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Sunday,
January 19, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP report on
Kelkar proposals finalised Turn of fortune for Shinde Setback to Digvijay’s Dalit agenda
BJP-DMK ties good: minister |
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BJP with VHP on Ram temple Cong appoints HP observers Bravery awards for 21 children
Cold wave claims 14 more lives
Charges framed against PLA men Parliamentary conference on January 22 4 Shugden men arrested in Bodhgaya Mufti meets Jaswant
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BJP report on
Kelkar proposals finalised New Delhi, January 18 The Committee, headed by party general secretary Rajnath Singh, had rejected Kelkar recommendations on doing away with exemptions on personal income tax and small saving interest rates and strongly favoured retention of tax benefits for housing loans and pensioners. It, however, favoured most of the proposals on indirect taxes. On another sensitive issue of taxing agricultural income, the party felt it was not totally averse to the idea but a political consensus was needed. Besides, it also required amendments to the Constitution, the party said. BJP sources felt that as the NDA government wanted to encourage housing sector and as part of this exercise it had disbursed Rs 17,000 crore last year and Rs 37,000 crore for 2002-2003, it was not proper to implement the recomendations.
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Turn of fortune for Shinde Mumbai, January 18 Mr Shinde, who spent three decades in politics, mostly as a minister, has an unrivalled distinction of presenting the state Budget on nine consecutive occasions, besides being in the recent race for the post of the Vice-President of India. The low-profile and mild-mannered Shinde won the elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Solapur five times consecutively from 1974. Known for his administrative acumen, Mr Shinde, who survived many a political storm, also found himself a berth in the ministries of six Chief Ministers, including Vasantdada Patil, S.B. Chavan, Sudhakar Naik and Sharad Pawar, and has handled various portfolios, including finance, sports, culture, urban development, industry and health. He also fought two Lok Sabha elections successfully in 1988 and 1999 and was elected once to the upper house of Parliament. Born in 1941, in a family steeped in poverty and caste discrimination, Mr Shinde managed to break the shackles by steadfastly pursuing his studies in between washing vessels in a house of a magistrate to taking orders as a peon in a local court in the textile town of Solapur. Mr Shinde’s single-minded determination saw him passing his BA and LLB while serving as a police inspector at Solapur. It was his selection in CID that brought Mr Shinde in 1965 in Mumbai, where he met then Congress leader Sharad Pawar, his mentor. Having been bitten by the political bug, Mr Shinde resigned from his job in the CID in 1971 to plunge into politics. He rose to limelight in 1974 when he fought on a general ticket despite being a Dalit and became the only Congress candidate to win the bypoll that year by nearly 25,000 votes. Mr Shinde soon saw his political fortunes picking up as he was appointed state minister in the Vasantrao Naik Cabinet. He saw his name being included again in the Shankarrao Chavan’s ministry in 1975. In 1977, he was entrusted with the Sports and Cultural portfolio while in 1978 he handled Finance and Family Welfare portfolio after he won with a thumping majority of nearly 11,000 votes. However, Mr Shinde’s political career saw a dip when the Vasantdada ministry resigned in 1978. The subsequent years saw him lost in political oblivion when he failed to get a Cabinet berth during the tenure of both Babasaheb Bhosale and Antulay. Dejected, he turned towards practising law.
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Setback to Digvijay’s Dalit agenda Bhopal, January 18 Disposing of over 100 writ petitions on Thursday, a Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, upheld the government decision to reduce the area of the “charnoi” (grazing) land from 5 per cent to 2 per cent but pointed out that the government could not distribute more than 50 per cent of the land among the landless
Dalits. The high court was informed that a total of 3.62 lakh hectares had become available by reducing the area of the “charnoi” land. Out of this, 2.73 lakh hectares had been distributed among 3.32 lakh landless families belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Division Bench held the distribution made so far valid but asked the government to distribute an equal area of land to the landless families belonging to other castes and keep the benefits to the SCs/STs at not more than 50 per cent.
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BJP-DMK ties good: minister Chennai, January 18 Mr Goel flew from Delhi to Chennai on Friday to meet the DMK leader, Mr M. Karunanidhi, for the ostensible purpose of enquiring about the health of the Union Minister, Mr Murasoli Maran, now undergoing treatment in the USA, but it is no secret that they discussed political issues, especially the differences that had lately marked the relationship between the DMK and the state unit of the BJP. Mr Karunanidhi had also recently criticised the Centre's policy on disinvestment and privatisation leaving the BJP leadership to wonder if Mr Karunanidhi was preparing to say good bye to the NDA alliance. The AIADMK leader, Ms Jayalalithaa's recent utterances and moves had led to speculation if her party was getting closer to the BJP. After the talks, Mr Goel told
reporters: "We are not flirting with anybody except the DMK." He said the BJP had been in alliance with the DMK, "a valuable and reliable ally", for the past four years and there was no problem in their relationship. |
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BJP with VHP on Ram temple New Delhi, January 18 While the opposition parties were engaged in their usual blame game in the name of secularism, the BJP was uniting the country by its "cultural nationalism", he claimed while inaugurating the two-day national executive meeting of the BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha here. As per the directives of Mr Naidu, all frontal organisations have planned a series of events so that the party remained in focus of the media. The BJP president is reported to have advised his party functionaries that they should hold their events on a weekend so that Sunday and Monday could be used for hogging the limelight as usually, the flow of news is thin on Sundays and Mondays. Claiming that "cultural nationalism" was the lifeline of the nation, he said the opposition parties were reluctant to give the BJP its due and instead labelling it as a "communal" party. It was only the BJP which was catering to all castes, religions and sections of society, he said. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the BJP leaders have been asked by the party high command to launch a no-holds bar campaign against the Congress and Left parties. In the coming weeks and months, the Vishva Hindu Parishad will aggressively revive the demand for the Ram temple at Ayodhya, sources said, adding that the BJP-led government would help the cause without bothering about the NDA allies. If for some reasons, the Vajpayee government fell on this
issue precipitating the General Election, the BJP would welcome it, sources said. Earlier, Mr Raj Singh said the NDA government at the
Centre, for the first time, had made provisions for reservations for Scheduled Castes and Backward Castes. This which had not been done by the Congress during the past 50 years. "If BJP is the party of upper castes, as is often accused by the Opposition, it would not have taken this step" he pointed out. Admitting that all the problems of SC and Dalits were not solved, he said it was due to lack of fixing proper targets in this regard. He exhorted the morcha to make its presence at upto the village level to disseminate the pro-Dalit policies of the BJP and the NDA. |
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Cong appoints HP observers New Delhi, January 18 AICC sources said Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma has been appointed observer for Mandi, former MP Virender Kataria for Kangra, Punjab minister Jagjit Singh for Shimla and Mr Harikesh Bahadur and Mr B.S. Bisht for Mandi. Mr Bisht is a minister in the Congress government in Uttaranchal. Mr Kataria had been party observer in Himachal Pradesh in the 1993 and 1998 elections also. The observers will coordinate election-related work in all seats falling in the parliamentary constituency under their charge. |
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Bravery awards for 21 children New Delhi, January 18 Risking their own lives to save others, 10 girls and 11 boys have been chosen for this year's National Bravery Awards. Among these are 13-year-old Guddiben Mashar, who fought a wild beast to save her two-year-old nephew. She is the recipient of the Geeta Chopra Award. Chandan Paswan, a 13-year-old, who saved two children from drowning, has been selected for the Sanjay Chopra award. Nine-year-old Sweety Pandey, 11-year-old Rinku Burman and 12-year-old Dhananjay Ingle have been selected to receive the Bapu Gayadhani Award. These brave children will receive a silver medal, certificate and a cash prize from the Prime Minister on January 24. They will also ride on elephant back during the Republic Day parade. |
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Cold wave claims 14 more lives Allahabad, January 18 Four deaths were reported from Laskarline, Naini, Karchna and Kapathua villages. One each succumbed to cold in Ghasapur, Mandostpur, Ratansenpura and Sujunipur villages in the district, they said. According to the Met office sources, the maximum temperature was 8.6°C today the lowest this season.
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Charges framed against PLA men New Delhi, January 18 Special POTA Judge S N Dhingra charged accused Khogantabam Brojen Singh alias Somi, alias Ibungo, and Ibotombi Sapam under various sections of POTA, the Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities Act for allegedly trying to motivate students for terrorist activities and establish safe hideouts in Delhi. Mr Dhingra charged Brojen Singh, a PLA activist, under various sections of POTA, and the Arms Act after the police recovered a revolver of .38 bore with 6 live rounds, Rs 1 lakh and a laptop from his possession. The Judge, however, charged Ibotombi under POTA for harbouring the offender at his house even though he knew about Brojen Singh’s terrorist activities. The Judge fixed February 6 to record the evidence in the case.
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Parliamentary conference on January 22 New Delhi, January 18 President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will inaugurate it on January 22, the three-day meeting will also be addressed by Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi. The four themes at the global meeting will combating terrorism, parliamentary practices and procedures: need for reform to secure greater executive accountability, Parliament as a vehicle of social change, and Parliament in the era of globalisation and liberalisation.
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4 Shugden men arrested in Bodhgaya Patna, January 18 Four suspected members of Shugden, an extremist organisation, said to have support of China to oppose the Dalai Lama, were arrested in Bodhgaya, officials said today. A Tibetan and three Nepalese were arrested late Thursday night, found moving around the puja site, police officials said. This is the third time, suspected intruders have been arrested in Bodhgaya, the Buddhist holy place where the puja, a festival of Tibetan rituals is going on. |
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Mufti
meets Jaswant New Delhi, January 18 Sources said the Chief Minister
sought Central assistance for infrastructure and power projects.
Sources said the Finance Minister assured Mr Sayeed of speedily
processing all its projects for foreign assistance. He also gave Mr
Sayeed an assuarnce about the pending loan for the Baghliyar project. |
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