Tuesday, July 7, 1998
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N A T I O N | Tuesday, July 7, 1998 |
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Tumult
in Lok Sabha over Bihar MPs’ charge NEW DELHI, July 6 — The Lok Sabha today witnessed a furore when Samata Party MPs from Bihar, Prabhunath Singh and Sushil Kumar Singh alleged that the state police had expressed inability to provide security to them and asked them to make their own arrangements... $300m World Bank aid for child care NEW DELHI, July 6 — The World Bank has approved an IDA assistance of $ 300 million to India for the third phase of the integrated child development services (ICDS) project... BJP for probe into Bengal poll violence NEW DELHI, July 6 — The BJP today demanded setting up of a commission of inquriy or a judicial probe into the violence that took place during the recent Panchayat elections in West Bengal... |
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Mamata to use
Basu’s remark as a rod |
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UGC
detects 18 fake varsities NEW DELHI, July 6 — as many as 18 fake universities in the country have come to the notice of University Grants Commission (UGC), the Human Resource Development Minister, Mr Murli Manohar Joshi, told the Lok Sabha today... Parliament okays Bill hiking judges’ salaries NEW DELHI, July 6 — Parliament today approved a Bill seeking to enhance the salaries of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts by over three times with the Rajya Sabha returning the money Bill after a brief discussion... Jain allowed to change hospital MUMBAI, July 6 — A local court has allowed media baron Ashok Jain, accused in a FERA violation case, to be shifted from the government owned J.J. Hospital to Bombay Hospital solely at his own risk... Tributes paid to Jagjivan Ram NEW DELHI, July 6 — President K.R. Narayanan, Lok Sabha Speaker G. M. Balayogi and Congress President Sonia Gandhi were among a large number of people who paid tributes to former Deputy Prime Minister and freedom fighter Jagjivan Ram on his 12th death anniversary today...  |
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| Tumult in LS over Bihar MPs’ charge NEW DELHI, July 6 (PTI) — The Lok Sabha today witnessed a furore when Samata Party MPs from Bihar, Prabhunath Singh and Sushil Kumar Singh alleged that the state police had expressed inability to provide security to them and asked them to make their own arrangements. Reacting to the allegation, Speaker GMC Balayogi said Home Minister LK Advani had communicated to him that he was writing to the state government to provide full security to the MPs. Mr Balayogi said he had received letters from the Samata Party members which he forwarded to the Home Minister for reports. Expressing concern over the members’ statements in the House, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurna assured the two agitated members that he would talk to the Home Minister about their security. As regards Mr Prabhunath Singh’s allegation that some policemen had gone to his Patna residence and assaulted his family members on Saturday, Mr Khurana said the member was free to plead for referring the matter to the Committee of Privileges. Raising the issue during zero hour, Mr Prabhunath Singh said that the state police was harassing his family members merely because he had been fighting against the ‘misrule’ of the Laloo Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi governments for the last eight years. “I am paying the price for raising my voice in Lok Sabha against the RJD Government in Bihar,’’ Mr Prabhunath Singh said. Stating that he had written letters to the Speaker and the Home Minister about the threat to his life, he said SPs of Chapra and Siwan districts had sent official notes to him that the state police was not in a position to take care of his security in his Maharajganj constituency and he should make his own arrangements. His party colleague, Mr Sushil Kumar Singh from Aurangabad said he too had received a similar letter from the Superintendent of Police of the district. They had heated exchanges with the Congress members, including Mr Tariq Anwar and Mr Rajesh Pilot who tried to defend the Rabri Devi Government. Mr Prabhunath Singh said he wanted to know whether he could carry illegal firearms and seek the help of criminals to protect his life in the light of inability of the state police to provide security to him. “Nobody is safe in Bihar as jungle raj is prevailing,’’ he remarked. The members could be pacified after 15 minutes when Mr Khurana said he would take up the matter with the Home Minister. |
| Was Rama born at Hisar? HYDERABAD, July 6 (UNI) — Banawali in Hisar district of Haryana, by which the long-lost river Saraswati once flowed, is probably the Ramjanambhoomi (the birth place of Lord Rama) and not Ayodhya as is the common belief. This theory has been propounded by veteran archaeologist M.V.N. Krishna Rao, a pioneer in deciphering the Indus Valley civilisation script, who unravelled the famous Pashupati seal in 1969. In a paper titled “Rama and Ravana in Indus seals’’, contributed to “J.P. Joshi felicitation volume,” Dr Rao has based his conclusion on his reading of the Banawali seals. Dr Joshi is a former Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Dr Rao a former deputy superintending archaeologist with the ASI. In his interpretation of the epic Ramayana, Dr Rao has identified Rama Sana of Indus seals with Ramachandra and thereby with king Rim Sin of Larsa in Sumer, who ruled the vast lands of Sumer, Elam, the Indus Valley and the present day Iran and Afghanistan from 1753 to 1693 B.C. Rim Sin assumed the title of “King of all lands” by the consent of goddess Nin Makh at opis, his second capital in Bab Ylonia. Dr Rao says the archaeological evidence found in the Indus seals showed that Rim Sin had fought for a long time an undecided war with king Hammurabi identified as Ravana of the Indus seals. The king of Babylonia was finally able to defeat Hammurabi in the joint action with the chief of Subartu, hurrian and mitannian. Hammurabi was killed in the fight, as suggested by one of the Indus seals which has a legend reading “Ravani Dama” or destroyer of Ravana. Dr Rao says the Indus seals found on the banks of the river Saraswati suggest that Banawali must be the Ramjanambhoomi and not Ayodhya. He points out that under project “archaeology of the Ramanaya sites” headed by Prof B.B. Lal, excavations were conducted at Ayodhya, Bharadwaja Ashram and Sringaverpura from 1975 and 1980. At Ayodhya the remains of a Hindu temple belonging to “Gahadwal, king of Kannauj of 11th century A.D., were found underlying Babri Mosque. The antiquity of the other Ramayana sites excavated does not go earlier than 1000 B.C. This late dating of the sites had “dismayed the experts, and the view that Ayodhya was the Ramjanambhoomi was abandoned,” Dr Rao claims. Dr Rao, who used the principle of acriphony to read the proto-vedic language of Indus seals, says Vedic texts and Puranas almost correctly mentioned the names of different tribes and the kings of different dynasties in different regions. Having read all 1650 seals that were legible out of the total 2325 Indus seals, he says the names of rulers of Babylonia, Assyria, Elam, Juda and Egypt along with their country and city names were Sanskritised in the Vedic and Puranic texts. Written at a very later date the epics and Puranas got confused in the identification of geographical landmarks — names of the rivers, mountains and cities. In such circumstances, he says, there is little wonder if they placed Ayodhya on the river Saryu near Faizabad instead of Saraswati in Haryana. Dr Rao says possibly it is also one of the reasons for their confusion as the Aryans adopted the same names to the rivers and cities while gradually migrating towards east from Iran, Afghanistan, Indus Valley to the Jamuna-Gangetic valley. Such frequent changes of place, names was common practice among the conquering and migrating races of the ancient world. The latest findings revealed that the Indus civilisation covered a vast region on the east-west axis from Alamgirpur to Sutkagendor and on the north-south axis from Ropar to Bhagatrav, about another 1600 km. No other ancient civilisation could boast of such a vast distribution of space as claimed by the Indus civilisation. Moreover, it had nearly 1300 kms of seaboard along the west coast. |
| $ 300 m World Bank aid for child care Tribune News Service NEW DELHI, July 6 — The World Bank has approved an IDA assistance of $ 300 million to India for the third phase of the integrated child development services (ICDS) project. The project, which intends to improve the health and nutritional status of women and children in over 1000 blocks in five states, is to be completed within a period of five years, an official release said. The total cost of the project, sponsored by the Department of the women and child development of the Human Resource and Development Ministry, is around Rs 1600 crore. The project now approved by the World Bank will cover 1003 blocks in five states — Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. With this, ICDS services will be available in 318 new blocks. Besides strengthening quality and management of services in 685 existing blocks, the project will also provide services to 861 rural disadvantaged blocks, 69 tribal blocks and 73 urban blocks which have poor basic services. The project seeks to bring about the substantive impact on the health and nutritional status of children and women in the project states covering about 70 lakh children in the age group of 0-6 years. It will also benefit adolescent girls, expectant and nursing mothers and women in the age group of 15-45 years in the project areas. The integrated child development services is the most comprehensive scheme for early childhood care and development and aims at enhancing survival and development of children from vulnerable sections of society, the release said. The scheme at present provides a package of services including supplementary nutrition, immunisation, health checkup, referral services, non formal pre-school education and health and nutrition education in 4200 blocks. The World Bank evinced interest in funding the schemes significantly contributing towards raising status of health, nutrition and education of women and children during later part of seventies, and funded the Tamil Nadu integrated nutrition project, the release said. Subsequently it assisted ICDS projects, ICDS-I project in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa besides the ICDS-II project in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh launched in 1990/91 and 1993/94 respectively. |
| Mamata to use Basu’s remark as a rod CALCUTTA, July 6 (PTI) — CPM leader Jyoti Basu’s offer to extend ‘issue-based’ support to the Congress in the event of it forming a government at the Centre has evinced interest among political circles of the state. The Trinamool Congress, driven by infighting and smarting under the humiliation of recent electoral setbacks, greeted the Chief Minister’s remarks as godsend before the municipal elections slated for July 12. Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee was quick to react, threatening to ‘expose’ Basu’s ‘new-found love’ for the Congress before the people. “I can now easily justify my allegations that the Congress is the ‘B’ team of the CPM,” she said. On the other hand, the Congress, having already lost the major part of its base to the Trinamool, betrayed a sense of panic. Its leaders expressed apprehension that Congress workers, engaged in a bitter struggle for political supremacy with the ruling Left Front for 21 years, would not accept formation of any government with marxist support. Basu’s views also seem to have caused a divide among the Left parties with the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Forward Bloc (FB) refusing to toe the octogenarian leader’s stand. Both the RSP and the FB said they would continue to maintain equidistance with the BJP and the Congress. It was during an informal chat with newspersons at the state secretariat on June 29 that the longest serving Chief Minister of the country dropped his political bombshell. To a query, he said if the Vajpayee government collapsed, the CPM central committee would discuss the issue and “then if the Congress formed a government, we will support it from outside; but from issue to issue”. Mamata Banerjee has made her intentions clear that she would make Basu’s ‘soft corner for the Congress’ the main campaign plank of her party during the July 12 municipal poll. Thus, the poll to the 12 municipalities spread across the state would be another litmus test for the contenders in the on-going battle for political supremacy. |
| BJP for probe into Bengal poll violence Tribune News Service NEW DELHI, July 6 — The BJP today demanded setting up of a commission of inquriy or a judicial probe into the violence that took place during the recent Panchayat elections in West Bengal. Briefing newspersons about the report of a five-member BJP team headed by the party Rajya Sabha MP, Mr T. N. Chaturvedi, which went to West Bengal last month, Mr Naidu said the report was submitted today to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Home Minister L.K. Advani. The BJP leader said the inquiry could also be instituted by the state government. "We have asked the Central Government to impress upon the West Bengal government to set up an inquiry", Mr Naidu said alleging that a large number of people, including supporters of the Left Front government like the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), too had suffered on account of violence. The four-page report, which was submitted to the BJP President, Mr Kushabhau Thakre, also said: "We feel that National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which has taken up many other matters, must send its own officials to visit the places and persons affected so that appropriate action is taken immediately." The report further said the team was convinced that the violence in West Bengal was due to the BJP-Trinamul Congress combine posing a challenge to the CPM led Front in a "big way". "The CPM views this as a serious challenge to its hegemony. Instead of recognising the people’s democratic right to opt and vote for the party of their choice, the CPM indulged in murder, arson and rape to suppress the opposition", the report said. Mr Naidu alleged that the state police either remained a silent spectator to the incidents of violence or acted in a "partisan manner". When asked if there was a breakdown of law and order in the state leading to the imposition of President’s rule in the state, Mr Naidu said: "Mere breakdown of law and order is just not enough for the use of Article 356." The party had brought the facts to the notice of the Centre and now it was for the Central Government to act, he said. Asked to comment on West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu’s statement that the state was peaceful, the BJP leader quipped "Everything, including violence, is done there in a peaceful and systematic manner". |
| 16 out-of-turn allottees evicted in Delhi NEW DELHI, July 6 (PTI) — Only 16 out-of-turn allottees of government flats in the Capital were evicted, Urban Affairs Minister Ram Jethmalani told the Rajya Sabha today. Replying to supplementaries during question hour, the minister said many such allottees had since obtained stay against eviction from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) or the Delhi High Court and the matter is sub-judice. He said the Central ordinance of June 21 last year had protected several of the out-of-turn allottees facing eviction except those involved in sub-letting, those who had obtained such allotments through misrepresentation of facts or bribes and where allotments were of a higher type than entitled. Though the CBI was asked to look into out-of-turn allotments in these categories, it had drawn a blank, he said. In reply to the main question, Mr Jethmalani told Mr Onkar Singh Lakhawat (BJP) that following announcement of the new guidelines in November last, the government could allot only 5 per cent of flats on an out-of-turn basis. A total of 271 applications for such allotment were pending with the ministry, Jethmalani said and assured members that there was nothing irregular about the allotments being undertaken now. |
| UGC detects 18 fake varsities NEW DELHI, July 6 (PTI) — As many as 18 fake universities in the country have come to the notice of University Grants Commission (UGC), the Human Resource Development Minister, Mr Murli Manohar Joshi, told the Lok Sabha today. However, the Association of Indian Universities have informed that there were 10 more such universities operating in the country, he said in a written answer. BILL: A Bill to allow setting up private universities has been prepared and is being legally examined, the minister said, adding a final decision on the matter was expected to be taken soon. VIDYALAYAS: Due to financial constraint new Kendriya Vidyalayas were not being opened at present, Dr Joshi said. LITERACY: The National Agenda for Governance did not lay down any specific time-frame by which full literacy would be achieved in the country, the minister said. STATES: Literacy rates in Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Dadra and Nagar Haveli were below the national literacy rate of 52.21 per cent, he said. COST: The cost per student per year in Indian Institutes of Technology is about Rs 52,000 for B.Tech, Rs 77,000 for post graduate and Rs 98,000 for Ph.D, he said. |
| Parliament okays Bill hiking judges’ salaries NEW DELHI, July 6 (PTI) — Parliament today approved a Bill seeking to enhance the salaries of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts by over three times with the Rajya Sabha returning the money Bill after a brief discussion. The High Court and Supreme Court judges (conditions of service) Amendment Bill replaces an ordinance promulgated in April to hike the salaries of the Chief Justice of India to Rs 33,000 per month from Rs 10,000 and that of Supreme Court judges to Rs 30,000 per month from Rs 9,000. The Lok Sabha passed the Bill on Saturday. The salary of a high court Chief Justice has been hiked to Rs 30,000 per month from Rs 9,000 while that of judges has been increased from Rs 8,000 to Rs 26,000 per month. Replying to the discussion, Law Minister Thambi Durai explained the need for promulgating the ordinance saying that the government did not want to send a wrong message to the judges following its decision to implement the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission. |
| Jain allowed to change hospital MUMBAI, July 6 (PTI) — A local court has allowed media baron Ashok Jain, accused in a FERA violation case, to be shifted from the government owned J.J. Hospital to Bombay Hospital solely at his own risk. Metropolitan Magistrate R.B. Chorge, however, yesterday directed Bombay Hospital to allow Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials to interrogate Jain and also ordered that a jail guard be posted at Bombay Hospital. Counsel for Jain, Mahesh Jethmalani and Pranev Badheka moved an application before the Metropolitan Magistrate yesterday pleading that Jain be shifted to Bombay Hospital as it had the equipment to monitor a machine implanted in his heart. |
| Tributes paid to Jagjivan Ram NEW DELHI, July 6 (UNI) — President K.R. Narayanan, Lok Sabha Speaker G. M. Balayogi and Congress President Sonia Gandhi were among a large number of people who paid tributes to former Deputy Prime Minister and freedom fighter Jagjivan Ram on his 12th death anniversary today. Babu Jagjivan Ram’s widow Indrani Devi, daughter Meira Kumar, other members of the family, and Chairman of the Babu Jagjivan Ram Smriti Samiti Dr Maurya were the first to reach the samadhi to pay floral tributes. In a memorandum to the President, Dr Maurya urged him to confer the highest civilian award, Barat Ratna, on Babu Jagjivan Ram posthumously in recognition of his services to the nation. |
| In brief Dam cost up by Rs 1,700 cr NEW DELHI: The total cost of the Tehri dam and hydroelectric project (stage-I) has increased by about Rs 1,700 crore in the past four years, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday. Power Minister P.R. Kumaramangalam said in a written reply that Rs 1664.79 crore (provisional) had been spent on the project, which is scheduled for commissioning by March, 2002. — PTI Bihar panel for women soon PATNA: A commission for women would be constituted in Bihar after the conclusion of the ongoing session of the state legislature, Chief Minister Rabri Devi announced in the assembly on Monday. She made this announcement while intervening during the government’s reply to a “short notice” question raised by the Congress MLA, MS Radha Krishna Kishore, on the rising incidence of atrocities on women. — PTI Cops kill three Naxalites HYDERABAD: Three Naxalities belonging to the Praja Prathigatana faction were killed in an encounter with the police in Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh on Monday. The police said the encounter took place between Palavancha and Panduranga-puram in the district and Rs 5 lakh was reportedly recovered from them. — UNI 11 passengers hurt in mishap NEW DELHI: Eleven passengers were injured when a private bus under the DTC operation met with an accident here on Sunday police said. The bus on route number 602 on its way from Vasant Vihar to Red Fort skidded off the road at Gole Methi chowk in the New Delhi area. The injured were rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. — PTI 5 die in bus-truck collision JAIPUR: Five persons were killed and 30 injured in a collision between a bus and a truck at Audan Chati, 10 km from Nathdwara, on the Nathdwara-Udaipur road on Sunday, the police said. The bus was going to Nathdwara from Surat when it rammed into the truck. The collision was so powerful that four persons died on the spot while the bus driver succumbed on the way to the hospital. Fourteen injured persons were referred to Udaipur Government Hospital while the rest admitted to Government Hospital at Nathdwara. — UNI Orientation plan for new MPs NEW DELHI: A 10-day orientation programme has been organised for the new members of the Lok Sabha beginning from July 9. The programme is intended to provide opportunities to the new members to discuss and analyse various aspects of the parliamentary processes and familiarise themselves with the functioning of the parliamentary institutions, a Lok Sabha bulletin said. It also aimed at assisting them to face with greater confidence and ease the onerous tasks, responsibilities and challenges of their job. — PTI NLFT militant surrenders AGARTALA: A militant, Barnalal Halam, of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), suspected to be involved in the killing of state Health Minister and his brother, laid down arms at Kamalpur in Dhalai district, the police said here on Monday. Halam surrendered a loaded .303 rifle to the Dhalai District Magistrate Mr Sanjoy Kumar Rakesh, at his office on Sunday. The interrogation revealed that the militant had surrendered due to some internal fued in the NLFT, the police said. — PTI |
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