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Friday,
September 14,
2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Tragedy sets IAF rethinking Hoax call creates
panic at Delhi airport Grain banks fight food scarcity Cong, Left oppose proxy vote
Order on
Jaya case reserved |
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66 herbs resurface in Nandan Kanan
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Tragedy sets IAF rethinking New Delhi, September 13 Lack of planning, foresight and resources to deal with incidents of terrorism of the magnitude of what has struck a lethal blow in the heart of the USA has had military and civil establishment officials here huddled together discussing various scenarios. Sources in the defence establishment said while a general word has been sent out for a complete alert in the three services,
particularly the Indian Air Force (IAF), meetings have been held in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to particularly review the security scenario in the country. Senior Defence officials including high ranking service officers have been discussing various measures that India could take to avoid any such incidents here. India does not see itself removed from such possible attacks specially with highly trained Islamic fundamentalists and mercenaries holed up in the disturbed state of Jammu and Kashmir. The officials in the defence and the civil (Home) establishments do not rule out the possibility of the “jehadis” in Jammu and Kashmir attempting something extraordinary if not as spectacular as in the USA to attract attention. India sees itself as particularly vulnerable as a large number of Islamic fundamentalists and mercenaries are here with the basic motive of fighting for the “independence of Kashmir” and see various steps taken by the security forces in the state as “atrocities” on those fighting for the cause. India does not see itself being spared specially now that the terrorist organisations all around the world are bound to get encouraged. Incidentally, one of the militant outfits in Kashmir with a high record of success has in the past threatened to launch suicide attacks even on the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in the heart of the Capital’s high security zone. Although no concrete steps have been worked out as yet but the IAF in particular has been told to check out on all its security systems. There is no alert at the IAF bases but instructions have been given to take necessary precautions which would be appropriate to counter the incident in the USA. There is a word that though nothing has happened but there should be no slackness in the IAF systems and precautionary steps to counter any such terrorist motives. |
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Hoax call creates
panic at Delhi airport New Delhi, September 13 The plane which was scheduled for departure at 7 a.m. was towed away to an isolated spot and searched thoroughly by experts carrying sophisticated equipment and with the help of sniffer dogs. It was only after a thorough search that the plane was given a clean chit and the call termed as hoax. Meanwhile, the Delhi police claimed that the hoax caller had been identified as one Abidi and was being questioned. |
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Attacks don’t deter visa seekers New Delhi, September 13 Undeterred by the devastation which has left thousands dead, Indians could already be seen outside the Visa wing of the US Embassy. Among those who had come to apply for visa were the relatives and friends of those affected by the collapse of the trade towers. |
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Grain banks fight food scarcity Kashipur, (Orissa), September 13 Residents of Siriguda village in Kashipur block have enough grain to eat, thanks to an innovative method developed by the villagers to fight food scarcity which stalks them every year from July to September. “People who have no grain banks are starving and are taking mango kernel and wild leaves. But we have our own village grain bank and we share the stock when there is scarcity, so we do not have to starve and die,” said Lorain Jhudian, a resident of the village. Each family in the village has contributed to the grain bank, even if it is just a few kilograms. During the time of scarcity, the villagers are allowed to take as much as they want. But they have to replace the grain with half extra as interest whenever they can. Based on these principles, the grain bank operates in the state. A local NGO, Agragamee, promoted this concept in 1980s in the state and it gained popularity. UNICEF and the Panchayati Raj Department of Orissa promoted the concept and the grain bank scheme was started in about 300 villages in the state. Under the scheme, the UNICEF through the NGO used to provide matching quantity of grain to the bank in order to maintain bumper food stock in the stores all round the year. As the grain bank scheme became successful, it enabled the tribal dominated villages of this district come out of the shackles of moneylenders. However, the moneylender-politician nexus had the final say and the scheme, which promoted self-help mechanism to meet their needs, was steadily shutdown. Today there are about 50 such grain banks operating in the state. Such is the hold of the moneylenders in the region that bonded labour is quite apparent here. Nine-month-old girl, Onadaye Mahji, waits for her mother to return from the house of a
sahukar. |
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Cong, Left oppose proxy vote New Delhi, September 13 At the meeting convened by the Department of Legislature under the Law Ministry and presided over by Union Home Minister L.K. Advani, the Congress, the CPI and the CPM and a few other parties opposed proxy voting by armed forces, arguing that it would destroy the secrecy of ballots and it would lead to demands from those people, who are not living in the constituency they belong to or from people who are working abroad. Instead of proxy voting, they wanted the government to work out a mechanism whereby the postal ballot system was expedited, Union Law, Justice and Company Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley said, briefing reporters about the meeting. The BJP, the SAD (B) and the Samata Party argued in favour of proxy voting, saying it was impossible to expedite all postal ballots from the armed forces posted in border areas on time as the entire election process was completed within 14 days. Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Finance and Planning Minister Punjab, who represented the SAD(B) said his party was in favour of the provision of an additional facility to vote by the system of proxy for members of the armed forces. The Law Minister Informed that while the meeting failed to arrive at a consensus on the question of corporate funding with tax incentives, there was virtual consensus on the early implementation of the Inderjit Gupta report on the subject. Mr Jaitley said there was virtual unanimity on the issue of amending Section 8(i) of the Representation of People’s Act as well as incorporating a new section making compulsory the declaration of assets by an elected representative. Mr Jaitley said both the BJP and the Congress strongly favoured corporate funding with tax incentives as a large number of states had already expressed inability to provide funds. However, several parties opposed the suggestion but urged the Government to implement the Inderjit Gupta report. |
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Order on Jaya case reserved New Delhi, September 13 The verdict was reserved by a five-judge Constitution Bench
comprising Mr Justice S. P. Bharucha, Mr G. B. Pattanaik, Mr Y. K. Sabharwal, Ms Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice Brijesh Kumar on the conclusion of arguments for six days spread over two weeks on the behalf of the parties concerned. Earlier, Attorney-General Soli J. Sorabjee contended that if the court were to declare as unconstitutional the appointment of
AIADMK chief J. Jayalalitha as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, she could not hold office any longer thereafter. The Attorney-General was responding to a poser which came last week from Mr Justice S. P. Bharucha heading the Constitution Bench that is hearing a batch of petitions challenging her appointment.
UNI |
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66 herbs resurface in Nandan Kanan Dehradun, September 13 The livestock grazing was banned in 1982 when this legendary land in the Zanskar range of the Himalayas of Uttaranchal was converted into a national park. Out of over 450 species of flowers that grow wild in the park at least 100 were found extinct after 1939. These included plants like rotundifolia hardy, caragana geradiana, gentian africa, capitata, minutissima acquem and sessillis roule. But a recent ecological study on mountain grasslands in the park revealed the existence of new, unlisted vascular plants. In the study, conducted by Dehra Dun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) four species were recorded for the first time in Uttaranchal. These were saussurea atkinsonii cl, duthiea bromoides hack, lycopodium selago l and salix calyculata ht. The rest were either reported extinct or suppressed by dominant plants or trampled by cattle prior to 1982. If the researchers are elated by this discovery, they are also concerned over extinction of certain herbs like aconitum heterophyllum. This herb was not found during the investigation suggesting ‘their extraction and over-exploitation for medicinal use’. According to senior forest officials, this finding is significant vis-a-vis a study undertaken by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, recently. The BNHS study has said that the ban on grazing in Bharatpur had led to the expansive growth of coarse grass, which suppressed water plants, bird feed upon. The consequence was a reduction in the number of migratory birds in
Bharatpur. |
ALL 5 LEFT MLAs QUIT UP
HOUSE 2 PAK-TRAINED ULTRAS HELD CONG REVOKES MLA’S SUSPENSION B’DESH CARDIAC PATIENT CURED |
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