Shipyard takeover underlines govt's defence urgency

KOLKATA (Reuters) - India's Defence Ministry will take over a commercial shipyard to build military vessels for its navy, the junior defence minister said on Tuesday in a move underlining a new urgency in upgrading defence capabilities.

The Hindustan Shipyard is strategically located in Visakhapatnam, where the government intends to build frigates, destroyers and submarines for the navy from later this year.

"Hindustan Shipyard is being taken over by the Ministry of Defence," Pallam Raju, the junior defence minister, said in Kolkata, capital of the eastern state of West Bengal.

"There will be suitable investments regarding alterations and modernisation of the shipyard, suiting the requirement of the Indian Navy," Raju told reporters in the biggest commercial city in the region.

The exact capacity of the Hindustan Shipyard was not immediately clear, but India wants to build 100 warships over the next 10 years and phase out old vessels.

Experts said the takeover would help India improve its ageing naval fleet.

"It signifies our indigenous capabilities and the fact that the navy needs more ships," said Commander P.V.S. Satish, a naval officer.

Last month, India launched its first nuclear-powered submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles and has plans to induct two aircraft carriers, including one from Russia.

Military ships are currently built in three shipyards, but the government decided to take over the Hindustan Shipyard to speed up defence modernisation, defence officials said.

The Defence Ministry would upgrade other existing shipyards and take over smaller ones to help speed up plans to build more military vessels and submarines, defence officials said.

India is one of the world's biggest arms importers. The government plans to spend more than $30 billion over the next five years to upgrade its largely Soviet-era arsenal to counter potential threats from Pakistan and China.

London, Aug 25 (IANS) India’s outgoing envoy to Britain Tuesday defended Richard Dannatt as a “gracious host” after the British Chief of the General S

London, Aug 25 (IANS) India’s outgoing envoy to Britain Tuesday defended Richard Dannatt as a “gracious host” after the British Chief of the General Staff was revealed as having served his Indian and other guests with a fiver-a-head cut-price meal a year ago.

Sir Richard Dannatt, who is soon to retire, hosted then High Commissioner Shiv Mukherjee, visiting Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor and 21 others for a reception in August last year at his plush Kensington Palace residence.

But rather than delicacies from the nearby upmarket Harrods superstore, they were given pastries, cheese and salmon bought from the supermarket Tesco.

The entire meal cost a mere 123.58 pounds - or 5.15 pounds per person, the British media reported, lauding the British army chief for how frugal he is.

Ruling Labour MPs had apparently planned to discredit Dannatt after he criticised the government for failing to provide proper kit for troops in British Afghanistan, by portraying him as a champagne-guzzling member of the military elite.

But Mukherjee sprang to the Dannatt’s defence Tuesday, saying the party last August was “elegant and very, very enjoyable”.

“It was a wonderful party - exactly as expected from the chief of a professional army,” he told IANS.

“Mrs Dannatt and the chief of army staff made us personally welcome at and the food was wonderful. We didn’t feel it was cut-price at all.”

British newspapers said the Labour MPs’ bid to target Dannatt had “spectacularly backfired”.

“It was part of a suspected plot to blacken his name ahead of his retirement this week, when he is expected to step up his criticism of the way the armed forces have been treated by Labour,” reported the Daily Mail.

Dannatt has spent as little as five pounds per head on meals for political and military top brass and paid just 1.49 pound each for bottles of wine bought from a duty free cash and carry in Calais, France. He also bought sausages for these meals at Lidl, a cut-price supermarket chain.

One military source told the paper: “Sir Richard hasn’t put a foot wrong - and this proves it. Whatever these Labour politicians were planning to do, they’ve failed spectacularly, scoring a massive own goal, because their expenses claims are a thousand times worse.”

Talks with Pak not possible till terror ends: India

NEW DELHI: The second Indian heads of missions meet kicked off on Monday with foreign minister S M Krishna reiterating that it is not possible for India to have meaningful talks with Pakistan at this stage because Islamabad has not done enough against terrorism. Krishna, however, added that India would like to address its differences with the neighbouring country through dialogue.

While the recent Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement did not come up for discussion on the first day, India's senior diplomats are expected to engage in an "interactive" session to review neighbourhood policy. There has been a demand from many Indian ambassadors for greater clarity on India's neighbourhood policies, which they have to defend in the countries they serve.

The ambassadors' conclave is also expected to discuss the impact of the global financial crisis, Asia-Pacific security (which is a euphemism for China) and a session vaguely named India 2020.

Apart from the foreign minister, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and Kapila Vatsyayan also addtressed the envoys. They also had a long session with National Security Adviser MK Narayanan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Ahluwalia and commerce minister Anand Sharma are expected to address the diplomats on Tuesday.

In his session witt the envoys, Narayanan focused on India's relations with the US, particularly the opportunities and challenges with the new Obama administration. The general consensus at the end of the discussions was that the jury was still out on whether the quality of engagement with the US would improve in the Obama years or not.

Krishna, in his address, said the new dialogue architecture would reflect the increasingly global character of bilateral dialogue between the two countries. "India's established capabilities in high technology and our unimpeachable record of using these technologies in a responsible and transparent manner are creating opportunities for upgrading our access to high technology from the major powers,'' he said.

On Pakistan, Krishna continued, "We have maintained that a stable Pakistan at peace with itself and the region is a desirable goal. We wish to address our differences with Pakistan through dialogue."

"At the same time, we made it clear that a meaningful dialogue will only be possible following the fulfilment by Pakistan of its commitment not to allow its territory to be used for terrorist activities against India,'' he added.

Earlier, welcoming the envoys for the conference, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao in her opening remarks spoke of the role, the agenda and the challenges confronting Indian diplomats.

Maoists strike in Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar

Rourkela/Patna/Ranchi, Aug 25 (PTI) Maoists struck on the second day of their 48-hour bandh in three of the five states -- Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar-- today blowing up a railway station and community centre besides trading fire with the police.

In Orissa, around 90 ultras, including 15 women, triggered a powerful explosion at the Roxy railway station, about 80 km from Rourkela, causing extensive damage to the building, the police said.

An assistant station manager, a porter and a guard were held captive by the Maoists for over three hours before being released with a warning not to run trains during a shutdown, the sources said.

The Naxals also torched over eight dumpers and heavy vehicles at the railway station on the Rourkela-Barsuna railway route used for transport of iron ore and minerals to the Rourkela Steel Plant and other units, Inspector-in-charge B C Sahoo said.

Orders Issued : 60% 2nd installment of 6th CPC arrears

The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance has issued OM No.1/1/2008-IC dated 25.8.2009 regarding payment of second instalment of arrears on account of implementation of Sixth Central Pay Commission's recommendations.

Link : http://finmin.nic.in/the_ministry/dept_expenditure/notofication/second_installment.pdf

IAS PAY RULE AMENDMENT

The central government, after consultation with the state governments, has amended the Indian Administrative Service (Pay) rules w.e.f. January 1, 2006. Higher Administrative Grade of Rs.67,000-79,000 for Additional Secretary level officers in the Government of India has been cleared. Where all other groups of officers/staff will be drawing two installments of 6th Pay Commission Arrears, these officers will be drawing one more additional arrear package.

ALSO REMEMBER : The MACP which was earlier applicable only to GOI is now applicable to all state level IAS too.