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Friday,
April 27, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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52 infants rescued from
adoption centre
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India rules out restart
of dialogue with Pak B. P. Verma abused position:
Sinha CBI chargesheets 12 defence personnel Parliament to adjourn sine die today Govt: no middlemen in submarine project LS adjourned over
official’s write-up Cong to raise Tehelka today CEC favours run-off
poll North India in
Parliament J&K militancy area of concern:
report Funds for women, child ‘under utilised’ China’s presence along Nepal
border Telecom group submits report Bahuguna’s fast enters 3rd day Chief of Defence Staff
to be ‘four star’ officer
MLA’s son-in-law, 2 cops held in attack case Pushkar transforms 2
Croats Captain rescued from
captivity ‘Kissa Kursi Ka’ producer dead
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Karunanidhi behind papers’ rejection: Jaya Madurai, April 26 She said such a thing did not happen with former Kerala minister R. Balakrishna Pillai, also convicted in a corruption case, because the state government there “did not try to the influence any poll official.” “In Tamil Nadu, the situation is different. Mr Karunanidhi had directly threatened the returning officers of dire consequences if they accepted my nominations. Therefore my papers were rejected,” she claimed, speaking to newspersons here at a city hotel before leaving for campaigning. When pointed out that Mr Pillai was a sitting MLA at present, Ms Jayalalitha said this had nothing to do with the main issue. The status of MPs and MLAs would come into question only during their arrest in connection with any case and not during their filing of nomination papers for elections, she contended. She said her legal experts were examining the issues arising out of the rejection of her papers. “I am satisfied that my party cadres heeded my advice to remain calm in the wake of the rejection of my papers,’’ the AIADMK chief added. To a question, the former Chief Minister said she did not intend to get a stay on the elections in those constituencies where her papers were rejected. “I will only concentrate on the campaign now to ensure the victory of my party’s candidates and other alliance partners,” she said.
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52 infants rescued from adoption centre Hyderabad, April 26 All rescued infants, mostly below six months, were shifted to the government-run “Sisu Vihar”, after a two-member probe team from the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) visited the place as part of its spot study to check unlicensed adoption centres in the state. The centre, “Precious Moments” situated on the outskirts of the city and run by Ms Anita Sen, wife of Additional Director General of Police Swaranjit Sen, was sealed last night after the CARA and state government officials led by Ranga Reddy, District Collector, Ajay Jain inspected the premises and found that it was prima facie indulging in adoptions, without holding a valid CARA license. The agency was procuring infants and giving them for adoptions through the Indian Council of Social Welfare (ICSW), run by former Congress Child and Women’s Welfare Minister Roda Mistry. Mr Jain said though “Precious Moments” was a “transferring agency” and not an adoption centre, it was found to be engaged in adoptions. He said the home had retained the infants, even though its records showed they were transferred to the ICSW. The total number of infants rescued in the state so far from four adoption centres had gone up to 158, of which 30 of them were undergoing treatment in two city hospitals. |
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Mumbai, April 26 Jadeja will be seen in a new avataar in a yet untitled film, to be directed by debutant Yusuf Khan. Jadeja told reporters at Subhash Ghai’s Audeus Studios today that his opting for films should not undermine his love for cricket. He said he was fighting the ban imposed by the cricket board and in no way was he bidding good-bye to the game. “Cricket has been my first love and will always be so,” the flamboyant cricketer said. About the film, Jadeja said, “I am playing a character who behaves and talks the way I do in real life though I had to learn quite a bit while preparing for the role.” “Since it is my debut film, I wanted to make sure I get a good role and was very careful while choosing this movie to be directed by Yusuf Khan, his first directorial venture, and produced by Pammi Sandhu,” Jadeja added. The film also has Sunil Shetty while the heroine is yet to be decided.
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India rules out restart
of dialogue with Pak New Delhi, April 26 Replying to a question on the possibility of a separate meeting between Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan during the SAARC Standing Committee meeting scheduled to be held shortly in Sri Lanka, a spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said here today that though such meetings are “not unusual but no such request has been received as yet from Pakistan side”. The decision to convene a meeting of the standing committee in first half of May was taken during the Sri Lankan President, Ms Chandrika Kumaratunga’s visit to India in March this year. The committee has not met for more than two years as the SAARC process got derailed due to Kargil conflict and by the military takeover in Pakistan. The spokesman clarified that such meetings are no indication of any change in India’s well known position on the resumption of a composite dialogue with Pakistan. As initiator of the composite dialogue, we would like to resume the dialogue process in a conducive atmosphere, the spokesman said. |
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B. P. Verma abused position:
Sinha New Delhi, April 26 Making a statement in both Houses of Parliament, the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, said Verma had showed favour to a private company of Chennai which allegedly exported rags, declared as garments. He said a case against Verma was registered by the CBI on March 30 for “abusing” his official position and favouring
A. K. Enterprises, Chennai. The Finance Minister said the former CBEC Chairman influenced his subordinate officers to enable the firm to draw false duty drawbacks and for this purpose, he obtained “gratifications and considerations through his son”. Mr Sinha said after the arrest of an Uzbek woman, the CBI registered a case against 48 officers and four private persons on March 30 but none of the officers had so far been arrested by the investigating agency. Consequent on the registration of the case, searches were conducted at the official, as well as, residential premises of Verma on March 31. The CBI has reported that during the course of the searches, several “incriminating” documents were seized. Scrutiny of these revealed that Verma was in the possession of assets in his own name, in the name of his family members, as well as benami, which were prima facie disproportionate to his known sources of income, he said. Giving the chronology of developments following the interception of the Uzbek woman at the Indira Gandhi International airport on August 28 last year and on the basis of the findings, he said 33 officers were suspended during February last, which included six belonging to group ‘A’. The Uzbek woman had made 54 trips to India between July, 1999, and August, 2000. She was intercepted on August 28 last year at Delhi airport while attempting to clear Chinese silk without declaring them to the Customs authorities. The minister’s statement in the Lok Sabha prompted the Congress Deputy Leader, Mr Madhavrao Scindia, to seek a full discussion on the issue. The Finance Minister said the government had no objection to the demand. In the Rajya Sabha, the government came in for attack over the corruption issue with members expressing concern over the nexus between smugglers and Customs officials. Leader of the Opposition, Dr Manmohan Singh, wanted the government to launch an operation clean-up of the entire revenue gathering machinery over which Verma presided. More than the smuggling and faking of exports, Dr Manmohan Singh said, what was more worrying was the nexus between Customs officials and smugglers to bring into the country fake currency notes, narcotics and some sensitive defence equipment. |
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CBI chargesheets 12 defence personnel
Delhi, April 26 In the chargesheet, the CBI alleged that former Deputy Director Ordinance Services Lieut Col P.R.S. Rao (retd) and 11 others of the Controller of Defence Accounts (CDA) cheated the Defence Ministry of Rs 8.18 crore through false vouchers in the name of three companies floated by Anil Kumar Rane, a trader. The CBI said T.P. Venugopalan, H.L. Gulati, R.K. Bajpai (all senior accounts officers), J.C. Sharma, Stephen George (both assistant accounts officers), and J.B. Gupta, P.R. Suman, N.D. Nautiyal, S.B. Sharma, clerks in the CDA in New Delhi, in collusion with Anil Kumar Rane, entered into a criminal conspiracy by submitting fictitious bills without supplying any materials and defrauded the government. The chargesheet was filed in the court of Special Judge M.L. Sahni. The payments were made in the name of Krishna Enterprises, Rishi Enterprises and Sri Venkateswara Enterprises owned by Anil Kumar Rane.
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Parliament to adjourn sine die today New Delhi, April 26 The Budget session, which was originally scheduled to be adjourned on May 11, was being cut short in view of the Assembly poll in five states. Mr Balayogi said the leaders of political parties and groups met yesterday and agreed that the Budget session could be cut short in view of the Assembly poll in five states and the two Houses could adjourn sine die tomorrow. It was suggested at the meeting that the monsoon session could be of a longer duration in view of the hours lost in the wake of
disruption of the proceedings, Mr Balayogi said. The RJD leader, Mr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, protested against the move but the Speaker said the decision had been taken. The Chairman, Mr Krishan Kant, while announcing the Business Advisory Committee’s decision in the Rajya Sabha, said the House would be adjourned sine die tomorrow.
Govt: no middlemen in submarine project New Delhi, April 26 In reply to a question raised by Mr Arjun Singh in the Rajya Sabha, the Defence Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, made this assertion. The Congress member wanted to know specifically if there were any middlemen involved in the submarine project. The Defence Minister said the government had approved a long-term perspective plan envisaging acquisition of indigenous capability in submarine design, development and construction of submarines and their core systems. The first phase of the plan would be implemented in 2012 and the second phase by 2030, he said. While the minister ruled out the
involvement of any middlemen in the submarine project, he said, the government was seeking technical collaboration from different sources as part of the weapon development system. He, however, refused to divulge details of the sources of the collaboration saying it would not be in the national interest to do so. The Defence Minister said since it would be quite some time before India could manufacture indigenously the submarines, the government was addressing to the needs for modernising and building the country’s submarine fleet in the interim period. India has strength of 22 submarines, which would be upgraded in time. Mr Jaswant Singh indicated softening of the US stand in regard to the sanctions against India. This was made clear by the honour he received at Pentagon recently even when the sanctions debar any military-to-military contact between the two countries.
LS adjourned over
official’s write-up New Delhi, April 26 Raising the question during Zero Hour, Congress member from Punjab Balbir Singh said the write-up, written in his official capacity, had hurt religious sentiments. He quoted Mr Kaw as saying in the article that “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.” The controversial write-up first appeared in the publication of the NCERT a few weeks ago. Mr Balbir Singh was joined by members from the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Left parties who wanted to know how an official could make comments on religions other than he professed. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan said the government considered all religions as equal and added that he would convey the members’ views to the HRD Ministry. As the members continued their protest, Mr Mahajan left the House. This further incensed the agitated members who moved to the front benches, forcing Deputy Speaker P.M. Sayeed to adjourn the House till 2 pm.
Cong to raise Tehelka today New Delhi, April 26 Evidently stung by criticism that it had thrown in the towel on the Tehelka issue over which Parliament had been stalled for nearly 15 days, the Congress has decided to retrieve some of the lost ground. The party’s strategy in this regard would be finalised at its Political Affairs Committee meeting tomorrow. It is hoping to capitalise on the reluctance on the part of the NDA to set up a JPC on Tehelka, though the Prime Minister had said that the government had an open mind on the issue. Congress spokesman Jaipal Reddy today said the party was prepared for a discussion on the issue but first the government should agree to the JPC in principle. |
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New Delhi, April 26 Mr Gill also advocated reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies, requirement of certain educational qualifications for seeking election and state funding as, he said, the coalition government system had come to stay in the country. “The basic thing to worry about is fairness of elections,” the CEC said while addressing a seminar on ‘Financing of Political System’ here. “We need a reform to make it mandatory for a candidate to get 50 per cent of votes to get elected. This can be done by shifting to run-off system of elections where re-poll is held to choose among the first two candidates,” he said. Stating that this reform would “transform India’s politics”, Mr Gill said it would leave no place for allegations of voting on caste, religion and other such considerations. He also suggested that elections in states be held under neutral administrations since allegations are regularly made by opposition parties linking the state police with the incumbent governments.
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North
India in Parliament New Delhi, April 26 Delhi accounted for the highest software exports with the figure during the standing at Rs 3927.47 crore
followed by Uttar Pradesh (Rs 1245.75 crore), Haryana (Rs 972.93 crore), Rajasthan ( Rs 20.64 crore), Punjab (Rs 16.33 crore) and Madhya Pradesh ( Rs 1.74 crore). Between November 28, 2000, and February 19, 2001, 158 members of security forces and 332 civilians were killed, the Minister of State for Rajya Sabha, Mr
U. V. Krishnam Raju informed the Rajya Sabha today. In a written reply, the minister said under the unilateral peace initiative announced by the Prime Minister on November 19, 2000, the security forces were instructed not to initiate combat operations against militants in Jammu and Kashmir. The four
lanning of the Gurgaon-Kotputli sub-section of the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway No. 8 is estimated to cost Rs 380 crore, the Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Maj Gen B.C. Khanduri (retd) informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Santosh Kumar Gangwar informed the Lok Sabha today that the complaints against the selection of dealers/distributors for different locations by the erstwhile Dealer Selection Boards for the dealerships/ distributorships of the Indian Oil Corporation at different locations in Haryana were investigated in accordance with the guidelines issued by the government and LoIs were issued to the selected candidates who were cleared after the investigation. The National Cooperative Development Council (NCDC) has sanctioned Rs 28.750 lakh for Himachal Pradesh agro-processing projects during 1999-2000, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Shripad Y. Naik informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply. The corresponding figure for Himachal Pradesh for 1998-99 stood at Rs 3.000 lakh. An amount of Rs 1233.39 lakh had been released for Haryana under the Macro-Management Scheme during 2000-01, Mr Naik further stated. |
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J&K militancy area of concern:
report New Delhi, April 26 “The law and order situation in the country remained largely under control during 2000. However, militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir, activities of militant groups in some north-eastern states and the violence perpetrated by Left wing extremists in Andhra
Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Maharashtra continued to remain major areas of concern,” the report, which was released to the press, said. The report, which painted a positive picture of the overall internal security scenario, pointed out that in Jammu and Kashmir, which had witnessed terrorism and militancy in the past 10 years, the situation had started showing signs of near normalcy by early 1999 with a marked decline in civilian killings and terrorist incidents. The flow of information from the people to the security forces, reactivation of the state police, curbing of infiltration, launching of a number of pinpointed counter terrorist operations, among others, had paid good dividends, it said. The Prime Minister’s peace initiative during Ramzan and its further extension has been noted as a hallmark in throwing an opportunity to militant groups to come to the negotiating table. Coming to the North-East, the report highlights Ceasefire agreement between the Centre and
NSCN(I/M) in Nagaland, offer of NSCN(K) to have a formal ceasefire with the Centre and the suspension of operations agreement between the Centre and the Bodo Liberation Tigers of Assam. As compared to 1999, there was an overall marginal decrease in Left Wing extremist violence during 2000, the report said. |
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Funds for women, child ‘under utilised’ New Delhi, April 26 A national conference of WCD ministers will be inaugurated by the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, here tomorrow. In his address, the WCD Secretary pointed out that Rs 20 crore allocated for the Balika Samridhi Yojana had not been utilised fully. He said the parliamentary standing committes of the ministry and the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India had also expressed concern over the low utilisation of funds in various schemes. He said the administration of laws relating to women are neglected in the country and there are no separate departments in the states to deal exclusively with laws and crimes related to women. Mr Chaturvedi said the Integrated Child Development Services scheme was a bad one. He said though there are wide variations in the indicators of women and child development within the country with Kerala and Tamil Nadu showing relatively high level of development, some states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan had levels comparable to the lowest in the world. |
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China’s presence along Nepal
border Patna, April 26 Indians in Nepal, popularly known as Madhesias, have expressed concern over what they call the Chinese army “build-up” in the hilly areas along the border of Nepal. It is believed that the Chinese army has constructed 65 army posts. Chinese help to the ultra organization of the Maoists in Nepal is widely known. The Madhesias say there is a nexus between the ISI, the Maoists and the Chinese army and these are working overtime to weaken the Himalayan kingdom and create an internal security crisis so that Nepal always remains disturbed. This facilitates the ISI and the Chinese army in their plan to destabilise India. The ISI has in the past used Nepal as a route to sneak into India and supply RDX and fake currency notes. The Tribune had reported earlier about the role of the Pakistan Embassy in managing anti-Indian activities. The report had informed about the arrest of a Khalistan Commando Force terrorist, Lakhbari, and two international smugglers, Noor Mohammad and Abdul Khalil, who had revealed to the interrogating agencies that Pakistani envoys at Kathmandu, Arshad, First Secretary, and Aizaj, a councillor, were entrusted with the task of supplying RDX and fake currency notes to India. Arshad was recently arrested by the Nepal police with RDX that he was supposed to push into India. A check-post has also been opened at Taptopani for the Chinese entry into Nepal.
Telecom group submits report New Delhi, April 26 The ministerial group, chaired by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, was unanimous in its recommendations with all the members signing the report, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told reporters. Mr Sinha also briefly explained the contents of the report to the Prime Minister, he said adding that the report would be made public tomorrow. The group was entrusted the responsibility to recommend if limited mobility services could be allowed as part of the new telecom policy of 1999 or if some changes were needed in the face of stiff opposition from cellular operators.
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Bahuguna’s fast enters 3rd day Dehra Dun, April 26 He alleged, “I was verbally informed by the local police about my arrest without producing arrest warrants. The police arrested me on a charge of raising slogans against the start of construction work on the Tehri Dam.” However, Mrs Radha Raturi, District Magistrate of Tehri, denied the allegations, saying that there was no need to issue arrest warrants under Section 151 of the CrPC.
Chief of Defence Staff
to be ‘four star’ officer New Delhi, April 26 In a written reply to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha, the Defence Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, said the creation of the new post would ensure the inter se and intra se prioritisation of the equipment-related requirements of the armed forces and also facilitate single point military advice being made available to the government. It would facilitate better utilisation of national resources through establishment of requisite jointness amongst the armed forces. The Defence Minister said the setting up of the new post had been recommended by the Group of Ministers (GoM) who had gone into the recommendations of the Kargil review Committee. He added that the GoM report had been presented to the Prime Minister and
action on it as required would be taken expeditiously. |
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MLA’s son-in-law, 2 cops held in attack case Sriganganagar, April 26 The accused are Venod Tanwar, who is married to a daughter of the MLA , and head constable Ram Kishen and constable Shamsher Singh. An AK-47 rifle with 14 cartridges and a carbine with six cartridges were recovered from them. They have been booked under Sections 452, 323, 147, 148, 149 of the IPC, besides the Arms Act. Section 395 (dacoity) of the IPC, was added later on. The accused had gone to the village on the night of April 25 and attacked the family of Ami Lal at their dera on the outskirts of the village, beat them up, threw their belongings out and locked the house. The terrified family fled the village and reported the matter to the police. Mr R.P. Singh, SP, said the complainant was involved in a litigation with his brother, Krishan Lal, an SDO with the Irrigation Department, over a piece of land on which Ami Lal had allegedly encroached and had built a house. Krishan Lal had some time back sold his share of 12 bighas of ancestral land to Manphool Singh of the same village. Since a portion of the land was in the illegal occupation of Ami Lal, Rs 2 lakh was held back by the buyer. It was agreed between the parties that Krishan Lal would get the land vacated on his own. Krishan Lal went to the court and the court ruled in his favour, but his brother refused to vacate the land. It was then that he solicited the help of his brother-in-law Tanwar. Venod Tanwar is the son of Chaudhary Hari Singh, a former chairman of the local municipal council. They made a plan and took along the policemen who were attached to Ms Beniwal. The dera was attacked at midnight and the family was bashed up and their belongings thrown in the fields. All pleas to give some more time fell on deaf ears. The attackers locked the house and fled. The police immediately fanned out but were unable to nab them. Yesterday, however, they received information that the accused were sitting at the dera. A police party reached the village at about midnight and arrested the trio while Kishen Lal managed to flee. The Ghamorwali SHO, Mr Baljinder Singh Mann, confirmed that the policemen had been arrested along with their arms, but could not tell whether they were on leave or not at the time of the incident. Carrying arms in another state while not on duty and without permission was an offence, he said. The police is also ascertaining whether the policemen fired from the guns during the attack on the
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Pushkar transforms 2
Croats Ajmer, April 26 The Croats, Feda and Ivan Basic, now named Vishwanath and
Kailash, came to India three years ago as tourists. They visited the Pushkar temple and were moved by its ambience. They learnt about the significance of the one and only Brahma temple in the world. They returned a few months later to take to the Hindu way of life. They are paying for the yajana for the peace of their country going on at the temple for the past two and half
years. Vishwanath and Kailash visit Pushkar twice or thrice a year, says Mr Shravan
Lal, chief of the Purohit Sangh, which looks after the temple and have recently paid for the relaying of the main ghat with marble. “It was something we wanted to do for a long time but were unable to do so because of inadequate funds. In the face of government apathy towards the place, the duo is a god send”, says Mr
Lal. A small Shiv temple too is being constructed by them on the main
ghat. Not only this, the yajana provides employment to poor priests all year round. Three priests perform the four-hour yajana every day. Items worth Rs 1, 500 are used daily for the
yajana, he said. Vishwanath and Kailash practise reiki in their country and are said to have cured many sick persons there after they went from here. They have taken a Shivalingam to their country for consecration in a temple to be raised by them. “They carried a tulsi sapling to Croatia. But it dried
up. They called up to know what had to be done about it. We replied that their love for the Hindu way of life would make it grow again. In a few days the plant revived,” Mr Lal said. They are so popular in the town that they were the chief guests at the annual Pushkar fair held in November. They participated in the festivities and prayers, Mr Lal said while showing an album of the fair photographs.
Captain rescued from captivity Kolkata, April 26 Port sources said the police rescued them from near the Hooghly river close to the Sandhead. The police rescued the captain of mv Jubilee. The vessel was transporting logs from Malayasia. Meanwhile, users of the port expressed serious concern over the incident.
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‘Kissa Kursi Ka’ producer dead New Delhi, April 26 He was 74. Mr Nahata is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. Mr Nahata, member of the sixth, seventh and
eight Lok Sabha, was suffering from angina for the past 15 days. He was admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital here on April 21. He was shifted to Escorts Hospital yesterday where an angiography was performed on him today but his heart ceased to function during the operation at about 2.30 p.m., family sources said.
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