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AURANGABAD, Dec 6: VHP held maha-aartis in Temples here and at all tehsil headquarters today to mark the eleventh anniversray of Babri Masjid ......more Civil
defence NEW DELHI, Dec 6: Observing that Civil Defence had been neglected over the years, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today said that man-made .....more Misra
to stress on NEW DELHI, Dec 6: Mr Uma Shankar Misra, who took over as the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, today declared that preventive ...more Swaraj,
Dhindsa PATIALA, Dec 6: Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj and Union Chemicals Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa today called on former Punjab ...more |
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Police asked to probe NEW DELHI, Dec 6: A Delhi Court has asked police to probe into the fake surety racket being allegedly run in Tis Hazari...more CBI
issues notices NEW DELHI, Dec 6: Former Union Minister Dilip Singh Judev has been asked to appear before...more Cellular
user base NEW DELHI, Dec 6: The total number of cellular subscribers went up to 20.73 million and that of WLL(M) subscribers reached 5.87 million at the end .....more Only Court can solve Ayodhya issue: BMAC AYODHYA, Dec 6: The Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) today reiterated that the Ayodhya issue could only be solved through the Court. "All efforts to solve the vexed issue through talks have failed so far. Court. ......more |
Princess-turned-queen no novice to power politics .......... Sushma warns Amarinder against politics of repression ..... |
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AURANGABAD, Dec 6: VHP held maha-aartis in Temples here and at all tehsil headquarters today to mark the eleventh anniversray of Babri Masjid demolition at Ayodhya. Shiv Sena also organised maha-aarti at Supari Hanuman Mandir, located in commercially busy area of Aurangbad. Mayor of Aurangabad Muncipal Corporation, Vimaltai Rajut also took part in the maha-aarti. Meanwhile, security was beefed up, especially in view of recent communal violences in Parbhani and Nanded. (PTI) |
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Civil defence neglected: Advani NEW DELHI, Dec 6: Observing that Civil Defence had been neglected over the years, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today said that man-made disasters which also includes terrorism was a cause for concern. "Man-made disaster does not confine only to fire arms but have other dimensions also which is cause for concern", Advani said at the Civil Defence day functions, organised after a gap of 57 years. Recalling that the concept of Civil Defence had actually started after 1962 Sino-Indian conflict, he said "it was a kind of wake up call for us" and the country started realising that if did not provide proper attention to security it could have disastrous consequences. Realisation also came that the government and the army alone could not provide security without enlisting the support of the people, Advani said, adding that the need for strengthening Civil Defence set up was felt even more today. Union Home Secretary N Gopalaswami, who was also present, said that five per cent of the police modernisation fund would be spent on Home Guards in states in the next five years. The Home Secretary said 100 per cent funding to the states for the Civil Defence establishment has been proposed and the Centre hopes that the union cabinet would approve the proposal in the next two months. Calling upon the people to assist the administration in matters of security, Mr Advani said "these days the buzz word is good governance." "Good governance has mainly two aspects—Suraksha and Vikas. (security and development) and these are the two things which the state should worry about." He expressed regret that for the past 50 years, freedom could not be converted into good governance. Recalling the natural disasters like plague and earthquake in Gujarat, the Deputy Prime Minister said it was mainly because of the contribution of the community and NGOs that the "traumatic experiences" were overcome. The state machinery could not have done it alone. He regretted that the attention that should have been given to Civil Defence, had not been given. Decrying the practice of describing India as "under-developed" and "undeveloped," Mr Advani said it was a "euphemism" for under-developed when India was described as a developing country. "India cannot be bracketed with many other developing countries. We will come out of it , and not only that, India will be able to place itself in the frontline of the comity of nations. The stage when India can play play its role in international security and development, is important," Mr Advani added. Talking about Pokharan II, the Deputy Prime Minister said India wanted to a have deterrent to the nuclear threat posed by its neighbour. "At least we should have a nuclear deterrence," he added. (UNI) |
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Misra to stress on creating awareness on corruption NEW DELHI, Dec 6: Mr Uma Shankar Misra, who took over as the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, today declared that preventive vigilance, extradition and deportation of fugitives and creating awareness on corruption would be his priority areas. Talking to reporters soon after taking over as the CBI Chief from Mr P C Sharma, Mr Misra said modernisation of infrastructure of the agency and improvement of the standard of probe were the other areas of importance. Stressing on the need to create awareness against corruption, he said the society must stigmatise a corrupt person. "till that happens, it will be difficult to check corruption in the society." He said the agency would function entirely as per the provisions of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act. "The CVC Act, having been enacted by Parliament which is the representative body of the people, has to be followed in letter and spirit," Mr Misra said in response to a question if the single directive introduced in the act would would come in the way of CBI’s functioning. The new amendments to the CVC Act makes it mandatory for the agency to seek prior permission from the Government for prosecuting officials of the rank of Joint Secretary and above. About CBI having powers to take suo-motu note of an incident, Mr Misra said the matter was under active consideration of the Government and even the Justice Malimath Committee on Judicial Reforms has suggested this. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has powers to take up any case which has inter-state and international ramifications, he said adding that in India, the CBI is completely dependent upon the State Government’s concurrence or a Court verdict before taking up the investigation into any case. The new CBI Director said preventive vigilance meant mounting a surviellance on officials with doubtful integrity. "There are people who get caught and are prosecuted. But there are also those who indulge in corruption and go scot-free. They may be both within the organisation and outside. We need to act against them," he said. Dispelling the impression that the CBI was under political influence while taking up cases, Mr Misra said it was a wrong impression as most of these cases were transferred by the Courts. About the poor conviction rates in CBI cases involving influential persons, he said CBI was only an investigating agency and not the criminal justice system as a whole. "CBI is part of the criminal justice system and if things have to improve, the criminal justice system has to be improved." He said the poor conviction rates in cases involving important persons was also because these rich persons go on appealing against the orders and this delays the final orders in the case. About the progress of investigation into the Taj Corridor case, Mr Misra said the probe into the case was progressing well and the agency has gone in appeal in the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court stay on the arrest of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, allegedly involved in the case. On the need for unified cooperation in the Telgi stamp paper scam case, the CBI Chief said he personally felt that the case be probed by one agency considering the inter-state and international ramifications of the case. "But we can not start investigation into any case without prior approval of the State Government," he said. (UNI) |
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Cellular user base surges to 20.73 mln NEW DELHI, Dec 6: The total number of cellular subscribers went up to 20.73 million and that of WLL(M) subscribers reached 5.87 million at the end of November 2003. November 2003 saw 1.38 million cellulars users and 0.52 million WLL(M) subscribers. With this, the jump in cellular user base was nearly three times during the same period last year, the Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) said today. As a result, the total subscriber base in the country, including GSM and CDMA-WLL, reached 26.60 million. During November, 2003 the addition of mobiles was 2.7 times the growth during the corresponding month last year and additions during the first 8 months of 2003-2004 were more than 4 times of growth during the corresponding period last year. In India, at the end of November 2003, fixed lines including WLL(F) were 42 millions and mobiles have already exceeded 26.5 millions making a total of telephone subscribers around 68.5 millions. In 2002, cellular phones exceeded fixed phones in 120 out of 196 countries. In many countries there is a huge difference between cellular and fixed phones. In a reversal of roles mobile phones are becoming a phone of the working class and fixed phones are being used by those who use offices and need huge amounts of data and thus it is becoming a phone of the elite. The subscriber base for wireless services continued to maintain its growth pattern during October 2003 also. During the month, approximately 1.05 million cellular and 0.64 million WLL(M) subscribers were added, making it a total of 1.69 million. Mobile telephones were first introduced in India in 1995. In 8 years till 2003 the total numbers added were 13 million telephones. In the last 7 months mobile telephones added are 11.75 millions. "Even if we add the same number next month the growth will be far more than 13 million telephones this year in the first 8 months achieving a growth rate of nearly 12 times," TRAI added. In 1995 fixed telephones in the world were 690 million and cellular telephones 91 million. There was not a single country where the cellular telephones exceeded the fixed telephones. In 2002, the fixed telephones lines were 1143 million and cellular telephones 1144 million. Thus the cellular telephones exceeded the number of fixed telephones. Compared to China, the number of fixed line phones in 1995 in India stood at 12 million while China was ahead at 41 million. In 2002 China maintained the lead with a mammoth 214 million basic phones with India’s 41 million. In the cellular sector in 1995 India’s numbers were negligible compared to China’s 3.6 million. India’s numbers increased to 12.7 million in 2002 while China still had a huge 207 million users. Similarly, global figures show that there were 690 million fixed line users in 1995 which increased to 1143 million in 2002. In the cellular segment the global figures show that in 1995 there were 91 million users which increased to 1144 million. (UNI) |
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Only Court can solve Ayodhya issue: BMAC AYODHYA, Dec 6: The Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) today reiterated that the Ayodhya issue could only be solved through the Court. "All efforts to solve the vexed issue through talks have failed so far. Court was the only viable mean left to settle the dispute," BMAC convenor told UNI here on the 11th anniversary of demolition of a disputed structure at Ayodhya. Stressing that the Muslims will fully obey the judicial verdict in the dispute, he said the Court proceedings in the Ayodhya case were moving quickly and a judgement was expected within two years. Mr Jilani, who is also a member of the Sunni Central Waqf Board, said political parties can help in early solution of the Ayodhya dispute by not making it a poll issue. "We are not against Hindutva but its malevolent propogation during the elections as it creates hatred and animosity," he added. Mr Jilani said the Indian Constitution was mocked at when the disputed structure was demolished on December 6, 1992. The Muslim Organisations Commemorate the day every year as ‘Gham Diwas’ (black day) because on this day, some vested interests tore away the tenets of the Constitution, he remarked. Mr Jilani said he had so far not received any proposal to solve the Ayodhya issue from the Ayodhya Jama Masjid trust chairman S A A Rizvi. However, he alleged that Mr Rizvi was working in nexus with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. (UNI) Princess-turned-queen no novice to power politics JAIPUR, Dec 6: Born a Princess and perceived as an outsider in the hazy politics of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje, who is set to become the first woman Chief Minister of the desert state, is no novice to intricacies of power. Daughter of BJP stalwart late Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia and younger sister of Congress leader late Madhavrao, the 50 year old Vasundhara, who led the party to an unprecedented majority of its own in the just concluded assembly polls, had her initiation into politics when as a young girl she accompanied her mother during election tours. Associated with the BJP since its Jansangh days, Vasundhara after her marriage to Prince Hemant Singh of Dholpur in 1972 plunged headlong into politics and was first elected to the Rajasthan assembly in 1985 followed by her nomination to the party national executive in 1987. She was also vice-president of BJP’s youth wing prior to being made party vice-president in the state in the same year. In 1989, she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Jhalawar, a performance she replicated in all the subsequent elections of 1991, 1998 and 1999. Vasundhara was made Union Minister of State for External Affairs in the first Vajpayee Government. Later, she continued to be a minister in the subsequent NDA Government. Known to have a mind of her own, Vasundhara not only ensured that women candidates crossed the double digit mark in the allocation of tickets but also kept controversial Hindutva issues at bay during campaigning, save for a promise to enact an anti-conversion law in the party manifesto. Assisted by a core team of professionals, she chose candidates after a scientific analysis of each and every constituency. "It would be a happy mix keeping in mind ground realities, caste combinations and above all winnability," she had told PTI ahead of the polls. Asked whether the party would rake up its pet Hindutva issues including Ram Temple in the poll campaign, she had merely said, "the state has just faced a major drought. The infrastructure, including power, water and education, is in shambles. One cannot think beyond basic needs at this point." "Development is the key issue. Security of women and dalits is another major issue. One has to be sensitive to that. Of course, national security would be one of the issues," she had said. An economics and political science graduate, Vasundhara never had any doubts about her victory notwithstanding the verdict given by opinion polls and exit polls. "They (pollsters) should be worried about their credibility. They would be proved wrong as was the case in Gujarat," she had asserted confidently. Interestingly, cooking and gardening alongwith photography and art restoration are the pastimes of this down-to-earth Maharani who considers commitment, planning and continuous learning as the recipe for a successful political career. (PTI) Sushma warns Amarinder against politics of repression PATIALA, Dec 6: Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today warned Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh against pursuing the "politics of repression and conspiracy" targetting his predecessor Parkash Singh Badal, saying he would meet Ajit Jogi’s fate if he persisted. Talking to newspersons after a two-hour meeting with Mr Badal and his son Sukbir Badal who are presently in the central jail here, she said she had come to meet them on the direction of Rajya Sabha chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani to see the conditions in which they were kept in jail. Ms Swaraj said people of Chattisgarh have defeated Mr Jogi’s "politics of repression and conspiracy", adding "Amarinder, too, will meet the same fate" if he did not shun it. "Jogi proved a liability for Sonia Gandhi...Amarinder, too, would prove a liability for Sonia" if he did not desist from pursuing "Jogi’s politics of repression and conspiracy", she added. The Badals are in judicial detention since Monday in a disproportionate assets case in which they were chargesheeted by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on November 22. Their plea for interim bail was rejected by a Ropar Special Court on December 1 and they were sent to judicial custody along with three others in the case till December 13. Badals plea for regular bail is listed for hearing in the Supreme Court on December 8 and before Ropar Special Judge S K Goel on December 9. She charged that Mr Jogi and Capt Singh were two Chief Ministers who staged dharna before the Prime Minister’s residence throwing propriety of to the winds. Capt Singh should understand that a Chief Minister or Prime Minister are not individuals, they represent institutions and in a Parlimentary system of democracy individuals representing such institutions have to abide by certain norms and proprieties. Referring to the dharnas, she said "I do not know if Jogi learnt it from Amarinder or Amarinder from Jogi". She said "politics of repression does not pay... People do not like it...Political vendetta does not pay in the long run". (UNI) Pandemonium in Orissa assembly over Judev tapes BHUBANESWAR, Dec 6: Uproarious scenes and pandemonium prevailed for the second day today in Orissa assembly over opposition demand for a CBI inquiry into Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s alleged role in the wake of "disclosure of mining lease" in Judev video tape. The House was adjourned for the day yesterday as the agitated opposition Congress members stalled the proceedings in support of their demands by staging dharna and shouting slogans inside the well. The issue raged for the second day today with the Congress members resorting to dharna and slogan shouting inside the well soon after the question hour. They reiterated their demand and asked the Chief Minister to volunteer for a CBI inquiry into his alleged involvement as mentioned in the Judev video tapes. Speaker Sharat Kumar Kar adjourned the House till lunch when he failed to pacify the opposition to go to their seats and co-operate with the proceedings of the House. Leader of the opposition Ramakanta Mishra, rising on a point order alleged that that the Judev tape had exposed the "corrupt deal of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik". He also said the Chief Minister should resign from the post and allow CBI inquiry into the mining deal as mentioned in the tapes. Mr Mishra said since the Chief Minister himself had stated to the press that he was willing for any probe, he should not hesitate to order a CBI probe into the mining deal. As Parliamentary Affairs Minister Panchanan Kanungo stood up to clarify the issue through a point order, the Congress members rushed into the well, sat on dharna and shouted slogans. Janata Dal (S) member Ashok Das also supported the stand taken by the Congress and said the Chief Minister should accept a CBI inquiry. He said former Chhatishgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi had levelled serious corruption charges against Mr Patnaik in recommending the Sashubohumali mining lease in favour of Balco prior to its privatisation. The Judev tape, Mr Das said also mentioned the name Mr Patnaik allegedly in the mining deal adding that the Chief Minister who claimed himself as the most honest, should welcome for a CBI inquiry. (UNI) Telgi ready for lie detector test BANGALORE, Dec 6: Prime accused in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam, Abdul Karim Telgi, today said he was ready to face lie-detector and voice recording tests, as sought by the Maharashtra Special Investigation Team. "I am ready," Telgi’s counsel M M Nanaiah quoted him as saying, after the second fast track Court hearing his case here today posted the next hearing for December 17. "He (Telgi) says, nothing is going to happen.., it is all a show ..He is ready to let the matter be investigated thoroughly", so that he is proved innocent, Nanaiah told reporters, quoting Telgi. Maintaining that Telgi was not asking for a lie-detector test but had agreed after reading today’s newspapers, Nanaiah said Telgi had told him that he was ready for it. "He wants to, in fact, meet the press and have detailed discussions with the press," the lawyer said. Nanaiah said Telgi was for a CBI probe into the case. "He said let them (CBI) make a thorough investigation. Perhaps the truth will come out". According to Telgi there was some rivalry within the Police Department, he said. The Maharashtra SIT has pleaded in a special Court in Mumbai for permission to conduct lie detector test, P300 brain finger printing and narco-analysis on nine accused, including Telgi. Nanaiah said Telgi’s health condition was deteriorating and questioned Karnataka Government’s move to transfer Dr Chowhan, who was treating Telgi out of Bangalore Central Jail. (PTI) |
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