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| Ajit Singh for national debate on reservations NEW DELHI, Oct 23: Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Ajit....more
Jaya ropes in Moopnar to CHENNAI, Oct 23: All India Anna DMK general.....more Probe underlines Bose CALCUTTA, Oct 23: The high-powered Netaji..more
President launches fifth NEW DELHI, Oct 23: President K R Narayanan and first lady......more |
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Multi-crore fodder scam case PATNA, Oct 23: Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi may face charges in the Rs 50.56 lakh Disproportionate Assets case, an offshoot of the multi-crore fodder scam involving RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav....more 2 CRPF personnel IMPHAL, Oct 23: Activists of a banned insurgent group today ambushed a convoy of CRPF personnel heading for poll duty, killing two security men and .....more Army not consulted NEW DELHI, Oct 23: Armed forces were not consulted by...more Rajiv tried to scuttle NEW DELHI, Oct 23: Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had tried....more |
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Ajit Singh for national debate on reservations NEW DELHI, Oct 23: Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Ajit Singh today called for a national debate on the issue of reservation even as he demanded classification within the 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) to ensure that the most backward among them and minorities get its benefits. My father late Charan Singh had suggested long back that people coming from the rural areas should get 50 per cent reservation. Economic and regional backwardness too are important factors that need to be debated about at the national level, Singh told reporters here. Referring to the recent cabinet decision to include large number of communities in the obc list, he said BJP-led Government had done it out of compulsion. The reservation in jobs should be extended to jats not only in Rajasthan but also across the country, the jat leader and MP from Baghpat said. Singh also demanded that the Government should adopt the ‘Larpoori Thakur formula’ of segmenting schedule-wise the castes included in the OBC list to ensure that the most backward among them and the minorities were benefitted. Only then can we ensure social justice, he said. The RLD leader, however, said he was not in favour of further extending the reservation percentage. The Supreme Court has already said that reservations should not exceed 50 per cent, he said. (PTI) |
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Jaya ropes in Moopnar to anti-DMK-BJP alliance CHENNAI, Oct 23: All India Anna DMK general secretary J Jayalalitha today met Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) president G K Moopanar after a ten year break in a move seen as an attempt to consolidate the anti-DMK-BJP forces in Tamil Nadu. Ms Jayalalitha called on Mr Moopanar at his residence where he is convalescing after an angioplasty to enquire about his health. She described the meeting as a courtesy call as she heard that Mr Moopanar was not keeping good health. Asked about the political significance of the meeting Ms Jayalalitha told waiting reporters after her 40 minute meeting that it was for the media to infer. To a question whether they (Ms Jayalalitha and Mr Moopanar) were now friends, she said "we were never enemies". There had been a communication gap which had now been rectified, she added. In 1989 Mr Moopanar had called on Ns Jayalalitha at a private hospital where she was admitted after she was attacked in the State Assembly. While Ms Jayalalitha had aligned with the Congress and the Left Parties to fight the recent Lok Sabha elections in the state, Mr Moopanar floated a Third Front which opposed both "communalism and corruption." While the TMC drew a blank, the AIADMK-led combine secured 14 seats as against 30 it won in the 1998 poll. Ms Jayalalitha wanted the TMC to be in the front led by the AIADMK. Later in a post-election briefing she had indicated that had the TMC also been in the front, they would have won more seats. Ms Jayalalitha smiled when asked whether today’s meeting was a prelude to changing political equations in the state. The meeting is significant as the Assembly elections are due in March 2001. Ms Jayalalitha had been claiming that the Assembly elections would be advanced by the DMK Government. It is also significant in the context of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s remark that the TMC was welcome if it desired to return to the DMK-led front. The TMC was an ally of the DMK during the 1996 and 1998 elections in Tamil Nadu. (UNI) |
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Probe underlines Bose did not die in air crash CALCUTTA, Oct 23: The high-powered Netaji probe steering committee, formed recently to assist the third inquiry commission to investigate the mysterious "disappearance" of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, has reiterated that bose did not die in the 1945 air crash. Addressing mediapersons here yesterday after a two-day meeting of the eleven-member committee, its secretary general and Forward Bloc MP Debabrata Biswas, Netaji Research Foundation Chairman V P Saini and Dr Purabi Roy, leading research scholar on Netaji’s mysterious disappearance, also blamed successive Union Governments for not taking enough interest in unravelling the nearly five-decade-old mystery. Refuting the reports of two Government Commissions - the Shah Nawaz Khan Commission of 1956 and the Khosla Commission of 1970 -that Netaji indeed died in an August 1945 crash in South Asia, they said the steering committee had ample evidence from Indian and several foreign archives to prove that the great leader was alive even during 1946, if not afterwards. "We are ready with enough archival documents collected from different parts of the world, including Russia and the United Kingdom besides in India, to prove that Netaji did not die in a plane crash as widely believed in different circles," Dr Roy, who has done extensive research work on the subject for the past few years, claimed. He said they would soon hand over all available documents to the new commission. The one-man third inquiry commission was formed by the Centre on May 14 under the chairmanship of Justice M K Mukherjee, a retired Supreme Court judge. (UNI) |
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President launches fifth pulse polio programme NEW DELHI, Oct 23: President K R Narayanan and first lady Usha Narayanan today administered oral polio drops to five children to formally launch the fifth annual Pulse Polio Immunisation (PPI) programme. Minister of State for Health and Family Melfare N T Shanmugam, Delhi’s Health Minister A K Walia, and representatives of Japan, Germany, United Kingdom as well as international donor agencies, including the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund and the Rotary International were present on the occasion. The first national immunisation round will be held tomorrow, when over 13 crore children under five years are expected to be immunised across the country. The Rs 500-crore intensified anti-polio drive this year will witness additional immunisation rounds between October and March. Unlike the past when there were two rounds of Pulse Polio Immunisation (PPI), one in December and another in January, there would be four PPI rounds — on October 24, November 21, December 19 and January 23 next year, Shanmugam said. In eight states found to be endemic for polio — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, and Assam — two additional rounds would be held on February 27 and March 26 next year. (PTI) |
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Army not consulted by Govt before N-tests: Former Gen NEW DELHI, Oct 23: Armed forces were not consulted by Government before the nuclear tests in Pokhran in May last year, a retired general said today. This momentous decision was taken solely on the advice of clever scientists and bureaucrats who lacked constitutional responsibility or accountability. The military chiefs had not been consulted about a matter, which had far reaching security consequences, Lt Gen (retd) Eric A Vas said while delivering the Field Marshal Cariappa Memorial lecture here. Gen Vas maintained that Pokhran-II underground nuclear tests were followed by a period of confusion with several ministers making irresponsible and contradictory statements. In April 1998, in order to fulfil its election manifesto and also to offset criticism or irresponsible ad hocism, the Government appointed a Special Task Force (STF) under the chairmanship of K C Pant to make recommendations on a proposed National Security Council, he said. Gen Vas said there was an urgent need to reform and integrate the Defence Ministry and three service headquarters, implying that such occurrences did not recur. Stating that the STF recommendations should be examined by the Government, he sought a high-level review of all aspects of intelligence and involvement of ruling and opposition parties in the selection of top officials of security and intelligence agencies. The General, who was earlier General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command, said after the operations in Sri Lanka (Op Pavan) and in Maldives (Op Cactus), many MPs belonging to different political parties were unhappy with the politico-military decision making system. They openly spoke of the need for some institutionalised form of Security Advisory Board, with BJP mentioning in its poll manifesto such issues like setting up of a National Security Council and reviewing of India’s nuclear strategy. When BJP-led Government came to power last year, Defence Minister George Fernandes was quick to sense the resentment underlying the relationship between civil servants of his ministry and the military. However, no one spoke of the equally urgent need to modernise the antiquated defence system at the service headquarters/Defence Ministry level, Gen vas said, adding the Arun Singh report on reforming the defence system continued to gather dust in the cupboards of South block. Referring to Rajiv Gandhi’s premiership, he said after the Sri Lanka and Maldives operations, a strategic shift occurred in the traditional role of the armed forces who were now being ordered to defend India’s interests beyond our geographical borders. This radical change of role was decided without even a debate in Parliament. It was done on the whims of an immature PM based on the perceptions and advice of bureaucrats who lacked responsibility or accountability, he said. (PTI) |
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Rajiv tried to scuttle Swedish Govt probe: CBI NEW DELHI, Oct 23: Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had tried to scuttle a Swedish Government probe into the alleged kickbacks in the Rs 1,436 crore gun deal with AB Bofors in 1986, according to the chargesheet filed by the CBI in a special court here yesterday. The probe was, however, subsequently held by the Swedish National Audit Bureau (SNAB) which confirmed that payments to the tune of sek 170-250 million were made by M/S Bofors to, among others, its previous agent in India, the chargesheet said. "The late Shri Rajiv Gandhi, the PM, had (some time after April 24, 1987) a telephonic conversation with the Swedish Prime Minister Carlsson. He told Carlsson that he had received the report of Bofors which mentioned that there were no middlemen and, therefore, there was no need for any further investigation by the Swedish Government. "It may be mentioned that what late Shri Rajiv Gandhi told the Swedish Prime Minister Carlsson was just the contrary to what the Government of India had requested through official channels. "All this took place despite the specific advice of the Indian Ambassador in Sweden. In fact, Ambassador B M Oza was kept in the dark with regard to this development," the chargesheet said. Following the telephonic conversation of Mr Gandhi, the Swedish Government, which had accepted a request for an inquiry, made a public announcement that it would not conduct any investigation. According to the chargesheet, Ambassador Oza, however, persisted with the original stand "till the Swedish Prime Minister Carlsson told him about the developments." The late Shri Rajiv Gandhi, however, "had to relent later on" and he sent a message to the Swedish PM on April 28, 1987 to the effect that "though facts furnished by Bofors tend to confirm the position that there were no middlemen, clarifications are necessary to set the controversy at rest." The message added "in this context, the enquiry promised by the Swedish Government is of great importance." The Swedish Government thereafter ordered an inquiry by the Swedish National Audit Bureau (SNAB). The SNAB submitted its report to the Swedish Government on June one, 1987, which observed: — That an agreement exists between AB Bofors and.....(omitted) concerning the settlement of commission susequently to the FH-77 (gun) deal and — That considerable amounts have been paid subsequently to, among others, AB Bofors previous agent in India.’’ The report confirmed that payments to the tune of sek 170-250 million were made by M/S Bofors as "winding up costs." "The SNAP thus confirmed that payments had indeed been made by M/S Bofors in connection with the contract with the Government of India inter alia to its previous agent in India but the names of the recipients were withheld from the Government of India," the chargesheet said. (UNI) |
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