 |
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Stormy start to winter
session
Fresh plea for summoning Vajpayee, Advani
VHP gives clean chit to Jaya in seer
case
Framing of charges postponed
Swedish doctor blames Carbide, govts |
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Patil for stern action against
militants
Oust Laloo, Paswan, BJP tells
PM
Indiscipline won’t be tolerated: Army
Chief
Probe sought into girl’s death at mutt-run hostel
CPI flays govt on price rise
Clouds over Goa as permanent
venue
Punjab, HP highly vulnerable
India, Russia to have strategic defence
ties
Joint doctrine for forces expected
CITU hold ‘chakka jam’, 1,000 held
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Stormy start to winter
session
New Delhi, December 1 Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, angered by the conduct and behaviour of the BSP members, warned that he would be forced to take the unprecedented step of suspending them if they did not resume their seats. “I will suspend you all if you don’t go back to your seats. All of you are senior members and you must behave,” Mr Chatterjee said. “Anybody rushing to well will be suspended. What has not
happened in the past, will happen now. You have not even given a notice and you want to raise an issue about which nobody knows,” he said. “Don’t force me to take unpleasant action. This drama cannot be allowed to go on”, he warned. As soon as the Speaker initiated the suspension process and named those standing in the well, two ministers Mr Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and Mr Suresh Panchouri went up to them and pleaded to resume their seats to avoid the action. The Question Hour resumed after the BSP members went back to their seats. |
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LS adjourned
abruptly
New Delhi, December 1 The RJD members were on their feet during the Zero Hour flashing copies of newspapers which had reported that Ms Gauri Advani has written to former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee giving details of various charges against Mr Advani. This sparked off vociferous protests from members of the BJP who trooped to the Well of the House even as Speaker Somnath Chatterjee did not allow RJD member Devendra Yadav to raise the issue. The Speaker asked Mr Yadav and other members of the RJD to meet him in the chamber and discuss the issue if required. BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra and other members of the party continued to protest from the Well forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House about 15 minutes before the scheduled lunch break at 1 p.m. |
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RS pays tributes to Arafat, others
New Delhi, December 1 The Upper House also paid its respects to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan who died recently. In obituary references to its departed members, Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat described CPI leader VV Raghavan as an able administrator and a respected Parliamentarian. The House also paid homage to six former members who died inter-session period. |
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Fresh plea for summoning Vajpayee, Advani
New Delhi, December 1 The application has been filed by Mohammed Aslam, alias Bhure, on whose plea the commission had earlier issued fresh summons to Kalyan Singh, during whose tenure the Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992. The former Chief Minister would be recording his statement for the first time before the commission after he had resisted appearance before it all these years. Bhure in his application, moved by his lawyer O P Sharma, has sought to summon Mr
Vajpayee at least on two counts that Kalyan Singh in his public statements - in June 2003 when he was out of the BJP - had accused the former Prime Minister of his involvement in the Babri Masjid demolition “conspiracy” and also making a “false” statement on December 19, 2002 in Rajya Sabha, giving a clean chit to his party colleagues in the Ayodhya demolition case. He has sought resummoning of the former Deputy Prime Minister, who had already deposed as a witness before the commission, on the basis of the alleged statement of his estranged daughter-in-law Gauri, that the demolition “conspiracy was hatched by Mr Advani in league with Vinay Katiyar”. Gauri had purportedly filed an affidavit before the commission earlier but reportedly withdrawn it later. “...That the conspiracy has been hatched by L K Advani in league with Vinay Katiyar has been elaborately stated in the statement made by Gauri Advani, (estranged) daughter-in-law of Mr L K Advani,” the application alleged attributing the statement to her.
Uma meets Advani
New Delhi, December 1
The meeting comes a day after she met former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee soon after returning from her spiritual holiday. She was suspended on November 10 after she locked horns with the top party leadership. |
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VHP gives clean chit to Jaya in seer
case
Chennai, December 1 Talking to newsmen after visiting the Kanchi Mutt at Kancheepuram, 70 km from here, the VHP leader alleged that the murder case against the seer was part of a larger conspiracy and Ms Jayalalithaa was forced to take such a harsh decision. “There is no animosity between the Chief Minister and the Shankaracharya. There might have been small differences between them,” he said. Indirectly blaming Ms Sonia Gandhi for the seer’s arrest he said: “Sonia is trying to propagate Christianity and suppress Hinduism. After her advent Hindu institutions like the Kanchi Mutt are being targeted. Today it is the Shankaracharya, tomorrow it might be the Sai Baba and many other Acharyas.” Mr Singhal’s statement indicated a clear division between the VHP and the BJP and the RSS which hold Ms Jayalalithaa responsible for the arrest of the seer in the murder case. Earlier, Mr Singhal was denied permission to meet the Shankaracharya lodged in the Vellore Central Prison. Mystery woman Usha
Meanwhile, the mystery woman, Usha, presented herself for the second consecutive day today before the special investigating team of the Tamil Nadu police at Kancheepuram accompanied by her lawyer, Ms Sudha Ramalingam. Ms Ramalingam said the Kancheepuram SP, Mr Prem Kumar, had assured her that Usha was not being treated as an accused but wanted to know some facts from her. “The police wanted her medical records, bank statements and a copy of her application for a passport,” she said. Usha is suffering from cancer and said to be a beneficiary of the Kanchi Mutt’s funds. Case diary submitted
The prosecution today submitted the case diary in a sealed envelope to the Madras High Court. Mr Justice R. Balasubramaniam, while reserving his orders yesterday on the bail application moved by the seer, had asked the prosecution to produce the case diary before him this afternoon. The defence counsel in the Sankararaman murder case, Mr I. Subramaniam, today argued that Sections 437 and 439, Cr.P.C. stood on different footings and mentioned the Supreme Court ruling in the Pappu Yadav case. |
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Framing of charges postponed
Mumbai, December 1 The court postponed the framing of charges against 20 accused persons as prosecutor S.K. Shah was absent. Special Judge U.D. Salvi ruled that he would first decide the bail plea and discharge petition filed by the accused and then frame charges against them. The accused persons are charged with attacking 17 persons, include relatives and neighbours of Bilkis Bano in the post-Godhra riots. Only three persons survived the attack with Bilkis Bano being gang-raped by the assailants. All accused persons are lodged in the Arthur Road Central Jail in Mumbai after they were brought from Gujarat. The accused persons include two DSPs, four junior policemen and a doctor couple, Arun Prasad and Sangita, and several BJP activists from Dahod district in Gujarat. The policemen and the doctors are accused of tampering with evidence. More than 60 kg of salt was dumped on the bodies of the victims before they were buried in a mass grave in order to get the corpses decompose faster, according to the prosecution. |
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Swedish doctor blames Carbide, govts for
disaster
Bhopal, December 1 She says in her new book, “Bhopal Saga: Causes and Consequences of the World’s Largest Industrial Disaster”, that it was not enough that water entered the tank (in the UCC’s pesticide factory in Bhopal). The most important factors were the plant design and cutting down on expenses because of economic pressure. “The same analysis shows that the most important factor for the outcome of the leakage is the negligence of the Union Carbide Corporation and the Governments of India and Madhya Pradesh”. Dr Eckerman was a member of the now-dissolved International Medical Commission on Bhopal (IMCB) and has been visiting Bhopal every year since 1994 to follow, in her own words, “the survivors’ and activists’ work for justice and support”. Dr Eckerman told a press conference here yesterday: “I found that hundreds or even thousands of articles have been published as well as several papers and books. Yet, all this material confused me, as it was sometimes contradictory. It was not clear to me what had really happened, what was the cause and what were the consequences. The role of Union Carbide and other actors was not clear”. She could not limit herself merely as a general doctor. She wanted to find out everything about the catastrophe. She started to “read, systematise and structure” all information she could lay her hands on. It was not possible to include all material and all discussions “in the essay — so the essay became a book”. In 1999, Dr Eckerman sent the manuscript to Union Carbide for scrutiny, but there was no response. |
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Patil for stern action against
militants
New Delhi, December 1 “There has been a sea change in the views of the world community on terrorism in the post 9/11-scenario because of which joint action against it has been initiated. However, we cannot afford to become complacent,” Mr Patil said addressing Border Security Force (BSF) jawans at the 39th Raising Day parade of the force here. “We have to depend only on ourselves in the fight against terrorism and continue taking stern action against all militant organisations,” Mr Patil added. Hailing the BSF for playing a significant role in this war of terror and maintaining peace within its frontiers, Mr Patil said his ministry would ensure that its personnel get the latest weapons and equipment. “The role of police and paramilitary forces in maintaining internal security gradually will increase while that of the Army will reduce. For this, they need the best equipment,” he said. Taking note of the shortage of personnel affecting training and reorientation programmes of BSF, the Home Minister said his ministry would consider its demand for raising additional battalions. Mr Patil said the government was also aware of the problems being faced by BSF personnel and their families and steps would be taken to address these. “My ministry will give priority to rehabilitating injured soldiers and families of those killed in action,” he said. Speaking on the occasion, BSF Director-General Ajai Raj Sharma said the force had finished fencing of 160 km out of 180 km along the Line of Control in Kashmir and the rest was likely to be completed in a few months. Earlier, Mr Patil presented the President’s Police Medal for Gallantry to 11 BSF personnel, seven of them posthumously, five Police Medals for Gallantry and four President’s Police Medals for Distinguished Service. |
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Oust Laloo, Paswan, BJP tells
PM
New Delhi, December 1 “The Prime Minister should not remain a mere spectator to the ongoing war of words between his ministers. He should obtain the files, which Mr Yadav says are enough to nail Mr Paswan on corruption charges, and order probe.... If the Railway Minister is not telling the truth, he should be dropped,” BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman V.K. Malhotra told mediapersons here. The BJP leader said the Prime Minister should drop the two ministers and order investigation into the accusations made by them against each other. |
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Indiscipline won’t be tolerated: Army
Chief
New Delhi, December 1 Speaking on the sidelines of a function to felicitate climbers of the Rajputana Rifles who had recently scaled the 7,120 metre Trishul peak in the Himalayas General Vij said, “We are determined to hand out exemplary punishment to all personnel, irrespective of rank, if they indulge in indiscipline or violate the laid-down procedures during conduct of operations”. Pointing out that the Army High Command had taken a “very serious” view of the human rights violations and increasing incidents of indiscipline General Vij said that this trend had been deliberated at the highest level, Measures were being chalked out to deal with such cases with a heavy hand as “high standards of discipline was the hallmark of a fine army,” he said. |
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Probe sought into girl’s death at mutt-run hostel
Kancheepuram, December 1 Yuvasree, a fifth standard student staying at hostel ‘Kamadooth’, was admitted to a private hospital here in July after she suffered bleeding thrice, the police said. On July 9, the girl was found dead at the hostel in mysterious circumstances. The girl’s mother, Nalini, and uncle, Sethuraman, lodged a complaint with the All-Women Police Station here two days ago, the police added. |
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CPI flays govt on price rise
New Delhi, December 1 BJP leader V.K. Malhotra raised the issue during the Zero Hour and demanded a discussion. “I am sure two-thirds of members will vote against the UPA government, which is in minority”, Mr Malhotra said. |
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Clouds over Goa as permanent
venue
Panjim (Goa), December 1 The minister said the decision would be taken about the renewal of the memorandum of understanding only after assessing the performance of the organisers here. He said some difficulties had been experienced in the conduct of the festival, but hastened to add that these were not “political difficulties”(Goa has a BJP government). According to him, Congress leaders of the state met him yesterday, pleading for making it the permanent venue, but “the festival is the country’s pride and we have to study all aspects before deciding on the final venue”. But as of now there is no rival claimant. He reiterated his government’s resolve to root out piracy. States will be sensitised in this connection during the State Information Ministers’ Conference. A 45-second trailer on the theme will now be screened in every film theatre to create mass awareness. A committee is being set up to review censorship laws. It will consider the recommendations of various people like Vijay Anand. The issue of releasing Indian films in Pakistan and vice-versa will be discussed at the SAARC conference in Dhaka. He revealed that a US firm had come forward to underwrite loans for Indian films. The proposal will be studied in collaboration with the IDBI. India has also finalised a co-production treaty with Italy under which producers going to that country to shoot their films will get considerable tax benefits. Such agreements may be signed with France and Germany soon. In an indirect rebuff to Mrs Sushma Swaraj who was all for bringing cinema in the Concurrent List, Mr Reddy said the proposal was not practical. Earlier, he inaugurated the Film Bazaar, which is intended to be a catalyst for the globalisation of Indian cinema by utilising the creative and financial aspects of film-making. It will provide a platform for negotiations among various stakeholders of the industry. While films in the Asian competition and Cinema of the World sections run before scanty audiences, the Indian mainstream section inaugurated yesterday with “Munnabhai MBBS” is proving to be a big draw. Eminent film director Yash Chopra was the chief guest at the opening and said the distinction between commercial cinema and parallel cinema was no longer sharp. Vidhu Vinod Chopra, producer of the inaugural movie, also expressed similar views. Joint venture
While films from large countries like the USA and Italy have a big presence here, it is the offerings from smaller ones which point to the new direction that the world cinema is taking. One representative film is “Utopia” from Norway which has already done the rounds of about a dozen festivals, including Karlovy Vary. What sets this venture apart is that it has not been directed by one person but by as many as nine. That ensures that despite being an organic whole, it is an amalgamation of various styles and techniques. This offbeat comedy about love and how to obtain a better life unfolds in a petrol station in the Norwegian heartland that becomes the focal point of eight intertwined stories. Most of the directors have so far worked on short films and pool their resources to film these different but related stories. Open-air screen
As the sun gently immerses into the Arabian Sea, releasing Panjim from the grip of the 35 degrees-plus heat, residents head towards Miramar beach for a gentle walk. These days they have an additional reason to be there in their thousands: the beach screening of popular films on a giant open-air screen. The trend has made its debut here and is attracting locals as well as tourists in droves. The mela atmosphere is all-pervasive with impromptu dances breaking out here and there to the thumping tunes of the live band in attendance. In a typical carefree manner, nobody protests that the films start some two hours late because this time is well spent in a stroll by the sea as discreet policemen keep a watch just in case there are some mischief-makers around. One positive feature is that the public cooperates fully in keeping the beach free from garbage and plastic. In case some people cannot resist throwing such items carelessly, there are a large number of volunteers scouring the beach and picking up any wrapper or paper plate with the help of long, sharp-ended iron rods. Colourfully decorated and brightly lit boats cruising up and down the Mandovi river provide an idyllic backdrop. Locationwise, Panjim is enchanting. Organisational efficiency? Ahem! |
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Punjab, HP highly vulnerable to
AIDS
New Delhi, December 1 Other states on the list include Assam, Bihar, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Uttranchal. The number of HIV/AIDS patients, according to Union Health Minster Anbumani Ramadoss in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today, was continuously increasing. In all states and union territories in the country, 13,711 AIDS cases were reported in 2001, 19,000 in 2002 and 21,704 in 2003. The cumulative figure for the entire country till October 2004 was a staggering 91,080. While Punjab reported 40 AIDS cases in 2001, 59 in 2002 and 28 in 2003, the cumulative figure till October 2004 was 292. In Chandigarh, 189 AIDS cases were reported in 2001, 223 in 2002 and 161 in 2003. The cumulative number of AIDS patients in the union territory was 991, meaning 418 AIDS cases had been reported this year alone till October 2004. Haryana reported 76 AIDS cases in 2001, 53 in 2002 and 54 in 2003, the cumulative number of reported AIDS cases till October 2004 being 385. Chandigarh, despite its size, was reporting more cases than its neighbouring states probably because many patients from adjoining Punjab, Haryana and Himachal come there for treatment. In Himachal Pradesh, 51AIDS cases were reported in 2001, 29 in 2002 and 28 in 2003. The cumulative figure for the state till October 2004 was 199, meaning that this year 91 new cases had already been reported.
Amitabh is global ambassador against AIDS
Panjim (Goa), December 1 He has been chosen by the Nelson Mandela Foundation as the global ambassador against the disease. On World AIDS Day, John Samuel of the foundation presented him with a black jersey with the number “46664” emblazoned on it to make him the first Asian Ambassador for the worldwide campaign which has such celebrities as Brad Pitt.
The number “46664” was allotted to Nelson Mandela when he was incarcerated in Robin Island jail for his fight against apartheid. |
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India, Russia to have strategic defence
ties
New Delhi, December 1 The visiting Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov emerging from the hour-long one-to-one meeting with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukerjee said, “We are prepared to transfer high-tech frontier technology to India in a strategic tie-up based on a new pattern of defence cooperation”. |
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Joint doctrine for forces expected
New Delhi, December 1 “Realising that no single service, be it the Navy, the Air Force or the Army, can fight a modern day war alone, the three services have felt the need to have a joint operational doctrine,” he said. The integrated defence staff was now engaged in task of preparing the document, he added. Addressing the annual news conference on the occasion of Naval Day on December 4, he said the top brass was serious about evolving strategies for establishing synergy among three forces. He, however, admitted that achieving synergy amongst the three services to jointly exploit the potential of their war fighting assets for the desired objective would take time. He also pointed out that the Navy was going in for an agreement with the US Navy for deep submersible rescue vessel for submarines. |
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CITU hold ‘chakka jam’, 1,000 held
Kolkata, December 1 Incidentally, the Calcutta High Court had declared bandh illegal and directed both CITU and the TMC to withdraw their proposed respective bandh programmes. CITU general secretary Kali Ghosh denied having received any order from the High Court against the calling of a “chakka bandh” and as such a bandh was observed. |
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