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C M Y K<br />
C M Y K<br />
CANADA | WEDNESDAY | 08-JANUARY-2014<br />
web : www.weeklypunjabtimes.com email : editor@weeklypunjabtimes.com www.facebook.com/weeklypunjabtimes www.twitter.com/wpunjabtimes<br />
Chan, Virtue and Moir lead young Sochi<br />
team that includes 14 first-timers<br />
OTTAWA - Loaded with rookies,<br />
but brimming with promise<br />
— Canada's young figure<br />
skating team for the Sochi<br />
Olympics might turn out to be<br />
its best ever.<br />
Three-time world champion<br />
Patrick Chan and Olympic ice<br />
dance gold medallists Tessa<br />
Virtue and Scott Moir headline<br />
a 17-member Canadian<br />
figure skating team for Sochi<br />
that has 14 first-timers.<br />
The team has set a goal for<br />
three medals in Sochi — in<br />
men's singles, ice dance, and<br />
the new team event — which<br />
would match its best ever result<br />
of three in 1988 in Calgary.<br />
But Canada's figure skating<br />
team — the largest among all<br />
countries at the Games —<br />
has other podium threats in<br />
Meaghan Duhamel and Eric<br />
Radford, bronze medallists at<br />
the 2013 world championships,<br />
and ice dancers<br />
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew<br />
Poje, fifth at last year's<br />
worlds.<br />
"Do we have the potential to<br />
possibly get more? Yes," said<br />
Skate Canada's high performance<br />
director Mike Slipchuk.<br />
"But we don't want to set a<br />
number that is possibly unattainable<br />
but also puts undue<br />
The Aam Aadmi Party awakening<br />
If a litmus test was needed<br />
for the impact of the Arvind<br />
Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi<br />
Party's victory in Delhi, it can<br />
be found in how political leaders<br />
across the land are now<br />
falling over each other to<br />
show that they're 'somewhat<br />
common' too. For once in Indian<br />
politics, it has become<br />
fashionable to be ordinary.<br />
Ba adab, ba mulhaiza, hoshiyar.<br />
Zill-e-ilahi, Shahenshahe-Hind,<br />
raunaq afroz ho rahe<br />
hain! (Be respectful, be mindful,<br />
be careful. His Royal<br />
Highness, the Emperor of<br />
India, is gracing us with his<br />
presence.) More than half a<br />
decade after the abolition of<br />
princely states, Indian politics<br />
still functions as an oligarchy,<br />
where amplified credentials,<br />
size of bungalow, nature of<br />
security detail, and length of<br />
cavalcade demarcate the<br />
ruler from the ruled.<br />
On a lazy afternoon in Lucknow<br />
on January 4, therefore,<br />
bystanders were nonplussed<br />
when Uttar Pradesh Chief<br />
C M Y K<br />
pressure on skaters that don't<br />
need to feel that burden.<br />
"We see it at every Olympic<br />
Games though, anything can<br />
happen. So if that door opens<br />
for an opportunity, then we're<br />
ready to step right through."<br />
The No. 1-ranked Canadians<br />
are virtually a lock for a<br />
medal in the team event,<br />
which has a male, female,<br />
pairs team, and ice dance<br />
team from each country skate<br />
a short and long program.<br />
For Chan, and Virtue and<br />
Moir, the team event that begins<br />
two days before the<br />
opening ceremonies, is the<br />
perfect chance to deal with<br />
Minister Akhilesh Yadav<br />
drove past them with only<br />
four cars in tow. Yadav's cavalcade,<br />
eight cars long when<br />
he assumed office in March<br />
2012, had swelled to 16 and<br />
often 20 in recent months. It<br />
was still smaller than predecessor<br />
Mayawati's infamous<br />
35-car procession that sometimes<br />
included three suvs<br />
carrying mobile jammers and<br />
three ambulances. In Ranchi,<br />
on January 3, Jharkhand<br />
Chief Minister Hemant Soren<br />
ceremoniously discarded the<br />
siren on his car. In Jaipur,<br />
new Rajasthan Chief Minister<br />
Vasundhara Raje graciously<br />
refused to move into the official<br />
bungalow. In Raipur,<br />
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister<br />
Raman Singh announced that<br />
he and his ministers will no<br />
longer be given customary<br />
gun salutes. If a litmus test<br />
was needed for the impact of<br />
the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam<br />
Aadmi Party's (AAP) victory<br />
in Delhi, it can be found in<br />
how political leaders across<br />
the land are now falling over<br />
some of the pressure they'll<br />
be shouldering as gold medal<br />
favourites.<br />
"It would be cool to have a<br />
medal in your pocket already<br />
going into your individual<br />
event," Chan said. "I think it<br />
would be like 'Hey the medal<br />
is really not that big of a deal.'<br />
It's exciting, it's awesome, but<br />
we still have a job to do,<br />
there's still life after winning a<br />
medal. It will relieve a lot of<br />
pressure on us individually."<br />
Virtue and Moir, who will have<br />
six days between the end of<br />
the team event and the beginning<br />
of their individual<br />
event, said there was never<br />
each other to show that<br />
they're 'somewhat common'<br />
too. For once in Indian politics,<br />
it has become fashionable<br />
to be ordinary.<br />
This belated urge of very important<br />
people to shed VIPdom<br />
is the tip of the iceberg.<br />
A lot more is happening<br />
below the surface as political<br />
parties reorient themselves to<br />
counter the 'AAP Effect' in the<br />
run-up to the 2014 General<br />
Elections. They are worried<br />
that Kejriwal's merry band<br />
may be a game-changer with<br />
their anti-politics message<br />
that harnesses the power of<br />
the underdog-the middleclass<br />
working man who had<br />
felt like a spectator in the<br />
country's larger political rumblings,<br />
and the intellectual observer<br />
who is willing to<br />
mutate from cynic to mutineer.<br />
"The Aam Aadmi Party has<br />
involved a lot of people who<br />
the traditional parties did not<br />
involve. We're going to learn<br />
any question whether they<br />
would skate for a team<br />
medal, even if it means skating<br />
four times.<br />
"Another shot on Olympic ice<br />
in front of that crowd and to<br />
get a shot at an Olympic gold<br />
medal, you've got to take it,"<br />
Moir said. "We're good for<br />
that. We can do four performances.<br />
"It's so exciting, what a privilege<br />
to take the ice four times<br />
and compete for an Olympic<br />
medal," Virtue said. "It's also<br />
our job to be there and be in<br />
shape and represent Canada<br />
to the best of our ability. So<br />
that's something we take re-<br />
from that and do a better job<br />
than anybody in the country<br />
to involve people in ways you<br />
can't even imagine," Congress<br />
Vice-President Rahul<br />
Gandhi said at his party's<br />
headquarters on December<br />
8. "We're taking Aam Aadmi<br />
Party seriously after Delhi,"<br />
concurred former BJP president<br />
Nitin Gadkari. "Our volunteers<br />
will visit each and<br />
every house to increase contact<br />
with the people." Even<br />
Arun Jaitley, BJP's savvy<br />
leader of Opposition in the<br />
Rajya Sabha, admitted there<br />
were "lessons to be learnt"<br />
from AAP's success.<br />
Psephologists suggest that at<br />
least 100 seats that were decisively<br />
tilting towards BJP<br />
and regional parties are no<br />
longer 'safe'. AAP is expected<br />
to contest over 300 Lok<br />
Sabha seats across 20<br />
states, including all 26 in BJP<br />
prime ministerial candidate<br />
Narendra Modi's Gujarat and<br />
all 80 in Uttar Pradesh. Approximately<br />
200 of the 543<br />
C.African Republic's capital tense<br />
as ex-leader heads into exile<br />
Central African Republic's<br />
president flew into exile in<br />
Benin on Saturday and a new<br />
interim team started the<br />
process of identifying leaders<br />
who might restore order to a<br />
nation gripped by months of<br />
inter-religious violence.<br />
There were hopes that the<br />
change of leadership might<br />
provide a fresh start to peace<br />
efforts but gunfire rang out,<br />
mosques were attacked and<br />
Muslim-owned shops and<br />
houses were looted overnight<br />
before violence eased during<br />
the day.<br />
The United Nations called for<br />
calm and stepped up flights<br />
out for foreigners. Governments<br />
of other African countries<br />
have evacuated nearly<br />
30,000 of their citizens<br />
caught up in the violence.<br />
President Michel Djotodia<br />
and Prime Minister Nicolas<br />
Tiangaye quit on Friday under<br />
intense international pressure<br />
after they failed to halt cycles<br />
of violence that have killed<br />
thousands and driven a million<br />
people, a quarter of the<br />
country's population, from<br />
their homes.<br />
Late on Friday, thousands of<br />
people took to the streets of<br />
Bangui, the country's crumbling<br />
riverside capital, to celebrate<br />
the departure of<br />
Djotodia, who was swept to<br />
power by mainly Muslim<br />
rebels, known as Seleka, last<br />
March.<br />
Abuses by Seleka forces had<br />
led to the creation of Christian<br />
self-defence militia and<br />
killings that evoked memories<br />
of Rwanda's genocide 20<br />
years ago.<br />
Djotodia landed in Benin on<br />
Saturday afternoon after Central<br />
African regional leaders<br />
asked the country to host<br />
him, according to a statement<br />
by Benin's government.<br />
The choice is unsurprising as<br />
Djotodia knows Benin. He<br />
spent several years there<br />
during the last decade of turmoil<br />
and has family in the<br />
West African nation.<br />
Joy over Djotodia's departure<br />
gave way to violence late on<br />
Friday and African and<br />
French peacekeepers reported<br />
overnight clashes between<br />
Seleka fighters and<br />
Christian militia.<br />
"But I can confirm that a good<br />
part of the shooting was<br />
warning shots from us to disperse<br />
looters who were targeting<br />
Muslim homes and<br />
shops," an officer in the<br />
African peacekeeping mission<br />
said, asking not to be<br />
named.<br />
The local Red Cross said it<br />
had collected three bodies<br />
from the streets after violence<br />
overnight.<br />
"We don't understand why we<br />
keep killing each other, looting<br />
and sowing destruction<br />
amongst civilians, even after<br />
the politicians people wanted<br />
out had stepped down," said<br />
Ahamat Deliriss, vice president<br />
of the Islamic Council.<br />
"Mosques in the Petevo,<br />
Yapele and Bimbo neighbourhoods<br />
were destroyed. It is a<br />
shame."<br />
The streets of Bangui were<br />
largely quiet on Saturday.<br />
"TIME FOR PAYBACK"<br />
Former colonial power<br />
France, which had sought to<br />
stay out of the latest crisis in<br />
a country where it has often<br />
intervened, dispatched hundreds<br />
of soldiers last month<br />
to bolster a beleaguered<br />
African peacekeeping force<br />
as killings spiralled.<br />
Yet violence has continued,<br />
killing 1,000 in December.<br />
French and Chadian troops<br />
were among the victims and<br />
international pressure<br />
mounted on Djotodia to step<br />
aside at an emergency summit<br />
hosted by neighbouring<br />
Chad this week.<br />
Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet,<br />
the head of Central<br />
African Republic's (CAR)<br />
transitional assembly (CNT),<br />
is officially in charge of the<br />
country until the body can select<br />
a new leader to guide<br />
CAR to elections, which are<br />
due later this year.<br />
While Djotodia went into<br />
exile, Nguendet and other<br />
Central African politicians returned<br />
to Bangui. Addressing<br />
the nation for the first time,<br />
Nguendet said the assembly<br />
would start work on identifying<br />
new leadership immediately.<br />
Security is precarious despite<br />
the presence of 1,600 French<br />
and some 4,000 African<br />
peacekeepers on the ground.<br />
European Union governments<br />
broadly backed proposals<br />
on Friday for the EU to<br />
quickly send troops to help.<br />
The International Organisation<br />
for Migration on Saturday<br />
began airlifting stranded foreigners<br />
out of the country,<br />
where 60,000 people from<br />
neighbouring countries have<br />
asked to leave.<br />
Some 27,000 people, mainly<br />
from Mali, Senegal, Niger and<br />
Chad, have already been<br />
evacuated by their governments.<br />
Tensions are running high<br />
among those who will remain.<br />
"They (Muslims) killed us,<br />
looted and mistreated us.<br />
Now it is time for payback,"<br />
said Igor Moumini, a resident<br />
in the Sica 2 neighbourhood.<br />
PM marks start of construction<br />
on histoic roadway<br />
Prime Minister Stephen<br />
Harper today participated in a<br />
groundbreaking ceremony<br />
marking the beginning of construction<br />
of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk<br />
highway in the<br />
Northwest Territories, effectively<br />
extending the Dempster<br />
Highway through to the Arctic<br />
coast. He was accompanied<br />
by Bob McLeod, Premier of<br />
the Northwest Territories, Nellie<br />
Cournoyea, Chair and<br />
Chief Executive Officer of Inuvialuit<br />
Regional Corporation<br />
as well as Robert Alexie Jr.,<br />
President of the Gwich'in<br />
Tribal Council.<br />
"I am tremendously proud<br />
that our Government's investment<br />
in this job creating, all–<br />
season Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk<br />
Indian diplomat tells of anguish<br />
at leaving US without children<br />
An Indian diplomat at the centre<br />
of a bitter row with the<br />
United States told Sunday of<br />
her "immense stress" at leaving<br />
behind her young family in<br />
New York, and vowed to clear<br />
her name.<br />
Indian consulate official Devyani<br />
Khobragade was allowed<br />
to leave the United<br />
States on Friday after a<br />
month-long dispute over her<br />
arrest and strip-search on<br />
suspicion of visa fraud involving<br />
her domestic servant.<br />
Khobragade was granted full<br />
diplomatic immunity and allowed<br />
to fly back to India --<br />
just hours after charges were<br />
filed in court alleging she<br />
lodged false documents to<br />
obtain a visa for her servant<br />
and then underpaid her.<br />
Khobragade, 39, told an Indian<br />
newspaper of her anguish<br />
at leaving behind her<br />
daughters, aged seven and<br />
four, in New York along with<br />
her husband, a US citizen,<br />
who works as an academic.<br />
"I wonder if I will be able to<br />
ever reunite with my family,<br />
my husband, my little kids. I<br />
miss them," Khobragade told<br />
The Sunday Express.<br />
"What if my children choose<br />
highway will, for the first time<br />
by road, connect and unify<br />
Canada from sea to sea to<br />
sea. This historic project realizes<br />
the visionary initiative of<br />
Canadian Prime Minister<br />
John Diefenbaker back in the<br />
1960's," said Prime Minister<br />
Harper. "Prime Minister<br />
Diefenbaker knew then what<br />
our Government is undertaking<br />
today: constructing a<br />
highway will improve the lives<br />
of people living in the North<br />
for generations to come, facilitating<br />
economic development,<br />
creating jobs and<br />
enabling cost–effective, safe<br />
and reliable transportation of<br />
goods to and from Northern<br />
communities."<br />
The Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk<br />
to study and work in the US?<br />
What if I can never return to<br />
the US, which I cannot now.<br />
Does it mean we will never be<br />
able to live together as a family<br />
again?" she said.<br />
"I know I am honest, and I will<br />
come out clean. But we do<br />
not know how much time it<br />
will take and for how long my<br />
family will have to suffer due<br />
to this," she added.<br />
Her arrest on December 12<br />
outside her children's school<br />
and treatment in custody,<br />
where she said she was subjected<br />
to a cavity search, outraged<br />
India which claimed<br />
she benefited from full diplomatic<br />
immunity.<br />
US prosecutors disputed this,<br />
and filed charges in New York<br />
accusing Khobragade of<br />
sometimes forcing the Indian<br />
maid to work 100-hour<br />
weeks, even when sick and<br />
often without a day off, for<br />
pay as little as $1.22 an hour.<br />
Khobragade did obtain diplomatic<br />
immunity when last<br />
week New Delhi asked Washington<br />
to grant her a G1 visa<br />
given to diplomats at India's<br />
UN mission, which is also in<br />
New York.<br />
highway will be the very first<br />
year–round road between the<br />
Arctic coast and the rest of<br />
the country. Once completed,<br />
the 137–kilometre all–season<br />
highway will link the Town of<br />
Inuvik and the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk,<br />
an Arctic community<br />
currently accessible only by<br />
an ice road, barge or air.<br />
The new stretch of highway,<br />
which is expected to be completed<br />
in 2018, will provide<br />
more efficient transport of<br />
northern products and resources<br />
to southern markets,<br />
will better connect Northerners<br />
to high quality, well–paying<br />
jobs, and will help bring<br />
lower cost supplies and materials<br />
up to northern communities<br />
and families. Also,<br />
The row between the two<br />
countries, which had embraced<br />
each other as strategic<br />
partners, saw weeks of<br />
feisty exchanges that strained<br />
bilateral ties and left resentment<br />
on both sides.<br />
India has removed extra security<br />
barriers at the US embassy<br />
in New Delhi,<br />
demanded contract details for<br />
domestic staff employed by<br />
American diplomats and even<br />
stopped the mission importing<br />
duty-free food and alcohol.<br />
On Wednesday, it ordered an<br />
embassy leisure centre popular<br />
with American expatriates<br />
in the capital to stop admitting<br />
non-diplomatic members,<br />
while scheduled visits by US<br />
officials to India have been<br />
cancelled.<br />
In a fresh retaliatory measure<br />
late Friday, India asked the<br />
United States to withdraw an<br />
embassy official in New Delhi.<br />
The expelled American diplomat<br />
was a "similar rank" to<br />
Khobragade and is thought to<br />
have helped the family of her<br />
maid travel to America where<br />
they were granted protection<br />
by prosecutors.<br />
US prosecutors say the family<br />
studies have shown that the<br />
extension will significantly reduce<br />
the cost of living in Tuktoyaktuk<br />
while boosting the<br />
local economy. It is estimated<br />
that hundreds of jobs will be<br />
created during the four–year<br />
construction period in addition<br />
to an estimated 51 permanent<br />
careers after its completion.<br />
The road has been identified<br />
as a priority by the governments<br />
of Canada and the<br />
Northwest Territories, and will<br />
have a direct impact on the<br />
regional economy. The initiative<br />
is in keeping with two key<br />
objectives of Canada's Northern<br />
Strategy: 'Promoting Social<br />
and Economic<br />
Development' and 'Exercising<br />
our Arctic Sovereignty.'<br />
of the maid were evacuated<br />
to the United States because<br />
of attempts to intimidate<br />
them.<br />
In her newspaper interview,<br />
Khobragade said she would<br />
continue a legal fight to clear<br />
her name, including attempting<br />
to have her case in New<br />
York officially dismissed in a<br />
federal court.<br />
"I have come to India but my<br />
stand still needs to be vindicated.<br />
And of course, I have<br />
been separated from my family,<br />
and I am under immense<br />
stress for my children," Khobragade<br />
said.<br />
"I spoke to my kids for hours<br />
last night, and they are already<br />
missing me. The fouryear-old<br />
asked me, 'Mommy,<br />
when will you be back home',<br />
and I had no answer."<br />
She cannot return to the<br />
United States unless she surrenders<br />
to the court on arrival,<br />
and her name is being<br />
placed on US immigration<br />
watch lists "to prevent the<br />
routine issuance of any future<br />
visa", according to US officials.<br />
C M Y K
ਬਿਕਰਮ ਸਿੰਘ ਮਜੀਠੀਆ ਨੂੰ ਤੁਰੰਤ ਗ੍ਰਿਫਤਾਰ<br />
ਕੀਤਾ ਜਾਵੇ-ਸ਼੍ਰੋਮਣੀ ਅਕਾਲੀ ਦਲ (ਅ)<br />
ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ ਵੱਡੇ ਡਰੱਗ ਰੈਕਟ ਵਿਚ ਫਸੇ<br />
ਸਾਬਕਾ ਪਹਿਲਵਾਨ ਜਗਦੀਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਭੋਲਾ<br />
ਵਲੋਂ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ ਮਾਲ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਬਿਕਰਮ ਸਿੰਘ<br />
ਮਜੀਠੀਆ ਦਾ ਨਾਂ ਇਸ ਕਾਰੋਬਾਰ 'ਚ ਲਏ<br />
ਜਾਣ ਕਰਕੇ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀਆਂ ਸਤ੍ਹਾ ਵਿਰੋਧੀ<br />
ਵੱਖ-ਵੱਖ ਰਾਜਸੀ ਪਾਰਟੀਆਂ ਵਲੋਂ ਇਸ ਦਾ<br />
ਜ਼ੋਰਦਾਰ ਪ੍ਰਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਕੀਤਾ ਜਾ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ<br />
ਅਤੇ ਇਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਪਾਰਟੀਆਂ ਦੀ ਮੰਗ ਹੈ ਕਿ<br />
ਮਜੀਠੀਆ ਨੂੰ ਤੁਰੰਤ ਗ੍ਰਿਫਤਾਰ ਕੀਤਾ<br />
ਜਾਣਾ ਚਾਹੀਦਾ ਹੈ। ਇਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਪਾਰਟੀਆਂ ਨੇ<br />
ਪੰਜਾਬ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ ਰੋਸ ਪ੍ਰਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਦੀ<br />
ਮੁਹਿੰਮ ਸ਼ੁਰੂ ਕੀਤੀ ਹੋਈ ਹੈ। ਇਸੇ ਲੜੀ<br />
ਅਧੀਨ ਸ਼ਨੀਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਇਥੇ ਸ਼੍ਰੋਮਣੀ ਅਕਾਲੀ<br />
ਦਲ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ ਨਾਲ ਸੰਬੰਧਿਤ ਆਗੂਆਂ<br />
ਨੇ ਬਿਕਰਮ ਸਿੰਘ ਮਜੀਠੀਆ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ<br />
ਜ਼ਬਰਦਸਤ ਰੋਸ ਪ੍ਰਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਕਰਦਿਆਂ ਮੰਗ<br />
ਕੀਤੀ ਕਿ ਡਰੱਗ ਮਾਫ਼ੀਏ ਅਤੇ ਲੈਂਡ ਮਾਫ਼ੀਏ<br />
'ਚ ਸ਼ਾਮਲ ਵਜੀਰਾਂ ਦੇ ਮਾਮਲੇ ਦੀ ਜਾਂਚ ਸੀ.<br />
ਬੀ. ਆਈ. ਤੋਂ ਕਰਵਾਈ ਜਾਵੇ।<br />
ਇਥੇ ਰੋਸ ਪ੍ਰਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਦੀ ਅਗਵਾਈ<br />
ਕਰਦਿਆਂ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਦੇ ਜ਼ਿਲਾ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ<br />
ਹਰਪਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਕੁੱਸਾ ਨੇ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਪੰਜਾਬ<br />
ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੀ ਨਸ਼ਿਆਂ ਵਿਰੋਧੀ ਨੀਤੀ ਸਾਫ਼<br />
ਨਾ ਹੋਣ ਕਰਕੇ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਨਸ਼ਿਆਂ ਦੀ ਮੰਡੀ<br />
ਬਣ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਭਿਆਨਕ<br />
ਨਸ਼ਿਆਂ ਕਰਕੇ ਨੌਜਵਾਨ ਆਪਣੀ ਸਰੀਰਕ<br />
ਸਮਰੱਥਾ ਗੁਆ ਰਹੇ ਹਨ, ਜਿਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ<br />
ਦੀ ਸੱਤ੍ਹਾਧਾਰੀ ਅਕਾਲੀ ਦਲ ਨੂੰ ਕੋਈ<br />
ਚਿੰਤਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਪੰਜਾਬ 'ਚ ਨਸ਼ਿਆਂ ਦਾ<br />
ਕਾਰੋਬਾਰ ਵੱਡੇ ਪੱਧਰ ਅਤੇ ਸਰਕਾਰੀ<br />
ਅਣਗਹਿਲੀ ਕਰਕੇ ਪੈਰ ਪਸਾਰ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ।<br />
ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਇਸ ਮਾਮਲੇ ਦੀ ਜਾਂਚ<br />
ਸਹੀ ਤਰੀਕੇ ਸਿਰਫ਼ ਸੀ. ਬੀ. ਆਈ. ਹੀ ਕਰ<br />
ਸਕਦੀ ਹੈ।<br />
ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਜੱਥੇਬੰਦੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ<br />
ਰਾਜਪਾਲ ਸ਼ਿਵ ਰਾਜ ਪਾਟਿਲ ਤੋਂ ਵੀ ਮੰਗ<br />
ਕਰਦੀ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਪੰਜਾਬ 'ਚ ਡਰੱਗ ਮਾਫ਼ੀਏ,<br />
ਲੈਂਡ ਮਾਫ਼ੀਏ 'ਚ ਸ਼ਾਮਲ ਵਜੀਰਾਂ ਦੇ ਮਾਮਲੇ<br />
ਦੀ ਜਾਂਚ ਸੀ.ਬੀ.ਆਈ. ਤੋਂ ਕਰਵਾਈ ਜਾਵੇ।<br />
ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਵਲੋਂ ਇਸ<br />
ਮਾਮਲੇ ਦੀ ਜਾਂਚ ਸੀ.ਬੀ.ਆਈ ਤੋਂ ਕਰਵਾਏ<br />
ਜਾਣ ਦੀ ਕੀਤੀ ਜਾ ਰਹੀ ਦੇਰੀ ਇਹ ਸਪੱਸ਼ਟ<br />
ਕਰਦੀ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਨਸ਼ਿਆਂ ਦੇ<br />
ਕਾਰੋਬਾਰ ਪ੍ਰਤੀ ਗੰਭੀਰ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ<br />
ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਐਨ.ਆਰ.ਆਈ. ਸੰਮੇਲਨ ਅਤੇ<br />
ਕਬੱਡੀ ਕੱਪ ਦੇ ਢੌਂਗ ਰਚਣ ਵਾਲੀ ਸਰਕਾਰ<br />
ਦੇ ਵਜੀਰ ਆਪ ਨਸ਼ਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਕਾਰੋਬਾਰ ਵਿਚ<br />
ਕਥਿਤ ਤੌਰ 'ਤੇ ਸ਼ਾਮਲ ਹਨ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਇਹ<br />
ਵੀ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਸ਼੍ਰੋਮਣੀ ਅਕਾਲੀ ਦਲ<br />
ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ ਸੁਨਿਹਰੇ ਭਵਿੱਖ<br />
ਲਈ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ ਰਾਜਪਾਲ ਤੋਂ ਇਹ ਮੰਗ<br />
ਕਰਦੀ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਇਸ ਮਾਮਲੇ ਦੀ ਜਾਂਚ ਤੁਰੰਤ<br />
ਸੀ.ਬੀ.ਆਈ .ਰਾਹੀਂ ਕਰਵਾਈ ਜਾਵੇ ਤਾਂ ਜੋ<br />
ਸਿਆਸੀ ਆਗੂਆਂ ਅਤੇ ਅਫ਼ਸਰ ਸ਼ਾਹੀ 'ਤੇ<br />
ਲੱਗੇ ਰਿਸ਼ਵਤ ਖੋਰੀ, ਘਪਲੇ ਅਤੇ ਨਸ਼ੀਲੇ<br />
ਪਦਾਰਥਾਂ ਦੀ ਤਸਕਰੀ ਦਾ ਸੱਚ ਸਾਹਮਣੇ ਆ<br />
ਸਕੇ। ਇਸ ਮੌਕੇ ਮਨਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਮੱਲਾ<br />
ਕਨਵੀਨਰ ਯੂਥ ਅਕਾਲੀ ਦਲ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ,<br />
ਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਮਾਣੂੰਕੇ, ਬਲਰਾਜ ਸਿੰਘ,<br />
ਹਰਮੇਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਮਟਵਾਣੀ, ਹਰਭਜਨ ਸਿੰਘ<br />
ਢਿੱਲੋਂ, ਲਸ਼ਕਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਖੋਸਾ, ਜੋਗਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ,<br />
ਸੁਖਦੇਵ ਸਿੰਘ, ਬਲਦੇਵ ਸਿੰਘ ਗਗੜਾ ਵੀ<br />
ਹਾਜ਼ਰ ਸਨ।<br />
From Page 1 14 first-timers<br />
ally seriously."<br />
The team was unveiled in a<br />
ceremony Sunday following<br />
the Canadian championships<br />
that saw a couple of surprises.<br />
Fifteen-year-old<br />
Gabrielle Daleman of Newmarket,<br />
Ont., won silver in<br />
women's singles and was<br />
named to the team, while<br />
Liam Firus, a 21-year-old<br />
from North Vancouver, B.C.,<br />
snuck in to grab the third spot<br />
in men's singles.<br />
There were hugs and tears as<br />
each skater was called up<br />
one by one and presented<br />
with a red and white Canada<br />
team jacket.<br />
"We're right here smack dab<br />
in the middle of our dream<br />
come true," said Duhamel<br />
who won her third consecutive<br />
national pairs title with<br />
Radford. "We're living our<br />
dream, and there's nowhere<br />
that I or Eric would rather be<br />
right now and I think that<br />
we're a little bit in shock and<br />
excited, elated, and relieved."<br />
Duhamel and Radford are<br />
also thrilled to kick off their<br />
From Page 1<br />
Lok Sabha seats are considered urban. Of the<br />
725 million total electorate in 2014, nearly 150<br />
million are first-time voters, which is statistically<br />
Kejriwal's strongest vote bank.<br />
This fear of the known has sparked off copycat<br />
policies and decisions, ranging from cutting<br />
perks to offering subsidies, while AAP's<br />
membership numbers swell at an unprecedented<br />
rate-from a few hundred to tens of<br />
thousands in cities from Chandigarh to Chennai<br />
and Mumbai to Kolkata. In Lucknow, the<br />
ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) is so rattled that<br />
it has asked its cadres to wear a traditional<br />
red cap at public functions, instead of the staple<br />
white Gandhi topi, which has now been<br />
appropriated by Kejriwal's 'Main Hoon Aam<br />
Aadmi' (I'm the common man) legend.<br />
Rise of the new candidate<br />
But political parties are not worried only about<br />
the emergence of aap as a direct rival. They<br />
know that the spirit of Delhi may not be easy<br />
to replicate in other cities. Here, Kejriwal's<br />
party had a strong structure in place. Factors<br />
such as Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal movement<br />
of 2011 and the Delhi gang-rape agitation of<br />
2012 had charged a furious electorate. More<br />
than the threat of AAP itself, politicians are<br />
losing sleep over the clamour for clean, committed,<br />
no-frills, no-perks leaders that the<br />
party has managed to create. Any deviation<br />
from what is perceived as the straight and narrow<br />
is now being questioned-be it extravagant<br />
offices with air-conditioners in abundance or<br />
five-star junkets to "study" the Amazon rainforest.<br />
Traditional parties weighed down by years<br />
of historical baggage are being forced to contend<br />
with the rise of the Outsiders.<br />
"By coming to power in Delhi, AAP has challenged<br />
the political structure within our own<br />
party," says a senior BJP leader. "They've<br />
shown that our traditional forms of campaigning<br />
may be redundant. That the need of the<br />
hour is to tap into a new army of professionals<br />
who are willing to align with us and to integrate<br />
them better into our system." BJP, for<br />
example, has roughly one million part-time<br />
volunteers who may not be members of the<br />
party but are committed enough to spread its<br />
message either through door-to-door visits or<br />
online. "These people were on the periphery<br />
of the party. We are now changing our strategy<br />
to empower them," the BJP leader says.<br />
Tribal workers protest against Himachal<br />
Pradesh power project<br />
Distressed workers of the Sorang<br />
Power Project organised<br />
a mass protest rally over the<br />
weekend against the project<br />
management at Chaura village<br />
in Shimla District of Himachal<br />
Pradesh.<br />
A majority of the employees<br />
are tribal villagers who have<br />
not been given their salaries<br />
for months. Neither have the<br />
villagers whose land was acquired<br />
for the project been<br />
given appropriate compensation.<br />
The employees have threatened<br />
a complete shutdown of<br />
the power project if their demands<br />
are not addressed as<br />
soon as possible.<br />
"No representative from the<br />
company has come forward to<br />
listen to our demands. We are<br />
unable to find out who is the<br />
actual owner of the power<br />
project. If nobody comes forward<br />
to talk to us, then we will<br />
ਪੁਰਸ਼ ਅਧਿਕਾਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਰੱਖਿਆ ਲਈ ਸੰਗਠਨ ਨੇ ਕੀਤੀ<br />
ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ ਬਣਾਉਣ ਦੀ ਮੰਗ<br />
ਕੋਲਕਾਤਾ- ਪੁਰਸ਼ ਅਧਿਕਾਰਾਂ ਲਈ ਕੰਮ<br />
ਕਰਨ ਵਾਲੇ ਗੈਰ ਸਰਕਾਰੀ ਸੰਗਠਨਾਂ ਦੇ<br />
ਇਕ ਫੋਰਮ ਨੇ ਮੰਤਰਾਲਾ ਅਤੇ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ<br />
ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ ਬਣਾਉਣ ਦੀ ਮੰਗ ਕੀਤੀ ਹੈ। ਫੋਰਮ<br />
ਦਾ ਕਹਿਣਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਦਾਜ ਕਾਨੂੰਨ ਦੀ<br />
ਦੁਰਵਰਤੋਂ ਅਤੇ ਯੌਨ ਉਤਪੀੜਨ ਸੰਬੰਧੀ ਝੂਠੇ<br />
ਮਾਮਲੇ ਦਰਜ ਕਰਵਾਏ ਜਾਣ ਨੂੰ ਮੁੱਖ<br />
ਰੱਖਦਿਆਂ ਹੋਇਆ ਪੁਰਸ਼ ਅਧਿਕਾਰਾਂ ਦੀ<br />
ਰੱਖਿਆ ਕੀਤੀ ਜਾਣੀ ਚਾਹੀਦੀ ਹੈ। ਨੈਸ਼ਨਲ<br />
ਕੋਏਲੀਸ਼ਨ ਫਾਰ ਮੈਨ (ਐਨ. ਸੀ. ਐਮ.) ਨੇ<br />
10 ਸੂਤਰੀ ਮੰਗਾਂ ਵਾਲਾ ਇਕ ਚਾਰਟਰ ਜਾਰੀ<br />
ਕਰ ਕੇ ਇਹ ਮੰਗ ਕੀਤੀ ਹੈ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਕਿਹਾ<br />
ਕਿ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਦਲਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਇਸ ‘ਤੇ ਵਿਚਾਰ<br />
ਕਰਨਾ ਚਾਹੀਦਾ ਹੈ। ਐਨ. ਸੀ. ਐਨ. ਪੁਰਸ਼<br />
ਅਧਿਕਾਰਾਂ ਲਈ ਲੜ ਰਹੇ ਤਕਰੀਬਨ 50<br />
But more significant is the realisation of competitive<br />
myopia (to borrow a marketing term) in<br />
a transformed political landscape. BJP and<br />
Congress are aware that what they considered<br />
their core strength-the bloated, khadiclad<br />
loyalist who has won from the same constituency<br />
two or three times-may now be their<br />
biggest liability. That these are exactly the kind<br />
of people the public now wants to defeat.<br />
Imagine an average first-time voter harbouring<br />
deep antipathy towards the political class.<br />
Imagine him growing up in a constituency<br />
where the legislator has been in power for<br />
over a decade. Will this voter choose the<br />
same candidate again, no matter how deeply<br />
connected he may be in the area's local politics?<br />
Or will she want a new, younger, more<br />
dynamic alternative? These are the fundamental<br />
questions that political parties are<br />
being forced to ask themselves.<br />
"Kejriwal has redefined what an ideal candidate<br />
should be by pitching the quintessential<br />
old-timer who speaks like a politician against<br />
the young professional with a local presence<br />
who talks in the language of the voters," says<br />
a senior Congress leader. AAP is asking political<br />
parties to tick certain boxes before fielding<br />
a winnable candidate. Boxes such as, 'no corruption<br />
charges', 'clean record', 'educational<br />
qualifications', and 'local understanding',<br />
which have rarely been ticked before during<br />
the candidate selection process.<br />
Kejriwal smartly matches his idealism with a<br />
politicians' instinct, as was evident during the<br />
Delhi campaign, where religion, caste and<br />
class subtly played a part. He fielded Muslim<br />
candidates in constituencies dominated by<br />
Muslims, and his party won 8 of the 13 seats<br />
dominated by Kejriwal's Bania community.<br />
"Clever selection of candidates is the only way<br />
to counter the AAP effect," says the Congress<br />
leader. "We must be seen as doing the right<br />
thing."<br />
New, unified support base<br />
first Games with the team<br />
event, which will see the top<br />
five countries after the short<br />
program advance to the long<br />
program.<br />
"We're going to win a gold<br />
medal in the team event and<br />
that's the most amazing thing,<br />
and Eric and I will skate 10<br />
times if we need to to take a<br />
part of it," Duhamel said.<br />
Teams can switch up to two<br />
members between the short<br />
and long programs. Because<br />
of the quick turnaround with<br />
men's singles and pairs,<br />
Canada will probably use its<br />
substitutions in those events.<br />
The 10 teams competing,<br />
based on world ranking, are:<br />
Canada, Russia, the U.S.,<br />
Japan, Italy, France, China,<br />
Germany, Ukraine, and Great<br />
Britain.<br />
Canada won two medals four<br />
years ago in Vancouver:<br />
Virtue and Moir's gold in ice<br />
dance, and a bronze by Joannie<br />
Rochette in women's singles.<br />
The 24-year-old Virtue and<br />
Moir, 26, are expected to retire<br />
after the Games, closing<br />
the curtains on a competitive<br />
partnership that has spanned<br />
almost two decades.<br />
The veterans have gladly<br />
taken on the responsibility as<br />
leaders of this young team.<br />
"It's something we take pretty<br />
seriously," Moir said. "It's<br />
going to be a very different<br />
Games, so for Tessa and I<br />
preparing, part of our process<br />
is to kind of start brand new<br />
and not expect it to be Vancouver.<br />
"But we do have some experiences<br />
that some of the other<br />
team members don't have.<br />
We're going to help them as<br />
much as we can. Figure skating<br />
is unique, you go there as<br />
a team, you live together, it's<br />
a family feeling. Tessa and I<br />
take that role very seriously."<br />
Skate Canada officials felt the<br />
Canadian championships provided<br />
plenty of optimism not<br />
just for Sochi, but for international<br />
competition down the<br />
road.<br />
"It was a great week of skating<br />
and just felt really good<br />
A clear example of aap's growing significance<br />
can be found in Mumbai, where the Jan Lokpal<br />
movement, the anti-rape agitation, and the<br />
India Against Corruption drive had so far had<br />
only a limited impact. The most telling reminder<br />
of Mumbai's frostiness towards the<br />
happenings in other parts of the country, particularly<br />
its great modern-day rival Delhi, was<br />
when only few hundred supporters had turned<br />
up for Anna Hazare's grand rally at the Bandra-Kurla<br />
Complex in December 2011. AAP's<br />
national executive member Mayank Gandhi<br />
says thousands of people are enrolling with<br />
the party in the city every day in the aftermath<br />
of the Delhi elections. Such is the response<br />
that they expect to cross 1 million members in<br />
the state by the end of January.<br />
shutdown the project," a protester,<br />
Ashok, said.<br />
The manager of the Sorang<br />
Power Project, Anup, said the<br />
salaries were not paid due to<br />
issues within the company.<br />
"The employees who have<br />
been working here have not<br />
received their salaries for the<br />
past four months. We admit it.<br />
Out of these four, two months'<br />
salary has been issued to the<br />
employees. There are some<br />
issues going on within the<br />
representatives of the company<br />
and they are sorting<br />
them out. As soon as the issues<br />
are resolved, then the<br />
pending salaries will be given<br />
top the employees," he said.<br />
This 100 MW hydro power<br />
project is being constructed<br />
by the HP Sorang Power Limited<br />
in two phases. Sorang<br />
Power Limited is a subsidiary<br />
of NCC Infrastructure Holdings<br />
Limited.<br />
ਸੰਗਠਨਾਂ ਦਾ ਮੰਚ ਹੈ।<br />
ਐਨ. ਸੀ. ਐਨ. ਨੇ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਉਹ ਨਿਰਦੋਸ਼<br />
ਵਿਆਹੁਤਾ ਅਤੇ ਬਿਨਾਂ ਵਿਆਹ ਦੇ ਪੁਰਸ਼ਾਂ ਦੇ<br />
ਯੌਨ ਸੰਬੰਧੀ ਪੱਖਪਾਤ ਵਾਲੇ ਕਾਨੂੰਨਾਂ ਦਾ<br />
ਸ਼ਿਕਾਰ ਹੋਣ ਦੀ ਵਧਦੀ ਦਰ ਦੇ ਮੁੱਦੇ ਨੂੰ<br />
ਉਠਾਉਣਾ ਚਾਹੁੰਦੇ ਹਨ। ਸੰਗਠਨ ਦੇ<br />
ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਅਮਿਤ ਗੁਪਤਾ ਨੇ ਦੱਸਿਆ ਕਿ<br />
ਸੰਗਠਨ ਵਲੋਂ ਜਾਰੀ ‘ਮੈਨ-ਆਈ-ਫੇਸਟੋ’<br />
ਵਿਚ ਪੁਰਸ਼ਾਂ ਲਈ ਮੰਤਰਾਲਾ ਅਤੇ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ<br />
ਬਣਾਏ ਜਾਣ ਦੀ ਮੰਗ ਨਾਲ ਹੀ ਵਿਆਹੁਤਾ<br />
ਪੁਰਸ਼ਾਂ ਵਲੋਂ ਕੀਤੀਆਂ ਜਾਣ ਵਾਲੀਆਂ<br />
ਆਤਮ ਹਤਿਆਵਾਂ ਦੀ ਜਾਂਚ ਲਈ ਕਾਰਜ<br />
ਬਲ ਦੇ ਗਠਨ ਅਤੇ ਪਰੇਸ਼ਾਨੀ ‘ਚ ਘਿਰੇ<br />
ਪੁਰਸ਼ਾਂ ਲਈ ਇਕ ਹੈਲਪਲਾਈਨ ਸ਼ੁਰੂ ਕਰਨ<br />
ਦੀ ਵੀ ਮੰਗ ਕੀਤੀ ਗਈ ਹੈ।<br />
about the momentum the<br />
team has right now and for<br />
the next two weeks before we<br />
get to Sochi," Slipchuk said.<br />
Slipchuk was pleasantly surprised<br />
by the men's competition<br />
— third place, which<br />
Firus claimed, was a virtual<br />
toss-up going into the event.<br />
The women's event also held<br />
plenty of promise, with<br />
teenagers dominating the<br />
field.<br />
"Again, the six ladies that<br />
were in the last flight (of six<br />
skaters), it could of went anywhere,"<br />
Slipchuk said. "That<br />
was another positive for us to<br />
see. And more encouraging. .<br />
. there's just a lot coming up<br />
through there. What has been<br />
established by Kaetlyn two<br />
years ago, these girls have<br />
just picked up and they're<br />
challenging her, and that's<br />
what we want to see."<br />
Figure skating events run<br />
every day of the Games except<br />
for on the days of the<br />
opening and closing ceremonies.<br />
The Aam Aadmi Party awakening<br />
This surge has the ruling Congress-ncp government<br />
worried. Emboldened and perturbed,<br />
perhaps in equal measure, Congress MP Sanjay<br />
Nirupam wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister<br />
Prithviraj Chavan threatening to launch an<br />
agitation if power tariffs in the state were not<br />
reduced. Electricity rates are now being cut by<br />
15 to 20 per cent. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit<br />
Pawar of NCP, allegedly involved in the 2009<br />
irrigation scam, has, in the meantime, turned a<br />
new leaf by promising to return the Rs 27 lakh<br />
spent by the state PWD on his official bungalow.<br />
Several other governments are feeling the<br />
heat of the groundswell of pro-Aam Aadmi<br />
sentiment. In Bhopal, AAP has opened a small<br />
office in business hub Maharana Pratap<br />
Nagar. One of the rooms has a giant portrait<br />
of Kejriwal with the slogan: Niklo bahar<br />
makanon se, jang lado beimanon se (Get out<br />
of your homes, wage a war against the corrupt).<br />
Among prominent citizens who have<br />
gravitated towards the party are former state<br />
lokayukta Arun Gurtoo and retired irs officer<br />
Narendranath Trivedi. Little wonder then that<br />
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh<br />
Chouhan went to the Marinador-Ambar road<br />
in Vidhisha for a surprise visit on January 4.<br />
On finding the road potholed due to sub-standard<br />
raw material, he immediately suspended<br />
the region's executive engineer Yogendra<br />
Kumar, assistant engineer Dinesh Kumar Barala<br />
and sub-engineer D.K. Sahu.<br />
In Raipur, Chhattisgarh, where the aap office<br />
has run out of membership forms after a sudden<br />
surge of recruitments, Chief Minister<br />
Raman Singh had a meeting with BJP MLAs<br />
on January 6, when he told them they should<br />
live like "aam aadmis" (common men). Raman<br />
Singh has also launched a toll free anti-corruption<br />
helpline for people to lodge complaints<br />
against government officials who ask for<br />
bribes. In Kerala, where AAP had formed a<br />
unit in February last year, and has a functioning<br />
executive committee led by Manoj Padmanabhan,<br />
a 45-year-old engineering<br />
graduate with an MBA in finance, the likes on<br />
the party's Facebook page have suddenly<br />
started to climb, hitting the 197,000 mark on<br />
January 6. Though aap is yet to recruit a<br />
leader of stature in the state, senior leader<br />
Prashant Bhushan has been wooing former<br />
chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan of CPI(M).<br />
Bhushan, who represents Achuthanandan in<br />
various anti-corruption cases, called on him<br />
on December 31 at his Cantonment House<br />
residence, purportedly for "blessings and guidance".<br />
CANADA | WEDNESDAY 08 JANUARY 2014<br />
Manmohan's stint as PM worst<br />
period in country's history: Modi<br />
Bharatiya Janata Party's<br />
prime ministerial nominee<br />
Narendra Modi on Sunday<br />
tore apart the Congress-led<br />
UPA government at the Centre<br />
over corruption, price-rise<br />
and misrule, saying it's time<br />
"we rid the country of a disease<br />
called the Congress".<br />
Launching a vitriolic attack on<br />
Prime Minister Manmohan<br />
Singh, Modi said the last<br />
years of his rule have been<br />
the worst period of the nation's<br />
history, when the right<br />
hand didn't know what the left<br />
was doing. Whenever there<br />
was a scam, Singh said he<br />
would find out, Modi alleged.<br />
In an apparent reference to<br />
the media blitzkrieg around<br />
the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),<br />
the BJP's prime ministerial<br />
candidate Narendra Modi<br />
supported decentralisation of<br />
power, while toeing his "vote<br />
for the country, not for the<br />
party" line during his rally in<br />
Goa.<br />
"We believe in decentralisation<br />
of power. We believe in<br />
giving power to the people,"<br />
Modi told a rally of one lakh<br />
odd people near Panaji on<br />
Sunday in the presence of<br />
BJP president Rajnath Singh.<br />
Taking jibes at Congress during<br />
his speech, he appealed<br />
to the people "to vote for the<br />
country and not for the party".<br />
"Vote for India. Don't vote for<br />
any particular group or a party<br />
or any individual," he said,<br />
making a pitch that voting for<br />
In Gujarat, where AAP members have risen<br />
sharply from 5,000 to 100,000 in December,<br />
the state BJP is refusing to acknowledge its<br />
growing influence. "Not to react is our strategy,"<br />
says a BJP leader. "It's the only way any<br />
government or party led by a strong leader<br />
should behave."<br />
The key trend across most of the states, however,<br />
is that an amorphous, floating, middleclass<br />
voter, disillusioned with political leaders<br />
but temporarily aligning with a party on local<br />
issues, may now be gravitating towards an<br />
identifiable Third Force.<br />
What lies ahead<br />
the BJP means voting for<br />
India's brighter future.<br />
"We (BJP) have only one religion<br />
and that is, India first.<br />
We have only one religious<br />
book and that is the Indian<br />
constitution. We only have<br />
one worship and that is worship<br />
of the nation," Modi said,<br />
during his hour-long speech.<br />
Modi also tried to refute AAP<br />
leaders' simple lifestyles<br />
claiming that despite being in<br />
public life for several years<br />
and ruling the country, former<br />
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee<br />
has no house of his<br />
own to stay.<br />
"Do you want any other example<br />
of simplicity?" he<br />
asked.<br />
Modi said that Goa Chief Minister<br />
Manohar Parrikar has<br />
been hailed for his simplicity<br />
and administrative capabilities.<br />
"Imagine what would have<br />
happened if Parrikar was in<br />
Delhi. The media cannot see<br />
anything other than Delhi," he<br />
said.<br />
He said that the BJP has the<br />
power to make leaders out of<br />
the commonest of men. .<br />
"A person like me who belongs<br />
to a poor family has<br />
been given such a huge responsibility<br />
by the BJP. Who<br />
could have imagined that a<br />
boy who used to sell tea in<br />
the train could stand in front<br />
In the midst of these happy tidings, one place<br />
where AAP is getting a taste of how squalid<br />
traditional politics can be is Tamil Nadu. On<br />
January 7, the party's local unit had barely finished<br />
celebrating Kejriwal's Delhi victory when<br />
an internal split between the state Treasurer<br />
Anand Ganesh and state Secretary Balakrishnan<br />
turned into a public spat. The two are now<br />
squabbling over which of them is the "real"<br />
AAP.<br />
Though fulfilling their ambition of being a factor<br />
across the country will not be easy, there is<br />
little doubt that the momentum is with the Aam<br />
Aadmi movement. In an India Today Group-C<br />
Voter Opinion Poll across 24 cities on January<br />
7, 75 per cent of the respondents said they<br />
want a chief minister like Kejriwal in their<br />
state. What's more, 53 per cent believed that<br />
aap will either "get a majority" or "put up a<br />
tough fight" in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections<br />
(see box).<br />
of you one day? But it has<br />
happened because of the<br />
BJP's strength to groom the<br />
poor into capable leaders,"<br />
Modi said, referring to his<br />
past.<br />
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister<br />
Shivraj Singh Chouhan<br />
and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister<br />
Raman Singh who belong<br />
to very ordinary families now<br />
serve the nation.<br />
Held at Merces village near<br />
Panaji, the rally was also addressed<br />
by BJP president Rajnath<br />
Singh and Goa Chief<br />
Minister Manohar Parrikar,<br />
besides others.<br />
The rally kicked off BJP's<br />
campaigning for elections in<br />
the state which has two Lok<br />
Sabha seats.<br />
He said the 2014 Lok Sabha<br />
polls will become a watershed<br />
in the history of India, when<br />
people will vote not for any<br />
caste or community, but for<br />
the progress and overall<br />
growth of the country, where<br />
women will get their due respect<br />
and there will be food<br />
available to the poor and<br />
down-trodden. "Vote for<br />
India," Modi exhorted the<br />
huge crowd gathered to listen<br />
to him.<br />
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/narendramodi-goa-congress-bjp-pm-n<br />
ominee-manoharparrikar/1/335837.html<br />
ਨਵੀਂ ਦਿੱਲੀ- ਦੇਸ਼ ਦਾ ਸਭ ਤੋਂ ਵੱਡਾ ਅਸਿੱਧਾ<br />
ਟੈਕਸ ਸੁਧਾਰ ਮੰਨਿਆ ਜਾਣ ਵਾਲਾ ਵਸਤੂ<br />
ਅਤੇ ਸੇਵਾ ਟੈਕਸ (ਜੀ. ਐੱਸ. ਟੀ.) ਕਾਫੀ<br />
ਸਮੇਂ ਤੋਂ ਪੈਂਡਿੰਗ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਇਸ ਲਈ ਹੁਣ ਇਸ<br />
ਸਾਲ ਆਮ ਚੋਣਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਹੀ ਲਾਗੂ ਹੋਣ<br />
ਦੀ ਆਸ ਹੈ। ਜੀ. ਐੱਸ. ਟੀ. ਇਕ ਵਿਆਪਕ<br />
ਟੈਕਸ ਪ੍ਰਣਾਲੀ ਹੈ ਜੋ ਭਾਰਤ ਦੇ ਮੌਜੂਦਾ<br />
ਅਸਿੱਧੇ ਟੈਕਸ ਢਾਂਚੇ ਦੀ ਜਗ੍ਹਾ ਲਵੇਗਾ।<br />
ਫਿਲਹਾਲ ਭਾਰਤ ‘ਚ ਕਈ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੇ<br />
ਟੈਕਸ- ਕੇਂਦਰੀ ਉਤਪਾਦ ਫੀਸ, ਐਡੀਸ਼ਨਲ<br />
ਉਤਪਾਦ ਫੀਸ, ਬਰਾਮਦ ਫੀਸ, ਮੁੱਲ ‘ਚ<br />
ਵਾਧਾ ਫੀਸ, ਸੇਨਵੈਟ, ਸੇਵਾ ਆਦਿ ਹੈ।<br />
ਸਵਿਟਜ਼ਰਲੈਂਡ ਦੀ ਸੰਸਾਰਕ ਵਿੱਤੀ ਸੇਵਾ<br />
ਕੰਪਨੀ ਯੂ. ਬੀ. ਐੱਸ. ਨੇ ਖੋਜ ਨੋਟ ‘ਚ<br />
ਕਿਹਾ,”ਵਿਵਾਦਤ ਮੁੱਦਿਆਂ ‘ਤੇ ਆਮ ਤੌਰ ‘ਤੇ<br />
ਸਹਿਮਤੀ ਬਣ ਗਈ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਮੌਜੂਦਾ ਦੇਰੀ<br />
ਕਾਰਨ ਸਿਆਸਤ ਲੱਗਦੀ ਹੈ।” ਰਪਟ ‘ਚ<br />
ਕਿਹਾ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ,”ਜੀ. ਐੱਸ. ਟੀ. ਪੇਸ਼ ਕੀਤਾ<br />
ਜਾਣਾ ਸੁਧਾਰ ਦੀ ਪ੍ਰਮੁੱਖ ਪਹਿਲ ਹੈ ਜਿਸ<br />
ਦਾ ਭਾਰਤ ਦੇ ਵਾਧਾ ਦੀ ਸੰਭਾਵਨਾ ‘ਤੇ<br />
ਜ਼ਿਕਰ ਅਸਰ ਹੋ ਸਕਦਾ ਹੈ।” ਵੱਡੀਆਂ-<br />
ਆਰਥਿਕ ਸੰਭਾਵਨਾਵਾਂ ‘ਤੇ ਸਭ ਤੋਂ ਵੱਡਾ<br />
India's diversity, caste equations, social engineering,<br />
and parliamentary structure may not<br />
ਗਾਜ਼ੀਆਬਾਦ- ਦਿੱਲੀ ਦੇ ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ<br />
allow something as dramatic in such a short<br />
ਅਰਵਿੰਦ ਕੇਜਰੀਵਾਲ ਦੀ ਜਾਨ ਨੂੰ ਖਤਰਾ<br />
period of time. But the idea of empowering the<br />
ਹੈ। ਕੇਜਰੀਵਾਲ ਦੀ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਆ ਨੂੰ ਲੈ ਕੇ<br />
aam aadmi, if not the Aam Aadmi Party, is certain<br />
to play a part when the post-2014 destiny<br />
ਖ਼ੁਫੀਆ ਬਿਊਰੋ ਨੇ ਦਿੱਲੀ ਪੁਲਸ ਨੂੰ ਅਲਰਟ<br />
ਕੀਤਾ ਹੈ। ਪੁਲਸ ਨੂੰ ਖ਼ੁਫੀਆ ਬਿਊਰੋ ਤੋਂ<br />
of India is written.<br />
ਮਿਲੀ ਜਾਣਕਾਰੀ ਮੁਤਾਬਕ ਭ੍ਰਿਸ਼ਟਾਚਾਰ<br />
ਵਿਰੋਧੀ ਮੁਹਿੰਮ ਤੋਂ ਨਾਰਾਜ਼ ਧੜਿਆਂ ਤੋਂ<br />
Kejriwal had said in his address to the Delhi<br />
ਕੇਜਰੀਵਾਲ ਨੂੰ ਖਤਰਾ ਹੈ। ਇਸ ਲਈ<br />
Assembly on January 2 that politicians had<br />
ਕੇਜਰੀਵਾਲ ਦੇ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਆ ਨਾ ਲੈਣ ਦੇ<br />
dared the aam aadmi to fight elections and<br />
ਬਾਵਜੂਦ ਗਾਜ਼ੀਆਬਾਦ ਪੁਲਸ ਨੇ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਨੂੰ<br />
enter the legislature and frame laws. "Those<br />
ਸੋਮਵਾਰ ਤੋਂ ਜ਼ੈੱਡ ਸ਼੍ਰੇਣੀ ਦੀ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਆ ਦੇਣ<br />
leaders forgot that the aam aadmi tills the<br />
ਦਾ ਫੈਸਲਾ ਕਰ ਲਿਆ ਹੈ। ਜ਼ਿਲਾ ਪੁਲਸ ਦੀ<br />
land, netas don't. Aam aadmi goes to the<br />
ਯੋਜਨਾ ਅਨੁਸਾਰ ਕੇਜਰੀਵਾਲ ਨੂੰ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਆ<br />
moon, netas don't. Left with no option, aam<br />
ਪ੍ਰਦਾਨ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਹਰ ਸਮੇਂ 30 ਜਵਾਨ<br />
aadmi decided we will fight elections." Delhi<br />
ਤਾਇਨਾਤ ਰਹਿਣਗੇ। ਜ਼ਿਕਰਯੋਗ ਹੈ ਕਿ<br />
has been won. But is this the end, or the start<br />
ਕੇਜਰੀਵਾਲ ਅਜੇ ਗਾਜ਼ੀਆਬਾਦ ਦੇ ਕੌਸ਼ਾਂਬੀ<br />
of something extraordinary?<br />
ਇਲਾਕੇ ਸਥਿਤ ਇਕ ਫਲੈਟ 'ਚ ਆਪਣੇ<br />
ਪਰਿਵਾਰ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ ਰਹਿੰਦੇ ਹਨ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਨੇ<br />
2<br />
ਮਲੇਸ਼ੀਆ 'ਚ ਕਤਲ ਹੋਏ ਨੌਜਵਾਨ<br />
ਦਾ ਹੋਇਆ ਸੰਸਕਾਰ<br />
ਬਲਾਚੌਰ (ਵਿਨੋਦ)-ਇਥੋਂ ਦੇ ਨਜ਼ਦੀਕੀ ਪਿੰਡ<br />
ਗਰਲੋਂ ਬੇਟ ਦੇ ਰਹਿਣ ਵਾਲੇ 24 ਸਾਲਾ<br />
ਮਹਿੰਰਪਾਲ ਪੁੱਤਰ ਓਮ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਦਾ 13<br />
ਦਸੰਬਰ, 2013 ਨੂੰ ਮਲੇਸ਼ੀਆ 'ਚ ਕਤਲ ਹੋ<br />
ਗਿਆ ਸੀ। ਮਹਿੰਦਰਪਾਲ ਦੀ ਤਾਬੂਤ 'ਚ ਬੰਦ<br />
ਮ੍ਰਿਤਕ ਦੇਹ ਐਤਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਉਸ ਦੇ ਜੱਦੀ<br />
ਪਿੰਡ ਪਹੁੰਚਣ ਉਪਰੰਤ ਪਿੰਡ 'ਚ ਸੋਗ ਦਾ<br />
ਮਾਹੌਲ ਬਣ ਗਿਆ।<br />
ਜ਼ਿਕਰਯੋਗ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਮ੍ਰਿਤਕ ਰੋਜ਼ੀ-ਰੋਟੀ ਦੀ<br />
ਤਲਾਸ਼ 'ਚ 14 ਫਰਵਰੀ 2010 ਨੂੰ<br />
ਮਲੇਸ਼ੀਆ ਪੁੱਜਿਆ ਸੀ ਅਤੇ ਇਸ ਵਰ੍ਹੇ ਉਹ<br />
ਭਾਰਤ ਵੀ ਆਉਣ ਵਾਲਾ ਸੀ। ਮਲੇਸ਼ੀਆ'ਚ<br />
ਉਸ ਦਾ ਭੇਦ ਭਰੀ ਹਾਲਤ 'ਚ 13 ਦਸੰਬਰ<br />
ਨੂੰ ਕਤਲ ਹੋ ਗਿਆ ਸੀ। ਐਤਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ<br />
ਮ੍ਰਿਤਕ ਮਹਿੰਦਰਪਾਲ ਦੀ ਦੇਹ ਵਿਦੇਸ਼ ਰਾਜ<br />
ਮੰਤਰੀ ਬੀਬੀ ਪ੍ਰਨੀਤ ਕੌਰ ਦੇ ਯਤਨਾਂ ਸਦਕਾ<br />
ਉਸ ਦੇ ਜੱਦੀ ਪਿੰਡ ਵਿਖੇ ਪੁੱਜੀ ਅਤੇ ਉਸ ਦਾ<br />
ਅੰਤਿਮ ਸੰਸਕਾਰ ਕਰ ਦਿੱਤਾ ਗਿਆ।<br />
Dubai ruler<br />
calls for easing<br />
of Iran<br />
sanctions -<br />
BBC<br />
Dubai's ruler has urged<br />
the international community<br />
to ease sanctions<br />
against Iran, in an<br />
interview broadcast by<br />
the BBC on Monday.<br />
Asked whether he<br />
thought it was now time<br />
to lift sanctions against<br />
Iran, Sheikh Mohammed<br />
bin Rashid Al<br />
Maktoum, who is also<br />
the Prime Minister of<br />
the United Arab Emirates,<br />
told the British<br />
broadcaster:<br />
"I think so ... Iran is our<br />
neighbour and we don't<br />
want any problem," he<br />
said.<br />
The vast majority of<br />
trade between Iran and<br />
its Gulf Arab neighbours<br />
is routed through<br />
Dubai, home to tens of<br />
thousands of ethnic Iranians<br />
and one of seven<br />
emirates making up the<br />
United Arab Emirates.<br />
A deal between Iran<br />
and six major powers<br />
intended to pave the<br />
way to a solution to a<br />
long standoff over<br />
Tehran's nuclear ambitions<br />
will come into<br />
force on January 20,<br />
the Iranian Foreign<br />
Ministry and the European<br />
Union said on<br />
Sunday.<br />
ਚੋਣਾਂ ਦੇ ਬਾਅਦ ਤੋਂ ਹੀ ਲਾਗੂ ਹੋ ਸਕੇਗਾ ਜੀ. ਐੱਸ. ਟੀ. ਸੁਧਾਰ<br />
ਸਕਾਰਾਤਮਕ ਅਸਰ ਇਹ ਹੋਵੇਗਾ ਕਿ ਜੀ.<br />
ਐੱਸ. ਟੀ. ਨਾਲ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦਾ ਟੈਕਸ ਸੰਗ੍ਰਹਿ<br />
ਵਧੇਗਾ ਕਿਉਂਕਿ ਇਸ ਨਾਲ ਟੈਕਸ ਆਧਾਰ<br />
ਵਿਆਪਕ ਹੋਵੇਗਾ ਅਤੇ ਨਿਯਮਾਂ ਦੇ<br />
ਅਨੁਪਾਲਣ ਦਾ ਪੱਧਰ ਵਧੇਗਾ। ਯੂ. ਬੀ.<br />
ਐੱਸ. ਨੇ ਕਿਹਾ,”ਜ਼ਿਆਦਾ ਟੈਕਸ ਸੰਗ੍ਰਹਿ<br />
ਦਾ ਮਤਲਬ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਸਰਕਾਰੀ ਖਜ਼ਾਨੇ ਦਾ<br />
ਘਾਟਾ ਘੱਟ ਹੋਵੇਗਾ ਅਤੇ ਅਰਥ ਵਿਵਸਥਾ<br />
‘ਤੇ ਇਸ਼ ਦਾ ਸਕਾਰਾਤਮਕ ਅਸਰ ਹੋਵੇਗਾ।”<br />
ਰਪਟ ‘ਚ ਕਿਹਾ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਸੂਬਿਆਂ ਦਾ<br />
2005-08 ਦੌਰਾਨ ਵੈਟ ਦੇ ਸੰਬੰਧ ‘ਚ ਜੋ<br />
ਅਨੁਭਵ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ ਉਸ ਨਾਲ ਜ਼ਿਆਦਾ<br />
ਟੈਕਸ ਸੰਗ੍ਰਹਿ ਦੇ ਅਨੁਮਾਨ ਨੂੰ ਸਮਰਥਨ<br />
ਮਿਲਦਾ ਹੈ। ਰਪਟ ਅਨੁਸਾਰ 2005-08<br />
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