The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Rebellion by Rawat internal problem of Cong, says BJP BD Kasniyal Pithoragarh, March 17 The state BJP leaders are cautious in reacting on the issue of rebellion by Union Minister Harish Rawat in the state Congress, terming it as an internal problem of Congress Party. The party also seemed to be a bit confused over the action plan, if the situation is be politically exploited for party benefit. “Our party will not support Congress leader Harish Rawat if he floats a regional party in the state with his supporter MLAs. As he does not command the support of two-thirds MLAs of his party and his floating a regional party will invite action under the anti-defection law,” said Suresh Joshi, BJP general secretary. “At the moment of constitutional uncertainty, we are in no mood to destabilise Congress and ready to fulfil our responsibility as responsible Opposition,” said Joshi. Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, former Chief Minister of the state and BJP Rajya Sabha member, is also of the view that the party has not yet thought of support to Rawat faction of legislators if he constitutes that in the Uttarakhand Assembly. “In place of giving support to the Congress rebel faction, the BJP can demand support from them to form its own government in the state. But these are floating ideas in the party as the situation is not clear. However, we agree that the state is having unconstitutional government at present,” said Bhagat Singh Koshiyari. Koshiyari urged the Governor of the state that the “minority and unconstitutional government” in the state be dismissed and the BJP be invited to form the government in the state. “The government in the state is having the support of less than 15 MLAs of the Conress. The Chief Minister has been sworn in without the support of all MLAs of the the party,” said Koshiyari. Uttarakhand BJP chief Bishen Singh Chufal is also suspicious of the moves of the Congress rebels and not sure that the Congress will be divided into two groups at the time of vote-on-account in the House. “Though we are keeping an eye on the situation, we are of the opinion that we should better prepare to sit in Opposition and play a role of a responsible Opposition in the interest of the people of the state,” said Chufal.
	Budget overshadows Harish Rawat's rebellion Rajeev Khanna Tribune News Service Nainital, March 17 The ongoing stand-off between the Congress factions has been overshadowed by other events of national interest, thus preventing the developments from being reported in a full-blown manner across the country. The presentation of the Rail Budget, the Economic Survey, General Budget, Sachin Tendulkar eventually going on to score his 100th ton and other related developments saw the rebellion by supporters of Harish Rawat not being given priority by the media organisations at the national level. Congress workers feel that had the rebellion taken place at some other point of time, the party leadership at the Centre and also at the state-level would have had a tough time explaining things to common people through the media. There is a section of the Congress leaders that feels that the timing of the developments at the national level has been to the disadvantage of Harish Rawat and his supporters. A general retort often heard from old timers in the party is, “With so much happening on the national canvass, there is not much scope left to be bothered about a small state like Uttarakhand.” It is being pointed out that while the drama over choosing the new Chief Minister of the state was on, it was the poll outcomes in states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab that were making headlines at the national level as the ramifications of the results on the coalition politics at the Centre are expected to be long. Political observers and analysts were much busy figuring out whether the UPA would survive its full term amid talks of a possible mid-term poll or not. Then, when the name of Vijay Bahuguna was finalised and a revolt followed, it was the Rail Budget and the subsequent moves of the Trinamool Congress seeking Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi’s removal which once again overshadowed the developments that were on with regards to the Uttarakhand politics both in Dehradun as well as New Delhi. Even the incident of 17 Congress legislators defying the party on taking their oath to the office was underplayed. While the stand-off has continued, it was now the General Budget that consumed majority of the media space yesterday. In fact, there was hardly a reference of ths state political developments at the national level on the day as what went alongside the budget was Tendulkar going on to eventually score his 100th ton which was being looked forward to by millions of cricket fans across the country.
	Jewellers protest hike in custom duty on gold Demand excise duty and service tax proposals to be scrapped Tribune News Service Dehradun, March 17 Members of the Jewellers Association of Uttarakhand here today closed their businesses till March 20 in protest against the Union Budget proposals of hiking customs duty on gold, introducing excise duty, and additional one per cent tax on cash payments above Rs 2 lakh. The jewellers were unhappy over the proposed excise duty of one per cent on unbranded precious jewellery and the doubling of customs duty on standard gold bars and coins. A large number of jewellers gathered at Gandhi Park and held a protest march. They shouted slogans against the Central government. The protesters holding banners and placards vented anger at the new provisions imposed on the gold trade. “We are hurt after reading the proposals of the Union Budget. We believe the Central government is trying to revive the Gold Control Act, which it had scrapped,” said Bipin Berry, president of the association. “On the one hand the Centre has been propagating liberalising trade by introducing the Goods and Service Tax (GST) from August, and on the other it has imposed the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Department on the gold trade. This will lead to revival of “licence raj” and “babu raj” on small jewelers and the unpleasant memories of the Gold Control Act days,” he added. The protesters requested Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to reduce custom duty on the import of gold from the proposed four per cent to two per cent and totally exempt the non-branded jewellery from excise duty as it would directly impact the livelihood of about three crore people connected with the trade. It also requested him to abolish the service tax of one per cent on the purchase of jewellery exceeding Rs 2 lakh. They threatened to continue their strike indefinitely if the Budget proposals were not scrapped.
	Shatabdi Express to Delhi flagged off Another train service begins between Ramnagar and Haridwar Tribune News Service Nainital, March 17 Two new trains linking Kumaon to New Delhi and Haridwar, respectively, were started today. Local parliamentarian KC Singh Baba flagged off a Shatabdi Express between Kathgodam and the Anand Vihar terminus in Delhi at the Kathgodam Railway Station this afternoon. Senior functionaries of the Izzatnagar division of the Northeastern Railways were present on the occasion. The train would ply four days a week. It would leave Kathgodam on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 3.45 pm and reach Anand Vihar in Delhi at 9.15 pm. It would return to Kathgodam from Delhi on the same days. It would start at 6.15 pm from Delhi and reach Kathgodam at 11.50 pm. It would halt at Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Rampur, Rudrapur, Lal Kuan and Haldwani. During its journey from Kathgodam to Delhi the passengers would be served dinner and on way to Kathgodam from Delhi the passengers would be served breakfast. A Railway spokesperson said, “The train will have 11 coaches, including eight air conditioned chair cars and one air conditioned executive class chair car.” The second train service that started from the region is the Ramnagar-Haridwar Express. Former Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced this train in her Rail Budget last year, but its introduction had been delayed. This train would run between Ramnagar and Haridwar on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. It would leave Haridwar at 6.40 pm and reach Ramnagar at 11.40 pm. From Ramnagar the train would leave at 8.35 pm and reach Haridwar at 12.30 pm. It would halt at Laksar, Najibabad, Moradabad, Peepalsana and Kashipur during the course of journey. It would have 10 coaches, including one air conditioned chair car, five general chair cars and two general compartments. Asked about the persistent demand of the people for a direct train from Kumaon to Mumbai, the MP said steps were being taken in the direction. He added that efforts would be made to extend the train service between Mumbai and Bareilley to Kathgodam. The Railway authorities have repeatedly stated that Kumaon would be linked directly to Mumbai and other metros of the country once infrastructure enhancement projects underway in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were completed.
	India prone to invasion, terror threats, says defence expert BD Kasniyal Pithoragarh, March 17 The state of Uttarakhand, being a border state sharing borders with two countries, has been sensitive from the international terrorism point of view as China has come near northern borders of the country and gradually increasing its influence in Nepal, said Lt. General Mohan Bhandari (retd), inaugurating an international seminar on “International Terrorism and India’s Security Problems.” The two-day seminar is being organised by the Department of Defence Studies, Government PG College, Pithoragarh, with the help of University Grants Commission (UGC). General Bhandari (retd) said that in the changing world order, the centre of gravity had changed towards south and South West Asia. “ As India occupied a pre-dominant position in South Asia and shares borders with six countries of the region, it is prone to external invasion and terrorism threat, specially from the side of China and Pakistan,” said Bhandari. “There is a strong presence of Pakistan ISI in Nepal, North-Eastern states and Terai region of the Uttarakhand state and it is pumping fake currency into Indian economy as part of the overall design to destabilise Indian economy,” said Bhandari, adding that to deal with growing terrorism in the subcontinent, the country needs to strengthen its internal and external security. Professor Rajendra Prasad, Dean at the faculty of science, University of Gorakhpur, said on the occasion that the terrorism had taken international shape today, which has gone highly sophisticated with the help of information technology. “With 20 per cent terrorist attacks on civilian establishments, India being an open society needs to take extra caution on it, “said Dr Rajendra Prasad. The seminar, in which more than 50 scholars from across the country are taking part, will host technical sessions tomorrow before conclusion. The session was also addressed by Dr D.K. Upadhyaya, Dr J.S. Garia, Dr N.D. Shukla and scores of other defence scholars of various universities from across the country.
	Roster finalised for holding panchayat meetings in Udham Singh Nagar Tribune News Service Nainital, March 17 The administration in Udham Singh Nagar has finalised the roster for holding the panchayat meetings in the district over the next financial year. District Magistrate PS Jangpangi has ordered the Sub Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) and other district-level officials to circulate the roster and make it a point to attend all the meetings held in their respective areas of jurisdiction. He has underlined that the absence of officials from these meetings would be taken seriously ad action would be taken against the erring officials. Jangpangi has directed all the officials to ensure that the dates of Panchayat meetings do not coincide with their departmental meetings or their field visits. He has asked them to prepare the rosters for the departmental meetings and their field visits keeping this in mind. Jangpangi has particularly asked the officials of the Public Works Department, Jal Sansthan, Jal Nigam, Health, Education, Revenue, Rural Development and Panchayat Departments to compulsorily attend the meetings of the Panchayats. He has told the Block Development Officers (BDOs) that if the day designated for a panchayat meeting is declared a holiday, they must hold the meeting on the following day. The BDOs have also been ordered to come up with timely agendas for the panchayat meetings. They have been asked to ensure that in the absence of a panchayat member or a public representative, the absentees are not represented by other members of their families. Very often it has been reported in the past that husbands or other male members of the families of women representatives attend the meetings on their behalf. This has led to a lot of resentment amongst the public and there have been demands to put an end to this practice.