Amritsar, May 4
The mad rush of Punjabis to foreign shores to seek better avenues seems to have come to a standstill.

The decline in the number of Punjabi student aspirants for foreign-based education institutions during the past four months by “up to 80 per cent” has indicated that “greener pastures” were drying up for Punjabis for strict measures adopted by countries including, the UK and Australia in case of youngsters landing there on student visa.

The migration of young Punjabis to countries like the UK, Canada, North America and Australia had gained such momentum during the past five years that virtually every second school going youngster could be seen consulting the ever-mushrooming breed of genuine or unscrupulous travel agents or “educational consultants” till about four-five months back.

The situation of late, has come to such a pass that now only almost genuine or serious students were able to land in wide-ranging variety of big and small educational institutions in the UK, Australia and Canada even as, the Canadian authorities have recently included more colleges in the country’s Student Parternship Programme (SPP), thereby raising the number of such colleges from 20 to 25.

“The flow of students intending to go the UK and Australia has got dwindled by at least 80 per cent during the past three to four months as aspirants could no more avail laxities like admission without IELTS test or could fetch spouse visas during their studies,” said immigration consultant Diamond Sodhi, director of Caan Wings, an immigration consultancy firm.

“In case of the UK, while one has to show 28-day-old funds instead of one-day-old funds, the UK border agency has introduced such stricter norms that they even listen to recordings of English proficiency tests taken by those UK- based institutions which, were still authorised to admit students without IELTS,”Sodhi added.

DP Sondhi, a travel consultant and former chairman of the Punjab chapter of the Travel Agents Association of India, said recession all over the world had also affected the student aspirants.

“Now, we only get 25-30 per cent students for seat bookings. Factors like unemployment all over the Europe and recent turbulent phase in Australia have forced aspirants and their parents to drop their plans to land in these parts,” Sondhi said.

Though, Canada, according to Amarjit Singh, owner of Jessica Consultants, a Punjab-based immigration consultancy firm, had not seen any major difference in flow of students after making of IELTS mandatory, yet aspirants had become more cautious.

“Now, only serious students head for these countries. Of late, they have realised that chances of attaining part-time employment too, have got dimmed in the post-recession era,” Amarjit said.

“The difference is so much that till about four months back we used to get 80 per cent of those coming to make enquiries as our clients but, now only 10 per cent turn up at our counter for processing of their cases,” Amarjit added.

Jalandhar, May 4
Various factors, including disallowing of the transplantation of PAU-201 and a fall in wheat yield, has caused a steep decline in land rent by Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 per acre this year, leaving farmers disappointed.

In the Malwa belt, the rent has come down to Rs 32,000-34,000 per acre from Rs 38,000-40,000 for land having the tube well facility. The Majha and Doaba regions have also witnessed a decline. A large number of farmers take land on rent on an annual basis starting from May till the harvesting of wheat next year. In the Malwa belt, there has been two-three quintals average fall in wheat yield, which means an average loss of Rs 2,200-3,300 per acre.

“Naturally, low wheat yield has affected the land rent, ” said Jarnail Singh, a farmer from Mansa district. Another major factor for the decline in the rent is the disallowing of the transplantation of PAU-201( paddy variety).“Last year, farmers, who had transplanted PAU-201, had an additional earning between Rs 6,000 and Rs 8,000 per acre and in some cases even higher because of its high yield,” said Joginder Singh, a farmer from Sangrur.

However, this year, the state government has told farmers not to transplant the variety. As the Centre was not ready to accept rice prepared from the variety, rice millers also resisted its milling.

Other factors that have contributed to the decline in the land rent include the shortage of power to operate tube wells and the low level of water in various reservoirs such as Gobind Sagar at the Bhakra Dam, which feed canal systems in the state.

“Punjab has been already witnessing long power cuts at this stage. What will happen in June during the peak power demand season, no one knows. Such an atmosphere has created uncertainty among farmers which has ultimately reflected in the fall of land rent, ” added Jarnail Singh.

Besides, the level of water in various reservoirs is low as compared to the last year and that is likely to affect irrigation of various crops.

Punjab has already issued an appeal to farmers to bring down area under paddy this year owing to tight situation on power front and the low level of water in various reservoirs. The government has directed farmers to increase area under cotton, pulses, maize and sugarcane, which consume less water as compared to paddy.

“The state government has planned to reduce the area under paddy to 27 lakh hectares this year from 28.30 lakh hectares last year. The area taken off from paddy will be increased by 50,000 hectares under cotton, 30,000 hectares under sugarcane, 10,000 under pulses and 40,000 hectares under maize,” said an official of the Agriculture Department.

Chandigarh, May 4
It can only be attributed to wishful thinking. For the nth time now, the Mohali police has asked the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) to pay for the security arrangements during the IPL matches held here.

The latest set of bills amounting to over Rs 1.47 crore for the five IPL matches held in March and April this year have been sent to the PCA.

Going by its track record, there is, however, little or no hope of the PCA paying up. The PCA has for 15 years now not paid a single penny to the police despite the fact that the state police has been on duty at the PCA for all international matches and other important national cricketing events.

The police has been issuing bills to the PCA since 1995 and with the latest set of bills included, the PCA now owes Rs 9.31 crore to the Punjab police.

What is more interesting is the fact that several office-bearers of the association are senior IAS and IPS officers of the Punjab government, but it seems they choose to remain silent on the issue allowing the association to cause a loss of several lakhs to the state exchequer every year.

“The fact that IAS and IPS officers are on board the PCA management is the reason why the association does not pay up. The association thinks it has the Punjab government in its pocket,” said Sarabjit Singh Kahlon, who has been fighting against the lack of accountability of the PCA for years now.

For them, it is an opportunity to rub shoulders with cricket players, Bollywood stars and the who’s who of the judiciary and the Punjab government. The entire Mohali administration, too, is at the beck and call of the PCA and starting from the patwari to the kanungo to the tehsildar, everyone is on PCA duty on the day of the match.

What does the state earn from all this? Nothing. And what does the PCA earn from all this? Millions.

GS Walia, a senior office-bearer of the PCA, said the PCA had nothing to do with the security arrangements during the IPL matches. “Kings XI will be paying for the security,” he said. He added that as far as the PCA was concerned, there were no outstanding bills of the police.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal said this time the PCA would have to pay its dues to the police. “We will not allow the PCA to get away with such a thing every time. Cricket is not the only sport in the state that needs to be promoted. The PCA earns from these matches and whatever are the state police’s charges, the PCA will pay,” he said.

(To be concluded)

Chandigarh, May 4
The Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police and the district attorney (legal) are in the contempt loop.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked them to show cause why contempt of court proceedings be not initiated against them on a petition alleging the termination of a cop’s services, despite the issuance of a notice regarding stay. The two have also been asked to be present in the court on the next date of hearing, May 20.

Pronouncing the directions in an open court, Justice Surya Kant also ordered stay on the operation of the impugned dismissal from service order.

In her petition Sandeep Kaur of Amritsar had claimed she was appointed a constable on compassionate grounds after her husband’s death due to natural reasons in December 2005. Initially, her father-in-law, Gurbachan Singh, filed complaints alleging the poisoning of his son, but a compromise was reached with the complainant undertaking not to file any complaint against her in the near future. Even the inquiries by the officials concerned went in the petitioner’s favour.

But in March 2007, he filed a criminal complaint under Section 302 of the IPC against her before a judicial magistrate in Amritsar. He also complained that the appointment on compassionate grounds was secured by concealing facts regarding the pendency of a criminal case against her.

He also alleged that the petitioner secured a dependency certificate by not disclosing he, too, was a surviving legal heir of the deceased. After the matter was referred to the district attorney (legal), he gave his opinion that offence was not made out against her and the allegations were false.

Subsequently, the Deputy Commissioner, without the issuance of a show- cause notice, cancelled the dependency certificate on the basis of which the appointment was given. A show-cause notice by the Kapurthala SSP followed the DC’s action. On March 4, 2005, the high court issued notice regarding stay after she approached the Bench against the cancellation of the dependency certificate.

The case was fixed for hearing on May 20. But the SSP, vide order dated April 28, dismissed her from service, knowing “the civil writ petition filed by the petitioner was pending and a notice regarding stay was issued by the high court, without conforming to the rules”.

Chandigarh, May 4
Five of the six farmers who were arrested yesterday in Jalalabad have settled their loan defaults and have been released. The family of the sixth farmer has also pledged to settle the default within a day or two.

Stating this here today, State Agriculture Development Bank Chairman Sukhdarshan Singh Brar said the drive launched to recover long-standing dues from farmers was only on loans taken for purposes other than agriculture. He said no farmer who had taken a loan for agricultural purposes was being proceeded against.

In the case of the six arrests, Agriculture Development Bank General Manager Gurmeet Singh Brar said the fact that five farmers had already settled their dues and the sixth was in the process of doing so indicated that they were wilful defaulters. “How otherwise could they have paid up Rs 12 lakh in one day’s time?” he said, adding all six farmers had been defaulting on their loans for the past 10 years.

He said the drive to recover such long-standing dues would continue. He said farmers had taken loans for house building, purchasing tents and constructing workshops, among other activities, and should have returned these in due course.

The pro-government Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) and the Congress today condemned the arrests.

BKU (Lakhowal), whose chairman Ajmer Singh Lakhowal is also the Chairman of the Punjab Mandi Board, while condemning the arrest of the farmers in the Jalalabad area in Ferozepur district, said the government should think of putting the farm economy back on track in Punjab rather than prosecuting farmers.

Union vice-president Shamsher Singh Gharuan said farmers in the cotton belt had suffered earlier due to successive crop failures and that the current year was also a poor one for state farmers due to the drop in the yield of wheat. He said the union would take up the entire issue for further action at its meeting on May 10.

Meanwhile, Punjab Pradesh Congress president Mohinder Singh Kaypee said the action against farmers revealed the “anti-farmer” face of the SAD-BJP government. Kaypee said the Chief Minister had been maintaining that farming was no longer a viable proposition but the action of the state administration proved that words and deeds were diametrically opposed. PPCC general secretary Parminder Singh said that farmers were continuing to commit suicide and that recently Saggar Singh of Raunta village in Moga had committed suicide by jumping before a train.

n Free water and exemption from paying sewerage charges by the urban poor is set to end in Punjab n Metered water supply to become mandatory n Kalia says that recovery was an essential component of both JNURM and UIDC schemes.

Chandigarh, May 4
Free water and exemption from paying sewerage charges by the urban poor is set to end in Punjab with the Local Bodies department deciding in principle to do away with these freebies. The urban poor, comprising people having houses of less than five marlas in cities and towns, are exempt from paying water and sewerage charges. This population, running into several lakhs, comprises nearly 50 per cent of the total water consumers in the state.

Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia said recovery was an essential component of both JNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission) and UIDC (Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme) Central schemes.

Kalia said keeping this in view the department would have to charge all five marla house owners. The charges could, however, be nominal.

The BJP is trying to build consensus on the issue. There was opposition to the move with legislators saying the party’s core constituency would be affected if the proposal becomes a reality. However, the senior leadership claims this is a fait accompli and attempts should be made to complete Central schemes to improve water and sewerage facilities in urban areas.

Kalia said it had also been decided to ensure all water supply is metered and the aim was to do away with the system of charging flat rate based on house size. The flat rate charges for domestic consumers for both water and sewerage charges are Rs 105 per month for houses between 126-250 square yards and Rs 140 per month for houses between 251-500 square yards. Metered supply was increased by more than double this January and is Rs 3.80 per kl for domestic consumption and Rs 7.6 per kl for commercial establishments.

Sources said the municipalities are bleeding due to the exemption. There is also the issue of wastage of water.

Patiala Municipal Commissioner M S Narang 25,000 of the 48,000 connections were being supplied free water. This means the billing of Rs 35 lakh per month could be doubled in case free supply is done away with. Narang says the corporation is practically getting no revenue from the inner city areas where houses are very small but is spending as much as 75 per cent of its revenue on this area. The corporation’s monthly expenses are around Rs 52 lakh against revenue of Rs 35 lakh.

The situation is same in other corporations also. Ludhiana Corporation Commissioner A K Sinha says his expenses overshoot the annual revenue of Rs 30 crore.

Bathinda, May 4
Apprehending 41 women anganwari workers, including helpers from Muktsar, the state police today foiled the fourth attempt by the Anganwari Mulazim Union (AMU) to start a relay fast outside the Chief Minister’s residence at his native Badal village in Muktsar district.

On the one hand, the state police is defusing all attempts of the AMU to reach Badal village, and on the other, the AMU activists are becoming more active to make their protest successful.

They have announced to face the cops and jail every day but have resolved not to let a single day pass without making such an attempt. Moreover, they have been assigning duties to activists, chalking a daily schedule.

In their fourth attempt today, about 100 activists of the AMU assembled at Red Cross Bhawan in Muktsar and held a meeting. Just when they were about to send their 21-member group to the Badal village, a large number of cops arrived and asked them to get in the police vehicles. Though the agitators raised anti-establishment slogans, the police took them to the police station. After producing them in front of the executive magistrate (Naib Tehsildar), they were all released in the evening.

Expressing anguish, a leader of the AMU, Chhinder Pal Kaur, who was leading today’s protest, said, “We are now ready to face any atrocity but will keep making attempts to reach Badal village.”

The state president of the AMU, Hargobind Kaur, said, “We will keep the police in Malwa on its toes as everyday, there will be a different block, from where our activists will move towards Badal village.”

The agitation was launched on May 1 from Bathinda for the acceptance of anganwari workers’ demands like a hike in honorarium, implementation of reservation for them in ETT teachers’ recruitment and providing of basic infrastructure at each anganwari centre.

Ludhiana, May 4
The financial crisis continues to haunt the authorities of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU).

The teaching faculty and other non-teaching staff have not received their salary for April till today as the state government has not released the money.

This is the second month in succession that the staff of the PAU have not received the salary on the first day of the month.

The salary to the staff could not be paid on April 1 as the state government did not release the funds. The university has not received the money for paying salary to the staff for March so far.

The state government was supposed to release Rs 9.42 crore as salary amount for March. The amount for the salary for April is about Rs 9 crore. The PAU needs Rs 18 crore immediately to pay salary to the staff.

A C Rana, Comptroller of PAU, told The Tribune that the state government had made an allocation of Rs 105 crore as annual grant for the PAU in the state budget for 2010-2011 under the plan schemes and Rs 15 crore under the non-plan scheme.

A sum of Rs 9.42 crore was the balance for the year 2009-2010. The PAU authorities are also facing the problem of paying pension to the retirees.

According to Rana, the retirees have been paid the pension till April with the amount of Rs 15 crore received from the state government.

Chandigarh, May 4
Government agencies and private millers had procured more than 99.63 lakh tonnes of wheat till last evening as compared to 102.30 lakh tonnes in the previous year on the day.

Out of the total of 99.63 lakh tonnes of wheat at all procurement centres in Punjab, government agencies procured 99.19 lakh tonnes (99.6%) till date whereas private traders procured 43081 tonnes (0.4%). Till May 3 Pungrain had procured 16.46 lakh tonnes (16.5%) whereas Markfed procured 23.15 lakh tonnes (23.2%). Punsup procured 22.32 lakh tonnes (22.4%), the PSWC 10.99 lakh tonnes (11.0%) and the PAIC 10.12 lakh tonnes (10.2%) of wheat. The FCI was able to procure 16.13 lakh tonnes (16.2%).

Chappar Chidi (Mohali), May 4
A historic battle saw Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and his brave soldiers win over the Mughals at Chappar Chidi almost 300 years ago. Now, the Punjab Government’s Cultural Affairs Department has decided to come up with a monument at the battlefield with the depiction of battle scenes as one of its main attractions.

Planned over 20 acres, a life-size sculpture of Banda Bahadur engaged in the battle with the Mughals will be a key feature of the landmark. The historic significance of the battle will be illustrated through a light-and-sound programme. A committee of experts led by Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University Jaspal Singh stressed that the battlefield would more or less be preserved in its old form.

Of the total land that has been acquired at a cost of Rs 1.35 crore an acre, 10 acres each have been identified as ‘chidis’ and ‘tibbas’. The total cost, including the acquisition cost of Rs 27 crore, would be around Rs 47 crore. Architect Reenu Khanna has already been shortlisted to draw the conceptual plan of the memorial.

In November 2009, Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal had announced the construction of a memorial dedicated to Banda Singh Bahadur, who won the battle of Sirhind to bring the Mughal rule to an end. The tercentenary of the battle will be celebrated this month.

Among the main elements planned are Fateh Minar, an open-air theatre to conduct the light-and-sound show, an exhibition hall and the original battlefield. Hussan Lal, Director of Punjab’s Cultural Affairs Department said the Chief Minister was monitoring the progress of the project and deadline for every job had been fixed.

On May 13, the Punjab CM would lay the foundation stone of the Baba Banda Singh Bahadur memorial at the site and it would coincide with the Fateh March.

Advisor to the CM Cheema, and Chairman of the district Planning Board NK Sharma have been entrusted with the responsibility to supervise the arrangements to welcome the participants in the Fateh March at Chappar Chidi.

The tentative date to complete the monument and its related facilities was April 2011. A major part of the memorial would be the battlefield and the landscape, with just a few structures.

Mohali SDM RPS Walia said cheques for over Rs 10 crore to about 25 landowners had already been given and the remaining Rs 17 crore would be disbursed in the next few days. As many as 152 landowners will get compensation within a couple of days. The Cultural Affairs Department has already taken possession of the land.

Fatehgarh Sahib, May 4
After Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Manmohan Singh will be the third Prime Minister of India likely to visit Sirhind.

Old timers revealed that, while Indira Gandhi visited Sirhind during the election campaigning, Jawaharlal Nehru visited to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib during the Jor Mela in 1958.

Veteran journalist and state general secretary of Punjab Buddhijivi Manch Gurbachan Singh Rupaul said people pelted stones during Nehru’s visit. “As soon as he came out of the gurudwara to address a gathering, few miscreants pelted stones on him and he left the venue immediately,” he said.

Gurbachan reminisced that guards and securitymen deployed during the occasion had a tough time to save Nehru from stone pelting. It was Maharaja Yadvinder Singh of Patiala, father of former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, who brought Nehru to Fatehgarh Sahib, before the Punjab Province came into existence.

After that no PM paid visit to Fatehgarh Sahib and even Indira Gandhi halted for limited time period on the GT Road, Sirhind, during election campaigning.

Meanwhile, district administration is busy making arrangements for the event with crossed fingers, as official schedule of PM’s visit is yet to be confirmed.

Hectic activities mark the arrangements with continuous meetings of the government officials at the venues and in the administrative complex. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to arrive on May 12 to attend the 300 years of Sirhind Fateh Diwas.

However, the sources revealed that an official intimation was yet to arrive in this connection. SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar had invited the PM to the celebrations. Makkar and senior functionaries, including advisor to Punjab CM Daljeet Cheema supervised the arrangements today. The officials also visited the road being laid adjoining proposed site of the Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Memorial and other roads in the city.

Kharar, May 4
Women empowerment is in the hands of women themselves. Unless and until a woman does not realise her rights and musters courage to exercise them, no one can help.First woman IPS officer Dr Kiran Bedi said this, while addressing a seminar on women empowerment held at Indo-Global Colleges Abhipur today.

She said working women face problem of running the house well and managing the career at the same time. “We have introduced home care services, wherein women, especially girls, can be trained for various chores of the home. Even boys could be trained to care for elder male members, such as grandparents in their families,” she said.

She lamented decreasing female ratio, especially in the northern states. She asked the opinion leaders present in the auditorium to work towards the cause of women empowerment, as it was of paramount importance for development of the nation.

Ludhiana, May 4
Taking strong note of violation of the Right to Information Act, State Information Commissioner Darbara Singh Kahlon has asked MC Commissioner AK Sinha to find why an amount of Rs 2,000 was paid to a person by two officials from their own pocket, when the Public Relation Officer of the building branch was asked to pay for the compensation.

In November 2009, Arshdeep Singh, a resident of the Gill road had sought information from the building branch of the Ludhiana MC. Due to delay in providing information, Information Commissioner Lt Gen PK Grover had asked the Public Relation Officer of the building branch to pay compensation of Rs 2,000 to the complainant. But Assistant Public Relation Officer Harpreet Ghai and Building Inspector Manbir Sharma paid the amount from their pockets.

Kahlon said it was violation of the RTI Act. The Information Commissioner has asked whether the amount had been deducted from the salaries of above-mentioned officers. If not, from where did they arrange the money to give to the complainant? It should also be seen if the two officials had violated the Government Service Rules, asked the Commissioner (Information).

MC Commissioner has been asked to submit the report on the issue within a month. The next date of hearing the case is June 8, 2010.

Patiala, May 4
A social message in a comic tone. That’s what you get when Punjabi comedian Bhagwant Mann and his team present an act on stage.

Today, they present a comedy play titled ‘Just laugh baki maaf’ at Kala Bhawan, Punjabi University, Patiala. The play based on increasing corruption practices in various departments of our country, especially the police department, talked of current political system and the pressure it exerts on the functioning of these departments.

The show was organised as a part of monthly programme ‘Mangalkamna’ by the Department of Students’ Welfare of the university.

Famous singer and actor Babbu Mann and lyricist Shamsher Sandhu were also present at the event.

Bhagwant Mann, in his unique style, enthralled the audience with his gags. The play ended with a message ‘everyone must join hands to fight the corrupt system. Only then, can we contribute towards the making of a better society’. Other artistes who participated in the play were Jagtar Jaggi, Billu Dhillon, Amritpal, Riya, Rupinder, Karamjeet and Dilkhush.

Babbu Mann encouraged youngsters to be rooted to their culture and stay away from drugs.

Varsity Vice-Chancellor Jaspal Singh was the chief guest. Registrar Manjit Singh and Director of Department of Youth Welfare Satish Verma, too, expressed their views on the increasing popularity of theatre and its importance.

Bathinda, May 4
In a five-year-old case of the killing of husband and two sons, Additional Sessions Judge RS Rai today awarded the accused woman and her paramour double life imprisonment and imposed a fine on them. The two sentences will run one after the other and not concurrently, which means 20 years of imprisonment followed by another 20 years in jail.

The woman, Manpreet Kaur, was married to Harjeet Singh and the couple had two sons. After some time, Manpreet developed illicit relations with her husband’s cousin Binder Singh. Finding Harjeet a hurdle in their relationship, Manpreet and Binder planned to kill him. Manpreet mixed some poison in his food and Harjeet died.

No family member, however, suspected any foul play at the time of the incident. On the third day after his death, she herself floated a proposal to remarry. But her in-laws denied apprehending that the fate of her two sons, one eight-year-old and other two-year-old, would be at stake.

Irked, she started finding her children to be another hurdle in her marriage and they both planned to kill the children and adopted the same modus operandi. In his dying declaration, the elder child said their health deteriorated after they consumed food given to them by their mother.

Acting upon the statement of family members of Harjeet, the Talwandi Sabo police clubbed both cases of killing in one FIR and booked Manpreet, Binder and two of her sisters, Kanta and Anita, for killing Harjeet and his two sons under Sections 302, 201 and 34 of the IPC. But during investigations, the then SHO of the Talwandi Sabo police station found the sisters of the accused innocent and submitted the report in a court.

Deputy District Attorney IS Kingra said finding the woman and Binder to be the culprit, the Additional District And Sessions Judge today awarded life imprisonment to both in each incident of murder. Meanwhile, the court acquitted the sisters of the accused woman.