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SC nod to electronic number plates
BJP to rake up inflation, seer issue
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Pawar, TRS chief share platform
Kalam not to unveil portraits
Fernandes, MPs ask China not to execute Tibetan monk
New housing policy soon, says Selja
CRPF man member of outfit; claims ULFA
TN govt ‘misusing’ machinery: Swaraj
Patna on a rally spree
Trinamool bandh call illegal: HC
Bill on Urdu varsity passed
Premkumar is new Textiles Secretary
Indo-Russian talks on weapons supply
Rishikesh ‘doc’ refused bail
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SC nod to electronic number plates
New Delhi, November 30 The government had initially proposed to introduce the electronic number plates from January, 2004, keeping in view the modus oprendi of terrorists’ using local vehicles to carry out their operations and security forces finding it difficult to track them down as the ultras had been using “fake” number plates. The date for introduction of the new plates was rescheduled by the government from January, 2005, because of the delay due to the litigation in the matter. An association of registration plate manufacturers and many local companies had challenged the award of contract for making and supplying of the high security number plates to German firm Shimit Uthch on the ground that the stringent tender conditions imposed on manufacturers had virtually put them out of race in the bid. A Bench of Mr Justice B.P. Singh and Mr Justice Arun Kumar rejected writ petitions of the local companies, finding their contentions without merits. The local
manufactures had filed the writ petitions in various high courts on the issue and the apex court had transferred all cases to itself to avoid multiple orders. Among the main conditions imposed by the government on plate makers were that they should have 10 years experience in the field, had at least made 6,000 plates at the time of bidding and should have annual turnover of over Rs 50 crore when applying for the tender. The local companies had described these conditions as “stringent” while claiming that they were competent to manufacture the plates as per the required standard. They had also claimed that they would supply the plates at a much lower cost than quoted by the multinational company. The estimated cost of an electronic number plate had been put between Rs 500 and Rs 750 and the government had informed the court that the existing manual plates in the country would be completely replaced within the next two years. According to the Shimit, the number plates manufactured by it would be tamper-proof as they would have such feature which could not be copied, making it easier for the law enforcing agencies to detect any “fake” number plate at a first glance. |
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BJP to rake up inflation, seer issue
New Delhi, November 30 The party, which has given 65 notices, would launch its attack on the government by raising the issue of price rise during the zero hour tomorrow even as its leaders, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani, would take to the streets by leading a protest march on the issue from Ramlila Maidan to Parliament, he said. Asserting that the ongoing spat between Laloo Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan was unprecedented”, Mr Malhotra said, “it shows the Prime Minister’s helplessness. The collective responsibility of Parliament had been shattered to pieces. If Manmohan Singh cannot rein in his Ministers, he has no right to hold the office”. “The Prime Minister owes the explanation to the nation on what type of Cabinet and government he is heading,” the BJP leader said, adding that the party had sought the permission from Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to raise the spat between the ministers as a short duration discussion or motion of privilege on December 2. Stating that the party had already lodged a strong protest with the Speaker against the “short duration” of the winter session this time, Mr Malhotra said the party had already sought the permission to raise 17 issues of national importance, including spiralling inflation, internal security situation, Jammu and Kashmir, situation in the North-East, suicide of farmers in Congress-ruled states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, maltreatment to the Kanchi Seer and
FDI. “We will be keen to see the response of the Left on all these issues, which has been openly attacking the Congress on fuel price rise,
FDI, etc but still continues to support the Congress-led UPA government,” Mr Malhotra said, adding that the BJP along with other NDA allies would further finetune its strategy to be adopted inside and outside Parliament. |
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BJP rally against price rise on today
New Delhi, November 30 “The spurt in inflation cannot be blamed on an increase in the crude oil prices alone but has links with the wrong economic policies adopted by the government,” BJP spokesperson Yashwant Sinha told newspersons here. The December 1 rally will be addressed by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani and several BJP leaders. All MPs and MLAs from various states, including those from the Northeast, will attend the rally. The rally will be “very similar” to the one organised by the BJP in 1995 in protest against the Dunkel Draft which transformed into the World Trade Organisation, he said. |
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Pawar, TRS chief share platform
New Delhi, November 30 Mr Pawar released a CD on “Still Seeking Justice: The Story of Telangana,” produced by the Telangana Intellectuals’ Forum, an arm of the TRS. Speaking on the occasion, the NCP chief said the creation of new states would lead to the involvement of the people in the region, resulting in the overall development of the new entity. The 40-minute CD narrated the story of the struggle of the people of ‘backward’ Telangana during the past five decades. “Promises were made umpteen times for a separate Telangana and they were also broken umpteen times in the past 50 years. So the demand still persists,” says the documentary. Mr Pawar said the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), at its last meeting, had constituted a ‘small committee’ to go into the issue of a separate state of Telangana. Mr Pawar, who is learnt to be one of the members of the committee, said the committee would discuss the issue with those concerned and give shape to a proposal. Mr Pawar’s presence at a TRS-sponsored function and his open support for their demand is not without political significance. The Agriculture Minister and his NCP colleagues have been openly courting the non-Congress UPA allies, including the TRS, the DMK and the JMM. The main purpose of this exercise is to form a ginger group which could from, time to time, be used to mount pressure on the Congress, the UPA’s principal party. Already miffed with the Congress for not conceding the Maharashtra chief ministership to his party, the NCP is also upset at its “unilateral style of functioning.” The NCP even issued a public warning to the Congress recently, asking it to drop its “big brotherly attitude” and not to treat the UPA as its personal “fiefdom.” The Prime Minister countered the NCP-sponsored move by quickly giving
ministerial berths to two sulking allies — Mr Chandrashekar Rao of the TRS and JMM chief Sibu
Soren.
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Kalam not to unveil portraits
New Delhi, November 30 In view of this decision of the President, it will be Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who will be unveiling portraits of four noted personalities in the Central Hall of Parliament on December 3. The buzz in political and bureaucratic circles today was that the Government had requested President Kalam to unveil the portraits of Tamil poet Subramaniam Bharti, freedom fighter Vasudev Balwant
Phadke, writer and communist leader Sharat Chandra Bose and Communist leader Tridiv Chaudhury in Central Hall of Parliament on December 3, but the President had refused quoting his earlier decision of March 2003. But sources in Parliament House as well as Rashtrapati Bhavan maintained that no fresh formal request had been made from the government to the President. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in his session-eve press briefing today said in response to a question that he had no information on this issue. Mr Chatterjee informed that Vice-President Shekhawat would be unveiling the portraits on December 3. Sources said President Kalam, in an official communication to the then Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, had desired to be excused from unveiling of any further statues/portraits in Parliament House in future. “I have great reverence, respect and admiration for the historical leaders of our country. I am convinced that the best tribute to them would be by undertaking developmental work in their name like establishing hospitals, setting up educational institutions and building infrastructure facilities where they don’t exist, particularly in rural areas. I will participate whole-heartedly in such
programmes where they are undertaken in the name of great leaders,” sources quoted President Kalam as having said in his March 2003 communication to the Lok Sabha Speaker. |
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Fernandes, MPs ask China not to execute Tibetan monk
New Delhi, November 30 Rinpoche and Lobsang Dhondup were sentenced to death for alleged anti-national activities in 2002. While Rinpoche was given a two-year reprieve, Dhondup was executed. Rinpoche’s suspended death sentence will expire on Thursday. Mr Dhondup Dorjee of the Tibetan Youth Congress told The Tribune that Mr Fernandes has had informal contacts with the Chinese authorities and that he had got an assurance that the Tibetan monk might be spared. An aide of Mr Fernandes confirmed as much. The India-Tibet Co-ordination Office here said although no concrete statement was forthcoming yet indications were that the monk would not be executed. However, Rinpoche’s unconditional release was still uncertain, he added. The Tibetan Youth Congress is also holding an all-India relay hunger stroke to mobilise opinion in favour of Rinpoche’s release. The strike began on November 5 in Mumbai and has been held for five days each in Kolkata, Bangalore, New Delhi and now Dharamsala. The India-Tibet Co-ordination Office, in turn, said besides BJP, JD(U) and Samajwadi Party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had also offered to get in touch with the appropriate Chinese authorities in this regard. |
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New housing policy soon, says Selja
New Delhi, November 30 Addressing a press conference after the end of the two-day national conference of the state ministers for housing, she said: “The new policy will be announced soon while keeping in view the suggestions of the states, which include review of the Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana and Economically Weaker Sections Housing Scheme.” |
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CRPF man member of outfit; claims ULFA
Guwahati, November 30 ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Barua said here last night that Samarendra Deka had successfully infiltrated into the CRPF camp and managed to kill seven
colleagues. “It was a coordinated suicide mission. We have about 150 such persons in the Army, the CRPF, the BSF and other security agencies, who have successfully infiltrated into the force, and are waiting to strike at our command,” he said. Deka apparently went berserk after he was punished for missing a roll call and turned the gun on his colleagues. This statement has come at a time when the state government had sent a proposal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to recruit 3,000 surrendered rebels to the security agencies. Declaring the slain CRPF jawan as a ‘’martyr for the cause’’, Barua claimed that he was a member of the suicide squad of ULFA. He had been a member of the military intelligence wing since 1996, he claimed. “As the security forces are trying to sneak into our ranks, we have also adopted a similar policy,” he claimed. The Assam Police special branch are trying to ascertain the claim of the ULFA commander-in-chief as the slain jawan’s relative received his body late in the evening before it was taken to his native place at Goreswar, near the Indo-Bhutan boundary where ULFA once had fortified camps before it was busted by the Royal Bhutan Army. According to the police, Deka joined the CRPF only a year back. His family sources said he joined the CRPF at a young age because of poverty.
— UNI |
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TN govt ‘misusing’ machinery: Swaraj
New Delhi, November 30 Stating that a letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister was not enough, BJP General Secretary Sushma Swaraj told newspersons here that “it is the Centre’s constitutional obligation to ensure that the state functions in accordance with the Constitution.” Ms Swaraj, who met the Seer at the Vellore Jail yesterday, said here that the case has ceased to be a prosecution against an individual and has become a “state assault on a religious institution”. |
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Patna on a rally spree
Patna, November 30 Right at the Patna junction and elsewhere in this large city, posters, cut outs, hoardings, wall writings and banners greet a newcomer wondering the phenomenon as how holding a rally and
expenditure on it helps any political formation to garner votes as large rallies exactly do not mean equally large voter turnout. But in Bihar, it makes a sense as it is an instrument of demonstration of money and muscle power to the respective political rivals as the “Bihar bachao-Bihar banao (Save Bihar and build Bihar) rally of the Lok Janshakti Party of Minister of Steel and
Chemical Fertilisers Ramvilas Paswan in Gandhi Maidan on Saturday last week did to Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav. Ongoing feud between Mr Paswan and Mr Yadav got further sharpened possibly because of the high turn out at Mr Paswan’s rally, say observers. Next came the congregation of Kushwahas yesterday at the Gandhi Maidan which was another show of the strength in view of the coming Assembly elections. Each leader made tall promises of jobs, status to the Kushwaha community and getting Assembly tickets to members of this particular castes. The city was confronted with another spectacle yesterday with the march of employees of the state government who were facing retrenchment. A large procession carrying red flags and banner of CPI (Marxist-Leninists) almost brought the city to still. But today is a different story as the CPI (ML) has brought its followers for a rally and the result is that city
traffic is trying to come to terms with it. Red banners, flags and posters are displayed on the major pathways. But, problems of the denizens are not going to end as the next rally is on December 2. The rally is being organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party which is out to prove its
credibility and strength and is leaving no stone unturned to make it a grand success. All BJP leaders from the state are touring the state to mobilise people for the Bihar bachao (Save Bihar)” rally and the success or the failure of it would determine their value in the eyes of the party high command. The Congress too is planning a rally sometime middle of December. To cap it all, a rally of the ruling RJD is going to be held on December 23. |
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Trinamool bandh call illegal: HC
Kolkata, November 30 Responding to a PIL, the court came down on the proposed 30-minute ‘Chakka jam’ programme tomorrow called by CITU, and directed the West Bengal Government to ensure that public and private vehicles plied normally on both the days.
— PTI
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Bill on Urdu varsity passed
Lucknow, November 30 The Samajwadi Party passed the Bill with the overwhelming backing of its supporting parties, including a fiery defence by RJD Minister Kaokab Hamid. The BJP was the only party opposing the Bill in the House when it was finally passed by voice vote. The Congress had walked out after its amendment was defeated. The BSP, the other major opposition party, conveniently remained away from the proceedings of the House after walking out earlier in the day to protest against the arrest of its MP from Sultanpur, Mohammad Tahir. The uneasy relationship between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party was evident in the Vidhan Sabha today as none of the speakers from the Treasury Benches left any opportunity to lash out at the Congress for its reported dubious role towards the Muslims in general and Urdu in particular. The discussion reached a nadir when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohd Azam Khan singled out the present UPCC President, Mr Salman Khurshid, for being another “Rushdie”. He lambasted the Congress for every ill faced by the Muslims — illiteracy, unemployment, Aligarh University losing its minority character for a short time, frequent communal riots, the circumstances leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid and even for the building of a makeshift temple at the disputed site. Earlier, highlighting the objectives of the Bill Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav stated that it was to honour the memory of great freedom fighter Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar. However, instead of discussing the pros and cons of the proposed Bill, a major part of the marathon four-hour debate was devoted to the legacy of the freedom struggle, the Congress allegedly usurping the freedom movement and its refusal to fold up after Independence as per the advice of Mahatma Gandhi. Presenting the Congress point of view on the Bill, Congress Legislative Party leader Pramod Tiwari underlined his party’s support for the need for a Urdu university named after the distinguished freedom fighter but opposed an individual being appointed its Pro-Chancellor for life. Blaming the Samajwadi Party for politicising the issue, Mr Tiwari said that if the SP had been sincere about the university it would have removed the major hurdle in its formation by accepting the Congress amendment. The government had introduced the Bill for a Urdu university in Rampur, Mr Khan’s constituency, in the last session of the House in August this year. However, it could not be passed because of the objection raised by the Governor over Mr Khan being made its lifelong Pro-Chancellor. |
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Premkumar is new Textiles Secretary
New Delhi, November 30 In a bureaucratic reshuffle, another senior IAS officer R. M. Premkumar, of Maharashtra cadre, has been named as the Textiles Secretary to replace Mr Habibullah. Mr Premkumar was the Chairman of Food Corporation of India (FCI). Mr P. K. Hota, Secretary in the Department of Family Welfare, was posted as Secretary, Department of Health, an official spokesperson said. Mr Hota comes in the place of J.V.R. Prasada Rao, who is retiring. Mr V. K. Malhotra, Managing Director, FCI, has been elevated to the post of Chairman, the FCI, in the rank of a Secretary. |
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Indo-Russian talks on weapons supply
New Delhi, November 30 The Indo-Russian inter-governmental committee on military technical cooperation continued negotiations in the backdrop of the recent differences over the price for the upgradation of the maritime reconnaissance aircraft Tu-142 and MiG 29K for the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. |
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Rishikesh ‘doc’ refused bail
Dehra Dun, November 30 His first bail application was turned down by the court in August. The bail application of the accused was also rejected by the High Court in Nainital. Special Judge Ravindra Maithani concluded that the accused would be eligible to apply for bail only if the police failed to present the charge sheet within 180 days. |
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