From: gnreddy@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (G.Narotham Reddy)
Subject: India: Home Minister's suggestion for a separate state condemned
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 92 22:35:03 GMT


Sources	: PTI & All India Radio, 9/14/92, 17387 khz 
Country	: India

Topics:
* Cong(I) meeting discusses dissidence in AP, Karnataka
* All party meet condemns Chavan's statement on Jharkand
* Harshad Mehta says, he is singled out
* Another top militant succumbs to army operation in Punjab:
* First Scheme for legal aid to middle income group launched
     
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* Shabhana adjudged best actress

Indian film actress Shabhana Azmi was adjudged the best actress at the
third international film festival of the NAM and other developing
countries which concluded at Pyongyang Sunday.

Azmy, a three time national award winner for the best actress, won the
honour for her role in the Hindi film 'Libaas', an official release said.

'Libaas' was directed by India's noted film director Gulzar, explores 
marital relationships in the rapidly changing Indian urban society.

Another Indian entry, a documentary film 'Lolaab' was awarded the
special jury prize.


* Cong(I) meeting discusses dissidence in AP, Karnataka

New Delhi (PTI)  A high level Cong(I) meeting presided over by party 
president and Premier P.V. Narasimha Rao tonight discussed the situation 
in the dissidence ridden Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
PArty sources said the leadership is expected to take a decision on
the issue shortly.
	The meeting was attended by party general secretaries, treasurer
Sita Ram Kesari, spokesman V N Gadgil and political secretary to
party president Jitendra Prasada.
	Prasada was among the group of observers deputed by the high
command to Andhra Pradesh to study the political situation. The other
observers are still in Hyderabad and party spokesman V N Gadgil stated
yesterday that their mission was not yet complete.
	At the meeting party general secretary Sushil Kumar Shinde
informed that he was convening a meeting of party MPs, MLAs, former
MPs, former Chief Ministers, PCC Presidents and other prominet leaders
here on Sept 18 to discuss the Jharkhand issue. Home Minister Mr.S.B.Chavan
would also attend the meeting.
	He said a similar meeting on Kashmir will be convened on Sept 19.

* All party meet condemns Chavan's statement on Jharkand

Patna - (PTI) An all party meeting convened here termed as 'unfortunate
and irresponsible' the statement of the federal home minister S B
Chavan that creation of a separate state or union territory could
alone solve the protracted Jharkhand problem.
	The protest meeting convened by Bihar Chief Minister Lallo
Prasad Yadav was attended by leaders of the Janata Dal, Cong(I), BJP,
Communist Party of India, Forward Bloc, SJP, and Jharkhand Mukti
Morcha.
	Briefing reporters after the meeting, the Chief Minister said
the statement which had been made without consulting all the
recognised parties of the country and the state government, therefore,
condemned it.
	The meeting authorised him to convene a meeting of national
leaders of all political parties and their state units for eliciting
their views on the issue.
	The tribals of the Jharkhand area in Bihar bordering West
Bengal and Orissa are demanding a separate state to assert their
distinct cultural and linguistic identity and also for better
administration. 
	Talking to PTI here, he said the center had not learnt lesson 
from the bifurcation of the greater Punjab and was contemplating another
bifurcation.
	The center was trying to gloss over the fact that hardly 30
per cent people of the tribal areas in Bihar were in favour of a
separate political entity, the creation of which would spell a dangerous
and long-drawn process of conflict between the tribals and non-tribals
in the so called Jharkhand region.

* Harshad Mehta says, he is singled out

Bombay: Stock broker Harshad Metha, accused in the Rs 3,200 crore
securities scam, has said he was being singled out and discriminated
against by the investigating agencies of the government.
	Harshad Mehta had been in police custody for 95 days has shot
off a letter to the chairman of the joint parliamentary committee
Ram Nivas Mirdha charging the investigating agencies with
discrimination towards him inspite of his offer for total cooperation
before his arrest on June four by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
	"I am being singled out and discriminated aganist by the
investigating agencies of the government and that I am being made a
scapegoat", he said in his letter which was released to the press here
today.
	"I am not the principal accused in any of the FIR's. In many
cases, the principal accused have not been arrested or if arrested are
already on bail", he stated in the letter.

* Another top militant succumbs to army operation in Punjab:

In Punjab, a self-styled Lt.Gen of Khalistan Liberation Force was shot 
dead. (name was not clear) 

* First Scheme for legal aid to middle income group launched

New Delhi:  The Chief Justice of India M H Kania, today inaugurated
the first ever scheme to provide legal aid and advice to middle income
people. 
	The scheme, first of its kind in the country will be a
self-financing one with no additional costs to the public exchequer,
as the funds for its operation would be provided by the litigants
themselves.
	Launching the scheme in the Delhi High Court premises, Justice
Kania said the need for such an arrangement was being felt since long,
as quality professional legal counselling was becoming out of reach
for the ordinary people.
	The advantage of the new scheme was that it contemplated
reasonable fees to lawyers, he said, adding that it would be
successful if it is implemented with dedication and spirit to help
ordinary litigants.

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