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Thursday,
May 31, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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US defence
chief’s visit put off IT raids
to intimidate Outlook: Editor Foodgrains
storage problem to compound
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Somen
Mitra likely to be WBPCC chief TMC-DF
legislator held B’desh team to arrive on June 12 for talks Centre
extends Aftab’s visa MPs hail
invitation WHO to
open quit-tobacco clinics Lucknow
Swarna Shatabdi fare up PG
diploma in human rights opens Inter-state
gang busted, 3 held
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US defence chief’s visit put
off New Delhi, May 30 Although New Delhi had made all arrangements for the visit the first by the Chairperson of the US Chiefs of Staff Committee in a long time, informetion calling off the visit reached the South Block this evening. A Defence Ministry spokesman said that the USA did not cite any other reasons but said that the visit was being called off for operational reasons. The intimation further said that the proposed visit would now be in July and for a longer period. Confirmed dates for the visit were not given to New Delhi. Reports here said that the visit could have been called off due to the ongoing trouble between the USA and China specially with the latter expressing displeasure over the resumption of the US spy flights near the Chinese coast and also refusing permission to an American warship to dock at Hong Kong. Experts here said that the visit could have been called off as a spin off of the latest developments between the USA and China. While refusing permission to USS Inchon, a minesweeper to dock at Hong Kong for a port call from June 28 to July 3, Beijing also clearly restated its demand to New York to end all surveillance mission flights off its coast. While not giving any reasons for refusing permission to the US warship, China said, “ the USA should learn its lesson and change this erroneous practice of sending planes to do surveillance off the Chinese coast”. Visit of Gen Shelton, the highest US military officer, would have marked the formal resumption of the Indo-US military ties, suspended after the Pokhran nuclear tests. |
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IT raids to intimidate Outlook: Editor New Delhi, May 30 Mr Mehta said, “We have reason to believe that the raids were directed at intimidating the Outlook magazine”. Mr Mehta also alleged that the raids on group companies like Exide Industries and Johnson Tiles were simply a ploy to mask the real purpose of the whole operation. He said IT officials entered the Mumbai editorial offices of Outlook at 8.30 a.m. on May 29 and “ransacked” them till 6.30 a.m. on May 30. Journalists and managers were not allowed to do any work and were kept locked in the offices during the raid. Floppies were removed from the editorial office, diaries confiscated and bags searched, Mr Mehta charged, adding IT officials would not have done that while looking for proof of evasion of tax. In one of the largest-ever operations launched in recent times, IT officials carried out country-wide searches on the Raheja Group yesterday to “ascertain the quantum of tax evasion”.
PTI |
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Foodgrains storage problem to compound New Delhi, May 30 According to the latest official estimates, the year 2001-2002 could see a foodgrain production of around 212 million tonnes which is 16 million tonnes higher than the last year’s yield. The good monsoons while holding promise of an industrial revival and the possibility of achieving economic growth rate ranging between 6 to 6.5 per cent would, however, put the country’s food economy under immense pressure. The warehouses are already overflowing with foodgrains. The stocks of rice and wheat in the Central Pool as on April 1, 2001 stood at 446.95 lakh tonnes as against the buffer norm of 158 lakh tonnes. With an increased foodgrains production target, the scenario could worsen as there is no additional storage capacity. Apart from the large wastage that would accrue as a result of storing foodgrains in the open, the procurement too would have to increase which would put further strain on the government’s food subsidy Bill. Despite the export of five million tonnes of wheat and two million tonnes of rice, the foodgrains subsidy provision of Rs 13,670 crore for the current financial year is likely to be exceeded. It was against this scenario that the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, had called a meeting of Chief Ministers here on May 21 to discuss the problem of procurement, stocking and distribution. The Centre’s proposal to decentralise procurement however, did not find many takers with Punjab and Haryana opposing the move. A high-level committee of states has been constituted to discuss the problem. Punjab’s contention on the problem of plenty is that it was a “presumption” that India has moved into a surplus status on food. The country was facing a strange situation where the godowns are full and the stomachs are empty. It has said that it was both impracticable and inadvisable to decentralise food procurement. |
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Somen Mitra likely to be WBPCC
chief Kolkata, May 30 The decision was taken by AICC President Sonia Gandhi after consulting with Mr Mukherjee recently in Delhi. Mrs Gandhi conveyed her decision to Mr Mitra and Mr Pradip Bhattacharyya, one of the vice-presidents of the party during a meeting last week. The state leaders met Mrs Gandhi in the Capital to apprise her of the party’s performance in the state Assembly election on May 10. WBPCC sources said the change in the office-bearers of the state unit had been necessitated following the AICC’s decision to bring back Mr Pranab Mukherjee again into the national politics in the wake of the changing political situation. Mr Mukherjee also wanted to leave the post soon after the Assembly election and suggested that Mr Somen Mitra be made the new incumbent, which Mrs Gandhi ultimately agreed to. The changes in the pradesh Congress became necessary following the resignation of Mr Saugata Roy, one of the vice-presidents, and Mr Paresh Pal, who had formally joined the Trinamool Congress prior to the election. |
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TMC-DF legislator held Chennai, May 30 According to the police, Mr Ranganathan, who won the May 10 Assembly elections in the state from the Purasawalkam constituency in the city, was picked up from his residence before dawn. Cases under Sections 147, 148, 452, 341, 387, 307 and 506 (II) of the IPC were registered against him. He was produced before the 14th Metropolitan Magistrate, Boopalan, at his residence and remanded to 15 days of judicial custody. Mr Ranganathan was later lodged in Central Prison here. The police said the businessman, Mr Rathinavel, who had borrowed Rs 15 lakh from Kuppuswamy Mudaliar some time back, had only paid a nominal Rs 75,000 of the loan. Following this, Mr Mudaliar approached Mr Ranganathan to secure the balance loan amount. Mr Ranganathan had deputed one of his henchmen, Gowri Shankar, to Mr Rathinavel’s house a couple of times over the past two months and threatened him. Since this did not yield any desired results, Mr Ranganathan himself went to the businessman’s house last evening, brandished a gun and demanded the payment of the balance loan amount. |
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B’desh team to arrive on June 12 for talks New Delhi, May 30 Announcing the two-day visit of the Bangladesh officials, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs said here today that an Indian team would visit Dhaka for further talks subsequently. The spokesman had yesterday said that a proposal from Bangladesh for back-to-back visit of officials of the two countries was under active consideration of the Government of India. Sordid events at the Indo-Bangladesh border last month which resulted in the gruesome killing of BSF personnel by the Bangladesh Rifles
(BDR) could not just be dismissed as a mere border skirmish but were a conscious effort to bedevil the improving bilateral ties between the two South Asian
neighbours. |
Centre
extends Aftab’s visa New Delhi, May 30 This is the sixth visa extension for the 38-year-old asylum seeker, who had crossed over to India from Pakistan on March 16 last year in the hope of an honourable and secure existence. |
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MPs hail invitation New Delhi, May 30 Cutting across the party lines, Consultative Committee members appreciated the Prime Minister’s initiative. |
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WHO to open quit-tobacco
clinics New Delhi, May 30 The theme of the World No-Tobacco Day this year is “Second-hand smoke... Let’s clear the air.” Sources in the WHO said here today that similar clinics would be set up in the psychiatry division of the PGI, Chandigarh, besides Bhopal, Cuttack, Goa, Lucknow, Mumbai and Patna. The objective of setting up these clinics was to help smokers who want to quit smoking. The clinics would be funded by the WHO initially for 12 to 18 months. The progress of the clinics would then be reviewed and funding would continue depending on the requirement of the clinics. Dr Ajay Bhat, psychiatrist at IHBAS told TNS that the clinic, an Out-Patient Department clinic, would be open every Monday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and would address both smoking and smokeless form of tobacco. The clinic would be run by a group of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. He said the institute had been running a de-addiction OPD clinic for alcoholics, smokers and opium and tobacco users. Addressing newspersons at the WHO South-East Asian regional office here, Dr T. Walia, acting WHO country representative, India, said one out of four Indians used tobacco in some form or the other. This meant that 245 million persons, nearly a quarter of the country’s total population, use tobacco. Of these, 40 per cent used pan masala or other forms of tobacco. About 8 lakh persons died of tobacco-related diseases every year in India. This was alarming as 2,200 persons died of tobacco-related diseases every day in the country, he added. |
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Lucknow Swarna
Shatabdi fare up New Delhi, May 30 The newly upgraded train consisting of these coaches was flagged off by Railway Minister Nitish Kumar at the Delhi railway station here yesterday. Sources in the Northern Railway told TNS here today that the fares would be revised from June 1. Passengers would now have to pay Rs 1,455 (executive class) as against the existing Rs 1,320 and Rs 705 (chair car) as against Rs 640. The coaches have cost the Central Government about Rs 50 crore. Designed and built by Almstom LHB of Germany, the coaches were handed over to Indian Railways on May 16, 2000, along with a contract to transfer the technology to manufacture similar coaches. The technology transfer contract has facilitated the manufacture of similar coaches and these modern coaches are already being manufactured in Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala. |
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PG diploma in human rights
opens Dehra Dun, May 30 While inaugurating the postgraduate diploma course in human rights — 2001, run by a Doon-based NGO, Rural Litigation Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), here this morning, Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa, Minister for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development and Director, Centre for Human Rights and Legal Aid, Government of Sri Lanka, stressed upon the SAARC member nations to resolve all such problems that separate them and urged them to build up the links of cooperation. He said linkages must be strengthened between civil society institutions in SAARC countries. People of different societies in these countries needed to be brought together. This would create goodwill and understanding among people across the national boundaries. He appreciated the contribution of RLEK for fostering understanding and unity among the civil societies of SAARC region. Mr Rajapaksa said human rights were all about the right to human dignity, the right to human freedom and right to a just world order. And this could not be achieved unless there was a just and equitable sharing of resources at the same time. It involved the struggle for the economic and civil rights of all disadvantaged groups beyond boundary limits. The status of human rights enjoyed by people was closely linked with the kind of economic development pursued by a nation. He lashed out at the international organisations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organisation saying that the free market economy and the forces of globalisation had increased the social/economic imbalances at both national and international levels. It had increased the relative poverty in the developing world. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Justice U.C. Banerjee of the Supreme Court of India stressed upon the uplift of the poor and the deprived rural society of the country. Even after fifty years of independence, the nation had failed to protect the condition of human rights. Child labour, bride burning, custodial deaths, the wrath of casteism and economic disparity were prevalent in our society. Unfortunately, the politicians in power involve themselves more in speeches than doing anything for the betterment of the society, he added. Mr Justice S.B. Sinha, Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court, while addressing the gathering said, the new millennium had brought many challenges before the nation because the Indians had not been able to develop themselves at length in protecting human rights. Mr Justice A.A. Desai, Chief Justice of Uttaranchal High Court and Prof D.K. Sinha, Vice-Chancellor, Vishva Shanti University, Shantiniketan also addressed the gathering. |
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Inter-state gang busted, 3 held New Delhi, May 30 The gang has its base in Bulandshahar in UP and have its network in the Capital, UP and Gujarat, the police said. The gang leader , Farooque, was reportedly involved in 15 murder cases in UP and Delhi. |
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