Monday, August 16, 1999
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Unprecedented security at
Red Fort
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Vigil for Indo-Pak peace, amity |
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NHRC awaits
Haryana’s response Delhi Govt may ban two-stroke
vehicles Lok Bhalai Party to align with
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Unprecedented security at
Red Fort NEW DELHI, Aug 15 —Unprecedented security arrangements were made by the Delhi Police for the Independence Day celebrations at the ramparts of the Red Fort this morning. Due to the increased threat perception from militants this year, specially after Pakistan’s Kargil debacle, the security forces here made almost fool proof security arrangements to ensure there were no untoward incidents. The intelligence agencies in their reports had termed the threat perception for this year as extremely disturbing. Sources disclosed that as part of the security arrangements, a three-tier security set-up had been made at the Red Fort. The Delhi Police supported by the paramilitary forces almost laid down a siege around the ramparts of the Red Fort from where the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, addressed the nation. Not only was each and every guest at the Red Fort physically frisked before being allowed through the door metal detectors but the security forces carried out a complete security drill in early hours of the morning to ensure that no unwanted element was in the area. The police with the help of the Army carried out a check for any bombs or mines by deploying minesweepers and sniffer dogs. Officials disclosed that there were intelligence reports that militants had sneaked into the Capital to target VIPs attending the celebrations. The unprecedented security cover was also thrown around the Red Fort as the militants, specially from Jammu and Kashmir, had been carrying out daring raids at the Army camps which had increased the threat perception here also. As a result the operational security area had been extended to almost a radius of 10 km. While senior police officers kept a watch on the area from helicopters, anti-aircraft guns had also been deployed at strategic positions. A coordinated effort with the Army and the Air Force was taken to ensure the prevention of any possible rocket attack or a micro-light aircraft-borne attack. Over 5,000 security personnel were deployed and the entire fleet of 320 police control room vehicles were on alert during the celebrations. Bomb disposal squads and dog squads were also in a state of preparedness. All high-buildings
around the Red Fort were sanitised and were sealed for
public almost 12 hours before the Prime Minister was to
address the nation. |
PM at his oratorial best NEW DELHI, Aug 15 — The only English word used in the 26-minute, superbly drafted Address to the Nation from the Red Fort by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today was "secular". And this one word overshadowed the contents of the rest of the speech delivered in chaste Hindi, which was in effect poetry written in the prose form. This was Mr Vajpayee’s second speech from the Red Fort. Like last year, this year too, he stuck to a written text, thus perhaps setting a precedent. All his predecessors carried supporting notes but preferred to speak extempore. Mr Vajpayee, whose oratorial skills are unmatched, last year started the tradition of the Prime Minister delivering a prepared speech on Independence Day. On the first occasion he had looked ill at ease. Today, he was at his oratorial best. This was the first ever speech from the Red Fort which was being watched hawkishly by the Election Commission as the poll process has started. None of Mr Vajpayee’s predecessors had this fetter. Mr Vajpayee managed to hammer through and deliver a loud and clear message — that he was heading not a Bharatiya Janata Party but a National Democratic Alliance Government — and that "secularism" was not the monopoly of those who paid lip service to it. "Bharat secular desh hai...vividhta mein ekta hamari anmol dharohar hai (India is a secular country...unity in diversity is our precious heritage)", the Prime Minister said. He also had earlier set the NDA agenda by pronouncing the aim of the nation as being "santulit vikas (equitable development)", in which the essential ingredients were "samata"," mamata", and "samajik samarasta" — meaning equality, compassion and social equity. Thus not only did Mr Vajpayee engulf secularism into his agenda, he also encroached on the territory of social justice, which like secularism hitherto has been considered monopoly area by certain sections of our polity. Though he did not violate the Election Commission’s straightjacket groundrules, he did not fail to emphasise the achievements of his government, thus reflecting the line set by BJP’s campaign panel Chairman, Mr L.K. Advani, that ability to govern will be a plank relied upon by the ruling combination in the elections. In the very beginning of the speech citing the end of colonialism in India as a major event of the millennium which is coming to a close, Mr Vajpayee had said he was addressing "atam vishwas se bhara Bharat (an India full of self-confidence)". Referring to the participation of the jawans from each corner of the country in the operations at Kargil, he commented, "yeh hi vastvik Bharat hai (this is the natural India)". Thus, the plank of secularism, social justice and national integration at one go was relied upon by the Prime Minister in his Independence Day speech. Being an election time speech, fettered by the poll groundrules, there was little scope for sabre-rattling in the domestic plane. In the past, Prime Ministers have used the occasion to either set a caustic agenda or reply to their critics. Mr Vajpayee also did the same, but in an inobtrusive manner. Internationally, a stern warning to Pakistan was delivered in a language coated in hyper diplomacy. This writer has been a
regular listener of Prime Ministers’ speeches over
the past four decades. The last time a Prime Minister had
inspired such confidence from the ramparts of the Red
Fort was Mrs Indira Gandhi in 1971. Mr Vajpayee’s
second Red Fort speech would thus go down as a watermark. |
NHRC awaits Haryana’s response NEW DELHI, Aug 15 (PTI) — The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is yet to receive any response from the Haryana Government on a complaint that residents of Chochi village in Rohtak district were being ostracised after one villager reportedly died of AIDS.“The commission had asked the Chief Secretary to submit the requisite information/report on or before August 2, but till now we have not received any reply. We are in the process of sending a reminder to the Haryana Government,” NHRC sources said. The NHRC, after admitting the complaint on June 28, had given four weeks time to the Haryana Government to give its response. The village, with a 4000-odd population, was termed an “AIDS village” after the death of a 33-year-old truck driver, Ranvir Singh, who doctors at Rohtak Medical College suspected had died of the dreaded disease. Petitioner I.C. Sharma, a retired government servant and social activist, in his complaint had alleged that a news report in a national daily depicted the “most flagrant criminal violation of fundamental human rights” of the people of the village. Mr Sharma had said in his petition: “The article paints a grim heart-rending picture wherein the whole population of Chochi village in Rohtak district of Haryana has been denied of the basic rights of social intercourse on the suspicion of the entire village population being HIV carrier.” He had prayed the commission to take cognizance of the case and do justice to the suffering villagers who being illiterate and ill-informed were not in a position to safeguard their rights. The news report said for the past two years, girls from Chochi village had not found grooms, engagements had been broken, and to top it all politicians had averted the entire issue. Subsequent to Singh’s death, his wife, Kaushaliya and three children were tested for the virus and the wife and the youngest son declared HIV positive after the ELISA test. However, Singh’s wife was not subjected to the confirmatory “western blot test,” the petitioner said. The controversy started
in May, 1997, and only after two years villagers realised
the damage done to them. They were now ready to fight the
legal battle for restoring the honour of their village,
Mr Sharma told PTI.
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Vigil for Indo-Pak peace,
amity NEW DELHI, Aug 15 — A night-long vigil was kept at the Tees Janwari Marg — where Gandhiji was shot dead by an assassin — for Indo-Pak peace and amity by the Citizens for Democracy (CFD) here last night. Former Speaker of the Lok Sabha Rabi Ray, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court. Justice Rajendra Sachar journalist Kuldip Nayar, other prominent persons like Mr Suhas Borekar, Prof Dinesh Mohan, intellectuals, artists and activists participated in the vigil for peace. “Gandhi is the only symbol of peace and amity in the sub-continent and there could be no better venue to take pledge to strive for peace between the two neighbours than the place where he was assassinated”, Mr Borekar said. The CFS has been organising similar vigils on the night before Independence Day at the Wagah border for the past few years. The people gathered on
the occasion placed a candle at the spot where Gandhiji
was shot dead and chanted hymns. |
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NEW DELHI, Aug 15 (PTI) — The University Grants Commission (UGC) has assured the Supreme Court that it will soon frame guidelines to stop the menace of ragging in universities and colleges. Counsel for the UGC informed a Division Bench comprising Ms Justice Sujata V. Manohar and Mr Justice R.P. Sethi that a high-level committee had been constituted for the purpose and it was expected to frame the guidelines by the end of this year. The Bench was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by the Vishwa Jagriti Mission highlighting the adverse impact of ragging on freshers in educational institutes all over the country. Additional Solicitor General R.N. Trivedi informed the court that the government was alive to the situation and said the Education Secretary in the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) had already circulated a letter to various universities and technical institutions asking them to “take all necessary steps to fight this evil”. “The practice of ragging is totally alien to our culture,” the Secretary wrote to vice-chancellors of all universities and drew their attention to a 1997 incident in the Allahabad Agriculture Institute where ragging led to the death of a student. Mr Trivedi said the
government, pursuant to the directions of the court, had
circulated guidelines to curb ragging in May this year to
all Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Indian
Institutes of Management (IIMs), 17 Regional Engineering
Colleges (RECs), 240 universities and 32 state
governments and union territories. |
Delhi Govt may ban two-stroke
vehicles NEW DELHI, Aug 15 — In a bid to check rising pollution in the Capital, the Delhi Government is considering a proposal to ban sales of all two-wheelers fitted with two-stroke engines in the National Capital Region (NCR) from January next year. Sources in the Delhi
Government said a draft proposal to this effect had been
prepared and would be placed before the Cabinet. As the
two-stroke engines are a major cause of pollution, the
state government is of the view that only four-stroke
two-wheelers should be allowed for sale and registration
in Delhi. |
Lok Bhalai Party to align
with Left NEW DELHI, Aug 15 — The Lok Bhalai Party of Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, MP, has aligned with the Left parties and the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav. In a statement issued
here, Mr Ramoowalia said after extensive talks with the
leaders of these parties — Mr Harkishen Singh
Surjeet (CPM), Mr A.B. Bardhan (CPI) and Mr Laloo Prasad,
Yadav (RJD) — he was assured the Lok Bhalai Party
would be given equal status both in and outside
Parliament. |
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| Controller of Exams
suspended PUNE: The Controller of Examinations of Pune University was suspended by the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Arun Nigvekar, for his alleged involvement in a forged marksheet scandal. Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Dr Nigvekar said Santosh Dastane had been suspended on charges of “insubordination and inaction which maybe due to utter wilful neglect or even probable ulterior motives.” — PTI Zee launches Marathi
channel Aurobindo’s
birth anniversary Dubai court
awards life term to Indians Male infertility
on rise IMA to educate
Nasik voters Badrinath road
open to traffic Global jewellery
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