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Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly
Legislative Council |
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Budget Discussion
Bill to reduce fiscal deficit to 3 pc tabled
Panchayat poll from April 13
Implementation of RTI
Act
State to build remaining part of Ravi-Tawi canal
Foundation stone of model village laid
Govt to frame youth policy: Chib
Students’ problems discussed
Student crushed to death
Cop shoots wife in Ganderbal
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Legislative Assembly
Jammu, March 14 “A new agriculture policy is on the anvil, which will focus on the diversification of agriculture crops to encourage low volume-high value crops like fruits, flowers, vegetables in Jammu and Kashmir,” Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir told the Legislative Assembly in reply to a question here today. Mir said in order to boost agriculture production, seven centrally-sponsored schemes were being implemented in the state. He said such schemes proved beneficial for crops by introducing hybrid seeds on subsidised rates and agriculture inputs, besides by imparting technical knowledge to the farmers of the state. The Agriculture Minister said this in reply to a question by CPM legislator MY Tarigami in the Legislative Assembly here today. He said under the micro-management of agriculture schemes, 90 per cent of funds were provided by the Centre and under the integrated scheme for oil seeds, oil palm and maize, 75 per cent of the funds was also received from the Centre. The minister said the horticulture mission of the North-East Himalayan states was started during the 10th Five Year Plan with four mini-missions of Rs 100 crore only. He, however, added that the scheme continued during the 11th Five Year Plan as well under the new name of the Horticulture Mission for North-East Himalayan States. Mir said the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana 2008-09 was launched and implemented in the state on 100 per cent assistance from the Centre. He added that the scheme aimed at achieving a four per cent annual growth in the agriculture sector during the 11th Plan period by ensuring a holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors. The minister said the Centre had also approved Rs 372.18 crore for saffron development in the state under a national mission to be implemented over a period of four years from 2010-11. Earlier, Tarigami asked the government to provide fertilisers and seeds to the farmers on subsidised rates on the pattern of industrial entrepreneurs. He called for funding the special research projects in the agriculture universities to enhance the farm production. |
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Fewer Panchayats in Jammu Region BJP, Panthers Party legislators stage walkout Dinesh Manhotra Tribune News Service
Jammu, March 14 Earlier while replying to a question by BJP legislator Chaman Lal Gupta, Minister for Rural Development Ali Mohammad Sagar told the House that there were 4,128 panchayats in the state, including 2,164 in the Kashmir region. Gupta expressed resentment that despite having more number of voters and villages, a lesser number of panchayats had been created in the Jammu province. “This is a glaring example of political discrimination against the Jammu region,” shouted Gupta. Panthers Party MLA Harsh Dev Singh also charged the government with not adopting same parameters for creating panchayats in both regions. Countering the allegation, Sagar said when the notification for panchayats was issued in the year 2005 Harsh Dev Singh was a minister in the state government. “Why you did not raise the issue at that time?,” he asked Harsh Dev Singh. The Panthers Party legislator, on the other hand, told the minister, “You are misleading the House. I was not a minister when the notification regarding the panchayats was issued”. They then had an heated exchange. JSM legislator Ashwani Sharma also joined the debate. “Instead of accepting that there is discrimination against the Jammu region, the government wants to gag the voice of the people of the region,” he said and regretted that since 1947 the region had been bearing the brunt of the discriminatory policies of the successive state governments. Other legislators of the BJP and the Panthers Party also resorted to shouting slogans. They pointed out that conducting the panchayat elections without incorporating the 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution in the J&K Panchayat Act would be a futile exercise. “By allowing the provision of nomination, the government wants to take control of the panchayats,” Gupta said. He added that “I do not know why this government is hesitating from implementing the 73rd Amendment?,” he asked. The minister tried to convince the agitating members, but to no avail. Shouting anti-government slogans, the legislators of the BJP, Panthers Party and the JSM staged a walkout from the House.
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Remarks against Sakina
Ittoo NC, Cong legislators seek Murtaza’s expulsion from House Archit Watts/TNS
Jammu, March 14 The trouble erupted after Murtaza advised Minister for Social Welfare Sakina Ittoo to keep quiet and used an “unparliamentary” language, which was later expunged from the proceedings. When Education Minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed was replying to a question by Murtaza during Question Hour, the latter tried to ask a supplementary question. Sakina Ittoo opposed Murtaza saying “As the minister is replying to your question, first let him complete and then only ask your supplementary question”. She added, “You should know how to address the Chair. First take out your hand from the pocket of your trousers”. Following this, Murtaza got enraged and told Sakina to sit calmly in the Upper House. However, he did not take out his hand from the pocket. Over the use of an unparliamentary language, some legislators of the NC and the Congress and ministers, including Technical Education Minister RS Chib, Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, Minister of State for Cooperatives Manohar Lal and some legislators, including Davinder Rana, Altaf Ahmad Wani and Mohammad Rashid Qureshi, urged the acting chairman of the House, Arvinder Singh Micky, to ask Murtaza to apologise or expel him from the House. Meanwhile, Murtaza supported by two other legislators of the PDP, Syed Asgar Ali and Nizam-ud-Din Khatana, twice staged walkouts from the House claiming that his behaviour was proper and referred to the Constitution in this regard. Meanwhile, the lone legislator of the Panthers Party, Mohammad Rafiq Shah, also walked out of the House in support of the PDP legislators. Following the walkout by legislators of the opposition parties, the legislators of the ruling parties made a clamour that lasted for about 20 minutes. The Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs said, “She (Sakina) is a woman, a mother, a sister and a daughter. No such words used against her would be tolerated”. Later, the acting chairman assured the House that he would direct Murtaza to tender an apology in writing. Leader of the Upper House RS Chib also held Murtaza responsible for creating pandemonium in the House. Earlier too, during Question Hour, Murtaza and Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma had heated exchanges.
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Budget Discussion
Jammu, March 14 Amid a pin-drop silence in the House, Murtaza said, “You have compromised with the fiscal autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, as your figures are contradictory when compared to those of the previous years. According to this year’s figures, J&K Bank will work as an agent of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).” He added, “Is it not a fit case to file a privilege motion against Mr Rather?” Rather was also present in the House and was listening to the allegations being levelled by Murtaza. The PDP legislator also criticised the coalition government for taking credit for projects executed by earlier state governments or the Central government. He said, “The attempt of the Finance Minister to give credit to the present government for the construction of the Mughal Road, four-laning of the national highway, extension of the Toll Plaza, creation of power projects, including the Baghlihar II, was not appropriate, as all these projects had started earlier”. Regarding the improvement in the economic condition in the state, Murtaza said, “Only when the government keeps its political agenda aside that the state economy will get a boost. I, on behalf of my party (PDP), is ready to support the present government on the issue if the ruling parties are ready to act upon it.” Meanwhile, Davinder Rana of the National Conference (NC) said, “The staff of the Legislative Council have distributed the copies of a magazine among the legislators in the House. Is it a new trend? And if it is unconstitutional, strict action should be taken against the staff concerned”. Replying to Davinder Rana’s question, the acting chairman of the Legislative Council, Arvinder Singh Micky, assured the House that action would be taken against the erring officials. He directed the Secretary of the House to look into the matter. Later, Davinder Rana, while speaking during the Budget discussion, targeted Murtaza for his remarks against the Finance Minister. |
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Bill to reduce fiscal deficit to 3 pc tabled
Jammu, March 14 The Bill titled “The Jammu and Kashmir Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill 2011” was aimed at reducing fiscal deficit with equi-proportional adjustments each year to 5.3 per cent (2010-11), 4.7 per cent (2011-12), 4.2 per cent (2012-13) and 3.6 per cent (2013-14) of the GSDP, respectively, to achieve the target of 3 per cent fiscal deficit in year 2014-15. As the Finance Commission has set conditions for the reduction of the fiscal deficit up to 3 per cent by 2014-15, the government decided to amend the existing Act to bring the fiscal deficit targets in conformity with the targets fixed for the state by the Thirteenth Finance Commission. If the state government succeeded in meeting the targets fixed by the Finance Commission, it would get the benefit of approximately Rs 115 crore as debt consolidation and relief facility on a tapering basis from 2008-09 onwards for the next 20 years till the liquidation of the loan thus consolidated. The state government would also get relief in interest payment of around Rs 100.65 crore on the NSSF loans. The state would also get the benefit of waiver of central loans given by the ministries other than the Union Ministry of Finance as outstanding at the end of 2009-10 (amounting to Rs 117 crore), provided it fulfilled conditions set by the Finance Commission. Furthermore, the State would also get state-specific grants of RS 1,350 crore. While tabling the Bill, Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather said in the view of the fact that Jammu and Kashmir had a very high level of fiscal deficit of 7.8 per cent even among the special category states, the Finance Commission recognised the need for a more customised fiscal correction for the state, which required achievable reforms by the state. “While the revenue deficit is the primary driver of the fiscal deficit among the general category states, this in not the case with the special category states like Jammu and Kashmir,” he said, adding that “the special category states are highly dependent on central grants and all grants from the Central government are classified as revenue receipts and capital expenditure out of these grants is not accounted for in the revenue deficit. It is for this reason that the fiscal deficit has been taken into account for the purpose of base figures by the Finance Commission”. |
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Panchayat poll from April 13
Jammu, March 14 Addressing mediapersons here this evening, Chief Electoral Officer, Jammu and Kashmir, BR Sharma said the election schedule had been prepared taking into account relevant factors, including weather conditions, availability of security forces, government staff and the calendar of school examinations, to ensure hassle-free elections. He said on March 18 the gazette notification would be issued in the first phase for Bishnah, Samba and Udhampur blocks of Jammu, and for Anantnag, Qaimooh, Budgam, Kangan and Kupwara blocks of Kashmir. The polling would start on April 13 and last till June 18, he added. Sharma said the voter photo identity cards and 19 other alternative documents would be used for the compulsory identification of voters. He also made it clear that the model code of conduct for guidance to political parties, candidates and government officials had come into operation with immediate effect in the entire state. Candidates shall furnish two affidavits along with their nomination papers, including information on their criminal antecedents, assets, including those in the name of their spouses and dependants. The counting of votes would be taken up immediately after the polling and results would be announced thereafter, said Sharma. He added that the Election Authority had decided that by or before June 30 it would compile and notify the names of all sarpanches and panches. |
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Implementation of RTI
Act
The activists have questioned the ‘anti-corruption drive’ of the state government. In a press note issued here today, members of the Sangarsh RTI Movement Raman Sharma, Ayaz Mughal and Darvinder Singh and its convener Balvinder Singh have asked the Finance Minister to make the necessary budgetary provision for the proper implementation of the RTI Act in the state. Expressing resentment over the Budget, they said, “The state government has failed to formulate a concrete policy to tackle corruption in the state. It is shameful that in the entire Budget speech of the Finance Minister the word ‘corruption’ was missing and only twice words like ‘accountability’ and ‘transparency’ were used”. They said when the entire state and the country was concerned over corruption, how the Finance Minister could remain silent and ignorant. The organisation also raised the issue of the State Accountability Commission, which had been rendered redundant. Seeking the government’s immediate attention towards the rising graph of corruption in the state, its members demanded complete transparency, accountability and surveillance over the ongoing projects. They also said while Chief Minister Omar Abdullah made tall promises about eradicating corruption from Jammu and Kashmir, the Finance Minister showed that the state government was not serious about implementing the RTI Act, as there was no budgetary provision for RTI awareness and training programmes. Elsewhere in the country, the transparency laws had been able to take on corruption, but unfortunately in our state the Act remained a non-starter due to the casual approach of bureaucrats and the government. The government could not skip its responsibility by merely appointing the Chief Information Commission, the activists asserted. |
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Erring bikers made to attend session on safe driving
Jammu, March 14 The police launched a special drive at Mehmoodpur Chowk on the Bishnah-Jammu road this morning and nabbed more than 60 bikers for violating traffic rules. The violators, including a senior citizen, a CBI officer, a college lecturer and a police constable deputed at Raj Bhawan, were also made to admit to schoolchildren, who were special invitees at the session, the “violation of norms” by them and “swear not to repeat it”. Ostensibly convinced by the fact that persuasive measures were always better than coercive ones, the police had also invited to the session the members of families of those who were killed in road accidents while violating traffic norms. The father of Tirath Ram, who had died in a road accident, broke down while narrating his son’s death and literally pleaded with the rules violators to abide by the norms. Tirath lost his young son in a road accident just one day before the marriage of his daughter. “My son was on his way to the home of my daughters’ in-laws family on a new bike to present it to the groom. But he died in an accident as he was not wearing a helmet”. His speech was a tear-jerker for many while that of Satish Sharma, a journalist, was a warning. “On the insistence of a friend, I luckily put on a helmet before leaving for some destination along with my pregnant wife on a motorcycle,” he recalled. He added that, “We met with an road mishap. My helmet broke into pieces, but it saved my life”. However, Sharma said his wife suffered serious injuries and lost her unborn child. SP, Headquarters, Shailender Singh said, “We cannot afford to lose precious lives. Today’s drive was part of our agenda of persuasive measures to check traffic violations.” “Every effort is being made to encourage public participation in the drive. Within a few days a similar drive would be conducted in Miran Sahib,” he added. |
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State to build remaining part of Ravi-Tawi canal
Jammu, March 14 Winding up a debate on the budget of his ministry, Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Taj Mohi-ud Din said the work on the Ravi Tawi Canal was started in year 1973 and according to the plan of this project, Jammu and Kashmir was to get enough water from the Ravi to irrigate lands in Kathua and Samba districts. “When our state had constructed the canal up to Lakhanpur, the Punjab government came out with a plan to construct the Ranjit Sagar Dam jointly,” he said, adding that “the dam was built on the 65 per cent area of the state, but the agreement signed by the then Punjab government was not implemented”. Taj said neither power nor water was given to the state for which Jammu and Kashmir waited for 30 years. “The state government has decided to construct the remaining portion of the canal from Satwain to collect its share of water from the Ravi for which a detailed project report (DPR) has been prepared,” he said. He informed the House that “the state government will get a complete report of the Rs 273-crore project by the month-end”. Echoing views of the PDP legislator that the state had been incurring huge losses due to the Indus Water Treaty, the minister said the relevant provisions of the Treaty were coming in the way of the state in utilising its full hydel and irrigation potential. |
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Foundation stone of model village laid
Jammu, March 14 The Rural Development Department would execute the Rs 11 crore project, which included the creation of modern basic amenities and other infrastructure. Addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone, the Deputy Chief Minister said the government had set three years for the completion of the model village project and asked the executing authorities to ensure quality of work with the judicious use of funds. He said with the completion of the cluster model village project around 16,000 persons living in 17 villages of the Pargwal area would be facilitated with several specialised schemes in education, health, communication, sewerage, drainage, agriculture, a bus terminal and development of tourist attraction spots in the area. Speaking on the occasion, Sagar said till date several model villages had been developed in the state and this was the first project to cost Rs 11 crore. |
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Govt to frame youth policy: Chib
Jammu, March 14 The policy would focus on channelling the energy of the youth for peace progress and development of the state, he said. The minister was replying to a question by Ajat Shatru Singh in the House. Chib said the Centre had already prepared the National Youth Policy in this regard. About the establishment of an international youth hostel at Mantalai, Chib said at present there was no such proposal. |
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Students’ problems discussed
Jammu, March 14 Vikram Singh, state president of the SFI, Himachal Pradesh, addressed a press conference and assured students of Jammu of all help. On the occasion, a number of speakers highlighted the achievements of students’ movements across the country. |
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Student crushed to death
Jammu, March 14 Reports said there was no traffic policeman on duty at the place of the accident on the BC road where the school is located. A teacher of the school had reportedly handed over the student to his grandfather when the school broke off. The dead student has been identified as Kirti Pandita, a resident of Kasim Nagar. He was the only child of his parents. “The traffic cops were not present when the accident took place on the BC road,” said SHO, Nowabad police station, Ajay Bhat. He added, “The driver fled after the accident. The child was rushed to hospital by a passerby but was declared brought dead by the directors”. “A school teacher gave us the number of the matador, which helped us trace the vehicle and nab its driver,” he said, adding that “A case has been registered. The police has impounded the vehicle and arrested the driver. — TNS |
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Cop shoots wife in Ganderbal
Srinagar, March 14 “Sub-Inspector Mehraj-ud-Din Baba fired at his wife Nayeema from his service pistol at his house in the PDC Quarters at Kangan,” a police spokesman said. He said Nayeema, who was critically injured, was admitted to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences at Soura. |
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Jammu, March 14