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Wednesday,
July 16, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Mobile telephony for J & K
soon Near consensus on women’s Bill Maoists blow up tracks, 4 trains
derailed Sukhbir asks Amarinder to declare assets Indian troops
to leave for
UN missions
Summon Kalyan, says Muslim board |
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Daily-wage workers not on par with regular staff: SC
8 kids succumb to killer encephalitis Manu Sharma’s bail
extended File report on bonded labour, SC tells
states Cable operators oppose govt
rate
Leela Chitnis — a star fades
away CEC to review poll measures
in Rajasthan
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Mobile telephony for J & K
soon New Delhi, July 15 The assurance from the Centre came at the meeting which Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had with the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, at his office in the South Block. The Defence Minister also gave a clearance for raising the seven battalions of the ‘home and hearth’ force in the state. The new battalions would be able to provide employment opportunities to nearly 7,000 youths of the state, he said after his meeting with Mr Fernandes. The proposal for raising seven battalions was mooted by the state government after the Prime Minister announced the creation of 1 lakh jobs in the state within two years. The new force would be created on the pattern of the Territorial Army which would assist the security forces in performing their duties besides providing material backup in operational duties. Talking to reporters after the meeting, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister said he had received a clear indication from the Defence Minister that the clearance for the mobile telephone services in Jammu and Kashmir might be given soon. While the Home Ministry has already given clearance for starting the services, the objection raised by the Army has primarily been delaying it. The Army not only has an objection from the point of view of the frequencies at which the mobile services would operate, but also that it could prove to be another weapon in the hands of the terrorists. The Army is of the view that frequencies provided to the mobile phone operators would be very close to those on which their wireless network works and as such they have been persisting for increasing the spectrum space before launching the services. The Defence Ministry had also raised objections over erection of antennae within the Cantonment area in Srinagar citing building by-laws. As a result of this objection the inauguration of the mobile telephone services in Jammu and Kashmir has been put off at least on two earlier occasions. According to earlier schedules, the service was to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajapyee, in April this year. However, it was shelved citing technical reasons. The second time the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, had to inaugurate it but it met with the same fate. The final clearance from the Centre may come only after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) gives it go ahead after taking into consideration various factors involved and only if it is satisfied that all objections of the security forces had been addressed. The Chief Minister said the infrastructure for flagging off the service was already in place. Mufti Mohammed Sayeed has been pressing for starting the services in the state, a project which was initiated by his predecessor Dr Farooq Abdullah. He is of the view that the Rs 75 crore BSNL project will give a major boost to the state’s economy. |
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Near consensus on women’s Bill New Delhi, July 15 “There has been near consensus on increasing the number of seats,” BJP leader V.K. Malhotra told newspersons after the 90-minute meeting of four major parties. The Lok Sabha Speaker, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, said that the proposal of double-member constituencies was among those on which there was agreement. Mr Malhotra said that the BJP national executive would be meeting at Raipur later this week, during which discussions would be held on the agreed proposals so that the government could bring forward the Bill in the Monsoon session itself. Besides Mr Malhotra, the leaders who attended the meeting included Shivraj Patil (Congress), Somnath Chatterjee (CPM) and Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), who is a strong opponent of the Bill in its current form. The Samajwadi party leader Mulayam Singh favoured the Election Commission proposal that political parties should be allowed to give certain percentage of nominations to women candidates and the parties which failed to do so should be de-registered. Meanwhile, women activists today termed the all-party meeting on the Women’s Reservation Bill as a “meaningless, fruitless exercise designed to conceal the government’s abdication of responsibility on the crucial matter” and demanded that the Bill be put for voting in Parliament. Reacting to Speaker Manohar Joshi holding the meeting this morning to end the eight-year-old deadlock on the Bill, All-India Democratic Women’s Association general secretary Brinda Karat said, “Whole exercise is meaningless and fruitless. It exposes the failure of the government.” |
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Maoists blow up tracks, 4 trains derailed Samastipur, July 15 In their bid to enforce the bandh, MCC activists detonated dynamite to blow up tracks near Nadda on the Narkatiaganj-Gorakhpur section under the Samastipur division of East Central Railway, causing derailment of the engine along with three bogies of the Gorakhpur-Narkatiaganj passenger train. No casualty was reported. The MCC ultras waved placards and fixed their banners both in the front and rear of the train against the alleged police atrocities on them, railway sources said. The ultras also blew up about 70 metres of track near Pipra, between Muzzafarpur and Sugauli, under the same division and damaged signals and points, sources said, adding that an accident was averted as the driver of the Raxaul-Muzaffarpur train applied the emergency brake just as it was about to cross the damaged tracks. Five bombs were still lying on tracks near the Pipra station. The ultras removed fish plates causing derailment of the 285 Darbhanga-Narkatiaganj express. No casualty was reported, the sources said. Damaged tracks led to the derailment of three coaches of the 5,21 Kurla-Darbhanga Express at Rambhadrapur, near Samastipur, they said. An engine and two bogies of a passenger train were derailed at Barginia on the Samastipur-Darbhanga section as ultras removed the tracks. Train services were paralysed on the Muzaffarpur-Gorakhpur section with the MCC indulging in large-scale vandalism. Railway sources said several trains, including 501 Hajipur-Raxaul, 502 Raxaul-Hajipur, 524 Raxaul-Muzaffarpur, 517 Muzaffarpur-Gorakhpur and 527 Muzaffarpur-Raxaul, were cancelled while routes of the Amritsar Express, up and down Saptakranti Express, the Saryu Express and the Mithila Express were being diverted. Engineers were pressed into service to repair the track and communication systems. RPF personnel intensified patrolling to prevent further damage. Meanwhile, ECR general manager R.S. Varshney said at Patna that it would take at least 10 to 12 hours to restore normal train traffic in the Muzaffarpur-Gorakhpur section. Five live bombs were still lying on tracks near the Pipra station and these had to be defused first to take up the restoration work on a war footing, he added. —
PTI |
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Sukhbir asks Amarinder to declare assets New Delhi, July 15 “If he claims to be Mr Clean, let him declare all his assets and sources of income. Let the people know the assets and liabilities of the Maharaja,” Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, Member of Parliament and son of the SAD chief said here today. He said Mr Amarinder Singh had alleged that Badals owned assets worth Rs 3,500 crore but till date the government, despite adopting all means, had not been able to prove this. On the Chief Minister’s remark that teams had been sent abroad to unearth properties owned by Badals, he said, “We do not own even a single property abroad. The trips abroad by officials would cost the exchequer dearly, especially at a time when the financial health of the state is poor.” |
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Summon Kalyan, says Muslim board New Delhi, July 15 Referring to Mr Kalyan Singh’s statement charging the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajinder Singh, K.S. Sudarshan and VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Giriraj Kishore as the conspirators in the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, at Ayodhya, AIMPLB spokesman S.Q.R. Iliyas said the board had moved an application, demanding the summoning of Mr Kalyan Singh before the commission. LUCKNOW:The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Chairman, Tarlochan Singh, met the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board Chairman, Maulana Syed Mohammad Rabe Hassan Nadvi, on Tuesday and discussed several issues, including Ayodhya. —
UNI |
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Indian troops
to leave for
UN missions New Delhi, July 15 The batch of 200 men was given a farewell today by Maj-Gen K.S. Jamwal who is in charge of the overseeing deployment. Another batch, due to leave for peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was also present. India today is one of the largest contributors to the UN peacekeeping operations. |
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Daily-wage workers not on par with New Delhi, July 15 Allowing an appeal by the Haryana Government and setting aside the high court order, a Bench comprising Mr Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat said “it is not possible to hold that the principle of equal pay for equal work is an abstract one.” “Equal pay for equal work is a concept which requires for applicability and complete and wholescale
identity between a group of employees claiming identical pay scale and the other group of employees who have already earned it,” the court ruled, holding that “the problem about equal pay cannot always be translated into a mathematical formula.” The court said if judged in the background of this legal principle, the high court order “is clearly indefensible”. However, the apex court directed the Haryana Government to prescribe the minimum wages for daily-wage workers as per laid down norms. The issue had arisen from the petition of 35 employees in the high court, who were appointed as helpers in the Haryana Roadways on daily wages from time to time. They had claimed regularisation in view of the service rendered by them for a considerably long period and the same pay scale as was applicable to regular employees under the principle of “equal pay for equal work”. The daily-wage workers had also asserted that they were educationally qualified for the post. The state government had contested their claim and said they were not educationally qualified for appointment to the post of helper and also stated that the principle of “equal pay for equal work” was factually and legally not applicable to their case. However, the high court, had accepted the writ petition of the employees, holding that they were entitled to the “minimum of the pay scale with dearness allowance alone” with effect from April 1, 2000. Aggrieved by the high court order, the Haryana Government had moved the apex court in appeal, contending that the direction given in the impugned judgement was contrary to the position of law enunciated by the Supreme Court in various judgements. Accepting the contentions of the state government, the Supreme Court held that “a scale of pay is attached to a definite post and in case of a daily-wager, he holds no post.” “The respondent workers cannot be held to hold any post to claim even any comparison with the regular and permanent staff for any or all purposes, including a claim for equal pay and allowances,” it ruled. The apex court further said the employees had not placed any material before the high court to “substantiate” any basis for equivalence. |
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8 kids succumb to killer encephalitis Nanded, July 15 The children died at the GMCH hospital, District Health Officer K.A. Bandealli told UNI here. He said clinical diagnosis had confirmed the cause of deaths as viral encephalitis. The children died between June 5 and July 12. The victims include four children from Nanded district, three from Hingoli and one from Parbhani district. Three children undergoing treatment at the hospital are all below eight years. The health authorities here have sent their blood samples to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, and the reports are awaited within a month, he said. Dr Bandealli said pigs and mosquitoes were responsible for the spread of the fever and, therefore, a cleanliness drive in the region had been undertaken. —
UNI |
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Manu Sharma’s bail extended New Delhi, July 15 The court extended the interim bail after Manu’s counsel R.K. Naseem submitted that there was no change in circumstances since the passage of the last order. Earlier, he was granted interim bail on the ground that recording of evidence in the case was yet to be completed and the police was yet to produce witness Dinesh Kumar from Nepal. Last time Manu’s interim bail was extended on March 25. While extending his bail, the court had asked Manu not to enter Delhi except on the day of trial and not to influence the witnesses. He was also restrained from visiting abroad without the court’s permission and directed to surrender passport to the Delhi police. The CBI had sought more time to produce witness Dinesh Kumar from Nepal before the trial court. Dinesh Kumar was working as watchman in the house of Manu’s friend Amardeep Singh Gill, where he had allegedly taken shelter after the crime. Gill is also facing trial for harbouring Manu. —
PTI |
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File report on bonded labour, SC tells states New Delhi, July 15 A Bench comprising Justice Ruma Pal and Justice P.V. Reddi issued the notices to Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Chhattishgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttaranchal after going through the report of the NHRC, which is entrusted with the task of overseeing the rehabilitation of released bonded labourers. Amicus Curiae A.K. Ganguly pointed out to the court the displeasure expressed by the NHRC over the non-filing of reports by several states. He said the commission had in its report of March 27 stated that the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh had not bothered to file any status report while Kerala, Gujarat and Uttaranchal regularly asserted that problem of bonded labour did not exist in their states. The commission stated that the states of Orissa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh were filing status reports before it regularly though Gujarat had always been insisting that it did not have the problem of bonded labour. —
PTI |
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Cable operators oppose govt
rate New Delhi, July 15 Cable operators from across the country, who assembled to discuss the issue, passed a unanimous resolution that they will charge Rs 180 plus taxes for FTA and not Rs 72 plus taxes as stated by the government. They also urged the government to put in place regulatory mechanism to rein in broadcasters. The Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI) and the National Cable Telecom Association (NCTA) told a press conference in the absence of a regulatory framework, they would not offer the Rs 72 ‘honeymoon’ package for all channels, as agreed earlier. The cable operators said CAS would have no meaning unless the government also made the broadcasters fall in line and charge consumer-friendly rates. |
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Leela Chitnis — a star fades
away Mumbai, July 15 In her final years — she died in the US on Sunday — her loved ones abandoned her. But one never heard this archetypal screen mother complain, not even in her autobiography that was published 22 years ago. Born in 1912 in Karnataka, Chitnis was closely associated with Marathi stage before she joined films as a junior artiste. Her first role as a leading lady was in Master Vinayak’s Hindi/Marathi melodrama “Chhaya” in 1936 in which she played the title role. In “Gentleman Daku”, she played a thief dressed as a man. But it was her series of melodramas for Bombay Talkies, with Ashok Kumar in the lead, which catapulted Chitnis to fame. In “Kangan” (1939), the first of the super-hit films with Ashok Kumar, Chitnis was cast as the stereotypical village belle who pines for her citified beloved amidst great villainous hurdles. Her subsequent films with Ashok Kumar, “Bandhan” (1940) and “Jhoola” (1941), were also major successes. After a brief innings at the top, Chitnis switched to playing the role of mother in 1948 with the patriotic film “Shaheed” in which she was cast as Dilip Kumar’s mother. She later played the same actor’s mother in the super-successful “Ganga Jamuna”, and also Dev Anand’s mother in two evergreen films, “Hum Dono” and “Guide”. She also directed a film, “Aaj Ki Baat”, in 1955. Chitnis’ most well known maternal role was in “Awaara” in 1951 in which she was cast by Raj Kapoor as his mother who’s deserted by her husband for suspected infidelity. If Chitnis’ Radha in “Kangan” epitomised rustic beauty in mainstream Hindi cinema, her role of a mother in “Awaara” embodied the long-suffering, eternally unhappy image of the screen mother later adopted by other actresses like Sulochana and Nirupa Roy. Her most successful and productive innings was in the 1960s. In the 1970s her career trickled into sporadic appearances. Her last appearance was in the Kamal Haasan-starrer “Dil Tujhko Diya” in 1985. Thereafter she migrated abroad to be with her children only to be forced into a life of desperate exile in the US where she died on Sunday. —
IANS |
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CEC to review poll measures
in Rajasthan New Delhi, July 15 During his visit, Mr Lyngdoh will review preparation of electoral roll, the status of the issue of photo identity cards to voters and also on training of election staff on the procedure and usage of the electronic voting machines (EVMs), an official spokesperson told The Tribune here today. Mr Lyngdoh will hold meeting with the Rajasthan Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and other state Election Commission officials, he said. |
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Mumbai, July 15
