|
Chautala threatens to nullify Yamuna agreement
102 perish in Bihar flood News Analysis |
|
Himachal has a right to free power: Goswami New Delhi, July 16 Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary A K Goswami, a key witness in the Rs 2,200 crore suit for the recovery of power arrears from the Centre, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, said the hill state had a rightful claim to 12 per cent free power in the Bhakra-Beas projects. Three bodies recovered
|
Chautala threatens to nullify Yamuna agreement New Delhi, July 17 Stating that the Centre’s move to file an application in the apex court was to “befool the people in the country”, he claimed that the Punjab Assembly had passed the Punjab Termination Bill 2004 with the consent of the Centre. Had the Centre been serious in the construction of SYL canal, it would have acted promptly as the Punjab government had been creating hindrances in the past too, he said. “No citizen would believe that Punjab Chief Minister Capt
Amarinder Singh had not consulted Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi before getting the Act passed. On several occasions Capt
Amarinder Singh had waited for days together in New Delhi to meet Mrs Gandhi to discuss even small issues before taking any final decision,” a release quoting him said. He said the Punjab Government had hurt the federal structure of the country by nullifying the water agreement. Mr Chautala in a veiled threat said taking a cue from Punjab “the people of Haryana might impress upon the Haryana Government to nullify the Yamuna Water agreement, thus creating acute scarcity of water in the National Capital.” While keeping the option of moving the Supreme Court open, the Haryana Chief Minister, urged the Centre to nullify the Act passed by the Punjab government. He pointed out that like Punjab, if Himachal Pradesh also opted to change the agreements made earlier regarding flow of water from Pong and Gobind Sagar dams, it would pose a threat to the federal structure of the country. Taking a dig at the Congress for shedding crocodile tears on the issue, he said the Congress MLAs had walked out of the specially convened session of the state assembly when the SYL issue was taken up. |
News Analysis New Delhi, July 17 This decision was announced at a joint Press conference at Hyderabad House by Mr Natwar Singh and his German counterpart Joschka Fischer. They said the expansion should include both developed and developing countries and went a step ahead when they described India and Germany as “natural candidates”. The “agreed joint position” of India and Germany on the issue of reform of the United Nations is as follows: “Germany and India both believe in a strong and effective multilateral system. Both are committed to the effective functioning of the United Nations.” “We also agree that the United Nations needs to be reformed if it is to successfully tackle the tasks ahead. The Security Council needs to be reformed. It can only play its role effectively if it becomes more representative for the world of the beginning of the 21st century. India and Germany are keen to see the reform and enlargement of the Security Council and participating actively in the debate in this connection.” “Germany and India agree that enlargement of the Security Council should include permanent membership for countries of the South and industrialised countries which make a key contribution to the maintenance of international peace and security. Germany and India consider both countries to be natural candidates for a permanent seat on an enlarged Security Council and will support each other in this endeavour.” The move is unprecedented. Never before a powerful G-8 country like Germany, which is Europe’s number one power, has openly taken such a policy decision. More so when the German decision is bound to ruffle the Japanese feathers. Japan is a rival candidate for India from Asia for the enlarged UNSC seat. Japan has not taken a clear position so far on India’s case. The German move clearly shows its diplomatic preferences. India’s claim for UNSC’s permanent membership is based on strong credentials such as the population, size, GDP, the economic potential, civilisational legacy, maturity of the political system and contribution to the activities of the UN, in particular to UN peacekeeping operations. An expanded Security Council with India and other important countries as permanent members would help evolution towards a more democratic world order. India has been in close touch with other aspirants as well as members of the UN. India and Brazil have officially pledged mutual support for each other’s candidature. Among the Permanent 5 (in diplomatic parlance known as P 5) countries — Russia, UK and France have made explicit statements of support for India’s candidature for permanent membership. India officially put forward its candidature for a permanent seat in the UNSC during the 49th General Assembly in 1994. Since then India has been reiterating its candidature at all the subsequent UN General Assembly sessions. There is a provision under Article 108 of the UN Charter for the amendment of the UN Charter about a reform of the UNSC. The UN Charter spells out two requirements for expansion of the UNSC: (i) the concurrence of all of P-5 and (ii) acceptance by two-thirds of the membership of the
UNGA. |
Himachal has a right to free power: Goswami New Delhi, July 16 Mr Goswami, while recording of his evidence before the Supreme Court yesterday, submitted that Himachal was not getting its share from the Bhakra-Beas projects though it was getting the same from the other projects commissioned later in the state as per the Centre’s policy. |
Three
bodies recovered Shivpuri (MP), July 17 The body of a 25-year-old youth with bullet wounds in the neck was found in Muhar forest areas under Bhounti police station and two bodies were found near Jhiri pool in Pohri area yesterday, Superintendent of Police Anshuman Yadav said. It was suspected that the three youths were murdered in some far off places and their bodies dumped here by the killers, he said, adding that their faces were burnt and disfigured beyond recognition.
—
PTI |
HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |