 |
Monday,
January 6, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Advani: govt committed to
NDA to continue stir in Bihar |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dispute over Rs 2 caused loss of 200 cr Top BJP rebel returns Bangladesh sheltering ultras: Tripura CM Floriculturists form federation Terrorism not a problem of Islam: Nathan ‘No work, no pay’ at varsity
|
|
Advani: govt committed to economic reforms Hyderabad, January 5 The Deputy Prime Minister without naming Pakistan said while New Delhi wanted the SAARC process to result in all the member countries enjoying the fruits of regional cooperation, this promise had not been realised. Ridiculing Pakistan for indulging in self-serving propaganda on Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Advani said the whole world could see that the elections (in Jammu and Kashmir) were free and fair and the people voted for a government of their choice. The world has also seen the stark contrast between the elections in Jammu and Kashmir and the ones in Pakistan which were held around the same time. Unlike in Pakistan, no party or leader in India was threatened with dire consequences if he did not fall in line. He was speaking at the Partnership Summit-2003 organised by the CII and attended by industrialists, businessmen from across the globe. Emphasising on the need for expansion and deepening the scope of reforms, the Deputy Prime Minister said: "We are well aware of the ill-effects of ballooning non-plan expenditure of the Central and state governments. Pruning it will take time. In the meantime, we cannot keep much-needed public investments in critical infrastructure areas on hold. Pointing out that while the government intended to tap the huge investment resources available within the country and pursue the programme of disinvestments and restructuring, it would be guided primarily by what was in the national interest and in the interest of fair competition. "Our government is committed to making economic policy more transparent and predictable. Never in the past had any government involved the private sector so closely in policy making," he said citing examples of the mid-term review of the economy and the Kelkar Committee report on direct taxes. "Despite the reactions that these evoked, I firmly believe that these are steps in the right direction," he said, adding that now we want to extend the scope of reforms beyond the framework of the economy to areas like administrative, judicial and other governance reforms, all of which are needed to enable our businesses to grow faster and in a hassle-free environment." Mr Advani said with the completion of three years in office by the NDA government it was clear that Mr Vajpayee’s leadership had proved that coalition governance at the Centre could be stable and could deliver. Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu gave a detailed presentation on the growth prospects and growth indicator of India and asserted that the country had the potential to take on the challenges posed by the globalisation of economy. |
|
Congress open to alliances New Delhi, January 5 Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who presided over a Congress Working
Committee (CWC) meeting convened to review the Gujarat results and the party’s preparations for next month’s elections in Himachal Pradesh and three north-eastern states, said the party would have to be alert against attempts by the BJP and its sister organisations to communalise and polarise society. Asked how the party was planning to tackle the BJP’s Hindutva strategy, she said the Sangh Parivar had polarised society in Gujarat. “We fear it may be repeated in other states. We have to be extremely alert not only in the states going to the polls but in other states also,” she said. The Congress President denied that her party had lost in Gujarat because of its “soft-Hindutva” approach. She said she had asked senior party leader Manmohan Singh to prepare a report on the party’s performance in Gujarat. She ridiculed the charge that the Congress was soft on terrorism. The CWC, which met for over eight hours, devoted most of its time to the reasons for the Gujarat debacle and the party’s poor performance in the recent byelections. Party chief spokesman Jaipal Reddy said the Congress had an open mind on the issue of alliances and seat adjustments with other parties to see that the “secular force” was not divided. Today’s Congress stand marks a departure from its past position where it had preferred to fight the elections on its own. Mr Reddy today indicated that the party was not even averse to considering a pre-poll alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra. Asked if the Congress would enter into an alliance with Mr Sukh Ram’s Himachal Vikas Congress in Himachal Pradesh, Mr Reddy said the party was not against any such suggestion. However, no final view had been taken on the issue, he said. The resolution passed by the CWC condemned the varying interpretations of the term Hindutva being deliberately given by the BJP and its affiliates which revealed a diabolical design to confuse, mislead and misguide people. It said while the Congress belief in secularism had always been anchored in a vision of Indian nationalism with its emphasis on the promotion of unity, the BJP grossly misused the great Hindu faith and way of life. Maintaining that cross-border terrorism must end, the Congress deplored the “calculated efforts” of the BJP and its affiliates to use confrontation with Pakistan to polarise the country along communal lines. |
|
Alliance with HVC ruled out: Cong New Delhi, January 5 "There is no question of an alliance. We have stated our position earlier. Why should we make an alliance?," PCC President Vidya Stokes said here today. Claiming that the Congress was "very strong" in the state, she said there was "no offer from their (HVC) side or any reqest" for an alliance. "We have not given it a thought," Ms Stokes said. Meanwhile, a senior party leader, Ms Mohisina Kidwai, who is in charge of Himachal Pradesh, said the party would fight the elections alone. "We have stated earlier that we will not contest the elections in an alliance. The Congress will fight it alone," she said.
PTI |
|
NDA to continue stir in Bihar Patna, January 5 Even today, the BJP continued with its agitational programme by leading a delegation of party leaders to the Governor, Mr V.C. Pande, and presented him a memorandum. The Governor had earlier asked the Chief Secretary to report to him about the developments over the fake killings. Mr Laloo Yadav attempted to take the wind out of the Opposition sails yesterday by announcing a CBI probe into the two “fake encounter” cases. The Opposition, however, is not willing to buy the card and has decided to take the agitation to the districts. Senior NDA leaders of the state staged a sit-in demonstration at the Gandhi Maidan grounds on Saturday morning in protest against the “misdeeds” of the state government. The NDA meeting has decided to launch a week-long agitational programme to highlight the misrule of the Rabri Devi government and protest against the killings of innocent people in Patna, Rohtas and Begusarai, the BJP spokesperson said. The agitational programme of the Opposition includes submitting a memorandum to the Governor, demonstrations in all district headquarters, a visit of all senior NDA leaders at various spots of “fake encounters” in the state, a homage meeting at the state capital to mourn those killed by the police and a march of all NDA leaders to the Governor house. In the meantime, a senior BJP leader, Mr Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, arrived here to assess the situation. He told the reporters that he would report about the situation in the state to the central leadership. He, however, denied any constitutional action. “We are not going to ask for a President’s Rule in the state”. Mr Naqvi said. Tension continued in various parts of the city, especially in the Ashiananagar and Sheikhpura localities. The student organisations have declared these localities as “Police prohibited zones” and are demanding that the police forces be removed from here. Even yesterday, tension prevailed in the western part of the city that had witnessed most of the damages and pitched battles between the mob and the cops. “Crowd with doubtful intentions had surged towards the streets and looked set for creating trouble but heavy police deployment discouraged them”, a police official said. The police officials maintained that the general strike was over and the public sentiments against the illegal police action had subsided but arson and riot was being perpetrated by the criminal elements who were now leading the show. In the Sammelan market, where the alleged fake encounter had taken place, fire was still raging. Rag pickers and the poor were stealing things from the shops that had been fully damaged in the fire. The market has been torched thrice by the angry mob. |
|
Dispute over Rs 2 caused loss of 200 cr Patna, January 5 The chain of arson, loot and riots that was started last Sunday after the alleged illegal killing of the three youths in the east Indian state capital has put not only the government but also private business in a financial mess. The policemen killed the three youths after a dispute took place over wrong billing between the killed youth and a public telephone booth owner on last Saturday in which the latter called the police telling them that the youths attempted a dacoity in his shop. The dispute had started after the youths complained that the telephone bill was Rs 2 in excess than what it should be, the police said. The agitation after the killings during the past one week resulted in a massive arson of government vehicles and property. The general strike has also affected business. “The Indian Railways suffered a loss of Rs 3 crore in a single day owing to the suspension of trains, including cancellation of many trains”, an East-Central Railway spokesperson said. That however is far less a loss compared to what could have been if the trains would have been running, rail officials said. “The Indian Railways had stopped the movement of 200 trains for the day in view of the statewide general strike called by all opposition parties and students’ wings on Friday. The trains running in the state on Friday from 6 am to 6 pm were stopped”, the General Manager of Eastern Railway, Mr S.C. Gupta, said. So far, three dozen vehicles have been burnt by the mob and more than 65 damaged in the state, officials said, estimating the total loss at Rs 2 crore. The worst-hit, however, is trade and business in the state. In the past one week, most of the days shops upped their shutters and people preferred to stay indoors, traders said. “The state capital alone does a business of around Rs 20-25 crore a day. Business in the entire state has been almost negligible in the past week”, a spokesman for the Bihar Chambers of Commerce said. The state government offices, banks and other private offices also witnessed scant attendance in the past one week. The local and small traders, who put up shops on the footpaths and streets, are ruing their fate and pray for the elusive peace. “I earn a daily amount of Rs75-90 by selling winter caps near the station market. If I fail to earn my living for one day, my family of five members has to sleep without food”, said Guddu Kumar, a footpath shopowner in the state capital. The general strike has also caused hardship to the common man on the street. Ms Sulochna Devi, a cancer patient, had to stay in the bogey of the Brahamputra Mail at Patna station for 12 hours as the train was stopped here. As few platform shops were open, she and her attendants had to spend the day on plain water. All shops outside were closed, family members said. Patna has 50,000 rickshaw-pullers and 25,000 auto-rickshaw drivers who make a living on a daily basis. Their daily business is between Rs 75-200. They had to keep off the roads on Friday as the general strike paralysed all traffic. The state-owned Government Transport Corporation had also decided to keep its 1,200 buses off the road on Saturday to avoid damage. They, too, lost business worth Rs 25 lakh, officials said. The Bihar State Motor Transport Owners Association had also kept its trucks and buses off the roads and its office-bearers said their daily turnover was above Rs 2 crore. |
|
Top BJP rebel returns Lucknow, January 5 Mr Ganga Bhakt Singh today appeared at a press conference by the side of senior BJP leader and Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon and said they had no complaints now as the state and the Central BJP leadership had assured to look into the issues raised by the dissidents. He said Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Vinay Katiyar and Mr Tandon had taken steps to redress the grievances of party legislators over the regional imbalance in the Mayawati ministry expansion carried out last year, the government apathy towards party legislators and the indifferent attitude of officials. Mr Ganga Bhakt Singh said the cases against the rebel legislators would be withdrawn and their persecution would stop.
PTI |
|
New Delhi, January 5 Cow Slaughter Act Allahabad, January 5 |
|
|
Bangladesh sheltering ultras: Tripura CM Kolkata, January 5 Rahman had been arrested and handed over to Army officials at Fort William for interrogation. His father, who had come to Murshidabad recently on leave, escaped and some frantic searches had been made to trace the jawan. The Army headquarters at Fort William had been informed about the incident. With Rahman, the police had so far detained five Army personnel from the border district of Murshidabad in the past six months for their “involvement in ISI activities against the country.” The Tripura Chief Minister, in the city to attend the CPM politburo meeting, said he had specific information about the ISI’s training of some 200 Al-Qaida men in Bangladesh, near the border with Tripura, for terrorist activities in north-eastern states. He alleged though he had handed over a detailed secret report to Home Minister L.K. Advani and Foreign Minister, Yashwant Sinha in this connection some time back, no steps had been taken to prevent ISI activities in the region. Mr Sarker said the ISI was now very active in the state and the state police and the administration were combating the terrorist activities of various tribal outfits, including ULFA and the TTF, which had been active in Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. He said he had sought additional forces from the Centre to combat terrorism. The Chief Minister said the government had been using NASA for tackling the terrorists and he had no plan to utilise POCA in Tripura. What was now needed was to launch joint action involving the Centre and the states for combating terrorism, he said, adding that the Centre should immediately take up the matter at the highest level with Bangladesh. |
|
Floriculturists form federation Dehra Dun, January 5 The Uttaranchal Flori-Tech Federation comprising 90 founder members formed an ad hoc committee of office-bearers. The members elected Mr Vijay Singh from Kashipur (Udham Singh Nagar), chairperson. Mr Pankaj Shah and Mr Rajiv Kapoor were elected vice-chairpersons of the federation. It has been decided by the members to hold the next meeting of the federation on January 12, for finalising bylaws and chalking out future operational modalities. Mr Vijay Singh, chairperson of the federation, told mediapersons today that the federation had emphasised the need for an export wing with an appropriate government agency, to facilitate flower exporters through a single-window system. |
|
Terrorism not a problem of Islam: Nathan New Delhi, January 5 Mr Nathan, who is on an eight-day state visit to India, told reporters before leaving for Bangalore "We do not see this (terrorism) as a problem of Islam" adding "this is just a case of a small group that has sought to hijack religion and is making use of it towards radical terrorism".
PTI |
|
‘No work, no pay’ at varsity Jaipur, January 5 According to a circular issued by the Registrar on the direction of Vice-Chancellor Shyam Lal yesterday, all departmental heads and professors have been asked to ensure that not only all the teachers mark their
attendance daily but they also take classes actually. The teachers have been asked to take students’ attendance daily and send a report to the departmental heads to certify that they were actually taking the classes.
PTI |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In
video (
