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Vaiko arrested, released
Mulayam joins issue with Sonia
Global Fund warns India
on HIV cases
Poll process begins for Maharashtra, 14 other states
Bogus B.Ed degree racket busted, 4 held
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Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati shows
party manifesto to the media in Mumbai on Wednesday. — PTI photo
9 CMs attend meeting on
Naxalite problem
Oppn not my enemy, says PM
PM’s interview ruffles Cong camp
Rabri talks business with Laloo
String-free subsidy for Haj pilgrims soon
Muslim women demonstrate against All- India Muslim Personal Law
Board vice-president Maulana Syed Kalbe Sadiq's reported
statement on population growth and literacy of Muslims, in Bhopal on Wednesday. —
PTI photo
Bilkis case trial deferred to Sept 29
‘Relax’ visa rules for Sikhs
visiting Pak
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Vaiko arrested, released
Chennai, September 15 He had started his “marmalarchi padayatra”, meaning “renaissance march”, on August 5 from Tirunelveli in southern Tamil Nadu and walked 1000 km along with his party cadres covering 15 states. As news of Mr Vaiko’s arrest spread, hundreds of his party workers gathered in front of the police station, leading to disruption of traffic. He was stopped by the police in front of Anna memorial on the Marina beach. Incidentally, today is the birth anniversary of C. Annadurai, the founder of the Dravidian movement. Mr Vaiko described his arrest as “illegal” and said: “My march does not come under the definition of procession.” He alleged the ruling AIADMK had “asked some anti-social elements to mingle with MDMK volunteers and create a law and order problem and foist a case of violence against me. I wanted to avoid any such thing”. When the police confronted Mr Vaiko he demanded to know the charges against him. Reacting to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms. J. Jayalalithaa’s statement that her government would not allow Mr Vaiko to disturb peace by defying the regulatory orders, Mr Vaiko said he never attempted to create any law and order problem. He pointed out that all through his 1000-km long march, his volunteers never created any traffic congestion as they were marching in a row of three and he had chosen the route in consultation with the district police chiefs. Meanwhile, Ms Jayalalithaa accused the MDMK leader of attempting to create a law and order problem by insisting on continuing his ‘padayatra’ into the city despite the police refusing permission. In a statement issued a few hours before Mr Vaiko’s arrest, she said, “It is only with an intention of disturbing peace and creating a law and order situation that Mr Vaiko and his supporters have announced that they will defy the regulations and take the padayatra through the main thoroughfares of the city.” Condemning Mr Vaiko’s ‘utter disregard for Supreme Court directives,” she said, “the government will never permit such breach of law. Police will do its duty according to the law.” |
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Mulayam joins issue with Sonia
Mumbai, September 15 Reacting sharply to Mrs Gandhi’s criticism of the law and order situation prevailing in UP, Mr Yadav insisted that things were normal in his state. “There is no law and order problem in UP,“ Mr Yadav said. He went on to say that the situation in UP was much better than that in Delhi. “The Congress should concentrate on improving law and order in Delhi instead of criticising the Government of UP,” Mr Yadav said. Mrs Gandhi told reporters in UP yesterday that the law and order situation there was worryisome. She went on to add that the UPA Government at the Centre was willing to co-operate with the state government to help remedy the situation. Mr Yadav is in Mumbai to stitch up an alliance of his Samajwadi Party with like-minded parties for the Maharashtra elections. “The alliance would be issue-based,“ Mr Yadav said. |
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UP withdrew POTA cases without Centre’s consent
New Delhi, September 15 “...the state government has not approached so far the Union Home Ministry with any specific proposal seeking prior permission of the Central Government for the withdrawal of the cases ...,” the Centre said in its affidavit. The affidavit was filed in response to the court’s notice on an application seeking to implead the Centre as a party to a petition challenging the decision of the UP Government to withdraw the POTA charges. |
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Global Fund warns India
on HIV cases
New Delhi, September 15 Richard G.A. Feachem, Executive Director of Global Fund, told mediapersons here today that India was wanting in its response due to challenge of scale and leadership. He said they were sceptical about the official figure of 5.1 million HIV/AIDS infected persons in India which puts it in the second place after South Africa which has 5.6 million HIV/AIDS infected persons. “India is facing a grave HIV/AIDS epidemic. It is a ticking time-bomb as the epidemic is growing rapidly in India. The economic and social consequences of the epidemic will be huge as the response of the country falls very short of what is required,” Mr Feachem said. He warned that India would overtake South Africa within a few months in the number of HIV/AIDS infected persons as the epidemic was growing steadily. He said the HIV/AIDS data in China and India was under-represented as the data was based on limited HIV surveillance sites. Mr Feachem said his projection was based on information gathered from various sources and discussions with experts in the country. He said he was planning to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Health Minister A. Ramdoss, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia in this regard. |
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Poll process begins for Maharashtra, 14 other states
New Delhi, September 15 In Maharashtra, Governor Mohammad issued notification to elect a new 288-member Assembly, setting off the process of filing nominations in the state where the ruling Congress-NCP coalition is pitted against the Opposition Shiv Sena-BJP. The last date for filing papers is September 22 followed by scrutiny the next day. September 25 is the last date for withdrawal of nominations. Repolling, if any, will be held on October 15 and vote count is scheduled for October 16. The five-year term of the Maharashtra Assembly expires on October 20. The Model Code of Conduct came into force in Maharashtra on August 24 when the Election Commission announced the poll schedule. Polling will also be held on October 13 for four seats in the Lok Sabha — Mainpuri, Akbarpur (both in UP), Madhepura (Bihar) and Bidar (Karnataka). Of the 41 Assembly seats where by-poll will be held 12 are in UP, four each in Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir, three each in Nagaland, Punjab and West Bengal, two each in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi, and one each in Assam, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Manipur. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government today told the Bombay High Court that it could not modify electoral rolls by deleting the names of “encroachers’’ because the election process was at an advanced stage in the state. The government filed the statement in response to a public interest litigation by Senior Judge Madhav Gadkari and others requesting court directions to the Election Commission to delete the names of encroachers and unauthorised slumdwellers from the voters’ list. In Delhi, two of its Assembly seats — Rajouri Garden and Baljit Nagar (SC) — fell vacant following election of their MLAs to the Lok Sabha. In Uttar Pradesh, poll process formally opened in Assembly constituencies of Milkipur, Mujehna, Atrauli, Ghaziabad, Ahirauri, Madiyahun, Allahabad (West), Karchana, Iglas, Bhagra, Sidhaur and Saidpur and the two Lok Sabha seats of Akbarpur (R) and Mainpuri. The Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat was vacated by Samajwadi Party supremo and UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akbarpur by BSP president Mayawati after she was elected to the Rajya Sabha. Earlier, the SP had announced eight candidates and decided to give the Aligarh and Eglas seats to ally Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). |
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Bogus B.Ed degree racket busted, 4 held
Godhra, September 15 Of the nearly 100 persons, recruited through a special camp for teachers for secondary and higher secondary sections in February this year, 22 were found to have got the jobs using fake certificates and marksheets of a college in Bundelkhand under the Jhansi University in Uttar Pradesh, according to the sources. The police has lodged a complaint against 22 persons in connection with the scam that came to light last month and was investigated by the District Education Officer (DEO) of Panchamahals district, the sources said. Finding certificates of six persons suspicious, the DEO began an inquiry last month and sent two education officers to verify the authenticity of their certificates from the Chancellor of Jhansi varsity, sources said, adding “it was revealed that no such person as described by the DEO had ever been issued B.Ed certificates”. A complaint was lodged against eight persons, who had already begun serving as teachers, of which three were arrested along with a `agent’ Rajnikant Shah of Timba village in the district, who used to charge Rs 60,000 per certificate.
— PTI |
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No outside rebel in BSP: Maya
Mumbai, September 15 Releasing BSP’s poll manifesto, which highlights the Vidarbha statehood issue among other promises, Mayawati denied that the candidates’ list was being withheld so as to accommodate rebels from other parties. The BSP has geared itself to contest all 288 seats in the state and would not tie up openly or discreetly with any of the alliances, the BSP chief stated. Mayawati said her doctrine of “BJP is saapnath (king of snakes) and Congress naagnath (king of cobras)” continues and the party’s experience of pre-poll alliance in the past had made it decide not to go for such tie-ups in the state. |
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9 CMs attend meeting on
Naxalite problem
New Delhi, September 15 The meeting has been convened in Hyderabad by Home Minister Shivraj Patil with Chief Ministers from all nine states bearing the brunt of Naxalites attending it. Of these, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are the worst-affected while Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are deemed partially affected. Andhra Pradesh and Bihar remain the hot-bed of the PWG and the MCC (Maoist Communist Centre) operations. |
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Oppn not my enemy, says PM
New Delhi, September 15 In an interview to the RSS mouthpiece and Panchjanya former Editor Tarun Vijay, the Prime Minister said he did not view Opposition as his “enemy” and made it clear that he was unperturbed by the “foul language” used against him. Tackling issues like inflation and corruption and speeding up economic and administrative reforms is my priority and concern, he said. “My greatest regret is that Parliament was not allowed to function despite decent leaders like Atalji and Advaniji being in the Opposition. At least, I did not expect this from them,” he said in his first interview given to any print media organisation after assuming office. Had Parliament been allowed to function and he given an opportunity to speak, he said, “There could have been forward movement on several issues with coordination for the nation’s betterment.” The Opposition should not think that attacking the ruling parties on every issue is its main task, the Prime Minister observed and added that “I believe that the main task of politics is addressing the country’s problems and not levelling allegations against each other.” “My worry is that inflation and corruption should end, economic and administrative reforms speeded up,” he added. “As far as foul language used against me is concerned, I do not give much attention to it,” he said. On the Savarkar issue, the Prime Minister said the government had ended the issue from its side, pointing out that he had clarified the government stand on the matter during his press conference. “On other issues also we do not want confrontation,” the Prime Minister underlined while noting that when he assumed charge, he “did not get a clean slate”. He said he had to take his party and allies along. “I have taken up the task (of prime ministership) with the intention of running the government and running it properly,” he asserted. |
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PM’s interview ruffles Cong camp
New Delhi, September 15 Clearly embarrassed at this development, red-faced party leaders were busy offering all kind of explanations for what was, in private, being described as “unprecedented and unusual”. While some said it was the Prime Minister’s way of building bridges with the Opposition, others termed it as not an interview but only a write-up based on an informal conversation. Dr Singh, it was stated, had been talking to editors of various publications and news channels and the meeting with the editor of Panchajanya was one of them. They also drew solace from the fact that the write-up had very flattering things to say about the Prime Minister. Officially, however, the Congress sought to play down the publication of the interview in the RSS mouthpiece. Party spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan stonewalled all queries on the issue, merely maintaining that the “Prime Minister responded to a routine request from an editor of a publication just as he has done in the case of other editors.” “Nothing more should be read into it,” she added. In private, however, Congress leaders were baffled over Prime Minister’s decision to grant an audience to the RSS mouthpiece. The more charitable among them said the Prime Minister probably thought it was a good opportunity to reach out to their political rivals, given the bitter relations between the government and the Opposition. There was agreement that the RSS’s motive in carrying the interview was to create confusion in the Congress ranks and drive a wedge between the Prime Minister and the Congress president. |
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Rabri talks business with Laloo
New Delhi, September 15 Curious onlookers gazed in wonder as Mrs Rabri Devi walked into Mr Yadav’s office. During the half-an-hour meeting with the Railway Minister, she sought an early completion of various railway projects in Bihar to expedite the process of development in the state which has the dubious distinction of being backward. Railway Board Chairman R.K. Singh and other senior officials of the board were also present at the meeting. The Bihar Chief Minister was informed that RITES Ltd. had been entrusted the task of preparing a detailed project report on the rail wheel factory at Chhapra as announced in the Railway Budget for 2004-05. The officials are reported to have told her that work on the proposed factory would commence soon. She requested Mr R.K. Singh to get the dilapidated railway stations in her home state renovated. He presented her a booklet on the ongoing railway projects and assured her that her request would be considered favourably. She was informed that the Muzaffarpur-Lokmanya Tilak Terminal (Mumbai) Jansadhara Express would be introduced from October 2. Jansadaran Express between Hajipur and Ahmedabad would also be introduced the same day. |
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String-free subsidy for Haj pilgrims soon
New Delhi, September 15 “Last year the NDA government had brought about certain amendments to the rules governing the Haj pilgrimage, doing away with subsidies to those who were income tax payees. The government would soon do away with all amendments brought about in the rules and restore a common subsidy package for all Haj pilgrims, as was prevalent during 2002 Haj yatra,” Mr Jaiswal told newspersons here after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard. The minister said he had met the Prime Minister this morning and handed over a memorandum in this regard. |
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BJP assails Muslim clerics on birth control
New Delhi, September 15 “Birth control is linked to the country’s progress and growth of population acts as a speed-breaker in its path. Those religious leaders who oppose birth control by saying it is un-Islamic are building thousands of such speed-breakers,” BJP Vice-President and spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told newspersons here. He maintained that population growth of Muslims was not in the interest of either the community or the country. Attacking president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadvi for opposing family planning, Mr Naqvi said such rigid attitude had no place in democracy. “The proposal for family planning should at least have been discussed by the board,” he said. For the second day in succession, the party attacked Union Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav for making “baseless” allegations against Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani. Accusing Mr Yadav of giving “misleading” statements against senior party leader L.K. Advani, Mr Naqvi demanded an “apology” from the Railway Minister alleging that the source of his claims was a pro Al-Qaida website. Maintaining that it was an “embarrassment” for the nation and the government that the Union Minister was making claims based on a pro Al-Qaida website “www.islamonline.net”, he asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress to make their stand clear on the issue. Mr Yadav had yesterday released photocopies of a January 31, 2002 news story on the Pakistani portal which claimed that a court in that country was re-examining a 50-year-old case against Mr Advani, in which he was alleged to have been involved in a plot to kill Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah. |
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Bilkis case trial deferred to Sept 29
Mumbai, September 15 Judge U.D. Salvi of the special court asked the CBI to give legible copies of some of the documents after the defence lawyer claimed that these were not clear. All accused have been remanded in judicial custody till the next hearing. Only one accused, Sangita Prasad, a doctor, was produced before the court today. The others could not be brought to the court as the Mumbai police could not arrange for adequate escorts. The trial is being conducted at court in Mazgaon in South Central Mumbai. |
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‘Relax’ visa rules for Sikhs
visiting Pak
New Delhi, September 15 In a memoranda to the Prime Minister, SAD (L) chief Prem Singh Chandumajra said, “Visa restrictions are a big impediment to unhindered pilgrimage to these shrines.” |
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MDMK leader Vaiko was arrested today by the Chennai police for defying the ban to complete his “renaissance” march inside the city but released after seven hours.
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