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Wednesday,
June 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Zero deficit J&K Budget presented
Cops, teachers to be recruited at tehsils |
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QUESTIONS IN ASSEMBLY
2 ultras among 4
killed in valley Summer heat, erratic power Tuitions by govt teachers banned Pak cyclist nabbed
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Zero deficit J&K Budget presented Srinagar, June 3 The Budget provides sops for farmers, those in the tourist trade, hotels and dhabas, girl students, transporters, horticulturists, senior citizens and destitutes. It also aims at creating infrastructural development and provides 3 per cent DA in cash for employees and pensioners with effect from January this year. The levy on land revenue has been abolished. Sales tax holiday for a year for hotels, restaurants and dhabas and general tax holiday from the payment of entertainment duty up to March 2005 has also been announced. In his 90-minute speech, the Finance Minister, Mr Muzaffar Hussain Beig, said it was different from all previous Budgets in three ways. Firstly, it was a fully-funded Budget and there was no “unfunded” gap in resources. Secondly, the Plan size was decided “on our own” instead of the Planning Commission fixing it for the state. This was done by delinking the Central assistance for the state Plan from the size of the Plan. Lastly, there was no use of overdraft as a means to finance expenditure for the resources had been tied up before making any Plan and non-Plan expenditure commitments. The total expenditures and receipts had touched Rs 9,734 crore for the current financial year while last year’s total expenditures had touched Rs 9,833 crore against the total receipts of Rs 9,296 crore. Under the institutional reforms, the Budget proposed to set up a state planning board with a professional planner as the deputy chairman. The dissolution of the state electricity board had also been proposed. Under the new proposals, which the Finance Minister said were a part of the balancing act, some welfare-inducing, revenue-enhancing and expenditure-restructuring measures had been introduced. The changes in tax and non-tax rates would result in the net additional revenue mobilisation of Rs 168 crore, the minister said. The six-point fiscal reforms initiated under the Budget included a new overdraft mechanism, debt swapping, a consolidated sinking fund, guarantee redemption fund, and a ceiling on guarantees. The Budget proposed soft loans at 1 per cent to help professionals set up private business. It also proposed to introduce offline and online lottery system to enhance the revenue for developing a social security support system. It also proposed Rs 2 crore for the cultural revival in the state. For the rationalisation of excise duty, the Budget proposed revision in the rates of excise duty on IMFL to bring parity in the rate structure applicable for civilian and Army use, with an import duty raised by Rs 5 per LPL. It also proposed to marginally increase the licence fee in respect of bar attached with hotels and restaurants, besides distilleries and breweries. The Budget proposals included the abolition of toll posts at Nagrota, Manwal, Banihal and Manda. Toll would be charged at Lakhanpur and Lower Munda, with a revision in the toll rates by 25 per cent. The Finance Minister proposed the creation of a women entrepreneur’s development fund with a Rs 10 lakh corpus. He also proposed to create a cropus for VRS and the golden handshake scheme for public sector undertakings. For this, the Union Finance Minister had promised seed capital, he added. For senior citizens and orphans, the minister proposed an insurance cover. “We are negotiating with leading insurance companies to work out for us an insurance product for the above 60 population,” he said, adding that he was keen to work out a nutritional and education cover for the girl child. He proposed to constitute a three-member committee to help banks work out new instruments in line with the needs of horticulture. The committee would be requested to submit a report by July-end.
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VAT in J&K from Oct 1 Srinagar, June 3 He said: “We are moving away from the existing tax regime, which is archaic and highly complex, to the new tax regime of VAT.’’ A Bill on VAT would be placed before the House for deliberation and enactment, he said adding that the existing tax regime interfered with the free play of market forces and competition, causing economic distortions.
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Cops, teachers to be recruited at tehsils Srinagar, June 3 Spelling out the employment policy in the Legislative Assembly here this morning, the Chief Minister said that the government had decided to make recruitment at the tehsil level in the police, the education and other such departments. He said this would also help educated youth of urban areas to get jobs. He said the government was going ahead gradually but steadily to tackle unemployment by filling vacancies in various departments. He said the vacancies in Health, Agriculture, Engineering, Physical Education and other essential services would be filled on need-based basis. Mufti Sayeed stated that the Prime Minister, during his recent visit to the valley, had announced the creation of one lakh jobs for Jammu and Kashmir youths in the next two years. To work out the modalities for implementing the decision, a high-level committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary with the Chief Secretary among others as its member, had been constituted. He said the committee was meeting on June 10 to decide the procedure for the implementation of the job package. Referring to the steps being taken to tackle unemployment problem in the state, the Chief Minister said that the government had sanctioned over 11,000 posts of teacher to provide third teacher to the primary schools and these would be filled on the Rehbar-e-Taleem pattern. This too would create openings for the educated unemployed, he added. He said, he had asked the Education Minister that, if need be, procedure for the recruitment of teachers under Rehbar-e-Taleem scheme in far-flung areas should be relaxed with regard to distance and other parametres. He said instructions had also been issued to provide staff required for new higher secondary schools and colleges. Similar flexible approach would be adopted for Health and Engineering Departments, he said. The Chief Minister said that the Defence Ministry is also raising six battalions of ‘Homes and Hearths’ from the border areas of the state besides two battalions each of Ec-Task Force and Territorial Army. These would provide employment to around 12,000 youth. About bringing further efficiency in the police department, he said qualification for a constable would be matriculation. Being the face of the organization, the constables deal direct with the people and hence their being qualified was imperative. Referring to the MoU signed by the previous government with the Centre as a result of which the vacancies were freezed in the state, the Chief Minister added that ‘it is not a blame game’ as the Union Government had directed all the states to go in for such an arrangement to tide over the financial crunch. He said the coalition government took up this matter with the Prime Minister and the Union Finance Minister and got the vacancies defreezed. The Chief Minister expressed concern over the stagnation in various departments and asked the Chief Secretary to evolve a procedure for expediting promotion process as per norms. Earlier, in reply to the question by Mr Sajad Ahmad Kitchloo, Minister for Labour and Employment Mr Nawang Rigzin said that the Rural Development Department was implementing centrally-sponsored scheme of wage employment and poverty alleviation programme of self-employment in the rural areas. Besides, the government is also implementing self-employment scheme and the Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana, benefits of which were applicable equally to the educated unemployed youth of urban and rural areas. |
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QUESTIONS IN ASSEMBLY Srinagar, June 3 In reply to a question by Mr G.M. Saroori in the Legislative Assembly, the minister said the kiwi plantation programme would be undertaken in Doda district from next year when the plant material would become available at the department nurseries. Mr Zargar, in reply to the supplementaries, said, agro-climatically, Doda district was ideally located for the production of kiwi, apple, walnut and other high-value fruits. He said the district also had a vast potential for olive cultivation and steps were under way to tap it for improving the economy of the area. He said 12 fruit-plant nurseries in the district were being upgraded to meet the plant-material requirement of the orchard keepers. On another question by Dr G.N. Lone, the minister said no promotions had been given to Agriculture Department officials on substantive basis. However, in view of the urgency to carry on with the routine work on various posts, some officers had been positioned to man the business effectively. Mr Zargar told the House that some rules had been updated by removing the lacunae in these. He said the previous government had placed certain officials on higher posts by pick and choose, but promotions from now on would be made strictly as per seniority and norms. The Minister for Health and Medical Education, Chaudhary Lal Singh, today said the government was contemplating to set up an accident hospital at Ramban and a proposal to this effect had been sent to the Centre for clearance. The minister was giving reply to a question by Mr Chaman Lal. In reply to the supplementaries, the minister said the work on accident hospital at Kangan had already begun, while there was no such proposal, so far, for setting up similar hospitals at Batote and Assar. On a question about self-employment, the Minister for Labour and Employment, Mr Nawang Rigzin, told the House that the Union Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India had been approached for ensuring that liberal credit facilities were given to the unemployed youth of Jammu and Kashmir for setting up income-generating units under different self-employment schemes. To a question by Mr Shahjahan Dar, Mr Rigzin replied that committees at the state and district levels had been set up to coordinate with bankers for financing self-employment units to speed up the implementation of various schemes. Earlier in reply to the main question, the minister said there was no separate proposal under consideration for providing the unemployed skilled youth with jobs. However, economic rehabilitation of the youth was ensured by the government through various schemes like the Jammu and Kashmir Selfemployment Scheme, Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana, Swarn Jayanti Rozgar Yojana and Swarn Jayanti Shahari Rozgar
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2 ultras among 4 killed in valley Srinagar, June 3 “The two heavily-armed militants were killed in an encounter with the security forces at Shala Buthoo near the Line of Control in Kupwara district of North Kashmir last night,” the police spokesman said. He said an AK assault rifle, a pistol, five hand grenades, five rockets and some ammunition were seized from the slain militants, who were believed to have sneaked into the valley from across the border and took shelter in forest. A counter-insurgent, Mushtaq Ahmad Malik, was killed when militants attacked an Ikhwan camp at Devsar village in the Kulgam area of Anantnag district in South Kashmir early today. The spokesman also said the police had recovered the body of one Mohammad Qasim Bimla from Ahlan Gadool in the Kokernag area of Anantnag today. The cause of his death is being ascertained. The security forces apprehended a militant and seized three grenades from Allora-Zainapora in Pulwama district. The security forces also busted a hideout of militants in Kanser forest in the Aloosa area of Bandipora in Baramulla district and seized 10 kg RDX, two remote-controlled devices and three hand grenades from there.
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Summer heat, erratic power add to woes Jammu, June 3 Power cuts have belied an assurance of Chief Minister Mufti Syeed, that the power curtailments will be done only for four and a half hours daily. However, the cuts these days stretch beyond his commitment and voltage is also very weak. The Mufti had said that there will be no power cuts at night because of the threat of terrorists, but the daily curtailment after the sun set has also returned. Engineers of the Power department were not available in their offices today as the consumers made vain attempts to contact them. The power supply here had improved when the Chief Minister and the secretariat were functioning from this winter capital of the state. The deterioration in electric supply started immediately after the offices shifted to Srinagar for summer. The power curtailment during the previous regime of the National Conference was of about nine hours a day and soon after the change of the government, the Mufti ordered 50 per cent reduction in the period of the power cut. |
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Tuitions by govt teachers banned Srinagar, June 3 He said the heads of the institutions would be held responsible for any laxity in control on their part for dereliction of duty by the employees. This follows reports that some teachers of schools and colleges were attending coaching centres without permission and in some cases during working hours.
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Pak cyclist nabbed Jammu, June 3 The police said the youth took a U-turn towards R S Pura. He was later arrested. He revealed that his name was Mohammad Ishfaq and he was a resident of Sialkot district in Pakistan. He said he had inadvertently crossed the international border. The police has, however, refused to believe his claims. A case has been registered against him under the Foreign Act.
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Tourists at the Mughal Gardens on the banks of the
Dal lake in Srinagar.
