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| Sunday,
March 4, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Uttaranchal
Cong holds rally Outcry
against statues’ destruction HRD Secy told to amend
paper CPM to
unite anti-BJP forces |
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Form
educational council: Sikh forum Jogi to
move SC on Balco deal Staines’
widow ‘persecuted’ Trinamool,
JMM tie up Punjab
diverting water: Gehlot Mayawati
for quota in private sector Poll
line-up to be clear in 2 days: DMK Mamata ignores Hanumangarh Date for
liquor tenders announced Ban on
weapons in view of exams
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Uttaranchal Cong holds rally Dehra Dun, March 3 Following a minor scuffle between Congress workers and some policemen, there was a mild lathicharge on the partymen but no one was reported to be seriously injured. This lasted for more than 20 minutes. With the intervention of Mr Harish Rawat, President of the PCC, the matter was settled. People from across the state gathered here today to protest against the Union and state governments. More than 2,000 Van Gujjars and victims of Muzzafarnagar massacre also participated in the rally. The Congress workers were jampacked on the 40-metre-wide Hardwar road, blocking the traffic for more than six hours. The local authorities were forced to divert the traffic from other routes. Mr Satyapal Maharaj, Mrs Indira Hridyesh, leader of the CLP and a senior Congress leader, Vijay Bahuguna, participated in the rally leaving behind their differences. Talking to the TNS, Mr Rawat demanded that the delimitation of constituencies be worked out at the earliest to conduct free and fair election. Addressing the party workers, he lashed out at the state government and said it had failed on all fronts. Later, a delegation of Congress leaders, under the leadership of Mr Rawat, met the Chief Secretary of Uttaranchal and handed over a 34-point demand charter to him. The main demands included selection of a permanent Capital according to the will of the people within three months, delimitation of the Legislative Assembly constituencies be conducted at the earliest clearly notifying the reserved seats and the procedure to transfer the assets from the parent state, Uttar Pradesh, be started immediately. The Congress also demanded revival of jute mills to protect the interests of the workers, to take back the decision to cut down the interest on Provident Fund, to regularise the services of daily wagers working in various government departments and to announce the reservation policy of the state before starting the process of recruitment. |
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Outcry against statues’ destruction New Delhi, March 3 Even in face of universal condemnation, the Taliban regime, facing UN economic sanctions, is prepared to take on the world headlong, diplomatic circles said. It only shows that the international community, including the UN, would have to take a serious note for evolving a suitable strategy to deal with rogue regimes like Taliban, diplomatic sources said. The US President, Mr George W. Bush, has directed the State Department to take lead in this direction and it is likely that the US diplomats would be taking up the issue with their counterparts in Moscow, New Delhi, Beijing, Tokyo, London, Paris and other capitals, diplomatic sources pointed out. Meanwhile, a former Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Mr Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who is also the BJP Secretary, has hit out at the destruction of Buddhist statues by the Taliban in Bamiyan, saying this was “not at all Islamic but an act of devil. It should be condemned by the international community as being against human culture and civilisation”. Reacting to a report that Taiban’s act was in retaliation of Babri Mosque in 1992, another BJP leader, Mr J.P. Mathur, said that “this is to mislead world view”. “Though Pakistan might condemn the act of destruction of Buddha statues as a barbaric act, it was Pakistan which is responsible for creation of Taliban culture”, he said. PATNA: The Buddhist monks, intellectuals and Cultural envoys here yesterday took out a protest march condemning the destruction of the Buddhist statues and relics by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The Buddhists and intellectuals led a march to the Jagdeo Path and burnt the national flag of Afganistan. Similar protests and condemnation have been reported from Bodh Gaya, the place of nirvana of Lord Buddha. SARNATH (Uttar Pradesh): A group of monks and students on Saturday took out a procession here protesting the destruction of Buddha statues, ancient monuments and temples by ruling Taliban militia in Afghanistan. Carrying placards in their hands and shouting slogans the students hailing from higher Tibetan Institute, Sarnath and monks marched through the city. HYDERABAD:
Moulana Ghousavi Shah, convener of World Muslim Conference, on Saturday appealed to the ruling Taliban militia in Afghanistan to declare the central Bamiyan province, where the ancient statues of Buddha were located, as “historical” or allow the Indian Government to shift the statues to the country. Moulana Shah is also president of All-India Muslim Conference.
TNS, FOC, PTI |
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HRD Secy told to amend
paper New Delhi, March 3 Mr Kaw has agreed to make amends by issuing a rejoinder to his own paper, making it clear that the views expressed in the article were his own and that he had no intention of casting any aspersions on the religious beliefs of any community, it is learnt. Taking note of the paper presented by Mr Kaw in the Journal of Value Education brought out by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), the NCM suo motu asked Mr Kaw to explain his position to the Commission. Mr Kaw appeared before the seven-member NCM headed by Justice Mohammad Shamim on March 1. Stung by the observations of Mr Kaw in his paper titled “Education in Human Values,” the NCM felt uncomfortable about certain portions, which, in its considered opinion are sensitive and had the potential of creating a communal divide. The commission also expressed serious reservations about Mr Kaw making a pointed reference to religions having “a single holy book” causing the greatest damage to intellectual freedom. The oblique reference unmistakably pointed to the Guru Granth Sahib, the Qoran and the Bible. It is feared that a wider discussion on the paper pertaining to education in human values might have an adverse impact on the country’s pluralistic society. Therefore, the NCM decided to intervene and get the matter clarified so that things are put in proper perspective without precipitating matters. Mr Kaw is believed to have concurred with the apprehensions expressed by the members of the NCM. He assured to clarify matters so that a wrong impression did not gain ground. Mr Kaw, who oversees the department of education in the ministry of HRD, notes in his paper that there is a certain amount of “woolliness in our thinking about education in human values (EHV).” Considering dynamic equilibrium to be the basic value in life, the paper contends “the greatest damage to our intellectual freedom has been caused by traditional religions, especially by those which have a single holy book from which they derive their authority. We tend to forget that these religions have been founded and these books written by people like us.” He contends, “we have to understand that these religious teachers did not have access to the knowledge that you and I have. They had not witnessed the release of tremendous energy when there is atomic fission or fusion, nor the birth of a test tube baby. They had not heard of the worldwide web or the cellular phone or inter-planetary travel. For us to say with a straight face that all the books that were written hundreds or thousands of years ago contain eternal truths should be impossible. We recite verses from these ancient scriptures and pretend that they contain eternal truths. But our children laugh at us and have no empathy with us as they see all kinds of simple mistakes in the ancient texts and they cannot believe that those who did not know these simple, commonplace truths could have been talking to God or were omniscient.” Further, Mr Kaw says that youngsters do not understand how the elders can pretend to subscribe to seemingly opposite points of view with equal fervour. “Can God be one and also be many at the same time? Is God male or female or a neutral gender? Everyday they find the adherents of each religion proclaim the superiority of their own religion and trying to convert the followers of other faiths to their own faith through force, coercion, fraud or inducement. If all faiths are superior then which is inferior? If all the faiths are equally true, how do you reconcile the differences?” he asks. |
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CPM to unite anti-BJP forces Kolkata, March 3 The meeting will also spell out the CPM stand on “poll-understanding” with the Congress and other secular parties in the forthcoming state Assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Of these five states, CPM-dominated front government is in power in West Bengal and Kerala. This will be the first Politburo meeting of Bengal’s newly appointed Chief Minister, Buddhadev Bhattacharyya, who was inducted in the Politburo at the central committee’s meeting in Bhubaneswar last month. Mr Bhattacharyya, accompanied by Mr Jyoti Basu will leave for New Delhi on March 11. Mr Bhattacharyya said he had invited all Chief Ministers of the country to protest against the Centre’s “pro-capitalist and anti-labour” policy which had been reflected in the Budget. All Left parties already decided to launch nation-wide agitation against the Centre’s anti-people Budget. The election manifesto which the Left front released yesterday, also warned the people against the vested interests, now active to defeat the Left front in the coming Assembly elections in West Bengal. Ms Mamata Banerjee was criticised for inviting the communal forces in the state. Promise for jobs for at least 270 days in a year to labourers, supply of drinking water and electricity to all villages in the next five years, free compulsory education both in school and colleges and a clean and meaningful administration, among others, were promised in the manifesto. On the other hand, Ms Banerjee, now in Kolkata began talks with the BJP and other like-minded parties to bring together against the CPM in the forthcoming elections. An anti-CPM front, namely the Bangla Bachao Committee (Save Bengal) was formed yesterday under Ms Banerjee’s leadership in which all anti-Marxist forces were invited. Ms Banerjee, who had welcomed the AICC stand on poll understanding with the Trinamool Congress, will wait a couple of more days to allow the State Congress to come to an understanding with her party against the CPM. But in no case the Trinamool Congress will snap its relation with the BJP as condition for her talks with the Congress, said Mr Pankaj Banerjee, Chairman of the party’s policy making body. However, Ms Banerjee is confident, quite a large number of Congress leaders and workers who want the CPM to dislodge, will join hands with her in her fight against the CPM. Yesterday, an MLA of the Samajwadi Party (one of Left front partners), Mr Ramchandra Mondol and Mr Sattik Roy, former Forward Bloc MLA, joined the Trinamool Congress. Eight Congress (I) MLAs — Saugata Roy, Tapash Roy, Paresh Pal, Tarak Banerjee, Anupam Sen, Shibdas Mukherjee, Sital Sardar and Devisankar Panda will be formally joining the Trinamool Congress on March 4, claimed one of Ms Banerjee’s aides.
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Form educational council: Sikh forum New Delhi, March 3 The council would comprise academicians, administrators, professionals and representatives of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC). The forum spelt out key recommendations at the end of a seminar on problems confronting Sikh education institutions in Delhi. The seminar was presided by Lt Gen J.S. Aurora. The forum has recommended that the council and majority of its members should be from outside the elected members of the DSGMC. It has further suggested that the council be given well-defined powers with regard to the governance of schools, appointment and transfer of staff, admission and the criterion for admission and pattern of education. The forum is of the view that the DSGMC should pass a resolution exercising powers conferred by Section 40 of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1971, to constitute the educational council as an autonomous body. It has suggested that the educational council look into the requirement of introducing skill-based vocational education in Arts, Science and Commerce subjects. It has recommended teaching of Sikh tenets in the curriculum at all levels and appointment of teachers well versed with various aspects of Sikh religion, values and traditions. Taking cognisance of growing drug and alcohol abuse, tobacco consumption and HIV/AIDS among young members of the Sikh community, the forum has recommended the introduction of preventive and curative programmes. The statement read out at the end of the seminar draws attention to the deterioration in the standard, credibility and reputation of the Sikh educational institutions. The forum has stated that the DSGMC and the Shiromani Akali Dal had not kept their promise of setting up an educational council. This promise was made before the last election of the DSGMC. The forum pointed out that although an educational council was established recently, most of its members were members of the DSGMC and the council was only advisory in nature. |
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Jogi to move SC on Balco deal New Delhi, March 3 The sale of PSU Balco to Sterlite for Rs 551 crore is in violation of the Supreme Court order of 1997 where the bench had observed that tribal land could not be allocated to a private entity, the state Chief Minister, Mr Ajit Jogi, told newspersons on the sidelines of the Conference of Chief Ministers on Power Sector Reforms here today. “We will soon move the Supreme Court....probably next week. The court in the case of Samatha vs Andhra Pradesh had ruled that tribal land could not be allocated to a private entity,” he said. Mr Jogi said the land was given by the tribals for mining as Balco was a PSU and once the company lost its PSU character, the land had to revert back to the tribals. “Already the SDM of Korba, where the Balco plant is located, has sent a notice to the Disinvestment Secretary, Mr Pradeep Baijal and the Sterlite Industries would also be arraigned as party to the violation of law,” he said. Asked to explain the state’s power to cancel the mining lease, as it was a central subject, Mr Jogi cited several provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Laws and how the deal was in violation of several sections. On the powers of the state legislature to pass a resolution against the disinvestment of Balco after Parliament had cleared the deal, Mr Jogi said, “We are doing what we should. They have done what they can. What we have done is constitutionally and legally correct. It is no transgression.” Mr Jogi reiterated the allegations of kickback in the sale of Balco. He alleged money had been paid to one official each in the PMO and the Disinvestment Ministry. “I have the names and account numbers,” he asserted. Asked to name the persons, who allegedly benefited from the sale of the profit-making PSU, he said, “Why should I disclose the names and accounts without a proper platform.” Posing a challenge to the Centre, Mr Jogi said “Let the Centre constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee and I undertake to disclose the names of the kickback beneficiaries before it.” Mr Jogi also accepted the challenge of the Disinvestment Minister, Mr Arun Shourie, who in Parliament asked the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister to name the beneficiaries of the alleged kickbacks without the ‘immunity’ of the legislature and the Centre. |
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New Delhi, March 3 Despite the macabre end of her husband and two children, Mrs Gladys Staines, the widow of the Australian missionary, decided to stay in India to accomplish her husband’s dream of setting up a hospital for lepers at Mayurbhanj, said the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). “But the government authorities are reluctant to cooperate in providing her the necessary land for the hospital. Not only are they reluctant to cooperate but also trying their best to repossess the Mayurbhanj Leprsoy Home gifted 102 years ago by the Maharaja to take care of lepers in this least developed region of the state,’’ GCIC national convenor Sajan K. George said in a
statement. Mr George said the state government had recently slapped a demand for more than Rs 1 crore on Mrs Staines for regularising the property gifted by the Maharaja of Mayurbhanj more than a century ago. Mrs Staines is now facing a piquant situation because her residential visa will expire in August this year, the GCIC convener said, adding that well-orchestrated attempts were being made to “traumatise her by unleashing a hate
literature and vilification campaign.’’
UNI |
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Trinamool, JMM tie up New Delhi, March 3 “The JMM and the TC have decided to have alliance for the coming Assembly elections in West Bengal. An agreement to this effect was reached on February 27,” JMM chief Sibu Soren told newspersons here today. Mr Soren said, his party would contest from all Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (reserved) constituencies in Bakura, Mindnapore, Purulia and Jalpaiguri districts. “Since the TC has no presence in these Assembly segments having a large tribal and backward class electorate, Ms Mamata Banarjee readily agreed to our request,” he said, adding “We have decided to join hands with Mamata as she is the only leader at present who can take on the challenge of the Left parties in West Bengal.” The party has so far decided to contest from Raipur, Ranibandh, Salboni, Jhargram, Nayagram, Binpur, Bandwan, Arsha, Kumargram, Falakata, Madari Haat, Nagrakata, Dhupguri, Kalchini, Darjeeling and Phanisdewa constituencies. Ms Banarjee had already agreed to it, Mr Soren said. To a question whether the JMM would continue to have tie-up with the TC if the BJP also formed part of the alliance, Mr Soren said, “We are having tie-up with Mamata Banarjee and we are bothered only about her.” |
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Punjab diverting water: Gehlot Jaipur, March 3 Punjab, which controls the Harike Headworks, is unauthorisedly diverting Rajasthan’s share of waters into its territory starving the Indira Gandhi canal and making things worse for the desert state facing drought for the third consecutive year, Mr Gehlot told Vajpayee in a letter, released here today. Underlining the “gravity and seriousness of the situation” the letter told the Prime Minister that despite taking up the issue with the Punjab Government at appropriate levels and also a telephonic talk by Mr Gehlot with his Punjab counterpart, Rajasthan continued to be deprived of its share of water from the inter-state rivers. |
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Mayawati for quota in private sector New Delhi, March 3 “Unless the SCs and STs are accommodated in the private sector, the unmindful disinvestment of public sector undertakings, including profit making units, will spell a doom for the weaker sections of the society”, she said while addressing newspersons here. The haste shown by the Centre in disinvesting BALCO only reflected the anti-reservation policy of the BJP-led coalition government, Ms Mayawati said. “Even the Congress and other Opposition parties did not effectively oppose the anti-labour policies of the government,” she said. Noting that the Union Budget for 2001-02 had not given adequate protection to the SC/STs and the economically weaker sections of the society, she said that the Budget was beneficial only for the big industrialists. Condemning the destruction of Buddha’s statues in Afghanistan, she said the Indian Government was not doing much to exert international pressure on the ruling Taliban militia to stop their barbaric activities. |
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Poll line-up to be clear in 2 days: DMK Tiruchirapalli, March 3 He told newsmen here that the DMK had not fixed any deadline for other parties to join the front. He said the DMK’s three-member committee for seat-sharing talks would start negotiations with its allies ‘very soon’. Things would be finalised once they “give the report on their talks with allies,” he said. Asked for his comments on the BJP’s contention that its winning chances were bright in 62 constituencies, he said he did not relish newspapers indulging in number games. Media reports would lead to ‘friction among the friends’. On the growth of caste-based parites in Tamil Nadu, he said “What should not happen is happening”. His government had been listening to grievances of individual caste groups and would attempt to solve their problems. Mr Karunanidhi said his party would provide opportunities to new faces in the coming assembly poll. The party would also field significant number of women candidates. He said the state government was ready for a single day poll and stern action would be taken against those indulging in ‘exteremist and violent’ activities.
PTI |
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Mamata ignores Hanumangarh Hanumangarh, March 3 The demand of the residents of the areas to start a direct train to Delhi has not been considered. The Bikaner railway circle had sent the proposal of the train four months ago and the residents were hoping it would come through. There is no train from Hanumangarh to Jaipur during the day. During the last Assembly elections in the state, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, had made an announcement that a survey would be conducted to start a new train between Hanumangarh and Sardarsahar. Though the survey had been completed, the project did not find a place in the Budget. |
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Date for
liquor tenders announced Hanumangarh, March 3 The new date announced by the government for the tenders is March 7 and this is the third time that the tenders have invited. Before this the tenders were held on February 15 and 24, but the response was poor. The contractors said because of the famine prevailing in the district for the third conductive year the sales were not good, but the government was not considering the fact. They added that in the rural areas the sales had gone down by more than 60 per cent said this year the situation was even worse. |
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Ban on weapons in view of exams New Delhi, March 3 In an order, Police Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma said it had been decided to prohibit carrying of arms, swords, knives, lathis or any article which could cause physical violence within 200 metres of the boundary of any examination centre of the
CBSE. |
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