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Friday,
August 9, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Exit policy for defence personnel on
anvil Women’s groups oppose early Gujarat
poll NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT Houses of Vaiko
raided |
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Sinha leaves for
Kabul today
Bahal’s arrest undemocratic, says Editors Guild Check attacks on Sikhs in USA, envoy
urged PIL filed against Kalam’s election Cong leaders write
to minister on poll reforms Babi cites security
for failure to appear
Advani meets party MPs Soz joins Cong Boy’s body found on gurdwara’s rooftop
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Exit policy for defence personnel on anvil New Delhi, August 8 “We are deliberating on what level the exit policy for officers should be... The formula is being worked out. This will help us in our projection of requirements for the future. The exit policy will be reviewed after three years to see if it is of help in the ultimate restructuring of the services,’’ the sources said. They said the exit policy, on the lines of the voluntary retirement scheme, would not reduce the strength of officers in the services where there was already a shortage. The sources denied that the report of the Ajai Vikram Singh Committee, looking into the restructuring, had been rejected by the government. “The report has not even been submitted so there is no question of it being rejected. All these media reports are pure speculation,’’ the sources said adding that the committee had also ruled out creating the post of Colonel-General. In fact, the restructuring exercise being undertaken by the committee was not even a ‘cadre review’ but aimed at improving the functional command. The report of the committee recommending that the age of the Battalion Commanding Officers be reduced from present 42 to 37 years and that of Brigade Commanders from the existing 51 to 47 years is in the final stages of preparation, according to senior Army officials here. It is likely to be submitted to the Defence Minister shortly, officials said. The major recommendations of the committee which included representatives of all three services, Defence Ministry as well as financial advisors, seeks to increase the rank structure of Colonels and Brigadiers that would also lead to a consequent proportional increase in higher rank structures of Major-General and above.
UNI, PTI |
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Women’s groups oppose early Gujarat
poll New Delhi, August 8 In a memorandum to Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh, women activists representing the All-India Democratic Women’s Association, National Federation of Indian Women, Guild of Service, Joint Women’s Programme, Nirantar, YWCA, Aman Ekta Manch, Ankur, Muslim Women’s Forum, Jagori and Saheli have said that elections should not be held till the people of Gujarat, particularly women, can exercise their right to vote freely and fearlessly. The activists have urged the EC to examine the possibility of holding elections under the Modi government and make appropriate recommendations. The memorandum states, “There is ample evidence substantiated by reports of the National Human Rights Commission and numerous other organisations of the complicity of the present state government in the violence, the complicity of top officers of the administration including the police, in the protection of the criminals involved. Elections under such a state government can never be free, leave alone fair. The first condition is for the state government to go.” |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, August 8 In a written reply Minister of Defence George Fernandes said the rentals for the requisitioned and hired lands were being paid regularly. The rentals for the requisitioned and hired lands were deposited by the Defence Estates Officers with the Deputy Commissioners concerned, who make the payments to the individuals concerned. The complaints about the payment of rentals are examined on merit as and when received, the House was told. As per the location of the registered office, there is one Central public sector undertaking in Jammu and Kashmir i.e. J&K Mineral Development Corporation Limited, according to details given in the Public Enterprises Survey, the Lok Sabha was told. The Centre have extended the North-East Industrial Policy package to Jammu and Kashmir with a view to promoting and facilitating investments in the industrial sector, the Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Dr Vallabhbhai Kathiria, told the House in a written reply. The salient features of the proposed package are : 100 per cent excise exemption to the investment for new industrial units and units under substantial expansion; capital investment subsidy to the extent of 15 per cent to the capital investment of Rs 30 lakh, whichever is less; the working capital investment subsidy to the extent of 3 per cent; and 100 per cent insurance premium on the capital investment. The above policy package was notified on June 14 by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the minister told the House. During the past three years 30 retail outlet dealerships, 20 LPG distributorships and 5 SKO-LDO dealerships were allotted in Jammu and Kashmir, the Lok Sabha was told today. In a written reply today the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Santosh Kumar Gangwar, said 25 per cent reservation was provided to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes in the allotment of dealerships/distributorships of petroleum products. The 25 per cent reservation is implemented in such a way that these two communities get their share in proportion to their population in that state/union territory. The people of Rajouri and Poonch had made a demand for more recruitments in the central paramilitary forces to the then Home Minister when he visited Jammu and Kashmir in June, 1999, the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, told the Lok Sabha in a written reply. Representation of Jammu and Kashmir in the central paramilitary forces is on the high side as compared to the population ratio of the state. However, in addition to the usual annual recruitments in the central paramilitary forces, special recruitment is conducted in Jammu and Kashmir from 1990 onwards, by allocating extra vacancies. Instruction have also been issued to all central paramilitary forces to allot 5 per cent of the recruitment in the new battalions to Jammu and Kashmir. Two central paramilitary force battalions were also raised for recruitment from amongst the surrendered militants of Jammu and Kashmir, the House was told. |
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Houses of Vaiko raided Chennai, August 8 The searches, which started around 8 am this morning at 12 places across the state, were continuing, the police said. The residences of Mr Vaiko in Delhi, Chennai and at his native place, Kalingapatti in Tirunelveli district, besides MDMK party offices in Chennai and Madurai were also searched. Mr Vaiko and eight others were arrested under POTA for their ‘pro-LTTE’ speech at Tirumangalam near Madurai in June. Earlier, the ‘Q’ branch, assisted by the state police arrived at Mr Vaiko’s residence but found their entry barred by the inmates, who demanded the search warrant. Even after the search warrant was shown, they did not allow the all-male team to enter the residence on the ground that there were women in the residence and demanded the presence of a woman member in the team. About an hour later, they allowed the team to undertake the search, which is still continuing. A Madurai report quoting the police said raids were also conducted on residences of two other POTA detenus Nagarajan and Sevanthiappan. Details about the seizures were not divulged, the report said. MDMK cadres alleged that though the special court had given permission to conduct searches in 12 premises of Mr Vaiko and other accused.
PTI |
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Sinha leaves for
Kabul today New Delhi, August 8 Observers here view Mr Sinha’s three-day visit to Kabul as much more than exchange of diplomatic courtesies and see it fraught with strategic significance. Mr Sinha would be returning home on August 12 by a commercial flight after gifting the Boeing plane to the Hamid Karzai administration. Two more planes are to be gifted to Kabul by New Delhi after Indian technicians impart training to their Afghan counterparts on maintenance, servicing and repair of planes. According to sources here, apart from the issue of regrouping and reorganising of Al-Qaida and Taliban cadres, Mr Sinha is expected to discuss with the Karzai administration the serious threat to it posed by the men of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. Significantly, only last night, at a reception hosted by Mr Sinha here for Afghan diplomats and police officers undergoing training in India, he had observed: “While the Al-Qaida and Taliban have been displaced from Afghanistan, they along with other terrorist organisations, continue to regroup and reorganise. This poses a serious threat not only to return of peace and stability in Afghanistan, but also risks spread of instability in our region.” The IC-814 hijacking case may also come up for discussions between Mr Sinha and Afghan leaders. |
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SC stays plea against Tehelka New Delhi, August 8 A three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice
B.N. Kirpal, Mr Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat issued the stay order yesterday on a petition filed by Tejpal seeking the transfer of the case to a Delhi court. While issuing notice on the petition on the same being mentioned by counsel Prashant
Bhushan, the Bench said “in the meantime, there will be stay of the proceedings in PCR No 131 of 2001 in the case of V. Sreenivasa Prasad vs Tarun J. Tejpal pending in the court of VIII Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Bangalore.” The defamation petition was filed by the minister after Tehelka exposed the alleged nexus between the politicians and bureaucrats with dealers regarding arms deals.
PTI
New Delhi, August 8 In a statement issued here on today, guild President Hari Jaisingh and Secretary General Alok Mehta said: “Any act of vindictiveness, harassment and arbitrary use of official agencies to browbeat mediapersons with a view to silence inconvenient voices by the powers-that-be goes against the democratic spirit and tradition of the country.’’ The guild further stated that it would discuss and examine all aspects of the media functioning and authoritarian tendencies in the system at its next executive meeting. At the same time, the guild would also build public opinion against all retrograde steps which put curbs on the media’s professional and legitimate working in public interest. “We have observed from our experience that such tactics ultimately prove counter-productive and cut at the very root of the people’s right to information,’’ the statement reads. |
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Check attacks on Sikhs in USA, envoy
urged New Delhi, August 8 “Sikhs in the USA have contributed a lot to the economy of their adopted country. We would like you to take all possible security for the Sikhs in the USA,” SAD (B) Delhi Unit President Avtar Singh Hit said in a memorandum submitted to the US Ambassador here. Reacting to the recent killing of Sukhpal Singh Sodhi, a gas station owner in USA, Mr Hit said “Sikhs around the globe are extremely disturbed over the killing. Justice should be given by tracing out the murderer to restore the faith of the community.” Earlier, Akali Dal activists staged a demonstration here to protest against the killing. Slain Sodhi was the brother of Balbir Singh Sodhi, who was killed by miscreants in the USA on September 15 last year immediately after the terrorists attack on WTC twin tower, Mr Hit claimed. |
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PIL filed against Kalam’s election
New Delhi, August 8 The petitioner, advocate Charan Lal Sahu, had challenged the election of Dr Kalam on the ground that he had not filed along with his nomination papers an affidavit about his criminal antecedents as per the apex court’s direction dated May 2.
Another ground of challenge as made out in the petition was that Dr Kalam had not mentioned his actual age in his nomination papers as required under the Representation of People Act, 1951.
UNI |
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Cong leaders write
to minister on poll reforms New Delhi, August 8 In a letter to Union Law Minister Jana Krishnamurthy today, senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and H R Bhardwaj said that despite the clear position of the Congress an the matter, an impression was sought to be created suggesting that the party was against disclosure of information, both regarding a candidate’s criminal antecedents and his assets and liabilities on the date of filing his nomination along with other relevant information called for in the notification. "We wish to reiterate our position on our stand in this regard to keep the record straight. The Indian National Congress would like appropriate legislation in compliance with the observations of the Supreme Court subject," they said. |
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Babi cites security for failure to appear Mumbai, August 8 The actress stated this in a letter running into 33 pages, couriered to TADA court Judge P.D. Kode, who is hearing the Mumbai blasts trial. In the letter, she has also raised the question that when she had filed an affidavit about a year back, why the court had taken so long to call her. Judge Kode has now directed the prosecution and defence to examine the letter and file a reply by August 19. Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police Bipin Kumar Singh, who was earlier asked by the court to explain the delay in handing over the first summon of July 24 to Parveen Babi, informed the court that Senior Inspector Govind Singh Parmar had served it but the actress had refused to accept it. The police officer further told the court that she had accepted the summons only at 10.20 a.m. on August 5. The court had earlier called her to remain present on August 5 at 11 a.m.
UNI |
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Advani meets party MPs New Delhi, August 8 On the fourth and concluding day, Mr Advani met MPs from West Bengal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andaman and Nicobar. Earlier, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee used to interact with party MPs but now Mr Advani has been entrusted with the task. |
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Soz joins Cong New Delhi, August 8 Announcing his joining the Congress, chief spokesman Jaipal Reddy said Mr Soz was joining the Congress on the invitation of party President Sonia Gandhi who looked upon him as a great asset. He said Mr Soz was a great nationalist who was steeped in secular traditions. Mr Soz, whose vote was crucial in the fall of the BJP government during the trust vote in 1999, said the Congress was not a party but a movement and had the vitality to lead the country. Meanwhile, the merger of Tamil Manila Congress with the Congress will take place in Madurai on August 14. Mrs Sonia Gandhi will attend the function. |
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Boy’s body found on gurdwara’s rooftop Nanded, August 8 The police said today that the body of Tejinder Singh, alias Jasvinder Singh Kahalo, son of a gurdwara employee, was found when two employees of the gurdwara went up to clean the water tank yesterday. Preliminary investigation revealed that the boy was strangulated with a shirt and there were injuries on the head, stomach and the face, the police said.
PTI |
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