HEALTH MINISTER SHRI DALIT EZHILMALAI REITERATES HIS APPEAL TO THE DOCTORS TO CALL OFF THE STRIKE

    The Government is willing to end the strike of AIIMS faculty through negotiations. Union Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare Shri Dalit Ezhilmalai who returned to Delhi yesterday night, has reiterated his appeal to doctors to call off the strike which is causing hardships to the general public, keeping in view their stature and their status. The Prime Minister is personally monitoring the progress of the deliberations of the Group of Ministers’ meeting over this issue the Minister said. Group of Ministers has authorised the HRD Minister Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi to hold talks with the AIIMS faculty. Government is always willing to meet the doctors to put an end to the strike.

    The recommendations of the Bakshi Committee are only recommendatory in nature and not an award like Pay Commission. What could be accepted by the Government on the Bakshi Committee’s recommendations had already been notified, said the Minister.
 
 

PRESIDENT PRESENTS GANDHI PEACE PRIZE TO RAMAKRISHANA MISSION

    The President, Shri K.R.Narayanan, gave away the Gandhi Peace Prize for 1998 to the Ramakrishna Mission, in Calcutta today.

    Swami Ranganathananda of the Ramakrishna Mission received the prize at a ceremony in the Durbar Hall of the Raj Bhavan in the city. The prize carries an amount of rupees ten million, a citation and a plaque.

    Founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897 in Calcutta, the Ramakrishna Mission is now an international organisation with 137 branches in different parts of India and abroad. In bestowing the Gandhi Peace Prize for 1998 on the Ramakrishna Mission, the Government of India has honoured an organisation which has rendered exemplary service to the suffering humanity with a sense of commitment that reflects Gandhian thought and practice.

    Those present at the function included Human Resources Development Minister, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, West Bengal Governor Shri A.R.Kidwai, Tripura Governor Shri Siddheswar Prasad and West Bengal Chief Minister Shri Jyoti Basu, besides members of Parliament, bureaucrats and Ramakrishna monks.