 |
Friday,
August 16, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
PM announces slew of new schemes Ultras change tactics
Advani to unveil Patel’s statue in New Jersey |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Private security for Broadcasting House Venkaiah for strong, secular India
Minister denies scam in land allotment Scuffle in UP House over Ayodhya issue Review rules on turban, NCM
asks French Govt IGNOU plans
centre for disabled
|
|
PM announces slew of new schemes New Delhi, August 15 Besides, one lakh natural water sources lying in disuse would also be reactivated, Mr Vajpayee said in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort. Announcing a series of measures under a new programme called the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Jal Samvardhan Yojana for conservation of water to tackle drought situation in the country, Mr Vajpayee said. “Along with external threats, the nation is also faced with vagaries of nature. Large parts of the country are facing drought, while in some places there are floods. Standing crops have been destroyed.” On measures to tackle drought, the Prime Minister said the scope of the Antyodaya Yojana had been widened to provide relief and the Rs 10,000 crore Sampoorna Gram Yojana was being used as a vehicle to reach out to the drought-hit areas. About Rs 5000 crore had been provided to states under the food-for-work programme, he said. Mr Vajpayee said no starvation deaths would be allowed to take place as the country had adequate stocks of foodgrains. He maintained that the objective of economic reforms was to eliminate poverty and generate employment. In this context, he pointed out that, infrastructure development was key to 8 per cent GDP growth in the Tenth Plan period. Besides, various ministries and departments of the Government of India also announced a slew of developmental schemes on the occasion of the Independence Day. The Prime Minister today cleared proposals for a Rs 15,000 crore National Rail Vikas Yojna, identity cards for all citizens, and a National Commodities Exchange. These proposals are besides the announcements made during his Independence Day address to the nation. The Railways will launch “Operation Cleanliness” to significantly improve the standards of sanitation at railway stations, on platforms and inside railway compartments. Work on the Rs 3,564 crore project for constructing the Udhampur to Baramula railway line in Jammu and Kashmir will be given on a single-tender basis to IRCON and Konkan Railway Corporation. Under the Rail Vikas Yojana, Rs 15,000 crore will be invested in the next five years to remove all capacity bottlenecks in the critical sections of the Railway. This will include a Rs 8000 crore project to strengthen the golden quadrilateral to run more long distance mail and express and freight trains at a higher speed of 100 kmph, and a Rs 3000 crore project to strengthen rail connectivity to ports and development of multi-modal corridors to hinterland. While Rs 3,500 crore will be spent on the construction of four mega bridges - two over the Ganga, one over the Brahmaputra and one on the River Kosi - Rs 763 crore will be spent to accelerate completion of other important projects. The Home Ministry will prepare a plan to issue multi-purpose machine-readable identity cards to all citizens and for the purpose a pilot project will be launched in October to cover select districts in eight states. The pilot project, which will also facilitate the implementation of e-governance initiative, will be completed within a year. The proposal of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to set up a National Commodities Exchange to streamline commodity futures trading was also cleared by the Prime Minister today. The government also approved a proposal for accelerated completion of the electrification of all villages in the country by 2007. The proposals approved by the Prime Minister also include a Model Municipal Law being worked out by Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Ministry to facilitate private sector participation in urban infrastructure projects, especially in water supply and sanitation. The ministry will operationalise the “City Challenge Fund” this year to promote urban sector reforms with special focus on making the urban local bodies viable. A Rs 256 crore Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana programme to construct over one lakh slum houses in the current year was also approved. The project was launched last year. A programme to operationalise a National Nutrition Mission and Integrated Child Development Services will be universalised in all 5,652 blocks in the country. The government will amalgamate all different schemes at present run by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation for speeding up the “liberation and rehabilitation of scavengers”. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will launch a scheme to provide national scholarships to disabled persons for pursuing higher technical education. The scheme will be implemented under the National Fund for People with Disabilities. The Ministry of Culture’s National Mission for Manuscripts to preserve and unlock the precious treasurehouse of scientific, intellectual, literary and spiritual knowledge in different Indian languages was also approved. India’s tele-density would be increased from 4.38 to 5.61 by the next year as the government announced to add as many as 130 lakh new telephone lines, including 75 lakh mobile telephones, would be added in this period. The government also proposes to introduce a comprehensive and participative scheme of social security, which will seek to address the life-time concerns of the poor and the middle class. In the field of information technology the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology will implement a comprehensive programme to improve efficiency, transparency and accountability at the government-citizen interface, adding the E-Bill Post and Internet-based E-Post Service network will be expanded to cover all districts in the coming year. |
|
Govt initiatives for Railways, social security New Delhi, August 15 An Important non-budgetary investment initiative for the development of Indian Railways is being drawn up to mark the 150th anniversary of Railways, to be called the National Rail Vikas Yojna. Under this, all capacity bottlenecks in critical sections of the railway network will be removed at an investment of Rs 15,000 crore over the next five years.These projects will include: Strengthening of the Golden Quadrilateral to enable the Railways to run more long-distance mail and express trains and freight trains at a higher speed of 100 kmph, at a cost of Rs 8,000 crore; Strengthening of rail connectivity to ports and development of multi-modal corridors to the hinterland, at a cost of Rs 3,000
crore; Accelerated completion of last-mile and other important projects, at a cost of Rs 763 crore. Today, there are sanctioned projects worth Rs 40,000 crore, which have been languishing for a long time. At the present rate of allocation, it will take more than 25 years to complete them. Work on the Rs 3,564-crore project for constructing the Udhampur-Baramula railway line in Jammu and Kashmir will be given on a single-tender basis to IRCON and Konkan Railway Corporation Limited, which have a good track record of undertaking construction of railway projects in difficult terrain. The first train will roll into the Kashmir valley before August 15, 2007. The government proposes to introduce a comprehensive and participative scheme of social security, which will seek to address the life-time concerns of the poor and the middle-class, such as income-enhancing education; provision for the needs of the girl child; emergency healthcare needs; economic security in old age; and protection to families in the event of untimely death of breadwinner.
PTI |
|
Ultras change tactics New Delhi, August 15 Pakistan’s ISI, which controls the terrorists organisations has given specific instructions to the militants to bring down the polling in the state by about 50 per cent. Not only the candidates have to be targetted but the citizens seeking to get their voters’ identity cards made are also to be threatened with dire consequences. Intelligence reports here suggest that there has been no change in the Pakistan’s policy of subverting the polling process in Jammu and Kashmir despite the USA and the UK pressure and the terrorists have been asked to create fear psychosis in the state. The idea is to ensure that people do not participate in the democratic process despite all efforts by the Indian Government. Figures collected by the intelligence agencies point to a major decline in the terrorist attacks and IED blasts and a sudden spurt in the grenade attacks, both in Jammu and in Kashmir. While there has been just one terrorist attack, at the Amarnath yatra, this month, grenade attacks have been reported almost on a daily basis. As per reports there have been more than 10 grenade attacks from the beginning of this month alone and the figures when collated for July and August reach a number of almost 30 attacks. This when compared to the figure of June, which saw just over 10 attacks, reflects the change in the terrorists’ strategy. Similarly due to these tactics the casualities among the civilians have also gone up in a big way. From a figure of one killed and over 50 injured in June, the number has jumped to about 15 killed and over 150 injured in July and August. With a drop in the cross-border infiltration the terrorists want to maintain their numbers in Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, in fidayeen attacks the terrorists are generally killed by the security forces which reduce their numbers. |
|
Pervez’s statement
a warning: Advani New Delhi, August 15 “Musharraf’s statement is a warning for all of us. We should not lower our guard in maintaining security in Jammu and Kashmir and in successfully carrying out the democratic process in the state”, Mr Advani said. In a meeting of senior Home Ministry officials to review the security arrangements, he expressed satisfaction over the peaceful celebrations on the occasion of Independence Day, which was made possible only because of foolproof security arrangements. |
|
Advani to unveil Patel’s statue in New Jersey New Delhi, August 15 The 32-feet-hight piece of sculpture is located in a private land of Mr Albert Jassani, owner of the Royal Albert Palace, where Mr Advani will unveil the statue. The Deputy Prime Minister will arrive in New York from London on August 23 and from there he will travel to Wodbridge for the unveiling of the statue. From New Jersey, Mr Advani would travel through San Francisco and Los Angeles. According to official sources, efforts are being made to fix up meetings of Mr Advani with Congress leaders in California. This would be Mr Advani’s first visit to the USA after becoming the Deputy Prime Minister. This time, however, according to the sources there are hardly any official engagements for Mr Advani, who is expected to interact more with the Indian community leaders there. Before his visit to the USA, the Deputy Prime Minister would pay a two-day official visit to the United Kingdom. He would begin his UK-tour on August 20 and would be accompanied by the Union Home Secretary, Mr Kamal Pande, and a Special Secretary from the Home Ministry. During his two-day visit to the UK, the Deputy Prime Minister is likely to take up India’s concern over Pakistan’s continuous indulgence in perpetrating terrorism against India despite President Musharraf’s assurance to crackdown on terrorists. Mr Advani, during his high-level meeting with the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, is also expected to share New Delhi’s concern over the manner in which Islamabad is indulging in trying to disrupt Jammu and Kashmir poll. |
|
Private security for Broadcasting House New Delhi, August 15 The resentment of the old security guards, most of whom are nearing retirement, was amply clear as they reported for duty at Broadcasting House along with 23 private security guards and six women searchers. While the private security guards were still trying to familiarise themselves with the vibrant surroundings of their new workplace on the second day, the aggrieved security guards were busy chalking out strategies to persuade the authorities to change their decision. The Akhil Bharatiya Akashvani Group ‘D’ Karamchari Sangh staged a dharna on Tuesday afternoon to express their solidarity with the security guards. The dharna was supported by the Association of Radio and Television
Engineering Employees, Programme Producers Association, Doordarshan, Technical Employees Association,
Administrative Staff Association of All India Radio and the Motor Drivers Association. The sangh has also sent a letter to the CEO, Prasar Bharti, Mr K.S, Sarma, asking him to review the aforesaid decision. The sangh has wondered why the security guards were being transferred when no untoward incident had taken place. A copy of the letter has been sent to the Secretary in the I & B Ministry, Mr Pawan Chopra. The sangh’s Vice-President, Mr Jagdish Prasad told TNS that they had made a formal request to the CEO twice in July requesting him not to go ahead with the proposal to bring in private security guards. Two days later the Deputy Director (Administration), Mr Krishan Kumar issued orders on the transfer of security guards with
immediate effect, on a temporary basis until further orders. We feel betrayed.” The Director of Guardian Angel Security Service Private Limited, Col Chandra Mohan Upreti told TNS that the Prasar Bharti Board had asked the Directorate General, Resettlement under the Ministry of Defence to suggest names of security agencies. “The DGR suggested names of three security companies. The Director General (security) and the Assistant Director General (Security), Prasar Bharti Broadcasting Corporation of India selected us for one year contract which is renewable. The very fact that our security agency has taken over three days before the Independence Day makes our task doubly challenging,” he said. The Deputy Director General (Administration), All India Radio and Chief Vigilance Officer, Prasar Bharti Broadcasting Corporation of India, Mr Uday Sahai told TNS that security was being strengthened everywhere. “We are going to have a mix of our men and private security guards. |
|
Venkaiah for strong, secular India New Delhi, August 15 Addressing party leaders and workers after hoisting the Tricolour at the party headquarters here, Mr Naidu said, “with secularism as the foundation for making the nation strong, getting rid of the negative outlook, with constructive and exemplary thoughts for the total development of the
country, the time has again come to carry everyone along.” “It is necessary to eradicate illiteracy, eliminate poverty, end social inequality, get rid of corruption and discrimination on the basis of caste and religion,” he said. Curiously, on assuming charge as party President, Mr Naidu had asked party workers not to be apologetic about the BJP’s ‘Hindutva’ agenda and had asked them to take the party flag on the one hand and the NDA agenda on the other. “It is not proper to blame others for this state of affairs. We must accept this challenge. or the total development of the country we have to bring about the requisite changes, with determination, in the lifestyle and thinking of the people,” the BJP President said. |
|
Minister denies scam in land allotment
New Delhi, August 15 In an official statement, he clarified that the land allotment to an organisation connected to Minister of State in the PMO Vijay Goel was purely based on merit for educational activities before Mr Goel became minister at the Centre. Stating that several political parties and related organisations had also been allotted land by the Land and Development Officer (LDO) and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) keeping in view their specific requirements and objectives, Mr Kumar said the NDA government had not followed any “policy of vilification or discrimination”. He said the government had allotted land to organisations having affiliation with other political parties such as the AITUC.
PTI |
|
Scuffle in UP House over Ayodhya issue Lucknow, August 15 The Congress had raised the issue through a question of propriety, asking the state government as to when it would issue a fresh notification against senior BJP leaders and union ministers as asked by the Supreme Court. Events took an ugly turn after the Speaker, Mr Keshari Nath Tripathi, stopped the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Mohammad Azam Khan, from speaking on the issue. The enraged Samajwadi Party legislators shouted slogans, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House. |
|
Review rules on turban, NCM
asks French Govt New Delhi, August 15 In a letter to Mr Bernard De Montferrond, Ambassador of France in India, Mr Tarlochan Singh has requested him to get the matter examined by the French Government so that the Sikhs, who are not in large number, are allowed to have their photographs with turban for all official purposes. Stating that the French rules require that the photograph needed for any official purposes, such as driving licence, passport or residence card, be taken without headgear (turban), the NCM Vice-Chairman pointed out that “turban, the headgear of Sikhs, is very sacred to the Sikhs as religious sanction and sanctity.” |
|
IGNOU plans
centre for disabled New Delhi, August 15 Announcing this here today, the IGNOU Vice-Chancellor, Prof H.P. Dikhsit, said the proposed centre would be an autonomous centre under IGNOU and would be set up on IGNOU campus in South Delhi. According to a press note issued by IGNOU here, the centre would go for innovative approaches and policies for education, training and rehabilitation of the disabled. It would design and develop educational and vocational programmes for them. |
 |
| 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 (
