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greater Indo-US ties in enviro management MUMBAI, Sept 16: The US Ambassador in India...more
Naga CM appeals GUWAHATI, Sept 16: Nagaland Chief Minister S C Jamir....more
Jogi seeks to encash SHAHDOL (MP), Sept 16: Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi...more Cong support to THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Sept 16: Senior CWC member...more |
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Left-democratic BHAGALPUR, Sept 16: CPI-M politburo member, Sitaram Yechury, today said the alliance...more Patwa is facing HOSHANGABAD, Sept 16: BJP national vice-president Sunderlal Patwa is facing a stiff....more
Reddy to begin new MIRYALGUDA (AP), Sept 16: From being the epitome of...more Computerised vigil PUNE, Sept 16: A computer buff district collector, sitting in his office, is...more |
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Celeste for greater Indo-US ties in enviro management MUMBAI, Sept 16: The US Ambassador in India Richard Celeste today urged the American and Indian companies to enhance their partnerships in environmental management and help in the social welfare of people. Since pollution did not respect national boundaries, the two Governments were working on public policies to maintain a cleaner environment and reduce public health issues like non-availability of safe drinking water, Celeste said. The US Ambassador was speaking during the launch of United States Environment Resource Centre (US-ERC) at the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) here. He said the US was interested in supply of cleaner and state-of-the-art technologies to Indian industires and the US-ERC could serve as a catalyst to improve the partnership. He told the American companies, which were keen in selling their cleaner technologies to Indian companies, that the partnerships should help in the welfare of people. The US-ERC is an industrial environmental extension organisation with an active and aggrressive outreach programme to assist industries and society to handle environmental issues. IACC, with an active support of the United States-Asia Environmental Partnership (US-AEP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), had agreed to perform technical and management services for the US-ERC, according to IACC President Darius Schroff. (PTI) |
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Naga CM appeals to centre to check ceasefire process GUWAHATI, Sept 16: Nagaland Chief Minister S C Jamir today alleged that there was gross violation of the ceasefire agreement by the ultras and said the new Government which comes to the Centre after the polls should correct the flaws of the ground rules of the process. Terming the ceasefire monitoring group as a toothless body, the Chief Minister at a pres conference here appealed to any Government coming to power to take a serious note of the flaws inherent in the ground rules itself. While the ground rules provide that the violence would be stopped from both sides this was not so in reality as the common Naga people were the worst sufferers, he said. Calling for greater unity among all sections of the Naga community, Jamir voiced concern at the withdrawal of security forces from the state in the wake of the Kargil operations. Killing, kidnapping and extortion is going on during the past couple of years despite the 16-point ground rule agreement that this would be stopped, Jamir said. The ultras were engaging in these unlawful activities while they were not supposed to do so when the ceasefire was on and the ceasefire monitoring group is only a silent spectator to all this, he alleged. At least two more Army brigades are necessary to stop the factional feuds among naga rebels that were taking place, he said. (PTI) |
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Jogi seeks to encash his image
as dynamic SHAHDOL (MP), Sept 16: Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi is going all out to cash in on his stint as a dynamic collector of Shahdol as he fights a tough electoral battle to make it to the Lok Sabha for the second year in succession. Pitted mainly against former MP Dalpat Singh Paraste of BJP and Juglal Kol of BSP among seven others, the three-time Rajya Sabha member, Jogi, a former IAS officer, is trying to wrest this seat from BJP in his maiden contest here. Both Congress and BJP have changed their nominees this time, triggering unrest among a section of their local party cadres. While Jogi was given ticket overlooking the aspirations of Madhya Pradesh Congress working president Dalbir Singh, paraste was preferred to the member of the 12th Lok Sabha from here Gyan Singh despite his recent entry into the BJP from Janata Dal. Having switched over to Shahdol from the Raigarh constituency in the Chhatisgarh region where he had won by just 4000 votes in 1998, Jogi is braving twin problems — the label of ‘outsider’ given by BJP and that of ‘non-tribal’ given by the supporters of Dalbir who had won from here in 1991 but lost in 1996 and 1998 elections. An undeterred Jogi, drawing strength from the fact that his party holds six out of eight Assembly seats here, is confident as he reminds the electorate of development work done by him as a collector with a pinch of wit, humour and taunt. Paraste, however, banks mainly on the image of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to sway the over 12 lakh voters, including 5,84,000 women, in the constituency. BSP’s Juglal, who has been renominated from Shahdol, has added an interesting angle to the contest which may prove crucial in the final outcome if the 1.70 lakh votes polled by him in 1998 are any indication. Political observers say that Juglal as a member of Lol tribe which has massive presence in the constituency is set to cut into Congress votes since the tribe is considered to be a traditional vote bank of the latter. Samajwadi Party has fielded a lesser known Lalaram, while there are four independents. Baiga, Goud and Kol tribes who make about 50 per cent of the voters in the constituency are set to play a decisive role in the final results as in the last elections where both the Congress and BJP nominees belonged to a sensitive Gaud tribe. The constituency also has about 2.5 lakh backward, one lakh minorities and Scheduled Castes and 50,000 brahmins. The Baiga and Kol votes are likely to be divided further as two of the independents belong to these tribes. (PTI) |
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Cong support to CPI(M)-led Govt ruled out THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Sept 16: Senior CWC member A K Antony today said the party men in Kerala would oppose any move by the party to support a CPI(M)-led Government headed by Jyothi Basu at the Centre after the Lok Sabha elections. ‘Congress leaders from Kerala will oppose with all their might any proposal for backing a CPI(M)-led Third Front Government at the Centre if such a situation arose. If CPI(M) comes to power at the Centre that will see the end of democracy in the country’, Antony said at a press conference here. Asked his views on the possibility of a CPI(M) backed Congress Government, Antony said that was an issue to be discussed and decided by the party leadership after the elections. Accusing the CPI(M) of having indulged in extensive electoral malpractices and violence during the September 11 Lok Sabha polls in Kerala, Antony demanded a probe by a sitting Judge of the high court into these incidents. (PTI) |
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Reddy to begin new phase in political career MIRYALGUDA (AP), Sept 16: From being the epitome of anti-Congressism to seeking votes on behalf of Congress, it has been a dramatic turn-around for former spokesman of the United Front S Jaipal Reddy, contesting Miryalguda Lok Sabha seat in the backward Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, going to polls on September 18. The entry of Reddy, hand-picked by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has dramatically altered the political equations in this constituency, once a Communist bastion. Reddy, who quit Janata Dal and switched over to Congress during the thick of pre-poll activity, has chosen this volatile region to be the testing ground for a new phase in his political career. He describes his action as part of a process of "rational re-alignment of political forces and consolidation of secular elements" "I have changed the party, but not my ideology. I have staked my reputation at the altar of ideology," Reddy told a visiting correspondent during hectic dawn-to-dusk electioneering in the constituency. The Congress has replaced its siting MP B N Reddy and shifted him to Nakrekal Assembly seat to accommodate Jaipal Reddy who is being dubbed by his detractors as an "outsider" having left his home constituency Mahaboobnagar. The articulate former Information and Broadcasting Minister is locked in a triangular contest with ruling Telugu Desam and CPI (M) who were, ironically, his allies in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections when he won the Mahaboobnagar seat with the support of TDP. As he motors down the dusty tracks to reach out to interior villages of the constituency, Jaipal Reddy turns philosophical about his "profoundly painful" decision to quit Janata Dal and says "parties are only instruments to propagate ideology and I have joined Congress to further my ideology and to fight communal politics" How does he reconcile to his volte face after a long career nurtured on anti-Congressism ? "Anti-Congressism can’t be an ideology, but only a political strategy. In fact, anti-Congressism in the country came to an end in 1990 and the United Front was formed on an anti-BJP platform and not on anti-Congress plank," he explains taking time off from a string of road-side meetings where he scrupulously confines himself to local issues. In the previous Lok Sabha election, the TDP had Left Miryalguda seat to its traditional ally CPI (M) as part of an electoral understanding, but the latter could not win the seat which was once its stronghold, represented by charismatic Communist leader Bhimireddy Narasimha Reddy, for two terms in 1989 and 1991. The veteran Communist leader broke away from CPI (M), on the issue of greater representation in the party for weaker sections, and formed his own group which has thrown its weight behind Jaipal Reddy. The Congress, which ended Communist dominance by winning the seat in 1996 and 1998 polls, hopes to cash in on the changed political situation marked by parting of ways by TDP and CPI (M) and the perceived loss of minorities support to the ruling party in the wake of its poll pact with BJP, besides the clean image of Jaipal Reddy. (PTI) |
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Computerised vigil on ballot boxes PUNE, Sept 16: A computer buff district collector, sitting in his office, is keeping a hi-tech vigil on the ballot boxes from Pune and Baramati Lok Sabha constituencies at the click of his mouse. Mr Vijay Kumar Gautam, the returning officer for both the seats, has 30 cameras installed in a godown in the city, storing the ballot boxes to record every minute aberration. These would continue to operate till October six, when the counting of votes will be taken up. Mr Gautam is known for his efforts to bring in transparency in the functioning of the collectorate through computerisation. Even while a massive security cordon has been thrown in around the godown at Shivajinagar, he relies more on his hi-tech equipment to keep a tab on the boxes. While the ballot boxes from from 18 Assembly segments of Pune and Baramati have been kept at the Shivajinagar godown, those from Khed constituency have been kept at the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godown at Koregaon Park. However, no such cameras have been installed at the FCI godown at Koregaon park since "the godown is nearer and we keep visiting it", additional collector Anup Kumar, who is the returning officer for Khed Lok Sabha constituency told. The security at both the godowns is is very tight, Mr Kumar said, adding "even I could be prevented from entering if I am not carrying the identity card" as per the instructions of the district collector. It is probably for the first time that there is such a long gap between the voting, which was held on September eleven , and the date of counting. (UNI) |
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