Wednesday, August 12, 1998
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Cauvery dispute
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Centre must combat
recession: Khusro
SC
Benches outside Delhi 'not mandatory' |
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Draft blood policy released |
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Cauvery dispute CHENNAI, Aug 11 (PTI) — The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi, has denied AIADMK Chief J. Jayalalitha’s charge that he had entered into a ‘quid pro quo’ arrangement with the Prime Minister to escape prosecution on the basis of the Jain panel’s report by agreeing to implement the new scheme on the Cauvery water dispute. Addressing a public meeting at Morappur in Dharmapuri last night, Mr Karunanidhi said, "as a person who knew the complete history of the dispute I would never betray the interests of Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery issue. It was the best settlement that could be reached on the issue." When other parties had welcomed the new agreement, the AIADMK and its allies had opposed it because Ms Jayalalitha did not want him to get the credit for the achievement, he said. He expressed the hope that Mr Vajpayee would stick to his promise of implementing the interim award on the basis of the new agreement without succumbing to pressure from Ms Jayalalitha. Though the DMK and the BJP had differences on various issues, he "respected Vajpayee as a leader of national stature", Mr Karunanidhi said. The Janata Party president, Dr Subramanian Swamy has said that his party would fully support Ms Jayalalitha if she decides to withdraw the AIADMK front’s support to the BJP-led government at the Centre. "Her (Jayalalitha's) stand is our stand," Dr Swamy told a press conference here in response to a question whether he agreed with Ms Jayalalitha’s statement that the AIADMK front would review its support to the Vajpayee government if it did not notify the original draft scheme by tomorrow. Stating that if Ms Jayalalitha withdrew the front’s support, "I will celebrate it", Dr Swamy said the original draft scheme was brought out after a 'hard struggle'. A meeting of the AIADMK front, convened by Ms Jayalalitha on August 13, was likely to take a crucial decision on the support issue, he said. Dr Swamy alleged that Mr Karunanidhi had ‘sacrificed’ the state’s interest by agreeing to the new scheme. Mr Karunanidhi had forgotten the decision taken at the all party meet here on August 3, which emphasised the demand for the notification of the original draft scheme on the Cauvery water dispute, he said. He charged that Mr Karunanidhi had allegedly compromised Tamil Nadu’s interest only because of being ‘unnerved’ by the Jain panel’s final report and the action taken report. However, Dr Swamy said a permanent solution to the river water disputes was to link southern rivers and create a water grid. The Union Power Minister, Mr Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, has described as "unfortunate" the criticism by Ms Jayalalitha on the Cauvery accord reached between the Chief Ministers of riparian states. A report from Tiruchirappalli said. The settlement was reached in an amicable manner through discussions and Tamil Nadu was going to get 205 TMC of water from Cauvery following the accord. As such it was not proper to criticise and politicise the decision, Mr Kumaramangalam told newsmen here on Tuesday. On Ms Jayalalitha’s statement that the AIADMK front would review its support to BJP-led government, if the latter failed to notify the original draft scheme to implement the Cauvery tribunal’s interim award in the gazette by tomorrow, Mr Kumaramangalam said "let us wait and see". "The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee could do what the previous Prime Minister’s could not do", the statesmanship of Mr Vajpayee had been proved on many occasions earlier also, the Union Minister said and urged the BJP allies to avoid criticisms on the Cauvery accord. Meanwhile the BJP vice-president, Mr Jana Krishnamurthy on Tuesday said that the party saw no reason to panic over AIADMK Chief Jayalalitha’s threat to review support to the ruling coalition and asserted that the government was willing to consider her "suggestions" to improve the scheme hammered out by the Centre to resolve the Cauvery water-sharing row. Talking to reporters here he said Ms Jayalalitha had only talked of a review of her party’s support if the Centre failed to notify the original draft scheme by tomorrow, but it was not an occasion to ‘jump to conclusions’. "The question is what the ultimate decision will be after she reviews the continuance of her support. Let us await her decision, which may be known in a day or two." "We never panic," Mr Krishnamurthy said, in reply to a query whether the BJP was in a state of panic over her latest threat. The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, he said, was willing to give due consideration to her ‘suggestions’, including the one for convening a special session of Parliament to clear the scheme. The government had consulted the Attorney General and its stand would be made known to the Supreme Court tomorrow. "Let us see what happens thereafter". Mr Krishnamurthy said Ms Jayalalitha’s observations at a press conference yesterday indicated she was putting the entire blame on state Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and not on the Centre. On Jayalalitha’s suspicion about a possible deal between Mr Karunanidhi and the BJP to enable the former’s escape from prosecution in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, he said there was no basis for such a suspicion. "She herself said it was only a doubt and did not have any proof for it". On her rejection of the
accord forged by the Prime Minister and the Chief
Ministers of the four Cauvery basin states, Krishnamurthy
said the Cauvery problem was one in which people could
have different viewpoints. Her suggestions or demand
could be considered by the Centre. |
Centre must combat recession:
Khusro NEW DELHI, Aug 11 — The Chairman of the 11th Finance Commission, Dr A.M. Khusro, today suggested that the government should concentrate on increasing expenditure and generating demand and employment to fight economic recession in the country. Addressing the third Prem Bhatia memorial lecture here at the India International Centre, Dr Khusro said the current recession in the country was cyclical in nature and there was a need to implement time-tested Keynesian economic management methods to contain it. Former Finance Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, in his concluding remarks, however, felt that in today’s fast changing world traditional remedies no more hold the key to fighting recession and "we cannot afford to spend away to prosperity". He felt restructuring was the only way by which the country could regain its economic health and an increased in expenditure could also be achieved by it. Earlier, Chairman of the Trust, Justice R.S. Sarkaria presented the Prem Bhatia scholarships for political reporting and analysis. The award of Rs one lakh went to Mr Raj Chengappa, Deputy Editor of India Today and the scholarship of Rs 60,000 went to Ms Harvinder Khetal of The Tribune. Dr Khusro in his lecture said the country’s economy was in the doldrums today with all major indices like stock markets, mutual funds, capital industry, and the automobile sector doing miserably. He felt that the prescriptions laid down in the current budget would help put the economy back on the rails. He said the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha,had made an earnest effort but his presentation was not done properly. Saying that there was a crisis of governance both at the Centre and the States Dr Monmohan Singh felt that half the fiscal year had already passed with no signs of economic revival. Prem Bhatia’s son, Mr
Shyam Bhatia, said the Trust was planning to endow an
additional scholarship for media research next year and
said in this context the Trust was always open to
contributions from friends and admirers of his father. |
Second phase of Agni approved NEW DELHI, Aug 11 — The Government has approved the development of the second phase of Agni. The Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, today announced at the MPs Consultative Committee meeting here that it would use state-of-the-art technologies developed indigenously. The approval for the second phase follows the successful completion of the first phase “demonstrating re-entry technology”. The meeting which discussed the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was attended among others by the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the Defence Secretary, Mr Ajit Kumar, the Defence Production and Supplies Secretary, Mr T.S. Vijayaraghavan and scientists of the DRDO. Mr Fernandes said efforts were on to ensure that there were no adverse effects of the sanctions on the missile programme which was in very advanced stage of development. Prithvi missile had been inducted into the Army and the development work for the Air Force version had also been completed. User trial of Trishul was expected towards the end of the year, he added. The Defence Minister noted that India had been one of the main targets for various export controls and technology denial regimes. However, the country is now technologically self-reliant in armoured vehicles, ammunition, weapons, missile systems, super computers and communications and resource crunch will not be allowed to come in the way of defence preparedness and self-reliance efforts. Dr Kalam made a presentation on the strategic environment highlighting the threat perceptions and self-reliance in defence. Members were briefed about the missile development programme in our neighbourhood, specially indigenous programme to cover up clandestine transfer of technology. Members were also informed of the present status of our missiles which were comparable to the best in the world at a much lower cost. The achievements came despite the various control regimes since the beginning of the IGMDP in 1983, Dr Kalam said. Plans have been drawn up
to ensure that more than 70 per cent of defence
acquisitions are made from indigenous sources by 2005. |
SC Benches outside Delhi 'not mandatory' NEW DELHI, Aug 11 (PTI) —The Supreme Court today held that the Constitution did not cast a mandatory obligation on the Chief Justice of India and the President to set up Benches of the Supreme Court at any place outside Delhi. "Therefore, no court can give a direction either to the Chief Justice or the President to exercise the power conferred under Article 130 (constitution of Supreme Court Benches) and to pass an order appointing any other place in India as the seat for the sitting of the Supreme Court as sought by a writ petition", a three-judge Bench comprising Mr Justice S.C. Aggarwal, Mr Justice A.S. Anand and Mr Justice Sagir Ahmad ruled. The judgement came on an appeal by the Government of India against an order of the Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court issuing notices to the Chief Justice, the President, the Union of India and others on a petition seeking a direction to appoint Indore as a Bench of the apex court. Passing strictures on the high court for issuing the notices the Bench observed: "It is constrained to say that in passing the impugned order issuing notices on the writ petition the learned judge of the high court has failed to bestow the requisite care and circumspection. We are, therefore, unable to uphold the impugned order." The judges held that Article 130 of the Constitution could not be construed as casting a mandatory obligation on the Chief Justice of India to appoint any place other than Delhi as a seat of the Supreme Court. The court said whether the Supreme Court should sit at a place other than Delhi involved a policy decision by the Chief Justice which must receive the approval of the President. If after taking into consideration the relevant factors the Chief Justice formed an opinion that the Supreme Court should sit at a particular place outside Delhi, he had to seek the approval of the President for the proposal and on it being cleared and order appointing the place where the Supreme Court shall sit would be passed, the court said. The Judges observed that
despite a bar under Article 361 against the impleadment
of the President as a party, the high court had issued
notices to the President. |
Draft blood policy released NEW DELHI, Aug 11 (PTI) — The government today released a draft national blood policy aimed at total voluntary blood donation and to discourage commercial blood banks in order to ensure the supply of safe and adequate blood and its products. Major guidelines issued in the policy include the reorganisation of transfusion services with the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) co-ordinating the blood safety programme, encouragement of voluntary donations, discouragement of commercial blood banks and the revision of the drugs and cosmetics rules to ensure the proper inspection and licensing of blood banks. Other key features of the policy are, the inclusion of blood transfusion services and haematology in medical education to create more awareness, donor motivation programmes, and avoiding wasteful and risky practices of transfusion of whole blood by encouraging use of blood components and products. The draft policy will be circulated to the state blood transfusion councils, medical institutes and media which have two months time to offer comments and suggestions, an official spokesman told reporters. Their suggestions will be examined and suitably incorporated in the policy before it is sent for Cabinet approval. The draft policy follows a
1996 Supreme Court Directive on revamping the
country’s blood transfusion services. |
CBI action against George in
fodder PATNA, Aug 11 (PTI) — The Bihar Finance Minister, Mr Shanker Prasad Tekriwal, today charged the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, and the Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, with having received tainted money from the scamsters and asked the CBI to immediately prosecute them in the fodder scam. Accusing the CBI of being biased in carrying out investigations into the scam, Mr Tekriwal claimed that the hawala agent and scam accused, Mr Dipesh Chandak, in his statement recorded under Section 164 of the Cr PC before a Dhanbad magistrate last year, had confessed that he (Chandak) had supplied “scam money” to the two central ministers besides the BJP MLC, Mr Saryu Rai. “If the hawala agent’s statement formed the basis for instituting cases against others why it has allowed the Samata Party leaders (George and Nitish) to go scot-free”, Mr Tekriwal asked while addressing a press conference. He said the investigating agency should immediately undertake “custodial interrogation” of the two ministers, besides Mr Rai, and institute cases against them. Referring to the fraudulent withdrawals from various treasuries in the state in connection with the scam, the state Finance Minister said the Centre had held the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) and the audit and financing system ‘primarily responsible’ for not highlighting the ongoing fraudulent drawals in the state Animal Husbandry Department for years. The Union Cabinet Secretary had called a high-level meeting with the Chief Secretary and Finance Secretary of Bihar to evolve ‘a mechanism’ for improving audit and accounting systems last week. Referring to the reported statement of the Samata Party leaders that they would sue Mr Tekriwal for allegedly maligning their image in connection with the scam, Mr Tekriwal said, “I accept their challenge.” He said a public interest
litigation (PIL) will soon be filed in the Supreme Court
against the alleged callousness on the part of the Centre
in challenging the high court order. |
Bihar fit case for Central rule:
BJP NEW DELHI, Aug 11— Ground is being prepared for bringing Bihar under President’s rule leading to fresh assembly elections in the state around December as the state unit of the BJP today indicated that Article 356 would soon be used to dismiss the Rabri Devi government in Patna. While a nine member delegation of the BJP state unit met the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, and submitted a 20-page memorandum in support of its demand for imposing President’s rule in the state, preparations had already begun for the use of Article 356, informed sources said adding that President’s announcement might come any time. The real gameplan, the sources said, was to first bring the state under the Central rule and then revamp the state administration. Once it is done, then the state could go for fresh assembly elections some time in December or early next year. The constitutional provision to get President’s rule ratified by Parliament would not come in the way as the next session of Parliament is due only in November. In its memorandum to the Prime Minister, the Bihar BJP emphasised that the state had slipped into total anarchy which was leading to a catastrophe. All parameters laid down by the Supreme Court in its S.R. Bommai’s case for invoking Article 356 was present in Bihar, the Bihar BJP unit president, Mr Nand Kishore Yadav, told reporters today. When asked about the Prime
Minister and the Home Minister’s reaction to their
demand for imposing President’s rule, Mr Yadav
avoided a direct reply saying “We are confident that
a decision would be taken at an appropriate time”. |
Gill for Governor’s rule before poll NEW DELHI, Aug 11 (PTI) — Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill has favoured imposition of Governor’s rule before polls in any state to have a "neutral" administration to ensure free and fair elections. "Is it not necessary to consider a change (in the Constitution) to say that the moment an election is due or even from the day an election is announced, there shall be Governor’s rule till results are declared and new Chief Minister is appointed," Mr Gill said in an interview to the weekly Blitz in its latest issue. He said Bangladesh had applied this system rather successfully at a time when it was going through a crisis. Reacting to the charge that the Governor’s office had also been politicised, he said the state Governor presented the kind of neutrality which "is needed in those two months when the election campaign is going on". The Chief Election Commissioner’s radical suggestion comes at a time when many states, including Delhi, are preparing for assembly elections. Expressing concern over criminalisation of politics, he said, "muscle, criminal and money in electoral politics is something which is of grievous worry. Decent individual can not stand for elections, leave alone win." Mr Gill, however, did not agree that the entire polity had been criminalised. "If that were so, then a large number of MPs and MLAs would not have been thrown out." Opposing the demand by some politicians to amend the Constitution to have a presidential system, he said the system and the Constitution were as good as the men and women who run these. The Chief Election Commissioner demanded more power for the Election Commission to set the limit for poll expenditure which should also take the inflation factor into cognisance. Claiming that money was used "in a big way" during the recent Rajya Sabha poll, he said "it was a travesty". "Mr Gill’s
interview will appear in the Independence Day special of
Blitz, a release from the weekly said today. |
Purulia armsdrop case CALCUTTA, Aug 11 (PTI) — The four Latvians accused in the Purulia armsdrop case today shouted inside the city civil court during trial proceedings alleging delay in the hearing. The unseemly behaviour of the accused prompted Judge A.K. Bisi to severely reprimand one of them with the warning that he would be barred entry to the court if he misbehaved. The accused apparently objected to the fixing of the next date of hearing on September 8 and shouted from inside the cage that one of them had suffered two heart attacks. One of them threatened to go on a chain fast if the next proceedings were held after a long gap. The Judge, considering their plea, preponed the date by a week to September 2 and that the hearing would be held for seven days. CBI counsel earlier argued that a long gap was necessary since the witnesses to depose would have to come from Mumbai. Earlier, three witnesses from Jhalda in Purulia district were cross-examined. Ramdas Hansda of Pagro village, in his deposition, said he had heard the sound of a helicopter moving from west to east on December 17, 1995. Hansda said he was on guard duty on that night since there was an accident in which a woman was run over by a vehicle. He had heard the sound of some heavy objects falling at that time. On the morning of December 18, he saw some boxes and large umbrella-like objects lying in the fields, he added. Iswar Hansda and Debram Tantubai of Ganaudi and Khatanga village, respectively, said they had heard a sound, presumably of a moving aircraft on the night of December 17. Tantubai said being afraid, he did not venture out of his house at night, but in the morning he saw huge boxes and a parachute. He tried to prevent the villagers from touching the boxes, but they did not listen to him and broke open these to see that they contained guns, Tantubai said. The villagers returned the materials they had taken after the officer-in-charge of Jhalda police station requested them to do so, Tantubai added. All accused were present
in the court during the hearing, except the ailing
Latvian accused, Igor Mostkivine. |
Cong dissolves AICC cells NEW DELHI, Aug 11 (PTI) — The All-India Congress Committee (AICC) today announced dissolution of all party cells, except those on Economic and Foreign Affairs, and said any appointment that might have taken place in any cell was "unconstitutional". The announcement by the party secretary, Dr S.C. Vats came within hours of one Manmohan Singh being "appointed" as convenor of the AICC Minority Cell by its chairman Shahid Siddiqui. He said "for the time being all the AICC cells stand dissolved with the exception of economic affairs and foreign affairs. Hence any appointments that are taking place in the name of one cell or the other are not only unconstitutional but unethical and immoral." Mr Vats advised all former presidents of various cells not only to stop functioning but also to vacate their office premises in order to enable the party to reconstitute them. He said that all PCC
presidents were also requested to stall all such
appointments that have taken place ever since the new
president of the AICC took over and advised them to send
a panel of names to him for each cell so as to regulate
these appointments. |
PM writes to Clinton on
blasts NEW DELHI, Aug 11 — In a letter to the US President, Mr Bill Clinton, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, has underscored the need for evolving an international cooperative framework for combating the scourge of global terrorism. Expressing shock at the
acts of terrorism perpetrated on August 7 in Nairobi and
Dar-es-Salaam, Mr Vajpayee,in his three separate letters
on August 8 to the Presidents of Kenya, Tanzania and the
USA said that these acts were no isolated events and
stressed that there was an urgent need for all countries
to cooperate effectively to combat the menace of
international terrorism. |
| In
brief TUJS plea to insurgents Ex-servicemen’s
convention 4 killed, 20 hurt
in mishap MPSEB loss to
cross 2500 cr |
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