Govt adopts different yardsticks for 2 UTs on land, jobs protection: NPP

By

-

November 4, 2020

Excelsior Correspondent

SAMBA, Nov 3: While the BJP Govt at the Centre has announced to provide constitutional safeguards for protection of lands, jobs, culture and identity of Ladakh, it was disturbing to note that the people of J&K were not even taken on board while enacting the new land laws recently extended to the JK UT.
Addressing public meetings in Vijaypur area of district Samba today, Singh said that newly extended land laws are being seen as a threat to the culture and identity of Dogra land in particular in view of huge settlements of non- state subjects in and around Jammu as also the preference of outsiders for Jammu over Kashmir. This would not only result in divesting the vulnerable sections of people from their marginal land holdings but eventually end up with their enslavement at the hands of outside corporates.
NPP leader said that the outsiders would get all rights including those of employment in J&K thus squeezing the already negligible job avenues for the local youth. He said this could create a Maharashtra like situation in J&K with locals Vs non locals issues prejudicially affecting governance and development in the days to come.
Questioning the Govt over the different yardsticks applied for Ladakh and J&K which earlier formed part of the same state, Singh said that if the Centre could agree to Ladakhis demand for safe guarding its distinct identity besides its Jobs and lands exclusively for locals, what prompted it to dilute the culture and identity of Dogras who created history by their heroic exploits and countless sacrifices for the nation. And why did the BJP revert back by taking a somersault from its original stand assuring to provide similar safeguards for JK UT as repeatedly announced post States re-organization, Singh added.
Ex-MLA Samba Yash Paul Kundal, while speaking on the occasion sought subsidized power supply for the farmers on the analogy of concession given to industrial and commercial houses. He called upon the BJP Govt to fulfill the promise of 5 marla plots to border dwellers besides seeking a special recruitment drive for the inhabitants of all border villages.
Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion included GP Singh, YP Sharma, Surinder Chouhan, Capt Sultan Singh, Kulbir Singh, Chain Singh, Vaid Raj and others.

3 promoted as Joint Directors Prosecution, 117 as Sr POs

By

Daily Excelsior

-

November 4, 2020

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 3: Home Department has ordered promotion of 3 Deputy Directors as Joint Directors Prosecution and 117 Prosecuting Officers as Senior Prosecuting Officers.
According to the order, the officers who have been promoted as Joint Directors are Gowhar Hussain Mir, Bashir Ahmad Wani and Nisar Hussain Draboo.
Those who were promoted as Senior Prosecuting Officers are Harimder Singh, Kamal Sharma, Suresh Kumar, Prashant Mahajan, Aijaz Hussain, Javaid Ahmad Bhat, Davinder Paul Singh, Mohammad Maqbool Shah, Vikrant Sharma, Ashish Rathore, Ghulam Jeelani Dar, Ashiq Hussain, Meena Gowhar, Sheikh Muzafar Ahmad, Aijaz Ahmad Wani, Zamir Ahmad, Sanjay Kohli, Mumtaz Saleem Mir, Anil Mangotra, Bodh Raj, Javid Ahmad Khawaja, Abdul Majid Bhat, Farooq Ahmad Malik, Surrinder Kumar, Kishore Kumar Bandral, Shaheen Ahmad Khan, Bachan Lal, Moaqbool Hussain, Rajesh Gill, Ranjit Bahadur Bandral, Rajesh Bakshi, Ajay Kumar, Mohammad Saleem, Vijay Sudan, Anil Kumar Gandotra, Syed Jehangir Ahmad, Ranjeev Kumar, Manzar Khayan, Rajesh Sharma, Himanshu Prakash, Shafat Ahmad, Najeeb Hussain Nehvi, Jatinder Kumar Anand, Aijaz Ahmad Najar, Mohammad Amir Almansoor, Rohit Gupta, Anil Dev Jamwal, Syed Sareer Ahmad, Taimoor Jehangir Khan, Koushal Kumar Kotwal, Bandhana Jamwal, Abdul Rashid Mugloo, Syed Mushtaq Ahmad, Tahseem Bashir, Sajid Hussain Bhat, Romesh Chander, Mohammad Rafiq, Suhaib Ashraf Allaqaband, Zia ur Rehman Khan, Riaz Ahmad Dar, Sheikh Tanveer Rasool, Hilal Ahmad Bhat, Anju Gupta, Manmohit Sharma, Ajay Dogra, Rubina Akhter, Mohsin Hassan Khan, Rajeshwar Basotra, Jaswant Raj, Rafi Ahmad Mir, Khursheed Ahmad Setari, Fayaz Ahmad Shalbaf, Abdul Rashid Mir, Pankaj Sethi, Farooq Ahmad Shagoo, Kuldeep Kumar, Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, Zain ul Abdin Munshi, Shafqat Murtaza, Anshuman Dubey, Rakesh Sambyal, Prithipal Singh, Aijaz Ahmad Parvez, Manzoor Ahmad Mor, Iftikhar ul Hassan Malik, Gurjot Kour, Qazi Abid Ali, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Yogesh Bamba, Rajesh Kumar Khajuria, Reyaz Ahmad Bhat, Puja Nijhon, Rohini Manhas, Ravinder Paul Singh, Anil Saini, Jaipal Singh, Mohammad Wajhat Jamil, Mansoor Ahmad, Arvind Rothore, Riyaz Ahmad, Vikram Singh Parihar, Shahid Mustafa, Nawang Nurboo, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, Rajeev Thapa, Raj Kumar, Anoop Kumar, Joginder Lal, Ashwani Kumar, Riyaz Ahmad, Sunil Kumar, Tsering Phuntsog, Sarfaraz Ahmad, Raj Kumar II, Mohammad Syed, Mohammad Ajmal and Mohammad Shafi Baba.

Kashmir faces worst power crisis ahead of harsh winter

By

Daily Excelsior

-

November 4, 2020

Curtailment schedule will be out by next Sunday: PDD

Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Nov 3: Even as the Power Development Department (PDD) has not come up with any power schedule so far, the Kashmir Valley has started experiencing unscheduled power cuts with the onset of the winter season.
Residents across the Valley districts are complaining about undue and unscheduled power cuts in their areas and are stating that they have to face hardships due to the erratic power supply.
Not to speak of other districts, the district Srinagar is also experiencing erratic power supply in metered as well as in non-metered areas, giving residents a tough time.
“There is no set schedule being followed in Srinagar; they are resorting to power cuts as per their will. They have not notified anything so far due to which it has become difficult,” a resident from Srinagar said.
The people from Anantnag, Ganderbal, Baramulla, Budgam, and Pulwama also said that regular and long power cuts have become the order of the day in their respective areas.
The residents said if the situation is like this when the winter has not even begun yet, how it is going to be in the harsh winters that Kashmir experiences.
“This is just the beginning of the winter season and we are facing immense hardships, particularly the elderly. Harsh winters in Kashmir are nothing new, but it appears that we are going to face a lot this season,” Tanveer Ahmad, a resident of Srinagar told Excelsior.
Aijaz Ahmad, a resident of Dharmuna village in district Budgam said: “There is no electricity during the day and in the evening it plays hide and seek. We have never experienced such a bad power situation so far.”
However, on the other side, the PDD said that they are already giving out double the power against the agreement load in Kashmir with regard to the domestic use and that there is a need for public cooperation to mitigate the crisis.
“There is a need for public cooperation as we are giving around 1450 MWs of load against the agreement load of around 700 MWs for domestic use, which means that we are already pumping in double the power,” Chief Engineer, PDD Kashmir Aijaz Dar told Excelsior.
He also said that the department is working on framing a power schedule which should be out by next Sunday or Monday.
He said that the schedule will be implemented for two days on a trial basis. “We are working on forming the power schedule once that’s done then we will implement it for two days on a trial basis by next Sunday we will have a power schedule which will be made public,” he said.
Regarding frequent power shutdowns that are usually longer, he said that such shutdown, whenever needed are notified as we are strengthening the infrastructure.
“We are as of now, strengthening our transmission lines and grid stations. In coming days, there will be 2-3 more such notified shutdowns after that we will not allow any such thing to happen,” he said.

Army officer and his five men who saved three journalists and fell to LeT bullets

By

Daily Excelsior

-

November 4, 2020

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 3: It was just another working day in 1999 when LeT terrorists stormed into Major Pramod Purushottam’s room in a hail of gunfire, killing the Army officer and five members of his team in what was the first and only fidayeen attack at the fortified Badami Bagh Cantonment here.
Twenty-one years to the day, as the Army paid tribute to its six men today, there were many who doffed their hat to the bravery of the quick thinking officer – the Public Relations Officer (Defence) saved the lives of three Kashmiri journalists who had come to meet him that fateful evening by pushing them and a personnel into a washroom minutes before two armed Lashkar-e-Toiba men barged in.
“Having been engaged in a hand to hand fight with the terrorists, he and his colleagues made the supreme sacrifice of their lives while trying to save media persons,” a statement from the Army said.
The selfless act of bravery by the late officer and his team — Subedar Brahm Dass, Havaldar PK Maharana, Sepoys Choudhary Ramji Bhai, Md Raza-ul-Haque and C Radhakrishnan – was remembered at a solemn and poignant ceremony at the Cantonment.
Defence spokesperson Col Rajesh Kalia and his team paid floral tributes to the officer and others.
Additional Director General (Media and Communication) A Bharat Bhushan Babu also paid rich tributes to the brave soldiers who had made a supreme sacrifice in the line of duty.
“We will always draw inspiration from the heroic deeds of the bravehearts,” he said and called upon all ranks to always keep ‘Nation First’.
Purshottam, who was 39 years old, left behind his daughter and wife Valsa, who was in the nursing unit of the Army and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.
The Army, after 16 years, instituted an award recognising Purshottam’s presence of mind and supreme sacrifice. The award is given for best performance to one of the 30 Army Goodwill Schools run by the XV Corps in Kashmir Valley.
The six men breathed their last at the entrance of the high-security XV Corps headquarters.
Recapping the events of that terrible day, officials said Purushottam lived up to his name which translates to “highest being” in English. As the gunshots rang out one after another, the officer, without caring for his own safety, pushed the journalists and a colleague into the washroom attached to his office.
The terrorists entered, firing indiscriminately. By the time they left, Purushottam and five members of his staff lay dead. All three journalists cheated death, thanks to the squad of brave men.
Commissioned in the Army in June 1982, Purushottam, who had joined the Bihar regiment, had arrived in the Valley around 1997 when terrorism was at its peak.
Misinformation against the Army, engaged in counter-insurgency operations, was spreading fast due to involvement of terror sympathisers. Journalists credit Purushottam with helping build a rapport between the media and generals, and getting the Army viewpoint across to newspapers.

Repealing land laws is conspiracy to weaken statehood demand: JWAM

By

Daily Excelsior

-

November 4, 2020

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 3: Jammu West Assembly Movement (JWAM) has claimed that repealing eleven land laws in J&K is a conspiracy to weaken the statehood demand. In a press conference here today JWAM leader, Sunil Dimple said that changing of 11 lands laws is not acceptable to the people of J&K.
He told reporters that clarifications given by the Government spokesperson about new land laws was nothing but jugglery of bureaucratic words.
The JWAM leader said if there was some shortcoming in the already existing lands laws, same was required to be removed by necessary amendments but introduction of new land laws to allow outsiders to buy land in J&K is not acceptable.
He said Maharaja Hari Singh and other forefathers of J&K were great visionaries to debar outsiders to buy land in J&K so that identity of our people and their cultures are not invaded.
Dimple said the people of erstwhile J&K State never demanded amendment in the exiting land laws nor any political party, organisation or groups has ever raised any such demand.
He demanded details from the Government that how many outsiders have established their industrial units in J&K, how many have been allotted land but have not established their units, how many have run away after drawing benefits of various industrial policies, how many locals have been given employment by the outsiders in their industrial units etc.
He reiterated his demand of complete Statehood to J&K.

Moderate to high voting in 54 seats

By

Daily Excelsior

-

November 4, 2020

BHOPAL/LUCKNOW/AHMEDABAD, Nov 3:
Moderate to high polling was recorded today in by-elections to 54 Assembly constituencies in 10 states despite the shadow of COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 68 percent turnout in 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh where the results will decide the fate of the seven-month-old BJP Government.
Stray incidents of clashes between Congress and BJP workers were reported in MP and one person was injured in firing in Morena district, according to officials in the State.
Elsewhere, polling was by and large peaceful as voters, wearing masks and gloves, queued up at polling booths where election staff in personal protective equipment (PPE) suits assisted them during the first pan-India electoral exercise in the pandemic.
“The electoral exercise going on in the country is by far the largest exercise in the world amid the pandemic …The voter turnout in the first phase has been exceptionally good.
“The voter turnout has further continued and the confidence level has been much more in this phase,” EC Secretary General Umesh Sinha said. The bypolls coincided with the second phase of assembly elections in Bihar. Counting of votes will be held on November 10.
While Pungro-Kiphire seat in Nagaland saw the highest voting of 89.8 per cent, the turnout was the poorest in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Karnataka at 39.15 per cent, according to figures from officials of respective States.
In most of the other seats the polling figure was above 50 per cent.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders had urged the people to vote in large numbers.
UTTAR PRADESH
An average of over 53 per cent voters exercised their franchise in seven seats in Uttar Pradesh, where 88 candidates were in the fray, according to state election officials.
A total of 50.59 per cent votes were cast in Bangarmau , 52.10 per cent in Bulandshahr, 51.05 per cent in Deoria, 49.42 per cent in Ghatampur, 56.65 per cent in Malhani, 61.50 per cent in Naugaon Sadat and 54 per cent in Tundla, joint chief electoral officer,Ramesh Chand Rai said.
Six of these seven seats were held by the Bharatiya Janata Party, while the Malhani seat in Jaunpur district was with the Samajwadi Party.
“Everyone should exercise caution and discharge the duty of casting vote. Democracy will win, coronavirus will lose,” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted earlier in the day.
BJP candidate Sangeeta Chauhan for Naugaon Sadat seat in Amroha district alleged “fake” voting in her constituency and demanded that those wearing the burqa should remove the face cover to enable poll officials ascertain their identities.
The chief electoral officer told PTI that he would look into the allegations.
People at some places in Tundla constituency in Firozabad district boycotted the by-election, alleging there was no development in their area.
MADHYA PRADESH
On Tuesday, voters in 28 constituencies in MP decided the fate of not just 355 candidates, including 12 ministers, but also of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government which needs at least eight more MLAs for a simple majority in the Assembly.
Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia cast their ballots at a booth in Gwalior district.
As the voting progressed, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan reached the BJP office in Bhopal in the afternoon and held discussions with party leaders.
Former chief minister Kamal Nath and other senior Congress leaders, including Digvijaya Singh, monitored the polling from a control room set up at the state party office in the State capital.
In Morena district, Congress and BJP supporters clashed at the Jatavara polling booth and an unidentified person fired a bullet during the incident, Superintendent of Police Anurag Sujania said. “A person was injured,” the official said.
In Bhind, Collector Virendra Singh Rawat said they received a report about gunshots being fired near a booth in Sondha village under Mehgaon Assembly constituency. The report was being verified, Rawat said.
The Congress had sitting MLAs in 27 of the 28 seats going to the polls. Twenty-five resigned early this year and joined the BJP after a rebellion by Jyotiraditya Scindia, leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath Government.
They are now contesting as BJP candidates. In the three other seats, the by-election was necessitated following the deaths of the sitting legislators.
In Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, the saffron party is fielding 31 candidates who had won on a Congress ticket but switched sides and resigned, necessitating the bypolls.
GUJARAT
Bypolls to eight Assembly seats in Gujarat today witnessed 58.58 per cent voter turnout, officials said.
“Voting took place in a peaceful manner. No untoward incident took place. We have received 17 written complaints about various violations,” said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Gujarat S Murali Krishna.
Workers of ruling BJP and opposition Congress came to blows outside a polling booth in Gadhadha town over alleged bogus voting. The police separated the two groups.
Bypolls in the State are being held in these seats after Congress MLAs resigned ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in June. Five of them later joined the BJP and are contesting again.
HARYANA
Nearly 68 percent voters exercised their franchise in Baroda seat in Haryana which had recorded 69.43 per cent polling in the 2019 Assembly polls.
There were 14 candidates, including Olympian wrestler and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee Yogeshwar Dutt, in the fray for the seat, which has around 1.81 lakh registered voters.
Before casting his vote in the morning, Dutt offered prayers to Lord Hanuman at his village.
The seat had fallen vacant in April following the death of Krishan Hooda, who had won it consecutively thrice in 2009, 2014 and 2019 assembly polls.
KARNATAKA
Poor voter turnout was recorded in Rajarajeshwari Nagar bypoll in Karnataka at 39.15 percent, while 77.34 percent of voters exercised their franchise till 5 pm in Sira constituency.
The death of Sira JD(S) MLA B Satyanarayana in August and the resignation of RR Nagar Congress MLA Munirathna from the assembly last year led to the bypolls.
CHHATTISGARH
A high voter turnout of 77 percent was recorded in the bypoll to Marwahi Assembly constituency in Chhattisgarh.
Voters who had tested positive for COVID-19 were still in the premises of some polling stations to cast ballots even after the end of official voting time, he said.
The death of former Chief Minister and JCC(J) legislator Ajit Jogi necessitated the by-election in the seat.
TELANGANA
About 82 percent polling was recorded in Dubbak Assembly Constituency in Telangana.
The administration facilitated voting for COVID-19 patients from 5 PM to 6 PM and 11 such people exercised their franchise, sources said, adding 70 positive people had opted for postal ballot.
Earlier in the day, the Congress complained to the Election Commission and the state DGP about a social media post, made to appear like the news broadcast of a prominent TV channel, that Congress candidate in the Dubbak bypoll Cheruku Srinivas Reddy switched over to the ruling TRS.
Though 20 others are also in the fray, the main contest was among the candidates of the TRS, BJP and Congress.
JHARKHAND
Around 62.51 per cent of total 5.63 lakh voters cast their ballots in the by- elections to two assembly seats in Jharkhand.
The voter turnout was 65.27 per cent for Dumka reserved seat and 60.30 per cent for Bermo seat in Bokaro district, the Chief Electoral Officers office said. From morning electors were seen standing in queues in polling booths by maintaining social distancing. They were given masks, sanitiser and gloves, officials said.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s younger brother Basant Soren of the JMM is pitted against former cabinet minister Lois Marandi of the BJP in Dumka.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s home turf Dumka is seeing a contest between his younger brother Basant Soren and former cabinet minister Lois Marandi of the BJP.
ODISHA
Over 70 per cent of total 4.67 lakh voters exercised their franchise in by-elections to two assembly seats in Odisha.
Balasore seat recorded 71 per cent polling, while 69.9 per cent of voters in Tirtol constituency in Jagatsinghpur district cast their ballots during voting held from 7 AM to 6 PM.
The BJD and the BJP had won Tirtol and Balasore respectively in the 2019 assembly elections.
Two polling personnel were removed from a booth in Balasore following complaints about attempts to influence the voters, while police was looking into media reports about alleged distribution of money by a woman, also in Balasore, officials said
The voters with symptoms of COVID-19 and high body temperature were given a token to cast their votes at the end.
NAGALAND
A total of 84.41 per cent votes were cast in the 22 polling stations under Southern Angami-I constituency in Kohima district while Pungro-Kiphire segment which has 77 polling stations saw a turnout of 89.8 per cent in Nagaland.
There were complaints from both ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and opposition Naga Peoples Front (NPF) under Southern Angami-I seat but it didn’t disturb the polling, officials said.
In Pungro-Kiphire seat, polling in Singrep village was adjourned due to disturbance following a clash between supporters of two parties.
The Returning Officer and District Election Officer Kiphire have also submitted the report and a new date would be fixed for fresh poll, they said. (PTI)

HC dismisses Omar’s plea in matrimonial case

By

Daily Excelsior

-

November 4, 2020

NEW DELHI, Nov 3:
The Delhi High Court today dismissed former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s plea challenging its circular of April mandating that both parties in a case have to agree for the final hearing to be taken up early via video conferencing mode.
Omar had contended that his matrimonial appeal against a 2016 trial court order, which dismissed his divorce petition, has been listed for final hearing since February 2017.
It was not taken up during the restricted functioning of the courts in view of COVID-19 pandemic as his estranged wife, Payal Abdullah, did not give consent to virtual proceedings.
Due to the lack of cooperation by his estranged wife the matter was getting delayed, Abdullah contended.
A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad, however, declined to grant any relief saying lack of cooperation of his estranged wife was not a ground for challenging the High Court’s April 26 office order.
“Simply because the respondent 2 herein (Payal Abdullah) was not consenting to an early hearing, can hardly be a ground to assail the office order. The petition is dismissed as meritless,” the bench said.
Omar had moved an application seeking early hearing of his appeal in July.
The High Court had declined to entertain it saying that its Registrar General has already issued a circular stating that during the restricted functioning of courts due to COVID-19, a request for final hearing of pending matters will be entertained only if both the parties agree.
“In view of the fact that this application is not accompanied by any consent from the other side (Payal) and nor is the counsel for the respondent present in the hearing, though we are informed that an advance copy of the application was served on him, we are not in a position to accede to the prayer made in the application,” the High Court had said and dismissed the application.
On August 30, 2016, the trial court had dismissed Omar’s plea seeking divorce from Payal saying he had failed to prove irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.
The trial court had said that Omar could not prove his claims of “cruelty” or “desertion” which were the grounds alleged by him for grant of decree of divorce.
“The petitioner (Omar) has not been able to explain a single circumstance to show that the supervening circumstances have erupted which has made it impossible for him to continue his relationship with the respondent (Payal).
“Rather, evidence shows that they were in continuous contact till the filing of the divorce petition,” the trial court had said in its order, adding that “there is not an iota of evidence in regard to the circumstances which have prevailed to prompt the petitioner to file the divorce plea”.
It had further held that Omar “failed to prove his case for divorce on ground of cruelty”.
In his plea seeking divorce, Omar had claimed before the trial court that his marriage had broken down irretrievably and he has not enjoyed a conjugal relationship since 2007 and that the couple, married on September 1, 1994, were living separately since 2009. The couple have two sons who are staying with their mother.
The petition before the trial court had also alleged that Omar was subject to “unreasonable conduct” of Payal, causing pain and harassment to the politician. (PTI)

4 IGPs promoted as ADGPs

By

Daily Excelsior

-

November 4, 2020

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 3: The Government today ordered promotion of four Inspector Generals of Police (IGPs) as Additional Director Generals of Police (ADGPs).
They include Dr SD Singh Jamwal, Director Sher-i-Kashmir Police Academy and IGP Security, Satish Shirmaji Khandare, Head of Police in Union Territory of Ladakh, Rajesh Kumar, who is on Central deputation with CRPF and T Namgyal, IGP Traffic.
They are IPS officers of 1995 batch.
Their promotion will have effect from January 1, 2020.
Amit Kumar, DIG Central Kashmir and IPS officer of 2006 batch has been granted Super Time Scale with effect from January 1, 2020.
Four IPS officers of 2007 batch have been given Selection Grade of IPS with effect from January 1, 2020. They are Dr Sunil Gupta, who is on Central deputation, Sujit Kumar, DIG Udhampur-Reasi Range, Vivek Gupta, DIG Jammu-Kathua range and Mohammad Suleman Choudhary, DIG North Kashmir.
Two IPS officers of 2016 batch including Sheema Nabi Qasba and PD Nitya have been given Senior Time Scale of IPS with effect from January 1, 2020.
Excelsior had exclusively reported recently that the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) had cleared these promotions besides elevation of two ADGPs as DGPs, whose order of promotion has already been issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

Pedestrian injured in mishap

By

Daily Excelsior

-

November 4, 2020

Excelsior Correspondent
SAMBA, Nov 3: A pedestrian was injured after being hit by a truck at Vijaypur near Petrol Pump in district Samba today.
Giving details, a police officer said that the incident took place this afternoon at Jammu -Pathankot National Highway near Vijaypur Petrol Pump, when a truck bearing Registration Number PB65F- 6525 coming from Jammu side on reaching near Vijaypur Petrol Pump hit a pedestrian namely Bishan Dass, 50, son of Isher Dass resident of Nagrota. He got critically injured and some local people immediately brought him to Emergency Hospital Vijaypur for treatment where doctors gave him first aid and then referred him to Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) Jammu for further treatment.
In this regard, police has taken cognizance of the matter and started further investigations.

PAGD rejects Govt view on farmland

By

Daily Excelsior

-

November 4, 2020

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 3: The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) today rejected the Jammu and Kashmir Government’s assertion that the bulk of the agricultural land will not be transferred to people from outside the Union Territory.
The PAGD termed the earlier land laws of Jammu and Kashmir the most progressive, pro-people and pro-farmer in the entire Indian subcontinent.
“PAGD rejects the statement of official spokesman on 26th October MHA order as bizarre attempt to distort facts, weave lies and mislead people,” the seven-party alliance said in a statement.
It said the real object of the repeal of the basic land laws and the massive amendments to the other laws is to push in and implement the agenda of effecting “demographic change and disempowering” the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Jammu and Kashmir was the first in the country to implement the concept of land to tiller by enacting Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, 1952, followed by Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976, restricting the land holding to twelve and half acres and ending the exploitative practice of absentee landlordism, and whosoever calls it archaic, would be guilty of ignorance of the history of Jammu and Kashmir.
“It is because of the timely land reforms that no starvation deaths occur in Jammu and Kashmir, no farmer suicides have been ever reported from Jammu and Kashmir and everyone in Jammu and Kashmir has available three fundamental necessities – food, clothing and shelter, the position that is now sought to be reversed by making massive assault on the land law regime,” the statement added.
The PAGD asked how the Alienation of Land Act could be termed archaic when it prohibited transfer of land to a non-state subject thus protecting the interests of the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir and at the same time, made a provision for transfer of land by mortgage to organisations like Industrial Development Bank of India, Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India to keep pace with industrial development.
“The repeal of the Act now allows the land to be transferred to non-state subjects, denuding the residents of Jammu and Kashmir of their most precious rights. The claimed protection of rights in agricultural land, it is stated, is mere eyewash as the amendment introduced in Land Revenue Act provides for permission to sell the agricultural land almost at mere asking without difficulty.
“The abolition of Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, 1952 and amendments in Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976 is against farmers and to remove the ceiling on acquisition. The changes in Development Act and creation of ‘security zones’ to avoid adherence to the rules and regulations as regards construction activities in such zones and exclusion of oversight by expert bodies, environmental activists and civil society groups is bound to put at peril ecosystem in fragile environmental areas like Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg already under pressure beyond their carrying capacity,” the PAGD statement said.
The laws now introduced through amendments are not only “against people of Jammu and Kashmir” but “undemocratic, unconstitutional and backward looking with only aim to disempower people and change the demography,” it added.
The PAGD comprises the National Conference, the PDP, CPI(M), CPI, People’s Conference, Awami National Conference and the People’s Movement.