Friday, September 4, 2009

Indians falling prey to fake Aus universities?

T
he Supreme Court on Friday asked the Indian High Commissioner and Consulate General in Australia to help prevent Indian students from falling prey to fake educational institutions there.

This order was passed by a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan after it was informed by Attorney General G E Vahanvati that all the guidelines have been laid down for the students going to Australia for education
purposes.

Cases of students being duped by fake universities in Australia had come to light when a petition was filed seeking a direction to the government to take action for checking racial attacks against Indians studying there.

The Attorney General said that the affidavit filed by Ministry of External Affairs has mentioned the websites which the students should go through for checking the veracity of the universities.

The apex Court after hearing the AG's submission said that in view of the affidavit, it was disposing of the petition.

Air India flight grounded in Mumbai as engine catches fire

M
UMBAI - A major tragedy was avoided at Mumbai Airport on Friday morning when an emergency was declared after one of the engines of an Air India flight caught fire while getting ready to taxi off the runway.

Reports said the flight, which was bound for Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, was immediately grounded when a passenger detected sparks flying out of one of the engines.

The 213 passengers onboard were evacuated by slides to safety. Four fire engines were rushed to the spot, as also other equipment and personnel.

Officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation are investigating the causes for what would have been a huge tragedy.(ANI)

YSR Reddy search operation details

N
EW DELHI - The following is the timeline of the search operations to locate the helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy:

Wednesday, Sep 2:

8.30 a.m. - Bell 430 helicopter carrying YSR and four others takes off from Hyderabad’s Begumpet airport.

9.35 a.m. - Radio contact lost with helicopter.

1 p.m. - Indian Air force receives request for search and rescue operations.

1.15-1.20 p.m. - Two Chetak helicopters take off from Hakimpet training base in Secunderabad.

3 p.m. - A Mi-8 helicopter takes off from Bangalore’s Yelahanka air base. It starts scanning the area indicated by state government agencies.

4.30 p.m. - A Dornier aircraft takes off from Yelahanka. It flies from Yelahanka to Kadapa, Srisailam, and Chittoor before returning to base. It was equipped with a synthetic aperture radar that can look through heavy cloud cover.

5 p.m. - An Avro aircraft and two Chetak helicopters take off from Hyderabad. An operation room is set up at Kurnool.

6.45 p.m. - Decision taken to press into service Sukhoi SU-30MKIs combat aircraft for mapping the densely forested area in which the Bell 430 is believed to have crashed.

8.40 p.m. - Two SU-30s and an IL-78 midair refueller take off from the Bareilly air base and land back at midnight.

Thursday, Sep 3:

2.15 a.m. - A SU-30 and an IL-78 undertake another mission that lasts till 8.30 a.m.

6.30 a.m. - Chetak helicopter resumes search mission.

8.30 a.m. - Wreckage of crashed Bell 430 spotted.

9.28 a.m. - Paracommandos slither down to the crash site from a Mi-8 helicopter as no room for chopper to land.

9.30 a.m. - Three more commandos slither down from a Dhruv advanced light helicopter.

10.45 a.m. - Bodies of YSR and four other passengers of the crashed helicopter are winched up to a Dhruv and a Mi-8 helicopter in bags.

Naga party entry makes poll-bound Arunachal angry

T
he sun appears to have set for the BJP in poll-bound Arunachal Pradesh. But its former ally from adjoining Nagaland is generating the political heat in India's land of the rising sun.

The Naga People's Front (NPF) - it was Nagaland People's Front prior to July 28 - has finalized its candidate in six of 12 Assembly constituencies across Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh. The other six are being zeroed on.

"We are in the process of submitting the list of all 12 candidates to the Election Commission of India. We shall also be completing the formalities required for the minor change in the name of our party," NPF secretary general Aja Kenye told HT from New Delhi.

For Nagaland's northeastern neighbours, though, the name change is far from 'minor'. They suspect the renamed NPF - formerly with the NDA, it is ruling Nagaland for the second successive term -has endorsed the Naga militants' agenda of Greater Nagaland.

Greater Nagaland, which entails bringing all Naga-inhabited areas of the northeast under one administrative umbrella, is the brainchild of the rebel National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah). Its map includes four hill districts of Manipur, two districts of Arunachal Pradesh and large swathes of four districts of Assam.

One of the reasons why the 11-year-old truce with the NSCN (I-M) has headed nowhere is the refusal of Nagaland's neighbours to cede an inch of their respective territories. The issue cropped up again after the NPF rechristened itself to "accelerate the process of Naga integration" and decided to contest polls in areas the NSCN (I-M) has eyes on.

Both the NSCN (IM) and its rival Khaplang faction run parallel governments in Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh.

"If the NPF had no ulterior motives, it would have contested anywhere else but Tirap and Changlang. We will oppose tooth and nail its decision to contest in our state," said All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union president Takam Tatung from Itanagar. "We have also sought the immediate intervention of Governor JJ Singh to invoke the provisions of Article 371(H) to thwart the NPF bid and prevent ethnic divisions."

The NPF, apparently, is unperturbed by the simmering anger in Arunachal Pradesh. "We are highly optimistic about winning most of the seats and empowering our Naga brethren there," Kenye said.