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PM orders 3 pc quota for disabled in civil services
CPI raps Cong for marginalising Left
‘Neglected’ Shias form personal law board
News Analysis |
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States diluting MCI standards: SC panel
Naga issue: ball in Delhi’s court
Patna schools to remain closed today
Babi laid to rest
Alcohol found in mutt
official’s body
2 Cong men killed
13 foreigners in soup for ‘obscene’ acts
Fort William not to allow rallies at maidan
NHRC seeks report on prostitution
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PM orders 3 pc quota for disabled in civil services
New Delhi, January 23 The higher civil services of the country, non-technical Group A and Group B services, have now been opened up for the first time to physically challenged persons. As per the orders, 3 of the 85 posts for IAS this year will now go to persons with disabilities such as low vision or blindness, hearing impairment and cerebral palsy, an official release said today. The Prime Minister has also approved the appointment of a physically challenged Scheduled Caste candidate, Mr M. Satish, who had qualified in the Civil Services Examination, 2002, to the Indian Revenue Service. The ministries controlling the other Central services, namely, Indian Police Service, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Forest Service have also been asked to examine the applicability of the Physical Disability Act, 1995 and reservation of 3 per cent in these respective services for the ‘physically handicapped’, and report to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet within three months, official sources said. Mr Satish had made a representation to the Government of India in September 2003 stating that while he had qualified in the Civil Services Exam (CSE) 2002, securing a rank of 249 and his name had been recommended to the Department of Personnel & Training for allocation of a suitable service / post. While he was qualified to be allocated to the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), he was not allocated to any post/service for being physically challenged (right hand polio). The government had failed at that time to take any action. On October 13, 2004, Mr Satish had once again sent a representation to the Prime Minister. “Dr Singh had ordered an immediate enquiry into the case and after due examination of the case, the Government of India has now cleared his name for immediate allocation to the Indian Revenue Service. He has been directed to join the training course, which is already in progress. The Department of Revenue has been directed to identify a suitable post for him before the completion of his training course,” official sources said. |
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CPI raps Cong for marginalising Left
New Delhi, January 23 “Our support to the UPA government was a political necessity because the BJP must go and a secular government takes its place,” party General Secretary A.B. Bardhan told mediapersons while releasing the Draft Political Resolution. The resolution has been released for debate within the party and the public before it is finally adopted at the 19th Party Congress in Chandigarh from March 29 to April 3. Mr Bardhan said most of the second-rung and state leaders of Congress “continue to think that they can come to power on their own strength and hesitate to have any adjustment with other secular parties”. The CPI charged the Congress with not hesitating to enter into “opportunist” alliance with the Trinamool Congress — an ally of the BJP, in panchayats, municipal bodies — with a view to countering the Left. Similarly, in Kerala, they entered into clandestine arrangements with RSS and BJP elements. At the same time, Mr Bardhan made it clear that “there shall be no comfort provided to the BJP by any conflict between the UPA and the Left”. “The Left parties were in a unique position where they can openly spell out their concerns, voice their distinct opinion on policies and keep a vigilant eye on the general performance of the government,” Mr Bardhan said. “At the same time, it can mobilise the masses against all deviations from the CMP and enforcing its implementation. This is an unusual and unique situation, which provides opportunity for the Left,” he said. Even as the CPI said would adopt a positive approach toward regional parties, it criticised their narrow, sectarian stands on certain issues. The resolution said it would continue to combat communal reactionary policies of the BJP and would strive to check the Congress and strengthen Left, while opposing any “drift to the right”. It said “there are vast tracts of India where no party unit exists or are very weak. This is especially so in the Hindi belt and the western states. It is clear that the party cannot act decisively on a national plane when such is the situation”. “One can take very good decisions, pass correct political resolutions and give fine slogans. But unless party organisations exist and have live contact with the masses, they will remain only on paper,” the draft resolution said. The resolution said Left parties emerged with the largest representation so far in Parliament and thus enabled it to not only act as a “unifying and motivating factor in the formation of a secular government but also to ensure it has a stable majority and a credible progressive programme”. |
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‘Neglected’ Shias form personal law board
Lucknow, January 23 Mirza Mohammad Athar, who was elected unopposed the chairman of new Shia Personal Law Board, charged the AIMPLB with neglecting the Shia community and alleged that the representation of Shias in the AIMPLB was "poor" and the community "was not even allowed to raise its issues on the AIMPLB platform". The Shias were "forced to constitute its own board to take up their issues," he added. Though Mr Athar claimed the support of prominent Shia clergy, noted Shia scholar Maulana Kalbe Saadiq and Maulana Kalbe Javvad were conspicious by their absence in today's meeting of Shia ulemas here where the announcement of the formation of the new board was made. He said names of other members of the new board would be finalised and its first meeting would be held on January 29. Mr Athar rejected the allegations that the Shia community was causing damage to the Muslim unity and said with the Bareilvi sect having already formed a separate personal law board for them "any such charge against us carried no meaning." He said though the Shia population in the country was about six crore, there was no Shia member in Parliament nor was there any Shia minister in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet. Rejecting the allegations that the board had ignored the interest of the Shia community, AIMPLB spokesman S. Q. R. Iliyasi termed formation of the new board as an attempt to 'grab media attention'. "The new Shia personal law board has been formed at the instigation of some vested interests," he said. Rejecting an assertion that it would divide the rank and file of the Muslim community in the country, Mr Iliyasi said the Shia ulemas, who had announced formation of the new board, did not enjoy support of their own community as a whole. Maulana Kalbe Sadiq and Maulana Kalbe Javvad, the two prominent Shia scholars of international repute, continue to be the members of the AIMPLB, he said. Senior board member Maulana Sajjad Nomani also termed the formation of the new Shia board as 'unfortunate' and a 'step taken in haste'. "It seems that there is some misunderstanding, which I am certain will be removed amicably", he said expressing hope that the new Shia enthusiasts would ultimately come back to the fold of the AIMPLB. He, however, stressed the need for a detailed discussion on this issue in the AIMPLB forum and also advocated proper representation to all sects of the Muslim community. — PTI |
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Baluchistan developments an alarm bell for Pakistan
Rajeev Sharma Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 23 State-owned Pakistan Petroleum Limited's (PPL) installations had come under rocket fire and the company is evacuating its personnel from the area. Gun battles have erupted in Sui with the insurgents launching an attack on the position of Frontier Corps and Defence Security guards. The latest spark, the alleged gangrape of a PPL lady doctor, heightened the tension in the region and the supposedly cover-up of the involvement of certain senior military personnel. President Pervez Musharraf's warning to the people of Balochistan, especially to those who have taken up arms by referring to the 1973-1975 insurgency, has added fuel to the fire and deepened the Balochistan crisis. People in Baluchistan are angry over the hard talk of General Musharraf, who in an interview to a Pakistani television, warned the Balochis that this was not the 1970s when they could hide in the mountains. In the 1970s, Pakistan as a state had just suffered its worst-ever trauma caused by its defeat in East Pakistan. An example of secession had been set which was at the back of the minds of those who carried forward the insurgency in Baluchistan. The present unrest, according to political observers, is not backed by the separatist rhetoric but has an autonomist underpinning. Baloch nationalist leaders in Quetta, expressing their anguish over General Musharraf's warning to Baluchistan tribes to stop attacks on oilfields, have warned that a brutal force cannot suppress national movement. Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal and Nawabzada Balaach Marri have asserted that Baloch people would not allow the usurpers to loot the resources of the province and deny the local people's constitutional and political rights. Sardar Mengal, chief of Pakistan Oppressed Nation Movement (PONM), told Pakistani daily Dawn that political issues were resolved in a political manner but the Pakistan President, who belonged to the Army establishment, lacked political maturity to realise the results of the language he used in his TV interview. In an obvious rejoinder to Gen Musharraf's remark, Sardar Mengal said the Baloch people could resist the aggression of the Pakistani security forces in a much better way than they did in the seventies. He reminded that the dismemberment of Pakistan was an outcome of the use of brutal face by the Army against the Bengali people. The PONM chief said Balochis would not be cowed down by his threats and would resist oppressors to protect the resources and political rights of the people of Baluchistan. Sardar Mengal said that the people of Baluchistan had been the target of army and agencies. There would be no compromise on basic issues, which the BNP has already identified at the onset of talks vis-à-vis full autonomy particularly in administration, legislative and financial matters and an end to the Centre's interference in provincial affairs. Another senior Baloch leader, Mr Akbar Bugti, said the gas pipeline from Iran to India across Pakistan would not be possible without Baloch goodwill. The Balochis have a long history of neglect and discrimination at the hands of the federal government. They have never been given government jobs and representation in the armed forces proportionate to the Balochi population. Whenever Balochis demand their rights and honourable share in the economic resources, Islamabad has sent troops to crush them. From 1973 to 1979, some 15,000 Balochi men, women and children were killed by the Pakistan army and the Frontier Corps. This was followed by another operation against the Balochis in 2002 when 50,000 para-military troops laid siege to Dera Bugti and the local population had to live without electricity, water and telephones during the summer months of June and July. The Balochis have complained that while the Sui gas warms houses in Punjab, their own area lacks electricity. The Sui gas from Dera Bugti meets 60 per cent of Pakistan gas production mainly for Punjab's domestic and natural needs. In spite of this, the people in this province are poor. They have protested against the construction of Gwadar port where Chinese engineers are working. According to Nawab Mohammad Akbar Khan Bugti, the Gwadar port project is a plan to divide Baluchistan and bring destruction, instability and poverty to the Baloch people. Balochis have also been protesting against the use of their land for nuclear tests. The water level in Baluchistan has been falling and fear of drought in the next ten years haunts its people. The Pakistan armed forces have not succeeded in quelling rebellion in Baluchistan in the four wars (in 1948, 1958-62, 1963-69 and 1973-77) although the process has inflicted lot of loss of life of innocent people besides damage to oil installations. This has only served to embitter the Baluchistan further and provide new generations of rebels to take on the Centre. The Baloch guerrillas fighting on home soil with the support of local people have proven a tough adversary.
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States diluting MCI standards: SC panel
New Delhi, January 23 Looking at the large number of litigations challenging the decision of the MCI to refuse recognition, increase in the number of seats and introduction of new courses in medical colleges and hospitals, the Supreme Court on November 20, 2002, had set up the committee comprising eminent doctors N. Rangabhashyam, Prof P. N. Tandon and S. Kantha to streamline its working. After closely scrutinising the work of the council as well as the mode of inspection of institutions by its inspectors, the committee in its report to the apex court expressed total satisfaction in its working and recommended that there should be "no compromise" with the autonomy of the MCI. However, the committee repeatedly found that "some state governments pitched themselves against the MCI in enforcing its rules and norms which are already upheld by the courts. "Referring to the spate of litigations against the MCI across the country, the expert committee said the "vilification campaign" against the MCI was a direct result of the failure to comply with the minimum standards of education in medical colleges set up by them. The committee also identified a number of areas of concern including the proliferation of medical colleges, especially in the private sector without there being any evaluation of national needs. As a direct consequence of such proliferation, there was undue pressure to admit students without putting in place appropriate infrastructure, faculty etc. in some of these colleges, it said. "Even in government colleges in some of the states, the existing facilities do not meet the minimum norms and requirements, it said adding "the universities and the state governments deserve to be sensitised towards the issue of enforcement of the minimum norms and standards prescribed by the Council."
— PTI |
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Naga issue: ball in Delhi’s court
Dimapur, January 23 At the two-day consultative meeting, being attended by over 5,000 delegates from different Naga organisations, also made it clear that they would
accept a negotiated settlement only and not an imposed one by Delhi. The only silver lining for Delhi,is perhaps the fact, that NSCN(IM) did not raise the issue of “sovereignty” officially at the consultative meeting, though another banned outfit, ULFA, has not yet responded to centre`s offer for talks because of the fact the letter sent through PMO did not mention the issue of soverignty. The demand to consider integration of the Naga inhabitated areas, which include adjacent states of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal, has been raised despite the fact that outfits like North East Students Organisation (NESO), as well as political leaders from Arunachal and Manipur met NSCN(M) leadership at camp Hebron recently to urge them not to take up the issue of greater Nagalim. But, said sources in NSCN(IM), the NSCN(IM) leadership had no other option than to raise the issue of integration of the Naga inhabitated areas because of the demand for the same from the grassroots in view of the hisroty of the Naga movement since the Independence of the country. NSCN(IM) Chairman and general secretary reached Delhi from Amsterdam in the second week of December and met the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani to initiate the first round of discussions. They then came to Nagaland to spend Christmas there as well as to work out a consensus on various Naga issues before initiating the dialogue with Delhi again from January 29. But the issue of inergration of the Naga inhabitated areas, feel official sources, may open up a Pandora’s Box for Delhi because Assam, Arunachal and Manipur already registered their protest on the same and would not allow any encroachment into their areas by Nagaland. |
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Patna schools to remain closed today
Patna, January 23 Bihar Public School Association Chairman D.K. Singh told PTI that all public and convent schools would remain closed tomorrow and school students would ‘gherao’ Governor Buta Singh in support of their demand but the time would be decided after tomorrow’s programme. Kishlay, a Class XI student of DPS, was kidnapped by unidentified persons from the Patel Nagar locality in the city on Wednesday when he was on his way to catch his school bus in the morning. Meanwhile, a ‘Patna bandh’ has been called by Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Tuesday to put pressure on the government for securing Kishlay’s release. The workers took out a silent procession today and gave a memorandum to the Governor to press for their demand. Over 400 officers of Bihar State Finance Service Association are on an indefinite strike since yesterday to protest the delay in the rescue of Kishlay who is the son of Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes K.K. Gupta. Deputy police Chief Arshad Zama said 25 persons had been detained for questioning in the kidnapping case and police have conducted raids in several places in and around Patna to trace the boy.
— PTI |
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Netaji’s birth anniversary
celebrated
Kolkata, January 23 Senior Marxist leader Jyoti Basu and other politburo leaders like Mr
Anil Biswas and Mr Biman Bose were among others who took part in the celebration. Chief minister Buddadeb Bhattacharjee was
also present. Mr Basu admitted publicly that they had earlier made a mistake in the assessment of Netaji and deeply regretted that. Speaking on the occasion, the veteran leader advised the party workers to follow Netaji's ideals in serving the people. Chief Minister also spoke of Netaji's contributions to the freedom struggle and admitted that the country did not show due respect and honour for his great contributions. The leaders paid tributes to him and garlanded his statue. The function was also held at Netaji Bhavan on Elgin Road, in Kolkata, and several other meetings were held at other places in the state. At the Netaji Research Bureau, former Prime Minister l.K.Gujaral addressed the select gathering where several foreign dignitaries and research scholars were present. The Governor, Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi, was the special guest on the occasion. Earlier, in the morning, the Governor attended the Netaji celebration function at Santiniketan in which the Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee was also present. |
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Forward Bloc criticises UPA for disrespecting Netaji
New Delhi, January 23 Addressing a public gathering here on the occasion of the 109th birth anniversary of
Netaji, Forward Bloc national general secretary Debarata Biswas said not a single minister attended the official function organised by Parliament today. “Had it been the birthday of any member of the Nehru-Gandhi family all the Congress ministers would have been present”, he said. The Forward Bloc also asked the government to provide pension and other benefits to personnel of Bose’s Indian National Army (INA) and called for the publication of a comprehensive history of the INA. In addition, the contribution of Netaji in the country’s freedom struggle and his life history should be a part of school and college curriculum. Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha
L.K. Advani and several other MPs today paid tributes to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in the Central Hall of Parliament on his birth anniversary. Besides Mr
Advani, others who paid floral tributes at the portrait of the Netaji included Lok Sabha Secretary-General
G.C. Malhotra. |
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Babi laid to rest Mumbai, January 23 The last rites of Babi, whose body was handed over to her niece Farhad Sultan Babi who arrived here from Balashinore in Gujarat, were attended by only a handful from the film industry including producer-director Mahesh Bhatt and actors Danny and Kabir Bedi — with whom she had had relationships — as also Ranjit, the screen ‘villain’ of yesteryears. The police decided to hand over the body of Parveen Babi, who was found dead at her Juhu residence yesterday, to Farhad from Balashinore in Gujarat as the late actress’ relatives, who arrived here today, agreed to this. The police said the niece of the actress produced photographs and documents to prove her relation. Ms Farhad Sultan said her father was the maternal cousin of the actress. Long lost relatives of actress Parveen Babi from Junagadh in Gujarat have laid claim to her body, the police said. Shortly after news of her death became public, the actress' relatives from Gujarat called up the police here to lay claim to her body. Some of them even promised to produce a copy of her 'will', according to the Juhu police.
— PTI |
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Alcohol found in mutt
official’s body
Kancheepuram, January 23 Three days after the murder of the mutt official inside its premises, the police said it had traced alcoholic content in his body and gave a detailed description of how he was killed. The killer had first strangled the 40-year-old official, hacked his forehead with a sharp object and then thrust a knife on the neck, they said. Further enquiries revealed that the land owned by the mutt was in the name of Srinivas Acharya, it said. The police said it was finding it difficult to question Hindi speaking Ramayanji, who had come to relieve the mutt manager of his official duties enabling him to attend his mother’s last rites in Bihar. Ramayanji had stayed with Srinivas Acharya on the night of the murder.
— PTI |
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2 Cong men killed
Bhopal, January 23 The incident took place near Indersingh ki Chowki village in Alirajpur tehsil of Jhabua district. Those killed were identified as Savant Singh (35) and his friend Jorla (30). Savant and Jorla were going on a motor cycle from Alirajpur to Arthi when they were allegedly attacked by Chander Singh and his friends. The Congress leader and Union Minister of State, Mr Kantilal
Bhuria, has held the local RSS leaders and the BJP MLA from Alirajpur, Mr
Nagarsingh, responsible for the murder of Savant and Jorla. The Jhabua district BJP president, Mr Manohar
Sethia, has, however, accused Mr Bhuria of maligning the RSS and the BJP. |
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13 foreigners in soup for ‘obscene’ acts
Hyderabad, January 23 Rajendranagar Assistant Commissioner of Police Narsimhulu told newspersons that on a tip off, the police went to Gandipet where a party was going on with obscene dances and free flow of liquor. The police also took Jaswanth Singh, who had organised the party, into custody. They impounded 15 cars and several cellphones.
— UNI |
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Fort William not to allow rallies at maidan
Kolkata, January 23 Lt-Gen Arvind Sharma,
GoC-in-C, Eastern Command told mediapersons that he had already conveyed it to Chief Secretary A. Gupta. Mr Gupta had recently pleaded with the Army on behalf of the Chief Minister for allowing the forthcoming Kolkata Book Fair to be held in the
maidan, a request Fort William had granted as an exceptional case. Incidentally, the Calcutta High Court last year issued an order banning all
melas, meetings etc in the maidan, an order the political parties had not taken kindly to.
— OC |
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NHRC seeks report on prostitution
New Delhi, January 23 Taking suo motu cognisance of a complaint filed by an NGO, International Law Affiliates, on the plight of poor girls from Nepal and India being trafficked and forced into prostitution in red light areas of the Capital, besides a report about such incidents in a national daily in December, 2004, the NHRC has asked the Delhi Police Commissioner to enquire into the matter and submit a report with in four weeks’ time. |
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Kin claim to have her ‘will’
