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Cong, BJP see no place for third front
BJP asks Pranab to quit on Navy leak
VHP trains guns on Advani
UN group to continue in India, Pak
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SC notice to Centre, RS in MPLADS case
Trinamool MP moves SC
Lashkar man arrested
Bihar Congress to back
Nitish on development
Shortage of health staff worries WHO
NREGA evokes huge response
Trust to help rural students in education
Manmohan intervenes to clear FTA
roadblocks
Govinda alleges threat to his life
Double benefit for meritorious SCs
Ministers face villagers’ ire
Hussain moves apex court
Medha gets international support
Top Tamil film director deserts AIADMK
Boucher meets Foreign Secy
NCM orders probe
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Cong, BJP see no place for third front
New Delhi, April 7 While Left parties reacted coolly, the ruling Congress was sarcastic and the BJP cautioned the third front parties. The BJP said this kind of attempt from Opposition parties would only help the ruling combine led by the Congress. “The Opposition slot is already occupied by the BJP-led NDA. Where is the place for any other front?” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told newspersons here. “In fact, by forming such a front they (the TDP and the SP) will only be helping the Congress,” he said. The CPM said it had its own ideas as to what constituted such an alternative, while the CPI and the RSP raised doubts over the venture being spoken about by some regional parties. “Our party has its own understanding of what should constitute a third alternative. We will discuss the matter in the context of the overall political situation after the Assembly elections are over,” CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said. CPI national secretary D. Raja said in the past several such fronts were formed like the United Front and the People’s Front. “Whatever may be the front or alternative, it must emerge from people’s movement on two planks — fighting communalist-fascist politics and the neo-liberal, anti-people economic policies.” “What is known so far is only the announcement of a third front by the SP and the TDP... Nothing is known about their policies and programmes,” he added. Meanwhile, the Congress rubbished the move by saying “zeros don’t make a political front”. “Where is the third front? You can’t form a political front without political parties,” Union Tourism and Culture Minister and senior Congress leader Ambika Soni told newspersons here. Those who are talking about a third front can’t even include the Left parties in it, she said responding to yesterday’s announcement by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu that they would resurrect the third front with the help of the AIADMK, the Asom Gana Parishad and the National Conference. Ms Soni said more important than forming a front was ensuring it was indeed an alternative. “You have to provide a political alternative,” she said at Travancore House where she inaugurated a Kerala food festival. |
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BJP asks Pranab to quit on Navy leak
New Delhi, April 7 “The Defence Minister, by misleading Parliament and the nation, has forfeited his right to occupy the office he holds and as such we demand that he should resign forthwith,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said here. His comments came in the wake of the arrests of five persons in CBI raids over the case. Mr
Javadekar, who insisted that the war-room leak and the Scorpene submarine deal were linked together, accused Mr Mukherjee of attempt to cover up the alleged scandal. To buttress the BJP’s contention that Mr Mukherjee was well aware of the leak well before it became public, Mr Javadekar cited a magazine interview by a relative of Naval Chief Arun Prakash. “Why all civilians involved in the case have not been arrested so far? Why has the government not named and taken action against the foreigners whom the Navy has referred to in its affidavit over the case?” Mr Javadekar asked. Also, he asked why the government had not ordered an inquiry into an alleged payment of Rs 225 crore by a Zurich trust to an alleged middleman involved in the Scorpene deal. “The complicity of the government (in the case) and its diversionary tactics are badly exposed,” the spokesman said. Meanwhile, on the UPA government’s move to enforce 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in Central Government-funded educational institutions, the BJP said it would welcome the move if similar reservation for OBCs was enforced in minority institutions also. “We are in favour of any policy that helps
OBCs, but it should be applied universally in all institutions, including minority institutions… But, the Congress-led UPA government is known for its double standard, ” Mr Javadekar said. On the communal tensions in Aligarh, he blamed the minority appeasement policies of both the Uttar Pradesh Government and the Central Government. |
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VHP trains guns on Advani
Ahmedabad, April 7 A day after the Leader of Opposition sought Muslim cooperation for the construction of a Ram temple on the first day of his ‘Bharat Suraksha Yatra’ at Rajkot, VHP firebrand general secretary Praveen Togadia said his outfit had committed a “blunder” by supporting Mr Advani’s ‘Ram Rath Yatra’ in 1990 and blamed the BJP leader for the “Congress-isation” of the party. Last year too, the Sangh Parivar had charged the former Deputy Prime Minister with “ideological erosion” in the wake of his controversial remarks on Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah at his mausoleum in Karachi. “The experience of past 450 years have shown that negotiations have not given positive results and the experience in the past 100 years have shown that judicial verdict is also not conclusive. Legislation in Parliament is the surest way to construct Ram Temple”, Mr Togadia said in an exclusive interview, rejecting Mr Advani’s call for a negotiated settlement of the imbroglio. “By suggesting negotiations with Muslims, Mr Advani has willfully neglected the legislative option. It shows he is not ready to follow the BJP’s own 1989 Palampur Resolution and that he has deviated from the ideological stand of the party’s national executive”, he said. Asked why the VHP cadre were not extending support to Mr Advani’s Yatra against UPA government’s “minorityism”, he said, “due to experience of past 13 years after Ayodhya demolition, we have come to the conclusion that the leadership of the Hindu movement should not be given to any political person because they may use the movement to gain power but after coming to power may not be able to fulfil the goal.”
— PTI |
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UN group to continue in India, Pak
New Delhi, April 7 Mr Tharoor who, addressed a seminar here, told newspersons on the sidelines that the UN Force had a mandate and they would have to continue as long as that mandate required them to. He was asked whether there was any need for the
UNMOGIP, which has its presence in Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK), to continue since both countries were now on a reconciliation pathway. The UNMOGIP was deployed in Jammu and Kashmir in January 1949 to supervise the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. Following the 1972 India-Pakistan agreement defining a Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, India took the position that the mandate of the UNMOGIP had lapsed. Pakistan, however, did not accept this position. Given that disagreement, the UN position has been that the UNMOGIP can be terminated only by a decision of the Security Council. In the absence of such a decision, the group has been maintained with the same mandate and functions, he said. Earlier, in his address on “Democracy and development: a UN view”, Mr Tharoor said the UN did not favour forcible change in regimes in order to bring in democratic forms of governance in any particular country. Drawing a parallel between democracy and development he said democracy had to come from within a nation and in accordance with the wishes of the people of that country. To a question on Iraq, he denied that the UN was imposing democracies in any country. “Regime change is not in the UN vocabulary. We are not in the business of regime change. The change should come from within,” he said in response to a question from the audience after addressing the seminar. Defending the UN in Iraq’s oil-for-food scam, he said inquiries had been instituted and Mr Paul Volcker was appointed to look into the matter. Only one UN official was not able to give an explanation, he added. Mr Tharoor said the issue of corruption would be the main concern of the UN in future and tackling corruption would be a major theme in the next few years. |
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SC notice to Centre, RS in MPLADS case
New Delhi, April 7 Though Sakshi Maharaj’s tenure had come to an end this month, he was suspended from the House for the duration of the Budget Session along with some other MPs caught in the string operation for alleged misappropriation of MPs Local Area Development funds from the projects sanctioned by them. While issuing notices, a Bench of Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal and Mr Justice C K Thakker clubbed his petition with that of the 11 MPs, who were expelled for their alleged involvement in the “cash for query” scam, which had been referred to a Constitution Bench earlier. |
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Trinamool MP moves SC
New Delhi, April 7 Afzal Amanullah, who was the Chief Electoral Officer of the state during the last Lok Sabha poll, had submitted a report to the EC on June 10, 2005, stating that the Left Front government in the state had been indulging in “systematic rigging” of elections, Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi and two social activists in their petition alleged. A Bench of Ms Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice Dalveer Bhandari posted the hearing on the petition for April 17 after a special mention of it was made by counsel for the petitioner for early hearing of the matter in view of the Assembly elections. Basing the petition mainly on media reports about the recommendations of Amanullah to the Election Commission (EC) in his report and recommending certain corrective measures, the petitioners claimed that the report was indicative of how all democratic norms were thrown to the wind in the state. According to the petitioner, Amanullah had sent 87 reports apart from his final report during the process of last Lok Sabha elections to the EC, in which it was indicated that the poll irregularities were so widespread in West Bengal that it warranted countermanding of elections in 35 Lok Sabha seats. “The report depicts how ruling Marxists terrorise the Opposition voters to ensure outright victory… It also describes how the police and administrative machinery is used to coerce voters and the Opposition, to the extent of illegally detaining them. It recommends a proper and thorough scrutiny of electoral rolls, employment of security personnel from outside the state and many important recommendations for real democratic electoral process in the state,” the petitioners claimed. |
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Lashkar man arrested
Lucknow, April 7 A resident of police station Solan in Rae Bareli, Imran was on his way out of the country to Nepal. One pistol with a magazine and seven bullets and a dairy and some documents have been recovered from him. Following interrogation it was revealed that Imran had met one Abdullah alias Sami, in Mumbai who was preparing to send him and two others to Pakistan through J&K. While crossing over they had an encounter with the Indian Army on the intervening night of 27 and 28 December 2005 in which Imran was injured in the leg.
— TNS
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Bihar Congress to back
Nitish on development
Patna, April 7 Talking to The Tribune the spokesman for the Bihar Congress and senior leader Premchandra Mishra asserted that the UPA did not intend to play politics on issues pertaining to the development of Bihar.‘‘We fully agree to Mr.Kumar`s views that unless Bihar is developed, the country can not prosper.” The state unit further assured necessary initiative from its side to persuade the central leadership of the party to support the demand for special status to Bihar. Mr. Mishra endorsed the views expressed by Mr. Nitish Kumar stating that Bihar was a fit case to enjoy special status for its multifarious problems.‘‘The Congress will rise above political differences to build up a new Bihar”, he said. To substantiate his views Mr. Mishra referred to the speech delivered by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the NRI conclave in Hyderabad in January where he had appealed to the business and industry to come forward and invest in Bihar. Mr.Mishra said that his party wanted Mr. Nitish Kumar to complete full five years in office and fulfil his promises for the development of Bihar. “The UPA will not create any hindrance to Mr.Kumar and rather extend constructive coopetaion”, he said. Cutting across party lines the Bihar Assembly on Tuesday decided to send an all- party delegation under Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister to place the demand for special status for the state. Mr.Kumar said, “The development of Bihar is in the interest of everyone, the policy makers, industrialists and NRIs.” |
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SBI strike — a test of customers’ patience
New Delhi, April 7 The exporters and traders have already sent an SOS to the government saying that strike had already started hitting Indian exporters as transactions worth over 2.5 lakh crore have been blocked. Some have even threatened to shift their accounts. Instead of making efforts to find a way out, the Left parties, led by CPI and United Forum of Bank Unions, have come to support the striking employees. “We have sympathy with customers, but we cannot suspend strike at this stage as it would send a wrong signal to our members,” Mt T.N. Goel, vice-president, All-India State Bank Officers’ Federation told The Tribune. “Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has time for campaigning for state Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu but not for talks with us. We have not received any offer of talks today,” he said. In a letter to Prime Minister, CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta requested him to intervene and find a reasonable solution to the workers’ demand without further delay. Dasgupta, who is also General Secretary of the CPI’s trade union body All-India Trade Union Congress, said the government should not insist on withdrawal of strike by SBI employees and officers as a pre-condition for talks with unions. “Withdrawal of strike as a pre-condition for discussion was always insisted upon by the previous NDA Government. Why should the UPA Government follow suit?” the CPI leader asked. People are unable to withdraw cash from over 2000 ATMs of SBI, which have started going dry. SBI has around 2,000 ATMs and each ATM had Rs 12.50 lakh on the day of the strike. In a statement issued here today, the United Forum of Banks Unions (UFBU), a conglomeration of nine bank unions, expressed solidarity with the SBI staff and threatened to go on strike if the government did not resolve the matter. To begin with, the forum would stage a march to Parliament on Monday in Delhi, a UFBU statement said. No resolution was in sight to the impasse between the SBI employees and the government, with the unions saying that they had not received any offer of talks from the Centre. “The situation stands as it was on April 5 when the conciliatory meeting between employees and the government failed,” All India SBI Staff Federation Vice-President V K Gupta said. Agitating unions rejected a fresh appeal by bank chairman A K Purwar to resume work, saying the ball was in the government’s court. |
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Shortage of health staff worries WHO
New Delhi, April 7 There are more than 59 million health workers in the world, found predominantly in richer areas where health needs are less severe, a report, “Working Together for Health”, released here today, said. “Their (health workers) numbers remain woefully insufficient to meet health needs, with the total shortage being in the order of 4.3 million workers,” the report said. “In absolute terms the greatest shortage occurs in South-East Asia, dominated by the needs of Bangladesh, India and Indonesia,” it said, adding that the region had 2.1 health care providers (doctors, nurses and midwives) per 1,000 population. Expressing concern over the global shortage of well-trained health workers, the WHO urged countries to exhibit political will to ensure strong, responsive and equitable health systems by investing more in their health workforce. Addressing mediapersons on the occasion of World Health Day today, WHO Regional Director for the South-East Asian Region, Dr Samlee Pilanbangochang, said, “For strong, responsive and equitable health systems, what is needed is political will. Today, there is a global crisis in human resources, a chronic shortage of well-trained health workers. There is an urgent need for countries to invest in their health workforce, which is a vital part of the health systems”. Speaking on this year’s theme “Working Together for Health”, Dr Samlee stressed the need for public-private efforts to check these shortages. He said the way to improve the performance of the health system depended ultimately on improving knowledge, skills, motivation and availability of human resources. Pointing out that privatisation and market economies had eroded free public health care systems, he said investment in health was very important and unless it was increased, there would be little improvement in the health workforce. |
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NREGA evokes huge response
New Delhi, April 7 Of the 2.15 crore applications received so far by gram panchayats in 181 districts, job cards have been issued to 79.69 lakh applicants. Officials in the Rural Development Ministry said the maximum of 35.84 lakh applications for job cards had so far been received in Andhra Pradesh, followed by Madhya Pradesh (35.17 lakh), Maharashtra (23.35 lakh), West Bengal (20,0000), Orissa (19 lakh), Chhattisgarh (14.6 lakh),Rajasthan (13.37 lakh) and Tamil Nadu (9.58 lakh). Uttar Pradesh, which has 22 districts under the NREGA, has sofar received only 6.81 lakh applications for job cards while Bihar with 24 districts has received 13.85 lakh applications. Jharkhand, with 20 districts under the programme, has received nearly 11 lakh applications so far. The performance of Madhya Pradesh has been unique as it has issued job cards to all 35.17 lakh applicants. The ministry officials said no data had so far been received from Punjab, which has one district, and Himachal Pradesh, which has two districts, covered under the NREGA. In two distritcs of Haryana covered under the Act, 47,250 applications had been received by gram panchayats while in Jammu and Kashmir, where three districts are covered, 16,9038 applications had been received for job cards. |
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Trust to help rural students in education
New Delhi, April 7 The trust, which plans to launch “gyan sewa” pilot project by opening coaching centres in Bhadaur, Tappa, Bhairupa Talewal, Sukhanand and Khadoor Sahib villages this year, proposed to expand the facility to at least 100 villages next year, senior advocate H.S. Phooka, who was pioneering the cause of anti-Sikh riots victims in the Capital at various forums for the past two decades and is one of the trustees, told The Tribune today. The other trustees are: author Patwant Singh, Delhi Medical Association senior vice-president G.S. Grewal, economist Raghubir Singh Basi, State Bank of Patiala Director Avtar Singh Dhindsa and former General Manager of Modern Food Industries Dr Maninder Kaur Phoolka. “Alongside gian sewa, the trust is also starting a campaign against female foeticide and making people aware of the virtues of a girl child,” Phoolka said. The emphasis would be on promoting the competitive skills of rural students, particularly girls and for this purpose eight teachers, two each in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and computer science would be hired from Delhi to teach the students in each centre for four days in a week, Phoolka said. Besides, the trust also proposed to launch vocational training centres in villages of Punjab for girls to enable them to prepare themselves for gainful employment, he said. |
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Manmohan intervenes to clear FTA
roadblocks
New Delhi, April 7 After unveiling the annual supplement of foreign trade policy, Mr Kamal Nath left for the meeting. The Prime Minister had earlier asked both ministries to hold consultations on tariff rate quota (TRQ) with regard to sensitive farm products in the FTA, ahead of the Trade Negotiating Committee beginning on April 24. The Commerce Ministry has mooted TRQs under the FTA to ASEAN members which export these products in the wake of the Agriculture Ministry's strong objection to their inclusion in the trade liberalisation programme. With the intervention of the Prime Minister, the issue has been resolved and may not go to the Trade and Economic Relations Committee or the Cabinet. Implementation of the FTA has already been delayed by over a year with both sides dropping the Early Harvest Programme. The new date for implementation of the FTA is January 1, 2007. |
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Govinda alleges threat to his life
Mumbai, April 7 Govinda insisted that a fan who overheard the conspirators plotting to kill him rushed to his residence and tipped him off and thereby saved his life. Though police protection was initially provided to Govinda, it was substantially scaled down in subsequent days. Senior police officials, however, continue to be tightlipped about the incident though sources insist that there was no credible threat to the actor. Govinda, who has been going through a bad patch professionally, has been trying to make a comeback to the box office with little success. Since then he has complained of being threatened by members of the Dawood Ibrahim gang. He has also blamed Bollywood personalities and senior leaders of the Congress for trying to sabotage his career. |
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Double benefit for meritorious SCs
New Delhi, April 7 “A reserved category candidate recommended by the commission without resorting to the relaxed standard (general merit) will have the option of preference from the reserved category, but while computing the quota percentage of reservation he or she will be deemed to have been allotted seat as an open category candidate and not as a reserved category recommended by the commission by resorting to the relaxed standard,” a Bench of Mr Justice H K Sema and Mr Justice A R Lakshmanan ruled. |
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Ministers face villagers’ ire
Bhopal, April 7 The protesters, under the banner of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), raised slogans against the Centre and alleged large-scale corruption by officials and distribution of inadequate compensation. Protesters snatch the keys of Saifuddin Soz’s vehicle, before the police used mild force to disperse the crowd, the police said.
— PTI |
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Hussain moves apex court
New Delhi, April 7 After a brief hearing, a Bench of Ms Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice Dalveer Bhandari listed the matter for hearing on April 10 as his counsel Mukul Rohtagi made a special mention of his
transfer petition. While a case against him was filed in Rajkot by Iliyas Khan, Ajay Singh Naruka, a businessman from MP, had filed separate complaint in an Indore court. The third case was registered by Apollo
Hospital doctor Ram Pratap Singh at Patiala House Court in the Capital. |
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Medha gets international support
New Delhi, April 7 As a compassionate leader of your people, we are sure you sympathise with Medha Patkar’s peaceful satyagraha in support of the poorest of the poor,” the open letter by the founder and chairman of the foundation Jakob Von Uexkull, said while expressing anxiety at the NBA leader’s deteriorating health on the behalf of its “ laureates”. |
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Top Tamil film director deserts AIADMK
Chennai, April 7 The DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance received a shot in the arm when Bhagyaraj along with his fans met DMK President M. Karunanidhi and pledged to campaign for the alliance since Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa had “sidelined MGR loyalists within the AIADMK”. |
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Boucher meets Foreign Secy
New Delhi, April 7 |
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NCM orders probe
New Delhi, April 7 |
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