• Government owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is planning to invite bids for 60 million GSM lines valued at USD 4.5 billion. Announcing the deal, Communications and Information Minister Dayanidhi Maran said that 30% of the bid would automatically go to the public sector equipment supplier ITI, which has technical collaboration with French vendor Alcatel. Growth of fixed and mobile connections in India is highest in the world and the mobile market has already eclipsed China. Maran says every month 1.75 million new subscribers are being added and that total Indian connections will exceed 250 million by 2007; it is not clear how he got the arithmetic, as the current subscriber base in India is 5.3 million. He urged Swedish company Ericsson to accelerate its plans to set up a manufacturing facility near Chennai, as competitors Finland's Nokia will inaugurate its plant on March 11. He also revealed US-based IEMC's plan to set up a semi-conductor manufacturing in India and that Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu were trying to woo the USD 3 billion investment. These investments would totally produce over 10,000 jobs.

Democracy, Politics and Judiciary

• Minister Manmohan Singh convened a round-table meeting on Jammu & Kashmir. With the exception of the Hurriyat Conference (an umbrella group of separatist groups) most political parties and interest groups participated in the discussions. For the first time, the Government invited representatives of Kashmiri Pandits ("ethnically cleansed" out of their ancestral homes in Kashmir in 1989), Hindu groups from the Jammu, and Buddhist groups from Ladakh. The most significant outcome is the decision that Home Minister Shivraj Patil convenes a panel of senior officials to review the detainee list so that those without serious charges may be released soon. Referring to the recent shooting incident in which security forces shot down 4 youth, Singh reiterated the country's commitment to dealing with "terrorism and militancy" while ensuring that innocent people are not affected. The panel expressed hope that the Hurriyat will join the discussions in the scheduled May meeting at Srinagar. He highlighted the successes of the people-to-people contacts between India and Pakistan that formed an important component of the ongoing peace talks between the two countries. Jammu & Kashmir has three major groups-- Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. The Hindus are in majority in Jammu and Buddhists are in majority in Ladakh. In Kashmir Valley, the population can divided into Sunni groups that seek separation from India, Shia groups with strong ties to Sufism mostly engaged in farming and craft wanting stronger economic ties with India, and Gujjars & Bakerwals who want strong security ties with India. Because of the way the constituencies in the state are drawn and the Assembly set up, the Kashmiri Sunnis with a marginal majority in the Valley corner all the political space there. As an extension of this problem, the Valley with a marginally higher population than Jammu and with a much smaller land area than Ladakh gets a disproportionately higher number of seats.

• The Uttar Pradesh Congress Party has asked for the arrest of senior member of Samajwadi Party Amar Singh. He cited interviews and CDs with telephone conversations of Singh in possession of NDTV, which show Singh's collusion with UP Chief Minister Maulayam Singh Yadav to remove an inconvenient High Court judge. The CDs also show that an industrialist in Mumbai advised by another to set aside USD 5.5 million for Singh if he wants to start a business in UP. The UP Congress also called on the Home Minister to start discussions whether Article 356 should be invoked to manage the behavior of an out-of-control State Government. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) needs the support of SP to stay in power. If the UP Government is sacked, the SP will undoubtedly bring down the Federal Government leading to national elections. Since the propensity of the UPA is to stay in power, this demand by the state unit will most likely be disregarded.

• Royal Dutch Shell a target of increased kidnaps and attacks on facilities was ordered by a Nigerian court to pay USD 1.5 billion for polluting the Niger delta. The Ijaw community has been campaigning hard against the oil major accusing it of degrading their water supply affecting their farming and fishing. Rebels from the south have kidnapped Shell employees demanding a better share of the country's oil revenues. Communities have been consistently complaining against Shell accusing it of spilling oil from its oil stations. Shell says that the fault lies with saboteurs who, assisted by international criminal syndicates, try to steal oil. Rebels have blown up Shell's pipelines and loading platforms seriously affecting its output. Nigeria's oil output has dropped by over 20% in the last one week. Shell said it will appeal against the punitive damage amount but is not contesting the accusation.

• In a first ever incident, Sikkim reported the mysterious death of 33 vultures and 10 kites at heights of 10-20,000 feet. Based on initial investigations, officials have ruled out bird flu but have sent samples to the High Risk Disease Investigation Center in Bhopal. Described as the fastest decline in the population of any species, over 97% of Indian vultures have died in the last decade because they eat dead cattle that have been administered with Diclofenac sodium, a common pain killer used in cattle. Despite strong reports and lobbying by the Bombay Natural History Society, the drug is banned only in Sikkim.

• Delhi-based NGO Wildlife Trust of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chhattisgarh Forest Department to initiate a 3-year program to revive and conserve the wild buffalo population.  Infringement of grazing area by cattle growers, scarcity of food and water, and hybridization with domestic breed has seriously their existence in the wild. Additionally, indiscriminate hunting by tribals during Parad festivities and introduction of parasites from domestic livestock into their environment has brought their numbers down from an estimate 4200 in 2004 to about 200 remain. Chhattisgarh has about 68 wild Asian buffaloes while the rest are in Assam. Historically, the wild Asian buffalo roamed from Eastern Nepal to Vietnam. However, the 1960s saw a large-scale elimination of the buffalo population. This project will identify the threats and conservation strategies in a 4,200 sq. kilometer area.