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Headlines
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News:
Two killed as violence rocks Vejalpur, Jamalpur, Vasna
Gujarat govt to hold repeat exam
BJP-led coalition in "lose, lose situation": Opposition
Geelani taken into preventive custody
Musharraf rules out withdrawal of troops from border
25 Indians feared drowned near Greece
Police goof-ups changed script of Gulshan case
Sinha offers tax sops to middle class
Govt to act as facilitator in making India entertainment hub
Guj violence to a have deep impact on Indian industry: Sonia
NALCO not to be privatised: Paswan
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Sensex: 3371.70, +12.06
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Two killed as violence rocks Vejalpur, Jamalpur, Vasna
Ahmedabad,Friday, April 26, 2002: Two persons were killed, including one in police firing and over ten others injured, as violence rocked Vejalpur, Jamalpur and Vasna areas since late Thursday night.
Police said some members of a family travelling by an autorickshaw in Vasna area were injured this morning when they were attacked by mobs on the main road near Guptanagar.
One person was killed and three others injured in police firing in Vejalpur area last night, police said adding Border security force has been deployed there. In Mansa taluka town of Gandhinagar district, one of the two persons stabbed yesterday, succumbed to his injuries.
Violence, that erupted in curfew bound Vejalpur and Jamalpur areas, later spread to adjoining localities as several houses and shops were set afire, police said adding that curfew was reimposed in Vejalpur from 8.45 am.
Earlier, police burst teargas shells to disperse a mob near Agriculture market which went on a rampage and set fire to over 200 shops and houses belonging to minority community.
In Jamalpur, under Haveli police station, atleast seven persons, including a constable and a police Sub Inspector were injured in the violence last night.
Many houses and shops were set ablaze by violent mobs in Raikhad, Jamalpur, Khamasa and Khanja darwaja localities. A hutment was also set on fire on the bank of Sabarmati river as mobs went on rampage and threw crude bombs.
One person was injured in Khamasa area when police opened fire to disperse the mob. Army was deployed in the most affected Haveli police station areas.
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Gujarat govt to hold repeat exam
New Delhi,Friday, April 26, 2002: Dispelling doubts about its concern towards students, the Gujarat Government today came out unscathed in the Supreme Court and informed it that a repeat examination would be held in Ahmedabad and Baroda area for all students who missed the April test.
The State Government even pre-empted the Bench comprising Justice B N Kirpal, Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice H K Sema by saying that even those students who had taken the examination would be allowed to appear in the repeat test provided they give an undertaking that marks scored by them in the April test should not be taken into account.
Blasting petitioner Lok Adhikar Sang for coming to the court on the basis of press reports and alleging malafide, Solicitor General Harish Salve said the "government was fully alive to the situation and would do everything to prevent the children from being used for political purposes."
Slave said the attendance of the children for the class 10th, 11th and 12th were normal as it touched around 98 per cent as against an average of between 96 and 97 per cent in the previous years.
In a scathing attack on elements playing with the lives and careers of students, the Solicitor General said "the decision of Gujarat Government to conduct repeat examinations has been taken on account of the fact that unfortunately certain students were mislead into abstaining from the examinations, which were held."
The Court asked the Government to put its submissions on affidavit and posted the matter for furhter hearing on Monday. MORE PTI DM PP PTI 04261450 R NNNN
ZCZC
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BJP-led coalition in "lose, lose situation": Opposition
New Delhi,Friday, April 26, 2002: Opposition in the Lok Sabha made a scathing attack on Government's economic management and said despite the concessions announced in the Union Budget today the BJP-led coalition was in a "lose,lose situation" as people are fed up with it.
Participating in a discussion on the Finance Bill, they said the recent election results in some states showed that people were disenchanted with the functioning of the ruling combine at the Centre.
Initiating the discussion, Pawan Kumar Bansal (Cong) said there was a growing feeling among the people that they were sadly mistaken in voting the BJP-led coalition to power.
He said the concessions announced by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today reflected the "muddled thinking" of the Government, adding the exercise was carried out due to pressures exerted within the ruling party.
Stating the concessions would in no way help the Government to raise its stock among the people, he said the budgetary proposals were a severe attack on the middle class with the salaried sections the worst-hit.
Regretting that the Government had failed to come out with a strategy to reverse the economic slowdown, he said the BJP-led coalition had used "swadeshi" not as an ideology but as a ploy.
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Geelani taken into preventive custody
Srinagar,Friday, April 26, 2002: Former Chairman of Hurriyat Conference and senior Jamaat-E-Islami leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was taken into preventive custody in Baramulla district of north Kashmir today, official sources said.
Geelani was intercepted by police at Pattan, some 27 kms from here on Srinagar-Baramulla National Highway while he was on his way to Bandipora town of Baramulla to address a Friday congregation, the sources said.
He has been detained in Police Station, Pattan.
Although police did not divulge the reason behind Geelani's preventive arrest, the sources said the step was taken to stop Geelani from addressing the Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid Bandipora and subsequent demonstration by him in the town in violation of prohibitory orders.
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Musharraf rules out withdrawal of troops from border
Islamabad,Friday, April 26, 2002: Accusing India of "offensive deployment", Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf ruled out the possibility of unilateral withdrawal of troops from Indo-Pak border to end the military stand-off and put the onus on New Delhi to de-escalate the situation.
Musharraf, who has been using the "anti-India card" lately to boost his chances of winning the April 30 controversial referendum, also said that if the Pakistan military was not alert there were chances of many things happening along the border and the Line of Control.
"Our deployment is aimed at covering every thing," he said in an interview to Dawn published today.
Musharraf also discounted the possibilty of unilateral withdrawal of troops from the point of view of gaining "more ascendancy" in the light of the US troops' presence in the region dissuading any cross-over by Indian troops.
On why India persisted with the build-up, the President said it was perhaps "to pressure us. (But) We are not coming under pressure. Perhaps their decision was misjudged. They perhaps want to bleed us economically. They are asking a way out but I am not providing that. They have closed the door, let them open it".
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25 Indians feared drowned near Greece
Jalandhar: In a repeat of the Malta boat tragedy, about 25 people from Punjab who had gone to Lebanon illegally in search of jobs, were feared drowned after their boat capsized on its way from Turkey to Greece. Nawanshahr Deputy Commissioner A K Gupta said today he had received information about the tragedy from the parents of those feared dead.
"The district administration has written to the state government to take up the matter with the external affairs ministry," he said.
Gupta said the district authorities have received complaints from the kith and kin of those who are feared to have drowned.
According to relatives of some of the victims, about seven people aboard the boat could be saved by the Greece authorities, Gupta said.
More than 100 people, mostly from Punjab were drowned off the coast of Malta two years back while trying to reach Europe illegally.
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Police goof-ups changed script of Gulshan case
(Express News Service)
The Gulshan Kumar murder judgement has been given but the questions about the investigation remain unanswered. Taken together, these questions raise the bogey of an investigation that was either flawed or made to flounder.
Abdul Rauf alias Dawood Merchant, the shooter who was convicted on Wednesday, was arrested only last year but he could have been nabbed within two months of Kumar’s murder in August 1997. A Mumbai police team tracked him till Indore in Madhya Pradesh in October 1997 but gave up the trail and returned to the city for lack of funds. The officers were forced to abandon the trail because their boarding and lodging allowances were not sanctioned. Officers say that the investigation could have perhaps taken a different turn if Merchant was taken into custody then. He was arrested from Kolkata in January 22 last year, almost three years later.
In fact, one of the earliest setbacks in the investigation came when Tips Cassettes owner Ramesh Taurani, who was considered the prime suspect in the conspiracy, was granted bail by the Sessions Court where his lawyers filed an appeal against the remand given by the metropolitan magistrate. How did he get bail? Only because the police failed to file a remand application in time. The assistant commissioner of police who was also the investigating officer, L R Rao, later explained that his constable had not properly checked the court papers which resulted in their not filing for remand. An excuse that was as flimsy as it sounded but Taurani was out.
Rao’s assistants were Police Inspector Arjun Bagdi and two others. While Bagdi remained with the case till the end, the other two were transferred within a year to police stations in the suburbs. Another lingering question is about advocate Kishore Sutrale’s murder two years ago. It was a curious murder because Sutrale was not known to be associated with the underworld or the target of any extortion demand. His brother is a politician and the family had no known enemies but Sutrale was gunned down in broad daylight. The only link was Arif Lakdawala, whom he represented in the case. Lakdawala was the prosecution’s star witness and his statement was the strongest evidence they had. The police, after preliminary investigation, said that Sutrale was murdered for his alleged links with the underworld but his brief in the Gulshan Kumar murder case was never probed.
Then comes the curious omission of Taurani’s driver Joseph from police records. Joseph is believed to have heard an incriminating conversation between his boss and music director Nadeem Saifi. He later collected Rs 25 lakh from Laxmi Industrial Estate and deposited it in a Juhu hotel. He could have been the strongest link to the conspiracy but he was forgotten somewhere down the years. Why? There are no answers but Joseph was last seen ACP Rao’s office at the Crime Branch before his name disappeared from police records.
Last June, when Keki Balsara, one of the witnesses, died, ostensibly of a heart attack at the police headquarters toilet block, questions were raised about the mysterious circumstances of his death. Balsara was summoned to the Crime Branch for questioning which apparently proved too much for him but his lawyer Majeed Memon had said that it was wrong to tutor witnesses during trial.
Police closed in on Merchant in 1997, but dropped the chase as they ran out of money in Indore. They arrested him four years later.
Taurani was granted bail because the police could not file remand application in time. Investigating Officer L R Rao said his constable did not check court papers.
Advocate Kishore Sutrale’s murder probe did not reach anywhere. He was appearing for Arif Lakdawala, prosecution’s star witness. Police did not have a clue about Joseph, Taurani’s driver who disappeared.
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Sinha offers tax sops to middle class
New Delhi,Friday, April 26, 2002: Under pressure from BJP and allies to roll back proposals that hit the middle class, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today partially restored the income tax rebate on savings to 15 per cent, dropped five per cent service tax on life insurance premium and exempted from tax dividends and income from mutual funds upto Rs 9,000 to provide relief to small tax payers.
Moving the Finance Bill, 2002 for consideration in the Lok Sabha, Sinha announced sops to the tune of Rs 2,157 crore by way of changes in direct and indirect tax proposals that covered four per cent excise duty exemptions to parts and accessories of bicycles, hand pumps, toys, umbrellas and roofing tiles mainly used by poor and pre-recorded audio cassettes.
He removed land telephones from the one-by-six scheme for mandatory filing of Income tax returns restricting it to ownership of cell phones. As being the year of books, he also gave a minor concession by restoring the old postal rates for printed books that will cost the exchequer Rs 7 crore.
Maintaining that a moderate tax regime and a large number of exemptions go ill together, Sinha said "I do recognise that those accustomed to enjoying the benefit of exemptions would like to resist the withdrawal of exemptions. While this cannot be accepted as a matter of rule, in some specific areas I am inclined to make some changes".
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Govt to act as facilitator in making India entertainment hub
New Delhi,Friday, April 26, 2002: Terming entertainment as the "fourth basic need" of the people, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj today assured captains of industry that Government will play the role of a pro-active facilitator and create a policy frame-work to make India an entertainment hub.
"We would like to usher in a policy frame-work where potential of the entertainment sector can be realised. It does not matter that this industry is in the private sector," she said addressing the CII Annual Session on "India as an Entertainment Hub".
She said though government can only be a facilitator, its commitment would be to be accessible, amenable to reason and enthusiastic about new ideas.
"But all of you, the captains of industry and commerce will have to seize the initiative to make India an entertainment hub in real terms. The Government is with you," she said.
Pointing out that the growth rate of the industry was 30 per cent per annum, outstripping those shown by other industries, she said India had "numerous advantages" for becoming the base for providing the entertainment products to different parts of the world.
Listing out initiatives taken by government in the sector over the past three years, she said nearly 56 channels were uplinking from India today.
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Guj violence to a have deep impact on Indian industry: Sonia
New Delhi,Friday, April 26, 2002: Congress President Sonia Gandhi today lashed out at the continuing violence in Gujarat asserting it would not only deter foreign investors and hurt the country internationally but also have a deep impact on the growth of Indian industry itself.
"We are meeting in the background of the continuing trauma in Gujarat....What has happened in Gujarat will deter not just foreign investors. It has not just hurt us internationally. It will, first and foremost, impact on Indian industry itself", the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said while inaugurating the annual meeting of CII.
Stating that the land of the Father of the Nation the apostle of ahimsa and the champion of communal harmony was bleeding, Gandhi said it was a colossal tragedy that growing economic success achieved by Gujarat was being accompanied by increasing "social discard and communal polarisation".
She said Gujarat, the land of dynamic private enterprise and "high-minded civic spirit" has fallen prey to the worst forms of bigotry and asked whether we want this growth to breed a pernicious fundamentalism.
Economic policy cannot be seen in a social vacuum and there can be no growth in the absence of social cohesion and harmony, Gandhi said asserting that India, whose secular moorings and foundations were systematically destroyed, can not flourish until a social order exist.
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NALCO not to be privatised: Paswan
Angul (Orissa),Friday, April 26, 2002: Despite the centre deciding to disinvest 30 per cent of its stake in the National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO), the profit-making company would not be privatised, Minister for mines Ram Vilas Paswan said here.
Paswan, who visited the smelter and captive power plant of NALCO on Thursday, told plant executives and workers that apprehensions about the company being privatised were without any basis.
Pointing out that the government held 87 per cent stake in NALCO, the minister said even after disinvesting 30 per cent of the equity, the government would still have total control over the company with 57 per cent stake.
He announced that NALCO would undertake repair work of all schools in and around the aluminium town which had been badly damaged in a hailstorm recently. Assistance would also be provided in some other areas as the company had a social obligation to fulfil.
NALCO's newly-appointed chairman-cum-managing director, C Venkatraman was present.
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Sensex: 3371.70, +12.06
The sensex closed at 3371.70, up 12.06
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1 U.S. $ = 48.89 INR
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Temperature: 86 F / 30 C
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