Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: Ace judoka Shikha Bhau, daughter of Sukhdev Singh, a student of Regional Coaching Centre, MA Stadium, Jammu sparkled in the Junior National Judo Championship, winning silver medal in the below 56 kg category.
The Championship was held at Gurgaon in Haryana from February 22 to February 25, 2013.
The 19-member J&K team was accompanied by judo coaches Suraj Bhan Singh and Ritika Slathia as coach and manager respectively.
It is pertinent to mention here that Shikha Bhau has lots of medals at the national and international scene.
Judoka Shikha shines
Police dedicates Club to Doda youth
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
DODA, Feb 26: District Police Doda dedicated the newly established Youth Club in the premises of Police Station Doda to the youth of the district, here.
The Club is having almost all the facilities which included library, recreation centre, internet café and TT table.
According to an official handout issued here, the canteen facility is also being provided shortly adjacent to the Club, which possesses full kits of volleyball and cricket.
SP Doda Mohd Arif Rishu inaugurated the Club and dedicated it to the youth of Doda in an impressive and well attended function.
Speaking on the occasion, SP Doda exhorted upon the youth to fully utilize the services provided by Jammu and Kashmir Police and urged upon them to shun the social evils and help the District police in maintaining peace and harmony.
Members of Youth Club and Civil Society also spoke on the occasion.
DySP Headquarters Doda, Ajaz Zargar and SHO Doda Sajjad Haider were also present on the occasion.
170 people killed in last six months in Naxal violence: Govt
NEW DELHI, Feb 26:
A total of 170 people have been killed in in incidents of Naxal violence in the last six months, the government said today.
While 127 civilians were killed between the period August last year and January 2013, 43 security force personnel also were killed in the same period which saw 533 such incidents in various parts of the country.
While 30 Maoists were killed, 871 were arrested, Minister of State for Home R P N Singh told Lok Sabha in a written reply.
“The government is implemeting the Special Infrastrucutre Scheme (SIS) in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected states with a view to cater to critical security infrastructure gaps. (PTI)
JU organizes Folk Dance Festival ‘Indradhanush’
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: “Indradhanush”, a festival of Folk Dances, was organized by the Department of Students Welfare, University of Jammu for its affiliate Degree and Private B Ed Colleges at General Zorawar Singh Auditorium Complex, here today.
Prof Mohan Paul Singh Ishar, Vice-Chancellor, University of Jammu was the chief guest on the Inaugural Ceremony, while Prof Naresh Padha, Registrar, was the guest of honour. The chief guest and the guest of honour distributed prizes among the winners on the occasion.
In his inaugural address Prof Ishar, said that Dance is one of the old art forms and India is known as the land of Folk Dances.
Earlier, Prof N K Tripathi, Dean Students Welfare presented the welcome address.
Meanwhile, Bharitya College of the Education bagged the first prize, while KCS College of Education for Women and Poonch College of Education, Poonch, were adjudged as second and third, respectively.
Kamal Sharma, Shilpa Jamwal and Arti Mehta Mahajan, were the adjudicators for the event.
The participants presented Dogri, Punjabi, Himachali, Pahari, Bhaderwahi, Rajasthani and Haryanvi dances from the rich treasure of folk dances of various regions.
The participating teams included Shivalik College of Education, Rajiv Gandhi College of Education, Surya College of Education, MBS College of Engineering & Technology, Kalra College of Education, Sai Shyam College of Education, RK College of Education, New Age College of Education, Billawar, Ranjit College of Education, Bhartiya College of Education, Vimal Muni College of Education, R.S College of Education, RM Charitable and Educational Trust, Kalra College of Education, Udhampur, KC Gurukul College of Education, Hill Peoples College of Education and Trainings, Govt MAM College, Jammu, Vivekananda College of Education, NSM College of Education and Kawa College of Education.
Vote of thanks was presented by Dr Ritu Mahajan, Teacher Incharge of the activity, while the programme was compeered by Harmeet Kour, Joint Secretary, Students Cultural Council. The festival was coordinated by Vijay Atri.
Prominent among others present on the occasion were Prof Neeru Sharma, Chairperson, Campus Cultural Committee, Dr Prakash Antahal, Co-Chairman, Prof Neelu Rohmetra, Rector, Kathua Campus, Prof Versha Mehta, Director, The Business School, Jai Kumar, Special Secretary to the VC, Dr DL Choudhary, Administrator, GZSAC, Dr Shailendra Singh, Associate Dean (SW), Dr Sarika Manhas, Dr Samridhi Arora, Dr Savita Nayyar, Nidhi Kaila, Secretary, Students Cultural Council, Anshu Bala and Divya Mahajan.
The event was managed by Gurpal Singh, Kulbhushan Thakur, Balwant Singh Slathia, Suriender Singh Bhalla, Joginder Singh, Ram Pal, Yash Pal and RP Singh.
Terror has no colour, religion: Govt
NEW DELHI, Feb 26:
The government today that terrorism has no colour or religion and if any case of prolonged incarceration of any individual belonging to any community without any charge sheet against him is brought to light, it will take appropriate action to ensure justice.
The issue was raised by Basudeb Acharya (CPI-M) in Lok Sabha during the Question Hour who alleged that there were many youths from the Muslim community who were languishing in jails for 10-15 years. A section of them were released as they were found to be innocent, he said.
In his reply, Minister of State for Home Affairs R P N Singh said, “Law does not discriminate on basis of colour or religion.” It is extremely unfortunate if some youths were in jail without any charge sheet against them, he said.
Singh assured the House that if specific cases were brought to the notice of the government it would take appropriate action. He denied that no relief and rehabilitation had been provided to those found innocent after being kept in jails for long.
Several members alleged that the government’s claims were wrong and Muslim youths had been in jails for years without any charge sheet against them. Acharya wanted to know if the government had taken any action against investigating agencies which had “falsely implicated” innocent youths from the minority community.
The Minister said that Section 211 of IPC gave a person the right to seek compensation in case he had been falsely implicated in a case. He said under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act if a charge sheet is not filed within 180 days against an arrested person, he is entitled to bail.
Yashwant Sinha (BJP) asked as to how many of those arrested in criminal cases were from other religions. He also referred to comments made by Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and his predecessor P Chidambaram.
The Minister said the National Investigation Agency (NIA), established in 2009, is handling 52 cases of terrorism and extremism. Charge sheets have been filed in 29 cases and 334 persons arrested so far by the agency, he said.
“In one of the cases assigned to the NIA- the Malegaon bomb blast case of 2006- thirteen persons were chargesheeted by the state police, out of which 9 were arrested and 4 are absconding,” Singh said. No evidence had been found against the 9 arrested and they were released on bail, he said.
“Acquittal from charges cannot be considered to prove that innocent civilians are being wrongly framed,” he said.
Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP) claimed that in cases where no witness had come forward and no charge sheet had been filed, the Uttar Pradesh government had promptly released those arrested.
Defending the central government, Singh said, “Bail is a judicial process. Bail is given by a court.”
Some of the members mentioned specific cases and claimed that individuals booked were innocent but still they were languishing in jails.
Saugata Ray (TMC) alleged that UAPA is a draconian Act just as TADA was earlier and it is being misused.
He asked the government about the Batla House encounter case, saying even a Congress general secretary had visited the village of those allegedly involved in the case.
The Minister said, “The case has been settled by the courts. No strictures were passed by the courts against the Delhi Police…. They (courts) have said it was not a false encounter.”
Ray accused the government of speaking in two voices.
Lalu Prasad (RJD) maintained that UAPA is a more dangerous law than POTA.
The Minister also informed the House that the government does not maintain data like religion of the individuals under arrest.
Members demanded a separate discussion on the issue in the House and Speaker Meira Kumar said she was open to the suggestion and MPs should give a notice for it. (PTI)
APS Srinagar wins Ist place in National Level competition
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Feb 26: Army Pubic School (APS) Srinagar has won 1st prize in essay writing at the National level competition conducted by Dalhousie Public School, Dalhousie (HP).
Navleen Singh of Class VII brought laurels to the school when his essay was adjudged best in the competition and was presented a cash award and a certificate at the International Centre, New Delhi where the award ceremony took place on Monday.
The participants were from all the CBSE affiliated schools of the country, in which Army Public School Srinagar proved out to be the champion by attaining 1st position in junior category.
The topic for the competition was: “character is a long standing habit”. As per the directions of Dalhousie Public School, the competition was conducted in the school on Dec 14, 2012 in which the best three essays from both senior as well as junior category were scrutinized for final selection, where in Navleen Singh of class VII was declared the best essay writer and he received a cash award of Rs. 3,000 at the India International Centre, New Delhi on 25th Jan 2012 and a visit to the Rashtrapati Bhawn being organized for the awardees.
Applauding the award winner and other participants in the event, Principal, Sandeep Marhatta gave its credit to all the teaching faculty of the school.
It is pertinent to mention that APS Srinagar has also bagged No. 1 position and National Academic Excellence Award last year.
Wonder World School organizes Karate Competition
Excelsior SportsCorrespondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: Wonder World School, Trikuta Nagar organized an Intra-School Karate Competition in its School premises, here today.
Over 100 students participated in the event which was held under the supervision of karate technical director, Manoj Mehra, assisted by Amit Kumar, Ashwani Kumar, Mandeep Singh and Deepa Sharma.
Meanwhile, the karatekas who bagged gold medals in the event included Jaideep, Tejas, Pehu, Mahi, Jasleen, Nitigya, Divyansh, Hezal, Udita, Sparsh and Anish, while the silver went to Aditya, Gurtej, Shivangi, Sanir, Shreya, Prateesh, Vardhan, Sahira, Sargun, Ilarita and Aparmeya.
The brone medal was bagged by Gurseerat, Lakshya, Aarav, Ritvik, Khushboo, Suhani Verma, Harshit, Salvi, Ashmit, Dakash and Akshit.
National Alpine skiing championship begins in Auli
Gopeshwar, Feb 26:The national alpine skiing championship got off to a colourful start on the slopes of Auli in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district today with a march past by 16 participating teams from across the country.
The main competitions at the three-day annual event are scheduled to begin from tomorrow.
On the opening day 96 participants from different states including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab staged a march past followed by a cultural programme in the presence of Winter Games Federation of India officials.
Chamoli District Magistrate S A Murugesan was the chief guest on the occasion. (PTI)
Dhoni’s innings was a game-changer, admits Clarke
Chennai, Feb 26:
Australian captain Michael Clarke today conceded that it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s double century that turned out to be a game-changer as they were completely outplayed by India in the first cricket Test here today.
“They outplayed us. Mahendra Singh Dhoni certainly led the charge and I thought Virat Kohli was outstanding as well with his hundred. But it certainly was Dhoni, who changed the game,” a dejected Australian captain told mediapersons at the post-match conference.
Clarke admitted that Dhoni’s innings had the most impact on the match, but did not forget to praise off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who took 12 Aussie wickets to pave the way for India’s victory.
“It (Dhoni’s innings) certainly had an impact on the game. Dhoni contributed a lot to India’s success in this Test match. But like I said, Kohli made a fantastic hundred. Ashwin got seven wickets in the first innings and five in the second. Those were three very good performances. We were completely outplayed,” Clarke added.
Clarke’s assessment about his team’s defeat was that they did not attack enough in the weak areas of the Indians.
“I think there are areas in both teams you need to focus on. There are weak areas in the Indian team we did not attack enough. If we had got 150 or 200 on the board (for them to chase), we might have been able to expose or at least see how they played on a deteriorating wicket. A lot of credit has to go to India.”
He refused to commit whether Australia would go into the second Test with a second specialist spinner.
“We’ve got the same options we had before this Test. We need to assess conditions once we get to Hyderabad. Australian spin took three wickets in first innings while fast bowlers took a lot more,” said Clarke.
“That does not mean to say we got it right by playing three fast bowlers and a medium-pace all-rounder. We need to look at conditions again and work out what we think is the best XI.” (PTI)
Govt to increase manpower in a phased manner: Scindia
NEW DELHI, Feb 26:
Government plans to increase manpower in power sector utilities in a phased manner, Parliament was informed today.
“At present there is no shortage of manpower mainly for grid operation function, however, additional manpower required for certain functions has been planned in a phased manner,” Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia informed the Rajya Sabha.
He said that there is no scarcity of manpower for important grid operation function. Power System Operation Corporation has adequate manpower at each Regional and National Load Despatch Centre.
“Additional manpower required for certain functions like market operation, regulatory and legal functions etc has been planned for required implementation,” he said and added that manpower is being planned progressively.
Meanwhile, the minister also informed the Upper House that there is an overall shortage of power in the country in almost all the states.
The shortage varies from state to state on month to month, day to day and hour to hour basis depending upon the demand and supply of power, he said.
The main reasons for shortage of power in the country include growth in demand of power outstripping the growth in generation and capacity addition and less generation due to fuel shortage, the minister pointed.
The current installed capacity of the country stands at 2,10,000 MW and the government plans to add 88,000 MW in the next five years. (PTI)