Left-UNPA leaders to meet President today
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| Left and UNPA leaders |
New Delhi: Leaders of Left, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Telugu
Desam Party and other non-Congress and non-BJP parties will meet
President Pratibha Patil today to demand convening of Parliament
session immediately. The meeting comes in the wake of Left demand that
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should quit for “deliberately misleading
people and Parliament” on the Indo-US nuclear deal.
By convening of the session the political fraternities of the
country would be able to discuss several “burning” issues like the
nuclear deal, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir as well as Orissa,
parties said. The meeting of leaders of Parliamentary parties with the
President is scheduled at 12.40 pm.
“We will demand the immediate convening of the Parliament session as
none of the nine assurances given by the Prime Minister on nuclear deal
has been met,” a senior Left leader said by adding, “We need an
immediate session to debate the fate of these assurances.” (PTI)
Left parties protest parliament session delay
Left parties along with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Telegu Desam
Party (TDP) on Tuesday met President Pratibha Patil to protest against
the union government’s decision to postpone the second half of the 14th
session of parliament to October.
The delegation, which included
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati and TDP chief N Chandrababu
Naidu, termed the government’s move as a βmanipulation of established
traditions of parliament since Independence.β
βIt (the decision)
violates the basic principle of governance established under our
system. Central to India’s constitutional structure is that the
sovereignty rests solely with the people,β said a statement issued by
the Left parties.
βThe absence of the parliament session negates the legislature’s right and executive obligations,β it said.
Last
month the Lok Sabha secretariat said the second part of the 14th
session would begin on October 17 and conclude on November 21.
With
that notification, the government effectively rejected the Opposition’s
demand for early convening of parliament to discuss the nuclear civil
agreement with the United States.
The session will be a
continuation of the special session held on July 21-22 during which the
Congress-led coalition government won the vote of confidence in the Lok
Sabha after the four Left parties withdrew their support on the issue
of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The deal has since passed the
hurdles at the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nuclear Suppliers
Group. It has yet to cross the last hurdle in the US Congress which has
to ratify it by up-down vote without debate.
The parliamentary
delegation also raised apprehension about soaring inflation and rising
prices which the government has failed to control.
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Uttar Pradesh introduces English as subject for engineering student
To tide over shortage, Uttar Pradesh to cut power to industries
Lucknow, Sep 8 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh governmenthas decided to impose an eight-hour power cut on heavy industries to
tide over the shortage for domestic consumers plagued by the severe
heat and humidity.
According to the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation
Limited (UPPCL), the power cuts would save around 400 MW of
electricity, which would in turn be supplied to the domestic consumers.
βThe decision has been taken to meet the demand of domestic
consumers as the prevailing weather conditions have resulted in a steep
demand for electricity in the state,β Avnish Awasthi, UPPCL managing
director, told IANS.
Against a demand of 8,800 MW, the UPPCL has managed only 6,400 MW, resulting in power cuts to the heavy industries.
Of the 6,400 MW available, 1,500 MW is supplied to industry. The
decision to go for power cuts will not affect the small and medium
industries, UPPCL sources informed.
A majority of the heavy industries in the state prefer to work at night due to the reduced tariff then.
The big industries have expressed unhappiness over the decision.
Indian Industries Association (IIA) president (Kanpur Chapter) Sunil
Vaish told IANS: βThe decision of the state government, besides
incurring a loss for the industries to the tune of Rs.500 crore-1,000
crore (Rs.5-10 billion), will also affect employment.β
Most of the skilled and unskilled labourers employed by the
industries work on night shifts. With the power cuts, their services
will not be required, he added.
βOur delegation is planning to petition Chief Minister Mayawati to
roll back the decision or to reduce cuts to four hours,β IIA executive
director D.S. Verma said.
Uttar Pradesh to host national junior rowing championship
Lucknow, Sep 8 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh Rowing
Association (UPRA) has started hectic preparations to host the National
Junior Rowing Championship (NJRC), to be held here for the first time,
Nov 17-22, an official said.
βThe Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has
already granted us Rs.8 lakh (Rs.800,000) for organising the event,β
UPRA secretary Harish Sharma told IANS.
He said the association already has 18 boats for the event. A rowing
club is also being set up to offer various facilities for the
sportspersons who will assemble here from several states.
The upcoming championship will witness participation of players from
as many as 17 states, including Orissa, Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra
Pradesh and Chandigarh, officials said.
Two arrested with 200 kg explosives in Uttar Pradesh
Lucknow, Sep 9 (IANS) Two people were arrested in
Uttar Pradeshβs Mirzapur district and 200 kg of explosives besides
Maoist literature were recovered from them, the police said Tuesday.
Sharda and Navin Chaudhary, both natives of Uttar
Pradeshβs Sonebhadra district, were arrested late Monday night from
Dhadiram locality in Mirzapur district, 300 km from here.
βThey were carrying the explosive, ammonium nitrate, without any
proper documents,β inspector Paras Nath Singh told IANS on phone.
Dhadiram area, which is close to the Madhya Pradesh border, is a centre of Naxal activities, he added.
βNaxal literature was also recovered from their possession and we
are interrogating them to find out their possible Naxalite links,β
Singh said.