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Saturday,
April 26, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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PM for labour-intensive growth strategy SC stays phone tribunal order LS passes outstanding demands of ministries |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT
End terror against India, Russia to Pak |
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Capt under attack on Iraq gurdwara 7 fresh samples for SARS testing
Govt for indigenous security software Sinha’s Africa tour to boost ties Govt-NSCN(K) ceasefire extended CBI moots Interpol investigation unit CPM fears HPCL, BPCL selloff Ameen
Sayani
on FM Star
launches Radiocity 91 FM
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PM for labour-intensive growth strategy New Delhi, April 25 “We have more labour and relatively less capital. Hence, our growth strategy has to be less capital-intensive and more labour-intensive and productivity-oriented,” Mr Vajpayee observed while giving away the Prime Minister’s Shram Awards for 2001 here. Asserting that “faster growth with employment and equity” was the government’s philosophy of economic reforms, the Prime Minister said the policies being pursued in the country were geared to achieve the twin goals of ensuring productive employment to every able-bodied person and reducing disparities and inequalities between developed and developing countries. Pleading for a new national work culture, the Prime Minister asked for launching a national work improvement campaign with the central message — work faster, work better, work for the nation — and said work becomes worship only when it is done with the attitude of “samaj seva and rashtra seva”. Altogether 37 workmen employed in various departmental Central and state public sector undertakings were given awards in recognition of their distinguished performances, innovative abilities, outstanding contribution in the field of productivity and exhibition of exceptional courage and presence of mind. Pointing out that only 5 per cent of the Indian labour force in the age group of 20-24 years had vocational skills, he said in industrial countries, the figure was between 60 and 80 per cent.
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SC stays phone tribunal order New Delhi, April 25 The stay was granted amid allegations by senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for the Cellular operators that a “scam” of Rs 9,000 crore was involved in providing the licence to private parties to launch the WLL service. Granting a partial stay on the order of the TDSAT, a Bench comprising Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice H.K. Sema said TDSAT would continue hearing in the matter but the documents over which the government had claimed “privilege” would not be shown to the cellular operators pending its decision. The stay on the TDSAT order, asking the Centre to give the cellular operators the relevant documents, was granted by the court following an appeal by the government contending that any access to private parties to the internal decision-making process, would affect the administration. Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee and Solicitor-General Kirit Raval, submitted that the government was ready to show the documents to the tribunal. Admitting the appeal, the court said the issue whether the government could claim “privilege” on the documents needed to be examined “threadbare.” Mr Sorabjee said the “government does not want to make public its decision-making process as there are sensitive internal notings on the files by the officers concerned.” However, Mr Jethmalani alleged that a scam of Rs 9,000 crore was involved. “If the documents are made public it will show that the government has acted corruptly. We are prepared to have documents without the names of the officers,” he said. The documents, which had been claimed by the cellular operators include recommendations of the Telecom Commission on the WLL issue, the October 2001 and January 24, 2002, decisions of the government and its correspondence with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). |
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LS passes outstanding demands of ministries New Delhi, April 25 The House also passed the relevant Appropriation Bills which will allow the government to withdraw Rs 8.45 lakh crore from the Consolidated Fund of India for expenditure of Central ministries and departments. The Lok Sabha had discussed the demands for grants of only two ministries — External Affairs and Labour — and those pertaining to other ministries were passed without any discussion at one go. The Appropriation Bills were passed after Finance Minister Jaswant Singh briefly replied to questions raised by Opposition members on the plight of sugarcane growers and two other issues. On the sugarcane industry, which is facing major difficulties in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country, Mr Jaswant Singh said an inter-ministerial group, which was set up to look into the details of the issue, would submit its report within a fortnight. Regarding the delay in facilities accorded to ex-servicemen, the Finance Minister said 114 medical polyclinics had already become operational from February this year. A total of 227 polyclinics have been sanctioned which will be set up all across the country. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, April 25 Mango trees damaged: The unusual cold spell during the last phase of winter this year caused damage to mango trees at Hoshiarpur in Punjab, Minister of State for Agriculture Hukamdeo Narayan Yadav said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today. While the level of loss was 80 per cent in 475 hectares of area, it was 60 per cent in 106 hectares. The production of mango in the state has also come down from 28506 MT in 1998-99 to 12,000 MT in 2002-03, the minister told the House. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan: Chandigarh is one of the few states and UTs which , despite being covered under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme, have not submitted their district plans for 2002-03, Minister of State for Human Resource Development Ashok Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha. Income tax collections: The income tax collections from Punjab in financial year 2001-02 were Rs 732.2 crore, whereas the amount of total direct taxes collected from the state was 1,051.7 crore, Minister of State (Revenue) for Finance and Company Affairs Gingee N. Ramachandran told the Lok Sabha. He informed the House that during this period, income tax collections were Rs 587.1 crore from Haryana and Rs 130.5 crore from Himachal Pradesh. |
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End terror against India, Russia to Pak
New Delhi, April 25 This was communicated by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha when the latter telephoned him last evening and talked to him for about 25 minutes. Mr Ivanov also told Mr Sinha that Moscow favoured a political resolution of all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan, a Foreign Office spokesman told reporters here today. Mr Sinha’s telephone call was part of India’s initiative to actively engage in humanitarian assistance efforts in the post-war Iraq. Mr Sinha has in the past few days spoken to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin. Mr Ivanov said he was looking forward to Mr Sinha’s visit to Moscow from May 14 to 16 for a meeting of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission for Trade, Economic and Scientific Cooperation. |
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Capt under attack on Iraq gurdwara New Delhi, April 25 “By taking up the matter regarding the repair of Guru Nanak Dev’s gurdwara in Baghdad directly with the USA, the Punjab Chief Minister has directly encroached upon the Centre’s domain, which is highly condemnable,” BJP Parliamentary Party spokesperson Vijay Kumar Malhotra told newspersons here. “It is the height of impropriety... As per constitutional practice, Capt Amarinder Singh should have routed the proposal through the Ministry of External Affairs, instead of directly writing to the US Ambassador to India,” he said. “While Parliament has unanimously passed a resolution deploring the unilateral attack by the coalition forces, led by the USA, and wanted immediate withdrawal of the troops, his (Capt Amarinder Singh’s) letter has in a way legitimised American action against Iraq,” Mr Malhotra said, adding that “the Centre should take serious note of it and admonish the Punjab Chief Minister.”
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7 fresh samples for SARS testing New Delhi, April 25 Briefing mediapersons at the Health Ministry headquarters at Nirman Bhavan, the Director-General Health Services (DGHS), Dr S.P. Aggarwal said the cases had been referred for testing for SARS by Civil Hospital, Bathinda. Asked when the results were expected, he said, “It takes 24 hours for the PCR tests. If bands of the PCR products are visible, it is considered as tentatively positive. Further sequencing of the product is done to confirm if there is any case of SARS. This takes another 24 hours.” |
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Govt for indigenous security software New Delhi, April 25 Assuring the Rajya Sabha, Communications and Information Technology Minister Arun Shourie, in his 50-minute reply to a debate on the working of his ministries, said lobbyists, howsoever strong, would not be allowed to influence decision-making in the telecom sector. He also said BSNL and MTNL would not be raising the monthly telephone rentals. The minister said the government was setting up several working groups on cyber
encryption and cyber security to ensure that key areas like defence, finance, commerce and air traffic control were not disrupted in case of emergency, Citing an example of an Internet service provider giving services at Rs 5 per hour, the minister said intelligence agencies found that the company was linked to a Mauritian firm which, in turn, was a subsidiary of a Hong Kong company with connections with Peoples’ Liberation Army of China and the Chinese intelligence. Mr Shourie said while TRAI had fixed a higher ceiling of tariffs, both BSNL and MTNL were ready with “alternative packages” without raising the monthly rentals for basic telephones. |
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Sinha’s Africa tour to boost ties New Delhi, April 25 Mr Sinha will be holding discussions with the Tanzanian leadership on a wide range of issues to boost the bilateral relations, sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said here today. An agreement on cooperation in the field of housing and human settlement and an agreement on education will be signed during the visit. Mr Sinha would also be visiting Zanzibar and would be calling on President Amani
Karume. |
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Govt-NSCN(K) ceasefire extended New Delhi, April 25 The ceasefire was reviewed at a meeting held here earlier this week between senior officials of the Home Ministry and representatives of NSCN (K). Both sides expressed satisfaction made so far in implementing the ceasefire. Meanwhile, the NSCN (Isak Muivah) leaders concluded the first round of talks with the Centre on Indian soil on January 23 after 36 years. The three-day Centre-NSCN (IM) talks which were also aimed at covering the demand for a greater Nagaland and more powers under Article 371A failed to make any headway though both sides decided to continue the talks. However, the Naga leaders refused to give any commitment to lay down arms. Mr T. Muivah who along with NSCN (IM) chairman Isak Chisi Swu had participated in the three-day talks.
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CBI moots Interpol investigation unit New Delhi, April 25 “A proposal has been mooted for strengthening of the Interpol wing in the CBI, especially the extradition cell, and creation of an Interpol investigation unit,” CBI Director P.C. Sharma said while addressing a conference of Interpol liaison officers of the states and Union Territories at Ghaziabad. He further said the CBI was in process of installing a global communication system - 24/7 - through which photos, fingerprints and other data could be transmitted online to all 181 Interpol member countries through a virtual private network
(VPN). |
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CPM fears HPCL, BPCL selloff New Delhi, April 25 “Our assumption is that it (government) has almost reached a position where it can clinch the deal .... it has already appointed consultants and every step is being taken towards that end (privatisation),” party leader Somnath Chatterjee told newspersons here. |
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Ameen Sayani on FM
Mumbai, April 25 Celebrity broadcaster Ameen Sayani will be hosting and producing programmes exclusively for 93.5 RED FM, a press note stated here today. To start with, he would be the anchor for “Sangeet Kay Sitaron Ki Mehfil’’, it said. This is the first time in his illustrious career spanning over five decades that he is associating with a private FM station. Sayani became a household name all over the country for anchoring the show ‘Binaca Geetmala’, later rechristened as ‘Cibaca Geetmala’ due to compulsions of change in brand name He has been associated with the radio since 1951 and in recent years had been keeping a low profile.
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Star launches Radiocity 91 FM New Delhi, April 25 The FM radio service will begin in Delhi from April 29. It is already operational in Mumbai, Lucknow and Bangalore. Speaking on the occasion, the Director, MBPL, Mr Ashok Khinwasara, said “Mr P K Mittal’s Ispat Group had bid for FM radio licences, but since we did not have expertise in the area we joined hands with Star”.
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