will be a fitting tribute to the soldiers who have died to defend their motherland. History will judge you quite harshly if blind jingoism is allowed to have a field day even as the motherland melts away.       

 In view of the above facts, I earnestly and solemnly appeal to both the President of Pakistan and Prime Minister of India to convert on Siachen glacier, "world's highest battlefield" into a Nature and Peace Park which will be remembered by history as an act of statesmanship worthy of emulation by generations to come.  Yours Sincerely--Gopal Krishna

Toxic waste-to- electricity incinerators reveals betrayal by BJP and Congress‏

Citizens Must Defeat anti-environment and anti-people political forces

March 6, 2012 NEW DELHI: Residents, environmental groups and waste recycling workers are protesting against Bharaitya Janata Party (BJP)'s manifesto that promises bring municipal waste incinerators to generate electricity by burning waste in the national capital region in contravention of a Supreme Court order putting a stay on use of incinerator technology. Delhi’s waste recycling workers and environmental groups are demanding the scrapping of the waste-to-energy policy which was not only polluting but also affected their livelihoods. 

Earlier opposition party leaders of the BJP had also expressed apprehension over the location of such a plant in a densely populated areas of South Delhi. “This plant would release various types of harmful gases which will certainly pose serious helath threat to the lives of surrounding residents,” said Vijay Kumar Malhotra, BJP M.P. in a letter dated June 27, 2008 to the Lt. Governor of Delhi, Tejender Khanna. The U-turn by BJP is an act betrayal.

The toxic emissions from plants of this type have been known to cause birth deformities, caners, respiratory ailments and hormonal problems. This proposal of the BJP in collusion with the Indian National Congress will turn Delhi into a health and environment disaster zone. Residents, environmental groups, waste recycling workers and left and socialist parties have joined hands to oppose the hazardous municipal waste incinerators in Delhi's Narela-Bawana, Ghazipur and Okhla.

Concerns over India rivers order

By Navin Singh Khadka
A supreme court order in India asking the government to link more than 30 rivers and divert waters to parched areas has sparked concerns in neighbouring countries. Bangladesh says it would be hardest hit because it is a downstream country to two major rivers that flow from India.New Delhi is yet to respond to the neighbouring countries' reactions.

The multi-billion-dollar project was announced by the Indian government in 2002 but had since remained on paper.Experts in Nepal say the country's unstable political situation could open the door for India to build dams and reservoirs in Nepalese territory for the inter-linking project - known as the ILR. Hydrologists say as an upstream country, Nepal has ideal locations for the infrastructure required to make the mammoth Indian project happen. Bhutan too has similar locations and some of its rivers are tributaries to the Bramhaputra, a major river system in the region included in India's river-linking project.

Long-running disputes 
The project's basic idea is to take water from areas where authorities believe it is abundant and divert it to areas where there is less available for irrigation, power and human consumption.Official Indian documents have stated that the country - with its population of 1.2 billion - is increasingly water-stressed. But when the government tried to present the ILR as a possible solution, it became quite controversial as critics argued it would have huge environmental consequences.

They also said it was unfeasible on technical grounds and that not all the states through which the rivers flow might allow waters to be diverted.Some Indian states already have long-running water sharing disputes.Delivering the court's order earlier this month, the judges said the project had long been delayed, resulting in an increase in cost. Some 10 years ago, the super-ambitious scheme was billed at $120bn and was estimated that it would take 16 years to complete.

The court has also appointed a committee to plan and implement the project in a "time-bound manner". Even before any of that began, Bangladesh was already quite critical of the idea. "We can never agree to it," Ramesh Chandra Sen, Bangladeshi water resources minister told the BBC. "Our agriculture, economy and our lives depend on these rivers, and we cannot imagine their waters being diverted."

Waterways are not pipelines: Why inter-linking rivers is a recipe for disaster

By DINESH C SHARMA
You would be shocked if someone told you that the apex court has recently directed the central government to redefine the geography of India. This made no 'breaking news' on television but this is exactly what the court has directed.Yet this is the precise implication of the court directive asking the centre to implement the project to inter-link Indian rivers - the grandiose plan which had been lying in cold storage for many years.

In both its original shape when it was conceived several decades ago and in its resurrected form during the NDA regime, the project starts with a map of India with rivers marked in blue, decides that all the rivers need to be linked, and then talks of modalities of joining all the blue lines with a red pen.Once all the rivers are linked up as part of this grand design, then the map of India would certainly look different and we will have to change Indian maps in all our geography text books. It is this plan of re-engineering India's geography that the court has put its seal on and wants the government to implement because, in its opinion, it is in 'national interest'.

The ecological, economic and social costs of interlinking rivers are going to be enormous. All these concerns were articulated during the public debate that took place when the NDA government wanted to push this project as a 'nationalist' dream a decade ago.The interlinking would involve about 30 large projects and construction of 80 dams all over the country. Just imagine the ecological devastation it would cause in different parts of the country.

There is no estimation as yet of how much it would cost, but one can say it certainly has all ingredients of giving rise to a million scams.All this apart, the project goes against basic tenets of sustainable development as it solely focuses on traditional approach of supply-side response to a projected or imagined demand. A group of concerned experts and individuals have appealed to the court to reconsider its judgment. They argue that the idea of transferring flood waters to arid or drought-prone areas is flawed because there will be hardly any flood-moderation and the project would not benefit drylands in any case. Arguing that water from 'surplus' basins needs to be transferred to 'deficit' ones is unscientific. When you say a river is 'surplus' you are ignoring multiple purposes that it serves as it flows through different regions before joining the sea. (dailymail.co.uk)

Senior minister Sutradhar of coup report?

By-MADHAV NALAPAT
NEW DELHI: ources involved in tracking sensitive developments claim that a senior minister of the UPA government was the mastermind of the April 4 front page item in a daily newspaper about a suspected coup attempt. The sources claim that the minister is connected - through his close relative - with the defense procurement lobbies gunning for Chief of Army Staff General V K Singh,and that the decision to "trick the
newspaper into running a baseless report was to drain away support for General Singh within the political class",who could be expected to unite against any effort at creating a Pakistan-style situation in India. However,the minister in question appears to have miscalculated the response of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defense Minister to the report."The minister assumed that both would decline comment on the report, in view of their strained relations with the Army chief, but instead both came out foursquare against the newspaper.This surprised both the minister as well as journalists who relied on him for the initial information," a source claimed.

Others say that a close relative of the minister in question has been "regularly meeting with arms merchants and their lobbyists,including on his many visits abroad".They say that the Intelligence Bureau seems clueless about such activities,as "its net does not cover the influential people in question". Those connected with national security say that "the net of arms merchants is very wide, with Dubai,London and Bangkok being the three locations where they usually wine,dine and otherwise entertain VVIPs from India". In order to ensure protection for their operations,a lot of which involves dubious money transfers, such agencies and individuals "usually function as auxiliaries of foreign intelligence agencies, and are told to ferret out sensitive and secret information from their contacts". These sources claim that "non-declared units of selected NATO member country intelligence agencies (especially one with a huge presence in the defense procurement market in India ) regularly liase with lobbyists and employees of arms manufacturers,and  use them for operations such as honeytrapping".In such a context,"their link with relatives of ministers is a worry."

Armsgate: Is CBI shielding VVIP sons-in-law

By-MADHAV NALAPAT
he CBI is wary of opening an enquiry into certain decisions made by Lt-Gen Dalbir Suhag,whose date of birth has ensured that he will succeed Lt-General Bikramjit Singh as Chief of Army Staff within three years. Part of the reason may be the fact that such an investigation could lead to the examination of past procurement decisions taken by an intelligence agency of the government. A previous head of that agency
was known for doubtful ethics,and succeeded in destroying much of the esprit d'corps in his organisation during his tenure at the top. This gentleman owed his position to a prominent political family.Were the complaint forwarded by Chief of Army Staff V K Singh to be corrrectly investigated by the CBI , attention may get focussed on procurement decisions taken by this former head of the intelligence agency (now
deceased) and at least two of his then subordinates,thereby angering their political backers. Although the CBI is nominally under the PM, because of his influence over promotions and postings of IPS cadre officers,Home Minister P Chidambaram has a decisive -if recessed -influence over its functioning.

Within the UPA,senior ministers such as A K Antony and Pranab Mukherjee have been encouraged by Sonia Gandhi to take up assignments which are overtly political in nature,as have two other Congress heavyweights within the Union Cabinet, P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal. Hence it is unsurprising that decisions may get taken on grounds other than administrative expediency. Interestingly,the very department which  supervises the intelligence agency sought to be shielded from a CBI  probe was the one tasked with "investigating" complaints against Lt-Gen Suhag. This is the Cabinet Secretariat,which in effect probed its own actions. Not unexpectedly,it gave the Lt-General a clean chit,and this exoneration has been seized upon by the CBI to reject General V K Singh's request for a comprehensive probe into allegations of malfeasance against his subordinate, a decision that must have the concurrence of ministers P Chidambaram and A K Antony,both of whom are respectful of the need for loyal ministers to hew close to the wishes of the Congress High Command.

Who is Lt-Gen Tejinder Singh?‏

By-MADHAV NALAPAT
hose involved in the making of purchases for security agencies under  the Home Ministry or the PMO say that retired Lt-General Tejinder Singh,who has been explicitly accused by the Army of having floated  reports that Chief of Army Staff General V K Singh spied on Defense  Minister A K Antony, is not an unknown figure within the world of  suppliers of equipment. One source said that Tejinder Singh "operates in tandem with a Major Hooda (retd) and his son, both of whom are well  known to Karthik Chidambaram,the influential son of Home Minister P Chidambaram". The younger Hooda, a presumed relative of the Haryana Chief Minister, is alleged to be "active in promoting the products of certain agencies, including foreign entities". 


These sources claim that Tejinder Singh was very close to a former Chief of Army Staff and that 
he "knows the incoming Chief of Army Staff,Lt-General Bikramjit Singh, very well". None of these claims could be verified,especially suggestions that a such link "could influence procurement decisions by the Army in the future". General V K Singh is known to have had a series of battles with established cartels involved in military procurement,unlike some of his predecessors,who "played along with such elements". That the incoming Chief of Army Staff has very powerful support within the UPA was made clear by the government's decision to announce that he would succeed General V K Singh,even if the latter were to quit prematurely. It needs to be said that Lt-General Bikramjit Singh is widely regarded as a capable officer,with an excellent record in counter-insurgency operations.


Surprisingly,the CBI has thus far not shown any interest in investigating the many allegations that Lt-General Tejinder Singh,Major Hooda and others are involved in efforts to influence procurement decisions in the Home and Defense Ministries,besides those in NTRO,RAW  and the Aviation Research Service. Reports of suspicious transactions in these agencies have been buried under a carpet of official indifference. By avoiding an enquiry, what has happened is that the miasma of suspicion that is hovering over the head of Karthik Chidambaram is continuing. Numerous sources allege "undue attention and interest" by the young politician in matters relating to equipment suggested as being needed for national security. 

Dumping of dead & hazardous US Ship, former Exxon Valdez in Indian waters‏

Letter to Shri G K Vasan,Union Minister of Shipping

Sir,
This is with reference to The Washington Post news report, “The many lives of the Exxon Valdez” (March 29, 2012) that relates to a hazardous end-of-life vessel Oriental Nicety (formerly Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, Sea River Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean) has been purchased by Best Oasis, a subsidiary of Priya Blue Industries based in Alang, Gujarat. This purchase is in violation of the Supreme Court’s order of October 14, 2003 and UN’s Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal to which India is a party. This is a second such ship originally from USA that is outwitting Indian laws since 2009. The picture of the ship and its profile is attached.
I submit that USA’s regulations and European Union regulations prohibit the entry of such vessels. The collusion among maritime officials appears to have facilitated its entry into the Indian waters violating apex court’s order and the precedent set by Le Clemenceau. Such criminal acts of omission and commission merit a high level probe to ascertain the dubious circumstances in which this has happened.
I am an applicant in the Supreme Court in the hazardous wastes/shipbreaking case. The case came up for hearing on March 28, 2012. The next date of hearing is on April 18, 2012. The application for dead and hazardous US ship Platinum II which entered Indian waters in 2009 on fake documents forms part of this case. In an Office Memorandum No.29-3/2009-HSMD, Government of India, Ministry of Environment & Forests, (HSM Division) dated 9th May, 2011 relating to implementation of Supreme Court directions in respect of ship breaking activities, it has been admitted that the issue regarding the submission of fake certificates by the ship owners/agents remains unresolved. I apprehend that ex-Exxon Valdez may also have fake documents.
I submit that Oriental Nicety (formerly Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, Sea River Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean) was purchased in March 2012 by a US based company Global Marketing Systems (GMS), which is one of the biggest, cash buyers for dead ships. It has been sold to Best Oasis for about $16 million. This 301 meters long tanker is 50 meters wide, 26 meters depth, weighing 30,000 tons empty and powered by a 23.60 MW diesel engine. US based National Steel and Shipbuilding Company built this tanker for Exxon Mobil Corporation, a US multinational oil and gas corporation and a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. It was built in San Diego, California in 1986.

Parliamentary Committee’s deadline for Planning Commission’s reply on questionable UID/aadhaar and related projects

Letter to Prime Minister 

Sir,
I wish to draw your attention towards two news reports ‘House panel raps Planning Comm for breach of trust on new UID law’ (The Pioneer, 30 MARCH 2012, SEEMA SINDHU) and ‘Rein in the bureaucracy if you want us to deliver, perform: private sector stars in govt let PM know’ (Indian Express, March 30 2012, P. Vaidyanathan Iyer). I submit that the Planning Commission has breached the trust by the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Finance. The Parliamentary Committee has raised grave concerns on the proposal of the Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar and collection of biometric data of the citizens without legal mandate in its report National Identification
Authority of India (NIDAI) Bill, 2010 that has been presented to both the houses of Parliament in December 2011. The Commission has ignored its recommendations in utter contempt toward the Parliament and towards the Parliamentary Committee and has got more fund allocated for the UID/Aadhhar project.


I submit that in a meeting on March 28, 2012, PSC Chairman, Yashwant Sinha told Planning Commission’s Member Secretary that it was “bypassing parliamentary procedure and inviting serious problems by not having re-introduced the Bill and simultaneously making further fund allocations for the project”. This has been brought to light.


I submit that the joint letter of Shri Sam Pitroda, adviser to the PM on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations, Nandan Nilekani, chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India, S Ramadorai, adviser to the PM in the National Skill Development Council, Planning Commission member Arun Maira, and National Intelligence Grid CEO P Raghu Raman was given to you. Their letter has sought your intervention to streamline the institutional framework in which they work, so that they have more


autonomy. It reveals that they are troubled by democractic processes and safeguards. Prior to this letter a memorandum opposing Aadhaar and other anti-people policies was submitted to you along with a big truck load of signatures numbering 3.57 crore on March 14, 2012 by Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist). One has learnt that the joint letter has been referred to your Principal Secretary, Shri Pulok Chatterjee to study the suggestions and take necessary action. I wish to know what is your response to the memorandum that was submitted to you with 3.57 crore signatures.

NOBODY IS LISTENING TO OUR CRY - ALL INDIA JEWELLERS ASSOCIATION

Jewellers of India wishes to bring to notice to the central government of India with re-implementation of the central excise duty law once again onto to us. The entire India jewellers association has been protesting against this law since 17th of March’12 now and we are in a very bad financial state. We have seen and have faced the hazards of the same in the past and was finally put to a stop in 1990. 

This entire law does not help the government to extract more tax from the people but it increases corruption both in the officers and the public. .

THE HAZARDS OF THE RE-IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CENTRAL EXCISE DUTY RULE – DICTATORSHIP OF CUSTOM OFFICIALS

1. Sentenced to jail for 7 years is too harsh a rule to be enforced, if found guilty .
2. Officer would have the authoritative power to seal stock and the shop. History of this law says, this power has been misused and had increased corruption
3. Penalty amount could be anything what the officer will demand for.
4. If one fails to pay the duty, the penalty would be four times the duty
5. The officer can take over and seize one’s property and valuables for 6 months
6. If officer catches any error in stock management report, the stock could be seized and the shop could be forced to be closed
7. Purification of the metal (gold melting), would be only done from Mumbai’s official houses
8. The manufacturer or labour’s stock would be seized if found any correction in their stock report
9. Pure gold could be only bought from the government through banks by paying through cheques. This would once again increase smuggling of gold.

What could help is to introduce extra tax as (for e.g. cess tax) and rollback this dictator law and avoid inclusion of custom excise officials and cause sense of insecurity to the jewellers.