Friday, May 14, 1999
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Laloo Yadav, Mishra
appear before court DSGMC poll: Tohra group claims
success |
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MDMK, DMK bury hatchet CHENNAI, May 13 — The MDMK yesterday buried the hatchet with the DMK and resolved to work in unison with the parent party to ensure the return of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee as Prime Minister, concretising the cordiality that emerged after the DMK backed the BJP-led government in its confidence vote.
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Probe C'swami's role: BJP Quiz me on May 20, Rabri tells CBI Goodbye to schoolbags |
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Laloo Yadav, Mishra appear before court PATNA, May 13 (PTI) — The RJD President, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, and the Bihar Jan Congress Chief Patron, Dr Jagannath Mishra, today appeared before the court of the designated CBI Judge, Mr S.K. Lal, in two separate conspiracy cases of the fodder scam. Former Bihar ministers Vidyasagar Nishad, Chandradeo Prasad Verma, RJD MLA R.K. Rana, Congress MLA Jagadish Sharma and suspended BJP MLA Dhruv Bhagat, too, appeared before the court in connection with the cases. Meanwhile the hearing on the RJD President’s petition seeking amalgamation of the two cases (RC 20A/96) and (RC 64 A/96) was adjourned till tomorrow. Mr Laloo Yadav and Dr Mishra are already on bail in the cases in which the CBI has already field the charge sheets. While RC 20A/96 relates to fraudulent withdrawals of Rs 37 crore from the Chaibasa treasury by the state Animal Husbandry Department through forged bills, another case deals with fraudulent withdrawals of more than Rs 97 lakh from the Deoghar treasury. Mr Laloo Yadav counsel, Mr Chitranjan Sinha, urged the court to amalgamate both the cases as the CBI had relied on “same set of circumstantial evidences” in the charge sheets. He said the charges
levelled by the investigating agency in the cases were
“almost similar”. |
DSGMC poll: Tohra group claims
success NEW DELHI, May 13 — The controversy surrounding the election to the executive body of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) continued for the second day today with both factions maintaining that they were in power. While Mr Paramjit Singh Sarna, who is a Tohra loyalist, maintained today that he had been unanimously elected President along with a 15-member executive body, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, General Secretary of Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), stated that the elections had been postponed. Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Sarna claimed, “There had been some difficulties in the election to the executive body. However, the committee which has now been formed, has been elected with a majority vote.” Mr Sarna stated that he had taken charge of office and the operation of the bank account had been started under the “new executive body”. “We have already held our first executive meeting,” he said. While lauding the role of the “previous executive body”, Mr Sarna said that it had managed to increase the savings and “the new executive body would also increase the savings”. Mr Sarna demanded that those Badal loyalists who “disturbed” the poll process yesterday should be removed from the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) by the party President, Mr Parkash Singh Badal. “The following office-bearers were elected unanimously - Mr Paramjit Singh Sarna, President, Mr Nirwair Singh, Senior Vice- President, Mr Baldev Singh (Rani Bagh), Jr Vice President, Mr Jatinder Singh Sahni, General Secretary and Mr Kuldip Singh (Karol Bagh), Joint Secretary,” a press release signed by the outgoing General Secretary of DSGMC, Mr Bhajan Singh Walia said. Another area of controversy was the possession of the DSGMC President’s office. While the group of Mr Jaswant Singh Sethi, the incumbent president, claimed that it was in their possession, Mr Sarna stated that “this occupation” would not hamper his functioning. The Sethi group also stated that they would take “physical possession” of the DSGMC offices. In a late evening development, Mr Jaswant Singh Sethi is reported to have handed over the key of his office to the DSGMC Manager with the direction that the office should be operated by the manager. Meanwhile, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa today reiterated that the claims made by Mr Sarna were hollow since the elections to the executive body had been postponed. “The new date for the poll would be announced in a day or two. For now, the election has been adjourned and the claims made by Mr Sarna were baseless,” Mr Dhindsa said. Mr Avtar Singh Hit, SAD
(Badal) Delhi unit President, said if the group led by Mr
Sarna had operated the bank account, “then it was
illegal.” |
HC notice on school fee body NEW DELHI, May 13 (UNI) — The Delhi High Court today issued show cause notices to the Delhi Government and the Directorate of Education on a public interest petition seeking immediate constitution of a statutory committee to adjudicate future fee hike disputes of various public schools. The PIL, filed by the parents association of Naval Public School through its counsel Ashok Aggarwal, urged the court to direct the respondents to abide by the court decision of October 30 last year for the formation of such a statutory committee where any dispute related to fee structure could be referred by parents or school managements. A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Devinder Gupta and justice K S Gupta also issued notices to Naval Public School and its management and directed them to file their replies by the next date of hearing on July seven. The PIL was directed against the failure of the city government and its Education Department to take appropriate action on a complaint of April 27 against Naval Public School — the complainants accused the school of commercialising education and exploiting parents by arbitrary and irrational fee hikes. Mr Aggarwal highligted the failure of the government and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to examine the accounts and other records of unaided recognised private schools including Naval Public School, as required under Section 18 (5) of the Delhi School Education Act, 1973 read with rules 170 and 180 of the Delhi School Education Rules, 1973. He also wanted that the court direct the school to restrain itself from hiking the fee from April one this year. Mr Aggarwal contended
that the recent fee hike was arbitrary, irrational,
unconstitutional, violative of the provisions of the act
and the rules, violative of the bye-laws of the Central
Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and contrary to the
procedure laid down by the High Court. |
MDMK, DMK bury hatchet CHENNAI, May 13 (PTI) — The MDMK yesterday buried the hatchet with the DMK and resolved to work in unison with the parent party to ensure the return of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee as Prime Minister, concretising the cordiality that emerged after the DMK backed the BJP-led government in its confidence vote. The MDMK sees no irritants in working closely with the DMK, party general secretary Vaiko told reporters after a day-long meeting of his party’s district secretaries and political affairs committee members here. “There was a unanimous view among all 82 members who attended the meeting that the MDMK should welcome the DMK into the BJP front,” he said. The presence of both the DMK and the MDMK in the same front would not affect the functioning of their respective cadres, but would actually make them all “jubilant”, he said. Mr Vaiko had parted ways with the DMK in 1993 after he was expelled on the allegation that he was plotting to usurp the leadership and charged the DMK leadership with attempts to impose “dynastic” leadership on the party. Since the MDMK’s inception, both the parties had acrimonious rivalry, leading to Mr Vaiko joining hands with the AIADMK in the 1998 elections. Mr Vaiko said he expected the DMK executive and general council to ratify an alliance with the BJP as a logical culmination of its stand favouring the confidence motion. There would be no
hesitation on his part in talking directly with the DMK
chief on seat-sharing modalities. The front’s aim
would be to ensure that Mr Vajpayee emerged Prime
Minister again, as he was able to deliver the goods
despite “frequent headaches” caused by AIADMK
chief Jayalalitha. |
Goodbye to schoolbags BANGALORE, May 13 (UNI) — Kids can now say goodbye to back-breaking schoolbags. The use of textbooks for primary schoolchildren has been eliminated in Karnataka with the launch of a new scheme which replaces these with teaching aids like cards and toys. United Nation agencies (UNDP, UNESCO, ILO, UNISEF, UNFPA) and the state government, in an effort to improve the retention rate and to bring down the dropout rate, has devised a scheme — “Joint Governments of India-UN system Education Programme” — which will do away with heavy schoolbags for the students as no text or notebooks would be used. The scheme, funded by the UN agencies, will be introduced, initially, in government-run schools and later will be extended to other schools in phases within the next five years. The project is estimated to cost Rs 4.4 crore. Official sources said the scheme would also eliminate the burden of home work, which is an additional problem for parents and children at present. Karnataka will be the first ever state in the country to introduce the “burden-free education for kids” scheme. Parents in rural areas would also be involved in the scheme to create a sense of community ownership, the sources added. According to details of the scheme, no books would be used in class I and II from this year and later it would be extended up to class V. The teaching aids like cards, games and toys which were flexible and could be modified to be area specific would be supplied to the schools. It would allow the child to master the skills at his or her own pace without pressure. To begin with, according to the proposed schedule, the scheme would be implemented in Holenarsipura (former Prime Minsiter Deve Gowda’s native village, Sira, Kolar, Hassan, Shimoga, Chitradurga and Uttar Kanadda districts during this year. This would not clash with the district primary education programme which was being implemented in several districts. The burden-free programme would be gradually introduced in city schools in the coming years, the sources added. Already training
teachers in the new scheme has commenced in several
centres. Regular interactive sessions will also be held
wherein the teachers could exchange their experience and
improve upon their skills as per requirements. The blocks
for implementation of this scheme had been selected based
on the result of pilot projects. A pilot scheme was a
grand success in attracting hundreds of children in
Hegdedevana Kote near Mysore last year, the sources
added. |
Rajiv assassination NEW DELHI, May 13 — The Bharatiya Janata Party today urged the government to probe charges of Chandraswami’s alleged involvement in the killing of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The charge has been levelled by Mr Ranganathan, acquitted by the Supreme Court in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, who said in a statement that "godman Chandraswami is the godfather in the former Prime Minister’s killing". Quoting the statement, the BJP spokesman, Mr M. Venkaiah Naidu, told newspersons that since it was an important statement the government should take further action. The government action would be in the interest of "justice and fairplay", Mr Naidu said expressing surprise that this information was not processed by the special investigating Team (SIT). Earlier, Mr Naidu asked the Congress and the ADMK to clarify their emerging alliance and whether the Congress continued to consider the ADMK as the "most corrupt party". The Congress had described the ADMK as the "most corrupt party" when the BJP had entered into an alliance with Ms Jayalalitha. Quoting the two parties earlier statements in which they had attacked each other, the BJP spokesman, Mr M. Venkaiah Naidu, said it "appears that they have swallowed their pride and eaten their own words". Referring to a statement of Ms Jayalalitha made on January 30, 1998, Mr Naidu said she had stated at that time that her party would not accept Mrs Sonia Gandhi, "a foreigner" as the Prime Minister of a great nation like India. Mr Naidu said that it
was really unfortunate that the Congress and Communists
were trying to politicise the governor issue by giving it
a casteist and communal colour. |
Quiz me on May 20, Rabri tells CBI PATNA, May 13 (UNI) — Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi has given May 20 as the day for the CBI to interrogate her in the case regarding the acquisition of assets disproportionate to known sources of income by her husband Laloo Prasad Yadav. According to sources, the Chief Minister has given time to the CBI sleuths to quiz her in the early hours of May 20. Senior CBI officials, including Joint Director (East) U.N. Biswas, were likely to be present during the interrogation of the Chief Minister at her official residence. The agency had twice asked the Chief Minister to give an appropriate date before May 14 to quiz her so that they could submit the report before May 21 to the monitoring Bench of the Patna High Court supervising the CBI probe into the fodder scam. Earlier, the state government had informed the CBI that the Chief Minister could be available only in June. However, it later fixed the appointment just a day before the Patna High Court was to monitor the case on May 21. Mrs Rabri Devi had been drawn into the case after Mr Yadav said during interrogation in the case pertaining to the disproportionate assets worth over Rs 42.52 lakh that he had taken a loan from his wife who runs a dairy farm. CBI sleuths had filed the FIR in the case on August 19 last year and had carried out search operations at the Chief Minister’s residence within three days after filing the case. The sleuths also conducted raids on the houses of three brothers of the Chief Minister simultaneously in different parts of the state capital. Thereafter, the CBI quizzed Mr Yadav at the CBI headquarters here on October 21 during which Mr Yadav furnished that he had taken a loan from his wife to construct a plush house here. However, the CBI had rejected the plea of the Chief Minister not to have video-recording of her cross- examination which would deal with her sources of income as well as expenditure. Mr Biswas, who was here
for a couple of days this week in connection with the
case, was expected to come here again on May 19. |
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| 5 of family commit
suicide CALCUTTA: A family of five, failing to find means of paying up huge debts, allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison in their flat in North Calcutta’s Cossipore area on Wednesday night. Dipak Kothari (38), his wife, Prem (34), and mother 60-year-old Sohini Devi, took poison injections and administered it to their daughter Nitu (12) and son Ankit (7) resulting in death for all, the police said. The shocking incident came to light when the milkman, unable to get response to his frantic knockings on the door for a long time, raised an alarm. — PTI Mohiniyattam
exponent dead 2 dacoits beaten
to death New reservation
rules in TN Man commits
suicide in cell Litterateur
awarded Journalist dead Poisonous gas |
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