NEW DELHI, Aug 1 (UNI) An all-party meeting will be held here tomorrow to evolve a consensus on a draft bill drawn up by the centre to replace the Election Commission guidelines to check the growing criminalisation of politics.
The meeting, to be held in parliament house at 1500 hrs., will be presided over by deputy prime minister L K Advani and union law and justice minister K Jana Krishnamurthy, official sources said, official sources said.
The meeting was earlier called for last Saturday but was postponed due to the sudden demise of vice-president Krishan Kant.
The government is expected to have a tough job on its hands in evolving a consensus at tomorrow's meeting as the draft represen-tation of people (amendment) bill has already run into trouble with major opposition parties.
While the Congress has objected to the omission of disclosure of assets, the left parties have said the barring of a candidate on the ground that he or she is facing criminal charges can be misused.
At an earlier meeting on July 8, all political parties had unanimously rejected the Election Commission's June 28 guidelines which had made it mandatory for candidates to disclose on affidavit details of their assets and liabilities, educational qualifications and criminal cases while filing nominations.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission continues to implement its guidelines.
P C Alexander and other contestants had to declare their assets and educational qualifications besides any criminal record during the recent Rajya Sabha by-election from Maharashtra, won by Alexander.
Dara Singh, 7 others continue fast BHUBANESHWAR, Aug 1 (UNI) Dara Singh, prime accused in the Graham Staines murder case, and 7 co-accused are continuing their hunger strike inside the Choudwar Circle jail, where they were shifted last Tuesday.
The jailor said that of the 13 accused, 8, including Dara Singh, were only taking lime water since Tuesday night.
All the 13 accused were taken to Choudwar Circle jail, about 45 km from here, as per the direction of the district and sessions judge Mahendra Nath Pattnaik, the trial judge in the Staines case.
The jail authority said the accused had been segregrated and kept inside a special enclosure of the detention cell inside the jail under strict vigil.
The Choudwar jail authority claimed that all the 8 accused on the strike had been medically examined and found to be in good health.
Oppn boycotts Fernandes in LS NEW DELHI, Aug 1 (UNI) The entire opposition, in tune with its recent strategy, staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha today when defence minister George Fernandes rose to move a bill for consideration.
However, after the walkout, the house passed the Coast Guard (amendment) bill, 2002, thereby providing parliamentary approval to the legislation which was passed by the Rajya Sabha earlier.
The opposition has been boycotting Fernandes for quite sometime pleading that he has not been absolved by the Venkatswamy Commission.
Piloting the bill, Fernandes said efforts were being made to strengthen the coast guard in the West coast as smuggling, narccotic trafficking and murders were on the increase in the area.
He said during the last four years, several steps had been taken to strengthen and modernise the coast guard.
He admired the services of the force and recalled their success in recovering a Japanese ship from pirates.
Tricolour atop all R'sthan madarssas JAIPUR, Aug 1 (UNI) The national flag will flutter atop madarssas in Rajasthan on independence day to mock those who claim they breed terrorists, an official attached with the traditional schools said today.
The flag used to be unfurled at the schools on August 15 in the past also, but it had been decided to publicise the event this time in view of persistent negative reports about them, Rajasthan Madarssa board president Maulana Fazle Haq told reporters.
Rebutting the charge that madarssas had become training grounds for terrorists, he said they were educating thousands of students who might otherwise never attend schools.
There are about 3,000 madarssas providing education to children in Rajasthan, he said.
Steps were being taken to modernise the course content and introduce new subjects such as English, Hindi and Sanskrit in madarssas, he added.
Bollywood-underworld -- unholy nexus MUMBAI, Aug 1 (UNI) The playback of a taped conversation between an underworld don and some Bollywood biggies' in a special court in an on-going trial in India's film capital may have come as a rude shock to the common man but for the film industry, it is "old news." That Bollywood has kept an "open channel" with the "bad guys" of the underworld has been an open secret for the past 6 years or so.
Evidence of it are the scores of photographs of dons posing with some members of the film industry and the spate of attacks on the film industry personalities.
Mumbai police commissioner M N Singh acknowledges that some of the film stars maintain close contact with the underworld.
"Time and again I have, in my media interviews, asked them to keep away from the "bad company." I have dropped enough hints," he told UNI.
The entry of the "real-life bad men" into the reel world came about primarily because of the failure of the government to give an "industry" status to the film world for many years.
As a result, banks and other financial institutions were unwilling to lend loans to film makers.
Even after industry status was bestowed upon them, though the Reserve Bank of India has allowed banks to finance films, there has been little pick up.
According to sources in the industry, banks see films as "high risk area" and at times, producers also do not approach banks simply because of the formalities and red tapism involved in procuring a loan.
They would rather depend on private financiers.
This left producers with no choice but to look to "other means" for the vast amount of money needed to make a film.
The underworld, with its bagful of ill-gotten wealth, seemed an attractive option.
The underworld, too, found this a comparatively easier and financially better way to make money _ rather than targetting small businessmen (as they did in the 80s) they started targetting filmstars and even befriended some of them to gain a foothold in the industry.
While, in the initial stages, financing movies seemed like an attractive option, soon, the gangster-turned-film financier soon turned towards grabbing the 'highly lucrative' overseas rights and the music rights of the films.
Son of a crime branch head constable-turned-mafia don, Dawood Ibrahim and later his two lieutenants, Dubai-based Abu Salem and Karachi-based Chhota Shakeel figure prominently in the extortion racket involving film personalities.
Other major gangs like one of fugitive don Chhota Rajan, too, is said to be involved with members of the film industry.
For example, Abu Salem is known to have raked in the moolah by obtaining overseas distribution rights.
That maintaining links with the underworld could prove lethal for Bollywood has been reinforced, time and again in the last few years, with "hits" like the one on Gulshan Kumar in 1997, the failed attempt on Rakesh Roshan and the recent attack on director Lawrence D'souza.
It was over the issue of overseas distribution rights that Rakesh Roshan, who produced Kaho Na Pyar Hai starring his son Hritik Roshan, was attacked when he "dared to deny" the overseas rights to the Dawood Ibrahim gang.
The killing of Gulshan Kumar was the first incident that shocked the industry.
Now, the UK-based music composer Nadeem Akhtar Saife is alleged to have connived with Abu Salem.
"With this it became known to the entire country that there is underworld involvement in film industry," says a police officer.
In January 2001, the arrest of diamond merchant and film financier Bharat Shah, served only to reinforce doubts that the underworld was involved in film making.
Now, the contents of the cassette in the possession of the special Maharashtra Control for Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court has added yet another twist with the prosecution claiming that it contained conversation of actor Sanjay Dutt and others with Chhota Shakeel.
Says an insider, "Corporatisation will keep away gangsters.
It is a necessity.
There is no market mechanism that drives the industry.
Mafia links also keep investors away to invest in this sector." Annually, around 200 Hindi films are made in the country.
Filmmaking involves three distinct stages _ film production, film distribution and film exhibition.
The underworld is known to be active in all these stages, if police sources are to be believed.
From the selection of the star to the marketing of the overseas rights, it has a say in everything.
It is difficult to measure the industry size in terms of total revenues because unlike in US and UK, the aggregate box office collection for the films in India are not reported to a central agency.
However, using industry costs as a surrogate measure, the total industry production budget is estimated at Rs 21.5 billion.
FDI in print media will maintain diversity and quality: Sushma NEW DELHI, Aug 1 (UNI) Show cause notices have been issued to television channels displaying 8 advertisements which are considered violative of the advertising code.
Four channels had earlier withdrawn surrogate advertisements of liquor products when notice was sent to them.
Information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj told the house replying to a starred question that the notices had been sent after the second meeting of the inter-ministerial committee on advertising code constituted by her ministry.
Swaraj said two committees had been set up in this connection, one of which is an inter-ministerial committee consisting of officers from the I and B, home, external affairs, defence and law to render advice on violations of the programme code.
The other is a committee consisting of officers from the I and B, women and child development, health and law ministries and a representative from the Advertising Standards Council of India to look into violations of the advertising code including surrogate advertising.
She said all channels transmitted through cable networks were covered by the Cable Television Networks (regulation) Act 1995 and the programme and advertising codes.
Swaraj denied in reply to another question that small and medium newspapers would be affected adversely by foreign direct investment in the print media.
She said FDI was likely to be of use in maintaining diversity in the print media and improvement in quality, and also in improved availability of Indian editions of scientific and technical journals and speciality magazines at affordable prices.
4 naxals shot dead in Andhra ONGOLE, ANDHRA PRADESH, Aug 1 (UNI) 4 naxals, including a woman, belonging to the outlawed People's War (PW) military platoon, were killed in an exchange of fire with the police near Alatam Killah village in Nallamala forest area of Prakasam district today.
Police here said the encounter took place around 0700 hrs when the special police force and two teams of the elite 'greyhounds' were combing the area after yesterday's exchange of fire with naxals at Alipiri hills.
A light machine gun, a self loading rifle, a .303 rifle, a grenade launcher and a wireless handset were recovered by the police from the spot.
While the deceased were yet to be identified, police suspect that one of the them could be PW's district committee member of Mahbubnagar, Seshanna.
Prakasam district superintendent of police Kumar Viswajit is monitoring the situation from Ongole.
Further details were awaited.
Tributes paid to Tilak on death anniv MUMBAI, Aug 1 (UNI) Rich tributes were paid to Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak on the occasion of his 82nd death anniversary here today.
Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh offered floral tributes to the freedom fighter at Mantralaya, Vidhan Bhavan and his statue at Chowpatty this morning.
Functions to mark the occassion were organised by Mumbai Congress and Maharashtra unit of the Congress party at their respective offices.
SERMU opposes new Rly zones VISHAKAPATNAM, Aug 1 (UNI) The South Eastern Railwaymen's Union (SERMU), affiliated to the All India Railwaymen's Federation, today opposed the formation of new railway zones in the country on the grounds that it would whip up "parochialism" and affect the organisation's efficiency.
Talking to reporters here, union general secretary Ch Gandhi alleged that the government had taken the decision without considering the operational needs and experts' opinion.
Six retired chairmen of the railway board had written a letter to prime minister A B Vajpayee, opposing the formation of new zones, he pointed out.
Stating that the already financially-sagging Indian railways had to shell about Rs 1400 crore initially for setting up the 7 proposed zones, hitting the interest of 16 lakh employees, he opined that instead the government could improve passenger amenities and lay new lines to strengthen the railway network.
Gandhi was here as part of a month-long campaign from July 11 to highlight the burning issues, as per the directives of the AIRF.
EC team in riot-torn districts of Gujarat AHMEDABAD, Aug 1 (UNI) The 9-member Election Commission team today fanned out to the riot-affected districts of Gujarat to assess whether the prevailing situation was conducive to holding of early assembly polls in the state.
The team, which reached here on July 30, met government officials and received delegations and memoranda, sources said.
The team was divided into three groups.
One group led by deputy Election Commissioner S Mehdiratta went to Himmatnagar and Mehsana districts today.
While another, headed by deputy Election Commissioner A N Jha, will study the situation at Nadiad, Mehmudabad, Kapadwanj and Bhavnagar.
The third group led by legal counsel to the EC will study the situation at Vadodara.
The team was likely to submit its report to the Election Commission after completion of its 4-day tour.
Lalji Tandon is UP BJP legis party leader LUCKNOW, Aug 1 (UNI) Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and state urban development minister Lalji Tandon was unanimously elected leader of the party's state legislature party here today.
Tandon's elevation to the rank from BJP LP leader was near certain as there was a consensus among the party legistalors on the issue.
Till now he was the deputy leader of the BJP legislature party.
His name to the post was proposed by former chief minister Rajnath Singh, while it was supported by irrigation minister Om Prakash Singh, agriculture minister Hukum Singh and former chief minister and MLC Ram Prakash Gupta.
BJP's in-charge of Uttar Pradesh affairs Kalraj Mishra was present during the process as a central observer.
Fresh warrant against Union Carbide's Anderson NEW DELHI, Aug 1 (UNI) The government today said a fresh warrant of arrest against Warren Anderson of Union Carbide has been sought under section 304 A IPC which is an extraditable offence under the provision of Indo-US extradition treaty.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, minister of state for small scale industries, minister of state for personnel, public grievances and pensions Vasundhara Raje said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an application for a fresh warrant under the said in the trial court on 24th May, 2002.
Dara Singh's daughter, son-in-law booked for fraud PHAGWARA, Aug 1 (UNI) Punjab police has booked wrestler Sunny Gill, his wife Loveleen and his father Kashmira Singh in a fraud and cheat case under Section 406,420,120b , 24 Immigration Act here last night.
Station house officer of city police station confirming the registeration of the case said that Sunny Gill, son-in-law of film actor, wrestler, producer and director Dara Singh allegedly cheated over 60 persons belonging to Punjab and Delhi on the pretext of sending them to Canada and other countries.
He according to complainant Amarjit Singh of Kanshi Nagar, charged Rs 2 to 4 lakh from each person and deprived people of Rs 1.95 crores.
19 cases of leakage of defence secrets since 2000 NEW DELHI, Aug 1 (UNI) Defence minister George Fernandes today said there were 19 cases of secret defence information being leaked out by serving and retired government officials during the past 2 and a half years.
Appropriate actions have been initiated against all the guilty personnel under the Official Secrets Act or the Indian Penal Code, the minister said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
The government has taken several steps to tone up the intelligence network, including deployment of additional surveillance teams in conjunction with the Intelligence Bureau (IB), to check such incidents, he said.
Deployment of additional security troops for access control with the defence security zone, setting up of electronic equipment to tone up security measures and security briefing to civilian officers every month to apprise them of departmental security instructions are the other measures being taken.
Senior officers of the ministry, service headquarters and inter-service organisations have been briefed by IB officials about the security scenario and preventive action to be taken, the defence minister said.
Bifurcation detrimental to national interest: Buddhadeb KOLKATA, Aug 1 (UNI) West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today described as "detrimental to the national interest" the union cabinet's decision to go ahead with railway bifurcation and said it would seriously hamper the state's interest and its relation with Bihar.
"After my telephonic discussion with deputy prime minister L K Advani, I was given an idea that the issue would be properly reviewed by the union cabinet.
But I find to my dismay that the decision is not only against national interest but will also create division among the states," Bhattacharjee told reporters here.
He, however, ruled out the question of calling an all party meeting and a joint movement as suggested by the Trinamool Congress and said his government would also oppose the Congress sponsored bandh as it would create bitterness between West Bengal and Bihar.
Bhattacharjee said the Trinamool Congress cannot avoid its responsibility and role in the proposed railway bifurcation since Mamata Bannerjee was the railway minister.
"Its not clear that whether the agitation by the Trinamool Congress is for personal or national interest.
Unless the party clears all ambiguity about its role in the proposed railway bifurcation, the question of a joint movemnt does not arise," he said.
Bhattacharjee said instead of going for costly and meaningless bifurcation, the railway ministry should concentrate more on infrastructural development, improvemnt of safety measure, services and passenger amenities.
He said his party and the front had decided to organise a massive rally at the Brigade Parade ground on August 11 and a grand procession on the same day.
About us | Advertisers | Other Publications | Subscriptions | Advertising Weather | Letters | Search | Suggestions | Send Mail | Vaishnodevi ________________________________________________________ (c) 1998, The Kashmir Times Press Pvt.
Ltd., Residency Road, Jammu Tawi.
