New Delhi, August 23
The Uma Bharti issue rocked Parliament today, with both Houses being adjourned for the day transacting little business.

BJP leaders stalled the proceedings, demanding the removal of “tainted” ministers in the UPA government and the immediate arrest of those against whom non-bailable warrants had been issued.

In the midst of the ruckus, the Lok Sabha passed the Railway Budget for 2004-05 by a voice vote without any discussion and the government introduced the Customs and Excise (Repeal) Bill.

Both Houses witnessed uproarious scenes on the Uma Bharti issue, resulting in two adjournments each, the second time for the day.

When the Lok Sabha re-assembled after lunch, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee allowed Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani to make a statement.

Mr Advani said when the NDA had demanded the resignation of “tainted” ministers on the issue, it was argued that there was no precedent. Now that Ms Bharti had quit, though the case against her did not involve any taint, the Centre should remove the “tainted” ministers, he said.

He said the allegation against her related to hoisting of the Tricolour and there was nothing in it to call her tainted. What she did was “exemplary” and it should be followed by others,” Mr Advani said.

If that was the case, then Mr Advani, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and others chargesheeted in the Babri Masjid demolition case, should have resigned, countered RJD member Raghunath Jha.

Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal of the Congress said on the pretext of hoisting the Tricolour, Ms Bharti had tried to create communal tension and it was the duty of the police to take action against her.

Taking the cue, BJP Deputy Leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the new Karnataka Government, also headed by the Congress, on the direction of Ms Gandhi had re-opened the case and a fresh non-bailable warrants were issued against the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister.

This remark of Mr Malhotra agitated the Treasury Benches, which disputed the allegations. Opposition and Treasury Bench members were on their feet, levelling allegations against each other, and the House was adjourned.

Similar scenes were witnessed in the Upper House, where BJP members raised the Uma Bharti issue and the Shiv Sena continued its protest on the Veer Savarkar issue.

In the midst of the ruckus the Congress and RJD members waved a newspaper report, which said Andhra Pradesh had received more funds than had been allocated from the Prime Minister rural road project when BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu was the Union Rural Development Minister.

Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat appealed for calm and asked ruling party members not to wave any papers. As the din continued, the House was adjourned till lunch.

In the post-lunch session, the members continued their protest. In the midst of the bedlam, Deputy Chairman Rahman Khan asked members to lay papers on the table and adjourned the House for the day.

New Delhi, August 23
The Supreme Court today sought status report from the CBI on the progress of investigation into the five cases of alleged irregularities against Haryana’s suspended IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar, who had sought the agency’s probe against him along with the teachers’ appointment scam, in which he was the whistleblower.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur directed the CBI to file the status report within two weeks. The direction came on the plea of Sanjiv Kumar, alleging that the Chautala government, had been citing one after another case against him to harass him and make a ground for denying him promotion.

The Chief Secretary, in an affidavit, had earlier stated that there were five departmental inquiries (DIs) pending against him, but later, when he sought transfer of the DIs to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), he submitted that only three such inquiries were pending against him and the reference about five was due to a typographical error, Sanjiv Kumar, arguing the case personally, told the court.

As the court specifically asked Haryana counsel Mukul Rohtagi as to how many DIs were pending against the officer, he said there were only three inquiries which the court had ordered to be transferred to the CVC on August 6.

Rohtagi said the DIs had nothing to do with the cases referred to the CBI on the request of the officer and it was for the agency to take appropriate action.

The court, however, did not agree with Sanjiv Kumar’s contention that his plea against denial of promotion to him be considered with the present case as the state government had been deliberately changing its stance on the cases against him, saying for that he had to file a separate petition.

Sanjiv Kumar said he was paying the price for highlighting the irregularities in teachers’ appointment as officers of six batches junior to him had superseded him.

The court had last year ordered a CBI inquiry in the primary schoolteachers’ appointment scam on Sanjiv Kumar’s petition, alleging that Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala had pressurised him to change the original list of selected candidates for appointment of over 3,200 teachers in 2000 and after his refusal to oblige him, several DIs were initiated against him and he was placed under suspension.

New Delhi, August 23
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has quoted the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping as having told him way back in 1979 that the problem between India and China was “not a serious one” and the long-standing border dispute could be settled by “package solution”.

“The problem between China and India is not a serious one. Neither country poses a threat to the other. The problem we have is simply about the border. Both countries should make an effort to restore the friendship that existed between them in the 1950s.

“As long as we go about it in a reasonable way, I think it will be easy for us to settle our border question. Because this question has a long history, you have to take into account the feelings of your people and we also have to take into account the feelings of our people. But if the two sides agree to the package solution, they should be able to convince their people,” Deng Xiaoping had told Mr Vajpayee in 1979.

In a statement to the People’s Daily of China on the occasion of the 100th birth anniversary of Deng Xiaoping yesterday, Mr Vajpayee said both countries had travelled a fair distance along the road of improved bilateral relations, including making progress on talks on the border issue.

Mr Vajpayee hailed Deng Xiaoping as the ‘architect of modern China’ and said the hope that he shared with the Chinese leader had since been vindicated by a slow but steady progress of India-China relations.

Mr Vajpayee, referring to the Chinese leader’s ‘package solution’ for resolving the long-standing border question between the two countries, recalled Deng Xiaoping as saying that if both countries made some concessions, it would be settled.

He also described former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s “path-breaking visit” to China in December 1988 and his cordial and fruitful meeting with Deng Xiaoping as “an important landmark in this journey.”

New Delhi, August 23
Back-channel efforts are on in a dangerously volatile Iraq for securing the release of the seven truckers, including three Indians, who are held hostage by Iraqi insurgents since July 21.

Given the explosive situation in Iraq, especially Najaf and Fallujah areas, there are frequent disruptions in these parleys, Arab diplomatic sources here said today. Besides, maintaining contact with the hostage-takers’ mediators in Iraq when a fierce fighting is raging for weeks is itself a tall order which has complicated matters.

On its part, the Ministry of External Affairs has put itself on a discreet mode as far as the Iraq hostage crisis is concerned. The Ministry is chastened by the fact that on at least three occasions the hopes of imminent release of the hostages had crashed.

“We have nothing much to say,” said Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed when contacted by The Tribune this evening.

Asked if the hostages were safe, Mr Ahamed said: “Our embassy in Kuwait is in constant touch with us on this issue and according to their latest information the hostages are safe.”

The grapevine has it in diplomatic circles that the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company (KGL), the employers of the hostages, were very serious and sincere in securing the early and safe release of the hostages because of the high stakes of the Kuwaiti company as well as the Americans.

Along with the seven hostages, the captors have seized the seven big-sized modern trucks and the KGL is keen on getting the trucks back. The reason: the trucks were believed to have a dangerous cargo when they were intercepted on the Kuwait-Iraq route by the hostage-takers.

The trucks were believed to be laden with arms, ammunition and equipment meant for American troops deployed in Iraq. There are 1.60 lakh American troops still deployed in Iraq even though the United States had transferred the reins of the administration to local Iraqis on June 29.

Strangely, there is no authoritative word so far on the nature of the seven trucks’ cargo.

New Delhi, August 23
Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav seems determined to change the entire look of passenger coaches. After announcing preference for khadi in passenger amenity items, Mr Yadav has moved on to converting open toilets into environment-friendly
toilets.

The Railway Ministry has invited proposals from parties having experience of supplying environment-friendly toilet systems to airlines and railways. Proposals spelling out estimated costs, design, manufacture, installation, operation and maintenance are required to be sent to the ministry by September 10.

Sources in the ministry told The Tribune here on Monday that the existing toilets in passenger coaches would be replaced during periodic overhaul. The ministry is keen to see that passenger coaches manufactured this year have modular toilets based on German technology.

They said that once the technology fructifies indigenously, directions would be issued to coach factories and public sector undertakings supplying coaches to fit environment-friendly toilet systems in coaches.

The sources said the open-toilet system would help in maintaining cleanliness at stations and along the tracks, eliminate corrosion of tracks, track fittings, bogies and undergear parts of the rolling stock.

Patna, August 23
About 1,000 CPI-ML(L) activists, including its general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, were taken into custody and five persons injured today during the day-long Bihar bandh which evoked mixed response.

Barring stray incidents of clashes and stone throwing, the dawn-to-dusk bandh was reported to be peaceful, official sources said.

Five CPI-ML workers were injured in a clash with RJD supporters, when they tried to prevent the former from enforcing the bandh in Gaya town, the police said.

The official sources said, Bhattacharya and party leaders Ram Naresh Ram, MLA, K.D. Yadav, Ramjatan Sharma, besides some activists of the CPI and the CPI-M, which extended support to the bandh, were rounded up when their procession reached dak bungalow roundabout.

Over 500 bandh supporters were detained by the police while trying to disrupt work at the collectorate at Darbhanga, where the bandh elicited good response with the CPI-ML workers blocking highways between Darbhanga-Jainagar, Darbhanga-Sitamarhi and Darbhanga-Samastipur.

Over 350 supporters were detained by the police in Motihari, Gaya, Samastipur, Saharsa and Nawada while jamming roads or railway tracks there.

The CPI-ML (L) had called the bandh to protest the killing of its four members at Paliganj in Patna district on August 18 and the recent police firing on relief seekers at Darbhanga and Vaishali. — PTI

New Delhi, August 23
The rain water harvesting projects initiated by the government have begun to make an impact in the states, including Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

An impact assessment study undertaken by the Ministry of Water Resources has revealed that roof-top rain harvesting projects have led to increase in water table levels by 0.32 to 0.70 metres on an average besides increasing crop intensity by two to three times.

Keeping in view the success of these projects, the ministry has urged the state government to enact legislation to make roof-top rain water harvesting mandatory in urban areas. Provision of roof-top rain water harvesting system has been made mandatory in Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh for specified categories of buildings.

Union Minister of State for Water Resources Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi today told the Lok Sabha that “nationwide water conservation campaign has been launched keeping in view the various target groups like youth and children, women, farmers and villages, policy and opinion makers.”

He said the roof-top rain water harvesting project at the CSIO, Chandigarh, has led to recharging ground water by 3812 metre cubics besides 1985 metre cubic annually at Basic Sciences Block on the Panjab University campus in UT.

The ministry has claimed that artificial recharge in alluvial acquifers from Dhuri Link drain, Sangrur district in Punjab have led to a rise in the ground water levels up to 1.38 metres in the vicinity of the project area.

Meanwhile, the recharging wells scheme for recharging of Golden Temple sarovar, Amritsar, has reduced declining rate of ground water level from 0.9 metre to 0.24 metre.

Similarly, the artificial ground water recharge projects in Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Amritsar districts have led to an average rise in water level by 0.32 to 0.70 metre.

In Haryana, the roof-top water harvesting projects have also made an impact in Faridabad and Kurukshetra districts. “Roof-top and pavement rain harvesting projects implemented in the DC office, Faridabad have recharged ground water by 2370 cubics in only one rainy season,” stated the Study of Recharge to Ground Water undertaken by the Central Ground Water Board.

New Delhi, August 23
‘Shwaas’ by Sandeep Sawant, which has been named the best feature film of 2003, has become the second Marathi feature to get this award, the first having gone to P K Atre’s ‘Shyamchi-Aai’, which received this honour in 1953 when the National Film Awards were first instituted.

Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam films bagged as many as 25 of the 40 feature film awards in 10 languages for 2003. Renowned filmmaker Goutam Ghose became the only person to win two awards — best director and screenplay — for ‘Abar Aranye’.

The three top hits from Bollywood last year, ‘Koi Mil Gaya’ by Rakesh Roshan with three, ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ by Raj Kumar Hirani with one and ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ by Nikhil Advani with two, bagged a total of six awards, apart from two awards going to ‘Pinjar’ by Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi based on a novel by Amrita Pritam on Partition. The other three awards in Hindi went to ‘Maqbool’ (supporting actor Pankaj Kapur), ‘Raghu Romeo’ (best Hindi film) and ‘Samay’ (best editing by Aarif Sheikh). Among the Bengali awards, three, including the one for the best Bengali film, went to ‘Chokher Bali’, which also starred Aishwarya Rai. — UNI

New Delhi, August 23
The Supreme Court today directed the Tamil Nadu Government to transfer all documents of the two disproportionate assets (DA) cases against Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa to a special court in Bangalore from Chennai in police security, within a week to ensure early commencement of trial against her.

Taking serious note of the delay in trial due to the Tamil Nadu Government’s failure to transfer the documents from a Chennai special court to Bengalore, a Bench of Mr Justice S.N. Variava and Mr Justice H.K. Sema directed the Karnataka Government to send a senior officer to Chennai to collect the documents within a week.

It further directed, the governments of the two states would make adequate security arrangement for safe transportation of the case records.

Chennai, August 23
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and the party’s MP Jaya Pradha today met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and handed over cheques for Rs 41 lakh for distribution among the families of children who perished in last month’s fire accident at Kumbakonam.

Later, Mr Amar Singh told reporters that part of the money donated was provided by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sahara India Parivar and himself. — PTI