Statesman (India) articles from March 2001

Statesman (India) archives from March 2001

Desert Mamata, BJP to Trinamul leaders.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 28. - The BJP central leadership today virtually invited Trinamul leaders to join the party and desert Miss Mamata Banerjee. Mishra, today set aside the conciliatory stand of its state unit towards the Trinamul. At a press...

CBI indicts retired official.
March 30, 2001... SANTINIKETAN, March 28. - The CBI has indicted Mr Debiprasanna Chattopadhyay for floating the story of desecration of Upasana Mandir, the sacred prayer hall here since 1891. In its report submitted to Visva-Bharati recently, the agency...

Ghani says no to mahajot.
March 30, 2001... MALDA, March 28. - Prospects of an electoral alliance between the Trinamul and the Congress in Malda have been virtually ruled out by sudden political changes. Mr ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury, the most vociferous supporter of the alliance,...

New Exim policy awaited with interest.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 28. - The commerce and industry ministry's annual export-import (Exim) policy, to be unveiled on 31 March, promises to be a "landmark" policy, that is expected to lay out a road map designed to double India's share in world...

No distress sale of IA, AI: minister.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 28. - Even as Air India (AI) continued to make net loss, the civil aviation minister, Mr Sharad Yadav, today said the government was taking steps to avoid "distress sale" of the Air India and India Airlines (IA), which are in...

BSNL target for laying optical fibre halved.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 28. - Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has had to halve its target of laying one lakh route kilometres of optical fibre cable across the country for the current year. BSNL officials said the global demand for bandwidth had...

Tainted BSE members get Sebi nod to resume trading.
March 30, 2001... MUMBAI, March 28. - Three noted brokers of the Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) - Mr Satnarayan Nanglia, Mr R R Mohta and Mr G N Hegde - who were suspended by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for three years since they were found...

Uneducative times: Catholic schools under threat in Manipur.
March 30, 2001... There are obstacles in practically every sphere of public life in Manipur.The queues at tubewells and watertaps grow longer, petrol and kerosene are scarce because militants do not allow oil tankers to use the 213-km Dimapur-Imphal national...

Breeding ground: One radicalism feeds on the other.
March 30, 2001... What is astounding about the recent riots in Kanpur is that the administration apparently had no idea what was going on. Even three days into the riots, a senior member of the administration said that the clashes were not communal in nature,...

Khaleda's gambit: Prescription for self-destruction.
March 30, 2001... What is Begum Khaleda Zia up to? Does she want to plunge Bangladesh into renewed turmoil by serving an outrageous ultimatum on Sheikh Hasina's Awami League Government that it should resign by this month end or face a wave of nationwide...

'Bangaru not as smart as Congress leaders'.
March 30, 2001... BHOPAL, March 28. - The Madhya Pradesh chief minister said there were several allegations of corruption against Congress leaders, but not a single charge could be proved as they might have been too "smart" to do a Bangaru Laxman. Mr...

Laxman not guilty: BJP chief.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 28. - The BJP president, Mr Jana Krishnamurthy, today stressed that the former party president, Mr Bangaru Laxman, was 'not guilty' even when the Tehelka tapes showed him as taking Rs 1 lakh to forward a defence deal. In an...

Students 'raid' Maharashtra House: Protest against institutes' derecognition.
March 30, 2001... MUMBAI, March 28. - Three students, protesting against the derecognition of their institutes, jumped down 20 feet from the visitors' gallery in the state Assembly and landed on the floor today. But their efforts came to nil as they were...

Centre tries to control damage after film awards fiasco.
March 30, 2001... New Delhi, March 28. - The Centre has swung to control the damage after two-days of negative publicity for the reported rigging of the 48th National Film Awards. Information and broadcasting officials today said Vyjanthimala Bali was,...

Sonia has Hobson's choice on hand.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 28. - Hectic efforts of the West Bengal Congress leaders and AICC general secretary, Mr Kamal Nath, to reach a "common negotiation ground" with the Trinamul are expected to peak tomorrow with Mrs Sonia Gandhi's return from...

GSLV fails to lift off following technical snag.
March 30, 2001... SRIHARIKOTA, (Andhra Pradesh), March 28. - India's first Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, using Russian made cryo-engines, failed to lift off from SHAR Centre here after a technical snag, dealing a blow to the country's space research...

Column One: Notice on EVMs.
March 30, 2001... KOCHI, March 28. - Kerala High Court today issued notices to the Election Commission and the state government to ensure that electronic voting machines, to be used in the Assembly polls, are in proper conditions. The notices were against a...

Column One: 'Sorry Mamata'.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March. 28. - The former Samata Party treasurer, Mr RK Jain, today apologised to Miss Mamata Banerjee for making adverse statements against her. He had said 70 per cent of the railways' work could be bagged by giving bribes. Miss...

West Bengal most densely populated.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 28. - West Bengal continues to have the highest density of population in the country, according to the findings of the 14th census. Announcing the results of the census conducted between 9 to 28 February in the state, Mr Vikram...

Vajpayee axe on foreign tours of ministers.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 28. - In an effort to curb the tendency of Union and state ministers from winging their way to more salubrious climes abroad every time the legislatures are in recess, the Prime Minister ordered the foreign ministry to stop...

Moon mission.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 28. - India's moon mission could be affected by the GSLV failure. The mission was to have been a fly-by and the satellite was to be powered by a GSLV. The GSLV launch has been considerably delayed. For, it was due to be...

Cong-Trinamul tie-up hopes recede.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 28. - The hope of a Trinamul-Congress alliance in the state is fast fading despite Mrs Sonia Gandhi's eagerness to have one. This is because Miss Mamata Banerjee has already announced the list of Trinamul candidates for...

Dunlop to mortgage property for funds.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 28. - Dunlop's two office buildings in Mirza Ghalib Street (formerly Free School Street) will be mortgaged soon. The Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction has allowed the company to mortgage some of its property...

/net.news/.
March 30, 2001... Truffle farming Do you know pigs and dogs help farmers find one of the most valuable crops? In the spring, French farmers go out among the oak trees with dogs or pigs searching for truffles. These black, warty underground growths appear...

Futility of Intifada.
March 30, 2001... Yasser Arafat's tactics are making Ariel Sharon squirm, but they solve nothing for the Palestinians. After Israel's Labour defence minister began lifting the economic siege, he was repaid with bombs and sniper fire. The roadblocks will have...

Australia pull even.
March 30, 2001... PUNE, March 28. - The Indians were probably overwhelmed by pangs of compassion in the land of Mahavir, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. Or, probably, they wanted to retain interest in the five-match One-Day International series. How...

East Bengal held.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 28. - East Bengal's domination of the National Football League came to be dented at Salt Lake Stadium today when Jagatjit Cotton and Textile Mills held them 2-2. The way JCT Mills played today, coached by Parminder Singh,...

BNR ousted.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 28. - Eastern Railway Sports Association and Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation entered the third round of the Indian Oil-SERVO Beighton Cup Hockey Tournament today. But the strongest of the local challengers, BNR Recreation...

Festival with a difference.
March 30, 2001... The Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM) has always adopted a pioneering role for the cause of science in Kolkata and its adjoining districts. A recent addition to the wide array of programmes that the museum organises to...

THE Q FILES.
March 30, 2001... Women's Day was recently celebrated. To salute those Indian women who were pioneers in many, many fields and honour them is this exclusive quiz. So check and see if you know these Indian women who were the firsts in the following: xx 1....

Haldia's Professor Higgins.
March 30, 2001... Some 500 people had gathered at a school teacher's house in a Midnapore village one afternoon a few weeks ago, and stayed put for more than three hours. Those who were crowded out of the hall were seated in the adjoining verandahs and had...

Earth colours.
March 30, 2001... Arnab Banerji E - Enjoy along with friends in nature. A - Appreciate the dawn of a new day, the music of light and the splendour of evening. R - Realise a world crying out a song for peace, a window to the heart. T - Try...

Seek and you may not find.
March 30, 2001... Sympathy preached pretentiously. We live in our own worlds, you're selfish, I'm selfish and we're proud as hell of it. Here we are, sitting in this air-conditioned room, enjoying a lemonade, and discussing the lives of those less privileged....

Wahid rejects House censure.
March 30, 2001... JAKARTA, March 28. - President Abdurrahman Wahid today rejected as unconstitutional the House of Representatives' (DPR) censure of him in connection with two financial scandals. Mr Wahid, accompanied by Vice-President Megawati...

A reflective journey.
March 30, 2001... Films are potent carriers of memories and images through time. They have played an important part in Tramjatra - as artworks, as documentation of the tramways in both cities and as documentation of the project itself. Mahadeb Shi, one of...

CPI-M supporter hacked to death.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 29. - A CPI-M supporter, Pradip Naskar (22), was hacked to death early today allegedly by some Trinamul Congress men at Oranja village of Baruipur in South 24-Parganas. Ten Trinamul supporters, including a panchayat samity...

CMDA staff on mass casual leave.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 29. - The CMDA employees belonging to the Chaturtha Sreni Karmachari, Samiti affiliated to the CPI-M state coordination committee, today began 48 hour mass casual leave in protest against the state government's anti-worker...

High Court rejects Sanpo plea.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 29. - The single Bench of Mr Justice Kalyanjyoti Sengupta today dismissed the application filed by Sanpo Fisheries Limited seeking to restrain the State Bank of India from proceeding with its petition filed before the Debts...

VSNL to hike Internet bandwidth.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 29. - Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) plans to increase Internet bandwidth to 1,475 megabits per second and handle 2,852 million paid minutes in the next fiscal. VSNL has also committed itself to commissioning the...

Market access fund likely.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 29. -- The government will unveil its annual Export-Import (Exim) policy on Saturday for the year 2001-2002, the final year of the five-year policy guidelines outlined back in 1997. The policy is thought to be specially...

Shaw Wallace staff face uncertain future.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 29. - The future of about 200 Shaw Wallace employees of the Kolkata office appears to be extremely uncertain, as the staff has not received any wages for the past six months, and had rejected the voluntary retirement scheme,...

Basking down in Mauritius.
March 30, 2001... Not that I mean to rub this in, but while you folks have been baking in the heat, I've been basking in it. Well may you ask: How? What? And where? Reading from left to right then, I was away - for work, naturally! - in Mauritius, where,...

Ghosts.
March 30, 2001... The material fabric of Kolkata is intensely evocative - not so much in the imperial buildings that have been renovated but in those untouched, crumbling, ornately monumental ones, flowers and shrubs growing out of the masonry, bone-bleached...

Digest: City veterans.
March 30, 2001... Calcutta Painters, in hibernation for a long time, resurfaced last year and again mounted an exhibition of paintings, drawings and sculptures at the Birla Academy last week. Most of its members are touching 70 and a look at the show,...

Digest: Building bonds.
March 30, 2001... Poetry and music establish bonds that rise above all other barriers. Where the two countries in question are India and Bangladesh and the language is Bangla, the sentimental outpouring is quite conspicuous, which was confirmed at the Rotary...

Cinema: Running into special effects.
March 30, 2001... RUN LOLA RUN Starring Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu Showing at Nandan This was a film shown at the last Calcutta Film festival to an enthusiastic reception. This must have prompted the producers to try the commercial circuit though...

Cassettes: Splash of juvenile imgination.
March 30, 2001... The children's songs in Chhutir Ghanta (HMV) have tonal quality (Chandrani Mukherjee), interesting lyrics (Subha Dasgupta) and music (Kalyan Sen Barat). Though meant for the young, it appeals to grown-ups as well. Chandrani reminds one of the...

Wooing minorities: Housing projects for Muslims.
March 30, 2001... The West Bengal government's plan to construct two housing projects exclusively for Muslims sounds bizarre. Other measures, announced through an advertisement issued by the government are the kind of routine welfare measures to which no one...

Evil men do: Of A Perfect Ten And Other Stories.
March 30, 2001... One need not have the perspicacity of a William Shakespeare to appreciate that the evil men do lives on after them, the good is interred with their bones. Occasionally, the good may survive in books of records, especially if it happens to be...

Rajasthan budget leaked.
March 30, 2001... JAIPUR, March 29. - Tax proposals in the Rajasthan budget (2001-2002) were leaked well before the budget was presented in the House today. The state government ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident. All Opposition parties...

Zee serves legal notice on Organiser.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 29. - Zee TV today issued a legal notice to the RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, seeking an apology for an article that suggested Zee had financed the Tehelka operation with "Gulf money". But the Organiser editor, Sheshadri Chari,...

Pappu Yadav arrested.
March 30, 2001... PATNA, March 29 - Police today arrested Purnea MP Mr Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav, for "intimidating" an RJD MLA Mr Bhupendra Rishideo and "trying to force" him to join Mr Ranjan Yadav's team. Mr Ranjan Yadav is currently leading the...

India digest: Vajpayee's trip to Iran in April.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 29. - Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee will pay a four-day visit to Iran from 10-13 April with the aim of further expanding multi-faceted bilateral ties. Mr Vajpayee, who is going at the President Syed Mohd Khatami's invitation, will...

India digest: Students' gesture.
March 30, 2001... MUMBAI, March 29. - Doon School students, rather than collect their own money to pay for the Gujarat earthquake victims, are to have their choir and orchestra perform in several cities to raise funds. The first in the concert series will be...

Time to get serious about e-fraud.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 29. - India needs to work out a foolproof strategy to combat security breach problems now that it has made its foray into e-business. About 43 per cent of leading Indian companies, which have ventured into e-commerce,...

Foot & mouth disease hits Rajasthan.
March 30, 2001... JAIPUR, March 29. - The foot and mouth (F&M) disease that killed more than 1 million cattleheads in Europe, has struck in the drought-hit areas of Rajasthan, claiming 432 animals. Little has been done to curb the disease, first detected...

Clarify link with Gupta: Cong tells PM.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 29. - The Congress today asked the Prime Minister to clarify "his personal equation with the RSS veteran" Mr RK Gupta who figures on the Tehelka tapes. The Congress spokesman, Mr S Jaipal Reddy, said Mr Gupta had...

Sushma wakes up to controversy.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 29. - The information and broadcasting minister, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, today denied the 48th National Film Awards was fixed or the jury was "saffronised". Mrs Swaraj said there was no "cabal" operating; for only four...

Defence deals to be reviewed.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 29. - Thanks to the Tehelka expose, deals being negotiated by the defence ministry will get a "relook", slowing down the modernisation process. The signing of several defence deals the ministry was working on to buy new...

CAVEAT: Politician-bureaucrat nexus thriving!
March 30, 2001... The clock is turned back decisively on attempts to introduce accountability in the administration and that by a government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee, with Arun Jaitley as Law Minister. In 1969, Indira Gandhi introduced what became known...

Cong, Trinamul inch towards poll alliance.
March 30, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 29. - The Congress and Trinamul tonight appeared to be on the road to forging an alliance for the West Bengal Assembly polls, though it may take some more time to finalise the seat sharing. At a two-hour meeting with...

Column One: Pappu arrested.
March 30, 2001... PATNA, March 29 - Police today arrested Purnea MP Mr Rajesh Ranjan, alias, Pappu Yadav, for "intimidating" RJD MLA Mr Bhupendra Rishideo.

Upper hand for forces of disintegration.
March 30, 2001... After 10 years of Balkan sectarian madness, the outside world thought it had caught its breath. The hardline nationalist President of Croatia, Franjo Tudjman, died in 1999. Last year, the ruthless Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic...

/net.news/.
March 30, 2001... All my life for sale John Freyer from Iowa City is selling all of his life on eBay. You can bid on, browse through, or take a virtual tour of his stuff at his website. Why is Freyer liquidating his life? Probably, to make a bundle of...

Dons are here to stay and rule.
March 30, 2001... The police firing in Siwan, in which innocent villagers were killed, was guided more by their fury and the puncturing of their super ego rather than any genuine concern to bring a law-breaker to book. The likes of Shahabuddin are products of...

Uprooting the ground rules.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 29. - In spite of the Bengal Hockey Association being the seasonal custodian of Mohun Bagan ground, hockey goalposts on it were uprooted today, causing a Beighton Cup match between Customs and Port Trust to be shifted belatedly...

Chhotonagpur win 3-0.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 29. - Chhotonagpur Recreation Club won 3-0 against Jagrihi in their First Division Group B Hockey League match at Police ground. HM Dung Dung struck twice and P Kujur completed the tally. Friday's matches: (Beighton Cup):...

Anolini wins feature event.
March 30, 2001... KOLKATA, March 29. - Thrilling finishes compensated for the battering suffered by the punters on a day dominated by outsiders. A lone punter rejoiced while scooping home the jackpot pool of over Rs 1.25 lakh.One dead-heat was recorded, as if...

Doctor acquitted of professional negligence.
March 30, 2001... TOKYO, March 29. - People were shocked when Tokyo District Court yesterday found haemophilia specialist, Dr Takeshi Abe, not guilty of professional negligence leading to the death of one his AIDS patients. As Dr Abe bowed quietly before...

Asim climbs down on Mamata support.
March 28, 2001... KOLKATA, March 27. - As difficulties seemed to crop up in the Congress-Trinamul seat sharing talks, the BJP state president today opened an escape hatch for Miss Mamata Banerjee. Mr Asim Ghosh said the Trinamul chief need not publicly...

CMC clerk bags crucial post.
March 28, 2001... KOLKATA, March 27. - An upper division clerk of the CMC has been appointed by the state government as the resource person of the Bangiya Swanirbhar Karmasnasthan Prakalpa, a scheme for self reliance of the youth taken up by the state youth...

"No procession during filing of nomination".
March 28, 2001... KOLKATA, March 27. - The Election Commission of India has said no procession would be allowed when candidates file nomination papers for the Assembly elections. Mr Sabyasachi Sen, chief electoral officer, said at the Writers' Buildings...

The Statesman case comes up for hearing.
March 28, 2001... KOLKATA, March 27. - The criminal motion 5/2000 filed against the editor-in-chief of The Statesman , Mr CR Irani, the managing editor, Mr Ravindra Kumar, and the printer and publisher, Mr Sudhir Kumar, by the public prosecutor, Mr Ashok...

Visva-Bharati bar on Reader.
March 28, 2001... SANTINIKETAN, March 27. - Visva-Bharati has debarred Mr Bijay Mukherjee, a Reader in the department of Philosophy and Religion, from participating in the university's examination system for 10 years. He has also been debarred from...

British priest's bail plea rejected.
March 28, 2001... SILIGURI, March 27. - A bail petition for British national, Rev John Thwaytes, now in judicial custody, was rejected by the sub-divisional judicial magistrate's court, Jalpaiguri, today. The petition was moved by Rev Thwayte's counsel, Mr...

Trams of jute and gold.
March 28, 2001... This column refers back to an earlier column devoted to the colour yellow and its place within Tramjatra. Anirban Basu - who has contributed text, ideas and photographs to this column - suggested that the word 'sonar' could be used in...

Ex-ABGL leader questioned.
March 28, 2001... SILIGURI, March 27. - Kurseong police have reportedly picked up a former Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League leader, Mr Khagendra Sangpangwa, from Kalimpong last night for questioning in connection with the attack on Mr Subash Ghisingh. Mr...

"WTO impact yet to be realised".
March 28, 2001... MUMBAI, March 27. - Mr Ratan N Tata today stressed the need for Indian entrepreneurs to make a name for themselves in the global arena following the rapid-paced liberation process. He also sounded concern over the fact that Indian companies...

"Govt to seek total computer literacy".
March 28, 2001... KOLKATA, March 27. - The government would strive to spread computer education among school students and attain total computer literacy in the state, the minister-in-charge, youth services, environment and tourism department, Mr Manabendra...

IOC pays for refinery equity.
March 28, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 27. - Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) handed the government a cheque of Rs 658 crore today, bringing a total of Rs 1,317 to the government's coffers on the disinvestment head over the last week. Today's sum was for its purchase...

Basic operator LoIs issued.
March 28, 2001... NEW DELHI, March 26. - The government has issued letters of intent (LoI) to 40 applications from service providers including Reliance, Tata and Himachal Futuristic (HFCL) groups, which had applied for licenses to enter the basic telephone...

UNITY FIRST: NSCN-IM must agree to general consensus.
March 28, 2001... IT is surprising that even after three-and-a-half years of negotiation between the Centre and the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim no definable pattern has emerged. Admittedly talks could not be held during the...

SHIFT IN IDIOM: Bush strikes out on foreign policy.
March 28, 2001... The new idiom of foreign policy articulated by the Republicans is beginning to bite - first in plans to build a National Missile Defence (NMD) system for the US, and now in President Bush's statement that he will not try to force peace in the...

FOOD TARGET: Biotechnology Holds The Key.
March 28, 2001... TODAY India produces enough food (a record 206 million tonnes) to feed her population of one billion. The battle is, however, not yet won and it is the right time to ponder on two pertinent issues - accessibility to food and nutritional...