LOVE

RESEARCH, REFERENCE AND TRAINING DIVISION
(Ministry of Information and Broadcasting)

The Diary

Vol. XLIV

1-15 December, 2000

(Agrahayana 10-24, 1922)

No.17

NATIONAL EVENTS

December 1 Priyanka Chopra crowns Miss World.

December 2 Forty passengers die in a train accident in Punjab.

December 5 BCCI imposes life ban on Mohammed Azharuddin.

December 6 New wage structure for journalists and non-journalists notified.

December 7 Twenty six persons gunned down in Upper Assam.

December 11 Justice Sathya Bratha Sinha is new Chief Justice of

Andhra Pradesh High Court.

December 12 Ex-CM of Karnataka J.H. Patel is no more.

December 13 Vikram Sood is appointed Chief of RAW.

INTERNATIONAL

December 10 Nawaz Sharif arrives in Saudi Arabia on exile.

This fortnightly service brings to focus the major national and international events for record and reference by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and its media units.

NATIONAL

December 1

Government clears 106 foreign direct investment proposal worth Rs.526 crore.
Government restricts the fiscal deficit to 45.7 per cent of the budgeted Rs.1,11,275 crore for 2000-01, after a period of seven months ended October 31.
Priyanka Chopra crowns Miss World.
Cabinet approves projects aims at reform and restructure of the power sector and to improve the commercial viability of the State Electricity Boards.

December 2

Pakistan asks its armed forces to observe 'maximum restraint' in Kashmir to strengthen ceasefire in the region.
Atleast 40 passengers killed when Howrah Express collides with goods train in Punjab.

December 4

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee indicates that the Government can extend the ceasefire beyond Ramzan provided Pakistan respond in a 'substantive' manner.
Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee's resignation from the Union Cabinet, owning moral responsibility for train accident in Punjab, is rejected by the Prime Minister.

December 5

Board of Control for Cricket in India imposes a life ban on Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma. It also bans Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar and Ali Irani for five years While Nayan Mongia and Delhi Groundsman Ram Adhar are exonerated of match-fixing.
President appoints Mr. Justice Satya Brata Sinha, Judge of the Calcutta High Court, as the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court.
Cabinet clears Fiscal Responsibility Act. The legislation is intended to impart discipline to Government finances.

December 6

Mr. Justice Ashok Abhaiendra Desai takes oath as the first Chief Justice of Uttaranchal High Court.
Government notifies new wage structure for journalists and non-journalists on the recommendations of the R.K. Manisana Singh Wage Board.
Social worker Baba Amte is conferred Dr. Ambedkar International Award for Social Change in recognition for his services in espousing the cause of the exploited and underprivileged and his fight against injustice and inequality.

December 7

ULFA militants guns down 26 persons at Sonpura near Arunachal border in Upper Assam.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee releases two publications - 'Practice and Procedure of Parliament' and 'Who's who - Thirteenth Lok Sabha' in New Delhi.

December 8

President gives his assent to Multi-modal Transportation of Goods (Amendment) Bill, 2000.

December 9

Passport of Hurriyat Conference leader Moulana Abbas Ansari is revoked.
Centre decides to make police stations, post offices and bank branches act as Passport Clearance Centers from January 1, 2001.
India frees 48 Pakistan fishermen who had strayed into its waters, as a gesture of ceasefire goodwill during Ramadan.
Private broadcasters to get licence for 40 FM channels.
United Nations Sanctions Committee approves Indo-Iraq food-for-oil deal.

December 11

Justice Sathya Bratha Sinha is sworn in as the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court.

December 12

Senior Janata Dal (U) leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister J.H. Patel, 71, passes away in Bangalore.

December 13

Finance Minister moves second supplementary demand for grants for 2000-2001 for additional expenditure of Rs.2,639/- crore this financial year.
Vikram Sood is appointed Chief of the Research and Analysis Wing and V. Govindarajan is appointed Secretary Department of Company Affairs.

December 14

Government declares postal strike illegal.
Opposition-sponsored motion demand resignation of three ministers charged in the Babri Masjid demolition case is defeated in the Lok Sabha.

December 15

Delhi Government invokes Essential Services Maintenance Act to prohibit any agitation by employees of the Department of Posts for a period of six months.
Government opens commercial wings in Indian missions in 65 countries for promotion of Indian trade.
Magsaysay award winner jounalist and author Gour Kishor Ghosh,78, passes away.

INTERNATIONAL

December 6

At least 53 combatants are killed in an army operation in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

December 10

Deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, accompanied by his family, arrives in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on exile after being released from jail on receiving a Presidential pardon.

December 11

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif surrenders 80 per cent of his family's assets to the Pakistan government.

December 15

Bangladesh Government declares Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Irfan-ur Rehman Raja as persona-non-grata.
Lebanon, Syria and Egypt sign a joint protocol agreement to set up a trans-continental pipeline to carry Egyptian liquefied gas to Europe via Middle East.