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| Monday, September 11, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Hectic lobbying for CM’s post Laxman to announce
team soon 100 pc FDI in special
zones permitted ‘CBI has sufficient
proof against Pinto’
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Tributes
paid to G.B. Pant 4 Uzbek women arrested Growth package for AIR, DD PoK areas seek
freedom from Pak Rajkumar issue
won’t hit poll prospects: Vaiko AASU oil blockade
begins today Andhra Cong to
intensify stir Youth killed by lover’s father,
brother Full-time head of
NSC sought 8000 detonators,
explosives seized Rain in HP
areas RJD youth
leader shot
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Hectic lobbying for CM’s post DEHRADUN, Sept 10 — With Uttaranchal all set to come into existence on November 1, hectic politicking has been initiated by aspirants to the post of Chief Minister who have pitched camps in Delhi luring leaders of the BJP high command in all possible ways. There is hardly any doubt on the BJP forming the interim government since 17 of the 22 legislators from this region belong to it. Apart from this, seven of the eight members of the Legislative Council also belong to the BJP. Yet, the chief ministership presents a knotty problem for the BJP high command because of too many aspirants. Top names for the post of CM are Mr Ramesh Pokhrial Nisankh, Religious Affairs Minister in the Uttar Pradesh Government, and Mr Nityanand Swami, Chairman of the UP Legislative Council. Both leaders are from Garwhal. Other aspirants are Mr Manohar Kant Dhyani, member of the Rajya Sabha, Maj-Gen (Retd) B.C. Khanduri and Mr Bachi Singh Rawat both members of the Lok Sabha from the region. A most likely consensus has been developed among the members of the Assembly and the Council for pressing the party high command to choose the CM from within these two houses. All MLAs and MLCs of the region met at Lucknow on Thursday and conveyed this message to the party high command. They met Mr Ram Prakash Gupta, CM, Uttar Pradesh, yesterday to convey this message in writing to the party leadership. Mr Ajay Bhatt, a BJP legislator from Ranikhet, when contacted said: “We the members of both Houses are of the opinion that the CM should be from among us. Otherwise, if any member of Parliament or other party leader is asked to sit on the chair, it will be mandatory for him to get elected from either House within six months which is not possible at this stage because the term of the interim government has been fixed for one year.” Another BJP legislator Tilak Raj Behad from Haldwani said the BJP high command was holding a meeting here with regional party leaders on September 18 and 19 to draw a consensus on the issue. Mr Murli Manohar Joshi whom the Central leadership has authorised to choose the Chief Minister, and senior leader Kalraj Mishra are expected to meet the legislators. General Khanduris’ chance of becoming CM seems to be bleak as he does not enjoy good ties with Mr Joshi, Mr Joshi had earlier prevented the general from entering the Union Ministry apparently because he was close to his inner party rival L.K. Advani, Home Minister. Instead, Mr Joshi helped his loyalist B.S. Rawat become minister. No doubt, Mr Joshi will try his best to appoint his loyalist as CM but MLA’s and MLCs are not in a mood for a compromise, Mr Joshi’s personal interests in the region are also at stake. He is a native of Kashipur but was brought up at Allahabad where he became politically active. Mr Ramesh Pokhrial and Mr Nityanand Swami both are aspirants. According to sources within the party, the Central leadership is likely to reach a consensus on either one of them. The possibility of a choice from the Lok Sabha seems to be remote as this will necessitate byelection for the seat which will fall vacant in that event. Meanwhile, it has already been decided that the new Assembly will have 70 seats and the next elections will be held according to this number. As per Clause 14 of the UP Reorganisation Bill, 2000, the provisional interim Assembly will have 22 MLAs and nine MLCs, taking the total number to 31. As soon as the interim government of Uttaranchal is formed, an immediate impact will be on the strength of the UP Legislative Assembly which will be reduced from 424 to 402. This may spell trouble for Mr Ram Prakash Gupta who is already on a sticky wicket running the government with coalition partners in a numbers game. |
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Laxman to announce
team soon NEW DELHI, Sept 10 — The BJP president, Mr Bangaru Laxman, is expected to announce his much delayed and eagerly awaited team in a day or two with the name of former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana being part of the new list of office-bearers. Mr Laxman, who has held several rounds of discussions with his predecessor, Mr Kushabhau Thakre in the past few days, is going to promote Mrs Maya Singh, who was the president of the Mahila Morcha in his predecessor’s team, as a general secretary. While two general secretaries of Mr Laxman’s predecessor’s team, namely Mr Narendra Modi and Mr M. Venkaiah Naidu, were being retained in their positions, Mr Pyarelal Khandelwal, who was a secretary in the old dispensation, was being promoted, sources said. While Mr Thakre opposed the inclusion of Mr Khurana’s name in the new president’s list of office-bearers, sources said the former Delhi Chief Minister and a Union Minister in Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s last government is staging a comeback in the party on the clear instructions of the Prime Minister. But on the other hand the appointment of Mrs Maya Singh as general secretary is being supported by Mr Thakre. Though Mr Khandelwal was also being opposed by Mr Thakre, Mr Laxman has been able to include him as his name was cleared by the Prime Minister before his departure for New York. Mr Laxman is also faced with the problem of picking up suitable candidates to head the youth and mahila wings. |
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100 pc FDI in special
zones permitted NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (UNI) — The government today further liberalised foreign direct investment norms, permitting 100 per cent FDI in special economic zones and some telecom sector activities. In the liberalised regime, off-shore venture capital funds and companies have been allowed to invest in domestic venture capital undertakings. It provides for the review of existing sectoral policy and sectoral equity cap for FDI and investment by NRIs and overseas corporate bodies OCBs. FDI up to 100 per cent is allowed through the automatic route for all manufacturing activities in special economic zones, except for certain categories. These include arms and ammunition, explosives and allied items of defence equipment, defence aircraft and warships, atomic substances, narcotics and psychotropic substances and hazardous chemicals, distillation and brewing alcoholic drinks and cigarettes, cigars and manufactured tobacco substitutes. FDI up to 100 per cent has been allowed in the telcom sector: for ISPs not providing gateways (both for satellite and submarine cables), infrastructure providers providing dark fibre (IP category-I), electronic mail, and voice mail. FDI up to 100 per cent is allowed subject to the condition that such companies would divest 26 per cent of their equity in favour of Indian public in five years, if these companies are listed in other parts of the world. Moreover, these services would be subject to licensing and security requirements, wherever required. Proposals for FDI beyond 49 per cent shall be considered by the FIPB on case to case basis. The payment of royalty up to 2 per cent for exports and one per cent for domestic sales is allowed under automatic route on the use of trademarks and brand name of the foreign collaborator without technology transfer. The payment of royalty up to 8 per cent on exports and 5 per cent on domestic sales by wholly owned subsidiaries to offshore parent comapnies is allowed under the automatic route without any restriction on the duration of royalty payments. Offshore venture capital funds and companies are allowed to invest in domestic venture capital undertakings as well as other comapnies through the automatic route, subject only to SEBI regulations and sector specific caps on FDI. |
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‘CBI has sufficient
proof against Pinto’ NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (PTI) — The CBI today claimed that the agency had sufficient evidence to prove that London-based Brazilian national A.E. Pinto had taken a sum of $ 1.2 million as “brokerage” for urea deal between National Fertilizer Limited and Turkish firm Karsan Limited for supply of urea which later resulted in a scam. Pinto, who was extradited from London last month and is presently in judicial custody, had allegedly taken the money for the Rs 133 crore deal as “brokerage” and deposited it in the account of “Brasil Trading Corporation” owned by him, highly-placed sources in the agency claimed. The accused, during interrogation, has reportedly said that his role in the entire urea deal was introduction of Karsan executives Cihan Caranci and Tunkey Alunkus (both have been extradited to India in 1997) to Sambasiva Rao, Indian middle man, the sources said. The sources said Pinto has, however, denied any criminal intention in striking the deal for Karsan executives. The Brazilian businessman, who is the first person to have been extradited from London, has, however, not replied as to why he had signed the deal with the public sector undertaking NFL on behalf of Karsan Limited when he was not authorised to do so. Pinto is alleged by the CBI to have signed the initial contract with NFL under different terms and conditions which were later changed and fresh signatures were obtained from Caranci and Alunkus. Pinto is the third person to have been extradited in the scam. Earlier, Caranci and Alankus of “Karsan” were extradited from Switzerland in 1997. According to sources, his extradition could help unravel some details on how money changed hands in securing the deal and who were the key persons who swung the deal in favour of Karsan Limited. When the three lakh tonnes of urea did not reach Delhi on schedule as per the contract with Karsan, Pinto visited India in late 1995 to assure the NFL officials that the supplies would be reaching soon. The CBI in 1997 issued a letter rogatory to the authorities in London, seeking assistance in locating and interrogating Pinto. He was traced easily as he was under detention in London for traffic offence. The CBI recently received crucial documents running into over 700 pages, related to money transactions by Karsan executives Tunkay Alankus and Cihan Karanci, who were extradited in 1997. Besides Alankus and Karanci, CBI has chargesheeted seven persons, including former NFL Chairman C.K. Ramakrishanan and its Executive Director D.S. Kanwar in the case. Former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao’s kin Sanjiva Rao and former Union Minister Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav’s son Prakash Yadav are among the accused in the scandal. |
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4 Uzbek women arrested new delhi, sept 10
(uni) — The Delhi Police today said it had smashed a major fake medicines’ racket with the arrest of four women from Uzbekistan and a 40-year-old resident of Delhi from whom 800 kg drugs were seized. The fake medicine, in wrappers having instructions in Russian and Uzbek language, was worth Rs 80,000, the police said. The Uzbek women — Nafisa, Karasch Bobomurotoba, Malika and Maya — said the fake medicine was taken to Tashkent by various Uzbek tourists, to whom it was sold here. Since the wrappers had Russian and Uzbek markings the medicine was taken for real, the women told the police during interrogation. The women, because of unemployment in their country, had been coming to India with Chinese silk, which earned them high profits here. During the past one-and-a-half years, they had made over 20 trips to India. Their Indian contact was Chander Prakash Marwah who owns a pharmacy and has licence to sell medicines. During interrogation he said he had got the fake drugs from a pharmaceutical factory — Unisul Pvt Ltd in Sonepat, Haryana. The Delhi Police will send a team to Sonepat. According to the police, Assistant Commissioner of Police Varsha Sharma got a tip-off about the racket and a raid was carried out at a banquet hall in central Delhi. Marwah was arrested from there and he disclosed that the fake medicines were stored in different godowns in the city. Marwah also told the police about the four Uzbek women and that they were staying in the central Delhi Saina Hotel. The police raided the hotel in Paharganj and arrested the four women. During the past 36 hours, several raids were carried out at the godowns and the fake medicine was seized. Earlier last month, the police had arrested Rajan Sachdeva, owner of Saina Hotel, for illegal trade of medicines. |
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Growth package for AIR, DD CALCUTTA, Sept 10 (UNI) — Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley today announced several growth oriented steps for All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan by encouraging selected private entrepreneurship to meet global challenges in the field of entertainment. Participating in an interactive session with members of the city’s premier Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) this afternoon, Mr Jaitley said such steps were necessary not only to face competition in terms of quality but also to raise more funds for the government through advertisements and providing licences. Highlighting the development plans for AIR which had now taken the backseat in the present era of information and entertainment revolution, Mr Jaitley said as a first step 40 Indian cities FM Channels would be thrown open to private entrepreneurs to operate, while 60 more cities each having a population of more than a million, would be opened for private operators gradually. This would not only give a fillip to the revenue earning process of his ministry which would restrict its involvement only up to licencing the agency, but also ensure at least 5 per cent annual growth of radio listeners in the country to extend its reach further, Mr Jaitley pointed out. About his plans for Doordarshan, which has already undergone significant changes during the past couple of years, the Information and Broadcasting Minister said as part of a new three-pronged growth programme the government had recently liberalised its uplinking policy by allowing all potential private channels to uplink independently. |
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Tributes
paid to G.B. Pant NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (PTI) — President K.R. Narayanan,
Vice-President Krishna Kant and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
today led the nation in paying tributes to Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind
Ballabh Pant on his 113th birth anniversary. President K.R. Narayanan, described Pandit Pant as a “great son of India” and spoke of the “lofty ideals and high standards” set by him. Paying floral tributes to the “founding father of the Indian Republic” at a ceremony here today, Vice-President Krishna Kant recalled Pt Pant’s “memorable contribution to the making of modern india”. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in a message, described Pandit Pant as a “distinguished parliamentarian and an able administrator”, who was an example of rectitude and probity in public life”. Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Manmohan Singh also joined the Vice-President in paying tributes. They were joined by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Pandit Pant’s son and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission K.C. Pant, former President R. Venkataraman and Meghalaya Governor M.M. Jacob. Union Ministers George Fernandes, Sharad Yadav, Suresh Prabhu, C.P. Thakur and B.K. Tripathy were also present on the occasion. |
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PoK areas seek
freedom from Pak NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (PTI) — Resentment is growing in Gilgit and Baltistan, originally a part of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) but annexed illegally by Pakistan. A forum comprising various political parties has demanded complete independence from Islamabad in order to protect their fundamental rights. “Pakistani rule cannot be spread over Gilgit and Baltistan and these areas ought to be treated as a foreign country,” chairman of the Gilgit-Baltistan thinkers forum Wajahat Hassan has said in a statement here. The Pakistani government has declared that these two areas are a part of Pakistan and has kept them under a military ruler nominated by Islamabad. Mr Hassan said Pakistan has never trusted the people of Gilgit and Baltistan on Kashmir “though they (Islamabad) have been exploiting the areas time and again.” He alleged that the Pakistani government was “engineering” blasts in Gilgit and arresting innocent citizens of these two areas. Mr Hassan said this was a retaliation by the Pakistan Government as the people of these areas observe August 14 as the “day of deprivation”. The leader said even though Pakistan has installed some local nationals as ministers they are without any powers and have to follow the diktat from Islamabad. The Chairman of the Gilgit-Baltistan Thinkers Forum has also written a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan stating that Pakistan rulers, with the help of their stooges in Gilgit and Baltistan, were committing atrocities against the locals. The letter sought international intervention over the deteriorating state of affairs in these two areas, even after 53 years of so-called independence. Highlighting the blasts of August 14 this year, Mr Hassan said they were carried out by Pakistani agencies to deter locals from carrying out a “peace-march”. |
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Rajkumar issue
won’t hit poll prospects: Vaiko TIRUCHIRAPALLI, Sept 10 (UNI) — The hostage crisis involving Kannada film star Rajkumar, who has been held captive by forest brigand Veerappan since July 30, would not have any impact and the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu would retain power in the Assembly elections due next year, MDMK General Secretary Vaiko said today. Talking to newsmen here, he expressed satisfaction over the efforts made by the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Governments for securing the release of the hostages. Even the Opposition parties in Karnataka were satisfied with the efforts made by the two states, he said, while castigating some parties, including AIADMK General Secretary J. Jayalalitha for issuing “irresponsible” statements against the Tamil Nadu Government on the issue. Asked about the reported dissatisfaction expressed by some union ministers over the handling of the hostage crisis by the two governments, Mr Vaiko, whose party is a constituent of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, said those remarks could not be construed as the views of the Union Government. |
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AASU oil blockade
begins today GUWAHATI, Sept 10 (UNI) — Upper Assam could have severe problems as work at Oil India Limited (OIL) will stop tomorrow onwards with the commencement of the 120-hour oil blockade. The blockade was called by (AASU) against the non-recruitment of unskilled workmen. OIL was about to recruit 300 of unskilled workmen but a blanket ban on appointment by the Union Finance Ministry created problems. As a result the students called for an oil blockade which would result in stoppage of gas supply to power- generating units, disruption in refineries, closure of the fertiliser plant at Namrup, loss of tea production due to erratic gas supply to tea grids, said Mr Prasanta Barkakati of OIL. Moreover, the interruption of production activities would have adverse consequence in terms of reservoir behaviour and would lead to various production-related down-hole complications. Several low-pressure and high- water cut wells, which were on artificial lift would cease to flow, and it would be very difficult to bring them back to the earlier productivity levels. According to OIL sources, they were almost through with the whole selection process when the ban came. “We interviewed 9,000 candidates to shortlist 300 and are committed to giving these jobs. In fact, we had already intimated that we had made commitment for these jobs in discussion with AASU in 1998 much before the imposition of the blanket ban,’’ he said. |
| Andhra Cong to
intensify stir HYDERABAD, Sept 10 (UNI) — The opposition Congress in Andhra Pradesh today unanimously decided to intensify its ongoing agitation demanding a rollback in the recent hike in power tariff. APCC President M. Satyanarayana Rao said after two days of discussions with the APCC, CLP members and other senior party leaders had decided to intensify the agitation by launching state-wide satyagraha programmes. “The party will hold a satyagraha at the temple town of Tirupathi on September 26”, he added. |
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Youth killed by lover’s father,
brother NOIDA, Sept 10 — The police has arrested two persons from Sector 22 in connection with the brutal murder of a youth called Pankaj. According to the SHO of Sector 24 police post, Mr S.P. Gautam, Pankaj, a resident of Ballia, was a tenant at house number C-98, J-block, Sector 22, had a love affair with a girl residing a few lanes away from his house. On the night of August 29 the girl’s brother Satvir, called Pankaj to his house for talks. When he reached there Satvir and his father tied his legs and arms with a rope and killed him. After a while, when the girl reached the house she saw her brother and father dissecting the body. She then rushed to the street and shouted for help but no one came to her rescue. Later, she went to Pankaj’s house and informed his family members. They along with the girl went to the Sector 24 police station. Immediately, the police reached the spot and arrested the duo. Later, after taking the body in custody the police sent it for a post-mortem examination. |
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Full-time head of
NSC sought new delhi, Sept 10
(uni) —A former union minister and Kashmiri leader, Dr Karan Singh has advocated the appointment of a full-time-head of the National Security Council to effectively tackle Pak-sponsored militancy in Kashmir. Addressing a gathering here last evening, Dr Singh wondered why the government could not appoint an efficient person to head the important position despite a 100 crore population. “At present, it is being looked after by an official who is also holding another important post, so he cannot devote full time to such an important matter,’’ Dr Singh said, making an indirect reference to Mr Brajesh Mishra, who is Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister as well as the national security adviser. He also said Pakistan’s obsession with Kashmir had not only destroyed the former but the northern Indian state as well. “Though Pakistan claims to be sympathetic to the Kashmiris, it is not so. By killing innocent people, destroying their mosques, houses, bridges and educational institutions, it has only increased their hardships,’’ he said. |
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8000 detonators,
explosives seized karimnagar, sept 10
(pti) — The police has seized a huge cache of explosives, including 5000 electric detonators, meant for distribution among Naxalites, and arrested four persons in this connection from two different places at Metpallu in the district. Jagityal Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Nagireddy told reporters here today that a police party, while checking vehicles at Vempet village, found some olive green dress material packed in a gunny bag in a jeep belonging to a construction company. On information given by the vehicle driver, the police subsequently raided godowns of the company and seized 5000 electric detonators, 3000 non-electric detonators, four flash lights, 125 kit bags, 500 metres olive green cloth and some gelatin sticks, he said. The seized materials were kept for distribution among Naxalites of Jagityal, Manthani, Peddapalli and Karimnagar divisions. |
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Rain in HP
areas NEW DELHI, Sept 10 - Monsoon has been vigorous in east Uttar Pradesh. Rainfall: rain or thundershowers have occurred at many places in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and east Uttar Pradesh, at a few places in west Uttar Pradesh and at isolated places in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. Weather was dry in the rest of the region. The chief amount of rainfall in cms are: Haryana: Panipat 2 and Ambala 1, Himachal Pradesh: Guler, Nadaun and Shimla 1 each, Punjab: Amrisar and Nangal 3 each and Patiala 2 and Uttar Pradesh: Mukhlishpur 21, Chandradeepghat 18, Basti 17, Bansi 14, Regoli 13, Kakrahi 12, Balrampur and Bahraich 9 each, Ayodhya and Kakardharighat 8 each, Gorakhpur 5, Birdghat 4, Ankinghat, Banbasa and Khadda 3 each and Agra , Basreilly, Kanpur, Palliakalan and Shardanagar 1 each. Forecast valid until the morning of 12th: Rain or thundershowers as likely at a few places in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and east Uttar Pradesh and at isolated places in Haryana, Punjab and west Uttar Pradesh. Weather will be mainly dry in the rest of the region. Forecast for Delhi and neighbourhood valid until the morning of 12th: Mainly clear sky with possibility of thundery development in some areas. Farmers weather bulletin for Delhi: Forecast valid until the morning of 12th: Thunderclouds may develop at a few places. Outlook for the subsequent two days: No large change. |
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RJD youth
leader shot PATNA, Sept 10 (PTI) — Unidentified gunmen shot dead Patna district youth RJD general secretary Jagdish Mahato at Bikhna Pahari here today, the police said. Mahato’s body was handed over to his relatives after a post-mortem examination. The RJD President, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, accompanied by several state ministers, visited the site and asked the police to arrest Mahato’s killers. |
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