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Mata Kaushalya
Kalyan Scheme
Amend Article 25, says Peer Mohammad
‘Seepage affected one lakh acres of agri land’
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Dept heads told to visit villages
Nestle official retires after 41 years
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Mata Kaushalya Kalyan Scheme
Bathinda, May 23 In June 2011, under the scheme, the local Women and Children Hospital had received funds, worth Rs 15.77 lakh, to distribute it as incentive money among the women for delivering babies in the
hospital here. But this amount remained sufficient only till the third week of October last year. Since then, the incentive money has not been paid to thousands of women, who have delivered babies at the hospital, as the state government has not released funds to the hospital for this purpose so far. According to information available, after the launching of the scheme, the authorities of the local Women and Children Hospital started making payment of the incentive money to the women from June 21, 2011. From January 2011 to May 2011, the number of deliveries at the hospital had remained between 150 and 180 but after the introduction of the scheme, it suddenly increased to 214 in the month of June 2011, followed by 275 in July, 377 in August, 348 in September, 351 in October, 314 in November and 350 in December. Sources said the women had not received the incentive money since the last week of October but the high number of deliveries continued till December in the hope that they would receive the incentive money. However, from January 2012, a message spread among the people that perhaps the women would not receive the incentive money for delivering babies at the hospital. So, the number of deliveries at the hospital started declining from January and remained under 300 till April 2012. As per the information, in January 2012, as many as 296 deliveries were conducted at the hospital, followed by 263 in February, 244 in March, 185 in April, and till May 22 over 190. Sources in the local Women and Children Hospital told this reporter today that the hospital had not received any funds from the state headquarters after June 2011 for making the payment of the incentive money to thousands of women who had delivered babies in the hospital here. They also said sometimes, people came to the hospital to inquire about the incentive money but the staff was unable to give them a specific reply as they also were not aware when the state government would release the funds for making the payment of incentive money to the beneficiaries. |
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Amend Article 25, says Peer Mohammad
Moga, May 23 Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad, president of the AISSF, has stated that in order to give a separate identity to the Sikhs, the union government needs to amend Article 25 of the Constitution of India. "If the union government is really sincere, it should implement the recommendations of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) headed by the former Chief Justice of India, Justice MN Venkatachaliah, to amend the Article 25 of the Constitution to restore the separate status of Sikh religion," he said. Peer Mohammad said, "It's ironical that the Prime Minister and the chief of the Indian Army both happen to be Sikhs but the very Constitution to which they have taken oath to protect and uphold does not recognize the separate identity of the religion they belong to." The AISSF leader said the Constitution of India is the only Constitution in the world that claims to be secular and yet defines religion and undermines the separate identity of Sikhs. Reminding the Sikh organizations who are praising the Anand Marriage Act, Peer Mohammad questioned as to "what relief the Anand Marriage Act provides to millions of Sikhs living in India who continue to be governed by Hindu laws"? Amendment to Anand Marriage Act is merely another attempt by the Congress to divert the attention of the Sikh community which has of late come together on a common platform to take the cause of the rights of the Sikhs at the international level. However, while commending the SAD MPs, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and the others who raised the issue of the amendment to Article 25 of the Constitution in both the Houses of Parliament, Peer Mohammad stated that the SAD leadership should come forward with the help of its likeminded parties to push for the implementation of the NCRWC recommendations. |
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‘Seepage affected one lakh acres of agri land’
Fazilka, May 23 Since the land affected by seepage is unfit for cultivation, the department has promoted the setting up of fish farms in these areas. All land owners who have adopted fish farming, get a yield of 3.5 tonnes of fish per hectare from the farm. The farmers earn about Rs 1.5 lakh per hectare annually by adopting the project. GADVASU VC Taneja said the university has suggested methods for treating water and the latest techniques for improving the quality of the water in the seepage hit areas so that those involved in the business of fisheries may be able to increase their yield to 5 tonnes per hectare. Financial Commissioner Sandhu said the government is promoting diversification from the traditional paddy and wheat crops to integrated farming which includes fisheries and dairy farming. They have appealed to the farmers to adopt these ventures especially on parched land. Sandhu and Taneja also visited the wasteland development project being set up in village Shajrana in Fazilka district at cost of Rs 400 crores jointly by the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation, Kirloskar Group and the local entrepreneur, Nasa Agro Industries. Under the project, water treated from the seepage would be used for fisheries and allied ventures. Fazilka Deputy Commissioner Dr Basant Garg, SDM Charandev Singh Maan, dean of the university Dr Asha Dhawan, managing director, Nasa Agro Industries, Sanjeev Nagpal, assistant director, fisheries, Rajinder Kataria and eminent agriculturist Prem Babbar were also present. |
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Recreational facilities elude Ferozepur
Ferozepur, May 23 The only saving grace is the Hussaniwala memorial on the banks of the Sutlej where Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were cremated. Other than that, the people have nowhere to go for a quiet evening out except for one ramshackle cinema which is best avoided by the masses. Old timers recall the days when the town was a major station on the Delhi-Kasur railway line and was a prosperous trading point with dry fruits coming from as far as Afghanistan. Incidentally, Kasur is just 14 km across the border from the city. While the old can take a walk down memory lane and recall the good old days, the youngsters do not have that luxury and have to live in the present. The worst affected are those youngsters who have studied in various premier educational institutions in the region but have been forced to stay here to look after their family-run businesses or lands. They are unable take a walk down memory lane, resigned to their fate and the only option open to them is to grin and bear it. And none exemplifies it better than Gurpreet Singh, the youthful chairman of the Mamdot Market Committee who studied in Chandigarh but had to come back here to look after their farm. It is an ordeal to pass the evenings, especially if some friends have dropped by. What to talk about going out, even treating them to a decent dinner in the city is a brain-raking exercise, he laments. "Even the people of nearby Moga, a smaller and newer district, are more fortunate than us since it has some decent eating joints and now even boasts of a multiplex," he wistfully remarks. Similar sentiments are echoed by Sukhpal Singh, a lawyer, and Kulbir Sandhu of Model Town, who feel the same and also resent that the potential of the canals and the river has not been fully exploited. What nature has given has been fritted away by successive governments. The river and canal banks can be landscaped/ beautified with boating facilities. Eating joints would bring in revenue to sustain the cost of running these projects, they pointed out. They all agree that the rampant drug addiction in the city and countryside are due to the lack of developmental activities and lack of job opportunities. In fact, the common joke among their age group is: if boredom goes not get you, addiction surely will, they pointed out. But the despair among the people here is best summed up by the elderly Reshab Dev, who says that there is no beating the adage: Bhukha marda ni te tarakki karda ni (one will not die of hunger but expect nothing else). |
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Dept heads told to visit villages
Muktsar, May 23 In a meeting held with the officials, the DC further ordered that the people who have encroached upon government land or have covered it with their fields should vacate it or face action. — TNS |
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Nestle official retires after 41 years
Moga, May 23 Martin Roemkens, the manager of the local unit of the Nestle, while lauding his services, said Rattian is a role model for the staff members. "Rattian joined Nestle on September 18, 1971 as a workman and rose to the level of an officer with his hard work and dedication," Roemkens said. Rattian while sharing his experience said when he joined the company, the procurement of milk was very less and it started with just 20 litres a day. But today, it has increased to 13.5 lakh litres per day. In the farewell ceremony held on the Nestle premises last night, Laura Roemkens, wife of Martin Roemkens and the other officials, besides the representatives of the trade unions, were present on the occasion. — TNS |
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