Jalandhar, February 23
Eminent economists from various universities and other institutions have emphasised that in the Union Budget, which is to be presented in the Parliament on February 28, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee should do away with what they describe as “double discrimination” with Punjab. They have sought an announcement of a special package of Rs 50,000 crore for the state to rejuvenate its sagging economy besides a debt relief package for the state and its farmers, majority of whom have been reeling under debt.

Economists say owing to “double discrimination”, Punjab had been hit hard over the past few years. Whereas the hill states have been special concessions to develop industry and as well as special category status to give 90 per cent grant for plan schemes, nothing has been done in case of Punjab that has been suffering locational disadvantage for being a border state. At least, Punjab should be given concessions allowed to the hill states to promote industry.

Economists such as Dr Sucha Singh Gill, Dr Ranjit Singh Ghuman, Dr Neera Verma, Dr Sukhpal Singh, Dr Shankuntla Gupta, Dr Vipla Chopra, Dr Lakhwinder Singh Gill, Dr Kesar Singh, Dr Anita Gill, Dr Harvinder Kaur, Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, Dr Gian Kaur and Dr Inderjit Singh say that in the process of providing food security to the country, Punjab had suffered substantial damage in terms of soil health, human health, forest and environment.

Urging the Finance Minister to cover the investment deficit worth several thousand crore suffered by the state because of its location along the Indo-Pak border and other reasons, economists say that available empirical evidence indicate that tabulated on the basis of investment and Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), the state has lost an investment to the tune of Rs 9,497 crore per annum and Rs 25,000 crore per annum on the basis of the gap in the credit-deposit ratio since 1995-96 to 2008-09. It is a known fact that Punjab has the lowest investment-GSDP ratio among 14 major states in the country.

Economists say that even the monetary policy is not favourable to the state because of its low industrialisation. The state is facing serious deficiency in terms of national investment and foreign direct investment. Low credit-deposit ratio, lack of rail connectivity and high dependence on the road transport is among the issues, which have blocked the development of the state.

These experts also want that Finance Minister should announce a special package to Punjab for the rejuvenation of research in agriculture sector, up gradation of canal irrigation system, recharging of sub-soil water, rain harvesting, improvement in soil health, crop insurance, integration of agri-production with industry for processing and value addition and improvement in ecosystem. Diversification in Punjab economy, development of rural non-farm sector, more rail connectivity, relieving of farmers from debt burden and opening of Wagha and Hussainiwala border for trade with Pakistan and beyond are the other recommendations of economists to the Finance Minister.

Ludhiana, February 23
Noted scientist Dr Sujok K Guha from the field of biomedical engineering has designed software “Adolescent Health Education”.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, will soon introduce the software designed by Guha in the schools across the country.

Dr Sujok K Guha, the emeritus scientist working at the Centre for Biomedical Engineering at IIT, Kharagpur, was here to attend the 16th National Congress of Andrology and Reproductive Medicine at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).

Dr Guha said the software is designed to address the multifaceted problems faced by the students between 10 to 16 years of age. The software will be attached to the computers in schools across the country to provide answers on the spot to queries of the students about health and nutrition, social interaction, sex, abuse, stress, lifestyle and career. The above subjects have been split into different categories thereby taking care of multiple aspects of the problems, he said.

The software is based upon the outcome of a nationwide studies sponsored by the government on the above subjects wherein issues, including child abuse, prostitution and malnutrition were analysed in details.

He said the software is quilted with speech in English and Hindi languages. The software will also be elemental in curtailing drug abuse among students, which has become a major concern for the nation.

A student compelled by his friends to experiment with drugs/intoxicants, would get a reply in concurrence to his psychological and physical state, after making a query on the school computer.

To ensure privacy, a must for every “adolescent”, the schools will also be asked to provide cubicles with computers, said Dr Guha.

The answer to the aggression felt by adolescents when they are denied the liberty to take decisions, depression caused due to broken relationships, loneliness felt by introverts, nervousness following examinations and the right means for entertainment will be just a click away, he said.

“Gradually we will incorporate the helpline numbers in the software so as to facilitate the students to directly talk to the experts concerned. Following the success of the software in schools, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, will broadcast the adolescent health education programme on television,” Dr Guha said.

Jalandhar, February 23
While the Punjab Government has notified to conduct admission to all engineering colleges of the state on AIEEE basis instead of CET for the first time in this session, it has also recommended a third round of online counselling unlike previous years. As per a recent notification issued by the Technical Education Department, the counselling for 85 per cent seats for Punjab residents and 15 per cent outside state candidates will be conducted simultaneously.

“The counselling for the general category will be held first followed by counselling for the reserved category. The same procedure will be repeated in the second round of counselling,” the notification reads. Last year, the admission for Punjab applicants and those from outside state were held separately in the second round.

There will be a third online counselling round in which the remaining unfilled seats, including those from reserve categories and outside state quota, will be transferred to a common pool and allotted to the candidates on the basis of merit in AIEEE.

It will be in this round that the general category students will be able to reap the benefits and upgrade their seats. There are several reserved categories, including those under tsunami affected and visually impaired, which often remain vacant and but will now be transferred to the common pool.

The seats still remaining unfilled even at the end of the online counselling will be transferred to the management quota of the participating 101 colleges of the state. If the candidates from the entrance examination will not be available, the admission will be allowed to be conducted on the basis of Class 12 merit. The colleges will get 15 days after the last date of counselling to fill up these seats.

The state government has also notified the increase of the counselling fee from Rs 2500 per student to Rs 3000. The officials, however, claim that the applicants would still be in a profitable position since they would not have to shell out Rs 550 for brochure and Rs 1000 as CET examination fee as was the case till the last year.

The CET had fetched the university nearly Rs 6 crore last year, which is likely to reduce down this year.

Like the previous year, there will be manual counselling for certain applicants, including those applying under rural area seats of Talwandi Sabo and Rampura Phul of Punjabi University, defence and disabled persons category of Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar and Punjab Agriucltural University.

The Vice-Chancellor of PTU, Rajneesh Arora, said he was expecting nearly 25,000 applicants this year as nearly 44,000 students from Punjab had filled up AIEEE forms.

The complete date-wise schedule from PTU is expected to come in the first week of June after the AIEEE result.

Patiala, February 23
Former Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal interacted with students of Punjabi University here today.

In his 40-minute interaction, Manpreet did not make any verbal attack on leaders of political parties, including the SAD and the Congress. He focused on the economic and social issues, which concern Punjab.

“The present financial situation of Punjab is critical and there is immediate need for the economic upliftment of the state. Though some development has taken place in the state, it is still lagging behind,” Manpreet said. He said there was need to generate more employment opportunities for the youth of Punjab.

Manpreet also replied to several queries put forward by students. They questioned him on how he would improve the fiscal condition of the state and what was his agenda for the development of the state? Manpreet said, “What I intent to do for the state, I will announce it on March 23.”

Replying to another question if Manpreet was a politician or a social activist, the former Finance Minister said, “I consider myself as a patriot.”

When asked about his political aspirations, Manpreet said he only wanted the betterment of Punjab. He said, “Cleansing the rotten system will require a powerful position.”

Later, Manpreet went to Harpalpura village in Ghanaur, some 30-km from Patiala.

Chandigarh, February 23
The SAD-BJP government is assuring Punjab uninterrupted electricity supply for the next 25 years. Deputy Chief Minister, Punjab, Sukhbir Singh Badal, is leaving nothing to chance and is even writing e-mails to give this information besides shouting it from the rooftops literally through public his rallies.

With less than one year to the polls, this “bonanza” should be music to everyone’s ears. The government has signed agreements with private companies through competitive bids as well as through the memorandums of understanding route which will see an investment of Rs 50,000 crore to generate 9,414 mega watts of power.

Not only land acquisition for three projects at Rajpura (1400 MW), Goindwal Sahib (540 MW) and Talwandi Sabo (1980 MW) has been completed, even permissions from the Union government and coal linkages have been tied, says Sukhbir Badal through an e-mail. Tender processes for these plants have also been completed, says the e-mail.

Sukhbir maintains the government has even formulated a new power generation policy to increase its power capacity. India Bulls, Sterlite and Larsen and Toubro (L&T) have signed MoUs to build power projects with a capacity of 2,710 MW. This, he claims, besides making Punjab self-sufficient in the power sector, will also enable the state to generate revenue by selling power.

Though the state government’s efforts are likely to ease the present gap in the demand and supply with demand being pegged at 9,700 MW against a supply of 6,800 MW, the government’s insistence on relying on only private players to augment power will make power in Punjab also more expensive in the coming three years. The share of power generated from the state electricity utility will reduce from the present 55 per cent to 15 per cent.

Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) engineers claim the state would have to pay fixed charges to the private players during surplus periods when it did not need power. They claim it would be very difficult for the state to earn money by selling power to others during such spells claiming Gujarat was already experiencing this.

The second issue is the MoU route taken by the government to augment power generation. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has in recent communications made it clear that all projects should follow competitive bidding only. It has also claimed that studies undertaken recently had revealed that the MoU route led to more expensive power. All projects handed over to private companies by signing MoUs will therefore find the going difficult when they approach the State Electricity Regulatory Commission to fix power tariff.

Khamano (Fatehgarh Sahib), February 23
Residents of Manderan village, adjoining Khamano, are irked over the discharge of polluted water in streets, during rainy season.

Fearing water-borne diseases from the dirty water, villager said the water released from their houses accumulated in the nearby pond. The pond, however, fails to contain the water, which flooded the village streets due to faulty drainage system.

The 33 families residing in the outskirts of Manderan village have been demanding proper drainage of the polluted water for a long time.

The villagers alleged that faulty construction has led to the problem, which should be fixed immediately. They have written complaints to senior administrative officials, including the Deputy Commissioner but to no avail.

The residents, including Chhinder Singh, Lachhman Singh, Balvir Singh, Gurmeet Kaur alleged that dirty water choked the drains and the pond overflowed frequently. Village Sarpanch, Gurbachan Singh, when contacted said he would soon find a solution to the problem and efforts were on to renovate the entire drainage system.

Garhshankar (Hoshiarpur) February 23
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has announced a special development package for the Kandi and Bet areas besides the setting up of a world-class memorial in Khuralgarh village. The minister was in the village to pay tributes to Guru Ravidas at a state-level function.

He said the memorial would come up at a cost of Rs 10 crore and a world-class architect would be appointed to design the same, which would be completed within next 10 months.

He also announced Rs 50 lakh for a community centre to be constructed at Charan Chho Ganga and Rs 15 lakh for a road linking the historical village with the Garhshankar main road. Sukhbir also announced a grant of Rs 7 crore to Sri Guru Ravidas Ayurvedic University coming up at Hoshiarpur.

He added that the SAD-BJP alliance had sanctioned Rs 200 crore for digging tube wells in the Kandi areas beside Rs 3,500 crore for relining channels to solve the irrigation problem in these areas.

State forest Minister Tikshan Sud, Animal and Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike and other MLAs of the area were also present.

Jalandhar, February 23
On the initiative taken by Chandigarh-based Baba Nanak Education Trust, the United Sikhs, an organisation formed by the Sikhs settled in the US and Europe, has started giving pensions to families of those farmers, who committed suicide in Sangrur district recently. The pension amount ranges between Rs 1,000 and 1,500 per month and is called the ‘Rescue a Family’ (RAF) scheme.

The families will receive the pension as long as the children are in the school. Otherwise, such families get Rs 250 per month as pension from the state government.

Confirming the development, President of the Trust Inderjit Singh Jaijee, who was the first to highlight the issue of suicides in the farm sector in 1990s, said the United Sikhs had started sending pension to some families in Sangrur district.

Besides sustenance, the money is used to help continue education of the children, who have lost their bread winners. The trust had laid a condition that those families, which would not withdraw their children from schools, would get financial help.

He said the organisation had identified 175 such families out of which 50 families were being helped by the United Sikhs. United Sikhs is a charitable organisation, which has held camps in Europe and the US to help people devastated by natural calamities. The organisation is running a community kitchen for drought-hit people in some parts of Kenya, he added.

He said most of the families, who lost their bread winners, had taken their children out of schools to engage them in other jobs to earn some money. “Worried over such a phenomenon, we started mobilising help for such families from various parts of the world. It is good that the United Sikhs has come forward in this regard,” said Jaijee. The money is deposited in the bank accounts of the families concerned. “We have kept the system fully transparent,” he said.

Meanwhile, Director of the United Sikhs, Mejindarpal Kaur, in an email message to the TNS said, “Thousands of families find themselves in a desperate position. Among the first to feel the brunt when a farmer commits suicide are his children. These kids drop out of the schools to labour in fields to feed their families. The cycle of poverty continues and every year another crop of suicides is harvested in Punjab, India’s bread basket,” she added.

Chandigarh, February 23
The Congress today criticised the newly approved excise policy by the government calling it contradictory to SAD’s religions policy and the Anandpur Sahib Resolution saying that it will only produce more addicts in the state.

The Congress MLA from Bholath, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, while criticising the excise policy, said the excise policy aimed at increasing the sale of liquor to 32 crore bottle this year, which is nothing but a matter of great shame for the SAD that claims to be a religions party.

He said the SAD, in its Anandpur Sahib Resolution, had committed to ban liquor in Punjab. Unfortunately, the President of the same party, some 25 years down the line, was proudly claiming the increase in excise income in Punjab, meaning that the Akali Dal was happy with Punjabi’s drinking more whisky.

Khaira, quoting the WHO report published recently, said the sperm count of the youth of Punjab had gone down by 50 percent due to various types of drugs, including liquor, similarly a survey conducted by the Red Cross in Gurdaspur district indicated that 64 percent youth of the district were drug addicts.

He alleged that it was an open secret that drugs of all types were available in abundance and all this was happening with the nexus and backing of political police mafia in Punjab. Therefore, instead of controlling drugs and motivating people to shun liquor the government were making faulty excise policies to increase its sale for revenue purposes. — TNS

Harike, February 23
The Harike wetland sanctuary has witnessed an increase of 25 per cent in the number of migratory birds which arrived here this winter season as compared to the number of migratory birds that made this lake its abode last winter.

Official sources said according to the census of migratory birds, which concluded late last evening, the total number of migratory birds which descended on the Harike lake this winter was 1,00,124 while the number of the same was 79,500 last winter. A team comprising 90 persons carried out the census.

The sources further said another factor, which had cheered up bird lovers, was that some of the species of migratory birds, which fell into the endangered category made by the International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, were spotted in a large number during the census. However, birdwatchers also got disappointed over the fact that some of the species of endangered migratory birds, which would come here every year, missed this lake this season.

The District Forest Officer (Wildlife), Ferozepur, Sanjeev Tiwari, said more than 50,000 common coots arrived here this season as compared to 40,000 common coots that arrived here last year.

He added that this season, a section of migratory birds also indulged in reverse migration as they came to the Dal Lake, Srinagar, from central Asian countries and the trans-Russian region in the first instance, migrated to the Harike Lake.

Nangal, February 23
The probe, conducted into the death of a leopard in Khera Kalmot village here on November 19, has revealed that the leopard had got caught in the trap, which was laid for others animals in the area.

According to the autopsy report, which came out on December 3, three teeth and 10 claws of the leopard were missing. The five-year-old female leopard had died due to strangulation.

Suspecting a case of poaching, the Principal Conservator of Wildlife, Punjab, BC Bala, had formed a joint committee to investigate the matter. While the committee was supposed to submit the report within 15 days of its formation, it sought extension twice.

According to the sources, the report is ready and will soon be submitted to the government.

The Financial Commissioner of Wildlife and Forest, DS Bains, ruled out the possibility of the leopard being killed by poachers. “In their bid to keep away animals, which destroy crops, villagers had installed indigenous traps made of clutch wires of a scooter. The leopard accidentally got caught into it and died,” Bains said.

He said further action would be taken as per the report and provisions would be made to stop installing such traps.

The Nangal police had also arrested Jeevan, a resident of Plata village, for killing the leopard. He has been booked under Sections 429 and 379 of the IPC and Sections 9, 39, 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act.

Police has recovered one rope noose, two traps, a leg of wild boar and a bag full of hair of wild boar from Jeevan. He has been sent to judicial remand.

Abohar, February 23
Cricket lovers, who were disappointed over the blackout of World Cup matches on cable TV, have a reason to cheer as a section of cable network operators in various pockets of Punjab have used an innovative way to telecast matches by using a Pakistan-based channel.

A section of the operators has managed to get access to the frequency of the free-to-air PTV home channel of Pakistan by using self-made dishes. They have succeeded in getting the telecast of almost all the matches being played in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. After getting the direct telecast of these matches, the operators had been feeding the same into cables and hence managing their customers to watch their favourite game.

“We are left with no other choice but to use ‘jugad’ to fulfil the demand of our customers,” said one of the operators in a small locality of Abohar town.

The telecast of World Cup matches could not start on the cable network as its owner, Fastway Network group, which had been managing the cable network operations in entire Punjab, had developed “differences” with various sports and other channels over the payment of subscription fee.

Raju Narang, authorised agent of the Fastway cable network operators in this town, said they had been providing the live telecast of cricket matches to their customers only from the free-to-air PTV channel.

Meanwhile, the district civil and police authorities have started enquiring whether the cable network operators could use the frequency of any channel of Pakistan to give the live telecast of cricket matches to its customers.

The Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner, KK Yadav, said the police had taken cognisance of such thing which reportedly happened in Abohar town. 

Chandigarh, February 23
A Ludhiana-based gang rape victim has accused cops of attempts to weaken the case by claiming a compromise had been struck between the two parties.

In her petition for directions to the State of Punjab, Ludhiana Police Commissioner and another respondent for a fair and impartial investigation in the case, she has added the police even went to the extent of registering an FIR on March 18, 2010, at police station Salem

Tabri in Ludhiana against her father and “four others who had sided with her in this case of rape”.

In the petition filed through Kushaldeep S Sandhu, she said, “Non registration of FIR by the police in time led to the loss of evidence. Even after registration of the FIR, the police in collusion with accused party conducted faulty investigation”. Despite the fact the petitioner got pregnant due to the commission of rape, no tests were conducted to establish the crime.

She added the FIR in her case was registered on March 2, 2010, under Section 376, 323, 506, 148 and 149 IPC.

She claimed on February 23, 2010, at about 1 am, younger cousin of her husband called her on mobile phone and asked her to come out of her house.

At that time, due to some differences she was living at her parental home. She was told her husband was standing outside.

Her husband was not present but four to five men stood there, she said.

As she tried to come back inside her house, she was picked up and raped, the petitioner alleged.

Taking up the petition, Justice Daya Chaudhary issued notice of motion this morning.

Chandigarh, February 23
The state government today dismissed two DSPs, an ASI and two constables from service. The dismissal orders came soon after the Punjab and Haryana High Court asked the State of Punjab to immediately remove police officials convicted of murder and report compliance.

As a petition filed in public interest by advocate HC Arora came up for resumed hearing on the issue of tainted cops in service, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih received a compliance report.

In his affidavit, Assistant Inspector- General of Police MS Chhina confirmed that DSPs Ravinder Anand and Rajinder Pal Anand, along with ASI Malvinder Singh and Constables Manjeet Singh and Gurcharan Singh have been dismissed from service on February 22.

In his PIL, Arora had alleged that information received under the Right to Information Act had indicated two DSPs Ravinder Kumar and Rajinderpal Anand were in service despite conviction for murder and life sentence under Section 302 of the IPC.

Ravinder Kumar was earlier dismissed from service but taken back when his sentence was suspended. DSP Rajinderpal Anand, convicted on December 16, 2007, was not removed from service purportedly on the ground approval for his dismissal was yet to be received from the PPSC.

Arora also referred to cases of ASI Malvinder Singh, Constable Manjit Singh, Inspector Harinderpal Singh, Head Constable Jaswant Singh and Constable Gurcharan Singh. Similarly, they were also dismissed from service, when convicted for murder, but were reinstated on the grant of bail.

The petitioner had contended that the police officers convicted for heinous charge of murder cannot be expected to discharge their duties for protection of life and liberty of the citizens and to preserve law and order in an impartial and lawful manner.

Patiala, February 23
Darshan Singh, one of the main accused in the murder case of the state president of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, Rulda Singh, has been acquitted by a Patiala court in a case registered against him under the Arms Act.

According to Darshan’s counsel Barjinder Singh Sodhi, Judicial Magistrate (First Class) BS Romana pronounced the orders and acquitted him.

Rulda Singh was allegedly shot at at his shop-cum-flat at Grain Market here on July 28, 2009, by two assailants, who later fled in a car. He was admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh, but succumbed to his injuries on August 15, 2009. Thereafter, claiming to have achieved a major breakthrough in the case on September 24, 2009, the Patiala police had arrested two persons, Darshan Singh and Jagmohan Singh.

At that time, Darshan Singh was booked in two separate cases, one under Section 302 and another under the Arms Act. The police had claimed to have seized a .315-bore country-made pistol and two live cartridges from Darshan Singh. “After the completion of the trial of the Arms Act case against Darshan, Judicial Magistrate (First Class) BS Romana acquitted him today,” Sodhi told TNS.

He further said the second case against Darshan was still on.

Amritsar, February 23
On a call given by Amritsar Bar Association (ABA), Bar associations across the state would strike work on Thursday. The strike is against the alleged inaction of the government against the District Transport Officer (DTO), Amritsar, Jasbir Singh, in the stand off between the DTO and the lawyers.

President, ABA, Pradeep Saini, said three days had passed since Dr Arvinder Singh, Secretary, the Department of Home Affairs, submitted an inquiry report to Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal but the report was neither made public nor any action was taken. The executive body of ABA today held a meeting and decided to hold a protest on Thursday.

He said local bar association of Chandigarh and 15 Bar associations in Punjab had already confirmed their support towards the strike call.

DTO Jasbir Singh, however, alleged that Sharma had misbehaved with him in the office after which a large number of lawyers forcibly barged into his office, held him hostage and also damaged office furniture.

Nawanshahr, February 23
Jagdish Mehmi, sarpanch of Behram, was cremated here today after the police registered a case under Sections 302/34 of the IPC against Banga MLA Chaudhary Mohan Lal, his wife Santosh Kumari, mother Parkash Kaur, alias Rani, and personal assistant (PA) Jaswinder for allegedly murdering the sarpanch.

The case was registered on the basis of the statement given by the deceased’s wife, Dalbir Kaur. The statement was recorded by the Behram SHO in the presence of Manpreet Singh Badal on Tuesday.

In her statement, she alleged that on Sunday evening, her husband started vomiting once he reached home. He told her that “he had been given some poisonous substance after mixing the same in food by the Banga MLA, his mother, wife and the PA”. Jagdish was taken to Guru Nanak Mission Hospital, Dhahan Kaleran, where he died.

The Banga MLA, Chaudhary Mohan Lal, is son of Technical Education Minister Chaudhary Swarna Ram and the deceased, Jagdish Mehmi, was the MLA’s cousin.

Talking to mediapersons, the deceased’s younger brother, Prem Lal, alias Lally, said Jagdish had remained the MLA’s PA for more than a decade and he knew all about him. The MLA allegedly hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Jagdish, as he feared that he might expose his “misdeeds” in the next Assembly poll, he said.

He added that a letter written by Jagdish in August last year was found in his files in which he had expressed apprehension that he might be killed by the MLA. Prem Lal said the MLA had now left for abroad and urged the authorities to arrest the accused immediately.