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Friday, July 11, 2008

Trust vote 'as early as possible'

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will seek a vote of confidence "as early as possible" in response to the Left's withdrawal of support to the UPA on the India US civil nuclear agreement.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique issued after the PM called on President Pratibha Patil on Thursday evening, the PM told Patil that "he and his cabinet colleagues (were) keen to seek a vote of confidence as early as possible." The PM spent 30 minutes with the President. The communique was based on a letter he handed to her.

The PM will communicate the exact date of the trust vote to the President on Friday. There was speculation on Thursday that the government may choose a date around July 22 to call a special Lok Sabha session for the vote. Though the date will be finalised only after meetings of the UPA and the Congress Working Committee (CWC), coalition MPs have been asked to be in Delhi by July 22. This will be the first time since the beginning of the coalition era in 1989 that a PM will seek a trust vote after four years in office- six PMs before Singh faced trust votes inside their first couple of years.

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Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Sonia takes centrestage

Consensus building within the UPA on the India-US nuclear deal in defiance of the Left and at the risk of early elections is proving to be difficult even with Sonia Gandhi taking centrestage to resolve the vexed issue.

The UPA leaders who drove down to 10 Janpath on Monday included NCP's Sharad Pawar, RJD's Lalu Yaday and LJP's Ram Vilas Paswan. Pawar was later closeted at his residence with CPM general secretary Prakash Karat for over an hour.

Coupled with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's vigorous defence of the deal, the outcome of Sonia's meetings with the UPA allies made doubly difficult her task of blending national interest with the political interests of the coalition she presides over.

In separate interactions with Sonia, the allies backed the deal but advocated a dialogue with the Left to avoid early elections. Weighing heavily on their minds were the rising prices, without controlling which they saw little prospects in the polls.

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

Red flag up, but UPA may push ahead

In the face of the Left's unrelenting opposition to the India-US nuclear deal, the Congress, in a major shift of stance, is seriously evaluating the political fallout of sewing up the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA without their consent.

The postponement of the schedu1ed UPA-Left meeting on the issue on Wednesday saw hectic consultations in both camps. After being closeted with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and Union Minister Kapil Sibal, a member of the panel for nuclear talks, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee conferred with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Others present at the meeting were Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel.

Congress sources confirmed to Hindustan Times the possibility of the government signing the agreement despite the Communists' rigid opposition. But the final call would be taken after the UPA-Left committee meeting now slated on June 25.

The urgency in the government's moves was explained to the tight deadlines for completing the next three stages in the deal: the IAEA safeguards pact, the NSG waiver and the up and down vote in the US Congress on the 123 agreement. There was some relief, however, after the US State Department's public assurance that Washington would push for the deal till January 20, the day the new President would take oath in that country.

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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Drug rap returns to haunt IPL boss Modi

The high profile commissioner of the Indian Premier League, Lalit Modi, was convicted of possessing drugs, kidnapping and assault in the US during his days as a university student. The conviction came after Modi confessed to committing the offences before a North Carolina court.

In his defence, Modi's lawyers say he did not serve the two-year jail sentence as he was let off on probation, and the Durham County Court did not give a final decision on his sentencing for drugs possession.

The Supreme Court has been hearing a petition challenging Modi's position as a cricket official since 2005. But the case has acquired urgency lately after the petitioner asked for a quick resolution, either way.

Despite repeated attempts to contact him for a response through calls and SMSes, and despite explaining the story to him on SMS, Modi, though polite, indicated he would not comment.

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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Workers sue US firm, India cracks down on recruiters

THE 120 workers who walked out of Signal International facilities in Mississippi last week rallied outside the office of the lawyer, who acted as a recruiter to bring them from India to the United States.

"The reason we gave up our homes to come here was to get permanent residency," said Vijaka Kumaran, 34. Kumaran sold his wife's jewellery to get the $15,000 he was charged to go to the US.

The workers attempted to present lawyer Malvern Burnett with a federal lawsuit filed in a district court in New Orleans that names two recruiters and Signal as defendants and accuses the companies of human trafficking. The 82-page complaint claims the defendants violated their rights besides violating nine federallaws. It claims they violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act by having both forced labour and trafficking. They also claim violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, fraud, breach of contract, violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and false imprisonment, assault and battery and infliction of emotional harm.

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Monday, March 10, 2008

US dream lost in packed dorms, stink of stale food

When Kurian David sold his home, he believed he was doing so to seek a better life in the US for him and his family He was promised good wages, decent accommodation, a green card and permanent residency for him, his wife and two sons.

He paid $20,000 (Rs 8 lakh) in exchange for a job at the Signal International shipyard in Orange, Texas.

When he arrived at the facility there was no opportunity for his dreams to come to fruition. Instead, he lived in a room with 23 other men, sleeping in bunk beds and sharing two bathrooms. David, 41, said he worked 10-hour days in the hull of a ship where he inhaled fumes and smoke. He was served stale bread for breakfast and forced to eat lunches left in the elements for hours.

When he and fellow workers at the plant complained, they were told they would be deported, a paralyzing possibility because of the debt he incurred getting the job.

"I decided to gamble everything," David said. "We felt bonded. We felt like we were in prison. None the less, we ate their rotten food and stayed in their degrading conditions because they promised us green cards."

David is one of about 120 workers brought to the US from India to work for Signal International in their two shipyards who walked off the job last week in protest of the conditions.

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Friday, February 29, 2008

US site sells undies with Bapu images: riled India protests

The government of India has expressed outrage over the use of images of the tricolour and national icons like Gandhi and Nehru on undergarments hawked by an American company on the Web.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that the Indian embassy in Washington DC had written to the president of the company to protest, and ask that the practice be discontinued immediately.

"The matter has been followed up actively Further, the US government has also been apprised of this offensive practice of the said US company," Mukherjee said without naming the company.

While images of Indian gods and national icons have been used in an unflattering manner by Western companies in the past, it has been rare for the Indian government to get directly involved in the protest.

An online search revealed that a website called cafepress.com is selling "funky" Gandhi T-shirts and "boxer shorts" with a Bodhi tree impression. A 'Ganesha 101 tanktop' is


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posted by PressMart Team at 10:33 AM 0 Comments