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NDA asks President to recall Razi
Govt under fire over Goa, Jharkhand
Brar meets Sonia, Mukherjee
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Govt’s claim on executions refuted
TDP demand puts Cong in a spot
Opposition, Treasury Benches trade charges
MP Sanjay Nirupam quits Shiv Sena
Sorabjee celebrates 75th birthday
Over 2 million cancer patients in India
Queen Elizabeth Medal for AIIMS doctor
Shekhawat discharged from AIIMS
Gutkha king moves SC
Air chief defends MiG
3 IITs to start new courses
Deadline on number plates extended
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NDA asks President to recall Razi
New Delhi, March 9 In the “follow-up meeting” after the parading of its MLAs before him on March 3, the NDA delegation led by its Convener George Fernandes also requested him to ensure that “no coercive or punitive action be taken against any MLA by the state police till the vote of confidence is completed.” “The entire proceedings of the vote of confidence should have uninterrupted video recording. No Anglo-Indian MLA should be appointed before the vote of confidence. We also seek your kind indulgence to ensure that instead of March 15, the vote of confidence be held in the shortest possible time to prevent horse trading,” they demanded during the 15-minute meeting. The meeting with the President was scheduled for Monday but was cancelled at the last moment due to “other engagements” of the President. Rashtrapati Bhavan later gave an appointment to the NDA leaders for today. Besides Mr Fernandes, the delegation included senior BJP leaders Jaswant Singh, Rajnath Singh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Ravi Shankar Prasad. Regarding their demand for recall of the Governor, Mr Fernandes told newspersons that the Governor had lost all constitutional and moral grounds for continuing in the office. |
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Govt under fire over Goa, Jharkhand
New Delhi, March 9 “It is a matter of grave concern and extremely worrisome the manner in which various issues are being handled,” Mr Jaswant Singh said in the Rajya Sabha, initiating a discussion on the motion of thanks to the President’s Address. The political developments in Jharkhand, Goa and Bihar indicated that there was a “great erosion” of institutions, he said, adding that “if institutions are rendered inoperative or weak, we are guilty of very substantial and substantive wrong. It is saddening.” Regretting that a senior member of the Union Cabinet was not aware of what was happening during the thick of these political developments, he said the government ought to know what was happening. “If they do not know what is happening, how will they do the right thing”, he asked. What had been witnessed in the past few weeks indicated that there was no unity in the ruling UPA coalition which was neither united nor progressive. The UPA abbreviation was a “misnomer”, he said. Mr Jaswant Singh said the policy pronouncements of the government “far outstripped their implementation”. Voicing concern over terrorism, particularly in the North-East, the BJP leader criticised the government for preaching “artificial secularism” and warned that the “silent invasion” of illegal immigration into the country had dangerous consequences. “If we stop calling ourselves as Hindus, then they (UPA) will give secularism certificates,” he said, adding that extreme fundamentalism in other religions was being overlooked under the garb of secularism. |
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Brar meets Sonia, Mukherjee
New Delhi, March 9 Mr Brar had yesterday met Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is in charge of Punjab.
While “suspending” Mr Brar, the DAC had referred his case for “explusion” from the primary membership for six years to the Congress President. Mr Brar is a member of
the AICC. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and PCC chief H.S. Hanspal also met Mr Mukherjee separately today over the action taken by the DAC against Mr Brar. In his meetings with Ms Gandhi and Mr Mukherjee, Mr Brar emphasised his “everlasting loyalty” to the party. Refuting allegations about his links with SAD chief Parkash Sigh Badal, Mr Brar said he had served the Congress
with “devotion and dedication” for the past 30 years and had contested eight elections as party candidate. Mr Brar said he had fought the Badals most
of his life. Mr Brar explained the sequence of events of the past fortnight which led to the DAC moving against him. Terming the DAC’s action as “illegal,” Mr Brar said the panel had no right to proceed against him as he was an AICC member. Mr Brar also referred to a statement by Punjab PCC chief H.S. Hanspal in which he had said that the DAC had exceeded its purview in taking action against Mr Brar. Mr Brar alleged that the DAC had proceeded against him at the behest of the Punjab Chief Minister. He also took exception to Punjab Finance Minister Surinder Singla’s remarks against him, saying that a member of the Cabinet should not have uttered such words. He demanded action against Mr Singla and other ministers and leaders who had gone to the media against him. Mr Brar said after his meeting with Mr Mukherjee following the byelection in Ajnala, he had refrained from making any statements. “I was forced to respond to put the record straight after remarks were made against me,” he said. |
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Govt’s claim on executions refuted
New Delhi, March 9 “When the government claimed that Dhananjoy Chatterjee is the 55th person to be executed, we set out to find the real statistics, said Bikram Jeet Batra of the PUDR.” Questioning the reasons for concealing the information, he said, “we want to know why the government has not revealed the true figures. On one hand they claim that death sentences act as deterrents and then they go on to hide the real figures. We are questioning the motives behind hiding the real numbers”. According to the information provided by the PUDR between the years 1953 and 1964 Punjab has a total of 140 executions, while Chennai tops the list with 485 executions followed by Uttar Pradesh with 397. With the startling figures in hand, the PUDR has asked the government, “to end the silence and secrecy on the execution of death sentences and make public all information on people executed since independence”. It is put forth that while the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has provided information of executions post-1995, no such information has been made available before this period. “In August, 2004, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was widely reported in the media as the 55th person to be hanged in India. No sources were attributed to this number, nor was any contrary information revealed by any government agency. The general belief that India uses the death sentence rarely and only a few persons have been executed was thus strengthened”, the PUDR members said. |
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TDP demand puts Cong in a spot
Hyderabad, March 9 To be developed by an international consortium led by Malaysian Airports Holdings Berhad, the Rs 1,400-crore new greenfield international airport at Shamshabad raised a storm in a teacup with opposition Telugu Desam Party demanding to name it after late Narasimha Rao. But Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, acutely aware of the political sensitivities of the party high command, is not willing to yield to the opposition demand. “We are going to build a beautiful memorial in memory of the son of the soil in the city. As for the international airport, we have already decided to name it after Rajiv Gandhi, he declared. The Chief Minister has invited UPA chairman Sonia Gandhi to lay the foundation stone for the prestigious project on March 16. The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, to be developed as a transit hub for the Middle East and South-East Asia, is expected to be completed in 2008. |
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Opposition, Treasury Benches trade charges
New Delhi, March 9 As the Lok Sabha assembled for the day’s business, BJP MP V.K. Malhotra sought to raise a point, but took his seat calmly when the Speaker asked him to put off his statement until after question hour. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi were present in the House, which appeared to be functioning peacefully for the first time since the presentation of the Union Budget. However, trouble started when NDA convener George Fernandes challenged the UPA government to initiate an inquiry into the alleged coffin scam, while speaking on the motion of thanks on the President’s Address. He said, “I have written to the Prime Minister asking him to hold a probe as Congress President Sonia Gandhi has been running a virulent campaign against me over the past few years.” Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had to warn the members of Treasury Benches and ministers with disciplinary action, when they continued to disrupt Mr Fernandes. Interestingly, even some ministers from the RJD continued to disrupt. Union Railway Minister was heard saying, “It is very dangerous that George sahib has made statements on a TV channel saying that Ms Sonia Gandhi will meet the same fate as her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi. I see a conspiracy and it should be inquired into,” he observed amid loud protests from the Opposition Benches. Neither Mr Fernandes nor any other Opposition member denied this allegation. Referring to the wide variations between the President’s speech and the Budget speech of the Finance Minister, he said, “The government has failed to enact the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act so far, though it had committed in the national common minimum programme to provide employment to all needy people.” Objecting to his repeated references to Ms Sonia Gandhi, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav and Congress minister Jagdish Tytler and Prithiraj Chauhan protested that Mr Fernandes was involved in the Tehelka scam. BJP members were also on their legs while some DMK members tried to rush to the well, demanding discussion over the arrest of their MLAs in Tamil Nadu. |
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MP Sanjay Nirupam quits Shiv Sena
Mumbai, March
9 Mr
Rane, however, did not say why Mr Nirupam was asked to quit. Relations between Mr Nirupam and the party leadership had been going downhill since the MP criticised former Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie over the sale of the government-owned Centaur Hotel. Nirupam’s criticism severely embarassed the Shiv
Sena, which was part of the National Democratic Alliance Government. In recent times, Mr Nirupam had demanded a probe into the allotment of Reliance Infocomm shares at Re 1 a share to certain businessmen. Documents leaked in the aftermath of the war between the Ambani brothers sought to link the beneficiaries to BJP leader Pramod Mahajan. Mr Nirupam’s threat to raise the matter in the Rajya Sabha resulted in the Shiv Sena leadership chastising him, sources say. However, Mr Nirupam told reporters in New Delhi that he was leaving in protest against the Shiv Sena’s campaign against north Indian migrants to Mumbai. |
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Sorabjee celebrates 75th birthday New Delhi, March 9 The book, edited by Prof Mool Chand Sharma and Raju Ramachandran, was released at a function organised to celebrate the 75th birthday of Mr Sorabjee. Mr Narayanan appreciated his contribution “in extending the scope of Constitution and in addressing the problems of common man,” while indicating his crucial role in the Constitution Review Committee and other major legal cases. Former President R. Venkataraman, former Prime Minister V.P. Singh, former Defence Minister George Fernandes, several retired and sitting Judges of the Supreme Court, leading members of the Bar, civil servants and industrialists attended the function. A legal luminary, Mr Sorabjee occupied the post of Attorney-General of India during the NDA government. He has been credited with defending the “rule of law and freedom of speech” without becoming the mouthpiece of the Union Government. In his own words, he would not defend ‘colourable exercise of power’, no matter whether the ‘colour was saffron or red’. Mr Sorabjee, simply called Soli by friends, appeared and successfully argued in April 2000 for the Government of India in the International Court of Justice at The Hague in relation to the Pakistan complaint regarding an aerial incident. A Padma Vibhushan awardee, he has appeared and argued several cases of constitutional importance in different high courts and in the Supreme Court, particularly cases related to freedom of expression, press and protection of human rights. Speaking on the occasion, former Chief Justice of India Y.V. Chandrachud said, “He has proved a master craftsman, champion of human values besides an author of number of books.” His books include “The Laws of Press Censorship in India”, “The Emergency”, “Censorship and the Press in India”, “Monographs on Equality in the United States and India” and “Protection of Human Rights in Emergencies”, besides regular articles in newspapers.
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Over 2 million cancer patients in India
New Delhi, March 9 The minister said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), under the National Cancer Registry Programme, had developed an Atlas of Cancer in India based on the information collected for the year 2001-2002 from 105 collaborating centres across the country with a view to having an idea of the pattern of cancer in several areas of the country. According to the report, the incidence of different varieties of cancer is not uniform throughout the country. While cancer incidence in India as a whole is much lower in comparison to the incidence across the world, the cases of cancers of mouth, tongue, and gall bladder in the country is higher than those reported in the ‘Cancer Incidence of Five Continents,’ published by the World Health Organisation in 2002, based on the data pertaining to 1993-97. The highest incidence rates have been reported for the cancer of gall bladder among the women in Delhi and cancer of mouth among the men of Bhopal. The highest rate of cancer of hypopharynx has been reported from Aizwal, Mr Ramadoss said. Member after member who asked supplementaries, expressed concern at the alarming figures given by the minister. Mr Ramadoss said to control this dreaded disease, the National Cancer Control Programme was launched in 1975. He said conclusive evidence had yet to be established as regards the relationship between nitrite and nitrate and neurological manifestations. There is slightly protective effect of these ions on the cardiovascular systems. In reply to another question, the minister admitted that there have been instances of violation of the Cigrettes and other Tobacco Products Act, 2003. The Central law prohibits the direct and indirect advertisement of cigarettes and other tobacco products. He said the Centre was considering enacting a legislation prescribing standards and specifications that would stipulate minimum standards for hospitals, nursing homes and other clinical establishments. The proposed enactment would lay down norms for assessment, accreditation, inspection, certification and regulation of such clinical establishments as well as maintenance of records, Mr Ramadoss said. |
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Queen Elizabeth Medal for AIIMS doctor
New Delhi, March 9 The Chairman of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, UK, Andrew Banfield has said that the awards committee was very impressed with Professor Reddy’s achievements in the area of health promotion in India and beyond. According to a press note issued by AIIMS here on Wednesday, the committee wished to honour him for his “innovative work in the areas of cardiovascular diseases, tobacco control, school based health education programmes, establishment of schools for public health and numerous contributions to international health organisations and research bodies.” Professor Reddy was recently selected for the Padma Bhushan by the President of India. In October last year, he was the first Indian scientist to be selected as Foreign Associate member of the Institute of Medicine, a division of the National Acadamies of United Sates. He was awarded the WHO Director General’s award for outstanding contribution to global tobacco control at the World Health Assembly in Geneva in 2003. |
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Shekhawat discharged from AIIMS
New Delhi, March 9 According to the Vice President Secretariat officials, Mr Shekhawat’s condition is stable and all tests conducted on him have been found to be normal. Doctors have advised him rest for a couple of days. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh sent him bouquets this morning with wishes for a speedy recovery. Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Ghulam Nabi Azad called on Shekhawat at AIIMS before he was
discharged. Somnath Chatterjee, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Jaswant Singh, and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundahare Raje Scindia spoke to him on phone. |
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Gutkha king moves SC
New Delhi, March 9 A petition was filed by his counsel in the apex court after the Bombay High Court had rejected his plea for bail and quashing of the warrants on February 22. The cases of alleged smuggling of gutkha packaging manufacturing machines to Ranchi on the demand of undeworld don Dawood Ibrahim by Dhariwal, the owner of Manikchand Gutkha and Jagdish Joshi of Goa Gutkha, were initially probed by the Mumbai police, but the inquiry was recently handed over to the CBI. The warrants against him were issued by a Mumbai court on the request of the police before the CBI was handed over the probe recently. Dhariwal had expressed his inability to come to India at this juncture even as the CBI had stated that it did not have any immediate plan to take him into custody, while Joshi had returned recently to Mumbai and was questioned by the probe agency. |
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Air chief defends MiG
New Delhi, March 9 Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi said that all efforts were being made to ensure a better safety record for the MiG-21s. This, he said, was visible from the less number of accidents, which the aircraft had seen over the last year. Pointing out that the number of accidents involving the MiG 21 had decreased over the years, he said, “We have over 40 years’ experience in the field and there is nothing lacking in our efforts. Still we do not have a magic wand for a universal solution,” he said. As part of the efforts to further improve the safety record of the aircraft, the Air Chief pointed out that the force had put in its requirement for new simulators. When asked if the Air Force would change the training process, the Air Chief Marshal replied that it had already been done to a great extent. He categorically stated that technically there was no major problem in the ill-fated fighter and added that corrective measures would be taken soon.
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3 IITs to start new courses
New Delhi, March 9 Besides, a number of additional courses are also being planned for introduction from the academic session 2006-07 or subsequently. IIT, Bombay will start a five-year Integrated Dual Degree Programme of B.Tech (Engineering Physics) and M.Tech with specialization in Nanoscience from 2005-06. The courses being introduced at IIT Kharagpur are a five-year dual degree course with B.Tech (Hons) in any branch of engineering and MBA, a five-year integrated M.Sc course in statistics and informatics, a five-year integrated M.Sc course in economics and a two-year M.Sc course in statistics and informatics (for lateral entry after B.Sc). The IIT Kanpur will have a five-year integrated M.Sc economics programmes. Other IITs are also at various stages of finalising the new courses.
— PTI |
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Deadline on number plates extended
New Delhi, March 9 Replying to a written question, he said the dates had been changed as some states, wanted more time to cimplete the process, regarding selection of vendors to undertake the job. |
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