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Punjab
protests against freezing of MSP
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‘Dictatorship
in Pak will stay’
Rising
mercury imports worry experts Public
service commissions can devise their own
selection methods: SC Raids in Bihar
to trace Daler New
wage board for journalists demanded Geelani
welcomes bus move
2 more
held for Gateway blast Bengal Sappers
begins celebrations Major power failure in
western India
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Punjab protests against freezing of MSP New Delhi, November 5 The State Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister, Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, lodged his protest during a meeting with the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Rajnath Singh. He said freezing of the procurement price of paddy at last year’s level would drastically affect the interest of farmers at a time when the input costs have increased proportionately. Bharatiya Kisan Union president Mohinder Singh said in a statement that the Centre’s decision was “a ploy to benefit the trade and industry that fund the election campaign of main political parties.” “It is totally illegal and ludicrous that the Uttar Pradesh Government has issued Area Reservation Order for sugarmills without announcing the rate at which sugarcane can be purchased by the sugar factories,” it added. At a meeting on December 21, farmers’ representatives will fix the date, probably the first week of January, to launch road blockades and other modes of agitation to protest against the denial of remunerative price to farmers for their produce. Despite the Supreme Court directions for purchasing paddy from farmers at MSP of Rs 550-580 a quintal, the Uttar Pradesh Government had fixed a procurement quota of only 6.5 lakh tonnes while state farmers had produced around 21 million tonnes paddy this year. As a result, the farmers failed to secure the MSP rates and had to sell paddy at around Rs 400-425 a quintal suffering a cumulative loss of about Rs 2,000 crore. Similarly, for record sake and public consumption, the Mulayam Singh Yadav government was asking the Centre to fix the Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) for sugarcane at Rs 110 per quintal while itself avoiding to order half of the state’s sugarmills run by the Cooperatives and a State Corporation to pay higher State Advisory Price (SAP) for cane. Citing apex court verdicts, he said there was no court direction that prevented the state government from taking action against the private mills which had denied SAP rates to farmers for their sugarcane crop and wanted to repeat the same in the coming cane crushing year which had just begun. Instead of issuing Recovery Certificate against 51 defaulting private mills in Uttar Pradesh to pay arrears of farmers, amounting to more than Rs 100 crore, the state government has initiated the process of selling 24 public mills to big private houses at contract arrangement of Rs 50 crore while their book value is Rs 1,200 crore, Mr Singh added. Leaders of farmers accused the Mulayam Singh government of being in league and serving the interest of industrialists while ignoring the farmers who have been denied MSP for paddy crop and SAP for cane. |
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PM asks securitymen to be vigilant New Delhi, November 5 Without naming Pakistan, Mr Vajpayee said while the Army was guarding the borders effectively, those belonging to the police and paramilitary forces should remain vigilant against any attempt from our neighbour to create internal disturbance. “Unprecedented threats are emanating from our neighbourhood. In this situation, it is important to be vigilant round the clock,” Mr Vajpayee said addressing the 38th All-India Conference of Directors-General and Inspectors-General of Police organised by the Intelligence Bureau here at Vigyan Bhavan. Stating that the security agencies in the country are burdened with the task of tackling different facets of global terrorism and new methods being adopted by criminals, Mr Vajpayee stressed that police organisations across the country should adopt new strategies to tackle the menace. “We have to adopt new strategies and we are doing that,” the Prime Minister said emphasising that the policies adopted by the government to achieve greater economic growth could not be successful without a sound security scenario and law and order situation. Recalling the contribution made by security personnel, Mr Vajpayee pointed out that so far about 19,000 jawans had laid their lives fighting terrorism. |
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‘Dictatorship in Pak will stay’ New Delhi, November 5 Professor Stephen Cohen, a senior fellow (foreign policy) at Brookings Institution, which works as a thinktank for the Bush administration, while delivering a talk on Pakistan army here at the United Service Institute (USI) said that in such a scenario India could, in fact, help in the return of democracy to Pakistan by solving the unfavourable external environment that Pakistan finds itself in. Reading from his book, “The Idea of Pakistan”, Prof Cohen pointed out that the professionalism of the army is the only strong leg that Pakistan is hopping on and that is the only reason it is going to be pretty stable for the next four to five years. Professor Cohen was of the opinion that there is a general perception in Pakistan that real democracy is not good for Pakistan, given the external threat that Pakistan faces vis-a-vis India. He said that Gen Musharraf, for instance, has to grapple with the conflicting demands imposed by the US, India, the Islamists within his own country and his own liberalisation programme. However, army will remain the single-most important institution for the indefinite future. Politics and the national interest of the country are determined by the beliefs held by the officer corps greatly. According to Prof Cohen, the Pakistani army might be deeply involved in society and economy, yet, it is professional and competent enough to take on its external threats. He is of the opinion that the Pakistani army is unlikely to become Islamic. Future generations might be more Islamic, still the present system (the professionalism of the army) will remain intact. At the same time, it is unlikely for the army to break up. Any break-up within the Pakistani army would most definitely lead to Pakistan becoming the “monster” that all will fear. Talking of the role of Islam in Pakistani army, he contended that the present generation of the Pakistani army is not so much Islamic as political and materialistic. It has only used Islam for its political objectives. There are stereotypical images of India in Pakistan, which is disturbing for everyone as this will only accentuate the insular and closed nature of the next generation of the Pakistani army. Prof Cohen asserted that the use of Islam for its political motives had not compromised the professional orientation of the army. He recognised that the degree of Islamisation in the Pakistani army is difficult to ascertain as the army itself does not look at this issue. Yet, a lot of its soldiers are from rural Pakistan where the image of the West and of India is distorted. |
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Rising mercury imports worry experts New Delhi, November 4 While the world is phasing out mercury because of public health concerns, India is phasing in toxic and deadly mercury as revealed by the latest data released by the government, Director of Centre for Science and Environment Sunita Narayan said here at a conference on ‘Mercury pollution’. “We are rapidly becoming the toxic dumping ground of the world’s mercury”, Dr Narayan said adding that if the trend remained unchecked “we will become the dirt capital soon”. Mercury is highly toxic, she pointed out adding that its compound methyl mercury, is a confirmed neurotoxicant as it damages the developing brain. It is also genotoxic as mercury is known to pass through the placental barrier and the blood-brain barrier, putting the unborn at tremendous risk. It can cause severe and permanent damage to the central nervous system, lungs and kidneys, point out research studies conducted across the globe. But while the world has recognised the dangers of this deadly stuff, Indian policy makers continue to ignore the ticking time bomb, opine experts asserting that there are substitutes available for mercury. The government is sitting tight as the growth lobby has been telling the policy makers that without the rise in mercury imports, the target of eight per cent economic growth was not achievable. Mercury imports to India have more than doubled between 1996 and 2002 from 254 tonnes per annum to 531 tonnes annually, according to the official data. Organo-mercury compound imports have jumped by an incredible 1500 times from 0.7 tonnes to 1312 tonnes in the same period. India has now displaced the USA as the biggest consumer of mercury. It consumes 50 per cent of the global production and processes 69 per cent of the metal. |
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Public service commissions can devise their own New Delhi, November 5 Upholding the decision of the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission devising the system of “scaling of marks” to select candidates for appointment, a Bench comprising Mr Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice B.N. Srikrishna set aside the Allahabad High Court’s order quashing the selection lists for the appointment of civil judges in 2000 and 2001, respectively. The commission had devised the system of “scaling of marks” to bring parity in the
evaluation done by the examiners, engaged by it to check the answerbook of the candidates. The state government, the commission and some candidates, whose names figured in the selection list, had challenged the High Court’s order in the apex court. The Bench
appreciated the commission’s efforts for devising the system so that no candidate was placed in an
disadvantageous position because of the choice subjects offered by him for the competitive
examination. “We do not think that the application of scaling formula was either arbitrary or illegal,” the judges said adding that by adopting the system, the
selection was done still in more scientific manner. Stating that the formula was adopted by the commission after a detailed study done by experts, the Supreme Court said the courts below could not sit on judgement of the expert’s opinion unless it was arbitrary and malafide was established. Due to quashing of the selection lists by the High Court no fresh appointment was made by the commission since then. |
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Raids in Bihar
to trace Daler Patna, November 5 The police said here that suspecting Daler might be hiding at his relatives’ places in Patna city, the police team from Punjab arrived here to find the singer. The police said on the basis of information, the Punjab police team conducted raids to apprehend the popstar. However, Daler could not be found and no objectionable document sized during the raid. Sources said Daler paid regular visits to his close relatives in Patna.
— UNI |
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New wage board for journalists demanded Allahabad, November 5 Mr Rao said here the formation of a new wage board was essential to redress the problems of media staff. He criticised the Rashtriya Shram Ayog and others for opposing the formation of a new wage board for journalists and non-journalists and said that wage board was the only way through which journalists could exercise some bargaining power. Mr Rao criticised the implementation of contract system in newspapers, describing it as illegal and a perpetrated atrocity on journalists.
— UNI |
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Geelani welcomes bus move New Delhi, November 5 The DFP chief, Mr Salim Geelani said here last evening that the two sides should not vitiate the atmosphere by putting conditions for talks. Mr Geelani said he did not consider it necessary that Pakistan should be involved “at this stage”. He, however, welcomed the Prime Minister’s move to appoint Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani to conduct talks with the Hurriyat leaders and said it reflected the Vajpayee government’s desire for peace in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Geelani said peace was the top priority in Jammu and Kashmir. The problem in the state, according to him, was human as well as political and could be solved only through talks and not by the gun. Mr Geelani said the proposal to start a bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarbad was a move in the right direction to facilitate interaction between Kashmiris living on the two sides of the Line of Control. |
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2 more held for Gateway blast Mumbai, November 5 Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Suresh Wallishetty said Mohammed Hussain Mohammed Ansuh, alias ‘Hussain Batterywala’ (47), and Mohammed Rizvan Mohammed Istaf Bundewala (26) were picked up from Ghatkopar, a north-eastern suburb, early today. The two were produced before POTA court judge A.P. Bhangale this afternoon, who remanded them in police custody till November 19. Mr Wallishetty, who is also the investigating officer in the case, said the two were “very much involved in the explosion” in which 20 persons had died and several others were injured.
— UNI |
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Bengal Sappers
begins celebrations Chandigarh, November 5 Air Chief Marshal Krishnaswamy extended his felicitation to all Bengal sappers and their families. Stating that the Bengal Sappers had served with distinction for the past 200 years, both in war and peace, he expressed hope that they would continue to render yeoman service to the nation. Besides tea with all ranks, the chief guest visited the BEG museum, which details the regiment's history since its inception in 1803. He also inaugurated the Bicentenary Gate at the centre. Later, a show, which included gymnastics, motor-cycle display and equestrian skills, was presented, followed by a social get-together at the Feathers Officers Institute. A large number of Bengal sappers, both serving and retired, including former British officers who once served with the regiment, are attending the celebrations. |
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Major power
failure in western India Mumbai, November 5 The western grid collapsed at around 10.30 am today. As per initial estimates, the western grid collapsed after the Maharashtra State Electricity Board began to draw more than the power allocated to it, causing a major outage, officials said. As a result, the Parali-Chandrapur line tripped. Maharashtra, which is facing a major power shortage, has been accused earlier of drawing more than its share of power from the central power grid, causing the network to collapse. Mumbai was largely unaffected by the power outage as the metropolis does not depend on the western power grid. |
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Shilpa Shetty’s parents charge-sheeted Surat, November 5 The three-paged chargesheet filed with Chief Judicial Magistrate
R.P. Mehta, named five persons, including prime accused Sunanda Shetty, Surendra
Shetty, hotelier K. Padmanabhan, driver of Shettys’ Dilip Palsekar and one Dinesh Rai. Both Sunanda and Surendra have been granted conditional bail in the case. —
PTI |
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