 |
Friday,
August 1, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Democracy doesn’t impede development,
says Amartya Advani ready for secularism debate George’s remarks on MiGs cause stir |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
ISI strengthens militant strategy Plot to divide Hurriyat detected
NORTH INDIA IN
PARLIAMENT
Simultaneous Assembly, LS poll in UP favoured Advani to visit Punjab on Prem Bhatia memorial scholarships SC directive not followed: TN employees Sena men storm fashion show
Chanting ‘Ram dhun’ non-stop for 39 years DAV chief for uniform education policy
Bill to hike penalty on ticketless travel
|
|
Democracy doesn’t impede development, New Delhi, July 31 Prof Sen, who was honoured with the Nobel Prize in 1998 for his pioneering research on welfare economics, gave instances from ancient history, philosophy and presently prevalent realpolitik to negate the thesis that democracy tended to slow down economic growth. “Politically unfree citizens are deficient in freedom even if they happen to enjoy a very high level of income”, Prof Sen said while speaking at the inaugural session of a seminar on “Development as Freedom”, organised by FICCI and the Shri Ram Centre here. In a typically erudite elucidation, Prof Sen came out with a comparison of the Chinese and Indian development experiences which went far beyond the frequently repeated generalisations. While India has much to learn from China’s past experience in the rapidly expanding health care and basic education, there is little that India needs to learn from China on the alleged virtues of authoritarian politics, he said. Despite the dreadful state of health care in India, India has been able to half the gap of life expectancy vis-a-vis China. When economic reforms were introduced in China in 1979, with a life expectancy of 68 years, it had a lead of 14 years or more over India (life expectancy of 54 years during that time). Prof Sen said China’s stagnation in health care had a lot to do with lack of political engagement and less democratic participation. “Kerala is a pointed example of this correlation. It enjoys a life expectancy of 74 years, largely attributable to the existence of democracy and oppositional politics”, he stated. “Democracy is not merely a system of elections, but also one of public reasoning, which can play a robustly constructive role in bringing about changes in policies and priorities to advance substantive reforms”, Prof Sen said. “In spite of a huge food budget of the state, coupled with exceptionally large stocks of food and elimination of famines, there remains a massive level of endemic hunger in India. Much can be achieved even by humble programmes like the mid-day meal schemes, which can have many benefits such as enhanced nutrition, increased school attendance and proportion of girls going to school, besides helping breaking caste barriers through communal eating,” he said. “The policy reform that is needed is largely a matter of clarity of economic and social thinking and here public reasoning can help. There is nothing as contrary as grumbling about the limitations of Indian democracy without trying to do what we can to extend its reach”, Prof Sen said. “More specifically, when comparative statements are made that try to show the failure of Indian democracy, it is typically assumed that high-growth patterns similar to South Korea, China and Singapore could have been replicated here as well if India adopted a similar model of governance,” the Nobel Laureate said. He stated that a proximate comparison of India with a not-always democratic country must be with Pakistan, and somehow that did not tend to be the focus of the “rosy portrayals of the non-democratic alternative that India is supposed to be”. And despite the commonly made generalisation that democracy tends to slow down economic growth, extensive comparisons have not provided any empirical support for the oft-repeated belief, Prof Sen argued. The recent SARS crisis in East and Far East Asia was a case in point where freedom of information — or rather the lack of it — manifested itself in the outbreak of the disease, he said. “Secrecy is not good for health care as was rather dramatically confirmed recently with the spread of SARS epidemic, which had been kept under a lid in southern China for five months”, Prof Sen said. |
|
Advani ready for secularism debate New Delhi, July 31 “Many well-intentioned persons, including Prof Amartya
Sen, have raised questions about our secular credentials. We are prepared for an open debate on secularism. We are prepared to argue our case with anybody that the Indian concept and ethos of sarva panth samabhaav are most in harmony with the ideals of freedom and development,” Mr Advani said while speaking at a seminar on “Development as Freedom” organised by FICCI and Shri Ram Centre
(SRC) here. Mr Advani said no community was to be excluded from the realisation of the country’s development goal on grounds of caste, creed, region or language. “We do not believe in, nor do we practise, the ideology of exclusion and discrimination,” the Deputy Prime Minister said. |
|
George’s remarks on MiGs cause stir New Delhi, July 31 Questions were being raised in the defence circles today about the credibility of these statements when not only has the Ministry of Defence (MoD) but also the Air Headquarters been insisting that the MiG-21s, which form the backbone of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the majority percentage of the aircraft in its fleet of fighter aircraft, were very safe to fly. The Defence Minister in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha yesterday had said that a gradual phasing out of the MiG-21 fleet was being resorted to keeping in view factors like technical and calendar life, maintainability and replacement. However, a specific time frame could not be fixed, he added. The statement of Mr Fernandes caused some confusion as only recently the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy, had defended the MiG-21s and claimed that the accident rate of the aircraft was among the lowest among fighter aircraft around the world. Besides, in a bid to strengthen the Air Headquarters’ claim, Mr Fernandes has taken upon himself to take a ride in the MiG-21 at Ambala. This comes a few weeks after he flew in the Sukhoi-30 which had raised questions whether he should have flown in the latest of the fighter aircraft with the IAF or the MiG-21s. Clarifying the Defence Minister’s statement, an MoD spokesman here said the phasing out of the MiG-21s was an ongoing process which had been under way for the past 10 years. But these do not include the latest upgraded versions and only those which have outlived the technical life were being taken out of service. He said there was no question of phasing out the entire fleet as it formed more than 40 per cent of the fighter aircraft with the IAF. He added that while some aircraft were being upgraded, other MiG-21s were being phased out with the end of their technical life and it was not a general phase-out. Incidentally, there are at least nine variants of the MiG-21 with the IAF. While some have been phased out, others are being upgraded to ensure that they remain in service for at least another 10 years. The IAF has already phased out Type-66 of the MiG-21s and is in the process of the phasing out the Type-77 series. However, the aircraft which at present form the backbone of the IAF are Type-96, acquired between 1970 and 1981 and the MiG-21BIS, which are of the Type-75 series with powerful R-25 engines which were manufactured indigenously between 1977 and 1987. While none of the MiG-21BIS have been manufactured after 1987, they are being upgraded with the installation of the latest avionics and weapon systems. This upgradation of the fleet started in 2001 and at least 25 of them have been provided with the latest avionics and weapon systems. After the upgradation of the entire fleet, the MiG-21BIS would be in a position to serve the country for another decade at least. |
|
2 pilots die in
copter crash
|
|||||
|
ISI strengthens militant strategy New Delhi, July 31 The changes are primarily aimed at countering Pakistan’s involvement in cross-border terrorism against India before the international community, well-placed security sources told The Tribune today. The three new changes are as follows: 1. All terrorists to be concentrated in Leepa Valley in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir for their “launch” into India by specially raised border action teams (BATs). The terrorists will not be allowed to go back home after reaching Leepa Valley and would be told to avoid contact with civilians. The BATs comprise hardcore, well-trained and highly motivated terrorists whose job is to recce the entire Line of Control (LoC) and identify the most vulnerable spot in the toughest terrain. 2. The Pakistan army has been given instructions to give up once and for all its years-old tactic of “covering fire” to enable terrorists to infiltrate. This is to make the terrorists’ infiltration unobtrusive and unnoticeable so that the Indian Government does not get any leverage with the international community on the issue of terrorism and infiltration. 3. Gradually phase out the normal wireless sets and switch over completely to Thuraya satellite phones or very powerful long-range wireless sets. Thuraya satellite phone is less vulnerable to direction finder antennae. |
|
Plot to divide Hurriyat detected New Delhi, July 31 Although the security agencies here were tight-lipped about the incident, highly-placed official sources confirmed that the two men had been picked up from a posh area in South Delhi and Rs 10 lakh in cash, including Rs 3 lakh in counterfeit money, was recovered at their instance. The two were picked up from Safdarjung Tomb following a tip-off by the Intelligence Bureau. The sources said the suspects, Ghulam Mohammad Shiekh, in his early 17s, and his associate Saifuddin, alias Shatru (47), both residents of Jammu and Kashmir, were in New Delhi to handover the money to Syed Ali Shah Geelani to break the Hurriyat and to launch his own party in the Capital. The money was given to Ghulam Shiekh by a Pakistan-based chief of the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen Ghulam Rasul Shah (popularly known as Gen Abdullah), through the hawala channel, said the sources. While Ghulam Shiekh was a lecturer of physics in a Jammu college in the early 80s and was convicted and jailed in 1992 under TADA for acting as a conduit of the ISI, Saifuddin was an active member of the Al-fatah, a militant outfit. He is presently a member of the People’s League, which is a part of the Hurriyat. According to the sources, Saifuddin was also arrested in 1992 under TADA for possessing Rs 14 lakh to setup an ISI base in Nepal. |
|
Talks on air links from Aug 27 New Delhi, July 31 India has agreed to the dates suggested by Pakistan and conveyed its consent to send a technical team to Islamabad for the talks, an official spokesperson said. |
|
NORTH
INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, July 31 Replying to a question, the minister said provision of amenities at various stations and development of rail network was an ongoing process. Cellphone service The Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, Mr Ashok
Pradan, told the Rajya Sabha that the BSNL was awaiting clearance from the Standing Advisory Committee on Frequency Allocation for its radio transmission sites necessary for provision of
CMTS. He said the BSNL planned to introduce CMTS in the Jammu and Kashmir Telecom Circle Service area during the current financial years subject to clearance of its radio transmission sites from the committee. Power transmitters The Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, informed the Lok Sabha that very low power transmitters at Chirgaon and Chitangiri in Shimla district had been commissioned. Installation of very low power transmitters at Kaja had just been completed. He said the transmitter at Chirgaon provides coverage within a range of 8 km. The minister said certain pockets in the coverage zone of the transmitter were left out due to hilly terrain. He said that no request for changing the location of the transmitter at Chirgaon had been received. Phone exchange Mr Pradhan told the Rajya Sabha that the Subdivisional Officer had been instructed to ensure proper and fault-free service to subscribers of the Jangla telephone exchange in Shimla district. He said regular workers had been posted at the exchange. The minister further told the House that a generator for the exchange had been planned during this financial year. Electrification schemes Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Power, Ms Jayawanti
Mehta, said the Rural Electrification Corporation had sanctioned three schemes in Rajouri district in the past three years. The minister said that a loan of Rs 2,264 lakh was sanctioned for the schemes. |
|
Simultaneous Assembly, LS poll in UP favoured New Delhi, July 31 According to top party sources, the BJP Parliamentary Board which met here last night, felt that in keeping with the stand of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati that the BJP could sever ties with the BSP after the next Lok Sabha elections, “it would be good to go for simultaneous elections to strengthen the alliance”. The BJP Parliamentary Board meeting, chaired by party president M. Venkaiah Naidu, was attended by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani and other top party leaders, including Mr Jaswant Singh, Mr Murli Manohar Joshi and Mr Rajnath Singh. Ms Mayawati, who had met BJP’s top leaders here on July 29, had while taking back her demand for the dismissal of Union Tourism Minister Jagmohan on the controversial Taj Corridor issue, expressed apprehension about the possibility of the BJP withdrawing support to the BSP in Uttar Pradesh soon after the Lok Sabha poll. Mr Naidu is likely to hold another round of talks with the BJP Uttar Pradesh unit soon and also hold talks with Sangh Parivar leaders, especially the RSS. Sources said the party top brass felt that holding
simultaneous elections would also help in firming up seat adjustments between the BJP and the BSP both for the Assembly and Lok Sabha. |
|
Advani to visit Punjab on Aug 20 New Delhi, July 31 He will be visiting Punjab on the occasion of the death anniversary of Sant Harcharan Singh Longowal. Mr Advani is scheduled to address a massive rally in the state, Shiromani Akali Dal President Parkash Singh Badal told The Tribune this evening. Mr Advani will also hear the views of the people about the ongoing
political situation in the state. Asked whether the party would seek any assistance from the Centre in the fight against the alleged ‘witch hunt’ by the Congress government of the state, Mr Badal said “We can fight our own battle.” Earlier addressing a function marking the unity of the Akali factions, organised by Mr Madan Lal Khurana, head of the Delhi unit of the BJP, the former Chief Minister said: “Captain Amarinder Singh is acting on the direction of Sonia Gandhi.” “Even the Congress party members did not let the Parliament to function when the issue was raised by the BJP member S.S. Ahluwalia,” he said. The SGPC chief, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who were also present on the occasion completely supported the views expressed by Mr Badal and went on to add that the Sikh community would unite under the Akalis and fight the high-handedness of the Congress government. |
|
Prem Bhatia memorial scholarships New Delhi, July 31 These year’s recipients of the scholarships are: Amulya Gopalakrishna of the Frontline, Riaz Ahmed Wani of the Censor Magazine of Jammu and Kashmir and Dhananjay Kumar of Hindustan Hindi. While Amulya will carry out research on the subject “The state of arts in the media market place”, Wani’s subject of research is “Finding a better economic alternative for rural Kashmir as means of fighting insurgency”. Kumar will carry out research on the topic “Wrong health reporting and the role of media in ensuring health care scenario”. The scholarships, along with the Prem Bhatia Memorial Award for Political Reporting and Analysis, will be given on August 11, 2003, in New Delhi. While two scholarships are sponsored by the Mahindra Educational Trust, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust sponsors the third scholarship. Praveen Swami of the Frontline has been selected for this year’s award for political reporting and analysis. Mr Lakshman Kadirgamar, Senior Adviser to the President of Sri Lanka, and former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, will deliver the Prem Bhatia Memorial Lecture for the year 2003. He will speak on the subject “The World Order after Iraq”.
|
|
SC directive not followed: TN employees New Delhi, July 31 Senior advocate P. Chidambaram, appearing for the employees, told a Bench comprising Mr Justice M.B. Shah and Mr Justice A.R. Lakshman that apart from 1.76 lakh employees, 1.3 lakh college and school teachers were dismissed and more than 16,000 of them had not been permitted to report back on duty. The court directed the Tamil Nadu Government counsel Mr K.K.
Venugopal, to furnish correct facts about the reinstatement of the employees barring 2,200 against whom cases had been registered for indulging in violence and instigating others to join the
strike on July 2, which had paralysed the government functioning throughout the state. The court, which had earlier held that the right to strike was not a fundamental right, today fixed further hearing on the plea of employees till August 5. |
|
Sena men storm fashion show Ahmedabad, July 31 Nearly 60 persons, armed with hockey sticks and lathis, stormed Chowky Dhani Garden Resort on the Rajkot-Jamnagar highway late last night and forced the closure of the fashion show organised by National Institute of Fashion Design (Ahmedabad), Rajkot police sources told PTI over phone today. According to a complaint filed by Amit Raitha, reportedly the owner of the resort, the activists stormed into the resort shouting slogans like ‘Shiv Sena Zindabaad’ and ‘Jai Bhavani’
vehemently demanding closure of the fashion show and caused considerable damage to the furniture inside. —
PTI |
|
Youth drowned at Kumbh Mela Nasik, July 31 The deceased, identified as Kanefnath Sangle, drowned in the river yesterday when he went for a swim, the police said. Sangle’s body was taken out this afternoon and later handed over to his relatives after post-mortem, it said. Lifeguards also rescued three more persons from drowning in the Ramkund during the flag-hoisting ceremony yesterday, the police added. Meanwhile, thousands of pilgrims visiting the city for the mela are facing problems with the Akharas here providing shelter only to those who belong to their sects. Hassled pilgrims can be seen squatting in the gardens, on roads, dividers and in open spaces in the Sadhugrams of Tapovan here with their wives and children since the Akharas have refused shelter to them without affiliation. The temples provide food but that, too, is minimal and barely sustains them. A pilgrim Arjun Rao, who had come all the way from Karnataka, said the police had shoved them away the other night from the Tapovan area and they had to walk down to the railway station to find shelter for the night. Comparing his visit to the Prayag Kumbh earlier, another pilgrim Manpaddappa Patel said the provisions there were better than those here. ‘’We were given a lot of respect there, but here we are not treated well,’’ he complained. The third most important event of the mela, before the Shahi Snan (royal bath), was a visit to the Ganga-Godavari temple which opens once in 12 years for devotees to pay their obeisance. Hundreds queued outside the temple to pay respects to mother Ganga-Godavari when the temple doors opened yesterday morning for the public. Situated on the banks of the Godavari at the Ramkund, the temple is unlocked when planet Jupiter enters the constellation of Leo. And it remains open for a whole year. —
PTI, UNI |
|
Chanting ‘Ram dhun’ non-stop for 39 years Jamnagar, July 31 The temple enters the 40th year of non-stop chanting tomorrow. It is situated opposite the Lakhota lake, in the heart of the city. Ever since it was established on August 1, 1964 by the late Prembhikahuji Maharaj, the “akhand” (non-stop) “Ram dhun” has continued to be chanted in the temple. —
UNI |
|
DAV chief for uniform education policy New Delhi, July 31 Addressing heads of DAV institutions from New Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim, Mr Chopra stressed the need for a uniform education policy to create a paradigm of pragmatic education for the generations to come. He said the organisation would strive to provide basic education to students in the rural and slum areas, who being economically and socially marginalised. The Director and Coordinator of the schools, Ms Sheetal Sharma, called upon the principals to adopt a uniform policy to lessen the burden of books on the students and make studies less tedious. The two-day event also addressed issue related to curriculum and envisaged a project that would promise a textbook-free education up to the second grade. |
|
Noor to return home today New Delhi, July 31 DTC Chairman A.J.S. Sahni today talked to officials of the PTDC, which is running the Sada-e-Sarhad bus from the Pakistan side, and they informed him that the DTC’s dues of Rs 19,69,104 had been remitted. The amount had been converted into dollars and sent through bank. The bus has played a crucial role in bringing sick children, Noor and Junaid from Pakistan to get advanced medical facilities at an affordable price in India. It has also brought relatives yearning to meet their near and dear ones to the country, Mr Sahni pointed out. Two-and-a-half-year-old Noor and her parents have booked tickets on the DTC bus to Lahore at 6 a.m. tomorrow. The child, who underwent heart surgery at the Narayana Hrudayala Hospital at Bangalore, has already reached Delhi and will board the bus along with 33 other passengers. —
UNI |
|
Bill to hike penalty on ticketless travel New Delhi, July 31 Replying to a debate on the Bill, the minister justified the increase in penalty, saying that “it is generally seen that in short distance stretches, ticketless travel is more rampant.” He said the proposed amendment is on Sub-section (3) of Section 137 and Sub-section (3) of Section 138 of the Railways Act, 1989 that provides for raising of penalty from Rs 50 to Rs 250. The minister said the amendment proposes to enable buying of tickets for the general compartment in advance rather than a couple of hours before the journey. |
 |
| 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 | |
New Delhi, July 31
In video
(
