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_p² {]Xn-a-IÄ XIÀ¯p The radical Islamic Taliban regime 13th century. In the 17th century, National in Afganistan has demolished the two Mughal emperor Aurangazeb also Narayanan Chief guest at statues of Buddha situated in Bamiyan, had ordered its destruction. Mauritius I - Day some 200km west of Kabul. The two Attempts by India and nations statues were 170 feet (51meteres) where Buddhism has influence like The President, K.R. Narayanan, and120 feet(36meteres) tall. The bigger Sri Lanka, and South-east Asian was the Chief Guest at the 33rd statue was the biggest statue of nations failed to deter the Taliban. Mauritius Independence Day celebra- Buddha in the world. These statues The United Nations Educational, tions on March 12. This is the second had been hewn out of the sandstone Scientific and Cultural time an Indian has been the Chief Guest cliff-face in the 2nd century A.D. The Organisation (UNESCO) also made at the celebrations. In 2000, the Prime statues were destroyed on the orders a vain effort to save the statues. It Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, was the of Mullah Mohamad Omar, the send its envoy Pierre Lafrance to Chief Guest. India and Mauritius have supreme leader of Taliban, that all persuade Taliban against the an old enduring bilateral relationship. statues and non-Islamic shrines destruction. Among the various sectors of co-op- located in different parts of the country Taliban, however, made it clear that eration, the latest and most important be broken. statues of the minorities in is the IT field. India had recently The statues had survived the Afganistan-Sikhs and Hindus extended a $100 million aid to Mauritius cannon fire of Genghis Khan in the would not be destroyed. for setting up a cyber city. It is being felt by Indian companies that Mauritius can be a base for technology-related export to third world countries in Africa and Europe.A key issue discussed was what steps both countries can take to take advantage of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act passed by the US. The Act would allow a number of African countries, including Mauritius, _manb³ Xmgvh-c-bnÂ Xmen-_m³ XIÀ¯ _p² {]Xn-a-IÄ to export goods to the US on a quota- free, duty-free basis. The only condi- brought to work in sugar tion is that the goods must be manu- additional costs, project over-runs and factured in Africa. Towards this, joint plantations in between 1835 and operation and maintenance costs. It ventures could be setup between the 1907. A colony of Britian, Mauritius was also decided to setup a national two countries. became independent in 1968 and a green volunteers to launch a nation- Sir Anerood Jugnauth is the Prime Republic in 1982. wide environment awareness Minister and Caseem Uteem is the Dodo was a native bird of Mauritius campaign. President of Mauritius which has become extinct. Print media not to have Mauritius is an island nation in the River projects; States to foreign investment Indian Ocean.The capital, official share cost language and currency unit of this The Union Information and Broad- casting Minister, Sushma Swaraj, has predominantly ethnic Indian- At a meeting of the National River made it clear that foreign investment Conservation Authority chaired by the dominated country are Port Louis, will not be permitted in the print media English and Mauritian rupee. Prime Minister, it was decided that sector. She told the Rajya Sabha that Almost 70 percent of the people are States would have to bear 30 percent the Government was keen to uphold Indians and 30 percent are of mixed of the cost of projects undertaken the Cabinet decision of 1955. The European, Indian and African under the national river conservation decision had then prohibited ancestry called Creoles. The programme. Presently the Centre meets publication of foreign owned newspa- Indians are desendants of the pers and periodicals in the country and the full expenditure. The States, if they Indian editions of foreign newspapers nearly 450,000 Indian labourers are responsible, would also meet and perodicals dealing mainly with of coaches; more than the market rate of interest news and current affairs. She also said (iii) closure of lines where States are should only be undertaken. that Mid-Day Multimedia, which had unwilling to bear losses; In its earlier report, the committee had earlier decided to allot limited shares (iv) dropping of projects where token called for a one-time Central grant of to foreign investors has now decided allocation have been made in the last Rs. 1,500 crore to help the Railways to improve its safety infrastructure. not to do so. two years; (v) total freeze on gauge conversion This committee headed by H. R. Railway safety new measures projects; Khanna, a former Supreme Court judge, The H.R. Khanna - headed high- (vi) using market borrowings only for new had been appointed after the Gaisal level Railway Safety Review commit- assets; incident. tee has submitted its recommendations (vii) reduction of staff strength by 25 Nadeem not to be extradited to the Railway Board. This is its second percent in the next ten years; The British House of Lords rejected report. The important highlights are: (viii) introduction of mobile communica- tion at the earliest; an appeal by the Indian Government (i) merger of railway departments; (ix) better facilities for drivers; for extradition of Nadeem to India. (ii) closer interaction with overseas R & (x) a ban on recruitment on sympathetic Nadeem is wanted in India for D agencies to improve crashworthiness grounds in safely- related jobs; and, prosecution in the Gulshan Kumar _mÂtIm Hml-cn-IÄ(xi) projects ssIamdnwith a rate of return (RoR) murder case. It thus upheld the London High Court decision against extradition. Ceasefire in Kashmir extended. The Centre has extended the ceasefire in Kashmir by three months-upto the end of May 2001. The Prime Minister. A.B. Vajpayee, who announced this in the Lok Sabha made it clear that it will not let the peace process be derailed, diluted or misused. He also warned that O¯o-kvK-Vnse tImÀ_-bnÂ ØnXn-sN-¿p¶ _mÂtIm ¹mâ v any attempt to inflict injury on any Indian citizen in the State of Jammu & In the year’s first major step towards Upper House.This is the third time Kashmir or anywhere in the country will privatisation of public sector that a Government has suffered this be sternly dealt with. companies, the Government has sold kind of embarrassment.Earlier it Jogi, Marandi win their 51 percent stake in the profit- making happened in 1980 and 1989. But this elections Bharat Aluminium Company Limited motion has no impact on the The Chief Minister of Chhatisgarh (BALCO) to Sterlite Industries. Sterlite stability of the Government for it and Congress (I) candidate, Ajit Jogi, had made an offer of Rs. 551.5 crores. enjoys a majority in the Parliament. and the Chief Minister of Jharkhand According to Arun Shourie, the The Chief Minister of Chattisgarh, and BJP candidate, Babulal Marandi, Minister of State for Disinvestment, the Ajit Jogi, offered to buy the 51 have been elected to their respective disinvestment had been made on the percent shares for Rs. 552 crores. legislative assemblies. In the by-elec- basis of the recommendation for sale This was rejected by the Centre. tions held at other places the BJP, SAD, to a strategic partner given by the Dis- The BALCO plant is located in SP and BSP shared the spoils. investment Commission. Korba (Chattisgarh). The BALCO deal raised many con- Quake felt in Delhi troversies. The Opposition alleged An earthquake measuring 6.7 on corruption into the sell-off. This the Richter scale rocked Central Asia was denied by the Government. An on February 25. The impact was felt in Opposition-sponsered motion India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan disapproving of BALCO was de- and Afganistan. The epicentre was 300 feated in the Lok Sabha by 239 km. north of Peshawar, in Afganistan’s votes to 119 votes. But the Gov- Hindukush mountain range. In an ernment was censured in the Rajya unrelated development, two Sabha by the Opposition. An op- earthquakes hit Japan. One having a position-sponsered amendment to magnitude of 5.8 on the Richter scale the motion of thanks to the Presi- Acp¬ jqdn hit North-Eastern Japan, another dent’s Address was passed by the measuring 4.3 shook Tokyo and nearby cities. Another quake economic growth. It has gone against NDP was only 3.39 percent which grew reportedly killed three persons in China. the old logic that industrial growth to 5.10 percent in the post reforms It occured in a remote area of China’s leads to economic growth. In Kerala period. The post-reforms period has Sichuan province on February 23. kmÀ¡v kt½-f-\-¯n\v the outstanding performance of also seen an increase in the services has buoyed the economic contribution of the service sector. It has C´y X¿mÀ growth. Another important fact was gone up to 59.05 percent as compared India has agreed for a meeting of that the economy has shown signs of to 50.70 percent in pre-reforms sector. the Foreign Secretaries of SAARC revival in the post-reforms period. Thus The study also shows that the service countries in May. This could possibly during the pre-reforms period the sector growth in Kerala at 7.91 percent lead to a summit later in the year where annual growth rate of net domestic was higher than the national average Prime Minister Vajpayee would meet product (NDP) of Kerala was only 4.83 of 7.9 percent.

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