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Basu warns against ‘hurried’ CALCUTTA, Nov 25: West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu today warned the national policy makers against....more
‘Goa developments HYDERABAD, Nov 25: Political developments in Goa had punctured the Congress party’s....more Indefinite strike by MUMBAI, Nov 25: The indefinite agitation launched....more PM should take NEW DELHI, Nov 25: Former CBI Director Joginder Singh has....more |
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Kargil:
Inside Story – II Is politics more interesting than Army work ? From B L Kak
National cultural NEW DELHI, Nov 25: Culture and Youth Affairs Minister Ananth...more
Home Ministry opinion on NEW DELHI, Nov 25: Union Home Ministry will give its opinion....more PM says moratorium on LUCKNOW, Nov 25: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today......more |
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Basu warns against ‘hurried’ approach to globalisation CALCUTTA, Nov 25: West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu today warned the national policy makers against "Asian melt-down" syndrome and said a hurried and unthinking approach towards globalisation would be detrimental to the best interest of the country. Addressing the 145th annual general meeting of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry here, Mr Basu said the "Asian melt-down" syndrome had severely affected the economies of Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea and the IMF ‘bail out packages’ for economic revival had proved inadequate and somehow misplaced. Even IMF Managing Director Michael Camdessus had admitted these mistakes, warned the world of a possible recession and had asked for introspection on the fund’s role in the new ‘world-order’ driven by unpredictable capital flows, the octogenarian Communist leader said. "It is, therefore, essential for all of us to rethink our strategy in regard to how fast we need to integrate with the emerging world-order and we must understand that a hurried and unthinking approach will be detrimental to the best interest of our country," he observed. The Chief Minister said the country’s long-term objective should be to attain efficient ‘self-reliance’ even as the nation gradually intensifies its economic interaction with the world economy. "We should, however, be cautious enough to protect our national economic interest and should be forceful in airing our views in the world forum such as WTO on such issues that may adversely affect the inherent advantages of our country," he pointed out. Mr Basu said the national economy, which "had been reeling under an unprecedented phase of slowdown and had further strained by the unusually long process of elections, "had not been showing signs of sustainable recovery despite the Centre’s proclamations to usher in the "so called second generation reforms." "The basic lacuna of the national policy is to be seen in the lack of political will to implement policies for the uplift of the needy sections, who comprise 80 per cent of the population. The policies of successive Central Governments have, in the ultimate analysis, only helped the rich and upper middle class," he said. The Chief Minister called for reorientation of the country’s economic policies and stressed the need for effective steps to unearth black money, implement anti-poverty programmes and self-employment schemes and strengthen public distribution system. "A poor country like India cannot absorb onslaughts on our economy and necessary actions in these directions will help our economy immensely," he said. Mr Basu demanded decentralisation of financial powers and said stronger states would create a strong federal country. Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacahrjee, widely tipped as the new Deputy Chief Minister of the state, said the state Government was going to announce a comprehensive Information Technology policy soon. Mr Bhattacharjee announced that the mega Haldia Petrochemicals project, the largest greenfield project in Eastern region, would start commercial production from January next.The PTA project in the joint sector with Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan was expected to start commercial production in March next, he added. Earlier, in his welcome speech, Chamber president Bhaskar Banerjee unveiled a blue print for a "new look West Bengal" with a 12-point agenda suggesting a symbiotic relationship with the Centre, development of infrastructure and improvement of work culture.(UNI) |
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‘Goa developments punctures Cong’s stability claim’ HYDERABAD, Nov 25: Political developments in Goa had punctured the Congress party’s claim that only it can provide a stable Government, BJP general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu said here today. "In Goa, Congress became a victim of its own gameplan and it is ridiculous to blame any party or individual for the crisis", Naidu told reporters. Brushing aside the charges of BJP being behind the toppling of an elected Congress Government, Naidu said, "we cannot be responsible for the infighting in Congress". When asked what was the role of BJP in the goan crisis, Naidu said, "we have no role to play. Since the elections were held recently, we played a positive role as a responsible political party to avoid another election." Refusing to elaborate further on the subject, Naidu said "it is time for consensus. Issues should be discussed debated and a consensus should be evolved on all matters, political, economic or social", he added. Referring to the situation in Uttar Pradesh, Naidu said, "since BJP is heading a coalition Government and the majority is precariously placed, there are bound to be some problems but we are sorting them out". Expressing hope that the situation would soon improve in Uttar Pradesh, where BJP shifted Kalyan Singh from Chief Ministership following dissent from the cadre, Naidu assured that "very soon minor problems within the state unit would be sorted out". (PTI) |
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Indefinite strike by Doctors enter 4th day MUMBAI, Nov 25: The indefinite agitation launched by the resident doctors throughout Maharashtra entered the fourth day today with no signs of an amicable solution in sight as the state administration refused to concede the demands of the doctors. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh appealed to the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), the representative body of the resident doctors, to accept a package deal arrived at through negotiations, saying central parity in wages was not possible at this juncture. He said the state was facing severe financial constraints. Similar statements were echoed by state Health Minister Digvijay Khanvilkar. Meanwhile, MARD spokesperson Rajas Deshpande said members of MARD supported by other Doctors Association will stage a protest rally at the Azad Maidan in South Mumbai to press for their demands and draw attention to the Government’s apathy towards it. He described the strike as 100 per cent successful. "Only emergency cases are being managed," he said. However, the Government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) maintained that medical services were not affected. The doctors have given the strike call under the umbrella of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) after talks between the agitating doctors and state Health Minister Digvijay Khanvilkar failed. The doctors have made it clear that they will not withdraw their agitation till their demands were met despite the state administration willingness to hold detailed discussions after the doctors withdraw the agitation. More than 5,000 resident doctors in the state including 1,900 from Mumbai proceeded on an indefinite agitation from Sunday midnight to press for their demands. Thin attendance of resident doctors was witnessed in the hospitals though Mr Khanvilkar assured that adequate arrangements have been made to tackle emergency situation. Out-patient departments have been set up to work round-the-clock and specialist doctors have been appointed by the Government. (UNI) |
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PM should take
Quattrocchi’s extradition NEW DELHI, Nov 25: Former CBI Director Joginder Singh has said that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee should take up with his Malaysian counterpart the issue of extradition of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors kickback case. Quattrocchi’s extradition was necessary to proceed further in the case, he told PTI yesterday after attending a railway protection force function here. Asked whether the Government was going soft on Hinduja brothers in the case, Singh said it may take some time but justice will prevail. So far I don’t think Government has collected any papers where Hindujas can be linked with the Bofors case, he said. Hindujas have categorically denied their involvement in the case. Singh, who headed the country’s main investigating agency during the short stint United Front regime, congratulated CBI for successfully proceeding in the case so far. At least nobody can say now that there was no money laundering on Bofors case, the former CBI chief claimed. (PTI) |
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Home Ministry opinion on clemency petitions soon NEW DELHI, Nov 25: Union Home Ministry will give its opinion shortly to President K R Narayanan on clemency petitions for the four convicts sentenced to death in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, official sources said here today. Narayanan had sought the ministry’s advice on the mercy petitions of Nalini, her husband Murugan, and Santhan and Arivu, as also on the request of Congress president Sonia Gandhi that the sentence of Nalini be commuted to life imprisonment as she was the mother of an eight-year-old girl. The sources said the President has indicated to the Government that he would abide by its advice on the mercy petitions. Gandhi had met Narayanan last week and conveyed that she and her two children, Rahul and Priyanka, did not like the girl child to be orphaned in case Nalini was hanged. Gandhi family did not want any child to be orphaned due to an act of the state. Meanwhile, senior advocate B L Wadhera has urged the President to grant clemency to the four convicts. I am seeking pardon for Nalini and three other accused in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case purely on constitutional ground, said Wadhera, who has already filed a mercy petition with the President. Pointing out many similarities between the Rajiv Gandhi case and the Harcharan Singh Longowal murder case, he said that convicts were spared from capital punishment in the latter case. Wadhera claimed that in both the cases killers had nothing personal either against longowal or Rajiv Gandhi, nor the murders were diabolical and gruesome. He said recently he had sent in a reminder to the President reiterating his plea to forgive the four convicts. (PTI) |
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PM says moratorium on
contentious issues not LUCKNOW, Nov 25: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today said he did not agree that dropping of the three contentious issues — construction of temple at Ayodhya, Article 370 and Common Civil Code — from the national agenda were responsible for BJP’s reverses in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. I do not think that dropping of these three contentious issues from the National Democratic Alliance agenda were responsible for BJP’s poll debacle in Uttar Pradesh, Vajpayee told reporters here at the Raj Bhavan. His observation came in response to a newsman’s query that former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh had attributed party’s debacle in the State to BJP’s moratorium on these issues. These three issues were not part of our agenda during the 1998 general elections, but the BJP had then won 57 seats in Uttar Pradesh, he said. We have to look into all the reasons in detail which had caused poll reverses, Vajpayee said, adding party’s performance in his own constituency (Lucknow) would also be considered during such assessment. On Kalyan Singh’s removal from the Chief Minister’s post, the Prime Minister said Singh had owned moral responsibility for party’s poll debacle in Uttar Pradesh and change of guard in the State was a collective decision of the central party leadership. It was absolutely wrong to say that I was instrumental in this change, Vajpayee said, adding no one has been punished for the debacle. Everyone, including myself, is responsible for the party’s reverses in Uttar Pradesh and it is wrong to blame any one individual for this, he said. We always want that Kalyan Singh’s vast experience and his capabilities should be utilised and the party would decide on this count soon, he added. When newsmen sought to know why Singh had been punished and UP BJP chief Rajnath Singh inducted in the Union Cabinet, the Prime Minister shot back and said in fact I had first requested Kalyan Singh to join the Union Cabinet while Rajnath Singh’s name figured later. Nothing should be read between the lines on the presence and absence of the former Chief Minister in the town today. He is in New Delhi for some urgent work, Vajpayee said. (PTI) |
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