Jammu, March 25
Heavy rains during the past two days have wreaked havoc on wheat and mustard crop in Jammu region, with reports of heavy damages to the standing crop. Most of the fields are waterlogged, which has destroyed the standing crops.

For farmers in RS Pura, Marh, Gajansoo, Bishnah, Suxhetgarh, Satwari, Akhnoor, Domana, Kathua, Samba and Hiranagar, the rainfall has come as bolt from the blue. A few weeks back, hailstorm damaged 80 per cent of the vegetable fields in the region.

Though the Agriculture department has sought reports from the field officers, it could take a few more days before a detailed report about the extent of damage is prepared.

Agro-meteorologist, SKUAST-Jammu, Dr MK Khushu, said, “We conducted a visit to some villages and saw the damages. Most of the fields are waterlogged and this has damaged the crop.”

He said more areas will be visited by the scientists and officers from Agriculture department will also undertake a survey.

“Cultivators are in real trouble this time as crop has suffered heavy damages during the past two months, mostly from hailstorm and unexpected rains. There is a lot of panic among the farmers as they have taken loans from various banks and individuals,” said Tejinder Singh, a farmer from RS Pura.

During the past 48 hours, heavy rain and thunderstorm lashed most parts of the region as the western disturbances created inclement weather conditions in the state.

A few days back, Jammu recorded the highest temperature at around 28.7 degree Celsius.

The hailstorm on February 27 evening has dealt a devastating blow to the vegetable and mustard crop across Jammu. Reports said thousands of acres of land under cultivation has been destroyed.

Jammu, March 25
All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) today blamed the political class including Cabinet ministers, Members of Parliament and legislators for showing no concern for elected panchayat members who had been “denied” powers and security even after lapse of almost two years.

The ongoing 72-hour-long hunger strike launched by AJKPC representatives outside the Exhibition Ground here entered its second consecutive day.

The agitating panchayat members sitting on the hunger strike strongly condemned both state and Union governments for their failure and silence over the important issue of security of the panchayat members.

“It is unfortunate that our elected ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs are least bothered about the serious issue. How can you be so insensitive at a time when the lives of 33,000 elected panchayat members is at risk?” they questioned.

Anil Sharma, general secretary of AJKPC, who was on hunger strike along with Ghulam Hassan Punzoo, chief spokesperson of the organisation, and sarpanch Raj Kumar, said they would go ahead with their hunger strike.

Sharma said they had received no communication from the state government for any dialogue and as and when any such intimation comes, the organisation would take a decision after discussion with the executive body of the organisation.

“We want to make it clear that nothing less than adequate security and full implementation of the 73rd amendment is acceptable to us. This hunger strike is just a beginning and All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference will continue to struggle for the constitutional rights of panchayat members,” he said.

Punzoo said, “The people of Kashmir always wanted democracy to flourish and establishment of constitutional units, but unfortunately, there are certain elements in the establishment and mainstream political parties who do not wish to see peace prospering in the state.”

He blamed Rural Development Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar for not paying heed to the voice of the people.

Meanwhile, Shiromani Akal Dal (SAD) Delhi extended full support to the ongoing hunger strike of panchayat members and demanded adequate security for them.

Harasis Singh Kranti, state president, SAD (Delhi), met the agitating panchayat leaders and assured them that their organisation’s leaders and cadre would extend moral, political and all kind of support to the panchayat members. He urged the agitating leaders to call off their strike.

Rajouri, March 25
A strange case of fraud came to the fore in border district Rajouri, wherein a retired Subedar Balvant Singh alleged someone had withdrawn Rs 4.49 lakh from his personal State Bank Account (SBI) through online shopping and booking of luxury 
air tickets.

Reports said that over the past few months, Retired Subedar Balwant Singh, son of Sain Dass of Bindi Badone in border district Rajouri, has been running from pillar to post for his money, as he had alleged that someone had fraudulently withdrawn money from his account.

“I don’t understand where this money goes; it’s my retirement amount and I haven’t used a single penny,” he said.

Despite several complaints to the bank by Balwant Singh, he did not get a satisfactory reply.

When he reached an SBI branch in Rajouri today, officials gave him complete details about his account, he was shocked to see that someone had been using his account for online shopping which included buying luxury air tickets, said reports.

Now, Balwant Singh has approached the local police station. Station House Officer Varinder Gupta said, “We will lodge an FIR and will start an investigation soon.”

Jammu, March 25
The J&K State Sports Council will draft new qualifications for recruitment of coaches with adequate promotional avenues. As per the proposed draft of the sports policy, a system will be devised to make employees accountable.

The draft further said the sports department will issue annual calendar of activities ahead of start of the new financial year. These are required to be carried out by coaches and sports officers. Targets will be fixed for every sports officer and coach and their performance will be evaluated accordingly. The formats of Annual Confidential Reports would be modified to reflect their performance on the basis of targets.

According to the proposed sports policy draft, the fitness and skill-level of coaches will be assessed every five years.

All necessary steps will be taken to upgrade their knowledge and skill. Every sports officer and coach would be required to undergo a compulsory training programme at a national level sports institution once in five years.

Necessary amendments in the service rules will be made.

Further, the department will hire coaches on contract basis to provide coaching of desired standard with the clearly defined deliverables.

Every year, three best coaches, whether working in government or in private sector in the state, would be honoured and rewarded for exemplary service rendered in sports in the state under Parshu Ram Award. The details of the award will be notified by J&K State Sports Council.

In a bid to keep the referees of the state informed about rules and regulations of their respective games, the department would take steps to raise their strength as well as take their professional standard to national and international level during the next five years.

The sports department will organise clinics and workshops for referees on a regular basis. The department will issue calendar of such workshops. The draft further claimed that those who do not perform well, should be taken off the list and others be added. Every year, one outstanding referee will be honoured and rewarded for excellence in sports in the state under Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award and the details of the awards would be notified by the sports council.

Katra, March 25
Four-five drunk policemen allegedly barged into the house of the village sarpanch in Jedhi area of Reasi on Sunday night.

Local residents said four to five armed policemen in a drunken state entered the house of village sarpanch Pawan at night in Jedhi area of Reasi.

The sarpanch said upon entering the house, they started mouthing bad language directed at other family members, who were asleep.

Local residents filed a complaint with SHO police station Reasi.

SSP Reasi Raghuvir Singh said, “The policemen belong to Jammu district police.

An FIR has been lodged and investigations are on.”

Katra, March 25
Prof Sudhir K Jain, Vice-Chancellor of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), Katra, inaugurated a UGC-sponsored five-day workshop on Translation Studies and Comparative Literature: Paradigms and Practices, on the university campus. Organised by the School of Languages and Literature, the workshop aimed at generating a purposeful discussion on the issues relating to theories and practices of Translation and Comparative Literature, besides focusing on actually translating some works of literature.

In his inaugural address, Prof Jain appreciated the endeavour of the school and reinforced the integration of science, humanities and philosophy, which could lead to achieving the desired vision of an institution.

Keynote speaker Prof Avadesh K Singh, Director of School of Translation Studies, IGNOU, New Delhi and former Vice-Chancellor Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar University, Gujrat, dwelt upon the explosion of knowledge in the 21st century and said there could be no survival without translation. He appreciated the University for taking the initiative of generating discussion on translation studies.

Earlier, the Dean of the college Prof VK Bhat delivered a formal welcome address and conveyed his best wishes for the success of the seminar.

Speaking about the workshop, Dr Vandhana Sharma, Director of the School of Languages and Literature and the workshop coordinator, said the workshop had been designed to produce passionate translators to enrich and globalise literature. She hoped that sessions by prominent academia like Prof AK Singh, Prof Mohit K Ray, Prof Chander Mohan and Dr Roshan Sharma and practical sessions of translating the texts would generate interest and passion in the young scholars for translation.

Dr Sharma expressed her satisfaction at the response of participants from different universities and colleges of North India. Dr Neeru Sharma, Assistant Professor in the School, delivered the formal vote of thanks and the research scholars of the school Quleen Kaur and Simranpreet Kaur conducted the proceedings.

Prof Lalit Mangotra, president of Dogri Sanstha, Jammu, Prof Veena Gupta and Prof Shashi Pathania also attended the inaugural function and gave their inputs and suggestions for the enrichment of Dogri language and literature.

Jammu, March 25
Demanding 8 per cent reservation for SC/ST candidates in MD courses in Government Medical Colleges of J&K, All India Confederation of SC/ST/OBC Organisation marched towards the Civil Secretariat to submit a memorandum to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. However, they were stopped at Indira Chowk by the police.

Speaking on the occasion, secretary of the association Om Raj Bhall said the association supported the genuine demands of the down-trodden strata of the society, which included reservation for SC, ST and OBCs in state government jobs and public sector jobs, implementation of 27% reservation to state OBCs, and stopping the diversion of funds under Component Plan meant for SC, ST and OBCs.

The association also demanded implementation of SRO-110 of J&K Government, 85th Parliament Amendment and maintaining Roster Point Seniority for senior-level posts of KAS officers, engineers, senior lecturers and other equivalent posts.

It also impressed upon the government to provide admission to SC, ST and OBC candidates in all educational institutions without charging any admission fees refundable in the shape of scholarship, abolish marks criteria and increase the income slab.

The All India Confederation also demanded permanent residency rights to the Safai karamcharies (sweepers) working in the Municipal Corporation, Jammu. 

Jammu, March 25
The NHPC Regional Office today distributed scholarships worth Rs 20.22 lakh to 238 students of Government School in a function held at Government Higher Secondary School, Bazar Qasaban, city chowk here.

Sanjeev Verma, Transport Commissioner, presided over the function. The motive behind distributing scholarships was to encourage parents to send their SC/ST and girl students to school and to lighten the parents’ financial burden of school education.

Speaking on the occasion, Amod Agarwal, General Manager, NHPC said the company had taken various initiatives in the field of education, health, peripheral development etc since 2006, under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), including J&K where NHPC had Hydro Projects and Power Stations. Sanjeev Verma, in his address, said the initiative would go a long way in motivating students to obtain education at school level. Later, students of the school presented colourful cultural items.

Jammu, March 25
The inter-department tournament in the disciplines of badminton, table tennis, carrom and chess, in men’s section, got underway at Gymnasium Hall, University of Jammu (JU), here today.

In badminton, chemistry department got the better of library sciences by 2-1. Amarjeet Singh defeated Mohammad Hassan while Bhupinder Singh lost to Sunil Kumar. In the decider, the duo of Amarjeet Singh and Bhupinder Singh trounced Sunil Kumar and Vijay Kumar.

Maths department beat the sociology department by 2-0 in the next match. Amit Jasrotia toppled Rajneesh Kumar whereas Sushil Kumar had the last laugh against Sumit Gupta. In another match, MCA department, law school, economics department and commerce department got walkover.

In chess, chemistry department trounced economics department by 2-1. In the first match, Abhishek lost to Moninder Kumar while Mukesh edged out Amarjeet Singh. In the final, Mukesh emerged victorious against Moninder.

Maths department overcame the challenge of commerce department by 2-1 in the second match.

In carrom, chemistry department drubbed library science by 2-0. Mukesh Sharma beat Mohammad Hassan and Abhishek Sharma beat Sumit Sharma. In table tennis, law department thrashed commerce department by 2-1. The matches were officiated by Amit Sharma, Taranpal, Suresh Kumar, Aman Sambyal and Maxim Singh.

In chess, chemistry department trounced economics department by 2-1. In the first match, Abhishek lost to Moninder Kumar while Mukesh edged out Amarjeet Singh. In the final, Mukesh emerged victorious against Moninder. 

Jammu, March 25
Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu, today organised a day-long awareness camp for farmers in Thanda Pani area of Sunderbani tehsil in Rajouri district.

The theme of the camp was ‘climate change and its impact on agriculture and allied fields’ and was organised in collaboration with Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), New Delhi.

The main objective of the programme was to identify ways to strengthen local capacity for the rural communities to adapt and deal with the impacts of climate change and variability.

In this programme, 157 farmers and farmwomen from nearby villages participated. Dr MK Khushu, Chief Scientist and Head, Agrometeorology, explained the objectives of the programme and stressed upon the participants to adapt various agricultural practices which could mitigate climate change as temperature rise and shifting of rainfall pattern in the state was the concern of the day. 

Jammu, March 25
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, JSK Range, Shakeel Beig, after assuming his new assignment as DIG, Jammu, held an introductory meeting with all territorial SSPs, SDPOs, SHOs and In charge of Police Posts, Jammu district, at Police Control Room, Jammu, today.

Beig, while briefing the officers, said the prime duty of the police was to uphold the law fairly and firmly, to prevent occurrence of crime and to bring the law-breakers to book. He said the police force must provide help and relief to people in distress and every police officer should behave with the public with courtesy and decorum, particularly while dealing with women, senior citizens and children.

“We have been deployed to protect the weak, the under-privileged and to serve the people with a people-friendly attitude in order to gain public confidence. Police officers must be very polite while dealing with common man and must deal with land/drug mafia with an iron hand”, he added.

Jammu, March 25
Jammu Private Schools and ETT Institutes Association (Progressive) has alleged that government was not serious in deciding the fate of 24,000 ETT students and 450 stake holders.

While commenting over the ongoing 21 day-long strike of mostly Jammu region-based ETT stakeholders, Deep Singh, president of the association, said “the corrupt policies of former School Education Minister and the outgoing Chairman of the J&K Board of School Education (JKBOSE) were never willing to identify the foul players”.

Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, having charge of School Education Minister, is just acting on delay tactics instead of coming out for a rescue, despite knowing the complete background.

“He stated in the Assembly that the issue of ETT students and stakeholders had been referred to the JKBOSE for a review but at the same time he failed to clear it timely, while ignoring the ongoing agitation and worries of the involved students”, he claimed. “Any more deliberate ignorance and injustice to the agitating ETT stakeholders can disturb the whole process,” Singh said.

Jammu, March 25
In order to explore the cricketing talent at grassroot level, the United Cricket Federation of India (UCFI) is soon going to organise the 1st J&K T20 Championship 2013.

While briefing the media today, Safeer Ahmed, UCFI president, said the hidden potential of the state would get the right opportunity to showcase their talent.

UCFI vice-president Zaffar Iqbal said it would be the biggest event in the history of J&K cricket, wherein players from every nook and corner of the state would participate.

Joint Secretary Sham Saini said UCFI would promote other disciplines like football, hockey, wrestling, kabadi, karate, badminton etc, besides conducting general awareness camps from time to time.

The registration of the players will be held from March 25 to April 15 and will be free of cost. The winning team will get a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh while the runner-up team will pocket Rs 1.5 lakh.

UCFI would also conduct interviews for technical staff like umpire, scorer, coaches, physiotherapist and other required ground staff for the development of the sport in the state.

Zaheer Choudhary, Touseef Raja, Farooq Ahmed Qadri, Sanjay Kumar Bali, Surinder Kumar Bhagat, Surinder Singh, Ram Krishan Chowdhary, Dharminder Singh and Irshad Ahmed Rana were present at the event.

Jammu, March 25
The Department of Floriculture, Reasi, sent 45 farmers of Reasi and Udhampur districts for exposure to Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. The farmers were accompanied by Assistant Floriculture Officer, Katra and in charge, Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), Udhampur, RK Sharma.

Dr RS Riar, in charge trainings, PAU, coordinated the visit under the guidance of Dr MS Gill, Director Extension, PAU. He urged farmers to adopt the latest technologies to get the maximum returns. During their visit, the farmers were trained about the different aspects of cultivation of commercial flowers by the experts, both under open and poly-house conditions. The visit was arranged with the objective to aware the farmers of the commercial flower and seed production and to encourage them to adopt floriculture to raise their socio-economic conditions.

However, to boost the floriculture sector in Udhampur district, a day-long programme on cultivation of commercial flowers, especially marigold and gladiolus, was also held in Jakhani area. A large number of farmers, including members, participated in the programme. The event was organised on the directions of KK Sharma, Director Floriculture, Jammu, under the supervision of RS Bali, Nodal Officer, CSS, Jammu.

Dr Bharat Bhushan of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu, was the chief resource person. The programme commenced with the welcome address by RK Sharma.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Bhushan stressed upon minimising the gap of ‘lab to land’ and urged the farmers to adopt floriculture as business and to form self-help groups in the floriculture sector to boost the industry in the district.

RK Sharma elaborated in detail about the various centrally-sponsored schemes in the floriculture sector and urged them to come forward for diversification of agriculture through floriculture. He focused on the agro-technology of marigold and gladiolus.