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Bandhs hit life in Orissa, Jharkhand
Labour law core issue in Ramdev case: Brinda
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Focus shifts to Cabinet shuffle
Gudiya’s death: ex-officer blames Army
Mamata dares Bengal CM
Jaiprakash among 10 chargesheeted
EC calls all-party meeting on state funding of poll
BJP criticises UPA for food subsidy cut
Sinha flays UPA on N-talks with US
Tough stand made Thar Express possible
LeT militants get police remand
AMU observes token strike
Amitabh feeling better: Jaya
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Bandhs hit life in Orissa, Jharkhand
Bhubaneswar, January 7 It had the backing of almost all opposition parties, several social organisations, trade unions and student bodies. Reports received in Bhubaneswar said business establishments were closed in most parts of the state and vehicles remained off the road. Train services were also affected as bandh supporters resorted to blockades and squatted on railway tracks at many stations. Attendance in government offices was thin. Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) B.B. Mishra said, ‘’Barring some minor incidents, no major untoward incident has been reported from any part of the state.’’ State Director-General of Police Suchit Das said about 164 platoons of police forces had been deployed in sensitive areas and industrial pockets across the state. The Orissa Government had declared a holiday in all educational institutions today. Several radical Left organisations had extended support to the bandh and said the agitations would continue till Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik resigned. The bandh had more impact at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district, where 12 tribals were killed in police firing on January 2 while protesting against the civil construction of a proposed steel plant by the Tatas. In Jharkhand, train services were disrupted and life was affected. However, reports received in the capital Ranchi said barring tribal-dominated areas, the bandh failed to evoke much response elsewhere. The Congress, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Left parties and many tribal organisations, including the Adivasi Adhikar Manch, had called the bandh. A Jamshedpur report said train services in the Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway were disrupted as bandh supporters squatted on the tracks since morning at Tatanagar and Gamgharia stations. The Tata-Howrah Ispat Express, the Danapur-Durg Tata Express and many other trains were held up for more than two hours. The police, however, dispersed the agitators and services resumed. Bandh supporters also put up road blockades at Jugsalai, Bistopur and Sakchi areas, reports said. |
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Labour law core issue in Ramdev case: Brinda
New Delhi, January 7 She said if Union Health Minister A. Ramadoss had any doubts whether the samples she had given him were from Ramdev’s pharmacy or not, the workers of the factory in Hardwar could provide him with further evidence. “I gave sealed bottles along with computer slips issued by the pharmacy. If there are any doubts, the workers of the pharmacy can present the minister with more evidence,” the CPM leader said at a press conference organised by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). “The major issue is of violation of labour laws in the pharmacy and attention should not be diverted from this issue. I can bear the allegations that are being levelled against me. But these workers are not lying,” she said. She said even today, the main issue was that of the Divya Pharmacy in Hardwar, run by Ramdev’s Divya Yog Mandir Trust, not respecting a tripartite agreement reached between the state government, the pharmacy and the agitating workers on May 21, 2005, under which 113 workers who had been sacked were to be taken back. Ms Karat stressed that her party was not against Ayurveda or yoga, but against consumers being kept in the dark about the ingredients of the medicines sold by the pharmacy. “Our campaign is not against Ayurveda or yoga. But it is wrong to claim that your medicine is totally herbal and put something else in it,” she said. CITU leader Dipankar Mukherjee demanded that the Centre directly intervene in the matter and get samples from the pharmacy tested. “Health Ministry has found prima facie violation of the Indian Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. Why can it not directly intervene and test the samples through the Drug Controller of India,” Mr Mukherjee said. “Both the Uttaranchal Government and the Centre Government must intervene so that there is no violation of the labour law as well as the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940,” he said. Also present at the press conference were some of the 113 workers who had been retrenched from the pharmacy, who alleged human bones were used in making medicines there.
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Focus shifts to Cabinet shuffle
New Delhi, January 7 Like the organisational recast, the revamp of the Cabinet has been in the pipeline for over six months. It was delayed for one reason or the other. Congress and UPA insiders have consistently maintained that these changes would be undertaken in tandem as several party office-bearers were expected to be moved to the government and vice-versa. Now that one part of these twin exercises has finally been undertaken, speculation is rife that the expansion-cum-reshuffle of the Union Cabinet may well be round the corner. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had stated that he would be applying his mind to the ministry shake-up after the Parliament session, which ended two weeks ago. The question now doing the rounds in party circles is whether this exercise will be undertaken before the AICC plenary session which is to be held in Hyderabad from January 21 to 23. The more superstitious in the party believe that there will be no movement on this front till the present inauspicious period ends on Makar Sakranti on January 14. In that case, it is felt, it may be too close to the AICC session and the Prime Minister might not want the plenary to be overshadowed by any rumblings from the aspirants who fail to make it. As it is, yesterday’s party recast has indicated that several senior party leaders who were earlier expected to be accommodated in the government will not be moved. AICC general secretary Ambika Soni and party treasurer Motilal Vora were always mentioned as ministerial probables, but now that they have been retained in the party, they are unlikely to be shifted. Similarly, there was talk of Dr Karan Singh being inducted into the Cabinet but this seems highly unlikely since he has been appointed chairman of the party’s foreign affairs department. On the other hand, Oscar Fernandes, who handles three ministerial portfolios, is likely to be brought back to the party. Besides, several states like Punjab, Assam, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala are not represented in the Union Cabinet even as key ministries like external affairs and power are unmanned. |
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Gudiya’s death: ex-officer blames Army
New Delhi, January 7 “The lives of five families were badly affected by the carelessness of the Army. But unfortunately nobody has blamed it so far. They (Gudiya, Arif and Jasgir Singh) have suffered because of the selfishness of some Army officers,” Brig R.P. Singh in a written statement said. He detailed how the laid down procedure for declaring a soldier as “deserter” was not followed by the Commanding Officer (CO) concerned. Coming out with the statement in the wake of the unfortunate death of Gudiya, who was traumatised constantly before her death because the Army authorities did not give her correct information about the status of her husband and she was forced to remarry before Arif was found to be in a Pakistan jail, Brigadier Singh alleged that the CO did it to save himself from being termed as a bad commander. Explaining the procedure for declaring a soldier as deserter and the implications of his being captured as PoW on the career of the CO, he said if a jawan is captured by the enemy, the blame directly comes on the commander and it normally is taken into account when his promotion for a higher rank is considered. “The reason behind doing all this is that if the CO had reported that these two jawans have been taken PoWs then his chances of getting further promotion or coveted courses like Long Defence Management Course or Higher Command course for which every CO aspires would have been adversely affected, because it would have reflected on his command failure,” Brigadier Singh said. “Therefore, he decided to adopt an un-officer like course. It is rather sad that even today the Army has not owned up its mistake and guilty officers who ‘ruined’ the happiness of so many people have not been punished,” he said. Elaborating the procedure for mine laying/breaching, he said it was so foolproof that if a soldier engaged in the job had gone missing, it is detected within hours and the information is sent to the CO immediately.
Unfortunately, the sappers — Arif Mohammed and Jasgir Singh — declared “wrongly” as deserters, were found to be taken as PoWs by the Pakistani army only when it made a declaration about it in 2004, four years after the Kargil conflict. Because the regiment commanded by the CO concerned had done a good job in Kargil, “he did not want to face the wrath of the senior officers if he had reported about the capture of two jawans by the enemy,” Brigadier Singh alleged. Had the Army come out with a statement immediately that the two jawans had been captured as PoWs, their families would have been assured that they were alive and not suffered, he said, adding that Gudiya would also would have not been forced to remarry. “Since Pakistan is signatory to the Geneva Convention, it was duty-bound to give details of the PoW. If this procedure was followed, the families of the two jawans would not have suffered the stigma of their kin being declared as deserters from the battlefield,” he said. One has to understand the psychological reasons for Gudiya suffering a massive heart attack in August last, which ultimately resulted in the failure of her organ and death recently. Due to the fault of the Army, she was subjected to a national debate on her remarriage and her desire to return to Arif after he suddenly came out of Pakistan jail last year. |
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Mamata dares Bengal CM
Kolkata, January 7 Ms Banerjee and seven other TMC leaders, including five MLAs, were issued non-bailable warrants on December 7 in connection with a law violation incident on November 11, 1994, near the DM’s bungalow at Barasat, North 24-Parganas. So far, the court’s order had not been carried out. In the evening, the TMC supremo declared that she would not surrender to the conspiracy hatched against her and other political leaders and workers of different parties by the CPM on the eve of the elections. “Let the police arrest me and the people will respond,” she challenged the Chief Minister. As the hearing of the case began today, it was stated in the court on behalf of the police that since the accused were political leaders who had been busy in their political activities, the police could not arrest any of them. The SDJM reprimanded the police and ordered that Ms Banerjee and others be arrested and produced in his court on or before February 27. Ms Banerjee said she would reach New Delhi tomorrow to meet leaders of like-minded parties, including Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Mr L.K. Advani and Mr George Fernandes. She might also meet the Defence Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, and other AICC leaders, including Ms Ambika Soni. |
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Jaiprakash among 10 chargesheeted
Patna, January 7 Mr Yadav, along with others, were chargesheeted in connection with the case during the first phase of the Bihar Assembly poll on October 18, in which the RJD leader was charged with conspiring “illegal” escape of his brother, Vijay Prakash, from police custody. The charge sheet was filed in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate R.C. Singh. Out of the eight chargesheeted, Vijay Prakash, Ashok Ram and Batohi Yadav were already in judicial custody. The three were arrested on October 18 last while moving in the constituency with over Rs 6 lakh in cash, rifles, a huge quantity of ammunition and bottles of liquor, but were let off under controversial circumstances, allegedly after the former Union minister intervened. Mr Yadav had to resign from the Cabinet after a local court had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him last year for helping his brother escape ‘illegally’ after his arrest on October 18. The charge sheet was filed under Sections 218, 225 and 409 of the Indian Penal Code. |
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EC calls all-party meeting on state funding of poll
New Delhi, January 7 The poll panel has asked the six national recognised political parties and 44 state-recognised parties to send their views on the 10-point recommendations of the Union Cabinet to it by January 31, official sources said. The national parties have been asked to nominate two representatives while state recognised parties have been told to nominate one for the meeting, the sources said. The Union Cabinet, at a meeting on December 22, decided to refer the proposal of state funding of elections to the EC with a view to building consensus on the issue. Under the present laws, candidates can spend up to Rs 1.5 million for a parliamentary poll and up to Rs 600,000 for an Assembly poll and have to submit detailed accounts for this. The rule, however, is observed more in breach than in practice. Six committees have discussed the issue in the past 23 years. The government has now sought the Election Commission’s views on the proposals of the fifth committee chaired by late Indrajit Gupta of the Communist Party of India, a former Home Minister. The state funding of elections was one of the agenda of the UPA government’s common minimum programme. Of the 10 proposals of the Cabinet, three pertain to recognised political parties and seven to their candidates. It said that recognised political parties would be given suitable rent-free accommodation for their headquarters with one rent-free telephone with STD facility and time on private cable television and other electronic media network. The commission has been asked to finalise its views in consultation with the recognised political parties and after taking into account parameters such as the geographical features and means of communication. |
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BJP criticises UPA for food subsidy cut
New Delhi, January 7 The party also objected to the UPA’s decision to promulgate an ordinance for protecting minority institutes, describing it as part of the government’s appeasement and vote bank politics. Talking to newspersons, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar alleged that the cut in the food subsidies had revealed the government’s intention to dismantle the Public Distribution System (PDS). While effecting an hike in prices of foodgrains by 25 per cent under the APL, the government had also reduced the quantum of foodgrains to be made available to the BPL and APL families through PDS scheme, which would further hit the poor, he said. On the other hand, the NDA, Mr Javadekar claimed, had consistently addressed the problems of the poor by enhancing food subsidies under the PDS from Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 35,000 crore after increasing the availability of foodgrains per family from 25 kg to 35 kg per month. |
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Sinha flays UPA on N-talks with US
New Delhi, January 7 In a statement issued here, the BJP leader alleged that the negotiations on the July 18 nuclear deal were being conducted in a “hush-hush manner” here even as the Congress-led government had no reservations in the plan being unveiled before the US Congress. “We learn from the media that the plan for the separation of the civilian and military nuclear facilities has been submitted to the US authorities,” Mr Sinha said. “At the same time, the government has informed the US authorities that it would have no objection to the plan submitted by it being shared with the US Congress,” he said. Noting that the issue would have an impact on India’s nuclear programme in the future, Mr Sinha said, “Yet, in making such a far-reaching commitment, the government does not think fit” to take into confidence the people of India, Parliament, Opposition leaders, its alliance partners and even its own Cabinet “but has no objection to the US Congress being taken into confidence”. |
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Tough stand made Thar Express possible
New Delhi, January 7 Interestingly, there are different versions from both sides as to what happened during the two-day technical-level talks (January 5-6) at the end of which the two countries decided to operationalise Thar Express from February 1. According to the Indian version, the Pakistanis took a hard position on the very first day of the talks and formally conveyed to the Indians that, like the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, the Thar Express would not be allowed to cross into each other’s territory. The Pakistani proposal was that the two countries’ respective trains should stop within their respective borders, the passengers should disembark, cross the International Border on foot and then board the waiting train. The same operational procedure is adopted for the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service. The Indian side remonstrated at the Pakistani attempt to replicate the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus experience in context of a train service. The Indians tried to argue that apples could not be compared to oranges and cited enormous difficulties the passengers would be exposed to if the bus service modalities were to be replicated because rail passengers carry much more luggage. The next day also, the Pakistani side maintained the same stand and dispersed for prayers at lunch time but not before the Indians had told them categorically that if this was the final position of the Pakistanis then there was no point in carrying on further with the talks. The Indian side left nothing to doubt for the Pakistani counterparts when they told them that if Islamabad continued to have the same stand then the two sides needed to talk at much higher level, rather than technical level. When the Pakistani delegates returned after lunch yesterday, they softened up and agreed to let the two trains cross into each other’s territory, though the Munabao-Khokhrapar rail line is just two kms-long, shorter than several platforms. The Pakistani version is that they only spoke of not letting the two trains cross into each other’s territory “for the time being” because the infrastructure on their side was still being put in place. It was for the sake of keeping up the positive spirit of peace talks that they agreed to let the Thar Express cross into each other’s side even though the Pakistan Railways was still not ready. |
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LeT militants get police remand
Mumbai, January 7 The court was told that the three had arrived in the city even while they were wanted by the police in Jammu and Kashmir. Acting on a tip-off, the police picked up the three from a hotel at Nagpada in Central Mumbai. The police subsequently seized two electronic circuits used for making bombs, 20 detonators and five timers from them. A .32 revolver, six rounds and one electronic circuit was found with Khursheed Ahmed. According to the police here, he is the son of Hurriyat Conference leader Abdul Ghani Lone who was killed by terrorists in 2002. |
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