BJP-led NDA will be voted back to power in 2004
polls: Advani
London,Monday, June 16,
2003: Asserting that BJP-led NDA would be voted back to power in the
next year's general elections because of "good governance", Deputy
Prime Minister L K Advani said Atal Bihari Vajpayee would remain the
Prime Minister.
"Between 1988 and 1998, in 11 years there were as many as seven
Prime Ministers. But from 1998 to 2003, there was only one Prime
Minister," Advani said at a reception hosted in his honour here by
the Indian High Commissioner Ronen Sen.
"In 2004, Vajpayeeji will again become the Prime Minister. This
is possible because of the good governance, containment of
inflation, economic stability and a burgeoning foreign exchange," he
said seeking to put a lid on the leadership controversy in the BJP.
"May God give Vajpayee's leadership many more years to come," the
Deputy Prime Minsiter said.
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UP BJP chief appeals Muslims to give up cliam on
Ayodhya
Allahabad,Monday, June 16,
2003: Uttar Pradesh BJP President Vinay Katiyar today urged the
Muslim community to forsake its claim on the disputed site in
Ayodhya and hand over the land to the Hindus for construction of a
Ram temple in the larger interests of communal amity.
"If the muslims can help renovate Hanumangarhi temple at Ayodhya,
then they should not have any problem in handing over the disputed
land there for construction of a Ram temple", he told reporters
here.
Such a formula for resolving the Ayodhya issue had been agreed
upon a few year ago but certain poltical forces scuttled the move,
Katiyar claimed without naming the political and added efforts were
on once again to break the deadlock on the issue.
Since the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya was a matter
of sentiment for the majorty community, muslims should accept their
plea by forsaking their claim over the Babri mosque site, katiyar,
who was here in convection with his 'jag jagran yatra', said.
He said it was his personal view as well as his party's thinking
that a Ram temple should be constructed at Ayodhya while ensuring
communal amity.
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Judgements on terror be made on real actions and deeds:
Russia
New Delhi,Monday, June 16,
2003: Sharing India's concerns on cross-border terrorism from
Pakistan, Russia today made it clear that it would go by "real
actions and deeds" and not make assessments based on statements
emanating from Islamabad.
"All judgements regarding questions of terrorism and other
matters have to be made not upon just statements but upon real
actions and deeds," visiting Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov
said at a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart
Yashwant Sinha.
He was asked about Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's recent
remarks in which he has not ruled out another Kargil type intrusion,
raising suspicions of his sincerity to honour commitments made to
the international community on ending cross-border terrorism.
Observing that Pakistan was "well aware" of Russia's position, he
said this had been reiterated during the visit of Musharraf to
Moscow as also during his talks with Pakistani leaders in Islamabad
on Sunday.
He went on to add that "we know that the leadership of Pakistan
has undertaken some steps against terrorists and their
organisations. We hope this work will be continued".
Sinha said the two sides agreed that the menace of international
terrorism has to be fought by the international community
collectively.
The situation in the region was discussed and it was agreed that
"it is imperative for Pakistan to seize the opportunity and stop
cross-border terrorism and dismantle the infrastructure supporting
terrorism so that progress can be achieved on the latest peace
initiative of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee", he said.
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Advani and Blair discus Indo-Pak issues and
Iraq
London,Monday, June 16, 2003:
India's "problems" with Pakistan and the contribution of Indian
troops for peace-keeping purpose in Iraq figured prominently in the
talks Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani had with British Premier Tony
Blair here today.
"It has been a very good meeting with the Prime Minister. We have
discussed several issues including Iraq and our problems with our
neighbour Pakistan," Advani told reporters after the 50-minute
parleys with Blair.
In a rare gesture reflecting growing Indo-British ties, Blair
came out to warmly receive Advani at the door steps of the 10,
Downing Street and again came out to see the Indian leader off after
the discussions covering bilateral and international issues.
"It's good to see you here," Blair told Advani with a warm
handshake and a broad smile in the bright sunshine as photographers
clicked the two leaders exchanging pleasantries at the doorstep.
"I would like to express my satisfaction at the manner I was
received by the Prime Minister," Advani said.
Asked whether the long-delayed 1 billion pounds worth Advanced
Jet Trainer Hawk deal figured in the discussion, the Deputy Prime
Minister said: "It didn't come up. It may come up later."
Advani arrived here yesterday on a four-day visit at the
invitation of the British Deputy prime Minister John Prescott. He is
scheduled to have meetings with Home Secretary David Blunkett,
Prescott and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw during his stay here.
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Monsoon arrives in Mumbai
After a six-day delay the south-west Monsoon has set
in this commercial capital and its suburban areas on Monday to bring
cheers to Mumbaikars.
The normal date of advance of the annual rainfall in Mumbai is
June 10. This year it has been delayed by six days because the
south-west showers had hit the Kerala coast a bit late.
Regional Meteorological Centre's director Thakur Prasad confirmed
that the south-west Monsoon has set in this commercial capital and
its suburban city on Monday and by noon it crossed Dahanu.
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Dual citizenship Bill will become law by end of this
year
London,Monday, June 16, 2003:
The Dual Citizenship Bill currently before the Standing Committee of
Parliament will become a law by the end of this year, Deputy Prime
Minister L K Advani said here on Sunday night.
Replying to a largely-attended reception in his honour hosted by
the Indian High Commissioner Ronen Sen at the Queen Elizabeth II
Conference Centre here, Advani said he had the privilege to pilot
the Bill in the Lok Sabha.
"It has been referred to the Standing Committee. After 2 to three
months, it will come back to Parliament and before this year end the
bill will become law," he said.
The reception was attended among others by Lord Swraj Paul,
Ambassador for Overseas British Business, Lord Navnit Dholakia,
President of the Liberal Democrats, Piara Singh Khabra, Lord King
and film producer Shekhar Kapur.
Referring to his week-long visit to the US at the invitation of
American Vice President Dick Cheney, Advani said during his visit to
Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, he met a large number
of NRIs and found that the NRIs were concerned about progress and
developments in India.
He said there was vast potential for India's growth but what was
lacking was a "proper work culture."
Prior to independence, he said politics was not a profession. "It
was a mission. People like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Lokmanya
Tilak gave up lucrative practices to join the freedom movement.
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Nachan booked for Mumbai Central blast
In a fresh development in Mumbai Central bomb blast,
police today arrested suspected SIMI activist Saquib Nachan under
POTA for his alleged complicity in the explosion that injured 25
persons.
He was produced before a special court which remanded him to
police custody till June 23.
Nachan is the first accused to be arrested in this case. Other
wanted accused is Yusuf Shaikh alias Nasir alias Tahir Ansari. The
blast occurred on December six last year at McDonald's stall on
Mumbai Central suburban railway station.
In a related develoment, Nachan was also remanded in Vile Parle
bomb blast case to judicial custody till June 30.
Nachan is prime accused in cases of bomb blasts at Vile Parle,
Ghatkopar, Mumbai Central and Mulund.
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Ministerial group to meet by Jun 21 to fix MUL share
price
New Delhi,Monday, June 16,
2003: Government is likely to decide on the selling price of shares
in the joint venture car company Maruti Udyog (MUL) by June 21, two
days after the bids for the public offer close.
The prices on the basis of bids received through the book
building process for divestment of 25 per cent government equity
will be finalised by the Group of Ministers on Disinvestment,
sources associated with the MUL IPO process said.
The GOM is likely to meet the very next day of the closure of the
public issue on June 19 to consider the recommendations made by the
advisors for the issue in tandem with the Disinvestment Ministry to
firm up the selling price for 72 mn IPO, where the government had a
green shoe option to offload upto another 10 per cent of the issue.
The group, comprising Ministers of Finance, Heavy Industries,
Power and Disinvestment, for finalisation of prices of PSU shares
for disinvestment through public offering route, has been in
existence even before the National Democratic Alliance led by PM A B
Vajpayee came to power.
Once the price has been finalised on the basis of the bids of
qualified institutional buyers, high networth investors and retail
investors, the bids above it would be considered for allotment of
shares, sources clarified.
This means that if an individual bidder quoted a price of say Rs
150 for the shares and the final offer is settled at Rs 130, then
the investors would be offered shares at the latter price, they
said. Therefore, majority of the retail investors were bidding at
"cut-off point" instead of quoting any price, they said.
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Indian plan to make ACU a strong forum of central
banks
Bangalore,Monday, June 16,
2003: India today proposed making the Asian Clearing Union a strong
non-political forum of central banks, to discuss issues of economic
co-operation among its members and called for expanding its
membership.
Addressing ACU members here, Reserve Bank of India Governor Bimal
Jalan said it was also necessary to make the ACU mechanism more
efficient "in the first instance" and enhance the volume of trade
routed through the arrangement.
The union could become a strong and non-political forum within
the ACU mechanism on the one hand and other areas like exchange rate
management and foreign exchange reserve management to evolve
appropriate approaches to resolve technical issues on the other,
Jalan said.
Being held in India after a seven-year gap, the 32nd annual
meeting of ACU was attended by Governors of central banks from
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal,
besides two senior level officials from Thailand. Iran was
represented by its vice-governor Dr Mohammad Jafar Mojarrad.
Formed in 1975, ACU has proved to be a strong regional
arrangement benefitting its members by optimising the use of their
foreign exchange resources, clocking a turnover of USD seven billion
in 2002, up from 51.4 million USD in the first year of the group's
operations.
India plays a key role in ACU, topping the turnover table year
after year, its share in the volume of transactions being 40 per
cent.
Highlighting the need for expanding the ACU membership, Jalan
said besides Maldives, the possibility of bringing in Thailand,
China, Malaysia and Tajiskistan, Uzbekistan and others should be
explored.
Jalan drew the attention of ACU members to the recommendation of
a technical committee that administrative bottlenecks had to be
removed to make the ACU mechanism popular, as they had been
hampering the progress of use of the mechanism to some extent.
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Bangalore IT.com 2003 launched with Germany, US, UK on
board
Bangalore,Monday, June 16,
2003: Bangalore IT.com 2003, an annual event being promoted as
Asia's premier ICT meet, was launched today with nations like the
US, the UK and Germany already on board.
"The presence of foreign countries is doubling in a big way",
Karnataka Information Technology Secretary, Vivek Kulkarni told
reporters here, ahead of the formal launch by Union IT Minister Arun
Shourie this evening.
The five-day event starts on the sprawling palace grounds here
from November one. The US, the UK, Germany, Hong Kong and Belgium
had already confirmed participation, officials said.
Also already on board are companies such as Infosys, TCS, Canon,
BSNL and Rolta, they said.
A total of 264 companies from 16 countries participated in the
fifth edition last year, according to officials of the organisers,
Karnataka Government and Software Technology Parks of India.
Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) would be among the ones on
focus this year, Kulkarni said, adding, small companies would be
housed next to the IT nations pavilion so that they get a good
opportunity to explore business tie-ups.
He said a day would be devoted for interaction between
international, national and local regulators and industry players,
where issues of mutual interest would be discussed. There would also
be an outsourcing summit, where industry experts would share
perspective of the international market, especially the US.
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Govt ready to consider proposal for Indo-Pak hockey
series
New Delhi,Monday, June 16,
2003: India today said it had no reservation in playing hockey
series against Pakistan but gave no indication about the possible
resumption of cricketing ties.
"We are playing against Pakistan in different hockey tournaments.
As far as bilateral series is concerned, we have not received any
proposal from the Indian Hockey Federation in this regard," Sports
Minister Vikram Verma told reporters here on the sidelines of a
meeting with members of the Indian hockey team who had recently
returned from a successful campaign in Australia.
"We will certainly consider if at all we get any proposal from
the IHF," he said.
The last bilateral series between the arch-rivals was held four
years back in 1999 when Pakistan toured India for a four-match
series. India also reciprocated by playing five Test matches in
Pakistan the same year.
Both the teams have, however, clashed in several multi-nation
tournaments in the last four years with the latest being the
double-leg hockey tournament in Australia where they played against
each other twice.
With Pakistan planning to invite India for participation in a
nine-nation hockey tournament to be held in Lahore in December, the
Centre is likely to give the nod to the team to tour Pakistan.
"I am not aware of any such invitation. But we are playing
against them in almost all other sports. So if we get any such
request we will see what can be done," Verma said.
Verma refused to comment on cricket ties saying he just wanted to
talk about hockey.
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Abhinav Bindra bags bronze at Munich, secures Olympic
Quota
Chandigarh,Monday, June 16,
2003: Ace shooter Abhinav Bindra has secured a berth in the Athens
Olympics by winning the bronze medal in the fiercely competitive
World Cup in Munich in the men's 10m Rifle event.
Bindra shot a brilliant score of 596 on Sunday to enter the final
amidst a strong field of 211 top shooters from around the world.
In the final, he shot an impressive 103.9 thus ending with a
tally of 699.9, narrowly missing the silver, a press release said
here today.
USA got gold while Russia finished second in the event.
Having seventh position going into the final, Bindra displayed
exceptional skill to finish third, thus becoming the first Indian to
secure a berth in the men's individual event for 2004 Athens
Olympics.
"His dream has always been to win an Olympic gold and he has been
working hard for that," Abhinav's father A S Bindra said.
India has already secured a berth in an individual in the women's
category through Anjali Ved Pathak Bhagwat.
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Dhanraj appeals corporates to support Indian
hockey
New Delhi,Monday, June 16,
2003: Indian hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay today made a fervent
appeal to corporate houses to come forward to the aid of the
cash-strapped national team as the side geared up preparations for
next year's Olympics in Athens.
With Castrol withdrawing its sponsorship as a cost- cutting
measure just before the team's departure to Australia last month to
play a double-leg tournament, the side is without any sponsor.
"We do need a sponsor and the multinational companies should
extend their assistance to the team immediately as we have many
imporatant assignments coming ahead," Pillay said here today.
Coach Rajinder Singh echoed Pillay's sentiments but said it was
upto the Indian Hockey Federation to do the talking regarding
sponsors.
"My job is to look after the players' performance on the field.
It is the IHF who takes decision on such matters. But hopefully
thigs will sort out soon and we will have some sponsors," he said.
Though the IHF president K P S Gill has alrady made it clear that
talks were on with corporate houses, IHF sources said that
"negotiations are at an advance stage and we will come up with some
concrete decision within a few days."
Gill denied that the development will have any negative bearing
on the Indian team's preparation for the Athens Olympics next year.
"Our preparations will not be affected. We already have some
funds lined up," he said.
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C'wealth winners to get their entire cash award but in
parts
The athletes who did the
country proud at the Manchester Commonwealth Games last year would
finally get the cash rewards promised by the Government -- but only
a fraction of it. For the remaining amount they would have to wait
for another two months.
Sports Minister Vikram Verma today assured the medal winners that
they would get the full amount as promised to them by the Government
but due to lack of funds it would be handed over to them in two
instalments.
Impressed by India's best-ever performance at the Commonwealth
Games, where the country bagged 69 medals, the then Sports Minister
Uma Bharti had announced an exponential increase in the cash rewards
for medal winners -- a gold medal fetching Rs two million instead of
Rs 500,000 a silver getting Rs 1.5 mn in place of Rs 300,000 and a
bronze medal getting Rs one million instead of Rs 200,000.
However, the Government later realised that it did not have
sufficient funds to keep its promise as the rewards added up to Rs
130 mn while the Finance Ministry had alloted only Rs nine crore for
the Incentive Awards Scheme.
Varma said under the first instalment to be distributed before
the end of this month, the medal winners would be rewarded under the
original scheme -- Rs 500,000 for gold, Rs 300,000 for silver and Rs
200,000 for bronze.
The rest of the money would be give in the month of August.
"We will be hosting a function in August where the medal winners
will be felicitated and they will be given their due amounts," Verma
told reporters today.
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BCCI clears Harbhajan's
trip to US for finger operation
The
Cricket Board (BCCI) today cleared off-spinner Harbhajan Singh's
trip to the US where he will undergo an operation on his right hand
finger at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore by orthopaedic surgeon Dr Dror
Paley.
The Board has given Harbhajan the green signal to go ahead with
the operation and now it is upto him to decide how soon he wanted to
get back to full fitness, a BCCI source said here today.
The offie, who is considered an asset for the national side
especially after he demolished the Aussies on Indian soil a couple
of years ago, underwent an MRI Scan and X-Rays at the Leelavati
Hospital in Mumbai on Saturday under the supervision of board's
doctor Dr Anant Joshi and finger surgeon Sudhir Warrier's.
Both doctors recommended that Harbhajan be sent to Sinai Hospital
for the operation as the doctors over there had done a fine job on
Sachin Tendulkar's injured finger recently.
Harbhajan had injured his finger during the New Zealand tour
earlier this year and like Tendulkar, he too had played in the
February-March World Cup in South Africa with an injured
finger
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Israel to close Mumbai
consulate
Jerusalem: Israel is
considering to close its consulate in Mumbai due to economic
recession, a Foreign ministry official said here today.
''It is in the list of 20 missions under consideration following
announcement of government austerity measures and cuts in budgetary
allocation of the ministry,'' the official said but did not specify
a time frame.
Israel is facing its worst economic recession with dwindling
foreign investment and a crippled tourism industry due to the
outbreak of violence.
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