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June 21, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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VHP unveils Ram Temple
programme Builders flout SC order in Mussoorie Indian media defends coverage of Nepal regicide BSP stir from July 20 Give quota, have votes, Muslims tell BJP Postcard to welcome Musharraf Navy, Coast Guard rescue three
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Trade unions back strike by
defence staff Walkout in House over firing Total solar eclipse today 82-yr-old weds 72-yr-old man 8 killed as jeep rams into tree Gang of truck thieves busted
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VHP unveils Ram Temple
programme New Delhi, June 20 A public awareness campaign for the construction of temple would be launched on September 18, which also marks the centenary of Somnath temple, said Ashok Singhal VHP working president here today. “If Somnath temple could be constructed, then why not the Ram temple at Ayodhya be built,” he said and criticised the vested interests for giving communal colour to the issue. The awareness campaign would conclude in Ayodhya in October and in the same month 65-day ‘jab yagya’ would commence throughout the country and the grand finale would be Mr Singhal said, at Lord Rama’s birthplace. On the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh, January 21, a march would be taken out from Ayodhya to Delhi to highlight the need for the construction of a temple at Rama’s birthplace. “Since Guru Gobind Singh also played a role in the fight for the construction of temple in Ayodhya, we have decided to commence the march to Delhi on his birthday,” Mr Singhal said. The Ram Janambhoomi Nirman Samiti, which met in the capital yesterday elected Ramchandra Param Hans as its president. The samiti had suggested to the Dharma Sansad, held during Maha Kumbh that the construction of the temple should commence any time after March next year. Mr Singhal said “we are sticking to that stand and have asked the astrologers to mark an auspicious day for the commencement of the temple at Ayodhya.” Criticising the judiciary for its failure to resolve the dispute for a long time, he said the courts have to decide whether a temple existed at the site or not. Several historical and archaeological proofs exist. Still it has not been resolved for a long time, he said, adding that Parliament should ask the judiciary to hear the matter on a day to day basis and end the legal battle which had been going on for over four decades. Asked about the arms training to Bajrang Dal members, he said such a training was being given for the past one decade, it is only during election time that such an activity is highlighted. The VHP’s temple campaign is also gaining momentum at a time when the Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh is due to be held in March. |
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Builders flout SC order in Mussoorie Mussoorie Builders in collusion with government officials are constructing illegal multi-storeyed buildings. About 50 new buildings have been constructed during the past five years in total disregard to an order of the Supreme Court which banned all construction activities here. “There is a caucus of politicians, officials and mafia”, says Rajendra Kumar, a local resident. “Powerful builders are continuing with the construction work”, he adds. Over the past few years, a large number of trees have been felled here to clear the area for commercial purposes. These construction activities can convert the city into a concrete jungle. There are about 400 estates in Mussoorie, out of which 216 are notified forest areas. Under the forest conservation laws, no new construction can take place nor can trees be cut in these notified forest areas. It was in 1980 that the first lot of builders arrived here from various parts of the country and it soon became a haven for private builders. But the hotel lobby says the economy of the hill resort will be derailed if no new hotels and buildings are allowed. Navneet Singh, an
owner of a hotel, says development of the city is must if it has to attract tourists. According to statistics revealed by the State Tourism Department, about two million tourists visit Mussoorie annually. The town has been witnessing an increase of about 5 to 7 per cent in tourist arrivals every year. “More than 5,000 labourers have left the city on account of becoming jobless as they did not have any other means of livelihood”, says Rajendra Kumar. “In the near future, those who are involved directly or indirectly with the tourism industry will be affected”, he adds. |
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Indian media defends coverage of Nepal regicide New Delhi, June 20 “The Indian press is characteristically crisis-driven even in domestic circumstances and this has held true even in the case of reportage of Nepal massacre”, Executive Managing Editor of The Times of India, Mr Dileep Padgaonkar, said in a panel discussion organsied by the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) here. Mr Padgaonkar was responding to the contention held by Nepal’s leading political commentator and the editor of ‘Himal’ Mr Kanak Dixit, that Indian media parachuted in Nepal only during crisis and largely remained ignorant of the neighbour. “The free Nepalese media is just 11 years old and can barely catch the nuances of news emanation in such unusual circumstances”, he said, adding that it thus was the responsibility of the Indian media to provide the excruciating reality of the moment. Mr Kanak Dixit said Indian newspapers and television channels should have resident staffers in Nepal, adding that Nepal was a society moving fast into the ‘modern world’ and therefore proving to be a fertile ground for news cultivation. Mr Padgoankar was of the view that Indian press could not have a base camp in Nepal because of security reasons and it was unjustified to belittle the role of Indian press in Nepal. He said that “professionally speaking the Nepalese media has been insensitive to Devyani Rana, the most controversial figure in the whole episode”. Ms Pamela Constable, Chief of Bureau of the Washington Post, talked of her experience in the distraught nation. “Nobody was ready to accept that Prince Dipender was the culprit who wiped out the reverend Royalty” she said discussing the reaction of the Napelese people. The media had to face a challenging task of digging out facts of the macabre killing with almost no sources of information either in the Government or the palace, she added. Mr Arnab Goswami of the New Delhi Television (NDTV) defended the role of Indian satellite media saying that the events in Nepal had a “whodunit” element and it became mandatory to highlight this aspect. He was reacting against the charge that the satellite media exhibited what was popularly known as “cowboy journalism”. |
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BSP stir from July 20 Lucknow, June 20 Making this announcement at a press conference here, BSP vice-president Mayawati said in the first phase of the statewide agitation, demonstrations would be organised at the district headquarters on July 20. Eleven issues would be raised during the agitation, which would be intensified in the subsequent phases, she added. The issues to be raised by the BSP included Raj Nath Singh government’s inability to issue fresh notification in Ayodhya case, atrocities on members of the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes, increasing crimes in the state, raw deal to farmers, posting of SC/ST officers on insignificant posts, fixing the age limit for chairmen of the SC/ST Commission, the State Backward Commission and the State Minority Commission and the non-filling of reservation quota in government jobs. Ms Mayawati, at a state-level party meeting today, said the strategy would be chalked out for the proposed agitation against the BJP government to eliminate it from power in the next Assembly election. Ms Mayawati said despite the BJP’s announcement to hold elections in March next year, there were all indica-tions of Assembly elections in the state in the month of October. The recent transfers of IAS and IPS officers clearly showed the intentions of the state government to hold early elections, she pointed out. In the manner, the state government had sidelined good SC/ST officers and posted tainted officers at important places on purpose, she said, adding, that the postings were caste-influenced and were done with elections in mind. The former Chief Minister said her party was even prepared for an early election and had already undertaken the party exercise for the same. Reiterating that the BSP would go alone in the polls, she said half of the candidates had already been decided by the party and the list of the rest of the candidates would be finalised soon. The BSP leader said people’s support to her party was amazing in the sense that even the upper caste people were inclined towards it for the first time. The atrocities on Dalits were manifestation of sheer frustration on the part of the ruling BJP, which had colluded with the Samajwadi Party (SP) due to this fact, she alleged. She also charged the BJP and the SP with hatching a conspiracy to eliminate her. The BJP was using the SP to demand withdrawal of her security deliberately.
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Give quota, have votes, Muslims tell BJP New Delhi, June 20 “We are ready to support the BJP in UP, provided it heeds our demand of providing reservations under Article 341 of the Constitution,” the morcha’s national convener Dr Ejaz Ali said. The declaration of the morcha, which boasts allegiance of at least 64 backward castes and 90 per cent of the total Muslim population of India, will sizeably increase the vote-bank of a beleagured BJP which has been scouting for election partners, including making overtures to the rival BSP. Dr Ali said the morcha was ready to accept unconditionally the three contentious issues — Article 370 and 371 (dealing with Kashmir), building of the Ram temple at Ayodhya and the common civil code. “Kashmir is an integral part of our country and there is no question of having any divergent opinion on this issue. We are also ready to accept the court ruling, whatsoever it may be, in the Babri Masjid case. As far as the common civil code is concerned, if we can accept the common criminal code why not the civil code?” the convener, who founded the morcha in 1994, said. He dismissed these as “non-issues” and instead urged for emphasis on basic issues of backward Muslims — that of poverty and illiteracy. “We will support whichever party helps us in our cause of improving our standard of living which will happen only if Dalit Muslims are treated on a par with other backward castes and given reservation under Article 341,” Dr Ali said.
PTI |
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Postcard to welcome Musharraf Coimbatore, June 20 The postcards, regarding “Welcome to India. We need you, we need peace” are expected to create a “positive attitude” to ensure the success of next month’s summit, club secretary Kovai Remesh said. In order to draw General Musharraf’s attention to the aspirations of the people of India, the club proposed to send greetings through the postcards, to welcome him to “his motherland”, Mr Remesh said. He told reporters here that club members would appeal to peace-loving Indian families to send postcards welcoming General Musharraf and expressing their yearning for peace.
PTI |
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Navy, Coast Guard rescue three
Chinese sailors New Delhi, June 20 Receiving a distress call from the Maritime Operation Centre of the Navy that some sailors have burns on board a Chinese vessel MV OSG Argosy, the Coast Guard vessel CGS Rama Devi was rushed rescue operation, the spokesman said. The Coast Guard ship caught up with the Chinese vessel at sea and provided essential medical assistance. Three sailors, one of them with serious 50 to 60 per cent burns were disembarked from the Chinese vessel and brought to Vishakhapatnam naval hospital for treatment, the spokesman said. The Chinese vessel continued its journey to Singapore.
PTI |
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Trade unions back strike by
defence staff New Delhi, June 20 “The central trade unions call upon all sections of the working class to extend total support to the strike and stage massive solidarity actions on the days of the strikes in all state capitals and district centres,” the statement said. The joint statement issued by leaders of AITUC, BMS, CITU, HMS, INTUC, UTUC (LS), AICCTU, UTCU and TUCC described the decision of the three national-level organisations of defence employees to observe the strike as “a befitting rebuff to the reckless move” of the government to privatise defence production. |
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Walkout in House over firing Kolkata, June 20 Raising the issue of police firing in the House, Leader of Opposition Pankaj Banerjee claimed that two workers of the jute mill were killed and 20 injured when the police opened fire on them. He demanded an immediate statement by the Chief Minister on the incident and action against those responsible for the firing. The Chief Minister was, however, not present in the House.
PTI |
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Total solar eclipse today Kolkata, June 20 Director of India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Positional Astronomy Centre (PAC) here K.K. Chakraborty said today the eclipse could be seen over the South Atlantic Ocean, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Madagascar and the Indian Ocean. The eclipse would begin at 3.03 p.m. (IST) at a point in the South Atlantic Ocean, South-East of Rio-de-Janeiro in Brazil and end at 8.04 p.m. (IST). The total phase lasting close to three hours would begin at 4.07 p.m. (IST) at a point in the South Atlantic Ocean, south-east of Montevideo in Uruguay and end at 7 p.m. (IST) at a point in the Indian Ocean.
PTI |
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82-yr-old weds 72-yr-old man Rajgarh, June 20 The bride, Ajab Devi, was married to Bhoola Ram on Sunday amidst an atmosphere of festivity in the presence of a large number of villagers, including representatives of the panchayat. Bhoola Ram agreed to the marriage since as per the tribal customs, a man who dies without getting married is buried while a married person is cremated, panchayat sources said. Ajab Devi had been married earlier when she was 15 but was later deserted by her husband. She agreed to the marriage since she felt that unless she marries Bhoola Ram now, she may not be able to meet him in her next life, the sources added. For Bhoola Ram, it was the first time. In another unusual gesture, the guests, instead of blessing the newly weds, sought their blessings.
PTI |
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8 killed as jeep rams into tree Jagdalpur, June 20 |
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Gang of truck thieves busted New Delhi, June 20 The gang used to take away loaded trucks at gun-point to their hideouts at Nagloi and other places in north-west Delhi and unload the vehicles there, the police said. Those arrested were identified as Charan Singh, Mandeep Rana, Raj Singh and Subhash Tyagi. Their another accomplice Pawan Kumar was also arrested. The modus operandi of the gang was to stop the truck by posing as policemen. One of them would speak on a mobile phone with an assumed senior police officer informing him about the interception. As the driver would take it as a police raid they then used to overpower the driver at gun-point and take away the truck. |
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