Chandigarh, March 12
The Punjab Vidhan Sabha today asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to approach Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and seek the Union Government’s intervention for the release of thousands of Punjabi youths languishing in foreign jails after being arrested for illegally crossing borders. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal assured the House that his government would shortly take up the matter with the Centre.

The issue came up during Zero Hour of the house when Sukhpal Singh Khaira of the Congress raised the issue pointing out that the latest United Nations report released in Chandigarh yesterday had pointed out that nearly 20,000 young men try to immigrate illegally each year. He pointed out that there were lakhs of boys who are put in jails after being betrayed by travel agents. He specifically pointed out the case of 37 boys languishing in Moroco jail, out of which 9 were from his constituency of Bohlath.

The Deputy Chief Minister, who was acting as the leader of the House in the absence of the Chief Minister, categorically said, “This is a very important issue, I know thousands of youth from Punjab are languishing in foreign jails. But since this is an area where the state government cannot interfere, I can assure you that I and the Chief Minister will meet the Prime Minister and raise the issue before him.”

He sought the cooperation of Khaira and other legislators on account of illegal immigration. It was perhaps one of those rare occasions where the ruling party and the opposition showed unanimity on any issue. Later during the Question Hour, Sunil Jakhar, also of the Congress pointed out that no pensions had been paid in the state since November 2009. But the Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal clarified that all pending pensions had been paid and “Punjab was current on pensions”.

During the Zero Hour, Anil Josh of the Congress wanted the government to ban liquor in plastic bottles as had been done in Himachal Pradesh as plastic was responsible for spreading cancer and other ailments. 

Bathinda, March 12
As the cotton-sowing season is approaching, farmers from this cotton-rich Malwa belt are heading towards Gujarat to acquire “spurious” Bt cotton seed that is cheaper than that certified by Punjab Agriculture University (PAU).

Trainloads of farmers leaving for Gujarat or returning with bags of uncertified seed from there is a common sight here these days.

Farmers, after working out the economics of the crop, were not convinced with the pleadings of agriculture scientists that the spurious seed, although cheaper, was prone to pest attack and lesser yield. Sowing of cotton in full swing will begin next month after harvesting of wheat crop.

Gujarat has become the most favoured destination of Punjab farmers for acquiring high-bred cotton seed although various official committees have expressed doubts about the authenticity of various brands of the seed being sold there. Gujarat, which is among the highest producers of cotton, faced failure of crop two years ago because of spurious seed.

Shingara Singh, leader of the Bhartiya Kissan Union (BKU) (Ugarahan), said more than 65 per cent cotton growers from the Malwa belt were acquiring Bt cotton seed from Gujarat.

He said a packet containing 400 gm Bt cotton seed, sufficient for one acre, was available for Rs 250 to Rs 300 from Gujarat, whereas the certified seed here was being sold for around Rs 1,100 per packet. This was the reason that the growers preferred to buy seed from Gujarat where they dispatch a group of about five farmers from each village for this purpose. Even after spending the on the rail ticket and other expenditures en route, the seed from Gujarat comes cheaper, he said. Shingara Singh said the growers at times suffered losses due to poor crop from the uncertified seeds.

He said the Bt cotton had affected fertility of the agriculture fields and the farm scientists should develop pest resistant varieties of the desi (indigenous) cotton.

Besides being the top producer of cotton, Gujarat also tops in producing spurious Bt cotton seed. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), appointed by the Ministry of Environment, had some time ago rejected various brands of Bt cotton seed produced in Gujarat.

Dr GS Butter, director of the regional centre of PAU, said it was unfortunate that to save a small amount of money, the farmers preferred to sow uncertified seed. Although the Bt cotton seed was a little costly, it was resistant to pest attack and its yield was much higher than the uncertified seed.

Chandigarh, March 12
Punjab Chief secretary SC Agarwal today called for the records of selection of 312 doctors from the Punjab Public Service Commission, which has come under the scanner following a Tribune expose.

Agarwal, who is inquiring into the matter, said, “We would go through the entire set of records following which if there is a need to involve the vigilance bureau (VB) we would ask for their assistance.” Members of the Doctors Justice League, which includes the candidates rejected by the PPSC, however, today stated that they did not have any faith in the VB for the conduct of a fair investigation into the PPSC scam.

In a joint statement issued, the league members said any inquiry conducted by the VB could not be counted upon to be either free or just as its official himself was allegedly involved in gathering money on behalf of those who mattered in the PPSC.

“If VB chief Sumedh Singh Saini is an honest man, then why is he presiding over a kingdom of corruption in the state? To think that he has no idea of what all is going on right under his nose is not possible,” pointed out the doctors.

They added that it was a well-known fact that VB officials in the districts were openly gathering monthlies from corrupt government officials. “We have been posted in so many districts and we know from our friends that regular meetings are held among government officials where rates of payment are fixed for vigilance officials,” said another doctor.

“We have been told that while the PPSC selections were going on VB officials sitting in the headquarters in Chandigarh were informed about the reported scam but nothing whatsoever was done to curb the on goings at that stage,” said a doctor.

“It should be clear from the list of doctors who are selected that both the Akali and Congress leaders are involved. In such a situation how can we expect justice from the state government?” they said. Meanwhile, the VB chief couldn’t be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Jalandhar, March 12
Silence of the state Congress over the PPSC scam, in which undeserving candidates made the mark, is not only intriguing but also a pointer of the apathy of the party towards issues concerning youth like unemployment.

There is a general feeling among people that the party has abdicated the primary function of the opposition to ensure a transparent selection process by the commission.

No section of the party, including PPCC chief Mohinder Singh Kaypee, CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and even former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, found it fit to demand a high-level probe or scrapping of the final list and action against the commission members who flouted all norms to favour the high and mighty of the state. Senior Congress leaders said the party had missed a golden opportunity to corner the ruling alliance on an issue that concerns the unemployed youth of the state.

This negative stance is contrary to the directions of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi who has been stressing on adopting a proactive approach on matters concerning the youth.

Our silence has already been equated with tacit complicity with the Akalis by the educated youth, who are feeling let down, as no senior leader called for a statewide boycott or even a boycott of the assembly even though it was in session when the whole lid blew off the scam, they pointed out. It is also being felt that the party has chosen to keep silent because some of the kith and kin of Congress leaders, too, have been accommodated in the final list, they added.

The inaction of the party has led the state to get away with an enquiry at the level of the Chief Secretary when the entire opposition should have been on their feet demanding a CBI enquiry at the outset in the house, they added.

Chandigarh, March 12
The Punjab Vidhan Sabha today informally accepted the long-pending demand of many legislators, including recommendation of the All-India Whips Conference, of taking up questions listed by legislators even when the person who has sought a reply to a specific query was absent from the House. Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon today announced in the House that there was no harm in taking up a legislator’s question even in his absence.

There has been a long-pending demand, including that of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tikshan Sood and others, of making it mandatory for a legislator to be present in the House when the questions is listed in his/her name for seeking reply from the minister concerned as a lot of time and money is spent on preparing reply to the questions. Gathering reply to a single question involve lakhs of rupees, it has been contended.

The House did not formally bring in any legislation to this effect, but when it came to question number 1,440 where Kuldeep Sing Bhattal of the Congress had sought a reply from Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah on whether there was any proposal to repair dilapidated link roads in Sangrur and Barnala districts, Kahlon told the minister if he was prepared with the reply, he could state it on the floor of the House, making the move initiated by the Speaker more important that the question itself. In the normal course, the question is passed over.

If the practice is followed in the future, Punjab will perhaps become one of the few states in the country to adopt recommendations of several bodies seeking for legislative reforms.

New Delhi, March 12
The SAD today sought a complete debt waiver for Punjab to rescue it from the vicious trap.

Participating in the discussions on the General Budget in the Lok Sabha today, SAD member Harsimrat Kaur Badal demanded the waiver of Rs 62,000 crore loan of Punjab or pardoning of the interest on the same. She also stressed on restructuring of the debt.

Blaming the state’s worsening economy on the nine-year President’s rule, Harsimrat said it was the longest President’s rule in any state except Jammu and Kashmir. “The period was marked by high expenditure and no tax raises. Plugging the huge deficit gap by taking special term loans has put Punjab on the trajectory of spiraling debt,” she said. The MP also recounted how Punjab had last year spent Rs 1,420 crore from its meager resources and the farmers had mortgaged their houses to save their crops due 65 per cent deficient rains.

“They produced 157.33 lakh tonnes wheat and 168.35 lakh tonne paddy to ensure food security of the country,” she said, adding that 72 per cent farmers were in debt and of the Rs 71, 000 cr debt relief given by the government, state’s farmers received just 1.5 per cent share. Harsimrat also sought tax-free holiday package for Punjab, on the lines of hill states.

Amritsar, March 12
The counselling-cum-recruitment process for ETT (SSA) teachers for different pockets of the state has come under the scanner as it has been held on the basis of a merit list marred by faults. The recruitment process was carried out at Government Middle School, Phase VII, Mohali, today.

Due to the slack attitude of the authorities, many deserving candidates were deprived of appearing in today’s session.

A glance at this computer-generated list available on http://recruitment.cdacmohali.in/SSAA/Homepage.aspx reveals some astonishing facts.

This provisional merit list has been prepared after computing the marks obtained in BA and B.Ed examinations. One of the candidates, Jaswinder Kaur (registration no 11305855), who is placed third on the list, has been shown to be securing 1,200 marks out of a total of 861 marks, there by getting 139.37 per cent. Another candidate, Shilpa Kumari, (registration no 11310355), has got 1,000 marks out of a total of 720 marks and her percentage is 138.8. Similarly, the candidate placed on sixth position has secured 113.21 per cent.

Equally strange is the case of Amandeep Kaur (registration no 11327586) who has has got 100 per cent marks in her graduation examination by securing 1,541 marks out of a total of 1,541 marks. Similarly, the candidate on eighth position, too, has been exhibited as securing 100 per cent marks in graduation examination.

However, the discrepancies in the merit lists for other teachers under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan Authority and the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan Authority (RMSA) also cannot be ruled out. The recruitment sessions for SSA teachers for Science, Math and English have been scheduled on March 13, 15 and 16, respectively. Under the RMSA, the recruitment sessions would be held from March 17 to 25.

Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur couldn’t be contacted as she was busy in a meeting.

Ludhiana, March 12
The much-awaited preventive vaccine for H1N1 Influenza (swine flu) will be available in all major hospitals across Punjab in a few days’ time as has been confirmed by the Government of India to the Punjab Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

A supply of 20,000 vaccines will be distributed to the Civil Hospitals, Community Health Centres, Primary Health Centres in the public health sector and to the major hospitals in the private health sector.

The Government of India has imported the vaccine, which will be supplied to all states, depending upon their need for high-risk patients.

The state of Punjab witnessed 40 deaths and 252 positive cases of swine flu in the past seven months.

The State Nodal Officer for swine flu, Dr Deepak Bhatia, while giving further details said, "This vaccine will be administered to the high-risk patients who have already been registered with the hospitals following the swine flu outbreak in Punjab."

He further said that a list of the high-risk patients was procured from the Civil Surgeon offices of all districts in Punjab in January 2010 and the same was submitted to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government Of India.

Ludhiana district will be given a major share of this preventive vaccine as it has major share of high-risk patients listed with two major medical institutes, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) and Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH).

When asked about the delay in clinical trials of H1N1 Vaccine at Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Dr Bhatia said the approval was yet to come from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

"However, the clinical trials for H1N1 vaccine have already been started at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) and the reports of the trials after their completion will be sent to the ICMR," Dr Bhatia said. 

Amritsar, March 12
Dreaded as a “silent killer” of vision, glaucoma (kala motia) is fast gripping people of the state, which is already having over 67,000 people afflicted with it. The disease has blinded more than 67 million the world over.

The major problem with glaucoma - the second leading cause of preventable blindness - is that in 90 per cent of the cases it is detected only at a stage when a significant loss of vision has already occurred since the progression of the disease is normally painless. Apart from heredity, other factors like high blood pressure, myopia, diabetes, hyper-myopia, tobacco, alcohol and drugs also lead to the malady. Glaucoma is a disease wherein the pressure of eye turns high; thus, leading to considerable damage of the nerve fibres forming the optic nerve.

“Since, glaucoma is normally painless, people generally come to know about the disease after 10-15 years when a significant degree of loss has already been occurred to their vision,” said ophthalmologist Dr Balbir Singh Bhaura.

He added as a matter of concern, glaucoma patients were increasing in the state with each passing day.

Our correspondent adds from Nabha: Ophthalmic Officer Dr HS Randhawa is touring the whole city on a bicycle to make people aware of glaucoma. Ophthalmic Dr Sham Lal Mahajan said that his ophthalmic personnel would create awareness by delivering lecture and pasting posters about glaucoma throughout the district during the week.

Mohali, March 12
While the final exercise to denotify the “delisted” forestland from the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) is in its final stage, the Forest Department has written to the Deputy Commissioner, Mohali, to get the land demarcated. The delisted land is among the 56,000 hectares of forestland that has already been removed from the ambit of the Forest Act. Since it has been decided that the land would be handed over to the Revenue Department, its demarcation was of vital importance to ensure that the Forest Act was not violated in the adjoining areas still closed under the PLPA.

Mohali is among the five districts wherein the land was being denotified. Around 700 acres fall in Nayagoan and Nadha areas alone.

A senior official in the Forest Department said though the department committee has recommended delisting of the forestland, it was leaving nothing to chance and was again carrying out an exercise to verify the records.

The land has been ordered to be denotified from the list of forest areas under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests last year. It can be only be used for bona fide agricultural and related activities to sustain the livelihood of the owner. Its commercial use has been banned. This land, being on the foothills of the Shivaliks, falls in the eco-fragile zone. The committee has also paved the way for the Forest Department to wash off its hands.

Officials said as per the recommendations, the delisted area has to be delineated on maps and also on ground by the Revenue Department.

Consolidated maps of such delisted areas should also be prepared for each village and prominently displayed so that all concerned have full information regarding the same.

Patiala, March 12
There is no dearth of talent in India. At the same time, there is no scarcity of good medical institutes in the country. Expressing these view, Dr Gurdesh Singh Bedi, a Patiala resident, now working as neurologist in one of the top medical institutes of Cleveland (US), said he was of the firm opinion that Patiala possesses an environment that promotes education and growth. Bedi, who was in city recently, said his goal was to use his clinical training for the betterment of humanity. “I have been blessed to have received my education at the best institutions in the world and it all started in Patiala. The city has given the world its finest and I hope it continues to do so for ages to come,” he said.

Son of a doctor couple in Patiala, Bedi completed his MBBS from the AIIMS, New Delhi, in 2004. Thereafter, he went to University of Miami for training in Neurology. His research in the fields of immune mediated neurological disorders like multiple sclerosis and immune neuropathies earned him many accolades.

When in AIIMS, Bedi presented his research at international forums, including British Society for Rheumatology, International Society of Quality of Life Research and the American College of Rheumatology. His work was recently highlighted at annual meetings of the two most prestigious neurology associations in the world - the American Neurological Association and the American Academy of Neurology.

Bedi said: “During my tenure at the AIIMS, I realised that although India has made great progress in many fields of medicine, but still treatment of neurological disorders was limited. Thus, I decided to contribute in the field of Neuroscience and took up this branch of medical sciences.” 

Chandigarh, March 12
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has acquitted a Gurdaspur resident sentenced to life in a murder case after holding that “dying declaration cannot constitute the sole basis for recording the conviction in the absence of any other reliable and trustworthy corroborative evidence”.

The ruling came on an appeal filed by Satpal Singh and another against the State of Punjab through advocate Ashok Saini. The appeal, placed before the Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Jaswant Singh, was filed by victim Joginder Kaur’s husband Satpal Singh and mother-in-law Balbir Kaur. They had challenged the judgment and order dated March 16, 2002, passed by the Gurdaspur Additional Sessions Judge.

The FIR in the matter was registered on September 26, 1996, on the basis of Joginder Kaur’s statement before Ludhiana’s tehsildar-cum-executive magistrate a day before. It was made while she was undergoing medical treatment for severe burns.

The victim had asserted that her mother-in-law had quarrelled with her and her husband Satpal Singh then “struck something with force on her head with the result she fell down on the ground and became unconscious. Thereafter, she could not know as to who set her on fire”.

After hearing the arguments, the Bench ruled: It is obvious that the persons surrounding injured Joginder Kaur around the time the statement/dying declaration was made were members from her parents' family and their influence is reflected from the last sentence of statement “that they had brought her to CMC Hospital, Ludhiana.

“This association is contradicted by record of CMC, Ludhiana, proved by Dr Ajit G Verghese that she was admitted on September 24, 1996, by her husband, who had undertaken to bear the expenses and paid the initial amount of Rs 7,000. These circumstances, in our view, render the alleged dying declaration of the deceased as inherently infirm and unsafe to be accepted as depicting the true version of the incident.”

The Bench added the present appeal qua appellant Satpal Singh is allowed; the judgment and order is set aside and he is acquitted of the charges framed against him; qua the other appellant in view of her death on November 11, 2009, the appeal stands abated.