 |
Thursday,
February 28, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
India
gives $ 10-m aid to Kabul
All eyes
riveted on UP Governor Survey for
more thrust on personal IT Drug
trafficking through Internet |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lanka
truce: PMK seeks Indian intervention SC
guidelines for levy of excise on beer Tenant
cannot be evicted if rent paid in court: SC Jet
Airways advances reporting time
|
|
India gives $ 10-m aid to Kabul
New Delhi, February 27 Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who had wide-ranging discussions with visiting Afghan interim head Hamid Karzai, also announced New Delhi’s decision to contribute to the World Bank-managed Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund. Addressing a joint press conference with Mr Karzai, the Prime Minister said his visit “adds a new contemporary dimension to our bilateral relationship”. Mr Vajpayee said he had assured Afghanistan that India was committed to providing humanitarian relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation assistance to the Afghan people. “India stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Afghanistan and the friendly people in their hour of need,” he said. The two leaders agreed that forces of terrorism and religious extremism must be totally eliminated for peace and stability and progress in the region. Asked whether India was prepared to send its troops to Afghanistan, Mr Vajpayee said there was no such proposal. “If it is needed, we will consider it favourably.” Mr Karzai today called on President
K.R. Narayanan.  |
|
India to help Kabul rebuild agriculture New Delhi, February 27 On a request from Mr Anwari, Mr Ajit Singh ordered his officials to work out within a week an emergency plan jointly with the Afghan embassy officials as the sowing season was going to start in about a month. Mr Ajit Singh also suggested that Afghanistan might also send a delegation to visit India’s agricultural research laboratories as well as Agricultural Universities so that they can have an idea on what help they would require in future which could be addressed subsequently. The Afghan minister said that economy of his country including agriculture, on which over 80 per cent Afghans lived, had been damaged seriously following 23 years of war. For rebuilding the agricultural institutions it would require over US $5 billion, he added. He requested for immediate help from India stating that the sowing season was going to start within a month. |
|
All eyes riveted on UP Governor New Delhi, February 27 Preferring a long-term perspective than looking at the immediate and short-term gains, the BJP think-tank is of the opinion that joining hands with the “unreliable BSP” can cause irrepairable damage to the saffron brigade. After carefully studying the fractured verdict in the Assembly elections in the country’s most populous state which contributes the highest number of 80 seats to the Lok Sabha, the BJP leadership is keen that the damage to the party’s image should not only be arrested but reversed. Clearly, the overbearing opinion in the top leadership of the BJP is to keep its eyes and ears close to the ground in a determined bid to infuse confidence among all sections of the people in UP and other parts of the country. It is apparent the BJP leadership finds itself delicately placed with the VHP threatening to go ahead with the construction of Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya from March 15. The VHP has rejected the entreaties of the BJP for circumspection in the interests of communal harmony. In this surcharged atmosphere, the BJP has to thank the electorate of UP for dislodging it and voting for a hung Assembly. If the BJP had retained power in Lucknow, it would have found itself in a no-go situation with the VHP declaring that it is not bothered about riots breaking out. At the same time, all eyes are riveted on the role of UP Governor Vishnu Kant Shashtri with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav staking his claim to form the government on the ground of having emerged as the single largest entity but far short of a simple majority in the 403-member Assembly. While acknowledging the SP’s assertion of being the single-largest party, Mr Shastri has said he will consider Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav’s claim. At the same time he would be talking to other political parties and groups before making up his mind. The bottom line according to the Governor is providing a “stable and viable” government in UP. Impartial observers and constitutional experts stress that considering the arithmetic thrown up in the Assembly elections, it might be difficult for any single party to put together a majority without indulging in horse-trading. This is only possible if the BJP and the BSP come together but the former is determined not to offer the chief ministership to Ms Mayawati. Considering the
complexities of the situation, experts said the Governor would have to exercise various options and see if any single party or a combination was able to prove its majority on the floor of the Assembly. The strength would have to be decided solely in the Assembly even if lists were provided to the Governor to support one’s claims. The SP supremo is caught in a catch -22 situation because the exercise of swelling his ranks becomes easier once the Governor invites Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav to prove his majority in the Assembly within a specified time frame. The game of one-upmanship on the part of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav will continue as the ball is presently in the court of the Governor. |
|
Survey for more thrust on personal IT
New Delhi, February 27 Describing this as “the key tax policy and governance issue,” the survey for the 2001-02 fiscal, says the main potential for improvement in the tax-GDP ratio continues to be in the area of direct taxes. The survey also calls for eliminating the exemptions in direct taxes to simplify the system. It notes that considerable progress made over the past 10 years, in reforming the Indian tax system in all respects, have made the tax revenue receipts continue to remain below 10 per cent of the GDP throughout the period. “Fiscal stabilisation continues to be the most difficult of the problems facing the economic management of the country.” According to the survey, the recovery in industrial growth can inject some buoyancy in the excise receipts.
UNI |
|
Drug trafficking through Internet New Delhi, February 27 “For the Internet, there is a real danger that its benefits might be seriously undermined by criminals for illicit gain,” the report says. Expressing concern over the fact that young people are at risk from drug dealers in cyberspace using the Internet, the report shows that drugs are being sold over the Internet, private chat rooms are being used by drug dealers and online pharmacies are selling prescription — only drugs over the web. Stressing that these are just some of the challenges posed by new technologies and globalisation, the report points out that young people may be drawn into drug-related crime by misinformation, propaganda or brainwashing on the part of unseen individuals whose aim is to profit from a broader drug abusing population. As an indicator of booming Internet drug sales, the INCB says reports from Czech Republic indicate that illicit drug sales and purchases are agreed online at Internet cafes or on cellular telephones. Companies in the Netherlands have been using the Internet to sell cannabis seeds and derivatives throughout the world and authorities in the United Kingdom have identified a large number of web sites worldwide offering to sell illicit drugs — ranging from cannabis to heroin, ectasy and cocaine. Outlining how drug traffickers are using new technologies to improve delivery and distribution of drugs and to protect themselves from detection or investigation, the INCB has cited a specific case in 1995, in which a drug trafficking group in the Netherlands used encryption software to encrypt their communications and to create a secure database of unmarked police and intelligence vehicles. Cybercrime, the board warns, is easy to commit, requires few resources and is extremely difficult to detect. “Better international cooperation is needed to investigate and prosecute these crimes,” it emphasises. The INCB has also expressed deep concern over some developed countries which are signatories to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, circumventing the mandated controls of cannabis, which is the most widely and frequently abused illicit drug in the world, through legal manoeuvres. |
|
Lanka truce: PMK
seeks Indian
intervention Chennai, February 27 “The Sri Lankan President is attempting to derail the agreement just for her own political reasons, which has worried those parties which are eager on the return of permanent peace in the island nation”, PMK founder-leader S. Ramadoss said in a statement here.
PTI |
|
SC guidelines for levy of excise on beer
New Delhi, February 27 The ruling was given by a three-Judge Bench comprising Justice B.N. Kirpal, Justice Shivaraj V. Patil and Justice Bisheswar Prasad Singh while allowing an appeal of Haryana Government against a ruling of Punjab and Haryana High Court given on a writ petition filed by Haryana Breweries Ltd. Referring to Section 32 of the Punjab Excise Act, Justice Kirpal, writing the judgement for the Bench, said “a reading of this section leaves no manner of doubt that the stage at which excise duty can be levied is only after the process of manufacture has been completed and in fact it is to be levied when it is issued from the distillery, brewery or warehouse.”
PTI |
|
Tenant cannot be evicted if rent paid in court: SC
New Delhi, February 27 “The tenant is not required to pay the same rent twice over personally to the landlord or to tender the same in one of the modes provided under Section 19A of the Rajasthan Premises (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act,” a Bench comprising Mr Justice R.C. Lahoti and Mr Justice Ruma Pal said recently. A shop owner, Ganga Devi, moved trial court for eviction of her tenant Shiv Dutt Jadiya on the ground that he failed to pay rent.
PTI |
|
Jet Airways advances reporting time New Delhi, February 27 Business and Economy Class passengers without Tele-Check in or City Checked-in have to report at least one hour and 15 minutes prior to departure. The reporting time for Jet Airways’ Business and Economy Class Tele-checked in or City Checked-in passengers has now been revised to one hour. |
 |
| 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 | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In video: (
