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Rane elected Goa CLP leader

     Panaji (Goa): The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) met here today and unanimously elected former Goa Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane as its next chief, thus paving the way for him to form the next government in the state. Earlier on Sunday, the Congress had won three of the five seats in the by-elections. The NCP with whom the Congress has an alliance took the fourth and the opposition BJP took one. Winning three of the five byelections on its own and with its ally NCP bagging one seat, the Congress-led United Legislature Party raised its tally to 21 in a House of 39 in Goa which came under President's rule in March after two controversial confidence votes that unseated the BJP and placed the Congress in power. BJP raised its tally to 17. It also has the support of UGDP MLA. Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Ravi Naik had earlier said that election of the CLP leader would be a smooth affair, adding that it would be held in the presence of AICC General Secretary Margaret Alva, who is in charge of Goa.

Santa Cruz airport evacuated following bomb scare (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: Santa Cruz, Mumbai's domestic airport which is currently under renovation, was evacuated for about 40 minutes on Monday following a hoax bomb call. Informed sources told ANI over phone a short while ago that the airport was closed to air and passenger traffic from 12.40 p.m. to 1.10 p.m. Security officials confirmed that the bomb squad had been called in to inspect the premises, but found no bomb. Airline services have since resumed. N Two killed as train derails near Ratlam Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh): Two persons were killed and several others injured when Chittorgarh-Mhow holiday train derailed near Ratlam, about 100 kms from Indore (MP). A Railway police official said that the engine and three bogies of Train No 489 derailed nearly one km away from Ratlam Railway Station. Railway SP V A Pachouri said that two persons were killed and several others injured.

Congress too criticises Advani's statements on Jinnah (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: The Congress Party too has joined the chorus of criticism of BJP President L K Advani for calling Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah a secular leader. "One statement of Jinnah does not make him a secular person. He is the same person, who on the death of Gandhiji had referred to him as a Hindu leader. He was responsible for the partition of the country on religious lines," Congress Spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters here. He accused Advani of trying to give a new definition of secularism to the nation. On the basis of Jinnah and Savarkar's two-nation theory, the BJP President seems to justify the fundamentalist ideology, he added. Sighvi also said that Advani's tears regarding the Babri Masjid demolition were crocodile tears and his speeches before Dec. 6, 1992 clearly referred to the anti-Muslim mindset. "His pain regarding Dec.6 is nothing but political gimmick and coming out due to lust of power," Sighvi said. Meanwhile, the BJP Chief today arrived here after his week-long trip to Pakistan. Addressing the media shortly after he landed in the Indian capital, Advani said that the visit to Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi (his home town before the partition of the Indian subcontinent) was very satisfying both from the sentimental as well as the political point of view. He said that when he decided to undertake his second trip to Pakistan after a gap of 27 years (he last visited that country in 1978 as India's Information and Broadcasting Minister), it was with the objective of assessing for himself the progress being made on the initiatives taken by the previous NDA regime headed by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Advani said that it was his considered view after interacting with a cross section of Pakistani society, that the initiatives taken had been substantially furthered, and that the relationship between the two countries, had been reinforced. Advani described the three legs of Pakistan trip - to Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi- as political, political-cum-cultural and nostalgic respectively.

Monsoon hits country's southern coast (Go To Top)

     Thiruvananthapuram/Pune: The southwest monsoon today hit Kerala, about four days later than normal, but the delay is not likely to have any bad impact on crops, weather officials and traders said. Monsoon normally arrives on June 1 but the weather bureau had forecast it could be delayed up to a week. "Our forecast was there that over Kerala the onset will take place around June 7. If you consider that it has come few days earlier, then the forecast can be taken as correct," said A.B.Mazumdar, director of the Meteorological Department's weather forecasting. Mazumdar said parts of Kerala had received good rain in the past 24 hours and the winds and cloud formation suggested heavy rains over the next 24. The bureau earlier forecast a normal monsoon with 98 percent of long-term average rains. But the Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation said on Thursday that the rains were expected to be 34 percent below normal in June and 12 percent in July, crucial months for crop sowing.

     The weather department, however, says it stands by its forecast. The arrival of the monsoon, the lifeblood of country's agriculture sector, is keenly watched as two-thirds of the billion-plus population earn a living from the sector, which generates about a quarter of gross domestic product. Almost two-thirds of farmland rely on the monsoon for water. A significant delay in the monsoon affects sowing of crops such as rice, oilseeds and cotton -- planted in June and July and harvested in October and November. A bad monsoon also hits rural incomes, crucial to demand in Asia's fourth-largest economy, and lifts edible oils imports in the world's largest buyer because most oilseed-growing regions depend on the rains. In the fiscal year to March, 2003, economic growth fell to 4 percent from 5.6 percent a year earlier after the worst monsoon in a decade in 2002, but surged to 8.5 percent in 03/04 on good and widespread rains. Last year's monsoon was 13 percent below normal, hitting output of oilseeds and sugar and shaving growth to 6.9 percent for the fiscal year just ended. Traders are closely watching the time between the rains in June and July and the overall spread. A good monsoon is also crucial for sugarcane. Delayed and poor rain in the past two years cut sugar output to a forecast 13 million tonnes this crop year from 13.8 million the previous year and 20 million in the harvest year to October, 2003. Maharashtra, the largest sugar state, saw little planting of the 18-month crop last year due to a delayed monsoon.

Koirala meets Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: Former Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today started interacting with the Indian leadership and met Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi. His meeting with Mukherjee holds importance as the Defence Ministry was much supportive of the resumption of arms supply to Nepal, which was cut off after the King imposed emergency there in February this year. Koirala has asked New Delhi to ensure that arms supplies are utilised for fighting Maoist insurgency and not suppressing democracy. India resumed arms supplies to Nepal last month after King Gyanendra lifted emergency. New Delhi is concerned that the Nepali Maoists, who are known to be in league with Indian Maoists, want to form a red corridor stretching from Nepal to India's southern states. Koirala is in India for a medical checkup. He is expected to meet former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and foreign minister Natwar Singh on Tuesday.

Haryana Police files FIR against Pataudi in poaching case (Go To Top)

     Jhajjar(Haryana): Haryana Police today filed an FIR naming former Indian cricket captain, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and seven others for violating the Wildlife Protection Act. The security officials have recovered carcases, supposed to be of endangered animals - black buck and hares, from their vehicle on Friday night when the former nawab and his friends were stopped for checking in a sanctuary. "We caught them with the carcass of a black buck and hares," said Hanif Qureshi, SP, Jhajjar. He, however, said that the Police would arrest Pataudi and six others if necessary. One person, Madan Singh, who was a guide, has been arrested. They have been charged under various sections of the Wild life Protection Act, 1972 and if found guilty they could face imprisonment up to seven years. Meanwhile, the post mortem report of the seized carcases have established that the killed animals included the endangered black buck. "If the veterinary surgeon gives a certificate that the killed animal belonged to schedule one (endangered) category, then all the culprits will be arrested," Qureshi had said before the post- mortem report. According to the Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, police can arrest anyone found in possession of a dead animal. The state police is facing criticism for letting off the nawab on Friday even as his vehicle carried the carcases of endangered species. No FIR was filed and the police burnt and buried all three animals. The black buck is one of India's most highly endangered animals and protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act. Bollywood star Salman Khan is already facing charges in a shooting case of Black Buck in Jodhpur forests. Pataudi's son Saif Ali Khan was also an accused in the case.

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