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BJP misutilising liberalisation, says Sonia
New Delhi, Aug 30 (ANI): Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for its anti-poor policies. While addressing a Dalit rally here, she said, "When the Congress started liberalisation we wanted to generate more employment. Similarly, through the public sector we wanted to generate more employment for the backward classes. But today in the name of liberalisation, the public sector is being finished. Instead of providing employment, it is being taken away. All the non-Congress governments at the Centre never really wanted to do any good for the Dalits and Backward classes. The BJP and its coalition partners are using it for their own gains." Ajit Jogi, Chief Minister of Chattisgarh and a Dalit leader himself, reiterated her stance and said that only the Congress and its leader worked for the betterment of the poor. The Congress in the past years has lost its Dalit base and is now looking to get back their much needed support. Analysts say the party has realised the need to re-engineer the original Congress theory and is now making significant advances in the direction of a negotiated settlement with the Dalits. There are 250 million Dalits (SCs and STs) in the country today and the reservation in government services for them is 22.5 per cent. It is assessed that of the total 1.94 crore government jobs, only about 45 lakh are with the SCs and STs. This would mean that only 20 to 30 million Dalits are in some way being benefited by the reservation policy.(ANI) Shah fears Farooq will rig the polls
He expressed the fear that the September-October elections could be rigged by chief minister Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference which is an ally of the NDA ruling coalition at the Centre. "These elections are meaningless. I had said this before. I am not against elections, but these elections are meaningless. They are being conducted just to give more power to Farooq Abdullah and his son. It is just an exercise for that," Shah told reporters in New Delhi after his meeting with Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Congress party. "There has been agreement between the National Conference and the BJP. The BJP is slowly losing its hold in Jammu region," he added. Shah's statement indicates for the first time that the reasons for his JKDFP party's poll boycott might be related to fears of rigging by the National Conference, which has ruled the northern state since India's freedom more than 55 years ago, barring frequent spells when the state was placed under President's rule. The JKDFP and Kashmir's main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), have boycotted polls all along insisting on holding plebiscite or talks involving Pakistan. Shah further said he hoped Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would correct the course of wrong policies pursued by New Delhi in Kashmir but the announcement of elections region upset the process. "We had a ray of hope as far as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was concerned. We thought that he was a statesman and he had admitted himself in his speech on Independence Day that the federal government had made several mistakes in its Kashmir policy. He had also said that those mistakes would not be repeated and the ones made would be set right. But, now they are going to commit another mistake and the window of opportunity the incumbent Indian Prime Minister had to talk to the Hurriyat and to us, that we had agreed to talk to them but they have refused," he said. However, neither Vajpayee nor Shah have spelt out what mistakes have been made and how these can be rectified. New Delhi, which considers the whole of Kashmir to be an integral part of India, said it was willing to talk only to elected representatives of the Assembly about greater autonomy for the region. Shah expressed faith in the inevitability of participating in the democratic process but vowed to continue with their struggle. "We will continue with our struggle. And one day or another, the government of India will have to come to the negotiating table. This is my belief. This will happen sooner or later, like we know that sooner or later we will have to join the democratic process as we believe in the democratic process. Before that, there has to be dialogue on Kashmir issue," said Shah. Shah is in New Delhi to hold talks with a semi-official group, Kashmir Committee headed by Ram Jethmalani, which is trying to bring peace to the region. Ram Jethmalani said Vajpayee, who refused a meeting with Shah, has, however, assured that the government would continue dialogue even after the elections. (ANI) 2 Lashkar militants planning to kill Modi arrested
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to top New Delhi, Aug 30 (ANI): Police said on Friday they have unearthed a terrorist plan to eliminate political leaders by arresting two militants of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani-based militant organisation. Farhan and Shahid Bakshi, two Lashkar militants, were arrested from Nizamuddin area of national capital Delhi on Wednesday following raids conducted by intelligence agencies. About four kilograms of RDX and other weapons were recovered from them. (According to agency reports, three terrorists were arrested. "We have arrested two persons Farhan and Shahid Bakshi. Both of them belong to Lashkar. RDX has been recovered, a pistol has been recovered, some ammunition has been recovered and detonators have been recovered. The arrest was made on the 28th of August late in the evening from Nizamuddin area," K K Paul, Special Commissioner of Crime Branch, Delhi Police, told reporters. The terrorists had planned to assassinate Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi and several other prominent leaders of Hindu fundamentalist organisations. More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in one of the worst religious riots in March-April this year. The terrorists, with links in a Gulf country, were planning to set up a base in Gujarat and were trying to lure Gujarat's communal riot-hit people. "They wanted to target important VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad), Bajrang Dal and other Hindu leaders. Specific names of Praveen Togadia and Chief minister of Gujarat have been mentioned. They also wanted to recruit some people specifically young boys, riot victims of Gujarat into the extremist fold and motivate them for Jehadi activities," Paul informed. He also said the arrested militants had developed a network in national capital and surrounding areas.(ANI)
Residents welcome the channelising of the narmada waters into the Sabarmati Go to top
Caretaker Chief Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 5,000 strong crowd who had gathered to mark the occasion. Modi expressed confidence that Gujarat would show the country how to implement the concept of water grid by feeding several rivers, 900 ponds and 9,000 villages with the Narmada river. "Narmada is our lifeline. We had been dreaming and after such a long wait Gujarat's dream has been fulfilled. This will help fill water in 900 wells and 2 dozen rivers will receive water. This will ease the water crisis in Gujarat. Nearly 1,000 villages will receive potable water," Modi said.Modi also praised the efforts of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL), which is building the dam on the Narmada. He added that it was because of their hard work that the state was able to bring Narmada waters to parched regions of Saurashtra and Kutch through the 700-km pipeline.The Narmada Valley development project is the country's biggest dam project and will benefit the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Cleared by the federal government in 1987 the project involves the building of some 3,200 small, medium-sized and large dams on the 1,300-km (800-mile) Narmada river and its tributaries to generate electricity and provide water to millions of people.The multi-billion-rupee project is being largely financed by state governments and is expected to be fully completed by 2025.(ANI)
Veerappan sends another cassette
Bangalore, Aug 30 (ANI): Forest brigand Veerappan, who is holding former Karnataka minister H Nagappa hostage, has reportedly sent a new cassette. This may contain his demands, according to sources. In the cassette sent on the day of kidnap, Veerappan had accused both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments of "cheating" him by not fulfilling his earlier demands and threatened to kill Nagappa if search operations were launched. Karnataka DGP V V Bhaskar and top police officials are currently camping at Kamagere village and engaged in a strategy to secure safe release of Nagappa who was abducted from his farmhouse in the vilage on Sunday night.(ANI)
Two male tiger cubs born in Ludhiana zoo Go to top Ludhiana, Aug 30 (ANI): Visitors are thronging Tiger Safari, popularly known as Ludhiana zoo in Punjab, to see the two male cubs born in the park last month after three years. The tiger cubs are reportedly healthy and fine. Named Paras and Money, they have taken the total number of tigers to 11 in this zoo. The authorities are thrilled as there has been an alarming decline in the number of tigers. "In 1993 when we brought the tiger safari species in the zoo their number was seven. But now their number has increased to eleven when the tigress Rita gave birth to two male cubs last month. The cubs are healthy and are enjoying with their mother. They are being fed on their mother's milk," said Raj Kumar Joshi, incharge of safari. The visitors are clearly excited. "We read in newspapers that a tigress has given birth to two cubs so we have come to see them," said Bhupinder Singh. "I have come here for the first time. I felt very good after seeing cubs and next time I will come here with my family," said Sushil Kumar, another visitor. Interestingly, their mother was also born at the Ludhiana Zoo. The park authorities are determined to increase the number of tigers to at least 20. Regular and intensive monitoring and testing is conducted on the cubs to ensure that they are growing properly. Moreover, Rita is also being given post-natal care. A daily diet of over 10 kilograms of broiler meat and 400 grams of milk is given to her. Tiger protection is a big issue in India. Project Tiger was launched in India to protect this animal. In 1973, as part of Project Tiger, Jim Corbett National Park in Uttaranchal was declared India's first Tiger Reserve. Spread over an area of 1,134 sq. km on the foothills of the Himalayas, the Corbett Park is the country's first national park.(ANI) |
New Delhi, Aug 30 (ANI): Shabir Shah leader of the J and K
Democratic Freedom Party said on Friday that his group was not
averse to taking part in the state's elections but added that the
polls must be free and fair.
Ahmedabad, Aug 30 (ANI): The caretaker Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat organised a function on Wednesday (August 28) to welcome the arrival of Narmada waters into Sabarmati river through Narmada main canal. Jubilant citizens sailed in the surging waters of the Sabarmati river and burst firecrackers. Hindu saints were also invited to bless the river.