Airport, public sector staff go on strike
by Maya Singh

     New Delhi: A one-day strike by airline and public sector employees in protest against the UPA Government's privatisation policy brought the nation to a standstill on Thursday. Official sources in the Indian capital confirmed that at least 20,000 airline employees and about 40 million public sector employees had not turned up for their duties from 7 a.m. this morning, and were unlikely to report till after 7 p.m. or before Friday morning. Seven central Left trade unions led by the Confederation of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and 70 industry unions and federations are taking part in this strike. Protest demonstrations and marches were reported from various parts of the country at the time of the filing of this report. "I warn the government not to take punitive action against workers. Any such attempt by the government will be met with labour power," said veteran Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta. The strike has hit 94 defence establishments, 18,00,000 central PSUs and over 50,00,000 steel, coal and mining industries.

Paswan announces 43 candidates for Bihar polls  (Go To Top)
by Ajay Kumar

     Patna: Following in the footsteps of the ruling UPA-RJD-CPI (ML) combine and the BJP-JD (U) opposition combine, Ram Vilas Paswan, the country's Steel and Mines Minister and chief of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) today announced the names of 43 candidates who will contest next month's assembly polls in Bihar. Addressing a press conference here, Paswan said that his LJP had arrived at a seat-sharing accord with the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), under which the LJP would contest 43 of the 61 assembly constituencies going to the polls in Bihar on October 18. Paswan said his party would contest around 200 seats leaving 37 and three for its electoral allies -- the CPI and Forward Bloc. He said the RSP had not decided the number of seats it wanted to contest "but we will discuss the issue with an open mind to spare seats for the party (RSP)". Paswan said of the 61 seats going to poll in the first phase, the LJP would put up its candidates from 49 and "We will let you know the names of candidates for the remaining six seats the LJP will be contesting by this evening". In the list of 43 are eight Muslims, eight Yadavas, eight Scheduled Castes, four Rajputs, five Bhumihars, besides five women and six extremely backward candidates. Paswan's LJP is at the head of a third front in Bihar that took shape on September 18. The front that includes the CPI and the RSP is determined to fight what it called the 'misrule' of Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the neutralise the chances of the `fascist' opposition National Democratic Alliance. The announcement dashed the hopes of Congress and NCP, who were hoping to convince Paswan to join the ruling combine that included the RJD.

Amarmani, Madhumani surrender (Go To Top)

     Lacknow: Former UP Minister Amarmani Tripathi, and his wife Madhumani, finally surrendered before the district's sessions court here today, in connection with the Madhumita Shukla murder case. The Supreme Court, on Monday, after cancelling the bails granted by Allahabad High Court, had directed the duo to surrender immediately, failing which,"the state should take effective steps to take them in custody," SC said. Following SC's direction, Amarmani along with his wife reached the court two times, but could not surrender because the lawyers', which were strike in protest against the alleged police lathicharge on advocates in Allahabad on Monday, did not let them enter the court. Madhumita was murdered in her apartment at Paper Mill colony here in May 2003. Investigations revealed she was then seven months pregnant and DNA tests conducted at the behest of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) proved she was carrying Tripathi's child. Later, Madhumani was also allegedly found to be a party in the murder conspiracy. Madhumita's mother Shanti Devi and sister Nidhi have been fighting to take the case to its logical conclusion.

Three Nepal Maoists held in Uttaranchal (Go To Top)
by Atul Chauhan

     Dineshpur (Uttaranchal): Police in Uttaranchal have arrested three self-styled local commanders of the Maoist rebels, believed to have been trained by their counterparts in Nepal. Police claimed that the arrested men, who crossed over to the Indian side last month, were setting up bases in the state. "First they had training in Jharkhand in 2002, then they went to Sauphutia and from there to Nepal and worked with Maoists there. They were then sent back here to align with few more groups to set up bases here," said Amit Sinha, Senior Superintendent of Police, Udhamsinghnagar. Sinha said revolvers and other sharp edged weapons were recovered from the arrested rebels. Neelu Ballabh, an arrested Maoist admitted to his links with Nepal's Maoists, who have been fighting to replace the monarchy in the Himalayan kingdom with a Communist-backed republic since 1996. "I was first working for MCC (Maoist Communist Centre), then joined PWG (People's War Group) and at present I was associated with the CPI (Maoists)," he said.

    Maoist insurgents in India number around 9,300, and they claim that they are fighting for the rights of the rural poor and against feudal landowners and corrupt local officials who siphon off development aid. The rebels operate in some of the most impoverished districts across nine states, including three bordering Nepal. There have been two major attacks this month by Maoists. Last week, rebels killed 15 villagers in Jharkhand. The victims were members of a village security group. Earlier this month, rebels triggered a landmine under a security vehicle in Chhattisgarh, killing 23 policemen and a civilian. Thousands of people have died in nearly four decades of Maoist violence, including hundreds of policemen. Maoist rebels in Nepal fighting to overthrow the nation's monarchy and their Indian counterparts have recently vowed to join together to promote communism, stoking fears the insurgency in the Himalayan kingdom could spill over. Analysts say the rebels aim to build a red corridor from Nepal to Karnataka, which is home to India's technology capital, Bangalore.

Only Jews and Parsis deserve minority status : RSS (Go To Top)

     Jalandhar: The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh(RSS) chief, K.C.Sudarshan, has said that only Jews and Parsis deserved minority status, as their ancestors had migrated to India from abroad. Sudarshan, who is on a three-day visit to Punjab, said that only these two communities had a right to claim minority status. On the issue of granting minortiy status to Muslims and Christians, the RSS chief said: "Since 99 per cent ancestors of Muslims and Christians have been born and brought up in India and are just converts, these two communities should not be given minority status". To a question whether RSS considered Sikhs and Christians as minority communities, Sudershan said " I have already expressed my opinion on the issue." Asked if he still maintained his earlier statements, made last year in Amritsar, that Sikhs were not a separate community, he denied having made any such statement. He also said that he was against forced conversions.

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