Excelsior... Nation

Chinese Ambassador
calls on Punjab
Governor

CHANDIGARH, Dec 16: Chinese Ambassador Zhou Gang and his wife Deng Junbing......more

Privilege motion
against Joshi

NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Mr Ram Vilas Paswan (JD) sought to move a privilege...more

Calamites, scandals dominate AP in 1998

HYDERABAD, Dec 16: Factional feuds, venison dinner scandal and nature’s fury....more

Jyoti Basu

Basu resents against Centre’s proposal

CALCUTTA, Dec 16: West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu has expressed....more

Amartya Sen

Sen presented
Ist book in Bengali

CALCUTTA, Dec 16: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen was presented the first book in Bengali on his life and works -Adiwitiya Amartya....more

Application in house allotment to Priyanka rejected

NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Delhi High Court today dismissed as ‘miconceived’ an application for impleadment as party....more

Baba Sant Nagpal
passes away

NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Baba Sant Nagpal, founder of Adya Katyayani temple here, known as ‘Chhatrapur Mandir,’ died....more

Consumption of Gibralik
acid claim 3 adivasis

NASHIK, Dec 16: In a shocking incident three adivasis including a woman died after consuming....more

Privilege motion against Joshi

NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Mr Ram Vilas Paswan (JD) sought to move a privilege motion in the Lok Sabha today against Human Resource Minister Murli Manohar Joshi for misleading the House about the status of the agitation in the Aligarh Muslim University.

Speaker G M C Balayogi said he has received Mr Paswan’s privilege notice and it was under his active consideration.

Raising the matter during zero hour Mr Paswan said agitating students of AMU were still on fast. The Minister’s earlier statement in the House that the hartal was over was misleading , he said. (UNI)

Calamites, scandals dominate AP in 1998

HYDERABAD, Dec 16: Factional feuds, venison dinner scandal and nature’s fury rocked Andhra Pradesh during 1998, which also saw BJP emerge as a force to reckon with in the Southern state.

The February parliamentary polls redefined the dynamics of Andhra politics with BJP winning four out of 42 seats with 20 per cent votes and ruling Telugu Desam’s conditional support to Vajpayee Government at Centre after breaking the 15-year alliance with Left Parties amidst protests from within TDP.

Controversies ranging from venison dinner involving five State Ministers and Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi and favouritism in allotting contracts to alleged diversion of central funds and failure in maintaining law and order were major issues that landed the three-year old Chandrababu Naidu Government in a tight spot.

While Naxal violence appeared to wane this year with increasing number of surrenders of top leaders and encounter killings, it was more than made up by factional feuds in Ralyalaseema and gang wars that claimed the lives of some Congress leaders and that of the Resident Director of Zee TV. The state capital witnessed a fresh bout of communal violence fanned by provocative pamphlets against a particular community as Inter Services Intelligence’s (ISI) plot to create trouble during Ganesh festival was unearthed with the arrest of two agents and huge seizure of explosives.

Unseasonal torrential rains battered the state damaging standing crops and a cyclone in Novemeber swept away the smile of farmers who were counting on bounty crop in Kharif season.

On the information technology front, the state continued to surge ahead with the inaguration of Hyderabad Information Technology and Engineering Consultancy (HI-TECH) city.

Leading corporate houses also chose Hyderabad as venue for the proposed business school bypassing offers from Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.

Chief Minister N chandrababu Naidu’s decision to extend "conditional support" to BJP-led coalition evoked sharp protests from Industries Minister Bashiruddin Babu Khan who quit the Cabinet. The party leadership, however, convinced the remaining leaders of minorities about the decision.

The Left Parties severed links with TDP in protest against the latter’s decision to support a "communal and fascist regime" virtually leaving no friends to TDP in the state.

State Education Minister GMC Balayogi, the lone TDP winner from East Godavari district, where BJP won remaining two seats, went on to become the Speaker of the lower House.

However, TDP’s support to the Vajpayee Government did not deter it from criticising the Government on issues of price rise and Saraswathi Vandana. (PTI)

Basu resents against Centre’s proposal

CALCUTTA, Dec 16: West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu has expressed resentment against the Centre’s recent proposal to offer Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to employees of eight Public Sector Units and demanded its immediate revision.

In a lengthy letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the copies of which were released to the press last evening, Mr Basu said this had generated a deep frustration among the employees as the VRS proposal was not only unrelated to any revival package but also "in effect signals the closure of CPSUs".

Stating that the sickness of the PSUs was due to lack of proper care and not due to any intrinsic weakness impending their viability, Mr Basu charged the Union Government with being reluctant to make fresh investments to keep them operational. However, in the same vein the Chief Minister agreed that VRS "may indeed be necessary in some cases to reduce high manpower". But, he said, it should form part of a comprehensive revival scheme.

Mr Basu emphasised the immediate need for a change in the approach and the policy in this regard. He said each of the sick PSUs needed a close look and objective assessment uninfluenced by any pre-conceived idea. "I am not in favour of pumping money into the sick PSUs for an indefinite period only for paying salaries and wages, but support appropriate rehabilitation schemes for their revival," the Chief Minister emphasised.

Urging the immediate intervention of the Prime Minister into the vital issue, Mr Basu requested him to take it with the ministries concerned for formulating an "acceptable turnaround scheme" primarily based on internal resource generation and increased productivity. (UNI)

Rising prices raise hard questions

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Even as the Government blames the rain-for sky-rocketing prices of essentials, experts say the problem has been compounded by the traders greed for a fast buck and failure of authorities to manage the crisis.

First it was oil, then onions, potatotes and salt for a brief spell. As per reports bureaux speak of panic-ridden Governments banning exports, lifting import restrictions and cracking on hoarders, market watchers say only effective regulation and tabs on market trends can keep things under control.

Despite the states’ subsidsing the sale of onions and nabbing more than 100 traders for hoarding in different parts of the country, prices are still reigning at three to four times the cost four months ago.

Even as Government outlets in the metros ad other cities are selling onions upto Rs 20 per kg per week to a family, prices in the open market continue to range between Rs 30 and Rs 60 across the country.

Most of the states have subsidised the sale of onions, with Delhi alone subsidising upto 50 tonnes daily, says K Sethuraman, Commissioner, Food and Civil Supplies.

Even as Sethuraman blames the price rise on unseasonal rain and failed crops, in Jaipur tonnes of onions and potatoes were recovered from stockists as de-hoarding operations were taken up.

In Calcutta, police nabbed 67 people for hoarding essential commodities while 15 quintals of mustard oil was confiscated and sold to consumers through the public distribution system. Some 7,000 tonnes of palmolein is being made available in pouches and barrels, says Kalimuddin Shams, West Bengal’s Minister for Food and Civil Supplies.

The Southern States of Andhra and Tamil Nadu have as a precautionary measure sought a sharefrom the import of onions and are monitoring the market to check the situation from slipping out of hand, say officials.

But "too meagre, too little," is what Prof Kamal Kabra, of the Indian Institute of Public Administration says of the Government’s recent crack down on hoarders and seeking respite in imports of essential commodities.

Kabra attributes the crisis to hoarding and lax attitude on the part of the authorities in monitoring the movement of commodities and stepping in when the supplies began to trickle rather than act when they just disappeared.

The decision for imports, he says, could also have been taken then. It would also not have raised prices in the international market, as now, when other nations have started buying because of shortfall in India.

Even as Sethuraman holds a failed crop solely responsible for the shortage saying hoarding of perishables is not possible, Kabra notes that traders are the only lobby that appears to have benefitted in the current situation. (PTI)

Baba Sant Nagpal passes away

NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Baba Sant Nagpal, founder of Adya Katyayani temple here, known as ‘Chhatrapur Mandir,’ died shortly after midnight today.

He was 84.

The sant, was ailing for some years.

He will be laid in ‘Samadhi’ in the premises of the Shiv-Gauri Nageshwar Mandir in the Chhatrapur Temple complex between noon and 1500 hrs on December 18, a release by the temple trust said.

Till then, the body will be kept at the ‘Satsang Bhavan’ of the Chhatrapur Mandir to enable the devotees to pay their last respects to the sant.

The first of the temples in the 60-acre complex, near the historic Qutab Minar in South Delhi, was established in 1974. (UNI)

Consumption of Gibralik acid claim 3 adivasis

NASHIK, Dec 16: In a shocking incident three adivasis including a woman died after consuming Gibralik acid assuming that it was liquor.

The police said that the incident took place at Rohipada in Peth Taluka in this district where the adivasis were working on a grape yard yesterday.

After spraying the acid they drank it out of curiosity as the acid had a similar smell and taste of liquor, police added.

The police said the four adivasis were admitted to the Nashik Civil Hospital after they fell unconscious soon after consuming the acid. Three of them, Pandurang Jadhav, his wife Anadibai and Laxman Mahale died in the hospital while Kalubai Podende are reported to be serious. (UNI)

Kashmiri migrants deplore Centre’s inaction

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Panun Kashmir, a group representing Kashmiri migrants, today accused the Centre of adopting double standard in solving the problems faced by the community.

Dr Agni Shekhar, convenor of the group, said that after assuming power in March, the BJP-led coalition has not done anything for proper rehablitation of the community.

Policy on Kashmiri migrants is a far cry, Union Home Minister L K Advani has never even bothered to call us for discussions, he said.

Critising the Government, he said it was on one hand claiming that migrants would not be forced to go back to the valley while on the other it was ordering migrants to report for duty in the Valley.

He claimed that several rank officials of the community were recently asked by the State Government to resume their duties in the Valley or face the axe.

We have never felt so let down in our nine years of migration, Dr Shekhar told here.

Referring to the forthcoming elections in four states, Dr Shekhar welcomed the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) giving nominations to two Kashmiri migrants and the Congress to one in Delhi.

These two parties, by giving tickets to migrants, have shown faith in the Kashmiri Pundit community, he said. Dr Shekhar urged leaders of other political parties to voice their concern overthe dscrimnation against Kashmiri Pundits for the last nine years.

Even though the reins of the state were taken over by a popular Government headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah in 1996, the problems faced by the community had not eased, he said.

The Chief Minister says that we should return as he was successful in conducting the Amarnath Yatra and wooing film industry to shoot in the Valley, Dr Shekhar said and asked are these the parametres of safety for our return. (PTI)