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Friday,
May 31, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Presidential poll likely in
July 65 pc polling in
Goa UAE deports wanted criminal to India
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Shoot-at-sight order for Bihar byelections Patna, May 30 Security has been stepped up and shoot-at-sight orders issued to ensure smooth and peaceful polling in tomorrow’s byelections to the Danapur and Chattapur (Reserved) Assembly constituencies in the state. Japan firm reconstructs Kutch
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Ashwani Kumar takes oath as RS
member Mayawati seeks more Central funds
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Presidential poll likely in
July New Delhi, May 30 The poll is likely to be held in the second week of July, Commission sources said here today. President K.R. Narayanan is retiring on July 24 and generally the election to the high office is held around a fortnight before an incumbent demits the office. The delay in the notification of the poll date is due to the fact that the Election Commission does not want any Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha or Assembly seats to remain vacant before the election for the highest post. The Goa assembly election today and byelections for three vacant Lok Sabha and 12 Assembly seats tomorrow will pave the way for the constitution of the Electoral College for the Presidential election. The Electoral College consisting of 4,848 members — 776 MPs and 4,072 MLAs — will have a total vote value of 10,98,919. The value of each vote cast by an MP would be 708. The total value of the votes cast by MPs would be 5,49,408 while that of the MLAs would be 5,49,511. The nomination for a presidential candidate has to be proposed and seconded by 50 MPs each. The security deposit is Rs 15,000. Among the states, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly will have the highest vote value of 88,400 followed by Bihar with 56,376, Maharashtra 50,400, West Bengal 44,394 and Andhra Pradesh with 43,512. The least vote value is that of the Sikkim Assembly at 224 followed by Mizoram with 320, Pondicherry and Arunachal Pradesh with 480 and Nagaland 540. In case of a contest, the margin of votes between the candidates would be narrow. Also, independents and legislators from small parties with a total vote value of 33,042 and 29,510, respectively, could play an important role, the sources said. With consensus still eluding political parties on the choice of the candidate, a contest seems to be on the cards. While the ruling BJP is keeping its cards close to its chest on the issue and maintaining that the issue of a second term for Mr Narayanan has not been brought up for consideration in the party, the Congress has already upped the ante by favouring a second term for him. Left parties, the Lok Janshakti Party and former Prime Minister V.P. Singh have also come out in support of Mr Narayanan. |
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Notification likely on June 10 New Delhi, May 30 Mr Vajpayee is to leave for Kazakhstan on June 2 to attend the Conference on Confidence Building Measures in Asia and return here on June 4. He would start the second round of consultations to thrash out unanimity on the issue of next President from June 5, well-placed sources here said today. The notification for the presidential election is likely to be issued on June 10. By then, the Prime Minister would have completed the second and final round of consultations with the political parties and leaders who were left uncovered in the first round. In the first round the Prime Minister had consulted Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Communist leaders A B Bardhan and Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Telugu Desam Party supremo Chandrababu Naidu. Besides, Mr Vajpayee also had telephonic discussions with Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray on the subject. Sources said the Prime Minister was likely to have a second meeting with Ms Sonia Gandhi on the issue on or around June 7. The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), including the BJP, is tossing up the name of Maharashtra Governor P C Alexander as presidential candidate. BJP leader Sunil Shastri has gone on record saying that the NDA has discussed a few names for President but the name of Mr Narayanan does not figure in that. In case there is no consensus within the NDA on the name of Mr Alexander, the name of the missile man, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam would be considered, sources disclosed. |
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65 pc polling in Goa Panaji, May 30 The police said the polling, which drew to a close at 5 p.m. was by and large peaceful, but there were complaints from a group affiliated to a political party about being attacked by a rival party at Mapusa. However, the police had not yet registered the case. Taligao (North Goa) was estimated to have registered the largest turnout of estimated 75 per cent electorate while in Sanguem (South Goa), the turnout was 40 per cent, Joint State Electoral Officer R. P. Pal said. In Vasco, one person was arrested for entering a polling booth with a bogus identity card. Out of the 40 Assembly segments, 19 are in North Goa and 21 in South Goa. The EVMs, used in the North Goa Assembly constituencies will be kept at Menezes Braganza Hall in Panaji and the multi-purpose school, Borda Margao, used in South Goa. Today’s polling will seal the fate of heavyweights like Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, former Union Minister of State for Shipping Sripad Naik and former Chief Ministers Pratapsingh Rane, Shashikala Kakodkar, Ravi Naik, Luizinho Faleiro, Fransisco Sardinha, Churchill Alemao and Dr Wilfred D’Souza.
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UAE deports wanted criminal to
India New Delhi, May 30 Rai, who was brought here by a CBI team and handed over to the Bangalore police to face trial, was wanted for at least 18 crimes committed in Bangalore, Mysore and other places in Karnataka. The crimes for which he was wanted include murder, attempt to murder, use of illegal arms, ammunition and explosives. Rai was arrested by the Dubai authorities recently following which the CBI sought his deportation. The CBI had got an Interpol Red Corner notice issued against Rai in June, 2000, following a request from the Karnataka police, and in pursuance of which he was arrested by the UAE authorities. Rai’s is the second case of deportation of fugitives wanted by India by the UAE authorities in recent months. Aftab Ansari, who was wanted in connection with the attack on American Center in Kolkata in January was earlier deported by the UAE. The CBI also reciprocated by arresting Roshna Ansari, a UAE national wanted for killing her stepdaughter in Dubai, and deporting her to the port city. The CBI has handed over the list of suspected criminals who have taken refuge in Dubai. |
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Shoot-at-sight order for Bihar byelections Patna, May 30 The contest in the Danapur Assembly constituency has become a prestige battle between the ruling coalition and the Opposition. DGP R.R. Prasad said police force would be deployed at all 273 polling booths of the Danapur Assembly constituency which had been declared sensitive. Electoral fortune of 16 candidates would be tested in the Danapur constituency while eight candidates would try their luck in the Chattapur constituency.
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Japan firm reconstructs Kutch
buildings New Delhi, May 30 Mr Shimada Yoshikazu, Consultant Architect to JICA who has been in Gujarat since last June, told newspersons here that the schools were handed over to the Sarpanch of Bhadreshwar, Dhamadka, Mathak and Sumarasar villages last Friday. He said a 50-bed Community Health Centre (CHC) in Anjar along with medical equipment and a maternal healthcare building at Community Health Centre, Mundar, were handed over to the state government authorities on April 9 in the presence of the Gujarat Health Minister. The CHC has a hospital building and staff quarters, besides buildings for other facilities. The Tokyo-based architect said that they selected local contractors for the construction of schools but set the norms for the size of the rooms, width of the verandah, compound wall and furniture. The contractors were also asked to submit a third party institution certificate spelling out that it met the seismic zone five standards. The contractors got the certificate from Mumbai-based Veer Mata Jijabai Technological Institute. Mr Yoshikazu said they had made single-storey structures for the hospitals but they were structurally designed for two-storeys. He said that the basic frame of the design was the RCC frame structure. He observed that if Indian standards were adhered to both at the design and construction stage, the buildings would be safe. Asked if there were any impediments in the execution of the project, Mr Yoshikazu said although the Gujarat Government was cooperative, they experienced hurdles due to lack of coordination. “Sometimes, non-government organisations said they had the sanction to go ahead with re-construction programmes in a village. Perhaps, this was because hundreds of schools were damaged and the government had too much to handle,” he said. Mr Yohsikazu’s team comprising two structural engineers, a mechanical engineer, four achitects and a local consultant got approval for the design of the schools and primary health centres from Prof A.S. Arya, adviser on earthquake-proof structures in the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority. Replying to a question, Mr Yoshikazu said elementary schools in Japan were very big. “Here, you have only 10 rooms. The site is too small to build even the required number of classrooms. Therefore, you cannot apply these designs in Indian primary schools.” Mr Yoshikazu has also worked post quake in Kathmandu (Nepal) between 1991 and 1996. He worked on the expansion of Teshing hospital and the Kanti Children’s Hospital. He also played a key role in the construction of the Indo Japan Friendship Block at Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital in 1998-99. The Community Health Centre buildings have been designed by a consortium of leading Japanese engineering companies, Yamashita Sekkei Inc. and Nihon Sekkei Inc. in association with Dalal Consultants & Engineers Ltd. of India. The construction of the buildings was entrusted to Mistui Kensets India Ltd. |
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Aruna’s trauma now a
film On June 1 (tomorrow) Aruna Shanbaug turns 54. Twentynine of these years have been spent in a twilight zone, brain-dead for sight, speech and movement. Yet hopelessly alive to pain, hunger and terror from that evening in November, 1973, when she was attacked with a dog chain and brutally raped in Mumbai hospital where she was a staff nurse. Today Aruna’s tragic distinction is that she is probably the only case of her kind in the world. Aruna set out from her small village on Karnataka’s Konkan coastline to be a nurse in what was then Bombay. She was raped on the eve of her wedding to a doctor and abandoned by her family thereafter. The rapist, a sweeper in the hospital, walked a free man after a mere seven years in prison for “robbery and attempt to murder”. The traumatic story of Aruna was brought to light by senior writer Pinki Virani in a path-breaking work of skillful reconstruction entitled Aruna’s Story: The True Account of a Rape and its Aftermath which was published by Penguin Books India. This vivid and gut-wrenching book is now to be made into a full-length feature film, directed by award winner Chitra Palekar. She intends making the film in Hindi and Marathi, with English sub-titles. This will be Chitra Palekar’s first full-length feature film directorial venture. Her talented body of work includes producing, acting and scriptwriting acclaimed television serials and films like ‘Kachchi Dhoop’, ‘Kairee’, ‘Kal Ka Aadmi’, ‘Akriet’, ‘Daayra’ and ‘Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaaye’. She was also scriptwriter and associate director on ‘Bangarwadi’, official entrant to the prestigious Karlovy Vary Film Festival and winner of several awards, including two national Awards, five State Awards, two Filmfare Awards and two Screen awards. The film script of ‘Aruna’s Story’ will be jointly written by Chitra Palekar and Pinki Virani. Virani, 43, followed up Aruna’s Story with another multi-edition, multi-translation bestseller Once Was Bombay. Pinki Virani’s third non-fiction book, Bitter Chocolate: Child Sexual Abuse in India was an instant bestseller and has compelled actual discussion in Indian society on Child Sexual Abuse in “good” homes. Says penguin’s senior editor and rights-manager V.K. Karthika, “There have been several financial offers to buy the rights of this book but the author has always maintained that she would much rather wait for the right sensitivity. We are thus pleased to announce that the film rights of ‘Aruna’s Story’ have been sold to Chitra Palekar.” |
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Ashwani Kumar takes oath as RS
member New Delhi, May 30 Mr Ashwani Kumar, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court and the Chairman of the AICC Vichar Vibhag, took the oath in Punjabi in the Chamber of the Vice-President in Parliament House. He was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab and will be the sole member of the Congress from the state in the Elder’s House. His tenure will be till April, 2004. He fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Mr B.S. Bhunder, an Shiromani Akali Dal MP. The oath ceremony was attended, among others, by a former Finance Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr S.S. Dhindsa. |
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Mayawati seeks more Central funds New Delhi, May 30 Emerging from the meeting, Ms Mayawati told reporters that it was just a “courtesy call”. However, she said she had sought the Prime Minister’s intervention for the release of Central funds for various schemes in UP. Stating that the state’s economy was in a “bad shape”, the Chief Minister said she had asked the Centre to take the necessary steps to set it right. Ms Mayawati, heading the BSP-BJP coalition government in UP, said she told Mr Vajpayee that the alliance was functioning “very well.” She, however, denied that she had discussed the expansion of her Council of Ministers with him. |
YC WORKER’S DEATH SPARKS VIOLENCE PWG ULTRAS KILL SIX IN BIHAR FIVE INMATES FLEE FROM RAJASTHAN JAIL 4 JAWANS KILLED, 10 HURT IN TRIPURA 2 DOCS CONVICTED OF DERELICTION OF DUTY |
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On June 1 (tomorrow) Aruna Shanbaug turns 54. Twentynine of these years have been spent in a twilight zone, brain-dead for sight, speech and movement. Yet hopelessly alive to pain, hunger and terror from that evening in November, 1973, when she was attacked with a dog chain and brutally raped in Mumbai hospital where she was a staff nurse. Today Aruna’s tragic distinction is that she is probably the only case of her kind in the world.
