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| Thursday, January 4, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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BJP MLA vacates seat for CM Coterie opposed CWC poll PM shifting stand: Mulayam Siddhartha Basu no quiz buff himself Qureshi shifted to ICU |
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| E-newspaper launched Shift offices from Patiala House, Tees Hazari: SC Uttaranchal to have tourism board BJP Executive meets today Move for law on sati, domestic violence Medical student found murdered SC’s directive to Waqf Boards
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| BJP MLA vacates seat for CM BHOPAL, Jan 3 — The BJP in Chhattisgarh has suffered another serious setback within one month as its MLA, Mr Ram Dayal Uike, has resigned, reportedly to facilitate the Chief Minister, Mr Ajit Jogi’s election to the Assembly. The BJP leaders in the state made a lot of noise accusing Mr Jogi of “kidnapping” Mr Uike and held a dharna in front of the Chief Minister’s residence in Raipur, but it was of no use. Acceptance of Mr Uike’s resignation from the Assembly was announced by the Speaker, Mr Rajendra Prasad Shukla, today. Mr Jogi became the first Chief Minister of the newly created state on November 1 and he has to get himself elected to the Assembly by April-end. It is a tribute to his political adroitness that instead of asking a Congress member to vacate his seat for him, he has sought to grab a BJP seat thereby creating a further rift in the already embittered BJP in the state. Mr Uike was elected from the Marvahi (ST) constituency in Bilaspur district. Mr Jogi is reported to have assured Mr Uike of “adequate compensation” for vacating the seat for him. The strength of the BJP in the Chhattisgarh Assembly has been reduced to 35 in a House of 90. The Congress has 48 members. The BJP had suffered the first setback on the eve of election of the Speaker of the Chhattisgarh Assembly last month. A section of the BJP had opposed the election of Mr Nand Kumar Sai as the Leader of the Opposition and indulged in vandalism, smashing office furniture and setting party vehicles on fire in Raipur on December 16. Mr Brij Mohan Agrawal, MLA from Raipur, who himself was aspiring to become the Leader of the Opposition, was later suspended along with seven of his cohorts, from the primary membership of the party. Mr Nand Kumar Sai had the support of the former Madhya Pradesh BJP president, Mr Lakhiram Agrawal, while Mr Brij Mohan Agrawal is a lieutenant of the Union Minister, Mr Sunderlal Patwa. Once a protégé of Mr Patwa, Mr Lakhiram Agrawal had fallen out with his mentor earlier last year over the control of party apparatus in the Chhattisgarh region. Mr Uike was with Mr Brij Agrawal. It is not yet clear if Mr Uike’s decision to vacate the Assembly seat for Mr Jogi is his own. If the decision has the approval of the group, the BJP in Chhattisgarh is in for more trouble. |
| Coterie opposed CWC poll NEW DELHI, Jan 3 — With All- India Congress Committee (AICC) members from various states authorising Congress President Sonia Gandhi to nominate the 12 “elected” members to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), no major changes are expected in the party’s highest policy making body. The decision against going for a ballot contest for CWC berths, originally scheduled for January 6 and 7, is being attributed to the lobbies close to the Congress President whose members were never keen on a direct CWC election fearing defeat. Party sources say while Mrs Gandhi was keen on holding elections, almost all senior leaders advised against it, mainly due to their self-interest. Unlike the PCC elections when there was at least a murmur of protest from the Jitendra Prasada camp at moves for “nomination” to the post of PCC chiefs, no senior leader has come out openly in support of direct elections to the CWC. The Chairman of the Congress Central Election Authority Ram Niwas Mirdha, who had even announced dates for AICC session to elect CWC members, seems to have given silent blessing to the authoristaion move. Sources said that while most close advisers of Mrs Gandhi were unsure of their victory in an election to the CWC, others close to the 10 Janpath who would not have even contested CWC poll, also saw a ray of hope in the authorisation move. The sources said that the authorisation move also enjoyed support of some Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled states. The Congress constitution provides for direct election by the AICC members to 12 CWC seats out of total of 24. Others are to be filled by nomination by the Congress president. In the event of an election to the CWC, those victorious in the electoral battle would have been seen as enjoying more popularity than those nominated by Mrs Gandhi . “Such a scenario would not have been to the liking of the nominated leaders, since most of them would have been persons from the inner coterie,” said a Congress worker. Though there are complaints from various states over the way AICC members have been chosen, a direct election would have ensured that only leaders with mass support get a CWC berth and others opt out or loose. With Mrs Gandhi now authorised to nominate all 24 CWC members, she would find it hard to balance the clashing ambitions of senior leaders. Even a hard, skillful effort by her is bound to leave some sullen faces with almost half of the CWC berths reserved for weaker sections. The party had earlier thought of holding a special AICC session to elect CWC members so that at the plenary, which was to follow the AICC session, enough time was devoted to discuss national issues. |
| PM shifting stand: Mulayam NEW DELHI, Jan 3 — The Samajwadi Party chief, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, today said the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, was still indulging in double speak and he was not impressed with the views the BJP leader has expressed on the Ayodhya issue in his Musings column from Kerala. Speaking to newsmen here, the Samajwadi Party leader said he was not impressed with what the Prime Minister had written recently from Kerala and urged him to ask the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and the Sangh Parivar to exercise restraint while speaking on the Ram temple. While pointing out that the Prime Minister was indulging in double speak he said, “Mr Vajpayee says in New York that he is a swayam- sewak, he speaks of secularism from Kerala and while in Ayodhya he talks about the Ram temple”. He added that the Prime Minister should be careful and should think before making statements on contentious issues. Mr Yadav alleged that even if the court verdict went in favour of the construction of a mosque at the disputed site, there was a conspiracy to build a boundary wall around the site to foil any attempt to erect a mosque. That was why the stone structures were being prepared in advance, he maintained. “Our party will oppose tooth and nail if the BJP or the Sangh Parivar made any attempt to flout the Constitution and go ahead with the temple construction”, he warned. He also criticised the “shifting stand” of Mr Vajpayee reflected in his statements that the court verdict would be respected, law and order maintained and that the Ayodhya movement was a reflection of nationalist sentiments. “BJP is indulging in raising unnecessary controversies”, he said. Describing the BJP as a hydra-headed monster, Mr Singh said the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, the RSS and some other parties were different heads of the BJP and this was evident from the fact that MPs owing allegiance to these outfits took oath as BJP members. |
| Siddhartha Basu no quiz buff himself NEW DELHI, Jan 3 (PTI) — Unarguably Indian television’s most popular quizmaster who has been in the spotlight continuously for two decades now, Siddhartha Basu does not consider himself a quizmaster. An ace communicator is what he considers himself to be. “I am not a quizmaster in the first place. I am a communicator. To be a good quizmaster as in TV shows, you have to be a competent communicator, an umpire, and an announcer.” he says. Now in the limelight as the man behind blockbuster quiz shows “Kaun Banega Crorepati” (KBC) and BBC’s “Mastermind India”, Basu is regarded as a right mix of all these qualities. Contrary to what one may think on seeing the mastery of his presentation in TV quiz shows, Basu says he has never been a quiz buff himself. “I am in the business of quiz shows just by accident,” he says. Difficult to believe, given that two books compiled by him — “Mastermind India” and “Inquizitive” — are among the bestsellers in the field and a must-read for quiz addicts. What accounts for the success of “Mastermind” and KBC? Ask him and Basu says: “Mastermind” is about excellence, quality, about the highest common factor. It is about exclusivity. And KBC is about inclusivity.” The “Mastermind, experience gives me immense pleasure and satisfaction. It is so because there are so many takers for the programme which, unlike KBC, involves no prize money. People appear in it only for personal achievement,” he says. “KBC is about the drama of ordinary people and their dilemmas in front of sums that would be life-transforming,” adds Basu. “I am all for variety. The viewer must have choice. If the viewer opts for quality, he is welcome. At the end of the day it boils down to the audience’s opinion. If there is a format which grabs the viewers’ interest, it will be successful,” says the master quiz master. It is wonderful watching Basu do his quiz shows. During small breaks of the shoot, he murmurs to himself, rehearses his lines. He is the producer of the show, thus doubling as the coordinator of the whole programme. Perhaps a habit he picked up from his college days in St Stephens and Hindu College, where his love for theatre started. He has played Polonius in “Hamlet”, the title role in “Oedipus Rex” and Mozart in “Amadeus”. He has also directed “Macbeth” and “Equus”. The credit for popularising the television quiz show in India should, indeed, go to Basu. He shifted his attention from documentaries and radio programmes to quiz shows in the 1980s. “Quiz Time”, the national inter-college quiz show, ran for three series in 1985, 1986 and 1988. It is listed in the Limca Book of Records as India’s “first national TV quiz”, with over 85 per cent viewership. His “Spectrum” the SAARC quiz show, was simultaneously telecast in all seven SAARC countries.
Qureshi shifted to ICU NEW DELHI, Jan 3 (PTI) — Founder member of the JKLF and hijacker of an Indian Airlines plane in 1971, Hashim Qureshi, who is in judicial remand at Tihar jail, was shifted to intensive care unit of a hospital following complaint of chest pain. "We shifted him to the Deen Dayal hospital last night after he complained of pain in the chest,” Director-General of the high security jail Ajay Agarwal told PTI today. He, however, said his condition was not serious though Qureshi’s counsel Vikas Pahwa complained that adequate medical facilities were not provided to him. Mr Pahwa told PTI that despite instruction by the duty magistrate on December 29 to provide such facilities, these were denied to him though he is a heart patient. Mr Pahwa moved an application on behalf of Qureshi yesterday itself after which a local court had asked Tihar jail authorities to furnish their reply by today. |
| E-newspaper launched NEW DELHI, Jan 3 — The India Today group unveiled the country’s first e-newspaper, the News Today, the e-newspaper has been designed to seize the convergence opportunities of digital technologies. The minister of Information Technology, Mr Pramod Mahajan, unveiled the site. He also went through the personlisation options and created his own personal edition of, The News Today. The 20-page e-newspaper consists of the “nation”, “world”, “edit”, “Op-ed”, “business”, “sports”, “entertainment” and other pages similar to any good newspaper . Its look and feel is very much that of a newspaper with the added advantage of easy one click navigation. Characterised by its definite editorial opinion and attitude, the e-newspaper has independent editorial team from 10 e-centres across the nation, backed by 330 multimedia journalists worldwide. |
| Shift offices from Patiala House, Tees Hazari: SC NEW DELHI, Jan 3 — The Supreme Court today directed that the Central Government and the Delhi Government should shift their offices from the Patiala House and Tees Hazari District Court complexes by March 31 to make available more space for the functioning of the courts. A three-Judge Bench of the court, while issuing this direction, advised the Delhi High Court to consider relaxing rules for the recruitment of judicial officers so that adequate number of candidates were available for filling the 136 vacancies in the Delhi Judicial Service. The Bench comprising Mr Justice B.N. Kirpal, Mr Justice, D.P. Mohapatra and Mr Justice R.P. Sethi, passed the above order during the resumed hearing of a writ petition by the Delhi Bar Association challenging the creation of nine judicial districts in the Capital. The judges expressed surprise that the Delhi Government was able to recruit only six judicial officers as against 50 posts advertised last year. The judges suggested that the Delhi High Court might consider relaxing the condition of three years compulsory experience at the Bar for entry to the Delhi Judicial Service so that more and more candidates came forward for the assignment. |
| Uttaranchal to have tourism board DEHRA DUN, Jan 3 — The Uttaranchal Government is looking into the possibilities of the formation of the tourism development board. This was revealed by Mr Kedar Singh Fonia, Tourism Minister of the state, while launching the Visit Uttaranchal 2001 scheme here last evening. He said the board would include members from various sections of the tourism industry, like travel agents, members of the hotels association and writers. The tourism policy of the state would be formulated on the advice of this panel, he added. He said the state was not in a mood to enforce prohibition. Only at religious places the prohibition would continue, he added. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Devinder Bhasin, Chairman, Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, said the nigam had already set up an information counter at the local railway station to help the tourists. |
| BJP Executive meets today NEW DELHI, Jan 3 — The national office-bearers of the BJP today met to finalise the agenda for the two-day meeting of the National Executive beginning from tomorrow where situation in Jammu and Kashmir and North-East will be discussed in two political resolutions. Briefing newspersons, the party Vice-President, Mr K. Jana Krishnamurthi, said the Executive would take up internal security with special reference to peace initiatives in Kashmir and the militant violence in the North Eastern states particularly in Assam. In its economic resolution, the party would take up the impact of the World Trade Organisation agreement on the agricultural sector of the country with the Executive strongly recommending a policy of free movement of foodgrains within the country. The draft agriculture policy and the role of subsidies along with the export of agricultural products would also be taken up. The Executive meeting would begin with short inaugural address of the party President, Mr Bangaru Laxman, Mr Krishnamurthi said adding that the political resolution on Jammu and Kashmir would be taken up during which the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani would intervene. Move for law on sati, domestic violence NEW DELHI, Jan 3 — Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi today announced several welcome initiatives, including proposing a civil legislation on domestic violence, amendments in the Sati Act, more powers to the National Commission for Women, removal of provisions discriminatory to women by 2003 and compulsory registration of all marriages by 2010. Dr Joshi said the aforesaid steps constitute programmes chalked out by the ministry for execution in 2001 which has been declared as Women’s Empowerment Year. The HRD Minister said that the government was keen to enact a legislation to control domestic violence. He pointed out that the draft Bill had a provision which ensured right to protection against domestic violence. He said the provisions would help a woman obtain a protection order from the court including monetary relief and child custody order. Talking of proposed amendments in the Sati Act, Dr Joshi said the provision which treats sati on par with suicide and treats the woman as an offender should be changed instead to treat her as a victim forced by persons to jump into the pyre to mourn her husband’s death. He said the offence of provoking a woman to take such an extreme step would also be treated as a cognisable offence. He said a comprehensive national policy on women has been sent to the Cabinet and should be accepted anyday. |
| India, Mongolia sign 6 pacts NEW DELHI, Jan 3 — Even as Mongolia reiterated its support to India’s permanent membership of the Security Council, the two countries today expanded the scope of its bilateral ties by signing six agreements for enhanced cooperation in defence, information technology and other areas, including an extradition treaty. The agreements also related to legal assistance in criminal and other matters and for promotion and protection of investments were signed in the presence of the visiting Mongolian President, Mr Natsagiin Bagabandi, and the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. The Prime Minister announced an outright grant of Rs 10 million as humanitarian assistance for the supply of necessary relief items like medicines, blankets, baby food and foodstuff to mitigate the difficulties of the Mongolian people who have been suffering on account of harsh winter this year. |
| Medical student found murdered DEHRA DUN, Jan 3 — A medical student was found murdered in Roorkee last night. The bullet-ridden body was recovered from the Delhi-Hardwar national highway near NIH Colony, Belda, about 5 km from the city. According to the reports available from the Police Control Room, the victim Arvind, resident of Roorkee and a second-year student of BAMS, was returning from Ayurvedic Government Medical College, Hardwar, after attending a party on the college premises late night when he was shot dead. The victim had got a bullet injury on his head. The police has recovered a country-made pistol from the spot with a missed cartridge in the barrel. The possibility of suicide is also not ruled out. |
| SC’s directive to Waqf Boards NEW DELHI, Jan 3 — A Division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Mr Justice G.B. Pattanaik and Mr Justice B.N. Agarwal, today directed all state Waqf Boards in the country to file within eight weeks their responses to a scheme prepared by the All- India Imam Organisation regarding the payment of salaries to Imams as per the earlier direction of the court. The court gave the direction during a resumed hearing of an interlocutory application by the applicant organisation seeking implementation of the earlier direction of the judges. The judges noted in their order the statement of Additional Solicitor-General Mukul Mudgal that the Central Government had nothing to do with the scheme as it had to be implemented by the state governments and the state Waqf Boards. The Centre, however, was prepared to abide by any direction in this regard. |
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