Excelsior... Nation

Digvijay Singh

Women should get
50 pc reservation in
Lok Sabha: Digvijay

BHOPAL, Dec 16: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has said that he favours 50 per cent reservation.......more

4 held, fake currency seized

BALLIA (UP), Dec 16: Police today claimed to have busted a gang involved in smuggling fake currency .....more

Bibi Jagai Kaur

CBI questions more
people in Harpreet case

PHAGWARA, Dec 16: Some associates of a close confidant of former SGPC chief Bibi Jagai Kaur ....more

RSS campaign to
refurbish its image

LUCKNOW, Dec 16: Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has launched......more

Atal Behari Vajpayee

Rlys needs radical restructuring: PM

NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee indicated today the Government will go in for a radical restructuring of the railway management through separation of rail operations from planning and policy making.....more

Cong demands TDP
to withdraw support
to NDA Govt at Centre

HYDERABAD, Dec 16: Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader K Vijayabhaskara Reddy today demanded the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to withdraw its support to NDA Government at the Centre to protect the interests of the farmers and the state.....more

History tours

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Dec 16: Students in Kerala can now set out on history tours to dig out the untold stories and anchor their escapades on Doordarshan. ....more

I don’t know Chhota
Shakeel, Bharat
Shah tells police

MUMBAI, Dec 16: Leading diamond trader and film financier Bharat Shah today told an investigation team of Mumbai Police probing the ...more

Women should get 50 pc reservation in Lok Sabha: Digvijay

BHOPAL, Dec 16: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has said that he favours 50 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.

‘A country-wide debate is going on reservation. I am for 50 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies’, Singh said, while addressing a gathering of a Post-Graduate Girls College here yesterday, an official release said.

He said the Higher Education Department should formulate a scheme to ensure that no girl student is deprived of technical education due to weak economic condition of her family.

Instead of opening new colleges, the State Government has emphasised on improving the quality of teaching in existing colleges. Efforts are being made to provide better facilities to the colleges, the Chief Minister said.

Public participation committees have been constituted to ensure community involvement in management of colleges. This has yielded good results, he said and stressed the need for expansion of computer education.

Singh said the state’s policy on women is being implemented in right earnest to help women come forward in all fields. Thirty per cent reservation has been given to women in Government jobs. Besides, 33 per cent seats have been reserved for them against which 48 per cent women have been elected, he said.

He announced that a Chief Minister’s gold medal will be given to the best girl student in post-graduate classes. (PTI)

CBI questions more people in Harpreet case

PHAGWARA, Dec 16: Some associates of a close confidant of former SGPC chief Bibi Jagai Kaur and a local Akali Dal leader were interrogated by CBI in connection with the mysterious death of her daughter Harpreet Kaur.

A CBI team headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police S K Dev yesterday questioned close associates of Dalwinder Kaur Dhesi and his brother-in-law Paramjit Singh Raipur, both in judicial custody in connection with the case, official sources here said.

The sleuths also questioned family members of Raipur at his native village, the sources said.

Harpreet had stayed at Dhesi’s house here just before her death on April 21. (PTI)

RSS campaign to refurbish its image

LUCKNOW, Dec 16: Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has launched a door-to-door campaign in Uttar Pradesh to ‘refurbish’ its image and remove misconceptions from the peoples’ minds about the organisation.

During the month-long ‘Rashtriya Jagaran Abhiyan’, Swayamsewaks in groups would contact people.

The Swayamsewaks would brief the people about the meaning of "Hinduism" as derived by RSS, the state unit chief of RSS, Vijay Agarwal told PTI.

"There would be no discrimination and minorities would also be told that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life and hence not against any section of society," he said.

The campaign, being held to mark the 75th anniversary of the RSS, has been completed in some states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi, he added.

National issues like environment, small industries, Swadeshi and RSS’ contribution during national calamities would also be discussed, an RSS office bearer said.

Agarwal said the volunteers would distribute books on the historical background of the Ayodhya issue saying that "Ram Mandir does not amount to a political issue for RSS".

"Leaders of opposition parties have also evinced interest and asked us to provide books on Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Golwalkar", Agarwal claimed. (PTI)

Rlys needs radical restructuring: PM

"We are awaiting the comprehensive recommendations of the Rakesh Mohan Committee on Railway Reforms and the Government will study it and quickly implement the accepted recommendations", Vajpayee said while inaugurating the 73rd annual session of FICCI here.

"The management of the railways needs radical restructuring to separate rail operations from planning and policy making. Large investments are required for renovation and modernisation to improve safety standards", he said.

"Clearly, we need to increase the investible funds for the railways through innovative, non-traditional and commercially oriented methods", he said adding the creation of Railtel Corporation was the first step in this direction.

"The Government will soon take several other measures to increase efficiency and productivity in the Indian Railways", he said.

On power sector reforms, the Prime Minister said the power-related issues required greater co-ordination with State Government and he would soon convene a special meeting of Chief Ministers so that "an agreed programme for power reforms can be finalised". (PTI)

Cong demands TDP to withdraw support
to NDA Govt at Centre

Addressing a press conference here, he castigated Chandrababu Naidu Government for failing to take any preventive measures to mitigate the plight of farmers even though as many as 500 farmers had committed suicide during the past four years. In Anantapur district alone 150 groundnut farmers have committed suicide, he said adding that no other state has witnessed such an unprecedented number of suicides of farmers.

He alleged that Mr Naidu had failed to pressurise the centre in time as was done by Haryana and Punjab Governments to safeguard the interest of the farmers. He questioned as to why Mr Naidu had not used his clout with centre to help the farmers in the state.

Asked if the TDP should withdraw its support to the Vajpayee Government, Mr Reddy said "if necessary the TDP should come out". The TDP should threaten the Centre, otherwise the farmers would not be saved", he said.

He said that the farmers were not having adequate power and water, adding that their problems have been further compounded by the lack of remunerative prices. "We have a vision-2020 Chief Minister who is not aware of the ground realities", he remarked sarcastically.

Mr Reddy said despite the visit of Union Food Minister Shantakumar to some of the market yards in the state, nothing substantial had been done and the FCI officials were virtually ignoring the State Government.

Referring to the proposal by the FCI and State Government to jointly lift 10 lakh tonnes of paddy in the ratio of the 3:7, he said the State Government’s financial position was in a mess and it did not have the resources to lift seven lakh tonnes of paddy.

He warned that the Congress would launch an agitation to force the State Government to render justice to the farmers.

Congress spokesperson K Rosaiah, who was also present, criticised the State Government for failing to anticipate the problems faced by the farmers.

Mr Vijayabhaskara Reddy declined to comment on the withdrawal of writ petitions against Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu filed by CLP leader Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. (UNI)

History tours

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Dec 16: Students in Kerala can now set out on history tours to dig out the untold stories and anchor their escapades on Doordarshan.

That too, not for fun, but for competition with Rs one lakh as prize money.

The novel competition, open to upper primary and high school students, is being organised by the Kerala Gazetteers Department as part of its venture to bring out the untold stories from history.

Disclosing the details of the competition, Kerala gazetteers editor P J Cherian said students can prepare projects based on their interviews with the older generation.

Doordarshan will telecast a 14-episode programme based on the selected scripts, one each from every district. The students can present their findings in their own ways and have discussions with the experts on the field in the programme.

The venture would be an attempt to dig out historical events being preserved by the older generation through oral traditions besides giving a platform for the students to enter into meaningful dialogues with the grown up, Mr Cherian added. (UNI)

I don’t know Chhota Shakeel, Bharat Shah tells police

MUMBAI, Dec 16: Leading diamond trader and film financier Bharat Shah today told an investigation team of Mumbai Police probing the underworld-filmdom nexus that he did not know fugitive underworld don Chhota Shakeel.

"I do not know Chhota Shakeel, neither he knows me — I have told the police," Mr Shah told newspersons at the Police Commissionerate here after being questioned by the Crime Branch sleuths.

He told the investigating team that he has spent around Rs 12.75 crore in financing the film "Chori Chori Chupke Chupke", whose producer Nazim Rizvi was arrested by the Crime Branch for his alleged nexus with Chhota Shakeel and conspiring with the gangster to bump off a few film stars.

He also said that he did not know that Rizvi had links with Chhota Shakeel. "I did not knew — if I would have known that Rizvi had links with Chhota Shakeel, I would not have financed the film," he said.

He also provided the details of the finance to the investigating team in form of a statement. "I have provided all the details the police has asked," he said talking to mediapersons. (UNI)