 |
|
Jaipur, May 31
After keeping the aspirants for ministerial berths waiting for over five months, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje has ultimately expanded her Cabinet today by inducting six Cabinet ministers and 12 Ministers of State, bringing their number to 27, including the Chief Minister. Rigorous exercises had to be made during the past three days to finalise the list.
HC seeks original tapes in Judeo
case
Major’s objection
overruled
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
British Aerospace asked to examine
Jaguars
Natwar meets Indian envoys of SAARC, ASEAN nations
Mr Amar Singh, General Secretary of the Samajwadi Party, along with Mr Ram Gopal Yadav, Leader of the party’s parliamentary group, addresses a press conference in New Delhi on Monday. Dy Speaker’s post offered to Oppn
Union Minister for Human Resource Development Arjun Singh at a press conference after a meeting with Directors of Indian Institutes of Management at his office in New Delhi on Monday.
Cong, Mamata against shifting of Coal India HQ
Guilty in Siachen case to be punished: Gen Vij
States can make regional languages compulsory
India’s no to defence pact with Lanka
Rajiv’s murder: agency’s term extended
|
|
Vasundhra Raje expands
Cabinet
Jaipur, May 31 A look at the choice of ministers indicates that she has played her cards tactfully. The composition of the Cabinet highlights the fact that there has been a substantial consideration to appease various castes by giving them appropriate representation. Among the newly inducted ministers, three are Rajputs, four Jats, two Brahmins and one each from the Gurjar, Saini, Vaishya, Dhakad, Sikh and Sindhi communities. Jaipur was apparently deprived of getting representation in the expansion. The name of Mr Kali Charan Saraf gained currency in the past many days but he could not be included in the Cabinet because of some difference of opinion among senior leaders of the party. Adequate representation has also been given to Scheduled Castes and Schedules Tribes by inducting two and one minister from each category, respectively. Rajasthan Governor Madan Lal Khurana administered the oath of office to the ministers in an open pandaal, especially erected for the purpose on the Raj Bhavan premises. In scorching heat and amid raising of slogans, those who were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers include Rajendra Singh Rathore, Ram Narayan Dudi, Kalulal Gurjar, Laxmi Narayan Dave and Digambar Singh. Mr Prabhulal Saini, who was already in the Raje Cabinet, has been promoted from minister of state rank to that of a Cabinet Minister. The government now consists of 14 Cabinet Ministers. Those who were sworn in as Ministers of State are Pratap Singh Singhvi, Amraram Choudhary, Babulal Verma, Bhawani Joshi, Usha Puniya, Surendra Pal Singh TT, Vadudev Devnani, Virendra Meena, Surendra Singh Rathore, Chunnilal Dhakad, Khemaram Meghwal and Gajendra Singh Kheevansar. Of the 18 ministers who were administered the oath, 17 took it in Hindi while Basudev Devnani hailing from Ajmer took oath in Sanskrit. Except Rajendra Singh Rathore and Surendra Pal Singh TT, all ministers after taking the oath of office touched the feet of the Chief Minister. |
|
HC seeks original tapes in Judeo case
New Delhi, May 31 “I had given you (Rahul) protection from arrest on the promise that you will hand over the tapes to the CBI. The protection should not become a hindrance in the investigation of the case,” Mr Justice Sodhi observed. However, the court clarified that the protection from arrest given to Rahul and his associates-Arvind Vijaymohan and Praveen Jain-would continue till July 5, the next date of hearing. Earlier, Rahul’s counsel R D Rana told the court that his client had been cooperating with the CBI and had already handed over two tapes to the agency. “But they are asking him about the source of bribe money and whether he got it from Ajit Jogi,” Rana said. Meanwhile, the CBI has asked Rahul to appear before it on June 3 for collecting his voice sample to match the same with his purported voice on the expose tapes. The court is seized of a petition seeking quashing of an FIR against the three accused. Mr Judeo and his personal Secretary Natwar Rateria are also accused in this case. According to the CBI, Rahul was working with Chhattisgarh-based Aakash Channel while Vijaymohan helped him fix recording equipment in the hotel room where Mr Judeo allegedly received money. Jain’s services were used for serving drinks and snacks to the “guests” in the said hotel room, the agency alleged. The court had earlier asked the accused to appear before the agency for questioning. In his petition, Rahul had claimed that he was in possession of the videotape of November 5 last year, which was recorded in room no 822 of Hotel Taj Mansingh besides three other recordings, which were reported in the Indian Express. —
PTI |
|
Jodhpur, May 31 Disputing the authenticity of a letter presented in the court by Col K.D. Singh on his fourth day of deposition, Major Surender Singh objected to the production of “new papers” saying that “what is the relevance of bringing papers now which were not presented before the Court of Inquiry (CoI) in the case?” However, the presiding officer of the court Brig Philip Campose, overruled the objection saying that he was not concerned about the report of the Col because it was not before him. Continuing his deposition, Col K.D. Singh replayed the video clips in the court and described in detail as to how the images shown in them were “fake”. Not only the enemy target, claimed by Major Surender Singh as destroyed by his company, was blurred but no mule was seen in the pictures despite the fact that the Pakistani side used the animal extensively. Mules are seen on all authentic video clips of other encounters. All these indicated that the video clips were fake, he said. The court witnessed a dispute over the letter presented by Col K.D. Singh during his deposition which, he claimed, he had written to Major Surender Singh regarding the incident. —
PTI |
|
British Aerospace asked to examine
Jaguars
New Delhi, May 31 Air Marshal A.K. Singh, IAF DG (Flight Safety and Inspection), told reporters on the sidelines of an IAF function here today, “We are seeking assistance from Bristish Aerospace to see if there is a manufacturing defect. A person of advisory capacity would be involved to assist the IAF.” Referring to the Jaguar crash near Ambala on May 7, he said the IAF would like to establish if “poor workmanship” was the reason behind it. Asked about the reasons for the crash, he said, “the inquiry is not yet over, so I won’t be able to comment whether it happened because of faliure of a particular part of the aircraft.” However, Air Marshal A.K. Singh said “one nut of the crashed aircraft was found missing in the debris” and added that the IAF was inquiring whether the nut was loose and got lost during the flight. Meanwhile, the IAF claimed a quartet of records, including the highest landings by a helicopter and successful evacuation of casualties from high altitudes in a Mission of Mercy earlier this month. A Cheetah chopper of 111 Helicopter Unit successfully rescued three ailing mountaineers on three successive days from May 11 from a height of 23,240 ft — beyond the service ceiling of the light-weight aircraft capable of carrying five persons. The ailing mountaineers were members of the IAF’s mountaineering expedition to the technically-difficult Mount Kamet (25,447-feet) in the Garhwal Himalayas, Air Marshal A.K. Singh said. Wing Commander S.K. Sharma, 111 HU Commanding Officer who flew the mercy mission from Air Force Station, Bareilly, landed his helicopter on the snow-covered mountain slope on three occasions in as many days to evacuate the casualties. In this process, he had to keep the engine running to control the chopper in the buffeting winds, ensure the boarding of the ailing mountaineer and remain focused on making judicious use of oxygen at the high altitude. |
|
Natwar meets Indian envoys of SAARC, ASEAN nations
New Delhi, May 31 The meeting, first of its kind convened by Mr Singh, was spread over five hours and would continue tomorrow. It was agreed that building India’s bilateral relations with these countries assumed the “highest priority”. “With our immediate neighbours, we will work to increase areas of agreement and intensify our contacts,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement here. It said the countries of South-East Asia were important to India in political, economic and strategic terms. “We will further strengthen bilateral relations with them, as well as our interaction with ASEAN since it constitutes a major dimension of our foreign policy”. Among those present were Indian envoys from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand. |
|
New Delhi, May 31 The SP, whose 37 members in the Lok Sabha supported the UPA, also made an indirect attack on the Congress-led coalition for inclusion of “tainted” ministers and for not taking supporting parties like it into confidence on key issues like Common Minimum Programme. Addressing a press conference here, SP General Secretary Amar Singh alleged that soon after coming to power some ministers were indulging in statements “smacking of vindictive politics” and the way Mr Fernandes was being subjected to a “media trial before investigations” did not augur well. He said there were innumerable examples right from the days of Emergency to the recent actions of the Punjab Chief Minister against his political opponents that showed that vindictive moves prove counterproductive. Mr Amar Singh’s remarks came in the backdrop of Congress leader and Union Minister Kapil Sibal’s statement that the inquiry into Tehelka expose during NDA rule should be proceeded with transparency and the Ayodhya demolition case, from which BJP leader L K Advani was “rescued” by the CBI, should be “put back on the rails”. The SP had not joined the Opposition boycott of Mr Fernandes in the last Lok Sabha when he was the Defence Minister. —
PTI |
|
|
Dy Speaker’s post offered to Oppn New Delhi, May 31 “I discussed the issue with senior BJP leader L.K. Advani and NDA convener George Fernandes today and conveyed the offer to the Opposition,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told newspersons here. On the suggestion of the Prime Minister, the President has appointed Mr Somnath Chatterjee as pro tem Speaker to perform the duties of the office of the Speaker from the commencement of the sitting of the Lok Sabha on June 2 till the start of the session on June 4. Mr Balasheb Vikhe Patil will take over as pro tem Speaker on June 4 till the election of the Speaker the same day. |
|
IIMs to work out uniform fee structure
New Delhi, May 31 After the first ever meeting with directors and chairmen of the IIMs lasting over two hours, HRD Minister Arjun Singh told reporters here the meeting decided that the directors of these institutes should hold consultations among themselves by June 6 so that their suggestions can be discussed at the ministry level on June 8. Maintaining that there were no suggestions from the government side on fee structure, he said “let them come out with suggestions.” “I want that these institutions should themselves discuss the issue and make a programme and they have agreed on that,” he said, adding that the government respected and believed in principles of autonomy in all institutions of higher learning. Mr Arjun Singh said the board meetings of the managementinstitutes will be held on June 25 to finalise the issue so as to resolve the matter by the end of the month. Bakul Dholakia, Director of IIM, Ahmedabad, said “we expect that many of the problems which have cropped up in the past six months and lot of issues in which there have been differences of opinion between the institutes and the ministry would be resolved.” —
PTI |
|
Cong, Mamata against shifting of Coal India HQ
Kolkata, May 31 “We have discussed the matter with the Defence Minister and WBPCC President Pranab Mukherjee and Union Water Resources Minister P.R. Dasmunshi. We are also writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opposing the move,’’ WBPCC General Secretary Manas Bhuniya here said. He said that in the past also attempts had been made to shift the CIL headquarters from the metropolis but failed. “We will not allow any move to relocate Coal India headquarters.’’ Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee protested against Coal Minister Sibu Soren’s move to shift the headquarters of Coal India Limited and the DVC’s central office from Kolkata to Ranchi. Yesterday Mr Dasmunshi, had said that the Cabinet had not discussed the shifting of Coal India and Damodar Valley Corporation headquarters from Kolkata to Ranchi. — TNS, PTI, UNI |
|
Guilty in Siachen case to be punished: Gen Vij
Pune, May 31 “The Army has taken a very serious view of the whole matter. Any person found guilty in the case would be severely dealt with,” General Vij told reporters on the sidelines of the Passing Out Parade of the 106th course at the National Defence Academy at Khadakwasala near here. A total of 318 cadets passed out after completion of three years of successful training. However, mistake of an individual should not be construed as an aberration of the whole Army, he said. —
PTI |
|
States can make regional languages compulsory
New Delhi, May 31 Upholding Maharashtra Government’s decision to introduce Marathi as an additional subject in schools, a Bench of Chief Justice S. Rajendra Babu, Mr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur said such a decision would not violate the fundamental rights of the minorities because state governments were duty bound to have reasonable regulations in place to protect their rights. The apex court said it had already laid down that the state governments should have adequate regulations to protect the institutions established and managed by the minorities. The judgement came on a petition by some Gujarati schools in Maharashtra, which alleged that the imposition of Marathi on them would violate their fundamental rights. But their plea was rejected on the ground that the Maharashtra Government might have taken the decision by taking into consideration its interest, especially when most of its official work and general business in the state was being conducted in Marathi. The court also cautioned the linguistic minorities against claiming a “negative right” to exclude learning of a regional language, saying that “ipso facto” it was not possible to accept the argument that a language spoken by a majority of the people should not be a subject of study. |
|
|
India’s no to defence pact with Lanka New Delhi, May 31 The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government accorded him the honour of becoming the first foreign dignitary to visit India after the change of government. Apart from calling on the Prime Minister, Mr Kadirgamar had talks with External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit. Sources said the Indo-Lanka defence pact would not materialise for two reasons: the stand of parties like the DMK, MDMK and PMK, which are opposed to such a pact with Colombo; and secondly the wound of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination has still not healed in the Congress. Mr Natwar Singh, who addressed a press conference jointly with Mr Kadirgamar in the South Block, said his government would take all its allies into confidence before signing a defence agreement with Sri Lanka. |
|
|
Rajiv’s murder: agency’s term extended
New Delhi, May 31 The term of the MDMA, which was to expire today, was
extended by the Union Home Ministry, official sources here said. The decision followed a demand by Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, who had last week asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to put back on track the investigation into the “conspiracy” angle of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. The Jain Commission had recommended the setting up of a multi-disciplinary task force so that the probe into the “conspiracy” angle could be brought to its logical conclusion. Mr Arjun Singh had raised doubts over the seriousness of the NDA Government in handling the matter and asked the Prime Minister to continue with the investigation even when the term of the MDMA was coming to an end. |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In video (
