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Saturday,
August 9, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Parliament adjourned over PAC issue Bill to limit size of ministries proposed BJP ready
to discuss CVC report Amarinder honours Bismillah Khan
Pepsi moves court against CSE |
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Gujarat bandh turns violent
CPM may move SC over ruling against strike SC permits Laloo
to visit Pakistan
Punjab will not go Arunachal way, says CM Punjab may replace octroi Drive on common school system launched Crashed copter had no commercial licence
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Parliament adjourned over PAC issue New Delhi, August 8 Both Houses would now meet on Wednesday, after a four-day break, in view of Raksha Bandhan on August 12. The trouble started in the Lok Sabha when Speaker Manohar Joshi was about to take up a discussion on atrocities on Dalits. The Speaker’s pleas for taking up a special discussion on atrocities on Dalits, as it had already been postponed twice, failed to have any impact. Unrelenting Congress members trooped to the well, shouting “PAC lachar hain, ghotale ki sarkar hain (PAC is helpless, it is a government of scams)”. Congress members also raised the issue of the raid on its Gujarat State Committee offices. Mr Joshi first adjourned the House for half-an-hour till 2.00 pm. After the House reassembled, the Speaker found no change in the attitude of the Congress members and adjourned the House for the day. In the Rajya Sabha too, the PAC issue dominated. Led by the Congress, Opposition members reflected their strength in the Rajya Sabha after forcing the adjournment of the Lok Sabha, yesterday. They were on their feet immediately at the start of the day’s proceedings, demanding the suspension of question hour to take up the discussion on the notice given by Congress member Suresh Pachauri. The demand was not acceptable to the members of the Treasury Benches, who matched the Opposition members voice by voice, leading to complete confusion. Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat gave an assurance that the CVC report would be made available to the House. But this did not satisfy members who said the impasse would continue unless their demands were met. This forced Mr Shekhawat to adjourn the House till August 13, the next working day for Parliament. Mr Pachauri was the first to be on his feet demanding the suspension of question hour. The entire Opposition then joined him making it clear that the deadlock would continue unless all PAC proceedings, including the Central Vigilance Commission’s report on purchases for Operation Vijay are placed on the table of the House and the reply comes from Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and not Defence Minister George Fernandes. Senior Congress member Pranab Mukherjee said the matter involved the breach of privilege of Parliament. The Treasury Benches, led by BJP member S.S. Ahluwalia, said, like the Opposition, they too would like to know why the CVC report was not made available to the PAC. The stalemate continued since the Opposition was in no mood to relent their boycott of Mr Fernandes. |
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Bill to limit size of ministries proposed New Delhi, August 8 “There should be check on the number of ministers in governments like Delhi and Pondicherry, which are union territories but have Assemblies. This will help bring political stability and benefit smaller states,” Deputy Prime Minister L.
K. Advani said in the Lok Sabha today. The Deputy Prime Minister was making a brief reply to the debate on the Constitution (99th Amendment) Bill, 2003, for the creation of the Bodo Territorial Council. The Bill seeks to protect the rights of non-tribals and the exiting representation of Scheduled Tribes and non-Scheduled Tribes in the Assam Assembly from the Bodoland Territorial Council Area. Mr Advani dismissed allegations by the Congress that the ruling party at the Centre was instrumental in “destablising” the earlier Mukut Mithi government in Arunachal Pradesh. Observing that a decision on establishing the council was taken after 21 rounds of tripartite talks involving the Centre, Assam Government and the Bodo Liberation Tigers, Mr Advani asserted that no changes in the boundaries of states in the North-East would take place, despite pressures from various quarters. Regarding the ongoing peace negotiations with major Naga insurgent group NSCN(I-M), the Deputy Prime Minister said, “ We will like the NSCN(I-M) and NSCN (Khaplang) to participate in fostering peace in the North-East.” The Bill provides that no person who is not a member of Scheduled Tribes of any autonomous district in Assam will be eligible for election to the Assembly from any constituency of the Bodo district. |
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Bill for tribal panel passed New Delhi, August 8 The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes is being created to protect the rights of the tribal community as enshrined in the Constitution. The new commission will come under the ambit of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. |
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BJP ready
to discuss CVC report New Delhi, August 8 BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the CVC had probed all deals that had taken place in the Defence Ministry from 1989 to 1999. Any discussion on the CVC report would not involve anyone in the BJP-led NDA coalition as it concerned Congress and United Front governments, he informed. |
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Amarinder honours Bismillah Khan New Delhi, August 8 A day after the maestro cast his musical magic on the parliamentarians, Capt Amarinder Singh presented a cheque for Rs 5 lakh with an assurance that the state would help the Bharat Ratna whenever needed. The state government had earlier announced a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the maestro, when he appealed to the Prime Minister that he was in a financial dire straits. Accepting the honour, the maestro said “I do not know English, Hindi or Persian. What I know a little bit is the music and I have tried to give to the world what I know.” The Chief Minister also announced that the state government was working on a scheme for providing financial assistance to renowned persons in different fields by setting up a corpus fund for them. They would be provided with life-long financial assistance for their contribution to society during their active times, he added. |
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Pepsi moves court against CSE
New Delhi, August 8 Pepsico India Holding’s Director C.K. Jaipuria filed the petition through its counsel in the High Court Registry this afternoon. It is likely to come up for hearing on August 11. The company in its writ petition, has named the Centre, the Union Health Ministry, the Bureau of Indian Standards and the CSE as respondents. Meanwhile, the CSE today blamed the government for lack of adequate regulations for the soft drinks industry. Cola companies cannot determine the regulations they will follow, centre’s director Sunita Narain said. |
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Gujarat bandh turns violent Ahmedabad, August 8 The police arrested Mr Vaghela, Mr Choudhary, a former Deputy Chief Minister Narhari Amin and Mr Bhavan Bharwad, MLA from Limdi, besides others when they tried to take out a rally from the Congress headquarters in the Ellis Bridge area and were taken to the police headquarters at Gandhinagar. The Congress had given a call for the bandh in protest against the recent hike in electricity tariff in the agriculture sector and fees in the courts and educational institutions. In the Manigar area here, some Congress workers tried to stop trains at the railway stations. When the police intervened, they threw stones and damaged a number of police and other vehicles.
— UNI |
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‘Coffin march’ by Youth Cong men New Delhi, August 8 Shouting slogans ‘Sena khoon bahati hai, sarkar dalali khati hai,’ and ‘BJP ka dekho haal, raksha sauduan ke bane dalal,’ the activists were carrying empty coffins. They were stopped by the police outside the residence of the Defence Minister. Condemning the Central Government for its “dictatorial attitude and conspiracy to mislead the nation, the Indian Youth Congress chief Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala said “corruption of the BJP stood exposed.” He said the government was not furnishing the CVC report either to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) or Parliament. Of 123 contracts worth Rs 2163.09 crore entered into during the Operation Vijay, supplies worth Rs 2,150 crore were received after the cessation of hostilities in June 1999, he added. Alleging that 75 per cent of the supplies were contracted after the cessation of hostilities, he said in 35 cases the government made excess payment of Rs 44.21 crore by illegally relaxing rules and procedures. Mr Surjewala said defence supplies worth Rs 260.55 crore were not of desired quality and the shelf life of ammunition worth Rs 91.86 crore had expired. He said several such facts could be verified from the CVC report submitted to the Defence Ministry on March 31, 2001. Demanding the dismissal of the Defence Minister, he alleged that the Defence Ministry continued to deal with middle men. A Youth Congress spokesman said several activists, including Mr Surjewala, were detained by the police. |
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CPM may move SC over ruling against strike New Delhi, August 8 Asserting that the Supreme Court ruling would convert employees into “slaves”, CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee asked the government to immediately clarify its stand on the matter. He said the working class all over the world enjoyed the rights to strike and government workers were also part of this working class. |
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SC permits Laloo
to visit Pakistan New Delhi, August 8 A three-judge Bench, headed by Mr Justice S.N. Variava granted permission to Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, an accused in seven fodder scam cases, to stay abroad till August 17 after he had furnished an undertaking that he would not object to any evidence recorded in his absence by the trial courts at Ranchi and Patna in each of the cases and create hindrance in the trial proceedings. The court made it clear to Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav’s counsel B.B. Singh that the RJD leader should positively return by August 17 and deposit his passport by the next day with the trial court. |
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Punjab will not go Arunachal way, says CM New Delhi, August 8 “The NDA government would not succeed in Punjab what it was able to achieve in Arunachal Pradesh,” he told newspersons here today. Asked about the recent development of three Independent MLAs joining the Akali Dal, the Chief Minister expressed confidence that “no other MLA would be join the Akali alliance.” Reports indicated that Punjab leaders had informed the Congress high command that some disgruntled partymen, including some ministers were “hobnobbing” with the SAD-BJP combine to further their own interests. They also impressed upon the fact that the joining of the three Independent MLAs to SAD should not be overlooked. Mr Amarinder Singh said the party’s stand was clear that the partymen should air their views within the party and not in media. And, this fact was again reiterated at the Shimla meet held recently. |
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Punjab may replace octroi New Delhi, August 8 Addressing newspersons here today, he said the octroi was reimposed in the state following the High Court directive. But, the Congress had always been against it and it was one of the items of the party’s manifesto. The octroi, which is unpopular amongst the trading community, generated only Rs 580 crore to the exchequer. The local area development tax, on the other hand would generate substantial sum to the kitty of the state government. Raw material worth Rs 36,000 crore enter the state and imposition of even 2 per cent tax would generate Rs 720 crore, Captain Amrinder Singh, adding that only that much quantum of tax would be imposed which would compensate the octroi. He said one time tax would be imposed on goods entering the state and would do away with the existing system of taxing the goods as they enter different municipal zones. He said the panchayat institutions in the state would be given powers to oversee the function in five areas. |
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Drive on common school system launched New Delhi, August 8 The campaign was launched in 14 state capitals, simultaneously to stress the need for equality in education and reducing the divide between public and government schools. The campaign, which is yet to receive a response in Punjab and Haryana, is being supported by the National Alliance for Fundamental Right to Education (NAFRE). “Today, the most critical factor absent in the education scenario is equality in education and educational opportunities. Whether it is the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan 2002, the 93rd Amendment Bill of 2001, the Birla-Ambani report 2000, or the National Curriculum Framework 1999, equality has always been glaringly conspicuous by its absence”, said Mr Sanjiv Kaura, national convener, of the NAFRE. “Every second child is still out of school. And for those who are in school, every second school is a single-room, school with only one teacher, he claimed. Four million teachers were needed in the country, he added. “If there is a government school, where the children of the economically weaker sections study along with the children of and the rich, the government will ensure that the school is run well”, an NAFRE member said. Mr Kaura said, “the CSS will be operationalised through the neighbourhood school that is funded by the government, but controlled by the community around it. The quality offered will be such that no parent feels the need to send their children to expensive schools. Education, as stipulated in Article 21 of our Constitution, would be free”. |
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Crashed copter had no commercial licence New Delhi, August 8 Sources said the chopper purchased in the 90s was licensed to fly only for the Jammu and Kashmir Government.
— PTI |
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9 NAXALITES KILLED BY
VILLAGERS TRAIN PASSENGERS LOOTED JUVENILLES
FLEE OBSERVATION HOME 8 DIE IN VAN-LORRY COLLISION NAXALITES
GUN DOWN TDP LEADER |
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