Fast-track courts for Muslims likely
New Delhi: Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and his deputy R.P.N. Singh on Tuesday assured a delegation of MPs and other political leaders that it was considering setting up fasttrack courts for “early disposal” of terror cases against Muslim youth. The delegation, led by CPI leader A.B. Bardhan, had urged the government to set up such courts speedily.If the government moves towards establishing such courts, with a general election looming in a year’s time, it will be seen in political circles as a move to assuage feelings of alienation among Muslims, and more so given the increasing prominence of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in national politics.It is learnt that while such a move had been considered for quite some time in government circles, and the home minister had exchanged views on this with minority affairs minister K.R. Rahman, no substantive steps in this direction have been initiated so far. But now, some government sources feel that the Centre m |
SUGAR DECONTROL OPPOSED
The Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of India, condemns the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) to decontrol the sugar. This is a negative step in the present situation, when people are suffering with price rise of food grains, edible oils and all essential commodities. As a matter of fact the Sugar mills in India, are giving only 10% levy on their total production of Sugar annually, which in turn is being sold to consumers through Public Distribution System. Now though the Government assures that there will be no price rise of Sugar in PDS as Government will pay extra amount to the mills and subsidize the sugar through P.D.S. The Government will pay additionally 5300 crores as subsidy but it is a temporary step. This is not a subsidy to the consumers but to the mill owners.The Government will increase the Sugar price, to the market price after elections, without any doubt. Decontrolling of Sugar is going to increase the sugar price in the market |
CPI call to fix UT’s sand mining norms
CPI State Secretary R Viswanathan addressing a gathering of bullock-cart owners during a fast in Puducherry | ExpressEven as the Territorial administration was making efforts to crack down on illegal sand mining in Puducherry, Communist Party of India (CPI) has come out in support of bullock-cart owners involved in illegal mining of sand demanding streamlining of sand mining norms in the UT.The party organised a fast in support of the bullock-cart owners involved in sand mining business and demanded that the UT government grant sand mining permit to them. Party secretary R Viswanathan said that the government could charge `50 to `100 per cart, and allow only those with permit to mine sand.Viswanathan added that the permit holders could be given identity cards. Moreover, by issuing permits to bullock-cart owners the government could earn a revenue of around `3 crore per month, he said.Viswanathan said that there were around 4,000 bullock-cart owners engaged in sand mining, whose o |
2G scam: Left backs BJP's demand to summon PM, Chidambaram before JPC
Minister P Chidambaram must appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that is probing the 2G scam.Asserting that transparency is the strength of Indian democracy, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja on Wednesday said there is nothing wrong in senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha's demand that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram must appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that is probing the 2G scam, as the aim is to bring out the truth.Raja said there is a conflict of views within the JPC."Many members of the JPC have demanded that the Prime Minister or the then Finance Minister must appear before JPC. I do not find anything wrong in what they are demanding," he added.Raja, however, said the main issue here is as to why former telecom minister A. Raja has not been permitted to appear before the JPC."But the issue is another issue that is A Raja, the then telecom minister, has written several letters t |
