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BJP seeks PM’s explanation on
2 cops killed as MCC blows up police van
Plea in fodder scam politically motivated: CBI
PM, Sonia defend petro price hike
Apang wants to be involved in talks
Elahi calls
on PM
I am not above law, says seer
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Verdict on seer’s bail
plea reserved
NDA team to meet Shankaracharya
Govt staff seek right to strike
Spotlight on Zaheera’s car
Patil allays Oppn fears on security
US hegemony worries MPs
Crime against women on the rise in Rajasthan
Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Shimla violate air pollution norms
Abdul Hamid’s family gets petrol pump after 40 years
Badal, Bhattal cases’ hearing in January
Life of Indians in Israel
Security ordered for Gawli
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BJP seeks PM’s explanation on Laloo-Paswan spat
New Delhi, December 7 “The accusations by the two Central ministers are of serious nature and the Prime Minister must clarify the doubts. He cannot escape his responsibility merely by asking the ministers to stop allegations and counter-allegations,” BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters at a regular media briefing. The BJP would definitely like to know from the Prime Minister about the file regarding the purchase worth Rs 800 crore during Mr Paswan’s time, which was being referred to by Mr Laloo Prasad, he said. “It was not a personal matter between the two ministers but that of the government, and the UPA must come clean on that. We will be making this demand in Parliament every day till the Prime Minister makes a statement,” he said. The matter was among many issues that were discussed at a BJP Parliamentary Party meeting under the chairmanship of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The party renewed its resolve to continue its boycott of the “tainted” ministers inside and outside Parliament till they were dropped from the government. Addressing the meeting, former Deputy Prime Minister and BJP President L. K. Advani criticised the government for not having adequate business in Parliament. He said the Houses had been adjourned before schedule because of lack of business during the past week. The situation had not improved in this week also, he added. The BJP, he said, would like to know where the 40-odd important Bills had gone, regarding which the government was accusing the Opposition of not allowing introduction in the last session. The meeting endorsed the decision taken by the NDA to demand a discussion under Rule 184 in the Lok Sabha on internal security. It observed that the repeal of POTA was against national interest, particularly when there was a spurt in terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East. It was also decided to raise the issue concerning the arrest of Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati. Mr Malhotra said the meeting expressed concern over the treatment meted out to the seer and said there were reports that the Shankaracharya was not getting the “needed” medicines. There seemed to be a threat to his life, he added. The meeting charged the government of torturing inmates of the Kanchi mutt to get their statements. In reply to a question, Mr Malhotra charged the government with playing vote-bank politics, saying it had introduced a Bill on establishing a national commission for minority educational institutions with an eye on minority votes. He also charged the government for misusing the CBI for political purposes. |
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2 cops killed as MCC blows up police van
Kolkata, December 7 Earlier, on Sunday MCC activists gunned down five persons, including three policemen, in the adjoining Kankrajhore forest area. DGP S. Sutta returned here from Midnapore district without visiting the disturbed areas in Kankrajhore. He went there yesterday at the instance of the Chief Minister to supervise the police operation against MCC and PWG guerrillas active in the areas. Meanwhile, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today made an appeal to MCC and PWG guerrillas, now active in several districts, including Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura in south Bengal and Jalpaiguri-Coochbehar in north Bengal, to surrender their arms and return to the mainstream. He assured the government would extend all help to the Naxalites returning to the mainstream. |
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Plea in fodder scam politically motivated: CBI
New Delhi, December 7 The CBI’s averment of “political overtones” in the petition were considered to be unusual by legal experts, who say the agency, which has been commonly dealing with scores of politically sensitive matters, normally refrains from making such observations as it would show it in bad light. The affidavit was filed by the CBI in reply to a petition by Janata Dal (U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh “Lallan” and BJP MP Sushil Modi, accusing Mr Laloo Prasad of interfering with the trial proceeding and appointing a prosecutor of his choice by replacing the “inconvenient” one. Mr Ranjan had filed the petition in the capacity of the original complainant in the fodder scam cases, on whose plea the Patna High Court initially had ordered a CBI probe in the multi-crore scandal in 1996. Mr Ranjan and Mr Modi had sought the cancellation of the bail to Mr Laloo Prasad and his wife Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi on the ground that after becoming a Union Minister in UPA Government he had made every effort to scuttle trial in the fodder scam cases as well as disproportionate assets (DA) case against the couple. |
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PM, Sonia defend petro price hike
New Delhi, December 7 Both leaders touched on this issue in their separate addresses at the general body meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP)
today. The Prime Minister assured the members that the UPA government would not allow inflation to become a “source of trouble to the common man” and that it would be tackled with speed and determination. As for the Opposition’s criticism on this issue, Mrs Gandhi said it was hypocritical of the BJP to blame the UPA government when it was the BJP-led NDA government which announced the policy linking domestic prices to world prices. The increase in petrol prices, was due to factors beyond control as the country could not remain insulated from international developments. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister said, the government had taken special care not to increase the price of kerosene. Stating that escalating oil prices in the international market had “forced this painful decision on us”, Mrs Gandhi asked party members to educate people about these compulsions. Expressing satisfaction over the party’s recent victories in Arunahcal Pradesh and Maharashtra, she exhorted partymen not to be complacent but work unitedly for success in the coming poll in the three states of Haryana, Jharkhand and Bihar. Pulling up party MPs, Mrs Gandhi expressed concern over their poor
attendance in various parliamentary committees and in Parliament, especially in the afternoons. Sounding an optimistic note, Dr Manmohan Singh said the Indian economy was robust with FIIs having invested seven billion dollars, a record of sorts. He predicted a 6 per cent growth in the national income. |
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Apang wants to be involved in talks with China
Itanagar, December 7 It may be mentioned that after China recently recognised Sikkim as a part of India, the major dispute related to border now revolves round Arunachal, which shares a common border with China. Sources in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat said Apang expressed displeasure during his recent meeting with US Consul-General George Sibley in Itanagar. Apangs anxiety stems from the fact that any solution of the border dispute will have a direct bearing on Arunachal Pradesh. Apang plans to take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Apang told this correspondent that once the border dispute with China was resolved, it would facilitate economic activities not only between China and Arunachal, but also benefit the entire North-East region. |
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Elahi calls
on PM
New Delhi, December 7 Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr Elahi switched to Punjabi and touched upon the commonalities between the two countries and finding solutions to bilateral problems. |
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I am not above law, says seer
Vellore (TN), December 7 “None is above the law. Whatever the misfortune I am suffering, I am okay,” the seer was quoted as saying by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti, who met him in jail here today. She said the seer’s health was good and that he was getting good care in jail. “The arrest of a person of his stature tells something bad,” she told reporters after visiting the Central Jail. She expressed surprise over the “silence” of Congress chief and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on the seer’s arrest, saying that it “reveals a conspiracy, which will come out soon.” “What I am surprised at is that why Sonia Gandhi is silent on the arrest. A conspiracy is revealed in the silence of Sonia Gandhi as so far no reaction has come from her as chairperson of the
UPA,” the suspended BJP leader said. Ms Bharti said God might be “testing him (the seer) and I feel that the arrest will create a shadow of curse on the country as well as the UPA Government.” Thanking the Tamil Nadu government for giving her special permission to meet the seer, Ms Bharti said she had come to meet him “not as a politician but as a saint from the Himalayas.” “I have known him since 1974,” she said, describing her visit to jail as a “daughter meeting father.”
— PTI |
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Verdict on seer’s bail
plea reserved
Chennai, December 7 Principal Sessions Judge, P. Murugesan reserved his verdict after hearing the arguments of the seer’s lawyer, Mr K.S. Dinakaran and prosecution counsel K.T.S. Tulsi. On November 23, the seer, lodged in Vellore prison after his arrest in connection with the Sankararaman murder case, was intimated about his arrest in the assault case. The 23rd Metropolitan Magistrate, Chennai, Ms Uma Maheshwari, had remanded the seer in judicial custody till December 9.
— PTI |
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NDA team to meet Shankaracharya
New Delhi, December 7 The composition of the delegation would be announced in a day or two, BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said, adding that the issue was discussed at the BJP meeting this morning. |
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Govt staff seek right to strike
New Delhi, December 7 The demonstrators were stopped at Jantar Mantar and were not allowed to proceed towards the Parliament House by the local police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel. The procession was led by AICCGEW leaders V. K. Vyas and Sukomal Sen. The procession was converted into a public meeting near the Parliament police station after which the employees handed over a ‘’Mass Petition’’ signed by more than four crore persons to the Speaker. In the petition they sought the restoration of the democratic right to strike that had been taken away by a Supreme Court decision. The petition said the Supreme Court observation that the government employees had no fundamental, statutory and moral right to strike and the ‘‘unprecedented repression’’ on the striking state employees and teachers of Tamil Nadu had come as a rude shock to the employees. Pointing out that in the present state of the country’s economy, closure, retrenchment and downsizing had resulted in massive unemployment and a drastic cut in economic and social security and all sections of workers and employees and teachers are suffering immensely as a consequence, it said in such a condition, depriving the workers of all avenues to give vent to their grievances was highly unjust. Leader of the AICCGW said the ILO in its 87, 98, 154 and 151 Conventions had accepted the right to strike, but most unfortunately India was yet to ratify these conventions. |
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Spotlight on Zaheera’s car
Mumbai, December 7 The order came after the Mumbai police submitted before the court that three constables of the Gujarat police were accompanying Zaheera’s sister, Saira, to the court. Moreover, they were all brought to court in a Toyota Qualis. However, a local newspaper here reported that the vehicle was supplied by an alleged conman from Gujarat declared an absconder in a criminal case. |
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Patil allays Oppn fears on security
New Delhi, December 7 In his brief intervention during a short duration discussion on the internal security situation in the country, he said those recommendations which had not yet been implemented “were in the process of being implemented”. The Home Minister said he would give a detailed reply to all issues raised by Mr Arun Shourie (BJP) who initiated the discussion. Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh had clarified that the previous NDA government had established four Task Forces on internal security based on the recommendations of the Subramanium Committee. “Almost 95 per cent of the recommendations of the committee and the Task Force were implemented by the BJP-led NDA government.” The former Union Minister said the NDA government had also set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) on internal security and the report made public. Mr Jaswant Singh’s clarification came after Congress MP Anand Sharma wanted to how much of the recommendations made by Subrahmanyam Committee had been implemented. |
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US hegemony worries MPs
New Delhi, December 7 Participating in a discussion on the country’s foreign policy, the members stressed the need of adhering to the non-aligned policy and multilaterlism instead of following unilateralism. The members also stressed that efforts should be stepped up towards securing permanent seat in the UN Security Council with veto power. Opening the debate, CPI member Sudhakar Reddy said sincere efforts should be made to enable the India-Pakistan peace process reach its logical end. There should also be all-round efforts to strengthen Indo-China ties and relations with other neighbouring countries, he said. Asking the government to spell out its stand on the US invasion of Iraq, US sanctions on Cuba and Israel’s stand on Palestine, he said there should be more clarity while opposing the USA which he alleged was acting like “world police”. He said India should not send its observers to Iraq for the elections there as it would mean recognising the “so-called democracy imposed by agressive US”. |
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Crime against women on the rise in Rajasthan
Jaipur, December 7 Statistics indicate that cases of
cruelty against the fair sex have touched the mark of nearly 12,000 till the end of October. A hike of 14% in the capital itself,17% in the Jaipur range, 14% in the Udaipur range and over 10% in the Kota range has been noticed as compared to the previous year. The only exception is the Jodhpur range, where the incidence of crime is comparatively on the wane. The offences against women include criminal assaults, rapes, murders, molestations, beating, snatching of chains by goonda
elements, sexual harrassment at work places et al. The overall position of law and order is equally disturbing. Commenting over the situation, Dr B.D Kalla, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, stated that police resorted to firing and lathi charges at several places in the state. The death of five persons in police firing on agitating farmers at Rawala in Sri Ganganagar district was a glaring example of the police high-handedness. Prof Pawan Surana, chairperson of the state Women Commission, remarked that utter lack of sensitivity on the part of the police was largely responsible for the plight of women victims. It was highly deplorable that a sizeable number of women were tortured because of certain superstitions prevailing in the lower strata of society. Ms Purnima Advani, chairperson of the National Women Commission during her recent visit to Jaipur had also expressed anguish over the delay in creating women desks in 700 thanas in the
state. So far, only 200 such desks are reported to have been created. The newly appointed DGP, Mr A.S Gill, has attributed the increase in registration of criminal cases against women to growing social awareness. |
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Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Shimla violate air
New Delhi, December 7 Other cities in the North include New Delhi; Mandi Gobindgarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar in Punjab; Faridabad and Yamunanagar in Haryana; and Damtal, Paonta Sahib and Shimla in Himachal Pradesh. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha regarding states where dust particles were creating havoc, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Namo Narian Meena, releasing the list of 65 cities in India, said the CPCB had circulated guidelines to the state pollution control boards for formulating action plans to deal with the problem. These include the identification of sources of air pollution, assessment of pollution load, preparation of city-wise action plan for the control of pollution from identified sources and setting up of inter-agency task force for the implementation of the action plan. He said the action plan with respect to seven cities had already been submitted to the Supreme Court. According to the list, prepared on the basis of the ambient air quality data collected between 1995 and 2002, in Chandigarh, Mandi Gobindgarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar the pollutants of concern were respiratory suspended particulate matter (RSPM) and suspended particulate matter (SPM). In Haryana and Himachal cities, the main pollutant of concern was the SPM, except in the case of Parwanoo where the RSPM was also an added concern. This was perhaps due to the fact that in Parwanoo, industries besides natural dust was the major source of pollution. In Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Faridabad and Yamunanagar vehicles and industries were the major sources of pollution. In Himachal, natural dust was the major cause of concern. |
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Abdul Hamid’s family gets petrol pump after 40 years
Lucknow, December 7 Last month Abdul Hamid’s eldest son, Zainul Hasan and his wife met with a serious road accident. While the son escaped with minor injuries, the daughter-in-law is still in coma in a private hospital at Varanasi. The aged mother-in-law, Rasoolan Bibi, is constantly by her bedside. When the problem of mounting medicals bills was broadcast, funds started pouring in from all quarters. According to a senior official of the UP Directorate of Sainik Welfare, the widow of this martyr could not get a petrol pump all these years as the oil companies had a rider that required the widow to be a matriculate. Rasoolan Bibi met the then Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and requested him to grant a petrol pump to her grandson under the discretionary quota. |
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Badal, Bhattal cases’ hearing in January
New Delhi, December 7 A Bench of Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice P.P. Naolekar issued the direction for early listing of the three cases after a plea to this effect was made by Punjab’s counsel senior advocate Uday Lalit and its Additional Advocate General Atul Nanda. |
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Life of Indians in Israel
Panjim (Goa), December 7 Nesher, the Isreali-born, US-based director of the film, has chosen non-Jewish actors from India to play Jews. He says he is pleased with the abundance of talent in India and chose the actors like Parmeet Sethi and Kruttika Desai because of their suitability for the roles. It has proved to be the most successful film in Israel in 20 years. It will be shown at the Mumbai film festival next month. If they find a distributor they will be happy to dub it in Hindi and release it in India. * *
“American Daylight” has been produced by Bobby Bedi, the maker of such hits as “Bandit Queen”. It has been directed by Roger Christian, who won an Oscar for set direction in “Star Wars” and was nominated for an Academy Award for his art direction in “Alien”, before directing the blockbuster “Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000” (2000). So, when “American Daylight” was premiered here, expectations were skyhigh and leave alone seats, there was no space in the aisles either. But it ended up being too melodramatic and typically Bollywood. The love tale of an American millionaire with a poor Indian girl who changes her accent to work at a call centre in India is too fairytale-oriented to carry conviction, despite the fact that the screenplay has been done by Farrukh
Dhondy. Nor does the music of Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, who are attending the festival, impress much.
* * “Chai Pani etc”, a film by Manu
Rawal, is proving to be surprisingly popular here. In fact, it has been the biggest draw after
“Shwaas”. Set in Delhi and Jaisalmer, it is the comic coming-of-age story of Satya (Zafar
Karachiwala), an idealistic, US-returned filmmaker. He is torn between his commitment to his old girlfriend, the fun-loving fashion designer Radha
(Konkana Sen Sharma), and his newfound attraction, Shanti (Konkana in a double role), Radha’s classmate from the fashion school.
* * All the three venues of IFFI screenings happen to be along the riverfront. The road has been closed to general public and a novel arrangement has been made to ferry festival delegates from one venue to the other. More than 50 autorickshaws have been hired to go from one venue to the other from morning till night. This makes the life of delegates easy but the traffic in the rest of the city is a mess with blockades ensuring that taxis demand a packet. A lot of cultural activity is going on along the riverfront. There is everything from
nailpainting, unicycles, clowns, acrobats, singers, artistes. No wonder even those who do not have interest in films arrive for the carnival atmosphere.
* * Bengalis are justifiably proud of their language but some of them take things too far. When Roopa Ganguly spoke at the INOX theatre in English, a heckler shouted at her to do so in Bengali. The poor girl obliged. The same protester tried the same trick on Soha Khan
Pataudi, daughter of Sharmila Tagore. She ignored him. When he again pestered her after the speech, she gave him a hard look and said: “If my Bengali is not fluent enough, why should I use it?”
Touche!
* * The corporate sector has come forward in a big way to make the Goa festival a success. Car companies, hotels, banks, cellphone service providers, makers of soft and hard drinks have pooled in their resources to make it a lavish affair. Hyundai cars without numberplates are everywhere to ferry VIP guests. The Directorate of Film Festivals had to mostly dig into its resources when Delhi was the venue. |
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Security ordered for Gawli
Mumbai, December 7 Gawli, who says his life is in danger from ‘encounter specialists’ of the Mumbai police, appealed for protection during the winter Session of the state legislature now on at Nagpur. Speaker Babasaheb Kupekar agreed to Gawli’s plea and directed the state government to provide security to the former don. Gawli’s attempts to obtain police security were foiled several times before he won last month’s assembly elections from central Mumbai. |
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