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Wednesday,
May 21, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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PM, Advani
discuss Cabinet reshuffle DDA SCAM Bandh over doc’s kidnapping today NHRC pulls
up UP Government |
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4 cr
workers join strike today
Narmada Bachao
movement leader Medha Patkar tries to block the way of Madhya Pradesh Deputy Chief
Minister Subhash Yadav during a demonstration in Bhopal on Tuesday. — PTI photo
N-E to
have mountaineering institute: PM Virbhadra
seeks higher import duty on hops Union Finance
Minister Jaswant Singh with Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra
Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday. Armed
man held near Parliament HC notice to IIT on exam Pension fund likely by October Managing Editor held on PF default charge
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PM, Advani discuss Cabinet reshuffle New Delhi, May 20 The meeting, held at the Prime Minister’s 7 Race Course residence which was also attended by BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, remained inconclusive, sources said, adding that Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani would again deliberate on the issue after the former’s return from Lucknow. Though the participants declined to talk to the waiting mediapersons after the meeting, there were indications that the reshuffle would either be carried out on May 24 or May 26 — a day before Mr Vajpayee leaves on a three-nation tour. However, there was, yet, no communication from the government to the Rashtrapati Bhavan till Mr Vajpayee left for Lucknow today. On Sunday, announcing his intention to undertake the reshuffle, Mr Vajpayee had indicated that Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee may be inducted along with some new faces. He had also said the extra burden on some of the ministers would be reduced, a hint that some ministers holding more than one portfolio may be divested of the multiple responsibilities. Barring Urban Development Minister Ananth Kumar, who was given the additional charge of Ministry of Rural Development after the resignation of Himachal stalwart Shanta Kumar from the ministry, no other BJP minister, holding additional charge, would be divested of the charge. Induction of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and lessening the work burden of some senior ministers holding additional portfolios figured during the hour-long meeting at Mr Vajpayee’s residence, party sources said. Senior party leaders ruled out any major changes in the Cabinet amidst speculations about possible induction of former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and dropping of Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh. While Mr Ajit Singh doggedly evaded a question on whether he would be dropped from the Vajpayee government, there were firm indications among government circles that he would not be dropped. He told newspersons here, “My party fought the UP election in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other allies of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and I am here with the government.” He did not reply when asked whether his Rashtriya Lok Dal party would contest the next Lok Sabha election in alliance with the BJP but said he would keenly be watching the television channels on the day of the reshuffle of the Union Cabinet. Likely inclusion of a nominee from Himachal Pradesh, which did not have any representation following the resignation of Mr Shanta Kumar, was also being widely debated in party circles. While return of Mr Shanta Kumar was ruled out, other names which were being discussed were of the Mandi Lok Sabha MP Maheshwar Singh and of the Lok Sabha MP from Hamirpur Suresh Chandel with the former enjoying a better chance, sources pointed out. |
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DDA SCAM New Delhi, May 20 Mr Justice B.N. Chaturvedi today became the second judge to decline hearing of arguments on the bail petitions by three DDA officials, after Mr Justice R.C. Chopra, who had granted bail to Justice Mukherjee, refused to hear the same last week. Mr Justice Chaturvedi referred the bail petitions of sacked DDA Vice-Chairman Subhash Sharma, Commissioner (Land Disposal) Anand Mohan Sharan and Director (Land) Jagdish Chander, to Chief Justice B.C. Patel with a request that those be posted for hearing before another judge tomorrow. Mr Justice Chaturvedi, like Mr Justice Chopra, did not specify the reasons for transferring the case from his court. On Friday last Mr Justice Chopra had declined to hear the bail applications of the three DDA officials, who had been sacked following the scam had come to light in March. |
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Bandh over doc’s kidnapping today
Patna, May 20 A Lakhisarai report, quoting the police, said the criminal was killed in an encounter with the police which, acting on a tip-off, raided a house at Lakshmipur village. The criminal was identified as Sochan Singh, wanted in several cases of murder and rape. Sources said raids were also conducted on the residence of a dreaded criminal, Sudhir Singh, who gave the police the slip. Meanwhile, doctors threatened to paralyse health services from tomorrow. The agitation would cause serious hardship to the poor, solely dependent on government hospitals. Earlier, a delegation of the
NDA, including Railways Minister Nitish Kumar and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Sushil Kumar
Modi, visited the house of the kidnapped doctor. Later, they gave a call for a Patna bandh tomorrow in protest against the kidnapping. They said all business establishments and other institutions would remain closed during the
bandh. Cadres of Left parties would also take to the streets tomorrow for the first time since the realignment of political forces to enforce a separate call for a Bihar
bandh. UNI |
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Doctors Stir ‘illegal’ Patna, May 20 The doctors’ decision to press ahead with the strike came after the expiry of their 48-hour deadline to trace
Chandra, who was abducted on his way back home from a dinner on Saturday last, as police remained clueless of his whereabouts.
PTI |
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NHRC pulls up UP Government New Delhi, May 20 Taking serious cognizance of the respondent government’s failure to comply with its previous directions, the commission had observed, “It appears that the state has conveniently forgotten the observations of the Supreme Court of India that custodial crimes are perhaps one of the worst crimes in a civilised society. It also appears that the authorities concerned of the government of Uttar Pradesh tend to overlook the purpose of grant of immediate interim relief under Section 18 (3) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993...” |
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4 cr workers join strike today New Delhi, May 20 All bank employees and insurance employees will assemble at the State Bank of India building on Parliament Street and Jeevandeep Building in Connaught Place, respectively, to join the agitation, according to sources in the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). While factory workers will join the strike according to shift hours, port and dock workers will commence the strike from midnight. Except new-generation private sector banks and foreign banks, all banks will remain closed, according to sources. The protesters will press for demands drawn up unanimously. The demands include an end to privatisation of profit-making and potentially viable public sector undertakings, immediate enactment of a comprehensive legislation for agricultural workers, restoration of quantitative restriction on import, amendment in the bonus Act by removing all ceilings and restoration of 12 per cent interest rate on provident fund deposits for government, private and public sector employees. The workers will also voice their resentment against to changes in labour laws in favour of employers and against interests of the workers and policies leading to an increase in unemployment. The national secretary of CITU, Mr Varda Rajan, told mediapersons here today that the 40 million workers participating in the agitation included workers from the unorganised sector. |
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Medha Patkar starts fast Bhopal, May 20 Sitting under the scorching sun, with the mercury hovering around 42 °C, she told reporters that the permission was in violation of the Supreme Court order and utterly inhumane as no proper arrangement had been made for the rehabilitation of the affected families. She accused the Madhya Pradesh Government of entering into “corrupt political compromise” with the Modi government in Gujarat on this issue. She said she would continue the dharna for 24 hours and would not take even a drop of water during this period. A visibly annoyed Mr Yadav asked her to submit whatever memorandum she had brought but Ms Patkar said that she had submitted several memoranda so far and now they had come to know which of the uprooted families had been rehabilitated and where, as often claimed by him. Mr Yadav reportedly asked her to go ahead with her “nautanki” (farce) in front of the cameras of the electronic media. He then walked off. PTI adds: Later, Mr Yadav hit out at Ms Patkar for forcing entry into his house. “The manner in which they had stormed into the official residence was totally uncivilised and smacked of violence”, he added. |
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N-E to have mountaineering institute: PM New Delhi, May 20 “Both of you (Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay) achieved what seemed like a dream then,” the Prime Minister said, adding that nearly 1,300 persons had since stood on the highest summit so far. He said: “Climbing the Himalayan peaks is not an ordinary adventure. It is a spiritual sport, which purifies our lives and urges us to conquer hatred, prejudice, mutual strife and other instincts that have disfigured life on our beautiful planet.” Pointing out to Hillary, who is in the Capital to attend the function, Mr Vajpayee said: “You showed them the way and the romantic saga of Mount Everest continues to this day.” Flagging off the celebrations, Mr Vajpayee announced the decision to establish the institute for mountaineering in North-East, which would be funded by the Ministry of Defence. Half a century ago, the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, on the ascent of Mount Everest had set up Himalayan Mountaineering Institute at Darjeeling. Releasing the commemorative postage stamp on the occasion, Mr Vajpayee said: “I salute you Sir Edmund. All of here and the people of India salute you today.” The son of Norgay, Jamling Norgay, was present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Hillary recounted the tough climb of the Everest and years later the funeral of his partner Norgay in Darjeeling. He expressed concern over excessive commercialisation and the Everest being littered with garbage. He said efforts should be made to preserve the ecology of the entire region. |
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Virbhadra
seeks higher import duty on hops New Delhi, May 20 Mr Virbhadra Singh, who met Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh today, sought an increase in import duty on hops, inclusion of Himachal Pradesh in the ‘Horticulture Mission’ and funds for the state as per recommendations of the 11th Finance Commission. |
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Armed man held near Parliament New Delhi, May 20 The police and various intelligence agencies have begun interrogation. The police said Rajesh claims to have run away from his home in Baroda and had come to the capital in search of a job. |
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HC notice to IIT on exam New Delhi, May 20 Mr Justice S.K. Agrawal also issued a notice to the chairman of the JEE board, which conducts the examination. The petition was filed by a student, Ranjit Singh, who appeared in this year’s entrance examination and failed to get through in the screening test held on April 20. His counsel R.K. Saini alleged that no clear-cut criteria had been laid down by the IIT regarding the screening test to determine what percentage of students should make the grade to the next stage of the written test. Last year and this year, about 1.75 lakh students appeared in the screening test, but the IIT cleared 24,000 of them for the written examination last year, while the number this time has been reduced to 12,000, the counsel argued. This showed arbitrariness in deciding the percentage of successful candidates in the screening test, he said. The court said an important question had been raised in the writ petition and the issue needed to be examined. The petitioner said there should either be a fixed number or a fixed percentage of total students qualifying for the next round. He claimed that he was likely to have given correct answers to 82 of the 84 questions and should have qualified for the written examination, but due to a reduction in the number of successful candidates to half, he could not make the grade. |
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Pension fund likely by October New Delhi, May 20 The modalities for the fund, which soon go before the Cabinet for approval, will be decided by the interim pension regulatory authority. The government has decided to set up six pension funds of which one will be in the government sector and rest in the private sector. Insurance companies, mutual funds, including UTI and financial institutions with experience in fund management will be eligible. A significant aspect of the pension fund will be to allow them to invest outside the country to enable the pensioners get best possible returns. Official sources said mutual funds were now allowed to invest abroad up to $ 1 billion as part of the efforts to move towards capital account convertibility and pension funds too would be initially allowed to invest up to $ 1 billion abroad. A permanent pension authority like SEBI and IRDA would be established after the passage of
pension regulatory authority Bill in Parliament, which was likely in the monsoon or winter session. |
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Managing Editor held on PF default charge Kolkata, May 20 The enforcement branch of the Kolkata police arrested Kumar this morning in front of his residence on the basis of a complaint filed by the Provident Fund Commissioner’s office for alleged default of Rs 1.35 crore in PF contributions. He was later produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S.C. Misra, who rejected a bail application moved by a senior official of the newspaper in the absence of a lawyer due to an agitation and sent him to judicial remand.
PTI |
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