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Saturday,
May 26, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
BJP chief refuses to see Manipur
MLAs ‘Advani scrutinising
Sonia’s citizenship’ Kharif pricing policy soon:
Nitish Maneka writes to Textile Minister |
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Talks will reduce tension:
CPM Armsgate: notices to
Laxman, Jaya Jaitly PM determined to retain Brajesh
Mishra |
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Dabhol CEO asks Centre to mediate Decrease in number of poor in Uttar
Pradesh
Panel to adjudicate
on Deendar ban Uttaranchal DD to begin relay from Aug 12 DSGMC disputes
police claim Lack of funds delays DDT spray
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BJP
chief refuses to see Manipur MLAs New Delhi, May 25 “I told them that it was not possible to discuss the issue with them before May 28 which is the date fixed for a meeting with leaders from the state,” BJP General Secretary Narendra Modi said. The Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) MLAs, including those of the BJP, who had virtually forced their way into the BJP central office here were refused an appointment with Mr Krishnamurthi. At the same time, enough care was taken to keep the MLAs in good humour as Mr Modi told them that he would meet one representative from each of the parties that constituted the PDA. Later, as Mr Modi came out of the office, other MLAs too sought to raise the recent political developments but were firmly told that there was no question of discussing the issue. In a move to pressurise the party’s Central leadership and restore a popular government in the state, 32 MLAs of the PDA, including 23 of the BJP, reached here last night. |
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‘Advani scrutinising
Sonia’s citizenship’ New Delhi, May 25 Talking to mediapersons, he said the government was having a close look at his petition seeking revocation of Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s citizenship. Mrs Gandhi’s citizenship should be revoked under
Section 10 of the Citizenship Act “substantively” for activities beyond
prejudical to the security and sovereignty of India and technically because she had not yet revoked her Italian citizenship. Mr Swamy said the government was probing the other allegations levelled by Mr Advani against Mrs Gandhi as the BJP-led government was acting in “collusion” with the Congress President. On the Jayalalitha issue, Mr Swamy said the oath of the Chief Minister’s office administered to the AIADMK leader was wrong in the eyes of law and a violation of the Constitution. Mr Advani, he said, held similar opinion. The Union Home Minister told him that neither he nor the Attorney General was consulted by the Tamil Nadu Governor, Ms Fatima Beevi, before administering oath to Ms Jayalalitha. A Governor could not administer oath of office to a person who was otherwise disqualified under the statute, he said. |
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Maneka writes to Textile Minister New Delhi, May 25 Acting on a complaint sent by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), a wildlife conservation NGO, the minister has asked the Textile Minister to suspend A K Ghatak, Additional General Manager, Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India Limited, Kolkata branch. Ms Gandhi reminded the minister that sale of shahtoosh shawls had been banned since 1973 and anyone caught with the shawl was liable to criminal punishment under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Mr Ashok Kumar, senior advisor and trustee of the WTI wrote to the minister saying that Mr Ghatak made the offer in response to a letter sent to a number of persons by one of their associates in UK. The letter reads, “The one organisation which offered to supply Shahtoosh shawls is the Kolkata branch of the Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India Limited, a Government of India undertaking under the Ministry of Textiles. They have also recommended methods by which the violation can be covered up.” The WTI has also enclosed a copy of the offer letter sent by fax to their associate on February 4, 1999. While quoting prices of plain and embroidered shahtoosh shawl, Mr Ghatak stated that the shawls was a restricted item for export and “it would be advisable if you can get the same collected through your representative from our emporium alternatively. We can ask our artisan at Kashmir to send the same through DHL without mentioning Shahtoosh.” Ms Gandhi said Ghatak should be imprisoned by the wildlife authorities. Mr Ashok Kumar, however, said there could not be any prosecution under the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act because no law had been broken. “There can only be administrative action under service rules,” he said. Mr Kumar said that other government emporia had also been defying the ban. |
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Follow adoption rules strictly:
Maneka New Delhi, May 25 The minister said recent reports of commercial racket in the buying and selling of children in some states indicated that the malpractice could enter the system if guidelines were not followed strictly. “While the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) has been trying to streamline the procedures, it is necessary that the states also implement them with total commitment,” she said. Ms Gandhi sought the
co-operation of the state governments in recovering money from various defaulting non-government organisations which were found misusing grants given by the ministry under 11 schemes. She said a list of NGOs which had got grants in the past one year had been given to the states. She asked the secretaries to gear up the state machinery to keep an eye on such NGOs and report to the ministry in case their performance was not upto the mark. The minister called upon the state welfare secretaries to ensure that schemes meant for SCs and OBCs were monitored regularly and funds utilised properly to meet the needs of the target group. Ms Gandhi said the most vulnerable group for which a lot still needed to be done was scavengers. |
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Talks will reduce tension:
CPM New Delhi, May 25 In a statement here yesterday, the CPM Politbureau said the party had always been holding the view that only a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan in pursuance of the Lahore Declaration and the Simla Agreement could lead to easing of tensions in the region and both parties would be able to understand each other’s views. The declaration of the ceasefire by the Government of India could not lead to any fruitful results in the absence of any direct talks between India and Pakistan, the statement pointed out. “The earlier announcement made by General Musharraf that he was prepared to meet Indian Prime Minister anywhere and India’s lack of positive response to this call created an impression that India was avoiding talks on outstanding issues between India and Pakistan”, the statement said adding that this step by the government would dispel these apprehensions among others. The CPM hoped that talks between India and Pakistan would contribute, to a great extent, in reducing tensions between the two neighbouring countries and ultimately pave the way for reducing tension in the Indian subcontinent. |
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Armsgate: notices to Laxman, Jaya Jaitly New Delhi, May 25 The army officials to whom notices have been issued include Major-Gen P.S.K. Choudhary, Major-Gen Manjit Singh Ahluwalia, Major-Gen Satnam Singh, Major-Gen S.P. Murgai (retd), Brig Iqbal Singh and Col Anil Sehgal. “All of them have been asked to reply within a week through affidavit after receiving the notices under rule 5(2)(a),” Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Commission P. Anand Rao said. The first hearing of the commission is to be held on June 6. “On that date, the commission intends to hear, among other things, from various persons who have responded to the notice and notifications on the scope of the terms of reference and the pattern of hearing,” Mr Rao said. The notices ask the individuals to reply to the specific allegations and charges against them as shown or referred to in the videotapes, released by the news portal on March 13. “This list is not exhaustive. If required, the commission will send notices to more individuals in future,” Mr Rao said.
UNI |
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Dabhol CEO asks
Centre to mediate New Delhi, May 25 Mr Cline’s visit to the Capital followed within 24 hours after the Maharashtra State Electricity Board issued a notice to the DPC for scrapping the power purchase agreement for the 2184 mw project. Mr Cline met Power Secretary, A.K. Basu and is understood to have discussed the latest situation arising out of the termination notice issued by the MSEB. The MSEB in its termination letter had claimed that it was forced to rescind the PPA with immediate effect since the power plant did not conform to the PPA and was not capable of meeting the contractual terms regarding operating characteristics and dynamic parameters. The MSEB had cited a few instances when the DPC had failed to honour the power purchase agreement. The Centre has already appointed a retired Secretary to the negotiating committee set up by Maharashtra and has conveyed to Dabhol Power Corporation that it would do whatever was possible to resolve the dispute. “We advised DPC to appear before the Maharashtra Government’s negotiating committee headed by Mr Madhav Godbole to plead their case,” Mr Basu said after the meeting. He, however, declined to give further details of what transpired at the meeting. |
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Decrease in number of poor in Uttar
Pradesh Saharanpur, May 25 An official report of the state government released recently claimed that the number of poor families had been declining since the past two decades. As compared to 1993-94 when the percentage of those below the poverty line was 42.2 per cent, at present it is around 36 per cent and is likely to come down to 32 per cent by the end of this financial year. However, a World Bank report pointed out that little was done by the state government in the early 90s to reduce poverty. It said though the state boasts of rich natural and human resources, over 41 per cent of the 160 million population lived below the poverty line. As per the Centre’s directive, an extensive survey was conducted in 1998-99 to identify those living below the poverty line. The survey showed that there were 20.4 million poor families of which 7.5 million belonged to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. The Swaran Jayanti Gram Swarozgar
Yojna, job-oriented programme for the poor, provides each self-employed family with Rs 2000 every month to help them start small enterprises. The Central Government provides 75 per cent of the grant under this scheme and the rest is shared by the state government. A sum of Rs 500 crore has been sanctioned for the current financial year under this scheme. |
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Panel to adjudicate
on Deendar ban New Delhi, May 25 Under sub-section (1) of Section 5 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, the central government had constituted the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal on May 22, 2001. The Deendar Anjuman was declared an unlawful association for two years vide the government notification on April 28, 2001. The constitution of the tribunal will give an opportunity to the Deendar Anjuman to defend itself against the ban. If the tribunal ruled in favour of the government decision then the ban would run for two years from April 28, official sources said. The Centre, dubbing the Deendar Anjuman as an unlawful association, had charged the organisation among other things with having links at Mardan in Pakistan and organising bands of disgruntled Muslim youths in India into a militant outfit for launching jehad with the avowed objective of total Islamisation of the subcontinent. |
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Wage ceiling
for PF up
New Delhi, May 25 |
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Uttaranchal DD to begin relay from Aug 12 Dehra Dun, May 25 Laying the foundation stone of the Doordarshan Kendra here yesterday, Ms Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, said it was very essential for the new state to have its own Doordarshan Kendra. She said the people of Uttaranchal would get ample opportunities to show their performance at the national level from this kendra. Being a member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttaranchal, she said every possible help would be provided to her mother state from the Centre to ran the Doordarshan Kendra. |
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DSGMC disputes
police claim New Delhi, May 25 “Sewadars are always deployed in the parking lots and according to its information no Kashmiri militant had been arrested from the gurdwara complex,” the DSGMC said. |
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Lack of funds delays DDT spray Hanumangarh, May 25 Though the spraying was proposed to start
from May 15, but it did not as the department demanded a budget of Rs
3.5 lakh. According to information available, under the programme it
has been stated that no area in the district is prone to water-borne
diseases although areas near the Bhakhra, Indira Gandhi Canal, and
Ghaggar river remain inundated with water making the villages prone to
water borne diseases. Moreover, Hanumangarh has not been included in
the list of areas to be sprayed. |
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