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| Kargil
documents probe triggers controversy Scribes refuse to heed Army court summons From B L Kak
Entact freedom of NEW DELHI, Oct 12: In a bid to bring accountability in the......more
Rajasthan gears JAIPUR, Oct 12: Rajasthan Government has....more
‘India will take steps NEW DELHI, Oct 12: India would take requisite steps...more |
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BJP has accepted MUMBAI, Oct 12: The Maharashtra BJP has accepted outgoing Chief Minister Narayan Rane as joint leader of Shiv Sena-BJP Legislature Party, Shiv Sena leader Raj Thackeray said here today....more
Jyoti Basu retiring CALCUTTA, Oct 12: West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu today reaffirmed his willingness to retire both from office and politics but said the final decision would be taken by his party......more
VHP to organise rallies BANGALORE, Oct 12: A day after demanding an apology from Pope John...more MLAs of smaller parties MUMBAI, Oct 12: A group of 11 legislators of smaller parties in the....more |
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Kargil
documents probe triggers controversy From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Oct 12: A bitter controversy has been kicked up, leading to the cold war between a section of Indian journalists and the Army Headquarters. The controversy or bitterness is, precisely, the outcome of the manner in which the Army court of inquiry summoned four journalists to appear before it at Leh, the capital of the trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh. These journalists have been identified as Praveen Swamy of Frontline and Nitin A Gokhale, Ajit Pillai and Vinod Mehta of Outlook. The Army court of inquiry, which was recently set up to probe the leaking of "confidential" documents relating to the Kargil conflict, summoned these four scribes to appear before it at Leh later this month. Brigadier AK Duggal, who is the Deputy General Officer Commanding 3 Infantry Division, is the presiding officer for the court. Brigadier Duggal wanted the four journalists as witnesses before the court. The court, which has started probing the circumstances under which contents of "confidential" documents had been made available to unauthorised persons by the Army personnel in contravention of the Official Secrets Act, has also summoned RS Randhawa, Brigadier Surinder Singh’s lawyer, to appear before it. Brigadier Duggal must have been taken aback when editor of Frontline, N Ram, and editor of Outlook, Vinod Mehta, proved themselves to be hard nuts to crack. If Vinod Mehta informed the court of inquiry that he and two other journalists would not appear before it, N Ram was devastatingly blunt as he let it be known that the so-called summons which was issued to Frontline correspondent "is utterly without any legal basis and utterly without any jurisdiction". Has the military court of inquiry any jurisdiction to command civilians in India ? This question has triggered animated discussions not only among the media circles but also in some political circles. And N Ram’s reported argument: "Fortunately, we are not like Pakistan, where the Army Act enabled the military authorities to abduct Najam Sethi and subject him to atrocious treatment. So there is no question of our allowing our journalists to be subject to such illegal, intimidatory action by any purported military authority". It is not unknown to official, political and military quarters in Delhi and elsewhere that Frontline and Outlook had carried exposes on the letters reportedly written by Brigadier Surinder Singh to the Army Headquarters vis-à-vis his apprehensions about a major Pakistani intrusion in the Kargil region. Indian Army Chief, Gen VP Malik, is unhappy over the manner in which portions of certain "confidential" documents and communications had been leaked to a section of the media. Director-General of Military Intelligence, Lt. Gen. RK Swahney, and Director-General of Military Operations, Lt. Gen. NC Vij, too, are dissatisfied over this phenomenon. The existence of the troika – the Army Chief, the DG of Military Intelligence and the DG of Military Operations – has become too evident to be ignored. No wonder, then, Gen Malik has confined the strategic inquiry into the Kargil episode broadly to him and the two "trusted" men, Lt. Gen Swahney and Lt. Gen. Vij. Much against the wishes of the Chief of the Army Staff, a Delhi-based defence commentator has put this in black and white: The Army’s arbitrary in-house strategic and operational inquisition into the Kargil conflict has been entrusted to a handful of senior officers, closely involved in the campaign, with a view to mitigating the obvious failures of senior commanders, who initially portrayed the Pakistani intrusion as a ‘localised’ affair |
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Entact freedom of information act at earliest: CVC NEW DELHI, Oct 12: In a bid to bring accountability in the Government, the freedom of information act should be enacted at the earliest, Chief Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal has said. The criminals violating the law should be punished expeditiously and a managerial approach to administration of law should be brought about, Mr Vittal said addressing a panel discussion on ‘towards good governance : Need for reforms’, organised by the PHDCCI here last evening. For good governence, Mr Vittal said, there was need for maintenance of law and order, wherein criminals are punished, basic education and health provided for every individual. The Government should regulate and not control the economy. Citing reasons for corruption persisting in the country, he said scarcity of goods and services, red tapism, lack of transparency, legal safety of cushions created and tribalism of corruption were responsible. Mr Vittal stressed that the Indian business community should collectively have the backbone for introducing anti bribery convention as the first step to root out corruption. (UNI) |
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Rajasthan gears up to wrestle drought, famine JAIPUR, Oct 12: Rajasthan Government has decided to gear up its machinery to combat the worst drought and famine in the state in recent years, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said. Biggest problem before the state would be supply of drinking water and fodder in its 23 districts which received less than average rainfall during the current monsoon, Gehlot told reporters here yesterday. He said his Government was facing severe financial crunch and would be sending a memorandum to the Centre seeking maximum assistance to face the natural calamity. The memorandum would list details about damage to crops, drinking water shortage and drought-related statistics. Priority would be given to provision of water, fodder and employment to the affected people, Gehlot said. All district collectors are being asked to open fodder and water depots in their districts by October 15, he said. He added that the Government would also take help from voluntary agencies to distribute fodder in the affected areas. (PTI) |
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‘India will take steps to access global defence market’ NEW DELHI, Oct 12: India would take requisite steps to access global defence market through international collaboration and joint ventures, Defence Minister George Fernandes said today. Though at present defence exports from India were modest, international collaboration and joint ventures which serve our national priorities and mutual interests of collaborating organisations would be welcomed, Fernandes said inaugurating the first-ever defence exposition - Defexpo India-99 - here. Both developed and developing nations could source cost-effective goods and services from our defence production industry. Our universal selling point is the high degree of skill and relative lower costs of our technical manpower. The presence of a significant number of foreign companies was testimony to the opportunities that India offered for joint ventures, technology transfers and co-production facilities for export to third countries, the minister said. About 80 Indian companies from private and public sectors have displayed their wares at the five-day Defexpo in which delegations from 30 countries, including Russia, Britain, Israel, France and South Africa, besides 117 foreign companies are participating. Fernandes said while ordnance factories were playing a vital role in equipping the armed forces with weapons, ammunition, armoured and transport vehicles, clothing and general stores, defence public sector units were producing a large product range from radars and communication systems to warships and special vehicles. Recognising the inevitability of technological interdependence worldwide, the minister said India had forged mutually beneficial arrangements in a wide range of products and services with several friendly countries. Tracing the history of India’s defence production, he said the first ordnance factory was established way back in 1801 at cossipore near Calcutta. We now have 39 ordnance factories, eight defence public sector units and a number of units in the private sector. Fernandes said the fact that Defexpo was being organised by his ministry in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) was a promising indicator of increasing interaction between Government and industry. Among those present were cabinet secretary Prabhat Kumar, foreign secretary K Raghunath, Army Chief Gen V P Malik, Air Chief Marshal A Y Tipnis and Scientific Advisor to Defence Ministry A P J Abdul Kalam. In his welcome address, Prabir Sengupta, Defence Production and Supplies Secretary, referred to the wide range of products being manufactured by Indian production units and the important role being played by the private sector. Rajesh Shah, former president of CII, also highlighted the increasing cooperation between private and public sector. While Defence Ministers of South Africa and the Philippines would lead respective national delegations, other delegations would be led by Defence Secretaries or Chiefs of Staff. Among key foreign companies participating are British Aerospace, Thomson-CSF, Marconi, Rolls Royce and GKN Westland. (PTI) |
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VHP to organise rallies during Pope’s visit BANGALORE, Oct 12: A day after demanding an apology from Pope John Paul for alleged acts of omission and commission by Catholic clergy in India, VHP today announced that it would organise rallies of "victims" when the Pontiff visited India later this year. VHP’s international working president Ashok Singhal told reporters here that the pope would be apprised of the "disinformation conducted by his followers in India against Hindus" by organising rallies of "victims" before him. He, however, said VHP welcomed the Pontiff’s visit as it would help remove "many apprehensions" about the activitites of the church, including mass conversions. In keeping with Hindu traditions, VHP welcomed the Pope as a guest and his visit was an opportunity for him to create a harmonious condition for peaceful co-existence of all people, Singhal said. Referring to alleged mass conversion by the church, Singhal said the methods employed for the purpose reminded him of "political and subversive activity" rather than any spiritual pursuit or service project. These, he alleged, were responsible for communal tension in many places in India. Singhal said he did not propose to meet the Pope. On the Ram Temple issue, he said 20 per cent of the construction-related activity, including carving of pillars, was underway, and added that after another 15 per cent of the work was done in two years, the consecration ceremony could be performed. The Ram Temple issue would have been solved but for the political parties, whether for or against the movement, who had sought votes on the issue. (PTI) |
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MLAs of smaller parties to form separate bloc MUMBAI, Oct 12: A group of 11 legislators of smaller parties in the newly-constituted Maharashtra Assembly has decided to form a separate bloc and would discuss their future strategy at a meeting here, Samajwadi Party (SP) general secretary Amar Singh said here today. Singh told reporters that filmstar-turned-politician Raj Babbar would be the observer for the meeting slated to be held here today. The group of 11 MLAs comprise five of the Peasants and Workers Party, and two each from SP, Janata Dal (Secular) and CPM, he said, adding his party would be happy if Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), an ally of SP, and Congress struck an alliance to form the next government in the state keeping the Shiv Sena-BJP out of power. Singh said Congress, being the largest party, should show magnanimity and offer the NCP Chief Ministership. Petty political differences and fight for posts should not lead to the formation of Sena-BJP government in the state, he said, adding that both Congress and NCP should not make the post of Chief Minister a prestige issue and their priority should be keeping Sena-BJP out of power. Asked about the possibility of NCP supporting the saffron alliance in government formation, the SP leader said in that event his Party would snap ties with the NCP. To a query, whether SP suffered setback in the state for aligning with the NCP, Singh said we will not blame any party and a post-mortem of the results will be done. (PTI) |
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