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Tuesday,
November 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Gujarat
poll: EC reviews security Modi: BJP
to seek positive votes Parliament
condemns Akshardham attack NORTH INDIA IN
PARLIAMENT Remove procurement
loopholes: Sonia
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Ruling
parties win UP council poll Pappu Yadav ‘disappears’ Indo-US
air exercise schedule Indo-China
meeting on LAC soon India,
Nepal bankers to meet today
Lyngdoh
to visit Chandigarh
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Gujarat poll: EC reviews security New Delhi, November 18 The commission also set the election process formally rolling by issuing a formal notification for the Gujarat Assembly poll today. A decision on the deployment of forces was taken at a meeting of the full-Bench of the Election Commission with the state government authorities here, which reviewed the law and order situation in Gujarat ahead of the poll, being held nearly eight months after one of the worst communal violence in the state. The meeting chaired by the Chief Election Commissioner J. M. Lyngdoh was attended by the two Election Commissioners T.S. Krishnamurthy and B.B. Tandon, other top Election Commission officials, Gujarat Home Secretary Ashok Narain, Director-General of Police K Chakravarty and Chief Electoral Officer Gurucharan Singh. While state Home Secretary Ashok Narain and DGP K Chakravarty briefed the commission on the law and order situation and various steps being taken to ensure a smooth poll, the State Chief Electoral Officer Gurucharan Singh apprised the commission about the poll preparations. It may be recalled here that the Union Home Ministry has assured that over 200 companies of the Central paramilitary forces will be deployed in Gujarat from the first week of December. According to the formal election notification issued by the commission today, the last date for filing nominations will be November 25, the next day the scrutiny of nominations will be made and the last day for withdrawal of candidatures will be November 28. While the date of poll is December 12, counting of votes will be held on December 15 and the entire election process will come to an end before December 20. Meanwhile byelections will also be held for the three vacant Lok Sabha seats of Mehsana (Gujarat), Godda (Jharkhand) and Nainital (Uttaranchal). Some vacancies in the three state Assemblies would also be filled through byelections in Daporiji (Arunachal Pradesh), Khumtai (Assam) and Bansur, Sagwara and Bali (all three in Rajasthan). |
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Modi: BJP to seek
positive votes New Delhi, November 18 “The BJP will seek votes on its past performance. Godhra will not be an issue but if it is raised by the Opposition, we will give them an apt answer,” Mr Modi told newspersons while visiting the Gujarat pavilion at the ongoing India International Trade Fair (IITF) here. He said the BJP would seek “positive votes” on the basis of its performance even as he said there had been concerted effort to spread rumours and a disinformation campaign about the state. |
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Parliament
condemns Akshardham attack New Delhi, November 18 Making a reference on the opening day of the winter session of Parliament to the incident, Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat commended the exemplary courage with which security personnel dealt with the situation. Members of both Houses observed a minute’s silence in memory of those killed in the attack. Both Houses also condoled the death of 107 persons in the Rajdhani Express accident near Gaya in Bihar. Remembering sitting BJP member Narendra Mohan, the Rajya Sabha, meanwhile, was today adjourned for the day after a message from Mr Shekhawat and administering of oath to a new member. Mohan had died on September 20. The House also paid tributes to two former members, Rajendra Pratap Sinha and B.N. Banerjee who died during the inter-session period. Mr Shekhawat introduced the new Secretary-General, Mr Yogendra Narain, to the House and administered oath to a new member from Uttar Pradesh, Mr Lalit Suri. Parliament also condemned the terrorist attack on a Moscow theatre on October 23 while reaffirming India’s commitment to fight
terrorism. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, November 18 Proposals for setting up of an
agri-export zone for horticulture were received from Punjab and approved by the government, the House was told. The contiguous area for this export zones are Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Sangrur, Ropar and Ludhiana. The AEZ for potatoes, covering the contiguous area of
Singhpura, Zirakpur (Patiala), Rampura Phul, Muktsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar, has been allocated Rs 8.19 crore by the Centre and Rs 0.74 crore by the state, the minister told the House. The AEZ for Basmati rice, covering the districts of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and
Nawanshahar, has been allocated Rs 11.85 crore by the Centre and Rs 1.85 crore by the state, the House was told. In a written reply to another question, the minister informed the House that a total of Rs 10.63 crore of funds was released during 2001-02 for Punjab under various Centrally-Sponsored Schemes implemented by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation. However, funds to the tune of Rs 4.04 crore has been utilised during the year. In the previous two years (2000-01 and 1999-2000) the funds released were Rs 8.50 crore and Rs 12.07 crore, respectively. The funds utilised during the years were Rs 4.38 crore and Rs 3.30 crore, respectively. The reasons for
non-utilisation of funds under a major macro-management scheme during the year 2000-01 was due to non-clearance of administrative and financial approval of the work plan schemes by the state government to state Agriculture Department. |
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Remove procurement
loopholes: Sonia New Delhi, November 18 In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who is also the Leader of Opposition, said she had discussed the scheme at the recent Mount Abu meeting of Congress Chief Ministers. “Many state governments are finding it difficult to accept the scheme. Those Congress-governed states that are trying to implement it are also facing numerous practical problems. Despite several facilities announced by the Central Government that include support for creation of additional storage capacity, voluntary adoption, availability of FCI/Central Warehousing Corporation godowns, manpower training etc, the scheme is difficult to implement because of poor execution of commitments by the Centre,’’ Mrs Gandhi said. Listing the problems, Mrs Gandhi said although the costs were supposed to be met in advance, the expenditure on procurement was taking up to 20 months to be reimbursed by the Centre. “Interest charges are paid for three-four months only when re-imbursement is made after 15-20 months. The economic costs of procurement and distribution are decided unilaterally by the Centre and are grossly inadequate,” she said. Mrs Gandhi pointed out that service charges and commissions were denied to state agencies and cooperative societies engaged in procurement. |
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Ruling parties win UP council poll Lucknow, November 18 The ruling coalition’s candidate Munna Singh Chauhan of the RLD polled 194 votes, winning by 11 votes against the joint Opposition nominee Yashwant Singh who secured 183 votes. Had the 23-member Congress voted for Yashwant Singh, the story could have been different. In the 402-member Assembly, 379 votes were polled, of which two were declared invalid.
PTI |
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Pappu Yadav ‘disappears’
Patna, November 18 The Bihar police filed FIRs in New Delhi against the Independent MP and MLAs Suraj Bhan and Rajen Tiwari complaining that the three were missing from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital where they were under treatment, according to Mohammad Hasnain, Sub-Divisional Police Officer. “They (the lawmakers) disobeyed the security personnel’s order and disappeared,” Director General of Police R.R. Prasad said. Pappu Yadav, however, told PTI in Delhi that he was not in custody as he had obtained provisional bail from a Patna court to attend his sister’s marriage on November 24. He said he was still undergoing treatment for heart ailment in AIIMS and would go to the UK for further check-up after his sister’s wedding. He did not have any idea about the two MLAs. Hasnain told PTI that the three, in jail in connection with different cases, were missing came to light when he conducted a surprise check at AIIMS and Safdarjung hospital following a directive by the Senior Police Superintendent (Patna) Sunil Kumar.
PTI |
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Indo-US air exercise
schedule New Delhi, November 18 The schedule for the joint exercises was worked out at the seventh meeting of the Executive Steering Group (ESG) of the two countries. It was attended by defence officials of both India and the USA. The sixth meeting of the ESG was held in Hawaii between February 18 and 22 last. Addressing mediapersons here after the meeting, Air Marshal S.G. Inamdar and Vice-Commander of the US Pacific Command Air Forces Lt-Gen Steven Spolke said both countries would initially be working together only on the transport aircraft exercises. The schedule for holding helicopter and combat aircraft exercises was still to be worked out. The earliest the two countries would possibly hold the helicopter-borne air exercises, which would probably be in the combat mode, would be in early 2004. Air Marshal Inamdar said there was a large canvas to be covered in the transport aircrafts itself and the schedule for the other aircrafts would only be worked out later. India and the USA successfully held joint transport aircraft exercises last month in Agra, where special forces of the two countries were also involved. Earlier, similar exercises were held in Alaska, but had involved units from the Army also. But the Agra exercises were only air force specific. Asked specifically whether the two countries would be working at involving the combat aircrafts during future exercises, Air Marshal Inamdar said eventually it could lead to the induction of fighter and combat aircrafts, but there was no possibility in the near future. The Americans could also eventually be involved in air-dropping exercises over the Himalayas. Air Marshal Inamdar said we would like to show what it was like to have droppings in the Himalayas, which had peculiar weather conditions. Answering a question, Air Marshal Inamdar said the familiarisation of the US Air Force personnel with the Himalayas had already begun. |
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Indo-China meeting
on LAC soon New Delhi, November 18 India and China had already sorted out their differences on the boundary issue in the Middle Sector and have even exchanged maps. The spokesman said the boundary dispute between New Delhi and Beijing was a complicated issue and its resolution would take time. |
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India, Nepal bankers to meet today Patna, November 18 Officials of the Reserve Bank of India and Nepal banks are scheduled to participate in a four-day meeting tomorrow in Kathmandu. RBI sources said the Nepal Government had called for the help of Indian banks to get their expertise in detecting fake currencies. It was believed that Nepalese banks were getting deposits of the Indian currency in large quantities. The Nepal Government had shown willingness for a programme to be conducted by Indian bankers for their Nepal counterparts to train them in fake currency detection. |
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Good news for persons
of Indian origin Patna, November 18 State Home Department, sources said the states and Indian foreign officers abroad had been informed of the new PIO Card Scheme. All persons of Indian origin holding a passport of any other country (with some exceptions) would be qualified for getting the new PIO Card. The PIOs form sizeable part of the 20 million-strong Indian diaspora covering practically every part of the world. The new PIO Card Scheme is aimed at creating a stronger bond of the PIOs with India with which they relate to emotionally, culturally and spiritually. As per the new scheme, all
PIOs, including the card holders will now enjoy parity with NRIs in respect of all facilities available to the later in the economic, financial and educational fields. No parity, however, is extended in the sphere of political rights. No separate visa will be needed for a PIO Card holder to visit India. No Student Visa will be required for studying in India and similarly no Employment Visa will be needed taking up employment in India. |
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Remand
for Sharma extended New Delhi, November 18 Metropolitan Magistrate J.P.
Narain, while extending the judicial remand, directed the police to submit a compliance report on the release of properties of Sharma seized to pressurise his surrender. Mr Narain also asked the police not to harass the relatives of the other accused as alleged by Sharma in a petition. The prime suspect told the court that the Crime Branch of the Delhi police was coercing an accused lodged in the high security Tihar jail to turn an approver to strengthen the case. |
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Lyngdoh
to visit Chandigarh During his visit, Mr Lyngdoh will participate in a seminar on “Building Effective e-Governance”, being organised by Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Public Administration, Punjab and also hold a meeting with Punjab Election Commission. |
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