Jammu, March 16
Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir said in the Legislative Assembly here today that the youth in the rural areas of the state had lost interest in the agriculture sector and preferred the service sector for jobs.

He stressed the need for taking urgent measures to check this trend, which according to him, would prove disastrous for the economy of the state.

Rural youth leaving the agriculture sector for petty jobs is a disturbing trend and we have to take some steps in this regard — Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister for Agriculture

Winding up the debate on the budget of the Agriculture Department, Mir said, “Rural youth leaving the agriculture sector for petty jobs is a disturbing trend and we have to take some steps in this regard”. He regretted that the successive state governments had neglected this vital sector and due to which the youth were not interested in taking up agriculture.

The minister said the share of the agriculture sector in the gross state domestic product (GSDP) had been decreasing every year. “This is a national trend, but in our state due to the topography of the region we have to take some steps urgently to enhance the share of agriculture in the GSDP,” he said.

The minister added, “It is unfortunate that we have so far failed to take the benefit of our diversity”. He praised Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather for holding pre-Budget consultations with farmers.

“I am of the opinion that concessions announced for agriculture in the Budget is a good step, but more needed to be done,” he said. He added that agriculture had been recognised as an important sector of the economy for the first time.

“We are not on a par with other states, but our agriculture production has been increasing every year,” the minister said. He added that various schemes introduced in the state had given a boost to agriculture.

Terming the use of agriculture land for development activities as a serious matter, the minister said a Bill in this regard would be tabled in the Assembly soon. He added that weather centres with the help of ISRO would be set up at all district headquarters to give weather forecast to farmers on time.

Jammu, March 16
Even as the state government has announced incentives for those who are serving in far-flung areas, influential doctors, who have been posted to rural areas, are not joining duty there.

This was evident from the statement of Minister for Health Sham Lal Sharma in the Legislative Assembly today. Sham Lal told the House that a specialist doctor was transferred to the District Hospital, Kathua, but he refused to join duty. “We have served a notice on him,” he said.

Replying to a question by Charanjit Singh, MLA, Kathua, the minister said against two sanctioned posts of radiologists in the District Hospital, Kathua, a postgraduate doctor in radiology had already been posted there. The vacant posts of the B-grade specialists, including those of radiologists, had been referred to the Public Service Commission and these would be filled as soon as the list of selected candidates was received.

Sham Lal said 49 doctors of the Jammu division and 17 doctors of the Kashmir division had been imparted short-term training in radiology techniques at government medical colleges and hospitals in the state.

He added that in view of the rapidly increasing demand for health care services, the department had been constantly endeavouring to improve infrastructure and the availability of manpower and equipment in most of the hospitals of the state as per the availability of funds.

Replying to another question by Mehbooba Mufti, the minister said 12 health institutions had been upgraded or established in the Jammu province during the last one year, while 20 health institutions had been upgraded or set up in the Kashmir valley.

Replying to a question by RS Sharma, National Conference legislator from Nowshera, the Health Minister said his department was at present formulating a proposal for the establishment or upgrading of various health institutions on the bare minimum basis, giving due consideration to the requirements of each constituency.

He added that a proposal for the establishment of 17 trauma centres had been submitted to the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad, for approval.

Jammu, March 16
After a gruelling three-hour complicated operation, a team of surgeons at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) yesterday removed a 2.5-feet long and 3.5-inch wide iron rod from the abdomen of a minor boy who was among the seriously injured passengers of the minibus that met with an accident at Udhampur.

Six-year-old Nikhil Sharma was one of the critically injured passengers, who were flown to Jammu from Udhampur. The boy had a nightmarish experience when a rod pierced through his abdomen. He was brought to the GMCH in the an unconscious condition with the rod piercing through his body yesterday.

Today, the boy was operated upon and put on inter venal (IV) fluids. Though he is recovering, next 48 hours are ‘crucial’ for his life. A student of Class II, Nikhil was travelling with his mother, Chanchala Devi, in the ill-fated minibus. They had left Kosar village for shopping in Chenani. Chanchala is undergoing treatment at the District hospital, Udhampur.

The complicated surgery was conducted by Dr Narinder Singh. He was assisted by Dr Ashwani while anesthetic support was given by Dr Vishal under the supervision of the head of the anaesthesia department, Dr BB Kapoor.

The boy had a miraculous escape. On the nature of injury, one of the surgeons, who operated upon the boy, said the rod had entered through the lumber region from the left side and without causing any major damage to vital organs had come out from epigastrial area (just beneath the centre of chest).

The rod, however, damaged spleen to a certain extent, besides injuring diaphragm and causing contusions to lungs. “The road had restricted the expansion of lungs. A little delay in surgery could have cost him his life,” he said.

“Removing the rod from his body was very challenging,” the surgeon said, adding that, “It was cautiously done by opening the abdomen layer by layer”. Dr Rohit Lahori, registra, ICU, said 72 hours after the surgery were crucial for the patient. There was every likelihood of his recovery provided his wounds did not bleed or get infected and his respiration remained normal”.

“Right now he is maintaining vitals, but is critical,” he said.

Jammu, March 16
Governor NN Vohra inaugurated the newly-constructed complex of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra and visited the Chakan-da-Bagh cross-LoC Trade Facilitation Centre in Poonch district yesterday.

The Governor and the First Lady, Usha Vohra, prayed for peace, progress and prosperity of the state at the shrine of Shri Budha Amarnath.

He was received by Deputy Commissioner, Poonch, Kuldeep Lal Khajuria, SSP, Ahknoor, Ahmed Wani and senior officials of the district administration. Later, he visited Loran and interacted with residents, who submitted a memorandum to him highlighting issues relating to the development of tourist infrastructure, health, education, agriculture and horticulture sectors in the area.

During an interaction with the district officers, the Governor stressed the need for a focused attention on the promotion of agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, poultry farming, fisheries, mushroom cultivation and other related activities in the Loran area.

He later visited Poonch and met a delegation of prominent citizens, who raised various demands relating to the socio-economic development of the area, including the promotion of religious tourism in the district, establishment of a district consumer court, a women’s college, development of tourist infrastructure and the development of inter-district and intra-district road networks.

The Governor, at a meeting with the 93 Brigade Commander and other officials of the Army, discussed the security situation in the border district.

He lauded the dedication of the officers and jawans of the Army for providing support to the civilians, particularly those living in the remote areas.

He also visited the cross-LoC Trade Facilitation Centre at Chakan-da-Bagh, where he was briefed about the development of a complex, which was being funded by the Union government. A large number of local traders, who had gathered at the facilitation centre, presented a memorandum of demands to the Governor, who assured them of taking up these with the Centre.

On the occasion, the Governor and the First Lady also planted saplings at the trade centre complex.

Later, the Governor inaugurated the newly-constructed Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Poonch, which has been established over 3.2 hectares for facilitating a speedy transfer of technology from research institutions to farmers for increasing productivity and production.

He also launched the website of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

During the course of a detailed presentation, the Vice-Chancellor of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu, Dr B Mishra, said the kendra was funded by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). He added that the ICAR also provided full financial support for its annual operational expenses.

Jammu, March 16
Almost a year on, the CRPF has not been able to take over the charge of security of the remaining stretch of 312-km Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH-1A) from the Army because of the paucity of accommodation for its officers and jawans.

In April last year the CRPF had partially taken over the security of the strategic highway from Jammu up to the Chenab in Ramban from the Army and was hopeful of taking over the remaining 65 km stretch from Ramban to Banihal by June, 2010.

Defence Minister AK Antony on January 12 last year had announced that the CRPF would take over the charge from the Army in a phased manner and would start guarding the highway. “Though we took over the security of the highway from Jammu to the Chenab in Ramban in April last year and immediately started performing the road opening duty, the paucity of accommodation is delaying the taking over of the remaining stretch from Ramban to Banihal,” sources in the CRPF told The Tribune.

The paramilitary force needs accommodation for housing one headquarters of two battalions and 15 more companies on the remaining stretch of the highway.

The Army was ready to provide us accommodation for eight companies, but it had expressed its inability to provide accommodation for the remaining seven companies and one headquarters, said the sources. “We have conveyed the matter to the state government, which has decided to deal with it in the next Unified Command meeting,” they added.

At the same time, the CRPF on its own had started identifying private accommodation and land en route the highway, which could be taken on rent so as to accommodate the jawans and officers, they said.

The CRPF in April last year had deployed two battalions comprising 2,000 jawans up to the Chenab in Ramban.

Jammu, March 16
Minister for Education Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed said in the Legislative Assembly here today that all parameters of education had witnessed a marked improvement over the years and the state was marching towards total literacy.

Peerzada said the literacy rate in the state had risen to 65.57 per cent as against 55.52 per cent in 2001-02. He said while the male literacy rate had risen to 75.30 per cent, the female literacy rate had touched 57.11 per cent. The gender gap had also recorded a significant drop to an all time low of 16.59 per cent, he added. Peerzada said at present 16.60 lakh children were studying in government schools and 39,150 dropout cases had been recorded as against 3.76 lakh cases in 2004-05. He added that the successful implementation of the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan had facilitated the setting up of a gigantic educational infrastructure across the state.

He said 680 middle school buildings and 5,467 additional classrooms had been constructed throughout the state to address the problem of accommodation of the students. He added that the government would provide uniforms free of cost to all students of government schools in the next financial year to facilitate their education.

The Education Minister said free books were made available to students of classes I to VIII of government schools. Around 551 headmasters, 1,757 subject teachers and 251 junior teachers would be appointed, he added.

While the government had covered 10.60 lakh students under the mid-day meal scheme, as many as 8,683 kitchen sheds had been constructed, he said.

Jammu, March 16
Minister for Rural Development Ali Mohammad Sagar, on behalf of Minister for Finance Abdul Rahim Rather, introduced a Bill to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010, in the Legislative Assembly here today.

The minister, while stating the objectives and reasons of the amendment, said the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010, imposed an obligation on all departments to refer all cases of contractual/ad hoc/consolidated employees for the regularisation of their services to the Empowered

Committee within 60 days of the commencement of the Act.

He said some departments, however, were unable to furnish the required information due to the prevailing situation in the state. In order to entertain information after 60 days prescribed in the Act, it was necessary to amend Section 10 of the Act so that all cases for the regularisation of services of ad hoc/contractual/ consolidated employees could be considered by the Empowered Committee. — TNS

Jammu, March 16
Activists of the Pahari Speaking Students’ Union (PPSU) today gheraoed the office of the Director, Distance Education, and held a demonstration against mismanagement in the department.

The agitating students raised slogans against the Director, Distance Education, and highlighted various issues.

Abdul Qadar, president of the PPSU, said, “No attention is being paid by the Director to the development of the department and the welfare of students. This forced us to gherao his office today”.

Jammu, March 16
The police arrested a drug peddler and seized one kg of charas from his possession at Patnitop in Udhampur district here today. The accused has been identified as Anirudh, alias Raju, a resident of Subash Nagar in Jammu.

According to reports, the police during patrol in the Kasal Morh area intercepted Anirudh and seized one kg of charas from him.

Meanwhile, the Ramban Police apprehended another drug peddler at Chanderkote and seized 400 gm of heroin from his possession. The accused has been identified as Mohammad Sharief of Rajbagh. Both were arrested under the NDPS Act.