Dec 30, 2014
[PIB] SMART Police Stations in each State shortly
Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh as a first step towards SMART policing, has decided to establish one model SMART Police Station in each State and has asked the State Governments to submit their proposals with specific location and components by January 31, 2015. MHA has decided to allocate specific funds for setting up of SMART Police Stations in each state shortly.
MHA will work with State Governments for setting up more SMART Police Stations during the next financial year. Efforts will also be made to involve the private sector and their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes to expand the roll out of SMART Police Stations.
The SMART Police Station would become the foundation towards SMART policing. A SMART Police Station should be citizen friendly and clean. It should also meet the operational and welfare needs of the police personnel posted there. Some suggested features of a SMART Police Station are:
• Basic amenities for visitors, waiting area, toilets, drinking water, Receptionist whom the visitors can meet.
• Rest room for constables, including separate room for women constables.
• Natural lighting and ventilation, solar lighting, energy saving features.
• CCTV, Safe & secure Armoury, Record Room, Communication Room for wireless, computers etc.
• Automated kiosks for filing of complaints by public (with a back-end system for tracking follow up action).
The Police Station is the key functional unit from where the police discharges its tasks of maintenance of law & order and investigation of cases etc. The Police Station is also the primary point of interaction between the citizens and the police.
Source - PIB
[PIB] PM urges fast-tracking of pro-farmer initiatives,chairs high-level meeting on Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana
In yet another initiative aimed at benefiting farmers, the Prime Minister has asked concerned Departments and Ministries of the Union Government to fast-track the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. Today's meeting follows yesterday's decision by the Union Cabinet, in which amendments to the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, were cleared. The amendments include the pro-farmer step of bringing 13 most frequently used Acts for Land Acquisition for the Central Government Projects into the purview of the Land Acquisition Act, thus benefiting a large number of farmers whose land is acquired for such projects.
Chairing a high-level meeting involving the Ministries of Agriculture, Water Resources, Rural Development, the Prime Minister called for a multi-pronged approach to the ultimate goal of providing irrigation for every farm through the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana.
The Prime Minister noted that NREGA had been used over the past few years for creation and augmentation of irrigation assets. He said that NREGA should be integrated with the overall plan of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. He also called for precise monitoring of outcomes in this regard.
At the macro-level, the Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Water Resources to identify river-interlinking projects that could be immediately taken up.
The Prime Minister called for comprehensive mapping and identification of water bodies across the country. He said satellite imagery and 3D photography could be used to guide villages to best possible sources of irrigation.
The Prime Minister has asked concerned departments to look into the possibility of identifying progressive farmers, who could take the lead in implementing water conservation and innovative irrigation techniques.
The Prime Minister has also called for integrating water recycling projects of key towns and cities, to irrigation in nearby rural areas. He emphasized the importance of generating consciousness among people towards water conservation.
The Union Minister for Water Resources, Ms. Uma Bharati, and the Union Minister for Agriculture, Shri Radha Mohan Singh, were present on the occasion.
Source - PIB
[PIB] Ownership of Indian Railways to Remain with the Government: Suresh Prabhu
General Managers Urged to Utilize Full Potential to Deliver Best Service to the People
General Managers’ Conference Held
The Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said that there are several expectations from various stake holders of Indian Railways and called upon General Managers to live up to those expectations. The Minister pointed out that there is a need to benchmark our performance so that our full potential is utilized to deliver the best services to the people. The Minister stated this while addressing the conference of General Managers of all Zonal Railways and Production Units which was held here today. The Minister said that he is bringing out a white paper which will provide the vision and help formulate the road map to take Railways forward.
The Railway Minister again reiterated that Railways will not be privatized and the ownership of it will always remain with the Government. He said that we need funds to invest in various pending projects and future projects. Vigorous efforts are being made to mobilize investments in Railways Sector. Capacity augmentations is another important area which needs attention as we have to decongest highly dense traffic routes through double line, triple line or more lines, besides creating new railway connectivity. Shri Prabhu said that Railways will also have to modernize its rolling stocks, signaling system, safety operations etc. The Minister pointed out that he has already initiated the process of delegating powers to field functionaries like General Managers, Divisional Railways Managers and Station Managers but with that comes responsibilities also on the field functionaries to deliver.
Referring to the cleanliness, the Minister said that an integrated approach is required to address this important aspect of passenger amenities. He said that mechanized laundries have improved quality of linen supplied in the trains and we have to set up more such laundries to cover the entire railway network. The Minister also pointed out that sustained efforts also need to be made to improve quality of food being served at railway stations and in trains and for this, base kitchen with quality monitoring should be set up. He also called upon General Managers to complete energy audit ordered by him earlier so that we can conserve and optimize energy consumptions in Railways. Similarly, we need to do water audit for its optimum utilization. Expressing his concern for the unfortunate and tragic accidents at unmanned level crossings, Shri Prabhu said that General Managers should think of new and innovative methods to reduce such accidents and make railway operations safer. In this connection the Railway Minister informed that ISRO is helping Indian Railways using Geospatial Technologies.
Shri Prabhu also said that he has written letters to Members of Parliament requesting them to use MPLAD funds for railway works for the benefit of the passengers. He also called upon General Managers to pay due attention to the requests made by the elected representatives on behalf of public. There is a need to save precious railway land from unauthorized encroachment and at the same time take measures to recover encroached land. The Railway Minister said that he is newest member in this vast railway family and he is proud of railway personnel for their dedication, sincerity and ability to deliver. He called upon railway unions and railway administration to work together for the betterment of Indian railways and the nation.
In his address, Minister of State Shri Manoj Sinha said that it is the duty of railway administration to fulfill the expectations of railway users and we have to constantly work to improve the image of Indian Railway. Shri Sinha also emphasized on being consistent for ensuring best result. He said that we have to work as a unified railway system ensuring best coordination among all railways zones and railway divisions.
In the beginning Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Arunendra Kumar outlined the agenda of the Conference and presented action plan for the General Managers. The agenda of the meeting included; Vision for Indian Railways in the next five years with short term & long term targets, Improving productivity, Safety, Global benchmarking of Railway services for customers and Improvement in Rolling Stock.
The Conference was attended by all Railway Board Members, the General Managers of Zonal Railways and Production Units and National Representatives of the Railway Employees Unions.
Source - PIB
[Eco] Banks vulnerable to financial contagion: Reserve Bank
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Monday, warned markets against “accumulation of vulnerabilities” and “sudden and sharp overshooting in markets”, as the weak global outlook may prolong easy money stance in most advanced economies (AEs).
“Against the backdrop of low interest rates in AEs, portfolio flows to emerging market and developing economies have been robust, increasing the risk of reversals on possible adverse growth or financial market shocks, thus necessitating greater alertness,” said RBI in its Financial Stability Report (Including Trend and Progress of banking in India 2013-14).
As of now, financial risk taking had not translated into commensurate economic risk taking, RBI added.
On the domestic front, it said that macro-economic vulnerabilities had abated significantly in recent months on the back of improvement in growth outlook, fall in inflation, recovery in the external sector and political stability.
However, the central bank noted that growth in the banking business and activity in primary capital markets remained subdued due to moderate investment intentions. “Sustaining the turnaround in business sentiment remains contingent on outcomes on the ground.”Growth in banking sector
RBI said that the growth of the Indian banking sector moderated further during 2013-14. “Profitability declined on account of higher provisioning on banks’ delinquent loans and lacklustre credit growth.”
The financial health of urban and rural co-operatives indicated divergent trends in terms of key indicators. While urban co-operative banks exhibited improved performance, “the performance of primary agriculture credit societies and long term rural credit co-operatives remained a matter of concern with a further increase in their losses coupled with deterioration in asset quality.”
While the asset size of the non-banking financial companies (non deposit taking-systemically important) showed an expansion, asset quality deteriorated further during the period of review, said RBI.
The banking stability indicator suggested that overall risks to the banking sector remained unchanged during the first-half of 2014-15. In individual dimensions, though the liquidity position improved in the system, “concerns remain on account of deterioration in asset quality along with weakened soundness.”
The profitability dimension of the indicator showed an improvement but it remained sluggish. The stress tests suggested that the asset quality of banks might improve in the near future under expected positive developments in the macro-economic conditions and banks might also be able to meet expected losses with their existing levels of provisions.
However, RBI said: “the asset quality of scheduled commercial banks may worsen from the current level if the macro-economic conditions deteriorate drastically, and banks are likely to fall short in terms of having sufficient provisions to meet expected losses under adverse macro-economic risk scenarios.”
Analysis of the inter-connectedness indicated that the size of the inter-bank market in relation to total banking sector assets had been on a steady decline. However, contagion analysis with top five most connected banks revealed that the banking system could potentially lose significant portion (close to 50 per cent) of its total Tier-I capital under the joint solvency-liquidity condition in the event of a particular bank triggering a contagion.
The RBI also said that the banking sector, particularly the public sector banks, would require substantial capital to meet regulatory requirements with respect to additional capital buffers.
“With the increased regulatory focus on segregating the cases of wilful defaults and ensuring the equity participation of promoters in the losses leading to defaults, there is a need for greater transparency in the process of carrying out a net economic value impact assessment of large Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) cases,” it added. Another aspect that impinged upon the banks’ asset quality was corporate leverage and its impact on banks’ balance sheets, particularly ‘double leveraging’ through holding company structures and the pledging of shares by promoters.
Source -- The Hindu
[Ed] Choosing the jewels of India
Amongst Delhi’s socially active circles, the old joke goes that government awards are easily buyable; the Padma Shri is available in local neighbourhood markets and the Padma Bhushan requires a trip to Connaught Place. Such cynicism always gets primed in conversations during conferring of the Bharat Ratna. That former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malaviya have been nominated for the award makes no difference. The government sponsorship of an award of such rare merit is its most serious devaluation. The Prime Minister makes the recommendation to the President, who merely signs and endorses the name; the award is conferred.
Is this an appropriate and fair method to select an awardee of such national eminence, the jewel of India? Doesn’t the Prime Minister’s partisan position lend a bias to such a selection? Why should a politician be asked to make a “recognition of exceptional service and performance of the highest order, without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex?” Besides, doesn’t the award’s added scope — “to any field of human endeavour” — make the evaluation even more difficult?
Sadly, the history of the award is a history of its devaluation. In the early fifties when it was instituted, its first three recipients, C. Rajagopalachari, C.V. Raman and Dr. Radhakrishnan, were independence fighter, scientist and philosopher respectively — people whose work encompassed a wide public dimension. Since then, with the addition of music, film and sport, there has been an obvious change in profile. The most recent decoration of this, notably Sachin Tendulkar, was riddled in controversy. Critics asked how a cricketer — despite his national and international popularity and obvious greatness — could be compared to people whose life has been devoted to public service? Why then should Dhyan Chand not be similarly awarded? And since the award was open to foreigners, why not consider Tiger Woods or Roger Federer? Weren’t they even greater figures in international sport? In 1990 the award was, in fact, given to a non-Indian. Nelson Mandela, a Nobel Laureate and a South African citizen, became the first foreign recipient, a jewel of India. When the man belonged to the world, didn’t the Bharat prefix confer a provincial status to his greatness?
Idea of merit Certainly it would be impossible to find a person who neatly fits all the criteria, and public pressure and prejudice will doubtless always influence an award of such stature. However, in changed times and in a more success-oriented world, the idea of merit itself stands changed. The physical ardour of village activism, or work related to the freedom struggle which took whole lifespans, could now be condensed into ideas achieved quickly and in some uncharted virtual reality. The inventors of Flipkart or Amazon, cricket commissioners and film actors, have come to assume a larger public persona than social workers and welfare economists who work assiduously in the field — work that benefits humanity at a more basic level. But the miracle of instant rewards and awards ensures a disparity of publicity. To compare the work of Mark Zuckerberg with that of Dr. Radhakrishnan — as the Bharat Ratna’s widened perspective now does — is to make an unequal and unfair comparison. This is a comparison not of apples with oranges, but of apple seeds and ripe, full-formed apples.
As the award season begins, television resounds with a host of professional ceremonies — the Best Design Awards, Media Awards, Real Estate Awards, Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. The nature of such pats on the back are meant merely to spur insular competition among like-minded professionals and create pools of envy within predefined professional frameworks. The Bharat Ratna, unfortunately, has begun to succumb to similar forms of petty rivalries. That the award remains the last word in Indian public recognition is thus diluted by its now liberalised inclusiveness. Every modification of the award — from granting it to any and all endeavours, given posthumously, and even open to foreign nationals — has downgraded its merit. Is it an Indian Nobel, an Indian Magsaysay? By opening up the award internationally, does it then need to refresh its name? Should it be called Vishwa Ratna or Duniya/ Srushti Ratna?
Original intent The Bharat Ratna’s real value lies in the singular and indisputable recognition of an individual’s sustained labour towards achievement of national significance. To unnecessarily open it up to sports or other professional endeavours is confusing public success and stature with achievement in public life. To this effect, its criteria need to revert to its original intent of commitment to public service, and be open only to Indian nationals. While the award standards should be made more insular, the selection process should require more than just political recommendation. However deserving Mr. Vajpayee might be of the Bharat Ratna, the endorsement of the award by a Prime Minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party smacks of hypocrisy as much as the selection of Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi did during the Congress’ tenure. An open selection by a committee representing a constantly changing group of diverse people may remove the taint of politics and give greater transparency to the process. Without it, the jokes on the purchase of government awards may come to include the country’s highest honour as well.
(Gautam Bhatia is a Delhi-based architect and writer.)
Source - The Hindu
[Ed] Disquieting developments
Clearly, Kiev’s latest move cannot be viewed in isolation. Earlier in December, both Houses of the Congress adopted the Ukraine Freedom Support Act with the avowed objective of countering threats from Moscow to the territorial integrity of the Slavic nation. The Russian response has been the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan to promote regional trade. The Kremlin came under criticism for the annexation of Crimea following a referendum earlier this year. Its alleged role in aiding Ukrainian separatist groups with military equipment has since remained in the spotlight. Meanwhile, the United Nations said last month that nearly a thousand people have been killed since September 2014 when the ceasefire between the Ukrainian forces and separatist rebels came into force. Besides, the months-long conflict has claimed a few thousand lives. Moreover, the number of people who have registered as displaced by the conflict has risen by over 50 per cent to 460,000 in the same period. In the absence of swift and concerted diplomatic initiatives to address the scale of the humanitarian tragedy, the region runs the risk of prolonged instability. That is in the interest of neither Russia nor the western powers. Kiev’s overtures at this juncture to join NATO would merely raise the rhetoric and deepen mutual suspicion.
Source - The Hindu
[Ed] Many faces of terror
Whether the blast was intended to protest the arrest of the pro-Islamic State tweeter in Bengaluru, would be known only after further investigation. But, Bengaluru, a city with a large floating population, with workers drawn from different parts of the country, is surely growing too big and diverse for conventional policing. True, it is difficult to prevent terrorists picking soft targets. Intelligence inputs on the possibility of such attacks are usually vague and non-actionable. A separate intelligence information cadre, as proposed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, could help in data surveillance, and in tracking online activities of suspects, but whether this could in itself help prevent similar attacks on soft targets is another matter altogether. The Bengaluru police, which have had remarkable success in apprehending the perpetrators in these attacks, might need to adopt problem-oriented policing to prevent terror crimes with a greater level of success.
Source - The Hindu
India being pulled into vortex of wars
“The World War I is being replicated in several places across the globe… India is being pulled into the vortex of these wars. India is the largest buyer of Israeli weapons. Thus, in a way India is financing Israel’s inhuman crimes on Palestine,” Mr. Yechury said. He added that the Indian Government should have at least suspended purchasing weapons from Israel, if not completely stopped buying them.
Coming down heavily on capitalism, he said that World War I was the ‘first illogic created by capitalism.’
“Six times more money was spent on armaments [in the wars following World War I] than during the Cold War. If this much money was spent on building social welfare infrastructure for the poor, it would have led to better spending power which would have ultimately been a boon for capitalists,” said Mr. Yechury, who is also a Politbureau member of the CPI(M).
The U.S. requires to have control of economic resources to exercise its hegemony, Mr. Yechury said, adding that Afghanistan falls into the crux of this problem, stemmed by the need to control vast oil and natural gas reserves.
Source - The Hindu
[Ed] Making ‘Make in India’ happen
At this moment, the Prime Minister’s “Make in India” campaign appears to be exactly this — an imaginative marketing campaign. But there is much thought and even more work that is required to convert this to reality.
The theory behind “Make in India” is as simple as it is compelling. India must become a manufacturing powerhouse in order to gainfully employ its demographic dividend; there is no choice here. Fortunately, we have many natural advantages including a big labour pool and a large domestic market. In addition, with China’s competitive advantage in manufacturing eroding, India has the opportunity to take some share of global manufacturing away from China. All we have to do to improve the ease of doing business in India are these —stop tax terrorism, improve infrastructure, reform labour laws, invest in skills development, make it easier to acquire land, implement Goods and Services Tax (GST) and fast track approvals. Voila, we will take our rightful place as the world’s factory alongside China.
Energy factor
This is an attractive thesis that has a lot of merit. A simple step of making it easier to do business will make a huge difference to India’s manufacturing competitiveness. It is one plank of a manufacturing strategy. India ranks 142 on the World Bank Index; China is ranked 90. If we were to improve by just 50 places, it would be a huge perceptual breakthrough. However, this is not a manufacturing strategy in itself. As Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan correctly and controversially pointed out, much has changed in the world since China elbowed itself into becoming the world’s factory two decades ago. The nature of manufacturing is changing. Low-cost automation and robotics are making pure labour cost arbitrage less important. Lead times and a flexibility of supply chains are far more important, leading many companies to move manufacturing back closer to the big markets, the United States and Europe. Energy is the new labour in the sense that the cost of energy will significantly drive where things are made. Here, the U.S. with its huge new shale gas reserves has a big advantage. Developed countries are also realising how crucial local manufacturing is to jobs and to having stable, prosperous societies and so there is an attempt to reverse outsourcing and revive local manufacturing by embracing new technologies and innovations such as 3-D printing and the “Internet of things”.
For an industrial policy
To become a manufacturing powerhouse, India needs a manufacturing strategy, otherwise known as industrial policy. The idea of an industrial policy is out of vogue these days. It is seen as ineffective at best and even retrograde, running contrary to the idea of free trade. This is patent nonsense. Japan, Korea, China, Germany have all prospered by having a clear industrial policy and vigorously implementing it. The U.S., the United Kingdom, France and Italy have seen themselves deindustrialise by not having a clear industrial policy and are trying hard to course-correct this mistake.
There is a successful precedent even in India; our success in IT services was not an accident. It was the result of clear-eyed policies driven by the Department of Electronics, which included reducing import tariffs on hardware and software to zero, setting up software technology parks with tax incentives, and improving connectivity. Policy has always mattered and when it comes to manufacturing competitiveness, India must have a clear industrial policy that spells out priority sectors and how we will build competitive advantage in a way that is consistent with our obligations to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Building on advantages
India’s industrial policy must recognise where we have important competitive advantages. India is quite uncompetitive at low skill manufacturing. On the other hand, it is good at making complex things which require skilled labour and frugal engineering. Despite all its shortcomings, India remains a very competitive manufacturing location for sophisticated things such as construction machinery, cars and automotive components and diesel engines. It is no accident that companies such as JCB, Cummins, Deere, Volvo, Hyundai and Ford are using India as a major export hub.
We must focus on building competitive advantage and global scale in sectors where we have a large domestic market and certain inherent capabilities. Strategy is all about making choices. Here, five priority industries come to mind. Defence, because we are the world’s leading arms importer. Localising what we buy as a condition for all defence deals along with a willingness to allow majority foreign ownership can turbocharge our local defence industry. The second critical industry is electronics hardware. India imports $45 billion of mobile phones, computers and communications hardware; by 2020, this is projected to grow to $300 billion and exceed our oil import bill. This is unsustainable. We have to create policy incentives to create a local electronic hardware manufacturing ecosystem. Since most component suppliers, Original Equipment Manufacturers and Original Design Manufacturers are Chinese, this will necessarily imply incentivising Chinese companies to establish factories in India. The size of our domestic market should make this possible. Concerns about security are misplaced; all our personal computers, cellphones and a lot of switches and routers are already made in China, so we are conceding nothing. The third industry is construction. India will invest a trillion dollars over the coming years in improving infrastructure. We need to create incentives that not only spur investment in manufacturing materials such as cement and steel but also construction equipment, locomotives, power generation equipment and so on. Everything we install should be made in India. The fourth is health care. India’s generic pharmaceutical industry is world class. We must not concede on intellectual property rights that neutralise our advantage. India is also exceedingly good at frugal innovation in medical devices such as low cost X-ray and ECG machines. We have a real shot at being a world leader in innovation and manufacturing in this space. Finally, agro-industries. We are one of the largest agricultural nations. A third of what we grow just rots and spoils. Investing in agro-industries such as food processing and establishing a reliable cold chain would make a huge difference in terms of rural employment and food security. If we had to pick just five industries where we want to bootstrap a strong competitive advantage it would be these. In other industries, whether it be textiles, toys, or automotive, we need to ensure that we do not disadvantage local manufacturing.
Creating ecosystems
Another critical strategic question is this: where do we want to make things? It is difficult to make a country the size of India into a uniformly attractive manufacturing location. Even China started its manufacturing odyssey by creating a few oases in the form of four special economic zones which were remarkably easy places to manufacture in. Where is India going to start its global odyssey? Manufacturing is all about hubs that are ecosystems for innovation, specialised skills and supply chains. Where will India’s hubs be for pharma, for defence, for electronics, for machinery and construction equipment? How do we catalyse these hubs by creating world-class academic institutions and skills training institutes? What incentives will attract the world’s leading companies to establish global innovation and manufacturing centres in these hubs? Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru and Delhi are already emergent hubs but what will enable them to scale up to compete with Shenzen and Tianjin?
To become a manufacturing nation, India has to quickly move beyond rhetoric to create a clear strategy and favourable policy environment for manufacturing to take off. The government has chosen to quietly dismantle the sclerotic National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) but it needs to foster a more vibrant think tank in its place. A close dialogue and partnership between government and the private sector, both domestic and foreign, is critical. Indian companies along with Chinese, Japanese, German, American and Swedish companies are all vital partners and we must create an environment that is open and welcoming. For this, the right leadership of this vital mission is critical. There is a clear and short-lived window of opportunity to become a manufacturing nation. We must not squander it.
(Ravi Venkatesan is the former Chairman of Microsoft India and Cummins India and an author of Conquering the Chaos: Win In India, Win Everywhere.)
Source - The Hindu
App-based cabs eligible for comeback subject to riders
Major modifications made to the Radio Taxi Scheme of 2006 will now allow aggregators of taxis as well as entities operating through web-based applications to operate subject to conditions stipulated under the Motor Vehicles (MV) and the Information Technology (IT) Act.
They also ostensibly seem to aim at stricter background checks on drivers, added safety procedures and harsher penalties on the operators of such services in reaction to the public outcry following the said incident, they also opened up the sector to what a source described as ‘groups of indigenous drivers, competitive services and more employment opportunities’ by relaxation of cab fleets from 500 to 200 cars.
“The hearing in the Uber matter is still under way and nothing definite about their return to Delhi can be said as a result,” said an official.
Source - The Hindu
Search for AirAsia aircraft
"Based on the coordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea , the hypothesis is that the plane is at the bottom of the sea . " National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo said.
Indonesian helicopter on Monday saw two oily spots in Java Sea while Australian search plane spotted "suspicious " objects near Nangka island.
Source - The Hindu
India summons Pakistan High Commissioner over Lakhvi court order
Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on Monday and conveyed India’s “strong concern” at the lack of “effective action” by Pakistani prosecuting authorities to keep Mumbai attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in custody.
Ms. Singh conveyed that India expected Pakistan to abide by its commitment that expeditious steps would be taken to bring all those responsible for the Mumbai terror attack to justice, an official release said.
India felt it was “extremely disturbing” that despite assurances over the past six years and the recent tragedies in Pakistan, there seemed to be “no end in sight to Pakistan remaining a safe haven for well-known terror groups.”
The Foreign Secretary is said to have expressed India’s ire at the fact that Pakistani authorities did not take urgent action in filing an appeal against the anti-terrorism court order, granting bail to Lashkar-e-Taiba kingpin Lakhvi.
Earlier on Monday, Islamabad High Court Judge Noorul Haq N. Qureshi, while accepting Lakhvi’s application challenging his detention under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO), suspended the government’s order and directed him to submit a surety bond of Rs. 1 million.
Source - The Hindu
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