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BJP not to have truck KURUKSHETRA, Oct 25: The Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party will not have any poll alliance with the ruling INLD in the forthcoming Assembly elections ...more DMK refutes AIADMK allegation on move to shift Governor CHENNAI, Oct 25: Refuting the ruling AIADMK’s allegation that it was behind the reported move to shift the state Governor, ...more Important
dates of NEW DELHI, Oct 25: The following are the list of important dates in the St Kitts forgery case. .....more Encroachments on foothills threaten Sambalpur biosphere SAMBALPUR, Oct 25: Encroachments on the foothills, illegal settlement on Government lands and rampant tree ....more |
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India rolls out red carpet for Myanmar’ military ruler NEW DELHI, Oct 25: India today rolled out the red carpet for Myanmar’s military ruler, senior General Than Shwe, who is here on a five-day state visit ......more Bihar Govt orders CBI probe into saving certificates scam PATNA, Oct 25: The Bihar Government today ordered a CBI probe into the multi-crore security scam involving deposit ......more Centre
calls meeting NEW DELHI, Oct 25: The Centre has convened a meeting on Wednesday to evolve a "coordinated" plan with which.....more Myanmar
signs three NEW DELHI, Oct 25: India and Myanmar today signed three accords including one on enhancing cooperation in......more |
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middlemen, agents involved in deal with Dassault: Air
Chief ..... "We have not given up claim for CM’s post" says NCP...... P C Pande posted to ITBP......
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BJP not to have truck with INLD in Assembly polls in Haryana KURUKSHETRA, Oct 25: The Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party will not have any poll alliance with the ruling INLD in the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state. A decision to this effect was taken at a state BJP core group meeting held in a secluded room in the agricultural fields at a remote Sunheri Khalsa village in Kurukshetra district yesterday. Mr Niti Sen Bhatia, a prominent BJP leader of Panipat has been authorised to convey the decision to the party high command, party general secretary Vir Kumar Yadav told mediapersons after the meeting. The meeting was attended by former Union Minister of State for Home Affairs I D Swami, Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan, MP, Mr Bhagwat Sharan Mathur, organising secretary, Mr Gurdial Singh Saini, vice president of Haryana BJP, Mr Vir Kumar Yadav, general secretary, Mr Ram Chandra Bainda, former MP, Mr Dharambir Mirzapur, president of Haryana BJP Yuva Morcha, and Mr M L Sarwan, a former IAS officer and Scheduled Caste leader, among others. State BJP president Ganeshi Lal could not attend the meeting due to personal reasons. The meeting, held in Camera, lasted over six hours. Mr Yadav categorically said that the state BJP would not have any truck with the INLD in the Assembly polls as the latter was unfaithful and unrelaible partner . We were defeated in the Lok Sabha polls due to INLD chief and state Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala as we were supporting his Government from outside , he said. Answering a question, he said the change in the Central party leadership will not affect this decision as it does not make any ideological change. The BJP leader said the BJP will have a contest with the Congress and not with the INLD, adding other parties have already ceased to exit in the state. Therefore, the BJP will not have any truck with any party in the Assembly elections. It will go alone this time,too, like the Lok Sabha polls, he emphasised. He said the election strategy and the the list of probable candidates from all the 90 Assembly constituencies have fianlised. A two-day cadre training will be organised on October 31 and November one in Kurukshetra to tone up the party leaders for the elections which will be followed by agitation and dharna on November one by the BJP Yuva Morcha. The Haryana BJP will hold demonstrations and dharnas at all district headquarters on November 8 against the State Government and submit a memorandum to the Governor through Deputy Commissioners. Mr Yadav said 40 party leaders will address the mandal meetings of party activists from November 14 to 22 to brief them on party’s election manifesto. An intensive electioneering campaign will take place in December next when 20 prominent BJP leaders from Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu-Kashmir will address at least 10 to 12 party meetings everyday to mobilise the rank and file of the party and its supporters. (UNI) |
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DMK refutes AIADMK allegation on move to shift Governor CHENNAI, Oct 25: Refuting the ruling AIADMK’s allegation that it was behind the reported move to shift the state Governor, DMK today said the party was "unnecessarily being dragged into the picture". Denying the AIADMK allegation that the DMK, a constituent of UPA Government, was pressurising the Centre to shift the Governor P S Ramamohan Rao, its president M Karunanidhi told a press conference that there was no truth in the charge. "We never adopt pressure tactics like the AIADMK. It was AIADMK, which pressurised the Governors M L Khurana and Dr Chenna Reddy in the state earlier. Degrading statements were made against Dr Reddy in the State Assembly", he said. "But if the centre decides to change the Governor for administrative reasons, DMK cannot be blamed for this. Even Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had been reshuffling her cabinet and senior officers are shifted quite often, citing adminstrative convenience", he said. AIADMK MPs and MLAs yesterday sent telegrams to the President, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, urging the latter ‘not to approve the file’ on appointment of a new Governor to the state. They have also sent ‘telegraphic writ petitions’ to the Chief Justice of India to restrain the Union Government from transferring the present Governor, P S Ramamohan Rao. Karunanidhi alleged that Ramamohan Rao had never taken action on several memoranda submitted by opposition parties on the law and order situation in the state, including the recent one submitted by DMK on ‘electoral malpractices’ indulged by the AIADMK in the by-election to Chennai Municipal Corporation. The Governor was supposed to take action on mal-administration. "I do not know whether he is doing it". Karunanidhi evaded a direct reply when asked why the AIADMK was insisting on Rammohan Rao continuing as Governor and said that party wanted Chenna Reddy to be removed when he was the Governor. "Now they are asking for Rammohan Rao’s continuance", he said. On Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s charge that forest brigand Veerappan was allowed to gain strength during the DMK rule, Karunanidhi said that during his Chief Ministership, Veerappan himself had offered to surrender. "However, this became impossible due to the threat of a senior police officer, who said that he would shoot Veerappan down, when he comes to surrender". If the bandit had surrendered at that time, he would not have met this gory end, Karunanidhi said. Asked whether he would demand an enquiry into the police encounter with Veerappan, in which the forest brigand was shot dead, Karunanidhi said "I have no objection to an inquiry, if it is ordered". (PTI) |
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Important dates of St Kitts chronology NEW DELHI, Oct 25: The following are the list of important dates in the St Kitts forgery case. August 20, 1989 : The Arab Times publishes a story saying Janata Dal leader V P Singh was the main beneficiary of an overseas bank account in the name of his son Ajeya Singh in the Caribbean island of St Kitts. August 22, 1989 : Indian media follows up the news report. September 26, 1989: The then deputy Director Enforcement Directorate A P Nandey is deputed to probe the allegations. October 6, 1989 : Nandey submits report after visiting US and St Kitts. December 2, 1989 : V P Singh takes over as the seventh Prime Minister of the country. November 10, 1990 : V P Singh relinquishes office. Succeeded by Chandra Shekhar who remains in office for just over seven months. May 25, 1996 : CBI registers FIR against Godman Chandraswami, his aide K N Agarwal alias Mamaji, ED Director K L Verma, Nandey, American businessman Lary J Kolb and first Trust Corporation Ltd MD George Mclean. February 13, 1996 : On a PUCL petition seeking disclosure of findings by the CBI, the Supreme Court orders a probe into allegations against former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. July 1996 : CBI recommends Rao’s prosecution on the strength of evidence available. (Rao, then External Affairs Minister, had allegedly helped Chandraswami and Nandey, in getting some forged documents authenticated from the then consulate General R K Rai, at New York.) September 26, 1996: CBI files chargesheet against Chandraswami, Mamaji, Rao and former Union Minister K K Tewari. June 4, 1997 : Special CBI court discharges Rao and Tewari orders framing of charges against Chandraswami and Mamaji. July 3, 1997 : Court frames charges against Chandraswami and Mamaji. They plead not guilty and prefer to face trial. December 23, 1999 : Delhi High Court upholds discharge of Rao and Tewari by the trial court. December 6, 2000 : Supreme Court upholds the Delhi High Court order absolving Rao and Tewari. May 9, 2001 : Former Prime Minister V P Singh deposes as a CBI witness before the court. April 4, 2004 : CBI closes evidence after examining several witnesses including former Union Minister Arif Mohammad Khan, former CBI Joint Director N K Singh and filmstar-turned-politician Raj Babbar, who turned hostile. August 9, 2004 : Court records statement of accused Chandraswami. August 31, 2004 : Accused Mamaji dies of cancer at the age of 80. Trial against him is abated. The trial proceeds against Chandraswami only. September 30, 2004: Special Judge Dinesh Dayal hears final arguments reserves judgement for October 25. October 25, 2004 : Court acquits Godman Chandraswami due to lack of evidence. (UNI) Encroachments on foothills threaten Sambalpur biosphere SAMBALPUR, Oct 25: Encroachments on the foothills, illegal settlement on Government lands and rampant tree felling on the hilltops are threatening the biosphere of this western Orissa town. Environmentalist claim that the city’s hills, which had a lush green cover, had turned almost bald due to largescale encroachment and illegal settlements. The hilltops bearing the brunt of these encroachments are Budharaja hill, Brooks hill, Padmakeshari hill, Modipara hill apart froma number of other smaller ones. While the hilltops of Modipara, Hospital Road, have been converted into residential plots, the Budharaja and Brooks hills have lesser human interference. Forest officials admitted that the encroachment on the foothills had not only caused environmental hazards but led to massive deforestation, timber smuggling, drugs and liquor trade. The Budharaja hill has been seversly hit by illegal encroachment. In 2001, it had 172 families staying unauthorisedly on the reserve forest land. But during a short span of three years, the number of permanent families went up to 262, with a roughly 1008 permanent and over 1000 floating population. Of late it has turned into a transit point for narcotics country liquors. And is also gradually converting into a red light area. The Budharaja hill inside the city was once famous for the bio diversity with a natural growth of neem, kurei, ganga siuli and many other varieties having medicinal values. All these have now almost vanished from the area. So also is the case of brooks hill, once placed under the reserve forest category. But urbanisation forced the authorities to construct Government buildings and quarters for the officials. The locals took advantage of the situation and started encroaching on the brooks hill resulting in creation of 18 slums pockets. Some other hill tops in the city have also been turned into Padmakeshari park, Modipara park, Dangabahal. All these sites were once covered with dense forest, housing wild animals even till 1970s. Environmentalists alleged that the district officers, migrant and landless labourers and their political god-fathers are collectively responsible for the fast degradation of the green covers of the hills in the city. (UNI) |
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Myanmar signs three accords with India NEW DELHI, Oct 25: India and Myanmar today signed three accords including one on enhancing cooperation in fighting terrorism and other crimes as visiting top Myanmarese military leader than Shwe assured New Delhi that insurgent groups would not be allowed to operate from his country to harm Indian interests. During wide-ranging discussions than had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders, he conveyed the "sincere commitment" of the current Government in Myanmar to bring about democracy and sought India’s support for this process. The Prime Minister as also External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh conveyed their best wishes to than in his efforts to establish a democratic Government in Myanmar. They agreed with him that the transition to democracy was complex and yet it offered the best possibilities for redressing the problems of political stability and economic development, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters here. Under the Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in non-traditional security issues signed by Natwar Singh and Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win, both sides have committed themselves to enhance cooperation against terrorism, arms smuggling, money laundering, drug trafficking, organised crime, international economic crimes and cyber crimes. The mechanism for cooperation includes exchange of information and personnel and cooperation between law enforcement agencies and joint research. Than is the first head of state from Myanmar to visit India in 24 years and this is the first head of state-head of Government level interaction in 17 years. A consultative group at the senior official level is being set up to monitor and review the progress on the implementation of this MoU, Sarna said. The group would meet annually alternating between India and Myanmar. Than expressed Myanmar’s categorical support for India’s candidature for permanent membership of an expanded UN Security Council. In the presence of the Prime Minister and senior general Than Shwe, Chairman of the All Powerful State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the two sides also inked a cultural exchange cooperation programme for 2004-06 and another MoU on the 1200 mw Tamanthi hydroelectric power project in Myanmar. The External Affairs Ministry will fund a pre-feasibility report on the project to be prepared by the National Hydro Electric Power Corporation, Sarna said. On a six-day state visit, than, who was accorded a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan, held discussions with Manmohan Singh, first in the presence of a small team from both sides and later at the delegation level covering the entire gamut of bilateral ties besides exchanging views on regional and global issues of mutual interest and concern. Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat hosted a lunch and President A P J Abdul Kalam hosted a banquet for the visiting dignitary. (PTI) |
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No middlemen, agents involved in
deal with NEW DELHI, Oct 25: Air chief S Krishnaswamy today stoutly denied "middlemen or agents" were involved in the multi-million dollar deal for purchase of 10 Mirage fighters from French manufactures Dassault. He also said the IAF proposed to go ahead with the deal to purchase 140 more of the multi role aircraft. "Clearly there were no middlemen or agents involved when the deal was signed in September, 2000. It is a fact", he said when asked to comment on media reports of a Panamanian company acting as a middlemen in the deal. Quoting documents obtained by the Indian Embassy in Paris, Krishnaswamy said the Panamaian Company Kayser was hired by the French Mirage manufacturers, Dassault, for some market-related research in the region, but their services were terminated in 1998, much before the Indian contract was signed. Emerging from the IAF commanders conference, Krishnaswamy told reporters that according to reports, the Panamaian Company had lost the case in the French High Court as also the appeal against the verdict. Reacting to media reports that a French court had upheld that the Panamaian Company had worked to swing the Indian deal in favour of the Dassault, Krishnaswamy said the Government would study any document on this. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, when approached, declined to comment on the issue. After the Bofors kickbacks controversy, the Government had banned middlemen in all defence deals and this principle was upheld when the authorities recently announced setting up of a new top-level Procurement Board for Defence Purchases. The Air Force chief said that all negotiations for the 10 new mirages followed established Government "norms" and "practices". Krishnaswamy said that 10 additional Mirages, which were to be delivered early this year, had been delayed and were expected to be inducted into the IAF by the year end. On the move to purchase 140 more multi-role aircraft, the air chief said that IAF, after going through bids by a number of arms majors, had submitted its proposal to the Ministry of Defence. Besides Dassault, the Russian Mikoyan and Sukhoi as well as the US lockheed have bidded. "We have completed our qualitative requirements and now the final proposal is with the ministry", Krishnaswamy said. IAF requires these multi-role aircraft to keep up its present fighting squadron strength of almost 40 squadrons in view of the proposed phasing out of the 300 ageging MiG-21 fighters in the next two years. Reffering to recent two crashes of the Mirage fighters in quick succession near their home base in gwalior, the air chief said an experts team from the French Air Force and aircraft manufacturers Dassault was in the country to probe the causes. Till the two crashes, the Mirage fleet of the IAF had comparatively an excellent record in flight safety. At the commanders conference, being attended by flag officers in chief of six IAF commands and principal staff officers at the Air Headquarters, the IAF is contemplating on future battle scenario as well as preparing for force multipliers like airborne air early warning and control system. The highlight of the inaugural conference was the details given by the air chief on the performance by the IAF in recent bilateral and multi-nation fighter and transport exercises. Referring to commendable job done by IAF pilots and fighter aircraft in these exercises, the Defence Minister Pranab Mukurjhee who inaugrated the five day conference said this "reflected the true professionalism of Indian fighter pilots". He said he was confident that in years to come the iaf would not only be potent force in the region, but extend its wings to far off places. (PTI) "We have not given up claim for CM’s post" says NCP MUMBAI, Oct 25: Sticking to its stand, the NCP today said that it has not given up its claim for Chief Ministership in Maharashtra. "We have not given up our claim for the post of Chief Minister," Nationalist Congress Party spokesman Vasant Chavan told reporters here after a legislature party meeting. The legislature party meeting was called to deliberate over the Congress’ proposal of two more portfolios and three additional ministerial berths to resolve the deadlock over the coveted post. Chavan, however, said the MLAs refused to discuss the proposal saying, in the legislature party meeting on October 18, they had passed a resolution authorising party chief Sharad Pawar to take a decision in this regard. Asked about NCP stand on the Congress proposal, Chavan said: "We have received a proposal from congress after a period of eight days, our party needs 1-2 days to formulate its stand." The newly-elected legislators of NCP again passed a resolution today authorising Pawar to take decision regarding formation of the new Government in Maharashtra and the row over Chief Ministership with Congress, Chavan added. Maharashtra unit leaders of the NCP will leave for New Delhi shortly to discuss the prevailing political situation with the party high command, the spokesman said. The meeting, besides discussing the issue of delimitation, also decided to hold a two-day workshop for its elected representatives about legislature functioning. Meanwhile, State NCP chief R R Patil said that the issue of Chief Ministership was not discussed in the legislature party meeting here as Pawar has already been authorised to take a decision in this regard. "We will follow the decision taken by the NCP president," Patil told reporters after the meeting. The newly-elected legislators discussed the problems in their Assembly segments and the ways to tackle them, he added. Senior party leader Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil said the discussions on the chief minister issue were on in Delhi and the state party leaders are unaware of any developments as the issue is handled by the party’s national leaders. (PTI) NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Additional Director of CBI P C Pande, who has been in the thick of the controversy over his role as Ahmedabad Police Commissioner during post-Godhra riots, was today shifted out of the investigating agency and posted to ITBP. Pande, a 1970 batch IPS officer from Gujarat cadre, has been appointed on lateral shift and on deputation basis to ITBP upto March two, 2008 or until further orders, according to a Government order here. In its order, the Home Ministry asked the department of personnel and training, the Cadre Controlling Department of the CBI, to relieve pande immediately in order to enable him to take the new assignment. The Home Ministry has asked the department to intimated it of the date of release of Pande, the GO said. The appointment of Pande to CBI last year, snowballed into a controversy after some NGOs petitioned the Supreme Court that the investigating agency was probing some riot cases. After this, the Government would be deciding upon the appointment of a of special director in the agency and a panel of names has been submitted to a committee comprising Central Vigilance Commissioner, CBI Director, Home Secretary and Secretary (Personnel), the GO said. The panel includes names of Additional Director Vijaya Shankar, Director General of Police (Training), S Ramini and a senior IPS official from West Bengal cadre K K Mandal. (PTI) |
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