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New Delhi, May 17 The 14th Lok Sabha, which was constituted today, would have the blend of youth and experience, with 94-year old, as the oldest member to share the benches with the 26-year old, the youngest, in the august hall of House. Interestingly, the House of People would have only eight per cent women representation with Uttar Pradesh garnering the most. Uma warns of movement against Sonia as PM New Delhi, May 17  Warning of a nationwide movement to oppose Congress President Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti today said this would gravely endanger India’s security as a “foreigner will be privy to all top secret documents pertaining to the nation”.Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti talks to mediapersons in New Delhi on Monday. — PTI photo PIL against Sonia becoming PM
HC seeks report on Chapra poll from EC
Yashwant bids farewell to staff
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Andhra farmers get free power
Will Modi be replaced?
SI surrenders in paper
leak case
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14th Lok Sabha constituted
New Delhi, May 17 The notification for the constitution of the 14th Lok Sabha was issued by the Election Commission today and later submitted to the President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam along with a list of elected MPs. The notification includes names of 539 MPs in the House comprising 543 elected members, Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy said. Shortly after announcing the “due constitution” of the Lok Sabha, the CEC along with two other Commissioners B.B. Tandon and N. Gopalaswami drove to Rashtrapati Bhavan to submit the notification to the President. While elections were countermanded in Chapra in Bihar where fresh polling is scheduled for May 31, the results of Bettiah and Siwan in Bihar and Outer Manipur are yet to be announced because of repolling in certain polling stations. Describing the issuance of the notification as a final step in the electoral exercise, Mr Krishnamurthy put the final voting percentage across the country at 57.86. On criminalisation of politics, the CEC said there was a need to keep away persons who have been chargesheeted for offences punishable with five years or more of imprisonment. “The Commission hopes that the government takes electoral reforms as priority number one,” Mr Krishnamurthy said. He said the poll panel would make all efforts to rectify mistakes in electoral rolls by using modern technology for ensuring reasonable accuracy. He also rejected the criticism of certain political parties about the “neutrality” of electronic voting machines saying that the parties which complained had made substantial wining strides and they should realise the neutrality of the machines. Describing the elections as largely peaceful, the CEC thanked the polling officials and security forces for ensuring its smooth conduct. The CEC also gave out certain interesting statistics like the oldest member in the 14th Lok Sabha is Ramchandra Veerappa, 94, from Karnataka, his juniormost colleague Sachin Pilot, 26, is 68 years younger to him. Mr Veerappa of the BJP won from the Bidar constituency in Karnataka. Mr Pilot, who won from Dausa in Rajasthan, is the third member of his family to have been elected from the constituency. Sajjan Kumar of the Congress, who won the Outer Delhi seat, secured 8,55,543 votes the
maximum by any candidate, in this Lok Sabha poll, according to the Election Commission. Ashok Kumar who contested from Chandni Chowk secured the lowest number of votes — 45. Dr P. Pookunhikoya, who defeated Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha and 10-time winner from Lakshadweep P.M. Sayeed, had the distinction of securing minimum votes by a winner — 15,597. He won by a margin of 71 votes, the lowest in the country. Anil Basu from the Arambagh constituency in West Bengal has won by a maximum margin of 5,92,502 votes, the Commission said. The second highest victory margin was that of Wanghyu Konyak (Nagaland People’s Front), who won the lone seat from the state by 4,52,018 votes. Nagaland infact recorded highest polling percentage in the country — 91.69. In Karnataka Assembly polls in Santhemarahalli seat, the winning margin was only one vote. The average age of the elected MPs is 52.7 years. The Commission said 10.75 lakh EVMs were used in this elections. Out of the 539 elected MPs, 44 are women, including seven from Uttar Pradesh. |
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Uma warns of movement against Sonia as PM
New Delhi, May 17 Holding a press conference after meeting President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Bharti said “Videshi mool ke anadi vyakti prime minister banjaye, desh ke anewali pidhiyon ke liye yeh koi achhi example nahin hogi (a naive person of foreign origin to assume the post of Prime Minister would not be a great example for the future generation of the country).” Maintaining that she had nothing personal against Gandhi, she said “if a person of foreign origin as Prime Minister becomes privy to all top secret documents, including those pertaining to defence, it will pose a grave danger to national security.” Ruling out her resignation at this stage on the issue, she said the move by Congress to make Gandhi the Prime Minister was “fraught with deceit and conspiracy” as the party during the campaign had never projected her as a prime ministerial candidate. “I am expressing the views on behalf of crores of citizens who are wounded like me over the mere thought of a foreigner becoming the Prime Minister of the country and all will join us to launch a movement the moment she is invited to take oath,” she said adding that she would reveal her strategy at the right moment. When told that Gandhi as an Indian had the right to become the Prime Minister under the Constitution, Bharti said the Constitution framers were all highly patriotic persons who never had imagined in their wildest dreams that there would be a day when the country which fought foreigners would give the post of Prime Minister to a foreigner. Asked if there had been instances when the Leader of Opposition became Prime Minister after an election and as to why the BJP did not opposed her as the Leader of Opposition, the Chief Minister said “I do not know about others but I had opposed even her assuming the post of Leader of Opposition.” Reminded about BJP’s failure to take steps on SP leader Amar Singh’s private bill to ban persons of foreign origin assuming any constitutional post, she said the party could not have brought that amendment as it did not have the required strength in Rajya Sabha.
— PTI |
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PIL against Sonia becoming PM New Delhi, May 17 The petition was filed in the court’s Registry by a Lucknow-based advocate, Mr Ashok Pandey, who alleged that her becoming the Prime Minister would pose a “great threat” to country’s
seurity. Seeking a direction that the President should not invite her to form the next government, the petitioner said it was a duty cast upon him under the Constitution to invoke the provisions of Article 352 to prevent it from happening. The petition further alleged that Ms Antonia
Maino, alias Ms Sonia Gandhi, had not been a citizen of India as per the provision of Article 5 of the Constitution. The petition has named the Principal Secretary to the President, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet Secretary, the Home Secretary and the Chief Election Commissioner as respondents. Though Ms Gandhi had married Rajiv Gandhi much earlier, she was registered as a citizen in 1983. Moreover, the provision permitting foreign spouses to be registered as Indian citizens was only introduced in the Citizenship Act with effect from July 1, 1987, the petition said. It said there was a difference between a natural citizen and a citizen by
registeration, and since Ms Sonia Gandhi was a citizen by registration, she could not claim the highest constitutional posts. It also alleged that Ms Sonia Gandhi is “a fake” name under which Ms Antonia Maino has been granted the citizenship of the country. |
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HC seeks report on Chapra poll from EC
New Delhi, May 17 Mr Justice Manmohan Sarin directed the Election Commission to submit the details by April 26, but declined to quash the order of the commission regarding countermanding of the election. The Election Commission has fixed May 31 for fresh polling in
Chapra. The direction came on a petition filed by Khalid Alvi, professor, Delhi University, seeking quashing of the Commission’s May 10 order countermanding the election of the Chapra Lok Sabha seat. Alleging that the Commission did not perform its duty properly and failed to deploy adequate forces despite knowing that Chapra was a sensitive Lok Sabha constituency, Alvi’s counsel Asad Alvi sought court’s direction to the EC to produce the records of entire poll process there. However, advocate P. R. Chopra, appearing for the EC, refuted the allegations and said the Commission was fully active during the entire election process and instructions were given to the state to take necessary steps. But, the court asked the Commission to explain whether as a “watchdog” of democracy, was it active from the date of withdrawal till the polling, while fixing further hearing of the matter for May 26. The court observed that the petitioner has rightly pointed out that the Commission did not take any step on its own and had acted only after media reports about a large scale rigging in the constituency. The petitioner has contended that the Election Commission did not exercise its Constitutional power of superintendence, direction and control of election
processes from the date of the issuance of notification. |
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Yashwant bids farewell to staff
New Delhi, May 17 Praising the IFS officers, Mr Sinha said his tenure as External Affairs Minister since July, 2002, was perhaps the best in his serving career, both as a bureaucrat earlier, and as also in the government. The outgoing minister, who had to swap his Finance portfolio with Mr Jaswant Singh, said the IFS had one of the finest cadres in the country and that he was proud to have led such a talented lot. The minister briefly touched on the many achievements of the NDA government, including the initiatives taken to improve relations with several countries. Foreign Secretary Shashank read out a resolution of the Indian Foreign Service Association (IFSA) which said the IFS was proud to be associated with Mr Sinha during his two-year term as minister. The resolution said the period saw far-reaching changes in India’s external environment, which presented major challenges to Indian diplomacy. It said Mr Sinha conducted the foreign policy with wisdom, foresight and clarity of vision. “Sinha brought to India’s foreign policy a distinctive style all his own, injecting dynamism into relations with countries in the neighbourhood and traditional friends in the developing world as well as the major powers,” it said. |
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Andhra farmers get free power
Hyderabad, May 17 First, he had kept his oft-repeated promise by signing the file providing for free power to the agricultural sector on the podium where he was sworn in as Chief Minister. During his speech at the same venue, Dr Reddy waived electricity dues from the farmers to the tune of Rs 1,100 crore. At his first meeting with senior officials, the Chief Minister asked them to prepare a package for the families of farmers who had committed suicide as a result of debt burden. He instructed them to extend help to the families of farmers who were killed in police firing during a protest meet against the power tariff hike during the Chandrababu Naidu regime. The medical doctor-turned-Chief Minister clearly spelt out his priorities when he told the top bureaucrats that he was for reforms in various sectors, including power, but with a human face. “Is it against the spirit of reforms to help farmers increase productivity,” he is said to have questioned senior officers who wanted to know his government’s stance on reforms under way in various sectors. A large section of the people has also welcomed his decision to extend olive branch to the outlawed extremists of the People’s War Group (PWG). Soon after taking over the reins, Dr Reddy directed the police top brass to put a full stop to all fake encounters and halt the combing operations in areas of Naxalite influence. At the same time, he issued an appeal to the PWG not to indulge in violence and help create congenial atmosphere for discussions to find a solution to the problem. The farmer-friendly Chief
Minister endeared himself to the residents of the capital when he told the police not
to stop traffic for a green passage to his convoy. For the people of Hyderabad, who had to wait endlessly in the snarling traffic day in and
day out because of the Z-category security provided to the earlier Chief Minister, this was indeed a refreshing gesture. Dr Reddy, who expressed his dislike to be called a CEO a la his predecessor, displayed a mature approach when he decided to go against the established tradition of replacing the top brass in the administration to bring in the favourites. The new Chief Minister retained the Chief Secretary
and the DGP, who were chosen by the Telugu Desam government. The Chief Minister, who is in Delhi to finalise the names of the ministers in his government, is also likely to stick to the TDP model of a trim Cabinet as against the jumbo-size cabinets the Congress governments in the state were known for. |
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Will Modi be replaced?
New Delhi, May 17 The biggest question troubling the minds of central leaders is what should be the strategy of the BJP in the event of the Congress-led government adopts a “vindictive” attitude against the Modi government, by proposing to impose President’s rule in the state. Some of the top central leaders with whom this correspondent spoke to admitted that to consolidate its “minority vote bank” across the country, the Congress-led government definitely play the Article 356 card. “Although the new dispensation will not be able to push through President’s rule in Gujarat as BJP has numbers in its favour in Rajya Sabha, politically it would be prudent that Mr Modi makes way for another BJP leader in the State,” a senior BJP leader told The Tribune on the condition of anonymity. This, he explained, would save embarrassment for the BJP and take away the sting out of any attempt by the Congress and other opposition parties from taking political advantage across the country. Another leader pointed out that any decision on Mr Modi will have to be taken only after taking himself into confidence and also duly considering the local ground situation in the state. Even as BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu rejected the demand for removal of Mr Modi, already momentum appears to have picked up within the party in this direction. It is also understood that this matter was discussed in today’s review meeting of the BJP, in which top leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Mr Naidu, Mr Jaswant Singh, Mr Yashwant Sinha and Mr Arun Jaitley were present. In a related development, a meeting of top Gujarat BJP leaders has been convened in Ahmedabad to debate on the reasons for the poor showing of the party in state in the just concluded Lok Sabha poll. The BJP, which had held 21 seats, had managed just 14 seats this time. In an another development, the outgoing union minister Kashiram Rana, whose name did rounds soon after the Gujarat riots when there was talk about possible replacement to Mr Modi, today met BJP President. |
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Notice on ST student’s admission
New Delhi, May 17 A vacation Bench comprising Ms Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari also issued the notices to state’s Director of Medical Education, HP University and Rohini Rao, the relative of the minister who was allegedly given admission in MS course after cancelling the admission of Chander Bhave, a student belonging to Gujjar community, an ST. Chander Bhave, in his special leave petition (SLP) against the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s interim order cancelling his admission, said wrong facts were placed before the court by the state government that he was not entitled to the reservation benefit as a ST candidate. This was achieved by Rohini Rao, who belonged to a “highly influential political family of Himachal Pradesh on the basis of an order cancelling his ST certificate by Tehsildar Jhandutt, at her instance, on a wrong plea that his father belonged to Una district,” Chander Bhave’s counsel Ravi Bhakshi alleged. Rohini Rao’s father Nanak Chand is also a senior Medical Officer of state government, at present posted in Mandi district, Bhave’s counsel said. Bhave, hailing from Bilaspur, belonged to “Gujjar” community, which has been declared ST in entire state by the Union Law Minister’s January 8, 2003 notification, Bhakshi said. His certificate was cancelled on the ground that he belonged to Una district where Gujjars were not an ST community, The Union Law Ministry’s January 8, 2003 notification Part (e) made it clear that Gujjars had also the ST status in the areas merged in Himachal from Punjab in 1966. Moreover, the High Court had given the direction in an interim order, putting his client’s career at stake even when his suit against cancellation of his ST certificate was pending before a civil court, he said. |
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US reassurance to Indian students
New Delhi, May 17 Such steps were intended to “give you swift and safer access to the USA while also providing everybody in America with a greater sense of security,” US Ambassador David Mulford said. Commenting on a recent perception “that it has become more difficult for students to get visas,” the Ambassador said in a statement that the US was always ready to accept qualified students from abroad. He asserted that more Indian students now studied in the USA than ever before, the number having doubled in just five years. An American group — Institute of International Education — estimated, that, for the second straight year, more students from India were on US campuses than from any other country — 74,603 in the academic year 2002-2003. Educational Advising Centres under the US Educational Foundation in eight Indian cities received over 320,000 inquiries. The US recognised that to remain competitive it must do what was necessary to attract the best and the brightest, but it also learnt after “the 9/11 attack” that changes governing entry to and exit from the US were necessary. To balance these issues, the US invested heavily in technology and people to enhance two key objectives: keeping America open and ensuring more secure borders. “These steps have not changed the criteria for issuing visas to visit or study in the US,” Mr Mulford said, adding however that “students in certain science fields may face an additional verification step, but this procedure affects only a handful of Indian applicants.” Today more Indians traveled, to the US than ever before. “This year our Embassy and Consulates issued 12 per cent more visas than over the same period in each of the last two years. Moreover, the visa issuance rate for India is higher today than before 9/11.” Long waits are a thing of the past and further decreases were likely as the US introduced more automated systems, he said. He said the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System eliminated altogether the need to delay some student applications. Electronic fingerprinting would make it easier to verify that legitimate students and travelers qualify for visas, he said, adding that this would actually facilitate their entry into the US. |
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Social workers get jail term for abetting rape
New Delhi, May 17 Activists Manjit Kaur, Shanta Bhandari and Veermati had been charged with taking the victim to a house in Gulab Bagh in the Janakpuri area on April 20, 1994, for facilitating the criminal assault by Dinesh Dubey. While Dubey died during the pendency of the trial, four others — Abdul Aziz Mirza, Surjeet Singh, Virender Singh and Bharat Bhusan — were acquitted due to lack of evidence. According to the police, the victim was criminally assaulted by Dubey and later forced to register a complaint, alleging rape by a 70-year-old man. After his arrest, Dubey had allegedly confessed that he, along with others, wanted to implicate Chandra Pradhan with whom they had a property dispute. Refusing leniency while pronouncing the sentence today, Additional Sessions Judge Bimla Makin noted that action of the accused did not deserve any soft approach. Despite being involved in the incident, they created a hue and cry over the issue by taking the matter to the state BJP office and even misleading the media, she observed. ‘’Everybody is crying that women are unsafe in Delhi and the general perception is that men are responsible for the insecurity. Here we have three women, who in the name of social workers, political activists and mahila mandals, proved to be the worsest (sic) enemies of a destitute woman,’’ Ms Makin said, while sentencing them. While a seven-year-term was imposed on Manjit Kaur, the then mahila mandal block president, Shanta Bhandari and Veermati were sentenced to a term of four years each. The court noted that charges against others were not proved by the prosecution which examined 17 witnesses in the case to build up the chain of events leading to the crime. The police said Kaur and Veermati abducted Pooja and took her to the house in Gulab Bagh where the accused were allegedly present. Dubey whipped out his revolver and threatened to kill her along with her unborn child if she did not implicate Pradhan in a rape case.
— UNI |
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NHRC seeks police chief’s views on child abuse
New Delhi, May 17 The NHRC has drawn the attention of the Police Commissioner, Mr K.K. Paul, to a
news report on the assault on Sahil by Mr O.N. Kaul. The NHRC Chairperson, Justice A.S. Anand has observed that if the contents of the news report are true, it raises the issue of violation of human rights. According to the report, the police officer abused and beat up Sahil when he broke his car glass while playing. Sahil was taken to the Safdarganj Hospital. The boy’s call to the Police Control Room did not elicit any response due to the influence of the police officer. |
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No exercises with Pak: Air chief
Shillong, May 17 Addressing a press conference at the Eastern Air Command
(EAC) headquarters at Upper Shillong, he said the IAF would train the Singapore Air Force in Gwalior and the forces took up joint exercises with neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar. Asked if a similar venture was being worked out with regard to Pakistan particularly in the backdrop of improving relations with the neighbouring country, he said, “I cannot think of that. But a friendly cricket match was a wonderful idea”. “We cannot train their (Pakistan) personnel as they could not do the same to us,” he said without elaborating much on the subject. To a question on India’s stand on NATO, the Air chief said these were meant with the global circumstance in mind. “Traditionally we are conservative nationals and our forces have no militaristic ambition to expand. Yes, we expand our force at times keeping in view that India is a country of more than one billion and we need to generate employment too,” he said. Taking part in NATO was entirely a decision taken at the government level, he added. On Bangladesh and Myanmar, the Air chief said “we have exchange programme with Bangladesh at the junior level. Myanmar also at times seeks our support.” The Air chief arrived here yesterday on a two-day visit to attend and address the EAC Station Commanders’ Conference. The four-day long conference, which began today, features discussion on important issues related to air-surveillance, training and modernisation.
— UNI |
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SI surrenders in paper
leak case
New Delhi, May 17 The Special Judge, Ms Pratibha Rani rejected Sub-Inspector’s application for judicial custody and remanded him in CBI custody for three days. The agency had sought 10-day custody of the SI to interrogate him but the court said considering the facts and circumstances of the case, three day custody would be sufficient. The court on Friday had rejected his anticipatory bail. The SI along with two other Delhi police cops, SI Sanjay Gupta and constable Umed Singh were charged by the CBI of demanding money from O. P. Verma, father of Ranjit and Satinder Singh, main accused in the case. The CBI, in a raid, had recovered some articles belonging to Verma from the SI’s car. The CBI had also found Rs 2.47 lakh cash, gold and silver ornaments and household articles belonging to the complainant O.P. Verma from the residence of SI Sanjay Gupta. The Delhi police Crime Branch had on April 10, detected the leakage of question papers of the All-India Pre-Medical Test conducted by the CBSE, hours before nearly 2.4 lakh students were to appear in the prestigious examination. So far over 10 persons have been arrested in this connection. |
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Bail to Raja Bhaiya, father
Kanpur, May 17 Designated judge Shailendra Saxena ordered the release of the two on personal bond of Rs 50,000 each and two securities each of the like amount.
— PTI |
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