Monday, February 8, 1999
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Gowda offers Cong help to
form govt |
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Pant for speedy Plan
finalisation |
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Gowda offers Cong help to form govt BANGALORE, Feb 7 (PTI) — Senior Janata Dal (JD) leader and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda today virtually asked the Congress to pull down the BJP-led coalition at the Centre "in the interest of the country" and offered to cooperate with it in forming an alternative government. Mr Gowda said here that if the Congress did not take the initiative in this direction, it would be "unfortunate" and the people would continue to "suffer" under the BJP-rule which had made the "country hang its head in shame" following recent attacks on Christians. Mr Gowda, who was addressing a function organised to felicitate Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who recently took over as president of the state Janata Dal, however, ruled out its merger with any other party. The former Prime Minister also indicated that the JD would be a part of the proposed "third force", basically to fight the BJP, despite the party having differences with Laloo Prasad Yadav’s RJD in Bihar. Decrying the Centre’s economic policies, Mr Gowda said a massive farmers’ rally would be organised here on February 19 to protest the Centre’s decision on import of raw silk. JD president Sharad Yadav, said barring the communalism issue, both Congress and BJP were "working together". Communal forces were gaining more ground as BJP leaders were talking in ‘different voices’, he charged. Mr Yadav sharply criticised the Centre’s economic policies, saying they were being dictated by the WTO and the IMF, and alleged that the coalition was pushing the country into a "financial crisis". He asked party leaders to sink their differences to strengthen the JD and work unitedly under the leadership of Mr Deve Gowda, Chief Minister J.H. Patel and Mr Siddaramaiah in the state. Mr Patel, also criticised the Union government’s economic policies, saying that it was being influenced by western donors, "it is a dangerous development". "Whatever needed to be imported, are not being imported. Whatever needed to be exported, are not being exported," he quipped. Coming down heavily on the incidents of attacks on Christians, he said, without naming any organisation, "some ghosts have come to the fore after the BJP came to power at the Centre". Mr Patel admitted that there was a "political objective" in making Mr Siddaramaiah, a backward classes leader, the party’s state unit chief but hastened to add that "it’s one of the dimensions of politics". Conspicuous by their
absence at the function were some ministers, including Mr
C. Byre Gowda and Mr K.N. Nage Gowda, as also Mr B.L.
Shankar, who was replaced by Mr Siddaramaiah as the
party’s state unit chief. |
PM speaks to Speaker on Pak MPs' visit NEW DELHI, Feb 7 — Close on the heels of his decision to visit Lahore on board the inaugural Delhi-Lahore bus service, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee has asked the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr G.M.C. Balayogi to facilitate an early visit of a Pakistani parliamentary delegation to India. Mr Vajpayee asked Mr Balayogi today to make the move when the latter met the Prime Minister before his departure for Jamaica to participate in the G-15 summit meeting, official sources said. The Prime Minister also invited the Lok Sabha Speaker to join him on the inaugural bus service. Pakistan’s proposal to send a parliamentary delegation to India has been pending for almost two years, sources pointed out. Sources said that Mr Vajpayee is very keen to generate a momentum in Indo-Pakistan ties which will be able to counter effectively forces inimical to good neighbourly relations with Pakistan. Mr Vajpayee’s approach towards Pakistan is also being supported internationally. The Western powers, particularly the United States of America and the United Kingdom, have asked both New Delhi and Islamabad to do everything within their capacity to defuse tensions so that threat to peace in the region after their respective nuclear tests could be minimised if not totally eliminated. Even in Pakistan, the Prime Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif, is positively inclined to improve relations with India as he had won the elections on a plank to build up better ties with neighbours as this was necessary to divert resources from Defence to economic development. Both Mr Vajpayee and Mr
Sharif suffer from almost the same predicament as they
have to counter forces whose existence would be insecure
if New Delhi and Islamabad gave up the path of
confrontation. |
Militancy ousted Apang? ITANAGAR, Feb 7 — Is the ongoing problem of insurgency casting its shadow on the peaceful border state of Arunachal Pradesh? The state government has denied that insurgents are operating in the state while acknowledging their presence in some parts. Some Opposition members have suggested that the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) is moving around in the districts of Tirap and Chamlang. However, the Chief Minister, Mr Mukut Mithi, told a group of correspondents from Delhi recently that while Khaplang faction of the NSCN was around in some districts there had been no incidence of violence. In fact talks were also held by some state leaders with the insurgents, he said. It may be recalled that during the change of government in the state, some Opposition leaders charged that militants were behind the toppling game. “There is complete peace and tranquillity in the state. The outgoing Chief Minister had raised the issue of insurgency only after he lost majority,” the Chief Minister said. Blaming politics behind such charges, Mr Mithi said it was baseless to state that militants were involved in the change of government. Mr Mithi said some state leaders from these districts had established contacts earlier with the NCSN-K leaders and now his government had sought permission from the Centre to continue the talks. “The elected representatives from these districts held talks with the militants and they assured there would be no operation or violence,” he said. The Chief Minister said that earlier there was some recruitment from the areas but many of those who joined the underground movement had fled from the camps and returned to their homes. The state Governor, Mr Mata Prasad too said while there was movement of militants in the districts there had been no act of violence. He said insurgents of other groups too reach Arunachal Pradesh when there was pressure of security forces in other states but they had not created any trouble in the state. Some areas in the state are inhabited by Nagas and the current dialogue between the Centre and outlawed NSCN-IM has been stuck following non-specification of the area of operation of ceasefire. Meanwhile, Mr Mithi who heads the Arunachal Congress (M) also suggested that a final decision was yet to be taken whether to rejoin the Indian National Congress or stay as a separate political outfit. At present the ruling coalition has a strength of 40, including eight independent associate members and four members of the Indian National Congress supporting from outside. There were reports that
the Arunachal Congress (M) will merge with the INC, a
speculation that was fuelled after Mr Mithi called on the
Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi in Delhi last month. |
Pant for speedy Plan finalisation NEW DELHI, Feb 7 (PTI) — The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr K.C. Pant, has said Five-Year Plans should be prepared and passed in time as planning is a "serious exercise" and change of governments should not delay their finalisation. "Five-Year Plans need to be prepared and passed in time because this is a serious exercise," Mr Pant told Eenadu TV, a South-based private television network. With the change of government at the Centre, the finalisation of the Plan was bound to be delayed and the attempt should "be to finalise the Five-Year Plan before it starts", he said. When one government changed and another took over, there was some delay on that account. This is something nobody can control in a democracy," he said, adding it was advisable to have the plans passed in time as the Centre and states and the Panchayati Raj were involved. "One cannot also say we must go through the Plan, whether there is a government or not", he said. In an obvious reference to the delay in the finalisation of the Ninth Plan, Mr Pant said it would now be necessary to take into account the progress and the difficulties of the past two years and plan accordingly for next three years so that in the overall five-years’ framework, "we can achieve a certain task." On his priorities, Mr Pant said he would be looking beyond national goals and try to achieve them with the cooperation of the Centre and the states and now the Panchayati Raj institutions. "Now that only three years remain for the Ninth Plan, it will require a massive effort to reach the kind of rate of economic growth which will be necessary", he added. On the issue of planning intervening into defence matters, Mr Pant said that broadly speaking on matters of security, there should be a proper coordination between the military side as well as the economic, diplomatic, political, trade and so on. The whole concept of security had become wholistic and not confined to just military aspects, Mr Pant said, adding that security was not possible without the well-being of the people, which was the ultimate aim of security. Mr Pant, who heads the
Planning Commission at a crucial time of the Indian
economy, felt the task of achieving average economic
growth of 6.5 per cent during the Ninth Plan appeared to
be a daunting task. |
Talking of rights to cops NEW DELHI, Feb 7 (UNI) — The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has proposed that the Director-General of Police in each state should establish a ‘human rights cell’ as an effective in-house system to deal with the rising number of cases of custodial violence in the country. NHRC sources told UNI today that these human rights cells would come into effect from March 5 and Mr D.R. Karthikeyan, Director-General (Investigation) of the commission has been given the responsibility to take all steps for speedy implementation of the proposal. These human rights cell would be headed by an officer not below the rank of an Inspector-General of Police or Additional Director-General of Police, they added. This system will be without disturbing the system of nodal authority officers set up in the secretariat of state governments for facilitating interaction between the NHRC and the government on various issues of human rights which encompass non-police matters, the sources pointed out. This set-up has a great potential for developing itself into a meaningful interaction between state administration and the NHRC in processing or overseeing the processing of complaints, the sources said, adding that if imaginatively and purposefully utilised and developed, the cell could serve both preventive and remedial aspects. Meanwhile, Mr Karthikeyan has also written to state governments clarifying that this set-up was not a substitute for, but only in addition, to the present modes of dealing with complaints by the commission and the NHRC would, in appropriate cases, continue to have the complaints processed seeking reports from the unit officers directly and getting the complaints investigated by the investigation division of the commission. The sources said under the protection of the Human Rights Act, 1993, the commission could utilise the services of any agency or authority of the central or state government for the purpose of investigation, and pointed out that the human rights cell would be one such agency whose services would be available to the commission under Section 14(1) of the Act. Though this idea of constituting human rights cell in state police department had engaged the attention of the commission for quite some time, only after in-depth discussion with Directors-General of Police of various states and higher echelons of states’ administration and reaching a consensus the commission accorded approval to it. A conference of Directors-General of Police of states was convened by the NHRC to discuss this issue and to explore the possibilities of identifying areas of common interest and concerns in the task of affording credible avenues of examination of the grievances of those aggrieved by police action or inaction, the sources said. Some officers at the
conference said a human rights cell within the police may
be liable to be misconstrued as intrusion by the NHRC
into the actual day-to-day working of the state police
administration, while the others said that it would give
an invitation to the state police to participate in the
noble task of promoting and protecting human rights and
thereby regain the public confidence, respect and
credibility in the minds of people, the sources said. |
Plea to permit lottery trade NEW DELHI, Feb 7 — The Akhil Bharatiya Sarkari Lottery Vyapari Mahasangh has urged the government to grant permission for lottery trade and to charge a permit fee. The general secretary of the mahasangh, Mr K. Pant, in a communique to the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, said the government being the regulatory authority should discharge its responsibility in the matter. He said the states had started lottery trade under the guidelines issued by the Union Government. “It was the states which encouraged the people from all walks of life to be attracted to the legal lottery trade in order to eliminate the evil of various forms of gambling,” he pointed out. Mr Pant observed that some anti-social elements had been indulging in rumour mongering against the lottery trade which had provided employment to lakhs of people. He added that if the
government wished the mahasangh was prepared to
constitute a board to regulate the entire lottery trade
in the country and pay to the government an annual permit
fee of Rs 500 crore. |
Flyash a serious threat to life NEW DELHI, Feb 7 (PTI) — Over 60 million tonnes of flyash discharged by thermal plants in the country poses a serious threat to all living beings and adversely affects vegetation, according to a Central Government committee report. “Its particles ranging in from five to 120 microns get airborne very fast and prolonged inhalation of these causes fibrosis of lungs, bronchitis and pneumonitis and other diseases,” a six-member expert committee of the Central Public Works Department has said in its report. The committee headed by the Additional Director General (Border), CPWD, Mr SM Aggarwal, said “flyash deposition corrodes structural surfaces and affects horticulture and if settled in lagoons and tanks, it becomes breeding grounds for mosquitoes and bacteria.” The report said the disposal of flyash had become a major problem requiring large tracts for dumping and would reduce the availability of agricultural land besides contaminating underground water resources with traces of toxic metals. Considering these problems the committee has suggested measures for better use of the material including making of bricks, cement, filling up roads and use as manure. “Since chemical composition of flyash does not differ much from clay, a large quantity of flyash can be disposed of easily and profitably. The report said the brick industry could use flyash as an alternative because the quality of these bricks was superior to the conventional clay bricks in respect of weight, water absorption and crushing strength. “Standard quality flyash could be used as a raw material in cement to the extent of 25 per cent for better efficiency,” it said. The report further said
that research and development works carried by central
road research institutes had indicated there was
considerable potential for utilisation of flyash in road
construction which included their formation and raising
of embankments. This would reduce road construction cost
by 15 to 30 per cent. |
Fernandes against declassifying report MUMBAI, Feb 7 (PTI) — The report of the Henderson Brooks Inquiry Committee into the NEFA reverses (North East Frontier Agency — erstwhile Arunachal Pradesh) during the 1962 Indo-China war, still can not be released in its full form, according to Defence Minister George Fernandes. "Aspects of the report perhaps still can not be made public" Mr Fernandes said here rejecting a suggestion by veteran journalist MV Kamath at a recent book release function that the lid on the findings should be opened now after 37 years. "When I took over as Defence Minister, I had felt that the Brooks Report should be released as people should know what went wrong in 1962, but subsequently have deferred to more wiser counsel", Mr Fernandes said participating in a discussion on a new book "From Debacle to Revival — Y B Chavan as Defence Minister (1962-65) authored by former Home Secretary Ram Pradhan. Pradhan, who was private secretary to Y B Chavan when China launched its aggression, noted that he was the last surviving member of a team of five persons who were privy to the report then and processed it. He felt that the veil of secrecy should be lifted and people should know what Chavan did not share with parliament in 1963. The inquiry was conducted
by Lieutenant General Henderson Brooks, an Australian. |
Assam charged with violating pact KOHIMA, Feb 7 (PTI) — Nagaland today charged Assam with violating interim inter-state border agreement, saying that the neighbouring state had forcibly occupied some areas under its jurisdiction. Nagaland Commissioner P Talitemjen has said the state government had lodged a strong complaint with Assam, asking it to immediately restore the occupied area to the Naga cultivators. The Commissioner alleged that the Assam police had entered the Yimpang Keti area in Wokha district and set up a post in 1997 violating the 1972 interim agreement signed between the two states. Despite repeated complaints, Assam has not withdrawn its police forces so far, he lamented, saying that the Deputy Commissioner of Jorhat (Assam) and Wokha (Nagaland) had been asked to visit the area and sort out the problem. The issue was also being
taken up at the Commissioners' level, he added. |
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| Governor’s Address to
be boycotted BHUBANESWAR: Senior Biju Janata Dal leader Bijay Mohapatra on Sunday said that his party MLAs would oppose the customary Governor’s Address on the opening day of the ensuing Budget session of the state assembly unless it was delivered by a permanent incumbent. “There is a conspiracy in not posting a permanent Governor to the state,” he alleged at a Press conference here. Mr Mohapatra alleged that state Chief Minister J.B. Patnaik was a “part of this conspiracy” as he had never demanded posting of a permanent Governor in the state. — PTI Cong, Oppn set to face
floor test Quota for Nepalese
sought Registered post
status Blast: 37 detained |
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