FinMin to finalise bailout package for AI next fortnight

New Delhi, July 26 (PTI) The Finance Ministry would give
a final shape to a bailout package for Air India over the next
fortnight and present it before the second meeting of the
high-level Committee of Secretaries on August 29, official
sources said on Sunday.

At the first meeting on its financial restructuring
yesterday, Air India had sought government's urgent help and
urged for equity infusion of about Rs 2,500 crore and a soft
loan of Rs 10,000 crore for five years.
While the government may make only a partial contribution,
a major part of this package is likely to be through partial
disinvestment of government equity or issuance of initial
public offer, sources said.

Officials of the Finance and Civil Aviation Ministries
would sit with those from Air India in the next 15 days to
finalise the package proposals as discussed on Saturday by the
Committee of Secretaries (CoS), they said.

The CoS, which is slated to meet every month to monitor
implementation of its recommendations to bring the national
carrier back to shape, would again meet on August 29 to vet
the proposal.

Once finalised, the proposal would be sent to the Union
Cabinet for its approval, sources said, adding that the
much-needed funding for Air India would be released by the
government only after this.

The government funding, either in the form of loan or
equity, would be linked with aircraft deliveries.

Air India, which is estimated to suffer a loss of Rs
7,200 crore in 2008-09, has been overburdened by its working
capital borrowings worth Rs 17,000 crore. It has overdrafts
from 15 banks. The carrier wants government to underwrite at
least Rs 10,000 crore of this burden.

The government on Saturday has asked the Finance Ministry
to examine the extent of a financial bailout for the airline,
and also the Petroleum Ministry to extend the credit limit on
jet fuel for at least three more months.

This was decided at the first meeting of a high-level
committee headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, which
vetted the ailing carrier's plans to cut costs and generate
revenue as also its fleet renewal plans to meet intense
competition in both domestic and international arena. PTI ARC
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Rajnath admits to 'shortcomings' in LS poll

Lucknow, July 26 (PTI) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
chief Rajnath Singh on Sunday said there were "shortcomings"
that led to party's debacle in Lok Sabha (Lower House of
Indian Parliament) polls and called for an "introspection",
but vowed not to compromise on Hindutva for "the sake of
power".
"After Lok Sabha polls there was an outcry that BJP
should reconsider its ideology. Why should we re-reconsider
it? Was there any referendum done on the Hindutva ideology?"
Singh said during state working committee meet here.

"We cannot compromise on our values as they have given
us a special identity. We cannot dump our values for the sake
of power."

Stating that the so called secularists do not even
want the word 'Hindu' to be mentioned, the saffron leader
said, "Those who want to create rift among people on caste and
communal lines and promote enmity are creating this confusion
by limiting Hindu and Hindutva to certain boundaries."

On party's poll debacle he said, "There were some
shortcomings as the party's base declined a bit and we failed
to win over the trust and confidence of people."

"We should introspect if we were active in our areas
and as to why we failed to win confidence of people, despite
all agitations and struggle on public issues."

"The problem is not with the workers or the people,
but with you and me (leaders)," he told the state committee.

He said said the party would introspect and identify
t
he causes behind its failure and take corrective measures.
"Irrespective of the fact that we do not get power for
another five or ten years, we will stick to our ideology," he
said and exhorted party workers to move ahead with conviction.

"Any person or political party which abandons its
original character cannot survive for long," he said and
claimed that "BSP started with bahujan samaj and then moved to
sarv samaj, now it is back to bahujan samaj. See where the
party is today."

He said even the Left paid price for deviating from its
ideology. "People in West Bengal realised that CPI-M was no
longer talking about welfare of all and it was reduced to
16 seats in Lok Sabha. Trinamool Congress raced ahead mainly
due to struggle of it's leader on issues related to public."

Alleging that Congress-led United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) was not capable of safeguarding unity and integrity of
the country, he asked partymen to raise these issues among
people.

On state politics the BJP chief said, "Both the parties
(SP, BSP) are two sides of the same coin. People voted in
favour of BSP (in 2007) as they felt that it can remove
anarchy of the SP regime, but it turned out to be worse. There
is no government in the state."

"If we look from national perspective, relevance of
regional parties like SP and BSP is nearing an end and the
country is heading towards a bi-polar polity," the BJP
president said. PTI SAB
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Himanshu detained for protest at India Gate

New Delhi, Jul 26 (PTI) Around 25 people, including son
of H S Sabharwal, were on Sundday taken into preventive
custody as they organised a candle-light vigil at India Gate
here seeking punishment for the killers of the Ujjain
professor.

Himanshu, the professor's son, and around 25 protesters

were detained from India Gate at around 6 pm while they
were staging the 'Justice for Professor Sabharwal' campaign at
the historic site.

A senior police official said they were detained under
Section 65 of Delhi Police Act for violating Section 144 of
CrPC. They were taken to Tilak Marg police station.

Along with him, Himanshu told PTI, around 25 people were
detained.

The candle-light vigil was organised to seek justice as
the six Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists
were let off by a Nagpur court in connection with the killing
of Sabharwal.

Sabharwal, the Head of the Political Science Department
of Madhav College, Ujjain, died in August 2006, after a fracas
in the college over student union elections when he was
allegedly beaten up by the ABVP activists.

The protest came three days after Parminder Kumar, a
close aide of Himanshu, was found murdered in Delhi University
soon after pasting posters in the campus for the candle-light
vigil to protest.

Earlier, the protest saw an emotional Prem Sabharwal,
wife of Prof Sabharwal, demanding justice for the crime.

"I want to take it (the petition) to the Supreme Court.
Justice has been denied to us. I want to know who killed my
husband...," Prem said.

However, her son Himanshu was vocal against what he
called as "state-sponsored terrorism" resulting in a
long-drawn legal battle against the perpetrators of the crime.

"Nowhere, you will see a crime committed in front of the
television cameras. You didn't have such in the Mattoo case,
the Kachroo case... It was a blatant state-sponsored
terrorism. However, we are willing to take the battle to the
very end," he said, adding a petition on the issue will be
forwarded to the Chief Justice of India.

When asked on the killing of his close associate
Parminder Kumar, Himanshu said "the purpose of the killing
could be to distract attention from the real issue."

The protest, which saw support from a street theatre
group, also had SC advocate Prashant Bhusan and Neelam Katara,
mother of Nitish Katara, who was killed allegedly by
son and nephew of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, joining
in the programme to render their support.

Bhusan resented the release of the ABVP supporters who
were allegedly involved in the death of Professor Sabharwal
despite there being all evidences against them. PTI RAI
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Induction of indigenous nuke sub into Navy longway off:Experts

Vishakapatnam, July 26 (PTI) India's first indigenously
built nuclear-powered submarine launched on Sunday will take
much longer than the projected two years to become
operational, according to naval experts, who say the real big
test now is to ensure that the on-board reactor attains
criticality.

Noting there is still lots left to do, the experts said
scientists had a onerous task to see that the on-board nuclear
reactor--the heart of the submarine--attains criticality
without any hitches.

Naval officials said INS Arihant (Destroyer of Enemies)
codenamed Advanced Technology Vessel(ATV) will undergo two
years of sea trials in the Bay of Bengal after which they hope
to see the submarine commissioned for full service.

"It is little optimistic only for one reasons because it
the first of its class. In the first of the class there are a
large number of checks to be carried out. It could take much
longer time frame than the two years being projected(for INS
Arihant)," said Vice Admiral A K Singh(retd) former Captain of
INS Chakra, the Charlie-class nuclear submarine.

The second ATV or the third ATV will definitely come out
much faster, Singh said.

C Uday Bhaskar, Director, National Maritime Foundation,
said, "I don't think we should overinterpret the capability
of the Arihant at this stage because there are many more
complex technological steps before the particular nuclear
reactor on the Arihant acquires criticality."

Bhaskar said hopefully three to five years down the road
India would be a credible naval power because the country
would then have the capability to fit the submarine with
nuclear propulsion.

Former naval chief Admiral(retd) Arun Prakash said a lot
of work lies ahead for the country's scientists and engineers.
"The big day will however come when the nuclear reactor
attains criticality," he said.

Admira(retd) Arun Prakash said painstaking series of
trials are necessary because even a minor malfunction can
cause catastrophic results as the Kursk (Russian Submarine)
accident showed.

"They will also be long drawn-out and time-consuming
because each defect that appears will beed to be carefully
analysed and rectified," he said.

Experts also said the state-owned Defence Research
and Development Organization (DRDO) could take two to three
years to indigenously develop cruise and ballistic missiles
which can be fired from the submarine. PTI GSN
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Mercury shows upward trend in Northern region

New Delhi, Jul 26 (PTI) Mercury on Sunday showed an
upward trend across the Northern belt, where it remained below
40-degree mark at most places in the past few days, as monsoon
rains played a truant again.

Most parts of the region remained dry during the day,
except in Rajasthan where scattered rains took place, and high
humidity levels added to discomfiture of the denizens.

In the absence of rains, mercury rose by few notches in
the national capital taking the maximum at 37.7 degrees
Celsius, two degrees up from yesterday, and high humidity
levels left the citizens sweating.

Isolated rains occurred in Rajasthan, where Ganganagar
was the hottest place with a maximum of 41 degrees followed by
Churu, Bikaner and Jaisalmer which recorded respective highs
of 40, 39 and 38 degrees.

With monsoon rains eluding the north-west parts of the
country for several days now, maximum temperatures at most
places in Punjab and Haryana on Sunday shot by a few degrees,
with Hisar sweating it out at 41.3 degrees.

While Hisar in Haryana was hotter by five degrees than
normal, sultry conditions also prevailed in Ambala at 37
degrees, three notches above normal.

Himachal Pradesh also witnessed marginal increase in
temperatures across the state where capital Shimla registered
a high of 24.2 degrees, despite moderate rainfall.

Hot and humid conditions prevailed in most parts of
Uttar Pradesh in the absence of rainfall in the last 24 hours
with capital Lucknow being the hottest place in the state at a
high of 36.2 degrees, three notches above normal, followed by
Gorakhpur which recorded a maximum of 35.7 degrees.

The Kashmir valley saw another hot day as mercury shot
up to three degrees above normal here.

The day temperature recorded in Srinagar was 33.5
degrees, three notches above normal, while in Jammu maximum
touched 35.3 degrees, one degree above normal.

Kupwara in North Kashmir was the second hottest place in
the state with a high of 34.0 degrees Celsius. PTI TEAM
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