Deuba meets Manmohan, Natwar: sign pacts
New
Delhi: Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today
met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister
Natwar Singh. Two memorandums of understanding were signed
between the two sides, but the focus of the talks was on
what assistance New Delhi can give to Kathmandu in tackling
insurgency in Nepal. While the agreements focus on cooperation
in weather forecasting, culture and sports, the two sides
also exchanged views on matters of regional and international
concern. Nepal is also seeking logistical help and paraphernalia
like armoured vehicles and arms and ammunitions. The MoU
on weather forecasting, inked by the Department of Science
and Technology and the Nepalese Science and Technology Ministry,
provides for the setting up of an INSAT Ground Receiving
Facility in Nepal under grant assistance from the Indian
Government. The agreement on cooperation in the fields of
culture and sports, signed by Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran
and his Nepalese counterpart Madhuraman Acharya, provides
the framework for institutionalised cooperation between
the two countries in these areas. The two sides have also
decided to constitute a Joint Working Group which will meet
periodically for evaluating cooperation and concluding the
programmes. Deuba, who is on a five-day visit, also called
on President A P J Abdul Kalam. He will also meet Home Minister
Shivraj Patil and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Water
Resources Minister P R Dasmunsi and Leader of Opposition
in Lok Sabha L K Advani will meet Deuba on Friday. The Nepalese
Premier will meet former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
on Saturday before returning home the next day.
Left
parties list issues for Govt to take up (Go
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New
Delhi: Left parties today listed several issues which
they considered priority items for the government to take
up for the benefit of the common man. They also discussed
the situation prevailing in Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir
and how they would take this up with the UPA coordination
committee, which meets later this month. "We have listed
several issues, including urgent political ones Šlike the
situation in Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir. These two issues
have to be seriously discussed at the coordination committee
between Left parties and the UPA government", CPI general
secretary A B Bardhan told reporters here after an hour-
long meeting of the four Left parties here. The next meeting
of the coordination committee is likely to be held after
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh returns from New York.
"We feel that the priority items listed in the Common Minimum
Program, which affect 90 per cent of the people especially
those in the rural areas, must be addressed by the government,"
Bardhan said. "The issues include the enacting of a national
employment guarantee act to provide employment to the rural
poor by involving measures like food-for-work programs.
Provision of drinking water and a comprehensive legislation
on agricultural workers should also be given priority, he
added. Reiterating their demand that there should be "no
privatisation" of airports, the Left parties would also
like to have a detailed discussion on the modernisation
and restructuring of Mumbai and Delhi Airports, he said.
Bardhan said "certain points" in the new Exim Policy announced
by the commerce ministry should be reconsidered as these
would go against national interests. Apart from Bardhan,
the others who attended the meeting were D Raja (CPI), Prakash
Karat (Cpi-M), Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and Manoj
Bhattacharya (RSP). Expressing displeasure with the decision
of the planning commission to include representatives of
foreign monetary bodies in the consultative committee of
the commission, Debabatra Biswas of the Forward Bloc said,"
In India there is no dearth of intellectuals. We, therefore,
fail to understand the reason for having experts from bodies
like IMF, World Bank and ADB."
Railway
ticket reservations through mobile (Go
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New
Delhi: Union Railways Minister Laloo Prasad today inaugurated
a mobile-related ticket reservation service. M/s Hutchison
Essar and M/s Reliance Infocom Ltd. Will run the service
in the National Capital Region (NCR) on an experimental
basis. Subscribers will call the service providers who would
then process their request just as they do with the phone-banking
service. Speaking on the occasion, Yadav said that the mobile
ticket reservation service would benefit the common man.
"The internet service was used by very few people, but now
the mobile service will be used widely by the common people,"
Yadav said, adding that the service would be extended to
120 cities across the country. Other mobile services, including
the public sector BSNL and MTNL are expected to join soon.
The services will be available under the aegis of Indian
Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC). Yadav
also announced that with the expansion of high-tech rail
reservations, about 9000 rail travel agents all over the
country would be dispensed with to save the railways from
the menace of touting. The minister also announced that
the government is cons
Two
CRPF personnel killed in Doda (Go
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Jammu:
Two personnel of the CRPF were killed when their vehicle
was blown up by militants in Doda district today. The vehicle
was reportedly moving into the town of Doda, when it was
blown up in an IED explosion around 10:20 a.m.near Pul Doda.
The vehicle rolled over into the Chenab river after the
blast. Five others who were injured in the incident, have
been shifted to the Doda district hospital for treatment.
Govt
extends Liberhan Commission's term till March 31 (Go
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New
Delhi: The Union Government on Thursday extended the
term of Liberhan Commission, which is probing the demolition
of the Babri Masjid, till March 31 next year. A notification
issued by the Union Home Ministry said "it has been decided
that the said Commission... will submit its report on or
before March 31, 2005". The term of the commission was to
expire on September 30, 2004.
Govt
issues new census report (Go
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New
Delhi: The government today issued a new census report
after admitting that the population growth data for various
religious communities released on Monday was flawed. According
to the new report, the growth rate of both the Hindu and
Muslim communities has come down. Speaking to TV channel,
Census Commissioner J K Banthia denied that there had been
any political pressure on him to revise the figures he had
released earlier. The decision to review the report was
prompted by the Sangh Parivar's agitation over growth figures,
especially those relating to Muslims. The new report comes
just four days after the religion-based census report triggered
off a controversy. Earlier, BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu
had said that the decline in Hindu population was "disturbing".
He had also called for an even population growth and uniform
adoption of population control measures by all communities.
Muslim organisations and intellectuals however reacted differently
to the report. A Muslim Personal Law Board member even stressed
that census figures should not be communalised but viewed
as a national problem.
CCS
clears AWACS program (Go
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New
Delhi: India on Thursday broke a five-year hiatus on
an ambitious project for developing an indigenous airborne
radar system, embargoed after its test flight crashed killing
senior scientists. The Airborne Early Warning and Control
System (AWACS) program was cleared by the Cabinet Committee
on Security (CCS), which set a timeframe of seven years
for its development at a cost of Rs.180 billion. Reports
say the government has been backed by some recent breakthroughs
in radar technology by the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO). "It has been decided that we should
go on with the indigenous development of Airborne Early
Warning and Control System (AWACS) system. It has been decided
that we will go with the indigenous development of the system
between DRDO and Indian Air Force," Defence Minister Pranab
Mukherjee told reporters after an hour- long meeting of
the CCS here. In 1999, a technological snag had led to the
crash of the DRDO's HS-748 technology demonstrator aircraft.
Currently India has inked a deal with Israel-which has emerged
as its second biggest arms supplier after Russia-to acquire
the Phalcon radar systems that would enable the Indian Air
Force to pry deep into Pakistani air space. Under the tripartite
agreement, the Phalcons would be mounted on a Russian Ilyushin
aircraft. The Phalcon deal, estimated to be round 1.1 billion
dollars, is similar to the one Israel made a few years ago
with China after which the United States forced Israel to
cancel the agreement. Washington cleared the Indian deal
last year.
Pak
security forces strike WANA terrorist camps, kill 50 (Go
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Rawalpindi:
Pakistan's security forces today launched strikes on
suspect foreign terrorist training camps in the Dila Khula
area of the North Wazirastan Agency, about 25 kms northeast
of WANA, and reportedly killed about 50 people. According
to an ISPR release, the security forces struck after reportedly
receiving credible information of foreign elements, including
Uzbeks, Chechens and few Arabs, residing at some of the
camps in the area. The ISPR release said that the facility
was successfully knocked out through precise operation lasting
about two hours. The release further confirmed that Pakistan
Air Force aircraft had bombarded in various areas of South
Waziristan, particularly the village of Khonkhela in Mahsood
tribe territory of Sararogha killing several people.
Jakarta
embassy blast toll rises to eight (Go
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Jakarta:
At least eight people have been killed and about 100
injured in a massive blast outside the Australian embassy
in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. According to the BBC, Jakarta's
police chief said a suicide car bomb may have caused the
blast, and linked it to bomb expert Azahari Husin. The BBC's
says the attack left a large crater in the ground and damaged
nearby buildings and vehicles. Helicopters, ambulances and
police have been at the site, in Kuningan, a district located
to the south of the city.
Interest
rates will remain stable: Chidambaram (Go
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New
Delhi: Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said
that he saw interest rates remaining stable in the medium-term.
"There is excess liquidity in the market today. Banks are
being encouraged to lend more. As the Reserve Bank of India
governor has said, in the medium-term interest rates will
remain stable. That is my sense of the situation," Chidambaram
told reporters after meeting chief executives of public
sector banks and financial institutions. Chidambaram said
the government would view any proposal for merger of banks
favourably. He also said that the government would also
encourage the banks to tap markets to raise resources. "We
will be happy to see banks consolidate and grow in size,
scale and muscle so that we can compete with world size
and world class banks.I have encouraged them to go to the
market to raise capital if they are in a position to do
so," Chidambaram said. Finance Minister's meeting with the
bankers was held to remove the impediments in the way of
speedier credit and tackle other problems facing the banking
sector. Chidambaram also reviewed the progress of the agriculture
package announced in June and discuss ways to meet the target
of 30 per cent growth in farm credit to Rs.1.04 trillion
by March 2005. Chidambaram has already asked the banks to
hike agricultural credit by Rs.300 billion in the current
fiscal to this sector.
