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N A T I O N

Saturday, July 25, 1998

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US decision on Indian scientists decried in RS
NEW DELHI, July 24 — The USA's decision to send back Indian scientists came up for criticism in the Rajya Sabha.
Istri Akali Dal up in arms
NEW DELHI, July 24 — The president of the Shiromani Istri Akali Dal, Mrs Surjit Kaur Barnala, today led hundreds of women here in favour of 33 per cent reservation for women.

Laloo's date to surrender extended
PATNA, July 24 — The Patna High Court today dismissed Rashtriya Janata Dal President Laloo Prasad Yadav’s prayer seeking quashing of the surrender order issued to him.

The damaged portion of Mahatma Gandhi's samadhi at Rajghat in New Delhi. — PTI

Gandhi’s samadhi damaged
NEW DELHI, July 24 — A 35-year-old unemployed youth of Bihar caused minor damages to the samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi here last night.

TMC may join BJP-led govt
NEW DELHI, July 24 — The Trinamool Congress is likely to join the BJP-led government at the Centre after the Budget session.
Government’s assurance on new states
NEW DELHI, July 24 — The government told the Rajya Sabha today that the decks were being cleared for the creation of Vananchal, Uttaranchal and Chhattisgarh.
IGCAE: seized metal not uranium
CHENNAI, July 21 — An analysis of the samples of metal seized by the CBI here from three persons has proved that the metal was not uranium, but illmenite.
2 Congress MLAs suspended
GANDHINAGAR, July 24 — Opposition members staged a walkout in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly this morning while two Congress members were suspended for the rest of the session for unruly behaviour.
Film industry closure on Aug 11
MUMBAI, July 24 — The Hindi film industry, has announced a day’s closure on August 11 to protest the government’s ‘inaction’ against piracy.
Mayawati’s bail extended
NEW DELHI, July 24 — The Supreme Court today extended BSP leader Mayawati’s anticipatory bail, which was to lapse on July 27, till August 7.
Bank staff court arrest
NEW DELHI, July 24 — Hundreds of rural bank employees today courted arrest in the Capital demanding the formation of a national rural bank of India.
CAs to protest on July 29
NEW DELHI, July 24 — Chartered accountants in the country will start an agitation from July 29 to protest against the imposition of service tax on the profession.
DOEACC conducts exams in 78 cities
NEW DELHI, July 24 — The Department of Electronics Accredited Computer Courses has conducted examinations in 78 cities.

US decision on Indian scientists decried in RS
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 24 — The USA's decision to send back seven Indian scientists and listing another 75 for same action came up for criticism in the Rajya Sabha.
The matter was raised through the special mention by Mr John Fernandes of the Congress, who said it was unfortunate that Washington had taken this decision following India’s nuclear tests. His views were shared by members from other parties also.
Mr Fernandes suggested that United Nations Headquarters should be shifted from New York and located in Africa or Asia where India could be one of the choices. Mr Kapil Sibal, also of the Congress, expressed concern over the issue.
Associating himself with the issue, Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra of the BJP said India was being blackmailed by the USA and the US President on the other hand visited China even after Beijing conducted the nuclear tests.
Mr K.R. Malkani of the BJP said such decisions would also hurt the US as Indian scientists based in that country were making significant contribution to the development of science and technology there. Mr Narendra Mohan (BJP) described Washington’s action as unfortunate and said that India should take up the matter with the US administration.
Vice-Chairman Adikh Shirodkar said that the entire House was one in condemning the US decision.

Istri Akali Dal up in arms
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHIi, July 24 — The president of the Shiromani Istri Akali Dal and wife of Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Surjit Singh Barnala, Mrs Surjit Kaur Barnala, today led hundreds of Sikh women here in favour of 33 per cent reservation for women.
While demanding the government to table the women’s reservation Bill in Parliament, Mrs Barnala, stated that they did not support the demand for a sub-quota for minority women.
"History stands testimony to the fact that Indian women have been in the vanguard of every political, social and economic movement and yet they have been marginalised and sidelined, be it in appointment to key posts or reserving 33 per cent seats in Parliament and state Assemblies for them," she said.
More than 100 Sikh women and men demonstrated on Parliament Street, raising slogans in favour of the women’s reservation Bill.
The Akali Dal MLA from Amritsar district, Mr Ranjeet Singh Chhajjalwadi, said his party did not support the demand for reservation for minority community women and wanted 33 per cent quota for all women.
At another demonstration on Parliament Street, other women’s groups accused the government of hypocrisy in not tabling the Bill, despite promises to do so.
Janwadi Mahila Samiti general secretary, Brinda Karat said leaders demanding reservation for other backward castes (OBC) women should first ensure reservation for OBC men.
An OBC quota would automatically ensure reservation for OBC women also, as was in the case of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes women, she said.
Ms Karat said: "Those opposing the Bill are not waging a war against women, their war is against democracy and equality, and the government is a party to this."
Members of the Bandhua Mukti Morcha, National Commission for Women, Women’s Political Watch and Shakti Shalini participated in the demonstration.

Gandhi’s samadhi damaged
From Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI, July 24 — A 35-year-old unemployed youth of Bihar, Raj Ballab, caused minor damages to the samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat here late last night.
It was for the second time that Raj Ballab, hailing from Chapra district, damaged the samadhi of the Mahatma, the police said.
In December last year, he damaged the glass canopy over the “Jyoti” on the samadhi and was sentenced for over six months in prison. He was released on June 26.
He reportedly entered the Rajghat yesterday, armed with a hammer and a sickle, after scaling the wall from the Kisan Ghat side around 2 a.m.
He has been booked under the Ancient Monument Act, Archaeological Original Site and Preventive Act and under Sections 427 and 506, IPC.

Laloo's date to surrender extended
PATNA, July 24 (PTI) — The Patna High Court today dismissed Rashtriya Janata Dal President Laloo Prasad Yadav’s prayer seeking quashing of the surrender order issued to him by the designated court in a conspiracy angle case of the fodder scam.
However, the date of his surrender or appearance was extended by one week by Justice Niraj Kumar Sinha, who heard the petition.
Justice Sinha in his order quoted arguments advanced by the CBI counsel Additional Solicitor General A.S. Vaidyanathan and Laloo Prasad Yadav’s counsel Kapil Sibal and said, "The petition has no merit and therefore it is dismissed."
The judge asked Mr Yadav to surrender before the designated court and apply for a regular bail which may be disposed of by it "on merit in accordance with law".
The designated CBI court had on July 2 issued notice asking Mr Yadav to surrender by July 27 after taking cognizance of a CBI charge sheet in the case.
Mr Vaidyanathan in his submission yesterday said the designated court had asked the accused (Laloo Prasad Yadav) to surrender as he was released from judicial custody "after furnishing bond" and he had not been granted regular bail in the case.
Justice Sinha said since the Petitioner had moved high court on July 9 against the July two order of the special judge and the petition was heard only yesterday despite requests by his counsels for an early hearing, it would be legitimate to extend the deadline.
He said the bond furnished by the former chief minister to secure his release from judicial custody would also remain "valid" for a week after the deadline.

TMC may join BJP-led govt
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 24 — The Trinamool Congress is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government at the Centre after the Budget session, according to well placed sources.
The Trinamool Congress leader, Ms Mamata Banerjee, has already conveyed her party’s decision to this effect to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, sources said adding that she had decided in principle to join the government but details had to be yet worked out.
While the Trinamool Congress has decided to join the government, the Telugu Desam Party is also seriously toying with the idea of joining the government, sources said.
It is not yet certain whether Ms Banerjee would herself join the Union Cabinet or one of her MPs would do so in the next Cabinet expansion after the Budget session. In case, Ms Banerjee decided not to join the Cabinet, then a former Minister, Mr A.K. Panja, would be likely choice of Ms Banerjee in the Cabinet, sources pointed out. The Cabinet expansion is likely to take place in the first week of August before the next parliamentary session, sources said.
A senior BJP leader said that the Trinamool leader has “matured” after the dismal performance of her party in the recently held Panchayat and Municipal elections in West Bengal. It may be recalled here that Ms Banerjee had announced at the time of formation of the government that the Trinamool Congress would review its decision to join the government after the Panchayat election in the state.
Return of some of the senior leaders of the Trinamool Congress back to the Congress has also influenced Ms Banerjee in deciding in favour of joining the government.
Similarly, an intense debate is said to be going on within the Telugu Desam party also on the issue of joining the government. A section of the TDP is said to be of the view that the party’s interests would be better served if it joined the government, sources said.

Government’s assurance on new states
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 24 — The government told the Rajya Sabha today that the decks were being cleared speedily for the creation of new states of Vananchal, Uttaranchal and Chhattisgarh.
Speaking during the special mention on clarifications on creation of new states, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana said a group of Ministers would go into the whole gamut of the issue including the boundary question and send a proposal to the President. Once he gives sanction, the process will be expedited.
When some Congress members said the BJP-led government had gone back on the assurance of formation of the three states and grant of statehood to Delhi within 90 days of coming to power, Mr Khurana said the Congress had been in power for so many years but did nothing about it.
Protesting the Minister’s reply, some Congress members staged a walk-out though some returned.
Initiating a discussion on the subject, Mr Jitendra Prasada (Cong) said the formation of Uttarakhand had been awaiting approval since long and the United Front Government had already given an assurance on the same.
UNI: Mr Khurana said the members should not confuse the issue of Delhi with that of the carving out of new states. He said Delhi had already the status of a state. The mere formality of granting statehood to it has to be undergone.

IGCAE: seized metal not uranium
CHENNAI, July 21 (PTI) — A scientific analysis of the samples of eight kg of metal seized by the CBI here from three persons had proved that the metal was not uranium, but illmenite.
The Director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Energy (IGCAE), Kalpakkam, Placid Rodriguez, who conducted the tests, said in a statement today that the quantitative analysis carried out by emission spectroscopy showed the major constituents to be iron and titanium and the x-ray deffraction examination revealed the samples to be illmenite.
He said the samples were also analysed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer for uranium and thorium. The concentration of both these elements was found to be below the detectable limit (20 ppm).
Neutron activation analysis carried out on specimens irradiated in the Kamini reactor also confirmed the absence of uranium and thorium in the samples. The only element detected through neutron activation analysis was manganese in trace quantity, he added.
The CBI had arrested three persons and seized eight kg of metal, claimed to be uranium and sent the samples to the IGCAE for analysis. All the three had been remanded to police custody yesterday.

2 Congress MLAs suspended
GANDHINAGAR, July 24 (PTI) — Opposition members staged a walkout in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly this morning while two Congress members, Naresh Raval and Khumansinh Chauhan, were suspended from the House for the rest of the session for creating unruly scenes.
As the proceedings in the House began, the Congress, the Janata Dal and the Rashtriya Janata Dal members staged a walkout in protest against the recent incidents of ragging in the School of Architecture in Ahmedabad.
However, as Mr Raval and Mr Chauhan continued to create noisy scenes, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Mehta made a proposal to the Speaker Dhirubhai Shah to suspend the two.
The commotion started in the House after an independent member Usmangani Devdiwala moved a calling attention notice on the ragging incident during which some students were allegedly beaten up and three of them kidnapped.
Leader of the Opposition Amarsinh Chaudhary, Deputy Leader Manubhai Parmar and Naresh Raval alleged that Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal activists were involved in the incident.

Film industry closure on Aug 11
MUMBAI, July 24 (PTI) — The Hindi film industry, reeling under the onslaught of cable and video piracy, has announced a day’s closure on August 11 to protest the government’s ‘inaction’ against the pirates.
In a joint action, all sectors of the film trade --production, distribution, exhibition and cine employees --would suspend activities for the day and take out a huge rally from Juhu to Mantralaya, where a memorandum would be presented to Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, urging him to take immediate action to curb the rampant cable and video piracy.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of representatives of all sectors of the film industry here yesterday.
The cable piracy menace, which has assumed alarming proportions, was causing irreparable damage to the industry, the representatives said.
The central government had amended the Copyright Act in 1984 and 1994, making piracy a cognizable and non-bailable offence. However, during this period not a single pirate had been convicted due to the "apathetic" attitude of the law enforcing agencies.

Mayawati’s bail extended
NEW DELHI, July 24 (PTI) — The Supreme Court today extended BSP leader Mayawati’s anticipatory bail, which was to lapse on July 27, till August 7 while hearing her special leave petition (SLP) challenging a Delhi High Court order.
A three-judge bench comprising Mr Chief Justice M.M. Punchhi, Mr Justice K.T. Thomas, and Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu, while extending the bail period, posted the SLP seeking quashing of an FIR registered against her by the CBI in a corruption case for hearing on August 7.
Ms Mayawati has challenged the July 17 Delhi High Court order vacating her anticipatory bail and rejecting the plea for quashing of the FIR registered against her by the CBI.
The high court in its judgement had said, “we do not find any ground having been made out to quash the FIR. The petition accordingly is dismissed with costs quantified at Rs 10,000. The interim order stands vacated.”
During the pendency of the petition, the court in its interim order had said Ms Mayawati in the event of her arrest in this case, would be released on a personal bond of Rs 5,000 and surety in the like amount.
However, the high court had said that the anticipatory bail granted to Ms Mayawati would remain in force till July 27 to facilitate her to obtain appropriate orders from a competent court.

Bank staff court arrest
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 24 — Hundreds of rural bank employees today courted arrest in the Capital demanding the formation of a national rural bank of India and implementation of the bipartite settlement.
The police later released the employees of the All India Gramin Bank Workers Organisation and the Bank Officers Organisation.
The Standing Committee for Finance in Parliament had recommended formation of the national rural bank of India, the bank employees said, adding that the government has put the scheme in cold storage.
While the pay-scales of Central and state government employees were revised periodically, the Gramin Bank Workers Organisation said the government has not implemented the bipartite settlement reached with them.
Employees from Haryana, Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and other states participated in the demonstration on Parliament Street.

CAs to protest on July 29
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 24 — Chartered accountants in the country will start an agitation from July 29 to protest against the imposition of service tax on the profession.
The agitation will start off in the Capital with the Northern India Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India taking out a rally to Parliament.
According to the Council Chairman, Mr Dushyant Tyagi, the chartered accountants, cost accountants and company secretaries all over the country are extremely agitated over the Budget provision as they feel that it is “discriminatory.”
Mr Tyagi explained that the whole rationale of imposing service tax was to expand the list of assessees. However, the CAs, who get virtually their entire payment through cheques, continue to be one of the highest tax payers in the country. Moreover, the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, had withdrawn the imposition of service tax on several other sectors, including transporters, which would have generated a revenue of thousands of crore. The commercial transport sector alone could have generated around Rs 5000 crore but then the new government surprisingly withdrew the tax for them.
Mr Vinod Jain, another member of the institute, said that even though the service tax of 5 per cent would be paid by the customers, it would make services to them expensive by that amount.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants had taken up the issue with the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, at the inaugural ceremony of the golden jubilee celebrations of the institute on July 1. The Prime Minister in his speech on the occasion said that “I am not the finance minister. I did not impose it. I cannot withdraw it. But I can recommend your case very strongly to the finance minister. Kindly show me the way in which service tax will remain intact but the chartered accountants will be out of it.”
Mr Tyagi said the Prime Minister had virtually given an indirect assurance to the professionals but the finance minister had done nothing about it.

DOEACC conducts exams in 78 cities
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 24 — The Department of Electronics Accredited Computer Courses (DOEACC), run by the Central Government, has conducted examinations in 78 cities all over the country.
Recently 65,000 candidates appeared in the examination.
The DOEACC, which is responsible for generating quality manpower in the field of information technology, is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 14.5 per cent. By the year 2002, Indian software exports are expected to reach $ 10 billion.

In brief

Heat wave relief
BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa Government has decided to include heat wave in the list of natural calamities in the state relief code, according to Revenue Minister Jagannath Patnaik. “We had never encountered such a calamity in the past,” Mr Patnaik said adding that heat wave taking a toll of 2,042 lives last summer was a new experience for us. “The government would consult the Meteorology Department and add a new chapter to the relief code on heat wave soon.” — PTI
Stir affects court work
MUZAFFARNAGAR: Work at various courts in western Uttar Pradesh came to a standstill on Friday as lawyers staged a boycott to press for their demand of a separate Bench of the Allahabad High Court in the region. According to official sources, the state High Court Bench Action Committee has also given a call to Bar associations of the western UP for staging a boycott and demonstration in Delhi. —PTI
Meena elected Assembly Speaker
JAIPUR: Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Samarath Lal Meena on Friday elected unopposed as the Speaker of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, pro tem Speaker P.C. Vishnoi announced in the State Assembly. His name was proposed by Deputy-Chief Minister H.S. Bhabhra and seconded by Mahavir Prasad Jain. Leader of Opposition Paras Ram Maderna and Shiv Nath Singh also seconded his candidature. — PTI
20 crew members rescued
MUMBAI: Twenty crew members of a sinking ship Ukrainian Steel Carrier MV ‘Osool’ in the sea were rescued. According to sources, MT Pratibha Godavari which was sailing just 10 nautical miles away rushed to the rescue of the crew of the sinking ship following a distress signal received by Captain Sharad Jadhav on Tuesday morning. He immediately steered his ship in the direction of Osool and despite the inclement weather and choppy sea tracked the carrier. — UNI