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| Wednesday,
December 27, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Cong effort on Ayodhya backfired: BJP NEW DELHI, Dec 26 — The BJP today claimed that the Congress’ effort the malign the ‘indomitable’ image of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and to appease the minorities by racking up the Ayodhya issue in Parliament has only “boomeranged”. Naidu rules out mid-term poll Women empowerment policy next month Air, water pollution in Dehra Dun |
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| Year-ender Match fixing, Bofors keep CBI on toes NEW DELHI, Dec 26 — Cricket’s worst scandal in history — betting and match-fixing — kept the CBI on its toes for a major part of the year that ended on a sweet note for it with the arrest of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in connection with the Bofors pay-off scandal in Malaysia that may lead to his possible extradition to India. BJP criticises BCCI member’s statement Railway staff ‘responsible
for mishap’ Hrithik denies remarks on Nepal
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Cong effort on Ayodhya
backfired: BJP NEW DELHI, Dec 26 — The BJP today claimed that the Congress’ effort the malign the ‘indomitable’ image of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and to appease the minorities by racking up the Ayodhya issue in Parliament has only “boomeranged”. “The entire debate (on Ayodhya issue) boomeranged on the Congress... neither they could bring down the image of the Prime Minister nor they could garner the support of NDA allies,” the BJP Vice-President, Mr Jana Krishnamurthy, told newspersons here. Ridiculing the main Opposition party for bringing a resolution demanding the resignation of three Union Minister — Mr L K Advani, Ms Uma Bharti and Dr Murli Manohar Joshi — and then shifting its focus to make “personal attacks” on Mr Vajpayee, the senior BJP leader said the party would, in a couple of days, bring a booklet containing the speeches made by the Prime Minister in both the Houses along with the speeches of leaders of NDA allies during the debate on the Ayodhya issue. “The booklet, which would be translated in all regional languages, will contain verbatim the speeches of the PM and other NDA leaders and will be distributed to people through our state Units. Let the people decide whether the Congress and Left parties attack on us was justified in any manner,” he said ,while refusing to comment whether the speech of Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee would be included in the proposed booklet. She had attacked Mr Vajpayee for raising the Ayodhya issue. Attacking the Congress further, he said the main Opposition party had three-fold agenda behind stalling the Parliament proceedings by raising the Ayodhya issue. “They could not meet the challenge of the BJP politically and on economic issues and had also lost the support of the minorities,” he said. Mr Krishnamurthy welcomed the reported initiative of the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr G M C Balayogi, to hold talks with various political parties in Parliament to evolve an agreed ‘code of conduct’ for the orderly functioning of the House. However, the BJP leader urged the Speaker to constitute a small committee of party representative to go into this aspect and suggest positive ways and means to see that the normal functioning of Parliament did not get disturbed. “The Committee can submit its report within a fortnight and then the same could be tabled before the Budget Session...It will help a great deal,” he said. On the violence perpetrated by various militant groups in the Kashmir valley after the announcement of the ceasefire, Mr Krishnamurthy said the spurt in killings in Jammu and Kashmir was aimed at “torpedoing” India’s initiative to open a dialogue with the militant groups for establishing peace there. “There were groups which did not want talks between India and Pakistan and peace in the Subcontinent,” he said, adding it was a challenge to Pakistan more than India, therefore people of that country would have to decide what kind of security measures they wanted “ to counter such attempts to disrupt peace in India.”
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Naidu rules out mid-term poll HYDERABAD, Dec 26 (UNI) — Union Rural Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu today scotched the rumours of a mid-term poll and alleged that the mischievous and politically-motivated campaign was the handiwork of the Opposition which had miserably failed to corner the government on any issue. “The talk of a mid-term poll is a ploy to create confusion in the minds of the people that the government (at the Centre) is not stable’’, he said, talking to mediapersons here. Mr Naidu also alleged that the Opposition was attempting to divert the attention from “development and a government performing better” by raising divisive issues and unnecessarily bringing in Ayodhya. While the Congress was going down day-by-day, the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was stable and was mandated for five years, he said. There was no room for election and the people who were talking about it were day-dreaming, he added. Questioning the right of the Congress to talk about the relationship of the BJP with its allies, he said the NDA was committed to the common agenda. “Do not worry about the allies’’, he quipped in an apparent reference to the recent statements made by the Congress and the other opposition parties. Mr Naidu asserted that there was no question of any deviation from or dilution of the national agenda. He defended the Prime Minister’s statement on Ayodhya saying that “he had not said anything new” and an unnecessary controversy was sought to be created. |
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Women empowerment policy next month NEW DELHI, Dec 26 — The much talked about women’s empowerment policy, scheduled to take effect next month encompasses coming forward with a legislation to curb domestic violence against the fair sex besides amending some of the existing laws. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government proposes to introduce a Bill in the next session of Parliament to enact the domestic violence prevention Act, thereby facilitating women to counter such inhuman treatment. A recent National Family Health survey had also pointed out that domestic violence against women was prevalent in India, specially in the rural areas. Incidentally, the women also accepted and justified some the reasons quoted for the domestic violence against them. According to reports, 21 per cent of women in India have experienced violence since the age of 15 and 19 per cent have been beaten or physically mistreated by their husbands. As many as 2 per cent have been beaten or physically mistreated by in-laws and 3 per cent by other persons. This implied that among women who reported beatings, nine out of 10 have been beaten by their husbands, one out of seven by other persons and one out of 12 by the in-laws. Some of the other existing Acts like the National Commission for Women Act, Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, Indecent Representation of Women Act, Child Marriage Restrain Act and the Sati Prevention Act are also to be amended, as part of the new policy, to give them more teeth by toughening the prevailing provisions. The Group of Ministers (GoM) looking into the various aspects of the women’s empowerment policy has given its clearance to it and now only a nod from the Union Cabinet is being awaited. The GoM headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr K.C. Pant and having the Human Resources Development Minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, the Health Minister, Dr C.P. Thakur, the Railway Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, the Law Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley and the Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Ms Sumitra Mahajan, as the other members gave its clearance to the policy earlier this month. Sources in the government said that the clearance from the Cabinet is also expected in the coming days as the Centre is wanting to introduce the policy at the start of 2001, which has been announced as the “Women Empowerment Year”. The policy which was originally framed in 1996 was brought out from the cold storage by the HRD Minister earlier this year. It had remained in limbo for almost four years due to lack of sanction from the government. However, now it has been framed following series of interactions with various NGOs and women groups from all over the country. There was also constant inter-ministerial consultations with those dealing with Labour, Rural Development, Information and Broadcasting, Finance and Planning portfolios, before the final provisions were adopted. The HRD Minister has also written to all state chief ministers informing them about the government’s intention of introducing the policy and seeking their help in its implementation. The policy will deal with the economic and social empowerment of women, mainly relating to issues like health, education, domestic violence and employment. It will also have a strategy to operationalise the policy. It also proposes to introduce new schemes for women and most importantly will have an integrated women’s development project. Its objective will be to empower women’s participation in any association with self-help groups in social activities and community ventures. The government also plans to take administrative measures to ensure the implementation of the policy. It proposes to set up district level committees in states to review issues relating to violence against women. There will also be a drive to create general awareness about women’s problems in far-flung and rural areas. As part of the administrative measures, public opinion will also be mobilised against issues like female infanticide and sexual harassment. |
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Air, water pollution in Dehra Dun DEHRA DUN: Gone are the days when people used to think of settling down in Dehra Dun due to its lively natural beauty, good social life and importance of being a major educational centre. Here came Drona in search of peace. Guru Ram Rai eventually settled here. Then after the Mughals, the
British gave Dehra Dun the status of ‘camp office’ and operated most of the policy matters from the Doon Valley. But unplanned urbanisation, environmental degradation and lack of interest shown by the government to prevent its traditional sanctity has brought the romance of living in the city to an end. The quality of air and drinking water in Dehra Dun is deteriorating. Although, there are no major industries in and around the city but the increasing number of vehicles and bad condition of roads has brought the air and noise pollution to an alarming situation with an adverse affect on human health and safety. The monitoring of air quality in the city is being carried out regularly at two stations — Clock Tower and Raipur under the National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (NAAQM) scheme run by the regional office of Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB). Since, the assets have not yet been transferred to Uttaranchal by the state government, the regular monitoring of ambient air is carried out at the behest of parent state. “The concentration of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide” at both the stations since 1990 are well within the limit of national standard of 30 microgram per cubic metre. However, the concentration of suspended particulate matter is found at an alarming situation up to five times above the national standard of 100 microgram per cubic metre,” says Dr Shobha Chaturvedi, an assistant scientist working in the regional centre of UPPCB at Dehra Dun. Dehra Dun is a valley and is of tectonic nature. Therefore, the thermal inversion factor dominates air pollution. The Doon Valley is also declared as a sensitive zone due to tourist activity in this area. On February 1, 1989 the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests issued a notification restricting location of industries, mining operation and other development activities in the Doon Valley. As such the industries of polluting nature are almost banned. Only ‘green category’ (non polluting) industries are allowed in this region. Due to this, the concentration of SO2 and NO2 is under control. Only those industries are permitted in the area which do not create environmental hazards. The increase in number of vehicles by over 100 per cent during the last decade in the city is an indicator of vehicular pollution in the atmosphere. Surveys conducted by the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehra Dun, on emissions from vehicles have shown that these are high emitters. The petrol driven vehicles emit carbon monoxide, unburnt hydro-carbons, nitrogen oxides and particulates containing lead as exhaust emissions or through crank case and fuel evaporation loss. Since about 25 per cent to 40 per cent of fuel is exhausted without being burnt, two-wheelers are the main contributors of unburnt hydro-carbons in the air. The diesel driven vehicles mainly contribute soot and nitrogen oxides which are emitted in the form of exhaust gases. The average mass emissions from Indian cars measured by the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehra Dun are much higher than the world and national standards. Further, only 45 per cent of inter-city buses, 36 per cent of inter-state buses and 10 per cent of trucks meet the IS standards. Hence, on an average and Indian car is estimated to emit 481 kg of carbon monoxide, 31 kg of nitrogen dioxide and 100 kg of hydro-carbons annually. Motor cycle or scooter is estimated to contribute 67 kg unburnt hydro-carbons per year. Similarly, each three-wheeler emits 500 and 311 kg a year carbon mono-oxide and hydro-carbon, respectively. The diesel and petrol three-wheelers operating in the city in hundreds are the major cause of air pollution in Dehra Dun. Although, no specific data on the monitoring of noise level in the city has been recorded but the high density of traffic has resulted in increased noise level. And above all, water in Dehra Dun has been found unfit for drinking. Tests carried out by the Society of Pollution and Environmental Conservation Scientists in August this year revealed that most of the samples collected from various parts of the city were found unfit for drinking. According to Dr Brijmohan Singh, Secretary SPECS, chlorine was not present in 11 out of the total 17 samples collected for tests. While two samples were found super chlorinated. Hardness of water was found to be in excess of the desired levels in almost all samples. T-coliform and fecal coliform
bacteria were also found in 13 samples. When contacted, a senior official of Garhwal Jal Sansthan said that most of water pipes of the city were leaking as these were 30 to 40 years old. They had outlived their period. The official also revealed an astonishing fact that the filter house for purifying water in Dehra Dun was established in the year 1938. |
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Match fixing, Bofors keep CBI on toes NEW DELHI, Dec 26 (PTI) — Cricket’s worst scandal in history — betting and match-fixing — kept the CBI on its toes for a major part of the year that ended on a sweet note for it with the arrest of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in connection with the Bofors pay-off scandal in Malaysia that may lead to his possible extradition to India. The cricketing gods might never have imagined in their wildest dreams of a “third” umpire to probe players who altered the course of a match not by their skills on the field but for money. And the CBI fitted into that role following a probe of by Delhi police blowing the lid of the “Hansie gate” scandal. The report on betting and match-fixing won praise internationally for the CBI and the Director of Anti-Corruption Unit of International Cricket Council Sir Paul Condon complimented the agency for doing a “great service” to the world of cricket by exposing the unholy nexus between cricketers and bookies. Registering a preliminary enquiry on government’s direction, the CBI completed the probe within six months and submitted its report to the Sports Ministry in which the agency named five Indian cricketers — Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Ajay Sharma, Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia —besides former physiotherapist Ali Irani. Azhar, who had reportedly accepted that he had “done” only two matches for bookie Mukesh Gupta, alias “MK”, has been described by the investigating agency as the player who “contributed substantially towards the bookie-player nexus in Indian cricket”. Azhar is also quoted by the CBI as having admitted that he had received around Rs 10 lakh from an unknown person on behalf of punters Ajay Gupta and Ameesh Gupta. The others who came in for CBI’s adverse notice — Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Sharma and physiotherapist Ali Irani — were indicted for their contacts with bookies. While Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma have been banned from playing cricket for life, the other three have been slapped a ban of five years on the recommendations of Cricket Board’s Anti Corruption Commissioner K. Madhavan. Though Nayan Mongia had figured in the CBI report, he was later exonerated by Madhavan. Regarding wicket-keeper Mongia, it said his name had figured in match fixing and related malpractices in statements of Azhar, Dr Irani, Ajay Sharma and others. The CBI report said Chennai-based bookie Uttam Chand claimed to have paid Rs 1 lakh to Jadeja initially and another Rs 5 lakh later, the report said. Besides this, the CBI also filed a supplementary charge sheet in the special court against three Hinduja brothers in connection with the same case. After a preliminary battle in the court, the CBI managed to secure summons for the Hinduja brothers, who had filed a petition before the court seeking to argue on the question of taking cognisance of the charge sheet alleging that they received huge amounts from Swedish gun manufacturer A.B. Bofors on the supply of 155 mm Howitzer field guns to India. Another achievement of the CBI this year was “exposing” the alleged
bungling in grant of television rights and it carried simultaneous swoop in five cities, including those on former ICC chief Jagmohan Dalmiya and a former Director-General of Doordarshan and Worldtel chief Mark Mascarenhas. The CBI registered cases in connection with alleged bungling in the grant of television rights of cricket and tennis matches against the then Director General K.S. Sarma former Deputy Director General (Sports) K.Kunhikrishnan, DDG (Commercial and Sales) Rakesh Bhadur, DDG (Finance) P.K. Seth, Director (Finance) Sanjeev Dutta and Controller (Sales) Anurag Mishra besides three private television firms — United Television Network, Messers Stracon and Worldtel. Another feather in the CBI’s cap during the year was the securing of “red corner” warrant against five hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane and two of their accomplices from Interpol nearly a year after the hijacking drama ended in Afghanistan after the hijackers exchanged the passengers of ill-fated IC-814 against three dreaded militants. In a politically sensitive case, the CBI filed an FIR against the former SGPC Bibi Jagir Kaur and converted it into a charge of murder of her daughter Harpreet Kaur. The agency also arrested six persons in this connection. Reviving a case that was given up years ago, the agency filed a charge sheet against the Haryana Director-General of Police for molesting a 14-year-old girl, after which the controversial DGP was forced to go on leave. |
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BJP criticises BCCI member’s statement NEW DELHI, Dec 26 — The BJP today criticised the reported statement of a BCCI member that the Indian cricket tour to Pakistan was more on than off. “I wish the cricket authorities in India would try to understand the current situation and although peace initiatives by India are on nothing seems to be emanating from the Pakistani side. Even the Home Minister, Mr L . K. Advani, has said without any moves by Pakistan it would not be possible,” the party vice-president, Mr Jana Krishnamurthy, told newspersons here. The “BCCI should keep this in mind and not divest cricket from politics and it is not proper for our cricket team to visit Pakistan now,” he said. “There would be
enough time later when conditions would be suitable for the Indian cricket team to tour that country but till then the officials should refrain from making such statements,” Mr Krishnamurthy asserted. He also congratulated Indian Grand Master Vishwanathan Anand for annexing the World FIDE chess title. “We congratulate him (Anand) for the great success he achieved in the field of Chess and the country feels very proud of him. Our desire is that our sportsmen in other fields also emulate him and bring laurels to the country,” Mr Krishnamurthy said. |
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Railway staff ‘responsible
for mishap’ NEW DELHI, December 26— The collision of 3005 Up Howrah-Amritsar-Mail with the derailed wagons of a foodgrain goods train between Sarai Banjara and Sadhoogarh stations early this month occurred due to the “failure of railway staff”, according to the provisional findings of the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Northern Circle, New Delhi. Forty-five passengers died and more than 100 hundred were injured in the accident which took place on the Ambala-Ludhiana double line section of Northern Railway on December 2. A press note issued by the CRS here on Tuesday said the recommendations had been sent to the government. In his report on the accident, the Commissioner, Mr G.P. Garg, has also appreciated the local people, doctors and other volunteers for rendering prompt help in moving the injured passengers to the Civil Hospital and for other relief work. |
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Hrithik denies remarks on Nepal MUMBAI, Dec 26 (PTI) — Popular actor Hrithik Roshan today shrugged off reports that he had made derogatory remarks against people of Nepal, which triggered protests in Kathmandu on Sunday against him. “I have never given a TV interview to any channel, stating that I dislike Nepal and its people. It is a figment of imagination of some vested interests. It is really astonishing that people can stoop down to such mischievous deeds to tarnish my image,” Hrithik told PTI here. In an emotional appeal to the people of Nepal, the actor said “Please do not pay heed to such concocted reports. The fact is I love Nepal as I love India and have tremendous respect for the Nepalese people”. |
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