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Monday,
March 3, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Lapang stakes claim to form govt Nation more important than fanatic: Kalam
Sayeed urges Pandits to return |
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Sonia for passing women’s quota Bill India facing crisis of governance: Modi NLFT ultras kill 3 in Tripura 462 B’deshis held by BSF Muslims take lead in saving cows
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Lapang stakes claim to form govt Shillong, March 2 The state Congress President and former Chief Minister, Mr S.C. Marak, who lost this time, was also assigned to assist Mr Lapang in the party’s ongoing talks with other small groups to reach the magic figure of 30 plus in the House of 60. The Congress Working Committee member and party’s poll observer for Meghalaya, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, disclosed this after the meeting of the newly elected Congress members and other senior party leaders to work out its next plan of action towards the government formation. Mr Mukherjee said the party would go to the Governor, Mr M.M. Jacob, today evening to stake claim. The party was at present keeping in touch with the United Democratic Party (UDP) and the Meghalaya Democratic Party (MDP) who had bagged nine and four seats, respectively. Party sources said two newly elected legislators from the Khun Hynniewtrep Natioal Awakening Movement (KHNAM) had approached the Congress expressing their support to the party. Besides, a few independent candidates had also reportedly extended their respective support to the Congress, according to the sources. Kohima: The Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN), comprising the Nagaland People’s Front (NPF), BJP, Janata Dal(United) and the Samata Party, is all set to stake claim for forming the next ministry in the state with the support of independents. NPF Secretary General Chubatemjan said today that the alliance had already issued a common minimum programme as pre-poll understanding though it had failed to arrive at any seat adjustment. The combine had already clinched 29 seats out of 58 results declared and was confident of winning the remaining two seats after tomorrow’s re-polling, he added. However, the NDM, which won four seats, would not be asked to join the conglomeration as it was not part of the alliance before the poll, Mr Chubatemian said. Agartala: The CPM-led Left Front, which posted an emphatic win in the just concluded election securing two-third majority in the 60-member Tripura Assembly, will assume office on March 7 for the fifth time and the third time in a row. Announcing this here on Sunday immediately after a crucial CPM state Secretariat meeting, the party spokesman, Mr Gautam Das, said a big victory rally would be held on the same afternoon. The CPM state committee and the Left Front committee would also hold separate meetings on March 6 to elect the new Left Front Legislature Party leader and discuss the composition of the new ministry, he added. Meanwhile, sources at the CPM said the outgoing Chief Minister, Mr Manik Sarkar, would remain the new Chief Minister of the next government.
UNI, PTI |
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Nation more important than fanatic: Kalam New Delhi, March 2 “We should not allow any religion or individual fanatic to endanger our nation. Because the nation is more important than any individual or party or religion”, Dr Kalam said at the India Today Conclave here.
Stating that sometimes he felt “we as a nation of billion people think like a nation of million people”, the President said no other nation had the civilisational heritage like that of India. Indian minds absorbed the best of cultures from successive invasions, he said adding “whenever there was a crisis, whenever there was a problem, the Indian leadership blossomed to overcome it”. “The nation needs young leaders who can command the transformation of India into a developed nation embedded with knowledge from now to 20 more years,” the President said. The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, in his Independence-day address last year, had declared that India would become a developed nation by 2020, Dr Kalam said while explaining the plan for the same through video-clippings at a hotel here. “The higher the proportion of creative leaders in a nation, the better the potential of success of visions like that of a developed India”, Dr Kalam said. The five key areas of agriculture and food processing, education and healthcare, infrastructure development, information and communication technology and critical technologies and strategic industries had been identified for an integrated action to realise the goal of a developed India by 2020, he said. These five areas are closely inter-related and lead to national, food and economic security, he said adding that “everyone has a role to play. When people perform, the nation performs”. “Today India is in the knowledge age which provides an opportunity to become a developed nation with a strong economy”, he said. Referring to rich bio-resources, the President said instead of allowing export of such resources and importing value addded products at a high cost, India must add its own technology for conversion of such resources to value added products for use in domestic requirements and also for export. Lauding the efforts on networking of rivers, the President said besides other benefits, networking would lead to enhancement of environment and national connectivity. |
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Sayeed urges Pandits to return New Delhi, March 2 Addressing a gathering at a “Shivratri milan” function here yesterday, Mr Sayeed said politicians were responsible for sense of alienation in the state as they failed to address people’s problems. “I cannot absolve myself of this responsibility and might have erred...but I want to make good for the mistakes,” Mr Sayeed said. He said Kashmiri Pandits were inseparable part of Kashmiriyat. “Our heads hang in shame for what has happened to the minority community which spoiled the guldasta that Kashmir was for centuries,” Mr Sayeed said. He, however, expressed confidence that “Kashmiriyat” would be restored to its pristine glory and the crown of India would glitter once again with everyone working together for peace and brotherhood. He said a beginning had been made by his government for resettling Kashmiri Pandits by making Mattan and Kheebhawani secure places. Mr Sayeed, who is perhaps the first Chief Minister of the state to organise a “Shivratri milan”, said voter turnout in the byelection in the state was affected due to some problems pertaining to Id-cards. He expressed happiness at the peaceful conclusion of the poll process. Mr Sayeed said his government was facing both internal and external vested interests but efforts were being made to restore normalcy. He said if hearts of people were won, infiltrators would be like fish without water. Mr Sayeed’s visit to the capital coincides with the week-long ‘Kashmir Festival’ being organised here. Among those present at the “Shivratri milan” function were state Governor G.C. Saxena, Dr Karan Singh, PCC chief Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mr Jaipal Reddy, Mr Bhim Singh, Mr M.L. Fotedar and several Jammu and Kashmir ministers. |
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Sonia for passing women’s quota Bill New Delhi, March 2 “True women’s representation in Parliament and in state Assemblies is still abysmally low. We hope that the Women’s Reservation Bill will soon be passed,” Ms Gandhi said while inaugurating a seminar on Economic Empowerment of Women. “I believe that by bringing women’s issues into the core of our political debate, we will be taking a significant step forward for making our politics a more effective instrument for the poor and the disadvantaged,” she added. Referring to the 10-point Mahila Sashakthikaran charter implemented by the Congress-ruled states, she said the 73rd and 74th Constitution amendments providing 33 per cent reservation to women in local self-governments were “nothing short of a social revolution.’’ Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, who was also present at the seminar, said political equality was meaningless in a society where women continue to suffer because of economic deprivation. He requested Ms Gandhi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, to direct the Congress-ruled governments to pass a legislation on the empowerment of women. |
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India facing crisis of governance: Modi New Delhi, March 2 Besides, he said, what was affecting the governance was the tendency of not seeing things in a proper perspective. “The habit of carrying flowerpots is fast diminishing and is being replaced by carrying dustbins”, he said. “How could there be a feel-good factor in the country if the states failed to emulate each others’ best practices and achievements?” he asked. He stressed on the need for an integral Indian thinking on social and political order for a prosperous and healthy society with sound governance and impeccable personal integrity of the governing community and unflinching moral sense of citizenry. Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, who also spoke on the issue, underlined the need for the Centre and the states to build on each others strengths. |
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NLFT ultras kill 3 in Tripura Agartala, March 2 The police said here today that armed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) militants raided the house of one Dhanapati Debbarma (80), a CPM activist, at Hati Mara Tilla in West Tripura and shot her dead and her 18-year-old daughter on the spot. In another incident the guerillas killed one Ranjit Debbarma at Ganiamara under Takarjala police station in West Tripura. Security forces have rushed to the spot and a search operation has been launched to nab the militants, the police said. With this, 57 persons, including 37 CPM leaders and workers and five BSF jawans, had been killed mostly by the undergound militants since the announcement of the February 26 Assembly election on January 11. UNI |
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462 B’deshis held by BSF Siliguri, March 2 Most of the 462 Bangladeshis held along the border were smugglers or involved in trans-border crimes, the Inspector-General of the North Bengal frontier of the BSF, Mr K.C. Sharma, said. Two Bangladeshi nationals had also been killed by patrolling border guards in the region during the period, Mr Sharma said. To effectively restrict trans-border crime and infiltration in North Bengal, the BSF further strengthened its vigil along the 1066 km-long border in North Bengal, he said. Stating that only one-third of the border was currently fenced, with the rest remaining porous, Mr Sharma said crime rate could only be effectively contained only if total fencing along the border was done.
PTI |
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Muslims take lead in saving cows Sagar (MP), March 2 Thousands of Muslims took out a procession last month from a local masjid and submitted a memorandum to the district administration demanding a ban on cow-slaughter and declaring cow as the national animal. Interestingly, spearheading the agitation in the district is freedom fighter and journalist Abdul Gani, who is famous for his strindent opposition to the opening of a butcher house near here during the pre-Independence days which forced even the British to drop the idea.
UNI |
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