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Friday,
January 25, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Report on discrepancies, panel tells Tehelka Army Chief defends coffins’ procurement HC directive to Army on re-employment
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CBI case against Johnson & Johnson
USA not responsible for ‘shifting’ of
Vij, says Blackwill Padma Shri Kalyan Singh Gupta dead Saraswati Samman for Dalip Kaur Tiwana Colonies to be regularised Residents consume unhygienic water
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Report on discrepancies, panel tells Tehelka New Delhi, January 24 After counsel, including government’s Additional Solicitor-General Kirit N. Raval taking exception to the usage of certain portions by Tehelka counsel Siddarth Luthra during the cross-examination of (retd) Maj-Gen S.P. Murgai from unedited tapes which were not made available to other notices, the commission asked the news portal to report by January 28 if there were any further discrepancies in the transcripts. The counsel objected to the usage of the portions and said it seemed the news portal had more in terms of tapes and transcripts as compared to what had been provided to the commission and other notices. During his cross-examination, General Murgai admitted his presence in the meeting with Mr Jaitly and confirmed some portions of the conversations also. Meanwhile, appearing for Mr Fernandes, Fali Nariman asked the commission to examine the Defence Minister last. However, the commission said though Mr Fernandes could come last among the present list of notices, he had to come before those notices who had asked for the unedited tapes. Mr Fernandes had not asked for the copy of unedited tapes. “I was not supposed to be in the meeting with Ms Jaitly and my presence at the meeting was accidental. It was only Tehelka reporter Samuel Mathew and Kanpur businessman Surinder Sulekha who were to meet the former Samata Party president at Mr Fernandes’ residence,” General Murgai said. He also admitted taking Rs 90,000 from the news portal saying that the amount he had taken was for “counselling” on how to go about doing dealings in the defence ministry.
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Army Chief defends coffins’ procurement New Delhi, January 24 This was stated by him in a letter to Defence Minister George Fernandes, who had curiously written to the General Padmanabhan earlier this month on the issue. The letter was made public at a press conference here called by a veteran journalist to release a booklet on the “truth” behind the
aluminium caskets purchase during the Kargil conflict to transport bodies of the martyrs. “The book puts the entire procurement in the correct perspective. The chronology and facts have been
lucidly brought out for all to see that there was no malafide intent. An unnecessary controversy will hopefully now be put to rest,” General Padmanabhan said in the letter to Mr Fernandes who was attacked by the Opposition for having compromised the nation’s interests on the bodies of martyrs. General Padmanabhan’s letter of January 21 also assumes significance in the context of the Defence Minister issuing a public statement clarifying the country’s position on nuclear doctrine after the Army Chief’s press conference recently. Addressing the press conference former Army Chief Gen Shankar Roychoudhary said political controversies surrounding defence procurements and the repercussions in the media had brought the process of acquisition of technology for armed forces to a standstill.
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HC directive to Army on re-employment New Delhi, January 24 Mr Justice Mukandakam Sharma issued a writ of Mandamus and ordered the Army to take a decision as per the court directives and inform the petitioners about the decision within two months from today. With this he disposed of petitions, filed by five Lieutenant-Colonels, challenging the rider in the grant of extension of service. After the Fifth Pay Commission the government increased the retirement age of defence and para-military personnel from 56 to 58. The Army, which ran a re-employment scheme for officers ranked Lieutenant-Colonels and below, accordingly increased the age till when an officer could be re-employed to 58. The rider, which said the officer seeking re-employment should have not crossed the age of 53 years, was also increased to 55 years on a cutoff date of May 30, 2000.
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Afghan Airlines flight reaches India New Delhi, January 24 The Ariana Airlines carrying that country’s Civil Aviation Minister Abdul Rehman, President of the airlines Ruhullah Aman and 21 others touched down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 1.40 p.m., an hour behind schedule. It was the first flight that came into India after a gap of five years. The dignitaries were received by Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain, India’s Special Envoy on Afghanistan S.K. Lambah and senior civil aviation officials. As per the last agreement signed between Ariana Airlines and the Indian Airlines, both airlines were permitted to operate five flights per week on the Delhi-Kabul-Delhi and up to three flights per week on the Amritsar-Kabul-Amritsar sector, Mr Hussain told reporters. |
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CBI case against Johnson & Johnson New Delhi, January 24 Johnson and Johnson was found to be allegedly availing of exemption from price approval provided to small scale drug units by “fraudulently” floating a small scale unit N.R. Jet Enterprises and showing that such drugs and medicines were not manufactured by it, a CBI press note here said. During investigations, the agency found that Jet Enterprises was controlled by employees of Johnson and Johnson and some of the products being manufactured by it were earlier being produced by the multinational, the release said that adding these medicines were still being promoted as products of Johnson and Johnson. The CBI alleges that one such medicine, Raricap, was earlier marketed by Johnson at a retail price of Rs 16.24 per 40 tablets as fixed by the government under the provisions of the Drug Price Control Order 1995. However, the said product is being now manufactured by Jet Enterprises and is being sold at a retail cost of Rs 55. Johnson and Johnson officials were not immediately available for comments.
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USA not responsible for ‘shifting’ of Vij, says Blackwill New Delhi, January 24 “There is absolutely no truth in that story,” US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill told reporters referring to reports that Washington had forced the shifting of General Vij.
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Padma Shri Kalyan Singh Gupta dead New Delhi, January 24 Born in 1923, in a middle class family of businessman-reformists and social worker of Haryana, Kalyan Singh Gupta had his early education in the universities of Punjab, and Delhi and later successfully completed a post-graduation course at London School of Economics under Prof Harold Laski. He returned to India in 1951 and started his career in journalism in the India News Chronicle. In his early age, he came under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi. He took active part in the freedom struggle and was imprisoned. Just after Independence, he joined politics along with stalwarts like Acharya J.B. Kriplani, Jai Prakash Narain, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, Ms Sucheta Kriplani and Ms Aruna Asaf Ali. Politics however did not suit his temperament and he founded the Lok Kalyan Samiti in 1952. During 1959, he was moved by the plight of 50,000 Tibetan refugees who sought
asylum in India. He founded the Central Relief Committee (CRC India) for rendering relief and rehabilitation aid to these refugees. In appreciation of the services, he was conferred the Padma Shree by the President of India in 1969. |
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Saraswati Samman for Dalip Kaur Tiwana Dr Tiwana has to her credit 27 novels, seven collections of short
stories, the first part of her autobiography and a literary biography. Her literary career commenced with the publication of her collection of short stories “Sadhana” in 1961 followed by the publication of seven collections of short stories. She later switched to novel writing culminating in the epic saga `Katha Kaho Urvashi’, published in 1999. Dr Tiwana has also written two very sensitive autobiographical volumes, ‘Nange Parain da Safar (1980), and “Punchde Ho to Suno” (1995). The two volumes together reflect her dominant concerns with social change and aesthetic form. Her long epic novel ‘Katha Kaho Urvashi’ (Tell the Tale, Urvashi), for which she has been honoured with the Saraswati Samman, is a saga of three generations and has five parts which are both interdependent and independent. Literary critics have viewed the novel as a composite picture of reality. The Saraswati Samman has been instituted by the K.K. Birla Foundation. It is given
every year to an outstanding literary work written in any Indian language. The award carries a cash award of Rs 5 lakh. |
Colonies to be regularised Hanumangarh, January 24 Sources said the meeting decided that only those colonies which were on the map available with the municipal council, would be regularised while others would be left out. The sources said the administration had suggested that a map of all colonies built on agricultural land should be prepared. The municipal council chairperson, Mrs Sangeeta Midha, said a new map of the city had been sent to the City Organiser for approval in which all such colonies had been included. She said the approval would be given before the launch of the campaign so that a majority of the people could benefit. |
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Residents consume unhygienic water Hanumangarh, January 24 The water reserves, which are about 15 years old, are damaged from various places. Congress has grown in the reserves as some places. Three of the four filter plants established in the village are not working. The water channel of department for supply to the reserves from the Sidhmukh canal is in the open and is in a damaged condition. Water gets blocked in the channel due to grass grown in it. From the channel drinking water is supplied to five other village. There is no boundary wall outside the water works. The villages alleged they have been reportedly demanding the cleaning of the water channel and the reserves but has been done. Interestingly, the Water Works Department took Rs 25,000 from the villagers about four years ago, promising the construction a new water pond. |
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Maharaja Ranjit
Singh award for I.K. Gujral New Delhi, January 24 Cautioning against the emergence of the USA as a “new neighbour in India’s neighbourhood” post-Taliban, Mr Gujral asked the government to ponder over an appropriate response to the new scenario. |
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Shibhu Soren disqualified as RS member New Delhi, January 24 The Legislative Department in the Law Ministry issued a notification in this regard on December 27 following the advice of the Attorney-General and the request of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat in pursuance of the judgment of the apex court in the appeal by Shibhu Soren against Dayanand Sahay and others on July 19 last year.
UNI BJP MLC fires at Cong MLA’s motorcade Rae
Bareli, January 24 BJP MLC Ajit Singh and Lok Jan Shakti candidate from this Assembly constituency Arvind Singh were arrested for the firing near Bachhranwan. SP Ajai Anand said the two were later released on bail. The BJP MLC and Congress MLA have filed FIRs against each other at the Bachhranwan police station. The SP confirmed that two vehicles of Congress MLA Akhilesh Singh were damaged. The police was investigating the case. He, however, said no one received gunshot injuries.
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Police remand for Hizb ultra Nagpur, January 24 Ashraf Baig, wanted in connection with planting of two pipe bombs near the local VHP office and RSS headquarters in the eastern part of the city, was brought by the city Crime Branch from a Delhi jail on production of warrant, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Babasaheb Kangale said. Brought to the city amidst tight security by sleuths of Crime Branch, the militant, with his face covered by a ‘burqa’, was produced before a local court which remanded him in police custody.
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Salman Khan quizzed Mumbai, January 24 Talking to reporters after the inauguration of a “communal harmony week” at the Police Commissionerate here, Mr M.N. Singh said the actor was interrogated yesterday and then allowed to go. He said Salman was not questioned over any personal matter. “The police has nothing to do with it,” he added.
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Chandra Shekhar stable New Delhi, January 24 |
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