 |
|
Venkaiah Naidu hints at early Lok Sabha elections
Samajwadi Party not to join third front, Samajwadi Party National General Secretary Amar Singh today reiterated that his party would not join any third front for the coming Lok Sabha elections as its past experience with such coalitions was not ‘good’. PM issue will be vital in next poll, IT Minister Arun Shourie today said the issue of who would be the next Prime Minister of the country would be the main issue in the next Lok Sabha poll. Himachal IAS officer moves SC A senior IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking a CBI inquiry into the alleged retaining of excess ancestral land by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in “violation” of the Land Reforms Act as well as a corruption case, registered by the state police against the officer in 1996. Expedite report on rivers’ interlinking, says apex court The Supreme Court today directed the Centre’s Task Force on inter-linking of rivers to expedite feasibility reports about its various projects and initiate discussions with Nepal and Bhutan to get their cooperation regarding the Himalayan rivers. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SC seeks reply from CBI in SPIC case Govt entitled to secrecy on N-plants: SC India seeks
Bhutan-type action from Dhaka Thermal
plants face Cyclonic damage triggers suicides among farmers Agriculture Ministers
meet today PM to inaugurate Pravasi Bharatiya Divas function
|
|
Venkaiah Naidu hints at early Lok Sabha elections New Delhi, January 6 Addressing a press conference at his residence, Mr Naidu asserted that there was no challenge from the Opposition to its realising ‘Mission 2004’ during the coming Lok Sabha poll, saying the opposition parties, including the Congress, were a disheartened lot as against the cohesive BJP and its allies. The BJP and its cadre were ready for any kind of contest— two or multi-cornered — even if the elections were advanced, he said. Mr Naidu made light of the criticism that several NDA partners had left the alliance. “In a coalition of 23 parties, there can be some murmurs now and then. Some parties have left for their regional compulsions, not otherwise. But at the same time many more want to have an alliance with the BJP on which the party two-day meeting at Hyderabad would decide,” he said. Mr Naidu said the Congress had lost in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in the recent assembly elections and referred to the problems faced by the party in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala where one witnessed the Bhattal vs Amarinder, Virbhadra Singh vs Vidya Stokes and Antony vs Karunakaran tussles, respectively. “The governance in these states is practically paralysed, while in the other Congress-ruled states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, the governments have adopted a ‘do-nothing’ approach, because Telgi has overtaken them,” he pointed out. “People will definitely like to fathom the leadership qualities of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee against any leader projected by the Opposition jointly. “Sonia’s leadership is in question, everywhere,” he said. On the other hand, Mr Vajpayee’s leadership was universally acceptable. His statesmanship had definitely brought the militants to the negotiating table, whether it was the Nagas or the Bodos. He also pointed to the face that Bhutan had acted against ULFA militant camps in its territory. At the same time in Kashmir, the significant achievement had been made in reducing cross-border terrorism. The BJP President said the government had opened its door to any militant group willing to lay down arms and accept to work under the constitutional framework. The BJP President described the NDA experiment as ‘a shining example of good governance’. Taking a dig at Ms Gandhi, Mr Naidu said while she moved the no-confidence motion against the Vajpayee government in August, she had ridiculed the projected growth rate under the NDA government as “Mungeri Lal ke haseen sapne.” Mr Naidu said the unprecedented resurgence in national pride had its echo in the upswing in the country’s image abroad. The BJP President said terrorism was on the wane in Jammu and Kashmir while cross-border terrorism too was declining. Regarding his breakfast meeting with NDA Convener George Fernandes, he said they discussed the political situation in the country and exchanged views on many other issues. |
|
Samajwadi Party not to join third front, says Amar
Lucknow, January 6 He told mediapersons here today that the SP was born to fight communal forces and was ready to take support from and lend a hand to any political party “based on issues.” He said the SP did not believe in ‘laddoo politics’ and that in a federal set-up, all Chief Ministers and other leaders of different political parties were free to meet the Prime Minister or Union Ministers, irrespective of party affiliations. He made it clear that the present coalition government in Uttar Pradesh led by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav was “very strong” and predicted it would complete its term. He ruled out former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh’s Rashtriya Kranti Party (RKP) breaking away from the coalition. “Mr Kalyan Singh is a senior leader in the coalition and is very much with us,” the SP General Secretary said. On Mr Kalyan Singh’s meeting with the Prime Minister during the latter’s visit here on December 24 last, he said “political rivalry does not mean personal enmity.” He further said the SP was not against Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin. “Even we have invited the Congress to join the government and the ball is in their (Congress high command) court,” he said.
— UNI |
|
|
PM issue will be vital in next poll, says Shourie Panaji, January 6 “The character and competence of the Prime Minister determines the colour of the entire Cabinet and the issue of who is going to be PM will be a very important one in this election,” he told mediapersons here. Citing the Kashmir peace process, the signing of the Bodo accord as well as the flushing out of ULFA insurgents as significant achievements of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, Mr Shourie said economic reforms, too, got a boost during the regime. Dismissing Opposition criticism on disinvestment policies, he said Congress-ruled states like Punjab were also divesting companies (Punjab Tractors) and, thus, they had no right to criticise the Centre. Asked about the Supreme Court judgement on HPCL and
BPCL, he said, “IT had made such a sweeping impact on disinvestment process that there is little one can do now. We are happy that the court has said it will hear all cases before the High Court together now”.
— PTI |
|
|
Himachal IAS officer moves SC against Virbhadra New Delhi, January 6 Mr Sanjay Gupta, presently posted as Director (Revenue) Training Institute at Joginder Nagar, has also filed an appeal against the Himachal Pradesh High Court order allowing the state government to withdraw its final report from trial court at Rampur in the land case against the Chief Minister on December 12 and reinvestigate the matter. Mr Gupta alleged that the final report prepared by the Finance Commissioner (Revenue) on the basis of his inquiry report, had directed the DGP (Enforcement) to initiate legal action in the case on May 29, 2002, against Virbhadra Singh, a former ruler of Bushahar state. The inquiry was conducted under the BJP rule, when Mr Gupta was Additional Commissioner (Revenue) and Virbhadra Singh, who returned to power last year, was Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly. “The Finance Commissioner (Revenue) of HP had accepted the inquiry report and asked the Secretary (Home) and Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, to take action as per the findings in the report by the petitioner (Gupta),” the petition, filed by Gupta’s lawyer Mahabir Singh said. The CBI is understood to have conducted the probe into the alleged
irregularities during previous tenure of Virbhadra Singh, including the land ceiling case, ordered by the BJP government and had reportedly given him clean chit. However, Mr Gupta in his petition said Virbhadra Singh in connivance with government officials managed to retain a large chunk of land, which was to vest in the state with effect from
January 26, 1955, under Section 27(1) of the HP Abolition of Big Landed Estate Act, 1953. “The lands were alienated by the members of the ruling family through sale, gift and acquisition,” resulting in consequent
wrongful loss to the state exchequer,” he said. In his appeal against the High Court order, Mr Gupta said it had “erred” in allowing the revision petition by the HP Government, giving it permission to reinvestigate the matter and permitting it to withdraw the final report from the trial court without considering his reply as an officer concerned. Seeking handing over of the probe in the corruption case against him also to the CBI, Mr Gupta alleged that he had been “constantly harassed” at the behest of the Chief
Minister and the case was as a result of it. He said certain baseless allegations of corruption were levelled
against him when he was the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Kinnaur district and the Project Director Desert Development in Pooh even though the investigating officer had exonerated him. Mr Gupta alleged that the Chief Minister had a grudge against him for his making adverse “notings” regarding certain purchases in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) during 1996 when he was Joint Secretary (Transport) and Mr
Virbhadra Singh was ex officio Chairman of the HRTC. Consequent to his action in this regard, his ACR, which was written as “outstanding” by his superior officer, was “downgraded” by the Chief Minister, Mr Gupta alleged. He has named Himachal Government, the Centre, the CBI and Mr Virbhadra Singh as respondents in the case. The petition and the appeal are expected to be taken up for hearing by the court this week. |
|
Expedite report on rivers’ interlinking, says apex court New Delhi, January 6 A Bench comprising Mr Justice Y K Sabharwal and Mr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan directed the Task Force headed by former Union Power
Minister Suresh Prabhu to submit a further progress report in the matter by April 23. The direction was issued by the court after perusing a fresh progress report placed before the Bench today. The report said for the “Himalayan componet” regarding 14 links, the issue needed to be discussed with Nepal and Bhutan and feasibility reports about two segments out of 16 of the “Peninsular component” were under process. It said report regarding inter-linking of two segments Ken and Betwa rivers in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal involving Rajasthan, UP and MP was expected to be finalised soon as Uttar Pradesh had sought certain clarifications. The matter was being discussed with all states at different levels to evolve a consent. Government counsel as well as amicus curiae Ranjit Kumar submitted that there was complete agreement between MP and Rajasthan about the Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal link. The Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, had been assigned the task of evolving the organisational structure for implementing the inter-linking of river project, the report said. |
|
SC seeks reply from CBI in SPIC case
New Delhi, January 6 The application filed by former Tamil Nadu Industry Secretary C. Ramachandran, a co-accused in the case, came for hearing before a Bench comprising Justice B.N. Agarwal and Justice G.P. Mathur. The apex court on February 16, 2001, had directed the Special Court to proceed with the trial but had directed not to pronounce the verdict. Besides Ms Jayalalithaa and Mr Ramchandran, other accused in the case are former Chairman of SPIC M.A.M. Ramaswamy and industrialist A.C. Muthiah. It was alleged that the state government had renounced its rights issue in favour of SPIC and the Madras High Court had ordered the CBI probe into the issue. Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy in his petition had alleged that by renouncing its rights in favour of SPIC, the Tamil Nadu Government sustained a loss of Rs 28 crore. In his application, Mr Ramchandran sought vacating the stay order on the pronouncement of verdict, saying that the recording of evidence was coming to end with the examination of 18 witnesses and he wanted an early end to the case. He submitted that he retired from service in May, 1996, but he had to attend the criminal case proceedings and after the retirement his full pension, gratuity and leave salary were not paid due to which he was in financial strain.
— PTI |
|
Govt entitled to secrecy on N-plants: SC New Delhi, January 6 Though citizens had the right to information under Article 19(1)(A) of the Constitution, these were subject to reasonable restrictions in the interest of national security, a Bench of Chief Justice Mr V N Khare and Mr Justice S B Sinha said, rejecting a petition by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) and another petitioner for making public a government report on safety of nuclear installations. The report was submitted to the Union Government in November, 1995, by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) in the safety issue in the installations of Department of Atomic Energy. The petitioners were “not entitled” to get the document declared as “secret” by the Union Government under Section 18 of the Atomic
Energy Act, 1962, the apex court in its judgement said. The Bench made it a point to record in its order that in the national interest, it did not think it proper to look into the report though the Attorney General Soli J Sorabjee had offered it for perusal. The PUCL and the other petitioner -Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal- had alleged that there was not
enough safety precautions in nuclear power stations in the country and any accident could have a disastrous affect on human beings, animals, environment and ecology. They had moved the Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court had rejected their petition in January 1997. It had also raised doubt about the safety aspect with regard to disposal of nuclear waste. The apex court said that it had taken into consideration the report of a high-powered experts committee, appointed by the Centre to look into the matter and implementation of its recommendations by the government. Besides seeking the report of AERB, the petitioners had pleaded for striking down the provision of Section 18 of the Atomic Energy Act. |
|
India seeks Bhutan-type action from Dhaka New Delhi, January 6 New Delhi expressed the views at the bi-annual Border Coordination Conference between the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) held in the capital today, official sources said. The Indian delegation was led by BSF Director-General Ajai Raj Sharma and the Bangladeshi side by Major-Gen Mohammed Jahangir Alam Choudhury. Mr Sharma told the meeting the humanity was facing a threat from microscopic minority consisting of various groups of militants who believe in the cult of violence and have no respect for human lives or values. “We must put an end to their evil designs and deeds by joining hands and pooling our resources together to fight this menace in all its dimensions,’’ he said. Maj-Gen Choudhury said the Joint India-Bangladesh Boundary Guidelines, 1975, was the key to the solution of all problems between the two countries. ‘’We should make use of these guidelines to solve our problems. The relations between the two countries have improved since the last meeting held at Dhaka in April last year,’’ he felt. |
|
|
Thermal
plants face coal crisis Chandigarh, January 6 Punjab, is already facing a power crisis because of a steep rise in the demand for power because of a prolonged foggy spell. Punjab has approached the Power Trade Corporation (PTC) to purchase power for the state. However, as no surplus power is available from any source, the PTC has expressed its helplessness in this connection. In the absence of availability of adequate power from outside sources, the PSEB is resorting to power cuts even in important cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar etc to cope up with the situation. If the coal supplies are not regularised in the next 48 hours, power availability in Punjab is expected to be further curtailed. Daily power cuts ranging from two to three hours have been imposed on the industrial sector also in Punjab. Besides, there are power cuts of seven to nine hours daily in the rural domestic sector. “The situation is not grave in Punjab because the PSEB is currently getting its full share of power in national and other power generating sources,” said a senior government officer. The coal crisis has been accentuated following an agitation launched by private transporters in Bihar. Sources said truckers had stopped transporting coal from pits to railway sidings in Bihar. A dispute among various contractors engaged in the transportation of coal has resulted into the agitation there. The government has failed to resolve the deadlock among rival groups of contractors having high stakes in transportation business. The Ropar thermal plant has only 53,000 tonnes of coal, which is enough only for three days. In Bathinda, there is only 31,000 tonnes of coal while the plant at Lehra Mohabbat has 56,000 tonnes which will last only five and nine days, respectively. The Panipat thermal plant in Haryana and the Bhadharpur plant near Delhi also have coal stocks sufficient for three days each. The thermal plants at Quota and Suratgarh in Rajasthan have coal stocks for two days and one day, respectively. In fact, the Suratgarh plant is on the verge of closure. The Dadri thermal plant of the National Thermal Power Corporation has a coal stock for five days and that of the Unchahar thermal plant in Uttar Pradesh for seven days. The Anpara thermal plant, which is near coal pits, in UP has a stock sufficient for 15 days. Sources said there were chances of
the entire north plunging into darkness if serious efforts were not
made to deal with the coal crisis by the Union and Bihar Governments.
Earlier, coal was diverted from the plants having surplus stocks. But
this could not be done as all plants in the north were caught in a
similar situation. |
|
|
Cyclonic damage triggers suicides among farmers Vijayawada, January 6 In the face of mounting debts and the cyclonic rains submerging paddy crops, 48-year-old Lakshmipathi, who had taken a loan of Rs 60,000 to cultivate eight acres of leased land, consumed pesticide at Davajipalem in Pedana mandal on January 4, while M Narasimha Rao (30), who had taken a loan of Rs 75,000 to cultivate seven acres of leased land, died of shock on December 23 near Mandavalli, the police said today. Two other farmers, B Rama Rao (53) of Edepalli village and Badraiah of Addada village, who consumed pesticide, were rushed to hospital rushed to hospital and saved, the sources added. Meanwhile, a team of CPM functionaries, led by its Central Committee member P Ramaiah, who visited the affected areas to console the bereaved families, told reporters here that the state government should announce an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the deceased farmers, purchase all damaged paddy without any value cut as done by the Punjab and Tamil Nadu Governments on a similar occasion earlier, and provide a compensation at the rate of Rs 5,000 per acre to peasants, who have lost their crops. The All-India Kisan Sabha National Vice-President K Nageswara Rao told a separate press conference here, that the union and state governments had hesitated in announcing a waiver of crop loans, amounting to Rs 10,000 crore in the whole country. It was also doing little to collect dues amounting to Rs 1.10 lakh crore, to banks, mainly from industrialists, he added. Unless the authorities took steps on a war footing, more peasants would be forced to end their lives, Mr Rao warned.
— UNI |
|
Agriculture Ministers
meet today New Delhi, January 6 The meet would discuss suggestions made by the Inter-Ministerial Task Force to strengthen and develop the agricultural marketing system in the country. The state governments are required to amend their respective agriculture produce marketing regulation Acts to promote competitive agricultural markets in private and cooperative sector, direct marketing and contract farming arrangements. The Union Agriculture Ministry has already formulated a Model Act on agriculture marketing and had circulated it to the state governments and UT administration for follow-up action. The Union Ministry has suggested certain land policy reforms such as land leasing, land share company in agriculture and allotment of homestead-cum-garden plot to promote commercial agriculture for small-holders and landless labourers. |
|
PM to inaugurate Pravasi Bharatiya Divas function New Delhi, January 6 Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will inaugurate the three day-event. It is being jointly organised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Nobel laureate Sir V.S. Naipaul, eminent economist Prof Jagdish Bhagwati, Malaysian minister Dato Seri Sami Vellu, business baron L.N. Mittal and former West Indies cricketer Rohan Kanhai have confirmed participation in the event. |
|
Bhishma tank rolls out today New Delhi, January 6 The Minister of State for Defence Production and Supplies, Mr O. Rajagopal, will handover the first tank to the Chief of the Army Staff, Gen N.C. Vij. Bhishma is a state-of-the-art tank. The important features of the tank are its mobility, lethal firepower, capacity to make surprise-hit at first sight and self-protection. A 1,000 horsepower engine for enhanced mobility, computers for sight and accuracy and capability to fire all types of arms, including guided missiles, make it rank among the best in the world. The upgraded main gun has excellent field maintainability. Similarly, the night-vision device and thermal-imaging system fitted on the tank are the latest in the world. Superior armour protection with explosive reactor armour panel and nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, including modern communication system, further enhance the capability of the tank. |
|
|
Army sets up hospital in Bam New Delhi, January 6 The team working under the code name ‘Operation Sahayata’ treated over 80 persons on the first day of setting up of an OPD three days ago. Specialised surgery commenced from Sunday, the day the Indian operation theatres became effective. |
|
New Colonel Commandant of EME Corps New Delhi, January 6 Commissioned in the corps in December, 1966, he is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy. He has held various staff command and instructional appointments in his career. He commanded a combined workshop and was Commandant of the EME Centre, Bhopal. Presently, he is serving as the Commander, Technical Group,
EME, at Delhi. |
|||||
COMMUNAL CLASH IN VADODARA REHMAN DECLARED ‘MOST
WANTED’ BAN ON RECRUITMENTS WITHDRAWN BAIL TO NEDUMARAN |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In video (
