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Refer Chawla issue to CEC, NDA requests Kalam
Amarinder stresses on agro diversification
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| Suit against Advani New Delhi, April 8 Businessman Abhishek Verma has filed a criminal case of defamation and forgery against senior BJP leader LK Advani in a Gurgaon court for naming him as a beneficiary in the Scorpene Submarine deal. —PTI
Medha stable as fast enters 11th day
Savings certificate lost, money gone: SC
EC brushes aside Karat’s objection
Karzai arrives today
Nanaji Deshmukh gets Nanesh Samata award
Quota bid to divide society, says BJP
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Refer Chawla issue to CEC, NDA requests Kalam
New Delhi, April 8 The NDA has sought Dr Kalam's intervention for the removal of the Election Commissioner (EC), who has been accused of having "close links" with the Congress and its President Sonia Gandhi. After the meeting, senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh told newspersons that his party colleague Sushma Swaraj also "respectfully reminded" Dr Kalam that their last- month petition, seeking removal of the Election Commissioner, should have been directly sent to the CEC. The delegation submitted a memorandum to the President during the 20-minute-long meeting. The one-page memorandum said it was "truly alarming that the Prime Minister is willing to go to any extent to make compromises to save Mr Chawla". "All our apprehensions have come true in this regard. Under the Article 324 (5) of the Constitution, it is the Chief Election Commissioner alone who has the sole Constitutional jurisdiction to recommend any action to the President. The PM and the Attorney-General (AG) have no role in this matter," the memorandum said. It further urged the President to direct the Prime Minister to "send out complaint, dated 16th March, immediately to the Chief Election Commissioner as per the Constitutional requirement". Earlier, BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said the Prime Minister was trying to block a Constitutional process under Article 324 (5) of the Constitution. The proviso to the Article 324 (5) of the Constitution clearly states that "Provided further that any other Election Commissioner or a Regional Commissioner shall not be removed from office except on the recommendations of the Chief Election Commissioner". The Constitution has thus vested the power to recommend the removal of the Election Commissioner solely and exclusively with the CEC, he asserted. The Prime Minister and the Attorney General were usurpers in the matter of giving clean chit or exonerating Mr Chawla, Mr Jaitley said. "The Prime Minister is guilty of appointing a partisan person on the Election Commission," the BJP leader said, adding that Dr Manmohan Singh was attempting to prevent the CEC from making a recommendation on merits. "The CEC's recommendation has to be on the question as to whether Mr Navin Chawla's politically partisan past is effecting and impinging on his present function as the Election Commissioner," he said. Mr Jaitley said the BJP "demands that the Prime Minister should forthwith transmit the petition against Mr Chawla to the CEC for his recommendation". The Opposition move came in the wake of reports that Attorney- General Milon Banerjee had given Mr Chawla a clean chit on the issue of his conduct as the Election Commissioner. The AG's opinion was given to the Prime Minister who was referred an Opposition petition against Mr Chawla's continuance in the Commission. The petition signed by 205 Opposition MPs had urged the President to forward the petition to the Chief Election Commissioner so that he could recommend Mr Chawla's removal. The delegation included NDA convener George Fernandes, BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, V. K. Malhotra, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. The Opposition petition had also referred to the private trusts linked to Mr Chawla's family which had received donations from Congress MPs through their Local Area Development Fund. It said Mr Chawla's integrity as the EC was doubtful because of his "proximity" to the Congress and its President. |
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Amarinder stresses on agro diversification
New Delhi, April 8 Presiding over the meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) on agriculture and related issues here at the Kapurthala House, here, he said in the past three decades the cropping pattern had shifted in favour of paddy-wheat rotation in the state, which was creating problems in over-capitalisation of agriculture due to high cropping intensity of 186 per cent. This was also leading to over exploitation of ground water for irrigation with more than 90 per cent of 140 blocks categorised as "dark blocks" with the underground water table declining at an alarming rate of 55 cm per year, depleting soil health in terms of organic content of soil 0.02 to 0.25 per cent against minimum requirement of 0.45 per cent and environmental pollution due to the excessive use of agro-chemicals thereby increasing nitrate content in ground water. Unfolding a road map to identify the potential of agro-processing and contract farming in Punjab, Mr Amarinder Singh said after initial hiccups concerted efforts of the state government resulted in contract farming over 22000 acre in Rabi 2002 that gradually touched 2.52 lakh acre in 2005-06. Cumulatively, over 7 lakh acre had been brought under contract farming encompassing one lakh farmer families and it was proposed to cover more than 3.60 lakh acre under the diversification programme during 2006-07. The Chief Minister has constituted three sub-groups to work out modalities for market reforms, agro-processing and contract farming. |
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Medha stable as fast enters 11th day
New Delhi, April 8 Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where she was forcibly shifted by the police on April 5, described her condition as ''stable''. Ms Patkar, who continued to refuse food, was being administered a mixture of water and lemon at the Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) of the hospital where she was admitted alongwith her fasting associate Jamsingh Nargave. At the roadside protest venue near Jantar Mantar, students and academics from Delhi, writers, artists and members of various civil society groups continued assailing the government for its poor record in rehabilitating people displaced by the project. Mostly of the Left and Socialist leanings, they debunked current development process as anti-poor by linking them to the displacement and dispossession of people. The NBA has challenged the government to release details of all the dam-displaced people who were rehabilitated. |
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Savings certificate lost, money gone: SC
New Delhi, April 8 “An IVP is akin to an ordinary currency note. It bears no name of the holder. Just as a lost currency note cannot be replaced, similarly the question of replacing a lost IVP does not arise,” a Bench of Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice R. V. Raveendran ruled, while deciding appeals by the Union Government in two cases against a consumer court and high court, directing the post office to pay money to two persons who had lost the IVPs. Allowing the Centre’s appeals, the court said Central Rule 7(2) of 1986, framed under the Government Saving Certificates Act, 1959, for issuing of the IVPs, made it clear that a “certificate lost, stolen, mutilated, defaced or destroyed beyond recognition will not be replaced by the post office”. Since in one case, the post office had made the payment after the high court had passed the order, the apex court declined the government plea for return of the money, considering the “peculiar circumstances” of the particular case. While in the other case where the consumer court had directed the post office to pay the money to a person who had lost the IVPs but the order was not acted upon due to the pendency of appeal, the Supreme Court said, “If the payment is not made, the post office shall not be liable to make it, but if it has been made, then no recovery shall be made.” Such a direction was issued by the court in view of the government counsel himself not pressing for refund because a small amount was involved. The main purpose of the government to file the appeal was declaration of the law with regard to the lost IVPs, the court said. |
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EC brushes aside Karat’s objection
New Delhi, April 8 In a communication to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, who has taken exception to the EC moving against Mr Chakraborty without waiting for the party’s response, the commission said it was treating the statement from three angles — viewing Mr Chakraborty as an individual, as a party functionary and as a “'responsible minister” of the government — without linking one to the other. According to EC sources, the commission had decided on March 30 to lodge a criminal case against Mr Chakraborty, apart from seeking explanation from the CPM and the state government in connection with the “intimidating statement” of Mr Chakraborty on March 6. Mr Karat had written to the commission on April 5, taking exception to the EC not waiting for his response before initiating action against a party leader. |
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Karzai arrives today
New Delhi, April 8 The Afghan President was earlier scheduled to visit India for six days. His private visit to Shimla on April 13 was called off because of some political engagements back home. However, Mr Karzai will visit Hyderabad as scheduled on April 11 and return the next day. He will leave for Kabul on April 13. A spokesman of the External Affairs Ministry said President Karzai would be accompanied by about 10 ministers and ministerial-level advisers, in addition to members of the Afghan National Assembly, officials and a high-level business delegation. After his arrival tomorrow afternoon, the Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr E. Ahamed will call on Mr Karzai. |
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Nanaji Deshmukh gets Nanesh Samata award
New Delhi, April 8 Praising the wheelchair-bound nonagenarian leader, Mr Shekhawat said Nanaji Deshmukh cut short his active political career to propound the ideal of equality and an egalitarian society. The award, instituted by the Shri Akhil Bharatvarshiya Sadhumargi Jain Sangh, carries a cheque for Rs one lakh, a shield and a scroll of honour. |
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Quota bid to divide society, says BJP
New Delhi, April 8 In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi asserted that the politics of reservation could never do any good for the welfare and development of backward people. The people looked at it with “anger and hatred” as they knew that this was merely a cheap publicity stunt of the government. |
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