Development news of orissa and India

Amidst concerns over the possibility of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of terrorists, India has said it has no reason to doubt about their safety at this stage. 

“At this stage yes, we have no reason to doubt that yet,” Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor told a news channel when asked if he took the Pakistani assessment that their nukes were safe at face value. He further said, “We do not have first hand information on that (Pak nuclear weapons). Certainly, those who are very close to Pakistan seem to be convinced that there is nothing to be worried about.”

To a question if India has its own contingency plan in case Pakistani nukes seem to be in danger of falling into the hands of terrorists, he said, “Look, we are not there yet. I am little anxious not to get into unnecessary alarmism at this point.

 ”Pakistan has a lot of difficulties, but they are not about to fall apart yet as a state and they are not about to have their army surrendering control of its most-prized military assets to irregulars. So, at this stage, this is not a concern but obvously this is a further argument for why the Prime Minister has repeatedly said a stable, peaceful Pakistan is in our interest too,” Tharoor said.

World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick on Saturday said the Dubai debt crisis is manageable and it would not affect India.

“I personally think that the Dubai financial problem would be contained and is manageable. I don’t think it to have an effect on Indian markets,” Zoellick said. 

Zoellick was talking to reporters in New Delhi after a meeting with policy makers, including Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

 Though India would not be hurt, he said events in Dubai, due to the nervousness in financial markets, may prompt a second or a third look at investments in emerging markets.

 About the meeting, to understand how India is coming out of the global financial crisis, he said the policy makers feel the stimulus has helped the economy. “I got a general sense that they feel that the fiscal expansion has played an important role,” Zoellick said on the final day of his four-day visit to India. “And, overtime as they (India) return to growth they are also going to try to get some fiscal consolidation,” he added.  Speaking on the priorities of Indian policy makers, he said they are more interested in longer term investments like foreign direct investment rather than portfolio investment. ”I think what I get as the principal interest of Indian policy makers is for longer term investment, not portfolio investment, so much as foreign direct investment,” he said.

Foreign Direct Investments can help India connect to the international economy, Zoellick said, adding he is impressed at the rise in FDI in the country.

“One of the interesting observations that was made at the meeting was that the FDI numbers have gone up and that’s a good sign,” he said.

Zoellick said the critical things discussed at the meeting included looking ahead and seeing what kind of urban strategy, infrastructure or water strategy could be pursued.

Finally, the World Bank chief said he is emboldened by the Indian recovery and the growing stature of the country helping global stability.

Assam CM Tarun Gogoi has appealed to all militant outfits to abjure violence and come forward for talks to redress their grievances so that complete peace can be established and developmental activities carried out.

“Violence cannot solve any problem and we are striving to create a developed and prosperous Assam which can be achieved only when peace returns to the state,” he said without referring to banned ULFA, whose chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and two other top leaders were remanded to police custody for 12 days by a local court in Guwahati on Saturday.

Many people have lost their near and dear ones over the years and a lot of youth energy has been channelised in a negative direction which needs to be corrected for peace and development of the state, he told a function of Home guards and civil defence personnel at the Central Training Centre at Panikhaiti near Guwahati on Sunday.

Bangladesh on Sunday underlined its determination not to allow terrorists to use its land for subversive activities against the country or any of its neighbours.

 ”We have pledged not to allow our land to be used by any terrorists. We are determined about it,” Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said on Sunday.

She underlined that the Awami League government will not allow terrorists to use its land for any subversive activities against the country or neighbours. Speaking at a dialogue on Indo-Bangladesh relations, the Foreign Minister said “every effort will be made to combat and eliminate terrorism originating from abroad and those emerging on our own soil”.

 When asked to comment on the reported arrest of India s separatist (ULFA chief Arabinda Rajkhowa from Bangladesh, she said: “We have pledged not to allow our land to be used by any terrorist. We are determined about it”.

 Moni’s comments came days after Home Minister Minister Sahara Khatun denied that Rajkhowa was arrested from Bangladeshi territory. Bangladesh police and other security agencies have also dismissed media reports about his arrest from Bangladesh.

 Moni said that there were “destructive fundamentalist forces (extremism)” which threatened all of us. “We will respond to these fundamentalist forces and processes and jointly undertake to battle and combat these external forces and processes,” she underlined.

 Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has underlined her government’s determination to root out terrorism from the country, is expected to ink key pacts to combat terrorism and organised crime during her three-day visit to India from December 18.

 According to Bangladeshi officials, the two countries were expected to ink three agreements — on mutual legal assistance on criminal matters, transfer of sentenced persons and combating international terrorism, organised crime and illegal drug trafficking.

 Hasina, who assumed office as Prime Minister in January after a landslide election win on December 29, 2008, has looked beyond her borders to tackle the terror menace by floating the idea of a regional mechanism involving all states in South Asia.