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Governor accepts Jyoti SILIGURI, Oct 29: Octogenarian Jyoti Basu’s resignation on health grounds from Chief Ministership ...more
Jansangh seeks to make NEW DELHI, Oct 29: Cashing in on what it claims "disillusionment" within the ranks of the BJP, its ....more
CVC to submit BANGALORE, Oct 29: The Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) N Vittal has said he would....more |
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Hear person
concerned before passing strictures: SC NEW DELHI, Oct 29: The Supreme Court has ruled that courts should not pass strictures against any ....more Concern over exhorbitant NEW DELHI, Oct 29: The Indian travel trade has expressed concern over the exhorbitant increase in ....more
Sonia to inaugurate AMENI, (LAKSHWADWEEP) Oct 29: Congress president Sonia Gandhi will inaugurate the .....more CGWB building to be RAIPUR, Oct 29: The Centre will hand over to the Chhattisgarh Government the newly constructed ....more SPECIAL REPORT From B L Kak |
Governor accepts Jyoti Basu’s resignation SILIGURI, Oct 29: Octogenarian Jyoti Basu’s resignation on health grounds from Chief Ministership of the Left Front Government in West Bengal today became official with Governor Viren J Shah accepting it. "The Governor accepted Basu’s resignation today and asked him to continue in office till alternative arrangements are made," Raj Bhavan sources told PTI. Shah, who is holidaying in Darjeeling, would fix his date of return to Calcutta after being officially intimated by the State’s Chief Secretary on the swearing-in of the new ministry, the sources said. The Governor received the longest serving Chief Minister’s letter last night at 10:00 pm, shortly after’s decision to demit office. Earlier, a Left Front meeting last evening in Calcutta approved Basu’s resignation from Chief Ministership and elected his deputy Buddhadev Bhattacharjee as his successor, who would be sworn-in on November 6. Front chairman Sailen Dasgupta had said "Basu will continue to function as Chief Minister till November 6 when Bhattacharjee will be sworn-in." Dasgupta said other ministers will also take oath but "there would not be any change in their portfolios and the Deputy Chief Minister’s post would be abolished". Basu ruled West Bengal for 24 consecutive years before announcing his decision to resign on health grounds at the meeting. Basu explained in detail to the coalition partners his inability to function as Chief Minister. "I have been requesting for long to relieve me from the post. Now I want to quit. I seek your approval," Basu told the meeting. Dasgupta said a proposal to make Basu the Left Front chairman was not discussed, but he would continue to work for the party both at the state and national levels as the party politburo member. Front partners became emotional and some of them raised objection to the undisputed leader’s stepping down, but later every one approved his decision to demit office. Basu thanked them for their approval. (PTI) |
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Jansangh seeks to make comeback
riding NEW DELHI, Oct 29: Cashing in on what it claims "disillusionment" within the ranks of the BJP, its progenitor the Bharatiya Jansangh is making a serious bid to make a comeback to the centrestage of national politics by wooing both the friends and foes of the ruling saffron party. The once formidable party has not only entered into a dialogue with BJP’s Alma MAter, the RSS, "at different levels of leadership" but also its arch for former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, to whom it has offered even the organisation’s leadership. "The performance of the ruling NDA led by BJP is worse than all the previous Governments and the BJP has relegated itself to the position of the `B’ team of the Congress," the new general secretary of the Jansangh H C Upadhyay told PTI. Claiming that a large number of BJP workers were joining his party, Upadhyay said, "the BJP has turned its back on Hindutva to gain power. This has disillusioned its workers and supporters most of whom have a Jansangh background. They gave it a thrashing in Gujarat and now it is up’s turn." Interestingly, senior RSS leaders at the organisation’s recently held Agra camp had also criticised the BJP for diluting its agenda. The Jansangh leader claimed that his party led by octogenarian Balraj Madhok has received a "positive response" from the RSS leadership. He, however, said Jansangh did not subscribe to the idea of a ‘Swadeshi’ church as suggested by RSS. "Their (Christians and Muslims) faith originated in the middle-east. How can we ask them to severe their links with that place. We only want them not not to treat us (Hindus) as Kafirs and heathens," the Jansangh leader said. A brainchild of late Shyama Prasad Mukerji, the Jansangh came into existence on October 21, 1951. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had joined the party in 1954. However, in 1980, after the failure of the Janata Party experiment, the party acquired the nomenclature ‘Bharatiya Janata Party’ with a few old timers like Balraj Madhok retaining their separate identity as the original party. Jansangh recently received a shot in the arm during the Gujarat panchayat polls when one of its candidates sprang a surprise victory in Surendranagar defeating his BJP rival. Jansangh’s move to wrest the "Hindu agenda" from the BJP which has "put it in the backburner" is also evident from its decision to organise a mass rally at Ayodhya on December six this year, the eighth anniversary of the demolition of the disputed structure. Ironically, Jansangh has also sent feelers to Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who the party claims is no more a "Maulana" (pro-Muslim). "BJP will be thrashed in up as it happened in Gujarat local elections. We have asked Kalyan Singh to take over the party’s leadership and work together with leaders like Mulayam Singh," Upadhyay said, adding the "resurgence of the Jansangh has now become a national necessity." (PTI) |
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CVC to submit report on defence deals by year end BANGALORE, Oct 29: The Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) N Vittal has said he would submit the second report, "possibly the final", on the probe into various defence deals ordered by the Government, by the year end. Speaking to reporters after attending a function at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) here last night, he said the CVC had submitted its first interim report to the Government on August seven. Defence Minister George Fernandes had, early this year, announced a probe by the CVC into the defence deals, including those embroiled in controversies, in what was described as a step to introduce transparency in defence purchases. Asked about a move to put the names of honest officials on the website, he said but added that the names of those who could be considered role models would be on display. (PTI) |
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Hear person concerned before passing strictures: SC NEW DELHI, Oct 29: The Supreme Court has ruled that courts should not pass strictures against any person without giving him an opportunity to place his views on the issues related to the proposed remarks. Ordering expunction of disparaging remarks made against a tehsildar by the Rajasthan High Court, a division bench of the Apex Court said "such an opportunity is the basic requirement for, otherwise the offending remarks would be in violation of the principles of natural justice." The bench comprising Justice K T Thomas and Justice S N Variava observed courts should refrain from making castigating remarks against any person without hearing him, particularly when such remarks could ensue serious consequences on the future career of the person concerned. Tehsildar Devender Kumar Sharma of Jaipur had filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court seeking expunction of certain remarks made against him by the trial court as well as the High Court. Sharma, who had deposed as a prosecution witness in the sensational Gulshan Makhija murder case, had allegedly made inconsistent statements regarding the contents of certain documents prepared by him. Makhija, a Jaipur-based jeweller was abducted by two criminals and killed on the night of February 23, 1994. The court dismissed the appeal of accused Manish Dixit who was sentenced to life by the trial court. The state’s appeal against acquittal of Sharad Dhakar, another accused in the case, was also dismissed. (PTI) |
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SPECIAL REPORT From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Oct 29: The task force on defence management, set up in the wake of the Kargil Committee report, has recommended that the Defence (Applied) Research and Production should be merged. This is a long overdue reform, insists Mr R Sundaram, former member of the Defence Ministry’s Ordnance Board. While recalling that the Rajadhyaksha Committee, which analysed delays in Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) projects two decades ago, had recommended involvement of R&D, production and user throughout the lifecycle of a new product from cradle to grave with a system of shifting leadership from R&D to production and to the user, Mr Sundaram has regretted: "This was not heeded". Stating that the interface between design and production, presently, leaves "everything to be desired", Mr Sundaram has noted that the DRDO, while paying lip service to the concepts of concurrent engineering is in the habit of throwing its design over the fence for the production unit to fend for itself. He also insists that the production engineers "are rarely involved at the design stage". His finding: "It is indeed a matter of considerable regret that the development of 5.56 INSAS in the 1990s took twice as long as in developing 7.62 systems in the 1960s. The main difference was that the organisations were small then and there were multi-point contacts between design, production and quality assurance with those at the helm of various organisations setting fine examples of cooperation". The DRDO, decades ago, used to depend alomost entirely on the Ordnance Factories for development of prototypes. Somewhat justifiably, the DRDO, Mr Sundaram pointed out, began extensive outsourcing for prototype manufacture on the lines of ISRO. Curiously, among such obstacles was that the same Defence Accounts Officer when he was with the R&D, would be liberal with the procedures whereas when at the production unit pusillanimous to the extreme and throw the rule book at every opportunity, Mr Sundram has divulged. Mr Sundaram’s yet another interesting finding: DRDO, in its search for success in mission projects such as the MBT, LCA and integrated missile systems, forgot somewhere along the line to develop simple cost-effective upgradations of, say, pieces such as hand grenades, artillery items such as 81 mm and 120 mm mortars, smoke and illuminating ammunition, and revamping of old gun chassis by adopting them to higher calibre guns.Thus, most conventional arms produced are stuck at the Second World War standards and opportunities to bring them up to NATO or US MII standards and earn a place in world markets have been foregone. Mr Sundaram has placed himself on record saying: "In this context, surely the task force would have examined the relevance of the Ordnance Factories in its present form in the proposed merger. What with high wage costs of labour within the Government, it is almost self-evident that only critical resources for development and production should bed retained within the Government". Consider for example that an average tailor in the clothing factory is paid Rs 10,000 and sews six shirts per shift, while even in the organised private sector for a monthly salary of Rs 3,500 the output is at least 12. Mr Sundaram says that it is, therefore, an economic imperative that the core competence of the Ordnance Factories and the merged portions of the DRDO should be developed around design, development and production of armaments; small arms, small arms ammunition, artillery and artillery and tank ammunition, armoured vehicles and parachutes. Meanwhile, Mr Atal Behari Vajppayee and his office, better known as PMO, seem to have been taken aback with the criticism by the author of the Kargil Committee report, Mr K Subrahmanyam, who has held the Prime Minister and his national security advisors directly responsible for the sorry state of national security affairs in India. Mr Subrahmanayam has let it be known that the responsibility for the present "unsatisfactory situation of casual approach to national security rests with the Prime Minister and his immediate advisors in matters of national security". Mr Subrahmanyam, who is also a known defence analyst, has brought to the fore the challenges facing national security. They are (a) indifference amounting to a very casual approach relating to issues of national security, (b) corruption at the highest level both in bureaucracy and political class, (c) a lack of transparency and(d) an emerging tendency of politicising national security affairs. Obviously, Mr Subrahmanyam spoke the language of several others that indifference resulted in the Prime Minister having one person doubling up as his Principal Secretary as well as National Security Advisor-Mr Brajesh Mishra. Mr Subrahmanyam was not off the mark when he said that the National Security Advisor had not even the dedicated staff to activate National Security Council (NSC). The National Security Council is a body which was set up to evolve long-term policies for national security. But the "casual approach", Mr Subrahmanyam has reiterated, has ensured that the NSC has remained confined on paper only. And his warning: An NSC on paper without any activity will prove fatal to future holistic national security management in India. |
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