‘Need to curb graft in mining’
Social Activist Anna Hazare said in Goa on Monday that fighting corruption in the mining sector would be one of the main thrusts in his crusade. Pointing out that the mining sector was the source of a large portion of the country’s black money, Mr Hazare said, “Corru-ption in India’s mining sector is huge and needs to be handled properly. It acc-ounts for a big portion of the black money in India.”
“I know you have gone through hardships. I know how difficult it has been to fight the corrupt and oppressive mining lobby. That is why I will make the fight against it one of my thrust areas in my campaign against corruption,” Mr Hazare said.
Pointing out that mining could not be carried out at the cost of the environment and nature, Mr Hazare said, “We simply cannot afford to ignore nature anymore. If nature’s destruction continues at a rapid pace, we too will be dest-royed soon.” Mr Hazare criticised Dr Manmohan Singh for inviting foreign companies to bolster the economy and reminded the latter that Mahatma Gand-hi’s had always said that one should first improve the rural economy.
Mr Hazare also said that he fully supported Mr Arvind Kejriwal’s foray into politics.
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Loyalist mantris cross swords
Bengaluru, Nov. 5: Two ministers loyal to BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa on Monday engaged in a wordy duel in the presence of chief minister Jagadish Shettar and in full view of a large gathering of officials at Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat.
The action of housing minister V. Somanna and minister for cooperation B.J. Puttaswamy brought severe embarrassment to Shettar as the incident occurred at a meeting of top officials called for revewing progress of development works in some departments including social welfare.
Mr Somanna took exce-ption to Mr Puttaswamy allegedly carrying some tales against him to the former chief minister Yeddyurappa, who is now preparing to float his new party. — PTI
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