Tuesday, February 17, 2015

DTN News: Happy Chinese New Year 2015 - Gong Xi Fa Cai / Kung Hei Fat Choi ~ Year Of The Goat

DTN News: Happy Chinese New Year 2015 - Gong Xi Fa Cai / Kung Hei Fat Choi ~ Year Of The Goat
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth 
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 17, 2015:  This year’s Chinese New Year celebration on February 19, 2015 will usher in the Year of the Goat. Gong Xi Fa Cai.



May the year Goat, shower you and your family with Good Luck, Fortune, Health and full of Joy.

Wishing you a Happy Chinese New Year 2015. Gong Xi Fa Cai / Kung Hei Fat Choi ~ Year Of The Goat

DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News

Canada

Related Images - DTN News: Happy Chinese New Year 2015 - Gong Xi Fa Cai / Kung Hei Fat Choi ~ Year Of The Goat





*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth 
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Thursday, February 12, 2015

DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated February 12, 2015

DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated February 12, 2015
Source: K. V. Seth - DTN News + U.S. DoD issued No. CR-029-15 February 12, 2015
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 12, 2015U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) Contracts issued February 12, 2015 are undermentioned;

CONTRACTS
 
ARMY
 
ABM Government Services, Hopkinsville, Kentucky (W912DY-15-D-0029); ACEPEX Management Corp.,* Montclair, California (W912DY-15-D-0030); EMCOR Government Services, Arlington, Virginia (W912DY-15-D-0031); Electronic Metrology Laboratory,* Franklin, Tennessee (W912DY-15-D-0032); Facility Services Management,* Clarksville, Tennessee (W912DY-15-D-0033); J&J Maintenance Inc., Austin , Texas (W912DY-15-D-0034); Johnson Controls Building Automation Systems, Huntsville, Alabama (W912DY-15-D-0035); Quality Services International, San Antonio, Texas (W912DY-15-D-0036); SODEXO Management Gaithersburg, Maryland (W912DY-15-D-0037); and VW International, Alexandria, Virginia (W912DY-15-D-0038), were awarded a $990,000,000 firm-fixed-price shared contract amount for operations and maintenance services at government medical and related non-medical facilities including hospitals, clinics, administrative, pharmacies, veterinarian, dental, training, research, utility and energy plants, labs and storage facilities, as well as some nonmedical facilities associated with these medical facilities.. Funding and work location will be determined with each order with an estimated completion date of Feb. 11, 2020. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 22 received. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Support Center, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
 
ABM Government Services, Hopkinsville, Kentucky (W91278-15-D-0020); EMCOR Government Services Inc., Arlington, Virginia (W91278-15-D-0021); Facilities Services Management Inc., Clarksville, Tennessee (W91278-15-D-0022); J&J Worldwide Services, Austin, Texas (W91278-15-D-0023); and Jones Lang LaSalle, Washington, District of Columbia (W91278-15-D-0024), were awarded a $248,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, task order contract with options for the operation, maintenance and minor construction for Army Medical Command facilities in CONUS, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Funding and work location will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 8, 2020. Bids were solicited via the Internet with six received. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Airbus Defense and Space Inc., Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a $220,564,993 modification (P00882) to contract W58RGZ-06-C-0194 to procure forty-one 72A Lakota Helicopters to include forty-one Airborne Radio Communications 231 Radios. Fiscal 2015 other procurement funds in the amount of $220,564,993 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is July 31, 2017. Work will be performed Columbus, Mississippi. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Robertson Fuel Systems, Tempe, Arizona, was awarded a $45,352,938 firm-fixed-price foreign military sales contract (Korea, Turkey, UAE) to supply Extended Range Fuel Systems and associated support equipment for the CH-47 helicopter. Funding and work location will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 3019. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-15-D-0025).

Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin J/V was awarded a $25,368,524 modification (P00013) to foreign military sales contract W31P4Q-14-C-0127 (Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France, Lithuania, Jordan, Norway, Taiwan) for life cycle contractor support and repairs for U.S. Army, Marines, Army National Guard and FMS customers. Fiscal 2015 operations and maintenance (Army) and other procurement funds in the amount of $25,368,524 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Feb. 28, 2016. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Elbit Systems of America, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $13,185,756 modification (P00013) to foreign military sales contract W58RGZ-12-C-0164 (Indonesia) for 300 Apache Aviator Integrated Helmets. Fiscal 2010/2013/2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $13,185,756 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is April 30, 2017. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Wolverine Services LLC,* Colorado Springs, Colorado, was awarded an $11,371,140 firm-fixed-price contract for base operations services. Work will be performed at the following Alaskan locations: Fort Wainwright, Donnelly, Yukon and Black Rapids training areas with an estimated completion date of April 11, 2021. Bids were solicited via the Internet with six received. Funding will be determined with each order. Army Contracting Command, Fort Wainwright, Alaska, is the contracting activity (W912D0-15-D-0004).

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
 
Beacon Point Associates, LLC,** Pembroke Pines, Florida, has been awarded a maximum $45,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for hospital equipment/supplies, optical/laboratory equipment/supplies, components and systems accessories. This contract was a competitive acquisition, and fifty-five offers were received. This is a five-year base contract with no option year periods. Location of performance is Florida with a Feb. 11, 2020 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2015 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DE-15-D-0012).
 
AIR FORCE
 
COLSA Corp., Huntsville, Alabama, has been awarded a $23,748,310 modification (P00023) to exercise the option on previously awarded contract FA9200-10-D-0166. Contractor will provide additional diverse non-engineering, technical and acquisition management support services already being provided under the basic contract. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be complete by July 31, 2015. This contract involves foreign military sales. Air Force Test Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity.
 
OASIS System LLC, Lexington, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $23,748,310 indefinite-delivery/ indefinite quantity modification (P00025) to exercise the option on previously awarded contract FA9200-10-D-0173. Contractor will provide additional diverse non-engineering, technical and acquisition management support services already being provided under the basic contract. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be complete by July 31, 2015. This contract involves foreign military sales. Air Force Test Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity.
 
NAVY
 
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a not-to-exceed $16,492,000 undefinitized delivery order against a previously issued Basic Ordering Agreement (N00019-14-G-0020) for the procurement and installation of vehicle management computer retrofit modification kits into designated aircraft that are critical to meeting F-35 Lightning II requirements. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (45 percent); Ogden, Utah (20 percent); Cherry Point, North Carolina (20 percent); Yuma, Arizona (5 percent); Eglin Air Force Base, Florida (5 percent); and Edwards Air Force Base, California (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in August 2016. Fiscal 2013 and 2015 aircraft procurement (Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force), fiscal 2015 research, development, test and evaluation funds (Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force) and International Partner funds in the amount of $8,246,000 are being obligated on this award, $4,051,934 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
 
General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, is being awarded a one-year $13,939,606 modification to a previously awarded multiple award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-reimbursement-type contract (N66001-12-D-0060) for support of technology insertion, software and systems engineering, modeling and simulation, systems integration testing, integrated logistics in support of information technology and other Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) efforts. This is one of two contracts awarded; each awardee will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This contract includes one remaining one-year option which, if exercised, would bring the potential, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $68,088,407. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and work is expected to be completed by Feb. 11, 2016. No contract funds will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Funding will be obligated via task orders as they are issued using research, development, test and evaluation; other procurement (Navy); operations & maintenance (Navy); Navy working capital fund; and Defense working capital funds. This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-11-R-0026 published on the Federal Business Opportunities website, and the SPAWAR e-Commerce Central website. Two proposals were received and two were selected. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-12-D-0060).

Science Applications International Corp. Inc., McLean, Virginia, is being awarded a one-year $12,236,396 modification to a previously awarded multiple award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-reimbursement-type contract (N66001-12-D-0061) for support of technology insertion, software and systems engineering, modeling and simulation, systems integration testing integrated logistics in support of information technology and other Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) efforts. This is one of two contracts awarded; each awardee will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This contract includes one remaining one-year option which, if exercised, would bring the potential, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $59,770,490. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and work is expected to be completed Feb. 11, 2016. No contract funds will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Funding will be obligated via task orders as they are issued using research, development, test and evaluation; other procurement (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); Navy working capital fund; and Defense working capital funds. This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-11-R-0026 published on the Federal Business Opportunities website, and the SPAWAR e-Commerce Central website, with two proposals received and two were selected. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity.


Systems Engineering Support Co. Inc.,* San Diego, California, is being awarded a $7,566,497 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-reimbursement-type contract for design, engineering, integration, fabrication and testing support of the Data Multiplex Systems (DMS), the Fiber Optic Data Multiplex System, and the Gigabit Ethernet Data Multiplex System, collectively referred to as xDMS. This is a three-year contract which includes two one-year options, which if exercised, would bring the contact value to $12,975,000. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and work is expected to be completed Feb. 11, 2018. No contract funds will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Funding will be obligated via task orders as they are issued using ship construction (Navy), other procurement (Navy) and foreign military sales funds. This contract was competitively procured via solicitation N66001-14-R-0013 and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and SPAWAR e-Commerce Central website, with two offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-15-D-0058).

*Small business
**Service disabled veteran owned small business

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth + U.S. DoD issued No. CR-029-15 February 12, 2015 
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Monday, June 2, 2014

DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated June 2, 2014

DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated June 2, 2014
Source: K. V. Seth - DTN News + U.S. DoD issued No. CR-103-14 June 2, 2014
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 2, 2014: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) Contracts issued June 2, 2014 are undermentioned;



CONTRACTS
AIR FORCE
Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training, Moorestown, New Jersey, has been awarded a $914,699,474 fixed-price-incentive-firm, cost-reimbursable and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for engineering, manufacturing and development, production and deployment for the Space Fence program. Work will be performed at Moorestown, New Jersey, and Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of Marshall Islands. The contractor will have 52 months after contract award to reach initial operational capability. Fiscal 2013 and 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $415,000,000 are being obligated at time of award. The contract was competitively procured with two bids received. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/HBQK, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts is the contracting activity (FA8709-14-C-0001).
Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $298,000,044 firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00002) for FA8705-13-C-0005 for the Family of Advanced Beyond Line of Sight Terminals (FAB-T) Command Post Terminals (CPT) Production program. As a result of this down-select decision, low rate initial production, full rate production and interim contractor support contract options may be exercised to deliver FAB-T CPT-Only Terminals. The Phase 2 production contract options for LRIP, FRP, and ICS may be exercised after completion of Milestone C. Work will be performed in Marlborough, Massachusetts and Largo, Florida. Fiscal 2013 through 2019 aircraft and other procurement funds are programmed for this effort, with $31,274 being obligated at time of award. Two bids were solicited and two received. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/HNSK, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity.
L-3 Communications, Platform Integration Division, Waco, Texas, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $41,500,000 undefinitized contract action for the procurement and modification of four Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance aircraft, training and spares in support of the counterterrorism efforts in Yemen. Work will be performed at Waco, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2015. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition, and is 100 percent foreign military sales for Yemen. The 645 AESG/WIJK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-14-C-3020).
The Garrett Container Systems, Accident, Maryland, has been awarded a $37,174,689 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Defensor Fortis - Load Carrying System 2 Kits and Accessories. This contract includes 36 distinctive pieces of equipment that all security forces personnel utilize on a daily basis, including Rifleman Kits, Team Leader Kits, M-203 Grenadiers Kits, M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon Gunner Kits, M-240 Machine Gunner Kits, Military Working Dog Kits and Multi-Mission Kits. Work will be performed at Accident, and is expected to be completed by May 31, 2019. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and all offerors were solicited using Federal Business Opportunities; three offers were received. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,000 are being obligated at time of award. The 771st Enterprise Sourcing Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA8054-14-D-0004).
NAVY
General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, California, is being awarded a $20,745,556 modification to previously awarded cost-plus-award-fee contract (N00024-13-C-4404) for USS Boxer (LHD 4) fiscal 2014 phased maintenance availability. A phased maintenance availability includes the planning and execution of depot-level maintenance, alterations, and modifications that will update and improve the ship's military and technical capabilities. Work will be performed in San Diego, and is expected to be completed by December 2015. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Navy) and fiscal 2014 working capital (Navy) funding in the amount of $20,745,556 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds in the amount of $20,745,556 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Southwest Regional Maintenance Center, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity.
Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is being awarded a $13,228,560 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to the previously awarded contract (N00024-13-C-2128) for procurement of Common Missile Compartment material. The contractor will be purchasing various long lead time parts to support the manufacture of the Common Missile Compartment for the Ohio Replacement Program. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy (37 percent) and the United Kingdom (63 percent) under the foreign military sales program. Work will be performed in Groton, and is scheduled to be completed by December 2017. Fiscal 2011 FMS and fiscal 2014 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $13,228,560 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair, Groton, Connecticut, is the contracting activity.
S.T. Wooten Corp. Inc., Wilson, North Carolina, is being awarded $9,975,000 for firm-fixed-price task order 0003 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N40085-13-D-5245) for repairing various areas of runways 23R and 14L at Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point. The work to be performed provides for the repair of deteriorated bituminous concrete at various locations on the airfield using asphalt concrete milling/overlay and sealcoating to extend the useful life of the airfield pavements. Work will be performed in Havelock, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed by March 2016. Fiscal 2014 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) contract funds in the amount of $9,975,000 are being obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Three proposals were received for this task order. The Facilities Engineering and Design Command, Cherry Point, North Carolina, is the contracting activity.
ARMY
Northrop Grumman, Herndon, Virginia was awarded a $6,990,140 modification (P00039) to contract W31P4Q-12-C-0029 to acquire Rocket Artillery Mortar Warn Equipment for 2-44 Air Defense Artillery fielding six platoons. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $6,990,140 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Nov. 3, 2014. This contract involved foreign military sales to Afghanistan. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
UPDATE: Kalmar RT Center, Cibolo, Texas (SPE8EC-14-D-0019) has been added as an awardee to the multiple award contract #SPM8EC-12-D-0001 announced Jan. 24, 2012.

MOST RECENT CONTRACTS


*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth + U.S. DoD issued No. CR-103-14 June 2,, 2014 
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

DTN News - INDIA NEWS: The Future of India's National Congress Dynastic Party Is In Doubt

DTN News - INDIA NEWS: The Future of India's National Congress Dynastic Party Is In Doubt
*Descendants of Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi have had trouble governing a changing India
*Some see the end of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty in the Indian National Congress' huge election loss
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Shashank Bengali
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 1, 2014It is one of the most storied names in political history, a party synonymous with modern India and an inspiration for revolutionary movements led by the likes of South Africa's Nelson Mandela and Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh.

But a disastrous performance in the recent national elections has many wondering whether this is the end for the Indian National Congress party.


The party that has led India for most of its 67 years as an independent nation was thumped out of power, winning a paltry 44 of 543 parliamentary seats — its lowest tally by far — and prompting serious questions about the leadership of the Gandhis, the first family of Indian politics.

Related story: Pakistanis in disputed Kashmir worry about rise of Indian nationalist
Aoun Sahi, Shashank Bengali

The descendants of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's erudite first prime minister, and his strong-willed daughter, Indira Gandhi, have proved less adept at governing a fast-changing India. With the party's last several years in power subsumed by corruption scandals and economic calamities, the once-revered family name increasingly reeks of a stale dynasty that has even longtime supporters clamoring for the Gandhis to step aside.

An editorial in the Hindustan Times, a national newspaper run by former Congress party lawmaker Shobhana Bhartia, said the party is "seemingly in terminal decline" and needs to find a new generation of leaders.

"It has to undergo a drastic mind-set change and reevaluate many of its core principles, among them the relevance of dynastic rule," the newspaper said.

Some critics are writing the party's obituary. "They are not going to come back," said Mohan Guruswamy, a prominent economist who has advised Congress' rival, the conservative Bharatiya Janata Party.

The party faithful counter that Congress has lost before and come back strong. "Congress has always fought back, and there is no reason it can't fight back again," said Eknath Gaikwad, a Congress lawmaker from south-central Mumbai.

Congress' decline represents an epochal change for a fractious nation long held together by the party's big-tent liberalism. It comes as India appears to be turning rightward after overwhelmingly electing the BJP, whose leader, new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, rails against Congress' signature welfare and affirmative action programs aimed at historically disadvantaged lower castes and the rural poor.

Gandhi allies criticize the BJP as Hindu chauvinists, noting that none of its 282 Parliament members are from the Muslim community, which accounts for about 14% of India's 1.2 billion people. But as much as it sees pluralism as a founding principle, Congress has not embraced that ethos at the very top of its hierarchy, which is strictly a family affair.

Related story: From tea-seller to India's top job: The rise of Narendra Modi
Parth M.N.
Days after the election embarrassment, the mother-son team that leads Congress, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, met with advisors in New Delhi and reportedly offered their resignations. According to Indian news accounts in Indian media, the advisors spent more than half of the three-hour meeting imploring them not to go. The meeting ended with a unanimous statement of faith in the Gandhis' leadership.

"Not much time was left for any introspection," the Times of India reported dryly.

Longtime party officials say they have failed in campaigning, not in governing. Beginning in 2004, the party ushered in near-universal education, expanded food subsidies and introduced a landmark government transparency law. It also embarked on one of the largest welfare programs of its kind in the world, a rural employment system that guaranteed every household 100 days of wage-earning work a year. Officials say it has provided jobs to about 50 million of the poorest Indian households.

But after Congress won reelection in 2009, a parade of corruption scandals came to light. The welfare programs and economic liberalization increased incomes, which in turn pushed up prices of basic goods and contributed to inflation, one of the main complaints among working-class voters.

Scholarly Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was seen as a puppet of Sonia Gandhi and too weak to confront errant party bosses.

"The accomplishments were not well articulated, and they got lost in the hullabaloo of the election campaign," lawmaker Gaikwad said.

A 75-year-old party stalwart who joined Congress because he was inspired by Nehru, Gaikwad rejects any suggestion that the Gandhis find new blood to lead the party. Referring to the assassinations of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and Sonia Gandhi's husband, Rajiv, in 1991, he said that no family has sacrificed as much for India's democracy.

India's young voters look to Narendra Modi for change
Shashank Bengali
"It's because of the Gandhi family that I am in Congress," Gaikwad said. "They're the glue that keeps the Congress together, and Congress has laid the foundations of this country."

A younger group of party officials has begun to show hints of frustration with the family's stewardship, particularly that of the 43-year-old party vice president, Rahul. Square-jawed and Cambridge-educated, he had been billed as the party's leader of the future, but his diffident and distracted performances on the campaign trail have made him a national punch line., He eked out a narrow victory for his parliamentary seat in Amethi, a Gandhi family bastion for decades.

Some party insiders are said to want a bigger role for Rahul's sister, Priyanka, a political neophyte who nevertheless drew enthusiastic crowds in her few appearances on the campaign trail. The spitting image of her grandmother Indira, she carries political baggage: Her real-estate tycoon husband, Robert Vadra, is a fixture in Indian newspapers amid allegations of corrupt land deals.

"Everyone in India makes money the way the son-in-law makes money — it's the crony capitalist system — but the family is expected to be above all this," Guruswamy said.

Analysts see real danger for Congress because it suffered major election setbacks in its longtime strongholds in the so-called Hindi heartland of north and central India. With more Indians living in urban areas, Congress' rural base has softened. So, too, has its appeal as India's founding party, with a growing number of young voters more interested in private sector jobs and clean government.

Party stalwarts point out that Congress has been down before: in 1977, when it was drubbed at the polls after Indira Gandhi instituted emergency rule, and in 2004, when a BJP-led government swept into power for the first time. Both times, the party recovered to win the next national election.

"People have written our obituary before," Gaikwad said. "In five years the people will be disillusioned by Mr. Modi and they will come back to us."

Special correspondent Parth M.N. contributed to this report.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Shashank Bengali
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS