Excelsior... Nation

J H Patel

BANGALORE, Dec 12: An acclaimed parliamentarian and former Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel died in a private hospital here in the wee hours today. ...more

Chandrashekhar

Parliament’s functioning
should be restored
forthwith: Chandershekhar

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: Former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar today said functioning of Parliament should be restored forthwith so that various...more

‘Master plan change
would put premium
on lawless activity’

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: Union Urban Development Minister Jagmohan today rejected Delhi Government’s ......more

Parking lot sweepers
entitled to regular
employment: SC

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: The Supreme Court has held that car parking areas of airport constituted part of the building.....more

‘Lipidoff’ being launched next month
Ayurvedic drug to
fight fat in blood

From B L Kak

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: A herbal drug will be made available in India sooner than later to prevent deposition of fat in blood vessels. Arvind Remedies......more

K Sudharshan

Liberhans Commission
summons RSS chief
K Sudharshan

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: The Liberhans Commission today issued summons to RSS chief K Sudharshan to depose....more

Chaotic traffic in
Doon to be managed
by Home Guard

DEHRA DUN, Dec 12: Home Guards, being trained by the authorities, will soon...more

K C Pant

Empower Gram Sabhas
to ensure success
of PRIs: Pant

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: Planning Commission said today the Gram Sabhas should be given....more

Former Karnataka CM Patel passes away

BANGALORE, Dec 12: An acclaimed parliamentarian and former Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel died in a private hospital here in the wee hours today.

The senior Janata Dal (United) leader, who was being treated for liver complications in the Manipal Hospital since December one, breathed his last at 3 a.m., hospital sources told PTI.

The 71-year-old Patel is survived by wife and three sons.

Karnataka Government declared holiday today for its offices and schools and colleges, official sources said. The State Government also declared a three-day state mourning from today as a mark of respect to Patel.

Family sources said the embalmed body of Patel would be taken from the hospital to his elder son Mahima Patel’s residence, where it would be kept for the public to pay homage.

The funeral would take place in Kariganur in Davanagere district, one of the new districts created by Patel, with full state honours.

Streams of people from all walks of life have been making a bee line to pay tributes to Patel. (PTI)

Parliament’s functioning should be restored
forthwith: Chandershekhar

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: Former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar today said functioning of Parliament should be restored forthwith so that various problems facing the nation could be discussed.

Speaking to mediapersons here, Mr Chandrashekhar blamed both Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and the opposition — led by the congress — for the deadlock.

"Mr Vajpayee, by making three statements in as many days on the ayodhya issue outside Parliament, has created communal tension in the country.

"He has denigrated the august office occupied by him. However, the opposition has no right to blockade proceedings in the house by raising the issue in the manner it should not have done," he said.

On the other hand, he also claimed that perhaps the disruption was a conspiracy of the ruling parties and the main opposition to prevent discussion on major issues like the problems facing the farmers, the situation created by floods, drought and other natural calamities, unemployment and internal security, with particular reference to Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.

"The Prime Minister might have made the statement under pressure from certain quarters. However, the Congress has no moral right to raise the issue and demand the resignations of three chargesheeted ministers," he said.

Mr Chandrashekhar said there were instances when the Congress had kept silent in the past about such issues facing the party or its allies.

"Perhaps, the sudden provocation to demand the resignations of the ministers was the removal of Mr Harin Pathak as Minister of State for Defence at the instance of the BJP high command," Mr Chandrashekar said. (UNI)

‘Master plan change would put premium
on lawless activity’

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: Union Urban Development Minister Jagmohan today rejected Delhi Government’s demand for amending the capital’s master plan saying it would "put premium on lawless activity."

The city Government’s proposal for in-situ regularisation of industries in 15 residential colonies and change of land use of the same from ‘residential’ to ‘industrial’ was "based on a preliminary and perceptional survey, which was neither scientific, nor precise, nor reliable", Jagmohan told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

"The figure of 70 per cent concentration of industries in these areas is not supported by any empirical evidence or data, nor has it been reconciled with documentary evidence of electoral rolls, ration cards, house tax, electricity and water connections and bills etc," he said.

"Changes in the master plan or its norms to accommodate illegal activities would not only put premium on lawless activity but would also cause injustice to law-abiding citizens who have continued to use their residential premises in accordance with the provisions of the plan," he said.

He, however, said the Government was open to any fair suggestion which is not inconsistent with the basic principles and patterns.

Demolition: In response to another question, Jagmohan said DDA has demolished 1481 structure and unauthorised construction in 30 flats while MCD and NDMC have demolished 688 and 54 unauthorised construction respectively. (PTI)

Parking lot sweepers entitled to regular employment: SC

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: The Supreme Court has held that car parking areas of airport constituted part of the building and the sweepers employed there are entitled to regular service being covered under the 1996 Government notification prohibiting contract labour.

Government in a notification dated December 9, 1996 had prohibited employment of contract labour for sweeping, cleaning, dusting and watching of building owned or occupied by the establishment.

Allowing applications of International Airport Authority Employees Union, a division bench comprising Justice S Rajendra Babu and Justice S N Variava said "it is difficult to conceive of the airport being functional without a car park and that the car park is not a part of the building."

The Union had filed cases on behalf of six sweepers working in the car parks in the Santacruz and Sahar Airports at Mumbai seeking regularisation of their employment.

The International Airport Authority had contended that the parking areas of the airports did not form part of the building, hence, the 1996 notification did not apply to these sweepers.

Justice Babu, writing the judgement for the bench, said the airport included not only landing and taking off areas for the aircraft, the runways and aircraft maintenance areas but also passenger facilities.

"Passenger facilities would certainly include car parking and it cannot be said that car parking is not part of the building," the judge said.

Justice Babu said "building in its ordinary sense would include appurtenance (associated activities) which form thereof unless it be that expression building is to be understood as was done by merchant of venice with reference to pound of flesh."

The Airport Authority further said that there was an agreement with the contractors, who were to maintain the car parking areas and they had an obligation to maintain proper cleanliness in the car parking areas and the expenditure in regard to the same would be borne by the licensee.

The bench rejected the objections raised by the airport authority saying the Apex Court’s 1996 decision in Air India Statutory Corporation etc vs United Labour Union & others was applicable to these workmen. (PTI)

‘Lipidoff’ being launched next month
Ayurvedic drug to fight fat in blood

From B L Kak

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: A herbal drug will be made available in India sooner than later to prevent deposition of fat in blood vessels. Arvind Remedies Limited (ARL) in collaboration with Arya Vaidya Nilayam (AVN) of Madurai will launch the anti-atherosclerotic medicine.

The medicine, ‘Lipidoff’ by name, will be manufactured by AVN at its ayurvedic medicine plant in Madurai and marketed by ARL. The launch is scheduled for January 2001.

According to reports received by the Union Health Ministry, ‘Lipidoff’ acts by mixing with the food and preventing the assimilation of unwanted fats in the digestive tract. Mr Thomas Phillip, president of ARL has been quoted as saying that the medicine, over a period, will remove the accumulated cholesterol in the blood vessels.

Reports say that the product has been clinically tried by AVN in over 10,000 patients. Clinical research is also going on at SPARC Research Centre and KEM Hospital, both in Mumbai.

The launch of ‘Lipidoff’ is in line with ARL’s renewed policy of collaborating its strengths with that of other companies and getting into areas of unique, research-based products. It also is in tune with the company’s thrust to get into the herbals and the neutraceutical product markets.

The herbal market is estimated at Rs 2,000 crores within India and Rs 55,000 crores globally. It is growing rapidly. The ARL, which registered a Rs 51.25-crore turnover and a Rs 2.25-crore net profit in 1999-2000, plans to strengthen its R&D and come out with patented products to take benefit of the IRP regime in the pharmaceutical industry.

A research product that is on the anvil is ‘Sorexil’, a herbal drug for chronic, non-weeping ulcers like bed sores, diabetic toe and other wounds. Another product likely to be launched soon is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug called ‘Celecoxib’.

For the neutraceutical market, the company plans to enter with a product called ‘Cerediet’. Mr Phillip has also been quoted as saying that this would be a "balanced combination of 24 ingredients including cereals and pulses, which will supplement the food ingredients being lost out in the present-day diet".

Liberhans Commission summons
RSS chief K Sudharshan

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: The Liberhans Commission today issued summons to RSS chief K Sudharshan to depose before it as a witness on December 20 in the wake of his statement that a bomb brought down the disputed structure at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.

Justice M S Liberhan, who heads the panel probing into the sequence of events leading to demolition of the disputed structure, also issued summons to former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu on his reported remarks that he had passed on to the Prime Minister audio-tapes containing the speech of former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh at a meeting of the Sadhu Samaj in Calcutta.

The Commission also summoned former Rajya Sabha MP Nirmala Deshpande for her recent statement on the issue.

The Commission asked them to appear before it as witnesses on January 29 and 30 respectively.

While Deshpande had given a statement identical to that of Sudharshan to a newspaper, Basu had made a statement on the role of "Dharam Sansad" in the demolition.

Sudharshan had on Friday claimed while addressing a RSS rally in Thiruvananthapuram that the demolition of Babri Masjid was caused by an explosion from within the structure about which inner circles of the then Union Cabinet were aware.

Sudarshan claimed that he had come across a fax message sent by a senior Congress leader from Maharashtra on December 10 to the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao holding that the demolition of the Masjid was not the handiwork of Kar Sevaks who had assembled at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 but was due to an explosion about which the "kitchen cabinet" of the then Government was aware.

Prefacing his claim with the words that "I have to tell you a secret", Sudarshan said "many people had worked behind the conspiracy, details of which are coming out one by one."

The Masjid was not pulled down by the Kar Sevaks including Shiv Sena, VHP and Bajrang Dal volunteers who had assembled at Ayodhya. They could only peel off the plasters of the structure. Leaders like L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were pacifying the Kar Sevaks while the structure came down due to the explosion. The whole event was not a mere accident but the result of a political conspiracy, he said.

The Commission, right at the beginning of the proceedings today, said Sudarshan and others have made statements on the manner in which the disputed structure was demolished and they should be examined as witnesses.

Sports Minister Uma Bharti, who was to appear before the Commission today as per the earlier schedule, expressed through her counsel her inability to attend the proceedings in view of her pre-occupation in Parliament.

The Commission now has asked her to appear before it on December 19. The Commission also rescheduled the appearance dates of Union Home Minister L K Advani to January 22 and 23 and that of Union HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi for January 15 and 16.

Both have cited the current session of Parliament as the reason for their inability to appear before the Commission on the dates scheduled earlier.

Former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, during whose Government the disputed structure at Ayodhya was demolished allegedly by Kar Sevaks, will appear before the Commission on December 26 and 27. (PTI)

Chaotic traffic in Doon to be managed by Home Guard

DEHRA DUN, Dec 12: Home Guards, being trained by the authorities, will soon take over the management of traffic in the Doon Valley which has been flooded by vehicles ever since it was declared the interim capital of Uttaranchal.

Senior Superintendent of Police Prabhat Kumar Joshi said here yesterday that 96 home guards were being trained in traffic management at the police lines in Doon.

He said all efforts would be made to organise the traffic in the valley which was causing problems for the citizens as well as tourists. There are, as yet, no traffic lights in the city which also adds to the confusion.

Most of the schools are concentrated in one area of Dehradun (comprising East Canal Road, Rajpur Road and New Road) and when the schools close for the day, these roads are jammed by vehicles. It is to be noted that youngsters (school children), a majority of them below 18 years of age, can be seen all over the city driving scooters, mopeds and motorcycles in a rash manner which is highly hazardous.

Helmets are not compulsory and almost everyday, one youngster of the other is involved in mishaps.

Authorities need to urgently look into this matter and consulting school authorities parents, take strict action to put an end to this trend. (UNI)

Empower Gram Sabhas to ensure success of PRIs: Pant

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: Planning Commission said today the Gram Sabhas should be given decision making powers in order to ensure the success of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

"Empowerment of Gram Shabhas through the local community participation is necessary for the success of Panchayati Raj," Deputy Chariman of the Planning Commission K C Pant said at the national workshop on community driven management and decentralisation here.

Though the Panchayat Raj Acts passed by the states had given a central role to the Gram Sabhas in most states, the functions assigned to the Gram Sabhas were more in the nature of approvals and recommendations rather than final decision making.

"In this context it is necessary to evolve systems and processes that engender a co-operative spirit and enable the vulnerable and marginalised sections of the society to have a say in the decision making process at the grass roots levels," he said.

Given the centrality of PRIs in the development process Pant said considerable progress had been made by many state Governments in terms of developing administrative responsibilities, personnel and finances to the PRIs.

"The financial position of the PRIs will be further strengthened to the extent the recommendations of the State Finance Commissions are taken into account in the devolutions of the Central Finance Commission," he added. (PTI)