Thursday, January 7, 1999

Sammelan warning to missionaries
NASIK, Jan 6 — A “Hindu sammelan”, organised by the Dharma Raksha Samiti at Peth tehsil town, near here, has warned Christian missionaries working in the tribal areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat not to carry on their religious conversion activities after March 31.

Kids adopted by Christians can inherit property
KOCHI, Jan 6 — In a significant ruling, the Kerala High Court yesterday held that children adopted by Christian couples were entitled to inherit the latter’s property.

Funds vis-a-vis population
NEW DELHI, Jan 6 — Population and not area should be the basis for the allocation of development funds as the present system of allocation on the basis of area has ceased to be effective, the Leader of the Opposition in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Mr Ram Babu Sharma, said.

JBSP boycotts Cabinet meeting
LUCKNOW, Jan 6 — The Jantantrik Bahujan Samaj Party, a key constituent of the Kalyan Singh Government in Uttar Pradesh, today boycotted a Cabinet meeting, accusing the Chief Minister of ignoring it and its demand for supplying fertilisers to farmers.

Pamela Rooks on train to fame
NEW DELHI, Jan 6 — Brought up on tales of Partition which constituted a painful part of her personal history, Delhi based film-maker Pamela Rooks had enough reason to attempt a film on ‘The Train to Pakistan’.

Laloo, Mishra appear in court
PATNA, Jan 6 — The RJD President and former Bihar Chief Minister, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, was today produced before the special court in a conspiracy angle case of the fodder scam.

Victim turned victimiser
NEW DELHI, Jan 6 — The elusive ‘cop killer’, who allegedly murdered two police personnel and attacked several others in the Capital since August last year, has been identified as a “victim of police excesses”, a top police official said today.

No links with manch: VHP
PM to visit Gujarat

NEW DELHI, Jan 6 (PTI,UNI) — The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) today disclaimed any connection with the Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM) which has been blamed by a team of central government officials for violence against Christians in Gujarat’s Dangs district.

"If anybody proves that the HJM is part of the VHP, I will quit my post", Acharya Giriraj Kishore, senior vice-president of the parishad, told PTI.

The VHP leader said that the minorities had a right to dignified life in the country but they should conform to the Indian ethos.

He alleged that the recent incidents in Gujarat were part of an American conspiracy because Washington had never liked the BJP coming to power in India as the party was opposed to America’s "big bully attitude".

Certain Christian missionaries were spreading a "canard" against the VHP and the Bajrang Dal to tarnish the BJP’s image and at the same time bringing in a bad name to these two organisations, he said.

The VHP leader said "we have nothing against genuine conversions. But we do oppose fraudulent or forcible change of religion."

About the controversy over the rendition of "Vande Matram" and "Saraswati Vandana", he said "what is the opposition? Vande Matram has nothing to do with religion but it is part of the Indian ethos".

To a question why the parishad had suddenly gone silent on the Ayodhya front, the VHP leader said there was no "silence or peace" on the issue and the VHP wanted to start the construction of the Ram temple by 2001. "Carving of stones is already on", he added.

In another development, the Bajrang Dal, today demanded setting up of an inquiry commission to look into activities of Christian missionaries in the country and the alleged conspiracy to defame Hindu organisations.

The commission should also look into the "links of such missionaries with terrorist and separatist organisations" and the alleged forced and fraudulent conversions being carried out by them, national convener of Bajrang Dal Surendra Kumar said in a statement.

He said January 22 would be observed as "save religion day" in all parts of the country "to bring into open the nefarious activities of the missionaries".

Demonstrations would be held at all district headquarters and memoranda submitted to the President through district officers.

Mr Kumar also demanded a ban on missionary organisations receiving grants from foreign countries.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is leaving for Gujarat tomorrow to see for himself the situation in Dangs district where Christians were allegedly under attack.

He will also visit Gandhinagar where he will hold discussions with Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and senior officials. Mr Vajpayee is likely to meet some Christian leaders during the visit.

The Prime Minister will return to the Capital on Friday.

FM favours budget demystification
Indirect taxes revamp on cards
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Jan 6- The Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, is in favour of demystifying the budget-making process and making it more transparent.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Mr Sinha felt that keeping a lid of secrecy on the numerous aspects of the budget made little sense for the common man.

For instance, every year the Finance Minister surprises the nation by unveiling a new set of taxes or concessions on the direct tax side. There was no need for secrecy as even if the direct tax rates are known in advance, it would be of little advantage. The new rates would become applicable only from the beginning of a new fiscal year.

The Finance Minister said secrecy regarding indirect taxes was, however, necessary as advance intimation would lead to hoarding, evasion and misrepresentation in the accounts.

Mr Sinha also indicated that he was planning a revamp of indirect taxes in the next budget with reduction in rates and simplification of procedures.

The Finance Minister said indirect tax collections were not satisfactory as excise and customs receipts were low. Excise collections have been low due to the industrial growth of only about 3.6 per cent in the first seven months.

He said excise duty rationalisation had become necessary and he would address this aspect in the next budget. He said he wanted to complete the rationalisation process as fast as possible.

On the fiscal deficit front, Mr Sinha acknowledged that it was under pressure but felt that he would still be able to contain it somewhere around the targeted 5.6 per cent. In this regard, he said the disinvestment process to garner Rs 5,000 crore this fiscal year would be completed as planned earlier.

He said the Government would fund those PSUs which have the possibility of being revived and pull down the shutters on those which are unviable.

Mr Sinha also talked of a second generation of reforms with an economic package that would include fiscal discipline, inclusion of new public sector units under disinvestment and a limit to Government borrowings.

Regarding Government borrowings, he said both the Centre and States have to bring it down, adding that there must be a limit to Government borrowing.

On the demand of several Indian companies for a level playing field with regard to foreign competition, Mr Sinha said a host of regulatory authorities in the different sectors would help achieve this.

He was upset that some important legislations like the Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill could not be passed in the Winter session of Parliament.

Mr Sinha was of the opinion that barring a small but determined minority, the majority of members in Parliament were in favour of reforms.

On the Government practice to present the budget late in the afternoon at 5 p.m. every year, Mr Sinha admitted that the practice was established by the British to suit their convenience.

The Finance Minister said he was open to the idea of advancing the timing of the presentation of the budget and would welcome an open debate on it.

Pak Assembly resolution condemned
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Jan 6 — The BJP and Congress today rejected Pakistan Parliament’s resolution criticising attacks on Christians in India terming it as a gross interference in India’s internal affairs.

“This resolution by the Pakistan Assembly is gross interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country,” and “totally baseless and mischievous”, BJP spokesman Venkaiah Naidu said.

“The position of minorities in India is safe and secure than in any other part of the world. A country where there is total discrimination against minorities... an assembly passing a resolution on these issues is meaningless and laughable”, he said.

The Congress termed as “highly objectionable” the resolution passed by Pakistan’s Lower House yesterday condemning attacks on Christians and urging New Delhi to provide security to the minority community.

India can resolve its own problems and Pakistan or any other country “has no right to teach us what to do”, party spokesman Ajit Jogi told reporters.

Minister of State for External Affairs Vasundhara Raje snubbed the Pakistani resolution saying “it is an internal matter which India is capable of handling on its own.”

She said the attacks on Christians in Gujarat could be an “international conspiracy” to topple the BJP-led government.

Delhi master plan involves people
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Jan 6 — The Delhi Government has undertaken an exercise to formulate the next master-plan with the “involvement of the community” and has initiated several steps to improve the quality of life in the Capital.

Addressing a press conference here today, the Delhi Lt-Governor, Mr Vijai Kapoor, said the “societal dimensions” of the master plan were important and “new bold approaches” would have to be made so that the quality of life was improved.

“We have undertaken an exercise to formulate the next master plan through a participatory process and through the expression of opinion by people, the vision of a new Delhi must emanate from the people,” he said.

Various steps taken by the government included operationalising the Public Grievances Commission, enhancing transparency and accountability, bringing about procedural reforms in the DDA and housing, improving transportation, including the construction of 17 flyovers and an express highway, improving power generation and distribution, reforms in education infrastructure and improving the law and order.

The Lt Governor said during the past one year hardly any incident of communal violence had taken place. However, he admitted to an increase in “money related” crimes in the city and said professionalism in the police had to be enhanced for effectively checking criminals.

The offences by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) had grown and the trend would increase which posed a serious challenge to the police, he said.

Most of the crimes were committed by first timers and police would have to ensure that they were handled in a “proper manner.” The approach would have to involve the common man.

Refuting charges that there had been an increase in criminal activity recently, he said only cases of theft, robbery and certain economic offences had registered an increase while cases of crime against women and murder were on the decline.

Mr Kapoor said there had to be more emphasis on professionalism in the police for effectively controlling crime.

“There has to be substance-building rather than image-building,” he said, and added that the whole chain of criminal system had to be streamlined.

About the dismal power situation, he admitted that with high transmission and distribution, losses and corruption, it would not be possible for the Delhi Vidyut Board to function very effectively.

Warning of stern action against power theft, he said a CBI official of the rank of Inspector General was working with the DVB to check corruption in the department.

The government also proposed to regularise electricity connections to unauthorised colonies.

Police Commissioner V.N. Singh, DVB chief Virendra Singh and MCD commissioner, V.K. Duggal were also present.

Hegde, Sethi appointed SC judges

NEW DELHI, Jan 6 (PTI) — Solicitor-General Santosh Hegde and Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Ram Prakash Sethi were today appointed judges of the Supreme Court by President K.R. Narayanan.

Mr Hegde and Mr Justice Sethi were appointed judges of the Supreme Court in that order of seniority with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices, an official press release said here today.

This is the second round of appointments to the apex court after a nine-judge Constitution Bench clarified certain doubts raised by the President on the consultation process involved in the appointment of judges.
The President had last month appointed four judges to the Supreme Court which took the total number of judges in the apex court to 22 as against the sanctioned strength of 26. After the taking of the oath of office by Mr Hegde and Mr Justice Sethi the strength of judges would go up to 24 leaving two vacancies.

Sammelan warning to missionaries

NASIK, Jan 6 (PTI) — A “Hindu sammelan”, organised by the Dharma Raksha Samiti at Peth tehsil town, near here, has warned Christian missionaries working in the tribal areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat not to carry on their religious conversion activities after March 31.

A resolution passed at the gathering yesterday said “they must halt conversion activities before March 31. If they fail to do so, they will be held responsible for any problem or tension created thereafter”.

Shankaracharya of Karveer Peeth Vidyashankar Bharati, who addressed the sammelan, cautioned the missionaries that they would have to face “serious consequences” if they continued to “forcibly convert” the Adivasis.

The Shankaracharya asked all Hindus who had recently converted to Christianity to return to the Hindu fold.

Six resolutions were unanimously passed during the day-long meeting attended by some 10,000 persons.

The resolutions said religious conversions were showing an increasing trend, taking advantage of poverty among Adivasis and hence the government should not protect churches.

UNI adds: As many as 37 tribal Hindus who were converted as Christians have been re-converted by a Hindu organisation.

The re-conversion took place at “Vishwa Hindu Sammelan” organised at Peth, the tribal-dominated town in this district, on Tuesday by a Hindu organisation, Dharma Raksha Samiti.

Large number of tribals from Dangs and Balsad (Gujarat) attended the meet.

Kids adopted by Christians can inherit property

KOCHI, Jan 6 (PTI) — In a significant ruling, the Kerala High Court yesterday held that children adopted by Christian couples were entitled to inherit the latter’s property.

Allowing a second appeal filed by Philips Alfred Malvin of Thalassery, the adopted son of George and Jane Correa, Justice D. Sreedevi held that “the position of an adopted child in respect of inheritance and maintenance is the same as that of a naturally born child”. Since the adopted child got all rights of a natural born child, he was entitled to inherit the assets of the adoptive parents, Justice Sreedevi held.

Malvin had filed a partition suit in the Kannur Munsiff court in 1987, almost 11 years after the death of his adoptive father. His adoptive mother had died earlier.

The court had passed a preliminary decree for partition. Aggrieved over this, the natural children of Correa couple filed an appeal before the Thalassery sub court. The Sub Judge allowed the appeal and set aside the ruling of Kannur court. Against this Malvin moved the high court.

Setting aside the decree of Thalassery court, Justice Sreedevi observed the Subordinate Judge went wrong in holding that unless adoption is recognised either by personal law, custom or by canon law, the appellant could not claim right over the property as this adoption was itself invalid in the eye of law.

The court held that canon law did not prohibit adoption. The code of canon law, commissioned by the Canon Law Society of America, went to show that canon 110 related to adoption, which stated that children who had been adopted according to the norm of civil law were considered as being the children of the person or persons who had adopted them, the court said.

Funds vis-a-vis population
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Jan 6 — Population and not area should be the basis for the allocation of development funds as the present system of allocation on the basis of area has ceased to be effective, the Leader of the Opposition in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Mr Ram Babu Sharma, said.

During his budget speech, Mr Sharma emphasised that the uneven distribution of funds on the basis of area has resulted in haphazard constructions and expansion.

“The requirement of civic amenities such as proper sewerage, drinking water facilities and schools is directly proportional to the population of a particular area. So, there is no point in allocating funds on the basis of land area,” he said.

Citing the example of the Trans-Yamuna area, he said that uniform development of the entire city is only possible if land area is made on the basis of allocation.”The Trans-Yamuna area comprises nearly 30 per cent of the city’s population but consists of only 8 per cent of the land area, thus gets inadequate funds for development,” he said.

JBSP boycotts Cabinet meeting

LUCKNOW, Jan 6 (PTI) — The Jantantrik Bahujan Samaj Party (JBSP), a key constituent of the Kalyan Singh Government in Uttar Pradesh, today boycotted a Cabinet meeting, accusing the Chief Minister of ignoring it and its demand for supplying fertilisers to farmers.

The boycott by four Cabinet Ministers belonging to the JBSP, coming a day after Mr Kalyan Singh rejected the demand for setting up a coordination committee among the BJP and its allies in the state, would continue till the Chief Minister gave the party a ‘’patient hearing’’ and fulfilled their demands, leader of the 17-member JBSP Legislature group and Rural Engineering Services Minister Markandey Chand said.

JBSP president and state Rural Development Minister Chaudhuri Narendra Singh sought to play down the boycott saying the four ministers belonging' to his party preferred to "rest’’ today protesting against the Chief Minister’s attitude towards their demands.

"Till date, the Chief Minister has not looked into various demands including the supply of fertilisers to farmers and the lack of cooperation by party officials towards workers,’’ Mr Narendra Singh said.

The Chief Minister sought to refute the JBSP contention that he was ignoring them and asserted "I am serious about their demands.’’

Restating the rejection of the allies’ demand for a coordination committee, Mr Kalyan Singh said ministers belonging to alliance partners met him thrice a week and were members of a Cabinet Subcommittee. "Can there be a better coordination than this?’’

The boycott by the JBSP followed a similar move last week by several ministers of the alliance partners — the Loktantrik Congress, the Janata Dal (Raja Ram) and a group of independents led by Programme Implementation Minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias "Raja Bhaiya’’ — to press their demand for resolving the government leadership issue in the state.

Meanwhile, LCP president and state Energy Minister Naresh Agarwal said he would take up the issue of the Coordination Committee with the Chief Minister.

"We would reiterate our demand for a coordination committee with the Chief Minister... the LCP will approach the BJP high command if the demand is not conceded,’’ he told reporters here.

Pamela Rooks on train to fame
From Tripti Nath
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Jan 6 — Brought up on tales of Partition which constituted a painful part of her personal history, Delhi based film-maker Pamela Rooks had enough reason to attempt a film on ‘The Train to Pakistan’.

The film is scheduled for release in theatres in Delhi and Punjab on January 22. Widely screened at several international film festivals, the film opened in the USA in August, 1998.

Shot in a record time of five weeks, the 108 minute film features Nirmal Pandey, Smriti Mishra, Mohan Agashe, Mangal Dhillon, Rajat Kapoor and Divya Dutta.

The film is based on Khushwant Singh’s novel of the same name which had aroused the interest of several noted directors including Akira Kurosawa, Ismail Merchant and Shyam Benegal.

“My father, Colonel Amar Nath Juneja (retd.) is a Hindu from Lahore and my mother, Harbaksh Ahluwalia better known as Guddi Juneja, a Sikh from Rawalpindi. They lost everything during the Partition and started afresh from refugee camps.

The enthusiastic 40-year-old film-maker says, “Lots of filmmakers wanted to make this film. But, one cannot make such a film without the help of the Indian government. I read the book when I was only 17. It fascinated me. I was very intrigued by it. It was part of my personal history.’’

“In 1993, when I sought Khushwant Singh’s permission to make the film, his family was reluctant. Having been approached by all the grand names in film direction, they perhaps felt that I was not up to the mark. That was fair enough.”

But Pamela did not accept defeat. She succeeded in selling her idea to NFDC. This was the starting point of Pamela’s project.

She recalls, “By then, it was October’96. The film had to be made by August’97. That left me with little less than a year. We had to raise money, find the location, find the cast, the crew and the costumes.’’ This merciless deadline for the ambitious project left Pamela with only two-and-half months of pre-production time and five weeks of shooting.

Asked whether it has become fashionable to base films on books, Pamela says, “Books have a lot to offer, Big-budget, multi-starrer films from Bombay are failing because the audience now prefers watching realistic TV serials. We are going to see a more discerning audience which will reject these brain-dead films.”

This is Rooks’ second feature film. Her maiden film, Miss Beatty’s Children won the national award for the Best Directorial Debut and Best Cinematography in 1993.

She is hoping the film gets entertainment tax exemption from Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. “Mrs Shiela Dixit has already seen the film and recommended it to the Tax Exemption Board. We are yet to hear from them.”

Laloo, Mishra appear in court

PATNA, Jan 6 (PTI) — The RJD President and former Bihar Chief Minister, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, was today produced before the special court in a conspiracy angle case of the fodder scam.

Another former Chief Minister and Bihar Jan Congress Chief patron Jagannath Mishra also appeared in the court in the case.

Mr Yadav was brought to the court of designated CBI Judge S.K. Lal from Beur Jail for routine attendance.

The instant case deals with fraudulent withdrawals of more than Rs 37 crore from the Chaibasa treasury through ‘fake and forged’ bills.

Among others who were produced before the court include former Bihar ministers Vidya Sagar Nishad, C.P. Verma and RJD MLA R.K. Rana besides retired IAS officials K. Arumugam and Phoolchand Singh and former Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax (Ranchi) A.C. Chaudhury.

Victim turned victimiser

NEW DELHI, Jan 6 (PTI) — The elusive ‘cop killer’, who allegedly murdered two police personnel and attacked several others in the Capital since August last year, has been identified as a “victim of police excesses”, a top police official said today.

“We have identified the person. He is neither a serial killer nor a psychopath. He appears to be a victim of police excesses and is on a mission of revenge,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (south-west) P.K. Bharadwaj told PTI.

He said the police has “definite clues” about the killer and on one occasion “missed (catching) him by a whisker.”

The “cop killer” is aged about 30 to 35 and was a resident of south-west district prior to shifting his hideout under police pressure, Mr Bharadwaj said.

The “cop killer” hit newspaper headlines after he started targeting police constables on patrol duty while they were alone, particularly in the south and south-west districts. He killed a constable on August 16 and another on August 23. The last of his seven attacks was on September 8.

Earlier, the police was under the impression that he was the ‘stalker’ who attacked several people at isolated spots in South Delhi, who has since been identified as a drug addict.

“We sent teams to Mumbai and Jaipur, but it seems the stalker is dead”, Mr Bharadwaj said.

Archbishop dead
KOCHI: Archbishop of Cochin diocese of the Roman Catholic Church Joseph Kureethara died on Wednesday following cardiac arrest at Lourde’s Hospital here. He was 70. Kureethara, a scholar, theologian and social worker has been the Bishop of the diocese since 1975. He was the 33rd Bishop of the diocese and the second Indian to head it. The body of the Bishop will be brought to the Bishops’ House and laid to rest at the Santa Cruz Basilica at Fort Cochin on Thursday. — PTI

Noted litterateur dead
KOHIMA: Noted litterateur, social worker and veteran politician, Govinda Chandra Paira died at his Dimapur residence on Tuesday after a prolonged illness. He was 82 and is survived by three sons and two daughters. Born in 1917 in Kohima, Mr Paira began his career as a teacher in 1937. At the age of 20, he wrote “Sapukp Aru Smriti” in Awahan, “Moromor Parakhi” and “Phan Aru Prithivi”, and was given a literary award by the Assam Sahitya Sabha. His funeral was attended among others by Chief Minister S.C. Jamir and a few of his Cabinet colleagues. — UNI

Green tea and cancer
CALCUTTA: Green tea, which contains polyphenols, has the capability of preventing cancer of the skin, lung and stomach. This was the result of a study by a noted biochemist at the Case Western Reserve University, USA, Bhasan Mukhtar, who was in the city on Tuesday to give a discourse on the therapeutic aspects of green tea consumption. Addressing a meeting organised by Indian Tea Association, Mr Mukhtar said these polyphenols possessed anti-oxidant agents, which counteracted the damaging oxidant radicals causing such diseases. Buoyed by these empirical findings, the National Cancer Institute of the USA had accorded top priority to research on therapeutic aspects of tea, he added. — PTI

Renaming of Osmanabad stayed
AURANGABAD: The Aurangabad Bench of the Mumbai High Court has stayed the renaming of Osmanabad city as Dharashiv till January 12. Acting on a public interest litigation, Justice S.B. Mhase also issued notices to various departments of the Maharashtra Government on Tuesday. The petitioner Syed Khalil Saif contended before the court that the state government had no powers to change the name and that the views of the public had also not been considered. The municipal council of Osmanabad and Naldurg had also rejected the proposal, he said. — PTI

Internet conference in TN
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Government has convened an Internet conference here in the first week of February to discuss in detail the use of computers in various spheres, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi announced on Tuesday. In an interview to Singapore radio, transcript of which was made available to the Press here, he said Tamil scholars and experts from various parts of the world would take part in the conference and forward their suggestions. He said while introducing computers in teaching, the state government, in the first phase, would provide computers to 100 government schools. Steps had been taken to set up more than 1000 internet community centres all over the state in collaboration with Worldtel, he added. — UNI

12 hurt in violence
AHMEDABAD: The police fired teargas shells and seven rounds in the air to disperse a mob that indulged in violence at Kalol town of Mehsana district in which 12 persons, including five policemen, were injured. The police said on Wednesday that a mob threw stones and soda bottles on a procession taken out on Tuesday to celebrate the victory of a candidate in the byelection from a municipal ward. A case had been registered in connection with the incidents. — PTI

8 labourers killed
MUMBAI: Eight labourers were killed and 16 injured when a dumper overturned on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway in Thane district. The mishap occurred on Tuesday near Sakwar village when the driver swerved aside to avoid collision with another vehicle, the police said. The stone-laden dumper was carrying labourers returning home after work. The injured were admitted to a local hospital. — PTI