Budget session set for stormy start

NEW DELHI, Feb 21 (UNI): The Budget session of Parliament beginning tomorrow is set for a stormy start with the Opposition geared up to attack the Government on the price rise and a host of other issues.

The BJP, the Left and other parties want that a discussion on the skyrocketting prices be held on the very first working day of the three-month long session on Tuesday.

The session will begin with the customary adddress of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil to the joint sitting of both the Houses tomorrow.

The demand for a full fledged discussion on the price rise was made by the Opposition at the all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar yesterday to ensure smooth functioning of the House during the Budget session.

"The entire Opposition agreed that there should be an immediate discussion on price rise.

If the government agrees to this, we will not cause any disruption and we can have a proper discussion,'' Leader of Opposition Ms Swaraj told reporters after the meeting.

Swaraj said as the House would be adjourned on the first day after President's address to the Joint sitting of both the Houses, the BJP had decided to press for a discussion on the issue of spiralling price rise as soon as the House will meet on Tuesday.

CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta has said his party, along with the other Left parties, had also given a notice to have a debate on the price rise issue on February 23.

The Left parties would demand to know why there was increase only in the prices of essential commodities, but not in the prices of luxury items.

The issues of Maoist violence, terrorism, fertilizer pricing and the report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities were also likely to be raised strongly by the Opposition.

Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party has threatened that it would bring a cut motion on government's demands for grants on the issue of urea price hike.

Key UPA allies like Trinamool Congress and DMK were likely to support his move.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reacting to the demands for discussion on price rise and the BJP's demand for clarifications on the government's move to hold Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan, has said the government was ready to discuss any issues in the House.

The BJP wants a discussion on the India-Pakistan Foreign Secretary-level talks on February 25, the very day they are scheduled to take place.

Salman calls for movement to preserve minority languages NEW DELHI, Feb 21 (UNI): Stressing the importance of the mother tongue in the development of the child, Minister for Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid today called for launching a movement to protect and promote minority languages.

"In the education system, there must be a special place for minority languages,'' Khurshid said inaugurating the International Mother Language Day function here.

He said provision for teaching of minority languages should not be considered as a sop to minorities and dismissed.

"At the end of the day, there must be a special recognition of minority and other languages.

If this can be done for national language Hindi, it can be done in the case of these languages too in the interest of a plural and truly democratic society,'' he said.

"We are convinced that more can be done to promote and preserve minority languages.

We will build it into a movement right from here,'' said the Minister.

Khurshid called upon political leaders too to learn two or three languages besides their mother tongue, so that they could relate to the people in different parts of a culturally and linguistically diverse country like India.

"Knowing the language of a region would definitely place our leaders at an advantage when they go there,'' he added.

Later, talking to reporters, Khurshid said a permanent Commissioner for linguistic minorities would be appointed soon.

Replying to a question, he said he had discussed with the Minister for Human Resource Development the issue of ensuring the teaching of Urdu in schools.

He said though Urdu has a special relation to the minority community in certain parts of the country, it would be wrong to categorise it as the language of a minority, as there were so many people other than those belnging to the minority community who had contributed to the development of the language.

Asked about what action the Government was mulling over the Rangnath Misra Commission, he said since the recommendations relate to different ministries, his ministry had asked for their views.

The conference would discuss the steps for funding by the Central/State Governments for implementation of safeguards for linguistic minorities.

It would also make suggestions regarding a communication and media policy to make linguistic minorities aware of their rights and safeguards.

The International Mother Language Day is being observed on 21st February since 2000, to foster unity and harmony while ensuring linguistic and cultural diversity to flourish and prosper.

It was so proclaimed by UNESCO's General Conference in November, 1999.

Quake jolts off Myanmar NEW DELHI, Feb 21 (UNI): An earthquake of slight intensity struck off Myanmar today, India Meteorological Department(IMD) said.

The earthquake, measuring 4.7 on the Richter Scale occurred around 0237 hrs IST.

The tremor was epicentered at 23.2 degrees north Latitude and 94.5 degrees east Longitude, the IMD official informed.

There were no reports of loss of life or damage to property.

India among first countries Saudi will ink extradition pact with: Envoy NEW DELHI, Feb 21 (Agencies): India will be among the first countries Saudi Arabia will sign an extradition treaty with when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits that country later this month, according to Saudi Ambassador to India Faisal Hassan Trad.

Manmohan Singh's visit will be the first by an Indian prime minister to Saudi Arabia since Indira Gandhi's visit 28 years ago.

Stating that bilateral cooperation in security and counter-terrorism measures will assume immense importance during the prime minister's visit Feb 27-March 1, Trad told news agency in an interview: "India is among the first major countries we are having an extradition agreement with.

We did not have these agreement with all countries, especially extradition treaty." According to him, though Saudi Arabia has similar agreements with its neighbouring countries in the Arabian Gulf, India would be among the first countries outside that region his country would sign such a treaty with.

"Both Saudi Arabia and India are countries that have supported peace, have supported security, have supported each other and worked hard to beat terrorism," he said, adding that the agreement on extradition of wanted people "is a very, very important agreement that will help in combating terrorism on both sides".

According to reports, the modalities of this treaty are being finalised ahead of the visit.

Saudi Arabia, the biggest and most influential among the six Gulf nations, is among the few countries the Western community is banking on to neutralise the Taliban.

The country is also a very influential friend of Pakistan.

Stating that both India and Saudi Arabia were victims of terrorism, the ambassador said: "Definitely, we in Saudi Arabia have always condemned and denounced acts of terrorism, including the loss of lives (in the Feb 13 terror blast) in Pune.

My government in Saudi Arabia is definitely against terrorism and will continue to combat terrorism." Trad also said that there have been very good cooperation between his country and India on this front.

"We have security links, we do have visits, we do have direct communication." He said that the meeting between Manmohan Singh and King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz was coming "at a momentous time and would assume immense significance from the perspective of the regional surroundings of East Asia, South Asia and West Asia.

"I believe that the upcoming visit of the prime Minister of India to Saudi Arabia will add a new chapter to the new era of our relationship that started from the historical visit of King Abdullah to India in 2006." It was during that visit, when King Abdullah was honoured as the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi, that the Delhi Declaration, charting out a new path for enhanced cooperation between the two sides across a plethora of fields, including security cooperation, was signed.

According to Trad, the sky is the limit for India-Saudi Arabia ties.

India is home to the second largest Muslim population - 170 million - in the world after Indonesia.

"The relationship of friendship and respect that exist between the two leaders - Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Prime Minister of India Dr.

Manmohan Singh - is something important to this relationship (between India and Saudi Arabia).

This is the kind of friendship that will give the energy needed for this relationship," he asserted.

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