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Thursday,
April 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Oppn
attacks govt on POTA No
‘absolute immunity’ for scribes under POTA
Defence
report: uproar in LS BJP plays
tough with Mayawati |
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I
haven’t squandered money: Mulayam BJP
fine-tunes poll strategy
Biju Janata Dal heading for split USA
directing India’s foreign policy: Oppn N-hazard
conference for S. Asian docs Committee
reduces VAT on medicines SC
reserves order on validity of evidence SC
seeks details of 3 Pak ultras ISI
trying to revive militancy in Punjab: Pathak NORTH INDIA IN
PARLIAMENT
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Oppn attacks govt on POTA New Delhi, April 23 The Deputy Prime Minister and Union Home Minister, Mr L K. Advani, assured the agitated members in the Rajya Sabha that the Review Committee would go into POTA provisions and take cognisance of complaints of misuse of the Act. Mr Advani, however, stated that he was not in a position to comment on how state governments used POTA. Raising the issue during zero hour in the Lok Sabha, Mr Ramji Lal Suman (SP) said the Act aimed at preventing terrorism was so “grossly misused” that in Jharkhand, children and minors had been detained under it on the pretext of being Naxalites. Supporting him, Mr Basudeb Acharia, Mr Somnath Chatterjee and Mr Rupchand Pal (all CPM) said the Act was being used for “vengeance”. Mr Chatterjee said the constitution of the Review Committee by the Centre was an admission that the Act was being misused. He wondered how the Centre took two different stands in the Supreme Court on the detention of Mr Vaiko. Mr Ajoi Chakravarty (CPI) expressed apprehension that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati was “preparing the ground” for detaining SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav under POTA. His party colleague Prabodh Panda and RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh also came down heavily on the government for the legislation. Mr P.R. Das Munsi (Congress) said his party’s Chief Ministers had not misused the Act and had even dealt with VHP leaders like Mr Pravin Togadia under sections of the Indian Penal Code. He cautioned the treasury benches that if they failed to take corrective steps, sooner than later the Act would be used against them by the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh. Expressing concern over the detention of MDMK leader Vaiko and a journalist under POTA in Tamil Nadu, Acharia said time had come for repeal of the Act. In the Upper House, members belonging to Congress and Left parties strongly objected to the reply given by Minister of State for Home Harin Pathak during question hour that provisions of POTA were withdrawn against 29 persons in Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh “due to insufficient evidence during investigation”. Mr Kapil Sibal (Congress) said he was surprised how they were booked under POTA without sufficient evidence. “Is this the way the government works,” he asked, drawing spontaneous support from other Opposition members. As Mr Pathak faced a barrage of questions from Opposition benches, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani came to his rescue. |
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No ‘absolute immunity’ for scribes under POTA New Delhi, April 23 “Journalists are bound to reveal the source of information in their possession about a terrorist organisation. They have no
privilege not to disclose the source of information. Journalistic freedom is not absolute,” Attorney General Soli J. Sorabjee contended while replying to a bunch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of POTA. Citing various court judgements, he said there was no “unconstitutionality” in Section 14 of POTA, which mandates disclosure of information by a person about any terrorist activity, if he has the knowledge of the same. Similarly, there was no “sacrosanct” privilege of confidentiality that a client enjoyed vis-a-vis his lawyer under POTA, he contended before a Bench comprising Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice G. P. Mathur. “Even in the absence of Section 14, the police could gather information from attorneys and use it to pursue their investigations.... and there is no bar on the supply of such information. The bar is only to attorneys testifying to the detriment of their clients,” Mr Sorabjee said. Former Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar, who appeared for the petitioner, the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), had earlier said that the law violated the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution as it did not provide protection to journalists and lawyers to do their professional duty freely. Countering his arguments, Mr Sorabjee said journalists also had an “obligation” to the society to ensure that the prosecution case against terrorists did not fail for want of disclosure of information in their possession. Referring to the protection of witnesses under the Act, he said under Section 30(2) it was not mandatory to disclose his identity. “If witnesses are not given immunity, they would not come forward to give evidence and there would be no effective
prosecution of terrorist offence and the entire object of the Act would be frustrated,” he said. |
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Defence
report: uproar in LS New Delhi, April 23 Opposition members stalled proceedings during question hour, demanding a response from the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the issue. Taking exception to Congress leader P.R. Dasmunsi’s demand that question hour should be suspended to discuss the matter, the Prime Minister said: “This is question hour and I don’t know what we are doing during question hour. How will this House function like this? Why not observe some parliamentary norms?” “I have been called to answer questions listed against my name. I have been working all night preparing for this. I see no reason why this issue cannot be raised after question hour,” he added. Later raising the issue during zero hour, the members demanded an immediate response from the Prime Minister in the absence of Defence Minister George Fernandes who was away on a visit to China. Mr Vajpayee said contrary to the belief of the Opposition, the government took the reports of the committee seriously. However, these could be discussed in the House by moving a motion appropriately. “The Opposition should remove this impression from its mind that the government does not take these reports seriously... time should be fixed for their discussion in the House,” he said. Raising the issue, Mr Dasmunsi said as per the report 30 per cent of the capital expenditure remained unutilised last year. Moreover, the government could not decide about the proposed purchase of advanced jet trainers (AJTs) and another aircraft carrier. The absence of AJTs was putting the IAF at a disadvantage, he added. Chairman of the Standing Committee and BJP member Madan Lal Khurana said during the past two years, the defence Budget had been doubled to Rs 66,000 crore by the NDA government. The panel had suggested a five-year defence Budget in view of the long process involved in the purchase of arms and defence equipment. “In view of the Bofors gun controversy, officers are scared and are unwilling to take decisions,” he said. |
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BJP plays tough with Mayawati New Delhi, April 23 It was decided at the meeting, held at party President M. Venkaiah Naidu’s residence, that the party top leadership should intervene as there was a real threat of erosion of party’s electoral support in the biggest state, sources said adding that all options with regard to the coalition government were discussed. The party has also decided to aggressively launch its programmes and defend its traditional vote base with the Lok Sabha elections coming soon. Mr Advani will be going to Kanpur on April 26 to meet the state leaders, district presidents and other prominent workers. Earlier, at a three-hour meeting Mr Naidu had with party General Secretaries this morning, it was felt the party should continue to extend support to the Mayawati government. |
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I haven’t squandered money: Mulayam Lucknow, April 23 His speeches centered around Mayawati and he nailed the Chief Minister for wilfully lodging cases against him. Justifying the distribution of money from the Chief Minister’s discretionary fund during his two tenures as the Chief Minister, Mr Yadav said he had given money to the needy and the poor. “The money was given to the deserving and the needy in keeping with the duties of the welfare state, as enshrined in the Indian constitution. There was no legal discrepancy in the distribution of the money ... I had neither squandered money and nor used it on my birthday,” said Mr Yadav. Mr Yadav clarified that none of his party workers had any hand in shooting a video showing Mayawati asking her MLAs and MPs to part with their share of the area development fund or showing Mayawati uttering profanities against Hindu gods. |
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BJP fine-tunes poll strategy New Delhi, April 23 The meeting convened by party President M. Venkaiah Naidu, lasting almost three hours, and attended by general secretaries discussed various agitational programmes that were to be taken up in these states and to counter the propaganda being carried out by the Congress, BJP sources said. A meeting of the party’s central office-bearers would be held in Jaipur on May 25 to be attended by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani to discuss the poll strategy. |
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Biju Janata Dal heading for split New Delhi, April 23 The four rebels - Mr Prasanna Patsani, Mr Prabhat Samantray, Mrs Kumudini Patnaik, wife of former state Finance Minister Ramakrushna Patnaik, and Mr Jagannath Mallick - handed over a letter to Speaker Manohar Joshi today urging him to allocate separate seats to them. “We gave a letter to the Speaker today for separate seats. He is likely to take a decision in this regard very soon”, Mr Patsani said, formalising the division. Surprisingly, Mr Prasanna Acharya and Mr Bhartruhari Mahatab, who had spearheaded the revolt against Mr Sethi, are not signatories to the letter seeking separate seats in the Lok Sabha. |
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USA directing India’s foreign policy: Oppn New Delhi, April 23 “It is the USA which is interfering in our foreign policy. You are not directing your policy. Someone else far away is directing you,” Congress member R.L. Bhatia, former Minister of State for External Affairs, said while initiating a discussion on the demands for grants for the Ministry of External Affairs for 2003-04. Mr Bhatia said India had etched a place in the comity of nations during the prime ministership of Jawaharlal Nehru, but today there was “total confusion” and “no vision” on the foreign policy front. “Now, we are vulnerable. Others are playing a role in our affairs,” he said in an obvious reference to the USA. He said, the USA was pursuing its own hegemonistic agenda, as had been made evident by the Iraq war. Commenting on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s remarks that the USA was India’s “natural ally”, Mr Bhatia said if that was the case, why was Washington not accepting New Delhi’s position on Kashmir and understanding its concerns on Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, and other parts. “For the USA, it is Pakistan which is now its ally. The USA will never come to help you because they have their own interests in Pakistan”, he said. Mr Bhatia demanded to know from the government its strategy to permanently end the animosity towards Pakistan. He pointed out that on the one hand, the External Affairs Minister and the Defence Minister spoke of Pakistan being a “fit case” for a pre-emptive strike, while on the other, the Prime Minister extended a hand of friendship. Mr Bhatia came down heavily on the Vajpayee government’s decision to deploy troops on the border with Pakistan in the wake of the terrorist attack on Parliament. At that time, the Prime Minister had declared that this time, it would be a fight to the finish. He castigated the government for first deploying troops and then withdrawing them after nine months and demanded to know what the compulsions for sending the troops to the borders in the first place were. Cautioning the government not to be influenced by the USA, he said Washington was only pursuing its “hegemonistic” agenda”, as it has done in Iraq. On India’s relations with China, he said when the Prime Minister would visit that country, he should carry some kind of a package to resolve the protracted boundary problem. |
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N-hazard conference for S. Asian docs New Delhi, April 23 The theme of the conference is ‘People’s initiative for peace, health and development.’ The meeting assumes special significance in the post-war scenario when innocent civilians in Iraq are trying to cope with health hazards posed by merciless use of bunker busters and bombs by US-led coalition forces. The bunker busters are said to contain depleted Uranium, a mild radioactive substance. The issue of health hazards of nuclear weapons will also be discussed during the conference. Dr Arun Mitra, Ludhiana based ENT surgeon and General Secretary of Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) told TNS here that health is most adversely affected in the event of war. The use of nuclear weapons causes blast effect, heat effect and radiation effect. The heat generated by the fission reaction of the weapons is equivalent to the heat that would be produced if a thousand suns would come together. The radiation effect is said to be most harmful. Dr Andrew Kanter, Chicago based activist of the Physicians for Social Responsibility, USA will attend the conference. The IPPNW, founded in 1980 by Dr Bernard Lowen and Dr Chazov, cardiologists from US and the then USSR, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts in 1985. It has 58 affiliates the world over besides contacts in 86 countries. IDPD was set up in 1984 by Dr K.L. Wig, the then Director of
AIIMS. |
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Committee reduces VAT on medicines
New Delhi, April 23 “We have decided to reduce VAT on medicines from 12.5 per cent to 4 per cent. We have also decided to totally make tax free certain selected life-saving drugs,” Dr Asim Dasgupta, West Bengal Finance Minister and chairman of the committee, told newspersons here. The list of life-saving drugs will be finalised at the next meeting slated for April 29 and 30. Dr Dasgupta said it had been earlier decided that traders earning up to Rs 5 lakh annually would be totally exempted from VAT. However, those earning between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 25 lakh per annum would pay just 1 per cent of their gross turnover as composite tax. This ceiling had been raised to Rs 40 lakh of turnover per annum. Those earning above this ceiling would bear the full burden of VAT. Dr Dasgupta said the committee decided that the 16 states which had earlier decided to go ahead with VAT from June 1 would stick to their schedule. He said it had also been decided that footwear for the masses — such as hawai chappals — would attract lower taxes. Earlier, it had been decided to tax all footwear at 12.5 per cent. The empowered committee chief also said it was decided to reduce or exempt from VAT certain local items of common use such as ‘chirwa’ in eastern India and leaf-based plates in the South. Dr Dasgupta said campaign material would be distributed to all states which would explain how VAT implies lower incidence of tax but results in higher revenue for the state because of better compliance.
UNI |
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SC reserves order on validity of evidence New Delhi, April 23 The High Court had ruled that the intercepted conversation between accused Mohammad Afzal, Shaukat Hussain Guru and S.A.R. Gilani was not “admissible” under POTA as the provisions of the Act in the case were applied by the prosecution about a week after the interceptions, which was made under the Indian Telegraph Act. It further had said that the mandatory sanction for such interception from the competent authority was obtained about a fortnight later. However, Delhi Government counsel Gopal Subramaniam submitted before a Bench comprising Mr Justice S.N. Variava and Mr Justice Brijesh Kumar that there was nothing illegal in booking the accused under POTA later after the police came to know about the larger conspiracy involving Pakistani terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar and Gazi Baba. The High Court had “erred” in concluding that the interception made under the Telegraph Act would not be admissible under POTA to substantiate the larger conspiracy, he contended. Counsel for the accused, Shanti Bhushan and Rajiv Dhawan had supported the High Court order on the ground that the interception should have been made strictly within the provisions of TADA to attract its applicability in this regard vis-a-vis the accused persons. |
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SC seeks details of 3 Pak ultras New Delhi, April 23 A Bench comprising Mr Justice M.B. Shah and Mr Justice Arun Kumar directed the Jammu and Kashmir Government counsel to submit within a week the information about the prisons in which they had been lodged. The court also permitted counsel of the three terrorists — Bisharat Ali Rajput, Abdul Khaliq and Salahuddin — to take their interview in jails subject to clearance by the authorities. The direction was issued by the court while hearing the pending writ petitions by the three, seeking direction for their release from the jail after the completion of the seven years jail term they had served under TADA and the Jammu and Kashmir Safety Act. They were booked under these laws during 1994-95 for crossing over the Line of Control for “creating trouble” in the state. Since Pakistan has refused to accept the three back when the Indian Government raised the issue with it, Jammu and Kashmir authorities had no option but to confine them to jail, the state government counsel Anis Suhrawardy submitted. |
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ISI trying to revive
militancy in Punjab: Pathak New Delhi, April 23 “Available inputs indicate that the ISI is trying to revive militancy in Punjab and aiding terrorist elements in some North-East states,” Mr Pathak said in a written reply to a question. In order to keep a check ISI activities in the country, the government had adopted a multi-pronged approach which included strengthening the border management, galvanising the intelligence machinery, neutralising plans of the ISI by well-coordinated intelligence-based operations and modernisation and upgradation of the state police and the Central security forces, he said. Besides, a number of Joint Working Groups have been set up with various countries, including Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar for information sharing and combating trans-border crime and terrorism, he said. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, April 23 He told the House that during this period, the government had allocated Rs 2,614 lakh to Punjab, Rs 2,351 lakh to Haryana and Rs 1,892 lakh to Himachal Pradesh. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: Minister of State for Planning Mr S.B. Mookherjee told the House that the per capita plan allocation for agriculture and rural development to Punjab in 2002-03 was Rs 51 and Rs 115, respectively. He said in case of Haryana it was Rs 53 for Agriculture and Rs 35 for Rural Development, whereas the allocation to Himachal Pradesh was Rs 360 (agriculture) and Rs 135 (rural development) . The plan allocation in 2002-03 was Rs 12,384 lakh (agriculture) and Rs 27,876 lakh (rural development) to Punjab, Rs 11,181 lakh to Haryana and Rs 21,857 lakh (agriculture) and Rs 8,219 lakh (rural development) to Himachal Pradesh, he said. MALNOURISHED CHILDREN:
Nearly 9 per cent children below three years in Punjab are malnourished , Minister of State for Health Mr A. Raja told the Lok Sabha. He informed the House that compared to the national average of 18 per cent the percentage of malnourished children was 10.1 in Haryana, 12.1 in Himachal Pradesh and 8.3 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir. INDUSTRIAL SICKNESS:
Small Scale Industries Minister Mr C.P. Thakur informed the House that the number of sick small scale industrial units in Punjab had increased to 1,902 in 2002 from 1,836 in 2001. The number of such units was 145 in Chandigarh, 889 in Haryana, 394 in HP and 2,438 in J&K in 2002. He said that the government has taken various measures in this regard. SEBs LOSSES:
The commercial loss of state electricity boards (SEBs) without subsidy was Rs 1,633 crore in Punjab, Rs 1,949 crore in Haryana, Rs 48 crore in HP and Rs 1,141 crore in J&K, Minister of State for Power Jayawanti Mehta told the Rajya Sabha. The minister said one of the reasons for these losses was non-payment of subsidy by the state governments to the SEBs. TELEPHONE CONNECTIONS:
The number of persons on the waiting list for new telephone connections in Punjab as on March 31, was 1,01,951, informed Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sumitra Mahajan. She said this number was 86,633 in Haryana, 39,084 in HP and 43,969 in J&K. As many as 2,83,079 new connections had been released by BSNL in Punjab during 2002-03, whereas in Haryana it was 1,80,219, 55,495 in HP and 41,266 in J&K, the minister told the House. |
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In video: An anti-terrorist court in Tamil Nadu remands Nakeeran
Editor to the seven-day police custody. (
Giving impetus to the on-going
‘halla bol’ cycle rally against repressive policies of Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, national President of Samajwadi Party
Mulayam Singh Yadav today led the party’s campaign and peddled his
bicycle for over 10 km addressing impromptu meetings and asking the
people to join their fight against the mis-rule of Mayawati.
