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Important amendments CHENNAI, Nov 14: Important amendments to be made to the Bharatiya .....more
Nation remembers Nehru on his 110th birth anniversary NEW DELHI, Nov 14: The nation today fondly remembered .....more
CEC concerned over judicial activism during elections NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill ....more |
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IAF continues mercy BHUBANESWAR, Nov 14: Indian Air Force choppers that flew succour for .......more Karunanidhi demands
judicial inquiry into KOCHI, Nov 14: Former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran today demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting High Court judge into the financial crisis. ......more
Joshi announces 14 Bal Shree Award winners NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi today announced 14 Bal Shree award winners for 1999. ....more BJP not for sacking CHENNAI, Nov 14: BJP today favoured a national consensus on declaring ....more NEW DELHI, Nov 14: A recent outbreak of Bluetongue (BT), one of the most feared viral diseases of sheep, has claimed ....more |
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Important amendments to be made to BJP constitution CHENNAI, Nov 14: Important amendments to be made to the Bharatiya Janata Party constitution will come up for discussion and ratification at the three-day National Executive and National Council meeting beginning in Chennai on December 27, party general secretary Venkaiah Naidu said today. Issues concerning people, expansion of the party, consolidation of gains made in the recent elections and implementation of the national agenda for governance would figure prominently at the council meeting, Naidu told a press conference here. Over 1500 delegates, including party president Kushabhau Thakre, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Central Ministers, party leaders, MPs and MLAs and state unit presidents were expected to attend the executive on the first day and the National Council on the next two days, being held for the first time in Chennai. Naidu said a Central Committee headed by Jana Krishnamurthy had been formed to suggest amendments to the party constitution, with particular reference to organisational elections and other aspects. The committee would submit its report to the leadership before this month end. The report would be placed before the executive and then at the Council, the appropriate body to make amendments. To a question on Bihar, Naidu said the Congress party, which went to the rescue of the Rabri Devi Government recently, was now planning to withdraw support. Congress is trying to fool the people but the people cannot be fooled. Stating that the ‘jungle raj’ in Bihar should go, he claimed that the Laloo Prasad and Rabri Devi regimes would be wiped out in the coming Assembly elections in the state. Asked about the prospects of the fall of the DMK-TMC coalition Government in Pondicherry, Naidu said none should try to ‘destabilise’ an elected Government. Destabilisation would only invite the anger of the people. At the same, various political parties had a right to chalk out their own future course of action, he said. Naidu said he had recently seen a report on Andhra Pradesh Assembly passing a resolution to the effect that there should be no contest for the speakership. The idea is good but practically difficult because it takes away the fundamental right of the people as one cannot prohibit people from contesting an election. The best thing will be not to put up a candidate against the speaker in an election, he said. (PTI) |
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Nation remembers Nehru on his 110th birth anniversary NEW DELHI, Nov 14: The nation today fondly remembered the country’s first Prime Minister, late Jawaharlal Nehru, on his 110th birth anniversary recalling his contributions as an architect of modern India. A number of functions were held across the country to mark the day, celebrated as Children’s Day, with leaders asking people to follow the path shown by Nehru and renewing their determination to banish the terror of child abuse. President K R Narayanan, Vice-President Krishan Kant, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and other dignataries paid floral tributes at Nehru’s Samadhi Shanti Van here. Narayanan and Sonia Gandhi later released tricolour balloons held by school children who rendered patriotic songs. At a function in central hall of Parliament, Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister L K Advani and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptualla joined MPs and ex-MPs in paying floral tributes at the portrait of the late leader. A booklet containing the profile of Nehru, brought out both in English and Hindi by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, was presented to all those who attended the function. Participating in Children’s Day celebrations in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister M Chandrababu Naidu said his Government was contemplating bringing legislation to punish those employing children in work places. Terming Nehru as a world leader for all time to come, Sikkim Governor Chaudhury Randhir Singh said at a function in Gangtok that his contributions to the country’s freedom struggle would be remembered for long. (PTI) |
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CEC concerned over judicial activism during elections NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill today expressed concern over the increased judicial intervention in the poll process during the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and said it was not a healthy trend for democracy. Stating that the Election Commission was "stretched to the extreme," Dr Gill told UNI that "in this election, the Commission, with its limited resources, had to deal with numerous challenges in different High Courts. At one stage, we had to rush to the Supreme Court for relief, which we obtained." In a wide-ranging interview, the CEC also touched upon various subjects including the implementation of the model code of conduct, the summary revision of electoral rolls, electoral reforms, upcoming Assembly elections in three states and the violence by ultra-left groups during the polls. Commenting on the summoning of Election Commission officials by various High Courts during the recent elections, Dr Gill said it was in contravention of Art. 329-B of the Constitution, which bars interference by courts in electoral matters. Quoting noted jurist V R Krishna Iyer, Dr Gill said Art. 329-B had put up a "barrier equal to the great wall of China to ensure that at election time this high constitutional authority (the EC) is allowed to complete the job." "If allowed, intervention and stay orders could have finished our democracy in the 1950s itself," Dr Gill added. This trend of courts hearing poll-related matters during the election process should worry the other wings of the constitutional structure also, he said. Otherwise, Dr Gill expressed satisfaction at the conduct of the recent elections and the adherence of the political parties to the model code of conduct. He, however, said he was not in favour of the code being made into law. Stating that the country should not make the "mistake" of converting the code into a law, the CEC said the code was a long-standing agreement between political parties and the Commission and its primary purpose was to provide a level playing field to all contestants. It would not be possible to include such a broad mandate into a single law, he added. "The best democracy works in flexible understanding. Dialogue is democracy and we keep this process of dialogue alive through holding frequent all-party meetings," he added. Describing the heated rhetoric during elections as part of the democratic process, Dr Gill said the Commission was prepared to take a certain amount of critical comment. However, the political parties should not lose restraint and indulge in baseless attacks on the Commission, he added. On the question of electoral reforms, Dr Gill said he had discussed these in a recent meeting with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Commission may forward a note to the Government in this regard. Dr Gill, however, reserved comment on the Government’s proposal, as mentioned in the Presidental address to the joint sitting of Parliament, on a fixed five-year tenure for the legislature, saying that nothing could be said on the subject till the contours of the proposal took shape. He said for the present, the Commission was involved in the summary revision of electoral rolls with January one, 2000 as the qualifying date. The exercise had been put off in Orissa following the widespread devastation caused by the super cyclone. On whether it would be possible to hold Assembly elections in the state, the CEC said the term of the house was ending only in March 2000 and the Commission was hopeful of being able to conduct the polls there. It was likely that the Assembly polls would be held simultaneously in Orissa, Bihar and Manipur alongwith parliamentary byelections, wherever necessary. Asked if the Commission was contemplating any special measures to ensure peaceful polling in Bihar, which had seen the maximum violence during the recent general elections, Dr Gill said it should be understood that the violence in the state was not poll-related but a result of ideological and socio-political conflicts. The violence by the ultra-left groups was a message that the political spectrum needed to address itself to. The Commission could not do anything about it, he said. (UNI) |
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IAF continues mercy mission as toll mounts to 9,504 BHUBANESWAR, Nov 14: Indian Air Force choppers that flew succour for coastal Orissa’s marooned millions for days in the aftermath of the century’s worst cyclone, continued their mercy mission, though on a limited scale, as the death toll galloped to 9,504 today. The toll rose after 28 bodies were found in Jajpur district, mainly hit by high floods after the cyclone, 11 in Cuttack and two in Balasore, official sources said. Jagatsinghpur district, which was worst-hit by huge ten metre tidal waves, accounted for the highest number of deaths at 8,119. The sea surged nearly 30 km into the mainland sweeping away people, cattle and houses, particularly in Ersama and Kujang blocks. Of the other affected districts, Cuttack accounted for 392 deaths followed by Puri (287), Kendrapara (242), Jajpur (153), Bhadrak (92), Khurda (84), Dhenkanal (50), Balasore (48), Keonjhar (27), Mayurbhanj (seven) and Nayagarh (three). The air-dropping was being done in a limited scale in the marooned areas of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Bhadrak districts. Roads to most other areas, which was under water following the cyclone, had since opened. The administration, after getting a cholera scare yesterday after 32 out of 60 faecal samples tested positive for the highly communicable disease, had tightened health measures in the affected districts. Besides, mobilising over 800 State Government doctors, 311 doctors and 515 para-medics from outside States had been pressed into service in the area, the sources said. The cyclone and floods had affected 101 of the State’s 314 blocks and 25 urban local bodies in one of the severest natural calamities witnessed in the State this century. Though the situation in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, the two major cities, was near normal despite the damages inflicted by the cyclone, it would take a long time for the rural populace to come to terms with the devastation, officials feel. The Government was now laying much stress on launching rabi campaign with emphasis on paddy and vegetables. Hordes of Non-Governmental Organisations, both national and international, were rushing to the affected areas with aid while a number of State-level NGOs had formed an umbrella organisation, Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission (ODMM) to conduct their relief and rehabilitation programmes. According to official sources, 542 tonnes of rice and dry food and six barrels of kerosene oil were air-dropped in 212 sorties till yesterday. Besides, over 28,690 tonnes of rice and 862 truck loads of flattened rice, dry food, biscuits, milk powder, water, candles, matchbox and medicines had been sent to the devastated area by road for distribution among the victims. Out of the 84,645 tubewells in the affected region, 42,880 had been disinfected till now, the sources said, adding that of the 172 piped water supply schemes existing in those districts, 121 systems were affected of which 44 had been restored for use. (PTI) |
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BJP not for sacking of Gamang Govt CHENNAI, Nov 14: BJP today favoured a national consensus on declaring the recent cyclone tragedy in Orissa as a ‘national calamity’ and ruled out dismissal of the Giridhar Gamang Government by the Centre for its ‘unsatisfactory’ implementation of relief and rehabilitation measures. BJP general secretary Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here that there should be a broad consensus at the national level on the issue of declaring the tragedy a national calamity. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee should discuss this matter at the National Development Council (NDC) meeting and evolve a scheme to be approved by the Finance and Planning Commissions, he said adding Vajpayee had already said he would treat this as a national calamity of rare severity. On the relief measures, he said ‘unfortunately, the relief and rehabilitation works undertaken by the Gamang Government are not satisfactory. But, we do not wish to make this into a controversy,’ he added. ‘Politics should not come in the way of providing succour to the people. This is not time for it. There is no question of dismissing the Government in Orissa, though the relief works are tardy’. A task force had already been set up to oversee relief works. But it was the duty of the elected Government in Orissa to carry out relief and rehabilitation measures to the satisfaction of people, he said. Naidu said Vajpayee had already sanctioned a Rs.200 crore grant, the biggest to any state government in distress. In addition to this, Rs.450 crore had also been promised as plan advance. He said Orissa Government should make a comprehensive report about the losses, including human lives, in the cyclone. In an obvious reference to Gamang’s demand for Rs.10,000 crore as central aid, Naidu said the present national calamity relief fund had a corpus of Rs.700 crore, but already Rs.1,120 crore had been spent out of it, with one more year to go. Naidu said even the latur earthquake in Maharashtra, the 1971 Orissa cyclone and the 1977 Andhra Pradesh cyclone were not declared as national calamities. The BJP leader said no ‘political colour or overtone’ should be given to the Orissa tragedy now. The ‘need of the hour’ was to gear up the official machinery so that effective relief and rehabilitation measures were taken. ‘None should try to politicise this’, he said. (PTI) |
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NEW DELHI, Nov 14: A recent outbreak of Bluetongue (BT), one of the most feared viral diseases of sheep, has claimed more than 10,000 sheep in the last three months in South India, report scientists from the Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) in Hisar. Bluetongue virus, transmitted by an insect, is endemic to India and has been causing heavy losses annually. However, this year’s damage has been the worst. The disease caused losses over Rs 30 crore in Karnataka alone in 1998-99 and Andhra Pradesh in 1997-98, while Karnataka suffered losses worth Rs 1.39 crore during 1998-99, Dr Gaya Prasad, head of the Bluetongue virus laboratory in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology at Hau in Hisar, told. These losses were due to deaths of the Bluetongue-affected goats, sheep and buffaloes. Losses due to poor weight gain, reproductive losses and treatment costs are not known. Animals severely affected by BT have high fever, swelling of tongue and lips, salivation and frothing and hemorrhage in the mouth. The virus is present predominantly in sheep, while other domestic cattle, goats and buffaloes act as its reservoir. The virus is transmitted by the insect culicoides which breeds in hot and humid climates, particularly near the edge of water channels and ditches. (PTI) ‘ |
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