DTN News - INDIA NEWS: Sonia Gandhi ~ Congress Debacle In Elections 2014 - Due To Unending Scams And Corruption In UPA Government

DTN News - INDIA NEWS: Sonia Gandhi ~ Congress Debacle In Elections 2014 - Due To Unending Scams And Corruption In UPA Government

*Robert Vadra busy ‘salvaging’ land in Bikaner

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources TOI
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 7, 2014: (BIKANER) As Narendra Modi gets ready to be sworn in as Prime Minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and his team are busy gathering documents to get requisite corrections done in purchase of huge swaths of land in Bikaner district. 

In the run up to the elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had pledged to probe the land deals of Vadra once it comes to power. The party had also released a CD detailing how the Ashok Gehlot government shielded the alleged dubious deals of the son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi. Four Vadra companies bought land in excess to permissible limit under the Land Ceiling Act. The report of the district collector revealed that the Gehlot government changed the Land Ceiling Act, purposely to help Vadra buy lands. 

Latest reports say that Vadra has deputed a few individuals, who are camping in Bikaner and trying hard to collect documents in view of possible legal battles. A key member of Vadra team, Mahesh Nagar, is visiting Bikaner frequently.

Sources say that Nagar was holding meetings with district officials secretly and trying to collect papers from them. He was reportedly the front man when Vadra companies bought land in Bikaner.According to sources, Nagar is continuing the process of purchase of land and even in May 2014, Nagar purchased nearly 1,000 bighas in Pokhran tehsil of Jailsalmer district. 

TOI could not contact Nagar, though officials confirmed his presence in the district. Nagar reportedly belongs to Haryana. 

As per the provisions of Rajasthan Imposition of Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings Act, 1973 there is a ceiling limit of 280 bigha in the state. It means that a person is allowed to possess not more than 280 bigha of land. 

However, Gehlot government amended Section 17 of Rajasthan Imposition of Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings Act, 1973 in September 2010, that too with retrospective effect. The amendment says that restrictions on quantum of land deal shall not apply to a person who acquires the land with the prior approval of the state government or any other authority appointed by it. Moreover, records show that the "soul" of the Act was changed without debate in the state assembly. 

After taking over as chief minister, Vasundhara Raje issued letters to district collectors of Bikaner and Jodhpur for providing data of land deals in their districts. According to sources, collector of Bikaner sent a report saying that companies of Robert Vadra had purchased nearly 2,503 bigha in Bikaner district, out of which nearly 1,124 bigha had already been sold. 

According to BJP's Bikaner MP Arjun Ram Meghwal, Vadra-owned companies Sky Light Hospitality Pvt. Ltd., Blue Bridge Trading Pvt. Ltd., Skylight Reality Pvt. Ltd., Real Earth Estates Pvt. Ltd. and North India IT Park Pvt. Ltd bought 1,634 hectors (6,536 bighas) (1 hector = 4 bigha approx) land in in Bikaner district. Through these companies, land had been purchased in Kolayat, Gajner, Golari, Darbari, Sarah Kishnayat, Basti Chauhanan, Sarah Sutharan villages in Kolayat tehsil.

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*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources TOI
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated June 2, 2014

DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated June 2, 2014
Source: K. V. Seth - DTN News + U.S. DoD issued No. CR-103-14 June 2, 2014
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 2, 2014: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) Contracts issued June 2, 2014 are undermentioned;

CONTRACTS

AIR FORCE

Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training, Moorestown, New Jersey, has been awarded a $914,699,474 fixed-price-incentive-firm, cost-reimbursable and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for engineering, manufacturing and development, production and deployment for the Space Fence program. Work will be performed at Moorestown, New Jersey, and Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of Marshall Islands. The contractor will have 52 months after contract award to reach initial operational capability. Fiscal 2013 and 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $415,000,000 are being obligated at time of award. The contract was competitively procured with two bids received. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/HBQK, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts is the contracting activity (FA8709-14-C-0001).

Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $298,000,044 firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00002) for FA8705-13-C-0005 for the Family of Advanced Beyond Line of Sight Terminals (FAB-T) Command Post Terminals (CPT) Production program. As a result of this down-select decision, low rate initial production, full rate production and interim contractor support contract options may be exercised to deliver FAB-T CPT-Only Terminals. The Phase 2 production contract options for LRIP, FRP, and ICS may be exercised after completion of Milestone C. Work will be performed in Marlborough, Massachusetts and Largo, Florida. Fiscal 2013 through 2019 aircraft and other procurement funds are programmed for this effort, with $31,274 being obligated at time of award. Two bids were solicited and two received. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/HNSK, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity.

L-3 Communications, Platform Integration Division, Waco, Texas, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $41,500,000 undefinitized contract action for the procurement and modification of four Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance aircraft, training and spares in support of the counterterrorism efforts in Yemen. Work will be performed at Waco, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2015. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition, and is 100 percent foreign military sales for Yemen. The 645 AESG/WIJK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-14-C-3020).

The Garrett Container Systems, Accident, Maryland, has been awarded a $37,174,689 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Defensor Fortis - Load Carrying System 2 Kits and Accessories. This contract includes 36 distinctive pieces of equipment that all security forces personnel utilize on a daily basis, including Rifleman Kits, Team Leader Kits, M-203 Grenadiers Kits, M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon Gunner Kits, M-240 Machine Gunner Kits, Military Working Dog Kits and Multi-Mission Kits. Work will be performed at Accident, and is expected to be completed by May 31, 2019. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and all offerors were solicited using Federal Business Opportunities; three offers were received. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,000 are being obligated at time of award. The 771st Enterprise Sourcing Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA8054-14-D-0004).

NAVY

General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, California, is being awarded a $20,745,556 modification to previously awarded cost-plus-award-fee contract (N00024-13-C-4404) for USS Boxer (LHD 4) fiscal 2014 phased maintenance availability. A phased maintenance availability includes the planning and execution of depot-level maintenance, alterations, and modifications that will update and improve the ship's military and technical capabilities. Work will be performed in San Diego, and is expected to be completed by December 2015. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Navy) and fiscal 2014 working capital (Navy) funding in the amount of $20,745,556 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds in the amount of $20,745,556 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Southwest Regional Maintenance Center, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity.

Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is being awarded a $13,228,560 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to the previously awarded contract (N00024-13-C-2128) for procurement of Common Missile Compartment material. The contractor will be purchasing various long lead time parts to support the manufacture of the Common Missile Compartment for the Ohio Replacement Program. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy (37 percent) and the United Kingdom (63 percent) under the foreign military sales program. Work will be performed in Groton, and is scheduled to be completed by December 2017. Fiscal 2011 FMS and fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $13,228,560 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair, Groton, Connecticut, is the contracting activity.

S.T. Wooten Corp. Inc., Wilson, North Carolina, is being awarded $9,975,000 for firm-fixed-price task order 0003 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N40085-13-D-5245) for repairing various areas of runways 23R and 14L at Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point. The work to be performed provides for the repair of deteriorated bituminous concrete at various locations on the airfield using asphalt concrete milling/overlay and sealcoating to extend the useful life of the airfield pavements. Work will be performed in Havelock, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed by March 2016. Fiscal 2014 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) contract funds in the amount of $9,975,000 are being obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Three proposals were received for this task order. The Facilities Engineering and Design Command, Cherry Point, North Carolina, is the contracting activity.

ARMY

Northrop Grumman, Herndon, Virginia was awarded a $6,990,140 modification (P00039) to contract W31P4Q-12-C-0029 to acquire Rocket Artillery Mortar Warn Equipment for 2-44 Air Defense Artillery fielding six platoons. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $6,990,140 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Nov. 3, 2014. This contract involved foreign military sales to Afghanistan. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

UPDATE: Kalmar RT Center, Cibolo, Texas (SPE8EC-14-D-0019) has been added as an awardee to the multiple award contract #SPM8EC-12-D-0001 announced Jan. 24, 2012.

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Contracts for May 19, 2014

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth + U.S. DoD issued No. CR-103-14 June 2,, 2014 
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - INDIA NEWS: The Future of India's National Congress Dynastic Party Is In Doubt

DTN News - INDIA NEWS: The Future of India's National Congress Dynastic Party Is In Doubt
*Descendants of Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi have had trouble governing a changing India
*Some see the end of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty in the Indian National Congress' huge election loss

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Shashank Bengali
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 1, 2014: It is one of the most storied names in political history, a party synonymous with modern India and an inspiration for revolutionary movements led by the likes of South Africa's Nelson Mandela and Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh.

But a disastrous performance in the recent national elections has many wondering whether this is the end for the Indian National Congress party.

The party that has led India for most of its 67 years as an independent nation was thumped out of power, winning a paltry 44 of 543 parliamentary seats — its lowest tally by far — and prompting serious questions about the leadership of the Gandhis, the first family of Indian politics.

Related story: Pakistanis in disputed Kashmir worry about rise of Indian nationalist
Aoun Sahi, Shashank Bengali

The descendants of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's erudite first prime minister, and his strong-willed daughter, Indira Gandhi, have proved less adept at governing a fast-changing India. With the party's last several years in power subsumed by corruption scandals and economic calamities, the once-revered family name increasingly reeks of a stale dynasty that has even longtime supporters clamoring for the Gandhis to step aside.

An editorial in the Hindustan Times, a national newspaper run by former Congress party lawmaker Shobhana Bhartia, said the party is "seemingly in terminal decline" and needs to find a new generation of leaders.

"It has to undergo a drastic mind-set change and reevaluate many of its core principles, among them the relevance of dynastic rule," the newspaper said.

Some critics are writing the party's obituary. "They are not going to come back," said Mohan Guruswamy, a prominent economist who has advised Congress' rival, the conservative Bharatiya Janata Party.

The party faithful counter that Congress has lost before and come back strong. "Congress has always fought back, and there is no reason it can't fight back again," said Eknath Gaikwad, a Congress lawmaker from south-central Mumbai.

Congress' decline represents an epochal change for a fractious nation long held together by the party's big-tent liberalism. It comes as India appears to be turning rightward after overwhelmingly electing the BJP, whose leader, new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, rails against Congress' signature welfare and affirmative action programs aimed at historically disadvantaged lower castes and the rural poor.

Gandhi allies criticize the BJP as Hindu chauvinists, noting that none of its 282 Parliament members are from the Muslim community, which accounts for about 14% of India's 1.2 billion people. But as much as it sees pluralism as a founding principle, Congress has not embraced that ethos at the very top of its hierarchy, which is strictly a family affair.

Related story: From tea-seller to India's top job: The rise of Narendra Modi
Parth M.N.
Days after the election embarrassment, the mother-son team that leads Congress, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, met with advisors in New Delhi and reportedly offered their resignations. According to Indian news accounts in Indian media, the advisors spent more than half of the three-hour meeting imploring them not to go. The meeting ended with a unanimous statement of faith in the Gandhis' leadership.

"Not much time was left for any introspection," the Times of India reported dryly.

Longtime party officials say they have failed in campaigning, not in governing. Beginning in 2004, the party ushered in near-universal education, expanded food subsidies and introduced a landmark government transparency law. It also embarked on one of the largest welfare programs of its kind in the world, a rural employment system that guaranteed every household 100 days of wage-earning work a year. Officials say it has provided jobs to about 50 million of the poorest Indian households.

But after Congress won reelection in 2009, a parade of corruption scandals came to light. The welfare programs and economic liberalization increased incomes, which in turn pushed up prices of basic goods and contributed to inflation, one of the main complaints among working-class voters.

Scholarly Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was seen as a puppet of Sonia Gandhi and too weak to confront errant party bosses.

"The accomplishments were not well articulated, and they got lost in the hullabaloo of the election campaign," lawmaker Gaikwad said.

A 75-year-old party stalwart who joined Congress because he was inspired by Nehru, Gaikwad rejects any suggestion that the Gandhis find new blood to lead the party. Referring to the assassinations of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and Sonia Gandhi's husband, Rajiv, in 1991, he said that no family has sacrificed as much for India's democracy.

India's young voters look to Narendra Modi for change
Shashank Bengali
"It's because of the Gandhi family that I am in Congress," Gaikwad said. "They're the glue that keeps the Congress together, and Congress has laid the foundations of this country."

A younger group of party officials has begun to show hints of frustration with the family's stewardship, particularly that of the 43-year-old party vice president, Rahul. Square-jawed and Cambridge-educated, he had been billed as the party's leader of the future, but his diffident and distracted performances on the campaign trail have made him a national punch line., He eked out a narrow victory for his parliamentary seat in Amethi, a Gandhi family bastion for decades.

Some party insiders are said to want a bigger role for Rahul's sister, Priyanka, a political neophyte who nevertheless drew enthusiastic crowds in her few appearances on the campaign trail. The spitting image of her grandmother Indira, she carries political baggage: Her real-estate tycoon husband, Robert Vadra, is a fixture in Indian newspapers amid allegations of corrupt land deals.

"Everyone in India makes money the way the son-in-law makes money — it's the crony capitalist system — but the family is expected to be above all this," Guruswamy said.

Analysts see real danger for Congress because it suffered major election setbacks in its longtime strongholds in the so-called Hindi heartland of north and central India. With more Indians living in urban areas, Congress' rural base has softened. So, too, has its appeal as India's founding party, with a growing number of young voters more interested in private sector jobs and clean government.

Party stalwarts point out that Congress has been down before: in 1977, when it was drubbed at the polls after Indira Gandhi instituted emergency rule, and in 2004, when a BJP-led government swept into power for the first time. Both times, the party recovered to win the next national election.

"People have written our obituary before," Gaikwad said. "In five years the people will be disillusioned by Mr. Modi and they will come back to us."

Special correspondent Parth M.N. contributed to this report.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Shashank Bengali
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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