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BJP stalls proceedings in Rajya Sabha
No pullout from Siachen till talks
Talks on Siachen, Sir Creek from May 23
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Congress pulls up Punjab leaders
SC seeks report from UP govt
Lanka crisis: USA treading cautiously
Patil assures security to Doda villagers
ICSE Class X, XII
results out
CBSE class XII result on May 23
‘ISI may be behind engineer’s killing’
Passport office staff on path
of agitation Censor board to review “The Da Vinci Code”
Photo of gurdwara presented to Barnala
LF ministry to be sworn in today
CID to probe Rajdhani mishap
Attack on Manipur CM
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BJP stalls proceedings in Rajya Sabha
New Delhi, May 17 Soon after Question Hour, Mr Sinha was on his feet demanding that he be allowed to raise a privilege notice against the Prime Minister for having “misled” the House on the Indo-US nuclear deal. But the Rajya Sabha Chairperson, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, said he was still pondering over the matter and until he takes a decision he would not allow Mr Sinha to raise the issue. This sparked uproarious scenes with several BJP members, led by Mr Rudranarayan Pani, trooping into the well shouting slogans forcing the chair to adjourn the House for half an hour. Earlier, the House witness furore during Question Hour over the foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector. The BJP members opposed any move to allow FDI in the general retail trade and demanded a full discussion on the issue after the Commerce Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, said the Centre had allowed FDI with prior government approval in retail trade of “single brand” products. The
minister was replying to a question on the issue during Question Hour. Even as the minister tried to ally the Opposition’s concerns, the BJP members, joined by members of the JD (U), Left parties and the Samjwadi Party, expressed concern over the issue and demanded a full debate on the issue. When the minister said there could be a debate on the matter, Mr Shekhawat assured the agitated members that he would fix time for the debate during the ongoing session itself. |
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No pullout from Siachen till talks bear fruit: Pranab
New Delhi, May 17 The minister, however, said New Delhi would continue to try for peace with its neighbours. “The best course is to live in peace with your neighbours,” he said. Mr Mukherjee’s statement assumes significance in the wake of reports that India and Pakistan were close to reaching an agreement on Siachen and the next round of the composite dialogue would be held in mid-July. In reply to supplementaries, the minister also reiterated that there would be no troop withdrawal from Jammu and Kashmir, saying that the threat perception did not allow such a step. Maintaining that media had twisted the statement of Vice-Chief of the Army Staff regarding troop withdrawal from Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Mukherjee said there was no contradiction between his statement in the House today and that of the Army Vice-Chief. He said the Army Vice-Chief was only saying that the number of security forces in the valley would depend on the changing threat perception, and since no decrease had been noticed in that regard, no withdrawal of troops was under consideration. He, however, admitted that there had been an estimated 22.4 per cent decline in terrorist-related incidents during the past three years. It had come down from 3,401 in 2003 to 2,565 in 2004 and further down to 1,990 during 2005, Mr Mukherjee said. He said while the civilian killings during the past three years had gone down by 21.2 per cent, the incidents of killing of security forces had seen a decline by 32 per cent. Similarly, infiltration from across the border had come down by 23 per cent during the past three years ending 2005, the minister added. In reply to a query, the minister said the views of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf (on demilitarisation in Kashmir) were his own observation. “The quantum of troops deployed in Jammu and Kashmir is continuously assessed and reviewed by the Army based on changing threat perception,” he said. |
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Talks on Siachen, Sir Creek from May 23
New Delhi, May 17 The Indian delegation would be headed by Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt and the Pakistan side would be led by Lieut- Gen Tariq W. Ghazi (retd), Secretary, Defence. Talks on the Sir Creek are scheduled for May 25-26. Major Gen. M.Gopal Rao, Surveyor General of India, would lead the Indian side, and the Pakistan side would be led by Admiral
Ahsan-ul-Haq Chaudhri, Additional Secretary, Defence. The Home Secretary level talks on terrorism and drug-trafficking are scheduled for May 30-31 in Islamabad. |
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Congress pulls up Punjab leaders
New Delhi, May 17 Mr Janardan Dwivedi, AICC general secretary and incharge of Punjab, has told the warring factions in no uncertain terms that they should stop attacking each other publicly and work unitedly for next year’s Assembly election. Senior Punjab Congress leader Jagmeet Brar has incurred the wrath of his colleagues as he has levelled serious charges of corruption against Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh while questioning the allotment of land to Reliance Industries at what he described as a “throwaway price”. The Chief Minister’s loyalists have retaliated and have instead accused Mr Brar of acting on behest of the Akali Dal. Refusing to go into the merit of the allegations being levelled against each other, Mr Dwivedi told the state leaders that their grievances would only be heard once they ended their open warfare. The AICC general secretary did not meet any of the warring leaders personally but spoke to them on the telephone to convey this unequivocal message. “It is necessary to enforce discipline in the party first...other issues can be discussed later,” Mr Dwivedi said here today, adding that he would visit Punjab shortly to meet the state unit and sort out pending organisational matters. The Congress high command’s intervention became necessary as the factional battle in the state showed no signs of abating and all key players rushed to Delhi with their list of grievances. Mr Brar’s allegations have come at a time when the state unit is preparing for Assembly polls next year. Congress insiders admitted that the infighting in the state unit was not just embarassing but would also do incalculable harm to the party in electoral terms. |
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SC seeks report from UP govt
New Delhi, May 17 The interim direction was issued by Mr Justice B.P Singh and Mr Justice R.V Raveendran during the hearing of a bunch of petition by kin of victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots, seeking adequate compensation for loss of life and damaged property. The direction was issued after senior advocate H.S Phoolka, appearing for the victims’ families submitted that nearly 500 Sikhs had lost their lives in Uttar Pradesh and the state government has not yet come up any scheme to implement the rehabilitation package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 16 following the recommendations of the Nanawati Commission. As per the rehabilitation package, an ex gratia amount of Rs 3.5 lakh has to be paid to the kin of each dead and Rs 1.25 lakh for those who had suffered injuries. Besides, every family would be paid the amount 10 times the one paid originally so far in cases of damage to the residential properties and preference would be given to the kin of the riot victims in recruitment in para-military forces, state police and public sector undertakings . Phooka said so far only Punjab and Haryana had taken steps to implement the package while Delhi is in the process of implementing the same. After the Prime Minister had announced the package, all those states which had witnessed the unprecedented violence against Sikhs in the aftermath of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination, were directed by the Centre to implement it in a time bound manner. As per the time schedule drawn by the Centre, state governments were required to issue notices for inviting claims by January 31, verify claims by February 15, disburse the amount by March 31, send demands to Centre by April 15 and the Union Home Ministry to reimburse to the states by May 31. The states which were issued specific directions by the Centre to implement the rehabilitation package, included UP, MP, Chattisgarh, Haryana, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Uttranchal, Punjab and Delhi. |
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Lanka crisis: USA treading cautiously
New Delhi, May 16 The four Co-Chairs on Sri Lanka— USA, European Union, Japan and Norway— are meeting in Tokyo on May 30 to assess the near civil war situation that is threatening the Sri Lanka watchers believe that the USA is dealing with the Sri Lankan crisis cautiously and Washington does not want to get sucked into domestic problem of a small island nation like Sri Lanka. This is clear from the fact that though Washington itself had banned the LTTE as a terrorist outfit way back in 1997, the European Union, with whom the USA enjoys immense diplomatic clout, is yet to declare the LTTE a terrorist organisation. This assessment was reinforced during an interaction here between mediapersons and Mr Donald Camp, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs. Asked by this correspondent if Washington had any plans for increasing its engagement with Sri Lanka, Mr Camp said the USA was already one of the four Co-Chairs on Sri Lanka and was in no mood to replace Norway as the facilitator for talks between the LTTE and the In response to a question whether the USA would use its good offices with the EU to ban the LTTE and prevent the Tamil Tigers from collecting funds abroad, Mr Camp said “We have encouraged the EU to list the LTTE as a terrorist organisation. We think that the LTTE is very deserving of that label. We think that it will help cut off financial supplies, weapons procurement and the like.” However, Sri Lanka watchers assert that the LTTE is still getting funds and armaments with impunity and the US ban on the outfit had produced little or no impact on these two activities of the Tamil Tigers. The perception here is that if the international community, led by the USA and the EU, were to tighten screws on the LTTE, the terrorist outfit could be effectively choked for funds and armaments. Mr Camp, when asked if the USA planned to deprive the LTTE of funds collected from abroad, said: “Certainly there must be a way to work closely with other countries in this regard.” Mr Camp agreed that the “trend lines” were discouraging in terms of the increasing provocations by the LTTE, though he said Washington still believed, and hoped, that the ceasefire was still in place. He blamed the LTTE for violating the spirit of the ceasefire and admitted that Sri Lanka faced a danger of receding into a major |
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Patil assures security to Doda villagers
New Delhi, May 17 Responding to senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi’s queries on the attack, Mr Patil said terrorists were using children to hurl grenades and had been attacking through car bombs. He said security forces faced problems as it was difficult to open fire at children. The minister said according to preliminary information received about today’s incident, people were brought from neighbouring villages to lodge protest at previous killings in Doda. They refused to go back as they wanted to be part of the Village Defence Committees. He said arrangements would be made to take the villagers back to their places and enhance their security. Urging BJP leaders not to resort to dharnas in Doda, Mr Patil said it could pose problems to security forces in maintaining law and order.
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ICSE Class X, XII
results out
New Delhi, May 17 Girls have managed to outshine boys once again. A total of 91,781 students had appeared in the Class X Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) examination this year, out of whom 88,114 got through with a success rate of 96 per cent. For Class XII, out of a total of 43,034 students, 40,249 cleared the examination, with a pass percentage of 93. The pass percentage of girls in the Class X exam was 96.9 compared to 95.29 among boys. A similar trend was seen in the Class XII examination, with the pass percentage for girls 95.96 per cent as against 91 per cent among boys. The highest percentage of marks secured in the Class X examination was 97.6 per cent and those in Class XII 98.25 per cent. The results, besides being available at individual schools, can also be accessed through SMS, interactive voice response system (IVRS) on phone as well as on the Internet, the council said. Students can also log on |
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CBSE class XII result on May 23
New Delhi, May 17 |
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‘ISI may be behind engineer’s killing’
New Delhi, May 17 “Though Pakistan has denied it, there are certain indications that the ISI is equally active. I am told that the ISI had its hands in this. In fact, one of the points we are trying to convey to Pakistan is that terrorists are friends of nobody,” Mr Mukherjee said during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha. “If the terrorists are against India today, they are equally against Pakistani establishment,” Mr Mukherjee said while replying to a question by TDP member C.
Ramachandraiah. |
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Passport
office staff on path of agitation Chandigarh, May 17 A spokesman of the association said here yesterday that employees across the country had already started holding demonstrations in front of the regional passport offices during the lunch break.They were also wearing black badges. The demonstrations would continue till May 19. The employees would go on a one-day strike on May 26, the spokesman said. The association is opposing the privatisation of various functions at the regional passport
offices(RPOs). It has been urging the Union Government to frame a permanent recruitment policy for the
RPOs. The association is also seeking the regularisation of the services of the employees who have been working as casual staff for 15 years. The association says that though hundreds of posts remain unfilled in various
RPOs, the work load has increased several times. The association spokesman said that in 1985, the RPOs issued 14 lakh passports and in 2005 as many as 35 lakh. However, the number of employees at the RPOs had gone down tremendously. For instance, at the local passport office, the number of employees had come down to 60 from 100 in the past few years. Although superintendents posted at the RPOs had been given gazetted status, they had been given a starting pay scale of Rs 5,500. In other departments, superintendents at their level had been given a starting scale of Rs 6,500. The government had also not been holding meetings of the Departmental Promotion Committees( DPCs).The government had committed that four meetings of the DPCs would be held to fill vacant slots by promotion. The association said the External Affairs Ministry had made the issuance of passports complex. People were being supplied with incomplete forms, and when they turned up to submit the forms at the passport office, they were also asked to give three sets of photostat copies of the original forms on the basis of which the passport was issued. He said in the first week of August last year, the Joint Secretary-cum-Chief Passport Officer of the Government of India accepted 11 demands of the association and promised to implement these by the end of August. However, nothing had happened in this regard.
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Censor board to review “The Da Vinci Code” New Delhi, May 17 The Information and Broadcasting Minister who watched the film on Wednesday afternoon with I&B Secretary, CBFC officers and representatives of the Catholic groups told mediapersons that he would await the opinion of the Catholic groups on the film. He said that the opinion of the Catholic groups would be conveyed to the CBFC which would then arrive at a final decision on the film by Friday morning. Interestingly, the film is scheduled for release in India on Friday. It has also been premiered at the 59th Cannes film festival today. The regional film certification board in Mumbai had already passed the film. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has been reportedly flooded with petitions from 290 organisations, mostly Catholic, against screening of the film. Meanwhile, Lok Sabha MP George Fernandes has written to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh “to prevent one more controversy which will hurt the sentiments of the vast community not only in India but in the world.” Fernandes has enclosed a press statement by spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, Rev Babu Joseph. In his statement, the CBCI spokesperson has taken exception to the false and indecent portrayal of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity as a married man and having progeny which insidiously attacks the very root of Christian faith. While requesting Dr Manmohan Singh to prevent another controversy, Fernandes has said that he endorses every word of the statement by the CBCI spokesperson. The CBCI spokesperson had dimissed the film as “totally blasphemous and totally unacceptable to the Christian community.”
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Photo of gurdwara presented to Barnala
Chennai, May 17 The photograph is a selection from ‘Tryst with Trees — Punjab’s Sacred Heritage’, a pictorial documentation of Sikh shrines named after native species of trees, undertaken by Mr Jaspal. The project documents 48 Sikh shrines named after 17 species of trees, the most popular species being beri (zizyphus jujuba), tahli (shisham) and jand (prosopis spicigera). The picture is framed in a wooden frame of shisham. While presenting the picture, Mr Jaspal explained that after he had taken charge as Secretary of the Department of Forests in Punjab, he realised that Sikhism was the only religion in which shrines were named after species of trees. Mr Jaspal had visited the shrines to photograph the trees against the backdrop of the shrines and to study the status and health conditions of the trees. According to him, the study had revealed a disturbing development as the trees had been cut at many gurdwaras to make way for expansion while the trees had either died or had been facing death at some gurdwaras because of lack of knowledge of elementary preservation practices. |
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LF ministry to be sworn in today
Kolkata, May 17 Ms Banerjee said they had taken the decision for energising and revamping themselves for launching a mass movement in support of the people’s basic demands for employment and livelihood. The new 44-member Left Front ministry headed by Mr Bhattacharjee will be sworn in by the Governor, Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi, at Raj Bhavan tomorrow morning where several senior political personalities and other dignitaries would be present. Several corporate and business bosses in the country have also been invited.
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CID to probe Rajdhani mishap
Patna, May 17 The decision assumed significance in the wake of notices served on Bihar police chief Ashish Ranjan Sinha and CRPF Director-General Jyoti Kumar Sinha by DIG (Railway) A.K. Verma seeking to know whether they had been informed in advance of the Naxalites’ plan to blow up the train. |
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Attack on Manipur CM
Imphal, May 17 Official sources here said the ambush occured at 11.30 am when the Chief Minister was going to
Sugnu, about 65 km south-east of here, to attend a Congress party meeting. Official sources said a militant was killed when the security personnel escorting the Chief Minister returned the fire. Sources said the militants hurled a grenade and fired at the last security convoy vehicle two or three seconds after the Chief Minister Ibobi Singh crossed Lamjao area, about 50 km south-east of here.
— PTI
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In
video: Da Vinci Code to
be viewed by I&B Minister. (
