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Patna, April 10 Unidentified gunmen today attacked an RJD office here killing one person and critically injuring four others sparking off violent protests by party activists who blocked roads, burnt tyres and damaged several vehicles.
Power cuts spoil feel good
factor
BJP raising Bofors for political gains, says Ashwani
Cong, CPM ask EC to ban opinion
polls
Indira was like mother, Sonia tells tribesmen Congress names candidates for four Delhi seats |
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USA flays attack on
PDP rally
SC norms for naval officers joining merchant
navy
Army commanders to meet on
Monday
Lathi
charge at Vajpayee’s rally
SC modifies Hindujas’ surety condition
Bomb scare at
airport
Haryana’s reply sought in retired officer’s case
Striving towards measles-free
India
Celebrating brotherhood through couplets
3 held for stoning Sinha’s convoy
Pawar discharged from hospital
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One killed in attack on RJD office
Patna, April 10 Three gunmen opened indiscriminate fire on the Gandhi Nagar office of RJD candidate for Patna Lok Sabha constituency Ramkripal Yadav killing one person on-the spot and injuring four others before escaping in a vehicle, the police said. The Police said factional feud was suspected to be the reason for the attack on the RJD candidate’s office, which was opened only yesterday. The RJD leader is locked in a bitter contest with Union minister C.P. Thakur in Patna constituency. As news of the attack spread, angry RJD activists took to streets in large numbers, burnt tyres, damaged several vehicles and disrupted vehicular traffic on the new by-pass road for several hours. Hundreds of policemen with anti-riot vehicles were posted in Kankerbagh and Agamkuan locality where tension prevailed after the shoot-out. Raids were being conducted at various places to apprehend the gunmen, the police said. The attack coincided with the visit of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Mr Ramkripal Yadav accused his BJP rival Thakur of having masterminded the attack, a charge denied by the Union Minister. Mr Yadav said he would lodge a formal complaint with the Election Commission seeking action against Mr Thakur. “We will not tolerate such an attack. I will write to the Election Commission about it,’’ he said and demanded a high-level inquiry into the attack. Denying the charge as “baseless”, Mr Thakur told reporters that BJP men were not involved in the attack. In view of the stupendous response to Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani’s Bharat Uday Yatra, the RJD was “trying to defame BJP for electoral gains”, he alleged. —
PTI |
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Power cuts spoil feel good
factor
Sikar, April 10 With rising temperature and diminishing water levels despite a good monsoon last season, the long cuts in electricity supply has people suffering and at their wits end. Blackouts during night, hot conditions and the menace of mosquitoes is the common refrain. This is the situation in most villages of this region. If there is electricity in night then there is no guarantee that it will give relief to the villagers in the morning too. All promises of the state government and the claims of the local administration have proved to be wrong. Most upset are the housewives and the students, who need electricity not only in the morning but also during the night. If there is a three-phase electricity supply in the villages in the morning then either due to “rotation” (a term for load shedding) or due to tripping there is a blackout in the same villages in the night. People point out that this system of “rotation” has actually spoilt the “feel good” factor just ahead of the elections. While the students are forced to study in kerosene lamps during nights, people are questioning that even if there is uninterrupted supply of electricity for eight hours to the farmers, the common man continues to be burdened. They point out that the electricity cuts are not felt so strongly during the day as most are busy in some chores, but it is severe during nights with mosquitoes swarming all over. This situation is prevailing in not just one or two villages of the Shekhawati region but in almost 70 per cent of them. Leaving out just a handful of big villages in this district the situation is quite serious. Dataramgarh is one village which is being getting connected to the electricity line going to the cities. Although the orders have been issued but the local electricity board officials are not ready to connect this village to the city line as they claim they do not have the required material to do so. Although there is no question of them getting the two-phase electricity connection, the people of the Gopinathpura village point out that they do not even get the three-phase electricity supply properly. As a result the drinking water supply situation has also become serious. The story is the same in most of the villages in the Shekhawati region. People feel that possibly the Chief Minister is not aware of the situation. They feel as soon as she gets to know, the situation will improve and their days of hardship will be over. So much for the good impression that Ms Raje Sundia has created on the people of this state during her “parivartan yatra”. |
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BJP raising Bofors for political gains, says Ashwani
New Delhi, April 10 “The continued calumniation of the Gandhi family by the BJP in a manner and tone that betrays an obvious viciousness on the part of the Rajiv Gandhi’s persecutors is destructive of the politics of consensus talked of by the Prime Minister,” he said in a statement here today. On the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s reaction to the news report, he said, “Those in the seat of power and who have all through acted as persecutors of Rajiv Gandhi are unable to digest his judicial exoneration and somehow want to re-invent a story that stands politically and judicially rejected.” Mr Kumar said the people of country cannot and must not allow the envenomed shafts of political persecution to suborn our democracy. |
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Cong, CPM ask EC to ban opinion
polls
New Delhi, April 10 Both parties criticised the poll panel for seeking the help of the government to issue an ordinance at a time when Parliament has been dissolved. However, the BJP said it would take its stand on the issue soon. “Under Article 324 of the Constitution, the Election Commission can pass any order to ensure level-playing field in the process of election,” party spokesman Kabil Sibal told newsmen during a special briefing here. Mr Sibal’s observations came to a question on the opinion of the Attorney-General against banning opinion and exit polls. “The opinion of the Attorney-General is not binding on the Election Commission.” In this context, he pointed out that all the political parties had favoured a ban on opinion polls at an all party meeting on April 6. “We are not happy with the way as suggested by the EC because Parliament is not in session at the moment to promulgate such an ordinance,” CPM Politburo member Prakash Karat told reporters here. Mr Karat said the EC was empowered under Article 324 to regulate such surveys. Replying to question that Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee had already shot down the proposal, Mr Karat said, “this is his view... Our view is that the EC backed by an all party consensus on the issue can go to the Supreme Court...we will back the EC.” The commission’s suggestion to the Centre for an ordinance was in view of a 1999 Supreme Court order stating that the commission had no power of its own to ban psephologist predictions. |
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Indira was like mother, Sonia tells tribesmen
Jagdalpur (Bastar), April 10 Addressing an election meeting at the headquarters of this tribal region, which had overwhelmingly voted against the Congress in last December’s assembly elections, Ms Gandhi charged the BJP-led government with ignoring the interests of the poor, women, youth and tribals. For the first time since former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi’s return to the Congress, Ms Gandhi referred to the work done by his government and accused the BJP-led government of discrimination. “Our Chief Minister had sought relief for drought affected areas which was not given by the Centre. I have come here to promise that if the Congress comes to power at the Centre, we will not allow this to happen,” she said. Portraying the BJP as a pro-rich party, Ms Gandhi said the Congress always had the interests of poor and weaker sections at heart. “I have a special place in my heart for tribal society about whom I learnt from Indira Gandhi. She was like a mother to the tribals.. Rajiv Gandhi followed her path. He loved you like his brothers,” Ms Gandhi said. She said the BJP remembered weaker sections near the elections. “They don’t realise the difficulty women are facing in looking after their families.” Ms Gandhi said the BJP had spent crores on false propaganda even as its policies had led to rise in prices and unemployment. “Assets created by the Congress are being sold. Their government has been ridden with scams The Vajpayee Government should know it cannot befool the people for long.” The Congress president said the common man wanted a life of peace in which his children had a secure future. “I am
struggling for this and need your support.” The Congress, she said, followed the path of social unity and progress. Pointing to the limits of governments providing jobs, the Congress president promised to start a dialogue with the private sector to generate maximum employment opportunities for youth, specially those belonging to the weaker sections. Ms Gandhi came down from the dias to greet the gathering which mainly comprised people from Jagdalpur and a few adjoining villages. The Congress had suffered heavily in this tribal belt in last year’s assembly polls. It won only three of the eight assembly seats falling in Bastar parliamentary seat and lost all the eight assembly seats falling in in the adjoining Kanker Lok Sabha seat. Ms Gandhi was accompanied by CWC member in charge of Chhattisgarh Ashok Gehlot, PCC chief Motilal Vora, Congress candidate from Bastar, Mahendra Karma, and party leader Vinod Sharma. The Congress president, who had last month come to Chhattisgarh on a mass-contact road tour, also addressed election meetings today in the Durg and Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seats. |
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Congress names candidates for four Delhi seats New Delhi, April 10 However, bitter infighting prevented the party from announcing the remaining three candidates. Consequently, the suspense on the full Delhi list continues. Although informally known for several days, it was officially announced that former minister Jagdish Tytler will be the party’s candidate from the Sadar Bazar constituency, former Delhi minister Krishna Tirath will contest from Karol Bagh while lawyer R.K. Anand will take on BJP stalwart V. K. Malhotra in South Delhi. Delhi Assembly Speaker Ajay Maken is the Congress nominee for the New Delhi seat where he will be pitted against high-profile BJP minister Jagmohan. Congress aspirants are now awaiting official clearance of candidates for the East Delhi, Outer Delhi and Chandni Chowk seats. The East Delhi seat has become controversial as the Chief Minister’s son Sandeep Dikshit is among the contenders. There is stiff resistance to his candidature from a section of the Delhi state unit which is rooting for Youth Congress leader Anil Bhardwaj. In view of the ongoing tussle, there is speculation that the party leadership may settle for a compromise candidate like Delhi Finance Minister A. K. Walia. Similar wranglings are on for the other two seats. Intense lobbying is on for the Outer Delhi seat with Jat leader Sajjan Kumar and MLA Mukesh Kumar battling it out. Similarly, Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf and Anjali Rai are trying for the Chandni Chowk seat. |
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USA flays attack on
PDP rally
New Delhi, April 10 “These are cynical and overt attempts to derail the democratic process in the State by murdering innocent civilians. We hope whoever is responsible will be quickly brought to justice,” a US Embassy spokesman here said. “Violence will not solve the problem of Kashmir. It only destroys lives and hopes. Resolution must come through a process of engagement between India and Pakistan that takes into account the wishes of the people of Kashmir,” he said. Eleven persons were killed in a grenade attack at the PDP rally on Thursday —
PTI |
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Lathi charge at Vajpayee’s rally Patna, April 10 Near stampede-like situation was created as the swelling crowd shouting slogans like “Vajpayee zindabad” broke the barricades and entered the VIP enclosure near the dias where the Prime Minister stood. The police then resorted to heavy
baton-charge to control the situation. — PTI
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SC norms for naval officers joining merchant
navy
New Delhi, April 10 The CoS, is a compulsory document under law for a naval officer if he intends to join merchant navy. A Bench of Mr Justice S. N.Variava and Mr Justice H.K Sema said those officers who had completed “modular courses” at any institute approved by the Directorate-General of Shipping on or before March, 2001, would be accepted as having successfully completed it. The guidelines were laid down while disposing of a bunch of petitions by ex-naval officers challenging the rules regarding CoS as amended by the government in 2000 and 2001. The court said the expiry date for the assessment of sea time eligibility criteria for the officers in possession of CoS would be January 31, 2002. The panel of examiner, appointed by the Chief Examiner of Master and Mates “shall include at least one external examiner from the shipping industry, on the basis of the guidelines laid down for this purpose,” it ruled. The court further said the assessment of approved sea time service “shall be carried out as per prescribed guidelines in META manual volume-I”. The officers had challenged the amended rules on the ground that these were unconstitutional and contrary to the 1995 international convention on the standard of training for navigation staff. The officers had alleged that the shipping companies were employing them in a lower rank than shown in the CoS on the ground that the certificates were issued by Indian Navy without examination. The court, however, said the naval officers were required to pass examination of Phase-II subjects, which include navigational aids and compasses, bridge watch keeping, ship handling and emergencies, engineering knowledge, instruments and control systems, naval architecture paper-II and maritime legislation prior to being considered eligible for the Master’s examination. |
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Army commanders to meet on
Monday
New Delhi, April 10 The four-day biannual Army Commanders’ Conference, to be chaired by Army Chief Gen N.C. Vij, is also likely to finalise the Army’s new war doctrine paving the way for setting up of integrated battle groups and combined arms operations as against the present focus on deployment of offensive strike corps. An official release said the conference, to be attended by commanders of the five Army commands, the training command and principal staff officers at the Army Headquarters here, would take a decision on the adoption of new war doctrine, which has already been circulated among various fighting formations. The conference would also take a decision on a proposal for setting up of a Directorate-General (Information System) in the rank of a Lieut-Gen at the Army Headquarters and reshuffling of the departments of the two existing Deputy Chiefs of Army Staff. |
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SC modifies Hindujas’ surety condition
New Delhi, April 10 A Bench of Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu, Mr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur modified the bail condition after the Hinduja brothers pleaded for it on the ground that bank guarantee was resulting in the payment of certain charges to the bank by them. While Hinduja’s counsel had pleaded for reducing the bank guarantee amount but this was opposed by CBI counsel. Following this, the court directed that each of the Hinduja brothers would deposit Rs 5 crore in cash with the registry which would remain deposited in the bank pending the disposal of the case by the trial court. The trial court had framed charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy afresh in the case recently after the Delhi High Court had quashed the corruption charges. |
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Kolkata, April 10 Security agencies, along with the bomb squad personnel of the Bureau of Civil Aviation, were activated and sniffer dogs pressed into service. Airport sources said thorough searches in the airport and its complex, as also in the aircraft were conducted for five hours, but nothing could be found as yet. However, flight schedule was not affected in the course of the search operations, the sources said. Meanwhile, state police sources said they traced the call to an office of a travel agent in Shakespeare Sarani in the city and the police had been alerted. — PTI |
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Haryana’s reply sought in retired officer’s case
New Delhi, April 10 Justice Pradeep Nandrajog sought replies from the Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Revenue Department and Gurgaon Divisional Commissioner to a petition moved by R S Dhull, a retired Revenue Officer of Haryana, at present living in Delhi. The court, which had earlier issued notices to the state government through these two officers, sought its reply by May 19. Mr Dhull alleged that despite repeated communications with the concerned authorities, his medical bills for treatment of cardiac problem in the Central Government’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and the Escort Heart Institute, where his case was referred by the former, had not been reimbursed. He had claimed reimbursement of medical bill of over Rs 40,000 and cited earlier rulings of Punjab and Haryana High Court on a plea of nearly 50 such petitioners, asking the government to ensure payment of medical bills within three months. |
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Striving towards measles-free India
Chennai, April 10 The MoU was signed recently by the Lions Club International president, Dr Lee of Korea, in the United Nations Headquarters, New York, LCI vice-president Ashok Mehta, who would succeed Mr Lee in the 88th International Convention to be held in Hong Kong in 2005, said. Under the Measles Minus Programme, to be taken up by the Lions Club International District 324-A1 with the involvement of the Central Government, UNICEF will provide a financial assistance of $ 200 million. Mr Mehta said UNICEF representative would visit India in June to initiate the project and sign an MoU with the Central Government. “We wanted to start the project early, but the Central Government is busy with the elections,” he added. Considering that Reubella virus of German measles had been completely eradicated in almost all the western countries, it was a cause of concern in India as the virus led to several congenital diseases in newborn babies. “Even a small country like Sri Lanka has eliminated it,” Mr Mehta pointed out. Quoting WHO statistics, he said 50 per cent of the deaf people were affected by Reubella virus in India. “There is need to create an awareness in this regard to make India a measles-free nation by 2010,” he added. Mr Mehta said the project, to be on the lines of the Polio Eradication and Blindness Prevention Programme, would be launched through primary health centres across the country with active participation of the Central Government. — UNI |
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Celebrating brotherhood through couplets
New Delhi, April 10 Sixteen “shayars” (poets) from India and three from Pakistan, including two women, rendered choice couplets at “Mushaira Jashn-e-Bahr” here last night as the atmosphere reverberated with applause. The group had an “unlikely companion” in a poet from China, besides one from Saudi Arabia. Eminent Pakistani poet Ahmed Farhaz, some of whose ghazals have been immortalised by singer Ghulam Ali, expressed optimism that differences between India and Pakistan would soon be no more. “The distance between us is only in thought; there is no physical distance. If we do not want to meet each other, we will not do so even if we live next to each other. I am hopeful this distance will be removed soon,” he said. Farhaz’s thoughts were echoed by Kiswar Nahid. “We are not as different as made out to be. Our culture is so similar that one forgets being in another country,” she said. Nahid said a number of Pakistani women are writing Urdu couplets and some are “very revolutionary”. “They write about women’s issues and subjects that men usually avoid, such as children leaving home to go abroad,” she said. Recent international issues were also being reflected in Pakistani Urdu poetry, Nahid said. “People are writing about the Afghan and Iraq wars, the domination of the US and neo-colonisation,” Nahid said. One person who elicited a lot of attention was Chinese “shayar” Zhang Shi Xuan. After coming in contact with Urdu during his travels abroad, Zhang took a liking for the language and started learning it. “I became so well versed in Urdu that I even edited a newspaper in the language for sometime,” he said. Zhang, who started writing Urdu couplets several years back, is, however, upset that it is quite difficult to translate these into Chinese. “Translating Urdu into Chinese is even more difficult than writing the couplets in the first place,” he said. Like Zhang, Omar Salim Alaidroos of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia also writes couplets in a language that is not his mothertongue. “Arabic is the main language in Saudi Arabia but I developed an interest for Urdu at a young age. I later did M.A. in the language and started writing couplets,” he said. Alaidroos has written a poetry book containing Urdu couplets and the Arabic translation. Keshav Chaturvdi, one of the organisers of the “Mushaira”, said he was happy to see the response of foreign poets. “We have been organising this programme for five years and everytime the response gets better,” he said. —PTI |
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3 held for stoning Sinha’s convoy
Hazaribagh, April 10 District Superintendent of Police Anurag Gupta said the three were being interrogated. Mr Sinha was returning to his hometown, Hazaribagh, after attending a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani at Ranchi when some miscreants pelted stones at his convoy. They also joined slogans in favour of the CPI. No one was injured. Mr Sinha is contesting the Lok Sabha election from the Hazaribagh constituency and is locked in a multi-cornered contest with combined opposition CPI candidate Bhubaneswar Prasad Mehata and BJP rebel candidate Mahavir Biswakarma, who filed his nominations as an Independent. — UNI |
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Pawar discharged from hospital
Mumbai, April 10 Mr Pawar, who was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital here last week, was discharged late last night, hospital sources said today. Mr Pawar is now camping at his Silver Oak residence in South Mumbai and doctors have advised him rest, the sources said. —
PTI |
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