• With a green signal from Lok Sabha on his peace initiative with Pakistan, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee makes it clear that he would exercise ‘‘utmost caution’’ in dealing with Islamabad but wouldn’t let the ‘‘fear of failure’’ stymie the ‘‘search for peace’’. ‘‘Shanti ki khoj karna koi apradh nahin hai. Kya vifalta ke dar se hum nishkriya ya jad ho jayein’’ (To search for peace is no crime. Should we let the fear of failure make us immobile). In the same breath, the PM rejects as unacceptable Islamabad’s informal proposal of ‘‘de-nuclearisation’’ of South Asia. Replying to a two-hour discussion in the House on Indo-Pak ties, Vajpayee says the de-nuclearisation idea was not workable because ‘‘Pakistan’s nuclear programme is India-specific’’ while New Delhi’s atomic capability was based on the evolving security scenario in Asia.• Space scienitists do the nation proud once again as India takes a major step towards becoming a global major in satellite launch when the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D2), carrying a communication satellite, blasts off from Sriharikota successfully. In Bangalore, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee names the indigenous, multi-role fighter Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas (radiance) even as he welcomes international collaboration in aircraft technology and production. Meanwhile, in Orissa’s Balasore, India achieves another milestone in its missile development programme when scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation successfully test-fire the indigenously developed air-to-air missile Astra from the integrated test range at Chandipur. • Veteran communist leader Mohit Sen, who parted ways with CPI protesting the party’s ‘‘anti-Congress’’ posture, dies at his Hyderabad home following a massive cardiac attack. Sen, 74, was a widower and had no children. He joined the Communist Party of India in 1948 and became its full member in 1950 during his stay in England. • INDIA’S ambassador to China, Shiv Shankar Menon, is all set to take over the highly coveted post of High Commissioner to Pakistan. Menon is believed to be a personal choice of Prime Minister Vajpayee, who is said to have been ‘‘very impressed’’ with the diplomat’s briefings to him not only on China, but also during his earlier stints as India’s top man in Sri Lanka and Israel. Mani Tripathi, India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh, a popular Consul-General in Karachi about a decade ago, was also considered for the sought after assignment.• THE Government makes the most audacious move ever on the issue of judicial accountability. Contrary to the advice of the Constitution Review Commission (CRC), the Government proposes to sit in judgment on complaints of ‘‘deviant behaviour’’ against judges of the high courts and Supreme Court. A Constitutional amendment Bill that is cleared by the Cabinet provides that the Law Minister and an eminent person chosen by the Prime Minister shall be very much part of the machinery for disciplining judges. • AS renewed peace initiatives bring hopes of peace in J-K, violence erupts in the North-East. Extremists kill 31 non-tribals, including eight children and six women, kidnap two and injure six others, besides setting ablaze houses, in thee separate incidents in Tripura. A group of banned National Liberation Front of Tripura militants raid Moharcherr and adjoining areas of West Tripura and gun down 10. Earlier, members of All-Tripura Tiger Force raid Satchhari, a border village in West Tripura and open fire killing 21.• BARELY a week after WHO declares India SARS-free, it figures again on the WHO list of SARS-reporting countries. And this time the reported case is not just a ‘‘suspect’’ but fits the WHO definition of SARS ‘‘probables’’. Interestingly, this is a new definition that was worked out on May 1, the very day Health Minister Sushma Swaraj was declaring the country SARS-free with a WHO representative by her side. The latest patient is a resident of Kolkata who is under treatment.• An era passes away as African National Congress (ANC) veteran Walter Sisulu dies in Johannesburg. Sisulu was born in 1912, the year the ANC was founded. Sisulu played a major role in organising resistance to apartheid, for which he was imprisoned following his treason trial in 1964. Nelson Mandela, at Sisulu’s 90th birthday celebration last year, had paid homage to Sisulu mentioning him as a mentor.• US names L. Paul Bremer, a former ambassador and head of the State Department’s counter-terrorism office, as President George W. Bush’s special envoy to Iraq to oversee its transition to democratic rule. Bremer will become the civilian administrator, heading the transition team that includes retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner. • The Wall of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid, gets a new lease of life, broken hearts reconcile to their fate and Bangalore breathes normal again. Far from the madding crowds and away from the prying eyes of the media, Dravid begins his maiden innings on the personal front, tying the nuptial knot with Nagpur-based doctor Vijeta Pendharkar at the Yelahanka temple on the city’s outskirts.
