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Wednesday,
November 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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PM felicitates Jamali
Probe Pak-N. Korea arms deal: India Oppn to meet on Tehelka NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT |
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Assurance on freedom fighters’ statues 70,000 take part in ABVP rally Amarinder briefs Advani ‘Human centrifuge’ to train pilots Evidence recorded in
Phoolan murder case Tension after Muslim
priest’s murder
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PM felicitates Jamali New Delhi, November 26 A similar formality was performed today by External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha with his new Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Qasoori. Well-placed sources in the government said New Delhi was in no mood to respond to General Musharraf’s appeal to resume dialogue with the new civilian government and the attitude was reflected in the terse and rather cold letters from Mr Vajpayee and Mr Sinha to their Pakistani counterparts. The letters were sent through diplomatic channels. Mr Vajpayee’s letter to Mr Jamali said: “I would like to convey on behalf of my government and on my own behalf our felicitations and best wishes to you on your appointment as Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Please accept, excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.” Mr Sinha said in his letter: “I wish to congratulate you on your assumption of office as Foreign Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Please accept, excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.” The sources reeled out statistics to assertively say why there would be no change in India’s Pakistan policy — of no talks with Islamabad till it puts a permanent end to cross-border infiltration and terrorism. |
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Hasina calls on Vajpayee New Delhi, November 26 Ms Wajid, who is here to deliver the “Dinesh Singh memorial’’ lecture, is learnt to have discussed various regional and international issues with the Prime Minister. External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, who also met the former Prime Minister hosted a dinner in her honour.
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Probe Pak-N. Korea arms deal: India New Delhi, November 26 Reports of such a deal have a “disturbing ring” about them, an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson told reporters when asked about the disclosures made in the western media. “Transfers of missile technology to Pakistan from North Korea have security implications for us. Continued linkages between these two countries should be a matter of serious concern to the international community,” he said. He said these transfers called into question their proclaimed commitment to non-proliferation and export controls. Although these linkages went back to the 1990s, they seemed to have become stronger as was demonstrated by the interception of a shipment by India. “It is not enough that accounts of such clandestine activity remain confined to newspaper reports, however, well-informed. “Because of the grave nature of these reports and the implication for international security, the facts need to be investigated,” he said. |
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Oppn to meet on Tehelka New Delhi, November 26 “If we feel that the government policies are anti-people and are causing havoc in the national polity, we should combine and coordinate our efforts at least in Parliament to expose them,” Mr Somnath Chatterjee of the CPM told reporters here. “We should not fritter away our energies by trying to criticise each other,” he said without naming the Congress and the Samajwadi Party which had been at loggerheads over political developments in Uttar Pradesh. Stating that the Congress and the CPM had moved adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha over the Tehelka probe and related issues, he said the Tehelka probe was “Not an ordinary inquiry as it had shaken our political foundation ... Presidents of the BJP and the Samata Party had to resign and action taken against so many Army officers.” “It is a manifestation of the disease (of corruption) in government functioning which is sought to be exposed” through this probe, Mr Chatterjee said, adding that the government’s “Intention is not to unravel the truth but hinder truth from coming out ... might be to scuttle the probe”. |
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Jaya Jaitly claims playing sleuth New Delhi, November 26 Taking umbrage at news reports that the government had sabotaged the commission’s probe, Ms Jaitly said, “the Congress and the so-called journalists of the Tehelka portal who talk so loosely about impropriety and dishonesty have deceived the entire nation. It is they who have to answer for their subversion of an inquiry and the entire judicial process.”
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, November 26 The minister told the House that while the amount of external assistance from the World Bank utilised by Punjab at the end of October this year was Rs 19.84 crore, while Haryana utilised Rs 35.93 crore and Himachal Pradesh Rs 12.91 crore. During 2001-02, this amount was Rs 68.97 crore for Punjab, Rs 292.88 crore for Haryana and Rs 10.97 crore for Himachal Pradesh. Responding to a question regarding funds for the distribution of free text books under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme, Prof Rita Verma,
Minister of State for Human Resource Development, told the Lok Sabha that Haryana was provided Rs 734.78 lakh, Himachal Pradesh Rs 329.89 lakh and J&K Rs 833.72 lakh. She also informed the House that the number of women who benefited under the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh was 780 in Haryana, 5,566 in Himachal Pradesh and 880 in Jammu and Kashmir. Minister of State for Rural Empowerment Subhash Maharia told the Lok Sabha that the funds allocated for providing drinking water to rural areas during the ninth Five-Year Plan were Rs 93.793 crore to Punjab, Rs 147.843 to Haryana and Rs 171.584 crore to Himachal Pradesh. Under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, Rs 79.66 crore were released for Punjab (till September 2002), whereas the amount released to Haryana was Rs 55.18 crore and to Himachal Pradesh Rs 132.36 crore. The number of houses constructed in Punjab during the ninth plan period was 23,143 under the Indira Avaas Yojna (IAY) and 186 houses under the credit-cum-subsidy scheme (CCSS). While for Haryana this number was 47,514 (IAY) and 712 (CCSS), it was 16,996 (IAY) and 429 (CCSS) in Himachal Pradesh. According to the provisional figures cited by Minister of State for Home Affairs I.D. Swami regarding crime against women, 122 rape cases, 240 kidnapping and abduction cases, 102 cases of dowry deaths and 151 molestation cases were reported in Punjab. In Haryana the number of such cases was 168 (rape), 169 (kidnapping and abduction), 130 (dowry deaths) and 210 (molestation), whereas in Himachal Pradesh this number was 63 (rape), 67 kidnapping and abduction), 5 (dowry deaths) and 144 (molestation). While the Central share released under the Swarna Jayanti Shahri Rojgar Yojna (SJSRY) from December 1, 1997 to October 31, 2002 was Rs 405.83 lakh to Punjab, it was Rs 608.54 lakh to Haryana, Rs 150.45 lakh to Chandigarh and Rs 285.78 lakh to Himachal Pradesh. The number of beneficiaries assisted to set up micro enterprises during 2001-02 was 1,251 under the Urban Self Employment Programme (USEP), 20 under the Development of Women and Children in Urban Areas (DWCUA) in Punjab, 46 (USEP) in Chandigarh, 2536 (USEP) and 410 (DWCUA) in Haryana, 339 (USEP) and 33 (DWCUA) in Himachal Pradesh and 2,158 (USEP), 51 (DWCUA) in J&K, informed Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of State for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation O. Rajagopal in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. |
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Assurance on freedom fighters’ statues New Delhi, November 26 The demand for installing the statues of these freedom fighters came up during zero hour in the Lok Sabha when Jagmeet Singh Brar (Congress) said that 55 years have passed since India became independent but the three freedom fighters have not been given their due place in the Parliament House. He said Bhagat Singh and two others were executed during the British rule on March 23, 1931 and action to install their statues should be taken before that date next year. Joining Mr Brar in his contention, the Samajwadi Party member Raj Babbar said he had been raising the issue since 1994 and had written letters to that effect to successive Prime Ministers. He also pointed to the special gallery where Bhagat Singh sat when he threw a bomb in the House. Acknowledging their demand, the Speaker said he would take up the issue at the next meeting of the Parliament’s Statue Committee. |
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11 Rajya Sabha MPs take oath New Delhi, November 26 While Gandhi Azad, Isham Singh and Vir Singh are from the BSP, Abu Asim Azmi, Shaheed Siddiqui, Amar Singh and Udai Pratap Singh took oath as SP members. Two Congress members, Harish Chandra Singh and Akhilesh Das, and two BJP members, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Rajnath Singh, also took oath. |
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70,000 take part in ABVP rally New Delhi, November 26 A 10-member ABVP delegation submitted a 58-point demand charter to the Prime Minister this morning. Leaders of the ABVP from all over the country expressed concern over “the state of education and employment in India” and suggested several measures to “amend the problem”. The remarkable similarity in the words of the ABVP leaders to the rhetoric of the Hindutva brigade must have pleased RSS leaders present on the occasion, including former chief Rajendra Singh. Minister of State Vijay Goel commended the effort of the ABVP baling it as “one of the largest rallies ever seen in Delhi”. Being a former ABVP activist himself, he reflected upon the values of the organisation. The rally, which commenced from Bihar, Rajasthan and New Delhi, as “parivartan” yatras also entailed a signature campaign in which reportedly almost 12 lakh students and teachers participated. The signature campaign visited almost 4,500 educational institutions. The final procession here, witnessed the maximum participation of students from Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Students from Manipur, Andaman and other North-Eastern states also took part. The demand charter proposes the formation of a new education policy entailing the induction of Indian ethos into the curriculum, ban on foreign investment in education, increased autonomy to universities and volumnous increase in public expenditure on education. |
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Amarinder briefs Advani New Delhi, November 26 The first such meeting since Capt Amarinder Singh
became the Chief Minister, it was attended by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs from the Congress, the BJP, the CPI and the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal. The Chief Minister earlier met Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and briefed him about the steps taken by the Punjab government to beef up security in temples following terrorist attack on Raghunath Temple. The meeting with MPs, which lasted two-and-a-half hours, was also attended by administrative secretaries of the departments concerned. The secretaries provided detailed notes on the pending issues to the MPs. The MPs said they would take up these issues in Parliament. The Congress MPs said they would urge the party Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha to include the Punjab’s case in the adjournment motion to be moved by the party on the drought situation in the country. The longest list of issues pending with the Centre was of Punjab Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs which had 17 issues listed in its note. The MPs were told about the issues relating to irrigation and power, revenue and rehabilitation, agriculture, local government, planning, finance, home affairs and public works. The Chief Minister told The Tribune here that the meeting with MPs would be held regularly. About the absence of the SAD MPs from the meeting, the Chief Minister said, “They are not interested in the issues concerning the state.” Union Minister of State for Tourism Vinod Khanna, who is an MP from Gurdaspur, left the meeting early. |
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‘Human centrifuge’ to train pilots New Delhi, November 26 Experts have undertaken research to help pilots react better to emergency conditions, specially ejection, which in the recent past has led to fatal injuries to some of the fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF). Disclosing this Air Marshal S.K. Dham Director-General of Medical Services (Air) and President of Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine, said although the rate of injury to pilots during emergency ejection was about 20 per cent, but effort were underway to ensure better training and techniques for the pilots to avoid such injuries. Recently two of the IAF pilots suffered spine injuries due to ejection from aircraft in emergency conditions. While for one of the pilots the injuries later proved to be fatal, the other one is recuperating at a hospital. Addressing the media on the eve of the 43rd annual conference of the Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine, Air Marshal Dham said pilots suffered injury at the time of the ejection due to the force which was applied on the spine as the seat was pushed out of the aircraft. A minor fault in posture at the crucial juncture could result in injuries, Besides, the landing technique also mattered a lot, he said. The Bangalore-based Institute of Aerospace Medicine is looking forward to upgrading its training facilities for the pilots. It is hoping to install a new ‘human centrifuge’ at a cost of almost Rs 100 crore which will help the pilots get trained for various stress-related conditions. Incidentally, it is the only institute in the country which is authorised to check and declare the fitness level of all pilots in the country, including those in civil aviation. The institute works not only on evaluation and training of the pilots but also on research in connection with aviation. Some of the areas which it works specially on are the G-related loss of
consciousness, explosive decompression, training for disorientation and training for night vision. At its three-day annual conference from Wednesday the society will be looking to deal with issues of medical nature which the pilots may encounter. Besides experts from the country, a number of experts from abroad are also participating. The society held its first scientific conference in 1954, which soon became an annual feature. The scope of this conference encompasses all aspects related to aviation, from aerospace medicine to aeronautics. This year, the conference is being organised on an international scale and a number of foreign delegates from the USA, Sri Lanka and Australia are participating. Along with scientific deliberations, there will be an exhibition of aeromedical equipment by national and multinational organisations. Field studies done at various Air Force stations and peripheral Air Force hospitals provide the basic inputs to the major research establishments. The thrust areas for the members of the society are acceleration physiology, spatial disorientation, civil aviation, protective clothing and equipment, besides the all-encompassing human factors. |
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Evidence recorded in
Phoolan murder case
New Delhi, November 26 Additional Sessions Judge C.K. Chaturvedi recorded the statements of two prosecution witnesses, a rest house owner and a security official of the Parliament House. While the rest house owner told the court that Rana had once stayed at his premises in Chitaranjan Park, a year before the incident, the security official gave the details about Phoolan’s movement in the Parliament House on the fateful day. Besides Rana, other facing trial in the case are his brother Vijay Singh, alias Raju, Dhan Prakash, alias Vicky, Shekhar Singh, Rajbir Singh, Rajender Singh, alias Ravinder Singh, Keshav Chauhan, Praveen Mittal, Amit Rathi, Surender Singh Negi, alias Suri, and Pradeep Singh. The accused have been charged with murder, hatching criminal conspiracy and destroying evidence after the crime. They have also been charged with attempting to murder Phoolan Devi’s security guard and under the Arms Act.
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Tension after Muslim
priest’s murder Patna, November 26 The local minority community became angry and the situation turned volatile last night after some assailants killed the local Muslim religious leader, Maulana Abdul Gani Zafri (70), in the Alamganj locality of the city. The Rapid Action Force (RAF) and the city police forces cordoned off the old city area following communal tension after the killing of the priest. Armed forces were called to control the situation. The city SP, Mr O.N. Bhaskar, said, “Unidentified assailants barged into the house of priest who had returned from his evening prayers and slit his throat with a sharp-edged weapon”. |
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