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Saturday,
December 28, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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No truck with BJP outside UP:
Mayawati MiG CRASHES Special ID-cards for border dists PM, Togadia one on Hindu
rashtra: SP
After politics, I will return to poetry: PM |
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64 more battalions for
CRPF Pak defied UN ban: ISI
ex-chief BJP legislators held, released Cold wave claims 9 lives Village free of
crime
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No truck with BJP outside UP:
Mayawati New Delhi, December 27 “When the BSP-BJP coalition came into being it was decided that the two parties would contest the Lok Sabha polls in UP together. In other states, including Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the party would contest on its own”, the UP Chief Minister told reporters here after a meeting with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. She dismissed as “rumours” reports about the possibility of dissolution of the state Assembly in view of dissidence in the BJP and said her government was running smoothly. Describing her one-to-one meeting with Mr Vajpayee as a “courtesy call”, Ms Mayawati said the BSP-BJP government were running a coalition government in the state and whenever she visited Delhi she met the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister to exchange views on various issues of governance. Asked if her meeting was related to preparations for the next year’s Assembly elections, Ms Mayawati said the BSP alliance with the BJP was “restricted” only to UP and her party would be contesting Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and elsewhere on its own. On the change of Amethi’s name, she said the name of the town, which was a Lok Sabha constituency, had not been changed. Only a new district was created which included Amethi and some adjoining areas. The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister were aware about the state Cabinet’s decision in this regard, she said. |
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MiG CRASHES New Delhi, December 27 Although the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the IAF continue to maintain that the MiG-21s are the frontline fighter aircraft of the country and completely airworthy, the high rate of accidents has turned out to be their scourge leading to a barrage of questions in Parliament and the Consultative Committee of Defence expressing serious concern. Yesterday’s crash at Srinagar is the nineteenth this year of which a staggering 11 have been the MiG-21s. Over the past six years the IAF has lost 147 aircraft of which almost three squadrons have been of the MiG-21s. IAF officials cite lack of trainer aircraft and vintage technology of the MiGs as being the main reason for the large number of MiG crashes. With no specific trainer aircraft available with the IAF, the MiGs are now being extensively put to use for training. This routine puts additional burden on the 1962 technology in the fighter planes. Officials point to the other aircraft, which have seen rare accidents, as a reflection on the level of safety measures adopted by the technicians of engineers of the force. But with vintage technology there is bound to be problems despite best efforts, they say. Incidentally, while this year the number of planes which crashed are more because of technical defects, in the overall statistics there have been more crashes due to human error, both because of the air crew and servicing. IAF officials point out that with even the junior most pilots being trained on the MIGs, which is a very high demanding aircraft, the rate of accident is bound to be high. The newly inducted pilots are unable to perform up to the level required to fly the MiGs leading to crashes. With no viable alternative available with the IAF the IAF has been trying hard to put up a brave front on the issue. Even Defence Minister George Fernandes, contrary to the facts, recently asserted that no technical defects had been found in the MiGs. But facts presented in Parliament point out that there has been a drastic increase this year in the number of MiG-21 aircraft accidents due to technical defects. According to details given in a reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, as many as 70 per cent of the MiG-21s which crashed this year have been due to the technical defects. If we leave out yesterday’s crash, of the 10 frontline combat
aircraft which have gone down this year as many as seven have been due to the reason listed above. Only three of the MiG-21s have crashed due to human error. These figures also stand out in stark contrast to a statement given by the Defence Minister early last month where he said the experts team, including those from Russia, have not found any defect so far in the MiG fighter
aircrafts. After the series of MiG-21 crashes the force has also decided to seek the original design of the aircraft from its Russian manufacturers to work on the possible defects. The IAF has been suspecting a fault in the auxiliary fuel supply system of the MiG-21s which has led to the large number of crashes this year. For plugging this fault it has sought the original designs of the aircraft from its manufacturer. |
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Special ID-cards for border dists Kolkata, December 27 The proposal had been discussed at the Home Ministry’s consultative committee meeting in New Delhi recently which was presided over by Mr L.K. Advani. Mr Advani had sounded the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, and some other Chief Ministers about the Centre’s intention to take over the law and order matters in some vulnerable areas of the border in the respective states where both state and the central machinery would operate jointly against ISI and terrorist activities of Al-Qaida, Jaish-e-Mohammed and other terrorist organisations, operating from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. But Mr Bhattacharjee and other Chief Ministers had opposed the Centre’s involvement in the state’s internal law and order problems. Mr Bhattacharjee had suggested that the central force could operate jointly with the state police in combating terrorism both in the border areas and inside the state where necessary. The Chief Minister of Tripura, Mr Manik Sarker had also suggested that the Centre be involved in a larger way in tackling the terrorist activities that the states had been facing. He alleged that the ISI had set up a large number of training centres in Dhaka and areas near Tripura from where they, with the help of some outfits, had been creating a reign of terror in the state. |
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PM, Togadia one on Hindu rashtra: SP Gorakhpur, December 27 “While Mr Togadia said the country would become a Hindu rashtra within two years, Mr Vajpayee stated that Hindus were already in majority and had the power with them in India”, Mr Yadav told a public meeting here. He expressed apprehension that democratic norms might be sacrificed to “clandestinely” establish a Hindu rashtra. Mr Yadav said Mr Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf “were clinging to power at the cost of their respective nations’ interests.”
PTI |
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After politics, I will return to poetry: PM New Delhi, December 27 Recalling the days of his youth when he went to poetic symposia in a tonga (horse-drawn carriage), the poet Prime Minister said last evening, “The joy of those days cannot be expressed in words.” Mr Vajpayee was speaking at an evening of poetry at his residence where he released Hindi anthologies written by two of his old friends of the Gwalior days — Ram Kumar Chaturvedi “Chanchal” and Raj Narayan
Bisariya. Referring to the all consuming profession of politics, he said “I used to write poems. But I don’t write them any longer. Nor can I believe that someone can write poetry while in politics.” The Prime Minister also read a couple of his poems from his book, “Meri Ikyavan
Kavitayen” which were highly appreciated by the audience. He dedicated the evening of poetry to the friends of his Gwalior days. Union Minister for Social Justice Satya Narain Jatiya also read a couple of his poems on the occasion. Others who attended the function and read poems were eminent jurist
L.M. Singhvi, well-known Hindi litterateur and journalist Kanahaiya Lal Nandan and humorist Surendra Sharma. The books released were “Shankh Ko Terti
Bansuri” by Ram Kumar Chaturvedi “Chanchal” and “Kuchh Deh, Kuchh
Videh” by Raj Narayan Bisariya. The programme was organised by “Parampara” — a literary organisation which holds poetic symposia and publishes books.
UNI
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64 more battalions for
CRPF New Delhi, December 27 Stating this at a press conference on the eve of its 63rd raising day the Director-General of the force, Mr Trinath Mishra, said the force was planning to add 64 battalions and 125 companies to the existing strength by 2005. “As per the recommendations of the Group of Ministers on national security we propose to relieve certain Central paramilitary forces from internal security duty by 2005,” Mr Mishra said, adding that “in the first phase recruitment for 13 battalions is already and their training is on at present.” The Ministry of Home Affairs had made a provision of Rs 121 crore for the recruitment and training of the additional personnel, he said. The CRPF has also embarked upon a major modernisation programme under which it would induct sophisticated arms and equipment in a phased manner before 2005. “The modern weapons and equipment being procured by the force include medium machine guns, sniper rifles, automatic granade launchers, Karl Gustav rocket launchers, multiple/light grenade launchers, global positioning systems and high-tech night vision equipment,” Mr Mishra said. However, he pointed out that the expansion and modernisation programme had slowed down a bit this year due to deployment of a large number of personnel for Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat poll. “But we are now speeding up the process,” he said. Replying to a question the CRPF Director-General asserted that his force could “accomplish” the task of nabbing the fugitive forest brigand Veerappan if it was “entrusted” with the job. |
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Pak defied UN ban: ISI ex-chief New Delhi, December 27 The petition, which was filed before the anti-terrorism court in Lahore against the country’s largest newspaper group Jung by former ISI chief Lt-Gen Javed Nasir, stated that the UN embargo was defied to help Bosnians fight the Serbs. The petition, downloaded from the website of US-based Pakistani web weekly “South Asia Tribune”, referred to his career, recounting his achievements and his credentials as a leading Islamic international figure and alleged that he had been defamed by a report in the English language newspaper The News. He said in his petition that despite the UN ban on supply of arms to the besieged Bosnians, he successfully airlifted sophisticated anti-tank guided missiles which turned the tide in favour of Bosnian Muslims and forced the Serbs to lift the siege, much to the annoyance of the US government. The documents go on to give details of how the USA threatened Pakistan, then ruled by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to be declared as a terrorist state, if Sharif did not remove him from the post of the ISI chief.
PTI |
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BJP legislators held, released Bangalore, December 27 The BJP legislators, who have been suspended from both houses of Legislature till December 31 for disrupting the proceedings while demanding the resignation of the government, were staging dharna as part of their continuing agitation. Opposition BJP leaders in the Assembly and council declared that the party would continue its stir till the Krishna government resigned.
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Cold wave claims 9 lives New Delhi, December 27 Uttar Pradesh accounted for five deaths and Rajasthan four as dense fog wrapped the region this morning disrupting rail and road and air traffic. Cold wave claimed two lives in Jaipur and one each in Ajmer and Udaipur in Rajasthan where Bikaner was the coldest place with a low of 6°C. One person each was killed in Etawah, Barabanki, Kaushambhi, Unnao and Ballia in Uttar Pradesh where thick fog delayed flights and threw haywire road and rail traffic. In Himachal Pradesh, higher reaches and the entire tribal belt reeled under intense cold while mid and lower hills, including state capital Shimla, had some respite with sun, which played hide and seek in the past few days, making its appearance today. PTI |
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Village free of crime Allahabad, December 27 The village, under Ghoorpur police station in the trans-Yamuna, has been declared a "crime-free" village by the Senior Superintendent of Police Vijay Kumar. The SSP, who stayed in the village for two days, was surprised to learn that no FIR had been registered against any of its 450 residents.
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