Thursday, March 4, 1999
|
N A T I O N |
|
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
 |
 |
|
|
Yugoslavia seeks India's support NEW DELHI, March 3 — Yugoslavia today sought India’s support for a political settlement of the Kosovo problem asking New Delhi to join international efforts to firmly oppose any use of military force to resolve it. Cess on diesel: Truckers threaten nationwide stir NEW DELHI, March 3 — Truck operators all over the country have threatened to go on a nationwide strike in protest against the hike in the price of diesel. |
 |
Agni-2 test in a day or two? BALASORE (Orissa), March 3 — India’s new longer range intermediate ballistic missile Agni-2 is expected to be test fired from the IC-4 Inner Wheeler Island on the Orissa coast between March 5 and 7.
|
|
4 Ranvir Sena men shot in Jehanabad JEHANABAD, (Bihar) March 3 — Four supporters of the Ranvir Sena, a private militia of landowners, were gunned down by suspected Naxalites of the People’s War Group (PWG) at a village in the embattled Jehanabad district of Bihar last night. 22 killed on Holi Sorcar’s
daughter enters magic world
‘Sex
maniac’ arrested |
||||||
|
|||||||
Yugoslavia seeks India's support NEW DELHI, March 3 — Yugoslavia today sought India’s support for a political settlement of the Kosovo problem asking New Delhi to join international efforts to firmly oppose any use of military force to resolve it. Reiterating its preparedness for a political solution of the Kosovo issue, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to India, Dr Cedomir Strbac, told newspersons here that "India’s stand is that of friendly understanding". In October last year, India had opposed military intervention in Yugoslavia for finding a lasting solution to the Kosovo problem. "We are grateful for New Delhi’s (last year) stand. The time has come for India to oppose any form of military intervention" to resolve the Kosovo problem, Dr Strbac said in an apparent reference to heightened tensions following stepped-up clashes between the Serb forces and Kosovo Alabanian rebels over the weekend and build up of NATO forces near the border. Giving details of his country’s stand, the Ambassador said: "We are ready to discuss an enlargement of the existing autonomy and to provide the so-called substantial autonomy under existing international standards but not an independent statehood." His country was also ready to allow a mission of verifiers to oversee the implementation of an agreement, but would not allow the presence of any foreign military personnel", Dr Strbac said adding that Yugoslavia has already accepted many conditions including the presence of "terrorists" on the neutral French soil of Rambouillet in its quest for finding a political solution. Replying to questions, the Ambassador said, the situation in Kashmir and Kosovo was "very similar" with the difference that India was successful and sufficiently strong to ward off a third party mediation in the problem. Dr Strbac said Yugoslavia was once a model nation with three official languages and two sets of alphabets but the end of the cold war had changed all. "Much of the problem is because of the misrepresentation of facts by the powerful western media about the prevailing situation. There is a need to have an objective look into the whole issue in the right perspective", the Ambassador said. Peace talks are due to
begin in France later this month to negotiate an
agreement between the warring Serbs and ethnic Albanians. |
Agni-2 test in a day or two? BALASORE (Orissa), March 3 (UNI) — India’s new longer range intermediate ballistic missile Agni-2 is expected to be test fired from the IC-4 Inner Wheeler Island on the Orissa coast between March 5 and 7. This is the first time that the Agni-2 missile, with a range of 1800 km and state-of-the-art technology, would be test fired from the island. The Agni is understood to have the striking range three times that of the Agni-1. All arrangements, meanwhile, are understood to have been completed by the defence authority here for the test firing. Another newly-developed short-range missile Dhanush is also likely to be test fired from the interim test range (ITR) here some time next week. Earlier, Agni-1 has been test fired thrice from the interim test range at Chandipur-on-sea. Agni was last test fired from the ITR on February 19, 1994. The government stand is that the ‘technology demonstrator’’ phase of Agni had been successfully completed following the three tests till 1994. The clearance for developing the superior, longer range missile Agni-2 was given by the BJP-led coalition government in March last year. When contacted, a Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman at New Delhi refused to confirm or deny the reports about the test firing of Agni-2 and Dhanush missiles having been scheduled. The reports about the test
firing of Agni-2 and Dhanush missiles having been
scheduled are highly speculative, the spokesman said
while refusing to make any further comment. |
Cess on
diesel NEW DELHI, March 3 — Truck operators all over the country have threatened to go on a nationwide strike in protest against the hike in the price of diesel. The All-India Motor Transport Congress, the apex organisation of motor transport operators, said in a letter to the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, that the one rupee cess on diesel had caused restlessness in the motor transport industry and would add to the inflationary trend. “The Secretary General of AIMTC, Mr J.M. Saxena, pointed out in his letter that the current landed cost of imported diesel varied between Rs seven to Rs 7.50 per litre against the pre-budget market price of Rs 10 per litre (approximately). In accordance with the declared policy, the Petroleum Ministry reduced the price by Rs one per litre in the first week of January when there was scope of reduction by Rs 3 per litre. Mr Saxena regretted that whatever benefit was given by the Petroleum Ministry had been taken away by the Finance Minister in the recent Union Budget. “It is a retrograde step and has come as a bolt from the blue to our industry which is the major consumer of diesel”, the letter said. The AIMTC urged the Finance Minister to fix the diesel price in line with the landed cost of imported diesel. The letter warned that in case the “legitimate” request of the AIMTC was not conceded they would be compelled to stop work for which the responsibility would rest with the government. Meanwhile, senior Finance Ministry officials pointed out that the one rupee hike would have little inflationary impact as the rise was marginal. In 1997, when the price of diesel was hiked substantially by around 20 per cent there was little impact on the inflation rate, he said. Moreover, since 50 per
cent of the recent increase in the price of diesel would
go for road development, the measure should give cause
for cheer to the road transport industry. |
Letter to
Advani NEW DELHI, March 3 — A decision on converting the present Mayor system into the mayor-in-council system of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is likely to be taken soon. The MCD Commissioner, Mr V.K. Duggal, said he is going into the modalities of the scheme and a decision would be taken soon. The mayor-in-council system will take away financial and administrative powers from the commissioner and vest those with the elected representatives of the House besides the mayor would be the highest administrative authority in the corporation. The MCD standing committee chairman, Mr Shanti Desai, said that till now “nothing concrete has emerged from the talks with the Union Urban Affairs Minister.” The Mayor, Mr Yogdhyan Ahuja, and standing committee member, Mr Mahendra Nagpal have also written to the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, for a speedy decision over the issue. Mr Shanti Desai, said
elected representatives are accountable to the people and
should therefore have financial and administrative
authority. “At present we just make the rules and
the implementation part is done by the executive wing. We
do not have any administrative authority and are
answerable for non-implementation of schemes and work
done by the executive,” he said. |
4 Ranvir Sena men shot in Jehanabad JEHANABAD, (Bihar) March 3 (PTI) — Four supporters of the Ranvir Sena, a private militia of landowners, were gunned down by suspected Naxalites of the People’s War Group (PWG) at a village in the embattled Jehanabad district of Bihar last night. In the second incident of violence in the district since President’s rule was imposed on Bihar, the heavily armed PWG activists raided Bhimpura village under Makhdumpur police station and forcibly took the four Sena supporters to a nearby field and shot them dead, the police said. Bhimpura village is about 1.5 km from Narayanpur village, where 11 Dalits were slaughtered by Ranvir Sena activists a few days before the imposition of President’s rule. Those slain included three members of an upper caste family — Manoj Sharma, Pramod Sharma and Ramswaroop Sharma. The killing took place barely a fortnight after the brutal murder of seven members of an upper caste community at Usri Bazar in Jehanabad. Sena and ultra-Left extremist groups have been locked in a bitter battle for supremacy in the area for a long time. An intensive combing operation has been launched to nab the killers. Senior officials, including the Inspector-General of Police (Central Range), Neelmani, and the District Magistrate and the SP of Jehanabad are camping in the area. In the wake of the fresh violence, the Rashtriya Janata Dal today called for immediate recall of the state Governor, Mr Sunder Singh Bhandari, and revocation of the presidential proclamation imposing President’s rule in Bihar. ‘The rate of killings has tremendously increased in the state during President’s rule,’ an RJD spokesman, Mr Shakeel Ahmed Khan, said urging the President to immediately intervene in the matter. The Left parties, including the CPI and CPM, also condemned the killing while the senior BJP leader, Mr Shushil Kumar Modi, alleged that the killing was ‘a part of a sinister design to defame Central rule.’ More than 221 extremists have so far been arrested under the intensive combing operation launched by the police to eject extremists from the central and south Bihar areas after imposition of President’s rule. The Inspector-General of
Police (Operation), Mr M.K. Sinha, said a huge cache of
firearms, including 111 regular rifles, 31 pistols, 663
bombs and two hand grenades were recovered from the
possession of the arrested ultras. |
22 killed on Holi NEW DELHI, March 3 (PTI) — Clashes, quarrels and incidents of drowning during Holi revelry claimed 22 lives in different parts of the country, reports said today. Seventeen persons were killed in Andhra Pradesh where seven persons, including two women, died when an underground tank, at a pilgrim centre in Kotanche village in Warangal district, from which they were drawing water, collapsed. Nine others died in separate incidents of drowning in Godavari and Krishna rivers and Kapra lake, reports from Nizamabad and Vijayawada said. One person was stabbed in Sainagar after an altercation, the police said. In Nagpur one person was killed and four injured in a clash following a dispute over inauguration of a sports complex in the city. While one person was beaten to death in a slum area of Nagpur, another was stabbed. In Uttar Pradesh two
persons were killed, one during clashes after a dispute
over the making of a bonfire at Dhingwas village in
Pratapgarh district and one at a village in Meerut
district. |
Sorcar’s daughter enters magic world BARUIPUR, March 3 (PTI) — In the backdrop of a lush garden, a 19-year-old girl dressed casually in a dungaree and T-shirt with sticks of dynamite strapped to her sash enters a wooden crate, which is nailed shut, hay piled on top, doused with petrol and set alight. The crate blows apart within a minute as the girl, Maneka Sorcar, drives up in a jeep jangling a bell from behind the select audience, unharmed and smiling after her death-defying stunt. Her magician father, P.C. Sorcar (junior), announces to the visibly relieved audience at his rural retreat here: “she has been formally inducted to the stage.” The act performed last week and amongst the most difficult in a magician’s bag of tricks, was a test of Maneka’s dexterity and ability as an escape artiste. Maneka, the tenth generation magician in her family, will carry on the lineage of her illustrious grandfather late P.C. Sorcar (senior) as one who picked up the art from the streets and gave it a place in the sun. Magic, Sorcar explains, is science “unexplained” and presented in an artistic way to rivet the imagination of the audience. Sorcar has been in the wand-wielding business since 1971 when his father suddenly died during a tour of Japan and he rushed to stand in his shoes and complete the contract. His master’s degree in applied psychology helped him to craft exquisite “magic” to mesmerise his audiences and carve out a niche for himself. His are not mere “magic shows”, but a grand spectacle of music, dance, colour and story and above all the right atmosphere. Sorcar, however, says despite his innovations and improvisations in stage magic, which he tests and carries out in his research centre here, the “madari” tricks displayed by street magicians of yore are the most difficult. The future of magic in the next millennium lies in using the electronic media effectively, he says and asks “what mental pleasure can one get from the endless antakshari programmes telecast by almost all major channels? A modern magic show on the other hand can easily put forward socially relevant messages.” His hour-long magic film “Granny” dealing with the loneliness of a child of working parents made several years ago has met with success as has his magic item “I am sorry” which stresses the need for a woman to acquaint herself with the outside world and her husband’s work. Maneka echoes her father,
“I am aware of the immense possibilities that the
electronic field presents in the next millennium,
especially for the youth. But I know that I will have to
be a more mature person to do justice to the name of my
family.” |
PTI turns 50, plans to go
global NEW DELHI, March 3 — Traversing 50 years as independent India’s first news agency, the Press Trust of India is going global with the launch of its site in the Internet this month. Internet surfers would be able to catch up with the latest news in India and other country-related stories emanating from its news bureaux from major cities of the world, the Chief Editor and General Manager of the news agency, Mr M.K. Razdan, told newspersons here today. The agency also has plans to go in for a joint venture with an international financial wire service to meet the challenges of global competition, Mr Razdan said. Government rules presently permit specialised financial wire services to cater to the needs of non-newspaper subscribers and of late leading agencies like Bloomberg, Bridge News, Reuters and Associated Press have set up shop in India. The proposed joint venture would enable PTI to compete with these agencies, he said. Announcing the golden jubilee celebrations of PTI this month, Mr Razdan said the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, the Vice President, Mr Krishan Kant and the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, would be joining the celebrations. Mr Narayanan is scheduled to release an attractive commemorative stamp on March 5. The Rs 15 multi-coloured and multi-lingual stamp on PTI depicts the agency’s journey from ticker-tape printers to satellite transmission. According to the Department of Posts, it would be for the first time that an Indian stamp would have seven languages. Mr Krishan Kant would inaugurate a two-week long exhibition on ‘PTI-Offbeat’, a display of some of its best photographs. The exhibition would move to Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta later. The country’s first woman photographer, 85-year-old Ms Homai Vyarawalla would be guest of honour at the exhibition and she would share three of her most memorable snapshots. The highlight of the celebrations would be a two-day seminar on “Information without Frontiers: Breaking Barriers or Invading Cultures” to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister. The who’s who of the media world, including the former Executive Editor of New York Times, Mr A.M. Rosenthal, the Consulting Editor of Vogue, Shirley Lord and Mark Wood, Editor-in-Chief of Reuters have confirmed their participation in the seminar. Mr Vajpayee would also release a coffee table book”PTI-Offbeat — A Candid View of Everyday Life” on the occasion. PTI, which supplies news
to over 450 newspapers, television and radio channels in
India and abroad, has plans to increase its international
coverage, Mr Razdan said. |
‘Sex maniac’ arrested NEW DELHI, March 3 — The Delhi Police arrested Ashok Kumar (25) an alleged sex maniac and worked out six cases of rape reported from different areas of West district. One case was reported in December last year, and five cases in this year. One case was of Hari Nagar police station and the others were of Kirti Nagar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), Udai Sahay said. The DCP said that after
two rape cases reported in the area an awareness campaign
was launched in Jawahar Camp, Nehru Camp, Chuna Bhatti
Jhuggis, C-Block Mansarovar Garden Jhuggis and Industrial
Area Jhuggis by pamphlets and loud hailers |
| H |
|
||
| 7 of family die in accident CHENNAI: Ten people were killed and five others injured in two separate accidents on the grand southern trunk road near Madurantakam, about 100 km from here on Tuesday. According to reports received here seven pilgrims belonging to a family, including six women, were killed on the spot and two others seriously injured when the van in which they were proceeding to the Adhi Parasakthi temple at Melmaruvathur rammed into a stationary truck near Acharapakkam, on Tuesday morning. In the other mishap, three people including two women were killed and three others sustained injuries, when their car dashed against a tanker-truck near Madurantakam. — UNI Order against shifting
golden throne 5 Congress workers
hurt in attack Sarpanches
threaten immolation DMK MLA arrested Prisoner escapes Corporal
punishment in schools Jaya’s plea
dismissed |
 |
 |
| Punjab
| Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | Chandigarh | | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
