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UPA, Left meeting postponed
PM to inaugurate Jammu-Udhampur line
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Price hike: BJP to hold dharna
Women forum for probe into Zaheera volte face
Shankaracharya arrested
Law on communal violence soon
No plan to visit India, says Bobby Jindal
Taslimuddin gets bail
Govt officials prohibited from accepting gifts
Film on J.P. Narayan cleared for telecast
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UPA, Left meeting postponed
New Delhi, November 11 CPM Politbureau member Sitaram Yechury said the committee would meet later this month and discuss the oil price hike, FDI hike, Patents (Amendment) Bill and EPF interest rates. Mr Yechury said the Left parties had given their written response to the government on its clarifications on the FDI in the telecom sector as well as on the draft of the Patents (Amendments) Bill. The Left parties insistence on its stand comes a day after the Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, "we can work with the Left and enlarge the consensus of reforms." He said the Left parties were not a deterrent to the economic reforms process. On their opposition to the oil price rise, Mr Yechury said the global oil prices had now fallen below $ 50 per barrel and no justification remained for the hike. Besides, when the administered price mechanism was dismantled by the erstwhile BJP-led government, it was promised that the customs duty on the petro-products would be reduced. This had not been done so far, he said. "Rs 18 out of Rs 40 are the customs duty cost of petrol. If only this duty is reduced, the petrol prices may in fact go down", the CPM leader said, adding that the oil companies were reaping profits due to the increase in prices. The parties are likely to demand rollback in price hike of LPG and diesel as these directly affect common man. The suspension of the committee meeting assumes significance in the backdrop of India's traditional ties with the Palestinians and her support for their independence struggle. The four Left parties reiterated their solidarity with the Palestinians people in their struggle in the turbulent days ahead. |
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PM to inaugurate Jammu-Udhampur line
New Delhi, November 11 Prime Minister will arrive in Jammu on the second day of his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad will also reach Jammu for the inaugural function. Constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 550 crore, the rail project has seen several cost overruns in the past two decades. Apart from monetary constraints, a difficult terrain and security environment in the state also contributed to delay in the execution of project which was conceived in 1983. The Jammu-Udhampur line will be further extended to Kashmir as part of a national project to provide a rail link to the Valley. The Railways expects to finish the work on 25 km Udhampur-Katra line by March next. While the Qazigund-Srinagar-Baramulla line is expected to be ready in 2006, the section between Katra and Qazigund will be ready only by 2007. The Railways have tied up with the Ministry of Defence to airlift passenger coaches from Integral Coach Factory, Chennai and Diesel Locomotive Engines from Varanasi for use on the Qazigund-Srinagar-Baramulla section. Railway spokesman M Y Siddiqui said the section from Katra to Qazigund was technically most difficult for Railway engineers due to a mountaineous terrain. He said survey maps were not available for the terrain and satellite imageries had been used for mapping. The Jammu-Udhampur line had its own set of challenges, which were overcome through a mix of ingenuity and technology. |
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Price hike: BJP to hold dharna
New Delhi, November 11 Party spokesman Arun Jaitley, who addressed mediapersons today at the party headquarters, avoided questions on expelled General Secretary Uma Bharti and instead sought to focus on party's affairs. Apart from the demonstration on December 1 and a state-wide rally on December 2 in Patna, Mr Jaitley also informed that party President L.K. Advani has constituted BJP's 21 cells, including the Legal Cell which is being headed by former Chandigarh Lok Sabha MP Satyapal Jain who is its Convener. Mr Amitabh Sinha is the Joint Convener of the Legal Cell. Mr Siddarth Nath Singh who has been appointed the Convener of the Media Cell along with Joint Convener Nalin Kohli. Yesterday's office-bearers meeting, which resolved to suspend Ms Bharti from the party, also chalked out a detailed programme for holding silver jubilee celebrations of the BJP and constituted two committees for the purpose. Former BJP President M. Venkaiah Naidu has been appointed the Convener of the BJP silver jubilee year-long Festival Celeberation Committee. Other members of the committee are BJP General Secretaries Ananth Kumar and Rajnath Singh along with senior leaders Kailashpati Mishra and Pyarelal Khandelwal. Another committee for undertaking publication of literature was also constituted which is being headed by former Uttar Pradesh Governor Vishnukant Shastri. Mr Jagdish Prasad Mathur, Mrs Mridula Sinha, Mr Shanmukhanand, Mr Seshadri Chari, Mr Prabhat Jha, Mr Rajkumar Sharma, Mr Balbir Punj and Mr Dinanath Mishra are the other members of the publication committee. |
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Women forum for probe into Zaheera volte face
New Delhi, November 11 AIMWF president Sughra Menhdi, in a statement, said Zaheera's statement levelling allegation against social activist Teesta Setalvad, who had taken her fight for justice to the Supreme Court, was a great setback to the cause of secularism. She said Gujarat riots had been a black spot on the secular image of the country, but the redeeming feature of the whole episode was that secular forces had come up to raise their voice against the wrong done. But incidents like Zaheera's turnaround were bound to weaken such forces. So far Zaheera had been showing great courage and perseverance, but what suddenly made her change her statement needed to be probed, Dr Menhdi added. |
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Shankaracharya arrested
Hyderabad, November 11 A police party from Tamil Nadu, which came by a special flight from Chennai with an arrest warrant, took the Shankaracharya into custody, police sources said. He is expected to be taken to Chennai late tonight itself, they said. His arrest is believed to be in connection with the murder of a former matth employee who later worked in a temple in Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu.
— PTI
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Law on communal violence soon
New Delhi, November 11 According to official sources here, the Home Ministry is working at a fast pace on formulating a draft law on communal violence.
— UNI |
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No plan to visit India, says Bobby Jindal
New Delhi, November 11 Mr Jindal (32), whose parents hail from Malerkotla in Sangrur district, is a Republican who won in the state of Louisiana. His election is the first for an Indian American since 1956 when Dalip Singh Saund won a Congress seat from California. “My wife (Supriya Jolly, whose parents hail from Delhi’s West Patel Nagar) and I stay in touch with my mother’s family who still live in New Delhi.” An aide of Mr Jindal says she is not sure of the likelihood of Bobby making it to India for the January 7-9 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations because that is just before President George Bush’s swearing-in. “It will be very vital to have Bobby in D.C. during that time,” she said. To a question on his Indian American identity and the emergence of Indian Americans as a powerful lobby in the USA, Mr Jindal said he has been fortunate to have the support of many Indian-Americans. “They have been so generous with their time, energy, and financial support.” “I plan on working in the Congress with all of my colleagues to tackle the tough issues. “My door will be open to every citizen of this great country and I look forward to working with the Indian-American community,” he said in response to the question. Healthcare and creating more jobs, he emphasis would be his priorities. “I plan on working from day one to make a difference. I am looking forward to working on the issues like making healthcare more affordable and working to create more jobs here”. “My number one priority in the Congress is to work on improving the affordability and accessibility of healthcare in our nation. My background is from healthcare and I feel very strongly “We also have to focus on creating economic opportunities and lowering of taxes”. Asked if colour was a handicap in the election campaign, Mr Jindal said he had vowed to run a positive, issue-oriented campaign. “We were successful with this strategy (as) the voters in Louisiana appreciate a clean campaign.” |
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Taslimuddin gets bail
Patna, November 11 The District and Sessions Judge (Patna) S K Sharma allowed the Union Minister's prayer for anticipatory bail after hearing counsel for the RJD leader and Patna-based complainant S.K. Sabu. A compromise petition was yesterday filed in the court of first Class Judicial Magistrate Sudhir Kumar Sinha on behalf of Mr Taslimuddin and complainant Sabu, proprietor of Lawly Sen and Company, which had charged the Union Minister with fraud.
— PTI |
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Govt officials prohibited from accepting gifts
Jaipur, November 11 Special attention has been drawn to the existing code of conduct in this respect which restricts all state employees not the accept any gift worth more than Rs 250 from anybody and if one does so, under any special circumstances, he is supposed to inform the Chief Vigilance Commissioner or the Departmental Vigilance Officer. Interestingly enough, the Chief Minister, Ms Vasundhara Raje has sent gift packets containing dry-fruits to all senior bureaucrats including district collectors, media persons and other well-wishers. It was a sheer co-incidence that the gift packets reached the state officials at a point when they received the message of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner forbidding them to accept gifts. |
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Film on J.P. Narayan cleared for telecast
New Delhi, November 11 A Prasar Bharti press release quoted Mr Prakash Jha, Director of the film, as saying that as a creative person he was satisfied with Prasar Bharati's decision to show the film as it was made. Mr Jha was also quoted as saying that he had agreed to make "small changes pertaining to the representation of the geographic map of undivided India and a personal reference to Sanjay Gandhi in the film". Doordarshan Director-General Navin Kumar said the basic structure of the film remained unaltered, even though some fine-tuning had been made to make it appropriate for the national telecast. |
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