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Political Notes

	November 12, 2007

Terror could lead to disasters : PM



Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that terrorism can trigger disasters across borders. Inaugurating the Second Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in New Delhi on Nov. 7, he said modern societies should join hands to deal with man-made disasters including terror attacks.



“The threat of terrorism looms large in our region and could trigger disasters across borders,” the Prime Minister said.



Holding that the focus need not be limited to tackling natural disasters alone, Dr. Singh said modern societies must also prepare to come together to deal with man-made disasters - be they industrial disasters or disasters caused by terror attacks.



“We must also learn to deal with new kinds of health disasters including HIV and Avian Flu, which have emerged as new challenges all over the world,” the Prime Minister told the global meet, also attended by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. In her speech, Sonia

Gandhi advocated “proactive” policies as part of long-term measures and permanent solutions to anticipate the destructive power of disasters and minimise their effects.



PM asks Ministers to declare assets



Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sent a stiff letter through the Cabinet Secretary, to all his Ministers to submit a list of details of their assets and liabilities as well as business interests to him at the earliest. It is perhaps not a move that will make the Prime Minister exactly popular with his council.



Singh’s decision to press the point comes after a majority of Ministers failed to comply with his directive to furnish the list every year by March 31. In a letter, dated. Oct. 30, Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrashekar conveyed the Prime Minister’s orders to all Ministers.



The letter says : “You may kindly recall that (you received) a copy of the Code of Conduct for Ministers on your assumption of office in the Union Council of

Ministers. The code prescribes that a Minister should on assumption of office, disclose to the Prime Minister, details of the assets and liabilities and business interests of himself/herself and of the members of his/her family and also to furnish annually to the Prime Minister by March 31, a declaration in a sealed cover of his/her assets and liabilities.”



What comes as a damning record of the Ministers’ commitment to transparency in governance is the fact that despite a deadline of March 31 every year, they

have missed three such deadlines - a fact that is mentioned in the letter.



NHRC directs CBI to probe Gujarat carnage In a setback to the BJP’s Narendra Modi government in poll-bounded Gujarat, the National Human Rights Commission has decided to recommend a CBI probe into grave accusations made in the Tehelka

sting operation on post-Godhra carnage of Muslims in the state in 2002.



“The Commission has decided to direct an inquiry by the CBI into the whole episode in the light of accusations made in the “Operation Kalank” on communal violence in Gujarat,” an NHRC statement said.



The country’s apex rights panel directed the Gujarat Government to communicate its consent for a CBI probe into the authenticity of the tapes and their allegations to it and the Centre within two weeks.



The Commission’s move came after it viewed the tapes of the expose telecast on private TV news channels and found the contents a “fit” case for probe by an independent agency.



Parallels between Mush, Hitler and Indira : BJP



The BJP says it sees crucial parallels between Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s decision to impose emergency in his country, the usurpation of dictatorial powers by Adolf Hitler in Germany in the early part of the previous century and Indira’s brush with a similar situation during 1975-77 when Indira Gandhi clamped emergency in the

country. The party has expressed its serious concern over the developments in Islamabad.



“The developments in Pakistan have become a matter of international concern. The concern in India is greater since Pakistan is our immediate neighbour,”

observed BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley. Jaitley compared the emergency in Pakistan to 1975 in India, saying that time and again emergencies were declared by governments to subvert democrati institutions and to institutionalise personal power through totalitarianism. While former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi used attempts at destabilization as an alibi for imposing emergency, Pakistan President Musharraf used terrorism and judicial encroachment into the executive domain as excuses for imposition of emergency.



Opium case against former Finance Minister Jaswant Singh



The Rajasthan Police has filed a case against senior BJP leader and former Finance and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh after a directive from the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Court.



Cases have also been filed against 10 others along with Jaswant Singh for serving and consuming ‘kesar’ milk laced with opium during a ‘riyan’ - a social gathering organised at the BJP leader’s ancestral village of Jasol, on Oct. 31.



The case will be probed by the CID in keeping with a state government directive regarding investigations against elected representations. The narcotics court in Jodhpur ruled on Nov. 5 that Balotra police in Barmer district should lodge a case against

the accused and submit an investigation report.