Jammu, May 13
After the recent Census report indicated a decline in the child sex ratio in the state, the authorities concerned have decided to engage preachers of all religions in the ‘Save the Girl Child campaign’, which has been stepped up in the state to check female foeticide.

The state has registered precipitous 82 points drop in the child sex ratio. The involvement of religious preachers is must as administrative measures taken so far by the authorities have not reaped any encouraging results.

“We have already started the process of involving religious preachers in our campaign against female foeticide. A letter in this regard has already been sent to the Deputy Commissioners concerned to identify preachers, who have a mass following,” Minister for Health and Family Welfare Sham Lal Sharma told The Tribune. “Female foeticide is not only a crime, but also a sin, so we have decided to involve religious leaders to educate the masses against this inhuman act,” Sharma said.

The Health Ministry has a reason to involve religious leaders in its campaign because they have influence over a large section of society and this crime could be controlled by utilising their services.

A majority of women are the followers of one or the other religious Gurus and if the women folk stand up against female foeticide, the crime can be checked in the state. The religious leaders would also be urged to undertake “padyatras” to enlighten people on the need for a change in the mindsets on girl child.

“A majority of religious leaders contacted by our department have given their consent to be part of the task of educating society against this inhuman act,” Sharma said. He asserted that, “The drop in the child female ratio is a matter of concern, hence we will take every possible step to check this decline”.

Sharma said he had formulated a proposal for appointing informers in all areas to collect information about ultrasound clinics involved in sex determination tests. “A cash reward of Rs 25,000 will be given to the person, who would give authentic information about female foeticide or the sex determination test,” he said. He added that the proposal would be put before the Cabinet for approval.

Jammu, May 13
Two more boys, Sameer Sharma from Samba district and Vimarsh Aryan from Kishtwar district, have made it to the list of successful candidates of the Union Public Service Commission taking the total number of such candidates from Jammu and Kashmir to eight so far.

Sameer Sharma, son of a retired Army officer, Col RK Sharma, belongs to Sanoora village in Samba district.

At present residing at the Sainik Colony in Jammu, Sameer was ranked 182nd in the list. A computer engineer, Sameer completed his primary education from Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 2 here and then studied in Army Public School, New Delhi. He attributed his success to his parents and sister Meghna.

Another boy from Kishtwar, 24-year-old Vimarsh Aryan has made it to the highest administrative services in the country. He stood 434th in the list of successful candidates. Son of Ram Lal Bhagat, a retired Assistant Handicraft Training Officer, Vimarsh is the youngest among five siblings. He did his primary schooling from New Era Public School at Kishtwar before moving to Sainik School, Nagrota. A mechanical engineer from the National Institute of Technology, Srinagar, Vimarsh joined the Public Health Engineering Department in 2009.

Vimarsh had also cracked the Kashmir Administrative Services recently.

Srinagar, May 13
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has said the time for “study or interaction” exercises was over and Jammu and Kashmir needed concrete steps for a holistic solution in which all influential quarters must extend a helping hand.

She was interacting with a delegation of the European Union (EU) led by Ambassador Daniele Smajda at her residence here today. “The political and economic problems of the state have resulted in immense sufferings to the people and it is time for solid steps to initiate a resolution process that looks beyond fire-fighting or a patchwork approach,” she told the delegation.

Mehbooba said there was hardly any aspect of Kashmir that was unknown and any further delay in the resolution effort, even after numerous fact-finding missions, discussions and conferences, was prone to be viewed as delaying tactics by a population that suffered from a deep sense of deprivation and lack of empowerment.

She said the EU should help by extending its influence in the enterprise of conflict resolution that could impact a large number of people residing in South Asia.

The delegation comprising EU Ambassador to India Daniele Smadja, Irish Ambassador Kenneth Thompson, Belgian Ambassador Pierre Vaesan, EU delegation’s First Secretary Philipp Gross and delegation attaché Anne Vaugier-Chatterjee also met Malik at his Maisuma residence.

Smadja told Malik that the EU delegation had planned a visit to Kashmir last September-October, but could not come, as the situation was not very conducive there.

Malik told reporters after the meeting that they had discussed the Kashmir situation.

Udhampur, May 13
The District Development Commissioner (DDC), Doda, Farooq Ahmed Khan, has asked the district police authorities to submit reports about militancy affected persons so that ex-gratia relief could be released to their families.

The DDC gave this instruction while chairing the meeting of a district-level screening-cum-coordination committee at Doda yesterday. Additional Deputy Commissioner, Doda, AR Natnoo; Assistant Commissioner, Revenue, Doda, Naresh Kumar; Commanding Officer, 10 RR, Doda, Col Yudhvir Sekhon; Commanding Officer, CRPF, Doda, Harpal Singh; DSP (HQ), Doda, Ajaz A Zargar; and other senior officers of the district administration, the Army and the CRPF were present.

The committee discussed 14 cases of militancy-related incidents at the meeting and of which three were cleared for the grant of ex-gratia to the next of kin of the missing or deceased persons, while the remaining cases were deferred for want of necessary reports from the district police authorities.

The DDC asked the police authorities to submit the necessary reports as early as possible so that the cases could be finalised and the ex-gratia could be released to the concerned families. He emphasised that there should be no further delay and the reports must be put up for final clearance at the next meeting of the committee.

Udhampur, May 13
The district administration is going to start a drive to identify difficult and very difficult areas in the remote parts of Udhampur district so that qualified doctors could be posted to provide proper medical facilities to the people living there.

The need for a fresh drive in this regard arose to include such areas under both categories, which have been left out under the SRO 201, under the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM). As per the scheme, the medicos working in such areas are provided monetary incentives of Rs 8,000 and Rs 4,000 per month in addition to their salaries.

The Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Udhampur, Dr Anil Amla, told The Tribune that the areas to be identified come under the mountainous belt of Dudu, Basantgarh and Moungri areas of the district.

However, it is expected that about 15-16 doctors, besides those qualified in Unani, ayurved and homoeopathy, will be required for the purpose. Almost an equal number of doctors are already availing of the incentive under the scheme.

Interestingly, there have been instances of doctors failing to join in spite of the incentives. There are a total of 102 doctors, including specialists working in the district, the CMO added.

The decision to expand the scheme to all deserving areas under the scheme was taken at a joint meeting of officials of the Health, Revenue and Rural Development departments, chaired by the Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur, Baseer Ahmed Khan.

Basheer asked the Block Medical Officers, tehsildars and Block Development Officers to conduct a joint survey of the difficult or the most difficult areas in their respective blocks where health institutions were functioning without qualified doctors.

He added that the officers had been asked to submit lists of such areas by May 16 so that these could be sent to the state Health Department for clearance.

Srinagar, May 13
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah chaired a meeting of the Unified Headquarters here this morning to take stock of the security scenario and the law and order situation in the state.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Minister of State for Home Nasir Aslam Wani, Chief Secretary Madhav Lal, GoC-in-C, Northern Command, Lt-Gen KT Parnaik, GoC, 15 Corps, SA Hasnain.

Srinagar, May 13
Governor NN Vohra, who is also the chairman of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, visited Chandanwari and Pahalgam today and reviewed the progress of various ongoing works related to the Amarnath yatra, which is beginning on June 29.

The Governor travelled by road, particularly with a view to inspecting the status of the Pahalgam-Chandanwari road. At Chandanwari, he discussed the arrangements being made for the yatris. He was informed by Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, chief engineer of the Prime Minister’s Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), that the Pahalgam-Chandanwari road was being upgraded under the PMGSY Scheme and a substantial portion of the road would be improved ahead of the commencement of the yatra.

The Governor emphasised the need for expediting the work to make the road suitable, particularly for the yatra-related traffic.

He also took a round of the Nunwan base camp near Pahalgam and inspected various ongoing works. Later, at a high-level meeting at the Nunwan base camp, the Governor and Minister of State for Tourism and Home Nasir Aslam Wani held discussions with the Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, Kifayat Ahmad Rizvi, and all district-level officers.

Jammu, May 13
Security forces, including the Army and the CRPF, have termed the state Cabinet’s decision to give cash compensation to the families of militants who had surrendered and were killed in militancy-related incidents, as a positive move.

The Cabinet, which met in Srinagar yesterday, accorded an approval to the extension of the benefit of a cash compensation of Rs 4 lakh, excluding ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh, to the immediate kin of ultras who had surrendered and were killed in the militancy-related incidents in the state.

“Since most of the surrendered militants were absorbed as special police officers (SPOs) in the police or informers in the security forces, including the CRPF, and considering the fact that a few of them were killed by various terror outfits in the past, it appears to be a good decision,” said sources in the CRPF.

The CRPF described it as one of the major initiatives of the state government to lend a helping hand to the families of such slain former militants. “We have instances in the past where militants who had surrendered and were considered soft targets by terror groups, were eliminated for the reason that they had renounced violence and some of them had joined the security forces as informers,” said the sources.

“There should be a support system in place. Certainly, jobs, cash compensation and security with proper checks and balances should be extended to such families,” said a senior CRPF officer.

In 1996-1997, the CRPF had raised an exclusive battalion, the 136 Battalion of surrendered militants in the state.

Under the SRO-43, the government presently extends cash compensation of Rs 4 lakh, excluding ex-gratia relief of Rs 1 lakh, in lieu of government jobs to next of kin of civilians killed in militancy.

“Besides Pakistan-sponsored militancy, Jammu and Kashmir is grappling with the problem of unemployment, which acts as a catalyst for unemployed youths to go astray. If there are youth in such families of slain surrendered ultras, the cash compensation will certainly reduce their chances of going astray,” said sources in the Army.

“We have come across several instances where youths were lured into militancy in lieu of money,” they added.

After surrendering, such a person and his family always becomes a target of the militants. There had been several instances in the past where either a militant who had surrendered or his family members were killed. By announcing cash compensation to the families of such slain ultras, the government had done a good job, the sources added.

Jammu, May 13
The state government has sanctioned two modern abattoirs to be set up on the outskirts of Jammu and Srinagar cities.

The decision will solve the long-pending demand of the residents of Dogra Hall and Gujjar Nagar areas to shift the slaughterhouses located in their residential areas. The residents of these areas had earlier requested the authorities concerned to shift the slaughterhouses to some uninhabited area.

“It is a big problem to sit in the open or on the terrace, as it stinks the whole day,” said Rashmi, a resident of Dogra Hall. She added that if the government had mooted the proposal to shift the two slaughterhouses, their problem would be solved.

Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand had announced recently that the Union Ministry for Food Processing had sanctioned two modern abattoirs for Jammu and Srinagar cities. He had said, “To set up a modern abattoir at Jagti in Jammu will cost Rs 20.7 crore, while to construct another at Wahinama in Srinagar will cost Rs 28 crore”.

The Deputy Chief Minister said they had invited the expression of interests to prepare the detailed project reports so that the work could be started on time. Land measuring 75 kanals has been identified at Jagti, while the process to identify land in Srinagar was on.

According to sources, the Srinagar Municipal Corporation had also projected a demand for Rs 28 crore under the 13th Finance Commission for setting up a modern abattoir at Alochibagh in Srinagar.

The sources added that after the two new abattoirs were constructed, the slaughterhouses located in the residential areas would be shifted.

Jammu, May 13
The Diabetes Care Foundation (DCF) in collaboration with the Bharat Vikas Parishad (BVP) organised a diabetes awareness
programme here yes-terday. Renowned endocrinologist Dr Jitendra Singh was the chief guest on the occasion.

Dr Jitendra Singh said over 15 per cent of diabetes patient suffered from the type two diabetes “mellitus” in and around Jammu. He added that while there was a big surge in the cases of diabetes among Kashmiri Pandits, the rural population in the Jammu region had also been affected in a big way.

He said two major challenges in the field of diabetes during the next decade in the country would be diabetes in youth and women, particularly pregnant women. He added that if diabetes could be prevented during pregnancy, it could cut down the tendency of diabetes in the newborn.

Dr Jitendra Singh emphasised that the rising prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents, which was the future harbinger of a host of metabolic diseases linked to diabetes and insulin resistance.

The early detection and strict control of blood sugar was the basis of a successful diabetes management, he said. Ashok Chaturvedi, convener of the DCF, spoke about various diabetes programmes and camps organised by the foundation.

A free test for blood sugar and lipid profile was carried out and free medicines were distributed during the programme.