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Shiv Sena, BJP promise free power, loan
waiver
EC allows transfer of Lucknow
DIG
India seeks Bangladesh help in tackling
terrorism
Statehood for Telangana not for
now
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Military-level talks with Pak soon, says Pranab
Contaminated blood products issue to be probed
Anand’s demise condoled as ‘end of epoch’
Kidwai to act as Punjab Governor
VHP sounds cadres on legal ‘trap’ by
UPA
Attempt to gherao Coca Cola plant
IAF holds joint exercises with
S. African Air Force
India, Singapore to hold joint naval
exercise GoM to probe skeletons in NDA cupboard Defer low
IT tariff plan: EC
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Shiv Sena, BJP promise free power, loan
waiver
Mumbai, September 28 Apart from farmers, even kin of soldiers from the state who died on duty have also been promised financial assistance. The two parties have also promised jobs to 40 lakh slum-dwellers of Mumbai. The “vachan nama” or manifesto was released by BJP leader Pramod Mahajan and Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray. The two parties said they would also install a ‘Savarkar Jyoti’ in different parts of the state and construct a memorial to Maratha King Shivaji at the Raigad fort. The parties are also focusing on the Mumbai. Leaders of the two parties reminded the Mumbaiites that the spanking new flyovers and the Mumbai-Pune expressway were constructed by them. Other sops for Mumbai include a metro railway and vocational training to local youth. Meanwhile, Congress President Sonia Gandhi will kick off her campaign for the October 13 elections in Maharashtra on October 4. On September 30, she will campaign for the party candidates in Arunchal Pradesh, which also goes the to polls on October 7. She will concentrate on Maharashtra where the Congress-NCP alliance is pitted against the BJP-Shiv Sena campaign. The Congress is contesting 154 seats for the election to 288 member Assembly in Maharashtra. Party sources said Ms Gandhi would address as many public meetings as possible in two or three stages in Maharashtra. Some of the meetings would be addressed jointly with Union Agriculture Minister and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. |
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EC allows transfer of Lucknow
DIG
New Delhi, September 28 Highly placed sources in the commission said the state government had sought permission from the Election Commission to transfer the DIG, Lucknow Range, as the model code of conduct was in force in the state in view of the coming by-elections for two Lok Sabha and 12 Assembly seats. The lawyers have been demanding action against the DIG and three other senior police officers and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh had assured the lawyers that action would be taken against all those police officers responsible for the September 3 police lathi-charge on lawyers, prompting the latter to call off their 10-day strike. PATNA: The Patna High Court on Tuesday ordered the removal of Bagha district Superintendent of Police Kapileshwar Manjhi for “intimidating” advocates and other witnesses in a case of policemen assaulting lawyers and a judicial magistrate of Bagha district court in July this year. While hearing a contempt of court case against 12 policemen of Bagha, accused of assaulting lawyers and a Judicial Magistrate, Acting Chief Justice Nagendra Roy and Mr Justice S.N. Hussain ordered the state Chief Secretary, Director-General of Police and the Cabinet Secretary to come before the court and ordered them to transfer the Bagha SP within a week. Earlier, the then Chief Justice of the High Court Ravi S. Dhavan and Mr Justice Shashank Kumar Singh had ordered initiating contempt proceedings against the guilty policemen on the basis of report of the district judge. Besides giving contempt order against guilty policemen of Bagha, Mr Justice Dhavan had also reamanded four policemen of Bhagalpur in jail custody for assaulting Acting Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhagalpur last year. A posse of policemen posted at the Bagha court had allegedly gone berserk and assaulted lawyers and the Judicial Magistrate in July this year following a quarrel over question of entry into the court.
— PTI |
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India seeks Bangladesh help in tackling
terrorism
New Delhi, September 28 The BDR not only stuck to its familiar position of no terrorist camps on the Bangladeshi territory, it also charged that Bangladeshi insurgents were being given shelter in India. Sources said the Bangladeshi side had given a list of “terrorists” to the Indians who have found sanctuaries in India. The BDR also named several outfits, inlcuding “Bongo Sena”, which it said had been operating from Kolkata and acting against Bangladeshi interests. The Indian side refuted the charge and maintained that most of the “terrorists” named by Bangladesh were actually Bangladeshi citizens who had crossed over to India during the turbulent period of 1971-75. The DG-level BSF-BDR talks, which will resume again on Saturday after the BDR delegates return from Tekanpur, will decide on follow-up measures since the just-concluded Home Secretary-level talks between the two countries. Sources said the two sides reiterated their respective positions at today’s talks but the silver lining was that the BDR delegation is visiting the BSF Academy at Tekanpur near Gwalior. The BDR’s Tekanpur visit is being seen as a confidence building measure (CBM) of sorts as the Indian Central Paramilitary Organisations’ ammunition stocks are stored at the sprawling Tekanpur facility. The Indian side is expected to raise the issue of obstruction from the other side over erecting of fences along the border (150 metres inside the Indian territory from Zero level). India today asked Bangladesh to adopt a “realistic and pragmatic approach” and jointly harness capabilities to stamp out terrorism in the region and sort out border problems. “The trans-national capabilities acquired by the terrorist organisations require that all nation states should come together and join hands to fight their evil designs so that the phenomenon of terror, extending its tentacles in the region, is defeated,” BSF Director-General Ajai Raj Sharma said in his inaugural address at the four-day conference of Director-Generals of the BSF and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) here. “We should jointly harness our capabilities to achieve this end,” Mr Sharma emphasised. During the four-day visit, the Indian side will furnish an updated list of 195 terrorist camps in North-East insurgents in Bangladesh and demand Bangladesh’s cooperation in smashing these camps and also demand handing over of 126 insurgents taking shelter there. However, the BDR Chief Maj Gen Jehangir Alam Chowdhury, who met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil here today ahead of the meeting, denied existence of terrorist camps on the Bangladesh soil. Mr Chowdhury, in his inaugural address, said during the past 18 months, the two sides had been able to consolidate friendship and “no new issues or disputes have arisen during this period. It is an achievement in itself.” |
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Statehood for Telangana not for
now
Hyderabad, September 28 “The agreement between the Congress and the TRS clearly says that only a second states reorganisation committee (SRC) would decide on the formation of a separate Telangana. TRS leaders Chandrasekhar Rao and Narendra have agreed to abide by the AICC resolution in this regard,” APCC President D. Srinivas asserted today. He was reacting to Union Minister Narendra’s rejoinder to Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s statement that the Congress was committed only to a second SRC. Narendra dared the PCC President to say the same thing. “Let Mr Srinivas, who was involved in the pre-poll alliance discussions, come out with the truth,” Narendra had said. Supporting the Chief Minister’s stand on the issue, Mr Srinivas pointed out that the TRS leaders had agreed to this condition in the presence of senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Venkata Swamy and released copies of the agreement signed by Mr Chandrasekhar Rao. The AICC resolution, which the TRS had agreed to abide by, said: “While respecting the report of the first SRC, the Congress party notes that there are many valid reasons for the formation of separate state in Vidarbha and Telangana. However…the Congress feels the whole matter could be best addressed by another state reorganisation committee.” The TRS has been insisting that a separate state was on its way without recourse to any SRC. The aggressive stand of the TRS became a source of embarrassment to the Congress, given that its interests in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema were at stake because of the regional party’s divisive stance. Meanwhile, with the Congress deciding to play cool on separate statehood to Vidarbha in the coming Maharashtra poll, the TRS hopes of a Telangana state in the near future have further dampened. |
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The dark truth behind farmers’ suicides
Bangalore, September 28 That Meena Prakash Rechpade, widow of 36-year-old farmer Prakash of Dhanori village near Wardha in Maharashtra, has no money to arrange for the last rites of her husband no longer evokes a strong reaction. In Andhra Pradesh, ever since Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy took over as chief minister in May, over 400 farmers have committed suicide. In Karnataka, new Chief Minister Dharam Singh seems to have no time for farmers in distress. More than 300 farmers have committed suicide in the state. A majority of them were below 45. In western Uttar Pradesh, 14 farmers committed suicide in July. Farmer suicides are topping the chart in Kerala too. In frontline agricultural states like Punjab and Haryana, the situation is no better. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had said that close to 2,000 farmers had committed suicide in recent years. While the serial death dance continues, policy makers and agricultural scientists are busy laying the foundations for India's second "Green Revolution". Sensing the uneasiness being felt by agricultural scientists, support has already flown in from the expected quarters— the biotechnology industry. The US-based International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Application (ISAAA) — which promoted genetically engineered crops and transfer of technology with multimillion-dollar funding from Cargill,Dow, Monsanto and Novartis in addition to foundations and Western governmental funding agencies -- is busy collaborating with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), besotted with the vision of India as one vast genomic valley. This is happening at a time when a high chemical input- based technology has already mined the soils and ultimately led to lands gasping for breath, with water-guzzling hybrid and Bt cotton crops sucking the groundwater aquifers dry. In Punjab, for instance, of the 138 development blocks, 84 have already been declared dark zones — the level of groundwater exploitation in these blocks has been in excess of 98 per cent against the critical limit of 80 per cent. All these years, for instance, dry land regions, which comprise nearly 75 per cent of the total cultivable area, have increasingly come under hybrid crops. While crop yields from these was surely high, the flip side — these varieties are water guzzlers —was very conveniently ignored. In Punjab and Haryana, farmers cultivate high-yielding varieties of rice that require about 3,000 litres of water to produce a kilo of grain. Three decades after the first Green Revolution, scientists are now discovering that chemical pesticides are a complete waste of time and money. They have realised the grave mistake only after poisoning the lands, contaminating groundwater, polluting the environment and the death of thousands of farmers. At no stage did scientists call for a mid-term correction to rectify the imbalance and destruction of soil fertility through excessive application of chemicals. The second generation environmental impacts became so serious that the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which runs 16 international agricultural centres, did launch an initiative for studying the negative impact of the Green Revolution model on sustainable agriculture in the Indo-Gangetic plains,but the results were never made public. Instead of learning from the Green Revolution debacle, the same breed of scientists and policy makers are now being asked to provide a solution to the prevailing agrarian crisis. — IANS |
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Military-level talks with Pak soon, says Pranab
Kolkata, September 28
It was decided after that meeting that military-level talks between the two countries will be held,” he told newsmen on the sidelines of the AGM of the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here. Asked whether the talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Siachen would lessen the arms race between the two countries, Mr Mukherjee said this was not the first time that talks with Pakistan were held on the Siachen issue. Earlier, eight rounds of talks were held at the Defence-Secretary level and military-level talks were held twice. Military-level talks would be held once more, he said. On infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir from across the border, the Defence Minister said: “Infiltration has reduced. We are getting reports that there has been some attempt at infiltration. We have been able to prevent both infiltration and |
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Contaminated blood products issue to be probed
New Delhi, September 28 The reports had said that Britain had exported blood products that could be contaminated with the human form of mad cow disease to at least 11 countries. Sources in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare told TNS here that Health Minister, Anbhumani Ramadoss held a meeting here with the Drug Controller. The Drug Controller has written to the World Health Organisation to obtain its view on the report. The matter has also been taken up with the Ministry of External Affairs for a follow-up with the British Sources in the Ministry said that the Drug Controller has asked the two British companies registered in India for import of blood products to find out if donor’s blood was sourced for preparing blood products. Sourcing of plasma from UK citizens was stopped as a precautionary measure in 1996. |
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Anand’s demise condoled as ‘end of epoch’
New Delhi, September 28 The 99-year-old writer, who was also a fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Lalit Kala Akademi, was to be honoured by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Akademi in November this year. Renowned sculptor Amarnath Sehgal, who donated a bronze bust of the writer to the Lalit Kala Akademi last month when it conferred the 'Lalit Ratna' award on Anand, praised him for his magnanimity. "He had in him a lot of compassion which made him truly great," said Mr Sehgal. The bust, which Mr Sehgal donated to the Lalit Kala Akademi when Anand could not make it to its award ceremony, was made by him in Paris in the year 1980. The Sahitya Akademi, the Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Lalit Kala Akademi mourned the death of Anand. "With Mulk Raj Anand's demise, an epoch has come to an end," said Sahitya Akademi president Gopichand Narang. Prof Narang said with his death, Indian Literature has lost a stalwart. "He was a living legend. With his passing away, the 20th century Indian literature has come to a close." He said Anand would be long remembered as a co-founder of the Progressive Writers' Movement, which influenced all the Indian regional languages. "Also as an editor of the art journal 'Marg', he contributed extensively to the appreciation of Indian art worldwide," he added. "Much before the independence of India, he had blazed a trail in English literature written by Indians," said Professor Narang, who considers Anand's 'Coolie' as one of the best novels ever. |
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Kidwai to act as Punjab Governor
New Delhi, September 28 According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique, Dr Kidwai will discharge the functions of the Punjab Governor and the Chandigarh Administrator in addition to his other duties. |
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VHP sounds cadres on legal ‘trap’ by
UPA New Delhi, September 28 The VHP advice is aimed at enabling cadres to avoid falling prey to the trap laid by the UPA government through the promulgation of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Ordinance. Besides, the Sangh Parivar outfit has also decided to have “legal examination” of the September 21 Ordinance. The parivar would take necessary steps to protect its right to follow and propagate its ideology, VHP sources said here today. The VHPsuggestion came after Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil reportedly said the VHP and the RSS could be booked under the new ordinance if any of its leaders indulged in creating communal tensions. “Although the legal cell of the VHP will closely examine the new ordinance and suggest further course of action, the immediate advise from the leaders to the cadre is to remain vigilant and not to fall prey to the UPA trap,” a VHP source told The Tribune here. This, the source said, was intended to prevent the organisation from being maligned or banned for the acts or folly of individuals. The VHP has also understood to have postponed indefinitely its “Trishul Diksha” programmes. Meanwhile, the VHP's international vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore said the new ordinance, replacing POTA, was targeted at the Sangh Parivar. "Under Section 153 of the IPC, individuals were booked for creating tension between two communities on the basis of caste, creed and religion. But the new ordinance holds the entire organisation responsible," Mr Kishore said. If one goes by the statement of Mr Patil, it is quite clear that the UPA Government could wilfully use the provisions of the
ordinance against the Sangh Parivar.
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Attempt to gherao Coca Cola plant
Jaipur, September 28 The protesters holding placards and banners and led by Gandhian leader Siddhraj Dhadda, after a meeting in the sub-urban Kaladera, began marching towards the plant around which prohibitory orders had been enforced when they were taken into custody. Inspector-General of Police O.P. Gehlotra said the demonstration was peaceful. Denying the allegation, Coca Cola Vice-President Sunil Gupta, quoting the State Water Board said: “Depletion of water level in Kaladera was much lower than the adjoining villages because of rainwater harvesting carried out by us”. — PTI |
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IAF holds joint exercises with
S. African Air Force New Delhi, September 28 In fact these are the first such exercise being conducted by India in the African continent. The IAF has deployed six of its frontline Mirage 2000 fighters, an IL76 transport aircraft and an IL78 mid-air refuelling aircraft along with a 150-strong contingent for the exercises, which have been codenamed as Golden Eagle. The joint endeavour, which commenced yesterday, aims to develop greater understanding of the methods of operation of the two Air Forces and to foster cooperation between the militaries of the two countries. According to an official spokesperson here, the South African Air Force (SAAF) has deployed its Cheetah fighter jets and Impala trainers to operate with the IAF aircraft which earlier thrilled spectators with a spectacular aerobatic display at the weeklong Africa Aerospace and Defence Exhibition, 2004, at Air Force Base, Waterkloof. Meanwhile, an Indian Special Forces team participated in “Airborne Africa”, a multi-national competition of Special Forces from around the world. The Indian team came second — close on the heels of hosts South Africa. Incidentally, India and South Africa have expressed their keenness to collaborate in the field of defence with New Delhi helping Johannesburg transform its armed forces, especially the Army and Navy. The discussions in this regard were held at a meeting in Pretoria between an Indian delegation led by Minister of State for Defence Bijoy Krishna Handique and his South African counterpart Mosiuoa Lekota yesterday. The two countries already have close ties at the diplomatic and military levels and regularly exchange their personnel. A contingent of the South African National Defence Force is at present undergoing training in India, according to an official spokesperson here. The Indian delegation is currently in South Africa as part of the weeklong Africa Aerospace and Defence Exhibition. The delegation includes Secretary for Defence Production Shekhar Dutt besides heads of leading Indian defence public sector undertakings. At the Indian pavilion, the Brahmos supersonic anti-ship cruise missile, developed jointly by India and Russia, and the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited attracted interest. |
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Melody Queen Lata rings in 75th birthday quietly
Mumbai, September 28 Journalists and photographers gathered at “Prabhu Kunj”, the Mangeshkar residence on the Peddar Road in South Mumbai, since morning but they were told by security guards that “Didi” was not at home. When contacted over telephone, family members at Lata’s residence said “Didi” preferred to spend the day quietly with her family and not be disturbed. Lata, whose lilting voice will now be heard in “Veer Zaara”, the latest love epic from Yash Chopra, said yesterday that she did not like to celebrate her birthday and went out of Mumbai. Often described as the Nightingale of India, Lata has charmed her fans with over 50,000 songs that she has rendered as a playback singer in films. Any account of Indian playback music must start and end with Lata Mangeshkar. Born September 28, 1929, in Indore, Lata Mangeshkar has been active in all streams of Indian popular music and light classical music, having lent her voice to film songs, ghazals and bhajans. Her father Dinanath Mangeshkar owned a theatrical company and was a reputed classical singer of the Gwalior gharana. He gave her music lessons from the age of five. She also learnt music from Aman Ali Khan Sahib and later from Amanat Khan. However, when her father died in 1942, the onus of being the breadwinner of the family fell on Lata. Between 1942 and 1948 she acted in as many as eight films in Hindi and Marathi to take care of her family. She also made her debut as a playback singer in the Marathi film “Kiti Hasaal” (1942), but the song was edited. The first Hindi film for which she sang was “Aap Ke Sewa Main” (1947), but her singing went unnoticed. When Lata entered the film industry, heavier Punjabi voices like Noorjehan, Shamshad Begum and Zohrabai Ambalewali ruled the industry. Lata was rejected for “Shaheed” (1948) by producer S. Mukherjee who complained that her voice was too high-pitched. However, Ghulam Haider, unable to take her for ”Shaheed”, gave Lata a break with his song “Dil mera toda” from “Majboor” (1948). —
UNI
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India, Singapore to hold joint naval
exercise New Delhi, September 28 Visiting Singapore Naval Chief Rear Admiral Ronnie Tay today gave an invitation to Indian Naval warships to undertake joint manoeuvre in the south China sea. Frontline Indian warships, including the just-acquired stealth frigates from Russia, will join in the week-long exercises with Singapore Navy’s sophisticated anti-submarine warships. Though India and China held some exercises off the Shangai port last year, this would be first time that Indian Warships would be involved in manoeuvre in the South China sea. Rear Admiral Tay, who is on a three-day visit here, held discussions with his Indian counterpart Admiral Arun Prakash. He also met the Army Chief Gen N.C. Vij and Vice Chief of the Air Staff. The Singapore Naval Chief will also visit Western Naval Command headquarters and warships in Mumbai. The two countries also touched upon possibilities of Indian Naval warships undertaking joint patrolling of the strategic Malacca Straits. The visit of the Singapore Naval Chief comes on the heels of the discussions held by the Malaysian Naval Chief here last month during which revival of joint patrolling of the Malacca Straits had also figured. India and Singapore have been holding joint exercises for the past 11 years, but these have been in Indian waters. |
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GoM to probe skeletons in NDA cupboard New Delhi, September 28 The GoM, headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was constituted last week. It will also decide the future course of action regarding the appeal in the Supreme Court, challenging the discharge of former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani in the Babri demolition case, sources revealed. The Government has already initiated a probe into the alleged scam involving allotment of prime land to the institutions owing loyalty to the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS). Apart from Mr Mukherjee, the GoM includes HRD Minister Arjun Singh, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Urban Development Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Science and Technology Minister Kapil
Sibal. |
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Defer low IT tariff plan: EC New Delhi, September 28 EC sources said the poll panel was of the view that extending subsidy at this juncture would be a violation of the model code of conduct. At the same time, the EC has given its nod for the announcement regarding broadband connectivity to increase the use of broadband for Internet access. The poll panel in a communication to Telecom Secretary Nripendra Mishra said the department might refrain from issuing press advertisements with regard to broadband till the completion of the poll process. The EC has, meanwhile, given its consent to the UP Government to transfer Lucknow Range Deputy Inspector General Jagmohan Yadav.
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Japanese bunkers to be restored