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Legislative Council elections
Fazal withdraws in favour of coalition candidates
Women candidates bank on votes of fairer sex
Legislative Council Poll |
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Encounter erupts in Kupwara district
Delay in admissions
Rs 1.4-crore green fee collected in Ladakh
98 pc Valley youth never did social service, says survey
Govt asked to file reply on review petition by Army
Jammu blast: security forces still clueless
Azad’s loyalists urge him to return to state politics
Border fence relief: Reports of 72 villages submitted
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Legislative Council elections
Jammu, November 18 Although it was a public meeting, party leadership has directed the district unit of the PDP to ensure maximum participation of panchayat members in the gathering to start the campaign. The party feels there is brewing resentment among panchayat members against the delay tactics of the state government to empower the Panchayati Raj Institutions. Mehbooba spoke about the issue of erosion of the sanctity of such institutions. She said holding of the Legislative Council elections from the panchayat quota was not so important. “The real issue is the empowerment of panchayats but the government is particular about electing the four Legislative Council members from the panchayat quota,” she said and added that during the last four years the National Conference-Congress regime had systematically eroded the sanctity of all democratic institutions. As a good number of panchayat members were present in the meeting today, Mehbooba said the decision to hold the elections to the Legislative Council seats had exposed the regime which was not interested in strengthening the grass-roots level democratic institutions. She said during the last one and a half year, the regime had been befooling the panchayat members in the name of delegating powers to them. Mehbooba called upon the panchayat members to give a befitting reply to the ruling coalition in the Legislative Council elections. Sources in the PDP said the party had decided to utilise all its resources to give a tough fight to the ruling coalition in the elections. Mehbooba has taken charge of mobilising support in favour of party candidates. After completing the tour of Udhampur and Reasi districts, Mehbooba would conduct an extensive tour of the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri where she would address a series of meetings of the panchayat members. Mehbooba will address meetings of panchayat members at Reasi and Krimchi tomorrow. |
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Fazal withdraws in favour of coalition candidates
Jammu, November 18 Fazal Hussain Khan, chairman of the All-J&K Sarpanches and Panches Association, who had filed his nomination from J-1 constituency today withdrew his papers in support of coalition candidate Dr Shenaz Ganai and Sham Lal Bhagat. National Conference leaders, namely Rattan Lal Gupta, Devender Singh Rana, Bashir Ahmed Wani, Dr Shenaz Ganai, Wali Dad and other sarpanches were also present on the occasion. Fazal Hussain assured the support of all its members, sarpanches and panches to Dr Shenaz Ganai and Sham Lal Bhagat and assured the NC leadership that he will go all out to campaign and gather support for the coalition candidates. Shenaz Ganai, NC candidate, thanked Fazal Hussain Khan for his decision and appealed all panches and sarpanches of the Jammu province to bless her and support the coalition candidates from the Jammu province. Meanwhile, at a meeting of Panchayat Empowerment Committee (PEC), which was held today in Jammu under the chairmanship of Khajur Singh Sarpanch, it was decided to support National Panthers Party (NPP) candidates Anita Thakur and Rafiq Chandel. The meeting was also attended by Bhim Singh, Harsh Dev Singh, Yashpal Kundal, Faqir Nath and NPP candidates. In the resolution carried unanimously, it was decided to support the NPP candidates from the Jammu Province. The PEC appealed to all panches and sarpanches to defeat the Congress-NC alliance and support the NPP candidates. The PEC has set up district election campaign committees in all the districts of the Jammu region. |
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Women candidates bank on votes of fairer sex
Jammu, November 18 Out of 4,113 posts of sarpanch in 22 districts of the state, only 28 women had managed to win the panchayat elections at a dismal success rate of 0.68 per cent in 2011. Out of 28,248 panches elected across the state, 9,424 belong to the fairer sex. There was no reservation for women for the posts of sarpanches while 33 per cent reservation was given to women in the panch segment. “Our party is committed to empowering women at the grassroots level. It is our coalition with the Congress that had reserved 33 per cent seats of panches for women. The party is committed to providing representation to women in the Legislative Council and they have provided me an opportunity to work for them,” Dr Shehnaz Ganai, a candidate of ruling National Conference from the Jammu region said. Dr Ganai belongs to border district of Poonch and is the daughter of former minister GA Ganai. She had left the job of Masters in Hospital Administration to join politics. At present, she is holding the charge of provincial secretary, women wing of the National Conference. The NC had also fielded her for the post of MLC earlier but had withdrawn her from the race in support of the Congress nominee. “The party has given mandate to a woman and I’m quite confident and positive that the panchayat members, particularly women, would cast vote in my favour. We are sure the electorate (sarpanches and panches) would repose their faith in coalition candidates,” Dr Ganai said. Panthers Party candidate Anita Thakur was also confident that the sarpanches and panches, especially women electorate who had been subjected to “umpteen hardships” and “injustice” by the ruling coalition, would cast vote in her favour. “Even after the lapse of one and a half years, the ruling coalition has failed to redress the genuine demands of sarpanches and panches. The government has done injustice with them. Our party has been fighting for them inside and outside the both Houses of the state legislature and we hope the elected panchayat members, especially women, will vote for our party,” Anita said. Out of 10 districts in the Kashmir valley, eight districts don’t have a single woman sarpanch. Baramulla in north Kashmir and Shopian in south Kashmir had elected just three women as sarpanches out of 453 posts. Except Kishtwar district in Jammu division, all the remaining nine districts of the region have representation of women as sarpanches. Udhampur and Poonch districts had elected five women each, followed by Poonch and Kathua at four. |
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Legislative Council Poll
Srinagar, November 18 Addressing a press conference here, Rasheed claimed that the ruling NC had approached him and sought support for their candidates even as he (MLA Langate) has already announced the names of two nominees for the LC polls scheduled Rasheed said he would only support them if it unconditionally released separatist leaders Dr Qasim Faktoo, Masrat Alam and other political prisoners besides withdrawing FIRs against the youths involved in stone-pelting since 2008. He said he would also support the PDP nominees if the opposition party supported him by bringing a resolution seeking clemency for Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in the next session of the legislative Assembly. Flaying Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for questioning former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf over the neighbouring country’s ‘intention’ towards resolving the Kashmir issue, Rasheed said: “How can he (Omar) question when he cannot revoke the AFSPA and lift SMS ban (on pre-paid connections)….If Pakistan does not highlight Kashmir, we will be taken for granted….situation here would have been like that of Palestine….Omar should ask that question to himself and the Government of India as Pakistan has always supported Kashmiris on all fronts.” Claiming that the recent court order on Faktoo had been ‘misread’ by the separatists, who have called for a shutdown tomorrow against the verdict, Langate said, “Before calling the shutdown, they should have read the court order….it is a good judgment as it says the state government can release him (Faktoo).” “Now it is up to the state government whether it releases him or not…but it listens to the diktats of New Delhi,” he added. Rasheed also expressed surprise over the statement of Member of Parliament and senior NC leader Dr Mehboob Beg where he had reportedly sought the release of Faktoo. “There can be no bigger joke than this. Dr Beg is himself in power and the high court has said it is the prerogative of the state government to release Dr Faktoo,” he said.
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Encounter erupts in Kupwara district
Srinagar/Kupwara, November 18 “There has been an exchange of firing intermittently since this morning but no reports of casualties from either side have been received,” the SP said. He said the firing has stopped but the siege of area under operation continued. “In view of night, the firing has been stopped but the area where militants are supposed to be hiding continues to remain under siege,” he added. Reports said soldiers of 18 Rashtriya Rifles and the police’s Special Operation Group were jointly carrying out the operation in forests. Additional contingents of the police and troops was rushed to the area to assist the personnel carrying out the operation. The village is around 28 Kms from Kupwara. Sources said a top LeT commander was trapped inside the forests. “We suspect that one of the most wanted LeT commander is trapped in the forests," sources said.
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Jammu, November 18 Despite High Court’s verdict in favour of IGNOU’s partner institutions to complete the admissions for all the programmes for July 2012 cycle under the convergence scheme, the IGNOU management board had directed the partner institutions to submit their admission lists to its New Delhi office. Sources said after the submission of lists to the Board of Management of IGNOU, the managements of all the partner institutions in the state had unanimously decided to wait for the decision. On receiving no communication from IGNOU, the Association of All Partner Institutions of IGNOU (AAPI) has made up its mind to meet the HRD authorities to secure the academic future of aspirants. “The way things are going right now, we are planning to refund the fee which has been submitted by students to pursue the course,” said Pankaj Dogra, owner of the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial College of Education, Kathua. “When the court has announced the verdict in our favour then what is the logic to ask partner institutions to submit the admission lists to the Board of Management of IGNOU,” said Dogra. “We are facing difficulties in informing aggrieved students who are eagerly waiting for the commencement of the academic session after the court verdict. We have no answer to their queries and it is all because of the inordinate delay by IGNOU in solving the issue,” he said. “Before allotting the courses under the convergence scheme to all the partner institutions in J&K in 2009, a team of IGNOU officials had visited the colleges to inspect whether they had adequate infrastructure. Only after the authorities were satisfied, we granted permission to run the courses,” said Ashok Khajuria, owner of the Bhartiya College of Education, Udhampur. “There might be problems in some colleges outside the state for which the Board of Management of IGNOU has to stop the convergence scheme but as far as J&K is concerned, there is nothing like that,” he said. |
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Rs 1.4-crore green fee collected in Ladakh
Leh, November 18 During the meeting, Assistant Director of the Tourism Department, Leh, Sonam Dorje said the revenue was generated from 47,000 domestic tourists and 14,000 foreign tourists who had applied for inner line permit to visit restricted areas of the district and 16,000 labourers. The collection of Rs 300 from foreign tourists and Rs 200 from domestic tourists including all non-official visitors as environment fee started from May 5, 2012, as per the policy decision of the LAHDC to generate income for preservation of environment and creation of tourist convenience at tourists spots. “To collect the environment fee uniformly from all non-state subject visitors of Ladakh from the next tourism season, the Tourism Department is in touch with the Airport Authority of India. A counter will be set up at Khushok Bakula Rinpoche Airport, Leh, and contractual employees will be appointed to set up a collection centre at the entry point near Khalsti on the Leh-Srinagar National Highway and Upshi on the Leh-Manali highway,” Addressing the meeting, Spalbar said the environment fee will be used exclusively on the preservation of environment and creation of tourist convenience at tourists spots. |
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98 pc Valley youth never did social service, says survey
Srinagar, November 18 The survey conducted by the Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Srinagar chapter, reports that 95 per cent girls in Kashmir have no clue to the structures of historic significance in Kashmir, which indicates their distancing away from the rich cultural heritage of the state. The survey says Srinagar is gradually turning into a culturally incoherent place. It says the urban renewal of the historic capital faces many challenges, including lack of infrastructure and unplanned expansion of the city in new colonies by people who migrated from various towns of the Valley to Srinagar. The survey says there has been no major uplift in recreational facilities
in Srinagar. According to the survey, 90 per cent youth above 18 years do not participate in formal outdoor sports activities because of lack of sports infrastructure. The survey has shocked intelligentsia of the Valley, who attribute degrading cultural values in youth to academic curriculum in schools which have failed to include Kashmiri history in NCERT textbooks taught in a majority of schools. “I blame the state government for introducing NCERT in the state. History and geography of the state was taken out of the curricula after the 1975 accord and then the Ministry of School Education did nothing to reintroduce the local history and geography in school textbooks,” said Zahid G Mohammad,
a historian. “Our universities, colleges and schools are disconnected from the community. There is no communication between the community and schools and colleges. Unless volunteerism is developed among the youth in institutions through mentorship and peer group, things are not going to change. Teachers need to take a lead in the integration of education and civil society,” said MG Hassan Mukhtar, a subject expert on planning, policy making and politics based in
New York. |
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Govt asked to file reply on review petition by Army
Srinagar, November 18 The high court has also condoned the delay in the the Army review petition. Since the Army had filed the review petition very late, therefore, they had pleaded before the court to condone the delay which has been granted. “We had filed a review petition and it has been admitted and the court has asked the government to file its reply,” standing counsel for Union of India Karnail Singh Wazir said. The admission of the review petition is likely to further delay court martial of the accused in the Machil fake encounter case. In September, 2012, the Army had filed a review petition in the high court seeking custody of a Territorial Army rifle man Abbas Hussain Shah, who is at present in judicial custody and one of the accused in the case. The high court had directed that Shah should be dealt under the law by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sopore, along with two civilians. In the Machil fake encounter case, 11 persons, including eight Army personnel, had been booked by the police on murder charges.
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Jammu blast: security forces still clueless
Jammu, November 18 Sources said though the suspects were released after questioning, security agencies are still clueless about the blast and persons or organisations involved in the incident. “So far security agencies are investigating the matter. Some raids were also carried out at the railway station. Some more suspects are expected to be detained for questioning,” a source said. Minister of State for Home Nasir Aslam Wani today visited Government Medical College (GMC) here and met the persons who were injured in the blast. IGP, Jammu, Dilbagh Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Sanjeev Sharma and SSP, Jammu, Prabhat Singh accompanied the Minister. Wani inquired about the health of the injured and directed the doctors at the hospital to provide the best healthcare and medical facilities to them for their speedy recovery. The minister said the miscreants behind the attack would be nabbed soon. Minister for Revenue Raman Bhalla gave Rs 10,000 each to the seven Narwal blast victims
and Rs 1 lakh to the family of Kuldeep Raj, who was killed. |
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Azad’s loyalists urge him to return to state politics
Jammu, November 18 Sources said though the suspects were released after questioning, security agencies are still clueless about the blast and persons or organisations involved in the incident. “So far security agencies are investigating the matter. Some raids were also carried out at the railway station. Some more suspects are expected to be detained for questioning,” a source said. Minister of State for Home Nasir Aslam Wani today visited Government Medical College (GMC) here and met the persons who were injured in the blast. IGP, Jammu, Dilbagh Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Sanjeev Sharma and SSP, Jammu, Prabhat Singh accompanied the Minister. Wani inquired about the health of the injured and directed the doctors at the hospital to provide the best healthcare and medical facilities to them for their speedy recovery. The minister said the miscreants behind the attack would be nabbed soon. Minister for Revenue Raman Bhalla gave Rs 10,000 each to the seven Narwal blast victims
and Rs 1 lakh to the family of Kuldeep Raj, who was killed. |
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Border fence relief: Reports of 72 villages submitted
Jammu, November 18 However, the state administration claims it has expedited revenue survey in 117 villages along the border out of which detailed documents of 72 villages seeking no-objection certificates stand submitted by the district administrations to the Home Department that in turn will pave the way for compensation to the marginal farmers from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The BSF had raised a permanent fence along the 192-km-long IB in 2002-03 in a bid to ward off Pakistani terrorists besides checking other illegal trans-border activities. For the purpose, BSF had been given vast chunk of agricultural land in the forward areas along the border in Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts. Kathua Deputy Commissioner Zahida Khan said, “Out of 17 such forward villages in Kathua district, status report of 15 villages stand submitted to the Jammu Divisional Commissioner’s office while reports of the remaining two villages will be submitted within a month.” The Deputy Commissioner said in Bobiyan village the administration had disbursed Rs 61 lakh as rentals to farmers, whose lands had been acquired
under the border management project for raising border outposts and allied activities. After the Union Home Ministry decided to widen the existing fence, we had to conduct revenue surveys afresh, she said. She also informed that in three villages of Kathua district, the existing fence has to be re-aligned. This proposal was under active consideration of the Centre, she added. Samba Deputy Commissioner Mubarak Singh said out of 28 villages in his district, detailed documents of 14 villages had been submitted to the Divisional Commissioner for getting the NOC from the Home Department. “Since the existing fence has to be widened and it being a cumbersome process, it will take some time for us to complete revenue surveys. The process is on,” said Singh. Jammu Deputy Commissioner Sanjeev Verma said revenue survey of 72 villages had been completed. “At present, we are seeking NOC for 43 villages of Jammu district from
the Home Department,” he said. A senior BSF official said the project being under the Union Home Ministry for country’s security, the state government has to give land to the BSF close to the IB, for which appropriate compensation has to come from the Centre. However, Jammu State Morcha legislator from Bishnah Assembly Constituency, Ashwani Sharma regretted that despite being a decade-old issue, no relief had been provided
to the aggrieved farmers as yet. “They (Revenue officials) have again embarked upon a fresh exercise measuring agricultural lands close to the IB,” he said. During the budget session in February-March this year, Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla, on the floor of the Lower House, had promised compensation to the aggrieved farmers within two months. |
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MLA Langate Engineer Rasheed said today he would support the candidates of the NC-Congress coalition government for the upcoming Legislative Council poll if the government releases all political prisoners and withdraw FIRs registered against
stone-pelters.
