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Date:         Mon, 25 Jan 1993 13:03:22 -0600
From:         Uma Ramamurthy <uma@orion.stjude.org>
Subject:      INN Digest - Jan 25

India News Network Digest    Mon, 25 Jan 93      Volume 2 : Issue 12

Today's News Topics:

        Indian Airlines pilots call off their strike
        Indian Coast Guard treating an oil leak in Andaman Sea
        Police unearth plot to blast buildings during Major's visit
        Pakistan renews Kashmir talks offer to India
        Britain pushes for economic stake in emerging India
        India, US to stage joint army exercises
        Hijacker jailed under India's anti-terrorist law
        Russia wants to sell trainer jets to India
        India urged to do more to win foreign investment
        Colombo says rebel leader had arms in death ship
        India's child workforce swelling, adult unemployment rising
        India says its oil reserves may last 21 years
        RBI announces new guidelines for entry of private sector banks
        Indian surgeon shows cheap alternative to liver transplants
        US charges Pakistan of persecuting minorities

Editorials & Commentary:

        India chooses to remain silent over Pak nuclear reports
                                        - by N V Subramanian   [ Part 2 ]

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Date: 24 Jan 1993 14:12:07 -0500 (EST)
From: dea@rpi.edu (Anirban De)
Subject: Indian Airlines pilot call off their strike

Source: All India Radio
Time: 1pm EST (18:00 GMT), January 24,1993

* Indian Airlines pilot call off their strike
* Britain announces economic co-operations with India

Pilots of Indian Airlines have called off their one and a half month old
strike. The decision was made by their union following discussions with
the minister for Civil Aviation Mr.Ghulam Nabi Azad. The pilots had
demanded rise in their pay structure and better working conditions. The
minister assured them that the government will consider their demands.
******

Britain has announced various co-operative programs with India. This has
come during the British Prime Minister Mr.John Major's on going visit to
India. Among the ventures announced in London by the British Overseas
Development minister was a 21.4 million pounds hydro-electric power project
in Orissa.

------------------------------

Date: 24 Jan 1993 18:14:13 -0500
From: dea@rpi.edu (Anirban De)
Subject: Indian Coast Guard treating an oil leak in the Andaman Sea

Source: All India Radio
Time: 5pm(EST), January 24,1993

Two Indian Coast guard vessels and several aircrafts are treating an oil
leak in the Andaman Sea. 3 lakh (1lakh=100,000) tonnes of oil leaked into
the sea when a Danish supertanker collided with a Japanese tanker near the
Indonesian island of Sumatra.

The oilslick, which is 400 meters across, is reported to be 40 miles from
the Great Nicobar Island and moving in a north-westerly direction. The
Coast Guard vessels are dropping chemicals on the oilslick and monitoring
its movement.

------------------------------

Date: 24 Jan 1993 20:54:49 -0800 (PST)
From: "Sukhjinder Singh Bajwa" <bajwa@asd.ENET.dec.com>
Subject: Indian Police foil bomb plot during Major's visit

* POLICE UNEARTH PLOT TO BLAST BUILDINGS DURING MAJOR'S VISIT
 By BRAHMA CHELLANEY
   NEW DELHI, India (UPI) -- Four underground Sikh militants were arrested
Sunday on charges they plotted to blow up government buildings in the
Indian capital with a sophisticated Japanese-made remote control while
British Prime Minister John Major watched a parade nearby. Major is scheduled
to be the chief guest Tuesday at the three-hour annual Republic Day parade,
which marks the anniversary of India's becoming a republic on Jan. 26, 1950,
nearly three years after Britain withdrew from the Indian subcontinent in
August 1947.
   Police in recent days have carried out a series of raids on suspected
rebel hideouts and stepped up security throughout New Delhi to deter any
terrorist attacks designed to disrupt Major's visit, said New Delhi Police
Commissioner M.B. Kaushal. "The arrests are a major breakthrough in our
efforts to keep the capital free of terrorist violence," Kaushal told a news
conference. Besides the remote-control device, police also seized explosives,
a sophisticated communications set and a Chinese-made pistol from the
extremists, the police commissioner said.
   Major, who arrived in New Delhi late Saturday, begins his official visit
on Monday. He is scheduled to leave India Thursday from Bombay. "Militants
feel aggrieved by the recent Indo-British extradition treaty, and we don't
want to take any risk on the Republic Day parade," Kaushal said.
   It will be the first time that a British prime minister will have the
honor of being the chief guest at the colorful Republic Day parade. The parade
travels each year from India's British-designed presidential palace to the
17th-century Red Fort, built by the same Mogul emperor who constructed the Taj
Mahal, India's monument to love. Kaushal said investigators broke up the
alleged plot after police captured Sukhjit Singh Sukhi, a leader of a splinter
faction of the Khalistan Commando Force, one of several separatist groups in
Punjab state waging hit-and-run campaigns.
   Information gained during Sukhi's interrogation led to the arrest of his
three accomplices, the police commissioner said. During police questioning, the
militants revealed that they had planned to blast several government buildings
in the heart of New Delhi, Kaushal said. "The Japanese remote control had been
smuggled into India via Canada," he said, adding that the device could set off
a blast from a distance of at least 1.2 miles. Kaushal blamed the four
secessionists for more than 50 slayings in Sikh-dominated Punjab, India's
breadbasket.
   Analysts have said the visit by Major and planned visits by Russian
President Boris Yeltsin, Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and German
Chancellor Helmut Kohl were part of an attempt by Prime Minister P.V.
Narasimha Rao's embattled government to refurbish its international image.
Rao's 19-month-old, minority government is facing growing criticism for its
failure to control sectarian and ethnic unrest in India, where more than
1,600 people have died in communal violence since December alone. The
government also confronts a serious economic crisis that has prompted it to
seek up to $9 billion in additional credit from the International Monetary Fund.
   Britain and India signed an extradition treaty last September in a move
to combat growing terrorist activity, particularly by Indian dissidents in
Britain and at home. The treaty, denounced by Sikh and Kashmiri rebels as
undemocratic, is to be presented to the British and Indian parliaments for
ratification. The two countries also have signed an agreement to confiscate
funds of militants and crack down on their money-laundering operations.
Britain has a large number of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent,
many of them from the troubled Indian states of Punjab and Kashmir. In the
early 1980s, an Indian diplomat was assassinated by Kashmiri extremists in
Britain. Indian Interior Minister S.B. Chavan told visiting British Home
Secretary Kenneth Clarke earlier this month that large money-laundering
operations in London were financing "terrorist violence" in India.
   Major's government has strongly supported India's efforts to curb
militant violence, and has urged Pakistan to halt its "material aid" to
Indian rebels. India accuses Pakistan of training and arming Sikh and Kashmiri
militants -- a charge Islamabad denies, but which many of the rebels
themselves acknowledge. Kaushal claimed the detained extremists had procured
their explosives from Pakistan via a group of Kashmiri Muslim guerrillas.
   In an interview published Saturday in the Hindustan Times, New Delhi's
largest newspaper, Major said: "There is an international battle against
terrorism and it is a battle that needs to be joined by governments around
the world and by civilized people around the world. "Thousands of people have
perished in India in the past one year alone in hit-and-run attacks by
underground extremists. Ethnic and sectarian unrest has emerged as India's
top national-security problem.

* PAKISTAN RENEWS KASHMIR TALKS OFFER TO INDIA

    ISLAMABAD, Jan 24, Reuter - Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on
Sunday renewed an offer for talks with India to settle the festering
dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir. He said in a statement Pakistan
was ready "to engage in meaningful negotiations with India aimed at achieving
a peaceful solution of the Kashmir issue taking into account the wishes of the
Kashmiri people." Sharif made the statement while praising British Prime
Minister John Major's call for India-Pakistan talks to settle the Kashmir
dispute, which led to two of their three wars since independence from Britain
in 1947. Relations between India and Pakistan have been tense because of a
three-year-old revolt in the Indian two-thirds of Kashmir.
    India accuses Pakistan of training and arming Kashmiri militants
fighting for an independent Kashmir or its accession to Pakistan. Pakistan,
which controls the remaining one-third of the region, denies the charge and
says it provides only political, moral and diplomatic support.
    Major called for the talks in an interview published by Indian newspaper
The Hindustan Times last Friday ahead of a five-day visit to India from Sunday.
Sharif had proposed talks on Kashmir in a letter sent to his Indian counterpart
Narasimha Rao last August after New Delhi refused to discuss the matter in talks
between the top foreign ministry officials of the two countries.
    Pakistani Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Siddique Khan Kanju
said last month Rao's response was "couched in terms that virtually shut the
door on the possibility of a dialogue." Sharif said he hoped "the personal
interest of the British prime minister would lead to a way out of the present
impasse." Relations with New Delhi deteriorated last month after Hindu
revivalists razed an ancient mosque in northern India and the two nations
expelled each other's diplomats on spying charges.

* BRITAIN PUSHES FOR ECONOMIC STAKE IN EMERGING INDIA

    By David Storey
    NEW DELHI, Jan 24, Reuter - Britain launched an aggressive bid on
Sunday to build up trade and investment in India, taking advantage of
liberal economic reforms in the world's second biggest nation. A group of 17
top businessmen and industrialists, travelling with Prime Minister John Major,
had a full day of talks with Indian businessmen and senior government
officials to work for a bigger stake in the country's future.
    Major will meet Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and other government
ministers on Monday to try to enhance Britain's political and economic role
as India moves away from its close alliance with Moscow. British officials
said the meetings showed India willing to open up to British companies, with
special opportunities in power generation and supply, telecommunications and
trade. Howard Davies, director-general of the Confederation of British
Industry, told reporters there were still barriers, including India's labour
laws which have encouraged overmanning, import tariffs and a need to make the
rupee fully convertible.
    But one British official said it appeared "the political steam was
there" for India to see its market reforms had not been undermined by a
recent wave of communal violence. To underline the will for better ties,
Britain is set to sign a double taxation agreement with India on Monday and
announced 90 million sterling ($136 million) aid grants to the country on
Sunday. After decades of suspicion from India towards the former colonial
power both sides believe it is time for a new start. This has been symbolised
by the invitation of Major as chief guest at Republic Day celebrations on
Tuesday.
    "Diplomatically, commercially and economically there is a very powerful
reason for being here," Major said in an interview with the British
Broadcasting Corporation, partly in response to criticism of his trip at a
time of big economic problems at home. He wants to build up new economic links
across the world as part of moves to reverse Britain's alarming balance of
trade problems. "Exports abroad mean jobs at home," he said.
    He also wants Britain to play the lead role for the European Community
in this region. Two other EC leaders, Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany and
Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales, are due in New Delhi in the coming
weeks. Britain is one India's top investment countries, but the level has been
falling off and it is only 20th in the list of import sources. "What we
have achieved up to now is just the tip of the iceberg of prospects for the
future," Major said. In his talks with Indian leaders Major was expected to
soft-pedal on two delicate issues that have long concerned Britain -- reports
of human rights violations in the troubled northern state of Kashmir and
India's nuclear potential.
    India says the conflict over divided Kashmir should be left to India
and Pakistan to sort out and rejects pressure to sign the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty, arguing it discriminates between those who have
and have not got nuclear weapons. Major leaves for talks with business leaders
in Bombay on Wednesday before flying home on Thursday. India's protocol
services have been stretched to the limit -- Russian leader Boris Yeltsin
arrives on Wednsday in New Delhi.

* BRITISH PREMIER ARRIVES HOPING TO CLINCH BILLION-DOLLAR HAWK DEAL

   NEW DELHI, India (UPI) -- British Prime Minister John Major arrived with
a high-powered business delegation in the Indian capital late Saturday,
hoping to clinch a billion-dollar warplane deal and expand trade and
economic ties. Major, criticized for leaving Britain at a time it is facing
major difficulties, will meet with another leader, Indian Prime Minister P.V.
Narasimha Rao, who is under growing national attack for his failure to tackle
his country's growing domestic problems. For the first two days, Major is on
a private visit and will stay at the British high commissioner's residence
until he receives a ceremonial welcome Monday and moves to India's British-
built presidential palace. Before leaving for home Thursday via Oman, Major
will witness the signing of an agreement with India on avoidance of double
taxation.
   "We have a big trading relationship...with India, but it can bigger.
Many of these businessmen will be looking at investment in India, others at
trading opportunities," the Hindustan Times, New Delhi's largest newspaper,
quoted Major as saying in an interview before his departure from London.
Major also has human-rights and arms-control issues on his agenda, according
to British officials.
   India, which is wracked by growing sectarian and ethnic unrest, will be
urged by Major to permit foreign human-rights groups to tour the troubled
northern states of Kashmir and Punjab, both bordering Pakistan, the
officials said. India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of "sponsoring terrorism"
in the two states, and Major's home secretary, Kenneth Clarke, urged Islamabad
earlier this month to halt its "material aid" to Indian dissidents,
particularly Muslim fundamentalists in Kashmir. "We have urged Pakistan to do
all it can to stop the violence in Kashmir," Major was quoted in the newspaper
interview as saying.
   Major is expected to urge India to reconsider its opposition to the 1970
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, although British officials said that
issue will not be high on his agenda. India, which demonstrated its nuclear
capability in 1974 by detonating a plutonium device, says it cannot give up
its atomic-weapons option because neighboring China has a large and growing
nuclear arsenal and another rival, Pakistan, is engaged in a clandestine
nuclear-arms drive.
   In the newspaper interview, Major said: "I understand the position of
the Indian government (on NPT) -- they look at China."  The British leader
has brought senior aerospace officials to help clinch a deal to sell the Hawk
-100 advanced jet trainer to the Indian Air Force. Indian Defense Minister
Sharad Pawar earlier told the national Parliament that the competition to win
the deal now was between the Hawk, favored by the Indian Air Force, and the
French Alpha jet. Major is hoping that India, which has the world's fourth
largest military machine, would agree to buy at least $500 million worth of
Hawks initially. India, however, is reeling under a severe economic crisis,
and is seeking $7 to $9 billion in additional credit from the International
Monetary Fund. Until early 1991, India was the world's largest arms importer.

* INDIA, U.S. TO STAGE JOINT ARMY EXERCISES

   NEW DELHI, India (UPI) -- India and the United States are to stage joint
army exercises and organize another naval maneuver together, American and
Indian officials said Saturday. The two nations held their first joint naval
exercise last June in the Arabian Sea and the next maneuver will be staged
in the Bay of Bengal in the spring, the officials said.
   The exercises by the U.S. and Indian armies are to be in the form of
simulated, computer-guided maneuvers, according to the officials, who spoke
on condition of anonymity. The decision is regarded by analysts as significant
because the U.S. Army has held such exercises only with its allies. The end of
the Cold War has led to a perceptible warming of U.S.-Indian relations after
two decades of tension-plagued ties.
   India was the former Soviet Union's closest ally outside the communist
world, but now is forging a close strategic relationship with the United
States.

------------------------------

Date: 24 Jan 1993 20:59:59 -0800 (PST)
From: "Sukhjinder Singh Bajway" <bajwa@asd.ENET.dec.com>
Subject: Hijacker jailed under India's anti-terrorist law

* HIJACKER JAILED UNDER INDIA'S ANTI-TERRORIST LAW

   NEW DELHI, India (UPI) -- A young Hindu radical was jailed Saturday
under a sweeping anti-terrorist law for commandeering an Indian domestic
airliner with 48 passengers on board, including two federal ministers.
A police spokesman said Satish Chandra Pandey, 22, was imprisoned in
Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh state, under India's Terrorist and
Disruptive Activities Act, which permits detention without charge or trial.
Claiming to be armed with a chemically-laced bomb, Pandey hijacked an
Indian Airlines plane on a flight to New Delhi Friday, forcing the pilot to
return to Lucknow and then surrendering before a top leader of the
pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata (Indian People's) Party, or BJP.
   Pandey said his three-hour hijack drama was intended to highlight the
Hindu demand for the construction of a temple at the site where a 16th-
century mosque was demolished last month when a BJP-sponsored rally turned
violent. The hijacker, who claimed to be a BJP member, also demanded the
release of all Hindu activists arrested in connection with the mosque
demolition and the lifting of a recent government ban on three radical Hindu
organizations.
   BJP leader Atal B. Vajpayee, a former Indian foreign minister who
persuaded Pandey to surrender at Lucknow Airport, disputed the hijacker's
claim he was a BJP member, pointing out that the youth failed to recognize
him or his voice when he boarded the aircraft. "This is a conspiracy to
defame me and my party," said Vajpayee, a nationally respected politician
who represents Lucknow in Parliament. All passengers on board the hijacked
plane escaped injury and were flown to the Indian capital on Saturday.
   A federal minister on board the commandeered aircraft, Krishna Shahi,
said it became apparent to the passengers and crew members after a while
that the handkerchief-wrapped object in Pandey's hand was not a bomb. However,
"We did not want to take a chance. It was a tense situation," Ms. Shahi told
reporters. Tariq Anwar, another senior politician of India's governing
Congress Party traveling by the same plane, said: "Somehow the hijacker's
declaration that he had a bomb in his possession was not convincing" to
most passengers, and that he "kept on joking with fellow passengers."
   The dispute over the mosque site in Ayodhya, near Lucknow, continues to
charge sectarian passions across South Asia. More than 1,600 people have
perished in continued sectarian unrest in India since December. In Muslim
Pakistan and Bangladesh, mobs last month wrecked scores of Hindu shrines
and left thousands of minority members homeless. The mosque had idols of
Hindu deities inside since 1949 and was open only to Hindu worshippers under
court orders. Hindus believe the disputed site is the birthplace of their
religion's legendary warrior- king, Lord Rama.
   The Indian government recently asked the Supreme Court to arbitrate on
claims of Hindu archaeologists and religious figures that the Ayodhya mosque
was built by a Mogul invader on the ruins of a temple he destroyed. The action
was part of a government peace plan to help resolve the bitter, 450-year
dispute over the site. Muslim and Hindu groups, however, have rejected the
plan. Islamic fundamentalist leaders have called for a boycott of India's
Republic Day celebrations next Tuesday.
   In recent years, India has been wracked by growing sectarian and ethnic
unrest, which has emerged as its top national-security problem. Several
parts of the country remain troubled by separatist insurgencies or
greater-autonomy movements.

* RUSSIA WANTS TO SELL TRAINER JETS TO INDIA

   NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- Russia wants to sell trainer jets to India's
air force and has joined a race with Britain and France to try to clinch
the $500 million deal, a defense industry source said Friday. The disclosure
comes as British Prime Minister John Major arrives in India on Saturday and
President Boris Yeltsin of Russia on Wednesday for state visits. Their visits
overlap but the two leaders are not scheduled to meet.
   Although Britain and France have long been in the race to sell India the
aircraft, India could choose Russia because it owes Moscow billions of
dollars in debts from trade with the former Soviet Union. Major and Yeltsin
are both expected to outline deals to provide the Indian government with 88
trainer jets, which can be converted from simple training aircraft to front-
line fighter aircraft.
   The Russians first made an offer last year, according to the industry
source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He declined to provide
details. This is the first time a Russian interest in the deal has been
reported. India once bought almost 80 percent of its military equipment from
the Soviet Union. It now owes Russia as much as $15 billion. The Indian
government had previously disclosed offers from British Aerospace for its Hawk
aircraft and from the French company Dassault for the Alpha jet.

* INDIA URGED TO DO MORE TO WIN FOREIGN INVESTMENT

    By Jeremy Clift
    BOMBAY, Jan 22, Reuter - Foreign firms are keen to invest in India
despite recent riots, Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao said, but India's
central bank chief says more must be done to convert such interest into
reality. Speaking ahead of visits to India by leaders of Russia, Britain and
Germany, Rao told reporters on Thursday that more foreign investors were
negotiating for Indian tie-ups.
    Major potential investors include Royal Dutch/Shell group, Unilever
Plc, Siemens AG, Asahi Glass Co and Enron Corp. In a speech in Calcutta on
Thursday evening, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor C. Rangarajan said the
economy was showing distinct signs of improvement because of sweeping reforms.
    "There has been a distinct change in the climate for foreign
investment," Rangarajan said. Investment approvals between August 1991 and
October 1992 totalled US$1.22 billion, including 38 approvals for existing
companies wanting to raise their foreign equity to 51 per cent. But he noted
"most of the proposals approved both by the government and the RBI have yet
to result in the actual flow of investment." "This does indicate that much
more work needs to be done to translate the approvals into actuals," he added.
    Until Rao introduced major changes to India's inward looking economy in
mid-1991, the country had failed to attract the big inflow of foreign
capital achieved by China and southeast Asia. In 1991, actual foreign
investment was little more than $100 million. But since then, India has begun
to open its stock market to overseas investors, made the rupee partially
convertible and revised the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), the
cornerstone of the protected economy. Despite the changes, foreign investors
complain of long bureaucratic delays, conflicting rules, corruption and poor
infrastructure. "Added to this, political uncertainty now comes into the
picture," said Manish Chokhani, an analyst with brokers Enam Financial
Consultants in Bombay. He said following the destruction of the Ayodhya mosque
by Hindu zealots last month, there was a chance of mid-term elections within
six to eight months.
    Foreign investors are looking to the national budget at the end of February
to provide a fresh spur to the economic reform programme by cutting taxes and
tariff levels. Rangarajan said India's economy was expected to grow by four per
cent in the financial year 1992/93 ending March against a 1.2 per cent rise in
gross domestic product the previous year, with a good monsoon helping
agriculture. Newly-appointed Commerce Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India must
sharply boost its exports or it could face another balance of payments crisis.
In an interview published in Friday's Economic Times, he said export growth at
5.9 per cent in the first eight months of 1992/93 was too low "and it appears
we have missed the bus." All efforts must now be focused on improving next
year's figures, he said.

* COLOMBO SAYS REBEL LEADER HAD ARMS IN DEATH SHIP

    COLOMBO, Jan 22, Reuter - A Sri Lankan Tamil rebel leader who died in a
suicide blast aboard a ship last Saturday was bringing anti-aircraft guns
and other arms for the rebels, a government spokesman said. "Kittu was bringing
anti-aircraft guns in the arms shipment when it was destroyed," Industries
Minister and House leader Ranil Wickremasinghe told parliament on Thursday.
    He did not elaborate. Indian authorities have also said that Sathasivam
Krishnakumar, alias Kittu, was returning to the northern Sri Lanka peninsula
with an arms cache for the rebels. Kittu, a former rebel commander, and nine
others were killed when they blew their ship up rather than surrender to the
Indian navy, which had intercepted the vessel.
    The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam guerrillas insist that Kittu was
carrying only a Western-backed peace plan and have accused India of reneging
on a promise to allow Kittu safe passage. "We had been informed of the Indian
government's willingness to give protection and allow the safe passage of Kittu
on his mission," rebel spokesman Anton Balasingham told a public rally on
Wednesday in the rebel-dominated northern Jaffna peninsula.
    Kittu's ship, the Ahat, was heading towards Jaffna when it was intercepted
by the Indian navy in what the Indian Defence Ministry said were Indian waters.
The rebels, who are fighting for a separate state for minority Tamils, denounced
the interception as a high-handed act of piracy, saying the ship was in
international waters. Kittu, who lost a leg in a bomb blast in 1987 while he was
the commander of the Tigers' Jaffna battalion, had been living in Europe and
was a lobbyist for the rebels.
    Balasingham said the peace plan Kittu was carrying could have paved the
way for an end to the 10-year-old ethnic conflict, which has killed 28,000
people. He said the plan had Western backing including the support of the
British-based Quaker Peace and Service group, which visited Jaffna last
November for talks with rebel leaders.

------------------------------

Date: 24 Jan 1993 21:04:21 -0800 (PST)
From: "Sukhjinder Singh Bajwa" <bajwa@asd.ENET.dec.com>
Subject: India's child workforce swelling, adult unemployment rising

* INDIA'S CHILD WORKFORCE SWELLING, ADULT UNEMPLOYMENT RISING

NEW DELHI (JAN. 24) IPS - India's huge child workforce is responsible for
the low economic productivity and increasing adult joblessness in the
country, say activists. An estimated ten million people outgrow a childhood
of physical abuse and drudgery every year to become sickly adults who not
only have poor productive potential but are a burden on the overstretched
health services. A recent survey by the Bonded Labor Liberation Front (BLLF)
found that 70 percent of the adult patients being treated in state-run
hospitals had worked as children. Moreover, the swelling army of child workers
is matched by growing adult unemployment, says Kailash Satyarthi of the BLLF,
who also chairs a federation of South Asian activists campaigning against
child labor in the region.
   India has about 120 million child laborers. And 55 million of these toil
in subhuman conditions as virtual slaves to their employers even as an
equal number of adults are jobless, he told reporters here today. "Children
are the easiest and cheapest available labor in the market," says Satyarthi.
They are too young to protest against harsh working conditions, and are not
legally allowed to either unionize or seek legal redress.
   To increase awareness of the plight of bonded working children, Indian
activists are planning a 930 mile march through some of the most backward
parts of the country where parents are forced to put children to work to
earn a living. The protesters who will include children freed from bonded
labor by the BLLF, will travel in 15 days from Palamu district in eastern
Bihar state to the Indian capital. Street plays, public meetings, exhibitions
and films will be shown along the way to persuade illiterate villagers not
to sell their children to middlemen recruiting for industries.
   Every year thousands of indigent parents in Palamu and Garawa districts
in backward Bihar are duped by middlemen to part with their children
against a monetary advance and promise of a regular monthly wage to the
child. Bihar is the biggest "catchment area" for child workers and the bulk
of them are the children of the marginalized castes and tribal communities,
says Satyarthi. While poverty compels families to send their children to work
instead of school, it is not realized that every working child deprives an
adult of a job. Worse, children who work outside the home do so for a fraction
of the adult wage and often for none at all. An estimated 10 million child
workers face a life of chronic abuse where physical violence, including rape
by employers is common, he adds.
   Studies show that most child laborers are from families where adults are
unable to find 100 days of annual employment. "We have found that where
parents are gainfully employed they prefer sending the children to school,"
says Satyarthi. In the major carpet weaving region of Mirzapur-Bhadohi,
300,000 children work on looms even as 100,000 adults from that belt migrate
every year in search of a livelihood. Mirzapur has 400,000 grown ups without
jobs. However, unlike children employed outside their homes, the rest who
labor with their parents either on small household farms or in a variety of
low-income family enterprises, work in far more congenial conditions, he
adds. Among children working outside homes, ten million are either farm
workers or tend cattle. Another 2.5 million are engaged in the construction,
stone quarrying, carpet weaving, fireworks, handloom, glass, gem cutting and
lock industries, all of which are classed hazardous by the government.
   Lung infections, eye, skin and other diseases are common among children
working in these profit-spinning industries some of which are major foreign
exchange earners for the country.

* INDIA'S STEEL PRODUCTION MAY FALL SHORT OF TARGET ...

new delhi (jan. 22) xinhua - with sluggish demand and rising inventory
levels, india's steel production during the current financial year may
fall below target. during the first three quarters (april-december) the output
of saleable steel grew by 8.3 percent against the targeted rate of growth of
11.6 percent for the full year, the local english newspaper "pioneer" today
quoted highly-placed sources as saying.  for the entire nine-month period,
total output of saleable steel stood at 8.23 million tonnes against 7.6
million tonnes in the april to december period in 1991.
   india's steel production in 1991-92 was about 12 million tonnes.

* INDIA SAYS ITS OIL RESERVES MAY LAST 21 YEARS

new delhi (jan. 22) xinhua - india's economically recoverable reserves of
725 million tonnes of oil may last for about 21 years at the current
production rate of about 34 million tonnes per annum. this was announced by
chairman of kerala state committee on science, technology and environment
r.ravikumar at a function in trivandrum, the capital of south indian state
kerala thursday.
   india has produced only 3.5 percent of its prognosticated reserves of 5
billion tonnes of crude, he said, adding that this was one of the lowest
reserve to production rate in the world.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 22:49:25 GMT
From: gnreddy@dpg1.attmail.com (G.Narotham Reddy)
Subject: Guidelines for Private Sector Banks Announced

Source   : The CGI

* RBI announced new guidelines for entry of new private sector banks

Bombay - The Reserve Bank of India on Friday unveiled a detailed 16-point
guidelines on entry of new private sector banks in the country
stipulating among other things that they would have to observe
priority sector lending targets as applicable to other domestic
banks.
        Such a bank shall be registered as a public limited company under
the companies act, 1956, and be governed by the provisions of the
reserve bank of India act, 1934, the banking regulations act, 1949 and
other relevant statutes, in regard to its management set-up, liquidity
requirements and the scope of its activities, the RBI said.
        In issuing the guidelines, the RBI said while recognising the
importance and the role of public sector banks, which have now 91 per
cent of the total bank branches and handled 86 per cent of the total
banking business, there was an increasing recognition of the need to
introduce greater competition which could lead to higher productivity
and efficiency of the banking system.
        The RBI said in a press release it was necessary that while
permitting the entry of new private sector banks the following
considerations have to be kept in view.

        (a). They sub-serve the underlying goals of financial sector
         reforms which are to provide competitive, efficient and low cost
         financial intermediation services for the society at large.
        (b). They are financially viable.
        (c). They should result in upgradation of technology in the banking
         sector.
        (c). They avoid the shortcomings such as unfair preemption and
         concentration of credit, monopolisation of economic power, cross
         holdings with industrial groups, etc, which beset the private sector
         banks prior to nationalisation.
        (e). Freedom of entry in the banking sector may have to be managed
         carefully and judiciously.

        Based on these considerations, the RBI has formulated the
guidelines for establishment of new banks in the private sector.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 00:18:16 GMT
From: gnreddy@dp1.attmail.com (G.N.Reddy)
Subject: Indian Surgeon shows cheap alternative to liver transplants

Source   : Press Trust of India

* Indian Surgeon at Osmania Hospital shows cheap alternative to liver
  transplants

New Delhi - An Indian surgeon has shown that liver cells retrieved
from aborted human foetuses are a cheap and life-saving alternative to
expensive liver transplants for patients dying of liver failure.
        Dr.C.M Habibullah, chief gastroenterologist at Osmania general
hospital, Hyderabad, on Friday announced that his team had successfully
treated three out of seven patients on the verge of death by simply
injecting foetal liver cells into their stomachs.
        four patients, however, died due to complications.
        "Hepatocyte (liver cell) implantation is a promising alternative
to whole liver transplants," Dr.Habibullah said, delivering a special
guest lecture at the annual meeting o the association of Indian
physicians here.
        Over 200,000 patients die of liver failure in India each year.
Liver transplants are the only hope for a majority.
        The Osmania group has shown that clusters of tiny liver cells
isolated from either aborted human foetuses or animals like dogs of
goats can take over the function of a diseased or damaged liver.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 00:26:39 GMT
From: gnreddy@dpg1.attmail.com (G.Narotham Reddy)
Subject: Pakistan Persecutes Minorities - U.S Charges

Source   : Press Trust of India

Washington: The U.S state department has charged Pakistan with persecuting
minorities - Hindus, Christians and Ahmadi Muslims who have been
declared non-Muslims by the fiat of the Pakistan government.
        The department's annual human rights report also reports continued
human rights violations in Pakistan especially the violation of rights
of non-Punjabis.
        The department also says that Pakistan is ruled not by the elected
Prime Minister but by a troika of the Prime Minister, President and the
Army Chief of staff. The Chief of Staff, it says, "wields considerable
influence on many major policy decisions."
        The report says "Hindus complain of continued kidnapping and forced
conversions of young women, desecration of Hindu shrines and temples,
disruption of prayer services, and the burning of Hindu texts as well
as the torture of detained Hindus."
        "Christians have had difficulty obtaining permission from local and
federal officials to build new churches and continue to work through the
courts to regain possession of educational institutions nationalised
during the 1970's.

------------------------------
______________________________________________________________________________

                          Editorials and Commentary
______________________________________________________________________________

Date: 09 Jan 1993 19:42:25 -0400 (AST)
From: Prasad Gokhale <f0g1@jupiter.Sun.CSD.unb.ca>
Subject: India Chooses To Remain Silent Over Pak Nuclear Reports -Part 2 of 2

Article : India Chooses To Remain Silent Over Pak Nuclear Reports
By      : N. V. Subramanian
Typed by: G. Narotham Reddy (gnreddy@cbnewsf.cb.att.com)

     What is India doing to contain this threat ? Defensive  measures  are
few.  NBC  reported  that  in  Spring  1990, the Pakistani Air Force (PAF)
planned to use a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to drop an atomic bomb.
     This is an old technique, used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. An aircraft
flying  at  over  30,000 feet drops a one ton bomb in much the same way as
food and supplies are dropped during the war and peace.  The plane escaped
the  after shock of the nuclear explosion. But it is still slow enought to
report the birth of a grotesque mushroom cloud.
     And yet this method as little chance of succeeding today.  Suppose  a
Hercules is sent up. Pakistan is just 400 km across. Any Indian radar will
detect it 150 kms within Pakistani airspace itself.
     Plus, the Herculeus is slow by modern standards. It  will  never  get
pass air and ground defenses. If PAF fighters are scrambled to protect it,
its still wont help. Atleast two squadrons will have to be  deployed.  And
such a large number of aircrafts will "paint" on Indian radar screens hun-
dreds of miles from within Pakistan.
     The second problem is that  fighters have to slow down to  cover  the
Hercules.  "And at the C-130's speed of 400 kmph, fighters fall out of the
sky," joked an air marshal of the Indian Air Force. "They will have to  do
dubious maneovers just to stay airborne. This will reveal their mission."
     It is another matter if the PAF uses tactical strike aircraft to make
a  nuclear  attack.  The F-16 is equipped for this role. But the Americans
have denied the PAF crucial accessories that would help.
     "We have no evidence that they have modified  F-16  or  other  strike
aircraft,"  disclosed  a  senior IAF officer. "And, if they have, we can't
counter them."
     Still, it isn't all that easy to  make  these  modifications.  Indian
defense  scientists  have been at it since 1988. And there is still little
reason to believe that they have done any better or worse than the  Pakis-
tanis.
     Several problems come in the way. A transporter can drop any shape of
bomb.  But a strike aircraft imposes limitations. The bomb has to be aero-
dynamic. This is because they employ a complex maneuver to drop it on  the
target.
     This is called toss bombing. A fighter flies slow and at high  speed.
Fifteen kilometers from the target it undertakes a 45 degree climb and the
bomb is released. The projectile then takes a parabolic path  and  strikes
the target at a speed of 11,000 kmph.
     Indian pilots have acquired a degree of precision in this job. At the
Pokharam and Jodhpur ranges, they have scored hits within ten yards of the
target. But they have used  conventional  weapons.  No  one  knows  how  a
nuclear bomb will behave.
     In the west, nuclear weapons are encased in a device not unlike  con-
ventional  drop tanks. It is strapped either to the fuselage or the wings.
It is made of alloys that can stand the  high  temparatures  generated  at
mach to speeds. Which means, the nuclear bomb is safe.
     But this equipment is not tradabale. Indian defense scientists  began
work  on  this  in  1988. They picked the Jaguar. Even the MIG-23 BNs were
tested becuase they have an inbuilt, toss bombing computer.
     The results, however, are not known. They  could  be  comforting,  of
course.  But since the 1974 Pokharam implosion, India has never ridden the
technology tiger. There is an inbuilt resistance to  adopt  a  posture  of
nuclear  offensive. Even this time, some defense analysts urged the estab-
lishment formally to go unclear.
     But New Delhi has stuck to  a  position  that  air  commodore  Jasgit
Singh,  Director  of  Institute  of Defense Studies and Analysis, quaintly
calls "recessed deterrance."
     What does it mean?
     "Simply, that we have the capability to produce nuclear weapons,  but
they  don't  exist on the surface," explains Singh. "After Pokharam, we do
not have to prove anything to anyone. We have the capacity to weaponise at
a short notice. And we do not have to cross the threshold unless pushed to
the wall."
     "This way, the initiative rests with us," says Singh. What about  the
lag  time  (  between the order to produce an actual production weapons )?
"shorter than the time required by the other side to use it," he replies.
     And yet, recessed deterrance has its limitations. Not only must  bomb
be  just a screw driver away from life, but political and military systems
must be in place for effective use of the weapon. In simple words:  it  is
just not enough to have a bomb.
     You have also got to know how to use it.

------------------------------

End of India News Network Digest
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