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Panel to suggest changes in Panchayati Raj Act
BJP: Coalition misusing powers for Legislative Council poll
Taj urges sarpanches to vote for NC-Congress candidates
Omar tweets advisory against parody account
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Job plan for youth fails to deliver in face of cash crunch
Funeral prayer held for Kasab in Valley
Mahila Congress steps up poll
campaign
Udhampur-Katra railway link nearing completion
Ranji Trophy match on schedule
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Panel to suggest changes in Panchayati Raj Act
Jammu, November 23 The panel will study all major provisions of the 73rd Amendment and will submit its recommendations to the state Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department for “exhaustive” changes in the existing state legislation. Official sources said the state government might also bring a comprehensive draft Bill in the budget session, which will be held early next year. “A high-level panel, headed by Commissioner/Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department, has been set up. The Secretary, Law Department, and Director, Rural Development Department, are members of the committee. The panel is looking into the legal aspects of important provisions of the 73rd Amendment owing to the special status of the state enshrined under Article 370,” a source said. Sources said the panel was likely to submit its recommendation within 15 days to the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats Ali Mohammad Sagar, who would put the report before the state Cabinet. “If the Cabinet approves the recommendations, a draft Bill will be tabled in the upcoming budget session. The chances of holding early elections to the Block Development Councils are bleak as the entire exercise may take another four months,” the source said. On October 15, the Cabinet decided to bring an ordinance for cancellation of elections to Block Development Councils (BDC) following major differences between the coalition partners over the incorporation of the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution in the state Panchayati Raj Act in totality. The BDC elections were scheduled for November 7. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had outrightly rejected the Congress demand for implementation of the 73rd Amendment in Jammu and Kashmir. “As far as the 73rd Amendment is concerned there is no flip-flop. The coalition government has been very clear that the 73rd Amendment will not be brought into J&K. Why should we incorporate Central constitutional changes when we can make our own constitutional changes here and amend our own Panchayati Raj Act?” Omar had said on the reopening of civil secretariat in the winter capital on November 5. The panchayat elections were held in 2011 after more than three decades. About 80 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise. There are 4,130 sarpanches and 28,253 panches in the state. |
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BJP: Coalition misusing powers for Legislative Council poll
Jammu, November 23 State president of the BJP Shamsher Singh Manhas alleged that the coalition government was misusing the official machinery on a large scale in violation of the model code of conduct and all norms were being flouted. He was addressing a gathering after releasing the party manifesto for the Legislative Council elections. “It seems the government has pressed into service all the available resources to lure panches and sarpanches and seek their votes in favour of coalition candidates,” he said. He said the coalition government under Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had failed to empower the panchayats as a result of which the panches and sarpanches were feeling betrayed. Manhas, while elaborating on the party manifesto, said if our candidates win and reach the Legislative Council, they would strive hard for the implementation of the 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution, seek monthly honorarium for the panches and sarpanches and adequate security for them. He said the BJP members in the Legislative Council would ask the government to insure the panches and sarpanches. Making an appeal to the panches and sarpanches to vote in favour of the BJP candidates, Manhas declared that the party would continue its campaign for the real empowerment of panchayats. He said the BJP won’t allow the state government to keep the panches and sarpanches devoid of what they deserve. Ashok Khajuria, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Jitendra Singh, Sat Sharma, Chander Mohan Sharma, Bansi Lal Bharti and Balbir Ram Rattan were present on the occasion.
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Taj urges sarpanches to vote for NC-Congress candidates
Srinagar November 23 He was addressing a gathering of panchayat members at Chandanwari in Baramulla district. The Irrigation Minister appealed to the panches and sarpanches to vote for coalition candidates so that their voice was heard more effectively at higher levels of governance and coalition was strengthened at the grass roots. Minister of State for Roads and Buildings Javid Ahmad Dar was also present on the occasion. “You have to vote for the return of coalition candidates to the Upper House and pave the way for effective implementation of the Panchayati Raj in the state,” said Taj. The Minister said the coalition government
had done a lot for the betterment of people in every sector. The Minister of State for Roads and Buildings also addressed the gathering. He appealed to the panches and sarpanches to vote for the coalition candidates in the Legislative Council poll. Coalition candidates for the Legislative Council poll, Ghulam Nabi Monga and Ali Mohammad Dar, district president of the Congress, Baramulla, Mir Mushtaq Nowshahri, district president of the National Conference, Baramulla, Nazir Ahmed Khan were also present. |
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Omar tweets advisory against parody account
Srinagar, November 23 “Please be careful retweeting from this account. It's a fake, and has cleverly used a very similar name,” the Chief Minister wrote on his Twitter account. The Chief Minister also warned others on Twitter not to add “stuff” from the namesake account, which has described itself as an “unofficial Twitter account of Omar Abdullah”. “Parody account. My DP is same as Omar Abdullah. Arrest me. Mujh par ek ehsaan karna, Mere baap ko kuch mat batana,” the namesake account writes in description. The tech-savvy Chief Minister has 1,91,424 ‘followers’ and ‘follows’ 66 accounts on Twitter. “I'm warning others who are retweeting and adding your stuff to their favourites. Not sure what kicks you get doing it though,” Omar said. Omar, who in the past has been criticised for spending too much of time on tweeting and dubbed as ‘tweet-a-minute Chief Minister’, has used the micro-blogging website for commenting on policy issues and other events. In August this year, Omar had announced that he would limit his tweeting activity to “tweet a month” after remaining actively involved with micro-blogging for nearly two years. Omar’s first experiment with the highly volatile and anonymity-laden online forums began in April 2008 when he began writing a blog while being in opposition in the state. The tryst with blogging ended four months later when Omar decided to shut the blog after facing a “heap of personal abuse" from angry Kashmiri netizens during the height of 2008 street protests. Omar made a second attempt to air his views online in 2011 when he regularly sought Twitter to write his opinion about the issues which ranged from local politics to sports to national events. The Chief Minister’s failed blogging and highly successful tweeting is arare attempt by a mainstream Kashmiri politician to connect directly with the people. |
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Job plan for youth fails to deliver in face of cash crunch
Srinagar, November 23 Although the state government had targeted the creation of employment opportunities for 5 lakh youth in five years, 1.5 lakh youth have benefited from the scheme in the past four years. The data reveals that 28 per cent of the scheme targets have been met since its launch in 2009. Over 6 lakh unemployed youth had registered themselves at various district employment exchanges of the state and counselling centres, out of which 80 per cent unemployed youth have not derived any benefits. The employment programme, which was one of the major planks of the National Conference during the elections in 2008, has faced several constraints. They include financial crunch, unplanned funding and poor monitoring by the authorities concerned. The programme involved various employment generation modules, including providing seed capital funding, setting up entrepreneurial units, employment in overseas employment corporation, National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation, Women Development Corporation, Animal Husbandry, Industries and Commerce Departments. The various skill upgrade projects, Udaan and Himayat under SKEWPY, involving tie ups with the Union Human Resources and Development Ministry, has so far trained 2,832 youth from the state and placed 1,756 in the corporate sector outside the state. The state Finance Ministry has allocated Rs 90 crore for SKEWPY for 2012-2013, out of which Rs 20 crore has been earmarked for the Voluntary Service Allowance to unemployed educated youth. The youth, however, complained that they were not getting the service allowance for the past several months and the government had stopped the allowance to various districts due to a huge burden on the state exchequer. Due to an outcry from various stakeholders, the state government had relaxed the norms on availing benefits of the schemes in 2010, which included relaxation in age group from 28 to 26 years, giving up the land possession norm and raising the bar of annual family income from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh. “I wanted to set up a sheep farm. I had applied for seed capital in Entrepreneur Development Institute (EDI). I was provided an initial funding of Rs 3 lakh after which the JK Bank had to give me loan under their tie up with the state government. It has been two years and I am still waiting for the loan. I had given up my studies and other career prospects as demanded in my contract with the EDI. I am disappointed that I have not achieved anything out of this,” said Mubashir Hassan, a youth registered with EDI,
Pampore, Pulwama. Missing the target
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Funeral prayer held for Kasab in Valley
Srinagar, November 23 Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani had appealed to people to hold his funeral prayers. Kasab’s funeral was offered today afternoon at the city’s Barzulla area. The people also offered funeral-in-absentia for Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza. A resident of the Barzulla neighbourhood said people from two mosques gathered at the local Eidgah to offer prayers for Palestinians and Kasab. Kasab’s hanging was largely ignored by the mainstream and separatist leadership in Kashmir who chose to remain silent over the incident. Through a video message released on Thursday evening, Geelani had appealed to the people to protest against the Israeli air strikes on Gaza after the Friday congregational prayers. “Funeral prayers should be held for (Palestinian) martyrs and Kasab should also be remembered. Nimaz-e-Jinaza (funeral prayers) should also be offered to him,” Geelani said in the video message. In May 2011, Geelani had led hundreds of people in the city’s Batamaloo neighbourhood to offer funeral prayers for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, days after he was killed in a US raid in Pakistan. Strict restrictions were imposed across Srinagar city to scuttle any attempt by Shiite mourners to take out a procession to mourn the “martyrdom” of Imam Hussain. Shiite mourners clashed with the police near Batamaloo after their procession was intercepted. The mourners threw stones at the police and paramilitary personnel and the clash continued throughout the day. The police detained a number of mourners. |
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Mahila Congress steps up poll
campaign
Jammu, November 23 State president of the Mahila Congress Indu Pawar along with other senior activists organised a series of meetings of panchayat members in the Marh Assembly segment and sought the support for coalition candidates Sham Lal Bhagat and Shahnaz Ganai. Indu promised the panchayat members that the coalition government would take every step to strengthen Panchayati Raj in the state and delegate adequate powers to panches and sarpanches. Meanwhile, Congress-National Conference (NC) candidates accompanied by senior leaders of both parties addressed a series of election meetings at Kotranka, Kalakote, Sunderbani and Pouni today. Speaking at these meetings, Sham Lal Bhagat and Shahnaz Ganai appealed to sarpanches and panches to vote for coalition candidates in order to strengthen the panchayat system in the state. They said the elections to the panchayats were held after over three decades and after a long period the panchayats would have their representatives in the Upper House. Minister of State Shabir Ahmed Khan, vice- chairman of the Kissan Board Rachpal Singh, MLC Ajay Sadotra, MLC Ravinder Sharma, and district and block presidents of both parties also addressed the gathering and sought their help and cooperation to win the election. The coalition leaders intensified the poll campaign in the Chenab valley as well. |
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Udhampur-Katra railway link nearing completion
Katra November 23 The 25-km Udhampur-Katra route consists of 30 bridges and seven tunnels, including a 185-foot-high tunnel. The seven tunnels cover over 10 km. An official of Northern Railway at Katra said with the completion of the T1 Tunnel earlier this month, the construction of all tunnels had been completed. The work on the track was in the final stage. The new rail link will help pilgrims reach Katra without having to halt at Jammu. At present, the rail link is up to Udhampur and pilgrims have to travel around 30 km by road to reach Katra. With the completion of the project by the end of this year, pilgrims can reach the Katra base camp by train. The facility is also expected to give a push to the economy of the area. The 53-km long Jammu-Udhampur rail line is already operational. Once the Udhampur-Katra line, which is part of the Kashmir rail link project, becomes operational, trains can reach Katra from anywhere in the country. Katra town in Reasi is the base camp for pilgrims visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine. At least 10 million devotees visit the shrine every year. The Udhampur-Katra rail route, estimated to cost Rs 928 crore, passes through inhospitable terrain, making it an extremely challenging engineering project. Sources in Northern Railway said the Udhampur-Katra rail section would get operational by March-end. The Katra station is also almost ready, with the basic infrastructure facilities in place. The requisite staff has also been deputed. Earlier the project was delayed due to some problems in the construction of two tunnels. “A portion of the 3-km-long T1 collapsed due to seepage, dealing a blow to the project. The engineers constructing the T3 tunnel were faced with the challenge of plugging the constant flow of trapped water in the construction area,” an official said, adding that the tunneling problem was rectified with latest Austrian tunnelling method”. Track-o-meter
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Ranji Trophy match on schedule
Srinagar, November 23 “I have not seen players going on boycott in my whole cricketing career. If these players had any issues, they could have been sorted out. What they are doing right now is mere blackmail,” said Bedi, ahead of the third Ranji Trophy match at Science College, Jammu. Over a dozen players from Kashmir, including captain of the state Samiullah, has boycotted practice sessions since the last three days. They are accusing selectors and Bedi of bias. Seven of the players, who have boycotted the match, were to play in Saturday’s tie match with Andhra Pradesh. “Despite the boycott by the players, the show will go on. The match on Saturday will be played as per schedule,” Bedi said. “I am not involved in any selection process. There is a selection panel that selects players for matches. The approach adopted by some players is anti-cricket,” he said. Bedi said the situation that had arisen due to the boycott was not good for cricket in the state.“There may be some administrative flaws, but whatever is happening is not good for cricket.” The state has so far played two Ranji Trophy matches. They lost one to Jharkhand and there was no result of the match against Goa. A player on a boycott said they had written to president of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association Farooq Abdullah and apprised him about the situation. “We are waiting for his response,” he said.
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Katra November 23
