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Rural areas to get better medicare facilities
Natrang stages play Bawa Jitto at Jhiri Mela
Winter secretariat starts functioning at Srinagar
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J&K gets first Bharti Walmart store
Role of NGOs vital in providing succour to needy, says minister
srinagar DIARY
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Rural areas to get better medicare facilities
Jammu, November 11 For this purpose, the minister said the government had done a lot of things in the recent past. “Apart from these things, the government will hold medical camps across the state, especially in rural areas so that the people can get better treatment at their doorstep,” said Sham Lal, while interacting with the people after inspecting the week-long free surgical-cum-medical camp at Sub-District Hospital, Jourian, here recently. He further said the department was already organising health camps, but in a short period the number of camps would get manifold increase. Appreciating the efforts of the organisers for arranging medical camps in the rural areas, he said all those interested to organise such camps in the remote areas to reach out the poor people, the government would provide them all the logistic support to supplement efforts in providing healthcare to the people. “At Primary Health Centre level, all the vital diagnostic facilities and services of specialised doctors have been made available round the clock despite a paucity of staff. The government has made earnest effort to create adequate posts of doctors and paramedical staff to cater to the rural services,” added Sham Lal. He said the state government had already declared that the health and education were the core sectors, which would continue to receive the focused attention. Seeking people’s support to keep hospitals neat and clean, Sharma said the government’s duty was to create facilities and people had to protect these assets. He said a sense of responsibility had to be created amongst the people and they must understand that the government property was their own asset and they had to protect it for their own benefits. The panchayat institutions in the rural areas would keep a vigil on the government assets and make sure that the assets were well protected. Director, Health Services, Jammu, Dr Madhu Khullar, also attended the medical camp.
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Natrang stages play Bawa Jitto at Jhiri Mela
Jammu, November 11 Speaking on the occasion, Natrang director Balwant Thakur said, "Due to coordinated and sustained professional efforts, this theatrical venture has the potential of becoming a global happening. This is a life-time opportunity to exhibit the cultural ethos of the Jammu region before such a huge gathering." Set in the rural background, this 15th century folk tale portrays the age-old saga of the exploitation of landless farmers by landlords. Due to persistent pressure from relatives, Jitto, a hard working, landless farmer, is forced to leave his native village. Accompanied by his nine-year-old daughter, he takes shelter in the house of a friend, Rullo, in a nearby village Shamachak. Due to the efforts of his friend a landlord grants land to him at Shamachak and the one fourth of the produce from the land is fixed as land revenue. Jitto's hard work turns a barren land into a fertile one. Meanwhile, the selfish landlord does not keep his words and asks Jitto for a bigger share of the produce. Helpless Jitto, unable to endure injustice, kills himself. The agony becomes boundless when Gauri, his little daughter, immolates herself on her father's pyre. Neeraj Kant, a senior actor of Natrang, ably enacted Jitto's role. Juhi Singh, who played the role of Gauri, made the audience cry at times with her powerful acting. Renu Sharma as Chachi Jojan was at her best and the audience applauded her superb histrionics. Anil Tickoo as Malli established the fact that "versatility comes with experience" and the same could be felt throughout his presence on the stage. Sanjeev Gupta as Raja performed equally well. Suresh Kumar as Mehta Beer Singh captivated the audience with his powerful acting. Deepak Virdi as Esso, Gaurav Triyal as Gaghi, Rahul Singh as Rullo and Sajra Qadir and Tajasvi Sharma also gave remarkable performances. A team of 50 artistes and technicians created a magic spell at the shows.
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Winter secretariat starts functioning at Srinagar
Srinagar, November 11 The winter secretariat established in the civil secretariat started functioning from October 31 under the supervision of Additional Secretary to the government. The government has already issued a circular whereby it was stated that ministers would attend the winter secretariat on a rotational basis to hear public grievances, every week. According to the schedule, Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology Mian Altaf Ahmad would be available next week, followed by Minister for Public Health Engineering, Irrigation and Flood Control Taj Mohi-u-Din and Minister for Tourism and Culture Nawang Rigzin Jora during the next two weeks. Likewise, Minister for Industries and Commerce SS Salathia would be available from December 5 to December 9, Minister for Health,
Horticulture and Floriculture Sham Lal Sharma from December 12 to December 16, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Public Distribution and Transport Qamar Ali Akhoon from December 19 to December 23, Minister for Technical Education, Youth Services and Sports RS Chib from December 26 to December 30, Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir from January 2 to January 6, 2012, Minister for Social Welfare, ARI and Training Sakina Itoo from January 9 to January 13, Minister for Revenue and Relief Raman Bhalla from January 16 to January 20, Minister for Higher Education, Labour and Employment Abdul Gani Malik from January 23 to January 27, and Minister for Animal, Sheep Husbandry, Science and Technology Agha Syed Rahulla Mehdi from January 30 to February 3, 2012. Similarly, Minister of State for Hajj and Auqaf Aijaz Ahmad Khan would be available from February 6 to February 10, Minster of State for Cooperatives Manohar Lal Sharma from February 13 to February 17, and Minister of State for Forests and Power Shabir Ahmad Khan would be available from February 20 to February 24, 2012. People could register their grievances before the ministers in the winter secretariat as per the above mentioned schedule, an official spokesperson said. |
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Jammu artist to participate in cultural event in Italy
Jammu, November 11 Suman will be representing India in this year’s Florence biennial. He will be exhibiting his two new art works both, untitled, done in ‘acrylic on canvas’ and mixed media and will be the part of his installation. The event will start on December 3 and culminate on December 11 at Fortezza da Basso in Florence, Italy. The biennale is organised under the European Parliament recognition, the High patronage of the President of the Italian Republic with the official endorsement of the Ministry of Culture, the Region of Tuscany, the Province and the City of Florence. “Over 600 artists from more than 70 countries will showcase their art works at this year’s Florence biennale of Contemporary Art,” the artist
said and added that he had accepted the invitation. As per critiques, art of Suman Gupta invests commonplace, familiar objects and people with significant feelings and in the process a magical transformation takes place. “His devotion to realism, pure individualism, finding inspiration in his own land and people makes him one of the distinguished artists of our state as well the country,” critiques believe. Suman already has the rare honour of being the first Indian painter to exhibit his work at UN’s Geneva Centre in 2002.
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J&K gets first Bharti Walmart store
Jammu, November 11 A joint venture of Bharti and Walmart, the Jammu store is ninth in northern India and 13th in the country. Addressing the gathering, Omar said he had never thought that such a store would come up in Jammu. “This store is a tribute to two things, growing strength of market in Jammu and Bharti Walmart’s continuous endeavour to expand its quality network in the country,” he said. Omar said “Best Price” would change the way business was being done in Jammu. “By sitting here in this store, I can get the feel of being in a store in any part of the developed world. It matches cash and carry stores of London,” said Omar. “What they (Bharti Walmart) have done in Punjab, if 1 per cent of it can be achieved here, it will change the entire scenario in Jammu,” said Omar in reference to impetus agriculture had received in Punjab with the entry of Bharti Walmart stores. The Chief Minister said Bharti Walmart’s foray into Jammu and Kashmir would send a positive message to the rest of the country. Earlier, Rajan Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Walmart, said, “We are delighted to open our first Best Price store in Jammu and further expand and strengthen our presence in northern India. The opening of this store will add value to the economy of the state and will also source products locally besides creating direct and
indirect employment opportunities for over 600 people. “Our key focus will be to add value and provide momentum to the local industry and offer our valued members great quality at affordable prices”. Raj Jain, MD and CEO, Bharti Walmart Private Limited, said, “With the opening of our store in Jammu, the ninth in northern India, we are happy to start our operations in Jammu, the primary economic centre of the state”. He said, “We are confident that our wholesale prices, assortment, and services will contribute to help people save money so that they can live better”.
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Role of NGOs vital in providing succour to needy, says minister
Srinagar, November 11 The minister was addressing the gathering at the 37th Annual General Body meeting of the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), here recently. Rohulla said with the growing social challenges, the role of NGOs had also increased across the globe. He said the NGOs were working wholeheartedly and without any personal benefit for the betterment of the people living in distress and miserable conditions. The minister said the role of NGOs had considerably increased as the state had observed a long spell of political uncertainty followed by a natural catastrophe i.e. earthquake in 2005 and cloudburst of Ladakh in 2009 which left thousands of people dead and damage to the property. Asking the NGOs to prepare themselves for future challenges, Rohulla said filed functionaries associated with this noble job need to be humble and compassionate to the suffers. Among others, MLA, Mustafa Kamal, deputy director-general, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Damodar Bachani, commissioner-secretary, Health and Medical Education, GA Peer, chief post master general, J&K Circle, John Samuel, president, VHAI, BS Garg, vice-chairperson, JKVHDA, Bilquees Jameela, chief executive, VHAI, Alok Mukhopadhyay, additional professor, Department of Preventive Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Sharmila Pimple, a former director, SKIMS, Abdul Hameed Zargar, executive director, JKVHDA, AM Mir, Muzaffer Ahmad, besides state executive directors of the organisation from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Sikkim and Assam were present on the occasion. Dr Damodar Bachani, Dr BS Garg and Dr Sharmila Pimple also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the programmes they had undertaken in the field of healthcare. The minister presented the Fr. Tong Memorial Award - 2011 to Tata Memorial Hospital which was received by Dr Sharmila Pimple. Dr Fr. James S. Tong, a citizen of the US, was founder-director of the VHAI who brought together all the people working on health sector
irrespective of their religious affiliations. Under his directorship, the VHAI pioneered new concepts in community health with emphasis on the less privileged sections, striving for justice in the provision and distribution of healthcare. On the occasion, a special cover and a stamp were also released by the minister.
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srinagar DIARY
“It is cold, it’s dull, it’s grey & I just Love it, Srinagar”, tweets Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on his first visit to the Kashmir valley after the Darbar Move offices reopened for the
winter months in Jammu.
This observation reflects the popular mood in Kashmir as the winter conditions have set in (see pic). However, everybody like Omar may not be fascinated by this cold and dull atmosphere here, as the common man has to undergo the drudgeries of day-to-day life with many deficits. The shortage of power supply, LPG, hike in petroleum products, etc, have been haunting the common man in Kashmir with little cognisance of these problems at the government level. The seat of the government has already shifted to the warm environs of Jammu, though it has established the winter secretariat here having one minister every week to address the issues faced by the people in general. It had only two working days this week, with one MoS, due to holidays on account of Eid-ul-Azha and Gurpurab. Though the past few weeks have been hectic for both the government offices and the public preparing to shift to Jammu and making preparations for the festivals, this week has been a calm and serene affair with the celebrations. The shifting of the Darbar to Jammu has also evaporated sheen off the city roads and lessened the traffic gridlocks. Weather god has also contributed equally prompting many people to remain indoors and most of the government employees away from routine work. Joy rides by train Hundreds of passengers had to wait for more than a couple of hours to board trains from Budgam railway station in central Kashmir on their way to south Kashmir earlier this week. The train services have been of great help to thousands of people every day between Qazigund in south Kashmir and Baramulla in north Kashmir, while its connectivity to the countrywide railway network is expected in the next five to seven years. Since the services were launched in the valley in 2008, these have been of great use to most of the commuters with its comfortable, quick and cheap services. It has added yet another flock of “railway tourists” in the valley which otherwise is synonymous with tourism, particularly in summer months. This “railway tourism” usually on festivals like Eid-ul-Fitre and Eid-ul-Azha adds a large number of joy riders on the train, while many people visit tourist places in the south or in the north by utilising train services in the summer months. This large number of joy riders on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha this week led to overloading prompting the authorities to take preventive measures. Thus, a large number of passengers had to wait for several hours on their way to south Kashmir. (Contributed by Ehsan Fazili)
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Artistes of the Natrang theatre group today paid tributes to the folk hero of the farming community, Bawa Jitto, here by staging two shows of a play based on his life at the ongoing Jhiri
Mela.
Jammu, November 11
