India remains the Goose laying Golden Eggs!

India remains the Goose laying Golden Eggs!
Indian communists commits another historical blunder as they failed to lead the Nation in its epic fight against Imperialism. For freedom and sovereignity. Bottomless firebrand leader Mamata Bannerjee and the so called parliamentary Marxists stand on the same ground as economics of Adam smith determines the fate of the Nation, eventually colonised!

This Nation is now the Valley of Death!

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

India's US$10.2 billion fighter jet deal may take years to firm up
International Herald Tribune - 4 hours ago
AP NEW DELHI: India's plan to buy 126 fighter jets for its air force may take years to come to fruition, analysts said Wednesday, a day after the government invited bids for what would be the country's biggest ever defense purchase.
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PM's package fails to check suicides
NDTV.com - 32 minutes ago
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will fly into Mumbai in 48 hours to ask the state government on what they're going to do to check farmers' suicides in the Vidharbha region.
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US clients assure Infosys of more biz - Video
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India remains the Goose laying Golden Eggs!

Indian communists commits another historical blunder as they failed to lead the Nation in its epic fight against Imperialism. For freedom and sovereignity. Bottomless firebrand leader Mamata Bannerjee and the so called parliamentary Marxists stand on the same ground as economics of Adam smith determines the fate of the Nation, eventually colonised!Shining India celebrates the Carnival of enslavement and massacres as the strategic regroupin with US lead opens all the windows and doors for India INC,. and MNCs in this Galaxy!
The Arms Race is on! More swiss bank accounts. More kickbacks. More share in the power. Every political leader is vying for the jackpot. Everyone is involved with the future, suppose 2015, 2020, 2050 and so on! No one is engaged with the present full of hard realities and facts!

Besides two American companies, four suppliers have been requested to submit proposals to sell 126 multi-role combat aircraft. The total size of the order is likely to top Rs 42,000 crore ($10.2 billion).Shopping list in the Weapon Market is lengthy and will get lengthy in future. No health care, no poverty eradiction, no price control, no education, no public service, no socil justice, no welfare, no relief, no rehabilitation, no regional balance .. nothing. India survives on Defence Budget, disinvestment, military option, FDI, SEZ, SAZ, PCPIR, MIR, Retail chain and so on...

India remained a golden egg laying Goose for thousands of years for the foreign invadors. Remeber Mohammad Bin Kassem or Gori! Remember the British raj Days. Nothing changed! Only cahnged is the society with a submissive economy, polity and culture where only Brahminical Hegemony prevails. Prevais Islamophobia and intense dalit Hatred! Caste Hindus always shed the bllod and the divided geopolitics bleeds even today. Outcates are destined only for enslavement , suffering and death.
This Nation is now the Valley of Death!

Encashing the strategic regrouping in Indian Ocean and escalation of War against Terrorism has alredy begun, long before the Indo US Nuke deal is operationalised! At last smiling are the MNC, to be most benefitted by this equation.
Policies are made even befor the formation of GOI and corporates have the last word to say on any vital issue. National interest is nothing but MNC interest which essentially and eventually are translated into US Zionist Hindu Galaxy Post Modern Manusmriti order!

Industry stood united behind policy making neoliberal. No one may win an election in India without the support of MNCs and Promoters these days anywhere in the world. This governement is antinational and it should be pulled down without any delay. But midterm election phobia hits the political aprties left as well as the right. LK Adwani haves a turnaround and CPIM West Bengal and Keral units stand with Dr Manmohan singh as Rock solid defying Party Polit Bureau and Central Committe!

Ahead of the UPA-Left meet possibly on Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday discussed modalities of a proposed mechanism to address the concerns of Left parties on the Indo-US nuclear deal. They also decided to set up a high-level political committee for the same. The ruling UPA and Left allies are expected to meet tomorrow to decide on concretising the mechanism, which the Left insists, should comprise leaders from both sides. While,The United States is keenly watching the decision of the Indian Parliament on the Indo-US nuclear deal, US Consul General in Chennai David Hopper has said. The mechanism is most likely to be headed by Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and will have members from both the UPA and the Left.The debate in Parliament on the issue has been put off till the first week of September. The Congress has agreed on an Informal slowdown on IAEA negotiations in September, to buy time for dialogue.

However, Congress sources say negotiations cannot be paused indefinitely, it can only be for a month or so.Congress hopes the mechanism will buy both sides more time.Three of the four Left parties have expressed willingness to join such a mechanism, which could be a committee at the political level. The CPI(M), CPI and Forward Bloc have already affirmed that they would be willing to join such a mechanism if the need arose, but RSP has informed the government that it would take a decision on the matter after internal discussions.

See the Farce continues so well!
The leftist parties said on Wednesday that they would not join a panel to study a controversial nuclear deal with the United States if the government moved ahead with negotiations on the pact.

On Monday, the communists agreed to join the government panel - which would aim to address their concerns over the "123 Agreement" between the two powerful democracies - but two days later, they hardened their line.

"The government must put on hold this 123 agreement and then go for some sort of mechanism or committee," Debabrata Biswas, the chief of the Forward Bloc, a small left party, told reporters after a meeting of all the four main communist parties.

Biswas was speaking for the entire left, which has 60 MPs out of the 545-member lower house of parliament, and gives Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition its majority.

The government panel would most likely consist of politicians and scientists, and possibly former diplomats, political leaders said.

"The government must publicly indicate they would not go ahead with talks, if they want us to join any panel," D. Raja of the Communist Party of India told Reuters after the meeting.

The opposition by the left to the deal is the biggest challenge for Singh, who came to power in 2004 with communist backing, and has raised fears his government would not last its full term until 2009.

The civilian nuclear deal was finalised in July after months of tough negotiations between Washington and New Delhi.

But the Indian government has to negotiate safeguards for its civilian nuclear reactors with the International Atomic Energy Agency and get the approval of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group to allow the pact to operate on the ground.

And this!
Union Defence Minister A K Antony today described opposition by Left parties to joint army exercises as inappropriate saying that such exercises had been conducted as a part of bilateral agreement since the past 15 years.

Talking to reporters after inspecting India Air Force's fighting skills at Maharajpura airbase here, Mr Antony said such joint exercises had benefitted Indian Army technologically and strategically.

He said India had entered into bilateral agreements with the US, the UK, Russia, Germany and other major nations for conducting joint army exercises. The first joint army exercise was conducted with the US in 1992.

So far, 10 Indo-US joint army exercises had taken place. The Eleventh Indo-US joint naval exercise was proposed to take place at Malabar. He pointed out that there was no need to worry, as such exercises were carried out as a part of bilateral agreements and not multilateral agreement. Besides raising stature, such joint exercises increased capability, self-dependence and technical knowledge of the Indian Army. Mr Antony said Indian and Chinese armies would be staging a joint exercise soon. The Minister said he was going to Moscow in Russia for defence-related meeting as a part of an annual programme. A similar meeting was organised in New Delhi last year.

Hyderabad blasts rock parliament, police release sketch (Intro)
Monsters and Critics.com - 3 hours ago
New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS) The weekend blasts that killed 43 people in Hyderabad rocked the Lok Sabha Wednesday with the opposition accusing the government of playing 'vote bank politics', while police in Hyerabad released the sketch of a man it said may ...
Hyderbad blast: Sketch released, reward announced Zee News
Centre takes serious view of AP police failure to act on input Hindu

Meanwhile,India has received bids worth 5.3 lakh tons of wheat from six companies in a price range of $385-434 per tonne for its global tender to import the food grain.Even the minimum price quoted by suppliers is 18 per cent more than the average rate of $325.59 per tonne at which the government contracted 5.11 lakh tons of wheat in the last round of tender.Cargill India has offered to supply 80,000 tons, while Toepfer International 70,000 tons, Switzerland-based Ameropa 25,000 tons, Starcom 5,000 tons.Interestingly, another government-owned trading firm PEC has also entered into the bidding process by offering to supply 50,000 tons of wheat.The official said that bids of Concordia were rejected, while the offer of Yamuna Flour Mills was not considered due to different factors.

On the other hand,Petrol and diesel prices are unlikely to be hiked in the near future, with Finance Minister P Chidambaram agreeing in-principle to share a third of the revenue loss that state-run oil firms incur on sale of fuel.

"Chidambaram in a meeting with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora agreed in-principle to issue oil bonds to cover one-third of the under-realisation on sale of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene in 2007-08," official sources said.

"The quantum of the bonds would be decided once the two ministries agree on the losses the public sector oil firms were incurring on fuel sale," they said.

Government-owned oil firms had sought an immediate hike in petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene prices as they are losing over Rs 185 crore per day on sale of the four products.During 2007-08, PSU oil firms' losses on sale of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene has been estimated at Rs 52,162 crore, one-third of which would now be met through oil bonds. An equal amount would be contributed by upstream firms like ONGC and GAIL by way of discounts on crude oil and LPG they sell to the refiners.

"The remaining portion of the under-recovery would be absorbed by IOC, BPCL and HPCL," the sources said.

Hinting at a softening of its line, the CPI(M) on Thursday said it did not want the "current crisis" over the Indo-US nuclear deal to affect the Manmohan Singh government and that it has not discussed the possibility of elections.

At the conclusion of a crucial two-day meeting of its highest policy making body, the Central Committee, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat appeared less strident and said the party was trying to allay apprehensions that it was interested in pulling down the government.

There was, however, no dilution of the CPI(M)`s opposition to the nuclear deal. "The Central Committee does not want the current crisis to affect the government. However, this is contingent upon the government not proceeding further with the agreement," a resolution adopted by the meeting said.

"The Central Committee, therefore, authorises the Politburo to take whatever necessary measures to see that the agreement is not operationalised," it said. Addressing a press conference, Karat said "if the government decides to operationalise the agreement, the responsibility for the future of this government lie with the government."

"...Unfortunately we are in such a situation we are again trying to allay any apprehension that we are interested in this government going. We would like ... We don`t want this crisis to affect the government, but it is dependent on how the government acts," he said.

Asked if they were ready for elections now, Karat said they have not discussed elections in the Central Committee meeting.

On what were the options before the Left parties, he said "well that we will discuss when it happens. I hope it does not happen."

To a question about the government talking to members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), he said "we are aware of that and since the Japanese Prime Minister is here, I am sure the Prime Minister would have talked about that. We don`t expect him not to do that".

On the IAEA meeting in September, he said "we know that we are members of the IAEA Board. Our representatives will attend the international annual conference. All these are normal things. We are not going into all these. We are not flustered by such things.

"It is expected. We expect them to be there. We have to have Indian representatives there."

Queried whether the party was open for working out details if the government was ready, he said they were ready provided the government did not take the next step in the agreement.

"We are prepared for any ... We have already said three days ago that we are prepared to consider any mechanism or committee to examine all the problems connected with this agreement provided they don`t proceed with the next step," the CPI(M) leader said.

To another question, he said the party did not use the words it would withdraw support. "We have not used the word withdraw support in any of our statements. You won`t see a single leader of the CPI(M) either in Delhi, or in Kolkata or in Hyderabad having said we will withdraw support. Our Politburo has not given such a statement."

Asked if withdrawal of support was not mentioned in the party statements, then what was the meaning of the threat of serious consequences, Karat said "we will decide when the operationalisation of the agreement takes place. Then we will decide."

On Prime Minister`s statement that if winter is there, can spring be far behind, he said "I hope there will be no nuclear fission and we will have a long nuclear winter."

Replying to questions, Karat said they would give the government time as long as it does not proceed with the next step to operationalise the agreement. "That would depend upon the Committee or the mechanism looking into all the problems and objections and clear them."

He said the Left parties were not in a hurry and welcomed a debate in Parliament. "That will again reaffirm what we are saying that the agreement does not have majority support in Parliament."

Asked whether there would be any serious consequences (to the government), Karat said "that is what our party Central Committee has fully authorised the Politburo to take whatever steps are necessary."

The Central Committee resolution fully endorsed the stand taken by the Politburo that the bilateral agreement will bind India into a strategic alliance with the US with long-term consequences.

It also considered the nuclear deal as it existed, subject to provisions of the Hyde Act which are binding on the US administration.

The Central Committee noted the various objections and apprehensions voiced by scientists, public figures and intelligentsia on the nuclear deal. Above all, it is a fact that the majority of Members of Parliament are opposed to the agreement, the resolution said.

"This alone should make the government pause and not proceed further with the next steps to be taken to operationalise the deal.

"It is incumbent on the government, which commands a majority in Parliament only with the support of the Left parties, to heed the voices of opposition. It should examine the objections and clear the implications of the Hyde Act," it said.

Asked if the Left parties are withdrawing support, Karat said "I told you we have asked the government to pause, examine the objections, allay the apprehensions about the implications of the Hyde Act and heed the voice of Parliament and the Opposition."

Dear Friends:
Please take a minute to review Mukto-Mona's appeal before the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh demanding immediate release of five university teachers. If you agree with the content, make your voice heard. Kindly sign it. Here is the URL:

http://www.mukto- mona.com/ human_rights/ university_ teachers_ arrest.htm

Regards,
Avijit Roy
On behalf of Moderation Boardwww.mukto-mona. com

According to George W. Bush
and his bunch :

"History started on
the eleventh of September 2001
at 8.47 in the morning
and precisely in Manhattan , in the Big-Apple... "


According to Raja I. Chemayel,
History started :
"when Adam listened to Eva's advise
and bit in that apple ....."

Radioactive ‘theft’ from Tata plant
Another industrial camera with enough radioactive iridium to endanger people within a quarter-kilometre radius has gone missing, this time from Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur plant. ... | Read..
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070829/asp/nation/index.asp

A fresh effort to resolve the ongoing stand-off between the Left and the UPA over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal began on Monday evening with senior Congress leaders holding talks with their CPI counterparts.The CPI leaders, however, have adopted an aggressive posture, saying the government must set up a 'political mechanism' to evaluate the Hyde Act and remove Left concerns and doubts.

"We harbour no opposition to the evolving of a political mechanism to break the impasse. But the government should refrain from operationalising the 123 Agreement," CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said after the one-and-a-half hour meeting with government interlocutor Pranab Mukherjee.Bardhan was accompanied by party senior leaders Gurudas Dasgupta and D Raja in the meeting. The Left leaders said a 'political mechanism' is a must, as the experts' panel was not going to solve the problem.The CPI leader said the technical experts and the diplomats could drop in occasionally. Bardhan said they reminded Mukherjee that all the four Left parties in their August 20 meeting had also asserted that they were not opposed to the setting up of a committee or mechanism to evaluate the Hyde Act but only after the government decided not to take the next step.

"We have told Mr Mukherjee the same thing, that the Left parties at that very meeting had made it categorically clear that the government should not proceed further with the next step of negotiations for the safeguards agreement with the IAEA," he said.

Defence Minister AK Antony and Ahmed Patel, Political Secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi were also present at the parleys, in which the ambit of the mechanism was also discussed.The government will also hold talks with leaders of the CPI-M, Forward Bloc and RSP. Mr Bardhan hoped that the final announcement would be made after the government finalises talks with all the Left parties.The parleys are almost certain to lead to the setting up of a political mechanism to evaluate the Hyde Act and its implications on India.

Meanwhile, Timesof India Kolkata reports:
As the CPM hardliners have taken the rigid stand against the UPA government on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal issue, comrades in West Bengal seem to be in favour of a soft line and are keen to see the Manmohan Singh ministry completing its term to ensure implementation of some major projects in the state.

The projects include the deep sea port, airport modernisation, much-debated chemical hub, Kolkata-Siliguri four-lane road as also Howrah-Salt lake Metro Rail link.

Senior CPM leaders, including former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, have expressed in so many words that pulling the rug from the UPA government will only help the BJP to reap the political benefits.

Even as the party's central committee has endorsed the politburo's stand on the issue, most of the state CPM leaders, namely maverick Subhas Chakraborty (Transport Minister), Land and Land Reforms Minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah and even hardliner Benoy Konar are strongly in favour of rapid industrialisation of the state and that is possible only if the UPA government remains in power.

Preferring anonymity, party sources said that the hard stand of withdrawing support to the UPA government did not find favour with the party's state leadership which strongly feels that the momentum achieved in the pace of industrialisation would be lost and that it would be unwise to compromise with the state's development.

The mechanism will avail the services of the technical and diplomatic experts to be announced by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress core group brief her about the Left viewpoint, sources said.

Anu Jogesh / CNN-IBN reports:
For all who bothered to read the fine print, the deluge this year was literally pre-scripted by the Intergovernmental panel on climate change, which had predicted severe floods in South Asia as a result of global warming. If climate change is indeed a reality, then the future looks even bleaker.This could well be the face of things to come for lakhs of people who live along river basins or even draw their sustenance from it. A grim fallout of a planet that's getting hotter.

This year rainfall levels in Gujarat, central Maharashtra & Coastal Andhra Pradesh have doubled over the 100 year rain average.

"The IPCC says India has already seen a plus one degree rise in normal global mean temperatures. This translates in some change in temperature and precipitation but changes may no be linear. You can see abrupt weather patterns," says Suruchi Badwal of TERI.

With green house gases steadily climbing & melting glaciers continuing their descent… what is the weather forcast for next 20 years?

According to a NATCOM study, the Mahanadi & Brahmani rivers along with indo gangetic plains will see the highest increase in rainfall in the future, while river basins like the Sabarmati, Luni, Mahi are expected to become drier.

Left parties on Tuesday said they would hold a demonstration in Jalandhar on September 4 against the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal and the naval exercises involving India in the Bay of Bengal. The CPI, CPI-M, Forward Block and Revolutionary Socialist Party would hold joint protests, a Left spokesman said here. He said the decision was taken at a joint meeting here yesterday.

"Let us abolish this House. What is the need of Parliament."

These observations were made by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee in the Lok Sabha today, exasperated over the demands for suspending the Question Hour as the House met for the day.

As RJD members wanted to raise the issue of 'jungle raj' in Bihar in the wake of the Bhagalpur incident and SP members stormed the well over the Agra violence, Speaker said members want to turn every hour into "Zero Hour", which he could not allow.

Later after Question Hour, RPI member Ramdas Athavale as also RJD member Ram Kripal Yadav were victims of the Chair's ire as Chatterjee pulled up Athavale for repeated interruptions and Yadav for "deliberate defiance".

At one point, a quick job by Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi to calm the members helped as Chatterjee was about to 'name' them. "Don't be funny. Don't behave funny", he told Athavale.

Pak missions indulging in anti-India propaganda: Pranab

New Delhi: Pakistani missions in several other countries have been indulging in anti-India propaganda and facilitating terrorists, government told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

"The government is aware of Pakistan High Commissions spreading anti-India propaganda. Instances of these missions facilitating terrorists have also come to notice," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a written reply.

He said the issue of involvement of Pakistan High Commissions in anti-India activities has been taken up with the governments concerned.

Mukherjee was asked whether the government was aware of the anti-India propaganda by the Pakistan High Commissions situated in other countries and protection being provided to terrorists.

In reply to a separate question, Mukherjee said government was aware that concerns have been expressed by some countries that some areas and organisations within Pakistan provide sanctuaries for terrorists for cross border activities.

He said a joint anti-terror mechanism to identify and implement counter-terrorism initiatives and investigations has been put in place.

"It is the expectation of the government that the mechanism will b of utility in implementing the assurance of January 6, 2004 wherein Pakistan had assured India that it would not permit any territory under Pakistan's control to be used to support terrorism in any manner," Mukherjee said.

Islamophobia and Fundamentalism
The struggle of Middle Eastern people against political Islam should not be confused with the politics of Islamophobia fostered by the Bush administration in the post-September 11 days. Islamophobia and anti-Arabism, like anti-Semitism, are forms of racism, which the modern Western state appeals to in order to maintain its hegemony in times of crisis. One can oppose both political Islam (by advocating the separation of state and mosque) and Islamophobia.
The struggle against Islamophobia can succeed if it not only is a project of overcoming racism, and preventing the transformation of liberal democracy into fascism, but also supports the just struggle of Middle Eastern people - including the struggle of working people of Iran - against Islamic fundamentalist forces such as IRI regime.
Let us be clear: the IRI have used Islam and phony anti imperialist posturing in order to cover the exploitative and oppressive social relations it is feeding to masses of Iran . This must be exposed rather than guarded. A truly internationalist stand is to work for revolution in ones country and promote the same for other countries. ISO is violating from this principle in its defense of IRI and RCP is acting on the basis of this principle.
http://uk.f278.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=1403_71983600_49684_2984_24970_0_792224_76522_2133048647&Idx=9&YY=65308&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&inc=200&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b&box=Inbox

NEPAL: INDIAN ENVOY’S UTTERANCES ARE HIGHLY "OBJECTIONABLE", MAOIST LEADER
TGW
Better late than never, Comrade Prachanda alias Puspa Kamal Dahal too concludes that the recent utterances of the Kathmandu posted Indian Viceroy, Mukherjee, made on the day of 15 August were "highly objectionable".

"The language that Ambassador used on the occasion were not only highly disgusting, but were aimed at degrading the Nepali people and Nepal’s independent personality", Prachanda added.

He says further, "this abundantly makes it clear that India wants to dictates its terms and conditions on Nepal", Prachanda continues.

He made these remarks while talking to Nepal magazine copied by The Jan Dharana Weekly dated 23 August.

In the course of the interview with Nepal magazine reveals that "Nepali Congress and New Delhi have an intimate relations which is an open secret".

Since the birth of the Nepali Congress, it could well be seen that this party-read the NC-has special relations with New Delhi, Prachanda adds.

In order to prove his versions, Prachanda gives one instance wherein he says, "well, we wanted to have Girija Prasad Koirala right inside ROLPA inside the Nepali territory for signing the 12 point agreement of November, 2005, however, it was Koirala extra pressure exerted on us that we have had to shift the venue from Rolpa to New Delhi where Girija Prasad was the guest of the Indian government".

Let me put it honestly, the involvement of the Indian establishment in the signing of the said 12 point agreement in between the Maoists and the Seven Party Alliances was definitely there, Prachanda recalls and admits honestly.

Having said this, Prachanda in a rounded manner admits that such a meeting in Delhi too contributed his party to come closer to the New Delhi Durbar.

To a query of the said magazine, Prachanda says that if the CA polls were not held on time, neither Koirala’s government will remain in place nor the country will be in peace.

"In that eventuality the country might be thrown to a sort of civil war", Prachanda predicts.

Talking on the UN’s presence in Nepal, Prachanda says that well the UN has been invited to Nepal for a year. If the CA polls does not happen on time, the UN has to go back.

"We don’t need the UN presence here in that eventuality", Prachanda adds.

Asked when the Maoists people’s Revolt would begin? Prachanda’s prompt reply is that the symptoms of the said revolt have already begun surfacing.

During the course of the interview, Prachanda sees the "invisible hands" of the expansionist Indian establishment in flaring the Terai crisis.

For full text, please log on to Nepal magazine website-ed
http://telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=1804

Arms race with US role
SUJAN DUTTA

New Delhi, Aug. 28: India today formally threw open the race for the world’s single-largest military order, inviting the US for the first time to take part in such a far-reaching exercise.

Besides two American companies, four suppliers have been requested to submit proposals to sell 126 multi-role combat aircraft. The total size of the order is likely to top Rs 42,000 crore ($10.2 billion).

The Defence Acquisition Council had approved the order on June 29 but the tender issuance today has coincided with a question mark over the fate of the government over ties with the US.

The order will have a bearing on the character of the Indian armed forces for four decades. The aircraft must be combat-worthy for 40 years or 6,000 hours of flying.

Currently, the Indian Air Force’s fighter aircraft inventory is made up of mostly Russian — and some British as well as French-origin — platforms.

The request for proposals to the US-based Lockheed Martin and Boeing has been issued through the American government. The 211-page document was handed over in the defence ministry today to the military attache of the US embassy in New Delhi.

This is because the request for information was earlier sent to the US government which in turn forwarded it to Lockheed and Boeing. If the US companies win the contest, it is likely to be a government-to-government deal.

The other four potential suppliers have been invited to participate commercially. The four are RSK MiG Corporation (Russia), Saab (Sweden), Dassault Aviation (France) and Eurofighter GmbH (European Consortium).

"Everything will be transparent at every stage," defence minister A.K. Antony told The Telegraph today.

The last time the IAF gave orders for fighter aircraft was to British Aerospace Systems for 66 Advanced Jet Trainers contracted in November 2003 by the NDA government.

In the latest tender, the bidders have time till March 3, 2008, to send their responses. That will be followed by a technical evaluation of the bids, operational trials, opening of the bids, shortlisting and price negotiations and finally the contract. Air headquarters sources estimate that it would take at least five years for the first aircraft to be inducted.

The value of the aircraft will be reached through a "verifiable cost model", which will take into account factors such as transfer of technology, spares, warranty, expenditure on training and operation and licence royalty.