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Kalam offers
uplift theory Notices to
minister in Roop Kanwar case Punjab bags six awards
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Floods make FM
rethink on calamity aid Indian team to inspect Tibet lake
Rekha Devi Hitange, wife of Harish Hitange, is comforted by her father
on her arrival at Mumbai airport on Thursday night. — PTI photo Bilkis case
shifted to Mumbai Punjab demands
MSP regime for agro-forestry Security
tightened at Dhananjay’s house CRPF troops for
Kashmir put on hold
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Kalam offers uplift theory New Delhi, August 6 “I have grouped the states of India into seven regions, since economic development is a function of core competence, specific natural resources, climatic conditions and cultural heritage of a particular region”, President Kalam said while speaking at the Chief Ministers’ Conclave organised by India Today here. However, the President also said India’s development objectives would not be met unless “we uplift the lifestyle and living conditions of our 35 crore persons living in the states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh”. “These states have adequate water, natural resources and hardworking people. But still the results of modern economic development have not reached most people. It can happen only through improving their skill level and creating employment opportunities for youth and structured marketing for the products of the regions,” he said. In a detailed presentation, the President called for creating the seven economic zones from 28 states and UTs, based on their core competence and mission for water, power, healthcare, education and employment generation. These zones are: * Northern region — J&K, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Union Territories of Delhi and
Chandigarh. * Desert region — Rajasthan and north Gujarat. * Gangetic region — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, north Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal. * North-East region — Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and Sikkim. * Deccan region — north Andhra Pradesh, interior Maharashtra, south Gujarat, north Karnataka * Southern region — Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, east Kerala, south Andhra Pradesh * Coastal region — coastal areas of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Pondicherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshwadeep, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli. “All that we have to do is to make up our minds and have a conviction that the nation is above all of us. Let us empower people to work with indomitable spirit towards the mission of nation building,” he said. President Kalam said since rivers, hills, climate, terrain and culture are based on regions, holistic planning and development have to be region based. “One of the most important ingredients for development is the evolution of missiondriven management structure,” he said, adding which involved unified planning, decentralised execution with empowerment of local bodies that would lead to the overall development of regions. “The engines for growth will be launching of the five national missions viz. water, energy, education and skills, infrastructure and employment generation, that will enable achievement of 10 per cent GDP growth rate per annum which has to be sustained for a minimum period of ten years,” he said. |
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Notices to minister in Roop Kanwar case Jaipur, August 6 Besides Mr Rathore, notices were also issued to Home Secretary, Pratap Singh
Khachriyawas, nephew of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who had contested the recent Lok Sabha poll on the Congress ticket from Jaipur; Mr Narendra Singh of the Rajput Sabha, journalist Anand Sharma, advocate Ram Singh Manohar and Onkar Singh. A Bench comprising Mr Justice S.K. Keshote and Mr Justice Anoop Chand Goyal issued the notices on a petition by the Mahila Atyachar Virodhi Jan Andolan and others. The petitioners prayed for quashing of the Special (Sati) Court’s order, retrial, appointment of a special prosecutor and action against all government officials who had turned hostile in the case. On January 31, Additional Sessions Judge Shiv Singh Chouhan of the Special (Sati) Court had acquitted the accused for lack of evidence. In all, 11 persons, including those to whom notices were issued today, were acquitted by the court. They were among 16 persons who had participated in protests that followed the police sweep against the guilty in the burning alive of the 17-year-old widow of Mal Singh on September 4, 1987.
— UNI |
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Punjab today bagged six awards, including one for best overall performance among the large states, while Himachal Pradesh was given the award for the socially most progressive state in the “State of the States 2004” by ‘’India Today’’. The awards were given away by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the presence of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and India Today chief executive Arun Poorie. The other categories in which Punjab received the awards were prosperity and budget, investment environment, agriculture, infrastructure, and consumer markets. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh received the awards. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit received awards for prosperity and budget, infrastructure, and the first runner-up for overall performance among the small states. Himachal Pradesh was voted the second runner-up among the large states. |
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Floods make FM rethink on calamity aid New Delhi, August 6 “We have decided to revise the
norms. We have liberalised the norms. I think the government should be a little more generous in dealing with people affected by drought, flood and cyclones,” Mr Chidambaram told newspersons here today. At the same time, he said the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra could be affected by the late arrival of monsoons. |
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Indian team to inspect Tibet lake New Delhi, August 6 Official sources said China had agreed to the Indian request for sending a team to the site of artificial lake which is about 35 km from the Line of Control. The team is likely to leave for Tibet tomorrow after names of hydrological experts are finalised and a formal clearance is obtained from the Chinese Government. The sources said China had conveyed that the team should only have non-military members. The artificial lake, upstream of the Parechu tributary of the Satluj, is estimated to contain 49 million cubic metre water. It has been created due to huge boulders blocking the flow of water. “Sudden burst of artificial lake can lead to a 150-feet tidal wave in the Satluj which will threaten large areas in six districts of Himachal Pradesh,” a senior official said. Sensing the threat, Himachal Pradesh Government has evacuated people living near the banks of the river to safer places. Precautionary measures have been taken by the authorities at Naptha Jhakri as the project had suffered damage worth crores in 2002. Officials said the contours of the place where water had accumulated were such that it was a pit. Among the solutions envisaged is controlled release of water. HP CM Virbhadra Singh expressed his satisfaction over the efforts being done by the Centre to deal with the problem. |
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PM holds
janata darbar New Delhi, August 6 Prime Minister’s aides said today’s
darbar, held on the lawns of 7, Race Course Road, lasted nearly an hour. The Prime Minister mingled with the people, who came armed with memoranda, and heard their grievances. PMO officials said such public interactions would be held twice a week and would help the official machinery to keep in touch with the common man. Those wanting to meet him will be required to put in a written request. |
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Hitange’s kin pin hopes on Indian Govt Mumbai, August 6 Mr Hitange, Purchase Officer with Janki Textiles in Warsaw for the past eight years, was kidnapped by Polish kidnappers on April 20, according to his relatives. His abductors initially asked for a ransom of two million euros. The kidnappers are reported to have chopped off three of Hitange’s fingers and left these at public places as a warning to the authorities. The family approached the Indian Government on
July 25. |
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Bilkis case shifted to Mumbai New Delhi, August 6 A three-judge special Bench of Ms Justice Ruma Pal, Mr Justice S.B. Sinha and Mr Justice S.H. Kapadia accepted the plea of Bilkis Yakoob Rasool for the transfer of the case pertaining to her gang-rape and murder of 14 persons, seven of her family members, including her three-year-old daughter, after Solicitor General G.E. Vahanvati, appearing for the CBI, supported her petition. The Bench directed that the case pending before a trial court in Ahmedabad be placed before the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court to be assigned to a competent judge for trial there. While issuing notice on the transfer petition of Naroda massacre cases, it stayed the trial proceedings in those before a special court at Naroda. The court, however, made it clear that the order for transferring the Bilkis case to Mumbai “shall not be seen as a reflection on the competence or impartiality of judiciary in Gujarat. It has been passed by considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case”. Gujarat Government counsel Mukul Rohtagi told the court that the state had no objection to the transfer of the case but the order should not be made a precedent and “reflect” on the functioning of the entire state police machinery and the judiciary. The court also considered the plea of an NGO, Citizen for Justice and Peace (CJP), for the transfer of Naroda Patia and Naroda Gam massacre cases, pertaining to the killing of 110 persons outside Gujarat, and issued notice to the state government after senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for the petitioner, said identical facts and circumstances were involved in the matter. The court directed the state government to submit its reply to the CJP’s petition. The NGO alleged that it “feared prejudice” to the riot victims if the trial was held in Gujarat because “police force in the state is complicit with the government in singularly targeting people from minority community and depriving them of basic rights during arrest and detention, let alone the trial.” Earlier, reading from the CBI affidavit in the Bilkis case, senior advocate Harish Salve stated that the agency’s Chief Investigating Officer himself had been threatened in Sabarmati jail by some accused and there was threat to 14 prosecution witnesses, who had to be taken to Mumbai for recording of their statements. |
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Another Best Bakery accused arrested Vadodara, August 6 Acting on a tip-off, a special squad of the Vadodara Crime Branch nabbed him at Devaliya Chowkdi near Tilakwada, official sources said. Shailesh is one of the ten absconding accused in the case. With the arrest of Shailesh, a resident of Hanuman Tekri where 14 persons were burnt alive in post-Godhra violence on March 1, 2002, the total number of accused re-arrested to face re-trial in a Mumbai court has risen to 12.
— UNI |
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Punjab demands MSP regime for agro-forestry New Delhi, August 6 Punjab Agriculture Minister Hans Raj Josan told The Tribune yesterday that viable and practical solutions were required to make tree cultivation a remunerative venture so that the forest and tree cover could be increased from 8.1 per cent at present. To achieve this, he underlined the need for a greater assistance and more incentives from the Centre. He specified that Punjab farmers should be offered market support, regulation of import of timber and imposition of reasonable restrictions on the import of soft woods and fast grown plantation timber. Mr Josan pointed out that the state had the capacity to go in for tree cultivation in a big way due to congenial subtropical climate, productive land, water resources and enterprising farmers. Agro-forestry, he said, had great potential for large-scale diversification of agriculture, but results could only be achieved if farmers were offered market support. Mr Josan was speaking at a two-day State Forests Ministers’ Conference, which began here yesterday. In his address at the conference, Union Minister of Environment and Forests A. Raja reiterated the government’s commitment to enhance forest and tree cover in the country from existing 23 per cent to 33 per cent by 2012. Mr Raja also sought recognition of rights of tribals, pastorals and other forest dwellers, keeping in mind the symbiotic relationship the tribals share with forests. He asked the state governments to take concrete steps towards the implementation of guidelines laid down in 1990 for forest-tribal interface and review disputed claims by following prescribed procedures. |
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Security tightened at Dhananjay’s house
Kolkata, August 6 Home Secretary Amit Kiran Deb told reporters here that security had been beefed up at Chatterjee’s residence in Chatna village of Bankura district where his parents, wife and sister stay. Vigil on the condemned murderer in his cell at Alipore Central Jail here has also been stepped up. BANKURA: Dhananjay’s wife, Purnima, who still believes that her husband is innocent, has one query: “Why do they not hang me along with my husband? Why can’t they do something to bring an end to my 14 years of suffering?’’ Away from her husband’s home at Chatna village in Bankura district, she is now staying with her parents at Jamdoba village. Sitting in their shabby hut, her father Anil, said they had no idea that Dhananjay could have committed such a crime. “He did not look like that. He was a very normal sort of a person working as a caretaker in Kolkata.” Purnima’s sister,
Shyamali said even today it was difficult for them to accept what Dhananjay had done. “We don’t know what will happen to my ‘didi’ if Dhananjay is hanged,”
she said. — PTI, UNI |
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CRPF troops for Kashmir put on hold New Delhi, August 6 The Centre has also asked various security agencies to work out a strategy to pre-empt suicide attacks by militants in the militancy-hit states. A decision to this effect was taken at an emergency meeting held by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil today with heads of para-military chiefs, Intelligence Bureau and senior officials of the Army and External Affairs Ministry following a spate of suicide attacks by militants in the state especially on the CRPF, official sources said. At the meeting, it was decided that every security agency like the BSF, CRPF, state police, Army and Intelligence Bureau would suggest ways for countering the suicide attacks, sources said, adding, based on these reports, a comprehensive policy would be chalked out by the Centre for countering the attacks. They said the CRPF deployment, which was scheduled to resume this year, had been put on hold and the BSF would continue to deal with the counter-militancy operations in the state. According to an earlier
notification, the CRPF deployment in the counter-insurgency operations was to begin on October 30 but the entire order had been put off till further orders. |
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