Udhampur, September 8
For political gains leaders have got a number of schools upgraded in their respective areas. During the past seven years, more than 200 schools in different parts of the state have been upgraded, but a majority of these schools have been confronting numerous problems.

Non-availability of infrastructure and shortage of teaching staff are the biggest problems being faced by students of these schools which were upgraded in a haphazard manner without creating required infrastructure.

Government Girls Higher Secondary School located in the heart of Bhaderwah town is a glaring example of the casual approach being adopted by the authorities in providing infrastructure in the institute.

More than 900 students are enrolled in this institution which has been virtually turned into a fair-weather school, especially for class XI and class XII students, as students have to attend classes either in the open or in tattered tents.

It is pertinent to mention here that besides its scenic beauty, Bhaderwah is also known for its literacy rate. The town is also called as “mini Kerala” as the literacy rate is highest in this town as compared to all other parts of the state.

“We have brought the matter to the notice of the authorities a number of times, but no action has been taken so far,” said Koushal Kotwal, a local political activist who demanded construction of adequate classrooms.

Unlike other upgraded schools of the state, Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Bhaderwah, was upgraded about 12 years ago due to the pressing demands of the local people.

“About 12 years have passed, but this school is still confronted with the problem of shortage of teaching staff and adequate infrastructure,” rued Rashid, a resident of Bhaderwah.

This institution is the only higher secondary school for girls in this belt. According to the locals, this school caters to about 25 villages as girls from adjoining localities have been enrolled in it.

For the past 19 years, residents of Bhaderwah have been demanding deployment of adequate staff and proper infrastructure, but the authorities seem to be unconcerned of the problems being faced by the students.

“Two months ago, a delegation had brought this matter to the notice of the higher-ups of the Education Department who had assured to construct more classrooms,” reminded Tilakraj, another resident. He said the assurance given by the authorities remained on paper only.

YR Thusoo, chief education officer, Doda, said he would enquire from the principal concerned about the requirements of classrooms. “I am not aware about the shortage of classrooms in that particular school,” Thusoo said.

He claimed that the Education Department had made arrangements to provide adequate staff in all higher secondary schools for smooth conduct of academic activities.

PD Suman, principal of the school, admitted that there was a shortage of classrooms, especially for class XI and class XII, and the students have to attend their classes in the open.

A complaint box installed by the traffic police at Satwari Chowk in Jammu. Tribune photo: Anand Sharma

Jammu, September 8
Even as one precious life is lost almost every second day in road mishaps in Jammu district, an initiative of the traffic police has started paying some dividends.

“Ever since the Jammu traffic police installed 23 complaint boxes on August 23 in various squares and crossings in the temple city, 25 complaints have poured in,” Parminder Singh, SSP (Traffic), Jammu, told The Tribune.

Before embarking upon the initiative, we were skeptical about results, but in a span of just 15 days we got 25 complaints and that, too, from well-educated people,” he said.

It may be stated here that in a bid to streamline dismal scenario, the traffic police has installed complaint boxes in the twin capital cities.

“The initiative is definitely helping us to serve commuters,” said Parminder, who cited an instance of how some lecturers informed the traffic police of pressure horns being used clandestinely by some bus drivers.

“In their complaints, the lecturers, who daily board buses from Jammu for Udhampur, informed us about how bus drivers after crossing Nagrota reconnect some wires to a switch to reactivate pressure horns,” said the SSP.

“We have taken cognisance of the complaints and now Udhampur-bound buses are being checked,” he said.

Parminder said he also received a complaint that officials at the Nagrota Traffic Check Post had not been acting against such vehicles.

Acting upon such complaints, traffic officials have been asked to take cognisance of such vehicles and they have also been asked to take strict action against rash driving.

However, he felt that the initiative has started paying positive dividends as not only lecturers, but also bureaucrats have started lodging complaints and suggestions through these boxes.

Quoting another instance, Parminder said a retired official from the Public Works Department (PWD) lodged a complaint against reckless driving on the arterial expressway at Jewel Chowk and suggested a flying squad to fix the problem.

“The official also raised questions over the design of the expressway and felt that faulty design may cause accidents,” he said.

It may be stated here that the sharp curve near MLA Hostel leading to the expressway continues to cause deaths, particularly of speeding two-wheeler riders.

Family members show a photograph of Shefali Verma, who committed suicide in Durga Nagar, Jammu. A Tribune photograph

Jammu, September 8
Shefali Verma, 20, was preparing for the Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS), but she got so fed up with her life that recently she committed suicide. In a suicide note, she urged her younger brother, Shubam, to study hard and do well in matriculation examination.

Shefali lost her father, Satpal Verma, (a tailor by profession) at the age of 10. Moved by the plight of her ailing mother, Sudesh Kumari, who earns Rs 1,000 per month by doing odd-job as domestic help, Shefali started imparting elementary computer education to special children at a private institute, Sankalap, at Gandhi Nagar to sustain the expenses of her family comprising her mother and two younger siblings.

Besides doing a job, she was also pursuing her BA through distance education due to meager financial sources and fulfill her dream of becoming a civil servant.

“She told me recently that she could not qualify one paper in BA-I examination and was visibly upset. She used to come to me and would ask for information about the KAS examination.

She was not satisfied with the marks secured in the senior secondary examination and wanted to reappear in the exam, but money was a major constraint,” maintains her maternal uncle.

“I am fed up of my life. I don’t want to continue anymore. I am myself responsible for what I am doing to myself and my family should not be asked anything about it. Shubam put your heart and soul in your studies and do secure good marks in matriculation examination,” reads the suicide note written by Shefali that was recovered by the police from her room.

According to her uncle, the family stayed with him at Gandhi Nagar and recently shifted to two-marla house in Durga Nagar. The family was evicted from their rented accommodation at Khilone Wali Gali some five years ago where they had been living for more than 40 years. “The landlord even refused to return their goods,” he added.

Behind the thick-rimmed glasses is a face of grief-stricken woman who personifies a life defeated at the hands of poverty. “My daughter was always concerned about others and would socialise quite easily,” says the tormented mother sitting under the same roof where Shefali ended her life.

“She was a girl of soft sensibilities,” Sudesh said showing the photograph of her daughter attired in jeans and top, bearing a smile on her face.

Jammu, September 8
Even as the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Deepak Kapoor, has said infiltration attempts from across the border have increased and a large number of trained terrorists are waiting across the border to sneak into the Indian territory, the Army has taken elaborate measures to counter these attempts.

After last year’s Mumbai terrorist attacks, there was a decline in infiltration attempts, but during the past few months, there has been a sizable increase in attempts from across the border to infiltrate into the Indian territory.

As per intelligence sources, the Pakistani army has again activated militant launch pads along the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border. These launch pads are used as transit points by militants.

“Pakistan is supporting terrorists to sneak into the Indian side. Cross-border infiltration cannot take place without the active support of Pakistan,” said Lt-Gen GM Nair, GOC of the Rising Star Corps.

He said around 50-60 trained terrorists were waiting across the international border in the Jammu region to infiltrate into the Indian side. “In fact, many desperate infiltration bids have already been foiled and I must assure you that the country is in safe hands,” General Nair said.

Militants across the border are also getting active support from the Pakistani army as the recent ceasefire violation by the latter in Poonch in which a soldier lost his life was aimed at aiding an infiltration attempt.

“Behind almost all ceasefire violations, the motive is to push in a large number of trained terrorists, but the Army is always on guard along the LoC and we have been foiling these attempts,” a senior Army officer said.

As per the officer, there are 34 terrorists training camps operative across the border in which more than 1,000 terrorists were getting training and were waiting to infiltrate into the Indian side.

“Their main aim would be to push in as many militants as they could before the onset of winter as snowfall would close most of the paths. Hence, they are desperate, but elaborate measures are in place to foil their nefarious designs,” said the officer.

The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Udhmapur-based Northern Command, Lt Gen PC Bharadwaj, said, “The level of violence has dropped but there is an increase in the cross-border infiltration. This year alone, 26 infiltration bids were foiled in which 57 terrorists were gunned down”.

Meanwhile, a senior Army officer said following the closure of various routes along the LoC due to snowfall, the concentration of terrorists would increase along the international border.

Jammu, September 8
The two decades of turmoil in the state has had a devastating impact on the tribal life and economy of Gujjars, resulting in the decline in tribal migration in the state.

A survey conducted by the Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation, an organisation working on Gujjars all over the country, found that the past two decades has resulted in 37 per cent decline in tribal migration.

“Heavy loss of life and property, lack of basic education, health and communication facilities and restrictions on nomadic movement in the upper reachess of the Himalayan region are causing a devastating impact on the tribal life and economy of Gujjars,” said Dr Javaid Rahi, national secretary of the foundation.

Quoting a survey, Rahi said more than 37 per cent Gujjars, who were migratory by tradition, had relinquished their nomadic lifestyle during the past 20 years. He added that there was an apprehension that tribal migration would become a thing of past in the next few decades.

The survey revealed that in the absence of disaster management polices for tribals of the northern states, the community suffered a heavy loss of human life and livestock due to landslides, forest fires, snow and hail storms, man-animal conflicts every year due to which the percentage of migratory groups was going down.

As per the survey, the main reason for the decline in the tribal movement was the killing of hundreds of nomadic Gujjars on the upper reaches.

Another reason was the restrictions imposed by the security agencies and militants on tribal migration in the border and strategic areas, Rahi said.

According to the study, after the closure of forests for nomadic communities in the state since 1996, thousands of Gujjars relinquished the nomadic lifestyle and turned migratory labourers.

The Gujjar and Bakarwal nomadic groups are spread throughout the northern part of the Himalayan Range and they have been facing various hardships in day-to-day life due to the non-availability of basic amenities on the upper reaches, the study said.

The survey further revealed that Gujjars, who lead a lonely and tough life in the high-altitude areas of the Himalayas and the Pir-Panjal range, were gradually settling down in the plains.

The Scheduled Tribe Gujjars, which constitute around 20 per cent of the total population of the state, are mostly nomads and have been practicing primitive cultural traits and migrating along with their livestock to the upper reaches of the Himalayas since time immemorial through seven major tribal migration routes.

The survey suggested that the government should formulate a plan to protect their nomadic identity by providing them education, health and communication facilities during their migration to the upper reaches.

The survey further suggested that the government should formulate a disaster management policy for tribal and nomadic communities and the orders restricting the movement of Gujjars must be revoked.

Jammu, September 8
The Centre has come to the rescue of the state government in developing and protecting medicinal plants, which were once available in abundance in all three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

However, during the past over two decades, the state has been losing a number of precious herbs and aromatic plants, primarily to militancy, deforestation and construction of roads and dams in forest zones.

“The state government’s comprehensive 11-point action plan to protect and cultivate medicinal plants on commercial lines has been approved by the Centre”, Dr Kabir Ahmad Dar, Director, Indian System of Medicines (ISM) said.

Funded by the Centre, the action plan would be fully implemented within five years, Dr Dar said.He said under the plan, different agencies and departments of the state government were being involved to implement the scheme.

While Forest Department would provide land for cultivation of aromatic and medicinal plants, the state Horticulture Department would develop two nurseries each in the Kashmir and Jammu regions where plants could be grown and later supplied to the people for commercial purposes. Dr Dar said scientists at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture, Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) would be involved to undertake further research and develop and process seeds and plants which had over the years turned extinct.

He said the state had ideal climatic and geographical conditions for cultivation of the wonder drugs which could surely be promoted as an alternative system of medicine.

The cultivation of trees like”amla”, “bahera” and “harad” and shrubs like”ashwagandha” and “brahami” with anti-stress qualities, had a tremendous potential in this border state, Dr Dar said.Dr Dar said the scheme had an equally high job opportunity for unemployed youth who could cultivate these crash crops for their livelihood.

The Director said over 5,000 aromatic and medicinal plants had so far been discovered in the state, of which 4,000 were found only in the valley forests.Meanwhile, the state’s ISM department is organising a mega event “Arogya-2009” at the Kashmir Haat next month. Being held for the first time in the state, the event would be organised in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Department of AYUSH, Dr Dar said.

He said the idea behind such an event was to make people aware about the benefits of ayurvedic, unani and other Indian systems of medicines.The 4-day event would begin on October 1. It would be followed by a regional event at Jammu, Dr Dar added.

Are they sitting ducks?” No, but the nature of job has made them so, pat came the reply. The other day two adolescents were found talking about a hapless traffic cop at a busy square after a motorbike rider zoomed past him, that too, without wearing a helmet. Flouting traffic rules with impunity is a common sight in the winter capital where traffic cops often get exhausted after day’s hard work. They simply don’t bother to enforce the law and hence, two-wheeler riders, particularly youngsters belonging to affluent families, continue to violate traffic rules. (See picture)