Golden YugDaily English Newspaper

Vol. 2 ISSUE NO. 206 Jammu, Tuesday 26, August 2014 PAGES 8 PRICE RS. 2/- Postal Regd. No. L-29/JK-509/13-15

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RNI No. JKENG/2013/48845 TITLE CODE: JKENG-00999

BJP, NC workers

clash ahead of Amit

Shah visit to Jammu

border campGY NEWS SERVICE

JammU, aUG 25: A

scuffle today broke out

between the workers of

National Conference and

BJP ahead of Amit Shah's

arrival at the border

migrant camp in the RS

Pura forward area of

Jammu district.

The NC leader from

RS Pura, Taranjeet Singh

Tony along with his work-

ers came to the border

migrant camp in higher

secondary school at RS

Pura where Shah was

scheduled to meet the

migrants and address them

at a function.

Tony insisted on

putting his point of view

before Shah and raising the

demands of the border

migrants.

However, BJP workers

didn't allow him to do so,

saying that it was a special

function for Shah to meet

the border migrants.

Tony made some

remarks to the effect that

this was not a political

function of Shah and more

so a matter of border

migrants, who are facing

bullets from Pakistan.

Following his state-

ment, border migrants and

the BJP workers booed

him and raised anti-

National Conference slo-

gans. Later, police took

Tony out of the venue.

Arrangements

reviewed for

President's visitGY NEWS SERVICE

JammU, aUG. 25: In

view of President's visit to

Katra Bhawan on 2nd of

September 2014, an

Advanced Security

Liasioning (ASL) meeting

was convened to review

the arrangements being put

in place for the event here

on Monday.

The meeting was

attended by District

D e v e l o p m e n t

Commissioner Reasi,

Shabir Ahmad Bhat, SSP

Reasi, SSP security, SSP

CID, Dy. CEO Shrine

Board, and Joint Director

Information Jammu Smita

Sethi besides other offi-

cers. During the meeting,

various issues related to

smooth conduct of

President's visit were

deliberated upon and the

officers were directed to

ensure required arrange-

ments in time.

Later, similar meeting

was held to review the

arrangements for this high

profile visit at Raj Bhawan

Jammu.

Vijay Bakaya calls

on GovernorGY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG.

25: Vijay Bakaya,

Member, J&K Legislative

Council, called on N.N.

Vohra, Governor, here at

the Raj Bhavan.

Bakaya discussed with

the Governor issues relat-

ing to the growth and

development of the State,

the return and rehabilita-

tion of Kashmiri Migrants

and certain matters relating

to the forthcoming elec-

toral process.

Will help you get justice from 'step-motherly' treatment: Shah tells JammuGY NEWS SERVICE

KaTHUa, aUG 25:

Ahead of the Jammu andKashmir assembly polls,BJP President Amit Shahon Monday sought to woothe people of Jammu,saying the party will helpthe region get justice as ithas been given "step-motherly" treatment bygovernments during thelast 60 years.

Addressing a rally inKathua on Monday, Shahattacked the OmarAbdullah government andasked people to shundynasty politics in thestate.

He said he had comehere with a message ofPrime Minister Narendra

Modi who wishes tousher in development inthe state for it movealong with the country onthe path of speedyprogress.

"For 60 years the peo-ple of the Jammu regionhave been facing injus-tice. The BJP governmentwill help get justice forJammu, as the variousgovernments have metedout step-motherly treat-ment to the region," hesaid.

Hitting out at dynasticpolitics, he said, "BJP isfighting to make'Congress-mukt bharat'(Congress free India) andJammu and Kashmir isalso part of the country.

So to make J&KCongress-free, you haveto fight to make the statefree from Abdullah andMufti."

He also hit out at theOmar Abdullah govern-ment over the incident oftargeting of communitykitchens for Amarnath

Yatra pilgrims.Shah also said the

BJP government will helpget justice to those whosuffered during the 1962,1965 and 1971 wars. Oncontinued shelling byPakistan along the border,he said, the BJP regimewill give a befitting reply

to them.celling the secretary-

level talks, but that is notenough - Now, we mustenter their borders andknock them down,"Thackeray urged.

Defence MinisterArun Jaitley has assureda suitable response to thePakistani aggression andHome Minister RajnathSingh has asked theBorder Security Force toinitiate counter-mea-sures, he added.

"Now, the country isexpecting that we shouldset fire to Pakistan's tailand reduce it to ashes -Don't make any furtherdelay. Act and show thatthis is a 'manly' country.

Prove to the people ofIndia that a 'macho' gov-ernment has taken overin New Delhi. This isour plea to the centre,"Thackeray added.

He pointed out thataround 1,000-plus terror-ists have sneaked intothe country to createbloodshed and the Indianarmy has discovered abig tunnel near theChalka border post inPalanwala Sectorthrough which Pakistanwas planning to smugglemore extremists intoIndia. Referring to theongoing political devel-opments in that country,Thackeray said Pakistanis indulging in these acts

although internally it isconfronting "a civil-warlike situation" - peoplerevolting against PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharifand protestors evenblocking its parliament.

"Under these circum-stances, Sharif's govern-ment is in peril and hehas no idea what isgoing on at the borders.Moreover, whoever isheading that country isimmaterial as the gov-ernment is controlled bythe army, terrorists, cler-ics and the ISI continu-ing to be arrogant - Sonobody can predict whenthe Pakistan president orprime minister would beousted," Thackeray said.

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25:

Chief Minister, OmarAbdullahMonday paid richtributes to former Speakersof Legislative Assembly,Choudhary MohammadAslam and Abdul AhadVakil, former MinisterMohammad Akbar Ganieand ex-MLA MissMehmooda Ahmad Ali Shahwhile speaking on the obitu-ary references made inrespect of these late leadersin the Legislative Assembly,which met here this morningon the first day of the lastsession of the currentAssembly.

The Chief Ministermentioned the socio-politi-cal careers of these leadersand highlighted their out-standing contributions forthe State and its people. Hesaid all these leaders stick tothe ideology and pro-grammes of the parties theybelonged, throughout theirlife.

Omar Abdullah said thatLate ChoudharyMohammad Aslam renderedgreat service to the people ofhis constituency and hispopularity among the mass-es was vindicated by theparticipation of large num-ber of people in his funeral.

While showering praiseson Late Abdul Ahad Vakil,

the Chief Minister said thatthe unique quality of the lateleader was that he was verymuch candid while givinghis opinion which he usuallygave after giving duethought to the subject. Healso referred to the extra-ordinary knowledge of lateVakil particularly relating tothe laws, constitution andconstitutional position ofJammu and Kashmir.

The Chief Minister saidthat Late Mohammad AkbarGanie rendered services tothe people in various capac-ities. Late Ganie while beingat the service of people as apolitical and social activisthelped them as an advocatealso.

The Chief Minister alsopaid tributes to Late MissMehmooda Ahmad Ali Shahand highlighted her role asan educationist. He said that

he knew late MehmoodaAhmad Ali Shah since thetime she used to come toMadr-e-Meharban (BegumSheikh MohammadAbdullah and Grandmotherof Omar Abdullah). He saidtill recently Late MissMehmooda used to givevaluable suggestions to thegovernment which weregiven due consideration.

The Chief Minister alsoresponded to a point raisedin the House by BalwantSingh Mankotia regardingthe shelling across LOC andsufferings of the people.Omar Abdullah said whilegovernment was fully awareof the difficulties of peopleand is taking all necessarymeasures to mitigate these,the issue of shelling acrossthe LOC and its reply is thematter to be tackled by theCentre Government.

When some Membersof PDP raised the issue ofhailstorm in some areas ofthe Valley, the ChiefMinister said that today'ssession was for obituaryreferences. He suggestedthat if Speaker deems it fit,he can put both the issue ofshelling and hailstorm inthe next business scheduleof the House so that gov-ernment gives replies to thequestions of the Membersaccordingly.

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25:

N.N. Vohra, Governor, todayvisited Government Collegefor Women, M.A. Road,Srinagar, and attended ahalf-day inter-college debatecompetition organized byThe Tribune, J&K, at theLala Arif Auditorium here.The topic of the debate was"Does Social MediaContribute TowardsEnhancing BetterUnderstanding AndCooperation, Nationally andInternationally" and 24 stu-dents from 12 different col-leges of Kashmir participat-ed in the contest.

Muvahhid from Govt.Degree College, Bemina,won the Best Speaker awardcomprising cash prize ofRs.5000 and a Certificate ofMerit. The First prize of Rs.10,000 and Certificates ofMerit was won by Ms. SanaShah and Ms. Nisheed Zelfi,a team from GovernmentCollege for Women, M.A.Road. The 2nd prize of Rs.8000 and Certificates ofMerit was bagged byMuvahhid and Ms. Safiya, ateam from Govt. DegreeCollege, Bemina whereasthe 3rd prize of Rs. 5000 andCertificates of Merit waswon by Joyjeet Singh andMs. Fatima, a team fromNational Institute ofTechnology, Srinagar. Thewinners were adjudged by apanel of jurists comprising

Mohd. Syed Malik, Dr.Shahid Rasool and Prof.Nusrat Andrabi. Each of theparticipants were also givena cash prize of Rs. 1000 anda certificate of participation.

Stressing the importanceof debating contests in per-sonality development, theGovernor observed that suchactivities enable the studentsto improve their articulationand develop coherent andrational thinking, whichwould enhance their poten-tial for successfully meetingthe challenges of life.

The Governor observedthat the revolution in theInformation Technologyarena has made a vital con-tribution towards enhancingcommunication and connec-tivity and enabled vastimprovements in spreadingeducation and advancingmedicine, science and tech-nology, besides improved

management of trade, busi-ness and commerce. Realtime communications havealso contributed to prompthandling of emergencies anddisasters. However, theGovernor cautioned, there isdanger of the various formsof social media being mea-sured for spreading misin-formation and rumors whichmay lead to law and ordersituations.

The Governor compli-mented Mrs. Shaheen Altaf,Principal, GCW, M.A. Road,for her personal interest inorganizing the event andsuggested creating of moreopportunities for the stu-dents to participate in suchactivities. He also suggestedthe introduction of essaywriting competitions.

The Governor compli-mented "The Tribune" forproviding a useful platformto the students for showcas-

ing their skills, the Governorsuggested that the newspa-per should include atleastone page which is reservedfor contributions by the stu-dents to highlight issues oftheir concern. RajChengappa, Editor-in-Chief,"The Tribune" highlightedvarious instances of benefitsand misuse of Social Mediaand its contribution in devel-oping better understandingamong the people and differ-ent societies throughout theworld. Arun Joshi, ResidentEditor, "The Tribune", J&KEdition, presented theWelcome Address and VinayVerma, General Manager,"The Tribune", gave a for-mal Vote of Thanks. S.P.Vaid, ADGP, Hqrs, S. M.Sahai, ADGP, Armed, J&K,various dignitaries, promi-nent citizens and studentswere present on the occa-sion.

LeGISLatIve aSSeMBLy-2014

Omar speaks on obituaryreferences in LA

Pays tributes to Late leadersSuggests listing of hailstorm, cross LOC shelling in next business schedule

Inter-College debate contest held

GCW, M.A. Road wins debate contestMuvahhid from GDC, Bemina adjuged Best Speaker

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25: The Speaker, Jammu and KashmirLegislative Assembly, Mubarak Gul today sought cooperation fromthe members in smooth conduct of current Assembly Session.Chairing a BAC meet the Speaker said that Question Hour beingimportant should be run without any disruption. He said every polit-ical party will be given equal opportunity to raise maximum publicinterest issues. Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Minister forLaw, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Mir Saifullah, Minister forAgriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir, Deputy Speaker, LegislativeAssembly, Mohammad Sartaj Madni, MLAs, Prof Chaman LalGupta, Hakim Mohammad Yasin, M. Y. Tarigami, A. R. Veeri andHarsh Dev Singh attended the meeting and gave their suggestionsto make the session successful and result oriented. SecretaryAssembly, M. Ramzan, Special Secretary, M. R. Singh and otherofficers of Law and Assembly Secretariat attended the meeting.

aSSEmblY-2014

Speaker seeks cooperation from members

for smooth conduct of House proceedings

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25: An army jawan and amilitant were killed on Monday in two ongoingant i -mi l i tancy opera t ions in Jammu andKashmir's Kupwara district.

In the operation launched in Keran sector onSaturday night, security forces tracked down amilitant and engaged him in a gunfight.

The militant was killed in the operation whilesearches in the area cont inued, an armyspokesman said.

A gunbattle erupted in forest area of Lolab,adjacent to Kalaroos, in Kupwara district afterarmy launched an operation to track down agroup of militants who had managed to escapeduring the encounter yesterday, an army officialsaid. He said the militants were engaged by secu-rity forces leading to a fierce gunbattle that wasgoing on.

Lance Naik Dhananjay Kumar was injured inthe exchange of firing, he said adding the soldierlater succumbed to injuries.

This is the third fatality suffered by army inKupwara district in the past two days.

An army jawan was killed in a gunbattle withmilitants in Kalaroos area of the district yester-day while another laid down his life in Keransector a night earlier. Four militants were alsokilled in the Kalaroos operation.

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25:

The dropout rate in sec-ondary education in Jammuand Kashmir is over 10 percent higher than the nation-al average of 14.54 per cent,state government said onMonday.

According to a writtenreply by JK EducationMinister Mohammad AkbarLone to LegislativeCouncil, the ratio of sec-ondary school dropout inthe state is 25.33 per cent infinancial year 2013-2014."The ratio of dropout rate insecondary education of thestate is 25.33 per cent ascompared to 14.54 per centas per the Unified DistrictInformation System ofEducation (U-DISE)," asper the reply.

It said that lack ofawareness, and reservationof the parents to admit theirgirls in the secondary

schools where co-education was beingimparted were themajor reasons forthe higher dropoutrates.

"The lack ofawareness of theparents to admittheir girls in theinstitutions whereco-education isbeing imparted isone of the majorreasons for higherdropout rates inKashmir Valley as com-pared to Jammu region,"according to the reply.

"Besides, economicbackwardness is also one ofthe basic reasons," it said.

The data by the U-DISEsuggests that southKashmir's Anantnag districthas the highest rate ofdropouts with 46.61 percent, followed by centralKashmir's Budgam district.

Srinagar has the lowestrate of 10.16 per cent, whilePulwama 29.02 per cent andGanderbal 35.66 per cent ofdropout rate, the figuressuggest.

The officials said asmany as 22,876 habitationsin the state were covered bysecondary schooling facilitywithin distance of five kilo-meters, while 6,618 werestill without such facility.

JK secondary school dropout rate

10% more than national average

Army jawan, militant killed

in J&K's Kupwara district

2 Golden YuGJAMMU | TUESDAY | AUGUST 26 | 2014

Three killed in LosAngeles shootings

WaSHINGToN, aUG. 25: At least three people were

killed and four others wounded in a series of shooting inci-

dents in Los Angeles, police said. The three incidents

occurred between 5.50 a.m. and 6.50 a.m. Sunday in the

San Fernando Valley area, which is part of the city's north-

ern suburbs, Xinhua reported.

Police are investigating if the three attacks are linked.

While the victims appeared to be randomly targeted, police

found that the same type of weapon was used in the attacks

and it seemed that the suspects shot the victims from inside

a car. Later Sunday, a male suspect, whose name has not

been released, was taken into custody.

Indian-origin MP appointed

shadow minister in UKloNDoN, aUG. 25: Indian-origin British MP Seema

Malhotra has been appointed as the Labour party's first-

ever shadow minister dealing with violence against women

and girls. 42-year-old Malhotra was named shadow minster

by Britain's Opposition party leader Ed Miliband.

Malhotra's role will also involve working on Labour's

Women's Safety Commission, which will draw up laws to

be enacted if Miliband wins the next election. A shadow

minister is a member of the main opposition party in

Parliament who would hold ministerial office if their party

were in power.

The Feltham and Heston MP said there was a "shock-

ing" level of violence against women both in Britain and

abroad, and too little was being done to help victims.

"I feel very proud to have been appointed as the Labour

party's first-ever shadow minister for preventing violence

against women and girls. "It is significant that Labour has

made this issue such a priority and I look forward to work-

ing with colleagues to try and make a real difference to

women who have experienced huge trauma in their lives,"

'The Guardian' quoted her as saying.

250 Russian mercenaries

killed in combat: UkraineKIEV, aUG. 25: Some 250 Russian "mercenaries"

have been killed in recent fighting in the eastern regions of

Ukraine, the Ukrainian military command said Monday. An

official statement said Ukrainian forces had "killed 250

Russian mercenaries and destroyed eight tanks of the

enemy, in addition to ten armoured vehicles, three missile

launchers and a mortar".

The report was not confirmed by other sources. The

statement went on to say that pro-Russian militias had

attacked with artillery fire and small arms the positions of

the Ukrainian troops in the eastern regions of Donetsk and

Lugansk, but did not mention Ukrainian casualties.

According to latest figures from Ukraine's Council of

National Security and Defence, since the beginning of oper-

ations against pro-Russian separatists in April, a total of

722 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed and

2,625 wounded.

UAE to open rehab centres for

people ''lured'' by terror cellsDUbaI, aUG. 25: The United Arab Emirates (UAE)

will establish centres to counsel and rehabilitate people

"lured and misled" into terrorism, a media report said

Monday. Some "precautionary measures" will be taken

against the people detained here, based on final judicial

judgments, Khaleej Times reported citing Sultan Juma Al

Shamsi, rapporteur of the Legislative and Legal Committee

at the Federal National Council (FNC).

Al Shamsi said the move came in the wake of the

recently promulgated anti-terror law and added that such

centres would come up across the Gulf nation.

UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Aug 20

proclaimed the country's anti-terrorism law, as prior to this,

no law in the Gulf nation existed that defined the conse-

quences for planning or committing terrorism in the coun-

try. According to the announcement, terror convicts would

be sent to these centres after or while serving their jail sen-

tences.

These centres would help protect the local citizens,

restore them and help them get rid of any "poisonous views

and malicious thoughts", the official added. The centres'

staff would comprise psychiatrists, social workers and

preachers who will help rehabilitate people getting lured to

international terror groups and cells.

Al Shamsi told Khaleej Times that Article 68 of the

anti-terror law stipulates that the centre would guide and

rehabilitate the convicts of terror cases.

Since the outbreak of the Arab turmoil in some Middle

Eastern countries, the UAE has arrested over 200 locals and

foreigners accused of planning terrorist activities. The state

security court in capital Abu Dhabi also sentenced dozens

of members of the Muslim brotherhood which is forbidden

in Egypt since the ouster of former president and brother-

hood leader Mohammed Morsi.

Japan could offer unapproved Ebola drugToKYo, aUG. 25: Japan would like to offer a drug to

help treat the deadly Ebola virus before the World Health

Organization officially rules on its use, the country's top

government spokesman said on Monday. Chief Cabinet

Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that Japan

has received inquiries from some countries on the influen-

za drug favipiravir, or T-705 as it is known in the develop-

mental code. "I am informed that medical professionals

could make a request for T-705 in an emergency even

before a decision (on approval) by the WHO. In that case,

we would like to respond under certain criteria," he said.

Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corp and U.S. partner

MediVector are in talks with the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration to submit an application to expand the use

of favipiravir as a treatment for Ebola. Following Suga's

comments, Fujifilm shares rose 4.0 percent, edging near a

four-year peak hit earlier this month. They were the eighth

most actively traded shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's

main board.

Gaza, aUG. 25: FourPalestinians including twowomen and a three-year-oldboy were killed on the 49thday of the war as Israelattacked Hamas targets withair strikes and tanks, PTIreport.

Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas will handover a proposal to USSecretary of State JohnKerry to end the Gaza crisisin the coming days, MENAquoted lawmaker for FatahMovement AbdullahAbdullah as telling theWashington-based RadioSawa.

An Egyptian official hasconfirmed that mediatorshave contacted Palestiniansand Israel and proposednew ceasefire in Gaza thatwould open the blockadedenclave's crossings andallow in aid and reconstruc-tion materials, as per AFPreport. Two mosques at BeitHanun, in the north of theStrip, and in Gaza City weredemolished in overnightIsraeli strikes, reported theAFP.

Overnight Israeli strikes

killed two Palestinians, rais-ing the death toll to 2,122,reports said. Releasing apage from the so-called 'ter-ror training manual' ofHamas, Israeli Army seeksto make its case strongeragainst the Palestinian mili-tants, saying that the docu-ment proves that Hamasintentionally uses residen-tial areas, homes, hospitals,mosques, etc as militarycommand centres, reportedthe Reuters.

Israel says its forces hadstumbled upon a 102-pageterrorist manual of Hamasin the town of Beit Hanounin Gaza in late July. Themanual reportedly containsinstructions on how to han-dle explosives at home. Aceasefire is expected to beagreed between Israel andHamas in a "matter ofhours", reported the Haaretzciting a top Palestinian offi-cials. However, no officialstatement has been madeabout it yet

Rocket sirens are heardin Tel Aviv, hours afterJerusalm was targeted, saidthe IDF, which in response

struck the rocket launcherthat fired at capital city.

Israeli forces claim tohave killed a top Hamasofficial who dealt with thegroup's financial transac-tions. The death ofMohammed al-Ghul, aHamas finance official wasconfirmed by Palestiniandoctors.

Ghul "was an importantHamas actor who dealt withtransferring funds to build

terror infrastructure inGaza, such as tunnels, andwas a key target," Israeliarmy spokesman MajorArye Shalicar was quoted assaying.

Meanwhile, the IDFsays that 4 rockets werefired at Ashkelon from Gazaearlier today. In the last 24hours terrorists fired 135rockets at Israel, the IDFadded. In another tweet,Israeli PM mocked Hamas

leader Khaled Meshaal'sclaim that it does not targetcivilians by saying that a 4-year-old was killed byHamas mortar two daysago. “Hamas terrorists sta-tioned near a school in Gazafired a mortar yesterday thatkilled 4-year-old DanielTragerman,” Israeli Armysaid in a statement.

After an Israeli striketoppled a 12-storey apart-ment tower and a 7-storey

building in Gaza, Israeli PMBenjamin Netanyahu reiter-ated his warning to the resi-dents to evacuate fromthose areas where Hamaswas carrying out terroristactivities. He also said thatthe mission in Gaza willcontinue till its aim wasachieved, Even as Egyptand UN have been urgingboth the warring sides toreturn to the negotiatingtable, Israel and Gaza havecontinued escalating thecross-border fire that hasentered Day 49 today.

More than 2100Palestinians and 68 Israelishave died in Israeli strikeswhich resumed last weekafter the latest ceasefire wasviolated by Gaza.

Israel launched opera-tion Protective Edge againstHamas on July 8 to haltrockets being fired fromGaza. The latest ceasefirewas broken last week afterthree rockets were firedtowards Israel, prompting itto recall its negotiators fromEgypt, which is trying tobroker a longer-term cease-fire.

Four Palestinians killed as Israelattacks Hamas on 49th day of war

bEIRUT, aUG. 25:

Syria said on Monday itwould cooperate in anyinternational efforts to fightIslamic State militants inthe country, afterWashington signalled it wasconsidering extending thebattle against the group intoSyrian territory.

Foreign Minister Walidal-Moualem, whose govern-ment has been shunned bythe West, presented hiscountry as a vital partner inthe war against IslamicState that has seized wideareas of Syria and Iraq.

"Syria, geographicallyand operationally, is thecentre of the internationalcoalition to fight IslamicState," Moualem said in atelevised news conference."States must come to it ifthey are serious in combat-ing terrorism," he added.

Asked about theprospect of US air strikesagainst Islamic State insideSyria, Moualem said hisgovernment was ready tocooperate with any countryfighting militants. But any

air raids mounted withoutDamascus's approval wouldbe viewed as hostile acts."Anything outside this(cooperation) is consideredaggression," he said.

The White House sig-nalled on Friday it was con-sidering taking the fightagainst Islamic State intoSyria after days of airstrikes against the group inIraq and the beheading of anAmerican journalist.

But Washington hasalso supported a more thanthree-year-old insurgencyagainst Assad and there hasbeen no sign of any shift inU.S. policy towards theSyrian leader.

"He's part of the prob-lem," Ben Rhodes,President Barack Obama'sdeputy national securityadviser, said in a broadcastinterview last week. Lastyear Washington cameclose to bombing Syria afteraccusing Assad's forces ofusing chemical weapons.

Islamic State, an off-shoot of al Qaeda, hasemerged as the strongestgroup in the insurgencyagainst Assad. It controlsroughly a third of northernand eastern Syria and hassince grabbed territory inneighbouring Iraq, declar-ing a cross-border"caliphate".

Gaza, aUG. 25:

Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas will handover to US Secretary ofState John Kerry a proposalto end the Gaza crisis in thecoming days, Palestinianlawmaker for FatahMovement AbdullahAbdullah said Monday.

Abbas held consulta-tions with the Palestinianleaders and factions as wellas Egypt and Saudi Arabia,following which a set ofoptions were reached at,MENA quoted Abdullah astelling the Washington-based Radio Sawa. Theseoptions will be handed overto Kerry in the comingdays and will likely endthe Gaza crisis.

Abdullah, however,denied that the Palestinianproposal included anyideas of demilitarisingGaza Strip, asserting thePalestinians have the rightto fight against occupa-tion by all legitimatemeans.

Israel wants to elimi-nate all militants in thecoastal enclave, mostly

under Palestinian militantgroup Hamas, while theHamas seeks end toIsraeli occupation andremoval of blockades inthe conflict-torn GazaStrip. Egypt had called onIsrael and the Palestiniansto go for ceasefire indefi-nitely and immediatelyresume talks in Cairo toreach a permanent cease-fire agreement that endsthe ongoing fighting inthe Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin NetanyahuSunday said the militaryoperation in Gaza will go

on until Israel's securitygoals are reached. Aheadof the weekly cabinetmeeting held at Tel Aviv'sKirya military headquar-ters, Netanyahu said therewill not be any immunityto those who fire at Israelicitizens.

Israel launched aground and air offensiveon the Gaza Strip July 8 torein in Gaza militants andstop rockets being firedinto Israel. At least 2,108Palestinians and 68Israelis were killed andmore than 10,000 wound-ed so far.

CaIRo, aUG. 25: Egyptian mediators have proposed a

new ceasefire in Gaza that would open the blockaded

enclave's crossings and allow in aid and reconstruction mate-

rials, a senior Palestinian official said Monday. The

Palestinians, including the de facto Hamas rulers of the

enclave, would be willing to accept such a deal if Israel does,

the official told AFP.

The proposal would defer to a later date negotiations on

disputed points that have prevented a long-term ceasefire

deal, he added. An Egyptian official confirmed that media-

tors have contacted the Palestinians and Israel with a new

proposal.

"There is an idea for a temporary ceasefire that opens the

crossings, allows aid and reconstruction material, and the

disputed points will be discussed in a month," the Palestinian

official said.

"We would be willing to accept this, but are waiting for

the Israeli response to this proposal," he said, requesting

anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

A previous ceasefire to end the devastating conflict in

Gaza collapsed on August 19 after Egyptian mediators were

unable to bridge the gaps between the two sides.

The conflict, now in its 49th day, has killed more than

2,100 Palestinians and 68 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Hamas has insisted that any long-term truce must end the

eight-year blockade of Gaza and allow for an airport in the

coastal strip that is flanked by Israel and Egypt. Israel says it

wants Hamas, which it, the United States and European

Union consider a terrorist organisation, to disarm, something

the militants have refused to discuss.

DaR ES Salaam

(TaNzaNIa), aUG. 25:

Poachers slaughteringAfrica's elephants and rhi-nos with impunity are oftenshielded from police bypowerful connections, but agroup of conservationistshas turned to the anonymityof tip-offs to try to stem thekilling. The founders ofWildLeaks -- a sort ofWikiLeaks for the environ-ment -- say it is the firstsecure, online whistle-blowing platform dedicatedto wildlife and forest crime.

While wildlife rangersface gun battles in nationalparks with poachers carry-ing out the slaughter, theonline project hopes to tar-get the top-end traffickerswho cream off millions ofdollars in profit.

"We got, for example, avery interesting leak on avery powerful individual inKenya, linked to the gov-ernment, who is behind theivory trade," said founderAndrea Crosta, a formersecurity consultant andlongtime conservationist.This kind of person "willnever be taken out fromwithin. They're too power-ful. You need help from out-side. So right now, we'retrying to gather more evi-dence," he said in rapid-fire,Italian-accented English.

Poaching has risensharply across Africa inrecent years fuelled by ris-ing demand in Asia forivory and rhino horn, covet-ed as a traditional medicineand a status symbol.Interviewed in the lobby ofan upmarket hotel inTanzania's main city Dar esSalaam, Crosta is fervent inhis belief the online plat-form can be part of the waragainst poaching.

Launched in February,WildLeaks received its firsttip within 24 hours.

Since then the projecthas gotten over 45 tips andleaks, with at least 28deemed to be useful. The

information involved arange of topics from aroundthe world including tigerpoaching in Sumatra, illegallogging in eastern Russiaand Mexico, and the smug-gling of wildlife productsinto the United States.WildLeaks passed on sometips to law enforcementagencies, while others wereshared with trusted conser-vation organisations thatspecialise in the area.

Some were also investi-gated in house. TwoWildLeaks probes havealready been launched, withanother two set to begin inSeptember. WildLeaks usesencryption and anonymity

software to allow those withinformation to send it safelyto those who can do some-thing about it.

It is a new way to tacklea long-standing problem,and other conservationistshave offered a cautious wel-come. "It does appear to bea new approach within thewildlife crime sector," saidRichard Thomas fromTRAFFIC, the world's lead-ing wildlife trade monitor-ing network.

"It could prove its worthover time, if useful informa-tion is received and directedtowards appropriate profes-sional enforcement agenciesfor follow-up action."

Syria ready to work with any

state to fight Islamist militants

Palestinian President Abbas to hand

over Kerry proposal to end Gaza crisis

Wildlife 'WikiLeaks' targetsAfrica poaching elite

Egypt proposes new Gaza

ceasefire: Palestinian official

3 Golden YuGJAMMU | TUESDAY | AUGUST 26 | 2014

GY NEWS SERVICE

JammU, aUG. 25: Traffic policetoday seized two trucks with consignment ofillegal cement. Acting on the information ofJammu and Kashmir Motor TransportCompanies Association Jammu, trafficpolice on checking seized two trucks bear-ing registration numbers JK02AC-3791 andJK02AG-2525 for carrying overloadedcement illegally.

Expressing strong resentment of suchincident, transporters staged a protest at RailHead Loading Points against ContractorsRandir Mehta (Bitta) who loaded truckswith double load i.e, 18 tons against 9 ton of

cement. They said Randhir always loads theconsignment with double load by using fic-titious numbers of other vehicles.

Hallow claims of Government TrafficDepartment and Sales taxes at Rail Head areexposed which results in heavy loss of gov-ernment property, they said.

They demanded that government shouldpay attention for this malpractice.

S. Surinder Singh, S. Gajan Singh, S.Amar Singh Wazir, S. Kultar Singh, S.Ravinder Singh Kala, S. Darshan Singh, S.Kulwant Singh, S.Harpal Singh (Prince), S.Kulwant Singh, S. Manjit Singh and S.Kulwant Singh were also present.

GY NEWS SERVICE

JammU, aUG. 25: Inprotest against NationalConference led coalition gov-ernment for its discriminatoryattitude towards the POJKrefugees, the BJP Sharnarthicell led by Pt. Ashok KumarKhajuria, State Press Secretaryand Prabhari BJP SharnarthiCell Jammu and Kashmiralong with his team compris-ing two conveners of BJPSharnarthi Cell SarpanchVijay Sharma and BharatSharma, Pushkar KumarSharma-District Convener andPushp Khajuria, besides hun-dreds of supporters todaybegan 24 hours Hunger strikeat Gandhi Chowk Satwari.

The BJP Sharnarthi cell

activists raised anti-govern-ment slogans and lambastedNC-Congress government inthe state for not concedingtheir demand of mooting pro-posal before the Union gov-ernment for sanction of reliefpackages as promised by theBJP in the parliamentary elec-tion in recently concluded LokSabha elections.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that the BJP SharnarthiCell has been demanding forthe one time rehabilitation/ set-tlement and relief package for1947 displaced persons ofPOJK. "Successive StateGovernments' have alwaysdenied the rights of the refugeecommunity and befooled therefugee community by lip ser-

vice only. But we demand thataction must be initiated by theState government towards thewelfare of refugeeCommunity. Since the autumnsession of the legislativeassembly has begun, the BJPSharnarthi cell appeals all leg-islators to ensure that a bill getpassed for refugee package forthe settlement/rehabilitation ofPOJK refugees", said Pt.Ashok Khajuria.

Member of Parliamentand BJP State president JugalKishore Sharma also visitedon the spot and said that therefugees have become victimsof state government's lopsidedthinking and Kashmir centricideology, he assured therefugee leaders of every possi-ble support. He was accompa-nied with BJP IT CellsIncharge Sat Sharma CA.

Prominent among partici-pating in Hunger strike includ-ed Netar Prakash Khajuria, Pt.Surinder Kr. Sharma, GirdhariSharma, Romesh Sharma,Satpal Choudhary, PardeepSingh, Kishore Sharma,Rakesh Shastri, Ravi Sharma,Depty Kumar, Vikas Sharmabesides others.

COUNCIL-2014

Chairman nominates members to BAC

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25:

Chairman, Jammu and Kashmir

Legislative Council Amrit Malhotra

nominated the legislators Devinder

Singh Rana, G. N. Monga and Syed

Mohammad Rafiq Shah to serve as the

Members of the Business Advisory

Committee (BAC) of Legislative

Council.

Chairman nominates panel ofVice Chairmen

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25: The

Chairman, Legislative Council Amrit

Malhotra announced the panel of Vice

Chairmen which included legislators

Jugal Kishore Sharma, Showkat

Hussain Ganai and Naresh Kumar

Gupta.

House condemnscross border firings

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25: The

House also condemned the cross bor-

der firing incidents across the State in

which several civilians were killed

recently.

House passes obituaries todeparted legislators

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25: Speaking

on obituary references, the Chairman,

Legislative Council Amrit Malhotra

expressed profound sorrow and grief

on the behalf of house on sad demise

of Ex-Speakers Choudhary

Mohammad Aslam, Abdul Ahad

Vakil,, Ex-Minister Mohammad Akbar

Ganai, and Miss Mehmooda Ahmed

Ali Shah,Ex-Member Legislative

Assembly.

He said that words are inadequate

to convey the feelings of this House on

the loss caused to the nation as well as

State in general due to their sad

demise. "This House pays homage to

the memories of ex-legislators and

prayed to God that their souls may rest

in peace", he added.

The Members who spoke on the

reference are Ravinder Kumar

Sharma, Mohammad Muzaffer Paray,

Vijay Bakaya, Sheikh Ghulam Rasool,

Dr. B. A. Veeri, G. Q. Perdesi, Najeeb

Suharawardhy, Ajatshatru Singh,

Devinder Singh Rana, Naresh Kumar

Gupta, Jehangir Hussain Mir, Showkat

Hussain Ganai, Dr. Shehnaz Ganai,

Syed Naeem Akhtar, Sayed Rafiq

Ahmad Shah and Dharamveer Singh

Oberoi. The Minister for Higher

Education Mohammad Akbar Lone

also expressed his views on the refer-

ence. Replying on the obituary refer-

ence, the Minister for Planning,

Labour and Employment Ajay

Sadhotra shed light on the lives and

political career of the departed legisla-

tors and termed it a great loss to the

state. He said that these legislators

have contributed immensely for better-

ment of the people and overall devel-

opment of the state.

Later, two minutes silence was

observed as a mark of respect to the

departed legislators.

GY NEWS SERVICE

JammU, aUG. 25:

Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) candidate for GandhiNagar assembly segment,Amrik Singh Reen, todayvisited Digiana Asharam toseek blessing from MahantManjit Singhji of DeraNangali Sahib.

Amrik Singh Reen

accompanied by seniorleaders of the PDP todayvisited Digina Asharam ofMahant Manjit Singh Ji.While seeking blessingfrom Mahant Manjit SinghJi, Reen assured that hewould work assiduouslyfor the welfare and uplift-ment of the people. Hesaid that his mission of

joining politics was toserve the people and towork for the socio-eco-nomic growth the com-moners in general andweaker and marginalizedsections in particular.

Amrik Singh Reen fur-ther assured MahantManjit Singh Ji that he hasformulated a comprehen-sive plan for the rehabilita-tion of refugees.He saidthat solution of the prob-lems of the refugees wason top of his agenda.

Incharge Gandhi Nagarconstituency, AbdulRashid Malik, Capt AnilGour, Surjeet Kour, TalibHussain, Gautam Gupta,Choudhary Akram,Harmeet Singh, RanbirSingh Manga, VarinderSingh Sonu, Daljeet SinghDicky, and others alsoaddressed the meeting.

GY NEWS SERVICE

JammU, aUG. 25:

BJYM (Bhartiya Janta YuvaMorcha) Distt West underthe leadership of Ajay VaidFelicitated BJP NationalPresident Amit Shah atCircuit House Jammu.While his Maiden Visit tothe city of Temples. BJYMDistt West Team presented

silver shield to Shah andalso congratulated him formeritorious victory of BJPin Lok sabhaPolls.

Ajay vaid and his teamalso presentedMemorandum to Amit Shahhighlighting several issuesof youths as Jammu andkashmir youth is feelingFrustrated after completing

studies they are not gettingjobs and in the absence ofJobs youths of J&K ismigrating out of statewhich is very dangerousthing He also highlightedthe issue of discriminationwith Jammu region asJammu people are facingdiscrimination for the pastso many years

Keshav Chopra (Gen.Secy), Vishavdeep sharma,Pardeep sharma, LovekeshGondi, Kanav parotra,Puneet Mahajan, Akhilgupta, Sahil verma, SouravGupta, Rishabh Gupta,Rinku Chouhan, RohitBhardwaj, Anchal Sharma,Akash Gupta, PankajMagotra, Gulshan, RahulGupta, Arpan Baigra,Vivek, Rajat koul, AdarshGupta, Rahul Bagga,Abhishek Behl were alsopresent.

GY NEWS SERVICE

JammU, aUG. 25:

Slamming Amit Shah forshedding crocodile tearsover the plight of borderdwellers in the wake ofshelling from across theborder and mutilatingfacts, Provincial PresidentNational ConferenceDevender Singh Rana onMondaywished the BJPPresident to have checkedhis facts before givingunsolicited advice toChief Minister OmarAbdullah.

"It may be alright forBJP to play to the gal-leries to whip up passions

and to capitalize the mis-eries of fire affected peo-ple but NationalConference feels the painof sufferers as it has beenwitness to the situationsnot conducive for peaceand tranquility in theState", Rana said whileregretting over the typicalmindset of the BJP lead-ers.

Putting the recordstraight, Rana referred tothe visit of Minister ofState for Home SajjadAhmed Kitchloo to thetemporary dwelling placesof the displaced borderpeople in R S Pura imme-

diately after killing of twocivilians and its seniorleaders camping in theGovernment MedicalCollege Hospital inJammu to look after theinjured.

On the contrary, hewondered why the centralBJP ministers, who weretouring the State, did notbother to visit the affectedpeople. "Instead, theykept waiting for having aphoto session along withtheir Party President", hemaintained. Rana saidpoliticizing the unfortu-nate incidents speak of theprejudiced mindset of the

BJP and its brazen attemptof polarizing the situation.He hoped that being in aresponsible avatar nowthe BJP leaders willbehave with a sense ofresponsibility and help inbringing about calm in thesituation and mitigatingthe sufferings of the peo-ple. He said inciting pas-sions on this issue will notserve anybody's purpose.

The ProvincialPresident said that theattempt by the BJP topolarise the society islikely to have far reachingconsequences which willnot only affect Jammu and

Kashmir but its ripplescould be felt across thecountry. "The firing fromacross the LOC andInternational Border is amatter of grave concernand is inappropriate foranybody to play politicswith the people who aretaking the brunt and aredirectly in the line of thefire.

He said Jammu andKashmir has offered manychallenges and NC and itscadre has faced these withgreat determination withthe sole objective of serv-ing the state. "On the con-trary BJP has a legacy in

Jammu and Kashmir ofindulging in politicalrhetoric based on narrowpolitical consideration" headded. Referring to theabsurd accusation of call-ing Abdullahs as dynasts,the spokesperson said it isinsulting the democraticfranchise and those exer-cised the right of vote. Hesaid Amit shah is ignorantabout the history ofJammu and Kashmir. "Ifhe had gone through theannals of history he wouldnot have made such base-less assertions", he added.

"Sher-e-Kashmir wasone of the tallest leaders

of sub continent whosestature is of a politicalgiant. It was he whorejected the two- nationtheory and opted for a sec-ular democratic countrybecause he knew thatJammu and Kashmir'sethno linguistic religiousdiversity has to be upheldby laying the foundationof a strong edifice of sec-ularism. This message ofpluralistic society wastaken forward by Dr.Farooq Abdullah andOmar Abdullah who likeSheikh Abdullah have allbeen democratically elect-ed", Rana said.

The ProvincialPresident said that it wasthe will of the people ofJammu and Kashmir thatthey (Abdullahs) served asChief Ministers. "The peo-ple of the state identifythemselves with the secularmessage of the Hindu,Muslim, Sikjh Ethad. Asand when turmoil has comeon the state, NC has alwaysbeen on the forefront toprotect the identity, honourand dignity of the people ofthe state. and have tireless-ly worked to preserve theunity, integrity and diversi-ty if Jammu and Kashmir",he added.

GY NEWS SERVICE

KaTHUa, aUG. 25: To com-memorate 65th Van Mahotsav, a plan-tation drive was held at Forest RaisinDepot in Parnala here in BillawarTehsil on Sunday. Minister of State forFisheries, Cooperatives, Forest &Ecology Dr Manohar Lal Sharma wasthe chief guest on the ocassion. ChiefConservator of Forest Roshan Jaggi,DFO Kathua Dr D. Balaji IFS, DFOSocial Forestry Sagar Singh, DFOBillawar Mohinder Gupta, RangeOfficer Bani Bhupinder SinghBillowria, panchs, Sarpanchs and largenumber of people were present on theoccasion.

The programme began with theplantation drive where Minister,Officers, Members of PRI's and largenumber of people planted the saplingof tress of different varieties.

While speaking on the ocassionDr Sharma said "The best possibleway to minimise global warming is toplant as many trees as possible, addingthat mass awareness and such planta-tion drives are necessary to spread themessage of its importance for the sur-vival of humankind'. He also said thatother mean to spread the message is

engaging people in environmentalactivities at panchayat level.

Sarpanch Parnala projected localdemands including a rest house at par-nala, boundary wall for Forest RaisinDepot, dug well, grid station at parnalaand problems of scarcity of drinkingwater and low voltage in the area.

Dr Sharma assured that their prob-lems and demands will be addressed

on priority. A similar plantation drivewas also held at Phinter Park wherescores of people participated in theplantation drive to mark Van Mahostavorganised by forest department.

Earlier Dr Manohar Lal Sharmainaugurated Forest Hutt building atNagrota Gujjroo. sharmq appreciatedthe forest department for completingthe construction work of Forest Hut inrecord time with an estimated cost ofRs 16 lac.

DFO Billawar in his welcomeaddress thanked the minister for hiskeen efforts to complete the ForestHutt work on priority. He demandedone Hand pump in the vicinity ofForest Hutt which he said will alsohelp the locals of the area.

Sarpanch Salore demanded ZEOoffice at Nagrota Gujjroo, PHC build-ing, Public library and one Hall forHigher secondary Nagrota .

Dr Sharma assured the people thearea surrounding the Forest Hutt willbe developed in coming times. Headded that provision for a Park will betaken up shortly. Later the ministeralso held a public meeting at Mangervillage and listened the problems ofthe people.

GY NEWS SERVICE

lEH, aUG. 25: Alarge number of peopleparticularly the youthMonday joined thePeoples DemocraticParty (PDP) at Disketin Leh in presence ofTashi Gyalson, districtpresident and theparty's candidate forNubra constituency.Tsering Phunchok,zone president was alsopresent on the occa-sion.

Speaking on theoccasion the newentrants said only thePDP and its leadershiphas the vision for theoverall developmentand peace in the state.They said the party hasproved it credentialswell during its briefstint in the governmentin which all the regionsof the state were treat-ed equally on econom-ic, developmental andsocial fronts. They saidthe present NationalConference -led coali-tion government has

badly failed in its dutyto provide people anyrelief over the last sixyears.

On the occasionTashi Gyalson consti-tuted coordination andworking committee forthe coming assemblyelections. ThukjeRabgias from Skampukhas been nominated asits co- chairman andPhunchok Dorjey fromHunder as president.Tsewang Stobgais (Anju) is nominated asyouth president forNubra Zone.

The party also con-stituted a women wingand Rigzen Dolmafrom Hunder is nomi-nated as president.Former CouncilorGhulam Chatapa andTsering Norphel arenowned social work-er from Nubra alongwith hundreds ofwomen, youth and rep-resentative from differ-ent villages were alsowelcomed into theparty fold.

BJP Sharnarthi Cell starts24 Hours Hunger Strike

Police seizes trucks with illegalcement, transporters protest

Large number of

people joins PDP in Leh

Plantation drive held in Billawar

BJYM Distt West Unitfelicitates Amit Shah

Rana slams Amit Shah for politicising border firing issue, says no to unsolicited sermons

Reen visits Digiana Asharam, seeksblessing of Mahant Manjit Singh Ji

DIC Kathua organises Multilingual

Mushaira cum music concertGY NEWS SERVICE

KaTHUa, aUG. 25: District Information Centre,Kathua today organized a Multilingual Mushaira cumMusic concert here at Rajiv Gandhi College of Education.

District Panchayat Officer, Kathua, Chand Kishore wasthe chief at the literary cum cultural event which was alsoattended by the Chairman of the Institutions Pankaj Dogra,Principal and staff , students and a large number of civilsociety members. The poets recited poems in Hindi, Urdu,Dogri and Punjabi languages highlighting the bad effects ofsocial evils like corruption, gender disparity on the society.The poetic works presented by the poets also threw light onthe importance of environment conservation and right wayof living to keep the body and soul healthy.

Prominent among the poets who recited their poemsincluded Mrs. Vijay Thakur, Sardar Hazoora Singh, VijaySharma, Dr Guru Parshad Sharma, Kuldep Kippy, KhajoorSingh and Sardar Manohar Singh. The poetic session wasfollowed by a cultural bonanza featuring Dogri folksongs and ghazals presented by budding local artists. Themelodious presentations by the young singers won greatapplaud from the audience. The principal of the college inhis address welcomed the guests. Chief guest, ChandKishore said that such programmes provide students achance to know about the importance of literature andcreative work for the betterment of the society. Hethanked the Information department for organizing such aprogramme.

The tasksthat remain

Change, as they say, is the only constant. What

is relevant in a certain context at a given period of

time and environment may cease to be so in a dif-

ferent context, a different time or a changed envi-

ronment. This applies as much to institutions and

organisations as to people, ideas and concepts. And

so, when confronted with change the choices are

limited to just two — change with the times, or risk

being consigned to the dustbin of history. The

Planning Commission, established 64 years ago,

brings up the issues of time, context and environ-

ment. Between 1950, when it was established, and

now, the times have changed. The then newly inde-

pendent India was struggling with a damaged and

rudimentary economy and needed an orderly

assessment of its resources and planning for devel-

opment. It is much better organised today in eco-

nomic terms, and even at current rates of growth is

among the fastest-growing in the world. The

Planning Commission was then the vehicle that

enabled the public sector to rise to the “command-

ing heights of the economy”; today, the private

sector is the chosen vehicle for industrial growth

after the tectonic shift of 1991 when licensing and

controls were abolished or eased. The global envi-

ronment has also changed, as has India’s place in

it. In today’s globalised world, state controls over

much of the economy are passé and seen as hinder-

ing enterprise. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has

merely articulated what was accepted and known

for the last decade and more: the Planning

Commission in its original form needed to be

changed.

So, what next? Centrally directed planning may

be an anachronism in these days of greater federal

autonomy. Yet, resource allocation among the

Centre and the States and between Ministries and

programmes at the Centre is an important gover-

nance activity. So are coordination, monitoring and

evaluation of publicly funded projects and

schemes, especially in the social sector. The exec-

utive wings of the government under the different

Ministries are not equipped for such tasks. Such

monitoring by Central Ministries will not be

acceptable to States, especially those ruled by a

party that is not in power at the Centre. And what

about one of the most important roles of the

Planning Commission — of being a repository of

data and information on varied sectors of the econ-

omy? Ministries and government departments rou-

tinely depend on the sectoral studies and data gen-

erated by the Planning Commission. While the

Planning Commission may go, the important tasks

it has been carrying out will still remain to be done.

At the moment, the government would seem to

have decided to abolish the Commission without

having a clear alternative in view to address some

of its essential tasks.

Golden YugEDITORIAL

4 Golden YuGJAMMU | TUESDAY | AUGUST 26 | 2014

GEoRGE maTHEW

AN extraordinary socialtransition that has beenevolving in India over thelast six decades found clearexpression during the 2014Lok Sabha elections. Ofcourse, the 16thParliamentary electionswere epochal in many waysdue to factors like the high-est number of eligible vot-ers in the world, highestpercentage of voter turnout,efficient Electronic VotingMachines (EVMs), relative-ly peaceful campaigningand polling. But from asociological perspective, themost far-reaching positiveimpact felt by the countryhas been, what this authorcalls, the “melting of votebanks.”

“Vote banks” have heldsway over Indian politicssince the time of sociologistMN Srinivas, who coinedthe term in 1948, and FGBailey, who predicted itsgradual disappearance in1957.

Variables that matterAlthough ideology and

commitment to democracyshould be the twin pillars ofany political party, in Indiaother variables like caste,religion, language and eth-nicity shape the origin anddevelopment of politicalparties as well.

Except for a few politi-cal parties, most others havecome into existence on suchgrounds. MN Srinivas usedthe term “vote bank” wayback in 1948, during hisfield study of Rampura, amulti-caste village, south-east of Mysore city, andafter the first democraticelections which took placein independent Indiabetween October 25,1951and February 21, 1952.According to Srinivas, “Thecoming of elections givesfresh opportunities for thecrystallisation of partiesaround patrons. Each patronmay be said to have a 'votebank' which he can place atthe disposal of a provincialor national party for a con-sideration which is not men-tioned but implied.” (Page70, Collected Essays,Oxford, 2002).

Primordial loyaltiesThese vote banks were

growing and expandingsince 1952 in electoral poli-tics at all levels. FG Baileyof the School of Orientaland African Studies,London, used the “vote

bank” concept to show howcaste leaders influence elec-tions, based on the electionstudies he conducted inOrissa in 1957. Bailey wasof the view that traditionalgroups, which have nothingto do with representativedemocracy, influence theelections because the candi-dates or parties capturethese groups and use themas vote banks. According toAM Shah, the phrase “votebank” extended to groupswith primordial loyalties aswell, resulting in anotherphrase, “vote bank politics”.

Seeing the tremendouspossibilities of socialchange through the vigor-ous democratic electionprocess in India, Bailey pre-dicted that “vote banks ofthis kind will disappearquite rapidly as a new gen-eration grows up.” But forthis process, he had acaveat: These vote banksshould not be “consolidatedand fortified by othermeans” by the parties con-cerned. (Page 20, Politicsand Social Change, Oxford,1963).

Subterranean forcesIn fact, since 1957, dur-

ing the 57-year period when14 parliamentary electionswere held, political leadersand political parties weremaking all efforts to consol-idate and fortify their votebanks by all means —caste,community, religion andlanguage using diplomacy,patronage, money and mus-cle power.

But what some of thepolitical leaders/partiescould not discern were thesubterranean forces work-ing in Indian society sincethe Independence and themovement towards a pan-Indian society with individ-ual freedom.

New style of politicsIn some of the South

Indian states like Kerala, itwas evident since the late1950s when the Communistparty got a majority andformed the government.The impact of Periyar'sDravidian Movement andthe emergence of Dravidianparties in Tamil Nadu wasanother case. In fact, whatBailey observed in 1957after seeing the electionprocess in Orissa (nowOdisha) has come true inspite of the efforts of thepolitical parties and leadersto consolidate and fortify it.When in 1967, MN Paniniwent to study the sameRampura village where MNSrinivas had seen ardentvote banks, the situationwas different. He could dis-cern that a new style of pol-itics was emerging with a“changing character ofpatron-client ties.” The newgeneration has taken over.The vote banks were slowlyand steadily melting awayand the 2014 elections tell itall. Take the case ofMuslims. The Congresspresident met Shahi ImamBukhari of Jama Masjid,Delhi, in April, 2014 aheadof the Lok Sabha elections.Then, Bukhari made anappeal to Muslims to votefor Congress candidates butthe party could not get evena single seat out of seven inDelhi. It clearly shows howthe vote-bank pot is melt-ing. On the other hand,Muslim leaders in Aligarhwere exhorting their com-munity to shed “Congressnostalgia.” The BombayMuslim Federation hadsent volunteers to cam-paign for AAP candidates.

The emergence of newideologies and movementsimmensely contribute toaccelerating the meltingprocess of vote banks. TheAam Admi Party (AAP)got 29 per cent votes in the

Delhi Assembly electionsand its share went up to 33per cent in the Lok Sabhaelections in the seven con-stituencies. At the all-Indialevel it secured two percent of the total votes cast,that is, 11.08 million votedfor AAP transcending thevote banks more than theestablished parties like CPIor JDU. In Punjab, AAP got24 per cent of vote sharesbreaking conventional bar-riers of the established par-ties.

Case of Bihar & UttarPradesh

In Bihar, the Yadavcommunity had dominatedthe political scene sinceLalu Prasad Yadav becamethe Chief Minister of theState. He was also able tomobilise Muslims in hisfavour. This political votebank was termed as 'MY'equation. It worked in threeconsecutive StateAssembly and Lok Sabhaelections, but starteddiminishing and LaluPrasad's Party RJD lostheavily in the 2014 LokSabha elections.

Take the case of UttarPradesh. In this state theDalits constitute 20.5 percent of the total Dalit popu-lation in India. In the elec-tions since 2007, its voteshare has been going down.While the BSP got 30.43per cent vote share in 2007,its decline was steady:2009 — 27.42 per cent;2012 — 25.91 per cent; andin 2014 — 19.6 per cent.Mulayam Singh Yadavmobilised the Yadav andMuslim communities in hisfavour and won the StateAssembly election in 2012by almost two-third majori-ty. But, this vote-bank poli-tics did not work in the2014 Lok Sabha Electionsand out of 80 Lok Sabhaseats, it could win only fiveseats. Although in the past,the BJP's vote bank in UttarPradesh mainly consists ofBrahmins, Banias and theurban middle class; in the2014 Lok Sabha elections,it won 73 seats in UttarPradesh, getting wide sup-port from all sections ofsociety.

Negation of traditionalcalculations

According to theCSDS-Lokniti survey, inHaryana BJP consolidatedmost castes except Dalitsand Jats. Nearly 52 per centBrahmins and 51 per centOBCs voted for the BJP.

Maharashtra witnessedfragmentation of votebanks in the last decade.The Adivasi vote wasalmost equally dividedbetween the BJP-Sena andCongress-NCP alliances.Among the major Dalitcommunities only neo-Buddhists favoured theCongress-NCP. Nearly 60per cent OBCs have sup-ported the B JP-Senaalliance.

Coming to Gujarat, theprime ministerial candidatewas the primary factor. Thestate saw the negation ofthe traditional calculationof regional base of variousparties. CSDS survey saysnot even half of the Dalitsvoted for the Congress. InRajasthan, the Congresshad a strong hold over theJat community whereas theother dominant Rajputcommunity used to supportthe BJP. But in the 2014Lok Sabha elections, Jats ingeneral supported the BJP.This may be temporary butthe myth of a permanentvote bank is disappearing.One of the major reasonsfor diminishing vote-bankpolitics is that its “patrons”could not deliver good gov-ernance. Over the years,they became more corruptand preferred giving ticketsand high positions to theirnear and dear/family mem-bers on a big scale. Thesubstantial change of vot-ers' profile is another factorfor contributing to themelting of vote banks. Aspolitical parties could notdefend the rights of the vul-nerable sections who, atone time, were taken ascompeting vote banks —Dalits, OBCs, etc. — vot-ers have become morepolitically conscious andprefer to test performingcandidates/parties, who candeliver at the governancelevel. Affirmative action,special measures to upliftthe poor and downtrodden,good governance dis-course, all have contributedto it. In a democracy, indi-vidual is the unit and theindividual is the decidingfactor. Thus, the statesknown for caste loyalties,the caste-oriented politicalparties continue to faceserious electoral debacles.

Now people vote forstability and issues likedevelopment, good gover-nance and peace accordingto their choice keepingaside incentives and dic-

tates from the patrons, mid-dlemen, caste leaders andnetas. As far as the youngergeneration or the youngvoters are concerned, theywant a safe future withprosperity. They use allmodern technologiestowards this end. Thesocial media, informationtechnology and mobilityhave come to their advan-tage. For these young peo-ple, a meaningful democra-cy is the answer to theirmany problems and theyplay a vital role in the elec-tions.

The ultimate result ofour multi-party, democraticelections is that Indiansociety is becoming a mod-ern society, transcendingnarrow communal, reli-gious, ethnic, language andother divides and consider-ations. The individual as adecision maker is comingto the forefront and tradi-tional community leadersare receding to the back-ground. Therefore, people'schoice of party will swinglike a pendulum in everyfive or ten years. Todayparliamentary electionswitnessed it; tomorrow wewill see it in all the stateassembly and panchayatelections as well.

The author isChairman, Institute ofSocial Sciences, New Delhi

Politics of vote bankMN Srinivas used the

term “vote bank” in 1948during his field study ofRampura, a multi-caste vil-lage, southeast of Mysorecity. This was after the firstdemocratic elections inindependent India betweenOctober 25, 1951 andFebruary 21, 1952.

Elections gives freshopportunities for crystalli-sation of parties aroundpatrons. Each patron maybe said to have a “votebank,” which he can placeat the disposal of a provin-cial or national party for aconsideration which is notmentioned but implied.

A major reason fordiminishing vote bank poli-tics is “patrons” inability todeliver good governance.They became more corruptand preferred to give ticketsand high positions to nearand dear/family members.In 1967, MN Panini wentagain to study Rampura andcould discern that a newstyle of politics was emerg-ing with a “changing char-acter of patron-client ties.”

Why traditional vote banks are melting

maHESH SaCHDEV

Our news media’s con-stant focus on the UnitedStates notwithstanding, itseems to have completelymissed a historic move ear-lier this month by PresidentBarack Obama with poten-tially serious implications.From August 4 to 6, he host-ed the first ever ‘U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit’ inwhich over 45 of Africa’sheads of states participated.In his welcome address,President Obama leveragedhis own African lineage bytelling them that apart frombeing a proud American, healso stood before them “asthe son of a man fromAfrica.”

The summit had anunambiguous economicfocus. During its three daysof deliberations, U.S. ‘com-mitments to Africa’ worth$33 billion were announced.These included: $14 billionin investment by U.S. com-panies; $7 billion to financeU.S. exports; and $12 bil-lion for a ‘Power Africa’ ini-tiative to boost electricityavailability. Over 90American companies partic-ipated in the summit.

Cynosure of many eyesBecause of its vast nat-

ural resources, acute infra-structure deficit, high popu-lation growth and growingmiddle class, Africa has

long been a cynosure ofmany eyes. Countries suchas China, India, Japan,Brazil, Turkey and SouthKorea, as well as organisa-tions such as the EuropeanUnion (EU), theCommonwealth and LaFrancophonie, have beenregularly hosting Africa-focussed summits. The U.S.is the latest to join thisAfrica rush.

“We should harness ourassets in Africa, like theIndian diaspora there and agrowing acceptance of thequality our healthcare andeducation facilities”

It would, however, beincorrect to considerWashington a latecomer tothe ‘Africa Party.’Historically, the slave tradeprovided an umbilical cordbetween the U.S. andAfrica. Bilateral landmarksinclude AmericanFriendship Treaty withTunisia in 1799 and estab-lishment of Liberia in 1821.They also include Americansupport for Apartheidregime in South Africa andfor right wing dictatorshipsin countries from Moroccoto Congo to Angola duringthe Cold War. Subsequently,the U.S. did help in the dis-mantling of Apartheid andgetting Namibia its free-dom.

In 2007, the U.S. Armycreated the Africa

Command (Africom),which has been steadilyexpanding its presence inthe continent. Lately, how-ever, Pentagon has beenalarmed, in the aftermath ofthe Arab Spring, at thespread of Islamic terrorismacross large swathes ofAfrica: Maghreb, Sahel,Nigeria, the Central AfricanRepublic and Somalia.

Economically, theAmerican presence inAfrica has been large but iscurrently declining. Till2008, the U.S. was Africa’slargest trading partner. Thiswas spurred by import ofAfrican oil worth over $100billion — part of U.S.’ strat-egy to reduce dependenceon the Gulf. However,

thanks to a shale revolution,the U.S. has become theworld’s largest oil producerand its oil imports fromAfrica are set to plummetto a mere $15 billion forthe year 2014. This hasdramatically reducedU.S.-Africa trade toaround $60 billion in2013, nearly a third ofChina’s trade with Africa.If this trend continues,India may well overtakethe U.S. as Africa’s sec-ond-largest trading part-ner this year. However,the U.S. still remainsAfrica’s largest aidprovider and a majorinvestor.

Against this backdrop,many observers see the

Washington Summit as aU.S. bid to find new eco-nomic paradigms for itsAfrica profile to catch upwith China and otherstakeholders on Africa.The sceptics, however,point out that with U.S.economy still in recoverymode, no early surge inAmerican demand forAfrican raw materials islikely.

Further, the U.S. prod-ucts, services and technol-ogy are often eitherunsuitable or too expen-sive for Africans. ItsAsian competitors have anedge here, in industriesranging from mobiles tomedicines. The U.S. nicheareas for Africa include:

export of commodities(foodstuff, refined prod-ucts); supply of equip-ment (for power, aviation,construction etc); and pro-jects for mineral exploita-tion, hotels and hospitals.

Following the Chinesestrategy

A closer look at theWashington Summit’soutcome also reveals thatthe U.S. intends to followthe Chinese strategy oflong-term soft funding forAfrica. Beijing has forlong provided concession-al loans to African coun-tries to cushion them fromthe lower quality (andhigher costs) of its prod-ucts and projects; the U.S.and American MNCswould possibly do thesame. For most Africangovernments facing a seri-ous capital crunch, suchlong-term soft loans areoften irresistible. Second,with many African statesfacing serious securitychallenges, the U.S. mayalso leverage its Africomumbrella to gain an eco-nomic advantage.

As New Delhi plans tohost the third India-AfricaForum Summit (IAFS-3)in December 2014, whatare the implications of theWashington event for us?First, forceful re-entry ofthe U.S. and its deep-pocketed MNCs may lead

to a more intense andpotentially unfair compe-tition in Africa. Second,greater U.S. engagementin infrastructure buildingmay release synergies inAfrica that we can lever-age. For example, betterroads can mean moreIndian vehicles beingsold. Third, if AmericanMNCs increase produc-tion of primary commodi-ties in Africa, it may ben-efit India as their end-user. Fourth, Indian sub-sidiaries of the U.S.MNCs stand to gain.Finally, over the past 15years, India has success-fully created some keyinterfaces in Africa inareas such as power,Information andC o m m u n i c a t i o n sTechnology, and health-care. A U.S. entry intothese may affect marketaccess for us. Africans,who have often played theChina card with us, couldnow play the U.S. card aswell.

India would do well toprepare IAFS-3 with aStrengths, Weaknesses,Opportunities and Threats(SWOT) review of thepast six years of the IAFSprocess. The followingdomains suggest them-selves:

(i) Being a developingcountry with income level

comparable to mostAfrican nations, Indiacannot sustain the IAFSprocess on the basis offreebies alone. Instead,African countries shouldbe invited to become co-stakeholders in theprocess.

(ii) While the AfricanUnion Commission can bea political umbrella forthe IAFS process, Indiashould, on its own, chooseboth the recipients for ourdevelopmental coopera-tion and the manner inwhich we plan to extendit. We must not abdicatethis important task to theAfrican Union (AU)bureaucracy.

(iii) There is a need torevamp the Line of Creditapproach to projects as ithas rarely delivered theintended results.

Instead, greater sup-port should be given toprivate sector-driven pro-jects through initiativeslike lower interest rates,risk mitigation, etc.

(iv) We should harnessour assets in Africa, suchas the Indian diasporathere; a growing accep-tance of the quality of ourhealthcare and education-al facilities; relevance ofour developmental model;and the greater willing-ness of our private sectorto engage the continent.

HIGH NOON FOR INDIA IN AFRICA

a file photograph of the youth voting. For these young

people, a meaningful democracy is the answer to their

many problems and they played a vital role in the Lok

Sabha elections this year.

During its three days of deliberations,

U.S. ‘commitments to Africa’ worth $33

billion were announced. These includ-

ed: $14 billion in investment by U.S.

companies; $7 billion to finance U.S.

exports; and $12 billion for a ‘Power

Africa’ initiative to boost electricity

availability.

Madhya Pradesh: Stampede at

Kamtanath temple, 10 people deadSaTNa, aUG. 25: At least ten people were killed and

over 60 injured in stampede at Kamtanath Pahad temple in

Satna district in Madhya Pradesh early Monday. Reports

said that the stampede happened at around 6 am after large

number of pilgrims had gathered at the Kamtanath temple

in Chitrakoot on the occasion of 'Amavasya' to offer

prayers on the auspicious occasion of Somvati Amavasya.

"Ten people were killed and over 60 are suspected to

be injured in the stampede," Collector ML Meena said.

Devotees, mostly women, encircle the mountain by lying

and rolling on the path for worship. The presence of a

large crowd resulted in a stampede in the area leaving 10

dead, he said. The BJP government-led by Shivraj Singh

Chouhan announced a a compensation of Rs two lakh for

the families of the deceased and Rs 50000 for the serious-

ly injured and Rs 10,000 to those who suffered minor

injuries. The exact number of persons injured in the stam-

pede will be known later as Collector and other senior offi-

cials have rushed to the spot from Satna to take stock of

the situation.

Sheila Dikshit meets Home Minister,

denies reports about resigningNEW DElHI, aUG. 25: Kerala Governor Sheila

Dikshit, who met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at

the North Block here on Monday, denied reports about

resigning from her post and termed them to be speculation.

"Let them be speculations till any truth comes out,"

Dikshit told mediapersons here.

"I always call on the President. It is my duty to call on

him," she added when asked about her expected meeting

with President Pranab Mukherjee later in the day.

According to sources, Dikshit may tender her resigna-

tion as the Kerala Governor when she calls on the

President today. Dikshit was appointed the Kerala

Governor by the former UPA regime after she led the

Congress to a humiliating defeat in the Delhi assembly

polls. The Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre

has in the last few months replaced the Governors in sev-

eral states. The Centre had earlier removed Mizoram

Governor Kamla Beniwal, who had also served in Gujarat.

Earlier on Sunday, Maharashtra Governor K

Sankaranarayanan resigned after he was transferred to

Mizoram for the remainder of his term till 2017.

Major fire breaks out in Delhi's

Chandni Chowk, no casualtyNEW DElHI, aUG. 25: A major fire was reported at

the Kinari Bazar area of Chandni Chowk in the national

capital on Monday. However, no casualty has been report-

ed in the incident. According to initial reports, the fire is

believed to have been caused by a short-circuit in a trans-

former in the close vicinity of the busy market area. At

least 16 fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse fire.

It is being said that the fire is now under control and those

present there have been safely evacuated.

MP bypoll: BJP retains Agar;

defeats Cong by over 27,000 votesaGaR/bHoPal, aUG. 25: The BJP on Monday

retained the Agar Assembly seat by a margin of 27,102

votes with its candidate Gopal Parmar defeating Congress'

Rajkumar Gore. The result was announced by the District

Returning Officer after the counting was over.

The by-poll was necessitated in Agar (Malwa) after

sitting BJP MLA Manohar Untwal got elected as MP from

Dewas Lok Sabha seat. Meanwhile, Congress which is

striving hard to revive its fortunes in the state after remain-

ing out of power since 2003, received some good news

from Bahoriband seat in Katni district where its candidate

Sourabh Singh is leading by a margin of 1,750 votes.

BJP had won the Bahoriband seat in the 2013

Assembly polls and by-poll was necessitated due to the

death of sitting MLA Prabhat Pandey. The ruling party has

fielded his son Pranav Pandey from the constituency. In

Vijaraghavgarh, BJP's Sanjay Pathak is leading by a mar-

gin of 17,000 votes against Congress' Brajendra Mishra.

Pathak had won the Vijayraghavgarh seat in 2013 from

Congress with a thin margin. Later during Lok Sabha

polls, he switched over to the BJP due to differences with

the party leaders. By-polls in these three constituencies,

held last week witnessed a higher turnout of 69.98 percent,

with Bahorband recording 71.80 percent, Agar 70.09 per-

cent and Vijayraghavgarh 68.05 percent.

MHA recommends names for Maharashtra,

Rajasthan, Karnataka, Goa GovernorsNEW DElHI, aUG. 25: Maharashtra, Rajasthan,

Karnataka and Goa are likely to have new Governors soon

with the Home Ministry recommending names to the

President for appointment to the posts. Former Chief

Minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh, veteran BJP lead-

ers VK Malhotra and Lalji Tandon are among the few

probables who may be appointed as the Governors of the

four states.

Four names have been recommended for appointment

as Governor, official sources said. However, it is not clear

when the official announcement of appointment of the

four will be made by the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

On August 11, Kalyan Singh had claimed that he was

offered the post of Governor of Rajasthan and he has

accepted the position "happily".

Maharashtra Governor's post fell vacant yesterday

when incumbent K Sankaranarayanan resigned after he

was transferred to Mizoram.

Post of the Governor of Karnataka has remained

vacant since July end when former Law Minister HR

Bhardwaj had completed his five year tenure while the

post of Rajasthan Governor fell vacant after Margaret Alva

completed her tenure early this month.

Goa Governor's post fell vacant when former SPG

chief BV Wanchoo resigned last month. Earlier, the NDA

government had sacked Mizoram Governor Kamla

Beniwal, who had served in Gujarat earlier and had a run-

ning battle with Narendra Modi when he was the state's

Chief Minister.

5 Golden YuGJAMMU | TUESDAY | AUGUST 26 | 2014

N E W

DElHI/PaTNa, aUG.

25: With the Lalu PrasadYadav-Nitish Kumar com-bine having gained theupper hand in the bypollheld for 10 seats in Bihar,all eyes are now on thechanging political dynam-ics ahead of the big battlein 2015, when assemblyelections would be held inthe state.

Though the 'grandalliance' managed to winonly six seats, the victorycertainly comes as psycho-logical advantage to thealliance partners after thewashout in Lok Sabhapolls.

The RJD and the JD(U)dubbed the BJP's loss as aindication of people'sresentment to the policiesof the Narendra Modi gov-ernment at the Centre onlyto elicit a strong responsefrom the state unit of the

BJP. “Modi ji's governmenthas nothing to do with thepoll results”, said partyspokesperson ShahnawazHussain.

However, the resultspresents a great challengeto new BJP president AmitShah as he works to repli-cate his Uttar Pradesh LokSabha success elsewhere inthe country.

While Lalu and Nitishmay have no other optionthan to stick together andput up a united fightagainst the BJP in theassembly elections, thebypoll results may also bethe first step in what canturn out to be a pan-Indiaconsolidation of anti-BJPforces. Senior BJP leaderand former deputy chiefminister Sushil KumarModi tweeted: “We acceptthe verdict. LS we won,byeelections they won, it is 1-1.We will review, make

amends & make all effortto win the final round(sic)."

JD(U) leader and for-mer chief minister NitishKumar expresses happinesswith the bypoll victory.

“The election was veryimportant and the voters ofBihar have voted in clearterms, I thank them for thesame,” he said. “I hadmade no claims during theentire poll campaign. Butthere were many otherswho were making claims ofvictory. The clear verdict,which has come close tothe Lok Sabha polls, indi-cates that the people ofBihar has rejected the poli-tics of divisiveness. Theresults is a victory of thepolitics of harmony, Nitishstressed. “The results couldhave been better. An exper-iment was done and it hasturned out to be success-ful,” he added.

NEW DElHI, aUG.

25: Rolling out yet anotherlimited- period special faresoffer, no-frill carrierSpiceJet Mondayannounced discounts onone-way all-inclusive faresstarting as low as Rs 1,888.The catch is you will haveto book your flight byAugust 27 and travelbetween September 25 andJanuary 15, an airlinespokesperson said, addingthe offer is applicable on alldirect, via and onwardflights on SpiceJet's domes-

tic network.There would be "limited

inventory under the offerwhich will be available onfirst-come-first-served basisand is not applicable ongroup bookings," he said.

The airline has alsowaived off the conveniencefee for customers usingInternet banking to makepayments on its website.

The fares charged underthe offer would be "non-refundable and non-change-able, barring the taxes andfees which are refundable,

the spokesperson said."This offer comes at a

fantastic time with festivi-ties just around the cornerand I hope this will help ourcustomers make the mostfrom this festive season,"said SpiceJet CCOKaneswaran Avili.

The last time a sale offerwas announced was only amonth ago when IndiGoand GoAir joined the low-fare competition initiated bySpiceJet. Air India and JetAirways also later joinedthe bandwagon.

mUmbaI, aUG. 25: The wounds are still fresh, thebullet marks are still there but it's time for a fresh start forMumbai's Jewish community. The Chabad House centre indowntown Colaba, better known as Nariman House, will bereopened on Tuesday, nearly six years after the 26/11tragedy. Six of its occupants including Rabbi GavrielNoach Holtzberg and his five-month pregnant wife Rivkahad died when terrorists attacked the building on that fate-ful night. Their son Moshe Holtzberg, who was 2-years-oldthen, was saved by his Indian nanny. Now 8 years old,Moshe lives in Afula, Israel. Post renovation the five-storeyNariman House will once again cater to the needs of visi-tors and the local Jewish community. A synangogue, kosherkitchen are part of the new set up.

The top two floors of the building will house a memor-ial dedicated to the victims of the attack. The bullet markshave been left intact on the walls, keeping the memories ofthe attack alive. The redevelopment of Nariman House hadcome into dispute in 2010 after the family of the deceasedalleged embezzlement of funds on the part of some officialsof the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. However, the matterwas later settled amicably by the brother of Rabbi Gavriel.The Mumbai terror attacks had begun on November 26,2008 when 10 armed terrorists from Pakistan landed onMumbai's shore and went on a killing spree. Besides theNariman House, they targeted the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel,the Oberoi Trident and the Chatraparti Shivaji Terminusamong other places. 164 people were killed and atleast 308more were left wounded.

lUCKNoW, aUG. 25:

In the latest developmentregarding the Badaun killingscase, CBI will not to filechargesheet against fiveaccused arrested by UP Police,as per reports. If the CBI doesnot file the chargesheet thenthat essentially means that allthe accused in the case will getbail. According to the law, anaccused can get bail if CBIfails to file a chargesheetagainst them within 90 daysthat ends on August 28. In anew twist in the case, onAugust 20, the Hyderabad-based Centre for DNAFingerprinting and Diagnostics(CDFD) had ruled out sexualassault on the teenage girlswhose bodies were foundhanging from a tree in May.

CBI sources has said thenthat it was a crucial informa-tion from one of the mostreputed government labs

which has cleared a lot ofdoubts about the theory of thecousins being sexually assault-ed before being killed and theneedle of suspicion was nowon the family members, as perPTI. The sources said theywere not ruling out honourkilling angle. Sources in theCBI had also said that theagency would not exhume thebodies now as the report fromCDFD had given them enoughforensic evidence which could

help them crack the case. At the same time, the bail

pleas of five accused, Pappu,Awadhesh and Urvesh Yadav(all three brothers) and consta-bles Chhatrapal Yadav andSarvesh Yadav, would not beopposed by the agency as therewas no clear evidence againstthem, it was reported. The twocousin sisters, aged 14 and 15,were found hanging from atree in Badaun district of UttarPradesh in the last week of

May, an incident whichsparked national outrage withthe Samajwadi Party govern-ment in the state coming underfire on the issue of law andorder situation. The findings ofCBI are in sync with the obser-vations of Uttar Pradesh DGPA L Banerjee who had claimedthat the rape of one of the vic-tims was not confirmed andproperty could be one of themotives behind the crime.Meanwhile earlier, accusingpolice of destroying vital evi-dence, the father of one of thetwo teenaged cousins threat-ened that the family memberswould hang themselves fromthe same tree if "justice was notdone in the case". The father ofone of the victims had said,"Police had already destroyedvital evidence. Even CBI isprobing on the lines of investi-gation done by the UttarPradesh police."

SpiceJet offers fares as low as Rs 1,888Lalu-Nitish beat BJP in 'semi-final',

all set for 'final' in 2015

CBI not to file chargesheet againstfive accused in Badaun killings case

26/11: Nariman House to reopen

with memories of Gavriel and Rivka

bEIJING, aUG. 25:

Anti-China atmosphere inIndia is easing since PrimeMinister Narendra Moditook over and bilateral tieshave "rosy prospects" inview of Chinese PresidentXi Jinping's forthcomingstate visit to the country, anarticle in the official mediahere said Monday. "Modihas been an old friend ofChina for many years.There has been an anti-China atmosphere amongIndia's public opinion since1962. However, such a sen-timent has been mitigatedsince Modi assumedoffice," said an article titled'China, India should makeendeavours toward theirshared destiny' in the state-run Global Times.

"Of course, more time isneeded to eliminate such amentality. The two govern-ments and peoples shouldspare no effort to improvebilateral relations," said thearticle by Tan Zhong, a

Chinese scholar on Indianaffairs based in the US. "His(Modi's) guiding principletoward China is peace,friendship, cooperation andcommunication. WithChinese President XiJinping's state visit to Indiadrawing near, the Beijing-New Delhi relationship hasrosy prospects," it said.

Highlighting Modi'splans to rejuvenate India'seconomy and remove all thebarriers to facilitate eco-nomic development, the

article said India and Chinashould build on communityof shared destiny. "Such acommunity, with a popula-tion of 2.5 billion, will be ofremarkable significance andplay an important role inshaping the new globalorder," the article said.

Modi is unwilling toadopt major changes to theforeign policies of the pre-vious government, it said.China has envisioned a SilkRoad economic belt and the21st century maritime Silk

Road, which will be thetheme during Xi's Indiatrip," the article said.

Xi's visit is expected totake place in the third weekof next month though theschedule is yet to beannounced. The Qinghai-Tibet railway stretchingfrom Lhasa to Shigatse hasalready been opened to traf-fic, the article said pointingto the launch of the newrailway project in Tibetwhich comes close to theIndian border near Sikkim.

"All these are laying asolid foundation for theconstruction of a Sino-Indian community of shareddestiny. The Silk Road inhistory started from Chinaand India and then extendedto Europe. And Buddhismwas spread to Chinathrough this road," it said."It is high time that the twocountries make concertedefforts to create a communi-ty of shared destiny," itadded.

'Anti-China atmosphere in Indiaeasing since Modi took over'

mUmbaI, aUG. 25:

City-based private operatorMaritime Energy Heli AirServices Pvt Ltd (Mehair),in association with MTDC,Monday launched maidenseaplane service toLonavala from here, mark-ing its first operation fromthe mainland. The first com-mercial seaplane flight withnine passengers onboard aCessna 208A aircraft, tookoff at around 12 noon fromthe Juhu aerodrome forPawana dam in Lonavala.

"We have receivedtremendous response fromthe customers. As a matter-of-fact, both the dailyflights and weekly flights

that we will operate haveseen full bookings tillSeptember 15," Mehair co-founder and directorSiddharth Verma said afterthe launch.

The company also plansto set up a training facilityfor seaplane pilots to meetthe demand. "Right nowthere are very few pilots tooperate a seaplane. We areplanning to establish a con-version school (trainingacademy) for pilots, whichwill train commercial pilotlicence (CPL) holders forthese type of aircraft and afull-fledged conversionschool is aimed at tidingover this problem," Verma

said. He said the traininginstitute will come up at theproposed maintenance,repair and overhaul (MRO)facility, the site for which isbeing identified.

Mehair pioneered thelaunch of seaplanes opera-tions in the country inJanuary 2011 when it rolled

out services in the Andamanand Nicobar Islands.

The company hasannounced special promo-tional fares of Rs 2,999 perperson for a 25-minute oneway journey, which willremain in effect tillSeptember 15, he said,adding, "we will revise fares

post mid-September buthave not yet decided thequantum of hike."

The company, whichhas so far invested Rs 15crore including in aircraftacquisition, will have fiveseaplanes by Decemberthis year.

"At present, we have afour-seater Cessna 206(leased one) and nine-seater Cessna 208A air-craft which is owned byus. We are getting onemore Cessna 208A nextmonth, which will be fol-lowed by acquisition oftwo more similar planesby December," he said.

Mehair is now looking

at expanding the seaplaneoperations in the state fur-ther, Verma said."Services to Dhoom, Mulaand Gangapur dams arealso in the offing. Whilethe DGCA approval forMula dam operations isalready in place, the regu-lator's nod for the remain-ing two places is alsoexpected shortly," Vermasaid.

The amphibian planeswill eventually connectMumbai with multipletourist destinations in thestate, adjacent to four suit-able water bodies eventhough there are no run-ways at these destinations.

First seaplane service from Mumbai takes off for Lonavala

SC refuses to entertain petitions

challenging judges appointment billNEW DElHI, aUG. 25: The Supreme Court on

Monday refused to entertain petitions challenging the 121stconstitutional amendment by which collegium system forappointment of judges in higher judiciary was scrapped anda new mechanism under National Judicial AppointmentCommission (NJAC) was proposed to be put in place.

While rejecting the pleas, the SC bench headed byChief Justice RM Lodha said, “We are of the view that thepetitions are premature and parties can approach the courtat later stage.” Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused toentertain petitions challenging the 121st constitutionalamendment by which collegium system for appointment ofjudges in higher judiciary was scrapped and a new mecha-nism under National Judicial Appointment Commission(NJAC) was proposed to be put in place.

While rejecting the pleas, the SC bench headed byChief Justice RM Lodha said, “We are of the view that thepetitions are premature and parties can approach the courtat later stage.” The top court opined that the bill at presentis on "legislative hold" and the court should not entertainany plea challenging it. Four PILs were filed in the apexcourt for declaring the NJAC move as unconstitutional,days after Parliament passed two bills to scrap the col-legium system for appointments in higher judiciary and toprovide a new mechanism in its place.

The PILs were filed by former Additional SolicitorGeneral Bishwajit Bhattacharya, advocates RK Kapoor andManohar Lal Sharma and Supreme Court Advocates onRecord Association. The lawyers submitted that the 121stConstitutional Amendment Bill and the NJAC Bill, 2014,passed by Parliament were unconstitutional as they violatethe basic structure of the Constitution.

6 Golden YuGJAMMU | TUESDAY | AUGUST 26 | 2014

Facebook the leader but

Google apps hot favouritesNEW YoRK: Social networking website Facebook is

the most used app, but Google apps dominate the top 10

slots when it comes to selecting from over two million

apps available in the Apple and Google stores. Topping the

app list is Facebook, being used by 115 million people

monthly while Google-owned YouTube comes second

with 83.4 million users, said a new study from ComScore,

a US internet analytics company.

It also found that people spend more time with apps

than with websites. In third place is the Google Play app -

the place for Android users to get new apps, with 72 mil-

lion users monthly. At fourth place is Google search app

with 70 million users.

The personalised online radio service Pandora, with 69

million listeners, makes it tio the fifth place, the findings

showed. At sixth place is Google Maps with 64.5 million

monthly users navigating their way around.

Gmail is at seventh place, with 60 million users. While

Facebook-owned photo sharing app Instagram with 46.6

million users monthly comes eighth, Apple Maps and

Yahoo Finance app take the two bottom slots in the list,

ComScore said.

China plans own desktopoperating system

bEIJING: China may launch its homegrown operat-

ing system (OS) by October after concerns about the US

surveillance and a monopoly probe of Microsoft, Xinhua

reported. According to Ni Guangnan of the Chinese

Academy of Engineering, the OS will be first seen on

desktop devices and later expanded to smartphones and

other mobile devices.

"We hope to launch a Chinese-made desktop operating

system by October supporting app stores," Ni, who heads

an OS development alliance established in March, told the

People's Post and Telecommunications News.

"China has more than a dozen mobile OS developers

with no independent intellectual property rights because

their research is based on Android," Ni added.

There are still problems in the programme, including a

lack of research funds and too many developers pulling in

different directions. According to the report, Ni said the

end of Windows XP and the government ban on the pro-

curement of Windows 8 have opened the door to domestic

OS developers.

"Our key to success lies in an environment that can

help us compete with Google, Apple and Microsoft," said

Ni. China is now looking to help its domestic industry

catch up with imported systems such as Microsoft's

Windows and Google's mobile operating system Android.

Tiny 'raindrop' eye implantcould banish reading glasses

loNDoN: Scientists have invented a new implant

that could help replace the reading glasses and revolu-

tionise treatment for ageing eyes. The Raindrop corneal

inlay, no larger than a pinhead, works by increasing the

curvature of the cornea, allowing the eye to focus proper-

ly again, the Daily Express reported.

The process invented in the US, which just takes 10

minutes, was first carried out in Britain at a clinic in

Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. Raindrop has been made

of hydrogel, a substance also used in contact lenses. It was

developed at ReVision Optics in California and was insert-

ed using a virtually painless laser procedure.

The procedure appeared to be the perfect long-term

solution for people suffering from presbyopia, a condition

which makes it hard to focus on small objects and whose

eyes are simply getting tired with age.

Mark Wevill, an ophthalmic surgeon at Space

Healthcare in Leamington Spa, said that it can't stop eyes

from ageing but it could help correct the natural deteriora-

tion. However, it's not available on the NHS and currently

costs around 2,495 Pounds.

Honeybees came from

Asia, not Africa: StudyloNDoN: Contrary to the general belief that honey-

bees originated from Africa, a new research indicates that

the species actually came from Asia.

Researchers present the first global analysis of

genome variation in honeybees in a study, which was pub-

lished in the journal Nature Genetics. The new findings

show a surprisingly high level of genetic diversity in them.

According to the researchers, honeybee (Apis mellif-

era) derived from an ancient lineage of cavity-nesting bees

that arrived from Asia around 300,000 years ago and

rapidly spread across Europe and Africa.

“The findings indicate that high levels of inbreeding

are not a major cause of global colony losses”, said

Matthew Webster, a researcher from Uppsala University,

Sweden.

The team also identified specific mutations in genes

important in adaptation to factors such as climate and

pathogens, including those involved in morphology,

behaviour and innate immunity.

“The evolutionary tree we constructed from genome

sequences does not support an origin in Africa. This gives

us new insight into how honeybees spread and became

adapted to habitats across the world," Webster noted.

The study also revealed that climate change has

strongly impacted honeybee populationsin the past.

lEfT bEHIND aT 135

That India was ranked135 out of 187 countries onUNDP’s human develop-ment index is perhaps thegreatest concern for a nationwith global ambition.

In order to sustain ourgrowth momentum andtranslate the gains of growthinto wellbeing at a fasterpace, India needs to rejig itsstrategy for acceleratedhuman development. Theperformance in educationand health in recent yearshas been better than in thepast, but there is still a longway to go.

First, India needs totackle undernutrition inzero- to three-year-old chil-dren more effectively. Thisalone can improve learningoutcomes and reduce childand maternal mortalityrates. Unfortunately, thisage group is not getting theattention it deserves.Children between four andsix years of age are bestlinked to schools with anursery and preparatoryclass. It is time to take ahard look at the integratedchild development services(ICDS). There is a case fordaycare centres for six- to36-month-old children toensure age-appropriatecomplementary feeding,

growth monitoring, care andearly stimulation, and toinculcate cleanliness andensure adequate qualityfood intake. The JanSwasthya Sahyog experi-ment in Ganiyari, Bilaspur,shows the gains that arepossible. Improvement innutrition will automaticallyreduce child and maternalmortality significantly,besides ensuring improvedparticipation and learning inschools.

Second, public healthand hygiene needs to be pri-oritised. Lack of sanitationand clean water are the rea-sons why improvement innutrition and health indica-tors is unsatisfactory. A con-certed campaign to endopen defecation, innovativesystems of solid- and liquid-waste management, andsegregation of waste andrecycling require new tech-nology, innovation andcommunity action. India’seconomic revival andimprovement in wellbeingcannot happen without asignificant improvement insanitation. Urban and rurallocal bodies have to be re-energised as mere high-costinfrastructure does nottranslate into cleaner citiesand villages. There is a needfor a community-led publichealth movement.

Third, financing of criti-cal sectors like education,health, nutrition, water andsanitation has to follow along-term plan and must notbe ad hoc. There must bewell worked out outcomesand time frames for humandevelopment indicators,with appropriate backing offinancial resources. Indiacan do without a regime ofsubsidies, tax holidays andother concessions. But itcannot do without satisfac-tory levels of public spend-ing on human development.

Fourth, human develop-ment outcomes are interre-lated and dependent on fac-tors outside a given depart-ment’s purview. Only awider platform can actuallyfacilitate the achievement ofoutcomes. As a nation, weshould select 15 to 20 keyindicators in education,health, nutrition, water, san-itation, women’s empower-ment, social inclusion,

livelihood, food securityand housing, and monitorthem from the habitation tothe national level.

Fifth, gender/ socialequality and improvedhuman development indica-tors go together. We cannotafford hierarchies of accessto basic services for humandevelopment. Equity andinclusion have to be main-streamed in all programmes.Gender and social hierar-chies will have to be demol-ished for a faster pace ofhuman development. Thisrequires investing in com-munity processes that bringout the solidarity of womenand the assertion of unprivi-leged social groups.Community organisationswill have to be institution-alised in the framework ofpanchayati raj, at the hamletor cluster-of-householdslevel.

Sixth, new public man-agement skills and profes-

sionals in public health,nutrition etc would berequired at the block anddistrict levels. Lateral entryof professionals will have tobe facilitated even at thestate and national levels sothat human developmentprogrammes get therequired technical inputs.

Seventh, systems ofthird-party assessment ofprogress and creating aninstitutional framework forbuilding capacity at all lev-els will have to be specialfocus areas. Good teachers,nurses, paramedics and doc-tors are needed in largenumbers, and institutionsthat ensure their quality willneed to be the thrust. Theuse of technology in capaci-ty building and in effectivemonitoring of outcomeswill help in speeding up theprocess.

Eighth, there should bea renewed thrust on qualityand accreditation.Partnerships with the NGOsector in service delivery,capacity development andmonitoring need to beenlarged. Such partnershipsmust define the obligationsof both sides very clearlyand categorically.

Ninth, secondary educa-tion completion, especiallyby girls and deprivedgroups, and a thrust on skill

development, will sustainthe gains of human develop-ment and translate it intohigher trajectories of eco-nomic growth.

Tenth, such a nationaleffort at speeding up humandevelopment requires lead-ership at the topmost level.There is an urgent need toset up a prime minister’shuman development coun-cil with all the chief minis-ters, concerned Centralministers and sector pro-fessionals as members. Itshould work like a sub-committee of the NationalDevelopment Council andshould meet every quarterto review progress againstagreed benchmarks on thebasis of independent eval-uation and feedback.Similar human develop-ment councils under chiefministers at the state leveland under the zilaparishad, panchayat sami-ti, gram and nagar pan-chayats and urban localbodies, reviewing the sameset of agreed on humandevelopment indicatorswill go a long way in mak-ing India’s human develop-ment rank two-digit fromthe current 135 by 2020.This will be the best way tocraft a peaceful, skilled,happy, equal, healthy, edu-cated and fair social order.

Left behind at 135

C. RaJa moHaN

When External AffairsMinister Sushma Swarajsits down withVietnamese leaders inHanoi on Monday, awidely shared concern inAsia will be at the top ofthe agenda: How does onedeal with an increasinglyassertive China and theuncertain dynamic inBeijing’s relations withWashington?

During his visit toNew Delhi earlier thismonth, US Secretary ofDefence Chuck Hageldeclared, “India need nothave to choose between[a] closer partnershipwith America andimproved ties withChina.” Hagel added, “Inour relations withBeijing, both Delhi andWashington seek to man-age competition, butavoid the traps of rival-ry.”

Hagel was trying todispel concerns in Delhithat drawing closer toAmerica is likely to com-plicate India’s relationswith China. Those con-cerns were seen asresponsible for the UPAgovernment’s decision toslow down defence coop-eration with the UnitedStates.

As America warms up

to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, China isnot sitting back. PresidentXi Jinping dispatchedForeign Minister Wang Yito Delhi within days ofModi’s election, and host-ed India’s vice president,Hamid Ansari, in Beijing.Xi also met Modi on themargins of the BRICSsummit in Fortaleza inJuly. Modi will receive Xiin Delhi next month andhead out to Washingtonsoon after.

Modi is acutely awarethat the rise of China isaltering the power equa-tion between Washingtonand Beijing and is testingthe region’s inheritedsecurity frameworks —alliances, collective secu-rity and non-alignment.

Even America’s clos-est allies must be wonder-ing if Washington will beprepared to defend themagainst a rising China.Meanwhile, Asia’s hopesof building a collectivesecurity system havetaken a beating as Beijingturns muscular in its mar-itime territorial disputeswith Japan, Vietnam andthe Philippines.

Most Asian nationswant peaceful relationsbetween Washington andBeijing, but they are alsohedging against the newuncertainties in the rela-

tionship between Americaand China. They worryabout the constancy ofAmerican purpose inAsia. For example, theObama administration hasmoved from seeking adegree of accommodationwith China to announcinga high-profile pivot toAsia and then a seemingde-emphasis of the rebal-ance strategy — all in thepast six years.

Asians also worryabout the combination ofAmerica’s continuing pre-occupation with theMiddle East, the break-down of post-Cold Warunderstandings withRussia, hints of renewedisolationism and anincreasingly dysfunction-al domestic polity inWashington. All of thiswill make the US a lesspredictable variable in theAsian power calculus.

Many governments inthe region weigh the risksof US-China confronta-tion and conflict. But theymust also be pondering avery different long-runscenario, an Americanaccommodation of Chinathat subordinates theinterests of many coun-tries in between. Anyform of accommodationbetween the dominantpower, the US, and therising challenger, China,

would involveWashington ceding addi-tional space to, and rolesfor, Beijing in the man-agement of the regionalorder. This would havebeen welcome if Beijing’sneighbours were politi-cally comfortable withChina’s rise.

Today, they are not.For those in Asia withsignificant concernsabout how Beijing mightuse its growing power,American support orlegitimisation of a largerChinese role would createstrategic anxieties. Asia ishome to many countrieswith substantive capabili-ties; some of them havelong-standing allianceswith America, others aretraditionally non-aligned.These nations don’t wantto put their security at themercy of the fluctuatingrelationship betweenAmerica and China.

Unsurprisingly, therehas been growing securitycooperation among thesecountries in the last fewyears. India, for example,has initiated defenceengagement with a largenumber of countries,including Japan,Indonesia, Vietnam,Australia and Singapore,over the years. In arecently published reportby the Lowy Institute,

Sydney, we argue thatIndia now must turn itstentative defence engage-ment with Asian nationsinto a solid web of strate-gic partnerships, bilateraland trilateral.

Building a set of flex-ible Asian coalitions thatdo not include America orChina should become acritical element of India’sstrategy of coping withthe historic power shift inAsia and the uncertainevolution of US-Chinarelations. This would helpDelhi relieve the tensionin its policy between bal-ancing a rising China andavoiding an entanglingalliance with the US.

It will help Indiadeepen ties with the alliesof the US as well as non-aligned Asian nations,who are all seeking anextra layer of insuranceagainst the possibility ofChina’s non-peaceful rise.

Last week’s talks inDelhi between DefenceMinister Arun Jaitley andhis counterpart fromSingapore, Ng Eng Hen,underlined the growinginterest in East Asia forstronger security coopera-tion with India. The NDAgovernment has a historicopportunity to transformIndia’s defence diploma-cy in Asia.

Modi will be travel-

ling to Japan at the end ofthis month for a meetingwith Prime MinisterShinzo Abe, who is eagerto deepen strategic tieswith India. Modi will alsohost Australian PrimeMinister Tony Abbott,who is equally bullish onIndia, in Delhi. Nextmonth will also seePresident PranabMukherjee travelling toVietnam.

Delhi’s strategic cooper-ation with these and otherAsian middle powers,including Indonesia, is like-ly to win greater domesticsupport than an Asian strate-gy that relies solely onAmerican commitment tomaintain the regional bal-ance of power. It will also beless vulnerable to theChinese campaign thatregional security coopera-tion is merely a part ofWashington’s efforts to con-tain Beijing. Crafting multi-ple middle power coalitionsas a complement to engag-ing China and deepening thestrategic partnership withAmerica would helpstrengthen India’s indepen-dent role in Asian security.Swaraj, then, must instructthe Indian ambassadors inEast Asia, who are gatheringin Hanoi this week, to raisethe quality and intensity ofIndia’s defence engagementin the region.

Making friends with the middle

7 Golden YuGJAMMU | TUESDAY | AUGUST 26 | 2014

loNDoN, aUG. 25:

Keen to follow in teammateCheteshwar Pujara`s foot-steps, Indian pacer VarunAaron has expressed a desireto play County cricket in thenear future.

Aaron, who impressedone and all by his consistentpace during the Test series,wants to improve his bowl-ing skills and said that thereis no better place thanEngland to hone talent."Playing county cricket isone of those things that ishigh on my priority list,"Aaron was quoted as sayingby `Sky Sports`.

Indian top-order bats-man Cheteshwar Pujarasigned up with Derbyshireon Saturday after the teams`1-3 loss to the AlastairCook-led side in the five-

Test series.And it seems that Indian

players, in a bid to improvetheir overseas performances,are looking for Countystints.

"The cricket in Englandis very competitive becausethe conditions don`t favoureither the batsmen orbowlers too much," he said.

Aaron showed promiseby picking up three wicketsin his first appearance at OldTrafford and famously brokeStuart Broad`s nose with abouncer that went throughthe helmet. Aaron alsoplayed in the two warm-upgames against Derbyshireand Leicestershire and hopesto find space in his busyschedule to be a part of theseclubs.

"But if we have an early

IPL next time, then I woulddefinitely look forward toplaying county cricket, atleast for half a season," hesaid. "I think I`ve playedenough in England - I`vebeen here two months - so Ihave a decent understandingof English conditions.

The right-armer, whomade his Test debut in 2011,has battled several injurywoes. The pacer ended theseries with figures of five for250 in two matches but nowwants to play more cricket inEngland. "English condi-tions are quite testing foreverybody involved in thegame, for bowlers and bats-men. So I`m really lookingforward to playing inEngland as it will help medevelop as a cricketer," hesaid.

loNDoN, aUG. 25:

Andrew Flintoff said he hadenjoyed being back in thespotlight during Englishcounty cricket`s Twenty20finals day with Lancashire butadded: "If we`d won it wouldhave been a hundred timesbetter." Former England cap-tain Flintoff was set to benothing much more than asquad player at Edgbaston onSaturday, having played justtwo matches since comingout of retirement at the start ofthis season. But he foundhimself thrust into a big-match environment onceagain after Kabir Ali wasinjured in the semi-final winover Hampshire.

The 36-year-old all-rounder, whose internationalcareer ended after England`s2005 Ashes series win follow-ing a succession of injuries,promptly dismissed formerTest team-mate Ian Bell onthe Warwickshire batsman`shome ground with his firstball of the final.

As if that was not enough,he took Lancashire close tovictory with two sixes offOliver Hannon-Dalby at theend of the 19th over only forthe visitors to lose by fourruns. Flintoff revealedSunday he had apologised to25-year-old Hannon-Dalby

after `sledging` the bowler asthe final approached its tenseclimax

"I had one of those horri-ble things where my eyeswent a little bit, and I startedto get really into it," Flintoff,speaking on the Flintoff andHoldcroft podcast, saidSunday. "I started to think ...`I can win this, I`m enjoyingthis, it`s brilliant this`.

"I walked past him and hehad a big grin on his face andhe was staring at me.

"I shouted at him, `Whatare you looking at?`, but I putanother word in."It`s likeshouting at strangers -- Ididn`t even know him. I feltreally bad -- `why have youdone that?`."

Flintoff added: "We gavethe crowd false hope. Fairplay to the Warwickshire lads

afterwards. "They were deserving

winners and I apologised tothe big lad for shouting athim. "If we`d won it wouldhave been a hundred timesbetter."

Flintoff explained he hadbeen training alone whilefilming a television showabout fish and chips, takingbowling boots and a cricketball with him on a trip to theScottish Highlands earlier inthe week.

"I practised well onFriday, and I put myself in theframe but I didn`t play thesemi-final, I didn`t expect tobut there was the chance ifsomeone went down injuredI`d get a game," he said.

Ali`s injury gave him hischance, not that Flintoff couldquite believe it at first.

"I thought, `how is thishappening, it`s Finals Dayand I`ve been frying fish forthree weeks," Flintoff said.

"I warmed up well andhadn`t batted since the morn-ing, and I thought `I won`t getin, I`m number nine`."

Meanwhile Bell said win-ning a trophy withWarwickshire, his nativecounty, meant as much to himas any England success hehad enjoyed.

"To win Finals Day ishuge but to do it at home isunbelievable," Bell told theEngland and Wales CricketBoard`s YouTube channel.

"The guys should enjoy itover the next couple ofweeks. It was a great day forWarwickshire," added Bell,set to feature in England`sfive-match one-day serieswith India that is due to getunderway in Bristol onMonday.

"Some of our batting inthe middle was incredible. Itwasn`t just brutal with power,it was clever as well.

"It`s nice to pop in for oneday of T20 among all the hardwork of a season!

"Any chance I get to playfor the club I love doing it.

"When you win a trophyit means just as much as whenyou win for England."

maNCHESTER, aUG.

25: Manchester City andLiverpool will renew theirrivalry beneath the EtihadStadium floodlights onMonday in the first majorhead-to-head encounter ofthe fledgling Premier Leagueseason. When the teams lastmet, at Anfield in April, a latePhilippe Coutinho goal gaveLiverpool a 3-2 victory thatleft them on course for a firstleague title since 1990.

But with the finishingline in sight, BrendanRodgers`s side collapsed,allowing City to creep up onthe rails and pip them to thetitle by two points.Liverpool`s late-seasonslump was particularly trau-matic for captain StevenGerrard, whose slip againstChelsea allowed Demba Bato score a goal that allowedCity back into the title race.

After then crashing out ofthe World Cup in the groupphase with England, the 34-year-old said he had beenthrough "probably the worstthree months of my life". Themeeting with City will bringmemories of what happenedlast season into sharp focusfor Gerrard and his team-mates, but the champions`manager, Manuel Pellegrini,does not think it will have

any bearing on Monday`sgame.

"I cannot know whathappened inside Liverpool orif they will be affected by lastseason or not," said theChilean, whose side won 2-0at Newcastle United in thefirst game of their titledefence.

"My way of thinking isthat last season is finished,for our team it is finished. Isuppose that also forLiverpool it is finished."

Whereas City haveenjoyed a largely settled offseason, Liverpool have wit-nessed significant upheaval.

Luis Suarez`s departurefor Barcelona in a £75 mil-lion ($124 million, 94 millioneuros) transfer helped fund asplurge of investment that hasseen eight new players moveto the club, with former Citystriker Mario Balotelli alsopoised to join them. Balotelli

will not feature against hisold side as his transfer wasnot finalised before the week-end, but Liverpool`s fanscould get their first glimpsesof new signings LazarMarkovic and AlbertoMoreno.Adam Lallana,another new recruit, is not yetready to return as he pursueshis rehabilitation following aknee problem, while left-back Jose Enrique is a doubtdue to injury.

Daniel Agger, JonFlanagan and OussamaAssaidi are all definitely out.City`s latest signing, centre-back Eliaquim Mangala, isunlikely to play as he is shortof fitness following his £32million switch from Porto.

Striker Alvaro Negredoremains sidelined by a footinjury, but Sergio Aguerocould start after coming offthe bench to score in injurytime at Newcastle last week-

end. Former Chelsea mid-fielder Frank Lampard mayalso make his debut for theclub, having been left out forthe trip to St James` Park.Monday`s game is an earlyopportunity for last season`stwo outstanding teams to feeleach other out, but Rodgersdoes not believe it will be acautious encounter. Bothteams broke through the 100-goal barrier in 2013-14 --City scoring 102 goals toLiverpool`s 101 -- and theNorthern Irishman thinksthey will each be eager toassert themselves.

Asked if he expected thegame against City to be cagey,the Liverpool managerreplied: "I don`t think so. "Ifyou look at both sets of play-ers, there`s lots of inventionand creativity in the team. Ithink both will be creative andwant to score goals. "Weknow we need to be compactand solid when we haven`t gotthe ball, and we need to beaggressive and press well.

"We know we have thefreedom, movement and pacethat can hurt teams. We under-stand it`s early on, but it`ll bea good game for sure."Liverpool edgedSouthampton 2-1 last week-end, with Daniel Sturridgescoring a 79th-minute winner.

maDRID, aUG. 25:

Luis Enrique got off to a win-ning start as Barcelona man-ager as they shrugged offJavier Mascherano`s first-half red card to beat Elche 3-0 thanks to two goals fromLionel Messi on Sunday.Messi put the disappointmentof losing the World Cup finalin his last competitive outingbehind him to open the scor-ing, but Barca were momen-tarily rocked byMascherano`s dismissal fordenying a clear goalscoringopportunity moments later.

However, 18-year-oldMunir El Haddadi made thegame safe with a classy loftedfinish on his debut a minuteinto the second-half beforeMessi rounded off the scor-ing. "I have to be delightedwith that start," said Enrique.

"As we expected we hada little bit of difficulty creat-ing chances at the startbecause Elche are very well-organised defensively, butbit-by-bit we began to findspace and opportunities."

Messi looked back to hisbest throughout the 90 min-utes after his tired showingstowards the end of the WorldCup and Enrique was in nodoubt that he has inheritedthe best player in the world.

"With Leo playing in hiselement we have taken thefirst step and now we moveonto the second. "It is clearthat Messi is the best playerin the world. He has a uniquequality that it is easy to see.Giving assists, scoring goals,

pressing, defending he doeseverything."

Two goals in Barca`sfinal pre-season friendlyromp over Mexican side ClubLeon on Monday had beenenough to earn Munir hissenior debut in the absence ofthe injured Neymar and sus-pended Luis Suarez. And itwas the 18-year-old who hadthe first meaningful effort ofthe game as he smashed ashot off the angle of post andbar on 22 minutes.

Barca`s captain for theevening Andres Iniesta thenalso hit the bar from range asthe hosts dominated posses-sion without clearing toomany clear-cut chances.However, Elche were pun-ished for giving away posses-sion cheaply near their ownarea three minutes beforehalf-time as Sergio Busquetsplayed in Messi and he side-stepped two defenders beforeslotting home on his trustedleft foot.

Minutes later, though, thecomplexion of the gameappeared to have changed asMascherano was shown astraight red card for clippingGarry Rodrigues as he gal-loped clear on goal. Instead,Barca were barely botheredby Elche`s numerical advan-tage as Munir flicked homeIvan Rakitic`s pass into thefar corner a minute after therestart. Messi then put a sealon a comfortable three pointsfor Barca as he again leftthree Elche defenders trailingbefore side-footing past thehelpless Vicente Guaita.

Earlier, Eibar made adream start to their first everLa Liga campaign with a 1-0win over Basque rivals RealSociedad in front of a 5,200capacity crowd.

Javi Lara scored the onlygoal of the game with a won-derful curling free-kick justbefore half-time.

And Enrique`s old sideCelta Vigo also made a win-ning start as they beat Getafe3-1 at Balaidos.

loNDoN, aUG. 25: MS Dhoni has saidDuncan Fletcher will be India's coach at theWorld Cup, and that he is still "the boss".Speaking ahead of the first ODI againstEngland, he did not sound too thrilled aboutthe decision to send fielding and bowlingcoaches, Trevor Penney and Joe Dawes, on"leave", although he did welcome RaviShastri's presence as team director. Whenasked if he felt bad for Fletcher, and if he seeshim going to Australia, Dhoni's response wasemphatic. "Definitely he will lead us into theWorld Cup," Dhoni said. "Also he is still theboss. We have Ravi [Shastri] who will lookinto everything, but Duncan Fletcher is theboss. It's not as if his powers or his positionhave been curtailed. I don't know what youfeel from outside, but still operations remainthe same. We have a few other support staffwho come into the dressing room, but overallthe operation remains the same."

What about the decision to bring in newsupport staff and the timing of it, then? "Somethings just [happen] this way," Dhoni said. "It'sa bit tough on Trevor [fielding coach] and Joey[bowling coach], I know. Especially whenfielders drop catches and the fielding coachhas to miss the series.

"But let's hope for the best. We are wel-coming the new guys because that is veryimportant. They will be part of the dressing-room family as of now. We will have to givethem some time to adjust to how we operate,and see what kind of input they bring to thetable." On Diwali day in 2009, no such con-cern was shown for Venkatesh Prasad andRobin Singh, the bowling and fielding coach-es who were sacked unceremoniously.

Dhoni did suggest the new team director,Shastri, will be good for the side. "He is here tooversee the operations," Dhoni said. "From theoutside, what he feels and everything. It's goodto have him. The reason being he is a veryproud India cricketer, and at the same timevery positive. He believes a lot in fighting andhaving the right instincts, going over and giv-ing his 100%. It is obviously good to have him.He also speaks the same language, and caninteract a lot with the players. Same is the casewith other people, so it is good to have them."Dhoni refused to say if he had been consultedbefore the changes were made. It was a bizarrepress conference - even by his standards -before the start of the series.

bRISTol, aUG. 25:

How many times in one sum-mer should a captain beexpected to save his job? Inthe eyes of England's selec-tors, probably only once.Alastair Cook re-establishedhis authority as England'sTest captain during their 3-1defeat of India in the InvestecTest series. His resiliencecould not have been clearer.It would be immenselywearying for him to imaginethat he might have to do it allagain.

In these days of split cap-taincy, securing a position asTest captain, howeverredoubtable the effort, is notautomatically useful nowEngland face seven monthsof unbroken ODI cricket, cli-maxed by the 2015 WorldCup in Australia and NewZealand.

Cook's Test career hasalways been his strongestsuit. His place in the one-dayside has been debated regu-larly. The debate will contin-ue, even if only at a lowlevel, but all the signs are thatit is an irrelevant one.

He might have built acastle in the mountains onlyto find the next campaign ison the coast. But he has ben-efited from the examinationof his captaincy credentials.His leadership is no longeran inheritance, it is now athing of substance.

That England's selectorsare intent on Cook leadingEngland in the World Cup is

apparent. Barring disasters,any debate is superfluous.The chance to make a changewas now, ahead of a RoyalLondon ODI series againstIndia - the first of them inBristol on Monday - more50-over cricket in Sri Lankabefore Christmas and a trian-gular series in Australia, withIndia the third participants, inthe New Year.

But they had little heartfor it, especially when one ofthe strongest candidates,Eoin Morgan, was havingsuch a dismal time in chargeof Middlesex. Instead theyare calculating that signs of anew England Test side com-ing together will feed posi-tively into the 50-over side.

The decision taken, thetime has come for consistentplanning. England can nowcommit time to addressingtheir long-perceived cricket-ing weaknesses in the 50-

over format. No longer willthey have to do this as anafterthought. It is what thisrun of one-day series wasdesigned for.

"We haven't had thisperiod ever - certainly notsince I started - where youhave had just one-day cricketfor seven months," Cooksaid. "There's time to dedi-cate to practicing those skillsthat are needed for one-daycricket, especially the extraskills you need like in thePowerplay overs, both withbat and ball, and death bowl-ing. And that is what we willneed to do if we are to have achance of winning the WorldCup in what will be goodconditions for us."

Changes are subtle ones.Cook will have a new open-ing partner in Alex Hales,who he suggested would begiven the entire series toprove himself. Ian Bell is

also scheduled to bat at No.3. Hales gives England moreenergy at the top of the order,but it is his ability to makehundreds - four of them in50-over cricket in the winkof an eye - which has finallypersuaded England's selec-tors to turn to him.

Cook will benefit fromthe change, but he knows hecannot regard Hales' pres-ence as permission to potteron at whatever rate he choos-es. A captain with a careerstrike rate in ODIs of 78 runsper 100 balls has been pairedwith a young buck with aList A strike rate of 100. ButCook is keen to point out thatsince his return to England'sODI side, his strike rate isabove 80 runs per 100 balls.He knows that cannot beallowed to diminish. "I don'tthink it changes my role," hesaid, of Hales' inclusion."The job of the top four orfive is to try and score a hun-dred and win the game, bysetting up the game. Youhave to try and do it in yourway. What's pleasing aboutAlex over the last month orso is that he has scored fourcenturies forNottinghamshire and at agood rate too. "He is a differ-ent batter to the other guys -he hits the ball incrediblyhard, in different areas, withan unorthodox technique.He's done really well in T20cricket and he's got theopportunity over these fivegames to show us what he

can do in 50-over cricket."Suggestions of a major

overhaul of the ODI squadwere wide of the mark. Theonly obvious victim is RaviBopara and because of hisall-round ability with bat andball, his absence causesEngland immediate selectionproblems. The exclusion ofBopara essentially commitsEngland to a five-bowlerstrategy for the World Cup,believing that a phalanx ofhigh-quality seamers is theirstrongest chance of belyingtheir outsiders status inAustralia and New Zealandwith a strong challenge.

Hales' inclusion musttherefore impact on a bats-man. As unlikely as it seems,with Bell earmarked for No.3, Gary Ballance or Joe Rootcould be in contention forthe No. 4 spot, followed byEoin Morgan, either MoeenAli or Ben Stokes as an all-rounder, and the wicketkeep-er Jos Buttler. Bristol hashad a welcome makeover, sobecoming the latest Englandground to make definiteadvances in the past decadeor so, but for all that itremains England's mostrudimentary internationalvenue. It does not immedi-ately strike you as a placewhere successful World Cupcampaigns are first beddedin, and England do not strikemany as potential World Cupwinners. It is time for themto try to change that percep-tion.

Hales in as England attempt subtle evolutionengland's selectors have given alastair Cook their backing and he will have a new opening partner as the focus

turns to a marathon of one-day cricket culminating in the World Cup

Indian pacer VarunAaron eyes County stint

Andrew Flintoff relishes return to centre stage EPL: Manchester City vs Liverpool - Preview

Duncan Fletcher is still the boss - Dhoni Lionel Messi double hands boss Luis Enrique winning start at Barca

8 Golden YuG

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JAMMU | TUESDAY | AUGUST 26 | 2014

GY NEWS SERVICE

C H a D o o R a

(bUDGam), aUG. 25:

Saying that the presentGovernment is committedto resolve the problem ofunemployment in the state,the Minister for Finance andLadakh Affairs, AbdulRahim Rather today said apolice recruitment rally, asalready assured by the chiefMinister Omar Abdullah,will be conducted in theupper belt of TehsilChadoora shortly, besidesfilling of various vacanciesin different governmentdepartments on fast trackbasis. He said, in addition tothis, numerous welfare pro-grammes have been madeavailable under both Centraland State Self -EmploymentProgrammes like Sher-i-Kashmir Employment andWelfare Programme forYouth (SKEWPY) for edu-cated un-employed youth toenable them to establishtheir own income generat-ing units.

Addressing a series ofpublic meetings at Gund-Maqsood, Zoohama andDada-Ompora in TehsilChadoora, Rather said thatthe present government, hasimplemented a well con-

ceived and broad basedemployment policy whichhas shown good results onthe ground. He said manybig success stories havebeen created by the J&KE n t r e p r e n e u r s h i pDevelopment Institute(J&KEDI) wherein manyyouth have now become jobproviders rather than jobseekers.

Responding to thedemands of people, Ratherannounced that Governmentwill explore the possibilityof constructing a Megamulti Crore Water SupplyScheme at Dood Ganga tomeet drinking water needsof the people residing invarious adjoining villagesfrom Surisyar upto Buchrooin Chrar-i-Sharief con-stituency. The constructionof new service Reservoirs,

Filtration Plants, overhaul-ing of existing but outdatedunderground waterpipelines, wherever neededin the area shall be the mainfeatures of the proposedmega water supply project.

Rather informed that Rs1.35 Cr has been releasedout of his CDF during lasttwo months for providingadditional power transform-ers, transmission wire andreplacing worn out electricpoles in various areas of theConstituency to streamlineand improve power supplyfacility. He assured thatfurther funds will bereleased in coming days,for this and other purposes,where ever needed. Heasked the concerned engi-neers to undertakemacadamization balanceposition of Chadoora to

Brenwar Road. He alsoannounced to construct anew water reservoir atBabagund to improvedrinking water facilities inthe area. He asked theengineers of irrigation andflood control department toprepare estimates for con-struction of protectionbunds at nallah passingthrough Dadaompora toprotect residential housesduring flash floods. Hesaid construction of Rs. 2cr. Primary Health Centrebuilding and Rs. 75 LakhsHigh School building shallbe expedited.

Rather said while gov-ernment was committed tomeet aspirations of thepeople, they too have anobligation to fulfil theirresponsibilities and dutiestowards the society. He

urged upon the people toremain united, irrespectiveof their individual affilia-tions and thwart the nefari-ous designs of the forcestrying to divide the societyon one pretext or the otherfor satiating their politicalinterests. He said if theactivities of unconstructiveforces are not curbed atthis stage, it shall be disas-trous for the peace, unityand integrity of the stateadding that posterity willnot forgive us for this laxi-ty. He said in a democraticset up, people are the realfountain head of power,who have every right toelect or reject a govern-ment on the basis of itsperformance.

The Minister, who wasaccompanied by a team ofthe senior officers of districtadministration Budgam andconcerned engineers, saidthat his regular visits to vari-ous areas of the constituency,especially remote and back-ward areas, are aimed to takestock of the problems of thepeople on the spot and findout their solution instantly."It is the most appropriateway to redress grievances ofthe people most effectively,"Rather added.

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25: TheGovernment decided to seek the consultancyof the experts of Royal Spring Golf CourseManagement (RSGC) for maintenance ofgolf courses of the state and directed con-cerned development authorities to makingMoUs for the purpose.

The decision in this regard was taken at ahigh level meeting of the officers of Tourismand its allied departments held under theChairmanship of Minister for Tourism,Ghulam Ahmed Mir here on Monday.

Commissioner Secretary, Tourism,Shailendra Kumar, Director Tourism,Kashmir, Talat Parvez, Director, Tourism,Jammu, Soujanya Sharma, all CEOs ofDevelopment Authorities, ManagingDirector, JKTDC, senior officers of CableCar Corporation, RSGC, SKICC were amongothers attended the meeting. The meetingdecided to give newly constructed TouristReception Centres by development authori-ties not outsourced yet to the JKTDC on rentto make it more vibrant and commercial.

The meeting also decided to post 2 TownPlanners in Kashmir and Jammu divisions by

surrendering two Architects besides alsodecided to post one Superintendent Engineerfor ensuring prompt functioning and formula-tion of Master Plans of the authorities.

The meeting reviewed Physical andFinancial achievements of various TourismProjects being executed by the authoritiesunder state and centre plans.

Receiving brief on different Tourism pro-jects through Power Point Presentationsgiven by CEOs, the minister emphasised onensuring all facilities to the tourists. He alsostressed for close coordination of the con-cerned departments for removal of impedi-ments confronting timely completion of sometourism projects for growth of tourism in thestate besides develop new spots.

Reviewing the pace of progress of GolfCourse Pahalgham and Sidhra Golf CoursePhase II Jammu, the Tourism Minister direct-ed the concerned authorities to complete allworks of these Golf courses well in time fortheir early tee off. He instructed for exploringmore possibilities to extend the stay of thetourists by diverting them towards new spotsand increasing attractions like Laser Showsand other adventure activities.

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25:

Minister for PWD & R&B,Abdul Majid Wani todaylaid foundation stone of tworoad projects and two steelbridges besides inaugurat-ing Foot Bridge at Banihal.Minister of State forTechnical Education,Power& CAPD VikarRasool Wani was also pre-sent on the occasion.

The Ministers also inau-gurated 18 M span steel footbridge at Darpora Banihalconstructed at a Rs. 34.30lakh besides laid the foun-dation stones for the con-struction of approach road

to Degree college Banihalwhich is coming up at aestimated cost of Rs. 2.5Crore and road project con-necting Chambalwas toGagna at a cost of Rs. 1Crore.

Wani also laid the foun-dation stones for the con-struction of 18M span steelbridge suspension overBishlari Nallah at Ramsooof an estimated cost of Rs.2.76 Crore and constructionof road Project from Ukhralto Bangara of a cost of Rs.10 .78 Crore.

Speaking on the occa-sion, the minister lauded theachievements of govern-

ment especially in R&Bdepartment .He also assuredfor the fulfilment of genuinedemands raised by the dif-ferent local representativesof the area.

Wani while referring tothe various initiativesundertaken by the govern-ment for holistic develop-ment of the state said thatvarious welfare schemeslike MGNREGA, SKEW-PY, IAY, NRHM, has beenaccelerated during theregime of present govern-ment adding that theseschemes have been instru-mental in changing thesocio economic profile ofrural areas besides provid-ing the job opportunitiesand asset creation.

Vikar Rasool said thatBanihal constituency wit-nessed an era of develop-ment during the regime ofUPA government in whichvarious schools buildings,Colleges, ITI building,Bridges, road projects etcgot established in the state.Chief Engineer PWDJammu, Engineers, officersand official of the allieddepartments accompaniedthe minister during the visit.

Border residents want permanent solution: Charak

GY NEWS SERVICE

JammU, aUG 25:

Anguish is brewing amongthe people of the border vil-lages of BishnahConstituency who havebeen shifted to different,schools and governmentbuildings because of lack ofnecessary arrangementsthere, as such, the heavyshelling/firing from acrossthe border has forced themto live like nomad, GambhirDev Singh Charak toldreporters here today.

Being, fed up with thiskind of situation people nowwanted a permanent solu-tion to it.

Taking into account thefrequent incidents of heavyshelling/firing from acrossthe border which resulted incausing and tensionamongst the people living inthe border villages of theJammu province, Charakurged to the Union and StateGovernment to immediatelytake final decision for allot-ment of 5 Marlas plots andfinancial assistance for theshelter at some safer places

to the people living on theborder.

The human lives, crops,cattle, houses should imme-diately be insured and theinjured should be suitablycompensated, he said addingthat the agricultural land ofthe farmers falling betweenzero line and fencing on theIndo Pak border where theyare not able to produce thecrops and the cases for thecompensation of the landunder occupation of our

forces, also be decided.He also demanded spe-

cial recruitment drive/pack-age for the frustrated youthof the border area, who areunable to get proper educa-tion due to the frequentheavy shelling and distur-bances on the border, timeand again.

They should be issuedALC certificate and broughtunder the reserved category,he added.

To ensure arrangement

of proper medical facilities,milk and baby food for theinfants, hygienic toilet facil-ities, proper functioning ofthe telecommunication sys-tem and electricity, especial-ly, during the days of distur-bances were te otherdemanded highlighted byhim.

Former MinisterGulchain Singh Charak hasalready left for Srinagar tomeet and appeal the ChiefMinister, ministers, legisla-

tors and senior leadership ofall the political parties toarise above the party politicsand put in their best ofefforts in mitigating theproblems being faced by thepeople living near the bor-der, he informed.

Gulchain Singh Charakcomprising of 40 membersalso met the Union DefenceMinister, Union Minister forInformation andBroadcasting, UnionMinister for Culture, UnionMinister of State for HomeAffairs and Senior Officersin the Home Department inthe union capital early thisyear and raised these impor-tant issues pertaining to thepeople living in the borderareas of Jammu provinceand Bishnah and RS PuraTehsils, he mentioned.

Prominent people fromthe border villages presentin the press conference wereDr. O.P Saini, WaryamChand, Dr. Raghubir SinghSarpanch, Chuni LalNumberdar, Nand LalBhagat and Madan LalBhagat.

Rather for checking emergence of negative politicsSays addressing unemployment problem high on agenda

Wani & Vikar lays foundation of 2 Road

Projects, 2 Steel Bridges at Banihal'Inaugurates 18 m span steel Foot Bridge'

Govt seeks consultancy of RSGC for

maintenance of Golf Courses: G.A. Mir'asks officers to explore more possibilities for extending stay of tourists'

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25:

The Jammu & KashmirLegislative Assembly todaypaid glowing tributes to theex-Members of the Housewho passed away during therecent months. Speaker,Mubarak Gul while resum-ing the first day's businessof last session of 12thAssembly, moved theObituary Reference in theHouse to pay homage to thelate leaders including, Ch.Mohammad Aslam, AbdulAhad Vakil, MohammadAkbar Ganai and MissMehmooda Ahmad AliShah.

Highlighting the richcontributions made by thelate Members for the devel-opment and welfare of theState, the Speaker said thatthe services rendered bythem will be rememberedby the people of the Statefor many years. He saidthe contribution of these

leaders for strengtheningthe parliamentary democra-tic system would alwaysinspire the sitting members.He said real tribute to thelate leaders will be to full-fill their unfinished dreamsand we all should carry for-ward their work for the bet-terment of the society.

Remembering the con-tribution of the lateMembers, Gul describedAslam as veteran politicalfigure of the State, whowas born at villageLassana, Surankote ofDistrict Poonch in 1939.He said late Aslam willalways be remembered forhis whole hearted and self-less services towards theup-liftment of the down-trodden people of back-ward areas particularly theGujjar Community. A manof principles and highintegrity, he always foughtfor the development ofsocio-economic conditions

of the people of the stateespecially those living infar-flung and remote areas,said Gul.

The Speaker said lateAbdul Ahad Vakil enrichedthe state's political andlegal spectrum with hisvaluable contributions. Hesaid late Vakil with hisunbiased and impartial roleas Speaker of the Househas at his credit a remark-able contribution towardsstrengthening of the high-est democratic institutionof the state. The late leaderknown for his sharp witsremained committedthroughout his life for theupliftment of downtroddenand weaker sections of thesociety who served the peo-ple of the state vigorouslythroughout his politicalcareer for which he will beremembered forever, theSpeaker said.

Gul described lateMohammad Akbar Ganai

as a man of integrity whohad the distinction of serv-ing the people of the statein different capacities tillhis last breath for which hewill be remembered forev-er.

The Speaker said lateMiss Mehmooda AhmadAli Shah will always beremembered and acclaimedfor her role as a socialactivist, an able education-ist and a political leaderwho all along her lifefought for the cause of theupliftment of the down-trodden sections of thesociety and emancipationof women and was con-ferred with the Padmashreein recognition of her wholehearted and selfless ser-vices she rendered in everyfield of the life.

Minister forAgriculture, GhulamHassan Mir, Minister forHigher Education,Mohammad Akbar Lone, A

R Veeri, Prof. Chaman LalGupta, M. Y. Tarigami,Hakim Mohammad Yasin,Mohammad Sharief Niaz,Dr. Sheikh MustafaKamaal, Er. Rashid, ShabirAhmad Khan and SardarRafiq Hussain Khan alsopaid tributes to lateMembers and highlightedtheir role for the bettermentof the society and people oftheir constituencies partic-ularly. They said all thesemembers worked tirelesslyfor the people of their areasand highlighted the prob-lems of people in the Houseduring their tenures. Theyall were leaders of massesand worked tirelessly forthe betterment of people tilltheir last breath, they said.

The House alsoobserved 2-minute silenceas a mark of respect to thedeparted souls. Later, theHouse adopted theObituary Reference unani-mously.

GY NEWS SERVICE

SRINaGaR, aUG. 25: Minister ofState for Animal and Sheep Husbandry,Nazir Ahmed Gurezi today asked the Headof Departments of Animal and SheepHusbandry (ASH) to come up with a DetailProject Reports (DPRs) for sheep breedingand animal rearing for border areas immedi-ately, so that the same could be taken upwith the concerned Union Ministry foraccord of necessary sanction.

Chairing a review meeting with the offi-cers of Animal and Sheep Husbandrydepartments here today convened to discussthe progress of centrally sponsored schemesunder ASH sector. Threadbare discussionwas held on various issues including speed-ing up of construction work of sheds, veteri-nary Hospital buildings, establishment ofNitrogen plants and submission of DPRsunder NABARD and RKVY to

Government of India.While reviewing the construction of

sheds and buildings at Daksum Farm, it wasinformed in the meeting that a project of Rs18 cr was prepared and forwarded to theGovernment of India. The Minister directedthe Sheep Husbandry department to pursuethe case.

Detailed discussion was held on estab-lishment of infrastructure at Pouni Chackfor which Rs 76 lakh has already beenreleased. Gurezi asked the AnimalHusbandry department to start constructionwork on the project immediately.

Commissioner Secretary, Animal andSheep Husbandry, Ashok Kumar Parmar,Director, Animal Husbandry, Jammu,Director, Animal Husbandry, Kashmir,Director, Sheep Husbandry, Kashmir andother officers of ASH were present in themeeting.

assembly-2014

La adopts Obituary Reference, pays rich tributes to ex-Members

Their contribution to par democracywould inspire sitting members: Speaker

Gurezi for formulation of DPRs for

sheep breeding, animal rearing