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SC slams Centre for NEW DELHI, Oct 16: Slamming the Centre for not revising the wages of workers in National Textile Mills (NTC) across India for....more CPI demands SAD’s withdrawal from NDA CHANDIGARH, Oct 16: Accusing the Central Government of following the WTO policies, the CPI today said that the Shiromani....more Lady constable’s presence not mandatory to arrest women: SC NEW DELHI, Oct 16: The Supreme Court has ruled that it was not mandatory for the police to keep a lady constable present while arresting a .....more India to go ahead with peace process, says Sinha NEW DELHI, Oct 16: Rejecting that the peace process with Pakistan is mired in quick sand, External Affairs Minister Yashwant ....more |
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PM favours consensus NEW DELHI, Oct 16: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today favoured a consensus over the issue of strike by Government employees in the wake of .....more VHP
may change AYODHYA, Oct 16: With the crackdown on VHP activists continuing and administration sealing the venue of the proposed "sankalp meet" here ,....more 8.5
lalkh tourists and KURUSKEHTRA, Oct 16: Youngesters with scientific temper and also the professionals.......more Bihar
witnesses series PATNA, Oct 16: Bihar police are baffled at the recent rise in incidents of .....more |
SC slams Centre for the pitiable condition of NTC mill workers NEW DELHI, Oct 16: Slamming the Centre for not revising the wages of workers in National Textile Mills (NTC) across India for the last three decades, the Supreme Court has directed the Government to work out the pay related reliefs within four months. The textile mill workers, demanding pay parity with workers in the NTC corporate offices doing the same kind of job, had not been given any increase in their pay. This has led to a situation where a worker in the corporate office of NTC gets six-and-a-half times the salary of a worker employed in a mill. Terming the disparity as "highly unjust and unfair", a bench comprising Justice Brijesh Kumar and Justice Arun Kumar said if the mill as well as the corporate office both belonged to the same parent body then in such a situation "if the mill is incurring losses the impact has to be on everyone connected with the mill, in whatever capacity." Though agreeing with the Government stand that there could not be pay-parity between the workers in the mills and those in the corporate office, the bench said "yet, there can be no case for total denial of revision of pay to the staff/sub-staff working in the mills." Rejecting the Governtment’s stand that there would be considerable financial burden, the bench said it was nothing but "double standard" as if there was financial constraint it should not apply only to the mill workers but also to those working in the corporate offices. Saying that a case for relief to the staff/sub-staff working in the mills was definitely made out, Justice Arun Kumar, writing for the bench, said "the workers deserve some relief though not parity of pay scales...". "Therefore, we direct the Central Government to take appropriate steps which if so required may include appointment of an expert to work out the extent of relief which ought to be granted to the workers in the mills," the bench said. "The decision should be taken within four months and the same should be implemented within two months thereafer," it said, adding that the expert before taking final decision would take into consideration the views of workers and the management. Rejecting Government’s plea that no direction could be given for pay revision in case of public sector undertakings, the bench said "pay revision was being allowed in case of one category of workers within the same organisation, while it was being denied to another cateogry of workers, giving rise to discrimination." Referring to the contention of the Government that many mills have ben referred to Bifr, the bench clarified that pendency of rehabilitation schemes before Bifr was not a sufficient ground for the Court to deny relief to the workers in the mills. "The Central Government has failed to discharge its responsibility for all these years by raising such specious pleas," it said. (PTI) A UNI report from Bhopal said a foundation stone-laying programme for a Rs 1.10-crore project at Gwalior had to be cancelled as Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ravi Shankar Prasad and Union Minister of State for Coal Prahlad Patel were to attend it. Similarly, distribution of ‘Pattas’ was halted at Indore after the election officer issued directions to the District Administration to this effect on the basis of a complaint. A monitoring cell has been set up in the State Election Office in Bhopal. In Rajasthan, directions have been issued to District Collectors to enforce the poll code which bans the use of official vehicles by ministers and members of political parties for campaigning. In Mizoram, the Election Commission has issued a directive against abetting communal differences which has remained the mainstay of political activities in the state. Protests against the inclusion of reang refugees in the electoral list resulted in a statewide ‘bandh’ on September 26, called by Save Mizoram Committee (SMC), an organisation of the state’s major political parties and influential NGOs. In Rajasthan, directions have been issued to District Collectors to enforce the poll code. According to the State’s Chief Electoral Officer Lalit Kothari, no political party or leader should do anything that tends to spread hatred among communities. Criticism of other parties should be restricted to their policies. Personal attacks should be avoided. A Raipur report said the Ajit Jogi Government, which came to power after Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in November 2000, put up hoardings all over the state from early this year, highlighting its achievements. As most of these hoardings prominently featured Mr Jogi and the successes of each and every department, the BJP, which heads the ruling NDA coalition at the Centre, did not lag behind. Hoardings with portraits of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Government’s achievements came up in several towns. After the announcement of the schedule, the BJP and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) complained that these hoardings amounted to violation of the model code of conduct. The NCP also took strong exception to distribution of schoolbags, bearing photographs of Mr Jogi, in several districts. The Election Commission issued a directive yesterday asking the Chhattisgarh Government to immediately stop the free distribution of the school bags. A report from Aizawl said Mizoram’s ethnic minorities have borne the brunt of an anti-minority stand dominating the pre-poll scenario. Most political parties, having kept the issue of appeasing the greater Mizo population high on their agendas, have been quick to disown lenbngs and ties associated with ethnic minorities. Accusations of pro-minority policy against the ruling MNF by the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) has invariably evoked elaborate clarifications from the MNF Government, wary of being caught on the wrong foot over the issue. However, with the emergence of the ZNP-MPC alliance as the third force, vote division in the Congress and the Mizo National Front (MNF) support bases among the dominant Mizo tribes has become imminent and as such winning the minority-held constituencies, especially Chwangte, Phuldungsei and Kawrthah in South-Western Mizoram is expected to be crucial. Meanwhile, eager to play a decisive role in the polls, the powerful Church lobby of the state has issued its own set of sermons and guidelines to the electorate, thus infringing into political territory. In Delhi, Health Minister A K Walia was unable to inaugurate the Rs 14.5 crore socio-economic centre at Laxmi Nagar in east Delhi before the election. The Congress had also planned to open a number of ‘chaupals’ to woo rural voters, especially in Bawana, Najafgarh and Narela. The model Code of Conduct entails that official machinery for political functions is not to be allowed. Even the official cellphone or telephone is not to be used for party work. No official stationery nor any other equipment can be used for electoral gains. However, congress sources said most of the ministers were able to announce the pre-poll schemes or inaugurate projects well in time to avoid the scrutiny of the Election Commission. During the past month, the Congress was able to inaugurate a number of hospitals at places like Narela and Tahirpur and school buildings at Vishnu garden and Narela. "We were also able to disburse loans among those belonging to the economically weaker sections," the sources said. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who launched her ten-day "clean city campaign", was able to finish it on October 2. She also inaugurated late last month a power service station at Dwarka in west Delhi. Despite it being the election year, the Government failed to utilise its plan funds optimally. In the first six months of the current financial year which ended September, merely 25 per cent of the plan funds could be spent. The BJP had to cancel the inauguration of a flyover at ring road (National Highway 24) by Minister of State for Urban Development Bandaru Dattatreya. Union Tourism and Culture Minister Jagmohan and Delhi Lt Governor Vijay Kapoor were also expected to be present at the function. However, Delhi BJP president Madan Lal Khurana, who is the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate, was able to conclude, without any hiccups, his 35-day "Parivartan Yatra", saying he was successful in nailing down various acts of commission and omission of the Sheila Dikshit Government. Both the BJP and the Congress claimed credit for the inauguration of the Tis Hazari-Trinagar section of the metro rail by the Prime Minister on October 3. (UNI) |
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CPI demands SAD’s withdrawal from NDA CHANDIGARH, Oct 16: Accusing the Central Government of following the WTO policies, the CPI today said that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), a coalition partner in the NDA, should withdraw it’s support to the centre for "adopting measures" against the Agrarian sector. "This is the real test for Akalis...If they are sincere then they should withdraw support to the Centre as it is following policies against the farm sector," Punjab CPI secretary Joginder Dayal told a press conference here. He said that sad representative Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who is a Union Minister, should tender his resignation from the Vajpayee cabinet protesting the NDA’s adoption of WTO dictates. Maintaining that only left political parties were consistent in their stand against WTO, he said that left parties should wage a collective battle against the affects of WTO on the farm sector. He lashed out at both the Congress and the SAD in Punjab for failing to highlight problems, including unemployment and inflow of drugs, concerning commonmen. "Agriculture sector, peasantry and law and order in Punjab is in deep crisis" he alleged adding that SAD had failed to play the role of an opposition. Lashing out at Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh for allegedly not respecting democratic institutions in the state, Dayal said that "legislature is losing grip on the governance in the state." "It is only a few bureaucrats close to the Chief Minister who are running the Government in Punjab," he added. He said that the State Secretariat of CPI which met here for the past two days had decided to "gherao" district headquarters in the state on November 27 to protest Government’s policy on farm and other sectors. The CPI activists would stage a "Jatha March" between November 20 to 26 in rural areas in Punjab to apprise people about anti-farm and anti-people policies of the Amarinder Singh Government, he said. Dayal said that the Congress Government in Punjab had failed to stop the radical Hindu and Sikh organisations from raising their heads in the state. "These organisations are religious fundamentalist forces and detrimental for the peace of the country," he added. (PTI) |
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Lady constable’s presence not mandatory to arrest women: SC NEW DELHI, Oct 16: The Supreme Court has ruled that it was not mandatory for the police to keep a lady constable present while arresting a woman at any time of the day or night if they felt that securing the presence of a lady constable would delay the process of law. The order was given by a bench comprising Justice N Santosh Hegde an Justice B P Singh while modifying a direction of the Bombay High Court that "no female persons shall be detained or arrested without the presence of a lady constable and in no case, after sun-set and before sub-rise". The High Court direction had come in a sordid case in which one Junious Adam Illamatti was taken into custody by the Crime Branch of Nagpur Police on June 23, 1993. While in police custody he was found dead. When his wife Jarina Adam went to the police station to inquire about her husband, she was locked up and molested by police. The Maharashtra Government had sought modification of the High Court direction prohibiting arrest of a lady after sun-set and before sun-rise as well as making presence of a lady constable during arrest at the daytime as mandatory. The Apex Court bench agreed with the object behind the direction issued by the High Court but said "we think a strict compliance of the said direction, in a given circumstance, would cause practical difficulties to the investigating agency and might even give room for evading the proces of law by unscrupulous accused. Justice Hegde, writing for the bench, said while it was necessary to protect the female sought to be arrested by police from police misdeeds, it might not be always possible and practical to have the presence of a lady constable when the necessity for such arrest arises. Modifying the High Court directive, the bench said the object would be served if it was said that "while arresting a female person, all efforts should be made to kep a lady constable present." However, the presence of a lady constable was not to be insisted on if the arresting officers felt that such a constable was not immediately available or securing her presence would delay the arrest impeding the course of investigation, the bench said. The Apex Court said the reasons for not securing the presence of a lady constable while arresting a female would be recorded in writing by the arresting officer either before the arrest or immediately thereafter. Once the conditions were fulfilled, the police would be "permitted to arrest a female person for lawful reasons at any time of the day or night depending on the circumstances of the case even without the presence of a lady constable", the bench said. (PTI) |
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8.5 lalkh tourists and pilgrims visit Kurukshetra’s Panorma museum KURUSKEHTRA, Oct 16: Youngesters with scientific temper and also the professionals are more fascinated by the Panorama museum and science centre of Kurukshetra than the older ones , says a survey report conducted on the visitors from October 2002 to August 2003 of this unique museum of the country. According to Mr S Kumar incharge of this museum, 65 per cent of the visitors to the museum were youths ranging between 20 to 40 years of age and 50 per cent were associated with any profession. Sixtyseven per cent visitors possessed the degrees of graduates and postgraduates. Over 70 visitors wanted to upgrade their knowledge of science , particularly of the epic age . Seventyfive per cent people visited the museum for the first time while 17 per cent saw its twice . Of all the visitors , 40 per cent were the students from all over the country.He informed that 63 per cent pilgrims and tourists preferred to visit the Panorama museum during their visit to the holy city of Mahabharata age, while only 16 per cent visited Sri Krishna museum , a museum exhibiting artifacts, portraits, idols , paintings and murals belonging to Lord Krishna from his childhood to death. However , 21 percent preferred visiting other historical and religious places and not these two museums. Both these museums can be visited on the tickets of Rs 10 each. The survey claimed that 62 per cent visitors expressed that they realised peace and consolation during their visit to Panorama museum .Here the males outnumbered the females. Seventyeight per cent of males and 22 per cent of females visited the museum . The reason of the disproportion was that the females did not like war scenes as those could mar or vitiate their soft feeling and emotions. More than 50 per cent visitors spent more than two hours observing the scenes of Mahabharata in the museum , while other cut short their visit by half an hour to jump on to another historical and religious sites of the holy city having the monumental sites sprawling over an area of 48 kilometers in the districts of Kurukshetra,Karnal, Kaithal and Jind. (UNI) |
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Bihar witnesses series of blinding incidents PATNA, Oct 16: Bihar police are baffled at the recent rise in incidents of mobs blinding suspected criminals and are blaming movies for it. Four such incidents have been reported in the state during the last two months and on Sunday, three persons lost their eyes in two cases in Sheikhpura and Sitamarhi districts. Inspector General of Police (headquarters), Neelmani while talking to PTI today said that such frenzied mob behaviour had taken place earlier also, but alleged that films such as Praksh Jha’s ‘Gangajal’ were contributing to the violent behaviour. In the first incident, a group of bus passengers and villagers caught two brothers, who reportedly tried to loot a bus in Mehush village of Sheikhpura district and after severely thrashing them pierced their eyes with screw drivers. The police took the victims, identified as Dayanand Yadav and Adhik Yadav, to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) for specialised treatment. Another incident took place on the same day at a local public health centre in Bathaulia village of Sitamarhi district where some flood affected people had taken shelter. Two families, one of Ramadhar Das and another of Mohammad Hameed, clashed over the limited space available. Mohammad Mustafa, a relative of hameed, reportedly misbehaved with Ramadhar’s daughter Chunchun Kumari following which angry onlookers grabbed Mustafa and after severely beating him poured acid into his eyes. In August, two cases of gouging out eyes of as many persons on the charge of theft were reported from Khagaria and Banka districts. Neelmani said that the sudden spurt in such gruesome incidents had left the police baffled. "The police have initiated prompt action in all the cases reported, but we have to think how to stop it completely", he added. Police had lodged firs in all the four incidents and investigations were on. Khagaria Superintendent of Police Ajit Joy has taken the strong step of recommending to the District Magistrate to impose collective fine on the villagers of Mathurapur village for their direct or indirect participation in gouging out the eyes of 16 year-old Dhanveer Yadav on the charge of stealing a cycle. Joy told PTI over phone that the District Police had arrested one person in this connection and were in the process of obtaining warrants for attachment of property of about 60 people who were absconding. In Banka, where a suspected cattle lifter was blinded in August, the police had lodged FIRs against unknown people. Bathaulia Police of Sitamarhi district had lodged two FIRs in the blinding case of Mustafa — one against Mustafa for misbehaving with the girl and another against the girl’s father Ramadhar Das and unknown persons for the acid attack on Mustafa. (PTI) Consumer rejected CAS, feels broadcasters MUMBAI, Oct 16: With the future of the Conditional Access System (CASD still in dark, broadcasters are of the view that it is the consumer and not pay channels who have derailed the rollover. Speaking at the frames 2004 knowledge series on cable and satellite sector, CEO of Sony entertainment Kunal Das Gupta, who has been appointed as the co-chairman of the FICCI entertainment committee said besides political compulsions which have resulted in stalling the CAS regime in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, was is the lack of unified marketing message regarding CAS. "There is no clarity regarding rates of pay channels and set top boxes. Besides, it is a bad consumer choice to force something on them", he felt. Referring to the CAS situation in Chennai, Mr Das Gupta said 96 per cent of Chennai viewers do not watch popular Hindi television programmes and the most popular regional channels are have Free To Air (FTA) and hence the consumer is not missing entertainment. There are only 6400 set-top boxes which is not even one per cent of the total cable homes in the metropolis. The cable viewers are not going in for purchasing set-top boxes as they would like to see how the situation unfolds in the other three metropolises after the elections are over. Mr R T Hingorani, vice-chairman of Indu Sind Media and Communications Ltd, felt CAS did not take off despite good intentions of the I B ministry because of the non-co-operation and lukewarm attitude of some broadcasters. Similarly, there was lack of adequate political support from those who had earlier supported the system. He said state elections had become an issue even when the system was viewer friendly. According to him, political parties took advantage and formed associations to oppose the consumer-friendly measures by making it out to be anti-operator and distributor. Multi Service Operators (MSOs) who had sunk millions in CAS, were in for a rude shock with the date of mandatory implementation being changed and no clear stand on implementation from the Centre. Mr Sushil Jiqara, chairman of FICCI western regional council said the opening of the cable and satellite industry in India has totally revolutionalised the entertainment industry and has made entertainment as one of the basic neccessities of life accessible to a common man. However, the problem of piracy and under declaration due to illegal screening of films on cable networks is depriving both the television and film sector of its revenues. The FICCI strongly recommends stringent legal measures to be adopted to check the dual problems of under declaration and piracy. This will not only lead to both the sectors getting their fair revenues but also the Government receiving additional taxes by way of declared incomes. With the ushering in of pay TV regime, CAS, Dth and other delivery platforms, newer avenues will open up where the movies could be directly released on the satellite networks and the consumer be asked to pay a premium for those movies. (UNI) I love culture, social system, dances of India: Ullmann NEW DELHI, Oct 16: Impressed by the portrayal of culture and dance in Indian cinema, renowned international actor and director Liv Ullmann today said she would like Indian filmmakers to make more films on elderly people and on the family system which were the foundation of the Indian heritage. "I will like to see films to be made on elderly people who are loving, caring and alive. Films that recognise family life. As audience we want to see films with which we can identify ourselves," Ms Ullmann said. Addressing the customary press conference on being conferred with the lifetime achievement award, the filmmaker said she was, however, completely against films like "Spiderman" and those which promote violence. She said films were a wonderful medium of story-telling and communicating and should be such which could be watched with the whole family. Asked what were the aspects she liked about Indian cinema, she said India’s culture and dance as shown in the films. "They are wonderful." She had a word of praise for Bollywood saying that some of the films made here were top class. "But you also make some stupid films," she added. Ullmann said she had seen the films of master cine craftsman Satyajit Ray, winner of the Oscar Lifetime Achivement Award, but did not remember the names. Asked if she would like to make a film in Iindia, Uullmann replied in the negative saying that, "I am comfortable with the films I make there. I don’t know of the costumes and reactions of the Indian artistes. It would be better if Indian films are made by people who are from here." Ms Ullmann called for India-Norway joint venture in films. "We need not depend on the Governments. It can be between the filmmakers of the countries, whether those from Bollywood or elsewere in India is of no significance." The artiste said she had written two books and one of them "choices..." had a lot of content on India." A UNICEF Ambassador, Ms Ullmann said she was completely against the huge financial investments made by various Governments globally in purchasing arms and army equipments. "Billions are spent on the purchase of arms and other equipments. There is so much of poverty in the world and if only some percentage was spent on eradicating it, the world would become a better place to live," she asserted. The filmmaker, who has made films in several countries, said terrorism and violence was growing because of poverty. "Poverty invites only bad people. And this is more so because good people do not come to the poor people." Ms Ullmann opposed violence in any form and said she did not like to watch computer games as most portray a lot of violence, which is especially not good for children."I don’t know how to use a computer. I don’t want to learn it also," she added. She supported the idea of introduction of censorship to the extent that it controlled the portrayal of violence in films. Asked if she identified herself with the characters she played in her films, the filmmaker, who prefers direction to acting, said she played the characters as they were and only used her experience in improving the quality of the characters. About her future production, she said currently she was busy with the pre-production work like writing the script for her forthcoming venture "dolls house", to be produced by Henry Ipson. About her visit to India, Ms Ullmann said she was immensely impressed by the Taj Mahal and the people and families she met during the three-and-a-half-hour journey to Agra yesterday. Talking about selection of roles, she said during her early years in films she accepted all the films that came her way, but as she grew she became selective and did only a few meaningful films. (UNI) Having survived crisis DF Govt steps in its final year MUMBAI, Oct 16: For the Congress-led Democratic Front (DF) Government in Maharashtra, which completes four years in office this Saturday, the coalition experiment has been more of a tight-rope walk with intra-party and intra-coalition infightings, threatening to upset the delicate balancing act. Set to face the acid test of assembly elections next year, the Congress’s second attempt at coalition governance, after Kerala ,has seen many a hurdle, at times pushing it to the brink. Repeated spats between the two major coalition partners Ccongress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) as well as infighting within them, rumblings of revolt from smaller allies and independents, opposition onslaught and acute power and drinking water shortage, were some of the challenges for the ruling coalition, which has so far had two congress Chief Ministers. However, the coalition has managed to stick around with the partners staying together more out of fear of Shiv Sena-BJP coming to power. Not planning any celebrations to mark the occasion, Chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde has said he did not believe in counting days in office but would like to continue working tirelessly for the welfare of the people. Besides, the recent humiliating defeat suffered by the Congress in Sholapur, the home turf of the Chief Minister, and its volte face over the reported "ultimatum" to NCP president Sharad Pawar for his remark that his party’s stand on foreign origins of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi remained unchanged, would dampen any enthusiasm for celebrations to mark four years of DF Government. Coming to power on October 18, 1999 after the assembly elections threw up a fractured mandate, the DF coalition was an alliance of congress, NCP, Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), Janata Dal (S), Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM), RPI, Samajwadi Party and independents, even as the communists supported the Government from outside. In the last four years, communists, PWP and Samajwadi Party withdrew support to the Government. Samajwadi Party’s two legislators joined the NCP, while BBM split with all the three MLAs forming a separate group in the legislative assembly and continuing their support the Government. The two CMs, first Vilasrao Deshmukh and at present, Sushilkumar Shinde, both from the Congress, worked to evolve policies and programmes to bring the state out of the financial doldrums and so far, of the Rs 93,000 crore debt, the State Government has managed to repay Rs 2000 crore. The DF Government all along blamed the previous Shiv Sena-BJP Government for all the ills facing the state. Mr Shinde had to face the flak on the rising incidents of atrocities against Dalits in various parts of the state and social crusader Anna Hazare levelling corruption charges against NCP ministers in the Government and demanding their removal. One of the ministers, Suresh Jain levelled counter allegations against Hazare and both sat on fast-unto-death agitations demanding action against each other. The week-long agitation ended when Mr Shinde instituted a one-man commission to probe charges made by Mr Hazare against the ministers and Jain’s allegations against Mr Hazare. In the last four years, the Government’s main thrust has been on infrastructure development, ensuring fiscal discipline in the economy and fighting scarcity in most of the rural parts of the state. After Mr Shinde assumed power in January this year, the focus has shifted to bringing the neglected sections of the society into the social mainstream. He also continued with the infrastructure development and fiscal discipline programmes initiated at the start. Similarly, the Government in the last one year prepared a new legislation on transfers, welfare scheme for domestic workers, insurance scheme for students, free distribution of text books to girls upto eighth standard in Zilla Parishad and other aided schools, empowerment of Gram Sabhas, surrender policy for Naxalites. "Vision Mumbai" draft is also being prepared for development and upgradation of Mumbai and waiving off arrears on service tax to be levied on regularised slum dwellers. Another important decision taken by Mr Shinde was that the Government would not give direct guarantees to loans availed by co-operative institutions after the debt recovery tribunal served two notices on the Government to attach its properties following failure of the co-operative units to repay their loan. When this Government came to power four years ago, the revenue income was Rs 25,261 crore, while the revenue expenditure was Rs 29,534 crore. Besides, the interest of debt per year was Rs 5596 crore. Drinking water schemes worth Rs 15,000 core were undertaken and left incomplete, despite paucity of funds, works of more than Rs 11,000 crore were undertaken for the Krishna Valley Project. The World Bank had not granted financial aid of Rs 1032 crore as the Government had said no to power reforms. From January 2003 to May 2003, the state received industrial investment proposals of Rs 2,297 crore. Investors are being given the status of state guests and prominent among those who have already submitted their proposals are Scoda Auto India, LG electronics and Infosys. The sanctioning of World Bank funds for MUTP and clearance for the Bandra-Worli sea link has been achieved by this Government. Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) has filed a petition with the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for the re-start of first phase of Dabhol Power Company (DPC) project. MSEB has proposed to buy electricity at the rate of Rs 2.80 per unit at 83 per cent Plant Load Factor (PLF). Besides, several cases are going on in the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court on re-starting the project. Opposition Shiv Sena-BJP cites the failure of this Government to start any power generation projects resulting in acute power shortage in the state, apathetic attitude towards farmers issues resulting in suicides of more than 100 farmers and failure to provide relief to drought hit areas of the state. The opposition also charges this Government with rampant corruption involving political bigwigs from the ruling coalition like the co-operative bank scam, multi-crore inter-state fake stamps racket,sugar export scandal among other things. "This Government’s biggest achievement is that it has been able to cling on to power despite deep differences for the fear of our comeback. The Congress and NCP can do anything to remain in power. All developmental works have been stalled in the last four years", the opposition charges. (UNI) People should change mindset vis-a-vis pvt enterprise: PM NEW DELHI, Oct 16: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today said people should change their mindset that private enterprise was only for maximising wealth for the employers as quick growth in all sectors of the economy and all regions of the country was critical for faster eradication of poverty. " India has suffered much because of three types of beliefs. First, the belief that held that private enterprise is only for maximising wealth for the employers. Second, the belief that held that there is fundamental contradiction between the class of employers and the class of employees. "Thirdly there was a belief among some in the Government - and that belief is still there to some extent - that their job is to control everything, and not to facilitate investment and growth," the Prime Minister said in his inaugural address at the 39th Indian Labour Conference here. Vajpayee said this mindset had to be changed. "We should replace it with a single overriding belief - namely, that faster growth in all sectors of the economy, and in all regions of our vast country, is critical for faster eradication of poverty," he said. Observing that the country had made a significant all-round progress since economic reforms were unveiled slightly over a decade ago, he said "our economy is growing stronger by the month - indeed, it is rated as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. .... Reforms have begun to unleash the untapped productivity in our economy." While asking employers to be more sensitive to the needs and concerns of their employees, Vajpayee said the new economic compulsions required workers and their trade unions to be sensitive to the needs of their business units. Stating that many companies could no longer guarantee a life-long employment, the Prime Minister asked "but can they not guarantee employability. "This is a concern that many potential VRS seekers have. Skill and capabilities of workers, displaced in the process of restructuring is important for their reintegration in the mainstream of economy," he said. Pointing out the changes in the nature of employment in the new economy, he said increased ancialliarisation in production system and contract manufacturing had shifted the focus of employment from the organised secttor to the service and peripheral sectors. The Prime Minister said that a mismatch between the skill requirement and skill base of job seekers has for long been an important reason for unemployment and under employment and that a majority of our work force does not possess any identifiable marketable skill. "It is, therefore, necessary to reorient and restructure our educational and training system meaningfully to meet the requirement of the changed employement scenario," he said and sought cooperation of all to boost productivity, production, competitiveness and the employment creation potential of the Indian economy. Observing that the existing labour laws were only for those employed in the organised sector, Vajpayee said the Government wished to bring suitable changes in the legal framework. "Our aim is to make our laws respond better to the needs of millions of poor people in our rural and urban areas, working as landless labourers, contract workers on building sites, on road construction and street vendors," he said. The Prime Minister said that providing basic social security to workers in the unorganised sector continued to be the biggest challenge before the Government. An umbrella legislation to provide labour protection, medical care, old age pension and insurance cover to the workers in the unorganised sector is on the anvil, he said. He also said that despite various constraints, the Government had been able to improve the conditions of unorganised labour to some extent. Vajpayee said the Government’s commitment to the welfare of workers and farmers was evident in the recent wto ministerial conference at Cancun. (PTI) |
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