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New Delhi, June 5 Trade unions today bargained hard for raising the interest rate to as high as 12 per cent on small savings schemes such as the EPF, the PPF and the GPF, and called for a reduction in transport fuel prices as a measure to insulate the working class from the rate of inflation.
Congress planning
counter-offensive
CPM opposes amendment to people’s
Act
Left prepares for showdown on airport
issue |
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BJP toughens stand on ‘tainted’
ministers
Centre sends doctors for Mushtaq’s treatment
Vohra briefs Patil on panel
meeting Karnataka Ministry
expanded
More men of Gustad’s film crew
held
Kanshi Ram’s family to approach HC
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Trade unions want PF rate hiked to 12
pc
New Delhi, June 5 In a customary pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, which lasted about three hours, all major trade unions argued in favour of raising the income tax limit to Rs 1 lakh for individual taxpayers. Although the line of argument taken by the trade unions, particularly CITU and AITUC, is removed from the conventional strands of modern economic thinking, the Finance Minister was suggested some innovative tools of government financial accounting. Union leaders said that the increase in small savings rate to 12 per cent, as suggested by them, should be subsidised by the Centre in the form of “expenditure on social security”. Incidentally, INTUC, a trade union affiliated to the Congress, it is learnt, did not raise the pitch for higher returns, and only demanded that the government consider a relook at the portfolio of investments and funds of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). Representatives of INTUC told the Finance Minister that under the existing portfolio, the EPFO funds were primarily parked in low-yielding securities. INTUC also urged the government to come out with policy prescriptions to increase quantum of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country. Citing the Chinese example, it said the increased FDI into the country was essentially instrumental in about 25 per cent of the additional employment opportunities. INTUC also demanded appropriate legislative framework for workers participation in the management and mooted the concept of a ‘workers’ capital trust’ — a fund primarily aimed at providing pension to government employees. This fund, INTUC said, could be allowed to invest in equity markets even though it felt that the risk was high in allowing private insurance companies to handle the new pension scheme. On the revival of sick public sector undertakings, INTUC said the employees should be given the first right of takeover of these units. CITU pressed for an early enactment of the Unorganised Sector Workers’ Bill. For pensioners, it said, the government should increase the limits for income tax exemption as also extend the benefits of standard deduction to senior citizens. CITU also demanded that agricultural labourers should be protected through a special legislation while the National Employment Guarantee Act, as envisaged in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), be enacted at the earliest. |
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Congress planning
counter-offensive
New Delhi, June 5 The Opposition set the tone and tenor for the coming days when its protesting members did not allow even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to introduce his Council of Ministers in the Lok Sabha today. UPA’s floor managers tried to ensure that their members were not provoked into a confrontation as they did not want the newly-elected Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s new innings to begin on a stormy note. However, that might not be possible in the coming days. UPA leaders have decided that instead of being apologetic or defensive, they will respond to BJP’s offensive with equal fervour. Congress sources said they would be only too happy to participate in a discussion on this issue provided the Opposition is ready for a debate. The UPA was today drawing solace from the fact that Janata Dal (U) members did not join the protest which, according to them, indicates that there is no unanimity in the NDA on this issue. It also believes that the Opposition outburst yesterday essentially reflected its frustration and was a planned strategy. Nevertheless, Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, who is the prime target of Opposition attack, has already done his homework and gathered sufficient material to counter this attack. The Congress is also preparing an equally fiery response. As Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma indicated yesterday, the Congress will counter BJP’s attack by questioning its moral right to raise this issue. The treasury will remind the NDA that it had retained Ministers like L.K. Advani, Uma Bharati and Murli Manohar Joshi in its Cabinet even though they were chargesheeted in the Babri Masjid demolition case. It will turn the attack on former Defence Minister George Fernandes, recalling how he had been reinducted into the Cabinet even when the enquiry commission on Tehelka finalised its report. They will also draw attention to previous debates when the NDA government and particularly former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee justified these actions. The treasury will also point to the fact that all the so-called “tainted” ministers had filed the mandatory affidavits before the Election Commission listing all the pending cases against them. Not only were they allowed to contest but had also got a massive mandate, it will be argued. |
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CPM opposes amendment to people’s
Act
New Delhi, June 5 “The Rajya Sabha, according to the Constitutional arrangement, is the Council of States and the members elected should be from the states concerned. This is an expression of the federal character in Parliament. The secret ballot principle applies to all elections. Exempting elections to the Rajya Sabha from this principle is a violation of the democratic principle,” the statement reads. |
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Left prepares for showdown on airport
issue
New Delhi, June 5 As the Left parties adopted a different course than that explained to the media earlier in the week by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, the two seem to be headed on a collision course. But sources in the ministry clarified that Mr Patel had gone public on the issue only after consulting the Left parties. Besides, he has also held long meetings with the representatives of the various unions of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and has explained the situation to them. Reports said the minister had gone public on the issue only after weighing all pros and cons, and after due clearance from all allies in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The decision to put a 49 per cent FDI cap on modernisation and restructuring of the two, which was pruned from 74 per cent, was not likely to be changed. The minister was forced to make the announcement earlier in the week as the last date for submission of Expression of Interest (EoI) on June 2 had approached and the process of receiving EoIs would have been invalidated had the announcement not been made. The date has now been extended to July 20. The sources said the privatisation move did not amount to sale of assets of the airport as these would be given on lease to the new management of the proposed joint ventures to be set up later for the two airports. |
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BJP toughens stand on ‘tainted’
ministers
New Delhi, June 5 “We will take up the issue of tainted ministers strongly inside and outside the Parliament and specially after the manner in which the ruling party members did not allow the Leader of Opposition L K Advani to speak in the House yesterday,” BJP Parliamentary Party Spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra told newspersons here after a meeting of top party leaders at the residence of the former Deputy Prime Minister. He said a strategy would be worked out on Monday at a meeting of the NDA leaders after the President’s address. “We will take a strong stand on the issue and a strategy would be worked out at a meeting of NDA leaders slated for Monday evening,” Mr Malhotra said. The BJP has already made it clear that it will not anyway interrupt the President’s address on Monday. Today’s meeting was attended by former ministers Jaswant Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Ananth Kumar and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and new members Navjot Singh Sidhu and Manvendra Singh and Rajya Sabha member S S Ahluwalia. “It is a question of national image prestige and self-respect...so, there can be no compromise. We will strongly oppose the induction of tainted minister,” he added. |
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Centre sends doctors for Mushtaq’s treatment
New Delhi, June 5 Moulvi Muhtaq was critically wounded when unidentified youth opened fire at him during afternoon prayers inside a mosque in Rajouri
Kadal, a downtown area. He has been under treatment at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences. |
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Vohra briefs Patil on panel
meeting New Delhi, June 5 This was Mr Vohra's first meeting with the Union Home Minister after he was asked by the Centre to continue as its interlocutor on Kashmir and was redesignated as Special Representative for talks in Jammu and Kashmir. According to Home Ministry sources, although during the one-hour meeting Mr Vohra briefed the Home Minister at length about the prevailing situation in the valley, there was no specific discussion on the dates for the third round of talks with the Hurriyat Conference. The deteriorating health condition of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq's uncle Maulavi Mushtaq, who was shot at and critically wounded by militants last week, also came up for discussion. The dates for the third round of talks is expected only after Mr Patil holds a series of meetings with senior Home Ministry officials. |
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Karnataka Ministry expanded
Bangalore, June 5 Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge, Prakash Hukkeri, K. Srinivasa Gowda, S.R. More and Tanvir Sait and JD(S)’ PGR Sindhia, M P Prakash, D. Manjunath, H.D. Revanna and Mirajuddin Patel were sworn in, with Mr Singh saying another round of expansion would take place soon. —
PTI |
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More men of Gustad’s film crew
held
Mumbai, June 5 D’Mello was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate D A Joshi who remanded him in police custody till June 10. Three others, including Gustad, his assistant Ashish Udeshi and a police constable Darshana Waiti have already been arrested. Only Waiti has been released on bail while the rest have been remanded in police custody till June 10. Khan, 27, was hit by a train while shooting on the railway tracks near Mahalaxmi railway station on May 25. Udeshi and D’mello had taken a critically injured Khan to Nair hospital where they told police that she was hit by a truck while crossing the road nearby. Gustad who admitted to have lied but defended his and his colleagues’ actions saying they wanted Khan to be speedily treated at the hospital. The formalities for admitting train accident victims are lengthy and the accused said they wanted to save time. Gustad who had taken Khan’s body to London revealed the truth to her family much later. The resultant publicity forced the police to transfer the case to the Railway Police. |
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Kanshi Ram’s family to approach HC
New Delhi, June 5 Addressing mediapersons along with her two sons Dalbara Singh and Harbans Singh amid high drama over the venue of the press meet, Mr Kanshi Ram’s 93-year-old mother, Ms Bishan Kaur, said she feared for her son’s life and alleged “Mayawati will kill my son.” Mr Dalbara Singh demanded a CBI probe to find out whether or not he was really so ill to be kept in the hospital for so long. “We suspect he is being given sedatives deliberately so that he would not communicate with us,” alleged Mr Dalbara Singh, who along with Ms Bishan Kaur and Mr Harbans Singh met the BSP leader in Batra Hospital yesterday. —
PTI |
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In video: Trade
union leaders put forward their demands to FM.
