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PM’s call to alleviate rural distress
Cabinet nod to wage talks for PSU workers
IT Act to be amended
Dengue toll rises to 103
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Police, farmers exchange fire; Army
out
4 held guilty in blasts case, Dutt summoned
2 undertrials shot dead
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PM’s call to alleviate rural distress
New Delhi, October 16 Inaugurating a national conference of project directors of the District Rural Development Authorities here today, Dr Manmohan Singh laid stress on improving conditions in which agriculture is practised. Drawing attention to “crisis in agriculture being faced in many parts of the country”, he said government schemes could act either as social safety nets or as inputs to better agriculture. “Till we focus on the larger goal of improving the economics of the agriculture itself, we cannot alleviate rural distress on a sustainable basis,” he said. Pointing out that agriculture sustains 70 per cent of rural population, the Prime Minister said district agricultural plans should be drawn up and these should be dovetailed into the larger goal of improving agricultural incomes. “Our next big growth story could be rural India. There is a conjecture of circumstances, including the high growth rate of our economy, which holds great potential for rural India. We need relevant policy intervention to sustain this process. This is a national priority for us. We must bridge the development gap between urban and rural areas,” he said. Dr Manmohan Singh lamented the delays by some states in putting effective administrative arrangements in place, resulting in the slow implementation of NREGA. Nearly 88 lakh people are working in over 2,42,000 development works under the NREGA, of which 1,58,000 works are in the area of water conservation. He said NGOs and citizens groups should use instruments like the Right to Information Act to increase accountability and transparency under NREGA. Referring to the targets under Bharat Nirman, Dr Manmohan Singh said seven states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh — account for over 90 per cent of present backlog in rural roads. In rural housing, against an overall shortage of about 148 lakh, the government was providing 60 lakh houses. The government has committed that all uncovered habitations would be covered under the rural water supply component by 2009, he said.
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Cabinet nod to wage talks for PSU workers
New Delhi, October 16 While the validity of the sixth round of negotiated wages expires on December 31, the settlement that would be reached under the seventh round would be good for 10 years with 100 per cent dearness allowance neutralisation, Information and Broadcasting Minister P.R. Dasmunsi told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. Permission has been granted for negotiations on the condition that no burden would be borne by the government and the companies would have to generate funds from their internal resources by improving productivity and profitability. Further, the wage revision must not result in any increase in labour cost per physical unit of output. However, the PSUs running on full capacity could be exempted. Public sector companies, which enjoy monopoly or operate under administered price structure, must ensure that the wage revision does not lead to rise in prices of their products. Mr Dasmunsi said sick CPSUs that had been referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) would continue to work on the existing policy guidelines. Until the BIFR approves the revival plan for a PSU, in which provision has been made for additional expenditure on account of wage revision, no increase would be allowed. As per the policy guidelines, wage revision for companies referred to the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) would be considered only on the basis of the Board's recommendations. The CPSUs, which incurred net loss during any of the past three financial years but not referred to either BIFR or BRPSE, may also be allowed to enter into wage negotiations.
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IT Act to be amended
New Delhi, October 16 The decision at the Cabinet meeting follows Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assurance to investors abroad that India is sensitive to their concerns about data theft and will plug the loopholes. “Concerns have been raised both within the country as well as by customers abroad regarding the adequacy of data protection and privacy laws in the country”, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.R. Dasmunsi said. “A need is felt to strengthen the legislation pertaining to data protection and privacy”, he said. He added that security practices and procedures would be prescribed to be followed by organisations and to enquire personal information of customers. Nasscom had forecast that the outsourcing sector would be a $ 15 billion industry by 2008. India’s booming back-office sector had reported a revenue of $ 6.3 billion in the year ended March 31 last. In 2006-07, the sector was expected to grow by 27 per cent and generate revenue of $ 8 billion. The Amendment in the IT Act 2000 would be presented in Parliament in the winter session, he said. The amendments were aimed at preventing computer misuse like video voyeurism, identity theft, e-commerce frauds, frauds on online auction sites, sending offensive e-mails and multimedia offences.
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Dengue toll rises to 103
New Delhi, October 16 The NVBDCP today confirmed Monday's TNS report of 54 fresh cases in Haryana. The NVBDCP has, however, added the fresh cases from Haryana in its data only today. NVBDCP Director Dr P. L. Joshi informed TNS here today that it is too early to say that dengue cases are on the decline. According to the NVBDCP control room, the maximum number of fresh cases have been reported in Rajasthan followed by Delhi and the National Capital Region (83) and Haryana (54). Both Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have reported two fresh cases each. Rajasthan Health Minister Digambar Singh, who attended the meeting of the Health Ministers of dengue-affected states had told TNS that dengue will certainly have an adverse impact on tourism in the state. The number of cases in Delhi and NCR have increased from 1,465 on Saturday to 1,548 on Sunday. Of the total cases reported in Delhi and NCR till date, 982 are from Delhi.
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Police, farmers exchange fire; Army
out Jaipur, October 16 The Army was requistioned to assist the district administration, Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) Navdeep Singh said. More than 24 persons, including a security guard of the Superintendent of Police, were hurt as farmers and the police exchanged fire at Gharsana, a small town in neighbouring Sriganganagar district today. According to information the Kisan Beopari Sangharsh Samiti, which had organised an agitation in October 2004, had given an ultimatum for for better supply of water in canals last week. The district administration clamped curfew and enforced prohibitory orders to check a maha-Panchayat at Gharsana. Talk with senior representatives of the civil administration had failed. The government had expressed inability to make more water available, as reduction in the supply due to excess withdrawal of water from Punjab in the recent past. The people had set three police vehicles ablaze while defying prohibitory orders despite the deployment of more than 20 companies of armed police around Gharsana and Rawla mandi in the first phase of the agitation. Sources said more than 10,000 farmers including 2500 women today marched in Gharsana. Unconfirmed reports said a miscreant resorted to firing also. The police, initially, used rubber bullets injuring at least 24 dozen protesters including women. Later the police was noticed firing in the air, witnesses said.
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Mission to kill sabotaged
New Delhi, October 16 The arrested militants were identified as Mohammad Aslam Gir and Abdul Razaq, residents of Rajshahi district in Bangladesh, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Alok Kumar said. They landed in police net on their arrival from Jammu by Pooja Express at around 5 am, he said adding that 1.5 kg of RDX was recovered from their possession. The arrest came at a time when security in the Capital is at an all-time high in view of the festive season. There was information that Lashkar - e - Toiba was planning to carry out a major terrorist strike in Delhi on the occasion of this festive season. Acting on that input, surveillance was mounted at railway stations. In the wee hours, two suspected person carrying bags were spotted. Both were shadowed. They proceeded towards theOld Delhi Railway station and waited for their accomplices for about 20 minutes, but no one turned up. They were about to leave when they were apprehended. On interrogation, it was revealed that the explosive was meant for explosions in busy market areas in Delhi . They were to meet another module in Delhi who had already identified the targets. All of them would have left for Bangladesh after completing their assignments, said the officer.
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4 held guilty in blasts case, Dutt summoned
Mumbai, October 16 It also issued summons to actor Sanjay Dutt and 26 others for appearance on October 18, who would appear only for the sake of marking attendance. Muzamil Umar Kadri, Khalil Ahmed Sayyed Nazir and Gulam Hafeez Shaikh were found guilty of helping in landing RDX at the Raigad coast ahead of the blasts as well as transporting weapons and possessing arms. The fourth accused, Tulsiram Dhondu Surve, who was employed as watchman at the high-security Wangani mircowave tower in the Raigad district, was found guilty of storing RDX and allowing bombers to use government property to store explosives and other weapons. Acquitting the others, the court noted that their confessions had been obtained under duress.
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2 undertrials shot dead
Mumbai, October 16 Both were out on bail and the incidence happened in the afternoon opposite Jehangir Art Gallery at the Kala Ghoda circle, near the city sessions court, where their case was scheduled for hearing at 3 pm, the police said.
— PTI |
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