HEAD LINE:

Inflation at 6.84%, likely to fall more (AA)

LEAD:

Within three weeks of the Mumbai Terror attacks, Parliament late on Thursday night gave its nod to the setting up of a National Investigation Agency (NIA) with the Rajya Sabha passing the NIA Bill. The Upper House also passed the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill after a lengthy debate. Most parties expressed their support for the two Bills while some members voiced reservations over certain clauses. The two Bills were approved by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, the UPA Govt had said that reservations or concerns expressed by MPs regarding the setting up of NIA could be revisited in the February session. Home Minister P Chidambaram said, "Please express your concerns and reservations. We will revisit the provisions in February, after the law is applied and if found necessary." (IE)

• MUMBAI: The Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed on suspicion that they may have provided local help to the 26/11 attackers, a move that could lead to the stringent MCOCA being applied to the case and its lone surviving terrorist, Ajmal Ameer Kasab. Ansari and Ahmed, brought from UP last night, were produced in the Esplanade Court today as accused in the Girgaum Chowpatty encounter case where Kasab and his partner Ismail Khan were intercepted and a policeman was killed before Khan was gunned down. Ansari, a resident of Goregaon in Mumbai, allegedly surveyed spots in the city on orders from LeT handler Kahafa. He is also accused of passing on CDs containing photographs and videos of these spots to Ahmed in Kathmandu. The court remanded the duo to police custody until December 31. (IE)
• New Delhi: At the centre of a firestorm he kicked off by questioning the circumstances of the death of Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare and linking the Malegaon blast probe to the Mumbai Terror attacks, Union Minister for Minority Affairs A R Antulay sent a letter to PM Manmohan Singh today offering to resign if the UPA Govt so wished. This was his second letter to the PM the first one, sources said, was an "explanation" of his remarks. While the Congress said the party and the govt didn't agree with these "personal views", there's a divide in the party with a section supporting the Minister saying his remarks were "blown out of proportion". Another section, however, said Antulay's remarks provide ammunition to Pakistan squeezed by the international pressure after the attacks. (IE)
• New Delhi: Existing floating home loan customers groaning under high interest rates can look forward to a more cheery New Year. Following an announcement by public sector banks setting interest rates at 9.25% for new home loans between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 20 lakh, rates for existing home loans too are set to be reduced as the PLR (prime lending rate) comes down. Home minister P Chidambaram, speaking for PM Manmohan Singh, who now holds charge of finance, told Lok Sabha on Thursday, "Floating interest rates must come down. The loans for existing home loans will be reset as the PLR is reduced." Chidambaram said steps had been taken to address the liquidity crisis but banks remained risk-averse while those seeking home loans were deterred by the 12-13% rates being currently charged. "I am sure banks will sincerely attempt to reset the floating rates," said the minister, who till recently held the finance portfolio.(TOI)
• NEW DELHI: Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee has taken a serious view of Congress Members of Parliament, including many Ministers, remaining absent during the crucial vote on the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Bill passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Mr. Mukherjee, it is learnt, has written to 68 MPs asking them to "explain" their absence in spite of a whip being issued and reminders being sent directing them to be present and vote in favour of the bill. A senior Minister explained: "It would have been a huge embarrassment if the amendments moved by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had gone through despite being earlier rejected by the govt." Even as the debate on the bill was nearing conclusion, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is believed to have sent out a word to Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Vayalar Ravi that she was "pained" to see a large number of vacant seats in the Congress benches. It was no secret that Mrs. Gandhi was keen to see this piece of legislation that would give benefits to unorganised workers, among the poorest in the country, go through smoothly in Parliament, the Minister said.(HINDU)
• INDIA'S CRICKET tour of Pakistan has been officially called off, with the govt refusing permission in view of "recent developments as well as the overall circumstances prevailing at present". The decision "was based on multiple considerations", said a senior govt official who did want to be named. Among the reasons: the Mumbai attacks, the need to step up pressure on Pakistan at all levels, and concern over possible protests in India if the team went on tour. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Sports Minister M.S. Gill spoke to cricket board chief Shashank Manohar to convey the govt's reasoning behind the decision. While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said the govt had to make the decision, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) termed the cancellation disappointing. (HT)

BJP

The BJP on Thursday slammed Union Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay for his remarks on the killing of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare and demanded immediate sacking of the minister from the Cabinet. The party, however, found itself at a loss of words when reminded of its own comments on Karkare and the ATS in the past. "He is a senior leader of the party, not a kid. His statement is a well-thought out comment by a minister and speaks of the evil intentions of the Congress," said former BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu here on Thursday. "The Congress has a habit of misleading the people. If the minister had any doubts, he should have discussed the matter in the Cabinet or talked to the PM. Statements like these only embolden our opponents outside to find loopholes in our arguments on the terror-strikes," the BJP leader added. (IE)

CONGRESS

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday dropped broad hints of Lok Sabha elections taking place in April. Addressing MPs at a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party, she said that Parliament would meet in the middle of February before the general elections. "The House is scheduled to meet some time in mid-February, 2009," she said, urging the MPs to get ready for polls. If Parliament is convened for a short budget session in February before the govt recommends elections, the exercise can take place only in April. "There is no time to waste," she told the MPs. Speaking on the outcome of the recent round of assembly elections, she ascribed the debacles in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to "lack of unity and coordination amongst our colleagues in these two states". Sonia said there was a need to learn "appropriate lessons" from the defeats in the two states. She said the message emanating from J&K was reassuring as people in large numbers had come out to vote ignoring the militants' boycott calls and consequent violence. "They have sent out a strong and unambiguous signal that they have a deep-rooted yearning for peace and development," she said.(TOI)

STATES

ANDHRA PRADESH

A recent decision of the Andhra Pradesh govt to drop charges under provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) against the 30 persons accused of involvement in the 2003 failed assassination attempt on former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, has created a stir among police circles. The govt through an order (GOMs 355 dated December 10, 2008) asked the Police department to try the 30 accused persons under provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Explosive Substances Act instead of the POTA, which was repealed in 2004. The abortive attempt on Mr. Naidu on October 1, 2003 at Alipiri was a turning point in both the State politics as well as the revolutionary movement in the country. Mr. Naidu who survived the claymore mine blasts went to polls making the Left wing extremism as an issue, but the Congress led by Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy humbled the ruling Telugu Desam at the hustings and took over the reins of power in the State. The Rajasekhara Reddy govt initiated the process of holding negotiations with the Maoists by mid-2004.(HINDU)

ASSAM

The CBI on Thursday took over investigation of the October 30 serial bomb blast cases in Assam, in which 89 people were killed and more than 500 were injured. This followed the failure of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which had been constituted by the state Govt, to make any headway in the case despite arresting 11 persons. In a notification issued on Thursday, the Centre said the decision to entrust the CBI with the investigation was taken in consultation with the state Govt. A team of 30 CBI officials will leave for Guwahati on Friday to take over the case. This is the second time that the CBI will be investigating a bomb blast in Assam. It had investigated the death of Nagen Sharma, then minister of Forest and PWD, and others, in a bomb blast in 2001. (IE)

DELHI

A day after taking charge, CM Shiela Dikshit has decided to set right the chronic BRT problem. She called a meeting on Thursday to review the controversial bus corridor and after listening to her officers, decided to visit the corridor herself and assess the ground situation first hand. Dikshit is expected to reach the BRT stretch between Chirag Delhi crossing and Ambedkar Nagar around 11 am. She would have got a better idea of the mess had she visited the corridor during peak hours between 8.30 and 10.30 in the morning and between 5.30 and 8.15 in the evening. Even so, if the road is not especially cleared up for her (which would defeat the purpose of the visit), even 11 am should give her a feel of the chaos the citizens experience daily. And this chaos has been created by insufficient road space for the volume of traffic the stretch carries (estimated at 20,000-30,000 peak hour passenger direction by the Parliament Standing Committee), and aggravated by poor project management like the 6-phase traffic signal system which has resulted in a minimum wait of 5 minutes at red lights and lax enforcement of road discipline, resulting in motorised vehicles straying on to cycle lanes and cars on to bus lanes. (TOI)

JHARKHAND

Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren on Thursday night sacked a Minister from his Cabinet whose party raised a banner of revolt fielding a candidate against him in an Assembly by-poll scheduled on December 29. The CM, however, told the media that he had removed Rural Development Minister Enos Ekka, whose Jharkhand Party put up a nominee against Mr. Soren in Tamar by-poll, and Tourism Minister Harinarayan Rai as the vigilance department was investigating into corruption charges against them. On the direction of a vigilance court last month, the vigilance police station had filed FIRs against the two in connection with a disproportionate assets case. The CM said he has forwarded the sack letters to the Governor. (HINDU)

KARNATAKA

Belgaum: The Congress has cautioned the electorate that every single vote they cast in favour of the Janata Dal (Secular) in the by-elections will only help the Bharatiya Janata Party in the State. Talking to presspersons here on Wednesday, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President R.V. Deshpande said the BJP had managed to remain in power through unethical means on the strength of defections by MLAs who were elected from other parties. The electorate of Karnataka was educated. Though it was silent, it would take the appropriate decision as it had realised the BJP's failure to give good governance. He said the Congress was poised to win in all the Assembly constituencies in the by-elections as people had started looking up to the party once again. He said the BJP Govt had proved itself to be inefficient in governance. To substantiate his observations, he said the party, which came to power on the promise of free electricity power supply to irrigation pumpsets, had resorted to indiscriminate load-shedding both in rural and urban areas affecting life and agriculture/industrial production. (HINDU)

RAJASTHAN

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot will announce his Council of Ministers on Friday. Though the names in the team of Ministers and their total strength are yet to be disclosed, the ministers are scheduled to take oath at Raj Bhawan at 10-15 in the morning. Given the compulsions of the numbers the Congress is short of five MLAs for crossing the half way mark of 100 in the Assembly it took almost a week for Mr. Gehlot, who was sworn in alone on Saturday last, to go about the Ministry formation. Mr. Gehlot has made it known that he would not have any deputies though initially there had been talks about inducting at least two deputy CMs, including one from the Jat community. Mr. Gehlot had two deputies in his previous Ministry, sworn in during an expansion. Though no Deputy CM this time, it is a forgone conclusion that he would take in a good number of Jats, including some of his own detractors in west Rajasthan, in his Cabinet. (HINDU)

UTTAR PRADESH

The Uttar Pradesh Govt has bought time to resolve the vexed issue of consequential seniority along with promotion for the officers belonging to the Scheduled Castes/Tribes in the power sector. The issue had triggered off a controversy with the UP Power Engineers Federation (UP Rajya Vidyut Parishad Abhiyanta Sangh) opposing the move and the rival UP Power Officers' Association supporting the decision. The Govt.'s decision at the behest of CM Mayawati was implemented in all the power corporations and utilities, including UP Power Transmission Corporation and UP Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam and subsidiary units from Tuesday. Protesting the move, the engineers belonging to the Power Engineers' Federation (UP Rajya Vidyut Parishad Abhiyanta Sangh ) struck work on Wednesday. The work boycott followed by a protest meeting at the Shakti Bhawan headquarters of UP Power Corporation Limited here continued on Thursday with the engineers contemplating mass resignation. (HINDU)

EDITORIAL

The fine print: Lok Sabha has passed, with a rare urgency, a flurry of anti-terror legislative proposals. These proposals extend detention without bail to 180 days, deny bail to accused foreign nationals, crack down on fund raising, and set up special courts. The instincts behind these changes are correct, and much needed. Though tough, they aren't unprecedented: the United States and the United Kingdom have similar laws. There are, however, two changes which the bill avoids: admissibility of confessions to a police officer, and wiretapping without court approval. In these days of techno-savvy terrorism, Blackberry-carrying terrorists communicate through an array of new technologies. Being able to listen in on them communicating can be key in the war against terror. Of course, wiretapping militates against the right to privacy, and any law permitting wiretaps must have adequate safeguards.(IE)