Srinagar, April 23: Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah who is also Work-ing President of the National Con-

ference Wednesday cautioned the people against the machination and conspiracy of PDP and BJP to polarize the society for power politics. He said that both these parties are hand in glove to create wedge between different sections of the society and grab power.

Omar Abdullah said that PDP compliments BJP in this clandes-tine design and provides it tacti-

cal support for paving the way for Narendra Modi to be the Prime Minister of the Country.Speaking to the people at Lar, Watlar, Chunt-Waliwar, Wakura, Peerpora and other places in Gan-derbal district

See Omar On PG 11..

CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

THURSDAY 24 April | 2014 | 23 Jamadi-Ul-Saani, 1435 AH | PAGES 12 | VOL NO: 4 | ISSUE NO: 113 | RS: 2/- (AIR SURCHARGE FOR JAMMU /DELHI/LEH 50 Paisa)Pen For Justice Largely Circulated, No. 1 Bilingual Daily of J&Khttp://www.zabarwantimes.com

WEATHER

TEMPERATUREMAXIMUM MINIMUMSUNSET ON(THURSDAY)SUNRISE ON (FRIDAY) 05:50 AM

07:10PM 8.8 0C 24.40C

FORECAST FOR NEXT 24 HRS:

FORECAST OF SRINAGAR:

Light Rain would occur at a few places over the state.

Partly cloudy sky. Maximum &Minimum temperatures will be around 13°C & 04°C respectively.

Inside story

On Edit Page

See More On Pg 09

See More On Pg 10

Shut your mouth Togadia- it stinks

The communal overtures and threat-ening postures towards minority community by some hardliners of BJP and the candidature of Narind-er Modi itself have created a further wide between majority and minori-ty communities which is really a serious and alarming for a secular country like India. The statement of Griraj Singh against whom now non-bailable warrant have been is-sued has shocked everybody in this country and perhaps as if this was not enough one more leader Praveen Togadia issued a poisonous state-

117 constituencies to go to pollstoday; stakes high for Congress, BJP

US seeks arrest on bribery charges

PG 10 PG 10 PG 06

8 children found small pox infected

at Tangmarg

KUPWARA, APRIL 23: The Civil De-fence/SDRF in collaboration with the District Disaster Management Au-thority, Kupwara organized an aware-ness-cum-Training Programme in the Town Hall Kupwara in which more than 200 civil defence wardens, vol-unteers and senior citizens, represen-tatives of programme and acquaints necessary training on Civil Defence/Disaster Management was imparted

Awareness programme on disastermanagement organized in Kupwara

Amid ‘red alert’, Anantnag LS seat goes for poll Today14 injured in road accidents

Srinagar, Apr 23: Police has detained several youth in various areas of South Kashmir on Wednesday, keeping in view the Lok Sabha polls scheduled to be held on April 24 in Anantnag parliamentary seat.According to the reports received by KNS, police on Wednesday launched a massive crackdown against youth allegedly involved in various stone pelting incidents in the area. The police has taken into preventive custody more than 200 youth reportedly. A senior police official while pleading ano-nymity told KNS that to prevent any disrup-tion in law and order situation, police has taken several youth in preventive detention. The reports informed further that to foil any anti-election

See Police On PG 11..

Pulwama, April 23: Scores of Panchayat representa-tives in South Kashmir have taken refuge in differ-ent police stations ahead of polls on April 24. Taking the police advisory serious-ly, various village heads in South Kashmir’s Pulwama, Kakapora, and Awantipora towns have decided to stay

in police stations. A top police official from District Pulwama told CNS on condition of anonymi-ty that these village heads came to police stations vol-untarily and the police did not call them. “They feel safe in police stations after the killing of three inno-cent persons in Tral town,”

he said. Police has already asked these village heads remain vigilant and intimate local police station in case of any suspicious movement. Reports said that numer-ous village heads are feel-ing insecure in their hous-es and they

See Fearing On PG 11..

Ahead of polls, police detains youth

Srinagar, April 23: A day before polling in South Kashmir, youth attacked polling staff and their vehicles at several places in the region during which forces resorted to aerial firing, officials said.Officials, wishing not to be named, told GNS that polling staff and their vehicles were stoned by youths at Sambora in vol-atile Pulwama district. In the attack, glass-es of several vehicles were smashed while forces men also fired several gunshots in air to disperse the youth. However, no one was injured. At Tahab, a similar incident took place in which two vehicles got dam-aged.In another attack, the polling staff and their security personal came under stone-throw-ing attacks at three places in the mountain-ous district of Shopian.

See Polling On PG 11..

Polling staff attacked by youth in parts of South Kashmir

Fearing attacks, village heads taking refuge in police stations

Srinagar, April 23: While terming the denial of Bhar-tiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candi-date Narendra Modi that he had not send any emis-

sary to Geelani, a ‘political compulsion’, the Hurriyat Conference (G) said that the two Kashmiri Pandits had ‘come to meet’ Geelani on 22 March 2014 at Malvi-ya Nagar Delhi.In a statement issued to

GNS on Wednesday, Hurri-yat spokesman Ayaz Akbar said: “Emissaries of Modi spent about 60 minutes with Geelani in which they claimed that they have been sent by BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Mr. Narendra Modi. The two emissaries of Modi also clicked some photographs with Geelani and wished that a representative of Geelani will accompany them so that they can ar-range his meeting with Na-rendra Modi.“A lot has been said and written on the issue of em-issaries and it is becoming insignificant discussion now, so Hurriyat Confer-ence is

See Emissaries On PG 11..

‘Wage Jihad against NC’s anti-people policies: Karra

Srinagar, Apr 23: Opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Wednesday made its presence felt in Srinagar’s old city, with its leaders asking youth to wage jihad against the mis-governance of National Conference.According to the KNS corre-spondent, the PDP leader while asking the youth and particu-larly the stone throwers that the ones who hurled stones at NC must press the PDP but-ton so that the ‘green tsunami’ could sweep the national con-ference at large.The old city, considered to be the bastion of both ruling NC and separatist camp Wednes-day witnessed the PDP rally with the youth raising slogans for the party and leaders as-suring unconditional talks be-tween Huriyat and New Delhi. PDP held its first election rally at Khaniyar in which party’s nominated candidate for Sri-

nagar’s Lok Sabha seat Tarqi Hamid Qarra and PDP leader Khurshid Alam addressed the people.In scathing attack to NC, Karra stated that NC is a long tale of the broken promises and some-times over the Pakistan’s salt, green cloth, Article 370 and sometimes promising the peo-ple of Kashmir that Rawalpendi road will be opened. “From Rai shumari (plebiscite) to ration, NC fulfilled not even a single promise.”He also accused NC of being responsible for giving people guns and stones. “People have to answer these atrocities by registering the win of PDP.”Dubbing National Confer-ence-Congress coalition gov-ernment as a misfortune for the State, senior Peoples Dem-ocratic Party (PDP) leader and former Finance Minister Tariq Hameed Karra today said the people of Jammu & Kashmir have become the victims of ungoverned rage let loose on them by the Omar Abdullah-led non-performing regime.

See PDP On PG 11..

Khansahab-Budgam, Apr 23 (KNS): Accusing National Con-ference (NC) of orchestrating lat-est spate of civilian killings, PDP Patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today said innocent blood-letting is timed only to benefit NC in the elections as the party is solely banking on bloodshed and boy-cott for its survival.A statement issued to KNS said: “Dr Farooq Abdullah’s threat of attacking PDP cadres with bombs and bullets is being im-plemented by targeting the party’s activists and the recent killings at Dogripora, Gulzarpo-ra, Amlar and Butgund are the part of the same gory game-plan of NC,” Sayeed said while ad-dressing an election rally in the Khansahab assembly segment of Srinagar-Budgam Parliamen-tary constituency. Senior Party leaders Saifudin Bhat district

president; Bashir Ahmad Bhat zone president; Mohammad Amin Nida; Habibullah Sheikh; Abdul Aziz and others were also

present on this occasion.He said perhaps not content with shedding innocent blood, NC’s cohorts are using

See Mufti On PG 11..

Srinagar, April 23: Cen-tral Food Laboratory (CFL), Kolkata has re-ported the milk produced by one of the corporate houses of Kashmir, Khy-ber Agro Farms is unsafe for consumption as trac-es of synthetic detergent have been found in its milk samples. Highly placed sourc-es told CNS that Srinagar Municipal Corporation has received a report from Central Food Lab-oratory (CFL), Kolkata, which declares Khyber milk unsafe and hazard-ous for human consump-tion. Taking serious note of the report, Commis-sioner, Municipal Corpo-ration according to sourc-es directed Health Officer SMC to apprise the Dis-trict administration of-ficials about the issue so that legal action against the company could be ini-tiated.

Sources told CNS that a high-level meeting would be held in Srinagar in his regard on Thursday that would be chaired by Di-visional Commissioner Kashmir Shalinder Ku-mar. Sources said that the issue would be discussed threadbare in the meet-ing. Confirming this, Health Officer SMC, Dr Shafqat Ahmed Khan told CNS that a negative report about Khyber Agro Farms has been received by the Corporation and in this regard a high level meeting was going to held in Srinagar on Wednes-day but due to some rea-sons it was postponed and now would be called on Thursday. “Yes, the samples of Khyber milk have been contaminated. We have received the report. There is nothing to

See Khyber On PG 11..

Geelani’s Hurriyat says Modi’s denial a ‘political compulsion’

NC perpetuating violence to enforce boycott: Mufti

‘Kyber milk ‘unsafe’ for human consumption’

Give befitting reply to conspirators: Omar

PDP makes its presence felt in old city

Police have vital clues in Tral attack: IGP Kashmir

Srinagar, April 23: With high security arrangements and a ‘red alert’ in place, Anantnag constituency in South Kash-mir is going for parliamentary polls Thursday amidst fear of ‘disruption’ by militants.Official sources told GNS that there are 1301109 total voters in the constituency which comprises Pulwama, Anantnag, Shopian and Kulgam district.On Monday late evening, suspected mil-itants killed a Numberdar when he was coming out from a mosque in Amlar vil-lage of Tral, while seven minutes later, a Sarpanch and his son were shot dead in Batagund village of Tral. Later, another Sarpanch was fired upon in Hakarpora village in Pulwama. But, he managed to escape unhurt and took refuge in a near-by police station.Last week, another Sarpanch was killed in Gulzarpora Awantipora in district Pul-wama.With increase in the attacks on village headmen in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police, paramilitary Central Reserve Force and army have increased patrolling and intensified the searches in whole of south Kashmir, official sources said.The forces have also erected mobile bun-kers at various places in South Kashmir.Security sources told GNS that there are possibilities of militant strikes on or before polling and they have increased the vigil to thwart any plan of militants. “There is a rise in militant movement. They may try to disturb the elections. But we are alert,” a senior paramilitary officer, who wished not to be named, told GNS.The CRPF has deployed nearly 200 com-panies in south Kashmir on the eve of polls and the polling booths are also un-

der CRPF, official sources said. Besides, sources said, the CRPF is also dominat-ing patrolling and the force is providing security to contesting candidates both in terms of guarding and escort. The police men will also assist CRPF at every poll-ing booth.On 13 April, two militants barged into the house of National Conference (NC) lead-er, Yawar Masudi in Khrew area of south Kashmir. The militants killed two guards of Masudi and later both the militants were shot dead by police and army in a nearby mustard field.Security sources told GNS that after rise in militant attacks, the forces including police, CRPF and army have intensified ‘joint searches’. “The joint searches and patrolling have

See Amid On PG 11..

Elobrate arrangements made to maintain law and order disruption: Police

Emissaries’ row:

“Hurriyat will neither issue any statement nor will

discuss about it anymore”

‘Misadventure this time would have more disastrous consequences than what followed 1987 rigged polls’

‘Return coalition candidates for larger cause of J&K’Srinagar, Apr 23: The police have got vital clues in Tral attack wherein unidentified gunmen had killed three people including a Sarpanch, his son, and a village head in late evening on April 21.Talking to KNS, IGP Kashmir Abdul Ghani Mir said: “We have got some vital clues and we will share the details only after establishing the facts.” He said that police has taken several mea-sures in the area to nab the culprits.A senior police officer in

See IGP On PG 11..

‘Sarpanches, Panches can call police at any time for help’

Srinagar, April 23: Accusing the National Conference (NC)-Congress coalition government of being responsi-ble for recurrent killings of Panchs and Sarpanchs in Kashmir Valley, Bhartiya Janata Party National Executive Mem-ber Dr Jitendra Singh Wednesday said that the Panchs and Sarpanchs have become victims of double assault. On the one hand, due to deliberate delay by State government

See Jitendra On PG 11..

Coalition government responsible for killing of Sarpanchs: Dr Jitendra

Srinagar, Apr 23 : A Tata Sumo bearing registration number JK09-1127 skidded off the road at Bagna Salamabad, in the jurisdiction of Bijhama, resulting in minor in-juries to 12 passengers. All the injured were shifted to District Hospital, Baramulla for treatment. Police has registered a case in this regard.According to a police statement issued to KNS, a Bus bearing reg-istration number JK18-7287 hit and injured a pedestrian Abdul Sattar Bhat son of Abdul Rehman resident of Zongalpora at Kelam, in the ju-risdiction of Police Station Devsar Kulgam. The injured was shifted to District Hospital, Kulgam for treat-ment.See Accidents On PG 11..

Srinagar, Apr 23: The deadly dis-ease of small pox has surfaced in North Kashmir’s Tangmarg area with the children between the age group of eight to 10 years getting infected at large.According to the reports received by KNS, the deadly disease of small pox has been reported from the Lal Pora area of Tangmarg with more than seven children reported to have been infected so far.The reports informed further that a special team of doctors carried out a check up of children at area’s primary school and found eight children infected with the chicken pox. The block medical officer Dr Idrees when contacted told KNS that the senior team of doctors has already been sent to access the situation and that if the need would arise

See Tangmarg On PG 11..

Enjoying bhootnath returns success

11 Srinagar, Thursday 24 April 2014 Zabarwan Times

FROM THE FRONT PAGE

Amid

Police

Police

PDP Accidents

Tangmarg

Omar

IGP

Jitendra

Polling

Fearing

Emissaries

Emissaries

Owner , Printer & Publisher: Suhail Malik Editor -in-Chief: Shahana Malik RNI NO. JKBII/2011/39764, Email: zabarwantimes@gmail.com Publised at Govt. Quarters , M-13 Magarmal Bagh Srinagar-190001 J&K, Printed at:- Sangarmal Offset Press Humhama Sheikhpora Tele/Fax: 2478370 Cell No. 09999964750, 9796 787844

OFFICE OF THE DEAN, FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES & TECHNOLOGY

University of Kashmir,

PG Admission Notification No.5 (Self Financed Seats)

Candidates bearing following Entrance Test Roll No’s have been selected provisionally un-der “Self Financed Seat” category for admission to PG courses in the disciplines of Electronics, Home Science, Food Sciences & Technology, Computer Science and Information Technol-ogy (IT) subject to the terms and conditions as contained in notification No. 01 issued by this office. The detailed notification is available on the official website of the Kashmir University (www.kashmiruniversity.net) and in the offices of the respective Heads/Directors of the Depart-ments. 1. M.Sc. Electronics:Roll Nos: 470059, 470053, 470058, 470081, 470078, 470046, 470039, 470035, 4700302. M.Sc. Home Science: A. Food Science & Nutrition: 480069B. Extension & Communication: 480014C. Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition: 480052, 4800023. M.Sc. Food Science & Technology:Roll Nos: 500189, 500011, 500201, 500082, 500019, 500081.4.M.C.A(Main Campus): Roll Nos: 510446, 510124, 510307, 510364, 510231, 510340, 510161, 510204, 510366, 510144, 510086, 510326, 510165, 510360.5. M.Sc. IT: Roll Nos: 550376, 550054, 550242, 550366, 550341, 550109, 550326, 550020, 550145

The provisionally Selected candidates can download their admission form from the official website of the University of Kashmir www.kashmiruniversity.net and are directed to complete their admission related formalities by or before 28th April 2014 up to 04:00 P.M and submit the same to the concerned Departments, failing which their right to admission shall be forfeited and the resultant vacancy/ies (if any) shall be filled up from waiting list. Further, the candidates placed on waiting list (available with the respective Departments/University website) shall approach Heads of the concerned Departments from 29th April 2014 to explore the possibilities of their admission.

No: F (DFAST/ PG- ET- Payment) KU/14/ET-102 Dated: 23- 04-2014

Sd/-Prof. M.Y. Shah)Dean Faculty of

Applied Sciences & Technology

been intensified in the day as well as night. The check-points have also been setup to thwart militant move-ment as we will not give them a single chance to carry out attacks. There is foolproof security arrangement,” a top security source told GNS.Inspector General of Police (IGP) of CRPF, Nalin Pra-bhat told GNS that though ‘terror’ is there in South Kashmir, but ‘we are hopeful that people will defeat terrorists ’. “We (CRPF) are dominating whole South Kashmir. We are providing security to polling par-ties. The night dominance has been intensified not to give any place to militants,” he said.Terming Tral as ‘focal point’, Prabhat said the securi-ty is ‘very tight not only in Tral but also in Pulwama’.He, however, said: “I am confident that people will come out in large numbers to cast their vote and de-feat anti-peace elements.”A senior government official told GNS that the au-thorities have also increased security on the routes leading to polling stations.Police sources said that they are keeping a ‘close vigil’ on ‘miscreants’ who resort to stone-throwing. (GNS)

demonstrations; a tight vigil is also being maintained across the constituency.Sources informed further that after the killing of Panchayat members recently, panic has gripped the area with the people reportedly feeling insecure to move out of their homes. The top priority of the administration including police is to ensure secure conduction of the polls in Anantnag on April 24.Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police (SP) Anantnag Sheikh Junaid told KNS that the police has taken all the necessary measures to ensure smooth conduct of the polls on April 24. He added that some ‘trou-ble mongers’ have also been kept under preventive police custody so that law and order situation could not get disturbed.As the people of South Kashmir are going to decide the fate of the political players, the main tussle is expected between the NC and PDP. NC and congress has jointly nominated Mehboob Beigh while as PDP has fielded its president Mehbooba Mufti from South Kashmir’s turf. (KNS)

The attacks took place at Kundalan, Pinjora and Rawalpora. No one was injured in the attack.Meanwhile, for the second straight day, a complete shutdown was observed in Shopian against the ‘deten-tion’ of several youths on the eve of polls. The Shopian district – which falls under Anantnag constituency – is going for polls tomorrow.Locals informed that during shutdown, minor clash-es erupted between youth and government forces at Batapora and Mangam. However, no one was reported injured. (GNS)

have shifted to police stations. Ahead of polls in South Kashmir, various village heads from South Kashmir belonging to National Conference, Con-gress and People’s Democratic Party Wednesday announced their resignations. They include PDP Sarpanch Nadar Tral, Ali Muhammad Bhat, Con-gress Sarpanch Gulshan Pora Abdul Rehman Wani and another Congress Sarpanch Assadullah. An-other National Conference Panch from Aaligund, Muhammad Hussain resigned on Wednesday. He told CNS that despite tendering his resignation, he feels unsafe. “I rue the day when I contested the Panchayat elections. I am not going to vote anyone as I love my life,” Hussain said. “Most of the Sarpanchas and Panchas feel inse-cure despite announcing their resignations. I am myself confused and feeling insecure at my home,” a PDP Sarpanch from Tral area told CNS after an-nouncing his resignation. (CNS)

ending this discussion on a note that, they will nei-ther issue any statement nor will they discuss about it anymore. Let people wait and watch, the truth will come to fore with the time and there will remain no ambiguity,” the spokesman announced.Akbar said the whole life of the pro-freedom leader Syed Ali Geelani is an ‘open book and no one from his opponents can claim that he have lied ever. “He also names his opponents and critics with respect and he never talks impolitely. Geelani take it against the moral principles to name the persons who met him in New Delhi without their permission, but if they want to disclose their identity then it is not wrong and Nar-endra Modi has also told them to clear their position,” Akbar said.While giving details of the ‘meeting of Mr. Narendra Modi’s emissaries and Geelani’, the Hurriyat spokes-man said: “besides the detailed discussion on the dif-ferent aspects of the Kashmir dispute and the person-ality of Narendra Modi, a Kashmiri prisoner Bashir Ahmad Baba Rainawari who is from last 5 years in Gujrat jails, was also mentioned in the meeting and the two persons also assured the release of Kashmiri detainee if the representatives of Geelani Sahab will come to meet Narendra Modi.”Akbar claimed the two Kashmiri Pandits had also visited Geelani Sahab before 22 March on16 march without giving prior information and that time they did not disclose their purpose of coming, however, he claimed: “at that time the Pakistan High Commission-er Abdul Basit had come to ask for health condition of the Geelani Sahab so they (Pandits) were given 22 March date for the meeting,” adding: “When they once again came on 22 March, they disclosed their purpose of visit.”The spokesman while giving details about the ‘meet’, he said: “Geelani said that we are not against the dia-logue process but until India will not accept the hard ground realities of Kashmir issue, till then it is a meaningless exercise and nothing positive will come out of it.” (GNS)

all dirty tricks to ensure poll boycott. “We have the information that several areas in South Kashmir have been flooded with bogus threatening posters and ru-

mour mongers are having a field day to create panic among the people,” he said.Sayeed NC fuelled a full-fledged armed uprising in late eighties with the massive rigging of 1987 assem-bly polls resulting in a tragic trail of death and de-struction across Jammu and Kashmir. “Desperate for survival, they are now trying to reenact the same misadventure through bloodshed and enforced poll boycott,” he said and cautioned that any such mach-ination this time would have more dangerous conse-quences than what happened after 1987 rigged polls.Sayeed said after having presided over five and a half years of disastrous governance, NC sees its only chance in enforcing poll boycott so it could click to power by default as it did in 2008. “But the emancipat-ed voters know well that NC wants to perpetuate in-stability and bloodshed for which it has been promot-ing violence as a tool,” he said and urged the people to vote for PDP and give the party a chance to work for changing the destiny of the state.“Let the people judge the performance of the three im-mediate successive regimes from 1996-2002, 2002-2008 and 2008-2013 and make a choice for them for 2014-2020 accordingly,” she said and added that the people have already written-off NC as one of the misfortunes that was foisted on the State only to push it into the most tragic era of death and destruction.He said PDP would continue to work towards accom-plishing its unfinished agenda of securing peace, sta-bility and prosperity for Jammu and Kashmir. “Peo-ple’s will could never be ignored or overruled in a democratic system and the movement started by PDP for resolution, democracy, development, empower-ment and good governance would be taken to its logi-cal conclusion,” he said. (KNS)

hide and we are going to inform the general public within days,” Khan said adding that they would fol-low legal process and would apprise all the authorities about the negative report of the Khyber Company. The Health Officer further said that it is a public issue and the authorities have taken a serious note of it. “The report is lying with me and we are going to initiate action against the company under law and soon after the meeting a notice would be sent to the said company,” he told CNS. Khyber Agro Farms located at Letapora in South Kashmir supplies sixty thousand litres of milk per day all across Kashmir that is being consumed by mil-lions of Kashmiri people. Pertinently, a Division Bench of the High Court comprising Justices Hasnain Massodi and D S Thak-ur, while showing concern over poor implementation of Food Safety and Standards Act in the state, had held that presence of detergent in milk samples collected on its direction from the market is indicative of milk having been manufactured with constituents highly harmful for human consumption. “Synthetic milk,” the bench had observed, “as per available scientific research is prepared by mixing urea, caustic soda, refined oil and common detergents. The detergents are used to dissolve oil in water giving frothy solution characters of white colour of milk. Re-fined oil is used as substitute for milk fat. Caustic soda is used to blend milk and to neutralise acidity pre-venting it from turning sour during its transport from the place it is manufactured to the consumers.” The bench had observed: “The synthetic milk may cause cancer as it has carcinogenic properties. It may cause cancer and other serious ailments of vital organs of a human being.” According to a study conducted by the Food Safe-ty Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) experts fear the consumption of contaminated milk by the gullible people across the state could lead to gastroenteri-tis, food poisoning, endocrinology and several other chronic diseases. (CNS)

during the grand road show organized by National Conference in favour NC-Congress joint candidate from Srinagar Parliament Constituency, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah expressed gratitude to the people for reposing faith in National Conference and its leadership.Omar Abdullah said that National Conference rep-resents aspirations of the people and its strength is the everlasting public support. “Elders are NC’s guid-ance hub and youth energy repository”, he said add-ing that National Conference has always upheld the public cause and will continue to uphold this under all circumstances.Omar Abdullah said that NC denotes Kashmiriyat and its agenda of Naya Kashmir is its blue print for the holistic and inclusive development of all the three regions of the State. “We have given tremendous sac-rifices for the peace, prosperity, solidarity and polit-ical stability of the State and our pursuit to achieve peaceful, prosperous and modern Jammu and Kash-mir will continue”, he said maintaining that conspira-tors in different forms and shapes have time and again tried their best to create wedge between people and National Conference by carrying different bogies of false propaganda against the party and its leadership. He thanked the people for not paying any heed to the falsehood of these elements and said that in the pres-ent day the detractors of National Conference have evolved into PDP and are out to mislead the people.The Working President National Conference asked the people to defeat these frustrated elements by vot-ing in great number in favour of NC-Congress joint candidates and ensure debacle of communal and de-ceptive forces.Omar Abdullah said that NC-Congress coalition in the State and at the Centre has a categorical agenda of maintaining and strengthening pluralistic and sec-ular-democratic ethos of the Country and the State, ensuring equitable and inclusive development of all regions and all the sections of the society.The Chief Minister asked the people to remain vigi-lant against elements trying to disrupt peace and di-vide them by raising different emotional issues. He asked them to remain united and foil all attempts of disgruntled elements aimed at creating hatred, re-gional bias and communal tension.During the road show men and women particularly youth extended overwhelming welcome to the Chief Minister who was taken in long processions in vari-ous areas. The women sang traditional songs while the people raised slogans in favour of National Confer-ence, Omar Abdullah and the NC-Congress coalition candidate, Dr. Farooq Abdullah.The President National Conference and the candi-date from Srinagar-Budgam Constituency, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister for Forests, Mian Altaf Ahmad, Provincial President National Conference, Kashmir, Nasir Aslam Wani and various leaders of National Conference and Congress were accompanying the Chief Minister in the procession which started from Nagbal and culminated in Peerpora traveling through scores of village’s en-route. Thousands of people

joined the procession in various areas and expressed their solidarity with the National Conference, its lead-ership and the peace and development agenda of the NC-Congress coalition government. (GNS)

According to a statement issued to KNS, “The present Government’s formal arrival in J&K in 2009 brought with it worst kind of atrocious miseries for the peo-ple as there seems to be complete chaos all around in Kashmir,” Karra said while addressing road-shows in Khanyar and Eidgah Assembly segments of Srinagar Parliamentary constituency.Lashing out at the State Government for pushing the people into an anarchic and distressing situation and bringing back a sense of insecurity and uncertainty, Karra said the people have already started running out of patience with this disastrous Government as their miseries are multiplying with every passing day. “Ironically, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and is father Dr Farooq Abdullah are keeping themselves too busy in making hilarious noises on issues that mostly fall out of their domain,” he said and added that the Chief Minister seems to be resorting to such histrionics only to hide his countless failures on the home turf.Reminding Omar Abdullah of the promises made by him during electioneering to 2008 assembly polls, Karra said the people want to know where is the much-parroted Truth and Reconciliation Commission on human rights violations, where have the one lakh jobs that were to be given in the first three months of the new government gone, what happened to the promise of one job to each family, where is the sti-pend for the educated unemployed youth, what hap-pened to the commitment of bringing down education-al qualification for recruitment of police constables to middle pass and last but not least there is also no word from the Government about removing the electricity meters, slashing the power tariff, making electricity available round-the-clock and subsidizing the LPG and rations promised by NC during electioneering.Karra said on the contrary innocent killings have be-come the order of the day, power position in Kashmir has deteriorated to the worst levels ever, drinking water has become scarce, treasuries are running dry, pensioners are being denied pension, contractors are crying for payments, daily-wagers and consolidated workers plead for their wages, people are being kept hostage on roads for hours together due to horrific traffic jams and so on and so forth. “I challenge Omar Abdullah to show one single project anywhere in the State which he can claim was pioneered and accom-plished by his Government during the past more than 5 years,” he said and added that while his father is remembered for getting Muhammad Maqbool Bhat hanged, enforcing POTA and forming Task Force, Omar Abdullah would be remembered for rape and murder of Aasiya and Neelofar of Shopian, facilitat-ing execution of Afzal Guru, killing of 120 civilians in 2010 and presiding over the worst ever government J&K.He said on the other had PDP during its brief stint in the Government between 2002 and 2005 not only pro-vided a sense of security to the people but ensured all around development, the signposts of which are vis-ible in every nook and corner of the State. He said if people want to see that golden era of governance back, they will have to become the participants in change. PDP leaders Abdul Hamid Kohsheen Secretary Ko-sheen, Mohammad Khurshid Alam, Nisar Ahmad Mandoo and others also addressed the road-show. (KNS)

Awantipora said that the police has intensified pa-trolling and domination in the area after the Monday’s attack. “It is not only due to this attack but since the elections are scheduled in South Kashmir tomorrow, certain concrete steps have been taken to prevent any untoward incident,” the police officer told KNS plead-ing anonymity.Regarding the wave of terror and the resignations in bulk tendered by Panchayat representatives in the area, the police officer said that Panchs and Sarpanch-es have been taken into confidence and all the help from police has been ensured to them. “We have told them to feel free to call at anytime in case they need police help,” said the police officer, adding that army in the whole area has also been alerted to prevent any eventuality.(KNS)

in the implementation of 73rd amendment of Indi-an constitution, the Panchs and Sarpanchs were deprived of adequate administrative and financial empowerment which made them vulnerable to the disenchantment and anger of their electorate, while on the other hand, despite repeated pleas, the NC led government refused to give them adequate security, he added. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that BJP was the first political party to have demanded introduction of 73rd and 74th amendments soon after the Panchayat elections were announced three years ago but at that time the Gov-ernment did not heed the advice because in that case the huge central grant meant for Panchayats would have gone straight to Panchs and Sarpanchs instead of being routed through NC and Congress ministers. “It is strange that National Conference which makes clamour for autonomy for cares little about granting autonomy to local bodies,”he quipped. Dr Jitendra Singh said, the people of Kashmir were misled by the National conference leadership which had all along cited Article 370 as the reason for not introducing 73rd and 74th amendments of Indian constitution and added, the results are now for every-body to see in the light of the fact that most of the killings of Panchs and Sarpanchs have taken place in Kashmir valley. Article 370 has been used by parties like National Conference as an alibi to suit their convenience at the cost of the interest of a common Kashmiri, alleged Dr Jitendra Singh and added that the case of Panchs and Sarpanchs is a fit example to prove the point. He said, in 1975 when Indira Gandhi Govern-ment brought in 45th amendment of constitution to increase the term of parliament and state assembly from five years to six years, the then Sheikh Abdullah government immediately adopted it notwithstanding Article 370 but when the same term was reversed back from six years to five years through 48th amendment under Janata party regime, the National Conference government in the state refused to reverse it citing the excuse of Article 370. Has this benefitted a common Kashmiri or was it only meant to benefit a particular party and a particular family, he asked. Singh said, the people of Kashmir, particularly youth are no longer ready to be misled by National

Conference and Congress, and added the BJP is com-mitted to take up the role of a viable mainstream op-position party in Kashmir. (CNS)

Police has registered a case in this regard.In another accident a Truck bearing registration number JK13-7798 hit and injured a traffic consta-ble Abdul Rashid Belt at Sanat Nagar Bypass, in the jurisdiction of Police Station Sadder, Srinagar. The injured was shifted to SMHS Srinagar for treatment. Police has registered a case in this regard. (KNS)

the more numbers of doctors shall be sent to the ar-eas where the small pox is being reported. (KNS)

Karra sought space in NC, we refused: Omar

Srinagar, Apr 23: A day after its minister Mo-hammad Akbar Lone was attacked with the stones at Hajin Bandipora , the top leadership of Nation-al Conference including faced that wrath of stone pelters in their electoral strong hold-Ganderbal.According to the KNS correspondent, the na-tional conference lead-ers including Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdul-lah, Nasir Aslam Wani and Mian Mohammad Altaf were scheduled to address a road show at Choont Walivar, Main Chowk Lar, Peerpora. The reports informed that in two areas of Gan-derbal--Basoora and Khu-rhama, clashes between youth and police were going on since morning.Reports further said that once the cavalcade of NC leaders passed through the routes of Basoora and Khurhama, some youth hurled stones towards on the cavalcade. The vehicles passed through

the tense areas without any damages. However, reports maintained that one traffic cop in the last vehicle of the cavalcade was injured. To disperse the mob, police fired tear gas shells toward the pro-testers.SP Ganderbal Shahid Mehraj when contacted dismissed the reports saying that there was no stone pelting on the cav-alcade of National Confer-ence anywhere in the dis-trict. “Yes some youth had pelted stones on a traffic vehicle in which one traf-fic cops had got injured but the incident hap-pened some three hours before the NC cavalcade adopted the route,” he added.Meanwhile, while ad-dressing a road show in the district, chief minis-ter Omar Abdullah while targeting PDP’s candidate for Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, stated that Qarra had sought space in Na-tional Conference but the party paid no heed to his repeated requests as he even PDP has lost confi-dence in him. (KNS)

NC cavalcade attacked in Ganderbal

with stones

Srinagar, April 23: Police on Wednesday arrested a dentist for alleged attempt to molest a lady patient at his private clinic at Maisuma here in Srinagar city.A senior police official told GNS that Doctor identified as Shafiq-ur-Rehman was arrested today following a complaint filed by the lady patient.In her complaint, the lady has alleged that the doctor tried to molest her when she visited his private clinic in Maisuma (Sunny Dental Clinic) in connection with root canalling of teeth, he said.Based on the complaint, the police filed an FIR 34/2014 under section 34/2014 under section 509 RPC and started further investigations in this regard.

Dentist arrested for molestation attempt on patient

SRINAGAR | THURSDAY, APRIL | 24 | 2014Daily ZABARWAN TIMES NEWS

Take a break from your routine, Libra. You might feel like you’re leading an army into battle as you strive for new adven-tures and conquer new realms. Make sure you take a bit of time out today to stop and let your troops rest. You deserve a little rest yourself. Use this moment of stillness to form your plan of attack so you’re sure about how to proceed.

The key for you is to minimize your daily drama as much as possible, Scorpio. You may not realize how much you cripple your-self by the way you exaggerate every aspect of your life. Try not to give so much of your attention to things that really don’t matter much. Petty jealousy and gossip about other people’s lives are es-pecially irrelevant in your world.

Be careful of advertising yourself as someone who is so strong and mentally competent that you’re capable of handling every-thing, Sagittarius. Take note that the strongest mule on the trail usually ends up carrying the most weight. Your emotions are more sensitive than you may think, and certainly more than you demonstrate to others. Be honest about the way you feel and not just the way you think.

Things should flow well for you today with very little ef-fort on your part, Capricorn. Take note that if any quarrel arises, it’s an indication that the person you’re arguing with isn’t nec-essarily the right person to deal with or confide in. Emotional issues are likely to be the hardest ones to overcome, but this shouldn’t be a problem for you. You have the ability to work through these like a pro.

This is meant to be a nice, relaxing day, so treat it as such, Aquarius. There’s no need for you to plan any great strategy at this time. Try to take it easy and not indulge in any unnecessary stress. This is your time to enjoy the moment. Don’t tax your mind by overanalyzing everything that comes your way. Go with the flow and have a great time regardless of what you end up doing.

Your sensual nature is heightened, Pisces, and you’ll find yourself engaged in tender moments and languid peacefulness in the company of others. Soothe your soul by letting yourself slip into situations that give you the emotional freedom to do or say whatever comes to mind. Life should be like a love poem written by a great master. Accept the good energy that comes your way.

Your sixth sense is right on target, Virgo, so trust your instincts today. You’re likely to connect with someone in a wonderful partnership that will help you foster the very plan you want to develop now. Stay close to those things that resonate strongly with your morals. The answer is in front of you; you don’t have to search too far afield in order to find it.

Allow your eager and restless nature to express itself in ways other than through the spoken word, Aries. Show someone that you care through your gentle touch or a big bear hug. Hold on a little bit more tightly than you might normally. There’s an unspo-ken understanding that comes when you communicate through nothing but pure silence. Work on developing this kind of connec-tion with those closest to you.

This is a terrific day for you, Taurus. You should find that your relationships, especially with men, go exceptionally well. Your tender and extremely sensitive nature is finally being recognized as the treasure chest it is. There are many times in which this type of personality is seen as weak, yet today is one of those times in which you’re given the full credit you deserve.

A selfish attitude on your part won’t be tolerated today, re-gardless of the circumstances, Gemini. Don’t make it worse for yourself by pretending that you don’t notice others’ hurt feelings. People are likely to be extra sensitive today, so be careful about trying to impose your will on someone who really wants nothing more than an ear to talk to and a shoulder to cry on.

You could find the hardest person to face is you, Cancer. You tend toward introspection, and you may find yourself shrinking into self-recrimination. You could analyze the important people in your life and yet fail to address the one you really need to look at – you. As you continually strive for perfection, give yourself proper credit. Do something nice for yourself today.

Take advantage of the creative energy in the air today, Leo. Keep your hands moving and your imagination flowing toward something fun and artistic. If you begin to doubt your work, you may fall down a spiral of creative blockage. Don’t get into the habit of constantly judging the quality or outcome of your work. Give yourself free rein to open up and explore whatever comes to mind.

NEW DELHI: The US has requested India for “provi-sional arrest” of Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member KVP Ramachan-dra Rao after he was indict-ed by an American court in an alleged international racketeering conspiracy involving bribes of $18.5 million for allowing min-ing of Titanium minerals in Andhra Pradesh.

In a letter sent by Na-tional Crime Bureau of the US through Interpol to CBI, the US authorities have said Rao should be put under provisional ar-rest till all the documents were handed over to India through diplomatic channels, official sources said.

The sources said CBI sent the let-

ter to the Andhra Pradesh Police ask-ing them to take action against Rao, who was a close aide to late Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara

Reddy. The US also informed CBI

that Interpol had already been approached for issuance of Red Corner Notice against Rao, who was charged in the US in an al-leged international racketeer-ing conspiracy involving bribes worth $18.5 million to state and central government officials in India to allow the mining of Titanium minerals in Andhra Pradesh.

A US federal five-count in-dictment, returned under seal in June 2013 and unsealed in Chicago on April three, charges 65-year-old Rao and five others with one count each of rack-eteering conspiracy and money laundering and two counts of

interstate travel in aid of racketeering. Rao was not immediately available

for comments.

Election Observer reviews preparedness at Baramulla

BARAMULLA, APRIL 23: Election Awareness Observer for Baramulla Parliamentary Constituency, Mr. Dheeraj Singh today visited Baramulla and took stock of election preparedness at an officers meeting which was also at-tended by the Returning Officer, Dr. Farooq Ahmad Lone.

The Observer visited various sections of the District Election Office. He also inspected Media Centre estab-lished by District Information Centre, Baramulla. The Ob-server also visited the EVM Strong Room and inspected preparation of polling material.Meanwhile, the training for Zonal and Sectoral Magistrates scheduled on April 24, 2014 has been postponed. The next date for conducting the said training shall be notified separately.

Four left in fray in LehLEH, APRIL 23: Today on the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers, four candidates withdrew their nom-ination papers.AS such four candidates are in the fray for the Ladakh Parliamentary seat which includes Thupstan Chhewang (BJP), Tsering Samphel (INC), Ghulam Raza and Sayed Mohammad Kazim, both independents.Later, in the afternoon a +meeting was convened by RO, Leh, Simrandeep Singh with the contesting party representa-tives in which he handed over the confirmed party elec-tion symbols.

US seeks arrest of Congress RS MP on bribery and other charges

NEW DELHI: Stakes will be high for Congress and BJP and a number of other parties like AIADMK, DMK, NCP and Shiv Sena when 117 constituencies will go to polls on Thursday in yet another substantial round of polling in the Lok Sabha elections.

Over 18 crore voters in 11 states and Union territory of Puducherry will be able to vote in the sixth of the nine-phased elections on Thursday in which there are 2076 candidates. Of the 117 seats, Con-gress has 37 while BJP has 24.

It will decide whether BJP, which has cobbled a rainbow co-alition of six parties, will be able to break the citadels of dravid-ian parties DMK and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. 39 constituencies in the state and the lone seat in Pu-ducherry will complete voting on a single day.

DMK has 18 seats and AIAD-MK 8. Congress, whose success in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the last two general elections in alliance with DMK helped in government formation in Delhi, is unlikely to retain any of the eight seats it has.

Among the prominent candi-dates in the field in Tamil Nadu are

former minister Dayanidhi Maran (Central Chennai), former telecom minister A Raja (Nilgiris), DMK leader T R Baalu, finance minister

P Chidambaram’s son Karti (Siva-ganga), DMK leader Vaiko (Viru-dunagar) and Union minister V Narayanasamy (Puducherry).

Another prestige contest on Thursday will be the elections in Maharashtra where polling will be held in 19 seats, including six in

Mumbai, all of them held by Con-gress and its ally NCP.

Important candidates in fray are Union minister Milind Deo-

ra (Mumbai-South), Priya Dutt (Mumbai-North Central), Gurudas Kamath (Mumbai-North West), AAP candidates Medha Patkar (Mumbai North East) and Meera Sanyal (Mumbai-South).

In the battleground states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, polling

will be held in 12 seats and 7 seats respectively.

The fourth phase of polling in UP will decide the fate of 187 candidates, including SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav (Mainpuri), his daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav in Kannauj and external affairs minister Salman Khurshid (Far-rukhabad).

Jayant Chaudhary, son of RLD chief Ajit Singh, is locked in a stiff contest with BJP candidate and Bollywood star Hema Malini in Mathura.

In Bihar, BJP’s Shahnawaz Hus-sain, party’s lone Muslim face in the outgoing Lok Sabha (Bhagal-pur), NCP general secretary Tariq Anwar (Katihar), former Union minister and RJD leader Mohd Tas-limuddin and former home secre-tary R K Singh (Supual-BJP) are in the fray.

Polling will be held in six con-stituencies in the second phase of polling in West Bengal where President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit and Mamata Banerjee’s bete noire Deepa Dasmunshi are among the candidates.

Abhijit had won the Jangipur seat by a slender margin of 2,536 votes in a 2012 by-election when

his father Pranab Mukherjee va-cated the seat to become the Presi-dent of India.

While five of the six seats — Raiganj, Maldaha Uttar, Maldaha Dakshin, Jangipur and Murshid-abad — were won by the Congress in 2009 general elections, which it fought in alliance with the TMC in West Bengal, the Balurghat seat was won by the RSP.

Thursday’s election will also decide fate of leader of the oppo-sition in the outgoing Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj (Vidisha) and BJP veteran Sumitra Mahajan, who is eyeing a record eighth consecu-tive victory in Indore in Madhya Pradesh. Four constituencies will go to poll on Thursday in the third and last phase of Lok Sabha elec-tion in Jharkhand where a total of 72 candidates are in the fray.

Former chief ministers Shibu Soren (JMM) and Babulal Marandi (Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Pra-jatantric) are among the promi-nent candidates contesting from Dumka. Also in the fray from Dum-ka is BJP’s Sunil Soren.

In the third and final phase, six constituencies will go to poll on Thursday in Assam to decide the fate of 74 candidates.

117 constituencies to go to polls today; stakes high for Congress, BJP

Awareness programme on disaster management organized in Kupwara

Randomization of poll personnel held in Ganderbal

KUPWARA, APRIL 23: The Civil Defence/SDRF in collaboration with the District Disas-ter Management Authority, Kupwara organized an awareness-cum-Training Programme in the Town Hall Kupwara in which more than 200 civil defence wardens, volunteers and senior citizens, representatives of programme and acquaints necessary training on Civil Defence/Disaster Management was imparted to the participants by the SDRF Instructors.

The District Project Co-ordinator for District Disaster Management Authority, Kupwara, Project Manager, District Industries Centre, Kupwara, Chief Warden, Civil Defence, Kupwara and Divisional Warden, Civil Defence Kupwara delivered lectures on disaster management and other social evils.On this occasion, various rescue equipments were also kept on display for the participants during the programme by the Civil Defence/SDRF, Kupwara.

16th Lok Sabha Elections-201415 left in fray in Baramulla; RO allots symbols among candidatesBARAMULLA, APRIL 23: As the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers ended

today, 15 candidates are left in fray for the Baramulla parliamentary Constituency.The candidates who are in the fray now include Mr. Ghulam Mohammad Mir of

Bharatiya Janata Party, Syed Mohammad Rafiq Shah of National Panthers Party, Mr. Mo-hammad Shafi Bhat of Bahujan Samaj Party, Mr. Muzaffar Hussain Baig of People’s Dem-ocratic Party, Mr. Sharief-ud-Din Shariq of National Conference, Mr. Ayaz Ahmad Sofi of Gareeb Aadmi Party, Mr. Bashir Ahmad Jagal of PRISM, Mr. Salam ud din Bajad of Peoples Conference besides Mr. Tanveer Hussain, Mr. Ashiq Hussain Ganie, Mr. Abdul Hussain, Mr. Abdul Hamid Malik, Er. Abdul Rashid Sheikh, Mr. Mohammad Abdullah Chatwal and Mr. Nisar Ahmad Ahangar, all independents.

GANDERBAL, APRIL 23: The 2nd phase of randomization of poll personnel of Ganderbal district which is part of 02-Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency for Lok Sabha Elections-2014 was held here today.

The randomization was done through Software in presence of General Observer for Ganderbal, Mr. A.K. Singh and District Election Officer, Ganderbal, Mr. Sarmad Hafeez.

District Election Officer Ganderbal informed that all the poll personnel in the district have been provided necessary election training for the conduct of free and fair Lok Sabha Elections-2014.

Earlier, a meeting was convened with Booth Level Officers who were exhorted upon to ensure distribution of photo voter slips as per the guidelines of Election Commission of India. All the BLOs were directed to complete the distribution of voter slips before April 25, 2014.

Inspection of Expenditure Registers on April 25, 28SRINAGAR, APRIL 22: Deputy Commissioner Excise (Executive) Kashmir, who is

also Nodal Officer for Election Expenditure Monitoring has informed all the con-testing candidates of 02-Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency for Lok Sabha Elec-tions-2014 to present themselves or their representatives for second inspection of their Expenditure Registers in his office at Excise & Taxation Complex, Solina Sri-nagar on April 25, 2014 (Friday) and April 28, 2014(Monday) at 10 a.m. The inspec-tion would be conducted in presence of Election Expenditure Observer of the Con-stituency.

All the Assistant Expenditure Observers of 15 Assembly segments of Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency along with their Accounting Teams and Central Ac-counting Team shall be available for the inspection of Election Expenditure Registers of the Contesting candidates.

DG Sports rolls out Calendar of activities for 2014-15JAMMU, APRIL 23: Director

General, Youth Services and Sports Mr. Navin Agarwal today released the annual Calendar for the departmental activities for the financial year 2014 -15.

Releasing the annual cal-endar here at a press confer-ence, Mr Agarwal said that the department has drawn an exhaustive chart of activities, including sports events, semi-nars, Melas, awareness camps to be held during the year. He said the wide-ranging list of activities at district, divisional and state level events would have special focus on the in-volvement of rural youth.

Giving details about the sports and other events, he said that a number of district and state level sports events are scheduled to be held in ru-ral areas under the Rajeev Gan-dhi Khel Abhiyan 2014-2015.

The state level inter district activities, he said, would in-clude competitions in Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Base-

ball, Basket Ball, Boxing, Chess, Cricket, Fencing, Foot Ball,

Gymnastic, Handball, Hockey , Judo , Jump rope, Kabaddi, Kho Kho, Kick boxing etc. He said

the competitions in these dis-ciplines would be held in dif-

ferent age groups ranging from under 14 to 19.

The DG also informed that

the department has drawn a special event programme for

the Specially-abled children to provide them an opportu-nity to exhibit their talent. He

said that the intramurals have already been started and inter- school competitions at Zonal levels are also being held in various disciplines before the district level activities.

He said that directions have been issued to the district of-ficers of the department to ensure timely conduct of zonal and district level sports com-petitions as per the calendar. He said that the department has been asked to involve more and more student fraternity in the domestic level competi-tions to hunt the local talent. He said that it would help in early organising of pre-coach-ing camps to prepare the po-tential youth for state, national, and international level cham-pionships.

Mr Agarwal also gave a re-sume of achievements of pre-vious year and said that the players won 51 medals, includ-ing 2 Gold, 15 Silver and 34 Bronze medals in the 59th Na-tional School Games.

Daily Zabarwan TimesEDITORIAL/ OPINIONEDITORIAL/ OPINIONDaily Zabarwan TimesSrinagar, Thursday 24 April 2014

Disclaimer : The contents and comments appearing in any article published in this paper are purely the personal opinion of the writer

Shut your mouth Togadia- it stinks

The communal over-tures and threatening postures towards mi-nority community by some hardliners of BJP

and the candidature of Narinder Modi itself have created a fur-ther wide between majority and minority communities which is really a serious and alarming for a secular country like India. The statement of Griraj Singh against whom now non-bailable warrant have been issued has shocked ev-erybody in this country and per-haps as if this was not enough one more leader Praveen Toga-dia issued a poisonous statement which said that India belongs to Hindus only. The statement fur-ther says that without caring for law the non-Hindus should be tamed by the majority. The In-dian society has never accepted this kind of poisonous materi-al and has never tolerated such hardliners, which is a moment of worry for every sensible citi-zen of this country going to polls nowadays. It is unfortunate that the secular atmosphere is being polluted by the communal ten-dencies. This country is nobody’s property and it belongs to all the communities, castes and colours that exist and live with dignity in this part of the world. India is a country for whose independence the Muslims and other commu-nities have played an equal role and have sacrificed thousand of their beloved ones during the movement lead by the father of Nation the Mahatma Gandhi. Whether it is Shaheed Ashfaq-ul-lah Khan or Mohammad Ali Jowhar, Abul Kalam Azad, the Muslim youth were in the fore-front of the Independence move-ment. The Muslim community has protected the sovereignty of India and from Havaldar Hamid to Brigadier Usman every Mus-lim was ready to grab the oppor-tunity to sacrifice his precious life for the honour of this coun-try. It is not Praveen Togadia or Griraj Singh or the ill minded people like them that gave inde-pendence to India and protected its boarders whenever the need arose. Whether a patriot Hindu or Muslim or Sikh or Christian, everybody has the interests of the nation dearer to him than his personal interests. The Muslims of this country do not need the permission of Togadia or Griraj to live in this country which equally belongs to them as it be-longs to other communities. The civil society and the intellectuals of this country should stand to-gether, join hands and fight the communal forces which are bent upon to create a divide between different communities and ulti-mately damage the unity, integ-rity and prestige of this country. The statements like that of Griraj and Togadia should not be taken lightly and instead everybody should stand together and put a wall across the country’s secular character.

Daily Zabarwan TimesEDITORIAL/ OPINIONEDITORIAL/ OPINIONDaily Zabarwan TimesSrinagar, Tuesday 11 March 2014

Disclaimer : The contents and comments appearing in any article published in this paper are purely the personal opinion of the writer

No cake walk for any party in coming polls

Daily Zabarwan TimesEDITORIAL/ OPINIONEDITORIAL/ OPINIONDaily Zabarwan TimesSrinagar, Saturday 15 February 2014

Disclaimer : The contents and comments appearing in any article published in this paper are purely the personal opinion of the writer

High number of heart and cancer

patients Nursing Sick Units Back to Health

Once blue chip Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) like BSNL, Air In-dia, Hindustan Cables Ltd and Fertilis-er Corporation of India today stand testimony as to how not changing with

the changing times and technology could change their fate and turn them into sick units.However, there has been always a silver lining in this regard as the government has been relentlessly mak-ing efforts to revive maximum number of sick public sector units (PSUs) to take the country’s growth en-gine forward. This was possible with the help of re-vival packages provided by the government to these units. With this aim, the Government set up the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enter-prises (BRPSE) in December 2004 to advise the gov-ernment, inter-alia, on the measures to restructure/revive, both industrial and non-industrial CPSEs. Since then cases of around 67 sick CPSEs have been referred to BRPSE up to October 2012, out of which the Board has made recommendations in respect of 62 cases, while returning five cases to the concerned ministries for further examination.No wonder, there has been significant improvement in the overall condition of these enterprises since 2004. In comparison to 90 sick CPSEs in March 2005, there were 66 sick PSUs in March 2012. As per the BRPSE recommendations, of these cases, 45 were accepted for revival by the Government.Most of the remaining cases are awaiting nod for

revival while in case of 45 cases accepted for reviv-al, 14 have already turned around including Bharat Pumps and Compressors, Cement Corporation of India, HEC, Andrew Yule and MECON and making profits while others have been infused with revival packages.The companies for which revival packages have been approved include Hindustan Shipyard, HMT and Scooters India. As the CPSEs operate under dynamic market conditions, it is quite natural to see ups and downs in their performance. As far as the reasons for losses and sickness in CPSEs are concerned it varies from enterprise-to-en-terprise. While in some cases, the cause is historical. In case of textile companies which were taken over from private sector on socio-economic consider-ations could not be modernised quickly.Likewise other enterprises in the engineering and refractories sector too failed to modernise. Still others like some consumer goods companies and the new ones, turned sick over the years on ac-count of inadequate job orders, high man-power cost, lack of finance, technological obsolescence, high input costs and competition from cheap im-ports.In addition, other problems common to most sick and loss-making PSUs have been poor debt-equity structure, weak marketing strategies and slow de-cision-making process. As one such policy initiative, the Sick In-

dustrial Companies (Special Provision) Act, 1985 (SICA) brought the CPSEs under its purview in 1991 (made effective from 1992). Under the pro-visions of the SICA, CPSEs with at least five years of registration whose accumulated losses are equal to or have exceeded their net worth may be referred to the BIFR. During the last twenty years -- between 1992 and 2011, 63 CPSEs have been referred to BIFR. The government has made several attempts to over-come “sickness” in these CPSEs through various pol-icy initiatives.The strategies for revival/restructuring of sick CPSEs include financial restructuring involving investment by the government in the form of equity participa-tion, loans, waiver of debt etc and business restruc-turing which includes change of management, hiv-ing off viable units from CPSEs for formation of separate company and closure of unviable units, besides formation of joint ventures.The other strategies include manpower rationalisa-tion by shedding excess manpower and introduction of voluntary retirement schemes. The contribution of each and every company is significant as CPSEs are considered as the backbone of the economy and are equal partners in the nation building.As on March 31, 2012, there were 260 CPSEs in the country. These companies contributed Rs 1.6 lakh crore to the central exchequer by way of taxes, duties, interest on loans and dividend, amounting to 21.4 per cent of government’s revenue receipts.

ndia is a vast country with a popula-tion of about 1.21 billion and a labour force of around 475 million. There is an open unemployment of 9.5 mil-lion as per estimates available for the year 2009-10. Employment is the main source of livelihood and self-ful-fillment for most women and men. About 6% of the total work force in India is employed in organised sector while remaining 94% are in the un-organised sector. Scope of additional employment generation in the orga-nized sector for additional wage em-ployment is less. India has a younger population not only in comparison to advanced economies but also in relation to large developing countries. As a result, the labour force in India is expected to in-crease by 32 per cent over the next 20 years, while it will decline by 4.0 per cent in industrialised countries and by nearly 5.0 per cent in China. We are, therefore, endeavoring to reap this ‘de-mographic dividend’ by providing for higher levels of health, education and skill development. This will create an environment where in the economy not only grows rapidly, but also en-hances good quality employment and livelihood opportunities to meet the needs and aspirations of the youth. The Government has been making constant efforts for reduc-ing unemployment through normal growth process and implementing various employment generation programmes, such as, Swarna Jayan-ti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY); Prime Minister’s Employment Gen-eration Programme (PMEGP) and National Rural Livelihood Mission besides entrepreneurial development programmes run by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises. The Mahatma Gandhi Nation-al Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) also assures every rural household at least 100 days of manual work at minimum wages. Jawaharlal Nehru National Ur-

ban Renewal Mission (JNNURM): The Mission’s aim is to encourage re-forms and fast track planned develop-ment of identified cities. Focus is on efficiency in urban infrastructure and service delivery mechanisms, commu-nity participation etc. Bharat Nirman In Bharat Nirman, critical areas of rural infrastructure – Irrigation, Roads, Water Supply, Housing, Elec-tricity and Telecom connectivity have been covered. This has improved liv-ing standards of the rural population and also created infrastructure which will ultimately enhance the economic activities in the rural areas and gener-ate significant employment opportu-nities for the rural people.Infrastructural Development The investment on infrastructure is proposed to be increased to Rs.45 lakh crore during XII Plan period. About half of this is expected to come from private sector. Skill Development · Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development of any coun-try. Countries with higher and better levels of skills adjust more effectively to the challenges and opportunities of the world. · Government is serious in cre-ating training infrastructure and pro-viding quality employment to youth. According to a study carried out by Quality Council of India, placement rate has increased to about 80% to 99% because of improved infrastructure in the modernized ITIs. Skill Develop-ment Initiative (SDI) Scheme based on Modular Employable Skills (MES) was started during the Eleventh Five Year Plan for early school leavers and existing workers, especially in the unorganised sector to improve their employability. About 16 lakh persons have been trained under the scheme so far. · Sincere efforts are being made

for skill development of a large num-ber of people under various skill de-velopment programmes. The Prime Minister has set a target of skilling 500 million persons by 2022 and the Ministry of Labour & Employment is required to train 100 million. Gov-ernment is systematically working to achieve the target and the training capacity has been increased from 9 lakh in 2006 - 07 to 26 lakh in 2011-12. All the Government ITIs are being modernized. New courses have been introduced and most of the ITIs are running in two to three shifts. During last five years, the number of Govern-ment and private ITIs has increased from 5114 in 2006-07 to 10,344 which is more than double. Government has also planned to set up 1500 more ITIs in PPP and 5000 Skill Development Centres in PPP to enhance the ca-pacity further. 27 Advanced Training Institutes are also planned in PPP to produce adequate number of trainers in the country. Focus Area in the 12th Five Year Plan In the 12th Five Year Plan the thrust of the Government is in bring-ing about an inclusive growth strategy that will provide job opportunities as well as make the young of the country employable. The main focus areas are:a) Thrust on Manufacturing Sec-tor-to make it the engine of employ-ment growth-that would create 100 million additional jobs by 2025.b) To bring in supportive pol-icies to incentivise labour intensive manufacturing sectors such as textile & garments, leather & footwear, food processing, gems & Jewellery to gener-ate more employment opportunities.c) Expanding employment in services like IT, finance & banking, tourism, trade & transport.d) Prioritizing skill training for the informal sector; creation of appro-priate skill sets among rural migrants and urban poor to make growth inclu-sive.

e) Ensuring the employability of skilled persons by involving Sector Skill Councils in preparation of Skill Modules matching market demand.f) Building on the potential of Modular Employable Skill pro-gramme by ensuring combination of modules to ensure employability.g) Extending Social Security ben-efits to Unorganized sector Workers.h) Enable skill loans for poor stu-dents (Credit Guarantee Fund)i) Streamlining the skill devel-opment programs for disadvantaged sections to ensure much larger fund-ing for skill development.j) Setting up of National Skill Registry to link data bases across Min-istries / States to provide a platform linking people who seek/provide em-ployment. Expenditure on social services which include education, sports, art and cul-ture, medical and public health, family welfare, water supply and sanitation, housing, urban development; welfare of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Sched-uled Tribes (STs) and other Backward Classes (OBCs), labour and labour welfare, social security and welfare, nutrition, relief for natural calamities, etc. by the Government (Centre and State combined) has also shown in-crease in recent years reflecting higher priority to social services. National-e-Governance National-e-Governance Plan has identified Upgradation and modern-ization Employment Exchanges as one of the Mission Mode Projects (MMP). The MMP aims to progressively sup-port all Employment Exchanges in the country to make effective use of IT in various activities of employment services. A national web portal will be developed to make all employment related services available on a single window and will work like a virtual job market. This will help Employ-ment Exchanges to provide efficient and quality services at wider scale and speed.

Creating Employment Opportunities for Youth I

An alarming signal for society

The number of heart and cancer patients in the Kashmir valley is in-creasing at an alarming rate day by day. So far, these fatal diseases used to be treated as fallout of urbanization, food habits and sedentary lifestyle. But unfortunately, this is spreading in rural areas too. During the last few years, the number of patients suffer-ing from these life taking diseases visiting Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science has increased many fold. A major population of the valley has to spend a large chunk of their in-come on medication for grave diseas-es for years together. The more miser-able condition is those of middle class families who have to meet the ex-penditures by their agriculture land, property selling jewelry or by taking loan. As per reports the main cause attributed for the spread of these fa-tal diseases is stress along with other factors .the cases of breast cancer too are on higher side as compared to the other parts of the country in the re-cent past. The stress protein rich food salty tea etc. could be prominent caus-es for this increase but lack of aware-ness amongst the women especially in the villages is taking its toll. Early detection means early cure. But due to many social hesitant the women do not speak out very easily and take it lightly which aggravates the situa-tion. As per expert reports, the breast cancer in India is going to double in next four years. Now this type of can-cer has overtaken cervical cancer. The cost of curing this deadly disease may vary from 10-15 thousand to 3-4 lacs per month depending on the stage and gravity of the disease. Almost all the regions of the world are affected by these diseases.The time has come when the society as well as the health caring agencies has to rise to the occasion for fighting against these grave diseases by awak-ening the masses to change their life style and avoid self medication .The awareness camps should be organ-ised in the remotest area where med-ical facilities are almost nil. The more stunning part of the serious situation is there are thousands of medical shops which sell medicines without the prescription of the doctors, rath-er suggest medicines and the gullible patients consume medicines till it turns otherwise and patients have to be rushed to the hospitals where it is too late. As it is the consumption of medicines in the valley is much high-er as compared to other parts of the country in a way making it safe haven for the sub standard medicines. The health care agencies should put ban on the pharmaceutical companies manufacturing such kind of med-icines. A strict drug policy should be initiated and licenses for medical shops should be given after proper scrutiny and under the guidelines prescribed by rules and regulations set by ministry of health. Defaulters should be served with severe penalty so that people are able to live a healthy life as is the case in other developed and under developing countries.

The situation as re-gards pre-poll alli-ance between con-gress and national conference is now

very clear and the two parties have decided to go together if they want to register their win in some parliamentary con-stituencies in the state. The chief minister Omer Abdul-lah had very categorically said that there is no alternative but to go for alliance with the con-gress party. He said that his party will never go for any poll pact with BJP lead NDA. He said that it is necessary to join hands with congress because both the parties are already in coalition both at Centre and in the state. Now it is evident that in Jammu they will have to face formidable BJP which is strengthened because of the candidature of Narinder Modi as PM and in Kashmir the PDP has strong packets of support and may cause big upsetsif congress and national con-ference do not go together. Still PDP has the chance of going neck to neck with the congress NC alliance. Meanwhile the an-nouncement of Congress par-ty that it will start its election campaign with the union health minister G N. Azad alongwith the PCCI president Saif ud Din Soz from 13th of March. It indi-cates that on one side congress is trying to bridge the differ-ences between its leaders and on the other side it is not taking the electoral battle in J&K very lightly. The state has this time about 70 lakh voters which will use their franchise to elect six members from the state. The valley itself has 36 lakh voters and these voters in the entire state will decide the fate of the candidates in five phases. Elab-orate security arrangements are needed as the separatists have already issued poll boy-cott calls and there may be some kind of unpleasant things here or there which can create fear in the minds of the voters. How-ever, keeping in view the pan-chayat elections the voters may again turn in good numbers to elect their representatives.This time the elections are quite different than the previ-ous elections as the voters are more aware about their rights and politically the situation is somehow confused through-out the country. It remains to be seen who will win the battle royal but it is clear that this time most of the candidates will have tough time to convince the voters in their favour.