Jammu, May 12
With less and less youths taking to militancy now, Pakistan-based militant groups are now trying to brainwash boys in their early teens and lure them into militancy.

Four youths, all between 13 to 15 years of age, were rescued while they were on their way to become militants in Kishtwar district late last evening. The boys were rescued from a house in the forest area today just before they could join the Lashkar-e-Toiba group headed by dreaded terrorist Habib Gujjar.

Earlier, the focus has largely remained on recruiting 16 year olds or above youths but this is the third such case of its kind. Six youths of the same age were rescued from Kupwara and another eight were rescued from Shopian in one month while they were on their way to terror camps in the PoK.

IG Ashok Gupta has directed all SSPs of the Jammu division to take swift action against those who could be motivating boys of this gullible age to take to militancy.

Sources said the militants were unable to lure adult persons due to which they had shifted attention to luring boys in their early teens in the past few months.

Boys of this impressionable age were recruited earlier also during the militancy period but the trend had decreased to a negligible number in the last few years, intelligence sources said.

Interestingly, the four youths were on their way to become militants just 24 hours after a Hizbul Mujahideen militant, Mohammad Ashraf, had shunned the gun and crossed back to India from Pakistan with his newlywed wife.

The four boys were living in Kishtwar town in a rented accommodation to pursue studies. Their village was 30 km from the town and sans education facility. Though the exact motivation to join militancy was not known, the sources said the teenage boys could have been lured as some of their relatives were militants and were gunned down in counter insurgency operations earlier. One of the rescued teenagers has claimed that some youths of the area were harassing him a lot and he wanted to teach them a lesson.

Police and Army spokespersons said the teenagers were seen heading towards the forest by some persons, who alerted the elder brother of one of them. He, in turn, informed the police and following which a joint police and Army (11 RR) operation was launched to rescue them.

The boys were released today on the written assurance by their parents that they being in impressionable age were misled and had now realised their folly.

Jammu, May 12
During schooldays, it was a daily routine for him to trek 24 km along with 7 or 8 kg schoolbag slung to his shoulder to attend classes. Years later, he has been selected for the prestigious Indian Administrative Services (IAS).

From a remote and dusty village to the country’s topmost administrative job, it is a big leap indeed. Udham Dass Sharma (31) comes from a humble background. Even today people of his native village Pukharni in Sunder Bani tehsil have to trek 2-3 km to reach the nearest road to board a bus. The village does not have a primary health centre and in the absence of which anybody falling ill in the evening or night has to be rushed to the nearest Subdistrict Hospital at Sunder Bani, 13 km from his village, in tough hills overlooking the Pakistan border.

After having completed his schooling from Government Higher Secondary School, Sunder Bani, Udham joined GGM Science College, Jammu, and subsequently studied at Jammu University. With meagre resources at hand, he continued with his struggle and scripted many success stories.

Udham qualified the exam for state level Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS) in 2008 securing 36th position. At present he is serving in the state Cooperative Department as Deputy Registrar, Cooperative Society.

He has been a diligent student and has to his credit several academic achievements. A gold medallist in history, Udham has qualified the National Eligibility Test (NET) and the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) examination. He is pursuing Phd in history from Jammu University presently.

“My guide, Dr Shailender Singh Jamwal, has always been there to encourage me during my lows. I owe him a lot, as he is the person who instilled ‘can do’ confidence in me,” he averred.

“Though my parents have never been to school, they are aware. They dreamt for me and I have fulfilled the same with their moral support and blessings,” he said. He added “I am not satisfied with the rank and want to improve it next year.”

Udham believes that only hard work and consistency pays in the Civil Services Exam. “Without any coaching classes, I have qualified the KAS and now the IAS,” he remarked and shared his next ambition. “Now, I would like to realise my long term goal of working for the betterment of marginalised and disadvantaged sections of society.”

Being the Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Udham says,“Cooperative societies can be revived and strengthened if the recommendations of the Vaidyanathan Committee are implemented in letter and spirit. In our state, the groundwork is on for the implementation of the recommendations.”

Sharing his experience of the department, he said, “There is lack of political will for strengthening cooperative societies and they have remained neglected. Since these are autonomous bodies, people who enjoy political clout make their way into cooperative societies. Such elements don’t work for the interest of underprivileged and destitute, thus failing the very basic motive of the cooperatives.”

Jammu, May 12
As part of its national programme to spread awareness about the politicisation of the CBI, the state unit of the BJP organised a workshop here today. All senior leaders of the party addressed the workshop and flayed the UPA for using the CBI for political purposes.

Giving glaring instances of the issue, state president of the BJP Shamsher Singh Manhas said after coming to power in May 2004, the Congress-led UPA used the CBI to get 15 cases against senior Congress leader Satish Sharma, pertaining to irregularities in the allotment of petrol pumps, closed in a Delhi court.

“Similarly, in January 2007, the UPA pressured the CBI not to prosecute former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi in the cash-for-MLA scam,” he said.

Manhas said in December 2008 the CBI sought permission to withdraw its application filed against Mulayam Singh Yadav before the Supreme Court. He also pointed out that it was the CBI’s non-filling of an appeal in the corruption case against Lalu Prasad Yadav that ensured RJD MPs refraining from voting against the government in Opposition’s cut-motions.

Leader of the BJP Legislature Party Chaman Lal Gupta said the CBI’s clean chit to Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 riots’ case spoke of how this investigating agency had been misused time and again and turned into a Congress tool to serve its ends.

New Delhi, May 12
The Supreme Court today rejected the Jammu and Kashmir government’s plea on allowing disparity in the subsistence allowance being paid to migrants from various regions of the state, observing that there was “no distinction between the bullets fired in Doda, Poonch, Jammu or Kashmir”.

Dismissing the state’s petition challenging the High Court verdict in a case involving the Zila Doda Mirgrants’ Welfare Committee, a Bench comprising Justices DK Jain and CK Prasad said the migrants from all regions were victims of terrorism, hence, there could not be any discrimination in the relief.

The Bench told counsel Anis Suhrawardy, who appeared for the state, that the High Court order for uniformity in the allowance did not suffer from any infirmity. “You are creating more difficulties for yourself when you don’t carry out court orders,” the Judges warned him.

People migrated out of the state not due to weather conditions but because of terrorism and the reality being so, there was no question of disparity in the allowance, the Bench said. “Your scheme has been held to be discriminatory” by the High Court and the apex court earlier, the Bench pointed out.

Jammu, May 12
To remove regional disparity, the Panthers Party has decided to launch an agitation to force the government to hold delimitation of constituencies. The party said the successive regimes in the state had discriminated against the Jammu region.

Addressing a press conference here today, state president of the Panthers Party and Udhampur MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia said delimitation was the only way to remove disparity. He said the two-day delegate session of the party would be held at Karlah in Patnitop from May 15 to devise a strategy for launching agitation.

Mankotia said the delegates from block, district, provincial and state levels would attend the meeting. He added that the government had failed to come up to the expectations of the people, as this regime had done nothing to solve the basic problems of the masses. He mentioned corruption had been legalised in the present government.

“The Panthers Party manifesto on amendment to Article 370 and reorganisation of the state, which is the only solution to strengthen state’s integration with the rest of the country and remove regional discrimination, shall be discussed at the earliest,” he said. He demanded all regions should be treated equally.

Mankotia said instead of enhancing wages, the authorities had been harassing them. He said wages should be given to the SPOs and members of the VDCs on time. 

Jammu, May 12
The Student-Scholar Committee Against Police Post, an organisation of scholars at Jammu University that has been demanding the removal of the police post from the campus, continued its protest for the second day today.

Hundreds of students abstained from classes and demonstrated in front of the VC’s chamber.

They raised slogans against the university for allowing the police on the campus. “No women personnel have been deployed and men are frisking girl students,” Simmy Khanna, an activist, said. 

Jammu, May 12
The Horticulture Department, Udhampur, has introduced kiwi, banana and peanuts for the first time in the mountainous district on trial bases for their propagation on commercial lines. The department had distributed 500 banana and 450 Kiwi fruit plants among farmers of Udhampur district during the last financial year. 

During the period, as many as 1,34,342 kinds of fruit plants had been planted under various schemes in the district and 675.69 hectares had been brought under their plantation.

Under strawberry cultivation, 75,500 strawberry runners planted in the district and four demonstration plots of one kanal each were established during 2009-10. — TNS

Jammu, May 12
Natrang director Balwant Thakur has been invited to Imphal (Manipur) to participate in the National Theatre Meet being organised by the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, New Delhi.

Thakur will represent north in the meet that is being held under the chairmanship of Rattan Thiyam, chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. The two-day meet is scheduled to be held on May 18 at the Chorus Repertory Theatre, Imphal.

With 162 participations in the national and global theatre festivals as director and over 5,000 major shows to his credit, Thakur tops the list of Indian theatre directors.

Speaking about the invitation, Balwant said this was an opportune moment for him to highlight problems being faced by the theatre artistes of the north. He would also explore the possibilities to extend the reach of the theatre to the northeast.

Earlier also, he was invited to Shillong (Meghalaya) to present his innovations that he had discovered in the last 30 years in search of the contemporary theatre. Thakur’s unique style has earned him a name. He is one of the most celebrated and active directors of the country.

Sadwania (Uri), May 12
There is good news for the power starved state, as the Uri II, a 240 MW power project, which is in the final stage of completion, will be completed in February 2011.

The project, which is being constructed by the National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC) at a cost of Rs 1,724.79 crore, was commissioned in 2005, and since then the construction work is going on for the full phase.

This will be the second project on the Jehlum in the Uri sector after the Uri I, which was completed in 1997 and is now producing 480 MW of electricity.

“This project (Uri II) would produce 240 MW of electricity, out of which 12 per cent would be given to the state as royalty, and rest of the generation would go to the power grid,” PC Gautam, General Manager, NHPC, told The Tribune.

The NHPC generates 1,560 MW of electricity from various projects in the state, while the construction work to produce another 779 MW is going on.

“In the peak season, the state has a demand of 2,000 MW and with the commissioning of the Uri II there will be an increase in the supply to the state,” Gautam said.

Asked about the gap in the production and supply of electricity in the state, Gautam said: “The demand of the state is between 800 MW and 2,000 MW, so we cannot give all electricity to the state. When the demand is less, we cannot shut down the unit. The electricity has to be sent to the power grid from where it is distributed to other parts of the country.”

The dam built in the project is a run of the river dam with a height of 55 metres and does not violates the Indus Water Treaty. “This is a run of the river dam where water would pass through a tunnel and run the turbine, which would generate electricity, and not much water would be stored in the dam,” Gautam said.

Though the PDP has been blaming the government for selling power projects to the Centre, the commissioning of such projects would bring electricity to the power deficient state.

The NHPC has also taken care of the flora and fauna and aquatic life found in the area as it is providing a helping hand to the State Fisheries Department to set up fish hatcheries in the area.