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Amarinder questions SGPC’s decision
Action initiated against 340 ‘fake’ NGOs
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Pak makes tactical moves in Gilgit
Parties threaten review of Sindh’s accession to Pakistan
Bill to benefit engineers likely in monsoon session
Goswami evading arrest in flood
relief scam
Bihar poll not possible before Nov, EC team told
RSS wanted me to continue
as party chief: Advani
Indo-Pak atmosphere conducive: Advani
Draft of Communal Harmony Bill ready: Patil
Fencing on Bangla border suspended
NCERT ex-Director to face action
2 held for selling BSNL test papers
Make POTA panel’s Godhra report public, CPM to Centre
Muslims seek reservation in Parliament
Maharashtra transfers 78 senior police officials
Escaped Ansari accomplice caught
Fresh row over French radar contract
Assam govt forced to update census register
RGF report shows fast development in MP: Gaur
Wig is president of Press Club
of India
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Amarinder questions SGPC’s decision
New Delhi, May 29 The Chief Minister, who returned here today after an eight-day visit to Canada, told mediapersons that it was time to move forward for Punjab. “Why should they (SGPC) want to be negative...they should be responsible,” he said, answering questions on the committee’s decision of constructing a memorial inside the Darbar Sahib complex. “They did not think of building it for 20 years. Why are they are thinking of it now,” he said. Capt Amarinder Singh said the decision was the result of a negative thought process and showed lack of responsibility. “It is time to move forward and not look backwards,” he said. The Chief Minister said people of Punjab realised how the state had been pushed backwards due to turmoil and wanted fast progress. People cannot be swayed anymore by exploiting their religious sentiments, he said. The Chief Minister, who visited Toronto, Vancouver and Saskatchewan during his stay in Canada, said 21 top business leaders from the three places would visit Punjab in October to finalise agreements on investment and explore areas of cooperation. He said a memorandum of understanding had been signed with Saskatchewan University, Canada’s leading centre in bio-technology research, to set up a bio-technology park in 100 acres. The bio-tech park will facilitate incubation of technologies through private initiatives and boost research in agro-processing. The MoU also proposes creating centres of excellence in bio-technology and transfer of technology for improvement of crops. Without quantifying the investment proposals received, the Chief Minister said the state was poised for “huge investments” in information technology, infrastructure, bio-technology, textiles and food processing. He said small-scale industry from the state had showcased its potential at “Made in Punjab” exhibitions held in Canada during his visit. He said Punjabi NRIs had shown a keen interest in starting business ventures in the state. The state had a scheme for the on-the-spot clearance of projects with an investment of Rs 100 crore or more, he said. Capt Amarinder Singh said Punjab would get assistance from Canada in treating ground water pollution and improving quality veterinary education. The Chief Minister, who met his counterpart of Ontario, said the Canadian province would help Punjab in setting up hospitals with expertise in sports medicine. It would consider holding Ontario-Punjab sports meets on the pattern of Indo-Pak Punjab games. The Chief Minister said an Indo-Canadian study centre would be set up in Punjab to promote understanding in social, cultural and economic spheres among the Punjabi diaspora. He said institutionalised arrangement would also help translate persons-to-person relationships into business opportunities. |
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Action initiated against 340 ‘fake’ NGOs
New Delhi, May 29 Talking to The Tribune, the minister said that while the Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) had assisted financially and technically over 12,000 voluntary organisations since its inception in 1986, many fake organisations were receiving funds from the council. These “black sheep” had to be identified and action against them was the “need of the hour” so that “corrupt and inefficient” NGOs could be weeded out, he said, giving details of the action. Over Rs 3,20,78,539 had been misutilised, the minister pointed out and informed that an FIR has been filed against 340 organisations. After filing of the FIR, an amount of Rs 13,36,426 had been recovered, Dr Raghuvansh Prasad said. Unfortunately there are many organisations which are “bogus” as not even their addresses are correct, he added. “I have asked to take action against those officials who sanctioned funds to these VOs without ascertaining their genuineness”, credibility and genuineness the minister said. CAPART, which was formed by amalgamating two agencies, the Council for Advancement of Rural Technology (CART) and People’ Action for Development India (PADI) in 1986, has been acting as a nodal agency for catalysing and coordinating the emerging partnership between voluntary organisations and the government for sustainable development of rural areas. In 2004-05, a comprehensive evaluation was undertaken of 14 organisations, the minister said. Further assistance had been suspended to 1,371 NGOs. To prevent misuse of precious funds by suspicious and “corrupt” organisations, comprehensive guidelines have been prepared and a monitoring system has been put in place he said. Now, photographs of members of the executive committee of the VOs who apply for assistance to CAPART has been made mandatory, the minister said. Number of institutional monitors had been increased. First-timer VOs have to produce the original pass book and registration certificate before funds to them could be released, he said. |
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Pak makes tactical moves in Gilgit
New Delhi, May 29 A latest appraisal by the Government of India on situation in Gilgit says that Islamabad can use the worsening law and order in Gilgit as a smokescreen for increasing the presence of the Pakistani Army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for tactical purposes.
Gilgit is the staging post for military adventures against India. During the Kargil operations, the Pakistani Army had set up forward bases in Gilgit and other nearby areas to facilitate intrusion into Jammu and Kashmir. The possibility that the Pakistani Army and the ISI are deliberately creating the Shia-Sunni divide in Gilgit and fanning the sectarian violence to establish its presence in the region cannot be ruled out. The Pakistani Army has successfully carried out this tactics in the tribal areas and Balochistan in the past two years. The tribal areas were a no-man’s land for the army till the US said the region was sheltering Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. The army, grudgingly, deployed patrolling teams first and followed up in quick succession with a heavy deployment of troops in the region. The army not only ventured deep into the territory with the help of the US forces but also established military infrastructure like forward bases, ammunition dumps, airstrips, helipads in the interior areas of the region. In the past two years, the region has witnessed development of an extensive road network and other infrastructure. The army describes it as welfare measures for the tribal region. The reality is vastly different. The army is busy setting up forward bases and cantonments in the region which borders Afghanistan. Similarly in
Balochistan, the army, under the pretext of tackling the insurgency, has established check posts on the main thoroughfare, military bases and other infrastructure necessary for creating cantonments in the region. A similar strategy is being worked out in Gilgit and the Northern areas. There have been a number of reports in Pakistani as well as the Western media saying that Osama bin Laden could be hiding in the Gilgit region is very close to the China-Tajikistan-Afghanistan tri-junction. With the region breaking out in sectarian violence, it will become convenient for the army to increase its deployment in the region, thereby making it easier for terrorist groups, who have been in business, thanks to the patronage of military-intelligence establishment in Pakistan, to consolidate their strength and launch terrorist operations in the neighbourhood, India. The divide between the
Shias, the majority community in Gilgit, and the Sunnis has been deepening for quite some time. Shias believe that Islamabad has been deliberately changing the demographic profile of the region to suppress them. In Pakistan, Shias are in a minority and have been systematically targeted over the years for their liberal approach to Islam. Shias in Karachi and other parts of Sindh have been brutally killed and forced to flee. |
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Parties threaten review of Sindh’s accession to Pakistan
New Delhi, May 29 A charter to this effect was adopted at the Sindh National Conference held in Bhitshah (Sindh) last week, which was attended by over 60,000 people ,including top leaders and representatives of the Pakistan People’s Party, Muslim League (Nawaz), Balochistan National Movement, World Sindhi Congress, Pakistan Labour Party, Jamiat Ulema Islam and the Sindh National Front, the South Asia Tribune said in a report. Stopping short of declaring that the province was parting ways with Pakistan, the charter said “it is worth mentioning that there was no legal or constitutional obligation for any member state to form the union under Pakistan. It was a simple matter of choice and discretion and a voluntary act on behalf of Sindh to enter this union. “Sindh reserves the right to revisit its historic decision (to join Pakistan) in light of the way it has been treated within the union,” the charter was quoted in the report. The report quoted analysts as saying the charter was an outcome of continued military rule in the country, where “not only Balochistan is simmering with violent nationalist dissent, but now Sindh has joined it with the formation of a coalition of all political, nationalist, literary and intellectual forces, demanding an immediate end to exploitation of their rights by Punjab, the largest province”. Attacking the armed forces for having “continuously subverted provincial autonomy,” the charter said the people of Sindh demanded that the Pakistan government “should pass such legislation as to assure stable majority of Sindhis and their right to rule over their homeland forever”. Seeking steps to make Pakistan a “truly federal state” having equal representation from all states in the executive, legislature, judiciary and the armed forces, the charter said that the Centre should be given charge of only three subjects — defence, currency and foreign affairs. It also demanded stopping “all acts of ethnic cleansing and demographic re-engineering of Sindh” and pointed out that “systematic” overthrowing of popular governments “with the help of religious extremists and parties engaged in acts of urban terrorism have paved the way for a rule by minority and anti-people pseudo-political groups in provincial and central
governments”. — PTI |
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Bill to benefit engineers likely in monsoon session
New Delhi, May 29 Speaking at a one-day conference organised by the Engineering Council of India
(ECI) in the Capital to highlight these issues, ECI Director P. N. Shali told mediapersons that a draft engineers’ Bill had been prepared by the ECI for the consideration of the government. The draft Bill is being processed by the HRD Ministry and seeks to regulate the profession, lay down the criteria for the process of registration of professional engineers and consulting engineering organisations and enlist a statutory framework in this regard. The main objective of the ECI is to work for the advancement of engineering profession in various disciplines and enhancing the image of engineers in society. Mr Shali said engineering as a profession was undergoing a sea change in the emerging WTO and General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) environment where the mobility of professionals was an important issue. The Bill, when enacted, will make Indian engineers more acceptable in the global market with the ECI certification removing the apprehensions about their ability. The ECI is also planning a continuing programme development
(CPD) initiative for engineers to maintain state-of-the-art competency at their place of work. Mr
Shali, who is a former adviser in the Planning Commission, said in the present circumstance continuing professional development was very important. “Expertise of Indian engineers needs to be recognised and accepted at the international level”, Mr Shali said, adding that conforming to international norms was essential for protecting employment of engineers in internationally funded projects, MNCs and large companies in India. The new system will bring to an end the prevailing confusion among employers about gradations of various institutions and courses at state and Central levels and help create a national repository of qualified engineers to bring parity among engineers from India and abroad and defuse the craze for degrees from abroad. Besides, Indian and foreign-trained engineers would have a level playing field, he said. Of the annual turnover of 400,000 engineers, only 50,000 are of an internationally accepted standards and the Planning Commission has asked the government to take immediate steps to rectify the situation as a large pool of engineers makes the country an attractive FDI destination. |
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Goswami evading arrest in flood
relief scam
Patna, May 29 Official sources said here that raids were on to arrest Goswami, Santosh Jha and other accused of the scam. Separate police teams will carry out raids within and outside the state. The sources said the name and identity of the informer would be kept secret and the person would be awarded a handsome amount. Meanwhile, five persons including branch manager of the IDBI Sanjay Jha, an employee of the same branch Shailendra Kumar, Managing Director of Bihar Laghu Udyog Vikas Nigam Mukteshwar Prasad and an assistant of the corporation Amalendu Kumar Choudhry, and an ADM rank officer Vasudev Das were arrested yesterday in this connection and were sent to jail. Prima facie the scam involved embezzlement of over Rs 18 crore and some vital information was received during interrogation of the accused arrested yesterday. Earlier, Goswami had been made nodal officer for executing the relief work. He resigned from the post prior to the Assembly elections and had joined a private company even before the acceptance of his resignation. Considering it a serious act of indiscipline, the government had initiated a departmental as well as a disciplinary inquiry against Goswami, who had also been made a prime accused in the flood relief scam.
— UNI |
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Bihar poll not possible before Nov, EC team told
Patna, May 29 Despite divergent opinions on the poll schedule, almost all political parties suggested one-day polling instead of poll staggered over several weeks, as was done in the February elections. The EC team, comprising Deputy Election Commissioner Anand Kumar and legal adviser S.K. Mahendiratta, was told that an estimated 2,000 central paramilitary companies would be required to hold a single-day polling if the deployment pattern followed in February was adhered to. Publication of revised electoral roll after disposing of claims and objections, issue of photo-identity cards and relocation of some polling booths would also take time. The district authorities would be too busy in flood relief operations to focus to poll related work, the EC team was told. The EC team, during their three-day visit to Bihar heard the views of various political parties separately and reviewed the ground situation with civil and police officials led by Chief Secretary K.A.H. Subramanian and DGP Ashish Ranjan Sinha, respectively. They interacted with commissioners and district magistrates of the flood-prone north Bihar districts and held separate meetings with the Commissioner of Patna division and district magistrates of constituent districts. The EC team discussed about the preparedness of the state machinery to hold election, logistic and manpower need, including security personnel in the series of meetings. They also solicited views of the political parties on holding free and fair elections. Newly appointed Chief Electoral Officer N.K. Sinha accompanied the EC team during their tour of Patna, Tirhut, Darbhanga, Gaya and Saran.
— UNI |
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RSS wanted me to continue
as party chief: Advani
New Delhi, May 29 In an exclusive interview to Star News, he said, “More than causing embarrassment to the BJP, it was the RSS which officially declared that Mr Advani must continue.” The BJP chief’s remarks came against the backdrop of the recent interview by RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan in which he publicly asked former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr Advani to relinquish office. Asked if he had thought of resigning, Mr Advani said, “I will not comment on what I had thought at that moment. But I spoke to
Sarsanghchalkji, and he said he did not mean it.” On strained relations between various constituents of the Sangh Parivar and the BJP, Mr Advani said, “We have developed better understanding and trust among the various factions of the Sangh.” Asked if he had any regrets after taking over as the BJP President, Mr Advani said, “I took over as the BJP chief only after the whole party backed this decision.” Describing dissidence within the BJP as a “passing phase”, he said that discordant notes emerging out of different quarters within the BJP were a result of the inability of political leaders to reconcile to the television age. “They have yet not reconciled to the television era,” he said, adding that such statements had an adverse impact on the BJP. On firebrand BJP leader Uma Bharti he said, “The party has decided that she be used for the Bihar elections as she has unflinching commitment to the party and its ideology.”
— UNI |
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Indo-Pak atmosphere conducive: Advani
New Delhi, May 29 Mr Advani, who leaving for Pakistan tomorrow, said: “I am happy to note that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government have continued to carry forward the agenda of peace through dialogue.” Expressing hope that both Pakistan and India would leave behind hostilities of the past in their efforts of finding a lasting peace in the region, he said, cooperation in different fields would be beneficial for the two nations. He is scheduled to meet Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, Perime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Kurshid Mahmood Kasuri in Islamabad, a statement issued by BJP said here. Referring to the peace initiatives taken by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to improve relations with Pakistan, Mr Advani said the joint statement issued by Mr Vajpayee and Mr Musharraf on January 6, 2004, in Islamabad proved to be a “major breakthrough” in continuing the dialogue process between the two countries. “It brought about a radical change in the bilateral relations between the two countries”, he said, adding that subsequent people-to-people contacts had contributed to create an atmosphere of mutual trust. He said credit had also to be given Parliamentarians, social activists, businessmen, lawyers, artistes, sports persons, media persons and common people from both sides in pitching in their contribution to create an environment of trust. |
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Draft of Communal Harmony Bill ready: Patil
On Board BSF Aircraft, May 29 “The difficulty will lie in defining what constitutes acts of communal violence, explaining its purview and extent in the Communal Harmony Bill which is almost ready,” he told reporters while on his way to Ranchi to attend a meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council tomorrow. Regarding compensation to the victims of communal violence, he said, “how much compensation and through which channels is a big area that needs to be debated.” “Prevention, control and investigation of such cases are also to be discussed with our party and those with us and decided upon,” the minister said, adding that the draft of the Bill would “soon” be put out on the Internet for discussion. Emphasising on the sensitivity that is attached with such cases, Mr Patil said adequate compensation and proper disposal of the cases and outlining which court would handle them would have to be deliberated upon. “Speeches, literature pertaining to spread of communal hatred are also included in the Bill with adequate measures to prosecute those guilty of spewing venom among different communities,” he said. Turning to coastal security, Mr Patil said with active patrolling by the Indian security forces having virtually sealed off the border areas to infiltrators, the coastal areas were now becoming the new sensitive zones and needed strict vigilance.
— PTI |
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Fencing on Bangla border suspended
New Delhi, May 29 “The fencing work has been stopped in certain patches till Foreign Secretary-level talks, which are expected to take place in early July in New Delhi,” official sources told PTI. New Delhi is of the view that since a dispute has been created by Dhaka over erection of the structure in certain areas, it should be resolved diplomatically. The upcoming talks between Foreign Secretaries, originally an annual feature but now going to take place after more than two years, will provide an appropriate forum for sorting out the issue, the sources said. India’s decision will affect work on the 212 patches identified along the 4,095-km border. The fence is being erected 150 yards inside the border to check illegal immigration from Bangladesh and trans-border crimes like smuggling, abductions and cattle-lifting. Bangladesh is opposed to erection of the fence, saying it is a defensive structure and violates the 1975 bilateral border agreement. The border guards of that country have even fired 10 times in an attempt to stop fencing work. India denies Dhaka’s charge, maintaining that the fence was not defensive in nature and was being erected 150 yards away from the border. Of the about 3,000 km patch for which fencing has been sanctioned, work has been completed on nearly half of it, the sources said. In the 212 patches, India wants to erect the fence closer to the border because of various reasons. The Indo-Bangladesh border has been demarcated except for 162 disputed enclaves measuring 6.5 km. Of these enclaves, 111 are with India and the rest with
Bangladesh. — PTI |
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NCERT ex-Director to face action
New Delhi, May 29 Mr Rajput, who was accused by the Congress and the Left parties of “saffronising” the education, had been found accountable by the committee for various irregularities and nepotism, a spokesman for the HRD Ministry said. The report was being examined at “appropriate levels” and action would be initiated against him as per the recommendations made by the committee, he said. The inquiry committee, headed by S.
Sathyam, had been referred 201 complaints against Rajput from various parts of the country for examination, received by the Ministry after the UPA government came to power and the panel had recommended action on 101 complaints, the spokesman said. According to the report, the complaints were mainly of nepotism, irregularities, appointments of officials, favouritism, vindictiveness, authoritarian way of working, recklessness in decision making and subterfuge, he said. The committee was appointed by HRD Minister Arjun Singh after he launched “detoxification” of education, which according to him, was systematically “saffronised” under former HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. Mr Rajput was considered to be a handpicked officer of Mr Joshi and both the Congress and the Left parties had accused him of furthering the agenda of the Sangh Parivar. Reacting to the inquiry report, Mr Rajput, who had been denying the allegations since his ouster, said the action against him was vindictive and “a clandestine operation” by the UPA government. He said while the contents of the report were being systematically leaked to the media to defame him, he was not even supplied a copy of it so far, which he was entitled to under the rules. As per the report, the national curriculum review was done by the NCERT under him in 2000 without following rules and procedures. Mr Rajput was accused by the committee of not taking the concurrence of the NCERT Executive Committee and its Governing Council for the review, which allegedly was not even placed before the CBSE Advisory Board. |
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2 held for selling BSNL test papers
Lucknow, May 29 STF sources said here Sandip Gupta and Yogesh Mishra, both sons of BSNL employees, were caught outside an examination centre.
— UNI |
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Make POTA panel’s Godhra report public, CPM to Centre
New Delhi, May 29 The party said despite the POTA panel’s report having been submitted as also the diaries of Gujarat’s then Additional DGP R B Sreekumar, the “silence of the Union Home and Law Ministries is baffling”. A hard-hitting article in CPM organ “People’s Democracy” said the three-member POTA committee “has not found any evidence of the Godhra incident being a pre-planned terrorist conspiracy to attack the Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002.” Maintaining that the UPA came to power because of the mandate of the secular people of India against a communal combine, it said the legislation for dealing with communal violence was not even introduced in Parliament. “The Home Minister should do well to read the Common Minimum Programme once more... The patience of the democratic and secular sections of society is being tested,” the CPM paper said.
— PTI |
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Muslims seek reservation in Parliament
New Delhi, May 29 At the end of its 28th All-India General Session held here, the Jamiat adopted a series of resolutions, which included demand for the removal of restrictions on reservations based on religion, passing a riot prevention Act and immediate release of those arrested under POTA. Claiming that minority people are being harassed in Assam, the meeting, chaired by the Jamiat President Maulana Asaad Madani, termed the backlash against illegal migrants in the state as “plan to turn the state into another Gujarat”. During the two-day session of the Jamiat, Ulamas from all parts of the country held talks on various matters concerning the community, which included protection of women’s rights, constitutional status to the Minority Educational Commission, compensation to the victims of communal riots, sacrilege of holy Koran by the US forces.
— PTI |
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Maharashtra transfers 78 senior police officials
Mumbai, May 29 “Twentyfive police officers of the IG level and 53 SPs and DSPs have been transferred,” state Director-General of Police (DGP) P.S. Pasricha told PTI here. Among those transferred include Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Ahmed Javed, who has been transferred as Inspector General
(SRPF) and will be replaced by Mr Arup Patnaik who was till now heading the
SRPF. Similarly, Joint Commissioner of Police (Administration) P.K. Jain has also been transferred IG,
Nanded. Mr Jain has been replaced by S.N. Awate. Mr Ashok Dongre and Mr Dilip
Bhujbal, Deputy Commissioners of Police, who were suspended in the wake of the December, 2004 hooch tragedy and later reinstated, have been
transferred to the Special Intelligence Department and the CID (Crime), Pune, respectively. Superintendent of Police Archana Tyagi has been transferred from Ratnagiri to Thane (Rural) while DIG Rashmi Shukla has also been shifted from
prisons. Mr Pradnya Sarvade has been promoted DIG (ACB) and has replaced Mr Ashok Kamte who has been moved to the Special Security Unit, Pune. IG Uddhav Kamble has been
transferred to Aurangabad as Commissioner of Police.
— PTI |
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Escaped Ansari accomplice caught
Kolkata, May 29 “Yes, Debasish has been arrested from a place in South 24-Parganas district. He is being taken back to West Midnapore and will be produced in court,” Inspector-General (Prisons) Joydeb Chakraborty said. Debasish was sentenced to death by a lower court for killing his paramour in 1990, but the
Calcutta High Court later commuted the death sentence to a life term. While in Presidency Jail here, Debasish reportedly helped smuggle in a cellphone inside the jail which was used by Ansari to get in touch with his gang in Dubai. Debasish yesterday dug a hole in the wall of his cell and escaped through the window of the toilet before scaling the 18-foot boundary wall, according to West Midnapore police Superintendent Ajay Nanda.
— PTI |
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Fresh row over French radar contract
New Delhi, May 29 India is considering re-tendering for the purchase of low-level air warning transportable radars
(LLTRs) even though it had concluded price negotiations with French company Thales in the wake of an Israeli firm ELTA seeking to have its commercial bid
reopened. ELTA, whose technical offer has been earlier rejected, is being reconsidered, Defence sources said. The Israeli firm offer had been rejected as their equipment was not found suitable and up to the mark during evaluation for technology transfer. The multi-million Euro contract to purchase eight LLTRs outright from Thales and
subsequent technology transfer for manufacturing them by BEL was almost completed during the NDA rule and was to be put before the Cabinet Committee on Security for final clearance. The turnabout by the ministry is coming even after the independent advice from former Supreme Court Chief Justice B. N. Kirpal, who noted that such an action would be regarded as “arbitrary and bad in law”. Any move for fresh tendering would mean prolonging of the acquisition of the equipment urgently required for surveillance, as fresh evaluation would mean fresh trials. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence had also recently pulled up the government for the delay in acquiring the systems to plug the gaping holes in radar cover over the central and the coastal areas. IAF has recently projected its need for the acquisition of LLTRs and more of Aerostat radars to give it capability of detecting low-level intrusions, including those by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAVs). — PTI |
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Assam govt forced to update census register
Guwahati, May 29 The Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi announced his decision to form a NRC directorate to update the NRC with March 25,1971, as the cut off year. Mr Gogoi also promised to complete the updating of the NRC in the next two years, beginning on September 1 this year. “Once the NRC is updated, we will issue photo identity cards to original citizens and deport all who had entered Assam after March 25,1971,” he added. The ruling Congress also decided to increase the number of Illegal Migrants Determination Tribunals
(IMDT) of 1983 from the present 15 to 30. The IMDT is in force in Assam to detect and deport illegal migrants. It may be noted a fortnight back one unknown vigilant group, the Chiring Chapori Yuva Mancha of Dibrugarh sent SMS messages to mobile phones, urging people to socio-economically boycott the
Bangldeshis. This resulted in an exodus of suspected Bangladeshis from Upper Assam and central Assam districts with majority of them taking shelter in the lower Assam districts, having a common border with Bangladesh. Most of the suspected Bangladeshis, who fled the respective places, were minority Muslims. Although the ruling Congress described those suspected Bangladeshis as Indian citizens, in reality it did nothing to check the trend of the exodus, as it was a direct fall-out of a spontaneous protest from the people of Assam, who were threatened by illegal migrants. The Muslims, going by the official record, now constitute about 82 lakh of the total 2.20 crore population of Assam and can influence the outcome in at least 40 Assembly seats of a total 126. Meanwhile, the BJP said without scrapping the
IMDT, the updating of NRC would be a baseless exercise. BJP state president and MP Indramoni
Bora, referring to the government figures, said a little over 2000 illegal migrants were detected and deported through the IMDT in the past 21 years from Assam. The
Opposition AGP doubted the sincerity of the Congress in updating the NRC, and rather described it as a ploy to mislead the original Assamese people. The AGP president Brindaban Goswami said: “How can we believe Mr Tarun
Gogoi, who described suspected Bangladeshis as Indian citizens without proper verification”. On his part, Mr Gogoi claimed that he was committed to protect the Assamese people and would stop influx from across the border. |
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RGF report shows fast development in MP: Gaur
Bhopal, May 29 “While 10 years of Congress rule retarded development in the state, efforts of the BJP government in 19 months have earned it the second position after Tamil Nadu, in a report prepared by the RGF on states excelling in developing basic infrastructure and securing right to property,” Mr Gaur told a press conference. The state surpassed Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Haryana and Rajasthan in controlling organisational expenditure and revenue recovery, he claimed, adding, Madhya Pradesh also scored over West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka in the field of patents and economic index.
— PTI |
|
Wig is president of Press Club
of India
New Delhi, May 29 Ms Nora Chopra and Ms Seema Kiran were elected vice-presidents, while Mr Nadeem Ahmad Kazmi was elected treasurer. The 16-member managing committee are: Mr Gyanendra Pandey, Mr Vijay Shankar Chaturvedi, Mr Iftikhar Gilani, Mr Prakhar P. Mishra, Mr Ajay Jha, Mr Avtar Negi, Mr Atul Mathur, Mr K.N. Joshi, Mr Amit Kumar, Mr Jamaluddin Ahmed, Mr Sukumar Roy, Mr Joginder Solanki, Mr Manjeet Singh Negi, Dr Darshan Singh Harvinder, Mr K.P. Malik and Mr Pradeep Kaushal.
— UNI |
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In video: Amarinder Singh denies links with militant groups
in Canada. (
