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Speaker-NDA rift widens
CPM following in Cong footsteps, says George
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Cong won’t ask for resignation Sell govt schemes, Cong MPs told Re 1 donation to CM! Maoists feel the need for image makeover
Punjab, Haryana overusing groundwater
50 pc women quota in Bihar civic bodies soon
Mumbai On Edge
Education for girls must, says Sonia
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Speaker-NDA rift widens
New Delhi, December 5 While NDA leaders are scheduled to meet in Mr Advani's chamber tomorrow to discuss ways of expressing "anguish" over the "attitude" of Mr Chatterjee in handling the Opposition protest against the arrest of BJP president Rajnath Singh over the Singur issue, the Leader of the Opposition has conveyed to Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr Mukherjee the Opposition's displeasure on the way the ruling party had carried out government business. The BJP decided against disrupting proceedings of the Lok Sabha, though it continued to insist on its boycott of the Business Advisory Committee. Briefing mediapersons after the BJP parliamentary party meeting, party spokesman V.K. Malhotra said the NDA leaders would meet at the chamber of Mr Advani tomorrow, but declined to spell out the course of action and refused to say whether a no-confidence motion against the Speaker was on the cards. Mr Advani, who met Dr Manmohan Singh during Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's daughter’s wedding reception last evening, told him that the Speaker carried on with the House business amid din and did not allow the BJP to raise its objections over the arrest of its chief Rajnath Singh. Mr Advani also spoke to the External Affairs Minister over telephone over the party's row with the Speaker. The party had sought discussion over land acquisition in Left-ruled West Bengal for a motor project. There was considerable resentment aginst the Speaker among NDA MPs, who felt aggrieved over Mr Chatterjee’s partisan approach towards their issues, a BJP leader said. Mr Chatterjee preferred the CPM, the CPI, the Congress and the RJD over the Opposition, creating ill will among NDA members, he added. Talking of yesterday's issue, which precipitated the anger against the Speaker, he said the news of the arrest of Mr Rajnath Singh in West Bengal reached here around 11.30 am, and so, they could not give an advance notice in the morning. The NDA had passed resolutions, expressing its regret about the conduct of Mr Chatterjee, in the past, but stopped short of moving any motion in the House, knowing that they had no majority for the House to pass the resolution. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyranjan Dasmunshi dismissed the BJP's charge that he controlled the Speaker, saying his job was to coordinate between the government and the presiding officer and the Opposition. Asked about the BJP boycotting today's Business Advisory Committee meeting, Mr Dasmunsi said he had requested the Leader of the House to talk to Mr Advani to persuade the main opposition party to attend
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BJP walks out over Rajnath’s arrest
New Delhi, December 5 There was pandemonium during the Zero Hour as members belonging to the BJP, the Samajwadi Party, the AIADMK and Left parties sought to raise different issues simultaneously. In the prevailing commotion, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu protested the arrest of BJP chief near Singur yesterday while party members kept shouting slogans in the well for 15 minutes. Deputy Chairperson K. Rehman Khan though found it difficult to handle the situation, he refused to adjourn the House prompting the BJP members to stage a walk out in protest.
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Don’t project Afzal as hero, says BJP
New Delhi, December 5 There was a wordy duel between members of the Opposition and Treasury benches during Zero Hour as BJP MP Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi raised the issue and accused that the two parties were seeking to make these two as “ideal persons”. Although Mr Naqvi named the two parties, the names were removed by Deputy Chairman K. Rehman Khan following strong objections from the ruling party benches. The BJP members said these parties were ashamed to sing “Vande Matram”, but did not hesitate to hug the terrorists. Mr Naqvi said he had gone to Kerala for campaigning and he was ashamed to find that the parties were making heroes out of convicts like Mohammad Afzal sentenced to death by the Supreme Court and Abdul Nazir Madhani, who is in detention for his role in the Coimbatore bomb blasts case. The BJP members resorted to slogan shouting as the Deputy Chairman said he could not direct the government to make any statement as the rules did not provide for any such provision.
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Humourous moments in Lok Sabha
New Delhi, December 5 Shiromani Akali Dal members, led by Mr S.S. Dhindsa, tried to raise a matter and sought the Speaker's permission as soon as the House assembled. Mr Chatterjee replied, "I will allow you to raise it at 12 noon". A smiling Mr Dasmunsi immediately stood up to tell the Speaker, "Sir, you should say that you will allow them only after question hour instead of 12 noon", drawing laughter from members. Mr Chatterjee said, "I do not know what problem 12 noon has, but in case I have committed a mistake, I withdraw". Amid bouts of laughter, Mr Dhindsa acceded to the Speaker's request, prompting Mr Chatterjee to say, "This reflects the spirit of cooperation with the chair".
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CPM following in Cong footsteps,
says George
Kolkata, December 5 He warned Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee against playing with fire and advised him to immediately stop evicting the farmers at Singhur. Industries were necessary, but certainly not on farm land and at the cost of bread and butter of the farmers and labourers, he stressed. The Forward Bloc's all-India general secretary, Mr Debabrata Biswas, asked the Chief Minister to stop applying of force on farmers and persuade them to voluntarily come forward and part with the land for industries. He said they had some specific information that quite a large number of farmers at Singhur had been forcibly evicted and there were several others who were still unwilling to hand over their crop land to Tata Motors. The SUCI and the CPI(M-L) observed a Bangla bandh today against police atrocities and the forcible eviction of farmers at Singhur and the bandh was partial. Some disturbances were reported from the city and districts over the observance of the bandh and at least 100 persons were arrested, according to state home secretary Prasad Roy. Ms Banerjee declared today that she would again visit Singhur on Thursday, where at least 15 poor farmers, including women and the elderly, had been on an indefinite fast since yesterday, protesting against their eviction. She said TMC workers and supporters would organise large-scale blockades on roads and railway tracks tomorrow as a mark of protest against the Chief Minister's arrogance and high-handedness. Workers and supporters of 18 other like-minded parties would also participate. Mr Fernandes flew down to Kolkata this morning from New Delhi for extending support to Ms Banerjee in her movement in support of poor farmers at Singhur. BJP president Rajnath Singh was on the same dais yesterday after his failure to reach Singhur following resistance from the police. Mr Fernandes said NDA partners were by her side and he hoped that all political parties, irrespective of political and ideological differences, would join hands with her. The Chief Minister said social activist Medha Patkar telephoned him, requesting him to allow her to visit Singhur. He told her to come to Kolkata and he was ready to discuss anything with her, but she would not be allowed to enter Singhur, the Chief Minister told mediapersons. He said Ms Patkar was accommodated at the Coal India guest house at Dankuni, but she was not arrested. The Chief Minister said he was also requesting the Trinamool leader to call off her indefinite fast and the movement.
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Cong won’t ask for resignation New Delhi, December 5 It is not just the Opposition but his own allies have also made this demand publicly. Railway Minister and RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav has already gone on record to say that Mr Soren should honour the court order and resign his seat. The Congress, however, was more circumspect. Party spokesperson Satyavrat Chaturvedi termed today’s development as unfortunate, but maintained that as far as Mr Soren’s resignation was concerned, it was up to the “individual and his party” to take a final view on the matter. Already under pressure for the “inclusion of tainted ministers in the Union Cabinet”, the Congress in general and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in particular will now face a renewed attack from the Opposition. The BJP will cite the example of its member Navjot Singh Sidhu who resigned after he was convicted in a murder case. The Congress is clearly embarrassed about the turn of events but believes it is the price it has to pay for ruining a coalition government. Party sources said though Mr Soren ought to step down on moral grounds, it is unable to openly press for his resignation as the law provides him three months to challenge this order in a higher court.
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Sell govt schemes, Cong MPs told New Delhi, December 5 A group of 40-odd Congress MPs were called for a special meeting with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi this evening and updated about the UPA government’s flagship schemes like Bharat Nirman, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Rural Health Mission and the Prime Minister’s 15-point programme for minorities. This meeting follows a growing realisation in the party that the Congress MPs are unaware of the Centre’s achievements and are, therefore, unable to counter the opposition offensive or sell it to the people as the UPA government’s achievements. In her speech at the general body meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) last week, Ms Gandhi had specifically said that the party organise detailed briefings on the government’s flagship programmes. In this connection, she had also mentioned that it would be a good idea to organise an interaction with Finance Minister P.Chidambaram in this session itself on the forthcoming Budget. After Ms Gandhi made this suggestion, Congress chief whip in Lok Sabha Madhusudan Mistry drew up a list of 50 MPs for a briefing on the government’s programmes.
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Guwahati, December 5 Hundreds of women yesterday calmly walked into the District Magistrate’s office and donated Re 1 each to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and garlanded the Additional District Magistrate on not finding the District magistrate. “Since this government cannot provide us relief to fight drought as it does not have money, we are donating Re 1 each to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund so that this money can be used in a better way,” said Mrs Jayanta Barua, one of the angry women protesters. The District Magistrate’s office was shocked with this protest as it had deployed a huge contingent of paramilitary force to take on the agitators. But instead, one by one hundreds of women walked into the ADM’s chamber, garlanded him, donated Re 1 and asked for a money receipt. The incident has hugely embarrassed the district authorities, as they could not use force to stop the women. The women are angry over the death of Tilumani Saikia, who has been begging for some time and died of starvation of November 28 last. The drought-like situation has damaged the crop in half of the Asom’s district but situation is grave in Golaghat districts and the state government has been accused of not taking enough relief measures. — UNI
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Maoists feel the need for image makeover Patna, December 5 The link between the Maoists from Nepal and Bihar was well-known for long as the Bihar Maoists were depending heavily on the former for logistic support, including arms. However, following in the footsteps of their comrades in Nepal, the Maoists here are also reportedly in the mood for an image makeover by softening their stance with regard to awarding capital sentence to anyone found guilty in their jan adalat. Sources disclosed that in a shift from their earlier stand of inflicting harsh punishments, including choping off ear, nose or hands, to those found to be criminals or betrayers, the CPI (Maoists) would rather now like the villagers to decide on the quantum of punishment. The banned outfit usually used to hold its jan adalat (people’s courts) in villages and forest areas to punish rich landowners, police informers, corrupt government officials, contractors and party betrayers. The fear of punishment from the Maoists remained deep rooted in rural Bihar in particular for decades as the guerrillas presently have a strong presence in over a dozen districts in the state and also areas bordering Nepal. Officials with the intelligence chose to view this move of the Maoists here as an effort to strengthen their support base in the villages by befriending people through this soft image. Inputs available with the Intelligence Bureau, however, indicated a sharp rise in extremist violence across the country in recent past and Bihar was no exception. It was learnt that altogether 165 persons were killed in seven Maoist-hit states between July and September this year. The victims reportedly included 19 security personnel, 70 civilians and 76 Maoist cadres. The highest number of killings was reported from Chhattisgarh (94) followed by 39 in Andhra Pradesh, 10 in Jharkhand, 9 in Bihar five in West Bengal and four each in Maharashtra and Orissa. Quoting inputs available with the Union Home Ministry, the sources informed that the Maoist violence was reported from 1,427 police stations in 2006 against 509 in year 2005 across the country.
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Punjab, Haryana overusing groundwater
New Delhi, December 5 As per a joint assessment of groundwater resources carried out by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and the states, a large majority of replenishable groundwater resource assessment units falling under the overexploited category were located in these four states. To top it all, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has given licences to 113 packaged drinking water companies to set up plants in these four states, a majority of which were using groundwater. Water being a State subject, any action for restraining mineral water plants for using river or groundwater has to be taken by the agencies concerned with the GGWB having no say in it. In fact, after Delhi, Punjab happens to the most overexploited state in the country as far as groundwater resources go, with 75 per cent of 137 blocks assessed falling under the overexploited zone, followed by Rajasthan (59 per cent) and Haryana (49 per cent). Delhi with seven out of nine districts classified under the overexploited category, tops this dubious list with a score of 78 per cent. As per the CGWB assessment, out of the 5723 units in the country, as many as 839 come under the category of “over-exploited”. The over-exploited 839 units are largely located in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharshtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Utter Pradesh, Uttranchal and West Bengal. Of these 839 units, the CGWB has classified 226 as critical, which are in Rajasthan(21), Haryana(10), Punjab(5), Andhra Pradesh(77), Gujarat(12), Tamil Nadu(33) and Uttar Pradesh(13). In Punjab, five blocks are critically sick. In Haryana 11 out of the 113 units assessed are critical and 55 overexploited. As far as criteria for categorisation goes, in overexploited blocks, a significant decline in long-term water level trend is seen in either pre-monsoon or post-monsoon period, or both. In critical blocks, there is significant decline in long-term water level in both pre-monsoon and post-monsoon period. Replying to a question on over-utilisation of groundwater in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State of Water Resources Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav said the Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS) had given licences to 113 packaged drinking water companies to set up plants in these four states, a majority of which were using groundwater. So far no decision has been taken to impose cess on groundwater resources or to review laws governing ownership of groundwater on private land. However, the Centre had asked the states to facilitate the enactment of suitable groundwater legislation, which has so far been enacted only by Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Lakshwadeep, Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu.
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50 pc women quota in Bihar civic bodies soon
Patna, December 5 This is evident from its decision to reserve 50 per cent seats for women in urban local bodies and the proposed Bill against female foeticide. After reserving 50 per cent seats for women at the just-concluded statewide three-tier panchayat elections, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has decided to extend the same reservation formula for women cutting across
caste, creed and religion lines for the urban local bodies too. The elections for the urban local bodies are scheduled to be held by April next year. The Chief Minister hoped that 50 per cent reservation of seats for women in the urban local bodies, like the panchayats, would help in removing social and gender inequalities. The ruling NDA also planned to enact a strict legislation against female foeticide. It was learnt that the new Bill would be tabled in the forthcoming winter session of the state Assembly to give more teeth to the existing Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT Act).
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Dalits to gather at Babasaheb’s samadhi today
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, December 5 Tomorrow is the 50th death anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar and lakhs of Dalits will assemble at his samadhi at Shivaji Park in the evening. With Dalit leaders promising a jumbo assembly of people, the police are gearing up for violence in the wake of riots across Maharashtra by the Backward Caste people only last week. "We have asked schools and colleges in Mumbai to remain closed as a security measure," police commissioner A N Roy said today. With the infrastructure at Central Mumbai completely stretched, all shops in the crowded Dadar area will be shut. Local residents in many buildings in the area simply moved out of the city for the next two days ahead of the influx. With few public amenities, residents say the whole area is turned into a public toilet during the day. Dalit leaders, however, sought to quell fears of riots. "Mumbai should not be punished for mistakes committed elsewhere," Dalit leader Ramdas Athvale said in Nagpur. Mr Athvale and other leaders of the Dalits were arrested on Monday ahead of a rally in that town. However, last week's riots have shown that the leaders have little control over the hotheads in the community and the authorities are preparing for the worst. Watch towers have been erected along the venue and closed-circuit televisions installed to monitor the crowds.
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Education for girls must, says Sonia
Lalganj(Rae Barel), December 5 Speaking at the diamond jubilee celebration of the Baiswara Inter College here, the local member of Parliament repeatedly underlined the need to stress on a good education, even if eventually one went for self-employment. Wearing a wine red striped silk sari, Ms Gandhi thanked the local people for giving a favorable verdict to the Congress during the recently concluded local body elections. Recalling the New Education policy introduced by her husband Rajiv Gandhi, she said it was meant to serve the twin purpose of making a human being out of a person and also making her
employable. While appreciating the road covered by the country in this field since Independence, Ms Gandhi pointed out that there was still a long way to go.
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Ministry’s no to Shankaran's arrest
New Delhi, December 5 In response to the stand taken by the ministry, the CBI made another request to it in October to seek Shankaran's provisional arrest by the authorities in Britain, the agency said in a status report submitted recently to the Delhi High Court.
— UNI
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Bill to change Uttaranchal’s name passed
New Delhi, December 5 The Samajwadi Party walked out of the House and stayed away from the voice vote to register its protest over the government’s silence on the inclusion of Haridwar in Uttar Pradesh. The Assembly resolution said the state should be named Uttarakhand on the basis of the mythology.
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India regrets coup French envoy meets Ashwani Pinak India’s new envoy BSP legislator jailed Heritage villages
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