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| Monday,
April 23, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Cong, Trinamool vow to reintroduce English
Parties go hi-tech for Bengal poll |
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Laloo may
expel dissidents
Subversives using Bihar: Jaswant Verma case: help of IT Dept sought Quake-hit begin new life Conference to make Army ‘leaner, meaner’ Arya Samaj temple to be rebuilt Blood donation camps inaugurated
Kisan Sabha seeks dam over Ghaggar Baby
dies in adoption centre
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Cong, Trinamool vow to reintroduce English Kolkata, April 22 The joint election manifesto which Ms Mamata Banerjee and WBPCC chief Pranab Mukherjee announced included the promises of re-introducing English, which the Left Front had withdrawn when it came to power in 1977, at the primary level and bringing about improvement in the fields of industry, agriculture, rural development, power supply, education etc. Bath parties claimed that the alliance would get a ‘comfortable’ majority in the May 10 Assembly polls. Both parties welcomed massive NRI and foreign investments in the state in the information technology sector. They also promised to provide a clean and transparent administration which would ensure peace and normalcy. The manifesto also includes the promise of providing better facilities to the Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribes. Sharply reacting to the manifesto announced by Ms Banerjee and Mr Mukherjee, Mr Jyoti Basu said: “Their joint manifesto is full of lies and tall promises”. At the joint press conference at the Calcutta Press Club last evening, Mr Pranab Mukherjee said Ms Banerjee was their chief ministerial candidate. Mr Mukherjee was confident that the Congress-Trinamool Congress combine massive mandate and provide a stable government for the next five years. Both Ms Banerjee and Mr Mukherjee announced their decision to address joint campaign meetings in Kolkata and all 57 constituencies where Congress candidates will fight against the BJP and the CPM. Mrs Sonia Gandhi is likely to come to Kolkata on May 5 for electioneering. She will be addressing the joint campaign of the Congress and the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata and elsewhere. Ms Banerjee, however, already began her campaign tour last week in the areas where Trinamool candidates are contesting. Though both the Congress and the Trinamool Congress have finally agreed on the seat-sharing pact signed by Mr Kamal Nath and Ms Banerjee, still some disputes prevail in the allocation of seats in Malda, Murshidabad and West Dinajpur districts. Mr A.B.A Ghani Khan Chowdhury stuck to his decision of allowing the sitting MLA, Mr Gautam Chakraborty, to contest from Englishbazar seat, where the Trinamool also fielded Mr Krishendu Chowdhury as their candidate. Similarly, in Murshidabad district, the sitting Congress MLAs who have been denied tickets are contesting as Independent candidates. Mr Mukherjee, however, claimed these differences had been resolved mutually at the district level through negotiations. |
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Dhaka not doing much: India New Delhi, April 22 In its fifth report, the standing committee on external affairs has expressed disappointment that although the Indian Government is providing huge amount of money as development assistance to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar, “a feeling of reciprocity is found missing in our relations with these countries.’’ The committee says little seems to have been done to remove the irritants to improve bilateral relations with these countries. The insurgency in India’s north-eastern sector and the problems of drugs and narcotics trafficking could be effectively handled once relations with all four countries improved, the report says and expresses the hope that these countries would reciprocate and extend all possible cooperation to flush out anti-India elements operating from their soil. According to budget estimates (BE), Rs 10 crore were provided to Bangladesh in 2000-2001 and Rs 8.75 crore as per the revised estimates (RE). In 2001-2002, the BE is Rs 9 crore. Nearly Rs 200 crore were given to Bhutan under non-plan and Rs 345 crore under plan expenditure in 2000-2001, while the amount in 2001-2002 was 210 crore in non-plan and 272 crore in plan expenditure. The figure in the case of Nepal was Rs 65 crore in 2000-2001 and Rs 109 crore in 2001-2002 (non plan), and for Myanmar Rs 23.50 crore in 2000-2001 and Rs 20.75 crore in 2001-2002.
UNI |
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Parties go hi-tech for Bengal poll Kolkata, April 22 The elections will be held on May 10 and the results declared on May 13. The ruling CPM, which, at long last has rectified their mistake and accepted hi-tech and IT as the basic needs of the day, has so far released some 10,000 audio cassettes for free distribution among the
voters. The cassettes carried the messages of the former Prime Minister, Mr V.P. Singh, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda and Mr I.K. Gujral along with Mr Jyoti Basu and Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharyya, who had alerted the people against the danger ahead in the hand of the Congress and other communal forces. The leaders urged the people to once again vote for the left front for “stability and peace, for development and prosperity”. Besides releasing of audio cassettes, the CPM has also booked several slots in two private TV channels for propagating the achievements of the Left front government with the participation of prominent personalities from various walks of lives, litterateurs, professors, other academicians, poets, writers, noveliests, film directors, artistes, sportsmen, etc. Because of restrictions imposed by the election commission, this time there has been less writings on the walls in the streets. While Mr Jyoti Basu has been still the main campaign-figure of the CPM and the front partners, Ms Mamata Banerjee, the chief ministerial candidate for the Congress-TMC-combine, will be addressing over 50 election meetings all over the state in 19 districts, mostly for TMC candidates and in many places in favour of candidates of the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) — the two other partners of Ms Banerjee’s anti-CPM “Jyot”. For Mr Basu and Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharyya, helicopters have been arranged for electioneering in the remote areas, where both leaders are
scheduled to address some 100 meetings. Unlike the CPM, the TMC-Congress and BJP — the three main contestants are not so much depending on hi-tech method of electioneering. Mr Sudip Bandopadhyya, TMC MP, says they don’t have funds for spending on hi-tech method of poll campaign. WBPCC Vice-President Pradip Bhattacharyya too says they don’t have any money to spend on the expensive hi-tech method of electioneering, which the CPM has adopted. |
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Laloo may expel dissidents Patna, April 22 Mr Laloo Yadav, encircled with mediapersons at his newly furnished home adjacent to the official residence of Chief Minister Rabri Devi, spoke of his new love, “bird killing”, and exposed his gameplan vis-a-vis the dissidents. With a .22 rifle on his shoulder and aiming at birds on trees, he said he was a good hunter and was just waiting for the birds to come close so as to shoot them. The media got a taste of his code language on Saturday. Training his gun at the birds, he said if one “bird” was shot, the rest flew away. This was a hint that he would go for selected action against the dissidents. He may expel the dissidents at the national executive meeting called by him on April 28. Already he has reshuffled office-bearers of the executive, ushering in his loyalists to the post of general secretary. |
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Subversives using Bihar: Jaswant Patna, April 22 Before leaving Patna, he conveyed his concerns to Chief Minister Rabri Devi and RJD chief Laloo Yadav over the growing subversive activities in the Bihar and cases of infiltration through the Nepal and specially the Bangladesh borders. He said that the NDA government has taken the ISI infiltration and illegal Bangladeshi migration into Bihar very seriously. “We had talks with Nepal and the state government has also been alerted over the infiltration issue”, he said. It is to be mentioned here that the Nepal Government had asked the Indian Government to reciprocate the help extended by the Nepal Government in curbing the ISI activities in the country.
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Verma
case: help of IT Dept sought New Delhi, April 22 According to sources, the IT Department will scrutinise the account books as well as the annual returns filed by the companies owned by Siddarth, who has been accused by the CBI of accepting a huge amount of money as bribe on behalf of his father. The IT probe would help the premier investigation agency gather vital proofs about the involvement of Siddarth allegedly in money-laundering under the garb of these companies and also the flow of funds. The CBI would also provide the documents seized by it from Verma’s office and residential premises, besides providing the details of his assets to enable the IT Department to compare it with the Income Tax returns filed by the Indian Revenue Service official, sources said. The CBI had registered a disproportionate assets case against Verma after he had been charged with criminal conspiracy and misuse of official position for personal gains. Verma was accused of helping a Chennai-based export firm in evading customs duty and also in getting duty drawback by accepting huge sums of money as bribe. The CBI had also claimed having seized incriminating documents and having acquired details about crores of rupees worth “benami” assets in possession of Verma and his family. |
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Quake-hit begin new life Ravapar Nadhi (Gujarat), April 22 A visit to this tiny village, inhabited by peasants, would inspire one and all the manner in which the villagers in less than three months have cleared the rubbles and rebuilt a cluster of over 100 quake-proof dwellings with the help and technical assistance provided by Mayur Foundation, the managing trustee of which is the Maharani Shree Vijaya Kunverba Saheb of Morvi. Each newly constructed expandable permanent home, measuring 225 sq. ft, has been constructed with the help of hollow (cellular) cement blocks, which can resist quake measuring upto 7.5 on the Richter scale. The earthquake on January 26 had completely destroyed the village. All houses and community buildings had been destroyed. As the village was reduced to mounds of rubble, most of old women and children were sent to relatives. The determination of the villagers is amply reflected in the speed with which 250 able-bodied men of the village, with the help and assistance of Mayur Foundation, rebuilt over 100 new quake-proof houses in just 10 days. Happiness was writ large on the villagers when the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, made a special visit on Sunday to this sleepy village to make a formal inauguration of the new “model village”. The villagers, led by the sarpanch, gave a warm traditional welcome to the Home Minister and showed him around the rebuilt village, having a panchayat bhavan and a temple. Addressing the villagers, Mr Advani said other NGOs who were actively involved in the reconstruction and rehabilitation work in the quake-affected areas in Gujarat could take this as a model and either adopt the technology straightaway or amend it according to the plan of their project. While appreciating the Mayur Foundation for its help to the villagers and also the numerous other NGOs engaged in rehabilitation operation for the quake victims, Mr Advani assured that the Centre and the State governments would leave no stone unturned in extending help to the quake-hit people of Gujarat. He said the state government would soon announce a comprehensive plan for the reconstruction of the worst-affected Bhuj region. |
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Conference to make Army ‘leaner, meaner’ New Delhi, April 22 The top officials, including COAs and DCOs, will focus on analysing and refining current defensive and offensive concepts in the nuclearised environment, evaluation of mission effectiveness of the Army under different conditions and operational concepts for coordinated employment together with the Navy and the Air Force in a future war scenario, an official statement said here today. The Army Commanders will also look at ways and means to make the best use of the full potential of the Rashtriya Rifles in Jammu and Kashmir, it said. More funds are likely to be deployed to improve the quality of life of the troops; increase availability of accommodation to all ranks and a number of other facilities, either already approved or in the pipeline, the statement said.
PTI |
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Arya Samaj temple to be rebuilt New Delhi, April 22 The foundation stone of the temple, demolished by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on April 17, was laid by senior BJP leaders in the presence of Arya Samaj followers. The temple was demolished as part of the DDA’s drive, launched on the directive of Urban Development Minister Jagmohan. The DAV College Managing Committee, meanwhile, claimed that the reconstruction was cleared by Mr Jagmohan who had also agreed to bear the construction cost of the temple. The foundation stone was laid in the presence of former Delhi Chief Ministers and BJP leaders Madan Lal Khurana and Sahib Singh Verma. Thousands of Arya Samajis will be involved in the kar seva to reconstruct the temple in the Minto Road area of New Delhi. The function was also attended by the president of the Shiv Sena’s Delhi unit, Mr Jai Bhagwan Goel, and Swami Agnivesh. The demolition of the temple had created a lot of controversy as some BJP MPs were opposed to Mr Jagmohan’s move.
UNI |
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Blood donation camps inaugurated New Delhi, April 22 The mission is organising 101 blood donation camps across the country, of which 45 camps are being held in different cities and towns today itself. Appreciating the gesture, Baba Hardev Singh said this shows the people’s dedication to serve the suffering humanity. |
Kisan Sabha seeks dam over Ghaggar Hanumangarh, April 22 Addressing a press conference here yesterday, he said it was the duty of the state government to construct a dam over the Ghaggar after the high court had given a decision in this matter. He said if the barriers were removed, there would be a flood threat to the area. Mr Shopat Singh said the announcement of the Irrigation Department to suspend the rotation of the cultivators who do not lift the barriers would be opposed. He demanded that before removing these barriers, the state government should construct a dam outside the six bigha flow route. He also sought compensation to those farmers whose land would come under the flow route. Appealing to the cultivators to remain prepared for a movement against the state government, Mr Shopat Singh asked the farmers not to bend before the decision. |
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Baby dies in adoption centre Hyderabad, April 22 After a raid at John Abraham Bethany Centre by
officials of the Department of Women’s Development and Child Welfare
and when a group of infants was being shifted here, the baby, who was
seriously ill, died yesterday, police sources said. District
police officials, however, denied that 17 bodies of infants were found
behind the centre’s premises. PTI |
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CLINTON AUTOGRAPHED BOOK FETCHES 1 LAKH DRDO SCIENTIST’S BODY RECOVERED 18 SCHOOLS FOR SEX
WORKERS’ KIDS DAINIK BHASKAR CHIEF
EDITOR DEAD 10 OF MARRIAGE PARTY KILLED INTERNATIONAL AWARD
FOR PHOTOJOURNALIST “PLAYBOY” WINS LEGAL BATTLE JAYADEV AWARD FOR ORIYA WRITER |
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