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Service tax hiked by 2 pc
Employees’ hopes of getting arrears dashed
Sops for women in Budget
‘Hurriyat’s talks with UK envoy one-sided’
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Fasting student forcibly hospitalised
Allotment of commercial land in Pahalgam
Udhampur annual plan approved
Claims of killing of militant commanders raise eyebrows
Gender Equality
Students back from national tour
Flesh trade racket unearthed
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Service tax hiked by 2 pc
Jammu, March 12 The government also hiked toll tax chargeable by weight to Rs 50 per quintal from Rs 40 per quintal earlier. The state, however, was still largely dependent on the Central government for funds and grants. The Finance Minister minced no words with lavishing praise on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for special concessions to the state. With the Panchayat elections round the corner, the Finance Minister opened a bag of benefits for farmers, who decades after Green Revolution in Punjab were still using obsolete methods. Incentives to encourage mechanisation and modern agriculture included abolishing VAT and toll tax on agricultural tools and implements. Toll tax on fodder, pesticides, weedicides and insecticides and all types of fertilisers and beehives has also been abolished. Further, a stimulus of Rs 500 per metric tonne of urea will be given to farmers. The Finance Minister did not ignore ‘aam aadmi’ and abolished VAT on cheese and the continuation of zero VAT on wheat, flour, suji, besan, paddy and rice. On the industry front, the Finance Minister announced the special incentive package for industrialists had been extended for 10 years, including excise duty exemption for value edition. A corpus fund of Rs 100 crore shall be created to give soft loans to sick industrial units. VAT exemption on raw material and finished goods was also extended by a year. To encourage tourism, the government continued with tax exemption on room rents in hotels, lodges and guest houses. Presenting the tenth Budget of his career as Finance Minister, Rather, however, left a gaping hole in arranging Rs 4,200 crore required for providing arrears to the state employees, who are already agitating against the government. With the target of achieving a total revenue of Rs 25,984 crore, Rather said out of the total Budget estimates Rs 22,849 crore was expected as revenue receipts and Rs 3,135 crore as capital receipts. “The revenue expenditure will be Rs 17,698 crore both on account of plan and non plan expenditure,” he said, adding, “The total capital expenditure is estimated at Rs 8,286 crore both on plan and non plan account.” The total expenditure of Rs 25,984 crore is divided between plan and non-plan heads. The plan expenditure is Rs 6,000 crore, the Prime Minister Reconstruction Plan (PMRP) Rs 1,206 crore, centrally sponsored schemes of Rs 850 crore and non-plan expenditure of Rs 17,928 crore. Giving details of the state’s own revenue, Rather said it comprised tax revenue, non-tax revenue and the share of central taxes totalling Rs 7,873 crore and representing over 30 per cent of the total receipts. The state’s own tax, excluding share from central tax, would be Rs 4,962 crore, which is about 19 per cent of the total budgetary receipts. Praising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rather thanked him for increasing fund allocations to the state. As the Thirteenth Finance Commission has enhanced the share of the state in central taxes, the state’s share is estimated to increase to Rs 2,911 crore as against Rs 1,880 crore last year. |
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Employees’ hopes of getting arrears dashed
Jammu, March 12 The employees, who had been agitating for a long period in support of their demands, were hoping the government to fulfil their demands, but after the Budget speech of Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather in the Assembly they felt cheated and ignored by the coalition government. Presenting the Budget, Rather said: “We took up the matter with the 13th Finance Commission, but the commission rejected the demands of the employees. Then the Chief Minister raised the demand at the highest level, asking for additional funds, specifically for the payment of arrears.” The Finance Minister also appealed to the agitating employees to return to their duties as strikes or agitations could not generate resources. He reminded them that people had been suffering on account of their strike. Rather added: “If a single member of public suffers because of abstention of employees from work, it would be an unpardonable crime, and keeping this thing in mind the employees should return to work.” Later in the evening, Nazir Ahmed Khan, a leader of the Secretariat Employees Union, termed the speech of Rather as betrayal of employees. He said: “Last evening, the Finance Minister in a meeting with the employees’ unions had promised to do something with regard to arrears. But he totally backtracked on his promises today.” Nazir did not rule out the possibility of starting the strike in the Civil Secretariat also. “We will meet this evening to chalk out the future course of action, as the government has given an indirect threat to the employees.” Meanwhile, work in various public departments remained affected for the fourth consecutive day and people from all walks of society suffered due to the ongoing strike. |
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Sops for women in Budget
Jammu, March 12 In his Budget speech, Rather announced 25 per cent relief in stamp duty in case a woman was named the owner of a property. Besides, the Finance Minister announced that no VAT (12.5 per cent now) would be charged on feni or femian (sewiyan) consumed by women on particular occasions. He said, “It is the age of women empowerment. The Women’s Reservation Bill has been passed by the Rajya Sabha and the fairer sex in the state should be empowered more. The ownership of property will make her financially, socially and legally strong to stand for her rights.” However, when a woman journalist asked him how could the government talk of women empowerment when it allowed the tabling of an anti-women Bill, the Finance Minister said the Bill had not been passed. “It is a private member’s Bill and we want to expose the Opposition via debate on the issue,” he said. However, the fact that the government was in a bind over the introduction of the controversial Bill, which was passed by the Lower House a few years ago, had caused a nationwide outrage against it. Congress leaders had opposed the Bill to the extent that they had threatened to resign causing the fall of the government. Under the rules, a standing committee of legislators scrutinises the Bills proposed for tabling in both houses. Leaders of all parties, especially the ruling party leaders, have always a better say in the committee. |
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‘Hurriyat’s talks with UK envoy one-sided’
Jammu, March 12 According to a statement issued here, chairman of the APMCC Vinod Pandit said Ford, who is accompanied by Susheel Arun, adviser to the British High Commission, New Delhi, should not ignore displaced Kashmiri Pandits while talking on the Kashmir issue. Vinod said around eight lakh displaced Kashmiri Pandits, who migrated from the valley in 1947 due to forced exile, were an important part of the valley. He said the AMPCC was not against the dialogue, but it was against the one-sided dialogue policy. He stressed that Ford should also conduct talks with the leaders of displaced Kashmiri Pandits and leaders of Jammu and Ladakh people. |
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Fasting student forcibly hospitalised
Jammu, March 12 According to a statement issued here, Arif was admitted to the hospital. Both Arif and Yogesh Talwar sat on the chain fast on March 10 under the banner of the Jammu Joint Students Federation in front of Government Gandhi Memorial Science College. —
TNS |
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Allotment of commercial land in Pahalgam
Jammu, March 12 Consequently, deputy chairman Arvinder Singh Micky issued instructions to the minister, asking him to come out with full information before the House within next two days. During Question Hour, Congress legislator Amrit Malhotra had sought clarification on the criteria for the allotment of commercial/residential land to individuals and organisations through urban agencies in the state. Putting up supplementary queries, Malhotra drew attention of the Chair to incomplete information in at least two annexures “2/B” and “1/C”. Only the names of allottees had been furnished, but nothing had been mentioned about their parentage and residential addresses, Malhotra said. The government should have provided correct and full information to the House, he added. Opening a volley of criticism on Wani, the Congress legislator demanded that either the question be deferred or a discussion be held on the issue. Amid din, Congress legislator Abdul Gani Vakil, NC legislators Javed Ahmed Rana, MY Taing and PDP legislator Murtaza Khan also expressed concern over the issue. Caught on the wrong foot, Nasir Aslam Wani maintained that there was nothing to conceal about the allotments made. The list of allottees in annexure “2/B” had 16 names, including Surjeet Singh who had been allotted 27.87 kanals at Bhatindi through auction at a premium of Rs 16.2 per square feet per month. Similarly, annexure “1/C” contained the names of 31 allottees, but without their parentage and addresses. These allottees have been allotted shops below Gumat - a prime location in the heart of city - at monthly rentals ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 900. Earlier, on another query pertaining to the construction of hotels, huts and guest houses in the Pahalgam constituency in Kashmir, Wani had to face acerbic queries from legislators from the NC and the Congress. NC legislator Altaf Ahmad Wani, who had asked the main question, felt the need for reviewing the master plan of Pahalgam, while Congress MLC Mohammed Amin Bhat alleged that influential people had raised guest houses at the expense of the poor. Bhat even demanded a probe into illegal constructions. Abdul Gani Vakil wanted to know whether the Vigilance Organisation had registered a case against the then official concerned, who, as per his knowledge, had changed the master plan in lieu of some consideration. |
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Udhampur annual plan approved
Udhampur, March 12 It was decided to establish 745 income-generating units, besides forming 110 self-help groups (SHGs) this fiscal in the meeting. Balwant Singh Mankotia, MLA, Udhampur; KC Bhagat, MLA, Chenani; RR Sharma, Additional DDC, Udhampur; HH Dutt, Chief Planning Officer; Dr Bharat Bhushan, Project Officer, DRDA; Joginder Singh, Assistant Commissioner, Development; Rattan Lal, District Development Manager, NABARD; District Heads of Line Departments, Bankers, BDOs and the NGOs concerned were among those who attended the meeting. To achieve tangible results on the ground, Baseer Ahmed Khan, District Development Commissioner (DDC), stressed upon officers of the line departments, bankers and block development officers to make coordinated efforts at the block level in promoting the activities of the SGSY so that the poor sections of society may not have to face any difficulty in getting their cases settled. He called upon banking institutions to be liberal in financing the beneficiaries enabling them to set up their own income-generating units to ensure their socio-economic transformation in a time-bound manner. The DDC laid special emphasis on holding awareness campaigns covering each constituency of the district to educate the people about the benefits of the scheme. He also exhorted upon the officers to share details of SHGs already constituted and awareness programmes to be organised in their respective constituencies for their information. The Project Officer, DRDA, told the meeting that Udhampur district topped in achieving and surpassing the SGSY target during 2008-09. Elaborating the achievements, he further apprised that against the target of 675 units, 750 income-generating units were established and the DRDA was fully geared to achieve the targets this year also. So far, 521 income-generating units had been established during the current financial year, he added. |
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Claims of killing of militant commanders raise eyebrows
Jammu, March 12 In a press conference here recently, Ashok Gupta, IG, Jammu zone, said the police and security forces had killed 10 militant commanders in a short period this year. The question is how only militant commanders were killed, while generally every militant commander moves with his accomplices. After verifying police records it was observed that in 2009 nearly 80 district and divisional commanders were shot dead in encounters against nearly 25 in 2008. On the other hand, 315 low ranking militants were killed in 2008, while in 2009 around 150 such ultras were shot dead, which indicated there was something fishy about the claims of the police. If highly placed sources in security forces are to be believed, somethings seemed to be undisclosed in the claims. “Every time the security forces killed militant commanders they concealed the facts, obviously because everyone may want to get award and promotion,” said a retired Army officer. A veteran journalist, who has covered the peak militancy time in the state, also supported the view and told The Tribune that there could be something concealed in the entire episode. However, IG Gupta said: “The forces are targeting the commanders, as we have adopted a new
policy against the militants. We have directed our sources, especially villagers, with the militants to get more details about their hideouts.” Even militants were facing a shortage of weapons these days. Now, 20 per cent of militants were without weapons, he said. “With the killing of 17 militants this year, around 100 militants are left in the region and the security forces are trying their best to catch them,”he added. |
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NGOs have a vital role to play: Usha Vohra
Tribune News Service
Jammu, March 12 She was addressing an inaugural session of the day-long seminar on “Developing Leadership among Women: Issues and Strategies”, at the Model Institute of Education and Research, here yesterday. She observed that though education was a precondition to women empowerment, it alone cannot guarantee this, adding that significant partnerships had to be hosted with civil society groups, NGOs and the private sector in support of different aspects of gender equality and women empowerment. Usha stressed that ensuring ample opportunities in economic decision making was imperative for their empowerment. She referred to extensive provisions in the chapters on Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles of State Policy and other provisions enshrined in the constitution, which prescribed the provision of the required opportunities for establishing an egalitarian society in which both men and women share equal rights. She added that alongside the constitutional and legal provisions there was a need for bringing about a change in the mindset to achieve desired results. Usha also referred to various international conventions having been passed like Beijing Declaration, Declaration of Millennium Goals and the objectives of the Commission on Women and observed that no country in the world had yet achieved true gender equality, as measured by decision making power, equal opportunities for advancement and equal participation in all walks of human endeavour. While referring to the passing of the Bill recently by the Rajya Sabha for providing 33 per cent reservation to women, the first lady gave an overview and status in regard to women empowerment in the country and worldwide. She released a book brought out by the Shanti Gupta Centre for Women Studies, giving details of 15 women achievers of the state. She also presented mementos to a number of prominent women, including Dr Ved Kumari Ghai, Shanta Bharti, Prof Rita Jatendra, Dr R Madan, Vijay Kotwal, Dr Kum Kum Sharma, Dr Mumtaz Goni, Rani Gargi Blowria, Dr Poonam Dhawan, Seema Khajooria Shekhar and Dr Meenakshi Kilam.
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Students back from national tour
Srinagar, March 12 The tour was flagged off from Army Goodwill School, Budkot, in the Handwara area of Kupwara district on March 1. The tour provided an opportunity to the children to visit these cities and interact with people, a defence spokesman said here. In Delhi, the children visited Jama Masjid, Red Fort, India Gate, Chandni Chowk, National Rail Museum and had a ride in Metro Train. In Agra, they visited Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Mehtab Bagh, Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar Tomb and Buland Darwaza. In Jaipur, they visited Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, Jaipur Fort, City Palace, Jal Mahal, Ram Niwas Bagh and other places of historic and cultural interest. While in Jammu, they visited the Mansar Lake, Bahu Fort, Raghunath Bazar and Patnitop. The children interacted with Governor NN Vohra on Wednesday and returned here yesterday. The touring team was received by the General Officer Commanding, Kilo Force, who interacted with children and staff. |
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Flesh trade racket unearthed
Jammu, March 12 The gang was also blackmailing youths after taking their obscene photographs with the girl to extort money from them.—
TNS
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