Jammu, March 5
The Damodhar Satri Udyog Sanstha, a well-known social work organisation, here has urged the state government to allow adoption of abandoned children/orphans for the benefit of thousands of orphans and childless couples.

Secretary, Damodhar Satri Udyog Sanstha (DSUS), Sunita Chandra, in a memorandum submitted to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Law Affairs Minister Ali Mohd Sagar, has asked them to introduce amendments in the Jammu and Kashmir Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1960 to allow childless couples to adopt abandoned/orphan children.

In the memorandum submitted, she said: “There is no law which permits adoption of these orphan or abandoned children by those living in Jammu and Kashmir and outside the state.”

She said the amendment could be introduced in the existing law during the ongoing Assembly session so as to allow citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and those living outside the state to legally adopt abandoned/orphan children.

The Tribune has been highlighting the sad plight of such children. The state has a unique rule where abandoned children cannot be adopted.

A large number of childless couples have even filed petitions in the court of law, seeking permission to adopt such orphans/abandoned children. But since amendment to Section 9 (4) of the Central Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (1956) incorporated in 1962 has not been made applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, it has been debarring such couples to come forward and rehabilitate needy children.

The memorandum further states that the state, reeling under turmoil and battling scourge of militancy for over two decades, has an estimated number of 1 lakh orphan children.

A majority of these children are either rehabilitated in various orphanages across the state or living with their close relatives after the death of their parents.

The petitions say from time to time many people have been making attempts to get in touch with the authorities running these orphanages or children homes from within and outside the state for adoption of these children, but because of the state laws, they cannot adopt them officially.

The Damodhar Satri Udyog Sanstha is presently running a project PAHL - an initiative to impart education to street and underprivileged children.

At present 110 students are enrolled under the project PAHL, where teachers are conducting classes on elementary education, teaching social etiquettes, cleanliness, hygiene, using modern teaching aids, including audio-video medium. Most these children are under 10 year’s age and are not enrolled in government schools.

Jammu, March 5
There is gross violation of labour laws across the Jammu region.

A factory in Kathua is one such example where several workers are demanding wages under the newly-enacted Sadar-e-Riyasat Ordinance (SRO) 304. The ordinance came into being in October last year and obliges the employer to pay workers as per the skills.The SRO is part of the Revision of Wages Act, which is issued after three years as per the price index.

“We just demanded our salaries as per the new SRO and the very next day we were asked not to come for work,” said the aggrieved workers of the factory.

“We were ousted en masse without any show cause notice on December 24 last year. Labour Commissioner Abdul Hamid Wani visited the factory on December 30, but he did not pay heed to any of our grievances,” they said. “It is the question of 450 families which have been pushed to the brink of starvation,” they added.

Factory officials admitted that categorisation could not be done as the atmosphere was not conducive. “Out of 450, nearly 170 workers, including the staff members, have been coming to the job,” they said on condition of anonymity and added that those removed from job used to create indiscipline.

The new SRO provides for enhanced wages. It increased the daily wage of an unskilled worker from Rs 70 to Rs 110, whereas that of semi-skilled from Rs 87 to Rs 150. Also, it enhanced the daily wage of skilled labourer from Rs 147 to Rs 200.

There are reports from other districts as well that workers who have completed even more than 15 years doing a particular job or have been rendering skilled services were getting wages what they used to get at the beginning of their career or equivalent to that of unskilled workers.

“Employers have been pursuing the hire- and- fire policy. Workers who raise their voice against exploitation are sacked. Due to this, workers have not been able to protest openly,” said general sectary of the Industrial Workers Ekta Union, Kathua, Raj Kumar.

“The factory owners have been indulging in unfair labour practices and there are glaring instances wherein they violated the Trade Union Act guidelines, but the government does not initiate any action against them,” he added.

Chief organiser of the Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU), J&K, Nirdosh Uppal said, “Instead of categorising workers, the government has categorised factories that cannot be justified on any ground. Therefore, the SRO 20 of 2002 should be amended immediately.”

“Labour laws across the state are being flouted brazenly. Besides factory owners, even the government is violating the norms. Those engaged in the government sector as ad hoc or contract employees are getting monthly wages equivalent to Rs 1,500 or so. Does the amount qualifies the Minimum Wage Act?,” said state secretary of CPM and MLA MY Tarigami.

The Marxist leader said he had decided to move a resolution regarding the issue in the ongoing Assembly session.

The Labour Commissioner, when approached on the issue, said: “I am not answerable to any reporter.”

Jammu, March 5
Nearly 4.5 lakh government employees in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh will observe a three-day statewide strike from March 11, a call for which has been given by the Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC). “We urge the employees to observe a three-day strike from March 11 to March 13 to force the government to accept our demands”, said Ram Kumar Sharma, member of the committee.

“Our demands were accepted by a Cabinet subcommittee headed by Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather on February 19 last year, but the government, for reasons best known to it, has not honoured its decision”, said the EJAC leader. However, the matric and higher secondary examinations had been exempted from the purview of the strike. “We again warn the government to honour its decision, failing which we will be forced to go on an indefinite stir”, said Sharma.

The employees, including those of the PSUs, have been demanding Sixth Pay Commission benefits, including the release of arrears with effect from January 1, 2006, release of pending 5 per cent HRA, the regularisation of all temporary, ad hoc, consolidated and contractual employees and daily workers engaged before and after 1994, removal of pay anomalies, enhancing the retirement age from 58 to 60 years and conversion of cost of living allowance into DA of PSU employees.

Jammu, March 5
Over 8,000 students today appeared in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class X examination in the state. The students took their examination for social science.

According to sources, the examination was conducted at around 68 examination centres and the number of students was high this time as compared to last year, which was around 6,000.

Principals of various Kendriya Vidyalayas said class IX students would be judged as per “grading system”, but there was no surety about class X students as whether they would be judged as per marks system, grading system or both.

“Earlier parents used to pressurise their children for achieving highest percentage of marks, but now from this year onwards they would receive a statement in which only subject-wise grades would be shown,” a teacher said.

The teacher added that the biggest benefit of “grading system” was that there would be zero percentage of failure. The candidates who failed to do well in academics would be evaluated on the basis of his/her talent. “If a student is good in sports or having any other talent, he or she could be judged on that basis as well,” the teacher said.

The students were seen stress free and parents, who had come along with their children, were seen anxious about the implementation of “grading system”.

Shivam Narang, a class X student, who was coming out from his examination centre, said, “There was no pressure on me to cover the entire syllabus for getting more marks. The good thing about this system is that there is no competition for one mark or one percent among us (the students).”

Rupali Sharma, another class X student, said, “The paper was good and I attempted all questions with cool mind.”

VK Raina said, “This system will reduce the passion of competition among the students, and the marking system will depend on the willingness of the teacher.”

Subash Sharma, another parent, said the implementation of the “grading system” would be injustice with brilliant students.

Jammu, March 5
With the security forces upping the ante against terrorism vis-à-vis growing disillusionment among Kashmiri youth, terror outfits in restive Jammu and Kashmir now face shortage of cadres.

Faced with dearth of cadres, the terror outfits have been requesting their mentors across the LoC to pump in fresh recruits from the PoK to re-fuel terrorism, sources in the security forces said.

“Intelligence inputs and conversation intercepted in recent times revealed that terror outfits had requested their mentors to push fresh recruits from the PoK to the state,” the sources said.

The terror outfits, particularly the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), conveyed their masters that local youth were no more willing to join militancy, and hence, they requested their mentors in the PoK to dispatch fresh recruits, they added.

The steep decline in the level of local recruitment by terror outfits was a clear indication of waning terrorism, they said.

Even an analysis of recruitment corresponding to terrorists’ attrition in militancy plagued Doda district confirmed that with the growing disillusionment among the local youth, rate of recruitment was just 32 per cent of terrorist casualties.

Being hunted by the security forces, the terror outfits now find it difficult to sustain their cadres and, therefore, resorting to recruitment under coercion, the sources said.

Not only this, some terrorists operating in the state sought permission from their mentors to ex-filtrate to the PoK, a request spurned outrightly due to shortage of recruits and trained terrorists, they added.

Recently, Numan, alias Mike Islam, HuM’s divisional commander in north Kashmir, who operates south of Sopore, had been consulting another terrorist across the LoC.

The conversation intercepted by the security forces revealed that Numan requested the unidentified terrorist to remind Alisher, another HuM terrorist, to help him (Numan) in ex-filtrating to the PoK. Alisher had crossed over to the PoK last year.

The sources said Numan also informed his mentors that the HuM did not have any arrangements to receive infiltrating groups and needs help in this regard.

LeT terrorist Abdullah Anas, who operates in the Chamoti area had also conveyed a senior “commander” Mohammadi in Sialkot, to pick up youths for militancy from the PoK, they said.

Quoting another instance, sources said Lashkar terrorist Safiullah, who operates in the Thatri area, sought help from an overground worker to lure local youth into militancy.

It may be recalled here that security forces eliminated 10 top commanders of various militant outfits in the Jammu region alone in first two months of this year.

Dadasara (Pulwama), March 5
Residents of four houses which were destroyed in yesterday’s encounter between militants and security forces say they have been living in the open for the past three days.

An Army Captain and four militants were killed in the 30-hour-long gunfight.

“It was on Wednesday when the Army and the police surrounded our house and asked us to come out. Since then, we have been living in the open ,” said Mohammad Ashraf, a carpet seller, whose house was totally damaged in the fierce exchange of fire.

Saleema, wife of Ghulam Mohammad Mir, in whose house the slain militants had taken shelter, said: “What could we have done. The heavily armed militants forcibly entered our house. We asked them to leave, but they refused”. A few hours later, the security forces cordoned off the area and asked the inmates of the house to come out.

“They (security forces) first asked us to come out and it was only after that they launched the operation”, Saleema said.After the encounter, the police detained Mir and one of his sons along with some other residents for questioning.

Said Abdul Majeed, a carpenter and neighbour of Mir, whose house was also destroyed:” I am the sole breadwinner of the family and after facing various problems, I had completed the construction of my house last year, but now everything is gone”.

The residents here say that the Army also used helicopters to neutralise the militants.

Showing empty cartridges recovered from his partially damaged house, Ali Mohammed said: “For the whole night, helicopters were hovering above us”.

Jammu, March 5
Despite a ban, bovine smuggling continues unchecked in the Jammu region.

Sources say that a large number of bovines are being smuggled to the Kashmir valley from the region daily even though the police has launched a special drive against the illegal practice.

The Nagrota police claimed to have foiled a bovine smuggling today also and seized 22 animals from two trucks going to Srinagar.Four persons were arrested in this regard.

The police said the arrested were identified as Tarq Salim, Samir of Banihal, Aaggar Ashaq Hussain and Biu of Baggar Doda and a case was registered against them.

M.A. Dar, SHO, Nagrota police station said: “A case under Section 188 of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) has been registered against them and some more persons are also involved in the smuggling.”

Jammu, March 5
The production of high quality saffron, exclusively produced in Kishtwar district of the Jammu province, has been declining during the last few years.

Though the government claims to have taken effective steps to increase its production, the declining trend is continuing unchecked. Till recently, a bumper crop of saffron was a regular feature, but it declined during the last couple of years.

While admitting that the saffron production has been declining, Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir attributed various reasons to it. He said drought occurring at the critical crop growth stages and moisture stress in the saffron growing areas were some of the reasons for the decline in its production.

“Besides, the crop is also infested with corm rot disease, which contributed to its low production,” Mir said. He informed that the government had taken various measures to improve the cultivation of saffron in the state.

He said in the Upper House that the saffron cultivation areas of the state had been brought under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, under which, besides providing the necessary knowhow, quality seeds were being provided to farmers. With the collaboration of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology (SKUAST), the Department of Agriculture had organised various awareness camps in Kishtwar district to educate farmers about the latest farming practices of the saffron crop and managing and controlling the corm rot disease (CRD).

He said demonstration plots had also been laid in Poochal village, Bera Bhatta and Hidyal. He said 31.28 quintals of saffron seed were distributed among farmers as subsidy. Besides, 250 quintals of seed were also treated to check the CRD.

The minister said the government was seriously considering to promote the saffron crop in the state. He added that awareness camps were being held at different places to educate farmers about the latest techniques used for the cultivation of the crop.

Jammu, March 5
Reiterating its rejection of conditions in the Prime Minister’s employment package, the Panun Kashmir, led by Dr Agnishekhar, its convener, yesterday appealed to all Kashmiri Pandit members of the “so-called” Apex Committee not to be a part of the ‘sellout’ camouflaged in the present form of the employment package.

While addressing a press conference here, the convener appealed to the members that as a mark of protest they should resign en masse from the committee.

He alleged that the state government was trying to convert this package into an instrument of blackmail and exploitation by linking it to the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley.

While evading a direct reply when asked about 15,000 Kashmiri Pandit youths who have applied against 3,000 vacancies despite the rejection shown by their organisation, the convener said it was the conspiracy of the state government to entrap the young Kashmiri Pandit girls and boys.

He said: “Irretrievable conditions imposed and unconstitutional terms tagged in this package have to be exposed and any silence or connivance on the part of the Kashmiri Pandit members of the Apex Committee would be unfaithful”.

Meanwhile, the Panun Kashmir urged the Central and state governments that the employment package should exclusively be given to the displaced unemployed Kashmiri Pandit youths without any discriminatory rules.

He said the government should immediately come out with genuine age relaxation decisions and should provide help to overaged unemployed youths.

Commenting upon the disturbing security scenario, enhanced number of infiltration from across the LoC and latest announcement of surrender policy by the Central and state governments, Deepak Ganjoo, international co-ordinator of the Kashmir Hindu Foundation (KHF), USA, pledged full support to the cause of Kashmiri Pandits in increasing awareness with US law makers towards the need for a separate homeland for Kashmiri Pandits in the valley.

Ganjoo apprised the media that the KHF would also build a mega Kashmiri Hindu cultural centre in California, which would showcase the richness of Kashmiri heritage.