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BJP for probe into Soviet agent’s charges
SC stays HC order for
vacating building by HPTDC
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Naxal-hit states agree on inter-state joint task forces
Tarapur N-plants for overhaul
Terrorist groups in Pakistan unaffected, says book
UPA allies, CPM hold talks on seat sharing
Gurmat Samagam at Jaipur
7 new varieties of wheat released
Approval for PGDM courses withdrawn
Lalu defence on official vehicle
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BJP for probe into Soviet agent’s charges
New Delhi, September 19 Talking to newspersons on the issue, BJP General Secretary and spokesman Arun Jaitley said if the Congress and CPI really believed that the allegations were wrong and “concocted”, they should sue the author and publisher of the book in which the charges had been made. “The former agent has made shocking revelations. Just rejecting what has been mentioned in the book is not enough,” Mr Jaitley said on the charges by the former KGB agent that money was “regularly” paid to the Congress and CPI during the Cold War. The spokesman said :“Such serious allegations cannot be ignored and the country has every right to know the complete truth. “The government should immediately investigate the matter and let the facts be brought before the people,” Mr Jaitley said, demanding that a probe by a commission assisted by the CBI. He said the inquiry was necessary as doubts had been created in the minds of people and these would linger on till a probe was conducted. Dismissing the reactions of the Congress and the Communists, Mr Jaitley said that such serious allegations could not be ignored and the country had every right to know the complete truth. Continuing disclosures of the publication as appearing in the Indian media reveal that Roubles were repeatedly paid to the Congress, some of its ministers and to the CPI, Mr Jaitley pointed out that the then political conduct of these two parties lent credence to the allegations. The BJP leader said it was unfortunate that the Congress had regularly been surrounded by allegations and controversies involving the security and defence of the country. Mr Jaitley demanded that as the principal constituents of the UPA government, the Congress owed an explanation to the people and cannot gloss over its responsibilities by simply rubbishing serious allegations. The Congress had yesterday dismissed the allegations, saying that these had been made just to “sensationalise” the book. The CPI said the charges were “concocted”. |
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Congress in damage control mode
New Delhi, September 19 Today, the party felt compelled to defend itself against reports in a book titled, “The Mitrokhi Archive”, which has detailed how the KGB had openly bribed CPI and Congress politicians, including ministers in the Indira Gandhi government. The Congress also sought to put a gloss on the Musharraf-Manmohan Singh meeting in New York, which is being seen as a throwback to the failed Agra summit, as it belatedly congratulated the Prime Minister on his successful visit to France and the USA. On reports of KGB funding, the Congress took the matter seriously enough to put out a formal one-page statement, describing the charges as “baseless and slanderous.” “To state that Ms Gandhi became Prime Minister because of the manipulation of any foreign intelligence agency is preposterous,” the statement said, adding that Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister because of the love and trust reposed in her by the people. Rejecting the allegations in the forthcoming book, Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said it was totally incorrect to say that the 1971 Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship or the rupee-rouble agreement had anything to do with the KGB. She also hit out at the BJP for jumping to conclusions even before the book is out, stating that the Congress would contemplate further action only after reading the book which, Ms Natarajan said, is yet to be released. The Congress defence today follows a week of similar fire-fighting steps which the party was called upon to initiate. First, it had to defend Prime Minister’s media advisor Sanjaya Baru’s briefing on Dr Singh’s meeting with the US President where the Prime Minister referred to his predecessor’s objections to the Indo-US nuclear pact. |
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SC stays HC order for
vacating building by HPTDC
New Delhi, September 19 Issuing notices to all litigating parties, including Ravinder Kumar Shankhyan, on whose public interest litigation (PIL), the high court had passed the order, a Bench of Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice C.K. Thakker issued interim stay while accepting the plea of HP’s Additional Advocate-General (AAG) that the nature of lease of the canopy building, which is the property of Shimla Municipal Corporation, could not be changed without the sanction of the state government as per the law. The state’s AAG, Mr J S Attri, also said that in entire Shimla town, the HPTDC maintained only two buildings — the canopy restaurant and Hotel Holiday Home — which the corporation considered important for promotion of tourism. Mr Attri told the court that under the Shimla Municipal Corporation bylaws, its Commissioner could not lease, sell, let out on hire or transfer any property to any party without the sanction of the state government, and, therefore, the high court order was “erroneous” as it had overlooked this aspect. Moreover, the high court had issued the direction on a PIL of a person, who was not an interested party in the whole dispute, the AAG said adding that the scope of PILs in such matter was very limited. The other litigating parties, who were issued notices by the apex court, included the state government, Shimla Municipal Corporation, HPMC and a private applicant, who had quoted a higher bid than the annual lease rent paid by the HPTDC for running the Guffa and Aashiana restaurants in the picturesque canopy building, considered a major tourist attraction in the heart of the city. In its SLP, the HPDTC said the building was taken on rent by it for running the two restaurants in 1975 with a view of promoting tourism. As the court asked about the huge difference between the lease rent of Rs 6 lakh quoted by a private party and meagre Rs 27,000 being paid by the HPTDC at present, Mr Attri said the preservation of the historic building by government was also an important aspect, which could not be overlooked. The court said the question for examination before the court was whether it was a “kind of disinvestment”, considering the value of the property and could such matter be entertained in a PIL. Shankhyan in his PIL before the high court had prayed for handing over of the restaurants to the
highest bidders to ensure that the Municipal Corporation got better rent for its property. Taking cognizance of the PIL, the high court had directed the HPTDC to vacate the property immediately and asked the Municipal Corporation to issue advertisements in three leading newspapers inviting offer of parties to take over the two restaurants on lease for 25 years. |
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Naxal-hit states agree on
New Delhi, September 19 “Inter-State joint task forces will be established to facilitate coordinated and synergised anti-Naxalite operations across state boundaries. These Forces will be made functional very quickly,” Home Minister Shivraj Patil said after a day-long meeting of Chief Ministers of the Naxal-affected states organised here to review the situation and take concrete steps to tackle the problem. Mr Patil said the states noted that the problem of Naxalism ran across their boundaries and, “therefore, they agreed to adopt a collective approach and pursue a coordinated response to effectively combat it.” Setting up of the task forces by the Naxal-affected states is expected to remove earlier hurdles of one state carrying out hot pursuit of Naxalites into a neighbouring state due to jurisdiction problems. During the meeting, the states also agreed to the Centre’s suggestion for appointing nodal officers to deal with Naxal-related issues and to have better coordination amongst themselves and with the Central Government. Observing that Naxalism has to be
addressed by ensuring effective and sustained police action while accelerating socio-economic development in the affected areas, Mr Patil said each state will prepare an “action plan” to combat the menace on both security and developmental aspects in a ‘‘time-bound manner”. “Since law and order is a state subject, we have asked them to take effective steps on both security and developmental aspects in a time-bound manner...If they need any
assistance we (Centre) are there to help them,” Mr Patil said. He said the states would also take concrete steps to raise India reserve battalions from the Naxal-affected areas. However, on the issue of having a ‘Unified Command Structure’ to deal with this inter-state menace, there could not be any consensus as there were reservations from some states on it. A meeting of the Coordination Committee of Naxal-hit states, chaired by Union Home Secretary V K Duggal, in Hyderabad on June 18, had recommended having a Unified Command Structure for effective hot pursuits against Naxals and better coordination among the affected states. |
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Tarapur N-plants for overhaul
Mumbai, September 19 The Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS I & 2) will undergo major re-engineering so that the two plants can be utilized for another 15 years. India’s nuclear power establishment has been at the receiving end from the watchdog groups for flogging the two plants well beyond their prescribed life span. The two plants were commissioned way back in 1969 and their functioning was criticised by the country’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. The safety systems in both plants would be upgraded to meet international safety standards. The two reactors have a capacity of 160 MW each. Both plants use enriched uranium for fuel to generate power and were supplied by General Electric. However after the US imposed an embargo on supply of spare parts and enriched uranium for the two plants after India unveiled its nuclear weapons programme in 1974, the country had to rely on the alternative sources of technology and fuel. The various facilities planned for the two plants include separate power generators for the cooling systems for the two plants. In addition, several back up systems as per international norms will also be set up for the two plants. Upgradation of the existing plants comes days after the country’s biggest nuclear plant, the TAPS 4, generating 540 MW of power, went on stream last week. |
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Terrorist groups in Pakistan unaffected, says book
New Delhi, September 19 Reports emerging from Pakistan say the terrorist groups have in fact been regrouping, expanding and synergising. The groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HuM) and Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HuJI), although outlawed, have been able to consolidate their cadre, training and financial networks in the past three years, posing not only a threat to India but to the world in general. More alarming was the possibility that these groups, already using transnational criminal syndicates for collecting funds and weapons, have forged deeper links with terrorist groups and religious extremists in Southeast Asia and extend their scope of operations from Karachi to Malacca Straits, which is very important to India from the trade point of view. There were several common threads that draw some of these groups together. Both the JeM and the HuJI, for instance, are organically linked to Harkat-ul Ansar or Harkat-ul Mujahideen, raised with the objective of fostering militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in 1991. These facts have been brought out in a new book on terrorism in South Asia which is scheduled for release later this week by a well-known think tank in New Delhi. The book, “Terrorism in Southeast Asia: Implications for South Asia”, gives an account of various terrorist groups in South Asia and Southeast Asia and cautions the international community of the imminent danger of a terrorist coalition emerging in the future. Wilson John, a senior fellow with ORF and editor of the volume, says there was a major link between sectarian organisations and terrorist groups. |
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UPA allies, CPM hold talks on seat sharing
New Delhi, September 19 In the talks, which were described as “preliminary,” it was decided that the parties would retain the seats held by them in the last election. They also decided that the party which had finished second on a seat in the last poll, will have the strongest claim to put up its candidate. The meeting lasting nearly two hours at RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s residence was attended by AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and NCP leader Tariq Anwar. Bihar PCC chief Sadanand Singh was also present. Sources said the Congress had significantly brought down its claim from the last elections when it was unwilling to settle for less than 70 seats in the RJD-led coalition. They said while the Congress had claimed 35 seats in the talks held today, the CPM had sought eight seats and the NCP nine seats. Mr Yadav, after the meeting, said an agreement was expected tomorrow and the four parties would take the plunge jointly. Without naming LJP headed by Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, the RJD chief said that doors were still open for other parties to join the RJD-led alliance in the state. Today’s meeting, the first such joint exercise by the UPA allies and outside supporter CPM, comes a day after the CPI offered its support to Mr Paswan to end 15 years of the RJD “misrule” in the state. Asked to comment on the Third Front, Mr Yadav dismissed it as a group of parties without base. He indicated that a Common Minimum Programme would be drafted soon. On the UPA’s Chief Ministerial candidate, Mr Yadav said, “everyone knows it. In Bihar, it has always been Lalu versus all”. Mr Yechury, after the meeting, said his party would extend outside support to the coalition if it comes to power. Referring to the Third Front, he said efforts were being made to avoid a division in secular votes. Replying to queries about
continuation of Mr Paswan in the Cabinet, Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said the party had made efforts to fight the poll unitedly. She said some UPA allies were following an independent agenda in Bihar and the party would go along with that. |
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Gurmat Samagam at Jaipur
Jaipur, September 19 The Samagam would be devoted to the preachings and ideals of Giani Sant Singh Maskin. It may be recalled that the first Samagam was organised in the august presence of Sant Singh Maskin 20 years ago. Since then it has been a regular annual religious feature. The Samagam will be marked by 24-hour recitation of Guru Granth Sahib along with grand processions and performances by famous ragi jathas. |
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7 new varieties of wheat released
New Delhi, September 19 With the release of these new high yielding varieties, agricultural scientists hope that the crop would be pest resistant and would enable India, currently the second largest producer of wheat in the world after China, to be the global leader. The research institute said DBW 16 wheat variety, developed by Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR), Karnal, is resistant to yellow and brown rusts and amenable to late and very late sowings. It is better in resistance to leaf blight as compared to all the existing varieties and has been identified for North Western Plains Zone (NWPZ), which contributes to about 40 per cent of the total wheat production of the country. It matures in 120 days with an average yield of 39 quintal per hectre. It said HI 1531 wheat variety is the first early maturing semi-dwarf bread wheat variety ever evolved in the history of drought tolerance breeding in Central India. It has been recommended for rainfed and restricted irrigation conditions of Central Zone. |
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Approval for PGDM courses withdrawn
New Delhi, September 19 The AICTE has also issued a direction to transfer and distribute the students already admitted in the institute to other approved institutions in the nearby locality. In a statement issued here today, the AICTE pointed out that the institute had been inspected on several occasions during the past few years and showcause notices were issued for violating norms and standards set by the council. |
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Lalu defence on official vehicle
New Delhi, September 19 |
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