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Advani for simultaneous LS,
CBI team to fetch Monica from Portugal
AIDS on rise among jawans
Naga leaders
arrive in Delhi
Naxalites gun down 5 in Midnapore
Thousands participate in Maoist rally
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Shiv Sena activists to identify Bangladeshis across Mumbai
Food-for-work, job plan to be merged
Punjab among sluggish states
PF department fined for delaying refund Farmers booked under NSA
Aircraft display impresses Putin
Woman found murdered in Nainital hotel
Kidnapped engineer released
EPF Board to meet today
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Advani for simultaneous LS, Vidhan Sabha poll
Bhopal, December 5 Mr Advani was addressing Vijay Utsav (victory festival) organised by the BJP on a grand scale to felicitate the party activists who have emerged victorious in last month’s elections to the Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats in the state. He reiterated the charge that the UPA government was compromising on internal security. The situation had deteriorated in the past six or seven months because of the wrong policies of the UPA Government. He alleged that the Congress had sought the help of the Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh and promised, in return, to lift the ban, which it did immediately after coming to power, without asking the militant groups to first lay down the arms. The BJP President described the Vajpayee-led NDA Government as a model government which had earned praise in several countries. It had kept the prices under check and started many development works the pace of which had slackened in the past six or seven months. The firebrand leader, Ms Uma Bharati, was almost a non-person at the BJP’s victory festival. . Ms Bharati’s name was mentioned by the BJP General Secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh, Mr Arun Jaitley, and a few others only in the context of the Chief Ministers that the party has provided to the state — beginning with late Virendra Kumar Saklecha to the present incumbent, Mr Babulal Gaur. Mr Advani mentioned her only once — in connection with the Ram Temple movement. Narrating the history of the evolution of the Jana Sangh/BJP, Mr Advani said the party had at its Palanpur conclave decided to get directly involved in the temple movement; till then the movement was led by the VHP leaders like the late Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia and Ms Uma Bharati but the BJP was not involved. |
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CBI team to fetch Monica from Portugal
New Delhi, December 5 After the Supreme Court of Portugal turned down Bedi’s application to stay the order of the Lisbon High Court to extradite her to India, the CBI has decided to send a team for the completion of the procedural formalities, said the sources. “Bedi, who is in preventive detention, will be extradited to India to face trial in a passport forgery case,” they added. The CBI might seek the help of the External Affairs Ministry and the officials of Indian Embassy in Portugal for the initiation of the official formalities. She was jailed in Portugal for two years for entering the country assuming the name of Sanha Kamal Mallick on a forged passport. After her release on September 26, she was again placed under detention. Even though she would not be tried for the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts in which more than 250 people were killed and thousands injured, she will be reportedly questioned on Salem’s activities. Salem and Bedi were arrested by the Portugal police in Lisbon on September 18, 2002, for entering the country on forged passports. Both had ostensibly started a watch trading business to hide their actual identity. Salem is facing a jail team of four-and-a-half years in Portugal for entering the country on forged documents. His application against the Lisbon High Court order to extradite him to India is pending with the Supreme Court. Recently, Bedi had appealed to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking pardon. Bedi had claimed that she was not involved in the Mumbai serial blasts. The CBI sources said the officials had briefed the Portugese authorities about the gun-running racket allegedly operated by Salem in India and his involvement in many terrorist activities. The accused and Bedi fled the country following the blast on fake passports. A Mumbai court had declared both proclaimed offenders and a red corner alert was sounded through the Interpol. After a long search, Salem was traced but he dodged the prosecution in Portugal. The evidence, including the fingerprints of the accused, provided by the CBI convinced the lower court about his identity. Portugal considered India’s plea for his extradition after the authorities gave in writing that the accused would not be given capital punishment. The maximum punishment which could be given to Salem was life imprisonment or maximum imprisonment of 45 years, the Indian Government had assured the Portuguese authorities. The Portuguese law does not permit the extradition of a person to a country where the accused could be given capital punishment. Abu Salem’s extradition could help in unravelling the role of Pakistan in the 1993 blasts.
— UNI |
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AIDS on rise among jawans
New Delhi, December 5 According to figures available from various paramilitary forces, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has recorded a maximum of 125 HIV/AIDS cases followed by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) 43 cases and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) 11 cases. The figure for the largest paramilitary force, the Border Security Force (BSF) was not available, though sources said HIV/AIDS cases had shown upward tread. Significantly, a large number of HIV/AIDS cases have been reported from the North-East. According to a spokesperson for the CRPF, the force has launched a campaign to create awareness among its jawans across the country and has also asked its 30-odd Group/Family Welfare Centres to regularly hold medical check-up camps for jawans in their respective areas and also create awareness among their family members about the disease. He said the Director-General of the CRPF had on AIDS Awareness Day released a booklet on the prevention of the disease, which is being circulated among the jawans posted in various “susceptible areas”. As far as the CISF is concerned, a maximum of 12 jawans had died due to the disease in 2003 and 10 in 2000. This year five jawans died of AIDS, the sources said. The force has made it mandatory for the Commandant of each unit to read out a booklet in Hindi on “prevention of AIDS” after roll call, CISF sources said, adding regular medical check-up and awareness camps will be held throughout the year to educate the jawans and their families. Apprehending spread of the disease among its jawans, who have been recently posted in the North-East, where the AIDS is very much prevalent as compared to other regions of the country, the ITBP headquarters here has issued a circular on “dos and don’ts” to prevent HIV/AIDS. The ITBP, which had so far been not exposed to the North-East, has reported 11 AIDS cases. |
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Naga leaders
arrive in Delhi
New Delhi, December 5 The outfit’s Chairman Isak Swu and General Secretary T Muivah were greeted by hundreds of Naga people, dressed in typical attire, singing “we shall overcome one day”, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on their arrival from Amsterdam. The two leaders arrived at 2315 hrs by a KLM flight. Addressing a meeting of Naga students soon after their arrival, Muivah said “we will negotiate whenever and wherever they want us to as the solution to the problem can emerge only through talks.” However, he said the solution has to be on the basis of “uniqueness regarding the history of Nagas” as peace cannot be there otherwise. “We will never let you down,” Muivah said amidst an applause from the students present there. Within two days of their arrival, the Naga leaders are expected to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil as part of the seven-year-old peace process to resolve the prolonged insurgency, official sources told This would be the first meeting between the Congress-led UPA government and the NSCN (I-M) leaders in India.
— UNI, PTI
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Naxalites gun down 5 in Midnapore
Kolkata, December 5 The Naxalites also burnt down an official guest house and a vehicle belonging to a private agency engaged in the construction of village roads in the Kankrajhore forests under the Indira Gandhi Sarak Yojna. According to a report received here, the Naxalites, armed with AK-47 rifles and other deadly weapons, attacked engineers and officials in sleep at the guest house, killing two of them. Policemen posted at the adjoining check-post rushed to the guest house and engaged the Naxalites. In the exchange of fire, three persons, including two constables, were seriously wounded. They later succumbed to their injuries later in hospital. When policemen arrived at the site of shootout, the Naxalites escaped under the cover of darkness, taking along five labourers engaged in road building. In another incident, the police seized 80 AK-47 rifle bullets from a hideout in the Jaldapara forests in Jalpaiguri in north Bengal today. The bullets were found when the police was searching the jungle in search of fire-arms stolen from a police station. |
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Thousands participate in Maoist rally
Patna, December 5 City Police Superintendent Shalin said here that all attempts to hold the rally had been foiled. He said 120 supporters, including leaders of the CPI (Maoists), had been arrested and kept at different makeshift jails. He refused to disclose the names of prominent leaders taken into custody, saying their identification process was on. He reiterated that the rally would not be allowed to take place at any cost and added that the administration had information about some disturbances by the extremists arriving here to attend the rally. Mr Shalin said elaborate security arrangements had been made in view of the arrival of the Maoist activists who were not allowed to enter the rally ground in Gandhi Maidan covered with full security. The administration had deployed police personnel at the railway station and all other entry points in the state capital. Paramilitary forces were also deployed at prominent places. The administration launched its operation last night soon after the government decided to ban the rally and cracked down on the activists camping here to attend the rally. Meanwhile, organising committee member of the rally Amitabh said that in charge of the South-Asian region of Peoples Revolutionary Movement Tara Singh was arrested along with senior leaders and organiser of the rally —
Rajkishore, Ramadhar Singh, RC Prasad and others. He said the police resorted to a lathicharge on activists in which Jharkhand Sanskritik Morcha in charge Jeetan Marandi was injured. He said senior leader and the thinktank of the All-India Revolutionary Progressive Front, Mr Arjun Singh, was seeking legal opinion to oppose the ban. He said other revolutionary organisations, including the PUCL and Jan Abhiyan and Left parties, were in contact with the Revolutionary People’s Forum, which was organising the rally. The rally had been organised for unification of revolutionary and “anti-feudal” forces and the Left parties.
— UNI |
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Shiv Sena activists to identify Bangladeshis
Mumbai, December 5 With no skills to identify the linguistic subtleties of Bengali as spoken in West Bengal and the neighboring country, lumpens from the Shiv Sena may target all Bengalis, it is feared. However Shiv Sena activists say that they will tap into their network to ferret out information on illegal migrants coming into various slum pockets of the city. On paper, the Shiv Sena is making it all look legal. The party activists have been asked to hand over the migrants to the police. However, the Shiv Sainiks are known to easily take the law into their own hands, especially with a Congress party-led government at the helm in Maharashtra. With its earlier campaigns against “outsiders” like North Indians boomeranging on it, the Shiv Sena is seeking safe targets like Bangladeshis to keep its base in Mumbai intact. Some of the party leaders like Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Nirupam, himself of North Indian origin, have embraced the campaign against Bangladeshi illegals wholeheartedly. Nirupam told newspapers here that he had sent a list of slum colonies near the Mumbai harbour populated by Bangladeshi illegals to Mr Bal Thackeray for ‘action’. Normally, the ‘Bangaldeshi branch’ of the Mumbai police staffed with Bengali-speaking officers keep an eye on movement of suspected illegals moving into the city. After the migrants are caught, they are produced before a court which orders their deportation if they are unable to prove their citizenship. The Shiv Sena, however, mocks at these efforts blaming the mafia for providing legible documents to the migrants which usually stand up in court. A section of the BJP, too, is supportive of the Shiv Sena’s efforts and observers here feel that the two parties may instigate riots against suspected Bangladeshis living in Mumbai. |
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Food-for-work, job plan to be merged
New Delhi, December 5 Other ongoing rural schemes are also likely to be merged in this Act. During question hour yesterday Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said, “the food-for-work will be merged with the Employment Guarantee Programme. The
government is likely to introduce Employment Guarantee Bill during the session as part of the government’s
commitment to create jobs in the rural areas”. Mr Prasad said the draft of the new Act was ready and would be presented before Parliament. As far as consultation with state governments was concerned, the government might call a meeting of Chief Ministers to discuss the draft of the Act, he said. Responding to Ajit Jogi’s suggestion that the
government should also study the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme, he said, “we will ensure that all significant points of the Maharashtra Act and problems faced there will be taken into consideration while implementing that Act”. The new Act will ensure 100 days employment at the minimum wage to the eligible persons in the rural areas. |
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Punjab among sluggish states
New Delhi, December 5 The five states of Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, which fall in the category ‘C’ of the list drawn up by the ministry, have been told to complete the computerisation of land records by December 2005. Only three states - Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa-have computerised all land records. The states in the category ‘A’-Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim, Delhi, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, have been told to complete the computerisation by March 2005 while the states in the category ‘B’- Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura and Manipur- will achieve the target by June 2005. Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who presided over a conference of state revenue ministers last month, said all land records in the country would be computerised by the end of 2005. He said the Centre was meeting the entire cost of land record computerisation by the states and the work should be done in a “mission mode.” He said that once computerisation was done, people could get a copy of land records through internet. The minister said the states had agreed to amend their land revenue rules for providing legal sanctity to the computer-generated copies of the record of rights. The states had also agreed to stop the manual distribution of the records of rights when the basic work of data entry was completed and the computerised system
was stabilised. It had also been decided to fix charges for the service being offered from tehsil computer for sustainability of the computerisation project and train revenue staff to change their work culture in tune with changing technologies. The minister said that the states had agreed to make the full utilisation of schemes under the strengthening of revenue administration (SRA) and the updating of land records (ULR). He said that the Centre had agreed to the states’ request that it funded these schemes to the extent of 75 per cent. |
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PF department fined for delaying refund
New Delhi, December 5 Delhi State Consumer Redressal Commission President Justice J.D. Kapoor and Member Rumnita Mittal, who asked the Centre to inquire into the delay, ordered the CBT of Employees Provident Fund Organisation and the Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC) to pay compensation of Rs 50,000 to the respondent for "mental agony, suffering and harassment". "For indifferent, callous and cavalier attitude of the CBT, respondent R.C. Bharadwaj suffered so much that he is on the brink of complete ruin. Due to penury caused by the CBT, he was not able to marry off his daughters and lost his only son", the Commission observed. Pointing out that the CBT was created to protect the interest of poor employees, it said the CBT "was completely oblivious, unconcerned and unmindful of its statutory obligations". "Instead of fulfilling its statutory obligation to refund his provident fund, the CBT has added insult to his injury by preferring this appeal.... This appeal is nothing but inhuman and detestable... Letter of request to the CBT to refund the amount was thrown in the waste paper basket," the court said. Mr Bharadwaj had retired from Remington Rand of India Ltd on February 12, 1998. On his retirement, he was entitled to get the accumulated provident fund of Rs 2,08,901.32. Despite repeated reminders, he was not given his due amount. Finally, he sent a legal notice to the CBT on January 17, 2000, but to no avail. Then he approached the District Forum for relief.
— PTI |
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Farmers booked under NSA Sriganganagar, December 5 Talking to The Tribune over the telephone from Ghadasana, the Divisional Commissioner of Bikaner, Mr Shreemat Pandey, confirmed the registration of the cases under the NSA. Senior farmer leaders and front-runners in the ongoing agitation in the famine-hit area, including Mr Hetram Beniwal, Mr Vallabh Kochher and Mr Saheb Ram Punia, have been booked under the NSA. Mr Pandey said in view of the “disturbing” activities of the arrested leaders, the charges had been slapped accordingly. The situation in the rural belt on the border is becoming sensitive as farmers are forming action
committees. A farmer leader and former sarpanch of Chak 19 G.D. village said the villagers had volunteered to court arrest and were
registering their names. According to sources, the second rung leaders of the farmers' front were holding meetings secretly about the
future action plan. Following the arrest of three farmer leaders, the rest of them had gone into hiding to continue the agitation till the demand for the required amount of irrigation water was met. Talking to The Tribune, a senior official of the district administration said the police and other paramilitary forces had been instructed not to go to the villages. Security personnel had been asked not to raid villages to avoid any retaliation by the villagers, said the official. Yesterday, agitated farmers of Chak 22 G.D. village had attacked the police, forcing it to leave the village without arresting Mr Tara Singh. To
control the situation, the administration has also alerted the Army in case of any emergency. The police has erected barricades on all roads leading to government establishments in Ghadasana, Rawala and Anoopgarh for better security arrangements. Meanwhile, arrest of the farmer leaders has brought criticism from
different quarters. Former MLA and senior Congress leader Vijay Lakshmi Bishnoi lamented the action of the district administration. Instead of providing good life to the needy farmers, she said, the government was using force to kill them.
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Aircraft display impresses Putin
Bangalore, December 5 Shortly before leaving India at the end of his three-day visit, Mr Putin witnessed the 25-minute flying display that featured aerobatics by the light combat aircraft, advanced light helicopter and intermediate jet trainer.
— IANS
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Woman found murdered in Nainital hotel
Dehra Dun, December 5 The couple had checked in at the hotel two days ago and mentioned an address of Rampur. The following morning when the couple did not open the door even as the hotel staff knocked several times, hotel manager Bhagat Ram reported the matter to the police. The police broke open the door to find the woman lying dead in the room while the man had absconded, said Nainital SSP Vijay Shankhare. The police suspect that the man had poisoned the woman, the police said. The address registered in the hotel records has been found to be false. |
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Kidnapped engineer released
New Delhi, December 5 Mr Mandal, who had been kidnapped along with his colleague K.K. Singh from Vaishali district in Bihar on November 19, was on Friday put by his captors on Delhi-bound Saptakranti Express. Mr Singh had managed to escape from captivity in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, on November 26. Mr Mandal told PTI that the kidnappers, before setting him free, said “Hamne galat aadmi ko pakad liya (We have kidnapped the wrong person).”
— PTI |
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EPF Board to meet today
New Delhi, December 5 The controversial issue of the final EPF rate for the current fiscal is also likely to come up for discussion in the agenda, leading trade unions said. The Central trade unions said there was a strong case for the government to raise the EPF rate beyond 9.5 per cent of last year in the backdrop of rising interest rates on bank deposits and favourable international scenario in this regard. This will be the first
meeting of the Board of Trustees of the EPFO after new Labour Minister Chandrashekhar Rao assumed charge. AITUC secretary D L Sachdev said there was scope for fixing the EPF rate for the current fiscal at 9.5 per cent, but for the future the government has to take into account the increase in interest rate on special deposit schemes, held by the Reserve Bank of India.
— UNI |
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