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SC directs AFSPB to consider promotion as per Delhi HC order NEW DELHI, Dec 13: The Supreme Court today directed the Air Force special .....more DD launches two channels for telecast of parliament proceedings NEW DELHI, Dec 14: In a landmark event, Doordarshan today launched two satellite ..more Sheila
Dikshit NEW DELHI, Dec 14: As Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit completes the first year of her second term today, she ...more Prez calls for multiple connectivity for India’s development ANAND, GUJARAT, Dec 14: Unveiling a series of development models for the .....more |
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Dharam Singh to expand Karnataka ministry today BANGALORE, Dec 14: The much-awaited expansion of the first-ever coalition ......more SC lawyers want laws to control population, but... NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Citing suicides in Andhra Pradesh and child selling in Orissa as signs of families having more members than they can care for, ....more His
stomach was a KARIMNAGAR, (AP), Dec 14: Surgeons at the local hospital here have removed 90 metal objects, including keys, screw drivers, spanners and .....more 25 pc senior citizens in Delhi suffer from hypertension: Study NEW DELHI, Dec 14: One fourth of the senior citizens’ population in the national capital....more |
‘No ban on Bangladeshi TV channels in India’ NEW DELHI, Dec 14: The Government today said no ban has been imposed on any Bangladeshi TV channel telecasting in India and described such reports appearing in Bangladeshi press as false and baseless. "No ban has been imposed on any Bangladeshi channel from telecasting across India. They are allowed free access in all parts of the country," official sources said. "In fact, some of the programmes are very popular and viewed by millions," they added. "Reports appearing in sections of Bangladeshi press are fabricated and baseless," the sources said. Earlier this month, Bangladehi papers reported that India has restricted access of the channels of the neighbouring country, while Indian channels were given full access in Bangladesh. (UNI) |
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DD launches two channels for telecast of parliament proceedings NEW DELHI, Dec 14: In a landmark event, Doordarshan today launched two satellite channels to telecast live the proceedings of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The channel for the Rajya Sabha was inaugurated by vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhwat and for the Lok Sabha by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. The ceremony took place in the central hall of Parliament where members from both the Houses and other dignitaries were present. Speaking on the occassion, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the live telecast will improve the quality of debates in Parliament and help in promoting informed public debate. He said the people have reposed faith in Parliamentary democracy and have an unlfinching commitment to its values and principles. Dr Manmohan Singh said by watching the vibrancy of Indian democracy at work, their faith in the democratic institutions will be strengthened. "This will serve as a direct contact betwen the people and Parliament," he observed. Mr Shekhawat, who is also the chairman of the upper House, said members would need to be more careful as their behaviuor was a role model for the functioning of state legislatures and Panchayats. "With this system, we are entering the people’s court. This will also help in removing misconceptions in people’s mind about the democratic system. The people will come to know what their elected representatives are doing in the house and the manner in which their issues are being raised." Mr Chatterjee said the live telecast will provide a direct link between the people and their representatives and will make members alert and accountable. Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy said the channels pose both an opportunity and a challenge for the members as their actions will be ‘on camera’ and not ‘in camera’. Others who were present on the occasion included United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior officials of Prasar Bharati and Cabinet Ministers. With the commencement of the telecast, India joins the ranks of the US, Britain, Canada and some European countries where the entire Parliamentary proceedings are telecast live. At present Doordarshan news, which was launched in November 2003, telecasts only question hour in both the Houses as also budget speeches and debates on the no-confidence motion. This was made possible after Doordarshan set up a complete studio in the Parliament complex. However, the telecast of question hour is limited within a radius of 15-20 km as these are shown only on Low Power Transmitters (LPTs). Trial runs for launch of the two exclusive channels of dd were conducted yesterday, and there were no glitches. On Friday, the secretaries-general of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati K S Sarma held meetings with the Multi Service Operators (MSOs), where it was stressed upon the cable operators to telecast the full proceedings of parliament in public interest. In fact, it was Mr Chatterjee who mooted the idea for launch of exclusive channels for the telecast of Parliamentary proceedings. He had also expressed his displeasure to top Doordarshan mandarins when the question hour in both the Houses could not be telecast for a few days during the ongoing session because these coincided with the cricket matches between India and South Africa. With the launch of the two new channels, Doordarshan now has a total of 19 full channels, and all of these are part of the public broadcaster’s free-to-air, Direct-to-Home (DTH) platform, which is to be launched by the Prime Minister on Thursday. Andhra Pradesh has already become the first state to telecast the complete proceedings of its Assembly. (UNI) |
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Sheila Dikshit completes one year NEW DELHI, Dec 14: As Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit completes the first year of her second term today, she readily admits that she is not quite satisfied with the pace of development in the capital—the plank on which she was voted back to office. "Yes I am not satisfied with the pace of development in the last one year, the main cause of which was the Lok Sabha elections in may. But in the remaining years of my term, I am confident of speeding up the work," she told UNI. Ms Dikshit was voted back to power last year, largely on the strength of her performance in the previous term, at a time when Congress Governments in states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party. While her dreams of turning Delhi into a world class city will take some more years to take shape, Ms Dikshit has also had to take a series of unpopular decisions. But she scored a major point over the opposition by making the centre agree to change the existing Delhi master plan to declare residential colonies having more than 70 per cent small manufacturing units as industrial areas to avoid their closure or shifting as per the Supreme Court order. The issue had snowballed into a major controversy with the BJP, the main opposition party, and the left as well as three former Prime Ministers coming forward to take up the cause of factory owners who argued that closure or shifting of factories would deprive lakhs of people in the capital of their livelihood. While Ms Dikshit may draw satisfaction from settling the issue, she may not have the same feeling when looking back at the other tasks she had set out to perform. Major developmental projects like flyovers, elevated high roads, and bio-technology parks have been delayed even as the people have been slapped with hikes in water charges, property tax, electricity tariff and parking fees. The latest move is to impose a new tax—professional tax. Besides, the CAG’s castigation of her Government’s dealings with the private power distribution companies, inflated bills and the failure of these firms to improve the power supply or attend promptly to public complaints have also provided the opposition an opportunity to corner her administration. In fact the justification for handing over electricity distribution to private hands seems to becoming less convincing to the people in the face of frequent power cuts and inability of these agencies to solve such problems. Though Ms Dikshit failed to give any satisfactory explanation about the non-performance of private distribution companies, she says the hike in electricity charges was long overdue and this decision is taken by the delhi electricity regulatory authority taking various factors into consideration. On the rise in various other taxes too, Ms Dikshit said these decision were to be taken sooner or later. "Delhiites had become too used to enjoying civic amenities without paying for their real costs, so those who could afford to pay were being charged more to ensure that the amenities were available to weaker sections at reduced costs." For example, she said water was being wasted with alarming pace by the affluent sections so the rate of water charges had been hiked for them but the hike was nominal for those who used it strictly according to their essential needs. Ms Dikshit said she was confident of making Delhi a world class city by the time she completes her second term, but for that Delhiites too have to cooperate with the Government. "One should have dreams and one should always dream big," she said. (UNI) Prez calls for multiple connectivity for India’s development ANAND, GUJARAT, Dec 14: Unveiling a series of development models for the uplift of people Below the Poverty Line (BPL), President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam today emphasised the need for providing faster connectivity in physical, knowledge, electronic and telecommunication fields to work as the engines for economic connectivity. Inaugurating the silver jubilee celebrations of Institute of Rural Development, Anand (IRMA), Dr Kalam referred to his recent interaction with a group of 60 children of Karachi city school from Pakistan during which the kids told him that poverty was the biggest enemy of both India and Pakistan. Giving a detailed presentation his a model, Pura (providing urban amenities in rural areas), he pointed out that India needed a proactive mechanism to bridge the rural-urban divide, as 70 per cent of the nation’s population continued to live in six lakh villages. "If we want to lift all of them above the bpl, we should maintain our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate at 10 per cent for the next decade." Elaborating in Pura, the President cited various forms of connectivity to link the rural and urban areas of the country. Quality roads and transport could be promoted by the Government to provide physical connectivity, while industrialists could be encouraged to provide electronic and communication links as modern means of communication, the President said. Education connectivity could, similarly, be broadened by the participation of private and public sectors as well as NGOs. These, along with market connectivity, would go a long way in ushering in an era of economic connectivity through speedier development. Dr Kalam also referred to other successful developmental models in other pars of the country such as the tribal areas of the Dangs and Valsad districts in south Gujarat. Dr Kalam cited an example from Tamil Nadu, where 60 villages have been linked via satellite after a women’s college came up at Periyar, this could serve as a role model in this regard. He described it as the "Periyar Pura" model. He said for successful implementation of the Pura model, the concept of e-governance could play a vital role. "A transparent and smart e-governance with seamless access and authentic flow of information will provide fair and unbiased information to all citizens." The President also talked about the creation of an e-governance grid between the Centre and the State Governments to facilitate faster development of India and stressed upon creative leadership as a pre-requisite for it. "A quality leader is like a magnet which would attract the best to build a team to assist him in realising his dream of development," he added. IRMA Chairman Dr Varghese Kurien regretted that "our Governments are unable to ensure good governance. Development intervention has become a means to create and sustain dependency on the Government and not nurturing self-reliance which is the foundation of a strong democracy." He said "we do need the Government in certain important areas. But, at the same time, I also believe that to facilitate development of the people, it is necessary to put the instrument of development into the hands of the people themselves." Among those present were Gujarat Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala, Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel and IRMA Director Dr K Prathap Reddy. (UNI) |
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25 pc senior citizens in Delhi suffer from hypertension: Study NEW DELHI, Dec 14: One fourth of the senior citizens’ population in the national capital suffers from hypertension and one-in-five among the elderly are diabetic, a who sample study claims. "The findings are alarming - the incidence of hypertension was found to be about 25 per cent while that of diabetes around 20 per cent," Dr N P Singh, Professor of Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, which carried out the study for Delhi centre, told reporters here last evening. One-in-three women suffer from osteoarthritis in Delhi and every fourth elderly person has high blood, he said, adding the cases of osteoarthritis in men are less. The multi-centre study has been conducted among 10,000 people, over 60 years of age, in 10 centres across Delhi, Chandigarh, Shimla, Jodhpur, Jabalpur, Chennai, Ellore, Kerala and Assam. "Each centre has completed the study and submitted the data to the sponsor - World Health Organisation. In a month or two the national data will be compiled," Singh said. He said "all these non-communicable diseases are silent killers and are diagnosed after somebody suffers from extreme events like stroke or heart attack". Pointing out that the aim of the study was to find out the morbidity and mortality profile of elderly people, Singh said "we recommend that a separate geriatric department be set up in each hospital and a separate course on geriatric medicine initiated in medical curriculum." To highlight problems of non-communicable diseases, a medicine ‘update 2004’ programme is being organised by the Maulana Azad Medical College here from December 16 to 18. Over 350 delegates and 75 speakers would discuss various branches of medicine, Dr S K Agarwal, organsing director of ‘update’, said. While the cost of prevention is low, that of treating complications related to non-communicable diseases, such as, diabetes may be 150 times more, he said, adding with an increase in obesity and diabetes cases, incidence of renal failure has gone up. In view of the exuberant cost of long term dialysis or a kidney transplant, the ideal approach is a control of diabetes and high blood pressure, Agarwal said. The incidence of heart diseases is as high as 17-22 per 1000 of the population. Prevention strategy is based on controlling - smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and sedentary lifestyle, he said. Who has said that by 2025, India was likely to have the largest number of diabetics in the world. (PTI) |
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NSCN(I-M) calls on Nagas to be "more realistic" DIMAPUR (NAGALAND), Dec 14: The NSCN(I-M) collective leadership today asked the Nagas to be "more realistic" to find a settlement to the protracted Naga political problem and said the Centre as also the entire political class has assured the outfit of an honourable solution. "But the solution must be found by appreciating and recognising the historical rights of Nagas," NSCN (I-M) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah said amidst applause from hundreds of Nagas who had gathered outside the airport since morning to welcome their leaders. Muivah said consultations with the Naga public would be the ‘most crucial phase’ of their current visit to India to hammer out a solution to the issue and asked the Nagas to freely express their views on the issue. "We are prepared to listen to you. We will advocate your opinions and views during negotiations with the Government of India," he said, urging Nagas to be ‘more realistic’ in coming together to find a settlement. Praising central and political party leaders for the warm hospitality extended to them during their week-long stay in New Delhi, Muivah said "they all have assured us of a honorable settlement through peaceful means." NSCN(I-M) chairman Issac Chishi Swu said the two of them would try to explain to Nagas how the outfit was strengthening its struggle from abroad and the process of the current peace talks with the Centre. Swu gave an open invitation to all who wished to visit Hebron, the NSCN(I-M) headquarters, to discuss and work together for a final solution to the vexed Naga issue. Welcoming Muivah and Swu, the apex tribal council, Naga Hoho chairman M Vero said the apex council appreciated the collective leadership’s recent offer of friendship to all Nagas irrespective of their past and standing. Assuring full co-operation from the Hoho to NSCN(I-M) leaders in their bid to hold consultative meetings with various Naga groups, Vero appreciated the Indian leadership for facilitating the visit of Swu and Muivah to Nagaland. The leaders were given full Government security co-ordinated by a police officer of the rank of IGP to the council headquarters ‘Hebron’ at Munglamukh, about 45 km south of here. Swu and Muivah are likely to stay here for a month before leaving for New Delhi for the next round of discussions with the Centre.(PTI) CM ask cooperative banks to intensify activities SHIMLA, Dec 14 : Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said that cooperative banks should strive hard to fulfill the objectives of cooperative movement and intensify their activities to benefit the people at large by widening their horizons aimed at small farmers and weaker sections of the society. While presiding over the meeting of the Board of Directors of the HP State Cooperative Bank Ltd here , he said that the prime objective of the cooperative banks was to assist the poor farmers of the state by providing financial assistance for their economic upliftment and also for starting various small and marginal self employment avocations. He said that initially the banks were created to save the poor farmers and weaker sections of the society for the exploitation at the hands of village money lenders which later converted into other commercial activities. Mr Singh said that the state cooperative banks need to take a lead role in strengthening the cooperatives in the state by bringing about efficiency in their functioning relevant to the present day requirements. He said that there were vast new areas emerging in the financial markets which by diversification and shifting from the traditional practices should be explored. He said that the closed cooperative societies should be helped to revise their working and business and provide necessary service to the community to gain financial strength. He said that the dormant and inactive cooperatives should also be tapped and motivated to come back into the cooperative fold. He said by adopting the wider and liberal approach towards the upliftment of the weaker sections of the society the banks should help farmer clubs and self help groups and organise contact programmes. The Chief Minister said that the year 2004 was being celebrated as the centenary year of the cooperatives and every cooperator required to take pledge to strengthen the cooperative movement in the state by directing it towards the economic prosperity and improved living standards of their lives. (UNI) Signal failure suspected to be cause of accident CHANDIGARH, Dec 14: A failure in signalling system apparently led both the passenger trains, which collided today in Mukerian, to come on the same track on the single line Jalandhar-Pathankot section, railway sources said. The sources claimed that the "block instrument signal system" had failed since yesterday. Under this system a "token" is given to the driver at a station giving line clear to reach the next station. The "token" is deposited by the driver at his next station from where only then the on coming train can be given the clear signal to move on the same track. The sources said that the "token" system ensures that two trains can not be given the green signal from two successive stations at the same time located in a single line section. But since this system was not functioning the "paper line clearance" system was in force under which the station masters of two successive railway stations interact on the telephone and given a clearance number, which is supposed to be secret. The sources said that it is suspected that there was a procedural lapse in the issuance of "paper line clearance" between the two station masters of Bangara and Chak Kalan (Mirthala) from where the Jalandhar Pathankot DMU and the Jammu Tawi Ahmedabad Express were to be given the clearances. The express was to be given the "paper line clearance" at Chak Kalan first and after it had reached the Bangara Railway Station, the DMU was to be given a similar clearance, the sources said adding that it appears both the train moved ahead on the same track resulting in the head on collision. (PTI) ‘Criminal complaint to jeopardise Lodha’s probate petition’ KOLKATA, Dec 14: S N Prasad, an associate of Rajendra S Lodha, today alleged before the Calcutta High Court that Rajinder Pansari, complainant in a case of fraud against him, Lodha and two others, had been set up by the Birlas. The criminal complaint was only to jeopardise the probate petition initiated by Lodha for the Rs 5000 crore worth property of the M P Birla group, Prasad alleged. According to trust deeds, Priyamvada Birla had absolute authority over the five trusts set up by her husband M P Birla following his death, submitted senior advocate Pradip Ghosh, appearing for Prasad in his application for quashing of charges against him moved by Pansari before a city court. The High Court had on December 8 stayed till December 16 proceedings before Alipore SDJM court against Lodha, Prasad, V Gaurishankar and S K Daga. Ghosh submitted that as such, she had the right to revoke the trusts and had done so on April 15, 1999, and had also informed the Income Tax authorities about the revocation. Ghosh stated that the Birlas’ claim that the property of the M P Birla group was vested in charity was purely a myth and blatantly absurd. Alleging that the claim of the Birlas was wrong and malafide, Ghosh submitted that the complainant has no connection with Priyamvada Birla’s will, vide which she purportedly bequeathed the M P Birla group assets to Lodha, and as such has no locus standi. He submitted that on revocation, the assets of the trusts became the property of Priyamvada, which she could will to anyone of her choice. The criminal case was moved under Sections 120b (Criminal Conspiracy) read with 406 (Criminal Breach of Trust), 417 and 420 (Cheating), 204 (Destruction of Documents to prevent its production as evidence) of IPC and Sections 93(i)(c) (Issue of Search Warrant) against Lodha, Prasad, Gauri Shankar and Daga. The matter was adjourned for the day and would come up for hearing tomorrow.(PTI)
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