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Monday,
December 9, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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SC: Udasi Dera not
gurdwara Maya to back BJP in
Gujarat Loaded words and stalking fear Naik may back ONGC to bid for HPCL |
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Indians drink tea the
most Computer training in MP
schools No Birthday bash for me: Sonia Rahman’s ‘Vande mataram’ tops BBC
chart Aamir, Reena file for divorce IGNOU VC to be SAARC body chief
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SC: Udasi Dera not gurdwara New Delhi, December 8 Essential ingredients for an institution to be treated as a Sikh gurdwara were that “there should be established Guru Granth Sahib and the worship of the same by a congregation and Nishan Sahib” a Bench comprising Justice Shivaraj V Patil and Justice Arijit Pasayat said in a recent judgement. “There may be other rooms of the institution made for other purposes, but the crucial test is the existence of Guru Granth Sahib and worshippers thereof by the congregation and Nishan Sahib,” the Bench said. One Bakhtawar Singh and 59 other worshippers had filed a petition under the Sikh Gurdwara Act before the appropriate Secretary, Government of Punjab, that an institution in Kot Fatta in Bathinda be declared a gurdwara. It was published in the Punjab Government Gazette on November 4, 1974. However, Mahant Sarna Ram, an Udasi, filed a petition claiming that there was no Sikh Gurdwara in existence and that the alleged institution was his residential house. Ramji Dass and others also filed an identical petition claiming the institution to be the residential house of Sarna Ram Chela Chet Ram. The government referred the matter to a tribunal, which on July 31, 1978, held that the building in question was a gurdwara and the land in question belonged to the gurdwara. Mahant Sarna Ram filed an appeal before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The High Court held that there was no escape from the conclusions that the property was the private property of Mahant Sarna Ram. The SGPC appealed against the High Court order before the Supreme Court. Justice Pasayat said: “Udasis form an independent sect. They do venerate Sikh scriptures. Therefore, in an institution of the Udasi sect, one can visualise reading of Guru Granth Sahib or veneration of Sikh scriptures. That itself is not decisive of the character of the institution.
PTI |
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Maya to back BJP in
Gujarat Lucknow, December 8 “After consultations with BSP supremo Kanshi Ram we decided to support the BJP in the coming Gujarat election,” said Ms Mayawati in a hurriedly called press conference. Though the BSP itself is contesting 31 seats, it has decided to support the BJP in 151 seats. Ms Mayawati said she would accompany Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in election campaigning tomorrow. Both would address two election meetings, one in Ahmedabad and the other in Surat. She admitted that the request for supporting the BJP came from national BJP leaders. “Both Mr Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani requested me to support them in Gujarat and after consultations we agreed,” said Ms Mayawati. She said it was “their moral responsibility” to support the BJP in Gujarat as it “is supporting the BSP in Uttar Pradesh”. Politically, the decision of the BSP seems to be influenced by Lok Jan Shakti leader Ram Vilas Paswan’s decision to support the Congress in Gujarat. The BJP wants to counter the Paswan “effect” with Ms Mayawati. The Chief Minister refused to answer any query in this regard but said the Lok Jan Shakti was no match to the BSP. “Moreover, Mr Paswan has no presence, so to say, in Gujarat and his party is not contesting a single seat there as compared to 31 by the BSP”. Giving a clean chit to Mr Modi, she rejected the Congress charge that riots in Gujarat were orchestrated by the Gujarat Chief Minister following Godhra incident. “No Chief Minister will take any step that will bring a bad name to his government,” she said, adding that the Congress charge against Mr Modi was baseless and false. In reply to another question, she said the party’s decision to support the BJP in Gujarat would not have an adverse effect on her Muslim vote bank. “I have thrice formed the government in UP with the support of the BJP and every time I have been able to protect the rights of the minority community,” she said. |
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Loaded words and stalking fear Ahmedabad To all those Gujarat voters familiar with the newly polished local political jargon, security meant protection of majority from minority and not from economic collapse or communal hoodlums as such in the same way, Gujarat’s pride meant all those tons of fact finding reports of several Gujarati and non-Gujarat agencies nailing down the Modi government for conniving at such an unprecedented communal carnage was of no consequence as they had “defamed” five crore people of Gujarat before the world, hurting the pride of Gujarat. In a way, those words were loaded while a fear of losing the election remained at the top of their psychology. Entire Parivar has now adopted Modi’s politics, leaving all its reservations behind, said Chunibhai
Vaidya, 84-year-old Gandhian. Releasing the BJP manifesto, called a heady Hindutva mix by many analysts, BJP leaders promised that they would train the youth to fight the terrorism. The formation of Shakti Gram in cooperation with the Defence Ministry and creation of second line of defence such as Home Guards, Gram Rakshak Dal and NCC would be done. The manifesto also talks about forming Mirabai Bhajan Mandlis and Bajrang Utkarsh for youth. In short, the activities done since the last decade or more by the Sangh outfits secretly would now be done by the state remarked
Suvarnaben, a social activist. Some of the Gujarat Home Guard commanders’ role during the carnage was so communal, according to local media reports, that even the Election Commission refused their help to guard polling booths. As the election campaign is catching heat with both major parties bracing themselves for a no-holds-bar battle, burning local issues and the incumbency factor loom over the ruling party. Anger and dissatisfaction against the “misrule” of the government is in the air in rural areas. People do not want to hear any talk, including the one of Hindutva. They want enough drinking water, power and a cleaner administration. The previous election slogan of the BJP to remove
bhay, bhukh and bhrasthachar is missing from the new manifesto. It may happen that despite the Congress failure to field appropriate strong and clean candidates in at least 18 seats, the BJP may not get a chance of saving its honour by winning a clear majority primarily due to a strong wave of unsolved local issues. More than a million cooperative bank depositors have already resolved to boycott the election by condemning the BJP of saving those bank racketeers who “gobbled up” crores of funds. At least a dozen such banks have closed down in recent months, said a
Mehsana-based editor of a newspaper who did not want to be identified. Not a single public opinion survey is giving even 117 seats to the BJP (its present strength) in the Gujarat Assembly House of 182 seats, even the caretaker government’s intelligence sources do not give it, commented senior journalist Digant Oza in “Abhiyan”. |
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Naik may back ONGC to bid for HPCL New Delhi, December 8 The apparent “compromise” formula reportedly hammered out at the behest of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee appears to have a major loose end as it is believed to have left open the question of whether to allow the PSUs such as the ONGC to bid for the HPCL or not. While the Disinvestment Ministry is likely to oppose any move to allow the PSUs such as the ONGC to bid for the HPCL, the Petroleum Minister is expected to pitch for the state-owned oil exploration major’s case. ONGC Chairman Subir Raha has already expressed the company’s readiness to join the race, provided it is allowed to do so. The Disinvestment Ministry, it is learnt, is of the view that allowing the PSUs to bid for the HPCL will be in contradiction to the proclaimed objective as it will go against the very tenets of privatisation. Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, on the other hand, is expected to pitch in for the ONGC’s case. The ONGC’s willingness to acquire the strategic control of the HPCL is based upon the overall plan of the oil exploration company to diversify into the refining and marketing sector and position itself as a fully integrated oil company. While the mutually acceptable compromise formula, prima facie, appear to have narrowed the growing split in the country’s political establishment on the vexed issue,
observers familiar with the process noted that economic attributes may not still be the primary concern. “Assuming that the ONGC is allowed to bid and eventually wins the bid, it holds the danger of creating a massive public monoply. This, for obvious reasons, will go against the very basics of a structured privatisation process”, an observer said. The CCD had earlier decided to put a bar on the PSUs to bid for other public sector undertakings. The decision followed criticism from several quarters after the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was allowed to bid and eventually acquire control of stand-alone oil marketing company IBP. Sources, however, indicated that the ban on allowing the PSUs to bid could be lifted if a strong enough case was made for the same. The crucial meeting of the CCD on September 7, which decided on a three-month moratorium on the disinvestment of oil PSUs, was preceded by a series of hectic confabulations among parties on both sides of the fence. Even as the deadlock seems to have been broken for the time being, observers said the sailing may not be as smooth as it had been made out to be. Indications suggest that Mr Naik could make a strong case of allowing the ONGC to participate in the bidding process. With the Parliament in session, Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie may have to fend off several critical questions from Opposition members as well. Mr Shourie is scheduled to elaborate on the decision of the government on the floor of the House on Monday. Further, the anti-disinvestment lobby, which is now singing a tune pleasant to Mr Shourie’s ears, could make a volte-face, particularly so on the valuation aspect. The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), a rather vociferous opponent of the disinvestment programme, has already stated that the most appropriate asset valuation was yet to be conducted in a transparent manner. |
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Indians drink tea the
most Patna, December 8 The
exhibition has been attracting a large number of villagers interested in knowing the history and details of tea production. According to information, 673 million kg of tea was consumed in India in 2001 making India number one among the tea consuming nations of the world. The Deputy Director of the Indian Tea Promotion Board, Mr S.C. Biswas, said the tea consumption stood at 652 million kg in 2000. Thus, the per capita consumption of tea in India was 652 gm, he said. The exhibition offers information on Indian tea’s journey of more than150 years. Also on offer is the health benefits that tea consumption has. Robert Brush from England first discovered tea in the forests of Assam in 1823. First Indian tea was shipped to England in 1839 by the British Government, posters at the exhibition say. The tea board has been offering tea to the visitors at Re 1 a cup. The exhibition posters disclosed that India cultivates tea in 4,90747 hectares giving employment to 10,45,000 persons. Assam tea, which earlier monopolised the tea production in India, now occupies 52 per cent of the total tea production. The best tea comes from 85 tea gardens of Darjeeling where 8 million kg of fine tea is produced. |
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Computer training in MP
schools Bhopal, December 8 According to an official press note, the revised CLASS project will cover 390 schools in the first phase. Each school will get eight computers. The schools, designated as Schools for Excellence, have already been provided with at least 10 computers each. There is a School for Excellence in every district. A comprehensive plan has been chalked out to impart computer training to teachers in collaboration with Intel Foundation, NIIT, and IEC companies. Initially, master trainers will be prepared and they will impart training to other teachers. So far, 50 master trainers have received training. Nearly 60 schools in the state are running a two-year vocational course in computer application. |
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No Birthday bash for me: Sonia New Delhi, December 8 In a statement, Congress General Secretary Ambika Soni said that referring to the suffering of the people in one of the “worst-ever droughts,” Mrs Gandhi had appealed to Congress workers and leaders to
contribute their might for extending relief to those suffering. |
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Rahman’s ‘Vande mataram’ tops BBC chart New Delhi, December 8 The song, from the music director's music album of the same name, has bagged the fifth place in a worldwide top 10 list of songs compiled by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). “Chhaiyyaan, chhaiyyaan’’, another song by the musical genius who recently made waves on the international circuit through songs composed for Andrew Lloyd Webbers musical “Bombay Dreams”, has been placed seventh in the list. The first place in the list, compiled by the BBC as part of its 76th anniversary celebrations, has also been bagged by an Indian song, the Tamil “Adi Rakamma, kaiya thottu” tuned by the renowned Ilaiyaraja for Mani Ratnam’s “Dalapathy” starring Tamil superstar Rajnikanth. The song is sung by S P Balasubramaniam and Swarnalatha. The second place went to the song “We don’t talk any more” by Lord Cliff Richard while American singer cher’s “Believe” was at the third spot. The final results of the poll will be published on December 21. “Vande mataram”, “Chhaiyyaan chhaiyyaan’’ and “Adi rakamma kaiya thottu’’ were selected from among a list of more than a thousand songs from 112 countries. The songs were nominated through a poll which had music lovers from 116 countries voting their favourite songs. Not unexpectedly, the largest number of votes polled were from India, which has the largest number of repository of film and non-film songs in the world. Incidentally, “Chhaiyyaan, chhaiyyaan’’ scored by Rahman for Mani Ratnam's “Dil Se’’ is among the several hit songs included by the music director in the musical score of “Bombay Dreams’’, the others being “Ishq Bina’’ (“Taal’’) and “Rangeela re’’ (Rangeela). The musical won rave reviews when it opened at Appolo Victoria Theatre in London.
UNI |
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Aamir, Reena file for divorce Mumbai, December 8 Aamir will have access to children thrice a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6 pm to 8 pm. He will also have the right to meet his children on alternate weekends every month from Friday 7 pm till Sunday 6 pm. Aamir and Reena have decided to share Summer and Christmas vacations equally with their children. If the children spend summer vacations with one parent, they will have the choice of spending christmas with the other.
PTI |
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IGNOU VC to be SAARC body chief New Delhi, December 8 Mr Dikshit will hold the office for three years from 2003, a press note issued by IGNOU said. The board comprises heads of open universities of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan,
Srilanka, Nepal and Maldives. |
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GUINNESS RECORD FOR WRITING LETTERS RUSSIAN DOLLS TO COUNTER BARBIE SCAM UNEARTHED, 23 ARRESTED AGARTALA FILM FEST FROM DEC 25 |
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