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Nanavati Commission on Sikh riots to submit report to Patil

     New Delhi: Justice G T Nanavati, who led the one- man inquiry commission probing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, will submit his report to Home Minister Shivraj Patil after he comes back from his visit of the Northeast. "I will submit the report to the Home Minister," Nanavati said today when contacted. Patil, currently away on a tour of the Northeast, is scheduled to return to the capital on February 2. The report of the commission assumes significance as this was the second judicial body to probe the sequence of events that led to large-scale violence against the Sikh community in the aftermath of assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. Over 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the riots that gripped the capital for three-four days after her assassination. The commission, whose term expires today, was appointed by the previous NDA government in 1999.

Goa CM offers to prove majority on Feb 3 (Go To Top)

     Panaji: The Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar, has said that he is ready to prove his government's majority in the state assembly on February 3 after the quitting of three legislators last week.. "To prove my stand on the floor of the assembly, the only option is floor of the assembly which I have decided to take. The cabinet decided, on February 3 there will be single agenda in the assembly session. We have called the assembly session. The file has been moved already," Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told reporters in capital Panaji on Monday. The state's Governor, S.C. Jamir, a former chief minister of Nagaland, asked Parrikar's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to prove its majority in the House. The BJP now has only 18 seats left in the 40-member house. The political crisis had been brewing in the tiny tourist hub since last week after Atanasio Monserette, the minister in charge of town planning, resigned from the government after he was divested of his portfolio. His supporters also put in their papers. The Congress party, which has 15 legislators, claims support of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and some other fringe groups. Their leaders have already met Jamir to stake the party's claim to form the next government in the state.

Bangla settlers refuse to leave missile-testing zone (Go To Top)

     Balasore: Hundreds of Bangladesh nationals, settled in a sensitive missile testing range here have refused to leave the country saying they have no links left with their homeland and will die without livelihood if forced to go back. The Indian government has asked over 1,500 Bangladesh nationals, living in its eastern coast for decades, to leave the country despite protests. Many of these are living at Balasore near Chandipur, a high security zone used to test missiles. Authorities claim that only a handful of Bangladeshis had been allowed to settle in, but their numbers increased manifold as they brought in relatives and other village folk. Most of these immigrants, they say, have bribed their way to work freely and have also procured fake ration cards making them lucrative vote banks for local politicians. The immigrants, most of whom are illiterate and extremely poor, however deny the allegations, saying they have settled in the region for generations and cannot go back.

     "I have been staying here since a long time, we make a living by fishing. I have small children and a family, if I am forced to move elsewhere, how will is survive? I don't have land or property in Bangladesh, I don't want to go," said Tapan Kharam, an illegal immigrant. New Delhi has estimated 20 million Bangladeshi immigrants are living in India, most of them employed as domestic servants, rickshaw-pullers and labourers. About half of the illegal immigrants live in eastern India and northeastern Assam, where tensions with local tribes people, who fear being swamped by the new arrivals, have flared into violent clashes in the past. Local authorities say they are trying their best to take a humanitarian view of the situation. "We have not yet received any allegation regarding drug trafficking, illegal transportation of arms and ammunition to India by Bangladeshi nationals till yet. If a strong allegation will come, we will take strict action against them," said Nishamani Sahoo, a superintendent of police.