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India, Japan to hold strategic talks
Nagaland not part of India: Muivah
Pilot poaching pact vanishes in thin air
Military aid to Nepal to stay under
review, says Natwar
Chandumajra meets Patil on Gurdwara Act
Sonia to address rally at Jind
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Mahajan-Jaitley team for Assam poll
Japanese accuses lawyers of fraud, writes to BCI
US report takes note of terror in J&K
Phone tapping reports incorrect, says Patil
Mamata Banerjee getting isolated
Koizumi to visit Metro
Karnad, Urmila Nagar rally behind Mansingh
Should Central quota in dental
colleges be hiked, asks SC
CBSE can delay Class XII result in Andamans: SC
End boycott, Speaker appeals to Opposition
Defence Secys meeting on Siachen in May
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India, Japan to hold strategic talks
New Delhi, April 28 “Mr Koizumi and Dr Manmohan Singh are going to announce an institutionalised mechanism of a high-level strategic dialogue, though the first round of this dialogue has already taken place informally here last month,” Japanese Ambassador Yasukuni Enoki told The Tribune. The strategic dialogue will take place at the level of National Security Adviser, Mr M.K. Narayanan, and the Japan PM’s Diplomatic Adviser, Ms Yoriko Kawaguchi, who is also the former Foreign Minister of that country. Ms Kawaguchi will not be a part of Mr Koizumi’s 50-member official delegation. True to Mr Koizumi’s personal-touch style of diplomacy, not a single minister is coming as part of his delegation. Ms Kawaguchi and Mr Narayanan held the first round of strategic dialogue last month when the Japanese official came here to participate in an Indo-Japan seminar jointly sponsored by the Embassy of Japan and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The two countries decided that the formal launch of this strategic dialogue forum would be done by the two Prime Ministers when Mr Koizumi visited India. The dialogue will be open-ended and the two sides would be free to discuss anything they wished to, Mr Enoki said. Asked whether the Indo-Japan strategic dialogue was Tokyo’s balancing act in view of China deciding to enter into a strategic cooperation relationship with India, the Ambassador replied in the negative and said: “Each relationship is different from another. There is no containment of China intended here, if that is what you mean.” Mr Enoki said Japan was supportive of India becoming a member of the Asian Economic Community and looked forward to New Delhi’s participation in the AEC summit in Malaysia this December. “India has fulfilled all three pre-conditions for becoming member of the AEC, which stipulate that the prospective member should (i) have substantive relations with ASEAN (ii) be a dialogue partner of ASEAN and (iii) should accept the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Japan acceding to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) with ASEAN in Tokyo in December, 2003, was seen as amounting to that country’s signing a security pact with the southeast Asian states. It was also seen as Japan catching up with China and India which had acceded to the TAC at the ASEAN Summit in Bali in October, 2003. Mr Enoki made a number of announcements at a press briefing here on Tuesday wherein he said during Mr Koizumi’s visit, the two Prime Ministers would unveil, in the joint statement, an eight-point action plan to provide strategic orientation to Indo-Japan relations. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s three-day visit will include a visit to a site of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the successful rail project showcasing striking change in the country for which Japan has not only provided aid money but has also been the lead consultant. |
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Nagaland not part of India: Muivah
New Delhi, April 28 He refused to accept Indian sovereignty but explained on the BBC’s HARDtalk India programme, to be telecast tomorrow, that he wanted “a special federal relationship” with the Indian Government for his homeland in the
North-East.
They have been negotiating since 1997 without a solution in sight to the five-decade-old Naga insurgency, India’s first ethnic rebellion. Discussing the position reached at the end of 41 rounds of dialogue, Mr Muivah said: “We can come as close as possible but it’s not possible for the Nagas to come within the Indian Union or within the framework of the Indian Constitution. Why? Because it amounts to dismissing the whole history of the Nagas and the Nagas cannot do that.” He continued: “Sovereignty of the Naga people belongs to the Naga people and to the Naga people alone. They have a right to decide their future, to determine their fate also. So long as that is there, adjustments can be made. So long as the national identity of the Nagas is recognised and honoured, adjustment is possible. When we talk of a special federal relationship, it has to be on the terms of the agreement that can be arrived at. It should be a federation of India and Nagalim (Greater Nagaland). Within the Indian Constitution, it is not possible.” Speaking on the claim by the NSCN (IM) to four districts of neighbouring Manipur, which led to 18 deaths and the burning of the Assembly in Imphal in 2001, Mr Muivah dismissed the threat of further violence.
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Pilot poaching pact vanishes in thin air
New Delhi, April 28 This has apparently happened despite the fact that the private airline in question offered to hike the salaries of its pilots, again in contravention to the agreement, to retain them. But it has in the process again started a price war among the airlines to either retain their pilots or wean away pilots from other
airlines.
The intervention of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel seems to have had little effect on the issue. Earlier this month, he called a meeting of all airlines and asked them to work out a solution to stop poaching. He had also asked these airlines to get back to the ministry with a solution, which, though arrived at, has been overlooked within a week. It was agreed that the salaries of Indian Airlines pilots would be the benchmark for other airlines. However, even as the Indian Airlines pilots themselves are having talks with the management for a hike in their salaries, the private airline, which lost its pilots leading to a total chaos on its flight schedules has gone ahead to give a major jump in salaries to its commanders and co-pilots. Sources here said while the salaries of the Indian Airlines commanders remains between Rs 2 to 2.5 lakh, the private airline has apparently offered its commanders a salary touching almost Rs 4 lakh a month. The same airline is offering its co-pilots a salary touching almost Rs 2 lakh per month. Observers in the civil aviation sector said the poaching of pilots and contravention of the laid down principles would continue till there was a shortage of pilots in the country. With more and more airlines coming into business and seeking to start their operations, there would be no other choice but to poach on the existing strength of pilots available with other airlines. Incidentally, Indian Airlines still remains as the most soft spot for the private airlines to poach upon. With the ministry holding back its expansion plans, which is giving an advantage, particularly to a private airline, and with no hike in the salary for pilots in the offing, it remains a grey area for the other airlines to exploit.
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Military aid to Nepal to stay under
review, says Natwar
New Delhi, April 28 “So far as the military aid is concerned, it is constantly under review and will remain so in view of what has happened,” External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh told the Rajya Sabha. In an apparent warning to the Nepalese monarch, the minister said, “India had all leverages with Nepal but has not used any of them so far as New Delhi wanted to resolve the situation in the kingdom in an amicable and friendly manner.” “We want to see that democracy is restored, Maoists are contained, political process starts and the people of Nepal do not suffer in any way. That is our policy,” he said. Deploring the arrest of former Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, he said, “It is a matter of deep regret that when His Majesty, the King, goes back after his talks with the Prime Minister of India, an announcement is made that a person no less than a previous Prime Minister of Nepal is arrested on charges which are yet to be proved.” Informing the House that relations with Nepal were constantly under review, Mr Natwar Singh said the Nepalese monarch had also given assurance to remove curbs on the Press and allow Indian television channels to be accessed in the country. The External Affairs Minister was responding to CPI-M member Nilotpal Basu, who had raised the issue, saying that while continued engagement with Nepal was alright, it should not reflect on actions in the kingdom against democratic forces. The Left Front, an important outside ally of the UPA coalition, has sharply criticised moves to resume military aid to Nepal. |
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Chandumajra meets Patil on Gurdwara Act
New Delhi, April 28 “The framers of this Act had rightly fixed the tenure of one year. It has remained so for the past 80 years and has worked well,” the memorandum said. Mr Chandumajra told reporters that the Home Minister assured him that he would consider the sentiments expressed by the party. In a separate memorandum to the Prime Minister, he urged the Centre to intervene in the case of a Sikh youth in Denmark who was arrested for wearing a kirpan. “It is saddening. The Sikhs have a presence in Europe since the nineteenth century. Their religious traditions are known throughout the world,” it said. |
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Sonia to address rally at Jind
New Delhi, April 28 This meeting was originally to be held on April 23 but was rescheduled after two senior Haryana ministers, O.P. Jindal and Surinder Singh, were killed in a helicopter crash. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is in Delhi, said he would be
discussing details about the forthcoming rally with AICC leaders. He is also scheduled to meet Ms Gandhi. Mr Hooda said there were no immediate plans for a Cabinet expansion as his government was currently preparing for its first Budget session. Any inductions in the Cabinet, he said, would only be contemplated after next month’s Assembly session. There were originally three vacancies in the ministry but with the death of two ministers, the number has risen to five.
— TNS |
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Mahajan-Jaitley team for Assam poll New Delhi, April 28 The decision to appoint Mr Mahajan and Mr Jaitley as election in charge of Assam was taken at a meeting of the BJP parliamentary board. The meeting was chaired by party president L.K. Advani. The party has also asked Mr Mahajan and Mr Jaitley to probe the issues of electoral alliance or electoral understanding with political outfits, including the Asom Gana Parishad, in consultation with the party’s local unit, sources said. The BJP leaders also appointed former joint spokesman Prakash Javadekar as the headquarter spokesman. The meeting, attended among others by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, also decided that Mr Advani would tour Tamil Nadu and Kerala next week and announce party’s election strategies in these sates after discussions with respective state units, party spokesperson Sushma Swaraj told newspersons here after the 90-minute meeting. The meeting, called to discuss the party’s strategy for the upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, West Bengal and Pondicherry, also endorsed the NDA’s decision to boycott Parliament for three days, she said.
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Japanese accuses lawyers of fraud, writes to BCI
New Delhi, April 28 The lawyers were engaged by him to contest his case at the sessions court in Kulu after the police had arrested him on April 17, 2004, for possessing 250 gm of charas. Hirota, in his affidavit annexed with the complaint to the BCI President, alleged that Y. Gupta and Chhuneshwar Thakur had taken Rs 2.2 lakh from him. They told him that Rs 1.6 lakh would be the “counsel fees” and the remaining would be a security deposit which would be refunded after the case was decided. He alleged that when he asked for the refund, they refused to return the same in the presence of the Senior Assistant posted at the legal cell of the state government in Himachal Bhavan here. “Mr Y. Gupta and Mr Thakur, advocates, instead of returning the money to me, threatened to get me implicated in some other case and drag me to jail again,” said Hirota in his complaint and affidavit. He said since he had been directed by the authorities to leave India within 15 days, he had requested the BCI chief that justice should be done to him and he be informed of the action taken in this regard. |
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US report takes note of terror in J&K
New Delhi, April 28 In its 2004 country reports, the USA has included United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) in the list of terrorist organisations under the Other Selected Terrorist Organisations category and described it as “the most prominent insurgent group in India’s North-East”. The report also lauds India’s efforts as an important ally in the global war against terrorism. It t noted India’s engagement with its neighbours in supporting Bhutanese and Nepalese counter-terrorism efforts. The report said the Al-Qaida remained the primary terrorist threat to the USA despite success in arresting several top leaders and weakening its operational capability. |
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Phone tapping reports incorrect, says Patil
New Delhi, April 28 “After we learnt about the reports today, we made very careful oral enquiries to collect information. This is factually incorrect,” Home Minister Shivraj Patil said when the matter was raised in both Houses of Parliament by Samajwadi Party leaders. While the issue was raised in the Lok Sabha by Ramji Lal Suman, in the Rajya Sabha Janeshwar Mishra brought up the matter. Mr Patil said only the Centre had powers to order phone tapping and the instructions could only be carried out through the State Home Secretary. No officials of the telephone Department could take such a step. “As far as the information gathered by me there was no telephone tapping,” Mr Patil said. Raising the matter after Question Hour, Mr Mishra said it was a matter of great regret and danger to the federal structure of the country that telephone of a Chief Minister was being tapped. He said the state government had evidence of phone tapping and said the entire episode had arisen because of the former IB Chief being the state Governor. Interestingly, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was leaving the House, returned to his chair when Mr Mishra wished that the Prime Minister stayed to listen to the charges of telephone tapping. He left the House only after the Home Minister completed his statement. Later, Mr Patil directed the Joint Secretary (Inter-State) to come out with details, sources said. |
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Mamata Banerjee getting isolated
New Delhi, April 28 TMC leaders Tapas Roy and Subroto Mukherjee, also the Kolkata mayor, today met Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Mrs Ambika Soni, AICC General Secretary in charge of West Bengal, and suggested that the Congress join hands with their newly-floated public platform, in the forthcoming municipal elections. The Congress is not averse to the suggestion though it would prefer that the TMC leaders joined the party instead of having an alliance. Mr Roy and Mr Mukherjee told presspersons later that they had formally asked the Congress to join the “mahajot” or “grand alliance” against the Left front in West Bengal. They said they would also be approaching other smaller parties like the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (S) and expelled CPM leader Saifuddin Chaudhary’s party to join this front. They said a special convention has been planned in Kolkata on May 7 to firm up this grand alliance. The emergence of another anti-Left front in the state will weaken Ms Mamata Banerjee, whose politics is based on her antipathy to the CPM-led government. The TMC leader has been fighting a losing battle for the past several months as she has been faced with constant desertions from her party. Fighting hard to keep her flock together, Ms Banerjee has barely been spotted in Parliament this session. In fact, Ms Banerjee has also been in touch with Mr Pranab Mukherjee and suggested a Congress-TMC tie-up for next year’s assembly election. The Congress has rejected the proposal of an alliance and has instead been insisting that Ms Banerjee join their party. Congress sources said they had already had one bitter experience when Ms Banerjee had entered into an alliance with them in the last assembly elections but then went back to the NDA fold. The TMC leader is also being wooed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav had called on her on a recent visit to Kolkata when he lavished praise on her, describing her as “Kali”. |
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Koizumi to visit Metro
New Delhi, April 28 Japanese Prime Minister will visit Central Secretariate, the last underground station of the line 2 starting from Delhi University that starts its operations in June. Here, he will be briefed about Phase I, and II, their master plans and benefits of the metro rail by DMRC Managing Director E. Sreedharan. Japan, besides providing a substantial part of financial aid in the form of loan, to be repaid in 30 years with a 10-year moratorium, is also the DMRC’s lead consultant. The Pacific Consultant International is Delhi metro’s lead consultant while companies like Kumagaigumi and Mitsubishi are its consultants. |
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Karnad, Urmila Nagar rally behind Mansingh
New Delhi, April 28 In a letter to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Karnad, who was the Chairperson of the akademi from 1988 to 1993, said even he as Chairman had been accused in the media of being dictatorial and high-handed. Describing the issue as “distressing”, Karnad said he had personal experience of some of the issues relevant to the present crisis. Meanwhile, Kathak Kendra Director Urmila Nagar today denied allegations that Mansingh had been autocratic. She said Mansingh had in fact taken interest in performing arts in a manner few chairpersons had done in the past. |
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Should Central quota in dental
colleges be hiked, asks SC
New Delhi, April 28 Irked by the lukewarm response of state governments to its direction on the issues related to common entrance test (CET) for MBBS and BDS courses, including the proposal for declaration of the results of plus II examination by June 15 every year, a Bench of Mr Justice Y. K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice Tarun Chatterjee gave last opportunity to the states to submit their affidavits by May 9. The DGHS had mooted a four-point proposal for the benefit of students with regard to the conduct of CET under the All-India Quota (AIQ). The court on January 12 had sought affidavits from Chief Secretaries of each state, clarifying the stand of state governments on the proposal for completing the process of board examination by June15. It had said that the result of the board examination should be declared by June 10 and the marksheets to the students be issued by June 15 to enable them to appear in AIQ CET. Barring Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Sikkim, other states had failed to respond to the apex court’s direction. The court listed a bunch of petition on the issue for further hearing on May 13. |
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CBSE can delay Class XII result in Andamans: SC
New Delhi, April 28 A direction to this effect was issued by a Bench of Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice Tarun Chatterjee in view of its earlier order asking the CBSE and the state education boards to consider the proposal of completing the examination process, including the supply of marksheet to students by June 15. The CBSE had moved an application to this effect, stating that due to the peculiar situation caused by the January 26 tsunami in Andaman and Nicobar, the declaration of the results of Class XII examination there could not be as per the schedule date of June 10. |
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End boycott, Speaker appeals to Opposition
New Delhi, April 28 He said the NDA boycott of Parliament was ‘an unfortunate act’. Today was the second day of the three-day boycott by the NDA members who are demanding Railway Minister Lalu Prasad’s dismissal following framing of charges against him in the fodder scam case. As soon as the House assembled, the Speaker said he had appealed to Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani to return to the House and participate in the proceedings but was ‘still awaiting his response’. He had appealed to the Opposition to end its boycott yesterday also. Advani had refused to reconsider the NDA decision on the three-day boycott. Interestingly, Nationalist Trinamool Congress leader P.A. Sangma sat in the House for some time during the Question Hour though his party is part of the NDA. |
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Defence Secys meeting on Siachen in May
New Delhi, April 28 Referring to his meeting with Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmud Kasuri during his recent visit to Islamabad, the minister said Defence Secretaries of the two countries were directed to meet next month or latest by June to find a solution to Siachen issue. |
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