Karnataka
cops on their way to arrest Uma Bharati
New Delhi: A Karnataka police team is on its way
to serve a non-bailable arrest warrant on Uma Bharati,
the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, in Bhopal, even
as the BJP parliamentary board meets today to decide on
whether to accept Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti's
resignation.
The
arrest warrant is in regard to a 1994 riot case in Hubli,
in which several people were killed after Uma Bharati
had unfurled the tricolour at the Idgah maidan, an area
where it had been banned.
The
arrest warrant for Uma has put the BJP on the backfoot,
especially since the party had been creating pandemonium
in the Parliament on the issue of tainted ministers in
the last few weeks.
The
Karnataka team, led by Superintendent of Police D. Rupa,
is to reach Bhopal today by flight, via Mumbai from Dharwad,
to execute the warrant, issued on August 3 by the Judicial
Magistrate First Class(JMFC), according to Karnataka DGP
S. N. Borkar.
In a sudden reversal of the S M Krishna government decision
to withdraw all the cases against Bharti and 21 others,
the government last week filed a revision petition in
the District and Sessions court seeking to withdraw its
earlier plea to drop the cases.
Besides issuing the non-bailable warrant, the JMFC had
also declared Bharti a proclaimed offender, which had
earlier issued NBWs repeatedly but they were never executed.
Bharti has time till September 19 to appear before the
court. Meanwhile in Indore, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister
Uma Bharti said on Sunday night that she would hand over
her resignation to Governor Balram Jhakar later today.
Bharti said she would meet the Governor tomorrow to hand
over the resignation in order to pave the way for her
arrest by a Karnataka police team reaching Bhopal for
the purpose. Earlier, 24 ministers quit to show solidarity
with Chief Minister Uma Bharti.
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Standing
Committee on Finance alarmed over debt trap
New Delhi: The Parliamentary Standing committee
on Finance has voiced its concern over the alarming financial
conditions of states and has asked the government to take
drastic measures to pull them out from a debt trap.
"Fiscal
position of states is somewhat alarming and unless drastic
measures are taken to arrest the mismatch between cash
flows, the position will become worse," the Standing
Committee on Finance said in its report tabled in Parliament
last week.
The
committee noted that the high level of fiscal deficit,
which was mostly due to decline in tax to GDP ratio and
significant increase in the revenue expenditure of both
the Centre and the states, continued to be a major concern
for policy planners.
"Many
state governments resort to massive borrowings to meet
their expenditure, which push them in a debt trap,"
it said.
To
tackle the situation, the committee said the Planning
Commission should give directions to the states to contain
their non-plan revenue expenditure and borrowings and
make way for greater inflow of finances to strengthen
fiscal condition.
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NPPA
to keep an eye on 80 per cent of drugs market
New Delhi: In a bid to prevent any unusual price
hike in essential drugs, the Government has decided to
monitor the price hikes of drugs with a turnover of Rs.1
crore. Currently, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing
Authority (NPPA) monitors the prices of drugs that have
a turnover of Rs.4 crore and above. Under this new initiative,
the Government will keep an eye on almost 80 per cent
of the pharmaceutical market. Speaking to presspersons
after a meeting of the State Health and Finance Ministers,
the Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister, Ram Vilas
Paswan, said, "Monitoring of prices does not mean
that we are controlling them. We do not want to regulate
prices or curb competition."
Paswan also added that the consumer is bearing the burden
of the huge margins being paid by pharmaceutical companies
to traders. In the case of one particular drug, it was
found that while the retailer was selling the pack at
Rs.26, the cost of manufacturing was less than Re.1. He
favoured printing both the manufacturing cost and the
retail price on the medicine strip along with the expiry
date.
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IT
exports from the North go up 26 percent
New Delhi: IT exports from the North surged 26
per cent during 2003-04 as compared to the previous year,
according to an analysis by the PHD Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (PHDCCI).
According to the PHDCCI, about 23 per cent of the IT companies
operating in India are located in the Delhi area. Along
with Gurgaon and Noida, the percentage of IT companies
to the total works out to around 40 per cent.
In absolute terms, IT exports from the northern region
peaked to Rs.15,423 crore during 2003-04. Among the northern
States, Delhi occupied the top position in IT exports
during 2003-04, at Rs.5,469 crore.
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Power
Grid Corporation chosen for safety study
Hyderabad: Power Grid Corporation Ltd, Southern
Region Transmission System, Secunderabad, has been selected
by the National Safety Council, as one of the 13 case
studies of national safety day celebrations highlighting
the uniqueness and innovativeness of its industrial units.
These units are from both public and private sector giants,
and include Reliance Industries Ltd, ONGC, Indalco among
others who have contributed to field safety with high
voltage transmission lines, according to a PowerGrid release.
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