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Thursday,
October
16, 2003,
Chandigarh, India
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Bail me out, Daler Mehndi
appeals to Amarinder Cong blasts Centre for ‘backing’ VHP Togadia’s term for peaceful
programme VHP activists converge on Delhi’s Ram Lila ground prior to leaving for Ayodhya on Wednesday. — Tribune photo by Mukesh Aggarwal |
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PM keeping close watch on
Ayodhya
New
pension scheme for govt staff from Jan 1 India objects to US remark on missile tests Tribute to a ‘publisher’ Cases against
Jaya: verdict
reserved Umer Farooq’s
passport released Award for Jain acharya
Mirwaiz for release of travel documents
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Bail me out, Daler Mehndi
appeals to Amarinder
New Delhi, October 15 “Some people are unnecessarily implicating me as I am famous, though it is also true that the complainant has named me,” the pop singer said in an interview to NDTV and asserted that he was neither hiding nor absconding. Daler Mehndi, whose name figures in the racket along with his brother Shamser Singh Mehndi, said he was under the impression that the police was trying to implicate him when they came to his house on Tuesday. “When I asked my men, they said their (police) behaviour was absolutely fine..... So my impression has been dispelled,” he said and appealed to the Punjab police and the Chief Minister to get the matter investigated thoroughly. “Instead of dragging my name, they should recommend my name for an award,” said Daler Mehndi. Exuding hope that the “truth” would come out soon, he said as of now, it was only through the media that he was getting some information. “While one channel is saying something, the other is saying something else...and as it turns out, it is not the truth always. Therefore, I appeal to my listeners and viewers that they should not believe everything..... I am not hiding or absconding. I am just busy with my work.” Asked if he would join investigations now, he said if the police was really on the look-out for him, they should have “procured either a search warrant or any kind of warrant against me.” Replying to a question about his links with his brother, Daler Mehndi said, “He (Shamsher) is my brother, I cannot deny it. But as far as business is concerned, we have separate business.” Meanwhile, going back on his statement made at a press conference here earlier this month, Daler Mehndi today said Param Raj Singh, SSP, Patiala, did not demand Rs 1.5 crore from him in connection with the immigration racket. “The demand for Rs 1.5 crore did not originate from Param Raj Singh,” a press release issued by his company DM said.—
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Cong blasts Centre for ‘backing’ VHP New Delhi, October 15 "The average citizen of the country wants to get on with his life and not be drawn into a communal cauldron which is not of his making. Incendiary statements and provocative polemics by members of the extended BJP are emboldened and fuelled by the Centre's open support to such organisations and directives to the Uttar Pradesh Government as to what steps to take and what not to take," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said. He said VHP leader Praveen Tagodia's declaration and invitation to communal riots and RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav's reference to violence were reprehensible, apart from being violative of the Indian Penal Code. Referring to reports about the Wardha Sewagram Ashram's financial problems, Mr Singhvi said the Congress President was distressed by the ashram's plight and had directed the party treasurer to help the ashram to tide over the financial crunch. |
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Togadia’s term for peaceful
programme New Delhi, October 15 “If all the Ram Bhakts’, who have been prevented from reaching Ayodhya from across the country, were allowed to participate in the programme, we assure that it would be peaceful,” the VHP general secretary Dr Pravin
Togadia, told a VHP rally here. “We do not spread violence,” he said citing earlier programmes which were organised peacefully. Addressing a rally of VHP supporters amid tight security at Ram Lila ground here before moving towards Ayodhya, he was less critical of the BJP-led NDA government and merely questioning Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on ordering stoppage of the train movement to and fro Ayodhya and sending paramilitary forces to prevent the outfit’s programme. Amidst applause, he said visiting Ayodhya was the fundamental right of every devotee. Dr Togadia demanded that Parliament enact a law for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. |
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PM keeping close watch on
Ayodhya New Delhi, October 15 In an important development, Uttar Pradesh Governor Vishnukant Shastri met Mr Advani here yesterday and briefed him on the prevailing law and order situation in the state in the wake of the VHP’s call to its followers to congregate in Ayodhya on October 17 for taking a resolve (sankalp) for the construction of the Ram temple. Mr Shastri was expected to submit a detailed report to the Union Home Ministry on the law and order situation by tomorrow. Meanwhile, Mr Advani had a cordial talk with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister during which the latter told the PM that law and order enforcing agencies had been instructed to exercise maximum restraint and not to open fire on unarmed VHP workers. |
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New pension scheme for govt staff from Jan
1 New Delhi, October 15 “It will be a defined contributory scheme.. provident fund deductions under the proposed scheme would start on January one next,” Finance Secretary D C Gupta today said, while speaking at a conference on insurance organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here. He said that cut-off date for being eligible for the proposed scheme was yet to be decided. Under the proposed pension, members would be given options to invest their contributions in various funds — safe, balanced or equity-linked funds — depending upon their willingness to take risk to get higher returns. The Finance Secretary said that the subscribers to the scheme would have the freedom from shifting from one scheme to another or from one insurance company to another. “It will be a defined contributory pension system. Employees will have the options of flexibility and making the investment of their choice”, Mr Gupta said. There would not be any overlapping on the present Employees Provident Fund (EPF), which implied that private sector employees would have to choose between the new scheme and the EPF, he said. “The new scheme will be applicable for government officials from January 1, 2004. It will also be applicable for private players. We expect large number of corporate houses to join after the entire mechanism is in place,” the Finance Secretary said. He said that a Central registration authority would be constituted soon and the pension fund managers would be picked through a competitive bidding process. Mr Gupta said that the existing defined pension scheme for government employees was affecting the government’s finance as the Centre was paying as much as Rs 24,000 crore as pension, accounting for two-thirds of the Rs 36,000 crore outgo on salaries and pensions.
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India objects to US remark on missile tests New Delhi, October 15 The spokesman said “He (State Department spokesman) ought to have confined himself to reacting to the Pakistani missile test rather than clutter up what he had to say by thinly disguised unwarranted references to India.” |
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Tribute to a ‘publisher’ of films New Delhi, October 15 What defines his work is his determination to fight against prevailing ideas, established values, dominant ideas, against fashion. One of his missions is to facilitate the discovery of the Third World cinema, distributed badly or not at all. In the beginning of his career he was politically motivated to make films that illustrated the common man’s worldly struggle, be in Chili, Bolivia, Portugal, the USA or France. But the iconic maker now strives to make each project a ‘luxury project’, a unique piece of work, “fighting against series and, consequently, against a certain standardised American cinema”. His Leftist movies were so provocative for the French film industry that it ostracised him. He has since put his vast resources at the service of creative directors from the world over and is today at the very heart of the French film-making industry. Six films made by him between 1969 and 2000 form the part of the retrospective. All of them are by different directors. You can witness the chronological evolution of his philosophy through these. The oldest, “Sept Jours Ailleurs”, is the tale of a young composer stifled by his social and family environment who wants to leave and begin life elsewhere. The latest, “Code Inconnu”, directed by Michael Haneke, is a wide-view portrait of a multi-cultural Europe and its emotional fallout on one couple. The others included in the retrospective are Alain Resnasis’ “Melo”, Claude Chabrol’s “Story of Women”, Abbas Kiorstami’s “Le Vent Nous Emportera” (Wind Will Carry Us) in Persian language and Jacques Doillon’s “Petits Freres”.
*** A powerful film shown in the Cinema of the World section today was “Radio Favela — Something in the Air” from Brazil. The film based on a true story relates to a pirate radio station in a Brazilian slum is symbolic of the struggle for dignity by underdogs everywhere. Director Helvecio Ratton has tried to portray life without any polish and the sincerity shows. The film released last year has been to nearly a dozen festivals already. The tale is set in Belo Horizonte, Brazil’s third largest city, in 1980s. On paper, slavery stands abolished but the black people continue to lead a wretched life. A small band of them decides to fight the system not through crime but by setting up an unlicensed radio station, which does not hesitate to criticise the government. A wave of suppression follows but the community rises as one to take on the official challenge. The radio station gets legitimacy only after 20 years of struggle. The revolutionary spirit is all pervasive.
*** At 5 In The Afternoon” from Iran is a strong contender for honours in the Asian Competition section. What is surprising is that it has been directed by a 23-year-old girl Samira Makhmalbaf, who began her career at the age of seven playing in “The Cyclist” directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, her father. At 18, she became the youngest director in the world to participate in the official section of the 1998 Cannes Film Festival with her first film, “The Apple”, which was invited to more than 100 festivals in a period of two years. It has been screened in more than 30 countries. Samira made her second feature film, “The Blackboard”, and participated in the competition section of the Cannes Film Festival once again as the youngest director in the world in 2000 to win the jury’s prize. Her current film, whose screenplay has also been done by her along with her father, is set in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime. Noqreh, a young girl makes an intense effort to find the best way to use the freedom of the new era for her own social growth as a woman. As schools for girls start reopening, Noqreh dreams of becoming the President of the country some day. Indira Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto are her idols. But in real life, even living is a desolate struggle. The film has Agheleh Rezaie (Noqleh), Abdolgani Yousefrazi (the father) and Razi Mohebi (the poet) in the central roles. |
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Cases against
Jaya: verdict
reserved New Delhi, October 15 A Bench comprising Mr Justice
S.N. Variava and Mr Justice H.K. Sema, while reserving verdict put certain probing questions to state government counsel. |
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Umer Farooq’s passport released New Delhi, October 15 The separatist leader had been writing to the government for releasing his travel documents and had recently sent a copy of the invitation along with an application to the Secretary (Passport) in the Union Government. —
PTI
New Delhi, October 15 The acharya has been selected among 3,000 nominees for his yeoman contribution to the cause of non-violence, communal harmony and national integration, Rameshwar Thakur, member-secretary of the award committee, said today. The award, consists of Rs 1.51 lakh and a citation, will be presented by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on October 31, the death anniversary of Indira Gandhi. —
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Mirwaiz for release of travel documents New Delhi, October 15 Mirwaiz, who is in the Capital, said he had written to the relevant section of the External Affairs Ministry for the release of his travel documents. His passport was suspended by the Centre on January 9 after the government decided to get tough with separatist leaders who misused their visits abroad to speak against the country. Umer has, however, denied all such allegations in his representation to the passport authorities. |
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New Delhi, October 15
New Delhi, October 15
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