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USA wants to eliminate me, says Chavez
SC notice to Mulayam on grants to brother’s college
UP to consult legal experts
Razi accused of encouraging horse trading
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Basu defends Jharkhand Governor
Naidu demands fresh elections
in Goa
Elangovan patches up with DMK chief
HP Govt withdraws plea
‘Krishak’ status for women sought
Upendra panel report by month-end
Over Rs 9 cr tsunami relief from Uttaranchal
Chinese medical colleges woo Indians
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USA wants to eliminate me, says Chavez
New Delhi, March 5 “The US aggression against our country is under way and it plans to assassinate me. If anything happens to me, the President of the USA will be responsible for it,” he said at a press conference here after holding talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Stating that his country had “good relations” with the USA during the tenure of former US President Bill Clinton, Mr Chavez said Washington “started the aggression against my country and the people three years back”. Asked as to what role India could play to ease the situation, the Venezuelan President, who clarified that he was a patriot and a nationalist and not a communist, said “what kind of measures can be taken by David against Goliath”. “Our country is on national alert.... We do not not want any confrontation but they should not hurt our dignity.... Because of personal security reasons, I have not been able to go to New York. We are continuing to take necessary measures in the defence sphere,” he added. Mr Chavez said the era of cheap oil was over and consumers should expect prices to stay in the $ 40 to $ 50 a barrel. “The world should forget about cheap oil.... We don’t want the oil (prices) to go to $ 100 a barrel (but) during the first decade of 21st century, prices will remain in the $ 40 to $ 50 per barrel band and may even go up,” the visiting President said. Venezuela is the world’s fifth largest oil exporter and a key member of the group of oil producing nations — Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Venezuela, which sells 60 per cent or 1.5 to 1.6 million barrels of its crude to the USA per day, is South America’s only member of OPEC. Mr Chavez termed the current oil prices fair. Oil prices, he said, had not appreciated at the same rate as prices of other commodities in the past three decades. The appreciation in crude oil prices from $ 12 a barrel in 1974 to record levels of over $ 56 a barrel in October last year was lower than the appreciation in car and real estate prices, he said. The OPEC has not yet declared the new price band but the Venezuelan President asserted that the previous $ 22 to $ 28 per barrel price band no longer existed. |
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Kalam plays Venezuelan music
New Delhi, March 5 “Mr Kalam is extremely humane,” said the flamboyant Left-wing leader, obviously impressed by the warm hospitality he has received since he arrived in India.
— UNI
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SC notice to Mulayam on grants to brother’s college
New Delhi, March 5 A Bench of Mr Justice N Santosh Hegde, Mr Justice S.B. Sinha also issued notices to Mr Mulayam Singh, the Chief Secretary, Finance Secretary and Education Secretary of the state government, seeking their replies. The notices were issued on a special leave petition (SLP) by Mr Amar Nath Rai, whose petition on the issue was rejected by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahbad high court. The petitioner said that the high court had “ignored” the fact that such a huge grant could not be sanctioned to one institution, that too from the contingency fund. The money was sanctioned to Chaudhary Charn Singh Degree College, Hewra only because Mr Shiv Pal Yadav, who is the PWD Minister in the Mulayam Singh government, is the Chairman of the institution, the petition said. Giving the break up of the funds released under various heads in February and April, 2004, the petitioner said this was not only an isolated instance of the sanctioning of grants to institutions run by Samajwadi Party leaders in the state as several other colleges had been given huge money in violation of laid-down procedure. The high court in its order of December 23 last year, had “erred in appreciating” the provisions of the Constitution and relevant laws that the contingency fund could not be withdrawn except as per the provisions provided under the rules, the petition said.
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UP to consult legal experts
Lucknow, March 5 In a unique gesture of solidarity the Vidhan Sabha members rose above party lines to register their concern over what they term as the curtailment of the government’s powers. A special meeting was convened in Vidhan Sabha Chairman Mata Prasad Pandey’s chamber this evening to draw up a strategy to counter the Supreme Court ruling. The CM reasoned that it was important to consult senior legal experts before summoning the Attorney-General and the Chief Secretary to the House, as had been suggested earlier. The meeting was chaired by the Speaker and attended by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Leader of the Opposition Lalji Tandon, BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Mohd Azam Khan, among others. Earlier, raising the issue in the House, BJP MLA Hukum Singh asserted that the ruling would have farreaching consequences. He questioned the logic of such a ruling being passed in UP’s case alone when the electricity boards in other states were reeling under heavier losses.
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Razi accused of encouraging horse trading
New Delhi, March 5 “The Independent MLAs, who are supporting the NDA, are already terrorised and false cases have been levelled against them and their family members are being harassed.... Under these circumstances, why has the state Governor called such a long session?,” BJP General Secretary and in charge of Jharkhand Rajnath Singh told mediapersons this evening. Charging the Governor with converting the Governor House into a “Conspiracy House”, BJP leader said if the Governor really wanted a “fair play” the entire process from oath taking to confidence motion could have been completed in just three days. “In UP, which has a strength of 403, the entire oath taking process was completed in three days.... In Jharkhand, which has just 81 MLAs, two days have been allocated, whereas the oath taking ceremony could have been completed in half a day’s time,” he said. “The session has been scheduled in such a way that there is a three-day gap between the oath taking ceremony, including a two-day holiday.... This two-day holiday has been given to help the UPA indulge in horse trading,” he alleged. Condemning the scheduling of Governor’s address before the vote of confidence by Shibu Soren government, Rajnath Singh said “how can a government, which has no trust of the House, be allowed to prepare Governor’s Speech?” Meanwhile, in the wake of reports of hoisting of criminal cases against some Independent MLAs supporting the NDA and others, leaders belonging to BJP legal cell held a meeting to take precautionary measures to ensure that they were not prevented in any manner from voting against the confidence motion to be moved by Shibu Soren.
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Basu defends Jharkhand Governor
Kolkata, March 5 Talking to mediapersons at the party’s Alimuddin Street yesterday after the state committee’s meeting, Mr Basu said he was expecting some ‘sensible behaviour ‘ from a veteran politician like Mr Ram Vilas Paswan. However, he still hoped that good sense would prevail onMr Paswan to join hands with all secular parties irrespective of their political and ideological differences and form a secular government in Bihar.Otherwise, like Jharkhand, President’s rule would be inevitable in Bihar. The CPM leadership, on the other hand, strongly criticised the kidnapping of some Jharkhand MLAs and then parading them before the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan by the BJP as an unhealthy sign for democracy. |
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Naidu demands fresh elections
in Goa
Chennai, March 5 He said it was a “moral victory” as the BJP’s stand that the Congress had neither a popular mandate nor a majority in the Assembly had been vindicated. Addressing a press conference here, he said “Within hours of the Rane Government’s dubious victory in the Assembly, the Centre had no alternative but to impose President’s rule in the state.” A beaming Mr Naidu said: “This is clearly a moral victory for the BJP. The people of Goa and the rest of the country now know that the Congress had destabilised a BJP government that was performing well and thoroughly failed to provide an alternative government.” However, he suspected that the Assembly had been kept under suspended animation only to help the Congress get more time to indulge in horse-trading and added: “We demand that the Assembly be dissolved immediately and fresh elections called at the earliest.” Regarding the situation in Jharkhand, Mr Naidu said the mere advancement of the date of confidence vote for the Shibu Soren government was not enough. He said: “This does not remove the original sin committed by Governor Syed Sibte Razi. He should be sacked and the new Governor should give Mr Arjun Munda, leader of the BJP-JD(U) combine, a chance to form a government and prove his majority.” Similarly, in Bihar, the BJP-JD(U) combine being the largest pre-poll alliance, should be given the first opportunity to form the government though it did not have a majority at present, he felt. “If someone is to be invited to form the government, it should be the BJP-JD(U), and not the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which has lost the elections and has at least 140 members (out of a total of 243) opposing it,” Mr Naidu said. |
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Elangovan patches up with DMK chief
Chennai, March 5 Mr Elangovan today met the DMK chief at his residence for 45 minutes and expressed regrets for his alleged derogatory remarks against the veteran leader. Mr Karunanidhi said after the meeting, “It is a closed chapter. He came and spoke to me in the spirit of letting bygones be bygones. We will no more insist on action based on our resolution.” The DMK had on February 27 passed a resolution demanding action against Mr Elangovan for his derogatory remarks against the party chief. However, Mr Elangovan avoided the details of the meeting and said, “I had already given an explanation and I called on him to pay my respects, as he is an elderly leader and leader of our alliance. This issue is over now.” Mr Elangovan had already regretted his utterances about the DMK supremo on February 25 to pacify the DMK leadership but the party went ahead with its resolution demanding action by the Congress high command.
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HP Govt withdraws plea
New Delhi, March 5 Himachal Pradesh’s Additional Advocate General J.S. Attri made a request to a Bench of Mr Justice S.N. Variava and Mr Justice H.K. Sema yesterday for the withdrawal of its special leave petition (SLP), saying the state was not interested to contest the case. The high court had quashed two notifications of Himachal Pradesh Governor granting pardon to Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) employee Rakesh Malik, a co-accused in the culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rioting, assault and unlawful assembly case of 1979, in which CPM leader Singha was also convicted. |
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‘Krishak’ status for women sought
New Delhi, March 5 Opining that land should belong to those who till it, she said women in Uttaranchal played a very important role in agriculture and horticulture, with most men from the hill state being employed with the Army. Women work very hard throughout the day, get water and fodder for cattle, do household chores, work in fields, and still manage to smile at the end of the day, said Dr Chauhan, adding that if women were given the status of farmer, they would get the right over their land, which in the long run would improve their status. “Often the money they earn is taken away by men in their families who, if not in the Army, are largely unemployed and a majority of them are either alcoholics or drug addicts, which often led to domestic violence”, she added. She said liquor and drugs were freely available here. Dr Chauhan said the commission would work for enhancing social security for women and setting up of processing industries for horticultural produce to enhance employment opportunities for both men and women
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Upendra panel report by month-end
Imphal, March 5 Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh said the commission interacted with jawans of the Assam Rifles, victimised families, members of Apunba Lup, the organisation spearheading the movement for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), besides government officials. The commission reportedly probed over 20 cases of extra-judicial killing in Manipur. The Chief Minister admitted that development was being hampered due to militant activities. |
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Over Rs 9 cr tsunami relief from Uttaranchal
Dehra Dun, March 5 Responding to the letters by the Governor of Uttaranchal, Mr Sudershan Agarwal, all 71 MLAs of the hill state made a contribution of Rs 10 lakh each to the tsunami relief fund, making a total contribution of Rs 7.1 crore. On the invitation of the Governor, the Principals of various public schools in the Doon valley have promised to raise Rs 1 crore through their students to provide for the education of tsunami orphans and homes to about 50 families.
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Chinese medical colleges woo Indians
New Delhi, March 5 A two-member Chinese delegation, which is currently in the country, said here today that Indian students wishing to pursue medical studies could consider China as an option. The fee packages were economical and the course contents were on a par with reputed medical institutions in the West, it said. Professor
Xi-Shan Hau, president of Tiangin Medical University, said Indian students were hardworking and talented and the Chinese universities were keen to invite them to pursue medical education in China. |
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