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Deshmukh Ministry sworn in
Punjab cotton growers seek ban on
imports
Sikhs from France call on
Tarlochan
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Zaheera approaches NCW
Left to press for price hike
rollback
Fraud case against
Taslimuddin
Eye-witness testimony cannot be overshadowed:
SC
Cops stopped from arresting
Khanduja
Bhajan Lal to continue as Haryana Cong
chief
Media boycotts Gen Vij’s function
Monica Bedi writes to Kalam for pardon
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Deshmukh Ministry sworn in
Mumbai, November 9 Among those who find a place in Mr Deshmukh’s team include former Deputy Chief Ministers Chhagan Bhujbal and Mr Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party. Maharashtra governor Mohammad Fazal administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly inducted ministers at a special function organised at Azad Maidan in South Mumbai. The venue was shifted to the sprawling maidan following major traffic jams at Raj Bhavan when Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil were inducted last week. All members of the new Cabinet were administered the oath of office by the Maharashtra Governor. Among the big names in Mr Deshmukh’s team include Mr Ajit Pawar, nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Mr Ashok Chavan son of S.B. Chavan, former industry minister Patangrao Kadam, senior Congress leader from Vidarbha Satish Chaturvedi, former finance minister Jayant Patil and senior NCP leader Suresh Jain. The team also includes two Independents. There are 13 Ministers of State in the ministry. Most of them are junior legislators. UNI ADDS: Dropped from the Council of Ministers were Mr Deshmukh’s ardent critic, former Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President Govindrao Adik, and Minister of State for Home in the former Sushilkumar Shinde Government Kripashankar Singh, who is stated to be close to the party high command. The Shiv Sena tried to block the entry of the new ministers by resorting to a road blockade on the way to Azad Maidan. The ministers of State who took oath today included Baba Siddiqui, Suresh Shetty, Ravi Patil, Ranjit Kamble, Dr Sunil Deshmukh, Sidhram Mhetre (All Congress) and Rajesh Tope, Hasan Mushrif, Jaiprakash Dandegaonkar, Rana Jagjitsinh Padmasinh Patil, D Atram and Rajendra Shingne(all NCP) and Dayanand Mhaske(RPI). Among the cabinet ministers the Congress has 10, including one Independent and one from the Jana Surajya Shakti Party, and the NCP 25. In the Ministers of State, the NCP and the Congress have got a share of six each while one is from the Republican Party of India. |
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Punjab cotton growers seek ban on
imports
New Delhi, November 9 Addressing the farmers, Mr Kulwant Singh, president, Punjab Kisan Sabha, said:” The unprecedented fall in cotton prices by Rs 1100 per quintal within a few days has made cotton cultivation a losing
enterprise. This is the result of senseless heavy imports of cotton.” The leaders demanded that the government should fix MSP for desi cotton at Rs 3500 per quintal and cotton growers should be compensated at the rate of Rs 1700 per quintal for losses incurred due to distress sale of the crop. The protesting farmers called upon the government to withdraw the “abnormal” hike in petrol and diesel prices, besides reducing customs and excise duty on oil products, as it would hurt the farmers as well. Mr Jagjit Singh Joga, vice -president, Punjab Kisan Sabha, said:” This year the whole of North suffered an unprecedented drought steeply raising the cost of production of all crops. The cost of inputs have increased manifold. So the government should announce at least Rs 3500 per quintal as support price for cotton, besides banning the cotton imports keeping in view the interests of farmers.” |
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Sikhs from France call on
Tarlochan
New Delhi, November 9 Even while seeking the direct intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this matter, the delegation apprehended that the law in its present form would have an adverse impact on the Sikh community in France as it would not be offered positions in schools or educational institutions in that country. The NCM Chairman assured the visiting delegation action in this regard. |
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Zaheera approaches NCW
New Delhi, November 9 Ms Advani said Zaheera had written a letter to the NCW, expressing the hope that the NCW would understand her suffering. The plea before the commission was filed by her lawyer yesterday. Zaheera, who has also approached the Minorities Commission, has made a plea to the NCW that she be duly protected. “In her brief letter she has said that since the
commission has been redressing the aggrieved women, we can understand her suffering,” Ms Advani said. Zaheera has recently taken all by surprise when she accused social activist Teesta Setalvad and her NGO of
putting her under pressure to name innocent persons. She is living under police protection in an undisclosed location in Ahmedabad. —
UNI |
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Teesta moves Bombay HC for pre-arrest bail
Mumbai, November 9 Teesta filed a petition praying that in the event of the arrest she may be granted anticipatory bail. The petition would come up for hearing before
Mr Justice R.S. Mohite tomorrow. Zaheera had filed her
affidavit before Vadodara District Collector recently alleging that Teesta had pressured her into telling lies before the trial court
in Mumbai and that because of her pressure earlier she had cast aspersions on the verdict of a Gujarat court. —
PTI |
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Godhra probe panel revisits carnage
site
Godhra, November 9 The team had to come for a second round of investigation to ‘corroborate’ with the statements of several witnesses who were
cross-examined by the committee in New Delhi recently, he said. As part of the exercise, the technical team, comprising fire and mechanical experts of the Railways, entered and inspected the S-6 and S-5 coaches thoroughly. The team also conducted dummy tests on a train regarding the chain pulling aspect and other factors that led to the S-6 coach twice stopping on the day of the incident. Asked if he was `prevented’ by the senior railway police officials from entering the S-6 coach, Mr Banerjee said, “I was not prevented. I only asked them if any permission was required to enter it as it was a court property. The concerned official said he would seek his superior’s permission...and in due course we were inside the coach.” The team members also inspected the A-cabin area where the Sabarmati express train had stopped for the second time on the day of the incident. Mr Banerjee said the committee had examined 12 witnesses in the train carnage case so far and were cross checking their statements and description of the incident. — PTI |
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Left to press for price hike
rollback
New Delhi, November 9 The increase in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG has evoked strong protests across the political spectrum with the Left parties refusing to reduce the pitch in demanding a rollback of the decision. The Left parties maintain that the steep hike in petroleum prices could have been avoided if the government had reduced duties on all subsidised petroleum products to zero per cent and the rest were fixed between zero to five per cent. They pointed out that due to the dismantling of the APM, the profits after tax of companies had soared. Activists of the CPI today held a demonstration at Jantar Mantar demanding the government to withdraw the increase in the price of petroleum products. Raising slogans against the price hike, the CPI activists termed the decision as “anti-people”. “The government should rollback the price hike. It will lead to escalation in the prices of essential commodities”, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said. The UPA-Left Coordination Committee meeting is also likely to take up the issues of FDI hike in the Telecom sector, EPF interest rates, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and foreign policy issues. |
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Fraud case against
Taslimuddin
Patna, November 9 First Class Judicial Magistrate, Sudhir Kumar Sinha had on October 5 issued the warrant against Taslimuddin on a complaint of a dealer of Mahindra and Mahindra here, charging the minister with committing a fraud as a cheque of Rs 3 lakh drawn in favour of the company for purchase of a vehicle five years ago was dishonoured. The company’s lawyer Nagendra Kumar said the court had asked the Superintendent of Police of Araria to execute the arrest warrant and fix January 20, 2005 as the next date of hearing the case. The BJP has demanded his dismissal from the Manmohan Singh government accusing him of being a “habitual offender”. The court had also asked SP A.K. Singh to lodge an FIR in the case the take Taslimuddin into custody, BJP vice-president and MP S.K. Modi said. The BJP vice-president also criticised the SP for “inordinate delay” in filing a criminal case against the minister despite the court’s directive. In the case relating to the bouncing of the cheque issued to the firm, Taslimuddin has been charged under Sections 420 (fraud) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. — PTI |
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Eye-witness testimony cannot be overshadowed:
SC
New Delhi, November 9 “It is trite that where the eye-witness account is found credible and trustworthy, medical opinion pointing to alternative possibilities is not accepted as conclusive,” a Bench of Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice C. K. Thakkar ruled, upholding the conviction of three accused from Madhya Pradesh in a murder case by the trial court. Setting aside the order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court exonerating Komal Singh, Manni and Dharkole of the murder charges on the basis of the medical evidence, the apex court said it would be erroneous to accord “undue primacy” to hypothetical answers in the medical report and exclude the eye-witness account on the basis of the same. The eye-witness account has to be examined and evaluated independent of the findings of the medical experts and not be treated as “variable” to it when both were not in conformity with each other, the Court said. While evaluating the eye-witness account, the trial courts have to carefully assess them to ensure that their credibility was not to be “prejudged” in the light of any other evidence, it observed. |
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Cops stopped from arresting Khanduja
Mumbai, November 9 Hearing Khanduja’s plea for anticipatory bail, Mr Justice R.S. Mohite asked the police not to arrest him till further orders. The sessions court had earlier rejected his plea for anticipatory bail. Being aggrieved, he filed a fresh petition in the high court which will come up for hearing tomorrow. Khanduja’s lawyer Dipesh Mehta pleaded that the sessions court had erred while rejecting the anticipatory bail plea. He said Mr Khanduja had no role to play in the suicide of Nafisa. Khanduja’s bail petition was rejected by the Principal Sessions Judge R.R. Vacha who upheld prosecution’s argument that Khanduja’s refusal to marry Nafisa had apparently driven her to the extreme step. —
PTI |
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Bhajan Lal to continue as Haryana Cong
chief
New Delhi, November 9 “There is no move to make any organisational changes in the Haryana party unit,” Mr. Janardan Dwivedi, AICC General secretary incharge of Haryana, declared here today. AICC sources said a change in the Haryana organisation was contemplated but the proposal was abandoned since elections are round the corner. It was stated that the fierce factional battles in the state unit had led the Congress leadership, at one stage, to opt for new and young faces, It was also proposed that none of the contenders for the chief ministership be given any organisational post so as to ensure a “level playing field.” Having delayed matters for so
long, the party has now decided to continue with the present arrangement. AICC leaders said it was felt that making any changes on election-eve could generate its own set of problems. What is left unsaid is that the party was unable to find a suitable slot for Haryana strongman Bhajan Lal and it feared that it would end up inviting more trouble if he was to be left out in the cold. Having ended all speculation on this front, the party has now gone into election mode. Eight weekly public rallies, to be kickstarted from Karnal on November 15, have been planned while a chargesheet against the Chautala government is to be submitted to the Haryana Governor on November 13. A special meeting, attended by senior party leaders from the state, was convened at the AICC today to firm up plans for the upcoming campaign. “Through these rallies, which will culminate at Jind on January 2, we will expose the corruption and the failings of the INLD government,” Mr. Dwivedi said after the meeting. The AICC leader underlined the need to project a united front during the deliberations. All senior state leaders as well as nine Haryana MPs were specifically told to participate in these rallies while the state unit and individuals were told not to organise any other
programme on these days. The state leaders were also asked to reach out to people and address their grievances while exposing the Chautala government in their forthcoming campaign. Besides PCC chief Bhajan Lal, the meeting was attended by Bhupinder Singh
Hooda, Birendra Singh, several MPs including Ms. Selja, Jai Prakash and Arvind Sharma and district level presidents and secretaries. |
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Media boycotts Gen Vij’s function
New Delhi, November 9 Forced by Army officials to go through extensive checks, which included being subjected to checks by sniffer dogs, the media decided to boycott the function. It was being held to felicitate two Army women officers, who have been selected to be deployed as Military Observers in the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Press Association, in a memorandum to the Defence Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, demanded a probe into the incident.—
TNS |
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Monica Bedi writes to Kalam for pardon
New Delhi, November 9 The handwritten letter was received by the President’s Secretariat recently seeking pardon for the mistake of forging passport in Hyderabad has been marked to the Home Ministry and the External Affairs Ministry by Dr Kalam, Rashtrapati Bhavan sources said here today. “The President has marked the letter to the Home Secretary and the Foreign Secretary for action as may deem appropriate,” sources said. |
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New Delhi, November 9
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