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ELECTION 99
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December 6 Vajpayee calls for greater govt-business synergy Inaugurating the 15th India Economic Summit jointly organised by the World Economic Forum and the Confederation of Indian Industry, he declared that the more business cared for the world the more the world will reduce the risks and enhance the returns for business. Biswal is the new CM but Patnaik will rule by proxy History is repeating itself in the state. The western Orissa tribal leader was chief minister in '89 under similar circumstances -- as a sacrificial lamb. Ayodhya on high alert for Babri anniversary District Magistrate Navneet Sehgal said that the situation was normal today in the area but the administration was taking no chances and had gone in for additional security measures. 134 ULFA militants surrender before villagers There was nothing official about it. There were no dignitaries present -- neither the governor, the chief minister or somebody from the army top brass. The few security personnel around looked on from a distance. BJP bracing itself for Kalyan's expulsion At a meeting of the party's state unit office bearers held in Lucknow today the strategy was given final shape. Resident doctors' strike called off This followed 'successful' negotiations between the state administration and the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors. India's Yukta Mookhey is Miss World The second and third prizes in the contest, which attracted entrants from 94 countries, went to Martina Thorogood of Venezuela and South African Sonia Raciti, respectively. December 5 Giridhar Gamang decides to quit Sources said a compromise formula had been worked out according to which OPCC chief Hemananda Biswal would be the new chief minister and J B Patnaik would replace him in the organisation post. Kalyan rakes up Ram temple issue again Given his outburst against Vajpayee, whom Singh has accused of shelving the promise to build the Ram temple simply for the sake of remaining prime minister, it is now clear that he will be expelled. Kerala church now divided over how to say Mass The Nazrani Catholic Priests' Conference and the Liturgical Action Committee have rejected the decision of the Syro-Malabar Bishops' Synod, highest decision-making body of the Church, to introduce a uniform Mass format in the 21 dioceses all over India. Three top foreign militants killed in Doda Two other militants and two jawans were also killed in Jammu and Kashmir since Friday evening. Where the government hesitates, NGOs rush in... The Indian Association of Tour Operators has shown that business is not all that it is concerned about. Apart from the usual relief work of providing food and clothes, the IATO has asked all its 700 members to adopt villages in Orissa. Indian troops all set to leave for Sierra Leone With its participation in the troubled West African nation, India will have the second largest number of troops in UN peacekeeping operations worldwide. AP high court raps cops for encounter deaths Justice G Raghuram, in an extraordinary order, directed the state police to preserve the bodies of two People's War Group Naxalites -- Santosh Reddy and Arun -- who were killed on Friday. Asha Bhosle sings in court The legal battle was over a famous Konkani song of the late '60s -- Chanyache rati (On a moonlit night) on which singer Ulhas Buyao has claimed copyright. 'Kar seva' at Narmada dam site fizzles out The much-hyped kar seva undertaken by Narmada Jan Andolan leader Sharad Joshi to restart construction at the Sardar Sarovar dam turned out to be a fiasco, with merely 23 agitationists, all included, virtually surrendering to the police for 'arrest' after a token protest at Kevadia. Sharief's indictment put off by 4 days Anti-terrorism court judge Rehmat Hussain Jafri, a sessions court judge, ruled that the next court appearance would be on Wednesday, allowing the appointment of a new judge after the government changed the law and said only high court judges could preside over anti-terrorism courts. Musharraf blames Pak elite for nation's woes Pakistan this week resumed formal negotiations with the IMF on unfreezing a $1.56 billion loan programme that was suspended under Nawaz Sharief's unpredictable economic management. LTTE targets presidential election, warns voters With the presidential election is just two weeks away, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has announced a number of don'ts to the people of in the north, raising fears that the militant outfit might be preparing for a fresh assault. THE REDIFF INTERVIEW 'Our party does not needlessly force a confrontation. Action is taken when it is called for' 'The basic thing is, if the party entrusts you with position and power, you have got to be answerable. You cannot think you are indispensable and that you can take many things for granted,' says BJP vice-president J P Mathur, who heads his party's disciplinary committee. THE REDIFF COLUMNISTS Caught in the crossfire How the battles between Advani and Vajpayee found Kalyan in between. And more gossip from the Delhi Durbar in Capital Buzz Economy, security key to Indo-Japan ties 'The world of realpolitik is studded with ironies. The votaries of non-proliferation are its main violators.' Major General (retired) Ashok K Mehta on Jaswant Singh's visit to Japan. December 4 BJP dissolves unit in Kalyan's home district The former chief minister scotched all speculation about forming a new party in Ayodhya on December 6 with the announcement that he would not visit the town that day. Navy to equip subs with cruise missiles Admiral Sushil Kumar said the navy requires at least two operational carriers for effective combat capability, but the long-term objective is to have a three-carrier navy. Security beefed up in Ayodhya for Dec 6 Various Hindu and Muslim organisations have announced plans to mark the seventh anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid by holding functions at the site. Central team to visit violence-hit Kannur Intelligence reports say the RSS and the CPI-M have prepared their own hit lists targeting senior leaders. India, China pledge to expand trade India has always supported Chinese admission into the WTO as it would help further the specific interests of the developing countries, Commerce Minister Mursoli Maran said. IAF fighter aircraft crashes near Chandigarh The pilot, however, bailed out safely. Chilka lake faces a new danger: a restaurant The lake, which is host to 149 varieties of fish, 800 species of fauna and 350 species of non-aquatic plants, was already a concern for environmentalists because of heavy siltation, increase in aquaculture activity, and dwindling bio-diversity. RS passes SPG (Amendment) Bill The bill seeks to provide security to former prime ministers and members of their families beyond 10 years, if the level of threat justifies it. Punjab asked to pay compensation to torture victim The state will have to pay interim compensation of Rs 250,000 to a person falsely implicated in a theft case, and illegally detained and tortured by the Ropar police, causing him grave physical injury. Charges to be framed against Sharief on Saturday Just a day before the high-profile trial begins, the military government amended the anti-terrorism law to bring in high court judges at the head of the special courts and changed the schedule to bring crimes like hijacking in their purview. Pak military 'suitably' amends anti-terrorism laws An ordinance to bring the changes into immediate effect was promulgated by President Rafiq Ahmad Tarar late on Thursday night. Pak murderer claims he killed 100 children Police said they found two bodies mutilated beyond recognition in a house in a poor suburb of Lahore with a letter written by the murderer. THE REDIFF INTERVIEW 'This is the time to take corrective measures' 'When the AICC observers met the MLAs a couple of days back, a majority of them reportedly suggested my name. So how could there be 47 against me? The arithmetic does not seem correct,' says J B Patnaik, who nurses the dream of becoming Orissa CM again. THE REDIFF SPECIAL Of litchis, mangoes and 4 o'clock rains Artists and writers once looked upon Doon as a haven for pursuing their creative endeavours, but the muses seem to have departed now, what with the pollution and bustle. THE REDIFF COLUMNISTS Karma Chameleon 'And who are these guardians of Indian pride, anyway? Maharishis with penance on their mind? Hardly. For the most part, the liberated desis around this part of the planet can't tell a shloka from one of Leno's monologues,' says Ashwin Mahesh. A war without winners 'Will Mulayam Singh Yadav risk losing his Muslim constituency by embracing Kalyan Singh? Especially after he has just announced his renewed determination to take up the Ayodhya issue?' asks T V R Shenoy. THE REDIFF DIARY Orissa's Sorrow 'Whoever comes to occupy the CM's gaddi -- Patnaik, Biswal, Gamang or Patnaik's major domo -- it is Orissa which has suffered, this time at the hands of its own sons,' says Bibhuti Mishra. December 3 Militants attack army camp in Baramulla A junior commissioned officer and two militants were killed in the fighting that ensued. Three soldiers were injured. Sonia decides Gamang must go But instead of former chief minister Janaki Ballabh Patnaik, his protégé, Revenue Minister Jagannath Patnaik, was likely to take over. BJP hartal sparks off violence in blood-soaked Kannur Stung by the unceasing violence, Justice (retd) V R Krishna Iyer broke down before media-persons: 'One can only weep for this state.' Cease-fire in Nagaland comes under strain Nearly twenty-seven months after the Union home ministry and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-I-M) decided to observe a truce, at least 1,000 cadres of the rebel group have gone underground between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Maiden trial run of MPV soon Sixty mine-protected vehicles have been deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East. Orissa leaves cyclone survivors out in the cold The government has so far distributed a little over 4,000 polythene rolls while the requirement is for more than 15,000. Even the block development officer admits that it is like a drop in the ocean. Maharashtra to build hi-tech villages in Orissa The state government and the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee have jointly launched Operation Jagatsinghpur to rebuild and reconstruct the worst-affected areas of the coastal district. A village for homeless children in Orissa Thirty-three orphans picked up from cyclone-affected areas are in the permanent care of SOS Children's Village of India. Women still suffer due to Bhopal gas leak Women inflicted with reproductive and gynaecological problems candidly confess that the 'noxious gas' was responsible for their ailments. Conviction of 3 cops worries Punjab police The police were also infuriated by the judge's statement that some policemen thought they were above the law and could get away with murder. Demand to delete Rajiv's name wrong: Joginder Singh The former CBI director said the names figuring in the charge-sheet were all correct and the question of their removal does not arise. AP to invest in bio-tech park The chief minister said the state government had allotted 160 acres of land for the Bio-Technology Park, adjacent to the ICICI Knowledge Park near Shamirpet, on Hyderabad's outskirts. Experts ask India, Pak to change mindset Speakers at a seminar said the two countries should pave the way for a genuine European Union-type of regional integration. Kulsoom Nawaz denies friendship with Vajpayee Sharif's son Hasan also denied reports that he contacted the Indian prime minister to help save his father's life. THE REDIFF COLUMNISTS The strange case of Shantaram Ganiga 'In it lies a lesson for all our pseudo-secularists: that communal, linguistic, or international harmony is not achieved to the clink of champagne glasses in drawing rooms, or through hot words in seminars, but on the ground. And it happens without exhortation but voluntarily,' says Krishna Prasad. The case for Microsoft 'It is fairly clear that Microsoft has played rough; the worry is whether the cure will be worse than the disease. If all this attention makes Microsoft more careful about watching its p's and q's, that would be refreshing,' feels Rajeev Srinivasan. THE REDIFF DIARY On the road in Maharashtra 'The road from Malshejghat seems to have been preserved in the exact condition as the revered Chhatrapati Shivaji must have left it. Historical verisimilitude may be all right, but it can spell hell for the tyres,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy. December 2 Congress gives conditional support to IRDA bill The party said its support would depend on the government's acceptance of four amendments moved by it. Church in Kerala is rocked by sex scandals But officials pointed out that some of the scandals are "stray instances" and have been blown out of proportion by "some misguided Catholic activists". BJP top brass wake up to growing rebellion Former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma and former Union parliamentary affairs minister Madan Lal Khurana are among those Lok Sabha MPs who continue to 'snipe' at the prime minister and voice their grouses. I-T officers raid senior Bihar minister, drug officials, suppliers The raids recovered Rs 8.2 million in cash, besides a hundi of Rs 16 million and jewellery, share certificates and fixed deposits worth a few millions. Sangh Parivar refuses to back Kannur peace accord State BJP president C K Padmanabhan said the accord would not pave the way for fostering peace since senior leaders of the parties concerned, who are responsible for restraining their cadres, had not associated with the exercise. IAF close to clinching AJT deal According to available indications, British Aerospace, which manufactures the Hawk AJT, will win the contract. IAF to launch media blitz to net recruits Raw patriotism, a superhuman image, and the thrill of continuous challenge would be the thrust of this campaign. Orissa assembly session put off due to crisis Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang, under pressure from dissidents to quit the post, convened an emergency meeting of his ministers at 0130 hours on Wednesday to adopt a resolution urging the state governor to postpone the session. BSF to increase presence in Srinagar The Jammu and Kashmir government's plan to reduce the presence of the Border Security Force in the capital has received a setback following several militant attacks in recent days. Centre cognisant of ISI threat: Advani The government proposes to amend the Explosives Act, making the possession of RDX and other material a very serious offence, the Union home minister said. Cabinet approves four bills The bills include those relating to proxy voting by the armed forces, repeal of the Designs Act, and amendment to the Explosive Substances Act. AP to construct 300 helipads The CM said the existing airfields at Cuddapah, Rajahmundry, Adilabad and Warangal would be developed into airports. An airport will be constructed near Krishnapatnam to meet the needs of the people of Prakasam and Nellore districts. Tunnel dug with Pak officials' nod A senior BSF official said the matter had been taken up locally and the BSF had lodged a strong protest with the Pakistani authorities. Gwalior to adopt storm orphans Some 100 orphans of the cyclone-ravaged Jajpur district in Orissa will be taken care of by several societies and officials of the Madhya Pradesh district. THE REDIFF COLUMNISTS 'I just had to see what I could do' 'And I cannot forget P K Gupta, a thirty-year-old from a big Delhi bank. No doctor, no logistician, no expert on anything, PK seems to have seen reports on the cyclone, got up from his desk, and taken the next train to Orissa. He was in Erasama with the clothes on his back and a sheet to sleep on.' Dilip D'Souza dilates on rare instances of selflessness. Where's Prasar Bharati going? 'It is no use complaining about staff and technology and increasing competition. All these can be easily resolved once we know what we really want. A Prasar Bharati like the BBC: strong, fiercely independent, quality-led... Or a PTV clone that thinks India wants only mindless soaps and doctored news,' says Pritish Nandy. December 1 Congress panel divided on Sonia's foreign origin A few dissenting members of the committee led by A K Antony to introspect on the reasons for the party's debacle insisted that Sonia Gandhi's 'foreign origin' be included in their report as one of the major reasons, top Congress sources said. Sardinha's government wins vote of confidence "After remaining loyal to the Congress for the last 19 years, even when defections had become the order of the day, I decided to split to save Goa from disaster due to the authoritarian rule of former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro," the new chief minister said. A website, a gambler and his Rs 840 million fraud Krishna Mohan admitted that he did not win the 12.5 million pound Euro lottery in November 1998, as he had claimed, but merely committed a fraud to make good his gambling losses. PM trying for consensus on women's bill Venkaiah Naidu said Advani told the BJP MPs about the government's commitment to the creation of the new states of Uttaranchal, Vananchal and Chhattisgarh. Indian to head UN force in Sierra Leone Major General Vijay Kumar Jetley will head the 6,000-member United Nations Peacekeeping Force being deployed in the African country. Army chief happy with operations in Kashmir General Malik complimented the 15 Corps for its 'successful counter-insurgency operations' in Kashmir, which saw the killing of 474 militants and the recovery of 660 weapons between August and November. Kargil compensation cheques bounced, LS told Vilas Muttemwar (Congress) said it was a matter of regret and shame that the cheques received by the widows of some of the heroes had bounced. US fighters flew mission over Pak, Afghanistan The flight is believed to have been a reconnaissance mission to locate the whereabouts of Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden. Jaswant to hold crucial talks with EU The developments in Pakistan will dominate the agenda when the troika meeting is held in the Finnish capital. India, Pak came close to N-exchange: UK minister British Minister for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Peter Hain said Kashmir remains a frightening flashpoint for a nuclear war. Coconuts, onions dominate Lok Sabha's agenda Almost all members from Kerala were unanimous in their view that the Centre should send an expert team of scientists to the state and step in with financial help by declaring the situation a national calamity. Relief distribution ends in shootout in Cuttack According to reports, the trouble began when one family in the village was deprived of polythene sheets by the village committee. Brain fever spreads to more districts in AP As many as 40 million pills of homeopathic medicine -- Belladonna -- have been distributed among the children and 30,000 doses of Japanese encephalitis vaccine despatched to the affected districts so far. JMM-RJD on collision course over Vananchal The RJD, which is opposing the creation of a separate state comprising 18 districts of south Bihar, has demanded a referendum on the issue. ULFA sends guerrillas to target urban areas The guerrillas were specially trained by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at a camp in Deothang in the jungles of Bhutan, sources revealed. Koothuparampu firing: Cat is finally out of the bag, says Raghavan The Kerala high court has ordered a CBI inquiry into the murder case filed against the former minister and 16 government officials. UP government likely to fall anytime: SP leader Although Kalyan Singh's expulsion is an internal matter of the BJP, it cannot be good for any national party, Dhaniram Verma said. Militants kidnap traders in Tripura Police said in Agartala today that the militants abducted seven small-time traders from Killa when they had gone there for business. At least 14 killed in Pak blasts The police ruled out sabotage in the blasts that shook the small town of Hasilpur, 120km south-east of Multan, overnight. Sharief to be indicted on Saturday The top prosecutor in the case, Raja Qureshi, said the trial would last a maximum of seven days. Pleas against Pak military government to be heard on Monday The Supreme Court will take up four petitions, including one filed by the Pakistan Muslim League, challenging the military take-over. THE REDIFF SPECIAL AIDS and marriage: A double ostracism The saddest part is that the central government has so far not thought out these issues. It has no policy regarding marriage laws for HIV-positive people. THE REDIFF COLUMNISTS Millennium politics 'The BJP's biggest dilemma is: after Vajpayee who? Will the party split despite the underpinning of the RSS, its cadre and concept of Hindu rashtra?' wonders Kuldip Nayar. Rebel with no cause? 'There is no higher calling that is motivating either the BJP or Kalyan Singh: the two are fighting for political space,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy. Archives |
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