Thursday, December 30, 1999
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Advani endorses NDA
agenda |
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 Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan talks to mediapersons after a Cabinet meeting at Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi on Wednesday.—PTI
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Y2K panic may cause clogging Quota for Jats sought ‘Include’ HP youth in
IYC executive |
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Advani endorses NDA agenda CHENNAI, Dec 29 — The National Council of the Bharatiya Janata Party today unanimously adopted the Chennai Declaration with minor amendments with the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K.Advani describing the document of intent as a step towards transforming the BJP from an "Opposition party to a party of governance". The Chennai Declaration which binds the party to "faithfully" implement the National Democratic Alliance’s common manifesto and reaffirms the party’s commitment to value-based politics, broaden the party’s mass base and make it an effective instrument to deliver good governance was read by several delegates as a move by the party to give up its "Hindutva" agenda and adopt a course that is acceptable to the majority of people in the country. Mr Advani, who had missed the sessions on the first two days due to his preoccupation with the hijacking case in New Delhi, made full use of his concluding address this evening at the National Council meeting to clear any confusion that had arisen in the minds of the delegates regarding the agenda of the BJP. Describing the ideology and ideals of the BJP as its main strength, Mr Advani advised the around 1400 National Council members not to feel "apologetic" about the course adopted by the party in the past as they had only responded to the various challenges faced by them from time to time. He also pointed out that there would be no going back for the BJP now and the Chennai Declaration has to be its guiding document. Mr Advani said there was nothing called a temporary agenda and the party has to stick to its course. He said transformation does not take place at the behest of any leader and it was the collective wisdom of the party which makes transformation possible. He said there was a general consensus in India and abroad that the BJP-led NDA government would last its full term and would provide good governance. The transformation has to be seen in the context of the hopes and aspirations of the people, he added. He said it was the ideology and the ideals of the party that had enabled it to emerge as the winning party since 1996, and it was wrong to say that the BJP had discarded its agenda after forming the government. Describing the Chennai Declaration as an "excellent declaration", Mr Advani said it only showed how the BJP was able to adapt itself to the changing circumstances even while keeping its basic character intact. Nationalism, patriotism and its strong character were the main attributes of the BJP which had enabled it to make rapid progress during the last twenty years, he said. Mr Advani said that there had been several transformative phases in the party’s history and charges that the party was giving up its agenda was nothing new to it. He cited the instance of the BJP joining the Jaiprakash Narain movement despite having basic ideological differences. The party however, went along as it agreed with JP’s views on corruption, educational reform and honesty. Joining the Janata Party did not mean that the BJP had given up its identity, Mr Advani pointed out. Referring to the Jana Sangh, Mr Advani said at one point of time political analysts had said that the organisation was giving up its ideology. However, he said what had happened was that the Jana Sangh in 1960 had transformed from being an ideological party to an aggregative party. An aggregative party was one where several ideologies coexisted and the present situation was no different. "We have remained
an ideological party but we have seen that the government
becomes an aggregative Government", Mr Advani said
in an apparent reference to the BJP’s tie-up with
the National Democratic Alliance. |
IA staff must be trained in
security NEW DELHI, Dec 29 — The hijacking of the Indian Airlines IC 814 flight from Kathmandu to Delhi has to brought to light the immediate need for domestic airlines to become more security conscious like other airlines around the world. Even though the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Sharad Yadav, has said from now on there would be two commandos travelling on each Indian Airlines flight, security experts here have stressed on the need for the domestic carrier to take certain important steps on its own to ensure that it is not a soft target. Indian Airlines has one of the worst records of hijacking and has invariably been the target of militants, earlier Sikh and now Muslim. Experts who have been closely associated with security arrangements at Indian airports and who have been closely monitoring developments in the hijacking incident feel that it is time Indian Airlines took some hard steps, even if this meant a little discomfort to passengers. These steps would not only be for the betterment of passengers but for Indian Airlines too. There is an opinion that although posting of two commandos on each flight can prove to be a deterrent, it can not be accepted as a long term solution. For hijackers could also work on a plan to counter such a deployment. Experts said what was more important was that every employee of the airline become security concious. Indian Airlines should with immediate effect, start training its staff on various aspects of maintaining security both on the ground and in the air. It was pointed out that there was a general feeling that maintaining security was the job of particular agencies, specially the police and other such agencies. However, security can become foolproof only if all the employees, both on the ground and in the air are trained to keep a watch on peculiar movements. Their eyes are trained to look out for unwanted persons. They pointed out that despite being surrounded by Islamic states from all sides and having a running fued with most of them, Israel has an enviable record in hijacking. The last Israeli plane to be hijacked was more than two-and-a-half decades ago. After the last hijacking, the Israeli airline authorities took steps like posting specialised men on their aeroplanes and training their staff, including the pilots, for anti-terrorist measures. This ensured that they faced no problems since. Experts said Indian Airlines should have its own security system where the entire staff should be trained to handle such hijacking situations. Besides the posting of the commandos Indian Airlines should also post trained marshals at strategic points in the aircraft. The two working in tandem and with the help of the flight pursers could pin down any person making unnecessary movements. Although this would involve some expenditure and also invite protests from the existing staff, it would ensure that the airlines had foolproof security. There was also a view that marshals-both men and women- should also be posted at the door of the aircraft to physically frisk passengers. The experts felt that
IA, rather than depending on the security agencies should
have its own security system in place on the ground even
at counters abroad. Specially at places which were
sensitive in view of terrorist movements. |
BJP panel rejects move for
council CHENNAI, Dec 29 — The National Council of the Bharatiya Janata Party has authorised the Central Parliamentary Board of the party to coordinate affairs between the government and the party, thereby striking down a proposal for constitution of a national advisory council under the BJP constitution. Elected members of the National Council, who met here last night at a closed door meeting to discuss amendments to the party constitution as suggested by a 10-member committee headed by party vice-president, Mr Jana Krishnamoorti, endorsed the decision of the National Executive to authorise the Parliamentary Board to coordinate affairs between the government and the party. Party sources said several members of the National Executive were of the opinion that the constitution of a national advisory committee, comprising members of the government and party, would give it a status of a "super Cabinet" and this was not feasible. They said the National Council had now defined the role of the parliamentary board and it would be responsible for coordinating matters between the party and the government. It has also been decided that whenever the government has to take any new measure that has a bearing on the policies of the BJP, the parliamentary board would send the proposal to the National Executive of the party and get it ratified within 21 days. A senior leader said the government on several occasions had to take decisions that were in keeping with international obligations or domestic compulsions. In the absence of any coordination between the government and the party there was scope for confusion in the party cadres. By getting all government proposals ratified by the party, there would be more transparency and no ground for confusion in the party. In this regard, he cited several Bills introduced by the government in Parliament, many of which did not go with the thinking in the party. The council also decided that the parliamentary board would keep a check on the activities of party MPs in Parliament and ensure their discipline. Another important amendment approved by the National Council relates to extending the term of the party President from the existing two to three years. This tenure would also be applicable to presidents of all party organisations upto the mandal level. The term would become applicable for the next term of presidentship (The party’s organisational elections are due early next year). A proposal by several members of the National Executive to give a second term to the party president, however, was rejected. The provision of a second term for the party President, it was felt would give way to lobbying and manipulations, the sources said. A majority of the amendments suggested by the Jana Krishnamoorti Committee have been approved. This includes reducing the term of party membership from the existing 10 years to six years, increasing the primary membership fee from Rs 2 to Rs 5, and Rs 100 for those in the National Executive. It was also decided that
candidates standing for the post of president at the
district level should have had at least 15 years as
primary member and at least six years as an active
member. |
When Pak helped foil
hijacking JAIPUR, Dec 29 — Pakistani officials’ behaviour in the current hijacking incident is just opposite to that in 1976 when an Indian Airlines plane on the Delhi-Jaipur-Bombay flight was hijacked to Lahore by Kashmiri militants. On September 10, 1976 a few minutes after take off from Delhi at 7.00 a.m. four militants got up simultaneously brandishing sten guns and hand grenade and announced that the plane had been hijacked and was being taken to Dubai. "We are hijacking the plane to seek release of our leader Maqbool Bhatt", they announced. The commander, who was in the toilet at that time was locked inside by the hijackers. One of them ordered the co-pilot to take the plane to Dubai. An ex-IAS official Rama Kant Sharma and a heart specialist of Jaipur, Dr K.C. Kotia who were passengers in the plane even today vividly remember the traumatic event of 23 years age. When the plane reached Lahore the airport authorities initially refused permission to land. But when told that it was running out of fuel the officials relented and allowed the Indian plane to land. In the meanwhile the hijackers, in a bid to build mental and physical pressure on the hostages, slapped one of the passengers and shouted that all Indians on board would be roasted alive in Dubai. Mr Sharma says the pilot displayed extraordinary courage and wit. When the hijackers asked him at Lahore airport to proceed to Dubai he expressed his inability to obey in the absence of a route map. "We fly only on domestic routes and as such do not know the routes outside the country. We can proceed to Dubai only after a route map is procured", he told the hijackers. Pakistani officials too expressed their inability to supply the required map to hijackers as Lahore was not an international airport. They, however, said they would get one from the nearest international airport at Karachi. After some time the Lahore airport officials told the hijackers that the route map had been despatched by road and would reach in due course. Pakistani troop had by then surrounded the plane. The Pakistani authorities then suggested the hijackers allow the passengers to come out of the aircraft and let them rest at the airport lounge till the route map arrived. The hijackers relented at 12 mid-night and allowed the passengers to leave the aircraft believing that Pakistani officials were with them. With the passengers a hijacker too came out of the plane, Mr Rama Kant says, "The hijacker was then taken to a separate room by Pakistani officials and locked from outside". Later, food laced with sleeping pills was sent into the aircraft for the hijackers who were still in the plane. After a while the hijackers fell asleep and were rounded up. Dr Kotia, recealling the fateful incident, says that the hijackers were the last to board the plane at Delhi. They could sneak guns and hand grenades in as they arrived running at the airport at the last minute and the security staff let them get on without a security checkup. Dr Kotia, however, was
all praise for the treatment given to the passengers of
the hijacked plane by Pakistani authorities then.
"In view of the known hostility between Pakistan and
India each of us was apprehensive of maltreatment at the
hands of Pakistani authorities and their support to the
hijackers. But to the utter dismay of every one the
Pakistani officials proved to be very hostage-friendly. |
Y2K panic may cause clogging NEW DELHI, Dec 29 (PTI) — The millennium bug or Y2K panic could cause overloading of telephone lines on the New Year eve resulting in malfunctioning of instrument, Alcatel, a major supplier of new technology telephone exchanges to government cautioned today. "Telephone subscribers in India may witness a delayed dial tone or may fail to get their calls through due to overloading of exchanges and that may not have any thing to do with Y2K problem," Michel Vetil, Managing Director, Alcatel Network Systems India said here. Claiming to have supplied 15 per cent of telephone exchanges to Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Vetil said technically there might not be any fault in the exchange but just a curiosity of subscribers to test their instruments at midnight of December 31 could result in overloading. The exchanges are technically Y2K compliant and the only area of concern is the capacity of network to handle high-traffic due to off-hook and on-hook activities, he added. Alcatel which announced its Y2K transition action plan said all public carrier products and networks provided by ANSI are Y2K compliant. "We have reviewed
all internal systems and ensured that its computer based
systems are Y2K compliant. In addition we have set up
four Y2K support teams and have suport engineers in
Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad," Anil
Khosla, Director, Marketing and System Sales said. |
Quota for Jats sought NEW DELHI, Dec 29 — The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Punjab) today demanded that the government should include the Jats in the other backward classes (OBCs) and extend reservation to them. "The Jats of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh should be declared as OBCs like Delhi and Rajasthan and the benefits of reservations should be extended to them," Mr Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, president of BKU (Punjab), said here. Members of the BKU held a demonstration in the Capital in support of their demands. He also demanded that the government should reject the recommendations of the Agricultural Costs and Prices Commission. "The recommendations were anti-farmer," Mr Ajmer Singh said. "The government
should take the wholesale price index of 1966-67 as the
base year and calculate the procurement prices of
different commodities," he said. |
‘Include’ HP youth in IYC
executive NEW DELHI, Dec 29 — A Youth Congress former official of Himachal Pradesh has appealed to give representation to the youth from the state in the Indian Youth Congress National Executive. A former Joint Secretary
of the state Youth Congress, Mr Rajan Sharma, today told
the IYC chief, Mr Manish Tewari that by giving such
representation the organisation would be strengthened. |
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| 6 die as jeep rams into
truck CALCUTTA: At least six persons were killed when the vehicle they were travelling in rammed into a stationary truck at Rampurhat in Birbhum district on Wednesday. The police said here that the six were returning to Howrah, near here, in a covered jeep when the accident took place. — UNI Tagore’s songs on
Net Mayawati rules
out pact with BJP Minister
inspects disaster ward |
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