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| Tuesday, July 23, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Gill for early poll in
Gujarat
Shinde files
papers |
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BSNL DGM held,
Rs 2.4 lakh seized
3 Al-Qaida camps spotted in PoK India’s rebuff to Straw J&K poll: ‘no help sought from USA’ Market crash: JPC indicts SEBI NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT 2 Indian Army officers
killed in Congo Agriculture ministers
to meet tomorrow CBFC acting
chief vows to curb obscenity Maran undergoes
cardiac surgery Poaching case:
CBI files complaint CAG: reach of TB programmes
inadequate
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Gill for early poll in
Gujarat New Delhi, July 22 He accused politicians of indulging in “divisive politics” for the sake of votes, which he said was the cause of the situation in Gujarat. “Many people do not understand why I recommend early poll in Gujarat. But they will understand once time passes,” he said. The “supercop” returned last week from Gujarat, saying that his job was over as peace had returned to the state. “Politicians go mad just before elections. So the shorter this period is kept, the better it is for the state,” he said at a function organised by Mr M.S. Bitta’s All-India Anti-Terrorist Front to honour him with the “Pride of Nation” award. Accusing politicians of indulging in “divisive politics”, he said: “As long as they divide people for votes and indulge in votebank politics, Gujarat will continue to be repeated.” Health and Family Welfare Minister Shatrughan Sinha, who was the chief guest at the function, agreed to a “noticeable” deterioration in the standard of Indian politics and stressed the urgent need for “good people to enter politics and rid it of the dirt”. “If good people do not enter politics, they have to be ready to be ruled by bad ones,” he said. He showered praises on Mr Gill, calling him a national hero and crediting him with the return of peace to Gujarat and Punjab. Mr Bitta warned that political terrorism posed a much greater danger than extremism. He decried “certain political parties” for “maligning” Mr Gill for his favouring early poll in Gujarat. |
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EC holds informal talks on
Gujarat poll New Delhi, July 22 Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh and Election Commissioners T.S. Krishnamurthy and B.B. Tandon held the talks soon after the departure of a visiting Congress delegation, sources said. Earlier in the day, the commission received a copy of the Gujarat Governor’s notification, dissolving the state Assembly to pave the way for early elections. A formal meeting of the commission was expected to be held later in the week to take a decision on the Gujarat Government’s recommendation for early elections.
UNI |
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Shinde files
papers New Delhi, July 22 Mr Shinde will contest against senior BJP leader and NDA nominee Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who filed his nomination papers on July 18 as Vice-President Krishan Kant’s tenure expires on August 20. Mr Shinde, a Dalit leader from Maharashtra, was accompanied by Leader of the Opposition and Congress President Sonia Gandhi and a host of Opposition leaders, including RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. Four sets of nomination papers were filed on behalf of Mr Shinde before Returning Officer and Lok Sabha Secretary-General G.C. Malhotra. Several other senior Congress leaders, including the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Ms Ambika Soni, Mr K. Natwar Singh and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, were also present at the time of filing the nomination. “It is not a token fight. It is a real fight,” declared Mrs Sonia Gandhi soon after Mr Shinde filed the nomination. Mr Mulayam Singh, who extended his party’s support to Mr Shinde despite his differences with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, said the entire Opposition was united in supporting Mr Shinde. “BJP’s game is now over,” Mr Laloo Yadav said in his inimitable tone and style. Mr Gowda expressed confidence that the Opposition would emerge victorious in the August 12 poll. Although Mr Shekhawat having the support of the NDA allies, the TDP, the AIADMK and the BSP, has a clear edge over Mr Shinde, the confidence of the Opposition leaders over the possible victory of their nominee lies on their thinking that Mr Shinde, being a Dalit candidate, could muster support from Dalit MPs belonging to the ruling combine. The 60-year-old Shinde, who rose from a humble beginning starting as a peon in Sessions Court in Solapur, has the distinction of returning to the Lok Sabha for the second time in 1999 elections from unreserved constituency of Solapur. He was also a member of the Rajya Sabha in the early 90s. Mr Shinde had been a minister in Maharashtra for almost two decades before he moved to Delhi in 1991-92. He created a record of sorts by presenting as many as nine Budgets as Maharashtra’s Finance Minister. The Opposition nominee, who was AICC General Secretary for several years, is currently a member of the Central Election Committee of the Congress. The last date for filing of nominations for the vice-presidential poll is July 24. While the scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on July 25, the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is July 27. The election will be held on August 12 between 10 am and 5 pm and the counting will be taken up the same day at 6 pm. A total of 790 electors, both from the Lok Sabha, and the Rajya Sabha, would be empowered to cast their votes to elect the next Vice-President of the country. |
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Samajwadi Party to back
Shinde New Delhi, July 22 SP General Secretary and spokesman Amar Singh said today that although they were very unhappy with the Congress over its repeated action of not supporting the party, yet rising above petty politics, it would lend support to the Congress nominee with the basic idea of defeating the communal forces in the country. He said the communal forces would be surprised at the party’s move which was reflective of its intention of strengthening the secular forces and the Opposition. Mr Amar Singh said it was difficult to forget that the Congress had not pledged support to the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, which stalled the formation of a government headed by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Besides, the SP was not happy with the role played by the Congress in curbing the communal forces in Gujarat. Referring to the criticism of the SP by Left parties for not supporting the latter’s nominee for the just-concluded presidential election, Mr Amar Singh said his party did not require any certificate from the Left to prove its credentials as a secular party. |
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BSNL DGM held,
Rs 2.4 lakh seized New Delhi, July 22 The accused, Dalip Kumar, Deputy General Manager (Quality Assurance), posted in Naini in Allahabad, was arrested on July 20 by the sleuths of CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch, Lucknow for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 75,000 from the complainant, a CBI press note said here today. The complainant, a retired officer of the Indian Air Force was supplying connectors to the BSNL. The bribe was demanded by the accused officer to approve the supplies made by the complainant, it said, adding that the complainant did not want to pay the bribe and reported the matter to the CBI, Lucknow. Subsequently, the Anti-Corruption Branch officials laid a trap and the accused official, belonging to the Indian Telecom Service, 1989 Batch, was arrested while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 75,000, it said. In a follow-up action, searches were conducted at the office and residential premises of the accused. A cash amount of Rs 2,40,000 was recovered from his residence, the CBI release said adding that the accused also had bank deposits worth Rs 12 lakh. The accused was produced before a CBI special court in Lucknow and was remanded to 14 days judicial custody. |
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3 Al-Qaida camps spotted in PoK New Delhi, July 22 This assumes significance in view of the forthcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, though what is of concern immediately for the security agencies is that US Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to be here on July 27 and 28. Sources do not rule out the possibility of a major strike in Kashmir or elsewhere in India by Al-Qaida terrorists just before Mr Powell’s visit. Significantly, a satellite television network called Middle East Broadcasting Centre has recorded a message from, what it says, is a “top Al-Qaida man” identified as Abu Laith Alibi who confirmed that Bin Laden as well as Taliban supremo Mullah Omar are alive and well. In his message, Alibi, ostensibly addressing Muslims all over the world, says: “I would like to let you know that Mullah Omar is well and that he has regained power over the different groups of Taliban. The same thing as far as the other leading members of Al-Qaida are concerned, Sheikh Osama bin Laden and Suleiman Abu Ghaith are also well. Also, I would like to tell you that we — the Mujahideen have started a new chapter in our war. This will consist of what’s called military training, guerrilla warfare and series of assassinations.” |
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India’s rebuff to Straw New Delhi, July 22 Reacting to Mr Straw’s comment that India needed to do more to improve its human rights record in the state, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said India had a strong institutional mechanism to deal with the human rights issues. “There are self-correcting mechanisms perfectly capable of handling human rights issues.” During Mr Straw’s recent visit, New Delhi conveyed to him that the “flip-flop in policy” by Pakistan evidenced in Gen Pervez Musharraf’s interview to Newsweek and the BBC was followed by enhanced level of infiltration and terrorist attacks. “Therefore, it is the considered view of the Government of India that Pakistan must take further steps to end infiltration and deal with the infrastructure that supports terrorism,’’ the spokesperson said. |
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J&K poll: ‘no help sought from USA’ New Delhi, July 22 “Neither have we solicited their help, nor has the USA offered us any advice on this issue,” an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson told reporters here. She was commenting on the visit of a U S diplomats’ team which visited the valley, met leaders of the separatist groups and appealed to them to take part in the electoral process. The spokesperson said the visit of the delegation of foreign diplomats, like the US team, could not be seen as an interference in India’s internal affairs.
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Market crash: JPC indicts SEBI New Delhi, July 22 “The committee is concerned to note that no limit had been fixed on financing of the ALBM which enabled a single player to influence the market”, the JPC said in a draft report circulated among its members. The JPC came down heavily on SEBI for not paying due attention to the role of the ALBM in engineering the downfall in the market, and pointed out that Reliance Shares and Stock Brokers Limited was the “topmost” participant in the National Stock Exchange’s ALBM. In the period between February 28 and March 7 the withdrawals accruing to the firm reached the Rs 1,900-crore mark. The JPC has also asked the UTI Bank to conduct an independent inquiry into the proposed merger with Global Trust Bank ( GTB) which eventually failed. “The then UTI Chairman, Mr P.S. Subramanyam, and Chairman and Managing Director P.J. Nayak (who stood to gain personally from the merger) are substantially responsible for the lack of transparency in the UTI and in UTI Bank’s decision-making process,” the report said. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, July 22 In a written reply the Minister of State of Health and Family Welfare Mr A. Raja said financial assistance to the state was provided under various National health programmes for control of major diseases such as malaria, TB, blindness, leprosy and AIDS. Allocations under these programmes which are primarily made on the basis of demand from the state, incidence of disease and past performance were considered sufficient for the purpose, the Minister informed the House. The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) since its inception have received representations for the inclusion of Tarkhan, Julaha, Ansari (other than those included in the list of Scheduled Castes) and Khatri castes/communities in the Central list of Backward Classes for Himachal Pradesh, the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Mr B.B. Mookherjee told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today. The castes/communities Tarkhan, Julaha, Ansari ( other than those included in the list of SCs) have already been included in the Central list of OBCs for Himachal Pradesh as notified in Gazette Notification No 71 dated April 4, 2000, the minister told the House. The NCBC has rejected the proposal to include ‘Khatri’ caste/community in the Central List of OBCs for Himachal Pradesh as it is not a socially backward but a socially advanced community in the state. The government has accepted this advice of the Commission, the minister said in his reply. As many as 1268 road accidents have taken place on the National Highways in Punjab during the year 2000, the Lok Sabha was told today. In a written reply Minister of State of Road Transport and Highways Maj Gen (Retd) B.C. Khanduri said the corresponding figures for the year 2001 for Punjab were not available. In Himachal Pradesh during the year 2001, a total of 1001 accidents took place on the National Highways. The corresponding figure in the previous two years for Himachal Pradesh are 709 (2000) and 829 (1999) respectively, the House was informed. The minister said the necessary measures of road safety on all National Highways are incorporated in the road design at the detailed project report stage. The government has also taken a number of steps besides the highway design to improve the road safety on the the National Highways. These include: providing refresher training to drivers of heavy motor vehicles, publicity campaigns on road safety awareness through audio-visual-print media, grants-in-aid is provided to voluntary organisations for administering road safety programmes, using simulators in drivers training is encouraged, national award instituted for voluntary organisations/individuals for outstanding work in the field of road safety, all India essay competition on road safety are organised for school children for creating awareness among the school children, fitness norms for transport vehicles have been tightened, and widening/ improvement of roads, etc. |
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2 Indian Army officers killed in Congo New Delhi, July 22 All passengers of the ill-fated bus died in the accident, which occurred on July 18. The officers, Lt-Col S.C.N.J. Raja from the Artillery and Maj Sandeep Sharma of the Grenadiers Regiment of the Infantry were two of the 33 Indian Army officers presently serving with the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC), an Army press note here said today. It was considered one of the most difficult and complex peacekeeping missions undertaken by the UN in recent times. The Indian Government had agreed to provide these Army officers on a specific request by the UN, it said. Immediately on hearing of the unfortunate incident, the UN Mission in Congo despatched two special helicopters, accompanied by top mission officials, to the accident site in Uganda to escort their mortal remains to Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, and also the mission headquarters, it said. The mortal remains have since arrived in Kinshasa from where they would be transported to India after the conduct of appropriate ceremonies, it said. Belonging to the select lot of officers who were chosen by the government for deputations on UN missions abroad, the two officers had joined the mission in April. Lt-Col Raja hailed from the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh while Maj Sharma was from Dehra Dun. Both officers were alumni of the National Defence Academy and graduates of the prestigious Defence Services Staff College, it said.
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Agriculture ministers
to meet tomorrow New Delhi, July 22 The states which have been invited to this conference are Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The meeting will discuss the contingency arrangements the state governments have made and the assistance that may be required from the Centre due to the prolonged dry spell. The Centre has identified certain action points which would be acted upon after consultation with these state governments to effectively deal with the situation. These action points relate to the review of the status of public distribution system in the affected states as well as arrangements of quick movement of food grains to the affected places, setting up of fodder information centres within the Central Animal Husbandry Department and issuing guidelines about maintenance of cattle camps, updating of health contingency plan and conveying the same to states etc. Besides officials of the Union Agriculture Ministry, officials of the Department of Expenditure, Food, Rural Development, Department of Drinking Water, Water Resources, Power, Child and Women Development and Meteorology will participate in the one-day meeting.
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CBFC acting
chief vows to curb obscenity Mumbai, July 22 “I strongly feel that we need not follow Western culture but would rather prefer the reverse,” said the newly appointed acting Chairman of the Censor Board for Film Certification (CBFC), famous for his portrayal of Ravana in TV serial “Ramayana”. Trivedi, a former BJP MP, assumed office today after he was appointed to succeed Vijay Anand, who quit as Chairman of the board last week. Anand was locked in a battle with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for his views on showing pornographic films in designated cinema halls. Trivedi said he would work within the legal parameters set by the board while keeping in mind the age-old traditions followed in the country.
PTI |
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Maran undergoes
cardiac surgery New Delhi, July 22 “A team of doctors led by eminent cardiac surgeon P. Venugopal operated upon Mr Maran this morning. The surgery, which started at 10 a.m., lasted about two and a half hours. The surgery was successful and post-operatively, his condition is stable now,” AIIMS spokesman said. The DMK leader is now in the intensive care unit of the hospital and his condition is being monitored. No visitors are being allowed to visit Mr Maran. He would remain in the hospital for at least a week, the spokesman said. Mr Maran, who was admitted to the hospital on April 15 after complaining of chest discomfort, had underwent a large number of tests which showed a heart valve defect. A team of doctors led by eminent cardiologist K.K. Talwar was treating
him. UNI |
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Poaching case:
CBI files complaint
Ghaziabad, July 22 The complaint was filed in the special CBI court of Mr Randhir Singh, who, after taking cognizance of it, fixed August 3 for pre-charge evidence. The 285-page complaint was filed by Special CBI prosecutor Rajan Dhayia in which the agency alleged that Badal, who under the assumed name of Pankaj; had engaged two poachers — Inam and Meherban (both in judicial custody) —for killing leopards in the forests under Biharigarh district.
PTI |
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CAG: reach of TB programmes
inadequate New Delhi, July 22 The CAG has pointed out that the cure rate under the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTPC) was below the stipulated rate and the grants released to district TB control societies (DTCS) were utilised only to the extent of 13 to 27 per cent between 1996-97 and 2000-2001. Only 12 per cent of the grants to DTCS for assistance to NGOs could be utilised, it said. Substandard drugs worth Rs 34.33 lakh had been purchased by different states, it added. Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare A. Raja said in the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that the performance of the NTP had been poor but added that a new revised strategy was under implementation. He said the programme had started slowly but had progressed rapidly. In 1998, the coverage was 20 million which has now increased to 480 million. It was expected to increase by 800 million in 2004.
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In video:
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi criticises the Opposition for opposing early elections in the
State. (
