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Saturday,
April 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Vajpayee attacks MP Govt on poll rolls Cong admits to dissension in Kerala Buddhists
stake claim to Ayodhya site Promises
to J&K Sikhs not kept: NCM |
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Plea on
Cauvery tribunal rejected 2 cops
held on graft charge 5 BSF
men held in B'desh, freed Ancient
therapy 'can cure' SARS e-mail
racket in name of Kalam CBI
remand for DDA ex-vice-chief Globetrotter
dove returns Criminal
shot in encounter
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Vajpayee attacks MP Govt on poll rolls Indore, April 4 Without naming Mr Digvijay Singh, the Prime Minister said the Chief Minister was directly responsible for any irregularity in the electoral rolls and should not try to protect the officials. Addressing a mammoth rally at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here this evening, he challenged the Congress to contest the coming Assembly poll in a fair and honest manner. The Prime Minister also attacked the Digvijay government for adding to the woes of the people by not utilising the Central grants properly. “Whether it is power supply, road construction, distribution of foodgrains to poor or utilisation of aid for drought-hit, the Madhya Pradesh Government had failed to utilise the liberal grants from the Centre,” Mr Vajpayee charged, asserting that the welfare of the people depends a great deal on the coordinated functioning of both the Central and state governments. Mr Vajpayee said in the past five years, the BJP-led NDA government had provided a strong and stable government at the Centre and had been instrumental in the improvement of the economic situation, strengthening of the security scenario and bolstering of India’s image among the international community. Earlier, addressing the rally, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani asserted that under the leadership of Mr Vajpayee, the NDA had been successful in giving a stable and strong government and that in the next General Election too the party would return to power under his unflinching leadership. Speaking on the occasion, BJP President Venkaiah Naidu dubbed the irregularities in electoral rolls in Madhya Pradesh as the biggest electoral scam and wanted to know why the Congress was silent on the issue. |
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Cong admits to dissension in Kerala New Delhi, April 4 Party chief spokesperson Jaipal Reddy said the Central leadership was not sending anyone to Kerala as there were many ways to sort out a crisis.
“We are looking into the problem. We are confident that the problem will be amicably sorted out,’’ he said. Replying to a question, he said even if senior leader K Karunakaran and Chief Minister A.K. Antony had not yet talked to each other on the issue, yet other senior leaders in the state were talking in this regard. Sources said apart from PCC chief Murlidharan, who has resigned from his post, a few loyalists of Mr Karunakaran have also resigned from the Antony Cabinet over the controversy surrounding the Rajya Sabha nominations. |
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Buddhists stake claim to Ayodhya site
Lucknow, April 4 The petition, with the help of observations made by ancient travellers and archaeologists, has attempted to prove that the disputed site actually belongs to Buddhists. Fifth century Chinese traveller Fa Hein has written that Buddhist “stupas” and “viharas” existed at Ayodhya while later even Huen Tsang has said 3,000 Buddhists monks lived in 'viharas' there, chairman of the Lord Buddha Club Udit Raj claimed at a news conference here today. It is also believed that Lord Buddha had stayed at Ayodhya for six or 16 years, he added. He said archaeologist Alexander Cunningham had excavated the disputed site in 1862-63 and stated that the place had always remained in possession of Buddhists. Mr Raj also quoted other historians R.S. Sharma, D.N. Jha and Suraj Bhan as saying that no Hindu temple ever stood at the disputed site. ''None of the archaeological remains of the place suggest it belongs to the Hindus,'' he said. ''Even Tulsi Das, who wrote the Ram Charit Manas 50 years after Mughal emperor Babur came to India, has never spoken about a temple being demolished for the construction of a mosque at the disputed site''. The writ petition has demanded that the disputed site be handed over to the Buddhists or at least they should be made a party in the Ayodhya suit.
UNI |
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Promises to J&K Sikhs not kept: NCM New Delhi, April 4 In a letter to Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, he wrote that “nothing concrete has been done and the Sikh representatives have been approaching me to remind the Centre to help them.” Mr Tarlochan Singh said the state government had not provided any employment and there had been no consideration to post Sikh employees in cities. He recalled that the Prime Minister had deputed Mr George Fernandes to have liaison with Sikhs in the valley after the massacre so that the members of the community could stay in the state. The NCM chairman urged Mr Advani to call a special meeting to address the issue as the Defence Minister had then assured that the Sikhs would be given full protection and maximum facilities in employment. In another development, Mr Tarlochan Singh asked the Gujarat Government to delete the controversial clause of the anti-conversion Bill as it violated fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. “Clause 5(1) of the Bill is against the fundamental rights of individuals and thereby the NCM recommends the deletion of the said clause,” the NCM members, who met today, resolved and had written a letter to Gujarat Governor S.S. Bhandari and Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The clause states that “whoever converts any person from one religion to another either by performing any ceremony by himself for such conversion as a religious priest or takes part directly or indirectly in such ceremony shall take prior permission for such proposed conversion from the District Magistrate concerned by applying in such form as may be prescribed by rules.” The commission observed that the clause in the Bill violated the freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion, guaranteed as a fundamental right. |
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NCM chief seeks cuts in US film New Delhi, April 4 In a letter to Mr
Blackwill, Mr Tarlochan Singh said the film’s trailer, running in theatres throughout the USA showed Eddie Griffin as saying: “I can’t figure out why they can’t find Osama bin Laden — six feet six with a nappy beard and a towel on his head.” When an elderly Sikh gentleman wearing a turban walks by, Griffin points at him and says, “bin Laden! I knew he was around here.” Mr Tarlochan Singh pointed out that though the film was a comedy, “this is no laughing matter”. “Since the war in Iraq began, the FBI has witnessed an increase in hate crimes against Arabs, Muslims and American Sikhs. Sikhs, who sport beards and wear turbans as a requirement of their religion, bear the brunt of these crimes. By associating the Sikh image with terrorism and the war in Iraq, the film is creating a climate where innocent people can be harmed and possibly killed. The image in this movie will add fuel to the fire of backlash and hate crimes,” he said. Pointing out that almost everyone living in the USA who wore a turban was a Sikh, the NCM chairman said in the wake of the September 11 attack, the film industry had edited certain movies in order to be sensitive to current events. “Though this movie is due to be released on April 4 (today), I am requesting that you delay the release of the film and edit the Sikh-related scenes out of sensitivity to the current climate,” he said. |
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Plea on Cauvery tribunal rejected New Delhi, April 4 A Bench comprising Chief Justice
V.N. Khare, Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat said petitioner Gandhi Sahitya Sangh had no “locus
standi” to challenge the legality of the tribunal which was constituted on the orders of the apex court. The Bench said the tribunal had started functioning long back and had given an interim award on the sharing of water and added that it saw no reason to entertain the petition. The petitioner said the Inter-state River Water Disputes
(IRWD) Act, 1956, under which the tribunal was constituted, should also be declared unconstitutional as the disputes between states on river water should be referred to a River Board under the River Board Act. It said the River Board Act had been completely given a go by the States as well as the Union Government and hence all the interim awards made by the tribunal constituted illegally should also be quashed.
PTI |
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2 cops held on graft charge
New Delhi, April 4 Such incidents, which are seen in reel life, became real for a resident of Uttam Nagar in west Delhi when three police personnel came to his house and alleged that they had recovered a polythene packet containing smack from his car, an official spokesman said today. The person pleaded innocence but the police officials said he would be released only after he paid a bribe of Rs 5 lakh. Later, during negotiations, the amount was reduced to Rs 2 lakh and it was insisted that he cough out a bribe of Rs 60,000 if he wanted to be released, the spokesman added. The CBI officials, acting on a complaint from the person, had laid a trap but the policemen insisted that the money be left at some location from where they would pick it up later. However, on the basis of tracking the details of the conversation made by the accused police officials through telephone and cell phones two of the three police officials identified as Vipin Yadav, Sub-Inspector and Mohan Lal Sharma, constable, were arrested by the CBI. The mobile phone used to fix the deal was recovered from Yadav. The two were produced before a designated court, which remanded them in the CBI custody till tomorrow, he said, and added that the third accused official was out of town in connection with some official duty.
PTI |
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5 BSF men held in B'desh, freed New Delhi, April 4 They said the BSF patrol noticed cattle-smuggling in the Malda area of West Bengal and attempted to intercept them. The smugglers, however, fled towards Bangladesh and the patrol party followed them. They strayed into the territory of the neighbouring country "without realising" it. The BDR men encircled them and took them into custody, the sources said. A commandant-level meeting was immediately called, the "matter was sorted out" and the five were released, they added.
PTI |
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Ancient
therapy 'can cure' SARS New Delhi, April 4 Dr Agarwal said the neglected ancient science mentioned both in homoeopathy and modern medicines was a type of isotherapy involving the preparation of medicine from the patient's own blood or any pathological organ. In the case of SARS, the patient's own pooled serum is collected by drawing blood three times at half-an-hour intervals. ''I have been trying this therapy for over four years with successful results in patients with unexplained septicaemia, pyaemia, viraemia and localised pathological disorders,'' the senior physician at Moolchand Hospital said, adding that it could be effectively used against SARS and similar diseases.
UNI |
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e-mail racket in name of Kalam New Delhi, April 4 Security agencies have unearthed a major case of misuse of information technology wherein a man has created a false account in the name of
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and was sending e-mails to prominent personalities. Based on a communication received from a senior official of the Atomic Energy Commission stating that her family had been receiving e-mails from someone claiming to be the President of India, inquiries were launched by the Intelligence Bureau, official sources said here. After a painstaking investigation, the security agencies arrested one person from Mumbai, Prasenjit Vinod
Kamble, the sources said. Kamble created an e-mail account on August 16 last year and decided to use this account to spread the word that he
(Kamable) was a brilliant scientist and very close to the President, the sources said. His mails, sent to eminent people, stated that “Dr Prasenjit Vinod Kamble is a brilliant scientist and a key member of the scientific team that conducted the
Pokhran-II test”. These mails also solicited financial assistance for him, the sources said.
PTI |
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CBI remand for DDA ex-vice-chief
New Delhi, April 4 Special Judge V.K. Jain also extended the CBI custody of Anand Mohan Sharan, who was Commissioner (Land Disposal) in the DDA, till April 10 after the agency submitted that he needed to be confronted with absconding accused Dharam Bir Singh Khattar. Seeking his police remand, Senior Public Prosecutor K.P. Singh, appearing for the CBI, said the agency had a thirty-second tape of a conversation between Sharma and Khattar to prove their complicity. He might also help in nabbing Khattar, Mr K.P. Singh added. Sharma, against whom the agency had filed a charge sheet alleging that he had shown undue favours to a private school society, was arrested here last evening. A perusal of the DDA files showed that Sharma had on December 24 last, recommended cancellation of the lease allowed to the Modern Public School Education Society. However, on February 4, 2003, he took a diametrically opposite view, opining that the lease be extended “after the school manager met him twice”.
PTI |
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Globetrotter
dove returns Kolkata, April 4 A local resident, who left the city 12 years ago on a United Nations’ World Peace Expedition, reportedly walking 1,020 km through 102 nations, is back home for a few days after a sojourn in Kenya and before embarking on his Pakistan lap. De, who began his intra-country walk from his native land in 1991 covering 500 districts in all Indian states, has taken his walking expedition to 40 European countries, 15 in South-East Asia, 30 in Arab and Middle East and 33 in Africa. “My five-year tour inside the country to spread the message of national integration caught the attention of the United Nations and this expedition happened,” the 41-year-old man, who aims to tour a total of 196 countries, said.
PTI |
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Criminal
shot in encounter Hardwar, April 4 The Director-General of Police, Mr P.D. Raturi, the Inspector-General of Police (Garhwal Range), Mr L.P. Mishra, and the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Ashok Kumar, have announced awards of Rs 10,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 2,500, respectively, for the Special Operation Group (SOG) team which gunned down the
extortionist. |
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Ash offered role in Bond movie Mumbai, April 4 “I am still to talk to the people from the London-based international coordinating agency, who have sounded me on the role on behalf of the studio making Bond movies”, the actress said, according to sources close to her.
PTI |
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April 14
a public holiday New Delhi, April 4 All Central Government and industrial establishments would remain closed on the day, they added.
PTI |
5 ISI-TRAINED PERSONS HELD 16 BODIES FISHED OUT OF NARMADA 2 LAWYERS HELD FOR ‘ASSAULTING’ COP SNOWFALL IN GARHWAL |
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In
video: Bollywood's
ravishing actress Aishwarya Rai, injured during the shooting of a
film, recovers at a Mumbai hospital. (
