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Tuesday,
August 13, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Houses adjourned before schedule House uproar
costs dearly NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT TMC returns to Congress fold |
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Govt covering up allotment issue: Sonia MP ministry expanded VP, Gowda see BJP ploy to browbeat EC Tiwari wins Ramnagar byelection
How to stay
happy,
married Centre
to set up 5 labour courts Army officers transferred
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Houses adjourned before schedule New Delhi, August 12 Seeing the mood of the House, with the Opposition members vociferously demanding the resignation of Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Ram Naik, the Speaker expressed his unhappiness over the repeated adjournments before announcing the decision to adjourn the House sine die. Apparently taking a cue from the Lower House, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptullah, who had earlier adjourned the House for an hour amid uproarious scenes, also adjourned the Upper House sine die when it reassembled. Taking exception to Mr Joshi’s decision to adjourn the House, some Congress members stormed the well and had heated arguments with the Chair and blamed the government for the impasse. Maintaining that he was not in a position to comment on the merit of the Opposition stand that Mr Naik must resign, Mr Joshi observed, “I am, however, concerned at the national waste caused by the adjournment of the House day after day without transacting any business.” Stating that he had two alternatives under the circumstances, the Speaker said he could either continue with the “ritual” of meeting for two more days or adjourn the House sine die to allow members to return to their constituencies and do some “constructive work”. Contending that it had become “almost impossible” to run the House, Mr Joshi hoped the interregnum between monsoon and winter sessions would provide members an opportunity to ponder over the matter dispassionately and ensure that the issue did not spill over to the next session. The Rajya Sabha was first adjourned for an hour as an unrelenting Opposition stuck to its demand for the resignation of Mr Naik and a similar scene prevailed when the House reassembled at noon. Ms Heptullah allowed laying of papers by ministers before she adjourned the Rajya Sabha sine die, with Opposition members protesting her decision. |
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Speaker against use of Marshals New Delhi, August 12 Addressing his customary press conference after he was forced to adjourn the House sine die three days ahead of schedule, Mr Joshi said he would talk to the leaders of various political parties during the inter-session period to ensure its smooth functioning in the next session. He, however, added that it was for the MPs to improve the image of the Lok Sabha. |
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House uproar
costs dearly New Delhi, August 12 “No work could be done for 356 hours by the 13th Lok Sabha. At the rate of over Rs 25 lakh per hour, the total loss of public money works out to about Rs 100 crore,” BJP spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters here. Attacking the Opposition for raking up issues like Ayodhya and Gujarat to stall proceedings of Parliament, he blamed Opposition parties for stonewalling a debate on the petrol station allotment issue, fearing that skeletons would tumble from their cupboards. “Congress members created uproar everyday to stall any discussion in the House so that their misdeeds were not exposed,” he said, adding that the government was very much ready for a debate on the issue. Mr Malhotra described as “very unfortunate” the sine die adjournment of both Houses of Parliament three days ahead of schedule. He said as a result, 20 important Bills could not be passed.
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Cong blames PM for stalemate New Delhi, August 12 “Mr
Vajpayee is singularly to be blamed for his failure to resolve the
petrol station deadlock. He is the Leader of the House. He has not
made any effort to meet the Opposition. If he had made an offer to
come and talk with the Opposition, it would have been possible to
resolve the issue,’’ Congress chief spokesperson S. Jaipal Reddy
said. Blaming the government for the stalemate and premature
adjournment of the House, Mr Reddy said the government had many things
to conceal. “It would have been difficult for the ruling party to
answer so many questions in connection with the scam,” he said. The
spokesman said the Congress wanted to raise the issue regarding
allotment of prime lands in Delhi to the Sangh Parivar by Union Urban
Development Minister Ananth Kumar in the Rajya Sabha. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, August 12 In a written reply to the Minister of State for Railways Mr Bandaru Dattatreya, said that the anticipated cost of the project was Rs 3,244 crore. A sum of Rs 400 crore had been allocated for this work during 2002-03, for which approval had been sought, in the supplementary budget. The work is planned to be completed during 2007-08. Earthwork, bridges, tunneling and land acquisition is in various stages of progress between Katra-Udhampur and Qazigund-Baramulla sections. Detailed construction survey is being taken up between Katra-Qazigund section, the House was told. In reply to another question the minister said the Jammu Tawi-Pathankot
passenger train had already been introduced with effect from July 1, 2002. The Jammu Tawi-Haridwar Express will also be introduced during August this year. The House was told that the proposal for doubling the railway track from Jalandhar to Jammu was included in the Budget of 1997-98 for which the necessary clearances have been recently obtained. The final location of the survey has been taken up and an outlay of Rs 19.21 crore has been provided for the work during the current financial year. In a written reply, the
Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr Vidyasagar Rao, said a delegation of Punjab MLAs had called on the Deputy Prime Minister. There was no mention by the Deputy Prime Minister that a team from the government was to visit Punjab. However, the Deputy Prime Minister, remarked that a team of MPs from the NDA, if they so desire, was free and within their right to visit any state, including Punjab. Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office had received a request for a delegation of MLAs led by Chief Minister of Punjab to meet the Prime Minister but the PM could not meet them due to prior commitments, the House was told. A total amount of Rs 6,06,10,195 was paid as advance to M/s Punjab Wireless System Limited against the supply orders given by the Army Headquarters in March 1999. This included Rs 39 lakhs for procurement of quantity 500 TVS 2 UM radio set VPS.Mk-II and Rs 5,67,195 for radio-trunk system, Minister of Defence George Fernandes told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. The minister in his reply said the company had failed to execute the said supply order as the firm had gone bankrupt and was under liquidation. The claims of recovery of the amounts paid in advance along with the interest thereon and the liquidated damages had been submitted to the Official Liquidator of Punjab Wireless Systems, the House was told. |
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TMC returns to Congress fold Chennai, August 12 The TMC was floated by senior Congress leader G.K. Moopanar in 1996, when the Congress high command, despite opposition from party cadres, decided to align with the AIADMK for the Lok Sabha and state Assembly poll. The TMC won 39 seats in the Assembly poll and also won all 20 Lok Sabha seats.
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Govt covering up allotment issue: Sonia New Delhi, August 12 Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party, Mrs Gandhi said revelations on the system of “institutionalised plunder’’ put in place by the BJP for allotting petrol stations and kerosene depots were shocking. Mrs Gandhi said the government had turned down the party’s reasonable demands for a CBI inquiry into the irregularities and resignation of Petroleum Minister Ram Naik. Meanwhile, the Congress said today that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had failed to resolve the stalemate in Parliament on the petrol station allotment controversy and had not consulted the Opposition on the issue. “Mr Vajpayee is singularly to be blamed for his failure to resolve the petrol station deadlock,” Congress chief spokesperson S. Jaipal Reddy said. |
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MP ministry expanded Bhopal, August 12 The oath of office and secrecy was administered at a Raj Bhavan function by the Governor, Dr Bhai Mahavir. Those sworn in today include Mr Rajmani Patel, Mr Bisahulal Singh, Mr Prem Narayan Thakur, Mr Ganpat Singh Uike and Chaudhary Rakesh Singh (all Cabinet ministers and); Mr Babulal Malaviya, Mr Surendra Chaudhary, Mr Saeed Ahmed, Mr Devendra Tekam, Mr Tamanlal Sahare, Mr Aidal Singh Kansana, Mr Raghuvir Singh, Ms Sulochana Raut and Ms Kaushalya Gontra (ministers of state). The ministers of state elevated to the Cabinet rank are Mr Ghanshyam Patidar, Mr Raja Pateria, Dr Govind Singh, Mr Satyendra Pathak, Mr Veer Singh Raghuvanshi and Mr Bala Bachan. The Chief Minister later told reporters that the portfolios would be announced in a few days. He also said the expansion had been made to restore regional and caste balances disturbed with the formation of Chhattisgarh. The present Council of Ministers was constituted on December 6,1998. Mr Digvijay Singh added six ministers of Cabinet rank and four ministers of state on April 26,2000 when he was directed by the Congress high command to accommodate some of the Arjun Singh loyalists who were members of Mr Digvijay Singh’s first council of ministers but were left out by him during his second innings. The strength of the Council of Ministers was reduced to 36 from 48 after the formation of Chhattisgarh on November 1,2000. |
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VP, Gowda see BJP ploy to browbeat EC New Delhi, August 12 BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley had yesterday taken exception to the CEC, Mr J.M.Lyngdoh’s criticism of the Gujarat administration on relief work for riot victims, saying that there were enough relief commissioners to do the job. “Statements emanating from sections of the government show that they have now embarked on applying pressure tactics on the Election Commission to announce early elections in Gujarat fully knowing that the commission is not in a mood to toe their line”, Mr V.P. Singh said. Terming the statements by Mr Jaitley, questioning the EC’s right to assess the post-riot relief and rehabilitation work in the state as “highly condemnable”, Mr Gowda said: “It is disgraceful and an affront on the constitutional body”. |
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Tiwari wins Ramnagar byelection Dehra Dun, August 12 Sources in the State Election Commission control room here said Mr Tiwari won the election by a margin of 23,220 votes. Mr Tiwari polled a total of 32,913 votes while his nearest rival Ram Singh Bisht of the BJP secured 9,693 votes. Four others who contested the byelection as Independent candidates could not cross the 1,000 mark, with one Independent candidate securing just 140 votes. The sources said a total of 44,041 votes were polled in Ramnagar byelection held on August 8. |
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Wife-beating justified Coimbatore, August 12 An Analysis of National Family Welfare survey-two on violence against women and its association with reproductive health problems in the state indicated that wife’s negligence in the house and child care was the single biggest reason for wife beating. The other reasons the analysis has thrown up were wife’s visit outside home without husband’s permission, disrespect for in-laws and lack of care in cooking food. Saying that there was a clear cut negative association between the standard of living index and the proportion justifying wife-beating, the analysts said it was really surprising to observe that instead of strongly opposing it, women appeared to justify it. The percentage in Tamil Nadu of women being beaten from the age of 15 years was 40.4, higher when compared to the national average of 21, which explained a deplorable situation of women in the state the analysts said. The domestic violence rate was lesser than the percentage (72) who justified physical mistreatment, indicating no significant relationship between their attitude and experience of violence, they said. The experience of domestic violence by women who have no living children indicated that childlessness could be the reason for it and the proportion experiencing domestic violence declined with the improving standard of living condition of women, the analysts said. The multidimensional analysis clearly revealed that women at a low socio-economic level were more exposed to the probability of being beaten by their husbands, they said. Therefore, improving the status of women in terms of certain variables like education, will help in reducing domestic violence, analysts suggested.
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How to stay
happy,
married New Delhi, August 12 The book aims to place marital problems in the right perspective. It attempts to analyse the challenges that marriages pose by projecting the positive and negative aspects of the conservative and modern concepts of matrimony. It suggests ways of resolving marital conflicts. The old and new concepts of adultery, cruelty and desertion have also been discussed. It seeks ways of salvaging floundering marriages, and minimising the disruption of families, as well as to create an awareness about marital rights, liabilites, obligations and commitments.
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Centre
to set up 5 labour courts New Delhi, August 12 In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Labour Ashok Pradhan said although the Labour Ministry did not interfere in the functioning of the presiding officers, they had been told from time to time about the need to reduce pendency in the disposal of industrial disputes. |
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Army officers transferred
New Delhi, August
12 In another top level change, Lieut-Gen Ashok Chaki, who is also commanding a corps along the border, will be the new Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Planning and Systems). Both officers will take charge from September 1.
Meanwhile, Col Shruti Kant, the Army PRO in the Ministry of Defence has been promoted to the rank of Brigadier.
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