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Defecting legislators to be
disqualified
Deport Pak prisoners by
Jan 30, says SC Vijay Divas observed Defence Minister George Fernandes pays homage to martyrs at Amar Jawan Jyoti to mark Vijay Divas in New Delhi on Tuesday. — PTI
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SAF announces 10,000
scholarships Jogi, Judeo episodes black spots, says
PM Take MPs into confidence before Pak visit: Cong Cong plans to raise RSS-like
force Sonia to take on Thackeray in
Mumbai Kalam opens brain research
centre PM asks Advani to accompany him
to Pak; he says no
Advani says no to repeal of POTA Jaitley warns against trivialisation of
news Uma govt to bring out white paper on financial
situation Pathak appointed on UN-run sanitation
body Stir to ‘liberate’ Hardwar resumed Andhra CM meets Pramod Mahajan on poll
strategy SC: police can’t force search of
accused Governance be handed over to Iraqis, says Sinha No govt in Punjab,
says BJP
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Defecting legislators to be
disqualified New Delhi, December 16 The landmark Bill, which was passed by a majority vote of 421-0 votes in the Lok Sabha, also envisages that the defecting legislator cannot hold any office of profit until he is re-elected. However, given the small size of Assemblies in the North-East states, the Bill stipulates that the minimum size of the Council of Ministers in these states should not be less than 12. The Constitution (9th Amendment) Bill 2003 was passed by the Lower House after more than two-and-a-half hours of discussion and was supported by all major parties, including the Congress and the Left parties. Congress Deputy Leader of the House Shivraj Patil said he whole-heartedly supported the Bill .and termed as “salutary” the proposal to remove the provisions pertaining to split. The Bill amends Para 3 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution which earlier allowed bulk defection but declares individual defection as illegal, which meant that defection by one-third members of a party was legal. Introducing the Bill for discussion, the Law Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, said demands had been made in the past for strengthening and amending the anti-defection law as prescribed under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution with the reasoning being that the existing law was not being able to fulfil the desired objective of checking defections. Mr Jaitley said the amendment to the Tenth Schedule was recommended by the Dinesh Goswami Committee on electoral reforms, the National Commission for Review of Working of the Constitution and also by the Law Commission in its 170th report. The Law Minister said the Constitution Review Committee had also observed that legal restrictions should be imposed on abnormally large Council of Ministers. Meanwhile, the Union Government sought time from the Supreme Court to carry out “certain changes” in the Competition Commission Act (CCA) to make it acceptable to the court, which had expressed serious reservations over some of the provisions of the new law. Attorney-General Soli J. Sorabjee submitted before a Bench comprising Chief Justice V.N. Khare and Justice Mr S.B. Sinha that the government was not in favour of any piecemeal amendments to the Act and would try to make certain changes to make it acceptable to the court. |
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Cyclone claims 31 lives in AP
Hyderabad, December 16 Krishna district was the worst affected, accounting for 24 deaths in house collapses and heavy rains, followed by West Godavari 4 and Guntur 3, official sources said here this evening. Torrential rains, accompanied by gales, caused heavy damage to crops and roads and uprooted trees and damaged power lines, leading to power disruption in over 900 villages in the three districts where over 500 cattles perished. A vast stretch of paddy and other crops were damaged in the coastal belt. —
PTI
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Deport Pak prisoners by
Jan 30, says SC New Delhi, December 16 A Bench comprising Ms Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice P.V. Reddi issued the direction during hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh. The six prisoners are Abdul Khaliq, Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Mir
Hamza, Iftikhar Hyder, Salah-ud-Din and Basharat Ali Rajput. Mr Bhim Singh, a Supreme Court lawyer, has also urged the court to issue a direction to the Centre to move nine other Pakistani prisoners for trial in Jammu and Kashmir from Naini and Varanasi jails in Uttar Pradesh. He said there was virtually no progress in their cases since their detention in 1993-94. |
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Vijay Divas observed New Delhi, December 16 Defence Minister George Fernandes, along with his deputies Chamanlal Gupta and O. Rajgopal, paid homage at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate on the fourth anniversary of the eviction of Pakistani troops from Kargil heights. The three Service Chiefs — Admiral Madhvendera Singh, Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy and Gen N.C. Vij — followed the three ministers to lay wreaths at the Martyrs Memorial as contingents from the three services reversed arms and the buglers sounded the last post. Similar ceremonies were held at various command and formation headquarters and battalions which took part and won laurels in the battle. |
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SAF announces 10,000
scholarships New Delhi, December 16 Announcing the launch of the programme during its third general conference held here, the founder of SAF, Mr Madanjeet Singh, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and former diplomat, said the universities had now begun the task of introducing a training programme for teachers. “ I got in touch with eight Vice-Chancellors from various open universities and decided to launch the diploma in environment and sustainable development”, he said. He added: “The idea for the teachers training programme came from members from Afghanistan. Similar requests were made by Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan. These four countries have now made a subcommittee, which will work in this direction. Speaking at the launch of the programme, former Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral, while applauding the work undertaken by the SAF, also stressed the need for SAF to undertake more responsibilities. He said: “The biggest problem we face today is that of HIV. In India alone the number of HIV-infected persons is 4.81 million. The government says that it is about 1 per cent of the total population, but the issue is that it is spreading”. Mr Gujral who is also the Chairperson of SAF’s Indian chapter, said: “If the open universities have jointly come up with the programme on environment, they must also do something in this (HIV) regard. Mr Madanjeet Singh said the foundation would give 10,000 scholarships to poor students of the South Asian countries for pursuing distance education programmes. “The poorest of the poor will have access to these scholarships,” he claimed. These scholarships will be given from January, 2004. Among those who attended the meeting were the chairpersons of the SAF local chapters and Vice-Chancellors of various open universities. The latest country to join SAF today was Afghanistan, the other members being India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal. |
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Jogi, Judeo episodes black spots, says
PM New Delhi, December 16 Replying to the debate in the Rajya Sabha on his December 10 statement regarding the resignation of Mr Judeo, he rejected the Opposition’s allegation that double standards were being adopted in the Jogi and Judeo cases. He said the two cases were different and were being probed by the CBI. Mr Vajpayee said though he felt happy at the BJP’s performance in the Assembly poll, he was also agitated over what had happened and wanted to share his feelings with the House. He said both Jogi and Judeo episodes were a disgrace for democracy and were a challenge to the democratic set-up. “What is happening and in which direction are we going... How long should we depend on capitalists for political activities and to fight elections. The world is looking at the Indian democracy but I know such incidents are weakening it from inside,” he said. Responding to Congress leader Arjun Singh’s reference to newspaper reports about Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani having prior knowledge of the Jogi episode, Mr Vajpayee said it was wrong to say that a conspiracy was hatched in New Delhi. “If the CBI wants, it can investigate this aspect as well,” he said. The Prime Minister said in the Jogi case, an FIR had been lodged by BJP leader Virendra Pandey in Raipur police station and Rs 45 lakh received by him for splitting the party and the former Chief Minister’s letter were part of investigation records. In the Judeo case, an FIR has not been lodged for over a month as the identity of the complainant was not known, he said, adding that the VCD was not clear. Mr Vajpayee said in the Jogi case, everything happened in the open but in the case of Judeo it happened behind the curtains and this had to be probed. “I am not here to give direction to the CBI to arrest them. The CBI has to be given time to investigate and the concern over delay has been conveyed to the investigating agency”, he said. The Prime Minister said the Judeo VCD had been sent for forensic examination to establish its authenticity and the report was expected soon. Mr Judeo and his former aide Rateria had appeared before the CBI twice but nothing had come out which could lead to lodging of an FIR, he said. Referring to the other CBI case against Mr Jogi, Mr Vajpayee said the then Chief Minister had written to him alleging that intelligence agencies were trying to defame certain Congress leaders. The Prime Minister said after preliminary investigation it was found that Mr Jogi had attached “false documents” with his letter. |
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Take MPs into confidence before Pak visit: Cong New Delhi, December 16 “We wish him good luck..before his visit, the Prime Minister should take the House into confidence”, Congress member Jaipal Reddy said while raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha yesterday. Asking the Prime Minister to tell the House about the country’s defence preparedness, he said referring to the Standing Committee Report, which had pointed out about underutilisation of funds for modernisation of the defence forces. |
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Cong plans to raise RSS-like
force New Delhi, December 16 Although nobody is saying so officially, the experiment is to be undertaken first in Gujarat where the party plans to raise a Seva Dal-type volunteer force. It is being christened as Shakti Dal but will be popularly known as “danda seva.” Congress sources said unlike Seva Dal members who are dressed in white khadi, members of this force will be given blue-coloured uniforms. In addition, they will wear black caps and wield red batons, which explains the name “danda seva.” Gujarat MLA Chhabildas Patel has been named as the convener of the panel. Although the force is still in the process of being set up, the Gujarat Congress is hoping to recruit one lakh volunteers to begin with. The Shakti Dal’s first programme has already been chalked out — its volunteers will undertake a march in Ahmedabad on January 29, the eve of Mahatma Gandhi’s martyrdom day. Congress leaders explained that the purpose of setting up this frontal organisation was twofold: the Shakti Dal members would man polling booths and check voters’ lists during elections and otherwise. Secondly, they will be engaged in voluntary service like blood donation. This volunteer force appears to be the Congress party’s response to its feedback about the untiring work done by the Sangh Parivar’s various outfits during the Gujarat elections and, more recently, in the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh polls. An analysis of the recent elections undertaken by Congress leaders has shown up that the poor state of the party organisation was one of the key factors for its dismal performance. |
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Sonia to take on Thackeray in
Mumbai New Delhi, December 16 The choice of Shivaji Park as a venue is significant for a number of reasons. It is located in the Shiv Sena’s bastion, and it is from these grounds that Mr Bal Thackeray delivers his annual address on Dasehra day. Shivaji Park is the preferred venue when political leaders want to send out a strong political message. This will be Ms Gandhi’s first public rally after the Congress party’s dismal performance in the recent Assembly elections. Meant as a political statement, the rally is expected to set the stage for next year’s assembly elections and motivate and galvanise party workers. A five lakh- strong crowd is to be assembled for the occasion, said Congress leaders. The party organisation in Maharashtra is in desperate need of a boost, given its shaky alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) the demand of its own senior leaders for a separate Vidharbha and the problems which have beset the government following the multi-crore Telgi scam. Congress leaders, however, are playing down the event, saying it is not aimed against any individual or party, nor will it be an occasion to raise local or state issues. The public rally, billed as a mega event, will serve as an occasion to communicate the party’s programmes and policies to its workers and the public. The Mumbai rally will be followed by a special programme to mark the Congress party’s founding day on December 28. |
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Kalam opens brain research
centre Manesar (Gurgaon), December 16 Delivering the inaugural
address, which also formed part of his lecture at a symposium on the theme “Building the Brain”, Dr Kalam said that healthcare was a necessity for both for developing and developed world and suggested collaborative synergy among the nations leading to emergence of multiple solutions for control and
management of disorders. Quoting from a book “When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence-The Age of Spiritual Machines” authored by Ray
Kurzeil, which says that “Worldwide Web” will make tremendous impact on the way we communicate and live.It further says that most of the computers and accessories will be of microsized, wearable and will have wireless
communications with each other, Moderately priced PCs capable of performing about a billion calculations per second today will be able to perform about a trillion calculations per second with in next 10 years. It is possible by 2020 computational ability of an ordinary PC
world be around 1000 times of human capability, the book adds. Reacting to these observations in the
book, Dr Kalmam said that creativity of the human mind would be always superior even to the most powerful computer. Holding out futurisitic
views, he made certain profound observations and posed several questions. According to
him, by the end of this century there would be a strong trend towards convergence of human thinking with the world of machine intelligence that the human species initially created. He wondered how the molecular biologists would help us to retain supremacy of man over the machine when there would no longer be any clear distinction between human and computers. He cautioned that computers were going to give the mankind a challenge and it was the responsibility of the entire scientific community to keep it above man made computers. He lamented that the creativity and imagination components of human brain have not been fully explored and utiliized. Even the human genome research has enormous application of software in understanding the complex sequence of gene profile and its relationship to human health and disease. He hoped that convergence of information and communication technology, medical
electronics, bio-technology and mathematical simulation would find a solution towards cure of mentally challenged children. Dr Kalam also released a book “Theoretical Neurobiology” on the
occasion. The book is a compendium of papers on the subject. Several top scientists from different countries, including a Nobel Laureate Prof. Torsten Wiesel were also present on the occasion. The Union Minister for Science and Technology, Human Resource Development, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi said that the brain was the most complex entity known and represents the last frontier in biology. Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala said that Haryana, especially
Gurgaon, was becoming a hub of IT of the country. |
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PM asks Advani to accompany him to Pak; he says
no New Delhi, December 16 Mr Advani, however, has said “No” to the suggestion, well placed sources told The Tribune today. The idea apparently was first mooted about a fortnight back and several advantages were cited in its favour on political and diplomatic planes. On the political plane, it would send a strong signal to Pakistan if the PM and the DPM were to travel together to Pakistan. It has been almost a fetish with Pakistan to paint Mr Advani as a hawkish Hindu hardliner who was the wrecker-in-chief of the Agra summit. Of late, Pakistan has made no attempts to hide its distaste for Mr Advani and has even tried to marginalise the political importance and relevance of Mr Advani. If Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani were to travel together to Islamabad it would demonstrate to Pakistan that the Government of India was strong and united. |
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Advani says no to repeal of POTA
New Delhi, December 16 Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, speaking after introducing a bill to amend the law to give more teeth to POTA Review Committee and make their directions binding on the Centre, appealed to state governments not to misuse the anti-terrorism law against political opponents. He said the government’s stand on POTA had been vindicated with the Supreme Court today upholding the constitutional validity of the anti-terrorism law. “The problem of terrorism has attained serious proportions in the country and a strict law like POTA is required to combat the menace.” Mr Advani’s remarks followed the demand by CPI-M member Basudeb Acharia and other opposition members who moved a statutory resolution disapproving of the Ordinance promulgated by the President on October 27 this year amending POTA. The Deputy Prime Minister said the Centre had never
misused the anti-terrorism law and the state government should use it for the purpose it had been enacted. The House also rejected by voice vote a resolution moved by CPI(M) member Basudeb Acharya and 10 other opposition members disapproving of the amendment to POTA. —
TNS |
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Advani cautions BJP MPs on
Bills New Delhi, December 16 Chairing the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting, in the absence of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Deputy Prime Minister said: “due to humiliating defeats in the recent assembly poll the opposition might try to obstruct important legislation in Parliament to embarrass the party.” He urged the party MPs to rise above their personal ambitions and agenda and work whole-heartedly for the implementation of the party’s and government’s agenda. Mr Advani referred to Bhutan launching operation against North-East insurgent groups operating from that country and Bodo militants laying down arms and said these were “good signs for the nation”, BJP spokesperson
V.K. Malhotra told newspersons. He said the party had issued a whip to members to be present in the House in the next two days when two crucial legislations, including POTA amendment Bill, were to be taken up. BJP President Venkaiah Naidu urged the party MPs to work for the accomplishment of “Mission 2004” —getting 300 Lok Sabha seats on its own in the next general elections. |
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Jaitley warns against trivialisation of
news New Delhi, December 16 Speaking at the golden jubilee of the Federation of PTI Employees here last night on the theme “Media and Democracy”, political entities cutting across party lines, agreed that media was accountable and needed to guard against trivialisation. Law Minister Arun Jaitley pointed out that the media should pay greater attention to credibility, as it was a bigger challenge than the freedom of the Press. “Today, the challenge is not freedom of Press, but it is credibility of the Press. When correctness of news gets flavoured with other things, then you have the problem of credibility. The next danger is trivialisation of news,” he said. He went on to explain this by referring to the “large inaccuracies in opinion polls conducted by newspapers and TV channels” recently and said these organisations did not have the “basic decency” to publish the variations of their surveys as compared with the actual outcome. The speakers at the celebrations agreed to the need for setting up a new wage board for journalists and non-journalists to study their working conditions. Rajya Sabha Speaker, Ms Najma Heptullah, said there was an urgent need for constituting a wage board to look into the salary structure of mediapersons and revise it. Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, speaking in favour of constituting a wage board said, “I will insist upon the ministry concerned to look into the matter forthwith”. Terming free and fair journalism as a sine qua non for democracy, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K.C. Pant said media not only played an important role in the struggle for independence but also in social reforms of the country. Among those who were present on the occasion included CPM National Secretary D. Raja, CPM leader Sitaram Yechuri, Congress MP Kapil Sibal, Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee, Samajwadi Party MPs Ravi Prakash Verma and Dharam Raj Singh Patel and prominent trade union leaders from the media industry. |
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Pathak appointed on UN-run sanitation body
New Delhi, December 16 The WSSCC is a leading international organisation that enhances collaboration in the water supply and sanitation sector specifically in order to attain universal coverage of water and sanitation services for poor people around the world. The WSSCC operates with a mandate from the United Nations General Assembly. While nominating Dr Pathak as the Special Sanitation Adviser, the WSSCC Executive Director has expressed the hope that Dr Pathak would help the council to promote the cause of sanitation not only in India but also globally through his efforts and dedication. Dr Pathak got the Padma Bhushan award besides many other international awards for his outstanding contributions to uproot scavenging system in the country. —
TNS |
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Uma govt to bring out white paper on financial
situation Bhopal, December 16 This was announced by the Governor, Mr Ramprakash Gupta, in his address to the first session of the state Assembly today. He said the financial condition of the state was worrisome. The development of infrastructure such as electricity, roads and water had been neglected in the past decade. Still the government, he said, would undertake on a priority basis the development of infrastructure. Urgent steps would be taken for reforms in the power sector. A time-bound action plan for the construction of roads linking villages with the highways would be chalked out. The Governor also promised to put an end to the “encroachments” by the district governments on the powers of panchayats, local bodies and legislature. He said the government would give top priority to the establishment of the rule of law by ending political interference in the functioning of the police. Mr Gupta said the government was committed to providing “full protection” to women and weaker sections and taking effective measures to solve the problems of dacoits and Naxalites. The penetration of the ISI and other terrorist organisations in the state would be checked. Earlier, Mr Ishwardas Rohani was unanimously elected Speaker of the Assembly. The BJP MLA from Jabalpur cantonment, Mr Rohani, was Deputy Speaker in the last Assembly. Immediately after his election, Mr Rohani announced that he had recognised the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Ms Jamuna Devi, as the Leader of the Opposition. As the post of Deputy Speaker traditionally goes to the Opposition, the ruling BJP has requested Ms Jamuna Devi to recommend the name for the post. |
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Stir to ‘liberate’ Hardwar resumed Hardwar, December 16 Supporters of the agitation have started an indefinite dharna at Lalta Rao bridge in the city and are holding demonstrations almost every day . The national general secretary of the Samajwadi Party, Mr Ambrish Kumar, said the state government was discriminating against the people of the district. He said thousands of people from the district would hold a demonstration in front of the state Assembly at Dehra Dun on December 22, demanding the restoration of the district to the parent state of Uttar Pradesh. However, the ruling Congress, the main Opposition party, the BJP, and a major regional outfit, the UKD, have opposed the move to exclude the district from Uttaranchal. |
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Andhra CM meets Pramod Mahajan on poll
strategy New Delhi, December 16 Mr Naidu, who is trying to find an appropriate strategy to overcome the incumbency factor to win the Assembly elections third time in succession, drove down to Mr Mahajan’s residence after his day’s engagements were over and was briefed by the BJP leader threadbare on how his party achieved success in the Rajasthan poll. Though Mr Mahajan was overall in charge of poll in all four states, he specifically looked after the desert state. The BJP sources said Mr Naidu was also told about the constituency-wise and caste-wise analysis undertaken and the advertisement campaign ahead of the poll. Mr Naidu has got the Andhra Pradesh Assembly dismissed and is seeking early poll. |
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SC: police can’t force search of
accused New Delhi, December 16 “It is not by grace of the officer that the choice has to be given but more by way of a right in the ‘suspect’ at that stage to be given such a choice and inevitable consequences that have to follow by transgressing it,” Mr Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat ruled. What the investigating officer “is required to do is to convey about the choice the accused person had”, the court said while dismissing an appeal of a accused in a drug trafficking case from Madhya Pradesh, whose conviction was upheld by the state high court. “The suspected accused has to be told in a way that he becomes aware that the choice is his and not of the officer concerned, even though there is no specific form to convey it,” the court said. The convict, Prabha Shankar Dubey, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh was imposed on him under the NDPS Act. |
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Governance be handed over to Iraqis, says Sinha New Delhi, December 16 Mr Sinha said the United Nations should mediate to hand over the governance of Iraq to the people who should also decide the fate of the deposed President Saddam Hussein. The minister was speaking at the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, here this morning. |
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No govt in Punjab,
says BJP New Delhi, December 16 Taking a dig at the Congress leadership, Mr Malhotra said how could a party justify continuation of its government in the state, when 16 of its ministers were camping in Delhi for the past fortnight demanding removal of the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh. |
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New Delhi, December 16
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Manesar (Gurgaon), December 16
