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Friday,
April 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Delimitation in 4 states by June BJP to discuss poll strategy Padma Vibhushan for Sonal Mansingh
Lokayukta case hearing on April 18 Sikh art gallery opens in
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Sprightly Sam Manekshaw turns 90 Amrita Pritam’s son pens a humorous tale Arrest Togadia under POTA, says Left POTA enactment questioned in SC
Ansari case: Dubai’s help
sought Kerala Cong divided over RS choice Jogi reiterates probe demand New twist to Netaji’s case Notice to police on
R.K. Sharma’s plea Sacked DDA vice-chief held Mitra to head W. Bengal Cong Hair-cut, shave and discourse
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Delimitation in 4 states by June New Delhi, April 3 “The commission is hopeful that the whole process in these states (Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi) will be completed by June 30 so that the Election Commission will have time to revise the voters’s list”, Justice Kuldip Singh told reporters after launching the website of the commission. Stating that in deference to the political parties’ view that the associate members should be consulted, the commission had revised the guidelines in order to hear them. He said the website was another step to
making the delimitation process more transparent. Asked whether the commission would be in a position to complete the delimitation task on the basis of the 2001 census as desired by some political parties, he said it could be possible only if Parliament amended the law and the states ratified it in a month’s time. The commission is engaged in delimiting all assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in the country, except in Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of the 1991 Census. Meanwhile, the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr J M Lyngdoh, today hinted that the Election Commission might move the high court challenging the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal order on the suspension of officials in Madhya Pradesh. He told reporters soon after the launch of the Delimitation Commission website that “we have enough materials and it is for the disciplinary authorities in the state to file the charge sheet.” The Jabalpur bench of CAT had confirmed the interim stay given by it on March 17 on the EC’s recommendation to the Madhya Pradesh Government to suspend officials on charges of irregularities in the voters’ list. |
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BJP to discuss poll strategy Indore, April 3 The top leadership of the party, led by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and party President Venkaiah Naidu, is expected to give a clear-cut direction to party workers on various issues and challenges confronting the party during the two-day session. The bigwigs of the party will also analyse the party’s performance in the recently concluded Assembly poll in Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, and outline clear-cut strategies and plans to win the coming poll in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi. Apart from a political resolution, which will spell out the party’s stand on various issues, the National Executive is also expected to pass a resolution listing the party’s stand on the ongoing war in Iraq, General Secretary and BJP spokesperson Pramod Mahajan told newspersons on the eve of the meeting. Mr Vajpayee will address a public meeting tomorrow evening and then on April 5 before leaving for Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh for a pre-scheduled programme, Mr Mahajan said. Tomorrow the National Executive meeting will begin with the welcome address by Madhya Pradesh BJP unit president Kailash Joshi. BJP President Venkaiah Naidu will address the National Executive before it debates on the agenda set for the day, he said. The valedictory address will be by Mr Advani on April 5 soon after the passage of the political resolution, Mr Mahajan said. On the opening day of the meeting, a special session will be devoted towards getting feedbacks from all state units about the membership drive of the party, which has concluded recently. Meanwhile, at the venue of the meeting, top party leaders, along with security personnel, were busy in finetuning the arrangements. With the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and other top leaders of the BJP arriving here, the city has been virtually turned into a fortress, with security personnel deployed in adequate numbers all over the city.
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Padma Vibhushan for Sonal Mansingh New Delhi April 3 However, the highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna, was not conferred on anyone for the second consecutive year. While
four persons — Bharatanatyam dancer Sonal Mansingh, ayurvedic
physician Vaidya Bhrihaspati Triguna, historian Balram Nanda and “Father
of Democracy” in Sikkim Kazi Lhendup Dorji Kangsarpa - received the
Padma Vibhushan, 36 persons were awarded the Padma Bhushan and 91
received the Padma Shri. Setting aside protocol, the 72-year old President walked up to present the awards to seven persons because of their poor health amidst thunderous applause in the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Seven recipients, including 99-year-old former Sikkim Chief Minister Kazi Lhendup Dorji Kangsarpa, were not present at the function to receive the awards. Among those who got the Padma Bhushan award are exponents of kuttiyattam dance Ammannur Madhava Chakyar, industrialists Jamshed Naroji Godrej and Hari Shankar Singhania, singer and music composer Jagjit Singh, actor Naseeruddin Shah, cartoonist O.V. Vijayan, journalist Prabhu Chawla and carnatic vocal singer Rajan Iyer. Those who received the Padma Shri award include film actors Aamir Khan and Danny Denzongpa, veteran film actress Rakhee Gulzar, theatre personality Ram Gopal Bajaj, noted odissi exponent Ranjana Gauhar, classical singer Malavika Sarukkai, cardiologist Ashok Seth, scientist Ashok Kumar Barua, former captain of the Indian cricket team Srinivas Venkatraghavan, writers Manzoor Ahtesham and Dr Motilal Jotwani, pioneer in legal education Prof Neelakanta Ramakrishna Madhava Menon and playback singer T.M. Sounderajan. Later, the awardees posed for photographs with the President, Vice President, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. |
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Jagjit
for ban on Pak artistes
New Delhi, April 3 Jagjit Singh, who received
the Padma Bhushan today for his excellent contribution to the field of
music, told reporters here that the Home Minister’s response to
their ‘concern’ was positive, but Mr Advani said “dirty politics”
could come into play if the government took a tough stand on the
issue. Mr Advani gave them a patient and sympathetic hearing. “Mr
Advani said I am concerned,” he added. Pointing out that Pakistan
did not allow Indian artistes to visit that country, and if they
visited through “backdoor”, as happened in the case of Jagjit
Singh who was invited by the Indian Embassy there, they are constantly
followed by ISI agents and told to leave the country at the first
possible opportunity. While the Indian Government’s policy was to
invite and give red carpet treatment to any singer or artiste coming
from Pakistan, it was just the opposite “with us” there. Protesting
against this double standard, Mr Abhijeet said “This is a matter of
national dignity. It is not a controversy. The complaint is against
the government policy.” Indirectly hinting at the huge popularity
of Adnan Sami in the country and the favourable treatment being
granted to him by the music companies and industry here, Mr Abhijeet
said, “Nobody asks any question from a person coming from the “enemy
country”, whereas we are officially “unwanted” there.
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Lokayukta case hearing on April 18 New Delhi, April 3 The two members of the judicial fraternity had a first-hand experience of the long wait for justice after they were removed by the state government, as the office they held clashed with the interests of political masters. While Justice Ray, a former Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, after 11 long years of legal battle, won the compensation case, Justice Vasishth, the first Lokayukta of Haryana, continues to make the rounds of the courtroom which he once administered. Justice Vasishth’s writ petition challenging the state government’s action would come up for hearing in the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on April 18. Justice Vasishth, the then serving judge of the Lucknow Bench, was appointed the Lokayukta in January, 1999. However, with the Indian National Lok Dal taking up the reins of the state in September, 1999, an ordinance repealing the Lokayukta Act was passed. The High Court Judge had taken up the highly sensitive watchdog post on assured conditions from the then Haryana Vikas Party government in the state. He was assured of continuity of tenure for five years, compensation in case he was asked to vacate the office midstream except on the ground of physical infirmity or proven misconduct. Justice Vasishth, in a statement, said he was removed by the state government without fulfilling its commitment as he had relinquished his office to his detriment. Moreover, the state government, which later passed a Bill to replace the ordinance, failed to solicit the assent of the President. The state government’s action was challenged by Justice Vasishth in the Supreme Court. However, the petitioner withdrew the petition as the Haryana Government sought adjournment during the two-year period on one ground or the another. He, however, filed a writ
petition in the High Court under Article 226, which would come up for hearing later this month. |
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Sikh art gallery opens in
USA New Delhi, April 3 The Satinder Kaur Kapany Gallery of Sikh Arts has a display of over 100 original Sikh paintings and authentic artefacts, which have been gifted permanently from the internationally acclaimed Kapany Sikh Arts collection to
the Asian Art Museum. The Sikh Foundation, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary, has established Sikh studies Chairs/Fellowships in various US universities, and in collaboration with UNESCO, it has also sponsored a unique project — restoration of Guru
ki Maseet — in India. This mosque was built by the sixth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Hargobind, for his Muslim followers in the 16th century. |
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Sprightly Sam Manekshaw turns 90 New Delhi, April 3 Field Marshal Manekshaw is in the Capital for the occasion and at a dinner hosted by Chief of Army Staff General N.C. Vij yesterday said, “I am delighted to be here and to see all Generals many of whom were once my students”. Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, popularly known as Sam Bahadur, was the first Indian Commissioned Officer to become the Army Chief in 1969 unlike his predecessors, who were all Sandhurst trained officers and known as King’s Commissioned Indian officers. A brilliant strategist, who fashioned India’s victory over Pakistan in 1971, he was made India’s first Field Marshal in 1973 after 40 years of service. He is the only Army General to have this five-star honour so far. An Infantry officer, he received the Padma Bhushan in 1968. The Field Marshal, who truly loved soldiering and inspired troops to keep going even in the most difficult situations, was born in Amritsar on April 3, 1914. He was the fifth child of a family of four brothers and two sisters. At the dinner last night the Field Marshal belied his advanced age, and seemed as spry as ever, as he was received at the “Battle Honours” mess by Chief of Army Staff Gen N.C. Vij. At the function, the Field Marshal cut a cake and the audience was regaled with a few “Gorkhali” songs in tribute to the Field Marshal’s service in the Gorkha Brigade. He served in the 5th Gorkha Regiment (Frontier Force) and was also the Colonel of the 8th Gorkhas. Prominent among the guests were the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff and Chief of Navy Staff, Admiral Madhvendra Singh, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy, Integrated Defence Staff Chairman, Lieut-Gen Pankaj Joshi and the Vice-Chiefs of the Army and Naval Staff Lieut-Gen Shantonu Chowdhury and Vice-Admiral John Colin De Silva. The present Navy and Air Force chiefs have been ‘students’ of the Field Marshal during his stint as the Commandant of Defence Services Staff College at Wellington in the early 1960s. The General Officer Commanding (GOC) Western Command, Lieut-Gen SS Mehta and the GOC, Northern Command, Lieut-Gen R.K. Nanavaty, another officer from the Gorkha Brigade, also arrived for the function. Former Army Chiefs Generals V.P. Malik, Shankar Roychowdhury, V.N. Sharma, O.P. Malhotra and the former Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis, also graced the occasion. Another notable guest was the Punjab Governor, Lieut-Gen JFR Jacob (retd), who as the Chief of Staff Eastern Army worked closely with the Field Marshal during the critical period prior to and during the operation for the liberation of Bangladesh. The Field Marshal was today also honoured by ParZor, a Parsi NGO of the Capital. The function at the Air Force Auditorium at Subroto Park featured the screening of a documentary on the Field Marshal’s life, as well as a photo exhibition. |
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Amrita Pritam’s son pens a humorous tale New Delhi, April 3 Like mother, like son. But not quite so, Shelly, unlike the serious writing of his mother, is dabbling in humour. Also he has chosen to write in Hindi unlike Amrita who has penned most of her books in Punjabi. Significantly, his very first book “Shekhu Ram Ki Kahani” has already made some waves in literary circles and got him offers from TV production companies. In Shelly’s own words, the book is a story of a very simple and naive man who misses the bus on every important stage of his life and invites trouble by virtue of his naivety. Shekhu Ram, who dies in the beginning of the book itself, finds his name missing from the list of dead when he is taken to Yamraj-the god of death. Crying bitterly, he complains to Yama; “When I took birth, the Municipal Corporation failed to register my name. In the school, the teacher dropped my name in the roll call register. I went to cast my vote in the elections only once in my life but my name was missing in the voters ‘list. Now when I have died, you don’t have my name here also. Now where should I go to have a peaceful death.” After a lot of nerve-wracking research into both the lists for the Heaven and Hell-bound dead, Yama’s assistants “chitraguptas” work out the rationale for the deadly lapse, Shekhu Ram had neither done enough good deeds to deserve the Heaven nor had he sinned so much to be condemned to the hell. UNI |
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Arrest Togadia under POTA, says Left New Delhi, April 3 Asking the Vajpayee government to deal firmly with any attempt to violate the law and create communal disturbances, the Left observed that Mr Togadia was openly challenging the “conscience and patience” of the countrymen. It said the court should take suo motu action. The CPM, CPI, CPI (ML) and All-India Forward Bloc (AIFB) said the Centre and the court should take note of “Mr Togadia’s open confession that the VHP was behind the demolition of the Babri masjid as well as Gujarat riots last year.” The CPM Politburo, in a statement here, demanded that the BJP should clarify its position regarding Mr Togadia’s threat. “Does it endorse the VHP’s stand that it will defy the court and the law by resuming the agitation to get control of the acquired land?” it asked. CPI national secretary and spokesman Shamim Faizi said now that the admission had come from the “horse’s mouth”, the court should take suo motu action. CPI (ML) central secretariat member Ranjit Abhigyan,while demanding the arrest of Mr Togadia for his provocative statement meant to disturb communal harmony. All-India Forward Bloc national secretary G. Devrajan demanded that Mr Togadia be immediately booked under POTA. The CPM condemned the threat by VHP on the Ayodhya issue and asked the BJP leadership to clarify if it endorses the VHP’s stand and will defy the court. |
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POTA enactment questioned in SC New Delhi, April 3 Addressing a Bench of Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur before which a batch of petitions against POTA are pending, senior counsel Rajinder Sachar said the object of the enactment being maintenance of public order, only the state legislatures were competent to pass such a law. Appearing on behalf of the People's Union for Civil Liberties, one of the petitioners, Mr Sachar said most of the states had gone public that they would not enforce the law. “I have read in some newspaper that despite such assertions, one such state is using the provisions of POTA in one case,” Mr Justice Babu told the counsel. |
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Ansari case: Dubai’s help sought New Delhi, April 3 Sources said the Dubai authorities had been provided with the mobile number on which Ansari had sent a message to his conduit allegedly directing him to execute a plan to kill Assistant Commissioners of Police Rajbir Singh and Ravi Shanker. Ansari, who was deported from the port city last year for allegedly masterminding the attack on the American Center in which five policemen were killed, had sent this SMS while being lodged at Presidency Jail in Kolkata. The conspiracy came to light when the jail authorities traced a cellphone from his jail cell, the sources said. The service provider of the mobile telephony was contacted and details were procured about the mobile phone numbers accessed by Ansari. During investigations, the security agencies found that some messages through the SMS were sent to a particular mobile in which the underworld don had allegedly asked the person in Dubai to kill the two senior cops as a part of revenge for the arrest of his close associate Asif Reza Khan. The Delhi police was immediately informed and both the cops, who had been instrumental in the arrest of Khan, were provided with “Z” category security, they said.
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Kerala Cong divided over RS choice New Delhi, April 3 Party sources said that the Congress had decided to file nominations for two Rajya Sabha seats in the state. While name of Congress general secretary Vayalar Ravi had been decided almost unanimously, opinion was divided in the Kerala Congress over the choice of the second candidate. While Chief Minister A.K. Antony and PCC chief Murlidharan favoured candidature of Mr P.C. Chako as the party nominee, senior leader Mr Karunakaran was opposed to Mr Chako’s name. Meanwhile, Punjab Agriculture Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal today met AICC leaders in the Capital. Ms L.K. Garcha, OSD to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, also met central Congress leaders. |
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Jogi reiterates probe demand
Datia, April 3 Describing as “ridiculous” Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s announcement for a CBI probe into the alleged charges of IB operation against “selected Congressmen”, Mr Jogi told reporters here yesterday that it was “laughable” that the CBI would conduct a probe against the IB. In this regard, the Chief Minister said he had also written a letter to the Prime Minister on April 2.
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New twist to Netaji’s case Kolkata, April 3 Appearing before Justice M.K. Mukherjee’s single Bench here, Bijoy Kumar Nag claimed that he had met Bhagwanji between 1970 and 1975 at Raja Maidan in Purani Basti and between 1976 and 1977 at Brahmakunda in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. Justice Mukherjee said that the witness claimed that whatever Bhagwanji uttered about his early life to Mr Nag and his associates complied with Netaji’s life. Further, Bhagwanji spoke about issues regarding certain people which were exclusively known and confirmed by those people only, claimed the witness, who is the publisher of “Jayshri”, which had brought out several books on Netaji’s life. UNI |
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Notice to police on R.K. Sharma’s plea New Delhi, April 3 Sharma’s counsel Sanjiv Kumar said his client wanted the time in order to make the necessary arrangements, including finance, for the marriage, and he was ready to accept any condition imposed by the court in granting bail. The Sessions Court earlier granted five days’ “custody bail” to Sharma on the same ground. He was allowed to visit five places and was to be accompanied by plain-clothes officials everywhere he went. However, not satisfied with the “short” span of bail, Sharma had moved the High Court.
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New Delhi, April 3 CBI sources said Sharma was questioned by sleuths of the anti-corruption unit of the agency for several hours and confronted with files seized from his office and residence.
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Mitra to head W. Bengal Cong Kolkata, April 3 He will be replaced by Mr Somen Mitra in West Bengal. Similarly, there will be some changes in the state Congress committees of Assam, Tripura, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh within the next two weeks. According to party sources, Ms Sonia Gandhi has finalised a new list of office-bearers for the AICC. Senior party leaders like Mr Arjun Singh, Mr Natwar Singh, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Mr A.B.A Ghani Khan Chowdhury, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mr Buta Singh and Mr R.K.Dhavan are likely to be inducted into the new committee along with some young leaders, including Mr Kamal Nath, Ms Ambika Soni and Mr Mukul Vasnik. |
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Hair-cut, shave and discourse Chennai, April 3 As his dusky hands expertly run the scissors and comb through your hair, the short-statured and bearded Muhammed is apt to strike up a conversation with you, his views coming out lucidly in Tamil with an accent typical of his native place in the southern part of the state. Muhammed is emphatic that the court verdict on the Ayodhya issue must be followed. “No doubt about that,” he avers, tilting your head to another angle to facilitate the cutting, this time towards one corner of the room. There you see a small wooden shelf with a few books religiously arranged — copies of the Bhagawatgita, Bible and the Koran. The typical prints of popular film stars are missing from the walls. Instead, there are framed photographs of the spiritual leader of the Ahmedia sect of Islam.
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PEACE MARCH IN ASSAM 3 DACOITS KILLED
IN UP TRAIN PASSENGERS LOOTED MAGIC FOR PEACE TRANSPORT STRIKE HITS TRIPURA 3 COPS HURT IN MOB ATTACK |
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New Delhi, April 3
In video (
