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| Saturday, February
24, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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North India in Parliament Balco issue rocks Houses again Hindoli defeat a big jolt to Cong No consensus on SAARC summit |
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UNESCO South Asian office
to be in Delhi Survivors build houses Mysterious disease creates panic Joshi Russian body member HC dismisses mercy killing plea Advani hails UP Govt on Kumbh Kalyan cries foul Church alleges discrimination
in Census HC orders DD to show film 42 hurt in Assembly Pak singer regrets not coming to India Student crushed to death
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North India in Parliament New Delhi, February 23 While the Punjab Government owed Rs 438.24 lakh, the Haryana Government owed Rs 465.52 lakh, the minister said, adding that since 1998-1999 no payment had been received from the Haryana Government, Mr Raja said in a written reply to a question from Mr V. P. Duraisamy. Mr Raja said the ministry had advised the PGI to pursue the matter with the governments of Punjab and Haryana for the recovery of the outstanding amounts. The institute was pursuing the matter with the Chief Secretaries of both states to recover the outstanding amounts. The Minister for Environment and Forests, Mr T. R. Baalu, informed the Rajya Sabha that the ministry had instructed the Himachal Pradesh government to strictly and faithfully implement the directions issued by the Supreme Court to protect forests. The Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Mr Sriram Chauhan, informed the Lok Sabha that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) owned 536 godowns in the country. In the north, the FCI had 265 godowns and Punjab 111 godowns, the highest in the region. While Delhi had seven, Haryana 37, Himachal Pradesh four, Jammu and Kashmir 11, Chandigarh four, Rajasthan 35 and Uttar Pradesh 56 godowns. The FCI had 69 godowns in east zone, 36 in north-east zone, 92 in south zone and 74 in west zone, the minister said. In reply to another question, Mr Prasad said the provisional sugar production in 1999-2000 in the country was 181.41 lakh tonnes and in Haryana, it was 4.75 lakh tonnes. In
response to a question by Mr B. K. Parthasarathy, the minister said the country had a stock of 1,20,28,173 tonnes.Of this Punjab had 3,11,245, lakh tonnes, and Haryana 2,66,202 lakh tonnes. The country had excess stock problem, the minister said, adding that the government had given permission to export 10 lakh tonnes of sugar. And, to discourage the import of sugar, the minister said 60 per cent surcharge had been imposed on sugar import in addition to customs duty of Rs 850 per tonne. The minister, in reply to another question, said 652.04 lakh families were below the poverty line in the country. Mr Prasad in reply to a question by Mr Naresh Puglia, said in Haryana 7.89 lakh families were below the poverty line, in Himachal 5.14 lakh families,in Punjab 4.68 lakh families and
in Jammu and Kashmir 7.36 lakh families. The Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Mr Shanta Kumar, said 99.954 lakh families were covered by the Antyodaya Anna Yojana, launched for the poor. The number of families covered under the scheme in Haryana was 1.209 lakhd, in Himachal 0.787 lakh, in Jammu and Kashmir 1.129 lakh and in Punjab 3.726 lakh, the minister said. The scheme aimed at providing 25 kg foodgrains per family at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 3 a kg for rice. The yojana launched in December last aimed at providing subsided foodgrains to one crore poor of the country. |
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Balco issue rocks Houses again New Delhi, February 23 The Opposition members seeking a discussion on the issue forced the adjournment of the Lok Sabha 3.30 pm and that of the Rajya Sabha till 2.30 pm. As soon as zero hour began in the Lok Sabha, the Opposition members were on their feet, charging the government with selling off Balco at a throwaway price. Later, led by Congress members, they trooped into the Well of the House shouting slogans that the sale be stopped even as Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie stood up to reply to the charges. Deputy Leader of the Congress in Parliament Madhavrao Scindia said it was ‘scandalous and outrageous’ that a company with Rs 460 crore surplus and making a profit of Rs 110 crore was being sold. He said 7,000 employees will be in distress by the disinvestment of Balco. He questioned why the government was selling off those units which were making profits. “If we do not raise it here, we will not be discharging our duty. We want a discussion and detailed information from the government,” Mr Scindia said. Mr Scindia said according to the government there would be no retrenchment of employees for one year. But what would happen after that, he asked, adding that people’s livelihood was being sacrificed. He wondered how they could have made a correct evaluation of such a big company in just 11 days. “It should not be sold in haste”, Mr Scindia said and called for an elaborate discussion on the issue. Mr Roop Chand Pal of the CPM said this was another case of the government’s surrender to capitalists. “We are ready to place documents in the House to prove why Balco has been sold to Sterlite”, he said. He said the government had at the first instance given an assurance that only 40 per cent of its equity would be divested, but in Balco’s case, it was 51 per cent. “Some ministers are hand in glove with industrialists. I charge the government with corruption”, Mr Pal shouted. Immediately after that, the Opposition members began shouting, demanding that the sale be stopped. Speaker G. M. C. Balayogi pleaded with them, saying that the minister (Mr Shourie) was ready to reply to the members. But the Opposition members relentlessly kept up their slogan-shouting in the well of the House. When his pleas to the members to go back to their seats and allow zero hour to proceed was not heard, the Speaker adjourned the House till 3.30 pm. In the Rajya Sabha the Opposition led by the Congress and Left parties, raising the issue during zero hour, demanded an assurance from the government that the issue would be discussed under Rule 170 which allows voting after the debate and also that the company would not be handed over to the private company till it was discussed in the House. Responding, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs O. Rajgopal said the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) was meeting today and it would be decided in what manner the issue should be discussed. This, however, did not satisfy the agitating members who said that they wanted assurance that it would be debated under Rule 170. Raising the issue, Mr Suresh Pachouri, Congress, said that while they were demanding a debate on the issue in the House, the Secretary (Disinvestment) had already announced that Balco would be handed over to the private company. Mr Dipankar Mukherjee, CPM, said the government had not taken the decision just before the Budget Session of Parliament. It was the question of livelihood of 7,000 employees of the company. Several members joined the protest and the House plunged into a din. |
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Hindoli defeat a big jolt to Cong Jaipur, February 23 Congress candidate Ramkaran Gurjar lost to his nearest rival Nathulal Gurjar of the BJP with a convincing margin of 13,189 votes. The seat had fallen vacant after Ms Rama Pilot resigned from the Assembly, following her election to the Lok Sabha from Dausa after the demise of her husband Rajesh Pilot in a road accident last year. The Congress had put all its might in the byelection and nearly 12 ministers and an equal number of MLAs had camped in the constituency for a fortnight to ensure their candidate’s victory. Besides Ms Pilot and PCC chief Girija Vyas, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot made several trips to Hindoli to campaign for Mr Ramkaran who had been the chief election agent of Ms Pilot in all previous elections in this constituency. Besides such a large number of leaders, the government had also made all-out efforts to please the voters. Round-the-clock power supply to the farmers of this constituency, payment of arrears of sugarcane by the Keshoraipatan sugar mills and the advance purchase of cane crop for the coming season were among several measures taken to woo the electorate. From the BJP side, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was the star campaigner and the result there is being considered as his personal victory. The fallout of this result in the Congress may be far reaching, is generating more trouble for the Chief Minister in the days to come. The winning BJP candidate received 51.16 per cent of total votes polled while the Congress candidate got only 31.42 per cent votes. The rest were shared by one SP (1,183) and two independent members who secured 813 and 9631 votes respectively. |
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No consensus on SAARC summit New Delhi, February 23 “There is no consensus on holding a SAARC summit,” an External Affairs Ministry spokesman told reporters when asked about the prospects of a meeting of leaders of SAARC countries. The issue of reviving SAARC was raised by visiting Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga during wide-ranging discussions with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. She underscored the need for strengthening the grouping in the interests of the region. The last SAARC summit, slated to take place in Kathmandu in November, 1999, was called off after India expressed strong reservations over the participation of Pakistan’s military regime. It was agreed that the SAARC Standing Committee comprising Foreign Secretaries of the member states will meet in the second half of May subject to the convenience of all member countries.
PTI |
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UNESCO South Asian office
to be in Delhi New Delhi, February 23 Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka will be the other South Asian countries covered by this office. The location of
UNESCO’s South Asian office in Delhi is part of the organisation’s restructuring and consolidation as a result of which its field offices in the world will be reduced from the present 70. Some international staff will be relocated to India from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where
UNESCO office is being closed down. UNESCO’s India office will be located in the Chanakyapuri area. The building is being designed by the noted architect Satish Gujral and will be based on an Indian architectural theme. |
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Survivors build houses Bhachau February 23 From gathering enough food from relief camps, they are now trying to piece together their resources to rebuild their houses. Queues of people can be seen outside the relief camps waiting to get tents and building material. While some of the survivors still prefer to stay in relief camps, others are going ahead with raising structures on their houses (now collapsed.) In the urban areas of Bhuj, Bhachau, Anjar and Gandhidham victims are awaiting assistance from the Gujarat Government and those in the rural areas are already building shelters. |
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Mysterious disease creates panic Kolkata, February 23 The disease has so far claimed 24 lives and nearly 50 persons have been lying in a critical condition in different hospitals and private nursing homes in and around Siliguri for the past one week. State Health Minister Partha De who was in Siliguri last week on an official visit had to leave the town in the face of an agitation by people in protest against the government’s failure to prevent the outbreak of the disease. The chairman of the CPM-controlled Siliguri Municipal Committee has also gone to a safe place along with other members of his family. Panic-stricken people in and around Siliguri have started fleeing the city. Many have already left for Calcutta. Several schools, colleges and other educational institutions have virtually closed due to poor attendance. There has also been attendance in government and other offices. Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya who has pleaded helpless has sought the help and assistance of experts of the World Health Organisation (WHO). The experts have been requested to rush to the affected districts and suggest remedial measures after detection of the mysterious disease. Virology of the National Institute of Science, Pune, were also told to visit the district and conduct a study. Although no proper diagnosis of the disease has been done so far, doctors say “it could be plague or encephalitis or a dengue-like disease”. The doctors are prescribing tetracyclin which is also not totally effective. The symptoms of the disease are high temperature, acute headache, trauma and restlessness, repeated vomiting and ultimately total senselessness and coma. |
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Joshi Russian body member New Delhi, February 23 He is one of the rate scientists to be elected to join the academy as a foreign member. The invitation relating to this was personally handed over to Dr Joshi by Prof G. N. Fursey, the Vice-President of the academy here yesterday. Dr Joshi was also conferred a diploma to make him a member of the International Academy of Ecology, Man and Nature Protection Sciences. Prof H.A. Denisov, the Vice- President of the academy presented the formal diploma of the membership to Dr Joshi. The academy of ecology in its diploma said the membership had been conferred on Dr Joshi considering his authority in India and abroad, as also his high professional level. |
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HC dismisses mercy killing plea Patna, February 23 The court examined the facts related with the mercy killing plea filed by the husband of the patient, Mr Tarkeshwar Chandrawanshi and his lawyer. It ruled that the plea was based on improper facts and expressed displeasure over the petitioners for wasting the precious time of the court. The court observed that neither the patient wished in the plea for mercy killing nor the doctors pleaded the court for that. The petition was filed without understanding the concept of mercy killing. It also observed critically the attempts of the petitioner and his lawyer to mislead the court. The court went on to the extent of observing that it could have referred the matter to the Bar Council for initiating action against the lawyer, but considering that he was young and had a long career ahead, the court restrained itself from doing so. The court observed that if the patient was brought for treatment in government hospital, she would be provided with care and help. Earlier, it was brought to the notice of the court that the plea was a bundle of contradiction. The petitioners had suppressed and even distorted many facts about the physical status of Kanchan and the entire chain of events that led to her falling into a coma. The doctors too presented their plea against the allegations levelled against them by the petitioners and it was revealed that the husband of Kanchan had even attempted to extort money from the doctors of Kanchan. The court was rather critical of the petitioners approaching the media and that too with distorted facts. It reprimanded the lawyer for his “unauthorised” comments in the media. It was also made clear that it was the lawyer who impressed upon the petitioner to file a mercy killing petition. |
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Advani hails UP Govt on Kumbh New Delhi, February 23 In a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, the Home Minister lauded the excellent arrangements made by the state administration for the mela in which crores of people from different parts of the country and abroad participated. “Nowhere in the world does such a large congregation take place as in Mahakumbh in
India. The UP Administration deserves congratulations for the arrangements, which ensured an incident-free Mahakumbh Mela,” Advani said. The Home
Minister asked Mr Rajnath Singh to convey his appreciation to employees who put in their best. |
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Kalyan cries foul Lucknow, February 23 Mr Kalyan Singh said, “The Union Home Ministry considered the threat perception to my life soon after the demolition of the Babri structure in Ayodhya and put me under high security category. It was Z+ category which was given after having intelligence reports from their agencies. The state government too had similar feedback and tightened my security by deputing 10 Cobra commandos with me in addition to Z+ security.” He warned, “I am not going to ask Mr Rajnath Singh for the restoration of my security, but the conspiracy he is plotting is not going to succeed. I shall face any consequence even though I have sent a letter to the Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary, Home, that if any thing happens to me then the state government and the administration would be held responsible.” He alleged, “Mr Rajnath Singh is flouting all norms of political decency and is working against me due to political vendetta.” Deploring the role of Chief Minister, he added; “I never withdrew security of any former chief minister. The Principal Secretary, Home, Mr Naresh Dayal, clarified late in the evening that the state government had not reduced Z+ category security provided to Mr Kalyan Singh and had withdrawn security which was in addition to Z+ norms. He said despite change in the leadership in the state the graph of BJP was going down. “The BJP is not going to win more than 50 seats in the next assembly elections,” he claimed He refused to comment on the disposition of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao before the Librahan Commission. |
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Church alleges discrimination in Census New Delhi, February 23 “The mention in the census enumerators’ manual that the Scheduled Castes can be only among Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists is a violation of the freedom of conscience, faith and equality among citizens, enshrined in the Constitution,” Delhi Archbishop Vincent M. Concessao told a press conference here. “These are violation of human and fundamental rights. What is behind that is anybody’s guess,” the Archbishop said. He said it was a ploy to divide the dalits among the various religious entities. Till the 1991 census, religion was not the yardstick for identifying people belonging to the Scheduled Castes. In the ongoing census exercise, the SC’s and ST’s are required to specify their caste and tribe. The census enumerator will not enumerate him as SC/ST if the particular caste is not mentioned in his state list.
UNI HC orders DD to show film Mumbai, February 23 The two-part, two hour long documentary on the relationship between male dominance and communal violence in India was completed in 1994. It was submitted for telecast on Doordarshan in 1995 and when it failed to respond second and third preview copies were submitted. In 1998, a writ petition was filed in the Bombay High Court urging it to order the telecast of film at prime time on the national network. A Division Bench comprising Justice A.P. Shah and Justice S. Vajibdar directed that the film be screened during the evening slot meant for award winnings films and that Doordarshan ensure adequate publicity. Arguing on behalf of Mr Patwardhan, advocate P.A. Sabastin submitted before the Bench that freedom of speech and right to information of the public at large were curtailed by Doordarshan’s arbitrariness. Meanwhile, Doordarshan informed the court that the film, considered good enough for a national award, but was unsuitable for the common man as it depicted a problem, but did not offer any solution. UNI 42 hurt in Assembly Agartala, February 23 At least nine Congress MLAs and 33 watch-and-ward staff and security personnel, including an Inspector-General, a DIG and two SPs, were injured in the 30-minutes scuffle. Trouble began as soon as the Governor entered the floor of the Assembly to give his customary speech. There was complete bedlam as the opposition MLAs started ransacking tables, chairs, mikes etc and began shouting anti-government slogans. The House turned into a battle ground when security personnel present on the floor tried to prevent them. The MLAs then rushed to the well and overturned the Governor’s chair before breaking the Speaker’s mike and throwing away his table and chair. Pak singer regrets not coming to India New Delhi, February 23 Khan said Mr Vajpayee made this offer when he visited Pakistan as India’s External Affairs Minister in 1979. “But I declined this attractive offer because of my love for Pakistan,” he told newsmen in Multan recently, according to Urdu daily Nawa-i-Waqt. He said there was no appreciation for classical music in Pakistan. “Here, people who boast they never learnt music are a big commercial success in the music market,” he said, blaming the Pakistan TV for this trend. Student crushed to death New Delhi, February 23 The incident occurred when some students climbed the school gate. At the time of the incident, school uniforms were being distributed among the students, the police said. |
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