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Fourth accused held in DSP murder case
Cotton trading sees extended season
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It’s all perks without work for new CPSs
Man dies in police custody
Farmers fear worst labour crisis
Parking lot contractors overcharging in Patiala
HC admits PIL challenging power generation policy
Nine PRTC officials booked
Two held with 14 kg opium
3 killed in mishap
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Fourth accused held in DSP murder case
Ludhiana, April 7 Also, the police has arrested two more persons, identified as Davinder Singh of Sidhwan Bet and Ravinder Singh of Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur, for allegedly helping the accused in preparing fake number plates of the vehicles belonging to Gill and Monica and for “helping” them in dumping crucial evidences. The duo was found brutally murdered at a farmhouse in Golf Link area, near Hambran road, on February 1. The arrest has been made amidst allegations by family members of the accused that Hasanjit was picked up by the police nearly three days ago and there has been no information about his whereabouts. Hasanjit, who worked as a security guard close to the murder spot, knew Harvinder, one of the suspects in the case. Umesh (23), Harwinder (23) and Pritpal (21), who were arrested earlier, told the police that Hasanjit had prompted them to steal the cars. Hasanjit had allegedly assured that he would help them in selling off the stolen vehicles. After murdering the couple, the trio parked the cars behind a temple near the farmhouse and it was Hasanjit who had kept an eye on the vehicles. After committing the crime and dumping the vehicles, Umesh and Pritpal stopped near a tubewell in Noorpur Bet area to take a bath and wash the blood stains while Harwinder went home on a pickup truck. Police sources said Hasanjit was an active member of the gang. They used to snatch valuables from young couples visiting the area. On the day of the crime, he was not accompanying the trio, said the sources, adding that the accused had raped girls who had visited the area along with their beloved. Due to social taboo, the victims did not report the matter to the police, they added. The sources said the accused had dumped Monica’s trouser at Budha Nullah near Hambra road. The police has hired divers to find out the trouser. The police has also recovered a mobile phone from the suspects that they had snatched from a youth last year. The police is trying to trace the owner.
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Cotton trading sees extended season
Bathinda, April 7 Makhan Singh, who maintains a record of the cotton trading in the market committee here, said 17,860 quintals of cotton was brought by the farmers for auction in the market today alone. It fetched a price of Rs 4,170 a quintal. So far, Makhan said, 21,313,62 quintals of cotton had been sold here this year against 17,767,26 quintals till March 31 last year. "This is for the first time in the last six years that the cotton produce is being brought to the market beyond March 31 when its trading is officially closed," he said. The Cotton Corporation of India has purchased 17,927 quintals. The traditional marketing trend in cotton has been upset this time as the farmers held back their produce as its price fluctuated much below last year's price when the rates remained high in Punjab due to loss to the crop in Pakistan and Bangladesh due to floods. Debate over ill-effects of Bt cotton continues A large number of farmers have joined the debate over the alleged ill-effects of Bt cotton. While a few say the variety should be banned due to its "harmful" effects on the nature, there is a category that says the crop was ensuring high profits to them. A few NGOs have also demanded that Bt cotton should be banned in Punjab as it was "harming" the ecology and the quality of underground water. — Labh Singh, Kot-Shahmeer village in Bathinda — Bhoor Singh of a village near Bathinda — Shingara Singh Mann BKU (Ugrahan) Bathinda president — Umendera Dutt executive director of an NGO
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It’s all perks without work for new CPSs
While the Constitution puts a cap of 15 per cent on the total number of legislators who can be inducted as ministers, successive governments have used the said notification to circumvent the Constitution and provide a backdoor entry to its legislators. The SAD-BJP alliance has broken all previous records by inducting 21 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, 17 from the SAD and four from the BJP. They would be administered the oath of office and secrecy on April 10 at the Banda Bahadur Singh Memorial at Chappar Chiri. It is the same venue where the Punjab Cabinet was sworn in on March 14 with Parkash Singh Badal becoming the state Chief Minister for a record fifth time. While in the British Parliament a person is appointed as a parliamentary secretary and attached to the minister with the objective of grooming him so that he can take over as minister one day, in Punjab and other Indian states Chief Parliamentary Secretaries have virtually no role to play. They cannot even ask for a file nor is any file routed through them. As a Chief Parliamentary Secretary, each of these 21 MLAs would be entitled to a car and escort vehicles with unlimited fuel, a huge house at Chandigarh, a personal staff of four (personal secretary, personal assistant, peon and a clerk), an office in the Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat and a salary equivalent to that of a state minister. But in return, they are not expected to do any work. The Punjab Vidhan Sabha, having total strength of 117 legislators, has 68 of them from the SAD and BJP. Of these, 18 have been adjusted as ministers and another 21 as Chief Parliamentary Secretaries. In all, 39 (57 per cent) of the 68 legislators have been adjusted. Besides, it has caused a huge burden on the exchequer, something that could have been easily avoided. Even though these parliamentary secretaries are supposed to advise and assist the ministers concerned, it has been seen that the ministers simply behave as these people don't exist, leaving them with no work. In Himachal Pradesh, the appointment of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries has been quashed after a writ was filed stating that such appointments are against the spirit of the Constitution. The matter is currently pending after a stay order. The Punjab Government had earlier done away with the three-tier Cabinet that had a Cabinet minister, minister of state and deputy minister and inducted all ministers as Cabinet ministers. Similarly, it has also done away with the post of parliamentary secretaries and inducted everyone as a Chief Parliamentary Secretary. It is expected that several of the remaining legislators who could not be adjusted as ministers or Chief Parliamentary Secretaries would be made chairmen of various boards and corporations, who too are entitled to cars, houses and personal staff. What CPSs Will Get
What They Will Do
Setting New Record
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Man dies in police custody
Moga, April 7 Chief Judicial Magistrate Rakesh Gupta has begun a judicial inquiry into the incident and constituted a medical team of three doctors to conduct the post-mortem of the body. District Magistrate Arshdeep Singh Thind has also marked a parallel magisterial probe into the incident to be done by the Dharamkot
SDM. The victim, Chamkaur Singh of Khosa Pando village, who used to run a small shop, was picked up by the police yesterday. He was sent him to the CIA for interrogation where he was brutally tortured on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. His condition deteriorated in the wee hours this morning, the "panicky" cops immediately rushed him to the district hospital, but he was declared brought dead by the doctors. Dr Balwinder Singh, a member of the medical team, said the body bore injury marks. He said the viscera had been sent to the laboratory for a chemical examination. SP (H) Satpal Singh Bhangu said judicial and magisterial probe were in progress. "We will take action only after receiving reports of the probe," he said, adding that Chamkaur Singh was arrested under the NDPS Act and the police had recovered 1.5 kg of opium from his possession. However, the case registered against the victim yesterday did not figure in the list of the today's crime file which was dispatched to the police headquarters in Chandigarh. Normally, all cases registered till midnight figure in the crime file of the next day. It has also come to light that the police was trying to strike a compromise with the family members of the victim.
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Farmers fear worst labour crisis
Patiala, April 7 After a struggle of almost four months, bumper wheat crop is ready for harvest in the state, but a new set of challenge now begins to haunt farmers who have been fighting labour shortage from the past many years. "From the past five years I was solely responsible for getting nearly 200 labourers for my near and dear ones as I own some 50 acres of agricultural land in Uttar Pradesh. But this year, getting two dozen labourers for my own piece of land in Punjab is turning out to be a Herculean task", said Jasbir Singh Garcha of Majara village in
Sahnewal. "Change of policies on a large scale and an expectation of a government job in Uttar Pradesh is making it tough for us to get cheap labour even in UP, leave aside Punjab," he said. Experts say that the problem in Punjab is simply due to the dramatic decline in number of migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, who are now getting good wages for less work in their own native villages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(MGNREGA). "Further, these migrants are staying home and tilling their own small piece of lands in addition they are also entitled to cheap foodgrains as Below Poverty Line
(BPL) families", they added. "My family is getting ration for a month at home without working in the scorching sun for the entire paddy season as we were doing it from the past many years. Now, we are able to stay together at home and also work in our own fields and still manage to save some money what we were saving by working in Punjab,"
Radhey, a migrant labourer told The Tribune over phone from Uttar Pradesh. "I have worked for over a decade in Punjab, but I feel now things are getting much better in Uttar Pradesh and therefore I have no plan to leave my home state," he added. Thousands like Radhey are having similar thoughts and labour crunch can become very grim in the coming months. Shortage of migrant
labour, especially skilled, has hit the harvesting season across the state while it has also sounded alarm bells for local farmers ahead of the tough paddy season. Shortage of labour in Punjab has hit Punjabi farmers to look out for migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to sow nearly 28 lakh hectares of land. "There is a dearth of expert labour for harvesting wheat and I am not sure what would happen in the paddy season. Like last year, shortage of labour is sure to hit Punjab paddy cultivation, even farmers await making bookings in advance," said Jujhar Singh, a landlord from Sangrur.
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On World Health Day, Badal shares fitness mantra
Bidowali (Muktsar), April 7 Speaking out the basics of his health secrets, Badal said: “I love to work, which gives me satisfaction and makes me happy. That is why I am hale and healthy. There is no other secret. Only a satisfied person can stay fit and the people must try hard to fulfill their dreams.” Giving details of his day schedule, he said: “I wake up early in the morning and do exercise for an hour. Then I pray to God for almost one-and-a-half hour and after that, I read newspapers. I have been following the same schedule for the past several years”. “After finishing my routine work, I return home in the evening and again meet people there till late in the evening,” the Chief Minister said. He said: I sleep for four to six hours daily and the rest of the time I try to put maximum efforts in fulfilling the expectations of the people by making policies, taking decisions, travelling and redressing their grievances”. Badal said the state government was committed to provide better health facilities to the people and for that purpose, senior officials in the Health Department have been told to prepare a report on the requirements of the health sector. Meanwhile, annoyed over receiving a large number of applications related to “in-genuine” demands of the people of his constituency Lambi, Badal, on the third day of his thanksgiving tour , appealed to the public to come only with genuine demands or he would be unable to redress their greivances. Quoting a demand raised by a Lambi resident, Badal said: “Sometimes people ask me to help their children clear their examinations. Let me tell you, I am unable to do the same”. Also, he hit out at the Centre and dared the Planning Commission members to come to Punjab and prove whether they could manage their daily expenses with a meagre amount of Rs 28 a day (the poverty line cut-off figure). CM’s Success Secret
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Capt far from ideal, but may continue
Chandigarh, April 7 Also, the party does not seem to have many options and might risk opening up a Pandora's box in case it replaces him at this stage. It goes to his credit that Amarinder managed to hold 67 of the 71 defeated candidates while only four walked out from the meeting he hosted at Chandigarh this week. Amarinder may have won one round after another as he got the support of all district presidents, followed by an overwhelming majority of the defeated candidates as also majority of the elected MLAs, the uncertainty over his fate continues since there are no clear indicators from the party high command. At the same time, if and when the party decides to replace him, it may be a tough choice to make. The party insiders maintain that factionalism, which has come to the fore, may grow if and when it is decided that he is being replaced. As of now, all his opponents are together with the sole motive of getting him replaced. However, it is anybody's guess whether they will be united the same way about his replacement given the fact that there are so many potential claimants for the job. Apart from frontrunners like Jagmeet Brar and Partap Bajwa, there are other leaders like Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Lal Singh, Rana Gurjeet, Shamsher Dullo, Mohinder Singh Kaypee who are eying the post. While it is difficult to predict as how effectively and aggressively the new incumbent may be able to lead the party against the Akali-BJP alliance, one this is sure that he or she may be in no better position than Amarinder as far as factionalism is concerned. As one insider put it, "Suppose somebody is appointed as the PCC president today, other potential candidates will ensure that by the parliamentary elections he or she is exhausted enough and proved to be a failure so that they have a chance in run-up to the next Assembly elections with a hope of becoming the Chief Minister." Another opinion that seems to be gaining ground within the party is that it should retain Amarinder for the time-being and appoint a few working presidents representing different factions, different regions and different sections of the population. This will lead to a sort of collective leadership. Although the working presidents are considered more like senior vice-presidents than the presidents, the exercise can smoothen the ruffled feathers for the time being. This is being felt because the party is still not convinced as to who can be an effective or an equal match to five-time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal whose stature has considerably grown to the national level. Except for Amarinder, there hardly seems anybody else in the Congress at this stage who can take on Badal. News analysis
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Immigration, customs offices move into ICP
Amritsar, April 7 These offices were shifted to the ICP today. The trial run of the ICP will begin tomorrow, but being a Sunday there will be no movement of trucks loaded with goods. The ICP will only witness passenger movement on Sunday while the trial run for the cargo movement will start from Monday. Ahead of ICP's inauguration at Attari on April 13, the trading community has demanded that the rail line leading to Pakistan should also be brought into the ICP fold. Talking to The Tribune, CII National Council on Public Policy member Gunbir Singh said: "There exists a railway line near the ICP. To bring it under the ambitious project all that is required is a small extension of the 120-acre ICP onto the rail track. Unless the extension to cover the railway line is done, rail cargo, including perishables like gypsum and cement, shall continue to remain exposed to the vagaries of weather and suffer archaic custom checks". He said the rail movement was still "stuck in babudom" on both sides of the border. "Commodities and chemical imports from Pakistan come in ramshackle wagons and are stored in the open in India due to lack of warehousing space. The Chinese wagons procured by Pakistan have not been cleared by India. The fact that Pakistan is short on rail engines and has asked India to lease 50 to them has not found favour with the Indian authorities. The subsequent situation ensures that goods lie for months due to lack of a coordinated rail interchange," he said. Similarly, Suneet Kochhar, director, Khanna Paper Mill, said opening Attari-Wagah check post for road as well as rail cargo would boost the two-way trade. He also felt that there was a dire need to replace old bogies with new and bigger ones.
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Sarabjit’s sister in Ajmer, wants to meet Pak Prez
Amritsar, April 7 Talking to The Tribune over the phone from Ajmer, Dalbir said she had met Ajmer Deputy Commissioner as well as members of the advance team of the Pakistan President. “I have brought into their notice my purpose to meet the President and they have assured me an appointment with him”. She said she would appeal for clemency to Sarabjit and would also hand over relevant documents to the President. Earlier, too, a clemency petition for Sarabjit was filed before the Zardari, but a decision is yet to be taken on it. Sarabjit is lodged in a Pakistan jail for the last around two decades regarding a bomb explosion.
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Name college after Jaspal, says Jathedar
Gurdaspur, April 7 Speaking at the ceremony, Akal Takht Jatehdar Gurbachan Singh, who accorded the status of a "martyr" on the deceased and declared to put up his portrait at the Sikh Central Museum of the Golden Temple, demanded renaming of the Beant College of Engineering and Technology after Jaspal Singh. Prominent among those present were SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, Dal Khalsa leader Kanwarpal Singh, former Akal Takht Jathedars Jasbir Singh Rode and Bhai Ranjit Singh, former MPs Simranjit Singh Mann and Manjit Singh
Calutta.
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How Rajoana escaped gallows
Batala, April
7 The case of
Rajoana, who is lodged in Patiala Jail with the death sentence
pronounced on him being suspended by the Union Government, has a lot
of similarities with the life of octogenarian Harbans Singh who lives
with his two nephews on Aliwal Road in Batala. When Patiala Jail
Superintendent LS Jhakhar created uproar by refusing to carry out the
Chandigarh court's orders to hang Rajoana, he had cited the case of
Harbans Singh. After being convicted for a murder in 1981, Harbans had
his death sentence stayed as the Bareilly Jail Superintendent had
refused to hang him saying that "the documents were incomplete
and he would hang him only after getting the requisite
documents." Jhakhar, too, had toed the same line and had also
stated that he would not hang Rajoana since "the documents were
incomplete." Harbans Singh, who along with two of his
accomplices Jeet Singh and Kashmira Singh, was convicted for murdering
four people in a case pertaining to a land dispute, was awarded death
penalty by a Pilibhit court in 1981 which was later upheld by the
Allahabad High Court, the Supreme Court and President Neelam Sanjeeva
Reddy. His co-accused Jeet Singh was sent to the guillotine in October
the same year, but Harbans escaped the gallows as the Bareilly jailor
refused to hang him. Later, he along with Kashmira Singh filed review
petitions in the Supreme Court following which the later got his
sentence commuted to life imprisonment whereas Harbans' case was sent
back to the President with the recommendation to commute the death
penalty. Feeling uneasy, and a bit embarrassed, because the spotlight
had suddenly shifted on him following the Rajoana case, Harbans Singh,
who preferred to remain a bachelor after spending the prime of his
youth behind the bars, claims that his case had benefited a large
number of people. "A large number of convicts have been benefited
from my case. However, it is for the first time that I am hogging the
limelight because of the stay granted on Rajoana's execution," he
said. There may be several similarities between Rajoana and Harbans.
However, there is a glaring dissimilarity too. While Harbans filed a
review petition in the apex court, Rajoana has refused to file any
mercy petition and is willing to be hanged. "I pray that like me,
he too should be released from Jail," he says.
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Parking lot contractors overcharging in Patiala
Patiala, April 7 Visitors are further charges even if they do not park their vehicles in the prescribed parking area and if commuters complain, they are either bullied or musclemen of the contractor misbehave with them. Despite the MC fixing the parking fee, overcharging is the mantra for the contractors who charge double the parking fee from people and refuse to allow parking if they fail to do so. A visit to the car parking behind the AC Market revealed that the parking lot owners were overcharging the residents right under the nose of the Patiala Municipal Corporation. In most of the cases, it was found that commuters who were victims of overcharging had no other option but to pay the inflated amount as employees at the parking lots either misbehave with people or speak rudely. The parking staff also charge visitors if they park their vehicles on roads or at a vacant space away from the parking lot. "Please pay Rs 20 for the parking," said a parking attendant inside the AC Market car parking, issuing a slip that was not signed by anyone nor had the amount written on it. When the Tribune team objected, a few youth came running from the parking stand and started misbehaving. "Pay the money or take your car away," they argued in a harsh tone. "So what's the point of a parking contract," argued city lawyer Sunpreet Singh Sidhu, a frequent visitor. "It is a clear case of corruption and the administration is doing nothing. They charge Rs 20 for four hours and even the slip they issue is incomplete whereas they should charge Rs 10 for the first four hours and then double it," he stated. "A scrutiny of the parking slip issued by the contractor showed that it was cleverly torn from the point where the parking amount was written, so that commuters are unable to read the amount. The slip further clears that the contractor would not be responsible for the car in case of theft and also in case its accessories are stolen", said another visitor, Diljot Singh. "But when it was pointed out that the official rate fixed by the MC was Rs 10 for parking up to four hours, the attendants immediately call their henchmen and threaten the visitors," he added. When confronted, the parking contractor refused to comment and in-charge of the parking spot said that it was a private parking and they were free to charge any amount. However, when it was pointed out that it was a Municipal Corporation's parking space given on contract, he threatened the TNS team of dire consequences. The MC commissioner could not be contacted, Deputy Commissioner Vikas Garg said that they had not received any complaint in this regard, but he would surely look into the matter. "This sort of public loot cannot be allowed and I would take strict action", he stated.
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HC admits PIL challenging power generation policy
Patiala, April 7 In his petition, retired PSEB engineer Sukhninder Singh said the abandonment of the earlier policy of awarding thermal projects to the lowest bidder and allotting thermal projects under memorandum of understanding (MoU) route was against state's interests. On June 21, 2010, the Punjab Government had notified the power generation policy. Under the policy, the state government can award any thermal project by entering into an agreement with private firms. At that time, on September 17, 2010, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) had also sent a letter to the state government stating that the policy clearly encourages private players for setting up of power plants in Punjab. The PSERC had made several other critical observations with regard to this policy. The petitioner had maintained that under the new policy, any developer could set up a thermal plant in Punjab through memorandum of understanding, where the tariff has to be decided by the PSERC under cost plus approach. "The generation policy even allows for setting up of extension units of the existing projects, earlier awarded through competitive bidding. In that situation, Punjab would get only 15 per cent power from the extension unit, whereas the rest would be sold by the developer," the petitioner added. The petition also mentioned that even the PSERC had stated that through competitive bidding, lower tariffs have been achieved and the competitive bidding procedure should be retained. The petitioner also contended that the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) had undertaken a study, which clearly established that the competitive bid tariff was substantially lower than other ways to award power projects.
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Nine PRTC officials booked
Bathinda, April 7 Those booked by the vigilance bureau include a retired general manager, bus drivers, bus conductors and inspectors. The accused have been identified as retired general manager Iqbal Singh, driver Kirpal Singh, conductors Budh Singh, Darshan Singh, Amritpal Singh and Bhora Singh, retired inspectors Kaur Singh, Babu Ram and Baghera Singh. The vigilance bureau officials said they had arrested Baghera Singh from his native village and efforts were on to nab the other culprits as well. Complainant in the case, Ganda Singh, president of the PRTC employees union Indian National Trade Union Congress
(INTUC) said the case was registered after the intervention of the high court.
Ganda Singh said the accused officials took advantage of ‘Other Duties’ clause in their manual. The officials who fail to perform their duties sometimes due to ailment, injury or other reasons, are assigned light duties like streamlining of the PRTC buses, office work and other soft jobs at the bus stand under the ‘Other Duties’ category. However, some healthy and fit workers too got themselves registered under the ‘Other Duties’ category using various unfair means.
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Two held with 14 kg opium
Patiala, April 7 Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurpreet Singh Gill said the arrested persons have been identified as Bhupinder Kumar, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, and
Bikram, a resident of Rajasthan. The police registered a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
(NDPS) Act against the arrested persons and further investigation was on in the case.
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Hoshiarpur, April 7 The pilgrims were on their way to Vaishno Devi from Delhi. The driver of bus lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid hitting a car due to which it overturned.
— OC
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Ludhiana, April 7
It was for the first time ever since Bt cotton was introduced in Punjab that arrival of the produce in the markets of the Malwa region continued.
Bt cotton is beneficial for farmers as it ensures high yield as compared to the indigenous varieties. The average yield of Bt cotton from my 20 acre farm is around 240 quintals against half of what I used to get from the indigenous variety, which was also prone to pest attacks 
Bt cotton has brought prosperity to the farmers of the backward Malwa region. The farmers are saved from spending on pesticides. The government should ensure regular supply of quality Bt cottonseed and protect the farmers from those trading in spurious varieties.
This variety will have long-term adverse results on ecology, which is badly affected due to its cultivation. The farm scientists should produce some indigenous variety with equally high produce of cotton to provide an alternative to the farmers.
We have launched a crusade against genetically modified crops. People with certain vested interests have created an euphoria about the success of Bt cotton. These elements are pushing the agenda of multi-national seed and pesticides producing companies 
Chandigarh, April 7
The case
