KATHMANDU: Besides issuing separate visas to Indian passport holders from Jammu and Kashmir, China is also projecting the disputed territory as an independent country in other ways.
Visitors to Tibet, especially journalists invited by the Chinese government, are given handouts where Kashmir is indicated as a country separate from India.
Media kits providing "basic information" about Tibet - which China attacked and annexed in the 1950s - says Tibet "borders with India, Nepal, Myanmar and Kashmir area".
Except the "Kashmir area", the other three are sovereign countries.
Maps too, available in China, Myanmar and Nepal, show an India denuded of Kashmir.
Also, China's policy of extending assistance to only the government of a country indicates it considers India's nuclear rival and neighbour Pakistan to be in control of Pakistan-administered Kashmir by offering financial assistance to build a dam on the Indus river there.
China, now locked in a row with India, is also asking for the tightening of the open border between India and Nepal that, it says, is abetting anti-China activities and demonstrations by Tibetans crossing into Nepal from India.
Beijing is also indirectly asking for the closure of the seat of the Dalai Lama, the exiled leader of the Tibetans, in Dharamshala in India, hinting that such a step would improve India-China relations.
China, which fought a war with India in 1962, says Arunachal Pradesh belongs to it. India says it is an integral and inalienable part of India.
On the eve of the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh in November, China has been hurrying Nepal to deploy armed security forces along the border between northern Nepal and Tibet.
Both Nepal's Home Minister Bhim Rawal and Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal recently visited Mustang, the northernmost district in Nepal to assess the security plan.
Mustang was once both part of an ancient Tibetan kingdom and later the base of anti-China guerrilla attacks by Tibet's Khampa warriors.
Sibal moots 80% minimum in 12th Board exams for IIT aspirants
NEW DELHI: Opening a new front, HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Monday wanted more weightage to be given to Class 12 Board exam for IIT entrance and proposed raising the required minimum of 60% marks to at least 80%.
Sibal said the 60% minimum was unacceptable as the government move came in an attempt to ensure that students taking entrance tests to the premier institutes gave equal importance to the secondary school exam and to check the growth of IIT coaching centres.
A Committee of IIT directors has been appointed to work out a revised system for IIT entrance from 2011.
Sibal told reporters the move is aimed at ensuring that students take their class XII seriously and checking the growth of coaching centres, which are thriving on imparting coaching to students for IIT entrance.
"The present criteria is that students need to secure 60 per cent at class XII for appearing in IIT-JEE. This is not acceptable. The minimum marks required for IIT-JEE could be raised up to 80 to 85 per cent," Sibal said after a meeting of the IIT Council, the apex decision making body for the elite institutes, here.
At the same time. he added that the decision about the required percentage will be taken by the committee.
"The coaching centres are giving training for the IIT entrance. As a result, the students are not studying seriously for class XII exam and giving more attention to entrance. We want to get rid of the coaching centres by giving more weightage to the board exam," Sibal said.
Delhi Police unveil security plan for Commonwealth Games
NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Monday unveiled its massive security plan for next year's Commonwealth Games which includes deployment of heli-borne snipers and a four-layered protective cordon around the venues and Games Village.
Announcing the security strategy, city Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal told reporters, "we are not only looking into the security aspects of the Games, each and every aspect of the city's security will also be addressed.
"We are working closely with several agencies connected with the Games. We assure you a safe and secure Commonwealth Games," he said.
According to the plan, the Games venues, Games Village, practice venues and parking lots as also the Indira Gandhi International Airport where the athletes arrive will have a four-layered security cordon.
Explaining aspects of the plan, Special Commissioner (Administration) Neeraj Kumar said the security at prominent Games-related venues will have "outer, middle, inner and exclusive" security zones.
At the outer cordon, he said, the traffic will be stopped and access will be controlled. At the middle cordon, security personnel will channelise the spectators to their designated seats while in the inner cordon, the barcode reading of tickets will take place and the spectators' photos captured.
"There will be surveillance from the skies with the help of the Air Force. There will also be the deployment of heli-borne assault teams to thwart any attempts by terrorists," Kumar said.
India ready to meet any challenge: Antony
New Delhi: Warning that the situation in Pakistan is ‘very serious’, Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday said terrorism is "spreading" in that country and asserted that India is prepared to meet any challenge from Taliban militants.
"The situation in Pakistan is very serious and terrorism is spreading," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Territorial Army Day parade here.
Pakistan has been in the grip of a terror wave with six major attacks in the last fortnight by suspected Taliban militants, the latest being a suicide bomb attack in Peshawar in the restive North West Frontier Province on Friday last killing 14 people.
Asked if Talibans' threat to carry out attacks on India was a cause of concern, Antony said, "We are always prepared to meet any challenge to our territorial integrity and national security from any quarter. Our security forces are keeping eternal vigilance".
Replying to a query on Coastguard and Navy's joint operation 'Raksha', he said, "We learnt a lot of lessons from 26/11 last year. After that, now there is a coordinated effort for coastal security and Indian Navy and Coastguard are taking serious steps.Government is also giving all out support to strengthen them".
On the possibility of involvement of Pakistan based terror groups in yesterday's blast in Iran, Antony said, "I cannot say anything off hand. But the thing is that terrorism is spreading. It is the real menace to the world. Terrorism is a reality. Fight against terrorism is a common challenge to all peace leaving nations and communities".
Pranab to launch NSDC on Tuesday
New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will launch the National Skill Development Corp, a joint venture of Government and industrial associations for developing skilled workers, on Tuesday.
"Skill gaps are evident in 20 high-growth industry sectors and the unorganised sector. The National Skill Development Corp (NSDC) will foster private sector industries to encourage skill training," an official release said.
The NSDC, which would be held in the 51:49 ratio by the industry and the Government, will identify areas where support and supplementation would be needed from the Government.
Accordingly, the respective industry association will chalkout the sectoral vision for sectoral skill development initiative.
Besides Finance Ministry, all prominent industry bodies have contributed to the initial capital of this joint venture.
The NSDC is being set up under the Centre's 11th Five-Year Plan, which has set the objective of creating a pool of skilled people in line with the requirement of users such as industry, trade and service sectors.
The Plan document has proposed to launch a Skill Development Mission.
The mission structure consists of the Prime Minister's National Council on Skill Development for apex level policy directions, a National Skill Development Coordination Board, and a National Skill Development Corp.
As part of the private sector initiative, 21 high-growth sectors and services have been identified that have the ability to provide high employment.
Ambani brothers’ gas dispute set for SC date
New Delhi: Two of the top corporate houses headed by estranged industrialist brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani are set for a showdown in the Supreme Court, which will commence hearing on their gas supply dispute tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Justice R V Raveendran has replaced Justice B S Chauhan on the three-member bench of the Supreme Court that will begin hearing tomorrow. The other two members on the bench are Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam.
The fight relates to supply of gas to Anil Ambani group’s Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) from D6 block in Krishna-Godavari eastern offshore fields of elder sibling Mukesh-led Reliance Industries (RIL).
Days before the beginning of hearing in Supreme Court, Anil Ambani also made a surprise truce offer to resolve the dispute cordially, but Mukesh Ambani questioned its sincerity without rejecting the proposal.
In a public statement on October 11, Anil said all the disagreements could be resolved within weeks, but RIL questioned the sincerity of the offer made “through the public domain” and said Anil could have easily contacted his elder brother directly.
RIL also asked Anil to demonstrate the bonafide of his intentions behind the latest overture, adding it “welcomes this positive indicator and will not be found wanting in responding to them constructively.” While RNRL is seeking supply of natural gas at a previously agreed price of USD 2.34 per mmBtu, RIL contends that it cannot do so as the government approved the rate for the gas at USD 4.2 per mmBtu and it would not make profit at a price committed in 2005.
Centre planning to establish 10,000 ITIs
Hyderabad: The Central Government is planning to establish 10,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in rural areas across the country for imparting technical training to the rural youth.
Union Minister of State for Planning V Narayanasamy announced this while inaugurating the first national convention of rural institutes, organized by the National Council of Rural Institutes.
"We have opened the flood gates for foreign investment in the education sector. Our thrust is on expanding the educational infrastructure in the rural areas by opening more institutes and universities," the minister said.
He said plans were afoot to set up one rural university in each backward and tribal clusters across the country. Besides, 25,000 schools would also be set up in rural areas under the Public-Private Partnership mode.
The ambitious Bharat Nirman programme launched by the Government of India with an outlay of Rs one-lakh-crore has helped in containing migration of rural people to urban areas to a certain extent what with creation of better infrastructure facilities in villages, he added.
"With emphasis on rural education and health care apart from infrastructure development, people in rural areas could feel better off. We can stop migration through such efforts," Narayanasamy pointed out.
National Council of Rural Institutes chairman S V Prabhath, former director of IIT-Madras P V Indiresan and others were present.
Indian Sports News
Younis remains Pak captain as PCB rejects resignation
Islamabad: Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt has rejected Younis Khan's resignation and expects the veteran batsman to remain captain until the 2011 World Cup.
Khan offered his resignation last week amid match-fixing allegations that have been widely rejected as untrue. Butt said Monday that he had not accepted the resignation and that if Khan remains fit, he would lead the Pakistan team at the next World Cup.
"He will continue as captain until the World Cup in 2011, if he stays fit," Butt said.
A disgruntled Khan quit soon after appearing before a parliamentary committee on sports which cleared the Pakistan team of match-fixing charges in the Champions Trophy.
Khan was angered by the taint of match-fixing allegations which first surfaced in the Indian media soon after Pakistan lost a Champions Trophy match against Australia.
Butt said there was no reason to accept Khan's resignation as he had steered his team to victory in the Twenty20 World Cup in England, defeated India in a Champions Trophy group match and also qualified for the semifinals of the tournament in South Africa.
"With so many performances this year do you think he should be changed?" Butt asked reporters.
The PCB chief said had he been in Khan's place, he too would have resigned after the allegations surfaced when Pakistan lost the last group game against Australia and later the semifinal against New Zealand.
"He reacted after so many things happened and I would have done the same had I been in his place," Butt said.
Somdev achieves career best ranking of 124
New Delhi: Despite a second round loss at the Tashkent Challenger, Somdev Devvarman jumped seven places to achieve his career best singles ranking of 124 in the latest ATP list, issued on Monday.
Meanwhile, impressive teenager Yuki Bhambri lost a place to stand 347. There was no change in the raking of Mahesh Bhupathi (6) and Leander Paes (8) in the doubles list. In the women's singles ranking, Sania Mirza improved her singles ranking by three places and by two spots in the doubles.
After a good run at the Japan Open, where she made semifinals, Sania stands at 58 in the singles and 36th in the doubles list. Sania beat Shahar Peer and Marion Bartoli en route to the semifinal where she lost to Francesca Schiavone.
ATP Rankings: Top 20
1. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 10,805 points.
2. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 9,095.
3. Novak Djokovic, Serbia, 7,950.
4. Andy Murray, Britain, 7,390.
5. Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina, 6,315.
6. Nikolay Davydenko, Russia, 4,700.
7. Andy Roddick, United States, 4,690.
8. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France, 4,040.
9. Fernando Verdasco, Spain, 3,400.
10. Robin Soderling, Sweden, 3,235.
11. Fernando Gonzalez, Chile, 2,780.
12. Gilles Simon, France, 2,765.
13. Marin Cilic, Croatia, 2,355.
14. Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic, 2,165.
15. Gael Monfils, France, 2,125.
16. Tommy Robredo, Spain, 2,110.
17. Tommy Haas, Germany, 1,825.
18. David Ferrer, Spain, 1,805.
19. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic, 1,760.
20. David Nalbandian, Argentina, 1,715.
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