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Monday,
July 29, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Mourners
throng Kant’s residence 5
Uttaranchal BJP leaders expelled Cops to be
posted on caste lines in UP PM has a
week to review rly bifurcation: Mamata Ministry
expansion in UP postponed Advani
expresses ‘regret’ to Jaya |
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RJD MLA
held for faking caste Cartoonist
Ranga dead ’71
war: B’desh may seek apology from Pak Women
plough fields to appease Indra Communal clashes in Gujarat area Normalcy
returning to Ranchi Churches
back domicile policy Kazakh
film bags top award
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Mourners throng Kant’s residence New Delhi, July 28 Senior officers of the Army, Air Force and Navy were seen coordinating arrangements for the state funeral with military honours. At the same time, Krishan Kant’s 97-year-old freedom fighter mother Satyavati was seen helping herself to the inner room where the body lay in state, with the support of a chair. They lifted the body from the threshold of the house and carried it to the gun carriage parked outside the gate. Mr Krishan Kant’s sons Rashmikant and Sukant and other relatives brought the body till the front gate. The gun carriage was pulled by a military vehicle which was escorted by personnel from the three services. As soon as the body of the 75-year-old leader wrapped in the tricolour was taken out of his residence, soldiers of Rajputana Rifles fired three rounds in air as a mark of respect. The Vice-President’s wife Suman Krishan Kant broke down as she stepped into a white Ambassador car along with her mother-in-law. Najma Heptulla was by her side as they watched the body being carried for its last journey to Nigambodh Ghat where it would mix with dust. While Suman Krishan Kant held her head in her hand, her mother-in-law maintained a stoic silence. The Vice-President’s sons Rashmikant, Sukant and his grandson also sat in the same car. The 10-km procession, including a cavalcade of about 50 vehicles was led by General Officer Commanding, Delhi Area, Maj-Gen N.S. Pathania. A host of Mr Krishan Kant’s friends and associates from Chandigarh were present at his residence. These included the Secretary of the Servants of People Society, Chandigarh, Mr Onkar Chand, who had a 50-year association with Mr Krishan Kant. Mr Onkar Chand told TNS that he was introduced to the Krishan Kant in 1954 by Lala Achint Ram at their Telegraph Lane residence. “That was the time when Krishan Kant’s father, Lala Achint Ram was in the forefront of Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement. Since then, we had been in regular touch with each other. When I met him about 10 days back at his residence here, I could sense that he felt betrayed. Although he was emerging as a consensus candidate for the office of President, one does not know what transpired. Although he did not spell out anything, it appeared he was taking things in his stride. In our last interaction, he dwelt at length on the vision of the Servants of People Society (of which he was national President and senior life member) in the changed circumstances.” Mr Onkar Chand said that the demise of his friend was a great emotional loss. Recalling his role in the Emergency, Mr Onkar Chand said Mr Krishan Kant showed great conviction at the time of Emergency. Barrister and senior counsel in the Punjab and Haryana High Court Roshan Lal Batta told TNS that he had the pleasure of working with the then Janata Dal MP from Chandigarh, Mr Krishan Kant, in 1977. “I was the President of the Janata Party at that time and was in charge of the election campaign of the Janata Party in 1977. He was very much concerned about the purity of public life. He said that dirty electoral politics should be avoided. He was against criminalisation of politics.’’ Recalling his association with the ex-officio Chancellor of Panjab University, Krishan Kant, former BJP MP from Chandigarh, Satyapal Jain said, “He always stood for his principles and expressed them fearlessly. When the Emergency was imposed, in spite of being in the Congress, he opposed a very powerful Prime Minister like Indira Gandhi and even went to jail for 19 months.” A member of the national working committee of the BJP, Mr Jain said, “I found him to be a very brave man. For a person to leave power and go to jail is something very unique in Indian politics.” |
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Freedom fighters
denied entry New Delhi, July 28 Besides Ranbir Singh, the Working President of AIFFO and others who were denied entry to Nigambodh Ghat were General Secretary of AIFFO Inderjit Singh Bhatia and former Editor of Patriot Sitanshu Das. |
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5 Uttaranchal BJP leaders expelled
Dehra Dun, July 28 “State President Puran Chand Sharmahas expelled five leaders — Lalit Bali, Rajendra Verma, Premballabh Bhatt, Anand Singh Rawat and Dhoomsingh Negi from the primary membership of the party for six years on the recommendations of state disciplinary committee, which found them guilty of anti-party activities during the elections,” state BJP General Secretary Jyoti Prasad Gairola told PTI here today. In the Assembly elections, held in February last, the BJP could manage to get only 19 seats while most of the ministers in the previous BJP government led by Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, failed to retain their seats. At the state working committee meeting, convened to review the factors that led to the BJP’s defeat, it was alleged that some leaders worked against the party candidates during the elections. The five-member state disciplinary committee also served showcause notices to 56 party leaders in this regard. Gairola indicated that some more party leaders could also be expelled soon for working against the party.
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Cops to be posted on
caste lines in UP Lucknow, July 28 A press release issued by the Information Department said the Chief Minister, Ms Mayawati, had announced in her recent visit to Kolhapur that the reservation policy would now be extended to the police stations. The posts of Station Officer (SO) or Station House Officer (SHO) would be reserved for the SC, the ST and religious minority police officials. “This will be done to instil confidence among people of all castes and communities,” announced Ms Mayawati. As per the new arrangement 20 per cent of the SOs would be Scheduled Caste, 25 per cent from backward community and 5 per cent from the religious minority community. And the rest of the posts would be for the general candidates. Besides, the government has started a six-month long drive to fill vacant reserve posts. These pro-Dalit steps of the government are seen as an attempt by Ms Mayawati to sensitise her voters. After she took over as Chief Minister around three months ago, Ms Mayawati had taken decisions with an eye on her voters. In May she announced allotment of land lease to Dalits, there by meaning that those who had illegally occupied gram sabha land would become rightful owners of that land. “To bring Dalits in the mainstream the government has launched the Dr Ambedkar Gram Yojana under which budgetary allocation will be made for those villages where Dalits comprise 50 per cent or more population,” she said. Officials have been given two months’ time to identify such villages and start working on them. “At least 10,000 such villages are to be identified this year,” said the UP Chief Minister. BJP leaders have raised eyebrows the way Ms Mayawati is going full steam implementing her Dalit agenda. “She is not fulfilling her dharma of the coalition politics”, said the state president of the BJP, Mr Vinak Katiyar. “We have raised our concerns with national leaders. It is up to them to take decision”, he said. |
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PM has a week to review rly bifurcation: Mamata Kolkata, July 28 Ms Banerjee said she wanted the scheme to be scrapped mainly due to financial constraints. But some senior railway officials then advised her not to formally scrap the proposal, which was already approved by the Cabinet. Instead, like many other railways project, the bifurcation scheme was kept in the “limbo” till it “gets its usual death” and as such, as a routine matter, she had allotted a token amount in the Budget for the scheme. The Trinamool Congress leader so far did not make any public statement to the charges levelled by her adversaries that as the Railway Minister she also did not act rightly in allowing the proposal to survive. But in the last few days during her talks with some of the senior party colleagues, both in the Capital and Kolkata, Ms Banerjee explained herself elaborately. The TMC leaders she had spoken to included Mr Sudip Bandopadhyya, Mrs Krishna Bose, Dr Ranjit Panja, Dr Nitish Sengupta- all MPs and the Kolkata Mayor, Mr Subrata Mukherjee and Mr Shovandeb Chattopadhyya, MLA. Ms Banerjee said now after realising the dangerous implications of the bifurcation issue, there was no alternative left but to fight tooth and nail against its implementation since the bifurcation was bound to create acrimonious relations between the states on some plea or other which would ultimately destroy the country’s unity and integrity. Ms Banerjee who kept silent for two days, declared yesterday at a public meeting at Nanur, Birbhum in south Bengal that they would wait for another week to allow the Prime Minister to reverse the bifurcation scheme of the Eastern Railway. She warned they would launch a state-wide bandh to force the Railways to abandon this scheme. Ms Banerjee wanted a positive decision be taken within a week before the tabling of the Railway’s supplementary Budget in Parliament. She came to realise that in the supplementary budget scheduled to be placed on August 5, Mr Nitish Kumar had allotted Rs 100 crore on the bifurcation proposals and creation of new railway zones. The Union Cabinet which was to discuss the bifurcation issue at a meeting tomorrow, is likely to be postponed following three-day state mourning for the Vice-President, Mr Krishan Kant. The Cabinet might take up the matter at its next meeting either on Thursday or next Monday. The CPM state unit secretary, Mr Anil Biswas, said they would wait for few more days to allow the Centre to review the matter. Then they would decide about agitation and the strategy to force the Centre to abandon the proposal. The WBPCC(l) President, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, also declared the decision to launch an agitation against the bifurcation proposal. A former Chief Minister, Mr Jyoti Basu, in a statement opposed the bifurcation proposal and urged upon the Prime Minister to reconsider the issue or they would launch an agitation involving all other affected states against the bifurcation and creation of new railway zones. |
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Ministry expansion in UP postponed
Lucknow, July 28 Chief Minister Mayawati, who yesterday announced to hold the first and much-awaited expansion of her government on August 1, decided to postpone the process within 24 hours itself after holding consultations with the state BJP leaders at her residence this morning. In a statement later, the Chief Minister said leaders of the coalition partners, after hectic discussions today, unanimously decided to postpone the expansion and hold it sometime after the Budget session of the state legislature ends on September 13. Sources, however, said here that the BJP leaders at a secret meeting held this morning decided to ask the Chief Minister to defer the expansion following apprehension of a revolt by some BJP MLAs who might not have been accommodated in the ministry. “The BJP leaders were also in a fix over the list of MLAs to be submitted to Ms Mayawati for inclusion in the proposed expansion since she was reluctant to have a jumbo-sized ministry. This had led to the scratching of the names of several senior MLAs,’’ sources added. Besides, the party is facing problems in selecting its Deputy Leader in the Assembly following the “certain’’ promotion of Mr Lalji Tandon to the post of BJP Legislature Party Leader after the resignation of Mr Rajnath Singh from the post. “Party leaders are yet to decide upon a name for the deputy leader’s post as senior leaders were yet to form a consensus in the matter’’, sources commented.
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Advani expresses ‘regret’ to Jaya Chennai, July 28 “The Chief Minister told him that the Deputy Prime Minister could certainly not be held responsible for the omission and it was a lapse at the level of bureaucrats,” an official press note said here. Mr Advani spoke to Ms Jayalalithaa on telephone today regarding the non-issuance of an invitation to her for the presidential swearing-in ceremony on July 25.
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RJD MLA held for faking caste Patna, July 28 The SP, Mr O.N. Bhaskar, said he had acquired fake certificate of ‘Pasi’ caste whereas he is said to be of ‘Kurmi’ caste. Fatuha is a reserved seat for the Scheduled Caste and ‘Kurmi’ caste does not fall in that category. Mr Bhaskar said a manhunt was on to arrest the CO who had issued the fake caste certificates to him. Mr Chowdhary, however, said his arrest smacked of vendetta. He is known to be a staunch supporter of Ranjan Yadav. |
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Cartoonist
Ranga dead Bangalore, July 28 Seventyseven-year-old N.K. Ranganath, popularly known as Ranga, collapsed suddenly and fell unconscious after his morning coffee and was declared dead by the doctor who was summoned immediately, his brother Anantharaman told PTI. Ranga, based in Delhi for the past nearly four decades, worked for The Statesman, The Indian Express and was at present contributing for The Tribune besides several weeklies and publications, had come here yesterday. Beginning his career with the popular “Shankar’s Weekly”, Ranga, who found a bedrock of support from the famous cartoonist, Shankar, never looked back and climbed up the ladder to become a famous cartoonist. Ranga has a rare distinction —having the highest collection of some 2,000 autographed cartoons of national and international celebrities, either sketching them or lampooning them — a remarkable feat recorded in the “Limca Book of Records”.
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PM mourns Ranga’s death New Delhi, July 28 Describing Ranga as “a person of great intensity and warmth,” Mr Vajpayee said he was an institution who took the art of drawing cartoons to new heights. The speed and ease with which he could draw line caricature of any personality was “really amazing,” the Prime Minister said. Mr Vajpayee added that Ranga had the knack of treating his subject with rare sensitivity without missing the punch lines which brought to the fore his sense of humour and wit. |
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’71 war: B’desh may seek apology from Pak
New Delhi, July 28 “It is very much in the mind of Pakistan, and I am sure, they are aware of it,” Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shamser Mobin Chowdhury told reporters in Dhaka when asked if his country would seek an apology during the official-level talks, ‘The Nation’ reported. Several political parties and organisations in Dhaka have been protesting the impending visit of President Musharraf, with constituents of the 11-party Left Democratic Front demanding that the visit be cancelled “to avoid any untoward incident”. President Musharraf has not only assumed power illegally, but is also trying to institutionalise military rule in Pakistan,” the Workers’ Party, a Front constituent, said adding that the visit could “lead to an increase in ISI activity in the country”, the daily said. In a separate move, another organisation ‘Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee (Committee for elimination of 1971 murderers and middle-men) said President Musharraf “belongs to the junta of General Yahya Khan, which was responsible for the killing of 30 lakh Bengalis and raping two lakh Bengali women in 1971”. Another Pakistani daily, ‘The News’, reported that at least 138 retired Bangladesh armed forces officers had sought settlement of claims on property they had left behind in Pakistan. “We have given our petition to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and also to the Foreign Secretary, hoping the issue of our property in Pakistan can be raised and a solution found,” retired Sqn Ldr Nizam A. Chowdhury (retd) was quoted as saying by the daily. The officers are asking to be allowed to sell their properties in Pakistan and repatriate the money to Bangladesh, it said.
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Women plough fields to appease Indra Allahabad, July 28 Women in a couple of villages of Allahabad district and one hamlet in Pratapgarh emerged from their houses last night, performed a puja, took off their clothes and ploughed the fields for showers that were yet to take place. All four districts of Allahabad division are facing a never-before drought. Following the failure of the monsoon, no sowing has been done and whatever crop was sown is drying up. People are adopting every possible method, including special prayers, to appease Indra who seemed in no mood to hear their entreaties. The worst scenario is in the trans-Yamuna hilly areas where canals are dry and the water level of tubewells, wells and handpumps has plummetted. People are facing one of the worst-ever potable water crisis — ponds, small rivulets and wells have dried up and villagers are travelling 10 to 12 km for fetching water. The prices of vegetables have skyrocketted and are well beyond the reach of the poor. Simultaneously, prices of foodgrain, milk and milk products have also shot up.
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Communal clashes in Gujarat area
Ahmedabad, July 28 The trouble began this afternoon when a minority community member was slapped by people belonging to the majority community over a trifle issue, they said. In retaliation, minority community members beat up two youths belonging to majority community and set on fire their two wheeler when they were passing through a minority-dominated area, triggering a communal flare up in the town. The police burst teargas shells and lathicharged the clashing mobs, the sources said adding that the situation was under control. Of the 25 shops burnt, 17 belonged to members of minority community and the remaining were of majority community, they added.
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Normalcy
returning to Ranchi Ranchi, July 28 Curfew was lifted this morning from Doranda and Sukhdev Nagar while night curfew continued in the Hatia, Jagannathpur and Argora police station areas, official sources said today. Curfew was clamped following the violent incidents during the July 24 bandh called by pro-domicile groups, which left five persons dead.
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Churches back domicile policy Ranchi, July 28 A delegation of the priests, which was here to attend the archbishop’s conference, called on Chief Minister Babulal Marandi yesterday and extended their support. The delegation, led by Archbishop Telsphore Toppo, had said the policy was in the larger interest of the tribesmen and the other non-tribesmen, native to Jharkhand. aborigines. Sources said Mr Marandi apprised the bishops of his government’s stand on the issue and alleged that some vested interests were trying to destabilise the government by engineering ethnic clashes.
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Kazakh film bags top award
New Delhi, July 28 The Netpac (Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema) award went to “Lan Yu” directed by Stganley Kwan of Hong Kong, with that country getting two of the four awards given at the festival which had commenced on July 19. While “Eliana Eliana” is directed by Riri Riza, Ann Hui has directed “July Rhapsody”. A bonanza of 60 films from 25 countries, including 17 Asian countries, were screened at four venues apart from the inauguration at Siri Fort Auditorium.
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