NEW DELHI, 30 June 2006 — The Indian Cabinet yesterday extended by six months the term of the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry, which is investigating the destruction of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya on Dec. 6, 1992.
The decision to extend the inquiry, which will now finish on Dec. 31, was among many crucial decisions, including fostering better relations with Pakistan, made by the government.
In a bid to strengthen the Indo-Pak relationships, India will release 38 Pakistani civilian prisoners today and transfer them to the Wagah border, the Home Affairs Ministry said.
The government has also decided to “grant consular access to all eligible Pakistani civilian prisoners and fishermen to facilitate their repatriation to Pakistan immediately after completion of their sentences and confirmation of their national status by Pakistani authorities,” the ministry said.
Pakistan will also release 19 Indian civilian prisoners, who have completed their terms, at Wagah border.
However, both sides will not release 462 fishermen — 432 Indians and 30 Pakistanis — as announced earlier.
The Indian government also supported the construction of a 608-km road network along the Sino-India border stretching from Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir to Diphu la in Arunachal Pradesh, an area where roads have remained under developed for the past five decades. At a cost of around Rs. 9.12 billion, the roads are to be completed within six years.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet committee meeting on security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended by among others Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. Roads will be constructed at various points along the Sino-Indian border, Mukherjee told reporters after the meeting.
Earlier, Border Roads Organization (BRO) had indicated that roads-network would be completed in seven years but “the CCS directed it to compress the timeframe and finish the work in six years,” Mukherjee said.
The Union Cabinet also gave green signal to reopening of Indian Embassy in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo); opening of embassy in Ljubijana (Solvenia); and opening consulate general at Melbourne (Australia), Juba (South Sudan) and Phuentsholing (Bhutan).
To man these missions/posts, 20 India-based and 25 local posts would be created. The aim is to “safeguard and promote India’s strategic, economic and political interests in the concerned countries/regions,” official release stated.
Regarding the compliance of different conditions for the enhancement of foreign direct investment ceiling from 49 percent to 74 percent in the telecom sector, the Cabinet gave its approval toward extending it by another three months, from July 3, to Oct. 2. “This will give more time for further consultation with different stakeholders and maintain continuity of operation in the telecom sector,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said.
The Cabinet also approved a $250 million National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) with four components; the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will be catalyzing agent of Indian National Agricultural Research System; research on production to consumption systems; research on sustainable rural livelihood security; and basic and strategic research in frontier areas of agricultural sciences.
Spread over six years, with a $200 million credit from the World Bank, the NAIP would be implemented from July 1 this year, Dasmunsi said.
The Indian government’s share would be $50 million in the $250 million NAIP project. The Indian Cabinet also gave its approval to funds of Rs. 10.39 billion for implementing polio eradication strategies in the year 2006-07.
With around 20,000 children in the country afflicted by polio, according to data available from the National Polio Surveillance Project, the government gave its nod to plans regarding their rehabilitation.
“Each child will get an average of Rs.10,000 for corrective surgery, fitment of prostheses, calipers/boots of good and light quality, residency, training and attendant for treatment and physiotherapy,” it was stated.
