Kalmadi's team to study Beijing Olympics cost the exchequer Rs 8 Crore

CWG Scam: India Today Maneesh Pandey New Delhi, February 17, 2011 Updated 09:40 IST •Kalmadi, Bhanot sacked from CWG OC• Shunglu panel slams Kalmadi, Lalli• OC paid for Mrs Kalmadi's trip: CAG
The mystery of controversial Beijing trip of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC) - labelled the jumbo junket of Suresh Kalmadi - has been solved.

If the official reply to an RTI filed by Subhash Agrawal is to be believed, Kalmadi and his friends spent Rs 8.15 crore to take 166 people on board for this "study group and observer programme" to Beijing to learn "first-hand about the technical and logistics details of Olympics in August 2008".

MAIL TODAY was the first to report about the CWG junketeers, including those who made it to the Beijing Olympics as the observer group, and had pointed out that there were many in the trip who, sooner or later, had little role to play in the CWG preparations.

The RTI reply endorses this and hints further - " some of the names in the list were purely out of obligation".

For instance, Chhattisgarh governor Shekhar Dutt, then the deputy national security adviser.

What was his role in the OC? Sources in the government said that Dutt was on leave from office to enjoy Kalmadi's party.

He was, in fact, present at the sports presentation event at Hotel Guo Yi in Beijing on August 19. He had signed in the visitors' register as deputy NSA and member OC, CWG.

There were others like National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and his son-inlaw and Congress leader Sachin Pilot, who had little connection with the sporting event.

Even the name of Nafisa Ali among the 166 Beijing junketeers raises question. There were some like Vijay Goel, who was later shown the door by Kalmadi.

The team also included four persons from Pune whose contributions to the OC are hard to assess.

However, they are being probed by the investigators. The trip, nevertheless, came at a cost of `8.15 crore, says the official reply.

It is anybody's guess what the group learnt in Beijing and how effectively it implemented the lessons back home.

The trip was meant to be a "learning experience to understand the physical environments of the Games being conducted there".

Also, the observer group was required to keep a record of processes, operational needs and policies which would have supported the organisation of the Games.

Interestingly, one of the key sessions, which the OC claimed to have been attended by the group, was related to ticketing, workforce and technology. The ticket distribution mess during the CWG, the accreditation and other technical glitches only explain what the group had actually learnt from the trip.
Suresh Kalmadi spent Rs 8 cr on his Beijing junket

Comment: Suresh Kalmadi's largesse to his Cronies and Sycophants down the drain. Had he only taken professional help from the Indian Armed Forces Kalmadi could have saved the Nation 8 Core Rupees!

Frightened by a dragon, India shies away from Taiwan

MD Nalapat The National
Last Updated: June 27. 2010 8:50PM UAE / June 27. 2010 4:50PM GMT
The two Asian giants may share a 4,250-kilometre border and trade goods and services in excess of $60 billion every year, but when it comes to slights – perceived and otherwise – Beijing’s memory is elephantine.

India has given sanctuary to the Dalai Lama since 1959 and harbours more than 130,000 Tibetan refugees. In return, China has helped India’s rival Pakistan acquire nuclear weapons and missile systems. It helped block India’s membership in the UN Security Council and fought to the last minute in 2008 to prevent the lifting of restrictions on nuclear trade with India.

It is no wonder then that while there has been only one war between the two nations in 4,000 years (China soundly defeated India in 1962), relations between the two countries have been cool, if not frigid. Beijing believes in an eye-for-an-eye, preferably two – a penchant that drives the hand-wringing, naturally timid Indian establishment slightly crazy.

Nowhere is that fear more evident than in relations between India and Taiwan, a small island that nonetheless boasts an economy more than a third of the size of India, with foreign-exchange reserves double the size of New Delhi’s, at about $400 billion.
Frightened by a dragon, India shies away from Taiwan
China Trade Pact Draws Taiwan Into Economic Embrace June 28, 2010, 9:06 PM EDT By Frederik Balfour

Siliguri Corridor in Sikkim: Finger Point

"Area falls North of Gyangyong in Sikkim and overlooks a valley known as the Sora Funnel, and is considered a strong defensive position to ward off any move by China to enter the Sikkim plateau"
The Siliguri corridor in Sikkim is the weakest point in the Indian defence which has been reinforced with 40000 Jawans and T72 tanks. Chinese road through Finger area can cutoff entire North East region. Sep 16 2009, 09:09 AM

The 30-km wide Siliguri corridor, which links India with rest of North Eastern states, is the weakest point in the Indian defence and if China somehow gained control of the corridor the entire North East region would be cut away from India. Some 40,000 troops were responsible for the defence of Sikkim and the strategically important Siliguri corridor. Chinese moves to test Indian control of the strategic Finger Area in North Sikkim last year have prompted the Army to deploy heavy tanks and armoured personnel carriers in the region and strengthen defensive positions. In fact, the highest gallantry award to a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) personnel was conferred to a dozer operator, Zalim Singh, who cleared a strategic road near Theing village he was decorated with a Bar to Shaurya Chakra for a column of advancing tanks.While the Army brought armoured vehicles to the North Sikkim plateau in the late 1980s, the small detachment has now been replaced by the heavier and more powerful T-72 Main Battle Tanks and modern BMP troop carriers.

Sources said the mobilisation took place after repeated Chinese transgressions last year in the Finger Area, a one kilometre stretch of land in the northern tip of Sikkim that overlooks a valley called the Sora Funnel and is considered a strong defensive position. The T-72 tanks were inducted after a monumental effort by the BRO to widen roads, construct tracks and strengthen bridges leading to North Sikkim. The heavy tank column was taken up the high plateau partly by road-based carriers. Sources said that while China too has tanks on its side of the border, they are deployed well inside its territory. “China does not need to deploy tanks on the border because the terrain and roads on its side makes it easy to bring them at short notice. India, on the other hand, has no option but to keep them on the border as it would take days to get the tanks up from the plains,” an expert pointed out. Besides the tanks, the Army has strengthened other defences in the region, particularly around the Finger Area. Permanent posts have been set up on heights and bunkers have been strengthened. The Army has also increased surveillance capabilities in the region. At least two Long Range Observation Systems which can detect, record and transmit live images of an area under observation, have been set up in the Finger Area.

The strengthening of defences has taken place partly due to the re-induction of the 27 Mountain Division to North Sikkim. The Kalimpong-based Division, responsible for the defence of North Sikkim and the Finger Area, had been moved to Jammu and Kashmir in 2001 during the Op Parakram troop buildup along the Pakistan border. The Finger Area entered controversy last year after the Chinese increased patrolling and even planned to build a road through it. While the area was always under Indian control, the Army used to send in regular patrols and held only a few traditional defensive positions. India decided to strengthen defences after increased Chinese transgressions and the discovery last year that the alignment of a new East-West road being built by Beijing would pass through the Finger Area. Construction was put to a stop after New Delhi lodged a diplomatic complaint.
Siliguri Corridor in Sikkim

India Strikes Gold at Beijing

Abhinav Bindra won India's first individual Olympic gold medal on Monday with a thrilling come-from-behind victory in the men's 10m air rifle. Bindra had been fourth after qualifying but had a brilliant final round and the Indian, the epitome of tranquillity, hit a near perfect 10.8 on his last shot to pull in front of Henri Hakkinen of Finland, who fell to bronze with a poor final shot.

That late stumble by the Finn allowed China's Zhu Qinan, the defending Olympic champion and heavy favourite, to salvage a bitter day with silver. Zhu sobbed uncontrollably on the podium and again at a news conference.

"I can't describe how happy I am," the ever-calm Bindra told journalists. "It's the thrill of my life. That's about it. It's hard to describe. I just went for it. I knew I was lying in fourth. Thankfully it went my way and I just went for it."

Bindra, who faced criticism for failing to deliver on the great promise he showed as a child, said he was not thinking about making history in India with a first individual gold medal. In fact, he said, he was "not thinking about anything".

"I was just trying to concentrate on shooting," he said. "I wasn't thinking of making history. I was two points behind the leaders. I was just trying to shoot good shots. I wanted to shoot well and shoot aggressively. And that's what I did."

His 10.8 of a possible 10.9 on his final shot sparked loud celebrations from group of fans from India. Hakkinen, who was even with Bindra before his mere 9.7 on his last shot, said that crucial shot felt like the nine before it. "It just wasn't my turn," he said. "It shows that shooting is a sport from the first to the final shot. Every one counts."

Randhir Singh, Indian Olympic Association secretary-general and former shooter who was present at the range, was stricken by nerves as the competition reached its climax. "I haven't prayed so much in my life. With the second last shot they tied together and then he (Bindra) shot a 10.8. It couldn't have got better," he told Indian television.

Bindra won the 2006 world championships and finished seventh in Athens four years ago.
Bindra shoots India to first gold
The Blog Team, all Veterans and readers extend our hearty congratulations to Abhinav Bindra.