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| Sunday, January 16, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Modernisation need of hour: Malik Many JD leaders join Samata 12 Cong ex-MLAs to be renominated Spurious milk given to jawans? Dimple fails to produce IT returns |
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Dawra to be ED Director CPM to amend party constitution A lyrical essay on fortitude Minorities panel reconstituted
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Modernisation need of hour: Malik NEW DELHI, Jan 15 — The Army has to make a continuous effort at modernising itself to meet challenges of future wars and maintain high level of operational capability, the Chief of Army Staff, Gen V.P. Malik, said here today. "We need to prepare ourselves adequately in weapons, equipment and human resources so that in future we can perform even better and suffer avoidable casualties. This is the area on which we and our government need to focus, General Malik said on occasion of the Army Day. Schemes were under way for procuring better tanks, artillery guns and other equipment to improve conventional deterrence of the Army, he said. In his address to officers and jawans, the General said the thrust was on improving the Army’s capabilities, specially to meet any future challenges and a number of new weapons, surveillance, night observation and firing devices, had been procured. Some of these had already been issued to units while others were expected to be delivered shortly, he said while adding that the induction of mine-protected vehicles had increased availability of bullet-proof jackets, reducing personal risks while combating insurgency. The war against insurgency needed a synergetic approach, proper equipping of the armed forces and national support. "The Indian Army is prepared, and where necessary, it will prepare itself more, (like Kargil). We are resolved to win this war as well," the General said. Earlier the Army chief inspected an impressive parade and gave away gallantry and service medals. Star attractions of the
parade included two Kargil heroes — Mahavir Chakra
awardees Maj Sonam Wangchuk of the Ladakh contingent of
para commandos and state-of-the-art air defence
equipment. |
Gallantry awards at Army Day parade NEW DELHI, Jan 15 (UNI) — Following is the list of awardees at the Army-Day parade: Yudh Seva Medal: Brig Ravinder Singh, Col Prem Parkash Sharma. Bar to Sena Medal: Capt Hemonto Panging, SM. Sena Medal: Col Madinani Ramesh Babu, Major Krishna Deo Singh, Major Rohit Datta (posthumous), Capt Shashi Kant Sharma (posthumous), Capt Randeep Singh, Capt Vikram Shekhawat, Capt Pratap Hardas, Lt Atul Katarya (posthumous), Nb Sub Lal Singh (posthumous), Nk Samunder Singh (posthumous), Nk Balwant Singh (posthumous), L/Nk Bhopal Singh (posthumous), Gdr Dalip Singh, Sep Karamjit Singh (posthumous), Sep Surjeet Singh (posthumous), Sigmn Vinod Kumar (posthumous). Bar to Vishisht Seva Medal: Brig Gonesh Chandra Hazarika, VSM. Vishisht Sewa Medal: Maj Gen Shantonu Choudhury, Maj Gen Satya Swaroop Sharma, Brig Ramesh Dixist, Brig Narendra Deo Prasad, Brig Narender Singh Chaudhry, Brig Jawahar Lal Sharma, Brig Sundara Rajan Radhakrishnan (retd), Col Padam Budhwar, Col Bharat Bhushan Sharma, Col Indrajeet Narayan, Col Arjun Singh, Lt Col Sasidharan Padingaryil. Unit citation: 141 Fd Regt, 197 Fd Regt, 108 Med Regt, 663 R and O SAon, 666 R and O Son, 106 Engr Regt, 5 Para, 6 Para, 18 Grenadiers, 2 Raj Rif, 11 Raj Rif, 17 Jat, 8 Sikh, 16 Dogra, 18 Garh Rif, 14 Assam, 1 Bihar, 13 JAK Rif, Ladakh Scouts, 2 Naga, 12 JAK Li, 5/1 Gr, 1/11 Gr, 22 RR (Punjab), 874 AT Bn. Bravest of the
Braves: 13 JAK Rif, 1/11 Gr. |
Many JD leaders join Samata PATNA, Jan 15 (UNI) — Ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal received a jolt when many senior leaders, including former state unit president Uday Narain Choudhary, joined Samata Party today in the presence of union minister and senior leader Nitish Kumar. Other leaders who joined the Samata Party included MLAs Baljit Ram, Dharm Pal Singh, leaders Raghunath Gupta, Parmanand Singh, Satish Patel and Udham Singh Yadav. Former MP and Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhedi Paswan, BJP leader Ramprit Paswan, former state Accountant General B.N. Prasad also joined the SP. Mr Chhedi Paswan contested the last Lok Sabha election on an NCP ticket after he was denied the RJD nomination from the Sasaram Lok Sabha seat. Party leader Digvijay
Singh was also present on the occasion. |
12 Cong ex-MLAs to be
renominated NEW DELHI, Jan 15 — The Haryana Pradesh Election Committee (PEC), which started the exercise of shortlisting candidates for the forthcoming assembly poll, is understood to have agreed to recommend renomination of 12 members of the dissolved House. The PEC, which met for the first time yesterday, today took up the task of selecting candidates from over 1400 candidates who had applied for party tickets. Party sources said as per preliminary understanding the PEC would recommend to the Congress Central Election Committee to renominate all those who were members of the assembly, dissolved ahead of five-year term. In addition, there were
reports that the PEC has narrowed down the choice in at
least five constituencies, including nomination of the
Haryana Pradesh chief, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda from
Kiloi, Mr Anand Singh Dangi from Meham, Mr Kripa Ram
Punia, Mr Dharambir from Bhiwani and Mr Harpal Singh from
Tuhana, the sources said. |
Spurious milk given to jawans? JAIPUR, Jan 15 — When our jawans were fighting in Kargil, they faced a double onslaught. While Pakistanis were firing from the front, slow poison was being administered from the back by our own countrymen. A news story on synthetic milk trade in Rajasthan Patrika today said that the business was thriving in the state and unscrupulous elements had not even spared the Army. When the consignments of milk were sent by a Jaipur dairy for the jawans on the Kargil front, an analysis by Army laboratories revealed they were spurious and not fit for consumption. The Army therefore returned the consignments which were thrown in drains. Despite this, no steps were taken by the dairy to ensure that at least the Army was spared of this. Milk is supplied to Army canteens in Jaisalmer cantonment by the government-owned dairy managed by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). In November and December last, it was discovered that the milk was spurious and the dairy had to take back 2,430 litres. The news story also
claimed that in October a private dairy of Delhi too had
rejected a consignment of 12,700 litres of milk supplied
by the Jaipur dairy on a single day. |
Dimple fails to produce IT returns MUMBAI, Jan 15 (PTI) — Film actress Dimple Kapadia’s failure to produce relevant records led to the adjournment of six cases filed by the Income Tax Department against Cinestar Rajesh Khanna for his alleged concealment of investment made in his Aashirwad mini-theatre from 1975 to 1984. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate C.L. Thool adjourned the cases till January 29 as Kapadia, Khanna’s wife and prosecution witness, said she was not able to locate the copies of her IT returns for the relevant period. Deposing before the court, she disclosed that she had borrowed loans from film producer Shomu Mukherjee, her husband and others to invest in the Aashirwad mini-theatre in which she was a partner. These loans were reflected in her IT returns but today she was unable to produce the copies, the court was informed. The Income Tax Department had contended that Khanna had concealed investments in his theatre. Kapadia was cited as a witness to show that she did not make any investment therein. However, the actress informed the court that she took certain loans for investment in the theatre. Rajesh Khanna was, however, exempted from appearing in the court after his counsel I.P. Bagadia and S.P. Mungate moved the court on medical ground. The IT department raided Khanna’s residence in suburban Bandra in 1983 and framed charges against Khanna under the Wealth Tax Act as the theatre was treated as a property. The Court had on October
20 last year issued non-bailable warrants against Khanna
as he repeatedly failed to appear in court. |
Dawra to be ED Director NEW DELHI, Jan 15 — A selection committee headed by the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), Mr N. Vittal, has selected 1967 batch Punjab cadre IAS officer, Mr Shyam Sunder Dawra, as the next Director of the Union Finance Ministry’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), the organisation which oversees the foreign exchange laws. A formal announcement about Mr Dawra’s appointment is likely to be made on Monday. At present posted as Managing Director of the Food Corporation of India, Mr Dawra is the seniormost officer of his batch from Punjab and figures among the top 10 of the 1967 IAS list on all-India basis. A former Director,
Public Relations of Punjab, Mr Dawra has also served as
Secretary, Public Relations in Chandigarh and as a
Principal Secretary to the State government was also
posted as the Resident Commissioner in New Delhi. Before
joining the FCI, he served as Additional Secretary in the
Revenue Department of the Finance Ministry. |
CPM to amend party
constitution CALCUTTA, Jan 15 — The CPM Politburo has endorsed in principle the recommendations made by Mr Jyoti Basu and Mr Harkishen Singh Surjeet for amending the party constitution to make it more realistic and rationale in the changed political situation. Accordingly, the party can now join in any coalition government at the Centre or states, which is secular, socialistic and democratic, provided the interest of the party is not compromised in any way. Today’s meeting was
inconclusive. The party will meet again tomorrow.
However, a prominent member of the politburo told The
Tribune, that there was an agreement reached between the
hardliners and softliners on the question of party’s
participation in the government. Hardliners still stuck
to the decision of opposing the participation, while Mr
Basu and Mr Surjeet explained why it was necessary. |
A lyrical essay on
fortitude NEW DELHI, Jan 15 — Films from Iran have never ceased to impress the audiences at Indian film festivals. Two years ago, Majid Majidi’s "The Children of Heaven" got a prize at the Asia competition; and this year the "cinema of the world" section has Majidi’s latest "The Colour of Paradise", a film of sheer lyrical quality. It is interesting to see how the Iranian film-makers have withstood and handled the myriad political and social taboos. For instance, no Iranian film is allowed to depict physical touch between opposite sexes, leave aside the question of such hot topics as extra marital or adulterous relations that swing back into almost every other film made elsewhere. Pitted against such constraints Iranian directors have taken a recourse to issues and problems that, on the face of it, look very simple, but are of human importance nonetheless. "The Colour of Paradise" is a study of a blind boy’s acquisition of extra-sensory abilities to unfathom the sounds emanating from nature. Feeling rejected by his father, and constantly in a state of tension being unable to stay where his heart is — in the lap of his own home — the boy, Mohammad, sees in nature something more and different from others. As he is partially cast away from the human mould due to his inability to see what others see, he develops a nearly superior ability to meditate on the heavenly manifestation around him in the form of smells and sounds. The narrative has a poignant opening when Mohammad is the only one left in the school for blind children as it closes for holidays. His father tells the school authorities to keep the boy as he can no longer look after him. But the boy finds his grandmother’s love and the company of his sisters at home, together with the multiple voices of the singing birds surrounding their mountainous habitation, something never to be parted from. The solution, his father finds for him is to put him with a blind carpenter as an apprentice. This see-saw tussle between the boy and his father ends in a highly dramatic finale when both of them nearly get drowned and the father awakens to the need to own Mohammad. The film is a gripping humane document, a powerful lyrical essay on fortitude. "Seducing Maaria" by a Montreal-based young director, Hunt Hoe, drew crowds for the wrong reasons. Anyhow, the film has a quick-lime narrative spun round young Maaria who arrives in Toronto and finds a restaurant-owner, Mr Chatterji, who lost his wife recently, bewitched by her charms. His son Ashish is a gay and when Maaria marries him the tangle starts. Chatterji sleeps with Maaria and the son spends nights outside with a musician, Michel, and things veer round the oft-uttered statement" a freedom without choice". There is an uneasy-truce
between the characters till Rakesh, whom Maaria calls
brother, arrives from India. In fact, Rakesh and Marria
both have lived in slums unknown to each other’s
real identity. They were lovers in India and now both
want to go back to India. To have his way, Rakesh even
takes out a knife to attack Chatterji which makes Maaria
remarks". You know why I left India? It is this
order of the knife that made me leave India". The
bottom line is "There is no alternative to
home". If there is confusion and chaos in India, it
is not likely to persist in the next generation. The film
speaks of a new order of relationship, a new vision of
man living in peace with the other man. |
IFFI 31: German films
disappoint NEW DELHI, Jan 15 — German films screened at the IFFI 31 were a disappointment for film buffs. On the first day it was "Paths in the Night"and yesterday it was "Am I Beautiful?", which dealt with vignettes of love or the lack of it. The film having a fairly good concept suffered because of poor execution by the Director, Doris Dorrie. ‘‘All I wanted was an affair, clear and simple, like a sip of water’’, says one of the men in the movie. But the affairs, most of them illicit, fail to keep the viewer even remotely interested. There is no connecting link whatsoever and the film seems to end as Director Dorrie runs out either of breath or of raw stock. Amol Palekar’s ‘‘Kairee’’ depicts the story of youth and elders, of a young girl who is forced to live with her favourite aunt after her mother’s untimely death. As in the Iranian film, there is contrast between the urban and village life. He comes across more strongly when dealing with ‘Tani mausi’ (the aunt) and her servile existence with her two-timing husband who thinks nothing of having an affair with his servant. The duplicity of Indian life comes across strongly but then again at the end he gets too sentimental and sacrifices the impact of film by being to exploit. Palekar’s film was screened early, but the biting cold did not deter film buffs from making it on time. Roberto Rosellini’s
film ‘‘India’’ also deserves a
mention. The film was made in 1966. However, after
watching the movie one does get a reasonably good idea
about why it was banned. |
Minorities panel reconstituted NEW DELHI, Jan 15 — The appointment of a Sikh as its Vice-Chairman and the first-time inclusion of a Kashmiri Pandit and a Muslim belonging to the Shia community as members are the highlights of the reconstituted Minorities Commission, whose much delayed announcement came yesterday. A retired Judge of the Delhi High Court, Justice Mohammad Shamim, will head the commission as its Chairman and Mr Tarlochan Singh, former Press Secretary to the President of India, will be its Vice-Chairman. Mr Tarlochan Singh, who was a close associate of former President, Giani Zail Singh, had earlier served as Chairman of the Delhi Tourism Development Corporation and has been an active member of the National Democratic Alliance’s public relations think-tank. His appointment is attributed to the recommendation made by the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal. The Kashmiri Pandit to be nominated is a retired IAS officer, Mr Vijay Kumar Dar. Mr Shamim Qazim, who is the Managing Director of Bombay Mercantile Bank, is the first-ever Shia Muslim to be nominated to the body. The Buddhist slot has
gone to Mr T.K. Lochan Tolku, a Buddhist from Himachal
Pradesh. Lieut-Gen (Retd) A.M. Sethna fills the Parsi
slot whereas Mr John Joseph, a Christian from Kerala, is
the other nominee. |
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