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Wednesday,
October 16, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP plans
publicity blitzkrieg Gujarat
poll dates likely by month-end Gopalaswami
takes over as Home Secy
BJP
defends conversion ordinance Pension
report to be implemented soon |
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Oppn to
discuss SC verdict on syllabi Dasehra
celebrated with gaiety Vajpayee
greets Kalam on his 72nd birthday Advani’s
Russia visit rescheduled
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BJP plans publicity blitzkrieg New Delhi, October 15 Having completed three years in office on October 13, the Atal Behari Vajpayee government believes the yardstick for seeking the mandate of the people afresh two years hence will be on the strength of its performance. Being in the vanguard of the coalition arrangement at the Centre, the BJP has drawn up plans to launch a publicity blitzkrieg to inform the people at large about what is described as the multi-faceted achievements of the Union Government. It proposes to galvanise its ministers and the alliance partners to go to their home states and outline in detail the implementation of the various policies and programmes encompassing the key economic and social sectors without digressing from the serious security concerns and maintenance of communal harmony. The exercise is clearly aimed at boosting the image of the BJP which has received a severe beating on several fronts including the recent setback to the party in the Assembly elections in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal, not to speak of Jammu and Kashmir where it came a cropper. Senior leaders belonging to other parties of the NDA conglomeration are also being roped in to counter the intense Opposition criticism and perk up the image of the Vajpayee government. Needless to say, the NDA has been dogged with controversies though it claims it is not tainted by any scam be it the Tehelka expose of kickbacks in defence deals, the allotment of petrol stations or the UTI controversy. The tone and tenor of the NDA government’s strategy of going to the people was unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister L .K. Advani when he addressed mediapersons on October 13, marking the Vajpayee government’s completion of three years in office. This is the first time that a non-Congress government has served so long on the Raisina Hill, the seat of power in the Capital. A tentative schedule of ministers, eulogising the achievements of the NDA government in different parts of the country, is being coordinated by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Though Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s programme for criss-crossing the country in this regard is yet to be finalised, top rung ministers have already been roped in. Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi will take the floor here tomorrow to outline the achievements of his charge as well as that of science and technology. Other Union Ministers scheduled to make their grand appearances in due course in Delhi are Mr George Fernandes, Mr Sharad Yadav and Mr Ram Naik. While Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa will be speaking in Jalandhar, Union Environment Minister T.R. Baalu will take the stage in Chennai. Even as Mr Kanshi Ram Rana will visit his home state of Gujarat, Mr Brij Krishna Tripathi and Mr Jual Oram will be visiting Orissa and Mr Ananth Kumar has been detailed to tour Bangalore. Ministers scheduled to tour other states are as follows: Mr Vikram Verma — Bhopal; Mr Karia Munda and Ms Rita Verma — Ranchi; and Mr Bandaru Dattatreya — Hyderabad. An intense exercise is under way in the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to prepare detailed progress reports listing the achievements of all ministries and departments in the Union Government. |
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Gujarat poll dates likely by month-end
New Delhi, October 15 As a preliminary step to put the state in the election mode, the revised electoral rolls in 20 riot-hit districts of Gujarat are to be published tomorrow, commission sources said. A senior officer of the commission had visited Gandhinagar last week to take stock of the revision work. The commission had on August 16 ordered a special revision, including door-to-door verification of the electoral rolls in all the 20 districts identified by the state government as riot-affected. The special revision was started on August 28 and the final rolls were to be published on October 15. Today being a holiday, the rolls are to be published tomorrow. While rejecting the Gujarat Government’s plea for holding early Assembly poll, the commission had in its August 16 order noted that the full Commission after its tour of the state had found that the electoral rolls, particularly in the riot-torn districts, had become ‘’substantially defective’’ and ‘’cannot be said to as reasonably accurate and up-to-date as desirable for a free and fair election.’’ The commission noted that the rolls contained the names of a large number of electors who are either dead or are not ordinarily resident at the address at which they have been registered in the electoral rolls. ‘’The electoral roll is the basic document for the conduct of any election, as it is the one on which the whole electoral process is founded,’’ the commission observed. The commission had also found the law and order situation in the state and the rehabilitation of riot victims unsatisfactory and said fair and free poll could not be held in such conditions. The commission had said that after the rolls were corrected and brought up-to-date and conditions for free and fair elections created in the state, it would consider framing a suitable schedule for the elections in November-December, 2002.
UNI |
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Gopalaswami
takes over as Home Secy New Delhi, October 15 “There are so many issues before the country, from east to west and from north to south, quite a few priorities. But if I am to choose one, it would be matters relating to the criminal justice system,” Mr Gopalaswami told newspersons after formally taking over from outgoing Home Secretary Kamal Pande, who has been appointed the new Cabinet Secretary. He said the Justice Mallimath Committee report on reforming the criminal justice system was expected soon and he would focus his attention on implementing its recommendations as soon as possible. “Many problems arise due to the criminal justice system not being functional at present and the committee’s report is expected soon,” he said. Mr Gopalaswami, however, made it clear that it would include the entire gamut of matters and not relating to the police only. Another issue will be to see the implementation of the citizens identity card project. “It is a priority for the government,” he added. Asked about his stand on talks with Kashmiri militants, particularly in the context of the recent statement by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani that there would be no talks with Kashmiri terrorist groups, Mr Gopalaswami quipped: “I am hardly half-an-hour-old in the new job. I will not be able to answer your question unless I study the whole issue.” |
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BJP defends conversion ordinance Chennai, October 15 BJP all-India secretary L. Ganesan, in a statement here on the occasion of Dasehra, said if defecting from one political party to another could be ridiculed, it should not be different in the case of getting converted from one religion to another. Likening the conversion issue to defections in politics, he said the anti-defection law became necessary only to prevent politicians from defecting from one party to another. “No political party leader would support an argument that there is nothing wrong in alluring a politician to join another political party, using his or her weakness,’’ Mr Ganesan observed. So, if one argued that there was nothing wrong in converting a person from one religion to the other, using his discomfiture in that particular community, it would be against rational thinking, he said. NEW DELHI: The All-India Confederation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe Organisations on Tuesday sought the repeal of the recent Tamil Nadu government ordinance banning religious conversions saying that it was a “last ditch effort by the Jayalalithaa government to placate Hindutva forces”. “The ordinance is part of Ms Jayalalithaa’s efforts to placate and please Sangh Parivar, to get her out of the corruption charges,” organisation Chairman Udit Raj told reporters here. PONDICHERRY: The CPM here on Tuesday condemned the AIADMK’s demand for an ordinance, similar to the one in Tamil Nadu, to ban religious conversions. Urging the government to be vigilant against communal fanatics in the Union Territory, CPM state secretary T. Murugan, in a statement here criticised AIADMK legislator K. Anbazhagan for raising the demand. It amounted to instigating communal forces, leading to breach of peace, he charged.
UNI, PTI |
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Pension
report to be implemented soon New Delhi, October 15 “It (OASIS report) has been referred to the Group of Ministers’ comment and we are looking forward to early resolution and implementation within the next few months,” Finance Secretary S. Narayan said here. Addressing a seminar, he said once the GoM makes its recommendations, it would be included in the final document. Meanwhile, Mr S.A. Dave, who was the Chairman of the OASIS committee, asked why there was delay in implementing the pension reforms even after many committee reports had been submitted. “Why the Government is delaying. I have no clear cut answer though range of disagreement is very small,” he said. Many, including World Bank, Asian Development Bank and even the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), had submitted the reports suggesting reforms in the sector. Noting that only 10 per cent of the population was under the social security net, bringing in pension reforms could be a “win-win” situation for both government and the public. Noting that his report had not sought any tax incentives for widening the social security net, he said at the same time more people could come under the fund, bringing more funds for deployment. OASIS report, submitted in 2001, had recommended far-reaching measures, including setting up of pension regulatory authority, introducing more points of interface like banks and post offices for opening and operating pension accounts. |
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Oppn to discuss SC verdict on syllabi New Delhi, October 15 Sources in the CPI said the meeting, to be held tomorrow, would be attended by the Congress, the NCP, the Samajwadi Party, the RJD, the JD (S), headed by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, and Lok Janshakti Party of former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. The meeting assumes significance in the backdrop of the controversy over the contents of textbooks, with the Opposition accusing the ruling NDA of saffronising education and the Sangh Parivar hailing the apex court verdict. |
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Dasehra
celebrated with gaiety
New Delhi, October 15 Effigies of demon Ravana, his son Meghnath and brother Kumbhakaran went up in flames at several places with people cheering and chanting slogans in praise of Lord Rama. The main function was held at the Subhash Maidan near the historic Red Fort with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee gracing the occasion. The crowds, including women and children, turned euphoric as “Lord Rama” was brought to the venue in a procession to eliminate the symbols of evil. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana and Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Vijay Goel were also present. Sounds of drums filled the air as people chanted hymns to bid adieu to Goddess Durga which was immersed at sacred rivers culminating the 10-day Durga Puja festival. “May god give us power and wisdom to take on the challenges and forces of unrest facing the country,” Mr Vajpayee said after shooting an arrow to set ablaze an effigy of Ravana. The Delhi, police had pressed into service NSG commandos, bomb disposal squads, quick reaction teams besides its 70,000 personnel and even used “dummy terrorists” to make the security arrangements foolproof. Meanwhile, adding a modern form of evil to the old pantheon of demons, the Shiv Sena burnt an effigy of terrorism alongside those of Ravana, Meghnad and Kumbhakaran. Setting the effigy on fire at a Ram Lila site in Sonia Vihar in East Delhi, Delhi Shiv Sena chief Jai Bhagwan Goyal said the festival of ‘Vijayadashmi’ would remain meaningless if the country confined itself to burning the effigies of the trinity of demons even as the evil of terrorism was taking the whole country into its grip.
PTI, UNI |
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Vajpayee
greets Kalam on his 72nd birthday New Delhi, October 15 Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee rang up Dr
Kalam, who is on a two-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh, and greeted him on the occasion. Madhya Pradesh Governor Bhai Mahavir and Chief Minister Digvijay Singh have extended hearty greetings to Dr
Kalam. Andhra Pradesh Governor C. Rangarajan in his message said: “The country needs Dr Kalam’s guidance and wisdom.” Mr Digvijay Singh said, “Dr Kalam is a noble and kindhearted person who has done the country proud by his unmatched talent”. |
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Advani’s Russia visit rescheduled New Delhi, October 15 According to sources, the new dates for the visit are being worked out. During his three-day stay in Moscow, Mr Advani was to hold talks with the Russian President and his other senior Cabinet colleagues on wide-ranging bilateral, regional and international issues, especially on cooperation to fight terrorism. No formal agreements were expected to be signed between the two countries. Nevertheless, the visit of the Deputy Prime Minister was being viewed with interest as the Russian President is expected to visit India later this year. Mr Advani was to travel by a special aircraft. He is said to have planned a visit as an acknowledgement of a long-standing invitation by the Russian Government. The visit was expected to be utilised by the two countries to further strengthen cooperation on issues of mutual importance and also to share their views on several other burning international issues, including the USA’s threat to Iraq and the situation arising out of it. As per the previous travel schedule, the Deputy Prime Minister was to return on October 21 after visiting St Petersburg. Mr Advani had visited the erstwhile USSR during the Janata Party rule in 1977 when he was the Information and Broadcasting Minister. He had then gone to Moscow to attend the International Film Festival in that city. The visit comes in the backdrop of the major strides made in the Indo-Russian relations, including the on-going strategic partnership in matters including defence and security. On the issue of terrorism, “there is complete meeting of minds” between the two countries, MEA and MHA officials said, adding that Russia had already condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism, and had supported India’s “justified demands” that these activities from across the border should stop completely. The officials said the “time tested” Indo-Soviet friendship had gained strength over the years and embraced all fields of human endeavour. “It has grown into a strategic relationship, sealed by the declaration on strategic partnership by President Putin and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in New Delhi in October 2000.” |
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