Monday, December 14, 1998
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Congress divided on insurance Bill NEW DELHI, Dec 13 — The Congress, which initiated the economic reforms process in the country, appears to be divided on the opening up of the insurance sector to foreign investment. No Christian ‘involved’ in Jhabua case NEW DELHI, Dec 13 — Expressing surprise over Home Minister L.K. Advani’s recent statement in Parliament that 12 Christians were accused in the Jhabua nuns rape case, the United Christian Forum of Human Rights has asserted that nobody from the minority community was involved in the heinous crime. |
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Petroleum Minister ready
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250 km to be range of naval
Prithvi Delhi
may face water shortage Dispute
over cricket leads to murder Trade
in humans Sanjay
apologises to HC on serial Protests
against attack on player |
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Cong divided on insurance Bill NEW DELHI, Dec 13 (UNI) — The Congress, which initiated the economic reforms process in the country, appears to be divided on the opening up of the insurance sector to foreign investment. Even as the differences within the ruling BJP and Sang Parivar organisations have already surfaced. The Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill, which has been circulated among the members of Parliament, has not been able to find unanimous support from among the Congress MPs who are the main opposition party in the Lower House. However, an influential section of the party is in favour of the Bill as it feels that the measure will help fund the core sector and improve consumer choices. Highly placed party sources said that a section of the Congress was opposed to the Bill, which seeks to permit foreign equity up to 26 per cent and another 14 per cent to be shared between non-resident Indians, overseas corporate bodies and foreign institutional investors. The Legislative Affairs Committee of the Congress Parliamentary Party is meeting tomorrow to iron out differences on the issue. MPs belonging to the party who have expertise on the subject have also been invited to the meeting. The sources said a section of the party, including Mr Vyalar Ravi, Mr K. Karunakaran and Mr B. Janardhana Poojari, were of the view that party should adopt swadeshi policies and oppose the Bill seeking foreign participation. According to them, this
would help the party to rope in the support of the
swadeshi backers who were aligned with the ruling party.
Leaders like Mr Arjun Singh and Mr Rajesh Pilot, both
members of the Congress Working Committee, were also
understood to be of the same view. |
No Christian ‘involved’ in Jhabua case NEW DELHI, Dec 13 (UNI) — Expressing surprise over Home Minister L.K. Advani’s recent statement in Parliament that 12 Christians were accused in the Jhabua nuns rape case, the United Christian Forum of Human Rights (UCFHR) has asserted that nobody from the minority community was involved in the heinous crime and demanded an inquiry to establish the charge. Mr John Dayal, convener of the UCFH, alleged that the Union Home Minister had patently been misled by whosoever gave him the information that of the 24 accused in the case 12 belonged to the Christian community and demanded that Mr Advani should direct the authorities to investigate their charge that no Christian was involved in the crime. He said: “There is obviously a concerted attempt to divert the attention from the deplorable crime by insinuating that members of the minority community are involved in the attack on their own nuns”. Earlier, Mr Dayal had written to Mr Advani pointing out that there was a deliberate attempt to implicate Christians in the case to divert attention. “We are intrigued and surprised by the official and political response to the Jhabua crime and other violence against our community. Instead of extensive investigation to trace not just the culprits in each individual incident, but also to expose the pattern and design in the anti-Christian violence, the official and the political effort seems to have been firstly to deny the reality of the incident and then to deny the complicity of communal elements and the apathy of the official machinery, and finally to see if any Christians can be implicated”, he said. Mr Dayal said the Archbishop of Indore, Rev. George M. Anathil, made inquiries with the priests and local people who confirmed that no Christian was involved in the crime which happened on the night of September 30 in Bhandaria Navapad in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. The Archbishop along with the Superior-General of Clarists congregation, to which the Jhabua nuns belonged, Sister Lilly Marie had also repeatedly written to the government and the local authorities warning of the conspiracy. “Whosoever gave the information to the Home Ministry that half of the accused are Christians, is deliberately trying to malign the Christian community and to mitigate the gravity of the crime,” the Archbishop said in a letter to the Home Minister. He requested the ministry to make a thorough inquiry, find out who gave such misleading information and take the necessary steps to correct it. Sister Marie, who was present in Jhabua immediately after the crime and stayed with the nuns during the police investigation, has categorically said that there is no truth in the assertion that there were Christians among the culprits. She said the SP, Meena, in his statement to the “Free Press Journal” on October 9 had said that the police had arrested only nine culprits but by October 17 15 persons were arrested. On that day all 15 arrested accused were identified by the four nuns in Jhabua jail in front of the Magistrate. However, the latest information she had from the police officers concerned was that only two more were at large. She has the names of the culprits and none of the arrested were identified as Christians at that time, Sister Maria said. The Christian community
has consistently demanded a fair inquiry to bring to book
those guilty of this heinous crime irrespective of their
religious or other affiliations, they added. |
Petroleum Minister ready to quit post TIRUCHIRAPALLI, Dec 13 (PTI) — Petroleum Minister Vazhapadi K. Ramamurthy today said he had conveyed to the Prime Minister, Mr A.B. Vajpayee, his willingness to give up his portfolio to the AIADMK "for the sake of stability" of the BJP Government. Mr Ramamurthy, President of the Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress, told reporters here that he made the offer to Mr Vajpayee when he met him two days back in Delhi. Mr Ramamurthy was answering a question on whether the current stand-off between him and AIADMK General Secretary Jayalalitha had anything to do with her reported insistence that the petroleum portfolio should be allotted to the AIADMK. Asked if he would join hands with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, he retorted, "Let the offer come". CHENNAI: Meanwhile, the AIADMK hit out at Mr Ramamurthy for alleging that the AIADMK had sought an alliance with the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) prior to its tie-up with the BJP for the 1998 general election. AIADMK Deputy General Secretary K. Kalimuthu said yesterday’s allegation was an ‘unadulterated lie’ and accused Mr Ramamurthy of speaking in such a tenor "since he had realised that he could not remain a Union Minister if he lost his present post as Petroleum Minister". On Mr Ramamurthy’s stand that he would continue to support the BJP even if the AIADMK withdrew its support, Mr Kalimuthu said Mr Ramamurthy was saying this only with a view to protecting his ministerial position. Mr Ramamurthy had forgotten that he owed his Cabinet position to Ms Jayalalitha, the AIADMK leader said and charged the TRC leader with being ‘disloyal’ to her. "It will be good if
Ramamurthy, at least for the sake of retaining his
Ministry, remains loyal to the BJP" Mr Kalimuthu
said. |
Hony degree for Sen, Kalam NEW DELHI, Dec 13 (PTI) — Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, nuclear scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and eminent musician Amjad Ali Khan were among 13 leading intellectuals who were conferred honorary doctorate by Delhi University today. While Professor Sen, who built innovative bridges between economics and philosophy, and sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan were honoured with the degree of doctor of letters (D. Litt), Dr Abdul Kalam, the pioneer of India’s missile programme was given the degree of doctor of science (D.Sc.). However, Professor Sen and Dr Abdul Kalam were given the degrees in absentia, besides renowned intellectual Prof Edward W. Said, Japanese humanist-thinker Dr Daisaku Ikeda and thinker-philosopher John Rawls. Others who received the honour from the university Chancellor and Vice-President Krishan Kant at the university’s platinum jubilee special convocation for degree of doctor of science were eminent cardiologist M.S. Valiathan and internationally acclaimed chemical engineer, Dr R. A. Mash-lekar. First generation
industrialist and philanthropist Raunaq Singh, eminent
vocalist of classical Hindu-stani music Gangubai Hangal,
economist and educationist Prof K.N. Raj, doyen of
sociology and social anthropology M.N. Srinivas, teacher
of literature and educationist and parliamentarian Prof
Sarup Singh were conferred degree of doctor of letters. |
250 km to be range of naval Prithvi NEW DELHI, Dec 13 (PTI) — The naval version of surface-to-surface missile “Prithvi”, currently under development, will have a range of 250 km, a Defence Ministry report has said. The missile will be capable of being launched from a ship, the report tabled in Parliament said. This is for the first time that government has disclosed the strike range of the naval variant of “Prithvi”. Defence Ministry sources said the missile was likely to be deployed on an “experimental basis” on board certain combat ships by the end of next month. In its action taken report on recommendations of Parliament’s standing committee on missiles, the government said work on the “longer range” version of India’s formidable intermediate range “Agni” ballistic missile “is progressing as per schedule”. The government has already approved the next phase of “Agni” for development of a longer-range system using state-of-the-art technologies developed indigenously and development work is progressing as per schedule, it said. The report, tabled in Parliament last week, said surface-to-surface version of Prithvi for the Army, with a target range of 150 km, was already under production. “Prithvi” for
the IAF, having a range of 250 km, has successfully
completed its development phase,” it said. |
Delhi may face water shortage NEW DELHI, Dec 13 — The Capital is likely to face a shortage of water even if the Nangloi treatment plant is commissioned early next year. The plant built over the past seven years with the optimum capacity of 40 million gallons of water a day (MGD) is expected to be commissioned in February next year. Even after it is commissioned, the Capital will face a shortfall of about 175 MGD of potable water. The city requires more than 800 MGD and the Delhi Jal Board supplies only 585 MGD. The augmentation of supply in the recent past has not been significant with the board stating that it has not received extra raw water from the main supplier — Haryana. Moreover, with a change of guard in the Capital, work at the plant in Nangloi seems to have come to a standstill. The test runs being conducted daily for the past fortnight have suddenly been stopped by the Haryana Irrigation Department on the ground that the jal board did not get the go-ahead from Haryana to draw raw water from the Western Yamuna Canal in Bawana, sources in the board said. Since the plant was constructed in about seven years, only test runs could flush the water lines and remove the silt deposited in them over the years, the sources said. Raw water for this plant was supposed to come from a pump house in Bawana and a 19-km long pipeline had been laid for the purpose, they said. Jal board officials alleged that the Haryana Irrigation Department pointed out the technical lacunae in conducting the tests only after the defeat of the BJP in the recent assembly elections. They said certain employees of the department who visited the plant a few days ago, dismantled some equipment and carried away the pump and the starter. The plant was drawing 20 MGD illegally from the canal and it was being flushed back into it, they reportedly informed the jal board officials. There are four water treatment plants which produce about 510 MGD. Besides, there are ranney wells, tubewells and deep-bore handpumps which produce about 70 MGD. The plants are located
mainly in West, North and East Delhi. The biggest plant
is at Haiderpur, where about 200 MGD is produced. The
plant at Wazirabad is next in terms of production with
120 MGD. |
Dispute over cricket leads to murder NEW DELHI, Dec 13 (PTI) — The Delhi police has arrested two brothers who allegedly murdered a 21-year-old man and stabbed his mother brutally over a petty dispute of playing cricket in North Delhi area. Sunny and Manny were arrested for allegedly murdering Kapil and stabbing his mother, Santosh Sharma (40) following a dispute over playing cricket at a local park in the Shashtri Nagar Colony on Saturday, the police said. While Kapil succumbed to
his injuries, his mother was rushed to the nearby Hindu
Rao Hospital where her condition is stated to be stable,
they said. |
Trade in humans NEW DELHI, Dec 13 (UNI) — India is among the hubs of illegal human trafficking in Asia, acting as a point of origin, transition and destination for thousands of women and children pushed into prostitution every year, shows a new report by a UN agency. “Trade in human misery”, a report brought out by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to coincide with its global campaign against gender-based violence last week, says that 200,000 Nepalese women and girls and 300,000 Bangladeshi children have been trafficked to brothels in India over a period of time. The country also serves as a transition point for women from Bangladesh and Nepal to West Asia and further abroad. Indian women are also smuggled overseas, mainly to West Asia. “Estimates put the figure at more than two million women in commercial sex work in India, of which 25 per cent are below 18 years. More than 90 per cent of them are of Indian origin and about 5 per cent from Bangladesh and Nepal,” the report says. Among the other “lucrative” trafficking routes in Asia, especially of children, are China, Myanmar and Thailand. The destination for them are the nightspots of Thailand, Japan and Hawii via Hong Kong. “Nearly two million children are abused and trafficked globally every year. South Asia and South-East Asia take the lead in the volume of trafficking in children for sexual exploitation,” it says. Further, the report notes
that begging is the newest trend in child trafficking
throughout the Mekong region. “Ninetyfive per cent
of children caught begging illegally in Bangkok are from
Cambodia,” it adds. |
Sanjay apologises to HC
on serial NEW DELHI, Dec 13 — Actor-director Sanjay Khan has tendered an "unqualified apology" to the Delhi High Court for not complying with certain conditions imposed on him regarding the telecast of his serial "The Great Maratha". Mr Justice Dr M.K. Sharma, in an order passed recently on a contempt petition by Reoti Saran Sharma, the dialogue writer of the serial, accepted Khan’s apology but asked him to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 3 lakh for payment to the writer, pending final disposal of the case. The court accepted the apology on an affidavit before the court which said the "omissions and mistake were bona fide" on his part. A division Bench of the High Court, on May 31 and September 5, 1995, while allowing Khan to telecast the serial by an interim order on a suit filed by Sharma, had laid down four conditions which included payment of Rs 4.6 lakh to the writer and execution of a Rs 3 lakh bank guarantee. The court, by another order on September two last, had restrained Khan from telecasting the serial with any other name or title. The court said the
telecast would be allowed only after the bank guarantee
was furnished. |
Protests against attack on player CALCUTTA, Dec 13 (PTI) — Even as the police initiated an inquiry and arrested the owner of the car used by miscreants who assaulted national basketball player Rekha Chowdhury, a demonstration was staged before the official residence of the Home (police) Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya today. The police said, about 25 activists of Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) demonstrators dispersed after senior officials intervened. The minister was not in his house when the demonstration was staged to protest "lack of security for women in Calcutta’’. Meanwhile, the police seized the Maruti van and arrested its owner, and claimed to have got a clue to the whereabouts of the miscreants. The miscreants teased,
abused and seriously assaulted Rekha who was on her
regular morning practice session in the maidan area along
city’s Red Road yesterday. She was admitted to B.R.
Singh Hospital with serious injuries. |
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| First woman PIO NEW DELHI: Ms Narendra Jivan Krishna on Thursday took over as the first woman Principal Information Officer (PIO) of the Government of India. She was previously the Director-General of the Directorate of Advertisement and Visual-Publicity (DAVP) and was appointment PIO through an order of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. A 1965 batch officer of the Indian Information Service Ms Krishna succeeds Mr S. Narendra, who has been appointed adviser in the Planning Commission. — TNS 5 cops suspended in rape
case Rs 20 lakh aid for
BSF widows |
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