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Sunday,
May 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Maya gloats over her ‘goals’ UP Govt not to ban trishul diksha
CPI welcomes PM’s
peace-making effort |
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Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee (C) gestures during a national convention on "Educational and
Economic Development of Minorities" in New Delhi on Saturday. Minister of
Social Justice & Empowerment Satyanarayan Jatiya (left) is also seen in the picture.
— PTI photo Assess damage to Iraq
gurdwara: DSGMC Court extends ASI deadline on excavation
Russian experts to probe MiG crashes Law panel: death by hanging barbaric Krivak-class frigate arriving next month Strike in Kerala
over clashes 1993 blast case Dust haze engulfs
North India Vajpayee calls on
ailing sister
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Maya gloats over her ‘goals’ Lucknow, May 3 “My government has achieved what previous governments had failed to even dream of,” said Ms Mayawati in a press conference. “The crime rate has gone down by 70 per cent, basic infrastructure facilities have reached over 7,000 Ambedkar villages and development projects have started,” she continued churning figures after figures to show how her government has been able to redress the grievances of the poor and the Dalits. Had any government achieved 10 per cent of what my government had done in just one year, she asked. Barely a kilometre from 5, Kalidas Marg, the official residence of the Chief Minister where she was holding the press conference, Congress leaders were getting ready to answer Ms Mayawati’s claims. Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Arun Kumar Singh ‘Munna’ released a 12-page coloured booklet ‘Bhay aur aatank se bhara Mayawati ka ek saal’ (One year of Mayawati full of terror). “I do not have to say anything... this booklet says it all,” said Mr Munna while addressing mediapersons. In this one year the Chief Minister had looted the government exchequer with her both hands... birthdays were celebrated with government money and money from the development fund was diverted for the construction of Ambedkar Smarak, said Mr Munna. He said the Chief Minister had been acting in a vindictive manner and this year Uttar Pradesh saw the politics of vendetta. Whosoever opposed Mayawati’s rule was harassed and even booked under the Prevention of Terrorist Act (POTA)”, he said referring to the arrest of jailed Independent legislator Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya. Ms Mayawati also took a dig at the media for giving a negative publicity to her. “In fact, negative publicity suits me. Anti-stories sensitiese my vote bank and the BSP cadre take a resolve to fight the forces trying to decry Behanji,” she said with a chuckle. This is the longest term for Ms Mayawati as Chief Minister. Her first term lasted for 42 days, while the second 180 days. |
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UP Govt not to ban trishul diksha New Delhi, May 3 Addressing a press conference here on the occasion of completion of one year of the BSP-BJP coalition government, Ms Mayawati, who claimed 70 per cent decline in criminal activities in the state, said though she agreed with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani’s view on the VHP’s ongoing trishul diksha programme, she was not going to take any action as it did not violate any law. Reeling out statistics, the Chief Minister claimed that the state had done well in the sphere of revenue collection where record collection of Rs 12,575 crore was done which, incidentally, was the highest in a single year since Independence. To a question whether the BSP would field a candidate against Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, a Dalit contesting the byelection, Ms Mayawati said, “Shinde is not contesting the election as a Dalit but as the Congress candidate. The BSP will field a candidate against him.” Ms Mayawati said her party would support the legislations in Parliament for curbing defections and restricting the size of Council of Ministers. |
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CPI welcomes PM’s
peace-making effort New Delhi, May 3 In a statement, the CPI Central Secretariat said that the party extended its support to the effort and welcomed the restoration of full diplomatic relations and air-links between the two countries. “It is to be hoped that Pakistan will respond by taking
effective steps to end cross-border terrorism and give peace a lasting chance,” it said. The party’s stand came in the wake of the Prime Minister’s announcement in Parliament yesterday for a “decisive” attempt at restoring permanent peace involving the two countries. The secretariat observed that while a “step-by-step approach” was needed towards creating the necessary atmosphere, initiatives should be made to establish people-to-people contacts. |
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PM: government not
anti-minorities New Delhi, May 3 “The propaganda still continued that the NDA government was against the Muslims and other minorities...But this is not true,” Mr Vajpayee said without naming any opposition party. Launching three schemes for promoting education among the minorities at Vigyan Bhavan here, Mr Vajpayee said, “Education is capital for development and progress. It should not be confined to religious education alone. Minority communities, specially Muslims, should not remain educationally backward.” Mr Vajpayee said “our Constitution says there should not be any discrimination on grounds of religion and efforts should be made to see that minorities did not lag behind.” The schemes launched by Mr Vajpayee were Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Literacy Awards for promoting education amongst educationally backward minorities (four awards of Rs 1 lakh each every year); Maulana Azad National Scholarship Scheme for meritorious students belonging to minorities, particularly girl students; and Scheme of Financial Assistance for establishment of Maulana Azad Sadbhawana Kendras in different parts of the country. |
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Assess damage to Iraq
gurdwara: DSGMC New Delhi, May 3 The DSGMC president, Mr Paramjit Singh Sarna, in a letter to the Sikh leaders in Kuwait, has asked them to assess the damage to the gurdwara and seek permission from the US authorities in Baghdad to permit kar seva for its reconstruction. He said a number of Sikh associations and members of the community had expressed concern about the conflicting reports of damage to the gurdwara and expressed inclination to perform kar seva. While an Indian High Commission official has sent a report to the External Affairs Ministry that only two glass panes of the gurdwara are broken due to the US bombardment of Baghdad, the Punjab Chief Minister had written to the US Ambassador in India, expressing the state government’s inclination to rebuild the gurdwara. The DSGMC president said the Sikh community felt denigrated by the reported statement of the Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, Mr Tarlochan Singh, that “no gurdwara exists in Baghdad.” The NCM chief had later clarified that no formal gurdwara structure existed. Mr Sarna stated that wherever Guru Nanak stayed was a gurdwara, whether a formal structure existed or not. |
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Court extends ASI deadline on excavation Lucknow, May 3 “On a request of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the court has given five more weeks to complete the excavations and submit its report,” a court official said. The excavation at the disputed site is on to ascertain whether a temple existed at the site where a mosque was built in the 16th century by a Mughal emperor. The excavation started on March 12, was to end within a month. An extension of five weeks was given to the ASI to complete the job and submit its report by May 10. |
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Russian experts to probe MiG crashes New Delhi, May 3 The Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy, said a Russian team would come to India to probe the reasons for the crash of an upgraded MiG-21 ‘Bis’ at Ambala recently. Talking to newsmen on the sidelines of a function here yesterday, he said preliminary reports indicate that there was a problem in the `R-25’ engine, leading to `shredding’ of engine parts. “There are different reasons for the crashes —engine failure, pilot error or bird hits— while some accidents involve other variants of the MiGs, but everyone clubs the crashes together,” he pointed out. The IAF had last year also called Russian experts to look into the reasons for the number of crashes which occurred in the MiG series. “The country cannot afford diminution of its military assets in this way. We will no doubt find the cause of this crash, but the important point is preventing them,” he said, adding that it was not his intention to give excuses. Calling the MiG a ‘racehorse,’ he said the delay in the acquisition of Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs) could also be a factor in the spate of incidents. |
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Law panel: death by hanging barbaric New Delhi, May 3 “In an evolutionary society, the standards of human decency are progressively evolving to higher levels and what was regarded as legitimate and reasonable punishment, proportionate to the offence at one time may now according to the evolving standards of human decency, be regarded as barbaric and inhuman punishment wholly disproportionate to the offence,” said a consultation paper, circulated by the commission for responses on the issue from jurists, NGOs, social organisations and general public. Quoting from the UN Economic and Social Council (UNESC) resolution, passed 19 years ago stressing the member countries to adopt a simpler form of executing the death sentence, the commission has presented a comparative study which shows that death by hanging most of the time “involves enormous pain,” while sending a convict to the shooting squad or giving him lethal injection will be with hardly any pain. Stating that the execution of a convict by sending him to the gallows takes more than 40 minutes to declare him dead, the commission said death by shooting and lethal injection was not only more simpler but also quicker. Nearly 35 countries, including the USA and some other developed nations, had abandoned execution by hanging as it involved mutilation of the body in the absence of a mechanism of a controlled way of execution, the panel said, adding that there had been instances world over that death by hanging was a “lingering” one. |
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Krivak-class frigate arriving next month New Delhi, May 3 The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Madhavendra Singh, said here today that the first of the
Krivak-class frigates-INS Talwar — was expected to arrive next month. “All problems have been sorted out. Trials have been conducted, and have been successful. The first ship should arrive some time next month, the second by August and the third by the end of this year or early next year,” Admiral Madhavendra Singh told newspersons on the sidelines of a function here yesterday. The delay in the induction of these frigates had occurred due to a problem in the ‘Shtil’ medium-range surface-to-air missile complex these ships are armed with. The initial test was successful, but the next two failed. Integration problems between the combat management and weapons systems were identified as a probable cause. The Talwar-class stealth-technology frigates are a modified version of the Russian Krivak class ships redesigned to meet the requirements of the Indian Navy. Interestingly, in the Russian Navy they are classified as frigates but will be designated as destroyers in the Indian Navy, because of the local area-defence Shtil-1 Surface-to-Air (SAM) installed on the Indian vessels. These ships are armed with a most formidable array of weapons, including the nuclear-capable ‘Klub-N’ supersonic cruise missiles (with a range of 300 km).
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Strike in Kerala over clashes
Thiruvananthapuram, May 3 Incidents of stone-throwing and torching of vehicles, forcible closure of a bank and a few business firms have been reported in some parts. Two lorries were set ablaze at Koyilandi in Kozhikode. The police seized 17 gelatine bombs, about 50-sharp edged weapons and a few swords from a place of worship during raids at Marad, where a strong contingent of the state police had been posted since last night. Over 65 persons had been taken into custody so far, the police said.
The Hartal was near total in all parts of the state, with shops downing shutters and buses keeping off the roads.
PTI |
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1993 blast case Mumbai, May 3 Both were deported from Dubai in March this year and arrested under the TADA (P) Act. They are charged with various offences, including conspiracy, to create a series of blasts in Mumbai on March 12, 1993, in connivance with Pakistan-based gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
PTI |
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Dust haze engulfs
North India New Delhi, May 3 The dust haze, the Met Department said, was spread over Delhi, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The officials said the haze was likely to remain for the next 24 hours. The situation may improve only by tomorrow, when slight rain, too, was expected. The Met Department attributed the dust haze to western disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir passing over Punjab and dry winds coming in from Rajasthan. |
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Vajpayee calls on
ailing sister New Delhi, May 3 The Prime Minister, who had visited Gwalior earlier this week to see his sister, brought her here on April 28.
PTI |
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