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State to have 2 central varsities, IIM sacrificed
Amandeep Murder
Shopian Case |
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Permission sought for world Sikh varsity
Govt plans polytechnic college in each dist
Andolan Samiti thanks Centre
Power Cuts
Committees to ensure teachers in rural schools
Man rapes daughter, held
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State to have 2 central varsities, IIM sacrificed
New Delhi, September 25 Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal cited the special status of Jammu and Kashmir as the principal driver behind the decision, which political leaders from Kashmir hailed as “one that would go a long way in reducing trust deficit people of the valley have developed in the Centre and state leaderships.” Sibal said the decision “was expected to meet regional aspirations and maintain harmony in the state”. The second central university will, however, come at the cost of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) earlier proposed for the state. The Omar government does not mind having sacrificed the IIM for a central varsity which, it feels, will create more academic, economic and employment opportunities for the locals and thus reap political benefits in the long run. “An IIM will not have benefited our people. Admissions would have had to be conducted on an all-India basis and there would have been no guarantee of Kashmiris securing seats. A central varsity, on the other hand, would help absorb the local faculty, students, academic and non-academic staff, besides boosting the state economy.” “Most importantly, the move signifies the Centre’s determination to keep the people of Jammu and Kashmir from fighting each other,” top NC sources today told The Tribune, adding that the move would defeat the fundamental forces that were waiting for the first opportunity to rake up communal tension in the area still reeling under the impact of the Shopian murder case. “There have been threats of a burning Kashmir if the central university were to go to Jammu alone,” said a top NC leader, admitting that the Chief Minister had been consistently following up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Six sites have been identified in Jammu and Kashmir each for the establishment of the central universities. These are Samba, Arsapora and Nagrota in Jammu and Ganderbal (Omar’s Assembly segment), Sopore (Hurriyat chief Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s hometown) and Pampore in Kashmir. Back in the National Capital, Sibal clarified today that the government would take appropriate legislative measures to implement the decision. “The two central universities will have instructional and research facilities in emerging branches of learning like IT, nanotechnology, biotechnology etc. However, in view of our budget constraints we have decided to drop the proposal for an IIM in the state and instead use those savings to set up a second appropriate central university,” he said, ignoring queries on how the government would handle similar demands from states like Uttarakhand. As for the NC-led ruling combine in J&K, today’s decision comes as a political victory for Omar, with his aide describing it as “the Centre’s show of support for the Chief Minister.” Earlier in a high-level meeting with the Prime Minister, Omar had stressed the dicey political fallout of having one central university for the state and how the decision could widen the chasm between Jammu and Kashmir regions. |
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Amandeep Murder
Jammu, September 25 “A ballistic expert from the FSL, Jammu, Sarwar Hussain Bukhari, who had received Rs 3.50 lakh for replacing the weapon, has confessed to his involvement and has been arrested,” Khan said while addressing mediapersons here this evening. “Huge money exchanged hands to fudge evidences,” said Khan, adding that in the investigations conducted so far by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), involvement of FSL and police officials has been established. The Tribune had earlier reported that Deepinder Kour, a former MLC and Amandeep’s mother, had said Rs 2 crore were given by the family of the main accused to change the course of investigations. On August 29, Amandeep Singh was allegedly shot at by Jatinder Singh, son of Choudhary Nagar Singh, a prominent businessman. He died the next day at a Delhi hospital. “We have recovered Rs 3.10 lakh from the FSL official while the remaining Rs 40,000 would be confiscated shortly,” the DIG said. However, he described Bukhari’s arrest as a tip of the iceberg and said the entire plot would be uncovered soon. He said the arrested FSL official had received the money through a party engaged by the family of main accused. “All the six suspended officials, including former SSP Jammu, Manohar Singh, SP South, Mumtaz Ahmed, SDPO Gandhi Nagar, JS Katoch, SHO Gandhi Nagar, Sultan Mirza, investigation officer, SI Satnam Singh, and Munshi, Talib Hussain, are being questioned,” he said. “Influential people are involved in the case but the SIT would not succumb to any pressures,” he said.When asked why suspended officers haven’t been arrested despite invoking section 201 RPC against them, he said arrests are made where a prima facie case is established. He also said the original weapon has not been recovered yet. On Choudhary Nagar Singh, father of the main accused, who didn’t turn up before the SIT despite warrants being served at his residence, the DIG said no one was above the law and he would face a police probe. He said the SIT would be able to file the chargesheet within 60 days.
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Shopian Case
Srinagar, September 25 Shakeel Ahmad Ahangar, brother of Asiya and husband of Neelofar, and Neelofar’s father Abdul Hai gave the consent for exhuming the bodies in the court of Shopian Judicial Magistrate Malik Shabir Ahmad yesterday. The CBI sources said the bodies would be exhumed on Sunday after obtaining a formal order from the district court. The CBI, which took over the case from the state’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) recently, approached Shopian District and Sessions Judge Syed Tauqeer Ahmad for recording the statements of the victim’s relatives on the consent issue. The Judge referred the case to the court of Judicial Magistrate Malik Shabir Ahmad. During the recording of statements, the Judge asked Shakeel and Abdul Hai whether they were ready for giving the consent for the exhumation of the bodies. Both of them gave the consent. Later, CBI officials took the copies of the statements with them and are likely to approach District Magistrate Abdul Majid Khanday for obtaining a formal order in this regard. The sources said the bodies would be exhumed by a team of senior doctors from New Delhi. A group of medical staff from Srinagar would also assist them. — PTI
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Permission sought for world Sikh varsity
Srinagar, September 25 It has written to the state government and the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) for the grant of permission to set up the university in south Kashmir. A delegation of the AISAD led by its president Jaswant Singh Mann was in touch with the Governor and the Chief Minister here last week. The delegation also met the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar of Kashmir University, Srinagar, to seek their views on setting up an international university, a spokesman for the AISAD said. The AISAD meeting to discuss the setting up of the World Sikh University held at Sahmo, Tral, was attended by Manjit Singh Taran Tarni, general secretary, Bhagwant Singh, secretary, and Joginder Singh Shaan, state president of the AISAD. Some NRIs, including Deedar Singh Bains had extended help to the university, the meeting was told. The meeting nominated Joginder Singh Shaan as secretary and Prithpal Singh Betab as the executive secretary of the local foundation committee for setting up the university. The foundation committee has written to over 250 NRIs for help. In another meeting, about 400 members of the AISAD discussed representation to the members of the Sikh community in government institutions and their recruitment at various levels. |
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Govt plans polytechnic college in each dist
Srinagar, September 25 “The state government is contemplating to provide one polytechnic college to each district of the state,” Minister for Technical Education RS Chib said today. During a visit to Islamic University for Science and Technology at Awantipora in Pulwama district, the minister said the state government was focussed to enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability in the institutes of technical education.
— PTI |
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Andolan Samiti thanks Centre
Jammu, September 25 Welcoming the government’s decision and extending gratitude to both state and central governments, Pavitar Singh, convener of the CUAS, said, “The state government should issue a notification immediately for setting up the central university at Samba as identified earlier.” The CUAS activists had been protesting for the past more than two months and had not suspended their agitation so far. They would announce the further course of action on October 2. Talking to mediapersons, Sunil Sethi, a member of the CUAS, said, “The fight has not ended here. The CUAS will continue to fight against discrimination against Jammu.” He said though the CUAS was a non-political organisation, people from both political and non-political backgrounds wanted to join it to fight unitedly for the cause of Jammu. Meanwhile, the Central University Joint Action Committee (CUJAC) hailed the decision of the HRD Minister. Students and scholars of Jammu University beat drums and distributed sweets among the students on the campus. Mohinder Singh Pandu, president of the CUJAC, said, “During our meeting with Kapil Sibal in Delhi, we submitted a proposal for opening two central universities in the state, first in Jammu and the other in Kashmir.” However, students of GGM Science College, SPRM Commerce College and MAM College held a protest and demanded an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) for Jammu. Pratap Singh Jamwal, vice-president of the Jammu Joint Students Federation (JJSF), said, “If the government could sanction two central Universities, it should also sanction two IIMs for the state.” The students of the evening shift of GGM Science College also held a protest and burnt the effigy of HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.
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Power Cuts
Udhampur, September 25 Udhampur and adjoining localities have been facing 6 to 8 hours unscheduled power cuts, especially for the past 10 days. These unscheduled power curtailment has forced organisers of Ram Leela to reschedule their programmes. Furthermore, the power curtailment has posed a serious security threat during the Navratras. However, the authorities expressed helplessness to ensure unscheduled power supply during festivals. “Due to overloading we have to go for unscheduled curtailment,” officers of the Power Development Department (PDD) said. Unscheduled power curtailment is also affecting water supply, especially in the town, as pumping stations are not functioning properly. Meanwhile, a meeting of the prominent citizens of Udhampur was held today in which a large number of people were present. During the meeting, speakers lambasted the authorities for their failure to ensure proper supply of power during Navratras.
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Committees to ensure teachers in rural schools
Udhampur, September 25 A majority of the people present during the meeting complained that there was shortage of teaching staff in the schools located in the area, which was affecting the future of the students. Later, the minister asked the Deputy Commissioner to constitute a committee of officers who would ensure proper transfer policy and deployment of staff at the institutions where there was shortage of staff. He ordered that no transfer would take place without approval of the committee and it would keep in touch with local leaders, especially the panchayat members, for proper feedback. Malik assured the people that adequate staff would be deployed at all such schools. He also directed the officers to train one graduate from each village in computer skills so that grievances of the people can be directly brought before the CM through his grievance cell. The minister asked officials to regularly visit remote areas of the state so that they can formulate pro-people policies.
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Man rapes daughter, held
Jammu, September 25 However, when this morning the victim narrated the incident to her mother she immediately lodged a complaint at Akhnoor police station. The police arrested the accused who later confessed his crime, SHO Akhnoor police station Gian Chand Sharma said. He informed that a medical examination of the victim was conducted at the Akhnoor hospital today.
— TNS |
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