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Mixed response to truckers’ strike
Resolve water disputes amicably, say PM,
Sonia
CCS meets to take stock of Nepal
situation
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Law Commission for changes in
Constitution
SC notice to Bar Council in warrant
scam
2 criminals shot on Hardwar-Roorkee
highway
Strike called off, tension prevails in Imphal
valley
Notice to TN Home Secretary on lawyers’ strike
Govt urged to shift sheep breeding farm
Doctors not to be coerced into rural postings: Ramadoss
Shahtoosh wool seized
M’rashtra waives interest on farm loans
3rd Asian Film Festival begins in Mumbai
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Mixed response to truckers’ strike
New Delhi, August 21 Transporters in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, however, stayed away from the strike, reports reaching here said. The Centre had said yesterday that the strike was “unwarranted and against the interest of the public”. The government had offered to set up a committee comprising members from the government and the AIMTC to look into the procedural problems. “It seems the Centre wants the crisis to continue. The Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has made it a prestige issue in not meeting us,” Secretary-General of AIMTC J.M. Saksena told newspersons here. Significantly, Mr Saksena said the government might be trying to keep the oil import bill low and therefore wants the strike to continue. “Whatever be the government’s claim, we have received reports from all over the country that more than 90 per cent trucks are not plying and the strike would continue till the Centre withdraws service tax in the interest of the public,” he added. The meetings between AIMTC representatives and the Revenue Secretary failed to break the deadlock and Mr Saksena demanded that subsequent meetings should take place either with the Finance Secretary or Finance Minister P. Chidambaram himself. He said the strike was resulting in a daily loss of Rs 500 crore to the truckers. The estimated revenue loss to the industry was in the range of Rs 15,000 crore annually. Mr Saksena said truckers who were not participating in the strike had been expelled from the AIMTC. The Delhi Government has invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) following the strike. Even though essential commodities have been spared, the strike have raised concern about rising prices, especially at a time when the inflation rate is 8 per cent. A high-level review meeting was held here after which the Centre asked all states to stockpile essential commodities and closely monitor the situation. Oil companies have been instructed to maintain continuous supply of petrol and diesel at petrol stations and LPG and kerosene.
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Resolve water disputes amicably, say PM,
Sonia New Delhi, August 21 “Every state has a right to consider its interest but the country’s interest is paramount.” Ms Gandhi said while addressing the AICC session here. She said the invaluable water resources should be shared optimally among all people. She said every state has its own perspective to a dispute in such matters and these needed to be debated. “It was also the duty of every state towards itself and the nation that such matters were resolved amicably.” Echoing similar feelings, the Prime Minister, who spoke after Ms Gandhi, said “we cannot allow the sacred waters of our ancient land to divide our people.” Suggesting that the riparian states in river disputes adopt a national and holistic approach while resolving the issues, the Prime Minister said he had been repeatedly saying that management and utilisation of water resources was among the major challenges facing the country. Capt Amarinder Singh was present at the AICC meeting when the Prime Minister and Ms Gandhi spoke. |
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CCS meets to take stock of Nepal
situation
New Delhi, August 21 Sources said the Army Chief, Gen N.C. Vij, briefed the CCS about the situation in Nepal. Various options were discussed at the meeting for helping out the Government of Nepal. Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is expected to come here on an official visit in the second week of next month. The CCS meet was presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended, among others, by External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister Shivraj Patil. National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit had convened a meeting of top Army officials, including General Vij, yesterday and a brainstorming session was conducted over the political impact of the Maoists’ latest move and options before India in dealing with the situation. Mr Dixit was not present in today’s meeting of the CCS as he flew to Paris late last night on some personal work. He is expected back by August 24. In the afternoon, the CCS members, who were attending the AICC meeting at Talkatora Stadium, were SMSed by their respective offices on their mobile phones and conveyed about the CCS meeting. They took permission from Congress President Sonia Gandhi to leave the meeting for attending CCS meet, sources said. India’s Charge d’ Affaires Ashok Kumar met the Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Chief of Army Staff Gen Pyar Jung Thapa on August 18 and discussed the situation arising out of the newest twist to the Maoist insurgency. |
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Law Commission for changes in
Constitution
New Delhi, August 21 This was disclosed by the commission’s chairman, Mr Justice M. J. Rao here today, while addressing a workshop on “Access to Justice” organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a civil right organisation. Expressing concern over the slow justice delivery system and the sorry state of affairs in jails, Justice Rao said 70 per cent of the inmates in the prison were under trial. This was itself a “testimony” how “our justice delivery system is working,” he said adding that was the immediate need to “overhaul” the criminal justice system to save it from the “total collapse”. Though nearly one crore cases were disposed of every year by the courts in the country, the load of pendency of cases had been increasing year after year, he said. “To overcome this problem the government could appoint ad hoc judges from the retired judges to clear the burden,” he said. |
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SC notice to Bar Council in warrant
scam
New Delhi, August 21 Issuing notice to the BCI, seeking its reply, a Bench of Mr Justice N. Santosh Heged, Mr Justice S. B. Sinha and Mr Justice S. H. Kapadia said: “We want to know the stand of the BCI as to what action is taken against errant lawyers when the Bar councils of the state fail to take any action.” The court was hearing a public-interest litigation by a TV channel journalist who had exposed the scam in a sting operation, in which a magistrate of Ahmedabad’s Meganinagar courts in alleged connivance with three lawyers had issued warrants against President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former Chief Justice of India V. N. Khare, sitting apex court Judge B. P. Singh and senior advocate R. K. Jain on the payment of a bribe of Rs 40,000 in January this year. Solicitor-General G. E. Vahanvati, who appeared for the CBI, which was ordered to probe the scam, said two more cases of forging of court documents to obtain warrants against certain parties had come to light in Gujarat. Mr Vahanvati said this was a serious matter and needed a thorough probe by the agency. He said apart from the warrant against the President and the former CJI, warrants were also obtained on “forged” documents against a party of Colaba in Mumbai in 1994 in a Gujarat Finance Corporation case from the court of a Meghaninagar magistrate. |
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2 criminals shot on Hardwar-Roorkee
highway
Dehra Dun, August 21 His associate, involved in two murder cases apart from cases under the Gangster Act, Arms Act and the SC/ST Act, was today identified as Neetu, the police said. Two pistols, cartridges and a motorcycle without number plate was seized from the criminals. The police acted on a complaint from Ramnagar in Roorkee. According to SSP (Hardwar) Abhinav Kumar, two persons had fired in a crowded area before escaping towards the Roorkee-Hardwar national highway. All check points were alerted and the SOG was asked to chase the criminals. Near Gagalheri, Gujjar and his associate fired two to three rounds on the police from a sugarcane field leading to an exchange of fire during which they were killed, the police added. Even as Gujjar was identified within an hour of the encounter, his associate was identified today. The police suspect that the Motor-cycle could have been stolen. The police also suspect that Gujjar had fired in the crowded area of Roorkee to create fear psychosis among traders he had threatened last week. The bodies have been handed over to the kin of both criminals after a post-mortem. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered, the police said. |
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Strike called off, tension prevails in Imphal
valley
Imphal, August 21 The Apunba Lup, the organisation spearheading the Manipur agitation, called off the strike so that people could participate in the “public last rites”. The markets opened. Hundreds of people assembled for the ‘’public last rites’’ of Chittranjan and security was beefed up against possible violence. The agitation has slowed down considerably and apart from damages to the land settlement office, which was set on fire, there was no report of any violence although pitched battle between motley group of protesters and the police are continuing. At Imphal, protesters destroyed several ‘’Indian-made’’ mineral water bottles and cold drinks at Imphal. Boycott of the ‘’Indian-made goods’’ is a part of the self-reliance campaign announced by the Apunba Lup. Reports of protests have been pouring in from different parts of Manipur. At Khonghampat, Kwakeithel, Singjamei, Bishnupur, Moirang, Ningthoukhong and other areas in the valley, people came out on streets and held sit-in protests. Protesters also blocked the highways by burning tyres, dumping boulders, bottles and timbers. —
PTI, UNI |
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Notice to TN Home Secretary on lawyers’ strike
New Delhi, August 21 The Chennai Police Commissioner was specifically directed to provide safety to the judges and lawyers performing their duty. The lawyers had gone on strike protesting against the Madras High Court order laying down a code of conduct for them. Though the implementation of the code was suspended by the High Court following the agitation by the lawyers, they did not take back their strike call, as they had demanded its complete withdrawal. |
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Govt urged to shift sheep breeding farm
New Delhi, August 21 The breeding farm had informed the committee that it could not achieve the set target of producing 1000 exotic and cross-bred rams annually and supply to various states as the Haryana Government had taken back 4028 acre of land out of the total 6477 acre leased land.—
TNS |
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Doctors not to be coerced into rural postings: Ramadoss
New Delhi, August 21 Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, however, stated that a stint by the doctors in villages would greatly improve the rural health set-up in the country. Replying to queries in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said health was a state subject and state governments were primarily responsible for providing health care at large, including the SC/ST population in rural areas. Dr Karan Singh (Cong) pointed out that when he was the Union Health Minister some 30 years ago, he had mooted a proposal that rural postings should be made mandatory as part of their service contracts. |
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Shahtoosh wool seized
Dehra Dun, August 21 The vehicle belongs to a Korean private company working on the Dhauli Ganga national hydel power project in the area, the police said. The police nabbed the vehicle on the Indo-Tibet border and arrested driver of the vehicle. — TNS
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M’rashtra waives interest on farm loans
Mumbai, August 21 The decision follows suicides by a large number of farmers due to crop failure during the past four years. |
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3rd Asian Film Festival begins in Mumbai
Mumbai, August 21 “The Osama” director Siddiq Barmak was honoured for his contribution to the world of cinema while veteran Japanese filmmaker Kaneto Shindo was presented with the Asian Film Cultural Award at the inaugural function held at the P.L. Deshpande Academy hall in central Mumbai. Shindo’s grand-daughter Kazi Shindo received the award on his behalf as the 92-year-old director. — PTI |
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