Statesman (India) articles from June 2000, page 6

Statesman (India) archives from June 2000

MI-5 failed to warngovt of KGB agent.
June 15, 2000... LONDON, June 14. - MI-5 and senior Whitehall civil servants were accused yesterday of serious failures in keeping ministers in the dark about Mrs Melita Norwood, the KGB spy who was exposed in The Times last year. In a report by the...

Bankura tusker declared rogue.
June 15, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 13. - A tusker operating in the Bishnupur forest range has been declared rogue by the forest department. Armed with a rifle and tranquiliser gun, a forest department team is tracking the elephant. Till date, the pachyderm...

CID makes little headway in most N Bengal cases.
June 15, 2000... SILIGURI, June 13. - The local unit of the CID, which is in-charge of all the six districts in North Bengal, appears to have made little headway in most of the major cases it was entrusted to in the past couple of years. Although the CID...

Netaji panel blasts govt for non-cooperation.
June 15, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 13. - Several important files on Netaji may be missing from the special branch headquarters on Lord Sinha Road. The state government has not yet responded "adequately" to requests for the files from the Justice Mukherjee...

Dacoity was not Jodhpur Park killers' motive, say police.
June 15, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 13. - Police today virtually ruled out dacoity as a motive behind the murder of Pritimoy Gupta whose body was found in a Jodhpur Park flat yesterday. Bapi and Gopal, labourers staying in the first floor of the...

High Court declares trial court ruling unsustainable.
June 15, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 13. - A trial court's judgment, remarkable in its own way, was declared "wholly unsustainable" by a Division Bench of Calcutta High Court today. There were more than one reason behind the decision. Here is the case briefly...

Ransom call from Varanasi after Jorasanko kidnapping.
June 15, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 13. - A four-year-old boy was kidnapped from Muktarambabu Street in Jorasanko on Saturday morning when he was returning home from his teacher's house. Gaurav Karnabhat, son of Mukesh Karnabhat, a businessman of Burrabazar,...

Cong, Trinamul put off the marriage that would be.
June 15, 2000... CALCUTTA, June. 13. - Both the Congress and the Trinamul today ruled out the formation of the mahajot during the run-up to the elections to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation. The PCC's CMC election committee, which met during the day,...

Rains overlooked in CMC's pre-poll road show.
June 15, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 13. - Every year, monsoon comes to the rescue of Calcutta Municipal Corporation as far as road repairs are concerned, as angry residents are plainly told to wait since major repairs cannot be carried out because of rains. ...

Proposed NTPC-NHPC merger plans dropped.
June 15, 2000... MUMBAI, June 13. - The proposed merger of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and the National Hydro-Power Corporation (NHPC) has been dropped after considering the opinions of the consultants, the Union Power Minister, Mr P R...

RIL to build IT infrastructure.
June 15, 2000... MUMBAI, June 13. - Reliance Industries Ltd is set to start building infrastructure for the information technology age, RIL Chairman, Mr Dhirubhai Ambani, said here today. He told the 26th annual general meeting of the company: "Reliance...

ICE Bill paves way for DTH.
June 15, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 13. - The Information, Communication and Entertainment (ICE) Bill, one of the two "Convergence" Bills with the Nariman Committee, has cleared the way for private sector terrestrial TV broadcasting and direct-to-home (DTH)...

Patriarchies: No picnics for women in Third World.
June 15, 2000... The developing world is not well known for women's empowerment. It would be false to assume that women have equal rights all over the developed world also. Patriarchy is alive and doing well. And it certainly is not incompatible with the age...

Vittal backs down on CVC role.
June 15, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 13. - Senior politicians cutting across party lines today appeared relieved when the Central Vigilance Commissioner, Mr N Vittal, accepted before a joint parliamentary committee that the CVC's role was "advisory", and its...

FDI moves ruffle Swadeshi hawks.
June 15, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 13. - The RSS affiliate, Swadeshi Jagran Manch, today charged the government with acting against national interests by allowing repatriation to foreign MNCs without dividend balancing and by allowing 100 per cent FDI in...

Paswan's US team raises eyebrows.
June 15, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 13. - Mr Ram Vilas Paswan's trip to the USA to attend the Indo-US Business Council Meeting, with a not-entirely-official team, has left Sanchar Bhavan officials frowning. At least five members of the 20-odd member...

Karthikeyan felicitated.
June 15, 2000... CHENNAI, June 13. - Ford India and a consortium of sponsors today felicitated Narain Karthikeyan for his performance in the British Formula 3 championship this season. Ford India, along with the consortium of corporate sponsors, provides...

Biswas joins East Bengal.
June 15, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 13. - Dipendu Biswas left Mohun Bagan for East Bengal today. The team retained Ratan Singh. BARREN DRAWS: Sporting Union were held 0-0 by Police in their First Division Group B Football League match. Matches between...

Khan, Bacher have axes to grind.
June 15, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 13. - Cricket is a funny game what with its rules and their interpretations, but the people who are at the helm of administration are now making a mockery of the game - and that too to settle personal scores. The latest...

Brunei donation.
June 15, 2000... JAKARTA, June 13. - Legislators and observers yesterday censured Mr Abdurrahman Wahid's acceptance of millions of dollars as personal donation from Brunei, saying it may not be unlawful but is ethically questionable. The President has...

Assad's exiled brother stakes claim.
June 15, 2000... DAMASCUS, June 13. - On the eve of President Assad's funeral, his exiled younger brother threw down the gauntlet to the heir apparent yesterday, claiming the country's leadership for himself. Mr Rifaat Al-Assad, 63, used his son's...

Subhas leads diatribe against 'vague' draft.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 11. - At the end of the two-day CPI-M state committee meeting today, liberals and hardliners remained sharply divided on the updated draft of the party programme. Party insiders said the committee is likely to meet again in...

REDRESS.
June 13, 2000... Responding to Mr Basudeb Roy Chowdhury's complaint published on 1 May, CESC Limited writes to say that arrangements have been made to refund the meter replacement charges. The hi-tech meter (No. 2868062) got burnt the day after it was...

84-yr-old woman waits for husband's postal savings.
June 13, 2000... My husband, Sishu Kumar Dasgupta, died on 6 January, 1988. He had a savings account (2010366) at the Bhangore post office, South 24-Parganas, and I am the nominee. At the time of his death, the account had a balance of around Rs 1,600....

Passport Ordeal.
June 13, 2000... On 12 March, 1999, I paid Rs 300 in cash to the Regional Passport Office for a new passport. After some time, I met the official concerned and learnt that the passport could not be delivered to me as I was not available at the address given....

Lensman's Plight.
June 13, 2000... I am a professional photographer. On 30 November, 1998, I received instructions from the councillor of CMC ward No. 115 to take photographs of primary schools in the ward. Accordingly, I submitted 28 copies of postcard size photographs of 12...

Telephone Trouble.
June 13, 2000... While the minister for telecommunication appears to be doing his best to satisfy the telephone subscribers through attractive measures, Calcutta Telephones seems to be doing the opposite. My telephone (556-9135) has been dead since 17...

Intuc braces for elections.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 11. - Battle lines are being drawn for Intuc's organisational election after Mr Subrata Mukherjee, state Intuc president, proposed to the central leadership that the polls be held in the city in the third week of June. ...

Give it back to your councillor, on telly.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 11. - Has your locality turned into a garbage dumping ground of late? Have the lamps disappeared from the light posts in front of your house and is the local councillor nowhere to be found? Here is your chance to question...

Darjeeling Cong wants municipality status for Naxalbari.
June 13, 2000... SILIGURI, June 11. - The Darjeeling district Congress has raised the demand for upgrading Bagdogra and Naxalbari areas into municipalities. The areas are presently under panchayats. The decision was taken at a convention of the Congress...

WHO exposes TB grip on India.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 11. - AIDS, cancer or malaria do not cause the maximum deaths in India - it is tuberculosis, which claims one person every minute. According to a latest survey by the WHO and the Centre's health and family welfare wing, 14...

Marxists ousted from agricultural bank management.
June 13, 2000... MIDNAPORE June 11. - For the first time in 35 years, the Trinamul Congress has ousted the CPI-M to capture the management of Midnapore Co-operative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank. All 12 directors of the bank, belonging to the...

Trinamul throws mahajot caution to the winds.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 11. - To vote against the Trinamul Congress in the CMC election would mean helping the CPI-M retain its grip on the civic body. This will be the Trinamul's key propaganda plank in the CMC elections, Mr Pankaj Banerjee, party...

India lags behind comparable nations in FDI inflows.
June 13, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 11. - India has been left far behind by most comparable developing nations in terms of inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI), says the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In its background note, the PHDCCI has said...

weekend review.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 11. - The performance of the country's bourses last week gave the clear impression that a new bull phase is in the making with stocks prices scoring appreciable gains in the wake of sustained support which not only raised...

freight review.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 11. - Exporters and importers of break-bulk, bagged and crate cargo to and from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh will be pleased to know that CIWTC will be loading cargoes by river vessels bound for Bihar and Uttar Pradesh on and from...

jute review.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 11. - The local jute goods market continued to remain dull during the past week. The prices of gunnies, particularly sackings, continued to recede due to the absence of buyers. The government once again placed an order for...

INTENSIVE VIGILANCE: Nothing less will do for North-east.
June 13, 2000... ARUNACHAL Pradesh may lose its image as an "island of peace" if Delhi does not take serious note of the infiltration of NSCN-IM militants into the districts of Tirap and Changlang. The apparent objective is to engage the rival Khaplang...

TAKE LIBERIA TOO: The UN war in Sierra Leone.
June 13, 2000... BRITAIN is pulling out the bulk of its 800 commandos in Sierra Leone, but has, at the same time reaffirmed its long-term commitment to restoring order in that country and also moved a resolution in the United Nations calling for an increase...

FRAGILE BALANCE: Atomic programme another failed PSU?
June 13, 2000... IN a reassessment, US officials, including General Anthony Zinni who recently visited Pakistan, told NBC News that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is much superior to India's. If this is the case, then India's nuclear capabilities are more sound...

NO MISSIONARY: Max Muller's Profound Love For India.
June 13, 2000... IN his article "Born Again" Sunrit Mullick speaks of Max Muller's "steadfast imperialist attitude toward non-Christian religions". This article is intended to be a refutation of this statement. In his article "On Professor Max Muller" first...

TUJS competes with IPFT for tribal leadership.
June 13, 2000... AGARTALA, June 11. - The Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti, the state's main hill party, has initiated a fresh move to unite anti-Left tribal forces with the aim of jointly fighting the next state Assembly polls. The IPFT, through its victory...

Patient loses eye to nurse's needle.
June 13, 2000... BALASORE, June 11. - A woman undergoing treatment at the Balasore district headquarters hospital has lost an eye which a nurse allegedly pierced with a needle. The victim has lodged a written complaint with the Chief District Medical...

Elephants damage Orissa plant centre.
June 13, 2000... BHUBANESWAR, June 11. - A herd of wild elephants entered the research complex of the Regional Plant Resources Centre here last night and damaged its garden of rare plants. Till then the elephants were roaming the fringes of the capital...

PM discusses UP leadership change.
June 13, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 11. - The victory of Mr Kalyan Singh in the Saron by-election has brought jittery BJP leaders from UP to Delhi to discuss possible changes in leadership. Senior state and central BJP leaders met at Mr Atal Behari...

Relief for Assam rice growers.
June 13, 2000... GUWAHATI, June 11. - Rice growers in the state have breathed a sigh of relief after the government directed the Assam Agriculture Marketing Board yesterday to procure rice from them at the minimum support price of Rs 490 per quintal. The...

BJP urges forgery case against Laloo.
June 13, 2000... PATNA, June 11. - The BJP today urged the President to order a case of forgery against Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav for submitting "false documents" to support his party's claim that the Bihar Governor had ordered his wife's prosecution in the...

Parties unite in mourning.
June 13, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 11. - The BJP today described Mr Rajesh Pilot's sudden demise as an irreparable loss, not only to the Congress but also to the entire nation. He left behind him a legacy of simplicity and austerity that politicians should...

High-flyer who rose above his circumstances.
June 13, 2000... An IAF fighter pilot-turned-politician, the 55-year-old Rajesh Pilot died the way he lived - in the fast lane. Born in a poor family on 10 February 1945, Pilot lost his armyman father, Jai Dayal Singh, at an early age and was brought up...

Excavation.
June 13, 2000... MUZAFFARNAGAR, June 12. - Gold rings and bricks discovered in Mandi village on 1 June are over 3,500 years old and belong to Harappa-Mohenjodaro period, according to the Indian Archaeological Department. The treasure site has been sealed off...

A middle-of-the-road dissenter.
June 13, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 11. - Rajesh Pilot, MP, former Union minister and popular Congressman, was one of the few second-rung party leaders who could have challenged the present leadership. His death in an automobile accident comes at a time when...

PM SoS to Nigeria on hostages.
June 13, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 11. - The Prime Minister has personally taken an initiative to secure the release of 21 Indian soldiers held hostage in Sierra Leone. He requested the Nigerian President over the phone today to use his influence in the region...

Army tragedy.
June 13, 2000... JAMMU, June 11. - At least 27 army personnel were killed and 26 injured, some critically, today when a bus fell 300 feet into a gorge near Chamal Bas, about 180 km from here.

Christian preacher murderedin Jalandhar.
June 13, 2000... CHANDIGARH, June 11. - The partly-burnt body of a Christian preacher, bearing sharp stab wounds, was found at his home in the heart of Jalandhar city this morning. With the valuables in the Kanyawali Mohalla house untouched, the...

Somebody should bell that cat!
June 13, 2000... THE mess that is the Great Eastern Hotel, Calcutta, once one of the top ten hotels in the world, has a long history, a sordid present and an uncertain future. I recall that it was in 1980 that I had approached the chief minister to indicate...

Car crash cuts short Pilot's life.
June 13, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 11. - Rajesh Pilot died in a car crash today at Bhandana in Dausa, his Lok Sabha constituency near Jaipur. The former Union minister was 55 and is survived by wife Rama, a son and a daughter. The senior Congress...

Fiddling Nero.
June 13, 2000... Mention Nero and the idiom of an emperor who fiddled while Rome burned comes to mind. Nero succeeded Emperor Claudius at the age of 17 to become the fifth emperor of Rome. At first, he was a good leader, due in part to the advice of his...

Some love it hot.
June 13, 2000... To be in hot water means to be in trouble and the principle of sterilising instruments or boiling water is to kill disease-causing organisms. There are at least two kinds of flies whose larvae live in hot mineral springs. They are Ephydra...

Abducted CPI leader, wife rescued.
June 13, 2000... MIDNAPORE, June 10. - After a night-long search operation by the Pingla police, a CPI member of Jalchak gram panchayat and his wife, were rescued from Purusottampur Primary School early today. The couple had been severely beaten. Mr Sunil...

BSF thwarts Bangla anti-erosion work.
June 13, 2000... MALDA, June 10. - BSF objections have made the irrigation division of the Bangladesh government stop its anti-erosion work along the bank of the Mahananda river at Munsiganj in the Chapai Nababganj district of that country. The BSF had warned...

State balks at Metro extension bill.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 10.- The state government has expressed its inability to release additional funds for the Metro Railway's extension project up to Garia. The state had agreed to bear one-third of the total project cost of Rs 649 crore. But...

State moots fight against arsenic with Unicef help.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 10. - The state government and the Unicef have drawn up a joint action plan to tackle the arsenic problem in eight worst-affected districts: Malda, Murshidabad, North 24-Parganas, Nadia, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and...

Lok adalat.
June 13, 2000... SILIGURI, June 10. - Cases relating to insurance claims and bank loans worth Rs 31 lakh were cleared today at the Siliguri Lok Adalat. The adalat, which worked till late evening, disposed of 52 cases including matrimonial and "criminally...

"Great Eastern privatisation inevitable".
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 10.- The tourism minister, Mr Manab Mukherjee, has clarified today that the state government will go ahead with the Great Eastern Hotel privatisation in spite of objections from the Citu. "We will proceed according to our...

CRLI opts out of municipal elections.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 10. - One of the Left Front's smaller partners, the Communist Revolutionary League of India (CRLI), has decided it will not contest the Calcutta Corporation and the Bidhan Nagar municipal elections. It will also not campaign...

Ensure victory in civic body polls, Mamata tells partymen.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 10. - Miss Mamata Banerjee has asked her partymen to go the whole hog, to ensure the party's victory in the forthcoming civic body polls in Calcutta and Salt Lake. She was addressing a meeting of senior Trinamul leaders at the...

N Bengal tourist lodges to close from 15 June.
June 13, 2000... SILIGURI, June 10. - With the advent of the monsoon, the forest department has decided to stop tourist activities in North Bengal's wildlife parks and sanctuaries for three months. All tourist lodges and forest bungalows will remain...

Illegal construction at Todi Chambers irks owners.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 10. - What used to be a basement car park has turned into a can of worms at Todi Chambers, 2 Lal Bazaar Street. The 63-member Todi Chambers Owners Society are up in arms against the promoters, Todi Tea Company for trying to...

CPM liberals oppose programme draft.
June 13, 2000... CALCUTTA, June 10. - CPI-M liberals today objected to certain clauses in the draft for updating the 1964-party programme at the state committee meeting which was attended by, among others, Mr Jyoti Basu and Mr Harkishan Singh Surjeet. ...

Falling Re made no dent on stock markets.
June 13, 2000... The stock markets were in positive territory during all trading days of the week, thanks to renewed buying interest from operators. After a gain of 370 points during the previous week, the market opened on a buoyant note on Monday. The...

Tatas keep BSES option open.
June 13, 2000... MUMBAI, June 10. - After a three-week suspense, and perhaps serious discussions, the Tatas finally thought it prudent not to challenge the Ambanis in their attempt to acquire 35 per cent stakes in the BSES, a consumer company serving Mumbai's...

Phone on demand by 2002: Paswan.
June 13, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 10. - The Union Minister for Communication, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, said here today that the Department of Telecom-munication (DoT) will provide telephone on demand by the end of 2002 all over the country. After winning the...

Divestment meet to test Centre's resolve on reforms.
June 13, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 10. - The Centre's resolve to push through the process of privatisation of public sector undertakings (PSUs) will be put to a strong test when the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) meets later this month. The road...

SITUATION VACANT: Gupta is not a hit.
June 13, 2000... IT may be unfair to blame the defeat in Soron on Ram Prakash Gupta. It's a constituency that favours Lodh Rajputs and Kalyan Singh is the most important Lodh Rajput in UP. However, Gupta is on his way out, because party morale is abysmally...

NO FREE KICK: Gaddafi junior ready to play ball.
June 13, 2000... ARE the winds of change blowing in Libya? Not too hard, but hard enough to sway Muammar Gaddafi's son. He might not be blowin' in the wind, but it appears he fancies an aerial tussle with his icon - if you were thinking of West Asian despots,...

WE DEMAND AN ANSWER!: VHP blames ISI for attacks on Christians.
June 13, 2000... THE vice-president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, is either way out on a limb or has taken fright that the role of the Sangh parivar in targeting the small Christian community has been so thoroughly exposed that rising...

The Statesman News Items.
June 13, 2000... Swimming Competition The final of the three lengths variety handicap came off yesterday evening at the Calcutta Swimming Bath with the following result:- A.R. Miller 9 seconds start, first; his net time being 1 minute and 34 seconds;...

DEMOCRAT VALUES: Americans Have Done Well Under Clinton.
June 13, 2000... LOUIS Hartz wrote in The American Political Tradition that a "deep commitment to liberalism" existed in America. In America we have a country that consists largely of the middle class, where the lower classes do not want to pull them down but...

COINS.
June 13, 2000... NOWADAYS money is all bluff. A! a! There he goes again, you say, exaggerating as usual. But it's true! Money is bluff: you tell me something is worth Rs 100, and if I agree I give you a piece of paper with "Rs 100" printed on it which, I tell...

Tohra demands Jagir Kaur's resignation.
June 13, 2000... CHANDIGARH, June 10. - The All India Shiromani Akali Dal led by former SGPC chief, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, has demanded Bibi Jagir Kaur's resignation after a CBI probe has been ordered into the death of her daughter, Harpreet Kaur. The...

Money keeps J&K insurgency going.
June 13, 2000... JAMMU, June 10. - With Pakistan pumping in millions of rupees into Kashmir to keep the proxy war going and the mercenaries from 14 countries fighting the so-called "jehad" in Jammu and Kashmir, money is the only thing which is keeping...

NDA calls for Rabri dismissal, Cong to continue support.
June 13, 2000... PATNA, June 10. - The NDA today submitted a memorandum to the Governor seeking removal of Mrs Rabri Devi as chief minister in view of the charges framed against her and Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav by a CBI designated court in a corruption case. ...

SA 'confessions' to help make 'strong case', feels Delhi Police.
June 13, 2000... NEW DELHI, June 10. - Proceedings before the King Commission probing match-fixing charges in South Africa have given Delhi Police a reason to smile. They hope that confessions before the commission will help it make a "strong case". ...

S Leone rebels set terms for freeing Indian soldiers.
June 13, 2000... New Delhi, June 10. - There has been no change in the situation of the 21 Indian soldiers taken hostage by the RUF in Sierra Leone in Pendembu on Thursday. The 213 Indian soldiers in the stand-off in Kailahun also continue to be cut off with...