 |
Thursday,
September 6, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
|
Another
tusker found dead SC: no
bail for life-term convicts |
|
|
George picks holes in govt
functioning Rs 10,000
cr Grameen Rozgar Yojana on the cards Krishan Kant gives away prizes
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Teachers’
strike enters 8th day Unpaid teachers converge on Delhi Even
Cabinet Secy not spared Army
chief takes over as Honorary Colonel Most wanted forger arrested Bush
thanks counsel for memento
|
|
Another tusker found
dead Dehra Dun, September 5 In a major attack, five suspected armed poachers, who have let loose a reign of terror in the National Park for the past one month, shot dead a Deputy Forest Ranger and seriously injured three others last week in the Bijrani range. However, the police had failed to make any significant breakthrough in the poaching incident. The kingpin of a poacher gang in Corbett National Park continued to elude police even though eight gang members were arrested in for the alleged killing of five elephants in the sanctuary, earlier this year. Yesterday’s incident of a tusker being found dead has put the Uttaranchal police in a tizzy situation even as another combing operation is continuing for the past week to nab the elusive poachers. Although, the forest officials claim that this tusker was 35 years old and died of being prone to some disease but the local people say the tusker was murdered with a poisonous substance. Before the poachers could come back to collect the tusks, the villagers informed the forest officials. Uttaranchal Director-General of police had gone on record saying the security of the park is lopsided. In this regard, the police chief in February this year submitted a detailed report to the Uttaranchal Government on the park recommending toning up of its security system and opening of a tiger police station in Kalagarh area close to the park. But this report is gaining dust in the files of the Chief-Minister’s office. The report had suggested that there be checks on VIP guests to the park and that a coordination committee be formed to ensure protection of wildlife. Top state government officials are tight-lipped over the latest spate of attacks on park officials. Till date, the state government had failed to issue any statement on the issue. When asked what the modus operandi of the so-called criminals, Staff Officer of the DGP, Mr Anil Raturi (IPS), said: “They are attacking human beings to create terror. Till we arrest them it is very difficult to say whether they are really poachers.” The latest attacks on the park officials have also raised a hue and cry among the wildlife experts who warned that such incidents must be checked so as to save the precious wildlife. Prof John Singh of the Wild-life Institute of India (WII) says the security of the park should be beefed up on the pattern of the Annamalai Wildlife Sanctuary where at least 20 anti-poaching camps have been set up. “We must set up anti-poaching camps at the Corbett Tiger Reserve area as it has been observed that such measures have effectively checked the killing of tuskers in Annamalai sanctuary,” says Mr Singh. The latest wildlife census in Uttaranchal has brought to light the steep decline in the male population of tuskers, which now stands at 109 against 282 female elephants in the park. Stating that if urgent steps are not taken to check the poaching incidents, the tusker population may go the Periyar Tiger Reserve (Kerala) way where the sex ratio is very disturbing. In Periyar the sex ratio of tuskers is one against 100 to 120 female elephants and on most of the occasions they do not breed at all, he further says. According to Mr D S Khati, Director of the park, poachers are believed to have crossed into the park from Bijnaur district of Uttar Pradesh. Earlier this year when five elephants were killed in the park, Uttaranchal Chief Minister Nityanand Swami had called for including the 22.5 km area belonging to the buffer zone of the park that falls under Bijnaur into Uttaranchal for security reasons. “This arrangement will effectively check the poaching incidents to a large extent,” Mr Swami had asserted. But thereafter, Mr Swami kept mum on the issue falling prey to political compulsions. |
|
SC: no bail for life-term
convicts New Delhi, September 5 The court gave the ruling while interpreting Section 437 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) dealing with when bail may be taken in case of a non-bailable offence. It set aside the order of the Allahabad High Court granting bail to a respondent who is accused of having shot dead a woman citing eyewitnesses in the case of the former having murdered his wife earlier. The court pointed out that the instantly accused second respondent stood convicted and punished with life imprisonment by the trial court for the murder of his wife and had filed a appeal in the high court. Pending appeal the appellate court granted him bail. Apprehending danger to her life, the wife of the appellant Ram Lakhan Pandey applied to the government for protection and also filed a petition in the high court to that effect whereupon the high court directed the Home Secretary to do the needful. Yet no protection was given to the deceased. The second respondent accompanied by another co-accused, shot Hem Lata Pandey while she had gone to irrigate her farm in the company of her husband, two sons and two servants on January 31, 2000, at about 2.30 p.m. Holding that the high court had dealt with the case “in a most cursory manner”, a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice K.T. Thomas and Mr Justice S.N. Variava said, “At this stage it cannot be said that there is reasonable ground for believing that the second respondent has not committed the offence.” “No special reasons for granting bail have been indicated by the high court. The alleged ailment of the second respondent is also not such as required releasing him on bail. The second respondent can always apply to the jail authorities to see that he gets the required medical treatment”, declared Mr Justice Variava while delivering the judgement. Mr Justice Variava held that the high court order granting bail could not be sustained and directed the state of UP to ensure that the second respondent was taken into custody forthwith. |
|
George picks holes in govt functioning
New Delhi, September 5 Though maintaining that talking about the Centre’s policies did not mean attacking the NDA government, Mr Fernandes said unemployment was a major challenge but the Planning Commission’s task force’s report would aggravate the problem rather than solve it. Quoting extensively from the Mid-term Apprisal report prepared by the Planning Commission to drive home his point, the Samata Party leader said the statistics had been given by the government itself. Mr Fernandes was participating in a seminar on “Employment generation — burning issues”, organised by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, a Sangh Parivar organisation, where speakers strongly criticised the report of the task force on employment opportunities headed by Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Mr Fernandes said: “Though Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee addressed various issues, we need to put in more speed. The road blocks need to be brushed aside with determination and those coming in the way of economic growth should be punished.” Mr Fernandes said in his letter to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman
K.C. Pant that the latter should formulate an employment generation programme in consonance with the National Agenda of Governance.
PTI |
|
Rs 10,000 cr Grameen Rozgar
Yojana on the cards New Delhi, September 5 Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, in his address urged the states to rejuvenate water resources taking it as a national programme by desilting ponds and wells and take other measures which would assist drought-proofing. Mr Sinha said all states must first choose most distressed areas and concentrate on these under this scheme. Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh emphasised on the importance of introducing a comprehensive and targeted wage employment scheme which would ensure food security to households across the country and also serve to create rural infrastructure and durable assets. Speaking on the occasion, Rural Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the existing rural development schemes would continue for the current year. From the next year, schemes and programmes of various ministries having a wage component and relevant for employment generation in rural areas would be part of the new Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana. The scheme will be applicable to below-poverty-line and above-poverty-line families. Programmes under the schemes can be planned and executed by the gram panchayats but the details of the programmes will have to be placed before the gram sabhas. Mr Naidu said states would be allowed to use their discretion in the selection of work and in operational details. He urged the states to pass legislations regarding employment generation schemes. The finalised scheme is proposed to be implemented from the current year with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crores including Rs 5,000 crore in the form of foodgrains and the balance as cash. The ongoing Employment Assurance Scheme and other employment generation schemes will be merged in the proposed scheme. The state concerned will be expected to meet 25 per cent of the cash components of the wages, while the Union Government would meet the balance portion of the cash components as well as the entire cost of foodgrains. The objective will be to give a minimum of 100 day’s employment to one member of every needy family. Under the scheme, 5 kg of foodgrains (in kind) will be ensured to all unemployed rural workers. The remaining part of the wages will be paid in cash. The representatives of state governments, which included Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, Food Minister of Punjab, urged the Central Government to meet the entire cost of the scheme, as the states would find it difficult to raise the required resources. The meeting decided that the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana would be launched as soon as possible, possibly within the current month, after the necessary official clearances. The committee also approved in principle the launching of the Grain Bank Scheme for which modalities would be separately worked out. |
|
Krishan
Kant gives away prizes New Delhi, September 5 Mr Kant performed this duty without delivering a speech, which is customarily given by the President. The Vice-President had to present this year’ Teachers’ Day awards as President K.R. Narayanan has still not recovered well enough to present National Awards 2000 to 278 teachers for their contribution to the development of the country through education. The President had sent a message to Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi
regretting that he was unable to attend the function as doctors had advised him rest. Dr Joshi said an additional Rs 47,000 crore would be required for achieving the goal of Education For All in the country. Of this, Rs 40,000 crore would be required over the next 10 years to ensure that all children in the age group of six to 14 got eight years of elementary education by 2010. |
|
Teachers’ strike enters 8th day Ahmedabad, September 5 A spokesman for the federation said they had decided to boycott all government functions to felicitate meritorious teachers on the occasion of Teachers’ Day. A group of lady teachers wearing black clothes held a dharna at the Collector’s office here. The
SSHSSTF has decided to cut short their Divali vacation to compensate the loss of teaching days due to its strike.
UNI |
|
Unpaid teachers converge on Delhi
New Delhi, September 5 Addressing the protesting members of the teaching community, who observed the Teachers Day by holding a demonstration at the Jantar Mantar here, the Bihar Pradesh Secondary Teachers Association
(BPSTA) chairman, Dr Ravindranath Yadav, said several teachers in Bihar and Jharkhand had either committed suicide or simply perished because of poverty as salaries had not been paid during the past two decades.
UNI |
|
Even Cabinet
Secy not spared New Delhi, September 5 Mr Prasad, an IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, is believed to have mentioned in passing at the meeting convened by Mr Vajpayee of his ministers handling economic portfolios here last night how the CBI refused to accept his word at face value. On the contrary, the CBI in the course of its investigations collected no fewer than 11 specimen signatures of Mr Prasad and perused a large number of files including how he routed them in the discharge of his duties and
responsibilities as the numero uno of the civil service. |
|
Army chief takes over
as Honorary Colonel New Delhi, September 5 General Padmanabhan was presented accoutrements of the Brigade of the Guards by Lt-Gen H.R.S. Mann, Chief of Staff, (Headquarters) Western Command, and Colonel of the Brigade. The Brigade of the Guards is an elite regiment of the Army. It is the first infantry regiment of the Army where troops from all parts of India serve together in various battalions of the regiment. The Raising of the brigade as an all-class composition regiment by the late Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa, OBE, was a bold experiment in national integration. This brigade has bagged two Param Vir Chakras, six Mahavir Chakras and 41 Vir Chakras, amongst many other gallantry and distinguished service awards. |
|
Most wanted forger arrested
Mumbai, September 5 Addressing reporters, Deputy Commissioner of Police Manoj Lohia said the accused would draw demand drafts for Rs 500 and Rs 700 and cleverly alter them to Rs 5 lakh or Rs 7 lakh with the sleight of his hand. He would later erase the figures on the carbon copy with a special technique perfected by him.
PTI |
|
Bush thanks counsel for memento New Delhi, September 5 In a brief letter to Mr Aggarwala, which he received yesterday, Mr Bush thanked him for the memento. Interestingly, Mr Aggarwala had inscribed the following message on the memento: “Awaiting your visit to India and expecting the withdrawal of sanctions against India”. The memento was presented on behalf of the Indian American Friendship Council to the US Ambassador designate in India, Mr Robert Blackwill, in the White House recently as Mr Bush was away. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
