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Wheat production dips 50% in 2 yrs
Legislative Council in Session |
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SC wants promotion for SHO who ‘saved’ temple from mob
Dalai Lama lauds Jammu MP, brother
for developing Ambaran Buddhist site
Cong leaves Council seat
for ally NC
Mild tremors in Valley
Extortion racket busted; 2 arrested
4 panchayat election officials suspended
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Wheat production dips 50% in 2 yrs
According to official documents tabled by Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather in the Assembly, the production of wheat has decreased by about 50 per cent during the last two years. In the year 2006-07, production of wheat was 49,83,000 quintal while it slightly came down to 49,59,000 quintal in the year 2007-08. The state farmers produced 48,35,000 quintal of wheat in 2008-09 while the production decreased rapidly to 28,99,000 quintal in the year 2009-10. The production of rice was 55,46,000 quintal in the year 2006-07, which slightly increased to 56,20,000 quintals in the year 2007-08 and 56,37,000 in the year 2008-09. But it came down to 49,74,000 quintals in the year 2009-10. Similarly, the production of maize was 48,69,000 quintals in the year 2006-07, 47,45,000 quintals in 2007-08 and 63,31,000 quintal in the year 2008-09. Like other foodgrains, production of maize also decreased to 48,70,000 quintal in the year 2009-10. The government admitted that the gap between supply and demand has been increasing with every passing day. “The increased demand of food items is on account of the growth of population, increased influx of tourism, induction of security forces in the state and change of land use,” the government argued but admitted that conversion of agriculture land to industrial, commercial and residential purpose was also one of the region for less production. The Finance Minister stated that the Agriculture Department was exploiting the available agriculture land resources to the maximum possible extent to increase the production and productivity of all crops, including paddy, wheat and maize. “The department is promoting adoption of new technology advances in a big way, by virtue of assistance available for their popularization under various Centre-sponsored schemes. The advent of high-yielding varieties and the package of new technologies adopted have increased the production of maize, wheat and paddy in the state,” the Minister claimed. The Minister, however, stated that through various interventions, there was witnessed a significant improvement in the production of vegetables in the state last year.
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Legislative Council in Session
Jammu, April 2 Showing his anger over non-listing of a few of his issues, the PDP legislator staged a walkout at the beginning of Question Hour. He said, “I had requested to list two important issues in the business of the House, but they are nowhere. This is discriminatory and I will stage a walkout”. Murtaza added, “The son of a Member of Parliament has been provided a government job out of the way, which should have been discussed in the House”. The acting chairman, Arvinder Singh Micky, did not allow him, due to which he trooped into the well of the House and staged a walkout. However, he came back to attend the proceedings after a few minutes. Highlighting the issue of encroachment of a graveyard’s land in the Rehari area by the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), he again staged a walkout. Later, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand and Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Sagar called him back and assured him that the matter would be looked into. Meanwhile, a few minutes before the conclusion of the Budget session, Shah, the lone legislator of the Panthers Party in the Upper House, staged a walkout. Govt to set up hydel projects on its own Jammu, April 2 While replying to a question of Congress legislator Vijay Bakaya, Minister of Science and Technology ASR Mehdi said today in the Legislative Council that according to a survey report, only 18 per cent of the projects executed by the Army under the Border Area Development Programme, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Operation Sadbhavana were functional. “The IREP has conducted a survey of 524 micro-hydel power projects set up by the Army, out of which 388 were found to be non-functional, 37 were non-existent and the rest 99 were found to be test-functional,” said Mehdi, during Question Hour. Bakaya said, “The test-functional projects are also expected to be found as non-functional soon, as the Army has failed in executing such projects”. Another NC legislator, Mohammad Rashid Qureshi, asked, “Is it essential to get the work done through the Army. Isn’t there any other mechanism?” Mehdi said, “I agree with their concern, as the work done by the Army was not up to the expectations. Earlier, we constituted a committee in this regard and now we have put up the matter before the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy”. He added, “In future, the government has decided to install all micro-hydel power projects by itself”.
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SC wants promotion for SHO who ‘saved’ temple from mob
Mohammad Aftab Mir, who joined police as Sub-Inspector in 1990 when militancy was at its height in Jammu and Kashmir, had contended that he was posted as SHO at the police station at Chadoora, the gateway to the Charare Sharif shrine. On May 10 and 11, 1995, the entire town of Charare Sharif, including the shrine and about 1,500 residential houses, was gutted in a fierce encounter between the security forces and the militants. This sparked off violent protests all over Kashmir, with unruly mobs marching towards Charare Sharif.
However, the apex court Bench, comprising Justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph, pointed out that the SP and SSP of Budgam district had recommended out-of-turn promotion for Mir. The DGP also recognised the exemplary performance of Mir. Setting aside the High Court orders against Mir, the SC directed the state government on March 31 to reconsider the matter within three months for giving retrospective effect to the regular promotion given to him on August 19, 2000, as Inspector.
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Dalai Lama lauds Jammu MP, brother
for developing Ambaran Buddhist site
Impressed by a historic photo exhibition on Ambaran and Akhnoor at New Delhi today, the Dalai Lama appreciated the efforts of the Sharma brothers. He also accepted an invitation extended by the brothers to visit Akhnoor in near future. The spiritual leader spent about 20 minutes at the exhibition organised by a noted Tibet expert and journalist, Vijay Kranti, and his photographer son Akshat Kranti. Apart from the discoveries of stupa and relics at Ambaran, the exhibition highlighted the historic Akhnoor Fort, Chenab River, Jia Poto Temple, Gurdwara Tapo Asthan and Bhagwan Parsuram temple as well as a pathway constructed along the river. Ambaran is gradually attracting attention as an ancient Buddhist site and is believed to be the oldest in Jammu and Kashmir while Akhnoor is also the only Harappan site found so far in the state. The Dalai Lama evinced keen interest in photographs and made queries to Dr BR Mani, Joint Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India and Vijay Kranti. The Dalai Lama was told that the Buddhist site at Ambaran existed between “first century BC and third century BC”. Kranti explained that Buddhism might have existed in Jammu for 1,000 years before it spread to Ladakh and Tibet. |
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Cong leaves Council seat
for ally NC
Jammu, April 2 Congress leadership in the state was demanding at least one seat of the Legislative Council from Kashmir valley. The party had fielded the two candidates but today both of them were told to withdraw. The decision by Vakil to withdraw his papers is being considered as a severe setback to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad faction as he is leading the dissident Congress group in the state. Sources in the party said that renomination of Vakil, who is a sitting member of Legislative Council, has become a prestigious issue for the Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Saifuddin Soz who was opposing Vakil's candidature. On the other hand, Vakil was the first choice of Ghulam Nabi Azad. Soz, on the other hand, had put his weight behind Moonga and he was continuously exerting pressure on the high command to finalise name of Moonga for the same seat. As both the factions were adamant on their nominees, the party has decided to leave Valley seat for its coalition partner National Conference. Now, only two Congress candidates, Yashpal Khajuria and Jahangir Mir, are left in the fray from Jammu and Poonch seats, respectively. Reciprocating to the decision of the Congress leaders, the National Conference has also withdrawn its candidate, Dr Shahnaz Ganai, from Poonch seat. Sources in the Congress disclosed that denial of mandate for Abdul Gani Vakil was a victory for the Soz faction because dissidents were projecting Vakil as PCC chief in place of Soz. Furthermore, Vakil is the most vocal and known detractor of Soz. Though the party has nominated Jahangir Mir, a loyalist of Ghulam Nabi Azad for Poonch seat, infighting in the party is likely to further intensify after the Legislative Council elections. Dissidents are finding it difficult to digest denial of mandate for Abdul Gani Vakil. |
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Mild tremors in Valley
Srinagar, April 2 “An earthquake of magnitude 4.7 on the Richter scale occurred today morning at 9.24 am. The epicentre was at Ladakh-China (Xinjiang) border,” said Amir Ali, the coordinator of the disaster management cell in Kashmir. Earlier, last night at around 7 pm, an earthquake of magnitude 4.9 occurred with its epicentre at Hindukush (Afghanistan). There were no reports of any damage in the two tremors from any part of the Valley.
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Extortion racket busted; 2 arrested
Srinagar, April 2 According to SSP (Srinagar) Ashiq Hussain Bukhari, the lid went off the extortion racket as a resident of Hawal approached the Zadibal police after he received ransom calls from an unknown caller who threatened him with dire consequences in case the amount was not paid. Acting on a tip-off from the complainant, the police zeroed in on various PCOs in the city from where the accused used to make the threatening calls. "Yesterday, the caller repeated his ransom call from a previously used PCO. The police immediately swung into action and arrested the caller while he was making the call from a PCO near Government Central Market. The accused was identified as Mohammad Rafiq Gulab of Buchwara, Dalgate Srinagar," the SSP said. Hussain Bukhari said that sustained questioning of Rafiq led to the arrest of the kingpin of the racket, Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Dar, also of the Dalgate Srinagar area. A Chinese pistol, three live rounds and one fired cartridge were also recovered from the possession of the accused. The SSP added that a case under sections 7/27 of the Arms Act, 307, 451 and 506 of the RPC has been registered and more arrests were expected in the case soon. |
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4 panchayat election officials suspended
Udhampur, April 2 Additional District Election Panchayat Officer, Rakesh Badyal, informed that the action was taken against four officials, including presiding officers and polling officers for neither collecting the election material nor reaching their assigned destinations. Taking cognisance of it, the DPEO then ordered suspension of the officials, Anil Arora, Ravi Kant, SK Malla and Romail Singh. Meanwhile, a notification has been issued today for the elections in the Arnas Block. Earlier on March 29, the State Election Commission had issued a notification for the Mahore Block.
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Jammu, April 2
New Delhi, April 2
Risking his life, Mir prevented a temple at Badipora from being torched by an unruly mob of about 3,000 people. However, the state government did not give him out-of-turn promotion announced in a circular issued on March 6, 1990 meant for police personnel involved in fighting militancy. The state government contended that Mir was at Chadoora, not Charare Sharif.
Jammu, April 2