Amethi renaming
might trigger fresh
crisis in UP BJP

LUCKNOW, Dec 19: Even as the BJP State leadership’s efforts to pacify the dissident legislators in Uttar Pradesh....more

Govt urges BLT to
extend cease-fire

GUWAHATI, Dec 19: Assam Cabinet Sub-Committee on Bodoland Territorial Council chairman Dr Bhumidhar Barman.....more

Sholay, Lagaan, DDLJ
among BFI’s top ten
Indian films

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Bhuvan’s eleven may have lost to Bosnia’s "No Man’s Land" in... .more

JPC report indicts
former Finance Secretary,
absolves Sinha

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: The Joint Parliament Committee (JPC) report, tabled in Parliament .....more

2002 highlights: Labour
panel report, houses for
EPF members

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Review of labour laws as recommended by the Second National .....more

We don’t recognise
Fernandes as Defence
Minister: Oppn

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Major opposition parties today staged a walk-out in the Lok Sabha during question hour .....more

India not satisfied with
US pressure on Pak,
says Sinha

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Asserting that cross-border terrorism was still continuing despite .....more

Parliament case:
court followed lead
that intrigued sleuths

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Technical intricacies might have forced sleuths of the Delhi....more

Drought, famine deaths and poll loss give tough time to Gehlot ....

LS witnesses chaos as members bring up diverse issues....

PM announces hike in SMP of sugarcane ....

Bibi Jagir Kaur severs ties with nephew ....

Amethi renaming might trigger fresh crisis in UP BJP

LUCKNOW, Dec 19: Even as the BJP State leadership’s efforts to pacify the dissident legislators in Uttar Pradesh appeared to show signs of some ‘success’, a fresh crisis seems to be knocking at its door following Chief Minister Mayawati’s decision to rename Amethi ignoring protests from a section of BJP.

Soon after Mayawati’s announcement Wednesday to rename Amethi, a stronghold of Gandhi family, as Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar after according it a district status, voice of dissent emerged from Amethi with senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Sanjai Singh denouncing it.

Singh, a former MP from the constituency, whose wife Amita Singh is an MLA from Amethi Assembly constituency and also a minister in the Mayawati Government, claimed that he had been assured by the BJP leadership that the name of Amethi would not be changed.

UP BJP president Vinay Katiyar had reportedly said the name would not be changed. A section of partymen registered strong protest with the State leadership on the issue while former State president Kalraj Mishra criticised the decision.

Mayawati sought to silence the opponents by claiming that she had apprised BJP legislature party leader Lalji Tandon of her decision.

A section of BJP feels that rechristening Amethi as Shahuji Maharaj Nagar could undermine the influence wielded by the royal family of Amethi, specifically of Sanjai Singh.

Singh wanted Amethi to be renamed after Rajarshi Rananjai Singh, his father who was the ruler of Amethi once.

Brushing aside all opposition, the Chief Minister got her decision approved by the State Cabinet at a meeting here yesterday.

Singh, a member of the BJP national council, said the decision could still be rescinded as the delimitation process was on and it would take at least a year before the decision could become effective. He said the matter would be raised at the council meeting in New Delhi beginning December 23.

He also threatened to take legal recourse if the decision was not revoked.

With both the Chief Minister and those opposing the renaming remaining firm on their stand, the issue could trigger a fresh crisis in the party, observers said. (PTI)

Govt urges BLT to extend cease-fire

GUWAHATI, Dec 19: Assam Cabinet Sub-Committee on Bodoland Territorial Council chairman Dr Bhumidhar Barman today said the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) should honour the appeal by all political parties’ to extend the cease-fire by another month, scheduled to end on December 22.

At an all-party meeting conveyed by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi recently, the opposition parties sought details of the on going talks between the state, the BLT leaders and the Centre. This was approved by the Cabinet.

Mr Barman told UNI that if the BLT leaders turned down the appeal, it would be ‘unfortunate’ but he hoped for a positive response.

The Minister also welcomed Union Home Minister L K Advani’s reported statement that minor differences could be resolved.

Official sources said that the BLT, a former underground organisation, has reportedly informed the Chief Minister that they were not going to agree to any further extension of the cease-fire.

The Chief Minister has informed them that it was important to seek the views of the opposition parties on the inclusion of an additional 93 villages and more provisions in the proposed BTC. Another all party meeting is slated to be held on January 10, 2003, to seek their views, he added.

The Government had earlier notified the inclusion of 3,070 villages in the proposed council and the Bodo leaders later demanded the inclusion of 93 more villages. The Government had agreed to provide 45 additional villages.

The Government, which had decided to create the BTC, amending the sixth Schedule of the Constitution, has assured the non-Bodos that their constitutional rights, including political and land rights would be protected.

It has also decided to reserve 10 out of 40 seats for the proposed council for the non-Bodos.(UNI)

Sholay, Lagaan, DDLJ among BFI’s top ten Indian films

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Bhuvan’s eleven may have lost to Bosnia’s "No Man’s Land" in the Oscar race, but Aamir Khan’s ‘Lagaan’ has earned the unique distinction of being listed among the top ten Indian films of all time along with cine craftsman Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali’.

In a recent popularity poll conducted on the web by the prestigious British Film Institute (BFI) based "in the realm of worldwide public popularity", Ramesh Sippy’s "Sholay", Aditya Chopra’s "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" and Mehboob Khan’s "Mother India" also feature among the top ten.

The first of the Appu Trilogy, "Pather Panchali" (1955), was adjudged the top Indian film in the BFI popularity poll, which follows close on the heels of its critics’ poll of South Asian film in October in which BFI asked experts to compile a list of 50 best Indian as well as South Asian films.

In the critics’ poll, "Sholay" was adjudged the best Indian film "Pather Panchali" and Mehboob Khan’s "Mother India" stood at second and third place respectively.

"Dilwale Dulhaniyan Le Jayenge" and "Lagaan" stood at 12th and 16th place in the poll. The BFI then asked the public to vote for their favourite South Asian films in the five offered categories - Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan as well as films with contemporary Asian themes or made by Western Asians.

In the public poll, in which people from all across the world voted, two films by Satyajit Ray found a place in the top ten: "Pathar Panchali" bagged the first place and ‘Charulata’ got the seventh place. "Sholay" was in the second place, "Dilwale Dulhaniyan Le Jayenge" was third and the Oscar-nominated "Lagaan" bagged the fourth place.

Other films figuring in the list are Kamal Amrohi’s "Pakeezah" (1971) at the sixth spot, Guru Dutt’s "Pyaasa" (eighth), Mani Ratnam’s "Dil Se" (ninth) and K Asif’s magnum opus "Mughal-e-Azam" (1960) at the tenth spot.

"Masala", directed by NRI Srinivas Krishna, topped the BFI’s web poll for South Asian cinema and got the highest number of votes. "Masala" focuses on the Indian community in Canada and explores the experiences of an extended family, from an aunt who converses with Lord Krishna through her television, to an uncle who offers refuge to suspected terrorists in his Sari shop.

Mira Nair’s "Monsoon Wedding" secured the second spot among diaspora films. Other notable inclusions in the top ten diaspora films were Damien O’donnell’s "East Is East" (fifth), Gurinder Chaddha’s "Bhaji On The Beach" (sixth) and "Bend It Like Beckham" (tenth), Nagesh Kukunoor’s "Hyderabad Blues" (seventh) and Deepa Mehta’s "Fire".

The polls aim to generate discussion and provide a starting point for further research on these film histories and cultures and were initiated as part of the BFI’s eight-month imagine Asia festival which drew to a close last week, a BFI release said. (UNI)

JPC report indicts former Finance Secretary, absolves Sinha

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: The Joint Parliament Committee (JPC) report, tabled in Parliament today, has indicted former Finance Secretary Ajit Kumar for failing to resolve in time the redemption problem of the Unit Trust of India (UTI).

"The Secretary considered the problem in a routine and casual manner which is not expected from an officer of his rank," the report said in its two-volume report.

A letter was received from UTI Chairman by the Finance Secretary on June 30, 2001, in the evening at his residence which clearly stated that the UTI Board would meet on July 2 to consider freezing its flagship scheme, Unit Scheme-64, and converting it to Net Asset Value (NAV) basis, the report said.

Quite obviously this was a very important piece of news and the Finance Secretary should have acted immediately.

But the Secretary mentioned this fact to the then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha only on the morning of July 2, 2001, after the intervening week-end was over.

Indeed, the Finance Secretary’s (FS) action should have commenced immediately after discussion on this subject with the Joint Secretary, Capital Market Division, on June 29, 2001 who briefed the FS on his discussions with the then UTI Chairman P.S. Subramanyan on the US 64 problem.

The meeting between the Joint Secretary (JS) and the UTI Chairman was unscheduled and without any prior agenda and there was a discussion on the impending problems of UTI.

Thereafter the JS discussed this subject with the Finance Secretary, "but no further action appears to have been initiated by the officials of Ministry of Finance," the report said.

The JPC also indicted Mr Subramanyam for "keeping the Ministry in the dark upto June 29, 2001" about the redemption problem.

The UTI Chairman did not talk of the US-64 problem in his letter to the Ministry on May 18, 2001 and "there appears to be no evidence to suggest that there was any meeting or consultation between Chairman UTI and Ministry of Finance officials between his letters of May 18 and June 29," the report said.

"Therefore, while Chairman UTI did keep the Ministry in the dark upto June 29, 2001" just two days before the redemption was frozen by the UTI Board.

Giving a clean chit to Mr Sinha, the report said "despite repeated directives from the Finance Minister to his officials from April 2001 on to find out what was happening in UTI, the officials as they have informed the committee, limited their interaction with UTI to Chairman.

No analysis was made in the Ministry of the UTI Chairman’s letter of May 18 and the letter itself was treated as on a fresh receipt requiring no more than perusal without analysis or follow up.

However, the JPC said it found "The Ministry did little to bring itself out of the darkness, as it had not instituted any formal mechanism to keep itself informed about the health of the US-64 scheme."

"Autonomy in day-to-day management of UTI cannot absolve the Ministry of its statutory responsibilities and accountability to Parliament," the report said.(UNI)

2002 highlights: Labour panel report, houses for EPF members

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Review of labour laws as recommended by the Second National Labour Commission in an attempt to build consensus on labour reforms, housing benefits for subscribers of Employees Provident Fund and retaining the rate of interest on EPF at 9.5 per cent despite pressure from Finance Ministry marked the performance of Labour Ministry during 2002.

The second labour commission headed by Ravindra Verma submitted its report to the Prime Minister in June suggesting a comprehensive review of labour laws to end multiplicity of legislations.

However, some of its recommendations particularly hire and fire in units employing upto 300 workers against 100 at present without Government’s permission, curtailment of holidays and encourgement to contract labour triggered sharp criticism from central trade unions, so much so that the Government had to face embarrassing moments with Sangh Parivar affiliated BMS expressing strong reservations.

The voluminous recommendations are at present under consideration of the Government and according to Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma the report would be disscussed at the levels of employees, employers and the Government as well before taking a final view.

"No step will be taken which will be detrimental to the workers’ interest," Verma has assured the trade unions.

The ministry held several rounds of consultations with social partners to evolve a consensus for enacting new laws or for bringing about changes in the existing laws necessitated by the changing economic scenario.

That the Labour Ministry is serious about protecting the cause of the workers is borne out of the fact that despite repeated pressure from the Finance Ministry to slash the EPF rate in keeping with the soft interest regime, Labour Ministry refused to lower the rate from 9.5 per cent at present.

The central board of trustees of the EPF have explained it to the Government that even if it continued to pay the interest at the present rate it would still be left with a surplus fund.

Another important worker-friendly measure was decision to provide houses or plots of land to EPF members across the country.

The decision comes close on the heels of enhancing the wage ceiling for EPF from Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 per month to bring in more workers within the ambit of EPF.

Besides enrolling 13 lakh new EPF members, about 20,000 new establishments have been brought within the ambit of EPF, which has mooted a proposal to introduce a multi-benefit employees insurance scheme for its beneficiaries who lose their jobs due to ongoing economic restructuring.

Regarding beneficiaries under the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), exemption has been granted to workers earning less than Rs 40 a day from payment of contribution to the ESIC fund, benefitting about 6.10 lakh low-paid workers.

As a major policy decision, the ministryo pay greater attention to problems of workers in the unorganised sector which constitutes 93 per cent of over 400 million strong workforce in the country.

The ministry took several measures to improve the welfare schemes formulated for over four million beedi labourers, non-coal mine and cine workers. The main thrust of the schemes was in the health sector as the target groups were involved in health hazardous occupations.

For education of children of mine workers, scholarship amount has been doubled - ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 6,000 per year.

The ministry took the initiative to net in all cine workers within the ambit of cine workers welfare fund act to raise the income eligibility ceiling from Rs 1600 per month which enables only half of the 63,000 cine workers to avail benefits under the welfare fund.

Another salient feature was pegging the floor level minimum wage at Rs 45 per day at the national level. All states have been asked to ensure that the minimum wages do not fall below the level in scheduled employment.

A move was also initiated to set up central manpower export promotion council to promote employment opportunities for emigrants.

Elimination of child labour was another focus of attention of the ministry with the Prime Minister promising to remove the problem at least from hazardous occupations by 2005.

Government was also working on a comprehensive law for the welfare of home-based workers. (PTI)

We don’t recognise Fernandes as Defence Minister: Oppn

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Major opposition parties today staged a walk-out in the Lok Sabha during question hour demanding probe into the Tehelka issue by a joint Parliamentary Committee as soon as Defence Minister George Fernandes rose to reply to questions.

Launching a vociferous protest, members of Congress, Left parties and RJD chanted slogans and shouted "we don’t recognise" Fernandes as Defence Minister as he was still to be cleared by the one-man commission whose Chairman Justice K Venkataswami had quit recently.

Continuing their months-long protest on the issue, P R Dasmunsi (Cong), Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M) and others quoted mediareports as saying that Chief Justice of India had not nominated anyone to conduct the enquiry in place of Justice Venkataswami.

They asked what steps the Government was taking to ensure that the incompleted enquiry into the Tehelka issue was taken to its logical conclusion.

As they walked out, members belonging to Samata Party, Shiv Sena and BJP protested against their "attitude" asking Speaker Manohar Joshi to take action against the opposition members.

Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose party did not participate in the walkout, asked the treasury bench members not to make noises and "allow us to listen" what Fernandes was saying.

In the din, Fernandes continued to read out a written reply to a question on construction of bridges by Border Roads Organisation, forcing the Speaker to angrily say that anyone who did not want to listen to the minister could go out of the House. (PTI)

India not satisfied with US pressure on Pak, says Sinha

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Asserting that cross-border terrorism was still continuing despite assurance by Pakistan that it would stop encouraging it, India today said it was not satisfied with the pressure being put by the international community, including the United States, on Islamabad.

Responding to supplementaries during the question hour in the Rajya Sabha, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said if the US exerted sufficient pressure on Pakistan, it would desist it from indulging in cross-border terrorism.

Stating that though the menace had decreased, he said "the fact remains that cross-border terrorism is continuing despite clear announcement and assertion by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and assurance from the international community that they will put pressure on Pakistan to desist from it".

While welcoming the pressure being exerted by the international community, Sinha said India has to fight the menace on its own and expressed confidence that "we are capable and strong enough to wage and win the battle".

On resumption of dialogue with Islamabad, he said New Delhi insisted on the condition that cross-border terrorism has to be brought to an end before any meaningful dialogue is started. "Pakistan is sending mercenaries to carry out terrorist activities in India," he said.

Earlier, Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh said no effort was being made to declare Pakistan a terrorist State.

Singh, in his written reply, said since the military establishment in Pakistan continued to have the determining role in major policy issues, cross border infiltration and terrorist violence have been going on.

Singh said information regarding Pakistan’s support and sponsorship of cross-border terrorism against India was consistently shared with other countries in appropriate bilateral and multilateral fora as part of global efforts against terrorism.

Pakistan’s continued involvement with cross border terrorism has been widely recognised, he said added many countries have called upon Pakistan to fulfil its commitment to end the cross border terrorism. (PTI)

Parliament case: court followed lead that intrigued sleuths

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Technical intricacies might have forced sleuths of the Delhi Police Special Cell, who probed the attack on Parliament, to ignore a vital clue of a phone number left behind by the ultras but did not deter the special court from pursuing it.

Call records of one of the mobile phones recovered from the five terrorists, who were killed in an encounter with police after they made an abortive attempt to storm the Parliament on December 13 last year, showed that they had dialled a number 22222 from their phone on December 10 and 13 during the night.

"The call time was very long," the court said in its judgement in the case. On December 13, it was used for approximately 4000 seconds (more than an hour) and on December 10, for nearly 1900 seconds (more than half-an-hour).

The overzealous investigators, "instead of dialing this number from their own phone to check, dialed it from the cell phone recovered from the terrorists soon after they had retrieved it."

During the arguments, even the counsel for the accused said that she did not know whose number it was.

The counsel dialled this number on her cell phone in the court itself and stated that she had been trying to dial this number earlier also but the moment it was dialled only a kind of buzz sound or beep is received.

Undeterred, the special judge inquired on his own as to what the number was and learn that it was the number of tango service provided by Airtel.

The court further found that tango was an internet mobile service, which enables the user to surf the internet by dialling the service provider’s number (22222 for tango) from a mobile phone.

To the surprise of the investigators and the defence, the court also observed that literature of tango service is freely available in the market.

Giving its final observations, the court said this explains the excessive use of their phones by the deceased terrorists on December 10 and 13.

"Through this service only, deceased terrorists had connected internet and must have linked themselves anywhere in the world and communicated with their masters," it ruled. (PTI)

Drought, famine deaths and poll loss give tough time to Gehlot

JAIPUR, Dec 19: Widespread drought and famine deaths, acute funds crunch and loss of three assembly by-polls gave a tough time to Ashok Gehlot Government in Rajasthan in year 2002.

However, the State had its moment of pride when its longest-serving politician Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was elected as the Vice-President of the country bringing for the first time a saffron man to the high constitutional post

Failure of monsoon saw all the 32 districts of the State reeling under drought causing severe shortage of food, fodder, drinking water and employment opportunities resulting in deaths of at least 26 people in tribal-dominated Baran district. The State Government, however, said it was due to "malnutrition and diseases."

The State continued to be plagued by a severe financial crunch forcing curtailment of its annual plan size and other expenditures during the year even as the Congress Government and the Centre were locked in a war of attrition on the quantum of central assistance to overcome famine and utilisation of fund by the state for the purpose.

Added to drought and famine were difficulties posed to residents in districts bordering pakistan due to heavy deployment of the army following Dec 13 attack on Parliament.

As many as 20 people lost their lives and 100 injured and maimed by explosion of land mines laid by the army in border areas.

A major fire in a convoy of army trucks carrying ammunitions to the border near Bikaner left two civilians dead and wounded 12.

There was shock in store for ruling Congress at the fag-end of the year when the party lost three Assembly by-elections. What was more galling for the party was that all the three seats went to arch rival BJP.

There was more trouble for Gehlot when a senior minister Ram Singh Vishnoi had to resign following a raid by central customs at his son’s closed cement factory in Jodhpur district where narcotic drugs were being manufactured.

Gehlot’s hold over the party remained intact but with just a year left for Assembly polls, he inducted 15 new members, in his ministry, including some not considered his loyalists, and reshuffled portfolios of some of his ministers facing criticism for their performance.

The exercise was seen more to stem dissidence in the party ahead of the coming polls.

The by-poll results could not have provided a better beginning to State BJP’s new chief and Union Minister Vasundhara Raje who was drafted in for organisational work following exit of veteran party leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat from State political scene to assume responsibilities of Vice President.

Even after seven months of her appointment as State BJP president, Raje is yet to establish her full control over the party apparatus in the face of murmurs of resentment in the party over her choice.

Raje had to contend with open challenge to her style of functioning from senior BJP leader Hari Shankar Bhabhara, a former Deputy Chief Minister, who was eyeing the post top organisational post.

Although law and order situation in the State remained mostly peaceful, there were stray incidents of communal violence. These were set off by idol desecration and post-Godhra bandh and rallies disturbing a few pockets of Jaipur, Ajmer, Alwar, Bhilwara, Sawai Madhopur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Sirohi and Dungarpur districts.

The issue of protection of environment in Aravalli range continued to haunt the State as the Government had to issue a blanket ban on mining in these areas on the order of the Supreme Court at the fag end of the year.

However, the Supreme Court on Dec 16 lifted its total ban on mining activities in the Aravali range spanning across the states of Rajasthan and Haryana and permitted the same in forest areas if prior permission was obtained under the laws. (PTI)

LS witnesses chaos as members bring up diverse issues

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: A day before the winter session was to conclude, the Lok Sabha which had otherwise been relatively peaceful witnessed pandemonium during zero hour as charged up members vociferously tried to force the chair to allow diverse issues, including the Tehelka Commission and a scam in a fertiliser company, to be raised all at the same time.

As Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Santosh Gangwar explained that the Law Minister was in hospital which was why Government would not be able to give its position on the Tehelka Commission, there was complete chaos in the house with one section of the house demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee proble into Tehelka charges and Congress chief whip Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi trying to bring up a Rs 100 crore scam in Paradip Phosphate Ltd. Miffed at the Congress walking out during question hour when Defence Minister George Fernandes got up to reply to questions, Samata Party members used zero hour to raise slogans against Congress president Sonia Gandhi for antiques smuggling. Ms Gandhi left the house as soon as the slogans were raised against her.

Left Party MPs tried to bring up the Tehelka Commission issue and Mr Somnath Chatterjee (CPI-M) was seen asking Defence Minister George Fernandes to give a statement on the Commission’s current status.

Even as the melee continued, Deputy Speaker P M Sayeed said there were 14 adjournment motions, including ten on Tehelka. He said it would not be possible to give everybody a chance to speak but the MPs insisted that the Speaker had earlier in the day assured them that they would get a chance to put forth their views.

Mr Sayeed berated samata party members for not helping the chair to conduct proceedings.

Mr Dasmunshi said the treasury bench members were not allowing him to be heard as the Government was afraid of facing the facts. The Congress chief whip even had to pull back some members of his party who had proceeded to the well of house to protest.

He said the Finance Ministry had referred Paradip Phosphate Ltd to the Ministry of Disinvestment because of the Rs 100 crore scam.

The Deputy Speaker waited patiently till 1 PM and adjourned the house for lunch. (UNI)

PM announces hike in SMP of sugarcane

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today announced in Lok Sabha that the Centre had decided to increase the statutory minimum price for sugarcane from Rs.64.50 to Rs.69.50 per quintal.

Intervening during a debate on sugarcane farmers’ plight, the Prime Minister said "to mitigate the hardships of sugarcane farmers and to provide them some relief, we have decided that the Central Government will increase the Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) by Rs. five per quintal, which will apply to all states."

He also announced that while continuing with the ‘release’ system of sugar, effective efforts shall be made to restabilise the market price of sugar.

Recalling that the Centre had fixed the SMP of sugarcane this year at Rs.64.50 per quintal on 8.5 per cent of recovery level, the Prime Minister said since the price is linked to the principal recovery, it is fixed higher for those farmers where sugar mills register good recovery. At present, the average SMP in Uttar Pradesh is Rs.74 per quintal, he said.

Observing that the UP Government has also taken some useful steps to provide relief to sugarcane farmers, Vajpayee said it is providing sugarcane grant and subsidy equivalent to Rs.four per quintal in purchase tax, commission of sugarcane societies and entry tax on sugar to mills.

"It has taken this decision keeping in view that sugar mills will pass on this benefit to the sugarcane farmers by including this additional Rs.four in the price of sugarcane. As such the farmers of UP will get an overall increase of rs. nine per quintal," he said.

Maintaining the sugarcane industry provided large scale employment to needy persons in rural areas and, therefore, it was necessary to keep the industry healthy, Vajpayee said "as the sugar industry is in difficulty today, we should take such steps, which would resolve the present crisis at the earliest."

Noting that in recent months, the sugar prices had dropped drastically, Vajpayee said the reason for this was that in addition to the quota released by the Government, sugar mills had received through judicial process orders for the release of sugar.

"This has enhanced the supply of sugar in the market and there is a fall in prices. In these circumstances, it is necessary to continue the present release system and implement effective measures," he said.

The Centre has also decided to create a buffer stock of 20 lakh tonnes of sugar. "This will provide Rs.786 crore, which will be used for paying the balance amount of sugarcane prices to sugarcane farmers," he said, adding these measures would provide considerable relief to the farmers and the industry.(PTI)

Bibi Jagir Kaur severs ties with nephew

JALANDHAR, Dec 19: Former SGPC president and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA from Bholath constituency in Kapurthala district Bibi Jagir Kaur today cut off all relations with her nephew Sarabjit Singh alias Laddi who is alleged to have been involved in the kidnapping of a school going child Gurvinder Singh alias Babloo.

Babloo who was kidnapped on Thursday last while returning from school by two scooter borne youth was rescued by the Delhi Police yesterday from the clutches of the kidnappers who had demanded a ransom of Rs 20 lakhs for his release.

Those arrested in this connection yesterday were identified as Gurvinder Singh alias Ladi of Macchiwara town in Ludhiana and Sarabjit Singh alias Laddi’s cousin Rajinder Singh from Sri Hargobindpur in Gurdaspur district.

Addressing mediapersons here and in the presence of Babloo and his mother Mrs Rajinder Kaur, Bibi Jagir Kaur said that in future she would no connection with Sarabjit Singh as he had committed an illegal and inhumane act. She claimed total ignorance of Sarabjit’s activities and said that he used to learn ‘Kirtan’ at Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda district and it was only after the kidnapping and recovery of the child she came to know of his act. Sarabjit incidentally was the son of her widowed sister who stays at her ‘Dera’ in Begowal village. Bibi Jagir Kaur claimed that when she came to know of the kidnapping, on her return to Begowal from Chandigarh she informed the district administration and sought immediate action against those involved. She further said that even now her stand was clear that her newphew should not be shielded by anyone and should be immediately handed over to the police.

Mrs Rajinder Kaur the mother of the child said that her family had been regular visitors to Bibi’s ‘Dera’. The mother gave a clean chit to the former SGPC chief saying that Bibi Jagir Kaur helped them after being informed of the abduction of the child and they still respected her.

Bibi Jagir Kaur on her part said that she had given shelter to her widowed sister at her ‘Dera’ in Begowal and was unhappy to learn about the actvities of her newphew. Her sister still stays at the ‘Dera’.

Mrs Rajinder Kaur said that the Rs 11 lakhs that she had given to Sarabjit Singh for sending her sisters son abroad was the reason for the kidnapping as he was not in position to return the money. Her sister had collected the money from friends and relatives, she added.

Mrs Rajinder Kaur claimed that she had not taken Bibi Jagir Kaur into confidence while giving the money to Sarabjit Singh. The kidnappers of Babloo including Sarabjit who is still at large had demanded a sum of rupees 20 lakhs for his release.

Bibi Jagir Kaur is incidentally the chairperson of Sant Prem Singh Public School at Begowal where Babloo studies and was kidnapped while returning home. (UNI)

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