10 years of 9/11: Qaida jitters on anniv eve

WASHINGTON: Dark forebodings on the economy, war fatigue and a sense of dread over terrorism pervades America on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the event known as 9/11, when terrorists attacked the United States with four hijacked passenger airplanes.

Although there has not been a single successful attack on America since that catastrophic day, the world's most powerful country, albeit with declining strength, is on edge at the prospect of a "commemorative" attack. Federal authorities on Thursday warned local law enforcement agencies of a potential terrorist threat involving car bombs in New York and Washington that could coincide with the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

The Department of Homeland Security said it had information about a "specific, credible but unconfirmed threat," and the White House said President Obama was briefed on Thursday morning and has been updated throughout the day. One official was quoted as saying the threat was "more than aspirational".

The concern is heightened by documents that were found inside Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that mentioned aspirations to strike on the 10th anniversary of the 2001 attacks.

The situation is fraught because President Obama, who has taken as hard a line against terrorism as his predecessor, will be on the road over the next few days to promote his jobs campaign, and will attend commemorative events in Shanksville, Pennsylvania and New York City in between.

Vehicular traffic into NYC and Washington DC and electronic communication is being subjected to intense scrutiny by thousands of security personnel and intelligence analysts using technology that till recently was in the realm of science fiction.

Obama administration officials are trying not to be alarmist because of false signals in the past, but abundant caution is the order of the day because of fears of charges of negligence, an accusation made in case of 9/11 when telltale signs and intelligence was ignored.

After initially saying there was no known credible threat related to the 9/11 anniversary, homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano reeled back on Thursday, saying, "It is still the case that we don't have something that would reach that standard, but we still have lots of chatter out there. And we take every bit of that seriously and track it down."

Hike 2nd-class and sleeper fares: Finance ministry to Railways

NEW DELHI: The finance ministry has asked the Railways to increase fares for second-class and sleeper categories to help the state-run transporter raise resources and reduce its reliance on the government budget.

The move comes at a time when the government is trying to streamline its spending and find additional resources to meet its fiscal target set for the current financial year. The government has already announced some belt tightening measures to keep a tight leash on its spending.

"Ministry of Railways need to look at revision of passenger tariff particularly on second-class and sleeper category which have not been revised for many years. This category of passengers accounts for more than 90% of total passenger traffic," R Gopal, secretary, department of economic affairs, wrote in a letter to Railway Board chairman Vinay Mittal.

"In order to generate additional resources both in the short and medium terms to sustain the process of fiscal consolidation undertaken by the government, a need has been felt to review and align the tariff to present cost of delivery/operation," Gopal wrote.

The Railways last raised fares in 2002-03, when the minimum fare for second-class mail and express trains went up from Rs 15 to Rs 16. Passenger fares were marginally reduced for three consecutive years during Lalu Prasad Yadav's tenure as railway minister in the first term of theUPA government. But Yadav had raised money from other sources such as Tatkal tickets and express charges. During her tenure in UPA-2, Mamata Banerjee did not touch fares, keeping an eye on the West Bengal assembly elections.

According to the economic affairs secretary, the Sixth Pay Commission and high fuel costs have seriously impacted the operating ratio of the railways. Therefore, there is a need to reduce the dependence on government budget and generate resources for capacity addition.

An increase in passenger fares would come against the backdrop of rising price pressure. Inflation is hovering around the 9% mark while food inflation has hit double digits. The Reserve Bank of India has raised interest rates 11 times since March 2010 to tame inflation. This has raised borrowing costs and increased the outgo on monthly equated instalments on home and auto loans.

"The finance ministry wants the Railways to recover its cost of operation from the increase in passenger fares," said an official, who did not wish to be identified.

Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi has also told the planning commission last month about urgent need for a fare hike to address the financial problems faced by the transporter. Financial constraints have hurt its ambitious modernisation and safety plans. Many expect an increase, but only in AC-class fares which will not affect the aam admi.

The Railways ministry has also argued before the Commission for setting up of independent tariff regulator for determining passenger and freight rates and linking it with wholesale price index.

Successive railway ministers have shied away from raising passenger and freight fares bowing to populist pressures. The Sixth Pay Commission had imposed an additional burden of around Rs 70,000 crore on the Railways.

The railways employee's unions have also raised the issue and asked the railway minister to consider raising fares. In a letter to the minister, All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) general secretary Shiva Gopal Mishra said, "For the past eight years, not a single penny has been raised in the passenger fare. Instead, Rs 1 has been reduced in each of the last three years. With the result, about Rs 20,000 crore has been drained out on the subsidy on passenger fare and is likely to go up this year."

The Comptroller and Auditor General has also raised the red flag on railways finances, saying the transporter was left with a revenue surplus of a paltry Rs 75 lakh during 2009-10. It has said the railways need to consider rationalization of freight and passenger tariffs through some form of pre-determined non discretionary inflation indexing.

It has also said there is a need to cut heavy cross-subsidization from freight to passenger service which ranged between 16-26 % during 2004-05 to 2008-09.