Friday, May 28, 1999
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N A T I O N |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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Nation pays tributes to
Nehru CBI interrogates Rabri |
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USA wants India, Pak to
normalise ties Rupee plunges by 28 paise
CIA planned infiltration INS Mysore launching on June 2 Cong workers go on rampage |
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Nation pays tributes to Nehru NEW DELHI, May 27 (UNI) — President K R Narayanan and Prime Minister A B Vajpayee today led the nation in paying homage to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his 35th death anniversary. Mr Naranayan and Mr Vajpayee visited "Shantivan" and paid floral tributes at the "samadhi" of the late Prime Minister. Congress President Sonia Gandhi also visited 'Shantivan', where an all-religion prayer meeting was held on the occasion. In Chandigarh, the Punjab Congress paid rich tributes to Nehru. A meeting was organised at Punjab Congress Bhawan at which state party general secretaries Lakhwinder Kaur Garcha and Rana Gurmeet Sodhi and secretary Anil Mehta said that a strong foundation was laid by the great visionary which resulted in all-round development of the nation. They said that concept of five-year plans had resulted in making India self-sufficient and self-reliant in most of the fields of life. ALLAHABAD: Thousands of people today paid homage to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his 35th death anniversary at his ancestral house, the Anand Bhawan, here today. Those who paid floral tributes were freedom fighters, social workers, children and Congress workers who thronged Anand Bhawan in large numbers. Anand Bhawan, the Nehru mansion in Allahabad was one of the key centres of the Indian freedom movement, it was more like a political headquarters than a dwelling. Freedom fighters used to converge in the Bhawan and talk and argue till the grey hours of the morning, drafting resolutions and finalise strategies, and this was the place where Motilal Nehru groomed the young Jawaharlal for the future, sources said. Also Mahatma Gandhi used to frequent Anand Bhawan. The Bhawan was once ransacked by the British police and all its valuables looted when both Motilal and Jawaharlal were imprisoned by the British raj for non-payment of fines. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi grew up here and matured as a leader, sources added. The administrator of
Jawahar Nehru Memorial Fund R.K. Sethi said the portrait
of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has been put up in front of
the Anand Bhawan where people from different walks of
life were paying tributes to their beloved leader. |
CBI interrogates Rabri PATNA, May 27 (PTI) — The CBI today began re-examination of Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi in connection with a disproportionate assets (DA) case against her husband and RJD President Laloo Prasad Yadav. A team of CBI officials, including its DIG (Patna) Mr N.C. Verma, Police Superintendent (Patna) Mr Harinath Mishra and Investigating Officer of the case Mr S.K. Majumdar, reached the official residence of the Chief Minister at around 10.20 a.m. to begin the exercise. The agency sleuths, who had earlier on May 20 expressed dissatisfaction over Rabri’s alleged "non-cooperation" during her cross-examination, were likely to put question her on expenses like shopping, tailoring, investment in real estate, payment made to beauty parlours besides income from her dairy farm during her interrogation for the second time, CBI sources said. The agency’s Joint Director (East) Mr U.N. Biswas, who is also incharge of the probe into the fodder scam, is camping here to supervise the re-interrogation. The D.A. case instituted by the CBI on August 18, charges RJD President with having accumulated wealth totalling Rs 42.52 lakh in excess of his known sources of income during his chief ministership spanning 1990-96. The agency in its FIR states that the former chief minister amassed Rs 50.56 lakh including Rs 8.04 lakh shown in his Income Tax returns. The CBI had raided the
residence of Chief Minister and her two brothers Mr Sadhu
Yadav and Mr Subhash Yadav (both members of the state
Legislative Council) on August 21 last in connection with
the case, which is an offshoot of the Fodder Scam. |
PSLV launch Milestone in
space quest The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle’s take-off from Sriharikota marks the advent of a new phase in India’s space quest. This is the first time that an Indian space launch vehicle carried more than one satellite making ISRO a space power commencing commercial operations through Antrix Corporation ISRO’s marketing arm. India had hitherto mastered satellite technology but was largely dependent on Russia and the European Union for placing its satellites into geostationary orbits because it was denied cryogenic technology under US pressure. American fears were that once Indian vehicle launch capability was in full bloom, it would be able to offer satellite launches at 30 to 40 per cent cheaper rates than advanced countries. Till India develops cryogenic technology indigenously — expected by the year 2000 — and undertakes geosynchronous satellite launch on its own space capability, the PSLV will serve as an intermediate stage. As a matter of fact Antrix Corporation, has already signed up a Belgian company to launch a small satellite, Proba, by the year 2000. And has started receiving enquiries from other countries too. Moreover, ISRO and Arianespace have signed an agreement for launching small satellites. While launching these small satellites may not be a money-spinner, it will provide a cushion. For instance, the launch of a 100-150 kg satellite earns $ 1 to 1.5 million only but the sum may effectively cover the cost of PSLV. Besides, launching small satellites for other countries will enhance PSLV’s international credibility, apart from affording ISRO valuable experience in marketing launch services. ISRO hopes that both these will eventually lead to contracts requiring full PSLV’s, raking in around $ 15 million per launch. Efforts are also on to improve the payload volume of PSLV. This will enable the PSLV not only to carry multiple satellites of varying sizes but also increase its marketability. PSLV also acts as a bridge to developing geosynchronous satellite launch vehicles (GSLV), expected to have their first flight next year. The PSLV shares its first two stages with GSLV, while the third stage will be developed with the utilisation of cryogenic technology. The PSLV was successfully launched for the first time in October, 1994 when it put the 804-kg IRS-P2 satellite into the orbit. With each launch, the vehicle’s payload capability improved. The number of PSLVs on order has also gone up steadily. The PSLV-C3 is scheduled to carry the IRS-P5 (Cartosat) with 2.5 metre resolution cameras by 2001. A year later, the PSLV-C4 will be launched carrying the IRS-P6 (Resourcesat) with better sensors for resources surveying. A more advanced Oceansat-2 is to be launched in the first half of the next decade. A satellite capable of quickly providing one-metre resolution images of places struck by a sudden calamity, a satellite suited for climate studies and one with a synthetic aperture radar are among the other missions being considered. Another facet already in full swing is data from IRS satellites being marketed globally through a tie-up with the US company, Space Imaging. Six earth stations in other countries are receiving IRS data. The number of such countries is likely to go up to 10 by this year end. According to ISRO chairman, Dr Kasturirangan, expectations are that 30 to 35 per cent of the worldwide sales of satellite remote sensing data would come from the IRS system in the next two years. In the IRS chain, IRS-P4 is the first Indian remote sensing satellite dedicated to the study of the oceans, hence its name Oceansat. The oceans are the repositories of enormous natural wealth and have a profound impact on the weather. Oceansat is equipped with an ocean colour monitor (OCM) which records the level of light in eight narrow frequency bands. An important use for this information will be to estimate phytoplankton levels. These microscopic organisms are at the bottom of the food chain and therefore support other marine life. Their distribution could suggest areas where fish might be concentrated and perhaps also allow an assessment of fish stocks. Oceansat is also
equipped with a multi-frequency scanning microwave
radiometer (MSMR), which picks up radiation in four
microwave frequencies. Unlike light, microwave radiation
can penetrate cloud cover. The data can be used to derive
atmospheric water vapour, cloud liquid water, sea surface
winds and sea surface temperature. This information will
be useful for weather forecasting too. |
USA wants India, Pak to normalise ties NEW DELHI, May 27 (PTI) — Expressing concern over the situation in the Kargil sector and related developments, the United States of America today hoped India and Pakistan would get back on track of the "Lahore process" for the normalisation of bilateral ties. Washington’s concern, conveyed yesterday by US Ambassador Richard F. Celeste to Defence Minister George Fernandes following the aerial attacks in the Kargil sector to flush out Pakistani-backed militants, was reiterated at a meeting he had with Home Minister L.K. Advani here this afternoon. The US envoy, who
described his meeting as "positive and
productive", assured the USA would not intervene in
any manner in the developments. |
Rupee plunges by 28 paise MUMBAI, May 27 (UNI) — Tension on the border today led the players at the interbank foreign exchange (forex) market to turn panicky and the rupee to shed over 30 paise today. The rupee opened lower
at 42.89/91 a dollar. It hovered at 42.90/91 at
mid-session as covering by participants was matched by
fresh supply of the greenback. The rupee went into a
sudden tailspin on news of two Indian combat jets being
downed in the Kargil conflict at around 3.45 p.m.,
falling suddenly to 42.95. The downward trend continued
and the rupee went down further to 43.05 and subsequently
to 43.11/15. The rupee eventually closed at 43.10,
showing a net loss of 28 paise from the previous close of
42.8250/8350. |
RJD man booked under crime Act JAMSHEDPUR, May 27 (PTI) — The Singhbhum district administration has booked RJD leader Mithilesh Thakur, alias Munnu Thakur, under the Bihar Crime Control Act (CCA) for his alleged involvement in a number of crimes. Official sources said more than 12 criminal cases were been pending against Thakur, who had been booked under Section 3 of the Crime Control Act, 1981, on May 25. He had since been "expelled" from the district, the sources said. The SP, Mr Ganesh Prasad
Yadav, has issued necessary order (regarding Thakur's
being booked under the CCA) and accordingly informed all
police stations in the district. |
CIA planned infiltration NEW DELHI, May 27 (ANI) — The government of India had ordered the armed forces to take on the Pakistan military to stop what appears to be an international conspiracy to delink more parts of Jammu and Kashmir from the rest of India. In fact, Pakistan Army Chief Parvez Musharrat's recent visits to Skardu are now being interpreted as preparatory to the massive infiltration in the Dras-Kargil-Mushkoh valley sector overlooking the strategic Srinagar-Leh highway which runs close to the Line of Control. There are also reports of the presence of a special US commando team in Pakistan at about the same time. The team which was said to be on a mission to target Osama bin Laden, who is wanted for the bombing of the US embassies in east Africa, may well have been assisting the Pakistan Army assemble the Pusto-speaking guerrilla fighters many of whom are known to be in the pay of the US Central Intelligence Agency since the days of the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. This suspicion arises from the fact that the infiltrators used much the same tactics as did the CIA-trained Afghan fighters in the highlands of Afghanistan. These include the use of high calibre guns and shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenades to attack helicopter gunships that attempt to dislodge them from their mountain hideouts. The same technology could have been made available to Pakistan to show the absence of any Indian Army pickets or patrols in the Dras-Kargil sector. This combination of satellite reconnaissance imagery and local area human intelligence is a feature that has been employed effectively by the USA. This is a foolproof method to ensure that the infiltrators would not be intercepted and they were able to select vantage positions from which Indian security forces will find it difficult to dislodge them without unacceptable losses. Earlier this year CIA
Director George Tenet informed the US Senate Intelligence
Committee that his agency was involved in helping
maintain peace between India and Pakistan. Its
involvement in Jammu and Kashmir raised eyebrows in
India. Given India's strong stand against the
indiscriminate bombing of Yugoslavia and the possibility
of forging common cause which China and Russia on this
issue, the CIA could well be sending a message to India
to pipe down over Yugoslavia or face an aggravation of
tensions along the Line of Control. |
INS Mysore launching on June 2 mumbai, May 27 (PTI) — “INS Mysore”, the second in a series of three indigenously built destroyers, would add punch to the Indian Navy when it is commissioned by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee here on June 2. “INS Delhi”, the first 6700-tonne large class of Indian destroyer built at the Mazgaon Docks here, was commissioned on November 15, 1997. The induction of “INS Mysore”, which underwent sea trials in February this year, would provide a substantial command and control platform to the Navy as its lone aircraft carrier “INS Viraat” is being refitted at the Cochin Shipyard, Navy sources said here. Defence Minister George Fernandes, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sushil Kumar, Maharashtra Governor Dr P.C. Alexander, Chief Minister Narayan Rane and Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde would be present at the commissioning ceremony at the naval dockyard here. The last of this large
class of indigenous destroyers “INS Bombay” is
also being built here and is expected to be commissioned
two years later. |
Cong workers go on rampage CHENNAI, May 27 (UNI) — Congress workers today ransacked a furniture shop off the busy Nungambakkam High road in the city, protesting against the display of a hoarding depicting sycophancy in the party. The owner of the furniture shop named “Glasnost” said 200 workers led by south Chennai Congress district secretary Kathipara Janardhanam came to the shop this afternoon and ransacked it. They defaced the hoarding and damaged property worth Rs 10 lakh, he said. The furniture dealer had
been putting up political hoardings laced with sarcasm.
The shop was also the target of an attack when one of its
hoarding criticised well known maverick painter M.F.
Husain sometime back. |
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| Pak artistes to sing Sikh
hymns NEW DELHI: At a time when Indo-Pak ties have hit a new low with Indian air strikes on Pakistan-backed infiltrators, Pakistani artistes Shafqat and Sharafat Ali Khan will lead a group of singers from both sides of the border in spreading the message of secularism contained in the Sikh holy book “The Dasam Granth”. The two sons of legendary singer Ustad Salamat Ali Khan will render hymns from the Dasam Granth at a special programme at the Capital’s Siri Fort auditorium on May 29 along with leading vocalists like the Singh Bandhu duo, Ahmed and Mohammed Hussain and Rajan and Sajan Mishra accompanied by an audio-visual presentation. Similar programmes, all supported by the Department of Culture, will later be held in Calcutta, Nanded, Kanpur and Patna, and separate albums will be brought out on their recording under the SMW label devoted to classical and folk music, Singh said. — PTI June to be anti-malaria
month Doctor drowned Land rates hiked
in Delhi Cut-off marks
for engg colleges Oil tankers
catch fire Elephant
population increases |
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