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Charismatic Apang ITANAGAR, Oct 16: Charismatic Gegong Apang was back in saddle in Arunachal Pradesh today heading a Congress Government for his 21st year ...more Moga Police book Tarna Dal chief Baba Ajit Singh Poohla MOGA, Oct 16: The police here today registered a criminal case undeer various sections of the IPC against Tarna Dal chief Ajit Singh Poohlaand six ...more HC
directions great ROHTAK, Oct 16: Reacting to the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the Khaap Panchayat asking a ......more Despite
food surplus, NEW DELHI, Oct 16: The United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) today marked the world food day ....more |
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BJP wrests two
Congress-held seats, AHMEDABAD, Oct 16: Defying pre-poll expectations, BJP today romped home victorious in two of the five Assembly ....more HC acquits Nepalese woman of murdering her husband NEW DELHI, Oct 16: Delhi High Court has acquitted a nepalese woman of the charge of murdering her husband, . ......more Congress
wrests Bidar BIDAR, October 16: Arresting the dominance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).....more Cong-NCP fought all odds to win Maharashtra MUMBAI, Oct 16: It was a tough task for the Congress-NCP alliance to romp home in Maharashtra battling all odds including a serious anti-incumbency .......more |
| Congress increases its tally in
Punjab Assembly ...... Next Maharashtra CM to be from Congress: Pawar ..... Differences crop up between AP Govt, Naxals over arms issue ..... |
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Charismatic Apang back in saddle ITANAGAR, Oct 16: Charismatic Gegong Apang was back in saddle in Arunachal Pradesh today heading a Congress Government for his 21st year as Chief Minister, a record which is surpassed only by Jyoti Basu in West Bengal. A changed scenario greeted Apang this time with BJP, which he himself helped in the state, making its maiden entry into the Assembly in the polls. The most popular figure in this north-eastern state, 57-year-old Apang has headed Congress, Arunachal Congress and BJP Governments before returning with the Congress this time round. His stint included a 19-year rule since 1980 spanning four terms when he shaped the destiny of this startegic state. His election as the CLP leader had been unanimous but not without some acrimony as a section of the party, including PCC leaders, were against the "Aya Ram Gaya Ram" politics indulged by him. Born on January 10, 1947 at Karko village in upper Siang district, Apang started his political career as a member of the Congress Pradesh Council between 1972-1975 after passing out from J M College at Pasighat. Since then there was no looking back for him. He became the member of the first provisonal Assembly between 1975-1978 and served as its Agriculture Minister in 1977. Apang was elected to the first legislative Assembly of the state in 1978 and was appointed its PWD and Agriculture Minister. He returned in the second Assembly in January 1980 and became the Chief Minister for the first time on Januray 18 that year. Of the four terms as Chief Minister, he headed Congress Governments for three terms and in his fourth term that of the Arunachal Congress, a regional party floated by him in 1996 following differences with the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao over his demand for deportatation of the Chakma-Hajong refugees from the tribal state. He was toppled by Mukut Mithi, his Home Minister and now the PCC chief, who formed Congress (M) Mithi later joined Congress and led the party to a thumping win in the Assembly election held at the end of the year. This left Apang in political wilderness for four years. A political survivor, he managed to engineer a mass defection, toppled the Mithi Government and formed the United Democratic Front Government in August last year. Apang who had successfully used the popularity of the BJP at the Centre joined the party along with his followers later. BJP in turn was able to form its maiden Government in the north east. But the relation with the party was shortlived and he recommended the dissolution of the house about two months ahead of the end of its term on July 7, a day after the regulation down-sizing of the ministry, which had to be reduced to a mere 12 from total 33. Apang along with his flock returned to the Congress fold in August this year in New Delhi, a step which was seen to be in sync with the practice in the north east of supporting and forming Governments by the party in power at the Centre. His return this time also saw the entry of his son Omak, a former Central Minister into the State Assembly. (PTI) |
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Moga Police book Tarna Dal chief Baba Ajit Singh Poohla MOGA, Oct 16: The police here today registered a criminal case undeer various sections of the IPC against Tarna Dal chief Ajit Singh Poohlaand six others, all resident of Meerke under Valtoha Police Station in Tarantaran area for alleged kidnapping of Mohan Singh, a resident of this town on October 22, 1990. According to the FIR lodged with the police, by Saada Singh son of late Mohan Singh, he said that their family knew Baba Ajit Singh Poohla and when Poohla became head of the Tarna Dal. His father Mohan Singh presented a purse of Rs 50,000 in cash, five buffeloes, one cow, one horse and a jeep with the understanding that Nihang chief Poohla will appoint Mohan Singh as Jathedar. When Poohla refused to appoint him as Jathedar in 1988 his father Mohan Singh lodged protest and demanded back his money and other things but Phoola refused to return these, according to the complainant. In protest Mohan Singh came back to Moga because his agriculture land measuring about seven acres was also forcibly taken over by other six accused refered in the FIR. Saada Singh in the FIR further stated that Poohla along with six other accused arrived at Moga on October 22,1990 in three vehicles and forcibly kidnapped his father Mohan Singh from the cattle fair where he was acting as supervisor. On October 24 last year when he visited, ‘Poohla’, the headquater of the Nihang chief he was informed by Poohla men that Mohan Singh was "mercilessly beaten to death and his body was thrown in the river near Hargobindpur". Recently, Saada Singh approached the Inspector General Police Jalandhar range for justice for returning back of his property taken over by Poohla’s men. The IG in June this year marked the complaint to SSP Moga for enquiry and necessary action. SP (detective) H S Pannu conducted the enquiry and found the charged levelled by Saada Singh as true and the case was registered today. (PTI) |
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HC directions great relief, feels Sonia ROHTAK, Oct 16: Reacting to the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the Khaap Panchayat asking a married couple to live like "brother and sister", Sonia said the court had provided much needed relief to her and the family. "The High Court order has encouraged me to continue the fight against the unjust dictum of the Rathee Khaap Panchayat of three villages", Sonia, who is pregnant, said speaking from her hospital bed in PGMS here. The Panchayat had on Sunday ordered termination of her marriage with her husband Rampal on the pretext of its social unacceptability. Sonia asserted that she would go to her in-laws’ house in Asanda village immediately after she was discharged from the hospital. Meanwhile, Jhajjar district police chief sent a police party at Asanda village on Thursday night following the receipt of a representation through fax from Sonia’s husband Rampal, who apprehended danger to the lives and property of his family, in the wake of the Rathee Khaap Panchayat’s decision. Bahadurgarh DSP Rajender Singh has been entrusted with the task of conducting investigations into the case and to ensure safety and security of the family. A PCR van and a motorcycle with a six member police squad headed by sub Inspector had been deployed in the village in view of reports of tension brewing there. On the other hand, the Rathee Khaap Panchayat of three villages- Asanda, Kharhar and Bhaprouda- slated for October 24 next has been cancelled. Khaap Pradhan Dharam Singh, when contacted over telephone said that the meeting had been cancelled following the High Court directions. The Panchayat would take further action only after final disposal of the case by the High Court. The Punjab and Haryana High Court yesterday directed the Panchayat not to interfere in the marital life of the couple, who were ordered by the village heads to live like "brother and sister" on the claim that brotherly relations existed between their clans. The district administration and the Police Chief of Jhajjar had also been asked by the court to ensure the liberty of couple to live like husband and wife. (PTI) Despite food surplus, India has 25 pc of world’s hungry: UNWFP NEW DELHI, Oct 16: The United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) today marked the world food day expressing serious concern that despite considerable food surpluses, India is still home to nearly 25 per cent of the world’s hungry population. The UNWFP said that after seeing a decline of 20 million hungry people between 1990-97, there has actually been an increase of the same number from 1998-2001. UNWFP offices around the world are today calling for a new focus on the routine hungry , the people left without enough food, not because of natural disasters or conflict, but simply because they are too poor to provide for themselves and their families. These people who make up more than 90 per cent of the world’s hungry are hit even harder when high-profile emergencies take up the bulk of donor aid budgets. Recalling the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) adopted by the UN General Assembly to halve the number of hungry people in the world by 2015 UNWFP executive director James Morris noted that the number of hungry people outside China had actually gone up since the MDGs were adopted, while the volume of food aid had fallen from 15 million tonnes worldwide in 1999 to 10 million tonnes in 2003. We can break this spiral, Morris said in a statement and added there is already enough food in the world for everyone. It s a question of will and determination, not just on world food day, but tomorrow, the next day and over the years to come. UNWFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency. In 2003 it gave food aid to a record 104 million people in 81 countries, including 56 million hungry children. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the UNWFP celebrate world food day on October 16 every year in commemoration of its founding on that day in Quebec city, Canada. The theme for world food day for 2004 is biodiversity for food security. It will highlight biodiversity’s role in ensuring that people have sustainable access to enough high-quality food to lead active and healthy lives. (UNI) |
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Cong-NCP fought all odds to win Maharashtra MUMBAI, Oct 16: It was a tough task for the Congress-NCP alliance to romp home in Maharashtra battling all odds including a serious anti-incumbency factor, an upbeat Shiv Sena-BJP and a host of other parties including Mayawati’s BSP and Samajwadi Party, out to make inroads in the key state. A quick look at the results and trends showed that the ruling alliance made a remarkable recovery in Vidarbha after being down in the dumps in the Lok Sabha polls. This was despite both the Congress and NCP losing vote share in the region compared to 1999 when the two parties had contested separately, soon after Sharad Pawar parted ways on the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin. The story of 2004, was however, that despite much hype the Mayawati-led BSP could not make any inroads in the Vidarbha region, having sizable Dalit population or in any other region. Similar was the fate of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Jana Shakti which had trooped in strength in Maharashtra, the second largest state after Uttar Pradesh, to hold the balance of power in a keen tussle. The results showed that the polity got polarised in the rival Congress-NCP and Shiv Sena-BJP formations and their rebels, including independents, leaving hardly any vote share to other political parties. In western Maharashtra, the area of dominance of NCP and Congress, the rebels made much dent by winning some 10 seats while the tally of SS-BJP remained almost the same. The opposition combine failed to make further dent into any region and in fact lost their predominant position in the strongholds of Konkan and Mumbai. This was also because the saffron combine, especially the Shiv Sena, faced a rebellion in some seats for the first time. The only consolation was that they managed to hold on to their 1999 position in Marathwada, the region from where BJP state party chief Gopinath Munde hails from. In north Maharashtra too, the BJP-Shiv Sena has conceded some space to Congress-NCP with the Pawar-led party winning three more seats as also slightly improving its vote share in the region. The opposition combine’s hope to ride to power through the division of secular vote was dashed as the parties led by Mayawati, Mulayam and Paswan failed to make any headway. The Congress-NCP’s strategy to align with the RPI groups which were their traditional alliance partners, appears to have helped the ruling alliance but not the RPI factions. (PTI) |
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Congress increases its tally in Punjab Assembly CHANDIGARH, Oct 16: The ruling Congress improved its tally in the Punjab Assembly by gaining Garh Shankar from the BJP and retaining the Kapurthala constituency in the by-election in the state for two Assembly seats which had fallen vacant after election of the sitting legislators to the Lok Sabha recently. Love Kumar Goldy (Congress) defeated his nearest rival Mohinder Pal Mann (BJP-SAD alliance) by 18,080 votes to annex the Garh Shankar seat from the BJP. Goldy secured 37,378 votes, Mann got 19,298 votes and CPMS Maha Singh Rori finished third with 9,129 votes in a contest which saw 11 candidates trying their luck. Congress retained the Kapurthala seat with its nominee Sukhjinder Kaur getting 47,890 votes to defeat former Transport Minister Raghbir Singh (SAD-BJP alliance) by 13,290 votes. Tarsem Thapar of the BSP secured only 1003 votes in an 11-cornored contest. With today’s gain of one seat the tally of the Congress in the 117-member house has risen to 65. The strength of the other parties is sad 41, BJP two and independents 9. Kapurthala and Garh Shankar Assembly seats had fallen vacant following the election of Rana Gurjit Singh, whose sister-in-law Sukhjinder has now taken his place and Punjab BJP president Avinash Rai Khanna to the Lok Sabha recently. (PTI) Next Maharashtra CM to be from Congress: Pawar NEW DELHI, Oct 16: As the election results and trends showed the Congress-NCP inching towards the half way mark, NCP leader Sharad Pawar today said that the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra would be from the Congress whom his party would support. He also said that credit also goes to Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. "If you are getting majority, definitely the credit also goes to Chief Minister," Pawar told reporters. The NCP leader said that Congress was going to select its leader and NCP would support and "this is our clear cut thinking." It was the prerogative of the Congress to select its leader, he added. The NCP leader ruled himself out as the Chief Minister saying that he stands by "the decision to come to Delhi and I am happy." Pawar, however, ruled out merging his party with the Congress. "We will be happy to keep our separate identity and and cooperate with secular forces," he said when asked whether merger of his party with Congress was possible either in the short or long term. Asked whether a young Union Minister like Prithviraj Chavan could be the next Chief Minister, he said "I will be happy... However it is the prerogative of the Congress.. If Congress selects someone who has been elected to the State Assembly." Pawar said the democratic front has made "substantial" gains in the saffron domains of Konkan and Mumbai, besides north Maharashtra, while it has improved its position in western Maharashtra. The NCP president was hopeful that the DF will achieve majority on its own and form a new Government, while the saffron combine would be restricted to less than 110 seats. Denying that the neck to neck fight as shown in the initial counting trends made him nervous, Pawar said the counting of votes in the respective strongholds of the two combines reflected in the initial rounds. (PTI)pri gen nat.Newdel del33poll-pawar 3 last(reop del22) senior ncp leader and union minister praful patel toldreporters in mumbai that smaller parties like cpi, cpm and pwpwould need to be accommodated in a coalition set up. On whether sushil kumar shinde would continue as chiefminister, he said "naturally a person who has led a party orcoalition to victory deserves to come back.. But it is not ourissue." On deputy chief ministership held by the ncp in theshinde government, he said it would be decided by what thelegislators want and pawar feels. "These issues would not bevery difficult." To a question as to why the ncp is not merging withcongress, he said "i do not see any reason to merge. We andcongress have worked together for five years in maharashtra.Came together during lok sabha polls. When we work closely andthere is commonality of thought, why merger." He also saidthat ncp was also responsible to its electorate. Pti ms scspc10161216 del Differences crop up between AP Govt, Naxals over arms issue HYDERABAD, Oct 16: Differences have cropped up between Andhra Pradesh Government and Naxalites over arms issue delaying signing of a formal ceasefire agreement, though both sides have agreed to continue their first-ever direct talks keeping aside the contentious issue. The ceasefire is already in force since June this year. During the historic parleys which commenced yesterday, the maoist leaders insisted that a signed agreement be put in place before proceeding with the main agenda. Home Minister K Jana Reddy, who led a nine-member Government team at the talks, reminded the extremist leaders that consensus has to be achieved over a clause that bars Naxalites from carrying arms during their political campaign. As both sides found themselves caught in a tangle of technicalities over contentious clause, indications are that discussions would continue on the matter when talks resume later today. "We will discuss the clause seven issue (stipulating that naxalites should not not carry weapons) as the talks progress. We think there is no need for a written ceasefire agreement as ceasefire is already being implemented on the basis of mutually agreed points," Jana Reddy said today. Official sources said the Government was not willing to sign ceasefire agreement if the arms clause is deleted. Both sides would now get on to the main agenda of talks covering an 11-point agenda proposed by Naxalites. Barring the contentious arms issue, the two sides have agreed to abide by the other provisions of the draft agreement stipulating that they would maintain peace and refrain from attacking each other. (PTI) Cong-NCP storm back to power in Maharashtra MUMBAI, Oct 16: The Congress-NCP combine today stormed back to power in Maharashtra with 139 seats in the 288-member Assembly, six short of a majority. With counting over in all the constituencies, the NCP won 71 seats and Congress 67 . Their ally RPI (Athawale) bagged one seat. On the other side, the opposition Shiv Sena-BJP combine bagged 119 seats, with the Maharasthra seats getting 62 seats and BJP 56. Their ally STBP headed by Sharad Joshi got one seat. Independents, including rebels, who hold the key to new Government formation have won 19 seats. The other parties who have won are CPM (3), JSS (4), PWP (2), and BBM and ABHS one each. (PTI) |
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