Iran, six global powers focus on framework of confidence building measures
Iran and the six global powers have commenced crucial talks that are likely to focus on a framework of confidence building measures that could culminate in erasing western fears of military diversion, and allow Tehran sanction-free access to peaceful nuclear energy.
An air of anticipation gripped the talks after an unnamed senior official from the Obama administration, on background, briefed the media about the second instalment of nuclear talks in Geneva. He pointed out that there could be some easing of sanctions, if Iran agreed to freeze its nuclear programme, and showed readiness for a partial roll back.
The New York Times quoted the official as saying: “Put simply, what
we’re looking for now is a first phase, a first step, an initial understanding that stops Iran’s nuclear programme from moving forward for the first time in decades and that potentially rolls part of it back.”
On their part, the Iranians are also exuding considerable confidence about the outcome of the talks. Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told France 24 television en route to Geneva that building on the progress that had already been achieved earlier “it is even possible to reach that agreement this week, [but if] we don’t make a breakthrough at this round, it’s not a disaster.”
The Iranian media has reported that during the first round of the two-day talks that ended on October 16, Mr. Zarif had made an elegant Power Point presentation that was hopefully titled: “Closing an Unnecessary Crisis, and Opening a New Horizon.”
While details are yet to revealed of a confidence building spiral that could lift sanctions incrementally, negotiations are likely to focus on Iran’s 20 per cent enrichment of uranium, which, potentially, takes Tehran closer to the bomb that requires enrichment above a 90 per cent level.
The website Al Monitor, quoting a Washington-based western diplomat is reporting that Iran’s interlocutors would insist that Tehran halt construction of its Arak heavy water reactor, which could support the development of a plutonium-based atomic bomb.
The possibility of a breakthrough in the two-day talks is expected to hinge on “reversible steps” that either side can take in the initial stage. For instance, in return for 20 per cent freeze, the global powers could allow Tehran access to some of the oil revenues accumulating in countries like Japan, China and India, which continue to purchase Iranian crude.
If either side reneges from its commitments during this phase, return to the status quo will remain an option.
Iran’s interlocutors — the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany — are also seeking the definition of an “end result” that they wish to achieve, which could become a reference point to channel confidence building steps.
The Iranians are expressing readiness to be accommodative, but insist that they would not relinquish their “right” to enrich uranium. Some Iranian analysts say Tehran would not give up 5 per cent uranium enrichment, as this would be required to produce fuel for its civilian atomic power plants in the future.
The escalatory process of confidence building is in line with the Russian step-by-step proposal, observers say. This initiative, expressed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in 2011 envisaged that sanctions against Iran should progressively decrease as it addresses concerns about its nuclear programme.
The expectation of a solid outcome at the Geneva talks has triggered a negative response from Israel. Israel will “strongly oppose” a proposal that world powers are “examining” regarding Iran’s nuclear programme, senior Israeli officials said, The Jerusalem Post reported.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has launched a feverish Twitter campaign invoking “The Real Face of Iran,” where pictures have been posted of the recent protests, during which, demonstrators marking 34 years of the siege of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, chanted “Death to America” and torched American flags.
There could be some easing of sanctions if Iran agrees to freeze nuclear plan, says official
Iranians insist that they will not relinquish “right” to enrich uranium
Gauhati High Court sets aside 1963 resolution on CBI formation
Rules that the agency is neither an organ nor part of the DSPE
The Gauhati High Court has quashed the Union Home Ministry resolution by which the Central Bureau of Investigation was constituted way back in 1963. The court held that the CBI was neither an organ nor part of the Delhi Special Police Establishment and thus could not be treated as a “police force” constituted under the DSPE Act. In their 89-page judgment, Justices I.A. Ansari and Indira Shah said on Wednesday: “While we decline to hold and declare that the DSPE Act, 1946 is not a valid piece of legislation, we do hold that the CBI is neither an organ nor part of the DSPE and the CBI cannot be treated as a police force constituted under the DSPE Act, 1946.” Though the Division Bench had directed the respondents to produce the original records on creation of the CBI, they just submitted a certified copy of the records from the National Archive. “However, even a perusal of the entire records makes it clear that the Resolution, dated April 1, 1963, was neither produced before the President, nor did it ever receive the assent of the President. Hence, strictly speaking, the Resolution cannot even be termed the decision of the Government of India. That apart, it is apparent from the records that the CBI is a newly constituted body and not the same as DSPE.”
Rules that the agency is neitheran organ nor partof the DSPE
HC clarification on Green Tribunal
The Kerala High Court on Thursday clarified that only cases under the seven enactments mentioned in the National Green Tribunal Act would be posted for referring to the Green Tribunal.
The court made the clarification after the Kerala High Court Advocates Association president Babu Paul met the Chief Justice following the categorisation of 45 cases, including the Adivasi land issue and Munnar land cases, for referring to the tribunal. The seven enactments given under the National Green Tribunal Act include the Biological Diversity Act, Public Liability Insurance Act, Fo rest Conservation Act, Enviro nmental Protection Act and Acts relating to prevention of water and air pollution.
Desmond Tutu questions persistence of caste
South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate and anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu told The Hindu that he had not heard of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
He was pleasantly surprised when informed that Dr. Ambedkar chaired the drafting committee of the Constitution of India.
Asked why African leaders fighting apartheid had not paid enough attention to him unlike Mahatma Gandhi, Archbishop Tutu said: “We were involved in our struggle against the racial injustices in South Africa, and you were looking for allies who would be able to help change your own set up. So obviously there was need to link up with those who had influence and power in their country.”
He hinted that it would be natural for an alliance to develop between Africans who struggled against injustice under apartheid regime and Dalits who are struggling against caste prejudices.
“More of us should be concerned about it [caste discrimination] and perhaps be interrogating the other part of Indian society as to why they are allowing this to continue if it is an egalitarian society. I mean your Constitution says so.”
The Archbishop stressed that Indian society should be challenged about the situation of Dalits because it affects one’s humanity.
Solar-powered lamps to light up Karur
olar-powered streetlamps are increasingly replacing conventional electricity-powered ones to lessen the power burden of panchayats and government agencies in Karur district.
The district has been sanctioned 380 solar streetlamps during the current fiscal. While tenders were being finalised on the sanction for taking up actual execution, work on installing the previous year’s sanction for the district of the same quantum of 380 lights is under way.
Already 360 lamps have been installed in 24 locations, each with 15 lamps in a row. One unit comprising 15 lamps costs Rs.2.5 lakh. A total of 24 panchayats have been allotted one unit each. The rest 20 solar streetlamps, costing Rs.30,000 each, would be distributed to 20 other pachayats for providing lighting to inaccessible areas. That apart, Karur was allotted 1,033 houses under the Chief Minister’s Green House Scheme for the same year that has a provision for installing five solar lights in each unit at a cost of Rs.30,000.
These solar lamps could get conventional power back up from batteries during the monsoon days even when there is sparse sunlight.
Global meet for making farming profitable
The 9{+t}{+h}World Agricultural Forum (WAF) congress and Agri-Tech trade fair concluded here on Thursday with the promise of bringing back a smile in the faces of farmers by making agriculture a sustainable and profitable profession.
Speaking at the valedictory session, chairman of the WAF advisory board James Bolger, who is also the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, said there was need to bridge the rapidly growing gap between farm and non-farm income to change the logic of more and more people seeking to be non-farmers.
Assembly Speaker N. Manohar said farming should be made sustainable keeping in mind the depleting natural resources and increasing scarcity of labour. Minister for Agriculture Kanna Lakshminarayana spoke.
Tea Park to come up in Ooty
In a bid to expedite work on creating a Tea Park near here a site inspection was carried out by The Nilgiris Collector P. Shankar on Thursday.
He was accompanied by a team of officials including the Project Director, Hill Area Development Programme (HADP) Srinivas R. Reddy and the Joint Director of Horticulture, N.Mani.
The facility has been proposed with a financial outlay of Rs. 79 lakh extended by the HADP. It will form part of a tea garden owned by the Department of Horticulture near the Doddabetta peak.
Stating that work will begin shortly, Mr. Shankar said that it will suitably highlight the role of tea in not only promoting tourism but also ensuring the economic well being of the Blue Mountains.
Pointing out that the proposed park will feature many things, he said that among them would be a foot path to go around, a museum to learn about the origin and development of tea in the World in general and The Nilgiris in particular, a resting place, a restaurant and a children’s amusement area. There will also be a parking lot. It will be an ideal place for tourists to take a break while on the Ooty-Kotagiri highway.
Goa International Film Festival to kick off on Nov. 20
US actress and Iranian film-maker to share stage
India will host two international film festivals in November. The Children’s Film Festival will be held in Hyderabad between 14th and 20th, followed immediately by the International Film Festival of India between the 20th and 30th of this month.
Announcing the festivals, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tewari, said IFFI was special on several counts this year. The well-known Hollywood actress Susan Sarandon and celebrated Iranian film-maker Majid Majidi,will share the stage in Goa. Getting representatives of US and Iran together, according to Mr. Tewari, is a ‘reflection of India’s soft-power’.
Two separate films on Nobel Laureates, Nelson Mandela and Lech Walesa, will be screened along with a film on Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as the Frontier Gandhi. The festival would have a special focus on films from the northeast. The lifetime achievement award would be given to Jiri Menzel, who is known as the pioneer of Czech New Wave cinema. A new centenary award, to mark 100 years of Indian cinema, would be instituted and given on the occasion. Acclaimed actress Michelle Yeoh would be the chief guest for the closing ceremony of the event.
At the Children’s Film Festival, a retrospective on the best of India’s children’s films would be screened. There would also be a special focus on animation films.
Recover money for unauthorised security, High Court asks U.P.
The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Thursday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to explain provision of security to unauthorised persons and recover the money spent on them.
Justices Imtiyaz Murtaza and Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya passed the order on a public interest litigation petition by Lucknow-based social activist Nutan Thakur.
The government’s counter affidavit pointed out that at present 830 persons over and above those on the authorised list were provided security by the State. Of them, 170 were given security free of cost and 650 others on payment. The total expenditure on the persons beyond the authorised list was Rs. 4.83 crore, of which Rs. 3 crore was recovered.
Asking the State why the remaining Rs. 1.83 crore had not been recovered, the Bench directed the Principal Secretary (Home) to file a reply. If the money was not recovered within 15 days, the SSPs/SPs of the districts would be held liable.
In all cases where security was provided without the recommendation of the district security committee, the government should present a copy of the court order, if any, on which security was given. In all other cases, security must be withdrawn immediately, the Bench said.
Nehru was averse to sending troops to Kashmir in 1947: Advani
Quotes an interview given by Sam Manekshaw to senior journalist Prem Shankar Jha
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani, quoting an interview of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw (then a Colonel), claimed that the former Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was reluctant to send troops into Jammu & Kashmir in 1947 to halt the march of invading Pakistani tribesman, but the then Home Minister Sardar Patel prevailed over him.
Earlier this week, Mr. Advani triggered a controversy after he quoted a book that claims Pandit Nehru was opposed to police action against the Nizam of Hyderabad, who did not want to accede to India. The Congress had vehemently contested Mr. Advani’s claim and challenged him to prove it.
In his latest blog entry, Mr. Advani extensively quoted an interview Sam Manekshaw gave to senior journalist Prem Shankar Jha on the sequence of events during the invasion of Kashmir by Pakistani tribesmen and the Indian response.
Referring to the military leader’s claim, Mr. Advani said Lord Mountbatten called a Cabinet meeting soon after Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession. This was attended by Pandit Nehru, Mr. Patel and defence minister Baldev Singh.
“Manekshaw presented the ‘military situation’ in the meeting and suggested the Indian forces be moved there. As usual Nehru talked about the United Nations, Russia, Africa, God almighty, everybody, until Sardar Patel lost his temper. He said, ‘Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir, or do you want to give it away?’ He [Nehru] said, ‘Of course, I want Kashmir’. Then he [Patel] said ‘Please give your orders’. And before he could say anything Sardar Patel turned to me and said, ‘You have got your orders’,” Mr. Advani wrote.
Indian forces were then flown to Srinagar to fight the invaders and those of Hari Singh’s Muslim soldiers who had defected to Pakistan.
EC to convey views of parties on opinion polls to Government
The Election Commission will soon write to the Law and Justice Ministry on the views expressed by various recognised political parties on banning opinion polls during elections.
Right now the ban on displaying any election matter including results of opinion poll or any other poll survey, under Section 126(1)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, is applicable only to the electronic media, the cinematograph or other similar apparatus.
The ban is valid from 48 hours before the end of the first phase of poll to till the completion of polling hours in the final phase (if it is multiphase elections).
Informed sources said though the EC in 2004, had written, as part of electoral reforms, to the government suggesting that the opinion poll be banned from the date of notification (commencement of nominations for the first phase) itself there was not much progress after that. About one-and-a-half months ago, the govt had sent a communication to the EC asking it to get the views of the parties on banning opinion polls.
Among the major parties, the Congress is supporting the suggestion for banning the opinion poll, but the BJP is opposing it. The BJP felt that the ban on opinion polls would be a 'restriction' on the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed in the Constitution.
Cabinet clears climate negotiation strategy
Team to reassert importance of historical emissions in the discussions at Warsaw
The Union Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan and climate negotiators’ team got the approval from the Union Cabinet on Thursday to reassert the importance of historical emissions in the new climate agreement, which is to be discussed at Warsaw beginning November 11.
The Cabinet cleared the non-negotiable lines for the team deciding that India would ensure that in a pledge-based top-down agreement the onus to take emission cuts for meeting the 2 degree Celsius target lies strongly on the developed countries.
At the ongoing U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks, the 195-member countries have all but come around to having what is called a bottoms-up approach under the new global climate compact to be signed in 2015. In this format each country volunteers targets for emission reduction based on its capability instead of a top-down approach where targets are set down through the negotiations for each country. Some countries have suggested that the volunteered targets can then be assessed to see if they add up to meet the requirement of keeping the global temperature rise below 2 degree Celsius. The U.S. has disagreed and demanded that increasing the volunteered targets should be left to the respective country to decide and there should not be a formal mechanism forcing the nations to do so.
In the Cabinet decision taken on Thursday, the government has decided that the global agreement should be along the bottoms-up approach but any gap between volunteered cuts of all countries and the cumulative global agreement should be met by the developed countries which have a historical obligation to fight climate change.
Along the lines of Ms. Natarajan’s statement in the interview to The Hindu , the government has left the door open to make a voluntary commitment under the 2015 agreement to reduce the growth of emissions. But India would not agree to processes outside the UNFCCC set up to fight climate change become mandatory. The Cabinet also decided that sector-specific targets or targets for administrative entities lower than the Union government, such as city and town councils, would not be agreed to.
The 2015 agreement would have to be under the existing U.N. convention and not in breach of any of its elements and principles for India to be part of it, the Cabinet decided.
Ms. Natarajan will lead the Ministerial round of the two-week negotiations and has been empowered to work with the BASIC and the Like-Minded Developing Countries to ensure that the rich countries put a clear timeline to how and when they shall provide the promised U.S. $100 billion by 2020.
India will not permit private investments in green technologies from developed world be sold as a replacement for inter-country transfers.
The Cabinet has also reasserted India’s position on the controversial issue of HFCs — refrigerant gases that harm the climate — which had recently found support from China and select other G20 countries besides other.
The Indian climate team has been tasked to ensure that any phase out of the gases is done under the principles of the UNFCCC which includes the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and equity.
Increasing the volunteered targets should be left to the respective country: U.S.
India will not agree to processes outside the UNFCCC set up to fight climate change
Oil leak destroys mangroves on Mumbai coast
Mangroves stretching over several kilometres along the coast in the eastern suburb of Mahul have been destroyed due to an oil leak from a pipeline carrying furnace oil from the sea to a refinery in the area. The sprawling black sheet of oil has settled on the mudflats too, affecting the seedlings of mangroves.
Forest officials told The Hindu that the damage was serious and had happened over a period of time. “We did not know the source of the oil leak then, but we issued a preliminary report on October 17 pointing out that oil was continuously leaking in the area,” Sanjay Mali, divisional forest officer told The Hindu after inspecting the location on Thursday.
The pipeline is owned and operated by the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), which denied that the extensive damage was caused by their leaked pipeline alone.
“We have plugged the leak and will inspect all pipelines in the area,” said MbPT spokesperson Mohan Chandran.
Forest officials said they would soon conduct a survey to gauge the extent of damage.
“It is difficult to estimate the exact area of damage as we will have to conduct a detailed survey through the sea route,” Mr. Mali said. But oil slick-damaged mangroves could be seen on the entire stretch of the coastline from Mahul to the area behind the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. Local fishermen claimed that the slick had spread at least three kilometres till Sewri on the opposite side too. The entire stretch is at least 10 kilometres.
Contaminated catch
The slick has impacted the local fishing community. “Our boats and nets have got damaged due to the oil. The thick layer which settles on the nets is difficult to clean. The fish that we catch are either dead or contaminated. We are not getting a good price for our catch,” says Jitendra Waman Koli (36), a fisherman from Mahul village said.
Many said their health had been affected. “ There are rashes all over the body. We feel weak, suffer from ailments. How often will we keep going to the doctor?” asks Dharma Koli (42).
Mahul village has around 15,000 people, mostly fisherfolk. “Different communities fish from different locations, but the oil has been spreading, affecting most of them,” said former corporator Rajendra Mahulkar. “We have submitted a written complaint to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the local police,” Mr. Mahulkar said.
There are several oil refineries in the area. Among them are those of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Limited. However, none of them reported this extensive leak.
It was finally the local fishermen who complained to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board on November 1. It had taken the MPCB almost five months to locate the source of the leak. “We have visited the location. We will summon the highest officials of the MbPT and BPCL, and take a detailed action plan from them to contain this,” MPCB assistant secretary P.K. Mirase told The Hindu .
Inspection of the leakage site shows timely action could have prevented the damage. “It was a small crack. Had it been plugged immediately, it would have saved the mangroves, fish and livelihoods,” said Suryakant Vaiti, the president of Vanewale Macchimaar Mandal.
Patchy repair
Even as MbPT has claimed it has plugged the leak, this correspondent found that the officials had only hammered a plank of wood on the crack. Officials said they will need time to fix the crack permanently.
Moreover, no agency has taken the responsibility of clean-up.
“The leak has not happened due to any act of omission or commission on the part of MbPT. The mudflats don’t fall under our jurisdiction. But we will work together with other stakeholders to restore whatever is possible,” a spokesperson of MbPT said.
It took five months to locate the source of leak
Fishermen complain of health problems
