Saturday, December 19, 1998
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N A T I O N |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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Sonia prefers election
option |
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Assurance
on one rank one pension |
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Kalkat stays as
GOC-in-Chief SP
activists burn US flag MPs
want law to ensure 5-year term 1998
— year of dissent for India Indian
arts professor in Guinness Book |
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Sonia prefers election option NEW DELHI, Dec 18 — By extending the term of Congress committees and office-bearers from two years to three years, the AICC session has reflected that the path to power at the Centre chosen by Mrs Sonia Gandhi passes through the general election and the party is treating 1999 as the election year. In pre-Sonia Gandhi days it was normal for organisational elections to be announced and then put off. The Congress President prefers transparency and as she is not keen on holding the party elections in 1999 because she wants the organisational machinery to be geared for the poll battle, she has amended the constitution and formalised a three-year term for elected bodies which initially means that the inner party elections will not be held in the coming year. The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Digvijay Singh, declared today that 1999 would be the year for Mrs Sonia Gandhi to don the mantle of the Prime Minister. He has been blunt and matter of fact. Mrs Sonia Gandhi, however, did not spell out the objective so clearly. But at the same time she has set the ball rolling in the direction of the Congress seeking to return to power at the Centre through the ballot box. Euphoria was missing when Mrs Sonia Gandhi addressed the session this morning. The word chosen by her to describe the November 25 verdict was “santosh” (satisfaction) and not “happiness” or a similar word of celebration. In a matter of fact way, she attributed her party’s victory to the failures of the BJP-led coalition at the Centre and in the same breath cautioned that in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi the Congress too was being put through a similar litmus test by people. Describing the ruling alliance as being one which was “consumed with inner dissent”, Mrs Sonia Gandhi categorically stated that good governance could only be provided by a stable government. She and speakers after her clearly indicated that while the Congress was not averse to issue-based alliances, it preferred to return to power on the basis of its own strength. For this, the arithmetic of the present Lok Sabha does not suit. However, as a word of caution, she and her other senior colleagues reiterated that if the present government “collapsed” then the Congress would not shirk its “constitutional responsibility”. The recent utterances of the Samajwadi Party leader, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, and his colleagues in the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha (RLM) against the Congress have exposed the inherent dangers of an alliance between the Congress and of parties whose past moorings are seeped in blind anti-Congressism. While secularism could be a ground for uniting against the BJP, in today’s world the focus is on economics. In this, the recent IRA Bill and the Patent Bills showed how distanced the Congress was from its “secular” allies. The battle of wits continues. The Congress prefers elections. The sitting members of the Lok Sabha are not in favour of the poll. On this score, the incumbency factor helps the Vajpayee regime. The AICC session was
preceded by the Nagpur meeting of the RSS and will be
succeeded by the national executive meeting of the BJP in
Bangalore in early January. The inner bickering in the
sangh parivar have started surfacing. Thus Mrs Sonia
Gandhi’s preference to wait for extra-parliamentary
developments enveloping the ruling alliance may have
strong logic behind it. |
8 killed in Assam bomb blast GUWAHATI, Dec 18 (PTI) — Eight persons were killed and 36 injured, 26 of them critically, when a bomb planted in a car exploded near the busy Dispur Government Secretariat here today.Official sources said the bomb exploded as soon as the Ambassador car carrying the bomb got going after refuelling at a petrol station killing three persons on the spot and injuring 36. Five persons succumbed to their injuries soon afterwards. The sources said the explosion might have occurred by accident while militants were transporting the bomb to another place. The involvement of a suicide squad was not ruled out, they said. It was possible that those travelling in the car and killed in the explosion were militants, they said. All eight bodies were charred beyond recognition. The injured were admitted to Guwahati Medical College Hospital. An eyewitness said several labourers were engaged in renovation work at the petrol station when the bomb went off. Many persons with minor injuries fled in panic which made the task of ascertaining the exact number of the injured difficult. The Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mohanta said the bomb explosion near his office complex might have been aimed at taking his life. The Chief Minister said this to reporters when asked for his reaction to the blast after he visited the injured persons in Guwahati Medical College Hospital. He was scheduled to take the route on which the explosion took place, to Borjhar airport. Mr Mohanta, whose Delhi flight was delayed, was scheduled to go to the Capital to attend a meeting of Chief Ministers and Power Ministers convened by the Prime Minister. The Chief Minister said he was not sure which group was behind the blast and condemned the “act of genocide”. The Chief Minister announced that a magisterial inquiry had been ordered into the incident and that Rs 1 lakh would be paid as ex-gratia grant to relatives of the deceased and Rs 25,000 to the injured. Mr Mohanta convened a high
level meeting of the Army, the police and the
paramilitary forces to review the situation. |
Assurance on one rank one pension NEW DELHI, Dec 18 — The long-pending one rank one pension issue is expected to be resolved soon, according to the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes. He was speaking here today at the meeting of the consultative committee of members of Parliament of his Ministry. He said a Cabinet paper on the subject was ready and some discussions on the issue were awaited. Attended by senior officials of the Defence Ministry, the meeting discussed the resettlement and welfare of ex-servicemen which the Minister described as one of crucial importance. The meeting was informed that there are more than 14 lakh ex-servicemen and 2,70,000 widows of service personnel registered with Sainik Boards in the country. Their welfare and resettlement are being jointly looked after by the Centre and States. The Directorate-General of Resettlement (DGR) has initiated several measures including capsule courses, training and self-employment schemes for ex-servicemen. However, there is need to intensify the efforts. A suggestion was made that States should rationalise their incentive schemes for gallantry award winners. Members were of the opinion that issues of medical facilities and housing for ex-servicemen should be taken up on a priority. A suggestion was also made that ex-servicemen should be encouraged to join the State armed forces. The need for the DGR to
interact regularly with regimental centres to create
awareness about the various facilities and schemes for
ex-servicemen was emphasised. |
Kalkat stays as GOC-in-Chief NEW DELHI, Dec 18 (PTI) — Lt-Gen H.R.S. Kalkat will continue as the General Officer Commanding (GOC)-in-Chief of Eastern Command as the Supreme Court today stayed the Delhi High Court order quashing his appointment. A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice A.S. Anand stayed the High Court order when Attorney General Soli Sorabjee mentioned the special leave petition challenging the December 16 order of the Delhi High Court. A single-judge Bench of the Delhi High Court on December 11 had quashed the appointment of Lt-Gen Kalkat and held that Lt-Gen R.S. Kadiyan should have been appointed in his place. A Division Bench of the High Court on December 16 had upheld the single-judge’s order and rejected an appeal filed by the government. The three-judge Bench of the apex court, while posting the hearing of the SLP filed by the government after the reopening of the court in January, said that the operation of the High Court order would be stayed during the pendency of the case in the Supreme Court. The High Court had quashed Lt-Gen Kalkat’s appointment and directed the Army Headquarters to appoint Lt-Gen Kadiyan in his place as the latter was "wrongly superseded" in April this year. While allowing a petition
by Lt-Gen Kadiyan challenging the appointment of Lt-Gen
Kalkat as GOC, the High Court held that the promotion was
"contrary" to the laid down criterion. |
Attack on Iraq MUMBAI, Dec 18 (PTI) — Samajwadi Party activists today burnt the US flag outside the American consulate in condemnation of the US-led military strike against Iraq. Over a hundred SP activists including the party’s city president Abu Asim Azmi and vice-president Tushar Gandhi, who is a great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, were arrested by the police and later released. The activists shouted slogans "shame on us for brutalities against Iraq" and "we condemn the missile attacks on Baghdad". Earlier, an SP delegation presented a protest memorandum to the US vice- consul Tom Burke. NEW DELHI: For the second consecutive day, Members in the Lok Sabha condemned "reprehensible’’ action of the USA and Britain against Iraq and castigated them for not abiding by UN norms. Responding to Members’ concern, Speaker GMC Balayogi said the entire House shared their anguish. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana said India was closely watching the situation in Iraq. Mr Khurana said he had a discussion with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee this morning and it had been decided to hold a special discussion on the country’s foreign affairs in the House on December 22. The Prime Minister had yesterday strongly deplored the attack on Iraq and the entire House shared his anxiety, Mr Khurana added. Raising the matter, former Prime Minister and Janata Dal member I. K. Gujral expressed sympathy with the innocent Iraqi citizens who were suffering as a result of the missile attack and suggested that a united voice must go from the House condemning the action against Iraq. He also suggested that the House should discuss the country’s foreign policy before it was adjourned next week. Mr Gujral said many countries including Russia, China and France had expressed a strong opinion against the unilateral attack on Iraq and the media all over the world had condemned the strike. He said it was deplorable that the missile attack was launched when the UN Security Council was in session. Mr P. Shiv Shankar (Cong) said the USA was acting as world policeman and the unilateral attack on Iraq had sent shockwaves throughout the world. Other members who joined
Mr Gujral in condemning the attack demanded a detailed
discussion on the issue. |
MPs want law to ensure 5-year term NEW DELHI, Dec 18 (PTI) — The Congress today remained non-committal in the Lok Sabha on a demand by a ruling BJP Member seeking a constitutional amendment to allow the House to complete its five-year tenure without any dissolution irrespective of a change in government. Raising the issue during zero hour, Mr Gangacharan Rajput (BJP), said frequent elections were causing great hardship to the people and wanted an amendment to the Constitution to ensure that the Lok Sabha completed its full term. Mr P.J. Kurien (Cong), suggested that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee should convene a meeting of leaders of various political parties on the issue. "We will express our views at the appropriate forum," he said. Supporting Mr Rajput, former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan (Janata Dal) said the provision to move a no-confidence motion against a government should continue for a change of authority at the Centre. The constitutional experts should be consulted by the government in this regard, he said. Mr Kalpnath Rai (Independent), said over 50 per cent of sitting MPs had lost elections during the 1996 and 1998 polls after having toiled to bag tickets to contest and asserted that the Lower House should last five years. Mr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD) said he would introduce a private members' bill for a constitutional amendment to allow the Lok Sabha to continue for five years without mid-term interruption. Parliamentary Affairs
Minister Madan Lal Khurana assured Members that he would
convey the Members’ views to the Prime Minister. |
1998 — year of dissent for India NEW DELHI, Dec 18 (PTI) — Was China threat enough for India to go nuclear or not singing “Vande Mataram” unpatriotic and hearing Nathuram Godse blasphemous? An anti-Gandhi play was banned, unpleasant paintings torn, a film called “Fire” extinguished. Controversies took an ugly turn in the year gone by as India witnessed dissent being met more with violence than debate be it on opening up of the insurance sector to foreigners or allowing trials of a “videshi” seed. The Governor’s role came under scrutiny, questions were raised on the stability of coalitions as also on adding iodine to salt and the ethics of subjecting humans to trials of a contraceptive vaccine without informing them. A shrine in Karnataka became the bone of contention of two religious sects and a Bill on 30 per cent reservation for women in Parliament faced vehement protests like the film exploring their relationship as a new brand of hardliners made headlines, preferring to “secede” or beat opponents into submission. India gatecrashed into the nuclear club demonstrating its “shakti”, ironically on Buddha Jayanti, but was perhaps greeted with more dissent within the country than outside. If it was India’s crowning glory, as several defence analysts explained citing the presence of a nuclear neighbour in the North, it was also an achievement whose necessity was questioned and initiated a debate that still remains a hot topic at many a gathering. While the nuclear hawks and doves fought their war of words mostly in the media, the events did take an ugly turn when a forum of scientists questioning nuclearisation were attacked in Bangalore and their meeting was disrupted. The new brand of dissenters also brought to a close an exhibition on goddess Sita’s paintings by M.F. Husain with fellow artist Jatin Das receiving a beating for siding with Husain. The veteran artist apologised for hurting the sentiments of those disturbed, but writer, director Pradip Dalvi of “me Nathuram Godse” tapped the court and succeeded in getting a favourable verdict on staging the play that sought to hear the version of Gandhi’s assassin. That the play was withdrawn by the producers themselves was a different matter. In quite the same manner, the votaries of “Indian culture” forced the withdrawal of “Fire”, which had interestingly cleared the censor board and had received rave reviews and was acclaimed all over the world. As the film was sent to the censors again, the Government was severely criticised for endorsing violent means of protest and insisting that veneration of the goddess of learning was in keeping with the “Indian culture” even though a minister in Uttar Pradesh was sacked for the controversy. Union Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani admitted there was no provision in the Constitution to impose “Vande Mataram” but branded those opposed to it as “unpatriotic” even though Union Home Minster L.K. Advani said a “proper atmosphere” should have preceded the move. While a cautious
government went on the defensive, refusing to take sides,
a landmark judgement ruling that a lawmaker could not be
charged for corruption in connection with a vote of
confidence vertically divided the legal community, which
said it could set unhealthy precedents. The ruling by the
five-Judge Bench itself had two dissensions, which
several experts cited to pick holes in the verdict that
translated into punishment for the bribe givers among the
accused but absolved those who had taken it and voted. |
Indian arts professor in Guinness Book LUCKNOW, Dec 18 (IANS) — A retired Indian arts professor has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s longest scroll painting on silk. “I received the
certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records on
Wednesday,” Lucknow-based Sanat Kumar Chatterjee,
who retired as head of the Department of Fine Arts from
Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh,
said. The award-winning painting measures 100 ft by 11 ft
(about 30m by 3.3m) and weighs 2.5 kg. Mr Chatterjee
already figures in India’s Limca Book of Records for
his three previous paintings. |
Unions denounce Patents Bill NEW DELHI, Dec 18 (PTI) — Several trade unions today demonstrated in front of Parliament protesting the introduction of the Patents Bill in the Rajya Sabha saying the proposed amendment was “anti-national’’. “The amendment is aimed to provide absolute monopoly rights to the multinational to pre-empt our market and destroy industrial capabilities of the country towards self reliance forcing it to total import dependency in all vital areas,” the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) General Secretary M.K. Pandhe said. The demonstrators, from
several organisations including CITU and National Working
Group on Patents Law (NWGP), said the amendment would
provide exclusive marketing rights and open patenting
provisions to drugs which may be irrational and
hazardous. |
‘Need to focus’ on tribal
women NEW DELHI, Dec 18 — Participants at the national conference on tribal women organised by the National Commission for Women yesterday expressed the hope that the Ninth Plan strategy of empowering women through the integrated approach would help streamline gender-related inputs in the tribal sub-plan. The conference attended by state development tribal commissioners, members of the NCW and senior government officials is aimed at reviewing the development and policy interventions concerning tribal women in the past five decades. Speaking at the inaugural
session, Ms Sukeshi Oram, member in-charge tribal issues
at the NCW, said, “tribal policy initiatives and
formulations need to focus on the tribal women. |
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| Walkout on health varsity
Bill NAGPUR: After uproarious scenes and a walkout by the entire Opposition, the state Legislative Assembly today ratified the amendments made by the council in the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences Bill. The House had a special sitting from 9 a.m. for giving its concurrence to the amendments made by the Upper House as the Opposition successfully stalled the ratification on Thursday evening by raising several procedural and legal issues. — PTI Naxalites use IED for first
time Toxic waste in
shipyards 2 sentenced to
death for murder Tusker tramples
cyclist to death Bandh affects life
in Tripura |
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