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Chennai, May 29 Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram feels the Left parties will have a positive influence on his ministry as they too want a strong Indian economy.
RS poll may witness horse-trading in
UP
Saras flies high, lands safe
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Jamali speaks to Manmohan Cong workers to be
pro-active
Encounter videotapes fake, claims Colonel
CD causes stir in medical
colleges
Telgi remanded in police custody
A-I to start new airline with cheap fares
‘Mother Teresa of south’ dead
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Left for a strong Indian economy, says
Chidambaram
Chennai, May 29 Addressing an impromptu press conference here today, he said: “The Left will have a positive influence on my ministry. The Left too is keen that
India becomes a strong economy.” Answering a question about disinvestment of public sector undertakings, Mr Chidambaram said: “The Prime
Minister and I have
categorically explained what profit-making
PSUs mean. They are those PSUs which have been making profit on a sustained basis in a competitive global market. Regarding all other PSUs, we will examine case by case
and then decide.” The definition of profit-making PSUs is the bone of contention between Mr Chidambaram and the Left parties as they are opposed to the Finance Minister’s policy on disinvestment. Mr Chidambaram said: “The Ministry of Disinvestment is under me and I have a mandate in the national common minimum programme which was adopted by the cabinet yesterday.” Commenting on the recent upheaval in the Indian stock market after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance lost the general election, Mr Chidambaram said: “The market will react to events and one should take it in one’s stride.” Allaying all kinds of fears, he said: “The Indian capital market is well regulated and in the coming months we will take steps to regulate it better and there will be no question of any fear. “Even on the black Monday on May 17 there was default in payments in the market. India remains an attractive
destination for the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and for Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). In the
long run, India is an attractive market and I am sure the market players realise it,” he added. Mr Chidambaram refused to answer any questions regrading
taxation, saying “the Government of India is in a Budget mode since day before yesterday
and I cannot divulge details. I will be presenting the Budget in the first week of July.” |
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RS poll may witness horse-trading in
UP
Lucknow, May 29 “Horse-trading cannot be ruled out,” a senior Congress leader said. “In the 2001 poll, MLAs of all parties, barring the BSP, violated the whip and voted for candidates who paid them more,” he said. Many industrialists were elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh in the last elections. The notification for the elections would be issued on June 4. The voting, if necessary, would be held on June 21 and results would be announced the same evening, said Mr R.S. Pandey, Principal Secretary, Vidhan Sabha. To win, a Rajya Sabha candidate requires a minimum of 32 votes, assuming that all 404 MLAs in state Assembly turn up to vote and all votes are declared valid. For the Vidhan Parishad, this quotient may go up to 34. The ruling Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance, with support of some Independents and smaller parties, has over 220 MLAs. This can ensure at least seven seats for the ruling alliance. The BJP, with 87 MLAs, can win two seats of its own. With the help of Independents, it can increase its tally to three. The BSP, with 67 MLAs, can win two seats. It is expected that many senior leaders, who had lost the recent Lok Sabha elections, could throw their hats in for the Rajya Sabha poll. Many industrialists may follow suit and try to muzzle their way to the Rajya Sabha on the basis of money power. |
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Saras flies high, lands safe
Bangalore, May 29 Sqd Ldr K.K. Venugopal of the Aircraft Systems and Testing Establishment (ASTE) took it into the air for 22 minutes. NAL officials refused to comment as a “first political flight” is expected towards the end of June, which the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, is likely to attend. Sources stated that the aircraft reached a speed of about 150 km per hour and achieved a height of around 8,000 feet. Saras had a long gestation period on the drawing board itself after its design was frozen in the early 90’s. The design had been done with Russian help, but the Russians withdrew on cost considerations and the project was put on the back burner. In 1997/98 then NAL Director pushed hard for project funding and after several false starts the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, in early 1999, cleared the project with funding to the tune of Rs 131.8 crore. Of this, the Technology Development Board granted Rs 65.3 crore; HAL Rs 9 crore; and the Ministry of Civil Aviation and CSIR Rs 42.58 crore. Some private participation has also been roped in and with additional funding from the principles (the CSIR contribution has risen to more than Rs 70 crore), development cost is already at around Rs 200 crore. First flight was targeted for 2001, but it kept spilling over with the NAL and the HAL achieving success now in mid-2004. In its passenger configuration, it can seat 14 persons. Other roles envisaged for it include aerial reconnaissance, VIP transport, border patrol, maritime surveillance and the like. It is intended to be an all-weather, day and night aircraft with a pressurised cabin for passenger comfort. It has a cruising speed of about 600 kmph, a range of 2,000 km and is powered by two American Pratt and Whitney PT6-A engines. These engines are positioned in the rear of the fuselage, making it a “pusher type” aircraft. It has a service ceiling of 30,000 feet and a fully duplicated flight deck. |
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Jamali speaks to Manmohan New Delhi, May 29 The leaders agreed that they will continue the moves initiated to strengthen the bilateral relations. Mr Jamali is learnt to have told Dr Manmohan Singh that the recent cricket series and other bilateral exchanges have shown that the people of both the countries desired cordial relations. They also expressed satisfaction with the status of the dialogue process in their first telephonic conversation after Dr Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister. Mr Jamali is learnt to have impressed upon Dr Manmohan Singh that a tension-free bilateral relation was very vital for the progress and prosperity of both the countries. Mr Jamali also told him that Pakistan was looking forward to the Foreign Secretary-level talks so that the process of dialogue was maintained. |
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Cong workers to be
pro-active New Delhi, May 29 Congress sources said their past experience showed that whenever the party was in power, the organisation tended to be neglected, as all senior leaders were involved with the daily routine of governance. This is exactly what had happened in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where the Congress was virtually routed in last year's Assembly polls. Subsequent analysis by a four-member AICC committee, headed by Pranab Mukherjee, had specifically pointed out the "disconnect" between the government and the party had cost them dear. The committee report had stated that instead of involving party workers, Chief Ministers had become over-dependent on bureaucrats to
propagate the government's schemes and programmes. In many cases, the party's district and booth committees had either become defunct or had not been set up at all. Congress leaders do not want to repeat the same mistakes. Instead, the party would seek to involve the party workers so that they act as a "bridge between the government and the people". It is being hoped that the party would be adequately rejuvenated now that the Congress President Sonia Gandhi has announced that her first priority is to strengthen the organisation. While a revamp of the AICC is very much on the cards, future plans include streamlining of the party's frontal organisations and district and booth-level committees. "The whole purpose is to have politically committed and enthusiastic workers right down to the grassroots level, who can carry forward the message of the government's programmes to the people," explained a senior Congress leader. This, it was stated, could help counter the anti-incumbency which tends to set in after a period of time. On the other hand, the government can use the party workers to get a proper feedback about its functioning which could enable it to a course correction. This two-way process, if implemented effectively, could help bridge the communication gap between the government and the people. The immediate task before Ms Gandhi, of course, is to reconstitute the AICC team since several senior leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Oscar Fernandes, Kapil Sibal, S. Jaipal Reddy and Kamal Nath, have moved to the government. |
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Encounter videotapes fake, claims Colonel
Jodhpur, May 29 Two video cassettes submitted by Maj Surinder Singh along with the situation reports in August, last year, were “stage-managed”, Col Singh said while deposing for the third consecutive day in the first-ever Army open trial before the court headed by Brig Philip Campose. “In the first instance, I found nothing wrong in the video cassettes, but after closely observing the video clips, I doubted authenticity of the incidents shown in them and sought clarification from Maj Surinder Singh on phone,” he said. “Not only did Maj Surinder Singh insist that the said encounters were real but others involved in the ‘fake encounter’ also supported him initially,” Col K.D. Singh said. However, rifleman Shyam Bahadur Thapa later spilled the beans by admitting that he had created the fake bunker for the video shoot, he said. “This was also conceded later by others involved in the incidents saying that they had been made to keep a vow in the name of God that they would not reveal the ‘fake operation’,” Col K.D. Singh said. The Colonel said he also found that the video camera used in the shoot could not zoom into the target 800 feet away, as claimed by Maj Surinder Singh. He said the behaviour of Maj Surinder Singh with his subordinates was also not good, as he was a “foul-mouthed” officer. The military court is recording summary of evidence before the start of court martial proceedings against officers indicted by a court of inquiry. The court of inquiry had recommended disciplinary action against Maj Surinder Singh for making exaggerated claims and found Col K.D. Singh and Maj Rohit Lamba guilty of administrative lapses. — PTI |
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Campaign in Punjab, Haryana on girl
child
Mumbai, May 29 The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Population Foundation of India (PFI) concluded preliminary discussions in this regard here yesterday with voluntary organisations, public health professionals and mediapersons. The meeting was organised by CEHAT (Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes) and FPAI (Family Planning Association of India), where the participants agreed to begin the campaign. According to the 2001 Census, the Child Sex Ratio in Punjab is 793. Fatehgarh Sahib recorded the lowest CSR at 754, followed by Patiala (770), Gurdaspur and Kapurthala (775), Bathinda and Mansa (779), Amritsar (783), Sangrur (784) and Ropar (791). In Haryana, the CSR is 820. Kurukshetra has the lowest CSR (770) in the state, followed by Sonepat (783), Ambala (784), Kaithal (789) and Rohtak (796). The participants felt that the issue of missing girls was the centre of discussions on population and gender and it was important to sensitise ordinary people to the problem. UNFPA Acting Country Director Ena Singh said dialogue with members of the civil society was suggested at a meeting held in mid-April to take stock of achievements and challenges, 10 years after the International Conference on Population and Development was held at Cairo. Prominent among those present at the meeting were Mr Ravi Duggal, founder, CEHAT, Dr Mahinder C. Watsa, president, FPAI, Dr Manmohan Sharma from the Voluntary Health Association of Punjab, Mr A.R. Nanda from the Population Foundation of India, and Ms Usha Rai, Editor of Population and Development Newsletter, published by the Press Institute of India. The participants agreed that urgent intervention was imperative to educate adolescents and newly married couples about the social repercussions of abortions decided through the illegal prenatal sex determination techniques. The deliberations raised the issue of rampant use of such techniques to abandon, sell or even kill the girl child. The participants drew attention to the senseless pursuit for the male child. They said young couples and their families across the country were exercising criminal and unlawful options to eliminate the girl child before birth. The obsession with the male child had left an indelible scar on the gender statistics. The adverse child sex ratio in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu called for urgent intervention. Dr Manmohan Sharma from the Voluntary Health Association of Punjab, told TNS that couples and doctors were resorting to devious ways of eliminating the girl child before and after birth. “There is an inter-state movement for sex determination tests. In
Chunni, Khumani and Nandpur Kalore villages of Fatehgarh Sahib, medical practitioners conducting sex determination tests carry portable machines to the village. They have an understanding with registered medical practitioners and visit the village on certain days of a week. In some centres where the PNDT is being done, a package of Rs 10,000 is offered to young couples.” “If the test indicates that the foetus is male, they refund Rs 7,000. If the foetus is female, they force the mother to go in for abortion at the day-care centre, fearing that she may talk about the test to somebody.” Dr Sharma said in some villages, women did not disclose their pregnancy to Anganwadi workers. “Since the test can only be done after 14 weeks of conception, women delay the disclosure of pregnancy to convince people that it was a miscarriage. People are not willing to own the girl child and a large number of children who are abandoned on the garbage dump or the railway track are girls. In other cases, poor people sell the female child to childless couples. In some cases, the girl child is even denied basic nutritional needs. In Chandigarh, doctors refuse to conduct such tests but have a profit-sharing agreement with another doctor. They send the patient to another doctor and then spy on the patient’s movement to make sure that she is not a decoy customer.” |
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CD causes stir in medical
colleges
Jaipur, May 29 The CD depicts dialogues between management executives of some private medical and dental colleges and guardians of candidates appearing for a competitive examination for admission to the MBBS and BDS courses under the management quota. The conversation reveals that the management people were demanding Rs 10 lakh to Rs 13 lakh for guaranteed admission of candidates to these courses. The examination for 430 seats, being 50 per cent of the sanctioned strength for eight colleges, was to be conducted for the first time under a ruling of the apex court. More than 2,000 candidates were to appear for the tests to be held tomorrow. While the examination has already been cancelled, the state government has ordered a probe into the matter and the Additional Director-General of the Crime Branch of the state police, Mr A.S. Gill, has initiated action in the matter by raiding more than 20 places and seizing relevant records. According to Mr Gill, prima facie, there seems to be serious irregularities and malpractices in the system. “The corruption was not confined to the private medical colleges only, but was also prevailing in engineering and other technical institutions in the private sector,” observed a senior official of the Directorate of College Education. He attributed this malady to the attitude of the Gehlot government in granting affiliation and recognition to institutions functioning with inadequate teaching staff and equipment. There was a flood of private degree colleges in various disciplines because of political pressures and monetary considerations, he added. |
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Telgi remanded in police custody
Mumbai, May 29 He will be questioned by the Chaturshringi police station, which is investigating into a complaint by the Oriental Bank filed against Telgi for allegedly duping it by selling it fake stamp papers. |
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A-I to start new airline with cheap fares
Mumbai, May 29 A-I would take 14 of these Boeings in three phases over a one- year period beginning April and operate 127 flights a week from Kerala, New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai to the Gulf and South East destinations, the sources said. Most of these flights would be on a quick- turn-around basis. —
PTI |
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‘Mother Teresa of south’ dead
Machilipatam, May 29 She established many institutions, including destitute homes and educational institutions, to serve the people. —
UNI |
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