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Bill on Dual Citizenship for PIOs in Budget Session: PM NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced on Thursday that dual citizenship would be granted to people of Indian origin (PIO) in certain countries. A legislation to facilitate it will be introduced in the Budget session of Parliament beginning next month. "We are now working on the administrative regulations and procedures governing dual citizenship. We will introduce the necessary legislation during the Budget session of Parliament", Vajpayee said while inaugurating the first-ever Pravasai Bharatiya Divas celebrations here. Under the present law, Indian citizenship is automatically forfeited when an Indian acquries the passort of a foreign country. Those granted dual citizenship (numberig about 20 million) would be entitled to all rights and privileges enjoyed by Indian citizens but would not be allowed to contest elections. More than 1200 NRIs and PIOs from 55 countries are participating in the three-day meet jointly organised by External Affairs Ministry and FICCI. The event was organised by the Government based on the recommendations of a high-level committee chaired by LM Singhvi, India's former High Commissioner to Britain. It will be held on January 9 every year, to mark the return of original NRI, Mahatma Gandhi, to India from South Africa on January 9, 1915. Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and VS Naipaul, former Fiji Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, Prime Minister of Mauritius Anerood Jugnauth, Minister of Works of Malaysia S Samy Velly, and CEO of McKinsey USA Rajat Gupta were among those who attended the conference. Agni Missile Tested Successfully (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: India on Thursday test-fired a shorter-range version of its nuclear-capable Agni-I missile. The missile was tested across the eastern Bay of Bengal to a range of about 840 km, which could put most parts of Pakistan within its range. The missile blast-off at Wheeler's Island was watched by Defence Minister George Fernandes. Pakistan in a stetement said the test was no surprise as India's nuclear and missile ambitions were well-known. The surface-to-surface missile is a key element of India's plan to build a credible minimum nuclear deterrent against nuclear-armed neighbours Pakistan and China. B'desh Puts Border on Red Alert (Go To Top) DHAKA: Following New Delhi's decision to crack down on the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, Dhaka has reportedly sounded a red alert along its borders to resist any push-in. The international border between the two countries is 4300-km long. Quoting higher security sources, a media report said on Thursday that Bangladesh has put on red alert the BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) all along the border as an instant measure to resist any likely push-in of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants. Bangladeshi foreign ministry had recently stated that no Bangladeshi citizen was staying in India unlawfully. It had categorically rejected Indian reports which claimed that 20 million Bangladeshis are living here illegally. Rebel NSCN Leaders in Delhi for Peace Talks(Go To Top) NEW DELHI: Naga rebel leaders, Isak Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, are in New Delhi to hold peace talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani. The two leaders of National Socialist Council of Nagaland who arrived from Amsterdam were given a rousing welcome on Thursday at the airport by the students and people of Nagaland living in the nation's Capital. The NSCN (I-M) and India have held several rounds of talks in Europe and Asia since a ceasefire in 1997. But these talks will be the first in New Delhi since 1967. The two-day talks with Vajpayee, and later with officials, are expected to put an end to the bloody conflict that has raged for more than half a century and killed 50,000 people. "Thank you so much. We have come to India to find peaceful solution so we are very thankful to the Government of India. Thank you," Muivah said. On Thursday morning, the two leaders paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at his mausoleum in Raj Ghat. The Government's peace envoy K Padmanabhaiah ruled out an overnight breakthrough. But, he said, the visit of Naga leaders was a very important development to finding a lasting solution. The Nagas are concentrated in Nagaland State but some live in Assam, Manipur or Arunachal Pradesh States. They were converted to Christianity by missionaries under British rule. There are allegations that the militants are getting funds from the US and Britain. The NSCN has been fighting for an independent tribal homeland for the three-million-strong tribe. India's north-east, comprising seven mountainous States, is home to about 200 ethnic groups. The region, bordered by China, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, has been plagued by insurgencies since India won independence from Britain in 1947. Tribal groups accuse the Central Government of plundering the region's rich mineral resources and neglecting the local economy. Last November, the Centre lifted a 12-year ban on the rebel movement, the largest of the 50-odd rebel armies operating in the north-east, to pave the way for its leaders to return to India for negotiations. Vajpayee last met the Naga rebel leadership in Osaka, Japan, in 2001. The NSCN was set up in 1980 but split eight years later into two factions and Nagaland Chief Minister SC Jamir said he doubted peace could be achieved unless both groups joined talks. US B-1 Bombers Head for Gulf (Go To Top) WASHINGTON: Three US strategic B-1 bombers headed for the Gulf as the United States continued its military build-up in the region in anticipation of a possible war to force Iraq to shed its ballistic missiles and nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programmes. "We have three take-offs this morning," said Lieutenant Megan Frail, a spokeswoman at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, where the B-1 bombers are based. Pak Soccer Team to Take on India in Opener (Go To Top) DHAKA: Reigning champions India will confront arch-rivals Pakistan in the opener of South Asia's biggest football event which is to begin tomorrow (Friday) in Dhaka, reports Dawn. Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will inaugurate the eight-team South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) championship at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.(Details) ANI Cameraman Injured in Parliament Attack Dead (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: Vikram Bisht, the 28-year-old intrepid cameraman of ANI TV, whose pictures detailing the Islamic guerrilla attack on Parliament on 13 December 2001 were flashed in every home, died of head injuries on Thursday morning. Bisht had been paralysed below the waist after being hit by bullets fired by Pakistan-based militants in that attack. Family members said he fell down from his wheelchair at home. Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences declared him dead when he was brought there. The tawny young man hailing from the hill town of Rudraprayag in Uttaranchal was known for his agility but ill luck made him dependent on others since that fateful day. Born on July 1, 1974, Bisht had been with ANI for over 10 years. Passport of Mirwaiz Umer Farooq Suspended (Go To Top) NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday suspended the passport of former Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq for four weeks on the ground that his travel abroad was not in the interest of the country. Umer Farooq was due to leave for Dubai on Friday along with his America-born wife Sheema. The two planned to go to US from there. Eight Feared Killed as Mine Roof Collapses in Bokaro (Go To Top) BOKARO: Eight persons were feared killed when the roof of a mine in Sudandih mines of Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, 40 km from here, collapsed, the police said on Thursday. The incident took place late on Wednesday. Game Theory Expert at Global Meet in Mumbai (Go To Top) MUMBAI: Nobel laureate John Nash is in the city to participate in India's first international conference of the Game Theory Society at the Taj Mahal Hotel. At 21 he had formulated the 27-page dissertation in 1950, outlining his Equilibrium, which had an enormous impact on economic theory and many other fields involving strategic game-like interactions. Nash received the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994. Game theory emanates from studies of games such as chess or poker. In these games, players have to think ahead, devise a strategy based on the other players' expected counter-moves. Today, almost 60 years after John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern formulated it in 1944, game theory has become a dominant tool for analysing economic issues. In particular, non-cooperative game theory, that is, the branch of game theory that excludes binding agreements, has had great impact on economic research, evolutionary biology, political science, accounting, law, statistics, the foundations of mathematics, social psychology and even branches of philosophy. The principal aspect of this theory is the concept of equilibrium, which is used to make predictions about the outcome of strategic interaction. Though now in remission from paranoid schizophrenia, which he fell victim to in the late 1950s, Nash is now working on a three-player Game Theory where players don't have knowledge of others' strategy or moves and which could find application in multi-lateral negotiations. -ANI |