Srinagar, November 9
The State government is expected to earn `850 crore as levy from agencies like the NHPC that are harnessing the state's water resources for commercial use with the Water Resources Bill introduced in the State Legislative Assembly recently. The Bill had been brought with the aim of consolidating water resources of the state and rationalise their usage in view of the increasing demand and the declining water table.

Taj Mohi-ud-Din, Minister for Public health Engineering (PHE), Irrigation & Flood Control, said this while interacting with farmers in a remote village of Trikanjan in the Uri area of Baramulla district of north Kashmir on November 2. He said time had come to put an end to the indiscriminate use of water resources. He reminded people that nobody could object to or disrupt the distribution of water for drinking or irrigation purposes as the same had been made a cognizable offence attracting a fine or imprisonment or both. Water resources or the canal network were the property of the state, he added.

During his day-long visit to the frontier areas of the Uri constituency, Taj visited Banali (Boniyar), Gagar Hill, Maidanan, Barnate, Nowshehra and adjoining areas. He reviewed the pace of development in these areas in joint meetings of officers and local community leaders and sought feedback from people.

At Banali (Boniyar), the minister dedicated to people a `59.22-lakh filtration plant of the Banali water supply scheme. The plant has a capacity to filter 40 thousand gallons of water per day. With this a major chunk of hilly population in the area has been provided the drinking water facility. He also disbursed ex-gratia cheques for `1 lakh each among next of kin of two persons killed in this year's cloudburst.

People at Trikanjan thanked the minister for giving it the status of a model village and sanctioning a `2-crore hospital. He assured them that the process of deputing staff to the hospital has started.

Taj said work on some important road projects in the area like Trikanjan-Dudran, Maidanan-Chotali was in full swing and hoped that with their completion these roads would not only connect the neighboring areas but also rid the area of power shortage and poverty.

At Gagar Hill, the minister interacted with representatives of people from Jabri, Korali, Chotali etc. and reviewed the performance of several schemes with officers and these local representatives. He took a serious note of the complaints of nonavailability of foodgrains at some places and directed the officials concerned to take remedial measures at the quickest.

Earlier, the Minister distributed cheques worth `10.67 lakh under the Indira Awas Yojna among 22 persons of Mayaan village whose houses were damaged in the flash floods that swept parts of Uri this summer.

Pampore, November 9
When families of saffron farmers remain busy in plucking flowers from their fields around this township for more than two weeks between October and November every year, there is hope and livelihood for several others. These include beggars who spread their bowls before the farmers who drop a couple of fresh saffron flowers. In the end of the day, beggars make enough flowers to fetch cash.

That is not the only class of people roaming around in the fields, there are many others who tend to earn their livelihood by selling their things to those toiling in the fields. Thus, 15-year-old Sameer Ahmad has made it a routine to carry his bagful of biscuits, cigarettes, wafers etc for sale to farmers while they are busy plucking flowers.

“I sell these items in return for saffron flowers to those working in the fields and later get money by selling the flowers,” he says. Like saffron growers, Sameer sells his bunch of flowers to local traders.

Sameer belongs to a poor family from a tiny village near Nagrota. All six members of his family have been working in Srinagar for the past several years, but they move to Nagrota for four months during winter. Sameer’s father, Shamsuddin, sustains his family by repairing LPG stoves and other related items.

For another youth, Bilal Ahmad, a resident of nearby Galandhar village, the autumn season comes with hopes of good income. These days, he carries his basket full of bananas and other eatables for sale in the vast fields of saffron along the national highway between Galandhar and Lethapora. He too has been selling fruits in return for saffron flowers. “If I am able to sell my stock for Rs 1,000 in the day, I get a profit of about Rs 500,” Bilal Ahmad says as he returns in the midst of the day to fetch more fruits from the nearby Lethpora market.

In the end of the day, beggars and salesmen carry bunches of saffron flowers for sale to local traders, but they do not get good prices, claims Nisar Ahmad, a local farmer. He says the farmers themselves can give them better prices.

A major portion of the Kashmir’s saffron bowl comprises 5,187 hectares of land located along both sides of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway near this township.

When thousands of employees and their relatives start moving to Jammu at the end of October every year for the next six months as part of the annual Durbar move, festivities greet them on this stretch. They witness a large number of families of saffron farmers busy since early dawn plucking the delicate flowers that are treated later before sale in the open markets as an exotic ingredient.

He said the state should rather endeavour to become a model state in Panchayati Raj system by democratisation and decentralisation of power and democracy to the grassroots. For this purpose the Constitution of the State Finance Commission for Panchayats and Election Commission as envisaged in 73rd Amendment needs to be established and the scope of nominations wherever existing in our state Panchayati Raj system should be replaced by the feature of elections at all levels.

The party also stressed upon proper electoral revision in a transparent manner, besides restricting the time-frame of completing the entire electoral exercise within minimum possible period with a view to cause minimise cessation of the routine working of the government and administration, as already normal working in previous months had been affected due to abnormal situation in the Valley. Of course the security and other administrative aspects for conduct of elections would have to be left to government to work out.

Minister for Rural Development, Panchayats, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Sagar, while addressing the all-party meeting on Monday had stated that the real motive of holding Panchayat elections in the state was the empowerment of the rural masses in policy implementation and formulation.

Calling the Panchayats as an effective institution for accelerating the development of rural areas of the state, Sagar said by involving people of villages in implementation an effective decentralisation of power to the grassroots level would fructify. He said the funds earmarked would also be used in a judicious manner and the schemes would be completed on a fast track basis.

The Minister said it would also bring about transparency in the implementation of different schemes as the people of a particular area would be directly involved in the formulation and identification of the work to be undertaken on consensual basis.

During a press conference of separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah, a group of activists of the Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, barged into the venue and smashed windows and damaged furniture.

Shah was speaking to mediapersons when an activist kicked the table on which mikes were placed. All mikes and logos of TV channels rolled on the ground. There was a total chaos for more than 10 minutes and anti-social elements even took away some instruments from the spot.

When the situation was brought under control with the help of cops, some mediapersons could not found their instruments. Even the mike of a TV channel was missing while its logo was lying on the floor.

Jammu, November 9
Contrary to the demand of US intervention in the resolution of Kashmir problem between India and Pakistan by the Kashmiri separatist leaders, the displaced Kashmiri Pandit (KP) leaders have described the problem as bilateral between India and Pakistan and opposed any kind of US intervention.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Ajay Chrungoo, chairman of one of the sects of Panun Kashmir said the Kashmir problem was the internal issue of India and there should not be any intervention by the US.

Dr Chrungoo further said their party had always opposed any foreign intervention on Kashmir issue from the very beginning and this time again they have opposed any intervention by the US President in Kashmir problem. “Any foreign intervention in Kashmir issue will increase the problem instead of solving it,” said Dr Ajay Chrungoo.

Expressing similar views, Dr Agnishekhar, chairman of the other sect of Panun Kashmir said, “Kashmir is the internal problem of India. The government of India should not involve America in its resolution.”

He further said, “The government needs to settle its core issues itself and it should also take care of aspirations of Kashmiri Pandits.”

H N Jatu, president of All India Kashmiri Pandit Conference said the Kashmiri Pandit community was expecting a lot from the visit of the US President to India, but he has disappointed them by showing no concern for the displaced community.

“We were expecting that the American President might say something about Paksitan which is spreading terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and in India as well. The American President did not speak even a single word in favour of welfare of Kashmiri Pandit community who are the victims of cross -border terrorism,” said Jatu.

Jatu added that the Kashmir issue was the very crucial issue and around 4 lakh Kashmiri Pandits who migrated from the valley in 1990 were the victims of human rights violation, so the American President should have talked about this community. “Our property was encroached upon and destroyed in the valley. Our people were brutally killed by the terrorists, but the American President did not show any concern for it, which was very disappointing,”said Jatu.

He said the American President had come to India with a business perspective and there was nothing for all those who suffered because of terrorism.

Jammu, November 9
Even after making a double century in writing books, there is no stopping this octogenarian, Shyam Dutt Parag, a writer and a poet. When his latest book, a collection of Dogri songs, "Taare Diya Shaanwa Shaanwa" was released at KL Sehgal Hall recently, the 83-year-old prolific writer said "it is not the last".

"Uchiyan-Uchiyan Chitiyan Taraan" for radio listeners whenever this signature tune is played, one immediately gets to know that Des Suhama's programme is being aired by AlR Jammu. It is going for more than five decades.

Parag has come a long way. Today, he has to his credit 217 books out of which 20 books are unpublished. He has consistently and vigorously been contributing to the development of Hindi, Dogri, Punjabi and Urdu languages.

Born in Pouni village of Reasi district, he is presently settled in Delhi. Parag has written books like "Bal Ramayan" and "Bal Mahabharta", besides legends of national heroes like Prithvi Raaj Chouhan, Veer Kunwar Singh, Zorawar Singh, Mian Dido and others in verses.

His Hindi books have been the part of curriculum in some schools of Delhi and Jammu under the Parag Bharti series but one gets surprised to know that the work of this tireless litterateur has not been acknowledgement by any literary organisation.

"There is a degradation in every social sphere. Awards too get manipulated so I do not have many expectations," Parag says, adding, "I have got the books published on my own. Though the government provides subsidy, I never got the time to run after them".

On the status of Dogri language, he said: "As long as there were people like Deenu Bhai Pant, Ram Nath Shastri, KS Madhukar and a few others on the literary map, Dogri was developing. Now, the scenario is not very encouraging".

"In cities, the language is dying but in villages, Dogri will continue to survive, I do not see any challenge," he said and quoted an incident, "When I stared writing for Dogri, a friend of mine took jibe saying that Dogri starts from Pathankote and ends in Jammu. My answer was that if the height of mother is less than average, do we stop loving her".

"Even in Jammu University, the research work is not very promising. Organisations working for the promotion of Dogri are restricted to media only. None is working on ground for the development of the language".

He says: "I have written 150 books for children, including short stories, plays, nursery rhymes and poems. 'Mein Kashmir Hoon' is a book in which I have personified Kashmir as a woman in distress. The book was released by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee".

"The most satisfying part of my writing career has been writing songs for children. I have nurtured their literature," he says and adds that these days he is writing on cultures of different regions in north India. On his source of inspiration, he quotes a "doha" of Rahim, "He who gives is different, I am just a source. People take the impression that I am writing all this".

Jammu, November 9
Army School Damana excelled at CBSE science exhibition held in Delhi by making its place among the top 20 schools selected for the final competition.

The exhibition was attended by 160 schools from across the country and was keenly monitored by an expert team of judges and Kapil Sibal, Minister for Human Resource Development.

The theme of the science exhibition was "Science, Technological and Society" with five sub-themes allocated to the schools.

The theme for the Army School Damana was "Information, Communication and Technology". The school was the only one from the state to have participated at the national level after performing well at the regional level.

The project was prepared by Raja Pranit Singh and Hemender Singh, both students of class XII science stream under the guidance of a team of schoolteachers.

The project, named "iCruzer i386", is a multiprocessor robot with initial build to run on i386 microprocessor architect, tested on i686 with capabilities like reprogramming, multipurpose reusable design with integrated robust and reliable face detecting, speech recognition, text to speech etc. The robot can be controlled from across the globe. The built-in webcam in iCruzer can be used for security surveillance.

Principal Renu Gupta and the management of the school congratulated the team and encouraged them to work hard for higher competition to be held at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, in November-December.

Srinagar, November 9
Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Minister for School Education, has said the government would provide full set of textbooks free of cost to 7.25 lakh students from class I to class VIII who have recently passed respective examinations in the Kashmir division.

The minister was reviewing the functioning of schools and the examination process being conducted in the valley at a meeting here recently, an official spokesman said. The meeting was attended by the senior officers of the Education Department and the Board of School Education.

It was decided that textbooks would also be distributed in the winter zone areas of Jammu division where examinations would be over by November 25. Similarly, in the summer zone areas, full set of textbooks would be provided to the schoolchildren of the same classes after the examinations are conducted in March session.

The minister directed the officers concerned to ensure that the textbooks reach all schools up to November 6 so that these are distributed among the children before the new classes start.

Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed appreciated the teachers for conducting examinations smoothly and in a transparent manner. He also congratulated students who qualified for the new classes and expressed gratitude to the parents for extending support to the government in this regard. He said the distribution of textbooks was an incentive to arrest dropout tendency among poor children.

He said November 14 would be celebrated as Children's Day across the state at the district, tehsil and zonal levels. In this connection, directions had been issued to all officers concerned. This day, he said, would be celebrated in all educational institutions.

Jammu, November 9
A munsiff in the state judiciary, Mehmood Anwar Alnasir, has created a history of sorts, not by pronouncing any judgment but by using painting brush to give wings to his hidden talent.

It was last month at Kala Kendra here that Alnasir achieved the distinction of being the only judicial officer in the state for organising an exhibition to give vent to his emotions through his paintings. The exhibition, depicting various moods and shades of life, has won him appreciation from his colleagues as well as art lovers.

The 19 paintings, put on display, reflect a common man's day-to-day struggle. The more emotional aspect linked to the exhibition was that Alnasir's mother, Suraiya Jabeen Salaria, inaugurated it. The officer has dedicated the exhibition to his mother and titled it as "The Journey Beyond''.

The judge says he had developed painting as a hobby during his student days. "As a child, I had first time participated in a painting competition held as part of Diwali mela at Zanana Park here. That time I was in second standard," he recalls.

A law graduate from the University of Jammu, Alnasir has also participated in various north-zone inter university and national youth festivals. He says he has always been a winner, especially in the field of on-the-spot collage and poster-making competitions.

Besides being chosen as the best NSS volunteer by the state government, Alnasir is also a recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Sadhbhavna Award for National Integration. Photography and trekking are his other hobbies, which Alnasir says come handy as "stress busters".

Presently posted in Kashmir Valley, the officer says his paintings try to enhance the current violent scenario and the rhythm, dynamism and vibrance of life and its very existence especially in the face of the vastness and supremacy of nature itself. "The themes also reflect on spirituality and the importance of oriental mysticism," he explained.