|
|
|
|
|
Pawar’s disenchantment with Cong started with food Bill
Haryana’s loss is Gujarat’s gain
Industry flays arson at Maruti
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Plant closure hits ancillary units
News analysis
Autobiography row
Mumbai Police gets custody of Jundal
TMC will go it alone in West Bengal: Mamata
Adarsh Society land belongs to MoD: Antony
6 killed in Assam group clashes
|
|
Pawar’s disenchantment with Cong started with food Bill
New Delhi, July 21 Sources said that his unceremonious exit from the Food Ministry last year to pave way for Sonia Gandhi-loyalist KV Thomas and her pet project — the National Food Security Bill — was the beginning of his disenchantment with the senior UPA ally. Though the Agriculture Minister had brushed aside the move to divest him of critical ministries by terming it as lightening of workload, sources said that it was his opposition to the Food Bill on the basis of some hard economic facts that cost him the job as the country’s Food Minister. In the past one-and-a-half years, Congress’ “valuable colleague” repeatedly voiced concern over proposals moved by the Sonia Gandhi-led NAC in the revised Food Bill, both in official meetings and public forums. His main concerns in the proposed law — aiming to make food a legal entitlement — were its legal bindings, poor economics vis-à-vis India’s skyrocketing subsidy bill and limitations on fronts like capacities of mandis, financial position of state agencies, manpower, quality control mechanism and storage.
|
||
|
Haryana’s loss is Gujarat’s gain
New Delhi, July 21 The Japanese Embassy in New Delhi announced that Japan had extended a formal invitation to Modi to visit the country to further strengthen ties between Gujarat and Japan in the context of the global strategic partnership that India and Japan enjoy. This is being considered a significant departure from the past since the Japanese Embassy has never issued a press release announcing the visit of a state’s CM. Not only that, Modi is going to Japan as a state guest, accompanied by top aides and business representatives. During the visit, Modi is scheduled to meet ministers, members of the Diet (Parliament), other prominent leaders and top business honchos of that country. He will also attend investment promotion seminars in Tokyo,
Hamamatsu, and Nagoya. At Hamamatsu, Modi will meet Maruti Suzuki Corporation Managing Director Shinzo
Nakanishi. Modi's proposed meeting with the Suzuki boss has sparked speculation that he would try to convince him to expand the carmaker's production capacity in Gujarat from the proposed 2,50,000 units annually. The Manesar violence has upset the Japanese industry. Suzuki Motor Corporation is said to be considering various options, including moving out of
Haryana. The unrest has resulted in heavy losses to the company. Suzuki executives said they were keen to establish Gujarat as their export hub by 2015. In June, the Gujarat Government had allocated around 700 acres for Maruti's proposed plant near
Mehsana. Maruti had said it would invest Rs 4,000 crore to set up the new manufacturing facility in Gujarat by 2015-16. In recent years, Modi has been trying to project his state as the most investment-friendly destination in India. He has already undertaken visits to some countries, including China, to showcase his state. His efforts have started paying dividends as Tata Motors chose Gujarat as the home for the world's cheapest car, Tata
Nano. The US auto giant Ford's India subsidiary is likely to build its second manufacturing unit right next to Tata Motors' Nano factory at
Sanand. On the other hand, the “inaction” of the Haryana Government in the initial hours of violence at Manesar has come in for sharp criticism. Maruti officials said a more determined action by the state authorities could have prevented the situation from taking such an ugly turn. The Japanese Embassy had strongly deplored the loss of life and injuries to many others due to the violence perpetrated by a group of workers at the Manesar plant. Back in 2000 also, Maruti had witnessed violent labour unrest at the Gurgaon plant.
|
||
|
Industry flays arson at Maruti
“The incident has sent shock waves in the corporate boardrooms of companies, both at home and abroad," Kanoria said. He said the message from India needs to ring out loud and clear that the lives and property of its citizens was safe and any breach in the law and order and industrial relations situation will be dealt with firmly." Malvinder Mohan Singh, chairman, CII (Northern Region) condemned the violence and vandalism. He said the loss of life and injuries caused by a group of workers was unfortunate. The CII has strongly recommended that the Haryana government deal with lawlessness effectively so that such incidents do not recur. Malvinder said the incident might hit the investment in the country. “We hope the situation improves quickly and production at Maruti resumes at the earliest", he said.
|
||
|
Plant closure hits ancillary units
Gurgaon, July 21 At least 100 such units are located in Manesar. These are provided with raw material by Maruti. With production at the plant having come to a halt, these units employing over 2,000 workers are on the verge of closure. “We have been waiting for two days, but haven’t got a response for the delivery of our products. We have also run out of the raw material. This has resulted in a lay-off till Monday. We hope the production will resume soon," said Suresh Kumar, production manger of a unit in Manesar. The Maruti management decision against shifting out the plant from Manesar has come as breather for these units. But an indefinite delay in production is going to cost them dear. “Ours are small units that operate on a day-to-day basis and payments. Any delay in production hits us badly. We are in touch with company higher-ups so that we know when they will start production. But we haven't got any fixed date. We have no job in hand right now," said a factory owner.
|
||
|
Coalition dharma: Cong has a lot to learn
KV Prasad/TNS The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition headed by the Congress encountered a political roadblock with its long-standing ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), raising a flag of protest over the manner in which the formation is functioning. For the past few days, the NCP camp sent distress signals cautioning about the southward dip in relations. The situation eventually led to the party issuing an ultimatum to the Congress leadership to resolve the issues without delay. What is surprising is that while internal channels of communication remained open, Congress political managers were unable to detect the extent of deterioration in the relationship. This raises a question mark on the ability of the Congress to manage coalitions or reflects the absence of interest in doing so. After being the dominant political party in the country, it was only nine years ago that the Congress re-oriented its political direction to recognise the need to enter into coalitions politics. This shift stood in contrast with the famous Pachmarhi resolution — five years earlier — which declared coalition politics as a “transient phase” in the country and promised to re-establish the primacy of the Congress in national politics. Interestingly, while the NCP flagged the non-setting up of a co-ordination committee in Maharashtra where the Congress-NCP have been together in the government as a case in point, the party itself had little role to play when such an arrangement existed during UPA-I. The “UPA-Left coordination committee” comprised representatives of the Congress and the Left, even though the four Left parties strongly advocated the inclusion of non-Congress partners like the NCP and the DMK. Even the UPA core committee remains restricted to the highest echelons of the Congress leadership. Since the advent of UPA-II, the arrangement to run the coalition is divided, with the core committee taking political decisions and the Cabinet Committee on Security finalising strategic decisions on behalf of the government. And, representation in both these panels is limited to Congress leaders. While the NCP is aware that it does not have the numbers in Parliament to pose any serious challenge, the grouse of party leaders is that Sharad Pawar is not being accorded due respect. The Congress may easily explain the frequent political tantrums that Mamata Banerjee indulges in but would have to come up with a credible answer as to why the list of grievances of the NCP was allowed to grow to counter the charge that it is haughty to bother about “coalition dharma”. As the Left leaders often said, when the parties provided outside support to UPA-I, that “information (in coordination committee meetings) to the Left about decisions being taken by the Congress does not mean consultation”.
|
||
|
Autobiography row
In a statement released here today, Phoolka said, “Nayar is among the few well-known journalists at the national level who fully supported the Sikhs in the aftermath of Operation Bluestar and 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He contributed not only as a journalist but also as an activist. I had been a part of many movements led by Nayar on issues relating to Sikhs.” He also quoted various instances wherein the veteran journalist supported the Sikh community. “In 1988, Nayar organised a dharna at the India Gate for release of innocent Sikhs detained in Jodhpur jail for many years. In December 1999, during a debate in Rajya Sabha on Babri
Masjid, Nayar raised the issue of 1984 riots and sought formation of a fresh commission of inquiry and punishment to guilty, which led to the constitution of Nanavati Commission in January 2000. In August 2005, when the Nanavati Commission report was placed before the Parliament, the government rejected its recommendations to register cases against Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar. Nayar spearheaded a campaign due to which the government ultimately had to succumb to pressure and agreed to book both the leaders. Tytler had to resign from the Union Cabinet as a minister,” he stated. He said he had also mentioned these incidents highlighting Nayar’s role in his book “When a Tree Shook Delhi”, which was published in 2007. Terming the controversy as unfortunate, Phoolka said some organisations are projecting Nayar as an enemy of the Sikhs. “Though I also may not agree with Nayar on some of the things mentioned in his book, that does not mean we forget and wash away all the contribution he has made in the past to the Sikh community and start projecting him as an enemy of the Sikhs,” he averred.
|
||
|
Mumbai Police gets custody of Jundal
Mumbai, July 21 Later in the day, Jundal was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate SS Shinde, who allowed the Crime Branch to take him into custody. Jundal was then produced before Additional Metropolitan Magistrate PS Rathod who remanded him to police custody till July 31. Thirty-year-old Jundal's custody was sought by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, who said Jundal had taught Hindi to the terrorists and gave them instructions from a control room in Pakistan on the operations of terror attacks in Mumbai. According to the official, the police wanted Jundal to be confronted with Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist who was taken alive in connection with the Mumbai attack. According to the Anti-Terror Squad of the Mumbai Police, Jundal was the main handler of the 10 terrorists who carried out the Mumbai carnage. Apart from the 26/11 attacks, Jundal is accused of being part of the conspiracy to blast Pune’s German Bakery in 2010. He is also to be questioned in connection with transporting weapons to Aurangabad in 2006 and plotting an attack on the Nashik Police Academy. As per the order of the Delhi court, which granted custody of Jundal to the Mumbai Police, he is to be handed over the National Investigation Agency which wants to question him in connection with other cases.
|
||
|
TMC will go it alone in West Bengal: Mamata
Kolkata, July 21 Mamata warned the UPA leadership that their patience was running out and they would not wait for an indefinite period for the acceptance of their demand for a three-year moratorium on repayment of interests of loans worth Rs 21,000 crore. She said she would soon lead a delegation of all the TMC MPs and MLAs along with the leaders of other like-minded parties to the PM with the demand and if there was no positive response, the party would not hesitate to quit the UPA government. The chief minister pointed out that the TMC would field candidates on all the seats in the forthcoming panchayat poll. Subsequently, in all other elections, TMC would contest elections without making any alliance or reaching any seat adjustment with the Congress. This is contrary to what the TMC had done in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. An angry Mamata stated that the TMC was not at the mercy of the Congress. On the contrary, the party had helped the Congress in winning some seats in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state. Interestingly, she also announced her decision to withdraw all 17 TMC candidates in order to facilitate the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) victory on all the seats.
|
||
|
Adarsh Society land belongs to
MoD: Antony
Mumbai, July 21 "There is our possession on the land and we have conveyed this to the commission (of inquiry set up by the Maharashtra Government)," said Antony, who was here to inaugurate warship INS Sahyadri. He said allowing civilians to buy flats in Adarsh Housing Society, which overlooks vital defence installations, amounted to a major security risk. On former Army Chief Deepak Kapoor telling the commission that the society did not pose any security risk, he said those were the officer’s personal views.
|
||
|
6 killed in Assam group clashes
Guwahati, July 21 Inspector General of Police SN Singh said that Section 144 of CrPC had been clamped on the entire district to prevent assembly of people while nine companies of additional paramilitary forces have been deployed including five companies in Kokrajhar town. He said the situation was by and large under control.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s sudden show of defiance towards the Congress may not be related much to the recent developments in the government.
Sources said that his unceremonious exit from the Food Ministry last year to pave way for Sonia Gandhi-loyalist KV Thomas and her pet project — the National Food Security Bill — was the beginning of his disenchantment with the senior UPA ally.
It’s not just Maruti Suzuki that has been hit
by the July 18 violence. The incident has taken a toll on over 200 small ancillary units engaged in producing and assembling minor auto parts used at the Manesar pant.
At least 100 such units are located in Manesar. These are provided with raw material by
Maruti. With production at the plant having come to a halt, these units employing over 2,000 workers are on the verge of closure.
New Delhi, July 21
Amritsar, July 21
