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HP opposes convening NEW DELHI, July 8: Himachal Pradesh today opposed the demand for convening of a Rajya Sabha session...more
Barnala praises Vajpayye BATHINDA, July 8: Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Surjit Singh Barnala today said...more
NEW DELHI, July 8: President K R Narayanan has contributed his one month salary towards the.....more |
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Tripura CM asks
Centre to be alert in N-E AGARTALA, July 8: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has asked the Centre to pay more attention......more
India has almost won war PATNA, July 8: BJP president Kushabhau Thakre today said India has almost won the....more BJP hits out at Pak NEW DELHI, July 8: The BJP today hit out at Pakistan for not honouring the commitment made in....more More public interest NEW DELHI, July 8: Conscious that the only way to woo...more 44 crew members of North AHMEDABAD, July 8: Police have arrested.....more SBT reduces THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, July 8: The nationalised.....more |
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HP opposes convening of RS session NEW DELHI, July 8: Himachal Pradesh today opposed the demand for convening of a Rajya Sabha session to discuss the Kargil issue and said the Centre and State Governments should make efforts to counter any threat to internal security. Instead of calling a session of the upper house, where parties would try to make political milage, the Centre and the State Governments should try to counter the internal security threat in the wake of Kargil conflict, HP Chief Minister P K Dhumal told reporters. He said that special measures were taken to fight the threat of terrorism in areas bordering Jammu and Kashmir and 300 ex-servicemen were being recruited for internal security in the state. Dhumal said his Government had sought active assistance of ITBP and Punjab police to train the state police personnel in anti-terrorist and commando operations. (PTI) |
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Barnala praises Vajpayye for adept handling of Kargil BATHINDA, July 8: Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Surjit Singh Barnala today said Prime Minister A B Vajpayee deserved full praise for his adept handling of the Kargil problem. Talking to newsmen here, Mr Barnala said Mr Vajpayee’s efficiency had left Pakistan totally isolated at the international level. Earlier Mr Barnala, who laid the foundation stone of a pesticide formulation plant of Hindustan Insecticides Limited (a Govt of India enterprise) at Industrial Growth Centre on Bathinda-Mansa road, said the first stage of the plant would be completed in 12 months at a cost of Rs 7.70 crore. The plant will produce, safe and eco-friendly pesticides. He said the pesticide industry plays an important role in boosting the country’s agricultural production. He said the target was to double the country’s agricultural output in the next ten years. (UNI) |
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NEW DELHI, July 8: President K R Narayanan has contributed his one month salary towards the National Defence Fund for the welfare of families of jawans who laid down their lives in ‘Operation Vijay’ in Kargil, official sources said today. (PTI) |
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Tripura CM asks Centre to be alert in N-E AGARTALA, July 8: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has asked the Centre to pay more attention to North-Eastern states so that a Kargil-like situation is not repeated there. Sarkar expressed serious concern over increasing ISI activities in North-Eastern states in his address to the Chief Ministers’ conference at New Delhi yesterday. He suggested formation of a committee by the Centre for interacting with the states and directing appropriate authorities to take necessary steps to thwart the designs of anti-nationals. The Chief Minister alleged that ISI has been helping the insurgents and coordinating their activities from across the border where they receive training. Sarkar also urged the Centre to take up the issue with neighbouring countries and persuade them to demolish camps and other hide-outs of the insurgents in their territories. Referring to the porous international border which tripura shares with Bangladesh,Sarkar demanded nine more battalions of BSF to guard its border. He also appealed to the people of the whole country to stand behind the jawans fighting the intruders in Kargil. There can be differences with the Central Government on several policy matters but at this hour we will be with the centre so that all the intruders are pushed back beyond our LoC, Sarkar said. (PTI) |
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India has almost won war against Pakistan: Thakre PATNA, July 8: BJP president Kushabhau Thakre today said India has almost won the battle against Pakistani intruders in Kargil. Pakistan has already conceded defeat after being diplomatically isolated by other countries, even Muslim ones on Kargil issue, Thakre told reporters here. We have now almost won the battle.....Our armed forces have already recaptured strategic hills, including Tiger Hill, and the battle is likely to end soon when Pakistani Army regulars and militants will be thrown out from our side of the Line of Control (LoC). He said the demand for a special session of Rajya Sabha to discuss Kargil situation by the opposition was unnecessary adding senior politicians like former Prime Ministers Chandrashekhar and H D Deve Gowda, Nationalist Congress president Sharad Pawar and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu have opposed the demand. Thakre rejected the opposition charge that ineptitude by Vajpayee Government had paved the way for Pakistani incursions. There was no failure by the Vajpayee Government. Intrusions have been taking place in India for the last ten years, he said. Indian armed forces struck in a well-planned strategy, he replied when asked why military assault was delayed when the Government was aware of Pakistan pushing its Army regulars and militants in Kargil. Referring to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s statement at Muzaffarpur on Tuesday that the country’s security is not safe in BJP’s hands, he said India’s unity and integrity is safe only in the hands of BJP, which the people have seen since the developments in Kargil. There would be no let up in the military operations against the intruders, he added. (PTI) |
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More public interest programmes
in offing NEW DELHI, July 8: Conscious that the only way to woo the Indian advertiser is to create customised programming suitable for the region, satellite television channels continue efforts towards greater regionalisation to become more appealing to local viewers. ‘Hardtalk’, a popular TV series on BBC featuring interviews of prominent personalities by Tim Robinson, is now to be telecast in an Indian format: with tough bargainer Karan Thapar as the interviewer. Henceforth, all political interviews will be telecast under the title Hardtalk India, while non-political interviews in the same slot will be called ‘Face to Face.’ the telecast of this programme produced by United Television will be on Wednesdays at 2200 hrs. Personalities slated to appear on this programme include Arundhati Roy, Rahul Dravid, Anjolie Ela Menon, Naseeruddin Shah, Kajol, Javed Akhtar, Sam Maneckshaw, and Sachin Tendulkar. India’s most wanted , the real-life investigative series on Zee TV based on police files which has so far helped to nab 22 criminals, is technically off the air, with the channel only showing repeat telecasts of old episodes. Shoaib Ilyasi, producer-director of the weekly series, says that Zee TV is violating an agreement with him by attempting to get this programme made by other outside parties or as an in-house programme. While giving him an extension of 104 episodes after the telecast of the initial 13 episodes, Zee TV in its agreement with him of August 28 last year had clearly stated that, "we shall not commission the production of the above programme by any other party or produce the programme in-house. The programme has just completed 60 episodes. Meanwhile, Star Plus has commenced telecast of we the people , a new interactive show with the elections in view. Each episode will have over a hundred people in the audience, asking questions which will then be answered by three politicians, representing the three main blocks: Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies, and the Third Front. Produced by United Television, it will be moderated by Karan Thapar and telecast on Tuesdays at 2200 hrs. The channel has also commenced telecast of the ‘Kinetic mega Show’ anchored by actress Ruby Bhatia which will feature celebrities in a talk show with just over 20 invitees. But there is a difference: the celebrity will leave behind a celebrity memorabilia, and viewers will have to write in to say why they would like to own it. The wittiest reply will earn the writer special prizes. Produced by TV 18, the weekly programme will be telecast every Thursday at 2130 hrs.(UNI) |
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44 crew members of North Korean ship arrested AHMEDABAD, July 8: Police have arrested all the 44 crew members of the Karachi-bound North Korean vessel "Ku-Wolsan", Laden with dubious cargo, which was detained by customs at Kandla Port in Kutch district of Gujarat last week. The crew members were arrested yesterday under Section 188 and 143 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly assaulting a policeman, who tried to check the goods on board, police said. The Cargo, believed to be spare parts for manufacturing missiles and atomic reactors, was unloaded after intervention by the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel. Customs officers were carrying out detailed investigation to ascertain the real utility of the spare parts, being transhipped by the ship among other cargo by subterfuge. (PTI) SBT reduces non-performing assets to 10 per cent THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, July 8: The nationalised State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has reduced net non-performing assets to 10.80 per cent from 12.21 per cent during 1998-99. SBT Managing Director Vepa Kamesam told newsmen here today that the total deposits of the bank recorded a growth of 15.80 per cent over the previous year to reach a level of Rs 8864.39 crore. NRI deposits constituted 41 per cent of the total deposits and registered a growth of 24.6 per cent over the previous year. Highlighting the performance of the bank during 1998-99, he said the bank posted a net profit of Rs 43.45 crore as against Rs 63 crore during the previous year. This, like any other bank, was due to reduction in the prime lending rate in tune with RBI’s policy and the provision for arrears of wages to staff. Mr Kamesam said the bank’s foreign exchange business witnessed a growth of 17 per cent to reach the level of Rs 6561 crore and earned an exchange profit of Rs 17.06 crore. Despite the lower profits, the bank maintained the dividend at the rate of 25 per cent this year. The Earnings Per Share (EPS) stood at a fairly high level of Rs 86.90. The book value per share (Rs 100 face value) increased to Rs 762.20 as on March 31 this year, he said. Mr Kamesam said the capital adequacy ratio of the bank stood at 10.27 per cent as against the RBI stipulation of eight per cent. He said the credit-deposit ratio of the bank in Kerala had gone up to 44.93 per cent as against 44.82 per cent last year. The bank would make a credit deployment of Rs 500 crore during 1999-2000 (being two third of the total budget of Rs 750 crore in Kerala) with a view to improving the credit deposit ratio. He said the bank did not not keep its funds idle despite economic recession resulting in slow industrial production and low credit off take. The total investment of the bank went up by 32.49 per cent to reach a level of Rs 4391.10 crore and the income from these investments grew by 28.09 per cent to reach Rs 475.93 crore. The bank had marked to market 100 per cent of its investment portfolio(as against the RBI stipulation of 70 per cent). He said the total advances of the bank grew by Rs 251.08 crore (6.28 per cent) to reach Rs 4251.90 crore at the end of the year. The bank’s priority sector advances increased by Rs 106.11 crore recording a growth of 8.15 per cent over the previous year and reached a level of Rs 1408.55 crore constituting 65.87 per cent of the net bank credit . (UNI) |
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