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Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary
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R-Day
Army brings education to children of Pallanwala
Akhnoor’s Sumah village comes
on national tourist map
The only MRI machine goes out of order
Srinagar Diary
J&K Bank branch inaugurated
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Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary
Jammu, January 28 Dissidents, who owe their loyalty to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, are going to organise a function under the banner of the Gandhi Global Family, a non-political organisation, to show their strength. Ghulam Nabi Azad, president of the Gandhi Global Family, will inaugurate the function in which representatives from all over the country would participate. December 30, the martyrdom day of the Father of the Nation, would be a day of show of strength for the rival Congress functions. SP Verma, president of the state unit of the Gandhi Global Family, said the decision to hold the two-day Gandhi Global Family session at Jammu was taken at the national executive committee meeting held at New Delhi on November 13, 2010. He said the Gandhian movement was spearheaded by different organisations in India and abroad by Nirmala Deshpande. Efforts were made by various organisations to propagate Gandhian philosophy and Deshpande realized that all these energies needed to be unified and channelised properly. Thus, she felt the need for Gandhi Global Family to work as a non-political umbrella organisation to internationalise, coordinate and propagate the Gandhian philosophy amongst all for creation of truthful and just society. Verma said after the death of Nirmala Deshpande, Ghulam Nabi Azad was appointed president of the Gandhi Global Family. “Azad believes that Gandhian philosophy is our heritage and it needs to be preserved and appropriately propagated amongst the younger generations. It was in this background that as Chief Minister in Jammu and Kashmir, he introduced symposia on “Truth and Non-violence” in all schools and colleges in the state and gave hefty cash prizes to the winners, thus involving over one lakh students during one year”, Verma said. However, it is clear that two parallel functions on the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi would intensify infighting in the Congress. The PCC is also making all-out efforts to counter the function to be presided over by Ghulam Nabi Azad. Both groups have been working overtime to ensure maximum participation in their respective functions and workers have been sent to rural areas to mobilise support. |
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R-Day
Udhampur, January 28 As per the official release issued here recently, the awards conferred to the personnel of Northern Command included two Param Vishisht Seva Medal, four Kirti Chakra, two Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, six Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, 16 Shaurya Chakra, two Yudh Seva Medal, two Bar to Sena Medal (gallantry), 67 Sena Medal (gallantry), one Bar to Sena Medal (distinguished service), eight Sena Medal (distinguished service), one Bar to Vishisht Seva Medal, 14 Vishisht Seva Medal and five Mention-In-Despatches. Leading upfront, Lt Gen Jasbir Singh, Chief of Staff, Northern Command, was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM), the highest award for distinguished service of an exceptional order. Capt Deepak Sharma (posthumous) (42 RR), Lt Vikrant Deshmukh (8 MADRAS), Lt Vikas Sharma (6 PARA) and Nk Rajinder Singh (2 RAJ RIF) were conferred with the Kirti Chakra. Sep Ravinder Singh (16 JAT), Maj Rakesh Rawat (52 RR), L/Nk Praveen Thakur (12 JAK RIF), Maj Manish Baral (30 RR), L/Nk KS Kharwung (1 NAGA), Ptr Kapil Dev (1 PARA SF), Rfn Udhay Singh (2 RAJ RIF), Lt Vikram Bahadur Singh (3 MADRAS), Sep Vijay Singh Bohara (60 RR), Capt Manendra Pratap Singh (8 MAHAR), Nk Vijay Pal (16 JAT), L/Nk Mohammad Shaffi (156 Inf Bn TA-PUNJAB), L/Nk Anoop Kumar Sharma (posthumous) (30 RR), Sep Sangat Singh (posthumous) (30 RR), Col Neeraj Sood (posthumous) (18 RR) and Sep Shailesh Kumar Singh (posthumous) (63 RR) were conferred with the Shaurya Chakra. These awards were a pointer to the highest traditions of sacrifice, valour and professionalism, said the release. |
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Army brings education to children of Pallanwala
Jammu, January 28 “The school has been changing the lives of children in the border area of Pallanwala and now we have decided to bring the maximum possible children here under the ambit of this school,” said a senior officer of the Bawan Brigade of the Crossed Swords Division. He quoted an instance of a villager Madan Lal, a painter by profession. Born in a poor family, education was never the priority for his parents. He was facing the consequences of his parent’s ignorance till date, he said. During the grow-up process, he realised the value of basic education. He could not read instructions on the bottle of medicines or a bag of fertiliser or read a government notice. He could neither compute a bill nor write a letter. He helplessly saw fellow villagers with basic education becoming better farmers and finding employment outside the village. During one of the interactions organised by the local Army unit, he learnt of the Right to Education where the villagers were told about how education was now a basic right of every citizen of the country - irrespective of the domicile, religion, caste or financial status. The Army also explained how basic education was crucial for the rural development with benefits such as poverty reduction, disease control and enhanced employment opportunities despite all odds. The problem was to identify a suitable school, which was not only affordable but also provided a solid foundation and the right learning environment. He found the answer in Bawan Public School run by the Bawan Brigade of the Crossed Swords Division at Pallanwala. The school premises was neat and clean with spacious well-lit classrooms having colourful chairs and desks and a well-maintained playing arena. Tiny tots wore tidy uniforms with well-polished shoes. The school follows the play-way method of teaching so as to ensure the overall and wholesome growth and development of children. The fee structure is extremely affordable. To overcome the challenge of recruiting quality teachers in the remote area, the school has adopted the “grow-your-own” approach by employing and training competent and qualified local candidates as preschool teachers and aides. The teachers also receive in-service training through the Army Family Welfare Organisation to keep pace with the latest education technologies. The school runs two buses for the wards of serving soldiers and ex-servicemen and boasts of a well-equipped activity room with innovative teaching aids, library, play areas in the form of zoo, fruit garden and a rabbit pen. “The school is one of its kinds in the border areas providing a unique educational experience to tiny tots in a vibrant and dynamic learning environment,” said the officer. While Madan Lal’s elder son has finished pre-schooling from the school and is doing well in the Army School at Rakhmuthi, his younger son studies in LKG. “I sincerely hope that the Army runs more such schools so that every child in the border areas receives quality education to become a responsible citizen in the today’s competitive global environment,” added Madan Lal.
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Akhnoor’s Sumah village comes
on national tourist map
Jammu, January 28 The government has earmarked
Rs 5.22 crore for the development of this village as a religious tourist destination in the first phase. Addressing a large gathering the other day at Government Higher Secondary School, Jourian, Sham Lal Sharma, Minister for Health, Horticulture and Floriculture, said Sumah village was famous for its rich heritage and religious background and thousands of pilgrims visited the place every year. The government plans to develop it on the pattern of Jia Pota Ghat in Akhnoor and Ganga in Haridwar, said Sharma. Taking into account the long-pending demand of thousands of people residing across the Chenab river and to strengthen the road network for dozens of villages, the government has formulated a proposal for the construction of a bridge at Indiri Pattan, near Jourian. The proposal has been submitted to the Centre for funding. With the construction of this alternative bridge over the Chenab, distance would be reduced considerably between Jourian and Jammu and villages located on the other side of the river, he maintained. Sharma declared that the government would establish a nursing school at Akhnoor to cater to Akhnoor and the adjoining localities. This would meet a long-pending demand of boys and girls of border villages and other localities, who had to go to Jammu for getting training in different streams of para-medics. The minister said the present government had accorded priority to the health and education sectors as a result of which these sectors had registered great progress during the past two years. He asked the people to provide good education to their wards so that they became good citizens. He also stressed upon the teaching community to provide moral education to the students and inculcate a sense of responsibility among them. It was only the teacher, who could shape the future of the child for his/her overall development, the minister asserted. |
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The only MRI machine goes out of order
Jammu, January 28 The machine stopped functioning because its servicing was long overdue, said sources. “Due to overload, the cooling units of the machine developed a technical snag on Tuesday,” the sources said adding that the machine had been used for the past 10 years. Consequently, MRI tests have got costlier by three-folds for the patients visiting the hospital from 10 districts of the province. “The hospital charges Rs 2,500 for a scan test, whereas in the private diagnostic labs it costs something between Rs 5,000 and Rs 8,000 depending upon the nature of the test,” the sources said. Besides the GMCH, three private diagnostic labs, including Jammu Health Care, Bakshi Nagar, JK CT Scan, Satwari, and Medi Scan, Gandhi Nagar, provide MRI scan facility in the city. “When the machine is functional, it performs only 5-7 tests per day from 10 am to 4 pm. Patients have to wait for months for their turn as a matter of routine. At the government hospital, one has to have some political reference for getting a scan test on time as 80 per cent of the tests are conducted here in this way,” they said. “If this is the condition of health care services at the main referral hospital, one could well guess the state of affairs at the district and the primary-level hospitals,” the sources said. Dr Ghani Sham, head of the Radiology Department, said: “The machine needs servicing. It is expected to be repaired by Monday as technicians are supposed to come from Delhi”. “Whenever we moot any proposal for the purchase of equipments, the file gets stuck in the Finance Department at the secretariat level,” said a supervisory doctor of the hospital, adding that, “For an alternative, the hospital administration has sought approval from the government many a times, but to no avail. Given the staff crunch and equipment shortage, the medical as well as the paramedical staff becomes the target of public ridicule and sometimes rage”. “Keeping in view the long waiting list of patients requiring MRI scan, the hospital will make sure that the machine gets functional within a week’s time,” he assured.
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Srinagar Diary
The intensity of security vigil and winter chill at the fag end of January, like every year in Kashmir, has started relieving the common man . There had been a tight security bandobast over the past couple of weeks in view of the Republic Day celebrations.
This time it was two fold--- one to thwart any designs of militants and secondly, to prevent the politically motivated marches towards Lal Chowk, the city centre of the summer capital. The authorities heaved a sigh of relief, particularly after preventing the BJP’s Ekta yatra and counter-march to Lal Chowk by the separatist JKLF. By the next morning on Thursday, everything was on its rails with normal life restored (See photo). The people have got a fresh lease of normal life after days of hectic tension and security set-up. At the same time, Chillai Kalan, the peak 40-day winter season, is ending on January 30, marking a discernible change in the season as well as weather conditions. Businessmen and traders have started unloading huge stocks of all kinds of merchandise, household goods, cloth and garments, apart from essential commodities, marking a promising start to the spring and summer seasons ahead after a couple of months now. Students
waiting for results
Thousands of students who took various examinations at the end of last year are waiting for the results. These examinations were conducted by the State Board of School Education and the University of Kashmir, from Class X to the Bachelor’s courses, following the five-month-long turmoil in the Valley. The results of only one of these examinations, Class X, were declared early this month amid reports of “leakage” in advance. All other results are awaited though the students succeeding in the Class X examinations have started preparing for admission to the next class. The declaration of results of other classes would further speed up the process for the beginning of the next academic session with the re-opening of educational institutions in the first week of March after the winter vacations. (Contributed by
Ehsan Fazili)
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J&K Bank branch inaugurated
Srinagar, January 28 The branch already has 8,000 bank accounts , the minister, who represents Tangmarg in the Assembly, was informed. Mir said that the bank had released 250 smart cards in the first instance while it had advanced loans worth Rs 8 crore under various development and welfare schemes for setting up of small retail units. He added that 3000 accounts had been opened with this branch under NREGA.
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Hamal Nullah bridge opened to traffic
Srinagar, January 28 A permanent bridge on the Baramulla-Kupwara road at Hamal Nullah, near Watergam, is the second major bridge completed the BRO. Earlier, a 40-metre span class 70 R bridge over Khaini Nullah was constructed in 2009. Another bridge is under construction at Langyate on the same road would be ready by August. The Hamal bridge, which was inaugurated by Lt-Gen SA Hasnain, GOC, 15 Corps on Thursday, is a 40m span bridge of Cl 70 R load class conforming to the national highway double lane specifications. It has 50 metre approach on the Kupwara side and 25m approach on the Baramulla side. This bridge has replaced a Bailey bridge which was a one way temporary bridge. The new bridge has been constructed at a cost of approx Rs 1.5 crore. The bridge was thrown open to traffic by Mahtab Begum, who had lost two sons to militancy, a defence spokesman said. — TNS
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The intensity of security vigil and winter chill at the fag end of January, like every year in Kashmir, has started relieving the common man . There had been a tight security bandobast over the past couple of weeks in view of the Republic Day celebrations.
This time it was two fold--- one to thwart any designs of militants and secondly, to prevent the politically motivated marches towards Lal
Chowk, the city centre of the summer capital.
