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HC asked to decide on Punjab police officers’ row
PM to inform Parliament before inking N-pact: CPM
Manmohan readies for next round
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Case against me at behest of Sonia: Maneka
Low-key Ganpati festival urged in Mumbai
Left divided over banning
soft drinks in WB
Coca Cola, Pepsi approach HC
SAD, Cong bat on same wicket for farmers
Mulayam govt anti-farmer: V. P. Singh
Mumbai blasts: NHRC raps govt for delay in relief work
Tragedy of errors: dead man comes alive
HUDCO launches fellowships in housing sector
Uproar in RS over NCERT books
PM’s wife speaks of ethics of care
Breakthrough in radioactive waste management
Tax holiday for Punjab sought in LS
Jagat Singh suspended from Cong
Bismillah’s
condition improves
Rapist to be thrashed
with shoes
RS okays motion to set up JPC
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HC asked to decide on Punjab police officers’ row
New Delhi, August 18 “We would request the High Court that keeping in view the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, the desirability is of expeditious disposal of the issue raised before us. The matter may be disposed of within six months,” a Bench of Mr Justice S.B. Sinha and Mr Justice Dalveer Bhandari said. The Bench though refrained from passing any order on the Punjab Government’s plea to allow it to post and transfer PPS cadre officers to fill certain number of posts reserved for them. Senior advocate L. Nageshwar Rao, appearing for the Punjab Government wanted a stay on the High Court’s August 9, 2004 order restraining the government from transferring PPS officers to the posts to be held by the IPS-cadre officers. The court also refrained from expressing any opinion on the issue whether service matters could be raised in a public interest litigation (PIL) but said the Punjab Government seemed to be under “threat of contempt of court” in view of the High Court’s order though it had acted upon the same. The Bench said there was some difficulty in its way on passing an interim direction as prayed for by the Punjab Government and directed the state to file the appropriate affidavit before the High Court within two weeks on the issues it intended to raise. When Mr Rao persisted with the request for permitting the state to fill the non-IPS cadre posts stating that the rules permitted it to transfer them for a temporary period of two years to such posts, specially in border districts as they were more familiar with the situation there, the Bench said at the most, it could fix a date of hearing before the High Court and eventually all parties were directed to appear there on October 9. Keeping in view the importance of the case, the Bench directed the Supreme Court Registrar General to ensure that the order passed by it be intimated to the Chief Justice of the High Court. The posting of non-IPS cadre officers in key posts like district police chiefs has been a bone of contention between PPS and IPS officers with the association of the latter strongly opposing the move. The Centre has also supported the IPS officers. But the Punjab Government keeping in view the good work done by PPS officers in crushing terrorism in the districts dominated by militants, wanted that the posts be reserved for them as per the April 24, 1998 notification of the Union Government. The notification issued by the Centre in consultation with the Punjab Government under the IPS Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954, made certain amendments regarding fixation of IPS cadre strength in the state at 144 and provided that 43 posts be filled by promotion from the PPS cadre and remaining 101 from IPS.
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PM to inform Parliament before inking N-pact: CPM
New Delhi, August 18 Talking to newsperson, CPM politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP, Sitaram Yechury, visibly elated with the assurances given by Dr Manmohan Singh, said “a new and healthy precedent is being set with the Prime Minister assuring that Parliament will be taken into confidence before the deal is finalised.” He said the Prime Minister had given categorical assurances on several counts on the nuclear deal and also made it clear that the deal would not go ahead if it went beyond the July 2005 Indo-US agreement. This was why “we considered the PM’s reply as reflecting the sense of the House”, he said. Asked whether the government would stick to its stand later, Mr Yechury said the assurances given to Parliament should be taken “positively”. “The Prime Minister will have to stick to his stand as he is running a coalition. It was Mr Manmohan Singh who had, as Finance Minister, started the reform process and the same Manmohan Singh has now assured that profitable PSUs will not be privatised,” Mr Yechury said. Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha will discuss the Indo-US nuclear deal during a short duration discussion on August 23 followed by a reply by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Before that on Tuesday, the House will discuss the Pathak Authority Report on Volcker allegations, according to Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi. Mr Dasmunsi told reporters here that the government had no objection to the debate on the Pathak Authority Report.’’We shall respond to debate.’’ He said the remaining business of the government in Parliament would be disposed of next week. The new Bills to be brought forwards included Factories Bill, Union Territory of Pondicherry Bill and Banking Laws pertaining to transfers
Bill. The fate of the other Bills would be known on Monday.
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Manmohan readies for next round
New Delhi, August 18 The Prime Minister, ably aided by Lok Sabha leader and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, had to do some deft handling on both these fronts. They have now to prepare for round two as differences over disinvestment, the Right to Information Bill, the Banking Regulation Bill and the Tribal Bill are yet to be sorted out. The Office of Profit Bill ran into stiff resistance from the NDA which not only opposed it in Parliament but also advised President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam not to give his assent to the Bill and should instead seek its legal validity. The government was on tenterhooks when the President failed to give his assent to the Bill even two weeks after its passage in Parliament. Dr Singh, it is learnt, drew Dr Kalam’s attention to the pending Bill when the two leaders met on August 15 and pointed to the Constitutional provision which requires the President to sign a Bill when sent to him for the second time. Even as the government was fretting over the President’s reluctance, it learnt that the Election Commission was planning to proceed on the petitions it had received seeking the disqualification of MPs holding an office of profit by issuing them show cause notices. The Prime Minister then told Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi and Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj to preempt this move by quickly announcing the constitution of a Joint Parliamentry Committee to address all the concerns raised by the President in his message when he returned the Bill in May. Although the government had promised to set up such a panel, its failure to act on it swiftly would have landed it in deep trouble. However, its belated action eventually produced the desired result as the President finally gave his assent to the Bill today. On the contentious issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress were put to great embarrassment when their Marxist friends were openly hobnobbing with arch political rival, BJP, to press for a “sense of Parliament” resolution opposing the US legislation on the nuclear pact. The Natwar Singh episode added to the woes of the Congress, especially since the former external affairs minister was feted and befriended by the Left and the Right with dollops of help from its bete noire, Samajpwadi Party leader Amar Singh. Dr Singh and Mr Mukherjee succeeded in putting the Left parties, particularly the CPM, on the defensive.
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Case against me at behest of Sonia: Maneka
New Delhi, August 18 Asserting that nothing wrong was committed in extending help to minority institutions by the Maulana Azad Foundation during her term as a minister in the NDA government, Ms Maneka Gandhi told a press conference that she was a victim of “political and personal vendetta”. The MP from the Pilibhit constituency in Uttar Pradesh alleged that ever since the UPA government came to power, they had been trying to dig out something or the other. But they could “not find any thing against me” and finally they were bent upon misusing the investigative agency. She said during her tenure Rs 54 crore were distributed from the Maulana Azad Foundation (MAF) among numerous minority institutions on the basis of minority population in the area and availability of good non-governmental organisations. Ms Maneka Gandhi, who issued a five-page statement, said as a minister and an ex-officio member of the MAF she had no powers to distribute any of the funds. And the powers were vested with the then members, including President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former Cabinet Secretary Zafar Saifullah and Dr Mumtaz Ahmed Khan. She said the CBI, which was made to dig out things against her, had concluded twice earlier that there was “no criminality” involved in the grant of funds to institutions after one of an “estranged relative” of hers filed a PIL, seeking a CBI inquiry against the grant of funds from the MAF. A week ago, she was told by “senior” officials of the CBI that they were forced to act against her at the instance of the Congress President and she should get relief from courts as the cases would not stand legal scrutiny.
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Low-key Ganpati festival urged in Mumbai
Mumbai, August 18 Office bearers of the Greater Mumbai Ganesh Festival Co-ordination Committee met with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and senior police officials here to oversee security arrangements for the festival which begins on August 27. The mandals have been asked to register their volunteers with the local police station. Volunteers have been asked to ensure that donors of prasad are made to taste the offering before it is distributed to the congregation. "The authorities are concerned about terrorists trying to poison devotees," Gadkar said. Intelligence agencies have warned of attempts to disrupt the festival. In all, some 6000 Ganesh mandals are expected to put up marquees on Mumbai's streets. The biggest celebrations are due to take place in Central Mumbai and Thane districts which have a large population of Maharashtrians.
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Left divided over banning
soft drinks in WB
Kolkata, August 18 The cola drinks had been banned in six different states, including CPM-ruled Kerala, after the detection of excessive arsenic contents in these foreign soft drinks by the Centre for Studies and Environment (CSE). Other states include Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. But West Bengal and some other states where a huge US investment has been assured, are reluctant to ban these drinks in the apprehension that any such step might force the Bush Administration to withdraw its investment proposals from these states. The Manmohan Singh government, which has recently signed several defence and economic agreements with the US, also does not want to immediately declare the banning of the soft drinks before being certain about the arsenic contents in these multinational products. The BJP, which does not approve of the UPA’s pro-US policy, has already launched a nationwide campaign against these soft drinks, which not only has support of some of the Left Front partners but also a section in the CPM. But Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government will not ban these drinks nor will the CPM give a call for banning these drinks in the state, according to the CPM state secretary, Mr Biman Bose. The RSP and the CPI, however, have demanded that these soft dinks be banned forthwith and further tests be made to ascertain if these drinks were actually poisonous. The CPM general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, and Mr Sitaram Yechuri, another Politburo member and the Rajya Sabha MP, left it to the state government to finally decide on the issue.
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Coca Cola, Pepsi approach HC
Kochi, August 18 In separate petitions— Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Private Ltd and Pepsi India Holding Private ltd, also sought a direction prohibiting the state government from taking action against them. They also wanted the government order of August 10 and August 11 order of the Director of Health Services (DHS) on the ban to be set aside. The state government and DHS had no jurisdiction or authority to pass the orders banning their products, they said. The orders were passed as a ‘knee jerk’ response without making any independent investigation or inquiry to verify the truth or significance of the claims made in the report of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), they added. The methodology used, the level of accreditation or expertise of CSE’s own laboratory also have been challenged by the petitioners. The order will have adverse affect on the petitioners right to carry on trade and business as provided under Section 19 (1)(g) of the Constitution, they submitted. — PTI
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SAD, Cong bat on same wicket for farmers
New Delhi, August 18 The battle of words was interesting to watch last evening in Lok Sabha, as the nation was glued to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement on the nuclear deal in the Upper House. Both the parties fielded their best known names in the Lower House. The Akalis sent Sukhbir Singh Badal, son of party president Parkash Singh Badal, and Parneet Kaur, wife of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, spoke for the Congress. They left nothing to chance to score political points with Assembly polls around the corner. Speaking on the issue of farmer suicides, Sukhbir Badal said the Punjab Chief Minister was not fighting for the interest of the people of the state. Congress members objected to the reference to Punjab Chief Minister, saying it amounted to politicisation of the issue. Sukhbir Badal also said the farmers in Punjab were suffering because of the policies of the Centre. Saying input prices in agriculture had gone up manifold, the Akali leader asked for a substantial hike in the minimum support prices of foodgrains and a special package for the farming community. He accused political parties of paying only lip service to the cause of the farmers and highlighted the fact that suicides by farmers were rampant in Punjab as also some other states. Ms Parneet Kaur demanded that the MSP for paddy be increased to Rs 700 per quintal. She said the MSP should be announced before the start of the sowing season and the government should take into consideration the cost of production, input-output price parity and effect on the general price level and cost of living before fixing the support price. She also observed that as farmers were turning to cash crops, there was a shortage of foodgrains. She said the debt crisis was most severe among small and marginal farmers and about 65 per cent fell under this category in Punjab. Ms Parneet said the Centre's announcement of the increase of Rs 10 in the MSP of grade A paddy from Rs 600 to Rs 610 per quintal did not even cover the increase due to inflation. In real terms, the MSP had been reduced as compared to last year. Cutting across the political spectrum, Lok Sabha members made a strong case for renewed initiatives for the agriculture sector, including launching of new employment guarantee schemes for small and marginal farmers, remunerative prices of their produce and a separate budget to contain farmers' suicide
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Mulayam govt anti-farmer: V. P. Singh
New Delhi, August 18 Addressing the media after his return from Dadri where he ploughed the land acquired by the state government for a power plant to be set up by Reliance Industries despite a ban, Mr Singh criticised the Mulayam Singh government for acquiring much more land from farmers than actually required for the power plant suggesting that the land had been doled out to an industrialist for purposes other than a power plant at a throw away price. The former Prime Minister, who was arrested yesterday and released later, today again went to the land given to industrialist Anil Ambani and ploughed it with a tractor despite the state government's ban on his entry into that area. Mr V. P. Singh said if a government supported by him is elected to rule in Lucknow then the acquired land would be returned to the farmers.
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Mumbai blasts: NHRC raps govt for delay in relief work
New Delhi, August 18 While directing the authorities to submit reports within 10 days, the commission has asked them to specify whether or not any compensation has been paid to the next of kin of the deceased or persons who have suffered serious injuries in the blast. The commission has also asked them to spell out the steps taken to ensure proper medical treatment to the injured victims. The order comes on a complaint by former MP Kirit Somaiya, local MLA Gopal Shetty and Muncipal Corporator Parag Alawani. The complaints of 113 families were also attached to the main 239-page petition. The petitioners have pointed out that no single authority has a complete list of affected persons. “In spite of repeated requests, no exhaustive and foolproof list has been prepared. According to the Mumbai Police, 890 persons were injured. Till July 31, the Railways have published the list of only 500 injured persons,” the petition reads. They have alleged that due to the apathy of the government hardly 10 per cent of the affected families have got full compensation, documents and relief. The next of kin of the deceased have to go from door to door for getting proper medical treatment, medicines and are facing difficulties in getting a copy of the FIR and postmortem report, the petition says. The complainants have requested the intervention of the NHRC to ensure justice to the affected.
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Tragedy of errors: dead man comes alive
Lucknow, August 18 The mix up at the Amausi airport, where both the persons arrived from Jeddah on August 13 by an early morning Air India flight, has proved to be a blessing for Mohammad Ashraf's family. In faraway
Malappuram, 50 km southeast of Kozhikode, the old father's joy knew no bounds when he saw his son arriving home alive just as he was getting ready to leave for the airport to collect his body that was due to arrive in an hour's time. The father immediately informed Air India officials about the happy turn of events. By that time the officials had already reached Chennai with the body. Suddenly, they had a more complex problem at hand, if Mohammad Ashraf was alive then who was the person in the coffin? The police is anxious to get the necessary paper work done so that the body showing signs of decay can be disposed off without further delay. Immigration in-charge at
Amausi, P.K. Gupta, blaming human error for the mix up, said he had already handed over photocopies of the 100 illegal deportees arriving by that flight to Air India officials for further follow up. According to Gupta, deported passengers do not have proper papers and often travel with forged papers or under false names. "It is very likely that the dead man's ticket may have accidentally been exchanged with someone's causing this grave tragedy of errors," Gupta pointed out. Tracing the sequence of events, Station Officer Sarojini Nagar
B.B. Tiwari, said he had been contacted by the airport authorities on August 13 when a passenger arriving by the 6.30 am Jeddah flight was found dead on the premises at around 11 am. A high level team from Air India that accompanied the body from Delhi to Amausi airport this morning remained tight-lipped. "Please contact our Delhi office. We are not authorised to speak in this matter," is all they said.
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HUDCO launches fellowships in housing sector
New Delhi, August 18 The fellowships endeavour to provide support to bright scholars to undertake research in areas such as slum development, environment planning, infrastructure, disaster management, transportation, building technology, urban renewal and conservation and finance mechanism for urban housing. The fellowships would be awarded for M.Phil/Ph.D. as well as integrated programme leading to Ph.D. The fellowships would be limited to two years for M.Phil, three years for Ph.D and five years for integrated Ph.D programmes. The fellowships assistance includes stipend, contingency amount, departmental assistance and escort/reader assistance in cases of physically handicapped and visually impaired candidates. Ms Selja said the scholarships will help fulfill dream of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to encourage bright people in different fields of activity. She said India was urbanising fast and the fellowship scholars will contribute to finding solutions to emerging challenges. HUDCO Chairman and Managing Director Dr P S Rana said 50 fellowships will be given in all. Candidates who qualify the appropriate examinations for admission to M.Phil and Ph.D programmes in universities will be eligible for HUDCO fellowships. He said the fellowship amount is Rs 2000 more than that given by the UGC.
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Uproar in RS over NCERT books
New Delhi, August 18 BJP members, led by Mr Ravi Shanker Prasad, were up on their feet waving copies of NCERT textbooks which, they said, allegedly termed Jat community as “marauders” and described Tilak a terrorist. The members were also critical of the suggestions made in the books to the girl students to use cosmetics. The protesting members while demanding an inquiry into such writings besides punishment for the guilty, said that distortion of history was a very serious issue and such lessons could pollute minds of young children. The BJP members were also joined in the protest by the members from Samajwadi Party, Left and Congress who said it was not an issue to be politicized and government should take the matter seriously and correct distortions. At one point of time, agitated BJP members trooped into the well and wanted to place on the table of the House copies of the books which was disallowed by the Chair saying rules did not permit this.
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PM’s wife speaks of ethics of care
New Delhi, August 18 Mrs Kaur, a patron of GCCI was the chief guest at the annual day celebrations of the organisation at ASSOCHAM House here on Thursday evening. While saluting the missionary zeal of the GCCI founder, the late Major General
R.S. Pannu, the special invitee appreciated the efforts of GCCI that is passionately engaged in making the lives of those affected with cancer better. “GCCI has done wonders and grown from strength to strength,” she said. Mrs Kaur said that government recognition for selfless service for cancer patients has come in the form of 100 per cent income tax exemption for donors. Mrs Inderjit K. Pannu, GCCI president and wife of late Major-General
R.S. Panoo, presented cheques of Rs 1 lakh and above to project partners in various states. These include Rotary Club, Ambala, Sahayata Cancer Organisation, Chandigarh, Cancer Relief Society, Jaipur, Kota Cancer Society, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai and Orange City Hospital, Nagpur. Santosh Bhan represented the Sahayata Cancer Organisation. Mrs Panoo told TNS that the cheque was meant to help project partners in continuing the outreach home care services. GCCI offers outreach home care services in Ambala, Amritsar, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Ludhiana Kota and Mumbai.
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Breakthrough in radioactive waste management
Mumbai, August 18 Making the announcement of the breakthrough, BARC Director, Dr Sreekumar Banerjee, also stated in his Independence Day address that the spent fuel storage facility at Tarapur has been commissioned. He added that BARC’s plutonium plant was modified to recycle usable material from reject depleted uranium pellets. BARC is also expanding the Indian Environmental Radiation Monitoring Network to display the radiation measurement data in different sites for public awareness.
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Tax holiday for Punjab sought in LS
New Delhi, August 18 Raising the issue during Zero Hour, he said the party had was not against the tax holiday being given to hill states, but demanded that similar package be extended to Punjab too. Mr Dhindsa said already 15,000 units have shifted from Punjab, which was resulting in large-scale unemployment.
— TNS
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Jagat Singh suspended from Cong
Jaipur, August 18 Rajasthan Congress Committee president
B.D. Kalla told reporters here that Jagat was suspended on the charges of misconduct, indiscipline and bringing disrepute to the party.
— PTI
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Bismillah’s
condition improves
Varanasi, August 18 A three-member medical team examined the 92-year-old Bharat Ratna awardee this morning and expressed satisfaction with his progress, Heritage Hospital superintendent Brig P.S.R. Ayer said in a medical bulletin.
— PTI
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Rapist to be thrashed
with shoes
Muzaffarnagar, August 18
She said the man accosted her when she had gone to the fields to cut grass and then sexually assaulted her, a panchayat official said. After presenting their cases, both parties agreed on a written compromise. The man expressed regret at what he had done and the panchayat then ordering that he be beaten with five shoes, the official said.
— PTI
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RS okays motion to set up JPC
New Delhi, August 18 The Lok Sabha adopted the motion yesterday. The JPC will consist of 10 members from Lok Sabha and five from the Rajya Sabha.
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