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New Delhi, June 2 The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Jaswant Singh, today questioned the statement of External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh on a common nuclear doctrine for India, Pakistan and China and said this was not feasible. Addressing mediapersons here today, Mr Jaswant Singh said this was a vital security issue and the subject was not given to fanciful individual notions.
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Sidelights of the oath
ceremony
Laloo to counter NDA
attack
Swaminathan submits report on biotechnology
Film director held in
colleague’s death case
HC allows Vaiko to visit USA
Mulayam blames Rao, Kalyan for Babri demolition
Process on to appoint AG
JCO supports fake killing charges
Prime suspect in CBSE paper-leak case surrenders
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Jaswant questions Natwar on N-doctrine
New Delhi, June 2 Addressing mediapersons here today, Mr Jaswant Singh said this was a vital security issue and the subject was not given to fanciful individual notions. "If this is a fanciful outpouring or notion, then I will not comment. But, if this were the serious intent of the government, then we would have expected some elaboration in the Common Minimum Programme, which they call common and minimum. It is important that the government clarifies this", he said. "It is important that we understand the underlying rationale that the doctrine of the three countries is altogether different. It is really fanciful to say that we will have a common nuclear doctrine. How can you have a common nuclear doctrine when the origins of the nuclear philosophy are based on totally different persuasions," the former External Affairs Minister asked. He said while India subscribed to a minimum nuclear deterrence that had a commitment to no-first use, Pakistan did not have a no-first use policy and China's concept was totally different. Talking of relations between India and Pakistan, Mr Jaswant Singh said the initiative taken by the NDA government under the leadership of Mr Vajpayee needed to be pursued for the benefit of the region. Replying to a question on the existence of more than one power centre in the Congress-led UPA, Mr Jaswant Singh drew a parallel with the controls in a car. "There is one steering wheel and five hands on that steering wheel, numerous feet on the brake pedal and nobody knows where the accelerator is." He said it had been only a month since he had ceased to hold the office of the Finance Minister. "I'm out of that ministry. I feel that it is still my child. The new Finance Minister has every right to come forward with new programmes his government has. I assure them full support." |
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Natwar meets envoys
New Delhi, June 2 Mr Natwar Singh utilised these meetings for highlighting relevant aspects of India's foreign policy and for an exchange of views with the Heads of Missions, a foreign office spokesman said. |
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Baru takes over as PM’s Media Adviser New Delhi, June 2 Mr Baru, who holds the rank of Additional Secretary, was until now Chief Editor of Financial Express and has worked in various capacities with the The Times of India and The Economic Times. Mr Pulak Chatterji, who was secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi when she was the Leader of Opposition in the previous Lok Sabha, has taken charge as Additional Secretary in the
PMO. |
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Sidelights of the oath
ceremony
New Delhi, June 2 Congress member Atama Singh Gill from Haryana took the oath in Punjabi. Choudhary Lal Singh from Jammu made the affirmation in Dogri.
*** Congress member and former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Mr Ajit Jogi, who had met with a serious accident during the election campaign, was present in the House on a wheelchair to take oath.
*** Old habits die hard was witnessed in the Lok Sabha as Rural Development Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh was seen going to his “old seat” on the Opposition side in the previous House. Momentarily forgetting the change of political fortunes, he came rushing to the 14th Lok Sabha shortly after it had begun its opening session and occupied the seat where he used to sit throughout the previous House. The loud laughter from all sides made him realise that he was indeed on the wrong side. Immediately, he got up and headed for a seat on the ruling Benches.
*** Nearly after a quarter century, the Lok Sabha witnessed mother-son members from the Gandhi family attending the proceedings. Congress President and Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, elected from Rae Bareli, was the fourth to take oath in Hindi as a member of the 14th Lok Sabha, which began its opening session today. Her son, Mr Rahul Gandhi, was seated in the third row behind Ms Gandhi. Earlier, Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi were elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980 after the fall of the first non-Congress government. Then also, the mother had been elected from Rae Bareli and the son from Amethi. The other occasion when mother-son members were in the House was in 1991 when the then BJP Vice-President Vijayaraje Scindia, and her son Madhavrao Scindia (Congress) had won the elections.
*** Before taking the oath, Mr Raghu Nath Jha JD(U) made a request to the Chair to have Bhojpuri included in the 14th Schedule of the Constitution. This will enable members like him to take oath in Bhojpuri, which is spoken by a large population of the country.
*** All ministers from Tamil Nadu took the oath in Tamil, irrespective of their party affiliations. Harvard-educated Finance Minister P. Chidambaram was the first to take the oath from the state, followed by Highways, Transport and Shipping Minister T.R. Baalu, Forests and Environment Minister A. Raja, Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer and others. *** Members from Bollywood — Dharmendra and Jayapradha were found sitting together and involved in a conversation. Mr Vinod Khanna was sitting in a nearby seat. At least six MPs on the BJP Benches were found in colourful 'pagdis' (headgear), while the youngest Congress MP, Mr Sachin Pilot, son of the late Rajesh Pilot, was wearing a bright, printed headgear in red.
*** Mr Vajpayee left the House after about half an hour. |
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Sonia’s seating arrangement upsets Cong leaders New Delhi, June 2 Although the formal seating arrangements in the 14th Lok Sabha will be finalsied only in the next session, several Congress leaders were clearly unhappy that Ms Gandhi should have been seated like an ordinary MP. While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh obviously took the seat earmarked for the PM, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, who is the designated leader of the House in the Lok Sabha, was seated next to him. Although these seating arrangements were in perfect order, Congress members had expected that Ms Sonia Gandhi, who is also the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), would sit in the third seat. However, party members were surprised when they found Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad seated there instead. Several leaders are learnt to have expressed their unhappiness over these seating arrangements. This was also conveyed to Mr Azad who, it is learnt, was asked to rectify this mistake. For the record, however, Mr Azad maintained that the seating arrangements would only be finalised in the next session. |
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Old days are back, says Vajpayee
New Delhi, June 2 Mr Vajpayee, who is the Chairman of BJP Parliamentary Party, said his party would play the role of a "constructive opposition" and raise important issues in the interest of people in both the Houses of Parliament |
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Laloo to counter NDA
attack
New Delhi, June 2 The NDA parties have announced plans to embarass the new UPA government for giving ministerial berths to Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav and his RJD colleagues Taslimuddin and M.A.A. Fatmi who, according to them, have criminal cases pending against them. While the Congress and Left parties are on the defensive on this issue, the RJD chief is clearly unfazed by the Opposition plans. He has already compiled a dossier of facts and figures, including copies of affidavits, to show that he is being unfairly targetted. There are members from all political parties who have criminal charges pending against them but nobody refers to them, he thunders. Referring to the dossier he has put together, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav promptly tells presspersons that as many as 20 of the 48 NDA candidates who contested the recent Lok Sabha election in Mahrashtra have criminal cases pending against them. The RJD chief then proceeds to give a state-wise break up of such candidates from other political parties to prove his point. In fact, he plans to focus his attack on former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani. He will remind Mr Advani that he had refused to step down even though he was chargesheeted in the Ayodhya case, In addition, he has pulled out the mandatory affidavit filed by Mr. Advani to the Election Commission to punch holes in the latter’s attack. Showing copies of this affidavit to presspersons, the RJD chief says this document states tht Mr Advani completed his law course from a college in Mumbai in 1942 while he completed his schooling from St Patrick’s High School, Karachi in 1942 and his matric from the D.G. National College, Hyderabad, in 1944. “The document gives Mr Advani’s age as 76 years... does this mean he was so talented that he got his law degree at the age 20,” Mr Yadav questions. As for the cases pending against him and his RJD colleagues, Mr Yadav says these are all political cases. In any case, he adds, the courts have yet to give their final verdict.”
The law is very clear...a person is innocent till convicted by a court,” asserts Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav.
Patna, June 2 The book has memoirs of Mr Yadav's much-publicised visit to Pakistan as a member of a delegation of parliamentarians. The book has been written in three languages. The Hindi and English parts of the book have been written by Mr Yadav while the Urdu part is a translated version. The 392-page book has 50 photographs and 10 chapters. —
UNI |
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Swaminathan submits report on biotechnology
New Delhi, June 2 “With rapid growth in R&D efforts in biotechnology, a statutory and autonomous national biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) will soon become necessary”, Dr Swaminathan said after submitting the report to Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar here today. The task-force suggested that the NBRA should have two wings — one for agriculture and food biotechnology, and the other for medical and pharmaceutical biotechnology. “NBRA is essential for generating the necessary public, political, professional and commercial confidence in the science based regulatory mechanisms. The NBRA should be autonomous and professionally led but could be attached for necessary administrative support to an appropriate ministry/department”, the report said. “The bottom line of our national agricultural biotechnology policy should be the economic well being of farm families, food security of the nation, health and security of the consumer, protection of the environment and the security of our national and international trade in farm commodities”, the report said. |
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Film director held in
colleague’s death case
Mumbai, June 2 Both of them were arrested by the Government Railway Police and produced in a magistrate’s court in Girgaum which rejected their bail plea. Also arrested were woman constable Darshana Waiti who was present at Mahalaxmi railway station when Khan was knocked down by a local train. However, she was released on bail for Rs 6,000. Waiti was charged under Section 201 of the IPC (causing disappearance of evidence or giving false information to screen offender). Magistrate Usha Iyer suo motu ordered Gustad and Udeshi to be charged under Section 182 of the IPC (false information with intent to cause public servant to use lawful power to the injury of another person), and Section 304-A of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) even though they were booked under Section 304, IPC (causing death by negligence), which is a bailable offence. According to the charges against Waiti, she did not report the accident to her seniors nor did she protest when co-accused Udeshi allegedly made a false statement to the Tardeo police stating that Khan was hit by a truck. Gustad admitted to reporters earlier that he and his crew members said Khan was hit by a truck to ensure that she was speedily treated in hospital. Railway accidents take longer formalities, Gustad told reporters. Khan was actually hit by a train while scouting the railway tracks near Mahalaxmi railway station in Central Mumbai. Khan died more than a week ago and Gustad had taken her body to London for funeral. However, he revealed the truth to her family and the case hit the headlines, forcing the police to transfer the case to the railway police. According to a Western Railway spokesman, investigators have found traces of Khan’s blood on the tracks. After Gustad confessed to a Mumbai newspaper that he had lied, two of his colleagues, sound director Vinod Subramanian and director of photography Shankar Raman, resigned from the project. Khan’s family indicated that they would be getting a Mumbai lawyer to sue Gustad and his producer Ayesha Shroff for compensation. Railway officials say the unit was shooting at a location where it was prohibited. Gustad was shooting near the fast line to Church Gate where trains come every three minutes, say officials. |
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HC allows Vaiko to visit USA
Chennai, June 2 He plans to leave for the USA tomorrow and return on June 20. In his petition, Mr Vaiko had stated the US Consulate here had issued him a visa on May 24, 1999, and it was valid till May 23, 2009. He had pointed out that the document was neither seized nor was it to be marked during the trial against him in a POTA case. Mr Vaiko had sought the court’s permission to leave for the USA between June 3 and 20 to take his 11-month-old granddaughter and leaving her with his daughter who lived in Chicago. |
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Mulayam blames Rao, Kalyan for Babri demolition
New Delhi, June 2 The UP Government in its final written submissions filed by its Advocate-General Virendra Bhatia before the panel, alleged that while Mr Rao was "indirectly" responsible, Mr Kalyan Singh and top leaders of BJP and VHP were party to the conspiracy. The state government in its written arguments placed on record, has in this context referred to the affidavit filed by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav before the panel in May, 1995. The commission is currently hearing final arguments on the evidence adduced by various parties to enable it to prepare its report. After filing of the arguments Mr Bhatia told the panel that he would not like to advance any oral arguments. But Justice M.S. Liberhan, heading the one-man inquiry commission, expressed dissatisfaction over the three-page submissions of the UP Government, observing that the state had failed to give details of the facts and circumstances that led to the incident. |
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Process on to appoint AG
New Delhi, June 2 The names would be forwarded to the PMO in a couple of days, Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj said. He, however, said no name had so far been finalised. |
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JCO supports fake killing charges
Jodhpur, June 2 Nayab Subedar P.B. Thapa told the court that he gave wrong statement earlier but was speaking truth now. “Earlier I was speaking under pressure, now I am telling the truth,” he said. Describing Maj Singh as an abusive officer he alleged that he used to abuse him. Recording of Thapa’s statement giving details of the fake operation by Maj Singh started yesterday after suspension of cross examination of the then commanding officer. —
PTI |
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Prime suspect in CBSE paper-leak case surrenders New Delhi, June 2 Sudhir appeared before the Economic Offences Wing
(EOW) of the Delhi Police but had with him an Orissa High Court order on his bail plea, said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime)
B.K. Gupta. —
UNI |
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A Mumbai magistrate today got noted film director Kaizad Gustad and his assistant Ashish Udeshi arrested and sent in police custody till June 10 in connection with the accidental death of their British colleague Nadia Khan. The 27-year-old Khan died while shooting for film “Mumbai Central” on the rail track, near Mahalaxmi railway station, on May 25.
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