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Rs 23-lakh heist at shop in city
Only first three years tough in organic farming, say tillers
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Stop dairy farming from becoming an industry: Expert
Rising prices
Meet reviews preparedness for dist-level sports event
Man nabbed by police for vehicle theft
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Rs 23-lakh heist at shop in city
Bathinda, July 28 The meeting between shopkeepers and SSP Ravcharan Brar, ASP Alka Meena and other police officials continued for nearly an hour. The shopkeepers were urged to coordinate with the police, keep the cell phone numbers of the watchmen in their areas and immediately inform the police in case they come across any suspected element. The victim shop owner, Parveen Kumar who is a distributor of the MDH spices, said thieves entered the shop by breaking open the locks of the iron shutter and decamped with Rs 23 lakh collected from nearly 700 shops of the city to which material had been supplied. Though he dealt mainly in spices, the stolen amount included payments received against recharge coupons of mobile phones. Parveen said the money was collected during the past two days and was supposed to be deposited in the bank on Monday. The money was kept in three iron boxes. The victim said the shop was closed at around 9 pm after which a watchman kept vigil in the market. Kotwali Station House Officer (SHO) Karamjit Singh said so far, the police had not got any clue that could lead to the thieves. The SHO said prima facie, it did not appear that the watchman had any role in the burglary. "We have enquired about the watchman, who resides in Partap Nagar. We called him up on his phone but he did not take the call. He might be sleeping after night duty. We have sent a message to him and he is likely to come over and record his statement," the SHO said. The police official said the mobile tower locations and call details of the boys working in the shop and those associated with its functioning would be obtained to ascertain their presence when the crime took place. Meanwhile, unidentified thieves decamped with Rs 1.75 lakh from an Indica Vista car parked in Talwandi Sabo on Saturday. The complainant, Rajnish Goyal, a resident of Model Town, Bathinda, reported the matter to the police. Investigations are on. Fact file
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Only first three years tough in organic farming, say tillers
Bathinda, July 28 Talking to TNS here today, Manoj Kumar, a gold medallist in geography and a world record holder in horticulture production by practising natural farming, said though his journey in the field of organic farming was not easy, yet it was fulfilling. "In 2001, I noticed that the soil in my fields was bereft of earthworms. The farmers' best friends were lost. Everyone in my family suffered from indigestion. It took me no time to assess that something was definitely wrong. It was then that I switched to organic farming," said Manoj Kumar, who hails from Mustafaganj village in Muzaffarnagar. Manoj created a world record by producing a record quantity of fruits on just three acres. In 2011, he organically produced 50 kg of 'jamun' each on 120 trees, two quintal of litchi each on 120 trees and a quintal of guava each on 4,500 trees. He worked without a tractor and used home-made compost. Similarly, Nitish Kumar and Sumant Kumar from village Darveshpura in Nalanda (Bihar) have a world record in production of potato and paddy, respectively. Nitish surpassed the earlier world record of Netherlands by producing 72.9 tonne of potato per hectare in 2012. Sumant produced 22.4 tonne of rice per hectare to create a world record in 2011. Earlier, Yuan Longping, a Chinese agriculture scientist, held the world record. Longping had won the title of "the father of rice" after harvesting 19.4 tonne from a hectare. All the three world record holders have a piece of advice for farmers going organic. "Perseverance pays. The reward of organic farming starts pouring in within three years as the cost of input decreases by more than 40 per cent and the income goes up. In the process, you also feel proud of saving earth from becoming barren," said Nitish. While Nitish has mere 1.5 acres, Sumant owns five acres. None of these three champions of organic farming uses tractor, which they say increases the cost of input, and plough their fields with the help of bulls. Manoj, Nitish and Sumant now act as peer educators for farmers who want to come out of the vicious cycle of chemical farming. They appealed to the farmers in Punjab not to burn the paddy stubble and instead use it to make organic
manure. |
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Stop dairy farming from becoming an industry: Expert
Bathinda, July 28 Speaking at the event, Dr Davindra Sadana, principal scientist with National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR), and Anuradha Modi from the Holy Cow Foundation, an NGO, emphasised on the need for farmers to retain indigenous cows in their homes, as was being done earlier. He said 'desi' cows have A2 milk protein that is high in anti-oxidants, develops and improves functioning of brain and has more immuno-potency than the milk obtained from hybrid cows. "Hybrid cows have A1 milk protein that causes heart diseases, diabetes, arterial sclerosis, autism and schizophrenia. On the other hand, it is scientifically proven that A2 protein, found in the milk of 'desi' cows, does not have any of these disease-causing agents," he said, adding that for the Malwa region, the 'sahiwal' and red Sindhi 'desi' cows were the best. Dr Sadana added, "With the increasing population, we needed more milk to feed the hungry and hence, we developed high-yielding hybrid cows. Now, we have realised the significance of the milk obtained from 'desi' cows. We have to save 'desi' cows as more than 50 per cent varieties of the cow have already been lost." Anuradha Modi added that 'desi' cows can only be saved by stopping dairy farms from turning into factory farms. She said instead of giving heavy subsidy on developing factory farms, the government should promote cooperative societies where the man-cow relation is deeper and emotional. "Punjab should follow the pattern of the Amul Cooperative wherein milk production has empowered women who nurse cows with utter tenderness and care," she added. Talking about the green revolution followed by the white revolution in Punjab, she said the environmental crisis has pushed the state towards cancer. "The milk no more remains a complete food. Rather, it has become a bane. Unless cows are not sent back to farmers, there is no stopping the health crisis that Punjab is reeling under," she said. Modi laid emphasis on the need for re-developing pastures, preventing encroachment of farmlands and taking care of water reservoirs. She called for a legislation to stop the dairy farming from becoming an industry. |
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Rajindra College building all set to be revamped
Bathinda, July 28 Although the college has received the grant, the work on upgrading the infrastructure is yet to begin. "We will soon hold a meeting of the building committee of the college and decide the list of repair and renovation works that we want to initiate," said the principal of the college, Vijay Goyal. "The work will be
undertaken by the PWD (Buildings & Roads). The department has sought a priority list according to which it would float tenders," Goyal added. The college principal said the priority of the college was to get the building renovated. "The college building is decades old and the roof has started leaking from several places. Further, the problem of seepage plagues the building. After we tackle these problems, we will turn towards getting the walls plastered again," he said. Superintending Engineer (SE) of the PWD (B&R), Madan Lal, said, "We have asked the college authorities to give us a list of works that they want us to undertake. We will float the tenders by the next week." Interestingly, while the college has received the grant released by the state government, it is yet to receive the grant of Rs 5 lakh which Bathinda (Urban) MLA Sarup Chand Singla had announced on March 16 for renovation of the college auditorium. A few days ago, Singla was in the college to inaugurate the girls' canteen. When asked when the promised grant would reach the college authorities, he replied that it would be released soon. |
Rising prices
Bathinda, July 28
Led by a former municipal councillor Vijay Kumar, the protesters demonstrated that while Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi were having food at Rs 10 per plate in the canteen of the Parliament, the common man was getting the same food for Rs 70.
They said the time was not far when people will have to fight for food and end up eating leaves to satisfy hunger. Vijay Kumar said the riches have blinded Congress leaders who could not see the pain that the common man was enduring due to escalating inflation. |
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Natural farming fest concludes
Bathinda, July 28 He said that the state government should formulate a policy to remove the chemicals from food chain, the way the Sikkim government has already done. Punjab should declare itself poison-free and an organic farming oriented state paving the way for the organic farmers. Experts like Dr Davindra Sadana, Amarjit Sharma, Manoj Kumar, Suresh Desai and Dr OP Rupela said the government should keep in mind four main aspects. It should encourage investment in organic farming, open shops under public distribution system to make organic crops available to the public, ensure that women and children are provided free organic food and impose a complete ban on the pesticides banned all over the world. Also, an on-the-spot painting competition was held wherein 300 students from different schools and colleges participated. The participants were put into three categories on the age basis. In the group A for students from class V to VII, Prabhjot Kaur stood first, Vishruti and Kashish Jain stood second while Gurmeet Singh, Sarvfateh Singh and Chahat secured third places. The consolation prizes were given to Nikita Rani, Ishani Nayak, Varinder Singh, Navjeet Singh, Gurpreet Kaur, Ratinder Kaur, Anukriti, Kailashnath Jha, Navdeep Kaur and Tanu Kumari. In the category B for classes VIII to X, Sanya Duhan secured the first place, Tarun Kumar and Ramandeep Singh stood second while Karanveer Singh, Smile Garg and Jasmine Kaur stood third. The consolation prizes went to Arshdeep Singh, Kiran Kalra, Vaibhav Singh, Pariash Khippal, Minal Amrutiya, Robin Singh, DIvisha Gupta, Harman Preet Singh, Arshdeep Singh and Himanshi. In category C meant for students from Plus I to the post graduate classes, Bunti secured the first place, Amritpal Singh and Karamveer Kaur secured the second place while Milind Gautam, Manpreet Kaur and Lakhwinder Singh secured the third position. Consolation prizes were awarded to Gurnaaz Mittu, Jagjit Singh, Jasvir Singh, Parmpreet Kaur, Mehakpreet Kaur, Harmanveer Kaur, Harpreet Singh, Sema Singh,
Agiapal Singh and Sarabjet Kaur. |
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Meet reviews preparedness for dist-level sports event
Bathinda, July 28 Addressing the gathering, the AEO asked them to make sure that the competitions are conducted in a fully transparent manner. She also directed them to maintain three copies of the summary sheets of the participants. In a first, apart from bearing the name, photograph, date of birth, school's name and address of the participant, the summary sheets will also bear the sports fund and tournament receipt numbers. It was also announced that the venues for some of the sporting events had been changed. The throwball and kho-kho competitions for girls and boys in the under-14, under-17 and under-18 categories will be held at the Government Senior Secondary School, Bhokhra. The under-19 category cricket matches will be held at the Delhi Public School while the under-14 and under-17 matches will be held at the Police Public School. Also present at the meeting were the general secretaries for the under-14, under-17 and under-19 categories, Sher Singh, Karamjit Singh Khemuana and Hardip Singh Mann, repectively. Members of the district tournament committee, Ramandeep Singh, Nazar Singh, Makkhan Lal, Harmander Singh, Sukjinderpal Singh, Mandeep Kaur, Jasbir Singh and Navsangeet Kaur were among those present. Fact file
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Cong ex-MLA flays state govt for incurring ‘wasteful’ expenditure
Bathinda, July 28 The Congress ex-MLA said that while the health budget of Punjab has been reduced from 12 to a mere 4 per cent, the number of hospitals has declined from 144 to 67, dispensaries from 196 to 139 while 50 per cent health centres have been shut down. "But the Badal family is spending money to purchase luxury cars and helicopters," he alleged. Everybody is aware of the poor state of health facilities in the rural and urban areas but the state government is misguiding people with claims of having added beds in 85 per cent hospitals, Jassi said. The escalated fee in medical colleges and universities has affected the common man who can't even think of admitting their children to such colleges. "We have demanded a high-level probe into the purchase of helicopters without following the process of tenders," Jassi said. Jassi regretted that residents in the city are living under the constant fear of road accidents and stray cattle menace as a large number of people have lost their lives after being mowed down by the stray cattle or after being hit by fast moving vehicles on city roads. The meeting was attended by president of the district urban unit of the Congress, Ashok Kumar, Inder Singh Sahni, KK Aggarwal, Lala Jeetmal, Mohan Lal Jhumba, Suresh Bansal, Iqbal Dhillon, Tinku Grover, Hari Om, Ranjit Grewal, Yashkiran Sharma, Nand Lal Singla, Ashok Bhola, Surinderjit Sahni, Bhagwan Das Bharti, Jasvir
Jassa, Dr Mukesh, Ashu Thakur, Sukhdev Sukha, Tulsidas and general secretary
Rupinder Bindra. |
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ETT teachers plan stir, want govt to bring their services under Edu Dept
Bathinda, July 28 Speaking to Bathinda Tribune about the agenda of the meeting, Jagsir Sahota, district president of the ETT Teachers' Union, said, "While we have been demanding that all the primary schools under the Zila Parishad be brought under the Education Department, the state government had issued a notification that a Panchayati Directorate would be created to look after these schools." "We oppose the proposal under which the government had already recruited 12 district village education officers who will oversee the workings of the schools under the Zila Parishad. Once the Panchayati Directorate comes into being, all chances of our promotion would end forever," he added. He explained that if the schools are not brought under the Education Department, the teachers of these schools will never be promoted to the master and lecturer cadre and will never become principals and subsequently will have no chance of becoming a DEO. "Only primary schools are under the Panchayati Raj and since there is no master cadre here, the teachers don't stand a chance to be promoted, not even on the basis of their seniority," he added. He further added that during today's meeting, the union decided that on August 1, the union would submit a memorandum with the district village education officers and ask them not to join office. "On August 7, a deputation of the ETT teachers would meet the Director for Rural Development and on August 18, we would burn an effigy of the Panchayati Directorate outside the residence of the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat, Surjit Singh Rakhra," the leader of the union said. |
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Man nabbed by police for vehicle theft
Bathinda, July 28 The accused was arrested from near Mann petrol pump by a team of policemen under the supervision of the CIA in-charge sub-inspector Jagdish Sharma and ASI Kaur Singh. A country-made pistol of .12 bore and two live cartridges were recovered from the possession of the arrested accused. Police claimed that during the preliminary interrogation, the accused admitted to having formed a gang with the help of two other accused, Bikramjit Singh and Tarsem Singh. The arrested accused also admitted to having robbed vehicles at gunpoint in Ambala, Ludhiana and Jalandhar areas. While Bikramjit and Tarsem have already been arrested by the CIA, Jalandhar, Amardeep has been declared a proclaimed offender. A case under various sections of the Arms Act has been registered against Amardeep at the Kotwali police station. |
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