After 17 years, Liberhan Babri report with Centre

The report on the December 6, 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was submitted by retired judge M.S. Liberhan to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday. It took the commission of inquiry headed by Justice Liberhan 17 years and 48 extensions to arrive at this point.

The government says it is prepared for a full debate on the report in the Budget Session of Parliament, which begins on July 2. It will table the report, along with the action taken report, within the session, which ends on August 7.

The BJP, meanwhile, appears to have already gone on the defensive. Government and Congress sources said the BJP would be completely isolated on this issue, adding that no party in the NDA, barring the Shiv Sena, would support it.

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Passport in week’s time

The ministry of external affairs has decided to go for outsourcing to speed up the issue of passports.

Under the new Passport Seva Project, Tatkal passports would be issued in a day and regular passports will be given in a week.

The Centre has already called for tenders to select a firm that can take care of the outsourcing needs in the entire country. It has asked officials to complete the tender process in next three months.

The selected firm will establish 64 outsourcing wings across India. Andhra Pradesh will get five outsourcing centres — two in Hyderabad and the others in Nizamabad, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam.

More than four lakh persons apply every year for passports in the state and the new project is going to be a boon for them.

At present, they are forced to wait for more than 10 days to get passports even under the Tatkal scheme and at least one month for regular passports.

Once the Passport Seva Project is launched, the processing of applications will be completely handled by private firms. Only police verification and issuing of passports will be under the control of the government.

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