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Yet
another Islamabad-Beijing contact From B L Kak
Basu: Health to determine CALCUTTA, Nov 3: Outgoing West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu today said he was not quitting politics, but his future programmes would depend on .....more
CPI seeks to end NEW DELHI, Nov 3: In a subdued reaction to CPI(M) leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet’s attack....more Gogoi has no GUWAHATI, Nov 3: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Tarun Gogoi today said he had....more |
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NBA role in attack GANDHINAGAR, Nov 3: Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel has not ruled out the involvement of .....more
Schemes to give boost
NEW DELHI, Nov 3: To give a boost to ethnic tourism, the Urban Development Ministry has begun ......more Delhi’s
Dharmayatan Sansthan receives face-lift From B L Kak ASG favours fresh probe NEW DELHI, Nov 3: A senior law officer of Central Government has recommended....more |
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another Islamabad-Beijing contact From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Nov 3: Pakistan has sought Chinese help and guidance in promoting tea cultivation. Islamabad’s demand for Beijing’s cooperation has surfaced at a time when Pakistan has begun tea cultivation on a small scale. However, going by the plans in the pipeline, tea cultivation in Pakistan can assume larger proportions. Pakistan’s emphasis on the growth in tea cultivation has been noticed at a time when India is, once again, looking to that country as a prospective buyer of its teas. A small quantity of Indian tea was sold to Pakistan after New Delhi’s efforts in 1998 to prevail upon Islamabad to buy Indian teas. That time, Pakistan had compulsions to buy Indian tea as the production of tea in Sri Lanka and Kenya, its main suppliers, was hit due to drought attributed to the warming of the Pacific Ocean. Much progress was not noticed since then. Interestingly, the tea sector in India, faced with the compulsion to raise its exports during the current financial year, desperately looked to push its tea to Pakistan. Islamabad, on the other hand, has been found anxiously trying tea cultivation in the Lower Swat Valley and plains of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), bordering Afghanistan. China, latest reports from Islamabad confirm, has begun extending its help and guidance to Pakistan in this regard. According to these reports, China has recommended tea planting in 60,000 hectares in Pakistan. Reports divulged that a detailed survey had been conducted with the Chinese cooperation and 2 lakh hectares had been identified for tea cultivation. Pakistan’s National Tea Research Institute (NTRI) is reported to have estimated that one lakh hectares are enough to meet domestic demand of tea. Pakistan imports nearly 140 million kg of tea valued at about Rs 1,000 crores. Higher-ups in the NTRI have chosen to be cautious in the NWFP, a region known for its war-like tribes. However, the NTRI has reckoned the fact that the climate of NWFP is highly conducive to grow Chinese varieties of tea. Pakistan Government, reports pointed out, had planned to provide incentives to tea growers to achieve self-sufficiency in production in the next few years. The quality of tea produced in Pakistan has been found to be comparable with that from Sri Lanka and Kenya. Reports said that NTRI had begun taking more concrete steps to make Pakistan a leading tea-growing nation and as a first step, it had begun setting up a black tea plant of 1,000 kg per day processing capacity. The plant is expected to become operational by April next year. |
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Basu: Health to determine my future schedule CALCUTTA, Nov 3: Outgoing West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu today said he was not quitting politics, but his future programmes would depend on his health. "I have been a party wholetimer since my return from england in 1940. I have suffered imprisonment, worked underground. I am not quitting politics. I am a part of the state leadership, and also in the politburo. I will continue last," Basu said at a farewell meeting organised by scribes on his last day at the State Secretariat, writers buildings. On his stepping down form office after a record 24-year stint at the helm of affairs in the state, the octogenarian leader said "more than my age, I am suffering from such a disease which has no remedy. I have consulted physicians in many countries, but to no avail. It is not possible for me to do justice as Chief Minister of a state like West Bengal," he said. Referring to the achievements of his Government, Basu said the Left Front was formed not only to contest elections, but also carry forward the people’s struggle. "When people gave us the mandate, we tried to work for them. We created history by remaining in power for 24 years with the people’s cooperation, though our rivals were running the Government in Delhi for the bulk of the time," he said in his farewell address to the media as Chief Minister. (PTI) |
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CPI seeks to end confrontation with CPI-M NEW DELHI, Nov 3: In a subdued reaction to CPI(M) leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet’s attack on him, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan today sought to end the "polemical confrontation" between the two parties about the past stating that consolidation of left unity and formation of a third front was of "utmost urgency". "To get into a polemical confrontation about the past will be quite in conflict with the spirit of time, which requires both our parties as well as other left parties to go forward together for fighting communal and right reactionary forces," Bardhan said in his reply to Surjeet’s letter charging CPI with disrupting left unity and placating Congress. Bardhan said "raking up of past controversies would only bring joy to the hearts of the enemies of communists and the left .... And dissipate the `urge for unity’ and sorely disappoint our sympathisers and well-wishers". The exchange of ideological verbose between the two parties comes months before the Assembly elections in left-ruled states of West Bengal and Kerala. (PTI) |
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Gogoi has no differences with Saikia GUWAHATI, Nov 3: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Tarun Gogoi today said he had no differences with dissident leader Hemoprava Saikia, widow of former Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia. Addressing a press conference, Mr Gogoi refuted media reports that Mrs Saikia would leave the party. "I do not think she will leave or should leave. The State Congress will welcome her in whatever post the high command choose for her," said Mr Gogoi. Mrs Saikia had been camping in New Delhi and pleaded before AICC president Sonia Gandhi that the state Congress was pursuing a wrong policy of being soft with the insurgents. This had angered many state party leaders. According to reports, Mrs Saikia wanted to resign from the party but Mrs Gandhi dissasuaded her. (UNI) |
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ASG favours fresh probe
into closed murder NEW DELHI, Nov 3: A senior law officer of Central Government has recommended fresh probe into a closed 1984 anti-Sikh riots case against former Union Minister H K L Bhagat saying the police was predetermined to absolve him. "I find that in this case there are strong reasons warranting order for further investigation as the case has been probed irresponsibly," Additional Solicitor General (ASG) K K Sud said in his opinion to Delhi Lt Governor Vijai Kapoor. The Lt Governor had sought legal opinion from the asg following a representation by "84 riots carnage justice committee", a body of eminent persons fighting for justice to the riots victims. The committee had given the representation after Bhagat was exonerated by a city court in a murder case relating to riots in Mansarovar Park in East Delhi after the police said there was no evidence against him. "A probe into the investigation of the case leaves me in no doubt that whole material was collected (by the police) with predetermination to absolve prime accused H K L Bhagat," sud said in his opinion. This opinion was strengthened with the fact that evidence of complainant Harminder Kaur, whose husband was killed, was not "considered sufficient by the magistrate for taking cognizance against Bhagat," he said. Metropolitan Magistrate J P Narain while accepting the police report giving clean chit to Bhagat, had cleared him of the allegations on September 11. Recommending a fresh probe into the case, the ASG said the matter should be expedited so that supplementary chargesheet was filed and the trial did not get unnecessarily delayed. He, however, opined that there was no need to file a revision petition against the order of the magistrate refusing to take cognizance of the offence against Bhagat. The right perspective would have been a direction to the investigating agency to probe the case further as the Magistrate was competent to decline acceptance of the final report submitted by the police, he said. Since the case was triable only by a Sessions Court, the magistrate after summoning Bhagat could have committed the case to the Sessions Judge, sud said. It was for the Sessions Judge either to frame charges against bhagat or to discharge him after satisfying himself that there was no sufficient evidence to go ahead with trial. The police in the final report had stated that Bhagat’s presence could not be established at the scene of occurrence during the riots on November 1, 1984. However, the Magistrate had issued summonses to five other co-accused — Har Parshad Bhardwaj, Ram Prakash Tiwari, Jagdish Giri, Suraj Giri and Kamlesh for today. The FIR in this case against Bhagat, who is also facing trial in another riot case, was registered in 1996 on the complaint of Harminder Kaur alleging that he had instigated people for rioting in Mansarovar park area. Kaur’s husband, son and son-in-law were allegedly burnt alive by a mob. (PTI) |
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