Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: A lecture on Understanding Crime and Changing Criminal behaviors –the new Pathways by Rajeshwar Singh Jamwal, president Criminology Society of J&K was organized by Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), J&K branch here this evening.
Dr S P Vaid, Additional Director General of Police was the chief guest on the occasion while Dr Ashok Bhan, Chairman IIPA J&K Regional Branch presided over the programme.
In his lecture Mr Jamwal give a new crime theory called yogic crime theory. He while explaining his theory said the behavior of an individual depends upon the behavior of his neurons and jeans which is controllable.
This can be manipulated and taken towards positivity by disturbing the sequence of nucleo tides, Mr Jamwal said, adding this is possibly going to the covert behavior of the individual, his ideas, his consciousness, his greed, lust etc.
He said this all is possible by combining yoga behavior therapy and neuro biology. The enzymes and chemicals like Serotonin, Dopamine, Glumate and Gaba lead to precursors of criminality like ADSD, ODD & CD which can lead to Anti Social Personality Disorder (ASPD) that is the first stage of criminality, and this behavior can be changed, he added.
Speaking on the occasion Dr S P Vaid Additional DGP Administration while lauding Mr Jamwal said no one can deny the role of yoga in changing the behavior of a human being.
Candidly admitting that there are many defects in the system prevailing in India, he however said there are also countries where the foundations of the system are very well laid but they too are not crime free. If this was the reason then there should have been no crime in US and UK, he added.
Dr Vaid said there are harsh punishments in Saudi Arabia and asked whether the laws prevailing there have finished criminality at all? If tough laws were the answer to contain crime then in J&K there were tough laws during Maharaja’s time but criminality is still existing in the sate, he added.
Dr Ashok Bhan, Chairman IIPA, J&K Regional Branch said religion neutral moral education can play a great role in changing criminal behavior.
He said “if we have to survive as policemen we have to learn the criminal behavior.
He said there should be programmes in jails. Dr Bhan said that during a brief period he had interacted with the inmates in jails of Jammu and found that those people were undergoing life imprisonment were those who had no influence or support while those who had money and muscle power were freed.
Dr Bhan said when a person is released from the prison he should be accepted by the society. Stressing on jail reforms he also suggested that the family of a criminal be allowed to live in jail by constructing separate rooms for them.
The stage was conducted by Mohammed Aslam while J B S Johar, secretary IIPA proposed the vote of thanks.
Jamwal’s new theory to control crime
Ensure timeline completion of works: Wani to contractors
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: Asking contractors of Government works to make quality, transparency and time line completion of works benchmark of their functioning, Minister for R&B, Abdul Majid Wani today said that escalations due to delay often hamper outcomes on ground.
“Contractors associated with the execution of Government works particularly in social sector have to be more sensitive towards quality control and completion of works in the fixed time frame”, he said maintaining that close rapport between the Government officers and contractors is imperative in this regard.
Talking to the J&K Contractors Coordination Committee members, who called on him today to discuss issues pertaining to their community, Mr. Wani said that periodical self monitoring and adhering to all regulations and codal formalities should be focused while implementing projects. He said that R&B Department would formulate a joint committee of Government officers and representatives of contractors to thrash out problems and bottlenecks that occur in smooth transaction of works and payments thereof.
Lauding the initiative of e-tendering and e-procurement by Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah in R&B and PMGSY, the contractor representatives said that this has brought more transparency and helped in fast tracking the projects.
In their memorandum the representatives raised several issues including making payments time bound, clearing past liabilities on work done, revision of schedule, involving them in pre-budget discussion, appointing their member in Labour Board and amendment to the PWD Manual, etc.
The J&K Contractors Coordination Committee was represented by its chairman Ghulam Jeelani Purza, vice chairman Sham Singh, spokesman Bashir Ahmad Khan, general secretary, Kashmir, Mohammad Ashraf Wani, general secretary, Jammu, Vinod Kohli, Balvinder Singh, and other office bearers.
New Rly projects to ensure all weather connectivity: Ladakh MP
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: Member of Parliament from Ladakh Hassan Khan today said that Bilaspur-Manali-Leh Railway link would go long way in ensuring round the year connectivity to the Ladakh region.
In a statement, Mr Khan said, “the Railways Ministry deserves gratitude for sanctioning Bilaspore-Manli-Leh rail line and also approving the survey work of rail line between Srinagar-Kargil-Leh”.
“These steps of the Government initiated towards connectivity in most cut off and inaccessible regions of the country by all means will go deep into the history of modern India and people living in those cut off regions would proudly feel a part of the main land”, Mr Khan said.
DB sets aside direction to JU for inspection of proposed B Ed College
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: A Division Bench has set aside the State High Court’s Single Bench direction asking Jammu University to undergo inspection of an institute by Al Noor Educational Society for starting B Ed course.
In a Letters Patent Appeal by Jammu University, which had challenged the Single Judge order dated October 7, 2010, the division bench comprising Chief Justice M M Kumar and Justice Hasnain Masoodi ruled that the writ petitioner respondent institute was required first to seek No Objection Certificate from the State Government and then ask for inspection from the appellant University.
The DB also dismissed the writ petition by Al Noor Educational Society, which had earlier prayed before the Single Judge that despite having completed the formality and deposit of the fee, the University was not conducting inspection of their institute and as a result requisite No Objection Certificate was not being issued by the State.
Advocate W S Nargal appeared as Counsel for the Jammu University and placed reliance on Statute 15 (i) of chapter IV which contain Statutes Governing Affiliation and Recognition of colleges and other institutions. He explained that as per the Statute, the first step for an institution to request for inspection is to secure No Objection Certificate from the State Government.
The Division bench acknowledged Mr Nargal’s contention that issuance of direction to the University for undertaking inspection without first securing NOC from the State would be putting the cart before the bull.
Police registers forgery case against Govt officials
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Feb 26: Police have registered a forgery case against three education department employees who tried to supress information regarding appointment of teachers on fake certificates in district Budgam. The trio were arrested by the police and later released on bail later.
The case was registered against an official of the Zonal Education office, Hardpunzu in district Budgam, Showkat Ahmad Bhat and two teachers Fayaz Ahmad Malik, teacher Government Primary School Gund Sholi Tiploo in district Budgam and Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Teacher Government Middle School Kral Newa, Budgam in Police Station Beerwah in district Budgam.
One Sadiq Ali Magray of Hayatpora Beerwah in district Budgam had sought information from the Education Department regarding two teachers, Fayaz Ahmad Malik, teacher Government Primary School Gund Sholi Tiploo in district Budgam and Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Teacher Government Middle School Kral Newa, Budgam, who were appointed as ReT’s on fake certificates in year 2000.
Fayaz Ahmad Malik was appointed as ReT vide order No. 608 of 2000 dated 10-09-2000 while Altaf Hussain Bhat was appointed vide order No. 786 of 2000 dated 03-11-2000. Both these ReT’s were later confirmed as teachers.
The qualification certificates of the two teachers were declared fake by Crime Branch and information was revealed to one Ali Mohammad Dar in reply (No. CR/DySP/Hqrs/6899 dated 11-06-2012) to an RTI application.
Magray who sought information about the genuineness of the qualification certificates of two teachers had been denied information by the Zonal Education Office Hardpunzu, Budgam forcing him to approach the State Information Commission. But the SIC after inquiring from ZEO Hardponzu, Budgam found that the applicant had given an affidavit in which he had prayed that he does not require the information now.
When summoned, Magray told SIC that he had not furnished any affidavit to the ZEO Hardpunzu. The SIC in its order (No SIC-K/Comp/93/2012/395/-53 dated 15/05/2012) directed the Chief Education Officer Budgam for registering FIR. , SIC’s order says: “The Commission has taken serious note of the alleged wrong and fabricated affidavit which needs to be investigated. CEO Budgam is directed to lodge an FIR before the appropriate authorities for investigation of the matter within one week and report compliance.”
The CEO (ZEO Hardpunzo, Beerwah) instead of directing police to register an FIR against the person who furnished fake affidavit to ZEO asked them to register FIR against the information seeker Ali Mohammad Magray.
After investigating the FIR (No 47/12 U/S 420, 467, 468 RPC of P/S Beerwah), police found that a ZEO office official, Showkat Ahmad Bhat and two teachers Fayaz Ahmad Malik, teacher Government Primary School Gund Sholi Tiploo in district Budgam and Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Teacher Government Middle School Kral Newa, Budgam had submitted forged affidavit before the ZEO Hardpunzu.
The SHO Police Station Beerwah in its letter (No. PSB/13/5A dated 02-20-2013) to ZEO Hardpanzu, Beerwah, directed him to cause the appearance of an official of his office and two teachers for their formal arrest as FSL report has established that the trio had furnished affidavit on Magray’s behalf.
I wrote to PM on Feb 19: Omar
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah disclosed today that he had written to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on February 19 seeking return of the bodies of Mohammad Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt, both of whom were Kashmiris and were hanged in Tihar jail on February 9, 2013 and February 11, 1984 respectively and their bodies buried in the jail premises.
“I had written to the Prime Minister on the 19th of this month asking for the return of the bodies of both Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt to their families. I had hoped to avoid playing politics with the body of Afzal Guru but that seems to be impossible with the Mufti Sayeed (former Chief Minister and PDP patron) letter now”, Omar tweeted after Mr Sayeed released a letter to the media, which he had written to the Prime Minister seeking return of Guru’s body.
Taking a dig at his political bete noire, Omar said: “I guess I should have played politics by making the letter public immediately but am glad the PDP has joined in support now. I followed this (the letter) up with a visit to the Prime Minister to make the request in person a few days ago. My Government will continue to raise this issue with Delhi”.
Guru, a resident of Sopore, was hanged in Tihar on February 9 and his body buried there while Bhat, a resident of Trehgam, Kupwara was hanged in the same jail on February 11, 1984 and his body was also buried there.
NPSU to gherao Assembly tomorrow
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: National Panthers Students Union has announced to gherao State Assembly on February 28 in protest against alleged discrimination with Jammu youth and students.
The call was given during an emergency meeting of the NPSU executive, held under the chairmanship of president Pratap Singh Jamwal.
The meet adopted a resolution giving call to all the student organizations in Jammu to join the Assembly gherao. The resolution also demanded filling up of all 40,000 vacant posts in different departments of the Government, free education, inclusion of the Dogra history and its role in strengthening the bonds of national integration as well as contributions of Maharaja Hari Singh in the fields of law and development, immediate scrapping of the SRO relating to fresh recruitments in the State, regularization of all SPOs, contractual lecturers, doctors, engineers etc.
Remote sensing database to upgrade planning: Omar
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: Underlining the harmonization of collection and reflection of real-time database essentially important for effective planning and better decision making, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today highlighted the importance of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) in a State like Jammu and Kashmir presenting mosaic of geographical diversity, remoteness of areas and hilly terrains.
“A real-time spatial database available to planners and decision making authorities would significantly help in improving governance and reaching out to people on development front according to their requirements and development needs in particular sectors”, he said and added that collection, storage and usage of data acquired through latest technological interventions and its harmonization in a holistic manner would serve as a king-pin in decision making and planning process.
Formally launching the State Spatial Data Infrastructure (SSDI) project and addressing the sensitization-cum-demonstration workshop in this regard organized by the Department of Environment and Remote Sensing here this morning, the Chief Minister said that Geographical Information Service (GIS) mapping of social sectors like health, education, road communication, forest conservation, etc is now a modern concept of basing schemes and infrastructure development programmes on the data collected through this method.
The Chief Minister said that in a State like Jammu and Kashmir SSDI initiative to address forest denudation issues, construction plans in hilly-backward and remote areas, conservation of water bodies and protection of environment, is all the more essential and cost saving as the data collected and stored could be utilized by different departments in a harmonized manner without going for collecting the necessary information independently.
“The information so available would help the Government to make decisions more effectively and based on real-time database. This system would also depict real need and relieve the decision making bodies to depend on needs perceived”, the Chief Minister said and added that SSDI would help in fine tuning the decisions of the Government. He said the information available through SSDI would be easily understandable, real-time and help upgrade the quality of governance and quality of decision making.
Minister for Forests and Environment, Mian Altaf Ahmad, Minister of State for Cooperatives, Dr. Manohar Lal and Minister of State for Science and Technology, Feroz Ahmad Khan highlighted the importance of State Spatial Data Infrastructure project for Jammu and Kashmir.
Commissioner Secretary Forests and Environment, Ajaz Iqbal and Commissioner Secretary Science and Technology, Bipul Pathak also spoke on the occasion.
The workshop will comprise two technical sessions. Dr. P. S. Roy, Dr. K. L. Rao, Geo-Spatial Chair Professor, Centre for Earth and Space Sciences, HCU, Hyderabad will chair the first session while Dr. P. S. Acharya Scientist-SF and Director NRDMS, Directorate of Science and Technology, Government of India will chair the second session. Renowned scientists and experts including Dr. S. N. Das from ISRO, Dr. Hemant Kumar from IIS Bangalore, Prof. P. K. Joshi from TERI University, New Delhi and Vinod Bothale, NRSC Hyderabad are taking part in the workshop.
The Chief Minister also released ‘State of Environment Report’ compiled by Muthara Abida Deva.
State to persuade Centre to include Gojri language in 8th Schedule: Altaf
Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Feb 26: Two-day Gojri Literary and Cultural Meet organized by Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, was inaugurated today at K L Saigal Hall, emerged as a platform for the Gojri poets, writers, scholars and community leaders to reiterate that it is the State of Jammu and Kashmir that has emerged as leading centre of modern Gojri language despite the fact that Gojri, the third largest language of the State which is also spoken in twelve other States of the country along with adjoining areas across the border.
Minister for Forest and Environment, Mian Altaf Ahmad and the chief guest of inaugural function, said that State Government will persuade the Centre to include Gojri Language in the Eighth Schedule of Indian Constitution adding Gojri is a leading Tribal language of the country and merits this status. Minister for Housing, Horticulture and Culture Raman Bhalla presided over the inaugural function in which eminent Gojri writers, poets, artists and critics were also present.
Mian Altaf Ahmad said that he will personally meet the centre leadership and convince to include Gojri in the constitution of India. He assured that he will convene a meeting of all stockholders for opening of Gojri Department in University of Jammu which stands already approved by the University Council in 2008. The Minister appreciated the Academy for its contribution in the development of Gojri language and Gujjar culture.
Mr. Raman Bhalla in his address said Gujjars are an important identity of the State and Gojri is one of the significant languages of India and mother of Rajasthani, Marwari and Gujarati. Appreciating the work done by Gojri section of Academy, he assured full support of the Government for further development of Gojri literature and Gujjar Culture.
On the occasion, the Ministers released ten latest Academy Gojri publications edited by Dr. Javaid Rahi, Chief Editor.
Earlier welcoming the guests Secretary Academy Khalid Bashir Ahmad stated that the objective of the Meet was to provide an opportunity to Gojri writers, poets, artists and intellectuals to sit together and discuss various trends emerging in global literature. He impressed upon the writers of Gojri language to publish their works and participate in the Academy s competitions for Awards.
In the paper reading session, presided over by art historian Dr. Lalit Gupta and Iqbal Azeem Central Committee Member of Academy in the presidium, scholars who read papers on the Sufi Heritage of Gujjars were Choudhary Hassan Parwaz, Choudhary Gulzar Khatana, Choudhary Amin Qammar, Choudhary Jahangeer Asghar Choudhary and Abdul Ghani Arif,
In the Cultural evening prominent artistes Bashir Mastana , Parvaiz Malik, Noor un Nissa, Razia Begum and Freed Khatana rendered lilting Gojri folk songs. Today’s proceedings were conducted by Mohammad Manshah Khaki Editor Gojri.
Academy’s, Sub-Office, Rajouri, under Sanjeev Gupta, Cultural Officer, organized a composite folk music and dance program at Govt. High School, Dharamshal, Kalakot, yesterday, in which various folk parties presented performances of Gojri, Pahari, Dogri and Kashmiri languages.
PDD once again fails to meet deadline of 100% metering, seeks time till Mar 2016
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 26: Notwithstanding the fact that non-metering of connections of various categories of consumers is one of the major factors behind huge revenue-expenditure gap, the Power Development Department has once again failed to meet the deadline of 100% metering of the electricity connections and now seeking the extension of deadline up to the end of 2015-16 financial year. However, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) will take final decision on the request only after going through the comprehensive metering plan being submitted by the Power Development Department shortly.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that as per the provisions of Section 49 of the Jammu and Kashmir State Electricity Act, 2010, no licensee shall supply electricity, after the expiry of two years from the commencement of the Act, except through installation of a correct meter and keeping in view these provisions the SERC had fixed deadline of April 2012 for 100% metering of all sorts of connections across the State.
However, the PDD failed to meet the deadline and on April 25, 2012, the PDD approached the SERC for extension of deadline by at least one year. “Now, the PDD once again feels that it would not be able to meet the deadline of June 30, 2013 fixed by the SERC on April 26, 2012”, sources said, adding “the Department is now contemplating to submit a comprehensive province-wise/circle-wise metering plan to the SERC with the request for extension of deadline for 100% metering of the connections across the State beyond June 2013 up to end of financial year 2015-16”.
“It is a matter of serious concern and puts a question mark on the performance of the Power Development Department, which is already facing huge gap between revenue and expenditure”, sources said while disclosing that at present a total of 5,54,964 domestic connections have been metered across the State and 6,16,893 are yet to be metered. Moreover, 67,191 non-domestic/commercial, 5,599 agriculture and 219 public street lighting are yet to be metered by the department.
Sources said, “the PDD now targets to convert 1/3rd of the existing unmetered consumers (as at the end of financial year 2012-13) to metered connections in 2013-14 financial year. Further, 50% of remaining unmetered connections are targeted to be metered in 2014-15 financial year and balance unmetered connections are targeted to be metered in 2015-16 financial year”.
In response to a question, sources said that during the 2013-14 financial year, the PDD proposes to convert 3,05,599 domestic un-regularized connections to regularized and convert 2,05,631 unmetered connections to metered. Similarly, 1,67,435 un-regularized connections into regularized and 3,58,431 unmetered into metered in 2014-15 financial year and 5,25,865 unmetered into metered in 2015-16 financial year.
Likewise, it proposes to convert 22,397 unmetered non-domestic/commercial connections into metered in 2013-14, 14,931 such connections in 2014-15 and 29,863 in 2015-16 financial year.
About the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses, , which are 60% at present and highest in the country, sources said that considering the capital investment being proposed and other measures being carried out to reduce distribution losses, the Power Development Department projects that distribution losses will come down to 50% in 2013-14, 44% in 2014-15 and 40% in 2015-16. However, this indicates that even after three years there would not be considerable decline in the T&D losses.