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| Friday,
December 15, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Curbs on paddy to hit Punjab farmers Tractor rally by farmers Nepal ‘occupies’ Indian land North India in Parliament NHRC chief for law to deal with child abuse Eunuchs take centrestage in MP |
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| Uttaranchal to set up
commissions, corpns DEHRA DUN, Dec 14 — The Uttaranchal Government has decided to set up power corporation, hydro-electirc corporation, public service commission, judicial services authority and consumer protection forum. A decision regarding this was taken at the third Cabinet meeting of the state government here last evening. 
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Curbs on paddy to hit Punjab farmers HYDERABAD, Dec 14 — Restrictions on the movement of rice from northern states to southern states that the Centre has agreed to at the behest of Andhra Pradesh, would adversely affect the farmers in
Punjab. The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh,Mr Chandrababu Naidu, who has been an advocate of liberalisation and had earlier supported the Central policy to lift all restrictions on the movement of paddy and wheat, has now succumbed to the farmers’ lobby in the state to pressurise the Centre to abandon its policy. The Union Minister of Consumer Affairs,Mr Shanta Kumar, who was rushed here by the Prime Minister publicly hinted here on Monday that all movement of rice from the northern to southern states would be suspended. This would give Andhra Pradesh a monopoly in rice in the southern states. With excess production of paddy this season in the north, truckloads of rice have been coming from Punjab and Haryana to the state selling good quality rice at very low prices. Punjab farmers were seen in the streets of Hyderabad going from door to door, selling rice in bags of 80 kg to 100 kgs at Rs15 to Rs16 a kg. Andhra Pradesh also has had excess production of
paddy. Both the factors had beaten the procurement price by millers to unremunerative prices. With the recent hike in power rates, the farmers in the state are already on the
warpath. The opposition parties have been taking full advantage of the situation by criticising the Chief Minister for his ineffectiveness in protecting the interests of the
farmers. The Chief Minister, Mr Naidu, had complained to the Prime Minister and the central ministers that stepmotherly treatment was being meted out to Andhra Pradesh. He had pointed out that the Centre had asked the FCI to increase procurement from Punjab. He had complained that the FCI was not fulfilling its target of 10 lakh tonnes from the state. Mr Shanta Kumar, has reportedly allayed the fears of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and has assured that the FCI would fulfil its quota of procurement. |
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Tractor rally by farmers NEW DELHI, Dec 14 — Thousands of farmers took part in a ‘tractor rally’ here to oppose the ‘‘anti-farmer’’ policies of the Central Government. Organised by the Youth Congress, the rally was addressed by senior Congress leaders including Mr Madhav Rao Scindia, Mr Oscar Fernandes, Mr Moti Lal Vohra, Ms Ambika Soni, Mr Balram Jhakhar, Mr Sajjan Kumar and Ms Renuka Chaudhary. Mr Scindia, in his address, criticised the government for the steep hike in the price of diesel. He said the Congress in its 39-year rule had seen to it that the price of diesel remained low. The diesel price did not exceed Rs 6.40 during the Congress regime, but now it was touching Rs 16 which had put enormous burden on the farmers. President of IYC Randeep Singh Surjewala, said the BJP had made many pre-poll promises to farmers but had not fulfilled any of these. Mr Surjewala also presented a memorandum to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in which the Youth Congress referred to the problems faced by the farmers. In the detailed five-page memorandum backed by statistical inputs, the YC said that while one-third of the farmers were starving, government godowns were overflowing with foodgrains. Terming farmers’ problems as government-made disaster, the Youth Congress demanded that the Centre take measures to check the onslaught of cheap imports by hiking import duties. It said the government should remove impediments to free inter-state movement of agricultural goods, enhance the storage capacity of the FCI, enhance agriculture export, ban import of genetically modified food and ensure greater employment opportunities to rural youth. The rally, for which over a thousand tractors had been mobilised, presented a picturesque sight. Claiming it to be the first tractor-rally in decades, the YC actvists said while the venue of the rally was changed at the last hour the government had also tried to block the entry of tractors. The rally was initially scheduled to be held near Parliament. The YC activists alleged that they were lathi-charged and the governmnet relented only after they blocked the roads at the borders of Delhi. |
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Nepal ‘occupies’ Indian land PATNA, Dec 14 — More than 10,000 acres of Indian land has landed in the illegal possession of Nepal and resultantly, natural resources worth crores of rupees happen to have fallen in the lap of the Himalayan kingdom. As the Central Government seems oblivious of the lost ground, despite the state government’s request, the Indians of the said land are the worst sufferers, facing the wrath of the Royal Nepal Police as well as the anti-socials alike. The Central Government has recently initiated a move to demarcate the Indo-Nepal boundary, but the exercise is aimed more at checking the infiltration, rather than getting back the lost territory. Owing to the changing course of the river Gandak, which serves as the natural boundary between the two countries, large areas of India have now fallen to Nepal side. The Balmikinagar area of Bihar has been the worst sufferer. The Indians there have acquired dual citizenship. The Nepal police has erected outposts there signalling the formalisation of the illegal occupation of the Indian land. It is alleged that as Nepal has made dams on its side of the Gandak, the river has changed its course, giving more Indian areas to Nepal. It is to be mentioned here that last year, the Chief Minister, Ms Rabri Devi, had written to the Prime Minister about the developments, seeking intervention, but the Centre has not taken any initiative. There have been meetings of the joint commissions of the two nations, but the issue has evaded solution, the Union Government not being serious over the issue. Supta village, which was once on the Indian side, has now fallen to the side of Nepal. The Nepal police harasses the villagers for various reasons. It is also alleged that the area has become the den of smugglers and an ISI resort, as it is practically a “no man’s land”. These areas have become sensitive as Indian and Nepalese citizens set clash over the land ownership and their trading rights. Many Indians have fled the areas fearing the Nepal Royal Police’s backlash and attack by the local Nepalese. Meanwhile, as part of the efforts to mount vigilance across the 750-km long Indo-Nepal border, the External Affairs Ministry of India has sought the details of the pillars along the border and the estimated cost of erecting new ones from the Bihar Government. |
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North India in Parliament NEW DELHI, Dec 14 — A proposal for laying double-line railway tracks in Punjab is under the active consideration of the government, the Minister of State for Railways, Mr Digvijay Singh, informed the Lok Sabha today. Doubling of Jalandhar-Pathankot-Jammu Tawi, which is substantially in Punjab, has been included in the budget to be taken up after obtaining the requisite clearances, action for which has been initiated, the minister said, adding that the work would start once the clearances had been received. In a written reply to a question from Mr Bhan Singh Bhaura, the Railway Minister said a traffic survey for the doubling of Rajpura-Bathinda section (174 km) was also in progress. The survey is scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2001, he said. Garg Commission report on Khanna accident: The report of the Garg Commission, appointed under the chairmanship of Justice G.C. Garg to enquire into the cause of the accident between the Golden Temple Mail and the Jammu Tawi-Sealdah Express at Khanna, is still awaited. Mr Digvijay Singh informed the Lower House. Railway Reservation Centres in Jammu and Kashmir: A proposal for opening a reservation centre at Leh is under active consideration of the Ministry of Railways, Mr Digvijay Singh informed the Lok Sabha. The proposed reservation centre, as and when sanctioned and commissioned, will be linked with the all-India Railway Reservation Network, he said. However, railway reservation centres linked with the network are already operational in Jammu, Udhampur and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said in a written reply to a question from Mr Abdul Rashid Shaheen. Pak ISI funds for militants in Jammu and Kashmir: The Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Al Badr, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, the Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami, the Jaise-e-Mohd and the Al Barq are the militant outfits reportedly receiving funds from the ISI of Pakistan for sustaining terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, the Minister of Defence, Mr George Fernandes informed the Lok Sabha. Upgradation of surveillance equipment in Kargil: Efforts are on to upgrade the surveillance equipment to provide better quality and longer ranges depending upon the technology and ability to develop such equipment, Mr Fernandes said in the Lok Sabha in reply to a written question from Mr Dalpat Singh Parste as to whether there was a need for technological upgradation of surveillance equipment available to soldiers along the Line of Control in the Kargil mountains. The Defence Minister further stated that night vision devices based on image intensifiers and thermal imaging, battlefield surveillance radar system and long range reccee and observation system were some of the items which had been finalised for the post-Kargil conflict. Tenders for transportation in Haryana: The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Santosh Kumar Gangwar, said today that oil sector PSUs had reported that the basic conditions for qualifying the tenders for tendering transportation rates in Haryana had not been ignored. He was replying to a written question from Mr Adhir Chowdhury in the Lok Sabha. At present, there are two rates prevailing for the transportation of POL in Haryana. This is due to the fact that a few tenderers quoted lower rates and the tenders were awarded to them as per the quoted rates, he said. |
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NHRC chief for law to deal with child abuse NEW DELHI, Dec 14 — Justice J.S. Verma, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission has said the lack of legislation is a major hurdle in dealing with cases of child rape and child sexual abuse. Speaking at a two-day workshop organised by the NHRC and the Angaja Foundation to sensitise judges, lawyers and police officers on the issue of child rape and child sexual abuse, Justice Verma said the definition of child abuse should be very clear and the punishment for this offence should be strict. He said “child abuse leaves permanent scars on the victim’s mind.” In his inaugural address, the Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Mr Arun Jaitely, said till a few years back, there was no mention of the aforesaid subject. He drew attention to a case where even the Supreme Court had declined to believe that a child could be sexually abused by her father. He said “this presumption of society has been proved wrong.” He lamented the absence of any real law to deal with this offence. He said these could be categorised either under unnatural offences or under physical assault of the child where punishments are disproportionately less. He said that these offences are easily bailable without any strong deterrent. The minister also criticised the traditional mode of investigation in these cases where the victim is questioned in the presence of the tormentor. He suggested that this mode of investigation be revamped. |
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Eunuchs take centrestage in MP BHOPAL, Dec 14 — It’s no more a laughing matter. The eunuchs have come to occupy the centrestage in the Madhya Pradesh politics. Rani Jaan Payal is the sixth eunuch to score electoral victory in the state. Payal was elected yesterday, a member of the Sehore municipality as an Independent, defeating her nearest BJP rival Gopal Soni by 45 votes. Payal was elected from ward No 23 (of Sehore) where a majority of the residents are educated and prosperous. Not only that, Sehore Municipal Corporation Chairwoman Rakmini Rohila (Congress) and Sehore district BJP President Madanlal Tyagi are residing in the same ward. The trend was set by Kamla Jaan, who was the first eunch to have been elected Mayor of Katni Municipal Corporation in January. Kamla Jaan, too, was elected as an Independent, securing nearly 2000 votes more than those polled by her nearest BJP rival Alka Jain and pushing Aradhana Jain of the Congress of the third position. However, the real morale booster for the eunuchs had been the election of Shabnam Mausi to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly from Sohagpur constituency in Shahdol district in a byelection in February. Soon after the election of Kamla Jaan as the Mayor of Katni Municipal Corporation, Minabai was elected president of Sihora municipality in Jabalpur district. Around the same time, Hirabai was elected councillor from the Ravinder Nath Tagore ward of Jabalpur Municipal Corporation and Gulshan was elected to the Bina municipality. |
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Uttaranchal to set up
commissions, corpns DEHRA DUN, Dec 14 — The Uttaranchal Government has decided to set up power corporation, hydro-electirc corporation, public service commission, judicial services authority and consumer protection forum. A decision regarding this was taken at the third Cabinet meeting of the state government here last evening. The meeting of the Cabinet which lasted for more than four hours, also approved the selection of a design for the seal of the state government. The Uttaranchal Government would not be signified by a seal comprising three mountain peaks in a row, the central one bearing Ashoka Chakra and waves at the bottom indicating the tributaries of the Ganga and the Yamuna. |
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