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Diminishing sex ratio poses danger to
Sikhs
Uma has her way; appointed BJP Gen
Secy
Muslim body to launch awareness against
talaq
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Manmohan’s call to end ‘criminalisation’ of
police
The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, with the Union Minister for Home, Mr Shivraj Patil, at the DGPs/IGPs conference in New Delhi on Thursday.
— Tribune photo
More passenger traffic, better safety in Railways, says
Laloo
Volte-face by CPM, minister given clean chit
Maharashtra Speaker to be chosen tomorrow
Shinde sworn in AP Governor
Rakesh Sood India’s new envoy to Afghanistan
NDA to formulate future
strategy
NHRC seeks report on death of 4
kids
Naga problem close to solution:
Padmanabhiah
Montek meets
Chidambaram
No legislation on reservation, says
Meira
Pak national gets 15-year jail
Harassed student attempts suicide
Meeting to mourn farmers’ death today
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Diminishing sex ratio poses danger to
Sikhs
New Delhi, November 4 “The Sikh youth may be forced to marry outside their community as there would be fewer females to the number of eligible men,” he said. According to the 2001 census data, Sikh community in the country has the lowest child sex ratio. The community has only 780 female for 1000 men against the national average of 927 per 1000. Mr Bose blamed the decline in the female population on the state becoming one of the firsts to have ultrasound scanning facilities. Legal measures like making the pre-natal sex determination an offence did not have much impact as not even a single person had been convicted, he said, addressing a meeting convened by the National Commission for Minorities (NCM). Dismissing the common notion that increasing literacy, especially amongst women, would put an end to female foeticide, he said Punjab had 63 per cent female literacy, which was more than the national average of 54 per cent. He said the need of the hour was the dissemination of information and it was the right time to press the panic button, otherwise it would be too late for the community and could become extinct like the Parsis. Akal Takht Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti, who presided over the meeting, alarmed by the reality staking on the face of the community, said the health officials in the state should start registering the pregnancies and keep track of it. They identified three main reasons for female foeticide amongst Sikhs - the insecurity of a girl child, the increasing incidence of dowry and the urge for a male for the continuation of their family tree. NCM Chairman Tarlochan Singh said the commission had undertaken the task of bringing awareness amongst the religious and community leaders about the grave situation and trends in different communities. Punjab Health Secretary Guru said moves were underway to offer incentives to parents who opt family planning after their first or second girl child. Sex selection continues among the Sikhs despite the Akal Takht, the highest religious seat of the community, ruling it illegal in an edict in 2001. Akal Takht Jathedar Vedanti said the village-level women committees should be formed in Punjab to spread awareness about gender equality. Shiromani Akali Dal Secretary-General Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa suggested the Akal Takht initiated action against Sikhs going for female foeticide. |
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Uma has her way; appointed BJP Gen
Secy
New Delhi, November 4 Mr Advani not only made Ms Bharti a National General Secretary but also conceded her demand and agreed to constitute a committee in Madhya Pradesh to coordinate between the party and the State Government led by Babulal Gaur. Announcing the decision of the party president, the BJP spokesperson Arun Jaitley said Ms Bharti would be part of the Coordination Committee so as to ensure a better understanding between the Madhya Pradesh unit of the party and the state government. Significantly, the Coordination Committee has been set up despite opposition expressed publicly by Chief Minister Babu Lal Gaur to it. Ms Bharti will assume charge of her new responsibilities after November 30, as she is on a sabbatical. The appointment of Ms Bharti as General Secretary comes five days after the announcement of the new office-bearers and the national executive by Mr Advani, who took over as party president on October 18. Announcement with regard to the appointment of Ms Bharti as General Secretary had to be withheld on October 30, as at the eleventh hour the firebrand leader had put a pre-condition that she would accept a position in the party’s central team only if a mechanism was put in place to ensure that she had her say in Madhya Pradesh. This last-minute demand put Mr Advani in a difficult situation as though he was keen on appointing Ms Bharti as General Secretary, he was averse to creating a parallel power group in Madhya Pradesh, informed sources said. Another issue in which Ms Bharti is likely to have an upper hand is on the reconstitution of the Madhya Pradesh state unit. Mr Advani is understood to have agreed in principle to Ms Bharti’s demand for overhauling the state unit with a “dynamic” President (read as person of her choice), sources said. The inclusion of Ms Bharti, who belongs to the OBC category, is seen as a compulsion for the party in view of the upcoming Assembly polls in Bihar and Jharkhand, as the BJP wants to field her for as party’s star campaigner to woo voters of the community. |
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Muslim body to launch awareness against
talaq
New Delhi, November 4 “The triple talaq problem is mainly due to ignorance about Shariyat laws. This cannot be solved by passing a law. It can only be curbed by increasing the awareness and educating the people about the social menace. So, the AIMPLB has decided to launch an awareness campaign among the people that triple talaq has not been sanctioned in the Shariyat,” its spokesman S. Q.R. Ilyas said today. Moreover, the board will finalise a ‘Model Nikahnama’ during its three-day meeting in Kozhikode in northern Kerala from December 24. Under this, no husband can take a unilateral decision in case of marital disputes. Instead, they would be solved by the elders of the Muslim community or the quazi of the area. The decision would be binding on both the parties. Condemning the recent incidents of some Muslim men using SMS, e-mail and internet to divorce their wives, Mr Ilyas said they have no legal sanction as neither the Muslim Personal law nor ulemas accept them. — UNI |
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Manmohan’s call to end ‘criminalisation’ of
police
New Delhi, November 4 “We must pay attention to the question of morale of our police and security forces. We must pay attention to their honesty and discipline. We must take a hard look at the sources of their corruption and causes for their politicisation,” Dr Manmohan Singh said, addressing the annual conference of DGPs/IGPs and Heads of CPOs at Vigyan Bhavan here. Drawing attention to the report of former Union Home Secretary N.N. Vohra on the so-called “nexus” between politicians, criminals and the police, the Prime Minister said “this poses an insidious threat to our society and economy. It is in your hands, as leaders of the police service, to resist such politicisation and criminalisation and restore to our police force the prestige and elan they
once enjoyed.” “I urge our political parties also to focus on this issue,” he said. Listing the security challenges before the police force whether in Jammu and Kashmir or North-East or by way of Left wing terrorism, Dr Manmohan Singh said “today when we speak of security threats we must understand that these embrace a multitude of dangers, and not necessarily only the threats of external aggression or internal turbulence.” “There are several subversive forces at work, including in the economic realm. Economic globalisation and technological development have altered the nature of crime, giving rise to new forms of white collar crime,” he said. “These co-exist with the most primitive forms of extortion, and trafficking in arms, drugs, narcotics and women,” he said, adding “migration of people and large movements across national borders — and even within countries — has become an explosive issue in many parts of the world.” Focussing specially on the grave threat posed by terrorism which now poses a threat to all societies, the Prime Minister said “terrorism is a savage asymmetric form of warfare, where ‘fair is foul’ and ‘foul is fair’. A new warrior class, mainly of non-state armed groups, has emerged, spreading across nations and even across the globe, able to strike at will and at high value political, economic and symbolic targets as also deal strategic blows. |
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More passenger traffic, better safety in Railways, says
Laloo
New Delhi, November 4 Addressing the first meeting of the consultative committee of Members of Parliament for his ministry, Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav said following comprehensive efforts, the number of train accidents during the first half of the current fiscal had come down to 115 compared to 189 during the corresponding period of the previous year. He said due to the healthy growth of traffic output up to September this year, Rs 2,201 crore was earned by the Railways, which was 2.23 per cent higher than the budgetary target. He described the performance of the Railways during the first half of the current financial year as “appreciable.” Referring to budgetary announcements on new trains, he said 11 pairs of trains, including three Sampark Kranti Express trains, have been introduced. Four trains had been extended and frequency of nine trains increased. He said a new catering policy was being introduced to improve the standard of catering. The Railways Minister announced that from next financial year, bogies and couplers would be supplied free to wagon builders. He said all passenger coaches would be fitted with biodegradable modular toilets by 2012. The modular toilets would prevent discharge of effluents at stations. Mr Yadav said all air-conditioned coaches would be provided with electrical points for charging cellular phones and laptops within a year. So far, 500 AC coaches had been provided with such facilities. He said the Railways would sell
items of daily use like toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap strips, bandaids and non-prescription medicines from pantry cars of important trains to provide more satisfaction to its customers. The Minister also informed the members that a Technology Mission on Railway Safety had been taken up in collaboration with the IIT, Kanpur. |
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Volte-face by CPM, minister given clean chit
Kolkata, November 4 There was no need for any further probe into the matter as neither Mr Chakraborty nor any other party leader had any links with Hatkata Dilip, Mr Biswas said, even though the minister was ready to face any inquiry. Police investigations indicated that the Sports Minister and some other high-profile CPM leaders had direct links with Hatkata Dilip and other criminals operating in North 24-Parganas area. But “Mr clean chief minister” Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee kept silent in this connection and refused to say anything to the press ignoring the repeated queries from the reporters. The CPM’s sudden decision to stop any further probe into the charges made against the Sports Minister has made Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee demand an independent inquiry by the former Supreme Court judge into the minister’s alleged links with criminals. |
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Maharashtra
Speaker to be chosen tomorrow
Mumbai, November 4 The opposition Shiv Sena-BJP led alliance will also field a candidate for the post, both parties said today. The ruling front’s candidate is likely to get through since there are 165 legislators supporting the government. These include 71 MLAs from the NCP, 68 from the Congress, 16 Independents and 10 MLAs from smaller parties. |
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Shinde sworn in AP Governor
Hyderabad, November 4 Mr Shinde, who took over in place of Mr Surjit Singh Barnala, transferred as the Tamil Nadu Governor, was a keen contender for the Chief Minister’s post after the Congress-NCP combine recaptured power in Maharashtra but had to accept the new assignment following the party high command’s decision to opt for Mr Vilas Rao Deshmukh. The new Governor was administered the oath of office by the Chief Justice of the AP High Court, Mr Devender Gupta, at a brief ceremony in the lawns of Raj Bhavan. |
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Rakesh Sood India’s new envoy to Afghanistan
New Delhi, November 4 Mr Sood is expected to take up his assignment shortly. Mr Pradeep Singh has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Finland in succession to Mr O.P. Gupta, the MEA spokesman said. |
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NDA to formulate future
strategy
New Delhi, November Mr Advani will attend a meeting of Sangh Parivar in Hardwar tomorrow. During the meeting, the two leaders held discussions on the coming elections in Bihar and Jharkhand, which the BJP and JD(U) may contest jointly, sources said. Mr Fernandes had met former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee yesterday to discuss the BJP going “back to basics” and reverting to its Hindutva ideology. The JD(U) leader was satisfied with the explanation given by the two leaders as there was no deviation from the NDA’s agreed stand on the Ram temple issue. BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley said the November 14 meeting would remove any confusion among the NDA constituents on the issue. “However, there is no conflict among the NDA partners,” he added. |
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NHRC seeks report on death of 4
kids
New Delhi, November 4 Taking suo motu cognisance of a news story published on September 28, the Chairman of the NHRC, Dr Justice A.S. Anand, said if the contents of the report were true, these depicted a very sorry state of affairs of the running of the hospital. According to the report, four children in the hospital died on the morning of September 27 due to sudden load shedding for two hours. The four infants had been kept in an incubator but were removed from it due to load shedding. The hospital authorities admitted the deaths, however, shifted the onus for disruption in supply of electricity on the Kolkata Electric Supply Corporation. |
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Naga problem close to solution:
Padmanabhiah
New Delhi, November 4 Mr Padmanabhaiah, former Union Home Secretary, said the differences between the Centre and the Naga leaders had narrowed down to “in” and “with”. The former Home Secretary, who has been in constant touch with the Naga leadership and has been holding talks with it for the past couple of years, said India was ready to accept a special position for Nagaland “in India”, while Naga leaders were demanding a special position for their state “with India”. Delivering a special address at a two-day international workshop on “Cooperative Federalism and the
Management of Diversity” at Observer Research Foundation yesterday, Mr Padmanabhiah blamed weak governance and lack of attention from the
administrators since pre-Independence days for the problems in the North-East. Besides tackling the problems at the political level, huge investments were needed for the development of the region, he pointed out, saying that the creation of Nagaland and Mizoram on the basis of ethnicity was creating problems as it often incited ambitions of different ethnic tribes in the region. Tracing the history of the region from the East India Company days and evolution of
autonomous districts and their conversion into states, Mr Padmanabhaiah said now there were more and more demands from ethnic tribes for autonomous districts under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution. A weak police force and lack of resources were to blame for the violent problems in the region, he said and added that deployment of the Army never helped in checking insurgency, whether it was in North-East, Punjab or Kashmir. “If you have to be effective in controlling militancy, you have to take the help of the police who has knowledge and information about the region”, he observed. |
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Montek meets
Chidambaram
New Delhi, November 4 Even though no official word was available about what transpired in today’s meeting, it is believed that the meeting discussed the possibility of using part of the foreign exchange reserves for infrastructure development. The Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission had recently argued in favour of some form of financial restructuring through which a part of the $120 billion foreign exchange reserves could be utilised for the cash-strapped infrastructure sector. The foreign exchange reserves presently stand at about $120 billion , and government is expected to considers various ways through which a sum of about $ 5 billion a year could be used in the next two to three years for infrastructure sector financing. |
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No legislation on reservation, says
Meira
New Delhi, November 4 However, she said, the government would hold discussions with the industry chambers and the private sector on the issue of giving more opportunities to the weaker sections. Ms Kumar said dialogue would be initiated with all political parties to see how best the private sector could meet the job demand. As part of its affirmative action, the ministry has reviewed its schemes to ensure that the NGOs funded by it implemented the reservation policy properly. The ministry is at present supporting about 2,700 NGOs and has a grant of Rs 233 crore to aid the NGOs this fiscal. It has asked these NGOs to take necessary steps to recruit people from weaker sections of society, including the SCs, STs, OBCs and disabled persons. Ms Kumar said the Congress-led coalition government had
already set up a commission to recommend measures for the welfare of religious and linguistic minorties, including reservation in education and jobs. |
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Pak national gets 15-year jail
New Delhi, November 4 Additional Sessions Judge R. Kiran Nath also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh each on convicts Mohammed Javaid (57), who hails from Lahore in Pakistan, Mohammed Akram (40) and Asif Pervez (35). —
PTI |
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Harassed student attempts suicide
Dehradun, November 4 The incident occurred at Government Hotel Management and Catering institute on Saharanpur Road when most students were in the lawns during lunch break. Eyewitnesses said Jaswant Panwar jumped from the third floor and fell on the lawns. Fellow students rushed him to hospital. Mr Panwar told Principal R.C. Pandey, who visited him at the hospital, that two final-year students had been harassing him in the name of ragging for the past few months. Certain students alleged that they were beaten up with leather belts for not wishing their seniors in the morning and evening, apart from being made to sweep the hostel rooms several times. |
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Meeting to mourn farmers’ death today
Sriganganagar, November 4 Farmers decided to reach the village and take a decision on their future plan. The farmer leaders stressed the need to continue the agitation vigorously. Senior Communist leader A.B. Bardhan visited the village and met farmers today. He urged the farmers to fight for their rights. Meanwhile, the Congress organised a dharna outside the district Collectorate. District president Prithipal Singh Sandhu led the demonstration and raised slogans against the state government. Later talking to mediapersons, he demanded an inquiry into the firing incident. |
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New Delhi, November 4
Three-day
Maharashtra Assembly session begins. (
