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PM reviews ‘84 riot panels’ work
Lalu apologises to Muslims, Yadavs
Rabri Devi files papers
Nitish Kumar releases manifesto
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Vajpayee blames Congress for bloodshed in J&K
Shankaracharya seeks transfer of case outside TN
SC order on loudspeakers’ use welcomed
Healing process in Ayodhya gets setback
Cabinet nod to urban renewal mission this week
Rs 2.5 lakh relief for secret cremation victim
Mufti meets PM
285 houses allotted to Sikhs
Kalam launches Virtual University Programme
Preeti Jain gets bail
Allahabad HC gets
five new judges
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PM reviews ‘84 riot panels’ work
New Delhi, October 4 Dr Manmohan Singh had assured Parliament during the monsoon session that the government would take necessary action on the recommendations of the Nanavati Commission, including re-investigation of certain riot cases if necessary. Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal told reporters that “the committees have almost completed their tasks and are very soon going to submit their reports (to Home Minister Shivraj Patil). These will be then sent to the Union Cabinet for approval.” The government was yet to decide whether the investigation, if necessary, would be carried out by the CBI or any other government agency, he said. The Nanavati Commission report, which points fingers at several “local” Congress leaders including Sajjan Kumar, MP, late Dharam Dass Sastry and H.K.L. Bhagat, however, absolved the party saying there was no evidence to suggest that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi or any other high-ranking leader had “suggested or organised” the attacks in which nearly 3,000 persons were killed. The 339-page report said the riots were an organised one involving Congress leaders and could not have taken place “but for the backing and help of influential and resourceful persons, killing of Sikhs so swiftly and in large number could not have happened.” The report indicting former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler said there was “credible evidence” against him, that he had “very probably” had a hand in the organising attacks and demanded that the government take “further action as may be necessary”. Mr Jaiswal said the disbursement of compensation to the victims of the anti-Sikh riots would take place once the Cabinet approved the committee reports. Meanwhile, the government rejected the BJP’s demand for a judicial probe into allegation made in the Mitrokhin Archives that the former Soviet intelligence agency, the KGB funded Congress and CPI leaders. |
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Lalu apologises to Muslims, Yadavs
Patna, October 4 Addressing the gathering, Mr Lalu Prasad said,” People learn from past mistakes and I am also trying to rectify my mistakes “. He was referring to the rift in his pet Yadav and Muslim votebank in the last assembly elections as well as the chasm within his own Jadav community during the distribution of tickets in the last assembly poll. In the February poll, while the RJD MP Pappu Yadav had put up rebel candidates against official RJD
candidates in Madhepura after his own followers were denied tickets by Lalu Prasad and his brothers-in-law, there was rift between Pappu Yadav and leaders like Taslimuddin too. The RJD leaders already admitted unexpected electoral setbacks in districts like Madhepura, Gopalgang and some other pockets in the last assembly poll due to the rift in the Yadav-Muslim vote bank of Mr Lalu Yadav. In his speech, he said that in the past 15 years of the RJD rule in the
state, he tried to strengthen communal harmony by preventing the BJP and the Sangh Parivar from transforming Bihar into another
Gujarat. He also dwelt at length on the RJD government’s contribution in upgrading the “madrasas” and undertaking various socio-economic measures for the Muslims. With regard to the 5 per cent reservation for backward Muslims (Pasminda Muslims) under Article 341 of the Constitution on the lines of SC and ST of the Hindus, Mr Yadav said that he would address this issue during the release of the common minimum programmes along with the Congress and the NCP tomorrow. Another ally of the RJD-led UPA in Bihar, the CPM, would release its own election manifesto separately. It may be mentioned that Lalu had brokered peace recently with Pappu Yadav by sending his emissary to the latter in the jail, following which Pappu’s wife shared common platform with Union Minister of State, Taslimuddin during a recent programme to inaugurate various railways projects. |
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Rabri Devi files papers
Patna, October 4 Ms Rabri Devi had been winning the Raghopur seat since 1997 byelection after her husband Lalu Prasad yadav had to step down following the alleged multi-crore fodder scam involving him. For Ms Rabri Devi,unlike the February Assembly poll, Lalu Prasad this time has not officially declared her as the chief ministerial candidate for the RJD-led UPA coalition amidst pressure from the Congress to choose the chief
ministerial candidate only after the poll. Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, along with other senior Janata Dal leaders,
accompanied Ms Rabri Devi at the time of filing nomination. The police had a tough time controlling the mob which had gathered at Raghopur to see the couple. While Ms Rabri Devi reached the SDO office in “Garib Chetna Rath”, two elephants and a huge convoy of cars accompanied her to Raghopur,24 km from Patna. |
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Nitish Kumar releases manifesto
Patna, October 4 Mr Kumar was releasing the election manifesto of the
JD(U) here, sans the BJP. The BJP would release its manifesto separately. Mr Kumar also raked up the issue of special provisions for “extreme backward castes” under other backward castes. |
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Vajpayee blames Congress for bloodshed in J&K
New Delhi, October 4 “Had the governments in the 1980s heeded public voice, there could not have been so much of bloodshed in Kashmir,” Mr Vajpayee said as he analysed the origins of trouble in the state. The former Prime Minister’s remarks came while he released the book last evening on the life of 93-year-old Amla, who has represented the state in Parliament for 21 years. The 218-page book, released in the presence of Mr Amla himself and a distinguished audience, recalls the elderly parliamentarian’s role in the turbulent history of Jammu and Kashmir in recent decades. “Amla opposed the dialogue between Rajiv Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah (in the 1980s). He believed that Farooq couldn’t be trusted, particularly in the backdrop of the still fresh dismissal of the Farooq’s government by Ms Gandhi,” Mr Vajpayee’s three-page message in the book said. “Despite his (Amla’s) opposition, the Rajiv-Farooq accord was inked and elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly were held in 1987,” Mr Vajpayee’s message recalled.
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Shankaracharya seeks transfer of case outside TN
New Delhi, October 4 Citing a series of utterances of Ms Jayalalithaa in the Assembly and public functions on the case, senior advocate Fali S. Nariman, appearing for the pontiff, said: “These had created a surcharged atmosphere against Shankaracharya, which is not conducive for fair trial”. He told a Bench of Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur that even the seer lawyers, including senior advocate Dinakaran, a respected figure in the Madras High Court, were not spared and were framed up in “false cases”. The Tamil Nadu Government had even gone to the extent of filing criminal defamation cases against three journalists for their write-ups about the case as these obviously did not suit it.” The journalists include noted columnists S Gurumurthy and Cho Ramaswamy, he said. Dinakaran, a lawyer of 47-year standing, two other seer’s counsel, Shanmugham and Y Thayagarajan, their two junior women colleagues were charged with interfering in the investigation on “false allegation” that they had questioned the wife of co-accused Ravi Subramaniam, who had become an approver, that why her husband had deposed against the pontiff, Nariman stated. The fallacy of the state police case against them was exposed when these lawyers filed petitions in the Madras High Court, seeking a CBI probe into the charges as the prosecutor there made a categorical statement that the government did not want to proceed further with the chargesheet against the lawyers and this would not happen again, he said. Despite the Government giving such an assurance to the high court, it had “reiterated” the charges against the lawyers in its affidavit, filed in the apex court in reply to Shankaracharya’s transfer petition, he said adding that the motive behind “harassing” them was that no counsel could come forward to defend the pontiff, Nariman contended. He said on the other hand the Chief Minister on more than one occasion had spoken about the case when the matter was pending in the court. “She in a suo motu statements made in the Assembly on November 24, 2004 stated that investigation has established that the accused (Shankracharya) has plotted to kill Sankararaman,” he pointed out. There were several given out side the Assembly and at public functions, he said citing reports of various newspapers and magazines in this regard. “There are several circumstances with accumulated facts that show that there is surcharged atmosphere nor favourable for fair trial against Shankaracharya,” Nariman contended. |
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Police fails to rescue Golu
Patna, October 4 Golu, a student of DAV Public School, was abducted on September 20 from Danapur and the court had set two deadlines of September 30 and October 4 to rescue him by the police. Mr Justice R.N. Prasad and Mr Justice S.N. Hussain of the high court today asked the police to apprise the court of the progress in the abduction case by October 7.
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SC order on loudspeakers’ use welcomed
Gandhinagar, October 4 The young and the old joined together in celebrating the court decision with bursting of fire crackers in Surat,Vadodara, Rajkot, Upleta and Porbandar. “It will give us atleast some time to plan things”, said Ravi Kumar who is associated with the Navratri garba celebrations in Vadodara. Once a pure religious festival, Navratri in Gujarat is a nine-day-long Rs 10,000 crore turnover industry today. And this crassly commercial business interest which has overshadowed the religious aspect. It all began when the Supreme Court, in its interim order, limited the use of loudspeaker till 10 pm. “The immediate result of the ban was to take the garba indoors. In Rajkot there was great demand for halls with its rents registering a staggering high pointed out Shailesh Vyas an avid garba enthusiast and amateur singer. Nevertheless, a general nervousness which hitherto prevailed, has now been replaced by glee. However, United Arkee, the biggest garba organisers of Vadodara, have decided not to conduct the event. The United Way of Vadodara had planned to convert the garba into a food festival after the deadline time. This will now be suitably amended to absorb the new development. The dhol players, who became out of vogue after hi-tech music systems took over the garba scene, are unexpected beneficiaries of the Supreme Court order. They are back in demand. Their prices are already up by 25 per cent. The sale of dhols is up by over 30 per cent, according to Rajeshbhai, a dhol dealer of Ahmedabad.” Much, however, will depend on how the administration interprets the orders since dhols have also been banned after the deadline, says H. Shah, one of the major organisers of the event in Ahmedabad. |
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Healing process in Ayodhya gets setback
Lucknow, October 4 The initiative to organise an Iftaar party for the Muslim community in Ayodhya once during the holy month of Ramzan had come from the president of the All-India Akhada Parishad president Mahant Gyandas. With the Ramzan and Navratri coinciding, the Mahant had many grand plans for Ayodhya. Two erstwhile supporters of the event went to court asking for a ban. On October 1, civil judge senior division of Faizabad Shivdan Yadav passed an interim order restraining Mahant Gyandas from inviting anyone inside the Hanuman Garhi complex. The matter will come for final hearing on November 9. Deeply traumatised by events of recent years in Ayodhya that, according to him, have targeted the city’s “Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb” composite culture, Mahant Gyandas had taken the lead to make amends in September 2003. |
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Cabinet nod to urban renewal mission this week
New Delhi, October 4 Speaking at a FICCI workshop on “Housing and urban development opportunities in North Indian states”, Minister of State for Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja, announced that the government was giving final touches to the policy framework and it would be presented at the Chief Minister’s conference in November. She said the national urban renewal mission for integrated and focussed development of cities and towns was expected to be cleared by the Union Cabinet this week. The mission would provide Rs 5,500 crore in the first year alone to states to meet the gaps in housing and urban infrastructure. This is likely to be stepped up to over Rs 10,000 crore a year. Ms Selja said to boost the housing stock, the state governments should adopt a pro-active reform-based agenda, including amendments in the Rent Control Act to rationalise owner-tenet relationship, reduction in stamp duty, a computerised system of registration and simplification of procedures for granting building permissions and land use conversions. The development authorities, she said, need to take steps to increase the supply of land so that no artificial speculation takes place. They also need to reserve 20 to 25 per cent of the land at affordable prices for the economically weaker sections. The cross-subsidisation, EWS/LIG flats with the MIG/HIG by the development authorities should be enforced through suitable bylaws, the minister said and added that possibilities of using land as a resource in mega and metro cities with relaxation of FAR for subsidizing houses for the poor need to be explored. Mr Saroj Kumar Poddar, Senior Vice President, FICCI suggested speeding up land transactions, single window clearance and approval of housing projects and legal and policy framework for control of slums. |
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Rs 2.5 lakh relief for secret cremation victim
New Delhi, October 4 Paramjit Singh was one of 109 victims of the "secret cremations" for whom the NHRC had announced compensation in a landmark judgement in November, last year. However, the Punjab Government had filed an affidavit that Paramjit was not in the admitted custody of the police prior to his death. Dismissing the affidavit, a Bench comprising NHRC Chairperson Justice A S Anand, members Justice Shivaraj V Patil, Justice Y Bhaskar Rao and Justice R S Kalha said a statement of a senior police officer showed that Paramjit had been arrested in an injured condition and had died in the police custody. Justice Anand said the Commission would look into other cases in which the police had claimed that the victims were not in their custody at the time of their deaths. Half of the Rs 2.5 lakh compensation had to be paid directly to the next of kin of Paramjit and the rest should be kept in a fixed deposit for a period of five years, the NHRC ruled while directing the government to file its compliance report within four weeks. — PTI |
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Mufti meets PM
New Delhi, October 4 The Chief Minister said later that the Prime Minister was appreciative of the pace at which the package was being implemented. The Chief Minister evaded direct reply to questions about whether he would demit office in the first week of November as per the agreement between Congress and PDP. However, asked if his demiting office will affect the peace process, Mr Sayeed said whatever peace had been achieved in the state was because of the common minimum programme of coalition partners. The Chief Minister said a high-level central team headed by Principal Secretary to Prime Minister had visited the state last week and had appreciated the work done by the state government to
impelement the reconstruction package. |
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285 houses allotted to Sikhs
Hyderabad, October 4 Speaking on the occasion, Mr Barnala said there was no historical record as to when the Sikhs had migrated to the state of Andhra Pradesh. Most of them did not have houses and survived selling iron tools and kitchenware, he said. He thanked the state government for fulfilling his promise to Sikhs when he was the Governor of the state. The TN Governor, who named the colony after Guru Gobind Singh, requested the state government to allot more houses to the poor among the Sikh community. Mr Shinde appreciated Mr Barnala’s services as the Governor. He urged the Sikhs in the state to secure voter identity cards in order to benefit from various government schemes. Mr K. Jana Reddy, Minister for Home and Housing, said the government was committed to the welfare of minorities. The government decided to construct 40 lakh houses in five years under the Rajiv Gruhakalpa Scheme. In the first 12 months, 8 lakh houses were constructed. The houses for the Sikhs were also constructed under the scheme, he added. Mr Reddy said the government has allotted 7 per cent of houses to minorities. Mr S. Huzur Singh, president A P Sikh Welfare Association, said a majority of the Sikh community in the state was economically, socially and educationally backward. He requested the state government to give financial help to them to enable them to earn a living. The Sikh Welfare Association honoured the Governors with shawls and
kirpans. |
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Kalam launches Virtual University Programme
New Delhi, October 4 The President said on April 27, 2005, the first seeds for the three universities to come together to move frontiers of knowledge was sown and October 3, was an important day in the annals of Indian universities. All three universities have agreed to work together and create a new synergy amongst the educational institutions, breaking historical and geographic boundaries. This trend, Dr Kalam said was sure to be a forerunner for many such unification ventures. |
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Allahabad HC gets
five new judges
New Delhi, October 4 |
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