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Notification on EPF rate hike soon: Bardhan
India ready to discuss anything with Prevez
Yadavs may make third front possible
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Communal clash in Mangalore
Zaheera’s brother to restart Best Bakery
Coke plant in Kerala may be closed
Negotiate with Dalai Lama, Tibetan body tells China
PM greets nation on Holi
Agreement on panel to revise MPs’ pay
House panel concerned over Dal Lake’s pollution
Maharashtra may give more mills’ land for public use
SP’s Karnataka unit launched
Foodgrain production pegged at 210.44 MT
ULFA invited for peace talks
Headmaster held for sexual abuse of students
2 held for threatening
Smriti Irani
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Notification on EPF rate hike soon: Bardhan
New Delhi, March 25 “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has given this assurance to CPI leaders, Mr Gurudas Das Gupta and Mr Sudhakar Reddy, when they met him here yesterday,” Mr Bardhan said at a news conference, convened primarily to brief the media on CPI’s 19th party congress, beginning in Chandigarh on March 29. Mr Bardhan said the “notification will be issued soon”. The government had not bothered to notify the increase from 8.5 to 9.5 per cent, more than six weeks after it made the promise. The CPI leaders, during their meeting with the Prime Minister, impressed upon him that the government must soon issue the notification. The Employees Provident Fund Organisation Board has appointed global consulting firm Mercer for advising on more lucrative investment strategies, including parking funds in equities and postal deposits. As the Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, while announcing the hike in EPF rate to 9.5 per cent from an ‘interim’ 8.5 per cent, did not announce any increase commensurate increase in Special Depository Scheme interest rate which stands at 8 per cent, where bulk of the money is invested has been by the Board. The board, which manages about Rs 1,28,000 crore corpus of workers savings, at present, faces an additional
burden of around Rs 927 crore due to reduced interest rate in SDS. EPFO’s total corpus of about Rs 1,28,000 crore include Rs 71,000 crore of the EPF, Rs 52,000 crore of Employees Pension Scheme and Rs 4,000 crore Employees Deposit-linked insurance. Sources say the EPFO is allowed to invest in fixed income securities, which have to be held till maturity. Of the total Rs 135, 379,08 crore, it has invested Rs 19,327 in Central Government securities, Rs 14,071 in state government/government guaranteed securities, Rs 53,449 in SDS, Rs 21,961 in public financial institutions, Rs 26559 in public account. In 2003-04 it has garnered Rs 5,947 crore from EPF, Rs 2810 crore from pension fund and Rs 77 crore EDLI fund compared to Rs 5859 core from EPF, Rs 2419 crore from pension fund and Rs 64 crore from EDLI fund in 2002-03. |
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India ready to discuss anything with Prevez
New Delhi, March 25 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be hosting a meal for Gen Musharraf and will be open to a free-wheeling, no-specific-agenda format of discussions where the two sides will be free to raise whatever issue they want. There will be no fixed agenda for the talks. But because the second round of the Composite Dialogue process is already on between the two neighbours, there will be little elbow room for Gen Musharraf to indulge in his commando-style diplomacy. The Government of India is confident that Gen Musharraf will not be able to do another Agra this time. New Delhi's assessment is that unlike July 2001 when the commando politician stole the thunder in Agra, this time Gen Musharraf, not India, will be under pressure to project his visit as a "success". That is why India did not waste much time in responding to Gen Musharraf's remark wherein he fished for an invitation to watch a cricket match. India not only sent a formal invitation to Gen Musharraf but also asked him to pick the venue of his choice for watching the cricket match. New Delhi is well aware that Gen Musharraf would not like to have another failure in India and, therefore, he is expected to exercise restraint. There are several reasons for it as the world has gone through a tailspin post 9/11. Gen Musharraf's favourite theme of Kashmir is like a broken record which will not produce music any more because the issue is already at the negotiating table. Besides, terrorism is no more as effective a tool in the hands of Pakistan as it used to be before 9/11 because of the changed international scenario. Moreover, India already has a three-tier fencing and infiltration-proof gadgetry in place all along the International Border and Line of Control, most of which has come up since the
November 2003 military ceasefire between the two countries. Then there is an added pressure on Gen Musharraf domestically. Baluchistan has of late been burning like never before. In an interview to Voice of Germany from Karachi earlier this week, Leader of Baluchistan Nationalist Party Sardar Attaullah Mengal stated that the Baluchis had lost all hopes that negotiations with the Federal government would resolve the Baluchistan crisis. Significantly, Sardar Mengal stressed that India was a country which was inhabited by humans, and even if a country which was inhabited by devils were to make an offer for mediation, the Baluchis would not refuse as they were totally disgusted with the policies and prevarications of the Pakistan government. He made it clear that the Baluchis had
cut off all ties with the Pakistan federal government and were not averse to overtures emanating from any other third country.
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Yadavs may make third front possible
New Delhi, March 25 A minister in the United Front government, on conditions of anonymity, told the Tribune that the Congress’s behaviour in Bihar and Jharkhand has given an impetus to these efforts as the RJD supremo is feeling “literally cheated” by the Congress. The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party voted for the Patent Bill in Parliament which is one sign that differences between the non-Congress and non-BJP parties are narrowing down, the minister said and added that the Left had played a crucial role in bringing these parties together. If these efforts succeed then it would take very little time to bring the non-Congress and non-BJP parties on a platform for staking a claim to form a government, the minister said adding that numbers are on our side. Majority of leaders of the non-Congress and non-BJP parties know fully well that they have no chance to occupy the Prime Ministerial chair in near future as the two national parties will never allow any other leader to take over the country’s top executive job, a JD (U) leader said. The Congress is grooming Rahul Gandhi for the Prime Minister’s position and the BJP has many leaders who are vying with each other for the post, he said and added that the “efforts are serious”. The Left is getting increasingly disillusioned by the economic policies of Dr Manmohan Singh government which are just an improved version of the Vajpayee government and that is why some of us have become active to pave the way for a third front government, he said. “Majority of the parties are getting suspicious of the Congress and its intentions”, the leader said adding that this has motivated many of us to work for the creation of a third front. Apart from the Left parties, the SP, the RJD, the Nationalist Congress Party, the DMK, the Telgu Desam, Akali Dal and other parties will forge a front which will contest the elections together. “Though we have not yet decided about who would lead the coalition but former Prime Ministers Chandra Shekhar and H. D. Deve Gowda are two possible names but if the CPM agrees to lead the front then we would be very comfortable as that would give us lot of credibility”, a leader said. |
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Communal clash in Mangalore
Mangalore, March 25 The police said trouble started when a group of people who were returning after participating in a meet organised by the Sangh Parivar clashed with another group. As the news about the incident spread, people belonging to the rival groups started throwing stones in various parts of the city. The police resorted to a mild lathi charge to disperse a group which had gathered in front of a hospital in the city last night. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC have been clamped in the Daxina Kannada district for three days since last night. The police today took six persons in custody in connection with the incident. Additional police force had been deployed at several points in the city and elsewhere in the district. The Sangh Parivar had organised the meet in protest against the government’s failure to effectively enforce the ban on cow slaughter in the district.
— UNI |
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Zaheera’s brother to restart Best Bakery
Vadodara, March 25 “We have started the renovation work with our limited resources. We will restart the Best Bakery again provided we get some financial support,” Kailasben
Vasava, alias Heena, the second wife of Nafitullah, said today. Asked about the whereabouts of Yasmin Bano, the estranged wife of
Nafitullah, who was first to take up repair of the building in September, 2003, and was living with her four-year-old daughter Tanveer till November last year despite strong opposition of her in-laws, Heena said Nafitullah had already snapped all relations with Yasmin after the
carnage. Heena, a Hindu girl who had converted to Islam after her marriage and has a three-year-old son from
Nafitullah, also ruled out the possibility of Zaheera joining the bakery. Soon after turning hostile during the trial in May, 2003, barring Yasmin, the entire Sheikh family, including Zaheera, had migrated to Mumbai. Yasmin, who is now fighting a legal battle against her in-laws for her right over the Best Bakery property, had locked the bakery before she left for Mumbai on November 2 last year in order to depose in the retrial in the case there. During her deposition, Yasmin had identified 11 accused in the Mazgaon court contrary to her earlier statement that all 21 accused were innocent, while Zaheera and other members of her family retracted their statements and did not identify any one of
them. Heena said she and her husband had decided to restart their traditional bakery business again. “We have put in all our available funds in the repair work which is nearing completion,” she said. Following the Supreme Court order, the eight-member armed para-military force personnel are still camping near the bakery site. After Yasmin made her forceful entry into the bakery and started selling firewood there to earn her livelihood, Zaheera’s mother Sehrunissa filed a petition in the civil court here in December, 2003, alleging that the estranged wife of her son was not entitled to the Best Bakery property owned by her husband, the late Habibullah Sheikh.
Nafitullah too blamed Yasmin for the untimely death of his father. In his deposition in the Mumbai court, Nafitullah had rejected his estranged wife’s claim that she was present when their bakery was attacked and set on fire by a Hindu mob in which 14 persons were burnt alive. The homeless Sheikh family was provided a two-room house by the Anjuman-E-Imdade
Bahami Relief Committee at Ekta Nagar, but the family sold it off to another riot victim for Rs 55,000 last year, having migrated to Mumbai
fearing threat to their lives in Vadodara. Zaheera and her family members, however, finally returned to Vadodara on November 3 last year to file an affidavit before District Collector Bhagyesh Jha against social activist Teesta
Setalvad. Since then the family has been shifting from one house to another in Gujarat in search of a secured place.
— UNI |
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DD to add more channels
New Delhi, March 25 He said the Centre had asked the states to provide digital receivers in their hilly and remote regions to help people access Doordarshan channels. Several MPs from hilly and border areas had raised the issue of non-accessibility to Doordarshan in their districts, in some cases forcing people to switch on to Pakistan TV for their entertainment and news telecast. Mr Reddy said the use of digital receivers was a cheaper alternative, as the Centre could not mobilise a whopping Rs 5000 crore required for upgrading all transmitters in the country to provide Doordarshan telecast facilities in such inhospitable areas. In response to another question, he said Prasar Bharati would spend Rs 60 crore to produce programmes based on Indian classics in the current financial year. Prasar Bharati had informed that its board had approved the production of programmes during 2005-06 based on Indian Classics in all 22 languages recognized by the Sahitya Akademi. |
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Coke plant in Kerala may be closed
Palakkad, March 25 A two-member high-power panel of the company had expressed the willingness to close down the factory in its talks with leading environmentalist Tony Clerk at Boston in the first week of this month. Quoting an intimation in this regard from Mr Clerk, anti-Coke agitation leaders, however, today conditionally welcomed the Cola company’s move. They demanded that talks be held directly with the agitators and compensation be given to those affected by it before the closure. “We have been leading a fight for nearly three years. Hence, the company should have the courtesy to talk and finalise with the people here. All cases forged against our members be withdrawn and the state government should end its pro-Cola stand,’’ Plachimada Solidarity Committee convener R. Ajayan said. Or else, the agitation would be intensified and the venue would be shifted to Thiruvananthapuram by May, as the stir was completing three years on April 22, committee patron Vilayodi Venugopal said.
— UNI |
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Negotiate with Dalai Lama, Tibetan body tells China
New Delhi, March 25 Talking to The Tribune, president of the TWAB Tsering Yeshi, who reached Delhi from Dehra Dun as part of the All-India Peace March that began from various parts of the country on March 12, said the association would urge the Indian Government to encourage the Government of People’s Republic of China to cooperate with the Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetan Government in creating mutual trust and friendship, conducive for an actual negotiation. Dr Yeshi said the TWA would also appeal to the UN and the international community to take concerned action against the human rights violations of Tibetan people in Tibet. “Besides this, we also demand an unconditional release of political prisoners languishing in prisons of China and Tibet and implementation of human rights as enshrined in the Constitution of Government of China.” she said. Dr Yeshi said economic exploitation of Tibet was affecting the fragile eco-system there, leading to floods, landslides and shortage of water and demanded environment-sensitive development plans. |
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PM greets nation on Holi
New Delhi, March 25 In his message, the Prime Minister said the festival of colours symbolised the beauty and strength of India’s cultural mosaic. “With its spirit of togetherness and gaiety, Holi is an occasion to bury all differences and strengthen the bonds of friendship. May Holi bring with it the message of peace and goodwill,” he said. |
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Agreement on panel to revise MPs’ pay
New Delhi, March 25 There was a consensus on the issue among the leaders of all major political parties at the meeting, presided over by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, sources said. While there were several suggestions about the possible combination of members of the “outside” committee, including the inclusion of the RBI Governor, the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India etc, a majority of the leaders favoured that the members of the committee should be from among the Parliament Secretariat like Secretary-Generals of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha or former Speakers etc. A final decision on the issue will be taken by the Lok Sabha Speaker in consultation with Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha Bhairon Singh Shekawat, who is also expected to hold an all-party meeting of leaders in the Upper House, the sources said. The meeting was called in the backdrop of several MPs, cutting across party lines, demanding an increase in the salary and perks of MPs in the wake of sharp increase in the salary of MLAs in several states. |
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House panel concerned over Dal Lake’s pollution
New Delhi, March 25 Expressing distress over the quantum of discharge of effluents into the lake as per the information provided by the J&K Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (J&KLWDA), the committee asserted that to formulate an effective plan of action to control pollution, principle sources of nutrients needed to be identified and their rate of accumulation in the lake basin known precisely. For bio-remediation of the lake, it urged the state government to select an appropriate Indian company with the help of the Centre for the implementation of clean-flow techniques for in-situ cleaning of the lake and take up measures for irreversible rehabilitation plan without any further delay. On this, it also recommended the J&KLWDA to reallocate its office from the Dal lake at the earliest so that it acted as a model for others to follow. Terming the conservation of the lake a national issue, the committee, under the chairmanship of Mr P.G. Narayanan, said as per the information provided by the J&KLWDA, the total phosphorus inflow into the lake was 111 tonnes, besides a large quantity of nitrogen, from all sources. As much as 4.50 tonnes of phosphorus and 18.14 tonnes nitrogen added to the lake from non-point sources. The nutrient budget had been worked out in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Dal Lake Conservation Project(DLCP). The water body had been found to be receiving large quantity of nitrogen and phosphorus from point sources, the incoming nullah, Telbal Bota Khul, and sewage drains, besides non-point sources like seepage and diffused run off. The effect of nutrient contribution from a large population living on hamlets within the lake, houseboats and doonga boats had also been evaluated. The committee noted that the lake had reached a critical stage with nutrients being deposited in sediments rather than lake water, therefore any management programme for the conservation of the lake ecosystem should primarily aim at minimising the flow of nutrients into the lake. It said that the action taken so far by the J&KLWDA for the removal of biomass and measures to prevent dumping of garbage in the lake had failed to explain logically the presence of high-level of organic pollutants in the lake. Therefore, besides in-situ conservation, the authority needed to take comprehensive measures to minimise the quantum of discharge of organic pollutants into the lake. The committee also said appropriate precautionary measures should be taken to reduce soil erosion at the catchment area and the lake benthos. |
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Maharashtra may give more mills’ land for public use
Mumbai, March 25 The state government is likely to factor in the high prices paid by builders and construction companies for land sold so far. With recent bids amounting to more than double the expected price, the government may earmark as much 150 of the 300 acres of land available with government-owned mills for development, according to sources. Civic activists are demanding that one-third of the 600 acres of land owned by government and private mills be made available for civic infrastructure. Another third, it is felt, should be made available to house unemployed mill workers and the rest sold commercially. The move to bring all such land under a comprehensive development plan is opposed by private mill owners who have challenged the move in the court. The private mill owners are set to intervene in the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by environmental activists in the Bombay High Court. Their intervention will come at the next hearing slated for March 29. Under the comprehensive plan, land would be developed as per a master plan whereby distinct business areas, housing zones and open spaces for public use would be set up. A committee headed by HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh is examining the proposal. In all, 300 acres of land belonging to 41 mills comes under the ambit of the committee. The activists want to include the rest of the land as well. Sseven private mills have, however, managed to overcome objections by civic groups and have obtained permission to redevelop their properties. Many of them escaped handing over their land to the government by exploiting a loophole in the regulations. They didn’t
demolish the existing mill structure. Shopping plazas and bowling alleys
came up where textile machinery once stood. Now eight textile mills run by the National Textile Corporation
(NTC) too have come up with proposals to revive the mills in the areas. A majority of the over 80 mills in Central Mumbai have downed the shutters
since the textile strike of the 1980s, throwing more than 150,000 workers
out of employment. Even after the National Textile Corporation took over many of the mills, these haven’t been re-started and workers were
not paid their dues either. Total liabilities to the workers amount to more than Rs 2000 crore. So far, the private textile mill owners and the National Textile Corporation
(NTC) have paid a measly Rs 905.44 crore to over 17,000 city mill workers under the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS). Adding to the woes of the workers is the fact that many mills are
located on leasehold land. With many of the leases having expired, activists are demanding that the mill land should revert to the government. However mill owners are citing the plight of the workers to plead for
permission to redevelop the land as shopping plazas and residential blocks. Proximity of the mills land to the airport and downtown Mumbai
make it very attractive to developers. Jupiter Mills, one of the 25 mills
owned by the National Textile Corporation (NTC) put on the auction block, received the highest bid of Rs 276 crore when the tenders were
opened on Thursday. The NTC had expected to sell the 11-acre plot of
land for just Rs 120 crore. The highest bidder was Indiabulls, followed by Oberoi builders with Rs
265 crore, Gurgaon-based real estate developers DLF with Rs 261 crore,
and Zee with Rs 251 crore. The NTC has put another four mills on the block. These are Apollo Mills,
Mumbai Textile Mills, Elphinstone Mills and the Kohinoor No 3 Mill. The NTC had originally hoped to sell all five mills for Rs 500 crore. The sale of Jupiter Mills was challenged by civic activists in the Bombay
High Court. But the court dismissed their petition and allowed the sale
to go through.
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SP’s Karnataka unit launched
Bangalore, March 25 Mr S. Bangarappa had contested the recent elections on the BJP ticket. After the NDA failed to come to power, he joined the Samajwadi Party. The presence of two BJP legislators, Halappa and Gopalakrishna, at the rally added spice to the occasion, considering the recent warning by the state BJP leadership to party legislators consorting with the Samajwadi Party. |
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Foodgrain production pegged at 210.44 MT
New Delhi, March 25 The expected wheat output during 2004-05 stands at 74.05 million tonne against 72.11 million tonne last year. |
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ULFA invited for peace talks
Guwahati, March 25 Speaking to reporters at a Holi get-together here, the Governor said he would welcome any ULFA leader who expressed the desire to sit for negotiation. He said the government would ensure the safety of the top ULFA leaders who were interested in talks. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on March 13 had said the state government would extend all help to further negotiations between the Centre and the outfit, while Millika Barua, the mother of ULFA “Commander-in-Chief” Paresh Barua had also favoured negotiations in an interview with Gnanpith awardee Indira Goswami, who is acting as a mediator on the issue. The only hurdle preventing ULFA from coming to the negotiating table, Ms Goswami later told the media, was the “sovereignty issue”.
— PTI |
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Headmaster held for sexual abuse of students
Coimbatore, March 25 Acting on a complaint by an eight-year-old class III student, the police arrested the Headmaster and registered a case under various sections, it said. About 100 parents earlier went to Madukkarai police station seeking prompt action against the accused. The Headmaster had threatened the students of dire consequences if they complained against him, the complainant alleged.
— PTI |
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2 held for threatening
Smriti Irani
Mumbai, March 25 The actress had last week registered a complaint with the Oshiwara police in north Mumbai after she repeatedly received death threats.
— PTI |
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