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| Friday, February 25, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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More names to figure in CVC’s
list "Good Samaritans"
assault girl Trains to have extra coaches Paswan not in race for CM’s
post Govt orders review of national
security Mann to oppose move on water
resources |
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Counting of votes begins
today Protest against ‘Hey
Ram’ NHRC workshop for prison staff Population policy papers to be
tabled
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More names to figure in CVC’s list NEW DELHI, Feb 24 (UNI) — Central Vigilance Commissioner N. Vittal today said the number of corrupt officials named on the website would go up from 200 to 2,400 very soon. "However in some cases no action has been taken by the departments concerned after the CVC had put them on the website," Mr Vittal said. Mr Vittal said that the names would keep appearing including new ones each month and this would force the departments to act as they will not have any excuses of ranging from indifference to ignorance. Speaking after inaugurating an insurance portal, Assure India.Com, Mr Vittal said the move, according to a survey, would have a deterrent effect on corruption and induce greater transparency. "I am not branding people. Those put on the website will have to be proved guilty," Mr Vittal said. Calling them "corrupt" could be misleading, he added. The website on corruption would also check delays in procedures and how they can be rectified. Asked about the progress
made on the government asking the Central Vigilance
Commission to initiate a CBI probe into all defence
purchases since 1985-86, Mr Vittal said the commission
would communicate with "press notes
periodically"... I dont’ want to add to the
confusion." |
"Good Samaritans" assault girl NEW DELHI, Feb 24 (PTI) — Beware of good Samaritans. An eight-year-old girl, who was sent with a couple by her parents to Surat for "getting her educated", has been languishing in a government hospital in the Capital for 20 days with badly broken limbs and shattered hopes. The girl, Mithilesh, was allegedly assaulted a number of times during a period of eight months since she had been sent to Surat in June last year. She was admitted to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on February 4 in a badly bruised state. According to the hospital sources, when brought there early this month, the girl’s one hand and both legs were broken and her whole body bore scratches and burn marks. Besides, she could hardly speak because all her front teeth were also broken. Mithilesh was allegedly also branded with hot iron and bore scratch marks all over by some blunt object, her father Ran Singh claimed. The father of four daughters, Mr Singh sent Mithilesh with the couple after "they showed interest in educating her in a proper environment." A resident of Jamrudpur, Mr Singh also alleged that he was given Rs 5,000 by the couple for the treatment of the girl and was asked not to report to the police and "hush up the case." The couple maintained that Mithilesh had slipped in the bathroom and thus received injuries, Mr Singh said. Meanwhile, the girl sustained injuries on the head, shoulders and various other parts of her body, DCP (South) Sudhir Yadav said yesterday. This appeared to be a case of domestic violence, he said, adding a medico-legal case was registered by the police on February 4 and a formal complaint was lodged by Singh only on Tuesday. On the basis of the
complaint by Singh and enquiries made later a case of
"kidnapping by inducement and assault" was
registered against the couple," Mr Yadav said,
adding the case would be transferred for the perusal of
the Gujarat police. |
Trains to have extra coaches NEW DELHI, Feb 24 (PTI) — The Railways will augment extra coaches with regular trains on nominated days from April 10 to July 3 "to meet the demands of passengers". One sleeper class coach each would be augmented with the Sarya-Yamuna Express, Shaheed Express, Sadbhawna Express, Bikaner-Bandra-Ranakpur Express, Avad-Assam Express and the Lohit Express, a Northern Railway press note said here today. Among others, the Shatabdi trains between New Delhi-Bhopal, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ajmer, Dehra Dun, Amritsar and Kalka would also be augmented by one chair car coach each, while one three-tier AC sleeper coach each would be added to the Shalimar Express, Bangalore Rajdhani and the Bhubaneswar Rajdhani. The Guwahati Rajdhani
and the Jammu-Tawi Rajdhani Express trains would be
augmented by one AC two-tier and one AC three-tier coach
each, the note said, adding that the Prayag-Rajdhani
Express would run one AC three-tier coach instead of a
sleeper class coach and the Himalayan Queen Express would
run with one extra chair car. |
Paswan not in race for
CM’s post NEW DELHI, Feb 24 — With the elections for the Bihar Assembly over, a debate in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is hopeful of forming the next government there, has surfaced on who would be the next Chief Minister of the state. There are indications that the Samata Party may not accept any other NDA candidate as Chief Minister except for its member, Mr Nitish Kumar, while the BJP, which has contested on the largest number of assembly seats, is interested in projecting its own candidate for the prestigious post. In this regard the names of Mr Kailashpati Mishra and state party President, Mr Sushil Kumar Modi, are being mentioned. However, in the event of the BJP and the Samata Party failing to reach an understanding on the chief ministerial candidate, it is being mentioned that the BJP may pitch in for the Communication Minister and senior Janata Dal (United) leader, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, as the consensus choice. Amidst this debate, the JD (U) leader today told newspersons that he was not in the race for the Chief Minister’s post and expressed confidence that a formula would be evolved by NDA partners to choose the Chief Minister if the alliance secured a majority. Mr Paswan said he had only been hinting till now that he was not interested in the post as he did not want to upset the electorate in Bihar. But now that the elections were over "I can say categorically that I am not interested to become Chief Minister". Mr Paswan said his main objective was to end the "jungle raj" in Bihar under the Rashtriya Janata Dal rule. Meanwhile, the Union
Agriculture Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, said in a
statement in Patna that the next Chief Minister would be
decided after each constituent of the NDA elected the
leader of its respective legislative group. |
Govt orders review of
national security NEW DELHI, Feb 24 — The government today ordered a "thorough review" of the national security system in its entirety following 25 recommendations of the Subrahmanyam Committee mainly pointing out deficiencies in the country’s security management system leading to the Kargil incursions by Pakistan. The report on the action taken by the government on the 41-page report of the committee said the review would be carried out through an "appropriate body". The Action Taken Report said the recommendations of the committee, headed by noted defence analyst K. Subrahmanyam, dealt with mainly improvements and initiatives in the areas of intelligence, manpower management and structure and interface between the Ministry of Defence and the Services’ headquarters at the apex level. The government announced it had accepted the recommendations for acquisition of specialised equipment for maintaining greater surveillance in high-altitude areas, including purchase of high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles, communication interception equipment, satellite imagery capability of world standards, besides development of skills in "encryption and decryption". It said other recommendations on intelligence and border management and better interface between the ministry and the Services’ headquarters needed to be developed into specific actionable policies and programmes. Another glaring recommendation made by the Subrahmanyam Committee, the Action Taken Report said, was to keep the profile of the armed forces young by reducing colour service of the personnel from 17 years to a period of seven to 10 years. It said that subsequently these released personnel should be diverted to paramilitary formations and then into regular police forces. The government said this recommendation had wide implications and would require not only inter-ministerial consultations but would also involve the state governments. Besides, the main report of the Subrahmanyam Committee, Mr Fernandes also tabled a copy of the executive summary of the Kargil Review Committee. Mr Subrahmanyam had
presented the report to Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari
Vajpayee, last month. |
Mann to oppose move on water
resources NEW DELHI, Feb 24 — Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, MP, and President of the Akali Dal (Amritsar) today said his party would protest the proposed move to transfer water resources subject from the state list to concurrent list. In a statement issued here today, Mr Mann said not only would his party oppose it but also give blood if necessary. He said the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, whose party was a constituent of the ruling NDA should also specify his party’s stand on the issue. Mr Mann was reacting to a statement issued by the Union Water Resources Minister, Mr C.P. Thakur, as saying that the Centre was planning to move legislation transferring the subject. Mr Thakur said such a move would help speed up implementation of various water projects in the country. In another statement, Mr
Mann reiterated that the government should not include
Udham Singh Nagar district in proposed Uttaranchal state. |
Counting of votes begins today NEW DELHI, Feb 24 (PTI, UNI) — Counting of votes begins tomorrow in the Assembly elections in Bihar, Haryana, Manipur and Orissa, triggering hectic activity in different parties for government formation. Simultaneously, the counting of ballots will be taken up for byelections held for the Bellary and Kannauj Lok Sabha seats and 30 Assembly constituencies spread over 11 states. The NDA which is hoping
to wrest power in Bihar began the process of informal
consultations to choose its leader, while it has hinted
that Union Minister Naveen Patnaik may head the ministry
in Orissa in the event of its gaining majority. |
Protest against ‘Hey Ram’ VARANASI, Feb 24 (PTI) — The protest against Kamal Hasan’s "Hey Ram" today spread to Varanasi with several Congress workers brickbatting and damaging posters of the film at Mazda Picture Palace where it was being screened, the police said. Led by President of city
Youth Congress Daya Shankar Mishra, the workers also
staged a dharna in front of the cinema demanding
immediate stopping of the screening of the film which
they said "tarnished" the image of the Father
of the Nation Mahatama Gandhi. |
NHRC workshop for prison
staff NEW DELHI, Feb 24 — The National Human Rights Commission is holding a three-day workshop here to sensitise prison superintendents and deputy superintendents to human rights. Sources in the Commission said prison officers from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are expected to participate in the workshop scheduled to start on Monday. The Commission is of the view that many prison officers lack understanding and appreciation of human rights norms and international human rights standards. It feels that such re-orientation courses will help prison officers understand and appreciate the need for adherence to human rights norms in prison administration and discharge their duties with greater sensitivity. The course syllabus
includes talks on Supreme Court judgements on the human
rights of the prisoners, recommendations and decisions of
the NHRC on prison management, need for special treatment
to women and children in prisons and prison
administration in developing and developed countries. |
Population policy papers to be
tabled NEW DELHI, Feb 24 — Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, N.T. Shanmugam has said that the National Population Policy document will be placed before Parliament during the Budget session. Mr Shanmugam disclosed this to members of the Consultative Committee of Parliament attached to his ministry at the first meeting here on Wednesday. The Minister called upon
members to give suggestions on various issues related to
the departments of Health, Family Welfare and the Indian
Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy. |
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