Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 7: Terming as “white lies” the Government’s claim of performance in multiple sectors, CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami today said the dispensation has done negligible work in vital sectors concerning the masses.
“The tall claims of the State Government are only white lies. The fact is that the dispensation has done negligible work in the vital sectors concerning the masses,” Tarigami, who is also Awami Mutahida Mahaz convenor,told reporters here.
“As the year 2013 came to an end and the present Government completed its five years, it came out with tall claims of great performance which were mere advertisements,” he said.
An objective analysis of these claims indicated that the Government’s performance to better the life of people was dismal, he said.
“The administration is so weak, ill-prepared and insensitive that even a few inches of snow puts the whole life in Kashmir and other areas of the State out of gear, deflating the plump claims of the Government,” Tarigami said.
He said despite the formation of various commissions and organisations, the Government had failed to curb corruption in the State or take any concrete measure which could at least minimise the menace.
“Transparency and accountability is seen nowhere. Malpractices, favouritism and delayed justice have become rampant and gained administrative sanction,” he said.
Tarigami alleged that human rights violations, police high-handedness and indiscreet use of force against people protesting for their genuine demands continue unabated.
Investigations of human rights violations are either pending or remain unimplemented, making a mockery of the Government’s promises and actions, he said.
Tarigami said the performances of Women’s Commission and Corporation had been next to zero.
The much-talked about Panchayati Raj is still in doldrums, he said.
The problem of unemployment has not been addressed in a wholesome way and posts and positions in the Government sector mostly remained unfilled to date, he said.
The recruiting agencies are ill-equipped, lack transparency and work in such a lethargic and incompetent way that courts have to interfere, with the result that recruitments of a few posts takes years together, he alleged.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 7: Prem Nath Bhat Memorial Trust, (PNBMT) spearheading the struggle of the Hindus of Kashmir for the passage of the Shrines and Temples Bill, has expressed hope that the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah would keep his latest promise to enact the bill providing for the establishment of Shrine Board for maintenance and management of the temples and shrines in Kashmir.
In a statement issued after the meeting of the Trust, its chief spokesperson, Dr R L Bhat acknowledged the fact that NC had taken a lead in presenting the Bill in the Assembly, but regretted that despite repeated assurances the Bill was still pending, four years after its introduction in the Legislative Assembly.
He said despite the element of ambiguity carried in the promise of the CM, the people wanted to believe that the CM was sincere and would get his government to pass the Bill in the coming session.
The meeting was held at Patoli, to take stock of the recent developments and was attended among others by Dr A N Pandita, Dr R L Bhat, Dr M K Bharat, S L Koul, P N Razdan, B L Saraf, H L Bhat, Virinder Raina, Kamal Pandita, M K Raina, Rajinderji Sharma, Jai Kumar, Manmohanji Thaplo, Kashmiri Lal.
The speakers were satisfied at the efforts of the Trust, which made it clear to all that there was absolute consensus among the Hindus of Kashmir regarding the demand for the enactment of the Temples and Shrines Bill. With active cooperation of all organizations of the community, the Trust had made the Bill a central issue,
Pointing to the Bill as the biggest CBM, the speakers at the meeting said that it was a test for the government as well as the other mainstream parties of the state to indicate that they were ready to consider the sensitivities and concerns of the displaced community of Kashmir.

Excelsior Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Jan 7:  Two persons were injured in separate road accidents at Flata and Rehmbal area here today.
A police spokesman said that   one Mohd Aslam, son of  Mohd Sadiq  of Falata village was seriously injured after he was hit by a Maruti car No. JK02S/686  on National Highway. Tikri police registered a case in this connection. The injured was shifted to  District Hospital.
One person was injured when two cars collided  near Chopra Shop, Rehmbal here today. The victim identified as Shalender Kumar, son of Prem Kumar  of Udhampur has been shifted to district hospital. The police has taken cognizance.

Excelsior Correspondent

DODA, Jan 7: All J&K National Trade Front and ITI trained plumbers held a meeting here under the chairmanship of its district president Abdul Hafiz Dar.
In the meeting, office bearers from Doda, Bhaderwah and Bhagwah participated and expressed their views on various problems being faced by them.
The demands included release of pending salary of six months, regularization of left out CP workers, daily rated workers and need base workers.
Among others present were Barkat Ali, vice president of the front, Romesh Kumar, Mohammad Saleem, Mohammad Ashfaq, Tanveer Ahmed and Shamsher Singh.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 7: Principal Sessions Judge Kathua, A K Koul has acquitted Babu Ram, son of Massu Ram, who was facing trial in murder case, as prosecution miserably failed to prove the case.
According to the police case, on May 6, 2010, a source report was received in Police Post Ramkote that somebody had killed Reeta Devi and her dead body was lying in her house. This information led to registration of case under Section 302 RPC.
During the course of investigation, the accused and his juvenile daughter Sapna Devi were interrogated. Both of them made disclosure statements about the weapons of offence and a wooden handle of an axe and a rolling pin (Belan) were recovered at their instance. The oral and documentary evidence collected during investigation revealed the complicity of accused Babu Ram, his wife Geeto Devi and his juvenile daughter Sapna Devi.
Juvenile offender is facing trial separately and Geeto Devi, wife of accused Babu Ram, is said to have committed suicide.
While acquitting the accused person from the charges, Principal Sessions Judge Kathua observed, “the disclosure statements and recoveries cannot said to have been proved simply on the basis of statement of Investigating Officer when there are glaring inconsistencies and material deficiencies in the case”.
“The prosecution has failed to establish a doubt free nexus between the accused and the guilt. The only conclusion that comes to the fore is that the prosecution has failed to bring home the guilt against the accused. There are so many infirmities in the prosecution case and that apart the evidence is miserably short of connecting the accused with the guilt”, the court said.
With these observations, Court acquitted the accused.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 7: Samooh Theatre held a day long workshop on “Haran Dance” at village Allora, Mandal Phallan in Marh block, wherein the folk artists were imparted a basic training by the professional artists of the State.
“Haran” is common folk dance performed during Lohri festival around Makkar Sakranti in the hilly tracts of the Jammu region.
In the “Haran” dance, the participants put on mask of the dear on their face and dance in a circle rendering certain folk rhymes.
This dance forms in the blend of dance and drama unlike kudd, chajja and phummi dance.
The participants artists improvise various scenes  depicting the social, political and religious hypocrisy and put satire on many ills prevailing in the society in order to bring them in the right track with the aim to make a healthy society.
The artist were aware about the laya, taal, pitch, volume, pace use of space, spontaneity of dialogues on time and space, gesture, pasture, speech, pattern, in drama. The differences between Nritt, nritya, abhinaya were also defined by the experts. Besides, imparting various exercises in order to develop the dance skills with the practice of rhythm and laya to make the performance vibrant and professional. The emphasis was put on included arms, hands, wrists, neck, and eyebrow etc.
The participants included Mohan Lal, Shiv Darshan, Garu Ram, Chander Mohan, Shiv Kumar, Sanju, Rahul, Vickey, and M lal of the Grahmin Lokh Manch, Alora.
Dr Sudhir Mahajan and Ravinder Sharma were the experts of the workshop, while Satish Lalotra a renowned rhythmist conducted the classes of rhythm and highlighted role and importance of rhythm in the folk dance Haran.

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Jan 7: Four girl students hailing from J&K and studying at Aryans Group of Colleges, Chandigarh developed “Aryans Android Application”, which will make college campus paper-free.
Aryans students hailing from J&K namely Rumaisa, Zeenat, Sadiya and Yusra under the leadership of Manpreet Mann, HOD, Projects, Aryans Group have developed this App which can be downloaded from Google Playstore and installed in an Android phone.
The students took technical support also for developing this application.
This information was given by these students during a press conference held today at Aryan Colleges Office here at Parraypora.
The students said that the Android Application with the name of ‘Aryans’ will be having two logins intended for students and staff. The outsiders need not to login as they can simply have a view of the details of the College, they informed.
Notices intended for the students belonging to the college will be uploaded in Students Login and the official notices for the staff will be uploaded in the Staff Login, they said, adding that this will bring down the use of paper in the college campus.
They further informed that the outsiders will be able to see all the necessary information about Aryans Group of Colleges and the updates about the events happening at the college.
The students said that the language of the application is Core Java and the software used in Eclipse. The Application Size is 2.2 MB and the Current Version is 1.0. It requires Android 2.3 and up, they added.
Dr Anshu Kataria, Chairman, Aryans Group of Colleges said that to encourage the students, the college has decided to sanction an amount of Rs 1 Lakh for any other Project. Dr Kataria also announced free books for next semester to the girls who developed this application.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 7: Gurman Singh, son of Anand Singh of Rajpur Bhatta, tehsil Nowshera, District Rajouri, who is working as research scholar in HNB Ghagwal Central University has been conferred with Young Scientist Award in Zoology by Uttrakhand State Council for Science and Technology.
The award was presented to Gurman Singh by Minister for Science and Technology Uttrakhand.
He has been given award for working on the fish diversity and their conservation and management in Upper Ganga River System.