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Sunday,
December 30, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Amended POTO to be repromulgated UP poll: advantage none Bapu proved to
be weak leader, said Nehru Mindset of judiciary should change: Sorabjee FM broadcasters get more time |
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India still not polio-free A paradise for vultures Bandh in Sheikhpura ‘Interpret’
past without impairing truth
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Amended POTO to be repromulgated New Delhi, December 29 Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told reporters after a 90-minute-long Cabinet meeting that apart from omitting sub-clause (8) of Clause three, dealing with journalists, the Cabinet also decided to make three other major changes in the original ordinance promulgated on October 24. Besides, a transitional provision had been added to the ordinance stipulating that any offence committed under the proposed law on or after the commencement of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (Amendment) Act, 1988, shall be tried by a sessions court until a special court was constituted under Section 36 of the Bill, Mr Mahajan said. The major changes in the original ordinance are: *Sub-clause (8) of clause 3, under which a journalist was required to divulge to the police any information that he knows or believes could be of material assistance in preventing commission of a terrorist act, has been omitted. *Clause 7 has been notified to delete reference to special courts, thus doing away with concurrent jurisdiction of the designated authority and the special courts. The new ordinance also provides for an appeal against the order made by the designated authority to the special courts. *Clause 8 has been modified to vest power of forfeiture of proceeds of terrorism in the special court instead of the designated authority. *Sub-clause (3) of clause 47 of the Bill now makes provision for laying of an annual interception report by the government before both Houses of Parliament. In clause 62, a similar provision has been made for the orders and rules too. A senior Cabinet minister said, if necessary, the government would convene a joint session of Parliament to get the nod. |
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UP poll: advantage none New Delhi, December 29 The BJP after the Congress was able to break a long spell of mid-term elections. Chief Minister Rajnath Singh has been able to stop the slide that the party was having in the state during his predecessor Ram Prakash Gupta’s time. But the BJP is not entering the electoral fray with any advantage. The Samajwadi Party has been in disarray with party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav being charged with nepotism and captive of “money bags” likes of party general secretary Amar Singh. Not only that two of the party Lok Sabha MPs from eastern UP have turned rebels which would not only affect the party’s fortunes in that region. In the western region, the Lok Dal would not allow Mr Yadav to make a headway. In the past the SP won seats from Muslim dominated areas. Since Muslims have decided to go in for tactical voting, the party has become ensure about these areas. The third major player is the Bahujan Samaj Party its sole leader two time Chief Minister Mayawati has been promising party tickets to all and sundry who bring in donations. The Congress has regained ground in the recent rallies and yatras. The choice of candidates and unity among partymen will determine the fate of the party. |
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Bapu proved to
be weak leader, said Nehru Bhopal, December 29 Speaking at a symposium on the Indian Freedom Movement on the second day of the three-day session of the Indian History Congress here this evening, he said Nehru wrote about the Mahatma on June 14, 1943, that “with his very great qualities, he has proved a poor and week leader. A great man in many ways but the sagacity and initiative (for) doing the right things are no longer in evidence”. Prof Datta said Nehru poured out his heart in his Ahmedgarh Fort Diary of 1943 “which has not been paid sufficient attention by his biographers”. Nehru wrote that the Mahatma had undermined the international situation, and the result was that “narrow nationalism overshadowed the international scene”. Nehru described “Bapu’s utterance” as “unwise,” particularly his reference asking the British to leave India to anarchy. According to Nehru, Gandhi was convinced that the Japanese were going to win the war. He went to the extent of saying that “Bapu lacked constructive ideas” in his phase of the struggle, and that the Civil Disobedience was not started by the Congress, but was a spontaneous upsurge ignited by the arrest of Congress leaders, for which the Congress had to pay a big price. |
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Mindset of judiciary should change: Sorabjee Bangalore, December 29 Highlighting the need for accountability, he said certain conduct of judges which might not attract impeachment need to be addressed by these sanctions to check judicial aberrations. Stating that the mindset of the judiciary needed to change, he said issues such as delay in pronouncing reserved judgement and postponement of sittings by judges need to be met by sanctions. Mr Sorabjee, delivering the inaugural address to a two-day roundtable on Contemporary constitutional challenges at the National Law School of India University here, also advocated review of judgments by judges without making personal attack on them. Referring to judicial corruption, he said “contempt should not be used as a shield for protecting a corrupt judge.” At the same time, he also stressed the need to filter charges levelled against judges and levy punishment, both civil and criminal, against those who make frivolous charges against them. He said the National Commission to review the working of the Constitution was likely to submit its report to the government by the end of February next. Stressing the immediate need to set up a national judicial commission for the appointment of judges, Mr Sorabjee said the judicial element must have an edge in the composition of such a commission. Similarly, he said, it should be the exclusive purview of the judiciary to deal with the removal of judges. The eminent jurist, who dwelt at length about the constitutional functioning, said though the constitution had withstood the test of time over the last five decades with resilience, there were still certain deficiencies that needed to be addressed. Criticising frequent elections to the Lok Sabha, he said this would hinder economic progress of the country and also lead to lack of confidence on ballot by the people. At the same time, he also opposed fixed tenure of Parliament. On public interest litigation (PILs), he admitted that this had given room for political, private and publicity oriented litigations. There should be some mechanism to prevent such litigations and ensure that PILs play a more meaningful role in the judiciary.
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FM broadcasters get more time New Delhi, December 29 In a major decision, the Union Cabinet today decided that the private FM broadcasters will be permitted to establish permanent facilities within a time period of eight months of getting permission for extension in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. The decision follows the failure of the licensees to set up stations within the earlier
stipulated time frame of one year. As regards Mumbai, the decision will entail that the operations should start from April next as this would mean the completion of 24 months since March, 2000, when for first time licences were granted to private broadcasters in the city. The 14 stations in Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi have to start broadcasting by August. Further, the 18 FM stations in the 15 non-metros will become operational immediately, the Union Cabinet decided while clarifying that the licensees will have to start making payment pertaining to their licence fee from the stipulated months. This would be despite the fact that they may not be able to actually start broadcasting. Licences were issued to private FM broadcasters last year and according to the earlier stipulated time frame they should have started beaming latest by today. However, private FM radio stations have started beaming in only four cities — Bangalore, Indore, Lucknow and Ahmedabad — generating a revenue of Rs 16 crore for the government through licence fee. Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sushma Swaraj told newspersons that serious players in the non-metro cities had been asked to pay the licence fee and start broadcasting within a period of seven days. Clarifying that the delay was not due to any problems on the government’s front, the minister said unforeseen circumstantial bottlenecks were primarily responsible for the delay in the starting of operations in the four metropolitan cities. To avoid scattering of frequency, the minister said the Wireless Planning Coordination Cell of the Communications Ministry had stipulated that the metro FM operators would have to co-locate their
facilities from the same tower. All India Radio towers are available in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai and the licensees have
already entered into an agreement with the AIR for the purpose. AIR has sought four months time to make the necessary arrangements for accommodating these channels. Meanwhile, in another decision the Union Cabinet today repromulgated the ordinances on the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Act — 1961 and the Passport Act. “The ordinance giving the University of Roorkee the status of an IIT has been promulgated as it could not be passed in the just concluded winter session of Parliament”, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told newspersons here today. On the changes in the Passport Act, Mr Mahajan said the name of “state” had been mentioned in the previous ordinance which had now been removed. “Since states have no role in passport there was no requirement to mention them”, he said. |
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India still not polio-free Meerut, December 29 According to data collected from reliable sources, Bihar with 23 cases and Haryana 5 are placed second and third, followed by Punjab which has 4 cases. Punjab and Haryana are the only states to have registered an increase in the polio cases as compared to the year 2000. Last year Punjab did not register any case while Haryana had four cases. In all, 265 cases had been reported last year. West Bengal, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chandigarh, which reported polio cases last year, did not report any case in the current year. On the other hand, Gujarat and Maharashtra which reported 2 and 7 cases respectively last year, brought the figures to 1 and 4. A disturbing factor was detection of 2 cases in the national capital. The newly created states of Jharkhand and Uttaranchal reported 1 and 3 cases respectively. The sources said the detection of a number of polio cases indicated that India’s dream of becoming a polio-free nation by 2005 had suffered a serious setback. It may be recalled that the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has been a major source of funds for the anti-polio drive, was to certify India as a polio-free nation by 2000. However, due to alleged indifferent attitude of the authorities concerned, the deadline could not be met, following which the WHO was forced to extend the deadline to 2005. Regarding poor response to the immunisation drive in UP, a source blamed it on the ignorance about the disease in the rural Muslim-dominated areas of the state. There was a widespread belief among the rural Muslims that the polio drops made the children weak. There had been reports of rural people resisting the administration of the drops to their children by the health workers. |
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A paradise for vultures Jor Bir (Bikaner), December 29 A few years ago it would have been unthinkable that this 4 sq km area, with scraggly khejri, babul, khair trees and shrubs and a record population of vultures — more than 400, would be a tourist spot, but it is true today. In conservation circles, it is being termed as a miracle and this place is paradise for the big bird. At least seven species of the Gysp vulture can be seen at Jor Beer today. And they come from places as far off as Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, Kazakhstan, Bhutan, Pakistan and other dry temperature zones of the Himalayas. Presently, the King vulture, the Eurasian griffon, Himalayan griffon, Cinerous vulture, Indian long-billed vulture, Indian white-backed vulture and the Egyptian vulture can be seen in all their glory. Talking to this correspondent near the dumping site, Dr P R
Ojha, who has done pioneering work in wildlife studies, and his student, research scholar Prabodh Chander, showed the nearby trees full of resting vultures and said this place was a typical desert with sand dunes, plantation and away from populated areas. This undisturbed area is also a dumping ground for carcasses from Bikaner and as such an ideal feeding place for the vultures. They say the conditions are so ideal that besides vultures, one can spot more than 50 kites of two species, 200 - 300 crows, 50 black ibis and assorted kinds of smaller birds which live off the
carcasses. Wild dogs, too, have made it their home and feed on the dumped carcasses. Their behaviour
patterns too are being studied and recorded, Dr Ojha said Commenting on the disappearance of vultures from the countryside in the country , Dr Ojha said the crisis had deepened during the past decade when the pressure on land increased due to rise in
population and the vultures, too started dying from the after-effects of pesticides, environmental pollution and viral diseases among the population. He also showed many vultures which had died from a viral disease. He stressed the need for declaring the area as a national vulture sanctuary so that their habitat could be saved. Although the demand had been taken up by the Bombay Natural History Society, more steps should be taken towards this
end, Dr Ojha said. He said in the next decade this area too would fall prey to residential needs of
there ever-expanding city and by then it would be too late for saving the vulture, he opined. Mr Chander said he spent at least two hours every day — 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.— watching the vultures for his doctorate on Demography and Socio-Ecology of Gyps Vultures in Bikaner”. He said it was easy to do so during winter but almost impossible during summer when the stench from the dump was all pervading and could be smelt from more than 1 km away. He said the vultures were able to strip an adult animal clean to the bone in just 20 minutes. He said these were helpful in preventing the outbreak of epidemics due to the putrefying carcasses. The number of vultures is up from previous years. While it was small a few years ago, this year the figure has already crossed 400 and more vultures are expected in the coming days. This year five king vultures, a rare species has been spotted. This is an encouraging sign that the vultures have considered this place ideal for them. Another good sign is that many vultures have brought their small ones this year. “Maybe the vultures will start breeding here in the near future but for that we must ensure that the site remains undisturbed and is declared a sanctuary”, Mr Chander said. He said the King vulture (sarcogyps calvus) is about 75 cm long with a wing span of 2. 7 mtrs and found in India, Thailand and China. They are dark brown with a black collar and two white patches of down on the thighs and red pellets on the neck. The Eurasian vulture (Gyps Fulvus) is a huge bird with dark brown feathers and a wing span of 122 cm and found in Kashmir, Pakistan and Nepal. The Himalayan griffon ( Gyps Himalayansis) is the same as the more whitish on the neck and underbelly. It is found mostly in the Himalayas. The Cinerous vulture (Aegypius Monachus) is a very heavy vulture and is found in Baluchistan, Gilgit and some dry temperature zones of the Himalayas. An important characteristic is that its neck is full of black, blue, pink and brown feathers. Mr Chander said the Indian long-billed vulture was found everywhere except in Sri Lanka. The body is dark brown and the neck is greyish white and the legs are brown. The Indian white backed vulture has a wing span of 90 cm and is found in the countryside. It has white feathers and a white ring is present on its neck. The Egyptian vulture is found in the sub-continent and is dark brown in colour, he pointed out. He emphasised that there was great need to save the vultures and if something concrete was not done soon, vultures would be seen only in nature science books. |
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Bandh in Sheikhpura Patna, December 29 State Director-General of Police R.R. Prasad said the situation was tense but under control. Additional security forces had been deployed to help the district police maintain law and order. Combined columns of state and central forces were conducting regular flag march in Sheikhpura town and adjoining areas to instill confidence among the people and ensure enforcement of prohibitory orders under Section 144 Cr P C.
UNI |
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‘Interpret’
past without impairing truth Bhopal, December 29 Understanding, interpretation and rumination of the past, must be done without impairing truth and veracity, since departure and deviation from this will reduce history to fiction, spelling dangerous consequences for the country, the President said in his message to the 62nd Indian History Congress which began here yesterday. The President also said that there was a need to understand history in its correct perspective.
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