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BJP seeking mandate to make India rise: Advani
CPM may
move EC against BJP’s yatra The CPM is planning to move the Election Commission to stop the second and final leg of the ‘Bharat Uday Yatra’ by Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani. Mr Advani is slated to commence the yatra on Tuesday from Porbander, a day after he files his nomination papers from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. Ministry panel to reply to EC on
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SP
rejects Cong’s invitation SC
takes serious note of minister’s stand on mining Resurgence in ties with India, says Pak envoy Voluntary
sector puts forth charter of demands ULFA
regrouping, plans strike Transfer racket accused seeks ‘justice’ 572 held in crackdown on prostitution in bars, clubs ITBP
holds blood donation camp
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BJP seeking mandate to make India rise: Advani Ahmedabad, March 28 Taking potshots at the Congress, Mr Advani said it was due to the lethargic 45 years in which this single party had ruled post-Independence that India lagged behind other countries in development. “Martyrs like Mahatma Gandhi, Veer Savarkar, Sardar Patel, who laid down their lives for the nation, thought that once the Britishers left our poverty and backwardness would also go. During the BJP’s just once chance of rule there are good roads, which were never thought of and telephones have become accessible to the
common man,” he said adding that “given a mandate once again India will rise to be a developed nation.” “Had I said that the BJP had set a target of 2020 for India to emerge as developed nation, people would have dismissed it as a mere election speech. But today people strongly believe it is possible, thanks to the past six years of the BJP rule,” Mr Advani said. On the “India Shining” campaign, the Deputy Prime Minister admitted that though India was shining, it had not shone completely. “We have set a target of 2020 when all six lakh villages would have potable water, schools, health facilities, good roads and other amenities”, he said. Referring to the Indo-Pak cricket series in a lighter vein, Mr Advani described the result of the “political match” between the BJP and the Congress as a “foregone conclusion”. “I was asked by a scribe to predict the outcome of the on-going India-Pakistan cricket matches and the political match between the BJP and the Congress,” he said, adding that “I did not dare to predict what would be the result of cricket matches, but as far as the political match is concerned, I told him that even a common man can today say that it would be Mr Vajpayee who would win.”
— PTI |
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CPM may
move EC against BJP’s yatra New Delhi, March 28 Mr Advani is slated to commence the yatra on Tuesday from Porbander, a day after he files his nomination papers from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. As Mr Advani had raised the issue of building Ram Temple in Ayodhya during his first leg of his yatra from Kanyakumari to Amritsar, the CPM was planning to move the Election Commission to stop the yatra as it could result in communal tension in the country. Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said the party was in touch with other secular parties on this issue and would take a final decision soon. After finishing the 16-day first leg yatra traversing the North-South route from Kanyakumari to Amritsar, the second phase, lasting a fortnight, will touch Ayodhya and cover about 4000 km and 60 Lok Sabha constituencies, including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s constituency, Lucknow. Mr Advani will address a joint rally with Mr Vajpayee. The yatra starting from the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi will traverse across BJP-ruled states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jharkhand before concluding in the pilgrimage town of Puri in Orissa on April 14 where Mr Advani will address a rally with ally BJD leader and Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik. |
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Ministry panel to reply to EC on
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New Delhi, March 28 The
ministry is also expected to seek legal opinion on the issue in the
backdrop of the March 23 ruling of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on
political advertisements striking down a rule under the Cable Network
Regulation Act, which barred political ads on electronic media, saying
it was discriminatory and violative of the right to freedom. This was
the outcome of the intense consultations Mr Prasad held with his
ministry officials during the day as part of efforts to prevent
advertisements targeting individuals, ministry sources said. The EC
decided yesterday to get tough on complaints about unfair TV ads by
political parties and asked the I&B to take “appropriate
action” against ads that are “slanderous in nature” in violation
of the advertisement code. The Commission’s decision comes in the
wake of the Congress’ complaint to it about a “slanderous”
advertisement on some TV channels. — PTI |
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SP
rejects Cong’s invitation for pact
Lucknow, March 28 “Now that the election bugle has been sounded and candidates have been declared there is no point in having any kind of understanding in the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll,” SP general secretary Amar Singh told reporters here. “When we were urging the Congress for an alliance it was running after the BSP and now after being spurned by the latter it is asking us to forge an understanding”, he said. The SP leader said the Congress had failed to unite secular forces in Uttar Pradesh and was now wanting to “shift the blame”. However, he said the SP was open to a post-poll alliance on the basis of issues. Mr Amar Singh said they would never strike a pact with the BJP. — PTI |
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SC
takes serious note of minister’s stand on mining New Delhi, March 28 Taking note of the Environment Protection Central Authority (EPCA) report on the adverse impact of the mining on the ground water table in the region, a Bench comprising Mr Justice Y. K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice H. K. Sema, in a recent judgement on haphazard mining in the area, said Badana’s “contention cannot be upheld”. The court said the minister, himself a mine owner, had told the EPCA that the impact of ground water abstraction was minimal and miners were harvesting the water and not allowing it to flow to the Yamuna, where it would be lost to the state. “A perusal of the report of the ground water regime shows that his contention cannot be upheld,” ruled the court, which had refused to vacate its ban on mining in the entire Aravali hill region comprising Faridabad, Gurgaon and Alwar districts. The EPCA had found that most of the mines were operating between 20 and 100 feet below the water level and thus abstracting excessive water from confined aquifer. “As annual
rainfall mostly replenishes the unconfined or top aquifer levels, the mining activity is destroying a non-renewable source. The EPCA saw deep and extensive pits on mines with vast waterbodies stretching at times a km or more,” causing enormous damage to the ecology of the region, the court observed. The miners were using pumps and pipes to drain the ground water so that mining could continue, They were mining for silica, but in the process, were destroying the entire ground water table, so crucial for sustaining the Aravali hill ranges, the nature’s buffer between the Thar desert and the northern plains, the court said. The court said the report of the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) categorically stated that the water table in Faridabad district and in its adjoining areas had reached a critical stage due to overexploitation. It required immediate measures to avoid any “adverse environment impact on the water table and no additional tubewells are advisable to be constructed even for the community water supply schemes, though they may not effect the storage in Badkhal lake,” it observed. For Gurgaon region, the CGWB report had painted a grim picture about the ground water scenario, the court said. Though the Haryana Government had issued a notification on November 28, 2001 with a view to protect the area for the ill-effects of haphazard
mining, no serious action was taken by the authorities to implement it in letter and spirit, the bench said. |
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Resurgence in ties with India, says Pak envoy
New Delhi, March 28 “Basically, political problems are coming in the way of people-to-people contact, otherwise people (of both countries) do not have problems,” he said. “If we overcome this there will be more contacts because we have a lot of things to
share,” Mr Syed said, adding that “there is great resurgence in Indo-Pak relations.” Talking to reporters after unveiling of 20 prototype craft and textile items jointly created by Indian and Pakistani
craft persons at a function here, Mr Syed refused to comment on the ongoing Centre-Hurriyat talks. To a question on easing of visa restrictions, he said it was only due to its relaxation that 8,000 Indians could go to Lahore to witness the one-dayer between India and Pakistan. The Deputy High Commissioner, however, admitted given the size of
population of the two countries this was not enough. He said he hoped the dialogue process initiated by the political leadership of the two countries would move forward in the right direction. Mr Syed said before the Indo-Pak cricket series questions were raised about security problem but now it had been proved that there was no such problem.
— PTI |
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Voluntary sector puts forth charter of demands New Delhi, March 28 Various voluntary organisations have demanded tax
benefits and replacement of the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act with
the Foreign Exchange Management Act in their charter of demands. “In any civilised society, there should not be different laws in the same area for two different sectors, and hence a common law should be governing all sectors in foreign contribution or foreign exchange,” Voluntary Action Network India (VANI), a national-level network of voluntary organisations, says in its charter of demands. In a statement, it has demanded that the tax benefits available to the sector under the Income Tax Act should continue. At the same time, appropriate mechanism should be evolved to check the misuse of this facility by corporate schools, hospitals and other commercial institutions run in the name of charity. For the voluntary sector, the income tax authorities treat all receipts as income, while in the corporate sector only the revenue generated out of total investment is treated as income. This anomaly should be removed, VANI said. “Since the voluntary sector receives funds from the government and national and international agencies for
various programmes and projects and does not generate any additional revenue from that amount, these receipts should not be treated as income of the organisation,” it was stated. VANI also demanded a
comprehensive national and state-level policy that would facilitate, promote
and encourage the sector and would not hinder or control it. “The Planning Commission initiated a process last year
by releasing a draft national policy for the voluntary sector and it needs to be perfected through wide discussions
and consultations, and adopted,” it said. The voluntary organisations have also demanded modernisation of the society registration and reporting process. “All other sectors have
moved ahead with better laws and e-governance packages, but the voluntary sector continues to be governed by the Societies Registration Act, 1860.... packages applicable to the corporate sector should be adopted
for the voluntary sector also,” it added. |
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ULFA regrouping, plans strike New Delhi, March 28 ULFA leader Paresh Barua, based in a Bangladesh Rifles camp at Srimangal, is trying to boost the low morale of his cadres, official sources said today. On March 4, 2004, an important meeting was held in Gulshan-II, Dhaka, in the house of a prominent personality. Paresh Barua, Raju Barua and other insurgent leaders attended this meeting. A stock-taking of the ULFA strength following the Bhutan debacle was undertaken. Priority was given to restoring the low morale of the cadres and regrouping the scattered cadres. ULFA cadres had often complained of the leadership's double standards. They argued that while they were expected to lead a tough life in jungles the leaders enjoyed with their families under the patronage of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Bangladesh's Directorate General of Field Intelligence (DGFI), which functions under the Bangladesh Army. The recent "Sainik Divas" speech of Paresh Barua added fuel to fire as far as ULFA cadres' disaffection was concerned. In this speech Barua claimed that ULFA was ousted from Bhutan because of indiscipline in the cadres and presence of their
families in the camps. The Sainik Divas speeches of Paresh Barua, ULFA's military commander in chief, and Arabinda Rajkhowa, the political brain behind ULFA, underlined the serious differences between them. While Rajkhowa raised questions about the ULFA armed wing's inability to resist the Royal Bhutanese Army (RBA) despite having adequate weaponry, Paresh Barua highlighted political shortcomings as being responsible for the debacle in Bhutan. The constant infighting among ULFA leaders was another very important reason for the demoralisation of the cadres who were feeling let down by their leaders. To stem the rot, Paresh Barua was trying to bring about some sort of a working unity among all north-eastern insurgent groups. India's tiny neighbour Bhutan took a bold step in December 2003 by dislodging from its soil well-entrenched Indian insurgent groups, which are known in the security forces' parlance as
IIGs. |
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Transfer racket accused seeks ‘justice’
New Delhi, March 28 She is seeking the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket to contest from the Nainital seat in Uttaranchal in the coming Lok Sabha poll or else Ms Pandey would contest the poll as an independent candidate to seek justice from the people for her “unjust and illegal” arrest by the CBI, her counsel R.S. Dhaka told UNI. Ms Bhawna was arrested by the CBI on April 2, 2001, along with Mr Verma, his son Sidharth, his alleged business partner Mohan Gupta, K. Vijay Pratap and Sharavanan, a partner in Chennai-based A.K. Enterprises. The CBI failed to dig any evidence against Bhawna and did not name her in the chargesheet filed yesterday in the Court of Special Judge H.P. Sharma. Ms Bhawna was in custody for 60 days even though she had always pleaded that she was not involved in the alleged transfer racket in the department. “The credibility of the CBI is in question. There is a serious question mark on the method of investigation by the premier investigating agency,’’ Mr Dhaka said. “My client was unnecessarily harassed by the CBI and put in jail for two months. Every 14 days, the CBI was placing some papers before the then Special Judge R.L. Chugh and taking her on remand with the promise that the investigation was at a crucial stage and there was clinching evidence against Bhawna,’’ he said. ‘’If there were evidence, then why was Ms Pandey not chargesheeted?’’ he questioned. Like Bhawna, the CBI also failed to file a chargesheet against K. Vijay Pratap and Sharavanan, a partner in Chennai-based A.K. Enterprises. The CBI failed to dig evidence against them, who were alleged to have acted as conduit. However, the CBI chargesheeted Verma, the then seniormost Customs Officer, for allegedly amassing property worth more than Rs 1 crore apart from a flat each in New Delhi and Kolkata. Along with Mr Verma, the investigating agency charge-sheeted his son Sidharth Verma and his alleged business partner Mohan Gupta. The CBI charged Mr Verma for possessing investments in several companies to the tune of Rs 26.5 lakh, Rs 25 lakh in FDRs, UTI, NSC and LIC policies, besides, Rs 2.85 lakh in cash, jewellery worth Rs 24 lakh and $ 1500 were also recovered during search. About Rs 16 lakh worth of household items were also found. Mr Verma was in possession of a flat in Kolkata, another in New Delhi and he had invested for the membership of another flat in Noida.
— UNI |
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572 held in crackdown on prostitution in bars, clubs
Mumbai, March 28 Police sources said they found that 30 of the 62 bars indulged in flesh trade, and arrested 261 bar girls and 229 customers. Speaking to mediapersons, Mumbai Police Commissioner, A.N. Roy said apart from the cognisable offences registered against the bars, offences under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA) had been registered against three bars. To a question whether the provisions of PITA, which provided for sealing of premises where prostitution was found taking place near public places or places of worship, would be invoked in these cases, Mr Roy said all necessary legal action would be taken. Mr Roy emphasised that the raids were aimed at cracking down on prostitution in bars and street soliciting, and not against customers who were found consuming liquor in bars without permits. The Mumbai police chief said although the city police had cracked down in a major way against city bars and clubs that patronised flesh trade, the action did not seem to have deterred the bar owners, necessitating fresh action. He dismissed the claim of the association of bar and club owners that the police was unnecessarily harassing them. “Let them do lawful business and the police will not take action against them”, Mr Roy said.
— PTI |
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When ordinary women feel empowered by winning mountains New Delhi, March 28 This was said by legendary Bachendari Pal, the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest. She is once again ready to “ follow the spirit of
adventure” along with nine other ordinary women. They will try to climb Mount Island Peak in Nepal, at 20,300 feet on the Everest trail. “This is my humble contribution to empower the ordinary women and to show the world that if supported by the family, the ordinary housewives and middle-aged women can also do extraordinary things in life,” She tells you proudly. Currently, working as Director, Tata Steel Adventure Foundation, she has so far trained over 3000 persons in
mountaineering . “This is our tribute to the Indian womanhood and JRD Tata whose Tata Steel has sponsored the tour,” she says. The team members of the all-women group, will meet the President of India, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam tomorrow and then fly to Kathmadnu the next day for the expedition. Interestingly some of the members of the group, like Chetna Sahu from Orissa has two school going children. But she says: “I have developed a passion for mountaineering. Despite initial resistance my family has allowed me to take risks and follow my own ambition.” G. Anita Devi, who is working in the Education Department in Manipur, says, “I have three kids, but I have been impressed by the example of Bachendari Pal. I also want to show that unlike other working women, I can do something adventurous.” She has been selected for the Padma Shri as well for her adventurous journey in this field. Seema Tolia, from Uttaranchal is working in the Central Reserve Police Force, and has participated in various mountaineering expeditions. L. Annapurna, who had come from Jharkhand, to participate in the expedition, said: “I am very excited and hope that we will be able to complete the mission in one month. I have just spoken to my three year old daughter and want her to be proud of her mother.” Says Ms Bachendari Pal: “In the present circumstances, every women cannot think to work against the wishes of the family, but we are trying to create an environment where the girls can do anything if they desire. The present mission is just a part of that movement.” |
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ITBP holds blood donation camp New Delhi, March 28 Inaugurating the camp, Uttaranchal Governor Sudarshan Aggarwal asked the ITBP personnel to make blood donation a regular habit as it saved the lives of many. Stating that the donation of blood was a noble act, he said the personnel should encourage their grown up children and neighbours to donate blood. |
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