Maya suspends IAS officers for praising Rahul
NEW DELHI, Feb 1 (Agencies): The war between Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress continues in Uttar Pradesh.
In the latest offensive, Mayawati-led Uttar Pradesh government has suspended four officials, including two IAS officers for praising Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for the development of Sultanpur district.
Action has been taken against the Commissioner of Faizabad and District Magistrate of Sultanpur for appreciating work done by the Gandhi family, specially Rahul in Sultanpur.
This, the state government said was in violation of service rules.
Ironically, several bureaucrats were seen taking part in birthday celebrations of Mayawati, in gross violation of service rules.
PM sends China a message, chants development mantra on border ITANAGAR, Feb 1 (Agencies):Without making any reference whatsoever to China, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sent a strong signal to Beijing that Arunachal Pradesh is integral and dear to India by stressing development and announcing projects worth billions of rupees.
The prime minister, who arrived in the far-eastern state bordering Tibet on a two-day visit Thursday, sought to make it clear that New Delhi is ready to match development across the border by improving connectivity, infrastructure and overall progress in Arunachal Pradesh and improve the conditions of the people living on the periphery.
While Manmohan Singh launched schemes worth Rs.14.52 billion involving a drinking water project for capital Itanagar, flood protection measures, rural electrification, healthcare and to complete several half-done centrally sponsored projects, New Delhi's total commitment to the state as outlined during the visit comes to around Rs.100 billion.
Two things stand out - the first is the announcement about building a 1,840 km Trans Arunachal Pradesh Highway that will connect every district headquarter.
The second is the decision to have a green field airport at Itanagar, besides airports at several key towns like Pasighat, Along, Daporijo, Ziro and Tizu.
This announcement is indeed path breaking because despite bordering China, and therefore one of India's most strategically located frontiers, Arunachal Pradesh had extremely poor road connectivity and no airports.
The new roads and highways will enable easy civilian and military movement right up to the international border.
As an immediate step, more symbolic than aimed at actually making travel easy for the ordinary man, New Delhi has announced a helicopter service between Guwahati and Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
The central government will bear 75 percent of the operating cost of this chopper service by way of subsidy.
The decision to connect Guwahati, the principal city in northeastern India, to Tawang is significant because China has laid claim to the whole of Tawang, a revered seat of Tibetan Buddhism.
In fact, the issue of Tawang is a key stumbling block to the resolution of the Sino-India dispute over boundary.
Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1,030 km unfenced border with China.
The McMohan Line, now known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC), is the India-China border along the state.
The two countries fought a bloody border war in 1962, with Chinese troops advancing deep into Arunachal Pradesh and inflicting heavy casualties on Indian troops.
The border dispute with China was inherited by India from British colonial rulers who hosted a 1914 conference with the Tibetan and Chinese governments that demarcated the border in what is now Arunachal Pradesh.
China has never recognised the 1914 boundary, and claims 90,000 sq km - nearly all of Arunachal Pradesh.
India accuses China of occupying 8,000 sq km in Kashmir.
In this backdrop, locals here, including the two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs from the state, have been demanding that the prime minister state in no uncertain terms that Arunachal Pradesh belongs to India.
They also wanted him to condemn Beijing's 'hostile intent' during the visit.
Manmohan Singh did nothing like that, a stand welcomed by analysts monitoring the Sino-Indian border issue.
'The prime minister was absolutely right in not making any reference to China because Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and there is no need to reiterate something which is a fact,' said Wasbir Hussain, an analyst and a member of the National Security Advisory Board.
'The frontiers of China and India met for the first time only after China annexed Tibet in 1950.
Before that, the borders of the two countries were separated by Tibet.
This fact needs to be taken into account,' Hussain said.
There was no rhetoric during Manmohan Singh's Arunachal Pradesh trip that came close on the heels of his China visit, but the message he sent out was loud and clear.
'The sun kisses India first in Arunachal Pradesh.
It is our land of the rising sun...
It will become one of the best regions of our country,' Hussain said.
His message could not be missed.
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