The Tribune – Rs 25 cr for restoration of Gobindgarh Fort

G S Paul, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 20. For restoration and conservation of the historic Gobindgarh Fort at Amritsar, the Punjab Government today allocated a sum of Rs 25 crore. After completion of the first phase of renovation, the mid-18th century fort would be opened for public by mid of 2013.

At present, conservation work under the supervision of the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board to the tune of Rs 26 crore was under progress. Funds have been arranged partly from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Central Government.

Officials said the on going conservation work would require at least Rs 5 crore for the boundary walls of the fort, Rs 2.5 crore for the Darbar Hall and Rs 3 crore each for four bastions and other part of the fort, which has rich cultural and monumental values.

After completion of the first phase, visitors would be able to visit the legendary building of Maharaja Ranjit Singh distinguished by its 20-foot high circular plinth, which has already been restored.

The British had constructed a colonial-style bungalow after demolishing some of its floors. The building, erroneously shown as the residence of General Dyer, would be restored as an artifacts based museum which would showcase defence equipments of the Maharaja’s army, which was termed as Asia’s only modern army at that time. Apart from this, a historical narrative showing defence strategy of the Maharaja in decimating Afghan rulers and preventing invasions from uncertain western border would also be on display in this section.

The ADB had already provided Rs 7 crore for the second phase of restoration. This phase would see two-acre parking at the entrance of the fort, landscaping, construction of moat walls, four gates, northwestern bastion, rampart walls and the Toshakhana.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120621/punjab.htm#12

The Tribune – Government goes off track, succumbs to populism

Ruchika M. Khanna, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 20. The Budget 2012-13 presented by Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa has confirmed the worst fears regarding the poor fiscal health of the state.

Succumbing to populism, the state has gone completely off track from the fiscal consolidation roadmap drawn for it by the 13th Finance Commission because of its burgeoning revenue deficit. The public debt has escalated to a whopping Rs 78,236 crore and the Budget has made no provisions whatsoever for increasing taxes or mopping up additional resources.

The state remained on track and managed to rein in its revenue deficit to less than 1.80 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) till last financial year (2010-11). But the additional capital expenditure incurred by the SAD- BJP government at the fag-end of 2011 (just before the announcement of assembly elections) has led to the revenue deficit growing by 100 per cent over the projected estimates. It is learnt that the revenue deficit has grown to a mind-boggling Rs 6,838 crore (2011-12), as against an estimate of Rs 3,379 crore. This means that the revenue deficit is now almost 2.75 per cent of the GSDP, thus putting a lot of stress on the Finance Minister to rein in the revenue deficit over this year.

The 13th Finance Commission has laid down that Punjab brings down its revenue deficit to 1.2 per cent of the GSDP in 2012-13, 0.6 per cent by 2013-14 and become a zero deficit state by 2014-15. But to attain this target, it will take much more than cutting down on administrative expenditure and plugging tax evasion in order to cut down on the revenue deficit and bring it down to Rs 3,123 crore in the current fiscal.

It is not just the cutting down of the revenue deficit that is a cause of worry for the first-time Finance Minister. He also has to implement the sops promised by his party before the assembly elections such as bicycles to girl students and employability allowance. All this, will translate into an additional revenue of Rs 3,000 crore per annum. So far, with the limited resources at his disposal, the minister has made allocations of just Rs 150 crore for implementing some poll promises.

While the laptops have been replaced by low-cost tablets, the minister has kept aside Rs 110 crore for the purpose. In this fiscal, the government also proposes to give away employability allowance to 30,000 youths at the rate of Rs 1,000 per month.

With the target of cutting down on the revenue deficit by more than 100 per cent and the promise to fulfill all other poll vows, the minister has clearly hinted that there is little room for compromise.

“Punjab needs to raise an additional Rs 2.000 crore-Rs 3,000 crore this financial year. We will soon have a meeting with our alliance partners once Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is back. We will have to take decisions to increase the tax net vertically as well as horizontally,” the minister said.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120621/punjab.htm#4

The Asian Age – Country needs a Hindu PM: Sangh parivar

Sanjay Basak

New Delhi, 21 June 2012. The secularism-Hindutva battle intensified on Wednesday with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat rallying behind Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying the country needed a ‘Hindu’ leader.

Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar had decided to take on Mr Modi when the BJP, at its Mumbai national executive, wanted to name the latter chairman of its campaign and selection committee.

This would have been a clear signal that the party wanted to project Mr Modi as its prime ministerial candidate for 2014.

Mr Nitish Kumar, who has to cater to Bihar’s Muslim votebank, made it clear the NDA needed a secular face, sources said.

However, despite the war of words, sources said Mr Kumar had ‘assured the BJP leadership he will not quit the NDA’.

A BJP leader claimed the move to pick Mr Modi as head of the BJP campaign and selection committee was also ‘conveyed to Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and Tamil Nadu CM J. Jayalalithaa’.

It was said that if the BJP managed to get 200 seats in the 2014 general elections on its own, the party will project Mr Modi as Prime Minister.

“Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalithaa had no issues, but Nitish needs to cater to the Muslim votebank in Bihar,” the BJP leader added.

Some BJP leaders were apparently taken unawares by the RSS chief’s anti-Nitish remarks. Lashing out at Mr Kumar for saying that the NDA needed a secular Prime Minister, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said, “Nitish Kumar said NDA’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 elections should be secular. He wants to keep his vote bank intact.”

Mr Bhagwat was addressing an RSS meeting at Latur in Maharashtra.

Adhering to the Hindutva card, the RSS chief went on to say, “Hinduism is an all-inclusive religion, Hinduism is the religion of humanism, Hinduism follows a broad philosophy.”

Then came the saffron sting, “To keep Hindutva ideology alive, the Hindu samaj needs to come together and the country should have a Prime Minister who believes in this ideology, Mr Bhagwat said.

RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said that ‘Hindutva is synonym for secularism’. He then quickly added that the RSS chief’s remarks should not be linked to ‘day to day happening in national politics’.

http://www.asianage.com/india/country-needs-hindu-pm-sangh-332

Vilvoorde Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan, 20 May 2012

Vilvoorde, Gurdwara Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Paying respect to the Guru Granth Sahib

Vilvoorde, Gurdwara Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Langar seen from balcony

Vilvoorde, Gurdwara Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Langar seen from balcony

Vilvoorde, Gurdwara Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Naujawan

Vilvoorde, Gurdwara Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Guru Granth Sahib on the Palki truck

Gurdwara Guru Nanak Dev Ji
14 Lange Molen Straat
B-1800 Vilvoorde (Vlaams-Brabant)
Vilvoorde is just north of Brussel and near to Brussel Airport

To see more Belgium and Netherlands gurdwara pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622147381380/

 
More Belgium pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Pranab vs Sangma for President’s post; Ex-Lok Sabha Speaker quits NCP

Anita Katyal, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 20. The July 19 Presidential election will witness a contest between Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma. Sangma, founder member of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), resigned from the party today. NCP chief Sharad Pawar has accepted his resignation.

The NCP, which is a constituent of the UPA and is backing Mukherjee’s candidature, was not happy with Sangma’s decision and had even warned him that he would face disciplinary action if he decided to contest the Presidential poll.

Sangma’s candidature had been proposed by AIADMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Sangma has now got the additional support of a divided NDA which was left with little option after former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who was its first choice, opted out of the race.

Janata Party President Subramaniam Swamy, who has been in constant touch with Sangma on behalf of the NDA, called on the former Lok Sabha Speaker this afternoon to convey the NDA’s support. It was after this verbal assurance that Sangma resigned from the NCP. Interestingly, it was Swamy who announced his resignation to the media. “Sangma had no option but to resign from the NCP. He has done so for self-respect. We are trying to build a consensus in his favour,” he said.

BJP leaders who met here at LK Advani’s residence this evening, decided that their decision will announced after tomorrow’s meeting of NDA allies.

However, the BJP-led NDA is not all on the same page on this issue.

Shiv Sena, the BJP’s closest ally, has already announced that it will back UPA candidate Mukherjee as it does not see any merit in forcing a token contest. Similarly, the Janata Dal (U) is also not in favour of backing Sangma and would prefer to pledge its support to Mukherjee.

It is learnt that JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav has conveyed as much to the BJP leadership. It was because of these internal differences that the last two meetings of NDA leaders had ended inconclusively.

In his resignation letter, Sangma stated that the Tribal Forum of India had projected his candidature for the Presidential election which had the backing of several political parties while his own party was disinclined to endorse his candidature.

“This amounts to denial of the aspirations of tribals of the country,” he said, adding that he had no option but to resign from the party.

In an effort to put up a credible fight, the BJP will not project Sangma as its own nominee but as an Independent candidate.

By doing so, it hopes to win over parties like the Trinamool Congress and the Left Front, which would otherwise not like to be seen in the company of the NDA.

However, Mukherjee is well ahead of his opponent. Not only does he have the backing of the UPA constituents, except the Trinamool Congress, but he also has the support of the Samajwadi Party, the BSP, the Lok Janashakti Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Battlelines drawn

Janata Party chief Subramaniam Swamy called on Sangma on Wednesday afternoon to convey the NDA’s support

It was after this verbal assurance that Sangma quit the NCP

Swamy announced Sangma’s resignation to the media

BJP won’t project Sangma as its own nominee, but as an Independent candidate to win over the Trinamool and Left Front

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120621/main2.htm

Dawn – Zardari nominates Makhdoom Shahbuddin for PM slot

Islamabad, 21 June 2012. President Asif Ali Zardari has nominated textile industry minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin as a candidate for the new prime minister, state television reported on Thursday.

Zardari had been locked in crisis talks with allies to select a consensus candidate to take on the premiership after the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed Yousuf Raza Gilani for contempt.

“President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the co-chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party, has nominated Makhdoom Shahabuddin as a candidate for the prime minister,” Pakistan Television said.

Zardari has already summoned the national assembly to meet on Friday to elect the new premier.

Shahabuddin will file his nomination papers on Thursday. Another federal minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, will be the alternative candidate.

The nuclear-armed country – facing a Taliban insurgency and subject to US wrath over havens for al Qaeda-linked militants fighting the Americans in Afghanistan – has been plunged into political chaos by the court ruling.

Gilani, who became prime minister following the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) election win in 2008, was dismissed after being convicted of contempt for refusing to ask Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against Zardari.

He moved out of the prime minister’s house as Zardari led intense horse trading with coalition partners and PPP MPs in order to set up a new executive and stave off early general elections.

The national assembly said nominations had to be submitted on Thursday, with voting to take place on Friday.

The new premier will immediately face court demands to write to the Swiss, so analysts say Zardari will only countenance a loyalist and someone from Punjab province who can complement his own power base in the south.

Washington, which has a troubled anti-terror alliance with Islamabad, has called on Pakistan to resolve the crisis in accordance with the constitution.

The turmoil is unlikely to hasten a deal on ending Pakistan’s seven-month blockade on Nato supplies into Afghanistan, which has infuriated Nato and forced the US to use more expensive routes through central Asia.

In Pakistan, there has been criticism of the judges’ interference but other analysts pointed out the change of prime minister will have little tangible effect on policy or the longevity of the government.

Gilani’s disqualification was the culmination of a showdown between the judiciary led by a popular chief justice, and a weak, ineffective government that critics say has been politicised at best or vendetta-driven at worst.

Zardari prevaricated for months on restoring the independent judiciary after the PPP won general elections in February 2008, only doing so in March 2009 to stave off a threatened opposition march on Islamabad.

In December 2009, the Supreme Court annulled a controversial amnesty that had allowed Zardari and his late wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, back into politics in exchange for a moratorium on corruption cases.

But the government refused to request the Swiss reopen investigations. The court’s patience ran out and on April 26 it convicted Gilani of contempt.

Gilani always insisted Zardari had immunity as head of state and that writing to the Swiss would be a violation of Pakistan’s constitution.

PPP supporters accuse the court, in collusion with the army and the opposition, of trying to bring down Zardari before February 2013, when the administration would become the first in Pakistan to complete a full five-year term.

The cases against Zardari date to the 1990s, when he and his late wife are suspected of using Swiss banks to launder $12 million allegedly paid in bribes by companies seeking customs contracts.

The Swiss shelved the cases in 2008 when Zardari became president.

http://dawn.com/2012/06/21/zardari-nominates-makhdoom-shahbuddin-for-pm/