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July 28, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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RS okays Central rule in Manipur Congress backs President’s rule Bandh cripples life in Assam
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LS adjourned Chokila to lead
team to China Blackwill
takes over as US envoy Assets of MPs, MLAs: SC notice to govt |
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HC refuses stay on Sondhi’s removal
SC tells states to file affidavits NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT 14 villages face landslip threat Educational schemes hang
fire Minister urges population stabilisation Power cut in PM’s constituency 
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RS okays Central rule in Manipur New Delhi, July 27 Replying to a two-and-a-half hours discussion on the resolution the Home Minister Mr L.K. Advani assured the House that the State Assembly would be dissolved as soon as the presidential proclamation was passed by the Lok Sabha as well. While the resolution was passed by a voice vote, Mr Advani said though the Government would be dissolving the Assembly, it would not be in a hurry to hold Assembly elections in the state. “I would like to assure that after the President’s proclamation is passed, the Government will like to dissolve the Assembly. We will not be going for immediate elections,” he said. Mr Advani said the government wanted to ensure that there was a good governance in the state by containing corruption first so that people’s faith was restored before holding the elections. He said the Centre did not dissolve the Assembly immediately after the imposition of President’s rule on June 2 keeping in view the Supreme Court judgement in the Bommai case wherein an Assembly could be dissolved only after the approval of the presidential proclamation by both Houses of Parliament. It was precisely on this count that the Manipur Assembly had been kept under suspended animation. Mr Advani said while the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, would be meeting the Chief Ministers from the North-East on the question of Nagaland ceasefire, the Centre was committed to maintaining the territorial integrity of the states. He said the government would be consulting various political parties on holding elections in Manipur. He pointed out that all governments formed there after March 1, 2000, had been unstable. The last government was formed there on February 15, 2001 with the support of 59 members in the House of 60. A confidence motion was brought in the assembly as some members withdrew their support and the government was asked to prove its majority, The government lost the vote. For 10 days from March 21 to March 31, 2001, the Governor had invited every party or group to see whether a new government could be formed. Despite all his efforts, no party or group came forward with the claim to form the government. Later, the Governer recommended that the Assembly be kept under suspended animation. Referring to the law and order situation in the state, Mr Advani said the Prime Minister had assured the representatives from Manipur that the ceasefire agreement with the NSCN (I-M) in Nagaland would be reviewed. Mr B.P. Apte (BJP) said the underground was ruling the state and not the government. Trucks plying in the state were forced to give “toll tax”, transmission of Hindi Doordarshan was stopped, on pay day an amount was forcibly deducted, he said.
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Congress backs President’s rule New Delhi, July 27 “If President’s rule was not supported, Manipur would have faced constitutional crisis,” party chief spokesman Jaipal Reddy said here. Stating that Friday was the last day for a decision on the delicate issue, Mr Reddy said the party’s stand was another illustration of the Congress behaving as a responsible Opposition party. He alleged that the situation in Manipur was exploited by the NDA Government which first encouraged defection in the Congress. The government, Mr Reddy said, had not consulted the Opposition when it took the decision to extend ceasefire in areas contiguous to Nagaland. The Congress also criticised the government for not making an authoritative statement in Parliament over the killing of Phoolan Devi. Demanding an expeditious and transparent investigation into the killing, Mr Reddy said Home Minister L.K. Advani had not been able to make an authoritative statement on the killing of Phoolan Devi even after 48 hours. “The killing of an MP is a serious reflection on the security set up in the high security zone,” Mr Reddy said. Asked about the reported comments of CPI leader A B Bardhan concerning meeting of the Opposition convened by Congress President Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Mr Reddy said the observations were unfounded and unfortunate and did not behove the senior leader. “Nor are they in conformity with the objective of promoting unity of Opposition parties,” Mr Reddy said. |
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Bandh cripples life in Assam Guwahati, July 27 Official sources here said markets, shops, educational institutions, business establishments were closed, while offices recorded thin attendance and banks hardly had any transactions. No untoward incident had been reported so far and heavy security arrangements were made to prevent any violence, the sources said. Train services were, however, operating as per schedule though all private vehicles including long-distance buses, kept off the road. The bandh, called by the Dimasa Students’ Union, Autonomous State Demand Committee, Dimasa Women’s Society and North Cachar Hill Students Federation, began at 5 am on July 24 and will end at 5 am tomorrow. Meanwhile, the All-Assam Students Union staged a 10-hour hunger strike at all district and subdivisional headquarters yesterday protesting the ceasefire extension.
PTI
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LS adjourned New Delhi, July 27 As soon as the House assembled for the day’s proceedings, angry Samajwadi MPs rushed to the well of the House, raising slogans holding ruling BJP responsible for her murder and demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Some also raised slogans against Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani. Some BJP MPs wanted to enter the well to confront the SP members, but they were advised by senior colleagues against it. Realising his repeated pleas with agitated members were making no impression on them and the question hour could not be taken up, the Speaker decided to adjourn the House till 2 p.m. |
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Chokila to lead
team to China New Delhi, July 27 Briefing newspersons about the meeting, a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs Nirupama Rao said India would exchange views on different aspects of bilateral, regional and international issues. The Chinese delegation will be led by Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi. This is the 13th meeting of the JWG which was set up during the visit of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to China in December, 1988 and meets annually at the level of Foreign Secretary from the Indian side and Vice-Foreign Minister from China. |
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Blackwill
takes over as US envoy New Delhi, July 27 Mr Blackwill has had a distinguished career as a diplomat before becoming a professor of international security studies at Harvard University’s John. F. Kennedy School of Government. Before his departure from Washington, Mr Blackwill had held extensive consultations with prominent Indian Americans, noted foreign policy experts and government officials, including the US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. He had met President George. W. Bush on July 16 to receive the President’s final instructions before leaving for India. |
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Assets of MPs, MLAs: SC notice to govt New Delhi, July 27 The candidates should declare their assets at the time of filing nominations and continue to do so during the tenure of their office as elected representatives. The Centre and the Election Commission should also come out with measures making it mandatory for such candidates to make a declaration regarding criminal charges, if any, framed against them, at the time of filing their nominations, the petition urged. The petition filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and Dr Y.P. Chibber contended that such measures should be regulated under Article 141 of the Constitution by taking cue from the 170th report of the Law Commission. The petitioners submitted that such measures were essential to strengthen the faith of people in the elected representatives which, in turn, could ensure the protection of their legal and fundamental rights in a democratic state government by the rule of law. The petitioners further stated: “The reason for filing this petition has arisen because of the growing corruption in the Indian politics affecting the social fabric of the country”. |
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HC refuses stay on Sondhi’s removal New Delhi, July 27 Moving the court, Professor Sondhi alleged he was sacked as he had opposed the implementation of the Hindutva agenda by RSS-backed elements in the government. Mr Justice Vikramjit Sen, issuing notices to the HRD Ministry, HRD Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and new ICSSR Chairman K.S. Sarma, directed them to file replies by August 9. Senior counsel Shanti Bhushan submitted that Professor Sondhi was “unceremoniously removed because he had opposed implementation of the Hindutva agenda of hardliner RSS supported elements in the government.” “The government has withdrawn his nomination when a controversy is going on among certain members of the council on communal agenda,” counsel submitted. Questioning the powers of the government to remove the ICSSR Chairman, whose term is fixed for three years, Mr Bhushan said a member or the chief of the council could be removed only when he becomes insolvent or was convicted in a case. Mr Bhushan said the main reason for Mr Sondhi’s removal was that he had spoken in seminars before the Agra summit and had expressed his views against the Hindutva agenda. Additional Solicitor-General Mukul Rohtagi justifying his removal said the functioning of the council had become “impossible” under him and almost all its members had written to the government in this regard.
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SC tells states to file affidavits New Delhi, July 27 The judges expressed their distress over the refusal by all respondents (states) in the matter showing their inability to shoulder any financial burden for augmenting judges’ strength in keeping with the recommendation of the Law Commission made earlier in regard to ratio of judges to population being 50 to 1 million. The court ordered that the affidavits should state the population of the states concerned and union territories, number of subordinate judges at present, the number of vacancies in the subordinate courts, number of additional posts for which sanction has been sought, arrears in the subordinate courts, current ratio of judges to population, number of judges required to meet the recommendation and for eliminating arrears in about three years. The court directed that the affidavits should indicate what expenditure was being incurred per annum on the subordinate judiciary, when income was being derived per annum from court fees and how and when the states concerned proposed to bear at least 50 per cent of the expenditure required to meet the recommendation. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, July 27 The Minister of State for Railways, Mr O. Rajagopal, informed the Lok Sabha that no new rail projects were started during the Ninth Five-Year Plan in Jammu and Kashmir and no new projects were likely to be started during the current year. In response to another question, Mr Rajagopal said the Kalka-Amritsar Express train had been discontinued due to poor patronisation. He said restoration of the train service was not commercially viable. Answering a question by Mr Anil Sharma, the minister said there was no proposal under the consideration of the government for a rail line project between Ghanauli and Pinjore via Nalagarh and Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, benefiting Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. Mr Rajagopal informed the Rajya Sabha a request had been received from Himachal Pradesh for allocation of more funds for expeditious completion of the Nangal Dam- Talwara rail line. For the Kamli- Parwanoo rail line no such request had been received. The minister said due to constraint of resources, the work was being regulated as per their availability. The target date for completion of the project had not been fixed. Allocation of funds, which was Rs 8 crore during 2000-01, had been enhanced to Rs 10 crore during the current financial year. The Minister of State for Non-Conventional Energy Sources informed the Lok Sabha the ministry was considering closing down the geothermal power plant project at Manikaran in Kulu district of Himachal Pradesh. In response to a question by Mr Maheshwar Singh that the plant was depilating the condition of the area, the minister said the government was planning to hand over the land to the original owners and the decision would be conveyed to the state government. |
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14 villages face landslip threat Dehra Dun, July 27 According to a survey conducted by the district administration of Rudraprayag, more than 14 villages need to be declared unfit for inhabitation. Meanwhile, for the ninth day, the relief operations continued and food packets were distributed among people. The survey revealed that a total of 848 families had been affected due to the landslides. Twentytwo persons had died and five were missing. More than 55 livestock perished. Twentytwo residential houses, 28 commercial buildings and eight government buildings were completely destroyed while 55 houses, 47 commercial complexes and 11 government buildings were partiailly damaged. Phata village was declared as the most affected village. More than 43 acres of fertile land in the village was swept away by the landslides and heavy rains. When asked about the ongoing relief operations in the areas, the Chief Minister of Uttaranchal, Mr Nityanand Swami, told The Tribune that a few villages in the area were still vulnerable to landslides. Referring to Dhani village near the Phata area, he said the administration was finding it difficult to persuade the residents of the village to leave their homes. He said there were 46 families in the village which had nullahs on two sides, making it vulnerable to landslips. Mr Ajay Bhatt, Minister of Health and Disaster Management, who has been camping in the area to supervise the relief and rescue operations, said 250 tents had been distributed among the affected families. |
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Educational schemes hang
fire Hanumangarh, July 27 A recent example of this came to light in the matter of providing information to the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) and the block development offices by the office of the Director, Primary Education (Bikaner), under the Pradhan Mantri Gramodya Yojna. The Director, Primary Education, issued orders to the block development offices to bring up construction proposals, if any, from various schools in the district to the DRDA. In the order, it was stated that under the scheme for any project, 70 per cent of the expenses would be borne by the DRDA while the school concerned would have to pay the remaining amount. Later, it was learnt that the DRDA was not informed about the orders sent to the block developmnet offices and no budget was sanctioned to the agency to carry out any project in the schools. Now the proposals sent by the block development offices are lying with the agency and no attention is being paid to these. Sources in the agency said they had not received any information from the office of the Director in this regards. Villagers have been visiting the DRDA, but have allegedly not got a satisfactory response from the authorities. Some of them said they had deposited their share a year ago, but the construction work in schools in their respective villages had yet not started. They said the authorities had asked them to get their amount refunded as the scheme had been closed. |
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Minister urges population stabilisation New Delhi, July 27 In his address at the presentation of the second Sat Paul Mittal Award on Population and Environment here on last evening, Dr Thakur stressed the need for accepting population control programmes. Dr Thakur lauded the Indian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development for instituting the award in the memory of its chairman, Mittal. He also congratulated the recipients of the award, late S.P. Godrej and Dr Banoo Jehangir Coyaji. The awards were presented by former Prime Minister,
I.K. Gujral. |
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Power cut in PM’s constituency Lucknow, July 27 A shortage of 1,750 mw electricity has led to power cuts in the rural and urban areas alike. The affected areas include the state capital, which is represented by Mr Vajpayee in the Lok Sabha, and Haidergarh, the constituency of Chief Minister Rajnath
Singh. UNI |
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