Panchkula, November 23
A day after 32-year-old Rakesh Kumari, alias Shikha Thakur, was found murdered on the Panchkula-Ramgarh national highway near the Morni T-point, the Panchkula police today claimed to have cracked the case with the arrest of two youngsters.

The two youngsters, Gulshan and Monu, both hailing from Himachal Pradesh, had strangled her to death and dumped the body on the highway before she was run over by an unidentified vehicle, said the Commissioner of Police, Panchkula, Rajbir Deswal, while addressing a press conference here today.

The police said she was done to death after she resisted accompanying the two youngsters to a designated place after she struck a deal for Rs 2,000.

The Commissioner said the victim had been in touch with the assailants on their mobile phones for the last five months. The identity of the third person, who is suspected to have given his bike to the assailants, is yet to be ascertained. The assailants had met the girl face to face for the first time on the day of crime. As the youngsters were in an inebriated state, they strangled her and then dumped her on the road.

The two picked her up from the furniture market on the motorcycle (of a third person) and they reached the Morni T-point via Sector 43, Tribune Chowk and Transport Chowk. After reaching the T-point, the victim asked for Rs 2,000. As the youngsters did not have the money, they entered into a scuffle with her. “They wanted to take her to a rented room at Surajpur, which she resisted,” said the police.

The police is yet to establish whether she was physically assaulted. It is strange that the crime was perpetrated on the road where heavy vehicles kept plying throughout the night but no one noticed the assailants killing the girl.

Chandigarh, November 23
Joggers, who normally go for their morning or evening exercise in parks, will soon be able to jog on special tracks to be built adjacent to V-3 roads in the city. The first such track will be built on the road separating Sectors 15 and 16.

The V-3 roads are the ones that surround the sectors and it will be for the first time that a jogging track will be built alongside a V-3 road. These oval-shape tracks will be constructed on both sides of the road separating Sectors 15 and 16.

Local councillor Saurabh Joshi stated that the residents of Sectors 15 and 16 and other nearby sectors would be benefited from these tracks, which were being constructed exclusively for joggers. “There are a large number of youngsters residing in Sector 15 and the nearby sectors who will be benefited from the track,” he stated.

Joshi stated that the residents often dumped garbage on that vacant space. With the construction jogging tracks on the space, there will be regular maintenance of the roadsides. “The horticulture department of the MC will beautify the tracks by planting trees and there would be proper lighting,” Joshi stated.

The proposal to have jogging tracks on the V3 roads had been lying pending with the UT Administration for the past several years.

Chandigarh, November 23
Saturday turned out to be a great day for 68 year-old senior citizen, who had been battling to get her shop in Sector 19 back for the past almost 10 years. Nirmal Sharma finally got relief from the Lok Adalat within an hour of the start of the case at the Lok Adalat.

The dispute between landlady Nirmal Sharma and tenant Bhupinder Kumar had been under litigation for the past 10 years.

The lower court had passed an order in August 2012, stating that the tenant had to vacate the shop within two months. The tenant filed an appeal and got a stay on the eviction order.

At the Lok Adalat, the case was put up for hearing in the court of District and Sessions Judge SK Aggarwal, who counselled both the parties and after over 40 minutes of discussion, the Judge convinced both the landlady and the tenant to settle the case.

It was amicably decided that the tenant would have to vacate the shop on March 1, 2017, and from January 1, 2014, he would have to pay a monthly rent of Rs 39,000 to the landlady. It was decided that both the parties won’t file any further litigation regarding the shop.

Nirmal, satisfied with the decision, stated that such Lok Adalats should be organised regularly. Bhupinder Kumar also expressed satisfaction.

Chandigarh, November 23
The second day of the Chandigarh Carnival received a huge response from the youngsters, visitors and tourists.

The most awaited annual festival of Chandigarh had a Bollywood quotient and it was dipped in merriment, entertainment showcasing the different era and aspects of 100 years in the Indian Cinema.

An evening in Paris Bollywood set by the College of Architecture continued to pull huge crowed. The students today created a milieu Golden period of Bollywood that gave an opportunity to the visitors to click their photograph with the Classic Vintage Scooter.

Another activity stall put up by the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Academy had a great attraction as the artists dressed up as clowns and charmed the visitors with several games. The clowns also performed a song sequences on the theme ‘Bajta he Raha Gungru ke tarah’. The special artists also had an audition corner named ‘Sense in Non-Sense’.

A stall ‘Old is gold’ also got a rush of visitors watching old record player and projectors.

There were daylong performances by the NZCC artists. Theatre plays continued to have special attraction with plays like ‘Share-Aam Khule-aam’.

Antakshari and solo songs from the audience at the main stage were a great hit. ‘Bombay Talkie’ had various film screened for public like Forts of India, Black pamphlets movies, Life Pictorial Stories like Zora Sehgal, Habib Tanvir etc.

The floats made by the College of Arts in different Bollywood forms and styles gave ride to the children and elders in the Carnival village.

CITCO Da Vehra attracted a lot of visitors who enjoyed the various delicacies been prepared by their experienced chefs.

Hotel Mountview Bakers’s Zone stall had dishes on variety of bakery items inspired by Bollywood personalities and movies.

Amrinder Gill, a renowned Punjabi singer, performed during the Musical Nite at the Leisure Valley. He sang his Punjabi hit songs from popular albums. Tomorrow Bollywood singer KK will perform after 7 pm.

Chandigarh, November 23
On the second day of hearing session conducted by the Board of Inquiry and Hearing, constituted by the UT Administrator, Shivraj V Patil, to look into the objections and suggestions received on the draft master plan-2031, traders submitted their objections.

They demanded increase in the Floor Area Ratio (FAR), allowing commercial activities on first and second floors of the SCOs and SCFs etc.

The Chandigarh Beopar Mandal, through its president Charanjiv Singh and other members, submitted before the board for increase of the FAR from 2.5 to 3.0 in respect of SCOs/SCFs of Phase-I Sectors of Chandigarh.

Members of the Beopar Mandal also submitted that multi-storeyed and underground parking lots should be created in city markets and it should be pointed out in the master plan as well. They also demanded that display panels as well as glow signs should be allowed for upper floor traders.

Regarding Grain Market, sector 26, they demanded that like other markets of Chandigarh sectors, they should de-notify it for taking it out of the purview of the Market Committee, Chandigarh.

An Association of the Shop-Cum-Flats (SCF) also submitted their objection before the board. Association president, Tejinder Singh, said that in sectors 1 to 30, the Administration had taken money to convert the SCFs to SCOs. But till date, the notification was not issued. Moreover, they had granted the permission to four sectors like 15, 16, 29 and 30. The Administration should provide these facilities to other sector SCF owners as well, they submitted.

Arun Mahajan and Sandeep Sahni submitted that the Administration should not construct four-lane road connecting Railway light point to Hallo Majra roundabout as the construction of the road will affect the business of owners of steel stockyards, which will ultimately result in huge revenue loss to the Administration, they submitted.

Those who did not turn up for today have been given December 2 as next date to submit their representation on the master plan.

Chandigarh, November 23
A nominated councillor today wrote a letter to Mayor and demanded that a fresh meeting should take place on the issue of merger of 13 UT villages with the Municipal Corporation.

The Chandigarh Tribune had highlighted that how the agenda was passed without majority of votes. Letter written by the nominated councilor, Surinder Bahga, reads, “Following the principles of transparency in governance, I request you to show the video recording of meeting held on November 21, in the next house meeting in the presence of media and clear this doubt in the minds of Chandigarh residents especially people belonging to the villages. I propose that a special meeting should be called for the purpose. Being a member of the house, I have all the rights to ask for a copy of video recording.” On the issue, BJP-SAD have also demanded a fresh meeting.

But the MC Joint Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the MC House, Rajiv Gupta, said he had talked to BJP-SAD members and they have not demanded any special meeting. If any member, elected or nominated, wants to say anything against the agenda, he can submit in writing to the MC, he added.

Countering Gupta’s statement, leader of opposition and BJP Councillor Arun Sood said if MC Secretary Rajiv Gupta has said so then he is lying. A delegation of BJP-SAD councillors will submit a memorandum on Monday for demanding special house meeting on the issue of wrongly passing the agenda. They will also take up issue regarding unnecessary interference by secretary, Rajiv Gupta, with the higher authorities, he added.

What politicians representing villages say

Former senior deputy and the Congress leader, Bhupinder Singh Badheri, said that the local Congress leadership committed a major blunder by raising issue regarding merger of villages, at the very wrong time. As merger is legally not possible in the current scenario but it has given opportunity to the opposition parties to attack the Congress, which can affect their vote bank, he added.

Chandigarh, November 23
The idea of Chandigarh Literary Society (CLS) brewed over a cup of coffee in 2012, and a year later, the society came up with its first literary festival, putting the city on the map of literary circuit in India.

The Day 1 of the Lit Fest, Literati-2013, which began today at the Lake Club in Sector 3, saw several prominent faces discussing a wide range of issues at length.

With its format identical to the Jaipur Literature Festival, the day was divided into 12 sessions, including book launches and book reading.

A session on “Religion and Politics-Oxygen or Poison” was the highlight in the first half of the day.

Ashok Vajpayee, moderator of the session and a well-known critic, set the outline of the session when he said in the past 60 years religion had not taken any step in deepening the democracy in India, whereas before the Partition, religious leaders were involved in major social reforms.

Columnist-writer Madhu Kishar said those who argued that religion intruded in politics was a borrowed concept from the West. Here, the politics was responsible for introducing the religion that began right from the days of Islamic envision and then came the British who governed our religion by laws and the Indian government continued to the same agenda after the Partition.

She said: “The problem in India is how politics has hijacked the temples and gurdwaras, which have incapacitated the religious places to take up the cause of social reforms in India”.

“The real challenge is to restore the sanctity of religious places and keep them away from the divisive politics,” she said.

Kishwar Desai, a known writer, said: “There should be no place of religion in politics, but politics in India used religion to exploit the communities at large. We must understand that religion is one of our many identities that we live with and it should be delinked from politics”.

For another speaker, Ravi Varma, religion should be a private affair and there was no need to carry it along.

Different narrative to Diaspora

The issue of Diaspora was seen through the prism of political exodus and exile both within the country and outside in the session, “Dissent, Discourse and Diaspora”. Writer Navtej Sarna, who is known for his book on Maharaja Dalip Singh’s political exile, said the sense of loss was immense when a person was away from his homeland. A diplomat posted in several countries, Sarna shared his experience as how many Indians were living in pain abroad.

Writer-journalist Rahul Pandita, known for his books on Naxalism, shared his own experience of being thrown away from Kashmir and how he was still struggling to find his home.

He said the media and human right activists failed to highlight the issue of mass exodus within the country, even as it affected lakhs of people, especially in the areas affected by Naxalism.

Earlier the day, KK Sharma, Adviser to the UT Administrator, inaugurated the festival.

Chandigarh, November 23
In his session “In Search of Authenticity” on the first day of Literati 2013 at the Lake Club, eminent writer-columnist Bhaskar Ghose focused on how Indian writing in English evolved from colonial burden to its very own Indian expression.

He said: “Every kind of creative expression has its own authenticity but it is valid if it comes from our own tradition. For instance, dance tradition in India has evolved from its centuries old tradition”.

He said as far as the Indian writing in English was concerned, it took a long time in getting evolved into Indian milieu post-Partition.

He said his generation, which was born before the Partition, was affected by the colonisation and then the departure of the Britishers. There was a large vacuum in our expression, primarily due to the pre and post-Partition conflict that left us neither here nor there.

But then came a breed of young writers in 70s and 80s like Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth who adapted English as their own language. They not only wrote in Indian context but also found their own expression, too.

“I see English purely an Indian language today just like Americans have picked up English as their own language. English is the official language of three states in India and it has perfectly fitted into our own genre of expression, authentically portraying the Indian perceptions, emotions and expressions,” said the writer, who is also involved in theatre for the past 50 years and also a visiting fellow of Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.

According to him, as long as writers of English writing in India keep expressing their own sensibility, Indian writing in English has certainly got a better future.

He felt that a writer’s expression is inspired from the body of his experiences. Those who are in late 30s and early 40s are better expressing themselves than emerging young writers.

Chandigarh, November 23
A disjointed system of decision-making where the stakeholders involved have virtually no role to play and the country being heavily dependent on import of arms are the biggest challenges to the national security today.

Stating this while speaking on the occasion of the launch of his new book, 'India's Military Conflicts and Diplomacy: An Inside View of Decision Making', published by Harper Collins, former Chief of the Army Staff Gen VP Malik stressed that a strong working relationship between the military and the political leadership during the intermittent period between wars of major operations was vital, because it was only during times of peace that the armed forces could prepare for war and their requirements be addressed systematically.

The book, which covers operations in which General Malik was personally involved, including the deployment of the Indian Peace Keepng Force in Sri Lanka, the intervention in Maldives, the Kargil Conflict, UN peace-keeping missions and military diplomacy, was released here today by media personality Barkha Dutt, who also engaged General Malik in a discussion on the contents of the book. The event was sponsored by the Durga Das Foundation.

Pointing out that in all issues that were politico-military in nature, like the cross-border infiltration from Pakistan, the military might be consulted in the decision-making process, he said leaving military commanders only for executing operational roles and not consulting them in policy making had left non-professionals controlling the professionals and nowhere in the world such a situation exists.

When decisions were taken, the rationale behind it was not recorded and files remain classified and inaccessible, he added.

Stating that the policy making process in India was "fractured" and embroiled in the "politics of inclusion", he added that an inclusive decision-making system was required with which stakeholders were associated. Citing examples were the military was kept isolated from the decision-making process and outside the information loop even in matters that involved it operationally, he said what bothered the Indian soldier the most was the absence of his voice in critical decision making and national security matters.

Not only were politicians and bureaucrats largely unaware of military matters, but there was a general apathy in the country towards war fighting capability and people involved in fighting wars, added General Malik.

Chandigarh, November 23
The Zila Sainik Board, Chandigarh, has sought exemption from the levy of house tax on residential property owned by serving and retired defence personnel in the city, keeping in view their tough service conditions and challenges they face in the post-retirement rehabilitation.

In a letter written to the Mayor of Chandigarh, the board’s vice president, Brig KS Chandpuri (retd), has said a large number of states and union territories in the country, including adjoining states like Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, had already exempted defence personnel from paying the house tax.

He has also referred to a letter written to the Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors of all states and union territories in 1992 by the then Defence Minister Sharad Pawar, asking them to exempt defence personnel from paying the same.

The board’s letter has also pointed out that service personnel have also contributed tremendously towards the development of the city and during the mid-60s, when many people were reluctant to settle down at Chandigarh due to its uncertain future, Sectors 33 to 36 were exclusively earmarked for them.

Mohali, November 23
A sum of Rs 55 lakh has so far been collected as property tax by the Municipal Corporation here even as Saturday and Sunday have been declared as working days for the convenience of residents so that they could avail themselves of the 10 per cent rebate on the levy by depositing it by November 30.

The response from the residential areas of the town is improving but the same from the commercial and industrial sectors is still quite slow.

The civic body had recently increased the number of tax collection camps from five to 16.

Commissioner of the Corporation, Uma Shankar Gupta, today visited various camps to see the ground reality. He said he saw about 20 persons present at each camp to deposit the new levy though most of these residents were those living in smaller houses. A sum of about Rs 6 lakh was collected today.

He said so far, as many as 2,500 persons have deposited the tax and he hoped the number would reach to 10,000 by November 30.

Gupta said the response from the commercial and industrial sectors was very slow but people from these sectors had also started depositing the tax and hoped it would pick up in the coming days. Eighty per cent of the tax had to come from the commercial and industrial sectors, he added.

Mohali, November 23
Punjab Education Minister, Sikander Singh Maluka, said that changes would be brought about in the state languages department and vacant positions would also be filled. Maluka, who was speaking at Shivalik Public School during an inauguration of Punjabi Week, said in order to spread the use of Punjabi, the views of scholars, intellectuals, writers and poets would be taken and implemented.

He said that a committee would be set up to decide on awards for writers, intellectuals and poets for the years 2011 and 2012. — OC

Panchkula, November 23
The body of a 35-year-old man was found at Sector 8, Panchkula, facing Shalimar Mall. The victim, Rajpal, worked in the Electricity Department and lived in Power Colony, Sector 15, Panchkula.

A passerby noticed the body and informed the police. The doctors said the exact cause of death would be known after the post-mortem examination of the body. However, they did not rule out the death could be because of consumption of alcohol laced with poison.

Assistant Gurmail, in charge of the Sector 7 police post, said the victim, who had separated from his wife some time ago, was facing departmental enquiries. “We have informed the mother and the brother of the victim and they would reach here soon,” said the official.

He added, “Preliminary investigations show that it can be a case of excessive alcohol intake as he was an alcoholic. But, we are waiting for the post-mortem examination”.

Dr Sunil Gambhir, a forensic expert at the General Hospital, Sector 6, said: “The body was totally blue. It can be a case of excess alcohol intake or poisoning as the organs are congested. Apparently, we did not find any injury marks but the exact cause of the death would be ascertained after we conduct the post-mortem tomorrow.” — TNS

Chandigarh, November 23
The Institute of Sikh Studies (IOSS), Chandigarh, today organised its annual seminar on “Sikhism in the making of Third Millennium Civilisation”.

A large number of scholars participated in the deliberations. Dr Jaspal Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala, inaugurated the seminar at Panjab University.

While addressing the participants, he explained how the Gurus changed society’s concept of the state and governance. They laid emphasis on an inclusive model where everybody was involved and given equal status. In their Bani, they explained the characteristics of a good ruler who should be capable and qualified, free of arrogance and should involve all subjects while taking the decisions.

PS Pasricha, ex-chairman, Takht Sri Hazoor Sahib, Nanded, said the philosophy of Sikh Guru Sahiban was extremely relevant and could resolve many conflicts threatening mankind. The relevance of the teachings recorded in the Guru Granth Sahib was much greater today than ever before to bring about harmony between different streams.

During the session, Dr IS Kalsi, a retired Professor of Chemistry, presented a paper on 'world government'. Dr Kirpal Singh, an eminent Sikh historian, explained that the Guru Granth Sahib emphasises the life of contentment and high thinking.

Dr Sarabjot Kaur of Ludhiana spoke on World Government and Sikh Religion. Dr J Jayan of Madurai Kamraj University, Madurai, discussed the concept of Miri Piri, which synthesises the spiritual and temporal aspects of existence.

Dr Ishmeet Kaur of Assistant Professor, Centre for English Studies, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, presented her paper on Globalisation, Universalism and the notion of “Sarbat Ka Bhala” in Sikhism.

Chandigarh, November 23
Over 600 students from 20 school of the tricity participated in a treasure hunt organised by the Carmel Ex-Student Association at Carmel Convent School in Sector 9. The excitement and enthusiasm among the students was explicit in the function.

There were 160 teams comprising four members each who were to solve 15 clues given to them within a span of two hours. The clues were prepared testing the general awareness and presence of mind of the students.

As the teams succeeded in solving the clue, they reported to the stations where they were given gifts and refreshments along with the next clue.

Sacred Heart Convent School team bagged the first position. The second and third positions went to teams of Carmel Convent School. The winning teams were awarded with cash prizes.

St John’s School, Sector 26, DAV Sector 8, and Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, won the consolation prizes.

Chandigarh, November 23
Indian Plastics Institute (IPI), student chapter, Chandigarh, today organised a model-making competition from plastic waste at Panjab University. Shreya Sharma and Vividh, students of St Kabir School, were declared the winner and runner-up at the event, “Elicit-A solution to plastic waste”.

Shreya Sharma, a student of Class V from St Kabir School, made a bottle brick wall, the idea for which was taken from a house already built in Kenya. Vividh from the same school was declared the runner-up. All the participants were felicitated on the occasion. The event was inspired by Nek Chand’s Rock Garden. The highlight of the event was the launch of IPI newsletter "plastics: past, present and future".

The event was organised under the leadership of Runjot Wirring, who is the president of the IPI, student chapter, Chandigarh.

IPI honorary secretary Dr Gaurav Verma gave a brief idea of the birth and use of plastics. Poonam Chainini, manager, SIDBI, gave an informative presentation on how to set up a small scale industry. Earlier, school and college students explained the creative models they made from waste plastic. The students had made a solar water bottle, a lamp made from plastic spoons, a model of cycle made from sketch pens, decorative flowers, photo frames and various other useful things by reusing plastic. — TNS