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five 24 hours regional language channels JAIPUR, Dec 18: Doordarshan will soon launch 24-hour regional channels....more
DMK to take action against CHENNAI, Dec 18: Taking a hard line, the general council of the ruling....more
India should formulate NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today....more |
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Jethmalani opposes KOZHIKODE, Dec 18: Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs....more Judicial probe into BHUBANESWAR, Dec 18: Orissa Government today announced a judicial........more Tributes paid to NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Glowing tributes were paid to freedom fighter Ashfaqulla.....more Gujral, Sonia, Heptullah NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Former Prime Minister I K Gujral, Delhi Chief Minister.....more Constitution Amendment NEW DELHI, Dec 17: Minister of State for Law and Company .....more |
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DD to launch five 24 hours regional language channels JAIPUR, Dec 18: Doordarshan will soon launch 24-hour regional channels in five Indian languages as part of the new comprehensive broadcasting bill being drafted to regulate private broadcasting, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley said today. The new channels in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bangla and Kannada are being launched to counter the fierce competition from regional private television channels, especially in the South, Jaitley said while inaugurating Bhaskar TV, a private provider of cable television, here. A recent survey showed Doordarshan was ahead of others in the country in terms of viewership, particularly in rural areas, but it lagged behind in the South where private channels in regional languages enjoyed an upper hand, the minister said. On the new bill, he said the broadcasting and the cable television industry had been consulted to incorporate their views in the proposed legislation and added that the report of the information technology conversion committee would also be taken into account in drafting it. As part of Centre’s efforts to empower people and make the Government answerable to them, A proposed ‘freedom of information bill’ will also be introduced in Parliament soon, Jaitley said. Referring to the fast-paced technological advancement, he said the next century will be the age of excellence in all fields and if you fail to keep pace with technological upgradation, time will not wait for you. Favouring privatisation, the minister said it was not the business of the Government to get into every business. We are also considering privatising FM Radio Channels since providing entertainment should not be the Government’s monopoly, he said. He also stressed the significant role played by television in meeting regional aspirations and concerns in a country like India with its large and diverse population. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, speaking on the occassion, said the country was on the threshold of being able to compete successfully with developed countries in the field of information technology. (PTI) |
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DMK
to take action against partymen who worked CHENNAI, Dec 18: Taking a hard line, the general council of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) today decided to initiate disciplinary action against partymen who were responsible for the defeat of the DMK-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidates in some constituencies in the state in the recent Lok Sabha poll. A resolution adopted at the general council, which met here this morning under the chairmanship of party president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, authorised the party chief and general secretary K Anbazhagan to take action against such partymen. The general council, going by the recommendations made to this efect by the party district secretaries who met here last evening, also accepted their suggestion to reject the nomination of these "tainted" office bearers for any post in the party. Though the NDA had formed the Government at the Centre after a massive victory at the national level, its candidates were defeated in some constituencies in the state, it noted. Disciplinary action would also be taken against the office bearers who did not distribute membership cards to deserving partymen for the DMK organisational elections, it said. A five-member committee, which reviewed the party’s performance in 23 constituencies and presented a voluminous report to the high-command, is believed to have identified the office bearers, whose actions had resulted in the NDA’s defeat in some constituencies. The report was discussed threadbare at the meeting of the district secretaries yesterday and the general council meeting today, which remained inconclusive. The meeting would resume its deliberations in the afternoon. It may be recalled that Mr Karunanidhi, while answering a question on cabinet reshuffle soon after the elections, had made it clear that the district secretaries would be changed. Some of them were his cabinet colleagues. The general council, through another resolution, hailed the Government’s decision to make Tamil as medium of instruction up to fifth standard and congratulated the Chief Minister for having taken the "far-sighted decision" to protect Tamil language. Even in the developed nations like Germany and Japan, children were taught only in their mother tongue, it pointed out. (UNI) |
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India should formulate national population policy: Paswan NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today said India should formulate a national population policy on lines similar to its economic, foreign and education policies. India could make a new beginning in the millennium by formulating the population policy cutting across party lines and addressing the nation’s concerns as a whole on lines similar to its foreign, economic and education policies, Paswan said. Likening the country’s high population growth to a Rakshas (Demon) that had eaten into all its socio-economic progress, he said India should make a new beginning in the new millennium by enforcing a two-child norm for elected representatives. Politicians should make a beginning themselves, Paswan suggested after releasing a stamp to commemorate the golden jubilee celebrations of the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) which has pioneered the family planning movement. A two-child norm should be enforced for representatives of gram panchayats, zila parishads, State Assemblies and the Lok Sabha, the Minister said. Striking a note of caution, the Secretary in the Department of Family Welfare of the Health Ministry, A R Nanda, said India’s population would stabilise in only another 45 years. (PTI) |
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Jethmalani opposes Preventive Detention Act of 1950 KOZHIKODE, Dec 18: Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs Ram Jethmalani today opposed the Preventive Detention Act of 1950, terming it as a "violation of human rights". Inaugurating the "vigil", a Human Rights Protection Forum here, Mr Jethmalani said he was a strong opponent of the Act, which came into force in 1950. Preventive detention itself was in violation of human rights, since the detainee could be confined without other procedures to let him free. The then Home Minister Sardar Vallaibhai Patel had introduced the Preventive Detention Bill in Parliament, but with an apology as he realised that it was an intrusion into the freedom of the citizen, he said. Dr Jethmalani said though there were a plethora of institutions for the protection of human rights, the rights were not fully protected. Since the country was a democratic republic, every citizen had the right to point his finger at anyone, however mighty he be. Under the country’s constitution, no one including the legislators was free from the purview of law against violation of human rights and other misdeeds, he pointed out. Dr Jethmalani said the Congress, during its rule, had all along been manipulating the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and it expected the present Government to do the same. Hence, it demanded the deletion of the name of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi from the Bofors chargesheet. He said he had to flee the country following a warrant issued by a Palakkad Magistrate at the instance of the then Chief Minister K Karunakaran, who wanted him dead or alive for the speech he had made at Palakkad in defence of human rights during the emergency. Human rights and democracy were two sides of the same coin and none of them could exist alone. He would try to take necessary steps for protect of human rights, he said. Union Minister of State for Law and Justice O Rajagopal presided over the function. (UNI) |
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Gujral, Sonia, Heptullah to link up in peace chain NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Former Prime Minister I K Gujral, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptullah will be among the links in the millennium human chain symbolising "peace for empowerment, empowerment for peace" here tomorrow. A joint endeavour of the National Commission for Women (NCW) and the Non-Governmental Organisation guild of service, the peace-empowerment chains would be formed all over the country tomorrow and a ‘peace pledge’ taken by all participants. In the capital, the chain would be started at 1130 hrs. At Rajghat by Sadiq Ali, the oldest freedom fighter alive and Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande. The chain would go through India Gate and reach Gandhi Memorial at 30, January Marg, where the peace pledge would be administered by Mr Gujral, former NCW chairperson Mohini Giri told UNI. En route, the chain would go through Purana Qila Road and Akbar Road where Mrs Dikshit, Mrs Gandhi, Dr Heptullah, Delhi Mayor Meera Kanwaria and Central Social Welfare Board chairperson Mridula Sinha would join in with social activists, MPs, Gandhians and common men, women and children to take the millennium peace pledge. "Symbolically, the chain will touch both Rajghat and tees january marg as a mark of respect to the Indian man of the millennium and apostle of peace Mahatma Gandhi," Dr Giri said. Talking about the "great response" elicited by this mass mobilisation effort of the ncw and the guild of service, Dr Giri said that messages had poured in from all over the country, including far off places like Port Blair, Kasarkode, Buldana, Alluru, Karuli, Sehore Raha village and Champavat, that people would be forming the peace chains in these areas. Explaining the sentiment behind the initiative, Dr Giri said there was growing realisation of the strength of united endeavour. "We have realised that empowerment — legal, political, economic and social — of the weak, the discriminated and the deprived alone can usher in true and lasting peace. The peace chains would symbolise the people’s efforts to gain for themselves the dignity of human life and vital nourishment of peace. The millennium peace pledge would express the people’s determination that aggression and violence would no longer be allowed to snatch away the worth of human life, Dr Giri added. (UNI) |
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Constitution Amendment Bill introduced in RS NEW DELHI, Dec 17: Minister of State for Law and Company Affairs O Rajagopal today introduced in the Rajya Sabha the Constitution (86th Amendment) Bill, 1999 and the Constitution (87th Amendment) Bill, 1999. The 86th amendment seeks to exempt Arunachal Pradesh from the application of Article 243d relating to the reservation of seats in panchayats for Scheduled Castes since the state is singularly free from caste system. The 87th amendment seeks to amend Article 243 C of the Constitution to confer on legislatures of states the discretion to fill all the seats in panchayats at intermediate level and district level by persons elected as chairpersons at the village level panchayats and intermediate level panchayats. (UNI) |
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