Akash testfired

India on Saturday successfully test-fired its Akash surface-to-air missile twice from a defence base in Odisha. The indigenously developed missile, with a 27-km range and an effective ceiling of 15 km, was test-fired from the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur in the coastal district of Balasore.
“There are different conditions in which Akash has to be improved. Today’s test was one with incoming target and the second with receding or outgoing target,” test range director MVKV Prasad said. Both tests were successful, he said. Each missile targeted a toe body supported by Pilot Less Target Aircraft (PTA) ‘Lakshya’, defence sources said.
The 700-kg, all-weather missile can carry a 60-kg warhead at speeds of up to Mach 2.5. It can operate autonomously and simultaneously engage and neutralise different aerial targets. The missile can be launched from static or mobile platforms, enabling flexible deployment by the armed forces.
Akash is a medium range surface-to-air anti-aircraft defence system developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation. While the Air-force version has already been inducted, the Army version is in the final stage of induction into the armed forces. With the capability to neutralise aerial targets like fighter jets, cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles, defence experts compare Akash to the US’ MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile

NaMo vows to bring Dawood back from Pakistan

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi told a Gujarati news channel that he would bring notorious don Dawood Ibrahim to India from Pakistan if he comes to power.
Incidentally, in 1993 a plan was prepared by the Mumbai police under leadership of the then commissioner AS Samra to send a crack team of five highly-motivated officers with fake passports to Karachi to eliminate Dawood. But, New Delhi never gave the go-ahead for this undercover operation. Chhota Rajan, the arch rival of Dawood, stated on Friday night that some years ago he had sent a hit squad, including Farid Tanasha and DK Rao, to Karachi to eliminate Dawood.
“Dawood was scheduled to come to offer prayers at a dargah near his home in Karachi. My boys were lying in wait. But he never turned up and the operation had to be called off,” he disclosed.
Sources in the intelligence community, however, noted that such an operation is not as simple as it appears. Dawood’s chief lieutenant Chhota Shakeel had told dna a few months ago that: “Dawoodbhai koyi halwa nahin hai ke usko uthake koi be le jaa sakta hai.(Dawood is not a piece of halwa that anyone can take him away).”
What Shakeel, who is currently based in Pakistan, implied was that the don has several layers of security around him. Dawood has always been guarded by fierce Baloch guards trained by the ISI. This is over and above the army of private bodyguards he has employed. After the CIA-led operation in Abbotabad in which the world’s most dreaded terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, was killed on May 2, 2001 by the US Navy Seals, Dawood’s security detail was closely reviewed and his location and movements have been made even more secretive than before.
“The killing of Osama has been a great learning experience for the ISI and it has beefed up Dawood’s security in a big way,” an intelligence officer observed.
A senior official said, “Dawood, who is on first name terms with the Whos Who of the Pakistani military-political establishment, is a huge intelligence asset for Pakistan. The ISI would prefer to eliminate him rather than let any Indian agency track him down and kidnap or assassinate him. This is because Dawood is a man who-knows-too-much. Only the Nishan-e-Pakistan title has not been conferred on him, but for all practical purposes he is treated as one.”
Income-tax officials said one of the first acts of Modi after assuming office should be to let them hand over the 12 properties of Dawood, which is in their custody for the past several years, to the Mumbai police for accommodating some of its officers and men or for use as offices. Twice these properties were auctioned by the IT department to recover tax dues. But barring a bid for a commercial premise in Tardeo, no one came forward to bid for the remaining properties for fear of reprisal by D Gang. A Delhi-based advocate Ajay Srivastav successfully bid for the Tardeo property years ago, but he is still not being allowed by D Company to take possession of it.

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Shivaji Memorial update

The Maharashtra state public works department has issued a tender to appoint a consultant to erect the 190-metre Chhatrapati Shivaji statue in Arabian Sea, off the Marine Drive.
The project has been on the Congress-NCP’s manifesto for last 10 years. With the assembly polls scheduled to be held later this year, the government has decided to expedite the work, said sources.
The estimated cost of the memorial is Rs.1500 crore. It will be slightly taller than the proposed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel statue (182 mts) in Gujarat.
According officials, they have formed a committee comprising architects from BMC, MMRDA, and the principal of Sir JJ College of architecture to handle the project. The state’s chief architect is not a part this committee.
“The committee will scrutinise the proposals submitted by various firms. The deadline to submit the application is April 30,” said a senior government official.
Earlier, the plan for the memorial had been developed by Mumbai based firm Team One, but was shelved by NCP leader and Mumbai city’s guardian minister Jayant Patil. Later, the designing work was allotted to the JJ College of Architecture. The initial height of the memorial was 98.
The memorial will rise on 7.5 acres of reclaimed land. It will also museum to exhibit artefacts, history and murals on Shivaji, dancing fountains, amphitheatre, auditorium, aquarium. Besides there will be other facilities water adventure sports.
Moreover, the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute and National Institute of Oceanography have been asked to prepare an environmental impact assessment report. “Once we get report from the project management committee, then we will submit the proposal for the approval of the Ministry of Environment and Forests,” said a PWD official.

UPA gives up on Lokpal

The UPA government seems to have given up all attempts to appoint the country’s first lokpal — a corruption watchdog to probe allegations against public officers in high places — in the face of stiff opposition.
Virtually indicating the decision might be left to the new government voted to power after the elections, solicitor general Mohan Parasaran told the Supreme Court that no meeting chaired by the Prime Minister was scheduled in this regard and no appointment would happen immediately.
The NGO Common Cause has challenged in SC the rules notified to select the lokpal.

New CJI sworn in

The new Chief Justice of India (CJI) RM Lodha hopes to bring in transparency in appointment of judges and ensure that ‘good judges’ are selected through wider consultation.
Speaking after his swearing-in ceremony on Sunday, the 41st CJI said: “My first priority will be to appoint good judges (to the SC and HCs). My mantra is: appoint good judges and rest will follow. If we have good judges then we will have an entire new complexion of judiciary in the next 7 or 8 years.”
For better and more transparent selection, Justice Lodha said he was in favour of widening consultation process beyond the collegium system for appointment of judges. He, however, clarified that it would be done without “tinkering” with the set procedure.
“Consultations will be done with two to three judges outside the collegium and with two to three lawyers of impeccable integrity,” the new CJI said, adding that he would act on this immediately. “This (wider consultation) is only for additional inputs,” he added.
He, however, defended the opaque collegium system, saying, “Other than it (collegium system), there is no other suitable system (for selecting judges).”
Justice Lodha, 64, who replaces Justice P Sathasivam, will have a brief tenure of five months, as he is set to retire on September 27 this year.