This is an archive article published on October 13, 2021

Opinion October 13, 1981, Forty Years Ago: Anti-graft campaign

Five organisations, including the Citizens for Democracy and Lok Sevak Eangh, founded by Jayaprakash Narayan, decided at a meeting in New Delhi to launch an all-India campaign against corruption.

This was in commemoration of Jayaprakash Narayan’s birth anniversary on Sunday.

October 13, 2021 07:35 AM IST First published on: Oct 13, 2021 at 05:20 AM IST

Five organisations, including the Citizens for Democracy and Lok Sevak Eangh, founded by Jayaprakash Narayan, decided at a meeting in New Delhi to launch an all-India campaign against corruption. This was in commemoration of Jayaprakash Narayan’s birth anniversary on Sunday. The meeting passed a resolution, prevailing on Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to remove A R Antulay from the poet of Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The other organisations which also sponsored the anti-corruption movement were the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Delhi Voters Council and the Hindustan Andolan.

Visa issue

The government has said that it was not involved at this stage In the issue concerning China’s refusal to grant a visa to the Speaker of the Arunachal Assembly, T L Rajkumar. Rajkumar is a member of the Indian parliamentarians’ delegation, which is to leave for Beijing later this month to attend a conference on population control. Answering questions, an official spokesman said the government was, however, aware that the Chinese government had refused visa to Rajkumar. The delegation has been told to take up the matter with the United Nations which has sponsored the conference. UN authorities were in touch with the Chinese government in this connection, the spokesman said.

Purge in Egypt

Eighteen Egyptian officers with “ fanatic religious tendencies” have been dismissed from the army in the wake of Sadat’s assassination by Muslim fundamentalists, official sources said. The dismissal was the first reported move by the government to purge the army of religious extremists. “Eighteen army officers have been posted into civilian positions because of their fanatic religious tendencies,” said the statement released by official sources who would not be publicly identified.