All J&K Guru Ravi Dass Sabha president, Vijay Lochan addressing a press conference in Jammu. —Excelsior/Rakesh
JAMMU, Feb 7: All J&K Guru Ravi Dass Sabha will celebrate 637th birthday of Guru Ravi Dass ji Maharaj at Sabha Bhawan Krishna Nagar here on February 14.
Addressing a press conference here today, Vijay Lochan president of the Sabha said that a grand function will be organised at the Temple of Guru Ravi Dassji at Krishna Nagar on February 14. The proramme will commence with Gurvani Path at 10 am, followed by Bhajan Kirtan and Guru ka Langar. The religious, political and social leaders will pay tributes to the Guruji on the occasion and address the gathering.
Mr Lochan further disclosed that grand Shobha Yatra wil be taken out on February 12 under the aegis of Shri Shri 108 Swami Gurdeep Giri Ji which will start from Kshishna Nagar Temple at 11 am and after passing through various markets and Bazaars of the city, culminate at Guru Ravi Dass ji Temple, Bahu Fort. He appealed the people to participate in the programme in large number.
Sham Lal Basson, Simar Dass, Mohal Lal Hans, Sham Sunder Basson, Mulakh Raj, Ajit Thappa, C L Banal, Kesar Singh and SP Gorkha were also present.
Excelsior Correspondent
UDHAMPUR, Feb 7: To highlight their demands, especially the enhancement of their salary at par with Punjab Home Guards, a meeting All Jammu and Kashmir Home Guard Association was held here today under the leadership of district president Dharm Singh.
Addressing the meeting, Dharm Singh said that the Punjab Government has been paying better salaries to the jawans of Home Guard whereas the J&K State Home Guard were e being paid only Rs 545 per month.
He appealed to all the political leaders to render their support to these deserving J&K Home Guards.
Those who attended the meeting, included Anil Sharma, Des Raj, Kashmir Singh, Anita Devi, Rekha Devi, Raj Kumar, Rajender Kumar Jamath Ali, Anlna Banoo and others.
Bangalore, Feb 7: Under-19 India captain Vijay Zol today said his team was not under pressure against Pakistan in the World Cup opener as they had beaten the arch-rivals twice in the recently-concluded U-19 ACC Asia Cup.
“Match against Pakistan is a different ball game, but we are in a good position. We have beaten them twice. The league match in Asia Cup was exciting and was anybody’s game, but we beat them convincingly in the final,” Zol told reporters here on the eve of their tour to Abu Dhabi to play U-19 World Cup.
India, the three-time champions (2000, 2008 and 2012), have been clubbed with Pakistan, Scotland and Papua New Guinea in Group A. They will open their campaign against Pakistan on February 15 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Talking about adaptability, Zol said the team had never played in Abu Dhabi but was confident of adjusting to the playing conditions.
“We have played in Sharjah and Dubai, but not in Abu Dhabi. We need to adjust a bit in UAE and we are confident of doing it. It is a batting friendly pitch,” he said.
Zol insisted that his team has been successfully getting acclimatised to the conditions it was evident from their victories on bouncier tracks in Australia.
“We adjusted well on Australian wickets, which had better bounce. We did well winning all the matches,” he said.
The 15-member squad will be leaving for Abu Dhabi tomorrow in their quest to defend the U-19 World Cup title under Zol’s captaincy, who recently led India to junior Asia Cup victory.
The ICC U-19 World Cup will be held in the United Arab Emirates from February 14 to March 1. (PTI)
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 7: A meeting of Congress workers of Bishnah Assembly segment was held today at village Chak Chimanay to discuss the problems being faced by the people of this segment.
The meeting highlighted the issues such as bad condition of roads, lanes, delay in completion of developmental works and irregular supply of ration in the Government depots.
The participants appealed the Government to take note of grievances of the Bishnah people and ensure timely completion of developmental works.
The meeting was organized by Congress leader Kirpal Singh Jamwal while JKPCC member Ashwani Puri was the chief guest on the occasion.
Those who attended the meeting, included Choudhary Bhan Singh, Thakur Devi Singh, Amar Nath, Balbir Saini, Behari Lal, Deepak Sambyal and others.
Finance Minister A R Rather having a look at science model during valedictory function of Children Science Congress on Friday.
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 7: 101st Indian Science Congress at Jammu University concluded today with presenting of Young Scientist Awards and Best Poster Awards for the year 2013-14 by the chief guest Vice-President Hamid Ansari during the valedictory function.
The Young Scientist Awards were given to Kutubuddin Ali Molla of University of Calcutta, Prerna Bhasin of University of Delhi, Rimjhim Bhatnagar Singh of Space Applications Centre ISRO, Divya Pandey of Banaras Hindu University, Malay Bhattacharyya of University of Kalyani, Dr Rohti R Shahi of Banaras Hindu University, R Vishnu Vardhan of Pondicherry University, Binapani Mahaling of IIT Kanpur, vishal Acharya of CSIR-IHBT Palampur and Mohit Kumar Sharma of Jiwaji University Gwalior.
The Best Poster Awards were given to Geeta Sharma of Jammu University and Anuja Koul in Plan Science section, Rajendra Lakpale of Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur in Agriculture and Forestry Science section, Vijeta Choudhary of Delhi University and Gourav K Rai of Banaras Hindu University in Anthropological and Behavioural Science section, Dibakar Chandra Deka of Guwahati University and Shah Raj Ali of Kumaun university in Chemical Sciences section, Boopathy D of Bharathiar University Coimbatore in I&C Science &Technology section, Rakesh K Tripathi of Government Holkar Science College, Indore and Reena Kumari of Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad in Mathematical Sciences section, Susmita Sil of University of Calcutta in Medical Sciences and Anand Kumar Srivastava of Birla Institute of Technology, Jaipur in Physical Sciences.
On the occasion, the new General President of All India Science Congress S B Nimse announced that the 102nd India Science Congress would be held at University of Mumbai from January 3 to 7, 2015.
Governor N N Vohra, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Union Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah, JU Vice-Chancellor Prof M P S Ishar and the General Secretary of Indian Science Congress, Prof R C Sobti were also on the dais.
In his address, Governor N N Vohra complemented Prof Sobti, Prof Mohan Pal Singh Ishar, and others in their team for successful hosting of the mega event.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also expressed his satisfaction over successful conduct of the event and hope that the next Indian Science Congress would not take another 100 years to travel to J&K but at least within his life time.
While referring about the intermittent rains for the last five days, Mr Omar termed the same as good omen and said in a lighter vein that had there been clear weather, people would have described the raising of make-shift waterproof canopy as sheer wastage of money.
Earlier, valedictory session of the Children Science Congress was also held wherein Minister of Finance, A R Rather was the chief guest.
Mr Rather congratulated Jammu University for making the event a huge success and maintaining the true spirit of Children Science Congress across sessions. He stressed upon the importance of inculcating scientific temperament and scientific research amongst the children of young age so that they can contribute to the society.
About 200 young child scientists from various states of the country took part in the event and displayed their science projects. Also, 3,000 students from different parts of country enthusiastically came to have a view of the science projects being displayed and enhance their knowledge.
The Women Science Congress and Science exhibition, India Vision 2020-Mega Expo also concluded today.
Triumphant judokas posing alongwith the chief guest Ranjeet Kalra and other dignitaries during a felicitation function on Friday.
Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Feb 7: Representing Jammu and Kashmir State, the School for Hearing Handicapped J&K Samaj Kalyan Kendra, Jammu, under the banner of J&K Blind and Para Judo Association won overall trophy in the 2nd Deaf National Judo Championship 2013-14, organized by the Blind and Para Judo Federation of India at Bal Bhawan in New Delhi.
17-member Jammu and Kashmir team, accompanied by Satyajeet Singh and Meenakshi Sharma as coach and manager respectively, bagged 14 medals, with 8 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze to clinch overall Championship, while Uttar Pradesh emerged runners-up in this Championship.
The team was honoured by Samaj Kalyan Kendra in an impressive and well attended function, which was graced by the presence of the chief guest Ranjeet Kalra, member BCCI and J&K State Sports Council, besides Inderjeet Khajuria, ML Sharma, Krishan Singh Jamwal, RC Thakur and judo coaches Suraj Bhan Singh and Ritika Slathia.
The gold medal winners included Nayaz Ali, Vishal Khajuria, Shubham Kumar, Chetan, Abhishek Gupta, Vivek Singh, Nidhi Sharma and Rakshinda Dar, while the silver medals were bagged by Nabeel Ahmed Dar, Rohit Kumar and Rukaya Bano and the bronze medals went to Vijay Kumar, Vakesh Kumar and Rohan Kumar.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kalra lauded the efforts of the judokas and their coaches Suraj Bhan Singh and Ritika Slathia for this landmark achievement.
NEW DELHI, Feb 7: The Centre has allocated foodgrain to 10 states under the National Food Security Act as these states have started its implementation, Parliament was informed today.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Food Minister K V Thomas said: “Foodgrain under the Act has been allocated so far to 10 states/UTs as per the progress in identification of beneficiaries reported by them.”
Haryana was the first state which started implementation of food security plan in September last year. Rajasthan, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh followed Haryana in October while Punjab started the programme in December.
Karnataka and Chhattisgarh started it in January this year, while Uttrakhand, Maharashtra and Chandigarh began the plan in February.
“Rest of states are at different levels of preparedness to implement the Act. These states are being persuaded to complete identification of households and other preparatory work within the stipulated time and begin implementation of the Act,” the Minister said.
In September last year, Parliament passed the food law to give 67 per cent of the population the right to subsidised foodgrains.
National Food Security Act entitles 82 crore people to 5 kg of foodgrains per person a month at Rs 1-3 per kg. The country needs 62 million tonnes foodgrains in a year to implement the law.
Each eligible person would get 5 kg of foodgrain a month at Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Re 1 per kg for coarse cereals through the State Government under the PDS. (PTI)
NEW DELHI, Feb 7: Senior IPS officer Archana Ramasundaram was today appointed Additional Director in the CBI, the first woman to be elevated to this level in the investigation agency.
It was home coming for Ramasundaram, a 1980 batch officer from Tamil Nadu cadre, who had served in the agency as Deputy Inspector General and later as its first woman Joint Director and handled various cases pertaining to Economic Offences between 1999 and 2006.
Her name was strongly recommended by CBI Director Ranjit Sinha to the Department of Personnel, which oversees the functioning of the agency.
During her earlier tenure, Ramasundaram, who is at present posted as Director General in the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Service Recruitment Board, investigated Telgi stamp scam case besides other economic offence cases.
Ramasundaram’s name was cleared by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
After her return to the state in 2006, Ramasundaram, who has a tenure till October 2017, was made Additional Director General of Police.
She served in Economic Offences Wing, Administration and later in the CID. She was promoted to the rank of Director General in November 2012 and posted as the Chairperson of Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services’ Recruitment Board.
During her tenure in Tamil Nadu CID, she along with her team had complied a book of important cases investigated by the department for 104 years from 1906 to 2010. (PTI)
HYDERABAD, Feb 7: The new generation electronic passport, which aims to secure the data and curb the menace of fake passports, is likely to be introduced by next year, a senior government official said here today.
“A Task Force has been set up to look into the e-passport project, which has held deliberations with different stakeholders (departments). We are planning to start issuing e-passports to new applicants by next year,” Joint Secretary (Passport Seva Project) and Chief Passport Officer Muktesh K Pardeshi told reporters here.
The e-passport will replace the existing passport document with a plastic card embedded with an electronic chip containing all the details of the passport holder, including biometric information, besides a digital signature of a passport officer, he explained.
“In 2013, the Government of India has issued close to 85 lakh passports and other related documents globally and recorded a growth of 14-15 per cent over 2012 (wherein 73.6 lakh passports were issued). Going by this trend, we are expecting to cross the one-crore mark in issuance of passports annually by the end of 2014 calendar year or by early 2015,” the Chief Passport Officer said.
“It’s also a great opportunity for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to extend one crore citizen service every year. With one crore passports being issued in a year, we will be in a group of handful of countries, with only two countries China and US which are issuing over one crore passports every year,” Pardeshi said.
Stating that it would be a great responsibility and opportunity as well as challenge for the passport officials, he said, “We have to scale up and expand our services and have to bring in more efficiency within our passport officials and we always have to be innovative.”
Regional Passport Officer (RPO) K Srikar Reddy said the trial for hand-held devices (palm-top computers) for police constables, enabling online police verification at citizens’ doorstep is presently on in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh and now it is contemplated to start it on a pilot basis under Cyberabad Police Commissionerate here and later to other parts of the state and country.
Hyderabad tops the list of RPOs in terms of the number of applications processed and services rendered at 6.4 lakh and 6.3 lakh, respectively, with 8.9 per cent of total passport services in the country, Reddy said.
He added that Visakhapatnam, with 11 days, tops the list of RPOs on time taken in police verification.
Country’s second Passport Seva Laghu Kendras (Mini PSKs) will be inaugurated tomorrow in Karimnagar district, he said. (PTI)
NEW DELHI, Feb 7: Uncertainty looms large over Commerce Minister Anand Sharma’s visit to Pakistan next week as the neighbouring country is yet to resolve issues raised by India.
“The minister’s visit is subject to Pakistan agreeing to implement the three main proposals agreed on by the two countries to boost the bilateral trade,” a ministry official said.
The Commerce Secretary in January-end had written a letter to his Pakistani counterpart demanding expeditious implementation of the agreed issues.
The three main agreed proposals are allowing trade of all goods through Wagah-Attari border, dismantling of the negative list of 1,209 items and bringing down the sensitive list of items to 100 under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) over a period of five years.
At present, only 137 items can be traded through Attari- Wagah land border. Pakistan had already missed the deadline to eliminate the negative list. Dismantling of the list would automatically lead to grant of Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) to India, though India for long has insisted on Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status.
As per the schedule of Sharma’s Pakistan visit, the Minister is expected to inaugurate the ‘India Show’ in Lahore on February 14 and participate in bilateral meetings the next day In Islamabad. The schedule is, however, not yet finalised.
The official said that all these issues were discussed and agreed on during Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir Khan’s India visit recently.
“We are awaiting the response of our letter from Pakistan. Indian minister’s visit will only fructify if we get a positive indication that something is happening in Pakistan,” the official said, adding, “If Pakistan wants some more time, they should communicate that to India”.
Under SAFTA, India has also agreed to reduce its senitive list of items to 100 from 614 in one year.
The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 2.6 billion in 2012-13.
India’s main exports to Pakistan include sugar, man-made filaments and chemicals, while its imports comprise mineral fuels, among others. (PTI)
