 |
Thursday,
July 31, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
LS nod to
funding of parties Bill Cong, Sena
men trade charges in Lok Sabha George: no
delay in ‘Op Sarp Vinash’ Cong
approach on George unchanged
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cauvery
panel to meet in a week Ultras
shift focus to Jammu Govt
keeping close watch on Chohan NORTH INDIA IN
PARLIAMENT
BJP to continue ties with BSP Mayawati given
no assurance: Advani
Intelligence
agencies baffled Government,
Unifem sign MoU Sardar Sarovar:
govt empowers panchayats
|
|
LS nod to funding of parties Bill New Delhi, July 30 Replying to a discussion on the Election and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2003, Law Minister Arun Jaitley said only political parties recognised by the Election Commission would be entitled to get the funds. Those giving donations would have to do so by cheques and file the returns, otherwise they would not be entitled to income tax benefits, the minister said. Earlier, moving the Bill, Mr Jaitley said the government after careful consideration of the Indrajit Gupta Committee on funding of political parties, had decided to bring in the legislation to amend the Representation of People Act, Income Tax Act and Companies Act for the purpose. He said even the political parties were consulted while preparing the Bill. A suggestion for creating a corpus fund for the purpose financed jointly by the states and Centre could not materialise as the state governments declined to fund it because of their financial conditions, the minister informed the members. The Bill, among other things, allows contributions by private companies to political parties with a maximum limit of 5 per cent of their profits. However, there is no cap on similar contributions by individuals. The IT law was being amended so as to give relief to such donors, Mr Jaitley said. It also makes contributions by cheques mandatory and provides that the parties audit their annual accounts while maintaining a list of donors who give more than Rs 20,000. The parties would have to submit the list and the accounts annually to the Election Commission under the proposed law. The minister suggested that the Election Commission should draw up a code for public and private broadcasters and cable operators to grant time to political parties on the basis of the votes polled by them in the preceding elections. He said distinction had also been made to separately treat the expenditure on transportation and security of protected VIPs at the state and central levels when they go to constituencies other than their own for campaigning. Initiating the debate, Congress member Sudarshan Nachiappan said several suggestions in this regard had been made by Congress leader Manmohan Singh as also the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs. Mr Nachiappan said though the Bill was aimed at making political parties accountable, individual candidates like Independents should also be brought under its ambit. He also wanted such contributions by NRIs to be accounted for. Stating that the British poll process was funded by the government, he said though this was not possible in India, the government should consider funding advertisements in dailies and the fuel spent for campaigning. Opposing the provisions for funding of elections, CPM member V. Radhakrishnan said money and muscle power was already influencing the election process. If the proposed provisions received parliamentary approval, it would pave the way for multinational companies to have “remote control” of Parliament within a short time, he said. He added that with MNCs spreading their tentacles, even national security could be jeopardised. Ms Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress) described the Bill as “neither comprehensive, nor impressive” but said it was a modest beginning. She demanded state funding of elections and disclosure of assets by all political parties. Mr K. Malayswamy (AIADMK) demanded a comprehensive package of electoral reforms which was endorsed by M. V. V. S. Murthy of the TDP. Mr P. K. Bansal (Congress) stressed on the need to address the problem of both “uncounted and unaccounted money”. Mr P. R. Das Munshi (Congress) said the Bill was not “fool-proof” and assured his party’s support if the government brought about a proposal for comprehensive reform of electoral practices on the basis of the Dinesh Goswami Committee’s recommendations. Mr Arun Kumar (Samata) and Chandrabhushan Singh (Samajwadi Party) supported the Bill. |
|
Cong, Sena men trade charges in Lok Sabha New Delhi, July 30 As soon as the House assembled at 11 a.m., Congress members raised a furore and accused the Centre of “destabilising” the Mukut Mithi-led government in Arunachal Pradesh. This led to the suspension of question hour as the House was adjourned till 12 noon. The House, which reassembled during zero hour, witnessed uproarious scenes again when the Shiv Sena members, supported by the BJP members, demanded the dismissal of the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra following its failure to control the growth of violence, going by the recent Ghatkopar bomb blast. Amidst shouting of slogans like “No question hour, no zero hour”, and “Dismiss Maharashtra Government”, Deputy Speaker P. M. Sayeed adjourned the House till 2 p.m. |
|
George: no delay in ‘Op Sarp Vinash’ New Delhi, July 30 Defence Minister George Fernandes today said in the Rajya Sabha during question hour that the operation began on April 17 and ended on May 5 after information was received that terrorists were hiding in the area. Significantly, Opposition members, including Congress veterans Moti Lal Vora, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni and Natwar Singh, sat all through the 15 minutes that Mr Fernandes was replying to the supplementaries. These parties had yesterday walked out of both Houses when Mr Fernandes wanted to make a statement on the recent terrorist attack on an Army camp in Jammu. The Congress, Left parties and RJD have been boycotting Mr Fernandes in Parliament for 18 months over the Tehelka scam. Mr Fernandes said 65 terrorists were killed and three arrested in the operation. As many as 79 weapons were seized. Five Army personnel lost their lives. Replying to a supplementary, he said the Army was being provided with most modern weapons and the government was not taking any chance on the issue of modernisation. However, modernisation was an ongoing process and the purchase of new equipment required a long procedure, including selection, tests, prices etc. which took sometime. Sharing the members’ concern, he said nothing was a secret regarding the government strategy on J and K. |
|
Cong approach on George unchanged New Delhi, July 30 Answering questions about Congress members not staging a walk-out in the Rajya Sabha today when Mr Fernandes was replying to a question on ‘Operation Sarp
Vinash’ in the Hill Kaka area of Jammu region, Congress chief spokesman Jaipal Reddy said the Congress members had been refraining from asking any clarifications from the minister. He said the protest had been continuing for the last 18 months. There was no change in the situation in either House and the party members had been abstaining from or boycotting Mr Fernandes, he said. |
|
Cauvery
panel to meet in a week New Delhi, July 30 Replying to a call attention motion on the sharing of river waters, Water Resources Minister Arjun Charan Sethi said that the Tamil Nadu Government had already given its comments on the Karnataka government’s formula to share Cauvery water during distress period. |
|
Ultras shift
focus to Jammu New Delhi, July 30 Minister of State for Home R.D. Swamy said in the question hour, “their focus could be on Jammu but the government is on the alert. We are also changing our strategy from time to time.” On the future plan to tackle the problem in the state, the minister said the government had appointed four task forces during the past two or three years. |
|
Govt keeping
close watch on Chohan New Delhi, July 30 Dismissing the apprehension of the revival of militancy in Punjab, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr I. D. Swami, said nine militants had been arrested in Punjab this year and no attacks had taken place this year till now. In reply to a query whether Chohan had tendered an apology before being allowed to enter India, the minister said though he had not apologised, he had assured to undertake his activities in a democratic
manner. |
|
NORTH INDIA
IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, July 30 Mr Pradhan said the BSNL plans to set up four exchanges each in Ludhiana and Ropar and three exchanges each in Chandigarh, Gurdaspur and Panchkula. It also plans to open one exchange each in Amritsar, Faridkot, Ferozepore and Patiala. The minister said that three new exchanges — two in Ludhiana and one in Ropar — had become operational.
Terrorist organisations The Ministry of Home Affairs, Swami
Chinmayanand, has said that there are no reports to indicate that terrorist organisations favouring the creation of Khalistan had vowed to increase their activities. Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, he said that Pakistan’s ISI had been making attempts to revive militancy in Punjab. He said the situation was being monitored by Central and state security agencies.
Amarnath pilgrims Replying to another question in the Rajya Sabha, Swami Chinmayanand said that 1,11,932 pilgrims had registered for Amarnath Yatra this year as against 1,10,793, who visited the shrine last year. He said the Jammu & Kashmir Government was responsible for providing security and making other arrangements for the Amarnath
Yatra.
Power schemes The Ministry of Power has sanctioned a scheme to prepare
pre-feasibility reports for 160 hydroelectric schemes in the country having an aggregate installed capacity of 50,650 mw. Of these, 12 schemes of 3,750 mw are in Himachal Pradesh, Minister of State, Power, Ms Jayawanti Mehta told the Rajya Sabha. |
|
BJP to continue ties with BSP New Delhi, July 30 At a meeting of the Central Parliamentary Board at Mr Vajpayee’s residence, the BJP top brass decided to bury the hatchet as they felt that the chapter over Ms Mayawati’s demand for the removal of Union Tourism Minister Jagmohan on the controversial Taj Corridor issue was “closed” after her withdrawal of the demand. The BJP leaders, however, felt the need for effective steps from both coalition partners to avoid such incidents in the future. The meeting, chaired by BJP President M. Venkaiah Naidu, was attended among others by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Jaswant Singh and Rajnath Singh. Briefing newspersons after the meeting, BJP spokesperson Pramod Mahajan said, “The party felt that in future such incidents should not happen and the coalition should function under Ms Mayawati’s leadership.” “While the party has decided to continue its coalition arrangement, the Prime Minister made it clear that both parties should follow coalition ethics,” Mr Mahajan said. The general thinking at the meeting was that both the BJP and the BSP should work in close coordination in Uttar Pradesh to meet the challenges ahead, he said. |
|
Mayawati given no assurance: Advani New Delhi, July 30 “No assurance has been given. The Prime Minister had told her that your letter had been received and we were examining it,” he told the Rajya Sabha during zero hour. The issue was raised by CPI(M) member Nilotpal Basu. Ms Mayawati later reportedly withdrew her demand on the basis of some assurances given by the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Basu said. |
|
Intelligence
agencies baffled New Delhi, July 30 These agencies suspect that their worst fears of fringe Al-Qaida groups having reorganised themselves to launch operations in Kashmir may have come true. Intelligence agencies had assessed earlier that some of the fringe groups having been forced out of Afghanistan had taken refuge in Pakistan and were trying to reorganise themselves with the help of sympathisers there. Such is the urgency that these agencies are maintaining a constant liaison with their Indian counterparts here for over a week, asking for updates and additional information. It is now being concluded that the three suspects in the Tanda raid were fresh volunteers, highly trained and motivated, but with no previous history or record in the cadres. Intelligence officials believe that a new cadre of volunteers was raised in the post-September 11, 2001 period in utmost secrecy and away from the prying eyes of the international intelligence community which had been monitoring the terrorist groups operating out of Pakistan closely. Senior intelligence officials also believe that these highly motivated and trained volunteers may have had the tacit support of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan as it wanted to keep the pot boiling in Kashmir despite the international pressure to close down the terrorist camps there. The reports of some of the known terrorist groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba having recently raised a cadre of 7000 to 8000 volunteers could have been used as a red herring to throw intelligence agencies off the trail. Senior intelligence and security officials here maintain that it suits the ISI to have an operational secret cadre of volunteers just in case the authorities force the closure of the regular camps in the emerging scenario of improved relations between India and Pakistan. It is this total lack of information about the new cadre which is causing considerable concern among the intelligence community. That the volunteers of this new mysterious cadre are highly trained and motivated is reflected by the actions of the three Tanda suspects who first commandeered a truck to transport them to a spot near the camp and then the arrowhead attack they launched on the guardroom. While one of the suspects caused considerable confusion by attacking the guards, lobbing hand grenades, the second person gained access to the interior of the camp, taking advantage of the initial confusion, while the third brought up the rear. Another factor which reflects the exhaustive training that they had received is the fact that even after being seriously injured in the subsequent gunbattle with the Army’s Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs), the third suspect managed to hide himself. |
|
Government, Unifem sign MoU New Delhi, July 30 The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Minister for Human Resource Development Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Minister of State for HRD Jaskaur Meena. The signatories to the MoU are the HRD Minister, Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), Dr R.V.V. Ayyar, and Regional Programme Director of Unifem, Ms Chandni Joshi. According to a press note issued by the HRD Ministry, the partnership aims to encourage gender sensitive governance by using tools as gender analysis of Budget, gender audit and monitoring at the local and national levels. Attempts would also be made to increase participation of women in decision making and leadership. |
|
Sardar
Sarovar: govt empowers panchayats Bhopal, July 30 The modalities were discussed in detail by the Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, Ms Medha Patkar, with the Chief Minister, Mr Digvijay Singh, on Monday night. Ms Patkar was accompanied by film actress and Rajya Sabha Member, Shabana Azmi, social activist Swami Agnivesh and a former Planning Commission member, Mr L.C. Jain. Ms Patkar told reporters yesterday morning that the Chief Minister had agreed to hand over all official records to the panchayats and issue a special notification to authorise them to make recommendations. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In
video (
