Vice-President Krishna Kant
Vice-President Krishna Kant

Terrorists taking
advantage of tech
advances: Kant

KOTA, Sept 17: Vice-President Krishna Kant has said that technological advances had transformed the nature of terrorism profoundly, greatly increasing the destructive....more

Venkaiah Naidu
Venkaiah Naidu

Model code should
not be inforce for
over two weeks: BJP

CHENNAI, Sept 17: The BJP today suggested that the model code of conduct should not be in force .....more

Press compromised ethics
to gain circulation: PCI

NEW DELHI, Sept 17: Price wars among newspapers benefitted readers by bringing more pages at ....more

Fernandes’ report on WB a real picture: Joshi

TIRUCHIRAPPALLI, Sept 17: Union Human Resource Development Minister Murali Manohar Joshi today said the report submitted by Defence.........more

Jyoti Basu

Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley

Conference to discuss challenges faced by legal profession

NEW DELHI, Sept 17: Professionalism versus commercialism and impact of new technologies on mode of proof, evidence and contracts are among the issues confronting the legal profession that would.......more

Murli Manohar Joshi
Murli Manohar Joshi

Gautier: A French scribe
in love with India

NEW DELHI, Sept 17: He is married to an Indian and has lived here for the past 30 years. A darling .....more

Centre gives nod for
setting up 8 special
courts for CBI

NEW DELHI, Sept 17: The Centre has sanctioned eight new special designated courts to try.......more

Indo-US initiative in
cyclone studies mooted

NEW DELHI, Sept 17: India has suggested a joint initiative with US in forecasting cyclones and.....more



Terrorists taking advantage of tech advances: Kant

KOTA, Sept 17: Vice-President Krishna Kant has said that technological advances had transformed the nature of terrorism profoundly, greatly increasing the destructive and intimidating power of terrorists.

He said the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan saw the "massive injection of arms in that country and Kalashnikovs became the standard weapon. Gradually these weapons spread all over Pakistan and found their way to India too".

During this time the Afghan border also got converted into one of the world’s leading areas of "narcotics generation and globally organised crime," Kant said.

International terrorism had now become the foremost threat to peace and security even as more and more nations were taking to democracy, he added. (PTI)

Model code should not be inforce for over two weeks: BJP

CHENNAI, Sept 17: The BJP today suggested that the model code of conduct should not be in force for more than two weeks prior to notification of elections to Parliament and legislative assemblies, saying it could affect the country’s developmental process.

BJP general secretary Venkaiah Naidu told newsmen here that his party favoured a maximum of 14 days gap between the announcement of elections and the date of notification.

The BJP, he said, also favoured a campaign period of 21 days and not two weeks as was being suggested, on the ground that 14 days were insufficient to cover every nook and corner, especially Lok Sabha constituencies.

Referring to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee’s visit to the US, he said it had further strengthened ties between India and Washington, set in motion during President Bill Clinton’s visit to the country earlier this year.

Stating that Vajpayee had come out with flying colours in US, especially on the issue of Pakistan sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Naidu referred to the joint statement at the end of Clinton-Vajpayee talks, endorsing India’s stand that violence was not a basis for solution of the Kashmir issue. (PTI)

Press compromised ethics to gain circulation: PCI

NEW DELHI, Sept 17: Price wars among newspapers benefitted readers by bringing more pages at less prices and specialised and qualitative reports but a section of the press tried to compromise on ethics to gain circulation, the Press Council of India (PCI) has said.

The Council was quick to take notice of such "unethical practices" and take steps to discourage them, the PCI said in its latest annual report.

It said that as the technological revolution spread from the paper of metropolitan cities to ‘mofusil’ towns, the circulation war became fiercer.

Referring to the "surcharged" atmosphere in the post-Pokhran period, it said "while on the one hand the press itself was a victim of onslaught from various quarters, on the other, it was at times seen to be deviating from journalistic norms..... These deviations were, however, few and far between, and on the whole, the mainline press has shouldered its responsibilities satisfactorily.

"It became the voice of the people in conveying to the Government both the public’s pride as well as its concern about the tests. Its conduct depicted a maturity that behove an institution with heavy responsibility on its shoulders." In urban India, 85.4 per cent watch television, 58.1 per cent read newspapers and magazines, 29.5 per cent go for watching films and 21.1 per cent listen to the radio.

In rural areas, 32.8 per cent watch television and 24 per cent depend on print media.

Among the top ten dailies are Daily Thanti followed by Eenadu, Dainik Jagran, Malayala Manorama, Dainik Bhaskar, Mathrubhumi, Gujarat Samachar and Kokmat.

The Council said the National Union of Journalists has reported that the readership base of the print media has shifted to smaller towns right into the rural heartland and that dailies with readership in the rural belt and small towns have recently registered a significant growth both in terms of revenue and circulation.

The report said the Council received 361 complaints charging the Government or other authorities with attempts at curbing the free functioning of the print media between April, 1998 and March, 1999.

The Council, which adjudicated on 40 matters of violation of human rights of journalists during the period, said such cases were "escalating unabatedly" and that endeavours to check the malpractice had not yet yielded substantial results.

The Council also received 852 complaints against the press and upheld 93 complaints from people holding high office about false reports attributed to them.

It upheld charges of communal, casteist or anti-national writings against seven newspapers, adjudicated upon 11 cases of obscenity in the press and one complaint regarding curtailment of press freedom, the report said. (PTI)

Fernandes’ report on WB a real picture: Joshi

TIRUCHIRAPPALLI, Sept 17: Union Human Resource Development Minister Murali Manohar Joshi today said the report submitted by Defence Minister George Fernandes on West Bengal had brought out the ‘real picture’ on the situation prevailing there.

Asked about AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha’s charge that the Centre was attempting to impose President rule in the state "under pressure" from Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, he told reporters here: `It is easy for anyone to throw allegations. But the real picture had come to surface after fernandes made on the spot enquiries."

He said the report and the whole issue would be taken up for discussion after the return of Prime Minister A B Vajpayee from the US.

On the bye-election to Tiruchirappalli Lok Sabha constituency, lying vacant after the death of Rangarajan Kumaramanlection Commission to decide. (PTI)

Conference to discuss challenges faced by legal profession

NEW DELHI, Sept 17: Professionalism versus commercialism and impact of new technologies on mode of proof, evidence and contracts are among the issues confronting the legal profession that would be discussed at a conference here to mark 40 years of the Bar Association of India (BAI).

Legal luminaries would also speak on subjects such as ‘electoral reforms’, ‘human rights - need for an Asian initiative’, ‘patent regimes - protection of India’s heritage’ and ‘anti-dumping laws and procedures - how can Indian industry protect itself’ during the two-day meet to be inaugurated by Law Minister Arun Jaitley on September 30.

"It is time for re-evaluation, re-assessment and introspection regarding the state of the legal profession in general, and the role bar associations have played and can play in nation-building activities," says BAI President and noted constitutional lawyer F S Nariman.

The BAI, he said, has in its own way contributed to the "strengthening of the rule of law in the country" as also giving support to democratic traditions and institutions in furtherance of noble goals enshrined in the constitution.

The theme of the commemorative conference is ‘new dimensions of law’ and the speakers include Nariman, Solicitor General Harish Salve, Justice (retd) Rajinder Sachar and K K Venugopal, according to BAI general secretary Lalit Bhasin.

The BAI, set up in 1960, has organised several national and international conferences and workshops on topical matters concerning the profession and society. (PTI)

Gautier: A French scribe in love with India

NEW DELHI, Sept 17: He is married to an Indian and has lived here for the past 30 years. A darling of the Sangh Parivar, his ‘pro-India and pro-Hindu’ reportage has earned him the wrath of colleagues back home and the Foreign Press Corps stationed in the country.

Meet Francois Gautier, South Asia Correspondent for ‘Le Figaro’, France’s largest circulated paper, who blames Jawaharlal Nehru for the ills haunting India and supports Murli Manohar Joshi’s attempts to re-write Indian history.

"Foreign correspondents in India are obsessed with three things - the negative political aspects including violence, the caste system and the folkloric part, the Maharajas and all, which has no relevance to modern India," says Gautier.

Foreign journalists, he says, come to India with "pre-conceived notions" and he found it "impossible" to change their mindset "despite my best efforts".

"I was lucky that I was young when I came here. No way can one unravel India without spending less than five years. It is too complicated and contradictory a country to put in black and white. The real India is not New Delhi, which is an arrogant and eccentric city," says gautier, whose latest book `Arise, O India’ hit the stands recently.

He came to India on a Paris to Pondicherry caravan in 1969, instantly fell in love with the country and made it his home since then.

Gautier, who spent eight "intensely spiritual years" at the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, says he has often been at conflict with his editors back home and other foreign correspondents stationed in India over his "pro-India and pro-Hindu" writings.

"They say I have turned native. Mine iss," he says.

The French journalist says that if the western media is biased against India, the english press in the country too "has not enhanced the country’s image."

"They (the Indian media) went overboard over the killing of an Australian missionary in Orissa, but maintained a strage silence when hundreds of Hindus were killed and hounded out of Kashmir and their temples burnt down," regrets Gautier.

"Those who talk of Hindu fundamentalism do not know Hinduism. Hindus can never be aggressors or intolerant. Their 5000 years of history is a testimony to it," he says.

Gautier defends the emergence of the Sangh Parivar as a "natural phenomenon" saying "for ten centuries they (Hindus) were enslaved by Muslims and Christians. Their women were raped and their temples ravaged. There had to be a reaction."

He blames Nehru for the present "mess the country is in". "He turned his back on everything that was Hindu and gave a free hand to marxists and the westernised elite."

While Gautier is not very happy with the BJP Government’s performance in Kargil and Kandhar, he has a good word for Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi.

"The present education system is churning out western clones. Indians should be taught about their real history and Joshi is silently doing a good job."

Gautier not only justifies the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya but also criticises the Indian media for its "massive outcry on the atrocities against minorities."

"How many of those who have lambasted so many times the `Hindu fundamentalists’ and lamented the destruction of Babri Mosque as the death of secularism in India have been to Ayodhya," asks Gautier, whose earlier books include `Rewriting Indian history’ and `Another way of looking at India’. Ayodhya, he says, "is the perfect example of unwillingness of the Indian Muslims to come to terms with the Indian reality."

Referring to the killing of Graham Staines, he asks, "is the life of a white man infinitely more important and dear to the Indian media than the lives of a hundred Indians...When Hindus are killed in pogroms in Pakistan and Bangladesh, we never witness in the Indian media the like of tear jerking, `posthumous’ interview of staines on TV channels."

While lauding Mother Teresa for her "saintly work" , Gautier regrets that during her whole lifetime, she spoke only of the dying on the streets of Calcutta but never about India’s "infinite spirituality, exquisite culture..."

Interestingly on Kashmir, Gautier suggests its joint administration by both India and Pakistan, eventually leading to the re-unification of the sub-continent.

"If Europe has done it, why not the South Asian countries. The partition of India must go and the greater India, the land of the `Indus’, Bharat, be born again," dreams Gautier, who now plans to quit reporting and devote full time to writing and lecturing to awaken the "sleeping giant within every Indian." (PTI)

Centre gives nod for setting up 8 special courts for CBI

NEW DELHI, Sept 17: The Centre has sanctioned eight new special designated courts to try corruption cases pursued by CBI to ensure speedy justice.

"Three new courts have been set up in Mumbai for trial of all CBI cases while four others which include three in Delhi and one in Gandhinagar (Gujarat) will be set up soon," CBI sources said here.

Besides this, they said a special court had been sanctioned by the Centre and would be soon set up in Chennai to try the 25 cases of Indian bank scam on the basis of the principle that "justice delayed is justice denied".

CBI director R K Raghavan had told reporters last week that agency’s concerted efforts to improve its rate of conviction had yielded results as the agency secured a conviction rate of 72.5 per cent during the first half of this year.

"Effective monitoring of all cases in the courts of law has yielded good results for the agency and conviction was secured in 145 cases out of 200 sent for trial," the CBI director had said.

The sources said the agency had formed a special group comprising two joint directors and a legal official which would monitor the judgement of all such cases where the court had evicted the accused.

"This group analyses the judgement and submits a report to the director and of course some action is taken if the fault lies with the investigating officer," they said.

Besides this, all branch superintendents of police have to be present at the court when a case was scheduled to come up for trial. The joint director of the branch has been directed to be present when trial of an important case was to held in the court.

To boost the morale of the sleuths of the agency, the ministry of personnel had given its nod for creation of two new ranks — senior superintendent of police (10 posts) and additional superintendent of police (75 posts) in the CBI.

While 80 per cent of the posts for additional SPs would be filled by promotions of CBI direct recruits, all the ten posts of senior SPs will be filled by promotion of the out staff only, the sources added. (PTI)

Indo-US initiative in cyclone studies mooted

NEW DELHI, Sept 17: India has suggested a joint initiative with US in forecasting cyclones and monsoons at the second Indo-US round table conference on science and technology held during Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s ongoing trip to Washington.

The conference was held at the National Institute of Health in Washington on September 15, as a sequel to the first round table meeting held in Hyderabad on March 24 during US President Bill Clinton’s visit to India.

The meeting at NIH focussed on five specific areas —agricultural biotechnology, genomics, nanostructured materials (nanometre means one-billionth of a metre or extremely miniature sized material), computer modelling, and internet technology, official sources here said.

It was co-chaired by Science Secretary V S Ramamurthy and Neil Lane, US Presidential Advisor on Science and Technology.

The sources said the controversial Sankhya Vahini Project that seeks to create an information superhighway between India and the US also came up for discussion at the insistence of the US side, though it was not part of the official Indian agenda.

A suggestion to link the six Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), 20-odd Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) and 20 technical educational institutes with about 15 US institutes to form a dedicated information network also cropped up during the talks, the sources said. (PTI)

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