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| Tuesday,
June 20, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Australian PM to
visit India in July |
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| Guru Granth Sahib in Sindhi NEW DELHI, June 19 — On the demand of Sehajdhari Sikhs the Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee has published Sindhi version of Guru Granth Sahib the holy book of Sikhs.
Army, MEA move backfires NEW DELHI, June 19 — The attempt by the Indian Army and the Ministry of External Affairs to bring out some positive publicity from Sierra Leone where the Indian troops are doing duty as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force seems to have backfired with reports from Freetown suggesting that the Indian soldiers had been ordered to take a vow of celibacy. Right to Information Act: Goa shows the way Warrants against Jaya likely Heavy rain likely in
Sikkim, MP Jaswant to leave for
Russia on June 21 Plan to control
malnutrition
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ISI behind Delhi blasts? NEW DELHI, June 19 — The Delhi police is probing the involvement of ISI agents based in western Uttar Pradesh in the twin blasts which rocked the Capital last night killing two persons and injuring 11 others, police sources said. While not ruling out the involvement of ISI agents behind the blasts, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr M.S. Upadhyaya, said the investigations were in the preliminary stages and the involvement of any group cannot be pin-pointed. The police said of the 11 injured, eight had been discharged from LNJP Hospital today while three others were still struggling for life. The first explosion occurred at 8.07 p.m. The second one exploded 15 minutes later at a 200 metres distance from the first incident site. The nature of explosives used in the bomb will be confirmed after the examination report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory is submitted. The material collected from the site had been given to the laboratory which is likely to submit the report within a week, the DCP said. Police sources said the Uttar Pradesh-based ISI militants had triggered the bomb explosion in January this year in a train at Old Delhi Railway Station in which 20 persons were injured. Sources said the modus operandi — improvised explosive device used in both the blasts — indicate the
involvement of the ISI agents which was quite active in the recent past and had been keeping a low profile for quite sometime. The DCP said the police raided all guest houses and hotels in the Daryaganj, Jama Masjid, Paharganj, Kashmiri Gate and in other areas. No arrest or detentions have so far been made in connection with the blast.
Lashkar behind
blasts: Naidu VIJAYAWADA, June 19 (PTI) — The BJP has information that links the recent blasts in churches in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa to Lashkar-e-Toiba, an outfit of Pakistan’s ISI, according to BJP general secretary M. Venkaiah Naidu. “We have information that explosive materials used in these blasts are similar to ones seized in connection with the cases involving Laskhar-e-Toiba activists,” he told reporters here today. To a query, he said Congress and Left parties should openly fight in the political arena and not indulge in mudsliging using religion as a weapon.
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Australian PM to
visit India in July NEW DELHI, June 19 — Indo-Australian ties are on a restoration and normalisation track with Australian Prime Minister John Howard arriving here on a two-day official visit on July 10. The bilateral relations had received a setback after India’s nuclear tests in 1998 with Canberra downgrading the mutual ties. During his stay in the Capital, Mr Howard will have extensive discussions with the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, on all issues of
mutual interest and concern. The Australian Prime Minister will also call on the
President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, and will meet the Vice-President, Mr Krishan Kant. He will also have a meeting with senior ministers, an officials spokesman said adding that the object of the visit is to further advance Australian-Indian cooperation in all respects. Australia’s links with India have grown considerably over the past 10 years specially after the opening of the Indian economy. Canberra recognises New Delhi as an increasingly important player in regional and international affairs and is keen to pursue with us an enhanced dialogue on economic and strategic issues of mutual interests, the spokesman said.
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Guru Granth Sahib in Sindhi NEW DELHI, June 19 — On the demand of Sehajdhari Sikhs the Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has published Sindhi version of Guru Granth Sahib the holy book of Sikhs. This is for the first time that Sindhi version of Guru Granth Sahib was published in India. Earlier, the family of Dada Chela Ram, of Sindh (Pakistan) had published through the DSGMC the Sindhi version of Guru Granth Sahib. The family of Dada Chela Ram has been singing
hymns of Guru Granth Sahib all over the world. Mr Surinder Singh, project Manager, Guru Updesh Press, Gurdwara Rakab Ganj, said script of Guru Granth Sahib was in Urdu while the language was Sindhi. He said the ragas had been published on colourful pages. The unique feature of this attempt was that the symbolic time of ragas and their singing time was also published in this version. Mr Surinder Singh, who remained project director of the publications of the SGPC four years ago said the DSGMC would publish Hindi version of Guru Granth Sahib shortly. He said this was for the first time that Guru Granth Sahib in Hindi script on colourful pages would be published. The DSGMC had also planned to export its religious publications to various countries. He said Mr Avtar Singh Hit, president and other office-bearers of the DSGMC had been showing keen interest for publishing “Gurmat Literature.” When asked Mr Surinder Singh said the Sindhis who were great followers of Guru Nanak had wished to get Guru Granth Sahib through the DSGMC as employees of its press publish and bind literature under “Chandoa” and as per Sikh Maryada which was not possible in Pakistan and other parts of the country. The project manager said that translation of Guru Granth Sahib into different languages would go a long way in spreading message of Sikhism especially at a time when the Sikh community was celebrating 400 anniversary of the compilation of holy book (Guru Granth Sahib) in the year 2004. The DSGMC is likely to publish Sikh literature including Guru Granth Sahib in Roman script for the benefit of Sikhs living abroad under the presidentship of Mr Avtar Singh Hit, president. |
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Army, MEA move backfires NEW DELHI, June 19 — The attempt by the Indian Army and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to bring out some positive publicity from Sierra Leone where the Indian troops are doing duty as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force seems to have backfired with reports from Freetown suggesting that the Indian soldiers had been ordered to take a vow of celibacy. The first of the reports from Sierra Leone by an Indian journalist has caught the Army Headquarters (AHQ) on the backfoot and painted a picture which suggests that the Indian troops have in the past been forcibly indulging in sexual acts, much against the image of the force. The report said the Indian troops were being repeatedly told that there was no death worse than that from AIDS. The Indian commanders were using both discipline and religion as weapons to keep the mind of the troops off sex. In a country where the average life expectancy is around 26 years and AIDS is suspected to be one of the largest killers, it is essential to keep restrictions on the troops, an Indian Army officer in Sierra Leone has been quoted as saying. Both the Army Headquarters, in fact its Liaison Cell, and the Ministry of External Affairs are said to have jointly sponsored the visit of the Indian journalist and the plans were kept as a top secret. The attempt of achieving some positive publicity from Sierra Leone was apparently felt as not only were the Indian troops, as part of the UN Peacekeeping Force, facing severe reversals at the hands of the rebels but a large number of them had also been in captivity for a long time. Also Maj-Gen Jetley, who was the combined Force Commander, was being squarely blamed by various
countries contributing to the UN force for the repeated capture of the troops by the rebels. The other countries contributing to the force have alleged that General Jetley had been deploying tactics which were taking the troops directly into the hands of the rebels. According to reports, there was resentment in the Army over the news report and serious efforts were under way to repair the damage which had been done to the image of the Indian Army, which has always claimed to be a more humane force than any of the armies anywhere in the world. The AHQ apparently had not taken the news despatch to its liking and was contemplating what action it could take. Senior Army officers were angry as not only does the report suggest that the only agenda on the minds of Indian troops was sex but also that they were forcibly indulging in the act. The picture that has been painted is that of a force which is not only not doing its duty but which is indulging in criminal acts, a senior Army officer pointed out. Another senior officer, not wanting to be quoted, said the image that had been painted was no less than that of the Pak Army, which allegedly committed atrocities on women in East Bengal. The report from Sierra Leone says unlike the other armies the Indian Army does not believe in issuing condoms to the soldiers. The Indian Army officer quoted in the report says further, “That is abetment of crime. Giving condoms is like telling soldiers to go ahead and have sex. But here as a rule the soldiers have been ordered to strictly stay off sex”, the report says. Incidentally, the report points out that one of the local papers in Sierra Leone had actually awarded “abstinence medal” to the Indian contingent. The Indian Army officially had no comments to offer on the news report in which some of the doctors of the force had also been quoted. The Army PRO when contacted had no official version to offer. The Ministry of Defence was also said to be not very happy about the report, which, according to its officials, had actually painted a wrong picture about the country. Apparently, more details had been sought on the issue, sources said. |
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29 child labourers rescued in Delhi NEW DELHI, June 19 — The Delhi Police rescued 29 child labourers from the clutches of their masters in different areas of the Capital. The victims, who are between the age group of nine to 15 years, came to Delhi from West Bengal and Bihar and were taken away by touts from railway stations in the Capital. They belong to the poor families. “The victims were enticed by the touts that they would be provided jobs in factories and would be given good salaries. Once the children came in their trap, they were sold off to dhaba and factory owners for about Rs 100”, the Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern Range), Mr Amod Kanth, said. The children had no knowledge that they had been sold off to their masters who promised to give them Rs 400 to Rs 500 as salary per month. They had to work at their workplaces for 18 hours but were given no salary, no proper food and other facilities. They were not even allowed to go to their hometowns. “They were held captive and were forced to work as bonded labour”, Mr Kanth said. He said the police received information that three children, Basanta (10) of Delhi, Vikas (10) of West Bengal and Munir (14) of Bihar were working as slaves and being compelled to render forced labour in Kardampuri in North-East Delhi. Their recovery led to the arrest of a tout, Rajinder, from old Delhi railway station and Ahsan Ali, who owns an
artificial flower unit, Ramesh, a dhaba owner, and Attar Singh, a cardboard factory owner. Besides, brokers who operated from railway stations and other places were also arrested. They have been identified as Kundan, Vijay Singh, Rajinder Singh, Sarvesh Kumar, Bhopal, Ramesh Chand, Prakash Chand, Ajay Kumar and Rajesh Bisht. The children were produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate and sent to Prayas Observation Home for Boys for safe custody and restoration. The condition of these children at their workplaces was pathetic. They all had similar stories to tell. |
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Right to Information Act: Goa shows the way PANAJI, June 19 — New Delhi is keen to see how it is working and villagers too are enthusiastic about what Goa’s innovative Right to Information Act can bring them. Goa had shown the way to the rest of India by passing a Right to Information Act and, a couple of years down the line, it is proving to be a useful tool for allowing some transparency into the workings of officialdom here. Union Minister of State for Planning Arun Shourie evinced interest in the functioning of the Act and was scheduled to make a visit to the capital Panaji to see how the law worked. His visit was deferred but it brought focus the long-promised plan of having a national-level right to information legislation. Goa is one of the few states that have a fairly workable Right to Information Act that allows the average citizen to have a closer look at how the government functions. Other states like Tamil Nadu have a similar law but several exceptions under which access to official information can be denied have made it useless. Citizens’ campaigners and others, who have used the law in Goa, say that officials are still reluctant to part with information. But even critics concede that the law has proven to be helpful in understanding what goes behind official decision-making. This law has inspired even villagers in Goa. In a review of the act, it was found that 78 village ‘panchayats’ had received 304 applications under this law. One panchayat, Saligao in Bardez, said it received 86 applications, and claimed that it had “replied to all”. Even journalists can seek replies, or ask for the right to inspect official documents. Permission has to be granted within 30 days and cannot be turned down without good reason, though some officials try to dodge their way out. Some of the departments, which received the most number of right-to-information applications, were the police (78 applications), public works department (32), industries and mines (28), registrar of cooperative societies (24), education (22), forest (19), accounts (15), and Goa public service commission (15). However, despite having a fairly good law on paper, getting information out is not an easy process. Some officials have used every trick in the book to block information. For instance, Panaji Municipal Council earns the dubious distinction of turning down 15 out of 45 applications under Section 5(b) of the law. This section of the law allows the government to block access to “information...which has no relationship to any activity of the government or which will not subserve any public interest”. It also allows officials not to grant access to information that may result in “a clear and unwarranted invasion of personal privacy”. Some citizens say a big damper is the levying of Rs 100 for every application. In November 1998, the government directed all authorities to levy a charge of Rs 100 for each application under the act as “processing fee”. Public-spirited citizens lobbied hard, and unsuccessfully, to get this dropped or reduced. In addition, each page of information given costs Rs 2 as “copying charges” — more than double the market rate for photocopying. Goa’s Right to Information Act came into force on March 5, 1998. There are some 121-plus ‘competent authorities’ in the state, mostly heads of various government departments, who one has to approach to get access to information. Politicians and ministers are not covered under the law. — IANS |
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CHENNAI, June 19 (UNI) — Special Judge-III P. Anbazhagan today said he would issue non-bailable arrest warrants (NBWS) against former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIDMK general secretary J. Jayalalitha and her aide Sasikala Natarajan if they failed to appear before the court on June 23 for questioning in the Tansi land deal case. The judge earlier had posted for today, questioning the accused under Section 313 of the CrPC in the case in respect of Jaya publications and SASI enterprises in which both Ms Jayalalitha and Sasikala were partners. Counsel for Ms Jayalalitha and Ms Sasikala submitted that a petition seeking adjournment of the proceedings had already been filed in the case. They said both Ms Jayalalitha and Ms Sasikala had already left Chennai on June 8 itself to participate in certain public functions to be performed and presided over by them. Since the functions had been fixed several weeks ago, any abrupt foreclosure or change in it would affect the serenity of the family and would leave a bad imprint in their minds that the start itself was not good, they added. They said the proceedings may be adjourned and the two could be questioned on Friday. The judge ordered that both Ms Jayalalitha and Ms Sasikala should appear before the court on Friday to fulfil the procedure, failing which NBW would be issued against them. Later, counsel for four other accused in the case also sought adjournment of the proceedings as they were not mentally prepared for questioning. The judge posted to tomorrow the questioning in respect of the four accused — the then Chairman and Managing Director of Tansi T.R. Sreenivasan, former Rural Industries Minister MD Mohammad Asif, former Special Deputy Collector (Stamps) S. Nagarajan and former Joint Secretary to the then Chief Minister M. Karpoorasundara Pandiyan. |
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Heavy rain likely in Sikkim, MP PUNE, June 19 (UNI) — Heavy rainfall is likely to occur at isolated places in West Bengal, Sikkim, Orissa, the Bihar plateau, east Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, coastal Karnataka and Kerala during the next 48 hours. Rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at most places in West Bengal and Sikkim, Orissa, coastal Karnataka and Kerala, at many places in Andaman and Nicobar islands, the Bihar plateau, west Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telengana, at a few places in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Bihar plains, east Uttar Pradesh, east Madhya Pradesh, south Konkan, Goa, Marathwada, Rayalseema, interior Karnataka and Lakshadweep and at isolated places over the rest of the country outside west Rajasthan and Gujarat where weather will be mainly dry. The southwest monsoon has been active in Orissa and coastal Karnataka. Rain or thundershowers have occurred at most places in West Bengal and Sikkim, at many places in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Meghalaya, east Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Telengana, at a few places in Bihar, south interior Karnataka and Kerala and at isolated places in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, hills of west Uttar Pradesh, Konkan, Goa, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Mainly dry weather prevailed over the rest of the country. Day temperatures were appreciably above normal in some parts of Kashmir and northwest Rajasthan and were above normal in southeast Rajasthan, Gujarat and some parts of Himachal Pradesh. They were below normal in some parts of Haryana and Punjab. Rajasthan sweltered under the onslaught of the sun and Sriganganagar turned hottest with 45°C during the past 24 hours, the Met officials said today. Mercury ruled one to two degrees above normal at several places in the state. The temperature remained 44°C at Sawai Madhopur followed by Churu and Jaisalmer with 43°C. Bharatpur, Falaudi, Kota and Bikaner witnessed 42°C. Besides, state capital Jaipur, Tonk and Seekar recorded 41°C. |
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Jaswant to leave for
Russia on June 21 NEW DELHI, June 19 — External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh has a busy schedule over the next 10 days with his four-day official visit to Russia beginning from June 21. While Mr Jaswant Singh’s trip to Russia is to prepare for the forthcoming visit of the Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin, to India in the first 10 days of October, his journey to Warsaw is to participate in the first-ever meeting of the Community of Democracies. The External Affairs Minister will be reaching Lisbon to attend the first-ever Indo-European Union summit on June 28 and from there Mr Singh will be going to Israel for a bilateral visit which had to be postponed in the wake of the hijacking of Indian Airlines aircraft in December last year. During his stay in Russia, he will discuss the draft of the Indo-Russian Strategic partnership which is scheduled to be signed in New Delhi when Mr Putin arrives here. Already, a de-facto strategic partnership between the two countries exists, a senior official said adding that already a total of 60 agreements have been concluded between India and Russia since 1992. The External Affairs Minister will call on the Russian President during his stay in Moscow. He will discuss bilateral, regional and international issues with the Russian leadership during his stay in Moscow. The External Affairs Minister will have talks with the Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, and the Secretary of National Security, Mr Sergei Ivanov. He will also have discussions with the Deputy Prime
Minister, Mr Viktor Khristenko, who is also the Co-Chairman of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation. The External Affairs Ministry is the nodal Ministry and the Executive Secretariat servicing the IRIGC. After the bilateral trade touched a low of $1.25 billion in 1998-99 which was 23.3 per cent lower than the previous year, the mutual trade has once again been rising, a senior official in the Ministry of External Affairs said here today. The bilateral trade figure in the first 10 months of 1999-2000 stood at $ 1.31 billion which is 34.13 per cent higher than last year. |
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Plan to control
malnutrition NEW DELHI, June 19 — The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr C.P. Thakur, will launch a national pilot programme on control of micro-nutrient malnutrition at Gandhinagar in Gujarat on Thursday. The programme is executed jointly by the Centre and States and the All-India Institute of hygiene and Public Health, Calcutta. Sources in the ministry said Gujarat is the sixth state in the country to implement the programme aimed at mitigating the suffering caused by deficiency of iron, iodine and vitamin A. The programme has already been implemented in Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Tripura and West Bengal. |
8 killed in mishaps
Dara outfit
leaders held 17 arrested
in Tripura Area under
forests goes up Two PWG men
killed Sikkim Budget
presented |
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