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NRI quota seats catch medical university in a bind
Panchayat elections |
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6,440 arms licence holders deposit their weapons
MLA accuses police of picking up sarpanch candidate
Father-son pitted against each other for the post of panch
Having elected panchayat unanimously thrice, Muktsar village gives poll a miss
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NRI quota seats catch medical university in a bind
Faridkot, July 2 The university is facing the heat in the BDS students’ case for accepting their admission, registration and examination fees from their colleges last year and now not allowing these students to sit in the annual exam by declining them roll numbers. The university declined the roll numbers to these students as the admission of these 456 students is in violation of a Supreme Court decision in the Priya Gupta vs state of Chhattisgarh case. In this case, the SC said no student will be admitted to a medical college until he clears the entrance exam. The SC said that the admission be given only on merit, not in a manner which is arbitrary and creates the suspicion of favouritism. As these 456 students did not clear the PMET-2012, they are not eligible for the admission as per the SC ruling and it followed by the state government notification, said Dr SS Gill, vice- chancellor, BFUHS. Waiting for the High Court decision about the fate of 456 BDS students, the BFUHS is postponing the annual BDS exam but a bigger problem lies in the filling of NRI quota seats during the forthcoming counselling for MBBS and BDS seats in various government and private medical colleges in the state. The counselling for filling MBBS and BDS seats will start this month. The total quota of NRI seats in Punjab is over 160 (15 per cent of the total seats). Earlier, the aspirants for these seats did not need to clear the entrance test. But this time, after the SC decision in the Priya Gupta case, no student who fails to clear the entrance test, with a minimum of 50 per cent marks, will be eligible to fill the NRI quota seat. The annual fee for the MBBS and BDS NRI quota seats is $1,00,000 and $40,000, respectively. But the practical problem with the university in filling these NRI quota seats is that most of the candidates for these seats either fail to clear the entrance test or even do not appear in the test. As these NRI students are a big financial advantage for the private medical colleges, they see the SC direction as a big disadvantage. For the same reason, five post-graduate (MD, MS) seats in Punjab are still lying vacant. As per rules, all unfilled NRI seats would be filled as management quota but strictly as per merit. |
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Panchayat elections
Abohar, July 2 About a hundred state government employees, most of them women teachers, were directed by the Ferozepur DRO to report for rehearsal at Guru Har Sahai on June 23 for the first rehearsal in connection with panchayat elections. Most of them were delivered another letter signed by the Fazilka DRO to attend a rehearsal on DAV College campus here on June 26 as they were required to perform election duty in Abohar or Khuyiansarwer blocks. They were told to attend the final rehearsal on July 2 and join the polling parties the next day. Having attended the rehearsals on both the days in different districts, many women teachers and other staff received calls made from the office of an additional deputy commissioner at Fazilka telling them to ensure their presence at Guru Har Sahai for the final election duty. The person, identifying himself as Anil Kumar, reportedly conveyed a warning to the staff that failure in reporting for duty at Guru Har Sahai today by 10 am might invite legal action. The staff concerned was in a fix, torn between the directions issued by the different DROs, one of their own district and the other of the old undivided (neighbouring) district. Notably, women have not been assigned election duty in Faridkot district but in Fazilka district, even pregnant women were told to produce certificates issued by the Civil Surgeon, those on the edge of retirement were asked to go to remote villages even as 29 polling booths had been identified as super sensitive and 45 as sensitive. A senior woman lecturer in a private college said she has been assigned election duty in the village for first time in 25 years of service. Some schools will remain closed for three days as all the women teachers have gone to Jalalabad or other segments on election duty. |
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6,440 arms licence holders deposit their weapons
Fazilka, July 2 Of the total 6,673 arms licence holders, 6,440 have deposited their arms at their respective police stations or armouries following a directive of the Election Commission. The remaining arms licence holders are VIPs or persons who have been exempted from depositing their arms. There is a small percentage of those arms holders too who are either out of station or are inaccessible at present. There are 639 polling stations for election to 398 panchayats. Of these, 56 booths have been identified as hyper sensitive while 186 have been declared as sensitive. Nearly 1800 police personnel have been put on poll duty to maintain law and order. “The police is committed to conducting peaceful, free and fair poll. Law and order shall be maintained at all costs,” said Senior Superintendent of Police, Fazilka, Rajpal Singh. During the Zila Parishad polls held in May, there was some violence and an Independent candidate and the polling agent of the Congress had been injured in a clash. — OC |
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MLA accuses police of picking up sarpanch candidate
Muktsar, July 2 Talking to The Tribune over the phone, Brar alleged that Station House Officer (sHO) Bariwala police station Narinder Singh, along with the some other policemen, had come to the house of the sarpanch candidate, Bohad Singh, Brar said after visiting the police station at 11 pm, she got Bohad Singh released, who is a Congress man. Brar also claimed that the senior officials of the district administration were also informed about the incident. When contacted SHO Bariwala police station, Narinder Singh said, "I had received a complaint that some people in inebirated condition were violating the law and order situation and when I visited there, I found some drunkards were banning the entry of others to the village. Bohad Singh was also drunk and was brought to the police station, but he admitted his mistake and signed a document. Thereafter, he was released." |
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Father-son pitted against each other for the post of panch
Ferozepur, July 2 Ironically, the father, Shaligram, has kept torch as his election symbol whereas his son Raj Kumar’s election symbol is scissor. The joke doing the rounds in the village is that while the father could not show his son the “path of light” with his torch, the son is out to cut his father’s roots with the scissor. While the entire village community is amused over the showdown within the house, both Shaligram and Raj Kumar are engaged in a war of words. Raj Kumar says his father should have paved the way for him as he represents the youths of the area. His father Shaligram, however, feels that his son should have withdrawn out of respect.
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Having elected panchayat unanimously thrice, Muktsar village gives poll a miss
Muktsar, July 2 Except for three people, including a woman, who had filed their nominations and were declared elected as panchayat members unopposed , none filed the nomination for the remaining two posts of panch and the sarpanch. The village has been declared reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, but the SC population is less in the village, which is said to be one of the reasons behind it. As per the election authorities, the village, which is divided into five wards, has 105 voters registered for the panchayat election and only 13 of them belong to the SC category. The village residents earlier elected their sarpanch and panches unanimously in 1998, 2003 and 2008, but this year, unlike the other villages, here is no hustle bustle of elections here. Massa Singh, who remained the sarpanch of the village from 2008-13, said, “The total number of SC votes is less in our village, but the state government surprisingly declared it as reserved for the SC category. This became the reason why people did not participate in the elections. Only three candidates had filed their nominations and they have been elected as panchayat members unanimously.” “All those people who belonged to the SC community and were staying here were farm labourers and now most of them have shifted to other places. Those who are presently living here have filed their nominations and the remaining seats are vacant,” added Massa Singh. However, ADC (D), Muktsar, Ramvir Singh, who is also the election in-charge, said, “I have come to know that the residents of this village have always believed in electing their sarpanch and panches unanimously. But they forgot to file nominations this year due to the impression that the panchayat has been elected unanimously. But the actual reason behind this is yet to be known.” On the other hand, voters of 36 villages in the district have already elected their village panchayats, including sarpanches and panches, unanimously. Of them, 16 villages are in Muktsar block, 11 in Malout, five in Lambi and four in Gidderbaha block. |
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Virendra Kataria does Abohar proud
Abohar, July 2 Earlier, former Lok Sabha Speaker Bal Ram Jakhar had served as Governor of Madhya Pradesh from June 30, 2004 to June 29, 2009. Sarla Grewal (October 4, 1927-January 29, 2002), who had her in-laws at Abohar, had also served as Governor of Madhya Pradesh from 1989-1990. She was the second Indian woman Indian Administrative Service officer in India, when she joined the IAS in 1952. Like Bal Ram Jakhar, Virendra Kataria too had studied at Lahore and was associated with the Youth Congress. He served as the Abohar city Congress president, general secretary of the district Congress and was then elevated as the Pradesh Congress president and member of Rajya Sabha when Beant Singh was the chief minister of Punjab. Kataria has spearheaded the campaigns to strengthen rail links from Abohar to other major cities. |
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Even as Fazilka had been carved as a separate district with three sub-divisions — Fazilka, Abohar and Jalalabad — the district authorities in Ferozepur are yet to realize the truth.
