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Advani cautions UPA against depending on Left
UP not helping Amethi: Rahul
NDA leaders to meet on May 23
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Remove obscene scenes from film: UP Sikhs
Sangma to rejoin NCP
Best Bakery case: DD journalist cross-examined
Two-day Dist Collectors’ meet today
China’s no to Tibetan antelopes for India
Secretaries appointed
Ashwani Kumar made co-chairman of SAARC meet
HC puts off hearing in MLAs’ pay case
Chandigarh to Kerala train from July 9
Taliban still pose threat, says MEA
Girls shine in X, XII
exams
Discovery ‘cracks’
Da Vinci Code
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Advani cautions UPA against depending on Left
New Delhi, May 18 “The first thing that India must do to achieve double-digit inclusive growth is to marginalise the ideological and political influence of the Communists, for their policies will neither deliver inclusive growth nor double-digit growth”, Mr Advani said at the annual session of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here. “Your dependence on the Communist support will prove to be a liability for anything good you may wish to do”, the BJP President cautioned the Prime Minister, but qualified it by saying that the advise was being made on “national interest”. Mr Advani also termed the “Hindu rate of growth” of GDP of 3 to 4 per cent as “pejorative and deeply offensive description”. “Consciously or sub-consciously the word Hindu is sought to be associated with low achievement. I am proud to be a Hindu and an Indian. I feel amazed and hurt when it has become fashionable these days for some people in the elite classes to distance themselves even from the word Hindu and to surround that word with various negative connotations”, he added. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha also advised the Prime Minister in “national interest” not to “fall prey to the politics of vindictiveness, negativism, and confrontation, for this too will impair any good that you may wish to do”. Mr Advani said he “never ceased to be amazed by the hypocrisy of the Indian Communists”. “For them it is okay if China carries out economic reforms, but India must not. It is okay if China becomes a nuclear weapon nation, but India must not”, he said. He cited the case of West Bengal as an example. “It is okay if the West Bengal’s Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, can advocate economic reforms in Kolkata, but his party must oppose the same reforms in New Delhi, irrespective of whether the NDA or the UPA in power at the Centre”. Mr Advani said it was because of “dogmatism” the Communists had been “fanatically opposed” to every piece of economic reform - in P.V. Narasimha Rao’s time, in Mr Vajpayee’s time and now in Dr Manmohan Singh’s time. In an obvious reference to Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s remark in Parliament, Mr Advani said: “All of us know a very responsible person sought to rubbish the Vajpayee government’s attempts to achieve 8 per cent growth as “Mungeri Lal’s Haseen Sapne”. By that logic, our present discussion on how India can achieve double-digit growth must qualify to be called as “Mungeri Lal’s Hallucinations”. Ridiculing the Congress President for the charge that all “ills plaguing the India are a legacy of the NDA rule”, Mr Advani said there was something “surreal about this government”. “Not a day passes without the Communists announcing that they are dissatisfied with the performance of the government to which they provide life support. The only glue that holds this strange coalition together is anti-BJPism. There was a time when anti-Congressism was the principal driver of Indian politics. Today, it is replaced by anti-BJPism. If the former was wrong, the latter was equally wrong”, he said. |
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UP not helping Amethi: Rahul
Amethi, May 18 “With the help of the Centre and my own MP’s local area development fund, I am trying to implement development works in Amethi as I have accepted that the state government will not help much in this regard,” Rahul told reporters here after laying the foundation stone of 15 link roads, to be constructed at a cost of Rs 6.16 crore here. Asked whether he was satisfied with the work done in Amethi after completing one year as the MP, he said he could never be satisfied on this count but pointed out that work was being done in the areas of road, power and education. “Centre ki madad se in sab kshetron mein kaam ho raha hai (work was being undertaken in all these areas with the assistance of the Centre),” he said. However, you could not sit down and assess your own work....or give numbers to your performance, Rahul said when asked to rate his performance on a scale of 1 to 10. “We cannot sit idle even if when the state government decides not to help us in providing basic minimum infrastructure to the people here,” Rahul said. On the details, he said “I cannot provide the exact details of the projects underway... roads, electricity and literacy are some areas where we are working. We are also planning to have an eye hospital here”.
— PTI |
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NDA leaders to meet on May 23
New Delhi, May 18 The meeting, to be held at Parliament Annexe, is also expected to take a critical view of the UPA’s
performance in various spheres, including economic, social, foreign affairs, internal security, etc., besides taking a relook at the Opposition’s strategy. The same day the BJP at the party-level is having three separate meetings — office-bearers meeting, general secretaries meeting and meeting of the conveners of various cells of the party. The office-bearers meeting and the general secretaries meeting assumes significance in the wake of the recent revolt by former
Jharkhand Chief Minister and party’s national vice-president Babulal Marandi over the appointment of the new Jharkhand state unit president and the party president’s reported move to accommodate fire-brand leader Uma Bharti as general secretary. Although Mr Marandi, who had
initially openly took on the central leadership over the appointment of Mr Yadhunath Pandey as Jharkhand unit chief, has mellowed down a bit, it would be interesting to see whether he attends the office-bearers’ meeting or not. |
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Haryana industrial policy on June 6
New Delhi, May 18 Speaking on ‘Creation of Seamless Internal Market’ at the CII national conference and annual session here today, Mr Hooda urged the Centre to review its policy of giving tax concessions to some states as it had resulted into massive dislocation of industry from the neighbouring states. Calling for increase in states’ share of Central revenue, Mr Hooda said increasing cost of governance had put a strain on the finances of many states. He said the new industrial policy of the state would have three-pronged strategy, including development of top class infrastructure, promotion of industry in backward and rural areas through incentives and providing transparent system by simplifying rules and regulations. The Chief Minister said high priority would be accorded to promotion of agro-based and food processing industry under the new industrial Policy to generate more employment avenues in rural areas. He said that the state would come out with a tourism policy to facilitate participation of private sector. Mr Hooda urged the private sector to be partner in realising the vision of making Haryana an ultimate destination for tourists. The Chief Minister said Haryana was seeking to promote adventure tourism, pilgrimage tourism and developing eating joints, restaurants, retail outlets, commercial centres and malls at strategic locations on national highways. He said the state government was considering proposals to increase public-private sector participation in the development of infrastructure so as to have new industrial townships. He appealed to the captains of Indian industry and the CII to build a partnership with Haryana so as to achieve double digit inclusive growth in the state and accelerate the pace of development in rural infrastructure, tourism and education. Calling for removal of trade barriers between states, Mr Hooda said the country was still trying to introduce a uniform system of tax. “In such a situation, a seamless internal market can only be created if we show the political will to reach a consensus to amicably resolve our fiscal problems,” he said. The Chief Minister said Haryana was committed to achieve the objective of creating a seamless market in the country, free from all kinds of fiscal and non-fiscal barriers. Mr Hooda said that the concept of value added tax (VAT) had been debated for over a decade in the country but some states had gone back on the consensus to implement it. Pointing out that Haryana was the first state in the country to implement VAT, the Chief Minister said if all states implemented the tax it would help usher in a seamless national market. Mr Hooda said his priority would be planned infrastructure and effective law and order situation. He said infrastructure development in Gurgaon had not been properly planned. The Chief Minister sought Centre’s assistance in faster implementation of infrastructure development projects including construction of Faridabad-Badarpur flyover, Eastern Express Way and Panipat flyover. |
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Remove obscene scenes from film: UP Sikhs
Lucknow, May 18 Accepting the offer of the city’s cinema hall owners who decided to turn mediators between the producer of the film ‘Jo Bole So Nihal’ and the protesting Sikh community, president of the Lucknow Gurdwara Prabadhak Samiti Rajendra Singh Bagga, along with 15 other senior representatives, watched the noon show at Pratibha cinema to suggest specific cuts in the movie. After the show, the opinion leaders had a long deliberation following which they listed four specific objections. Besides the change in the name, they also demanded the deletion of words from Granth Sahib from the title song (‘Chidiyong se main baaj ladhaon’ and ‘Hum ghar sajan aaye’). Calling it unnecessary, the committee felt that it was totally avoidable. According to Mr Bagga despite the declaration at the beginning of the film that it was not a religious movie, the film had used a religious slogan of a particular community. The slogan is not only a war cry, it is used in every day life of a Sikh and in gurdwaras during ceremonies and is very much a part of the religious life of the community. This has hurt the feelings of the Sikh community as the slogan has been used in a very obscene and meaningless comedy, pointed out Mr Bagga who also raised a strong objection to the poster of the film displaying the slogan and having semi-clad women in the background. Recalling a historical incident, Mr Bagga said the seventh Guru Sri Hari Rai did not forgive his son all his life for tampering with a single line of the Gurbani. Calling their protest “democratic and peaceful”, Mr Bagga said they did not believe in damaging cinema halls, as they understood that the cinema owners had no role to play in the entire controversy. On Sunday, activists of the Sikh Youngmen Association in front of the Naka Hindola Gurdwara had set posters of the film afire. This was following the disappointment of the local Sikh community over the wrong projection of their culture in the film and tampering with the lines of the Gurbani and using it out of context. Speaking to Tribune News Service, Manager of Pratibha cinema Vinod Anand complained that the film suffered a double disadvantage. While members of other religions are staying away believing that it is a religious film on the Sikhs, the Sikhs are boycotting the film to protest the misuse of their religious slogan. Deputy Manager of Wave Multiplex Dhiraj Sharma, where the movie is also running, agreed. “The controversy is keeping away the crowds. People come for entertainment, to relax. No one wants to get stuck in a demonstration or any other unruly scene”. |
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Sangma to rejoin NCP
Guwahati, April 18 “I left the NCP due to disagreement on Ms Sonia Gandhi of foreign origin becoming the PM. But she refused to be Prime Minister and vindicated my stand. Now the difference does not exist”, Mr Sangma told reporters at the NCP headquarters here. On his rejoining the NCP instead of his parent Congress, Mr Sangma said, “I had joined the Congress 30 years ago, but I have an emotional attachment to the NCP as I founded it with Mr Sharad Pawar and Mr Tariq Anwar, gave its name, wrote its constitution and even prepared its vision document”. “As the difference no longer exists and people need a third front being disillusioned with the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led UPA governments, I decided to return to the NCP to strengthen it to be a third alternative”, he asserted. Asked if he would rejoin the Congress if invited to do so, he said, “there is no need to and no question of going back. The NCP has its own identity in the country. In the 1999 elections, the Congress, the BJP and the NCP were the only parties that were recognised as national parties.” Mr Sangma, who won the last elections as a Trinamool Congress candidate, said his formal rejoining the NCP hinged on technicality. “I am waiting for an appropriate time to resign to formally rejoin the NCP. There has to be byelections. The next three or four months in the northeastern region are not right for poll. We are also keeping a watch on the political scenario”, he added.
— PTI |
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Best Bakery case: DD journalist cross-examined
New Delhi, May 18 Talking to the Tribune over telephone from Mumbai, where the trial is underway, Mr Shankar, who is the Assignment Editor with the Doordarshan, said he was cross-examined in the special court on various aspects of the interviews which he had recorded on tape and part of which were also telecast on the Doordarshan News. Mr Shankar was examined by the court for almost 30 hours. Mr Shankar had submitted the tape to the special court in Mazgaon as evidence following various ups and downs in the Best Bakery case and he was subsequently, asked by the court to present himself for cross-examination. The court also apparently viewed the recording which had been presented as
evidence. In the tape, Ms Zahira Sheikh is shown telling Mr Shankar that the bakery was attacked the whole night on March 1, 2002. She told the interviewer that the police did not provide any help though a police van had passed the site of the bakery. Ms Sheikh is also seen admitting to Mr Shankar that she had seen rioters killing her uncle Quasar. She had also said in the interview that the rioters killed the Hindus who were bakery’s the employees. |
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Two-day Dist Collectors’ meet today
New Delhi, May 18 The two-day conference on May 19 and 20 ‘National Conference of District Collectors’ will be addressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the second day. It is being organised by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Ministers for Home, Finance, Human Resource Development, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Health and Family Welfare, Agriculture and Cooperation besides Personnel will attend the first day’s proceedings, which will be a closed-door session, an official press note said here. The conference has already generated some controversy with certain non-UPA parties taking strong exception to meet terming it as “unwarranted and a transgression in the functioning of state governments.” Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP), in a letter to Dr Singh, had stressed that opening direct communication links with the district magistrates in these days of coalition governments both at the Centre and in the states is setting an “unhealthy and anti-federal precedent.” In a four-page letter to the Prime Minister recently, Deputy leader of the TDP in the Rajya Sabha C Ramachandraiah insisted that such an exercise by Dr Singh having a direct interface with the district magistrates would lead to a negative impact making the “district level bureaucracy look to Delhi for instructions on minor issues and on the slightest provocation thus bypassing the orders of the respective state governments.” Meanwhile, the official press note said the subject matters to be discussed at the conference that were identified at the four regional level workshops held this year. They were the Right to Information and Transparency in Government, Public Private Partnership in Governance at District level, Delivery of Services in Education and Health Sectors, Modernisation of District Administration and Capacity Building, Development of Infrastructure, Urban Renewal and Habitat Issues, Integrated Implementation of Rural Development Programmes, Delivery of Services and role of Local Institutions and Natural Resource Management and Environmental concerns. On the May 20, the Prime Minister would see presentations by 16 District Collectors on the above mentioned themes. The Department of Administrative Reforms, Ministry of Personnel, would also launch a
portal of Digital Repository of Best Practices in Governance. The portal would have case studies on good governance
practices in India and abroad. Besides, the portal would have online discussion forums, and would act as a resource
for the administrators. |
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China’s no to Tibetan antelopes for India
New Delhi, May 18 This was stated by a visiting Chinese Government delegation at a meeting of the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna) Tiger Enforcement Task Force here. The Tibetan antelope is an endangered specie listed in Appendix I of CITES and Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of India. Its underfur is used to make shahtoosh shawls. Sources in the Wildlife Trust of India
(WTI) told TNS that the Ministry of Textiles constituted a committee in January on a representation made by the Jammu and Kashmir Government for continuation of the shahtoosh trade. The committee was asked to consider if captive breeding of the Tibetan antelope or chiru could supply the wool to the shahtoosh weavers without killing the animal. Experts believe that more than five Tibetan antelopes are killed to make one shahtoosh shawl. The WTI and its partner, The International Fund for Animal Welfare have been running a campaign against shahtoosh for the conservation of the Tibetan antelope. Sources in the WTI said when the Chinese delegation was asked if they were willing to supply the Tibetan antelopes to India, it said that the idea was not feasible. The delegation led by the Director-General of CITES Authority of China said the breeding biology of chiru was not known. They have never been kept under captive conditions and possible cannot be kept captive. The delegation said not a single zoo in the world had a Tibetan antelope. The animal could survive only at altitude of 5000 metres above the sea level. |
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Secretaries appointed
New Delhi, May 18 The post was held as additional charge by Mr J. Harinarayan, Secretary in the Water Resources Ministry. She will be replaced by Mr Umesh Narain Panjiar, currently in the cadre, who has been made the Director General of the NPC in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary, by reverting the post to the level of Additional Secretary. Ms Satwant Reddy, currently Additional Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, has been re-notified as Special Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, by temporarily upgrading her present post. Ms Gouri Chatterji, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power, has also been re-notified as Special Secretary, Ministry of Power, by restoring her present post to the level of Special Secretary. Mr Rabi Narayan Das, Director, Enforcement, Department of Revenue, in the rank of Additional Secretary, has been re-notified in his present post in the rank and pay of Secretary by temporarily upgrading the post. Mr A.K.D Jadhav, currently in the cadre, has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Mines, in the post vacated by Mr Charan Das Arha. All these appointments were approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, an official press note said here. |
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Ashwani Kumar made co-chairman of SAARC meet
New Delhi, May 18 Participating in the discussion on ‘Vision for South Asia’, Mr Ashwani Kumar said India and Pakistan should seize the moment in history and decisively move forward on the road to peace in the framework of the composite dialogue initiated by them. He said future should not be viewed from the prism of antagonism of the past but with the aim of optimising the immense potential for a mutually reinforcing cooperation based on shared values, history and geography. The parliamentarian supported the idea of establishing SAARC health and education foundation to promote human resource development in member countries. Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project could be a historic step for a new paradigm in the Indo-Pak relations with its positive effects impacting all countries of SAARC. He conveyed the greetings of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi to Pakistan leaders. |
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HC puts off hearing in MLAs’ pay case
Patna, May 18 A Division Bench comprising the acting Chief Justice, Mr Nagendra Rai, and Mr Justice S.N. Hussain, while hearing a petition filed by a former minister, Mr Ashok Chaudhary, ordered that the matter would be heard after the summer vacation. The Centre’s counsel, Mr Ravi Ranjan, told the court about the Centre’s announcement of bringing an ordinance for payment of pay and perks of the MLAs following which the bench deferred the matter for hearing. The petitioner had sought restoration of the Article 195 of the Constitution, dealing with pay and perks of the legislators, which had been suspended with the imposition of president’s rule on March 7.
— PTI |
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Chandigarh to Kerala train from July 9
New Delhi, May 18 Sources in Northern Railway told TNS here today that the Kerala Sampark Kranti that halts at Hazrat Nizamuddin station would halt at New Delhi railway station from July 9. On its way to Chandigarh, the train would halt at Ambala Cantt. As per the schedule that would come into effect in July, the 2653 Kerala Samprak Kranti Express would
run on Saturday instead of Friday. In its return journey, the 2654 Sampark Kranti Express would run from Chandigarh on Wednesday instead of Monday from July 13, 2005. Train number 2653 would start its first Chandigarh-bound journey on July 9 (Saturday) from Kochuveli at 8.50 am and reach the New Delhi station at 11.40 am on Monday. It would depart from the New Delhi station at noon and reach Chandigarh at 3.50 pm. On July 13 (Wednesday), train number 2654 would leave Chandigarh at 8.45 am and reach New Delhi at 1 pm. It would depart from the New Delhi station at 1.20 pm and reach Kochuveli at 6.30 pm on Friday. |
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Taliban still pose threat, says MEA
New Delhi, May 18 It says that the “still fragile” situation in Afghanistan is compounded by increased cultivation, production and trafficking of narcotic drugs which threatens to undermine the political and economic reconstruction of Afghanistan. The report says that the Taliban and Al Qaida elements are getting support from outside and this, coupled with the increased production of narcotics, has potentially dangerous repercussions for the region and beyond. On Nepal, the report says the growth of Maoist insurgency there will have an adverse fallout for India because India has an open border with Nepal. |
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Girls shine in X, XII
exams
New Delhi, May 18 The Council for the ICSE, which conducts the examinations, said the pass percentage of the ICSE for Class XII was 94.24 per cent while for class X it stood at 93.57 per cent. A total of 39,693 students took the class XII exam and 87,513 took the class X examinations. Girls of class XII had shown a pass percentage of 95.09 as against the 93.59 of the boys in class X and in class XII, the pass percentage of girls was 95.93 while for boys it was 91.79 per cent. |
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Discovery ‘cracks’
Da Vinci Code
Kochi, May 18 In a documentary, slated for telecast in India on May 21 and 28, the channel seeks to "scientifically test" the stirring theory, popularised by Dan Brown's book.
— UNI |
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