Mansar (Samba), February 2
Union Minister of Forests and Environment Jairam Ramesh today assured that no decision would be taken on Bt Brinjal without evolving a consensus. He also maintained that the decision regarding the commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal would be taken only after consultation with all stakeholders.

Talking to mediapersons here today on the sidelines of a function to mark World Wetland Day, Ramesh said : “The final decision on the matter would be taken after holding fair public hearings on the issue. The consultation process is still on and only after a meeting on February 6 in Bangalore, we will take a decision and announce it on February 10,’’ he informed.

Ramesh said though the expert committee, which recommended commercialisation of the genetic hybrid variety, was a statutory body, the government had every right and “in fact, a basic responsibility to take the final decision”.

Its was in October last year that the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), a biotechnology regulatory authority, declared that genetically modified (GM) Brinjal was safe for commercial cultivation. This was after a GEAC subcommittee, constituted on the Supreme Court’s directive, reviewed the scientific data from two-year-long field trials in fields.

At present, Bt Cotton is the only genetically modified crop allowed for commercial cultivation. Ramesh said there was a huge difference between Bt Cotton and Bt Brinjal.

“Brinjal is a food item and consumed in abundance in different forms in our country daily. So, one has to look at the side effects before arriving at a consensus,’’ Ramesh said, adding that Bt Cotton was an industrial commodity.

On the developments at the Copenhagen Summit, the Union Minister expressed happiness that both India and China kept aside differences on border-related issues to take a united stand on matters related to climate change.

He said cooperation on environment-related issues helped both countries overcome trust deficit and build new relations. “In the near future, we are planning to go for a joint strategy with China to conserve the Himalayan Glacier,’’ Ramesh insisted.

Earlier addressing the function, Ramesh announced that a Mahatama Gandhi Chair for Ecology and Environment had been set up at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshad University. He also sanctioned Rs 3 crore for the preservation of the Mansar lake.

Mansar (Samba), February 2
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today sought to distance himself from the controversy surrounding the awarding of Padma Shri to a former militant, Ghulam Mohammed Mir saying that “ the state government had not recommended his name for the prestigious award”.

A militant-turned-counter-insurgent Ghulam Mohammed Mir, alias Mumkana of Magam, was given Padma Shri on Republic Day. Interacting with mediapersons, Omar said: “I am not aware of the recommendation of his name for the award.” “It is possible that he his name has been recommended at personal level by someone. I enquired from a senior officer and it became clear that no recommendation was made for giving Padma Shri to the said individual,” he clarified.

Omar disclosed that his government had recommended only name of Rukhsana Kousar for the bravery award, besides some other persons. “Rukhsana was not recommended for any Padma Shri award,” he said.

Replying to a question regarding increasing protests and strikes in the Kashmir valley, Omar pointed out that there were some forces which didn’t want peace in this region. “Money is being paid to youth to come on streets and throw stones on security personnel,” he said. About the killing of a youth in the valley which evoked massive protests, Omar said such unfortunate incidents happened when the people took the law into their hands.

When his attention was drawn towards Kishtwar incident where the undertrial militants were provided all facilities by cops, Omar said whenever such incidents brought to our notice, strict action was taken against the guilty. Earlier addressing the function, Omar stressed the need for maintaining ecological balance. He announced many measures for the preservation of the Mansar lake and other water bodies. 

Jammu, February 2
The Jammu police today claimed to have busted an interstate gang of vehicle thieves by arresting six persons, who had also been impersonating as leaders of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

Randeep Kumar, SP, City (North), describing the modus operandi of the thieves, said, “The accused were professional thieves and had been committing crimes for a long time. They had made fake identity cards of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and had been projecting themselves as leaders of the party.”

The SP added that the accused had hired vehicles from all major cities of Punjab, including capital Chandigarh, Amritsar and Ludhiana, after showing their fake identity cards.

He said, “They used to spend nights at hotels and mix some intoxicants in the drinks of the drivers that left them unconscious. They then used to drove away the vehicles and disposed them of in the Kashmir valley.”

Another police officer said five cases of vehicle thefts in the Jammu region had been solved with the arrest of these persons.

Those arrested have been identified as Mohammad Umar Sheikh and Aijaz Ahmed, brothers and residents of Kupwara, Sandeep Raina of Jammu and Wasim Ahmed of Kupwara. While, two purchasers of stolen vehicles have been identified as Parvez Ahmed of Kupwara and Mohammad Shafi Kuche of Srinagar.

Giving details, the police said two Scorpio vehicles (PB-12-K-2986 and MH-06-T-4412); one Tata Sumo (JK-11-4657); two Maruti 800 cars (JK-02-AC-7109 and JK-03-A-4283) and one Wagon R, number not yet identified, were recovered from their possession.

The owner of a Scorpio vehicle, Randhir Singh from Chamkaur Sahib in Punjab, told this correspondent that the accused hired his car on December 12 last year and took him to Jammu. There they gave him some intoxicant substance and when he fell unconscious they drove away the car. Randhir added, “First, the thieves took me outside the house of a senior minister in the present state government to befool me and then they booked a room in a hotel near the bus stand.” The police said a special drive would be conducted to arrest more vehicle-lifters in the coming days. 

Jammu, February 2
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today welcomed the High Court judgment of quashing an order terminating an arrangement with the Sawalakote consortium for constructing a 1200 mega watt hydel project over the Chenab River in Ramban. State NCP chief Thakur Randhir Singh expressed regrets over litigations that caused delays and cost overruns at the expense of the state ex-chequer.

In a statement here, Randhir Singh recalled how a cabinet subcommittee in October 2006 after holding two meetings under the chairmanship of then Health Minister Mangat Ram Sharma had prepared recommendations in November 2006 and how the same were placed same day as a non-agenda item before the Cabinet took a decision to supersede a government order number 366 of the Power Development Department of 2005. The NCP chief also demanded a CBI probe into the circumstances and the rational as well as reasons upon which the Cabinet subcommittee had recommended cancellation of arrangement with the Sawalakote consortium.

Hanging in limbo, the 600/1200 mega watt hydroelectric project had thrown a surprise to saner elements when former minister and senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Beig had defended the controversial Sawalakote consortium in the High Court on November 14, 2007.

Jammu, February 2
“It was for the first time that I saw life out of the Kashmir valley. I had never even boarded a train,” said Rukhsana.Rukhsana was among those 33 orphan girls from the Kashmir region who went on an educational tour of India on December 14 last year. These girls were taken on the tour by an NGO, Border Less World Foundation, in collaboration with the police.

They met renowned personalities like Mahesh Bhatt, Kiran Bedi and Salman Khan during their 52-day tour of important cities, including New Delhi, Pune, Nasik, Mumbai and Agra.

The girls, a majority of them from Anantnag and Kupwara, were accompanied by five teachers and they returned today.

“We learnt the process of candle making, tailoring, flower making, computers, English speaking and several other things. We met people from all walks of life and learnt something about their languages and culture,” said Mobina, a member of the group. Besides, the girls also visited Essel World in Mumbai and enjoyed rides and swings.

The founder trustee of the NGO, Tanvir Ahmed Mir, appreciated the police for providing all facilities to the children during their memorable tour. He also gave credit to the other members of the NGO for their active participation.

While encouraging the children, DGP Kuldeep Khoda gave away gifts to them. He said, “We are always ready to organise such programmes and will surely help the needy children as much as we can.”

Two-and-a-half-year-old Suraiya, who was among the touring children, presented the annual report of the NGO to the DGP at the conclusion of the function, which was held at the police headquarters. “Who on earth is working for us except this organisation? It is not our fault that we are orphans,” said little girls while singing a touchy song in the Kashmiri language. They demanded an end to female foeticide. 

Jammu, February 2
Meritorious students and scholars at the University of Jammu resent the delay in disbursement of scholarships. Lack of funds with the varsity is believed to be the reason for the delay. Students and scholars of at least 32 departments who got enrolled after October 2008 have reportedly been denied of scholarships since 2008.

“We have approached the registrar and dean students’ welfare repeatedly, but the later maintains paucity of funds,” the protesting students said.

As per the norms, the varsity has the provision for a monthly scholarship of Rs 2,500 and Rs 1,800 to the first five scholars in PhD and two in MPhil, respectively. Usually the scholarships are disbursed in total sum at the end of the year after required verifications.

“The authorities maintain that there is financial constraint. If they don’t have nearly 5-6 lakhs to pay off scholarships for academic purpose, how come the monthly expenditure of more than 12 lakh over the proposed police post on the campus would be met with,” president of the Progressive Students Association Rahul said.

“This is certainly going to discourage the research work,” a group of scholars said. “Though rules say that amount of scholarship should be given on monthly basis, its heights of negligence that even after two years we are not getting our due,” they added.

“The varsity should ensure the disbursement of scholarships on regular basis besides enhancing the amount and number of beneficiaries. Quality research work cannot be expected without a hike in the scholarship amount. The scholarships should be conferred upon all full-time scholars as the cost of living is increasing day by day,” they said.

However, registrar Prof PS Pathania denied the report and claimed that all students as well as scholars were getting scholarships regularly.

Ramgarh, February 2
Paying homage to Sikh warrior Banda Bahadur on his 300th birth anniversary, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar today urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah to sanction land at the warrior’s native place of Rajouri so that an institute could be raised in his memory.

Addressing mediapersons here this afternoon, Makkar said the 300th birth anniversary of Banda Bahadur would be celebrated with enthusiasm at Fatehgarh Sahib from May 12 to May 14.

“We also request the state government to construct memorial gates on the Rajouri-Jammu National Highway,” he added.

“The SGPC would on its own like to construct gates decked up with flowers from Rajouri to Fatehgarh Sahib during the birth anniversary celebrations,” said the SGPC president. A nagar kirtan from Rajouri to Fatehgarh Sahib, too, would be taken out to mark the occasion, he added.

“I have personally sought a meeting with Omar Abdullah and hopefully Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will also contact him,” Makkar said.

He urged the Sikh community in the state and all justice loving people to throng Fatehgarh Sahib during the celebrations.

On Nanak Shahi calendar, the SGPC chief put to rest all controversies saying after holding threadbare discussions with the stakeholders, including those who initially opposed it, the calendar now had the approval of the Khalsa Panth.

“The issue has been sorted out once and for all. The calendar was the need of the Sikh community, but ironically certain elements at the behest of government agencies tried to rake up a controversy,” he said. The SGPC chief also refuted the allegations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s influence over the SGPC. He offered to quit if proved wrong.

Jammu, February 2
A local court today remanded the kingpin of a job racket allegedly involved in duping village girls by luring them to provide jobs in Rajouri in eight days’ police custody.The police said the accused, Mushtaq Ahmed, head of an NGO, Jan Kalyan Manch, and resident of Morrian in Thana Mandi, was arrested late last night for luring the girls to provide them jobs as balwadi and anganwari workers.He was collecting money from them as bribe.

A police officer told this correspondent that a large number of fake stamps and employment forms were seized from the office of the accused.

Kewal Krishan Gupta, SHO, Rajouri police station, said: “Taking action on a complaint filed by Mala Devi, alleging that the accused took Rs 40,000 from her to provide jobs to her daughter and daughter-in-law and neither provided jobs nor returned the money,we arrested him.

The SHO said the accused had assured the villagers that he would provide monthly salary of Rs 1,600, Rs 1,000 and Rs 600 to the job seekers.

Gupta added: “During interrogation,the accused disclosed the names of his associates involved in the racket. Teams have been sent to various parts of the district to apprehend them.

Jammu, February 2
Some unidentified persons robbed a man of 5,000 Saudi riyals after stabbing him at a private hotel in the Nawabad area here today, sources said.The sources said Zagir Hussain, a resident of Surankote, returned from Saudi Arabia yesterday and was staying at the hotel in Surankote.

Zagir went to the toilet and when he returned to his room, he found two unidentified persons standing there.

The two stabbed him and robbed him of his money.

Repeated attempts to contact SHO, Nawabad police station,failed.

However, Randeep Kumar, SP, City (North) said: “A case has been registered in this regard and the hotel owner has been rounded up”.

Jammu, February 2
Two days after the alleged use of a cellphone by an undertrial Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami (HUJI) militant at a private eatery in Kishtwar, four policemen were suspended today.A police officer said the suspended included ASI Tilak Raj, head constable Subash Chander and constables Mohammad Rafiq and Jia Lal.

Sher Khan, a former divisional commander of the HUJI, who had surrendered last year, reportedly used a cellphone when the police was taking 18 militants to jail after appearance in an Udhampur court yesterday. He said the security norms clearly specified that undertrials could have food only inside the jail and under no circumstances they could be taken to any public place for the purpose.

However, the officer said there was a foolproof security when undertrials were being taken to Kishtwar from Udhampur.

DGP Kuldeeep Khoda said: “The police has started a probe and strict action will be taken against those found guilty.”

Undertrial Sher Khan was caught by a news channel using a cellphone in the footage. He is reportedly under threat from militants for surrendering before the Army.