India checking Chile claim of nabbing key IC-814 hijack accused

NEW DELHI: Indian agencies on Monday scrambled to check the veracity of information from Chile that the police there had detained one of the key conspirators behind the hijacking of anIndian Airlines plane to Kandahar in 1999. 

Chilean police detained one Abdul Rauf. The detention took place on the basis of an Interpol Red Corner issued for Abdul Rauf, one of the masterminds of the plot that led to the swap of three notorious Pakistan-backed terrorists for the passengers aboard the hijacked aircraft. 

Chilean authorities have sent across photographs and fingerprints of the detained person. The CBI will send a team to Chile if the indications firm up. 

For Indian agencies, Rauf has been crucial as they suspect him to have acted as the conduit between ISI leaders and the hijackers during the 6-day crisis that saw the Vajpayee government succumbing to the clamour for safe release of passengers at the cost of its initial stand not to negotiate with the hijackers. 

The key role that Rauf, brother-in–law of Maulana Masood Azhar, one of the terrorists who had to be freed as part of the bargain, played in the hijacking has been attested to by Abdul Latif, one of the accused who is in Indian custody. 

Latif said that Rauf, along with Yusuf Azhar, brother of Maulana Masood, planned the hijack, travelling along with fellow-conspirators to Nepal where the hijackers boarded the ill-fated Indian Airlines plane. 

However, sources were keeping fingers crossed whether the person detained by Chilean police was a genuine catch. "We have our doubts because we are not sure whether someone who is on an international wanted list and is so crucial for the real plotters will take the risk of travelling to a distant country under his own identity. Why will anyone take such a risk when he can easily acquire a fake identity with the help of official agencies in Pakistan," a senior investigator said. 

CBI can be helped by the fact that it has copies of driving licences and passports of the hijackers and other plotters, including Rauf. 

More importantly, Maulana Masood fell out of favour with the ISI after the failed his Jaish-e-Mohammad unsuccessfully plotted to assassinate former Pakistani ruler Pervez Musharraf. The ISI has since promoted LeT as its main jihadi proxy against India. 

In case Rauf turns out to be the person India is so keen on laying its hands on, the role of the US will become crucial. While Washington has close ties with Chile, it also has to take into account the sensibilities of Pakistan which is crucial to its war in Afghanistan. 

Earlier, the CBI had to face disappointment after Kenyan police claimed that they had Abdul Karim Tunda, a notorious jihadi terrorist who conducted a bombing campaign in the Capital, in their custody. The detained person turned out to be British national Ismoila Olatunde. 

The hijacking of IC-814 was a serious setback to India as it had to release, besides Masood, Omar Sheikh, who later went on to kidnap American journalist Daniel Pearl leading to the latter's killing. Masood, a jihadi ideologue who was a key figure of the anti-India terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Islam, used his celebrity as someone whom India could not detain to launch his own Jaish-e-Mohmmad. 

Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar, the third terrorist to be released, continues to operate from Pakistan. 

Politically, it blotted Vajpayee government's "tough-on-terror" claim, enabling BJP's political opponents to taunt it for its "surrender" to terror. 

The anti-hijacking policy framed by the NDA government which was adopted by UPA rules out negotiations with hijackers.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-checking-Chile-claim-of-nabbing-key-IC-814-hijack-accused/articleshow/7953231.cms

Wind industry group opposes federal guidelines to protect birds

The American Wind Energy Association Industry said it will oppose plans by a federal agency to adopt voluntary regulations on wind developers to protect birds and other wildlife.

AWEA said in a release that more than 34,000 MW of potential wind power development, $68 billion in investment and 27,000 jobs are at risk due to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service policies on golden eagles.

"Those numbers are expected to grow exponentially with analysis of the full scope of the proposed guidelines," AWEA said.

Two Fish and Wildlife Service documents offer guidelines for utility-scale and community-scale wind energy facilities to, according to the agency, "avoid and minimize" negative impacts to fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats.

"Draft Voluntary, Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines" was developed for industry to avoid and minimize impacts to federally protected migratory birds and bats and other impacted wildlife resulting from site selection, construction, operation and maintenance of land-based, wind energy facilities. The Fish and Wildlife Service also developed peer-reviewed "Draft Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance" for wind project developers and employees who must evaluate impacts from proposed wind energy projects to eagles protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and other federal laws.

AWEA said it cannot support either document even though it participated for more than two years in a public, collaborative Federal Advisory Committee process. AWEA said the process resulted in consensus recommendations on wind turbine siting that wind energy developers broadly supported.

AWEA said in a release "Unfortunately, the guidance released deviates significantly from the consensus recommendations." Among other problems with the guidance as released, it could:

Delay construction of projects by up to three years and require operating projects to retroactively conduct post-construction wildlife studies for a minimum of two and as much as five years, adding unforeseen costs to the operating budgets of these facilities.

Require "adaptive management", which could include operational changes, such as shutting off turbines at certain times of the year, which will add further unquantifiable costs to even projects already permitted and operating.

Request analysis on wildlife-based sound impacts without any peer-reviewed scientific evidence that sound related to the construction and operation of wind farms has the potential to impact wildlife.

"Greatly expand" applicability under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to projects built on private lands, adding time and costs to developing wind projects, when there is no federal staff to perform this "vastly increased amount of administrative work."

Source:-http://www.powergenworldwide.com/index/display/articledisplay/0355924858/articles/powergenworldwide/renewables/wind/2011/02/awea-birds.html

A 10,000cr fuel black market killed Yeshwant Sonawane

New Delhi: A thriving black market in kerosene, estimated at Rs 10,000 crore a year, killed additional collector Yeshwant Sonawane. A litre of kerosene sold at ration shops is often costlier than a bottle of packaged water. Most of this ‘‘poor man’s fuel’’ is pilfered and sold in the black market for a price two-three times higher. 

Sonawane tried to meddle with this lucrative illegality and paid with his life. Actually, most enforcement officers make peace with the fuel mafia and get some crumbs from it. It would appear Sonawane didn’t. 

The oil ministry has tried to work out the maths of this black market. According to its estimates — said to be conservative — as much as 40% of kerosene supplied for the poor is siphoned by ‘‘organized gangs of mafia proportion’’. 

State-run oil companies annually supply 9-10 million tonne of the fuel for sale through ration shops; 40% of that means almost 4 million tonne — or about 5200,000,000 litres of kerosene — is flowing into the parallel market. At around Rs 31 per litre in the open market, this trade is worth Rs 16,120 crore. That’s why the official estimate (done in 2006) is said to be conservative. 

‘‘Even at government-capped price, the value of this diverted kerosene will be huge. Add the money made by selling it in the black market for more than twice the controlled price, and you will get a really large trade involving thousands of people,’’ said a senior marketing executive of IOC, the largest fuel retailer. 4-5 million kilolitres of kerosene is diverted every year 

An interim report by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) had in 2005-06 said nearly 4-5 million kilolitres of kerosene was being diverted every year. It had put the stakes at Rs 10,000 crore at the time when consumption levels were hovering a tad higher at 10-11 million tonne a year. 

Around the same time, a study by National Institute of Public Finance and Planning (NIPFP) said government subsidy gave kerosene an undue price advantage against other fuels and created ground for diversion. The NIPFP study also said kerosene and cooking gas subsidies benefit semi-urban and urban consumers more, respectively, rather than the rural poor. ‘‘Decades of subsidies have failed to shift the fuel consumption patterns away from biomass in rural areas.’’ 

Oil company executives said about 20% of the total kerosene supplied to the ration shops are used for adulteration of diesel and lubricants used by truckers. 

Now a substantial quantity is smuggled to Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan as the fuel is priced much higher in those countries. ‘‘When the studies were being conducted, kerosene was even being smuggled to Sri Lanka. But it may not be the case now,’’ the IOC executive said. 

Oil company executives say that about a third of the diverted kerosene is used as fuel (no doubt, by the poor at a hefty premium). The remaining quantity is used for adulteration or is smuggled out of the country. Usually adulteration with diesel is done in the ratio of 30:70 but in cases it can go upto almost half. ‘‘It all depends on how quick a buck the adulterator wants to make or on the diesel supply position,’’ one executive said.

Source: Article Window

A Rs 10,000cr kerosene black market killed Yeshwant Sonawane

NEW DELHI: A thriving black market in kerosene, estimated to be worth Rs 10,000 crore every year, killed additional collector Yeshwant Sonawane. A litre of kerosene sold at ration shops is often costlier than a bottle of packaged water. Most of this "poor man's fuel" is pilfered and sold in the black market for a price that's two or three times higher.

It's really money for jam. Sonawane tried to meddle with this lucrative illegality and paid with his life. Actually, most enforcement officers make peace with the fuel mafia and get some crumbs from the mafia. It would appear Sonawane didn't.

The oil ministry has tried to work out the maths of this black market. According to its estimates — said to be conservative — as much as 40% of the kerosene supplied for the poor is siphoned off by "organized gangs of mafia proportion". But even going by this estimate, the illegal trade is humungous.

Here's a quick calculation. State-run oil companies annually supply 9-10 million tonne of the fuel for sale through ration shops; 40% of that means almost 4 million tonne — or about 5200,000,000 litres of kerosene — is flowing into the parallel market. At around Rs 31 per litre in the open market, this trade is worth Rs 16,120 crore. That's why the official estimate (done in 2006) is said to be conservative.

"Even at the government-capped price, the value of this diverted kerosene will be huge. Add to that the money these fuel gangs would be making by selling it in the black market for more than twice the controlled price, and you will get a really large trade involving thousands of people," said a senior marketing executive of biggest fuel retailer IndianOil Corporation said.

An interim report by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) had in 2005-06 said nearly 4-5 million kilolitres of kerosene was being diverted every year. It had put the stakes at Rs 10,000 crore at the time when consumption levels were hovering a tad higher at 10-11 million tonne a year.

Around the same time, a study by National Institute of Public Finance and Planning (NIPFP) said government subsidy gave kerosene an undue price advantage against other fuels and created ground for diversion. The NIPFP study also said kerosene and cooking gas subsidies benefit semi-urban and urban consumers more, respectively, rather than the rural poor. "Decades of subsidies have failed to shift the fuel consumption patterns away from biomass in rural areas."

Oil company executives said about 20% of the total kerosene supplied to the ration shops are used for adulteration of diesel and lubricants used by truckers. Now a substantial quantity is smuggled to Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan as the fuel is priced much higher in those countries. "When the studies were being conducted, kerosene was even being smuggled to Sri Lanka. But it may not be the case now," the IOC executive said.

Oil company executives say that about a third of the diverted kerosene is used as fuel (no doubt, by the poor at a hefty premium). The remaining quantity is used for adulteration or is smuggled out of the country. Usually adulteration with diesel is done in the ratio of 30:70 but in cases it can go upto almost half. "It all depends on how quick a buck the adulterator wants to make or on the diesel supply position," one executive said.

Source:-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/A-Rs-10000cr-kerosene-black-market-killed-Yeshwant-Sonawane/articleshow/7368515.cms

Study says India most vulnerable to tiger skin, parts trade

NAGPUR: From 40,000 tigers hundred years ago, today India is down to just 1,411. No wonder. Latest study by Traffic International, the wildlife trade network in 11 of the 13 tiger range countries, reveals that India is most vulnerable when it comes to tiger skin and body parts trade.

The study 'Reduced to skin and bones', an analysis of tiger seizures from 11 tiger range countries in a decade (2000-2010), reveals that in addition to habitat loss and degradation, human encroachment, excessive poaching of key prey species and illegal trade in tiger parts were greatly contributing to the rapid decline of tigers in the wild.


"The study included all seizure information available from January 2000 to April 30, 2010. No data were recorded from Cambodia and Bhutan and hence these countries were omitted," said Samir Sinha, head, Traffic India. A total of 481 seizures were analysed, suggesting a minimum of 1,069 (annual average 104.2) and maximum of 1,220 (annual average 118.9) tigers killed for their parts and derivatives. The vast majority of these seizures took place in India (276), followed by China (40), Nepal (39), Indonesia (36) and Vietnam (28).


"Owing to the illicit nature of the trade, it must be assumed that the 1069-1220 tigers implicated in this analysis are fewer than the actual number of tigers killed and their parts trafficked around the world," the study says. Parts seized in tiger range countries were most commonly in the form of skins (480), bones and skeletons (1253.53 kg), dead individuals (197) and claws (1,313).

Source :- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Study-says-India-most-vulnerable-to-tiger-skin-parts-trade/articleshow/7331229.cms