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Sunday,
May 20, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
Chautala blocks Ajit’s entry into
NDA 87th Amendment Bill
deferred Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee presides over an all-party meeting on panchayati raj at Parliament House in New Delhi on Saturday.
— PTI photo |
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Cabinet expansion
not before mid-June New Delhi, May 19 Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is unlikely to undertake an expansion of his Council of Ministers before the second half of June, informed sources said tonight. BSF ‘helped’ retreating
BDR Prime
accused surrenders Modi spells out party
strategy |
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Pondy CM to continue for another
term Militants target
missionaries Trinamool MPs rule out
split Trade unions flay cut
in PF interest rate DMK flouting duty, says
Jayalalitha VHP for
panel on conversions RSS against opening of
defence sector Traces of ancient
civilisation Traders
put up shutters in Bihar
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Chautala blocks Ajit’s entry into
NDA New Delhi, May 19 Mr Chautala has consistently maintained that it is advisable to keep Mr Ajit Singh and his RLD at an arms length because of the inherent distrust between the two leaders. It is apparent because both these leaders are pursuing their own strategies in emerging as the numero uno of the Jat
community. INLD sources said Mr Chautala had had his way with the BJP leadership in ensuring that Mr Ajit Singh did not gain entry in the NDA as that would provide the latter a toe-hold to pursue his ambitions in western Uttar
Pradesh. Mr Chautala and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal were said to be disinterested at this juncture in pushing the candidatures of their sons for a berth in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Council of Ministers. It is learnt that Mr Badal wants to steer clear of taking up Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal’s case. It is widely felt that if he pursues Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal’s case vigorously, it can have an adverse impact on the prospects of the SAD in the Assembly elections in Punjab scheduled to be held in the first quarter of the next year. Therefore, Mr Badal is reportedly of the opinion that his son, who is a Rajya Sabha member, should remain in Punjab and make his presence felt in the state by campaigning in a sustained manner for the SAD. On the other hand, Mr Chautala’s staunch opposition to the RLD joining the NDA bandwagon helped the BJP firm its stand against Mr Ajit Singh who demanded a Cabinet berth, besides a substantial number of Assembly seats in western Uttar
Pradesh. BJP strategists are against giving in to the escalating demands of Mr Ajit Singh which they believe can harm their prospects in next year’s assembly elections in Uttar
Pradesh. Western Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly one fifth of the 400 Assembly seats in the country’s most populous
state. Mr Ajit Singh is also faced with a piquant situation in Baghpat and other parts of western UP where the minority Muslim population is now eyeing him with suspicion for exploring the possibilities of joining hands with the
BJP. Mr Chautala and Mr Ajit Singh are vying with each other, demanding that yet another state be carved out of Uttar
Pradesh. While Mr Chautala has described this new found outcry as “kisan
pradesh”, Mr Ajit Singh has christened it the “harith pradesh.” The
Centre, on its part, has been a mere bystander to these demands gaining momentum with Uttaranchal comprising hill regions of Uttar Pradesh having already been formed. |
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87th Amendment Bill
deferred New Delhi, may 19 The
decision was taken after an over two-hour all-party meeting sought a “comprehensive” legislation to strengthen grassroot bodies. The meeting convened by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to evolve a consensus on the Constitution Amendment Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha in December 1999 following a demand from the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Though the parties favoured the amendment, they suggested a comprehensive study of the issues to strengthen panchayati raj. The 87th amendment seeks to enable chairpersons of panchayats at village and intermediate levels to be members at the intermediate and district levels, respectively. “This (amendment) should be deferred as it affects the basic structure of the Constitution with regard to the local bodies,” Union Rural Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu quoted Mr Vajpayee as saying at the meeting. Mr Vajpayee said a more comprehensive Bill would further strengthen the local bodies, empower the weaker and marginalised sactions of the rural community and make panchayats more effective and responsive agents of governance. It was decided to hold another similar meeting to deliberate on issues like devolution of powers and funds to the local bodies, strict adherence to mandatory provisions of holding elections every five years and setting district planning committees. These issues would be discussed by the Standing Committee of Parliament on Rural and Urban Development, Mr Naidu said. The Rural Development Minister said Andhra Pradesh, which was seeking
amendment in Parliament before the holding of panchayat election in the state, had to go ahead with the panchayat elections. The elections were recently conducted in Bihar after 23 years. But they were overdue for a long period in several other states including Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Assam, Jharkhand, Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh and Pondicherry. Participating in the deliberations, leaders from the governments of Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tripura opposed the Bill as they felt indirect election as suggested in the Bill was not necessary for providing organic linkages between the three-tiers of the Panchayats. It would be an anomaly to make directly-elected chairpersons responsible to an indirectly-elected council, especially a council consisting of only ex- officio members, which would make it difficult particularly for weaker sections to get elected to offices of chairpersons at the intermediate and district levels, they added. In response to the Union Rural Ministers letter, seeking suggestions on the Bill, the government of Punjab, Haryana, Goa, Bihar, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh favoured the Bill and said the 87th amendment was needed to provide an organic linkage between the tiers of the Panchayats. Opposing the Bill, the West Bengal Government said there would be instability in such an indirect representative system. |
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Cabinet expansion not before mid-June New Delhi, May 19 Vajpayee is scheduled to undergo his right knee replacement surgery on June 7 in Mumbai and would take at least a week before he resumes his normal schedule, the sources said. Mr Vajpayee had indicated on his return from Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday that he would reshuffle his ministry before the monsoon session of Parliament.
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BSF ‘helped’ retreating
BDR New Delhi, May 19 According to sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Bangladesh intrusion was aimed to scuttle the construction of a 5.5 km long footpath from Lyngkhat to Lakhanchera near the International Border sponsored by the local village
panchayat. Dhaka had insisted on de-surfacing of the footpath near Lynghat border outpost, sources said, adding, “it was only after two patches of footpath (40 metres each) were de-surfaced that the BDR troops were withdrawn by Dhaka.” “To end the standoff between the two frontier guards, it was the BSF which went out of its way to de-surface 80 metres of the footpath constructed in its territory,” they said. The internal probe has also reaffirmed that the BDR intrusion was a well-orchestrated one and the Bangladesh Army was supporting the BDR “overture”. Just a few days before the BDR intrusion, hatched by the BDR Chief and senior Bangladeshi army officials, three Bangladeshi army units backed by 30 armoured vehicles were stationed at Paratpur across the Piyain River, sources said. Later, two more army companies were reinforced to support BDR troops. Besides, five platoons were flown in from Dhaka, Comilla and
Sylhet, they said, quoting the internal probe report. Sources pointed out that instead of openly expressing regret over the BDR intrusion, Dhaka had tried to divert the attention by claiming that while it had ratified the Indira-Mujib Accord relating to the resolution of border dispute, New Delhi was reluctant to do so. In fact, Bangladesh went overboard to project that due to India’s reluctance to settle the 27-year-old border dispute, tension arose in
Pyirdwah. However, this claim of Bangladesh was pooh-poohed by top Home Ministry officials. They pointed out that the so-called claim of Dhaka about the ratification of the Indira-Mujibur Accord was far from the truth. “It is right that Dhaka has ratified the treaty, but it would come into effect only when it is notified by Bangladesh,” they said. In this context, Act No. LXXIV of 1974 of Bangladesh Constitution is loud and clear. It says that notifications for inclusion and exclusion of territories — upon the completion of the demarcation of the land boundary between Bangladesh and India in pursuance of the Agreement such included territories shall, and such excluded territories shall not, form part of the territory of Bangladesh with effect from such date as the Government may, by notification in the official
Gazettee, specify.” Refuting Dhaka’s charges that New Delhi was reluctant to settle the issue, top Home Ministry officials pointed out that it was Bangladesh which was sitting over the past two-and-a-half months on the draft terms of reference sent by India for the meeting of the two Joint Working Groups formed to resolve the
issue. Moreover, they pointed out that New Delhi had been pressing for the speedy demarcation of the remaining 6.5 km
Indo-Bangla border and had formed three technical experts’ groups for it. But, Dhaka could provide only one technical team of experts. |
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Prime accused surrenders Hyderabad, May 19 On the run ever since the racket was busted, Anita finally gave herself up and surrendered before the ninth Metropolitan Magistrate, Mr N. Anand Rao, who remanded her in judicial custody till May 30. Anita, whose orphanage ‘Precious Moments’ on the city outskirts was raided last month and 61 children rescued, was carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on her head. Earlier, the police on May 17 arrested Anita’s associate
Sarita, who was later remanded in judicial custody. The involvement of Anita, the wife of Additional Director General of Police Swaranjit Sen, in what has now turned out to be a well-oiled child-trafficking racket, has sent shock waves in the state. The failure of the police to nab Anita even after the filing of a criminal case against her for carrying out illegal child adoptions had triggered the Opposition allegations of a cover-up. The documents seized from ‘Precious Moments’, located at Miyapur on the city outskirts, showed that the centre was engaged in illegal adoptions, misusing the permission it had obtained from the Juvenile Justice Board to house destitutes and orphans and co-ordinate their rehabilitation. Earlier, Anita’s plea for an anticipatory bail was rejected by the Metropolitan Sessions Judge here on May 9. She had then approached the high court, which adjourned the hearing to June 4. The dramatic surrender of the alleged kingpin in the child adoption racket came nearly three weeks after the authorities sealed the premises of ‘Precious Moments’, which was raided by officials of the Women and Child Welfare Department on April 26. The CID, probing the racket, had issued summons to her husband Swaranjit Sen, who has since been stripped of his post and is awaiting posting, to appear before it. After ignoring summons on three occasions, Swaranjit Sen had appeared before CID here yesterday, but his statement could not be recorded as the “investigating officer concerned was pre-occupied”, police sources said. Sen was charged under Sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 175 (omission to produce documents) and 188 (disobedience to orders promulgated by public servant), of the
IPC.
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Modi spells out party
strategy Dehra Dun, May 19 Talking to mediapersons here this afternoon, Mr Narendra Modi, General Secretary of the BJP, denied the reports published in the media that the two-day meeting organised at Jhinjholi in Haryana was a RSS show. He said the meeting was held by the organising secretaries of the party and Mr Madan Dass Devi of the RSS was a special invitee at the meeting. In reply to a question, Mr Modi said there was no such move at the party level to induct RSS “pracharaks” into the BJP. The RSS was a separate body and it had nothing to do with the activities of the BJP, he added. The two-day meeting of the working committee of the BJP to be held at Mussoorie from tomorrow would seriously look into the growing ideological confusion within the BJP and the Sangh Parivaar, he said. Emphasis would be on to spread the BJP’s own ideology among the masses, he added. Mr Modi admitted that the results of the Assembly elections in the five states were shocking for the BJP and it required introspection before the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Punjab. He stressed the need of restructuring the electoral strategy of the party. Although he categorically refused to comment on the electoral alliances of the BJP with other parties in the just concluded Assembly elections in the five states but he indicated that the party was likely to review the performance of its alliance partners of the Centre. Asked about the policy of the party on Kashmir Mr Modi replied, the BJP was in favour of further extending the ceasefire in Kashmir, which would end on May 31. However, he further said the BJP felt that the Central Government should adopt a separate policy on ‘Amarnath Yatra’ to protect the pilgrims from terrorist attacks. Mr Modi said, the Central Government should ensure the safe return of the Pandits to Kashmir. Regarding the election results of Assam and Tamil Nadu, Mr Modi said in Assam terrorist groups enjoyed the political backing of the Congress which affected the results adversely. But the results in Tamil Nadu had forced the party organisation to rethink over its attitude on social values. |
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Pondy CM to continue for another term Pondicherry, May 19 AICC General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is the observer for Pondicherry, told newspersons that the decision to elect the new leader was left by the CLP to party president Sonia Gandhi, who suggested that Mr Shanmugham continue for another term. Mr Azad said the CLP today met under the chairmanship of PCC President V. Narayansami in the presence of AICC observer Motilal Vora and himself. “Before the meeting, I consulted Ms Gandhi on the leadership issue,” he added. At the CLP meeting, Tourism Minister N. Rengaswami proposed the name of Mr Shanmugham, which was seconded by Health Minister E. Valsaraj, Mr Kamalakannan, and Mr A.V. Sreedharan, all elected members. Earlier, Mr Azad and Mr Vora, met newly elected MLAs twice in a bid to arrive at a consensus on the choice of the CLP leader as there was no unanimity on the issue with Mr Narayanasamy and former Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam, among others, in the race. Mr Shanmugham, who has been Chief Minister just for a year after the fall of the DMK-TMC coalition Government, did not contest the May 10 Assembly poll. Mr Shanmugham told reporters he has accepted Ms Sonia Gandhi’s instructions to be the CLP leader as she wanted him to continue the good governance he had provided in the past one year. The three-member AIADMK has extended outside support to the Congress-TMC combine, which is three short of an absolute majority in the 30-member Assembly.
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Militants target missionaries Guwahati, May 19 Shock waves rippled through the region this week when the militants killed three missionaries following an altercation regarding extortion near Imphal. Father Jonas Kerketta, Vice-Provincial of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Dimapur, under which all institutions are run in Manipur and Nagaland, told reporters today that each extortion notice ranged between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 5 lakh. The missionaries are presently running 31 high schools, five higher secondary schools, one technical school and one college in Manipur and each of these had been served extortion notices. At least 1,000 Christian missionary-run schools across the North East remained closed yesterday in protest against the killings. Father Kerkatta said the militants entered the seminary premises, tried to separate Naga students from the Noon Naga and demanded money from the three priests at gunpoint before shooting them at close range. Father Kerkatta accused the Revolutionary People Front (RPF) of Manipur of serving the extortion notices which bore the letterheads of the organisation. He regretted that due to political turmoil, the Manipur Government was not in a position to tackle the prevailing unrest. Mr Allan Brooks, President, All-India Catholic Union of Assam, said they were completely confused why the educational institutes which had been rendering so much of philanthropic service for the past one and a half century to the North East had been targetted. Father George Plathottam, Director, Don Bosco Communications, said missionaries were facing a similar plight in Tripura and in the Bodo-Dominated areas in Assam. He informed that for the past three months all educational institutions of Manipur had remained closed. “They are now on extended summer vacation although the schools should have been closed for 15 days only.” Both Father Jonas and Father George asserted that under no circumstance would they be paying the militants. “How, why and whom should we pay? There are 70 recognised militant groups.” More than 35 per cent of the total 33 million population in the North East states are Christians, predominantly belonging to Nagaland and Mizoram.
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Trinamool MPs rule out split Kolkata, May 19 “We rule out the possibility of any split in the Trinamool Congress and there is absolutely no possibility of any of our MPs leaving the party”, said party MP Krishna Bose, at whose residence the first meeting of the TC MPs was held late last night, after the party’s rout in the West Bengal Assembly elections. The meeting set at rest speculations about a split in the party “due to the poll debacle of the Trinamool Congress”, Ms Bose said today. Seven of the nine TC MPs attended the meeting chaired by TC chief Mamata Banerjee. Ms Bose said Mr Panja, despite being informed, did not attend the meeting. Another party MP, Mr Nitish Sengupta, could not be present because of his wife’s illness. The meeting condemned Mr Panja for deliberate defiance of party directives and for issuing statements against TC’s interests before and after the elections. His attitude and activities were “highly unfortunate and reprehensible”, she said. Mr Panja, the MPs said, should not have issued statements which ran counter to the party’s ideals and principles “and that too at a time when the Trinamool Congress is going through a critical phase”. “While all of us are rallying behind Mr Mamata Banerjee and the party at this hour of crisis, Mr Ajit Panja has miserably failed to stand by us”, she said. “We strongly regret his acts”. Ms Bose said all Trinamool MPs pledged “that we are behind the party and Ms Mamata Banerjee and there is no deviation from our stand”. “We never thought otherwise”, she said, dismissing reports that some MPs were contemplating leaving the party. Quoting Ms Mamata Banerjee, she said she admitted organisational weakness as one of the factors contributing to the party’s rout. “Moreover, massive rigging, electoral malpractices by the CPM and failure of the Election Commission to properly oversee poll procedures have contributed to Trinamool’s defeat”, she alleged.
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Trade unions flay cut
in PF interest rate New Delhi, May 19 “The government’s decision would result in great hardship to nearly three crore workers”, trade unions said in joint statement here. Cutting across party affiliations, the All-India Trade Union Congress, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sabha, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, Hind Mazdoor Sangh and Indian National Trade Union Congress, issued a statement indicating their united stand against the government’s decision. “This is the second successive year when the NDA government had reduced the interest on PF deposits
from 12 per cent to 11 per cent last year and now to 9.5 per cent. By this, the government is the main beneficiary as it is availing over Rs 75,000 crore PF accumulations at a very cheap rate of interest”, they said. The Union Labour Ministry has decided to go a step further from the decision taken by the Cenral Board of Trustees of Employees Provident Fund by deciding to cut the interest rate by 75 basis points to 9.5 per cent. The trade unions pointed out that the Central Board of Trustees, at a meeting held on March 23, had unanimously suggested 10.25 per cent as interest rate for the year 2001-02 as the resources available with EPF could sustain the same. The EPF is the largest provident fund in the country, servicing over 2.45 crore depositors. The decision of the Union Labour Ministry to execute a further cut in the EPF interest rates may have to do with the current slowdown in the economy and an interest rate reduction would give the government access to a larger corpus of fund. The Finance Ministry had recommended that the interest rates on EPF be cut to 9.5 per cent immediately after the Union Budget and the advice was premised upon the logic that as 80 per cent of the income on the EPF emanates from special deposit schemes involving an interest rate of 9.5 per cent, therefore, there was no rationale for sustaining an
artificially higher rate of interest. The trade unions said that the decision of the Labour Ministry was contrary to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee which had suggested a statutory process of consultation between the government and the Central Board of Trustees for any change in the EPF interest rates. Meanwhile, the 37th Indian Labour Conference (ILC) today ended with a call for adopting necessary measures to neutralise the possible adverse effects of globalisation. In a resolution, the ILC called for giving more attention to the upgradation of skills of the workforce by all stake holders. The Union Labour Minister, Mr Satyanarayan Jatiya, said the resolution adopted on social security of workers sought the introduction of an insurance scheme in consultation with all stake holders for providing minimum financial assistance to retrenched workers. |
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DMK flouting duty, says Jayalalitha Chennai, May 19 “No one has the power to question the Governor’s decision (to invite her to form the government). The DMK representatives had been elected by people and it is their duty to attend the Assembly session”, she said, replying to questions from newspersons after the first full-fledged Cabinet meeting at the secretariat this evening. Asked about the DMK charge that the political vendatta of the new government had started with the arrest of former Deputy Speaker, Parithi Ilamvazhuthi a couple of days ago, she said the case against the DMK member was not initiated by her government. “The police has now done its duty and there is no connection whatsoever between that incident and my government”, she said. Ms Jayalalitha said she would meet the Prime Minister after the brief session of the new Assembly concluded by the end of this month. She said the Cabinet took the decision to dissolve all primary cooperative societies numbering several thousands and hold elections to them in September as their term had already ended. Asked whether her government would continue with the “good” schemes launched by the DMK government, she said she would review the schemes after the Governor’s Address was over. She would review them one by one and decide whether to “continue or abandon” any of them. Replying to another question, she said she would put down “terrorism and extremism” with an “iron hand”. Ruling out any further expansion of her Cabinet, the Chief Minister said: “We are 25 strong now and there is no need for expansion of the Cabinet at all”. She felt that there was “mix” of experienced hands and new faces. There were some senior members of the party with a lot of experience in public life, she said. “There are persons like C. Ponnaiyan who formed part of the M.G Ramachandran ministry and we also have persons like D. Jayakumar, who was a minister in my earlier regime”, she said.
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VHP for panel on conversions Coimbatore, May 19 Christian priests and nuns were targeting the most poor, illiterate, innocent tribal and dalit population of thousands in villages for conversion, VHP Central Secretary Mohan Joshi alleged. Stating that allurement, illegal methods, superstition and the offer of employment were the main weapons used on poor tribesmen for conversion, Mr Joshi alleged the missionaries were concentrating their activities in hundreds of drought-affected districts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharastra.
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RSS against opening of defence sector Nagpur, May 19 Delivering a lecture here yesterday, RSS spokesman M.G. Vaidya expressed apprehensions that opening up of the defence sector might prove detrimental to the nation’s interest in the long run. He, however, said there would be no harm in letting indigenous manufacturers into defence production. He assailed the Opposition’s anti-privatisation stance and advised trade unions to put the interest of the nation above “selfish ends”. Clarifying that the RSS was against excessive
centralisation, Mr Vaidya said: “Workers were equally responsible for the deteriorating health of public sector undertakings”.
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Traces of ancient
civilisation New Delhi, May 19 Underwater images of several geometric objects in the Gulf, which are normally man made, have been captured by a team of scientists from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT). They were surveying the area, said the Union Minister for Ocean Development and Science and Technology, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, here today. “The acoustic images point to the existence of ruins resembling the discoveries at Harappa, under the sea bed,” he said. Dr Joshi said an area spanning 9 km west of Hazira in Gujarat was found to be lined with well-laid house basement like features, partially covered by sand ripples at a depth of 30 to 40 metres. At many places channel like features were also seen indicating the possible existence of proper drainage system in the area, he said. A great bath measuring 41m x 25m with steps visible through the images, indicated the similarity of this new discovery to the great bath found at Mohanjadaro and Harappa, he said. In the first such findings from the Gulf of Cambay, the ocean scientists sighted an acropolis measuring 97m x 25m under the sea bed. Among the findings was also a 44m x 19m structure with semblance to a temple, Dr Joshi said. Stating the findings indicates the existence of an ancient civilisation in the area, he said it could have been submerged in the wake of a powerful earthquake in the Kutch region. Further survey of the area would be undertaken by the NIOT with the assistance of the Department of Archaeology. |
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Traders
put up shutters in Bihar Patna, May 19 Secretary-General of the chamber S.P. Gupta said businessmen were forced to adopt the agitational path due to the “police inaction”. The traders would be forced to migrate and shift their business to other states if the government failed to protect their life and property, he said. Mr Gupta said the killing of five businessmen during the past three days in the state had exposed the deteriorating law and order situation.
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