NEW DELHI, Nov 24 (UNI): Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today defended rewriting of history books by the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT), saying the process was justified if the content portrayed a "one sided picture".
"If the present books are really one sided, they need to be corrected", Mr Vajpayee told mediapersons at a lunch party, hosted by BJP spokesman VK Malhotra here.
Apparently showing displeasure at the oppositions, mainly Congress, move to stall the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, he said the government was ready for a full scale debate on the whole issue.
Senior Congress leader Arjun Singh had accused the government of Talibanising education, triggering stormy scenes in the upper house.
Asked what action he proposed to take against statistics and programme implementation minister Maneka Gandhi for expressing anguish at taking over her new charge, the prime minister said, "she has not been removed.
She is continuing as a minister".
Bilateral textile deal India to be treated at par with Pak: EU NEW DELHI, Nov 24 (UNI): The European union has assured India that it will be treated on par with Pakistan and Sri Lanka if it enters into a bilateral agreement on textiles.
I can assure you that you will not be treated differently from any other country.
That will not be the case, Euorpean union president Romano Prodi said while delivering a lecture last evening on India and the Euorpean union on the dawn on the 21st century .
India has agreed to work out a bilateral arrangement with the Eu in textiles following recent bilateral agreements with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Ukraine.
The Eu had through formal and informal interaction since December last suggested a bilateral arrangement which would increase the quota of textiles and textile products for Indian exporters as a trade-off for an enhanced market access in Eu.
New Delhi had rebuffed the offer but is now coming around to the bilateral arrangement especially after eu has increased the textile quota by 15 per cent to Pakistan leaving Indian exporters in a comparative disadvantaged position.
While the Indian and eu authorities have broadly agreed for a bilteral tie-up, the details on quota trade-off for tariff reduction were being negotiated.
Mr Prodi said India-Eu relations were poised to increase in scope and depth, including control of terrorism, which could include common arrest warrants in India and Europe and joint training for police and judiciary.
Mr Prodi said Eus partnership was more than just aid and trade.
It was also a political partnership.
One of the goals of the Eu was to promote stability and democracy around the globe.
India, as a stable, mature and vibrant democracy, was a key partner and natural cornerstone of Eus relationship with south asia.
Mr Prodi said there was a collapse in demand for textile products from countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as European sources were tying up with cheaper producers from elsewehere.
It was, therefore, imperative that these countries modernise their facilities by raising their standards.
In reference to the Eu goal of achieving democratic globalisation, Mr Prodi admitted that many more companies from Europe were investing in India than vice-versa primarily because of lack of financial and marketing muscle.
Therefore, the way out was to have many more joint ventures.
This will provide training insights for cross-investments.
Mr Prodi said India-Eu political partnership has acquired special importance in the wake of September 11 attacks.
India has long been a target of terrorism and it was important that India and Europe team up to bring about stability.
The Eu was highly appreciative of Indias prompt and unconditional support for the international coalition against terrorism.
As two largest democractic entities in the world, India and Eu share a common respect for ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity, a vibrant civil society and a commitment to sustainable development.
These are values that should be jointly promoted in all parts of the world.
The president of the Eu also said monetary union was a remarkable sucess.
Besides, the expansion of the Eu had been more sucessfull than anticipated and the transition was smooth.
With 15 member states at present and 12 more negotiating accession, the Eu was an expanding union of Myriad minorities, enjoying the benefits of free movement across the continent and the efficiency of a large frontier-free economy.
Mr Prodi said the original idea was to have a common European army, but now Eu was a new market, thereby implying that market was at least as imporant as security and added that the Doha ministerial summit will reduce obstacles to trade and investment flows.
In this context Mr Verhofsatdt quoted Mahatama Gandhi as having remarked that no one can be free, as long as other people are not.
The Mahatama had also stated that the world is rich enough to cope with everyones needs, but not to cover everyones greed.
To cope with everyones needs is the major objective of our cooperation.
To tame everyones greed is an eminent objective of poltical action.
For politics is the art of living together in ever-larger numbers, taking into account the needs and hopes of many, not of the few, Mr Verhofsatdt added.
Church to Jogis rescue, says he is a tribal JABALPUR, Nov 24 (UNI): Embattled Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi, who is braving opposition demands to quit in the wake of the controversy over his tribal status, today received a shot in the arm, with the Church of north India saying its records showed his grandfather was a tribal.
The records of the diocese of Jabalpur revealed that Mr Jogis grand father was a Kanwar, a community recognised as a scheduled tribe, the Church of north India said in a press release.
Rt Reverend father Sunil Cak, Bishop of Jabalpur, said the diocese of Jabalpur, which comes under the protestant Christian Church of north India, maintained records which showed Jogi was a tribal.
According to the records, entry number 429 in the old Church register, which spans the period from July 1887 to August 1918, shows that Mr Dulare Jogi from Pendra was a member of Kanwar community of the scheduled tribes.
Mr Cak said Dulare Jogi was Baptized and converted to Christianity as per the records of the Church.
The records had been meticulously maintained and clearly established that Mr Ajit Jogi was a Kanwar, he added.
The Church of north India was prepared to produce the registers before any competent authority for verification and perusal, he said.
The indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court had last year thrown out a petition filed by Amar Singh, a voter from Mahasamund, challenging Mr Ajit Jogis caste.
Mr Singh then approached the high courts principal seat at Jabalpur, which also dismissed his petition in July this year and imposed a heavy fine for wasting the courts time.
Following the national commissions order, a Bilaspur court granted a stay in favour of Ajit Jogi on October 22.
Sikh scholar flays history rewriting NEW DELHI, Nov 24 (UNI): Eminent Sikh scholar (Dr) Jaspal Singh today threw his weight behind an academic call for a "stop to rewriting history, but urged a standard rule against religiously biased contents.
"Any attempts to distort historical facts are condemnable as they amount to encroachment on education," he told a battery of newspersons at a function in the capital.
But the former envoy, who is now also principal of Delhis Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, urged caution against the use of religiously "biased" passages in textbooks.
"Matter that smacks of bias or hatred against any faith should be avoided at all costs and authors need to exercise caution in this regard.
In fact there should be a standard rule to prevent their use," Dr Singh, also member of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), said.
Academics are objecting to the deletion of certain passages from NCERT history textbooks, describing the move as "blatantly communal".
Opposition Congress party has accused the NCERT of "secretly rewriting history texts" as part of what they call the BJP governments attempts to "Saffronise Education".
A class XI Medieval India History textbook recently attracted a storm of Sikh protests because it contained references the religious community said insulted their faith, prompting the government order their deletion.
Peoples committee for relief of Afghan refugees constituted NEW DELHI, Nov 24 (UNI): "Peoples committee for the relief of Afghan refugees" has been set up to mobilise urgent relief for the distressed people of Afghanistan.
The committee constituted by eminent parliamentarians, intellectuals, representatives of human rights organisation, media and social activists would be headed by eminent Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande.
The committees efforts would be to rush right relief to the most needy as early as possible, preferably by going to the camps directly, Ms Deshpande said.
She appealed to Indians to donate generously so that the relief could be rushed to Afghan refugees in the north west frontiers before the auspicious occasion of Id.
"This will be a gesture of solidarity towards the distressed people of Afghanistan, from the people of India," she said.
The committee has got good response from various NGOs and institutions so far.
As part of the campaign a meeting was held in the JNU campus.
The committee members include former union ministers Eduardo Faleiro and Chaturanan Mishra, former vice chancellor Amrik Singh, chancellor of Jamia Hamdard Saiyid Hamid, MPs Krishna Bose and K M Khan, Syeed Shahabuddin, chairman Delhi state Haj Committee Anis Durrani, Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar and women rights activist Madhu Kishwar.
Mr Navaid hamid is the secretary of the committee.
Ex union home secy defends POTO NAGPUR, Nov 24 (UNI): Former union home secretary Madhav Godbole has defended the Prevention Of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO), which the central government proposes to convert into an act.
Existing laws of the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC) and Indian Penal Code (IPC) are inadequate for crushing terrorism, Dr Godbole told newspersons during an informal chat after delivering the "E F Schumachar memorial lecture series" at the Nagpur university here late last evening.
Referring the assassination of former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi , and thousands of innocent people, Dr Godbole said the war against terrorism could not be won unless security forces were armed with special legislations.
He criticised the opponents of POTO and said that no law could be directed against any community or religion.
Lamenting that the earlier Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) had lapsed due to lack of consensus among political parties, Mr Godbole urged them to sink their differences and come together in the fight against terrorism.
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