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| Friday,
April 20, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Parliament adjourned again Ire against Cong hardliners mounts LS, RS laud GSLV launch 19 children get Bal Shree awards |
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Return
Kohinoor: Dhindsa North India in
Parliament Cops manhandle residents, curfew relaxed Ranga’s caricatures
on display Global money transfer service launched
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Parliament adjourned again New Delhi, April 19 Soon after question hour, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee read out a statement in the Lok Sabha on the successful accomplishment of the GSLV mission amid thumping of desks by members, but minutes later Congress and RJD members trooped to the well shouting slogans: “We want JPC”. Finding the members in an unrelenting mood, Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi adjourned the house for the day. In the Rajya Sabha, as soon as External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh responded to the concern expressed by members over the killing of BSF personnel by Bangladesh Rifles on the Indo-Bangladesh border, Congress members led, by Mr Suresh Pachauri, raised slogans demanding the setting up of a JPC into the expose. Mr Pachauri wanted to know from Chairman Krishan Kant about the fate of his notice under Rule 168 on the Tehelka issue, sparking noisy protests from ruling benches and leading to the adjournment of the House for the day. The day’s agenda in the Lok Sabha included the introduction, consideration and passage of appropriation Bills relating to general and Railway Budgets as also the Finance Bill. |
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Rail Budget to be passed today New Delhi, April 19 |
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Left MPs oppose move on Budget NEW DELHI, April 19 “If this is
done, both the government and the Congress will be held responsible to the people for such anti-people measures,” the Left party MPs said in a signed statement. Signed by MPs of the
CPM, the Forward Block and the CPI, the statement said the Budget was “anti-farmer, anti-worker and anti-people and so it should not be rushed through.”
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Ire against Cong hardliners mounts New Delhi, April 19 Congressmen are getting increasingly frustrated that their think-tank is needlessly causing incalculable harm to the party by pursuing the path of self-inflicted injury rather than finding an honourable way out of the impasse. This became evident from the heated exchanges at yesterday’s meeting of the Parliamentary Affairs Committee of the Congress party. The hawks wanting to see the back of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee held sway. The others underlining the advantages of scoring points by allowing a discussion on the Tehelka tapes, focussing on rampant corruption in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance failed to make any impact. A significant number of Congress parliamentarians are worried that the present exercise of resorting to more brawn than brain is causing great harm to the party and sending a wrong signal to the people at large. This is particularly so when assembly elections are barely three weeks away on May 10 in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and the union territory of Pondicherry. The lobby claiming to have the eyes and ears of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, with former Union Minister Arjun Singh in the vanguard and supported by Madhavrao Scindia, Kamal Nath and Ambika Soni, among others, maintain that the Tehelka expose should not be allowed to die down, especially as public memory is extremely short. Therefore, it is argued by this section that there should be no let-up in the efforts to pin down and embarrass the Vajpayee government no end on this sensitive issue. Those opposed to repeated adjournments of Parliament as it went against the very essence of democracy failed to carry the day at the Congress PAC meeting included Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Pawan Kumar Bansal. “We have already climbed down a few notches and what is the way out for us now,” is the poser of dejected Congressmen of all hues and shades. This assumes importance as the major opposition party is getting increasingly alienated among the non-Congress opposition like the Left parties and the Samajwadi Party. As an ally of the Congress in Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav’s RJD is also beginning to resent continuous adjournments of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The BJP, on the other hand, after suffering a serious setback following the Tehelka expose, has hardened its stand, fully conscious of the worst-case scenario of a snap general election. That is what the Congress and other opposition parties want to avoid at all costs. The BJP-led NDA has rejected the demand of the Congress for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the Tehelka expose. The Congress is inexorably caught in a Catch-22 situation and is nevertheless bashing on regardless for want of a face saving device. |
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LS, RS laud GSLV launch New Delhi, April 19 “GSLV is the most technologically challenging mission undertaken so far by ISRO and its successful launch is a new landmark in our space achievements, the Prime Minister said in the Lok Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha, Mr Vajpayee was not able to make a statement on the issue in the face of the Congress objections and it was left to the Chairman of the Upper House, Mr Krishan Kant, to laud the efforts of the Indian scientists in making the GSLV launch successful when he said that they had done the entire nation proud. Earlier, the Prime Minister said GSLV, once commissioned into regular service, would provide the country with the capability to launch INSAT-type communication satellites into the 36,000-km-high orbit. Mr Vajpayee said the first signals acquired from GSAT-1, released by GSLV, indicated normal performance of the satellite. In the next few days, the satellite would be manoeuvred to reach its final geo-stationary orbit, the Prime Minister informed. “The satellite carries instruments to conduct experiments in digital audio broadcast, Internet services and compressed TV transmission”, he said. |
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19 children get Bal Shree awards New Delhi, April 19 This year the recipients are Vijay G from Mysore, Prasad Nagesh Ghadi, Kalpesh Nikam, Tendulkar Shriharsh Prakash, Neil Mathew from Mumbai, S. Sabari Nath from Tuticorin, Jackson Khumukcham from Imphal, Reshma U. Raj and S. Awasthy from Trivandrum, Nirmala Sai Ganesh from Andhra Pradesh, Unnimaya Balakrishna from Kerala, Priyanka Rewatkar and K. Subhalakshmi from Aurangabad, Reena Y. Shirodkar from Goa, B Deepak from Rae Bareilly, Aparna Anand Bhat from Sagar, R. Revathy from Chennai, Suraj Singh from Kanpur and Soumya S. Sastry from Anantapur. Speaking on the occasion, the Union HRD Minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, stressed the need to create an environment where children could grow, study and become productive and creative members of society. Sources in the HRD Ministry said a three-tier system of selection originally envisaged for the scheme had been followed this year. Earlier, a two-tier system of selection was being followed. Under the three-tier system of selection, local-level camps were advertised to ensure the participation of children in large numbers. Nominees at the local-level camps were sent for zonal-level camps. The country was divided into five zones, namely north, south, west, east and central, and affiliated Bal Bhavans were the coordinators for the zonal camps. |
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Return Kohinoor: Dhindsa New Delhi, April 19 “We will submit a memorandum to this effect to the Prime Minister to take up the issue with the British Government,” Mr Dhindsa told newspersons here today. He said a function marking the bicentenary of the Sher-e-Punjab would be organised in Britain in September, where Prince Charles would take part. “The function will be held in Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where the throne and other relics are on display. On the occasion, we will urge the British Government to return the treasures of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh,” he said. Mr Dhindsa said the British Government had returned the relics of some communities in the past and “we hope they will respond to the sentiments of the Sikh community on the occasion of the bicentenary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.” He said the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, will inaugurate bicentenary celebrations of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the Capital on Saturday. Mr Dhindsa said a replica of the throne of Maharaja Ranjit Singh will be presented to the Punjab Government by the Prime Minister. Several functions have been chalked out during the year long celebrations, including the installation of a bronze statue in Parliament complex, international polo tournament, commemorative stamp, functions in Lahore and Britain. The member of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Trust and the Rajya Sabha MP, Mr Kuldip Nayar, told The Tribune, that the External Affairs Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, had taken up the matter with the British Government and was optimistic of an early solution.” The world famous Kohinoor diamond or the mountain of light, now cut into pieces, adorns the crown of the Queen of England. |
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North India in
Parliament New Delhi, April 19 He said 78.39 lakh tonnes was estimated to be procured by the State agencies in Punjab. The FCI and State agencies would procure wheat at a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 610 per quintal in accordance with the specification fixed by the government. The minister said the Punjab Government had brought to the notice of the ministry that FCI was getting its paddy milled from mills declared defaulters by the state government. He said the FCI had stopped the milling of paddy from such mills as per the instructions of the state government. Setting up of a Canadian Consulate in Chandigarh: The Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr U.V. Krishnam Raju, told the Rajya Sabha that a request has been received from the Canadian government for the expansion of the visa collection centre in Chandigarh into a full-fledged Consulate. He said the government had given permission in 1997 to open the centre as an extension of the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi. Conversion of state highways into national highways in Himachal Pradesh: Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Maj-Gen B.C. Khanduri (retd) said there was no proposal to convert state highways into national highways in Himachal Pradesh in view of the increase in the number of accidents. The minister said the increase in the number of accidents was not a criteria for the conversion of state roads into national highways. Foot and mouth disease: The Union Minister of Agriculture, Mr Nitish Kumar, told the Lok Sabha that a team of veterinary experts comprising top officers of the Centre and the Haryana government visited villages in Rewari and Gurgaon districts in Haryana. |
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Cops manhandle residents, curfew relaxed Beawar (Ajmer), April 19 The relaxation has been given in localities within the walled area, which have a predominance of majority communities, as a precautionary measure. Residents living in Hindu-dominated area like Mewari Gate were allowed to move out of their houses for three hours from 10 a.m. to purchase essential commodities and store water. This was the first time in the past three days that they were allowed to do so. The city was rocked by clashes on Monday after a procession of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists, protesting against the “inaction” of the administration on booking villagers who had stoned officials who had gone to demolish a makeshift mosque being constructed on government land, was allegedly attacked by members of another majority community. Officers camping in the town told TNS the areas with a predominance of Muslim and Hindu populations had been identified in addition to those where clashes were the fiercest between both communities. It was decided that the clashing sides should not be allowed to come face to face for the next few days in view of the prevailing tension. The Curfew in Muslim-dominated areas was relaxed after 1 p.m. Night curfew in the walled area would, however, continue till further notice. |
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Ranga’s caricatures
on display New Delhi, April 19 Equally quoteworthy acknowledgments have been scribbled on Ranga’s sketches by none other than Z. A. Bhutto, President K R Narayanan, Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh and Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha Najma Heptulla. A collection of 160
autographed profiles of politicians, leaders, film stars and eminent persons dating back to 1964 is on display at AIFACS gallery on Rafi Marg here. The exhibition inaugurated by Union Home Minister L.K.
Advani here on Wednesday evening, will be open till April 22. |
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Global money transfer service launched New Delhi, April 19 The international money transfer service is a joint venture between the Department of Posts and the Western Union Financial Services International, a US company. Describing the new service as the first joint venture between the company and any government, the minister said it would facilitate faster transfer of money. The Secretary of the department, Mr
B.N. Som said every year about $14 billion came into the country, of which $ 5 billion came through formal channels. With the launch of the service, the department would earn more revenue and that too in dollars, he said. Initially, all head post offices in state and union territory capitals will provide the service. |
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