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Sunday,
September 1, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Nod to
Hawk next week likely Corporator’s
body found in canal BJP backs
disinvestment programme Jethmalani,
Panun Kashmir leaders meet Sonia |
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Disclose
talks with Shabir, Congress told George
election today Left
Front aims at secular image Kalam
urged to visit gas victims’ locality Sena
trains guns on “Chhoti Si ....” ITBP in
forefront of rescue missions 50
drown as boat capsizes in Orissa Govt
sends teams to probe deaths
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Nod to Hawk next week likely New Delhi, August 31 A Cabinet note prepared by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) recommending the purchase of the British Aerospace (BAE) Hawks AJTs is to be given a final clearance only by the CCS before an order is placed with the British company. The note has apparently been lying ready but could not be cleared as the CCS had not taken up the issue formally. Informed sources here said there were indications for the CCS to meet next week as all ministers who form part of it would be in town for the first time after a long time. Defence Minister George Fernandes, who had been away to Switzerland for the past few days, was expected to return tonight which would complete the quorum of the CCS ministers facilitating its meeting. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who heads the CCS, is scheduled to leave for the United Nations session in New York on September 9, which leaves just the next week for the CCS to meet and take a formal decision on various issues which have remained pending for quite some time now. Sources here said since the purchase of AJTs was one such issue which the MoD would like to get cleared from the entire quorum of the CCS, next week could possibly see it come up formally for discussion. The MoD was keen to get the clearance from the CCS before placing for the final order due to the huge amount of money involved. Ever since the Tehelka expose the MoD has been cautious enough to get all major arms deals cleared by the CCS. The total deal for 66 AJTs is expected to be around Rs 5,100 crore. There is a possibility of CCS also clearing the deal for the purchase of spare parts from Russia since a team from the MoD was there only last week to finalise the details. If the clearance comes for the AJTs, it will be 18 years after the projection was first made by the IAF due to a large number of crashes. The Cabinet note for the CCS has been prepared on the basis of the report of the price negotiation committee headed by Air Marshal S.G. Inamdar, Vice-Chief of Air Staff. It was prepared following lengthy negotiations with the British Aerospace over the past one year. The deal involves off-the-shelf purchase of 22 Hawk aircraft, with another 44 jets to be assembled in India. It also envisages the manufacture of another 134 jets in the coming years under the transfer of technology agreement with the BAE. Besides the price, the committee headed by Air Marshal Inamdar has also been negotiating for the transfer of technology for the manufacture of the Hawks in India. With the signing of the deal, it will be for the first time that the British Aerospace will be allowing the manufacture of the Hawks anywhere outside the UK. Reports indicate that the Britons were initially asking for Rs 93 crore per aircraft. However, the government quoted a price of around Rs 71 crore per aircraft. After detailed parleys the BAE has quoted the “best and final offer” of Rs 76 crore for a Hawk. Since the difference is considerable, the Defence Ministry wants the political leadership to decide on the matter. |
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Corporator’s body found in canal New Delhi, August 31 The body was first noticed by some inhabitants of a village who informed the Bulandshahar police. Later, it was identified by the Delhi police. Post-mortem of the body was conducted in the district hospital of Bulandshahar. It would be handed over to the family members of the corporator after completing all legal procedures. Atma Ram Gupta, who was a senior member of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, was done to death by contact killers at the behest of a woman corporator, Sharda Jain for his alleged relations with another woman corporator. Sharda Jain and her brother Raj Kumar Jain have already been arrested. The Delhi Police is looking for the arrests of three more persons, including driver of Sharda Jain and former Pradhan of Chajjupur village in Ghaziabad district. Meanwhile, thirtyone-year-old Sharda and her brother had allegedly hired one Roshan Singh for Rs 60,000 who performed the job with the help of two more persons, the police added. The body was identified on the basis of the clothes and some marks, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (north-west) Sanjay Singh said. Mr Sanjay Singh, along with some relatives of Atma Ram Gupta, had gone to Bulandshahar to bring the body to the Capital. |
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BJP backs disinvestment programme New Delhi, August 31 “We fully support the disinvestment programme of the government. In fact one of the most commendable programmes undertaken by the government is
disinvestment,” party spokesman Arun Jaitley told newspersons here. Mr Jaitley further said that “which PSU should be brought under the disinvestment programme and what strategy should be adopted has to be decided by the government.” Mr
Jaitley, former Law Minister, declined to make any comment on the letter written by Mr Fernandes urging Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for a thorough review of the government’s disinvestment policy to guard against “rich getting richer” and prevent private monopolies. The involvement of the Defence Minister in the disinvestment issue and his proposal to go in for a public offering instead of a strategic sale has added a new twist to the controversy. Mr
Fernandes, who is not a member of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment
(CCD), recently wrote to Mr Vajpayee suggesting a meeting of “key” ministers to debate the current disinvestment policy. He is also understood to have called for a review of the disinvestment policy in the strategic sectors like oil as complete privatisation could threaten the nation’s oil security similar to the one experienced during the 1971 war when the privatised oil sector refused to cooperate with the government, he said. Meanwhile, according to sources,
Petroleum Minister Ram
Naik, who is also believed to be opposed to the disinvestment of the HPCL and
BPCL, is likely to make a presentation on the two PSUs before the CCD slated to meet on September 7. The CCD meeting which was to take place on August 29 was postponed at the last moment to September 7 to accommodate the requests of certain ministers to be present during the deliberations on the disinvestment in the two oil
PSUs. Those who are opposed to disinvestment in the petro PSUs— BPCL and HPCL — argue that the two PSUs are well managed professional companies and given their marketing strength and the market potential in the country, can always fetch a good price. On the other hand, the Disinvestment Ministry led by Mr Arun
Shourie, has emphasised that the sale of equity can fetch the best price only when it is offered through the strategic sale route and when it is done at the earliest. Realising that after the petrol pump dealership scam, disinvestment of the BPCL and HPCL could well become another big controversy, Mr Jaitley said the party would issue a detailed written statement on the BJP’s stand over the entire disinvestment issue. |
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Jethmalani, Panun Kashmir leaders meet Sonia New Delhi, August 31 Sources said at the meeting, Mr Jethmalani talked about certain “unhelpful stands’’ taken by the Centre which had resulted in misunderstanding among the elements playing roles in Kashmir. The committee conveyed its disappointment about the Centre’s refusal to meet separatist leaders. Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said Mrs Gandhi conveyed to the Kashmir Committee members that her party supported the democratic process in Jammu and Kashmir. She said the forthcoming polls in the state should be seen as fair and free. The meeting, which lasted an hour, was attended by senior party leaders Manmohan Singh, Natwar Singh and Pranab Mukherjee. The Congress, which has extended broad support to the government on issues concerning Jammu and Kashmir, has been criticising the Centre for failing to have a clear policy regarding the state. During his meeting with Mrs Gandhi, Panun Kashmir leader Chandrashekhar called for a geo-political reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir. He said the coming Assembly polls in the state would be an “exercise in futility’’ for the displaced community. The seven-member Panun Kashmir delegation called for “proper dispensation of political rights” of the community before participation in the polls could be thought of. They said the “genocide’’ and exodus of the community had not been addressed and the community was seen as a “commodity to be traded only at the time of elections.” Leaders of Panun Kashmir, which is demanding creation of a separate “homeland” in the valley with Union Territory status for the minority Hindu community, said the displaced people would not agree to be taken back to the valley “like cattle.” The delegation “explained’’ to Mrs Gandhi how Kashmiri Pandits had been “neglected” by the Congress over the last 13 years. |
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Disclose
talks with Shabir, Congress told New Delhi, August 31 BJP spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters that the Congress president did not seem to want a smooth resolution to the Kashmir tangle and was trying to put spokes in the government’s efforts to take along all factions in the polling process. “The Congress owes an explanation to the people of India and should lay bare the details of discussions held with Mr Shah since this is a sensitive issue of national importance’’, he said. Mr Naqvi contended that Mr Shah had announced his intention to contest the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and concurred with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that the talks on Kashmir should be held with the elected representatives only. But there was a total turnaround in his stance after his meeting with Mrs Gandhi, he pointed out. Mr Naqvi also came down heavily on the Congress President’s statement holding the NDA responsible for the sad state of affairs the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes found themselves in today. “She has conveniently forgotten that it was the Congress which ruled for 47 long years after independence but did nothing for the welfare of this section of society. On the other hand, the NDA government had taken several steps to ameliorate the lot of the SCs and STs in the country. Besides undertaking several innovative development programmes in housing, water conservation, education, health and promotion of self help groups, the government had created a separate ministry for the welfare of tribal people,’’ he said. Meanwhile, Mr Naqvi and BJP Yuva Morcha president G. Kishan Reddy, in separate statements, accused the Congress of promoting criminals in politics and condemned the attack on BJP Mahila Morcha activists and the BJP headquarters by the “goonda elements in the Congress.” Mr Naqvi alleged that Congress men were associated with infamous cases like the Naina Sahni tandoor murder in Delhi, Anjana Mishra rape in Orissa, Sarla Mishra case in Madhya Pradesh and the latest was the murder of Congress corporator Atma Ram Gupta, where the accused is a party corporator. |
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George election today New Delhi, August 31 The meeting has been convened at the behest of outgoing Samata Party President V. Krishna Rao, who has already resigned to pave the way for Mr Fernandes to take over. Mr Fernandes is also the Convenor of the National Democratic Alliance. However, it has been speculated that Mr Fernandes’ taking over the party reins is as expression of asserting himself within the NDA and to articulate the party’s opposition to “mindless disinvestment” of public sector units. Mr Fernandes had been the President of the Samata Party prior to the last Parliamentary poll, which the party had contested on the Janata Dal (United) election symbol — Arrow, following an agreement between the JD(U), Samata Party and the Lok Shakti of Ramakrishna Hegde. The Samata Party, after the elections, however, decided against the merger and retained its identity. Since Mr Fernandes was the Leader of the Parliamentary Party, Ms Jaya Jaitley was elected the Samata President, but had to resign following the Tehelka allegations. |
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Left Front aims at secular image Kolkata, August 31 For seeking admission in schools, colleges and other educational institutions from now onwards, it will not be mandatory for the candidates to mention their religious identity. Even, while applying for jobs in the government and other private organisations, it will not be necessary for any person to fill this specific column. This is the first time in the country, that such a step has been taken, which the Marxist Chief Minister, Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, himself initiated. The decision is contradictory to the country’s education policy that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre had already introduced. The issue has opened a new controversy in this still caste-barrier based society in the country where religion, caste and creed, matter much. The step, they say, has been a total contravention to the directive principles of the country’s Constitution. But Mr Bhattacharjee, who was advised by his legal council, had come to the conclusion that the specific “religion column” in the application form was quite redundant and hence could be scrapped. Accordingly, he had already directed the heads of all academic institutions, government departments and other authorities concerned to destroy all existing forms and prints new ones, deleting the “religion column”. Similarly, requests were made to all public and private sectors to follow the government’s new guidelines. Oddly enough, the new guidelines have still made it mandatory for candidates to mention their caste, creed and marital status at the time of seeking admission to any educational institution and while applying for jobs in offices. The new forms, which will be printed shortly, will also carry those specific columns. Legal experts admit that it is not a legal requirement necessary to mention the religious identity of any person but the customs and traditions have already set up a norm of the prevailing practice of disclosing a person’s religious identity at the time of admission to any institutions or making any applications for anything. |
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Kalam urged to visit
gas victims’ locality Bhopal, August 31 The President is scheduled to inaugurate on September 5, Bhopal Memorial Hospital constructed by the Union Carbide under the direction of the Supreme Court. Abdul Jabbar of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan and Bal Krishna Namdeo of the Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Morcha have also urged the President that he should visit Jawahar Lal Nehru Hospital, the gas widows colony and Atal-Ayub Nagar, a locality inhabited by the worst affected people in order to know the conditions of the survivors even 18 years after the tragedy. They urged the President to cancel his visit to Bhopal Memorial Hospital which was virtually working against the interests of the survivors. Attention was being given only to patients who could pay. They told mediapersons today that the then Chairman of Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust, Ian Percival, had “misappropriated” Rs 11 crore and a case was pending in the Supreme Court in this regard. The two demanded a high-level inquiry into the “still-incomplete” hospital on which Rs 200 crore had already been spent. |
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Sena trains guns
on “Chhoti Si ....”
New Delhi, August 31 Delhi Shiv Sena vice-president Abhimanyu Gulati urged the Censor Board to immediately order the deletion of the alleged objectionable scenes in the movie even as a Mumbai court had cleared them. In a statement here, Mr Gulati said the Shiv Sena would not tolerate the “naked sex revolution’ being propagated by film producers to fill their coffers and earn cheap popularity. Film actress Manisha
Koirala, who starred in “Ek Chhoti Si Love Story”, had approached the court to order the deletion of some “obscene scenes” from the film about the character played by her using duplicate artiste. The court cleared the scenes after producer Shashilal Nair contended that the scenes depicting the female protagonist making love with her boyfriend were intrinsic to the storyline of the movie. Mr
Gulati, however, alleged that Koirala and Nair seemed to have an understanding over the scenes and they had raised the controversy just to fool the people. The Shiv Sena had recently threatened to release poisonous snakes in theatres in Jaipur showing Amitabh Bachchan-starrer film “Kaante” alleging it had been financed by the underworld.
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ITBP in forefront of rescue missions New Delhi, August 31 The ITBP has already circulated to all its units seismic maps indicating earthquake-prone zones and is in the process of procuring modern equipment. In August 1999, a high-powered committee was constituted for the preparation of disaster management plans under the chairmanship of Mr J.C. Pant, former Secretary to the Government of India. The ITBP, a nodal
agency for the mitigation of disaster at national, state and district levels, has prepared a “standard operation procedure” (SOP) on disaster management. Sources said the ITBP had also earmarked six nodal centres for the storage of relief material in its area of responsibility — Pithoragarh, Gaucher, Matli, R.Peo, Kulu and Leh. Recently, 18 ITBP personnel of the Commandant level, had undergone a special training programme in the United Kingdom in rescue and relief operations. |
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50 drown as boat
capsizes in Orissa Bhubaneswar, August 31 When contacted over phone, the Jajpur police said the boat was going from Napanga to Debigada Ghat in Jajpur town when the mishap occurred at about 9 am. The police said about 60 to 70 person, including some children and office goers, were in the ill-fated boat. The police said six person swam ashore, out of which one woman died at the hospital while others were struggling with their lives. The District Collector and the Superintendent of Police have rushed to the spot.
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Govt sends teams to probe deaths New Delhi, August 31 The team has been asked to submit its reports within three days. Mr B B Patnaik, Commercial Officer, Central Warehousing Corporation has been deputed for Raigada and Mr K M Vaghela, Deputy Director, Ministry of Food will be going to Keonjhar. |
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No excise on water purification machinery New Delhi, August 31 |
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Award for Bikaner author New Delhi, August 31 According to a press note issued by Mr Shalabh Sharma, president of the Dr Ratan Lal Sharma Smriti Nyas which runs the annual award, Mr Sehgal has been selected for the award for his novel: “Chhote Kadam Lambi Rahein”. |
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