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Tuesday,
March 11, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Clash in LS over stance on Iraq
Move resolution on Iraq:
Left MP poll rolls: BJP seeks Digvijay’s
removal |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT Hurriyat leaders may meet US envoy
Army expedition flagged off
Censor guidelines to be
reviewed ‘Pak rhetoric not enough’
Ghaziabad (U.P), March 10 CM seeks report Subhashini Devi dead
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Clash in LS over stance on Iraq New Delhi, March 10 A remark by Congress Chief Whip Priya Ranjan Das Munshi that the BJP was being guided by the USA led to acrimonious exchanges of words between the two sides and Mr V.K. Malhotra (BJP) retorted: “I say you and your party are being guided by the USA.” Mr Malhotra said the raising of the issue by Mr Shivraj Patil (Congress) was unnecessary in view of the all-party meet on Iraq situation. Mr Patil had raised the issue during zero hour and asked the government to make its stand clear on the proposed resolution in the United Nations Security Council and on the timeframe with in which the inspection of arms is to be done. “The war clouds are hanging and we still do not know what is our country’s stand.” The Congress Deputy leader said the government must make its stand clear on various aspects of the Iraq issue: “Whether it favoured a change of regime in Baghdad? What was government’s view on any unilateral action against Iraq? Whether the Vajpayee government has initiated any measures to ease the situation? Would terrorism be contained or will it continue after any such action? Is India prepared to meet the contingencies of a war on Iraq, including its economic fallout ? A categorical statement was necessary by the Prime Minister in Parliament as there was a lot of divergence in statements made by ministers, he said adding that the “Government should spell out an unambiguous stand on the issue”. Mr Das Munshi demanded that Parliament should pass a resolution explaining India’s stand. Mr Malhotra accused the Opposition of trying to gain “political mileage” by raising the matter before the all-party meeting and suggested that they could raise the issue after the meeting was over. Mr Malhotra wanted to know from the Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi as to why she had not made a statement on the Iraq issue clarifying her Congress party’s stand. “You do not read newspapers,” Mr Dasmunsi reacted angrily saying the Congress and the Left parties were first to issue statements that the UN Security Council resolution must be adhered to in finding a solution to the crisis. Mr Malhotra said both Houses had discussed the matter before the Prime Minister went to attend the NAM summit last month amid noisy interruptions from the Opposition benches. Meanwhile, agitated Rajya Sabha members today demanded a suo motu statement from Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the Iraq situation and the plight of lakhs of Indians staying there. Charging the government with indifference on the “very serious situation” and the impending fate of lakhs of Indians in the event of US attack on Iraq, Congress and Left Front members wanted to to know whether the government had formulated a strategy for evacuating Indians from the Gulf. The Opposition were up on their feet and charged the government of being apathetic to the situation in Iraq and the fate of Indian community there. Some order was, however, restored after the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, assured that the outcome of the all-party meet on the Iraq situation would be placed in the House. Soon after the lunch break, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee got up and said although the External Affairs Minister had spelt out the government’s strategy, because of the seriousness of the situation, the Prime Minister should give a statement in the House informing the members about the latest situation and also the plans for evacuating Indian citizens. Mr Mukherjee expressed concern over the US stand that they would attack Iraq whatever was the outcome at the UN. |
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Move resolution on Iraq:
Left New Delhi, March 10 Stressing that major Opposition parties, including the Congress, were backing the demand, Left party leaders said at a press conference that the government should take the lead in bringing pressure on the USA to give up its plans to launch an “unjustified and unwarranted” war on Iraq. The leaders, including Mr Basudeb Acharia (CPM) and Mr N.K. Premachandran (RSP), who were part of a delegation which recently returned from a six-day trip to Iraq, said Washington had no role to play in deciding who should rule in Baghdad as this was the sole prerogative of the Iraqi people. They said there was “no fear psychosis” among the locals and life was absolutely normal in the places they visited, including Baghdad, Babylon and the religious city of Karbala. They said there was a “visible determination” among them to face the consequences of another war after the US offensive in 1991. Asked to comment on the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) allegedly piled up by Iraq, Ms Ranjana Nirula, a member of the delegation representing the All-India Democratic Women’s Association, said as many as 3845 UN weapon inspectors had visited Iraq, 3392 sites were inspected and monitoring of 665 sites was still going on. |
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MP poll rolls: BJP seeks Digvijay’s
removal New Delhi, March 10 While the BJP spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra announced that its MPs and MLAs from the state had sought time with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on March 12, BJP member Uma Bharati, backed by party collegues Laxminarayan Pandey, Kirti Azad and Madan Lal Khurana, raised the issue of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister’s refusal to obey the EC order in the Lok Sabha during zero hour. “This has created a constitutional crisis in the state as the Chief Minister has violated the provisions under the Constitution,” Ms Bharati said, adding that a discussion on the issue should be held in the House and a directive should given to Mr Digvijay Singh to implement the EC instruction. “If the MP Government fails to obey the order, it should be removed from office,” she said. The BJP member’s remarks drew strong protests from Congress members, including Chief Whip P.R. Dasmunsi, MP Chief Minister’s brother Laxman Singh and others, who said a state issue should not be raised in the Lok Sabha. They also questioned the demand of Ms Bharati that a directive be given to the Chief Minister. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, March 10 This was stated by the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Hukamdeo Narayan Yadav, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today. While the amount released to Haryana was Rs 67.23 crore, Himachal Pradesh was given Rs 35.96 crore as the Central Share of the CRF and Rs 13.85 crore assistance from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF). Jammu and Kashmir was given Rs 28.86 crore, the minister told the House. With a view to promoting farm mechanisation, the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute is conducting a study so as to formulate a long-term strategy for each agro-climatic state. Of the 120 districts which were selected for this study, Gurdaspur, Mansa, Ludhiana and Nawanshahr (Punjab); Kangra and Una (HP) ; Jammu, Kathua and Udhampur (J&K) and Bhiwani, Faridabad, Kaithal and Sonepat (Haryana) were also
included, the minister said. Health and Family Welfare Minister, Sushma Swaraj, informed the Rajya Sabha that Ropar and Hoshiarpur in Punjab; Panchkula and Ambala in Haryana and Hamirpur and Solan in
Himachal Pradesh were among the districts which formed a part of the government’s project for introduction of Hepatitis B vaccines under the Universal Immunisation Programme. In response to a query by Mr Prabhunath Singh, Mr Sangh Priya Gautam, Minister of State for Agro and Rural Industries, told the Lok Sabha that of the total khadi production in the country, Haryana’s share was 4.8 per cent whereas Punjab’s share was 2.5 per cent , Jammu and Kashmir 1.6 per cent and Himachal Pradesh 0.71 per cent. The production of fruits in Punjab has witnessed a sharp decline from 844.7 thousand metric tonnes in 1998-99 to 479.7 thousand metric tonnes in 2000-01, Mr Yadav said. Vegetable production in the state, however, increased from 1,906.3 thousand metric tonnes in 1998-99 to 2,310
thousand metric tonnes in 2000-01. In case of Haryana, while the production of fruits increased from 192.4 thousand MTs in 1998-99 to 212 thousand MTs in 2000-01, the production of vegetables increased from 1,850 thousand MTs to 2,191.5 thousand MTs. In Himachal Pradesh also, the production of fruits declined from 448.1 thousand metric tonnes in 1998-99 to 438.3 thousand metric tonnes whereas the vegetable production in the state increased from from 606.4 thousand metric tonnes to 734.2 thousand metric tonnes, the minister told the House. |
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Hurriyat leaders may meet US envoy New Delhi, March 10 The delegation, including Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yaseen Malik besides the Mirwaiz, today met officials from Canada and the UK here. Mr Blackwill, during his last visit to the Kashmir valley, had not granted an audience to the amalgam leaders which had angered them. Regarding the meeting with the officials from Canada and the UK, the former Hurriyat chairman said they discussed the latest situation in the state. |
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Army expedition flagged off
New Delhi, March 10
Mountaineers from the Indian Army and the Royal Nepal Army will attempt to scale the Everest in a bid to commemorate first ascent of the Everest. The expedition is being led by Col Ashok Abbey, Principal, Nehru Institute of Mountaineering,
Uttarkashi. Lieut-Col Surya Sen Thakuri, Commandant, Royal Nepalese Army High Altitude Mountain Warfare School. |
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Censor guidelines to be
reviewed New Delhi, March 10 “Maybe, there is a requirement to review the guidelines of 1991. I am thinking in these terms though the government does not come into the picture,” Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said while stating that there had to be a blend of both creativity and censor cuts. Stating that the government did not have much role to play and that it was for the Censor Board to curb sex and violence in films, Mr Prasad said during question hour that last year the Censor Board cut as much as 12,000 metres of film reel in 942 Indian films. Freedom of expression should also be taken into consideration while undertaking any cuts in the films, the minister said. Mr Prasad said the consultative committee of the Central Board of Film certification had at least two women members to monitor objectionable portions in films. If there is any uncalled for domestic violence in films, the consultative committee would deal with it, he added. In reply to another query, Mr Prasad said if all guidelines of 1991 were to be strictly implemented “then no films can be passed”. In reply to another question, he said all necessary steps were being taken to recover Rs 172 crore from a number of producers and suggested appointment of an “Ombudsman” for recovering outstanding dues. Mr Prasad suggested that a retired Supreme Court judge should be appointed as Ombudsman, adding that 25 producers owed Doordarshan more than Rs 1 crore each. The minister said various steps had been taken to reorganise the marketing system, which include operationalisation of marketing divisions at Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Mr Prasad said Doordarshan earned revenue from
advertisements and also sale of telecast rights for global marketing of cricket matches and sale of footage. He said Doordarshan paid Rs 20 crore for getting rights to telecast 16 World Cup matches. On the tension in West Asia with the possibility of a US-led attack on Iraq, the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister informed the Rajya Sabha that Doordarshan had decided to engage a private producer to provide its viewers coverage of the unfolding Iraq crisis. He said the national broadcaster had accepted a proposal received from Third Eye TV, New Delhi, which had decided to commission the programme consisting of 20 episodes of 30 minutes each, for five days a week. Mr Prasad said with tension in the Gulf region mounting, news came from the BBC and the CNN. But Doordarshan felt that reports of interest to India should be focused and, therefore, an assignment was given to a private producer. |
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‘Pak rhetoric not enough’ Ghaziabad (U.P), March 10 “Pakistan has not changed its attitude although there is a change in its language. But we are not satisfied with the announcement and the declaration that they have given up support to terrorism,” Mr Advani said at the 34th Raising Day function of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) here. He said, “We will like to see the change on the ground and, therefore, India’s decision not to hold talks with Pakistan till then will continue.” “Pakistan needs to dismantle the terrorist camps in its territory and stop aiding terrorist groups by way of money and weapons before India decides on resuming a dialogue,” Mr Advani, said hoping that the neighbouring country would change its conduct on the issue of terrorism the way it had changed its language. Mr Advani observed that after the September 11 attacks in the USA, the world had realised the implications of terrorism and many countries were now coming forward to work jointly against the menace. Speaking to
mediapersons after the function, Mr Advani ruled out any talks in the near future with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). |
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CM seeks report Bhopal The decision was taken after consulting the Chief Secretary, Mr A.V. Singh, and the Chief Electoral Officer, Mr D.S. Mathur,
today. It was decided that the Chief Secretary would ask the IAS officers to submit their reports, which would then be sent to the Election Commission.
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Subhashini Devi dead New Delhi, March 10 The last rites will take place at the Kanya Gurukul Khanpur near Gohana in Sonepat at 2 pm on Tuesday. |
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