Formation of BSP-BJP coalition govt in UP gathers momentum
New Delhi,Thursday, April 25, 2002: The countdown for the formation of BSP-BJP coalition Government in Uttar Pradesh began with leaders of the two sides meeting today and announcing that everything has been finalised.
"All issues were discussed. Everything has been finalised and it would be announced at an appropriate time through a joint press conference," BSP leader Mayawati and BJP leader Lalji Tandon told reporters after a 90-minute long meeting at Mayawati's residence.
This followed an hour-long meeting Home Minister L K Advani had with BJP leaders from the state to discuss the broad features of the Common Minimum Programme and the issue of Speakership.
Tandon said he and state party unit chief Kalraj Mishra were deputed by the BJP central leadership to finalise the tie-up.
Significantly former Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, who was present at the meeting with Advani, kept away from the talks with BSP leaders.
On the question of Deputy Chief Ministership, both sides said it was a media creation and never an issue between the two parties.
"Neither BSP nor BJP ever talked about deputy chief ministership. It was a media creation," they said.
Asked about the formation of a Coordination Committee to be headed by Rajnath Singh, the leaders said when the exercise of Government formation is completed, the two parties would reveal all the details in this regard.
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Mig-29 aircraft missing with two pilots
Tezpur (Assam),Thursday, April 25, 2002: A Mig 29 aircraft of the Indian Air Force and its two pilots have been missing for five days since April 20 from Darrang district of lower Assam, IAF sources said here today.
The aircraft had taken off from the IAF airbase here in Sonitpur district for routine morning sortee and went missing when it was flying over Darrang district, the sources said.
The sources identified the missing pilots as Squadron Leader Khan and Flying Officer Tahiya.
Army, police, railway police and IAF personnel with helicopters were on a vigorous search for the missing aircraft and its pilots.
Help from the Bhutan government was also sought, fearing the aircraft might have crashed near Indo-Bhutan border, sources added.
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Violence continues in Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad,Thursday, April 25, 2002: Seven people were injured, including one in police firing, in continuing incidents of violence in the curfew-bound Saherkotda and Gomtipur areas of the city late Wednesday night.
At least two persons were injured, one in police firing, in the violence in Saherkotda police station area, police said today.
A total of 21 rounds were fired and 25 teargas shells lobbed to disperse mobs indulging in setting afire houses in Nirmalpur in Saherkotda area, they said adding, three houses and a truck were burnt in the fire.
At least 11 people were detained in this connection, police said.
In another incident, five persons were injured when acid bulbs were hurled at them in Gomtipur labour area on Wednesday night.
Indefinite curfew continued in Shahpur, Vejalpur and Saherkotda police stations areas while it was relaxed in Gomtipur, Rakhial and Bapunagar for four hours for people to buy essentials.
Forty-one people have been killed and scores of others left injured in the renewed violence since Sunday.
The situation though tense is under control, police added.
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Indians in Zimbabwe threatend
Johannesburg,Thursday, April 25, 2002: The minority Indian community in Zimbabwe are under threat of attack from the country's 'war veterans' who recently put the African country in disarray by their violent strikes against the whites.
The war veterans, regarded as President Robert Mugabe's "storm troopers", have vowed to occupy and claim the commercial properties of the community, a report broadcast on South Africa's national SABC radio said on Wednesday.
The vulnerable Indian community numbers about 10,000 in the country.
A spokesperson for the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association Andrew Ndlovu has been quoted as saying they have launched "Operation Liberation" to target Indians.
"Nothing will stop us from re-claiming commercial land from Indians. They are economic looters", he said. "... they will leave us with no choice but to go door-to-door making sure all Indians in the cities are complying with instructions from war veterans.
"In 1980 when most whites left the country, Indians had money to buy nearly all the developed land in cities", he is reported to have told a press conference in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe.
Ndlovu claimed that Indians traded in the black market of foreign currency and of failing to share under-utilised land with the black community.
The latest development has come as no surprise to many Indian-origin political observers here. They said it would be interesting to see how President Mugabe reacts to the actions of his "war veterans".
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Sion flyover to get a name after 2 yrs
(Express News Service)
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal will now preside over the naming ceremony of the Sion flyover more than two years after it was constructed. The ceremony will take place on Thursday at 9.30 am. The flyover will be called Bhagwan Mahavir Flyover in keeping with a demand from the Jain Community.
The work on the Rs 41 crore Sion flyover that had been constructed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) started in October 1998. The flyover was commissioned on January 30, 2000.
The residents of the Dadar area had been demanding that the Dadar flyover be named after Mahavir. They had even stuck posters on the flyover proclaiming the demand. But the government has decided to name it the Nana Shankar Seth Flyover.
Approximately three years ago, with reference to another flyover that had been at the centre of a naming controversy, the then Chief Minister of the State, Manohar Joshi, had announced that no flyovers in the city would be named.
However, since then, the Bandra flyover was named — the Prabhodhankar Thackeray Flyover, with others too doing the same. Even the J J Hospital flyover is likely to be named. Residents and organisations of the area have already suggested various names, but the Government has still to approve of one.
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PM for partial rollback of tax proposals
New Delhi,Thursday, April 25, 2002: Under pressure from BJP, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has asked Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to partially roll back some of the "harsh and anti-middle class" tax proposals in the Budget when the Finance Bill comes up for discussion in Lok Sabha on Friday.
The Prime Minister who had a detailed meeting with Sinha on Wednesday is understood to have asked the Finance Minister to restore the 20 per cent income tax rebate on savings for income between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh.
In the Budget for 2002-03, Sinha had proposed to reduce the tax rebate to 10 per cent for this income bracket.
BJP Members of Parliament on Tuesday had mounted renewed pressure on Sinha to restore the 20 per cent tax rebate besides roll back some of the excise duties slapped on small scale industry.
The Finance Minister had repeatedly spoken of the difficult fiscal situation, particularly in the face of the shortfall of over Rs 20,000 crore in revenue collection last year, mainly due to economic slowdown and had highlighted the need for increased revenue generation to pump-prime the economy besides meeting the increased security needs.
But apparently, Prime Minister had favoured partial roll back of withdrawal of benefits under section 88 of the Income Tax Act despite the Finance Ministry making some alternative proposals during the presentation on Wednesday.
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Parl Panel castigates govt on land valuation in PSU divestment
New Delhi,Thursday, April 25, 2002: A Parliamentary committee has severely criticised the government on the issue of land valuation in divestment of stake in PSUs, saying asset valuation guidelines were "inadequate and vague".
Rejecting the government's contention that value of assets which were not giving income to the PSU to be divested were questionable, the Standing Committee on Finance said in its 30th report that land should be valued separately and should be factored into total asset value.
The recommendations, placed before the Lok Sabha earlier this week, came in the wake of privatisation of Balco, where committee questioned the government on the rationale for sale of profit-making companies at a throwaway prices.
In its reply, the Disinvestment Ministry said "A company might have huge assets, but those assets are not giving income to the company."
To buttress the argument, the Disinvestment Secretary Pradeep Baijal told the Committee that though National Textile Corporation had land worth Rs 2,400 crore, the property was an encumbered asset because no state government would give permission to sell that land.
Dismissing the arguments, the Committee, headed by N Janardhana Reddy, asked the government to "modify the guidelines for evaluation of the assets of the PSUs under consideration for disinvestment which would take value of land invariably into consideration".
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SEBI will safeguard interest of MIP investors: Bajpai
New Delhi,Thursday, April 25, 2002: Securities and Exchange Board of India said today it will safeguard the interests of investors in UTI which apparently is under strain to redeem Monthly Income Plan of 1997 by April end.
After the SEBI's board meeting here today, Chairman G N Bajpai told reporters: "UTI was discussed. Our job is to take care of the investors' interest. We will take care of it."
He declined to comment on the outcome of the meeting, saying "I don't want to give details as the discussion is privy to the members of the board. Whatever is necessary to communicate, we will do it at the appropriate time."
Indications are that the regulator would insist on UTI to make timely repayment to investors.
SEBI might also permit UTI to float a new scheme to provide a switchover option to unitholders of the close-ended MIP scheme of 1997 that matures on April 30, as part of efforts to provide some relief to the fund.
The country's largest mutual fund has applied to SEBI for launching a new monthly income scheme exclusively for MIP-1997 investors. MIP-1997 unitholders can also opt for reinvestment option in any other UTI scheme open for sale.
UTI's MIP-1997 had a corpus of over Rs 1,400 crore as on December 31, while its market value was about Rs 980 crore. The scheme is likely to run a shortfall of over Rs 400 crore.
UTI was in talks with LIC, SBI and IDBI for bringing in the additional funds.
Even if UTI does not get the funds from the financial institutions, it can still draw upon the trust's Development Reserve Fund assistance.
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Labour Ministry draws flak from Parliamentary panel
New Delhi,Thursday, April 25, 2002: The Labour Ministry has drawn flak from a Parliamentary panel for "not having very effective" coordination with States and implementing agencies and has been asked to draw up a concrete strategy for timely release of funds.
The Standing Committee on Labour and Welfare, in its 21st report, said expenditure on some of the schemes was not upto the mark and the reasons put forth by the Ministry for under- utilisation of funds "are not at all convincing".
Recommending that the Ministry should immediately intensify monitoring over the schemes and ensure filling up of all vacant posts under various organisations, the panel headed by Sushil Kumar Indora suggested the Ministry should draw up a concrete strategy for timely release of funds to the implementing agencies.
The Committee was "surprised" to note that no fund was earmarked for creating general awareness among the people about several schemes run by the Ministry for welfare of workers, particularly bonded labour, child labour, women labour and welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
It also expressed "serious concern" over the plight of nearly 370 million unorganised labour in the country saying "there is no agency available which can take care of safety and health of workers in the unorganised sectors". It recommended that the Ministry should bring a comprehensive legislation to protect the workers.
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BSE: Equities decline in narrow movements at opening
Mumbai,Thursday, April 25, 2002: Share values reversed their overnight positive trend and were quoted in negative territory at opening session on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today following fresh selling by operators.
Lack of foreign as well as local institutional buying also partly dampened the sentiment. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued to be the fence-sitters, waiting for the end of political uncertainties and reportedly were net sellers, albeit in small lots, for the first two days of the current week.
The BSE-30 share sensitive index opened firm at 3420.62 and immediately touched a high of 3421.88. Later it met with strong resistance and dropped below 3400-mark to a low of 3396.20 before being quoted at 3403.22 at 11.00 am as against yesterday's close of 3411.92.
IT shares suffered a moderate setback on profit-selling by operators following sustained negative sentiments on Wall Street where the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index declined by nearly 19 points last night making it a three-day string of losses.
Old-economy counters, including heavyweights like HLL, RIL and ITC also eased on profit-booking.
Among major losers, Pentamedia Graphic dropped by 6.99 per cent, Zee Telefilms by 2.72 per cent, P&G by 2.55 per cent, PSI Data by 2.33 per cent and GACL by 2.24 per cent.
However, TV-18 rose by 7.41 per cent, United Phosp by 5.85 per cent, Polaris Soft by 3.08 per cent ABB by 2.49 per cent and BASF by 2.40 per cent.
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Police should hang their heads in shame: Nadeem
(Indian Express)
None the worse for wear and well nigh shouting vindication, Nadeem Akhtar Saifee says he was always confident that the ‘‘truth would emerge one day’’.
Speaking from London, which has been his home for five years now, the music director told Newsline that he is ecstatic the court has rejected the conspiracy theory in the Gulshan Kumar murder case. ‘‘I knew the truth would emerge one day, because I knew I was innocent,’’ said Nadeem, named by the Mumbai police as a prime accused and co-conspirator in the case.
Saying that he hopes ‘‘those mischievous police officers are hiding their faces in shame’’. ‘‘Even Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam should be shown up for what he is. They broke every rule and every law in order to frame me,’’ says Nadeem, adding that he is glad, however, that ‘‘they failed’’.
Except for the two years it took to settle in, Nadeem says that relocating to London has not hurt his career one bit. His modus operandi? He collaborates with his Mumbai-based partner Shravan Rathod over the telephone and via e-mail, and their music is eventually recorded in Mumbai.
Over the last two years itself, the duo has released several top-selling soundtracks including those for Mukesh Bhatt’s Kasoor and Raaz, Suneel Darshan’s Ek Rishtaa and Haan Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya, and Venus Films’ Hum Ho Gaye Aapke and Tumse Achcha Kaun Hai among several others. It is said that fellow-accused in the Gulshan Kumar case, Ramesh Taurani, proprietor of Tips Music, has always encouraged film producers to hire Nadeem-Shravan to score the music for their films. Tips Music has released several soundtracks whose music has been composed by Nadeem-Shravan.
On the other hand, T-Series, managed by Bhushan Kumar after the death of his father Gulshan Kumar, has sworn off releasing soundtracks whose music is composed by Nadeem-Shravan.
Still, Nadeem claims: ‘‘I have maintained all along that Bhushan Kumar is like my younger brother, and I sincerely hope that now that I have been officially cleared from the case, my relationship with Bhushan will be restored. After all, there is nothing more that I can do to prove to him that I am innocent.’’ Will he ever return to India? He says he’s not sure, then adds: ‘‘If I’m honourably invited back by the government and by the people who are at the helm of affairs, then I might consider it.’’
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Reserves to get a chance in three-day game
St Lucia,Thursday, April 25, 2002: Fresh from the thrilling win in the second Test, the Indian cricket team is looking to give its reserve bench a chance to stake their claims for the battles ahead in the three-day game against Busta XI starting here on Friday.
The tourists are almost certain to rest the four bowlers who played in the second Test - off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, and speedsters Javagal Srinath, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan - and would look to try out Tinu Youhanan, Sarandeep Singh and Anil Kumble against a side who are no pushovers by any means, having a number of national players in their ranks.
It is a piquant situation for Kumble, India's most successful bowler who is confronted with the task of winning back his berth for the remaining three Tests.
A good showing here against a team of past and present West Indian Test cricketers would definitely boost his chances for the third Test in Barbados next week but it may not be enough.
Unlike its two previous wins in the West Indies in 1971 and 1976, India's victory at Queens Park Oval in Port of Spain this time was built around a three-pronged pace attack that performed quite well. They look to be automatic selections for the third Test with the Kensington Oval pitch at Barbados probably being the fastest in the West Indies.
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