-
Useful Features
Govt. and N-deal will be doomed: Prakash Karat
By Vinay Kumar
NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Sunday warned the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government that the country would revolt if it tried to push the India-U.S. nuclear deal in case it lost the trust vote in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Asserting that the government and the nuclear deal would be “doomed” on July 22, the day of the trust vote, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said the UPA government had not only bypassed Parliament but had also gone back on its public pledge that it would go to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) only after winning the trust vote.
“We wish to warn this government that in case you lose the trust vote, do not try and push the nuclear deal. The country will revolt,” Mr. Karat told journalists after a two-day meeting of the party’s Central Committee. The CC fully endorsed the decision of the party’s Polit Bureau to withdraw support to the UPA government on July 9.
Maintaining that the struggle against the nuclear deal would continue, he said that one phase of this struggle was the trust vote. He accused the government of “criminal neglect” in tackling price rise and runaway inflation. Read more
Journalists protest against media attack in Gujarat
Ahmedabad: Journalists protested against the attack on media by Asaram Bapu’s followers on Saturday following Friday’s violence in Sabarmati.
Protests against spiritual guru, Asaram Bapu, turned violent in Ahmedabad on Friday. Blaming the spiritual guru’s ashram for the death of two boys whose bodies were found almost three-weeks-ago near the spiritual leader’s ashram.
People started pelting stones and burning down the vehicles belonging to Bapu’s followers as they were angry at the slow pace of investigation into the deaths of the two boys.
And in retaliation, followers of Asaram Bapu also indulged in violence. Journalists were beaten up mercilessly by his followers. A Network 18 outdoor broadcast van was completely damaged.
Police detained the protesting journalists in Ahmedabad even as Gujarat’s Home Minister promised to act against supporters of spiritual leader Asaram Bapu who attacked the media on Friday.
“Strict actions will be taken against those who attacked the media persons,” says Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah
- IBN, July 19 2008
Indian doctor couple banned in Oz from running aged nursing homes: Signed death certificate without autopsy
Approved provider status revoked
An Adelaide company owned by a husband and wife doctor team has been prevented from running Commonwealth-funded nursing homes.
Bresant Pty Ltd – owned and directed by Dr Jagdish Saraf and Dr Madhu Saraf – operated the Brighton Aged Care until March this year when the Department of Health and Ageing revoked its approved provider status.
The company applied for a review of this decision but the original ruling was upheld this week.
It is the first revocation of approved provider status under the Rudd Government. The last time a provider lost approval was in August last year.
According to a statement from the Minister for Ageing’s office, the decision to revoke Bresant’s status was based on: “…a history of significant and repeated non-compliance with its obligations under the [Aged Care] Act, resulting in serious risk to the health, safety or well-being of residents.”
In September last year, another Adelaide facility run by Bresant was forced to close after staff rolled a resident in tomato sauce as part of a ‘practical joke’.
The department also expressed concerns about the provider’s failure to report the death of a 71-year old resident to the coroner in July last year.
In February, the South Australian Coroner found that the Sarafs acted “improperly” when they signed the death and cremation certificates for the resident without performing an autopsy.
The Sarafs appealed the coroner’s decision, arguing that the death was not ‘unusual’.
But the South Australian Supreme Court recently ruled that the death was still reportable because the resident had died of “an undetermined cause”.
“This has been a very sad episode and once again, I extend my condolences and sympathies to the family,” said Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot.
“The thousands of hard working and dedicated staff in aged care will welcome the decision by the Department of Health and Ageing to revoke Bresant’s approved provider status.”
“In fact, it was a staff member who brought the matter to the attention of the South Australian police.”
The Rudd Government has again expressed concerns that doctors who own and operate aged care facilities can sign the death and cremation certificates of residents.
It has written to State and Territory attorneys-general seeking their cooperation to close the ‘legal loopholes’ that allow this to occur.
[Fri 18/07/2008 10:21:54]- Australian Ageing Agenda
Indo-US N-deal: After divorce, dirty linen
New Delhi, July 8: Left parties today began preparations to target the UPA government, starting with efforts to defeat a confidence motion in the House and a nation-wide campaign from next week.
As the four Left parties snapped their ties of four years and 47 days with the Centre, they began working on campaign material, statements and meetings. The protests, which start on July 14, will target the government on its foreign policy, price rise and help to the “communal forces”.
The Left, set back by rural and civic poll reverses in Bengal, believes the nuclear deal issue can help it “contain the damage” by working to its advantage in the eastern state as well as in Kerala.
But the CPM, CPI, Forward Bloc and the RSP appear unclear on one question: can there be an understanding with the Congress after the next election to keep the “communal forces” away from power and, if yes, what will its terms be? Read more
Left parties withdraw support to UPA government
From Rajeev Sharma in New Delhi
New Delhi, July 8: Four Left parties (CPI-M, CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc) have withdrawn support to the UPA government led by the Congress. The Left parties withdrawal on the issue of Indo-US nuclear pact (opposed by the Left parties) came after many days of hectic political activity here. CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat has said that the parties have sent a letter to Mr. Pranab Mukherjee about the decision. The Left parties are expected to meet Indian President Prathiba Patil to formally inform of their decision.
The Left withdrawal of support it seems will not lead to the fall of the UPA government. The Samajwadi Party, Ajit Singh’s party, Akali Dal and Dev Gowada’s JD-S have, meanwhile, decided to extend support to the UPA government.
The Left parties (59 seats) were propping up the UPA government for the last four years and the divorce from the Congress led UPA came after they refused to accept the Indo-US nuclear deal. The Left said that the deal will infringe upon India’s sovereignty and steer away the country from its independent foreign policy.
A session of the Indian Parliament is expected within a week. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is in Japan attending the G-8 summit will continue his visit.
Pak student sues for ’slavery’: $200 for 158 hours security work: The Age
Ben Schneider
July 7, 2008
AN INTERNATIONAL student who was paid just $1.26 an hour for more than 150 hours work as a security guard at the Australian Open tennis is suing several companies for being treated like a “slave”.
Pakistani student Faisal Durrani, 23, who wants to become a permanent resident, said he was aware of at least another four security guards from the subcontinent who had only received a small payment for their work at the Open. “I believe there are a lot more,” he said.
It is the latest alleged incident to involve the mistreatment of workers from the subcontinent after the mass taxi driver protest in early May over unsafe work conditions.
Mr Durrani’s statement of claim, lodged at the Melbourne Magistrates Court, alleges that he was paid $200 for the 158 hours he had worked at the Australian Open. “To me it was an act of slavery, we have been treated like slaves,” he said.
His solicitor, Andrew Weinmann of Maurice Blackburn, described the case as “outrageous” for a number of reasons.
Read full story : www.theage.com.au
40 dead in Indian embassy blast in Afghan capital
KABUL, July 7: Forty people have been reported killed in a suicide car bomb that ripped the front wall of the Indian Embassy here. Associated Press (AP) quoting Najib Nikzad, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said the blast killed 40 people. The Interior Ministry said six police officers and three embassy guards were among those killed.
In Delhi, India’s foreign minister said four Indians, including the military attache, were killed in the attack.
The AP report further said: “The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, hinted that the attack was carried out with help from Pakistan’s intelligence service, saying that “terrorists have carried out this attack in coordination and consultation with some of the active intelligence circles in the region.”
In Delhi, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said the attack would not deter the mission from “fulfilling our commitments to the government and people of Afghanistan.” The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said Pakistan condemned the attack and terrorism in all forms.”
Indo-US Nuclear deal (Cartoon in Deccan Chronicle, July 06)
Cartoon courtesy: Deccan Chronicle (July 6, 2008)
Why the Nuclear Deal is Bad for India?
July 03, 2008
BY Venkatesh Sridhar
For the past 2-3 weeks, there has been one issue that has dominated much of media attention in India. That singular issue is the Nuclear Deal between US and India. Now, everyone knows what I feel about the Left, but this time strangely I agree with them that India should not sign the deal as it is not in India’s interest to do so, though I have strong factual reasons to do so unlike the more ideologically bent opposition of the Left.
The reason why this post comes so late in the day - now that it’s almost a given that the Government of India (GoI) will go ahead with the deal despite the opposition to the deal by its coalition partner; the Left with the PM now officially going to the G8 meet, is because I have spent a lot of time in finding out information and framing a fact oriented opinion. Read more
Left Bashing At Whose Behest?
LEFT bashing, in fact CPI(M) bashing, for its opposition to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal is, indeed, reaching a crescendo. The drumbeaters of US imperialism and the cheer leaders of India Inc. continue to mount a scurrilous attack through a web of fabrications against the CPI(M) which are far removed from both rationality and fact. The latest is a vituperative tirade against the CPI(M) for blocking the Indo-US nuclear deal by a former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, G Parthasarathy (`Red Star over South Block’, The Times of India, June 9, 2008). The running theme of such slander is that the CPI(M) is “determined to make India a client state of China”.
Similar unfounded attacks were mounted earlier. Needless to add, they will continue because of very strong potential benefits for the vested interests in trying to discredit the CPI(M) and the Left, on the one hand, and curry favour with the Indian ruling classes and US imperialism, on the other. A former senior officer of India’s intelligence apparatus slanderously wrote that the CPI(M) is “driven by China’s concerns” (`The Manchurian candidates’ by B Raman, Hindustan Times, August 21, 2007). Without an iota of substance, amongst the thrash of fabricated abuse, he hurled preposterous charges that CPI(M) leaders had forced the present UPA government to issue visas to 1000 Chinese engineers. With such disinformation guiding our intelligence apparatus, in the past, it is no wonder that India lost one prime minister and one former prime minister to assassins and continues to pay a heavy price due to intelligence lapses. Thanks to small mercies, this gentleman has now retired. Such writings, however, could well be with an eye to seek lucrative post-retirement occupations. Read more
Polls
Loading ...