The condition of an irrigation canal in Samba district. -Excelsior/Gautam
SAMBA, July 26: The people in general and farmers in particular have expressed grave concern over the failure of irrigation authorities to clean the canals in Samba district which are in a very bad condition.
The people said the canals in whole of the district Samba are in very bad condition and unwanted grass has grown in them impeding the water supply to the fields. So the water of Ravi and Tawi canals could not reach to the tail end, they added.
Criticizing the authorities of Irrigation department, the farmers said the Department is not serious towards mitigate the problems of the farmers by ensuring proper water supply to the fields. Farmers also alleged that the department has failed to clean the canals timely. So the canals are damaged at many places.
The canals are in bad shape and they have been converted in to drainage nullahs posing health hazards. Farmers appeal to Department of Irrigation as well as the State Government to redress their problems as soon as possible. Farmers including Banarsi Lal Sharma, Ajay Kumar, Avtar Singh, Sain Dass, Parshotam Paul, Yash Paul Sharma, Surinder Kumar, Joginder Lal and Gopal Sharma have expressed the hope that Government will redress the problem.
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 26: Various KP organizations have strongly condemned the mob violence and pelting of stones on holy shrine of Mata Kheer Bhawani at Tulmulla in Ganderbal district of central Kashmir yesterday.
The Ardh Ratre Maha Raghneya Sewa Sansthan Trust, Kheer Bhawani Peeth, Bhawani Nagar Janipur in an emergency meeting while condemning the attack on globally famous Hindu Shrine Shakti Peeth of Mata Maha Ragheneya, Kheer Bhawani termed it a part of conspiracy.
The meeting said the unruly mob pelted stones towards the Shakti Peeth, shouted pro-Azadi slogans and threatened the devotees who were inside the Kheer Bhawani premises. They also used loud speakers of the adjacent mosque also and this continued up to this morning and the law maintaining agencies maintained complete silence over the issue.
The meeting said the Hindus in general and KPs in particular are deeply hurt by this unfortunate happening. The Trust while condemning the act has urged the Government to take a serious note of the same as it is not isolate incident but a part of a big game plan.
Zeashta Devi Prabandhak Committee, Zeathyar, Srinagar has also strongly condemned the attack on holy shrine of Mata Kheer Bhawani in Tulmulla and recent episode at world famous Sun temple at Mattan in Anantnag district.
The meeting said it appears to be an organized move to grab the KP shrines and their properties. The meeting urged the State Government to intervene and provide necessary security to all religious places of KPs so that the design of anti social elements is defeated.
Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC) while strongly condemned the attack termed it a part of big conspiracy. In a statement issued here today KPC chief Kundan Kashmiri demanded immediate suspension of SHO concerned and other policemen who instead of taking a miscreant to Police Station took him inside the shrine premises provoking the mob to attack the shrine by pelting stones on it.
Youth All India Kashmiri Samaj (YAIKS), has also strongly condemned the attack on Mata Kheer Bhawani shrine and demanded stern action against those elements who were responsible for the same.
YAIKS president, R K Bhat said the attack on world famous Hindu shrine deserves severest condemnation and it has exposed those elements who day in and day out are talking of highest tentacles of Kashmiriyat.
AMCCC president Desh Rattan has also strongly condemend the mob violence and attack on holy shrine. In his statement he demanded stern action against the police officer responsible for instigating mob to violence.
Stanzin Youthog posing alongwith Ram Khajuria, general secretary Mountaineering Association of J&K and others in Jammu.
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, July 26: Stanzin Youthog and Rinchen Dolma of J&K added another feather in their caps and brought laurels to the State when they successfully scaled the 6443 meters high Mt. Menthosa in Lahaul Spiti area of Himachal Pradesh.
Stanzin and Rinchen were part of a strong 11-member All India Women Mountaineering Expedition organized by Indian Mountaineering Foundation, New Delhi, the apex body for adventure sports in the country.
Led by Tine Mina of Arunachal, the first women from North East to scale Mount Everest, the team comprised of 11 climbers from seven States including Shanti Rai of Sikkim (Deputy Leader), Indu Bala of Haryana, Gun Bala of Karnataka, Muri Linggi of Arunachal Pradesh, G R Radhika of Telangana, Anushree of Delhi, Puja Jangam of Maharashtra, Amla Rawat of Uttrakhand besides the two J&K girls Youthog and Dolma.
The team was flagged off from Delhi on June 30, 2014, stayed at Manali for two days and reached the Base Camp after spending another night enroute at Urgos, a small Buddhist village at an altitude of about 10300 ft.
The base camp was established at 4260 m, a beautiful small grassy plain, next to a glacial stream. The loads were ferried to camp-1 (4780m) the very next day and the camp was occupied by Shanti Rai and Stanzin on July 8, 2014. Even camp-2 was established the next day at 5700 m after successfully negotiating a number of hidden crevasses and ice walls and steep climb in snow and ice which was quite dangerous. However, 10 climbers except Anushree, who stayed at the base camp as she was not well, occupied camp-2 at 4 pm on July, 10.
Encouraged by the fast and successful pace of the expedition, the members were in high spirits. They left for the summit along with 5 sherpas in three groups at 1.30 am. The progress was fine but just 600 m below the summit they were stopped by a huge crevasse which they found difficult to negotiate. However, Shanti Rai, the Dy. Leader led the way to cross the dangerous crevasse which encouraged other climbers and six of them including Stanzin, Rinchen, Muri, Indu Bala, Gun Bala and Radhika also successfully faced the last challenge.
Shanti was the first to reach the top of Mt. Menthosa at 11.20 am followed by Stanzin and others.
The jubilant climbers offered prayers and hoisted the national flag and then returned to the base camp.
The team set a record in Indian mountaineering history by summiting the peak in only six days from base camp to base camp.
It may be mentioned here that Stanzin Youthog and Rinchen Dolma are ace mountaineers of J&K. While Stanzin, a constable in J&K Armed Police, has to her credit the successful ascent of difficult Shivling peak and some other formidable peaks, Rinchen, a Physical Education teacher at Leh, has scaled Gorichen (688m) in Arunachal Pradesh, Kullu Pamori (6553m) in Himachal Pradesh and Chamser Kangri (6634m) in Ladakh.
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 26: Expressing their resentment on the erratic power supply, inhabitants of Muthi and adjoining areas today come on roads and held a massive protest demonstration against the Government and Power Development Department (PDD).
Large number of inhabitants including men, women, youth and kids sat on road and blocked the Jammu-Akhnoor highway for around half an hour. Besides this they were shouting slogans against the Government and the PDD authorities.
The protestors alleged that the electric transformer installed in their locality got damaged and till this evening, PDD failed to restore the power supply by installing new transformer, which forced them to come on roads.
They held PDD responsible for making the life miserable during the hot and humid weather conditions. They also held MLA Raipur-Domana Bharat Bhushan responsible for not redressing the grievances of the people including power, water, etc.
After getting the information of road blockade, police team from Domana police station led by SHO Jai Pal Sharma and PDD officials rushed to the spot and assured the installation of the new transformer at the earliest.
On the assurance, the protestors dispersed and vehicular movement was restored on the highway.
KATHMANDU, July 26:
Seeking to take bilateral ties to a “new level”, India and Nepal today held the first meeting of the Joint Commission after a gap of 23 years during which both sides decided to enhance cooperation in diverse areas including defence, security, trade and investment, water resources and border issues.
The Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Nepalese counterpart Mahendra Bahadur Pandey which largely agreed to further “reinvigorate” the relationship by stepping up engagement in new areas.
The meeting decided on setting up an Eminent Persons Group to identify new areas of cooperation and suggest measures to help both the countries seize all possible opportunities. Both the countries have agreed to the terms of reference for setting up of the group, government sources said.
The JCM also specifically deliberated on issues relating to defence and security and agreed to expand cooperation. The overall sense of the deliberation was that “security of both the countries was intertwined”.
Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and a number of top officials from Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Culture were among those who represented the Indian delegation.
The discussions in JCM were held in five clusters – political, security and border issues; economic co-operation and infrastructure; trade and transit; power and water resources; and culture, education and media.
Swaraj co-chaired the first cluster deliberation on political, security and border issues.
Before the Joint Commission Meeting, Swaraj had a separate meeting with Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pandey. At the outset, Pandey warmly greeted Swaraj and hoped that her visit will help in further cementing ties with the two countries.
Immediately after her arrival here yesterday, Swaraj had said Nepal stands high on the priority list of the Narendra Modi-led government and the testimony to it is her visit here within two months of assuming office of External Affairs Minister.
“The meeting for which I have come, you will be surprised to know, is taking place after 23 years. It reflects that for the new government, Nepal stands high on priority list.
“I have come here with lot of hopes and expectations and I think through the visit, India-Nepal relations will be further strengthened,” she said yesterday.
Swaraj’s trip is also to prepare the ground for a two-day official visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi next month.
Modi will arrive here on August 3, the first bilateral visit by an Indian premier to Nepal in over 17 years.
In 1997, then Prime Minister I K Gujral had visited Nepal.
Even though the JCM took place after a long period, India has 25 bilateral mechanisms with Nepal where both countries have been interacting on a regular basis.
At present the annual bilateral trade is approximately USD 4.7 billion and India accounts for 47 per cent of foreign direct investment in Nepal.
As close neighbours, India and Nepal share a unique relationship of friendship and cooperation characterised by open borders and deep-rooted people-to-people contacts. There are six million Nepalese workers in India. Annually three thousand Nepalese are provided scholarships by India.
There has been a long tradition of free movement of people across the borders. Nepal shares a border of over 1,850 kms to the south with five Indian states – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
External Affairs Minister in the previous UPA government S M Krishna had visited Nepal in January 2010 and again in April 2011. Then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had visited Nepal in November 2011.
The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 is the bedrock of the special relations that exist between India and Nepal.
Under the provisions of the treaty, Nepalese citizen have enjoyed unparalleled advantages in India, availing the facilities and opportunities on par with Indian citizens.
The treaty enabled Nepal to overcome the disadvantages of being a landlocked country. Overtime, many regimes in Nepal have raised the issue of revision of the treaty. India has maintained that it is willing to examine all bilateral arrangements with a view to further strengthening relations.
India contributes to the development efforts of Nepal by undertaking various projects in the areas of infrastructure, health, rural and community development and education.
India continues to be Nepal’s largest trade partner, source of foreign investment and tourist arrivals. Bilateral trade between India and Nepal has increased substantially since the signing of the Trade Treaty in 1996 and received further impetus after the signing of the revised trade treaty in 2009 which has provisions that allow Nepal greater access to the Indian market.
There is vast potential for cooperation between India and Nepal in the field of water resources. Nepal has 43,000 MWs hydropower potential. Both countries have recognised that they can enhance cooperation to exploit the hydropower potential. (PTI)
The officers of White Knight Corps along with 30 economically poor students posing for photograph on Saturday.
JAMMU, July 26: The White Knight Corps of the Army has moved in by taking the noble venture of providing scholarship to capable children under it wings and the proposal accordingly had the cabinet approval and an amount of Rs 1200 crore was earmarked for the same.
Delta Force of the Army White Knight Corps which has remained on the forefront to engage youth through various Initiatives like giving wide publicity to various skill development schemes of Central Government like Project Himayat and Project Udaan, took the initiative to educate the youth about the benefits of this scheme. The Force also recently coordinated with corporates under their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mandate for establishing of Chenab Super 30 vide which 30 bright yet economically poor students will be provided with 11 months free residential coaching at Jammu for preparing them to crack the tough Entrance Exam of IIT-JEE and other reputed Engineering Institutes.
This is a unique and very potent venture which will empower the youth of the society in times to come. In a simple ceremony recently, the selected 30 students interacted with Lt Gen KH Singh, General Officer Commanding, White Knight Corps, who exhorted all students to make the best of this opportunity by dedicating themselves in preparing for cracking the tough IIT Entrance Exam.
He thanked Centre for Social Responsibility & Leadership (CSRL) for taking the noble initiative of empowering the youth of the region. Abhyananad, DGP of Bihar and mentor of Super 30 programme and S K Shahi, Director, CSRL were present during the ceremony.
JAMMU, July 26: A 6-day art integrated learning programme for promoting experiential learning by ensuring 100 percent participation of every child concluded today at SIE Jammu.
The programme was first of its kind organized by the team of experts from the Department of Education in Arts and Aesthetics NCERT New Delhi in collaboration with SIE Jammu.
A total of 50 participants from different districts of Jammu division attended this programme with great zeal and enthusiasm.
Director School Education Jammu/Principal, SIE Jammu, H R Pakhroo was the chief guest on this occasion who highlighted the importance of art learning and its integration with teaching and learning process.
He stressed on the need of implementing the same initially in the adopted schools by the DIETs in all the districts of Jammu division at elementary level.
He directed the master trainers trained by NCERT and SIE during the workshop to take the lead of training teachers of adopted schools and thereafter will continue the hand holding with the concerned schools for enhancing achievement level.
The team of experts from NCRET New Delhi comprising Dr Pawan Sudhir HOD, the Department of Education in Arts and Asthetics, Santosh Kumar Rana Assistant Professor ky resource persons for the training programme.
The team leader from NCERT Dr Pawan Sudhir stressed upon the need of integrated cultural heritage of Jammu with elementary education for conserving age old traditions and values in our young generations and bringing quality primary education with the participation of the community.
The NCERT team members provided training on art integrated education by including various methods and techniques like clay modeling, mask making, theatrical performances, music dance, songs, puppetry, audio-visual clip etc.
Rajinder Kumar and Archaana Bakshi, Research Officers SIE Jammu acted as Coordinator and Associate Coordinator.
Besides this Anil Sharma, Dr Rabia Naseem, Tapsya Sharma, Suresh Gouria and Akash Khajuria provided logistic support for the successful completion of the programme.
Dental surgeons examining passers-by during free dental checkup camp at Jammu on Saturday.
JAMMU, July 26: Unemployed dental surgeons today organised a free dental check up camp outside Government Dental Hospital to lodge their protest against the Government’s callousness towards them.
The unemployed dental surgeons assembled outside Government Dental Hospital at Ambphalla Chowk and held a free dental check up camp. Dental surgeons examined the passerby.
Meanwhile, the female dental surgeons under the banner of Dental Surgeons Association (DSA) continued their chain hunger strike for the 14th consecutive day, whereas the dharna by the association entered 26th day here today.
Continuing the chain hunger strike, Dr Neha Pathania was sitting on fast to carry forward the movement of the association.
Chairman of the association Dr Pawan Singh Jasrotia informed that to highlight the irresponsible attitude of the Government towards the Dentistry, a free dental check up was conducted for the by-passers in front of Government Dental Hospital, Jammu, so as to aware the common masses regarding oral health, pathetic and oppressed condition of unemployed dental surgeons in J&K.
He stated that 74 patients were checked in three hours which shows that there is need of oral health care in the society.
NC-Congress Coalition Government is least bothered about oral health care in the State and is making the general masses of the state fool by its false claims regarding improvement in health sector, he alleged.
Dr Jasrotia further informed that if their demands including complete absorption of unemployed dental youth, recruitment of dental surgeons on yearly basis and establishment of separate directorate for dental health in the State were not conceded, the association will protest aggressively in the days to come and will gherao Civil Secretariat at Srinagar.
He also appealed everyone to come forward and join their protest on humanitarian grounds, adding that their protest will continue till their demands are redressed.
Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, July 26: People from Kallar village and adjoining areas, held strong protest demonstration against the PDD authorities and suspended movement of traffic on Jammu-Poonch highway for about an hour.
Reports said people from Kallar village today came out on the road at round 11 am and raised barricades. They started demonstration against PDD authorities for imposing long power cuts and disrupted movement of traffic. They were shouting slogans against the local authorities. The traffic remained suspended on the busty highway.
Later, SHO Rajouri reached the spot and pacified the agitating public. The people then lifted dharna and allowed movement of traffic.
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 26: A man, who was missing for the past over three days, was found dead in a canal in Khour area of Tehsil Akhnoor.
As per police sources, body of 42-year-old Joginder Lal, son of Chattu Ram of Camp Khour was found from canal in Khour. The man was missing from his residence since July 24.
On getting information, police team from Khour Police Station led by Inspector Surinder Raina under the supervision of SDPO Farooq Qaiser rushed to the spot and shifted the body to hospital, where after conducting legal formalities, the body was handed over to family members for last rites.
Khour police has taken cognizance in this regard.
