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|
RESEARCH,
REFERENCE AND TRAINING DIVISION
(Ministry of Information and Broadcasting)
Website : www.nic.in/rrtd
E-mail : rrtd_ib@vsnl.com |
|
The Diary |
|
Vol. XLIV |
1-15 February, 2001
(Magha 12-26, 1922) |
No.21 |
NATIONAL EVENTS
February 1 Government announces additional two per cent levy on income tax
assessees.
February 3 Japan liberalises visa for Indian IT professionals.
February 6 Former Union Minister V.N. Gadgil passes away.
February 8 Census 2001 begins.
February 10 Pt. Ravi Shankar is knighted by the Queen of Britain.
February 13 Manipur Chief Minister Nipamacha Singh resigns.
INTERNATIONAL
February 14 El Salvador is rocked.
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
February 1
- Centre announces additional levy of two per cent on all the income tax assessees with an
annual income of more than Rs.60,000 to mop up additional resources for the relief and
rehabilitation of Gujarat earthquake victims.
- Government amends MP Local Area Development Scheme guidelines to enable MPs to donate
whole or part of their annual Rs.2 crore fund for the reconstruction work in quake-ravaged
Gujarat.
- Government to divest 25 per cent equity in Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. and 57 per cent in
Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC).
February 2
- Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakikstan's Chief Executive General Pervez
Musharraf hold their first ever telephonic conversation.
- Thirty eight miners are trapped in Dhanbad.
- Coal India decides to hike coal prices.
- US Exim Bank approves $300 million facility to Industrial Development Bank of India for
financing imports by Indian companies from USA.
February 3
- Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajapayee cancels his proposed visit to Malaysia and Japan in
view of the Gujarat earthquake.
- Japan decides to issue multiple entry visa to Indian IT professionals going there on
business from February 5.
February 4
- Former Indian Cricket Captain Pankaj Roy, 73, passes away in Kolkata.
February 5
- Five-member Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) withdraws support to the National Democratic
Alliance government.
- Prime Minister's economic advisory council submits its report to Atal Behari Vajpayee.
February 6
- Former Union Minister V.N. Gadgil passes away in New Delhi.
- Union Cabinet okays enactment of a new law that will ban tobacco advertising of any
kind, smoking in public places or sale of tobacco products to below 18 year olds.
- Cabinet defers decision on hiking foreign investment limits for both telecom and civil
aviation.
February 7
- Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approves gauge conversion of Cuddalore
Vrindachalam-Salem line at a cost of Rs.208.36 crore.
February 8
- Bangalore bench of Central Administrative Tribunal quashes the appointment of R.K.
Raghavan as Director of Central Bureau of Investiation.
- Syed Shahnawaz Hussain is appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Coal.
- Census 2001 begins. President K.R. Narayanan, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee are
among the first few to be enumerated.
- Indian Tobacco Company withdraws from all kinds of sports sponsorship following Union
Cabinet decision to ban tobacco advertising in the country.
- Tennis player Vijay Amritraj is selected by the United Nations, as its messenger of
peace to help spread the message of world harmony.
February 9
- Militants storm the main police control room complex in Srinagar.
- Telecom Regulatory Authority of India orders Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. to extend its
recently announced 200 km local call tariff scheme to inter-circle calls by February 20.
- Draft Communication Convergence Bill is put on the website for inviting comments from
public.
- India releases 160 Pakistani fishermen.
February 10
- J&K militants burn alive 11 persons in Rajouri district.
- Pandit Ravi Shankar is bestowed the 'Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the
British Empire' title by the Queen in recognition of his services to music.
- India signs a defence contract with Israel for the purchase of seven Barak ship-based
anti-missile systems.
Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Chairman Subash Ghising is ambushed near Sath Gumti in
Siliguri.
- India and Russia sign agreement on participation in Sakhalin-1 offshore oil project.
February 11
- Government to pay "all outstandings" of Maharashtra State Electricity Board
due to Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Company.
February 12
- Stage and film actress Bhakti Varve Inamdar killed in a road accident.
- Congress Working Committee reconstituted. Some new faces in the Committee include Kamal
Nath, Mahavir Prasad, Mukul Wasnik, Sarojini Pulla Reddy and L.P. Sahi.
- Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. begins its South Africa Far East undersea fibre optic cable
landing operation at Kochi landing point in Kerala.
February 13
- Manipur Chief Minister, Wahengbam Nipamacha Singh resigns.
- Centre decides to ban 'F" channel.
- Union Cabinet decides to extend the term of the National Commission to review the
working of the Constitution by eight months, upto 31 October.
- Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment formally decides to dilute Government's equity
holding in Maruti Udyog Limited.
- India-Myanmar road is opened.
- Union Cabinet approves signing of an aviation safety promotion agreement with Russia.
February 14
- R.R. Shah is appointed Secretary, Reconstruction, Management and Monitoring in the
Cabinet Secretariat.
February 15
- Samata Party leader Radhabinod Koijam is sworn in as the Chief Minister of Manipur.
- India and Russia sign three agreements on the T-90S main battle tank. The agreements
will cover the tank purchase and eventual manufacture, including weapons systems.
- India and Myanmar agree to open three new points for trade on the border and consider
the possibility of operating an Indian Consulate in Mandalay.
INTERNATIONAL
February 10
- US submarine hits Japanese boat, killing nine persons near Hawaii.
February 12
- Saudi Arabia asks exiled Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family to
surrender their passports after his nephew's unauthorised return to Pakistan in violation
of the agreement.
February 13
- Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) launched by the United States lands on an
asteroid.
February 14
- At least 237 people killed and 1,700 injured in El Salvador earthquake.