Briefly Nation

Home Minister P Chidambaram also said the Centre would soon be releasing Rs 500 crore towards relief and rehabilitation works in the states. Stating that finances were no constraints as far as rehabilitation works were concerned,he added that the Centre was already in the process of releasing Rs 500 crore for the purpose.

In the meantime,the state governments have been asked to spend some funds and once the assessment is done,the money will be reimbursed, Chidambaram said.

Samajwadi Party member Amar Singh demanded to know how much time would the government take in assessing the situation.

The Home Minister added that damage assessments are being made in both Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and the issue would be addressed by the Centre with compassion.

Chidambaram further informed the House that after the July 2005 deluge which struck Mumbai,funds had been released for widening and deepening of Mithi river in the city. The Centre is ready to help the commercial capital in every possible way, he added.

Moily assurance on womens quota Bill

NEW DELHI: The Law Minister on Wednesday said the government would ensure that the Womens Reservation Bill,seeking 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures,is introduced in the current session itself if the Standing Committee gave its clearance to the Bill through a consensus.

He said if there was a consensus the government would even strive to get the Bill passed in the current session.

BJPs Najma Heptullah,who had raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha ,said the government was unnecessarily insisting on having a consensus on womens reservation when the same criterion is not applied to other Bills. CPIs D Raja said if the government insisted on having a consensus,it would have to wait till eternity.

Tiger population same as in 2005-06: Ramesh

NEW DELHI: Even as it admits that 32 tigers have been poached since 2007 and that there are a host of problems facing tiger reserves,including Naxalism,Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh seems to believe the population of tigers in India has not changed since 2005-06. To a question in Parliament on Wednesday,the Minister said that there are 1,411 wild tigers remaining in India a figure reached in 2007,based on the 2005-06 tiger population.

While unofficial estimates from poaching seizures collected by NGOs indicate that more than 60 tigers have been poached,the official figure presented in Lok Sabha on Wednesday said 15 tigers were poached in 2009.

On anti-poaching steps,Ramesh said India was facing problems of cross-border crime and there was lack of management in Naxalite-hit tiger reserves. Disturbances have been reported owing to Naxalism and Left wing extremism in Simlipal,Palamau,Indravati,Valmiki,Nagarjunasagar Srisailam,Udanti- Sitanadi, he said.