New Delhi, Reacting to former President Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam's statement that the Lokpal Bill will only fill jails, former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and social activist Kiran Bedi on Wednesday said there is a need for a strong legal tool to combat graft. "What is missing in India today, is a strong legal tool of which people are very afraid and there's a high surety of punishment and their speedy justice and there is a recovery of stolen money. That is what is missing today," Bedi told media here. "Remember what Dr. Kalam is saying is right. He is talking about generation next. You do need a generation next of better school children with value based education. But what you do with an epidemic of corruption, which is existing. So, what you do with those who are not children, but who are men and women who have committed corruption and who living on corruption money and who are showing the richness. And it's corruption stolen from common man's money. So, I think what we are talking about is a top-down and bottom-up approach," added Bedi. Bedi further pressed for having special courts so that the perpetrators could be booked. "We know that they (lawmakers) are ...
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Ranchi, Expressing doubts whether creation of Lokpal will put a lid on corruption completely, former President APJ Abdul Kalam on Tuesday said Lokpal would only fill up jails and children and youth could begin eradicating corruption from home. "What Lokpal will do is if it finds anyone guilty it would put them in jail, and jails will be filled up. What we want is nobody should go to jail ... as we want good human beings," Kalam said while interacting with children here. Launching the Jharkhand Chapter of " What Can I Give Mission", the missile man advised the children to make their homes corruption-free by preventing members of their family from indulging in graft. Asking the children to take the oath that there would be no corruption in their families, Kalam told them to "say no" if they are given any inducement for any wrongdoing. "If you do that, corruption will go away in no time," he said, adding "home of ethics" would prevent filling up of jails. Stating that the youths are the great resource and hope of the nation, Kalam asked them to work for bringing happiness to their homes and keeping the environment clean. The former President inspired the children that their ...
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New Delhi, Evading posers on who will be the next presidential candidate, former President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam has said patience needs to be exercised on the matter. "Let us wait for sometime, please ask me after some time," Kalam told media here. His remarks come at a time when political parties are holding meetings to arrive a consensus on who will be next president of India. Recently, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shahid Siddiqui Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shahid Siddiqui on Monday welcomed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's suggestion that the president of the country should be a non-political person, and said his party would definitely back Dr. Kalam if there is a consensus on his name. Siddiqui said Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had proposed the name of Kalam to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002, and added that his party would like to see the renowned nuclear scientist return to Rashtrapati Bhavan. "The name of Dr. Abdul Kalam is also being suggested by many groups and parties. Mulayam Singhji had proposed his name in 2002 to Atalji (former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee), and Atalji accepted that and Kalam Sahab ...
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Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday termed the shifting of the state capital between Jammu and Srinagar twice every year as "waste of money", but said no viable alternative to the arrangement has come forth so far. "Do I think the 'Durbar move' (shifting of capital) is a waste of money? Yes I do. Is there an alternative? I haven't seen a viable alternative suggested," Omar wrote on the micro-blogging site twitter.com. The state government shifts its capital from Jammu to Srinagar in the first week of May every year and functions here for six months before moving back to Jammu along with volumes of records. The state government spends crores of rupees on travel allowances for the nearly 5,000 employees and transportation of hundreds of thousands of files between the twin capitals. In response to a tweet from his follower, Omar said the Darbar move practice was "escapist". "I agree. We run away when people need us most and (they) face the most difficulty. The darbar move is escapist," he said. The state government's 'move offices', as they are known in local parlance, will close in Jammu on April 28 and reopen here on May 7. The ...
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Jammu, While speaking on the current hot issue of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) here on Wednesday, Union minister for new and renewable energy, Farooq Abdullah said that the Central government will not be able to counter terrorism without the states' cooperation. Talking to media-persons at the sidelines of Talent Hunt Program organized by the Bbeing undertaken by the National Cricket Academy, Farooq said, "It is good that finally the prime minister has consulted the state chief ministers on NCTC because Centre should not have taken any decision without consulting them. Union minister said that nobody curtailed the state authorities intentionally. There has been some mistake on forming NCTC but now the prime minister has written letters chief ministers and the matter will be resolved soon. Meanwhile on a proposal that would amount to taking away the powers of the Election Commission to enforce the Model Code of Conduct, Farooq said, "The powers of Election Commission should not be affected.'' The union minister further observed that it is an autonomous body and the powers should not be taken away. . He told that the objective of the NCTC is to ensure that ...
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Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today favoured Centre-state consultations to put at rest any controversy over setting up of National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC). "There has been no discussion between state government and the central government on the issue of NCTC. I do not think it would be appropriate as chief minister for me to publicly comment about it, before I privately share the feelings of the state government with the Union government on this crucial issue," Omar Abdullah told reporters on sidelines of a function here, 20km from Srinagar. He said consultation between the Centre and the states was essential to put at rest the controversy surrounding NCTC. "I have no doubt that in the days and months ahead, the central government will call the state governments for consultation. I believe consultation is essential and during the course of that consultation we will share the thoughts of the state government with the Centre," he said. Chief ministers of a dozen states have voiced their opposition to the creation of the NCTC but Omar Abdullah did not speak either in favour or against ...
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New York, The President of the General Assembly Nassir Abdulaziz Al Nasser on Monday underlined the United Nations’ central role in building world peace through dialogue and consensus by bringing countries together to find common solutions for problems that face humanity. “The United Nations may, at times, appear to be considering issues that seem unrelated to our daily lives,” said Al-Nasser in a lecture at New York University (NYU) on the theme of ‘The United Nations General Assembly and the Business of Universality.’ “In fact, we are tackling those matters that define the lives of all of us. More often than not, the UN is at the forefront of developing a vision for the future,” he said. He gave the example of the gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly in September to deliberate on the non-communicable diseases (NCDs) epidemic – heart disease, cancer, chronic lung diseases and diabetes. “We agreed to act. The international community committed itself to develop national capacities for addressing NCDs, and to strengthen national NCDs policies and plans,” said Al-Nasser. “There is power in these collective commitments. They ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan's economy would grow at four percent during the current fiscal year (2011-12), Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has said. "Despite challenges, the GDP growth would reach to four percent this year," the minister said while addressing a session of Pakistan-Iran Bilateral Economic meeting here Monday. Shaikh said that at a time when the world economy is passing through recession, the economy of Pakistan has been showing positive signs towards growth, reported Associated Press of Pakistan. He said the country's exports have crossed the $25 billion figure last year and are likely to grow more this year while the remittances were also on rise and the revenue targets set for the fiscal year were well within reach. Despite all this, Pakistan was facing challenges like shortage of energy, Shaikh said. Commenting on Pakistan-Iran relations, he said the trade relations between the two countries were not up to the potential between the countries. He said bilateral trade between the two counties was just $1.5 billion. The minister said that there was need to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers and provide incentives to the private sector ...
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Coimbatore, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah has attacked political factions, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for exploiting the country's vast religious and cultural diversity to win votes. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here, Abdullah criticised leaders for using religion to mobilise and channelise the emotions of the people. "When I (in reference to any political leader) want to win an election, I will say Allah (God) is in danger, not saying that Farooq Abdullah (in reference to any political leader) is in danger…So, I say Allah is in danger, and I am here on behalf of Allah. (A) Hindu (leader) will get up and say, I will bring a Ram temple. Build it, who stops you? Go and build it. But, don''t fool the people, that we are all saviours," Abdullah said. Leaders must also refrain from dividing India on religious or cultural grounds merely to consolidate their votebanks, said Abdullah. "When will that time come when we no longer divide India on religion, on language (and) on culture. God has given us a nation, which is multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and our hearts beats with the same beat for India. It is ...
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Islamabad, There are no barriers for investing in 3G technology in Pakistan as there are no restrictions on the repatriation of capital gains, dividends and profit, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has said. "This is the country where any person from anywhere in the world can come and start business with one percent investment or 100 percent and there is no restriction on the repatriation of capital gains, dividends and profit", Shaikh said while addressing an investors' conference. The minister said that the process of auctioning 3G licences would be transparent and all information would be shared with the investors, Associated Press of Pakistan reported. He said the 3G technology would revolutionise the country's telecom sector and would create business and job opportunities along with facilitating consumers. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had last November approved in principle the 3G policy for upgrading Pakistan's telecom sector. Pakistan is estimated to have over 90 million mobile phone users. Pakistan Telecom Authority chairperson Muhammad Yasin said that the telecom industry has witnessed a sharp increse, with mobile internet users growing by ...
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Jammu, Playing down the row over visit of controversial author Salman Rushdie to India, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said Rushdie had visited the country in the past as well. Abdullah claimed that vested interest have raked up the issue to exploit it for political purposes in the upcoming elections in the five states. “Salman Rushdie has come before this also. Why suddenly is Salman Rushdie becoming an issue? Clearly there are those who are seeking to exploit this for political purposes given that there are elections in five states,” said Abdullah. Abdullah said that it was unnecessary to blow the issue of Rushdie’s visit to India out of proportion. “We underestimate the intelligence of Indian Muslims when we try to raise issues like this which have no bearing on day to day concerns of Muslims. I don’t believe that there are many Muslims in India for whom visa to Salman Rushdie will be an election issue,” added Abdullah. An influential Islamic seminary, Darululoom Deoband seminary, has urged the central government to deny visa to Rushdie, who would be attending a literature festival later this month. India-born ...
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Bangalore, Former President A P J Abdul Kalam has pitched for 'nano energy packs' for transmitting energy collected by space-based power plants to the earth, for exploiting tremendous energy available from the sun. Addressing the function of Infosys Prize 2011, instituted by the Infosys Science Foundation, a non-profitable trust set up by India's IT giants here, Kalam said: "As you all know, the sun radiates about 10 trillion times the energy which human consumes across the world today. If we are able to extract even a small portion of this energy from the sun, it would be sufficient to secure the energy demands of our future." Kalam explained that a space-based solar power plant would prove more beneficial and efficient in power generation over the earth-based power plants. He said the scientists needed to focus on three important areas like space-based solar power plant, earth-based collection system and thirdly the medium of transmission from the space to earth. "There are three major focus areas of research in space-based solar power plants. First component is the space-based solar power plant, the second is the earth-based collection system and the third is an ...
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Bangalore, Commenting over the recent differences between United Progressive Alliance (UPA) with key partner Trinamool Congress (TMC), Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah has said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would "bridge the ties" with its key ally. Talking to reporters here, Abdullah said: "Soon things between them would be sorted out." "I think, they are going to patch up, these things do happen. Sometimes there are irritants around but I am sure that Prime Minister is going to be able to bridge the thing," he added. Abdullah further said that it was important to find ways to overcome differences. "I don''t think we should find our faults now, we should find out how to patch up rather than finding faults," he said. The alliance of the TMC and the Congress had run into troubled waters on several issues like the passage of bill for the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the domestic retail market or the recent issue of the Lokpal Bill. Strains were visible during the parliamentary debate on the anti-graft Lokpal Bill last week, when TMC did a volte-face and opposed certain provisions in the government-draft of the legislation. Despite several ...
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Srinagar, In view of massive protests across Kashmir valley against power crisis, the Power Development Department (PDD) today said it has decided to increase the power supply to 1,100 mw in the region from current 951 mw. "Consequent to a high level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on December 29, 2011 to review the status of essential supplies including that of power supply in the state, particularly the Kashmir valley, during the winter season, the PDD has ensured that energy supply to Kashmir valley is significantly increased to give immediate relief to the common man from severe winter conditions prevailing in the valley," Power Development Commissioner M A Salroo said in a statement here. He said current electricity supply level has gone upto 951 mw from an average of 850 mw to Kashmir valley earlier, and now and "the effort of the PDD would be to increase it further to 1,100 mw in coming days". Mr Salroo said electricity supply has increased by 10 per cent to nearly 5,809 lakh units in December 2011 as against 5,300 lakh units in the same month previous year. The PDD has also been directed to put into operation gas turbines immediately to give ...
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Sanaa, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has traveled to Riyadh to attend the signing ceremony of a Gulf-sponsored power transfer deal between the government and the opposition. Yemini media confirmed Saleh’s arrival in Riyadh today to attend the signing ceremony of GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) deal and its mechanism, Xinhua reports. According to a Yemeni official, the unannounced visit came upon a request of the Saudi government leaders and the UN secretary general to end the country’s 10-month-old unrest after the ruling party and opposition reached a political compromise which was mediated by the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal bin Omar. Yemeni opposition activists have been staging mass protests since January to demand an immediate end to Saleh’s 33-year autocratic rule. A government crackdown on the protests and fighting between government troops and opposition militiamen has killed hundreds of people and wounded thousands ...
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