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‘Govt-at-doorstep’
soon: Nitish
Taj Mahal case: SC declines Mughal descendant’s plea
Urgent need for single ministry for water
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Cyclone alert in Tamil Nadu
India ups diplomatic stakes in Africa, Latin nations
Anti-Left parties to unite
Pracheen Kala Kendra honours students
Women to regulate traffic
Water shortage in Malwa: Manpreet
Maran to complain to Centre
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‘Govt-at-doorstep’
soon: Nitish
Patna, December 18 The move has been initiated in the backdrop of the jail-break incident at Jehanabad on November 13 when over half of 650 inmates had fled the jail following attack by the Maoists. Mr Nitish Kumar has expressed concern over the neglect of rural Bihar and semi-urban areas. Sources in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat admitted that the failure to resolve basic issues of “bijli, sadak and pani” (power, road and water) concerning the common people and the absence of land reforms were responsible for the upsurge of Maoists. “It will be naive to dub the problem as a forward-backward clash alone, as the Naxalism is more a socio-political problem”, the sources said. He already asked officials to work out action plan to implement the “government-at-your-doorstep” programme to bridge the gap between the people and the administration. The sources said the basic idea of programme was to project a people-friendly image of the administration and try to ensure on-the-spot solution of the problems relating to land and other disputes. The state government has also decided to set up land reforms commission to expedite the process of much-delayed land reforms in the state by identifying the surplus land and distributing it among landless labourers. |
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Taj Mahal case: SC declines Mughal descendant’s plea
New Delhi, December 18 Tucy had moved a petition in the apex court on Friday supporting the July 7 order of the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Wakf Board, declaring the Taj Mahal as its property. He had submitted that “the order is well reasoned and perfectly valid one, based on hard facts and historical reality and developments.” A Bench of Ms Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice A R Lakshmanan while refusing to take cognizance of his petition rejected it after a brief hearing. The court said the order of dismissal would not “prejudice” any other matter on the issue in any forum. The court only last week had stayed the Wakf Board order following an appeal filed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), present custodian of the monument, challenging the verdict of the board. Tucy trying to establish his lineage to the family tree of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the great grandson of Mughal emperor Shahabuddin Mohammed Shahjhan, who built the mausoleum in the memory of his beloved queen Arjumand Bano Begum popularly known as Mumtaz Mahal, claimed that the King had in his life time “assigned” Taj to the Wakf by making a special provision that the income from 30 villages falling within the jurisdiction of Pragana Haveli and Nagar Chand of Akbarabad (Agra) would meet the cost of its management. “Emperor Shahjhan had declared himself as the custodian of the Wakf and till he was alive, he continued to manage the annual Urs of Mumtaz Mahal from the said income. Even today the religious rites and rituals are being continued to be performed,” he contended. Tucy said this fact had been explained in great details in a book ‘The Badshah Nama’ written by Abdul Hamid Lahori and published by Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1868. “In this way as per Wakf, the mausoleum Taj Mahal and its related mosque in the west and Jamatkhana in the east, are of religious status of offering namaz, and management of these and holding of Urs and Karekhair (social service), is established to be done in accordance with the Sunni Muslim laws,” he claimed. The annual Urs had been held continuously for the past 350 years on 25, 26, and 27 of Rajbulmurajjib (Hizri month), he said adding that Irfan Bedar, who had filed the petition before the Wakf Board, had been nominated as mutawalli (manager) of the mausoleum by Muslims of Agra at a meeting on April 20, 1998, which had resolved that the graves of Mumtaz Mahal and Shahjhan, buried along side her should be registered with the Wakf. |
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Urgent need for single ministry for water
New Delhi, December 18 The standing committee of Parliament on water resources, in its fourth report presented in the Lok Sabha recently, has asked the government to shun “further procrastination” and take steps at the earliest for a single administrative ministry for water. Not satisfied with the reply given by the Ministry of Water Resources in an action taken report on its earlier recommendation, the committee said that the Planning Commission and National Water Policy favoured the proposal for having a single ministry to deal with all issues concerning water. It said observations by the National Development Council also speak of the need to bring various water-related subjects under the control of the Water Resources Ministry. The Ministry, in its reply, had only restated some paras from the Tenth Five Year Plan. The committee also expressed its distress over the ministry not taking concrete steps to declare 41 identified irrigation projects (16 major and 25 medium), which have attained 90 per cent of the targeted potential, as completed by state governments. It said 90 per cent achievement of these projects has been observed to be static in the past few years and further headway was not being made due to constraints like non-availability of land from farmers. Expressing its unhappiness over the slow progress made by the ministry in clearance of a scheme for artificial recharge of ground water, the committee rapped it over as “casual approach” to the recommendation of taking steps to encourage recycling of waste water. Terming as “specious plea” and “untenable,” the ministry’s response about water being a state subject, the committee said it is for the ministry to take initiative in a more substantive manner and not confine itself to merely writing letters to state governments. The committee which is headed by Mr R. Sambasiva Rao expressed its unhappiness over the ministry’s failure to obtain by the stipulated date detailed project reports under the restructured `Command Area Development and Water Management’ scheme. |
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Cyclone alert in Tamil Nadu
New Delhi, December 18 "The district is on high alert for cyclone Mala," Cuddalore District Collector G.S. Bedi said. The cyclone is expected to hit the coastal district and move towards Chennai anytime between today or tomorrow, Mr Bedi said quoting Met officials. "The sea is very rough here and it has been continuously raining," said Mr Bedi, who went on to inspect the coastal village of Devanampattinam. "Over 50,000 persons living along the coastal villages will be shifted to 21 cyclone shelters built by the district administration," he said adding the shelters, constructed to weather severe storms and cyclonic conditions, were recently renovated after heavy rainfall hit the state. "The highways engineers have been put on standby to clear away any damage to road system, fire and revenue officials have also been alerted," he said.
— PTI |
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India ups diplomatic stakes in Africa, Latin nations
New Delhi, December 18 Minister of State for External Affairs Rao Inderjit Singh said in an exclusive conversation with The Tribune today that India was engaging LAC and Africa in an all-round manner, including economic diplomacy. “We have concluded a PTA with Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay). This will become effective shortly. A PTA with Chile will be signed soon. We are exploring the possibility of a PTA with Mexico also,” he said. India has initiated political interaction with all LAC countries and has established institutional interaction with Central America and Caricom. Foreign Ministers of a number of LAC countries, who are keen to visit India, have been invited. The Foreign Ministers of Dominican Republic and El Salvador will visit India in the first-half of next year. India is expanding its economic engagement with a number of countries in Africa. Already a close economic relationship is taking shape with Nigeria, India’s second largest trading partner in Africa. Nigeria also supplies over 20 per cent of India’s total petroleum imports. Companies like the ONGC, Ispat, etc. are establishing a strong hold in Nigeria’s energy, steel and mining sectors. In case of Ghana, India ranked the largest foreign direct investor in 2004 in terms of the total number of investment proposals and the second largest (after the UK) in terms of the cumulative value of the FDI. “In francophone Africa, we have very close ties with Senegal. We have also taken initiatives to enhance our engagement with countries like Angola, Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast,” Mr Inderjit Singh said. To boost bilateral trade and investment, India has allocated more than $ 1 billion worth credit lines on exceptionally soft terms that have began to have a visible effect in areas such as rail and road, rural electrification, agriculture and information technology. Africa is the largest recipient of India’s technical cooperation programmes and India has so far extended more than $1 billion worth of such assistance, including training, deputation of experts and implementation of projects in African countries. India has taken the lead in opening the markets of the LAC region for its companies. Indian exports to this region are expected to touch $ 3 billion in 2005 from $ 2 billion in 2004. In the case of Brazil, Indian exports reached $ 1.1 billion in the first 10 months of 2005. India has started giving lines of credit to countries in the region —Honduras, Guyana and Surinam being the latest examples. These lines of credit have facilitated the entry of Indian companies in new markets. “As part of India’s economic diplomacy, New Delhi is seeking membership of regional banks such as the Caribbean Development Bank and the Bank for Central American Integration so that our companies can participate in their projects. The President of Bank for Central American Integration is visiting India next month,” Mr Singh said. |
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Anti-Left parties to unite against CPM
Kolkata , December 18 TMC chief Mamata Banerjee still hoped the Congress would join them to defeat the CPM and other Left parties in the coming elections. She invited Mr Pranab Mukherjee at the convention for finalising a joint poll strategy to defeat the CPM. Mr Advani opened the largely crowded convention which former Congress Chief Minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray, also a former Punjab Governor, graced as special invitee. A large number of Congress workers and supporters were also present at the convention. Mr Mukherjee conveyed to Ms Banerjee that he could not attend the convention due to political compulsions at the national level. But he did not rule out possibilities of seat adjustment or electoral understanding with the TMC against the CPM and other Left Front partners. He also said he would discuss the matter with Ms Sonia Gandhi and other Central leadership. Inaugurating the TMC’s convention, Mr Advani lashed out at the CPM for misusing the police and the administration for vested political interests. He said the time was now ripe for all anti-Marxist parties to jointly fight the CPM. He said the main task before them was to restore democracy in Bengal, which had been butchered by the CPM in the past 28 years. He said the BJP would fight the elections with electoral understanding with the TMC as partners of the NDA. Mr Ray wondered why a section in the Congress was still treating the BJP as untouchable when the party had already made poll understanding in the Kerala elections and also in the last panchayats polls and municipal elections in several areas in West Bengal. |
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Pracheen Kala Kendra honours students
Kolkata, December 18 The convocation was presided over by the Chairperson of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, Justice Shyamal Kumar Sen, and the Kolkata Mayor, Mr Bikash Bhattacharyya, was the chief guest. Suchitra Mintra, the eminent Rabindra sangeet singer, was the guest of honour. Delivering the keynote address, eminent vocalist Dipali Nag highlighted the importance of music, dance and drama in the fields of art and culture. Both Justice Sen and the Mayor also stressed that music and drama had a vital role to play in everybody’s lives. They appreciated the authorities of the kendra for playing a positive role in training young men and women. The Director of the kendra, Mr M.L. Koser, narrated the variegated activities of the kendra in the field of the country’s art and culture. Like previous years, some eminent persons, who had been felicitated were sitarist Shyamal Chatterjee, novelist Harsha Dutta, journalist Nirupama Dutt and Mridul Kumar Roy. |
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Women to regulate traffic
Patna, December 18 Soon after Mr Nitish Kumar assumed charge as the 32nd Chief Minister of Bihar, he was urged to begin his initiative for change by disciplining the unruly traffic on the roads of Patna. According to the local police, from the next week, 50-odd women traffic cops are set to hit Patna roads to ensure that traffic rules are followed in strict observance, not in breach, and there is a smooth traffic flow. The police claims that there are two reasons behind this move. Firstly, nobody wants to be humiliated at the hands of a woman. Secondly, the embarrassment caused by a rebuke from a woman will have a lasting impact. The SSP, Patna, Mr Kundan Krishnan, said: “We will have to fall for women power. They seem to be our best bet for controlling erring drivers and regulating the traffic.” Mr Krishnan said the top brass had already selected 50 women cops drawn from various police stations of the districts who were at present undergoing specialised training in traffic rules and regulations. The SP (Traffic), Mr Shyam Kumar, informed that if the experiment proved successful, 50 more women constables would then be selected for the same purpose. “One hundred women traffic constables were enough to enforce discipline on Patna roads,” he remarked. In another important development related to the Chief Minister’s effort to tone up the administration, the state police headquarters here has sent a wireless message to forces in all districts directing them to strictly follow the dress code mentioned in the police manual. |
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Water shortage in Malwa: Manpreet
New Delhi, December 18 According to him, the ground water has strong presence of pesticides in it which is severely affecting the health of the people of the region. He pointed out that of the 12,000 villages in his constituency not even one had clean drinking water facility and all his pleas with the Capt Amarinder Singh government had yielded no results. Mr Badal said he had raised the issue even in the Legislative Assembly but the government had expressed its inability to do anything about it. He said as a result of the ground water getting polluted the entire food chain
had also got affected. |
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Maran to complain to Centre
Chennai, December 18 Talking to newspersons after visiting the injured at Government Royapettah Hospital here, Mr Maran said the state government should have learnt lessons from the previous experience, but “miserably failed.” After the November 6 incident in which six persons were killed in a stampede, the state government should have been more careful and taken up the matter more carefully, he said.
— UNI |
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