THE WORLD PORTAL

H.R.BHARDWAJ

The former union law minister H.R. Bhardwaj is now appearing in a new role, because he was appointed as the governor of Karnataka. He replaced incumbent Rameshwar Thakur, who has been appointed as the governor of Madhya Pradesh. The veteran Congress leader Bhardwaj was the union cabinet minister of law and justice in the previous Manmohan Singh’s government, but he was dropped from this Manmohan Singh’s new government. He is also an elected member of parliament representing the state of Haryana in the Rajya Sabha.

BIOGRAPHY

Veteran Congress leader Hansraj Bharadwaj was born on 17th May 1937 in Rohtak, Haryana as the son of Jagan Nath Prasad Sharma and Sarti Devi. He gained his school education from ‘G.B.C.High School, Rohtak’ and also he is the holder of M.A., LL.B. and Doctor of Laws. He is married to Prafulata Bhardwaj, and they have two daughters and one son. He is professionly a senior advocate in supreme court of India. He was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1982 and served as Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice from 1982 to 1989. He was again elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1988 and served as the minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Planning and Programme Implementation from 1991 to 1992 and also served as minister of State in the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs from July 1992 to May 1996. He was again re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1996 and in 2000. He was then served as the Union Cabinet Minister of Law and Justice from 2004 to May 2009 in the Manmohan Singh’s government, but he was dropped from this Manmohan Singh’s new government. As a law minister, Bharadwaj was criticized for his work with CBI to silently let Bofors-accused Ottavio Quattrocchi walk free. Also he was criticized for not acting on the advise of chief election commissioner to dismiss the assistant election commissioner Chawla. Under his leadership, some important bills were passed, but not come into action. These bills were aimed to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court from 26 to 31, to increase the salaries of judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts and a Bill on setting up Gram Nyayalayas. He has also participated in law conferences and seminars in various countries including Bangkok, Tokyo, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Manila, USA etc and also he has been the member of ‘ Bar Associations of District Court’, Delhi, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India, ‘Bar Association of India’, ‘Legal Affairs Committee for Asian Games’, 1982, ‘Indo-U.S. Sub-Commission for Education and Culture’, 1982-84, ‘Law Asia’, ‘International Law Association’ and ‘United International Advocates (U.I.A.)’. He is the author of many books including “Law, Lawyers and Judges”, “Soul of India” and “Crime, Criminal Justice and Human Rights”. Bharadwaj will be best remembered for making grand announcements of judicial reform and improving the justice delivery system and not following them up with action. Now he is appearing in the new role as the governor of Karnataka and we can see that how he performs in this new role.

AGNI -II MISSILE

Indian scientists again proved their talent by successfully tested the nuclear capable Agni-II missiles from a defense base in Orissa. This surface-to-surface as missile with a strike range of up to 2,000 km was testing-fired in this morning from the Wheeler’s Island near Dhamara in the district of Bhadrak. It was a user trial conducted by the Army and scientists from Defense Research and Development Organization and the aim of this test was to give the army confidence to fire the missile on its own without the help of defense scientists. This missile after three successful trials by DRDO is ready for production. 20 meters long Agni II missile is a part of India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Program and it can be fired from both rail and road mobile launchers. It takes only 15 minutes for the missile to be readied for firing.

ABOUT AGNI -II MISSILE

Agni-II is the medium range ballistic missile. It has a range of 2,000–2,500 km. It was developed due to the security challenges from China and Pakistan. India started work on Agni-II in 1997. This missile is 20 m in length with a diameter of 1.3 m in the first and second stages, and it can be fitted with 150 or 200 kT yield nuclear warheads, in addition to chemical, high-explosive, and sub munition versions. The main strength of this missile is its relatively high accuracy, especially at close range, due to its combination of an internal guidance system, a Global Positioning Satellite system, and radar correlation. This missile was first tested on 1999 from Wheeler’s Island in the Bay of Bengal. The test was conducted from a rail car launcher. In 2001, the Agni-2 was tested from a mobile launch vehicle (TEL). At that same year, approximately five Agni-2 missiles became operational and 10 missiles yearly are produced from 2001. This missile always be in a ready-to-fire mode and can be launched within 15 minutes. Agni-II missiles are used by 555th Missile Group of the Indian Army. Today, 2,000 km range version of Agni-II missiles were successfully tested from a defense base in Orissa.