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Strike hits life in Kashmir Fresh curbs on J&K marriages Guns remained silent |
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working of varsity Jammu, October 27 The state BJP general secretary, Mr Bali Bhagat, yesterday demanded an inquiry into the working of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology and urged the Governor to remove Vice-Chancellor H.U. Khan so that he was not able to tinker with or influence the inquiry. Kashmir saffron farmers drift
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Strike hits life in Kashmir Srinagar, October 27 The police resorted to lathi charge to disperse demonstrators. The Hurriyat Conference (G) took out a march from the Lal Chowk area the office of the UNMOG. It submitted a memorandum against the "forced occupation" of Jammu and Kashmir to an official in the office. Over 20 activists were detained. Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Forum (JKLF) leader, Javed Ahmad Mir, who had also led a procession in the area, was taken into custody. Shops and business establishments in the central parts of Srinagar city remained closed and near normal traffic plied on the roads. There was a thin attendance in government offices. Many educational institutions also remained closed due to the lack of transport facilities in some areas. |
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Fresh curbs on J&K marriages Srinagar, October 27 The order cleared by the Cabinet on Monday would come into force from November 5, according to Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Taj Mohi ud Din. He said this was a step towards checking social evil of extravagant practices on the occasion of marriages and other social functions. The decision was approved after a Cabinet sub-committee had reviewed over 3,000 suggestions and opinions over the issue. The matter had become controversial in May this year. The order was withdrawn and a Cabinet sub-committee under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister was instituted to review the order by inviting suggestions from the public. Giving details of the order here yesterday, the minister said after he took that initiative in May, a large number of people, including wazaz (traditional chefs), voluntarily decided to observe dish-control at marriages. The chefs had throughout the valley restricted the extravagant practices and reduced dishes to only seven at traditional ‘wazwan’ on all occasions of marriage and related functions. This came as a relief to the chefs and the family heads who had to spend a huge amount on ‘wazwans’ only. Apart from being a violation of the Essential Commodity Act, the ostentatious expenditure at marriages has assumed the form of a great social evil, the Minister said, adding that the middle class parents has to undergo a life-long struggle for making arrangements for the marriage of their daughters. According to the revised order, he said, the number of baratis had been fixed at 50 with 150 other guests and 100 kg scale of mutton (including chicken) would be allowed with the number of dishes not exceeding seven. Apart from baraties, the family of bride could invite 150 guests making the total number as 200. On the ‘walima’, the family of the bridegroom could invite 100 guests and use only 50 kg of mutton, including chicken. The scale of mutton, including chicken, per plate for four persons had been fixed at 2 kg. A particular family could only organise a big party within three months, the minister added. There is no limit on quantity and limit of dishes in case of vegetarian marriage parties, mostly taking place in the Jammu region. There is, however, limitation on baratis and guests at reception at both bride's and bridegroom's function, which has been fixed at 150, he said. The minister said the order would be strictly implemented by the Directorates of Consumer Affairs and their offices at the district and tehsil level. A family has to give prior information to the Director CA and PD about the marriage with an invitation card in case of Jammu and Srinagar cities and to the officers of the department in small towns. He said in case of a violation, the offenders would be booked under the Essential Commodities Act. He said since extravaganza in marriages was mostly found in big cities, the department had constituted three squads each headed by a Deputy Director. |
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Guns remained silent Jammu, October 27 The ceasefire has been a success although initially there were apprehensions on this count. This is for the first time in the past 57 years that guns have remained silent on both sides. Pounding of border villages had become the order of the day before both sides announced the ceasefire as a confidence-building measure to pave way for peace talks. The commander of the 16 Corps, Lt-Gen Ashok Kapur, confirmed that no firing took place on the borders between the two sides. This helped in completion of fencing on the border and the Line of Control (LoC) to prevent infiltration. General Kapur while replying questions, however, said there was no change in the attitude of Pakistan as it is continuing to train the ultras and infiltration bids have also not stopped. “There was no dearth of support to terrorists on the other side”, he said. He said reports indicated that as many as 3,000 terrorists were being trained in at least seven camps on the Pakistani side. However, about 822 terrorists, including 48 per cent foreign mercenaries, were operating in the Jammu Division. As many as 56 terrorists so far surrendered in the 16 Corps jurisdiction. General Kapur said fencing of the border had, to a large extent had helped check infiltration. As many as 73 terrorists had been killed on the Indo-Pakistan border and the LoC so far during the year, while 268 ultras have been shot in counter-terrorist operations. He said all except two minefields in the border areas had been de-mined. |
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BJP for probe into
working of varsity Jammu, October 27 Mr Bhagat said the removal of the Vice-Chancellor, who has already completed his term, had become all the more imperative in view of the grave irregularities he committed in matters of appointment and financial mismanagement. Mr Bhagat alleged that Mr Khan had reduced the university to “an institution of anti-India playground” and played havoc with the career of the deserving Jammuites. He said there were umpteen complaints against the Vice-Chancellor to the effect that he harassed female employees of the university and asserted that it was because of his evil intentions that one of the female employees had to knock at the doors of the Supreme Court of India. He further alleged that the Vice-Chancellor threw to the winds all the laid-down norms to help not only his close relatives and relatives of certain influential political leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, but also members of his coterie who were less qualified and ineligible. He further said that it was during the period of Mr Khan that a number of communal instances rocked the university, besides the incident of harassment to girl students belonging to the Jammu region. He lamented that the inquiry committees instituted earlier to look into the corruption charges and financial bunglings against the Vice-Chancellor were not allowed to complete any of the probes because of his influence in the state. |
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Kashmir saffron farmers drift Tribune News Service “There was time when elders would gather on the full moon night to witness the heart touching colours of saffron flowers”, said Mohammad Subhan, a farmer of Chandahar village. The practice has since been given up following the eruption of militancy in the valley. “No one can venture out in open fields after sunset”, he said. The saffron crop is better this year as compared to last year, according to farmers who are plucking tiny saffron flowers these days. It is mostly in the mornings that tiny saffron flowers are plucked by youths on a weekly basis in October-November. Farmers have been complaining of the “intrusion” into business of saffron from Iran and Spain, affecting their turnover. Mr Mohammad Subhan, who has been associated with the growth and business of the saffron crop for the past four decades, said: “We used to supply up to 30 quintals of saffron to factories outside the state” in Bihar, Mumbai and Delhi. The flourishing pan masala industry is also a saffron user. According to Kashmir saffron exporters, half of the saffron production finds its way to the tobacco and zarda industry. But the threat of the gun has forced farmers like Mohammad Subhan to the switch over to other types of business Mr Mohammad Subhan's family had now set up stone crushers in the area. Over 18,000 flowers of saffron are sun-dried to produce an ounce of saffron. Nearly 17,000 hectares of land is cultivated for saffron in Kashmir. The annual production is over 10,000 kg. Saffron is a cash crop with an alternate bearing pattern. The crop is sown in May-June and its plucking takes place in October-November. In Kashmir, it is used to prepare kahwa and the wazwan, a special Kashmiri cuisine made from mutton on marriages. Kahwa served with saffron is a luxurious presentation on the auspicious occasions of engagements and marriages. A highly drained clay-loam soil is required for this crop as stagnation of water can damage the entire crop. It was perhaps because of this reason that early growers of saffron selected Karewas, a highway township in the Pampore region on the outskirts of Kashmir, which has a topographical character, sloping land and clay-loam soil. Saffron cultivation remained confined to the Pampore area for hundreds of years. It was tried on land beyond this belt, but the effort did not succeed, according to Mr Abdul Aziz, who claims that the area had certain specific characteristics to grow this crop. Its seeds were reportedly imported to Kashmir by the Mughals from Iran. |
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