2 teachers suspended for aiding in copying
Amritsar, March 17
The Education Department has suspended two teachers posted at the examination centre in Government High School, Wadala Bhittewad village, for aiding in copying during matriculation exam.

Immigration company penalised
Amritsar, March 17
The District consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered an immigration consultancy service to refund Rs 2,09,880 along with a compensation of Rs 20,000 and litigation expenses of Rs 2,000 to a local student as his study visa was denied. Ranjot Singh, a local resident, had filed a complaint with the forum that he wanted to study hotel management in Cyprus for which he had approached Worldwide Immigration Consultancy Services.

Conservation of cows finds a votary
Jalandhar, March 17
Three years ago, the results of what had started as a causal experiment, to try cow urine (belonging to his maid servant's Indian breed cow) ferried to his home by his maid, altered his life forever. A man who had resorted to consuming cow urine with little faith and with a bad taste in his mouth - as a cure for his chronic ailments - is now one of the strongest votaries of the movement to conserve and breed the cows of native Indian breeds and for the use of cow urine for the cure of many diseases.

Amritsar, March 17
A number of vendors plying their carts around the city have alleged that they are being made to pay a "rent" of Rs 50 to Rs 400 per month to the officials of the Municipal Corporation. But interestingly, no one knows their name.

According to reports, at every road, the person collecting the “rent” is different. However, all the rehriwalahs quizzed said they did not know the name of the officials.

A number of vendors plying their carts or mobile shops on Circular road, Majitha road, Ajnala road and some posh areas of the city accepted that they were paying a certain amount per month as “rent” to the officials of the civic body. These vendors sell different kinds of eatables, cooked food items, vegetables, snacks to the people at their doorsteps.

A vendor on the Circular road said he had been plying his cart here for the last eight years while he started paying rent to an official only six years ago. He did not know the name of the person but described him as a tall guy.

He said he started from Rs 150 per month and now has been paying Rs 400 per month.

A vendor selling flowers outside a temple said he was paying Rs 50 per month. Similarly, a vendor on the Majitha road said he was paying Rs 200 per month to a person whose name he did not know.

On the other hand, vendors, who have fixed shops, are being forced to shell out a monthly sum as well.

Sandy Randhawa, a youth leader of the Punjab People’s Party, said there are thousands of rehris parked along the roadsides across the city which do brisk business. He said the practice of collecting "rent" pointed towards a deep rooted racket and needs to be unearthed. He claimed that the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, is silent on any kind of collection from the rehriwalahs and the cart-pullers.

When contacted, Municipal Commissioner Bhupinder Singh said the corporation officials were neither allowed nor had authorised any official to collect any kind of “rent” from the vendors.

“If this kind of practice is going on in some areas of the city then it is illegal,” Singh said.

He said it was a possibility that individuals masquerading as the officials of the MC were pocketing the money. He said earlier, the MC used to collect “Tehbazari” from the vendors but it was discontinued long ago. He assured that he would inquire into the matter.

Amritsar, March 17
A man was stabbed to death just a few meters away from the Lopoke police station in Amritsar late in the evening yesterday. The police has booked six persons in this connection but no arrests have been made so far. The incident took place following a minor dispute over wrong parking of a tractor-trailer. The deceased has been identified as Jajdeep Singh (24) of Thatha village.

According to the information, the victim was going to the police station for the settlement of the dispute when the incident took place. The accused were identified as Ranjit Singh, Sukhdeep Singh, Malkeet Singh, Chamel Singh, Anoop Singh and Inder Singh, all residents of Thatha village.

Major Singh, the elder brother of the deceased, complained to the police that the deceased had parked his tractor-trailer, carrying straw (crop residue), by the roadside. Meanwhile, Ranjit Singh, who came with his bullock cart, carrying green fodder, entered into an altercation and asked Jajdeep to move the trolley. Major Singh said there was enough space for he cart to pass. This led to an altercation and the matter reached the Lopoke police.

He said when Jajdeep along with his family members and some prominent people of the area was going to the police station, Ranjit Singh along with other miscreants, came in their way and challenged Jajdeep.

He said they caught hold of Jajdeep and stabbed him in the chest. He was immediately rushed to a private hospital in Amritsar, where he was declared dead.

Investigating officer Tirath Singh said a case under Section 302, 148, 149 of the IPC has been registered in this regard. The accused are on the run and raids are being conducted to nab them.

Amritsar, March 17
The registration of a murder case against farmers and their arrest for the death of ASI Kulbir Singh at Jeobala village on March 6 was an instance of the policy of the police to terrorise people from participating in the peasant movement, which is being fought and organised by various peasant organisations.

This was stated in the fact-finding report prepared by the Association for Democratic Rights (AFDR). The report was released by Dr Parminder Singh, advocate Amarjit Bai and Yash Pal Jhabal today.

The report castigates the police for making the death of ASI Kulbir Singh a murder without any proof and terms it as a plan to break the peasant movement launched against the current neo-liberal economic policies.

While raising questions over the murder theory, the report bases its arguments on the absence of injuries or even strangulation mark on the body of ASI Kulbir Singh as mentioned in the post-mortem report.

The report further quotes the FIR in which there is reference to the chest pain that Kulbir Singh had felt. However, there is no mention of the chest pain in the press statements of the police officials.

Moreover, there is no proof of any gherao as the CD, made on the spot, shows the peasants sitting on the ground and raising slogans against the government. In the same CD, a peasant talks about violence inflicted on Palwinder Singh for whose arrest the police had conducted a raid in Jeobala village, and tells about the ASI having gone somewhere.

The report has demanded an independent inquiry into the matter by a judicial agency, immediate release of all the arrested peasants and restoration of the democratic right of protest.

The report has also condemned the arrest of Sawinder Singh Chutala, general secretary, Kisan Sangharsh Committee.

Besides Dr Parminder Singh, advocate Amarjit Bai and Yash Pal Jhabal, Dr Purshotam Lal, Balbir Parwana, advocate Raghbir Singh Baghi and comrade Ajit Singh were also part of the fact-finding committee that looked into the matter.

Amritsar, March 17
As women rights activists welcomed the move of the Union Cabinet to lower the age of consent for sex from 18 to 16 years, saying this will prevent false accusations of rape in cases where teenagers have consensual sex. On the hand, there are a few other activists in the holy city who disapproved the recent move by the government.

The Anti-Rape Bill —Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013, which provides stringent punishment for crime against women, including rape. The Bill provides for lowering the age of consent for sex from 18 to 16 years. The Bill, which uses the rape a gender-sensitive crime, was cleared by the Union Cabinet. But the move has not gone down well with some of the women activists and citizens of the city.

“I disapprove of the decision taken by the government. No matter how much we assume that teenagers are sexually aware at 16 years, but the fact is lack of proper sexual education could make it a risky decision. It will only give teens a licence to indulge in sexual acts,” says Indu Bhatia, president of a city-based NGO Mission Aghaaaz.

Sehaj Gulati, a social activist associated with number of NGOs and PFA, said this move defies common sense. "One cannot call a 16-year-old a grown up. They are not mature enough to take such responsibilities and if the government thinks so why not lower the age to vote to 16 from 18?,” she said. “I think at the age of 16 years is too early to start a sexual life, especially for girls. Though I do agree that nowadays, girls know enough things at this age about sexuality, most are not ready for the consequences,” says Sudiksha Anant.

Mehak Goel, another teen from the city says “Bringing down the age is not a positive move as it may be misused by some to lure teens into sexual crimes.”

However, there are some who support the decision. “Basically, the law is trying to say that young people are sexually active. It would open doors for sexual education, which was until now considered a taboo. Moreover, it could prevent and make teenagers come out of sexual abuse and make them sexually responsible,” says Harsha Nagpal, a student activist.

Amritsar, March 17
The police department has arrested five persons for allegedly indulging in drug peddling in various parts of the district in the past 24 hours.

The CIA staff has seized a huge quantity of habit-forming drugs from their possession. The CIA staff nabbed Rakesh Kumar of Mustafabad area and seized as many as 10,000 intoxicant capsules. This is one of the major recoveries of habit-forming drugs made by the police department in the recent past.

Sub-inspector Jatinder Singh said some unidentified persons from Phagwara had supplied the drugs to Rakesh Kumar, who used to sell it to his clients. He said the police team was trying to find out the source of the drugs.

Meanwhile, the CIA staff also arrested Tejwinder Singh of Patti Bage Wali and Lakhbir Kumar of Indira Colony with 1,000 and 400 capsules of intoxicant drug respectively. In another case, the Sultanwind police has arrested Rohit Bhatti of Rattan Singh Chowk and seized 200 capsules and a motorcycle.

Amritsar, March 17
Now, it’s official. The authorities’ experiment of regulating traffic on the Bhandari bridge by installing traffic lights at the roundabout (Bhandari chowk), seems to have ended up into a farce. Just after two days, the traffic lights were found to be defunct, resulting in chaos on the road.

Traffic in-charge D Jitender admitted that the experiment could not work with the present set-up of routes, connecting the bridge. “It was not a successful move to regulate traffic through traffic lights because the traffic volume here is many times more than the actual capacity of the bridge,” D Jitender said.

The traffic police has decided to make the use of the lights for some hours in the morning and in the evening. “Rest of the times, we switch them off," he said. D Jitender said the traffic chaos at the bridge could not be solved until there was some alternate route to lead the traffic to the GT road directly.

Another problem was that traffic gets on to this point from the two elevations- one starts from a footbridge (near Pakorian Wali Shop road) and another from the point of Giani Tea Stall. If the traffic lights turn red, scores of vehicles get stuck up at these elevations, leading to chaos. Here, the drivers, especially of four-wheelers, seldom make the use of hand brakes, leading to accidents .

“As an immediate measure, I am going to propose to the MC for the removal of the divider so that commuters need not to take the U-turn through Pakkorian Aali Shop road for reaching the bridge. If it gets successful, we can shorten the circumference of the Bhandari roundabout. It’s all being experimented, but the present set-up is not successful,” he said.

Amritsar, March 17
The road traffic in the city has increased manifold over the years. The authorities have failed to put up traffic lights at key intersection points, which witness heavy flow of vehicles throughout the day. There are points where the lights are installed, but they are not functioning.

Insufficient number of traffic signals in the city could be a major reason for the sharp rise in number of road accidents in the past couple of years.

A resident of Majitha road, Rakesh Kumar, had a miraculous escape in a road accident at one such intersection point. However, his younger brother was not so lucky and succumbed to injuries. Rakesh sustained serious injuries and was bed-ridden for nearly a year.

Over the passage of time, traffic signals have become necessities on many city crossings yet it intrigues the residents that the Municipal Corporation (MC) was slow in installing these signals to govern and streamline the traffic.

On the GT Road, traffic signals are required outside Khalsa College for Women, Khalsa College, Guru Nanak Dev University, old octroi post chowk and New Amritsar crossing.

A resident Naresh Johar said “Thousands of students face problems in the absence of traffic signals. But the administration never bothered to take adequate measures to manage the traffic.”

Another busy crossing on the Court Road and the Link road is also without the signals. The same is on the Mall Road where Green Avenue and Kennedy Avenue are situated. Also, the flow of traffic has increased several times since the multi-storey shopping malls came into existence.

On the same road at Thandi Khuhi Chowk, an entrance to historic Ram Bagh, there is no traffic signal despite heavy rush. The requirement of a traffic signal is also felt on the Maqbool road leading to Green Avenue as it serves as the shortest route between Ranjit Avenue to Lawrence and Majitha road.

A busy Rani Bagh road leading to another Mc Leod Road is again without traffic signal.

There are many traffic signals at key intersections like the one at New Amritsar crossing which have been lying out of order for a long time. Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said “Following the requirement order sent by the traffic police, the corporation has installed the traffic signals at the key intersections.”

He said he would direct the officials concerned to carry out feasibility of installing the lights at the accident-porne intersections.

Amritsar, March 17
Former minister Lakshmi Kanta Chawla has flayed the prevailing education pattern, according to which students cannot be failed till class IX.

She said students remained non-evaluated for long without the fear of examinations and they were not making sincere efforts to study and all of a sudden, they were being pushed to appear for the Board examination in class X. She added that the standard of education could not be raised in a year. "Failure of maximum students means teachers will be held responsible. In this scenario, teachers would resort to unfair means to show good results," Chawla said.

She said the Education Department should not allow admission to students, studying above class V, in the next class if they failed in their annual examination. She said the new rule could be continued for students of primary class. She said teachers had been barred from cross-examining and reprimanding the students who were irregular in the class and were casual towards studies. She said the biggest loss would be of the students whose parents were uneducated and pre-occupied with their work.

Chawla said the new education model was copied from the developed countries where the governments provided enough funds for sports and other activities to develop the personality of the students. On the other hand, in Punjab, most of the schools do not have infrastructure for sports.

Amritsar, March 17
After a string of controversies, allegations and political interventions, Punjabi film Sadda Haq has made it to the silver screen. The movie was going through a ban and got the green signal only after some cuts by the Censor Board.

The film, which deals with the militancy period of Punjab and repercussions of the militancy on current generation of Punjabis, was premiered for a selected audience at hotel Golden Tulip. The cast and crew of the film, including actor-writer-producer Kuljinder Sidhu, Gaurav Kakkar and Himanshi Khurana, were present for the screening.

Post the struggle for its clearance, the film will release worldwide on April 5, 2013. “We would have a worldwide release in Australia, the US, the UK, India and Canada. Today, we had a selective screening of the film to give a glimpse of the film. The aim is to get positive word of mouth publicity before its worldwide release,’ said Kuljinder.

The Censor board had banned the film for having provocative content. Sidhu had earlier met SGPC officials, who supported the film. The film has two plots running parallel to each other. “It tells the story of two generations, one affected by the militancy in Punjab and the other, the current generation which doesn’t know the truth behind that black phase,” said Sidhu.

The story is narrated from the point of view of a former militant, played by Kuljinder Sidhu, baring facts leading to the militancy and the common life that suffered. “The film follows through a lot of dark facts, about the role of various agencies during militancy period and the repercussions of terrorism that Punjab is still unable to forget. But it ends on a positive note with the optimism and hope that rests on the shoulders of the current generation,” he said.

With its depiction of fake encounters, innocent killings, human right violations and militant activities during the time, the film is sure to ruffle up some feathers and dig old wounds when it releases on April 5, 2013. But Kuljinder is confident that everyone who has been a witness to the dark period in Punjab will relate to the events shown in the film. “We are very sure that no community or individual will be offended after watching the film. It is not an attempt to malign or show someone in the bad light. We have researched a lot and just placed the facts in front of the audiences,” he said. “The screening was not about garnering cheap publicity but about social support as we have created a good piece of cinema,” he signed off.

Amritsar, March 17
The District consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered an immigration consultancy service to refund Rs 2,09,880 along with a compensation of Rs 20,000 and litigation expenses of Rs 2,000 to a local student as his study visa was denied.

Ranjot Singh, a local resident, had filed a complaint with the forum that he wanted to study hotel management in Cyprus for which he had approached Worldwide Immigration Consultancy Services. He said he was advised to study the course at MKC College, Cyprus.

However, in due course of time, his study visa to Cyprus was rejected by immigration office. Later, when he visited the firm for the refund of the tuition fees, which he had paid to the college, the WWICS refused to refund it.

The WWICS had contended that the visa was rejected by the Immigration Department and the college fees was paid directly to the college.

Jalandhar, March 17
Three years ago, the results of what had started as a causal experiment, to try cow urine (belonging to his maid servant's Indian breed cow) ferried to his home by his maid, altered his life forever.

A man who had resorted to consuming cow urine with little faith and with a bad taste in his mouth - as a cure for his chronic ailments - is now one of the strongest votaries of the movement to conserve and breed the cows of native Indian breeds and for the use of cow urine for the cure of many diseases.

Talking to The Tribune on the sidelines of the two-day ayurveda conference held at the Red Cross Bhawan, Devendra Texla, president of the Gau Gram Sewa Samiti, Punjab (which has centres in all districts and Panchgavya therapy units at Mansa, Jalandhar, Phagwara, Sultanpur Lodhi, Chandpur Roorkee among other places in the state) busted cow and medicine myths.

Gravely concerned at the import of the semen of the western 'Jersey' cow, Texla said, "The Sahiwal breed is the finest breed of cow in the world and the entire Western world is keen to import it for its milk rich in A2 protein. While the west is importing our cows, the government is importing the semen of Jersey cows, which give milk rich in the A1 proteins which are not good for our health. Despite our efforts to convince the government of the extraordinary benefits of Sahiwal, the import of Jersey semen hasn't stopped."

"Punjab currently has only about 1,000 cows of the Sahiwal breed left. From Gujarat, 60,000 cows of Gir (another native breed) were imported by the West. Gujarat itself has only about 5,000 Gir cows left. In Australia, New Zealand and other places, A2 milk is costlier. Then we fail to understand why India is choosing to give away its own A2 cows away," Texla added.

Talking about the side-effects of the A1 milk, Texla said, "A genetic laboratory in Karnal conducted a research on the issue and found out that A1 protein rich milk gives rise to some serious troubles - some like bloating nausea, constipation etc and have even been widely debated in the west."

The characteristics of a desi (especially Sahiwal) cow are that it has a hunch on its back, which is said to have the "Surya Ketu" nerve, which with reaction to the sun lends a special quality to this cow, which make its milk, urine and dung healthier.

Talking about the objectives of the Gau Gram Sewa Samiti, Texla said, “The samiti intends to turn people back to the roots and make them choose naturopathy over allopathic medicine. 'Gau mootra' (cow urine) has a natural quality of absorbing the harmful, toxic elements in substances and our body.

It is a sure shot cure for all the diseases of the digestive system - the liver, intestines, urinary tract etc.”

"Three years ago doctors had recommended a biopsy for me, after which I was sure I would be operated. I was bed-ridden and weak. Someone suggested 'gau mootra' and with little faith I decided to try it. I had hepatitis B and C and within 15 days, I was cured of my problems.

I have witnessed patients with cancer, blood infections and many other problems being cured after trying cow urine," says Texla.

Texla says, "We have made efforts for the government to recognise cow urine therapy centres, but so far with little result."