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3 Naxalites killed in encounter
Indian diplomacy reaching out to Latin
America
Cong finalises Haryana campaign
plan
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Implement CMP strictly for support, says
CPM
Multi-tier security for R-Day
Thackeray seeks action against Laloo
Union leader’s killer gets
life term
Lal gets Dr B.C. Roy
Award
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3 Naxalites killed in encounter
Hyderabad, January 20 A delegation of TRS Ministers and MLAs today met state Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and submitted a memorandum demanding, among other things, resumption of talks with Naxals, full stop to all encounters and combing operations and enquiry into the recent spate of killings by the police. “We told the Chief Minister that if the demands are not met, the TRS will have to consider its next step, K Vijaya Ramarao, Minister for Civil Supplies, told reporters. The TRS has been under tremendous pressure over the failure of talks as scores of its panicky leaders elected to local bodies started submitting their resignations en mass in many districts. Local reports said that the orchestrated resignations, though ostensibly a protest against the government’s stand, were actually made under threat from the militants. The TRS party leadership was also concerned as their district vice-president Nalla Vasant was among those killed along with some Naxalites in Warangal in a recent encounter. The incident, which pointed at close relations TRS local activists maintained with the Naxals, compelled the TRS leadership to take a stand on the talks. The TRS was not in a position to antagonize the ultra Left parties not only because the Maoists support statehood for Telangana but also because the TRS men were afraid of being targeted by Naxals. Meanwhile, Rajasekhara Reddy, who is facing flak from his own party leaders from Telangana over the breakdown of the dialogue, today defended the encounters as real. He said the government had found in its internal investigations that there was not a single fake encounter in recent times. He, however, reiterated that his government was committed to talks with the extremists. In another development, even while the Naxalite-sponsored bandh in the state today passed off without any major incident, three Naxals belonging to the CPI (Maoist) Party were killed in an encounter in Sircilla in Karimnagar district. One of them, Anil is an intermediate student. Tension prevailed in the town, as local political leaders and student organisations, angered by the killing of the student, tried to attack the police station. |
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Indian diplomacy reaching out to Latin
America
New Delhi, January 20 India used the opportunity to update itself about Latin American countries’ support to Brazil for permanent membership of the proposed United Nations Security Council. The two sides agreed on the urgent need for reforms of the United Nations and expansion of the Security Council to reflect the new realities of the international situation. India thanked Chile for its support to India for permanent membership of the UN Security Council. Chile is also interested to purchase advance light helicopters from India and when Chile’s Defence Minister visits India in April this year, the ALH deal will be high on his agenda. If the ALH deal materialises it would enable Indian armament export industry a toehold in Latin America. Besides, Chile’s Health Minister, too, would visit India in the first half of this year which will open up Indo-Chile cooperation in this sector. As is the wont with every foreign delegation visiting India these days, the Chilean President also came here with a strong business delegation of more than 50 businessmen. The following three agreements for cooperation were signed during the visit: i.
Framework Agreement for Economic Cooperation. A Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) will be signed within 2005 and this will lead to a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement eventually. This agreement would pave the way for giving a fillip to Indo-Chile bilateral trade which already stands at close to half a billion US dollars. ii. Memorandum of Understanding between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the Chilean Agriculture Research Institute. iii. Memorandum of Understanding on Sanitary and Phytosanitary issues between the Ministries of Agriculture. The two sides agreed to continue to coordinate their positions as members of the G-20, in order to ensure that the concerns of the developing countries are properly considered. |
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Cong finalises Haryana campaign
plan
New Delhi, January 20 This clarification follows information received here by Congress poll managers that in order to get political mileage in the coming assembly poll, the BJP and the INLD plan to implicate Mrs Gandhi in this controversy. Their charge is that the Congress President gave her consent to the Punjab Government’s decision to abrogate all river water-sharing treaties with neighbouring states. It has been clarified that Mrs Gandhi has no role to play in the SYL controversy, the Punjab Government decision did not have her approval and that she respects the Supreme Court decision in this matter. Although the Congress will try to play down this controversy in its election campaign by taking the plea that the Apex Court has already decided in Haryana’s favour, at the same time, it has to be prepared with an effective response to Opposition charges. This issue also assumed significance as former Punjab MP Jagmeet Singh Brar is among the 20 election observers appointed by the AICC for the Haryana elections and it was felt that he will be specifically bombarded with uncomfortable questions on the SYL controversy. The observers, who will be responsible for two parliamentary constituencies each, were briefed here today by AICC Treasurer Motilal Vora and Mr Janardan Dwivedi, AICC General Secretary in charge of Haryana. In addition to the 20 political observers, the party has also deputed five party leaders to take stock of the work of the election observers. They are AICC
secretaries Vivek Bansal, Nirmal Khatri and R.C.Kuntia, CWC special invitee Ramesh Chennithala and former MP Sundarlal Tiwari. The poll managers,who will be moving to the field at the earliest, were told specifically to keep on eye on disgruntled ticket
aspirants who might create problems for the official candidates. In addition, they were asked to ensure proper coordination between the party and the candidates and concentrate on tough constituencies like Sirsa, Hisar, Narwana, Rori and Kaithal. Given Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s style of
functioning and his tendency to use official machinery for electoral purposes, the Congress election observers were told to concentrate on booth management on polling day and go in
for proper scrutiny of polling agents. |
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Implement CMP strictly for support, says
CPM
New Delhi, January 20 “It is up to the UPA to ensure that its government has a stable tenure by implementing the pro-people measures in the CMP and by maintaining its political cohesion,” said party’s politbureau member Prakash Karat releasing the draft political resolution to be adopted in the party Congress in April. In a sharply critical appraisal of the government performance, he said, “the UPA government is pursuing the same policies of liberalisation and privatisation. Notwithstanding certain policy measures in the CMP, the government is unwilling to change the course and, in essence, pursues the same policies as that of the Vajpayee government.” |
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Multi-tier security for R-Day
New Delhi, January 20 A system of multiple checks has been introduced for which the process had already started in November, says the police. Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Anita Roy said there were certain new aspects of security which were being given special attention in the process of verification this time, and certain changes had been effected in the security arrangements on the parade route in respect of time and space. Ms Roy, however, refused to elaborate on the nature of threat perceptions. She said among the most complicated areas were the Metro and other high-rise buildings, adding that this time 150 buildings had been occupied to widen and strengthen aerial surveillance. “On such occasions, the strategy of terrorists is to strike the next target if they do not succeed in getting their prime targets, so we have to draw up a multi-tier security plan,” she said. |
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Thackeray seeks action against Laloo
Mumbai, January 20 "This is not the final report, but it was released to influence voters in the Assembly elections in three states," Mr Bal Thackeray said. Mr Thackeray asked the Election Commission to take action against Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav saying the release of the report violated the model code of conduct. |
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Union leader’s killer gets
life term
New Delhi, January 20 A Bench of Mr Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan convicted Paltan Mallah, the assailant who shot dead Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (CMM) leader Niyogi, reversing the Madhya Pradesh High Court to the extent of his exoneration. But the High Court order acquitting the other five co-accused, including three industrialists, was not disturbed by the apex court. It said there was no “direct and convincing” evidence against the three industrialists — Navin Shah, Chanderkant Shah and Moolchand Shah —and the other co-accused, Gian Prakash Mishra and Awadhesh Rai, about their involvement in the criminal conpiracy to eliminate the CMM leader. The trial judge had awarded the death sentence to Mallah and life imprisonment to others. Niyogi’s launching of an agitation against industrialists in the Chhattisgarh region, especially in the Rajaram mines area in the undivided Madhya Pradesh over exploitation of workers, was cited as the motive behind the murder by the trial court. The Supreme Court, however, modified the trial judge’s verdict, by converting the death sentence of Mallah into life imprisonment, taking into consideration the “long lapse of time” in the final decision in the case by the highest court. The murder of Niyogi had hit the headlines for several days, with trade unions launching an agitation against his killing. As a result, the MP Government had handed over the probe to the CBI. |
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Lal gets Dr B.C. Roy
Award
New Delhi, January 20 The others who have been selected along with Dr Lal for the award, which is considered equivalent to the Padma awards in the medical fraternity are the Chairman of Narayana Hrudyalaya, Dr Devi Shetty, and a dental surgeon, Dr Anil Kohli. Dr B.C. Roy awards were earlier also conferred upon Dr Farooq Abdullah, Dr C.P. Thakur and Dr Naresh Trehan. The management committee of the Dr B.C. Roy National Award Fund has selected Dr Lal and Dr Shetty in ‘recognition of the best talents in encouraging the development of specialities’ while the dental surgeon at Soni’s Dental Clinic here in the ‘socio medical relief’ category. Hailing from the small village in Punjab, Dr Lal, after pursuing his initial education through scholarships graduated from Medical College, Amritsar. He then did his specialisation abroad and returned to join the Apollo Group of Hospitals initially. Later, he started the Metro Group of Hospitals, which takes special care of patients from Punjab and his contribution has also been recognised towards cost containment in heart care. A Padma Bhushan awardee, Dr Lal is also known for revolutionising heart care treatment with many firsts to his name. He has developed many techniques, primarity to reduce the cost of operations in the field of interventional cardiology. Dr Shetty was instrumental in setting up the largest chain of heart care beds under the banner of Narayana Hrudyalaya based in Bangalore. Dr Kohli, also a Padama Shri awardee (1992), represents the country and Sri Lanka as the council man for the International College of Dentists. Other doctors who have been selcted from Delhi include Dr Manoj Kumar Singh from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr Anupam Sachdev from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and Dr Ravi Kasliwal from Escorts Heart Institute. The national awards are given every year to the best talents in medical community for their contribution to medicine as well as to society. |
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New Delhi, January 20
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