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Coin minting factory busted in Varanasi, two arrested
Varanasi, July 31 (ANI): Two persons were arrested in Varanasi for running a fake minting factory and stamped government bonds were recovered from them. Although illegal coin minting units have been busted previously, this is the first time an incident involving printing of fake government bonds has come to light. "They used to manufacture fake coins and bonds which they would sell. We have recovered some coins and government bonds worth one million rupees," said Daljeet Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Varanasi, on Tuesday. Singh said the bonds were used by contractors in procuring bails for criminals. Crude coin minting factories thrive in Azamgarh, Gorakhpur and Allahabad, Singh added. One of the accused, Rajesh Vishkarma, demonstrated how he used to mint coins. "I minted five rupee coin and used to sell it for two rupees and fifty paise and sell it to whoever would buy it. We used this locket-making machine to mint coins. The machine is easily available in the market," said Vishkarma who had been released from jail just over a month back for the same offence. Police said Vishkarma had been jailed thrice in the past for making fake coins. The other accused, Krishna, was arrested for making counterfeit government bonds.(ANI) Enough infiltrators in Kashmir to create violence: Advani
New Delhi, July 31 (ANI): India said on Wednesday that militant incursions into Kashmir had fallen slightly in recent months after Pakistan promised to stop the flow. New Delhi has set a permanent end to infiltration in the bloodied region as a condition to ending a seven-month military standoff with Pakistan. "If we compare with the past years, this year the infiltration has somewhat reduced but has not stopped, it still continues," Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani told the upper house of Parliament during a debate. Advani, however, added that there were still enough militants in Jammu and Kashmir to cause violence. "There are already so many infiltrators here that they can maintain the same level of violence for at least the next three to four months," said Advani. The government had said earlier that border crossings into Kashmir from Pakistan had resumed after a brief lull. New Delhi has long blamed Pakistan for fomenting the revolt in Kashmir, a charge denied by Islamabad. Advani, who also heads the home ministry, said security forces had prevented several intrusion attempts by either killing or arresting Islamic rebels along the 740-km Line of Control dividing mountainous Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Advani's comments came just days after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell ended a peace mission to South Asia urging the nuclear-armed neighbours to pull back from the brink and move toward talks. Opposition leaders questioned the government's rationale over the indefinite deployment of its troops at the tense Indo-Pak frontier. "Can our armed forces remain in a state of mobilisation indefinitely? What is the government's game plan to secure Pakistan's compliance with the promises it has made to the U.S. and U.K. to stop cross border terrorism?" asked Manmoham Singh, a veteran Congressman and leader of the opposition in the Upper House. During his weekend visit to the subcontinent, Powell had said that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had given fresh assurances to stop militants crossing over to join the nearly 13-year revolt in Kashmir. He said Washington expected New Delhi to respond by taking steps to reduce border tension. Both nations have massed their forces on the border since a December attack on parliament which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants groups operating in Kashmir.(ANI) Delhi govt announces Rs 6 crore drought relief package
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to top New Delhi, July 31 (ANI): The Delhi state government announced drought-relief package after the national capital was declared drought-hit on Wednesday. "Delhi has been declared a drought-hit area and an immediate sixty million rupees interim relief has been announced. Out of the sixty million, thirty million are to buy fodder for animals and the rest for farmers to buy seeds," Development Minister Haroon Yusuf told a press conference. And third measure is those farmers who are landless, so we have directed our Rural Development Ministry to provide alternative jobs wherever there is some link road construction going on," said Yusuf. Yusuf, however, said the local government has placed a demand for grants amounting to ten times the relief package for immediate and future needs. "We have also urged the federal government to release 300 million rupees immediately as interim relief to utilise this money for rural development and which will help farmers get some jobs," said Yusuf. Large parts of India are reeling under a severe dry spell, with some regions experiencing their worst drought in decades. The June-September southwest monsoon arrived over f Kerala in early June and moved to western parts of the country, but its progress in northwestern India, where oilseeds, coarse grains and rice are grown, has been erratic. Although rain brought relief to some parts of northern India on Wednesday, Union Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh said the situation in many drought-hit areas has worsened. The federal minister also said that the drought was "unprecedented" and the federal government was working with the affected states on the relief measures needed, mainly for farmers and those in rural areas.(ANI)
Lok Sabha MPs irked by Shatrughan's absence Go to top New Delhi, July 31 (ANI): Health Minister Shatrughan Sinha's absence from the Lok Sabha created an uproar in the House during Question Hour on Wednesday. Not only the Opposition but also Shiv Sena, an ally of the ruling NDA, expressed anger. Suresh Jadhav (SS) wanted to know why the minister was not present when it was his day. Members from the Opposition benches joined him in the protest. Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and Santosh Mohan Deb (both Congress) were vocal in their criticism. Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar wondered if the minister was busy with film shooting bypassing Parliament. But Speaker Manohar Joshi remarked that "he could be busy in the other House," but assured that he would convey the MPs' feelings to Sinha. (ANI)
Heavy flood in Assam, and no official relief
Go to top Guwahati, July 31 (ANI): Four days after flood waters inundated northern areas of Guwahati, the local inhabitants have complained that they are yet to receive any relief. Assam has been reeling under severe floods for the past one month. Twenty-one lives have been lost. On the whole, more than five million people in the state are stated to be affected. With Brahmaputra breaching an embankment near north Guwahati in Kamrup district, large areas of the city have been flooded. The locals, who initially thought that the water-logging was due to heavy rains, soon realised that the river was flooding their area. They rushed to safe higher grounds but failed to save their belongings or livestock. Chakleswar Kalita, a labourer, who shifted to safety with his whole family, could retrieve very little of his possessions. He now lives in a makeshift shelter. "It's been four days since the flood water started entering our area after the rising river first damaged and then breached an embankment. About 20 families like ours shifted to higher ground but the rest are perched on tree tops. Some are stranded on the roof of their houses with their hens and ducks, and are even managing to cook and sleep there," he said. Residents complained that they were yet to recieve any help from the government. Said Meijang: "The flood water has inundated our house. We have no place to live, no place to cook our food. Our furniture is all under water, the roof of the house has collapsed. We have taken shelter in the local school for now. But there is a physically challenged girl in our family and things are very difficult for us. We haven't received any relief form the government yet, but hope to get some today." Ironically, as northern and central India burn under the blazing sun and learn to live with severe drought, the eastern and northeastern states suffer from rains and floods. Floods, a common event in eastern India during the monsoon, lasts from July to September when rains swell most of the rivers. In the northeast, with most rivers hurtling down the Himalayas with heavy silt-loads and hitting the plains in Assam, floods are a regular feature. The Brahmaputra, the main river of the north-east, begins as Tsangpo in China and runs through Arunachal Pradesh as Lohit and through Assam as Brahmaputra. It then crosses over to Bangladesh before draining into the Bay of Bengal as Jamuna. The river carries huge silt and frequently breaks its banks bringing about severe floods in Assam as well as in Bangladesh. This year Kamrup, Nalbari, Barpeta, Dhemaji, Goalpara and Lakhimpur districts in Assam have been badly affected. (ANI)
Infiltration not fully stopped, says US envoy-designate to Pak
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to top Washington, July 31 (ANI): The USA will do its utmost to ensure free and fair polls in Pakistan and though General Musharraf's efforts to halt cross-border infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir is praiseworthy, much more is yet to be done in this direction, Nancy Powell, ambassador-designate to Pakistan, told the Senate Foreign Relations Sub-committee on South Asia during her confirmation hearing. Powell served as Charge d'Affairs in the embassy in Islamabad for nearly two months, and now the Senate is set to confirm her nomination as envoy. She has spent the past 25 years in foreign service and most recently served as America's ambassador to Ghana. But before getting into her qualifications, Senator Paul Wellstone took a moment at the start of the hearing to pay tributes to her predecessor's time in the post. The legislators on Tuesday were interested to know how Powell saw the US-Pakistani relationship playing out, especially as it affects the attempt to round up the remaining Al Qaeda fighters in the region along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. She said Pakistan has to find a way to deal with the complete intolerance in the international community for their past methods of operation in Kashmir. According to her, Musharraf's efforts to crack down on support for militants have sparked a backlash against him but she was not worried about any threat to his control over the country. However, she did say that the upcoming elections and return to democracy and constitutional government could be a challenge for him. The Senate plans to expedite a vote on her nomination. Powell is expected to be confirmed within the week. She vowed that, if confirmed, she would assure Pakistanis that the USA is committed to building a long-term relationship based on shared interests and on its own merits, adds a report in The Nation. Powell further observed that she is committed to enhancing the status of women and religious minorities in Pakistan, both legally and on the ground within the society. On proliferation, she strongly supported efforts to discourage the deployment or expansion of weapons of mass destruction in South Asia. But she also observed that for the Musharraf regime, the next few months are crucial when Pakistan goes through elections and transition to civilian democracy. Earlier at the hearing, Senator Sam Brownback, who's been involved in South Asian issues for years, said the importance of Pakistan's current situation cannot be overstated. "I think Pakistan is at such a serious juncture right now, and it really must succeed at this juncture. For it to fail with the nuclear capacity that it has really would be a very destabilizing thing throughout the world," Brownback said. (ANI) EC team in Ahmedabad to assess state's poll-readiness
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top Ahmedabad, July 31 (ANI): A nine-member Election Commission team is now here to assess the law and order situation more than two months after the state came out of the country's worst religious bloodletting in a decade. Over the next few days, the delegation, led by Deputy Election Commissioners A.N.Jha and S. Mendiratta, has to decide whether Gujarat is qualified to have an early election. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules the state and heads the coalition in power at the Centre, is in favour of polls as early as possible. Opposition parties, however, say this is not the right time for the purpose because thousands of people are still living in relief camps. The EC team will tour this city, including the relief camps, and also take a look at the electoral rolls which have to be revised. Chief Minister Narendra Modi, accused of failing to quell bloody riots between Hindus and Muslims, quit his post on July 19, dissolved the Assembly and sought early elections. The Opposition Congress party has charged Modi with trying to exploit religious tensions for electoral gains. The dates for the elections have not been decided yet. According to analysts, early polls would help the BJP win in Gujarat on a wave of Hindu support following the violence. The BJP had an overwhelming majority in the 181-seat House which was not due to be dissolved until early 2003. (ANI)
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