Thursday, March 11, 1999
|
N A T I O N |
|
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
 |
 |
|
|
LS passes Patents Amendment Bill NEW DELHI, March 10 — The Lok Sabha today passed the controversial Patents Amendment Bill seeking to allow exclusive marketing rights to foreign drug and agro-chemical companies, with the Congress supporting it amidst stiff protests and a walkout by some other opposition parties. CIA revelations alarm India |
 |
 BANGALORE: Tibetans taking out a procession in Bangalore on Wednesday, urging India to mediate to bring about a satisfactory solution to the Tibetan issue on the 40th anniversary of the Tibetan national uprising. — PTI Tibetans march to Parliament NEW DELHI, March 10 — Tibetans living in exile in India marched to Parliament here today protesting against the continued "illegal occupation" of the Himalayan state by China. |
|
Guruswamy
blames it on coterie Justice
Wadhwa visits Staines’ killing site Regularise
houses, says Jain Advani
claims improvement in internal security |
||||||
 |
|||||||
LS passes Patents Amendment
Bill NEW DELHI, March 10 — The Lok Sabha today passed the controversial Patents Amendment Bill seeking to allow exclusive marketing rights (EMR) to foreign drug and agro-chemical companies, with the Congress supporting it amidst stiff protests and a walkout by some other opposition parties. Protesting against the Bill, adopted by voice vote, CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee led the walkout saying that "mistaken notions" about the World Trade Organisation (WTO) had led the government to take this "anti-national" measure. Earlier, the House rejected certain Opposition-sponsored amendments by a division of 54 to 231 votes with one abstention. Replying to the two-day-long debate on the Bill, as approved by the Rajya Sabha, Industry Minister Sikander Bakht said that the national interests would not be compromised at any cost and assured that product patenting would not be permitted before the year 2005. Mr Bakht said India could not take a u-turn from the WTO due to the previous government's commitments and added that efforts would be made by the present regime to keep the interests of the country intact in the global arena. "Without going into the global playing field, we cannot protect our national interest," he said emphasising that no country would be allowed to play with India’s bio-diversity and plant variety. Stating that the EMR Bill contained adequate safeguards relating to pricing, compulsory licensing and powers to revoke EMR licences in the national interest, Mr Bakht said the government would take political parties into confidence before bringing a comprehensive bill on product patenting. Replying to points raised by members from Opposition Benches regarding the pharmaceutical allies, he said the government wanted this industry to be restructured. For this purpose, a
committee comprising competent scientists had been set up
to advise the government on the entire process and on how
to patent medicinal products. About 3,000 applications
were pending with the government for product patenting. |
Tibetans march to Parliament NEW DELHI, March 10 (PTI) — Tibetans living in exile in India marched to Parliament here today protesting against the continued "illegal occupation" of the Himalayan state by China. Carrying banners, "We condemn China's 40 years of illegal occupation of Tibet" and "China's open door policy is an eyewash", thousands of protesters took out a march on the 40th anniversary of a failed uprising against the Chinese rule. The protesters were stopped by the police when they tried to break barricades on their way to the Parliament. One policeman was injured in the scuffle the police said. The protesters shouting, "We want independence. We want justice. It is our land give it back to us" burnt an effigy of the Chinese Communist regime. Later they submitted memoranda to the Prime Minister, the Chinese Embassy and the UN office. In a statement on the occasion, the Dalai Lama, Tibetans' spiritual leader, appealed to governments and parliaments across the world to continue their support to the movement and said he did not seek independence for Tibet but guarantee of basic rights and freedoms to the Tibetans. "I firmly believe that despite the present intransigence of the Chinese Government, the prospects for progress in bringing about a meaningful dialogue and negotiations are better today than ever before," he said. Meanwhile, a report from Bangalore said the Joint Action Committee of South Zone Tibetans today urged India to mediate to bring about a satisfactory solution to the issue. The committee appealed to the government and people of India to change New Delhi's policy regarding the Tibetan issue. BEIJING: China on Wednesday ruled out any change in its policy on Tibet and accused the Dalai Lama of not being sincere on the dialogue to resolve the four-decade-old Tibet issue. Accusing the Dalai Lama of
being a loyal tool in the hands of anti-China western
forces, Raidi, Tibet's top lawmaker, said "the Dalai
Lama is not willing to talk. He is afraid to negotiate
with the Chinese Central Government." |
CIA revelations alarm India NEW DELHI, March 10 (PTI) — It would be a matter of concern if CIA “revelations” about the possibility of the transfer of plutonium to Pakistan from a third country were correct, external Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh told Lok Sabha today. China: India’s concern over transfer of space technology to Pakistan had been made known to the Chinese as it could contribute to its ballistic missile programme without a demonstrated need for a civilian space programme and without adequate transparency, he said. Nuclear: The validation of India’s nuclear capability corrected an imbalance and thus promoted stability in the security environment, regionally and globally, and could provide an impetus for concrete progress towards nuclear disarmament, he said. India had announced a policy of “no-first-use” and non-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states and it had also indicated its readiness to negotiate binding agreements on no-first-use, bilaterally and multilaterally, the minister said. Rushdie: The government had no plan to reconsider the decision on the five-year multiple visa given to British author of Indian origin Salman Rushdie, the house was informed. In a written reply, Mr
Jaswant Singh told Sadashiv Rao and three others that the
visa was issued to Rushdie by the Indian High Commission
in London on March 3. |
Govt ignored legal aspects in land scam case MUMBAI, March 10 (PTI) — The Mumbai High Court today came down heavily on the Maharashtra Government by observing that it had failed to comply with legal provisions while shifting the reservation of a plot in Pune allegedly to benefit a close relative of former Chief Minister Manohar Joshi for developing a multi-crore complex. Delivering its verdict on two public interest litigations challenging development of property by Mr Joshi’s son-in-law Girish Vyas, Mr Justice B N Srikrishna and Mr Justice S S Parkar also rejected the state government’s contention that public good was achieved by shifting the reservation. Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, the Bench observed that "purity of means is as important as the goal itself." It opined that this rule must also hold good in a court of law. "The court finds that neither the means were pure nor the object was laudable," the Judges commented while holding that the government had not followed the procedure laid down under section 37 of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act. The land was reserved for a primary school for 30 long years but the owner Mr Lakshikant Murudkar did nothing to get it dereserved, the Judges remarked. "Suddenly everyone sprung into action and wheels started moving when an application was filed by Sriram Karandikar (who was holding the power of attorney on the owner’s behalf) with the state government for dereservation." "The approach of
Minister of State for Urban Development Ravindra Mane in
entertaining the application was surprising. The Pune
Municipal Commissioner’s report was also suggestive
of somebody’s interest in the matter." |
Guruswamy blames it on coterie NEW DELHI, March 10 — Differences between the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister and the existence of a “coterie” around Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee headed by his “adopted” son-in-law which meddles with matters involving governance has been cited by Mr Mohan Guruswamy, who was recently removed from the position of Adviser to the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, as the reasons for the malfunctioning of the BJP government. On the eve of a possible discussion in Parliament tomorrow on the issues raised by him, Mr Guruswamy today posed a number of questions to the government, especially to the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, in a conversation with Tribune News Service. He said it was an open secret that the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, did not pull along and the Vajpayee camp was now holding the Home Minister responsible for the Bihar imbroglio. “How the Prime Minister can be absolved and just the Home Minister held responsible can only be explained by someone with a ringside seat, like Mr Yashwant Sinha?” he said. Mr Guruswamy alleged that there was a coterie around Mr Vajpayee, headed by his “adopted” son-in-law which meddled with matters involving governance. He said this coterie, working at the behest of an influential Bombay banker, was responsible for allowing the US-based GE Caps to raise money from the Indian domestic market and lend it to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) at a higher interest rate. According to Mr Guruswamy, the only cover provided by GE Caps to the lender was a “letter of comfort” from its US parent, GE. The former Adviser said he had opposed GE Caps raising funds from the domestic market as he was of the opinion that GE should bring money from its huge parent company and use it here. He said the connections of the influential Bombay banker were responsible for the PMO rising so swiftly to defend the huge investments the financial institutions were making in GE Caps on the basis of just a letter of comfort. “The PMO and the new Minister of Finance now no longer care a whit about the concerns voiced by the BJP on the plight of the domestic NBFC’s,” Mr Guruswamy said. In case of Enron’s Dabhol-11 power project too, Mr Guruswamy said he had raised the question of the propriety of allowing Enron to raise much more than the stipulated 40 per cent of its total borrowings from domestic lenders. He said the Finance Minister should explain why the Government of India did not insist on Enron borrowing money from abroad on the basis of the reliability of Indian assurances that it would be paid for every unit of power that was supplied? He said Mr Sinha should also justify the government’s decision to pay Rs 3 per unit of Enron power in preference to the Re 1 per unit of power supplied by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. Mr Guruswamy also referred to the compromise between the government and the Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan in running the equal joint venture Maruti Udyog Limited. He said Suzuki Motors came to be in total control of Maruti without having to pay a single rupee for it, thus reversing the previous government’s attempts to make Suzuki buy the government stake in it. He said the Finance Minister should tell the MPs what he thought about the compromise between the two sides. He also charged the Prime Minister with being in the know of things pertaining to a controversial coal supply transport agreement between Hinduja National Power Company Limited and the government. Mr Guruswamy said the Finance Minister should tell the MPs on how the PMO actively liased for the Hindujas. He said the Finance
Minister should come clean on the proposed take-over bid
of the ITC by BAT and contested Mr Sinha’s claim
that he was unaware of any BAT interest in the ITC. |
Oppn parties raise corruption
issue NEW DELHI, March 10 — After the Vishnu Bhagwat episode, Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha today turned their focus on the issue of corruption raised by a former consultant to the Union Finance Minister and insisted on having a discussion on it. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Mr P.Shiv Shanker, of the Congress told the Speaker, Mr G.M.C.Balayogi, that the chair had agreed to have a discussion on the subject and there should be no delay on fixing time for the matter to be discussed. Mr Mohan Guruswamy, who was consultant to the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, was removed by the government under controversial circumstances. While the government insisted he was dismissed for exceeding his brief, Mr Guruswamy had claimed that he resigned. Later, he alleged that several Ministers and someone close to the Prime Minister were lobbying for industrial houses. Former Prime Minister, Mr Deve Gowda, quoting the Speaker, said the House was already running behind schedule but said this should not prevent a discussion on the charges levelled by Mr Guruswamy from being taken up in the current session. He said as per the charges levelled by Mr Guruswamy, the government had fixed the floor price of steel at around $ 302 per tonne even while the international prices were ruling at around $ 200 per tonne. In the process it was the consumer who had suffered, he added. Mr K.Karunakaran of the Congress took exception to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, talking about the matter outside the House since the House had decided to take up the issue. The Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Ram Naik, said the decision on fixing a time for the discussion would be taken up by the Business Advisory Committee. The Speaker said he would
discuss the matter with the floor leaders of various
parties when they met him tomorrow to decide on the
Bhagwat issue. |
Nehru ‘could have been a
good actor’ New Delhi, March 10 — Only Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has some “photographic character which I would like to photograph,” says Homai Vyarawalla, the grand old lady of Indian press photography. “Today’s politicians lack photographic character, unlike Jawaharlal Nehru, Abul Kalam Azad or S. Radhakrishnan,” says Vyarawalla. As one who has seen stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru from close quarters on professional assignments, the lonely lady from Vadodara has strong opinions about not only present-day politicians but also the media five decades after Independence. Among the personalities, like Harold Macmillan, Nikita Khruschev, Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who she photographed during her long stint as a professional, it was Nehru who won her admiration the most. And for good reasons! “Posing for photographs came naturally to him. In fact, he would have made a very good actor.” “He liked to be close to the people and liked the adulation — and not the sycophancy like today’s politicians, mind you — and in such situations he gave some excellent photo opportunities,” she says. And with the Father of the Nation too she had a special relationship — the Mahatma did not like flashbulbs popping and everytime Vyarawalla used it, he would comment, “yeh ladki to mujhe andha karke chhodegi (This girl will end up making me blind).” Living alone in Vadodara after the death of her only son due to cancer 10 years ago and of her husband two decades ago, Vyarawalla took voluntary retirement from her profession in 1970 due to the “changing scenario” in both media and politics. The rise of “photogenic but moody” Indira Gandhi and overbearing security restrictions associated with politicians became a dampner to the freedom-loving camerawoman’s creative mind. “You were not allowed to move freely, always asked to stand in fixed corners at official functions...The officials were becoming rude unlike their cultured and gracious predecessors, the values and attitudes changed —these things disgusted me,” she says. “Photo journalists should also draw a line while taking pictures of public figures, and not catch them in awkward positions...They too have a right to privacy,” she says. It is the present media which is to blame for undue publicity to politicians who use publicity to further their own cause, says the woman who accidentally stumbled into the profession after photographs of a “ladies’ picnic’ taken by her with a camera borrowed from her photographer husband were published in “Bombay Chronicle” in the early thirties. But the closest to her heart are the ones taken at the Red Fort on August 15, 1947. “That feeling of being independent, it was overwhelming.” Vyarawalla, who worked
with the far-eastern bureau of the British Information
Service apart from “The Illustrated Weekly of
India” and “Current” during her eventful
career, says photography as a profession has improved
technically since her time. |
Telecom firms given 10 days to pay up NEW DELHI, March 10 (PTI) — The Delhi High Court today directed three basic telecom operators-Tata Teleservices, Hughes Ispat and Essar Commission to pay 20 per cent of licence fee within 10 days or face the consequences of default. A Division Bench comprising Justice Arun Kumar and Justice Manmohan Sarin also stayed the invocation of bank guarantees of these three companies by DOT for 10 days from today. The court said "if the petitioners failed to deposit the amount within this period, the stay order will stand vacated." The Bench said in case of a final order in this case in favour of these companies, the department would refund the money along with interest to the appellants. These companies need not pay any interest on the 20 per cent due, the court clarified and said only the principal was payable within the specified period. The appeal filed by Birla At&T, the only cellular service provider among the appellants, could not be heard by the court because of paucity of time. It will come up for hearing tomorrow. Since the stay order passed by the division bench is not applicable to Birla At&T, the bank guarantee of the company is vulnerable to be encashed by DOT. But it is unlikely that
the department will take any action against Birla
At&T today, DoT sources said. |
Justice Wadhwa visits Staines’ killing site MANOHARPUR (Orissa), March 10 (PTI) — Justice D.P. Wadhwa, lone member of the commission of inquiry set up to probe the killing of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons on January 22 night, visited the site of the crime today. Justice Wadhwa, who heads the commission, saw the burnt vehicles, the nearby church and some houses before returning to Keonjhar. Inspector-General of Police (Crime branch), I.J. Jachuck, District Collector Sourav Garg and DIG of Police (Crime branch) Prakash Mishra briefed the commission. Justice Wadhwa, who was accompanied by commission secretary DGR Patnaik, counsel for the commission Gopal Subramaniam, Dayal Krishna and Vrinda Grover and Orissa High Court Deputy Registrar J.P. Das, also talked to Rolia Soren, a local church leader. They spent about an hour in the village. Earlier, they arrived at the Raisuan airstrip near Keonjhar town from Bhubaneswar and drove to Manoharpur, about 125 km away. Counsel Gopal Subramaniam
told reporters in the village that the commission hoped
to complete the investigation in time if the assistance
of all agencies was available. |
Regularise houses, says Jain NEW DELHI, March 10 — Mr Satya Pal Jain (BJP) today urged the Centre to annul the land acquisition proceedings at Hallo Majra village in Chandigarh, release the land from acquisition, provide water and electricity connections after regularising their houses. Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Mr Jain said under Rule 377 hundreds of persons had constructed their houses near Hallo Majra village, which had been named Deep Complex. Mr Jain said Chandigarh Administration started the process of acquiring this land which resulted in panic and resentment among residents. He said in spite of the protests, the administration completed the process. He said in case the government took possession of this land, it would have to demolish hundreds of houses which was not in the interest of anyone. On one hand, Mr Jain said the government wanted to construct about 20 lakh houses each year to overcome housing shortage, while on the other it wanted to demolish hundred of houses in Chandigarh. He added that the affected
persons staged a dharna near the disputed land and
submitted a memorandum to the higher authorities,
including the Union Home Minister. |
Advani claims improvement in internal security GHAZIABAD, March 10 (PTI) — The Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, today claimed that internal security had shown tremendous improvement over the past one year, but cautioned against continuous sinister designs of "nation’s enemies" to disrupt peace. "Our efforts are showing positive results as there is a significant change in internal security of the country in the past one year," he told Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel after taking salute at an impressive 30th raising day parade on the CISF campus here. He said situation was fast improving in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, north-eastern states and in the industrial belts as well, but warned that efforts were being made by "desh ke dushman" (nation’s enemies) to sabotage peace. "They do not want peace here. They are creating problems not only in the border areas but also in industrial belts," he said without naming any country or organisation. He complimented the CISF for the job it was doing in providing security in the sensitive industrial areas saying "it is laudable to record that in over 100 industrial units in the country where CISF personnel are deployed, no crime was reported last year". He said better training for CISF personnel would play a significant role in improving their performance and said the government was considering proposals for utilising the services of the CISF in other areas. Earlier, the Home Minister
gave away President’s police medals. |
| H |
|
||
| Restore old monuments:
Dikshit NEW DELHI: The Delhi Chief Minister, Shiela Dikshit has called for a “concerted” effort by citizens, corporate houses and government to restore old monuments of Delhi. “The initiative has to come from enlightened citizens. There should be a concerted effort by citizens and the corporate world to restore old monuments of Delhi. My government is ready to provide all cooperation to such efforts within its limited resources,” Ms Dikshit said here on Tuesday while releasing a book “Havelis of Old Delhi”. — TNS Probe
ordered into deaths Indo-French army
exercises Sena men assault
MC Commissioner Noted journalist
dead National Open
School bags award President arrives
for operation Staines to get
‘ekta puraskar’ Former Chief
Justice dead |
 |
 |
| 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 | |
